The Inside Straight

Genting Stanley National Poker Championship Attracts Star Names
By Dave Brannan

The Genting Stanley National Poker League has gotten off to a flying start with more than 4,000 players taking part in the first month which saw more than £500,000 paid out in prize money. The players are battling for a free ride to the Genting Stanley National Poker Championships where they will compete against pros such as Joe Beevers, Barny Boatman, and Dave Colclough who have all confirmed their attendance.

The festivals promise to be a cosmopolitan affair with 200 players from across Europe already registered to take part along with 10 players from www.pokerinthepub.com, the UK's premier pub poker league.

Many major networks such as Ongame, Playtech, Boss, and Full Tilt have all been running qualifiers while Genting Stanley has shown its commitment to poker in the UK by putting all the league registration fees back into the prize pool. The company is continuing this trend by offering dealer dealt cash games at the three festivals for just £5 an hour.

Live super satellite qualifiers are running in various Genting Stanley Casinos across the UK and more information can be found on the GSNP League website.

The GSNPC takes place from March 26-30 at Genting Stanley's Manchester, Southend, and Nottingham casinos.

Players can 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 + 44 (0)1752 675375 9-5 Monday to Friday.

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

Russian Wins Aussie Millions

Young Russian Alexander Kostritsyn triumphed over the vastly more experienced American Erik Seidel in the AU $10,000 buy-in Aussie Millions main event to take down the top prize of AU $1.65 million.

Kostritsyn battled through a field of 780 players at the Crown Casino, Melbourne to take the title. Heads-up he dominated Seidel in chips but took more than two hours to grind out his victory. Seidel received AU $1 million for his second place finish in the tournament.

Elsewhere at the festival, Howard Lederer topped the field of just 25 players to win the AU $100,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament. He won AU $1.25 million.

The field included Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Eli Elezra, Mark Teltscher, and last year's AU $100,000 champ Erick Lindgren, and others.

Lindgren entered the final table as the chip leader, making a repeat likely, but he wouldn't even finish in the top five to cash.
The payouts were as follows:



Lindgren finished one out of the money in sixth.

Slade Wins Party Poker European Open

Nick Slade, a 45-year-old professional player from Preston, Lancashire, enjoyed the biggest win of his career over when he topped the 72 runner field at the PartyPoker.com European Open IV to lift the $200,000 first prize.

Slade, who almost quit the game in 2007 after his wife fell seriously ill and he sustained a debilitating neck injury and, was a 100/1 outsider at PartyBets.com at the start of the tournament.

"This is my biggest cash by quite some way, it's an amazing feeling," he said after his victory. "The money will come in very handy and I intend to take my three kids to Florida on a holiday and get back on the circuit. My wife is over the worst, I just hope this is the start of a new chapter in our lives."

Slade started the final table fourth in chips and was up against World Series of Poker Europe winner Annette Obrestad, former European Open winner Ian Frazer, Premier League winner Juha Helppi, Josh Tyler, and professional sports-trader Craig Burgess.

Slade triumphed over Burgess when he called an all in with K-3 and found himself up against Q-Q but a king on the turn thrust him into the lead and a blank on the river sealed victory.

The $7,000 buy-in event, organised by Matchroom Sport, will be broadcast on Channel 5 in the UK later this year and distributed internationally. The winner of each of the 12 six-seater heats progressed to a semi-final stage, and, for the first time in the event's history, the runners-up battled it out for the remaining two semi-final spots in "last chance" turbo heats.

Check PartyPoker.com for online qualification to a wide variety of televised events across Europe.

Final-Table Freeroll at BING Poker

BING Poker is offering players who make three consecutive final tables in any of its guaranteed tournaments a seat in an exclusive €15,000 final table freeroll.

Everyone will win money from 10th to first place, with the winner receiving €3,500.

The competition spans all of BING's 19 daily guaranteed tournaments including the Sunday €100,000 guaranteed. To qualify the three final tables must be consecutive, which means you must make the final table in three guaranteed tournaments in a row with no other guaranteed tournaments in between.

Visit BINGPoker.com for more details.

Gala Casinos British Poker Tour Under Way

The Gala Casinos British Poker Tour - formerly the Great British Poker Tour - returns this year with five regional festivals, one grand final, and an estimated £1 million-plus prize pool.

The tour kicked off on Feb. 27 in the Gala Maybury Casino, Edinburgh. The centerpiece of each festival is a three-day £500 plus £50 no-limit hold'em freezeout which will see £5,000 added to the prize pool by the sponsor.

The winner of each main event also receives entry into the grand final, which will take place at Gala Harbourside, Bristol, from Dec. 1-7.

Mark O'Donnell, manager of the tour, said, "What sets us apart is that we attract the best poker talent from across Britain and Europe, alongside amateur players and relative newcomers to the game. The tour promises to have something for everyone - nail-biting clashes, absolute professionalism, and the unique Gala Casinos atmosphere of the live events. A prize at the final table is genuinely within everyone's grasp. The Gala Casinos British Poker Tour really is the people's poker tour."

Full details of all of the events can be found at gbpokertour.com. Players can qualify online at galapoker.co.uk via regular freerolls and guaranteed-package tournaments each week, or at 14 Gala Casinos across the UK.

In 2007, the Gala Casinos British Poker Tour had 2,257 runners and generated £870,000 in prize money.

18-Year-Old Canadian Wins European Poker Tour German Open

The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour German Open, held in Casino Hohensyburg, Dortmund, was won by 18-year-old Canadian Mike "Timex" McDonald, making him the youngest ever victor on the tour. McDonald collected €933,600 for his victory over 410 opponents in the €8,000 buy-in event.

He eliminated five players at the final table en route to his triumph, and declared himself "pretty happy" with the way it all worked out. "Obviously I start all tournaments thinking I could win them or I wouldn't play them. Today was good though - when I had big hands, they gave me their chips."

The former University of Waterloo student beat 26-year-old German Andreas Gülünay heads up with A-K versus 10-7. The Canadian flopped a pair and turned trips and sent Gülünay to the rail to collect €528,500 for second place.

McDonald recently made the final tables of three Aussie Millions events and won a €10,000 seat to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo from April 12-17.

The final table payouts for EPT German Open, Dortmund, were:



Satellites for the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo are running now on PokerStars.com.

Virgin Poker Festival Set for Newcastle

Virgin has announced the return of its Virgin Poker Festival on April 12-13 in Aspers Casino, Newcastle. The festival, which is moving from Birmingham, will generate a prize pool of £28,000 for the £105 no-limit hold'em freezeout with up to 250 players taking part.

The tournament has a structure which encourages plenty of play - players start with $10,000 starting stacks and 40 minute levels and Virgin Poker is adding £5,000 to the prize pool.

There is no direct buy-in to the event - players can qualify via online satellites and freerolls at www.virginpoker.com.

The Virgin Poker Festival is renowned for its fun element and along with a variety of side events taking place alongside the main tournament players can avail of practice tables offering live play classes and Wii bowling returns in search of a champion.

David "IndigoGB" Young returns to defend his title while Tony "TiKay" Kendall will be master of ceremonies at the event.

Swede Sails to High-Seas Victory

The LadbrokesPoker.com Poker Cruise III was won by Swede Claes Westerberg, who took down the $123,625 first prize after topping the field of 242 entrants, which included such luminaries as Jon Kalmar, Michael Greco, Marc Goodwin, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, and Roy Brindley. The Swede has only been playing poker for 18 months.

The cruise took place on Explorer of the Seas, the second-largest cruise ship in the world, and departed New York on Jan. 25 with more than 900 Ladbrokes guests. There was more than $1.1 million in prize money to be won over the nine-day festival, which saw the luxury ship make stops in Puerto Rico, Labadee, the Dominican Republic, and St. Thomas.

The $2,500 no-limit hold'em main-event final table was made up of four Swedes, one Dane, and one Brit.



Edward Ihre, managing director of LadbrokesPoker.com, described the vibe on the cruise: "We had sit-and-gos, tournaments, and cash games a-plenty available pretty much any time of the day to suit every pocket. The excellent poker schedule, coupled with alternative events such as the five-a-side football (which seems to have become a regular fixture on the cruise itinerary); a poker quiz run by Norman Pace, the ladies $10,000 freeroll, and the Ladbrokes farewell party gave everybody the chance to get involved in the fun."

Gavin Griffin Makes Poker History With World Poker Tour Win
By Ryan Lucchesi

A significant landmark in poker history was attained in January as Gavin Griffin, one of the brightest young stars in the game, achieved his first World Poker Tour title by winning the 2008 Borgata Poker Classic. Griffin added this title to his body of poker work, right next to his World Series of Poker gold bracelet (2004 pot-limit hold'em) and his win on the European Poker Tour (2007 grand final). No other player in poker can claim a title in all three major poker tours.

It wasn't easy for Griffin to win this prize; he had to fight five other players for the title, and one was a stubborn heads-up opponent who tried to stand in his way. In the end, he won the day and made poker history. The chip counts at the start of play:



On the last hand, Griffin and Tran got it all in preflop and Griffin was behind with the Q J. Tran held the K 8 for the lead, but the board ran out A 9 8 Q 10 to win the pot and the tournament for Griffin. Tran finished as the runner-up, earning $737,685. Griffin won his first WPT title, earning $1,401,109, part of which is a $25,500 entry into the WPT World Championship, a Tag Heuer watch, and a customized Harley-Davidson motorcycle. But more importantly, Griffin also won the historic poker Triple Crown, a title that no one else on the planet can lay claim to.

'The Omaholic' Does Everything Right, But …
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: $200 PokerStars pot-limit Omaha tournament
Players: 35
First Place: $2,800
Stacks: The Omaholic - 39,150; Villain1 - 12,665; Villain2 - 10,650
Blinds: 200-400

Villain1 calls 400, Villain2 calls from the small blind, and The Omaholic checks his option from the big blind, holding the A 10 10 8.

Craig Tapscott: Set this up for us.

Mark "The Omaholic" Roland: This is a limped pot preflop, so there's no way to put anybody on any specific preflop holdings. There are seven players left and it pays only five spots, and this hand is near the bubble.

Flop: J 10 7 (1,200 pot)

CT: Obviously, a great but dangerous flop for your hand.

MR: I've flopped middle set, and also have the naked A on a three-spade flop. When Villain2 checks, I want to immediately take control of the hand and bet two-thirds of the pot to try to establish where I am in the hand. While some people might consider checking to be the "safest" play in this spot (because you could end up betting yourself out of the pot with middle set if somebody responds to your bet with a pot-sized raise), it will usually not be an issue, because you also have the A in hand, which will usually ensure that your opponents will play defensively.

Villain2 checks. The Omaholic bets 800. Villain1 calls. Villain2 folds.

CT: What are you putting Villain1 on at this point?

MR: I put him on a small flush here, although 9-8 for the flopped straight is certainly possible.

Turn: 2 (2,800 pot)

CT: A blank. You easily could be behind after his flat-call on the flop. What are your best options?

MR: On my list of priorities here, making the best hand is a distant second. I'm more concerned with finding the best way to win the pot uncontested. I quickly decided that the best option in this spot would be to check with the intent of check-raising if my opponent bet. A large majority of the time in this spot, your opponent will not bet, because he won't really know where he's at, and he'll be happy to take the free card in position to keep the pot small. A free card here is OK. It's an obvious cheap opportunity to improve to a full house on the river. Of course, if our opponent does decide to bet, we are check-raising the size of the pot, representing the nut flush. This play will look extremely strong, and will make it extremely tough for our opponent to make a crying call.

CT: Why is checking the best choice?

MR: The reason the check on the turn is better than a pot-sized lead-out bet is that your opponent may just get stubborn with the flush. He might move in over the top of your turn bet, realizing that it's going to cost him his whole stack to continue through the river anyway. The check allows you to put yourself in a situation in which you'll be able to create fold equity, which is the most important part of this naked A bluff having a chance to work.

The Omaholic checks, Villain1 bets 1,600, The Omaholic raises to 7,600, Villain1 reraises 3,865 and is all in, and The Omaholic calls.

River: 3 (25,730 pot)

Villain1 shows the K 6 5 4 and wins the pot with a king-high flush.

MR: The rest of the hand is self-explanatory. Obviously, being pot-committed, I had to call.

Mark Roland is one of the most underrated tournament professionals online. He recently won the PokerStars $1,000 Super Tuesday no-limit hold'em event for $78,000 and a Full Tilt Poker $150 no-limit hold'em event for $22,000.

Poker is Sometimes a Crapshoot
By Mike Sexton, the "Ambassador of Poker" and Commentator for the World Poker Tour

The L.A. Poker Classic is always one of the premier events on the World Poker Tour. It draws a huge field, which translates to a large prize pool. We usually create not one, but two WPT-made millionaires at the L.A. Poker Classic.

In this hand, after a long final table up to this point, three players were left. The blinds (200,000-400,000) and ante (50,000) had reached the highest level that we've ever had for a regular-season WPT event. It cost the players 750,000 every three hands. That means that if you've got 2 million in chips, you'll be out in fewer than 10 hands if you don't mix it up.

Jacob Fernandez, the short stack with almost 2.5 million in chips, opted to move all in from the button with J-2 offsuit. He was simply hoping to pick up the blinds and antes. J.C. Tran folded K-7 in the small blind, but lady luck was not shining on Fernandez, as Eric Hershler (with nearly 6 million in chips) looked down and found two aces in the big blind. He obviously called, the aces stood up, and Fernandez was sent to the rail in third place.

Hershler and Tran then battled heads up for the title. Hershler's luck continued. On the first hand of heads-up play, he limped in from the button with the J 6 and then called Tran's preflop raise of 1 million. (Tran had A-7.) The flop came A-J-6, the money went in, Hershler's two pair stood up, and he captured the title. Congratulations to Eric Hershler (who, incredibly, was playing in his first-ever WPT event) for winning and to J.C. Tran for going on to become the WPT Player of the Year.

In many tournaments, when final tables last a long time, the ante and blinds will be very high in proportion to the chip stacks. When this happens, recognize that the skill factor and patience are not necessarily on your side. (If you sit back to wait for a hand, you could be blinded off pretty quickly.) Players tend to call this "crapshoot time," meaning it's time to roll the dice: get your chips in and hope for the best.

Taking the Best Shot
By David Apostolico

One of the basic examples used in classic game theory is that of a duel. The rules of a duel are as simple as the consequences are dramatic. The two combatants each have a gun and only one bullet. They walk off 10 paces, turn around, and can shoot their one bullet at any time. You can shoot right away, hoping to inflict bodily harm on your opponent before he shoots you. Or, you can wait, hoping that your opponent fires and misses, thereby giving you the opportunity to move closer and fire your one shot at point-blank range. Every dueler must decide for himself whether to take the first shot or wait for a better shot, weighing such factors as the distance, accuracy of both shooters, and what his opponent is likely to do.

As with most game-theory examples, there are a lot of similarities to poker - particularly no-limit hold'em tournaments. While our tournament lives can't compare to our actual ones, in the heat of battle, our goal is to survive and thrive. No matter what level you play, I'm sure you've witnessed your share of fast starters. These are players who play fast and loose and manage to grab a quick chip lead, due either to some real lucky cards or the reluctance of the rest of the table to engage them in battle. These fast starters are taking the first shot, while others are waiting for the best, or at least a better, shot.

Inevitably, the fast starters will come down as quickly as they went up, and will surrender those ill-gotten chips to an opponent biding his time. There are numerous differences between a duel and a poker tournament. First, depending on the structure, players are afforded multiple bullets. Next, as the tournament progresses, the stakes are raised, rewarding those who wait for a better shot with bigger pots. Finally, in a duel, one must size up his opponent immediately and make a decision as to how that opponent will act. In a poker tournament, a player can take his time not only observing his opponents, but shaping how they act.

Think about that last point. Imagine the advantage that you would have in a duel if you could manipulate your opponent's actions. That's exactly what you can do in poker by using position, table image, your insights, bets, raises, and bluffs. Of course, these things take time to implement. Fortunately, you don't have to take the first shot. Unlike a duel, taking the first shot or taking a better shot are not equally competing maxims. The advantages of waiting for a better shot greatly outweigh the advantages of taking that first shot.

Poker is a game of imperfect information. The more information you can gather, the better equipped you will be to take action. An informed shot is always better than a misinformed shot. Even though you have multiple bullets in a poker tournament, you still want to use them wisely and not squander them. This doesn't mean that opportunities can't come in the early stages of a tournament. Stay engaged from the beginning and be prepared to fire at any time, so that you can maximize the effectiveness of those precious bullets. The next time you're ready to shoot, think about the duel and ask yourself if this is a good time to be taking a shot.

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. He is available for coaching and you can contact him at [email protected].

Good Advice for 'Big Plays'
By Tim Peters

Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy by Jeff Hwang (Lyle Stuart/Kensington; $14.95)

The last book I reviewed on Omaha - Farha on Omaha by Sam Farha (duh!) - offered the perspective of a true gambler on this volatile, challenging game. This new one, by Jeff Hwang, takes an entirely different tack. He approaches pot-limit Omaha (PLO) as an investor (not surprisingly, as he's a writer for the popular investing website "The Motley Fool," where he focuses on gaming stocks) - looking for ways to uncover the most value in PLO situations.

As entertaining as Farha is to read, his playing style is not replicated by mere mortals, and therein lies the real beauty - I might even go so far as to say the genius - of this powerful new book on PLO. As Hwang writes in his conclusion: "I am not blessed with rare poker talent. I have yet to make many unbelievable calls, or unthinkable bluffs. And yet, over several hundred thousand hands of Omaha both live and online, I've beaten the crap out of the games described in this book." He then adds: "… that's really the point: The things I do are things that can be taught."

That's a crucial element of the literature of poker, at least when we're looking for value in strategy books. You can read about Brunson's recommendation to go with your gut instincts - but most of us must remember that his instincts are much, much better than our own. (We cannot replicate his "feel" for the game no matter how hard we try.) But the strategies Hwang explicates, in this clear and confident book, are easy to learn (though to be useful, they must be executed - which is not always so simple).

At the core of his book is the "big play strategy," in which you are striving to win an opponent's entire stack. "There are a variety of common big pot situations where not only does one player usually have the other one smashed, but in some cases will be on a total freeroll."

Here's an example from the book: Player one holds the A K 8 7 for the nut straight on a flop of 9 6 5; player two holds the 10 9 8 7 for the nut straight - plus a spade flush draw, backdoor club draw, and straight redraws. Player two has the same hand on the flop as player one - the nuts at that time - but has multiple redraws. Hwang notes that he "will scoop the entire pot roughly 56 percent of the time at no risk."

This makes perfect sense, of course, but it counters the conventional wisdom about PLO: that the edges are small, that it's a gambler's game. Hwang asserts that "it is pure fallacy that you have to be in a gambling situation when the money goes in."
What follows is an exhaustive analysis of the kinds of hands that lend themselves to the big play strategy. It's a good mix of general concepts (like "the drawing hand has all of the power") and very hand-specific, tactical moves, including a long and detailed section on straight draws, playing other hands on the flop, and bluffing. Though the book is geared toward PLO, Hwang also discusses Omaha eight-or-better in both its limit and pot-limit versions.

Like many good books these days, Hwang offers quizzes so that you can test your knowledge (complete with his analysis and scores for your own answers). And he covers bankroll management, how to deal with straddles, and the effect of stack sizes.

In one of the more interesting sections of the book, Hwang borrows insights from some of the world's great investors - Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, and Benjamin Graham, to cite a few - and articulates how their ideas apply to poker in general. For a player like Hwang, poker is less about "gambling" in the classic sense than it is about uncovering and exploiting value. This is Hwang's first book, but it will become a classic strategy text for PLO.

What's next on your book-reading list? Let me know - especially if I haven't reviewed it - at [email protected].