The Inside Straight

Poker-Playing Professor Says Stay in School
Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society: It's the Poker Way
By Bob Pajich

This summer, Steven Garfinkle's e-mail inbox was flooded with congratulatory messages from students and colleagues, with many of the students asking if it would be all right if they stopped by Garfinkle's office to talk about the World Series of Poker.

Garfinkle, an associate professor of history at Western Washington University in Washington state, just missed this year's WSOP main-event final table by one player, but his 10th-place finish was enough to get him on the front page of the local newspaper - twice - as well as in the school's newspaper.

This interest, along with the many posts he reads on poker forums across the Internet with titles like, "Should I quit school to play poker?" prompted Garfinkle to speak out about why even the most successful young poker players should remain college students, even if they're among the few who are having grand success blowing up the online poker world.

As a poker-playing educator, Garfinkle knows of the many life skills that can be sharpened at a poker table. From the math to the complex logic it takes to figure out someone's hand, Garfinkle, like many of the game's serious fans, appreciates how these lessons apply to the real world.

That said, he understands that poker can be an all-consuming game, and if poker-playing students are not careful, they might miss the entire college experience because they spent all of their free time trying to qualify for the WSOP.

"There's so many things going on for students and they're at an age when they really think they can do everything at once, and what oftentimes gets short shrift is their actual college experience," Garfinkle said. "One of the things that I really like to tell students is that this is a unique time. And I say this not only from the perspective of an educator, but also from the perspective of someone who has been where they are, not that long ago. There are so many fun things that you can get out of college."

The message he wants to get across is to just be smart about it. Don't forget about the opportunities available away from the computer screen. Be aware of the happy hour specials and intramural sports, and don't let poker - as lucrative as it can be - erase the college experience.

Andrew Woods, a Harvard law student and the executive director of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society - a collegiate organization that is sprouting up on campuses everywhere - believes the message of staying in school is one that GPSTS members would find somewhat redundant. The poker player who models himself in the GPSTS mold is one who desires knowledge, absorbs all of the stimuli of the life experience to better himself, and would never center himself solely on one thing like a game.

The GPSTS preaches the gospel of Mike Caro, that poker is not about making money, but about making the right decisions all the time.

Woods said that he hopes anyone who is considering quitting college to play poker full time should examine his situation clearly, without any emotional ties. That's the GPSTS way of thinking through many of life's problems. It's the poker way.

"In poker terms of thought, if you're thinking like a poker player, what we call the poker way of thinking, you understand that staying in school, even if you're making a lot of money, is probably a good investment," Woods concluded.

UCLA Wins Poker Match Against USC
Second Intercollegiate Poker Match Takes Place
By Bob Pajich

A poker team representing UCLA's Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society beat a team representing USC in front of about 35 spectators at the Kerckhoff Grand Salon near UCLA.

Five players from each team played a best-of-three series of heads-up matches, and three of UCLA's players beat three of USC's players to capture the match. The winners were Igor Gampel, John Kennelly, and Michael Shinzaki.

This was the second intercollegiate poker match that GPSTS has sponsored. The first took place between Harvard and Yale
in mid-November, and Harvard beat Yale three matches to two.

Annie Duke was also on hand to talk poker before the match, and she stuck around to watch the college students battle it out. These matches are a precursor to a national collegiate team heads-up tournament that the GPSTS plans on hosting in March. It hopes to have at least 32 teams in this event.

The GPSTS has been holding events at colleges everywhere since it was formed in August. Its slate of spring events is still being worked out, and should be released shortly.

World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit Has a Good Year
Ferguson, Men Nguyen Both Capture Rings
By Bob Pajich

The 2007 installment of the World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit series was very successful, with prize pools breaking the $1 million mark several times at casinos in what people would call tourist towns, like Las Vegas and New Orleans. In places like Council Bluffs, Iowa, the crowds weren't as big, but the top prizes awarded still could be considered life-changing money for many.

A dozen WSOP Tournament Circuit events took place, and each featured a $5,000 championship event. The following is a short recap from all of the events:

Grand Casino Tunica, Jan. 8-17 - Dennis Perry outlasted 377 entrants at the first WSOP Tournament Circuit event of 2007. He won a little more than $563,000 for topping a final table that included Gioi Luong, Lance Allred, Michael Mizrachi, and Matt Dean.

Horseshoe Council Bluffs, Jan. 29-Feb. 7 - Kosta Sengos won the Circuit ring in Iowa. The event attracted 142 players and Sengos won $219,576.

Harrah's Rincon, Feb. 11-22 - The pros again rose to the top at this Circuit event in California. Peter Feldman beat out 180 players to capture the ring and the $280,859 first-place prize. The final table included Gavin Griffin, Danny Wong, Shane Schleger, and Gavin Smith. The prize pool was $877,850.

Caesars Atlantic City, March 5-14 - The WSOP Tournament Circuit would hit three Caesars Palace properties in a row, starting here. This event attracted 314 players and Danny Yousefzadeh won it and its $488,828 top prize. The prize pool was more than $1.5 million.

Caesars Indiana, March 25-April 4 - Men "The Master" Nguyen emerged from the shadows to win this event. He outlasted 153 players to take home $238,756 and the ring. Young Phan was the runner-up and Bryan Sapp finished third.

Caesars Palace Las Vegas, April 23-May 5 - Attendance would spike again in Las Vegas when 336 players showed up to try to win the ring. Cory Carroll won more than $500,000 for taking this event down. The final table included Chad Brown, David Pham, and Steve Wong.

Harrah's New Orleans, May 11-23 - Again, the winner of a WSOP Tournament Circuit event would leave with more than half a million dollars in New Orleans, and that player was Louie Esposito, who outlasted 345 players, including David Fox, Phil Gordon, and Clint Schafer. The prize pool exceeded $1.6 million for the championship event.

This event marked the end of the 2006-2007 season, but five more events would take place in 2007 as part of Harrah's 2007-2008 WSOP Tournament Circuit season. The Circuit would resume again after the WSOP took place in Vegas.

Grand Casino Tunica, Aug. 29-Sept. 13 - Jordan Morgan would win his first major live tournament here for $216,852. He outlasted 137 entrants who generated a prize pool of $658,300.

Caesars Indiana, Oct 17-Nov. 2 - Carlos Uz won this event, which attracted 144 players, showing that location is definitely important when scheduling a poker tournament.

Harveys Lake Tahoe, Nov. 8-18 - Chris "Jesus" Ferguson won his third WSOP Tournament Circuit ring by taking down this event, which attracted 142 entrants.

A second event at Harrah's New Orleans ended after press time, as did another event that was scheduled to take place at Harrah's Atlantic City.

Seminole Tribe Signs Pact With Florida
Tribe Will Share a Guaranteed $100 Million Annually
By Bob Pajich

The Seminole Tribe of Florida recently signed a compact with the governor that gives it the right to operate gaming facilities at seven locations across Florida for the next 25 years. The locations are in Immokalee, Big Cypress, Brighton, Hillsborough, and Broward County (which has three locations).

Gov. Charlie Crist signed the agreement with Mitchell Cypress, chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, on Nov. 14. According to the governor's website, the tribe will pay the state of Florida $50 million upon the federal government's approval of the compact.

Guaranteed annual minimum payments to the state of Florida will be $100 million, and starting in the third year, the state will receive between 10 percent and 25 percent of the revenue on a sliding scale, depending on total revenue amounts. The Florida Legislature will appropriate the funds.

The compact was signed on the eve of a federally imposed deadline that, if missed, would allow the Seminole Tribe to operate without sharing revenue with the state.

The only change that affects poker players is that the tribe is now allowed to hold six no-limit hold'em poker tournaments each year, with 70 percent of the revenue going to charitable organizations.

The compact will be challenged, though. The speaker of Florida's House of Representatives filed a petition with the State Supreme Court, accusing Crist of overstepping constitutional law by signing the compact without approval from the assembly.

PlayersOnly Offers Chance to Win $10,000 in Video Contest
Win Cash and Night With Carrie Stroup for Best Video Depicting a True Player
By Kristy Arnett

Everyone's definition or perception of a "player" is probably different. Some may imagine driving around in a Mercedes with a hot model by their side, showered in expensive jewelry. Others may imagine a player as someone who has cheesy pickup lines, obnoxious clothing, and a diluted self-image. Whatever a player is to you, PlayersOnly.com wants to know.

The online poker room, casino, and sportsbook is hosting a competition called Unleash the Player in You on YouTube to find someone who can truly exemplify what it means to be a player, as voted on by a designated judge. The winner will receive $10,000 deposited directly into his PlayersOnly account, plus a night out with PlayersOnly hostess and FHM/Playboy model Carrie Stroup.

The competition begins on Jan. 1. Voting ends on Feb. 15, and a winner will be announced. To enter or vote, visit www.YouTube.com/UnleashThePlayer.

California Poker Petition Fails
One-Man Operation Misses Mark by 400,000 Signatures
By Bob Pajich

The deadline for citizens of California to submit petitions that would place their propositions on a ballot has come and gone, and that means residents there will not get to vote on whether the state should or should not establish an online poker room.

Tony Sandstrom announced that he intended to collect 430,000 signatures in order to have a referendum placed on next year's ballot that, if approved, would force the state of California to create and operate an online poker room. Most of the proceeds that would've been generated by the room would have gone to road construction, particularly the repair of potholes.

The deadline to submit was Dec. 1. Sandstrom collected exactly one box of signatures, or, as he put it, "About 400,000 short." This was Sandstrom's first foray into the world of public policy, and he did it completely on his own. He acknowledges that he was outmanned from the start, and if he tries to tackle this issue again, he will seek the assistance of a larger group to help generate interest.

PaddyPowerPoker 2008 Irish Open to Guarantee €3 Million
Buy-in and Player Capacity Increased From Last Year
By Kristy Arnett

The 27th-annual PaddyPowerPoker Irish Open in Dublin, Ireland, is set to take place in March, and it is already making headlines. As one of Europe's oldest tournaments, it has been attracting players from the United States for decades, and is looking to make 2008 its biggest year ever by increasing the buy-in, player capacity, and guaranteed prize pool to a staggering €3 million (€1=$1.47).

The weeklong tournament series is scheduled to take place March 19-24 at the Citywest Hotel, Leisure, and Golf Resort. The venue can accommodate up to 1,000 players. The buy-in is €4,500, and players can register online at the PaddyPowerPoker website at any time.

In 2007, the Irish Open attracted 708 players, the biggest field in European poker history. A few poker celebrities who made the trek across the Atlantic Ocean included Mike Sexton, Antonio Esfandiari, Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, Dan Harrington, Sorel Mizzi (who finished third), and Roland De Wolfe (who placed second). The winner was Marty Smyth, a local Irish player. He took home almost €650,000 and the trophy.

Phil Hellmuth Hosts Beauty and the Bet Charity Event
The TASER Foundation Benefited From the Generosity of Poker Pros, Celebrities, and Amateurs Alike
By Kristy Arnett

Known as the "Poker Brat," Phil Hellmuth has no problem bringing attention to himself with his fashionably late entrances at world-class events, berating of opponents, and ability to "dodge bullets." Whether it is his larger-than-life personality or his undeniable talent (backed by his record-breaking accomplishments), Hellmuth is a huge attraction. On Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, he used his star power to help a deserving cause by hosting the Beauty and the Bet charity poker tournament, benefiting the TASER Foundation, an organization supporting families of fallen officers.

"We were very fortunate to have a mutual friend through the PPA (Poker Players Alliance), and he invited Phil Hellmuth to come out the first year," said Geraldine Hills, executive director of the TASER Foundation. "When he really found out about the work of the TASER Foundation and the impact we have on the families of fallen officers, he really became very passionate about the cause. This is his third year."

The event's title appropriately included the word "beauty," since there were special appearances by Playboy Playmates, including Stephanie Heinrich and Alison Waite. Upon entering the Key West Ballroom, guests were greeted by the beauties, who offered autographed photos of themselves. The charity event was split into two tournaments, a main event ($500 buy-in with rebuys) and a high-roller tournament ($2,500 buy-in with rebuys); 50 percent of the money generated from the buy-ins, rebuys, and add-ons went into the player prize pools, while the other half was withheld for the charity. The top three finishers of both events moved on to the winners' table to compete for the grand prize of two Super Bowl XLII tickets, as well as entry for two into an exclusive Playboy Super Saturday Night Party.

For the main event, the player prize pool came out to $20,500, with Steve Kontharos winning the lion's share of it. Eric Mills and Anthony Cibotti finished in second and third place, respectively. The high-roller tournament featured a number of pros and celebrities. Montel Williams, Pam Brunson, James Van Alstyne, Steve Zolotow, and Hoyt Corkins, who took down the $5,000 buy-in Vegas Open event just minutes before arriving at the Palms, all competed in this event. Hellmuth also played while emceeing the tournament.

"Phil invited me to this event. We met a while ago when I won a VH1 celebrity poker tournament that he was emceeing," said Scott Ian of Anthrax, who ended up finishing sixth.

Todd Brunson eventually won the high-roller event, and his portion of the $96,250 prize pool. Arnette Heintze finished second and Bruce Culver third. All six finalists then battled for the grand prize. In the end, it was Cibotti who was the last person standing.

Memory booklets of officers who lost their lives in the line of duty were scattered on the tables, serving as a subtle reminder of the cause at hand. Officer deaths are up 35 percent in 2007, and the TASER Foundation is determined to make life easier for the families.

Since its inception in 2004, the foundation has distributed $1.7 million to help more than 500 families. Because TASER International pays all of the expenses of the foundation, 100 percent of everything raised goes directly to the families.

For more information on the TASER Foundation, visit www.TaserFoundation.org.

Card Player Player of the Year

Recent Top Performances
Let's take a look at the top finishers from the last three years of the Player of the Year race to put things into context with this year's race:



As you can see, 2004 sets the benchmark for recent years, while 2005 was a bit of a down year. Last year's race closely mirrors this year's at the top, while only the names have changed (although J.C. Tran lurks near the top this year, as well; he's currently sixth with 4,458 points). If the championship event of the World Poker Tour Five-Diamond World Poker Classic attracts a similar number of entrants as last year, roughly 1,900 POY points will be awarded to the winner. If either Pham, Little, or Clements wins at Bellagio, he will climb above the 7,000-point mark, and cap off one of the greater POY performances in recent years.

Schneider Makes Some Early Noise at Bellagio
Of all the players in the top 10 on the POY leader board, only Tom Schneider has managed to make a move in December. He has quietly accumulated 678 points since the start of November to climb to 4,470 points, and move into fifth place ahead of J.C. Tran (4,458 points). Schneider has done this thanks to an eighth-place finish in the World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit event at Caesars Indiana (84 points), a third-place finish in the first event of the National Poker League Vegas Open (144 points), and a fourth-place finish in the third event of the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic (450 points).

Points to Grab Elsewhere
While most poker players will be found in Las Vegas during the month of December at the WPT Five-Diamond World Poker Classic and the NPL Vegas Open, there are still POY points to be found at tournaments all over the globe as 2007 comes to a close. The largest tournament taking place outside of Vegas is the European Poker Tour stop in Prague. It features a $6,900 buy-in no-limit hold'em championship, and this is the greatest opportunity for those not in Vegas to grab some major POY points. There are also WSOP Tournament Circuit events at the Harrah's casinos in New Orleans and Atlantic City, the 2007 Trump Classic at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, the Turkey Shoot/Ho-Ho Hold'em event at The Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California, and the Winter Pot of Gold tournament at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada.

Bigjoe2003 Faces a Tough River Decision in a
Sit-And-Go Vs. Zangbezan24
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: $2,100 PokerStars sit-and-go
Players: 9
First Place: $9,450; Second Place: $5,670; Third Place: $3,780
Stacks: Bigjoe2003 - 2,610; zangbezan24 - 2,800
Blinds: 100-200

Bigjoe2003 calls 100 from the small blind with the K K. Zangbezan24 checks his option.

Craig Tapscott: What are you thinking here with such a monster in the small blind?

Joey "bigjoe2003" Michael: I can make a standard raise to around 475-500 or slow-play and limp. If the player in the big blind was not a very strong regular - in this case, zangbezan24 (Sorel Mizzi) is - I would raise, hoping that with our chip stacks, he'll shove and go broke with a decently wide range, or just try to bluff me. I figure a raise here will enable Sorel to get away from a ton of hands. So, knowing that he knows my tendencies makes my decision to just complete a fairly easy one.

Flop: 10 9 9 (400 pot)

CT: That's a pretty good flop for your hand, unless he played some sort of 9-X connector or A-9.

JM: Right. At this point, I'm either basically drawing dead or way ahead. If he has a 9, I'm going broke, but if he doesn't, it will be very hard for him to catch up. There are no flush draws, and my overpair will counterfeit any two pair he may make. Knowing this, I don't think I need to protect my hand. I check, hoping to get maximum value if he has a 10, and also giving him the opportunity to bluff me.

Bigjoe2003 checks. Zangbezan24 bets 275.

CT: Now the mind games begin.

JM: Well, now the hand gets very interesting, because in Sorel's mind, my range of hands is wide. Obviously, I can't fold, but should I check-raise or just call? Here is where many players will make a mistake by deciding they are most likely ahead and will raise. If I raise, I'm going to allow him to play almost perfectly. If he has flopped trips, he's not going to fold; however, he will likely fold almost every other hand, including a 10. Therefore, I just call, with the intention of checking any turn.

Bigjoe2003 calls 275.

Turn: 10 (950 pot)

Bigjoe2003 checks.

JM: If I had bet, he would have called or raised only with hands that had me beat, and there's maybe a slight chance that he tries to bluff me.

Zangbezan24 bets 500. Bigjoe2003 calls.

CT: Do you think he has you beat at this point?

JM: I have a really difficult decision to make. The size of his bet in relation to my stack size tells me a few things; most importantly, that he is aware that the 10 killed almost my entire range of hands, and the odds lean more toward him firing a second bluff than having the full house.

Bigjoe2003 calls.

River: 4 (1,950 pot)

JM: Obviously, I have to check this river, because if I bet, he will play perfectly.

Bigjoe2003 checks. Zangbezan24 bets 1,825 and is all in.

JM: I know that Sorel is capable of firing a third barrel on a complete bluff. I weigh the odds and trust my instincts, which strongly suggested that he bet the 500 on the turn with the intention of leaving me enough chips so that I could fold on the river. He wanted to give me an option to fold, instead of betting a little more (650-700) on the turn and thereby pricing me in on the river. Because of this, I called.

Bigjoe2003 calls 1,635 all in. Zangbezan24 shows the 8 6. Bigjoe2003 wins the pot of 5,220.

Joey "bigjoe2003" Michael is a 23-year-old graduate from Northwestern University. He is the online sit-and-go player with the winningest record in the world. He co-founded the poker training site www.sngicons.com with Jonathan Little and James Ferguson.

And the Winner is …
By Shawn Patrick Green

By the time you read this, we will have crowned the winner of our first-ever Card Player Online Player of the Year (OPOY) race. The winner will have earned his title by consistently besting the Internet's top players in the biggest, most influential tournaments online. Find out who's earned the distinction of 2007's best player by going to CardPlayer.com/online-poker/players/OPOY.

At press time, Matt "ch0ppy" Kay was leading the pack with 7,768 OPOY points, almost 600 more points than his next-closest rival, Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron (7,174 points). To put that point difference in perspective, Baron will have to take down a tournament as big as the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance (or bigger) before Dec. 31 to earn enough points to overtake Kay. He must either do that or finish deep in a slew of qualifying events.

Regardless of who ends up on top of the 2007 OPOY leader board at year's end, Card Player extends an incredible amount of respect and congratulations to the deserving winner.



Iron Man, and More
When Full Tilt Poker launched its Iron Man Challenge, it never claimed that it would be a walk in the park. To make it to the landmark final tournament, wherein you play three heads-up matches versus Full Tilt pros, you must earn a minimum number of Full Tilt Points each day for a month, and then take down two tournaments full of other players who have done the same. Only one player has ever gotten to the heads-up matches and come out alive: Chad "czee2212" Albert.

Albert defeated Brad Booth, Erik Seidel, and Clonie Gowen to earn $50,000 on a freeroll. Since his victory there, which quickly made a name for him in the online poker world, he's gone on to finish in third place in the no-limit hold'em bounty tournament of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series VI, worth $32,000.

Despite his success online - he's earned close to six figures - Albert has opted to stay the course in college, and he continues to study at Indiana University, where he is a senior.

Chatbox Cunning

Strategy from Top Online Pros

Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy
On how much poker has changed since he produced his first training video:
Back a few years ago, the tables were a lot easier to run over. There weren't too many people playing back at you, and you would just get a lot of chips from raising with no showdown, or raising and making a continuation-bet with no showdown, and so on. Now, it's a lot different. You have guys playing back at you, so there's no reason to open-raise unless you have a real hand. Sometimes, if a lot of other guys are opening light, you have to reraise them light to keep them in line and also to build your chip stack, since you can't open because people will play back at you.

On whether loose-aggressive is still the winningest playing style in poker:
You can go back to tennis: There was one point when serve and volley was great, and you had Björn Borg who had phenomenal ground strokes, and he was unbeatable until John McEnroe came in and found the style that was able to beat Borg. I view myself as sort of a chameleon; I just adapt to whatever I have to do on a particular day, a particular month, a particular year, a particular table, whatever it is to get the job done. [In a recent tournament], I basically saw no flops the entire day; I just played incredibly tight, because that was the way that I had to play on that day. So, I think that it doesn't really matter what style you play.

Travis Rice
A Year to Remember
By Craig Tapscott

Online star Travis "TravestyFund" Rice's New Year's resolution at the beginning of 2007 was to give live tournaments a shot. That shot was heard around the world. He began his quest with a $161,000 win in the L.A. Poker Classic $1,000 no-limit hold'em event in January. At the 2007 World Series of Poker, he made two final tables: the $5,000 pot-limit hold'em and the $2,000 no-limit hold'em events. Most recently, he captured his first major title at the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic, to the tune of $800,000.

Sit-and-gos were Rice's bread and butter online. He eventually worked his way up to the highest sit-and-gos on PartyPoker. "Most of my successful friends, who are now on the live circuit, all started with sit-and-gos," said Rice. "A lot of us met on the forums and discussed hands. My sit-and-go background helps me with live events, because I understand stack sizes and can quickly evaluate each situation."

Rice, 25, majored in finance at Texas State University. He plans on competing on the live circuit over the next five years, then pursuing other interests in business and real estate. In the meantime, he is traveling around the world with friends, loving poker, and loving life.

Craig Tapscott: When did you start playing poker?

Travis Rice: I started playing about five years ago at my frat house. I also played at some underground games in Austin. I saw these kids making money running the games, and I decided to run my own games when I moved to Fort Worth.

CT: Obviously, your entrepreneurial spirit was piqued.

TR: It was a $1-$1 cash game. I did pretty well making supplemental income. Then I started dealing at an underground game in Dallas; some nights, the tips were as much as $2,000. I dealt to such a wide variety of players - from high-class businessmen to big-time drug dealers. I then met a few local players - Mario "Pwnasaurous" Silvestri and Dave "Raptor" Benefield - who helped me learn online poker.

CT: At what level did you begin with the sit-and-gos?

TR: I started playing the $22 sit-and-gos and moved up pretty fast. The guys I was learning from were the sit-and-go masters at that time. I tore up the sit-and-gos, and was eventually playing the $100 and $200 stakes. I was making a lot of money doing this, about $300 an hour.

CT: What were some of the keys to moving up in levels?

TR: One of the most valuable things to learn is variance. Once you understand it, the better you will be with going on tilt and evaluating your results. If you can understand how bad it's possible to run, you won't tilt. When losing, many people try to totally revamp their game, because they think they're doing something wrong. Sure, they might be. But I learned to keep my brain controlled. I just kept studying. I wanted my game always to be evolving instead of making huge changes and feeling lost.

CT: What was your biggest downswing?

TR: I've been on a 20 buy-in downswing during my last big sample of sixhanded-max tables. You have to be prepared for that kind of swing or more.

CT: Can you help novices understand some sit-and-go concepts?

TR: I play the beginning stages, when stacks are deep, fairly tight and straightforwardly. Then, a lot of your equity comes from good bubble play, exploiting the different tendencies of the players at the table.

CT: And once you're in the money?

TR: One key is how many big blinds you have when you get in the money. You don't want to hesitate to go all in as the short stack. If the button ever folds, you have to shove when holding 10 big blinds or less, with any hand. You need to take advantage of the spots where you can steal chips. It's a big mistake to just try to survive and get second.

CT: How have your sit-and-go skills translated to the multitable events?

TR: Most live players don't get a lot of final-table experience. When you're playing so many sit-and-gos, you play a lot of shorthanded, threehanded, and heads-up situations. That's great experience, and a huge advantage for any final table.

CT: Final thoughts?

TR: Two things to master to be a good poker player are patience and concentration. Those are the two I thrive on to win. You have to think about every situation from an unbiased viewpoint. If you can do that, you're going to be successful.

Making a Tough Call
By Justin Rollo

I am a multitable tournament professional and provide exclusive coaching videos for Card Player Pro, powered by PokerSavvy Plus. 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. My columns will provide in-depth analysis of interesting tournament scenarios. 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 the thought process that winning tournament players use when faced with borderline decisions. The hand I have chosen presents a typical situation that many of you will encounter in lower-stakes tournaments - dealing with an early-position limper.

Game: PokerStars $150 no-limit hold'em tournament, blinds of 75-150
Opponent: Unknown under-the-gun (UTG) limper
Stacks: 7,795 (me) versus 2,355
My Cards: A Q
My Position: Early position (UTG +1)

In this hand, the under-the-gun player limped in. Holding the A Q, I decided to raise. In the early stages of a tournament, a general rule of thumb is to simply add a big blind to your raise when someone has limped in front of you. In this case, rather than making a standard raise of three times the big blind, I made it 600, four times the big blind. This larger raise comes into play for a few key reasons. First, I was also in early position and wanted to eliminate other callers. Second, I wanted to make sure that my opponent had the chance to fold better hands, namely smaller pairs, to my raise. A raise to three times the big blind would have allowed my opponent to profitably see many more flops.

Everyone folded back to the under-the-gun player, who called. This call was my first piece of information to help me determine his possible range of hands.

With the pot size at 1,425, the flop came K 10 3. My opponent moved all in for 1,755.

Before deciding what to do, I first had to assign our opponent a specific range of hands. I thought it was unlikely that his holding would include hands like A-A, K-K, and 10-10. While he might have played those hands in a similar way preflop, it is doubtful that he would have bet out with such strong hands on a relatively safe flop. Hands that did fall into his range included A-10, K-Q,

K-J, Q-J, Q-Q, and J-J, amongst other lesser holdings.

My next step was to estimate my outs. I could safely assume that the four jacks in the deck would give me the winning hand. The three remaining aces and three remaining queens also could give me the winning hand. However, not knowing for sure that all six cards would help me, I decided to estimate that three out of the six cards would win the pot for me. The last way I could win the pot was to make a runner-runner diamond flush. For this, I estimated one more out, giving myself a total of eight outs.

With eight outs, my chances of winning are approximately 34 percent. The easiest way to make these estimations is to multiply your outs by two and then add one, which in this case equals 17 percent. Then simply multiply by the number of cards still to come to get your total odds of hitting your hand. In this example, our odds of hitting equal 34 percent.

The next step was to calculate my pot odds. I had to call 1,755 to win the 4,935 pot. Simply dividing 1,755 by 4,935 told me that I would need to have a 35.6 percent chance of winning the hand to make calling the bet correct. As you can see from these calculations, calling would be a slightly negative long-term decision, using these ranges.

However, the last factor to consider when facing a close decision is your stack's ability to withstand losing the pot. I began the hand with 7,795 in chips and had 7,195 when facing the all-in bet. If I lost, I would be left with 5,440, which was still extremely healthy at that early stage of the tournament. If I won, I would have 10,375 and an increased ability to withstand losing pots later, as well as the ability to see more flops.

In the end, the value of increasing my stack early in the tournament (something I always attempt to do) bridged the gap between the mathematical difference (1.6 percent) and led to my final decision to call.

This may seem like a lot to consider when quickly deciding how to play a hand. However, with experience, this thought process will become second nature and will help you make more profitable decisions.

To watch Justin Rollo comment on and play this hand, point your browser to Card Player Pro, the complete online poker training site, at www.CardPlayer.com/link/jurollo.

Negreanu Makes a Sick Call
By Mike Sexton, the "Ambassador of Poker" and Commentator for the World Poker Tour

The Five-Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio is one of the great events on the World Poker Tour. It's the only tournament with a $15,000 buy-in, which always makes for a substantial prize pool. Invariably, the final table of this tournament is always terrific, and this event was no exception. This final table featured two-time WPT Champ and former WPT Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu, as well as the main-event winner of the 2005 World Series of Poker, Joe Hachem.

With six players left, and antes at 10,000 and blinds at 30,000-60,000, Ed Jordan (with 1.68 million in chips) entered the pot for 200,000 from early position with the 8 7. Mads Anderson, a top-notch European pro, sitting right behind Ed with 3 million in chips, came over the top and made it 625,000 to go with two nines. Now it was time for Daniel Negreanu, the massive chip leader with more than 6 million, to scratch his head as to what to do, as he had picked up A-K on the button.

Negreanu opted to "hop the fence," a saying that means a guy comes for two raises when he had no money invested in the pot, and makes the call. Jim Hanna, in the small blind with 1.5 million, folds the same hand with which Negreanu called - A-K. (With all of that action, I would have folded there, also.) Hachem folded in the big blind, and it was back to Jordan, the original raiser in the hand. With 1.6 million in the pot now, Jordan called another 425,000 with his suited connectors.

The flop came Q-Q-10 with two hearts, a flop that helped no one. Jordan checked, Anderson checked (which you probably would, too, when someone hops the fence behind you), and Negreanu checked. The turn card was the 4. Here, Jordan opted to move all in for his last 1 million with just an 8 high! Anderson folded his nines and Negreanu really went into the think tank. He had only A-K, but he did have a gutshot-straight draw and a flush draw. He understood several things: (a) it was going to cost him 1 million to call, (b) there was more than 3 million in the pot, and (c) even if he called and lost the pot, he would still be the chip leader with just under 5 million in chips. He made the call!

The river card was the 6 and Negreanu won the pot. Jordan was shocked that Negreanu could make that call with ace high (as were many others who were there), but in my view, although he showed a lot of heart to move all in on a bluff with his remaining chips, Jordan chose a bad time to do it, because his two opponents had chips and were getting a good price to call. Timing - picking your spots to bluff and whom to bluff - is the key to bluffing.

Joe Hachem came back to win this tournament and put himself into an elite club, one that now has five members: those who have won a WPT event and the main event of the WSOP. The other members of that group are Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, and Dan Harrington. Congratulations, Joe!

Changing From the Outside In
By David Apostolico

Most of us try to change, if at all, from the inside out. That is, we try to view things differently, open our minds to new ideas, and challenge current beliefs. These are all valid means for obtaining productive and transformative change. However, these are not the only ways, and, in fact, when it comes to poker, the inside out approach may be an impediment to change. For instance, many players have a hard time adopting a more aggressive mindset or attempting more bluffs. These players just aren't wired that way, and it is extremely challenging to try to force change on something that is so ingrained in their very being.

If you are having trouble changing your mindset toward a certain leak in your game, there may be another way. There have been numerous cognitive psychology studies proving that individuals can change from the outside in. For instance, forcing yourself to smile or laugh can make you feel happy. That outward behavior has directly led to an inside mood change. Outward behavior can affect your mindset. Act a certain way and you will feel a certain way.

How can this help your poker game? Let's look at one example. Let's say you are having a hard time enacting bluffs. Even when you know your opponent is weak and will fold to a sizeable bet, you cannot bring yourself to pull the trigger. You are having a hard time changing your mindset.

You do recognize the problem, though, which is a good first step. However, so far, you have been trying to fix it internally, with little success. Much like forcing yourself to smile, force yourself to make a bluff. Totally release your control over your external actions. Let your hand act independently and throw those chips in the pot. Give in to your body and let it lead the way. The first time will feel completely foreign to you and may or may not work. Don't give up, though, based on either how you feel or the results. Wait for a selective time and try it again. Soon, you'll begin to believe it. If you believe it, it's much more likely that your opponents will believe it, as well.

The problem with trying to make these types of changes from within is that you have to believe it before you implement it. That is a tough hurdle for many players to overcome. It's hard to change a mindset in a vacuum when not knowing what the end result will be. And if you don't believe it, neither will your opponents. Change requires conviction, and that conviction is hard to come by in the uncertain arena of poker. However, by acting a certain way, you'll feel that way. The applications are endless.

If you aren't aggressive, start raising instead of calling. The more you raise, the more comfortable you will be doing it, and soon, your first instinct will be to raise instead of call. If you always need cards to play, force yourself to play a few hands without looking at your cards. Try using position and your reads to determine your actions. Without knowing your cards, you won't have them as a crutch. Do this enough times and you will soon broaden your ability to manipulate your opponents.

No matter what the endeavor, if you want to change, be open to a different approach. There is nothing wrong with commencing change from within. It will work in many cases, and by all means, try it. If it doesn't, however, don't give up. Force yourself to change. Take the action and see where it takes you. Force yourself to smile and you just might find that you're a happier person with more chips coming into your stack.

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].

The Mona Lisa's Poker Face
By Tim Peters

Poker: The Ultimate Book by François Montmirel (Assouline Books; $50)

On the opening page of this elegant new volume from French art book publisher Assouline, François Montmirel succinctly captures the sea change in poker that has occurred over the two centuries: "When we think of poker, we no longer think of cheats, cons, and shady characters … It has become a genuine social phenomenon … [Poker] is now recognized as a game of strategy and influence." Poker has become mainstream (that's a good thing), and Montmirel has created a visually stunning book about its historical context and cultural impact.

The handsome volume - a nice holiday gift for any poker player - includes a short history of the game that references the "ancestors of poker," including glic, flux, and poch (French, Italian, and German games, respectively), as well as the English game of "brag." (Montmirel points out that brag is the game featured in the excellent film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.) New Orleans and the invention of the Mississippi steamboat catalyzed poker, which is where the ideas of poker and cheating became intertwined. Montmirel says there were about 1,500 professional players plying the Mississippi River in 1830, and "you could count the number of honest players on your two hands."

The Gold Rush and the Civil War also played big roles in fueling poker's popularity in America. In fact, Montmirel asserts that the Civil War "introduced [poker] into every level of society, to the point that it became one of the most influential elements of the reunified country." (That strikes me as a bit hyperbolic; Jim McManus' forthcoming book on the history of poker should have more to say about that.) The birth of Las Vegas is well-documented, and the book features a long section titled "Maturity," covering the rise of modern poker: the birth of the World Series of Poker and the other big-money events, Chris Moneymaker, and the creation of online poker.

But Poker: The Ultimate Book isn't a narrative per se; it's really a miscellany, filled with interesting tidbits about poker, its historical role, and its impact on culture high and low. It's also graphically spectacular, beginning with its packaging. The soft-bound volume is housed in a cardboard slipcase that opens from the top like a deck of cards; the cover features a version of the Mona Lisa holding four aces (no wonder she's smiling). The typography and graphics are both first-rate, and the book is filled with vintage photography, art reproductions, and stills from some of the great poker movies, like House of Games, Rounders, and The Cincinnati Kid. (Thankfully, Lucky You is not included, though it's listed in the handy "Poker Filmography.")

The book includes a cursory strategy section; in the final section, Montmirel outlines "the seven essential rules of poker," illustrated with hands from major tournaments. The strategy itself is fine (how can you argue with a statement like "vary your way of playing"?), but it's hard for a book like this to do justice to the complexities of the game.

I have one other major quibble about this book. Most of the sections are separated by spreads featuring famous poker-related quotes, including one of my favorites: "People think mastering the skill is the hard part, but they're wrong. The trick to poker is mastering the luck. That's philosophy." But nowhere does Montmirel credit the authors; that quote, which is slightly incorrect in this book, is from the superb Jesse May novel, Shut Up and Deal. It's just bizarre that the book would not include the sources of these great soundbites.

Of course, this book isn't meant to be scholarship; it's meant to be entertaining. And that it certainly is.

Other "coffee-table" books about poker include Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats (Chronicle Books, text by A. Alvarez) and Poker Face 2 (by the great poker photographer Ulvis Alberts). If you have encountered a book about poker that you think deserves a review, e-mail me at [email protected].