The Inside Straight

Mobster Makes a Million

Londoner Joe Beevers won the Ladbrokes Poker Million VI a few days before Christmas beating current Irish Open champion Marty Smyth heads-up to take down the $1 million first prize.

Beevers started the six-man final table, broadcast live on Sky Sports 2, as fourth favourite.

The chip counts at the beginning of play were:



Cox was first out followed soon after by Lederer who ran his 4-4 into Gardner's K-K. Flood was busted in fourth, crippled when his 6-6 was up against Beevers 2-2 which hit a deuce, before going all-in with Q-4 against an ace and not improving.

By this stage the action was fast and furious with high blinds resulting in lots of all-ins and the chip lead rotating regularly. Gardner pushed with A-10 only to be called by Smyth with A-J and he exited third.

Smyth started the heads-up battle as chip leader but lost it to Beevers when his Q-Q was overcome by Beevers K-4 with a rivered king. Smyth recovered to even things up at around 600,000 in chips but the final hand saw Beevers nines hold up with all the chips in the middle and the Hendon Mobster picked up $1 million for his efforts.

The $25,000 buy-in event had $500,000 added to the prize pool by Ladbrokes, bringing the prize money at the final table to more than $2 million.

'Devil Fish' is Card PlayerEuropean Player of the Year

Dave "Devil Fish" Ulliott has won the 2007 Card Player European Player of the Year in a battle with Swede Chris Bjorin which went right to the wire. Ulliott's third place finish in the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic on Dec. 17, 2007 catapulted the Englishman to the top of the leader board with 3,446 points - just enough to trump Bjorin whose three final tables at the World Series of Poker in 2007 had seen him dominate the rankings for much of the year.

In 2007 Ulliott enjoyed arguably his most successful year to date as a poker player winning $1.2 million dollars and making five major final tables while Bjorin, who came 15th in the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic, made an impressive six final tables earning $437,590.

Teen sensation Annette Obrestad came third on the back of winning the World Series of Poker Europe main event in London and taking second in the European Poker Tour Dublin.

Russian Alexander Kravchenko, who won a bracelet at the WSOP 2007 and made the final table of the main event finished fourth.



To see the full 2007 Card Player European Player of the Year rankings visit http://europe.cardplayer.com/players/poy.

"ElkY" Takes Down $2 Million in Bahamas

Frenchman Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier did Europe proud by winning the European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, beating a record field of 1,135 other players in the Bahamas on his way to collecting the $2 million first prize.
Craig Hopkins, from the UK, came fifth for a tidy $450,000 payday from a final table which included Card Player Player of the Year David "The Dragon" Pham.

The 26 year-old Team PokerStars pro, who beat 33 year-old Californian Hafiz Khan in the heads-up battle said of his triumph, "The entire trip has been one thrilling experience after another - and now I'm returning home as the 2008 PCA Champion. This was definitely one of the hardest tournaments I've ever played. It was a very tough field with a lot of online American qualifiers who played really well. But I really wanted this title and I would have been very disappointed not to win."

The payouts for the final table were:



The next EPT is in Dortmund, Germany (Jan. 29 - Feb. 2, 2008). Satellites for Dortmund as well as EPT Warsaw, Copenhagen and the EPT grand final in Monte Carlo are running now on PokerStars.

Parisian Takes Prague

Arnaud Mattern, 28 from Paris, won the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Prague in December collecting €708,400 for his victory beating Italian Gino "El Diablo" Alacqua at the Golden Prague Casino in the Czech Republic capital. Mattern, a top-flight backgammon player, called his opponent's all-in raise in the final hand with A-K, hitting a king on the turn to send Alacqua and his Q-10 to the rail.

Mattern was thrilled with his victory. "This is the best result I've ever had," he enthused. "I did win the French Backgammon Championship but that was only €5,000! It was a very tough final table and, during the heads-up, Gino picked up a lot of good cards but I just picked my spot and my good hands stood up."

Mattern also won a seat to the EPT grand final in Monte Carlo.

Runner-up Alacqua, who is 46 and from Milan, has only been playing poker for 18 months. He lifted €407,300 for his efforts. Kristian Kjondal, the 21 year-old Norwegian was third.

The Prague event was the busiest European event of the tour so far attracting 555 players from 36 countries.

Conrad Brunner, PokerStars head of communications said, "For a new event, the EPT Prague has been an outstanding success. Europe's top players have put on a real show, and great credit must go to Mattern for winning against a top class field. Mattern's victory in Prague catapults him to the top of the French EPT leader board."

The final table payouts at the tournament were:

Factory Worker Wins German Open

Marco Joos, a factory worker from Stuttgart, Germany, won the PartyPoker.com German Open in December taking down the €50,000 first-place prize after dispensing with some of the biggest names in the German-speaking poker world.

He defeated Ph.D. student Kristijan Dragicevic, from Zurich, Switzerland, heads up by turning around a 3-1 chip deficit. A bold move with K-4 finally paid dividends when it improved to two pair, while Dragicevic's A-3 failed to hit.

"I have to say, I was a bit card-dead in the heat but got two really good breaks," explained Joos of his incredible run. "I have been successful offline in the last year or so and because of this I got the opportunity to play in this tournament, but this was the first time I had played in front of cameras.

"I won more in one heat of poker than I earn in a year at the factory," he said. "I'm very proud. I have been playing offline for three years and just started playing online a little while ago. I am now happy to say that I have a bankroll to go forward with. I am back on night shifts now, but I am just so happy. This money will change my life. I was so pleased to make the final and cannot believe the result!"

Heavyweight German players Michael Keiner, Eddy Scharf, and Thomas Bihl had been made favorites by PartyBets but all were eliminated in their heats.

Keiner, however, still managed to enjoy the final. "In every heat, there were very different styles and creative strategies, and it was a great tournament," he concluded. "The drama of the final was excellent; there was a great atmosphere amongst all the spectators."

Thirty-six players paid a €2,500 buy-in to play the tournament in London which was organised by Matchroom Sport. The total prize pool was €117,000.

The payouts were:



The German-language event will be broadcast in 2008 with commentary provided by Michael Koerner, Michael Keiner, and
Eddy Scharf.

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Momentum Building Behind GSNP
By Dave Brannan

Momentum is building behind the Genting Stanley National Poker Championships and at the start of January there were already 150 seats pre-booked across the festivals. With online qualifiers currently running on Playtech, Boss, and Full Tilt Poker, there is plenty of opportunity for players to qualify. It is early days, but it looks like the three festivals (Manchester, Nottingham and Southend) could be sell-outs.

The Genting Stanley National Poker League is up and running and is the first of its kind, with 23 casinos running ten-week leagues across the UK. All the buy-ins for the league are paid out on the nights as the normal prize pool, but the registration fees are used to create 'end-of-league' prizes of packages to the GSNP Championships. This represents great value to the players. At the end of the league in the middle of March the casinos will be running live satellites to the GSNP Championships. The dates and times of these super satellites are displayed on the league website www.GSNPLeague.com.

Players can also buy in by visiting their nearest Genting Stanley Casino. Alternatively if people prefer registering from the comfort of their own home they can contact Team Europe on 00 44 1 752 675375.

The introduction of the GSNP League and GSNP Championships is creating some healthy competition for other UK Poker Tours. This can only be good for the UK Poker scene and if the festivals are successful it should lead to bigger and better tournaments being organised in the future.

The structure for the main event offers lots of play and with very reasonable tournament start and finish times - players will have plenty of time to engage in the lucrative cash games. Genting Stanley has already promised that rake for cash games will be minimal, which is good news for all those players who view the ring games as the real icing on the cake.

More details on the league and championships including the structure, can be found at the respective websites www.GSNPLeague.com and www.GSNPChampionships.com.

Brandon Adams Battles With Brian "sbrugby" Townsend
By Craig Tapscott

Cash Game: Pot-limit Omaha at Full Tilt Poker
Stacks: Brandon Adams - $27,341; sbrugby - $41,198; Ziigmund - $140,717
Blinds: $200-$400

Preflop: Ziigmund raises to $1,400. Brandon Adams calls from the small blind with the A K J 5. Brian "sbrugby" Townsend calls from the big blind.

Craig Tapscott: Preflop, what's the usual thinking in a shorthanded, aggressive pot-limit Omaha game like this?

Brandon Adams: Position is all-important in pot-limit Omaha. You want to play the button extremely aggressively in a threehanded game. When choosing among the marginal hands, you want to go with the ones that have at least some draws to the nuts, and avoid hands that often make a costly form of second-best (a good two pair, second-best straights, low flushes).

Flop: Q 8 3 ($4,200 pot)

CT: Were you hoping that one of the very aggressive players would bet so that you could check-raise with the nut-flush draw?

BA: No. I have nothing but a nut-flush draw here, and this flop hits a lot of hands hard. My line here is check-call. If I bet and am raised, I have to give up. Check-raising is a bad play because if Ziig or sbrugby bets this flop and I raise, he is going to put me all in a huge percentage of the time.

Turn: A ($4,200 pot)

BA: The other two players have big stacks and they checked a draw-heavy flop. They probably don't have much. The best they are likely to have is A-Q. A-8 is in the upper part of both of their ranges, and I thought they'd fold this hand. Townsend could have A-A, but this is extremely unlikely. All told, the A is definitely a good card for me. My original plan here was to check-call, but then the action made me change my mind.

Brandon Adams checks, sbrugby bets $4,000, Ziigmund calls, and Brandon Adams raises $20,200.

CT: What's your plan behind this raise?

BA: The overwhelming consideration is that both players are likely to fold and I will take the pot of $12,200 uncontested. Another consideration is that if I call and hit, I'm not likely to get paid. If the diamond or 10 hits, I'm not likely to get paid on the river, and although the king is an out for me against A-Q when I raise, I'll actually have to check-fold to a pot-size bet if I just call and the river is a king (although I'd have top two pair, J-10 is overwhelmingly likely).

CT: What hands are you trying to shut out by raising?

BA: Well, I can raise enough such that big straight draws can't call. If some straight/flush-draw combo calls, I'm in great shape, because I have the best made hand with A-K, and I have their diamond draw dominated. Plus, a jack is a winner for me. Against A-Q, I win with nine diamonds, three tens, and two kings (28 percent equity). Against A-8, I win with nine diamonds, three tens, two kings, two jacks, and three queens (38 percent equity). I can expect to take it down uncontested about two-thirds of the time.

Sbrugby raises to $39,798 and is all in. Brandon Adams calls $5,741 and is all in.

River: A

Sbrugby shows the A 8 5 4 and wins the pot of $60,081 with a full house, aces full of eights.

CT: What do you think of Townsend's call here?

BA: Brian made a hell of a call here. My image was very solid. I asked him about this hand later, and he said that he called because it seemed like a great spot for me to be making a move. He correctly figured that my check-raising range here is heavily weighted toward big draws.

Brandon Adams is a very successful online and live high-stakes cash-game player. He routinely plays in the "big game" when in Vegas at Bellagio, and has been featured on GSN's High Stakes Poker. He also made the final table of the 2007 World Series of Poker $1,500 WSOP pot-limit Omaha event, finishing sixth for $75,794.

Morrison Makes the Right Read
By Mike Sexton, the "Ambassador of Poker" and Commentator for the World Poker Tour

The World Poker Tour World Championship at Bellagio, with its $25,000 buy-in, is an event that every poker player dreams of winning. The prestige of winning the WPT's premier event brings out the best players from all over the world, especially when first place is nearly $4 million!

In this hand, it was crunch time. After a long final-table battle up to this point, four players were left. The antes were 30,000 and the blinds were 150,000-300,000.

Guy Laliberte (the founder of Cirque du Soleil), with 6.7 million in chips, opened the pot for 1.3 million with A-J offsuit. Two players folded, and Kirk Morrison, the big chip leader with nearly 15 million in chips, opted to call from the big blind with two deuces. (Morrison had good success in the tournament world in the '90s, but left for New Zealand in 1999, only to return to a "new poker world" with multimillion-dollar prize pools seven years later. His cash in this event was his fourth straight in a WPT event, tying Daniel Negreanu for that record.)

The flop was Q 6 3. Morrison checked and Laliberte made a continuation-bet of 2 million with an overcard and a flush draw. Morrison then moved all in with two deuces (one of which was the 2)! With only 3.4 million left and staring at a pot of more than 10 million, Laliberte felt pot-committed and made the call (let me add that Laliberte is ranked the 664th-richest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine, so moving up another spot didn't concern him; his only interest was in winning).

The turn card was the 3, meaning Laliberte could now win with an ace, a jack, a queen, a 6, or a club (a lot of outs). The 8 appeared on the river, and Morrison dodged a bullet to win a monster pot and take a massive chip lead with three players left. Unfortunately for Kirk, his luck ran out when Carlos Mortensen won the heads-up battle to take his second WPT title and become the first player in history to win the main event of the World Series of Poker and the WPT World Championship main event. That's a feat that we might never see duplicated. Congratulations, Carlos!

In reviewing this hand, the preflop raise of Laliberte is standard, and I wouldn't fault Morrison for calling with his pair, considering the blinds structure and his chip count. I would question both players' actions on the flop. I don't like the check-raise by Morrison, because I think his opponent is pot-committed, and although I wouldn't harshly criticize Laliberte's bet of 2 million, I think moving all in is a better play for him. That would put a lot of pressure on Morrison to make the call.

I believe Morrison got lucky after check-raising all in to find Laliberte with the hand that he had. If your opponent has a pair or a flush draw, you have to think he is pot-committed after he bets 2 million on the flop. That means that you're going to have to tiptoe through a minefield to win the pot if you get called - and Morrison did just that.

A Matter of Skill
By David Apostolico

In the ongoing debate as to whether poker is a game of luck or skill, one of the predominant arguments in favor of skill goes something like this: "Poker is a game of skill because the best hand doesn't always win." Certainly, if the best hand doesn't always win, there must be a factor at work other than luck. Skill would seem to be that factor.

However, I still am bothered by this argument. I think it has the opposite effect of its intention. In fact, I believe that it shortchanges, rather than embellishes, the skill argument. To understand where I'm coming from, let's look at a different supposition. That is, what if the best hand always won? Would that mean that the game of poker was all luck with no skill? That would seem to be the corollary argument. If "poker is a game of skill because the best hand doesn't always win," it logically follows that if the best hand always won, poker would be a game of luck.

Let's look at an extreme example. Imagine that you played a marathon cash game against a bunch of inexperienced players in which the best hand always won. In fact, the reason the best hand always wins in this game is that there are always a number of players who will chase any draw and call down with any hand. Bluffing is useless. Now, let's add another supposition. This hypothetical game is played long enough to discount any variance in the number of "good" hands each player receives.

How do you think you would do in this game? My guess is that you are salivating at the thought of playing in this poker game in which luck reigns supreme and skill is a non-factor. That's because the biggest edge for experienced players comes not from bluffing, but from two other significant factors. First, and perhaps foremost, is one's ability to minimize one's losses. Next, it's about exploiting your winning hands for maximum value.

Sit down in a low-limit loose game and watch who the biggest losers are. Invariably, it is some fool who's playing almost every hand. This loser may win more hands than anyone else at the table, because he plays so much. He also will lose way more money over time than anyone else at the table. The biggest winners are often the tightest players, who may not win many hands overall.

While the above examples are extreme and obvious, they illustrate a couple of points. First, the fundamental concept of maximizing wins and minimizing losses is the same at every level. New players often fall prey to the skill argument that they need to be bluffing in order to show their skill. They don't perceive any other actions to be that skillful. This is not to discount the value and skillful nature of a bluff or other forms of deception. Just don't think of them as the only skills required at a poker table.

Next, while your edge over your opponents in maximizing winnings and minimizing losses may not be as great as in the above examples, that edge is magnified in no-limit play. Your biggest gains in no-limit are going to come from opportunities to take your opponents' entire stacks. You're not going to do that by bluffing.

You're going to do that by trapping and exploiting a winning hand to maximum value. There's a lot of skill in that.

Yes, there's a lot of luck in poker. Being dealt a good or bad hand is out of your control. However, what you do with those hands is where the skill factor comes in.

David Apostolico is the author of numerous poker strategy books, including Tournament Poker, and The Art of War and Poker Strategies for a Winning Edge in Business. You can contact him at [email protected].

And Now for Something Completely Different
By Tim Peters

Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo (self-published; $29.95)

To discover what we really need in a new poker book, let's first examine what we really don't need: a list of starting hands; a reminder that "tight is right"; how to play a flush draw in limit. I could go on.

So, what do we need? We need Tommy Angelo's excellent new book that covers 144 "elements" of poker (the title, no doubt, harks to The Elements of Style by Strunk and White). We need to develop our own selection of starting hands, by position; he provides a chart. We need to learn to play "mum poker," which "is not about not talking. It's about not talking about certain things, namely, poker things." We need to learn about "the path of leak resistance" (say, avoiding the pits: "When a poker player plugs the leak, or tries to, he walks the path of leak resistance"). We even need to learn how to fold; not what to fold, but how to fold: You "fastfold" when "you muck your hand as soon as you know you are beat" because (a) it's courteous and (b) it reduces your information outflow.

Fastfold is one of the many words and terms Angelo has coined (and his great verbal dexterity makes the book a pleasure to read; it's lively, entertaining, and interesting, as well as instructive). He credits himself with the creation of the word "hijack" for the seat one to the right of the cutoff (because a raise from that seat "hijacked" Angelo from the button). Another one I particularly relished was "bliscipline," a combination of bliss and discipline: "when you are at the table and you are so totally in control of yourself and so totally at peace in the situation that no matter what happens next, you'll still have plenty of resolve in reserve."

Bliscipline is what you need to survive and win at poker; bliscipline is what you need to achieve - another Angelo-ism - "tiltlessness." While I still believe the definitive work on tilt is Zen the Art of Poker by Larry Phillips (see my review in Card Player, April 25, 2007), Angelo is the new poet of tilt, which he defines as "any deviation from your A-game and your A-mindset, however slight or fleeting." Everybody tilts; "To make money from tilt, you don't need to be tiltless. But you do have to tilt less."

Tilt less; win more. How? "To win at poker, you have to be very good at losing." And that requires practice. Learn to become "hopeless" ("if I am hopeful that I will win, it is inevitable that I will sometimes be disappointed"). Recognize that poker is the "mother fluctuater" (which is "why it's best to not give a fluc"). Understand that the "gray area" - that huge swath of poker where you simply don't know what to do - is just another part of the game. Do not "resist reality": "Extreme resistance is extreme pain."

And we need to learn how to breathe (that is, mindfully: "to elevate your calmness"). It sounds like New Age claptrap, but Angelo has made me a believer in the power of controlled, conscious breathing, which helps you step away from bad beats and losses: "By eliminating the past, and eliminating the future, we give ourselves this present." Very Zen, but, I think, very true - and very helpful (if you put it to work).

Elements of Poker does offer some traditional strategy on limit, no-limit, and tournament poker. Angelo is eloquently persuasive, for example, about the supreme importance of position, and there's a good section on the "dollar value" of your stack/position in tournament poker. But read this book for its understanding of the more subtle "elements of poker." Then, read it again.

What's your favorite book on tilt? E-mail me at [email protected].