Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - Vincent
As you guys may already know there have been lots of changes recently, not only we have improved some of our Promotions, tournaments and many other things at Ultimate Bet, but on the VIP Team we are having changes as well, thankfully we are going to have a new generation of VIP Hosts, that will enforce our services even more.
One important thing that also enforces our team union are our nice gatherings. Here at the VIP Team, we have been gathering several times to throw some VIP parties and of course, a party is not a party unless you have a least a small Poker Tourney! YEAH!
Anyways, the thing is that we usually have a couple of drinks, lots of food, sometimes Guitar Hero or Rock Band, but recently, we have like more poker tournaments played than usual, I do not know what is the main reason of this but it has become an important “to do thing” when we throw a party.
Over the last games we have had, AD has finished on 1st place on almost all of them, he is like so lucky and whenever we short stacked him, he starts (like all of a sudden) enduring a lot and even though we all try to beat him up whenever he goes all in with his small stack in order to not allowing him to win another Tournament (hehe), he always recovers and start beating us out one by one until he ends again on first place.
Whenever he came to the office at the next day, I always bother him and start saying that he was so lucky and that hopefully it lucky streak will not last for too long.. lol.. But of course I am just joking and I guess I am a bit jealous of seeing him winning all the Tourneys that I do not admit that he has been playing really good and taking the right decisions every time he invested money on the pots on our last few games.. LUCK LUCK.. Haha.. (Yeah I need to win one of those tourneys one of these days)
I guess that the fact that poker gives us all these many feelings at the same time, then it is one of the main reasons why this game is so fun and exciting at the same time. I really hope all of you here at Ultimate Bet enjoy and have so much fun as we do when playing poker.
Bye for now
Tags: loyalty, players, Poker Poker Poker, pokernights, pokerstrategy, RAI$E, team, VIP
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Saturday, February 7, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth
Plenty of history and prestige were at stake at the World Poker Tour’s no-limit Hold’em Championship at the Bellagio in December 2004, not to mention a first-place prize of $1.8 million dollars. On the third day of the five-day marathon tournament, the following hand came up between Player X (an amateur) and me.
Everyone had been randomly reshuffled to new tables at the $15,000 buy-in event, with 45 players remaining (out of 400 entrants). With the blinds (required bets) at $3,000-$6,000 and a $500 a man ante, Player X (with $164,500 in chips) opened for $15,000 in the 7-seat, and, sitting in the 3-seat, I looked down at K-K (holding $285,000 in chips).
What to do? Although I loved having pocket kings, I couldn’t decide how to play them. Should I “smooth call” (underbid) the bet and hope to extract a lot of chips from my opponent later on in the hand? Or should I re-raise the bet before the flop and give the amateur a chance to re-raise me?
On the one hand, smooth calling entailed merely calling the current $15,000 bet in order to disguise the strength of my hand and make it seem much weaker than it was. Later on in the hand, I would try to draw another $40,000 to $120,000 into the pot when everyone would assume my hand was weak. However, a re-raise before the flop would alert my opponent to the strength of my hand and likely cause him to fold before the flop. The benefit of the re-raise was that it might cause my opponent to move all-in with a hand like J-J, Q-Q, A-K, or worse; thus causing me to be a huge favorite for a ton of chips.
Finally, I chose an extremely safe play. I would make a huge re-raise before the flop for two reasons. First, I wanted to protect my hand from being beat (in case players with weak yet still potentially winning hands decide to wait for the extra cards given the relatively low stakes). Second, I wanted to simply move all-in for the rest of my chips on the flop, in the event Player X called the massive re-raise, and a non-ace flop hit (such as Q-9-4 or 2-2-7) — thus protecting my hand from losing one more time. So I raised the bet up to $80,000, making a relatively huge $65,000 re-raise into the $40,000 pot.
One minute later my opponent moved all-in for $164,500. “I call” I immediately announced and turned my K-K face up. My opponent’s face looked ashen as he showed me Ad-Jd (I was a now a 2.5-to-1 statistical favorite). Then the flop came down K-Q-J, and I was about to take the chip lead with $460,000 — the $340,000 in the pot plus the $120,000 I still had in my pile — when the turn card came in as a 10 for him to make straight (K-Q-J-10). I still thought that I would win the hand with a king, queen, jack, or 10, but alas, the last card was an eight.
Oh well, that’s poker!
RAISE OR FOLD
The benefit of re-raising with K-K before the flop is:
a) You take a big chance
b) Risky plays work well
c) You protect your hand from losing
d) All of the above
Answer: C
Tags: Bellagio, pocket kings, Poker Poker Poker, Poker Strategy, World Poker Tour, WPT
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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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Wednesday, February 4, 2009 - Scott Ian
Hello my friends how are ya? I apologize for the late blog, I’m still spinning from a combination of the Superbowl on Sunday and coming in 14th in the 200K. Thank god for Tivo as it seemed like every time there was a great play and the whole room would erupt in cheers I was involved in a hand and I’d miss it!! And then as I got deep into the tourney and would announce that I had AA or that I was shoving, the game would get paused and everyone would watch the poker tourney. Thankfully there was a lot to cheer about until I finally busted with 14 left.
Here’s the hand: Blinds 5K-10K, 1K ante’s. Middle position guy shoves with around 16K, SB shoves with 62K and I shove my 60K stack with 66. Middle position guy could have anything and I knew SB had to have something but I’d seen him play 89s and hands like that so I thought my pair was a race if not good. Long story short, SB had 88 and I was done. I guess I could’ve waited one more round but then I’d have 47K left. I had a lot of fun playing and didn’t suck out on anyone.
I’m feeling really good about my game right now. I’ve been consistently cashing in the $100 and $200 Sit & Go’s and going deep in MTT (I bubbled the 5K Sniper today, fucking BOO!!). I’m hoping it carries over live and allows me to do well in the LAPC this month.
I have something in the works for the site next month that I think you all are going to love. I can’t let the cat out of the bag yet until everything is confirmed but I can tell you it’s going to be something that you can’t do on any other site. It’s going to be available to all levels of player and it’s going to ROCK!!! Stay tuned……..
I read about the WSOP removing the rebuy events from the 2009 schedule and then I read what a lot of the pro’s had to say about it. It’s not going to affect me personally because I wasn’t planning on playing any rebuy events but in my humble opinion (if you care!!) I think it’s a good move. The rebuy events definitely give an edge to the pro’s and the high level cash game players or just rich dudes in general. I guess I just feel you shouldn’t be able to “rebuy” a bracelet. OK, start tearing me a new one.
I played in a charity event at the Hard Rock in Vegas last week. It was called POW and it’s all about saving our winters. The field was mostly pro snowboarders and snowboard industry people with a few poker pro’s (saw Todd Brunson) and rock dudes mixed in. It was a lot of fun and I somehow made it down to 25 people with the bad structure and all. At least I was taken out by my buddy John Dolmayan from System Of A Down. I’ll get you next time buddy. My friend Greg from Mudvayne lost his stack set over set (J’s into K’s). It was brutal.
That’s it my friends. See you at the tables.
Cheers,
Scott
Tags: Hard Rock, LAPC, Poker Poker Poker, Superbowl, Todd Brunson, Vegas
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Sunday, January 25, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Last Tuesday saw the inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th President. The major thrust of Obama’s campaign was change–and after eight years of George W. Bush running things that was rather an obvious tack to take. Immediately after taking office the new President signed a number of executive orders reversing policies established by the previous Administration, and all this righting-the-ship and steadying-the-rudder no doubt has poker players hoping that the down the road some sanity might return vis-a-vis the government’s stance on the game.
It’s doubtful that poker is high on Obama’s list of priorities, what with the economy and Iraq and Afghanistan and other nightmarish problems to deal with. But there has been quite a bit of news on the legal and legislative front the past week or so that shows that the tide maybe be slowly shifting back in poker’s favor.
First, the bad news–on Monday, January 19th, the rules governing Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) went into effect. Over two years after the UIGEA was tacked onto the Safe Port Act at the last minute and voted into law, the rules governing the UIGEA were finally issued on November 12th. They did not formally go into effect until the day before Obama was inaugurated, which was hardly a coincidence. These rules put the onus on financial institutions to identify and block transactions to internet gaming sites…although the rules STILL do not define what is and isn’t an internet gaming site, nor which transactions specifically are to be blocked. Which is not the sort of ambigious witch-hunting that beleagured financial companies need to waste time on these days.
However, there are ways wherein these rules might be rendered moot. The big gun is the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to reverse or cancel regulations made by the previous Administration within 90 days of their enactment. President Bush didn’t have much need of the Act because the Clinton Administration put forth it’s new rules in it’s last few weeks, so President Bush was able to rescind them without Congressional help. He hoped to avoid his own rules being swept away by the new President by enacting them more than 60 days before he left office, but the Congressional Review Act gives legislators a bigger window to work with. And it’s big enough to go after new regulations the Bush Administration passed that allowed for uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, that made it easier for coal companies to dump debris in nearby streams and valleys…and that required banks to block transactions to internet gaming sites.
Typically it’s a good thing politically to make the tent as big as possible and get as many people on your side. Having enviromental groups and civil rights advocates standing shoulder-to-shoulder with poker players would be a good thing. The problem is that to reverse regulations using the Congressional Review Act, every single regulation has to be debated and voted on separately. That could take an awfully long time, and Congress’s attention might be better served focusing on the colossal problems (economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc) we currently face. To get around that problem, Representative Jerrod Nadler (D-NY) introduced the Midnight Rule Act, which would give Cabinet secretaries more latitude in rewriting regulations created in the final 90 days of the previous Administration.
There are some problems facing the passage of this bill–it would have to be passed FAST to so that the changes could be made within the 90-day window. And Congress has a lot on it’s legislative plate right now–getting this bill up for a vote might not be a priority. It could also be filibustered by Republicans in Congress. And while I like the whole checks-and-balances part of our government, this might put a bit too much power in the hands of those able to re-write and rescind regulations. I don’t think laws should be written in stone, but they shouldn’t be written in sand either. Something for the constitutional scholars among us to mull over.
Maybe it’s unlikely that the UIGEA rules will be reversed. And maybe it’s unlikely that we’ll see a repeal of the UIGEA this year and online poker finally legalized and legitimatized. But as you can see there are powerful forces at work, both inside and outside of government, that want to see the laws governing poker changed. Of course, there are still powerful forces opposing poker–during Attorney General-designate Eric Holder’s confirmation hearings, Sen. John Kyl (perhaps online gaming’s most implacable Congressional foe) asked Holder the following:
The question that I’d ask and wanted just to get confirmed for the record is that you indicated that under your leadership, the Department of Justice would continue to aggressively enforce the law against the forms of internet gambling that DOJ considers illegal
Somehow understanding the question despite Kyl’s tortured syntax, Holder replied that he would enforce the law. Which makes sense–as the nation’s top law-enforcement official it would’ve been very odd had Holder replied, “Nah, don’t like that law, think I’ll give it a miss”. Of course the Attorney General will enforce the laws on the books. Whether Holder will “aggressively” enforce the UIGEA, or whether he’ll focus his attention on more serious matters, remains to be seen.
So that’s what’s up on the on the federal level. In another post I’ll talk about the legal battles being waged at the state and local level. But I think this is enough talk about Congress and legislation and John Kyl for one day. Especially a Sunday.
Tags: barack obama, change.gov, eric holder, john kyl, obama inauguaration, obama poker, obama uigea, online poker laws, online poker legislation, online poker regulations, poker laws, poker legislation, Poker Poker Poker, ub, ub blog, uigea, unlawful internet gambling enforcement act
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Sunday, January 18, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
What better way to whet the appetite for tonight’s million-dollar UBOC Championship than with a little rebuy madness? Last night’s No-Limit Hold-Em w/rebuys tournament gave the 357 players in the field a chance to get their gamble on, splash some chips, and sharpen their fangs for the main event. Those players ended up rebuying 398 times and adding-on 372 times (heck, that seems almost miserly) before hunkering down and playing with what was left in front of them. And by the time the final table was reached you could be excused for feeling a touch of deja vu:
A number of the players at last night’s final table have made deep runs in other UBOC events, including NHGGSIKE, who finished 4th in our UBOC H.O.R.S.E event. After showing that he’s no slouch at the no-limit game as well NHGGSIKE added another final-table to his resume but could advance no further, as he went ninth after committing the last of his shortstack with Ah-6c and getting called by EDAV67’s Qd-10h. A ten on the flop and no Ace on the turn or river sent NHGGSIKE out with a $$2,535.75 payday.
PHILBORT was able to improve on his 11th-place finish in the UBOC Heads-Up event, though he didn’t get as far as he probably hoped. He went out eighth after open-shoving with Ah-4s and running into the pocket Tens of JMEWNIE. The board brought no help and PHILBORT added $3,662.75 to his bankroll.
Often it isn’t the final hand that tells the story, but one shortly beforehand. That was the deal with EDAV67, who lost the bulk of his stack when he ran pocket Tens into TOMPHOOLERY’s pocket Jacks. Adding insult to injury, EDAV67 made a straight on the river…but only after TOMPHOOLERY made a full house on the turn. Adding addition injury to, uh, injury, EDAV67 got the last of his chips in holding a dominating As-Qc to DOGMA1975’s Ah-7s. All was well until the river…when the 7h spiked to send EDAV67 out in 7th place. A nice $4,789.75 payday, but a frustrating end nonetheless.
In keeping with the “hey, haven’t I seen you here before?” motif, NIBBLER was the next player sent to the rail. After posting a 12th-place finish in UBOC Event #4 NIBBLER made it to the final table this time before shoving with Kd-3s and running smack into -HALIGON-’s Ad-Kc. The three remaining treys remained hidden in the deck and NIBBLER collected $5,916.75 before leaving the stage.
They say to win poker tournaments you must both win with Ace-King and defeat Ace-King. After completing the first half of the axiom against NIBBLER -HALIGON- closed the circle by using pocket Eights to boot TOMPHOOLERY. After a $48K raise -HALIGON- re-raised and that precipitated a $226K shove from TOM, who rolled over Ah-Kh. The Kd-Qd-7h flop put him in the lead, but for just a heartbeat as the 8h spiked on the turn. But that card gave TOMPHOOLERY a flush draw, one that didn’t hit as the river brought the Jc. Sometimes the race doesn’t go to the swiftest, or even the runner who seems to take an overwhelming lead, and that was TOMPHOOLERY’S fate as he collected $7,325.50 for finishing fifth.
All DOGMA1975 accomplished during the UltimateBet Online Championship was freakin’ winning Event #2 and take home $47,000. He was trying to take down his second UBOC title but with chips running short he moved in with Ks-6H and was called by JMEWNIE’s dominating Kd-Jc. The flop missed them both and a Jack on the turn (and another Jack on the river for good measure) meant the end of DOGMA1975 dreams of a two-fer. But don’t feel too bad for him–in addition to the $8,734.25 he won last night he’s also atop the UBOC Leaderboard, and if he can hang on he’ll win a $12,000 WSOP Main Event package.
Down to three-handed the big chip-leader was a player I haven’t even mentioned yet–NEGATIVEROI. Proving the maxim that you don’t have to knock people out to accumulate vast quantities of chips, NEGATIVEROI held $1.4 million to JMEWNIE’s $255K and -HALIGON-’s meager $170K. And again NEGATIVEROI let others to his dirty work for him, as -HALIGON- shoved from the button with Qh-Js and was quickly called by JMEWNIE holding As-Kh. This time -HALIGON- was not able to work his Big Slick voodoo, as the Ad-7s-10h flop gave JMEWNIE top pair and no Jack came on the turn or river to save the day. -HALIGON- took home $11,833.50 for his third-place finish.
NEGATIVEROI began heads-up play with a 3-1 chip lead, but also perhaps with a bit of baggage. While he hadn’t made a UBOC final table so far, he had reached the final table of our Sunday $200,000 Guaranteed Tournament twice. And on both occasions, he’d finished…second. Would he be able to close the deal this time and capture the title? Sometimes in these pressure-packed situations it helps to get a wee bit lucky, and this time good fortune smiled on him. After he raised to $50,500 JMEWNIE made it $170K straight. NEGATIVEROI moved in, got the call, and he found that his Kc-Kh had JMEWNIE’s As-Kd in dire straights. Kings into Big Slick with the tournament hanging in the balance…that’s a chilly deck. NEGATIVEROI still had to fade an Ace and all sorts of potential draws to book the win, and that’s exactly what he did as the board ran out 3d-Jd-8s-6s-2c to give him the UBOC title and the $28,175.00 first prize. As Big Slick’s final victim of the night, JMEWNIE earned $17,074.05 for finishing as our runner-up.
Tags: Poker Poker Poker, poker tournament results, poker tournaments, ub, ub tournament results, UBOC, uboc results, uboc tournaments, ultimatebet, ultimatebet online championship
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Saturday, January 17, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
When you play in one of our UBOC events you can win back your buy-in by knocking out one of our pros, who are easily identifiable because their screen names are in red. But if you checked the leaderboard last night you’d find that there was one bounty that went uncollected during UBOC Event #10. And that’s because Matt “WISCOMURRAY” Murray won the shorthanded Limit Hold-Em tournament last night in a back-and-forth scrum that saw players go from worst to first (and then back again) in a single hand.
Both THELTRAIN and BOOMBAT2 were brutally short coming into the final table and they were quickly escorted to the rail. THELTRAIN went first, committing the last of his chips with Qh-8d and getting called by HYERAN KIM’s Ah-10h. The board bricked out and THELTRAIN collected $1,890 for his sixth-place finish. BOOMBAT2 was next to visit the payout window, as he raised with Kd-3c and was called by YNGMANN4QUIKI. After the 3d-5h-2c flop BOOMBAT2 pushed in his last handful of chips. YNGMANN4QUIKI called to find that his As-Qh had been outflopped, but the Qd spiked on the turn and the Ah on the river for good measure and BOOMBAT2 was out in fifth, good for $2,340.
YNGMANN4QUIKI went out next, but not before a hand that rivaled Teddy KGB’s cold-decking of Mike McD at the begining of Rounders. After a raise and a call before the flop WISCOMURRAY and YNGMANN4QUIKI exchanged a series of raises and re-raises after a 5c-Qc-10d flop. The same happened after the Kd turned, and when the 8c fell on the river YNGMAN called one last bet from WISCO, who turned over Kc-Jc for the rivered flush (after the flopped open-ender/flush draw and the turned pair). YNGMANN4QUIKI flashed Kh-Ks for the turned set that didn’t hold up, and one hand later WISCOMURRAY finished YNGMANN4QUIKI off, hopefully the $2,790 he collected for finishing fourth provided some solace (maybe some Oreos would help as well).
Down to three-handed WISCOMURRAY, HYERAN KIM and Kevin “KICE32″ Iacafano took turns hammering away at each other. The blinds were large enough and the stacks small enough that losing a single hand could deal a crippling blow, and that’s what happened to KICE32. He lost a huge pot when WISCOMURRAY tabled a flopped set of threes and that left KICE32 with just $28K. But he tripled up on the next hand when, holding K-9, he flopped a King and turned a nine to get back in the game.
At one point HYERAN KIM seemed to be getting the best of it but he couldn’t deliver the knockout blow. There was one hand that might’ve been decisive–with the board showing the five through eight of diamonds HYERAN KIM bet and WISCOMURRAY called. HYERAN KIM showed the nine of diamonds for the straight flush, while WISCO flashed the Ace of diamonds for the faux-nut flush. WISCOMURRAY might’ve lost more on that hand, but he didn’t, and slowly the tide turned his way. He went on a run where he won five hands in a row, including the one that sent KICE32 out in third place. With WISCO holding 8d-9c, the flop came 8s-Ac-As, and after a bet and a call the turn brought the 9h. A bet, raise and re-raise left KICE32 with just $17K and that went in after the river brought the 8h. WISCOMURRAY showed his full house and when KICE32 couldn’t beat it he was our third-place finisher, good for a $3,780 payday.
The heads-up match started with WISCO holding a $760K to $140K chip lead over HYERAN KIM, and though KIM won seven of the ten heads-up hands (including one where he doubled-up with pocket Aces) he never made up much ground. After getting his stack up to over $300K HYERAN KIM lost a big hand when WISCOMURRAY turned a King for top pair, and on the next hand the two players exchanged a series of raises until KIM was left with just a few thousand chips. The flop came 10h-3h-Qs, the last of HYERAN KIM’s chips went in, and that’s when he learned that his Ah-9c were completly crushed by WISCO’s Ad-10c. The Kc on the turn gave HYERAN KIM hopes of a chop, but the river brought the 6c and the end of HYERAN KIM’s hopes. He won $5,454 for finishing as our runner-up, and Matt “WISCOMURRAY” Murray took home $9,000 and serious bragging rights within the Team UB roster for taking down a UBOC title.
Tags: kice32, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, ub, ub tournaments, UBOC, uboc events, uboc tournaments, ultimatebet, wiscomurray
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Friday, January 16, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
To succeed in limit poker, you must have the math. The calculations aren’t complicated but if the numbers aren’t encoded into you DNA you will struggle. To win in limit poker your play must be as precise as a Swiss watch and as cooly analytical as a Swiss banker. In no-limit mastery of the math is important, but not definitive. You must also have heart. Or guts. Fortitude, let’s call it. And something else–imagination. You not only have to step into the shoes of your opponent, you must also allow him to step into yours…and then trick him into seeing your lies as the truth. That massive all-in re-raise you just made…a bluff, or are you holding the nuts and daring your foe to make a doomed hero call? As Crandall Addington once said, “Limit poker is a science, but no-limit is an art. In limit you are shooting at a target. In no-limit, the target comes alive and shoots back at you.”
Pot-limit poker lies in the middle ground between the two. There are those who believe pot-limit requires the most skill–you can bet enough to protect your hand and price out draws, but you can’t just shove in your stack after seeing your hole cards. You must see flops. You must build pots. The limits (and excesses) of the other two games is somewhat mitigated.
Last night 532 players took to the felt to display their pot-limit skills in UBOC Event #9. Both Adam “ROOTHLUS” Levy and Matt “WISCOMURRAY” Murray made it deep, but not as deep as the nine players who made last night’s final table:
After JLFOXLKN was eliminated in 9th and PONYNECK in 7th, there was some talk of a chop as no player had an overwhelming chip lead (LOOT613 led as the final table started with $334K). But the negotiations quickly came to an end and play resumed. Lady luck is a fickle one and after LUCKYSNORM went out in 7th the next player bounced from the tournament was LOOT613, the one-time chipleader. Which again got the players talking about a chop, and which led WU_WIZARD to respond to the entreaties with a succient, “Nah”.
And a good decision it was, because after EL_PIEB10, MILKMONEY4ME and FREEZE1873133 were eliminated in turn, GARNET and WU_WIZARD played heads-up for the title. And a long, cautious battle it was, with each player jabbing and feinting rather than throwing haymakers–perhaps illustrating the difference between pot- and no-limit. WU_WIZARD held the chip lead most of the way before GARNET was able to claw back and even take a slight lead. But that advantage was erased when, with the board reading 10h-6h-7d-Qc, GARNET made a $275,000 bet and WU_WIZARD moved all-in. GARNET surrendered his hand and more than half his chips, and the writing was on the wall. GARNET battled back to push his stack back up to $400K, but after limping in and seeing WU_WIZARD make a pot-sized raise, GARNET hit back with a re-raise. But WU_WIZARD had a hand, Ah-Qs, and after he moved all-in the pot-stuck GARNET called and found that his Kd-5c needed help. Help he didn’t get on the Qc-8h-9c flop, and after the 7s turned and the 8s fell on the river GARNET was out in 2nd place (winning $20,025, a much better payday than he would’ve had in a five-way chop) and WU_WIZARD’s self-confidence was rewarded with $34,495 and a UBOC title.
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Thursday, January 15, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
T.J. Cloutier once said that he didn’t care how many people he knocked out of a poker tournament, so long as he knocked out the LAST person. Because, obviously, that meant he’d won the tournament, and that’s the ultimate goal. But as anyone who’s watched poker on TV knows the most dramatic moments are the big confrontations, when all the chips go in the middle, the cards are flipped over, and one player’s life hangs in the balance.
Not that poker players usually need extra incentive to go for the throat, but last night’s UBOC event gave them even more reason to channel the shrieking, befanged beast that lies within. UBOC Event #8 was our Sniper event, where each player has a $30 bounty on his/her head. Knock someone out, collect thirty bucks. Knock two people out, collect sixty bucks. Knock three people out…but I’ve made my point.
So in addition to the money you’d win for cashing there was another revenue stream to be had–collecting scalps. And one of the trophies most prized at UB’s tables is a knockout of Phil Hellmuth, who made a deep run and finished 31st. His run might’ve been deeper had he not been crippled by RAM20INCH and then polished off soon after by CALMJACKAL, which delighted the railbirds watching Phil.
Speaking of the railbirds, some anthropology Ph.D candidate should eschew the indiginous tribes of the Amazon or Papua New Guinea and do a detailed study of people who rail well-known poker players. There’s important and interesting work to be done among those people.
Several other well-known players came close to making the final table, including Jon “PearlJammed” Turner (who finished 12th) and Frank “gator43″ Hernandez (who finished 13th). HUSSRAMILTON, who was the runner-up in Tuesday night’s H.O.R.S.E. event, followed up that impressive result by posting an 11th place finish. And Robbie “CUNNINGHAM” Cunningham finished 16th…here’s a picture of him from the 2008 Aruba Poker Classic:
That’s Liv Boeree standing on Robbie’s shoulders. Good picture of him, yes?
Anyway, there were nine players who DID make the final table, and here there are/were:
And as the final table played down here’s how they placed and cashed:
- 9th: Corey “CMB8757″ Burbick $2,611
- 8th: THALAIET $3,682
- 7th: AGS104 $5,022
- 6th: MICOJONES $6,361
- 5th: TWOLIP69 $7,700
- 4th: RAM20INCH $9,374
As the survivors played three-handed SAILORLOBELL held nearly 60% of the chips in play, and he seized total control when he raised to $33,000 on the button and Jason “TAKNAPOTIN” Somerville moved all-in for his last $303K. SAILORLOBELL called and his Ac-Ks had Somerville’s Kd-Qs dominated. The board bricked for both players and SAILORLOBELL went into heads-up play with a $1.17 million to $315K chiplead over STRIFE23.
A lead that lasted just one hand, as STRIFE23 doubled up when, holding A-3 to SAILORLOBELL’S A-9 and all the money in preflop, STRIFE23 rivered a trey to stay alive and get himself back in serious contention. But despite that brutal beat SAILORLOBELL didn’t falter, winning the next four hands to get his stack back up over $1 million. He maintained that lead until the last hand, as the two players saw a 6c-4s-8s flop and STRIFE23 led out for $50,000. SAILORLOBELL made a small raise to $120,000, and STRIFE23 moved in the last of his chips. To find that his Jc-7c were in bad shape against SAILORLOBELL’s Js-10s. The 8d on the turn and 9c on the river didn’t save STRIFE23 and he finished as our runner-up, winning $20,088. While SAILORLOBELL took home $32,810, an UltimateBet Online Championship title…and $30 for knocking the last person out of the tournament.
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Monday, January 12, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
As both a hockey fan and a tight-weak poker player the word “shorthanded” has negative connotations for me. But shorthanded play is the wave of the present in poker, with both heads-up and six-handed games becoming more and more popular. Shorthanded games force you to play more hands, play more hands after the flop, make more difficult decisions…in short, you have to play more poker. And last night saw UltimateBet stage it’s $300+20 six-handed Hold-Em event, which featured 793 players. And here are the half-dozen who made it to our 33% roomier final table:
When you’re the table shortstack and you shove from the small blind with Qc-9d you’re no doubt hoping the big blind folds, because you’re only gonna get called by a better hand. That’s exactly what befell ERIKTHEKING7 as his steal attempt was arrested by WHITHERED’s call with a dominating Ks-Qs. No help arrived on the board and ERIKTHEKING7 was dead, long live ERIKTHEKING7.
A few hands later MADMAX91 raised from the small blind, but with a legitimate hand–As-Qd. JBLAZE20 made the call from the big blind and when the flop came 6c-2h-7c MADMAX91 probably though those baby cards hadn’t hit his opponent and so moved all-in. His timing proved poor–JBLAZE20 had flopped a set of deuces and that was pretty much that. MADMAX91 didn’t hit his runner-runner miracle and was out in fifth place.
Many of the UBOC events have ended with the players making a deal and when we were four-handed the players started discussing possible terms. But WHITHERED didn’t seem much interested in dealing and when he put forth a proposal the other players quickly rejected it and we got back to business. After RYANWELCH16 (the chipleader) raised it up UPAYMYMORTGAGE drew the line in the sand and moved all in. RYANWELCH16 called, to find that his Ad-6h was dominated by UPAYMYMORTGAGE’s Ac-Jh. But the situation was reversed about a nanosecond later as the 6d-8s-4d flop gave RYANWELCH16 a pair and when the turn and river brought diamonds he held the nut flush and sent UPAYMYMORTGAGE to the rail in 4th place.
At this point RYANWELCH16 had a huge chip lead with WHITHERED AND JBLAZE20 lagging well behind, but the two shortstacks quickly consolidated, though not in the way JBLAZE20 might’ve chosen. WHITHERED moved all-in from the small blind with Ac-Qs and JBLAZE20 made the call with pocket Fours. The baby pair still led the race after the 9c-3h-6d flop, but the turn brought the Ah and the river the As for good measure to eliminate JBLAZE20 in third.
RYANWELCH16 held a bit less than a 4-1 chip lead as heads-up play started but WHITHERED still wasn’t interested in making a deal. The two traded pots for a bit but WHITHERED wasn’t able to make up much ground before the final hand. There was a raise, an all-in, and a call, and WHITHERED’s Kh-Jh needed some help against RYANWELCH16’s Ad-2c. The 3s-Qh-Qd brought some teasing paint but no real help, though the 5h on the turn did–it gave WHITHERED a flush draw. But the river saw the 10d fall and that withered WHITHERED’s stack and left RYANWELCH16 as the champion of UBOC Event #5 and $66,000 richer.
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