The Inside Straight

Get Ready!

WSOP Releases Schedule

By Bob Pajich



Harrah's has solidified the schedule for the 2008 World Series of Poker. The WSOP will run May 30-July 16 and will again feature 55 events at the Rio All-Suite Resort and Casino.



The biggest change is that the WSOP will feature eight $10,000 world championship events: pot-limit hold'em, seven-card stud, a mixed- event, a heads-up no-limit hold'em event, limit hold'em, Omaha eight-or-better, pot-limit Omaha, and the no-limit hold'em main event.



The mixed-event will feature eight variations of poker: limit and no-limit hold'em, Omaha eight-or-better and pot-limit Omaha, seven-card stud, razz, seven-card stud eight-or-better, and deuce-to-seven triple draw.



The Series kicks off with the $10,000 pot-limit hold'em event, a change from the past, when, traditionally, the Series started with the $500 casino employees event.



The main event will start on July 3, and the final table is scheduled to take place on July 16. A day of rest is scheduled for July 7 and July 15. The $500 casino employees event is scheduled to take place on July 7.



The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event will take place on June 22. This is a five-day event. Supersatellites for this event will take place at 5 p.m. on May 31, and on these days in June: 1, 16, 20, and 21. The buy-in is $2,250.



On the lower end of the buy-in scale, Harrah's will hold eight $1,500 no-limit hold'em events. The first one, which takes place on May 31, will feature two starting days to accommodate the large crowds that this event always attracts.



Satellites will take place every day during the WSOP, starting May 28. The buy-ins range from $330 to $1,060, and the schedule changes as the WSOP proceeds. Players win tournament lammers in the satellites that can be used for any of the events.



A $1,060 turbo multitable satellite for the main event is scheduled to take place at 8 a.m. on July 6, which is the morning of the last starting day of the main event.



Live action in the Amazon Room also begins on May 28, and tournaments with buy-ins of $340 will take place nightly at 7 p.m. from May 29 to July 15.



The poker tent that was located outside the Amazon Room at the Rio will also be a thing of the past. In 2007, the tent often heated up to unbearable temperatures, and Harrah's heard nothing but complaints about the setup.



The Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament, featuring Don Cheadle and Annie Duke, will return. Last year, it raised more than $700,000. It's scheduled for July 2.



Corum will again manufacture the bracelets. Preregistration for the events begins in February and can be done either online or at the Rio.



Please visit CardPlayer.com for the complete schedule.

World Series of Poker H.O.R.S.E. Trophy Named After Reese

His Legacy Will Live On at the Annual Event

By Kristy Arnett



When the $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event debuted at the 2006 World Series of Poker, it immediately became considered the players' championship, for two reasons. One was that it was the biggest buy-in event of the entire Series – five times bigger than its next-closest competitor, the main event – and the other was that players must be skilled in hold'em, Omaha eight-or-better, razz, seven-card stud, and seven-card stud eight-or-better.



It seemed only appropriate that a legend of the game, the most highly regarded all-around poker player in the industry, Chip Reese, won the inaugural event, and in commemoration of his life, all future winners of this event will receive a trophy named after Reese.



"As a tribute to this great player who embodied the very best of our game, next year's $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship will be played in Chip's honor and memory," said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the World Series of Poker, in a recent press release. "And the winner will receive the David 'Chip' Reese Award, as well as a WSOP bracelet, to commemorate his achievement."

2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship Dates Set

Invitations Have Not Yet Been Made

By Shawn Patrick Green



The dates are set for the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, one of the most anticipated tournaments of the year. This year's event will take place Feb. 28-March 2 in the Caesars Palace poker room in Las Vegas.



Paul Wasicka, last year's winner, defeated poker pro Chad Brown in the finals, outlasting a star-studded field of 64 poker pros and poker-playing celebrities. Wasicka pocketed $500,000 along with the coveted Heads-Up title.



The list of invitees for the 2008 event has not yet been released.

Ask Jack



Have a question about a specific tournament poker rule or past ruling you've encountered? E-mail Bellagio Tournament Director Jack McClelland: [email protected].



Bryn: I have heard that dealers in a no-limit hold'em tournament are not allowed to tell players how much is in the pot even if asked. What happens if someone says, "I bet the pot," but doesn't know the amount? Does the dealer then have to count the pot and tell the player the size of his bet? Or, does the dealer have to make the player state the exact amount of the bet or raise?



Jack: The dealer would have the player state an exact amount. Dealers are allowed to count the pot only in pot-limit hold'em or pot-limit Omaha. Although the dealer cannot count the pot down in no-limit hold'em, he can spread out the chips on the table so that the player can visually count the size of the pot himself.

Card Player Invites Readers to Participate in SpadeClub Beta

Players Can Win Their Share of $20,000 Over the Course of the Beta Period

By Bob Pajich



Card Player has launched a beta version of its new online poker room SpadeClub, which, once its out of the beta phase, will be a subscription-based poker community in which members will play for $100,000 in cash prizes each month.



Registration is free during the beta phase, which will last about another month. During this phase, Card Player readers are invited to sign up for free play in any of the weekday and weekend freerolls, and win their share of the $20,000 that will be given away during this period. The only thing required is that beta players provide feedback about the site and the software.



Visit www.SpadeClub.com to sign up.



The freerolls are scheduled to take place every day. A $75 freeroll runs each weekday at 6 p.m. PT. The winner receives $25, and the top nine players get paid.



A $500 freeroll takes place every Saturday at 3 p.m. PT. The winner receives $200, and the top 50 entrants receive money.



And on each Sunday during the beta-testing period, a $1,000 freeroll is scheduled in which $300 goes to the winner and the top 50 entrants get paid.



After beta testing is over, membership to SpadeClub costs $19.99 a month. Members will have access to a monthly slate of tournaments in which they'll play for their share of $100,000. SpadeClub is different from a typical online site in that all of the tournaments are freerolls, with no cash buy-ins.



Again, visit www.SpadeClub.com, sign up, and get in on the ground floor of this exciting new poker site. There's free money to be won, so go and grab it.

PokerStars LaunchesMac-Compatible Software

Beta Testing Going on Now

By Kristy Arnett



Poker players who own Mac computers have long been waiting for the day that they could play at PokerStars, and that day has finally come.



PokerStars recently released a Mac version of its software. The software is identical to the PC version's software, except that there are a few minor features available on the regular version that the Mac PokerStars software, in its current beta version, does not support, including the layout-manager and preferred-seat features.



PokerStars joined several sites that offer software specifically designed to run on Macs, including Absolute Poker and Full Tilt Poker. Mac users have always been able to play online poker at sites that offer only PC-designed software by running a PC emulator, but many people don't like to run PC emulators on their Macs, because they take up a ton of RAM to run and slow down the entire system.

Co-Sponsors Grow But Bills Still Stuck in Committees

Some Bills There Since April

By Bob Pajich



The list of members of Congress who are now co-sponsors of Barney Frank's bill, which would essentially make online poker legal at a federal level in the United States, has grown to 44. The bill would provide for the licensing of Internet gambling facilities by the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and would allow states to choose if they want to allow online gambling or not.



Recently, representatives from New Jersey, Washington state, and Connecticut became co-sponsors of Frank's Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 (H.R. 2046). They are Rep. Robert E. Andrews, Rep. John B. Larson, and Rep. Adam Smith.



The bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection at the end of April, where it remains.



This is one of four bills in congressional committees that deal with the subject of online gambling and poker. Rep. Robert Wexler's Skill Game Protection Act (H.R. 2610) would allow people to play games of skill online (poker included); it has 20 co-sponsors and was referred to several House committees this summer.



Rep. Shelley Berkley introduced H.R. 2140 on May 3. This calls for the National Academy of Sciences "to identify the proper response of the United States to the growth of Internet gambling." It has 68 co-sponsors and is also in referral in several House committees.



Rep. Jim McDermott's Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2007 (H.R. 2607) calls for the United States to tax and regulate online gambling. It was introduced on June 7, 2007, and has one co-sponsor. It was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means, where it remains.

Event in Sydney Caps APPT's First Season

Teacher Beats Largest Turnout Yet

By Bob Pajich



The first season of the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) wrapped up recently when a 28-year-old teacher won the APPT Sydney event. It was the fourth APPT tournament in its inaugural season.



Grant Levy outlasted 560 players to capture the crown and the $875,542 (AUS $1 million). American player Jeremiah Vinsant finished second for $544,184 (AUS $621,540).



Levy is a teacher by trade, but he has had some success on the poker trail recently. Before playing in Sydney, he finished third in a tournament, good for $131,000.



The APPT event, held at Star City Casino in Sydney, attracted more entrants than any other APPT event this season. After watching its European Poker Tour grow, PokerStars launched the APPT late this summer.



The first event was a $2,500 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament at the Hyatt in Manila, Philippines, at the end of August. American Brett Parise took down that event, besting 254 players in the process.



A month later, the APPT stopped in Seoul, South Korea. This $2,500 no-limit hold'em event attracted 186 players and was won by Ziv Bachar of Israel.



In November, the $2,500 event held in Macau, China, drew 352 entrants. Dinh Le of Vietnam was the last player standing, and he took home more than $222,000. A $15,000 "high-roller" event was also held during the stop in Macau, and it attracted 64 players. It was won by Australian Eric Assadourin ($368,640).



The dates and locations for next year's APPT have not yet been settled upon, but looking at the PokerStars EPT as an example, players should expect at least the same number of events. The EPT started with seven events, and then repeated seven before expanding to eight events in its third season, and then 11 this season.



PokerStars runs hundreds of satellites to its events in Europe and Asia, and it's always sending its Team PokerStars members to the events to help create buzz. Many consider Asia the next poker frontier, and PokerStars established a solid foothold in its first season there.

Hilton HostsCelebrity CharityPoker Tournament

Country Music and Rodeo Stars Competed to Raise Money for the T.J. Martell Foundation

By Kristy Arnett



The Las Vegas Hilton took advantage of having country-music celebrities and bull-riding superstars in town during National Finals Rodeo week, and hosted a charity poker tournament to benefit the T.J. Martell Foundation, an organization that has raised more than $225 million to fund research centers and treatments for leukemia, cancer, and AIDS.



"This is remarkable work, by a remarkable man, and by a remarkable group of people who are eternally grateful of the support of the record industry and country-music stars who have made this possible," said host of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Robin Leach.



In line with the foundation's slogan, which is "where music brings hope," a slew of music celebrities competed in the $500 buy-in no-limit hold'em rebuy tournament, including the winner of the first Nashville Star, Buddy Jewell, and Grammy Award-winner Charlie Pride. Brice Long, Tracy Byrd, and Luke Bryan were also among the country-music industry's elite who played. Also making appearances at the event were a number of rodeo pros like Britt Bockius and Justin McBride, two-time PBR Built Ford Tough Series tour winner. McBride set the record this year for most BFTS events won in a single season.



The two top finishers were Travis Hamlin and Carlos Reyes, who decided to chop. They donated a large portion of their winnings back to the charity, as did a number of the contestants who finished in the money.



With the auction and tournament combined, thousands of dollars were raised for the cause at hand.

February Fun: VenetianDSE III and WynnClassic Upcoming

By Kristy Arnett



The Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III and the Wynn Classic have proven in just one year to be two of the most successful tournaments on the Las Vegas Strip that do not end in big televised events. Both tournaments debuted in early 2007, feature events that concentrate on providing great structure and big payouts, and are scheduled to begin in February.



This will be the third installment of the Deep Stack Extravaganza III (DSE). It is scheduled to take place Feb. 4-24. The buy-ins for the preliminary events will range from $300 to $1,000; events include no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, and H.O.R.S.E. Festivities culminate in a $2,500 buy-in no-limit hold'em main event. The second DSE took place this summer and drew more than 13,000 entrants, which generated almost $7 million in prize money in 31 events. The DSE III will host only 21 events, but The Venetian is expecting the same success as the first two.



The 2007 Wynn Classic attracted more than 2,500 players and awarded almost $4.6 million in prize money over 13 events, including a $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em main event. For 2008, the first of 15 preliminary events begins on Feb. 27; events include Omaha eight-or-better, limit hold'em, no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, and H.O.R.S.E. Buy-ins for the prelims range from $500 to $100. The tournament will again end with a $10,000 buy-in main event that starts on March 16.

Card Player Player of the Year



We Have a Winner

David "The Dragon" Pham has clinched the Card Player 2007 Player of the Year award. Pham amassed 6,562 POY points over the course of the year with consistent tournament poker success. He made 11 final tables and cashed for $1,814,087, and made the final table of two World Poker Tour events (third at the World Poker Challenge in March and second at the Legends of Poker in August). The Dragon also made a final table at the World Series of Poker ($3,000 limit hold'em), and won the heads-up championship event at the Mirage Poker Showdown in May. What may be most impressive about Pham's run at the title is that he defended his lead down the stretch with a victory in a $2,500 no-limit hold'em event at the WPT Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. This is Pham's second POY title, and he joins an exclusive club of poker legends who have won multiple POY titles. Pham joins his mentor, Men "The Master" Nguyen (four POY titles), and T.J. Cloutier (two POY titles) as a multiple-title winner. Card Player would like to congratulate Pham on this impressive achievement.



Runner-Up: The Wild Card

No poker player in the world began 2007 playing better poker than J.C. Tran. He made three WPT final tables in the first three months of the year, one of which he won (sixth at the World Poker Open in January, second at the Los Angeles Poker Classic, and first at the World Poker Challenge). It looked like Tran would run away with his first POY title, but his competition excelled and caught up with him when he stalled a bit during the summer. Tran did keep things interesting coming down the homestretch when he made two final tables in preliminary events at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. He won one of those events ($5,000 no-limit hold'em) to bring his points total to 5,748 and pull within 814 points of Pham. In the end it was not enough, but Tran did make an impressive seven final tables and won $2,914,502 in tournaments in 2007.



Third Place: The Rookie of the Year

Jonathan Little burst onto the tournament poker scene in the first major tournament of 2007, when he made his first WPT final table (fifth in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure). He went on to make another WPT final table and just missed another (second in the North American Poker Championship and seventh in the Gulf Coast Poker Championship). Little announced his true arrival to the poker world when he won his first WPT title at the Mirage Poker Showdown in May. He finished the year with 5,272 POY points by making nine final tables and cashing for more than $2,507,635. As a result, he has to be considered the unofficial Rookie of the Year in everyone's mind.

Playing Suited

Connectors for Big Bucks

By Dani Stern



I play high-stakes no-limit hold'em cash games online. I provide exclusive coaching videos for Card Player Pro, powered by PokerSavvy Plus. My columns will center on hands taken from my videos and will explore key concepts for success in six-max, shorthanded, and heads-up play. As a Card Player reader, you'll have access to clips of these hands and many others. In addition to these columns, you can watch videos on CardPlayer.com for a richer learning experience.



For this column, I have chosen a hand that illustrates a vital component of any great player's game: getting full value out of medium- strength hands.







In this hand, my opponent raised from under the gun to $175. The next player folded, and I called from the button with the 10 9. Both blinds folded. In this situation, I will almost always call with this type of hand if I am not reraising. Folding is simply not an option here, for a few reasons. First of all, with deep stacks, position becomes of extreme importance. Secondly, I believed that I had a significant post-flop edge versus my opponent, who was quite possibly inexperienced at these stakes.



The flop came 10 5 3. This is a good but potentially dangerous flop for my hand. It is likely that I have the best hand, but I have to be careful not to create a big pot if I have the worst hand. My opponent bet $300 and I called. In reality, calling is the only play here. Some players may raise, but I think that is generally a mistake. There are no draws on the board to worry about, and in all likelihood, I am either way ahead or way behind in the hand. Until I have reason to believe otherwise, I will generally proceed cautiously and just call.



On the turn, the 6 fell. This was a relatively safe card for me, unless my opponent had an unlikely 6-5 or 7-4. He checked very quickly, although not instantly. This led me to believe that he never really considered betting the turn, which is a crucial part of the hand. At this point, I have to assume that he is either checking to check-fold with a totally whiffed hand, checking with the intention of check-calling with a marginal hand, or check-raising with either a very strong hand or a semibluff. Given this opponent, the chances of facing a semibluff check-raise here were very small, so I decided to bet $750 into the roughly $1,000 pot. He thought for about 10 seconds and made the call.



At this point, it is important to establish a relative hand range for my opponent. Since he merely check-called the turn, I can all but rule out any overpairs. Pocket pairs J-J and higher almost certainly would have either bet again or check-raised, and the same is true for hands like A-10 and K-10. He may have check-called if he held Q-10 or J-10, but the fact that I held one of the tens made those hands less likely. Additionally, many players would not be raising from under the gun with those hands, especially if they were offsuit. His most likely hands at this point were pocket pairs lower than 10-10 (but not a set). Hands like 7-7 and 4-4 were especially likely, given that they have some showdown value as well as drawing value.



The river was an offsuit king, and he again checked very quickly. Some may view the king as a bad card here, as it is now an overcard to my pair. However, there are almost no hands he can have that contain a king. While we may be trained to be a little affraid of that card, we ought not to be.



With the pot size now at roughly $2,500, I needed to come up with a good bet size. If I bet too big, I limit the number of hands with which he can call, which kills the value of my hand. If I bet too small, I will lose too much value. In this spot, anywhere from a half-pot to almost full pot would be a reasonable bet size. I thought that $1,750 was an amount that would get called a fair percentage of the time, while also not being too small. My opponent thought for almost a minute and finally called me with two nines.



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

Sirio11 Plays Back at the Bubble Abuser

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: PokerStars $1,000 no-limit hold'em tournament

Players: 313

First Place: $70,425

Stacks: sirio11 – 19,494; Villain – 56,984

Blinds: 400-800



Craig Tapscott: Set up the scenario at the beginning of this hand.



David "sirio11" Cossio: This hand happened on the bubble with about 47 players left. It shows a way to play versus bubble abusers, like the Villain was in this hand. He was the chip leader at the table and was raising a lot, since 46th paid nada and 45th, $1,700. His activity had increased proportionally as we approached the bubble. I knew his range was huge, and decided to take advantage of his play, based on his image, my image, and the stage we were at.



CT: What was your image at the table previous to this hand?



DC: I was involved in very few pots, so my image was solid/tight.



Villain raises to 1,800 from the cutoff. Everyone folds to sirio11 in the big blind, holding the J 9.



CT: Do you reraise him now or wait to see what the flop brings?



DC: One option here is to reraise, but with my stack, I don't like the play. I think that by just calling, I can win the pot most of the time when we both don't flop anything, and I can win even more when I flop something. Even when my play backfires, I'm not afraid to lose half of my stack, since I play pretty well when short-stacked.



Flop: K 8 8 (4,000 pot)



DC: Perfect flop, as he most probably doesn't have anything.



Sirio11 checks.



CT: Why perfect? You missed. What are you going to try to represent?



DC: There are no draws at all, and no coordinated board. So for him, if I play back, I "must have" the 8 or the king at the very least (I can't be drawing), and he may fold a hand like 9-9.



Villain bets 3,400.



CT: I'm sure you were expecting the continuation-bet. What's the right bet size here to take it down and why?



DC: Yeah, I was expecting it. My bet size of 8,000 will look like I want to take the pot now. I would be check-raising almost any continuation-bet versus this player.



Sirio11 check-raises to 8,000.



DC: I had a good image, and that helped me with the check-raise. With my image, he'll think I can't be bluffing, since we're on the bubble. And he can't bluff me back, because it looks like I'm committed.



CT: Some people will call with medium pocket pairs here. When do you know that someone is a thinking player and "knows" from your bets that you're committed?



DC: Given the flop, my image, and my action, I think it is pretty hard to call me with a medium pocket pair, even if you're a bad player. This was a $1,000 tourney and we were at the final stages, so chances were that he was a good player.



Villain folds. Sirio11 wins the pot of 11,360.



DC: I showed my hand. I wanted to send him a message, and most importantly, a message to the table. I had some walks after that.



David Cossio lives in El Paso, Texas. He has a master's degree in mathematics. He has been playing poker since 1997, and has eight World Series of Poker cashes, including a third-place finish in 2005 for $79,450. He also has multiple tournament wins online and is a solid threat in any cash game.

UltimateBet Online Championship 2 Delivers

By Shawn Patrick Green



The UltimateBet Online Championship 2 (UBOC 2) was held Dec. 7-16 and packed a wallop. The 13 events of the series guaranteed a combined $2 million to entrants, but by the main event, the combined prize pools came to almost $2.5 million. A total of 6,825 entrants fought for their share of the money, and the series' 13 winners earned a combined $579,496.



As always, the main event was the tournament that had everyone's eye. The $1,000 buy-in event guaranteed $750,000 but actually delivered $807,000. Psmoney took down the event and took home $181,575. Card Player Online Player of the Year (OPOY) contender Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron finished in third place, earning $74,648 and a pivotal 480 OPOY points. That finish put him just 144 points behind current OPOY leader Matt "ch0ppy" Kay with just two weeks remaining in the year at press time.



The Wild Ride of 'Wild Duck'

Greg "DuckU" Hobson, who plays as Wild Duck on UltimateBet, had a great run at the UBOC 2; he made the final table of four of the 13 events in the series.



Hobson began his wild ride by taking down event No. 2, a no-limit hold'em (with rebuys) event. He then proceeded to win event No. 4, another no-limit hold'em event, the very next day. Over the next week, he made two more final tables (event Nos. 5 and 10, both no-limit hold'em), coming in fifth place both times.



By the series' end, Hobson had won nearly $110,000 from his final tables. He also handily won the UBOC 2 leader board and the $30,000 that went along with that honor, bringing his total UBOC 2 winnings to $140,000.







No Longer Living With Mommy

T.J. "WhatArunAA" Slifka (aka LivesWithMommy on Full Tilt) accomplished what so many poker players aspire to when he took down the PokerStars Sunday Million on Nov. 4, 2007, earning $99,427 (after a deal was made at the final table). He then went on to do what so many poker players further aspire to when he became the last man standing in the Full Tilt $750,000-guaranteed event just over a month later. The list of players with wins in the major Sunday tournaments on both PokerStars and Full Tilt is incredibly short, and Slifka now has a spot on it. Considering that he won more than $232,000 from those two tournaments, mommy can now probably kick him out of the house without much worry.



Bountiful Bonus at Bodog

Bodog is upping the ante for new players by offering a 110 percent matching sign-up bonus.



New Bodog players will receive an instant 10 percent cash-deposit bonus. From there, players will earn $1 for every 10 poker points they earn while playing on Bodog during their first 30 days until they have matched 100 percent of their initial deposit (up to $500). That means that players who deposit $500 on Bodog receive $50 immediately (meaning they have $550 to play with) and can earn an additional $500 through constant play over the span of a month. Thus, players can earn up to $550 in free money through the new bonus.



Bodog's new deposit bonus is also innovative in that players earn poker points not just from raked hands or tournament fees, but also from time spent playing. One poker point is earned for every raked pot, three are earned for every $1 in tournament fees paid, and one poker point is earned per hour of playing. To earn the maximum bonus, players must earn 5,000 poker points in a month.



Those interested in taking advantage of this new bonus can sign up for Bodog by going to our website: CardPlayer.com/link/bodog110



Chatbox Cunning

Stategy from top online pros



Aaron Been

On adapting to players he's never played before:

"Against people I'm playing with for the very first time, I tend to make really fast judgments. I'll see someone play one hand and I tend to emphasize it, and I start building a profile right away. If I see someone limp in even only one time, I assume that that player is going to limp in with his weaker hands and raise with his stronger hands, and that he's going to be a straightforward player. And if I'm wrong, I can always go back and change it, but I like to have something to go with right away. It can be dangerous, and you can end up making mistakes, but I think as long as you're willing to change your opinion about someone, it's better to have some information than none at all."



On the most fundamental mistakes people are making in the early stages of big-field tournaments:

"They're playing too many hands from early position and not really enough hands from late position. They're also playing with the wrong kinds of hands; they're limping in with A-10 offsuit, which isn't really going to be that useful when they're deep-stacked, and they're folding hands like 8-7 suited that have a lot more potential. They're not really approaching the game by considering what they're going to do on later streets and the fact that they're deep-stacked."



Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah

On what it takes to continuously finish deep in tournaments:

"Not making mistakes. In any tournament I've played, whether live or online, I can look back on one specific hand that eliminated me from the tournament or put me in peril. In a tournament with [lots of] people, or even in a tournament with a small number of people, it's just avoiding making that one big mistake. Sometimes you have enough chips to survive that mistake or bad beats, but it's that one time when you think someone has A-K and then has A-A, or making that one call instead of folding, that makes the difference. And I think what's gotten better with me is being able to read players and know when to call and when to fold. But I've also really improved my game in being able to accumulate chips so that I can make a mistake or suffer a bad beat and not have it end my tournament."



On what advice he can give for big-field tournaments:

"As with a lot of the satellited-into tournaments, there are usually a lot of bad players in there, and I usually catch them in mistakes early in the tournament and build my chip stack early when a lot of the bad players are in there making bad plays. And I try to use the stack that I build early to sail through the rest of the field."

Mike Sowers

Gets a Life

By Craig Tapscott



Poker can be an all-consuming obsession, a win-at-all-costs, need-for-speed virus that can suck the life force out of unwary victims. Mike Sowers was a casualty of the poker bug. Once bitten by repeated viewings of Rounders and the Moneymaker dream machine, he zipped some cash online and ran his fortunes up to $30,000. School, friends, and sunlight were neglected for the thrilling bucking-bronco ride of cash swings. Then, the grim reaper of variance knocked. He was dead broke.



"I quit poker for a year," said Sowers. "I would let the cash games get me really emotional – and you can't do that. So, I took a year off. When I came back to the game, I learned to play within my bankroll. If you can do that, you won't go broke or become too emotional about results or the game."



Back online, Sowers, 21, grinded out $10 sit-and-gos and would toil in the smaller buy-in tournaments and satellites. Solid play and a fourth-place tournament finish would spike his roll up to $8,000, allowing entry into larger events. He has taken down a myriad of events, including a limit hold'em event in the 2007 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker ($145,000) and a $1,000 buy-in event on both PokerStars and Full Tilt (worth $80,000 and $54,000, respectively).



Craig Tapscott: What brought you back to poker after going busto?



Mike Sowers: I got tired of having a job. I was responsible for all of my expenses: car, food, insurance, and so on. I figured poker was a way out if I could control my emotions, which I learned to do.



CT: What improved besides playing within your bankroll?



MS: I've always been very obsessive about getting good at something I love. I subscribed to the training sites at the beginning of 2007. Even though I learn from the different players on the sites, I'm not just taking what they say as gospel. I'm critiquing them and taking parts I like and applying it to my game.



CT: You mentioned that Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman was a positive influence.



MS: Yes. He's one of the best online tournament players in the world, and he knows how to explain things in details that you can understand.



I'm learning to get the max value, the maximum expectation for my good hands, and not allowing my opponent to play perfect poker. Let's say that the fourth player to act raises and I have J-J. Many times, I would reraise, but it's kind of a marginal play. Now I'll simply call and take the flop in position, and I'm getting the max value of his raising hand range – all smaller pairs, A-Q, A-K, and so on. When you reraise preflop, players will pretty much usually reship you if they have a better hand or A-K, or they will fold. Now, you're getting max value instead of turning your J-J or 10-10 into a bluff in that spot.



CT: What mistakes do you see good players making too often?



MS: Many players get too cocky. They think they can outplay people too much. Honestly, if you stick to your preflop ranges, you can decide if there is value in reraising or just folding. Is it worth going head-to-head versus another good player? Most of the time when I have a marginal hand, I'm not looking to mix it up with a good player or three-bet when out of position. There are so many bad players online. Why not choose to abuse them? In the end, it's all about the return on your investment, not winning every pot.



CT: Sounds like your success came after you got a life outside of poker.



MS: It's true. I started to get into weight training, exercising, and eating better. It helps keep my mind clear and I'm playing more patiently. Staying in shape mentally and physically is severely undervalued by most players. Sure, you hear the word "variance" when you're running bad. But most players don't take a step back and realize that they haven't gotten out of the house in a month or they just continue to whine about the beats.



CT: Thanks, Mike. Let's close with a quick poker tip from one of the top 10 online tournament players in the whole freakin' world.



MS: (Laughing) I really like raising from up front. It gets a lot more respect. I rarely will raise from the button when light, because nobody respects the button.

Picking on Weakness

By Mike Sexton, the 'Ambassador of Poker' and Commentator for the World Poker Tour



The World Poker Tour Invitational is the most fun and entertaining event on the World Poker Tour. And even though it has far and away the smallest prize pool on the Tour, it's an event that's thoroughly enjoyed by Hollywood celebrities and many of the world's top poker players. They truly love to mix it up, and usually the celebs manage to get someone through to the final table. This event was no exception, as actor Glenn Morshower and actor/director Nick Cassavettes battled their way to the final table.



In this hand, the antes were 3,000 with the blinds at 12,000-24,000 when everyone folded to chip leader and top pro "Miami" John Cernuto (1.2 million). He picked up the 6 5 and made it 75,000 to go. Cassavettes was in the small blind (and second in chip position with 811,000) and opted to call with A-J offsuit. The big blind folded.



The flop was K 9 2. This flop helped neither player. Nick checked and, after some thought, Miami John also checked. The turn card was the 4. Again, Nick checked, but this time, Miami John opted to take a stab at the pot and bet 95,000. Nick folded, and Miami John picked up the pot.



A couple of lessons could be learned here. First, to become a winner at poker, you must understand that the guy doing the betting has the advantage. Here, Miami John raised preflop and then bet on the turn, even though he had absolutely nothing. He took control of the hand by betting, and consequently won the pot. Second, if your opponent checks twice, chances are that he doesn't have much, and many times you can take down the pot by going after it. Miami John did just that here.



Poker is not about just the cards you hold; it's about the cards your opponents fear you hold. Picking up pots without the best hand is something all of the great players do consistently.



Remember, you don't have to reinvent the wheel to succeed at poker. Just watch what the successful players do and apply it to your game.

Throwing Interceptions

By David Apostolico



I got into a mild argument the other day with an acquaintance of mine over the abilities of an NFL veteran quarterback. This quarterback (name not important) is in the midst of a fairly successful career, but has yet to get over the hump and become one of the really great ones. My criticism is that he doesn't throw enough interceptions.



When I first said this, my friend thought I was making a joke. I wasn't. Even when I explained my theory, he could not at all see my point. My rationale is this: Even though our quarterback has a very low interception rate, that's part of the problem. First, his reluctance to throw the ball into any kind of traffic means he gets sacked more than he should. This, in turn, causes the linemen to become frustrated and lose confidence. Finally, he rarely gives his receivers a chance to make plays. That is, he won't throw it up to let the receivers take advantage of their position, height, or knowledge of when the ball is coming.



As I was making my case to deaf ears, it dawned on me that this was a perfect poker analogy. And since this column is about poker and not football, let's explore that analogy. If you are afraid to throw an interception, you are going to miss out on a lot of opportunities. Likewise, if you play only the nuts, you are going to miss out on a lot of opportunities in a poker game.



First and foremost, you can't be afraid of losing a pot. In order to win, you have to be willing to lose. Look what happens if you are afraid to throw an interception: You can either get sacked or throw the ball away. Neither one of these outcomes is favorable to you. The poker equivalent of getting sacked is getting blinded out. Complete inaction on your part will erode your stack, which is particularly fatal in a tournament.



Of course, the equivalent of throwing the ball away is throwing your hand away. In either case, you are willing to live for another down or another hand. There are many times when this is the correct play. You don't want to always force the action. If, however, your inclination is to always throw your hand away when you face resistance and you don't have the nuts, you are going to get eaten alive.



This leads us to the most critical point of this analogy. When you throw the ball downfield in the direction of your receiver, good (and, yes, potentially bad) things can happen. There are no guarantees that things will work out, but if you never throw the ball, you can never succeed. You don't need a wide-open receiver (or the nuts) to complete a pass (or win a pot). The offense has some inherent advantages. Both the quarterback and the receiver know which pattern they are running. The defense is back on their heels, having to anticipate and make some tough decisions. The receiver is in position to see the ball come off the quarterback's hand. The defender will often have his back to the play and be forced to react to the actions (tells) of the receiver.



As a poker player, there are many tools at your disposal other than cards. You can use position. You can use aggression. You can do lots of things to put others back on their heels, forcing them to react to you and make tough decisions. The one thing you can't do, however, is complete a pass if you don't throw the ball in the receiver's direction.



Don't be afraid to throw the ball. Unlike football, there are no teammates in poker. Any reluctance to throw the ball downfield on your part won't erode the confidence of your linemen. It will erode your confidence. I guarantee that if you take the time to attempt some passes that are not safe, high-percentage plays, you will experience some successes and a few setbacks, but you will gain more and more confidence, which will lead to a lot more success in the long run.



David Apostolico is the author of numerous poker-strategy books, including Tournament Poker and The Art of War. His radio show Play to Win can be heard on holdemradio.com every Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST. You can contact him at [email protected].

It's All In Your Mind

By Tim Peters



Your Best Poker Friend: Increase Your Mental Edge by Alan N. Schoonmaker, (Kensington Publishing Corp., $15.95)



Here's how I view the various missions of a book reviewer: articulate the basic premise of the book and how it presents its ideas … place the book in context … make some judgments about its utility and value. In short, I want to help you, the potential book buyer, make an informed decision.



But with Al Schoonmaker's new book, I'm going to make the decision for you: You should definitely buy Your Best Poker Friend: Increase Your Mental Edge. Buy it and then read it, as many times as needed, to absorb its lessons about poker and life. This is an undeniably great poker book, especially for those of us who wrestle with the emotions that go hand-in-hand with this challenging and frustrating game.



The sequel to the excellent Your Worst Poker Enemy: Master the Mental Game (see my review in "The Inside Straight" column, Card Player, Vol. 20/No. 12, June 26, 2007), Your Best Poker Friend marries Schoonmaker's training as a psychologist with his knowledge of the unique challenges of poker. The result is mind-opening.



Be forewarned. Schoonmaker doesn't "soft-play" his readers: "I'm a hard-nosed psychologist," he writes, "and I won't even try to make you feel better." He forces you to face facts: "Becoming realistic is the first and biggest step from being your worst poker enemy to becoming your best poker friend."



Schoonmaker sums up his basic ideas in a number of overarching themes: Most players should rely on logic more than intuition. All players need feedback (from an objective source, like a reliable friend or, even better, a coach). And – here's the big one – "Psychological factors damage your play and distort your perceptions about yourself, other people, and the game itself." In fact, that sentence could aptly describe the whole of Your Best Poker Friend. The book is a powerful reminder that our brains lie to us constantly (how often do we blame bad luck, not bad play, for our losses?).



But the book isn't merely diagnostic, telling you what you probably know but aren't willing to acknowledge. It's also a guide to improvement with step-by-step instructions to help you systemize how you learn about poker, including evaluating your own game and that of your opponents. It outlines psychological tactics to increase your edge and provides practical advice for dealing with the most common types of players. Most of these skills require critical, objective self-awareness; Schoonmaker teaches you how to get it and how to use it.



One of the biggest – and, I suspect, most controversial – sections of the book is titled "Should You Play No-Limit Hold'em?" At first glance, it seems an almost silly question, given no-limit's explosive popularity. But I have long suspected that no-limit is not for everyone, and Schoonmaker devotes 75 pages to help you make an informed decision about whether your psychological makeup will enable you to be successful at the most brutal form of poker. Schoonmaker helps you determine if you have the emotional fortitude to handle a game in which you can (and sometimes will) get stacked off in a single hand.



The book is very clearly written, but it can't be said to be entertaining, because of the many hard truths it forces you to confront. But it's that confrontation that will make you a better player (and, probably, a better person, one with an improved ability to handle the vicissitudes of life). Read the book. Put in the effort. The rewards will be handsome: "If you take this book seriously, and do all the work, including the unpleasant tasks, you will gain something many poker players never have: a clear sense of who you are, where you are going, and how you will get there. You really will be 'your best poker friend.'"



Psychological insight and self-knowledge are attributes of successful poker players. What's your favorite poker psychology book? E-mail me at [email protected].