felted - Poker Player Newspaper

Transcription

9
Celebrity Crossword PAGE
tribute to
Hasan Habib
12
26
14
17
20
Beau Rivage: Gulf Coast PAGE
Championship
Underway
17
PAGE
Entertainment
Best Bets
40
POKER PLAYER
Vol. 11 Number 6 September 17, 2007 A Gambling Times Publication www.pokerplayernewspaper.com Copyright ©2007 Bi-Weekly $3.95 USA/$4.95 CANADA
“Action” Dan
Harrington
Wins $1.6 Million at
Legends of Poker
Stellar Field Marks
Final Table at
Legends of Poker
By Lou Krieger
As the Bicycle Casino
concludes its month-long
Legends of Poker tournament, the final event, a fiveday, $10,000 buy-in event,
wound its way down to the
final table with a stellar
field of top-notch players.
Leading the way at the final
table was former Hold’em
Radio talk show host Tom
Schneider, who is coming off
a sensational World Series of
Poker. He came to the final
table with $3,495,000, more
than a $1 million chip lead
over former World Series of
Poker winner “Action” Dan
Harrington, who was in second place with $2,230,000.
Thu Nguyen was in third
place with $1,475,000, closely followed by Shi Jia “Jack”
Liu, with $1,305,000. Mike
McClain was in fifth place
with $725,000 and the short
‘Sit-N-Go’ Poker
Arrives at Commerce
“Action”
Dan after
his win at the
Bike’s Legends
of Poker WPT
event
stack was the ever dangerous
David “The Dragon” Pham
with $470,000.
Jack Liu was the first player eliminated when he tangled with Dan Harrington’s
Q-Q. Liu had A-J, picked up
a jack on the flop but did not
improve and was eliminated,
earning $137,135 for his
sixth place finish.
Mike McClain was next
to go. When Nguyen raised
(Continued on page 9)
WSOP Critique: Commissioner WHO
WHO??
that Mr. Pollack knows a
lot more than the Binion
family and the many others who brought the WSOP
to the place where it is the
premier event in the poker
world. Perhaps a bit more
humility and gratitude
would have been a better
introduction to the rest of
us who have labored thirty
or more years to promote
poker out of the shadows of
the back room into the glare
of television lights.
Nonetheless, Pollack has
proven his statements over
the last two years by the
incredible result of acquiring over $100 million in
annual sponsorship money,
and, taking a lot more for
Harrah’s out of the net
results of these events. I
think it would be fair to say
that Jeffrey Pollack is far
and away the most valuable employee on the staff
of Harrah’s Entertainment.
Although I do not know Mr.
Pollack, personally, I’ve
A Word from the
“Mad Genius,”
Mike Caro
Today’s word is...
“FELTED”
Turn to page 4 for more
74470 05299
9
3 8>
By Stanley R. Sludikoff
In a 2006 interview,
Jeffrey Pollack said. “I
view the World Series of
Poker as a 37-year-old
‘start-up’ with a rich history
and tradition.” He also said,
“It’s very well established
from a poker and gaming
standpoint, but from a business and marketing standpoint, there’s still plenty of
opportunity.”
Although there appears
to be nothing wrong with
this statement, it does imply
“Sit-n-Go” poker has been
added to the multitude of
table games already available
at Commerce Casino. They
won’t be your run-of-the-mill
event, because the latest electronic poker table will be the
home for these single table
tournaments.
Tim Gu
Gustin, Commerce’s
Manager, said two
Casino M
electronic Lightning
new electr
Poker Tables
Tab were installed
in the poker room early
in July. The digital
tables do not require
a human dealer, but
utilize a highly dependable computer processor to
track the game, distribute
chips, and handle shuffling and dealing, resulting
in quicker games and the
chance for players to see a
lot more hands.
Lightning Poker Table
Sit-n-Go tournaments operate much the same as games
held online, except players
have the chance to interact
0
see AD on page 3
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S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
P O K E R P L AY E R
1
OKLAHOMA JOHNNY HALE’S
80th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!
Join Oklahoma Johnny Hale as he blows out the candles on his 80th birthday
cake with three special poker events at The Venetian Poker Room.
DATE
EVENTS
Tuesday
8/28/07
Bounty Tournament −
$100 on the head of birthday boy,
Johnny Hale.
Wednesday
8/29/07
Tag Team Poker Tournament −
Bring a partner and experience
Texas Hold ’em with a twist!
Thursday
8/30/07
Charity Poker Tournament −
Hale’s birthday celebration, cake
and roast will highlight this event.
Known for his Southern charm and admired by
fellow poker players all over the world, The Venetian
is thrilled to offer this poker legend the seat of honor
in Las Vegas’ most elegant poker room. Throughout
his career, Oklahoma Johnny Hale spent over
three decades playing high-stakes poker in
Las Vegas, created the Senior
World Poker Championship in
1991, and helped establish the
WSOP along with Jack Binion.
Join the Party!
T H E N E W F A C E O F P O K E R .TM
For information call 702.414.POKR (7657) www.venetian.com
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
3
POKER NEWS
Caro’s Word: “Felted”
By John Caldwell
BRUNSON WINS WOMEN’S
EVENT
Pam Brunson, that is. Doyle Brunson’s daughter Pam recently won the $1,000 buy in
Women’s event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Brunson
bested a field of 125 players, winning $34,000 and earning
the right to join Kristy Gazes, Linda Johnson, Mimi Tran, JJ
Liu, and Melissa Hayden at the WPT Ladies event, which will
be shot very soon at the Bicycle Casino. The women’s event
benefited the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which has helped
breast cancer patients and research for years.
NEW SEASON OF HIGH STAKES POKER
FEATURES “THE HAMMER,” BIG
ACTION
Recently, on the season premier of High Stakes Poker, the
players established a rule where if you win a hand with 7-2
offsuit–aka “The Hammer”–and show the cards, you get
$500 from each person. We won’t give anything away, but
suffice to say that the rule does come into during this season’s premier episode with hysterical results. With the new
hammer rule in effect, and the increased stakes coming later
in the season, this year’s version of HSP promises to be the
best one ever. You’ll never guess who drops the hammer on
whom.
POKER ALIVE AND WELL IN EUROPE
The numbers poker tournaments are putting up across the
pond in Europe are impressive. Despite having a bigger buy
in, the recently held Barcelona Poker Stars European Poker
Tour event actually outdrew the concurrently running WPT’s
Legends of Poker event in Los Angeles. The action was fast
and the stakes high at the EPT stop, including the cash
games. The waitlist for $2-$5 no-limit was at one point over
70 players long, despite only five tables in play. There were
three separate 50-100 Euro no-limit tables in play, with eight
names on that waiting list. It appears that Europe is caught
right in the midst of poker fever, and the fever shows no
signs of letting up. Next up on the Euro poker agenda is the
World Series of Poker Europe, which kicks off next week in
London.
PPA MOVES TO WASHINGTON D.C.;
BOLCEREK STEPS DOWN
The Poker Players Alliance announced that it is relocating
its headquarters from San Francisco to Washington D.C. as it
continues to focus its lobbying efforts at the federal level.
It was also announced that PPA President Michael Bolcerek
will be stepping down, and that PPA Vice President of
Government Affairs, John Pappas, will be taking Bolcerek’s
role in the newly relocated PPA offices. Pappas told me the
PPA “[has to] seize this opportunity to push our agenda
through Congress and this can only be done with a full-time
and committed Washington presence.” Bolcerek will be staying in the bay area to pursue other opportunities and be
close to his family.
TWO MEN PLOT TO KILL MAN WITH
RATTLESNAKES OVER POKER
RELATED DEBT
Two Colorado men have been arrested for allegedly plotting to kill a man who owed them money using rattlesnakes
as their weapon of choice. The men claim they were owed
$60,000 from Matthew Sowash, owner of the Denver based
Amateur Poker Tour. The plot allegedly involved locking Mr.
Sowash’s legs in a box with Rattlesnakes in it. Bail for both
Herbert Beck, 56 and Christopher Steelman, 34, was set at
$500,000. It was reported that both men have extensive
arrest records.
John Caldwell is the Editor-In-Chief of PokerNews.com,
a leading poker information portal. Prior to PokerNews,
John spent 15 years in music artist management, working
with artists like Stone Temple Pilots, and Hootie and the
Blowfish. Originally from Redondo Beach, CA, John lives
in Los Angeles, and spends about 4 months a year in Las
Vegas.. Reach him by e-mail at [email protected].
4
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
F
ourteen months ago,
I was playing in a
WSOP event against
one of poker’s superstars, Phil Laak (a.k.a. the
Unabomber). He suggested
that I use as “Today’s Word”
in this column something he
had coined. I laughed and
said it was a good word, but
up until now, I’ve ignored
his suggestion.
His word is “felted,” and
it means being forced to
go all-in, leaving no more
chips on the table in front
of you. His word has even
more impact when you use
it to convey that the pot was
subsequently lost and you
finished the hand chipless. If
this happens to you, you’ve
been felted.
Phil Laak’s word
sanctioned
Well, for more than a year
Phil’s word has echoed in
my head whenever I’ve written such things as “Doyle
moved all-in and was called
by Dewey” or “Chip took
him down to the cloth.” The
Phil Laak inspired alternatives, “Dewey was felted
by Doyle” and “Chip felted
him” cry out as colorful
options. The poker lexicon needs a simple term to
describe being forced all-in.
So, Phil, as of today,
August 31, 2007, I’m giving your word acknowledgement and nominating it for inclusion in the
MCU/Michael Wiesenberg
Official Dictionary of Poker.
Wiesenberg has been notified of this request, and
I hope that “felted” will
become a common word
used by poker writers and
announcers worldwide,
along with words like “rivered,” and “counterfeited.”
Consider Phil Laak’s
“felted”—along with “has
been felted,” “I shall felt
thee,” and related usage—to
be officially sanctioned by
me and MCU.
A Gambling Times Publication
3883 West Century Blvd.
Inglewood, CA 90303
(310) 674-3365
www.pokerplayernewspaper.com
Stanley R. Sludikoff
PUBLISHER
[email protected]
Lou Krieger
EDITOR
[email protected]
A. R. Dyck
MANAGING EDITOR
[email protected]
John Thompson
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
FOR idrome INFO DESIGN
[email protected]
Joseph Smith
WEBMASTER
[email protected]
Mike Caro
SENIOR EDITOR
[email protected]
More answers
Jennifer Matiran
In my most-recent column,
I asked and answered three
important poker questions.
I’m not done. Here is one
more for today, and others
will follow:
Question 4: You’re playing seven-card stud. On
the last round of betting,
you have 8-8-8-K on the
board and Q-8-3 hidden—
four eights. Your opponent’s board is 7-6-4-3, all
hearts. You bet and are
raised. What should you
do—fold, call, or reraise?
Amateurs will reraise
routinely and the most astute
experts recommend folding.
The reason weak players
raise is that they’re deciding purely in relation to the
strength of their hand. Four
eights is a monster. So they
reraise. Their analysis is just
that simple.
[email protected]
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POKER PLAYER
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Paul “Dr. Pauly”
McGuire
INTERNET EDITOR
[email protected]
H. Scot Krause
PROMOTIONS EDITOR
[email protected]
Len Butcher
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
[email protected]
Wendeen H. Eolis
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
Phil Hevener
CONSULTANT
Contributing
Columnists
Nolan Dalla George Epstein
“Oklahoma Johnny” Hale
Ashley Adams Diane McHaffie
James McKenna
I. Nelson Rose John Vorhaus
Poker Player will be published Bi-Weekly by
Gambling Times Incorporated,
Stanley R. Sludikoff, President.
Volume 11 Number 6.
Copyright ©September 2007 by Gambling
Times Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without
written permission is prohibited.
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PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT
This notice will certify that 46,000 copies of Volume
11, Number 6 of Poker Player were printed at Valley
Printers, 16230 Filbert Street, Sylmar, CA 91342.
Distribution to newsstands, card clubs, poker rooms and
other distribution points throughout the United States,
Canada, the Caribbean, Central America and Europe.
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
5
Choosing Your Starting Hands in
No-Limit Hold’em, PART 2
KRIEGER’s CORNER
By Lou Krieger©
This is the second of a two-part series
that began last issue.
Your skills can help you assess the risk; but don’t
carry it too far. Even when you are far superior to your
opponents, don’t rely too heavily on skill alone. The
element of luck can be very destructive if you have too
much of your bankroll at risk regardless of how poorly
your opponents might play. The old adage about not putting all your eggs in one basket rings true here.
Be willing to risk a little to win a lot. Although
most players will not go all-in before the flop with a lot
of money at risk, they will usually call your bets before
the flop with hands that provide an opportunity to
improve significantly. All skillful no-limit hold’em players
are willing to pay a small price to catch the card they
need on the next wagering round in order to win all your
chips.
Why restricted buy-in no-limit games differ significantly from games with no cap. Here’s a case in point.
You have $200 and are playing a small no-limit game
with a restricted buy-in. You raise to $20 before the
flop with A-K. Two players call, and the flop is A-8-3. You
make what’s called a continuation bet of approximately
half to three-quarters of the pot. That’s a wager on the
flop made by a player who bet or raised before the flop—
regardless of whether the flop improved his hand or
not—to convince his opponents that the flop helped him
or that he had a big pair from the get-go and doesn’t
even need any help from the flop to keep on betting.
Suppose an opponent raises. If you call, you’d have a
significant portion of your money already in the pot, so
you might just as well go all-in, see all five cards and
hope your top pair is the best hand or improves sufficiently to win the pot. If you lose, you can rebuy for
another $200.
Compare that with a baby-blinds no-limit game where
there’s no cap on the amount of the buy-in and you and
your opponents each have $2,000 on the table. Even if
the betting went the same way as it did in the example
cited above, your decisions are much more difficult. If
your opponent was lucky enough to flop a set, you can
lose $2,000 instead of $200 because the raiser is likely
to come out betting on the turn and keep at it until you
have most or all of your chips in the center of the table.
While there’s always the chance that he might be bluffing with the worst hand, is it worth $2,000 to find out?
The more you have at risk, the more skill you’ll need
to protect your bankroll and to leverage it at just the
right time. But even if you’re very skillful, your decisions won’t be right all the time.
How many chips do your opponents have and how
well do they play? These considerations are also important in deciding how much to risk when you sit down
to play no-limit Texas hold’em. Always have at least as
many chips as the weakest player at the table. But if
one of your opponents is particularly tough, you might
want to buy in for less, to limit your potential losses.
What if you don’t know how any of your opponents
play? If your opponents are all a total mystery to you,
just sit down with a short stack and add to it later if
you’d like. You can’t take chips off the table unless you
get up to leave the game for good, but you can always
re-buy. A little caution—and sometimes an awful lot of
it—goes a long way in this game. Let that be your guide.
Visit Lou Krieger online and check out all his
books at www.loukrieger.com. You can read his
blog at http://loukrieger.blogspot.com and write
directly to him at [email protected].
6
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
Poker Room Schedule
poker Tournament Schedule
Date
Day
Sept. 8
Sept. 9
Saturday
Sunday
Sept. 15
Sept. 16
Sept. 23
Saturday
Sunday
Sunday
Sept. 29 Saturday
Sept. 30 Sunday
Time
Event
RB/AO
Entry Fee
2PM
2PM
Super Satellite
Triple AO
$40+$25
Sunday Tournament
(1) RB or AO
$100+$25
***$2000 Added****
2PM Falls Fest Chopper Tournament RB/AO
$1000+$100
2PM
Sunday Tournament
RB/AO
$40+$25
2PM
Sunday Tournament
RB/AO
$100+$25
***$2000 Added****
1PM
Ladies Tournament
N/A
$55+$15
2PM
Bounty Tournament
N/A
$100+$20+$25
Daily Tournament Schedule
Day
Time
Mondays
6PM
Tuesdays
6PM
Wednesdays 6PM
Thursdays
6PM
Fridays
2PM
Saturdays 1PM
Event
RB/AO
No Limit Hold’Em
$500 Added NLH
No Limit Hold’Em
$500 Added NLH
No Limit Hold’Em
No Limit Hold’Em
Entry Fee
RB/AO
(1) RB or AO
RB/AO
(1) RB or AO
RB/AO
(1) RB or AO
$15+$10
$50+$15
$15+$10
$50+$15
$15+$10
$50+$10
December 10 - 16, 2007
4th Quarterly Tournament to be held on October 21 - 22, 2007
CRRC Poker Room offers Limit and No Limit Hold’Em, Qualify now until September 30. Must have 1 hour of play to
Limit and Pot Limit H/L 8 or Better and Omaha
qualify for the Quarterly Tournament
VS.
Located in Devol, Ok
Exit 1 or 5
www.comancheredrivercasino.com
For information on Table Games
call us toll free at
1-866-280-3261
Blackjack ext 2132 or Poker ext 2135
Coming October 4, 5, and 6th
Oklahoma Poker Players
VS.
Texas Poker Players!
Call the Poker Room for
more details on this
Tournament.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
DATE
Sept. 17
Mon.
Sept. 18
Tues.
Sept. 19
Wed.
Sept. 20
Thurs.
Sept. 21
Fri.
Sept. 22
Sept. 23
Sept. 24
Please call
1-800-727-6537
for room reservations.
Registration for all
tournaments begins
two hours before event.
Sept. 25
Sept. 26
Sat.
Sun.
Mon.
Tues.
Wed.
BUY-IN/
EVENT
ENTRY FEE
11:15am Seven Card Stud
$300 + $50
3:15pm Act 1 Super Satellite NLH
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
11:15am Seven Card Stud H/L 8 or better
$300 + $50
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
11:15am Omaha H/L 8 or better
$300 + $50
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
11:15am Texas Hold’em (Limit)
$300 + $50
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
11:15am Texas Hold’em (No Limit)
$300 + $50
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
11:15am Texas Hold’em (No Limit)
$500 + $60
$1,000 + $80
$210 + $25
11:15am Texas Hold’em
$300 + $50
(No Limit, Seniors Only 50+)
1:15pm Texas Hold’em
$300 + $50
(No Limit, Ladies Only)
$1,000 + $80
$210 + $25
11:15am Seven Card Stud
$500 + $60
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
11:15am Seven Card Stud H/L
$500 + $60
& Omaha H/L (2 way)
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
11:15am Omaha H/L Pot Limit
$500 + $60
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
Please visit www.trumptaj.com
for an up-to-date schedule of events.
STAGING AND CONDUCT OF THE TOURNAMENT IS SUBJECT TO THE
APPROVAL OF THE NEW JERSEY CASINO CONTROL COMMISSION.
Bet with your head, not over it. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
DATE
Sept. 27 Thurs.
Sept. 28
Fri.
Sept. 29
Sat.
Sept. 30
Sun.
Oct. 1
Mon.
Oct. 2
Tues.
11:15am
3:15pm
8:15pm
11:15am
3:15pm
8:15pm
11:15pm
3:15pm
8:15pm
11:15am
1:15pm
4:15pm
8:15pm
10:15am
3:15pm
8:15pm
10:15am
3:15pm
Oct. 3
Wed.
11:15am
1:15pm
Oct. 4
Thurs.
11:15am
1:15pm
Oct. 5
Fri.
11:15am
BUY-IN/
ENTRY FEE
$500 + $60
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
$1,000 + $80
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
$2,000 + $120
$1,000 + $80
$210 + $25
$1,000 + $80
$500 + $60
$1,000 + $80
$210 + $25
$1,000 + $80
$500 + $60
$1,000 + $80
$1,000 + $80
Championship
$9,700 + $300
Texas Hold’em (No Limit)
$300 + $50
Day 2 Championship
Day 4 Championship
1:15pm
FINAL TABLE CHAMPIONSHIP
Oct. 6
Sat.
1 in 10 win voucher for $1,000 + $100 cash
1 in 5 win voucher for $1,000 + $50 cash
1 in 10 win voucher for $5,000
1 in 10 win voucher for $10,000
$500 + $60
Day 3 Championship
1:15pm
SUPER SATELLITES
$110 + $20
$210 + $25
$500 + $50
$1,000 + $80
EVENT
Act 1 Super Satellite NLH
Seven Card Stud
Super Satellite NLH
Super Satellite NLH
Super Satellite NLH
Last Chance Super Satellite
$1,000 + $80
Slot Player Held to Be
Professional Gambler
POKer AND
THE LAW
By I. NELSON ROSE
A full-time, professional poker player has tax
breaks that we part-time amateurs don’t have.
For example, they can take off all their travel
expenses to Las Vegas, California or Europe to play poker as
costs of doing business.
But what about other gamblers?
In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a full-time handicapper of greyhound dog races could be in the “trade or business” of gambling for tax purposes. The case, Commissioner of
Internal Revenue v. Groetzinger, was the first time the nation’s
highest court declared that being a gambler can be an actual
occupation, not merely a sinful pastime.
The gambler in Groetzinger was a race handicapper. He might
not have been a good one, since he ended the year with a loss.
But everyone conceded that he had an objective, reasonable
belief that through skill and hard work he could show a profit.
The Minnesota Supreme Court has now held that a slot
machine player, Estelle Busch, could also be in the business of
gambling, even though only she believed she could make money.
The Court agreed with the state Commissioner of Revenue that
Busch’s belief was irrational. But the Court ruled that spending 40-60 hours every week playing slots and keeping detailed
records did qualify as a business.
The U.S. Supreme Court declared that if a person “devotes his
full-time activity to gambling, and it is his intended livelihood
source, it would seem that basic concepts of fairness . . . demand
that his activity be regarded as a trade or business.” The Court
looked at the enormous amount of time and effort Groetzinger
put in, the skill that was required and applied, and his plan to
make a living off of betting at the track. “This was not a hobby
or a passing fancy or an occasional bet for amusement.”
The IRS has published a list of additional factors to be considered when determining whether an activity is a trade or business. These include carrying on the activity in a businesslike
manner, the amount of money made, and “elements of personal
pleasure or recreation.”
And intent: Even after losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, Busch “believed she had a knack for predicting payouts.”
This does not mean that every gambler can now deduct their
losses and expenses as business expenses on Schedule C, “Profit
or Loss From Business,” of their tax returns. In other cases: A
taxpayer who spent 35 hours every week at a horse track after
losing his job as a salesman and who was seeking a new sales
job qualified as a professional gambler. But a flower shop owner,
appropriately named Pansy Panages, who only spent 20-25 hours
a week after she closed her shop playing slots at a local Renoarea Smith’s, could not deduct $6,000 in tips she paid the grocery store’s employees for information on which machines were
“due” to hit. A housewife who wised up after 66 days of playing,
and losing, slot machines on an Iowa riverboat was ruled not to
be even a short-term professional gambler.
A poker pro makes gambling a full-time business, meaning 35
or more hours a week, conducted in the same manner in which
any other business is conducted, keeping records, etc., with a
sincere belief that he or she will make a profit.
I think the Minnesota case is another breakthrough for the
growing legitimacy of legal gaming.
But it also shows that determination can pay off.
For Estelle Busch, 72 years old, represented herself in front
of the Supreme Court of Minnesota. And she beat the Attorney
General, Commissioner of Revenue and the State itself.
Now that’s a player who knows her business.
Professor I Nelson Rose is recognized as one of the
world’s leading experts on gambling law. His latest
books, Gaming Law: Cases and Materials and Internet
Gaming Law, are available through his website,
www.gamblingandthelaw.com.
8
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
)(-,
#'
),0,
Bike’s Legends
from the cutoff to $200,000,
McClain reraised from the
small blind to 600,000. Thu
Nguyen moved all in and
McClain called all in for
$1,045,000 with Ac-Qc.
Nguyen held pocket jacks.
He flopped a set, made a full
house on the turn, and eliminated McClain in fifth place,
who earned $182,900.
Tom Schneider started the
day as chipleader, but lost
several big hands and found
himself the short stack.
Tom moved all-in from
the button with A-9, but
David “The Dragon” Pham
quickly called with pocket
kings. Pham’s kings held
up and Tom Schneider finished in fourth place to earn
$228,625.
When David Pham raised
on the button to $400,000,
Thu Nguyen moved all-in
with Ah-5h. The Dragon
called with Ad-Qs and his
hand held up, sending Thu
Nguyen home with $388,660
for his third place finish
That left “Action” Dan
Harrington and David “The
Dragon” Pham heads-up,
and they played one-on-one
for three hours. Harrington,
who was holding T-5, bet
$400,000 into a flop of T-5-4
and Pham called. When
an ace came on the turn,
Harrington wagered $1 million. Pham called, turning
over the 7-5 for a pair. He
was drawing dead to Action
Dan’s top two pair. The river
card was superfluous and
Dan Harrington won $1.6
million plus a $25,000 entry
into the WPT championship. David Pham earned
$800,185 for his second
place finish.
Legends of Poker is the
first major event following
the World Series of Poker,
and serves as the kick-off
for the fall poker season.
Last issue Poker Player
Newspaper brought you
results from the early events
in this month long tournament series. You’ll find late
results in this issue.
BICYCLE CASINO
2. David “Dragon”
Pham . . . . . . . . . . . $800,185
3. Thu Nguyen . . . . . $388,660
4. Tom Schneider . . . $228,625
5. Mike Mclain . . . . . $182,900
6. Shi Jia Liu . . . . . . . $137,175
7. Joe Sebok . . . . . . . $114,310
8. William Pilossoph
AKA “Pittsburgh Billy” $91,450
9. Lee Markholt . . . . . $68,590
BICYCLE CASINO
1. Partho Data AKA
“Spiderman” . . . . . . $10,670
2. Brent Bibby . . . . . . . . $6,400
3. Jack Andrus . . . . . . . $4,270
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8/23/07
(Cont’d from page 1)
Mickey “Mouse” Mills $43,920
Jim Erdman . . . . . . $21,390
John Hearn . . . . . . . $11,195
Blake Buffington . . . $7,440
Thomas Hufnagle . . . $5,830
John Hoang . . . . . . . . $4,755
Jeffrey Jiang . . . . . . . $3,685
Joey Clapper . . . . . . . $3,145
Luis Sanchez . . . . . . . $2,880
1. Tony Tam . . . . . . . . $38,300
2. James Pittman . . . . $18,720
3. Svetlana Gromenkova $9,860
4. John Gordon . . . . . . . $6,600
5. Larry Ross . . . . . . . . $5,195
6. Ray Van Kenren . . . . $4,265
7. Gary Abteser . . . . . . . $3,330
8. Danny Morgan . . . . . $2,865
9. Rick Burke . . . . . . . . $2,630
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Gary Do . . . . . . . . . . $30,070
Fred Dakduk . . . . . . $15,035
Barbara Enright . . . . $7,515
Phillip Hershkowitz . $4,510
Michael Simhai . . . . . $3,760
David Fried AKA
“birdman266” . . . . . . $3,000
7. Paul Cha . . . . . . . . . . $2,255
8. Randy Holland . . . . . $1,510
9. Joseph Haddad . . . . . $1,125
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S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
9
Stupid Wins Again
POwer POKER PSYCHOLOGY
By JAMES A. M C KENNA, P H D.
My favorite thing to say to players
who whine in low-limit Texas hold’em
games is, “You know, you lose all whining rights when
you play this limit?” Most other players will readily agree. However, I have to explain to some that,
“In these low limit games, two or three will stay to
the very end and suck out on you.” They justify it by
saying, “It didn’t cost them that much.” Yet, you can
also see this same kind of stubbornness in higher
limit games. There will forever be players who stay in
too long, even if these players get lucky occasionally
and win with stupid hands like 7-2 off-suit.
In low-limit games the idea of raising to protect
your hand just doesn’t happen at most of the tables.
There will always be someone who doesn’t like their
money, calls and gets lucky on impossible odds. Such
players would call a barking dog off any porch. How
often have you had quality cards like aces and been
beaten by two small pair? In fact, when a pair of aces
wins, it’s like, “Whew! They held up!” Playing garbage
hands–that I call stupid poker–will often win in no
fold’em hold’em. I know, in the long run, the computer lingo about “Garbage in, garbage out” (GIGO)
will prevail. Yet, these garbage hands can do a lot of
damage that could take the rest of the evening from
which to recover at a low-limit table.
What’s even more interesting are the comments
that follow when stupid hands win. Most GIGO players will say things like “7-3 off-suit is my favorite
hand.” And then some will add, “I never play it if they
are suited, too easy to get beaten by higher flushes.”
The truth is that even
though the odds favor
good starting hands,
quality cards will be vulnerable to flops like this:
In games where otherss start with quality hands
hands,
this flop will not help any of them. In games where
players play to see the flop with hands like 7-5–offsuit or clubs–they end up with draws to straights
and flushes. How often do players like to see the
flop with 9-6 and get lucky on a flop like this?
Some players in lower-limit games will play no
fold’em until the flop. At the same time, it’s awfully
hard to lay down a high pair when people are betting this flop. What I am calling “stupid” may actually be the way to go in games where the flops are
routinely low cards. I know that a lot of pros will
play these kinds of garbage; but remember, the
antes and blinds are already in the thousands of
dollars.
You’ll often hear it said, “All in wins again.” You’ll
seldom hear, although it’s tempting to say, “Stupid
wins again.” The principal of GIGO could also stand
for, “Get In and Get Out.” When you’ve got a flop
that doesn’t help your quality cards and people are
betting and raising on garbage, the greater part
of valor is often folding. It doesn’t do any good
to whine when your quality cards are beaten by
garbage hands. Remember, if you are playing at a
low-limit hold’em game, you gave up your right to
whine. They say that you can’t fix stupid—too bad
(or, is it?). If this happens to you in higher limit
games, well you might have some crackers with
your whines—actually, few really care. It’s poker.
Jim McKenna, better known in poker rooms as “Jimmy Mac,” has been
practicing psychotherapy for over thirty-five years. His
books, the acclaimed “Beyond Tells: Power Poker Psychology,” and
now “Beyond Bluffs: Master the Mysteries of Poker,” are published
by Kensington Press. E-mail Jim at [email protected]
10
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
Sam Mudaro, BA, MBA, is a practicing tax
accountant and financial executive originally
from New York with over 35 years of analytical business expertise. He and his wife Eva
are nine-year Las Vegas residents. Sam uses
simulation software to analyze and develop
strategies for Omaha Hi/Lo and other forms of
poker. Reach Sam at: [email protected].
Sam Mudaro is the...
A-2-5-T Post Flop
ontinuing our post flop
analysis of starting
hands containing an A-2,
today we’ll examine hands
containing A-2-5. We’ll
complete the starting hand
by adding a ten to form
two starting hands consisting of Af-2d-5s-Ta
and Af-2f-5s-Ta. We
chose ten because it is the
furthest card from an ace
that will complete an ace
high straight. It will not
duplicate any card on the
flop, is not a low card, and
will not form a straight with
the five. These simulations
were run at a full, tight
table with each hand played
by a tight player 100,000
times from each position,
for a total of 1,000,000 simulated hands in a $10-$20
game.
Because the actual results
were not what I expected,
I also ran the hands as in
a showdown scenario. In
a showdown, each player
calls every hand for every
C
round until all ten
hands are turned up and
the best hand(s) are paid.
Folding is not an option. All
the results are shown below.
Let me
begin by
presenting the net
win per
hand for
the various combinations
of A-2-5,
when held
and played with totally random flops. The averages are
a summary of the various
ways for which the hands
may be suited. The average
of all the averages shown
is $9.76, which indicates a
very playable combination
of starting hands overall.
The A-2-5-T with its
average net win of $8.13
ranges from a low of $1.11
for the non-suited hand,
(NS) to $13.04 for the
double suited, high card to
low card, (DSHL) combination. The A-2-5-T nonsuited combination earned
the worst net of $1.11. The
A-2-5-K double suited, high
to medium (DSHM) had the
best return of $19.28. All
combinations of the A-25-X are profitable.
Let me explain what I
mean by all combinations.
Whenever I look at starting hands I sort the hands
from low to high. The ace
is always counted as low. In
a starting hand of A-2-5-X
the “X” may be replaced
by any card greater than or
equal to a five. It may not
be lower such as a four or a
three as they would be used
to construct a lower hand
as in: A-2-4-5 or A-2-3-5.
With that said, any starting
hand contain a single ace,
deuce five and any other
card greater than or equal to
a five, regardless as to how
it may be suited, is profitable.
The chart above shows
that we may begin with a
hand that is better overall
than the hands we have
reviewed to date, (A-2-6-T,
A-2-7-T & A-2-8-T), and
experience larger losses.
Examining those results I
decided to examine what
would happen if all the hands
were played to a showdown.
The last three columns show
just that. All the hands still
exhibited a loss but the losses
were substantially reduced.
Please not that I am not
in any way suggesting that
these hands should be played
to the river. Even if you were
to find yourself in a game
where every one stays to the
river every time, with this
flop you have a loser. Your
losses are reduced because
of the contributions from
the other players who are
holding hopeless hands that
they would normally fold.
Remember, in a showdown
no one folds!
In comparing the two
charts above, whether in
a regular game or a showdown, the hand with the A-2
suited loses more money
on average. With that said,
the numbers are virtually
the same. One point to note
is that these starting hands,
with these flops, will pretty
much need runner, runner to
make a hand.
A few more poker term
from the poker glossary:
Many of the more cerebral
poker experts treat the game
like chess. They use profound
logic to deduce that your
opponent can see your three
eights with their own eyes.
They are on your exposed
board, and you have three
hidden cards that could make
the hand much more powerful. These experts will explain
that your opponent knows
you won’t bet just three obvious eights, because there’s no
purpose in doing so. You don’t
need to bluff, so by betting,
you’re letting an opponent
know that you have a full
house or four-of-a-kind and
are hoping for a call from a
straight or flush. When your
opponent—who knows this—
raises, he must have a hand
that can beat your full house.
And, in this case, that probably
means specifically a straight
flush, although a small four-ofa-kind could also handle a full
house. Knowing that an opponent isn’t going to try to bluff
a full house out of the pot,
you must give him credit for
holding something better. And
therefore, you must fold.
Two wrong
approaches
What’s wrong with these two
approaches? The amateur
approach doesn’t take into
consideration the opponent’s
perspective. In this situation,
there’s a good likelihood that
your opponent’s raise means
your four eights are beaten by
a straight flush. So reraising is
ludicrous. The expert approach
neglects to account for mental
meltdown on the part of the
opponent. In the real world,
opponents routinely play hands
illogically. Also, shouldn’t the
expert’s logic be extended to
both players, not just you? If
the opponent really does recognize that you must have at
least a full house and thinks
you’re an astute player, he
knows his raise will signify
a superior hand. So, he could
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raise as a bluff! Those experts
who say you must automatically fold aren’t projecting the
same analytical ability to your
opponent that they apply to
you. Either that opponent is
wholly rational, or he isn’t. If
he is, he might try to bluff your
full house out of the pot. If he
isn’t, you shouldn’t give him
credit for needing a straight
flush to raise.
In one of my proudest
hands years ago, I actually did
bluff four-of-a-kind showing
in seven-card stud out of a
seven-card stud pot! He held,
coincidentally, four eights also,
but they were all exposed.
Even though he had no reason
to bet, because I could see
exactly the huge hand I was
facing, he did. He laughed,
throwing in his bet egotistically and said, “If you can beat
it, raise it.”
My board was a paltry
A-7-6-3, including the 7-6 of
hearts. I raised. My first two
secret hole cards had been 5-4
of hearts. On the river, I had
missed everything. No, I didn’t
expect my bluff to work—
although I thought there was
a minute chance that it might.
My real objective was to
enhance my carefree image
by showing down this nonsensical bluff after he called.
Well, he thought and thought
and finally made what must
have seemed to him as the
best laydown of his life. He
wanted to show how astute he
was. After he folded his four
eights, I laughed along with
him and showed my hand—no
pair, nothing. Ah, you live for
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S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
11
Summer Camp for Adults!
FISHING AROUND
Whisked
Away
By Jan Fisher
The words “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” came
ringing back to my subconscious, as I was whisked
through Indiana’s corn fields to “Mickey’s Camp,”
located outside of Shelbyville, near Indianapolis.
Mickey Maurer, businessman, civic leader, attorney, and philanthropist
founded Mickey’s Camp for men seven years ago, and has raised more
than $600,000 for charity since its inception. This year, camp was
offered to women for the first time at the Ruth Lilly YWCA. Summer
camp was just as I remembered, except now the cabins have air conditioning and inside plumbing.
Linda Johnson and I were invited to teach the ladies how to play
poker. Each camper could choose seven activities from a list of 35
during the three-day session. Options included riflery, gourmet cooking, Alpine tower climb, digital photography, archery, art, boxing, birds
of prey, kayaking, chess, billiards, radio control flying, and, of course
poker.
Linda and I taught poker in two of the sessions to complete novices. But they came to class eager to learn the game and “move their
chips.” Many found that they really enjoyed it and there was talk of
starting a Mickey’s Poker League after camp ended. We taught two
classes with about 25 students in each and then held a tournament
that night for trophies and bragging rights. Though many of the players were entering their first competitive poker event, they played with
a vengeance. There
commonly were 40 or
more campers sweating the action. It was
good camaraderie
and lots of excitement and fun.
There were many
high points in the
camp for me. The
Top row: (l-r) Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher.
Bottom row, poker winners (l-r) Leigh Durbin,
Alpine tower climb
Heather Macek and Marica Goldstone
was amazing and
exhilarating. I was attached by a harness to a safety rope and had to
find a way to climb this tower and get back down. The tower stood
about 50 feet high. It was a great feeling of achievement to reach the
top, and the view from up there was incredible. Living in Las Vegas, I
rarely get to see so many trees and so much unspoiled wilderness.
I especially enjoyed the billiards class taught by Lori Jon Jones, a
nine-time world billiards champion. Lori learned to live, breathe, and
love the game as a child, much like those of us in the poker world,
eh? She demonstrated an amazing array of trick shots that wowed the
audience–each was better than the previous trick. Her constant banter
with the group kept everyone entertained and mesmerized.
The crowning achievement was when she grabbed me from the
audience to be her volunteer. She asked me lie down on the table,
placed the chalk in my mouth, and then “teed up” the ball on the
chalk. I wasn’t nervous since I thought for sure that at some point,
she’d take the ball and chalk out of my mouth and ask if I was warped
enough to allow her to “cue up” my head. I never dreamed she would
actually attempt this trick shot, but before I knew it, she drew the cue
stick back and the cue ball whizzed by my head and slammed into the
pocket across the table. Amazing.
I could tell you so much more but mostly I advise that if you are
able to do so, you should attend next year’s camp. After paying the
expenses, approximately two-thirds of the money received goes
directly to the camp’s designated charities. I was proud to be their
poker instructor and even more proud of not dying right there and
then on that pool table!
You can find out about next year’s camp on their website (http://
mickeyscamp.com/). I hope to be involved again in future camps.
Moving along…
Editor’s Note: Jan Fisher has 30 years experience as a
poker player, tournament director, strategist/columnist, cofounder of the Tournament Directors Association, Partner
in Card Player Cruises, WPT Boot Camp instructor and
statistician, and live studio announcer for the Professional
Poker Tour. E-mail Jan at [email protected].
12
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
A Joe & Hobby fiction by
David J. Valley
had been dreaming that
I was in a dark smelly
place. When I opened my
eyes I discovered I was
bound to a chair, lying on
a dirty carpet. My mental
computer went into turbo
putting it all together. I
remembered being outside
the casino for some fresh air.
Someone came up behind
me and I got hit on the head.
The motel room recollection
also came back too, with a
vision of the palooka who
clobbered me. Had I seen
Sonny, or did I dream that
too?
Earlier in the evening
Hobby and I encountered
this dubious character who
had collected a pair of broken wrists when he tried
to throttle Hobby over a
poker game dispute in Las
Vegas. We thought we were
well rid of him, but then he
turned up in Palm Springs.
He was less than friendly
and issued a threat. Was he
behind my present predicament?
Hobby came out of the
casino expecting to find Joe.
After looking around he
turned to the security guard
and said, “Did you see a guy
in a maroon aloha shirt and
I
tan slacks?”
“Yeah. He came out about
five minutes ago.”
“Funny, I don’t see him
around.”
“Maybe he went to the
car.”
“No, we valet parked. I’ll
look around some more.”
Hobby returned a few minutes later. “He didn’t go
back in, did he?” he asked
the security guy.
“No. No one has come
through here in the last 15
minutes.”
“That’s not like Joe.
Would you call your boss
and report a missing person?”
The guard looked reluctant and said, “Are you
sure?”
“I’m damn sure,” Hobby
said forcefully, “do it!”
A few minutes later
Hobby was viewing the
exit area surveillance tape.
“Look, there’s Joe going out
the door.” He was soon out
of the cameras range.
“Switch to the outside
camera,” Peter, the security
chief said to the operator.
Another scene, dark and
obscure, appeared on the
monitor. “What the hell is
this?”
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“There must be something
on the camera lens, but
there’s your guy. You can
just make him out.”
Suddenly someone
appeared behind Joe and
slugged him. “He’s been
mugged,” Hobby shouted,
“but where the hell is he?
He could be stunned and
wandering around the parking lot.”
“We’ll search it,” Peter
said and he began calling
out the troops.
After twenty minutes it
was certain that Joe was
not on the premises. Hobby
went to the security office
to see what else could be
done. Peter said, “I’ve called
the police. There’ll be here
soon. They can canvas the
area just in case your friend
wandered off.”
“Boss, you may want to
see this,” the camera operator said. “I’ve been looking
at the tapes of the parking
lot exits. A minute after the
guy got mugged, this van
left through the north exit.
You can read the license
number.”
“Great. I’ll give it to the
cops.”
Two hours later Hobby
was in the Palm Springs
police station with
Lieutenant Marsh. “We
ran the plate; the van was
stolen earlier this evening.
We’ve got our cruisers looking for it. Hold on, there’s
something coming in.” After
listening a minute he said,
“Don’t touch anything.
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A Poker Player Murder Mystery by Robert Arabella
THE POKER FIENDS
Kill then all. God will know
His own.
—2 Timothy 2:19
[This article is based on
Robert Arabella’s Decline
And Fall Of The Poker
Empire, published in 2026 by
Poker Player.]
The unintended consequence
of Winston Smith having
named all the poker players
he knew led a Poker Police
SWAT Team to raid the secret
card room on Waco Street.
The raid failed miserably.
The Poker Police were shot
to pieces by The Hold’em
Holdouts, nine ex-U.S.
Marines. An angry Reverend
President Biggs Brother then
ordered, “No one gets out of
the Waco Street Card Room
alive. Send in The Poker
Fiends!”
Throughout history tyrants
have surrounded themselves
with fanatically loyal soldiers.
Josef Stalin had the Iron
Corps. Mao Zedong the Red
Guard. Adolph Hitler had The
SS. Reverend President Biggs
Brother has The Poker Fiends.
Officially this quasireligious group of Holy
Poker Warriors is named The
Society for the Suppression
of Poker but these soldiers
of misfortune, who have all
sworn oaths of personal allegiance to The Reverend, call
themselves The Poker Fiends.
Their leader, an ex-mercenary
known only as “Colonel
Brown,” has corrupted a biblical passage for The Poker
Fiends motto: “Kill All the
Poker Players. Let The Dealer
Sort Them Out.” If only half
the Poker Fiend rumors are
true, the Dealer has been
very busy. On the orders of
the Reverend President, The
Poker Fiends are said to have
kidnapped, tortured, and
murdered hundreds of poker
players.
Black helicopters land
The Poker Fiends near Waco
Street and from there they
move into position. Colonel
Brown will give them the
“Go” signal at exactly zero
seven hundred hours.
Inside the Hold’em
Hideout, Sergeant Major
Thomas “Tommy Gun”
Gunterson, USMC (Ret.),
a highly decorated combat
veteran of both The Middle
Eastern and South American
Oil Wars, folds his losing
cards and asks, “What time
is it?”
“0659, Sarge,” comes the
reply, and Gunterson, picking
up his weapon, goes to relieve
the lookout posted at the front
door. The Sergeant is halfway
there when the door and the
lookout are blown to pieces
by the initial Poker Fiend
assault.
The fighting is desperate
to-the-death hand-to-hand
combat in the dark and smoke
of the Hold’em Hideout.
Three times the Poker Fiends
attack and three times the
Hold’em Holdouts drive them
back. Colonel Brown adds up
the butcher’s bill. The Poker
Fiends have taken massive
casualties—half are dead,
and the rest are so badly shot
up that no more attacks are
possible. Desperate, Colonel
Brown tells the survivors,
“We have to destroy this
neighborhood in order to
save it.” A massive air strike
is called in, turning all of
Waco Street into a bombedout ruin. When the smoke
clears, Colonel Brown calls
the White House and reports,
“Mr. Reverend President, mission accomplished.”
“Great job, Brownie!” says
the Reverend President. “How
many card criminals were
there?”
“Eight, Mr. Reverend
President. We have killed all
eight of the so called Hold’em
Holdouts.”
Colonel Brown is wrong.
There had been nine Hold’em
Holdouts. Their leader,
Sergeant Major “Tommy
Gun” Gunterson, having
escaped the slaughter of
his men, was now several
blocks away, swearing “The
Soldier’s Oath” against The
Reverend President and The
Poker Fiends—“I will be the
punishment of God. If you
had not committed great sins
against me, God would not
have sent a punishment like
me upon you.”
[This is a work of poker fiction set ten thousand hands
in the future. Any resemblance to persons living or
dead is coincidental.]
(To be continued in the next
issue of Poker Player)
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Monday, 11:15 a.m.
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Please gamble responsibly.
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
13
Setting and Avoiding
TRAPS
STUD SENSE
By ASHLEY ADAMS
Trapping is a useful ploy for winning money
from straightforward, tight-aggressive players.
Similarly, the difference between being a winner and a loser in
a tough game is often your ability to avoid traps by the better
players in the game.
Here’s an example of setting a trap. You have a wired pair of
kings with a mid-sized door card on third street. Your straightforward, tight-aggressive opponent, showing a queen, raises the
bring-in after most of the field has folded. Trap him by just calling. Don’t raise.
It’s true that in stud you normally want to re-raise a raiser
on third street when you think you have a higher pair. You do
this to limit the field and extract an extra bet in a hand that you
expect to win. But in this hand, others have already folded and
your strength is hidden so there’s a good chance you’ll be playing the pot heads up and ahead of your opponent without his
knowledge. Use your invisible strength to win some extra bets.
Save your aggression for later streets when the bets double.
Let your apparent weakness seduce him into continuing to be
aggressive.
Spring the trap on fifth street. When he bets, you raise. If you
both pair cards other than your door cards and you are high you
can checkraise, expecting him to bet with his queens up.
If you become the high board by pairing or hitting an ace you
should bet, since if you check he may check behind you fearing you are ahead with your two pair against his likely pair of
queens. You don’t want to risk missing a bet here. On the other
hand, if you hit a king you should go for a check raise, since
your hand of trip kings will not look scary to your opponent.
Try to avoid getting trapped. Listen for the dog that isn’t
barking. Ask yourself why your normally aggressive opponent
isn’t showing aggression in situations when he is likely to at
least appear to be in the lead.
If, for example, your opponent pairs his door card and checks
after calling your raise on third street, suspect duplicity and
generally check behind him. If the hand looked like it was likely
to be heads up, why would your tight-aggressive opponent call
on third street with a straight or flush draw? It’s more likely
that he started with a pair and a big kicker and just hit trips.
Similarly, if your opponent hits an ace in this situation and
checks, suspect aces up and check behind him.
Traps occur on later streets too. If the hand is multi-way on
fourth and a normally tight-aggressive opponent shows two
suited cards or two cards to a straight, suspect him of going for
the flush or straight. If on fifth, when you are high and bet, and
he then calls your bet when he hits a suited or connected card,
and then comes out betting or check raising on sixth with a card
that doesn’t appear to help him, suspect a sprung trap once
again. Consider strongly throwing your hand away if you don’t
have a draw that can beat the strong hand you think he’s now
betting.
If, for example, you bet a pair of kings and he raises with
what you realize may well be a straight, consider throwing your
hand away–since you cannot draw a better hand than the one he
is representing. On the other hand, if you have kings up and he
raises you, tend to call since you can hit a full house.
A good poker player must be a lot like the hunter, using traps
to catch his prey. But he has to be careful as well, lest he step in
some other hunter’s trap.
Ashley Adams is the author of Winning 7-Card Stud,
(Kensington Press 2003). He has been playing 7-Card
Stud for 40 years—and profitably in casinos for the past
10 years. He has played in casinos all over the world,
including England, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Hungary,
Canada and the United States, but plays most frequently
at at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard Connecticut.
Professionally, he is a union organizer and an agent for
broadcasters. He can be reached at: [email protected]
14
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
Quitting Loser
BY BARBARA CONNORS
It’s
a standard greeting at the poker
table: “How are you doing?”
But in the context of a poker
game, the person posing
this particular question isn’t
inquiring about the state of
your health or your emotional well-being. No, in this
case “How are you doing?”
really means “Are you winning or are you losing—and
by how much?” It’s such a
simple, innocuous question,
yet it’s so fraught with the
potential for emotional landmines.
It shouldn’t be. Whether
or not we are winning or
losing at any given moment,
in any given poker session
really means nothing in the
long run. You heard it before
and you’ll doubtless hear it
again: It’s all one long session. Your result right now,
at this moment, is just a
snapshot in time. And like
yesterday’s newspaper, it
quickly becomes meaningless. As sure as the sun sets
every evening, as sure as the
stock market will fall every
now and then, tough losses
will happen at the poker
table—even to the best of
players. What matters is
how you deal with these
losses. And the first step in
dealing with any losing session is accepting that it is
inevitable sometimes. Then
don’t let it interfere with the
quality of your decisions in
the game. In short, don’t go
on tilt.
It’s easier said than done.
On occasion, the best possible decision you can make
will be to quit the game
for now and return to fight
another day—after you’ve
had a chance to recover and
regain some perspective.
Now if game conditions are
still good and you are still
playing at the top of your
game, then by all means
keep on playing regardless
of how much money you
have won or lost. Problem
is, few players who find
themselves deep in the hole
can truly stay objective and
focused. Big losses tend to
be very judgment-clouding.
Players who are badly
behind often start chasing,
tossing out one loose call
after another, in the des-
perate hopes of catching a
winner. Sometimes it’s the
opposite. A player who has
been losing a lot will often
start playing too timid and
weak-tight. He’ll be afraid
to bet and raise because now
he expects to lose every
hand; so even when he does
make a good hand he fails to
protect it. In either case, losing leads to sub-par strategic
decisions, which in turn lead
to even heavier losses.
The ability to truly play
well through a tough loss is
rare. Skilled players should
be able to keep playing
through a loss without letting it affect their judgment.
But this requires enormous
discipline and an almost
robotic emotional toughness.
At best, losing will encourage a player to buckle down
and concentrate hard on
making the right decisions.
At worst, it turns an emotional chip-hemorrhaging
disaster. Perhaps it’s ironic,
but in poker the ability to be
a good loser is absolutely
key to becoming a long-term
winner.
But too many players—
even otherwise skilled,
intelligent players—find
it extraordinarily difficult
to quit a poker game when
they are behind. Determined
to end the session as a winner, or at least get back
even, they stay. And they
chase. Some mysterious and
powerful magnetic force
will not allow their backsides to separate from their
chairs until they’ve won all
their money back—or all
their money is gone. Too
often the end result is a
bankroll-busting catastrophe,
when a little bit of discipline
would have limited the damage to a much smaller, manageable loss. The kind that
every serious poker player
must learn to deal with from
time to time.
Fast Answers About
Anything POKER!
pokerplayernewspaper.com
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S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
15
Blackjack
Is Busting
POKER COUNSELOR
By John Carlisle, MA, NCC
About a year ago blackjack seemed poised to follow the
lead of poker to explode in the popular consciousness.
After speaking with poker pro and ex-MIT blackjack team
member Andy Bloch on the topic, I wrote an article entitled
Is Blackjack the Next Poker?
I left the impression that I was expecting a boom in
interest and popularity of tournament style blackjack. With
televised poker continuing its strong showing across many
networks, it seemed that blackjack would follow suit. The
strategic outlets of using position, betting strategies, and
“knock-out” eliminations, tournaments blackjack held
some of the same allure as poker. Even gimmicks such as
the secret bet option of the Ultimate Blackjack Tour, or the
“have it your way” ability to change one card in the World
Series of Blackjack, would only enhance the enjoyment factor of viewership.
It is not the first time that I am forced to publicly admit
that I was wrong. Tournament blackjack is certainly not
on fire right now. Televised blackjack is not relishing in
huge ratings and great successes. Blackjack is not producing new celebrities like we see in poker, with names like
Moneymaker, Raymer, and Hachem. Poker also has a long
list of movie and TV faces that frequent our game: Shannon
Elizabeth, James Woods, Boston Rob, Tobey Maguire,
Jennifer Tilly, and Ben Affleck come to mind.
I certainly don’t see celebs flocking to the felt to appear
in blackjack shows. A Celebrity Blackjack show aired previously on the Game Show Network (GSN) with stars like
Carrie Fisher and Snoop Dogg battling for money to donate
to charity, but it dried up after a lackluster second season
and is unlikely to hit the small screen again. The World
Series of Blackjack is in its fourth season on GSN, but it
does not have enough momentum or excitement behind
it to climb to a bigger network in upcoming seasons. The
future of the televised blackjack looks bleak.
Blackjack does not have the psychological “play-along”
factor of poker. We empathize with poker players, and we
emotionally attach ourselves to their decisions. We think
to ourselves, “Oh man, I’d go all-in if I had his hand.”
Blackjack falls short of this. Betting, the most important
aspect of the game, takes place before the cards are dealt.
The plays of hit, stand, surrender, double-down, and split
are often obvious “by the book” plays. The viewer simply
cannot get into the game with the same intensity as poker
viewers.
Blackjack does not have the characters that poker inherently brings with it. Other than the charismatic Hollywood
Dave, there are no recognizable and interesting people
to root for or against. The Ultimate Blackjack Tour tried
to combat this by using poker superstars such as Phil
Hellmuth in their shows. It simply did not transfer. People
sometimes watch poker simply to root against the poker
“villains” such as Tony G, Hellmuth, and Mike Matusow.
People stay tuned in to root for lovable poker stars like
Doyle Brunson and Jennifer Harman. Blackjack does not
have those marketable personalities waiting in the wings.
Blackjack is not dead, but it is showing a 16 versus a
dealer’s ace. In other words, it is not looking promising at
all. It needs to gather some star power, some improved TV
production values, and a better base of amateur tournament players to have a chance to thrive as poker has.
In addition to being an avid poker enthusiast, John is a
certified Counselor in the state of Pennsylvania. He has
a Master of Arts degree in Counseling from West Virginia
University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a
minor in Sociology from Lock Haven University.
You can ask the “Poker Counselor” your
question at [email protected].
16
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
As wild Canadian geese
fly overhead announcing
the return of autumn, poker
enthusiasts take flight to
compete in a cornucopia
of action packed fall poker
tournaments. Fall is traditionally the most exciting
time of year for Midwestern
took home the top prize of
$116,977, his share of the
total $389,940 prize pool.
This year’s line of events
begins at noon on Friday,
October 12 with daily
events taking place, finishing with the Championship
Event on Wednesday,
Autumn Midwest: A Harvest
of Top Tournament Dollars
MIDWEST MILIEU
By bonnie demos
players, and this season
will be no exception. New
tournament opportunities and the expansion of
annual tournament venues
abound, giving players
more options, as well as
the chance to compete for
larger prize pools in 2007.
Canterbury Card Club’s
annual Fall Classic has
been the premier tournament destination in the
Midwest since it’s beginning in 2001. Seven years
later, the event remains the
largest and most popular
venue in the area and continues to grow bigger and
better with each passing
year.
This year’s excitement
builds at the popular series
with the addition of two
bonus evening events into
the 13-day action packed
schedule. Last year the
event drew a record 4,303
entries from 22 states and
three countries, gaining
an impressive increase
of 16.2 percent from the
3,702 entries in 2005. Each
event averaged 331 players,
which was up 16 percent
from 285 per event in 2005.
All this new blood created the most important
number of all as Canterbury
Park paid out a record
$1,448,736 in total prize
money. Vice president of
card club operations Jerry
Fuller stated, “The Fanball.
com Fall Poker Classic
is our premium event of
the year, offering thirteen
days of tournament action,
including limit hold’em,
no-limit hold’em, 7-card
stud, and Omaha/8 events.
The competition culminates
with the $200,000 guaranteed Championship Event
taking center stage.
To refresh your memory,
the 2006 champion was
noted player Brad Berman
of Minnetonka, MN, who
October 24.
In addition,
a LIPS event
is scheduled for Sunday, October
21 at noon, and ladies take
note, you will find Mall of
America, one of the country’s top shopping destinations, conveniently located
just 25 minutes north of
Canterbury Card Club.
Please contact the
Canterbury Card Club
for additional information, lodging, times,
dates and buy-ins.
Jimmy Sommerfeld and
Jan Phillips are tournament co-directors.
Canterbury Card Club:
1100 Canterbury Road,
Shakopee, MN 55379,
Phone: 1-866-MNPOKER
or (952) 445-6870, e-mail:
tournaments@canter-
d
burypark.com, website:
www.canterburypark.com
Following The Fall
Classic, set your sights
for Keshena, Wisconsin,
where the tournament
action continues at the
new, first annual Wild
Rice Classic, offering a
potential prize pool of
$86K. This event will take
place from November 1-4,
with satellites currently
underway every Thursday
evening. Contact The
Forest Edge Poker Room
for additional details about
this exciting new event at
1.800.343.7778 Ext. 5274.
Additional noteworthy
events include a WSOP
event at Caesars, IN,
October 17-November 2, as
well as several Heartland
Poker Tour Events taking
place in Minnesota, Iowa,
South Dakota, and Indiana.
Check for details, updates,
and tournament coverage
in future issues, as players across the Midwest
compete for bountiful cash
harvests throughout the colorful fall poker tournament
season.
Bonnie Demos from the midwest, Gambler, poker player
and award winning chef,
has enjoyed working in the
gaming industry for the past
several years. Write her at
[email protected]
Diamond Jim’s Casino
118 20th St. West
Rosamond, California
Exit A 14 Freeway
The Best Little No-limit Tournament in Southern California
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Casino AZ Gulf Coast Poker Championship at Beau Rivage
Event Marks TwoCrowns New Year
Anniversary of
State Champ Hurricane Katrina
Casino Arizona named a
new State Poker Champion
on Sunday, Aug. 19 at the
culmination of the third
annual Arizona State Poker
Championship. After two
days of play, Andreas
Foulias of Gilbert, Ariz.
took home the title of
State Champion, winning
$250,000 cash, as well as
a championship ring and
trophy.
“I haven’t realized what’s
happened yet, but I know
I will be really excited
tomorrow,” said Foulias
after winning the tournament “I’ve been playing
poker for 45 years and
play every day at Casino
Arizona because it’s the
best place in the state for
poker,” he added.
Foulias, 53, outlasted
more than 450 players of all
skill levels, at the no-limit
Texas hold’em tournament.
When asked what he plans
to do with his winnings, he
exclaimed, “Play poker!”
The tournament began
on Saturday, Aug. 18 at
9 a.m. with 450 players
and continued until only
20 players remained for
the final two tables. Those
players returned to compete
for the championship on
Sunday, Aug. 19. The final
six players competed in the
Signals Lounge at Casino
Arizona during a live taping for a special edition of
We’ve Got Your Game.
“The Casino Arizona
State Championship was
a huge success and has, in
just three years, become
a favorite event for poker
lovers,” said Kent Odekirk,
poker director for Casino
Arizona. “We look forward
to next year!”
Next month, on Sept.
15, Casino Arizona will
host the 2007 Arizona
State Ladies Poker
Championship, with a prize
pool of $125,000. The first
place winner will take home
$50,000 cash, a championship necklace & trophy.
For more information visit
the Poker Room at Casino
Arizona 101 & Indian
Bend, casinoarizona.com,
or call (480) 850-7777.
The Gulf Coast Poker
Championship, a 10-event
tournament series
ies
at Biloxi’s
Beau Rivage
got underway
Thursday,
August 30.
Six no-limit
hold’em tournaments
aments
with buy-ins off $300 and
d
$500 comprise the preliminary events. On September
6 a three-day $10,000 buyin World Poker Tour event
begins and will run through
September 9 to conclude
this tournament series.
This also marks the
two-year anniversary of
Hurricane Katrina, which
decimated an estimated 90
percent of Biloxi’s
percen
buildings. In
our June 25
issue (Vol. 10
iss
Number 26) we
N
did a feature
story about
the Beau
Bea Rivage,
a ffour-diamond
property
di
that’s been recognized by
both Conde Nast Traveler
and Travel + Leisure as
one of the top resorts in the
country. It is a spectacular
destination resort that’s
made a remarkable recovery from Katrina’s devastation.
This tournament series
gets underway too late to
feature any results in this
issue, but we’ll give you all
of the results from the Gulf
Coast Poker Championship
in the next issue of Poker
Player Newspaper.
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
17
All Things Considered
FRESH FACE OF Poker
By Jennifer Matiran
A few errors in judgment repeated consistently
can cost you a lot of money playing poker.
There are many important aspects to a live
money, ten-person game: position, limits, betting, calling, and raising are a few of them, but there are two
others in my opinion that are critically important. My father,
who has consistently played profitable poker all of his life,
shared two key ingredients with me that are imperative for anyone wanting to play winning poker over a long period of time.
The first is the two hole cards one chooses to play. Blinds
excluded, the person who plays any ace for example, without
considering his or her kicker, will inevitably be a loser over
a period of time, although A-4 suited could be played in an
unraised pot. While A-4 off-suit may win at times, the chances
are slim, and more often than not a hand like that will be
beaten by an ace with a better kicker. So playing any ace over
a period of time will cost a whole bunch of chips. Always play
strong cards, cards that are even stronger when they are
together.
Secondly, always remember this: “Flop it or muck it.” It’s
that simple. If I start with K-Q for example–a beautiful king
with a queen–it usually will mean nothing if the flop’s 4-3-2
with no flush draw. Muck it!
This concept saves money in the long run. If I start with two
nines and flop A-Q-8, the nines usually will mean nothing if
someone bets. Muck it! “Players want to get married to their
cards,” my Dad always says, “and that’s what separates the
winners from the losers.” He says,” Folding is not like quitting;
folding when appropriate is what separates pros from amateurs.” So flop it or muck it. Remember, the best players in the
world usually play between twenty and thirty percent of their
starting hands.
Failure happens over a period of time in poker and in life
too. One does not become 600 pounds in one day, one does not
despise their spouse in one day, one does not burn-up their car
engine in one day, and one does not become an alcoholic after
one drink. I could go on for days, but you get my point.
A wise man said something like this, “Failure is not a single,
cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight. Failure is the
inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor
choices. To put it simply, failure is nothing more than a few
errors in judgment repeated every day. Now why do people
make errors in judgment and then be so foolish as to repeat
them every day? The answer is because they do not think that
it matters.
On their own, our daily acts may not seem important. A
minor oversight, a poor decision, or a wasted hour generally
doesn’t result in an instant and measurable impact. We escape
from any immediate consequences of our deeds more often
than not.
Those who eat too many of the wrong foods are contributing to a future health problem, but the joy of the moment
overshadows the consequence of the future. It does not seem
to matter. Those who smoke too much or drink too much go on
making these poor choices year after year after year because
it doesn’t seem to matter. But the pain and regret of these
errors in judgment have only been delayed for a future time.
Consequences are seldom instant; instead, they accumulate
until the inevitable day of reckoning finally arrives and the
price must be paid for choices that didn’t seem to matter.”
It all matters and until we meet again, evaluate everything,
your life, your game and make adjustments that will set you on
the course of victory. Are you making a poor choice in life or in
poker? Muck it!
Changing the world one sentence at a time, Jennifer
Matiran believes the pen is, and always will be, mightier
than the sword. Contact her with questions, comments
or interesting material at [email protected].
Ms. Matiran is trying to sell her screenplay,
her other passion (besides poker!)
18
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
WIN A FREE SEAT IN THE
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For more information: 505.796.7500 •800.526.9366
Close to Home... Far from Ordinary
30 Rainbow Road N.E. • Albuquerque, NM 87113 • www.sandiacasino.com
*See Sandia Resort & Casino Poker Room for specific requirements for qualification of jackpot and official rules.
FALL POKER
Classic
October 12-24, 2007
presented by
DATE
DAY
GAME
Oct. 12
Oct. 13
Oct. 14
Oct. 15
Oct. 16
Oct. 17
Oct. 18
Oct. 19
Oct. 20
Oct. 21
Oct. 21
Oct. 22
Oct. 23
Oct. 24
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday Noon
Sunday 4 PM
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Tournament
Directors
BUY-IN + ENTRY FEE
No-Limit Hold’em
Limit Hold’em
No-Limit Hold’em
No-Limit Hold’em
Limit Hold’em
Omaha Hi-Lo
No-Limit Hold’em
No-Limit Hold’em
No-Limit Hold’em
Ladies Only No-Limit Hold’em
7-Stud
No-Limit Hold’em
Limit Hold’em
No-Limit Hold’em
2–DAY CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
$300 + $40
$300 + $40
$300 + $40
$200 + $30
$200 + $30
$200 + $30
$300 + $40
$400 + $45
$500 + $50
$150 + $25
$200 + $30
$500 + $50
$500 + $50
$1000 + $80
Two Bonus Evening Events
$200 + $30 No Limit Hold’Em
Tuesday, October 16 and Wednesday, October 17th at 7:00 pm
ALL EVENTS START AT NOON UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.
Jan Phillips
Located 25 minutes from Minneapolis/St. Paul
International Airport.
For tournament or lodging information,
call 952-445-6870,
1-866-MN-POKER
or email, [email protected]
Jimmy Sommerfeld
3% of Prize Pool withheld for tournament dealers.
Must be 18 to play at Canterbury Park.
Playing responsibly is always your best bet. Canterbury Park reserves the right to alter or amend this tournament at any time.
Canterbury Card Club • 1100 Canterbury Road, Shakopee, MN 55379 • www. canterburypark.com
Heartland Poker Tour Cherokee’s Fish & Chips
Makes History Again
First Canadian
Player Takes Win
James Gibson
wins $77,720
The Heartland
land Poker Tour
(HPT) saw another historical marker as James Gibson
became the first Canadian
citizen to win the HPT televised poker tournament.
James Gibson went heads
up in the no-limit Texas
hold’em tournament against
former HPT winner Soni Lo,
but Gibson’s K-7 beat Lo’s
A-8 for the final hand to win
$77,720.
The marathon final table
included a wide variety of
poker players including a
musician, ballet instructor,
farmer, cab company owner
and gas station owner. In
the end, it was retired truck
driver James Gibson who
won the title as his poker
playing buddies cheered him
on from the front row.
“I had a dream about this
last night,” said Gibson. “I
couldn’t sleep at all, but
when I did, I dreamt of winning this tournament.”
Gibson went on to say
that his victory and first
place prize would go a long
way to smoothing things
over on the home front.
“My wife’s been keeping a
log of my poker wins and
losses, including expenses.
I’ve been running kind of
bad lately, so this is going to
really help.”
For a while, it did not
look like anyone would
ever win the tournament as
the first six blind levels and
several hours passed before
any players were eliminated.
When the tournament field
was finally narrowed to three
players, blinds were capped
to finish out the event.
“I really wanted to win
this thing,” said second place
finisher Lo, a diversitytraining instructor and ballet
instructor. “I wanted to be
the first ever two time champion on the HPT.”
In the end, it was not to
be for Lo who entered the
final table as a substantial
short stack with only about
100,000 of the 2.1 million
chips in play. Lo recently
took a year off from playing
poker to travel to Asia and
remarked he is back with
plans to focus more on his
game.
The
T final table capped a
weeklong
event at the Grand
wee
Casino
Cas Mille Lacs in central Minnesota. The main
event was one of five events
played throughout the week,
By Bonnie Demos
Cherokee Casino Roland
kicks off its annual FishN-Chips Poker Tournament
September 26-30, featuring
six events ranging from
$120 buy-ins to a $550
main event buy-in. To wrap
up this tournament series,
will throw a good ‘ol, delicious Oklahoma fish fry for
all of the contestants.
“This event was a
great success last year at
Cherokee Casino Roland,”
said David Stewart, CEO
of Cherokee Nation
Enterprises, which operates
Cherokee Casinos. “Poker
and a fish fry make a great
combination. The players and employees really
enjoyed the event and we
are looking forward to an
even bigger Fish-N-Chips
tournament this year.”
The Fish-N-Chips Poker
Tournament includes
no-limit hold’em, Jack
and Jill, mixed hold’em,
Omaha high/low, no-limit
hold’em bounty, and the nolimit hold’em main event.
Jimmy Sommerfeld, who
has directed many prestigious tournaments including the 2006 World Series
of Poker, will oversee the
Fish-N-Chips tournament.
“The Gentleman” Berry
Johnston will once again
take a seat at the poker
table for the Fish-N-Chips
tournament. Johnston, an
Oklahoma native, has one
of the most accomplished
careers in poker. This hall
of farmer boasts five World
Series of Poker bracelets,
and even at age 70, he
remains a threat at major
tournaments.
All tournament events
offer contestants a chance
to win cash and a custom
tournament trophy. Each
contestant will receive a
complimentary custom-
Time to Ram-and-Jam
DAILY NO LIMIT TOURNAMENTS
9 A.M.
6 P.M.
SIT N GO’S
HIGH HAND BONUSES
For more information, call 702.730.7780.
Monte Carlo endorses responsible gaming. If you or someone you know has a problem
gaming responsibly, please call the 24-hour Problem Gamblers HelpLine at 1.800.522.4700
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
19
ACED OUT
STRAIGHT SKINNY
By RICHARD G. BURKE
Fred looked tired when he signed up for a
$1-$2 no-limit hold’em game at our local casino’s poker room on that Saturday afternoon in mid-summer.
He had, he told me, stayed up late the night before playing in
a multi-table, no-limit hold’em tournament on the Internet.
His $1,000 guaranteed, no re-buys, no-limit hold’em tournament started with 120 players on twelve tables. He had
started with T1,500 and had about T1,250 left at level 4 when
someone cracked his pocket aces. What were the chances of
that, he asked.
Heads-up, I told Fred, aces are roughly an 80-to-20 favorite before the flop. (The starting hand with the best chance
against aces is T-9s, with aces a 77.1 percent favorite to win:
the worst are A-9 and A-6, unsuited, with aces a 92.5 percent
favorite to win. Suited hands are generally about 4 percent
more likely to crack aces than unsuited hands.) He was at
least an 80 percent favorite against any other pocket pair, I
told him, a 4-to-1 favorite. His loss was tough luck.
It wasn’t so simple as that, Fred explained. He had minraised in early position holding Aa-Ad. A player downstream went all-in; the chip leader went all-in; everyone else
folded and it was back to him. Both the chip leader and the
other all-in player had him covered. If Fred called and lost,
then he was out of the tournament. If he prevailed then he
would triple up, thus improving his chances of cashing.
Fred called all-in. The desperado showed 9s-9d. The
chip leader showed Qa-Qs and Fred beamed. When the
site’s server presented the Qf on the flop, he yelled at the
screen for an ace. Failing to improve, Fred was out of the
tournament and out of the money.
Fred asked whether he should have called both all-in
players with pocket aces. Heads-up, Fred’s win probability
was 0.80. Against 2 players it’s 0.802, or 0.64. Against 3
players, it’s 0.803, or 0.512, and so on, as the chart shows.
(These probabilities aren’t exact; they’re close enough to
show you the big picture.) The point is that your win probability decreases exponentially as your number of opponents
increase.
In a no-limit
tournament, you
would take those
80-to-20 odds
against one opponent happily, I told
Fred, unless you
were on the bubble or close to it.
But short-stacked
against two opponents, you were
putting your tournament life on the line with a 64-36 edge:
I would lean toward folding. If you had them both covered
handily, then of course you would call them eagerly.
At level 4, the blinds were $50-$100. If you had opened
with a larger raise in early position, perhaps 4 or 5 times the
big blind or even all-in, then you would have a better chance
at isolating one opponent.
What about the Independent Chip Model (ICM), Fred asked,
wouldn’t the ICM dictate his calling. If he were in the money,
or near it, then I supposed it would. Tripling up would triple
your chances of winning. At level 4 in a multi-table tournament, tripling up would be nice, but it likely would mean
that your tournament win probability would improve to 0.06
from, say, 0.02. At that point in your no-limit tournament,
you should prefer just to watch one desperado shoot another
down in flames.
Mr. Burke is the author of Flop: The Art of Winning at
Low-Limit Hold ’Em, on sale at amazon &
kokopellipress.com. E-mail your Hold ’Em questions to
[email protected]
20
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
When reading descriptions
of hands played, I hope to
learn from them how to
become a better player. But
sometimes I am learning by
recognizing other people’s
mistakes, often unintentionally revealed in the column.
and eights, putting him well
in the lead. Tom checked
again, and Don made a
modest bet. Then Tom
raised. Good check-raise!
The writer then reported
that Don decided to call
because he was getting
Learning from
Others’ Mistakes
SENIORS SCENE
By George “The engineer” EPSTEIN
(We also can learn from
our own mistakes; no one is
perfect!). That’s called “lessons learned.”
A recent column
described a no-limit
hold’em hand with two
well-known poker players.
Apparently everyone else
had folded, so it was headsup. To avoid embarrassing
anyone, I have changed the
names. We’ll call them Tom
and Dan. I found several
mistakes in the playing of
the hand as described. . .
Tom was dealt A-8 and
Don held K-Q, both hearts.
Tom’s hand
Don’s hand
The flop gave Tom a pair
of eights, while Don had top
pair of queens with a good
kicker plus four-to-a-flush.
It was a great flop for Don:
2.7-to-1 pot odds, and he
could “still catch a king
or a queen or a heart.”
Actually, another king
most likely would not have
been to Don’s advantage;
kings-up is second-best
to aces-up! First mistake:
Don probably should have
considered that Tom likely
held aces-up. Why else was
he raising after the ace on
the turn. Discounting the
kings, Don had 11 outs, giving card odds of 3.2-to-1
against him. Clearly, then,
with pot odds of 2.7-to-1,
Don should not have called
Tom’s raise on that basis.
That was the second mistake. But the call would be
correct if it had been based
on implied pot odds, assuming there would be betting
on the river. Don made
the correct call but for the
wrong reason. The implied
pot odds are much more
important than the immediate pot odds in making betting decisions.
The river brought the
five of hearts, giving Don
a king-high flush! Tom
moved all in, based on his
assumption that Don “…
was trying to steal it with a
weak hand” because of his
strong bet on the flop. Now
that’s a glaring mistake! The
fact that Don called Tom’s
check-raise on the turn with
two hearts on the board,
should have been enough
to give Tom reason for concern, especially when a third
heart came on the river. It
was foolhardy for Tom to
risk all his chips based only
on a guess that Don had
been trying to steal the pot
on the flop. When betting
on the river, it is always
prudent to consider the possibility that you are betting
into a stronger hand than
your own. If that is just as
likely as not, a check would
be the wise thing to do.
I guess that hand proves
even the best-among-thebest make mistakes sometimes. Me too.
So, readers, what’s
YOUR opinion?
George “The Engineer”
Epstein is the author of
The Greatest Book of
Poker for Winners! and
Hold’em or Fold’em? –
An Algorithm for Making
the Key Decision (T/C
Press, PO Box 36006, Los
Angeles, CA 90036) He
teaches poker courses and
the Poker Lab at the Claude
Pepper Sr. Citizen Center
under the auspices of the
City of Los Angeles Dept.
of Recreation and Parks.
George can be reached by
e-mail: [email protected].
The Flop
After Tom checked his
middle pair, Don made a
strong bet, hoping that Tom
would think he was trying
to steal the pot with a weak
hand. Tom called without
any hesitation, suggesting
that he had a hand worth the
investment, probably a pair.
The turn was an ace,
though not a heart. That
gave Tom two-pair, aces
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NON SMOKING • 8 TABLES • OPEN 24 HRS/7 DAYS A WEEK
Important Rules Changes!!!
N E W S PA P E R P R E S E N TS . . .
All Individuals
may compete!!!
The 2007 World Poker
Dealer Championships
AT
BINION’S GAMBLING HALL AND HOTEL
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA • SEPTEMBER 25-29, 2007
All owners and employees of public card
rooms are now eligible
to compete in the listed events. This year
there are 4 events, all
are NO LIMIT HOLD
‘EM. Any female who
works in or directly
for a public card room
may enter the ladies
event. Ladies may
play in this event and
one other. Males may
only play in one of the
other events. Only persons who have dealt
in a public card room
in the last 12 months
may enter the Dealers
event. Circuit Dealers
who have dealt in the
last 12 months may
also play. Dual rate
employees may choose
SCHEDULE
Monday – September 24 – Evening
Registration, Orientation, Social Gathering –
Hors d’oeuvres, drinks
Tuesday – September 25 – Noon
Ladies Only event
(any female that works in a card room).
$500 buy-in - $50 entry fee
Wednesday – September 26 – 9:00 AM –
Finals of Ladies event (if needed)
Dealer’s Event – Noon
$1,000 buy-in - $100 entry fee
Thursday – September 27 – 9:00 AM –
Finals of Dealer’s event (if needed)
Supervisor’s Event – Noon
Friday – September 28 – 9:00 AM –
Finals of Supervisor’s event (if needed)
Owner’s and Manager’s Event – Noon
Saturday – September 29 – 10:00 AM –
Finals of Owner/Manager event
Champagne Celebration/Luncheon Banquet –
Awards – 2 PM
this or the Supervisors
event.
Owners and Managers
event includes shift
managers and above.
Owners must own at
least 5% of the card
room, or, if a native
American must be a
member of the tribal
council. Supervisors
event includes all positions between dealer
and shift manager, plus
marketing, security and
cashier employees.
Trophies will be awarded to individual winners and their card
rooms. Winners will be
engraved on a permanent trophy to be displayed at Binions.
Additional registration will take place at 10 AM – each event starting date.
For further details contact Gary DeWitt, Binions Poker Manager – [email protected] (702) 366-7525
W E E K E N D
T O U R N A M E N T S
Come Back To Where It All Began.
Enter Now!
Date
Event
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Fri, Sept 14
Sat, Sept 15
Sun, Sept 16
Pot Limit Omaha
Pot Limit Omaha 8 or better
Limit Omaha 8 or better
Fri, Nov 9
Sat, Nov 10
Sun, Nov 11
Pot Limit Omaha
Fri, Oct 12
Sat, Oct 13
Sun, Oct 14
Pot Limit Omaha
Fri, Dec 14
Sat, Dec 15
Sun, Dec 16
Pot Limit Omaha
All events start at 5pm and have a $150 buy-in.
During the Omaha Weekend Tournaments, the ‘live side’ will offer $2.00 max
rake on all Omaha games. The rate will apply to Omaha games on weekdays as
well as tournament weekends. The mid-week hotel room rates will be offered to
qualified Omaha Weekend Tournament participants.
Texas Hold‘em Tournaments
$10,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
Every Saturday & Sunday at 2pm, and every Friday at 2pm starting Oct. 5th.
Visit Binion’s Poker Room or call 1-800-937-6537
for more information.
Prize pools based on number of participants. Management
reserves the right to change, cancel or amend. Employees
of Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel or MTR are not eligible.
Additional restrictions may apply. Complete set of rules
available in the Poker Room. Must be 21.
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24
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
Time. Some events
C start after the hour
...........AM, PM
O A,WkP................Week
..... Additional gameD &.times
on this day. Call.
E ........Hold’em
.No Limit Hold’em
.Limit Hold’em
N .............No Limit
L ................... Limit
.............Stud
..7-Card Stud
..5-Card Stud
MONDAY
LAS VEGAS & NEVADA SOUTH
•GOLD BAR DENOTES ADVERTISER
TIME
Aladdin
1P&
Aquarius Resort & Casino 8A
Arizona Charlie’s
Bally’s
11A
10A
Binion
Bi
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blinng Haall (22)
bl
22)
2P&
Caesars Palace
12P&
Cannery Casino
7P&
Circus Circus
11A
Col.Belle-Laughlin
7P
Edgewater-Laughlin
Excalibur
9A
10A
Go d C
Gold
Coa
oaast ((20
20)
6P
Golden Nugget
11A&
Green
n Vaall
lley
y Ran
anch
an
ch
h
10A
Harrah’s Las Vegas
11A&
Imperial Palace
1P
2P
Jokkers
rs Wildd (32)
7P
Luxor
9A&
Mandalay Bay
10A&
MGM
11A&
Miraage (9))
7P
9A&
Mont
Mo
ntte Carllo (1
(19
9)
6P
Nevada Palace
10A
Oasi
s s--Mes
si
Mesqui
uitee ((15
5)
11A
Paris
3P&
Plaza Casino
12A&
Ramada Express
Red Roc
Re
Rock
ck Sta
tatioon
10A
Rio Suite Casino
12P&
River Palms
6P&
1P&
Riivi
v erra Pooker
ke Ro
Room
om
m (8)
10A
Sahara
11A&
7P
Sam
m’s Tow
wn (16
6)
11P
Santa
nt Fe Station
n (6)
6)
12P
10A
South
Sout
h Poin
Po nt Ca
Casi
sin
no ((38
38
8)
7P
Speedway
4P
Stratosphere
9A&
10A&
Sun Co
Sun
Coasst (111)
7P
10A
Sunset
et Stati
tion
ti
on
n ((6)
6)
Texa
xas Statio
atioon (6
(6)
Treassure
Tr
re Islan
sl nd (3
33)
Tropicana
Tuscany
an (4))
NEVADA NORTH
Venetian
Vene
an
n (2)
Virgin River Casino
Wynn Las Vegas
Atlantis Casino
Boomtown
Cactus Petes-Jackpot
Carson Valley Inn
Circus Circus
Eldorado
Grand Sierra
Harrah’s Reno
Harvey’s Tahoe
Peppperm
mill (17)
Rainbow Cas. W Wendover
Sands Regency, Reno
HH ...... Headhunter
B ............ Bounties
Sp .............. Spread
Al .........Alternates
Z........... Freezeout
Cz ................ Crazy
E..........Elimination
........ Omaha
H/L .High/Low Split
Pi...........Pineapple
Po...........Pot Limit
Pn.........Panginque
Mx ..Mexican Poker
DC .Dealer’s Choice
|
TUESDAY
GAMES BUY-IN| TIME
NH
$50+ 1P&
Z
$17 8A
Q ............... Qualify
Sh ...........Shootout
+ ..Rebuys, Add-Ons OK
F ............... Freeroll
Lad ..... Ladies Only
Men ........Men Only
DAILY TOURNAMENTS
NOW! Get Tournament Listings at our website:
w w w. p o k e r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m
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Note: All tournaments are subject to change. Check with the Cardroom for any updates. Cardrooms—
please send your schedules to Managing Editor A.R. Dyck, [email protected]
| WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
NH
$50+ 1P&
Z
$17 8A
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
NH
$50+ 1P&
Z
$17 8A
12P&
NH
$65 11A
NH
$50 10A
NH
$70 2P&
NH
$200 12P&
NH
$35+ 10A
L/N H $40+ 11A
7P
|
FRIDAY
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
NH
$50+ 1P&
Z
$17 8A
N H $240+ 12P&
NH
$65 11A
NH
$50 10A
NH
$70 2P&
NH
$200 12P&
NH
$25 10A
L/N H $40+ 11A
O H/L
$65 7P
GAMES
NH
Z
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
L/N H
NH
| SATURDAY |
BUY-IN|TIME
$50+ 1P&
$17 8A
$20+ 12P&
$65 11A
$50 10A
$70 2P&
$330 12P&
$25 10A
$40+
$65
GAMES
NH
Z
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
BUY-IN|TIME
$50+ 1P&
$17 8A
$20+ 12P&
$80+ 11A
$50 10A
$70 2P&
$330 12P&
$25 10A
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
L/N H
NH
$65
$50
$70
$200
$35+
$40+
$65
11A
10A
2P&
12P&
7P&
11A
7P
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
L/N H
NH
$65
$50
$70
$200
$35+
$40+
$65
11A
10A
2P&
12P&
7P&
11A
NHZ
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NHZ
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
NH
$35
$22
$35
$55+
$60
$50+
$50+
$25+
$25+
$22+
$40
$65
$230
$50+
$60+
$18
$15+
$65
$65+
9A
10A
6P
11A&
10A
11A&
7P
2P
7P
9A&
10A&
11A&
7P
9A&
6P
10A
11A
3P&
12A&
NHZ
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NHZ
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
NH
$35
$22
$35
$55+
$40
$50+
$50+
$25+
$25+
$22+
$40
$65
$130
$50+
$60+
$19
$15+
$65
$65+
9A
10A
6P
11A&
10A
11A&
1P
2P
7P
9A&
10A&
6P
7P
9A&
6P
10A
11A&
3P&
12A&
NHZ
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NHZ
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
NH
$35
$22
$35
$55+
$60
$50+
$50+
$25+
$25+
$22+
$40
$125
$230
$50+
$60+
$18
$15+
$65
$65+
9A
10A
6P
11A&
10A
11A&
7P
2P
7P
9A&
10A&
11A&
7P
9A&
6P
10A
11A
3P&
12A&
NHZ
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NHZ
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
NH
$35
$22
$35
$55+
$40
$50+
$50+
$25+
$25+
$22+
$40
$65
$230
$50+
$60+
$18
$15+
$65
$65+
9A
10A
NHZ
NH
$35 9A
$22 10A
11A&
10A
11A&
1P
2P
6P
9A&
10A&
11A
NH
NH
NH
NHZ
NH
NH
NHZ
N HZ
NH
$55+ 11A&
$60
$50+ 11A&
1P
$25+ 2P
$35+ 6P
$22+ 12P&
$40
$65
9A&
6P
10A
11A
3P&
12A&
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
NH
$50+
$60+
$18
$15+
$65
$65+
NH
NH
O H/L
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
L/N H
NH
NH
NHZ
LH
$100
$40+
$25+
$44+
$44+
$40+
$45+
$45+
$35+
$45
$65
$23+
$60
$40
$60
$35
10A
12P&
6P&
1P&
10A
11A&
7P
11P
12P
10A
7P
4P
9A&
10A&
7P
11A
7P
7P
11A&
10A&
4A
7P&
12P
8P
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
L/N H
NH
NH
NHZ
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
$100
$40+
$25+
$44+
$44+
$40+
$45+
$45+
$35+
$45
$65
$23+
$60
$40
$60
$50
$77
$40
$60
$50+
$22
$22
$340
$130+
4P
9A&
10A&
6P
11A
L/N H
NH
NH
NHB
NH
$23+
$60
$40
$50+
$50
4P
9A&
10A&
6P
11A
L/N H
NH
NH
NHB
NH
$23+
$60
$40
$50+
$50
11A&
10A&
4A
7P&
12P
8P
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
$60
$50+
$22
$22
$550
$130+
11A&
10A&
4A
7P&
12P
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
$60
$50+
$22
$22
$550
12P&
L H Sh
NH
L H Sh
12P
12P&
7P
NH
L H Sh
NH
$540
$15 10A&
$22+
7 Sh
7P
12P
11A
Pi
N H Sh
NH
NH
NH
NH
F+
$55 6P&
$17 11A
NH
NH
$25+ 12P
$17 11A
N H Sh
NH
$12 12P
$17 10A
9A
10A&
NH
NH
NH
NH
$15 9A&
$25 10A
NH
NH
$15 9A
$25 10A
NH
NH
$15 9A
$25 10A
1P&
8P
10A
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
$330 12P
$15 12P&
$22+
7P
$25+ 6P&
$17 11A
$22+
$15 9A
$25 10A
$25+
$25 1P&
$100
$40+
$25+
$44+
$44+
$40+
$45+
$45+
$35+
$45
$65
$23+
$60
$40
$60
$50
$77
$40
$60
$50+
$22
$22
$340
$130+
$35+
$330
$15
$100
$40+
$25+
$44+
$44+
$40+
$45+
$45+
$35+
$45
9A&
10A&
7P
11A
7P
7P
11A&
10A&
4A
7P&
12P
8P
6P
$330 12P
$15 10A&
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
L/N H
NH
NH
NHZ
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
7 Sh
NH
NH
O H/L
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
$40
$60
$50+
$22
$22
$340
$130+
$35+
$100
$40+
$25+
$44+
$44+
$40+
$45+
$45+
$35+
$45
$65
$23+
$60
$40
$60
$35
$77
$37+
$60
$50+
$22
$22
$340
$130+
10A
12P&
6P&
1P&
10A
11A&
7P
11P
12P
10A
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
7 H/L
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
L/N H
NH
NH
NHZ
LH
NH
O H/L B
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
10A
12P&
6P&
1P&
10A
11A&
7P
11P
12P
10A
7P
7P
11A&
10A&
4A
7P&
12P
8P
6P
10A
12P&
6P&
1P&
10A
11A&
7P
11P
12P
10A
7P
4P
9A&
10A&
7P
10A
7P
7P
11A&
10A&
4A
7P&
12P
8P
NH
$25 7P
NH
NH
$20+ 10A&
NH
$20+ 10A
$115+ 6P
8P
$20+ 10A
NH
LH
NH
$110
$25+
$20+ 10A
12P
$15 10A&
7P
$15+
$12 6P&
$17 11A
6P
$15 9A&
$25 10A
6P
$25 1P
$25+
$20+ 10A
NH
7 Sh
NH
NH
9A&
3P
10A
11A
3P&
12A&
2P
12P&
6P&
10A
11A&
7P
11P
10A
10A
SUNDAY
GAMES BUY-IN
NH
$50+
Z
$17
NH
$20+
NH
$80+
NH
$50
NH
$70
NH
$330
NH
$25
$65
$65
$35
$22
NHZ
NH
7P
12P
$35 9A
$22 10A
NH
NH
NHZ
NH
NH
$55+ 11A&
NH
$55+
11A&
1P
2P
7P
12P&
NH
NH
NH
NH
NHZ
$50+
$50+
$25+
$25+
$30
6P
5P
9A&
6P
10A
2P
3P&
12A&
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
NH
$125
$430
$50+
$60+
$18
$35+
$65
$65+
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
HORSE
NH
NH
NH
$40+
$25+
$44+
$44+
$40+
$120
$45+
$35+
$45
9A&
NH
10A&
NH
7P
NHZ
11A
NH
3P-1st&L L H
$60+
$40
$60
$50
$50
11A&
10A&
4A
7P&
12P
8P
2P
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
$60
$50+
$22
$22
$340
$130+
$35+
N H Sh
NH
$15 12P&
7P
12P
$12 12P&
$17 10A
L H Sh
NH
H
NH
NH
$15
$22+
F+
$25
$17
NH
NH
$25 9A
$25 10A
NH
NH
$25
$25
NH
2P
6P
$20+ 10A
NH
NH
NH
$35+
$50
$20+
NH
NHZ
NH
NH
NHZ
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
NH
NH
$50+
$50+
$25+
$35+
$30
$50+
$60+
$18
$15+
$65
$65+
55+
$40+ 12P&
$25+ 6P&
1P&
NH
$44+ 10A
NH
$40+ 11A&
NH
$45+ 2P
NH
$45+ 7P
Lad N H $35+ 12P
NH
$45 10A
NH
Po H
DA I LY TO U R N A M E N T L I ST I N G S CO N T I N U E O N PAG E 27
moments like that in poker.
The answer
But, back to the issue: You
should call with your four
eights. That’s the answer.
Although you’re probably
going to lose, there’s a good
chance your opponent has
raised with just a flush or
straight and is caught up in the
emotion of the moment. You
don’t need to win most of the
time to call on the river. You
just need to win often enough
to earn an overall profit.
Always factor mental meltdown into your formula. Call.
Mike Caro is widely
regarded as the world’s
foremost authority on
poker strategy, psychology, and statistics. A
renowned player and
founder of Mike Caro
University of Poker,
Gaming, and Life
Strategy, he is known
as “the Mad Genius of
Poker,” because of his
lively delivery of concepts
and latest research. You
can visit him at www.
poker1.com.
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
25
Stalking Pros
ONLINE POKER
Paul “Dr. Pauly” McGuire
Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the
wall and witness a high stakes mixed game
at Bobby’s Room in the back of the Bellagio featuring Doyle
Brunson, Jen Harman, Phil Ivey, and Sammy Farha? Of course
you have. Every poker player would love to have a glimpse of
the Big Game. Unless you happen to be playing at a nearby
table in the Bellagio, the chances of you actually catching the
action are slim. However, online poker affords you the opportunity to railbird your favorite pros by simply watching their
tables.
One of my favorite aspects about online poker is the ability
to search for another player. It’s a great tool for tracking down
friends and relatives. It’s also one of the essential components
of “fish hunters,” where you tag bad players and take notes on
their atrocious play. As soon as you log on, you seek out the
fish and sit down at the same tables to pad your bankroll.
You can also use the search player function to sweat your
favorite poker pros. Most pros play under their own name–especially on Full Tilt–while others play under not-so-anonymous
screen names. Just type in their screen name and you’ll find
out what tournaments or cash game stakes they are playing.
Full Tilt makes it easy for you. Their pros are labeled in red. If a
specific table or a tournament is red, that is an indication that
one of their pros is playing there.
On PokerStars, you can search for specific members of Team
Poker Stars such as Chris Moneymaker, Isabelle Mercier, and
Joe Hachem. You can quickly scan the tables to find out if Greg
“Fossilman” Raymer is playing high stakes triple draw or if
you be one of the many legions of fans following around Daniel
Negreanu.
PocketFives.com is a website where they track and rank the
top online tournament players. You can always head over there
to find the screen names of some of the best online players in
the world.
Railbirding pros is not just entertainment. You might be able
to learn a thing or two about online strategy by watching your
favorite pros play games that you are not accustomed to playing. A lot of the Full Tilt pros can be found at the high stakes
H.O.R.S.E. tables.
I’ve come across dozens of pros in tournaments. I was
knocked out of a tournament on Full Tilt by former WSOP champion Berry Johnston. Just before the World Series of Poker
began, I lost a monster pot to David Grey at the $30-$60 limit
hold’em tables. If you are not a high stakes player, don’t worry.
Sometimes, even pros will be sitting at lower limits. I once
played $3-$6 limit hold’em with Jen Harman on Christmas Eve
a few years ago. She was waiting to attend Midnight Mass and
was killing some time at the low limit tables.
When I’m bored, I watch pros like David Benyamine, Gus
Hansen, Phil Ivey, and Patrik Antonius, who can often be found
playing the highest limits on Full Tilt. Sometimes they are playing pot-limit Omaha with online pros such as Brian “sbrugby”
Townsend.
Without a doubt, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow’s table often
attracts the most railbirds hoping they can witness a patented
Matusow blow up. Matusow has one of the most volatile and
incendiary personalities in poker. You can watch him exchange
in witty banter with the railbirds, while they in turn try to tilt
him with taunts and foul language. Depending on the circumstances, some of the railbirds can be outright annoying and
slanderous. The worst offenders are usually punished by having
their chat privileges revoked.
And then there’s stealth mode. Some online poker sites have
a feature where you can hide yourself from a search. If you are
a bad player, that’s a great way to avoid being stalked by the
sharks.
Paul “Dr. Pauly” McGuire is a writer, poker player, and avid
traveler from New York City. He’s the author of the Tao of
Poker blog which can be found at taopoker.blogspot.com.
Feel free to contact him at [email protected].
26
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
X
X
X
X
Poker Player
Each issue’s crossword puzzle
honors a poker celebrity
and will be about that
person’s life. Today’s puzzle
honors pro poker player Hasan Habib. Crossword by Myles Mellor.
Word
21. Buy more chips before
being busted: ____ on
ACROSS
1. Folds
46. ___ James, nicknamed
“cowboy”
DOWN
22. Duane Tomko nickname
4. Card that is part of the
“muck”
25. Curvy letter
1. David Pham’s nickname
9. In what way
27. Agricultural, for short
10. High card
28. Dollars, abbr.
2. Type of straight draw (2
words)
11. Make the hand better
30. See 16 across
12. Strongest hand
3. Gavin ___ (poker pro)
4. Suckers
32. Chris Moneymaker’s
opponent in the WSOP final
table in 2003, ___ Farha
13. __ , the people
14. Pro poker player Lee’s
initials
34. Company, for short
35. Big zero
16. Pro poker player from
Pakistan (goes with 30
across)
36. Paul Wasicka’s nickname
40. Jerry Yang’s nickname
18. Not applicable, for short
20. What is being played
for
1
2
3
42. Cream puff
6
7
8
12
13
28
19
31. Undesirable card
20
22
25
29
26
30
23
31
32
33
37. Jeffrey Lisandro’s nickname (goes with 17 across)
35
37
38
42
45
39
40
43
41
44
ON
TV
38. Jennifer Tilly, for
example
39. Dear
46
The correct solution to the puzzle will be found
only at: www.pokerplayernewspaper.com.
It will be posted on the cover date.
POKER
32. A nine beats it
33. Pro poker player, ____
Goehring
27
34
36
29. Plant seeds
17
21
24
26. Disturbed
14
16
18
22. Small quantity
24. Poker pro, ___ Seed
11
15
17. Lawn action
23. Sweet potato
9
10
14. After the agreed on time
20. Place, with a certain
hand e.g.
45. Royal card
5
8. Bad way to go on the
river....
19. Promotions
44. Nope
4
6. Indentation in the shoreline
7. Wonder
15. Be in debt to
17. See 37 down
5. Revealed
41. Expression as the river
card turns
43. Negative prefix
Heartland Poker Tour. (Check
local listings for times/stations).
Poker Superstars Invitational.
Mondays 6 AM & 5 & 8 PM, Wednesdays
11 PM. Fox Sports.
High Stakes Poker. Mondays 8 &
9 & 10 PM, Tuesdays 11 PM, Thursdays 2
AM & 9 PM. GSN.
UPC: Cash Poker.
Mondays & Sundays 12:30 AM. Check local
listings for channels.
National Heads-Up Poker
Championship. Fridays 9 PM,
Saturdays 12 AM. CNBC.
Poker After Dark. Tuesdays
through Saturdays 2:05 AM, Sundays 2
All Times EDT AM. NBC.
U.S.P.C. 4 & 5 AM Fridays, 3 & 4 AM
Saturdays. ESPNC.
World Poker Tour. Wednesdays 9
PM, Thursdays 12 AM, Saturdays 12 & 9
PM, Sundays 12 AM. Travel.
World Series of Poker. (Check
local listing for times). ESPNC/ESPN2.
Time. Some events &. ........ Additional
Limit Hold’em
start after the hour
gametimes. Call. N ..........No Limit
A, P ....... AM, PM
..... Hold’em L ................ Limit
Wk .............Week
.No Limit Hold’em
..........Stud
MONDAY
CALIFORNIA—SAN DIEGO & CALIFORNIALOS ANGELES
INLAND EMPIRE
CALIFORNIA—NORTH
B ......... Bounties
T ............... Turbo
.7-Card Stud
..... Omaha Pi........Pineapple Pn......Panginque DCDealer’s Choice Sp ........... Spread
.5-Card Stud H/LHigh/Low Split Po........Pot Limit Mx .Mexican Poker HH ...Headhunter Al ......Alternates
DAILY TOURNAMENTS (CONT’D FROM PAGE 25)
|
TUESDAY
TIME
12P
7P
7P
GAMES BUY-IN| TIME
O H/L $20+ 12P
NH
$40+ 7P
NH
F
2P&
6P
NH
O Pi H
$20+ 2P&
$25+ 6P
12P
NH
11A
7P
7P
10P
10A
NH
NH
NH
NH
5O
$20+ 12P
6P
$20+ 11A
$60+ 7P
$125+ 7P
$69 10P
$30+ 7P&
O H/L
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
7P&
10A&
10A
NH
NH
O H/L
$60+ 1P
$15+ 10A&
$17+ 10A
NH
NH
LH
Sycuan
Viejas
Village Club
10A
10A
6P
10A
10A
10A
LH
NH
NH
LH
NH
O
$35
$20+
$20+
$12
$12+
$30+
Artichoke Joe’s
11A
LH
$28+ 11A
LH
$25 6P
Bay
B
ay 10
01 (34)
Cache Creek
California Grand
Casino San Pablo
Club One Casino, Fresno
Colusa Casino
Del Rio Casino, Isleton
Feather Falls Cas., Oroville
Folsom Lake Bowl
Garden City
Gold Country Cas.-Oroville
9A&
Sp L H
$70+ 9A
12P
Sp L H
H
$50+ 9A
$25+ 12P
Bicy
cycl
cle Clu
ub (24
4)
Club Caribe
Comm
mmeerce
cee Clu
ub (43
(43)
Crystal Casino
Diaamondd Ji
Jim’
m’s (16)
Hawaaiian
a Gard
ardenss (2
23)
Hollyw
ywoo
oodd Paarkk (5
5)
Hustler Casino
Normandie Casino
Casino Morongo
Casino Pauma
Fantasy Springs, Indio
Harrah’s Rincon
Lake Elsinore
Lucky Lady
Oceans Eleven
Pech
han
nga (37
37))
7P&
NH
6P Wk1 Lad N H
10A&
NH
10A
Sp L
7P
NH
10A
10A
6P
10A
10A&
10A
$100 7P
$55+
$40
$60+
$25
6P
6P
10A&
10A
7P
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
NH
$20+ 12P
NH
$50+ 12P
NH
$50+ 7P
NH
$40+ 7P
7P
Mx
$15+ 7P
7P
Pn
$40
NH
$20+ 2P&
NH
$20+ 2P&
LH
$20+ 6P Wk4 Lad L H
$25
NH
NH
NH
NH
O H/L
NH
$55
$40+
$20+
$20+
$125+
$69
$50+
12P
6P
11A
7P
7P
10P
10A
$30+ 7P&
$15+ 10A&
$17+ 6P&
$35
$35+
$20+
$12
$12+
$30+
10A
10A
6P
10A
10A&
10A
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
$40+
$40+
$20+
$20+
$230
$69
$30
NH
NH
NH
$60+ 7P&
$15+ 10A&
$20+ 10A
NH
NH
LH
$55
$20+
$35+
$12
$12+
$30+
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
7 H/L Sp
NH
O
L H/L
O H/L
Sp L HH
O H/L
NH
$27+ 7P&
NH
LH
NH
NH
H
NH
$15
$10+
$40
$40+
$25
LO
NH
Sp L
NH
6P
10A&
10A
7P
12P
NH
11A
7P
7P
10P
7P&
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
10A
10A
9P
6P&
10A&
10A
|
H
O
O
$20+ 4A
6P
$20+ 11A
$20+ 8P
$125+
$69 10P&
$60 10A
4P
$60+ 7P&
$15+ 10A&
$17+ 10A
$35
$20+
$20+
F
$12+
$30+
10A
10A
6P
6P&
10A&
10A
$50+ 11A
LH
$48
$55+ 9A&
$55 6P
Sp L H
H
$50+ 9A
$10
$50 7P&
6P
6P
$55+
$40 10A&
$40+ 10A
$25 7P
FRIDAY
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
NH
$20+ 12P
B N H $40+ 7P
NH
$20+
7P
NH
$20+ 2P&
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
| SATURDAY |
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
B N H $20+
N H $100+
1P&
Pn
$40 1P
NH
$20+ 7P
1P
NH
NH
NH
NH
$65+ 6P
$155
$20+ 11A
$200+ 4P
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
O H/L
$69
$45
$5+
$110
$15+
$17+
LH
NH
NH
10P&
11A
4P
12P
10A&
10A
10A
$35 10A
$20+ 10A
$20 +
$22 6P&
$12+ 10A
$30+ 10A
Sp L H
$110 9A
NH
NH
LH
NH
NH
Sp L
NH
10A
$27+ 7P&
$30+ 4P
$15 6P
$45
$40 10A&
$60+
$25 12P&
LH
NH
Z........ Freezeout Sh ........Shootout
Cz ............. Crazy + Re-buys and/or
E...... Elimination Add-ons allowed
Q ............Qualify F ............Freeroll
SUNDAY
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
LH
20+
NH
Pn
NH
LH
$20+
$40
$40+
$25+
Mx
F+
1P&
1P
7P
1P
1PWk4
4A
12P
11A
8P
3P
11A&
11A
4P
12P
10A&
LH
N H Sh
$20+
$100
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
LH
O H/L
NH
NH
$69
$55
$5+
$40+
$15+
$17+
$22+ 10A
$65 10A
$35+ 10A
4P
$12+ 6P&
$12+ 10A
$30+ 10A
NH
NH
O
6P
F 10A
$15+ 6P
$30+ 6P
6P
$40 10A&
$40+ 10A
$25 12P&
Sp L H $125+ 9A
GAMES BUY-IN
BLH
40+
Mx
$15+
Pn
$40
NH
$40+
NH
$50
NH
$100
NH
$65+
NH
125+
NH
$25+
NH
$120
Pai Gow
NH
F
H
$5
H
$5+
NH
$40+
NH
$15+
H
NH
NH
NH
LH
NH
LH
$22+
$40+
$20+
$40+
$17
$12+
$25+
NH
$49+
Sp L H
$70+
NH
NH
NH
LH
10A
$25+ 10A
$60 12P
$30+ 2P Wk2
$15
NH
NH
NH
$55
$25+
$50
$170
NH
$40 10A&
NH
$40
NH
$15 12P&
NH
$15
DA I LY TO U R N A M E N T L I ST I N G S CO N T I N U E O N PAG E 29
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
27
The Red Games of Poker, PART 4
BacK in the saddle Again
By OKLAHOMA JOHNNY HALE
I was very sad to learn of my friend
Byron Liggett’s passing. Byron, save
me a seat in the big game up there.
Byron was so very helpful to me in a
great many ways. The poker world will miss him.
I want to continue today with another column on the
red games of poker. Today I would like to talk to the folks
about the poker dealer. If he is a mechanic, you are in a
very red game.
Here is a good rule: Where the carpets are the deepest you are at the most risk of being cheated!
I do think that poker is an honorable game—more honorable than golf, basketball, horse racing, baseball, tennis, wrestling and yes, even football.
In recent newspaper headlines you have seen the stories about the referees of the NBA, and even problems
with the game of tennis.
Folks, I think you can relax and play your poker games
without much fear of being cheated if you are playing in
a small limit games of less that $10-$20 betting. Sure,
you may see a little silly stuff, but I do not think you will
ever see a card dealing mechanic in your small recreational or social poker games.
What do I mean when I say that dealer is a mechanic?
It’s not a mechanic who works on your car, nor is he a
hit man for the mafia. In this usage, it is a crooked card
dealer who can manipulate the cards, stack the deck,
deal seconds, or palm cards. He can control who the winner of certain poker pots will be! Have you seen a magician who can pull a card out of your ear? Well all of the
shows are not on the stage. This magician is now called
a mechanic and he puts on his show at the poker table.
The red card dealer, the card mechanic, is usually
found in high stakes poker games.
There have been a few times I heard a whistle go off.
That’s the sound a card makes when it is not coming off
the top of the deck. It makes a whistle sound as the card
is pulled through two or more cards.
There were seven of us boys and mother would not
allow poker to be played in the home, so daddy had his
poker game in the back of our store. Daddy taught all
of us boys how to live life honorably and to play poker
honestly.
He also taught each of us how to protect ourselves in
life and poker. When it came to cheating in poker, he told
all of us boys that if you think they are cheating you,
quit playing in that game. Don’t try to correct the game
or catch the cheaters. Just quit!
Daddy went on to explain, “Son, even if you are wrong
and they are not cheating you, it will ruin your game
and you cannot play correctly. So you must not play in a
poker game even if you just think they are cheating!
Until Next Time, Remember to STAY LUCKY!!
You may contact OK-J at his e-mail Oklajohnny@
aol.com, or play poker LIVE, ONLINE with Johnny,
Carol and Sarah at www.OK-J.com. OK-J’s 80th
birthday poker party will be held at the Venetian in
Las Vegas on September 28, 29 & 30.
28
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
Vikram Vijay Wins 3rd
Annual Red River Round Up
By Crystalynn Harris
Vikram “Vik” Vijay, of
Pittsford, NY, was champion in the $1,000+100
no limit Texas hold’em
contest Sunday, August
26th, in the annual “Red
River Round Up” at the
Winstar Casino. Vik collected $230,000 for 1st in
the 1,000-player field.
From August 23-26,
players came from all
over to drill the tables
and strike a well of a
payout and a piece of the
$1,000,000 prize pool.
Among those looking for
that Texas Tea were notable professional players
Greg Raymer, TJ Cloutier,
and Kido Pham.
Thity-three players from
days one and two, and thity-four players from day
three of the tournament
came together on Sunday
to battle for first place.
Day one of the event
was filled with excitement as fans watched
TJ Cloutier maintain his
chip stack. “I’ve only
had a pair of nines,” TJ
said after hours of play.
“ I haven’t seen any face
cards.” He survived.
When day two arrived,
locals and amateurs were
the main attraction. “We
have a lot more action
tonight,” commented
Poker Room Manager, Jay
Wiles. “There are a lot
of local favorites we are
sweating in!”
With day three came
Greg Raymer and Kido
Pham whose struggles
turned up no profit. They
went out early and left
the dirty work to Vikram
Vijay. The day came to a
close and Vik secured his
$105,700 chip stack.
The last day of the tournament beamed with energy. Ten remaining players
gathered on the final table
for a vicious fight to first.
Cameras were rolling and
a large crowd gathered
when TJ Cloutier and
Vikram Vijay went headsup.
Thirty-one hands into
battle, TJ Cloutier raised
from small blind. Vik
announced all-in and TJ
called. Vik showed a pair
of threes against Cloutier’s
Vikram “Vik” Vijay, of Pittsford, NY, with $230,000 win
Ace Jack. TJ flopped an
ace and Vik hit a miracle
three on the river to win
it all.
Upon winning,Vik
announced his retirement. “I am retiring as a
poker dealer and moving
to Vegas!” In response,
announcer Greg Raymer
said, “Now don’t spend it
all in one place.” Along
with the first place prize of
$230,000 he also received
a Red River Round Up
custom bracelet.
“Our players are important to us and we like to
show them that. The staff
came together and worked
really hard and I think
it showed tonight,” said
Director of Table Games,
Daniel Lantz. “Next years
will be even better.” Kido
Pham, Greg Raymer, TJ
Cloutier and Vikram Vijay
all agreed.
The Winstar has an
elegant poker room boasting 46 tables and a lavish
player’s lounge. There is a
special high-stakes poker
room and plenty of moving room between tables
The luxurious casino holds
a variety of slots along
with 50 table games offering black jack, three-card
poker, and more. Now this
is a premier casino!
For more information
contact Winstar Casino at
(580) 276-4229 or www.
winstarcasinos.com.
WINSTAR CASINO
9/3/07
RED RIVER
ROUNDUP
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
PLAYERS 100
PRIZE
POOL
$1,000,000
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Vikram Vijay . . . . . $230,000
TJ Cloutier . . . . . . . $120,000
Adrian Garduno
$70,000
Amar Chokshi . . . . . $50,000
Allan Striegler . . . . . $40,000
Donaldson Brown . . $35,000
Sherri Ellen
Wickline . . . . . . . . . . $30,000
8. Brian Horton . . . . . . $25,000
9. Selwyn Rivkind . . . . $22,500
Fish & Chips
made commemorative tournament poker chip.
For the traveling poker
champs, the Cherokee
Casino Inn offers discounted room rates of $29.95 for
all tournament contestants
and a 50 percent discount at
Buck’s Grill located inside
Cherokee Casino Roland.
Registration for the FishN-Chips Poker Tournament
is open now until
September 30. Participants
can also win a seat into
the event by playing single
table satellites with
$35 and $65 buy-ins
starting September 1. To
register online, visit www.
CherokeeCasino.com, visit
at Interstate 40 and State
Highway 64, or call (800)
256-2338.
Limit Hold’em
A, P ....... AM, PM
..... Hold’em L ................ Limit
Wk .............Week
.No Limit Hold’em
..........Stud
MONDAY
CALIFORNIA—NORTH
TIME
10A&
6P
10A&
10A
|
TUESDAY
GAMES BUY-IN| TIME
1P
6P
$30+ 10A&
NH Sh
$20
NH
$25 10A&
Sp L H $50+ 10A
6P
7P Wk1 Lad N H
7P
$40 7P
12P
7P
10A
10A
12P&
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
H Sh
$15 1P
NH
$20+ 6P
$30+ 10A&
6P
NH
$25 10A&
Sp L H $100+ 10A
NH
$55
6P
NH
NH
H
NH
O H/L Z
L H Sh
NH
$20+ 7P
$75
6P
$25+
$130
$10+
$25
$13+
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
H Sh
$15 1P
NH
$58
$30+ 10A&
NH Sh
$20
NH
$25 10A&
Sp L H $50+ 10A
LH
$65+
H
$20+
H
$25+ 7P
7P
|
FRIDAY
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
H Sh
$15 1P
$50 10A
NH
$25 10A&
Sp L H $100+
11A
NH
Gila River/Wild Horse Pass 12P
NH
$25+
Gila River-Vee Quiva
Harrah’s Ak Chin
Hon-Dah Casino
Paradise Casino
Gilpin Hotel & Casino
Midnight Rose-Cripple Crk
Ute Mountain
11A
1P&
6P
7B
NH
Flop
$20 11A
$30+ 1P&
$10 6P
HB
NH
H Sh
12P&
8P
6P
N H Sh
NH
H
$10+ 12P&
$60 7P
$20+
NHZ
NH
$24 12P&
$45 7P
N H Sh
NH
$10+ 12P&
$35 7P
NHZ
NH
$24 12P&
$55+ 2P
KS
Harrah’s Prarie Band
6P&
NH
$25+ 6P&
NH
$40 12P
NM
Cities of Gold
Isleta Casino & Resort
Route 66 Casino
Saanddia Cas
asin
in
no (18
8)
6P
2P
11A
NH
NH
NH
$30 6P
$10+ 2P
$25 11A
7P
$35 10A
$25 7P
$20 10A
$20+ 7P
$25+ 6P
$40 7P
Cz Pi
NH
NH
Var
NH
LH
NH
Lad N H
NH
Lad N H
AZ
CO
10A
5P
Ch
herrokkee-Roolan
an
nd (41)
10A
C erok
Ch
okeee-W
W. Silo
Si oam
m (41)
41) 10A
Coma
m nchee Red Rivver Cass. (77) 6P
Thunderbird Casino, Norman 7P
Cher
e ok
okeee-Cattoosa
sa (41
41)
OK
NH
Srs N H
NH
NH
NH
NH
7P
10A
10A&
12P&
NH
Cz Pi Z
N H Sh
NH
11A
10A
10A
12P&
12P
$20 11A
$30+ 1P&
F 6P
$30
$20+
$25
$35
$35
$35
$20
$20+
$65+
$20
HB
NH
H
$20 11A
$30+ 1P&
$10 6P
NH
$60 11A
NHZ
$10+ 10A
L H Sh
$25 10A
NH
$13+ 12P&
Men H N $25+
AI
HB
$20
NH
$30+ 1P&
O H/L
$25
Z........ Freezeout Sh ........Shootout
Cz ............. Crazy + Re-buys and/or
E...... Elimination Add-ons allowed
Q ............Qualify F ............Freeroll
| SATURDAY |
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
H Sh
$15 1P
2P
$60 10A
5P
NH
$25 10A&
$20
$25
$60
$10+
$25
$13+
11A
10A
10A
12P&
$130
$10+
$25
$13+
O H/L
HB
NH
HZ
N H Sh
NH
AZ
SOUTHWEST
Gold Rush
Golden West-Bakersfield
Jackson Rancheria
Kelly’s Cardroom
Limelight Cardroom-Sac’to
Lucky Chances
Lucky Derby Casino
Oaks Card Club-Emeryville
San Pablo Lytton Casino
Sonoma Joe’s
Tachi Palace Casino
Apache Gold
Blu
Bl
ue Water
er Casin
inoo (3
(30)
Bucky’s Casino
Casiinoo Ariz.Ca
ri -Scoottssdal
ale (1
(13))
Casino Del Sol
Cliff Castle
Fort McDowell
T ............... Turbo
.7-Card Stud
NH
Pi
N H Sh
NH
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
H Sh
$15
LH
$5+ 2P
$60 10A&
NH
F 6P
NH
$25 1P
10A
9A
NH
$40 11A
11A
Var
$65+ 1P
10A
NH
$55
6P
$35+ 10A
NH
$120
3P
2P
12P
H
$25+ 1P
$60 10AWk4 N H
$150
$10+
$25 11A
NH
$80+ 10A
$13+ 12P&
NH
$13+ 12P&
SUNDAY
GAMES BUY-IN
$15+
$120
N H Sh
$20
NH
$50
Sp L H $100+
Var
Var
N H $125+
NH
$55
O H/L
F+
NH
H
O H/L
7F
$20+
$25
O Sh
NH
$25
$13+
11A
12P&
HB
NH
$20
$60
1P
12P&
12P
12P
H
NH
NH
7
$13
$20+
$55
$15
12P
NH
$30+ 12P&
3P
1P
$10+ 12P&
F 12P
NH
H
O H/L
NH
NH
$60
$10
$13
$20+
$60
NH
$10+ 7P&
NH
$40+ 12P
NH
$100 10A
NH
$10+ 3A
NH
$200+
6P
2P
11A
NH
NH
NH
$30 6P
$5+ 2P
$25 11A
NH
NH
NH
$30 6P
$20+ 2P
$25 11A
NH
NH
NH
$50 5P
$20+ 2P
$25 7P
NH
NH
NH
10A
7P
10A
10A&
6P
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
$35 10A
$30
$20 10A
NH
$40 5P
$5+ 2P
$18 11A
12P
$35 10A
$120
NB
NH
NH
Var
NH
$110
$5+
$25
$35
$35
$65+ 2P
$40 7P
NH
$35
$120
$20
$20+
$25+
10A
7P
10A
NH
Lad N H
NH
6P
7P
NH
NH
NH
$35 10A
NH
4P Wk1-4 N H B
$20
$65+ 2P
F 5P
NH
NH
$60+
$50
DA I LY TO U R N A M E N T L I ST I N G S CO N T I N U E O N PAG E 3 1
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
29
Food Service
There’s probably one association with today’s hiphop generation and the poker world that you would
agree with. It’s this: “The beats just keep on coming!”
Seemingly, no matter how long away from the game you
are, the “Cheers” anthem kicks in: “... where everyone
knows your name,” including the beats.
Dealer Vibes
By Donald W. Woods, Jr.
Yes, that timeless, unforgiving bad
beat axiom can be heard as soon as you
walk in the door. “Hey man, where you
been?” is how they begin. Unfortunately,
it’s not how they finish. “You shoulda seen
this beat this dude put on me.” Followed closely by my
reply, “I probably would have but, I got stuck in traffic on
the way over here and I didn’t valet park.”
With just a hint of sarcasm for the observant storyteller, I smile and walk away. Undaunted, he continues.
“Well, you just barely missed me losing a big #$%$ pot
to this idiot over there with all the chips.” One thing to
remember at the table: the lucky idiot has all the chips,
every time. When was the last time some one pointed out
a player posting a bad beat on him who didn’t have all of
the chips? Unfortunately, I empathize with these individuals and their tales of woes. However, it is a major part of
the game that won’t be going away any time soon.
Finally though, more and more people are making the
distinction between fixed-limit poker and no-limit. Limit
poker: Flop–then some betting. Turn–then some more
betting. River–some more betting ... all within the limits
of the particular game that you are playing. It stands to
reason that these restrictions entice the chasers, bad
beaters, idiots, and horrific players to continue splashing
around in the pot until its conclusion.
Its counterpart, no-limit poker sports a different objective, where the betting differences become paramount
in this game. It has the same cards, the same flop, turn,
river, but a different winner. As a matter of fact they
should actually have a different name for the two games.
No-limit games should be referred to as poker. Games
$10-$20 and lower are can be called something like poker.
“Starting a new game over on table 22, for a $4-$8
something like poker game. The following players only:
AA, DW, Triple H, DA, REX, lady M, CC, KK, JJ.” My opportunity to tell the storyteller goodbye, “They just called my
name, DW.”
I bought in for the $40 minimum. Before I go any further, I am going to give you a little advice for when you
are in trouble in one of these something like poker games.
When someone buys in for the minimum it could mean
that he/she has limited funds. When you observe this
particular player not entering any pots, save for the blind
bets, proceed with caution.
Anyway, this real huge, gargantuan of a pot came up
where our hero has a pair of queens to start. There is a
raise, re-raise, and a cap before the flop. The flop is: 10c,
Jc, Qh giving out hero a set of queens. I wasn’t real happy
about the possibility of a straight, but the pot was capped
again. I’m all in when the 9s, hits the turn. I know I’m in
trouble and starting to get really hungry as well. When
the final card brought the queen of diamonds. While they
were still betting on the side pot, I hollered out as loud as
I could: “FOOD SERVICE!” Consider yourself in trouble.
Whisked
Away
(Continued from page 12)
Keep your eye on it until
it’s brought to the impound
yard. I’ll order forensics.”
After looking at Hobby, he
said, “Abandoned; they must
have exchanged vehicles.”
“That’s not good,” Hobby
said. “What do we do now?”
“I’m calling the FBI.
You might as well get some
sleep. We’ll call in the
morning, or as soon as we
learn something.”
Hobby went back to his
villa with the long-shot hope
that Joe might be there. He
wasn’t. He then remembered
Sonny M, but decided it
would keep until the morning. Hobby jumped when
the phone rang. “Hi, Joe,”
he said hopefully.
“Sorry, it’s not. This is
Lt. Marsh from PSPD. We
haven’t come up with anything yet, but the FBI will be
here at nine in the morning;
they want to talk to you.”
“I’ll be there.”
Hobby was waiting at
the station when three FBI
agents arrived. After introductions, one said, “We’ll
go over the details in a
minute, but first, has there
been any contact regarding
ransom?”
“No,” Hobby answered.
I’ve struggled to no
avail. I’m tightly bound to a
knocked-over chair. A door
opened and closed nearby
and I heard, “How’s the
patsy?”
Donald W. Woods, Jr. is a 9 year professional dealer.
Some of his diversified interests include, track and field
coach at the high school level yielding a championship in
2002. He is currently penning an original script, outside
the poker arena, for his maiden voyage to movie-land.
For more information, contact him at
[email protected]
30
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
“Last time I checked he
was out cold, but breathing.”
“Check him again. If
he’s still out, we’ll go to the
greasy spoon for breakfast.
We can watch the room
from there.”
I made like I was sleeping. Through squinted
eyelids I saw a pair of huge
black shoes. One foot lifted;
I was afraid I was going to
be kicked, but the person set
it down and turned away.
I thought that I’d better
get loose before they come
back. I noticed that the corner of the metal bed frame
had a sharp edge. If I can
get turned around, I might
be able to cut through the
duct tape. It took several
minutes of gyrations before
I scooted my body into position. I pushed and twisted,
time-after-time to rub the
tape against the sharp edge.
I couldn’t tell if I was making much progress, if any.
Then I felt some loosening.
I worked vigorously and
suddenly the last strand gave
away. I then pulled up the
end of the tape binding my
legs and unwound it. It was
none too soon. I heard voices; my captors had returned.
“Check him out. I’ll call
the boss,” one said.
I thought about making a
run for it. As the adjoining
door began to open, I knew I
was out of sight, but if I ran
for the outside door, I’d be
in the open. I picked up the
wooden chair that I had been
bound to and raised it over
my head.
To be concluded in the next issue.
Write to author David Valley
at: [email protected]
OMAHA GURU
Dangler—Typically used
in Omaha it describes a card
that does not fit with the
other three cards in your
hand. Given a hand of A-23-9 rainbow, the 9 would be
considered a dangler.
Diamonds—One of the
four suits in a deck of cards.
The term is also used to
describe a flush of that suit
as in “I have diamonds.”
Deuce-to-seven—A form
of low poker in which the
deuce is the lowest card and
the ace is high. Flushes and
straight are considered high
rendering 2-3-4-5-7 rainbow
the best hand.
(continued from page 10)
Dog—Short for underdog, it refers to an inferior
hand which has little chance
of winning.
Donkey—A player or
hand with no chance of
winning.
Drop—To drop, or drop
out, is to fold your hand.
Ducks—A pair of deuces.
So what have we learned?
A good starting hand, one
that wins on average $8.13
when played against a
random flop, may become
a total disaster if the flop
does not work with your
hand.
Limit Hold’em
A, P ....... AM, PM
..... Hold’em L ................ Limit
Wk .............Week
.No Limit Hold’em
..........Stud
MONDAY
NORTHEAST
NORTHWEST
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
OR
WA
Big Slick Poker, Eugene
Chinook Winds Casino
4P
H
1P
9A
12P
9A
4P
11A
12P
11A
7P
N O H/L
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
LO
10A
11A&
11A
5P
NH
NH
NH
NH
MT Black Jack’s Casino
4 Bears Casino
ND Dakota Magic
NE Rosebud Casino
SD
NY
IA
IL
7P
Dakota Sioux
6P
Gold Dust Cas., Deadwood
Rosebud Casino
7P
Silverado Casino Deadwood 6P
xw
woods (35
35)
CT Foxw
Rockingham Park, Salem
NH Seabrook Greyhound Park
NJ
7P
Caesar’s Atlantic City
Harrah’s Atlantic City
Tropicana
Trump Taj Mahal
Akwesasne Mohawk
Majesty Casino Boar
Sen
Se
neca
ca Alle
llegan
any (2
27)
7)
Seenec
neca Irvvingg (27)
(27)
Seneca
ne Niaagara
garaa (27
27)
Turning Stone
Catfish Bend
Isle of Capri
Winn-A-Vegas
10A&
|
TUESDAY
GAMES BUY-IN| TIME
NH
$30 7P
TIME
7P
Wildhorse Casino Resort
Blue Mountain Casino
Chips Bremerton
Chips La Center
Chips Lakewood
Chips Tukwila
Drift-On-Inn
Final Table Cas., Everett
Goldie’s
Little Creek Casino
Muckleshoot Casino
Northern Quest
Point Defiance Cafe & Cas., Tacoma
Suquamash Clearwater
Wild Grizzly
T ............... Turbo
.7-Card Stud
S
$25+ 4P
NH
$25+ 4P
$20+
$20
$20
$20
$20
$35
$30+
$13+
$15+
6P
1P
9A
12P
9A
4P
11A
12P
11A
7P
H
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
L/N H
$18+
$20+
$20
$20
$20
$20
$35
$30+
$13+
$25
1P
9A
12P
9A
4P
11A
12P
11A
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
$20+
$20
$20
$20
$20
$35
$30+
$13+
6P
1P
9A
12P
9A
4P
11A
7P&
11A
7P
$35
$30
$20
$13+
10A
11A&
11A
5P
NH
NH
NH
NH
$35
$30
$20
$13+
10A
11A&
11A
5P
NH
NH
NH
NH
$35+
$30
$20
$13+
10A
11A&
11A
5P
NH
NH
NH
NH
7P
N
F+ 7P
MIDWEST
NH
O H/L
H/L Sp Z
H
$25+
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
$20+
$20
$20
$20
$20
$35
$30+
$13+
NH
NH
NH
1P
9A
12P
9A
4P
11A
12P
11A
5P
$35
$30 11A&
$20 11A
2P
SUNDAY
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
GAMES BUY-IN
NH
$45 USPT ev N H
$50
4P
NH
$25+
1P
1P
9A
12P
9A
4P
11A
12P
11A
H
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
$18+
$20+
$20
$20
$20
$20
$35
$50+
$28+
NH
NH
NH
NH
10A
$30 11A&
$20
$25+
NH
NH
$35
$30
H
F+
N O H/L
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
NB
$20+
$20
$20
$20
$20
$35
$30+
$13+
$35
F $100
$10+ 7P
$25 7P
H
NH
$10+ 2P
2P
H
NH
$20+
$30+ 3P
$30+
7P
NH
$30+ 7P
NH
$30+
$10+
6P
O H/L
$10+ 4P
NH
7P
NH
$25+ 4P
2P
$30+ 6P
3P
NHZ
H
NH
NH
$60
$40
$30+
$88
7P
NH
NH
Varies
H
$35 7PWk1
H
$110 7P
H
$50
BNH
$65 7P
NH
$11+
Varies 10A&
Varies
Varies 10A&
Varies
Varies 10A&
6P
5P&
3P
7P
7P
6P
7P
7P
10A
7P
7P
10A
7P
7P
6P
7P
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
N H/O
$60
$50
$80+
$150
$40+
$65
$27+
$65
$60+
$35+
$25+
$35+
$85+
$20+
$50
$10+
6P
5P&
3P
7P
7P
6P
7P
7P
NH
NH
NH
NH
LH
NH
NHZ
NH
$60
$50
$80+
$150
$30+
$120
$57
$65
7P
NH
12P
7P
N H Sh
NH
1P
NH
$160
$30+
$44
7P
Varies 10A&
Varies
5P&
3P
7P
7P
6P
7P
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NHZ
$50
$80+
$150
$30+
$120
$67
5P&
3P
12P
7P
6P
7P
NH
NH
NH
7
NH
NHZ
$50
$80+
$120
$30+
$65
$57
10A
7P
7P
10A
12P
7P
10A
NH
NH
NH
NH
LH
NH
NH
$35+
$35+
$60
$35+
$60
$20+
$15
10A
7P
NH
NH
$60+
$60+
10A
7P
7P
6P
NLH
NHB
NH
NH
$120
$50+
$20+
$15
Hollywood Casino-Aurora
N H Sh
7
NHZ
H
NH
NHZ
7
NH
NH
NH
LH
NH
NH
$50
$65+
$80 10A
$30+ 6P
7P
NH
$200 12-10P Sit N Go $55/100
$25+ 6P
NH
$25+
$25 12P
7P
7P
$30+
6P Wk2
F+
NH
NH
NH
$25
$30
$25Z
$90+
$65
$25+ 12P
$40+ 6P&
$65+
6P
$120+ 6P
11A
NH
$75+
1P&
9A&
4P
11A&
1P
7P
NH
NHZ
Pi Z
NH
NH
NH
$25
$30
$25
$35+
$65
$130B
NH
NH
NH
1P&
9A&
5P
5P&
1P
7P
$45 12P&
$45 6P
$60 6P&
Sit N Go
$45 12P&
NH
$100 6P
NHZ
$120 6P
N H Sh
$45
NH
$20+
NHB
$150 12P
NH
$65+ 6P
NHZ
N H Sat
Varies
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
Varies 10A&
Varies
Varies 10A&
$60
$50
$80+
$330
$60+
$225
$37+
$65
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NHZ
NH
$60
$50+
$100+
$560
$65+
$340
$87
$65
$55+
$60
NH
NHZ
H
NHZ
NHB
NH
$140
$30
$50Z
$120
$100
$65+
NH
NH
NH
$45
$45
$60
Sit N Go
NH
NH
$42
$65
$200
NHB
NHB
$150
$350
5P&
NH
1P WSOP ACADEMY
4P
NH
2P
N H Sh
12P&
NH
1P
NH
6P&
NH
11A
NHZ
12P&
Sit N Go
12P
Sh
6P
NH
12P
N H Sh
7P
NH
12P
NH
6P
NH
8P
L/N H
$60
$50+
$85+
$1,200
$55+
$120
$58
$65
NH
$60
11A
11A&
NH
NH
$85 11A
$20+ 3P
NH
NH
$120
$60
2P
N H/O
$10+
11A
NH
$90
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
7
$80
$25+
$30+
$50+
Var
$15+
$10+
$30+
12P
$55 12P&
$40+ 1P
LH
F$5+ 12P
NHZ
$25 12P
N H Sat $40 + 12P
NH
NHZ
Varies
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
$20+ 7P
12P
12P
1P&
9A&
Varies
2P
1P&
7P
12P
12P
6P
7P
7P
NH
Wk3
12P
$25 2P
$30 7P
NH
NH
NH
2P
1P&
1P
12P
12P
6P&
12P
7P
$60 12P
$50
$40+
NH
NH
Pi
NH
$20+
NH
$45 12P&
LO H/L
$45 1P
NH
$60 6P&
NHZ
$150
Sit N Go
$42 12P&
NH
$100 12P
NH
$200 6P
12P
NH
$35+ 7P
NHB
$120 12P
LO H/L B $75+ 6P
Var
7P
$85+ 12A
$100+ 12P&
$10+ 6P
6P
5P&
3P
8P
4P
6P
7P
7P
$60 7P
6P
$80 1P&
6P
LA
FLORIDA
$10+ 7P
F+ 7P
| SATURDAY |
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
NH
$40
NH
MI
MS
7
S H/L
$40 10A
$30 11A&
$20 11A
$13+
FRIDAY
Sh ........Shootout
+Rebuys, Add-ons OK
F ............Freeroll
Sat .......Satellite
7 H/L
WI
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
7P
$30+ 7P
|
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
NH
$30 7P
Tahoe $25+ 4P
H/L
NH
$33+
N O H/L $20+ 1P
NH
$20 9A
NH
$20 12P
NH
$20 9A
NH
$20 4P
H
$35 11A
Lad N H $25+ 12P
NH
$13+ 11A
NH
$45
O H/L
IN
MO
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
NH
$30+ 7P
$25+ 4P
Belterra (Florence)
1P
NH
$40
Caesars Indiana
11A
NH
$45+
Majestic Star
7P
N H $100+ 12P&
Chip-In’s Island
Lac Vieux Desert Cas., Watersmeet
2-10P Sit N Go $55/100
Cant
nterbu
bury
ry
y Parkk (18)
8))
10P
N H Sh $50+
Fortune Bay Casino
6P
NH
$55+ 6P
Northern Light Casino
Shooting Star Casino
12P
NH
$25 12P
Menoomineee Casino
Me
no (34)
7P
NH
$25+
Oneida Casino, Green Bay
7P
NH
$35+
Potawatomi Northern Lights, Carter
6P
St Croix Casino, Turtle Lake 6P Wk3 N H $120+
Grand Coushatta
6P
Horseshoe Casino6P
NH
$75+
Shreveport
Harrah’s St Louis
1P&
NH
$25 1P&
Isle of Capri
9A&
NHZ
$30 9A&
Copa Casino
5P
Gold Strike Casino (Tunica)
4A&
NH
$65 5P&
Grand Casino(Tunica)
1P
NH
$65 1P
Horseshoe Casino (Tunica) 7P
NH
$65+
Pearl River Resort
7P
NH
$20+ 7P
Dania Jai-Alai
12P&
Derby Lane
1P
NH
$45 6P
Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino 6P&
NH
$60 6P&
Hard
Ha
rdd Rock (2
(29)
11A&
NHZ
$100 6P
Mardi Gras Gaming Ctr, Hollywd 12P&
Sit N Go
$45 12P&
Palm Beach Kennel Club
12P
NH
$65 6P
Palm Beach Princess
6P
NH
$55+ 6P
Pompano Park Casino
Semi
minolee Casin
ino Br
Brig
ightton
7P
NH
$125 7P
12P
NH
$150 12P
Semi
minnol
nole H
Hollyywood
od Cass.
6P
NH
$65 6P
St Tropez Cruise
8P
O H/L $70+
8P
CANADA Casino Regina
MN
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
NH
$25 7P
Z........ Freezeout
Cz ............. Crazy
E...... Elimination
Q ............Qualify
$40 2P
$30 9A&
$120+
$65+
$65+
$35
$45
$45
$60
$150
$45
$65
$200
$45
$150
$100
$65
$70+
$200+
$200 8A&
$60 3P
2P
Lad N H $100+ 10A Wk3
12P Wk1 2 4
5P
NH
$10+ 12P
NH
$50+ 12P
NH
$60
NH
NH
NH
NH
Var
NH
NHZ
11A&
1P
2P
NH
NH
NH
12P&
1P
6P&
11A&
12P&
12P
6P
NH
NH
NH
NHZ
Sit N Go
NH
NH
7P
12P
6P
NH
NH
NHB
$115
Var
$110 12P
$30 9A&
NH
NHZ
$25
$30
$35+ 1P&
$130 1P
$130+ 4P
BNH
NH
$65+
$130
$130+
$45
$45
$120
$200
$45
$65
$200
12P&
1P
6P&
NH
NH
NH
$45
$45
$60
12P&
12P
6P
12P&
Sit N Go
NH
NH
N H Sh
$45
$100
$200
$45
NHB
NHB
$150
$75
$130
$65 12P
$150 6P
$25+
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
31
My Most Memorable Poker
Hands, PART 4
THE EIKS’ VIEW
BY Mike Eikenberry
Bike’s Legend
BICYCLE CASINO
PLAYERS 125
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
PRIZE POOL
$331,740
Mike Baxter
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Mike Baxter . . . . . $128,695
Jeffrey Yoon . . . . . . $61,130
Jimmy Tran . . . . . . $30,565
James Dowdy . . . . . $19,305
David Smira . . . . . . $14,480
Evan Marshall . . . . $11,260
Steven Simmons . . . . $8,045
Michael Pesek . . . . . . $6,435
Shannon Shorr . . . . . $5,630
BICYCLE CASINO
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
OMAHA HI/LO
REBUY 1 ONLY
Pamela Brunson
PRIZE POOL
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
8/17/07
$93,060
PLAYERS 171
Pamela Brunson . . . $34,435
Carol Fuchs . . . . . . . $17,215
Phila Just . . . . . . . . . . $8,840
Rosemary Herskowitz $5,585
Lisa Steiner . . . . . . . . $4,190
Janise Kring . . . . . . . $3,255
Renee Wexler . . . . . . $2,325
Gabriel Wagner . . . . $2,095
BUY-IN $500 + $40
PLAYERS 288
REBUYS 137
PRIZE
POOL
$206,125
1.
2.
3.
4.
Unknown . . . . . . . . . $73,545
David Names . . . . . . $36,285
Kyle Hunter . . . . . . $17,650
Mayen Grigorian . . $11,765
8/19/07
OMAHA HI/LO
REBUY UNLIMITED
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 222
REBUYS 314
PRIZE
POOL
$259,960
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Scott Clements . . . . $93,720
Steve Austin . . . . . . $46,245
Floyd Kaylor . . . . . . $22,495
Yossi Strasser . . . . . $15,000
Phi Tran . . . . . . . . . $11,250
Yizhar Amar . . . . . . . $8,750
David Smira . . . . . . . $6,250
Robert Durant . . . . . $5,000
Lacy Burke . . . . . . . . $3,750
BICYCLE CASINO
8/18/07
LADIES—
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $1,000 + $70
Mike Eikenberry got his undergraduate and law degrees
from the University of Virginia, where he played varsity
tennis and basketball. Founder of one of the leading
national tennis camps, Mike is an avid amateur who has
played both tournaments and live games for over 25
years. He can be reached at [email protected]
BICYCLE CASINO
BUY-IN $2,000 + $90
One Card Omaha—Known for his skillful no
limit hold’em play, T.J. Cloutier is also one
of the very best pot-limit Omaha players in the world.
With five tables left in the WSOP pot-limit Omaha championship, I found myself on T.J.’s left with an average chip
stack. T.J. had one of the larger stacks at the table.
Two or three hands later, I was the big blind. T.J. raised
the size of the pot after everyone else had folded. I
called with both red aces and the 8-7 of spades.
The flop was the queen, six, and deuce of spades giving me a flush. He bet the pot and I called. The turn was
the ten of hearts. T.J. thought and then checked. I bet
the pot and T.J. quickly made a pot-sized raise, which
would have cost me over half my chips. After considerable thought, I folded, crediting T.J. with a higher flush,
and showed my baby flush with a pair of aces as a kicker.
T.J. said, “My hand is only half as good as yours, one
ace and half a flush.” At the same time he exposed his
ace of spades and three red unpaired cards in his hand.
He knew a tight player would not go all-in against a
bigger stack that could have “the nuts.”
IS THE REBUY PERIOD OVER?—In no-limit hold’em,
the players with the most chips have a big strategic
advantage. They can bully and bluff those with smaller
chip stacks who can go broke if they make one mistake.
In no-limit super satellites many good players, who are in
pursuit of a big stack of chips, are willing to take to take
seemingly ridiculous chances during the re-buy periods
to accumulate chip stacks. However, after the re-buy
period is over, these same players often change gears
and play very conservatively. Players who do not see this
can easily misread situations. This initial desire for chips
can create some strange situations.
BRENT CARTER is an excellent tournament player
known to do the unusual at times to throw others off
their games. He got into a super satellite at my table as
an alternate, just minutes before the end of the re-buy
period. The first hand he bet all his chips before the hand
was even dealt. He luckily won the when his T-2 made a
wheel on the river against a pair of pocket queens. The
next hand he again bet all his chips before the deal. He
as called by two players. One had a pair of tens and the
other had a pair of kings. This time his flush on the end
won another pot and pushed his chip total to over $1,200.
Everyone then took a ten minute break as the re-buy
period was over. Brent had our whole room talking about
those two hands by the end of the break.
The first hand after the break, Brent went all-in one
more time. Only this time he looked at his hand. The big
stack at the table called and turned over pocket jacks,
saying “I do not think you can suck out with the worst
hand three times in a row.” The player flopped a third
jack and turned a fourth jack to win the hand and bust
Brent. As he left the table, Brent said, “You got me,
clearly I play better when I do not look at my hole cards.”
At the same time Brent tossed his hand face down in the
muck.
One player said what many of us were thinking, “I
wonder what sort of garbage Brent played this hand?”
At the same time, before the dealer could do anything,
the player in the one-seat reached out and turned over
Brent’s hand from the top of the muck—two black aces.
32
9. Della Jones . . . . . . . . $1,860
8/20/07
$599
Earn $599 Monthly
When You Play 126 Hours
ANY Live Game * ANY Limit * ANY Time
Earn Double Hours 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Daily
Twice daily No-limit tournaments
2pm and 7:30pm Sun-Thurs
2pm and 6:30pm Fri & Sat
See or call the Jokers Wild Poker Room for details.
(702) 567-8474
ds
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Steven Ayquie . . . . . . $8,825
Edward Hanson . . . . $6,865
Nuanmanee Khamsy $4,910
Won Lee . . . . . . . . . . $3,925
Miami John Cernuto $2,940
BICYCLE CASINO
8/16/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 73
PRIZE POOL
$35,405
William Appel
1. William Appel
AKA “Joe” . . . . . . . $14,165
2. Ralph Sabatella . . . . $8,140
3. Tom Moore . . . . . . . . $4,250
4. Stan Singer . . . . . . . . $2,480
5. Greg Pearson . . . . . . $2,125
6. Harvey Goldson . . . . $1,770
7. Roberto Flood . . . . . . $1,415
8. Taxi Sandoval . . . . . . $1,060
BICYCLE CASINO
8/15/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $1,000 + $70
PLAYERS 206
CPPC–It’s a FIRST!
The First Annual California
Poker Players Conference
(CPPC) will be held on
Saturday, October 20, and
Sunday, October 21 at
Hollywood Park Casino,
Inglewood, California,
during the big twelve-day
National Championship of
Poker Tournament. The
theme for the two-day
Conference is
Gain a POSITIVE
EXPECTATION!
Learn to be a
WINNING Poker player
According to Phyllis
Caro, Director of Poker
Operations at Hollywood
Park Casino, “This will be
a memorable and rewarding event. Attendees will
gain more solid information
about winning poker during this two-day conference
than they could ever hope
for!” Helping to organize
the event are Robert Turner,
Executive Host of the Poker
Player Newspaper and
teacher of poker classes for
seniors.
Poker players will have an
opportunity to meet and hear
presentations by some of the
world’s leading experts.
Mike Caro (the Mad
Genius of Poker) will be the
keynote speaker and serve as
moderator. Other speakers
include Barbara Enright (the
first woman inducted into
the Poker Hall of Fame),
Vince Burgio, Lou Krieger
(editor of Poker Player
Newspaper and author of 11
best-selling poker books),
Susie Isaacs (Hold’em
radio show hostess), Robert
Turner, Marsha Waggoner,
Stan Sludikoff (poker industry pioneer and publisher of
Poker Player Newspaper),
poker players and authors
Charlie Shoten, Russell C.
Fox, Tony Guerrera, and
Epstein.
These speakers will share
their know-how and secrets
for WINNING! poker.
John A. Pappas, recently
named the Executive
Director of the Poker
Players Alliance (PPA) will
present an update on the
Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act (UIGEA)
and its potential impact on
all forms and venues for
playing poker.
A feature of the
Conference will be a special presentation by Jeffrey
Pollack, Commissioner of
the World Series of Poker.
He will discuss plans for the
D;MDE#B?C?JJ;N7I
>EB:Ê;CJEKHD7C;DJI
PRIZE POOL
$199,820
Jon Peck
1.
2.
3.
4.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Jon Peck . . . . . . . . . $71,180
Kianoosh Mohajeri $35,115
Farzad Fadai . . . . . . $17,085
Ryan Kallberg . . . . $11,390
Nicolas Mlouk . . . . . . $6,645
Jin Jeong . . . . . . . . . . $4,745
Hoan Ly . . . . . . . . . . . $3,790
Shavarsh Pirijanian . $2,845
HPT
with four preliminary events,
including a bounty tournament. Players traveled from
all over the U.S. and Canada.
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GRAND CASINO
MILLE LACS, MN
HPT CHAMPIONSHIP
EVENT
BUY-IN $2,000
PLAYERS 148
PRIZE
POOL
$296,000
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
James Gibson . . . . . . $77,720
Soni Penh Lo . . . . . . $38,860
John Mckusick. . . . . $24,981
Jeremy Dresch . . . . . $19,430
Keith Doering . . . . . $16,654
Curt Hagen . . . . . . . $13,879
The Heartland Poker Tour
will be busy this fall with
upcoming events scheduled in Minnesota, South
Dakota, Colorado, Iowa
and Indiana. For more
information and a complete schedule of upcoming events, visit www.
HeartlandPokerTour.com.
<ehceh[_d\ehcWj_ed"YWbb-&($./*$-(/'eh]ejejh[Wikh[_ibWdZ$Yec$
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
33
LESSON 110:
Stop Loss (and Mike’s
feeling on it), PART 1
Lessons from mike caro
university of poker
BY DIANE M C HAFFIE
ENDLESS SUMMER 8/23/07
This is the first of two columns about stop loss.
What is it? It’s a concept that many poker players
value. Mike isn’t one of them. He disagrees and thinks it’s foolish.
Stop loss means you have a designated amount set in your head
that you’d be willing to lose in a night or sitting. If you reach it,
you won’t play anymore and will immediately leave the table.
Next time, I’ll tell you why stop loss can hurt your bankroll. But
first, the positives. Mike says that one positive is that you won’t
continue playing so deeply into a loss that you’ll permanently
damage your finances and your psyche. No, when you reach that
pre-set limit, you’ll desert the game and leave with the remainder
of your bankroll.
Pain. A loss beyond what is comfortable for you usually results
in your decision-making going on vacation and your ability to win
is so greatly hindered that you no longer feel the pain of any additional loss. You don’t feel it because you’ve already maximized that
pain and anything additional feels the same. The failure to feel that
pain means you’ve crossed Caro’s Threshold of Misery.
For instance, you set the stop-loss amount at $2,000. You pass
that amount and still play. Now you lose an additional $1,500,
hardly feeling the latest thrashing. Although you’re losing $3,500,
it feels almost exactly the same as when you were losing $3,200.
The loss of the additional money might not be immediately felt,
but wait a few hours and reality could sink in. No matter how bad
things get, you have to continue making good decisions. That’s
right, even if you think the pain can’t possibly get worse, it can and
will. Oh, maybe not right now, but in a few hours, or tomorrow or
next week, the pain will maximize. You’ll think, “Oh, wow, what did
I do?” You crossed the Threshold of Misery. Stop loss can prevent
the total depletion of your bankroll.
Decisions. Again, you must always play your best all of the
time, even when things look bleak, even when you don’t think the
added loss will matter. Decisions matter, now and later. The loss
may seem insignificant now, but at some point in the future it will
matter. Keep in mind that the Threshold of Misery doesn’t just
apply to poker, it also relates to real life, as well.
For instance, Joe wanted a table saw desperately. You see, his
best friend Ray had just gone out and purchased one. The downside
was that he didn’t really have the extra cash to spare. Heedless of
the little voices in his head warning him, he dashed out and bought
the table saw. Well, his wife was extremely upset, to say the least.
Was Joe repentant? Nope, her angry words goaded him into deciding that he was going to “show” her! He ran out and bought a drill
press to show his fuming wife, instead of cutting his losses.
Upon his return he discovered that his wife had decided enough
was enough, and his table saw and clothes were on the front lawn.
The locks had also been changed. Poor Joe, he packed his prized
table saw and clothes and went to Mom’s, now wondering how he
would pay for both new tools.
Making good decisions all the time is vitally important in real
life and in poker. A lapse in judgment can have a detrimental effect
on your life. If you’re a poker player who doesn’t know when to bail
out, stop loss is a consideration.
So, if you practice stop loss, you can keep your losses to a minimum; therefore, you’re able to tolerate that loss in your own mind.
Keep in mind that opponents are motivated to play better when
you’re losing. It’s often a good thing to leave before things go further south, since your opponents would no longer be intimidated
by you.
So that’s the good part about stop loss. Next time, I’ll tell you
why it’s bad.
Diane McHaffie is Director of Operations at Mike Caro
University of Poker, Gaming, and Life Strategy. Her
diverse career spans banking, promotion of major financial seminars and the raising of White-tailed Deer. You
can write her online at [email protected].
34
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
Day
Woody Christy
Game
Buy-in
Sun. nite/Mon. am ♦ Spread Lmt Hold’Em ♦ $120
Mon. nite/Tues. am ♦ Spread Lmt Hold’Em ♦ $120
Registration begins 12am. Tournaments begin 1:45am.
Limited seating.
$3,905
Russell Gay
$4,410
Jeff Millman
$3,255
1801 Bering Drive, San Jose, California (408) 451–8888 bay101.com
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NOTE: Wild Rice Classic qualifier buy-in $250, not $25,
as written in Aug/Sept. MCBH newsletter!
WSOP Critique: Commissioner WHO?
been told he is a gentleman and a fine fellow. He
has also been responsive
to criticism recently, when
he immediately jumped on
a complaint by the World
Poker Association regarding an excessive amount of
skin shown by some of the
gentlemen’s clubs “dancers”
at the WSOP’s Lifestyle
Expo. Hopefully he will
be responsive to some of
the criticism found in these
pages too.
I would presume that
in order to coax Jeffrey
Pollack from his top
management position at
NASCAR, Harrah’s had to
accede to many demands
and requests. One of those
requests would appear
to be that Pollack could
assume the position of
“Commissioner.” It’s probably the dream of most
young men to end up as
the Commissioner of their
favorite sport, be it baseball, football, basketball,
etc. Having worked for the
NBA, where his boss was
“the Commissioner,” having this title for himself
would certainly be a big
leap forward in his career.
However, in the sporting
world there is only room
for ONE commissioner in
each sport. That person is
the HEAD of the sport,
the ultimate executive and
figurehead of that activity.
Although the WSOP is at
this time clearly the premier
event of the poker world,
it is not the be all and end
all of poker. Mr. Pollack
is NOT the Commissioner
of Poker. At this time no
one is, nor does it appear
that poker currently needs
a commissioner. Perhaps it
will in the future.
Although it was no skin
off the nose of Harrah’s
CEO, Gary Loveman,
to give the title of
Commissioner to Jeffrey
Pollack, it was and is offensive and inappropriate. It
would truly be appropriate
for Mr. Pollack to relinquish this title and find
something more suitable to
the WSOP, like President or
Director. In fact, if Harrah’s
just can’t think of a good
title, I have one for them.
How about, “King.” We
can have many kings in the
world, each with his own
domain. Then think of the
advantages of being a king,
where one can be addressed
as “your majesty,” or “your
highness.” Then think of
all the benefits in giving
out titles to your employ-
ees, like “prince” Gary
Thompson and “duke” Jack
Effel. And wow, how good
will every dealer feel when
he or she can be a baron or
baroness. Yes, “King” is a
much better title than commissioner. That would mean
the Steve Lipscomb could
be King of the WPT, and
Todd Anderson, King of the
Heartland Poker Tour, heck,
even I could be a king of
THE Masters of Poker tournament.
But what is not appropriate is for anyone to assume
the title as the head of a
sport, when, indeed, he is
not.
CPPC–
It’s a FIRST!
future of the World Series
of Poker.
Challenge the Experts –
A special panel discussion
will provide attendees the
opportunity to challenge the
experts on various aspects
of the game of poker.
A highlight of the CPPC
will be tips from Mike Caro
during the two-day event:
How to win more often and
win more money!
Tabletop displays will be
available, exhibiting poker
books and other poker-related materials.
Organizers of the event,
Epstein and Robert Turner,
have announced that a
significant portion of the
proceeds will benefit one or
more worthy charities.
Hosting the event is
the Hollywood Park
Casino. Advance registration (before October 5) is
$180. Late registration or
at the door is $200. For
registration information,
contact Marilyn Brison at
Hollywood Park Casino,
phone: 310.330.2800, ext.
2601, or visit www.playhpc.
com. Advance registration
is recommended.
Poker Player Newspaper
is a CPPC Sponsor. A
limited number of other
sponsorships and tabletop display areas are still
available. Contact John
Hayes, Director of Sales, at
213/493-4023, e-mail: [email protected].
WORLD POKER FINALS TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
DATE
TIME
BUY-IN/
ENTRY FEE
Mon Oct 22
10am
$260/$40 $300 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-out Round 1
DAY
Mon Oct 22
Mon Oct 22
1pm
4pm
TOURNAMENT
(Limited to 700 entries) Top 3 players at each table
advance to the Finals on 10/22/07 @ 4pm
N/A
$300 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-out Finals
Only Round 1 & 2 table winners from 10/22/07
will be allowed to play
$530/$70
$600 No-Limit Hold’em
Thur Nov 1
10am
$910/$90
$1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Fri
10am $1,375/$125
(Limited to 938 entries)
Nov 2
Mon
Nov 5
10am $4,800/$200
Tue
Nov 6
12pm $1,040/$60
Act 3 $10,000 Championship Qualifier
$600 Omaha 8+
Tue
Nov 6
6pm $1,040/$60
$600 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em
Wed
Nov 7
12pm $9,700/$300
Day 1A $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Championship
Wed
Nov 7
6pm $1,040/$60
10am
$530/$70
$600 No-Limit Hold’em
(Must be 50 by 10/26/07 in order to qualify)
Sat
Oct 27
10am
$530/$70
Sun
Oct 28
10am
$600 Ladies Only No-Limit Hold’em
Thur Nov 8
12pm
Day 1B $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Championship
Fri
Nov 9
12pm
Day 2 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Championship
Sat
Nov 10 12pm
Championship
$600 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-out Finals
Sun
Nov 11 12pm
Day 4 No-Limit Hold’em Championship
Mon Nov 12 12pm
Day 5 No-Limit Hold’em Championship
Sun
Sun
Oct 28
Oct 28
1pm
4pm
N/A
Only Round 1 & 2 table winners from 10/28/07
will be allowed to play
Mon Oct 29
Tue Oct 30
10am
10am
$530/$70
$530/$70
Oct 24
$530/$70
10am
10am $2,800/$200
Wed
10am
Oct 31
10am $1,850/$150
$600 7-Card Stud
Oct 26
Wed
TOURNAMENT
Nov 4
$530/$70
Fri
BUY-IN/
ENTRY FEE
Nov 3
10am
$530/$70
TIME
Sun
Oct 23
10am
DATE
Sat
Tue
Thur Oct 25
DAY
$600 7-Card Stud 8+
$600 Limit Hold’em
• Must be at least 21 years of age.
• 3% of each prize pool with be withheld for
Tournament Staff.
• Foxwoods reserves the right to limit seating,
cancel or modify tournaments at its sole discretion and without prior notice.
Visit foxwoods.com for
tournament information/results
or call 1-800-48-POKER
Tue
Nov 13
5pm
Championship “WPT Final Table”
Hotel Reservations Call 1-800-FOXWOODS
Two Trees Inn: Fri – Sat $139 • Sun – Thur $89 (Group #9647)
Great Cedar Hotel: Fri – Sat $159 • Sun – Thur $109 (Group #8566)
Grand Pequot Tower: Fri – Sat $209 • Sun – Thur $149 (Group #3321)
M a s h a n t u c k e t P e q u o t Tr i b a l N a t i o n
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
35
Perks and Picks
Card Room Roundup
The Bargain Bin
By H. Scot Krause
Poker becomes a team sport as the Cannery
Casino in North Las Vegas announces the
launch of season two of its popular poker league. The new
season starts in September with registration now open at the
poker room inside the Cannery Casino.
Players can put together a three-person team and compete
against other teams over the course of a 20-week season.
League players play live $3-$6 Hold’em from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00
p.m. on their selected league night. The weekly league fee is
only $10 per player with 100 percent of the collected fees paid
back in prizes at season’s end. Statistics on teams and individual players will be kept throughout the season. At season’s end,
cash and trophies will be awarded to the top teams and individual players. Complete details are displayed in the Cannery
Casino poker room.
“The first season of league play was a big success, and
we brought it back due to huge player demand,” said Bob
Peckinpaugh, poker room manager. “The players love the extra
element of competition this league adds to the game.”
Players who are interested in participating but do not have a
team can still sign up for the league. These “free agent” players can register at the poker room and will be placed on teams
that need an extra player or will be grouped into new teams.
Sister casino to the Cannery, the Rampart Casino, located
on Rampart Boulevard in a community known as Summerlin, has
announced it is reintroducing live poker with four new tables on
the gaming floor. By Poker Player press time, live poker will be
back in action.
The non-smoking poker tables will be located under the
dome, adjacent to the existing table game area. A variety of
games from Texas hold’em to stud will be offered along with
a range of limits. The games will also offer the players a good
bargain with a maximum rake of only $4 per pot collected by
the house. “Pardon the pun, but this is one of the best ‘deals’
in town,” said Patrick Hughes, director of table games at the
Rampart Casino. “The staff and I are just as excited as our
guests about bringing poker back to the Rampart. It will be run
with the same professional, friendly and fun manner as the rest
of our games.”
Unlike many other casino poker rooms, the Rampart Casino
is not bringing new staff to deal the games, but instead will be
training existing dealers on poker. “Their familiarity with the
players and the casino operations will add to the comfort and
enjoyment of the poker playing experience,” added Hughes.
For slot players, Rampart Casino is also offering “Free Buffet
and Free Play Mondays” in September. Earn 600 same day
points and receive one free buffet, valid for any buffet of the
customer’s choice and $10 in free slot play.
Cannery Casino Resorts, LLC, owns and operates the Cannery
Casino & Hotel in North Las Vegas, at the corner of Craig and
Losee roads at 2121 E. Craig Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89030, as well
as operates the Rampart Casino at the Resort at Summerlin
at 221 N. Rampart Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89145, which is located
within the JW Marriott Resort. The Cannery Casino & Hotel and
Rampart Casino can be reached at (702) 507-5900, 866-9994899, or by visiting www.cannerycasinos.com or www.rampartcasino.com for more information.
During September, the Venetian in Las Vegas will be offering
a “Gift of the Month.”
Earn 200 points in one day for a special gift or 400 points in
one day for a limited-edition gift, every Monday through Friday.
Earn 500 points in one day to receive both. See the Venetian
Player’s Club for complete details.
That’s it for this week!
Riviera
Hotel &
Casino
2901 Las Vegas Blvd. So., Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
Toll Free: 1.800.634.3420 Local: 702.734.5110 www.rivierahotel.com
Take a trip back to a different
Las Vegas.
Vegas Return to a time
of glamorous people in formal evening wear, croupiers
in starched white shirts and
black ties, restaurants with
real silverware, Frank Sinatra
and the Rat Pack in a time
when Las Vegas had the only
legal casinos in the land. The
Riviera has provided Vegas
visitors with a truly authentic
Las Vegas vacation for more
than fifty years.
Located in the historic
heart of the Las Vegas strip
alongside some of the most
famous resort marques in the
world, the Riviera was one of
the original big name casinos
that created the Las Vegas
strip by specializing in “A”
list entertainers, acclaimed
gourmet restaurants, and a
full service casino. Step into
today’s Riviera and you’ll
enter that same world. Rich
wood paneling, art deco ceil-
H. Scot Krause is a freelance writer, gaming industry
analyst and researcher who is a twelve-year resident of Las
Vegas. He writes about casino games, events, attractions
and promotions. Questions or comments are welcomed.
Card room managers are invited to send promotional
information to: [email protected]
36
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
ings, old Vegas charm and
accommodating service combine to make a Riviera visit a
memorable experience.
Five separate hotel towers have a combined 2,100
guest rooms that include 158
suites. All of the rooms come
with a long list of amenities
and are considered to be a
great value for the Las Vegas
strip. Check out the Riviera’s
online reservations center for
the best room rates or call
1.800.634.6753 to speak with
a reservations specialist.
Las Vegas resorts are
known for their great food
and wide assortment of
choices. The Riviera invites
guests to dine in old world
charm at the Tuscan inspired
Ristorante Italiano featuring
northern Italian specialties.
Kristopher’s Steak House
delivers the finest in aged
steaks, chops, prime rib, and
fresh seafood in a romantic
Inside the Riviera’s poker room.
Mediterranean setting.
Big appetites will find
plenty of tempting offerings
at the World’s Fare Buffet that
serves breakfast, lunch and
dinner and features a made to
order omelet cooking station.
Don’t forget the champagne
brunch on Saturday and
Sunday. Standard coffee shop
food from a complete menu
is served around the clock
at Kady’s Coffee Shop. Fast
food junkies can get their
fix from nationally known
brands at the Mardi Gras
Food Court.
More than 100,000 square
feet of casino space is filled
with all of your favorite table
games and slot machines.
Traditional games of blackjack, craps, and roulette are
most popular with the Riviera
visitor, while the more adventurous patrons may enjoy
mini-baccarat, Caribbean 21,
and pai gow poker.
ship and start earning benefits
immediately.
Riviera’s poker room
is located in the main
casino and features 8 tables.
Managed by casino veteran
J.C. Targon, the poker room’s
staff is dedicated to providing
a quality poker playing experience for everyone.
Poker players can enjoy
$2-$4, $3-$6 and $4-$8 Limit
Hold’em while No-Limit
players will find $1-$2 blinds
with a $40-$200 buy-in or
a $2-$5 blinds with a $100$500 buy-in. The room will
spread most any poker game
or conditions with sufficient
interest.
Las Vegas poker rooms are
PECHANGA POKER
SEPTEMBER TOURNAMENT SERIES
THURSDAY, SEPT 6TH
6:30 PM
$5,000 Guarantee No-Limit Holdʼem
$40 Buy-in +$10 Entry Fee
FRIDAY, SEPT 7TH
6:30 PM
SATURDAY, SEPT 8TH
6:30 PM
SUNDAY, SEPT 9TH
6:30 PM
THURSDAY, SEPT 13TH
6:30 PM
Ladies Only No-Limit Holdʼem
THURSDAY, SEPT 27TH
6:30 PM
FRIDAY, SEPT 28TH
6:30 PM
SATURDAY, SEPT 29TH
6:30 PM
2008 Big Showdown Series Tournament
SUNDAY, SEPT 30TH
6:30 PM
1st Place: $1,000 Buy-in seat to 2008 World Series Ladies Only Event
1st Place: $10,000 Buy-in seat to the 2008 World Series, Guaranteed
$100,000 SUPER JACKPOTS • THURSDAYS & FRIDAYS NOON - 11PM
DAILY TOURNAMENTS
DAILY DOUBLE JACKPOTS • Monday thru Friday 1-5PM • 9PM-12AM • 1:30-5AM • 6-9AM
Sunday 9PM-1AM
NOTE: Free Breakfast 5AM-7AM Monday-Friday for every seated Rewards Club players.
Don’t miss the Riviera’s infamous Crazy Girls
MONDAY, SEPT 3 • FREE
WEEKLY
BUY-IN
CASHFOR
GIVEAWAYS
10AM TOURNAMENT
OF $20,000 + $5 ENTRY FEE
Hundreds of slot machines
in a variety that’s guaranteed
to tempt every slot player.
Play for a penny or dollars
at the Riviera where you
can win a new Mercedes,
Mustang or BMW luxury
car on the penny slots. Settle
into the plush high limit slot
area for an evening of fun in
an atmosphere of exclusive
ambience. Video poker players will be pleased with the
vast selection of machines
including the latest flat screen
game variations.
Don’t forget to sign up for
your free player’s card at the
Club Riviera. Use the card to
track your play and enjoy the
some of the most lucrative
player benefits and freebies in
all of Vegas. Make a stop at
Club Riviera before you play
to receive your free member-
Tom Kilgore, the Riviera’s
poker room Shift Manager.
well known for their tournaments and the Riviera poker
room offers events daily. A
$44 buy-in with a $3 dealer
add-on at 10:00 am everyday.
Another $44 buy-in plus the
$3 add-on is offered at 1:00
pm and 8:00 pm daily except
Saturdays. The tournaments
pay the top three finishers.
A seat in the weekly 2:00
p.m. Saturday $1,500 freeroll tournament only cost
15 hours of cash game play
during the weekly qualifying periods. You must have
a Club Riviera player’s card;
so, sign up for your free
membership on the way to
the poker room.
Poker players qualify for
food comps according to
hours played with 15 hours
of play receiving a comped
buffet and 25 hours will
get you a comp for two
to Kady’s Coffee Shop.
Players can qualify for
casino room rates through
hours of play in cash games.
Players are eligible for daily
cash awards for designated
high hands with some paying hundreds of dollars.
Complete details of tournaments, qualifications and
promos are available by
calling the Riviera poker
room direct at 702.794.9620.
—Joseph Smith, Sr.
$30,000 No-Holdʼem Freeroll Tournaments September 20th, 6:30PM.
Must have 40 hours to qualify starting September 1st.
MONDAY
10:00 AM
No-Limit Holdʼem Tournament
$20 Buy-in + $5 Entry Fee
$2,000 Guarantee
5:00 PM
Monday Night Football
$5,000 Total
6:30 PM
$2,000 Guarantee
$25 Buy-in* + $5 Entry Fee
*$10 Bounties Out of Prize Pool for Every Player
TUESDAY
10:00 AM
$4,000 Guarantee
2:00 PM -11:00 PM
High Hand Every Hour (Qualifying begins at 1PM)
$5,000 Total
1st $300, 2nd $150 Holdʼem & $50 Omaha
6:30 PM
$2,000 Guarantee
No-limit Holdʼem Tournament
$2,000 Guarantee
1:00 PM -11:00 PM
Red, White, Blue Cash Giveaway Every Hour
$5,000 Total
6:30 PM
$2,000 Guarantee
$25 Buy-in* + $5 Entry Fee
*$10 Bounties Out of Prize Pool for every player
WEDNESDAY
10:00 AM
THURSDAY
10:00 AM
2:00 PM -11:00 PM
FRIDAY
10:00 AM
1:00 PM -11:00 PM
SATURDAY
10:00 AM
SUNDAY
10:00 AM
6:30 PM
No-Holdʼem Tournament
$2,000 Guarantee
High Hand Every Hour (Qualifying begins at 1PM)
$5,000 Total
1st $300, 2nd $150 Holdʼem & $50 Omaha
No-limit Holdʼem Tournament
$2,000 Guarantee
Red, White, Blue Cash Giveaway Every Hour
$5,000 Total
$ 20 Buy-in + $5 Entry Fee
$4,000 Guarantee
$20 Buy-in + $5 Entry Fee (TOC free entry)
$2,000 Guarantee
$5,000 Guarantee
All Weekday AM/PM Tournaments have an Entry Fee. All Jackpot promotions reset and doubled until end of promotion time. Tournament
Series replaces Daily Tournaments on dates shown. Hotel Poker Rate is subject to availability Monday thru Thursday and no discounts on
Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Please see a Poker Room Floor Person for promotion details. Management reserves the right to cancel or
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S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
37
Come on Over
POKER IN EUROPE
By JONATHAN RAAB
How many readers of this column have
actually been to Europe? For those of
you who have, how many of you have played poker over
here? I would imagine that for most of you, the answer
to both of these questions is no. Well, now could be the
time to rectify this, as there has never been a better
spread of poker events on offer as there is this fall. For
those of you considering making the short trip over the
Atlantic here is something to whet your appetite.
First on the menu is the WSOP in Europe, which by
the time this goes to press, will already be well underway. Featuring a £10,000 ($20,000) buy-in and Omaha
and H.O.R.S.E side events, it is selling itself on its
Vegas built reputation, with the added allure of three
genuine WSOP gold bracelets.
Whether these will have the same prestige as those
won in Nevada remains to be seen, but it’s still a good
reason to pack your bags, buy a ticket, and get on that
plane. If you are reading this at home and are thinking
“Shucks, I’ve missed this event”, do not despair, for it
is but one of many high stakes tournaments on offer
in Europe, so there are plenty of other reasons to get
down to your local travel agent.
The European Poker Tour (EPT) is in its fourth season and after a successful opener in Barcelona, it
continues with four further =C8,000 ($11,000) events
before the end of the year. This year the buy-in has
risen by 60 percent so first prizes in all the events are
likely to be seven-figure sums–well worth the price of
the flight for all you value hunters out there.
In late September, just after the WSOP has crowned
its first European king of poker, the EPT comes to
London, where the world famous Grosvenor Victoria
Casino plays host to a 500-runner event. Last year
journalist Victoria Coren became the first female winner on the EPT, when she won this tournament. Not
only was the casino delighted to have one its regular
players take down the prize but also one sharing the
same name as the venue. With a bigger field and a
much bigger buy-in, this year’s winner can expect to
take home almost double the £500,000 that Vicky won
last year.
In October there are two further EPT events, firstly
in the Austrian town of Baden, near Vienna, and secondly in Dublin, Ireland. For those looking for another
event to combine one of these with, Gala Casinos’
Great British Poker Tour (GBPT) reaches its conclusion
with its £2,500 ($5,000) Grand Final in Bristol in early
November. The event has a £500,000 guaranteed prize
pool and with a capacity of just 200, it will need to sell
out to meet it. Taking place at the same time as this
is the annual Masters Classic of Poker in Amsterdam,
with a =C5,000 buy-in and a reputation for being one of
the most relaxed events on the European circuit.
Then, in late November, the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour
(GUKPT) ends the year with a £3,000 ($6,000) Grand
Final. The full festival schedule for Grand Final week is
being finalised right now but I can exclusively reveal
that it will also feature a £1,500 Heads Up event with
£50,000 in added prize money by sponsor bluesqpoker.
com. If all this still doesn’t satisfy you, the EPT makes
its first ever visit to Prague in mid December, before a
well-deserved break for the festive season. It doesn’t
just seem like a great time to visit Europe to play poker;
it IS a great time to do so. I’ll see you there.
Jonathan Raab is a poker consultant and tournament reporter. He works for online poker site Blue
Square as their representative at live poker events in
the UK and Europe and is the Tour Manager for the
GUKPT. Email: [email protected]
38
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
We’ve all seen the phrase “It
depends” in poker literature
many times. Yeah … about a
kazillion times! “It Depends”
is so frequently used because
poker is so situationally
dependent. Today let’s examine a situation that can be
addressed multiple ways so it
PART 106,
your plan when you raise, but
a downside is if you get some
callers and over cards come
on the flop. Then you won’t
really know where you stand.
Aside from the blinds
calling, you will be out of
position relative to other callers during the hand and may
It Depends
IMPROVING
PERFORMANCE
By Tom “TIME” Leonard
just might … (here comes the
“D” word again) Depend.
Let’s say you have a pair
of nines in middle position
and everyone else folds to
you. There are exactly two
ways to play this hand. Some
may opine that there is a
third option available but
let’s get real … folding is not
an option. So do you raise
or just call the big blind?
Both options have merit but
also carry with them inherent risks. We’ll examine the
upsides and downsides of
each of these options and
maybe come to a conclusion
as to which is best. Then
again we might just determine
that, “It depends.”
Personally, I favor bringing it in with a raise. I guess
I still embrace the “Pump it
or dump it” philosophy. It
allows you to take control of
the hand and hopefully get
those weak aces and other
over card hands like K-Q
to fold, narrowing the field
and improving your chances
of having your hand prevail
unimproved. Of course that is
face a tough
decision if
a couple of “Wheel House”
cards hit the flop. Then if
you decide to bet into a scary
board with what is now a
mediocre hand, you might
be raised, or even if you’re
just called, you won’t know
where you stand. It is at this
point when your aggressive
pre-flop style that you had so
much confidence in seems to
mock you. Now you’re thinking, “Damn, why didn’t I just
flat call before the flop.”
Alternatively, you can just
call before the flop to see how
many players enter the hand,
and see the texture of the flop
inexpensively. A major advantage to this course of action is
that you can muck your hand
quite easily if you don’t like
the flop and are faced with a
bet or two. Since you are now
in “stealth mode” you can
also get in a nice, juicy check
raise if the flop nails you.
Now it’s your opponents who
don’t know where they stand.
The flat call before the flop
is starting to sound better and
better than the time proven
style of aggressive play. The
action you take before the
flop in this scenario should
really depend on factors such
as your opponents’ tendencies, your own playing style,
what gear you’re currently in,
the texture of the game, and
your perceived table image.
As you can see… It Depends.
Our goal to take away from
this time together is to pick
the correct strategy when
faced with this situation …
the correct strategy that you
believe has the highest percentage of prevailing against
the line up of opponents yet
to act behind you. Never play
formula poker and react the
same way all the time. This
has merit either way you play
it, as well as inherent downsides too, so play it the way
the current situation dictates
based on the criteria outlined
above. In the final analysis,
the two words that best sum
up the appropriate strategy to
follow are… It Depends!
No stranger to the green
felt, Tom “Time” Leonard
has played poker for more
than 30 years and has
been a serious student of
the game and writer on
the subject since 1994. He
has regularly played the
cardrooms of Atlantic City,
Las Vegas and California.
His experience as a sales
and marketing professional
have helped him hone
his skills at “selling” a
hand and “buying” a pot.
Tom can be contacted at:
[email protected].
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Book reviews
52 Great Poker Tips: and conAt Home, Tournament cepts allow
the player
and Online
Lou Krieger
Batsford, 2007
ISBN: 0713490357, 160 pp, $9.95
Lou Krieger Pens
Another Winner
Lou Krieger has become one
of the premier poker authors
of our time, having started
his career with one bestseller (Hold’em Excellence:
From Beginner to Winner)
and following up with ten
additional successful titles. In
his latest work he continues
to apply his ability to craft
solid, readable instructional
material, once again for the
novice who knows a little bit
to understand the
conversation of poker.
This book will serve to
tune up or help improve a
low-limit player’s game, will
help a newcomer break into
the tournament world, and
should show the old hands a
few things they’ve forgotten.
So, if you fit any of these
categories, or if you have
a friend, spouse or relative
who wants to eliminate some
of the mystery of hold’em,
this is the book you should
give as a gift.
—Howard Schwartz
with each other in person
and make visual “reads” on
opponents. There are no tangible cards or chips. Instead
each player has a 12-inch,
touch-screen monitor in
front of him or her to review
hands and place bets. Built
in to the center of the table
is a huge, 45-inch, highdefinition monitor that shows
bets placed by opponents and
displays community cards.
Action is augmented with
the authentic sounds of chips
clacking together and riffling
of cards.
Ron Skotarczak, president of Lighting Poker, said
the electronic tables are
intuitive for players, making
game play easy. The touchscreen action buttons closely
mimic those that people
have become accustomed to
with online poker, and the
computer even keeps players
from acting out of turn.
According to Commerce’s
Casino Development
Manager, John Griffo, the
Lightning Poker Tables at the
casino will also be used for
live action $2-$4 and $3-$6
limit hold’em games, as well
as $40 no-limit hold’em play.
Patrons interested in competing at the tables simply visit
a casino cashier to obtain a
special debit card similar to
ADDED
(Continued from page 18)
those used at slot or video
poker machines. Simply slide
the card into a scanner located at each of the table’s seats
and you’re ready to go.
Feedback has been positive from patrons using the
Lightning Poker Tables
during the testing period at
Commerce Casino. “Overall,
the reception has been quite
warm for the Lighting Poker
Table,” Gustin said. “We are
excited to be the first casino
in Southern California to
provide Lighting Poker to
our patrons, and extremely
pleased to offer Sit-N-Go
games that are very much a
favorite of poker players.”
“Too much is never enough!”
but not enough to go beyond
wishing to play, and for that
experienced player who has
lost his edge as the game
changed around him.
Krieger—ever the teacher,
packs a trainload of ideas
into his newest book.
Covering a complete topic
in each chapter, he discusses
strategies for a variety of
situations, among them such
thorny points as how to
properly figure the odds in
tournaments; how to figure
implied odds; how to adjust
your play to the number of
opponents; calling from the
small blind; folding before
the flop or after; record
keeping; and playing against
maniacs. Krieger spends two
chapters on recognizing betting patterns, an aspect of
the game ignored by most
even the more experienced
players.
Other chapters include
raising with a draw; slow
playing; check-raising; when
to bet or check, looking for
tells and adjusting your starting hand requirements.
A ten-page section on
poker terminology and a
three-page index of subjects
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S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
39
Entertainment
Listings
Entertainment RePORT
By LEN BUTCHER
I’ve got some good news to report for all the fans
of The Scintas, the Buffalo foursome who arrived in
Las Vegas seven years ago and became an instant
hit. After ending their run at the Sahara several months ago, they
are returning to Las Vegas and will debut their new show, Laugh Out
Loud with the Scintas at the Las Vegas Hilton September 24.
This is where they started out when they first came to town,
playing the lounge in the Hilton. Word of mouth soon had everyone
flocking to watch them, including execs from the Rio, who made
them an offer they couldn’t refuse. In fact, the Rio even named
the theater after them. Last year, the Rio was undergoing some
changes and didn’t renew the Scintas contract, leading to the signing with the Sahara.
I wasn’t happy about the move to the Sahara. The theater there
wasn’t the kind of venue for their type of act. It didn’t have the intimacy of The Scintas Theater at the Rio and they thrive on interacting with the audience.
If you haven’t seen them–and you better–The Scintas consist of
two brothers, Frankie and Joey, sister Chrissi and longtime friend,
who they consider a brother, Pete O’Donnell on drums. They all
sing, but Frankie and Joey, along with trading barbs, do some great
impressions. In fact, Frankie does the best impressions I’ve ever
seen of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and Joey’s impressions of
Joe Cocker and Mick Jagger will leave you in stitches.
Anyway, the Sahara gig didn’t go that well and they have been
touring for the past few months. It’s great to see them back where
they belong. As Ken Ciancimino, Hilton’s executive vice president
said, “They bring vitality and a name that will clearly add to our
strong entertainment roster.” How true. With Menopause: The
Musical filling seats every night, it means two of my three favorite
shows in town will be performing on the same stage.
Laugh Out Loud with The Scintas opens September 24 in the
Shimmer Cabaret. Show times are Friday-Wednesday at 9:30 p.m.
with a matinee on Monday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $49.99 and 64.99
(plus tax and service charge). Tickets can be purchased at the Las
Vegas Hilton box office or by logging onto www.lvhilton.com, www.
ticketmaster.com, or www.Vegas.com or by phone at 1-800-2225361.
Tickets are now on sale for the Tony Award-winning hit musical,
JERSEY BOYS, slated to open at the Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino,
the sister property to the Venetian and located adjacent to the
resort. Performances don’t begin until April 4 of next year, but this
show is a hot ticket.
JERSEY BOYS opened to rave reviews in November of 2005 and
continues to set weekly box office records and is one of the top
grossing shows on Broadway. The production is the winner of four
2006 Tony Awards® including Best Musical. This is the story of
how a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks
became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all
time. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and
sold 175 million records worldwide–all before they were 30. The
show features such hits as “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Can’t
Take My Eyes Off of You,” “Oh, What a Night,” and many more.
Ticket prices, exclusive of handling fees, range from $65 to $135,
with VIP Packages available. You can get tickets for JERSEY BOYS
by calling The Venetian Box Office at 1-866-641-SHOW or online at
www.VenetianTickets.com.
Here’s something for all the hip crowd who love to eat late and
party into the wee hours. Studio 54 and Shibuya at MGM Grand
have joined forces to satisfy that very lifestyle. It’s called the $54
Dine-and-Dance Package, which lets you enjoy a late-night dinner of
modern Japanese cuisine followed by VIP entry to one of our town’s
hottest nightclubs.
This offer is for a limited time only and you must be 21 or older
to enter. It’s also only valid with parties of two or more. Seating is
from 9 to 10 p.m. so make reservations by calling (702) 891-3001 or
visit www.mgmgrand.com/dining.
Len Butcher, a 25-year resident of Las Vegas, is an
online columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal
and a former Managing Editor of the Las Vegas Sun
and of Gaming Today. Reach him at [email protected]
40
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
Poker Player Advertisers are shown in RED along with their ad’s page number
To list your event, contact Len Butcher, Entertainment Editor at [email protected]
ARIZONA
Beatle Mania Live
Casino Arizona (13)
CALIFORNIA
Chumash Casino Resort (12) Luis Miguel
Hollywood Park Casino (5) Finish Line Lounge
Pechanga Resort & Casino (37) Trisha Yearwood
Big & Rich
Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino
NEVADA-LAS VEGAS
Magician Steve Wyrick
Aladdin Hotel & Casino
Donn Arden’s Jubilee!
Bally’s Resort & Casino
“The Price is Right” Live Stage Show
Boulder Station Hotel & Casino (6) Robert Cray
Celine Dion
Caesar’s Palace
Larry G. Jones
Fitzgerald’s Hotel & Casino
Country Superstars Tribute
Marty Allen & Karon Kate
Gold Coast (20)
Everclear
Green Valley Ranch
Rita Rudner
Harrah’s Hotel & Casino
Legends In Concert
Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino
Troubador Lounge-Live Entertainment
Joker’s Wild (32)
Barry Manilow
Menopause, the Musical
Las Vegas Hilton
The Scintas
Carrot Top
Luxor Resort & Casino
Mo’Nique
Mandalay Bay Resort &
Casino
Mamma Mia
Tom Jones
KA.
Impressionist Danny Gans
The Mirage Hotel & Casino (9) Ray Romano
The Beatles LOVE
MGM Grand Hotel & Casino
Monte Carlo Resort & Casino (19) Magician Lance Burton
George Carlin
The Orleans
Palace Station Hotel &
L.A. Comedy Club
Casino (6)
Palms Casino & Resort (8) Flamingo Lips
Peter Frampton &
Red Rock Hotel & Casino
The Doobie Brothers
Crazy Girls
Riviera Hotel & Casino (8) La Cage
Neil Diamond Tribute
The Amazing Jonathan
Sahara Hotel & Casino
The Platters, Coasters and
Drifters
Christian Scott
Santa Fe Station (6)
Bite
Stratosphere Hotel &
American Superstars
Casino
Viva Las Vegas
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sunset Station (6)
Aaron Tippen, Joe Diffe &
Texas Station (6)
Mark Chestnut
Mystere
Treasure Island (33)
Phantom of the Opera
Venetian Hotel & Casino (2) Blue Man Group
Gordie Brown
Spamalot
Wynn Las Vegas
Le Reve
OREGON
Wildhorse Resort & Casino (39) Magic Bus
Sept 26-30, 7 p.m.
Sept 19, 8 p.m.
Live Jazz, Tues. 8 p.m.
Sept 21, 8 p.m.
Sept 21, 8 p.m.
Ongoing, Wednesday through Monday, 7 & 10 p.m.
Sat-Thu, 8 p.m.
Tues, Thurs & Sat, 2:30 p.m. & Fri, 8 p.m.
Sept 21, 8 p.m.
Sept 20-23, 7:30 p.m.
Thurs thru Mon, 9 p.m.
Ongoing, 8 p.m.
Nightly (dark Mon-Tue), 7:30 p.m.
Sept 14-15, 7 p.m.
Ongoing (dark sundays), 8 p.m.
Mondays through Saturdays, 7 & 10 p.m.
Fri & Sat, 9 p.m.
Sept 25-29, 8 p.m.
8 p.m. nightly Sat thru Thu
9:30 p.m. nightly Fri thru Wed
Sun thru Fri, 8 p.m. & Sat, 7 & 9 p.m.
Sept 28, 10 p.m.
7 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays; 8 p.m.
Fridays; 7 & 10:30 p.m. Saturdays, Mondays.
Through Sept 20-26, 8:30 p.m.
Fri thru Tue, 7:30& 10:30 p.m.
8 p.m. (Monday thru Friday)
Sept 22, 10:30 p.m
Thursdays thru Mondays, 7:30 & 10:30 p.m.
Tuesdays thru Saturdays, 7pm; Tuesdays &
Saturdays. 7 & 10 p.m.
Sept 20-23, 8 p.m.
Nightly, 7 & 9 p.m.
Sept 16, 8 p.m.
Sept 14, 9 p.m.
Wed thru Mon, 9:30 p.m.
Wed thru Mon, 7:30 p.m.
Sun thru Thu, 7 p.m.
Fri-Wed, 10 p.m.
8 p.m. nightly
Sept 29, 7 p.m.
Ongoing, 10:30 p.m.
Ongoing, 6:30 & 8:30 p.m.
Ongoing, 2 & 4 p.m.
July 13, 8 p.m.
July 13, 7 p.m.
Ongoing, Wednesdays thru Saturdays 7:30 p.m.
Nightly, 7 & 10 p.m.
Nightly, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m.
Ongoing, 7:30 p.m. (dark Wed & Thu)
Ongoing (dark Thursdays), 8 p.m.
Nightly, 7 & 9:30 p.m.
Sept 20-22, 7 p.m.
Learning Japanese
KILLER Poker
By John Vorhaus
Here’s a Japanese word I recently
learned in another context and immediately shoved
into the context of poker. It’s a beautiful little word …
fuinki … and it means mood or atmosphere, although
neither mood nor atmosphere captures the, uhm,
fuinki of fuinki as the Japanese use it.
I use it to remind myself that, like snowflakes, no two
poker games are alike, and the difference is often one
of, yep, fuinki.
Sometimes when you come to the club, the table is
on fire. Everyone is betting, raising, gambling like
mad things, and crazy hands like K-9 suited seem
worthy of going all in before the flop. Other times, in
other places, the table is so subdued that the very
same K-9 is a big enough hand to knock every tight,
sleepy contender from the field. What’s the difference? Fuinki. Mood. And you’d better be hip to this,
or you’ll end up playing wildly incorrectly for the
table you’re at.
I’ve made this mistake myself, more times than I’d
care to mention. Instead of letting the table define
itself for me, I’ve tried to impose my will upon it. I’ll
sit down in a new game and come out swinging, only
to discover that, hey, everyone here is more than
content to swing back. If I’d been cognizant of this,
I would have laid off those sad reckless adventures.
But no, I ran right into the buzz saw, because I never
bothered to tune into the table’s fuinki at the time.
We can learn a lot from learning Japanese, and not
just about fuinki. Consider this word: Ijime.
Ijime means “bullying” or “hazing”–harassment, in
short, and it’s often something we feel we’re victims
of when we first sit down to play. Think about it: You
post your blind, and the first thing you know, someone has raised into you. They’re just playing sensible
poker… finding out what you’re made of when it
comes to defending your blind… but it’s natural to
feel like the object of ijime. Remember that smart
players are disconnected from their emotion when
they play, and make it a point to disconnect from
yours as well.
Or how about Sawagashi? It means “noisy,” another
lovely word that falls more trippingly from the tongue
in Japanese than it does in English. Are you sufficiently sawagashi when you play? Your image is
nothing unless you sell it, and one way to sell it is to
talk it up. You know it’s true: Many is the time you’ve
been up against some sawagashi player who seems
to triumph on the strength of his noise alone. Next
time you play, make a commitment to make some
noise. If you’re a generally sawagashi player, you’ll
generally reap a reward.
And if you think it’s silly to think about poker in terms
of Japanese vocabulary, I can’t say that I disagree.
Except there’s this: Like everything else we do a lot,
our poker play can become rote, routine. Changing
your vocabulary makes corresponding changes to the
sorting system in your brain. In the name of keeping
your game fresh, that can’t be a bad thing.
[John Vorhaus is the author of the Killer Poker book
series, including Killer Poker No Limit and Killer
Poker Online/2. Visit him online at vorza.com.]
42
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
2007-08 WORLDWIDE
POKER TOURNAMENTS
NOW! Get Tournament Listings at our website: www.pokerplayernewspaper.com
>Denotes Advertiser; Poker Association Events also denoted: t=World Poker Tour,
s=World Series of Poker and e=European Poker Tour.
To list your 3-day events contact: A.R. Dyck, Managing Editor, at: [email protected]
DATE
EVENT
LOCATION
>Aug 29-Sep 9 Gulf Coast Poker Championship Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, Biloxi, MS
Aug. 29-Sep 13 W.S.O.P. Circuit Event
sGrand Casino, Tunica, MS
>Sep 4-23
California State Poker Ch’ship Commerce Casino (AdPg 43), Commerce, CA
Sep 7-16
Speedway of Poker IX
Garden City Casino, San Jose, CA
Sep 12-16
Heartland Poker Tour Event
Northern Lights Casino, Walker, MN
tThe Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ
Sep 16-20
Borgata Open
>Sep 25-29 World Poker Dealer Ch’ships Binion’s Gambling Hall (AdPg 22), Las Vegas, NV
Sep 25-29
EPT London
eVictoria Casino, London, UK
Sep 25-30
Turks & Caicos Poker Classic
tThe Player’s Club, Club Med, Turks and Caicos
>Sep 26-30 Fish & Chips Tournament
Cherokee Casino (AdPg 41), Roland, OK
Sep 27-30
California Ladies State Ch’ship Oceans 11 Casino, Oceanside, CA
Sep 27-Oct 7
Fall Pot of Gold
Grand Sierra Resort & Casino, Reno, NV
>Sep 27-Oct 14 Big Poker Oktober
The Bicycle Casino (AdPg 24), Bell Gardens, CA
Sep 28-30
Asian Pacific Poker Tour Event Sheraton Walkerhill, Seoul, South Korea
Oct 1-14
Golden Gates Casino, Black Hawk, CO
October 3-8
Canadian Poker Championship Casino Yellowhead, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Oct 7-10
Baden Classic
eGrand Casino Baden Baden, Austria
Oct 7-14
Majestic Star’s Poker Challenge Majestic Star Casino, Gary, IN
Oct 12-16
Spanish Championship
tCasino Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
>Oct 12-24
Fall Poker Classic
Canterbury Park Casino (Ad Pg 18), Shakopee, MN
Oct 12-24
Caesars Palace Classic
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV
Oct 13-21
Lucky Nugget Card Club, Deadwood, SD
Oct 15-20
Anniversary Series
Spirit Mountain Casino, Grand Ronde, OR
>Oct 17-28
National Championship of Poker Hollywood Park Casino (AdPg 5), Los Angeles, CA
Oct 17-Nov 2
WSOP Circuit Event
sCaesars Indiana, Elizabeth, IN
>Oct 22-Nov 13 World Poker Finals
tFoxwoods Resort Casino (AdPg 35), Mashantucket, CT
Oct 26-Nov 2
North American Poker Ch’ship tNiagara Fallsview Resort Casino, Niagara Falls, Canada
>Oct 26-Nov 4 Fall Poker Tournament
Peppermill Hotel & Casino (AdPg 17), Reno, NV
Oct 27-Nov 4
Meskwaki Casino, Tama, IA
Oct 30-Nov 3
EPT Dublin
eRoyal Dublin Society, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
>Oct 31-Nov 20 Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV Cherokee Casino Resort (AdPg 41), Tulsa, OK
>Nov 2-18
Holiday Bonus Tournament
Commerce Casino (AdPg 43), Commerce, CA
>Nov 7-18
Fall Poker Round-Up
Wildhorse Casino (AdPg 39), Pendleton, OR
Nov 8-18
WSOP Circuit Event
sHarvey’s, Lake Tahoe, NV
Nov 11 -18
Casino del Sol, Tucson, AZ
>Nov 22-Dec 9 Turkey Shoot/Ho-Ho Hold’em The Bicycle Casino (AdPg 24), Bell Gardens, CA
Nov 26-Dec 5
WSOP Circuit Event
sHarrah’s, New Orleans, LA
Dec 1-9
Majestic Star Casino, Gary, IN
Dec 6-16
Winter Pot of Gold
Grand Sierra Resort & Casino, Reno, NV
Dec 8-18
WSOP Circuit Event
sHarrah’s, Atlantic City, NJ
Dec 10-14
WPT Prague
eHilton Hotel, Prague, Czech Republic
Dec 13-16
Asian Pacific Poker Tour Event Star City Casino, Sydney, Australia
Bellagio 5 Diamond World Poker Classic tBellagio, Las Vegas, NV
Dec 13-18
Jan 3-22
WSOP Circuit Event
sGrand Casino, Tunica, MS
>Jan 5-10
Poker Stars Caribbean Poker Adventure tAtlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas
Jan 5-20
Crown Poker Ch’ship (“Aussie Millions”) Crown Casino, Melbourne, Australia
Jan 20-23
World Poker Open
tGold Strike Casino, Tunica, MS
Jan 23-25
Delta Poker Classic
Gold Strike Casino, Tunica, MS
Jan 26-30
Borgata Poker Classic
tThe Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ
Jan 27-Feb 7
WSOP Circuit Event
sHarrah’s Rincon, San Diego, CA
Jan 29-Feb 2
Hohensyburg Open
eCasino Hohensyburg, Dortmund, Germany
Feb 9-23
Scandinavian Open
eCasino Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Feb 18-27
WSOP Circuit Event
sHorseshoe Casino, Tunica, MS
Feb 19-23
Scandanavian Open
eCasino Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
>Feb 23-28 L.A. Poker Classic
tCommerce Casino (AdPg 43), LA, CA
>Mar 1-3
WPT Celebrity Invitational
tCommerce Casino (AdPg 43), LA, CA
Mar 5-15
WSOP Circuit Event
sCaesars, Atlantic City, NJ
Mar 6-30
World Poker Challenge
tGrand Sierra Resort & Casino, Reno, NV
>Mar 10-14
Bay 101 Shooting Star
tBay 101 (AdPg 34), San Jose, CA
Mar 11-15
Polish Open
eHyatt Regency, Warsaw, Poland
Mar 25-28
World Poker Challenge
tGrand Sierra Resort Casino, Reno, NV
Apr 2-16
WSOP Circuit Event
sCaesars Indiana, Elizabeth, IN
Apr 12-17
EPT Grand Final
eMonte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Apr 19-25
WPT World Championship
tBellagio, Las Vegas, NV
Apr 20-May 1
WSOP Circuit Event
sCaesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV
>Apr 25-May 11 Masters of Poker
Peppermill Hotel & Casino (AdPg 17), Reno, NV
May 4-21
WSOP Circuit Event
sHarrah’s, New Orleans, LA
S E P T E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 0 7
43
Your Country Needs You
And the best of you will answer the call. The time has come for the fourth annual
PokerStars World Cup of Poker. Barcelona. September 07. The winners will be crowned
'Pokerstars World Cup of Poker Champions’ - as well as winning $100,000.
Answer the call of national pride and represent your Country.
Qualify now online for FREE only at PokerStars.com.
The World's Largest Poker Site
WORLD CUP OF P KER

felted - Poker Player Newspaper

Transcription

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