Poker Tidbits

John Lilic, winner of the Seneca World Poker Classic championship event, is congratulated by Director of Class II Operations Tina Abrams and Director of Poker Operations Mike Gainey.

Decision Time … Something interesting happened recently during the filming of a World Poker Tour event at the Gold Strike in Tunica, Mississippi. A hand took place between Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and Scotty Nguyen, two great poker players. The flop was K-10-7 and Nguyen check-called Mizrachi's small bet. Both players checked the turn, which was a 4. On the river, a 3 came and Nguyen checked again. Mizrachi bet $170,000. Nguyen counted out the $170,000, and took quite a while doing so while playing with his chips. He then said, "I can't believe I'm just going to call with this hand," and brought the chips forward. As he was putting them in the pot, but before he finished releasing them all, he said, "Raise." Mizrachi heard him make the comment about just calling with the hand, and when Nguyen brought forward just the $170,000 for the call, he immediately revealed his hand before he heard Nguyen say, "Raise." Mizrachi had a 6-5, which was the nuts.



I called for the tournament director to make a decision on whether or not Nguyen would be required or even allowed to make the raise. Obviously, Mizrachi had thought that Nguyen was just calling, or he wouldn't have exposed his cards; he had the nuts and was definitely hoping to get raised. The tournament director decided that Nguyen's first words about just calling would be binding, and he wasn't allowed to raise. Nguyen had made a set of fours on the turn and really thought he had the best hand. Neither player was pulling an angle here. Nguyen really had intended to raise, and was willing to do so if that was the tournament director's decision. What would you have ruled in this situation?



Seneca World Poker Classic … The Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel recently hosted the inaugural Seneca World Poker Classic, under the direction of Director of Poker Operations Mike Gainey. Dave Lamb and Matt Savage were brought in to assist Gainey's very capable and efficient staff with running the tournament. Seneca arranged to have Phil Laak, Men Nguyen, Jan Fisher, Tom McEvoy, Layne Flack, and me present a poker seminar gratis to its customers. Antonio Esfandiari showed up the next day to join us in the $5,000 event. Billy V. ran the satellites and supersatellites for the championship event.



I highly recommend that you attend the next big event at Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel. The players were treated like VIPs, and were provided with a complimentary buffet nightly, great room rates in the awesome, brand-new hotel, and a wonderful facility in which to play. Gainey and his staff were very hospitable, provided excellent customer service, and made sure that everyone had a good time during the event. Niagara Falls is only about a five-minute drive from the casino, and is a sight that you shouldn't miss! Being part of this wonderful event will surely be one of my 2006 highlights.



Corporate Sponsorship … It's obvious that many television viewers enjoy watching the tantrums and misbehavior of some of our televised poker players, but is this good for poker? I recently received the following letter from Alan Lawhon of Huntsville, Alabama:



"I have chosen to write to you about this because I have read your appeals in Card Player magazine for civility, decorum, and polite behavior at the poker table. I think you are correct in your arguments, but I believe there is an even greater reason why poker's top players should be motivated to clean up their acts. In two words, it can be summarized as follows: corporate sponsorship.



"I want to suggest that there is a direct correlation between professional players' desires for corporate sponsorship and their personal behavior at the poker table – especially bad personal behavior. The point to emphasize here is that corporate CEOs and advertising executives are especially sensitive to their public image. In order to develop major sponsorship agreements with professional players, executives of Fortune 500 firms must feel 'comfortable' (and confident) that a player with whom they choose to associate will not embarrass them.



"Some of the actions and behaviors exhibited in recent televised poker events would tend to suggest that poker players as a group are not yet ready for prime time – or major corporate sponsorship. If the top poker players are truly sincere about wanting major sponsorship, they ought to be thinking in terms of cleaning up their acts. One way to do this might be for the top professionals to simply refuse to play with or against poker's bad actors. The simple fact is that these players and their juvenile antics are causing corporate America to register a 'thumbs down' to the professional poker world. As long as the current status quo of a small minority of rude players giving all of poker a bad name continues, I have a feeling that major corporate sponsorship will remain out of reach."



Hmm …



Now, let's play poker.

Linda is available to host poker seminars, corporate functions, and poker events. She can be contacted through her websites at http://www.cardplayercruises.com/ and http://www.lindapoker.com/.