Sunday, January 11, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Deep stack tournaments do not necessarily translate into interminable death-marches that last till dawn. A case in point is tonight’s UBOC Event #4, a deep-stack No-Limit Hold-Em event that started at 2:30pm ET. A total of 402 players resisted the urge to watch the NFL playoffs (though I’m sure quite a few were multitasking) and by the time we reached the final table it looked like this:
A few familiar names at that final table–Matt “WISCOMURRAY” Murray, for one. TRALAIRA, who final-tabled UBOC Event #1, for another. And they would be among those who lasted until the end, though the same can’t be said for LOLPWNU, who was eliminated in 9th place when he commited the last of his chips with pocket Tens (my lucky hand) and was called by COMPLETEDONK in the big blind holding the mighty Qd-5c. A Queen on the flop probably didn’t make LOLPWNU laugh out loud, as he went out in ninth place.
After the action was folded around to ILETURUN in the small blind he moved all-in to put the squeeze on STORER50, only to get squeezed back when STORER50 called with Ac-6h to ILETURUN’s 8s-5s. Just as they say you can never find a cop when you need one, ILETURUN couldn’t find an eight or five when he needed one and was eliminated in 8th place.
CHAUCHMEYER looked to be in good shape to double up when his Ad-Kd had ANABOOLA’s Ac-Qh. The flop and turn didn’t alter the situation and all CHAUCHMEYER had to do was fade a Queen on the river to double up. You know where this is going, right?–the Qs spiked on the river and cruelly sent CHAUCHMEYER to the rail in 7th place.
COMPLETEDONK was next to fall, shoving with As-4c and getting called by ANABOOOLA’s pocket Nines. COMPLETEDONK picked up a wheel draw on the river but the river brought no help and he was out in 6th. There are many brutal ways to get bad-beated out of a tournament, but the way STORER50 was ushered out the door is one that especially bugs me. He was all in holding pocket Sevens to ANABOoOLA’s Ac-9d. The 10h-4c-Qc didn’t threaten much, though the 10c on the turn gave ANABOOOLA a flush draw. But it wasn’t a club or an Ace that spelled COMPLETEDONK’s doom–it was the Qh, which put two pair on the board and counterfeited his pocket Sevens. ANABOOOLA’s Ace played and that lone card was strong enough to eliminate COMPLETEDONK in fifth place.
During play there had been some talk about making a deal, but discussions began in earnest when we got four-handed. ANABOOOLA had a sizeable chip lead but it was the shorter stacks who wanted a bit more bread before they’d deal. Play resumed and ANABOOOLA flexed his musclesby moving in from the small blind, and YUFOLDBSTHND called with As-5s. ANABOOOLA turned over Jd-4c, a modest holding that grew in stature when a Jack came on the flop. No Ace came to save the day and YUFOLDBSTHND was out in 4th place.
And that’s when the three remaining players returned to the negotiating table and tried to hammer out a deal. ANABOOOLA had about 75% of the chips in play and the three players went back-and-forth, forth-and-back coming up with terms that would be agreeable to all. Note to self–do some reading on negotiating tactics and the parsing of financial data. Either that or retain a CPA to assist in all dealmaking at the poker table.
But in the end a deal was made and that deal brought an end to the tournament. A situation we may see repeated in future events, or perhaps not. There’s a lot of money involved after all…but then again, that’s why they call it gambling. Congratulations to ANABOOOLA, TRALAIRA and WISCOMURRAY for a very good day’s work indeed.
Tags: Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, ub, ub tournaments, UBOC, uboc tournaments, ultimatebet, ultimatebet tournaments
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Saturday, January 10, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
I’m not one to toot my own horn, but…
Yes, that’s me knocking Shawn Rice out of today’s mini-UBOC event and collecting his $30 bounty. We’re about 20 off the money and I’m 11th in chips. Which of course means I’m gonna run Kings into Aces in three…two…one…
Cramping my style is Chris “PIMASTER” Vioxx, who is the big chip leader and sits three seats to my left. Chris won a UBOC event two years ago and I’d rather not lock horns with him if I can help it. Tight might be right.
And on CUE I lose 1/2 my stack when I run Ace-King into HOUN’s Aces. The good news is that I rivered the nut flush. The bad news is that it wasn’t the nut flush, as he flopped a full house. I will now commence the screaming and renting of garments.
UPDATE: And I’m out, three short of the money. I ran K-10 into PIMASTER’S A-2 and I didn’t improve. At least I was freerolling…yeah, that’s SUCH a comfort. It just goes to show you, the second you start talking smack, the second you start thinking things are going your way, that’s when the Poker Gods beat the crap out of you.
Mad, frustrated, in the mood to commit random acts of extreme violence…yeah, that’s poker for you.
UPDATE: And welcome to lifetilt! It turns out P0ker H0 freakin’ WON the mini-UBOC event I sorta-bubbled. I’d calmed down and everything but now I’m practically biting myself.
Tags: Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, UBOC, ultimatebet, ultimatebet championship
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Friday, January 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
“It” being the third UltimateBet Online Championship, which kicked off this evening with a $100+9 Pot-Limit Omaha with rebuys event. Whew, that’s a mouthful. They say that a rebuy tournament doesn’t really begin until the rebuy period comes to an end, and that happens in about…20 minutes. We’ll be keeping an eye on things as the tournament moves along and posting little updates from time to time. Here’s one–P0ker H0 and Debo are currently in the top 20. Which of course means absolutely nothing. But it’s something!
Actually, not sure if I noticed this at first, but H0 and Debo are sitting at the same table. So that’ll make for some interesting conversation.
UPDATE: OK, the rebuy period is over and we have some final numbers. UBOC Event #1 started with 221 runners, who made 271 rebuys and 228 add-ons. That created a total prize pool of $72,000, which will be divvied up thusly:
1st $18720.00
2nd $11160.00
3rd $7920.00
4th $5760.00
5th $4716.00
6th $3960.00
7th $3240.00
8th $2520.00
9th $1800.00
10th – 12th $1080.00
13th – 15th $864.00
16th – 18th $612.00
19th – 27th $504.00
UPDATE: Michael Binger is hosting tonight’s PLO w/rebuys event and for the moment he’s the host with the most. Well, almost the most…chips I mean. He’s in 4th place right now, with P0ker H0 and Debo both in the top 15. If you knock out one of our pros tonight you get your buy-in back, but so far Michael, H0 and Debo have refused to cough up their chips and the hundred bucks.
UPDATE: There’s a running joke among my gang that my friend Ted is the Worst Guest Ever. He’s a powerlifter and goes about 285, so when he sits on the couch he tends to take up about 80% of it–and that’s before he lays down and stretches out. He also never wears socks with his shoes (and usually wears shorts in the dead of winter) so you’ve got this big dude rubbing his smelly feet into the microfiber suede. He also brings his own food when he comes over, since most households aren’t stocked with enough protein to stoke his furnace, and watching him joylessly stuff hunks of “meat” (he never bothers to check whether he’s eating chicken, pork, groundhog) into his maw doesn’t do wonders for your appetite. Then there’s the fact that all that protein usually gives Ted some manner of gasterointestinal distress, which he has to work through in your bathroom. Woe betide the host who doesn’t stock up on Lysol when Ted pays a visit.
Anyway, this long-winded and seemingly pointless blather does have a purpose. It would seem my friend Ted has some competition as Worst Guest Ever, as Michael Binger (the host for tonight’s UBOC event) was just eliminated by PHAT_CAT. Who wins his buy-in back despite shoving Michael out the door. Doesn’t seem quite right but, well, that’s poker.
We’re just a few spots from the money (top 27 pay, remember) and both P0ker H0 and Debo are still in the running.
UPDATE: Someday a Ph.D candidate in linguistics or the social sciences is going to write a book about the etymology of online poker names. Anyway, the money bubble just burst in tonight’s UBOC event, and the unfortunate who went out in 28th-place was CUTEFRECKLES. Curious to know how that name came about. H0 and Debo are still around but their stacks are about half the average and so their work is cut out for them.
UPDATE: We’ve reached the final table and P0ker H0 is still very much alive. He arrives at the final table third in chips (Debo went out 17th, alas) and I’ll be following the final table the rest of the way to see how things play out. I’ll be posting a recap tomorrow morning…provided the tournament ends by tomorrow morning. And here’s the makeup of tonight’s final table:
Tags: online tournament, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournament, poker tournaments, pot-limit omaha, UBOC, uboc3, ultimatebet online championship, ultimatebet online championships
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Sunday, January 4, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
For most people the holiday season ends on January 2nd, as most folks have recovered from their New Year’s hangover and have to get back to work. It’s a bit different for me as my birthday is January 3rd, so the good times keep on rolling for a few days more. This birthday was a biggie, the big 4-0, and my “friends” decided I should celebrate by drinking whatever they put in front of me. Which was usually something noxious in a shot glass. Let’s just say I spent much of my special day on the couch, in my flannels, gobbling Advil.
But I wanted to post a few final photos from the year that was 2008, especially those from this year’s Aruba Poker Classic. I don’t know where you are, but here in Pittsburgh it’s about 30 degrees, overcast, with a 40% chance of snow. And that’s gonna be the forecast until St. Patrick’s Day. So what better way to chase away the endless winter blues than reminding yourself that there there are Paradises upon the earth:
In life there is time for work, time for play. The Aruba Poker Classic is a time for play:
And when you’re not playing yourself you can watch other people play…like Scott Ian and Pearl Aday:
That last pic came at the farewell party, and in between that and the welcome part there was actually, like a poker tournament. The reason why everyone flew to the island in the first place:
One player who wasn’t able to fly to Aruba in a timely manner was Phil Hellmuth, who was playing in the World Series of Poker-Europe as the Classic got underway. It isn’t that easy to get from London to Aruba and as Phil winged his way south his chips were slowly blinded off. And everyone had a bit of fun with Phil’s doppleganger:
Phil didn’t make it before he was blinded out, but both P0ker H0 and Gary “debo34″ DiBernardi made deep runs. H0 and entered the next-to-last day near the chip lead…before getting a bit frisky in two big pots with Matt Brady. Pots that both went Brady’s way, leading to H0’s sudden and surprising exit. And I’m sure he’ll be thrilled that I brought that up:
When the final table was set the plan was to hold it outside, as is custom at the Aruba Poker Classic. And as the final touches were given to the stage built over the Radisson swimming pool, it looked like this would be a stupendous venue:
Mother Nature, alas, had other ideas. Some clouds rolled in, and then it got dark, and then it started to drizzle, and then an Old Testament-caliber downpour inundated the stage and sent everyone scrambling inside:
OK, it doesn’t look it’s raining too hard in that picture but it was coming down pretty good. And it’s a bit hard to play poker when the whipping wind sends cards flying into the pool and raindrops are splattering on the chips. So we went inside to see who would win the Classic and take home the $1 million first prize:
And in the end it was P0ker H0’s nemesis Matt Brady who endured a long three-way battle with runner-up Johan Storakers and Jeffrey Papola to take down the title. And the bracelet. And the mounds and mounds of yummy, yummy greenbacks:
And with the tournament over it was time for a relaxing, low-key, dignified end to the week:
So, that was the year that was. One of my resolutions is to get better at this photography thing and take better pictures. So hopefully The Year in Pictures 2009 will be bigger and (much) better than this year. If you’d like to see more pics from the World Series or Aruba you can click the links and find those sets at my Flickr page. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna take two more Advil and see if I can fully put my birthday party behind me.
Tags: 2008 aruba poker classic, Aruba, aruba poker, Aruba Poker Classic, johan storakers, matt brady, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, Scott Ian
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Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - HollywoodDave
2009 is almost here, thank fuck, and not a moment too soon! Despite pulling it all together in the 11th hour, I spent the vast majority of ‘08 buried in a deep hole that played havoc with not only my gambling bankroll, but more importantly, my emotions as well. The good news is, I learned some incredible lessons this year that I will never forget.
I answered a question awhile back for a player on UB about bankroll management, a lesson I had beaten into my head in 2008. Although I’ve come outta the mathematically-savvy background of professional blackjack, where BR mgmt goes hand in hand with skilled play, over the past few years of playing poker I had allowed some of those caveats to slip away, and found myself not heeding my own advice last winter.
The year started off alright — several nice cashes the first 2 weeks of January — but then a disastrous downward spiral from mid-January to mid-April decimated years of work. Problem was, rather than moving down in stakes as the losses mounted, I stayed at the same level — and in some cases, actually increased levels. Ouch!
In hindsight, its easy to see how badly I compounded my own problems by not adjusting downward in stakes as my BR shrunk, but what’s morel troubling to me is the sometimes uncontrollable swings that are commonplace in poker. I admit it, I’ve been luckier than most; in over 5 years as a professional gambler, I never had a losing year. Sure, some years were better than others, but coming off of a quarter million in poker wins in 2007, I was totally unprepared for such incredible negative variance.
As a blackjack player, swings are built in to the equation. As a card counter, I can only depend on 1-2% advantage, which means I’m losing nearly half the time. You learn that its not about the session results, but only about applying the right plays under optimal table conditions. Shit, I even wrote a book about it! So you’d think I woulda known better, because truth be told, poker is the same way — fuck the results, just play well & under the right conditions & it will all work out in the end.
The difference — at the time, anyway — was that despite the cool math of the blackjack world, my reaction to the poker losses was much more emotional in nature. I found myself getting upset in ways I never did when losing at blackjack. I began to feel cursed, as the daily losses mounted. Some days I’d take a break, only to come back later twice as frustrated when the results still did not return. And the farther I dug myself in, the unhappier I became, until it seemed like my entire life revolved around this negative figure that loomed larger each and every day.
Eventually I came to realize that this was bigger than just wins and losses, it was about my mental health, my happiness as a person, and my quality of life outside of whatever was happening on the tables. And somewhere inside something shifted, and I realized that I was not gonna be held prisoner to my results anymore. Rich or poor, I was gonna try my best to take the emotion out of the equation, and remember that I was gonna be the same cool person regardless of what happened. And you know what? The losing stopped!
Now, the point of this story isn’t what you’d think — I’m sure it helped, but i don’t think the ENTIRE problem of why I lost for so long was simply my attitude towards it. Sometimes shit happens, and we go through long losing streaks — happens to the best players out there, and I’m certainly no exception. But what 2008 DID teach me more than anything is that I can’t make the quality of my life about the quality of my results. Sure, winning a WSOP bracelet and a couple million bucks is definitely on the list for me, but inside I will still be the same person. Same person as I will be when fighting to keep it all from flying away.
So thanks, 2008. Sick, twisted emotional and financial rollercoaster, but you know what? I appreciate it. I get it. Thanks for making me stronger. Thanks for actually letting me get all those losses back at the end of it all — I guess I can still say I never had a losing year as a professional gambler. And now please fuck off, cuz 2009 is a-comin’ and I am more than ready to rock it out all year long!!
-hd.
Tags: 2009, bankroll management, blackjack, downturn, Happy New Year, Hollywood Dave, negative variance, new year, Poker Poker Poker, wsop bracelet
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Sunday, December 28, 2008 - Gene Bromberg
We’ve almost reached the end of 2008 and this is usually the time when people look back at the past year and remember all that took place. Trouble is that during the holidays most people spend the better part of a week staggering around in a tryptophan coma or an alcoholic stupor. I don’t know about you guys but I’m worried that I’ll have nothing left in the tank for New Year’s Eve. I’m beat. Every day it seems like I’m wolfing down a huge platter laden with ham, turkey, fish, pirogi, and various forms of potatoes. Everyone is breaking out their best cabernet sauvignons and filling the fridge with beers that don’t have the word “Lite” in their name. It’s like they say, too much of anything is bad–even excess.
So looking back at the past twelve months through this boozy haze ain’t easy. Especially if you’d like to be somewhat accurate. Fortunately I lugged my camera around for most of this year and have a few pictures that serve to jog the memory so I can remember just what the hell happened.
This is what the opening day of the 2008 World Series of Poker felt like for me, everything a blur. And only seven weeks to go!
I was covering a different event in the Brasilia Room as Phil Hellmuth was trying to win bracelet #12 in a $1,500 H.O.R.S.E event. I ran over during a break to see what was going on and was confronted by a mob around the outer feature table. Usually there are only a handful of people around that table, but of course Phil knows how to draw a crowd. I held my camera in the air, squeezed the trigger, and hoped I got something good. This picture was taken at 12:30am, by the way, so lots of people thought the best thing to do in Vegas that night was watch Phil play poker.
Annie Duke and Don Cheadle address the crowd during this year’s Ante Up for Africa tournament. I was off that day but of course I went to the Rio hoping to get some photos of the celebrities attending the event. And so were about a thousand other people. I went to the person guarding the main opening and asked to be admitted, and he looked at me like I was something he’d scraped off his shoe and told me no way. I didn’t have the proper media pass, you see. I headed to the media room to see about getting that pass when the guy in line behind me got my attention and whispered that no one was checking passes at the Brasilia Room’s other doors. I opened the door, went inside, and no one bothered me as I took pics to my hearts delight. It just goes to show that it’s never a good idea to ask permission. Do the deed first, THEN ask for permission. Life is much easier that way.
A few pics from the Ante Up for Africa event:
While I wandered around and took photos a quintet of female masseuses were waiting outside the ropes waiting for the tournament to start. They asked which celebrities I’d seen in the crowd and I said, “Well, Matt Damon is…” and all five crowded around me and started pelting me with questions. “Matt Damon! Where? What table? Point!!” I hate Matt Damon.
Ray Romano I like. Why? I was taking a photo and someone came in from my left and nearly got in the shot. “Oh, I’m sorry,” the person said and paused while I snapped the shutter. “No problem,” I said and made room for him to get past. That’s when I saw the polite gentleman in question was Ray Romano. Who could buy and sell me a thousand times over. So I appreciated that.
Team UB’s Scott Ian, wearing one of those so-cool T-shirts that debuted at the WSOP. “I have to GET ONE OF THOSE SHIRTS,” I told myself as I circled Scott and snapped away.
Phil Hellmuth in his natural habitat–sitting at a table during the WSOP Main Event, with film crews in attendance. If I wasn’t sure where Phil was sitting in the Amazon Room, I just looked around for the boom mikes.
The most surreal part about this year’s World Series was seeing Tiffany Michelle, who I worked with the last two years, make her deep run in the Main Event. When play started I said, “Oh, cool, TIffany’s playing in the Main Event” and went back to work. Then she made it past the first few days and suddenly she had a pretty healthy stack. And then on Day 5 or so she wins some huge pots and we started thinking, “Holy crap, she could actually WIN this thing”. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, as Tiffany finished 17th, which is still pretty freaking incredible. If you saw ESPN’s coverage you probably saw a bit where Tiffany was eating french fries at the table and catching flack from Scott Montgomery and Craig Marquis about it. Ladies and gentlemen, here is a picture of Tiffany Michelle’s fries:
When she finished the floor staff picked up her tray and put it…on the table I was working at. Which gives you an idea of how I rank out there. Anyway, the fries smelled really good, and I was really hungry, and people kept walking by my table and snagging a quick snack. But I held off, in part because at the time Tiffany still had a ton of chips and there was the very real possibility that she’d make the final table and maybe even be the next World Champion, and I was calculating how much I could sell her leftover fries for on eBay. Then I got my self-esteem back in order and had someone take the tray away.
By the time the field was reduced to ten players and one table my work was done, but of course I wasn’t going anywhere until the November Nine was locked in. I found a perch and took a few shots of the final-table play:
We finished up around 4:30am, had a few cocktails afterwards, and I got home around…noon. Before I left Vegas for good I went back to the Rio to cash in a few chips and see what the place looked like now that the Series had wrapped up. The crews didn’t waste any time breaking down the Amazon Room:
Hmm, this seems long enough already and I only posted pics from the WSOP. I think I’ll pause here before delving into the Aruba Poker Classic and whatever else I have in my folders. Because that’s going to be a marathon by itself.
Tags: 2008 world series of poker, 2008 wsop, amazon room, Annie Duke, blog world series of poker, blog wsop, don cheadle, espn, matt damon, Phil Hellmuth, poker blog, poker photographs, poker photos, poker pictures, Poker Poker Poker, ray romano, Scott Ian, Tiffany "Tiffany M" Michelle, tiffany michelle wsop, world series of poker, world series of poker photos, world series of poker pictures, WSOP
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Sunday, December 21, 2008 - Gene Bromberg
Christmas is just around the corner and if you haven’t finished your shopping yet, you’ve got problems. Even with the economy…sputtering a bit, the malls are still crowded and the good parking spots taken before you even stagger out of bed. About ten years ago everyone in my family decided that what we wanted for Christmas…was not having to shop. Once we reached that consensus the holidays became SO much more festive. Not having to decide if my Mom would rather throw away a pair of too-small slippers or a too-big sweater dramatically increases my jollity at this stressful time of year.
But this is the Season of Giving, as years of ruthless indoctrination have instructed us, and at some point you may be forced to to exchange gifts with your fellow man. If your fellow man happens to be a poker player I have a few gift ideas to pass along that will delight even the Scroogiest:
- Just about every serious player has a few poker books on the shelf, but chances are these are instructional tomes that, useful as they might be, aren’t especially entertaining. But there are a number of fantastic books out there that every player should read, starting with The Biggest Game in Town by A. Alvarez and Big Deal by Anthony Holden. Written by two British literary lions, these books describe the poker world as it was in prehistoric times (twenty-five years ago), populated by leatherassed cowboys and smooth-talking hucksters plying their trade in smoky rooms on the bad part of town. Holden returned to the WSOP in 2005 and wrote Bigger Deal, about how the game has changed since those romantic times. Romance can, of course, have a darker tinge, and if you think that might appeal then add to your list One of a Kind, Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson’s biography of the ill-fated savant Stu Unger. Or if you think dollar signs will get your target’s attention, then The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King, Michael Craig’s book about the biggest poker game of all time, would be an excellent choice.
- There are times when you have to break the bank and splash some cash. Maybe the person you’re buying for once pulled you out of a burning building. Or they’ve just (or are about to) become your father-in-law and you need to impress. If you don’t mind dipping into your savings and the lucky duck you’re buying for plays a lot of live poker, then I heartily recommend Bose noise-canceling headphones. Your typical cardroom is filled with distracting background noise–the clatter of chips, muffled chatter coming from the rail, televisions bleating away–and noise-canceling headphones gently erases all that racket. You’ll still be able to hear the talk at your table, but you’ll feel like you’re wrapped in a cocoon of blissful silence. It’s amazing how much mental energy you exert dealing with superfluous noise, your head jerking around and eyes darting to identify odd shouts and thuds and crashes. Your focus will remain where it should–on your table and on your opponents. And the next time that person flies somewhere, upon their return you will be showered with thanks as they describes how delightful air travel is without listening to the maddenling drone of jet engines. You will be a superstar. And that’s the true meaning of Christmas, right?
- It’s become perfectly acceptable to give gift cards as Christmas presents but forking over cash is still verboten. People want to see that you’ve made SOME effort at getting them a gift, and standing in line at Old Navy for ten minutes is several notches higher on the Grinchometer than reaching in your wallet and handing over a couple of crumpled twenties. But if you’re considering a gift for a poker player, cash is an EXCELLENT gift. Remember, to the poker player money is just a tool, it’s the equipment we need to ply our trade. You wouldn’t feel funny giving a friend interested in carpentry a really nice hammer, would you? Of course not. So giving a poker player some ammunition can be a most welcome gift. If handing over a fistful of dollars still seems a bit crass, why not transfer some money to his online account? Or present a gift card that’s good for a tournament buy-in at your local casino? Maybe even get a big group of friends/family together to chip in for a $1,500 WSOP seat? Often the best Christmas presents are those that the person really wants, but would never buy for themself. Fulfilling someone’s lifelong dream to play in the World Series of Poker could make it a Christmas they’ll never forget. Just make sure you keep a piece of the action.
Poker used to be a part of my family’s Christmas Eve celebration, once we’d eaten dinner and the dishes were cleared my dad and granfather and uncles would gather around the dining room table and play a bit, with me and my cousins peeking at the cards and staring at amazement at all those nickels and dimes. We don’t play at Christmas anymore, it seems like everyone has to run all over creation to visit other relatives, but Christmas Eve we’re going to hash out the details for our next family poker game. It doesn’t always take the holidays to get the family together. Sometimes all it takes is a poker game.
Tags: a. alvarez, al alvarez, anthony holden, big deal, bigger deal, bose, bose headphones, christmas poker, grinch, grinchometer, michael craig, nolan dalla, one of a kind, peter alson, poker books, poker gifts, Poker Poker Poker, stu ungar, the biggest game in town, the professor the banker and the suicide king, tony holden, world series of poker, WSOP
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Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - smokin_aces
In last weeks ‘Ask a Pro’, Scott Ian was featured answering a question. The nature of the question was basically an inquiry into speeding up the poker learning curve. As most likely know, Scott is a relative newcomer to the world of poker, but has quickly made a name for himself in an arena other than rock. I want to focus on one part of his answer. It concerns learning the math that should be the basis for important game decisions.
“So to answer your question I would say that learning the math that backs up your decisions is key. It will really help you make the correct decisions and in the long run you will profit. As you play longer and you start to develop your own game, a lot of these decisions will be second nature, but at the beginning knowing the math behind the decision will make this game of so little information a bit more transparent and hopefully you’ll always get your money in good!”
This is a technique that has consumed a large part of my spare time thinking. So much of what we do and what happens in our immediate surroundings can be broken down into a series of odds. Since i’ve gotten deeper into the game of poker, i find the mindset permeating into my daily routine. I look for my ‘outs’ in a given situation. I survey the potential outcomes that are in my favour and make a logic and gut based estimate on my best course of action. Just this morning while driving to work (late) I came to the familiar crossroads where each day i ponder taking a different route. Each route with the potential of being faster, or not, depending on a variety of factors including traffic, light pattern, construction etc. My mind is now becoming trained at making split second, calculated decisions. I’m not always right, in fact i’m mostly NOT right for what seems like forever, and then once in a while i’ll have a few days in a row where I seemingly catch a few breaks.
In addition to odds calculation, I often draw loose analogies to ‘pot size’ in my daily life. In business, I tend to break down decisions by looking at the ‘pot size’ of a given situation. This does not have to be a financial equation at all, in fact more often than not this doesn’t relate directly to money. How much time have certain parties invested, what do they stand to gain or lose versus what they put in, how committed is someone, how much can I trust the signs they’re showing me, how much do I stand to gain versus how much I have to put in? etc.
It gets interesting when you must make a judgement based on little more than insufficient information, a general knowledge of odds, intuition and discipline. For example, if the value of investment in a situation is ‘x’ and the potential payoff is ‘5x’, but the odds it will payoff are 1 in 4, my discipline tells me to go for it every time. In the long run I ’should’ end up on top. Run that scenario 4 times and I lose ‘3x’ but gain ‘5x’ for a profit of ‘2x’. We all know it doesn’t work out quite like that though does it? Just like Scott Ian said, we can only make the game a “bit more transparent”. Scott, if you’re reading this, next time let us know how to train your intuition. 
This is the question everyone wants the answer to. Can it be learned? Can it be measured? To my knowledge no evidence exists of legitimate scientific testing resulting in proof of intuition in humans. If it does, wouldn’t you love to see it?
Tags: Poker Poker Poker
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Sunday, December 7, 2008 - Gene Bromberg
The final table of the WSOP Main Event was just about a month ago–quick, can you name who won? Yes, Peter Eastgate is now about 8% of the way through his reign, and if you haven’t heard much from him during that time it should come as no surprise. The poker world doesn’t stop spinning, not even when a new King is crowned, and in the last month there have been major tournaments in Australia, Costa Rica, Poland, and right now the Five Diamond World Poker Classic is being held at the Bellagio.
But the Main Event is still by far the biggest tournament in the world. The biggest fields, biggest prize pool, biggest media magnet. No other poker tournament comes close to the Main Event as the game’s showcase, and it was hoped that the decision to postpone the final table until November would create a surge of hype that would lure mainstream media outlets and entice corporate sponsors into pulling out their checkbooks.
That part really didn’t pan out. None of the November Nine signed big sponsorship deals (other than their alliances with online poker sites), and while the tournament received considerable media attention it’s not like Peter Eastgate appeared on the cover of Newsweek. Still, it’s hard to ignore the signs that the decision to postpone the final table was a rousing success. TV ratings were up 50%. The final table drew a large and raucous crowd, without a really big-name player in the mix. Indeed, the WSOP as a whole was a rousing success, with bigger fields, bigger prize pools, and a dramatic reduction in the logistical snafus from the year before.
But this is poker we’re talking about, and in poker no one is ever satisfied. Still, it was a bit odd to hear WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky’s explanations to Gary Wise about why the Main Event’s final table wasn’t an even bigger media spectacle. One of the issues Palansky raised about why there wasn’t more buzz around the final table was downright bizarre:
But the Presidential elections, when we made the decision May 1, no one knew it was shaping to be what it ending up being…
No one knew that the Presidential election (held a few days before the final table) was going to end up being a big story? One that would hold much of the world’s attention? That really makes no sense. The election of Barack Obama perhaps made the Presidential election an even bigger story than it normally is (and had Hillary Clinton become the first female President there might’ve been a similar spike) but Presidential elections are ALWAYS huge news. So huge that it tends to drown out everything else that’s happening. Even poker tournaments. When the final table delay was announced I thought the timing was odd, because it would closely coincide with the election, but I thought perhaps Harrah’s and ESPN were hoping to offer some counter-programming for those tired of seeing pundits declaim about The Importance of it All. But to have the WSOP Communications Director say that no one saw this coming…it’s very odd.
The other bombshell Palansky dropped was that Harrah’s arranged for members of the November Nine to appear on The Tonight Show and Ellen…and the players chose to pass. From how Palansky phrased his answers it seems that two different players were asked to be guests, but he didn’t say which players. And that led to considerable speculation about who the players were. In the 2+2 thread on the subject and in other discussions it appeared that Dennis Phillips, Chino Rheen, Kelly Kim, Scott Montgomery and Craig Marquis were NOT asked. It seemed logical that Peter Eastgate would be the most likely candidate to appear on a talk show, because he’d actually won the thing. Eastgate is of course from Denmark, English isn’t his first language, and he doesn’t exactly seem the media-whore type. He might not have felt comfortable going on national television and conversing in a language that’s not his native tongue, perhaps he didn’t know how popular The Tonight Show is. Perhaps he couldn’t care less about making ANY public appearances. And, perhaps, he wasn’t even the player asked.
One question I have that hasn’t been addressed so far as I know–if Harrah’s arranged for a player to appear on these talk shows, and the player declinded, did anyone at Harrah’s propose that another player take his place? Dennis Phillips seemed both an obvious and excellent choice to appear on a national talk show. Here’s your American Everyman, a good guy from the Midwest who loves the game, loves his St. Louis Cardinals, and is both willing and able to talk about living out a dream. It would seem that Phillips would’ve been an ideal guest for either show, and if their producers hadn’t asked for him at the start, did Harrah’s propose Phillips appear instead of the player who turned it down?
It will be interesting to see going forward if Harrah’s changes their approach to promoting the final table. I think it’s inevitable that there will again be a long delay (perhaps it’s not an ideal situation but there’s no denying that the TV numbers were WAY up) but will Harrah’s work more closely with the next November Nine in promoting themselves and the tournament? Harrah’s has PR and marketing expertise that most poker players don’t, as Shane Schleger said in the 2+2 thread:
I think it’s sort of ridiculous to expect poker players to take the “initiative” in attracting exposure for themselves as (Palansky) suggested, since this is not our area of expertise. Poker players are not trained entertainers, performers or politicians.
It also remains to be seen how much corporate sponsorship poker can hope to attract in the face of a global financial meltdown. GM just cancelled it’s endorsement deal with Tiger Woods–TIGER WOODS. Companies are battening down the hatches and who knows how bad the storm will be when the World Series of Poker reconvenes next June. Poker does have one big advantage over other games/sports–the fans actually play the game. They bring their own money to the table. I’m a huge hockey fan but I don’t know how to ice skate. The NFL is akin to religion in the U.S. but only a meager handful actually put on pads. People who love poker also love to play poker. And once they start playing they usually never stop through the course of their lives. They may not play professionally, or for high stakes, but they play. There are tens of millions of them in the United States and untold millions around the world. And a big chunk of them dream of playing in an event like the World Series of Poker. Many do more than just dream. Winning corporate sponsors is great, having players on talk shows is super, but in these troubled times it might be smart for Harrah’s to direct a bit more of their energy at the players themselves. Because they’re poker’s best, and most important, customers.
Tags: 2008 world series of poker, 2008 wsop, november nine, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, world series of poker, world series of poker final table, WSOP, wsop november nine
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Wednesday, December 3, 2008 - Scott Ian
Hello my fiends, (Freudian slip?), and hello my friends, how are you? I hope this fine December day finds you happy and healthy and not too much heavier from Thanksgiving. December? How the hell did it get to be December already? Time really does fly when you’re having fun.
I started recording guitars for the new Anthrax album here in Los Angeles on Monday. I was at the studio Monday night with our producer (and lead guitarist Rob Caggiano) getting all the gear set up and at 6PM I played the $1 Rebuy while we were getting things wired etc. As the game continued past bingo hour (I had around 17K) it was time for me to start playing guitar to get sounds and for a while I was actually playing poker and playing guitar at the same time. As I was multi-tasking it got me thinking how many similarities there are between my two worlds. Guitar and Poker have so much in common. My style of guitar playing is certainly aggressive, but it’s also selectively aggressive. I don’t play guitar like I’m trying to kill somebody all the time. You have to have dynamics in your playing and dynamics in your game. Know when to pull back (tighten up) and know when to let loose the hounds of Hell on your opponent or listener’s ears!!
As the tourney continued (I was on the verge of being out for what seemed like an hour hovering around 8K with blinds climbing towards 500/1000 when I doubled up and then doubled up again) we started getting into actually listening to different amps, different cabinets, different microphones, different guitars, different cables, in all different combinations and this made me think how the variance in Poker is just like the variance in getting a guitar sound. So many different elements make up what you are trying to achieve. I thought there was a lot of variance in Poker but in Poker the variables don’t even come close to getting a guitar sound. I mean literally, the air in the room can affect your tone. The floor, the walls, speaker placement, moving a microphone .00001 of an inch, all the aforementioned equipment variables plus guitar strings, effects, power, and then you have the organic element of my right hand and how it relates to the strings and the pick attack on the strings and the vibration of those strings through the guitar pickup and the type of guitar pickup sending those vibrations through the cable to the amps etc etc etc it’s insane when I start to think about it. And when all is said and done, just like in Poker you can do everything right (get your money in good) and still not have the result you want.
Somehow I made it all the way to 70th place before I busted out and strangely enough right when I busted out one of my old amps stopped working and we had to take a break and figure out the problem. Cashing is always nice even if it’s for like $8. For me, the game, the fun and the experience are why I play. Just like guitar and playing in a band. I’ve been in Anthrax since 1981 and I always get asked how I can still do it. It’s all about the game. It’s all about the career and the longevity and being the last man standing and if it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t do it.
See you at the tables.
Cheers,
Scott
Tags: music, Poker Poker Poker, Scott Ian
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