Thursday, February 26, 2009 - APmedia
As we near the final episode of our 7 episode best damn poker show series II..I look to our players and viewers once again for their input. Our goal in filming series II was to improve on what we learned in producing series I and hence create more loyal viewership by both entertaining and educating them. This would be the same objective we have for producing series III as we desire to deliver a better show each and every time around.
As I anxiously await your feedback I’d like to share what we changed from series I to series II and why. We first decided to change the format by having someone eliminated every episode to be consistent with other top rated reality shows.
After Phil and Annie chose their teams their players competed in three team matches where they earned points for their teams. At the ends of those three matches the team with the most points would earn a thirty thousand chip advantage at the championship table. As it turned out Annie’s team fought back from a big deficit in the last team match and tied the competition, but that all added drama we didn’t have in series one when those team matches had no value, no one was eliminated (after each team match both Phil and Annie had to eliminate another player) nor was the winner granted immunity. It made each episode meaningful to the overall competition.
We also wanted to develop the characters more by offering more interviews both pre and post play but as well, capture their thoughts from the time of the current hand. This was also accomplished by starting with less players so we could give more air time to those likely to succeed. I think we also saw a significant improvement in the level of play from the players chosen this series.
Additionally, we wanted Phil and Annie to support their comments further vs. just shouting out things like “he shouldn’t’ have raised there…or “ I would have like to have just seen a call.” In addition to capturing further commentary to above we ended each episode with an “ultimate hand” feature, taking the key hand of the episode – replaying it and finally directing viewers to the site to hear a more in depth analysis from Phil and Annie’s perspective…both you will find quite opposite from one another.
Unlike other poker television shows we deliver both quality tournament poker supported by behind the scenes commentary from two legendary pros. Commentary that can help viewers understand strategy more clearly and in a more entertaining format. By allowing players 3 ways to qualify and open to anyone, we get a diverse group of offline and online players all who if lucky enough can land their way not into just another tournament show, but directly on a featured table televised on a national network. These are benefits only the ultimatebet.net best damn poker show offers. Phil and Annie charge students and celebrity students almost 50K+ for this kind of one on one coaching and instruction. Aside from what you see on camera the pros are with their teams anytime they are not viewing the action from the coaches studio.
But don’t’ let us tell you how great this show is..please tell us your thoughts on how we can improve for both those who want to participate on a future show and or simply view. We want to thank all of our viewers over the past two series and are committed to delivering quality poker programming.
Thanks,
Garin – Marketing
Tags: Annie Duke, Best Damn Poker Show, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Strategy, ub marketing
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Saturday, February 14, 2009 - C00LHandNuke
So by now you’ve probably seen the first two episodes of the Best Damn Poker Show 2 on Fox Sports. The competition was structured so that 24 players would be separated into four six-person tables. One person would be eliminated from each table based on how well Phil and Annie thought they played (dropping our number to 20). But if you were the chip leader at the end, you had elimination immunity. After that Phil and Annie would each select nine contestants to be on their team for round two. The draft would therefore eliminate another two players. After the draft we would play another round with three tables of six-handed action. Phil and Annie would then select their three best players to square off for the final table.
With this in mind, I went into round one with a very specific strategy – play tight and don’t make any stupid mistakes. I would show my “skills” off in round two, after the draft. In many ways, this is the exact same strategy I use when playing the early stages of an on-line sit-n-go. There is very little reason to get involved with a hand like A8 offsuit early on, because, barring some miracle flop like AA8 and an opponent w/ AK, you are just unlikely to get paid off. Yet even at the $500+ buy in levels, I see people defend their big blind with Ax all the time in the opening rounds – the aggressive players may even reraise if the suspect a steal! They flop an ace and lose 1/3 of their stack (or more) because the initial raiser had an ace with a better kicker. To put it another way, when you are nine-handed and the top three spots get paid, it’s almost impossible to amass enough chips to assure yourself a cash. Almost all you can do by getting out of line early is lose.
I was on the fourth table. This gave me the advantage of seeing how the first three tables went. None of the contestants were made privy to hole cards absent a show-down, but watching the first three tables reinforced my strategy. On a few occasions players got busted at the table, but weren’t selected for elimination because the bust was “righteous.” In other words, they played well but either got cold-decked, took a bad beat, or lost a coin flip as the aggressor. Also, from the comments made by Annie and Phil, it was pretty obvious that several players at the second table had some holes in their game. So I figured that I could pretty much count on one or hopefully two of these players to not be drafted. The only wrinkle came when the third table played so well that no player was eliminated. Hollywood Dave dramatically told us at the beginning of the fourth table that because of this, they might eliminate two players from our table. But taking everything into account, it didn’t change my strategy. Essentially I had to finish in the top four of my six-person table to “cash.”
The players on my table were lined up like this:
Niago (seat #1 – the grinder from LA) Niago is very attractive and she knows it. I’m not saying she is stuck up. Far from it. She is a really honest and down-to-earth person. Rather, she knows that men will do stupid things at a poker table whenever an attractive woman is in the hand. And from talking to her at dinner the night before, I could tell that she knew how to adjust her game for guys who would try to bully her. So if she raised my big blind from the button, I would be less likely to three bet without having a good hand.
Patrick (seat #2 – the on-line qualifier) Patrick beat over 8000 players in a series of on-line free rolls to win his seat on the show. As you would expect, he is your typical on-line whiz kid . . . just turned twenty-one, uber-aggressive and hopped up on Red-Bull and vodkas. NOT! Patrick was among the oldest competitors and has three kids older than the majority of the online poker-playing population. So he’s not your typical young-gun jammer. And you have to respect the time, skill and luck factor that guided Patrick through such massive fields in the series of tournys he won to get here. Bottom line, he was an enigma. He was hard to plan for and harder to read. But I expected him to be aggressive and play position – two keys to internet success in particular.
Shawn (seat #3 – the hero in this story, at least for now)
Tony (seat #4 – the body builder from New York) Tony sat in the seat behind me for the flight out to SoCal, but he didn’t know that. During the flight, I got to listen to him tell the guy next to him all of his “good” poker stories. From these stories I knew the following: Tony had experience in big buy-in live events and he liked to play loose early on when the blinds were small in hopes of flopping huge and getting someone to stack off light. With him on my left, I could fire into him on a lot of uncoordinated flops if he limped expecting him to fold most hands. If he called, I would know he had a hand.
Lynn “Sassytexan” (seat #5 – long-time UB grinder) Sassy is a student of Shawn Rice poker. Now I’ve had the pleasure of playing with Shawn for about twelve hours of day one of the WPT’s World Poker Challenge Championship, so I figured that at least in the early stages, Sassy’s game would be solid, maybe even to the point of being ABC-like. If she put lots of chips in the pot, she had the hand. I wouldn’t expect her to bluff or get too carried away with a draw.
Lenal (seat #6 – a pro from Miami, FLA . . . cue Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”) Lenal is covered in tattoos which may lead you to think he is a wild man, but he is a pro. He’s played lots of big events and his home game in Florida includes Chino Rheem (maybe you’ve heard of him from the final table of the 2008 WSOP Main Event) and most of the Mizrachi brothers (if you haven’t heard of them, you’re not reading this because you have no internet and likely have been living on a desert island for the last five years). Needless to say, he was the wild card and the player I would most likely try to avoid.
As play got underway, I stuck to my strategy of playing tight. This was made easier by the fact that I never held a hand better than J8 off suit for the first hour. I love it when the cards and your strategy align! On the first hand I had 72 off suit in the big blind. Tony and Niago limped. The flop came A35 rainbow. I checked. Tony bet and Niago folded. I hemmed and hawed a bit before folding, telling Tony I had misplayed a big pocket pair. In the coach’s booth, Phil commented on my theatrics. But my rationale was simple, I wanted to portray an image that would allow me to steal later and represent the ace when need be. It worked. Even with bad cards, I was able to build my stack by leading into ugly flops against Tony and Lynn, usually after getting a free peek from the big blind or raising the button.
The main hand that shaped the table was a battle of the blinds between Sassy and Lenal. With blinds at 100/200 Sassy had QQ and tried to make it 600 to go by throwing in a 500 chip on top of her 100 small blind. But she didn’t announce raise and thus the “one chip rule” meant she had just called. Lenal wisely decided to see a flop for free with the J9. So the first mistake was made by Sassy. I see a lot of internet players make mistakes like this when they try to move to the brick-and-mortar world. The flop came down J94 with two clubs. Gin for Lenal! Sassy bet 500 and Lenal just called. I believe his call was the second mistake in the hand. When Sassy tried to raise preflop it should have told Lenal she had some sort of hand. Her bet on the flop could have just been frustration with two big cards that missed like KQ, Ax or the like, or she could have a medium to big pair, or even a flush draw or straight draw. Bottom line, she could have anything. Lenal needed to define her hand and protect his hand on this draw heavy board. The turn brought the Q of spades (putting two spades on board and completing the KT straight and the less likely T8 straight). Now all hell breaks loose. Lenal finally puts pressure on the pot and Sassy tanks for a bit before going all in. Lenal makes the somewhat-crying call. When the hands were turned up, I breathed I small sigh of relief because it was the first hand I saw where I felt like a clear mistake had been made. Remember, my strategy was to basically wait for the other players to make a mistake, even if it wasn’t against me. So for the first time at the table, I felt relatively safe.
As it turned out, Phil and Annie actually faulted Lenal more for the hand he played just prior to this one. But because I couldn’t see the whole cards, I had no way of knowing that Lenal was in jeopardy. In that hand he raised under the gun with A4 off suit and defended against a near-min raise from Patrick (holding KK). Even though he was getting great odds due to the smallish reraise, he had a dog hand that was likely a 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 dog. And that’s assuming he gets to see all five cards. In reality, he is a bigger dog because unless he flops two pair or better, he will have to fold on most flops. Even assuming all three aces are live, he will flop the ace less than 20% of the time. The same goes if the 4 is the live card and he is up against a bigger ace. One thing worse than only having three outs, is having three outs, but not knowing what they are. That’s the situation you’re in with a rag ace when there is a lot of action preflop. When someone offers me 3 to 1 to call their three-bet it used to make me sick to my stomach to fold because it looks so weak. But in my case, this is ego talking. In order to win, you have to put ego aside and do what’s right.
My cards continued below the Mendoza line for the rest of the table. Near the end I had two hands that didn’t make the television airing, but were mildly interesting. The first, I picked up KK in the small blind and everyone folded to me. I raised it 2.5 times the big blind and had to use all my Jedi mind tricks just to get Tony to call. We took a flop and my read was he completely whiffed. I went ahead with a smallish cbet hoping he would interpret weakness and make a play. He almost bit, but then seemed to remember that Phil and Annie were watching and that he had air. He folded.
The other hand also involved Tony. This time he raised 4.5X from under the gun. I looked down at AJ off suit in the blind. We both had slightly more than 15 big blinds, so I had some fold equity to shove. My read on Tony was that he had a pocket pair that he knew figured to be the best hand five-handed, but that he didn’t want to play a difficult flop with over cards out of position. A lot of this read comes strictly from Tony’s bet size (so you can use it on-line pretty accurately), but it is also supported by my take on his personality. No way he makes that bet with AA, KK, or QQ. It’s not in his trappin’ nature. The only real threat here is that he has AQ. Some players feel the same way about AQ as 55. If they get called and have to play a flop, they hope to hit it hard and turn green when they miss. On the whole, I decided to fold because I didn’t want to run into AQ here (a disaster that would occur probably 1 in 4 times based on my read) and didn’t feel the need to show “strong play” and try to make Tony lay down a hand like 88. If I hadn’t already sensed a mistake from Lenal or if I felt like I needed the chip lead for immunity, I probably would have shoved here. Calling for me wasn’t an option. I talked to him later and he said he had 99.
Well, that pretty much sums up my opening round on the show.
Cheers
Shawn
Tags: Annie Duke, Best Damn Poker Show, C00LHandNuke, Phil Hellmuth, Player's Voice, Poker Strategy
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Wednesday, February 4, 2009 - HollywoodDave
Yes yes yes, the LAPC shenanigans continue…last week I told you guys about a few of the early events I had been playing, and the fun only continued this week! Despite continuing to get very deep, I still have no cash to prove it. But this recent Superbowl Sunday certainly brought up a key advantage; namely, since all the TV’s in the room were tuned into the game, every time a big play went down on the gridiron, I got to make a play on the poker felt! Its true — people were so into watching their beloved teams play that i got to pull off lots of key steals during many of the tense moments in the football game when players were more intersted in watching TV than playing poker.
That being said, the love could only carry me so far, and despite making it all the way to the dinner break as one of the chip leaders, I found myself on the rail when 3 big hands went disastrously! The first hand came up when I was sitting on 19k in chips (average about 11k), had a player with 7k raise in late position to 2k in 300/600 blinds & an ante. I looked down at AQ in the small blind and decided to put the raiser to the test; after asking him how many chips he had left & sensing some apprehension, i re-raised to 7k to put him all in. He made the crying call with tens, which of course despite my inevitable flush draw and straight draw by the turn, ended up being good.
Just 2-3 hands later I woke up in late position with KK and made what i hoped would be seen as an obvious steal attempt, raising to 1600 (i often raise just under 3x as the blinds and antes get larger, regardless of my hand, but tried to sell it like a steal as I splashed the pot with my chips). Sure enough, I got the BB to ship in his last 6k with AK offsuit, which depsite us both hitting the case King (but giving me a monster set of kings!), he went on to 4flush on the river to crack me. Ugh!
The very next hand, i found KJ sooooted (still in late position), and since it had been folded to me, sent my last 10 big blinds in only to find the small blind (who had just made the impossible doubleup with AK against me) make a tortured call of half his freakin’ stack with 77! Obv it stayed good and I was out….what pissed me off here was that the player who made this call was another pro who really shoulda known better than to send half of his stack in on what was most likely a coinflip or worse. A little too much gamble to that play, especially when he had just doubled up to chip average. Oh well, FML i guess…
Over the next few days I get to go back to the basics, with an awesome Omaha8/Stud8 tourney followed by a sweet Stud Hi event. I love the mixed games, baby! Then after the weekend is the 1k HORSE, something I am more than ready to rock. I’ve been killing the HORSE games online lately and playing whatever mixed tourneys I can get my hand on. Earlier tonite I cashed 3rd in a razz event for a cool 7 hundy….hey, that’s a buy-in or 2 at LAPC! 
Last night I went out here in LA down to the Comedy Store to hear some local comedy….and guess who showed up at midnite? Andrew fuckin Dice Clay! You know… “Little Miss Muffet….sat on a tuffet…eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider….and sat down beside her…and said, ‘yo, what the fuck’s in the bowl, bitch?’” Hilarious. I guess he was just bored and in the neighborhood & wanted to come down to do a live set. What really rocked was that there were only like 6 of us in the audience at the time, so it was like our own private half hour show with the Dice Man!
Speaking of that, he also made some cracks in his set about doing the recent Celebrity Apprentice, starring UB’s own Annie Duke! I’m getting psyched for that show to start airing, only a few weeks away now. And in other news, I went in to the studio today and did more voiceover for my hosting gig on FSN’s Best Damn Poker Show, which is about halfway thru the season now. Check it out Monday nites @ 11 pm on FSN, daddy-o! It’s gettin’ good!
Rock on –
-hd.
Tags: Andrew Dice Clay, Annie Duke, Best Damn Poker Show, Celebrity Apprentice, flush draw, FSN, LAPC, Poker Poker Poker, Superbowl
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Friday, January 30, 2009 - smokin_aces
Next week we’ll be treated to an answer by Ultimate Bet Pro Tracy “FATCATS” Scala. I’m sure you’re all quite familiar with Tracy’s proven track record of poker success. He has many top finishes in both online poker and in various WSOP and WPT tournaments. As well, he finished in first place during the first season of the Best Damn Poker Show. Tracy Scala is a calculating player with stacks of experience.
Don’t miss your oppourtunity to get your question answered by Tracy Scala. Post your question in the comments section of this blog post by this Sunday at 8pm EST. Then check back next Thursday to see if Tracy chose your question.
Ask Tracy Scala a question now!
GL
Aces
Tags: Ask A Pro, Best Damn Poker Show, Poker Strategy, Tracy "Fatcats" Scala, WPT, WSOP
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Saturday, January 24, 2009 - C00LHandNuke
Hmmm. What do you say in your first blog ever? I guess you start with an introduction. My name is Shawn, but I play under the handle C00LHandNuke on Ultimate Bet. I use the same/similar name on some of the other sites. I’ve been playing “professionally” now for about five years, but am relatively new to the UB scene. I started playing on UB this summer after trying out for the Best Damn Poker Show 2. I gave Gary Debonardi (Debo34) some cash at this year’s WSOP and he transferred $300 to my account. Why didn’t I just use a credit card? Well it has to do with over $40k getting stuck on NetTeller for about a year and a growing distrust of the whack-a-dos in Washington – but I’ll save that for a later blog.
I gotta give some props to Debo, P0ker H0, Shawn Rice and all the other UB Pros. They are great ambassadors, always willing to talk and (as in my case) go out of their way to add players to the site. I had sat at live tables with Shawn and H0 before. And through a mutual acquaintance, Debo ended up sweating me about a year ago when I won the Sunday Million on PokerStars. So I had a little history with these guys, but I know for a fact that they’ve each done similar things for complete strangers. Thanks again Debo!
Anyhow, on with the blog. I made it onto the Best Damn Poker Show 2. It was a great experience. The first episode aired last Monday on FoxSports and was pretty entertaining. My first table plays this week, so I wasn’t in the first episode for more than a few seconds. A lot of the first episode was set up for what is to come, but I’m hoping that as the show progresses the poker will take more of the center stage. Hopefully it won’t get lost in the editing. I hope you watch and if you can’t get enough from the TV, check back here after each episode. I’ll be posting a blog for each episode with my own personal behind the scenes extras. If you haven’t read some of the posts on Pocket 5’s already, there was definitely some drama on this year’s show. And as usual, I was right in the middle of it.
The UBOC has started and Debo and I are a team in the UBOC Poker League. You can check out the standings at http://ubpokerleagues.com. So far we’ve had some minor success and are sitting in fourth place. I busted out of UBOC event #2 in eleventh place. The finish was okay, but I feel like a really could have done better. I had a very playable stack and the first big bluff I tried in the tourney crippled me when we were down to twelve players. Basically my opponent called off 30% of his stack on the turn and another 60% on the river with fourth pair (sixes) when the board was four-straighted to two gutshots and the river also made a three-flush – the villain had no draws. Ugh! A few days later, I took eleventh again in the PLO/8 UBOC event. This time I just went card dead at the wrong time and, in retrospect, probably passed up an opportunity to gamble once too often.
The idea for a poker league is awesome. The extra money involved is a nice incentive, but really it is about more than that. It’s about bragging rights and pride, even more so than just the typical leader boards that every site has. The leagues allow groups of people to opt into a certain schedule and put up some extra money behind the boast of “Hey, I think me and my partner are better than any two players out there.” My prediction for 2009 is that soon other sites will begin to emulate this. But I’m not sure how well it will work for them. What I’ve come to realize in the short time that I’ve been playing on UB is that there really is a sense of community and greater opportunity to meet other people who love poker. I guess that, more than anything else, is why I’m writing this blog and why you’ll see more of my online daily bankroll dedicated to buying into tournaments at UB. So I hope to see you at the tables, and maybe I can get over my 11-and-out syndrome and it will be a final table where we meet. If you see me, please say hello.
Cheers,
Shawn
Tags: Best Damn Poker Show, Debo34, fox sports, P0ker H0, players blog, plo8, poker tournaments, ShawnRice, sunday millions, ub pros, UBOC, uboc poker leagues
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Thursday, January 22, 2009 - HollywoodDave
Well Merry fuckin Christmas all over again, my people! Today absolutely rocked….for those of you who watched my youtube videos back in November when Obama won the nomination, you know how excited I am for him to be president. And today was the cherry on the top…. I hosted a party at my pad here in Hollywood at 7 am to watch him be inaugurated prez!
Of course, no Hollywood Dave gathering that early would be complete without the requisite mimosas, irish coffee, BK breakfast sandwiches, and other assorted goodies. Needless to say, I was quite drunk by the time Barack ushered Bush onto the waiting helicopter and 8 years of bad memories flew far, far away! Sure, the whole thing coulda been watched hours later on Tivo, but history doesn’t wait & after all the blood sweat and tears that went into this amazing event today, I wanted to be there to watch it firsthand. Even if that meant cutting short my online poker play last nite!!
Speaking of which, I’ve been on fuckin FIRE lately… i told you guys about the 13k i won last month for taking down the UB 50k. Well, just last week i won another UB tourney, this time the $1 rebuy — i know, a sick challenge, but turning $4 into over a grand ain’t bad! Then this past week was UBOC (the UltimateBet Online Championship) and I murdered it — in 9 tournaments, I cashed 6 times, including a 16th place in HORSE, a 19th in the NLH $100 rebuy, and 2 25th place finishes. All in all +5k net, well worth the time and effort.
But that’s not even the craziest part. 2 weeks ago I made my annual pilgrimage to the Blackjack Ball — the once-a-year secret gathering of the world’s most notorious blackjack players in a clandestine, off-strip location — and vote in another member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame. This year it was Richard Munchkin, author and long-time team player who has travelled the world winning millions with some of the most profitable teams of the past few decades. I joked with Max Rubin, the host of the party, on the Rounders Radio show I brought him on to when I co-hosted last week with Annie Duke — “So Max, when am I gonna get inducted??” His response? Try a couple million more in blackjack first, kid, along with developing a couple groundbreaking new techniques along the way. And here i thought acting like a jagoff while taking down every blackjack tourney in my sites was enough!! lol
Now i’m back in LA and taking more meetings about my show, “Grifting Across America” that I’ve been shopping for a few months now. Hollywood shuts down for a month over the holidays but is back in full swing now. A few days ago I had a great creative development meeting with a company I met with right before the break last month, so I’m excited things are moving forward. More details when I have them!
Other than that, I gotta say — I’ve absolutely been killing the Omaha Hi-Lo cash games on UB lately! Now that Cereus launched, its easier to find 15 30 and 30 60 games, with the occasional 50 100 or 100 200 heads-up table….which i love. After Annie transformed my NLH tournament game a few years ago, we’ve been working a lot on my mixed game skills, which online cash game play tests more than any other medium. After some great live results last year, my online game finally caught up as the last cog in the wheel a few months ago and I am actually starting to look at it as my primary source of income now. Sure, tourney wins — and the occasional Hollywood gig — pay more, but for consistency’s sake, give me a solid 15 30 or 30 60 shorthanded O8 game any day!
Oh and before I forget — Annie, Phil and I are rockin’ on this season of the Best Damn Poker Show on FSN Mondy nites @ 11 pm — so make sure you check it out! Since I’m the host this time around, I toned down some of the crazy bad boy antics I love so much, but some pretty hairy situations still manage to pop up without my help. Rock on & holla at ya soon!
-hd
Tags: Annie Duke, Best Damn Poker Show, blackjack ball, blackjack hall of fame, Cereus, election, h.o.r.s.e. tournaments, Hollywood Dave, no limit holdem, Obama, omaha hi-lo, online poker play, Phil Hellmuth, UB 50K, ub tournaments, UBOC
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Tuesday, January 20, 2009 - Shawn Rice
The UBOC3 just wrapped up and I love this time of year as it’s fun to play the higher buyin tourneys. I am somewhat disappointed in my results and not super happy with my play. It seems when I do bad it’s often self induced. I know when I put myself in a situation where I am forced to guess it’s often bad for me. In the final 1k buyin, $1,000,000 guaranteed main event there was over 1,100 players and it paid over 100 spots. I was down to less than 200 players in about 54th place and an early seat player double raises. If you know anything about me I always hate the double raise play because you are putting chips in the pot and gaining no information on the others behind you or the blind hands. I have 2 red 9’s and I hate to reraise here and possibly have to fold preflop; I hate to just fold here and I decide to just call and see a flop. Now the button makes a pot size squeeze play, the double raiser folds and I am certain by the size of his raise he does not have AA, KK or even QQ, so I have to worry about JJ or TT and flipping vs AK and with the double raiser folding maybe the deck could be a lil short on aces. I take the gamble and call and he shows JJ. I am knocked out and hate the way I played the hand. I know I am supposed to fold the 9’s there and just move on. I know most all I can beat if there is a bluff (88 or worse).
The Best Damn Poker Show has aired and it’s bringing back many good memories. This show is without the star power of the first show and in my opinion is a much better show overall. There is a little less fighting with Annie and Phil and better overall poker playing. I don’t think any of the players are as good as several of the players of last year that included Gary “Debo34″ DeBernardi, Mike “WiscoMurray” Murray and Tracy “Fatcats” Scala, but overall there were alot less mistakes and really good playing. Keep watching every week as the show gets very interesting all the way til the end, trust me.
Also check out Rounders Radio every Sunday night at 8pm Est on www.roundersradio.com. It’s a great radio show with Annie Duke and Mark “P0ker H0″ Kroon with very entertaining guests. I listen to every broadcast and I even try and call in but the lines are so busy I can’t get through. I will be calling in the next few weeks, so if you have any questions for me or any of us please call in and ask away. We all love to talk poker and strategy and love to hear from people whom are serious about their game.
I plan on being in Vegas for the Super Bowl and I will be making a big bet that there will be a score in the last two minutes of the first half. I am currently shopping around for the best price. I have not made this bet in a few years and am very thankful I have not. The Cardinals sure look good to me getting 7 points the way they beat up Carolina and Philadelphia really impressed me. I am hoping to find some Arizona plus 7.5 somewhere before the game starts. I do think if Arizona covers the spread it will go over the 47 point total and if Pittsburgh covers it will go under the 47 points. This is pretty rare. Usually when you like the favorite you like the over and when you like the underdog you like the under. I think if Pittsburgh controls the game it will be low scoring because their defense will with it for them and if Arizona covers it’s because their offense is on fire like it has been in recent weeks.
Good Luck online fellow Ubers
Proud UB Team Member
Shawn Rice
Tags: Annie Duke, Best Damn Poker Show, Debo34, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Strategy, rounders radio, ShawnRice, Super Bowl, UBOC
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Monday, January 12, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
With apologies to Bob Geldof, how come? OK, Monday’s usually mean a return to the working week, but Monday night’s are usually pretty good, what with the joys of Monday Night Football. Of course, there’s no more football on Monday nights, so what to do?
Well, first off you should clear your schedule and clear your mind for the sixth event of the UltimateBet Online Championship, our $150+12 Pot-Limit Omaha/8 tournament which kicks off at 8:30pm ET. Pot-Limit Omaha…8. Now that’s a game to scramble your brain, yeesh. It’ll take me twenty minutes to decipher each hand to see who was ahead, what draws were out there, what the players need to catch for the scoop…split-pot games are the bane of the poker reporter.
On the odd chance you get knocked out early, fear not. You’ll still have a chance to fully indulge your poker passions, as The Best Damn Poker Show premieres tonight on FSN. Once again Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth assemble their teams to lead into battle, and again there should be some…interesting hi-jinks to follow. Check your local listings for show time–in my neck of the woods it’s on at 11pm, but I’ve heard some other areas are broadcasting it at other times. This is what TiVo was made for, methinks.
Tags: Annie Duke, Best Damn Poker Show, bob geldof, Phil Hellmuth, ub, ub tournaments, UBOC, uboc tournaments, ultimatebet, ultimatebet online championships
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Saturday, January 10, 2009 - Debo34
If you haven’t heard, it is the start of UBOC. For 10 days UB will be hosting a series of tournaments. Along with the UBOC there will also be the same tournament with a smaller buy in called mini UBOC at the same time. This is the first time for the mini, and I think it was an awesome idea and should be a lot of fun that can involve the small to mid level player.
This year I am really ready for this. I was able to win the satellite package for both UBOC and mini UBOC called the kitchen sink package. This put me in every event for both. I was lucky enough to win the UBOC package on my first try for $165. The mini took me a couple of tries, but all in all it cost me less that $200 to get into every event for both UBOC and mini UBOC. I am really excited for a chance at a lot of money for very little investment.
For the past week or so I have limited my multi table tournament schedule knowing that I will have 10 straight days of it starting tomorrow. I wanted to come in fresh and ready to sit and focus for 12 hours a day. With as much poker as I play I feel like I have to prepare myself for a long series and not get burned out too early. Boy how I wish they had online poker when I was 22 years old.
One other thing I am really looking forward to is a league competition I am entered into for both regular and min UBOC. You can find out all the information on this at ubpokerleagues.com. This site is really cool, and I think once everyone catches on will be a huge success. This isn’t just for UBOC; they have weekly leagues for all level of players. For the UBOC league I was able to partner up with a great player, C00lhandnuke. Shawn was on the Best damn Poker show 2 which airs next week on FSN. He is a great all around player who I am looking at to carry me, especially in the limit events which he plays so good. My partner in the mini UBOC league has been beating up the tournaments on Ultimatebet forever. Mike “V00d00chile” Foley will probably win this league for us all by himself. Looking at the list, I see many good players and teams, most of whom I call my friends. I am looking forward to competing against all these guys and hopefully in the end having the bragging rights.
See you at the tables
Happy New Year.
Debo
Tags: Best Damn Poker Show, Debo34, kitchen sink package, mini UBOC, multi table tournament, UBOC
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Friday, January 9, 2009 - P0ker J0
Hello from the Pro Corner where things are never boring and always changing!
Well I’m excited to be a new part of this BLOG community. Check back here every Friday for updates on Team UB – you could learn all kinds of cool stuff. What is Phil Hellmuth’s favorite breakfast food? How many times a week does Annie Duke do yoga? Where is Michael Binger playing this week? When does Scott Ian start recording his new album? Come back often – P0ker J0 has the scoop for you!
So this is a big week on UB. UBOC is about to kick off tonight and Team UB is in a frenzy. Watching these guys get ready for action is like watching a school of piranha ready to feast. There is a pro hosting each one of the UBOC tournaments and since they won’t be playing with a bounty on their head for once it will be interesting to see how aggressive or tight these guys will play. You will see most of them at most of the tables regardless – I guess it’s easier to play when you don’t have everyone gunning for you! Come check out the UBOC and see the pro’s make waves!
In addition to the UBOC event itself, Annie and Phil have actually agreed on something. (which rarely happens!). They have now joined forces on the UBOC poker leagues (http://www.ubpokerleagues.com/UBOCLeagues.html) and have made it known that they want to show the world that they are the real poker players! Come on guys – show them you can outplay them and join the league today!
Speaking of Annie and Phil – the second season of Best Damn Poker Show airs on Monday January 12th on Fox Sports Net. Check it out to see who really is the better poker teacher. Our very own Hollywood Dave will be the show’s host and will inevitably provide us with some witty and even possibly sarcastic banter! With better than ever hand analysis and of course inevitable bickering between Hellmuth and Duke – it is sure to be a great watch! Who do you want to win? Team Hellmuth or Team Duke?
And as I close this first BLOG – please don’t forget to check in on Rounders Radio every Sunday night (www.roundersradio.com) at 8:00 PM EST for The Ultimate Poker Show hosted by the infamous (or should we say famous?) P0ker H0. He is very often joined by Annie Duke as his sidekick; and when she is not around there is always someone around to fill her big shoes! (For the record – I’m not saying she has big feet!)
That’s all for now! Have a super week!
P0ker J0
Tags: Annie Duke, Best Damn Poker Show, Hollywood Dave, P0ker H0, p0ker j0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Pros, pro corner, rounders radio, Team UB, ub pros, UBOC, uboc poker leagues, uboc tournaments
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