Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - Michaelbinger
Hi all,
It’s been a while…
So 2 weeks ago my brother Nick and I were geared up to go on a 5 day trip off the coast of Mexico to dive with great white sharks (in cages of course!) and tuna fishing. However, 30 minutes before getting on board the boat in San Diego we got a call from our Mom telling us that our grandmother had just passed away. She was 85 and had been sick and in pain for a few years so it was not unexpected. We of course canceled our trip and drove to LA to be with our family. My Mom and aunt were already there and I know it was hard on them losing their mother. But it is hardest on our grandfather… They were married during World War 2 and have remained so for 65 years, despite being displaced from their homeland in Ukraine during the war (caught between Hitler and Stalin), moving to Venezuela after the war (where my Mom was born), and then to LA where their jewelry store was destroyed in the Rodney King riots. I spent most Thanksgivings over the past ten years with them since I lived in CA and now vegas. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose someone you’ve been with your whole life. We had a traditional Russian Orthodox funeral and burial last week, which was really beautiful.
My older brother Rick was also in town for the week and he and Nick and I had some down time to hang. We ended up playing a lot of Wii Sports Resort… Really fun game.
Anyways it was good to spend time with the family, although not under optimal circumstances.
The whole experience reminded me what was important in life.
So now I’m back in Vegas for a bit… I played online tournies this Sunday for the first time in a while… No luck in the UB events but I did manage a win the HORSE tourney on another site.
Later this week Nick and I are going on our shark diving/tuna fishing trip… should be awesome!
After that, I’ll be going to the Taj in Atlantic City to play their $2500 PLO and $5000 NLHE main event.
Till next time…
Michael Binger
Tags: h.o.r.s.e., Michael Binger, Poker Poker Poker, ub, Vegas
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Friday, June 26, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
After working every day of the World Series so far I decided to take a day off yesterday. Been feeling under the weather, wanted a day to rest, recouperate, refocus. Yesterday seemed a good time to give the Rio a miss because the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event would start the next day and I wanted to be ready to go when the most prestigious poker tournament in the world kicks off.
The buzz on media row is whether this year’s field will be bigger than it was last year (or in 2007), when exactly 148 players participated. We were supposed to begin at high noon, but there was just an annoucement that the start has been pushed back to 1pm. That may be due to the fact that, like, NO ONE seems to be here yet. Also there are only 33 players registered at the moment, and while there’s been an epidemic of professional players signing up at the very last second this year the floor staff might not want to start the event with a handful of players battling three-handed in an empty room. So we’ll wait till one and see how many players pony up fifty dimes to play for the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.
Tags: 000 H.O.R.S.E., 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, 50, h.o.r.s.e., Poker Poker Poker, world series of poker, WSOP
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Monday, June 15, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
It’s a busy night at the Rio with tournaments scattered throughout the three big rooms. Keeping track of who’s playing where isn’t easy, as a number of pros often rush from one event to another when they get eliminated. One player who hasn’t made that mad dash tonight is Liv Boeree, who is among the final 120 players in the $1,500 No-Limit event being contested in the Amazon Room. I posted a pic of Liv this afternoon and I thought I’d try to post one here that was a little more, well, metal:
One player who did make the trek from one event to the other was Michael Binger, who was eliminated from the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament and headed over to buy into the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event, and he’s sitting in the Miranda Room playing in that event right now:
Also playing in the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event is Annie Duke, who bought in late. And her starting table should give you an idea of how loaded that tournament is–Annie’s sitting with Jennifer Harman, Sam Simon, Raymond Davis, Michael Craig, and Erick Lindgren.
And last, but certainly not least, we circle back to the Amazon Room and the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament, where Phil Hellmuth built up a huge stack early on but saw it reduced to 7,600 just before the dinner break.
That event has just returned from break and is back to play, as are all the other events going on this fine Sunday (it is Sunday, right? I lose track). And it looks like Liv Boeree might be playing until Monday–she just made a straight flush to double up to 110,000 with 99 players left. The chipleader has over 450,000, but Liv’s got over 30 big blinds and room to manuever. Could be a long night.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, Annie Duke, h.o.r.s.e., Liv Boeree, Michael Binger, Phil Hellmuth, pot-limit omaha, world series of poker, WSOP
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Friday, February 20, 2009 - P0ker J0
Well hello from the pro corner!
Well another week has flown by. I so love having my BLOGs posted on a Friday where I’m all giddy excited about the weekend. Not that I do too much – but still there is something about being able to say T.G.I.F.
As the pro manager – I don’t get too many days off. It does tend to be a 24/7 type of job, but i can’t lie – I LOVE my job!! Team UB have really become family to me. As you can imagine, there are many different personalities within the team – but they are all special to me in their own unique way. (even the ones that call me at 11:00 PM on a Saturday night 
)
Anyway – we have seen a good UB turnout at the LA Poker Classic. Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth fought hard in the HORSE and the Heads Up tournaments but we still have the main event to look forward to! We’ve seen Hollywood Dave kicking some serious ass in the side games and Tiffany Michelle doing a great job both at the tables and in front of the camera – as always. Check out her interview on FSN.com I wish the best of luck to all my Team UB members at the tables!
Well Mr Scott Ian has been earning some quality frequent flyer miles. He has just been in London for a week. He said it was for some R&R but I saw some pictures on the internet of him playing hard at the Anvil/Cauldron movie screening at the Shepards Bush Empire. Check him out sporting his UB t-shirt! Gotta love Scott Ian! Don’t forget – by this time next week – all will be revealed regarding the Scott Ian promotion I was eluding to last week. Bon Jovi who????
Well only one more week before the Celebrity Apprentice starts staring our very own Annie Duke. I simply cannot wait to watch! Here is a snippet of her profile on NBC and check this out where Annie Duke shows that she has strong opinions on where the women’s team should set up shop for one of the challenges. I know Annie quite well – and I can tell you she is the most competitive woman I have ever met! I don’t think the other contestants have a chance!
Phil Hellmuth has been a busy guy lately as well. In preparation for the upcoming WSOP – which also happens to be the 20th anniversary since he won his main event title in 1989 – he is being sought after by many of the big poker magazines for cover shoots/interviews etc. Will this be the year that Phil wins bracelet #12? Could this be the year where he celebrates his 20th year with anohter main event win? Either way – it will be exciting! Phil will be on top of his game – ready to make waves. Check out this link where Sports Illustrated asked him to be part of their “Celebrity Picks to win the Daytona 500″. Never short on words, check out this link where Phil is highlighted in “15 outs…one time”. 15 questions – all the poker knowledge you can handle at one time. See what Phil is saying about the 2009 WSOP schedule, his side projects, Super Bowl Sunday and more. Enjoy!
Well I think that is all she wrote for this week. A kind of warm, fuzzy love fest really – but hey -it can happen once in a while. And just in case you were wondering if the hubby came through on Valentine’s Day – kind of. I received a lovely card. I think he felt that the fact the card did not come from the dollar store was gonna get him some brownie points. Not so much!!
Enjoy your week!
P0ker J0
Tags: Annie Duke, Anvil/Cauldron, Bon Jovi, Celebrity Apprentice, Daytona 500, FSN, h.o.r.s.e., Hollywood Dave, LA Poker Classic, Phil Hellmuth, Scott Ian, Shepards Bush Empire, Sports Illustrated, Tiffany "Tiffany M" Michelle, WSOP
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Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - HollywoodDave
So after months of playing primarily online at UB…ever since Aruba, really…. I’ve officially been thrust back into the live poker scene and man oh man what a joy its been! The Commerce Casino LA Poker Classic started a few days ago and HD has been down there in the trenches, playing some tourneys and kickin ass at the cash tables! The first event was INSANE — slated to start at 1 pm, a $300 NLH event with a $200k prizepool that ended up with a 600k prizepool instead!! Needless to say, I was alternate # 606 (!!! no shit !!!!) and, after waiting in line for over an hour and a half to register (read: showed up at the last minute like a douchebag), didn’t get my number called & seated til 4 pm!! 3 hours in, my 3k starting stack ended up only being 15 big blinds. Oh well, time to look for a hand to shove with! I found it when an UTG player raised to 500…and i looked down at QQ and insta-shoved. Action folded around to the original raiser (who’s sitting on like a 14k stack) who begins to hem and haw and stall…he asks me what i have…and then laughs, calls, and flips up the slowplayed KK!! Dick!! Well, you guys know what hit on the river….instant karma in the form of a beautiful fucking Queen! As i raked in the pot, i made sure to ask him if he knew why the queen hit….because that’s what happens when you slowplay, baby!! Unfortunately, that was as exciting as my first LAPC event got…i lasted a few hours but finally ran into back-to-back flushes and found myself in a stud cash game instead. Made some $$$ for my trouble and took off once traffic died down. That’s LA for you — live and die by the freeway traffic patterns! Monday i came back for the first Stud event, and after the first few levels i found myself shortish on chips. I took some quiet time on the first break and realized that i was playing too loose, not only for that early in a tournament, but just peeling off too many cards once i was involved in a pot. We all need to check ourselves sometimes, and I took the time to do just that. Came back from break, played right, and found myself going deeper…and deeper…til i emerged as one of the chip leaders by the dinner break. Had a chance to grab a bite and catch up with friends Frankie O’Dell (also a 2-time WSOP bracelt winner) and Jean Gaspard (who goes by ‘Prince’) who I had the good fortune to not be seated with them the entire tournament — since they’re both pretty good players. The streak couldn’t last, however, as a few missed opportunites after dinner had me treading water til I was finally taken out by Prince hours later in 20th place when my straight ran into his flush. Of course only 2 tables got paid, so close but no cigar, but both Prince and Frankie would go on to make it deep on the final table, so I was glad they both got a nice cash out of it. Most recently, I played Tuesday’s Omaha 8/b event, which due to Annie’s intense training and countless hours in cash games online, I consider it to be one of my best events. And lo and behold, I had what had to be one of the SOFTEST table draws ever for an O8 event — 2-3 complete ATM’s on the table with basically no clue how to play the game just shipping away their money. But unfortunately, after picking up 1000 chips (in the 25/25 blind level!!), they ended up drawing out on me a few times to leave me short as the blinds increased. Eventually the ATM’s busted without me being able to take enough chips from them, and I found myself on the rail a few hours later. No dinner break for me this time! But hey, traffic was bad so I sat in a very juicy stud cash game and picked up a couple thousand, so I guess I’m freerolling in the next few LAPC events! Hopefully I can do more damage as we get into the larger and larger events. In particular i’m looking forward to the HORSE events this time around. I’ve been doing so well in the individual mixed games but so far no major cash in a HORSE event, no matter how deep I go. Rock on, guys — -hd.
Tags: Annie Duke, Commerce Casino, Frankie O'Dell, h.o.r.s.e., Jean Gaspard, LAPC, Los Angeles, Online Poker, Poker Strategy
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
The player who wins the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament at the World Series of Poker gains the unofficial title of Best Player in the World. Last night 335 players took to the tables to try to win the unofficial title of Best Player at the UltimateBet Online Championships. I myself played in the mini-H.O.R.S.E. event that ran concurrently to the main tourament and all I have to say about that is…razz. (Expletive deleted) razz.
Several familiar names made it deep in last night’s tournament, including The Best Damn Poker Show’s host Hollywood Dave Stann (who finished 16th) and wunderkind James “mig.com” Mackey, who finished just off the final table in 11th. One well-known player who did make the final table was Alex “AKJHoosier1″ Kamberis, the top-ranked online tournament player according to PocketFives. Kamberis finished 5th…actually, why not show who made the final table:
By the time we reached the final table the blinds were big in relation to the stacks and one hand could spell the difference between being warily comfortable and clawing for survival. Player after player fell by the wayside, and in this particular order:
- 8th: HUNTER129 $1,050
- 7th: MAPSFLY $1,550
- 6th: KIDTEXICAN $2,050
- 5th: AKJHOOSIER1 $2,875
- 4th: NHGGSIKE $3,875
- 3rd: ALL-IN $5,375
The heads-up battle between DRY_BENEFIT and HUSSRAMILTON was a drawn-out affair that didn’t conclude until just past 5am ET. At one point HUSSRAMILTON was down to just $50,502 (with the blinds at 12,500/25,000) but spiked a nine on the river during a Hold-Em hand to stay alive. He doubled up against with K-4 against DRY_BENEFIT’s pocket Jacks (flopping a King) and got his stack up to near $350K before slipping again. But he kept in the game, doubling up with A-2 against DRY_BENEFIT’s A-7 when he turned a deuce, but that merely delayed the inevitable. Playing Hold-Em HUSSRAMILTON raised with 8d-7d and was called. The Jd-10s-6c gave him a gutshot draw and he moved in the last of his chips, only to find that he was up against DRY_BENEFIT’S Ah-7s, which took away three potential outs. The turn brought the Jh and the river the 3c and that, at long last, brought an end to UBOC Event #7. DRY_BENEFIT won $13,500 and the title, while HUSSRAMILTON had to console himself with the $7,875 he won as runner-up.
Tags: akjhoosier1, h.o.r.s.e., h.o.r.s.e. tournaments, Hollywood Dave, mig.com, ub, ub tournaments, UBOC, uboc events, uboc3, ultimatebet, ultimatebet online championship
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Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - Annie Duke
And here I am teamed up with Phil Hellmuth for the ub poker leagues (www.ubpokerleagues.com) and he has played like one event so far and I have played every one and, you guessed it, he has outscored me! Seriously. He played the heads up tournament. Got to the third round. And that was enough. Because I haven’t even come within seven miles of cashing. HA! I mean I would love to have a partner who played more events but that is neither here nor there since anyone playing with me right now would be carrying my sorry ass! Seriously. I am making a public apology to Phil for having the misfortune to be paired up with me. Sorry dude. I apologize from the bottom of my heart that you are stuck with the dead weight that is Annie Duke…
On a happier note (I mean happy if you are not sulking in a corner), some of the other UB pros are kicking some serious ass. DeBo has gotten deep in a bunch of stuff, Hollywood Dave has cashed in every one he has played so far (the first three) WiscoMurray chopped the $500+30 deepstack on Sunday. And the superstar P0kerH0 came in 10th in the PLO and won the mini UBOC event on Saturday. Pretty sweet! I am deeply jealous…like in a jealous rage. So all you ^%%$*&( pros better stay out of my way!
I clearly need to calm down.
Okay. I am calm now.
I am just going to have to kick some ass in the events coming up. Tonight is the PLO 8 or better. That is a good game for me. There is some HORSE coming up, some limit hold’em…all good. Better games for me. I have high hopes. Really. I do. I swear. Sort of.
Tags: Annie Duke, Debo34, h.o.r.s.e., Hollywood Dave, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, PLO 8, poker tournament, UBOC, uboc poker leagues
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Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
If you were looking for evidence that Texas Hold-Em’s hegenomy over poker has been broken, look no further than last night’s UBOC Pot-Limit Omaha/8 event. A total of 399 players signed up to play a tournament that wasn’t no-limit, wasn’t Hold-Em, and WAS a split-pot game for cryin’ out loud. People have learned that these other forms of poker are great games as well and that they require different approaches if you want to succeed (split-pot games especially). Plus, in general, people are gettin’ pretty good at this Hold-Em game. So if you’re looking for new aquariums to fish from, sharpening your skills in Omaha/8 is a great place to start.
As, apparently, these nine players did, as they outlasted 390 of their peers to reach last night’s UBOC final table:
For a split-pot game the final table was quickly winnowed down to the final four, with the eliminations (and payouts) going like this:
- 9th: NOCH08 $1,197
- 8th: MOB29 $1,795
- 7th: WHOMPADPG $2,394
- 6th: JEFFRY53 $2,992
- 5th: WWLLLWW $3,591
I covered a few Omaha Hi-Lo events at this year’s World Series of Poker and was glad to see that the other reporters and even the floorpersons had some trouble figuring out who the heck won the pot. I mean, the hand that eliminated WANNA_RETIRE in 4th place isn’t that difficult to figure out, but when you’re watching it unfold in online-time and shuffling through two hands, eight cards, and countless permutations, it sets the circuits to sparking:
The board is paired…there’s no low hand…neither player connected with the flop…so THE_CASHIER’s nine kicker plays and sent WANNA_RETIRE into involuntary early retirement. Though the $4,189 he won for finishing fourth should be a nice addition to his portfolio.
When we reached three-handed play THE_CASHIER had about 1.76 million, OMAHAJOHN had around 420,000 and THE MENTOR had around 210,000. The three played about fifteen hands (with THE_CASHIER losing about 300,000 split equally between the other two players) before they all decided that a deal might be a civilized course of action. They called in UB’s online floor manager, came to a quick consensus, and just like that the deal was done. Variance has not had many opportunities to bedevil the players who have gone deep in our UBOC events.
So it was Pot-Limit Omaha/8 last night, and tonight the game is H.O.R.S.E.! A $120+10 H.O.R.S.E. event (with a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool) to determine who is the best mixed-game player of them all. That event starts at 8:30pm ET, as does our mini-UBOC H.O.R.S.E. event, which might be right up your alley if you haven’t played a lot of mixed-games and want to dip your toes in.
Tags: h.o.r.s.e., h.o.r.s.e. tournaments, pot-limit omaha, pot-limit omaha hi-lo tournaments, pot-limit omaha tournaments, pot-limit omaha/8 tournaments, ub, ub tournaments, UBOC, uboc events, uboc tournament, uboc3, ultimatebet, ultimatebet online championship, ultimatebet tournaments
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