Monday, June 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
I did something today I’ve never done before. I showed up to a poker tournament after Phil Hellmuth.
After ten days of arriving at the Amazon Room just after eleven I decided to catch up on some sleep, have a proper lunch, and get to the Rio in the afternoon. That way I could (hopefully) hang around into the wee hours if (hopefully) one or more UB players made it deep into Day 2 of the $10,000 Omaha/8 World Championship. Unfortunately I arrived after Michael Binger and Brandon Cantu were eliminated, but both Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth are still in the hunt. There are 82 players remaning (a bit less than half the original starting field) and we’ll play until we reach the final nine or when we hit 3am, whichever comes first (more likely the latter).
Annie cashed in the $1,500 Omaha/8 event held last week and though she was down to just a few thousand chips earlier in the day she battled back and now sits with 54,000. That’s the good news. The bad is that sitting directly to Annie’s left is Phil Ivey, making Annie’s seat one of the least-desirable in the poker universe. In fact, that’s Ivey’s fingers riffling chips in the corner of this photo:
Phil Hellmuth seems to be in a jaunty mood today, and why not? He has well over 100,000 in chips, his 71st WSOP cash is in his sights, and beyond that are other records ripe for the smashing. Perhaps the only thing missing from the equation is a venti mocha latte…
There are now 80 players left, with the top 18 cashing. A long way to go.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, Annie Duke, omaha/8, Phil Hellmuth, phil ivey, Poker Poker Poker, ub, ultimatebet, ultimatebet wsop, world series of poker, WSOP
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Sunday, March 29, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Tens of millions of Americans play poker every year and so it comes as no surprise that the game fits nicely within our cultural mainstream. But with poker facing so many legal and political challenges the last few years it’s always good to be reminded that people play poker, people love poker, and people are fascinated by poker, across just about every demographic line you care to draw.
This past week The New Yorker featured an article by Alec Wilkinson about poker, one that focused primarily on Chris Ferguson but also discussed the UIGEA and the legal issues surrounding the game (you need to register to read the full article). That the pre-eminent literary magazine in the land published a positive article about poker doesn’t mean the UIGEA will repealed this afternoon (there are members of Congress who probably balk at reading so much as the back of a cereal box) but it adds to the groundswell of support poker has received in the media the last year or so.
The New Yorker has actually published a number of major articles about poker in the past, most notably two pieces by the English poet/critic A. Alvarez that he later expanded into The Biggest Game in Town, one of the leading works in the poker canon. If you haven’t read Alvarez’s articles, or The Biggest Game in Town, and you consider yourself a poker fan, shame on you.
Alvarez wrote those articles (and the book) in 1983. In 1994 he returned to World Series and wrote about fulfilling a lifelong dream–playing in the Main Event. These days it almost seems quaint that taking a seat in the Main Event would seem like such an ambitious gamble, but this was long before you had online qualifiers swelling the field into the thousands. That year there were 268 entrants and many of the players Alvarez writes about (Chan, Ungar, Hellmuth) are still well-known in the poker world today.
Alvarez wrote that article a bit less than fifteen years ago, a fact that hit me broadsides because reading that piece planted the seeds of my later love affair with the game. I actually clipped that article out of the magazine and kept it in a folder with other poker stories I came across over the years. And it was eight years later, in 2002, that I read an article that transformed my interest in poker into something akin to an obsession. Joseph Epstein reviewed Andy Bellin’s Poker Nation, Epstein first writing about his own experience playing poker while growing up in Chicago before turning to Bellin’s examination of underground New York card clubs and the current poker universe.
I devoured Poker Nation (several times, actually) and later that year something called the World Poker Tour debuted on the Travel Channel. As I watched the WPT from week-to-week I learned that thousands of folks were playing poker online, and as I considered dipping my toe into that vast aquarium some guy named Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event and $2.5 million. Poker may have suffered some legislative and political bad beats the last few years, but I think the perfect storm of the WPT, the advent of the digital world, and the Moneymaker Effect rather makes up for that. Should the UIGEA be repealed (and allegedly Barney Frank will be introducing just such a bill in early April) it might not usher in a new Golden Age of Poker…it might just help perpetuate the one we’re in right now. Five (or fifteen) years from now some budding poker player may read Wilkinson’s article and find all this UIGEA hullaballo rather silly. Let’s hope so.
Tags: a. alvarez, al alvarez, alec wilkinson, andy bellin, biggest game in town, Chris Ferguson, moneymaker effect, new yorker poker, poker nation, Poker Poker Poker, the new yorker, the new yorker poker, uigea, World Poker Tour
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Monday, March 23, 2009 - John Greene
Let’s talk about an unpleasant fact that most poker players are going to have to deal with at some time or another: sometimes, you shouldn’t play. Whether it’s mere tiredness, a run of bad luck that has you spooked, or even that thing none of us want to discuss – old age – sometimes you need to take a step back and let yourself recharge. This is especially important in the weeks leading up to the WSOP and other big tournaments, where you can burn yourself out without even realizing it.
So, let’s say you self-diagnose and decide you need some time away from the poker tables – what can you do to get your edge back? Get yourself a Nintendo DS. No, I am not making this up. Yes, I know how crazy it sounds, but the DS has a plethora of games that can help you rebuild your reflexes and memory skills in a low-stress environment that doesn’t involve putting thousands of dollars on the rail and looking over your glasses at someone else.
The Brain Age series of memory, concentration, and math is the most famous, and for good reason. Using the built-in tutorial, you create a personal regimen of math, geometry, and reading tutorials that build up your retention and processing ability on the fly. When I first started playing the game (after a particularly disastrous wipeout in a tournament series that shall go unnamed,) my “brain age” was fifteen years older than I actually am. After a couple of weeks using the original Brain Age game every morning after breakfast, I got my cognitive skills down to that of a teenager, and we know how devious and tricky they can all be.
Much sillier but no less valuable is Elite Beat Agents, in which you help a group of dancing and singing superstars bring joy and harmony to the world using the DS’s stylus. No, I am not making this up. The little plastic pen with the Ds allows you to tap, drag, and spin various controllers on the game’s touch screen in time to the game’s music and what starts off as a pretty simple timing exercise becomes a real workout of your reflexes in the final levels, even on the easiest settings.
Then there’s Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, which I’ve now claimed as my planes-and-trains game of choice. No, it has no redeeming qualities, but getting to explore Liberty City and deal drugs out of the back of a van from a device that fits into my pocket is amusing as all get out. I just have to make sure I have the Crosswords game cart nearby so the better half doesn’t call me out on my “therapy.”
So, the next time you’re experiencing table burnout, maybe it’s time to focus on another type of game for a while. I’ve found that it helps tremendously, but you don’t have to take my word on it. Try it out yourself!
Tags: brain age, elite beat agents, grand theft auto, nintendo DS, Poker Poker Poker, video games
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Saturday, March 14, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth
I have written many books, done many educational DVDs, taught thousands of people how to play poker but I’ve decided to share with you some of my top tips and tricks in poker. Here are my top 10. Start using these tips and you’ll reap the benefits.
- Phil’s Top Ten Hands: A-A, K-K, Q-Q, A-K, J-J, 10-10, 9-9, 8-8, 7-7, A-Q
- Beginners: stick to “Phil’s Top Ten Hands”
- Tight is right!
- Raise it up on the flop to find out where you stand.
- When reading your opponent: trust your instincts!
- Patience, patience, patience…
- “Pot odds” dictate a lot of calls on the last round of betting
- Practice guessing your opponents exact two hole cards
- “Smooth call” (slow play a hand) every once in awhile
- “Pot odds” is pot size divided by the bet
Tags: Poker Poker Poker
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Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - Annie Duke
Hi Annie: My question is when I get a good hand on the flop, and I want to slow play. What is the correct bet in this situation? For example: I have an Ace High Straight.
Thanks, Theresa
This seems like a simple question but, as with everything in poker, it is actually quite complex. What it comes down to is the question of when it is appropriate to slow play a hand. There are several factors that go into the slow play. Let me touch on a couple.
1) What is the texture of the board? Is it coordinated or uncoordinated? If the flop is coordinated (like there is two of a suit on the board) then you should not slowplay. First, if you slowplay and you opponent hits the flush on the turn you have only yourself to blame because you did not make your opponent pay to hit his or her flush. With one to come, a flush is slightly over a 4 to 1 dog to hit. As long as you bet at least half the pot then you opponent is only getting 3 to 1 at best. That is bad math for your opponent and good math for you.
Second, If you slowplay a coordinated board then when the texture completes, like the flush card hits, you now make your decisions very difficult for yourself. This concept is blind to whether or not your opponent actually hit the flush. The problem is that regardless of what your opponent is actually holding, if he bets you now have a tough decision that you did not need to open yourself up to. By slowplaying the flop you have done nothing to define your opponent’s hand and now, when the flush card hits, you have no idea what he has or whether your hand is good or not. That means you are more likely to make mistakes on the hand.
2) How many people are in the pot? If there a many people in the pot it is almost never correct to slowplay because you can think of almost every board as coordinated. In a heads up pot if the board has flush and straight possibilities there are usually over 15 scary cards for you. But in a multiway pot, even if each individual opponent only has a few outs, when you add them all together it can come to the same number of cards out against you as on a board that looks very coordinated. For example, let’s say you have a hand like A6s and the board comes A62. Your opponents are holding AQ, AK and JJ. While each of them individually is in very bad shape against you, as a group they have 8 outs, basically the same as a flush draw. So it is very important to generally play faster in multiway pot.
3) The last piece of the puzzle to look at is to ask yourself what you would do if you didn’t have such a big hand? For example, if you have a hand like JJ, you raised preflop and someone in the big blind called. The board comes KJ3 rainbow. Your opponent checks to you. This is a bad time to slowplay the JJ because you would be betting here pretty much every time you get checked to in this heads up pot. By checking you are alerting you opponent that there is something weird about your hand.
Let’s say you opponent holds KQ. If you just bet the pot, which looks like a continuation bet, you are probably going to get a lot of money out of him. But if you check, the KQ now becomes suspicious of your hand and he is likely to slow down drastically, maybe even getting to fold on the turn. By slowplaying, which you thought was to extract money out of your opponent, you actually can cost yourself money against someone who has an okay hand but not a great one (which is what people usually have in hold’em). Against a great hand it works out the same anyway because you are getting that guy’s money anyway.
So, it turns out, slowplaying is usually not correct.
Xo
Annie
Tags: Annie Duke, flushdraw, Poker Poker Poker, slowplay
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Saturday, February 28, 2009 - C00LHandNuke
Whew! Two days of intense poker and I finally made it. I was going to play for Team Duke at the Championship Table of the Best Damn Poker Show 2. I couldn’t be happier. The line up looked like this:
Seat #1, Jason (Hellmuth) – Jason and I played at the same semifinal table and got down to three-handed together. He was tough and aggressive. But he had a lot of tells. Unfortunately, he overheard our Team Duke meeting where we were reviewing some of the tells that Annie and I had picked up on. Even with the tells, I figured him to be the toughest competition at the table.
Seat #2, Shaundle (Duke) – he had been playing solid and was a veteran of the show. I was glad to have him as my right-hand wing man. I would avoid confrontations with him.
Seat #3, Mike “Shipitmuppet” (Hellmuth) – This was my first table with Mike. But I knew he played tight in the early stages. My plan was to use position against him on the flop and turn and bluff more than usual.
Seat #4, Me (Duke)
Seat #5, Scotty (Hellmuth) – I really didn’t know much about Scotty but in the hours before play started we struck up a conversation. Actually, Scotty talked a lot and I just listened and egged him on. Turns out we had many things in common: lived in St. Louis, worked in construction for several years, warped senses of humor . . . I used the conversation to try and build a rapport with him. At the table I would try to keep him talking and let him give away clues, while at the same time be his “buddy.”
Seat #6, Patrick (Duke) – I’ve now played quite a bit with Patrick and still don’t have a good read on him. But from Annie and Shawn Rice’s comments he is playing solid, great poker. No reason to get involved with him out of position (but because he’s tight, I might “borrow” his blind from time to time . . . “stealing” blinds just sounds so nefarious).
I was pretty pleased with our line-up going into the final table. Annie let the six remaining players from her team have a vote in who would be on the table. After Shaundle and I were selected we had a very close vote for the third spot. It came down between Patrick and Jamie. Patrick had played solid, but Jamie had shown great instincts, even if she was a bit spewy at times. In the end we chose Patrick. But I could tell that Annie really felt like she needed that “dash of crazy, X factor” to really have a shot at winning the thing. She and I talked privately for a few minutes after the roster was set and I told her that I had a crazy gear, she just hadn’t seen it yet. So with that boast in mind, I felt like I really had to come through.
For the last two days, through nearly six hours of poker I had played pretty squeaky tight. I’ve only had four hands shown down. My tight image is a result of not only my strategy, but my cards. Because Phil and Poker H0 have seen my hole cards the entire time, I felt pretty confident that they will tell my competition that I’m tight – so this fits perfectly into my plan to play like a wild man!
For the first three hours of the show (the part that aired last Monday night) I never held a hand. I had one pocket pair, 6’s in the blind, and had to lay it down preflop when Jason raised and Shaundle reraised. I never held any big aces, or for that matter any small aces! Nevertheless, I was playing more than my fair share of hands and maintaining my stack by capitalizing on my tight image. Most of these hands didn’t make the tape, and it’s too bad. You shoulda seen the swill I was raising with.
Shaundle misread Jason and they got it all in preflop with Shaundle’s Q5 in bad shape against Jason’s QQ. David lost to Goliath this time and Shaundle was eliminated. It looked pretty crazy on TV, and it looked really crazy from my seat. Needless to say I was really bummed that Jason doubled up and that Team Duke got zero points. The next elimination was a result of Mike getting it all in preflop with AJ against Patrick’s AQ. I was really surprised to see Mike get it in so weak against probably the tightest player at the table. But Patrick had been flailing around a lot and losing chips by the handful. So I guess Mike was basically shoving as a bluff hoping that Patrick would fold.
The hand that would literally shape the final table came up when I raised on the button with J7 offsuit (I told you I was raising with swill!). Scotty called from the big blind. The flop came J23 with two hearts. Scotty checked and I made the mandatory cbet. I say mandatory because with the flush draw out there I don’t want to give a free card and with top pair, weak kicker, I would really like to just end the hand right now. Scotty called. Thought flash – CRAP!!!! This can go wrong in so many ways. The turn brought another Jack. With just over 55k in the pot, Scotty bet into me on the turn for 21k. I had just a shade more than 71k in my stack. To me, Scotty’s smallish bet looked like a defensive bet where he might be trying to see a cheap river card. I tried to confirm my read by talking to Scotty a bit. Based on all the clues so far, I approximated his range of hands like this: Flush draw (50%), Pocket pair (30%), Bigger Jack or a Full House (20%). Taking this range into account, I decided to ship my last 52k into the 100k+ pot. Scotty would be getting about 3 to 1 on the call. I figured that if Scotty had me beat, he would get all of my chips on the river anyway. But if he had a flush draw with an over or two, he might make a bad call as a bigger than 4 to 1 dog. Also, if he had a reasonable pair like tens or a slow-played over pair, he might make a really bad call as a 20 to 1 dog. I didn’t want to just call Scotty’s bet on the turn because if the heart came on the river, I might get bluffed out of a huge pot and leave myself short-stacked.
When Scotty didn’t snap call, it told me he didn’t have a bigger Jack or a full house. I was relieved. Scotty wasn’t feeling the same way. In the banter style we had developed before the table began and while the play was going on, Scotty called me a “mother fucker” when I raised him all in. I didn’t take it personally, but I knew that he had just crossed a line that will result in a penalty. Even though I now knew I was ahead, I was still paying attention to the clues about Scotty’s hand that he was giving me. Why? Because, it would determine if I wanted to try and induce a call from a pair (If he had the flush draw, I didn’t have real strong feelings one way or another – both a call and a fold would be good for me). As Scotty talked the hand out it was obvious he had a pocket pair and thought I did too. I tried to manipulate a call, but after a while, Scotty folded.
Even though Scotty had folded, the mental games in this hand still weren’t over. Figuring there was a strong chance Scotty held a pocket pair higher than sevens, I decided to flash him the seven from my hand as I mucked. I knew if he had folded eights or better, he would be on instant tilt. But two things went wrong with my plan. First, Scotty only had 66. So showing him the seven probably made him think I had 77 (momentarily) and confirmed his good laydown. Second, Jason, at the other end of the table, asked to see the exposed card and the dealer incorrectly showed BOTH of my hole cards. Now I was the one on tilt! By exposing both hole cards, not only did Scotty now KNOW he had made a good laydown, but my “tight” image just went bye-bye. Talk about a plan backfiring!
But in the words of Ron Popeil, “Wait, there’s more!” When the hand was over, tournament director Matt Savage told Scotty that he would be assessed a one-round penalty for calling me a mother fucker. Scotty lost it. He thought the penalty of sitting out four hands was unfair and stormed out. Savage also announced that we were on lunch break. When we returned from lunch the blinds would be 3000/6000 with a 1000 ante. The stacks were approximately this:
Jason = 239k
Shawn = 157k
Patrick = 132k
Scotty = 72k (59k after the penalty)
When we broke for lunch, the players weren’t allowed to talk to our coaches. Obviously getting unlimited coaching during the match with the benefit of knowing hole cards would be too much. So Patrick, Jason and I ate lunch together. Scotty was nowhere to be seen. As we sat there eating, we heard a rumor that he had left the casino, checked out of the hotel and was last seen headed to the airport. At the time, I couldn’t imagine someone walking away from a $20,000 free roll, but on the off chance that the rumor was true, I started to work on a new strategy for Jason.
The team situation was basically this: Because Shaundle went out first, Team Hellmuth would win the match if either Patrick or I went out in fourth place. With every member of the winning team getting a $8,500 Aruba package, this was real money in our pocket. So in effect, every member of Team Duke was on the money bubble. But the members of Team Hellmuth weren’t. Jason knew this. We talked about it over lunch. And based on his big stack play in a similar situation during the semifinals, I knew that he would abuse the bubble like Ike with Tina. Given Scotty’s stack, he would be blinded off in 23 hands. I simply couldn’t let Jason abuse the bubble for 23 hands. If I did, the stacks at the end would look something like this:
Jason = 455k
Shawn = 85k
Patrick = 60k
The solution was to remind Jason about the individual prize at stake. The highest finishing team member on EACH team would get a $12,000 WSOP Main Event package. All Jason had to do was not go bust in 23 hands and Scotty would in effect hand him $12,000 cash. I pointed this out to Jason and he was quick to note that he could still play a big pot because neither Patrick nor I could bust him. We were both playing the head games. “True,” I said, “but if I grab one extra round before you double me up, you’ll be shorter than Scotty and then you will have to risk ruin before Scotty goes broke or else Scotty will out last you!” At first Jason was skeptical, but we did the math together and he saw how it could happen. With that seed planted, I went for the kill. Knowing Jason was a highly-regarded on line player I asked him what the message boards would say if he lost first place prize money to a guy who was sitting out. Jason tried to play it off, but I thought I was getting to him. Picking up the blinds at least once was crucial to my strategy. And as we prepared to return to the table, I was psyching myself up to be the one abusing the bubble. Tune in to next week show on Fox Sports to see how it works out . . .
Tags: bestdamnpokershow, players, Poker Poker Poker, tv, VIP
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Friday, February 27, 2009 - Sydney
Well, well, I am sure you all have read about how we at VIP have our own little parties and poker games but I was wondering, how are your poker nights like?
Over here we try our best at hosting our online VIP players but as we all know online and real life are two very different scenarios. Usually when I attend a so called “poker night” at a friend’s house or the very own we hold between us VIP hosts, we have a variety of drinks, food not so much (just the usual chip snack) and music cannot be set aside. On other occasions there are just beers and a countless amount of food.
In regards to what happens at the poker table, between friends there’s always laughs and good times. You always have the poker “badass” (or the bounty as I like to call them), you know you need to try and take him/her out as fast as possible otherwise they will be quite hard to overcome further on. Then you have the “joker” that one person you just don’t know what to expect and since you’re not very accustomed to their game play they end up being quite an exciting rival and last but not least you have the “troublemaker” those that are not really into the game and play some crazy hands and end up confusing the entire table, not only that, but against all odds they seem to win and increase their chip stack (of course in the end odds even out and finally they lose).
When the night is over, as the host you end up with the satisfaction of watching those you know had a good time and enjoy themselves between drinks, friends and poker. This I believe parallels the experience of being a VIP host for Ultimate Bet, although we do not get the chance to see all of you face to face (or play poker), our goal and what we strive for is to have our players happy, comfortable and to enjoy the poker experience to their fullest. This is why we are available 24/7 and can be reached via phone line, chat or e-mail to help you out with anything you need.
One last thing! Good luck to all of you who are trying out our new Steps tourneys, if you have any feedback we’re all ears!
Tags: loyalty, players, Poker Poker Poker, RAI$E, VIP
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - Miss C
Hey Everyone,
So, who likes to play tournament? On a personal level I am a tournament player, not a live game player. I am one of the lucky ones who have been involved in from the very concept to a super successful tournament nearly a decade on.
The planning leading up to these events would blow your mind, we are talking from branding placements to the logo on the felts. Then heaven for bid you are adding additional tables into an established casino…to gain more poker tables we had to lose other gaming tables. In a casino there are so many departments that need to be involved and in the end everyone has to be on the same page.
The property I was involved with had hotels, food and beverage, equipment, entertainment, PR, VIP service, gaming and marketing. Our weekly meetings kept us all on the same page and being the ring leader was an experience. Every year the importance and growth of the tournament made up start our preparations earlier and earlier. All this did was increase the momentum and your year would fly by faster than normal.
Then the day would arrive and the players would start wondering in. The familiar faces you come by, just at tournament times and the Pros who exude their presence and the new kids on the block standing in awe contimplating asking for an autograph. The room would be in a state of excitement and edginess. The big games start appearing on the interest lists and the railbirds curse the fact we put the big games at the back of the room with no rail in sight.
It ends up being an amazing fortnight and it goes by in a blink. It is such an amazing feeling when your body kicks into automatic pilot and you run on pure adrenaline. There are parties, amazing final tables, bad beats galore, lots of dinners and drinks, but everyone is having a ball. Having an event that brings people from all over the world…old friends, new friends all here for the same thing.
Tournaments are the best time of the year for me when it all comes to an end…I curl up in a ball and sleep for 2 weeks and try to drink coffee again without getting heart palpitations. I say, “Bring on the next 1″ I love it.
Cheers,
Miss c
Tags: Casino, Entertainment, Final Tables, Live Games, Marketing, Poker Poker Poker, pros, Tables, tournaments
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Saturday, February 21, 2009 - C00LHandNuke
When the dust settled after the preliminary four tables, there were twenty-one contestants left on the show. Now it was up to Phil and Annie to draft nine players each for their team. Standing there for the draft in front of the cameras and bright lights was pretty intense. Plus, I was having flashbacks to last season when a number of contestants were called by name, jumped for joy, and then later found out that they were in the group being cut. Did it make good TV? Yes. Was it cruel? Maybe. Did it have me on edge? Definitely. So I stood there keen to spot any “Survivor” twists that might be coming.
Starting off the draft, one player was singled out as having played the best in the prelims. This player received all kinds of gushing comments, but neither Phil nor Annie said the player’s name for a while. I’m sure each of the contestants, myself included, was hoping deep inside that they would be that player. But because “being the best” wasn’t really my strategy for round one, I knew it wasn’t me. Finally, Annie Duke revealed the identity of this player with her first pick – Darryl.
Phil made his first pick next. I really wasn’t expecting Phil to pick me high in the draft for one reason. The day before the prelims started PokerH0 came to me with an odd proposition: basically he wanted me to be a sleeper agent for Team Hellmuth. He proposed that I play “mediocre” or even outright bad so that Annie wouldn’t draft me. Meanwhile, Phil could draft me lower and use his upper picks to take players from Annie’s top tier. Because he had played with me a lot before, H0 said that I would be a near lock to make Phil’s final three. Very sneaky. It also gives you an idea of just how bad these two coaching teams wanted to win. Annie and I had never played together live or online, but Shawn Rice and I had several hours together during a WPT event and knew each other a little from online. Because Rice knew me, I doubted whether the plan would work and I told H0 that I just couldn’t go out on national TV and intentionally make myself look like a donkey (looking like a donkey unintentionally was still a very viable option of course!). In any event, Phil chose “ShipItMuppet,” a long-time UB grinder as his top pick.
When Shaundle and Jason were the number two picks for Annie and Phil respectively, I can honestly say I was getting nervous. Unless I went to Phil’s team, I figured I needed a reasonably high draft pick to make the final table. For her third pick, Annie started off by saying she was going with a player who she thought was probably an “unrecognized talent” and that it was very close between this pick and Shaundle. To me, this sounded like the Darryl build up all over again. And I was mentally prepared not to hear my name. So, when she picked me third I was pretty friggin’ psyched. You can see my excitement on the show. It was such a relief to go in the top three because I now felt like the spot on the final table was mine to lose. But as the first semifinal match would show, I had no reason to feel so safe.
The structure for the semifinals was the same as the prelims – 10k in chips, one player from each team would be eliminated and the table winner had immunity. On top of that, we were playing for team points that would affect starting stacks at the final table. The final table starting stack was going to be 100k. But whichever team won the semis would get 10k off the losing teams stack (so the starting stacks would be 90k vs 110k). This was huge. And just to make it more cutthroat, each semifinal table winner would also get $1000 cash.
The first semi table was full of surprises. Annie’s team consisted of Darryl, Niago and Patrick. Darryl lost a race early to Muppet. Patrick played great poker but couldn’t outlast Niago, who won the table. So the first shocker of the show came when Annie was faced with the decision of whether to cut Darryl (who probably was the most experienced player at the table with the most lifetime winnings) or Patrick (who played a solid error-free table). I think in Annie’s mind, fairness ultimately won out and Darryl was cut. This was both good news and bad news for me. First, it effectively meant I moved up to the number two spot on Team Duke. Second, the Niago-Patrick one-two finish staked us to a healthy point lead. The bad part was that it showed me just how easy it would be to take a “bad beat” here and be off the show.
The second semi table was a disaster for Team Duke. My teammates were the first three busted. Now it was Team Duke that faced the huge point deficit going into the third and last semifinal table. Specifically, we needed to bust two of Phil’s players in 6th and 5th or else Team Hellmuth was guaranteed the chip lead on the final table. Even if we busted two of Phil’s players first, Team Hellmuth would still get the chip lead if his remaining player won the table. The table lineup was like this:
Seat 1 – Me (Team Duke)
Seat 2 – David (Team Hellmuth) – a very talented and successful on-line cash player. Perhaps his most impressive claim to fame is being a lifetime winner in heads up cash games against Tom “drrrrr” Dwan.
Seat 3 – SassyTexan (Team Duke) – Tight, aggressive and solid. Sassy was at my prelim table and when Annie gave me my choice for a table mate, Sassy was my first pick. I knew her solid play would keep the two of us from getting mixed up in any needless confrontations.
Seat 4 – Brad (Team Hellmuth) – my first impression was that he could be pretty wild.
Seat 5 – Jon (Team Duke) – probably the most inexperienced player in the field. Like Brad, I expected him to be unpredictable.
Seat 6 – Jason (Team Hellmuth) – another talented young on-line phenom. Jason is routinely ranked in the top 100 for on-line multi-table tournaments. He would be aggressive and the most dangerous. Fortunately, I would have position on him.
The first hand of the table really affected my strategy for the whole tournament. Brad raised from the button, Jon min raised from the blind and Brad put in a fourth bet that was just barely above a min raise. Jon called. The flop came down three baby cards with two diamonds. Jon check folded to a half-pot cbet from Brad. From the outside, it looked like Jon had a weak ace, maybe AJ to A8, that missed and Brad probably had a reasonable overpair or a big ace. As it turns out, Jon had the AQ of diamonds and Brad had tens. I probably wouldn’t have thought about the hand again, but I got called into the coach’s booth before the button orbited the table again.
The hand before I got summoned to the booth, I flopped bottom two pair in a multi-way pot between Jason, myself and Brad. Jason had top pair (queen) with a weak kicker and we went to war on the turn. Jason made three queens on the river and checked to me. Being counterfeited on the river, I knew the only way to win was to bet. Jason made the easy call and I tabled my “busted monster” and read the hand out loud as “queens and eights.” I congratulated Jason on his nice suckout and he got defensive, insisting that his queen on the flop was ahead of my eights. He missed the fact that I had flopped two pair. This started a lot of sarcasm and ball busting from me. I had just asked Jason if a pair of queens beats two pair in his home game when I was summoned to the coach’s booth.
In the coach’s booth Annie asked me to go back to the table and talk about a hand from the prelims where Jason got all in with two over cards and a flush draw versus a pair. She wasn’t allowed to tell me what cards other players had during the semi table. But as we had only played a few hands, only one of which had significant action. I was able to deduce that Jon had a hand like AK or AQ of diamonds on the first hand. This revelation was edited out of the show as aired. But knowing this fact changed my approach to the game. Jon had clearly made a huge error. Barring a brain fart by Sassy or myself, Jon would probably be Annie’s choice for elimination. Combine this with the elimination of Darryl in the first match and the performance of Team Duke’s players on the second table and I figured that my spot on the final table was nearly assured. This pushed my strategy back toward the style I employed during the preliminaries, but Annie also told me to take some more risks because Phil’s players were “playing scared.”
Throughout the semifinal table I never held a pair – not even deuces. Nevertheless, I cultivated a tight image, won a lot of pots with well timed bluffs and reraises and only had to show down two more hands during the whole match.
The first elimination of the match came when Jason raised from early position. I held KQ in the cutoff. Normally I would consider playing here, but David was on my left (on the button) and had checked his hole cards already. When he checked them, his posture changed ever so slightly. He leaned forward a bit, which I interpreted as he had a hand. I didn’t want to get caught between two of Phil’s players in a situation where I might be dominated so I bowed out. As it turns out, David’s suited Ace-Ten caught top pair, but got busted by Jason’s top two pair.
The big hand that made the show for me was when Jon opened in early position with KK five-handed and I had AK in the blind. I had a stack size of about 15 big blinds. This is a good size stack to reraise with. With that in mind, had this been a regular online SNG, I would have moved all in 100% of the time. And after sitting there for over an hour without a pair, AK looked like the nuts to me. But two things made me go with a different line. The first was my read on Jon. As soon as he checked his hole cards his demeanor changed. On the show that aired you can see his head rolling around on his shoulders like a Stevie Wonder bobble head doll. He was suddenly very relaxed and excited, but trying to hide it. Everything pointed to him having a HUGE hand. Based on my read, he had QQ at a minimum. The second thing that made a reraise my less favored move was that, this being team play, I didn’t want to bust Jon at this point, or worse, get busted by him. I couldn’t be sure that he would fold 99 in this spot.
Taking all that into account, I almost folded preflop. And based solely on my read, had Phil and Annie NOT been watching my hole cards, I probably would have folded. Ultimately I decided that the problem with folding was that if my read was wrong, I would have played AK like a total rube and Annie might cut me based solely on this play. Also, I felt like there was little chance of Jon bluffing me on the flop if he had a hand like AJ or AQ and if an ace hit, I could just open-shove – thereby letting him know that I’ve got a real hand. As it turned out, I blanked the flop and checked folded to Jon’s all-in bet.
But this hand also highlights two of my strategies for any poker game, particularly hold ‘em. The first is when to look at your hole cards. There are a lot of theories out there. Some very good players like Chris Ferguson suggest waiting until it is your turn to act. I used to do this, but think it is probably not the best plan. By waiting until the action is on you to look at your cards, you not only slow down the game, but you also ensure that almost everyone is looking at you when you do check your cards. That’s bad. Most players give up tells (1) when they first look at their cards (2) when they make a bet and (3) when they face action from an opponent. You can’t avoid all eyes being on you when you bet. And if you are heads up, your opponent, if she’s good, will certainly be watching you in the third scenario. So why draw attention to yourself in the one scenario you control: when you look at your hole cards for the first time?
Therefore, one of the things I like to do is look at my hole cards when no one is looking at me. Even when I’m under the gun I usually look at my first card before my second even arrives because players are usually watching the dealer pitch cards to them instead. Just knowing the rank of my first card under the gun vastly narrows my probable plays. Preferably, I look at my cards while the action is at the opposite end of the table. If timed right, I only miss one player checking his cards while I check mine. All things being equal, I’ll try to time my peek with the tightest player at the table. If he raises, I don’t need any tells. I know he has a hand. Besides hiding inadvertent tells from opponents, this has the added benefit of allowing me to prepare myself for how I want to act when the action is on me.
I will often recheck my hole cards when the action comes to me. But I will never show genuine surprise or excitement when I look down at AA or KK. The reason is I checked my cards earlier and I’ve been preparing myself for several seconds for how I want to look when I check the second time. So now I can try to give a false tell if I want to.
Case in point, on the show when I had the AK, the action was on me but I was staring at Jason for some time while I thought about what line to take. Once I knew I was going to call, I pretended to ask the dealer if the action was on me. Then I acted sheepish, like I just realized the table had been waiting on me, checked my hole cards (for a second time) and nonchalantly called Jon’s raise. If you watch the show closely, you can pick up on it.
The second strategy this hand highlights is that you have to constantly reevaluate your options. When I first saw I had AK, no one had acted yet. Like I said, given my drought of hands and my stack size, I was hoping someone would raise just so I could autoshove. When Jon raised, I had to reevaluate based on my read. And even after that, I had to reevaluate the whole scenario based on the team aspect of the game. After each evaluation, my plan changed. I went from shove, to fold, to call.
Ultimately, Brad went out 5th. Jason would later lose a heads up battle with Jon when Jon’s AQ sucked out on Jason’s AK all in preflop. The end result was a final table where each player would start with 100k in chips. Without giving too much away, the final table was crazy. There was some great poker. Some amusing hi jinks. And some bold bluffs that really blew up. So be sure to tune in!
Tags: bestdamnpokershow, players, poker media, Poker Poker Poker, Poker Strategy, VIP
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Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - Miss C
Las Vegas, my favourite place in the World. And such a crazy world it is. There is something about that place that makes me want to hand my credit card over and say “What time do I need to be at the airport?”.
Where to stay? Well personally if I am going to Vegas it is 5* all the way baby and my preference id Bellagio. It is a great casino, with the perfect location right in the middle of the strip. I have stayed at my share of digs in Las Vegas, but I think I will break the ritual this time and stay at the Wynn. I have heard great things about this place, it is located a bit further down the strip, but as a bonus it is right across the road from the Fashion Show Mall. And in my opinion Vegas has the best shopping in the World. Come July 1st I will be hitting the sales, also the best prices in the World!
In this day and age of the “Economic Crisis” what will the numbers be like at the WSOP 2009? I think think the number will hover around the same as last year. Poker players will always be poker players and everyone wants to play at the ultimate poker tournament. Win the coveted bracelet and you take a place in history. The dream lives on.
All the casinos come live and there are tournaments on tournaments. If the Rio isn’t treating you well, head anywhere and get some action. If the poker gets too much, there are shows, first class dining and great tourist places to visit and is that doesn’t work for you and the gambling bug is rife, there are a plethora of other games to be played.
So, is this the year you want to come to Vegas and try your luck out, come and play at UltimateBet we have got your ticket and would love for you to join us. There will be parties with Phil Hellmuth and all our Pros will be there if you want to have a chat or ask some advice.
Good luck and I hope to see you in Vegas.
Cheers,
Miss C
Tags: Bellagio, las vegas, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, Rio, Shopping, Vegas, WSOP, Wynn
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