Harrah's Expands 2007 World Series of Poker Schedule to 55 Events
Schedule Includes 13 'Championship' Events, Including Main Event
By Bob Pajich
It didn't seem like Harrah's could pack any more tournaments into the month-and-a-half poker festival that is known as the World Series of Poker, but it managed to do so with nine more events than last year, which shattered all attendance records and had people waiting in lines outside the Rio's Amazon room just to get a peek at the action. This year, 55 bracelets will be won, and it will cost $214,500 to play in all of the events, without any rebuys.
The WSOP kicks off June 1 with a $5,000 mixed-hold'em event, which features both limit and no-limit forms of the game. Also on that day, the $500 casino employees event will be held.
With such an ambitious schedule, almost all of the days between June 1 and July 6, which is the first day of the main event, have more than one tournament scheduled. On most days, either a $1,000 or $1,500 event is scheduled. On average, most of the tournaments have buy-ins of less than $2,500, and most of the events are multiday affairs. There are 18 events with buy-ins of $1,500, seven at $1,000, eight at $2,000, and four at $2,500, and all of them are multiday competitions.
More than 42,000 entrants from 56 countries played in last year's WSOP.
Harrah's also brought back many of the mixed-game tournaments that players asked for last year, including the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event (one of three H.O.R.S.E. events), a S.H.O.E. event, and two mixed-hold'em events.
The main event starts on July 6 with the first flight. The schedule lists the number of players at 3,000 for each starting day, but more players could possibly play. There will be three starting days, and then a day off (last year, there were four starting days).
"Day two" actually starts on the fifth day of the main event, when players will then play for six consecutive days. The day before the final table, which is scheduled to take place on Monday, July 17, is another day off.
Harrah's was able to cut down on the number of starting days because it will be able to run up to 300 tables at a time.
The Gaming Life Expo is scheduled to take place at the Rio from July 5 to July 8. Last year, more than 100,000 people visited the Expo.
'World Championship' Events
Harrah's is spreading 13 "world championship" events this year, including the main event. They are:
$5,000 mixed-hold'em two-day event, June 1
$5,000 seven-card stud three-day event, June 6
$5,000 pot-limit hold'em three-day event, June 8
$1,000 no-limit hold'em ladies three-day event, June 10
$5,000 limit hold'em three-day event, June 10
$3,000 seven-card stud eight-or-better three-day event, June 14
$5,000 heads-up no-limit hold'em three-day event, June 19
$5,000 Omaha eight-or-better three-day event, June 21
$50,000 H.O.R.S.E. five-day event, June 24
$1,000 seniors no-limit hold'em three-day event, June 25
$10,000 pot-limit Omaha two-day event, July 1
$5,000 no-limit deuce-to-seven draw lowball with rebuys two-day event, July 4
$10,000 no-limit hold'em main event, July 6
Caesars Palace Poker Room Setting Standards
New Management Introduces Changes for 2007
By Bob Pajich
The poker room at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is now one year old, and with the help of a new manager who carries with him a "customer first" philosophy as if it's a lucky charm, it is setting itself up to become a poker room to emulate.
Regular Caesars Palace players probably have noticed some changes that went into motion three months ago when Jim Pedulla came aboard as the poker room manager. They may have noticed an employee walking players to their seats and pulling out their chairs. They may have noticed dealers acting a little nicer, or the food service being a little quicker.
They have Pedulla to thank, although he says he was handed a great foundation upon which to build when he took the job four months ago.
With nearly 70 tables in a space that has set the standard for poker-room beauty - large glossy photos of boxers and champion racehorses hang on the walls, and the room sits back from the casino in its own bright space - Pedulla knew customer service was the key ingredient in elevating the room to a must-stop destination for poker players.
"The room was lacking passion," Pedulla said. "We have a beautiful room. Now we need to fill it."
Pedulla, who has been in the casino industry for 15 years, came into the room with the knowledge that treating the customer right - listening to what they want, being extra nice, keeping things clean, and making things as comfortable as possible - will win Caesars loyalty from the players.
He also worked to expand the tournament offerings and introduced a high-hand jackpot to the room, which went into effect at the beginning of 2007.
Changes to the mechanics of the games include limiting the number of players to a table to nine instead of 10, which makes things less crowded. Also, new players now don't have to post blinds whenever they're out of position during the first hand that they enter a game.
Caesars also added a second-chance jackpot to each of its daily tournaments. Everyone who plays in any of the daily tourneys will automatically be entered in a drawing that will take place an hour after the tournament ends. If the player whose name is drawn is playing in a live-action game at the time, he wins the jackpot. The jackpot is seeded with $100 from each tournament and grows until it's hit.
"Our philosophy is that there are a lot of poker enthusiasts out there who want to play in a classy room without being intimidated," Pedulla stated. "We treat our poker players like we treat our rollers."
Big First Half of 2007 Planned
A satellite for the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which takes place at Caesars in March, will be held Feb. 10. The buy-in for this multitable satellite is $230 with $200 rebuys and a $200 add-on. Two seats will be awarded as the other 62 players are invited.
A World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit event is scheduled to take place from April 22-May 2.
A Valentine's Day couples tournament will take place on Sunday, Feb. 11, at 2 p.m. The $225 buy-in tourney will feature each partner switching in the middle of each round.
New for 2007 is a Tuesday night ladies-only tournament. The $75 buy-in plus $5 add-on event takes place at 6 p.m. The winner also receives a $30 gift certificate to QUA Spa at Caesars.
Daily tournaments are held at noon ($80 with a $50 rebuy), 7 p.m. ($120 with a $100 rebuy), and 11 p.m. ($60 with a $10 add-on for the dealers). For more information, visit the Caesar Palace website at www.caesars.com.
The 'Write' Stuff Could Send You to Poker School
World Series of Poker Academy Now Accepting Essays for a Free Class Seat
By Bob Pajich
Players who want to get really good at their game should think about sharpening up their pencils and heading to an upcoming World Series of Poker Academy, scheduled to take place at several Harrah's casinos.
And those who can write persuasively might be able to win free tuition into one of the academies. The WSOP Academy is awarding "scholarships" to players who want to attend the poker schools. Interested players should submit an essay of 100 words or less on why they think they should be picked to receive the free tuition. The WSOP Academy plans on giving away a free tuition via the essay contest for each session it holds.
The deadline for essay submission for the next two-day class at Caesars Indiana, which takes place April 7-8, is March 15. Essays can be e-mailed to
[email protected]. The tuition normally is $1,699, and the academy will feature the instruction of Greg Raymer, Scott Fischman, Joe Navarro, and Alex Outhred.
After Caesars Indiana, the next scheduled WSOP Academy will be the "Main Event Primer," which will take place in Las Vegas sometime this summer. This will be a three-day session, featuring instruction by Phil Hellmuth, Fischman, Raymer, Navarro, Outhred, and others. The tuition for this session is $2,199.
Several more classes will take place later this year. The WSOP Academy is now working out the details.
The academies are run by Post Oak Productions, the creator of the popular Camp Hellmuth seminars that have taken place the last two years. The sessions focus on Texas hold'em and combine classroom lectures with observed, live-action field work. For more information about the WSOP Academy, visit wsopacademy.com.
PartyGaming Buys Empire Poker and Intercontinental Online Gaming
Empire Will Now Become an Investment Company
By Bob Pajich
PartyGaming's deal to buy online gaming site Empire Online and Intercontinental Online Gaming was completed at the end of December.
PartyGaming estimates the acquisitions will generate $8.5 million in revenue in 2007. The deal for both companies represents $66.3 million in PartyGaming shares.
Empire Online is now completely out of the gaming business. After the deal went through, the company announced that it will become an investment house once the sale is complete. The sale of Empire to PartyGaming depends on Empire shareholder approval, but the transaction was expected to be completed by the time you read this.
Intercontinental Online operated eight sites, including Magic Box Casino, Casino King, Swiss Casino, and Sunshine Bingo. Empire's biggest site was Noble Poker. Empire Poker's games were already powered by PartyGaming's software engine, and the site had many poker "skins" that serve thousands of players.
Shares of PartyGaming on the London Stock Exchange stayed at nearly the same value, 31.25 pence, after the announcement, while shares of Empire Online rose slightly from 42 pence to 44 pence the same day.
Poker Was King of All Search Terms in 2006
The Word Poker Comes Out on Top of the Lycos 50
By Bob Pajich
People searched for "poker" more than any other term in 2006.
In its annual "Top 50," the search engine Lycos.com announced that people dialed up its site and searched for poker more than anything else in 2006. Poker beat out MySpace (second), Pamela Anderson (fourth), Paris Hilton (fifth), golf (eighth), and many other terms to land on top. In 2005, poker was the third-most searched term.
The Lycos Top 50 is somewhat of a barometer for fads in America, but poker seems to have bypassed that label in the last few years with its consistent spot in the top 10 of the annual compilation. It's been in the top 10 for the last three years (10th in 2004), and only Anderson and Hilton have been there longer.
There's no set definition for when fads become a mainstay, but it seems that poker has done it, despite the fact that Lycos named poker the top fad in 2004, 2005, and 2006. It's also one of a handful of terms in the second tier of the "Lycos Elite," which is made up of terms that have been in the top 50 for at least 50 weeks.
More than 90 million people use Lycos to search the Internet each month.
Poker also came out on top in the toys-and-games category for the second straight year, with more people searching for poker chip sets or tables this holiday season than iPods, Barbies, or PlayStation 3s. Baccarat and blackjack also cracked the top-10 search list for toys and games.
During the last week of December, the word poker was the 16th most popular search term. Britney Spears topped the list, and Saddam Hussein, thanks to the leaked video of his hanging death, leaped into sixth position on the list.
Full Tilt Holding Poker After Dark Qualifiers
It's the Only Place to Win a Seat on the New TV Show
By Bob Pajich
Full Tilt Poker is now holding qualifiers to send players to compete with the pros on the new
NBC TV series
Poker After Dark. The only way to get on the show, besides making friends with the producers and then ponying up $20,000, is through Full Tilt Poker and its Full Tilt Point (FTP) qualifiers that are now running.
The championship event will take place on April 7 at 9:30 p.m. EST. Players can buy in directly to this event for 10,000 FTPs, but most will have qualified through the series of multitable and single-table sit-and-go tournaments. Entries to the qualifiers cost 100, 180, 360, and 600 FTPs.
Poker After Dark is a new series that recently premiered as part of
NBC's "Up All Night" lineup. It's an hour show, hosted by Shana Hiatt, and is broadcast Monday through Saturday at 2:05 a.m. EST. Each week, the show features six players putting up $20,000 to battle for the $120,000 prize. Saturday's show airs things that went on behind the scenes, additional interviews, and generally provides a different look at the participating players.
The players scheduled to compete are a who's who of the big-time poker world. Doyle Brunson, Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Chris Moneymaker, Annie Duke, Phil Laak, Ted Forrest, and many others are scheduled to appear on the new poker show.
Full Tilt's package is worth $25,000, which includes entry into the tournament and $5,000 for travel expenses and spending money. The show is sponsored by Full Tilt.
European Poker Tour Adds Two New Events
So Far, More Than $9.8 Million Has Been Won
By Bob Pajich
The European Poker Tour is becoming so popular that two more events have been added to its schedule for season three. Both new events will take place in March.
The new events in Poland and Germany bring the number of EPT events to nine. In its third season, the World Poker Tour held 12 open tournaments and a handful of invitationals.
Season three of the EPT started in September with the Barcelona Open, and will end on April Fool's Day with the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Other events will be held in England, Austria, Denmark, France, Ireland, and now Germany and Poland.
Each event thus far has been filled close to capacity (tournament directors cap events at 400 to 500 players). More than €7.5 million has been awarded in four events (that's approximately $9.8 million). The buy-ins for the events were all €5,000, and 1,598 players participated.
The two new events will take place at the Casino Hohensyburg in Dortmund, Germany, March 8-11, and at the Hyatt Regency in Warsaw, Poland, March 14-17.
Remaining events include the French Open at the Deauville Casino, Feb. 20-24; EPT Dortmund; EPT Warsaw; and the EPT Grand Final at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel, March 28-April 1.
Many pros that Americans would know through this magazine and television shows play in the events, including Gus Hansen, Joe Hachem, and Isabelle Mercier. Roland De Wolfe became the first player to win both an EPT and WPT event in October after taking down the Dublin Open. He won the WPT Grand Prix de Paris in 2005.
Invention Enables Handicapped Poker Players to View Holecards
MattVision Gives Freedom to Card Players Who Don't Have Use of Their Hands
By Bob Pajich
Chris Farrell and Dave Hofferber are two poker-playing plumbers from Nebraska. They play in the local bar league in Lexington, Nebraska, and also in an occasional home game. It's through these games that they met Matt Johnson, a quadriplegic poker player who inspired them to come up with a way to enable him to view his cards without relying on other players.
It's two years later, and they have MattVision, a box of mirrors that enables people with limited or no use of their hands to play card games without the help of others, except a dealer, who slides the cards into the front of the device.
Before MattVision, other players in the game had to show him his holecards while the rest of the table tried not to peek. Farrell said that oftentimes, one or both of Johnson's cards were exposed, tainting the game and, for Johnson, taking the pleasure out of poker.
"It was really frustrating for us. I can't imagine what it was like for him. You have to look at your cards several times, it's just part of the game," Farrell said. "I said, 'Why don't we just build a box with a mirror in it?'"
Johnson's disability also messed with his game, period.
"Before the device, I really didn't think about it all that much, how much of a disadvantage it was to me," Johnson stated. "It's kind of natural to glance."
So, on their own, Farrell and Hofferber set out to build the device to enable Johnson to play poker with the help of only a dealer.
MattVision contains two mirrors that perfectly reflect the holecards to the eyes of the player in need. It's not much bigger than a child's jewelry box, but the design took many extra hours in the back of the plumbing shop to perfect. Farrell says they nailed it.
"There's just no way for anyone else to see his cards," he said. "It opens up a whole new door for him and anyone who can't use their hands."
There are plenty of people like Johnson who could use this device. It's estimated that there are 75,000 to 100,000 quadriplegics in America, and after the two business partners visited local nursing homes to see if residents would be interested in using their device, they wound up designing a MattVision that can hold up to 13 cards for games like gin.
Johnson, who was paralyzed when he was 20 in an ATV accident, recently used his MattVision at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs. Whenever he wanted to play there before, he had to have his mother sit behind him to help. Now, he can go by himself.
"It is just a really great invention. I should've been the one to think of it, but these guys, Chris and Dave, kind of went out of their way," Johnson said. "They knew that it wasn't really bothersome for other people, but they saw, I think, that it was something that was distracting to me and wasn't making the game as fair as they thought it should be for me."
Johnson's hope is that several MattVisions will be available in every cardroom in the country. The device is available for purchase. Please visit www.mattvision.com for more information.
Chip & Karina
Editor's note: This is the first of two columns by Chip Jett dedicated to tournament concerns.
I usually am not an activist. In fact, I detest confrontation so much that I usually am happy to take slightly the worst of it in many daily transactions in order to ensure a peaceful existence. However, a couple of tournament issues recently have surfaced that I believe need to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Tournament poker is a game of information and decisions, and the ability to gather information to make better decisions is a major difference between long-term winners and losers. Any rules or procedures that allow individuals to exploit flaws in the system to gain an edge should be eliminated.
Tournament seating is an area where players should have no way to determine their opponents or their position in relation to those opponents. Random seating is implemented by releasing blocks of tables based on the expected number of players in the event. For example, if tournament officials are expecting 200 players, they will release 20 10-player tables but hold out the No. 5 seat at all tables. Then, if the 200-player estimate looks accurate, those seats are released.
If the field appears to be bigger than estimates, another block of tables should be released and the same procedure followed. After the event starts, empty seats should be filled from broken tables. This method ensures that no edge can be obtained when you sign up. But to do this, you need tournament staff to pay enough attention to be able to accurately estimate the number of participants. If the estimate is off, the tables need to be quickly broken down so that no tables are one or two players short for any length of time.
A problem arises when extra tables are released one by one, and the seats are distributed in order, and players can gain position at the table by cutting in line. For example, if Phil Ivey is behind you in line, you can simply step out of line and get back in behind him to be seated behind him. This also opens up possibilities for teams of players to sit together. The bottom line is, no one should have more information or gain a tactical advantage by changing the order that he signs up.
In the next issue, read about Chip's concerns with tournament redraws. Please send any comments or questions to
[email protected].
The Circuit
CardPlayer.com's hit radio show
The Circuit brings you updates, interviews, and strategy from the biggest names in poker.
The Circuit broadcasts from all
World Poker Tour events.
The following is Chris Moneymaker's advice on the most important elements in becoming a winning poker player, as broadcast on
The Circuit from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
"My first advice would be to make sure you have a backup plan, because what you see on TV is great and it looks glamorous - and a lot of it is - but winning the everyday grind of it is really tough. People don't realize what it is to be a professional poker player. They think it's going on TV and winning millions of dollars, and having all sorts of women running around with you, but it's not really that. It's sitting there hour after hour. You do have a job in grinding it out at the tables.
"Winning a tournament, especially these days, is so hard. The fields are just getting better and better and bigger and bigger. You must have a backup plan. You must finish school and make sure that you have an education and something to fall back on if it doesn't pan out for you."
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Player of the Year
Players had a whole 17 days to recover from the Bellagio
Five-Diamond Poker Classic, not to mention New Year's Eve, before they had to start thinking about what 2007 might bring for them. For those who think they could follow Michael Mizrachi's footsteps and win a
Card Player Player of the Year (POY) title, it means a whole year dedicated to pretty much nothing other than major tournament poker.
And the year again starts out fast. By the time this issue of
Card Player hits the cardrooms across the land, four major tournaments already will have been played in January alone: the
Aussie Millions, the
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a
World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit event in Tunica, Mississippi, and the Borgata
Winter Poker Open. At the conclusion of these tournaments, their top finishers will find themselves packed on top of the POY leader board, and the race officially will have started.
In both 2005 and 2006, Mizrachi came out of the gate fast (something he says he always does) and took a substantial lead in the POY race, only to see it get whittled away by a variety of different players. In 2005, Men "The Master" Nguyen took over the lead during the last month by gathering points in as many smaller tournaments as he could fit into his schedule. In 2006, Mizrachi was able to hold off a handful of players in November and December to claim his first title.
Will the race be as exciting as it was the last two year? We can only hope so, but one thing's certain: Any player who dreams about the POY title has plenty of work to do. Players have big shoes to fill, but, fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities to do it in 2007.
Look Out!
Noah Boeken was mentored by Marcel Luske, and came to poker via the card game Magic: The Gathering. He's one of the players to watch out for in 2007. Although only 25, he has years of tournament experience, and even made a final table in a
European Poker Tour event with Luske back in 2004. He had five cashes in 2006, and came very close to making the final-table in three major events. If Boeken manages to get over the final-table hump in 2007, he will be a man to watch in the POY race.
A Little Bit of History
The first Player of the Year title was awarded for the year 1997, and it was won by none other than that diminutive powerhouse Men Nguyen. Nguyen is truly a master at the POY race, winning it four out of the first 10 years of the contest (1997, 2001, 2003, and 2005).
T.J. Cloutier has won the title twice, in 1998 and 2002. He followed Nguyen both times. Tony Ma won the title in 1999, and David Pham followed him in 2000. After Nguyen won his third title in 2003, Daniel Negreanu won it in 2004, only to see Nguyen reclaim it in 2005. Now that Mizrachi is the champion, we'll see if Nguyen can reclaim his title once again. If that happens, the POY award might have to be renamed in The Master's honor.
Online Hand-to-Hand Combat: Gordon Vayo Trusts His Read
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 you can check out live video commentary provided by the pros and PokerXfactor.com at www.CardPlayer.com/h2hc.
Craig Tapscott: The
Sunday Million event has a tough field, and a huge one.
Gordon Vayo: Yes, it is. This hand is early on at the final table. I came to the final table second in chips.
Preflop: Holla@yoboy (Gordan Vayo) raises to $999,999 from the cutoff with the K
J
. Villain calls from the big blind.
Flop: A
Q
6
($2,379,998); Villain bets $800,000.
CT: Were you surprised he bet into the raiser?
GV: I'm expecting a check from the big blind, but instead, I'm facing a bet of $800,000. It's a pretty small bet into a pot of about $2.5 million. This was the first hand I had played with the Villain all tourney.
CT: What do you put him on at this point?
GV: I immediately put him on either a draw or a weak made hand, because I really don't think he is betting out a big hand here after calling a preflop raise from out of position. I decide to call to try to take it away from him on a later street, unless, of course, I hit my straight.
CT: You've made some big final tables before with huge payouts. Experience has to count for something in this situation.
GV: Yes. And the
Sunday Million on Stars is the biggest tournament around, and most players are extremely nervous if and when they do make the final table, and try to move up pay spots to make more money. This money can be life-changing for them as the pay escalates.
Holla@yoboy calls $800,000.
Turn: 7
GV: I consider this to be a good card for me, as it is very unlikely that it improved his hand.
Villain bets $1.2 million.
CT: This is another small bet relative to the pot. What now?
GV: He leaves himself with roughly $3.5 million. I decide to stick with my gut that he doesn't have a big made hand and I don't think he can call off with a draw here. Also, from his perspective, I believe I represent a very big hand. So, I decide to push. After he thinks for a while, I'm even more confident with my read and am fully expecting a fold.
Holla@yoboy raises all in to $8,466,739. Villain calls $3,408,536.
GV: However, he makes a very good call with A-2, I miss my four-outer, and I am on the losing end of a big pot.
Villain wins the $13,197,070 pot.
CT: That's certainly not the result you were aiming for.
GV: I still believe I played the hand well, and fully expected him to fold a hand like A-2, but that's the nature of poker. Even if I could see his cards, I think I could make a very good point for playing the hand the exact same way. Sometimes you can't do anything besides play every hand to the best of your ability and trust your read and your gut.
To see this hand animated and narrated with additional analysis by holla@yoboy, visit www.CardPlayer.com/h2hc.
Gordon (holla@yoboy) Vayo has made the final table of the Stars Sunday Million twice, finishing fourth and eighth for a combined $65,000, and continues to finish deep in the larger buy-in tournaments.
2007 Starts With a Bang
By Shawn Patrick Green
PokerStars Back to its Old Habits
PokerStars can't be trusted to not regress back into old habits, and that's a good thing. The PokerStars
Sunday Million tournament had a slowdown of sorts in December. After continuously breaking its own record for most entrants/biggest prize pool week after week, the tournament's attendance finally started slipping just a bit. It could have been a holiday-season lag or it could have meant the initial surge of disenfranchised players migrating from PartyPoker was over and the tournaments would start a downward trend.
2007, My Hero!
The first
Sunday Million of 2007 proved that the tournament has no intention of slowing down permanently anytime soon. The tournament had a record 7,129 players on Jan. 7, resulting in a massive prize pool of more than $1.4 million. First place stood to be worth a cool $201,000, and even the second-place finisher nabbed a six-figure payday. The entire final table progressed without a deal-discussion break, a rarity at the
Sunday Million, and ch0ppy, the eventual winner, took home the full first-place prize.
Full Tilt Raises its Guarantee (Again)
Full Tilt Poker had recently updated its biggest weekly tournament's guarantee from $250,000 to $350,000. Well, it seems even that number wasn't high enough, and Full Tilt has since opted to kick off 2007 with a revised $400,000 weekly event. The truth be told, that new number shows that Full Tilt still doesn't have enough faith in its tournament, especially since the inaugural run actually brought in 2,576 players, generating a $515,200 prize pool. Like the PokerStars
Sunday Million, this colossus shows no signs of shrinking.
Crazy Over Overlays
Overlay tournaments seem to be the rage at the moment. Both Bodog and Mansion Poker, in particular, have recently put forth some massive guaranteed tournaments that have translated into huge overlays for players.
Mansion started a promotion in which a $100 buy-in $100,000-guaranteed tournament will be offered every day. The tournament regularly lures around 500 entrants, making for a hefty $50,000 overlay.
Bodog has a $70,000-guaranteed tournament every Tuesday that has been consistently falling short on entrants and often offers tens of thousands of dollars in overlays. Bodog also has many other guaranteed tournaments that result in overlays, making for a lot of dead money at the site, which is a good thing for players.
To take advantage of these massive overlay tournaments, follow these links:
Mansion - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etmansion
Bodog - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etbodog
Final-Table Star Poker
JohnnyBax Makes a Final Table
Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy made a final table at the UltimateBet $200,000-guaranteed tournament during 2007's first weekend of poker. He sat at the table in seventh place in chips, but he got down to the felt after just one elimination.
On a flop of Q
J
8
, he pushed all in and was called by his lone opponent. He showed pocket eights for a set and his opponent held tens. Josephy's opponent drew out on him with a 9 on the river to complete a gutshot-straight draw and bust him out in ninth place ($3,500).
Internet Phenom DSnyder766 Snags Second
Internet poker sensation Derek "DSnyder766" Snyder came very close to taking down the new $400,000-guaranteed tournament at Full Tilt, eventually coming in second. Heads-up play was close, and the last hand was a crushing defeat when DSnyder766 pushed all in on a flop of A
5
4
. The Omaholic called and showed 7-2 offsuit and DSnyder766 had the lead with the A
3
. A 3 on the turn gave DSnyder766 two pair, but it also completed a gutshot-straight draw for The Omaholic to win the hand.
DSnyder766 made $58,000 for second place, while The Omaholic raked in $95,000 for first.
Get a Piece of the Action!
Players who want to take a shot at the huge prize pools and take part in record- breaking events should follow these links:
PokerStars - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etpokerstars
Full Tilt Poker - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etfulltilt
UltimateBet - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etultimatebet
AbsolutePoker - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etabsolute
Online Tournament Results, Dec. 24-Jan. 7
PokerStars Sunday Million
Dec. 24
Winner: Bhoth
Winnings: $119,350 *
Prize pool: $1,000,000
Entrants: 4,125
Dec. 31
Note: This event had a special, one-time $1,000 buy-in
Winner: dim--tix
Winnings: $232,845
Prize pool: $1,083,000
Entrants: 1,083
Jan. 7
Winner: ch0ppy
Winnings: $201,038
Prize pool: $1,425,800
Entrants: 7,129
* Payout reflects a deal made at the final table.
Full Tilt Poker $400,000 Guaranteed
Jan. 7
Winner: The Omaholic
Winnings: $94,513
Prize pool: $515,200
Entrants: 2,576
Full Tilt Poker $300,000 Guaranteed
Dec. 24
Winner: TheDustyMan
Winnings: $56,400
Prize pool: $276,600
Entrants: 1,383
Full Tilt Poker $250,000 Guaranteed
Dec. 31
Winner: Zufunft979
Winnings: $53,843
Prize pool: $286,400
Entrants: 1,432
UltimateBet $200,000 Guaranteed
Note: UltimateBet canceled its regularly scheduled $200,000-guaranteed tournament on New Year's Eve.
Dec. 24
Winner: Kip88
Winnings: $47,000
Prize pool: $200,000
Entrants: 624
Jan. 7
Winner: t1mmen
Winnings: $45,000
Prize pool: $200,000
Entrants: 981
Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed
Dec. 24
Winner: papadelpoker
Winnings: $25,000
Prize pool: $100,000
Entrants: 567
Dec. 31
Winner: 1ManCrew
Winnings: $25,000
Prize pool: $100,000
Entrants: 738
Jan. 7
Winner: Bjartur
Winnings: $25,000
Prize pool: $100,000
Entrants: 990
Michael Martin
Quiet, but Deadly
By Craig Tapscott
Tournament players receive all the glory: television appearances, trophies, and autograph-seeking railbirds. The truth be told, the cash-game experts quietly make all the money. It's really no secret. Ask any top pro who excels in both; Brunson, Reese, and Ivey enjoy the competition of the big tournaments, but reap the profits in the cash games.
Michael Martin began with a passion for cash games. When he began playing poker during his sophomore year at Penn State, he stalked the top online pros with a vengeance. "I would watch bigslick789 (Aurangzeb Sheikh) and TheTakeover (Nick Schulman) nonstop," said Martin. "I knew at that time that those two were the best in the game. They were good at all forms - cash and tournaments."
Martin (aka Martine23 online) would sit quietly and creatively apply the skills he had gleaned to climb up into the biggest no-limit cash games - and win. Eventually, he made the transition to tournaments with great success, including a win in a FullTiltPoker Sunday event for $54,000 last summer.
In 2007, Martin plans to hit the live tournament circuit. Why not? That's where all the juicy cash games are in spades.
Craig Tapscott: What did you learn by watching these top guys online?
Michael Martin: I discovered consistency in their betting patterns. It was really hard to ever pick up anything different because they were always putting in the same amount. And there was no tilt factor in them. If they lost a big pot in a cash game, they used it to their advantage rather than going on tilt.
CT: You eventually got to talk with a few of these top players.
MM: Yes, I did. A lot of people have a misconception of what poker is. There is a right way and a wrong way to look at the game. They looked at it the right way. They would be talking strategy and not complaining about bad beats. When they lost money, they understood that was part of the game. From this, I learned the right mental state that you need to make it.
CT: Explain how a cash-game expert approaches things a bit differently.
MM: They have a very good understanding of the long term, compared to multitable tournament players. When I sit down in a cash game, I understand that I'm not ever guaranteed a winning session, and a losing session can actually work to my advantage.
CT: How so?
MM: Opponents see that I'm losing. They automatically will put me on tilt. If you can put forth the image that you're on tilt, you'll get paid off quite a bit in a cash game.
CT: Talk about setting up opponents with aggressive play.
MM: A lot of players will get tired of aggression. You can almost set them up so that second pair or top pair, no kicker becomes a big hand for you. Why? Because they won't believe you and you can induce bluffs by checking. They see the aggression and think, "He's checking here, and I can finally win a pot from this guy." They don't give me credit for a hand.
CT: What are the multitable tournament players missing in their cash-game play?
MM: The main problem they have is dealing with the swings of cash games. Other than that, I think it's post-flop play; a lot of times, they survive off just being good preflop players. To be a good cash-game player, you have to play post-flop. You actually have to be better. That is why cash-game players make the transition so much easier to multitable tournaments rather than vice versa. But cash games are more profitable for any winning cash-game player. There is no money like cash-game money.
Colclough Demonstrates the Semibluff
By Mike Sexton, the 'Ambassador of Poker' and Commentator for the World Poker Tour
One of the great things about the
World Poker Tour is that it truly brings out the best players from all over the world. In this
Grand Prix de Paris event, five top international players advanced to the final table, including two members of the European Poker Hall of Fame - Surinder Sunar and Ben Roberts from England. Also at this final table from England was Dave Colclough, a former "European Player of the Year," as well as two tough, talkative players - Tony Roche from Ireland and Tony G from Australia.
Preflop: This hand features the continuation bluff (betting on one street with nothing and firing again on the next street) and the beauty of the semibluff (betting, hoping to win the pot right there, but having outs in case you get called). Antes were $2,000 with the blinds at $6,000-$12,000. The action was folded around to Sunar, who limped in with J-10 offsuit. Tony G folded on the button, Colclough called from the small blind with the 7
3
, and Roche took the free flop with 10-7 offsuit.
Flop: The flop came A-9-8 offsuit and Colclough led right out for $30,000 with his pitiful 7-3. Neither of his opponent's had raised before the flop, so Colclough didn't give them credit for having an ace and took a stab at bluffing at the pot. His logic was spot on regarding them not holding an ace, but both of his opponents had flopped an open-end straight draw and called.
Turn: The 10
came on the turn, which was a good card for Colclough, as it gave him an open-end straight draw and a flush draw. The decision for him now was whether to bet or not to bet. Even though both opponents had called him on the flop, Colclough showed a lot of "heart" and moved all in.
This play is a perfect example of a semibluff. You know you don't have the best hand, but you make a bet and hope to pick up the pot right there; if you get called, you have outs to win the pot regardless of what your opponent has. (Yes, if one of them had the Q
J
, Colclough would be drawing dead, but that seemed highly unlikely.)
When used properly, the semibluff is a very effective play. Here, Roche and Sunar paired their 10 on the turn and had an open-end straight draw, yet both folded. What made Colclough's play even more impressive was that he made it against the two chip leaders. In addition to showing a lot of heart in picking up this pot, Colclough followed that old poker axiom: If you're going to check and call, you're far better off to lead out and bet yourself.
Colclough gets kudos for the way he played this hand, but hats off to Surinder Sunar, as he captured the title.
The Pursuit of Victory
I love watching those
ESPN interviews during the
World Series of Poker when players are asked if they are playing for the money or the bracelet. Without exception, everyone always answers that the money means nothing and that winning the bracelet is the only thing that matters. Now, I'm sure that for some, that's a truthful statement. For others, it's disingenuous. For me, it would be an outright falsehood. Let me explain my answer in more detail, as it affects the way I play at every level.
Before the exploding popularity of tournament poker, there was only one way to keep score on the felt. You were either up or down, making money or losing money. Poker success was measured over the long term. Everyone could expect losing sessions, but at the end of the year, if you were a winning player, you could expect the variance to level out and you would find yourself comfortably in the black.
Tournament poker has changed all of that. Many recreational players now measure their success based on their tournament success. If they make the final table or even win a $50 tournament, they feel validated as a poker player even if they are losing money overall. Others will spend countless dollars in pursuit of that elusive tournament victory. Still others will measure success based on how well they perform. I've heard people brag that they outlasted more than half the field, as if that somehow means that they are better than 50 percent of the contestants. I usually can't resist pointing out that I could register, take my seat and leave before the first hand is dealt, and probably outlast half the field before I was blinded out.
The bigger point here is that we shouldn't forget the bottom line of playing, which is to make money. If you are playing in a big multitable tournament, you should be playing to win, as that is where the big money is. Just making the money won't provide much of a return. Yet, once at the final table, I'm looking to maximize my winnings. If each place I advance is a significant step up, I'm looking to outlast as many others as I can, and I'm not afraid to make deals once we're down to a few players. (In the main event of the 2006
WSOP, the difference between seventh and sixth place was more than $400,000, which is more than 40 times the buy-in.) Conversely, if I'm playing a one-table sit-and-go that pays the top three, I'll do what I can to make that top three as third place will typically be 20 percent of the prize pool, which is a decent return on my investment.
In today's sports, there is a tendency to hail the victor and categorize everyone else as a failure. Trophies, rings, and bracelets are nice, but poker is not football or basketball. One championship doesn't mean anything if you are still losing money. Conversely, a slew of second- and third-place finishes may mean a lot if it contributes to your making money overall. In today's environment, you can play poker tournaments around-the-clock. Don't let a victory or two fool you if you are still losing money. I'm all for pursuing victory as long as it doesn't cloud your judgment. Play to win - money, that is.
David Apostolico is the author of numerous books on poker, including Lessons from the Felt, Lessons from the Pro Poker Tour, and Tournament Poker and The Art of War. You can contact him at [email protected].
Instead of answering questions, in this column I want to discuss a hand I played recently. I hope you will be able to take something from the experience I had and apply it to your own play.
Bellagio: $1,000 buy-in tournament
Blinds: $100-$200 with $25 ante
One minute remained until the blinds went up to $200-$400 with a $25 ante.
The cards were dealt and the tournament director announced that there would be a redraw after this hand. I was in middle position with $2,225 in chips and 9
8
. Player A had a $7,000 stack and raised from early position to $750. Player B, on his left with a $12,000 stack, called. What should I do in this situation?
I pushed all in for $1,475 more for the following reasons:
Reason No. 1 - The fact that the blinds are going up leaves me very short-stacked (only five big blinds). With that stack, I'm going to need to be pushing in before the blinds go up, but since there is a redraw, there is a chance I could draw the big blind and my tournament would be over unless I got very lucky.
Reason No. 2 - If both players don't fold preflop, there is a very high chance that Player A will reraise all in, attempting to knock player B out and isolate me. Player A just calling the $1,475 is more unlikely, because he has only about $6,000 left, and if he has some middle-range hand, calling $1,475 is not a good play, and I know him to be a decent player.
Reason No. 3 - If Player A does just call my all in, there is a good chance that Player B will now reraise all in if he makes the same assumption that I made about the strength of Player A's hand, and comes to the conclusion that Player A is weak and that by raising all in, he can get him to fold and isolate me, since he has a big enough stack to overcome a loss to Player A if Player A is trapping with A-A or K-K. If B thinks that A is not trapping, an all in from B would be perfect and quite valuable.
Reason No. 4 - I know that Player B does not flat-call preflop with monsters, and that Player A's range of hands is very large when raising from early postition. It's large enough to include any pair, any two paints, and even small suited connectors. There is also a pretty good chance that A and B are holding a similar range of hands and have each other's cards.
For example, if they both have something like A-J, my 9
8
becomes a lot stronger mathematically. This being the case, I do actually think there is small chance that both players will fold to my all in.
One of the most vital components of poker is paying attention and observing every factor available while playing. The reason I chose to discuss this hand was not only to explain why I pushed all in with the 9
8
, but also to show how valuable the isolation play is against a short stack. I know this may sound like a lot to think about in the short amount of time that you have to act in a tournament situation, but I'm asking you to put yourself in the shoes of each player and understand why each made the decision he made before making your own decision.
In case you are wondering how the hand turned out (even though the result is irrelevant because, in my opinion, I made the right play), both players just flat-called, which really did surprise me, because it was a big bet, and most of the time one of the players would have isolated me, as I mentioned earlier. I ended up making a full house and went from $2,225 to more than $7,000, giving myself a good chance to win the tournament.
Send your questions to Scott at [email protected].
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.
E-mail your questions to [email protected], and McClelland will share his 25-plus years of industry experience with you.
Tim K.: This is sort of a morbid question: Is there a standard procedure if a player dies or is incapacitated during a tourney? Would the procedure be the same early or late in a tourney, or if the player died overnight during a multiday event?
Thanks for a great column.
Jack: There are always extraordinary circumstances, but generally, if a player is incapacitated early in a tournament, I will refund his money. In the late stages of a tournament, he would be blinded off and finish in the position he was in when his chips were finally gone. If a person passed away, I would use the same guidelines.
In the World Series of Poker, once, Lyle Berman had to go to the hospital and was blinded off before he was able to play again. Also, one year in the WSOP championship event, Stu Ungar failed to show and was blinded off, finishing in the money. Later on, it was determined that he was ill and in the hospital.
John: I was playing in a recent tournament and squeezed my downcards until I spotted two eights. I raised, and all of the players mucked their hands. It was a casual table, and someone asked, "What did you have?"
I flipped over my cards and there were two eights and a deuce. Unbeknownst to me and the dealer, the third card had stuck to one of the eights.
The floorman declared me the winner since everyone had mucked. A few of the players objected that the hand should be declared void and replayed.
How would you have ruled?
Jack: No one had his correct cards, so it should've been a misdeal.
Ken: 1. What is the ruling on players calling or raising out of turn? Are they bound by their actions?
2. Many poker rooms allow a straddle "under the gun" during cash play. What is the rule when someone raises before the straddle? Is the straddle nullified or does the straddle still have last action?
Jack: 1. In tournament play, a raise out of turn is not binding. However, continued abuse will result in penalties.
In cash games, many casinos make the player raise when the action reaches him, unless a previous player raises ahead of him.
2. The straddle is nullified.
Practical Advice for Texas Hold'em
By Tim Peters
52 Tips for No-Limit Texas Hold'em Poker by Barry Shulman (CardPlayer Press, $14.95)
In the last issue, I reviewed the new book from David Sklansky and Ed Miller,
No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice, a rigorous, analytical, and very sophisticated approach to the "Cadillac of poker games." I noted that it was terrific, but also that it was "complex, challenging, and difficult to process." For this issue, I'm tackling a completely different kind of book - and for many players and readers, Barry Shulman's
52 Tips for No-Limit Texas Hold'em Poker is a more accessible and ultimately more useful approach to the game.
Shulman begins with a very quick overview of the mec
