Bellagio Cup III Championship Now a World Poker Tour Event
Supersatellites Added to the Schedule
By Bob Pajich
Bellagio recently announced that its $10,000 buy-in event that's set to take place at this summer's
Bellagio Cup III tournament series will be filmed and broadcast by the
World Poker Tour.
The
Bellagio Cup III is one of three major poker tournaments that will take place this summer. It runs between June 11 and July 15. Just across Interstate 15, which runs through Las Vegas, the 55 events of the
World Series of Poker will take place between June 1 and July 17 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, and over at The Venetian, its
Deep Stack Extravaganza will take place from June 1 to July 1.
The competition between Bellagio and Harrah's is good news for the many tournament poker players who will be in Vegas this summer for the
WSOP. Each
Bellagio Cup III event winner will receive a $25,000 entry into the
WPT Championship that will be held next April. And like Harrah's, Bellagio will award trophy bracelets to the winners, which means that a total of 83 bracelets will be won in less than two months this summer.
The entire schedule can be found on the tournament listings page at CardPlayer.com, but basically, a tournament is scheduled to take place each day. The
Bellagio Cup III will consist of five $1,590 events, 13 $2,620 events, nine $5,180 events, and the $10,300 championship event.
Several supersatellites were added to the schedule after Bellagio announced that the
WPT will be in town covering its championship. The $1,090 supersatellites will take place twice a day, at noon and 10 p.m., on July 7, July 8, and July 9, and once on July 10. The $2,620 event that was scheduled for July 7 has been canceled to make room for the supersatellites.
Between all three major tournaments, 114 events will take place this summer. A dozen of them (11 at the
WSOP alone) will be filmed and televised.
Frank Introduces Act That Would License Online Gambling
Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 Introduced
By Bob Pajich
Rep. Barney Frank recently introduced legislation that calls for online gambling to be licensed and regulated in America.
If passed, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 would establish a federal regulatory and enforcement framework to allow companies to accept bets and wagers online from people in the U.S.
This act goes directly against the intent of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that was passed last year, which forced many online sites and online gambling-related businesses to cut off customers located in the U.S.
The language in this act allows individual sports leagues, such as the NFL, not to allow wagers to be made on their leagues. The NFL is one of the strongest opponents to legalized online gambling.
The act is also written to allow states and Indian tribes to ultimately determine whether or not online gambling can take place in their jurisdictions. Basically, states that already allow gambling would most likely allow online gambling that would be taxed and regulated.
The act requires protection against underage gambling, compulsive gambling, money laundering, and fraud.
Frank has been an outspoken opponent to the UIGE Act. He believes that the UIGE Act tramples individual freedom.
"The existing legislation is an inappropriate interference on the personal freedom of Americans, and this interference should be undone," Frank said.
The Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing titled, "Can Internet gambling be regulated to protect consumers and the payments system?" at a date to be determined in June.
World Poker Tour Nixes France, Heads to Spain
Tournament in Spain to be Filmed for Broadcast
By Bob Pajich
The
World Poker Tour was forced to make a change to its schedule after French authorities did not assure the production company that it would be able to film the
Grand Prix de Paris championship. The event still took place, however.
It is the first time since the
WPT started filming that the Paris tournament won't be included in the broadcast schedule. The Aviation Club, where the tournament is held, was one of the first casinos to agree to hold a
WPT event, and WPT Enterprises is not severing its ties with the casino.
This is the second tournament that was scheduled to be filmed for broadcast, but wasn't. An
EPT event in Deauville was cancelled by French authorities.
Meanwhile, Grup Peralada, a casino chain in Spain, has signed an "Expansion Member Agreement" with WPT Enterprises. The first tournament will be held and filmed at Casino Barcelona in October of this year, and will be aired as part of the show's sixth season.
The two companies also will explore collaboration opportunities on the Internet in Spain, as well as discuss a Spanish poker tour featuring tournaments at Grup Peralada casinos, including
WPT stops in Portugal and South America.
Land-Based Casino Satellites for World Series of Poker Main Event - St. Louis, North Kansas City, and Tunica
By Kristy Arnett
The
World Series of Poker is just around the corner and several Harrah's properties are hosting satellites for the $10,000 buy-in main event.
The Harrah's St. Louis Casino and Hotel holds satellites the third weekend of every month through May. They are $200 buy-in double-shootout events. Players can register for one of the following times to play their first table: Friday at noon or 3 p.m., or Saturday at 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. Seating is limited to 30 players or three tables for each time slot. The winner of each table receives a seat at the final table, which is played on Saturday at 5 p.m. All final-table finishers receive at least their buy-in back. First place is a $10,000 buy-in for the
WSOP main event. For additional details, call the Poker Hotline at (314) 770-7600.
Harrah's North Kansas City is also hosting a shootout-style satellite for a main-event seat. The two-day satellites take place June 20-21. The buy-in is $200 and players can choose to compete on Wednesday at 7 p.m. or Thursday at 2 p.m. Each time slot accommodates only 50 players. The winner of each table plays at the final table on Thursday at 6 p.m. Call (816) 460-5053 for more information.
For those who are not interested in shootout-style satellites, the Grand Casino Resort Tunica is offering rebuy and single-table tournaments. Every Saturday at 11 a.m. until June 23, there is a $125 buy-in supersatellite with $100 rebuys and add-on. The winner receives a $10,000 seat, and other top finishers are awarded cash prizes.
On Sundays, a single-table satellite is available at 11 a.m. It is a $1,060 buy-in winner-take-all tournament. For additional details, call (800) 946-4960, ext. 3760.
World Poker Tour Championship is History
Carlos Mortensen Becomes First Player to Win Both World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker Championships
By Bob Pajich
The Bellagio
Five-Star World Poker Classic, which concluded with the $25,000
World Poker Tour Championship, is in the history books. Each preliminary event attracted huge crowds, and several individuals made poker history with their performances.
Carlos Mortensen became the first person to win both the
World Series of Poker and
WPT championships after he won this year's event. He won the
WSOP main event in 2001. The $1.5 million top prize for the $10,000
WSOP main event in 2001 is less than half of what Mortensen won for the $25,000
WPT Championship. The 2001 WSOP attracted 613 players. The
WPT Championship of 2007 had 639 entrants, which made it the largest
WPT Championship in its five-year history.
Mortensen's $3.97 million prize is also the largest in
WPT history, coming from the largest prize pool in
WPT history ($15.5 million).
The top-three finishers in the
WPT Championship won a million dollars or more. Kirk Morrison finished second, for a little more than $2 million, and Paul Lee finished third, for a little more than $1 million.
Several players performed incredibly well at this tournament series, and Lee was one of them. He made three final tables, pocketed $206,795 for winning the $2,000 no-limit hold'em event, and almost won the championship. He won $1.3 million during the
Five-Star World Poker Classic.
The 11 events of the tournament attracted 4,481 entrants.
Jared Hamby
In a recent issue of
Card Player, Jared Hamby, Internet pro, promised that his live-tournament results would change this year. Man, was he right on.
In a five-day period, Hamby won two
Five-Star World Poker Classic events. First, he won $223,780 in the $2,500 no-limit hold'em event (
Card Player COO Jeff Shulman was the runner-up), and then he won $298,995 in the $2,000 no-limit hold'em event. Kathy Liebert was the runner-up in that event. Hamby also cashed in the championship event, earning $61,880 for 44th place.
Adeeb Harb
Adeeb Harb came to the
Five-Star World Poker Classic as last year's winner of its $5,000 no-limit hold'em event. All he did this year was win it again.
Harb won $501,635 for outlasting 293 players in that event. He's won more than $1.2 million playing tournament poker, and $882,000 of that has come from this event. He also won $92,820 in the
WPT Championship event, finishing 25th.
If he wins that event again next year, they should rename it the Harb Classic.
Anna Wroblewski
Anna Wroblewski sent a buzz through the poker world after she won $337,395 for capturing the $3,000 no-limit hold'em event title. The way the 21-year-old budding pro got there is what's compelling.
After struggling as a poker pro in Vegas, she had to take a $10-an-hour job. With money from her first check, she entered and won a $300 satellite that she used to play in the $2,000 event. She finished 16th in that event, for $7,290. With that money, she entered the $3,000 event, which she won. Winners of all of the preliminary events also received a $25,000 entry into the
WPT Championship event.
Wroblewski then spent most of the championship event as one of the chip leaders before busting out in 70th place, which was good for another $46,410. Two days later, she won $18,668 in the
WSOP Tournament Circuit ladies event at Caesars Palace, meaning that in less than 15 days, she turned a $300 satellite win into more than $409,000.
PokerTek Signs Agreement With Harrah's
Company's Product Will Be the Only Electronic Table Available to Harrah's Customers
By Bob Pajich
PokerTek, the company that produces electronic poker tables for casinos, recently signed an exclusive multiyear agreement with the largest casino operator in the world, Harrah's.
As part of the agreement, PokerTek has the exclusive rights to market a
World Series of Poker brand of tables to all of its customers.
It's not yet known at which Harrah's properties PokerTek's PokerPro tables will be installed.
Harrah's owns or operates 50 casinos in 13 states and six countries, and its poker rooms worldwide hold more than 450 tables.
"We believe that there is a market for automated poker throughout our properties," said Gerry Tuthill, corporate vice president of table games for Harrah's, in a press release. "Poker continues to boom and many players who have learned the game enjoy the fast-paced action PokerPro tables offer."
PokerTek currently has tables in casinos in Florida, California, Michigan, Arkansas, London, Australia, South Africa, and on several cruise ships. Its tables enable casinos to run both cash games and tournaments using a fully automated system that doesn't require cards, chips, or dealers.
All of the action takes place on a touch-screen monitor located in front of each player. The board and button are displayed on a flat-screen monitor set in the middle of the table, and players sign up for the games using a kiosk system.
Players Can Still Qualify for the World Series of Poker Online
Direct Satellites, Rebuys, Freerolls, and Buy-ins for Any Bankroll
By Kristy Arnett
Amidst the madness of legislation against online poker sites, the brave few who are still accepting U.S. customers are providing numerous paths for players to get into the
World Series of Poker main event that should suit anyone's style or bankroll.
The first step is to find a big buy-in direct satellite at a particular site and choose a path into them that is most appealing. Whether it is bankroll restrictions or style of satellite - such as rebuy, turbo, freezeout, or shootout - that are of concern to a player, everyone can find a site that is appealing.
Every week, PokerStars is running a $650 buy-in event that guarantees at least one $12,000
WSOP package. Players can qualify for this tournament through a $3 rebuy, $11 rebuy, $16 double shootout, $27 freezeout, $27 rebuy, or $27 turbo-rebuy event.
A $160 buy-in shootout satellite also puts players directly into the
WSOP main event. Satellites into this tournament are a $5.50 turbo-rebuy.
Also, winning two consecutive rebuy tournaments on PokerStars can get players a
WSOP package. The first step is a $2 turbo-rebuy that awards seats into the daily entry tournament, which is a $33 rebuy event. Each daily entry tournament guarantees at least one package.
Bodog's direct satellite tournaments run every Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The buy-in is $270 and it guarantees at least one $12,000 package per tournament. This tournament can be entered via these satellites: $29 freezeout that takes place twice daily, $16 rebuy on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and once-daily $7.50 rebuy Monday through Thursday. The $29 freezeout seats can be won through a daily $1.50 or $5.50 freezeout, or a $1 rebuy tournament.
Full Tilt is holding a $1,000 buy-in event every Thursday that guarantees at least five
WSOP packages, and a $322 buy-in event on Tuesdays that guarantees at least two packages; both are weekly qualifiers that begin at 9 p.m. ET on each respective night. These direct satellites can be qualified for by playing in a number of different $26 tournaments. The $26 buy-in tournament satellites include $13.75 heads-up, $8.70 two-table, $6.60 six-person, $4.40 single-table, and $6.50 multitable events.
On UltimateBet, there is a daily $215 turbo-rebuy tournament that guarantees at least one
WSOP main-event package. Players can qualify for that tournament through $5.50 and $11 multitable daily tournaments.
On Absolute Poker, players can qualify for a weekly $108 buy-in event for at least one guaranteed seat through daily $1 and $10 satellites.
In addition, PokerStars, UltimateBet, and Full Tilt are providing satellites in which their players can use points they have accumulated from real-money and tournament play as the buy-in.
Party at the Playboy Mansion Raises $50,000 for Urban Health Institute
Card Player Co-Sponsored the Event
By Bob Pajich
The Playboy Mansion was the setting recently for a Hollywood poker night that benefited the Los Angeles Urban Health Institute, which is a nonprofit organization that provides direct care, medicine, and medical equipment in response to natural and man-made disasters.
Card Player was a co-sponsor of the event.
The $1,500 tournament attracted almost 200 players, which included poker professionals Steve Dannenmann, Mike Matusow, David Singer, Jon Friedberg, and Marcel Luske, as well as celebrities Shannon Elizabeth, last year's
UHI Celebrity Poker Tournament Champion Don Cheadle, and many rap stars and sports figures.
The prize was a big one - a $10,000 seat into this year's
World Series of Poker. At around 1:30 a.m., as Playboy Mansion staff personnel were busy trying to herd people out of the place, both Dannenmann and Elizabeth remained. Since the tournament had to come to a close, organizers decided to award each of them seats.
Dannenmann clearly had a great time. He passed out high-fives to those who stayed and gave Elizabeth a huge congratulatory hug that capped the night. A silent auction also took place, featuring everything from a check signed by Babe Ruth to a poster signed by the entire cast of The Sopranos.
The tournament raised more than $50,000 for the UHI, and attracted more than 600 people to the Mansion.
Card Player Player of the Year
Carlos Mortensen is Back in the Race
Going into the
World Poker Tour Championship, Carlos Mortensen had 96 Player of the Year (POY) points. After the final hand of the
WPT Championship was dealt, Mortensen not only found himself with an extra $3.9 million for winning it, but now he's right in the thick of the
Card Player Player of the Year race with 2,496 points. That puts him in fifth place, 1,836 points behind the leader, J.C. Tran.
Mortensen made history when he won the
WPT Championship. He became the first player to win both the
WPT and
World Series of Poker championships.
Players who did well in the
WPT Championship and the tournaments in the Bellagio
Five-Star World Poker Classic series, which was capped by the championship, threw themselves into the Player of the Year's top-10 list. It also helps that these players - Ted Lawson, Paul Lee, and Kirk Morrison - all are tournament veterans who carry a long list of successful results with them everywhere they go.
Lee finished third in the championship event, winning a little more than $1 million. He now sits fourth on the POY list with 2,547 points. Morrison finished second, and took home a little more than $2 million. His finish put him at No. 7 on the list. Lawson cashed twice during this series. Please see the "Look Out!" feature for more details about him.
Look Out!
Ted Lawson may be more well-known for his crazy-print shirts and for misreading his hand at the televised final table of the 2004
WSOP $5,000 pot-limit Omaha event, which he ended up winning. If Lawson keeps playing the way he has played thus far this year, he might be remembered for becoming the 2007
Card Player Player of the Year.
He made two final tables at the Bellagio
Five-Star World Poker Classic: He racked up a fourth-place finish in the $1,500 no-limit hold'em event ($50,940) and was the runner-up in the $5,000 no-limit hold'em event, where he won $294,085.
Ten days later he finished fifth in a $500 buy-in event in a
WSOP Tournament Circuit event at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, winning another $17,926. It also added another 200 points to his POY total, bringing his points total to 2,630. If you see Lawson at a table, look out.
Five at $2 Million
There are several ways to look at the Player of the Year list. The points system is designed to measure consistency, but the column listing tournament winnings is perhaps the most compelling.
With his victory at the
WPT Championship, Mortensen became the year's money leader with a little more than $4 million. Another poker TV series champion, Gavin Griffin, is second in winnings with $2.5 million, most of which came from the
European Poker Tour Grand Final. Eric Hershler is 14th on the POY list, but is third in the money column with $2.4 million, all of which came from winning the
L.A. Poker Classic.
J.C. Tran is next on the list with almost $2.3 million in winnings. He had to work a little harder than Hershler, though. He's made four final tables and cashed five times. Kirk Morrison rounds out the $2 million club with $2.1 million.
Online Hand-to-Hand Combat: Pot-Size Control Demonstrated by PearlJammed
By Craig Tapscott
Want to study real poker hands with the Internet's most successful players? In this series,
Card Player offers hand analysis with online poker's leading talent. And, as an added bonus, you can check out live video commentary provided by the pros and PokerXfactor.com at www.CardPlayer.com/tv.
Event: Full Tilt Poker $1,000 Monday tournament
Players: 228
First Place: $59,280
Stacks: PearlJammed - $8,730; Villain - $5,910
Blinds: $140-$280
Antes: $25
Preflop: PearlJammed sits in the small blind with the A
2
and completes. Villain checks his option.
Craig Tapscott: Why the limp and not a raise?
Jon Turner (PearlJammed): I don't like raising out of the small blind here against a somewhat similar stack unless I have a very big hand. I don't want to possibly be put to a decision when out of position by a reraise. Yet, with this ante structure, I'm at least limping in with any two cards here.
Flop: K
10
7
($785 pot)
PearlJammed bets $380. Villain calls.
JT: I lead out into my opponent for a little less than half the pot, which, if he knows me at all, I'd do with just about any two cards.
CT: Thinking ahead, what do you expect from the Villain?
JT: When he calls with a draw-heavy board, I can put him on several straight draws - 9-8, J-9, and Q-J, all of which are open-ended - as well as possibly a lower flush draw. I doubt that he would just call my bet with a lone king, although it's possible. I also count any 7 or any 10 as likely holdings here along with the draws. I figure that he would raise if he was strong, facing such a draw-heavy board. So, two pair, a set, or even a king are all unlikely, but possible.
Turn: K
($1,545 pot); PearlJammed checks.
JT: I check mainly to keep the pot small. If I were to bet here and get raised, I would probably have to fold the hand with the paired board. Also, I don't want to get involved in a big pot at this stage without a made hand, especially when out of position.
Villain bets $840. PearlJammed calls.
CT: Are you still going with the same read?
JT: If I can put him on a made hand, this bet would be just enough to drive me out of the pot, given my positional disadvantage and the paired board. But in this blind-versus-blind situation, on such a draw-heavy board, and with my previous read, I figure there's a very good chance that he's betting a draw and will give up his semibluff on most rivers.
River: 3
($3,225); PearlJammed checks. Villain bets $1,960.
CT: Do sirens go off when you see this bet, based on your read?
JT: Alarm bells are definitely going off in my head that he's missed his draw. I would find it very odd of him to bet this much on a 10 or a 7, as he would likely prefer to just show down those hands. There's an off chance that he could be betting a 10 with a good kicker, but I would expect a bet of $800-$1,200 with that hand, not approximately $2,000. With this information, I feel strong enough that he is betting a missed draw.
CT: What's he putting you on?
JT: Putting myself in my opponent's shoes, given my weak bet on the flop, I understand him making the initial call. By making this call with such a weak drawing hand, however, he cannot just give up on the pot when an 8 doesn't materialize on the turn (Villain held the 9
6
). So, again, I certainly understand him making the bet on the turn to try to take it away when checked to him. When I checked the river, however, I thought he should have given up on the bluff.
PearlJammed calls. Villain shows the 9
6
. PearlJammed wins the $7,145 pot with a pair of kings, ace kicker.
Jon Turner has been a consistent, dominating force in the online tournament world for the last few years. He chopped the PartyPoker Million for $81,000 in 2006, and already has five $10,000-plus cashes online in 2007.
Online Player of the Year Power Shift
By Shawn Patrick Green
Online poker is a fast, constantly changing environment, and the
Card Player Online Player of the Year (OPOY) leader board is the perfect illustration of this in action. The OPOY leader board had already taken into account more than four months of tournament results when the ranking system was first launched in early April, yet it took just two more weeks to drastically change the top spots on the leader board.
Ch0ppy Slices Through the Opposition
As of press time, Matt "ch0ppy" Kay sits at the top of the leader board with 3,172 points. He kicked off his trek up the leader board with a win in the PokerStars Sunday Million tournament in early January. Since that time, he's earned points for finishes in nine other tournaments, including six final tables and two first-place finishes. His total winnings for OPOY tournaments alone come to almost $335,000.
Kay's lead is tenuous at best against Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron, who's in second place with 2,890 points. Baron also started his climb up the leader board with a win in the PokerStars
Sunday Million in January. He has made five OPOY-qualified final tables, including two first-place finishes, since then. He has racked up $369,867 from his OPOY-qualified wins.
Andy McLEOD Warms Up
Well-known Internet pro "Andy McLEOD" (also well-known as TheFatFISH on Full Tilt) recently vaulted into third place on the OPOY leader board, thanks to a second-place finish in the PokerStars
Sunday Warmup, worth 800 points. He already had been having considerable success earlier this year with nine previous OPOY-qualified finishes, including four first-place finishes.
One of those first-place finishes was in the Absolute Poker $150,000-guaranteed tournament, for $37,500 and 480 points. Andy McLEOD also took down the Full Tilt $1K Monday event twice in a row, earning 720 points and almost $100,000 for the combined wins.
A Not-So-Suspicious Ascension
"MattSuspect," a prominent Internet pro, recently gained quite a bit of traction in the Online Player of the Year race. Winning something like the PokerStars
Sunday Million has a tendency to do that, as James "P0KERPR0" Campbell has found.
MattSuspect raked in the final pot of the
Sunday Million on April 29. He beat 2,879 other entrants in the monthly $500 buy-in version of the tournament to pocket $223,637 and 1,800 OPOY points, putting his total points at an even 2,500. The
Sunday Million tournaments normally result in 1,440 points for the winner, but the upped buy-in for this event also upped the earned points. He now sits in fifth place on the leader board.
MattSuspect has five other OPOY-qualified finishes - all final tables - including two first-place finishes in the PokerStars
Nightly Hundred Grand.
Back-to-Back Quack
When Greg "DuckU" Hobson raked in the final pot of the Full Tilt $400,000-guaranteed tournament on April 22, he'd made a much greater accomplishment than meets the eye. That tournament win was actually his second win in a row in a major Full Tilt Sunday event. He had taken down the Full Tilt monthly $750,000-guaranteed tournament just one week earlier, making for an unprecedented pair of victories in a period of just eight days. The finishes boosted him from obscurity into sixth place on the OPOY leader board with 2,400 points.
His combined winnings for the two tournaments came to $238,203, $152,348 for his first win and $85,855 for his second. Railbirds joked that DuckU was actually Layne "Back-to-Back" Flack in real life - in reference to Flack's back-to-back World Series of Poker wins in 2002 - but I'd contend that he is more appropriately dubbed Back-to-Back Quack. (That's bad, I know, but I think it had to be done.)
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
Absolute Poker - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etabsolute
Bodog - www.CardPlayer.com/link/etbodog
Tournament Results, April 16-April 29
PokerStars Sunday Million
April 22
Winner: SvZff
Winnings: $163,974*
Prize pool: $1,346,200
Entrants: 6,731
April 29†
Winner: MattSuspect
Winnings: $223,637*
Prize pool: $1,440,000
Entrants: 2,880
* Payout reflects a deal made at the final table.
† This was the monthly $500 buy-in version of the Sunday Million.
Full Tilt Poker $400,000 Guarantee
April 22
Winner: Greg "DuckU" Hobson
Winnings: $85,855
Prize pool: $468,000
Entrants: 2,340
April 29
Winner: MathForPoker
Winnings: $81,634
Prize pool: $466,800
Entrants: 2,334
UltimateBet $200,000 Guarantee
April 22
Winner: Sowerss
Winnings: $45,000
Prize pool: $200,000
Entrants: 979
April 29
Winner: POPMONSTER
Winnings: $45,000
Prize pool: $200,000
Entrants: 934
Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
April 22
Winner: SirSands
Winnings: $25,000
Prize pool: $100,000
Entrants: 791
April 29
Winner: addrock
Winnings: $25,000
Prize pool: $100,000
Entrants: 810
Chris Bush
Zentastic
By Craig Tapscott
Long considered one of the top unknown players in poker, Chris Bush prefers to keep it that way. Bush makes most of his money sitting in cash games or tournaments, on the down-low. If an opponent has little or no information with which to work, that's an advantage to capitalize on.
"At the table I stay pretty quiet and also don't promote myself on forums and such," said Bush. "I enjoy being behind the scenes. It has its advantages when people don't know much about you, or know what to expect from you."
Card Player sat down with one of the quietest players online and squeezed some great information out of him. It's wasn't easy - and definitely harder than swiping any chips from Chris "Bushman" Bush.
Craig Tapscott: You began in the lower limits at no-limit hold'em cash tables online. What are some of the major keys to moving up in stakes?
Chris Bush: Bankroll management should be important if you plan on staying around. Most importantly, you should be dominating the stakes you're playing before moving up in levels. And you need to be confident when jumping up, since it's uncharted ground. There are new players, and usually at each limit the game plays a little differently. If you're not confident, you will get run over, usually.
Another important key is game selection. Now, online games are tougher than ever due to the U.S. legislation. It's good players hanging around and not random people stopping by and dumping $10,000.
CT: What are some of the pitfalls of moving up too fast?
CB: The swings of poker are not easy to get used to. I've tried at times to move up in limits and lost four or five buy-ins right away. The best thing to do if that happens is to step back down to your previous limit and build back your confidence. Then, try again.
CT: What makes the high-stakes cash-game players like Brian Townsend and Patrik Antonius so much better than the levels below?
CB: They're all fearless. You cannot play if you think it's real money in front of you. And they're always putting their opponents to the test.
CT: Are there any trouble hands you see amateurs making mistakes with consistently?
CB: A-K is definitely overplayed in cash games, maybe due to its strength in multitable tournaments. For one, everyone expects you to have A-K when you're raising or reraising. So, if you hit the flop, it's very tough to get paid. And if you miss the flop and they expect you to have A-K, they will call you down lightly. It's a hand that you shouldn't play conservatively to early or out-of-position raisers.
CT: What do you love most about poker?
CB: The competition. I love that it's a thinking game; the state that it puts you in when you're in the zone, that Zen state of complete focus.
CT: Do you prefer to focus more on live or online play?
CB: There is so much more info available to you when playing live. Online, it's betting patterns and reads on players from your previous experiences with them. Sometimes in live play you can pick up obvious tells and use them to your advantage. Focusing on one table at a time, after focusing on multiple tables for years, is a major advantage for the online player.
CT: Let's get Zen. Talk about the edge to having no attachment to outcomes.
CB: At the poker table, if you have a negative energy or mindset, you're going to bring upon yourself negative results. If you love the game and play for fun, you've got to have a balanced mindset. You cannot let bad beats hurt you. That's part of poker. Even calling it a bad beat … you've just got to keep rolling. In the long run, a positive outlook will serve you well. If you expect to win, you will; if you expect to lose, most likely you will. Your intention and your thoughts are a major part of what the outcome will be.
CT: So, bad beats don't make you crush a Red Bull can against your forehead?
CB: It's not worth it. Numerous players I know let anger get to them after a bad beat. It affects their game. In the long run, you can't let it bother you. What bothers me more is if I made a mistake in a hand. If I take a beat late in a multitable tournament, of course it can be frustrating, but I just say, "Next," and move on.
Knowing When to Surrender, Knowing When to Fire
By Mike Sexton, the 'Ambassador of Poker' and Commentator for the World Poker Tour
The Bay 101
Shooting Star tournament is a fun-filled
World Poker Tour event. It's where poker superstars have bounties on their heads, so knocking them out is extra special.
In this hand, tournament standout Chad Brown (with $696,000) makes a position raise from the button for $30,000 with 6
3
after everyone folded to him. The small blind folded, and even though the big blind, Fabrice Soulier, was short-stacked with just over $400,000, he opted to call $20,000 more with the 4
2
.
The flop was A-9-4 rainbow and Fabrice checked bottom pair. Chad now bet $35,000 and was quickly called by Fabrice. The turn card paired the 9. Again, Fabrice checked bottom pair, and again, Chad bluffed at the pot - this time for $60,000. Fabrice made the call (much to the dismay of Chad). A king came on the river, and again Fabrice checked. But now, after seeing his opponent call a preflop raise, a bet on the flop, and a bet on the turn, Chad opted to wave the white flag and check it down on the river, giving Fabrice the pot.
This is a hand in which you have to admire the play of both of these guys, as they were both fighting for the pot. Chad bluffed at it several times, but Fabrice made the tough calls (even though short on chips) and eventually took down the pot.
This hand reminds me of one of my favorite poker stories. Years ago, I was watching three-time world champion Stu Ungar playing in a $100-$200 blinds no-limit hold'em cash game, and a hand came up in which he was in the big blind with the 6
4
. The cutoff man raised it to $800. Everyone got out, and Stuey called $600 more. (Both Stuey and the other guy each had about $25,000 in front of him.)
The flop was J-10-2 rainbow, and even though he had only a 6-4, Stuey led out and bet $1,500. His opponent called. The turn card was an offsuit 7, and Stuey now led out and bet $2,500. Again, his opponent called. The river card paired the deuce, and Stuey fired again - this time for $8,000! His opponent went into a long stall, turned up the A
10
, and then mucked it.
As Stuey was raking in the chips, he leaned over to me and said, "Sexton, a lot of guys will bluff at a pot and some will fire two shells, but there's not very many that will fire three."
Although it's much easier said than done, you just wonder what would have happened here if Chad had fired that third shell.
Card Player Digital
Every day, the media team at CardPlayer.com is filming and adding videos to
Card Player TV, which features 10 channels dedicated to poker content. As the only online video team at the
World Poker Tour Championship, it shot and edited hours of footage, including interviews with all of the final-table participants. Check out www.CardPlayer.com/tv to view the channels.
Also,
Card Player TV released a feature interview with both Howard Lederer and former Congressman Al D'Amato, who now works for American poker players as a representative of the Poker Players Alliance, the largest member-driven poker organization out there. They talk about Rep. Barney Frank's proposed bill that would legalize online gambling in America, as well as other things. It is must-see Internet TV.
Digital Desserts
So, your pesky brother-in-law is getting married on the same day as, say, the final table of the
Mirage Poker Showdown. As a fan of Michael Mizrachi, you want to see if he can pull off another victory, and you can't wait until tomorrow. Don't worry!
Card Player has your back.
Card Player now offers live updates through your cellphone. A daily dose of chip counts can be sent to your phone, keeping you close to the poker action no matter how far away you are. The service costs $3.99 a month, and more information can be found by pointing your cellphone's browser at CardPlayerMobile.com.
The live-update service is only one of many services offered through Card Player Mobile. Ever-changing ringtones, an odds calculator, poker tips, poker-themed wallpaper, and more are available.
Poker Saturation
Card Player's coverage of this year's summer of poker will take poker fans into the minds of some of poker's best players in videos and feature articles that will include hard-core strategy, hand and play analysis, personal interviews, players' blogs, and much more, from all of the tournaments that are held in Vegas in June and July.
Card Player will also heavily cover the
World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup III, which will take place at the same time at the
World Series of Poker. Between the Bellagio and the Rio, 83 bracelets will be won.
Card Player's going to be busy, as that's a lot of champions to talk to. Barry Shulman may have to call Phil Hellmuth and have him send over a truckload of his ProPlayer energy drink, because we're going to need it.
Do you read poker blogs?
78% - Yes
22% - No
Are We Having Fun Yet?
By David Apostolico
Of the countless millions of people who play poker worldwide, the great majority of them are undoubtedly recreational players. "Recreational" is a term that is widely used but rarely defined. It's commonly used to describe almost anyone who doesn't play poker exclusively for a living. That's a fairly wide swath, from the tourist out to blow some bucks to the weekend warrior who takes his game quite seriously and is a winning player even if it's not his main source of income.
For purposes of this column, I'm going to define a recreational player as one who plays for fun. For these players, poker is a source of entertainment like going to the movies, playing tennis, or getting together with a group of friends to watch a football game. To them, winning is secondary to having a good time.
This raises an interesting question: Is poker supposed to be fun? A few years back, I found myself in Las Vegas on a business trip with a friend and colleague. I spent a good amount of time expounding the virtues of poker to him, but found my words falling on deaf ears. My friend (let's call him Sam) was a blackjack player. He found blackjack fast and exciting, and thought that poker was way too slow. To Sam, poker and blackjack were both forms of gambling, and blackjack afforded him the opportunity to win or lose money quicker than poker could.
We agreed on this trip that we would each spend some time playing the other's game. First, I played some blackjack with him. I've played plenty of blackjack before in my life, but not in quite a while. Still, the optimal playing strategy came back to me quickly. After about 20 minutes, I was bored out of my skull. There was absolutely nothing to think about. Your decision is based entirely on your cards and the dealer's upcard.
The next night, I convinced Sam to try a poker tournament. Tournaments were somewhat rare then, but we found one with a modest buy-in at the Sahara. As luck would have it, we ended up at the same table. Sam was playing almost every hand and was running very well, building up a huge chip stack. I knew he was destined to lose it all, the way he was playing, and sure enough, he busted out after about 90 minutes. (I managed to get a good portion of his stack and ended up finishing third.) When I talked to him the next day, he said poker was way too boring and that there was nothing going on. He was happy to bust out and get back to the blackjack tables.
I conceded that at a table of 10 players in a no-limit hold'em tournament, you are not going to play a lot of hands. That doesn't make poker boring, though - far from it. I tried to explain to him that, unlike blackjack, there is always something going on at the poker table. All you have to do is look around and observe. The decisions you face are real and endless. You are not playing just your cards. There are countless other factors to consider.
I then tried to explain to Sam all of the factors that he should be considering, such as position, playing styles, relative sizes of chip stacks, the level of the blinds, potential holdings of your opponents, the texture of the board, and on and on. Finally, I caught my breath and Sam was looking at me like I had two heads. He just shook his head and said, "I just want to have some fun." It struck me that my passionate plea for poker probably didn't sound like fun at all to a nonbeliever, and I was without a response.
Fortunately for Sam, he stuck to blackjack and stayed away from the poker tables. There remains, however, a multitude of recreational poker players who possess the attitude of Sam to varying degrees. Whenever I preach to them, I've learned my lesson. I soften my sales pitch and have perfected my response to the inevitable complaint that they just want to have fun. Now, I answer, "But wouldn't you have a lot more fun if you won?"
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].
Tracking Preflop Play Essential to Success
By Taylor "Green Plastic" Caby
With the explosion of online poker, poker players have found themselves with a multitude of options when choosing what type of game to play. If you are looking to become a serious player, it's wise to focus on one game and become a specialist at that game. There are a lot of players who will dabble in all of the games available to them. They will almost never be experts at a certain game because they haven't put in the amount of hours playing one game like a specialist will have done. Due to the popularity of no-limit hold'em on TV, I chose to become a specialist at no-limit hold'em, particularly cash games. Because I have specialized in no-limit hold'em, I have developed a deep understanding of the optimal way to play against a player based on his preflop "statistics." Today I am going to talk about using preflop statistics to improve your bottom line.
The first thing all players should do when playing no-limit hold'em is keep good statistics. Using Pokertracker (pokertracker.com) is essential to keeping records of your (and your opponents') play. The most important preflop statistics are PFR (Pre flop Raise percentage) and VPIP (Voluntarily put money into the pot). Optimal PFR and VPIP statistics vary widely from game to game (Heads up, six max, full ring), but there are things that hold true in all games. First, your VPIP should never be less than 75 percent of your PFR. Simply put, you need to be raising the majority of hands you decide to play. If you are raising 75 percent of the time you come into the pot, it will make it difficult (and expensive) for opponents to try to speculate with a wide range of hands, thus making it easier on yourself post-flop.
Not only does paying attention to preflop statistics help you play optimally, paying attention to your opponents' stats will help you better understand their range of likely holdings. A player that plays a 65/40 (VPIP, PFR) game is a maniac. This player is seeing flops with any premium hand, any speculative hand (suited 3 and 4 gappers, random suited hands), and any marginal hand (Ax, Kx). He is raising 40 percent of the hands too, so his raises don't mean particularly much. Compare that to the 10/2 player. This player is only playing top 10 percent hands, and is only raising 2 percent of the hands he plays. This means that when this player enters the pot, you better believe he has a pocket pair or A-Q at the worst, and if he raises he almost always has A-K, Q-Q, K-K, or A-A.
Pre-flop statistics in poker are even more powerful when you can combine them with information you learn within each hand. For example, if a 30/21 player raises in middle position and you as a 24/20 (it is important to note your stats because if you were a 65/40 player he would give you no credit and call you much more often preflop) reraise him from the button and he calls, you can narrow his hand range down a lot more than if you had simply called him preflop. This player is raising all pocket pairs, A-K A-10 as well as some suited connectors and random suited hands. However, he isn't the type of player to play any two cards and won't call your reraise with A-10 or two random suited cards, especially out of position. You now have a better idea of what types of hands you are up against, which will improve your hand reading abilities and eventually, your bottom line.
As an exercise, I recommend tracking your play for a few thousands hands. Take a look at your VPIP/PFR over this range of hands. Once you have this data, try map out exactly what range of hands constitutes that VPIP/PFR. This shouldn't be extremely difficult because you probably have a general idea of what types of hands you are raising and calling with. To check your answers, download pokerstove (www.pokerstove.com) to figure out exactly what range a person's VPIP or PFR means. Finding out exactly what hands a player plays who sees 20 percent of flops is very valuable. You should play around with these ranges as much as possible so by gut feel you develop a good idea in each situation what any player may be holding.
Great Moments From the World Series of Poker
By Tim Peters
52 Greatest Moments: World Series of Poker by Mark Rogers (designed and published by Amalgam Studio; $39.95)
"Amateur." You hear that word and probably think of its literal meaning: a nonprofessional. You might detect a trace of condescension in it, as in, "What an amateur!" But to me, the word amateur connotes something quite different, given its Latin root "amare," which means "to love." When I hear the word, I think of someone filled with enthusiastic and passionate devotion to something - which makes me happy to call myself an amateur when it comes to poker. I'm as fascinated with the history and the lore of the game as I am by winning pots or tournaments. And it's my love of the game that prompts me to recommend this handsomely produced book about poker's biggest stage, the
World Series of Poker and its 52 greatest moments.
It's an oversized book, more than good-looking enough to grace your coffee table, but it's a book to be read as much as admired. In 52 chapters, Rogers and the designers at Amalgam Studio present 52 decisive dramas, from the humble origins of the event back in 1970 all the way up to last summer's 2006
WSOP.
Rogers approaches each story with the same basic format: an introduction to the hero, some context about the situation ("The Setup"), and the climactic scene ("The Moment") in which the hero triumphs - or fails (as in No. 52, where John Bonetti flopped top pair/top kicker when holding A-K, but Jim Bechtel had flopped a set of sixes).
Some of the moments are simply colorful, like the background on Amarillo Slim Preston's comment to Vera Richmond back in 1982: "Vera, if you can win the
World Series of Poker, you can take a dull knife and cut my throat!" (This is often misquoted as, "If a woman ever wins the
World Series of Poker, I'll cut my throat!") Some will be familiar: the improbable triumph of Chris Moneymaker in 2003's main event against Sammy Farha (the book's No. 1 moment) or the famous "chips and a chair" story of Jack Straus and his epic comeback in 1982 (No. 3). Some are instructive, as when Stu Ungar, en route to his unparalleled third main-event title in 1997, executed a monster bluff on the river - and showed it (Moment No. 37).
Readers will certainly quibble about some of Rogers' choices, but according to the flap copy, they were the result of a collective effort: poker players, media, and fans were surveyed to select the moments included in the book. In fact, the folks behind this volume "anticipate and hope that these results will stir up some discussion and possibly controversy." I might, for example, have left out the "Cinderella" story of Tiffany Williamson in 2005's main event (though to be fair, she cashed for more money than any other woman in
WSOP history; her 15th-place finish earned her $400,000). And the story of the Nick "The Greek" Dandalos/Johnny Moss five-month poker game that predates the
WSOP feels a bit out of place (and is well-covered elsewhere).
But it's always a pleasure to have poker history documented, especially in such an elegant fashion as
52 Greatest Moments: World Series of Poker. And with the
WSOP about to get under way, there's no better time to familiarize yourself with some of the dramatic events of the past 37 years.
Get a good preview of this book at www.52pokermoments.com. Readers also should take a look at the excellent narrative,
All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker by Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback, which I reviewed for
Card Player in December 2005.
