The Inside Straightby CP The Inside Straight Authors | Published: Jun 25, 2008 |
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World Series of Poker Storylines to Keep an Eye On
By Bob Pajich
The World Series of Poker history book is filled with stories of multiple wins, amazing cashes, and empty chairs, of bad beats and world-class drawouts, of piles of silver and crashed racecars. The 2008 WSOP should be no different.
The pros will be rooting for their working buddies, the amateurs will be rooting for themselves (and whomever they shared a room with), and poker reporters and fandom will be hoping for something outlandish and surreal (Phil Hellmuth in a fire-retardant racing suit or Gavin Smith dressed like a chicken) that will make the 2008 WSOP really stand out.
Here are a few things that fans might want to keep an eye on:
Last year, more than 54,000 entrants generated total prize pools of nearly $160 million. In 2006, there were 48,366 entrants in 46 events, and total prize pools of around $159 million. In 2005, the 32,341 entrants in 45 events generated total prize pools of a little more than $106 million.
Although the number of main-event entrants dropped from the 8,773 in 2006 to 6,358 last year, the preliminary events repeatedly broke attendance records. With several online poker sites again holding satellites for $2,000 packages, expect the preliminary events to be jam-packed again, ushering in a new crop of WSOP bracelet winners and the usual gang of former winners who will rewrite the history books with each win. 
GSN Has Yet to Order More High Stakes Poker Episodes
Producers Won't Declare Show Dead
By Bob Pajich
High Stakes Poker, which once spent four seasons as the top-rated show on GSN, has yet to receive an order for more episodes. Although President and CEO of Poker PROductions Mori Eskandani confirmed that GSN has not yet contacted his production company for new shows this season, he wouldn't rule out that GSN would do so in the future.
According to Eskandani, that could happen as soon as tomorrow or a decade from now. If GSN wants new shows, he said they will be produced. He reiterated that just because GSN representatives have not placed a call to Poker PROductions for new episodes in the last few months, it doesn't mean that they never will.
The show is currently the lead-in for the World Poker Tour, which is aired on Monday nights. Eskandani said that GSN owns upward of 50 episodes of High Stakes Poker and can broadcast the show for as long as it wants. Filming of High Stakes Poker usually takes place in the late spring, but it did not take place this year.
Eskandani said that GSN is moving away from the casino- and card-related programming that once occupied most of the evening time slots, starting in 2004 (Poker Royale, World Series of Blackjack, and Celebrity Blackjack were a few of the shows). None of them can be found there now.
"It is possible that they're trying to figure out how poker could exist within their programming," Eskandani said.
Poker fans will soon find out if poker fits into GSN's future plans at all. Last year, GSN bought the rights of one WPT season (the sixth), and the broadcasting agreement expired on May 24. GSN has the right of first refusal to extend the contract. There's no word on whether GSN will do this, and GSN did not return a phone call seeking comment.
High Stakes Poker and the WPT lost a huge ally at GSN after company President Rich Cronin left only a few months after he helped land the WPT deal.
High Stakes Poker premiered in January 2006 and featured some of the most popular poker professionals -- as well as a mix of ultra-rich amateurs -- as they played cash poker with hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money.
Viewers saw these players rake in several pots between $575,000 and $1 million, and also learned what a straddle is.
Poker PROductions currently produces two poker shows: Poker After Dark, which appears late nights on NBC and will run through 2009 (new episodes are being filmed in October and April), and the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which also is filmed in April.
Eskandani said that he's in negotiations with other networks, pitching his other ideas for poker shows, but he wouldn't go into detail as to what they are or where they might appear.
PPA Launches New Site, Membership Drive
Goal of Turning Regular Members Into Dues-Paying Members
By Bob Pajich
The Poker Players Alliance just launched a newly revamped website that's designed to give its annual dues-paying members more poker resources, a stronger poker legal connection, better organization, an overall stronger poker community, and a say on the makeup of the largest poker lobbying site's board of directors.
"What we're really aiming to do here is to take our million membership and turn them all into dues-paying members of the organization," said John Pappas, PPA president.
The site, modeled after current presidential candidates' sites, will feature blogs for discussing legal poker issues and poker play, videos featuring the players who are fighting for poker across the country, and a new forum that will enable players from individual states to connect with people regionally who are interested in the poker fight.
Although the front page of the site is still a good resource for people who are interested in poker and law, the really good stuff requires a username and password, and is available only to annual dues-paying members.
An annual premium membership costs $20, and gives members access to action alerts at local, state, and federal levels, the ability to easily contact politicians, and the ability to post and take part in the forums and the blogs. Dues-paying members also will be able to have a say in who sits on the PPA's board of directors, via a yearly vote.
And, as a bonus, players who purchase a premium membership also will receive a membership in OneBigPlanet, a membership-based consumer portal that provides members discounts at online stores worldwide.
Ask Jack
Haley: I work in a poker room in Mississippi. One of the problems that we have continually is that cash-game players like to show their hands to their buddies, or the player sitting next to them, before throwing them in. The dealers are told to touch these hands to the muck to kill them, and then keep the cards to the side of the muck so that at the end of the hand, they can turn them over and show everyone. This is because of the "show one, show all" rule about discarded hands. In tournaments, I administer a penalty, but I don't know what to do in cash games, and it can really slow the game down. Is there a better way to handle this problem?
Jack: Not really; you are trying to protect the players.
Liz: I run a poker room, and recently I ran into a tournament situation that I was unsure about. There were two players in a hand, and they both checked the flop. Player A bet the turn, and Player B called. On the river, they both checked again. Player A exposed his hand, showing top pair, and Player B tossed his cards in facedown, but they did not hit the muck. Another player at the table asked to see Player B's cards, but I said that only Player A could make that request. The player responded that it was his right to see Player B's cards because there could be collusion. I did not allow it, and the cards were mucked. After thinking about the situation, I realize that I may have been wrong. Was I?
Jack: Yes. If the hand is checked after the final card, anyone is permitted to see both hands.
WPT Hostess Layla Kayleigh to Exit After Season VI
Season VII Will Premiere With Its Newest Talent
By Kristy Arnett
In terms of the World Poker Tour hostesses, the third time was not a charm, and, apparently, neither was the fourth. Layla Kayleigh, the beautiful 23-year-old on-camera talent, was brought on as the WPT's season VI hostess, but will not be returning for season VII.
Since the WPT's original hostess Shana Hiatt departed from the show, each new season has aired with a different face. After Hiatt, three ladies have exited the revolving door of WPT hostesses. First, it was Courtney Friel, who was replaced by Sabina Gadecki. There were hopes that the highly experienced Kayleigh would be there to stay, but in a statement, the WPT confirmed that she will not return for another season.
The WPT stated that Kayleigh brought personality to season VI, and it wishes her the best in other television endeavors. The WPT currently is holding auditions for a season VII hostess, and will introduce her soon.
The remainder of season VI continues to air on GSN every Monday at 9 p.m. ET. After the conclusion of her run on the WPT, Kayleigh fans will still be able to find her on G4's The Feed, as well as on the second season of America's Best Dance Crew on MTV.
The Scoop Returns to Card Player TV for WSOP
Adam Schoenfeld and Diego Cordovez Are Back
By Bob Pajich
Card Player TV is pleased to welcome back The Scoop, the show that features Adam Schoenfeld and Diego Cordovez bringing you the stories of the World Series of Poker as they happen. They did the show during last year's WSOP.
Back by popular demand, the pair will interview both "old-school superstars" and "new Internet hotshots," discuss in-depth strategies, and explore the issues and controversies of the poker world.
Schoenfeld has been a professional poker player since he retired from business in 2001. He is a former World Poker Tour finalist and frequent Internet poker combatant. He plays exclusively on Full Tilt Poker as a Full Tilt pro, and is always seen on ESPN's The Nuts segments during the WSOP. He was formerly vice president and senior analyst at Jupiter Media Metrix. He joined Jupiter in 1994, when the firm had six employees, and when he left in 2001, the firm had gone public with more than 900 employees. Schoenfeld was frequently quoted in The New York Times and often seen on CNN and CNBC. He was referred to as "a one-man quote-spewing jihad" in Wired.
Cordovez has one WSOP bracelet (from a $2,000 no-limit hold'em event in 2000), has twice finished runner-up in events, and also has a third- and a fourth-place finish. He also won $570,000 in 2002 by winning the Commerce Million limit hold'em poker tournament. Diego also plays exclusively on Full Tilt Poker as a Full Tilt pro. He is a former Silicon Valley CFO, COO, and CEO, and holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree from Stanford University.
Phil Hellmuth to Appear on Milwaukee's Best Light Cans
Limited-Edition Cans Available During the World Series of Poker, Advertising Special Prize Giveaways
By Kristy Arnett
It is hard to discuss the World Series of Poker without mentioning Phil Hellmuth. Not only does he own the most bracelets, 11, he also holds the record for most cashes, 63. Further cementing his legacy at the WSOP is the release of special limited-edition Milwaukee's Best Light cans that don the "Poker Brat's" likeness and a couple of his famous quotes.
The official beer of the WSOP launched the new design on May 30, the day of the first WSOP event. Each can inside specially marked packages of Milwaukee's Best Light, Milwaukee's Best, and Milwaukee's Best Ice has an official entry code. By entering the code at www.MilBest.com, participants can win poker-themed prizes. There will be hundreds of winners, but only one will receive the grand prize, a trip for four to the 2009 WSOP, along with private lessons from Hellmuth. Other prizes include poker sets, Hellmuth hats, and "Poker Brat" T-shirts.
Judge Denies Dismissal of Washington Online Poker Law
Attorney Will Appeal
By Bob Pajich
A Washington state judge recently sided with state attorneys who successfully defended a law that makes online gambling a Class C felony there. Lee Rousso, the attorney who sued the state in an effort to have the law declared unconstitutional, said he will appeal.
"Even though it was a loss today, I still think some good things will come of it," Rousso said.
After the hearing, about 50 people took part in a rally that featured Barry Greenstein and Andy Bloch. The rally brought local media attention to the law, which puts playing online poker on a par with child pornography and grand theft auto. The hearing took place on May 15.
Beware of the World Series of Poker Monsters
By Bob Pajich
The monsters of the World Series of Poker are again about to stalk the halls of the Rio, and although that roster is now full of players who have proven themselves repeatedly by performing well during the last several years, there are a few players who have made WSOP fields their whipping boys.
Erik Seidel, Phil Hellmuth, Allen Cunningham, and Phil Ivey are some of the best-known players for a reason: Combined, they have cashed 65 times in the last four WSOPs, have won eight bracelets, and have banked more than $11 million.
Hellmuth is getting his picture on WSOP-themed beer cans for a good reason. Statistically, he is the king of the WSOP. Since he started playing WSOP events in 1988, he's cashed 63 times, holds the most bracelets with 11, and has won more than $5.6 million.
Since 2004, which is the year that WSOP fields started going crazy after the country watched Chris Moneymaker become the 2003 world champion on ESPN, Hellmuth has cashed 23 times for $2.1 million and won bracelets in the 2006 $1,000 no-limit hold'em rebuy event and the 2007 $1,500 no-limit hold'em event, in which he broke the record for most bracelets won that he shared with Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson. Also, in 2003, he had added two more bracelets to his collection.
Seidel is second in terms of cashes since 2004 with 17, for more than $1.3 million. He also won bracelets in the 2005 $2,000 no-limit hold'em event and the 2007 $5,000 deuce-to-seven lowball championship. In the 2005 event, he outlasted 1,402 players.
Right behind Seidel is Cunningham, with 15 cashes for more than $5.8 million since 2004, but he leads all players with three bracelets during that time span (2005 $1,500 no-limit hold'em, 2006 $1,000 no-limit hold'em with rebuys, and 2007 $5,000 pot-limit hold'em). A major portion of his WSOP winnings comes from his fourth-place finish in the 2006 main event, which was good for more than $3.6 million. He was the WSOP Player of the Year in 2005 and came very close to repeating in 2006. He didn't cash in 2004.
Ivey is next, with 10 cashes for $2 million since 2004, even though he spends most of his time during the WSOP at Bellagio, playing high-stakes cash games. He has won only one bracelet since 2004, in a $5,000 pot-limit Omaha event. He owns five bracelets, three of which came in 2002. He also has come very close to adding to his bracelet total since 2004 by racking up two seconds, a third, and a fourth-place finish.
There are also several players who have won two bracelets during this time. They include 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider, Scott Fischman, Bill Chen, Jeff Madsen, Ted Forrest, Barry Greenstein, Rafi Amit, Scott Clements, and Mark Seif.
Yes, it would be very, very bad to have any of these players at your table in the late stages of a tournament. They know what it takes to win big events, and have the recent track record to prove it.
WSOP World Championship Events
Last year, Harrah's introduced the "World Championship" events to the WSOP. This year, there are 12 World Championship events, all of which will likely have a major impact on Player of the Year standings. Here is a list of those events, the buy-ins, and the dates:
SpadeClub News
SpadeClub Gets Involved
On May 17, SpadeClub sent two Exclusive members to the Party at the Playboy Mansion. David "elk224" Desorcy, 67, and Mark "Scrummy" Fregoe, 29, went all in with the bunnies in the third-annual Celebrity Poker Tournament and Casino Night to help support the Urban Health Institute. The players were the winners of SpadeClub's Party at the Playboy Mansion promotional drawing. SpadeClub's sponsorship of Desorcy and Fregoe included travel expenses, accommodations, and a $1,500 buy-in to the tournament. Desorcy and Fregoe each enjoyed living the lifestyle of a celebrity while touring the Playboy Mansion, dining, and mingling with high-profile guests. For more about the Party at the Playboy Mansion, go to www.spadeclub.com/news.
SpadeClub Spotlight
SpadeClub's latest $40,000 monthly tournament winner, Rodney "DollyCopp" Legendre, is no rookie when it comes to poker. He has been playing poker since the '70s, and has a seventh-place finish in a World 
Poker Tour event at Foxwoods. He still pushes himself to learn more about the game and has even decided to use his winnings for the WPT Boot Camp Champions Course. Legendre enjoys playing on SpadeClub and thinks it is a great place to improve your game. "You are going to get a lot of good experience on SpadeClub. I have given up on other sites, and am playing SpadeClub exclusively," he said.
Lance "Scrubbydog" Malmberg first started playing poker a little more than three months ago, and already has proven himself to be a quick study, as he took down SpadeClub's latest $5,000 weekly event. Malmberg has decided to have some fun with his winnings and buy some accessories for his motorcycle. He really enjoys the game of poker and is going to purchase a yearly membership with SpadeClub to continue to learn and play.
To view complete interviews with SpadeClub winners, please visit www.spadeclub.com/news.
Tales From the Table
Ken "DrCheckRaise" Callis said, "SpadeClub is a wonderful concept. It enables me to perfect my tournament play without risking a buy-in with every tournament I play, and yet I still have the opportunity to cash. I can try different styles and different moves, and it can affect my bankroll only in a positive way. The best thing about SpadeClub is the players; you don't seem to find that freeroll mentality with the players on SpadeClub. Since becoming an Exclusive member, my live tournament play at the casinos has improved. Simply put, I cash more often now. Thanks, SpadeClub."
Submit your own tips from the table along with your SpadeClub screen name to: [email protected]. If we publish your tip or tale, you'll receive a free SpadeClub T-shirt along with the pride of being published.
Promotions
World Series $40,000 Giveaway
Enter the World Series $40,000 Giveaway event on June 29 for your shot at winning one of two 2008 World Series main-event seats. If you finish first or second in the tournament, you'll win a seat in poker's main event, and if you do well there, you could receive a player representation contract for years to come, only at SpadeClub!
Affiliate Success = Vegas Rewards
Do you want even more ways to win a seat in this summer's Las Vegas poker events? SpadeClub is giving away prize packages that include travel expenses and buy-ins to this summer's most prestigious poker events. All you have to do is refer new members to our site and tell them how much you love SpadeClub.com. For more information on our affiliate program, please visit www.spadeclub.com/affiliates.
To view more SpadeClub promotions, visit www.spadeclub.com/promotions.
Managing a Multitable Tournament Bankroll
By Tony Dunst
I am a multitable tournament professional and provide training videos for Card Player Pro, powered by PokerSavvy Plus. In this column, I will discuss an important concept that I believe many tournament players approach incorrectly: bankroll management.
Multitable tournament (MTT) bankroll management can be an awkward topic, due to the large number of misconceptions. There are established rules for cash games, but due to the variance in MTTs and very top-heavy payouts, it becomes a bit more difficult to assess what's most appropriate.
Many people who are well-known on the tournament circuit are not adequately bankrolled. At this point, the general consensus is that you need in the area of 100 times your average buy-in for serious MTT play (that is, if you anticipate putting in a lot of volume playing them or making them the majority of your income). So, if you hope to play nothing but $10,000 or more live events, you should have a bankroll of at least $1 million, and considering the expenses associated with playing these tournaments, the real number is considerably higher.
Online play is easier to specify because there are really no additional costs. If you're playing a varying set of buy-ins online, you can find your average buy-in by looking up your screen name on www.officialpokerrankings.com. Using the concept of an average buy-in enables you to take reasonable shots in tournaments with buy-ins that are a bit higher than you normally play. For example, if your average buy-in is $50 with a $5,000 bankroll, and you want to play the Sunday Million every weekend, there's absolutely no problem or additional risk to this. Understand, though, that tournaments with massive fields carry a higher degree of variance, so if the majority of tournaments you play have more than 1,000 entrants, you should adjust the 100 times your average buy-in number a bit higher, since your large scores will be fairly infrequent.
The highest portion of my bankroll that I would be comfortable having committed to one tournament is 5 percent, but some people have more gamble to them than I do. For the most part, though, people massively fail to understand how important bankroll management is in poker. We often hear about the guys who took shots and ran well and made a massive score, but for every one of them, there are hundreds, if not thousands, who did the same thing and wasted a considerable portion of their bankroll when they busted out. If you want to get to the higher echelon of MTT play, it's more important to put in volume, increase your skill, and build your bankroll slowly than take a lot of shots, hoping to score big and fast.
Lastly, if you are lucky enough to win a seat in the WSOP main event in a satellite, and you have the option of taking the $10,000 in cash and you're not already quite wealthy, you should take the cash unless there is some huge sentimental or experience value for you in playing the main event. I can assure you that most of the time, when the dust settles from that tournament, you'll be wishing you kept the $10,000 and added it to your bankroll to increase flexibility, or spent it on something useful. The other option if you win a seat is to sell a large percent of your action, which, if you can find buyers, is never a bad idea.
Hand 2 Hand Combat
Dan 'Rekrul' Schreiber's Deep Thoughts Catch a River Bluff
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: No-limit hold'em cash game at Wynn Las Vegas
Blinds: $10-$20
Stacks: Rekrul - $3,010; Villain1 - $2,075; Villain2 - $1,560
Two players limp in for $20 and Rekrul makes it $120 to go from late position with the Q
9. The small blind calls, one limper folds, and one limper calls.
Flop: K 7
6 ($400 pot)
Villain1 (the small blind) and Villain2 check.
Craig Tapscott: I understand punishing the limpers, but what now? Do you automatically continuation-bet in this situation?
Dan "Rekrul" Schreiber: In live poker, you often have to be more careful about your continuation frequency, and definitely should be cautious of board textures, especially if you're the kind of player who doesn't like to fire more than one barrel as a bluff (which would make you a bad player). This is the perfect flop to bet, though, because it's likely they are playing small cards or small pairs. I can easily represent the king and take down the pot.
Rekrul bets $320. Villain1 calls. Villain2 folds.
CT: What's your plan now?
DS: Well, one might think this isn't an ideal situation, inasmuch as I have queen high and this guy doesn't look like he's in the mood to be going anywhere. But his range is likely to be a weak pair, with which he's just fishing to try to hit two pair or trips, or a multitude of different straight draws. It's possible that he has a weak suited king, a set, or he's slow-playing two pair.
CT: What cards help you to pull this off?
DS: If the turn card is an ace, king, jack, 6, 7, or deuce, I can fire a second barrel of $800 or so and he definitely will fold. Cards I don't want to see are the 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, or 10, because they all can possibly make him two pair or a straight.
Turn: A
($1,040)
DS: This is the best possible turn card for me, because in the rare event that he actually has a king, he's going to fold it now, assuming that I was just continuation-betting the flop with ace high and got lucky and hit it. I'm sitting there waiting for him to check so that I can bet and win the pot, when he suddenly …
Villain1 bets $600.
DS: What's he trying to represent? It's a very strange card to bet into me when I was the preflop raiser. If he has a king, he certainly would check; there's no way that he has just the ace. If he does, he would just check it and hope to catch me bluffing. So, his hand is narrowed down to one of three things: (1) a straight draw like 5-4 or 9-8, trying to take down the pot right now because he missed; (2) A-6 or A-7, a hand that just made two pair; or, (3) a set betting out, hoping that I hit the ace, and trying to get paid off.
CT: There's no way that he has A-A or K-K and tried to trap you preflop?
DS: A-K, A-A, and K-K are all ruled out because he just flat-called out of position with other players in the hand. He certainly would have pumped it up preflop if he had one of those hands.
CT: OK. Lay out the options that you considered?
DS: I don't like folding, especially when I think someone is weak. If I shove all in, I'm getting snap-called if he has two pair or a set, and he's folding if he has a straight draw. So, this makes shoving bad. If I flat-call, it looks like I have a very big hand and am setting myself up to take down the pot on the river if he has a very weak hand. Also, I'm giving myself room to fold if he actually does have it.
CT: Any other scenarios?
DS: The only problem with this is that I'm also giving him room to fire all in as a bluff on the river and own me. I have only freaking queen high. Another problem is that if he has a straight draw, I'm giving him a chance to hit it or even hit a fishy pair, which now beats my queen high. But I'm in position, I was the preflop raiser, and the board looks like I hit it. So, I have the power.
I'm shoving the river, though, if he checks, so he will have to fold his pair if he hits it. So, I'm either drawing dead or up against eight outs. If I had a stronger read on the guy, I would have decided exactly what I thought he had and either shoved all in or folded.
I'm not trying to be cool by posting that I played a huge pot with queen high, but I think this hand demonstrates a lot of fundamentals about the intricate nature of poker on every street. So, 50-50, I'm either winning the pot or losing it. There's $1,040 in the pot and he's betting $600. That's almost 3-1 on my money, and if I'm wrong … so what? I'll learn something about this guy's style that will enable me to profit in the future. And it will make him think I'm a crazy idiot who calls with queen high, so there are plenty of meta-game factors here, as well.
Rekrul calls $600.
River: K ($2,240 pot)
Villain1 shoves all in for $1,035.
CT: Oops. That can't be good.
DS: Wow! I just let him own me! Hmm … maybe not. This river narrows his range even further. If he does indeed have 7-6, A-6, or A-7, this is the worst river card in the deck for him, as he just got counterfeited. Shoving there with A-7 or A-6 would be absolutely horrible, especially when this guy doesn't know how I play. If he shoves, hands that have him beat are calling him, and I'm folding hands that he beats (usually). But 99 percent of live players will check A-6 or A-7 in this spot, and the other 1 percent who shove with it are either idiots or geniuses who realize that I have queen high and are shoving for value [laughing].
CT: So, what hands can he shove with, then?
DS: His range for shoving could be two scenarios: (1) a bluff with 5-4, 9-8, 10-9, and so on -- missed straight-draw hands; and (2) a set that just turned into a full house. But the fact that only two sets are possible on this board (6-6 and 7-7) makes it a bit less likely.
CT: Did any other reads/factors come to mind, even though you just sat down at this table?
DS: To be honest, I wasn't sure about what he had. I was still 50-50 on it being a bluff or a monster. Another contributing factor was that he had a really hot girlfriend or wife loitering around, which meant that he was rich and not afraid of money. When people aren't afraid of money, they grow a pair to play proper, skillful poker with bluffs. There was $2,240 in the pot and he bet a bit more than $1,000. I was getting better than 3-1 odds, which is more than enough to make a call in this specific scenario. I called after five seconds of thought, and he turbo-mucked his hand (which meant that he had a busted straight draw). I tabled Q-9 for queen high, and everyone started worshipping me for what I thought was a simple situation.
Rekrul wins the pot of $4,310.
Daniel Schreiber is one of the most feared high-stakes cash-game players online and live. In 2007, he won his first World Series of Poker bracelet by taking down the $5,000 heads-up no-limit hold'em event for $425,594.
Online Zone
Shorr-ing Up His Talents
By Shawn Patrick Green
Shannon "BLUFFforRENT" Shorr recently passed the $2 million mark in gross tournament winnings from his live and online tournament exploits. That is an impressive feat for any poker player, of course, but it didn't come without hardships. Shorr experienced a decline after his initial success, and began to have misgivings about being a professional in poker. His recent results, however, have revitalized his spirit and gotten him back in the game.
Shorr did well in this year's Five-Star World Poker Classic at Bellagio, making three final tables in the series. Shortly before that, at the tail end of 2007, he had a successful run in the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio, cashing three times, including in the main event, and making one final table.
Card Player caught up with Shannon, who frequently blogs about poker's ups and downs on CardPlayer.com, about getting back on the horse after feeling down and out, and about his current winning strategies.
Shawn Patrick Green: How does confidence affect your game? What changes do you see in your game when you're confident?
Shannon Shorr: I think you're just not second-guessing your decisions like you are if you're running bad, when you're playing not to bust out, as opposed to when you're confident and you see the plays happening before they even get there.
SPG: What are your biggest problems in live tournaments?
SS: I think that if I had to pinpoint one thing right now in live tournaments, it would be my early game in the big main events in which you have a bunch of chips. I think I'm playing too passively, instead of trying to really accumulate and put myself in a position to win. That's something that I've been analyzing in my game; I'm not getting big enough stacks early, like I used to, in the big tournaments.
SPG: When you say passively, can you give us an example of what that means?
SS: Sure; it's not so much missing value, because that's something I pride myself on; I'm always going to get value out of hands, but I think I'm playing a lot of pots for pot control, so that I don't get crippled early. Instead, I think I should just trust my gut and play it like I play a full-ring cash game.
SPG: One component of going on tilt is knowing when to leave, and it seems that people are getting some conflicting messages as far as that's concerned. On one hand, they're told that if they think they're better than the people they're playing with at the table, they should always stay, but on the other hand, they're told that if they're losing, they should leave, and if they're winning, they should stay. So, how do you reconcile that conflict?
SS: Well, there's no shortage of guys who definitely think they're always better than the next guy in poker. But part of game selection is being able to admit that some guy may be outplaying you, that he might be leveling you and really getting in your head. You've got to know that there are very few guys from whom you're always going to get enough action that you should always be playing. So, part of game selection is playing with them when you're in the right mindset and when you think you have an edge on them.
SPG: You seem to have a love-hate relationship with poker. You had a tremendous run to get yourself started, and then, in the middle period, you had a bit of a decline. How did you get through those rough patches and turn things around to make sure that you're still in the game?
SS: Yeah, it was pretty well-documented in my blog that I had a bad '07; not terrible, but bad. I kind of turned it around at the end. It was a really trying time for me; I was playing mostly live poker, and one year of playing live tournaments is such a short-term [span]. I played 40 or 50 tournaments that year, and you can easily run bad over that period of time. It just hurt; it was on a big level, playing all of the $10,000 events and busting out; things were going bad. I kind of let it affect me, and I was angry at the game, although I shouldn't have been. There was one blog in which I got a lot of heat for saying I hated poker, which wasn't the case at all. I'm happy about what poker has provided me; I'd be foolish to say that I hate the game.
But I was able to examine my game, and I've been reading and studying, and I finally convinced myself that I wasn't just getting unlucky; there were things that I needed to work on. That was key; that kind of turned my game around.
SPG: How were you studying?
SS: Just reading the forums and talking to poker friends. Just talking hands; that was something that I never really did before. I was there just to play poker, and I didn't really like talking poker on the side. But, I think that really helped.
Chatbox Cunning
Mark "xqsays" Radoja - two recent FTOPS final tables, good for more than $250,000 in winnings
On what he considers a solid, foundational style of play:
"You see a lot of guys who will pop someone; they'll reraise or resteal with air, or they'll raise on the button with anything. I remember that I read something from Allen Cunningham one time that helped me out a lot, and it made me realize that maybe I was too aggressive. He said that, generally speaking, he won't raise on the button with less than K-9 suited. I was playing way too aggressively, I thought. And I thought, well, Allen Cunningham's not doing that, so maybe I'm doing something wrong. And then I really stopped my preflop raises, and I really took care of my hand selection and limited the number of hands that I was playing, and I found that with patience, came rewards."
On how to dump big hands post-flop:
"I would say that a big fold is equally as important as a big call. I was in three situations in the last FTOPS [Full Tilt Online Poker Series] in which I probably should have busted out. I would say that the majority of people would have busted out, because they wouldn't have been able to get away from the hand. You have to be able to sense when your opponent is strong or weak post-flop, more than anything. Anyone can push preflop, but post-flop is where skill really prevails. What helps is playing hands in position; if you're a good player, you will get a read on someone. However, if you're out of position, you'll find yourself lost in the hand."
On how to play during the rebuy period of rebuy tournaments:
"The rebuy period changes everything for the first hour. If you're looking to get the best results during the rebuy period, I think you have to take a few more risks. You obviously have to loosen up your starting hands, because the entire table is loosening up. All of a sudden, jacks become a huge hand that you have to go with no matter what, because you can always rebuy. One thing, though, is that if you want to maximize your value in rebuy tournaments, you have to continue rebuying. You should never drop out within the first hour."
Generation Next
Vivek Rajkumar: Lives and Dies by the Numbers
By Craig Tapscott
Vivek Rajkumar was one of those smart kids we all hated in high school, mostly because he annihilated the grading curve for normal humans. By the age of 18, he had graduated from the University of Washington with two degrees, computer engineering and applied math. His next stop was a geek's dream, a cushy job at Microsoft. But within a year, he would abruptly quit, drawn more to the pot odds, hand ranges, and outs of a complex poker hand than the inner workings of computer software.
"It's basically all math," said Rajkumar. "Sure, a lot of poker is math-based, but it's also about picking up on other aspects that you can translate to math, like hand ranges. I spent a lot of time figuring out hand equities, so I'm always ready for any situation that comes up."
What did come up was an impressive rookie World Series of Poker soon after turning 21 last June. He would finish sixth in the $3,000 limit hold'em event, and eventually cash a total of five times. This past January, he captured his first live win by defeating a strong final table that included Brandon Cantu, Toto Leonidas, and Dutch Boyd in the L.A. Poker Classic $2,500 no-limit hold'em event, which was good for $113,000.
Odds are that Rajkumar will repeat his strong WSOP performance from last year in 2008. Why not? It's all in the numbers.
Craig Tapscott: How could you leave a corporate job at computer nirvana central to hang out in a hoodie at poker tables?
Vivek Rajkumar: [Laughing] It's a whole different lifestyle. I do have two degrees to fall back on and some work experience. It allows me more options than many players who haven't finished school. And I'm lucky to have my parents' support. How many tell their son that it's OK to quit a great job and go to Vegas and play professional poker?
CT: I understand that you worked your way up the sit-and-go ladder.
VR: My whole bankroll was built up on them. I had about a $10,000 roll when I was playing $30 sit-and-gos. I was way over-rolled, but played the same stakes for about six months. I played about 1,000 sit-and-gos every month for about six months. Then, I quickly shot up to the $200 sit-and-gos and started playing multitable tournaments.
CT: What sit-and-go concepts translated well to multitable tournaments?
VR: Most of the hands that you're playing are in the range of 15-20 big blinds. A lot of those are open-raise stealing, and restealing over another player's open. There are different hand ranges that you can figure out for opponents, and from there, you can decide on the best play. A lot of the situations that you encounter in a multitable tournament are in the range of 15-30 big blinds.
CT: Explain hand ranges for those who have difficulty understanding how to apply that information.
VR: You figure out most players' general hand opening ranges from early position, middle position, and then late, from the cutoff or the button. Most of the time, people are not going to be opening light from early positions. Then, you start to understand a player's ranges from the cutoff and button, but you also fine-tune that with what you know about that player. Is he a winning online player? Is he a cash-game player, loose, tight, and so on? Then you can figure out what good restealing ranges are with that acquired knowledge.
CT: Give us one example of how that applies to resteals.
VR: You can execute strategies against these different ranges. If a good player opens from the cutoff and you three-bet from the small blind, that doesn't look as strong as if he had opened from middle position and you three-bet from the cutoff. This is because he knows that he has to get by five people, and he knows that you know that; yet, you still three-bet. Different three-bet ranges convey different strengths.
CT: Coming from an online background, what were some of the stumbling blocks when making the transition to live play?
VR: The good live players, like Pham, Tran, and Ivey, are just so good at exploiting weaknesses at the table. It's just insane. When I first started, I had no clue about some of the things those players can do. After a few months, I began to pick up timing tells and what bets convey strength, and even how to put my chips into the pot. All of these things matter. In the beginning, online players are weak in those areas.
The Invisible Hand of Poker
By David Apostolico
The seeds of capitalism can be found in The Wealth of Nations, written by Adam Smith in 1776. Smith's work was revolutionary at the time, in that it called for the removal of governmental control over the economy. Instead, he argued that if you allowed the individual to seek his own self-interest, the result would be an increase in the overall wealth of nations. His theory was based upon his observations that people are motivated by self-interest. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest," Smith wrote. He continued that "neither intends to promote the public interest," but rather, each is "led by an invisible hand to promote an end that was not part of [his] intention."
This works in the marketplace, where both parties can benefit from an economic transaction. Each party to a transaction, acting in his own self-interest, not only benefits, but unwittingly contributes to a greater good -- via that invisible hand. Poker, however, is a zero-sum game, or, more accurately, a negative-sum game when you factor in the house juice. With that in mind, can there be an invisible hand in poker?
As is the case with most poker questions, the answer is, "It depends." For the purposes of this column, I am going to argue yes -- at least for a great number of games. If you looked at poker purely in terms of dollars won and lost, you would be hard-pressed to find an invisible hand at work. However, for many players, the potential monetary gain is not the only potential benefit received from playing. For these players, there are other intangible, but just as real, benefits that they gain from playing. Chief among them are recreation, learning, and competing. Many players don't measure success at the poker table purely in terms of dollars and cents. They enter a tournament to see how far they can progress, and can be happy with a result even if they don't make the money. A tourist may sit down in a cash game with a set amount that he is prepared to lose for the sake of entertainment. Even a serious player who's just starting out or jumping up a level in play may realize that he has a learning curve that he is willing to pay for. For all of these types of players, arguably, there is an invisible hand working to promote an end that is not part of the individual player's intention.
To keep that invisible hand working, those who play for economic gain must reinforce the intangible benefits perceived by others. Make the game entertaining and relaxing. Don't speak ill toward others. Instead, say positive things about an opponent's play and congratulate him for his good play when he is eliminated from a tournament.
However, the biggest thing learned from The Wealth of Nations is the recognition that people are motivated by self-interest. Human nature hasn't changed in the last 230 years. That same self-interest that drives capitalism also drives poker. If you're going to play, you have to be 100 percent committed to maximizing your economic benefit or you are destined to lose. You must push every edge and take advantage of every opportunity. You can't feel sympathy for or let up on an opponent. After all, your opponents, much like the butcher and the baker, aren't playing out of benevolence, but out of self-interest. Their job is to take your money. Don't ever forget that. Too often, players are content to play by the book or develop a formulaic pattern that is all too easy to exploit. A big part of the game is making adjustments, and those adjustments become much easier to make if you analyze each player's moves in the context of what he is doing to maximize his self-interest.
David Apostolico is the author of Tournament Poker and The Art of War and Poker Strategies for a Winning Edge in Business. His radio show is live every Thursday on roundersradio.com. You can reach him at [email protected].
Crowning a Real Legend
By Mike Sexton, the "Ambassador of Poker" and Commentator for the World Poker Tour
The Legends of Poker at The Bicycle Casino is always one of the best tournaments on the World Poker Tour. That's because the "legends" really come out and play this tournament. At The Bicycle Casino, the tournaments are well-run, the fields are large, the prize pools are huge, and the dream and prestige of winning the Legends of Poker championship is near the top of everyone's list.
To me, the most exciting moment, and perhaps the greatest event, in the history of the WPT was when Doyle Brunson captured his first WPT title (at 72 years young) when he won the Legends of Poker championship. It's because of this kind of historical significance that players dream so much about winning this tournament.
In this hand, five players were left fighting it out for big bucks and this prestigious title. The antes were 5,000 and the blinds were 30,000-60,000 when Thu Nguyen (with 1.48 million in chips) opened for 200,000 from under the gun with two jacks. David "The Dragon" Pham folded and Mike McClain (on the button with a little more than 1 million in chips) reraised to 600,000 with the A Q. The two blinds folded and Nguyen went all in with his jacks. McClain made the call.
It was the classic "race" situation - two overcards versus the underpair. This is a situation that comes up time and time again in no-limit hold'em tournaments. There's a saying in tournament poker: "If you can't win a race, you can't win a tournament." It's true. If you want to put some trophies on your mantel and cash in your bank account, you must win some races in no-limit hold'em tournaments.
McClain's tournament life was on the line in this race situation. It wasn't over, but it didn't look good for him when the flop came K-J-2 (giving Nguyen a set of jacks). The turn card ended the drama. It was a deuce, giving Nguyen a full house and the win. McClain was "Mc bye-bye" -- out in fifth place.
This Legends of Poker championship had a fantastic final table. The heads-up battle came down to noted author and 1995 World Champion Dan Harrington, and top pro David "The Dragon" Pham (who has made six WPT final-table appearances). The Dragon came to this final table sixth in chip position and made a valiant effort to win, but when the smoke cleared, Dan Harrington had captured his first WPT title. Congratulations, Dan.
By winning, Harrington made a little poker history and joined an elite club, which now consists of five members: players who have won both the main event of the World Series of Poker and a WPT title. That group includes Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Joe Hachem, Carlos Mortensen, and Dan Harrington. Speaking of legends, how about that group?
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