Player of the Year Top 10 Populated by Pros
First Quarter of the Year is Over and It's Still Anyone's Title
By Bob Pajich
About a quarter of the year is over, and the
Card Player Player of the Year (POY) race is shaping up to be a battle of the hardened pros. James Van Alstyne, J.C. Tran, Bill Edler, Ted Forrest, John Hennigan, J.J. Liu, and Randy Holland all are in the top 10 with at least 1,500 points, but with so many months to go, all of these players have a ton of work to do to win the title.
Van Alstyne has had a great start in 2007. With six cashes and a feature spot on top of the POY leader board with 2,848 points, he has set himself up to possibly win the whole thing. His ascension is similar to last year's POY champion, Michael Mizrachi, who leaped to the top of the list with a few big wins early in the year. So far, Van Alstyne's made four final tables and won $573,022 in tournaments this year.
Van Alstyne moved past J.C. Tran into the top spot by finishing fourth in the Bay 101
Shooting Star championship. Superstar Tran has 2,064 points and has won $1.3 million so far this year. Most of that came from his second-place finish in the
L.A. Poker Classic (
LAPC) main event, where he collected about $1.2 million.
Tran also finished sixth at the
World Poker Open, which means that he made two
World Poker Tour final tables in a row.
Bill Edler has been a tournament regular since around 2005, and like Van Alstyne, he's never started a year the way he has started 2007. Edler has cashed five times for more than $704,000. He won the
Heads-Up Championship that took place at Crystal Casino ($215,000), took seventh at the
LAPC ($189,000), and finished sixth at the Bay 101
Shooting Star ($160,000). He's third on the leader board with 1,936 points.
Ted Forrest sits right behind Edler with 1,925 points. All but five of those points came from winning the Bay 101
Shooting Star. He won $1.1 million for that victory.
John Hennigan trails Forrest by five points. He won all of his 1,920 points (as well as $1.6 million in cash) by winning the
Winter Poker Open. He also cashed in the $5,000 no-limit hold'em event there for a little more than $7,000.
J.J. Liu is the only woman in the top 39 players on the POY list. Her second-place finish at the Bay 101
Shooting Star earned her $600,000 and 1,600 points, which is good for the seventh slot on the list. She also cashed in the $1,500 no-limit hold'em event at the
LAPC for $11,030.
Right behind Liu is Randy Holland with 1,614 points. Holland, whose list of tournament wins at CardPlayer.com goes 14 pages deep, already has made eight final tables this year. He cashed five times alone at the
LAPC. He won the $1,000 pot-limit hold'em event at the
World Poker Open for $51,971, which was good for 408 points. He also earned 408 points for finishing third in the $1,000 no-limit hold'em shootout event at the
LAPC.
If he keeps that up, he'll nickel and dime his way right into the lead. If he wins a major event, he will be tough to catch, as long as he continues cashing in any way that he can.
To view the entire top 10, continue reading the Inside Straight below.
Amateurs Beat the Pros at Wynn Poker Classic
Zachary Hyman Wins First Major Event
By Rich Belsky
Matusow. Chan. Mizrachi. Giang. Fischman. Lawson.
Chris Roos? Zachary Hyman? Chris Moore?
With one of the most stacked final tables in recent memory assembled at the 2007
Wynn Classic championship event, all eyes were on the superstars. Four hours later, those eyes fell on four unknowns, battling their hearts out for not only their first major cash, but their first major championship.
The players in the $10,000 buy-in championship event began with $20,000 in chips, and the chip leader going to the final day was Chris Roos. He began the day with $888,000.
Among the other unknowns, Hyman sat quietly all day on the right arm of Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, respectfully chatting him up while reraising the voice right out of him. Hyman had no major cashes up to this point and began the day with $279,000. Moore, who spent the majority of the day directly to The Mouth's left, was the only amateur with any prior cashes. His lifetime earnings, prior to this event, totaled $20,488. Moore played a much quieter, patient style, waiting to pick off the aggressive players to his left. He began the day as the short stack with $222,000.
Chau Giang was the first elimination ($34,571). All in preflop, Giang's A-J got gobbled by Hyman's kings. Not long thereafter, Scott Fischman nailed a gutshot straight on the turn to all but send Johnny Chan to the rail. Moore finished Chan off shortly thereafter in eighth place ($38,412).
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi was the next to go after reraising all in with pocket sixes. Moore called with the Q
10
, flopped a queen, and sent the stunned Grinder home in seventh place ($48,015). The next participant in the rail march of the pros was Fischman. After being crippled by Moore's A-K against his pocket queens, Roos finished Fischman off in sixth place with pocket tens against A-5 ($57,618).
After a Roos raise from late position, a short-stacked Matusow moved all in from the big blind. Roos called instantly and showed pocket queens to Matusow's 5-2 offsuit. The board brought no relief to The Mouth and he was bounced in fifth place ($76,824).
After several more hours of play, Hyman emerged the champion of the 2007
Wynn Classic, and was three-quarters of a million dollars richer. Ted Lawson made a nice score as the runner-up, earning $384,120. Moore finished third ($192,060), and Chris Roos fourth ($103,712).
Notes From World Series of Poker Teleconference
With Series Right Around the Bend, Harrah's is Gearing Up
By Bob Pajich
The bigwigs of the
World Series of Poker held a conference call recently to check in with the world about the quickly approaching big daddy of all poker tournaments.
The 55-bracelet 2007
WSOP will run from June 1 to July 17.
"We're thrilled that we're going to be in the tournament business with you shortly," said
WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.
The 45-minute call outlined several changes to this year's
WSOP. The changes ranged from amount of starting chips in many of the events to how the dealers will be trained so as not to have a repeat of last year, when several thousand extra chips were discovered to be in play during the main event (Harrah's said the chips mistakenly entered play while changing out the smaller-denomination chips).
This year, about 300 Las Vegas-based dealers will be trained and certified in all of the games that are scheduled to be played this year. The Las Vegans will handle most of the dealing duties at the
WSOP, while the Harrah's dealers who will come in from properties outside of Vegas will be used to fill their shifts at Harrah's other Las Vegas properties.
Another change that players will notice is that Harrah's decided to double the amount of starting chips this year. That means that instead of $1,000 in starting chips in the $1,000 events, players will start with $2,000 in chips in order to give them more play. This will affect only the events with buy-ins of $10,000 or lower.
Also, a wing will be built next to the Amazon room to accommodate more tables and players. The total number of tables used for tournament play will be 258.
Officials also announced that they're making plans to host 10,000 players for the main event (8,773 people played in it last year). Pollack wanted to be clear that the event won't be capped at 10,000, but that's pretty much the maximum number of players that Harrah's is expecting.
On the business side of the
WSOP, officials warned anyone who is using the WSOP trademark without permission that they will be aggressively pursued and forced to stop. All sports leagues aggressively protect their copyrights and trademarks, and now the
WSOP will do the same.
Although Harrah's is loosening its rules on wearing logos, like last year, it will prohibit clothing and logos that have the "dot-com" suffixes. Logos from sites that are still serving the U.S. will be permitted as long as they are "dot-net" sites. Also, the "net" in the logo must be as large as the name of the site.
"One thing for certain, it will be enforced this year," Pollack said.
Officials also said that they will not accept entries from poker sites, which is the same policy as last year. To get around this, sites simply gave their online qualifiers cash to register for the events.
Ladies Professional Poker Tour Begins
Ranking System for Women Established
By Kristy Arnett
The Ladies Poker Association has launched the first
Ladies Professional Poker Tour.
The LPA gave away a seat for the first stop on the
LPPT, the $560 buy-in ladies event in the
Winnin' o' the Green poker series at The Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Ladies were able to register for a free membership in the LPA on LadiesPokerAssociation.com to become eligible for the drawing.
Crystal Osgood-Gray, founder and president of the LPA, was the winner of the 2006
L.A. Poker Classic ladies event. The lack of recognition that she received for her first-place finish prompted her to find out what other women thought of their place in the poker world.
She found that many women feel "lost" in the crowd. Although the fastest growing demographic in the gaming industry is the percentage of women playing in live tournaments, they still make up only 6 percent of the field in mixed events. This makes it highly unlikely that a woman will reach a final table.
In addition, ladies-event buy-ins have traditionally been less than $500, which is not sufficient to qualify for official rankings. For women to get noticed, a point system is needed that can put women on a par with men, Osgood-Gray said.
Many women players also expressed interest in the opportunity to play in higher buy-in ladies events.
The
LPPT is looking to accommodate both of these needs. The Tour will consist of tournaments with a $500-plus buy-in to build bigger prize pools and feature high levels of play. The
LPPT will be holding around six events this year, and is scheduled to sponsor the
Legends of Poker ladies event in August at The Bicycle Casino.
These tournaments also will contribute to a professional ranking system designed to recognize women, established by the LPA. The rankings will include all ladies-only events with a $500 or more buy-in.
The LPA's website includes an online magazine and features news, interviews with top women pros, amateur spotlights, upcoming tournament information, event coverage, and poker strategy articles from a woman's perspective.
Osgood-Gray said, "Women didn't have a place to go. Now, hopefully, women poker players will have a place where they can be recognized for their achievements."
Linda Johnson, former publisher of
Card Player and current
World Poker Tour announcer, is a member of the advisory board that contributes to the focus and direction of the LPA. Other notable women in the poker community are also members, including
Card Player columnist Jan Fisher, Cheri Dokken, Kelly O'Hara, and Star McCormick.
Norwegian Wins European Poker Tour Event in Germany
Andreas Hoivold Outlasts 492 Players to Win the EPT Dortmund
By Thor Henrykson
Once again, a Scandinavian player has come out on top at a
European Poker Tour event; 35-year-old Norwegian Andreas Hoivold took first place at the inaugural German
EPT event at Casino Hohensyburg in Dortmund, Germany. He won €672,000 ($894,634).
Andreas is the second Norwegian to win an
EPT event this year (Erik-Bjorn Glenne won in Barcelona earlier this season).
Andreas is no stranger to final tables, as he had an impressive third-place finish in the
Ladbrokes Poker Million in London in December.
By all accounts, the
EPT event in Dortmund was a tremendous success, with a record-breaking field of 493 players (126 German players). The top-10 finishers were: Andreas Hoivold (Norway), €672,000; Christiano Blanco (Italy), €380,000 ($506,015); Sebastian Ruthenberg (Germany), €220,000 ($292,900); Gunnar Rabe (Sweden), €169,000 ($225,000); Jacob Rasmussen (Sweden), €139,000 ($185,000); Erik Lindberg (Sweden), €109,000 ($145,113); Nicolas Levi (France), €85,700 ($114,093); Thomas Fougeron (France), €60,300 ($80,267); Christoph Stiehler (Germany), €37,100 ($49,385); and Philip Yeh (Sweden), €37,000 ($49,252).
Full Tilt Offers Extra $10 Million for World Series of Poker Win
Satellites for Main-Event Seats Start at $4.40
By Kristy Arnett
The
World Series of Poker is just around the corner and players are beginning to look for the best ways to get into the main event. Full Tilt is giving players who qualify through its site a little incentive: $10 million.
For the third consecutive year, Full Tilt is willing to pay this amount on top of the first-place prize money if the
WSOP main-event winner has won his or her seat through one of its many qualifying tournaments.
Players can qualify for the 2007
WSOP main-event package, which includes the $10,000 buy-in and $2,000 in spending money, in a number of ways that are accommodating to anyone's bankroll, since all qualifier satellites begin at $4.40 or 50 Full Tilt points.
The
WSOP Sunday qualifier is a $216 buy-in event that guarantees at least two seats. It is being held every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET through June 24. A satellite for this tournament can be played for $75, $26, or $14.
On Thursdays, a $1,000
WSOP satellite takes place at 9 p.m. ET. Five seats are guaranteed, and for every additional 12 players, a seat is awarded. Satellites for this tournament have buy-ins of $109, $75, $26, or 5,000 Full Tilt points.
The most popular weekly
WSOP guaranteed event is the Tuesday qualifier. The buy-in is $322 and at least two $12,000 packages are awarded. Satellite buy-ins for this event are $75, $26, and $8.80.
Players who are not confident about winning first place in a tournament to get their seat can play in the 100-seat event. The top 100 places are awarded the $12,000
WSOP package. The buy-in for this tournament is $535, with a satellite for $75.
All of the qualifiers feature $75 and $26 satellites. These buy-ins can be won through even smaller satellites. For example, $75 satellites can be won through $26 single- or two-table tournaments, an $11 single-table event, or a $15 multitable tournament. The $26 buy-in tournament satellites include the following: $13.75 heads up, $8.70 two-table, $6.60 six-person, $4.40 single-table, and $6.50 multitable.
Full Tilt also awards free seats every week. If a player earns 3,000 Full Tilt points in any qualifying week, he is eligible to play in a weekly freeroll for at least two $10,000 main-event seats. Qualifying weeks run through June 24, and begin every Thursday and end every Wednesday. The weekly tournament is held at 4:30 p.m. ET every Sunday of each qualifying week.
Florida Bill Will Attract Major Poker Tourneys
Change in Law Will Allow Cardrooms to Host Large Buy-in Events
By Bob Pajich
A bill is currently going through committees in both the Florida state House and Senate that is designed to bring large multiday poker tournaments to the state's cardrooms.
The bill would allow each of the state's casinos and pari-mutuel facilities to hold a major poker tournament twice a year. Although almost every casino, racetrack, and jai alai center in Florida has a cardroom, the law limits the hours of operation from noon to midnight, and cardrooms aren't allowed to be open whenever an event isn't taking place at the tracks or arenas.
If everything goes as planned for the bill's sponsors, it will be approved by the wings of government in May. If that happens, the law change will take effect in July.
The sponsors, Sen. Steve Geller and House member Joe Gibbons, both Democrats, hope the law change will help boost tourism in the state.
"People want to come to Florida to begin with, so let's compete with these other cities to have (big-time poker tournaments) here," said Kristin Carter, a legislative aid to Gibbons. "Poker's gotten big, and a lot of people travel to these tournaments, and we would love to have them come to Florida and patronize our districts."
The bill requires the tournaments to be broadcast nationally, although specific language regarding exactly what that means is being revised.
This bill does not affect how cash ring games are run in Florida.
An Amateur Poker Player's Absolute Dream Come True
Scott Carroll Wins the Absolute Poker Absolute Dream Package and a Chance at Winning a Share of $100 Million in Prize Pools
By Shawn Patrick Green
An amateur poker player recently won every budding poker player's absolute dream: buy-ins to 10 big-time tournaments, lessons from an award-winning poker player, and a free stab at more than $100 million in prize pools.
Illinois machinist Scott Carroll won Absolute Poker's appropriately named
Absolute Dream Package main event recently, and the $125,000 package that came along with it. The package includes buy-ins to the
World Series of Poker main event, five
World Poker Tour events, and the
Ultimate Poker Challenge's televised high-stakes cash game. The package also features coaching from
Card Player 2007 Player of the Year, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi.
"I'm guaranteed to be on TV, so that's very cool," said Carroll, referring to the
Ultimate Poker Challenge's face-time guarantee for its
Cash Poker show. "I've just been on cloud nine for a week. All of my poker buddies are super envious and wishing it was them. We're all pretty serious about poker."
Carroll is also particularly eager for his one-on-one poker lesson with Mizrachi. "I'm super excited," Carroll said, "just for the chance to meet him. … He's the best player in the world right now."
Carroll started his journey to success by entering a $24 buy-in satellite to the Absolute Dream main event under the screen name "thebombbaby." He eventually took second place in the satellite tournament, earning half of the $200 buy-in to the final event. He put up the remaining half himself and proceeded to plow through the field of more than 500 entrants on his way to victory.
As for his home games, Carroll said that he does just "OK" against his poker buddies, but he's hoping to hone his skills in order to capitalize on the opportunity he's been given. On whether this experience will be life-changing or simply a fun detour, Carroll said it could go either way.
"I'm quite into poker, so I've been trying to get my wife to let me quit my job and play," he said. "Now, of course, she's all for me going out and doing this."
Absolute Poker decided to hold the
Absolute Dream Package promotion again (from mid-March through early April) as a result of the success of its inaugural run. That final event will be held on April 8.
Caesars Palace Introduces New Saturday Tourney
$330 Event Gives Players $7,500 in Starting Chips With 40-Minute Blinds Levels
By Bob Pajich
Caesars Palace in Las Vegas has added a new tournament to its schedule that should give players plenty of play and a decent payday.
Each Saturday, Caesars is spreading a $330 hold'em tourney in which players start with $7,500 in chips and the blinds levels are 40 minutes long. The tournament takes place every Saturday except April 14, at 3:30 p.m.
The blinds start at $25-$50, which gives players plenty of tournament play for their buy-in. Also, single-table satellites are spread throughout the day, every day.
Card Player's Player of the Year
Van Alstyne Vaults Into the Lead
James Van Alstyne has won more than $2.4 million playing tournament poker over the years. His tournament winnings pages at CardPlayer.com go all the way back to 1994, when he finished eighth in a
World Series of Poker Omaha eight-or-better event.
Last year was a breakout year for Van Alstyne. He cashed 20 times, including wins of $439,375, $86,824, $66,540, and $64,159, and he's starting 2007 with the same fury as last year. So far in 2007, Van Alstyne has six cashes, and has racked up enough points (2,848) to be the Player of the Year (POY) leader as of March 19. He knocked J.C. Tran back into second place with 2,064 points.
Van Alstyne took the lead by finishing fourth in the Bay 101 Shooting Star championship, which was good for $250,000 and 960 points. He's won $573,022 so far in 2007, and is averaging a cash about every two weeks.
The year started great for Van Alstyne. On Jan. 20, he won more than $105,000 and 800 POY points for finishing second in the $1,500 no-limit hold'em event of the
Winter Poker Open. Four days later, he won another $12,100 by finishing 13th in the $5,000 no-limit hold'em event at the same tournament.
At the
L.A. Poker Classic, Van Alstyne cashed twice again. First, he finished third in the $500 no-limit hold'em shorthanded event ($15,590). He then won the $1,500 no-limit hold'em event at the
LAPC, which was good for $187,895 and 816 POY points.
Look Out!
Joanne "J.J." Liu came within a hair of winning the Bay 101
Shooting Star championship, an event that brings in 50 of the most popular poker celebrities and puts a generous bounty on their heads. Her second-place finish gave Liu a $600,000 payday and 1,600 points, which moved the stylish poker diva to the seventh spot on the POY list with 1,748 points. It was Liu's best tournament win.
With the second-place finish, she has put herself right in the thick of the POY race. She is currently the only woman in the top 10 (Liz Lieu is the next in the standings at 40th). If J.J. lands a top-six finish in a major event in the next few weeks, she could go into the
World Series of Poker as the POY points leader.
A few weeks ago, Ted Forrest had only two Player of the Year points. He then earned another three points for a ninth-place finish in the
NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which gave him a total of five.
Then, he entered the Bay 101
Shooting Star championship event and won it, which was good for $1.1 million, 1,920 points, and a slippery grip on the fourth slot on the POY leader board. He sits only five points ahead of Eric Hershler and John Hennigan, who are tied for fifth place.
At the end of the year, when the race comes down to the wire, those five points that Forrest earned in two heads-up events just may be the difference between being the winner and among the rest of the field.
Online Hand-to-Hand Combat: Mkind0516 Trusts His Read to Make a Big Call
By Craig Tapscott
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.comat www.CardPlayer.com/h2hc.
Event: $500 no-limit hold'em tournament on UltimateBet
Players: 127
First place: $17,145
Stacks: Mkind0516 - $2,800; Villain - $2,840
Blinds: $20-$40
Preflop: The villain limps in from middle position.
Craig Tapscott: What's your read on the villain at this point?
Jason Laso (Mkind0516): He's a very well-known, aggressive player who sometimes can get a bit out of line. I'm in the small blind holding the J
J
, a good hand, but a very tough one to play from out of position. I elected to make a strong raise, and I honestly wasn't expecting the villain to fold. I wanted to shut out the big blind and take control of the hand.
Mkind0516 raises to $170; the villain calls.
Flop: A
10
7
($380 pot)
CT: Most inexperienced players check in this spot.
JL: Well, the presence of an ace is very alarming for my jacks, but my feeling is that the villain would have raised an ace preflop from his good table position. So, I make a pretty standard continuation bet.
Mkind0516 bets $235; the villain calls.
CT: Does his call send up red flags?
JL: For the reason I stated before, I didn't put him on an ace preflop. Also, if he had an ace, I'm thinking he might have put in a raise here to find out if I had a bigger ace, like A-K or A-Q. There are two clubs on the board, so he could have a flush draw, as well as two semiconnected cards that could have given him a straight draw.
Turn: 4
($850 pot); Mkind0516 bets $525; the villain calls.
CT: What were you thinking with this bet amount?
JL: I wanted to make a bet that would price out all of those drawing hands, so I bet about five-eighths of the pot. If he has some type of draw, he'll probably have to fold to this bet. He didn't waste much time in calling.
River: 9
($1,900 pot); Mkind0516 checks.
CT: I see that you decided it was time to slow down here.
JL: After he called the turn, I was feeling sick about my hand. I had fired two shells at this pot and been called twice. Furthermore, the river card has completed a couple of gutshot straights, in the event that he had some type of combo draw like the 8
6
or J
8
.
The villain bets $575.
CT: Could it be a bluff?
JL: If he were bluffing, he would probably bet bigger. I didn't think he had a set, because he would have had to raise earlier. A straight, while possible, seemed highly unlikely. So, it came back to whether he had an ace or not. He may very well have limped in with a smaller (likely suited) ace, but then what is he betting? If he has A-5 here, he can't expect me to call a bet with a worse hand. With A-10, A-7, or A-4, he probably would have raised a prior street to protect his hand.
CT: Now what?
JL: I went back to my first read; if he had an ace, he probably would have raised preflop.
Mkind0516 calls $575. The villain shows the K
10
.
Results: Mkind0516 shows the J
J
and wins the $3,050 pot.
CT: Sort of what you expected, right?
JL: Sometimes it's tough to follow your gut when it seems like you're very likely beat. As a professional poker player, I've learned to trust my instincts and make some big calls and laydowns.
To see this hand animated and narrated with additional analysis by Mkind0516, visit www.CardPlayer.com/h2hc.
Jason Laso has moved up the Internet tournament rankings very quickly with aggressive play and sharp instincts. He's also on the staff of tournament instructors at the training site www.cardrunners.com.
The Biggest Poker Tournament of All Time
By Shawn Patrick Green
"Hey, people - welcome to the final table of the largest (by number of players) real-money tournament in history!" So said PokerStars Poker Room Manager Lee Jones upon the forming of the
Sunday Million anniversary tournament's final table.
To be clear, he wasn't referring to the largest online poker tournament; he was referring to the largest poker tournament of all time, online or otherwise. PokerStars held the anniversary tournament on March 11, and 10,508 poker players worldwide flocked to their computers to partake in the historic event.
There were two differences between the anniversary event and the normally scheduled
Sunday Million tournament: a guarantee of $1.5 million rather than $1 million, and an extra complement of satellites for players to gain entry. Those two features were enough to draw the record crowd and generate a total prize pool of more than $2.1 million.
The
Sunday Million tournament has been easily surpassing its $1 million guarantee for quite some time now; could this anniversary "special" be the first taste of a new guarantee on the horizon?
T Soprano Making a Killing
Brock "t soprano" Parker has officially made the transition from cash games to tournament poker. Until relatively recently, Parker had been known as an insanely good poker player who focused almost exclusively on cash games. That all changed once he got a taste of the huge paydays that can be found only in tournaments.
Also known as Maria Nuccia on UltimateBet, Parker made his biggest score under that name when he took first place in the
UltimateBet Online Championship (
UBOC) main event in December 2006, earning $168,000.
Since that time, he's taken second place in UltimateBet's $200,000-guaranteed tournament twice, for $26,500 each time. His most recent second-place finish in that event was on March 18, and he made a deep cash in the PokerStars $100 (with rebuys) tournament on the same day.
A PR0 Lives Up to His Name
Well-known Internet pro James "P0KERPR0" Campbell (jcamby33 on PokerStars) has been making some consistently huge cashes lately. On Sunday, March 11, alone, he made two deep cashes, including a first-place finish in the PokerStars $100 (with rebuys) event, for total winnings of more than $34,000.
So far in 2007, Campbell has made at least three other five-digit cashes. He kicked the year off with a win in the Full Tilt Monday $1,000 event for $33,000 on Jan. 1, and then took second place in the PokerStars $100 (with rebuys) tournament a week later, earning almost $20,000. On Feb. 25, Campbell finished in second place in the PokerStars $200 (with rebuys) tournament for a $33,000 payday.
Campbell's total winnings for 2007 come to more than $120,000 as of press time.
Brsavage and X2then Stake Claims at UltimateBet
Both Chris "brsavage" Savage and Xuan "x2then" Nguyen made the final table of the March 11 UltimateBet $200,000-guaranteed tournament. X2then both entered and left the final table in ninth place, earning $3,500. Brsavage eventually busted out in seventh place, for $7,000.
Who is Goleafsgoeh?
Anyone who trolls the PokerStars tournament lobbies has grown accustomed to seeing the screen name goleafsgoeh within the top 20 of major tournaments lately. And yet, no one really knows who he is.
Prominent Internet pro Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul even made a forum posting on the player in which he said that goleafsgoeh has been "playing really sick poker and going deep in all of the big tourneys on PokerStars."
Saul's comments were based on a number of deep cashes within a period of about a month and a half. Goleafsgoeh's finishes include a final table in the
Sunday Warmup, three final tables in the
Nightly Hundred Grand events (including one win there, for $28,000), and a 12th-place finish in the
Sunday Million - all between the last week of January and early March.
"Dunno who he is," Saul continued, "but he's pretty good at poker; especially satellite, donk-filled, big-field tourneys …"
Since Saul's posting, goleafsgoeh went on to make yet another final table in a
Nightly Hundred Grand event. He's made more than $50,000 so far this year from his finishes in that event alone, as of press time.
Get a Piece of the Action
Those wishing to take advantage of the promotions, overlays, and guaranteed prize pools at these sites can do so by going to the following 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
Bodog - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etbodog
Tournament Results, March 11-March 18
PokerStars Sunday Million
March 11
Winner: Zeddor
Winnings: $131,972*
Prize pool: $2,101,600
Entrants: 10,508
March 18
Winner: power2prut
Winnings: $180,000*
Prize pool: $1,392,800
Entrants: 6,964
* Payout reflects a deal made at the final table.
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Justin Smith
Change of Plans
By Craig Tapscott
Justin Smith's college plans were delayed when his motorcycle collided head-on with a car; he was lucky to survive with only extensive knee injuries and a shattered ankle. Confined to a wheelchair, the former athlete was restless and bored, until a new plan formulated in his mind.
"I had nothing to do, so one of my friends introduced me to online poker," said Smith. "I started playing the micro limits. I worked my way up to $2-$4 limit and just grinded away to make $1,000 a month profit. Then I decided to jump into no-limit at the 25¢-50¢ level. From there, I climbed up to the highest cash games on the Net."
While ascending in stakes, Smith, aka Boosted J, dabbled in tournament poker for fun and a challenge. This past February, he changed things up and entered the $500
Full Tilt Online Poker Series III main event. He coasted to a cool $175,000 and second place out of 3,217 players, grabbing a coveted custom avatar on Full Tilt as he took down the Player of the Year award.
Within a few short years, Smith has turned an almost tragic accident into a fortuitous opportunity. Next up is a move to Los Angeles from Orlando and a shift in focus - to live cash games. "The online world isn't too good nowadays with the new legislation, and the competition has gotten stiffer. But the live games are still very juicy," Smith stated. He has learned to roll with the changes and capitalize on any opportunities that present themselves, both excellent skills for winning poker.
Craig Tapscott: How did you develop your cash-game style of play?
Justin Smith: I used to watch the $10-$20 no-limit game on Stars, but it never really helped. I learned by just playing. The more you play, the more you learn. On my way up through the ranks, I was very aggressive post-flop. Now, I'm probably one of the most aggressive preflop players in the game.
CT: Doesn't this create a lot of variance?
JS: It's pretty high. My swings are more than most players. It's crazy high; 20 buy-ins in a day is not uncommon.
CT: How do you deal with that stress?
JS: It's part of the game. I get massages.
CT: Your style is very difficult to read.
JS: I'm aggressive, of course, preflop and on the flop, but much trickier on the turn and river. I definitely set people up. I play all of my hands the same way, whether I have a hand and am calling down or don't have a hand. I always tell a consistent story.
CT: Share the head games or metagame of heads-up play.
JS: By always raising, I like to get in a player's head and always want to be in the driver's seat. And I will keep reraising until they put their foot down. People know that I call a lot. But then they know, that I know, that they know, that I call a lot. So, if I call here, is that what they want - or not? My type of game creates action. I force other players to play aggressively. I'm going to make my opponents' small mistakes turn into a big mistake.
CT: Any new developments in the high-stakes cash games?
JS: The game has changed dramatically over the past year. You used to be able to put out a blocking bet and no one would think twice about it. But now, good players are making fake blocking bets. It has just gotten a lot tougher.
CT: Some players may not understand "blocking bet." Explain.
JS: A blocking bet is when you have a marginal hand and you bet about one-third of the pot on the river. You do this so that an opponent can raise, basically, only if he has you beat.
CT: What about that heads-up challenge I read about?
JS: Yeah, the match is with OMGClayAiken on Full Tilt. It's an ongoing 50,000-hand heads-up match. We have to eight-table simultaneously at $25-$50. There is a $10,000 buyout if either player decides to quit. He likes to make big calls the same way that I do. It's an exciting match to watch. We have been up and down $70,000 each. That's pretty high variance for $25-$50. At this point, halfway through at 25,000 hands, we are pretty much dead even.
CT: Do you have any advice for new players getting their feet wet in heads-up cash games?
JS: You have to be very aggressive and develop your hand-reading skills. Also, study and learn your opponent's tendencies, and play, play, play.
In the Tank
With Scott Fischman
Troy Shannon: I am an aspiring professional player in Las Vegas. I have cashed in a couple of large events and am a final-table regular and consistently in the cash in local small tournaments.
The problem that I have is that I always find myself the short stack or just an average stack in the tournaments, and have to battle the large blinds. I think that I have been very successful in going deep in most of the events that I have played, but I have to believe that I must be playing too tight. I look around at the monster stacks and wish that I had more chips. I don't feel intimidated; in fact, I think that I play smaller stacks very well, but I often think that the odds of getting lucky and doubling up five times in a row is not realistic. It seems that I often have to settle with just making it deep and cashing, and not winning the whole thing as often as I would like.
I believe that most of the bigger stacks are looser players who are playing more marginal hands and getting lucky by drawing out or dodging bullets. Do you have any advice or can you recommend any writings or courses that would address these points?
I also wanted to find out if you offer any private lessons or tutoring. I would be interested in trading a piece of myself or a portion of tournament proceeds in return for some mentoring. I look forward to hearing from you.
Scott: Hey there, Troy. Sorry, I do not give private lessons, but I am an instructor at the World Series of Poker Academy, which will help you with your all-around game. In attempting to answer your question, I would say that there are a lot of players in the same boat that you are in; in fact, I was once there myself. I can't really remember anything too specific; one day, things just changed.
For me, it just came down to playing and playing until I got a better feel for post-flop play. The more experienced you get, the more comfortable you will be with playing more hands. Confidence is also a huge factor in this equation. It will seem like kind of a snowball effect. You will start to open up a bit and pick up some pots, and then your confidence will grow, and over time you will be a chip vacuum. Keep in mind, there are two types of chip vacuums. There are the extremely experienced players who play tons of hands because they can outplay people and make good laydowns, and there are also the loose-aggressive weak players who are getting lucky on any given day. In my opinion, the general progression for most players begins with them being short-stacked most of the time. This is not a bad thing. Use all of the short-stack experience you have gained so far and add it to your growing knowledge of the game. In the end, the best players are those who can be highly adaptable and able to play any style.
Brian: I'm a loyal reader of your blog, and love it! I was playing in the Full Tilt $200 rebuy tournament last night; 705 players; $90,000 for first place.
I'd like to know your thoughts regarding a late-tournament laydown I made.
I made the final table of nine players and was on the short stack with around $100,000 in chips. The first hand of play, I was in the big blind with A-K offsuit. The blinds were $5,000-$10,000. An early-position player raised to $30,000; he had around $125,000. The button reraised all in for $250,000. I thought about my hand, and eventually laid it down. The early-position player called with 10-10, the button showed Q-Q, and it held up.
I moved up a position on the pay scale because of this. I ended up busting out a couple of hands later when my K-J ran into Q-Q, and I finished eighth for a $9,000 cash.
I am kind of kicking myself on the A-K hand, because an ace came on the flop and I would have more than doubled up, having a better shot at a bigger payday.
Did I make the correct laydown because of the situation? What would you have done? I knew I was probably beat if I called, but I was in a position late in the tourney where I may have needed to gamble. I've just started playing more online tournaments and want to make sure that I make the right play next time.
Thanks for your help.
Scott: Hi, Brian. At first glance, I'm not too sure what I would do, to be honest. What a great situation to think about! I guess the answer can go a variety of different ways based on some factors. For example, here are some things I would be thinking of before acting on my hand: What is my goal in this tourney, win or move up in the money (based on bankroll)? Have I played with either of these players? What are my chances of surviving with about eight blinds? Those are a few of the things, among others, that I would have to consider. One major point to consider is the player raising from early position to $30,000 with only a $125,000 stack. It really seems like this bet is not a steal, and that this player would most likely be calling an all-in reraise. With that being said, it may be safe to assume that the second player who pushed for $250,000 also realizes the strength of the initial raiser's hand, in order for him to shove; it would seem that he has one of the top three or four hands. In this spot, it is pretty clear that A-K is not in front at the moment; however, the value seems awfully nice. The bottom line for me is, I would most likely end up calling more times than not here, but it really depends on what info I have on the other two players. You did not make a bad fold, so don't play fantasy poker and start dreaming about what might have happened if you had called. It's over, and the results of one hand should not affect you.
Send your comments and questions to Scott at [email protected].
Don't Limit Yourself
By David Apostolico
Let's say that you are playing a no-limit Texas hold'em tournament and are about 90 minutes into it when a seat opens up two to your left. A new player joins the table with a mountain of chips. In fact, she has more than five times the starting chip stack and more than double anyone else at the table. What is your immediate reaction?
Be honest. Do you instantly assume that she's a better player than you? Are you intimidated? Do you believe that she must have just gotten lucky? Or, are you salivating at how you are going to get your hands on those chips? My guess is that you may be experiencing a little bit of each of the above, depending on your other impressions of this new player. However, each of our immediate first impressions probably says more about us than the other player.
In this column, I'm primarily concerned with those individuals who feel any sense of intimidation in the above situation and, more specifically, jump to the conclusion that this new player must be very good to have accumulated so many chips so fast. As anyone who has been around the felt for a while can attest, there are a number of ways to build up a chip stack quickly. Good, smart play is one. Getting great cards is another. Supreme luck is a third. Make it a point to reserve judgment until you can personally observe the new player.
More importantly, never sell yourself short. If you think others at the table are more talented, you've lost no matter what the cards bring. I recently came across a very poignant essay called "Overcoming Self-Limiting Beliefs," by best-selling author Brian Tracy, that challenges individuals to become the best that they can. While the essay is not geared to the poker arena, I found one passage that is spot on.
Discussing self-limiting beliefs, Tracy states that "[t]hey generate the two greatest enemies of personal success - doubt and fear. They paralyze you and cause you to hesitate to take the intelligent risks that are necessary for you to fulfill your true potential."
Doubt and fear are the kiss of death at the poker table. Opponents will smell it a mile away and attack you relentlessly. Doubt and fear may enable you to hang on to those chips a little longer, but sooner or later, you will lose them. In fact, if you are paralyzed with doubt and fear, those chips don't even belong to you. You are just keeping them safe until their rightful owner comes to claim them.
Success at the poker table cannot be achieved without risk. Taking the "intelligent risks" that Tracy advocates is the key to winning. That new player who just joined your table may have been taking those intelligent risks. Or, she may have taken some unintelligent risks and gotten very lucky. Only time will tell, but one thing is certain: There is no reason to believe that this new player is better than you. Even if she is taking the intelligent risks necessary to win, you will get your chance. Everyone will have the opportunity at some point in a tournament to make some calculated bets and take an intelligent risk. They will come at different times for everybody. Be patient but engrossed in the game at all times, so that you can take advantage when an opportunity presents itself.
By definition, no-limit poker has endless possibilities. You cannot accept any limitations on your potential play. As Tracy so eloquently states: "You must reject any thought or suggestion that you are limited in any way. You must accept as a basic principle that you are a 'no-limit' person, and that what others have done, you can do as well." So, the next time that a new person joins your table with a mountain of chips, let it empower you. Know that you can do it, too.
David Apostolico is the author of numerous poker books, including Lessons from the Felt, Machiavellian Poker Strategy, and Tournament Poker and the Art of War. You can contact him by e-mail at [email protected].
Tao of Poker
By Larry Phillips
Poker is a life-lesson on how to make mistakes.
Poker teaches many lessons. One lesson that it teaches is how to make mistakes.
Make them with composure. Make them without putting a lot of emotion into them (both during and after). Make them without denial, blame, self-blame, or second-guessing. Don't make them in a way that extends them and exaggerates them, so that they lead to even more problems. Confine their area of influence. Correct them, learn from them, move on.
Use chips to put players into different situations to see how they react.
Very few players will trade chips for information. Yet, information is oftentimes more valuable than chips, because it can lead to getting more chips, down the road. Information gained on these hands can pay off on later hands.
Suppose, for example, that you reraised with a terrible hand into a player who you were pretty sure had a good hand, just to see what the look on his face was like when he really had something. Then, you freeze-framed that look and filed it away in the back of your mind for later use. From then on, every time that look was missing, you raised, and every time you saw that look again, you dropped out. It cost you two bets to learn this. This is an exaggerated example, but you understand what I mean.
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 Jack McClelland will share his 25-plus years of industry experience with you.
Jolene: I recently played in a tournament in Oklahoma that was a battle-of-the-sexes event, in which the top-five finishers from each event played in the finals, which had an extra $10,000 added to the prize pool. This casino is quite a drive from where I am currently staying. I traveled to this casino for the ladies satellite, and finished in first place. I again traveled there with my husband for the men's portion of the event, which was held, as they had stated and advertised in the magazine, on Sundays at 2 p.m.
When I returned for the finals, I learned that they had held it one day earlier in order to accommodate the local players, so that they could attend a tournament at a competing casino. When I inquired as to why they would not inform me, they replied that they had no way of getting ahold of me. That was not true, as my contact information is on file at the Players Club.
My question is, at the time that I made my original buy-in with the terms, conditions, dates, and times already in place, didn't I enter into a contract with the casino that upon my finishing in the top five places, I not only would be allowed, but entitled to play the championship event? I have a very strong feeling that this change was made specifically to not include me, in order to give the locals a better chance.
Jack: If the casino personnel could not contact all of the players, they were wrong to change the date. If only for public relations, the casino should have given you a fair share of the prize pool - in this case, 10 percent.
Jim: This seems to arise in every tournament I play, and before the tournament starts, I ask how this situation will be handled, and I get a different answer each time. May I have your thoughts, please?
First question: A player leaves his seat for a break during the play of a hand. That hand is completed and the dealer is distributing the cards for the next hand. Players are looking at their hands when out of nowhere comes our missing player yelling, "I'm here! I'm here!" He then walks behind the players who are looking at their cards, picks up his hand, and plays. I believe that if he isn't there at the start of the deal, he shouldn't be able to walk behind everyone and then play his hand.
Second question: The big blind is away from the table. The betting is such that the big blind has the option to check or raise. I believe that since he's not there, his hand is dead, because at this point, a decision on the hand has to be made: check or raise. No one but the player himself can make that decision. If the dealer announces that it is a check, I believe the dealer is making that decision for the player, which is not right.
Jack: First question - In my tournaments, the player must be in his seat before the last card is dealt to the button. Second question - In my tournaments, after the hand is dealt, if the player is not in his seat, the hand is killed. The big blind would have a dead hand.
Cashing In at Low-Stakes No-Limit Hold'em
By Tim Peters
Mastering No-Limit Hold'em: A Guide to Cash Games by Russell Fox and Scott. T. Harker (Conjelco, $24.95)
Frankly, I'm sometimes amazed at the popularity of no-limit hold'em. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic game, brimming with drama and excitement, but its sheer complexity - coupled with the constant prospect of losing your entire stack on a single hand - would seem to drive people toward limit games. But clearly, no-limit is the game
du jour, and poker writers have responded to the need for no-limit instruction.
The market may be teeming with books on "the Cadillac of poker games," but
Mastering No-Limit Hold'em is a particularly useful guide for novice players and those moving over from the limit game. First, the book focuses on the games that beginners are likely to play, like the popular $1-$2 with a capped buy-in (typically $100 or $200). Second - and probably most important - the book understands (and explains) the realities of these games and their juicy mix of looseness and aggression, timidity and passivity. In other words, don't try these strategies in Bobby's Room at Bellagio.
The book begins with an overview of common situations and player types, and Fox and Harker provide some guidance on starting hands with their "Matrix Theory," which combines traditional hand values with position. The advice is fine, but it's pretty basic and should be quite familiar to most
Card Player readers. The real meat begins in chapter four ("Odds and Betting Strategies") when the authors explain the differences between limit and no-limit hold'em, such as the proper amounts to bet to get your opponents to make (costly) errors: "One of the biggest mistakes we see in the small no-limit games of today is improper betting." Some players routinely underbet, while others "tend to move all in way too often." In my experience, this is even more true online than in live games; you don't need physical tells when someone's betting patterns give you all the information required to make good decisions.
Fox and Harker are particularly good when they describe the "competition" in these low buy-in no-limit games: Players are often unbelievably loose and unbelievably aggressive (many seem to have "learned" to play by watching poker on TV). But even as you lick your chops in anticipation, you have to make adjustments. "Bluffing," the authors write, "is no longer the big gun it used to be in these new, smaller-stakes games." They even suggest that you may never need to bluff in low buy-in games in order to be successful! Relative stack size is another aspect that you'll need to factor into your decision-making.
There's also a very good chapter called "Managing Your Mind." Of course, we all know that going on tilt is bad and something to be avoided, but this book outlines some very concrete strategies for recognizing the potential for tilt and dealing with it. "After a nasty beat or loss," they write, "step away from the table immediately and take a walk." This is excellent advice, and it can be extremely difficult to do - which is probably why it's so useful.
The only thing I didn't like about this book is its title. No book is going to make you a "master" of no-limit hold'em - and the kind of no-limit they are writing about is not the deep-stack, big-money hold'em we fantasize about. The best you can hope for is to add some insight and understanding to your game. On that score,
Mastering No-Limit Hold'em delivers.
Note: Authors Russell Fox and Scott T. Harker also wrote the solid Why You Lose at Poker, which I reviewed in Card Player, Vol. 19/No. 21.
