Congresswoman Calls for Online Gambling Study
Rep. Shelley Berkley's Bill Would Have National Academy of Sciences Conduct Study
By Bob Pajich
Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley recently introduced a bill that calls for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a yearlong study of Internet gambling to identify the "proper response" that the U.S. government should have to it.
The bill calls for the NAS to consider several items concerning online gambling, including:
• A review of existing federal, state, tribal, local, and international laws governing various forms of wagering over the Internet, the effectiveness of such laws, and the extent to which such provisions of law conform or do not conform with each other
• An assessment of the proliferation of Internet gambling, including an analysis of its availability and use within the United States
• A determination of the impact of Internet gambling on minors and compulsive gamblers, and the availability of regulatory and technological safeguards to prevent or mitigate this impact
• A determination of the extent to which terrorists and criminal enterprises are utilizing Internet gambling for fraud and money laundering purposes, and the availability of regulatory and technological safeguards to prevent or mitigate it
• An assessment of the impact of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act on the availability and use within the United States of Internet gambling, and on the adverse effects of Internet gambling
• An assessment of recent technological innovations and the practices of other nations and international bodies that license and regulate Internet gambling, and the practicality of using similar systems to establish a legal framework in the United States
Berkley has called for a study like this to be made for more than a year now. Her bill is one of three that were recently introduced to counter the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that was passed in October 2006. State Rep. Barney Frank recently introduced a law that would make Internet wagering legal (with many caveats), and Rep. Bob Wexler is working on a bill that would provide a carve-out to the UIGEA for online poker.
North Carolina Court Rules Poker a Game of Chance
Court Quashed Attempts of Man to Open Poker Club
By Bob Pajich
The Court of Appeals in North Carolina ruled that poker is a game of luck and not one of skill.
The court ruled in a case that was appealed by Howard Fierman, who wanted to open a poker club called the Joker Club in Durham County in 2004.
When the attorney general of Durham County, Jim Hardin, told Fierman that the club would be illegal, Fierman sued the county on the grounds that poker is a game of skill and should not be considered a gambling game.
The case was first heard in county Superior Court on July 1, 2005, and in the Appellate Court on Aug. 23, 2006. The ruling was made on May 1.
All three Appellate Court judges ruled that poker is a game of chance, despite hearing testimony from four witnesses for the plaintiff, and only one, Richard Thornell of the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Division, for the attorney general.
The witnesses for the plaintiff included Card Player columnist Roy Cooke. Cooke testified that although, on any single hand of poker, chance may defeat skill, over the long run, skill will ultimately beat luck. He also testified that there are certain mathematical strategies that players can learn to use to improve their game.
The court chose to believe Thornell, who testified that he's played poker for nearly 40 years. He told the court that although he thinks there's skill in poker, luck ultimately prevails. He specifically noted a hand that he watched on television that had a 91 percent chance to win, but it lost to a hand that had only a 9 percent chance to win.
In effect, the court ruled that chance dominates skill in poker, and therefore, the state will consider it a game of chance, the way state law is written.
U.S. Won't Comply With World Trade Organization Ruling
Officials Say They Will Modify Agreement That Was Signed More Than a Decade Ago
By Bob Pajich
The United States will not comply with the World Trade Organization's ruling that it's in the wrong for stopping its citizens from making online wagers with companies located in other countries.
Deputy United States Trade Representative John Veroneau recently said the U.S. still doesn't believe it's violating WTO rules by working to stop online gambling, because U.S. officials didn't think that online gambling was considered part of a "recreation" agreement. Veroneau said that this was clearly an oversight in the drafting of this agreement. The U.S. will modify its agreement to the WTO to clarify its stance.
The WTO ruled in favor of Antigua in a dispute that has been going on for more than two years. A WTO panel agreed with Antigua that the U.S. is in violation of WTO rules for trying to stop its citizens from using offshore sites to make wagers. The ruling was upheld during two appeals by the U.S.
Veroneau also said that the U.S. has the right to stop online betting companies in foreign countries from doing business with Americans, because it never allowed interstate online gambling to begin with.
Despite what the U.S. says, it does not totally restrict its citizens from wagering online or over the telephone across state borders. The WTO specifically cited the horse-racing industry in its rulings.
If the U.S. decided to ban interstate horse betting, it would have the right to ban offshore gambling houses, a WTO referee said during one of the appeal hearings. There's no sign that this will happen.
Meanwhile, several politicians are in the process of presenting bills that would end the prohibition of online gambling in the U.S., further clouding the U.S. stance on online gambling and the rest of the world.
Casinos Offering Poker Players Special Rates This Summer
Play Poker and Receive Discounts
By Kristy Arnett
This summer, Las Vegas will be flooded with poker players from all corners of the world, and unless they have a friend's couch to crash on, they will need a place to stay. Luckily, many casinos are prepared to accommodate poker players by offering room discounts for playing in their casino.
The Rio, home of the
World Series of Poker, offers special rates to those who play in any of the events. Most casinos book players for the normal room rates and discount them at a later time. However, the Rio offers a pre-entry rate of $139 during the week and $279 on the weekend. A second discount is given after a receipt from one of the events is provided, lowering the rates to $109 during the week and $199 on the weekend.
In addition to the
WSOP, the
Bellagio Cup III, a new
World Poker Tour event that is set to take place from June 11 to July 15, will attract legions of players. Bellagio is offering special rates to its tournament players. The poker rate often varies, but during the Bellagio's $10,000 main event, players can stay for $149 during the week and $219 on the weekend with proof of event entry.
The other tournament series going on this summer in Las Vegas is The Venetian's
Deep Stack Extravaganza, which runs from June 1 to July 1 and offers a number of lower buy-in tournaments with excellent blinds structures. From June 1 to July 17, rooms at The Venetian will cost $119 from Sunday to Thursday and $189 on Saturday and Sunday for players who log six hours of cash-game play per day or have bought an entry into one of the events.
Caesars Palace may not be hosting a tournament series, but it is offering room discounts to players, nonetheless. For any standard hotel room that is $400 or less, the price will be knocked down to $139 from Sunday to Thursday and $229 on Saturday and Sunday for eight hours of play per day in live cash games.
These room rates are all subject to change and rely heavily on room availability.
World Series of Poker Payout Structure Revised
Changes Will Make it More Lucrative for Lower Finishers
By Kristy Arnett
"Making the money" in the
World Series of Poker main event is a huge accomplishment in itself, and the
WSOP is now looking to reward most of these players with more generous payouts.
The
WSOP has announced that the payout structure for the 2007 main event will be less top-heavy this year. The payout structure will depend on the number of entrants, as always, but the percentages will be increased for most all places except the top few. As a result, the top 27 players will be paid less.
Had the new structure been applied to last year's main event (8,773 players and a prize pool of $8,512,162), 873rd through 775th place would have paid $22,266 instead of $14,605 and $15,512, respectively. Also, 82nd through 73rd place would have received $126,173, which is nearly twice the $66,010 payout last year.
The first-place prize would have been reduced significantly, from $12 million to $10,028,715, while second place would have gone from $6,105,900 to $5,442,769.
Howard Greenbaum, regional vice president of specialty gaming for Harrah's Entertainment Inc., said: "We discussed this concept with our poker operations team and with members of the
World Series of Poker Players Advisory Council, and the consensus was that spreading the wealth is the right thing to do. The new schedules are designed to increase the rewards to players who finish in the money but don't reach the final table."
Liz Lieu Helping WIN Win
'The Poker Diva' Focuses Charity Efforts on Women In Need Foundation
By Kristy Arnett
Poker is really tough, and giving back is a way of finding peace."
- Liz Lieu, poker professional
"The Poker Diva" has taken on yet another charitable endeavor. Liz Lieu recently announced her involvement with the Women In Need (WIN) foundation, which was founded to help empower and heal women through a number of services.
"I know what it's like to go through incredibly tough times and have to basically start life over. This is an organization that helps women do that. What they do is close to my heart," Lieu said.
WIN offers programs of abuse and self-esteem recovery with seven outreach centers across the country, plus Athens, Greece. In addition, WIN has a national program called Raise Your Standards, which focuses on educating college-age girls about alcohol-related abuse. WIN also offers life empowerment classes, teaching destiny management and self-esteem. For those involved in the program, scholarships for education also are provided.
Along with donating percentages of tournament winnings, Lieu will also be contributing her free time. She hopes to increase awareness of WIN and encourage others in the poker community to lend a helping hand.
Lieu was introduced to the nonprofit organization through her friend Lynnphuong Frazier, the former Miss Virginia Globe 2006. The Mrs. Globe contest is the annual fundraiser for WIN, and Lieu will be serving as a celebrity judge at the 2007 competition.
"It is a feeling that you get when you give back that is priceless. I am proud to be helping such a deserving organization that helps women," said Lieu.
If you would like more information or would like to make a donation to the WIN organization, visit www.womeninneed.org. To read more about Lieu's charity work, visit her website, www.lizlieu.net.
Queen of Hearts Poker Team Assembled for the World Series of Poker
Group of Women to Compete in the WSOP Ladies Event to Benefit Charities
By Kristy Arnett
Experience mixed with talent and a certain feminine charm will be taking the 2007
World Series of Poker by storm. A group of women poker professionals, celebrities, and executives have come together in an effort to raise money for the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women Campaign" and the Nevada Cancer Institute by forming the Queen of Hearts team.
The team includes pros Vanessa Rousso, Jennifer Leigh, Clonie Gowen, Isabelle Mercier, Mary Jones, and Susie Isaacs, as well as actress Jennifer Tilly, poker writer Lisa Wheeler, real estate broker Elizabeth Sheperd, attorney and Florida magistrate Mary Magazine, president of watchmaker Corum USA Stacie Orloff, and amateur champions Anne Spinetti and Mylene Leitner. The team will be co-captained by actress Mimi Rogers and Queen of Hearts founder Lisa Tenner.
All team members will play in the
WSOP ladies no-limit hold'em event, scheduled for June 10-11 at the Rio in Las Vegas. Players will donate money from any winnings in the ladies event at their discretion. This is the second year for the team.
J.C. Tran Wins World Poker Tour Player of the Year
He's Still No. 1 in Card Player Player of the Year Race
By Kristy Arnett
J.C. Tran has officially won the
World Poker Tour Player of the Year title, and is well on his way to winning the
Card Player Player of the Year award, as well.
Contributing to his
WPT Player of the Year points were his three final-table finishes within two months' time. Preliminary events do not count, and players must finish in the top seven places to receive points.
Tran's first finish that earned him points came in the $10,000 buy-in
World Poker Open championship event, in which he placed sixth out of 294 players. He took home $142,810 and tallied 300 points for his efforts. At the
L.A. Poker Classic, Tran was among the 791 players who put up the $9,600 buy-in to play in the championship event. He placed second to Eric Hershler and won $1,177,010, along with 700 points.
Nearly a month later, Tran won his first championship title at the $5,000 buy-in
World Poker Challenge in Reno, Nevada. He beat 474 players to pocket the $683,473 first-place prize and a $25,000
WPT Championship seat. His victory earned him 1,000 points.
Tran was in first place on the
WPT leader board going into the $25,000 buy-in championship event, but close behind were Daniel Negreanu and Joe Pelton, both of whom could have knocked him into second place with a high finish. They went out of the tournament early, and Tran clinched the title.
Previous
WPT Player of the Year titleholders are Howard Lederer (season one), Erick Lindgren (season two), Negreanu (season three), and Gavin Smith (season four).
Greg Raymer Considering Run at Vice-Presidency
May Join Root's Presidential Ticket
By Bob Pajich
The 2008 presidential election may include a little
World Series of Poker flavor.
Greg Raymer, the 2004
WSOP champion, is considering joining famed sports handicapper Wayne Allyn Root on a Libertarian ticket for a run at the presidency. Root, who is going to try to win the Libertarian nomination, and Raymer are currently feeling each other out to see if they would make good running mates.
Neither of them believes they stand a chance to be elected, but both believe that 2008 gives the Libertarian Party a chance to plant the seeds for a future election in which a third-party candidate could perhaps win the presidency.
One sunny Friday in May, Root - who says that after being a longtime Republican, he switched to Libertarian last year - welcomed a cameraman into his home to film Raymer, Mike Matusow, and him talk about the state of politics in America and how he believes he could reinvigorate a party of charmless "intellectuals."
"My purpose in doing this isn't to get elected," Root said. "But, I'm going to start a movement that's going to catch fire. We're going to make a difference."
The cameraman was there to shoot a five-minute video that will be used to sell cable networks on his reality TV show. Root plans on using the money made from the show to fund the campaign. The company that wants to produce the show is the same one that's behind
The Jerry Springer Show.
Root reached out to Raymer late last year. The two share many of the same political philosophies concerning personal freedoms in America, which they both believe are being eroded. They also believe that online gaming could be a rallying point for the Libertarian Party, and hope that online gambling fans will rally around the two men and force the mainstream parties to address their concerns.
Raymer does have the background for politics. Before he became a
WSOP champ, he worked as a patent attorney.
Who Will Be the Next World
Series of Poker Superstar?
By Bob Pajich
The names on the
Card Player Player of the Year list are a compilation of familiar and solid performers who, thanks to the large fields in tournaments during the first part of 2007, have planted themselves right in the top 10. J.C. Tran, Ted Lawson, Carlos Mortensen, David Pham, and Paul Lee are tournament faves with pages of successful results to their names.
But somewhere - it could be in America or anywhere else in the world - there is a player who may be feared among friends and family members, but has never stepped into the poker arena that is Las Vegas during the summer. It's someone who doesn't even know that this summer is going to be his, that by the fall, his face will have flooded
ESPN and the pages of this magazine. His name will be spoken with awe and jealousy in cardrooms everywhere.
The list of recent poker stars who have made the
World Series of Poker their coming-out party is both deep and shocking. Jamie Gold, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, and Chris Moneymaker are all main-event champs who came to the
WSOP simply as poker players. They emerged as heroes (or antiheroes, depending on your view), and made the pros shake their heads.
The main event isn't the only place where a name is made. It's been only a year since Jeff Madsen walked into the Rio and put himself right in the middle of the Player of the Year race and onto the pages of poker history by cashing five times and winning two bracelets. Do you think that anyone (including himself) thought he could come out of the summer as the
WSOP Player of the Year?
So, who's it going to be this year? Who's going to come to Vegas this summer as a face in the crowd and leave as a VIP? Who's going to put himself right in the thick of the Player of the Year race by rattling off a handful of victories at this year's
WSOP?
It's going to be a great summer.
Points Up for Grabs
With nearly 120 tournament events taking place this summer between three tournament series in Las Vegas, thousands and thousands of Player of the Year points will be up for grabs. Here's a quick rundown on how the points are determined:
All tournaments with buy-ins of at least $300 and 60 or more players count in the POY race. That means that all
WSOP,
Bellagio Cup III, and Venetian
Deep Stack Extravaganza II events will qualify.
Three things are factored in to determine the number of points an event is worth: the buy-in, the number of players, and the place in which players finish. A scale that assigns points according to the cost of the buy-in and the number of entrants is then used to calculate the points. The number of players is also given a value, as is the place in which a player finishes (first place is worth 120 points).
These three numbers are then multiplied together to determine the point total. For a more complete understanding of the points system, visit www.CardPlayer.com/tournaments/poy_scoring.
Look Out!
Nobody's going to be surprised if Ted Forrest comes to the
WSOP and just burns the place down with his performance. With 1,925 points, he sits in 14th place on the list, but one victory will shuttle him right to the top.
This year, Forrest has won more than $1.3 million on the tournament trail, including a victory in the Bay 101
Shooting Star championship event. The last two years had a pro at the
WSOP main-event final table, and although there are so many good players from which to choose to represent them this year, Forrest wouldn't be the worst horse to ride.
Online Hand-to-Hand Combat: Gobboboy Snaps Off a Questionable Value-Bet With a Huge Bluff
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: PokerStars
Sunday Million Tournament
Players: 6,733
First Place: $188,524
Stacks: gobboboy - $1,218,798; Hold_emNL - $1,203,928; Villain No. 2 - $1,358,241
Blinds: $24,000-$48,000
Antes: $2,400
Craig Tapscott: What are the table dynamics at this point?
Jimmy Fricke (gobboboy): The table has been playing pretty aggressively. In the small blind is Tom Dwan, or Hold_emNL, a winning high-stakes no-limit hold'em cash player who has been relentlessly aggressive. The blinds are huge and the antes are small, making stealing not nearly as worth it as restealing against aggressive players. Everyone folds to me on the button, and I put in a smallish raise to try to pick up the pot, but since I have a decent hand in this spot (K
9
), I don't really mind a call. If I get reraised, I have to fold.
Preflop: Gobboboy has the button and raises to $110,000.
Hold_emNL and Villain No. 2 call.
Flop: A
Q
3
($351,600 pot)
CT: You expected two callers here.
JF: Definitely not. However, the board has come
super dry. Most people would reraise with A-Q and A-K preflop, and Hold_emNL, in my opinion, would reraise a hand as weak as A-J against me on the button. So, with $350,000 in the pot, a $200,000 bet has to work only a little more than one-third of the time to be profitable.
Hold_emNL checks, Villain No. 2 checks, and gobboboy bets $200,000. Hold_emNL calls, and Villain No. 2 folds.
Turn: J
($751,600 pot)
CT: What are you putting Hold_emNL?
JF: He's definitely capable of calling here light, and also capable of smooth-calling preflop and on the flop with A-A. I put him on K-Q, A-8 to possibly A-J, and maybe some smallish flush draws.
Hold_emNL checks.
CT: Is it time to slow down?
JF: There's a ton of money in the pot, but betting almost commits me, and at this point I have no outs if called except a 10. A bet here would accomplish nothing, so I decided to check behind and give up.
Gobboboy checks.
River: 6
Hold_emNL bets $318,000.
CT: Is this a value-bet?
JF: I know that he is
certainly capable of betting here for value or as a bluff, but why would he bet with a hand like K-Q or even a hand like A-8?
CT: What hands can call a raise from you here?
JF: A set of threes or a very passively played A-J. I opt for an all-in raise, which looks like a big one, but in actuality, he's getting more than 3-1 for a call on the river, meaning that he has to call and be good here only one-fourth of the time for a call to be good.
Gobboboy raises $588,398 to $906,398 and is all in. Hold_emNL folds; gobboboy wins the $1,387,600 pot.
CT: It looks like you're getting into his head.
JF: This river bluff is a very good example of how many levels players can start to think on. I certainly don't think that he thought I was capable of making a bluff like this, so I could get him to fold a marginal hand that he was value-betting on the river.
CT: And you showed!
JF: I'm usually not a big proponent of showing my cards, but I wanted to send a message to Hold_emNL and the other people at the table that I'm pretty crazy. From this point on, I played a very tight-aggressive style, hoping to pick up cards and get paid off with them.
Jimmy Fricke, 19, has won almost every big online tournament. He finished 27th at the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and took second in the 2007 Aussie Millions for $800,000.
2007 Online Player of the Year Race Approaches its Half-Life
By Shawn Patrick Green
As the 2007
Card Player Online Player of the Year (OPOY) race approaches its midyear checkpoint, players with consistently deep finishes are solidifying their top positions in the standings. The leader board still experiences a few minor fluctuations due to the merging of single-user screen names across multiple sites into a unified entity, but, in general, the points leaders are in prime position to hold their ground if they keep up the pace that got them to the top.
Ch0p, Ch0p, Ch0p
Matt "ch0ppy" Kay, for one, is certainly keeping up the pace he set for himself. He seems to have an iron grip on his top spot, as he recently scored another first-place finish in a major event.
Kay took down the daily $100 (with rebuys) event on PokerStars on May 13, earning almost $37,000. The win netted him 240 OPOY points, to put his total points at 3,412 as of press time. Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron, his next-closest competitor, has 2,944 points. To put that into perspective, the points difference between the two players is approximately equivalent to two first-place finishes in the PokerStars
Nightly Hundred Grand event or one win in the UltimateBet $200,000-guaranteed tournament.
What's even worse for Kay's competition is that he's accumulated most of his points while also attending school. It's now officially summer, and he's got a ton of extra time on his hands to rack up even more points.
Pbdrunks Had Landed
It took just one major score to rocket Joshua "pbdrunks" VanDuyn from the triple digits in the OPOY standings into 12th place. He previously had 1,108 points, putting him among the mass of players with similar point scores in the low 100s on the leader board. Then, on May 6, he bested 2,348 entrants to notch a second-place finish in the Full Tilt $400,000-guaranteed tournament, earning $52,922 and 800 points, which put him where he now sits on the leader board.
VanDuyn is no stranger to the final tables of major Sunday events. He made the final table of the PokerStars
Sunday Million just two weeks apart in March, and took second place in the UltimateBet $200,000-guaranteed tournament in late April.
Aaron Kanter Makes an Appearance
Aaron "Gotcha55" Kanter, of 2005
World Series of Poker main-event final-table fame, recently racked up a big-time tournament win that vaulted him into the top 20 on the OPOY leader board. Kanter took down event No. 1 of the
Full Tilt Online Poker Series (
FTOPS)
IV, a $300,000-guaranteed no-limit hold'em tournament, on May 11 (playing as "get_that"). The win earned him $94,403 and 1,200 OPOY points, for a total of 2,012. Most of his other points came courtesy of another first-place finish on Full Tilt in the $200,000-guaranteed tournament on March 5. He also finished in third place in the PokerStars
Wednesday Hundred Fifty Grand event on May 2 under the screen name "011180." He currently sits in 11th place on the OPOY leader board.
One Roothlus Player
Adam "Roothlus" Levy may be in 32nd place on the OPOY leader board, but for a player like him, that's within striking distance of the top-five spots. Levy has been consistently making OPOY-qualified finishes throughout 2007, and in a recent two-week period, he earned 880 points. Those points were earned across three different sites. First, he took second place in the Full Tilt
$1K Monday tournament on April 30, earning $36,300 and 300 points. Then, two weekends later, he finished in third place in the Absolute Poker $150,000-guaranteed tournament ($13,800 and 320 points) and won a daily $100 (with rebuys) tournament on PokerStars ($29,563 and 240 points).
Levy currently sits with 1,592 OPOY points, and with his consistent play and six months on his side, he can easily make a run for the points lead.
The Marathon Heads-Up Match
Heads-up matches in online poker tournaments usually last between five and 10 minutes; 45 minutes on the long side. "Tony Pisser" and Joe "Dyzalot" Morneau put this average to shame when they duked it out heads up for one hour and 34 minutes at the final table of the UltimateBet $200,000-guaranteed tournament on May 13. The two players swapped the chip lead quite a few times over the span of that marathon heads-up match, but Tony Pisser took and held the chip lead going into the final hand. He raked in the final pot to win the $45,000 first-place prize and end what must have been a very stressful hour and a half.
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, April 30-May 13
PokerStars Sunday Million
May 6
Winner: JB_Dog
Winnings: $191,743
Prize pool: $1,333,400
Entrants: 6,667
May 13
Winner: Hold em 888
Winnings: $141,519*
Prize pool: $1,183,600
Entrants: 5,918
* Payout reflects a deal made at the final table.
Full Tilt Online Poker Series IV Event No. 3: $750,000 Guarantee
Note: Full results for the Full Tilt Online Poker Series IV will be published in the next issue.
May 13
Winner: Homerindoors
Winnings: $164,426
Prize pool: $898,500
Entrants: 2,995
Full Tilt Poker $400,000 Guarantee
May 6
Winner: KanyeSouth
Winnings: $86,222
Prize pool: $470,000
Entrants: 2,350
UltimateBet $200,000 Guarantee
May 6
Winner: moseley9
Winnings: $44,352
Prize pool: $201,600
Entrants: 1,008
May 13
Winner: Tony Pisser
Winnings: $45,000
Prize pool: $200,000
Entrants: 846
Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
May 6
Winner: madkey
Winnings: $25,000
Prize pool: $100,000
Entrants: 810
May 13
Winner: pokerskibum
Winnings: $25,000
Prize pool: $100,000
Entrants: 666
Tracey Nguyen
Beauty as the Beast
By Craig Tapscott
When an attractive woman sits down at a poker table, some men become the "Big Bad Wolf," looking to eat them alive with testosterone-fueled aggression. Others couldn't care less about the chips and simply want to flirt or score a phone number. When Tracey "XTraCey" Nguyen takes a seat, the tables are turned. She knows, that you know, that you think you know better.
Deep in tournaments, the petite, raven-haired beauty becomes a beast, pushing opponents off marginal hands and ill-timed bluffs. Nguyen's a pro with mad hand-deciphering skills. She honed her deceptive game online, playing up to 16 tournaments daily for the past few years. "Aggressive players try to push me out of pots," shared Nguyen. "After a while, I use that tight image to my advantage. I set that tone by not playing many pots and showing down only monsters. Then, I open up my game and exploit that perception."
This past March, Nguyen, 26, huffed and puffed her way to the final table of a rare $1,000 PokerStars Sunday tournament with 1,712 entrants. She would finish fifth, for a payday of more than $78,000. The previous week, she had made the final table of the Stars second-chance $200 Sunday event, finishing in seventh place for $6,768. To date, she has garnered more than $250,000 in online cashes.
The soft-spoken Nguyen has begun to gain the respect of some of the world's best online players. It's a fact she cherishes dearly, almost as much as it motivates her to improve. Next on her agenda - a major live tournament win. With the
World Series of Poker around the corner, anything could happen. Fairy tales can come true.
Craig Tapscott: What motivated you to focus on tournaments?
Tracey Nguyen: I played in a $5 freezeout at PokerRoom. I ended up finishing second. It was my first multitable score, for about $200. I entered another one right away, and took third. During that whole week, I made seven final tables in small buy-in events.
CT: To what do you attribute such quick success?
TN: I have a keen sense of getting my money in good.
CT: Explain.
TN: The key for me is to observe the other players and know what they're doing and thinking. I began to notice that the tells are the betting patterns and timing of bets. And I also learned when to play back at players.
CT: This doesn't explain how you improved your game from the micro sit-and-gos and freerolls.
TN: I've never read a single poker book. I have been very fortunate to be brought into poker the way that I have. All of the info is out there, whatever you want to learn. I joined a forum, shared hands, and then met a player named Soupie. He took me under his wing, and really taught me the strategic aspects of the game and the different levels of thinking beyond ABC poker. Then, during an multitable tournament, I met Eric "Rizen" Lynch, and a friendship was born. I credit him the most for improving my game. I modeled my play and manner after Rizen. He was very articulate in the way he explained hands with me.
CT: Can you share some of Rizen's best advice?
TN: You have to win the most with your good hands and lose the least with your bad hands. I always focus on that. If I think I have the best hand, I will maximize the value of that hand. Rizen taught me how to control pot size, making sure that I don't end up putting all of my money in when I don't know if I have the best hand. That was one of the toughest things to learn.
CT: You have a rabid fan base when you get deep in any tournament. The chat box goes berserk.
TN: It's great to have that support and know that people value me as a good player, not because I might be good-looking or a woman. I was worried that people were not taking me serious. But, all of that support does make me feel good.
CT: What's it like to have a very successful player (Jon "PearlJammer" Turner) as a boyfriend?
TN: At first, we really bumped heads. For a while, I couldn't even play in the same room as Jon (laughing). But I've learned so much from him. I love having him around to talk about hands, because of his unique perspective.
CT: Do you have any advice for women who are new to poker?
TN: Men tend to always think that women players are weak or too tight. If you notice men taking advantage of that, pick a good spot and take a stand. Tell them, enough is enough. You can't be afraid and let them run you over.
Camouflage Bets
By Mike Sexton, the 'Ambassador of Poker' and Commentator for the World Poker Tour
The Aruba stop on the
World Poker Tour consists of a world-class poker tournament combined with an outstanding vacation. (The Aruba tournament is no longer on the
WPT.) It's an event in which the players who bust out put their poker defeat behind them pretty quickly and are happy to vacation and enjoy the beach.
This final table consisted of a combination of online qualifiers, a top European player, and one of the best players in the world, Freddy Deeb. In this particular hand, everyone folded to the small blind (Freddy Deeb), and he called with a J-9 offsuit. The big blind (Devin Porter, the chip leader) said, "Give us a flop."
Note that these two players were the two chip leaders (and six players were still left in the competition). No one is really crazy about clashing with the other chip leader in this situation, because there is such a difference in prize money between the first player eliminated at the final table and the guy who wins. However, sometimes opportunity presents itself for you to take advantage of this situation, and believe me, top players do just that.
In this hand, the flop was K-Q-10 rainbow. This was a pretty amazing flop for Deeb, as he flopped a straight! He didn't check, though; he led right out and bet $50,000 into a $66,000 pot. He did this for two reasons: First, he knows his opponent will not put him on a big hand here, because he didn't raise before the flop (meaning it's unlikely that he holds big cards). And, certainly, Porter would never figure Deeb for having a straight here, as he would assume that anyone who flopped a straight would check to throw a little rope to his opponent. Second, by betting out, Deeb knows that it's going to look like he's just making a move at the pot. He's hoping his opponent hit a pair or straight draw, or perhaps just suspects larceny and may call or raise here. His opponent, with two tens, does make the call.
The turn card is a jack (putting a four-straight on the board), which neither player likes. Both players check. The river brings a deuce and Deeb is now confident that his king-high straight is good. To try to confuse his opponent, he overbets the pot ($200,000 into a $166,000 pot). He wants his opponent to think he's bluffing. Porter opts to fold, however, and Deeb takes down the pot.
In poker, you camouflage your hand by betting in certain situations and making abnormal bets in others. Note the "trickiness" here: Deeb bet out on the flop after making a straight. He also overbet the pot on the river. Deeb did his best to try to confuse Porter about the strength of his hand, and although it didn't work perfectly, he did make some money with the hand.
Let me add that Deeb went on to win this event and take down his first
WPT title. Congratulations,
WPT Champion Freddy Deeb!
Card Player Digital
Card Player TV not only never sleeps, but has to deal with Mike "The Mouth" Matusow once a week. Matusow stops by the
Card Player studio to film his show
The Mouthpiece, and all of the episodes are available at CardPlayer.com/TV.
The
Card Player digital team also was invited to watch the filming of the next season of
High Stakes Poker, and videos featuring interviews with the players who bought in for at least $500,000 each.
Also, videos featuring legislative news and World Trade Organization updates are archived, so be sure to check out the page at CardPlayer.com/TV to stay updated.
Oolala!
Poker can be pretty, and no, we're not talking about hitting the perfect full house that also gives an opponent the flush.
Card Player now offers a thing of beauty for poker fans' cellphones: poker wallpaper.
There's a bevy of beautiful poker girls to choose from, and they are wearing bikinis. For a certain few among us, nothing gets better than bikinis and poker.
Card Player also offers downloadable photos of poker-themed art, from suits of cards to wads of money. The money can serve as motivation. The cards, particularly the ace of spades, are just pretty (we love you, Norman Chad).
For more information, or to order wallpaper and even ringtones, point your cellphone's browser at CardPlayerMobile.com.
Poker Summer
With so many events happening this summer,
Card Player will be the place to keep track of the craziness that Las Vegas will experience during these few months. With the
World Series of Poker, the
Bellagio Cup III, and the Venetian
Deep Stack Extravaganza II, there's going to be hundreds of stories about poker to tell, and the
Card Player staff will be deployed to collect as many as we can.
I would pay $100 to attend a World Poker Tour final-table taping:
Yes: 18%
No: 82%
Looking at Change
By David Apostolico
There is a great quote from best-selling motivational author Wayne Dyer that says, "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." I'm not sure if Mr. Dyer is a poker player, and certainly this quote has a broader intention, but it is still spot-on poker advice.
There is so much to look at during a poker game. You have your cards, each of your opponents, the board, chip stacks, and the dealer, just to name a few. Of course, each opponent may be doing any number of things that bear observation. If you're not studying your opponents' habits, tendencies, and nuances, you're not doing your job. If you're not looking at these things trying to find patterns and hints, you need to change how you look.
The sure-fire way to do this is to play along. Make a point of trying to determine what cards your opponents hold and why they are making certain moves. You won't always get to know if you were right, but enough hands will go to showdown to give you a fairly good idea of how insightful your observation skills are. That's the easy part.
When I apply Dyer's quote to my poker game, I think of a much bigger picture. How do I look at situations? What is my philosophy? Am I relying too much on cards? After every poker session, I take the time to reflect on my play and I try to reconstruct the entire session to see what mistakes I made and how I could have improved. I generally will have what I call a few "aha" moments, when certain situations that were cloudy at the time of decision now become crystal clear.
The challenge for me is to get better at coming to those aha moments at decision time. The only way for me to do that is to change the way I look at things. I have to dig deeper. I can't assume that because an opponent has been playing straightforwardly that she's not capable of deception. I can't assume that my initial read is correct. Each poker hand is unique and each hand tells a story. However, a great percentage of hands never reach a showdown, so you can't always tell if the plot, theme, and character development you believe you figured out was correct.
In order to clarify what I'm talking about, let me offer a real-life example of how I implemented a change in how I was viewing things. In the past, I was too willing to give opponents credit for an ace when one appeared on the flop. When a player open-raises preflop from early to middle position, my immediate reaction is to think he has a big ace. So, when that ace appears on the flop, I'm all too willing to throw my hand away even if I have second pair.
The problem with this analysis is that in just about every case, a player who open-raises preflop is going to bet an ace-high flop no matter what he holds. Of course, sometimes he'll hold an ace, but I don't give up so easily now. I may call or even raise. I like to call in that situation if I have position and I'm heads up - even if I haven't hit the flop. This enables me to gather more information on the turn. My opponent may slow down, which will enable me to pounce and take the pot. He may continue to bet out, which will force me to make a decision. A scare card such as a third heart may appear, which will enable me to represent a flush.
The bottom line is that by changing how I look at this situation, I've created more opportunities for myself. I've relieved myself of the fear and apprehension that ace on the flop used to bring. By changing the way I look at that situation, the situation has changed and become more profitable for me.
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].
Viejas Casino is San Diego Poker
Just 30 minutes east of downtown, you'll find one of San Diego's premier poker establishments: Viejas Casino.
Whether your game is Texas hold'em, Omaha, or stud, Viejas has all the poker action you can handle. With more than 20 tables, you can always find a seat in the poker room. An endless array of promotions, tournaments, and jackpots are available to satisfy every poker player.
The Viejas poker room offers a wide variety of daily tournaments, ranging from low buy-ins to high, some with rebuys, some without. Viejas also offers tournaments with a "limit" structure, including a weekly limit Omaha eight-or-better tournament.
The biggest tournament of each month is the very popular
Poker Aces no-limit hold'em event, which features a $100,000-guaranteed prize pool, a $300 buy-in, and no rebuys. It's called
Poker Aces because of the large number of players who pre-qualify by making a final table in a regular weekly tournament or by winning during the "Satellite Week" prior to each tournament.
With $5,000 in starting chips, 40-minute levels, and starting blinds of $25-$50, players really get their money's worth. This event draws approximately 500 players from all over Southern California. The next one is set for June 16 at 11 a.m. Anyone can enter. For more information, check the casino's website at Viejas.com or call the information line at (619) 659-1700.
In addition to great poker action, Viejas offers 2,500 slot machines, 83 gaming tables, a bingo hall, and off-track betting. Viejas also has six award-winning restaurants and features national acts in the indoor showroom or outdoors under the stars at the
Viejas Concerts in the Park. Plus, guests can save up to 70 percent on 60 of America's favorite brand names - like Gap, Guess, and Nike - in the outlet center.
The Viejas Casino & Outlet Center is located off Interstate 8 at Willows Road in Alpine.
Address - 5000 Willows Road, Alpine, California
Phone Number - General: (800) 847-6537
Hotel URL - www.viejas.com
Number of Tables - 23
Most Popular Games - $3-$6 and $6-$12 limit hold'em; $1-$2 and $2-$5 no-limit hold'em
Other Games - Omaha, stud
Poker Room Rate - Room rates available, subject to availability
Tournaments - Minimum of two per day (10 a.m. and 6:15 p.m.)
Beyond the LAG Revolution
By Andrew Wiggins
What is the best way to play no-limit hold'em? A year ago, I quickly would have answered that loose-aggressive (LAG) play is optimal. Players then were widely uninformed, and many of the winners played a tight-aggressive (TAG) strategy that would break down against a LAG onslaught. Famous players crushed the biggest online games using LAG styles, and a feedback cycle emerged: More players adopted elements of loose aggression, which led to increased study and awareness of the system, which in turn boosted its popularity. Now, the LAG style is inefficient. For both technical and psychological reasons, I believe that a TAG approach works better today.
Only a few of the original LAG superstars remain. This is largely because a LAG style is incredibly difficult to maintain. A LAG player on top of his game and running well will destroy his games, especially the shorthanded ones; however, such constant high performance is impossible, and the cards will eventually turn against you. When this happens, the style that has made LAG players so profitable will ruin them. Players who are running well tend to loosen up too much, and when they cool down, they have trouble recovering their fundamentals.
Nowadays, the typical player understands how LAG players get their edges, and he can therefore create an effective counterstrategy. For instance, reraising preflop used to be rare without a premium hand. LAG players understood this and exploited it. Most modern games feature frequent light reraises; this makes it more difficult not only to constantly raise in position, but also to make effective loose reraises. Both of these moves are LAG staples. And, it's not just preflop; known LAG players will get less respect throughout a hand. If opponents force you to have a hand, the most logical way to adapt is to have one. You do that by tightening up.
The best tool to use to work on adjusting one's game is Poker Tracker (www.pokertracker.com). The two most important metrics, both of your game and of your opponents' games, are the preflop statistics VPIP and PFR. VPIP measures how often you put non-blinds money in the pot; PFR measures how often you raise preflop. In general, anyone playing at 25/20 (that is, with a VPIP of 25 and a PFR of 20) and higher is LAG. Those numbers were close to optimal a year ago. Today, 21/18 seems much better, and the best way to lower these numbers is to tighten one's out-of-position raising standards. You can use Poker Tracker to discover not only your VPIP and PFR, but the exact composition of your raising ranges; the player looking to tighten up can find the least profitable hands in his ranges, and fold those hands instead of opening with them.
Good LAG players understand that they should play tight when out of position, but they might not know exactly how tight. They also might raise too much in position. Once you tighten up, you will want to maintain a loose image so that opponents play against you improperly. One way to do this is by punishing the remaining LAG players with loose reraises in position. Because LAG opponents open liberally, they often hold weak hands; exploit this by reraising, forcing them to cede the pot or make a poor call. These moves, if well-timed, will make you look looser than you are, and they are essential. Reraising loosely from out of position, however, is very difficult today. Opponents understand that blinds defense is a priority now, and they will adjust accordingly. Meanwhile, you also face the inherent disadvantages of inflating the pot from out of position.
A first step to adjusting to the new online environment is acknowledging that the old strategies don't necessarily work anymore. Its foundations were the manipulation and dominance of your opponents, and the average opponent is now too educated to be so easily manipulated and dominated. The old magic bullet now works only at the low limits, and even there you're often in trouble if you don't vary your play enough to stay ahead of your opponents' thinking. Poker is always about adaptation. LAG play succeeded against the naive masses, but now the masses are themselves LAG players.
Andrew Wiggins is a 21-year-old poker player living in Chicago. He is the co-founder of CardRunners.com and can be found playing mid-stakes no-limit hold'em cash games across the Internet.
On the Value of Experience
By Tim Peters
The Poker Mindset: Essential Attitudes for Poker Success by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger (Dimat Enterprises, $24.95)
I lost a poker tournament recently. I also lost in the ring game before the tournament. In fact, I lost in several consecutive sessions online during that week. But I'm strangely calm about this particular downswing, because I know that a few sessions out of the thousands I have booked are, essentially, meaningless. More and more, I'm learning to
accept the vagaries of fate and
embrace poker's inherent randomness. I'm learning to take a long-term view, to fret less about short-term results and to focus more on making the best decisions I can, regardless of the outcome.
Of course losing is frustrating, sometimes maddeningly so. But, I'm striving to embody the ideas articulated in Larry Phillips' superb
Zen & the Art of Poker (reviewed in
Card Player's April 25, 2007, issue). And I've just discovered a new book that focuses solely on the mental aspects of the game:
The Poker Mindset, by Ian Taylor and
Card Player columnist Matthew Hilger. I still have volumes to learn on the technical and strategic elements of poker, but the more I play, the more I'm convinced that poker success demands the ability to understand your emotions and control them. This book can help.
The Poker Mindset consists of seven "attitudes" that need to become part of your mental constitution. The first may well be the most important to your sanity and your game: "Understand and accept the realities of poker." Recognize the role that luck plays in the short term and the game's inherently high degree of variance. Acknowledge the reality that even a great player has a relatively small edge. You may intellectually
understand these facts, but the key is to
accept them at an even deeper level. In other words, you not only have to shrug off the bad beats, you have to
welcome them.
Another of the attitudes of the poker mindset is, "Leave your ego at the door." Confidence is good, but the ego, particularly in a game of emotional confrontation, is supremely dangerous. How many times have you made a bad call in order to save face? Taylor and Hilger urge you to eliminate your emotions from decision-making - something that sounds good in theory but is enormously difficult to put into practice. To their credit, they acknowledge the challenge; as they put it, "The problem is that emotions are one of the things that make poker fun."
Taylor and Hilger make a clear and convincing case for the poker mindset and - here's the really important part - help you develop habits to engrain these attitudes into your psyche. They provide useful "action points" to encourage you to turn ideas into practical (and practicable) realities. Here's one example: "Write down the emotions you most often experience at the table and what triggers them. Simply recognizing these emotions and what causes them is halfway to conquering them."
There's a lot more to the poker mindset, and Taylor and Hilger have made a real contribution to the literature of the game with this new book. I recommend it heartily, especially to those who sometimes sigh with frustration at what appear to be the inequities of poker (or, far worse, players who berate donkeys and fish). The sooner you come to terms with poker's brutal realities, the sooner you'll be able to ride out the vicissitudes of fate - and that ability alone can take you a very long way down the path to poker success. It also will, not coincidentally, make the game a lot more fun and make you a lot more fun to face at the table.
Find out more about
The Poker Mindset at www.internettexasholdem.com.
