Washington State Online Poker Legal Update
State Trying to Keep Lawsuit Out of Court
By Bob Pajich
No state in the nation has a more severe penalty for playing online poker than Washington, which, in early 2006, passed a law that makes playing online poker a Class C felony. Washington is one of seven states where state legislators have outlawed online poker.
Washington attorney Lee Rousso has taken it upon himself to overturn the ill-conceived law, but has recently run into some typical stalling tactics by the state to keep his lawsuit out of the courts.
Earlier this year, Rousso filed a lawsuit, trying to get the law wiped off the books because he believes it's unconstitutional. The state responded by filing several requests for information about Rousso that he says he doesn't think any lawyer would ever answer.
"I think the state's strategy is basically to make sure the case never gets tried under merits, so they will do everything possible just to make sure that I will go away, and up to this point, they've been successful," Rousso said.
Rousso appealed those requests, and so far, the courts have sided with state attorneys. An appeals court is set to rule on this portion of the case sometime in January. If the appeals court again rules against Rousso, he'll re-file his case, using a substitute plaintiff whom he already has lined up, and the process will start all over again.
"One way or another, we should be able to get this in a courthouse," he said.
If that case stalls, Rousso, with help from the Poker Players Alliance, will try to tackle this law by applying pressure politically.
But why is Rousso trying to get this law overturned?
"I like to play poker. I think Internet poker is one of the greatest inventions of all time," he stated. "Internet poker rocks, and people who are responsible adults should be able to play in the privacy of their homes without the government getting its nose in the way."
Momentum Shifts Toward Online Poker in America
Politicians Starting to Talk and Take Action
By Bob Pajich
The momentum for proponents of online poker has shifted slightly favorably, thanks to several events that occurred in Washington, D.C., in October and November.
First, nearly 100 members of the Poker Players Alliance showed up in the country's capital to meet with their representing legislators to let them know that they're not pleased with how the United States is working against the online gambling industry. The "fly-in" helped put this issue right in the offices of Congress members of key states, as well as in front of online poker opponents, thanks to the heavy mainstream media presence covering various aspects of the event.
A few weeks later, the "Hearing on Establishing Consistent Enforcement Policies in the Context of Online Wagers" took
place. The hearing featured Annie Duke, who articulately and intelligently outlined why she believes online poker should be embraced by the United States government. Rep. Jon Kyl, who is one of the greatest opponents of online gambling, repeatedly tried to engage Duke in a debate, and each time, she managed to outmaneuver him with common sense and hard statistics. Portions of the hearing can be found on the PPA website.
Later in November, both Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, who chairs the House Financial Committee and also has a bill
in committee that would clear the road for online gambling in America, and Michigan Rep. John Conyers, who chairs the Judiciary Committee and presided over the gambling hearing, authored a letter to both President George Bush and the U.S. Trade Representative office.
The letter criticized the administration and the office for the way they handled the conflict between Antigua and the rest of the World Trade Organization, a conflict that could potentially cost the United States billions of dollars in sanctions.
They wrote: "We are very concerned about the precedent this sets for future situations in which parties to these agreements find a particular obligation inconvenient or politically difficult. Traditionally, when a U.S. law has been found to be out of compliance (with WTO rules), the administration has consulted with Congress about possible legislative solutions that seek to bring the U.S. back into compliance. In this case, however, your agency has chosen not to consult with Congress, but to instead take what we view as a drastic step which could have significant consequences for the entire WTO system."
Representatives Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), John B. Larson (D-Conn.), Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), and Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) also signed the letter.
Become a member of the PPA by going to www.pokerplayersalliance.org.
Planet Hollywood Hosts Tourney for BET
Black Poker Superstars Event to be Aired in Early 2008
By Kristy Arnett
All stars aligned at the official grand opening of the new Planet Hollywood Casino in Las Vegas recently. Red-carpet events lined the casino floors, and the poker room was no different, as the first-ever
Black Poker Superstars tournament was filmed and will air on
BET.
The event attracted such celebrities as Nelly, Katt Williams, Eddie Griffin, Anthony Anderson, and Mekhi Phifer. Highly respected tournament director Matt Savage oversaw the event, wherein players competed in two matches each for points.
Those who accumulated the most points made it to the final table, along with one player who won a match played by those who did not accumulate enough points. One celebrity who made the final table by placing first and second in his two heats was Kevin Hart.
"Getting to the final table was not hard at all. I'm here playing with a bunch of roody-poos," Hart said, jokingly. "I have been playing for about four years pretty seriously. I would love to get to the point where I can rub elbows with David Williams and Mike 'The Grinder' [Mizrachi] in tournaments, and they can say, hey, this guy is a good player. Plus, I'm a sex symbol. One thing ya'll need in poker is sex symbols."
Poker professional David Williams, considered a sex symbol himself, was also in attendance. He provided commentary for the show, as well as taught poker to some of the
celebrities. He also couldn't help but get into some cash-game action, as a $5-$10 no-limit hold'em game broke out while he was waiting for the final table to begin.
"We have a few players who have never played before jumping in, and then we have guys like Nelly, Kevin Hart, and Mekhi Phifer, who play all the time. So, overall it has created a good, fun game where people don't mind calling people's all ins with two random suited cards," said Williams.
Fans on the rail got to see all of the action. After a big hand, Nelly bragged about winning so much money that he needed his jacket to carry it to the cashier.
Though the commotion, excitement, and cash were a lot to handle, nothing upstaged the fact that in the end, the event was benefiting a number of great causes. Top finishers in the tournament donated their winnings to charities of their choice.
Find out the winner of the event when it premieres on
BET in early 2008.
Harrah's Looking at European Online Gaming Market
CEO Called the EU's Online Stance 'Attractive'
By Bob Pajich
Harrah's CEO Gary Loveman gave a hint of what's to come for its
World Series of Poker brand in Europe at the recent G2E gaming expo in Las Vegas. Although few details were made available, Loveman confirmed that Harrah's is looking into opening up an online cardroom in the European market.
Loveman told attendees: "If you take a look at the legal landscape in continental Europe and the United Kingdom, there are countries where it's demonstrably legal and there's absolutely no encumbrance. Those are areas that are very attractive to us."
Harrah's is working hard to expand its
WSOP brand in the UK, where online gaming is now taxed and regulated. A few months ago, it held the first
WSOP bracelet events outside the United States, in London, with great success. The UK started to allow online companies to be based and do business there this fall, and Harrah's will most likely try to enter the market sometime next year.
Dinh Le Wins Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau $2,500 Event
2005 World Series of Poker Champ Joe Hachem Finishes Eighth
By Justin Marchand
After two days and 341 player eliminations, the final table for the first major poker tournament to take place in Macau assembled while the rest of us were winding down from Thanksgiving.
The $2,500 PokerStars.com
Asia Pacific Poker Tour (
APPT)
Macau Asian Poker Open not only was the first poker tournament held on Chinese soil, but was the largest poker tournament ever held in Asia.
The
APPT couldn't have asked for a more high-profile final table, as it included 2005
World Series of Poker Champion and
Team PokerStars representative Joe Hachem; one of the game's most highly respected female players, Liz Lieu; and two Team PokerStars members from South Korea who are also known for their professional computer-game prowess, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Guillaume Patry. Rounding out the remaining seats were players from London, Seoul, Singapore, and Australia, and chip leader Dinh Le, a 27-year-old resident of Birmingham, England, who is originally from Vietnam.
A small crowd filled the intimate television-table filming area, and railbirds peered onto the set from the two stories of high-roller baccarat suites that ring the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino. Hachem, the crowd favorite, found his time at the table short-lived after he got all of his money in preflop with pocket aces against the A-Q of Sangkyoun Kim. Kim made a straight and eliminated the champion in eighth place ($24,288).
It took 105 hands, spread over nearly eight hours of play, to determine a winner. In the end, Le beat Ivan Tan in a short heads-up battle, which gave him the title and $222,640.
Tan, a cash-game player from Singapore who won his seat in the event via a live megasatellite, collected $129,536 for his runner-up finish.
Final results and payouts were as follows:
1. Dinh Le $222,640
2. Ivan Tan 129,536
3. Sangkyoun Kim 72,864
4. Guillaume Patry 56,672
5. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier 48,576
6. William Tam 40,480
7. Liz Lieu 32,384
8. Joseph Hachem 24,288
9. Simon Randall 16,192
The
Asian Poker Open also featured a $15,000 buy-in high-roller event that kicked off as
Card Player went to press with this issue. Sixty-four players entered, and a number of big-name players, including Barry Greenstein, John Juanda, Joe Hachem, Scotty Nguyen, Liz Lieu, Chad Brown, Travis Rice, Lee Nelson, Nick Schulman, Kirk Morrison, and Yosh Nakano, were playing in the two-day televised event.
Swedish Poker Divides and Conquers
By Brendan Murray
Swedish gaming monopoly Svenska Spel looks set to face competition after the largest party in the ruling coalition government in the country voted at its annual convention to abolish its right to monopoly.
At the same time, Svenska Spel saw its profits leap 19 percent to SEK1.4 billion (€154 million) in the first nine months of 2007, on the back of strong demand for online gaming, including poker.
The number of active poker players in this period was 110,000. It raked SEK283 million (€31 million), which represented a growth of 140 percent over the same period in 2006.
Svenska Spel controls 35 percent of the Swedish market.
Overall, between January and September 2007, Swedes gambled SEK15.5 billion (€1.7 billion).
Unibet in French/Dutch Legal Wrangle
Petter Nylander, CEO for Swedish-listed gaming company Unibet, remains at the center of a Pan-European web of legal intrigue after he was arrested at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam as a result of a French-issued warrant.
The arrest has provoked strong reactions from both the political and gaming spheres. Thompson Financial reported that
European Commission spokesman Oliver Drewes said, "It could very well be that somebody has been arrested who is innocent."
The Financial Times reported that the French government appears embarrassed by the arrest, quoting a Parisian budget ministry spokeswoman as saying, "It is not a matter between the state and Unibet. Française des Jeux and PMU will be told to drop their complaint."
Under French law, French lottery provider Francaise des Jeux and its horse-betting counterpart PMU have a monopoly on betting in the country, but this is being challenged by the European Union. The 2007 European Court of Justice verdict "Placanica" confirmed that criminal proceedings brought against legitimate operators based in other EU member states are in contradiction to the EU Treaty.
One week earlier, France's Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said that the country was ready to open the market up to international competition.
Nylander was subsequently released on €200,000 bail and returned to his family, friends, and colleagues, citing the debate in France on gambling as "hypocrisy."
A week later, the French government and the EU agreed to hold talks, with a view to opening up the French market ahead of the French presidency of the EU next June.
Irish Poker Open
Paddypowerpoker.com released details of the side-event schedule for what will be a weeklong tournament of poker at the
2008
Irish Open. On top of the two-day €1,500 no-limit hold'em freezeout and the €400 pot-limit Omaha rebuy event, two completely new events have been added to the schedule - the inaugural ladies tournament and a double-chance scalp event.
The ladies event is a celebration of the tremendous success women have enjoyed at the
Irish Open over the years. Two-time winner Colette Doherty won the very first tournament, while Irene Tier and Jenny Hegarty added their names to the roll of honor in 1985 and 2001, respectively.
Nikki Newman, head of poker at paddypowerpoker.com, is delighted to be presenting the new tournament. "I am very excited about it. Colette, Irene, and Jenny showed us just how much power there is in the Irish ladies' game. So, what better backdrop could there be for a ladies poker event than the
Irish Open itself?"
The format of the double-chance scalp event (€270+€30+€30) will see players starting the event with half of their starting stack. They will then be allowed to take the second half of their chips anytime between the first hand and the first break. Players will be given a scalp chip with their second set of chips, and must give it (worth €30) to the player who eventually knocks them out.
Shawn Sheikhan'sDeportation Hearing Stopped
Judge Throws Out Case; Sheiky Can Stay
By Bob Pajich
An immigration judge recently threw out Shawn "Sheiky" Sheikhan's deportation case, which stemmed from a 1995 conviction in which Sheikhan already served jail time in California.
Sheikhan, who immigrated to the United States when he was 9 and has a small child and is married to an American-born woman, was targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a program called "Operation Predator." Operation Predator targets both legal and illegal immigrants who are convicted of a sex crime.
Sheikhan served a nine-month jail term and was put on probation for five months after being convicted of a misdemeanor sexual battery charge in 1995. According to Sheikhan's lawyer, the child in this case was a 17-year-old girl whom Sheikhan knew when he was in his early 20s.
The judge threw out the case after determining that the Department of Homeland Security, which was responsible for filing the case, failed to prove that Sheikhan is a danger to the American public - specifically, children.
Legally, Operation Predator can go after immigrants even if they have served their debt to society, as Sheikhan did in 1995 when he spent nine months in prison.
B.C. Poker Championships a Huge Success
Main-Event Prize Pool Exceeded $1.6 Million
By Kristy Arnett
The $2,700 main event of the
B.C. Poker Championships attracted 643 players to the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The prize pool amounted to $1.61 million, and Daniel Idema, a former hockey player, took the top prize of $402,500. Runner-up Jason Dong received $250,355.
The main event was preceded by three preliminary events. The first was a $550 buy-in no-limit hold'em ladies-only event. A total of 201 women fought for a share of the $100,000 prize pool. Paula Stregger won the first-place prize of $30,000. The $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold'em open event drew a field of 592 entrants. In the end, Brian Joslin won the title, along with $148,000. The last preliminary event was the $1,100 buy-in pot-limit hold'em tournament. It attracted a turnout of 241 players, and Scott Craig won $63,500 for first place. In all, the series generated a combined prize pool of more than $2.4 million and attracted nearly 1,700 entrants.
Bodog Entertainment Files Motion in Washington
Will Ask Judge to Reconsider Ruling That Cost Company Domain Names
By Bob Pajich
The battle between Bodog and 1st Technology LLC continues.
Lawyers for Bodog Entertainment Group filed a motion in Washington state court, asking the court to reconsider a prior ruling that allowed 1st Technology LLC to seize several domain names, including Bodog.com.
In June, 1st Technology LLC obtained a default judgment against Bodog.com, Bodog.net, and Bodog Entertainment Group
S.A. for $48.8 million. The Las Vegas company filed the suit against Bodog, claiming it owns patents on certain software that Bodog uses to help control Internet traffic.
The default judgment was made because attorneys for Bodog failed to show up to defend Bodog's interests in U.S. District Court. The judgment also gave the Bodog.com domain name to 1st Technology LLC.
The Bodog Entertainment Group states that it is not the owner or operator of Bodog's online entertainment businesses or domain names.
In October, a judge refused to dismiss the default judgment but denied 1st Technology's request to prevent Internet traffic from being redirected to Bodog's new domain, BodogLife.com.
Bodog says that this is the first time a judge has ruled that domain names could be awarded as part of a judgment. Lawyers will ask a judge "to look to established law in the state of Virginia, which holds that domain names should not be subject to seizure. The state of Virginia is an appropriate jurisdiction for legal reference, because the second-largest domain name registrar in North America, Network Solutions, is located in Virginia. Virginia courts thus have considerable experience with Internet domain name legal issues," according to a press release.
The motion was filed on Nov. 13.
Green Valley Ranch and Red Rock Add Tourneys
Daily Events Now Offered in Addition to Regular Cash Games
By Kristy Arnett
Green Valley Ranch and Red Rock Casino have had great success hosting cash games, and recently added tournaments.
At Red Rock, there is a daily tournament at 10 a.m. The buy-in is $100, which gets players 5,000 in chips. Green Valley Ranch offers a little more variety in tournaments. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, there is a $60 buy-in tournament, and on Tuesday and Thursday, there is a $40 buy-in tournament. These tournaments are all no-limit hold'em and begin at 10 a.m. Players receive 1,500 in chips for their initial buy-in, but can get an extra 500 in chips for $5. On Saturday at 10 a.m. at Green Valley Ranch, a $100 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament takes place. Players receive 2,000 in starting chips. The Sunday tournament is a ladies-only event that starts at 11 a.m. It features a $50 buy-in, and like the Monday through Friday tournaments, players get 1,500 in starting chips, plus 500 more in chips for $5.
Weekly Freeroll at Tuscany
Log 10 Hours of Play to Qualify
By Kristy Arnett
In an effort to give back to its players, the Tuscany Casino is making it as easy as possible for regulars to qualify for its weekly freeroll.
From 12 a.m. Saturday until the next week at the same time, players must log 10 hours of live cash-game play. If that sounds like a big-time commitment, players can come in from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. or 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. to earn double hours. This enables players to cut the time that they have to spend at a table to qualify in half.
The Tuscany also runs daily rebuy tournaments at 4 a.m., 10 a.m., and 7 p.m. The buy-in is $25, which gets players 1,500 in starting chips. Players can immediately make a $10 add-on for an additional 1,000 in chips. The blinds go up every 15 minutes. Rebuys are $10 (1,000 in chips) or $20 (2,000 in chips) and are allowed during the first 45 minutes if a player's chip stack gets below 1,000. Hours logged during the tournament count toward qualifying for the freeroll if the player competes in a cash game immediately afterward for at least one hour.
The weekly freeroll tournament takes place every Saturday at 2 p.m. Players who log the minimum of 10 hours start with 1,000 in chips; 20 hours gets players a 2,000 starting chip stack, and 30 hours is worth 4,000. Players also have the option of paying $50 for 5,000 more in starting chips. The money from the add-ons goes into the original prize pool, which is made up of $1 taken from each qualifying cash-game pot. The prize pool varies, of course, but has averaged about $5,000 during the past few weeks.
For more information on the weekly freeroll, cash games, or daily tournaments, contact the poker room at (702) 947-5917.
Card Player Player of the Year
One Sly Fox
One player has sneaked into the top 10 of the
Card Player Player of the Year (POY) race as we hit the homestretch of 2007. His name is David Fox (he's currently seventh), and although you haven't seen him at any televised final tables this year, he
has put together an impressive collection of cashes. Few players have been hotter than Fox in the closing months of the year, and he has made a climb to the top that has hovered under the radar, until now. Let's take a closer look at the stretch run that Fox has been able to put together.
Fox has made eight final tables in 2007 and has won preliminary no-limit hold'em events at both the
World Poker Tour World Poker Finals and the Venetian
Deep-Stack Extravaganza II. Since the end of the 2007
World Series of Poker, Fox has cashed in six events. This includes the aforementioned win at the
WPF, as well as two second-place finishes in preliminary events in the
U.S. Poker Championship and the
World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit at Caesars Indiana.
Overall, Fox has cashed 13 times this year in POY events, for a total of $566,152 in prize money and 3,788 POY points. He now sits within striking distance of the current leader; he is just 1,622 points behind David "The Dragon" Pham. Fox will need to win his first $10,000-plus buy-in event, or make a final table and win one of the preliminary events to accomplish this feat. But, no player is hotter than Fox right now in preliminary events, and he is still a dangerous threat. Fox just goes to show that while there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is also more than one way for a fox to claim the POY title.
All Eyes on Bellagio
The final countdown has begun and the attention of the poker world is on Bellagio for the
WPT Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, which concludes on Dec. 17 with the championship event, the $15,000 buy-in
Doyle Brunson Classic Championship. Like most years, the final days of this televised event will be infused with POY drama and excitement.
Striking Distance
Fifteen players sit within 2,500 points of the current leader, David "The Dragon" Pham, heading into the
WPT Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. This means that at least 15 players have a reasonable shot at catching the leader. Last year, the championship event awarded 1,920 points, while the preliminary events averaged 925 points for first place. This makes it anyone's ballgame near the top, and for the top five, which includes Pham, Jonathan Little, Scott Clements, Bill Edler, and J.C. Tran, who are separated by only 952 points, things could get quite interesting in Las Vegas.
BigRiskky Defends His Button to Set Up Future Positional Play
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.
Event: $2,500 Full Tilt Poker
FTOPS no-limit hold'em event
Players: 698
First Place: $418,038
Stacks: BigRiskky - 14,555; Villain - 8,275
Blinds: 30-60
Villain raises to 180 from the cutoff. BigRiskky has the A
4
on the button.
Craig Tapscott: It's still early in this major online event. Are you thinking of getting involved with a trouble hand like ace-rag?
Scott "BigRiskky" Clements: I know that his range is very large here, and he likely won't want to play a pot from out of
position against me. I decide to make a small reraise.
BigRiskky reraises to 425. Villain calls.
CT: You can't love that call.
SC: He makes a quick call, letting me know that he has a hand and wasn't position-raising. Plus, I'm sure that he knows I can reraise with any two cards here.
Flop: Q
J
9
(940 pot)
Villain checks. BigRiskky bets 755. Villain calls.
CT: Your continuation-bet was called. Again, you can't like the action so far.
SC: Well, it could be many hands he's calling with. But I'm thinking some sort of K-Q, K-J, A-Q type of hand, or possibly a 10 with a pair, such as J-10 or 10-9 suited. He called the flop bet very quickly, again telling me that he has a hand.
Turn: K
(2,450 pot)
CT: I don't see how you can continue with this hand. It's a scary board.
SC: Scary for me, and most likely scary for him. I decide to represent the 10, and continue my bluff. I fire a large bet, and he calls immediately.
Villain checks, BigRiskky bets 1,825, and Villain calls.
CT: I'm baffled. Did you have some sort of read on this player for you to continue to fire at it?
SC: At first I was going to give up on the hand, but then I wondered why he would call so quickly with a 10. Wouldn't he want to induce more action? His quick call was looking to stop the action in my mind. Making tough calls with scary boards is unnerving, and a hard thing to do. Making a quick call is supposed to signify strength, and will many times scare off a potential bluff or value-bet by an opponent.
River: 8
Villain checks.
CT: How can you fire a third bullet here?
SC: Well, on the river, I time-banked for a long time, and proceeded to bet about 80 percent of his stack. I thought an all in would be more likely to be read as a bluff, and he would also think I was trying to feign weakness by time-banking.
BigRiskky bets 4,225.
CT: Why risk so much of your stack this early in a major tournament?
SC: I play more of a read-based game than most online players. I really believed he didn't have a 10, and would fold to my river bet. Obviously, nine times out of 10, I will just fold the A-4 preflop. But I wanted to set the tone that he wasn't going to be able to raise from the cutoff every time it was folded to him, which would negate my button, and a lot of positional play against some of the weaker competition.
Villain folds. BigRiskky wins the pot of 6,100.
Scott Clements won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2006 in Omaha eight-or-better, and his second bracelet in 2007 in the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event. He has won more than $2.8 million in live events and has been a very consistent winner online in tournaments as well as in cash games. He recently won his second World Poker Tour title and $1.4 million at the North American Poker Championship.
Full Tilt Online Poker Series VI Packs a Punch
By Shawn Patrick Green
This quarter's
Full Tilt Online Poker Series VI was, once again, a resounding success. Full Tilt guaranteed $9,125,000 in combined prize pools across the series' 16 events, but the prize pools actually added up to almost $11.2 million, more than 120 percent of what Full Tilt had guaranteed. Five events had prize pools in excess of $1 million. The events lured a combined 27,511 entrants, and the 16 winners earned a combined $2.2 million.
The two biggest events - the $1.5 million-guaranteed, two-day $2,500 no-limit hold'em tournament and the $2 million-guaranteed, $500 no-limit hold'em main event - each awarded its winner about $400,000. Wuddacooler came out on top in the two-day event and fkscreennames took down the main event. See the full results of the
FTOPS VI below.
Chatbox Cunning
Strategy from top online pros
"Andy McLEOD"
On the continuation-bet:
I think it's about knowing how to proceed thereafter if you don't take the pot down on the flop. Likely the sickest online tournament player, Imper1um [Sorel Mizzi], continuation-bets almost every time. But he gets great reads on his opponents and doesn't just give up if his bet doesn't take down the pot, which it won't a lot of the time, especially since people are becoming increasingly more aggressive and more and more players are learning how to float [call with nothing as a setup to a bluff on a later street], and so on.
At lower stakes, I imagine the continuation-bet will still be effective, especially if it is a strong one, but at higher stakes, you definitely see some people overusing it, because they seem to give up the pot whenever it doesn't succeed on the flop.
On the most important thing that he has learned to take his game to the next level:
Probably the biggest thing for me was gaining an appreciation for table image. I've always been naturally aggressive, and in the beginning, I would just think I could run over every table that I played on and pretty much spew chips all over the place. People would call me down so light that I would be angry, thinking to myself, "How can you call me down with that?" when, in reality, the only player making a mistake was me. It's all about adapting to your table image, and once I realized that, I starting playing 10 times better.
Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron
On the most common leak that most entrants in large-field tournaments have:
There are so many. I'm trying to pick out one that is the most common. I'd say limping in with garbage from early position and ending up flopping a hand that they don't want to fold. I think the best advice for a lot of them is to play tighter preflop. Sure, a lot of the good players they see will be playing a loose preflop game, but that's because they can. They can get away with it because they know how to get away from hands, and they're really good at reading hands, whereas some of the worst players in the Sunday Million should really be playing a lot more straightforwardly preflop. They should be playing just really good hand values and folding suited connectors and small pairs in early position.
On whether he bluffs more in no-limit hold'em or pot-limit Omaha:
I think in PLO [pot-limit Omaha], at least at the higher stakes, you can get away with bluffing more, at least on the river, because most of the time the good PLO players are going to be trying to draw to the nuts or very powerful hands. So, it's a lot easier to represent a really strong hand, and people are going to be less likely to call you down with hands that don't beat the nuts or the second nuts. So, in a way, it's even easier to bluff in PLO, but you have to be playing against a player who is aware of the difference in strength of hands between PLO and no-limit hold'em.
Alan Sass
Nice Guys Can Finish First
By Craig Tapscott
Alan Sass attributes his success in poker to two things: hard work and good friends. He first fell in love with poker three years ago and began playing at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. He bought every poker book available and worked on his game night and day. At the same time, he cultivated a diverse group of friends who also were hungry for knowledge and success.
"It was the perfect time for me to start playing," said Sass. "I would hang out with better players and learn so much. It was invaluable for me to sit and watch Dave "Raptor" Benefield, Jonathan "FireyJustice" Little, and Travis "Travesty" Rice play tournaments."
Sass soon switched his primary focus from cash games to tournaments, and never looked back. He became a sponge,
soaking up every bit of strategy he came across with an open mind and well-tamed ego. Rising stars Jordan Morgan and Shannon Shorr encouraged him to play the bigger live events. A few close friends believed in his game and cool temperament, and backed his play at the 2006
World Series of Poker. They were well rewarded.
Sass came very close to winning a gold bracelet at the 2006
WSOP. He finished second in the $5,000 pot-limit hold'em event for $284,000. Then in 2007, he placed fourth in the $2,500 no-limit hold'em shorthanded event for $132,000. At that 2007 final table, he lost an all-in preflop hand for 60 percent of the chips in play when holding A-K versus eventual winner Hoyt Corkins' A-10.
Expect Sass, 24, to break through over the next 12 months and finally take down a major tournament. In the meantime, with a little help from his friends, he's enjoying poker and life on the road.
Craig Tapscott: When did you jump online to play?
Alan Sass: Well, I got tired of driving to Commerce Casino (laughing). I put $500 on PartyPoker and started playing no-limit hold'em games. Then I started playing sit-and-gos. I jumped into the $55 sit-and-gos when the highest at that time was $109. I kind of wanted the money to mean something. Since I played tight, I didn't go broke, surprisingly.
CT: To what do you attribute your fast learning curve?
AS: I started to read the forums and learned a lot. I seemed to have a different style than most. I played cash games. I played tournaments only when my poker friends visited. I watched them and we all learned a lot from each other.
CT: You've been traveling the circuit for a while. What are the major leaks you spot in your opponents' games?
AS: I could go on for 10 minutes. I'll start with the tournament regulars on the circuit. One of the biggest mistakes they make is not sleeping the night before. I also know that a lot of people on the circuit are into some things that are not good for tournament play. You just can't go into a five-day event when you have a hangover or are tired. Also, in the $10,000 buy-in events, a lot of the high-stakes cash-game regulars don't really focus. When short-stacked, they don't play as well as they could because they don't care about busting out. In contrast, you see the tournament regulars like Nam Le and J.C. Tran just grinding out their A-game even in the smaller events.
CT: Talk a bit about short-stacked play.
AS: A lot of online players will shove really light when they get down to seven big blinds or less. Many live players just don't call enough in those spots. They're missing out on a lot of small edges that online players would normally exploit. Live players tend not to push light or call light.
CT: Any other weaknesses you see in some of the live players?
AS: I find that many live players don't believe in pot control. Let's say they have top pair on the turn; they might just go crazy and overbet. In the same way, live players tend not to get enough value on the river. They don't make an easy value-bet with top pair.
CT: What advice do you have for players just starting to learn the game?
AS: There's so much great information out there, in books and on the forums, that if a person puts enough time into it, he can be pretty good. For a while, I did the same to advance fast; I lived and breathed poker. Also, find a good group of friends you can talk to who are learning, so you can help each other out. It's OK that they're on the same level as you; what's important is the sharing of new concepts with each other.
Ask Jack
Want to know how a multimillion-dollar poker tournament is run? Have a question about a specific tournament poker rule or past ruling you've encountered?
Card Player is giving you the chance to pick the mind of one of the game's finest - Bellagio Tournament Director Jack
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Rosanne: I was the first to act in a tournament, and I had slightly more chips than my only opponent. After the flop, I went all in. My opponent said, "I call," and he turned his cards faceup, showing the A
5
. I was still holding my cards when the dealer grabbed my opponent's two cards, turned them facedown, and slid them into the muck. The dealer didn't hear him say call and apologized. All of the players at the table agreed that there was absolutely no dispute about what his cards were. The dealer, however, said that he could not vouch for what everyone else saw. The floorperson came over and ruled that my opponent's hand was dead because it was in the muck. He instructed the dealer to push the pot to me.
I objected, because my opponent had done nothing wrong. He protected his hand and merely turned his cards up like he's supposed to when calling an all-in bet. I wanted the hand played out with them retrieving the A
5
from the muck. The supervisor then instructed the dealer to chop the pot and begin a new hand. Everyone objected, including my opponent. The dealer gathered the cards, chopped the pot, and we continued. The next morning, I spoke with Tournament Director Jimmy Sommerfeld, who was not at the tournament. He shook his head and apologized. He said that if all nine players agreed on what they saw, the cards should have been retrieved and the hand played out. What is your opinion?
Jack: Jimmy is correct, as usual. (I wonder who trained him?) Once the action is complete, and the player turns his hand up, the hand is live, as long as the players agree upon the identity of the cards. The dealer was obviously confused; otherwise, he would not have killed his hand. The floorman made a bad decision. An easy remedy for this type of situation is to have the player push a substantial amount of chips into the pot when he goes all in. If both players had pushed their chips into the pot, the dealer should have noticed that there was action and not killed any hands.
The
Card Player TV crew camped out at Bellagio recently to cover the
World Poker Tour Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. Check out all of the videos from the $15,000 buy-in main event on the Tournament Trail channel. While you're there, take a look at the Lifestyle channel, where you can find the pieces described below.
The Mouthpiece
On Mike Matusow's signature show, he rants about anything and everything going on in the poker industry.
High-Stakes Living: Antonio Esfandiari
Card Player TV's Kristy Arnett stopped by "The Magician's" home, and she would not leave without placing a prop bet.
Card Player is taking all of its poker know-how and launching a revolutionary subscription-based online poker site, but first,
Card Player needs beta testers for the site's software. During December and January, there will be a freeroll every day, ranging from $75 to $3,000, with a total of $20,000 to be given away. It is absolutely free to be a beta tester, and all
Card Player asks in return is some feedback. Sign up right now at www.SpadeClub.com.
Analysis of Position in Heads-Up Play
By Evan Roberts
I am a high-stakes no-limit hold'em player. I provide exclusive coaching videos for Card Player Pro, powered by PokerSavvy Plus, and the columns I write for
Card Player will center on hands taken from my videos. As a
Card Player reader, you'll have access to clips of these hands and many others. In my columns, I'll explore concepts and strategies utilized by the very best players in the world. In addition to the columns, you can watch videos on CardPlayer.com for a richer learning experience.
In this first column, I will focus on fundamental strategy adjustments that are required to succeed in heads-up play. Heads-up no-limit hold'em is the most aggressive form of poker. A typical winning heads-up player plays well over 50 percent of the hands dealt to him. While this certainly leads to more excitement, it creates many difficult situations in which you will have to make close decisions with relatively weak hands for large pots.
For this reason, the ability to read your opponents and accurately assign them a range of hands is vital.
Position is crucially important in heads-up play. An expert heads-up player can at best hope to break even from the big blind, while enjoying a substantial win rate from the small blind/button.
Typical preflop strategy is to raise roughly 50 percent to 70 percent of all hands from the button, generally to three or four times the big blind, with little or no limping. Against an opponent who's playing a similar strategy, you will defend your big blind to his raises with a slightly tighter range of 30 percent to 50 percent of your hands. You will reraise fairly liberally with all big pairs, A-K, A-Q, and some suited connectors and random bluffs.
To illustrate the aggressive nature of heads-up play, let's examine a hand from an online match that I recently played against Prahlad Friedman, a well-known high-stakes player:
I raised to $150 and Prahlad reraised to $450. If he had reraised to $600 or more, it would have been correct to fold. However, since he reraised so small and because he reraises so often preflop, it is sometimes necessary to call here in order to prevent him from running me over. Against a lesser or tighter opponent, I would likely fold.
The flop came 10
8
5
.
This was a pretty good flop for my hand. I had flopped top pair on a fairly safe board. Note that this flop was significantly better than if it had come Q
8
5
. This is because it was less likely for Prahlad to have top pair with a better kicker. He almost certainly would have reraised preflop with A-Q, K-Q, and maybe Q-J, but perhaps not with A-10 or K-10. In a heads-up game with 100 big blinds against an aggressive opponent, I wanted to play for stacks here.
Prahlad led out for $600, two-thirds of the pot. I wanted to raise big here to protect my hand and to give myself an easy decision on the turn. Since I'd have less than a half-pot bet remaining, I would be getting it all in regardless of the turn card.
I raised to $1,950 and he called. The turn was the 5
. Prahlad checked, and I put him all in for $2,700. He called. The river was the 9
. Prahlad showed the 7
6
for a rivered straight (he also had a backdoor straight-flush draw on the turn).
This hand is fairly typical, and was played correctly by both players. In a reraised pot, I was willing to get all of the money in with just top pair, and he was willing to do the same with a fairly strong draw. Though the hand was played for big money, the concepts it illustrates are applicable at most levels.
Good luck at the tables.
To watch Evan Roberts comment on and play this hand, point your browser to Card Player Pro, the complete online poker training site, at www.CardPlayer.com/link/eroberts.
Kelly's Lesson: Take Your Time
By Mike Sexton, the 'Ambassador of Poker' and Commentator for the World Poker Tour
The
Borgata Poker Classic in Atlantic City, a great tournament at a phenomenal property, always has a large field and a nice mix of amateurs and professionals. Most of the players are from the East Coast, and many get into the tournament by winning a satellite. When the smoke cleared at this
Borgata Poker Classic, it came down to an amateur, Chuck Kelly, and a high-stakes pro, Johnny "World" Hennigan.
Hennigan is a popular, well-respected pro who lives in Las Vegas. He's from Philadelphia, and over the years he's played a lot of poker in Atlantic City. Hennigan is also a world-class pool player who was trying to run the table here and pocket $1.5 million and his first
WPT title.
The final table took a long time to play, so at this stage of the tournament, the game was certainly out of the mud. The antes were 20,000 and the blinds were at 100,000-200,000. Kelly had a little more than a third of the chips (5.8 million) when he made it 750,000 to go from the button with the Q
7
. Hennigan, with 11.2 million in chips, opted to call from the big blind with A-5 offsuit.
The flop came 7-3-3 with two spades. Hennigan checked, and Kelly, who had paired his 7 on the flop, bet 700,000. Hennigan - hoping his ace high was still the best hand - made the call. The A
appeared on the turn, a beautiful card for Hennigan because he now had the lead with aces up. He checked, and Kelly bet another 700,000. Hennigan called again, and now we entered the Twilight Zone.
It was here that things got crazy, very crazy considering that a million and a half bucks was on the line. As soon as Hennigan made the call on the turn, Kelly turned his cards faceup! It was a horrible mistake, and everyone was stunned, especially Hennigan. The tournament director was called over, and he issued a warning to Kelly for exposing his cards before the action was complete, told the dealer to deal the river card, and told the players to continue playing the hand. (You can't punish Hennigan and eliminate betting on the river because his opponent made a mistake.)
The river card was another 3, giving both players a full house. Hennigan, seeing that he had the best hand, moved all in. Kelly, embarrassed and flustered because he prematurely exposed his cards on the turn, made the call. Tournament over.
Kelly violated the first rule of poker - "Pay Attention." But, embarrassed or not by his actions on the turn, when Hennigan moved all in on the river, he should have taken a minute to gather himself and review the play of the hand before calling off his last 3.6 million. Hennigan had called a raise preflop and proceeded to call bets on the flop and the turn. Wouldn't you think he had something by now? And do you really think Hennigan would bluff his money off on the river in this situation when he had the chip lead
and could see your cards? I don't.
Had Kelly taken some time before he acted - something you should always do, especially when your opponent has called some bets and then moves all in - I believe he would have folded, saved his last 3.6 million, and continued playing. Simply put, in poker and in life, think before you act.
It's pretty obvious that Kelly scratched on the 8-ball here. I'm sure that's happened in Hennigan's favor a number of times in his life, but never for $1.5 million and a
WPT title. Congratulations to John Hennigan for capturing his first
WPT title.
Seamless Agility
By Dave Apostolico
Have you ever sat across from a player during a tournament who seems to make all the right moves? He seems to shift gears seamlessly, knowing when to apply pressure and when to put on the brakes. This opponent is quick to act and the tough decisions always seem to fall squarely on the other players in the pot. His cognitive skills seem spot on and his ability to exploit opponents uncanny. How do these players accomplish this, and, more importantly, how can you play with what I'll call "seamless agility"?
First, know the situation. Everything in poker depends on the context. Factors such as chip stacks, blind levels, and position are all relevant. Fortunately, all of this information is readily available. Stay abreast of as much as you can, including relative chip stacks, how much time is left in the current level, what the blinds are in the next level, who needs to make a move and where those players are located in relation to you. That information, at a minimum, should be safely secured in your consciousness. You shouldn't need to be taking any time during the course of a hand to gather that info. If you already have it, you don't need to waste time and thought getting it. Rather, your brainpower should be focused on how to use that information within the context of the current hand.
Next, know the math cold. If you need to constantly calculate such things as pot odds, outs, percentages, and implied odds, you are not playing with maximum efficiency. Additionally, your need to take the time to figure these things out can be very telling to your opponents. They are plenty of resources out there with excellent tools for you to learn. Numerous books have charts that will illustrate hand percentages for common situations. CardPlayer.com has calculators for Texas hold'em and Omaha that will allow you to calculate any specific situation. Certain shortcuts exist, such as the Rule of Four and the Rule of Two, to allow you to calculate odds on the fly. If you're not familiar with these concepts, look 'em up! Calculating the math should be second nature for you during the course of a hand. If you can reach that threshold, it will free your mind to concentrate on your opponents.
Moving on, study everything. Know your opponents and their tendencies. Pay attention to every little thing happening at the table. If you are not in a hand, stay focused and study. What else do you have to do? Play along. Try to determine what the players have, what their thought processes are, and what they are trying to accomplish. How does each player use position? Who is tricky and who is by the book? Who gives up on a hand and who fights for a pot? How does each player perceive you, and how do they perceive others? Who makes adjustments and who doesn't? None of this is an exact science, but you'll be surprised at how much you learn if you put in the effort. Poker is a game of imperfect information, so the more information you can obtain, the further ahead of the curve you will be.
Finally, each hand tells a story. If you have done all of the above, the easier it will be for you to follow along. You'll begin to recognize similar storylines, and before too long you'll be correctly anticipating what is coming next. Poker hands will become tired old clichéd Hollywood scripts that you will be able to manipulate with seamless agility. As the story begins to unfold, you'll not only be able to anticipate what will happen next, you will be writing the ending.
David Apostolico is the author of numerous poker books, including Lessons from the Felt, Poker Strategies for a Winning Edge in Business, and Tournament Poker and the Art of War. You can contact him at [email protected].
Play Like Farha (If You Dare)
By Tim Peters
Farha on Omaha by Sam Farha with Storms Reback (Triumph Books; $19.95)
Sam Farha has to be one of the coolest guys in professional poker. TV viewers know him, of course, from the 2003
World Series of Poker main event, where he finished second to Chris Moneymaker, and, more recently, from
High Stakes Poker. He's a great hold'em player, but his real strength lies in Omaha, having won two
WSOP bracelets in that game, including the 2006 $5,000 eight-or-better event. Now he's put his expertise into print, assisted by veteran poker writer Storms Reback, with the entertaining - and useful! -
Farha on Omaha.
Farha weaves together two distinct strategic threads: the
right way to play Omaha and the
Farha way: "If you're in early position, you shouldn't play very aggressively unless you're really gambling … or unless your name is Sam Farha." When
you read books by big-time players, remember this: They've mastered the conventional wisdom - but they don't necessarily play that way. "I'm a gambler," writes Farha. "We know it's not the right way to play the game, but sometimes we do it anyway."
As entertaining as it is to read about Farha's aggressive, tricky approach, if you're learning the game, pay special attention to how he articulates the conventional wisdom about Omaha. In limit Omaha, "you have to play like a rock. You have to play good starting cards. You have to use your position at the table to your advantage. And you should play draws conservatively and made hands aggressively." If you have the discipline to execute the basics - and the mental toughness to avoid tilt after suffering one of the game's inevitable bad beats (much easier said than done) - you can be a positive EV (expected value) Omaha player. (In fact, it's a good idea to start with the basics in any game; conventional wisdom is designed to keep you out of trouble as you build your confidence and learn how to play your opponents.)
He includes sound advice on starting cards, the power of wraps, the folly of playing less than the nuts, and, of course, the critical importance of scooping in split-pot games. Farha is insightful about how to use your opponents' actions and the visible cards to make strategic decisions. He is convincing when he explains why reraising is often better than raising. He believes position is hugely important in Omaha. And he urges players to bet their hands: "One of the worst mistakes you can make in Omaha is checking when you should have bet and giving your opponent a free card … it will come back to haunt you." Farha also outlines some good bluffing opportunities in a game not known for them (for example, you're first to act, and you check the turn with three flush cards showing, then bet out on the river: "It looks as if you were trapping"). Farha is probably at his best in writing about pot-limit Omaha, which he refers to as the Porsche of poker, "a beautiful compromise" between limit and no-limit.
With his two
WSOP bracelets, Farha is obviously a talented tournament player, and part of the book addresses tournament Omaha. It's not particularly subtle: You play tight at first, and more aggressively as the blinds and antes climb. But Farha is honest enough to point out, "Of course, I don't play like this. I play aggressively from the outset."
That's part of the charm of this book: Farha understands the game well enough to deviate from the basics. But just because he can do it doesn't mean you can do it. Master the fundamentals first, then start to develop your own style. This book will help.
All of the Omaha books assert that Omaha is the game of the future. Will it ever displace hold'em? E-mail me with your thoughts at [email protected].
