Sunday, May 31, 2009 - Shawn Rice
Hello Fellow UBers
It’s World Series of Poker Time again.
I don’t know if you have been or not but it’s massive ball rooms filled with tables with people from all over the world trying to win a bracelet. I was lucky enough to get 2nd in 2004 on the first televised event. It aired the other night on ESPN Classic and to be honest with you I can’t watch the end of it. It makes me sick to think of how close I was and not win one. On the good side, I feel by not winning it made me a much better player, I have worked very hard on my poker game in all areas. I have made it my mission to be the best player I can possibly be. I try and learn poker all the time anyway possible. I have not only taught at many poker camps over the years but my favorite part is listening to the world class pros that also teach. When people ask me who taught me poker it’s a very very long list mixed with many names you know like Annie Duke, Hoyt Corkins, Amarillo Slim, Mark “P0ker H0″ Kroon and Gary “Debo34″ Debernardi and the mental aspects of dealing with pokers ups and downs from Howard Lederer and many you may not of heard of like Chris “Brsavage” Savage, Paul “Beanie” Nobles and Aaron “Loewa79″ Loew. I have also learned a lot from players with lots less skill. Don’t think you can’t learn from players with less skill because you can learn from their mistakes as well instead of you having to learn the hard way. I found out over the years that I really do love to teach this game I very much love. I am not going to give a list of names of whom I have spent many hours on the phone with helping them with their poker game because I don’t want to turn this into a bragging blog but I can say that I am most proud of that part of my poker career. I love seeing my friends doing well and kicking ass in the poker world. This will be a life changing experience for many poker players whom will attend. It’s a great value for the good players as there will be tons of money to be won. I hope if you attend you win your share.
I am going to play a few events and play tons of cash games while I am there. I have learned over the years it’s hard to make steady money playing bigger buy-in tourneys. The cash games is where the steady money is without the major swings that a tourney has. I have been working a lot on my cash game play over this past year and hope I can take what I have learned and apply it and come away with a very successful series.
UB has already started tourneys for the Aruba Classic, This will be my 7th year playing this event and let me tell you it’s the best tourney you could ever wanna play. Matt Savage will be the tourney director and he runs the best structured tourneys anyone could ever ask for. Everyone is there having the time of their life, The nightlife and the beaches are awesome and you have a good chance of winning close to a million dollars. A few years back I got 12th, I was the chip leader and lose a monster race with Layne Flack, I had AcQc vs JJ, we get all in preflop and flop come Jack high with 2 clubs and I could not improve and I was cripples and out shortly after, I will let ya know when I am over it, 1st that year was a million dollars and filmed for the WPT. P0ker H0 got 11th that year and it would of been a blast if we both made that final table.
Come by and say hello to any of the UB pros while we are there, We love hearing from you and I am involved with a bunch of great people.
Proud UB Team Member
Shawn Rice
Tags: Annie Duke, aruba classic, espn, Matt Savage, Poker Poker Poker, Poker Pros, ub, WPT, WSOP
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Saturday, January 10, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth
It’s that time of year again when folks think of Australia! In January 2004, my wife and I jetted off to the land down under. The trip to Australia was primarily a vacation, but also coincided with a major poker tournament hosted by Melbourne’s Crown Casino (a five-star hotel that lives up to its billing). The “Australasian Championship” featured a $10,000 Aus dollar (about $7,200 U.S.) buy-in no-limit Hold’em final tournament that’s considered one of the most important events on the European Poker Tour.
About 130 players entered the three-day main event. After day one, I had about doubled up, and was in good stead. Late in day two, with 22 players remaining, I was in full-control of my table and running quite smoothly with $70,000 in chips when I faced a perplexing hand. With the blinds (required bets) at $1,000 and $2,000, and the antes at $300 a player, I opened for $6,500 with Ad-10d. I was called by a local player, and immediately thought that he had a pair somewhere between 10s and 2s, or A-Q. I read him for a strong hand because everyone at that table seemed to be afraid to play even a semi-strong hand against me.
The flop came down 8d-7d-2s, and I immediately checked. I had flopped a powerful hand, an ace-high flush draw (I needed one more diamond card) and two over cards (”over cards” are cards with a value higher than the board). The local player now bet out $10,000, and I retreated into my think tank. I studied how many chips were in his stack, and it seemed like we both had about $75,000 in total.
OK, the fact that he bet means he has my hand beat, I figured. However, if he has pocket threes, fours, fives, sixes, nines, 10s, jacks, or a bluff, then I will probably win the pot by raising all-in: and even if he does call with one of those hands, I’ll be a mathematical favorite to win the pot. If he has three-of-a-kind, then I’ll be in trouble — a bit less than a 3-to-1 underdog. Still, it is much more likely that he will have to fold his hand if I raise his last $65,000 in chips.
Traditionally, the pros move all-in with two “over cards” and an ace-high flush draw. After a minute, I moved all-in, and I was called instantly, yikes! He called so many chips so quickly that I knew my opponent was going to show me three-of-a-kind. In fact, he had three eights, and now I needed to hit a diamond. The turn card was the 6c, and now I needed a diamond for a flush or a nine to complete a straight. But alas, the last card was the Qs. There I sat, on the rail, stunned, it had happened so quickly! If only I had read my opponent for trips, I would have still been in there, because I wouldn’t have moved all-in.
Oh well, that’s poker.
RAISE OR FOLD
What do pros traditionally do with two over cards and an ace-high flush draw?
a) call the bet
b) fold
c) move all-in
d) complete a flush!
Answer c)
Tags: Australia, European Poker Tour, Poker Pros
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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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Saturday, December 27, 2008 - Phil Hellmuth
I have received a number of complaints recently through newspapers and Card Player magazine along the lines of “Phil, please don’t tell us the results of a ‘Poker After Dark’ episode before it airs.” Furthermore, it is now in my contract with NBC and “Poker After Dark” that I cannot reveal the results. OK, I can still talk about the lineup and a hand that I played during an episode. As many of you know, “PAD” appears on NBC six nights a week, 52 weeks per year at 2 a.m. A hit show, it gets better ratings than most other late-night programs.
“PAD” reminds me of the old days when I competed with mostly great players, many of whom have something interesting to say because they are clever, witty and sharp as a tack. And some are just plain characters! I love the fact that “PAD” shows every hand — or the vast majority of them — instead of “highlight-hand poker” that appears everywhere else. The hand that I’m going to talk about in this column occurred during a show with Clonie Gowen, Phil Laak, Gavin Smith, Mike Matusow, David Williams and me.
I was three handed with $48,000 in chips. The blinds were $600 to $1,200, and I opened for $3,600 on the button. Player A, in the small blind with around $38,000, announced, “I raise,” and threw in $10,000 or so. When the action came back to me, I began to think about my scouting report. I rarely, if ever, scout players, but the week before I happened to watch Player A on “PAD” reraise quite a bit with ace-rag hands (A-8, A-6, A-4, etc.), especially in the blinds. I also witnessed Player A move all-in with Jh-9h when the heat was still four handed.
For some reason, I remembered Player A’s tactics, and I’m referring to this prior knowledge as my “scouting report.” Knowing that Player A was capable of reraising me with a weak ace, I decided to move all-in. Player A called me immediately with A-K. I cannot reveal the rest of the hand; either I won the pot as a two-and-a-half-to-one underdog with my A-J versus Player A’s A-K or I lost the pot. But win or lose, we can talk about my tactics here.
First of all, maybe there’s a good reason that I do not scout players, and that I simply trust my instincts. If I am going to watch “PAD,” the natural scouting benefits should concern my opponent’s facial expressions, not his or her strategy moves. Back to the hand: My pre-flop raise of $3,600 was standard — three times the big blind. Player A’s $6,400 reraise was also pretty standard with A-K. You do not want to raise it up too much with A-K, like more than the size of the pot, because you risk losing someone with A-J or A-Q. To raise it up more than the size of the pot usually indicates strength, and by showing too much strength, you give opponents a chance to lay down a hand with which you want them to move all-in.
Conversely, you do want to raise it up a little and tempt someone with Q-J or a small pair to call you pre-flop. My all-in reraise of $28,000 was definitely weak. Why risk the chip lead with A-J off suit when the blinds were only $600 to $1,200? I mean, if I’m wrong (and lose), I’m the short stack. I should have waited for a better spot, like when I have A-K, or J-J, or something really strong. With the blinds this small, there was a lot of time to wait for a better spot — and plenty of poker left to be played.
But the thing that bothered me the most about my all-in move: I didn’t give myself a chance to read Player A. I should have studied Player A, and then decided what to do. If I decided that Player A was weak, and I was wrong, so be it. At least I would have felt that I did everything I could with the hand. If I somehow could read that Player A was strong (and this is what I do for a living), I could have folded my hand and been a hero. Instead, I trusted a darn scouting report. Of course, even if I got lucky and won the pot, it was still the wrong move.
At the highest levels of poker, it is all about reading your opponent. Is your opponent weak, or is he strong? If you can figure that out, then I’ll see you at a final table soon.
Tags: Hand of the Week, Hellmuth's Hold Em, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Pros, Poker Strategy, WSOP Champion
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