Michael Mizrachi is the Card Player 2006 Player of the Year
He Finishes the Year With Nearly 6,000 Points and $2.3 Million in Winnings
By Bob Pajich
The year 2006 will go down in poker history as the biggest year yet, and when Michael Mizrachi's old and gray, he can tell his grandchildren that in that year, he played poker so well at so many poker events all around the country that he was the
Card Player 2006 Player of the Year (POY).
Mizrachi joins Men "The Master" Ngyuen (1997, 2001, 2003, 2005), T.J. Cloutier (1998, 2002), Tony Ma (1999), David Pham (2000), and Daniel Negreanu (2004) as Player of the Year winners. Like the former award recipients, he played in many events and was able to hold on as several tough players made a push to pass him in December
Mizrachi came very close to winning the award in 2005, when he finished in fifth place, only 803 points behind Nguyen. It seemed like this was fresh on his mind when he started the 2006 season, as he took the points lead early and never relinquished it.
His run started at the end of January when he finished second in the
Gold Strike World Poker Open, winning $566,352 and 1,320 POY points. He then won the
Borgata Winter Poker Open a week and a half later, taking home $1,173,373 and 1,824 POY points. And then a week after the Borgata event, he took second in the $2,500 buy-in no-limit hold'em event at the
L.A. Poker Classic. It was the cherry on top of his early-season run, earning him another $124,402 and 810 POY points.
Mizrachi, who embraces his nickname "The Grinder," took on the persona of Cal Ripken Jr. and hardly took a day off from the tournament trail in 2006. Maybe he recalled 2005, when he also took a huge lead early in the year, only to lose it to Ngyuen and others, who played in many smaller buy-in tournaments to harvest as many POY points as possible.
He cashed in events with buy-ins ranging from $1,000 to $15,000, including a 29th-place finish at the final big tournament of the year, the Bellagio
Five-Diamond World Poker Classic Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship. He secured the POY honors after John Hoang, the only player left in the tournament who could pass him in the POY standings with a victory, was eliminated in 32nd place.
Player of the Year Race Came Down to the Wire
The 2006 Player of the Year race came right down to the wire, and Michael Mizrachi found himself a marked man in all of the tournaments at Bellagio's
Five-Diamond World Poker Classic.
Nam Le, the second-place finisher, came up just short, finishing the year with 5,215 points, 774 behind "The Grinder." Le earned nearly $2.2 million during 2006, including 20 cashes, 11 final tables, and two major victories. His late-season push, which included two final tables at
Five-Diamond preliminary events, kept the race close.
J.C. Tran also did not relent. He put himself right into the race with two victories in the last two months of the year (the $2,800 event at the
World Poker Finals and the $2,000 event at the
Five-Diamond). He finished the year with 16 cashes and 10 final tables, good for 5,170 POY points and just over $1.1 million in his pocket.
Others right on Mizrachi's tail were Shannon Shorr (4,926 points, eight final tables, $1.49 million in winnings), David Daneshgar (4,392 points, 10 final tables, $1 million in winnings), and John Hoang (4,177 points, an amazing 14 final tables, and $691,000 in winnings). All of these players played in many of the Bellagio events, in part to try to win the Player of the Year race.
Harrah's Sold for Billions
Two Investment Groups Pony Up $17.1 Billion for Casino Giant
By Bob Pajich
Harrah's has been sold. The company entered into an agreement to be bought by Apollo Management Group and Texas Pacific Group in an all-cash transaction worth $17.1 billion. The groups will also assume $10.7 billion in Harrah's debt.
Harrah's board of directors, on the recommendation of a special committee made up of non-managerial directors, approved the deal Dec. 19. The agreement has the two groups purchasing all of the outstanding shares for $90 each. This represents a 36-percent increase in the stock price that was listed on Sept. 29, the day before the offer by Apollo and TPG was disclosed.
The transaction is expected to be completed in about one year, and is subject to stockholder and regulatory approval.
Harrah's is the largest casino owner and operator in the world. It owns or manages 39 casinos on four different continents under a litany of brands, including Caesars, Harrah's, Horseshoe, and London Clubs International. It also owns the World Series of Poker brand, which it acquired in 2004.
While Harrah's has been around for 70 years, Apollo Management was founded in 1990 as an investor in private equity, debt, and capital markets. Since its inception, it has invested more than $16 billion in companies.
TPG is even younger. Founded in 1992, the private investment partnership currently manages more than $30 billion in assets.
High Stakes Poker Returns for a Third Season
World Series of Poker Stars Jamie Gold and Paul Wasicka Played
By Bob Pajich
Fans of the hottest poker show on television don't have to wait much longer to see the enormous amount of money that can be won or lost on the poker table, because
High Stakes Poker is returning to
GSN for its third season.
Enough poker for 13 episodes of
High Stakes Poker 3 was recently filmed at the South Point Casino in Vegas, and the show will be aired on consecutive Mondays at 9 p.m. EST starting Jan. 15. The show repeats later that night at 2 a.m. and also on Thursdays at 9 p.m.
This is the only place on TV to watch the heavy hitters of poker actually play with their own bankrolls. The action is always fast and furious, with some of the pots exceeding what most Americans pay for their homes. For example, in the second season, Daniel Negreanu lost the largest pot in the show's history when his full house ran into Gus Hansen's quads. Hansen won $575,000 in that hand alone.
The players have to buy in for at least $100,000, but many of them buy in for the $1 million maximum. The stress and intensity that the large amounts of money produce makes it one of the best poker shows on television. Hands from the show are so interesting that they repeatedly find their way across the Internet via video clips. The seven-minute clip of the Hansen/Negreanu hand posted on YouTube was viewed well over 200,000 times.
This year,
World Series of Poker Champion Jamie Gold was a newcomer to the game, along with 2006
WSOP runner-up Paul Wasicka, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, John D'Agostino, Victor Ramdin, David Williams, Bill Chen, Dan Harmetz, Dan Shak, Illya Trincher, and Brian Townsend.
Players from the first two seasons also returned, including Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, Doyle and Todd Brunson, Negreanu, Sean Sheikhan, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Jennifer Harman, Phil Laak, Sam Farha, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, Daniel Alaei, and Brad Booth.
The show is hosted by Gabe Kaplan and A.J. Benza.
Oklahoma Rancher Wins World Poker Tour Season Pass
He Wins Buy-Ins to WPT Events Totaling $160,000
By Bob Pajich
Professional poker tournament players who don't know who Augie Foxx is will have plenty of chances to get to know him in the next three years.
Foxx, a 62-year-old rancher from Idabel, Oklahoma, won buy-ins to 15
World Poker Tour events earlier this month at the WPT Season Pass Caribbean Conference. The prize is worth $160,000.
"I'm a big fan of the
World Poker Tour, and that's why I went for it," Foxx said. "I wanted to get involved, and this was my shot and it came true."
The trip was actually an early Christmas gift from his wife, who ponied up $3,995 for him to take part in the five-day conference, which was hosted by Mike Sexton and included many poker pros who hosted seminars.
The climax of the week was a poker tournament in which the 196 attendees played for the season pass grand prize. Foxx won buy-ins to the following tournaments:
Mirage Poker Showdown, Mandalay Bay Poker Championship, Grand Prix de Paris, The Bicycle Casino's
Legends of Poker, Borgata Poker Open, North American Poker Championship, the Foxwoods
World Poker Finals, Bellagio's
Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, PokerStars.com
Caribbean Poker Adventure, Tunica World Poker Open, Commerce Casino's
L.A. Poker Classic and
WPT Invitational, Bay 101 Shooting Star, World Poker Challenge, and the
WPT World Championship.
He's going to take it a bit slow, but he will be at the PokerStars.com
Caribbean Poker Adventure and the
Tunica World Poker Open to start the year.
"I got to go slow because we have a little ranch in Oklahoma with some cows and horses, so we got to take care of business," Foxx said.
Foxx also received $14,000 for travel expenses. He has the next three seasons to use his entries. The top three finishers also received big prizes at the conference. Second-place winner Chris Stadler won a $25,000 buy-in to the
WPT World Championship in April, and third-place winner Laurie Church won a $10,000
WPT buy-in to the tournament of her choice.
CardPlayer.com Launches Online Poker Course Starring Phil Hellmuth
Courses by Antonio Esfandiari and Joe Navarro Are Also Available
By Bob Pajich
Phil Hellmuth has been called many things over his career, from broadcaster to writer to the greatest poker player who ever lived (although that quote is attributed to Hellmuth himself). Now, thanks to CardPlayer.com, through a partnership with iAmplify.com, he can be called "online teacher."
CardPlayer.com is offering poker fans the chance to learn from Hellmuth through its "Phil Hellmuth White to Black Belt" poker course. The course was designed for people to download and take with them on their portable devices, and although the complete course runs about four hours, each lesson is broken down into segments that run no longer than seven minutes.
Hellmuth's complete course contains 48 lessons designed to take a player from - using karate terms - a white belt to a black belt in poker, which Hellmuth undeniably is. Players can buy all 48 courses for $199, or blocks of the courses, which are divided into skill levels, starting with the "White Belt Course." Prices for the individual blocks range from $14.95 to $79.95 (for the black belt course). There are seven separate blocks of courses.
The course is also available through iAmplify.com, which offers many audio lessons on all subjects imaginable. Hellmuth's course is the largest offering on poker and Las Vegas that iAmplify.com has released so far. It also offers courses by Antonio Esfandiari titled "Aggressive Poker With Antonio Esfandiari," "Antonio's Top 12 Poker Tips," and an eight-minute program called "Vegas, Baby, Vegas," in which Esfandiari tells all about finding a great experience in Vegas.
A third player in Card Player's audio poker stable is not a player at all. Joe Navarro is a retired FBI agent who is an expert on nonverbal forms of communication, including poker tells. Navarro's course, "Read 'em and Reap: A Spy Catcher's Video Guide to Reading Tells," is also available for download. The 90-minute course consists of 26 lessons culled from Navarro's book and seminar, which people pay nearly $1,000 to attend. Each lesson averages four minutes in length, and players can download the complete package for $129.95.
All of the courses can be found at CardPlayer.com.
2007 Will Be a Busy Year Across the Entire Continent
By Thor Henrykson
By all accounts, poker in Europe is booming, though there is an increasing divide between how the various countries are dealing with the issue of online gaming. On one hand, governments in the UK, Italy, and Spain are choosing to regulate and license online gaming, hoping to swell their tax coffers by offering lucrative gaming licenses to offshore sites. On the other hand, others are choosing the "American" route by severely restricting (France) or outright banning (Russia) online gaming.
Elsewhere in Europe, the issue exists very much in the gray area. In an effort to protect the states' monopolies ongambling, governments are saber-rattling by busting private poker tournaments (Holland and Scandinavia) or forbidding any kind of advertising (Germany). Either way, the issue of online gaming is coming to an impasse, as the governing body of the European Union grows increasingly discontent with the nationalistic provisions infringing on EU law, which restricts monopolies. It will be interesting to observe what no doubt will be a landmark year in 2007.
Notwithstanding the issue of poker online, tournament poker in Europe is swelling with the ranks of more and more players. The
Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam broke all records and awarded $900,000 for first place.
The
European Poker Tour is so successful that demand for seats often outstrips the capacity of the venues, with multiple starting days now a standard fixture. In fact, a new stop on the
EPT in Dortmund, Germany, was just added, and will take place three weeks prior to the
EPT March 28 final in Monte Carlo. This year will also bring a new 11-event, 10-month
UK Poker Tour, with almost $8 million in prize money. All of this, plus an increasing plethora of smaller events too numerous to mention, guarantees another exciting year for European poker.
For more on poker in Europe, visit CardPlayerEurope.com.
Negreanu Has His Second Protégé
Fellow Canadian Anthony Mak Will Hit the Tournament Trail with 'Kid Poker'
By Bob Pajich
A Canadian is about to take a fellow Canadian under his wing. Daniel Negreanu, who honed his poker skills in card clubs throughout Ontario, Canada, has a new protégé, thanks to a promotion on his online poker site, FullContactPoker.com.
Anthony Mak, also of Ontario, recently won Negreanu's
Protégé 2 promotion. He outlasted a final table of 10 players that was held at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas last month. Each player earned his way into the tournament a different way. One player won a drawing at the Gaming Expo at the 2006
World Series of Poker. Another won his seat in a tournament exclusively for charter members of FullContactPoker. Mak won his seat through the FullContactPoker.net freeroll.
Mak is a low-limit player who plays mostly 10¢-25¢ no-limit hold'em and $5 and $10 sit-and-gos. He says his "luckiness" will make him a good protégé, and he's going to need it, because he's about to step up into the big leagues.
The 23-year-old becomes Negreanu's protégé for the next several months. His prize includes four $10,000 buy-ins into major tournaments and exclusive access to Negreanu himself for instruction.
Negreanu's first protégé, Brian Fidler, truly had his life change when he won more than $200,000 after finishing second in a
World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit event in 2006. The buy-in was paid for by FullContactPoker as part of the prize package, and Fidler attributed his success to Negreanu.
"I didn't expect to win at all," Mak said immediately following his win. "The feeling still hasn't sunk in. Maybe in a couple of days it will."
Roofing Contractor Wins World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit Event in Atlantic City
Rick Rossetti Outlasts 237 Players to Win $368,096
By Bob Pajich
Rick Rossetti overcame a huge chip disadvantage to win the $5,000
World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit event at Harrah's Atlantic City recently. The 37-year-old roofing contractor outlasted 237 entrants to win $368,096. Alex Gomez, who came to the final table with nearly half of the chips in play, finished second and won $202,433.
Finishing third was John Racener, who won $103,527. Fourth place went to Feming Chan ($80,521), fifth to Ken Goldin ($69,018), sixth to Michael Bernstein ($57,515), seventh to Ray Lin ($46,012), eighth to Drew Gliem ($34,509), and ninth to Tam Ly ($23,006).
Gomez started the final table with $1,051,000 in chips. His nearest competitor was Racener with $224,000 in chips. Rossetti started the table with $181,000 in chips.
The Atlantic City event was the fourth out of 11
WSOP Tournament Circuit events to take place in the 2006-2007 series. The
WSOP Tournament Circuit next touches down at Grand Casino Tunica, Jan. 8-17, Horseshoe Council Bluffs, Jan. 29-Feb 7, and Harrah's San Diego, Feb. 11-22.
Two Poker Movies to Be Released Early in 2007
Lucky You and Deal Will Hit the Big Screen This Year
By Bob Pajich
Two poker movies were filmed recently, Lucky You, starring Eric Bana, Robert Duvall, and Drew Barrymore, and Deal, starring Burt Reynolds, Brett Harrison, Shannon Elizabeth, and the World Poker Tour set. They both were to be released sometime in 2006, but as is often the case in the world of moviemaking, schedules change.
The two movies definitely will be released in 2007. Lucky You, directed by Curtis Hanson, who directed 8 Mile, L.A. Confidential, and The River Wild, among others, will be released March 16.
The release date for Deal, which was co-produced by Scott Lazar, the sixth-place finisher in the 2005 World Series of Poker main event, is still being hammered out. Lazar says they'll be shooting for dates around the start of the WPT Championship event at Bellagio in April. If that doesn't work out - the movie is still in post-production - they're shooting for sometime during the WSOP. Lazar also acted as the poker consultant on the film.
A trailer of Deal is now available at the movie's website: www.dealthemovie.com. The trailer for Lucky You can be found at www.luckyyoumovie.warnerbros.com.
Poker After Dark Now Playing on NBC
Shana Hiatt is Back, Along With Today's Poker Elite
By Lisa Wheeler
NBC invites viewers into the exclusive Las Vegas poker scene with its new late-night show
Poker After Dark, which debuted Jan. 2 at 2:05 a.m. ET/PT. One week of hour-long programs is hosted by former
World Poker Tour hostess and one of
Maxim magazine's "Hot 100 of 2005" Shana Hiatt. The series airs nightly, Monday through Saturday, and features six of poker's most elite players vying for a winner-take-all $120,000 first-place prize.
Set in the backroom of various casinos on the Vegas Strip,
Poker After Dark gives viewers an intimate look inside a poker game usually reserved for the eyes of professional players. The show features world-class poker pros Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Harman, and Gus Hansen.
Each program provides an intimate look at how seasoned pros apply their strategy against one another. Friday's show determines the winner, and on Saturday night, a "Director's Cut" recaps the events with commentary.
"There's a vibrant late-night audience looking for original programming," said West Coast NBC Universal Television President Marc Graboff. "We felt this inside look at the professional poker scene is perfect for late-night viewers seeking a unique and original broadcast."
Poker After Dark is produced in conjunction with Poker Productions, the only television production company owned and operated by top professional poker players. Producers Mori Eskandani and Eric Drache both have played a key role in producing poker shows for major networks and cable television, including
NBC's National Heads-Up Championship, GSN's High Stakes Poker, Fox Sports Net and
NBC's Poker Superstars, and
CBS' Intercontinental Poker Championship.
Player of the Year
The
Bellagio Five-Diamond World Poker Classic $15,000 main event, called the
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic in honor of the giant of poker, saw two more giants take center stage in December. Joe Hachem became the fourth member of an exclusive club made up of players who have won both a World Series of Poker main-event bracelet and a
World Poker Tour event. Doyle Brunson, Carlos Mortensen, and Scotty Nguyen are the other three.
Michael Mizrachi was the other main man of the tournament, and he didn't get past 29th place. With seven players out of the 583 entered with a chance to take over his
Card Player 2006 Player of the Year (POY) points lead with a victory, Mizrachi secured the 2006 POY title after John Hoang was knocked out in 32nd place. "The Grinder" followed him three players later, to thunderous applause when the announcer told the crowd that he had officially secured the title of
Card Player 2006 Player of the Year.
But it was Hachem who demanded the most attention during this tournament. Similar to his
WSOP main-event win, he started the final table of the tourney about $2 million in chips behind the leader, Daniel Negreanu, who had $4.3 million. But through steady play and the luck of a lady wearing diamonds, by the end of the night, he had all of the chips and $2,182,070 in front of him.
This caps a very good year for Hachem. He cashed six times in 2006, including four times at this year's
WSOP. His win moved him into ninth place in the final POY standings and gave him total lifetime winnings of $10,210,160. Welcome to the club, Joe.
Look Out! Justin Bonomo
If the last few weeks of December are any indication, players need to keep an eye on Justin Bonomo. He simply destroyed the
Five-Diamond World Poker Classic for $264,895, where he cashed in four events, made one final table, and missed two others by the skin of his teeth. He finished 2006 in 137th place in the standings, but he's someone to watch out for as the
Card Player Player of the Year race starts over for 2007.
Michael Mizrachi Wins Card Player's Player of the Year Race
The way Michael Mizrachi earned the
Card Player 2006 Player of the Year title makes his nickname of "The Grinder" seem perfect. Mizrachi took the points lead early in the year by winning the
Borgata Winter Poker Open and he never let up. Overall, he cashed 22 times, won five tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, made 11 final tables, and pocketed more than $2.3 million.
The race came down to the wire. Mizrachi fought off Nam Le, J.C. Tran, and Shannon Shorr, who all had strong showings at the
Five-Diamond, and secured his crown on Dec. 18. Everyone at
Card Player congratulates Michael for a fantastic year, and we look forward to another competitive race in 2007.
Online Hand-to-Hand Combat: Sorel Mizzi Attacks the Final-Table Bubble
By Craig Tapscott
Want to study real poker hands with the Internet's most successful players? In this series, Card Player offers hand analysis with online poker's leading talent. And, as an added bonus, you can check out live video commentary provided by the pros and PokerXfactor.com at www.CardPlayer.com/h2hc.
Event: $50 no-limit hold'em rebuy tournament on PokerStars
Players: 259
First place: $14,864
Stacks: zangbezan24 - $173,876, Villain - $178,075
Blinds: $4,000-$8,000
Ante: $400
Craig Tapscott: Why choose this hand to share?
Sorel Mizzi: It's a good demonstration of how to use the bubble to your advantage, especially when facing an opponent with a similar stack size. No one likes to bubble the final table.
Preflop: Zangbezan24 (Sorel Mizzi) is in the small blind with the A
3
and completes. Villain is in the big blind and raises to $16,000, and zangbezan24 calls $8,000 more.
CT: Why limp here?
SM: I limped with the intention of folding to a raise of three times the big blind, but when he made a minimum raise, he had priced me in and gave me an opportunity to see a cheap flop. At this point, I put him on a very wide range of hands; I didn't think that he'd make this sort of play with a medium to high pocket pair.
Flop: 9
5
5
($26,000 pot); zangbezan24 checks, Villain bets $16,000, zangbezan24 calls.
CT: What's your thinking here, calling with ace high and no real draw?
SM: When I do this, my opponent has to ask himself what am I smooth-calling with? He has absolutely no idea of where I am in the hand. I could have a 5, I could have a 9, and I could even be slow-playing aces. And with a non-threatening flop, I thought I could float, and take the pot on the turn. I was not convinced that he had a strong hand, and thought that I could outplay him on the turn, depending on what card came and the size of his bet.
Turn: 8
SM: This gave me the nut-flush draw, which is almost irrelevant since my chances of hitting the flush if my opponent called the bet were only 18 percent, and I was not sure if my ace was live.
CT: Can you knock him off the hand?
SM: Well, I decided that I was going to put my entire tournament on the line, not because I liked my hand, but because I had a very good feeling that his hand wasn't as strong as he was trying to tell me it was.
Action: Zangbezan24 checks, Villain bets $40,000, zangbezan24 raises $101,476 and is all in, and Villain folds.
SM: Because his bet was so quick, I was able to decipher that he was being stubborn, simply because he didn't take time to consider what I possibly could have had to call a bet on that flop.
CT: This seems kind of risky.
SM: Unless he was really strong, which I already had decided he wasn't, I believed that he wouldn't be making that bet with a hand that he could call an all in with. He might have in fact had a very good hand, but I thought that he didn't value his hand as much as some people would, and that his bet on the turn was begging me to fold.
Results: zangbezan24 wins the $146,000 pot. Mizzi would go on to finish second in the event, for $9,459.
Sorel (zangbezan24) Mizzi is an accomplished online tournament player, having won countless tournaments and achieved a top-10 ranking on most tracked sites. Sorel is also known as Imper1um.
CP ePoker Report
By Shawn Patrick Green
NordicBet Pays Largest-Ever Online Prize
On Dec. 14, Swedish poker site NordicBet made history when it awarded a $735,000 first-place payday to Henrik Josefsson. This payout constituted the largest-ever first-place prize for an online tournament. The prize came from the $2.5 million-guaranteed prize pool for the two-day
Swedish Championship tournament.
While the top prize was the biggest in online poker history, the total prize pool paled in comparison to that of the PokerStars
World Championship of Online Poker main event in September, which exceeded $6 million. The first-place prize in that event originally was $1.2 million before the final table chopped the remaining prize money. J.C. Tran, the eventual winner, received more than $670,000 for his finish.
Guarantees? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Guarantees!
All four of the major sites (PokerStars, FullTilt, UltimateBet, and Bodog) experienced a holiday-season lull of sorts. Regardless, both PokerStars and FullTilt are still easily surpassing the posted guarantees for their respective big weekly tournaments. Entries at UltimateBet and Bodog slipped a bit, but remained relatively steady.
Sunday $1.3 Million Just Doesn't Roll Off the Tongue
Recently, the PokerStars Sunday Million tournament has consistently built prize pools of one-third more than the $1 million guarantee. After months of regularly breaking its own attendance records (and thus, prize pool records), the Sunday Million has finally calmed down. Entry numbers have begun dipping very slightly, as they inevitably had to after the initial surge of PartyPoker refugees settled in their new home.
FullTilt Kicks it Up a Notch
FullTilt is in a similar situation as PokerStars. The site's big weekly guaranteed tournament was continuously going beyond the posted guarantee with ease. As a result, FullTilt recently upped its guaranteed prize pool for the tournament from $250,000 to $350,000, with the buy-in remaining at $200. Players took notice, and attendance rose correspondingly. Recent weeks have shown prize pools of over 20 percent more than the $350,000 guarantee.
More Overlays for UltimateBet and Bodog
The big weekly tournaments at UltimateBet and Bodog ($200,000 and $100,000 guaranteed, respectively) still have yet to breach the magic 1,000-player number to exceed their guarantees. Both sites' tournaments have recently had overlays of around $9,000, which is both good and bad news for players. Players who like more bang for their buy-in buck love the better odds the dead money provides. On the other hand, players yearning for a big payday would rather their odds of cashing go down and the prize money increase. Entries at both sites continue to hover in the 900s, with no obvious signs of changing.
Get a Piece of the Action!
Players who want to take a shot at the huge prize pools or take advantage of the overlay tournaments mentioned here should follow these links:
PokerStars - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etpokerstars
FullTilt - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etfulltilt
UltimateBet - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etultimatebet
Bodog - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etbodog
AbsolutePoker - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etabsolute
Gary Bogdanski Back in Limelight
FullTilt has been very good to Internet semipro Gary "GB2005" Bogdanski as of late. He'd won more than $98,000 at the site in just over a month, from Nov. 11 to Dec. 17. His cashes included a win in the $350,000-guaranteed event, three from the FullTilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), and two other big final tables.
Best All-Around Player
During the FTOPS in November, Bogdanski won the title of best all-around player for accumulating the most FTOPS leader-board points. He secured a customized FullTilt avatar for his win, just like the sponsored pros have. This accomplishment was detailed in Card Player in Vol. 19/No. 25. He won close to $9,000 during the Series.
Bogdanski's Huge Payday
On Dec. 10, less than a month after his FTOPS accomplishments, Bogdanski went on to win the biggest weekly tournament at FullTilt, the $350,000-guaranteed event. He outlasted 2,140 other players to take the first-place prize of $78,789, his biggest cash on the site to date.
Bodog Offers Vegas VIP Freeroll
Bodog poker, in collaboration with Card Player, is currently running a freeroll tournament series offering a true Las Vegas VIP experience. The tournament is called, appropriately enough, the Bodog Vegas VIP, and it offers players a free shot at winning a $5,000 prize package.
Get a Piece of the Action!
A chance to win the top prize won't cost players a dime. To qualify, players simply need to go to www.CardPlayer.com/link/etbodog for instructions on signing up. Players can then enter each of the four remaining freeroll qualifiers leading up to the final event. The top 30 percent of entrants in each qualifier will receive tournament leader-board points, and the top 50 point-earners will secure a seat in the final tournament on May 13.
What's at Stake?
The ultimate winner of the freeroll series will snag a $5,000 prize package that includes travel for two to Las Vegas, a three-night stay at a Vegas hotel, a $1,000 buy-in to a land-based tournament, VIP service for the winner and his entourage at a Vegas nightclub, and a special invitation to a swanky Bodog party.
Vegas VIP Tournament Schedule:
Feb. 4, Third qualifier
March 4, Fourth qualifier
April 8, Fifth qualifier
May 6, Sixth qualifier
May 13, Vegas VIP final
Online Tournament Results, Dec. 10-17
PokerStars Sunday Million
Dec. 10
Winner: mrrain
Winnings: $135,942 *
Prize pool: $1,336,000
Entrants: 6,680
Dec. 17
Winner: pokerno
Winnings: $124,276 *
Prize pool: $1,325,600
Entrants: 6,628
* Payout reflects a deal made at the final table.
FullTilt Monthly $500,000 Guaranteed
Dec. 17
Winner: like7
Winnings: $117,515
Prize pool: $618,500
Entrants: 1,237
FullTilt $350,000 Guaranteed
Dec. 10
Winner: Gary "GB2005" Bogdanski
Winnings: $78,789
Prize pool: $428,200
Entrants: 2,141
UltimateBet $200,000 Guaranteed
Note: The UltimateBet Online Championship (UBOC) main event was held Dec. 10 and appeared in the last issue.
Dec. 17
Winner: Brad JOHNSON
Winnings: $45,000
Prize pool: $200,000
Entrants: 957
Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed
Dec. 10
Winner: CrazyMarco
Winnings: $25,000
Prize pool: $100,000
Entrants: 981
Dec. 17
Winner: 3pounder
Winnings: $25,000
Prize pool: $100,000
Entrants: 908
Joe Udine
Nothing Up His Sleeve
By Craig Tapscott
Joe Udine makes chips disappear, then reappear atop his stack, much to the chagrin of his opponents. It's not a trick, and no sleight of hand. The University of Pennsylvania graduate simply credits years of hard work to his seemingly overnight ascension to tournament poker success.
"A key skill to success is to try to stay as disciplined and focused as you can at all times while playing," stated Udine. "While keeping things simple, take what you can from each hand, win or lose, and move on. Being able to maintain a good mindset and ask the right questions while solving problems throughout any tournament is crucial."
In December, Udine, aka Hoodini10 online, won the $109 buy-in rebuy tournament on PokerStars an unprecedented three times in two days, for a total of $80,000. The online poker world took notice and forums buzzed, nominating it as one of the biggest online accomplishments of 2006.
Udine holds no illusions. He doesn't plan to let his Ivy League education go to waste, but he wants time to evaluate his career choices at present. So, why not play a little poker in the meantime?
Craig Tapscott: In reviewing your stats, it seems there was a turning point for you this past year.
Joe Udine: Yes. My friend Chris Klodnicki and I both used the strategies from
Harrington on Hold'em, Volume II to model our "endgames" in tournaments. Having someone to go over hand examples and talk strategy with was very crucial, and it took my game to a higher level of thinking.
CT: You did hit some roadblocks after some early success, though.
JU: I overplayed my bankroll severely. This was sort of a turning point in my poker career, and I'm very fortunate that I had the right people to help me through it. My uncle - Joe Brooks, aka JOEYTHEB - was already a well-established online professional by the time I was a senior at Penn. In the few weeks following my downswing, my uncle taught me about what bankroll management is all about, and how to keep my head straight day in and day out. Who knows how many times I may have gone broke before realizing how to really manage my bankroll? I think this is a major problem even for players who play at the highest skill levels, and could prove detrimental to any player's game.
CT: What was the next step in your growth?
JU: I gained more experience and learned about different theories. I began to feel much more comfortable with my game and my reasoning behind each play I would make in different stages of a tournament. In Vegas last summer, I chopped the
Bellagio Cup II for $70,000. After returning home, I chopped the
FullTilt Online Poker Series event No. 1 for $65,000. Since then, my play has picked up tremendously, both live and online. I learn a new thing every day, which keeps my interest strong in tournament poker.
CT: What's your favorite aspect of the game?
JU: I enjoy the strategies involved in endgame tournament play.
CT: Could you be more specific?
JU: I use Harrington's "M Theory" a lot. If my M is getting down to 3 or 4, which basically means that I have three or four rotations before I'm blinded out, I'm really looking for a good spot. I don't even have to look at the cards. I'm looking at the stack sizes behind me and who's in the blinds. If the big stack is in the big blind, I don't necessarily want to shove any two cards into him, because he's likely to call. It all comes down to your read of the table and how everyone has been playing.
CT: Share some insight for players looking to improve their multitable tournament play?
JU: Looking back on myself two years ago as a player, I laugh, because I had no discipline and basically no idea of what I was doing. I would act quickly most of the time and wouldn't have a reason for each and every one of my plays. I would say that the best advice I could give a new player is to keep an open mind while playing. Always take something away from each session. If you are constantly learning and applying that knowledge, you will become a more consistent winner.
Greenstein Makes 'Crying Call' on River
By Mike Sexton, Poker Pro and Commentator for the World Poker Tour
This final table of the
PartyPoker Million was certainly one of the strongest, if not the strongest, final tables in
World Poker Tour history. It included three players who are two-time
WPT champions (Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren, and Barry Greenstein), as well as
WPT winner and former World Champion Scotty Nguyen and top pro Steve ("Zee") Zolotow. The lone amateur was Chris Hinchcliffe, and he came to the final table with a monstrous chip lead (eventually finishing third).
Preflop: The game was limit hold'em and the blinds were $10,000-$20,000. After Lindgren and Zolotow folded, Nguyen went all in for his last $30,000 (as should anyone holding A-5 in that situation). Hinchcliffe folded on the button and Greenstein reraised from the small blind, making it $50,000 to go with the K
Q
. This was an excellent reraise by Greenstein, as he was trying to shut out the big blind (Negreanu) and isolate himself with Scotty, because the most he could lose in the pot would be $30,000. However, with more than $1 million in chips, holding suited connectors (10
9
), having position on Greenstein, and with $100,000 already in the pot (meaning he was getting nice pot odds), Negreanu opted to call another $30,000 and take a look at the flop.
Flop: The flop was not good for the all-in Nguyen. It was K-J-9 rainbow, giving Greenstein top pair and a gutshot-straight draw and Negreanu bottom pair and a gutshot-straight draw. Greenstein bet $20,000 and Negreanu called.
Turn: The turn card was the joker for Negreanu, the Q
. The queen gave Greenstein top two pair, but Negreanu had made his straight and had a straight-flush draw! Greenstein wisely checked here. I say "wisely" for several reasons: First, he suspected that Negreanu could have made a straight. Second, he was getting short on chips and didn't want to be raised if he bet out here. And third, knowing Negreanu is an aggressive player, chances were good that he would most likely bet if he also had made two pair, or even possibly bluff at it after a check. After the check by Greenstein, Negreanu bet $40,000 and Barry called him.
River: The river card was the 7
, giving Negreanu a flush (which was nice for him, but unnecessary, as his straight was good). Greenstein checked and Negreanu bet $40,000. With so much money in the pot ($290,000), Greenstein made the call, albeit a crying call. Negreanu took down a nice pot as Scotty Nguyen was eliminated in sixth place.
In case you're wondering, Negreanu didn't catch quite enough straights or flushes to take this title. He went on to finish runner-up to Lindgren in this event.
Stranger Than Fiction
You'll often hear players talk about how each hand tells a story. Based on how a hand unfolds, astute and experienced players can greatly narrow the likely holdings of their opponents. For example, let's say a tight-aggressive player open-raises from under the gun and gets called by the big blind. The flop comes A-K-4 with two hearts. The big blind checks. Does anyone have any doubt as to what the open-raiser is going to do here? He's going to make a continuation bet no matter what. Even if that flop doesn't help him, it's going to be hard for anyone to call him. Let's say the raiser has pocket queens and this is the last flop he wanted to see. By betting, he's telling a consistent story. If the big blind has a hand like A-5 suited, he's still going to have a hard time calling, as he is a big underdog against an ace with a better kicker. You can start to see how telling a consistent story can help you bluff.
For instance, let's say you call a mini-raise from late position with the 8 7 and see a flop threehanded. The flop comes K-5-4 with two hearts. The original raiser makes a continuation bet and the third opponent folds. Folding seems like your best bet, but you are not ready to concede the hand yet. Relying more on position than your gutshot-straight draw, you make the call. The flop brings the 9 and now, your opponent checks. You bet, and your opponent folds. Why did your opponent fold? Because the way you played the hand was consistent with having made a heart flush. It's not hard for your opponent to believe you made a heart flush.
Sounds good so far. Tell a consistent story, chase your opponent out, and take down a pot with a lesser hand. There are a few problems with this scenario, however. First, you must be sure that your opponents are following along with the story. Next, even if they are, they have to believe it and they can't be the type to make a crying-call. Lastly, if your play is predictable enough to make the occasional bluff with the consistent story, you probably are going to have a hard time winning big pots when you do hit a hand. Those big hands you hit are likely to tell an even more consistent story than your occasional bluff, and are thus even more likely to chase opponents out.
The opposite of telling a consistent story is, of course, telling an inconsistent one. An inconsistent story is incoherent and hard to follow. It raises doubt because it has holes in it. When players have doubt, they are more likely to call.
Remember, there's more than one way to win a pot. A poker hand is a mini-screenplay in progress. It's a collaborative effort. Everyone in the hand has a say in its direction. Of course, one turn of a card can also add an unexpected twist. By mixing up your play and doing some unconventional things, those unexpected twists may be to your benefit, unbeknownst to your opponents.
David Apostolico is the author of numerous poker strategy books, including Lessons from the Felt, Lessons from the Pro Poker Tour, and Tournament Poker and the Art of War. You can contact him by sending an e-mail to [email protected].
Amy: I have just started playing poker more seriously, so my play is pretty ABC and I'm still building up my confidence. I don't have a problem being a little more aggressive when I'm playing online, but when I play live, I still get a little intimidated. I also think that since I'm a woman, the aggressive players are pushing me around even more. What's the best way to handle these superaggressive players?
Scott: Well, there are a couple of ways you can go about slowing down an aggressive player. In a tournament situation, when you have position on the aggressive player, every once in a while when he raises, reraise all in with any two cards. If he is raising with everything, he will probably fold, and after a few times of having to fold, he may decide to stop raising and try another approach. However, by using this strategy, you are risking your tournament life. Now, when he has position on you, you can try limping when you get a big hand, letting him be the aggressor. After you win a few hands this way, he will most likely reconsider raising you when you limp, which will also enable you to bluff and steal down the road. Once you have played more and become a bit more experienced, you will get a feel for the right times to make these "moves."
Jim: I made it to the final table in a local tournament, and when we got down to three players, the short stack asked if we wanted to make a deal. I was second in chips and feeling pretty good about my play, but at that point the blinds were pretty high and I figured it would be all luck. We chopped according to our chip counts, but now, thinking back, I'm not sure I made the right decision. What is the general consensus amongst pros about making deals at the final table?
Scott: There are several factors that go into deciding whether or not to make a deal at a final table. A lot of it comes down to personal goals and character: If you are the type of person who is happy to make the money (or really needs to earn that guaranteed money) and not necessarily going for the win, you will want to make a deal when it gets down to the last few players. It is also a question of math, stack sizes, structure, and your confidence in your play.
If you are down to three players and the blinds are sky-high and it's a total crapshoot, it makes sense to do a three-way chop, because there basically is no longer much skill involved, and your chances of getting first or third are pretty much the same, so you might as well lock up the most amount of money you can.
However, if the structure is good and you have a chip lead, you might decide against making a deal. You also need to take into consideration the players you are up against and how you are feeling. If you are confident in your game and believe you have a good shot to win, it basically would be negative expected value to chop. If you are exhausted or don't think you are at the top of your game, by all means make a deal if you can. The bottom line is, there is no right or wrong answer. It is completely circumstantial and a business decision. Playing poker is about making the most amount of money possible, so evaluate the situation and decide whether or not making a deal is the best decision for you in any given tournament.
For comments or questions, please email Scott at [email protected].
The Tao of Poker
Don't dig yourself into a hole when you first sit down
If we had to pick a number one rule in poker, this might be a good candidate. It might not be the most important rule in poker, but it is a good first one. Try not to get way down, money-wise, right from the outset of the game. It is a lot less fun if you have to spend several hours digging yourself out of a hole you got yourself into in the early rounds of play. Start slow. Observe for a while. Give yourself time to watch the texture of the game unfold and see how players are playing in order to get yourself into the feel of it and the rhythm of it.
The notion of avoiding doing anything flashy until you get into the flow of things is not limited to poker; it's an idea we see in all sports. There is a cautious feeling-out process that takes place in the early going. Play conservatively until a rhythm develops that you can recognize and exploit, and then join in. Ease into the game. Don't get yourself stuck early.
In each issue, Card Player will get a little Eastern with excerpts from Larry "Wayno" Phillips' book The Tao of Poker: 285 rules to transform your game and your life. We hope his advice will provide enlightenment and lift games to another level everywhere.
Ask Jack
Want to know how a multimillion-dollar poker tournament is run? Have a question about a specific tournament poker rule or past ruling you've encountered?
Card Player is giving you the chance to pick the mind of one of the game's finest - Bellagio Tournament Director Jack McClelland. Send your questions to [email protected], and McClelland will share his 25-plus years of industry experience with you.
Jack received the following letter in response to an answer he gave in Vol. 19/No. 25 regarding a player who miscalled his hand, hoping that his opponent would muck. Dan Lovegren of Elk Grove, California, wrote in questioning Jack's answer, and it resulted in some interesting discourse:
Dan: Recall back to the "good old days" of poker, prior to the advent of hold'em, when lowball was the predominant game in California cardrooms (Back when the average age of seven-card stud players was not "deceased").
The rule in place, at least in the cardroom where I played, was essentially, "If a player miscalls his hand and another player mucks his hand as a result, the player who miscalled his hand forfeits all interest in the pot." That is, he loses. This rule was meant to control the actions of angle-shooters, as well as to quell any arguments that may erupt as a result of a player honestly misreading his hand.
So, your suggestion that the pot be split is out of order, even though you argued with some validity that the other player should not have been so anxious to muck his hand.
Jack: In the "good old days" of poker, I used to say "shuffle up and deal." Now, I give a two-minute speech about all of the things the players "can't and shouldn't do." Alas, the old days are gone. When making a decision in a cash game (which I rarely do these days), the goal is to get the pot to the best hand, if possible. If not, then try to make a friendly compromise, if possible, thus pacifying both players.
In this case, Player A did not expose his entire hand while miscalling it, and Player B prematurely threw his hand away. So, according to you, Player B should be awarded the pot because Player A miscalled his hand and did not fully expose his two cards. On the other hand, Player B broke a cardinal rule of poker by not protecting his own hand.
It seems fair to me that a split pot would be reasonable, to teach both players to be more careful. By doing this, you might keep two customers placated and playing in your room.
In this case, Player B was unhappy that he did not get the pot because he had no hand. He thought that he had been bamboozled. In all probability, you may lose him as a customer. With your decision, Player A (who may have miscalled his hand by mistake) would have the same sour taste in his mouth.
I stick by my decision to have the players split the pot, thereby teaching each a valuable lesson. Your points are valid, but in today's poker world, with so many new players, totally black and white rules are not feasible. In many decisions, there are several shades of gray, and different floorpeople will make different decisions.
Poker's Not Rocket Science; It's Harder
By Tim Peters
No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice by David Sklansky and Ed Miller (Two Plus Two Publishing, $29.95)
Ever since he published his first poker book (
Hold'em Poker, back in 1976, when the
World Series of Poker was still a gathering of road gamblers and Norman Chad was only thinking about his first wife), David Sklansky has been one of poker's greatest theoreticians. His
Theory of Poker is justly celebrated, and every serious hold'em student has to be familiar with
Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players, which he co-wrote with Mason Malmuth. With this new book, co-written with Ed Miller (
Getting Started in Hold'em), Sklansky has turned his formidable intelligence on the game du jour, no-limit Texas hold'em.
No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice is a terrific book - but it's not for the casual reader (and may not be for the casual player). It's complex, challenging, and difficult to process - which, come to think of it, makes it a lot like hold'em itself. It's not a how-to book in the classic "cookbook" sense; rather, as its name implies, it outlines a theoretical framework for thinking about the game. As Sklansky and Miller write, "We're not telling you, 'This is how you should play in this situation.' We're saying, 'Here's something to consider as you make your decision.'"
The authors take pains to acknowledge that many aspects of no-limit hold'em "are not theoretical in nature." Reading hands, knowing when and how to adjust to the table, how to use deception and get inside people's heads, or making "bad" plays that set up profitable future plays are concepts that can't be "taught" in any classic sense. You'll learn these skills through experience, though the authors touch on some of these ideas in this book.
Still, the fundamental elements of no-limit hold'em can be approached from a theoretical perspective - in particular, manipulating the pot size (forcing opponents to make bad mathematical calls, like overpaying for a flush draw) and adjusting to different stack sizes. If you are familiar with the authors' work, you won't be surprised to discover that they view these fundamentals largely in mathematical terms, but you might be surprised at some of the conclusions.
"Part One: Fundamentals" covers a wealth of topics, including raising (preflop and post-flop), "the blocking bet" (a pre-emptive strike to help you get the opportunity to see later streets more cheaply), and some of the considerations for making adjustments to loose games and players. They even offer a starting-hands guide, but with an important caveat: "hand values are extremely fluid in deep stack no limit." Sklansky and Miller include the best articulation of multiple-level thinking I've ever read, and the book features a long and terrific section on the advantages of playing short-stacked.
The second, and shorter, part of the book is titled "Concepts," and consists of 60 discrete ideas that are more tactical in nature. For example, "It's ok to limp in, planning to fold to a raise," which is very specifically a no-limit tactic (and terrible in limit hold'em); your implied odds in no-limit make limping a relatively cheap way to stack someone off. Another one I found useful was, "Your implied odds with any draw will be better the less obvious the draw
