FLOP - Poker Player Newspaper

Transcription

Another Big Win
for Actress
Jennifer Tilley!
PAGE
18
Hurricane Katrina PAGE
Casino Report
by Donna Blevins
PAGE
Entertainment
Best Bets
36
44
POKER PLAYER
Vol. 9 Number 6 September 19, 2005 A Gambling Times Publication www.pokerplayernewspaper.com Copyright ©2005 Bi-Weekly $3.95 USA/$4.95 CANADA
Kahaner Wins Legends Championship
Alex Kahaner with members of the final table—Jake Minter,
Todd Phillips, Kevin O’Donnell, Tim Phan and Kenna James
Katrina: Gulf Poker in
Neptune’s Kingdom
Alex Kahaner of Van Nuys, CA wins $1,125,000 at the Bike’s Legends of Poker.
Darn impressive for a man in his first year of tournament play!
The Legends of Poker at
the Bicycle Casino proved
to be a very successful
tournament indeed, with a
record-setting number of
entrants. So many, in fact,
that the final event required
two flights. Our venerable
reporter Max Shapiro was
in attendance, of course,
and brings you the dertails
and results that follow...
Alex Goes ‘Straight’
to Win!
A straight on the turn
turned everything around
and brought victory to
Alex Kahaner in the 2005
Legends championship/
WPT event. For much of
the final table, pro player
Kenna James had the lead.
Then, in a heads-up hand,
James opened for 600k,
Kahaner raised to $1.5 million, and James moved in
with A-4 against Kahaner’s
J-10. A flop of Q-9-2 gave
Kahaner an open-end
straight draw, and a river
king completed it. Kahaner
now had about a 5-1 lead,
and in three hands the rest
of the chips. “Sometimes
By Stan Sludikoff
The horrible destruction brought to the good
people of Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama
has also dealt a crushing
blow to poker in the Gulf.
All five casinos that dealt
poker in Louisiana and
Mississippi have been virtu-
Mike Caro
(Continued on page 17)
Vegas to host the tournament.
Final negotiations will be
taking place shortly and we
expect to bring you the ultimate details of the event in
the pages of Poker Player.
Today’s word is...
“FLOP”
Turn to page 8 for more
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0
9
3 8>
the venue of the event will be
changed.
A tentative agreement
has been reached on nearly
all points with Sam’s Town
Hotel and Casino in Las
A Word from the
“Mad Genius,”
HCP To Move to Sam’s Town
Due to a misunderstanding between the promoters of the Heavyweight
Championship of Poker
and the management at
Stratosphere in Las Vegas,
ally destroyed. Any time
for their reopening is a long
way in the future.
Although hurricanes
are an untamable force of
nature and noone can be
responsible for their path
of destruction, just how we
build and rebuild our cit-
*See Web site for details. Enjoy the free games, and before playing in the real money games, please check with your local jurisdiction regarding the legality of Internet poker. ©2005 Full Tilt Poker. All rights reserved.
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S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
P O K E R P L AY E R
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Starting September 20.
Tuesdays
Noon
$300 + $30
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Noon
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Fridays
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Single Table Satellites available from 8 a.m. on tournament days.
Convenient parking available steps from the Poker Room.
For more information please call 770-7654.
Tournament subject to cancellation or change at any time without prior notice. Problem Gamblers HelpLine 800-522-4700 Know Your Limits.™
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DAY
DATE
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Sat. Oct. 8 No Limit Hold‘em** $200,0T0E 0E
AN
300+40
GUAR
Sun. Oct. 9 Limit Hold‘em
300+40
Mon. Oct. 10 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo
300+40
Tue. Oct. 11 Limit Hold‘em
SHOOTOUT 300+40
Wed. Oct. 12 No Limit Hold‘em*
300+40
Thu. Oct. 13 Limit Hold‘em
500+50
Fri. Oct. 14 No Limit Hold‘em
500+50
Sat. Oct. 15 No Limit Hold‘em
2,500+80
Sun. Oct. 16 Best All Around Points
00
DED
Playoff-No Limit Hold‘em $25A D,0
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ONE-TABLE SATELLITES
Thu. Sep. 29 No Limit Hold‘em
00
$5A0R,A0N T E E
200+25
GU
Fri. Sep. 30 Omaha Hi-Lo
200+25
Sat. Oct. 1 No Limit Hold‘em**
,0N T0E 0E
$15A 0
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200+25
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SHOOTOUT 300+40
Mon.Oct. 3 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo
200+25
Tue. Oct. 4 Limit Hold‘em
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Wed.Oct. 5 No Limit Hold‘em
300+40
00
Thu. Oct. 6 Toni Curiel No Limit
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DATE
TIME
EVENT
BUY-IN
REBUYS GUARANTEE
1
Wednesday, Oct. 19
7:15 PM
No-Limit Hold’em
$100 + $25
Multi
$60,000
2
Thursday, Oct. 20
7:15 PM
Limit Hold’em
$100 + $25
Multi
$40,000
3
Friday, Oct. 21
7:15 PM
No-Limit Hold‘em
$200 + $30
One
$60,000
4
Saturday, Oct. 22
5:15 PM
Limit Hold’em
$200 + $30
One
$40,000
5
Sunday, Oct. 23
5:15 PM
No-Limit Hold’em
$300 + $40
One
$75,000
6
Monday, Oct. 24
7:15 PM
Limit Hold’em
$300 + $40
No
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Tuesday, Oct. 25
7:15 PM
No-Limit Hold’em
$300 + $40
No
8
Wednesday, Oct. 26
7:15 PM
No-Limit Hold‘em
$500 + $50
No
9
Thursday, Oct. 27
7:15 PM
Limit Hold’em
$500 + $50
No
10
Friday, Oct. 28
7:15 PM
No-Limit Hold’em
$1,000 + $70
No
11
Saturday, Oct. 29
5:15 PM
No-Limit Hold’em
$1,000 + $70
One
12
Sunday, Oct. 30
5:15 PM
No-Limit Hold’em
$2,000 + $80
No
$10,000 in Best All-Around Player Awards!
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S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
7
Caro’s Word: “Flop”
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
W
hat can you say
about the flop in
hold ’em? There
are few things in
poker as suspenseful. The
whole fate of your hand
usually hinges on what
those three cards will look
like when the dealer turns
them face up.
It’s fun watching
flops. Indeed.
That’s why I’m asking you
not to get mad at me when
I ask you not to do it. You
see, looking at the flop
at the moment it hits the
felt is the last thing you
want to do if you expect to
maximize your hold ’em
profit. I’m going explain
this concept the same way
I did years ago in a lecture. Here it is...
Watch anything
but the flop
Part of the fun of playing hold ’em or Omaha
is anticipating the flop.
In seven stud, you look
at your starting hand and,
after that, you only add
one new card at a time.
There’s some suspense,
but it isn’t anything like
the big suspense in hold
’em, where after you bet
on your starting hand,
you’ll see three cards all
at once, and those cards
can completely decide
your fate.
With an event as important as the flop, no wonder
almost everyone is eager
to see it. But you shouldn’t
be that eager. Here’s why...
Golden opportunity
Those three flop cards will
still be there when you’re
ready to look at them.
But if you look at them as
they’re turned up – which
is what almost all of your
opponents will be doing
– you’re missing one of
the golden opportunities
for tells in poker.
My advice. Don’t watch
the flop. Watch your
opponents watch the flop.
The key is that they don’t
expect you to be watching them, so most of their
reactions will be genuine,
not acted. Remember,
there are two main types
of poker tells, those from
actors and those that are
involuntary.
It’s mostly the involuntary variety that we’re
looking for when we watch
our opponents watch the
flop. The main tip is to
watch as opponents briefly
recognize that the flop
helped them. They’ll often
quickly glace at their chips
in mental preparation to
bet. This is instinctive.
However, when the
flop doesn’t help them,
your opponents are very
likely to stare at it longer,
usually at least a second
or two longer. This, too,
is instinctive. If it lasts
more than two seconds,
it crosses from being just
instinctive hopefulness, as
they try to find something
that fits their hand, and
becomes an act. At that
point, they’re continuing
to stare at the flop to try
to convince you that it’s
interesting to them.
A tell
In either case, whether
they continue to stare hoping they’ll see something
or they continue to stare as
an act to make you think
they’re interested in the
flop, this is a tell. The long
stare usually means that
they didn’t make even a
pair. Sure, once in a while,
it means they flopped a
straight and are trying to
put the pieces together
mentally – so beware of
that rare happening. But,
even then, they’ll often
have to look back at the
two cards in their hand to
make sure the pieces of
the straight fit, so if they
don’t do that, the long
stare probably means they
missed.
To make it simple:
Beware of a quick glance
at the flop, then another
quick glance at their
chips. Often, this is followed by the player who
just connected on the flop
looking away as if uninterested – in an attempt
to fool you. If they look
long, don’t worry – your
opponent probably missed
everything. Again: quick
glance, beware; long look,
don’t worry.
Now, I’ve just told you
that players don’t usually
act to deceive you when
they first look at the flop.
That’s because they don’t
think you’re watching
them. They think you’re
watching the flop, too, so
immediate actions meant
to deceive you aren’t necessary. But they do think
you’ll hear them, so sometimes you can get vocal
tells from actors. Listen
for sighs or other utterances of sadness. These
are meant to confuse you,
but they really mean the
opponent likes the flop and
will probably bet or raise.
Sad sounds are always
dangerous.
Keep it secret
One additional tip. Don’t
stare conspicuously at your
opponents. Sooner or later,
they’ll look up and realize you’re studying them
on the flop. Keep your
surveillance secret. I often
point my head down and
look up with my eyes, partially shielded by my fingers. This way, I seem to
be looking toward the flop
while I’m watching my
opponents without them
knowing.
Once again. Don’t watch
the flop. Watch your opponents watch the flop. If
they quickly glance away
from the flop, briefly to
their chips, then stare
away from the approaching
action, beware. That flop
connected. If they continue
to stare at the flop a little
longer, you’re usually safe.
This is “The Mad
Genius of Poker” Mike
Caro and that’s my secret
today.
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.
8
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
POKER PLAYER
A Gambling Times Publication
3883 West Century Blvd.
Inglewood, CA 90303
(310) 674-3365
www.pokerplayernewspaper.com
Stanley R. Sludikoff
EDITOR/PUBLISHER
[email protected]
Joe Smith
ACTING 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]
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
Susie Isaacs
Byron Liggett
Diane McHaffie
James McKenna
I. Nelson Rose
Nic Szeremeta
Rich Wilens
John Vorhaus
Ernie Kaufman, Sports
Poker Player will be published Bi-Weekly
by Gambling Times Incorporated,
Stanley R. Sludikoff, President.
Volume 9 Number 6.
Copyright © September 2005 by
Gambling Times Incorporated. All rights
reserved. Reproduction in whole or
in part without written permission is
prohibited.
Advertising Sales
NV (SOUTH), CA (SOUTH),
AZ, NM
Debbie Burkhead
9030 Arkose Ct.
Las Vegas, NV 89123
702-269-1733
fax 702-614-1650
[email protected]
NV (NORTH), CA (NORTH),
WA, OR, ID,
MT, UT, CO & WY
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775-746-5652
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ALL USA EAST OF
THE ROCKIES
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Gregory Weitzel
1108 E. Inverness Blvd., #611
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352-422-1441
[email protected]
EUROPE, CARIBBEAN &
INTERNET
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Poker Media Group
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U.S.: 213-291-1638
Costa Rica: +506-387-7627
[email protected]
PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT
This notice will certify that 42,000 copies of Volume
9, 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.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Brian York . . . . . . . . . . .$410
Karen Ellinwood . . . . . .$320
Farhad Abadipour. . . . .$265
Newton Deleon . . . . . . . .$205
My Phu . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$145
Joey Harper . . . . . . . . . .$120
7. David Williams . . . . . . .$185
8. Deidra Duffington . . . . .$130
9. Joan Miller . . . . . . . . . . .$105
9. Patricia Singer . . . . . . . .$135
ENDLESS SUMMER 8/25/05
BUY-IN $20 + $15
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $20 + $15
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $20 + $15
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
PLAYERS 184
REBUYS 613
ADD-ONS 270
PRIZE POOL
BUY-IN $20 + $15
PLAYERS 203
REBUYS 628
ADD-ONS 292
PRIZE POOL
$20,270
Bob Glass
$21,335
Irene Williams
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Irene Williams . . . . . . $7,780
Bahman Fathi . . . . . . $4,050
Sep Ebrahimi . . . . . . . $2,020
Hung Le . . . . . . . . . . . $1,380
Yehoshua Levi . . . . . . . .$960
Adolfo Crespo . . . . . . . .$745
David Muskeni. . . . . . . .$530
Sunshine House . . . . . . .$425
Tom Lawrence . . . . . . . .$340
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Bob Glass . . . . . . . . . . $8,110
Alex Myers . . . . . . . . . $4,060
Robert Foster . . . . . . . $2,030
Max Burgos . . . . . . . . $1,320
Alex Connor . . . . . . . . $1,015
Alex Dimitrov . . . . . . . .$710
Mike Guttman . . . . . . . .$510
James Lapointe . . . . . . .$410
Jennifer O’Neil . . . . . . .$305
Ken Rackliffe
1. Ken Rackliffe . . . . . . . $2,350
2. Jona Alexander . . . . . $1,350
3. Dominador Ruperto . . .$705
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
$17,405
8. Bob Glass . . . . . . . . . . . .$350
Stephen Zehngut
9. Gerson Gomez . . . . . . . .$265
Johan Storakers. . . . . $8,485
Lloyd Sicard. . . . . . . . $4,245
Ngon Tran . . . . . . . . . $2,120
Gerson Gomez . . . . . . $1,380
Peter Parker. . . . . . . . $1,060
Richard Drapkin . . . . . .$745
My Phu . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$530
Sergei Getmanchuk . . . .$425
Jeff Ready . . . . . . . . . . .$325
LIMIT HOLD’EM
PLAYERS 60
REBUYS 119
ADD-ONS 97
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
$5,245
Santo Rimicci . . . . . . . $2,100
Andre Cullins. . . . . . . $1,205
Ray Derek . . . . . . . . . . .$630
Newton Deleon . . . . . . . .$365
Bruce Berlow . . . . . . . . .$290
Ken Rackliffe . . . . . . . . .$235
6. Kelly Kanning . . . . . . . .$595
7. James Lapointe . . . . . . .$435
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PLAYERS 78
REBUYS 153
ADD-ONS 118
PRIZE POOL
BUY-IN $20 + $15
PRIZE
POOL
4. Irene Williams . . . . . . $1,130
5. Chris Hall . . . . . . . . . . . .$870
Johan Storakers
LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $20 + $15
3. Cuauhtemoc Mata . . . $1,740
PLAYERS 167
REBUYS 535
ADD-ONS 214
PRIZE POOL
BUY-IN $20 + $15
LIMIT HOLD’EM
$5,870
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
2. Ralph Nunneley . . . . . $3,480
$21,205
PLAYERS 66
REBUYS 140
ADD-ONS 103
PRIZE POOL
PLAYERS 191
REBUYS 631
ADD-ONS 294
PRIZE POOL
1. Stephen Zehngut . . . . $6,965
John Ubia . . . . . . . . . . $2,650
Andre Cullins. . . . . . . $1,525
Ray Derek . . . . . . . . . . .$795
Jerry Singer . . . . . . . . . .$465
Saeid Salami. . . . . . . . . .$365
Walter Klenhard . . . . . .$295
Herb Ross . . . . . . . . . . . .$235
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S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
9
8/2/05 12:42:55 PM
And the Beat Goes On, PART I
Have you ever been watching an “Entertainment Tonight” type
news/magazine/gossip/star-studded TV show and wondered, why
don’t they do something on the subject of poker,
CHIP CHATTEr
By SUSIE ISAACS
poker players, and what’s happening in the poker
world? I’ve got good news! “They” have and I
want to tell you all about “them” and the new (upcoming) TV show,
“PokerBeat.”
“They” are poker people, primarily Michael
Hochman and Annie Adlin. Michael began his career
as a poker dealer over 17 years ago. Today, he is
the Director of Table Games at Canterbury Park.
Annie also began her poker career as a dealer
and has been in the poker industry for over 20
Annie Adlin years. Today, she is the Card Club Shift Manager
at Canterbury Park. Matthew Kaphan also was in the poker industry
but he changed professions a few years ago to pursue a career in
video production. This circle of poker friends had many discussions
on the success of poker in general and the World Poker Tour in particular. The questions they posed to each other were; with all the
interest in poker, don’t you think the public would be interested in
the actual poker players as individuals and how they got to where
they are, what their “real” live is like, and what is going on in the
poker world? Isn’t the public not only interested in more in depth,
behind the scenes information, but also hungry for it? How do poker
players really think? How did they make this career choice? Rather
than TV people doing poker, how about poker people doing TV?
Could it be done?
Sitting at a Denny’s restaurant, the idea and concept for
PokerBeat was born. “At one of our meetings”, Michael remembers
saying, “I said to Annie and Matthew that there are probably 100
other people at 100 other restaurants discussing the same thing. It
seemed so obvious! We knew we had to get out there and do it first.”
After many more discussions, note taking, idea pitching, and
brainstorming, Michael and Annie decided that they loved the whole
concept enough to want to move forward, beyond the talking stage,
but it is a long and expensive way from a good idea to production.
“We went the extra step,” Hochman stated, “we not only talked
about it, we decided that it was such a good idea that we put our
own money on the line and went forward with producing a pilot. I
took my entire poker bankroll.”
“I dipped into my nest egg,” Annie stated. “It’s a fact that a TV
show can make a star out of a young player who hits one tournament. We had a dream to showcase people who have paid their dues
with continuing wins and accomplishments in the poker world, not
just in tournaments but also in the pursuit of the good of poker.
People like Linda Johnson, Russ Hamilton, Tom McEvoy, Barry
Greenstein, and Daniel Negreanu to name a few.”
Without exception, everyone they talked to thought it was a
tremendous idea. They came up with hundreds of ideas, which
they narrowed down to specific areas they wanted to cover in the
show. The lineup features, timely poker news and events along with
a little in your face comedy. The hosts are Lee Adams and Dave
Eglseder. They report the news, tournament results, and hit the
streets to bring events and players into your living room and just
maybe, a tad of juicy gossip (not always serious by a long shot!)
“I see people all the time”, Michael adds, “who are afraid they
are going to do something wrong if they enter the real poker world.
We wanted to address that in a lighthearted manner. With this in
mind, the “Railbird” character was born. This is a fellow who looks
the part – sunglasses, backward baseball cap, has all the moves, he
walks the walk and talks the talk – but he can’t play a lick of poker.
He’s our comic relief. That segment is going to be a lot of fun.
In the next issue we’ll continue with the show’s lineup and how
Hochman and Adlin made their vision become a reality.
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Know Your Limits! If you think you have a gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700.
Bluffing Styles, PART 2
POwer POKER PSYCHOLOGY
By JAMES A. M C KENNA, P H D.
Last time I discussed the more structured
type of bluffer. These are players who like
to either dare you or sneak up on you. I also mentioned
in Part I, that there are a whole set of players who are not
so well planned in their bluffs. They are much looser players who bluff and keep the action going. Some of these
unplanned bluffers I refer to as employing “Attack Bluffing.”
Other unstructured bluffers are less aggressive and seem to
be playing hands they don’t have but wish they did. I refer
to these players as using “Dream Bluffing.” While structured players are bluffing with their eyes wide open, there
are players who like to close their eyes with little regard to
planning when they bluff.
“Attack Bluffs” are aggressive and unplanned bluffs.
When one of these “no fold ’em hold ’em” players splashed
the pot with a raise, I had already pegged him for an actionoriented guy whom I refer to as a “High Roller.” So, it
wasn’t a surprise to me that he chose an “Attack” approach
to bluffing. Often, when you see such bluffing occur aggressively, with flare, the bettor hasn’t even looked to see what
he or she is betting into. Such players take risks more liberally, will bet into over-cards, and can be a threat to the
most seasoned of players -- particularly if the loose player is
catching their hands. They will give you action and stay in
longer than they should. However, this high roller deserves
a word of caution. Since they are closer to the center on a
scale of Responsiveness/Aggressiveness, they can modify
impulsive bluffs and become more structured when needed.
“Dream Bluffs” occur from players who bluffs are passive
and unplanned. These bluffers play more with their hunches.
They will do little to influence play and pretty much let
the cards play themselves. They are bluffing as if they are
strong because they actually believe that they are going to
win the hand. They are dreaming of the hand they are going
to get. It can’t even be called semi-bluffing, because they
are bluffing on their dreams and don’t even have a pair or a
gut-shot straight. Recently, I was playing with a very friendly player who seemed to play a lot of hands. Some people
would have called him a “calling station.” People were filling up on his frequent calls. I began to wonder about how
he was playing. So, I asked him when he showed his hand
(Ace high, no pairs), “That’s wasn’t even a ‘semi-bluff.’ What
were you thinking?” “Well, I would have had him beat if I
got another Ace!” These “dreamers” will bet more on the
come and play as if they already have the hand. They are
playing more from emotions while being passive.
Both these styles of bluffing come from loose players.
The difference is that the “Attack Bluffer” is aggressive;
while the “Dream Bluffer” is much more passive. There’s an
expression in poker to “play ‘em like you’ve got ‘em!” Well,
this is more of a way of life for all bluffing styles. However,
the “Dream Bluffer” is more of a stone-cold bluff. They tend
to play every hand as if they already have what they are
representing. The “Attack Bluffer,” while misrepresenting
his or her hand, is motivated more from seeking excitement.
So, how does one tell whether a person is dreaming, daring
you, sneaking up on you, or attacking you? While I go into
more detail in my book (Beyond Tells), the answer is simply,
“Know your players!” By determining the personality types
of players, you will know how to determine whether they are
structured or loose. The highly structured players will favor
planned bluffs (“Dare” and “Sneak”). The looser players will
lean towards impulsive bluffs (“Attack” and “Dream”).
James A. McKenna, PhD., has been a practicing individual
and group therapist for over thirty-five years. His knowledge of human behavior combined with over thirty years of
gaming experience gives him a unique perspective on the
psychology of the gamer. His book, “Beyond Tells-Power
Poker Psychology,” will be published soon by Gambling
Times. Write to him at [email protected].
12
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
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].
P
Sam Mudaro is the...
Poker—a Game of
the worst ranked pairs.
Making Decisions
The non-suited, NS
still have room to learn. It
version only has 3 profbehooves us to improve our
itable hands out of the 11
game by absorbing as much
possible combinations. The
double suited, DS combina- knowledge as we can.
We are fortunate to live in
tion still reigns supreme.
an age of information. The
Below is an outline of
decisions we arrive at before Internet is an almost infinite
source of information. If
we play our first hand of
you do not have access to
poker. I will expand upon
the Internet you may visit
each of these before we get
a public library. Most offer
into actual game decision.
free Internet access to card
1. What should we conholder’s. If computers intimsider when deciding
idate you, the library is also
whether to play or not
an excellent source for readplay poker.
ing books and periodicals
2. Are all locations the
on poker. Most bookstores
same? How to choose
now carry a wide selection
the right location.
of poker books for both the
3. How do we select the
beginner and advanced playright game to play?
er. It was not too long ago
4. What limit should we
when today’s pros had to
play and what limit
learn from their own costly
type?
5. What to consider when mistakes. We are privileged
choosing a table to play to be able to learn from their
mistakes through their writat or a seat.
ings and save both time and
Whether to play poker or
money.
not may seem like a simple
In addition to the Internet,
decision at first. After all
books and periodicals such
there are only two choices,
as this, there are a number
yes or no. Some of the considerations we should reflect specialized classes being
on before making our choice offered with expert speakers and trainer. A number of
are listed below.
instructive DVD’s are also
Do we have enough
knowledge about the game? available. Indeed the learning curve has been reduced.
We all know the basics.
So next time when deciding
Which hands are better
than which. But do we fully to play poker ask yourself
if your time would be better
understand some of the
spent by investing in your
finer points of the game? I
knowledge
believe I may safely say we
Some of the other factors
all, no matter our level of
we should consider before
play or how many WSOP
deciding to play poker are
bracelets we may have,
our state of mind, our health,
A - 4 with a Pair
how much time do we have,
Hand
DS
HS
BS
LS
NS
are we well rested and of
A-4-2-2
16.07
9.33
12.34
8.72
5.88
course do we have the necA-4-3-3
10.18
7.37
6.83
3.73
1.01
essary funds. We will examA-4-5-5
5.93
3.72
2.94
0.26
(1.03)
ine these factors next time.
A-4-6-6
3.48
1.64
0.87
(0.61)
(1.11)
So what have we learned?
Getting back to the chart,
A-4-7-7
3.02
0.07
0.16
(0.85)
(1.03)
not all four cards working
A-4-8-8
1.30
(0.40)
(0.34)
(1.09)
(1.38)
together involving 2 low
A-4-9-9
1.73
(0.29)
(0.73)
(0.96)
(1.24)
cards combined with a pair
A-4-T-T
4.49
1.89
1.90
(0.60)
(1.04)
are profitable. Next time
A-4-J-J
5.97
3.76
3.31
0.05
(0.86)
before we go to play poker
A-4-Q-Q
9.95
5.85
6.09
3.21
(0.19)
we may want to improve our
A-4-K-K
15.58
12.09
11.77
8.46
5.08
knowledge of the game.
flow. We still see that the
K-K is strong and in fact
Diamond Jim’s Casino
118 20th St. West
Rosamond, California
Exit A 14 Freeway
is superior to the 2-2 when
low suited, HS and not far
The Best Little No-limit Tournament in Southern California
The Last Sunday of Each Month $140 Buy-in–No Rebuys $10,000 in Tournament Chips
behind when back suited,
BS. The 8’s and 9’s are still
Call for more info: 661-256-1400
oker is a game of decisions. We are constantly
challenged with rendering
decisions, most of them
while possessing incomplete
information in a relatively
short period of time. Some
of my colleagues would go
as far as stating that those
who win at poker are those
who make the fewest mistakes while forcing their
opponents to make more
mistakes. There is substantive truth to that statement.
Rendering one decision
perfectly every time would
keep us way ahead of the
game. That decision is to
call only when we have the
best hand, yet cause our
opponent to call with less
then the best hand. Indeed if
we had perfect information
we would never call with
anything but the best hand
on the river. Perfect information would enable us to
make perfect decisions and
hence play perfectly. Is there
a perfect starting hand?
Not all our poker decisions are based on imperfect
or incomplete information.
Not all our decisions are
made at the poker table.
Today I begin a series of
articles outlining poker decisions both at the subconscious and conscious level.
Before I get into that here
is the next chart of 4 cards
working together consisting
of the two low cards with a
pair:
As noted in my last article
the red ink would begin to
d
RESULTS
8. Robert Ahan. . . . . . . . . .$434
Monterey Park, CA
9. Kim Ung . . . . . . . . . . . . .$347
Connecticut
COMMERCE CASINO 8/17/05
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $194
$9,506
1. Charlie Art . . . . . . . . . $4,753
BUY-IN $97
PLAYERS 116
REBUYS 80
PRIZE
POOL
$19,012
$9,506
La Verne, CA
3. Rene Vas . . . . . . . . . . . $2,280
Vista, CA
Los Angeles, CA
2. Brian Forster . . . . . . . $2,377
4. Tu Ha . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,330
Thousand Oaks, CA
Irvine, CA
2. Bryan Schwartz . . . . . $2,376
3. John Pedicini . . . . . . . $1,425
Encino, CA
5. Phuoc Nguyen . . . . . . $1,045
Newport, CA
San Jose, CA
Sunnyvale, CA
4. Bill Fritz . . . . . . . . . . . . .$952
San Luis Obispo, CA
8. David Simon. . . . . . . . . .$475
2. Michael Laufer . . . . . $3,589
Middelton, NY
3. Scott Rettberg . . . . . . $2,153
Irvine, CA
Pasadena, CA
4. Hing Wong . . . . . . . . . $1,436
9. Jeff Pennington . . . . . . .$380
Rosemead, CA
Phoenix, AZ
10. Mel Kara . . . . . . . . . . . .$202
Seal Beach, CA
2. Frank Sanzo . . . . . . . . $4,180
Rosemead, CA
3. Bernard Boniso . . . . . $1,425
7. Mike Leanos. . . . . . . . . .$665
Monterey Park, CA
PLAYERS 49
PRIZE
POOL
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
1. Khai Nguyen . . . . . . . $7,600
1. Jay Majmudar . . . . . . $4,753
PLAYERS 49
PRIZE
POOL
BUY-IN $194
4. Chris Wong . . . . . . . . . .$951
6. Ruben Pesina . . . . . . . . .$855
Sacramento, CA
Arvin, CA
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $194
PLAYERS 49
REBUYS 25
PRIZE
POOL
$14,356
1. Samuel Medina . . . . . $7,178
Brooking,Or
Glendale, CA
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $291
PLAYERS 57
REBUYS 28
PRIZE
POOL
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www.pokerplayernewspaper.com
$24,735
1. Thomas Oliver . . . . . $11,130
Marietta, Ga
2. Victoria Condos . . . . . $6,180
Simi Valley, CA
3. Mark Lesser . . . . . . . . $3,713
Los Angeles, CA
4. Richard Lee . . . . . . . . $2,474
Schaumburg, IL
5. Chris Fox . . . . . . . . . . $1,238
Irvine, CA
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $194
PLAYERS 73
REBUYS 49
PRIZE
POOL
$23,668
1. Gioi Luong . . . . . . . . . $9,703
Westminister, CA
2. Larry Waggoner . . . . $5,680
Valencia, CA
3. Kirk Drickman . . . . . $3,076
West Lake Vlg, CA
4. Shawn Massey . . . . . . $1,656
Pasadena, CA
5. Rodolfo Zalamea . . . . $1,420
Granada Hills, CA
6. Adam Singer . . . . . . . $1,183
N. Hollywood, CA
7. Ed Ostashay . . . . . . . . . .$950
San Dimas, CA
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $194
PLAYERS 39
PRIZE
POOL
$7,566
1. Joe Chang. . . . . . . . . . $3,783
Saint Charles, IL
2. Stephen Burns . . . . . . $2,270
Sierra Madre, CA
3. Janet Cillo . . . . . . . . . $1,513
Long Valley, NJ
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $97
PLAYERS 106
REBUYS 73
PRIZE
POOL
$17,363
1. Peter Parker. . . . . . . . $6,945
Pasadena, CA
2. David Miller . . . . . . . . $3,993
Granada Hills, CA
3. Afshin Iryami. . . . . . . $2,083
Los Angeles, CA
4. Majmudar Jay . . . . . . $1,215
Vista, CA
5. Binh Do. . . . . . . . . . . . . .$955
Vancouver, Wa
6. Senik Yan . . . . . . . . . . . .$781
Glendale, CA
7. Andy Lambo . . . . . . . . .$610
Upland, CA
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
13
Small Blind, Great Odds
STRAIGHT SKINNY
By RICHARD G. BURKE
Fred sat next to me at our $4-8 Hold’Em
table on a sweltering afternoon in summer.
Did I remember when he played 5d-2d in the Small
Blind and won a nice pot? I did. (Poker Player, Vol. 8,
No. 25, p.14) Fred asked if he could also profitably play
suited, 3-gap connectors.
That depends. What did Fred consider a good Flop?
Fred thought for a bit. He thought a good Flop would be
an open-ended Straight draw, a Straight, a Flush draw,
a Flush, an open-ended Straight Flush draw, a Straight
Flush, Two Pairs, Trips, or better. And, if it’s a Flush
or Straight draw, then the Flop shouldn’t have a Pair.
The table shows the probability of each of those Flops,
depending on the size of the gaps. The bottom row
shows the cards odds for each gap size.
Flop
Str. Draw
Straight
Flush Draw
Flush
SF Draw
Str. Flush.
>= 2P or 3K
Sum
0
0.0843
0.0129
0.1056
0.0082
0.0038
0.0002
0.0347
0.2497
1
0.0562
0.0096
0.1069
0.0083
0.0026
0.0002
0.0347
0.2184
2
0.0281
0.0064
0.1082
0.0083
0.0013
0.0001
0.0347
0.1871
3
0.0000
0.0032
0.1094
0.0084
0.0000
0.0001
0.0347
0.1558
Cards Odds
4.0
4.6
5.3
6.4
In the Small Blind, without a preN
Pot Odds
Flop raise, Fred’s pot odds are (4*N+41
1.50
3-1-1)/2 for 1, where N is the number of
2
3.50
opponents, minus the rake, toke and
3
5.50
bad beat drop, or (2*N-.5) for 1. The
4
7.50
nearby table shows how Fred’s pot
odds depend on the number of his opponents. Fred’s pot
odds are larger than his cards odds in all cases when there
are four or more opponents. For suited, 0-, 1-, and 2-gap
connectors his pot odds are larger than the cards odds for
three or more opponents. Fred can profitably play suited,
3-gap connectors, with four or more opponents.
With three opponents, the smallest suited connectors he can play are 3d-2d, 4d-2d, and 5d-2d. With
four opponents, the smallest, suited, 3-gap connector is
6d-2d, and/or any suited Ace-and-a-Wheel-card. Fred
beamed at that news because he likes to play lots of hands.
Fred wondered what the pot odds would be if the Big
Blind were to raise. They’d be better, I told him. His pot
odds would be (8*N+8-3-1-1)/4, or (2*N+.75) for 1.
Fred knew what to do if he flopped a made hand, but
what should he do when he flopped a draw to a made
hand, he asked. That’s discussed thoroughly in my book,
so I told him to re-read that chapter.
Fred wondered about suited unconnected and unsuited
connected small cards in the Small Blind. Skipping all the
details, with any suited hand he needs only four opponents. With unsuited, 0-gap connectors he needs four
opponents. With 1-gap connectors he needs five, and
2-gappers he needs eight. Unsuited 3-gap connectors
aren’t playable even in the Small Blind.
Position doesn’t matter all that much when you hit
these little hands, I told Fred. Your opponents won’t suspect Two Pairs or Trips or better, a Straight, or a Flush.
When you use both your cards, the 3rd-nut Straight wins
71% of the time that the nut Straight would win, and the
smallest Flush wins 75% of the time that the nut Flush
would win. You can lie low and then check-raise when the
bets double, or you can just fire away from the get-go.
Mr. Burke is the author of Flop: The Art of Winning at
Low-Limit Hold ’Em, 2nd ed., available from amazon.com,
gamblersbook.com, and www.kokopellipress.com. E-mail
your Hold ’Em questions to [email protected].
14
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
there, I’m told, “Upstairs
and to the left.” Finally a
place I’ll be safe. I climb the
stairs thinking about black
coffee and sugar doughnuts.
Meanwhile, at the HA
meeting, a pale young
woman gets up to tell
her story to Hold’em
ing streak before it broke
me. I had looted my savings and maxed out my
credit cards to buy into that
game. I had to win or I was
ruined. And I was winning!
Up $10,000! I had won the
last two pots and I had to
post for the kill pot I knew
Jam It Up
A Poker Player Murder Mystery by Robert Arabella
Loser Street’s three underground card rooms are burning wrecks. Sirens fill the
air. Fire and EMS respond.
Detective Sweeny arrives.
This is what he sees—Me,
the prime suspect in three
card room bombings, standing in front of the bombedout ruins of three more card
rooms.
This is what the
Detective does—“Thayer!”
he screams, drawing his
sidearm. “Don’t move!”
and he begins to cross the
street towards me. “You are
under ar-rest….” Hoooonk!
Hoooonk! Lights and sirens
separate us as a fire engine
races by. By the time it
passes, I am nowhere to be
seen.
An All Points Bulletin is
put out—“Thayer, Jack.
Poker Player. Wanted For
Murder. Shoot On Sight—
Shoot To Kill.”
Down the block, I jump
off the fire engine’s running
board and run for my life.
I need to get off the streets.
Where can I go? If I try to
hide in plain sight, at one
the surviving underground
poker rooms, my life expectancy—from either the real
poker room bomber or the
shoot-to-kill police—will
be short. No. I need to hide
in the one place no one
would ever think to look
for an active poker player.
The only place where no
poker player with a chip
and a chair would ever
go—a meeting of Hold’em
Anonymous.
HA, like AA and GA,
is based on a Twelve Step
Program. The First Step is
to admit you are powerless
over poker—that because of
poker your life has become
un-manageable.
I cheat because I am powerless over poker. Because
I cheat, my life has become
unmanageable. If anyone
should go to a meeting, it’s
me. Besides, there’s hot coffee and sugar doughnuts.
Hold’em Anonymous meets
every night at the Community Center. When I get
Anonymous—“My
name is Jill and I’m a
Hold’emaholic.”
“Hi Jill,” comes the
refrain.
She continues, “At my
last game of hold’em, I was
at the $200/$400 no-limit
table at The Lost Wages
Club, trying to break a los-
I should have walked away,
but I had chips already in
when I’m dealt AaAd! I
had to play! The board was
full of rags and I jammed
the pot like crazy. After all
the confusion in the room
settled down, I was rivered
by a set.”
“What confusion?” some-
one asks.
Jill answers, “A firecracker went off.”
Half the room bursts into
laughter. Jill says in a hurt
voice, “Why are you people
laughing? I lost everything
in that game. I’m ruined!”
More laughter. Finally
someone says to Jill, “You
didn’t lose, honey. You were
cheated. You fell for Jack
Thayer’s ‘Gunsmoke’ trick!”
Someone else explains
how I cheated her.
“I was cheated?” shouts
Jill, now enraged. “Cheated
out of everything! I’ll kill
him! I’ll kill Jack Thayer!”
At that moment I opened
the door.
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
(To be continued in the next
issue of Poker Player)
15
DEBBIE BURKHEAD INTERVIEWS...
Get Up! Get Up!
FRESH YOUNG FACE OF Poker
Mike Green
DIRECTOR OF POKER OPERATIONS FOR THE MGM
By Jennifer Matiran
I couldn’t seem to shake off the negative
effects of the bad beats/bad luck I received. It was as if bad
fortune was seeping into everything I did. I was seeing my
whole existence through bad beat lenses. It all began when my
pocket aces cracked, next, my pocket kings, and finally when
the queens were cracked. How dare they crack the queens?
Good cards were being cracked when I slow played,
when I fast played, when I played poker, period. Oh, by the
way “cracked” means beat, destroyed, nuked, annihilated,
cracked means that Jennifer lost a whole lot of money and
lost all her confidence. It all lasted about six weeks, six
weeks that seemed like six months.
For six weeks, I allowed my misfortune to influence everything. I treated my friends, family and co-workers poorly.
Whenever something good was happening, I expected it to
turn bad. Good things would turn sour because the way I
was thinking was sour. My usual strong faith had turned into
fear. I was living proof that one attracts their focus, whether it is positive or negative. During this gloomy period, I
stopped reading, writing and exercising. I stopped doing all
the things that made me feel strong and confident. I was
driving in bumper to bumper traffic one afternoon and I read
this sign that ignited my fire.
It is most glorious to me, when something elevates my
thinking to a whole new level. This was what I read that
afternoon: “We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle
against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs
and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take
away everything of value.” Just because we go down,
doesn’t mean we must stay down. No, no, in fact, if we stay
negative the “bugs and weeds” of our own thinking and
behavior will make us very sick. That afternoon, I changed
my mind.
It was a kill pot, my opponents raised and the whole table
called. I thought they must all have big cards so what the
heck, I’ll play my 7, 3 of clubs. The flop came Ac, Kc, 10d,
they bet, raised, re-raised and I called. I made a baby flush
on the turn, I won, three aces and three tens cracked, finally
I was the crack-er not the crack-ee. My confidence grew. I
was dealt an As, 8s, the flop came 8d, 8c, Qs, there were
two of us left and I was the dealer. I thought okay, I’ll call
him all the way then, raise him on the river. I raised at the
end and he folded, he was a nice guy so I wanted to show
him my 8. I showed him what I really thought was an 8 but
turned out to be a 6. I had read my cards wrong, if I could
only exude that sort of confidence in every situation. My
confidence won the pot, not my cards.
Confidence is the first attribute one loses when they
take life too personally. It’s not personal, all human beings
encounter bad beat chapters in poker and in life. “If at
first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again.” I
believe success lies in how fast we learn to get back up and
try again.
This is for all the people who are down, get up! This is for
all the people who do not believe in themselves anymore,
get up! This is for all those who feel they are worthless, get
up! This is for all the people who believe their dreams will
not come true, get up! This is for all the people who think
the pain is just too much, get up! This is for all the people
who think they do not matter, get up! Let’s get up together!
Until next time remember, “all there are in this world
are other people, none are lesser or greater than you.”
Changing the world one sentence at a time, Jennifer
Matiran believes the pen is, and always will be, mightier
than the sword. She hopes to emerge into the tournament circuit of Poker. Contact her with questions, comments or interesting material at matiran@sbcglobal.
net. Ms. Matiran has just completed her latest screenplay, her other passion (besides Poker!).
16
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
Mike Green was born in
Duluth, Minnesota in 1950
and graduated high school
in 1968 from Duluth
Cathedral. After graduation Mike joined the Coast
Guard Reserves and spent
six years in the reserve
program.
In 1969 Mike took a
position with the local auto
parts warehouse as a truck
driver. In 1971 he left his
truck driving position for
an inside sales job in one
of their auto parts stores.
In 1974 he left the auto
parts business to work for
the railroad as an oiler.
In 1976 he left Duluth
and moved to Springfield,
Missouri to sell insurance.
Mike returned to Duluth a
year later and took a job
in the construction field
working in everything
from roofing to sheet
metal.
In 1982 Mike decided
to leave the construction
business to work for a jeweler as a salesman. While
still working as a jewelry
salesman he was taking
frequent trips to Las Vegas
to play poker. After spending five months in Vegas
in 1985 and seven months
in 1986 his aspiration to
become a poker player
became a reality in late
1986 when he officially
moved to Las Vegas.
In 1987 Jan Bowman
offered him a prop player
position at the Stardust and
Mike accepted.
Mike left the Stardust
in 1988 to concentrate
on playing poker and did
so until 1993 when he
took the position of Poker
Room Supervisor at the
Sands.
He left the Sands in
1995 and took a Shift
Supervisor position at
Palace Station. Mike was
promoted to Assistant
Manager and eventually to
Poker Room Manager. He
left Palace Station in 1999
to travel and play poker
but due to his wife’s illness
he was forced to return to
full time employment. In
2003 Mike hired on as a
dealer at the Stardust.
In 2004 Mike left the
Stardust to assist in the
opening of the new poker
room at the MGM Grand.
In July 2005 Mike was
promoted to Director of
Poker Operations for the
MGM poker room. He now
oversees a 23 table cardroom.
DB: Since the room
opened, has it been successful?
MG: Yes, although I
believe you can always
have more business but the
response and the comebacks are increasing on a
daily basis?
DB: What live games does
the MGM offer it’s players?
MG: On a daily basis
we spread $2-$4, $3-$6,
$4-$8 and toward the end
of the week $6-$12 limit
hold‘em. We also spread
regular games of no-limit
with $1-$2 and $2-$5
blinds. On weekends we
spread $20-$40 limit and
no-limit with $5-$10 and
$10-$20 blinds. Half of
our business is attributed
to the no-limit games and
are generally made up of
tourists.
room running daily tournaments?
MG: Yes, Monday through
Friday at 11 a.m. we have
a $65 buy-in no-limit
tournament and Sunday
through Thursday at 6:30
p.m. we have a $125 buyin no-limit tournament.
Our daytime tournaments
are limited to six tables
and we except alternates.
We average around 93
players for the day events.
We are looking into
expanding the number of
tournament tables soon.
Our evening tournaments
average around 40 players
per event and are getting
better every day.
DB: Where is the MGM
poker room located?
MG: We are located
between the Sportsbook
and the Centrifuge bar.
DB: Is there anything
unique about the MGM
poker room?
MG: Outside of being the
most spacious and comfortable room in town,
we have technology next
to none. We have 23
tables and 22 have shuffle
masters and we have a
state-of-the-art list management system. Players
always know where they
stand on the wait list. We
have a push button system
DB: Is the MGM poker
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Kahaner wins Bike’s Legends
things don’t go your way,
in poker and life,” the evergracious James remarked at
the post-game ceremony.
Kahaner is originally
from Israel. He is a computer consultant turned home
builder.This is only the
second major tournament
he has played, and his first
major win. It was worth
$1,540,000 plus a $25,000
seat in the Bellagio/WPT
championship event.
After players got to the
final six on Day Three, the
finalists sat down at the
WPT TV sound stage to
start play with hour rounds,
$3,000 antes and blinds of
$15,000-$30,000. James
was in third place with 1.54
million in chips, behind
Todd Phillips and Kahaner,
both with about 1.9 million.
On hand eight, James
made a tough laydown. On
a flop of Js-9h-8h, Kahaner
bet 120k, James raised
250k, Kahaner moved in
and James laid down Q-J.
Kahaner showed Jh-10h for
an open-end straight flush
draw.
Play was cautious in the
early stages. Blinds went
up twice, first to $25,0000$50,000, then to $40,000$80,000, with $10,000
antes, with all players left,
and only one all-in confrontation. By hand 48,
Kahaner had moved into
the lead with just over 2
million, while the others
ranged from around 1 to 1.6
million. On hand 56, Kevin
O’Donnell got wrecked.
He opened for 150k with
A-6 and James came over
the top for 215k more with
A-9. When an ace flopped,
James moved in for 695k.
O’Donnell called and lost.
He then went out quite
meekly. On the next hand
he was all in for half the
ante holding 7-2. Two players limped, James chased
them out with a raise to
480k holding pocket 6s, and
left O’Donnell, a restaurant
owner, in sixth place.
It had taken three hours,
25 minutes, to lose our first
player. Blinds now moved
to $60,000-$120,000 with
$15,000 antes, meaning
there would be 255k in
dead money in each pot. On
the first hand, Kahaner survived on a lucky break. He
tried an all-in move from
the small blind with 6h-4h.
James called with Kh-Qh,
and Kahaner got away
when a 6 flopped.
Hand 73 saw three-way
action. Phillips opened for
350k with pocket 7s and
got calls from Kahaner
and James. When a flop
of 10-5-3 gave James a set
of treys, he made a small
trap bet of 250k. Phillips, a
director/writer, went for it,
moved in for 700k and finished in fifth place.
Four hands later James
knocked out another player,
again with the worst starting hand. Tim Phan had
moved in for 540k with
A-J against James’ Ac7c.
The board came Q-9-6-8-7
and Phan was drowned by
the river. James now had a
substantial lead of 4.7 million out of approximately
8.39 million in play. But
Kahaner began climbing
up a few hands later when
James re-raised pre-flop
to 1 million and Kahaner
forced him to fold by moving in.
When blinds went
to 100k-200k with 20k
antes, the chip count was:
James, 3,680,000; Kahaner,
3,380,000; and Jake Minter,
1,320,000. Another 27
hands went by, and then
it got heads-up. Minter, a
dealer/poker player, was
all in for 1.4 million with
A-5 against Kahaner’s A9. A board of 10-7-6-J-2
didn’t change anything,
and Minter cashed out for
$333,600.
Kahaner now had
3,780,000 to 4,610,000
for James. The turnaround
hand came after 27 hands
of heads-up play. “It’s only
$500,000,” (the difference
between first and second
place), James teased before
Kahaner finally called
with his J-10 and made a
straight. James was now
short-chipped (if 1,400,000
(Continued from page 1)
can be considered shortchipped). Three hands later
Kahaner moved in with KhJc and James called with
6-6. James was still alive on
fourth street until a king on
the river dashed his hopes.
Yaniv Alexander Kahaner
moved here from Israel in
1986. He used to be a computer consultant and now
owns a residential construction company. He’s been
playing poker for about 11
years, and his poker action
mostly is in side games,
$40-$80 and $60-$120 nolimit, but he doesn’t play
that much because of his
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S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
17
Tony Bloom wins the
VC Poker Cup!
Poker in Europe
By PHIL SHAW
The 2005 VC Poker Cup, filmed at
Teddington studios from 1st – 6th
August , wasn’t short of competition for its £5,000
buy-in, but as the runners gathered for the three
days of preliminary heats it became clear that
all the action taking place in London (also including the World Poker Exchange and the European
Championships) had improved the quality of the
field, rather than taken away from it.
Not only were the greats of British poker there
such as defending champion Harry Demetriou
and David ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, but Brian Wilson, Rob
Hollink, Scott Fischman and Gus Hansen were
also in the draw, and some fireworks were guaranteed. To add to the mix, the tournament also feature poker playing celebrities Teddy Sheringham,
Michael Greco and John McCririck, and 25 online
qualifiers
When the smoke had cleared after the heats
though, which essentially saw 12 shootouts each
send a winner into the semi-final, it was the
European and British poker cream that had triumphed. Day one qualifiers were Stuart Fox, Rolf
Inge Kavik, Robert Cooper and Thomas Gunderson;
Day two qualifiers were Xuyen ‘Bad Girl’ Pham, Ben
Roberts, Lee Nelson and Tony Bloom; and last but
not least, the day three qualifiers were Richard
Holmes, Kevin O’Leary, John Kabbaj and Jan
Sjavik.
These victors then reconvened for the semi-finals,
where the now traditional TV format of playing
two heats of six down to three and freezing the
chip counts was again employed. This meant losing Stuart Fox and Richard Holmes (joint ninth
for £7,000); Robert Cooper and Lee Nelson (joint
eighth for £9,000) and Thomas Gunderson and
John Kabbaj (joint seventh for £11,000).
But it also set up the final with Tony Bloom way out
in front on 317k; Rolf Inge Kavik second on 254k;
Ben Roberts and Jan Sjavik joint third for 210k;
Bad Girl fifth for 136k and Kevin O’Leary trailing on
73k. And apart from a reversal in the final positions
with Pham taking sixth for £16,000 and O’Leary
sneaking into fifth for £25,000 the final more or
less played out according to the book (even if the
book did have Bloom down as a 5/4 shot to win!).
Sjavik exited fourth for £35,000; Roberts third
for £50,000; Kavik second for £100,000 and Tony
Bloom took the main prize for £200,000.
Kahaner wins Bik
work. He only started playing tournaments this year.
He describes himself as a
selective, patient, methodical player, who gets aggressive when he gets cards and
when the blinds go up.
Asked about the key
hand where James folded
after re-raising to $1 million, Kahaner said he later
discovered that James had
A-Q to his A-K. He gave
credit to James for being a
very tough player. When he
called with J-10, it wasn’t
because of pot odds, which
don’t apply in no-limit, he
pointed out. “A very smart
man once told me, if you
have two live cards, push
it in.”
L EG E N D S O F P O K E R
BICYCLE OF CASINO
EVENT #33
8/31/05
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
WPT FINAL EVENT
BUY-IN $5,000 +$150
PLAYERS 839
PRIZE
POOL
$4,195,000
Alex Kahaner
1. Alex Kahaner . . . .$1,125,000
2. Kenna James . . . . . $588,210
3. Jake Minter . . . . . . $333,600
4. Tim Phan . . . . . . . . $291,900
5. Todd Phillips . . . . . $250,200
6. Kevin O’Donnell . . $208,500
7. Dao Bac . . . . . . . . . $166,800
8. Eriberto Soto . . . . . $125,100
9. Mark Bryan . . . . . . . $83,400
10. Adam Richardson . . $45,870
11. Webber Kang . . . . . . $45,870
12. Amnon Filippi . . . . . $45,870
13. Damon Ahmadi . . . . $37,530
14. Joe Graciano . . . . . . $37,530
15. Ralph Levine . . . . . . $37,530
There went a few ironies surrounding Blooms
victory – first of all that he was originally a VC
employee before he made his millions. And secondly, that the £200, first prize probably puts him
back around even after this year’s World Series,
where he took on Daniel Negreanu heads up at Pot
Limit Omaha for $500,000 and lost. Tony commented “It’s been a great experience playing in
this tournament and I will certainly be back next
year to defend my title and take some more money
off my ex boss.”
Phil Shaw is Editor of Poker Europa magazine, and
freelances for a number of other publications. He is
available on [email protected].
18
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
16. Jim Olson . . . . . . . . . $29,190
17. Jim Robinson . . . . . . $29,190
18. Alex Roberts . . . . . . $29,190
Brit Destroys
Charity Event
England’s Tony O’Hagan,
a part-time player, was the
clear winner of tonight’s
Mariani-Buss $3,000 nolimit hold’em charity event.
He started the final table
with a big lead and then
went on a rush mid-way
through. Knocking out the
final three players, he had
more than 70 percent of the
chips when the event ended
in a four-way deal.
In this charity tournament, 10 percent of
the $220,000 prize pool
went to the Lakers Youth
Foundation, leaving a net
of $199,800. Neither of the
Lakers owners made the
money, though Jerry Buss
made the second table and
Frank Mariani almost made
the third.
The final table started
at 3 a.m. With 445,000
chips in play, blinds of only
$400-$800 and hour rounds,
it looked like a long night
ahead. After seven minutes
of very cautious play, blinds
went to $600-$1,200 with
$200 antes. On hand eight,
Yosh Nakano, high-limit
host at the Bike and ambassador for PokerBlue, a new
online poker site, opened
for $3,000 with A-K. James
English, a retired real
estate broker, called with
Jd-4d and flopped a flush.
Nakano, with one diamond, moved in for about
$12,000. He didn’t connect, finished 10th, and the
remaining nine were now
officially in the money.
One of the players,
Fernando “Beeno” Ko, has
had some small tournament
cashes, but the Hendon
Mob database gives him far
more credit because another
player with the same name
has won several events, and
the two players have gotten their stats combined.
“I’ve got to build my own
reputation,” said the real
estate investor. Starting well
below average in chips, he
only played one hand in the
first couple of hours, and
four all told, and somehow
managed to finish fourth
On hand 17, the flop
showed Jc-9s-2s. Daniel
Shak (not Shaq, just the
Lakers owners played
tonight), had Qs-10s, giving him draws to an openend straight and a flush.
He bet $3,000, Yakov
Hirsch, a poker player from
Brooklyn, raised and Shak
moved in. He missed and
lost to Hirsch’s A-J. Hirsch
doubled through to about
$80,000 while Shak was
now short-chipped. On the
next hand, Shak re-raised
all in with pocket 7s. Kevin
Lazzaro had A-10, an ace
flopped, and the commodities trader, who had
three WSOP cashes this
year, including a final in
Omaha/8, finished ninth.
A few hands later, after
English, who has three
Bellagio tournament wins,
won a three-way pot with
a straight, he moved into
a slight lead with about
$130,000. On hand 35,
Robert “Chip Burner”
Turner, in late position,
raised to $9,000 with A-7.
Seeing he had only $2,500
left, veteran pro Randall
Ladies Nite at the
by Max Shapiro
Jennifer Tilly, the reigning World Series ladies
champion, proved she is no
one-shot wonder when she
won the World Poker Tour’s
no-limit Ladies Night III
invitational, the concluding
event of the Bicycle Casino’s
Legends of Poker 2005. Her
prize is a $25,000 seat into
the 2006 WPT championship
at the Bellagio, along with a
commemorative set of pink
Breast Cancer Awareness
ke’s Legends
Skaggs, holding pocket 7s,
put the Bike’s executive
host in and then out when
the board changed nothing.
Hand 44 saw a battle of
the stacks. O’Hagan raised
pre-flop to $11,000. On a
flop of 8-8-7, English bet
$20,000. O’Hagan raised
$40,000 more. English
made a good laydown with
pocket queens because
O’Hagan showed pocket
aces. He now had the
lead back with more than
$150,000.
On hand 45, Steve
Dunning, who owns a car
dealership in Alaska, doubled through at the expense
of Kevin Lazarro, an Ohio
electrician, when he filled
with pocket 8s. A few
hands later, a very shortchipped Lazarro was all
in with Q-J, and O’Hagan
beat him easily with pocket
jacks. Continuing his
assault, O’Hagan knocked
out Hirsch, who finished
57th in this year’s WSOP
main event. On hand 55,
O’Hagan, with pocket
kings, raised $20,000.
Hirsch had pocket queens,
moved in for $70,000 and
couldn’t improve. O’Hagan
now had something like
$260,000. Ko, meanwhile,
had hardly played anything.
“I’m letting Tony do all the
work,” he said.
Tony then did some
“work” on Dunning,
who has two WSOP final
tables. He raised $20,000
with Ac-Qc and Dunning
moved in with pocket 8s,
the same hand with which
he crippled Lazzaro. But
they didn’t work this time
because a board of K-J-910 gave O’Hagan a straight
and almost more chips than
he could see over.
At the break, the count
was: O’Hagan, $322,000;
English, $72,100; Skaggs,
$41,500; and Ko, $10,400.
It was approaching 6 a.m.,
and the weary players, after
considerable discussion,
agreed on a tournamentending deal. –Max Shapiro
Tony O’Hagan was
born in Scotland, raised in
Canada and now lives in
England. He’s played poker
for eight years, but it only
occupies a marginal amount
of his time. He’s won one
previous tournament, a
small one at the Taj’s U.S.
Poker Championship. Most
of his poker time is devoted
to no-limit cash games for
various stakes in Vegas
and in California. Right
now he’s ready to market a
“simplified form of poker”
casino game he invented,
and doesn’t think he’ll have
much if any time for poker
after that.
Tonight, O’Hagan didn’t
play many hands, and
didn’t have to, because
he kept getting enough
premium hands so that he
could be very selective.
He estimates that he may
have been dealt pocket aces
eight times. In conclusion,
O’Hagan said he likes playing at the Bicycle Casino
because it’s been very lucky
for him.
BICYCLE OF CASINO
EVENT #29
8/25/05
CHARITY
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $3,000 +$100
PLAYERS 74
PRIZE
POOL
$199,800
Bike: Tilly Beats Lilly
poker chips.
Tilly is an Academy
Award-nominate actress
with numerous film credits, including Bullets Over
Broadway and Monsters.
Her final opponent at the
six-woman table was Aidiliy
“Lilly” Elviro, whose husband and coach is Michael
“The Grinder” Mizrachi.
Elviro was hardly alone in
having expert advice at her
fingertips. Tilly’s boyfriend
is Phil “Unabomber” Laak.
Marsha Waggoner is married
to Kenna James, who came
in second in the WPT championship the day before. And
Cecelia Mortensen is the wife
of former WSOP champion
Carlos Mortensen. All the
boyfriends and mates were
in the front row of spectators, ready for consultation
when needed. Rounding out
the field, and having to go it
alone, were defending Ladies
Night champion Isabelle
“No Mercy” Mercier and
Pumped on Steroids
We have become a win at all cost society, so that the shortterm results have yielded a mix bag of consequences. Namely,
for all the heralded accomplishments of this era there is an
equal amount of failures and embarrassments.
According to any number of sources, the increased steroid
usage can be directly attributed to the overwhelming success
Dealer Vibes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Anthony O’Hagan
Anthony O’Hagan . . $80,000
James English . . . . . $45,875
Randall Skaggs . . . . $23,975
Bernard Ko . . . . . . . $13,985
Steve Dunning . . . . . $10,990
Yakov Hirsch . . . . . . . $8,990
Kevin Lazzaro . . . . . . $6,995
Robert Turner . . . . . . $4,995
Daniel Shak . . . . . . . . $3,995
Sports Producer
Wins Media
Bradley Gold, a TV
sports show producer and
strictly a home-game player, outlasted some pretty
tough players tonight to
capture first place in the
2005 Legends of Poker
media freeroll event. The
victory got him a seat in
the $5,000 championship
event plus $100. The event
was marked by numerous
draw-outs where the worst
hand won, and Gold had his
share of lucky breaks along
the way.
The media event offered
a $10,150 prize pool along
with the seat, plus a $5,000
donation in the winner’s
name to the Lakers Youth
Foundation.
This event was covered
with a live remote broadcast by an L.A. station,
Xtra Sports Radio. Among
the better-known names in
the tournament were Vince
Burgio, Susie Isaacs, Jim
McManus (author of the
best-selling “Positively
Teresa “London” Gallagher,
an accounts supervisor who
won her seat by winning the
Ladies Poker Party event the
day before.
Actress/poker player
Jennifer Tilly was born in
Harbour City, CA and grew
up in Victoria, B.C., where
she went to school. She
has been appearing in films
since the 80s, and won an
Academy Award nomination for best supporting role
in Woody Allen’s 1994 film,
“Bullets Over Broadway.”
She began playing poker
By Donald W. Woods, Jr.
of today’s’ athlete. In addition, to what
degree has the influx of new era poker
player’s success attributable to steroid
usage? Many celebrated athletes in sports
are linked with the illegal practice of steroid
usage, either directly or indirectly. Somehow, this does not
seem quite fair, since there is no real way of knowing the
truth, given all the advanced ways to circumvent testing. Just
who are the culprits and to what degree is steroid usage aiding in the overall, performances are not available at this time.
Therefore, I have decided to under go a test to determine to
what degree steroid usage has on the physical and mental
stability.
For the sake of this test, I have injected a small sample of
the new designer steroid, antibiotic writer simplex, to measure the effect if any, on writer enhancement. So far, into this
column, I feel no ill effects, but wait! Yes, yes it is starting
to come to me...Since the discovery of steroid usage and the
subsequent paralysis the limited results of this said study
have yielded, the over all public opinion is varied. Depending
on whom you speak to, the results can be from total opposite
ends of the spectrum. “Yes he used steroids, he is a cheat
and all his records, and success should be eradicated from any
and all record books!” No, just because a person is “ alleged”
to have used steroids, to what degree it might have aided
him/her in their endeavor to be the best in their prospective
profession has not been determined. Furthermore, if steroid
usage were detected in less visible venues, such as tournament poker, or golf, would the offense be less palpable?
At this point in my experiment, I feel no ill affects, however, my overall command of the English language, diction,
imagination and structure, can be attributed somewhat in
part, to an increase in blood flow to the brain. Again, blood
flow to the brain is not a steroid incriminating fact, since a
good healthy breakfast can aid in blood flow to the brain.
What does all this mean...(Knock, knock at the door)
“Hello?” Are you Donald W. Woods, Jr. the writer? “Yes.”
I am Lieutenant Rains and I represent P.W.O.S.-(my badge).
“What does P.W.O.S. stand for, I ask.” P.W.O.S. stands for
possible writer on steroids, Lt. Rains counters. I am here to
administer a test. Please provide us a sample.
Mr. Wood, I can only provide you with an apology as you
have tested negative for any steroid and related prohibited
drugs. We thank you for your indulgence.
As you can see, all steroids related charges were dismissed. In my former related story, I mentioned steroid
use-not really, only a sugar pill. Since we are, a nation quick
to believe something negative more readily than something
positive, the real test is how many would believe the worst in
a person without giving that particular person the benefit of
the doubt. If any person enjoys the success limited to what is
reasonably plausible, let us congratulate them on a job well
done. If a person is willing to risk their whole reputation to
cheat, let us not stand in judgment, for by those same standards will we be judged.
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]
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
19
LESSON 57:
Drilling Deeper for Profit
Let’s revisit some previous concepts and add a few new ones in our
continuing quest to build a bigger bankroll. Here’s one of my favorite
MCU lessons, based on the 34th of Mike’s Tuesday
classroom sessions.
Lessons from mike caro
university of poker
BY DIANE MCHAFFIE
Mike teaches that thinning the field could do more
harm than good, especially if you thin the field of weak players, leaving
only strong ones. You want those weaker players in the game, because
you’re going to make the most profit from them.
Call one more bet. However, he advises that there are instances
when it’s right to thin the field. When a weak opponent has already
called and you’re holding a medium-strong hand, with a strong opponent
acting after you, you should often choose to reraise. Mike says, “This
increases your profit by forcing the weak rivals to call one more bet, and
often solidifies your later position, and chases away stronger opponents
who otherwise might call the raise with hands that might beat yours.”
Mike suggests that another time to try thinning the field by reraising
is when you suspect that the sophisticated opponent waiting to act after
you could be holding a slightly stronger hand than you. You want to
make it too pricey for him to continue.
Often you must follow a raise from a weak opponent who frequently
raises the blinds or bring-in bets as a matter of course. Because such
a raise is expected and doesn’t necessarily signify particular strength,
Mike says that he’ll generally reraise whenever skillful players are waiting to act. This tactic will often discourage those skillful opponents from
competing for the profit.
When weak opponents are waiting to act, and skillful opponents have
already called, you usually shouldn’t reraise. You’re taking too big a risk
against opponents that could be holding better hands. You also don’t
want to take the chance of chasing out the weaker opponents. You want
them to call, not fold.
Five times to reraise. Mike teaches that there are five main times
when you might wish to reraise.
• When you’re holding a weak hand and you wish to drive out
opponents.
• When you wish to gain more profit with better hands.
• When you’re trying to bluff
• When you wish to make a statement
• When you wish to gain a more powerful position for later bets during the same hand
He says that if these aren’t the reasons that you’re reraising, then
you’re doing it purely for “ego” or “entertainment.” These are definitely
not reasons to reraise.
Why are you reraising? When you’re preparing to reraise, ask yourself why. Don’t reraise because it “feels” right. Remember, Mike teaches
against being superstitiuous. You reraise because you’ve analyzed it
carefully and it’s the right decision, not because the little guy with the
pointy tail sitting on your shoulder says, “Go for it! It feels right to me.”
You just don’t make decisions based on feelings. Those could be very
costly “feelings” indeed. Unfortunately, professional poker players often
succumb to feelings, even though they know better.
With a superior hand, if you’re in danger of an opponent folding, or
you’re forcing an opponent to call a double raise, you usually don’t want
to reraise. Just call and this may encourage others to call as well.
“You’re not going to believe this!” Here’s a final tip that may pick
up a few extra dollars now and then. Many times Mike will look at his
cards, shake his head and declare, “You’re not going to believe this!”
Then he’ll bet. That comment will usually make certain that opponents
will call out of suspicion, but won’t raise out of fear. It allows him to bet
medium-strong hands for profit, since he doesn’t fear a raise. In fact,
he’s says he rarely gets raised because now opponents believe he’s
either made something fantastic or is bluffing.
As we explore poker more deeply, we realize that there is much more
to a winning formula than one realizes.
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].
20
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
Hot
Tip
H
obby was driving his
Silver Cloud Rolls
to Hollywood Park since
valets there were likely
to conviently leave it out
front as a showpiece. It’s
a short drive from Marina
Del Rey to the racetrack,
hardly time for me to study
the Daily Racing Form for
the nags in the first race.
Not fair to disparage them
however, they were just
unproven 3 year-old maidens. My late uncle Victor
was good at selecting winners of all stripes, especially those who never made it
into the money. For many
years he sold his cards of
Vic’s Picks at southern
California racetracks. I
could use his advice now,
nothing was jumping out at
me, and even the consensus
of handicappers was unconvincing. My last resort is
numerology—permutations
of my birth date—for quinellas in the first race.
As these fuzzy ideas
floated in my noggin,
Hobby was rattling on
about something beyond
my consciousness. Since he
was kind enough to do the
driving, I thought I should
pay attention. “What was
that?” I said as I folded the
form onto my lap.
“I said, the thing I like
about Hollywood, besides
being so close, is that we
can do the races in the
afternoon and play poker in
the casino at night.”
“I concur, Hobby, but
are you aware of the subtle
correlations of horse racing
and poker?”
“What do you mean?”
“Horse racing is replete
with poker metaphors.”
“Come on, Joe. Talk
English.”
“You do know what a
metaphor is...?”
“It’s...it’s...well, it’s like
something in common?”
“I’m pleased to see
your limited education at
SC wasn’t totally wasted.
You’re on the right track.
To be more precise, a metaphor is a reference applied
to something that is not
literally applicable to imply
a similarity.”
“If you say so, Joe. Can
you give me an example?”
I ‘d been thinking about
this for sometime and was
just waiting for the opportunity to give my fleeting
ideas a test flight. “I’d be
glad to, Hobby. To begin
with consider the...”
“Joe, sorry to interrupt,
but there’s a car that’s been
following us ever since we
left the Marina.”
“Maybe they’re just
heading where we are.”
“Could be, but it seems
odd,” Hobby said with
somewhat less concern.
“Now are you ready
for my horse racing/poker
metaphors?”
“I’m all ears, Joe,” he
said with a disarming grin.
“To begin with, I’m talking Hold ‘Em. Think of the
racetrack as the poker table
and the horses with jockeys as players. Like poker,
position is important. The
horse on the inside has the
advantage of less ground
to cover. You with me so
far?”
“Yeah, I like the position
analogy, Joe.”
“Analogy, yet! Hobby,
you get an A+ for that.
Okay, to continue, the
action of ‘There off!’ starting the race is like the deal.
The jostling to the backstretch is the flop, the contest on the backstretch is
the turn, and the race down
the homestretch is the river.
The jockey, like the player,
is assessing his chances as
he completes each segment.
Measuring horseracing,
like poker hands, is according to odds. They have one
value at the beginning and
effectively change as the
race/game commences. To
wind it up, the finish is the
showdown. What do you
think?”
Hobby was silent for a
while. I thought he was
digesting my clever presentation, but he said, “That
car is passing us now.”
A
Joe
Joe &
& Hobby
Hobby
fiction by
David J.
Valley
I saw the SUV with two
cool looking dudes eyeballing the Rolls as they
passed, then pull in front.
“Hey, Hobby, were you
listening to what I was saying?”
“Yeah. I thought it was
kind of weak, Joe.” He
paused and I gave him a
deadpan look, urging him
to elaborate. He continued,
“Like, what about bluffing?
That’s important in poker.”
I think it just popped into
his head as he scrambled to
show interest in my theory,
but it was a valid question.
“I’m relieved you didn’t
totally tune me out and
I shall respond. There is
bluffing in racing. For
example, during the course
of a race a jockey may
hold back and lose ground
as if his stead is tiring. A
competitor might press his
horse ahead prematurely
and tire it, setting up the
opportunity for the bluff
to work as the rested horse
surges ahead to the finish
line.”
“That was pretty good,
Joe, but give it a rest.”
“You’re right, Hobby. It
is a little weak. I’ll have to
work on it.”
Suddenly, the brake
lights of the SUV in front
flashed brightly. Smoking
tires alerted Hobby to
jam his brake pedal to the
floor. With a screech of
tires we stopped a few feet
behind. A man wearing a
Hawaiian shirt jumped out
of the passenger side and
approached. Hobby rolled
down his window to hear
what he was saying. From
under his shirt the guy
drew a .45 caliber pistol
and said, “Get out of the
car!”
I couldn’t believe it.
A carjacking in broad
daylight on Century
Boulevard! As I was framing the thought—don’t do
anything stupid—Hobby
said as calmly as can be,
“Is that a real gun?”
“It’s for real,” the assail(Continued on page 36)
After Katrina: Rebuild RIGHT!
ies is often in the hands of
hypocritical politicians.
One of the greatest
hypocrisies in the new
southern expansion of gaming in the last two years
has been a requirement that
these structures be built on
barges—barges which clearly do not have the structural integrity to even have
a chance of withstanding the
forces of a hurricane.
The shocking sight of an
entire casino being floated
across the road by storm
surge is ample proof that
people who make compromises always end up hurting someone. If the South
was going to allow gaming,
which they did, it should
have been done in the conventional way. But undoubtedly, somebody didn’t have
the courage to say that this is
gambling and we are going
to do it right—Instead, we’ll
make it a little more politically palatable by having the
casinos float like the riverboats of the past.
Let us hope that this lesson will convince people
in charge to allow any new
construction to occur on
land, where a foundation can
be built that has a chance
of withstanding 150-milean-hour winds, or else, rest
assured that this will happen
again.
Now let us look at the
major problem of New
Orleans, Louisiana, a magnificent and beautiful city
steeped in American history,
but nonetheless a disaster
looking for a time to happen.
Now that the city is in
total disrepair, the inhabitants
evacuated and the majority
of homes under water and
probably flooded beyond
repair, the question remains
as to how we will fix this
problem.
Now if we leave this problem to the politicians like
the governor of Louisiana,
the mayor of New Orleans
and even the President of the
United States, these people
will opt for sentimentality in
the face of structural integrity.
It will take hundreds of
millions of dollars to rebuild
New Orleans the way it was.
New Orleans lies in the path
of typical hurricane visitations—As long as any part
of it is below sea level, it has
no chance for longterm survival, and whatever it costs
to rebuild today, it will cost
many times that to rebuild
when the next hurricane
comes along.
Speaker of the House
Dennis Hastert saud it right
when he said that the city
should be bulldozed to the
ground. This below-sea-level
site needs to be filled with
dirt until it is at the state
where it is land above sea
level. There should be no
levees on Lake Ponchetrain,
only on the shore.
This tragedy has invoked a
new opportunity to design a
new city of the future for one
of America’s great historic
towns. The French Quarter
and other historic places can
be rebuilt just as they were,
but on higher ground, in a
newer, more functional city
that will last for hundreds
of years. It will be the kind
of place that will protect its
citizens and show the world
how America turns tragedy
into opportunity.
Anything less is a boondoggle that will require
continuous rebuilding on the
shifting sands of the everchanging delta of America’s
greatest river. So, there is the
challenge—Are we going to
rebuild New Orleans again
and again, or will we do it
right this time?
Frankly, if politicians are
in control, sentiment, lobbying and popular views
always seem to trump common sense. So here is the
question for the people who
will make this decision—Are
you interested in what’s
good for a new city of New
Orleans, or are you interested
in what’s going to get you reelected? America is waiting
for your answer.
Ladies
Night III
about 15 years ago in home
games. “Crazy Games,” she
says. A year ago she got a
call from WPT to appear on
their Celebrity Poker show,
and that really got her hooked
on the game.
When she won the WSOP
ladies championship this year,
beating a field of 601 players and winning $158,335,
she was quoted as saying
it was better than an Oscar.
She gives full credit to her
boyfriend, Phil “Unabomber”
Laak, for giving her a poker
education. He said he realized
her potential one day when in
four seconds she figured out
the outs in a particular matchup hand.
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S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
21
Strangest Stud Session Ever
In the long run, the difference between wining and losing is
almost entirely due to a difference in skill.
We all know that. We write and read about it
STUD SENSE
By ASHLEY ADAMS
all the time. But sometimes, winning is just a
question of having an amazing string of good cards.
I had the hottest 90 minutes of poker in my life the other
night. I’d like to share what happened, not to demonstrate
good play on my part, but rather to let you know what types of
positive experiences may be out there for you – if you have the
patience to wait for them.
As I’ve mentioned before in this column, an on-line poker
publication pays me by transferring funds to my Party Poker
account. Though I usually withdraw the money immediately,
receiving payment in the mail a few days later, sometimes I am
drawn to play. This was one of those times.
I was playing $5/10 Stud. My $650 had diminished slightly – to
$400 or so. I wasn’t concerned. The games had been fun; the
players appropriately loose. I was confident that with good tight
and aggressive play that I’d rekindle my stack and then some.
All of the $5/10 games were full except for one that was
heads up. I made myself the third in the heads up game.
Shortly thereafter, a fourth player then a fifth and, in a short
time, a sixth player joined in as well. After 10 minutes or so
of very short play, we played six handed 7-stud. .We played
together for about 90 minutes before I had to leave.
I kept careful records of my hands. During those 90 minutes we were dealt 52 hands. I folded 28 of them on Third
Street (twice when my bring-in was raised). Of the remaining
24 hands, I raised with 15 of them on Third. Of these 15 times
when I raised, 7 times I won immediately on Third with everyone else folding. 4 times my raise was called on Third, but
when I bet on Fourth my opponent or opponents conceded. 3
times I bet on Fifth and won when my opponent folded to the
double bet. And one time I made Trips on the board on Sixth
Street and won even before I could get my chips out – as my
opponent gave up when he saw my third King hit my board. I
never either called the bring-in nor called another player’s raise
on Third Street.
Total hands: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Folded on Third. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Raised on Third . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Won on Third with bet . . . . . . . . . .7
Won on Fourth with bet . . . . . . . . .4
Won on Fifth with bet. . . . . . . . . . .3
Won on Sixth with bet . . . . . . . . . . 1
Called on Third . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0
Folded on Third (I was bring-in) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
This leaves nine hands (52 – 28 -15 = 9) that are unaccounted for. I was the bring-in eleven times. As I’ve noted, twice I
folded to a raise. But nine of those times when I brought it in,
everyone folded to me!!!!
Imagine that. It was the perfect session for a tight-aggressive player. Not once did I raise or bet without winning the pot.
And I won nine bring-ins by having all five opponents fold!?
Having one such event in a session is rare. Nine must be a
record in a 90 minute session.
Great sessions like these are out there. The skill is not so
much in how you play them. They play themselves. The skill is
in being patient enough to wait out the bad hands and the bad
runs until you fall into a cherry patch like this. They do happen.
Be patient!
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]
22
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
Bike’s Legends of Poker
Fifth Street” and now a
poker columnist for the
New York Times), “Poker
Babe” Shirley Rosario,
Poker Player publisher Stan
Sludikoff and, of course,
famed poker humorist Max
Shapiro. The room got
much quieter when Dirty
Wally, co-host of the Bluff
magazine satellite radio
poker show, got knocked
out in early going when
his pocket aces lost to a
straight.
On hand 10, McManus,
all in for $3,000 with AJ, stood up ready to leave
when Burgio had A-K and
the flop came 8-5-2. But a
jack on the turn saved him,
and he went on to finish
third.
On hand 17, Karlo
Gheurabegian tried an
all-in move from the
small blind with just 8-3.
McManus called from the
big blind with A-Q and
left Gheurabegian, a TV
editor and co-worker with
Gold, in ninth place when
the board came A-K-J-5-4.
Gheurabegian has two wins
at the Bike’s Mini Series
and one in the Turkey
Shoot.
On the next hand,
Burgio, a well-known pro
and writer for Card Player
magazine, went out on yet
another bad beat. He went
all in for $2,200 with A-6.
Reed Berglund was in the
big blind with just 5-3 and
flopped two pair.
The beats continued. Two
hands later, Judd Greenagel
moved in with A-Q. Gold
called with K-8, hit an 8 on
the turn, and left Greenagel
with just $1,900. Greenager
put his last chips in on the
next hand with 10d-3d.
Glenn “Mr. Gin” Abney
called with A-Q. This
time the best hand won as
the board came J-9-8-A3, and now six were left.
Greenagel operates a business called Chippy Poker
Tournaments, which puts
on free poker tournaments
at bars and other establishments. Greenagel also won
the inaugural ”Heartland
Poker Tournament” this
year.
Blinds now became
$1,000-$2,000 with $300
antes. Jeff Clayton, a photographer and another TV
co-worker of Gold’s, immediately went out, again
with the best hand. He had
pocket 10s, McManus had
K-6 in the big blind, and
McManus beat him with
a king on fourth street as
Clayton finished sixth.
Clayton has a win in a
Commerce $100 tournament on his resume sheet.
Now it was Abney’s turn
to win with the worst hand.
He moved in for $3,400
with K-Q and was called
by Reed Berglund A-6. A
queen flopped, and “Mr.
Gin” was still in...for a
while, anyway.
Blinds now became
$1,500-$3,000 with $500
antes. The approximate chip
count was: Gold, $27,000;
Simon “Ace” Trumper,
$23,000; McManus,
$21,000; Berglund,
$16,000; and Abney,
$11,000.
On the first hand at the
new level, yet another
draw-out left Abney in fifth
place. He was all in with
pocket 9s against Berglund,
who called from the small
blind with A-3, and flopped
an ace.
On hand 28, Gold opened
for $6,000 and Trumper, a
London pro and journalist
for Sportinglife.com, called.
(Cont’d from page 19)
Trumper had Q-4 and
moved in on a flop of K-Q10. Needless to say, Gold
started with the lesser hand,
J-9, but the flop gave him a
straight, and now we were
down to three players.
One hand later,
McManus raised all in for
about $20,000 with A-6.
Gold called with pocket 5s,
which (surprisingly) held
up when the board came
10-8-3-K-9.
Heads-up, Gold had
about a 3-1 lead over
Berglund, and took only
four hands to finish him
off. The finale came when
Berglund moved in with 7d4d. Gold had a fairly easy
call with pocket treys. The
board showed K-10-2-AA, and this second annual
media event was over.
For the past three years
Bradley Gold has produced
a sports highlight show for
local TV station KCAL
channel 9, and then for
channel 2 as well when
the stations merged. “I get
paid to watch and write
about sports,” he says in
delight. He’s been playing
poker four or five years,
but – apart from the Bike’s
media event last year – only
in a weekly no-limit home
game at his residence,
mostly after work with
station people, including
the two others from the
station who made today’s
final table. They even created their own website,
BoldPokerTour.com.
Gold describes himself as
an aggressive player – “At
least I’m told I am.” His
big break in this event came
before the final table when
called a raise with pocket
6s against a bigger pair and
made a set. Another key
Fast Answers
About
Anything
POKER!
pokerplayernewspaper.com
Get us on the web!
No-Limit “Hold-Up” in San Jose
The Mayor and Hearing Officer of San Jose are trying to
close down the city’s only two poker rooms, the Garden
City Casino and Bay 101. What’s more, the officials are trying to do it without allowing the Clubs any opportunity to
present their case to the City Council.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
By Byron Liggett
It’s No-Limit “Hold-up”. The Club’s
opponents make up the rules and the casinos don’t even get to show their cards!
One of the new rules would require both card rooms to
close for 4hrs, from 2am to 6am. One sixth of the operating
day; that restriction alone reduces Club revenues almost
18%! What business could survive such a deep cut? It’s a
mortal blow!
Both clubs filed suit because, in effect, the restriction would put them out of business. The Clubs sought an
extension in order to have time to present their case. The
Hearing Officer denied it.
The Clubs appealed to the Superior Court. The Court
ordered the Hearing Officer to hold another hearing and
to consider the severe impacts of his decision. The Court
pointed to the devastating results that Bay 101 experienced
two years ago when it made a good faith effort to comply
with the ordinance.
The Hearing Officer reviewed the matter again as
ordered. Not surprisingly, he again refused to grant the
clubs an extension – even though he admitted the restrictions would likely force the closing of the card room operations in the city! Nevertheless, the officials are determined
to shoot themselves in the foot.
The two casinos contribute over $60 million a year to
the community in payroll, services and goods purchased.
They ante up over $10 million a year in taxes and license
fees. The City has raked in almost $100 million dollars in 10
years. It’s a Big Game!
What’s more, Garden City employs more than 1,000
citizens. Now, it has had to spend over $4 million in legal
expenses fighting for the right to continue to contribute
jobs and revenue to the community. This doesn’t make
sense or cents!
The Garden City
Casino is a San Jose
landmark. They were
gambling with chips
here long before
anyone ever heard
of Silicon Valley. It’s
part of the history,
character and spirit
of San Jose. For 60 Opening of the Garden City Pool Hall, July 1946
years it’s been a
favorite place for cards and camaraderie.
Likewise, Bay 101 has become a nationally known, handsome gaming & dining center. Through tournaments and
TV it’s brought visitors, celebrities and exciting, glamorous
notoriety to San Jose.
Both San Jose card casinos
are respectable, responsible,
professional businesses. Each
pays 13% of GROSS revenues and
almost another million to cover
the costs to the City for regulation and police supervision.
Bay 101 Exterior
While the Next Generation is
embracing poker, some in San Jose want to go the other
way. The trial in Superior Court in the clubs’ suit against
the doomsday restrictions is set for January 17, 2006. Let’s
hope the flop comes up Clubs.
Byron Liggett, originally from the Northwest, lives in Reno
and has been a gaming & poker writer, columnist and consultant for 25 years. email: [email protected]
24
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
asked & answered:
Quizzes from Mike Caro University of Poker
This series is based on the MCU library of research and advice found at Poker1.com.
Each issue, Mike Caro presents 10 new questions covering a category of poker, targeted for beginner, intermediate, or advanced players. Quiz #28 is about hold ’em strategy, for advanced players. (Answers and explanations appear in the following issue.)
Strategy – Hold ’em
(level: advanced)
1. Disregarding suits,
which flop is most profitable,
on average, if you’re holding
A-10 in hold ’em?
a. 2-3-4;
b. 10-K-J;
c. 10-4-4;
d. A-2-2.
2. Disregarding suits, if
you begin a hold ’em hand
with J-10 and the flop is J10-A, you should usually...
a. bet and reraise if raised;
b. check and call if bet
into;
c. check and raise if bet
into;
d. bet and fold if raised.
3. Disregarding suits, if
you begin with A-9 and the
flop is A-9-9, you should usually...
a. check and call if bet
into;
b. check and raise if bet
into;
c. keep betting and raising
until the river;
d. check and fold if bet
into.
4. In which way is 5-5 better than 2-2 as a starting
hold ’em hand?
a. 5-5 can beat starting
pairs 3-3 and 4-4, but 2-2
can’t;
b. if the final board is J-9J-3-4, 5-5 might win with a
larger two pair than an opponents’;
c. if two pair and no
deuces show on the board,
2-2 will always be a worthless hand, unless a deuce
completes the only flush.
However, 5-5 can sometimes
survive as a pair, even if two
pair land on the board;
d. all of the above.
5. It’s harder to protect a
pair of aces in no-limit hold
’em than in limit hold ’em.
a. true;
b. false.
6. In pot-limit hold ’em, a
good strategy with a superior hand against a single
opponent who acts first and
checks is to also check all
the way to the river and then
bet the maximum.
a. true;
b. false.
before the flop?
a. 82 percent;
b. 31 percent;
c. 11 percent;
d. exactly 50 percent.
8. If you begin a hold ’em
hand with 6d 5c, what are
the odds against flopping a
straight?
a. 7 to 1;
b. 14 to 1;
c. 76 to 1;
d. 48 to 1.
10. Which is not an advantage of just calling with A-A
in an early position in hold
’em?
a. You’re more likely to
improve your position by
acting after your opponents
on subsequent betting
rounds;
b. If you call and you’re
raised and then other players call, you can reraise and
potentially build a bigger
pot;
c. You might earn extra
profit from players with weak
hands who wouldn’t have
played if you had raised;
d. Just calling can sometimes be advantageous
because it’s a deceptive play.
9. You’re in a nine-handed
hold ’em game holding A9. What is the chance that
yours is the only ace held
WATCH FOR
ANSWERS IN OUR
NEXT ISSUE!
7. If you begin a hold ’em
hand with A-A and the flop
is K-Q-J, no flush possible,
what percent of the time will
you finish with just the aces
you started with after seeing
the turn and river cards?
a. 58 percent;
b. 76 percent;
c. 90 percent;
d. 41 percent.
If you do not remember the questions, you will find them on our
web site—Download previous issues at
http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/
to last issue’s questions
backissues
answers
Q #1 ANSWER: (d). All of these
advanced methods can help
build a lively gambling image
in seven-card stud: Playing low
cards when you don’t see any
ranks surrounding you that
are helpful; entering pots in
late position with low-ranking
cards against only a single
opponent; and raising a single
opponent without looking at
your hole cards when you have
a higher rank showing. None of
these plays is directly profitable, but the average expected
loss is minimal, and – against
the right opponents – these
plays can be worth the price
by winning extra calls in the
future.
Q #2 ANSWER: (c). When you
compare these two seven-card
stud hands...
(A) Hidden -- 8-6, exposed -7-5-10-3; and
(B) hidden -- 4-5, exposed -- 67-9-10...
both have the same chance of
making a straight on the river,
but hand A figures to make
more money if it connects,
because it’s exposed possibilities are less threatening.
Q #3 ANSWER: (a). The concept that if an opponent starts
with a pair in seven-card stud,
two out of three times it will
be of the rank exposed is false
in actual play, because opponents who enter pots with low
exposed cards are more likely,
on average, to have a bigger
pair hidden, if they have a pair
at all.
Q #4 ANSWER: (a). Against
some overly studious opponents, you should continue to
bet aggressively in seven-card
stud, even when you don’t
think you hold the best hand,
because (by way of example)
if an opponent folds one out
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S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
25
THE KING OF
ONLINE POKER
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Pecha
SEPTEMBER
TOURNAMENT SERIES
THURSDAY, SEPT. 1
6:30PM
Limit Hold’em Tournament
$5,000 Guarantee
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FRIDAY, SEPT. 2
7PM
Limit Hold’em Tournament
$10,000 Guarantee
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SATURDAY, SEPT. 3
4PM
No-Limit Hold’em Tournament
$15,000 Guarantee
$80+$15 Buy-In
SUNDAY, SEPT. 4
4PM
$5,000 Guarantee
$35+$15 Buy-In
THURSDAY, SEPT. 22
6:30PM
Last Chance No-Limit Hold’em
$10,000 Guarantee
$85+$15 Buy-In
FRIDAY, SEPT. 23
7PM
Last Chance No-Limit Hold’em
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SATURDAY, SEPT. 24
4PM
2005 Big Showdown Tournament
$200+$25 Buy-In
1st Place $10,000 Buy-in seat to the 2006 World Series Guaranteed
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4PM
$5,000 Guarantee
Play to win your share!
PECHANGA $25,000
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Monday, October 3, 2005
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Buy-in available at Box Office 10AM - 10PM.
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TUESDAY
10AM
6:30PM
7PM to Midnight
WEDNESDAY
10AM
6PM to 1:15AM
6:30PM
THURSDAY
10AM
4PM to 10PM
6PM to 9PM
9PM to Midnight
$2,000 Guarantee
$20 + $5 Buy-In
Monday Night Football
$2,000 Cash Giveaway
$250 per quarter and $1,000 at 9PM (winner must be present)
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Double Jackpot
Stud Double, Omaha Triple and Hold’em Quadruple Jackpot
Hold’em Tournament
$2,000 Guarantee
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$100 Drawings at the top of each hour and two $100 Drawings on the half hour
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Top three places paid, 1st $525 • 2nd $200 • 3rd $125
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Time . Some events H ...... Hold’em
L ................. Limit
N ...........No Limit
7. 7-Card Stud
O .......Omaha
H/L ...... High/Low
C start after the hour
O A, P ........ AM, PM
..............Week
D Wk
& . Add’l gametimes
E on this day. Call
•Denotes Advertiser
REGION/Cardroom(Ad Pg.)
NV •Aladdin (p9)
SOUTH
Arizona Charlie’s
•Binion’s Gambling Hall
Cannery Casino
Carson Valley Inn
Circus Circus
Col.Belle-Laughlin
Golden Nugget
Split
Pi ....... Pineapple
Po.........Pot Limit
Pn.......Panginque
S........... Stud
5 ...Five Card
MONDAY
Time Games
1P&
NH
7P
NH
12P
NH
8P& N H
10A
NH
7P
NH
12P& H Sh
11A L/N H
7P&
11A
7P
Flamingo Laughlin
8A
Harrah’s Las Vegas
11A
•Imperial Palace (p21) 1P
12A
Z
NH
NH
NH
Al ...... Alternates
F .............Freeroll
Z......... Freezeout
Q .............Qualify
Sh .........Shootout
TUESDAY
Buy-in
$50RB(1)$40
$50RB(1)$40
$22RB$10AO$10
$60RB$10AO$40
$25
$23
$15
$40AO$3
Time Games
1P&
NH
7P
NH
8P&
10A
7P
12P&
11A
HB
$25RB$10AO$20
N H $60RB(1)$40AO$40 11A
N H $125RB$100AO(1)$100 7P
•Jokers Wild (p40) 2P
NH
7P
NH
Luxor
12P& L/N H Z
$17 8A
$30RB(1)$40 11A
$50RB$25AO$5 7P
$50RB$25AO$5
NH
NH
NH
H Sh
L/N H
NH
NH
Z
NH
NH
$25RB(1)$10 2P
NH
$25RB(1)$10 7P
NH
$25 12P& L/N H Z
#M ..# of players
maximum
RB ......... Re-buys
AO ......... Add Ons
Cz .............. Crazy
E....... Elimination
WEDNESDAY
Buy-in Time Games
$50RB(1)$40 1P&
NH
$50RB(1)$40 7P
NH
12P
NH
$60RB$10AO$40 8P& N H
$25 10A
NH
$23 7P O H/L B
$15 12P& H Sh
$40AO$3 11A
L/N H
Buy-in
$50RB(1)$40
$50RB(1)$40
$22RB$10AO$10
$60RB$10AO$40
$25
$23
$15
$40AO$3
DAILY TOURNAMENTS
NOW! Get Tournament Listings at our website: www.pokerplayernewspaper.com
Note: All tournaments are subject to change. Check with the Cardroom for any updates. Cardrooms—
please send your schedules to Tournament Editor Joel Gausten, [email protected]
THURSDAY
Time Games
1P&
NH
7P
NH
8P&
10A
NH
NH
12P&
11A
H Sh
L/N H
FRIDAY
Buy-in Time Games
$50RB(1)$40 12P
NH
$50RB(1)$40
$60RB$10AO$40 8P&
$25 10A
$15 12P&
$40AO$3 11A
7PWk1& H
$110 7P& O H/L B $25RB$10AO$20 7P&
$60RB(1)$40AO$40 11A
N H $60RB(1)$40AO$40 11A
N H $60RB(1)$40AO$40 11A
$125RB$100AO$100 7P
N H $125RB$100AO(1)$100 7P
N H $125RB$100AO$100 7P
$17 8A
$30RB(1)$40 11A
$50RB$25AO$5 1P
12A
Z
$17 8A
$30RB(1)$40 11A
$50RB$25AO$5 1P
$50RB$25AO$5
NH
NH
$25RB(1)$10 2P
NH
$25RB(1)$10 7P
NH
$25 12P& L/N H Z
Z
NH
$25RB(1)$10 2P
NH
$25RB(1)$10 7P
NH
$25 12P& L/N H Z
NH
NH
H Sh
L/N H
SATURDAY
Buy-in Time Games
$100AO$10
12P
$125RB$25AO$50 8P&
$25 10A
NH
NH
NH
$15 12P&
$40AO$3
H Sh
O H/L B $25RB$10AO$20 10A
N H $60RB(1)$40AO$40 11A
N H $230RB$200AO$100 7P
$17 8A
$30RB(1)$40 11A
$50RB$25AO$5
Z
$17 8A
$30RB(1)$40 11A
Pi Z
NH
SUNDAY
Buy-in Time Games
$22RB$10AO$10
$125RB$25AO$50 8P&
$25 10A
$12 10A
$30RB$20AO(1)$20 11A
$330RB$200AO(1)$200 7P
Z
$17 8A
$30RB(1)$40 11A
1P
HZ
$30(30M) 10A
NHZ
$60(30M) 6P
N H $130RB$100AO(1)$100 7P
HZ
NHZ
NH
$30(30M) 10A
$60(30M) 6P
$130RB$100 7P
HZ
NHZ
NH
$30(30M) 10A
$60(30M)
$230RB(1)$200
HZ
$30(30M)
Nevada Palace
•Oasis-Mesquite
10A
11A
7P
H
NH
NH
H
NH
NH
$19 10A
$15RB(1)$15 11A
$120RB(1)$100 6P
H
NH
NH
$18 10A
$15RB(1)$15 11A
$25RB$10
H
NH
$18 10A
$15RB(1)$15 11A
H
NH
$18 10A
$15RB(1)$15 11A
H
NH
The Orleans
12P O H/L
7P
NH
12P&
N
6P
N
7P
N
12P& N H
12P
7P
12P
H
NH
N
$40RB$20 12P
$40RB$20 7P
$50RB$50 12P
NH
H
N
$40RB$20 12P
$40RB$20 7P
$50RB$50 12P
H
O H/L
N
$40RB$20 12P
$40RB$20 7P
$50RB$50 12P
O H/L
NH
N
7P
12P&
N
NH
$50RB$50 7P
$40RB(1)$40 12P&
N
NH
$50RB$50 7P
$40RB(1)$40 12P&
N
NH
$50RB$50 7P
$40RB(1)$40 12P&
N
NH
$50RB(1)$20 12P
$60RB(1)$40 7P
$50RB$50 12P
6P
$50RB$50 7P
$40RB(1)$40 12P&
H
NH
N
N
N
NH
$50RB(1)$20
$125RB(1)$100
$50RB$50
$615
$50RB$50
$40RB(1)$40
$25RB$10AO$20 6P&
$40RB$20AO$2 11A
$40RB$20AO$2 7P&
NH
NH
NH
$25RB$10AO$20 6P&
$40RB$20AO$2 11A
$40RB$20AO$2 7P&
7P
H
NH
NH
NH
Po H
NH
NH
NH
$25RB$10AO$20
$40RB$20AO$2
$40RB$20AO$2
$45RB$20AO$20
L/N H
$23RB$10AO$20
Rio Suite Casino
$40RB$20
$40RB$20
$50RB$50
$215
$50RB$50
$40RB(1)$40
River Palms
6P&
•Sahara (p33) 11A
7P&
•Sam’s Town (p34)
O H/L
NH
NH
Speedway
Stardust
•Sunset Station (p10)
Stratosphere
L/N H
$23RB$10AO$20
NH
$40
LH
$18AO$2
NH
$22RB(1)$20
N H $44RB(1)$40AO(1)$40
NH
$40
NH
$20RB$10
4P
10A
10A
9A
8P
•Texas Station (p10) 7P
Virgin River Casino
6P
NV Atlantis Casino
NORTH Boomtown
12P& L H Sh
Cactus Petes-Jackpot
7P
Pi
Circus Circus
Eldorado
Harrah's Reno
4P
H
Harvey’s Tahoe
Peppermill
Reno Hilton
Rainbow Cas. W Wendover
CA Casino Morongo
SAN Casino Pauma
DIEGO Harrah’s Rincon
&
Lake Elsinore
10A&
NH
2P
NH
7P Ladies N H
9A
NH
8P
NH
$25RB$10AO$20 6P&
$40RB$20AO$2 11A
$40RB$20AO$2 7P&
10A
10A
9A
8P
7P
6P
$15 10A&
7P
$15RB$10
7 H/L
NH
NH
NH
$40
L O High
$18AO$2
NH
$22RB(1)$20
N H $44RB(1)$40AO(1)$40
O H/L B
$37RB$10
NH
F
7 Sh
NH
NH
NH
NH
NH
$25RB$10AO$20
$40RB$20AO$2
$40RB$20AO$2
$45RB$20AO$20
NH
$23AO$2 Varies Varies
Varies
7 Sh
$15 12P& L H Sh
7P
NH
12P
H
$15
$22RB$10
F RB$20
F RB$10
NH
$25 10A
NH
$25 10A
NH
$25 10A
NH
$25 10A
NH
$25
6P
$25AO$10 2P
$35RB(1)$30
$15(24M) 9A&
$25RB$20
H
NH
$25RB$20
$25AO$10 2P
NH
$25AO$10
NH
$15(24M) 9A
NH
7P
$15(24M) 9A&
NH
NH
$115RB$100 6P
$15(24M) 9A
8P
NH
NH
LH
$110 6P
$15(24M) 9A
$25RB$20
NH
NH
$115
$25(30M) 9A
6P
NH
NH
$25(30M)
$50
DC
H
NH
H
H
NH
$5RB$5AO$5
$5RB$5AO$10B$5
$15RB$10AO$10
O H/L
$22RB$11 10A
$65 10A
H
NH
$22RB$11
$40RB(1)$20
$30 10A
4P
NH
$12RB$10AO$10 6P&
NH
$25B$5 10A
O$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5 10A
NH
NH
LH
NH
LH
$30
$30
$17
$12B$5
$25RB$20AO$50
HH L H
Mx
NH
$40RB$10
$15RB$10AO$10
$30RB$15AO$15
O H/L
$17RB$5AO$5 10A
$35 10A
10A
6P
10A
10A&
10A
N Cz Pi
$10RB$10AO$10 7P&
H
$15RB$10AO$10 10A&
NH
$15RB$10AO$10 10A&
NH
$60 10A
4P
$15RB$10AO$10 10A&
LH
$17RB$5AO$5 10A
6P
NH
NH
$17RB$5AO$5 10A
$20RB(2)$15
LH
$17RB$5AO$5 10A
NH
$35 10A
NH
$55 10A
NH
$35 10A
LH
10A
$35 10A
O H/L
NH
$30RB$10AO$20 10A
NH
$30 10A
NH
$30 10A
NH
NH
$30
NH
$30
NH
$12
O H/L
$12B$5
NH$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5
LH
NH
NH
$30RB$10 12P
$60 7P
F
NH
Club One Casino
7P
Commerce Club
•Crystal Park Casino (p16)
NH
$27RB(2)$15 10A
NH
•Diamond Jim’s (p12) 6P
O Pi H
$25RB$10 6P
LH
Hawaiian Gardens
12P
•Hollywood Park (p7) 11A
7P
NH
7 H/L
LH
$15RB$10 12P
$17RB$10 11A
$35 7P
O H/L
NH
NH
•Hustler Casino (p15) 7P
Normandie Casino
NH
LH
Sp L H
H
10A
NH
$30
6P
NH
$30
10A 7 H/L Sp
$12
10A& N H
$12B$5
10A
O$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5
6P&
10A&
10A
H
F 6P&
O
$12B$5 10A&
O$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5 10A
NH
NH
Mx
$60RB$10 12P
$60 7P
$15RB$10AO$10 7P
NH
NH
NH
$30RB$10 12P
$60 7P
$20RB$10AO$10
$14RB$5/$10AO$20 7P&
7P
NH
Pn
$27(80M)RB(2)$15 10A
$40
NH
$14RB$5/$10AO$20 10A
7P
7P
$20RB$10 6P Wk4LadiesL H
S H/L
O H/L
LH
$15RB$10 12P
$17RB$10 11A
$35 7P
7P
7P
NH
NH
$125 7P
$30RB(2)AO(1)
$25 6P LH/L OH/L $50RB$20AO$40 11A
$50RB$40 9A Sp L HH
$55RB$40 9A&
$25RB$20 12P O H/L
$55 6P
H
$20RB 7P
$60RB$40AO 10A
H
1P
NH Sh
$20
NH $50RB(1)$50AO$15 10A
H Sh
6P
H
H
NH
$48
$50RB40 9A
$10
$50
$40RB(1)$40 10A
Sp L
$40RB$40AO 10A
H
NH
$15 1P
6P
$100AO$20 10A
H Sh
NH Sh
NH
NH
$55
H/O H/L
$15 1P
$20
$50RB(1)$50AO15
$65RB$50AO$50
$10RB$5AO$10
$20RB$20(1)
$15RB$10 6P
$17RB$10 11A
$35 8P
LH
Sp L H
H
H
$10RB$5AO$10
LH
$22 6P&
NH
$12B$5 10A
NH$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5 10A
HH N H
HH N H
LH
$30RB$10
$40RB$20
1P
7P
NH
NH
N H $14RB$5/$10AO$20 7P& N H(80M)
Pn
$40 1P
Pn
NH
$15 7P
NH
LH
NH
NH
1P
LH
$25RB 6P
$17RB$10 11A
$225RB(1)$200 8P
Mx
7
Po H
$10RB$10AO$10 12P
$5RB$5AO$10B$5 4P
$15RB$10AO$10 10A&
$17RB$5AO$5
7P
$20RB$10AO$10 1P
$40RB$30AO$30 7P
$27RB(2)$15 12P
$40 1P
$15
LH
Pn
$19RB$5/$10AO$20
$40
$25RB$10 1P
1PWk4
F RB$10
$17RB$10 11A
$330RB(1)$300 4P
NH
NH
$50
$100
3P& Pai Gow
$50RB$20 7P
LH
H
H
$17RB$5AO$5 10A
H
H
NH
LH
N H Sh
$22RB$10
$120
NH
$30RBAO
$225
O
6P
11A
$20RB$20(1) 7P
$10RB$10AO$10 11A
$5RB$5AO$10B$5 4P
$15RB$10AO$10 10A&
$25
$15RB$10 12P
$17RB$10 11A
$35 7P
$50 7P
7P
10A
$30RB$10 12P
$40RB$20 7P
7P
$125RB(1)$100
11A
L H $28RB(1)$20AO(1)$20 11A
9A& Sp L H
$70RB60 9A
12P
CO N T ’ D O N PAG E 3 1
6P&
11A
7P&
7P
$15
10A
H
$50RB$50
$40RB(1)$40
H
NH
11A
$15 10A&
$22RB$10
N
NH
$15 10A
NH
$30
NH
$30
LH
$12
NH
$12B$5
O$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5
Lucky Derby Casino
Oaks Card Club
•Palace Indian Casino
Sonoma Joe's
L H Sh
NH
7P
12P&
H
$15RB$10AO$10 10A&
6P
10A
7 Sh
NH
$23AO$2 11A
NH
$22RB(1)$20
N H $44RB(1)$40AO(1)$40
$50RB(1)$20
$60RB(1)$50
$50RB$50
$15 10A
•Pechanga (p28) 10A
6P
Sycuan
10A
Viejas
10A
Village Club
10A
Gold Rush
Kelly’s Cardroom
Lucky Chances
$23RB$10AO$20 4P
NH
H
N
H
NH
Sp L
L/N H
12P
7P
12P
$15 4P
10A&
10A
4P
LH
F
LH
$23AO$2 11A
NH
$22RB(1)$20 9A
N H $44RB(1)$40AO(1)$40 8P
NH
$40
NH
$20RB$10
$15 12P&
7P
6P&
11A
7P&
7P
$18
$25RB$10
H
H
H
$25RB$10AO$20
$40RB$20AO$2
$40RB$20AO$2
$45RB$20AO$20
H
NH
$15 4P
$10RB$10AO$10 7P&
7P
O H/L
NH
NH
NH
N H$330RB$200AO(1)$200
H
LH
California Grand
Casino San Pablo
Garden City
$15 10A&
6P&
11A
7P&
7P
5P
$18 10A
$15RB(1)$15 3P
$25RB(1)$10
$25RB(1)$10
$25
$15 4P
$22RB$20
$25 10A
•Lucky Lady (p21)
Oceans Eleven
10A
CA Artichoke Joe’s
NORTH Bay 101
Cache Creek
$15 12P& L H Sh
$22RB$10
7P
NH
12P
10A
9A
8P
7P
6P
NH
$17
$30RB(1)$40
$50RB$25AO$5
H
NH
NH
5O
•Club Caribe (p46) 7P
L/N H $23RB$10AO$20
NH
$40
NH
$23AO$2
NH
$22RB(1)$20
N H $44RB(1)$40AO(1)$40
NH
$40
Z
$15 4P
6P
$25 10A
10A
CA •Bicycle Club (p3) 12P
L.A.
7P
4P
10A
10A
9A
8P
7P
$25RB$10AO$20
$40RB$20AO$2
$40RB$20AO$2
$45RB$20AO$20
$125RB$25AO$50
$25
Pi Z
$12
N H $60RB(1)$40AO$40
N H $125RB$100AO$100
$25RB(1)$10 2P
NH
$25RB(1)$10 2P
NH
$25RB(1)$10 2P
NH
$25RB(1)$10 6P
N H $35RB(1)$10AO$10 6P
N H $35RB(1)$10AO$10 7P
NH
$25 12P& L/N H Z
$25 12P& L/N H Z
$25 12P& L/N H Z
HZ
$30(30M) 10A
NHZ
$60(30M) 6P
L H $130RB$100AO(1)$100 7P
$18 10A
$15RB(1)$15 11A
$120 7P
NH
NH
Buy-in
$15
•Mandalay Bay (p34) 10A
6P
•Mirage
7P
•Plaza Casino (p41)
INLAND
EMPIRE
Stud
Mx ..Mexican Poker
DC Dealer’s Choice
HH ... Headhunter
B .......... Bounties
Sp ............ Spread
H Sh
$40RB$40AO 10A
$15 1P
10A
11A
Sp L H
Sp L
H Sh
NH
H
F 5P
Sp L H
6P
$125RB$60 9A
NH
Sp L H
2P
10A
H
NH
$50 2P
$25RB(1)$20 10A
H
NH
$15 1P
5P
$100AO$20
H Sh
NF
$15
F 6P
10A
9A
12P
NH
Varies
$40 11A
$65RB$50AO$50 1P
Varies
LH
Varies
$100RB(2)$50
6P
O H/L F
RB$10
$110 9A
$49RB$20AO$40
$70RB$60
$50
$25RB(1)$20
$60RB$40AO
NH Sh
$20
NH $100RB$60AO$60
$10RB$5AO$10
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
29
The “Esther Bluff”
to the Rescue
SENIORS SCENE
William H. Rehnquist
By George “The engineer” EPSTEIN
The “Esther Bluff” – What’s that? Let me
explain. . .
A year ago, I introduced you to my then 8-year-old granddaughter, Esther Fayla Epstein, and her almost incredible,
innate talent for playing poker. She has an instinctive flair
for the game; she’s a natural winner. .
Well, Esther is now 9 years old and is away at overnight
camp for two weeks – her first time away from home without
her Mom. Before she left, she made a button for me with her
picture on it, so I could remember her while she was away.
That was so thoughtful. The day before she left for camp,
we were playing poker – only for chips, mind you – and she
pulled another bluff on me. By this time, I thought I was
wise to her and knew that she bluffs too often. Still, it came
off beautifully. Then I realized that she had a special style;
her bluff fit into her normal pattern of play. When she had a
strong hand, she bet aggressively with an air of confidence.
She did exactly the same when she pulled off that bluff.
The “Esther Bluff” to the Rescue. I was playing $4-$8
hold’em at the Hustler Casino the day after Esther left for
camp. It was a great game with lots of good action. I was
fortunate to be seated to then left of two especially aggressive players. (That way, I would act after they bet, so I could
avoid entering raised pots with marginal drawing hands.)
Almost from the start, I was dealt great starting hands.
But. . My pocket kings lost to a pair of aces when an ace fell
on the river. Hand after hand, it was like that: getting made
hands and premium drawing hands – only to lose to a better
hand at the showdown. Second-best is costly!
I had been playing for about an hour and had yet to
win my first pot. I went into my pocket for more money to
replenish my chips, and there it was: the button Esther had
made for me. I looked at her smiling face on the button; and
I pinned the button on my shirt. That brought to mind how
Esther had bluffed me out a few days before. . .
The very next hand was one with potential for making a big hand. The dealer gave me K-Q, both hearts. Even
though the pot was raised preflop, I entered the fray. The
flop brought two more hearts. With four-to-a-flush and five
players in the pot, I could take advantage of the implied pot
odds, so I re-raised on the flop. After all, the card odds were
less than 2-to-1 against my making the king-high flush on the
turn or river. The Expected Value (EV) was very favorable.
Alas, neither the turn nor the river cards filled my flush. I
don’t recall what was on the board, but I held a busted flush
at the end.
So I pulled an “Esther Bluff.” On the turn, the betting
was checked to me; since I had raised on the flop, my opponents – even the aggressive ones -- respected me. I bet out
with confidence and aggressively. After all, I “knew” I had
the best hand. Two opponents called. Again on the river, I
did the same. First one opponent folded quickly; the other
thought a while and then he too folded. I had won my first
pot of the evening! My confidence was restored, not to mention my chip stacks. From then on, luck seemed to turn in my
direction. My starting hands often improved and I took pot
after pot. Thanks to Esther. . .
. . . So readers, what’s YOUR opinion?
George “The Engineer” Epstein is the author of The
Greatest Book of Poker for Winners! (T/C Press, PO
Box 36006, Los Angeles, CA 90036). His new algorithm
booklet, Hold’em or Fold’em?, was a big hit at the recent
World Poker Players Conference. George teaches a poker
course for seniors at the Claude Pepper Sr. Citizen Center
under the auspices of the City of Los Angeles Dept. of
Recreation and Parks. He is currently writing a new book
on Rules & Strategies for WINNING at Texas Hold’em.
George can be reached by e-mail: [email protected].
30
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court
and Poker Player
by Byron Liggett
Poker is a contest in
which justice is coincidence and fairness is folly.
Interestingly, some of the
foremost poker players in
Washington D.C. have been
members of the United
States Supreme Court.
President Taft, the only
President to become Chief
Justice of the Supreme
Court after his years in the
White House, considered the
Court to be the higher honor.
He said, “Presidents come
and go, but the Supreme
Court goes on forever.” Taft
meant that the decisions of
the Supreme Court become
the law of the land influencing and affecting how
Americans live long after
any President.
Taft, too, was a poker
player. He loved to play
with the principal business
barons of his day, including
J.P. Morgan, Henry Frick,
John D. Rockefeller, and
Andrew Carnegie.
Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, an avid poker
player, appointed Attorney
General Robert H. Jackson
to the Supreme Court.
Jackson and Chief Justice
William O. Douglas were
among the President’s poker
playing pals.
Harry Truman, who succeeded FDR, was also a
passionate poker player.
The President’s good friend
and a favorite participant
in his games was Chief
Justice Fred Vinson. Truman
liked to invite a small
group to play poker aboard
the President’s yacht, the
Williamsburg. Speaker of
the House Sam Rayburn
was another regular. It was
not unusual for President
Truman to have all three
branches of government represented in his poker games.
In 1968, the country was
fed up with the Vietnam
War and liberal Democrats.
People were ready to
embrace traditional, conservative American values.
Consequently, Richard
Nixon and the Republicans
won the White House.
President Nixon was
determined to reverse the
liberal-leaning Supreme
Court. He was able to do so
because during his tenure
he had the opportunity to
appoint four new Justices.
Nixon put people he considered legal conservatives on
the Court, including William
H. Rehnquist in 1971.
President Reagan named
him Chief Justice in 1986, a
position he still holds today.
After World War II,
Rehnquist attended college
on the GI Bill. He earned
two Masters Degrees, one
in political science from
Stanford and the other in
government from Harvard.
Then he entered Stanford
Law School and graduated
first in his class in 1952.
In law school Rehnquist
first got a reputation as a
formidable advocate of
conservative politics. As a
young lawyer, he became
a Republican party official
and “an outspoken opponent” of liberal legislation.
A traditional conservative,
Rehnquist advocated states
rights and limited Federal
Government. He campaigned for Barry Goldwater
in the 1964 Presidential
election and eventually moved to Washington
D.C. to work for Attorney
General John Mitchell.
Rehnquist was a poker
player long before he came
to the Supreme Court. For
the Chief Justice, as with
many great American leaders, poker has proven to be a
popular pastime, a welcome
diversion from the stresses
of the office where the decisions are often life-altering.
Chief Justice Rehnquist’s
poker group customarily gets together once a
month. Justice Antonin
Scalia, a friend and fellow
conservative, is a regular
player. Robert Bork, whose
confirmation as a Justice
of the Supreme Court was
bitterly defeated by lib-
eral Democrats in 1986, is
another frequent participant.
During the Reagan
Administration, the Justices’
poker games were occasionally joined by Solicitor
General Charles Fried
among others. Apparently
the games were as conservative as the players. Now a
Harvard law professor, Fried
recalled in a recent interview
that the games were “very
small stakes”.
Peter Baker, author of
The Breach, a behindthe-scenes account of
the impeachment trial of
President William Clinton,
reports that during proceedings the Senate’s Sergeant
-of-Arms, Jim Ziglar,
discovered Chief Justice
Rehnquist and his clerks
were spending the long,
boring intervals between
sessions of the Senate playing poker! Describing the
scene, Ziglar said there was
“money and cards strewn all
over the table”. He reminded them that the rules of the
Senate prohibited gambling.
However, when he returned
later, only the money was
off the table.
Another participant in
Rehnquist’s monthly poker
games reported, “The Chief
Justice really keeps everybody moving fast. If people
start telling jokes and talking
politics and things like that,
Rehnquist says, ‘Come on,
let’s move things along and
play poker and stop the folderol’.”
Last spring, a controversy erupted when Justice
Scalia refused to remove
himself from a case before
the Supreme Court involving his good friend Vice
President Cheney. Scalia
had just returned from a
much publicized duck hunting trip with Cheney which
caused some liberals and
Democrats to try to make it
an election-year conflict of
interest issue.
Justice Scalia didn’t feel
his social activities colored
his impartial judgment. He
pointed to the poker games
a number of Justices and
Chief Justices enjoyed
with past Presidents and
Congressmen despite potential conflicts of interest over
Time . Some events Wk ..............Week H ...... Hold’em 7. 7-Card Stud Pi ....... Pineapple S........... Stud DC Dealer’s Choice Sp ............ Spread Z......... Freezeout #M # of players max DAILY TOURNAMENTS
(CONT’D FROM PAGE 29)
start after the hour & . Add’l gametimes L ................. Limit O .......Omaha Po.........Pot Limit 5 Five Card Stud HH ... Headhunter Al ...... Alternates Q .............Qualify RB ......... Re-buys
A, P ........ AM, PM
on this day. Call N ...........No Limit H/L High/Low Split Pn.......Panginque Mx ..Mexican Poker B .......... Bounties F .............Freeroll Sh .........Shootout AO ......... Add Ons Cz .............. Crazy E....... Elimination
● Denotes Advertiser
REGION/Cardroom(Ad Pg.)
MONDAY
Time Games
TUESDAY
Buy-in Time Games
AZ •Apache Gold (p36)
Blue Water Casino
Bucky’s Casino
Buy-in Time Games
6P
12P
•Casino Arizona-Scottsdale (p39) 11A
Casino Del Sol
10A
Cliff Castle
6P&
NH
HZ
S Sh
Fort McDowell
Gila River/Wild Horse Pass
Gila River-Vee Quiva
12P&
12P
11A
NH
NH
7B
Harrah’s Ak Chin
Hon-Dah Casino
Paradise Casino
4P
6P
NH
Flop
CO Midnight Rose
Ute Mountain
6P
H
CT Foxwoods
8A&
NH
$60 7P
$10RB$5 10A
$15 11A
$13RB$10AO$20 12P&
$25RB$20
$20 11A
$30RB$10 4P
$10 6P
7P
H
NH
O H/L Z
H Sh
NH
$60 8A&
6P
$13RB$10AO$20 12P&
NH
H Sh F
$30RB$10 4P&
F 6P
NH
H
$45 7P
NH
$13RB$10AO$20 12P& N H
$13RB$10AO$20 12P&
12P Men H/N A I$25RB$10AO(1)$20
$15+$5 11A
HB
$15+$5
$30RB$20 12P&
$10 6P
$35 7P
NH
O H/L
NH
$30RB$20 12P
$25
NH
H
$13RB$10AO$20 12P&
12P
NH
$30RB$20 12P
3P
1P
$110 2P
NH
3P
2P
$25RB$10AO$30 1P
11A
NH
$100
$45 3P
7P
$45 1P
$45
NH
NH
NH
$45 5P
$45
$45 1P
12P& N H
8P
O H/L
$75 6P
$70RB$30AO$50
12P
$65 6P
8P
N H Sh
NH
L/N H
7P
10A
$20RB$20(24M)
$10RB$10 6P
O H/L B
NH
H
N H Sh
NH
$15
NH
$13RB$10AO$20
11A
HB
$15+$5
NH
H
O H/L
$60 12P
$10
$13 1P
NH
$60
7P
NH
$20RB$20(24M)
7P
N H/O
$10RB$10AO$10
1P
6P
NH
H
$40 12P
$45 5P
12P
$45 1P
Varies
NH
$45
$65 12P&
$70RB$30AO$50
11A
NH
$150
NH
$10RB$10AO 7P&
NH
6P
Pi
$35RB$15AO$25 4A,6P& LH/NH
$20RB$10AO(1)$10
7P
NH
$40RB$20AO 12P
NH
$100 10A
Varies
NH
12P
Varies
$40RB$20 1P
$35RB$15AO$25 11A
NH
LH/NH
$10RB$10 10A
NH
$10RB$10
NH
LH
$25RB$10
$35RB$15AO$25
10A
H Sh
12P Wk1 N H
$12
$120
Varies
$75RB$40AO$40
$10RB$5 6P
$35RB$15AO$25 11A
NH
LH/NH
$30RB$20 6P
$35RB$15AO$25 11A
NH
LH/NH
$25RB$10 3P
$35RB$15AO$25 2P
Varies
NH
$25AO$(1)$5 6P
NH
Northern Light Casino Hotel
Shooting Star Casino
12P
NH
$25 12P
NHZ
$25 12P
NH
$25 12P
NHZ
12P
$25 2P
LH
NHZ
F$5RB(2)$5AO$5 12P
$25 12P
NH
NH
$10RB$10AO$10 12P
$50RB$10AO$10 12P
MO Harrah’s St Louis
Isle of Capri
1P
9A&
NH
NHZ
$100 30M 1P
$30 9A&
NH
NHZ
$100 30M 1P
$30 9A&
NH
NHZ
$100 30M
$30 9A&
NHZ
$30 9A&
NHZ
$30 9A&
NHZ
$30 9A&
MS Copa Casino
Grand Casino(Biloxi)
Grand Casino(Gulfport)
NH
$95
12P
H/O
1P
7P
NH
$80 50M 1P
N H $20RB$15AO$25/$50 7P
NE Rosebud Casino
7P
NH
NJ Harrah’s Atlantic City
Tropicana
Trump Taj Mahal
7P
6P
NH
NH
6P
7P&
11A
NH
NH
•Seneca Irving
10A
7P
7P
NH
NH
NH
•Seneca Niagara
Turning Stone
10A
12P
N H $35RB(1)$30AO(1)$30 10A
LH
$60 7P
NM Cities of Gold
Isleta Casino & Resort
Route 66 Casino
•Sandia Casino (p6)
NY •Seneca Allegany
Pi
$25Z 5P
12P
H
$5RB$15 12P
5PWk4LadiesN H
H
NH
$80 50M 7P
N H $20RB$15AO$25/$50
7P
S
10A
NH
OR Chinook Winds Casino
4P
H
Wildhorse Casino Resort
SD Dakota Sioux
6P
Gold Dust Casino, Deadwood
Rosebud Casino
7P
S H/L
$130RB$100 70M 1P
HB
$15RB$15
NH
NH
7
NH
$100RB$20
$30RBAO 7P
$65 6P
F RB(1)$15AO$100 6P
$20RB$20 2P
$25 30M 11A
7P
Cz Pi
H
NH
Varies
$35RB$30AO$30 10A
$35RB$30AO$30 7P
$60
NH
NH
NH
NH
$40RBAO 7P
$65 6P
$20RB(1)$10 6P
$15RB(1)$15 7P&
$25 30M 11A
$35
H
NH
NH
$25 6P
$20RB(1)$20 2P
$25 30M 11A
$60RB$50 10A
$60RB$50 7P
7P
NH
NH
NH
NLH
NHB
$120 10A
$50AO(1)$25 7P
NH
7P
$30RB$10 7P
F RB$10 7P
LH
NH
O H/L $25RB(1)$5AO(1)$5 4P
H
$18RB$10
NH
8P
$30RBAO 4P
$120 6P
NH
NH
NH
7
$10RB(3)$5AO$5
$30RB$10AO$10
NHZ
$30
$120 70M 2P
$35
NH
$30RB$10AO$10 7P
NH
$300RB$40 12P
$60RBAO 12P
$225 6P&
$230 70M 2P
S
$15RB$10
NH
$100 50M
$55RBAO
$120
$30RB$10AO$10
NH
NH
NH
$500RB$60
$65RBAO 12P
$340 6P
NH
NH
O H/L $20RB(1)$10AO$50 6P
H
$15RB(1)$15 7P&
NH
$25 30M 11A
H $30RB(1)$20AO$200 5P
N H $50RB(2)$25AO(1)$35 2P
NH
$25 30M 7P
H
H
NH
$20RB$10 5P
$15RB(1)$15 2P
$18 30M 11A
12P
O H/L
H
NH
Varies
$60RB$50
$35RB10
$25RB$10 7P
NH
NH
$60 12P
NH
$20RB$5 7P
NH
$60
NH
NH
$35RB$10
$85AO(1)$40 12P
N H Sh
$50
11A
NH
$85 11A
NH
$120
7
S H/L
$10RB$5 7P
F RB$10 7P
O H/L
H/L Sp Z
$10RB$5 7P
$25 7P
H
NH
$10RB$5 2P
2P
H
NH
$20RB$10
$30RB$10 3P
H
9A
NH
$45RB(1)$10 9A
NH
$45RB(1)$10 9A
NH
$45RB(1)$10
4P
1P
NH
H
$25RB$5AO$50
$18RB$10
$10RB$5 4P
2P
$30RB$10AO$10 6P
V
H
NH
$20RB$10
$40
$30RB$10AO$10
$60 7P
NH
$25RB$5AO$10 4P Tahoe H/L $25RB(1)$5AO(1)$5 4P
6P
N H $33RB(2)$15AO$15
$10RB$5
6P
H
NH
N H Sh
7P
F(100M)
$25RB(1)$5AO(1)$5 4P
6P
1P
$100 50M 4P
2P
$30RB$10AO$10
7P
NH
NH
$25AO(1)$5
$50Z
11A
Dakota Magic
OK Comanche Red River Casino
WA Blue Mountain Casino
Chips Bremerton
Chips La Center
$25AO$(1)$5
$25Z 4P
$15RB$10
ND 4 Bears Casino
$45
$130RB$20
$10RB$10AO$10
$55AO$(1)$5 6P
12P
$30RBAO 7P
$120 6P
$45
$45
$45
$45
N H/O
NH
Grand Casino(Tunica)
Pearl River Resort
NH
NH
NH
NH
2P
6P
7
7
$20RB$20(24M)
Fortune Bay Casino
5P
$13
$55
$15
12P& N H Sh
$45 12P& N H
7
10A
F RB$15AO$15/$30
$75RB$40AO$40
$35RB$15AO$25 4A,6P& NH
NH
NH
H
$15RB$5AO$10
IL Hollywood Casino-Aurora
$25RB$5AO 6P&
$55
$45
$65RB$10AO$20 12P&
$20RB$10
$25
H Sh
$13RB$10AO$20 12P&
12P
12P
$60 8A
H
O H/L
7F
Buy-in
$150
F
NH
$55 6P
12P
$75RB$10AO$20 6P
SUNDAY
Buy-in Time Games
$60 4thWk10AN H
$10RB$5
$15
$45 6P
NH
$45
$45 6P
NH
$45 Varies N H
H
7
NH
Pi
H Sh
$100 8A
$55 6P
MN •Canterbury Park (p41) 10A
$60 11A
$10RB$5 10A
$15 11A
NH
NH
NH
NH
H
4A,6P& LH
NH
NHZ
H Sh
NH
6P
MI Chip-In's Island
Gold Strike Casino Resort
$130 11A
$10RB$5 10A
$30 11A
$45 3P
6P
$45 1P
$45 12P
Palm Beach Princess
Pompano Park Casino
Seminole Hollywood Casino
St Tropez Cruise
NH
$20
$25
$60 8A
LO H/L
NH
LA Grand Coushatta
Horseshoe Casino-Shreveport 6P
O H/L
HB
NH
$45 6P
$45 6P
NH
$25RB$15 7P
7P
Buy-in Time Games
NH
NH
NH
6P&
NH
HB
1P
12P
KS Harrah’s Prarie Band
Buy-in Time Games
SATURDAY
12P
$130 7P
NH
$10RB$5 10A Cz Pi Z
$15 6P& O H/L
$15+$5 11A
NH
Buy-in Time Games
FRIDAY
$25RB$5AO$25
HB
Derby Lane
Palm Beach Kennel Club
NH
DC
H
THURSDAY
$20RB$20
FL Dania Jai-Alai
IA Catfish Bend
Isle of Capri
Winn-A-Vegas
WEDNESDAY
$35 7P(1st Wk) H
$110 7P
H
H
$25RB(1)$5AO(1)$5
S H/L
$10RB$5 4P
O H/L
$50
$30RB$10AO$10
7P
NH
$20RB(1)$10
$15RB(1)$15
$25 30M
$35
F RB$10
1P
9A
12P
N O H/L
NH
NH
$20RB(1)$10 1P
$20 9A
$20 12P
NH
NH
NH
$20RB(1)$10 1P
$20 9A
$20 12P
NH
NH
NH
$20RB(1)$10 1P
$20 9A
$20 12P
N O H/L
NH
NH
$20RB(1)$10 1P
$20 9A
$20 12P
NH
NH
NH
$20RB(1)$10 1P
$20 9A
$20 12P
N O H/L
NH
NH
$20RB(1)$10 1P
$20 9A
$20 12P
NH
NH
NH
$20RB(1)$10
$20
$20
Chips Lakewood
Chips Tukwila
Goldie’s
9A
4P
11A
NH
NH
NH
$20 9A
$20 4P
$13RB(1)$10 11A
NH
NH
NH
$20 9A
$20 4P
$13RB(1)$10 11A
NH
NH
NH
$20 9A
$20 4P
$13RB(1)$10 11A
NH
NH
NH
$20 9A
$20 4P
$13RB(1)$10 11A
NH
NH
NH
$20 9A
$20 4P
$13RB(1)$10 11A
NH
NH
NH
$20 9A
$20 4P
$13RB(1)$10 11A
NH
NH
NH
$20
$20
$28RB(2)$10
Little Creek Casino
Muckleshoot Casino
Northern Quest
7P
7P
10A
LO
NH
NH
$15RB(2)$10 7P
$45RB$20 7P
$25RB(2)$10 10A
L/N H
NH
NH
7P
$135RB$20 7P
$25RB(2)$10 10A
NH
NH
NH
$45
$45RB$20
$25RB(2)$10 10A
NH
$15RB(2)$10 10A&
NH
$25RB(2)$10
Suquamash Clearwater Cas
Wild Grizzly
11A
5P
NH
NH
$20 11A
$13RB$10 5P
$20 11A
$13RB$10 5P
NH
NH
$20 11A
$13RB$10
CAN Casino Regina
8P
NH
NH
V
$25
$110RB(1)$100 7P Wk2 N H B
$25RB(2)$10 10A
NH
$20 11A
$13RB$10 5P
NH
NH
NH
$20 11A
2P
NB
$35
NH
F RB(2)$15 10A
NH
NH
$20
$25RB$20
$25RB$20AO$20
Debbie Burkhead interviews Mike Green
on our tables that notify
the podium when a seat
becomes available. We
offer table side dining that
comes from our snack bar.
We also have a pager system that notifies players by
beeping them on a beeper
5P
we provide them anywhere
in the casino when their
seat opens.
DB: What incentives does
the MGM offer their players?
MG: We have a comp
policy that the players earn
$1.00 per hour of live play
up to a daily maximum of
$10.00.
DB: Does the MGM offer
special room rates for
poker players?
MG: Yes, We offer discounts of up to $40.00 off
our daily room rate.
DB: Is there anyone that
makes your job a little
easier?
MG: The entire staff. I’m
real proud of the staff we
assembled on such short
notice. We did our own
individual training and I
believe that has helped our
staff bond together and
work as a team. The cooperation from upper management has also been fantastic. They’re policy is, “if
something has to be done
stick with it until it’s done.”
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
31
Perks and Picks
As football season gets underway, many of your favorite Las
Vegas card rooms combine poker and football so you can
catch the best of both worlds at the same time.
The Palms Casino Resort will be keeping
poker players in their seats during Sunday
The Bargain Bin
By H. Scot Krause
and Monday Night Football by rewarding
them with cash prizes. The “Football Cash
Bash” is held in the Poker Room on Sunday and Monday
nights. All seated poker players using a Club Palms card get
a free entry into the drawings. A winner for a $100-$500
cash prize is drawn every time either team scores a touchdown or field goal.
As a Sunday bonus, Garduños at the Palms now features
a Sunday Margarita Brunch. The all-you-can-eat brunch
includes a menu of authentic Mexican dishes, breakfast
specialties and all-you-can-drink margaritas. The Margarita
Brunch is offered from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and is $14.99
per person.
Boyd Gaming is once again offering the “Free $170,000
All American Football Contest.” The $10,000 winner take
all (or split with ties) contest runs for 17 weeks starting
September 10. Participants pick winners from both college
and pro games straight up, no points. You do not have to
play every week to be eligible for the weekly prizes but you
must sign up to participate. Register for the free contest
at the Stardust, Sam’s Town, Fremont, California or the
Eldorado and Jokers Wild Casinos in Henderson.
Station Casinos is running the “$1 Million Great Giveaway
Football Contest” at Palace Station, Boulder Station, Texas
Station, Santa Fe Station, Sunset Station or Green Valley
Ranch. For an entry fee of $25 per season, fans compete
for $30,000 in weekly prizes as well as end-of-the-season
cash totaling $290,000, including an aggregate first place
prize of $100,000 for picking the most wins. Prizes are also
awarded to those who pick the least amount of wins and for
those “fiddle-in-the-middle” competitors who average close
to a 50-50 record for the season. For this contest, you pick
winners straight up, not based on point spreads. As a further
enticement, Boarding Pass members purchasing one entry
receive $10 in free slot play, while those purchasing two
entries (the maximum allowed) receive $25 in free slot play.
New card rooms on the horizon…. Reportedly, several
additional Las Vegas casinos will be adding card rooms within
the next several months, including New York, New York, TI
(Treasure Island) and the Venetian. The new South Coast,
opening in January, 2006 will also feature a poker room.
In California, the poker room at Pechanga Resort &
Casino in Temecula has always wholeheartedly welcomed
women players, and now gives them an extra incentive.
Beginning in October, ladies will now be able to play to win
a coveted seat in the prestigious Ladies’ Tournament in the
2006 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. On October 13th,
and regularly on the second Thursday of each month, ladies
can make their way to the Pechanga Poker Room at 7:00
p.m. for card action against their peers. The Ladies Only NoLimit Hold ‘em tournament requires a $100 buy in with the
first place player winning a $1,000 guaranteed buy-in seat to
the Ladies’ event at the 2006 WSOP. The winner also keeps
what she makes during the tournament. For more information about the Ladies Only No-Limit Hold ‘em tournament,
call the Pechanga Poker Room directly at (951) 303-2472 or
log onto www.Pechanga.com.
H. Scot Krause is a freelance writer, gaming industry
analyst and researcher, originally from Cleveland, Ohio.
While raising his two year-old son, Zachary, Scot reports,
researches, and writes about casino games, events,
attractions and promotions. He is an eight-year resident
of Las Vegas. Questions or comments are welcomed.
Card room managers are also invited to send your specials and promotions to: [email protected]
32
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
Card Room Roundup
Tuscany Suites & Casino
255 East Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109
702.893.8933
www.tuscanylasvegas.com
The Tuscany Suites and
Casino located just off the
Las Vegas Strip on Flamingo
Road receives high marks on
the list of Las Vegas Poker
Rooms. The recently opened
poker room at the Tuscany
offers players unique options
to make their visit the best it
can be. The Tuscany Suites
and Casino is a pleasant surprise for most first time guest.
The all-suite rooms are some
of the largest and most comfortable in Las Vegas. The
central pool area is filled with
plush tropical plants that provide an atmosphere of quite
inviting luxury, a great place
to shed the stresses of reality.
Locals have long known
that the Tuscany is a hidden
gem that offers outstanding
accommodations, great food,
a modern full service casino
and old Vegas service. The
24/7 coffee shop offers all the
standard Las Vegas diner fare
along with a great oriental
menu. A Mexican restaurant
provides the more adventurous hungry guests a full menu
of dishes straight out of the
desert southwest. Casual,
elegant dinning straight out
of Tuscany can be had at the
Tuscany Gardens; where diners are afforded a menu filled
with Italian specialties. The
intimate Tuscany Gardens
dining room has a view of
the tropical gardens surrounding the hotel’s inner open-air
atrium.
The casino under the
direction of Kevin Beaton,
Director of casino Operations,
is a softly lit, spacious and
modern facility with plenty
of your favorite slots, video
poker and table games.
Ample parking is convenient
and close to the action or
you may take advantage of
the free valet service. The
Tuscany is within easy walking distance of the Las Vegas
strip and many of the major
strip properties. Convenient
to McCarran International
Airport, the Tuscany is
an oasis of tranquility on
Flamingo Avenue just off the
Las Vegas strip. The Tuscany
slogan says it all, “Escape to
the Tuscany.”
The recently opened
Tuscany Poker Room is easy
to spot in its central location
marked by a brilliant red
neon ‘Poker Room’ sign. The
room currently has 5 tables
that will be increasing to eight
tables in the very near future.
Poker Room Manager, Bob
Sanders, a veteran of 28 years
in the poker industry, knows
what the player wants and has
planned his poker room to
fills those needs. The Tuscany
has a full service sat down
bar right in the room. The bar
tender comes on duty at 5:00
pm to provide players with
free drink service until 2-3:00
am, every night. Tables set
a $100-$400 buy-in. In addition to the Hold’em games
the room offers an Omaha
Hi/Lo game. A daily high
hand promotion pays a bonus
to players for high hands and
two bad beat promos are currently running in the room.
The Jackpot bad beat and the
House bad beat pay players
for losing with specific hands.
Details of the high-hand and
bad beat jackpots are available in the room.
The Tuscany Poker
Room has a daily Hold’em
tournament at noon appropriately called ‘Nooners at
the Tuscany.’ Entrance into
a monthly $2,500 Freeroll
Tournament can be had by
players for fifteen hours of
play during one of the qualifying periods.
Poker Room Manager Bob Sanders invites you to check out
the Tuscany’s luxurious accomodations.
up along one wall are loaded
with finger foods for players. The food items change
through out the day from
breakfast items in the morning to sandwiches and treats
in the afternoon and evening.
The snack table is a twentyfour hour offering located
inside the poker room.
The Tuscany Poker
Room is currently spreading
Hold’em games with $2/4,
$4/8 and $6/12 limits. Nolimit Hold’em is offered in
two varieties: $1-$2 blinds
and a $40-$200 buy-in plus a
higher limit $2-$5 blinds with
The Tuscany poker room
comp policy is typical of
today’s Las Vegas poker
rooms offering players $1
for every hour of play. The
comp credits can be used
almost everywhere in the
Tuscany including the restaurants, hotel and the gift
shop. Bob Sanders, Manager
of the Tuscany poker room,
can be reached by e-mail at:
bsanders@tuscanylasvegas.
com. The direct telephone
line into the poker room is
702.595.0959. Hotel reservations are available at
702.893.8933.
Legends asked & answered:
of Poker
C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E
hand, he said, came when
he re-raised Berglund with
A-K suited and made him
lay down his hand.
BICYCLE OF CASINO
EVENT #28
8/24/05
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
MEDIA EVENT
BUY-IN $0 +$0
PLAYERS 49
PRIZE
POOL
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
$10,000
Bradley Gold
Bradley Gold . . . . . . . $5,000
Reed Berglund . . . . . . $2,000
Jim McManus . . . . . . $1,150
Simon Trumper . . . . . . .$595
Glenn Abney . . . . . . . . .$355
Jeff Clayton . . . . . . . . . .$275
Judd Greenagel . . . . . . .$225
Vince Burgio . . . . . . . . .$175
Pham Forced to
Accept Win
Chop or get chopped, that
was the dilemma facing
David “The Dragon” Pham
when the points playoff
championship got headsup. It was one of the most
bizarre conclusions to any
poker tournament in history,
and here’s what happened.
With three players left,
Waleed Belleh moved in for
$31,600, and Minh “Poker
Host” Nguyen called for
$10,700. “Hold on, I have
a hand,” Pham said. After
some deliberation he folded
and showed A-6. His opponents both had A-3, and
Pham, in frustration, let slip
the f-word. It turned out to
be a good laydown, because
Belleh had A-3 of clubs,
and two running clubs gave
him a flush.
Now it was heads-up,
and Pham still had the lead,
$68,100-$45,600. But there
was still the matter of the
f-word, heard by a floorman, Belleh reminded him.
Belleh, an auto mechanic
who generally plays only
on weekends, offered an
immediate chop, with Pham
getting a few thousand
extra. The Dragon had
never agreed to a chop in
of three times when faced
with a bet, there’s a good
chance he will miscalculate
and throw his hand away of
some betting round – if not
this one.
Q #5 ANSWER: (a). It’s
true that in seven-card stud
you’re more likely to connect if you have four cards
to a flush than if you have an
open end straight.
Q #6 ANSWER: (a). Although
you need to play the situation whenever you start a
seven-card stud hand with
three-of-a-kind, you should
raise a greater percent of the
time with K-K-K than with 33-3, because opponents are
more likely to suspect something especially powerful
when you take the lead with
a three showing. Often the
best way to make money with
3-3-3 and other low-ranking trips is to let others do
the betting for you. A raise
from a king showing is more
routine and less likely to get
players to suspect three of a
kind. Additionally, in order to
build a pot, you often must
wager aggressively with a
king showing, because smaller cards are less likely to do
your betting for you.
Q #7 ANSWER: (b). If you
hold 8-8-J-J in seven-card
stud, with three cards to
come, it’s 187-to-1 against
24
making four-of-a-kind
(assuming cards are dealt
through the river).
Q #8 ANSWER: (c). If you
don’t consider what cards
opponents hold and you have
Jd Jh Qh Kh 10s, it’s 18-to-1
against finishing the hand
with exactly three-of-a-kind
after seeing the final two
cards.
Q #9 ANSWER: (a). If you’re
against a single opponent
showing no pair exposed in
seven-card stud, you hold
a pair of deuces, and that
opponent bets, you should
usually call. There are, of
course, exceptions. Often
you should fold, instead,
especially if your kickers
aren’t high enough to rival
your opponents exposed
ranks. This advice to call
applies to bets on the second, third, fourth, and fifth
rounds of betting. The pot is
usually too large and your
chances of either having the
better hand or improving to
win are too great to surrender routinely against a single
foe. However, against very
conservative players, you
should usually fold. And the
higher the opposing ranks
relative to yours, the more
likely you should be to fold.
Q #10 ANSWER: (a). In
seven-card stud, it’s 4.9-to-1
against beginning with a pair.
Playing Internet Poker
Is it legal to play poker on the Internet? There are an
estimated 1,840,100 active real money online poker players,
according to PokerPulse.com. So, you would think that someone could tell you whether you were committing a crime when you bet, raise or fold online.
POKer AND
THE LAW
By I. NELSON ROSE
It actually is possible to know whether you are breaking
the law. In fact, it has to be, or you are not guilty. The U.S.
Constitution requires that people must have a way of knowing in advance that their actions are illegal or they cannot be
convicted of committing a crime.
The Constitution does not require that you actually know
whether your activities constitute a crime. Just that you could
know, if you researched the question through the tens of thousands of criminal statutes and cases that have been published.
If you did take the time, or hired a lawyer to do the
research for you, you would find that the question of whether
playing poker online is a crime is complicated.
The most important factor is where you are. That will
determine which state’s laws apply.
We don’t care about federal law, in this case. The federal
government is mostly interested in organized crime. So, there
are no federal laws against being a mere player, even if the
operator is running a blatantly illegal game.
But state laws are different. Naturally, every state makes
it a crime to conduct some forms of unauthorized gambling.
But about half the states also have ancient laws on the books,
prohibiting even making a bet under some circumstances.
California, for example, makes it a crime to “carry on”
11 named games, including “21.” Anyone, outside an Indian
casino, who deals blackjack for money is committing a misdemeanor. But the law was amended in 1885 to include anyone
who merely bets at one of these illegal games as well. So all
the blackjack players are also guilty.
The list of prohibited games includes the words “percentage game.” In the rest of the world, a “percentage game”
means the house participates and has a percentage advantage. Due to bad case law, in California the term means a
game, including a poker game, where the operator takes a
percentage of the amounts bet or won, even if the operator
does not play a hand.
California card clubs wanted the right to rake the pot. So
they convinced the California Legislature to change the law.
Now, by statute, licensed card clubs may take up to three
levels from a pot, four, if the house takes nothing if the pot
is too small. For example, an operator can take nothing from
pots less than $10, 50¢ from pots between $10 and $20, $1
from $20 to $30 pots, and $2 from a pot over $30. This is
defined, by law, as not being a percentage game.
So, playing a poker game online where the players pay
a flat fee is not illegal under California state law. But if the
operator rakes the pot, watch out. As soon as the operator
rakes the pot a fourth time, you, the player, are committing a
misdemeanor.
Of course, law enforcement does not know this. Or care.
The reality is that you are more likely to win the no-limit
Texas Hold ‘Em tournament at the World Series of Poker than
you are to be arrested for playing poker online from California.
After all, every year someone does win the WSOP. Nobody
has ever been charged with the crime of playing poker on the
Internet.
Professor I Nelson Rose is recognized as the world’s
leading expert on gambling law. A full professor at
Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, Prof. Rose
also works for governments and industry as an expert
witness, consultant and public speaker. His latest books,
Gaming Law: Cases and Materials and Internet Gaming
Law, are available through his website,
www.gamblingandthelaw.com.
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
33
One Step at a Time
We hear this old cliché way too often: “You have
to take it one step at a time.” We’ve heard it so
often we often dismiss its meaning and message.
One step at a time has been my reality lately, not simply a cliché. You
POKER COUNSELOR
By John Carlisle, MA, NCC
see, I was recently in a serious car
accident which forced me to take on a
new pace in life – slow, with each single step carefully measured. With injuries to my back and neck,
my stiff walking strides probably resembled that of
Frankenstein. It is frustrating to have to concentrate on taking each simple step up a flight of stairs
or across the living room floor. “Just WALK,” my
mind screamed as my muscles did not cooperate.
“One step at a time” is not a mantra that most
new players subscribe to at all. They scramble up
playing levels and buy-in’s as if poker is a race to
the top. They dive into tough games against veteran
opponents after reading a poker book or doing well
at their home games. Although a few players are
doing quite well with their quick ascension into higher poker limits and tougher games, most become
disheartened as they see their bankrolls dwindle.
Remember, for your first couple of years worth of
playing poker, your game is likely erratic and unproven. Your path in poker is likely somewhat similar to
my injury-induced “Frankenstein” walk; you may be
getting to where you are going but it is in a jerky,
rough path. Nobody ever promised a smooth, easy
road to greatness. So, don’t expect it.
Every day I am walking a little better than the
day before. Physical therapists train me and push
me to strengthen my sore, tired muscles. In your
poker quest, you must identify who your helpers
will be. Find a proven poker veteran who is willing to mentor you as you progress. Someone to
not only critique your playing strategies, but who
also can provide you a greater picture of this great
game of poker.
My wife consoles me, and then encourages me,
when the frustrations overtake my thoughts. When
a simple task such as reaching an item on the top
shelf is impossible due to muscle strains, she says
the right things to help turn my disgust into hope.
Who will do this task for you in poker? When the
cards are not falling for you and it seems that you
may never win another pot, poker becomes a grind.
When your entire game is falling apart and you are
in a continual state of tilt, who will know exactly
how to “reach” you to reignite your confidence and
internal drive?
One step at a time, folks. That is how I am
now taking life. That is always how I’ve tried to
approach poker. I’d suggest that you try to do the
same. No need to plop down $10,000 to enter
the World Series before you are proven and
ready. The World Series isn’t going anywhere. In
fact, I’d bet you would look pretty foolish walking
into the Rio to play the World Series with that obvious Frankenstein-like playing style! You will know
when you are ready. It is when you can stride in
with your smooth, confident high-step and know
that you belong. You will know that you have made
it, one step at a time.
Now go make it happen.
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
34
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
Legends of P
his life But now he was
between a chop and a hard
place, the alternative being
having a big chunk of his
chips blinded and anted
off in 10 minutes as Belleh
played with himself. So
he reluctantly agreed, took
the win and split up the
$50,000 first-place prize.
Chris Cellery, meanwhile, with 130 all-around
points, was the leader and
got a $5,000 seat in the
championship event, though
he didn’t get very far in the
points playoff itself.
This was an extremely
fast event, running only
from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.,
not counting the final negotiations. Pham had the lead
with $32,100, and stayed
in front all the way. After
several all-in escapes, we
lost our first player on hand
10. Scott Rettberg moved in
for $1,900 with 7-7. Belleh
covered him with Kd-Qd
and made two pair. On the
next hand, Pham increased
his lead to $36,000 when
he raised and forced Belleh
to fold after Belleh had bet
$4,000 into a flop of Q-9-8.
After blinds went to
$800-$1,600 on hand 13,
players began dropping rapidly, with four eliminated in
six hands. On the first deal,
Nguyen opened for $3,600
and Tony Grand came over
the top all in. Nguyen had
K-Q to Grand’s K-10, and
the kicker left Grand in
ninth place.
On the next hand, Pham
opened for $4,000. “I’ll
gamble,” said Robert
Nehorayan, putting in his
last $2,500 with K-Q. It
was a bad gamble because
Pham had A-Q and caught
another bullet on the river.
Two hands later, Sirous
Baghchehsaraie shoved in
his last $3,000 with pocket
queens and ran into Pham’s
pocket aces. All little cards
came, and now six players
were left as Pham’s lead
climbed to about $56,000.
And just two hands later,
housewife Margo Friss,
who has several Legends
final tables, committed her
last $5,000 with pocket 5s.
Belleh called with A-K,
proceeded to make kingsfull and half the field was
gone in 18 hands.
Right after blinds went
to $1,000-$2,000 with $300
antes, David Hoekstra went
too. Down to $1,400, he
moved in with A-Q and
lost to Belleh’s pocket 7s.
On the next deal, hand 27,
Rusty Bagaygay raised
all in for $15,500. He was
in bad shape when Pham
called with A-10. The flop
came 10-9-6. Bagaygay
needed a 7 for a straight,
but this was Pham’s night
and he rolled over the
Hawaiian Gardens tournament director when a queen
and 4 were dealt
Three hands later, the
three-way finale came
down and Pham ended up
as a very reluctant winner.
How costly would a
10-minute penalty have
been? Belleh figures Pham
would have lost 3/4ths of
his chips. Pham was more
conservative, estimating
no more than $30,000. But
even that would have given
Belleh a 2-1 lead, so give
the auto mechanic credit for
making an honorable offer.
As for Pham, a consummate
gentleman as well as a top
player, this was his firstever penalty.
Pham has literally dozens
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Poker at the Bike
of major cash-outs. Seven
six-figure wins include
$414,419 and $270,165
for victories at the FiveDiamond World Poker
Classic, and $154,125 for
finishing 36th in this year’s
World Series championship. He might also have
won event 19 at this year’s
Legends had Alex Shin not
beaten his pocket queens
with a miracle wheel on the
river. Pham said his biggest
strength tonight was his
good reads. For example,
on the hand when he reraised and forced Belleh to
fold, he had only A-5 suited
to Belleh’s A-K, but he read
Belleh for weakness by his
small bet.
owned by Joe Brandenburg,
and felines on coins from
the Isle of Man brought in
by Dan Alspach.
The first 13 hands saw
only one flop. On hand 11,
with blinds now at $1,000$2,000, it came K-7-3.
Reategui moved in with
7-4. Minh “Poker Host”
Nguyen made a good call
with pocket 8s and was
rewarded with a bad beat
when Reategui turned a
third seven as Nguyen
finished 10th. Eights continued to be the unlucky
hand when Mimi Tran,
all in with Jd-10d, made
two pair to survive against
Brandenburg’s 8-8.
Trace Kingery, a retired
inventory controller, finished ninth soon after.
He moved in with Kh-5h.
Tran called with Qd-Jd and
flopped a queen.
Two hands later, poker
player Hank Caslin pushed
in $25,000 with A-Q.
Reategui called with pocket
9s. They held up and we
were down to seven.
At the break, Reategui,
who had aggressively been
pushing his opponents
around with regular raises,
had pulled into a big lead
with $145,000, while at the
low end, Mickey Mouse
was squeaking by with
$18,000. The Mouse, an
attorney owning a real
estate investment trust,
has two WSOP final tables
among his many accomplishments.
Blinds moved to $1,500$3,000. On the second
hand, Tony Nguyen, all in
for $11,000, had the lead
with Q-10 on a flop of K10-7. Alspach had a double
belly-buster draw with J-9,
and hit it when an 8 turned.
After two all-in survivals, to the usual chant
of M-I-C-K-E-Y, M-OU-S-E, the Mouse got
trapped on hand 37. After
Reategui opened with a
raise, Mickey, thinking
that Reategui was stealing, moved in with Ac-8c.
Reategui had pocket 9s and
flopped a set to claim his
third victim and increase
his lead to nearly $200,000.
Mickey had hoped to
double through, “hide in
a hole,” and last to third
place, which would give
him the points lead and a
$5,000 championship seat.
Tran, a high-stakes side
game player, was left with
$2,000 after she moved
in for $44,000 with Ad2d and lost to Alspach’s
BICYCLE OF CASINO
EVENT #27
8/24/05
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $100 +$25
PLAYERS 159
PRIZE
POOL
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
$65,900
David Pham
David Pham . . . . . . . $50,000
Waleed Belleh . . . . . . $5,785
Minh Nguyen . . . . . . . $2,475
Restie Bagaygay. . . . . $1,435
Dave Hoekstra . . . . . . . .$950
Margot Friis . . . . . . . . . .$750
Sirus B . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$595
Robert Nehorayan . . . . .$470
Tony Grand . . . . . . . . . .$400
Reategui Destroys
Event 26
Arizona pro Anthony
Reategui was determined
not to “blow it” again.
Two days ago he had a 21 chip lead heads-up with
Nam Le in a $300 no-limit
event, but lost. Tonight
was different. He was a
one-man wrecking crew as
he started with a big lead,
kept pounding away relentlessly, repeatedly outdrew
his opponents, and roared
to a convincing win.
Blinds were $800-$1,600
with $200 antes when the
final table started with 7:22
left. There was a menagerie of animals at the table.
Mickey “Mouse” Mills had
his usual Mickey Mouse
charm, which was threatened by a metal coyote
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
35
Mother Nature’s Fury
POKer east
of the ROCKIEs
By DONNA BLEVINS
Do you remember the television commercial, “It’s not
nice to fool Mother Nature”? This last week, it kept
echoing through my mind as we experienced the wrath
of Hurricane Katrina.
Returning from the WSOP Circuit Event in Tunica,
we stopped for the weekend at the Pearl River Resort
in Philadelphia, Mississippi, about 200 miles north of
the Gulf Coast. We decided to stay and play in a World
Poker Showdown satellite that Sunday for a December
tournament and cruise package.
After Greg and I both got to the final table and
busted out in sixth and fourth respectively, Hurricane
Tracking made it apparent we should stay put for the
next couple of days. After residing in Florida for the
last 24 years, living through Hurricane Andrew in the
early 90’s, and evacuating several times each hurricane season, I have a high regard for Mother Nature.
So we hunkered down and watched with the rest of the
country, as Kat blasted the Mississippi and Louisiana
Gulf Coasts.
As our initial two-day stay became six, we were
touched by the literal connection that grew among
strangers. We met many people who had lost everything . . . their jobs, homes and livelihoods. I would
have expected to see people sitting in the lobby sobbing. Instead, because so many shared the same situation, they made new friends and bonded . . . “Thank
God my family is safe! We can replace and rebuild
everything else.”
We were delighted to see how the Pearl River
Resort management and staff handled the situation.
They soothed raw nerves, opened their doors to pets
as well as people, and were fully prepared to convert
their convention center into a shelter should the need
arise.
We felt the brunt of her fury on Monday night as
fickled Katrina first turned west, then back east, and
then moved inland directly over our location. Even
though the 165 mile-an-hour winds had somewhat
diminished, the hurricane relentlessly pounded the
area, uprooting trees and downing power lines, interrupting all phone, cable and water services. Despite
the damage to the community, Pearl River Resort,
including both of its casinos and hotels, remains fully
operational.
In my last column, I mentioned that Mississippi has
dockside gambling, and all gaming, other than on the
Indian Reservation (Pearl River Resort), must take
place on boats that are actually in the water . . . the
Gulf, Bays and Mississippi River. Effectively, the casinos
are on huge barges that rise and fall with the water.
Kat’s tidal surge of more than 20 feet literally picked
up several of the Mississippi casino barges, tearing
them away from their moorings, and depositing them
on land.
From all reports, this is what we were able to piece
together about the damage to the Mississippi Gulf
Coast casinos – effectively the majority of the properties have been totally demolished beyond repair. First,
understand that the Gulf Casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport
are located south of Highway 90, which runs along the
beach. (With all the lost gaming revenue to the State of
Mississippi, it is currently rumored that the State may
be making a move to permanently approve land-based
casinos.)
1. Biloxi Grand - picked up and moved north of the
highway.
2. Biloxi Hard Rock Hotel and Casino – bayside,
36
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
scheduled for its opening August 30, lay with half
its hotel open to the elements.
3. Biloxi Beau Rivage - casino stayed in place, but
was flooded. Reportedly, the hotel was flooded to
the fourth floor.
4. Biloxi Boomtown – two feet of water in the casino.
5. Biloxi Palace Casino & Hotel – bayside, opened
July 2005, status unknown.
6. Biloxi Silver Slipper – scheduled to open
November 2005, status unknown.
7. Gulfport Treasure Bay - was torn from its moorings and is adrift.
8. Gulfport President – now sitting on the north side
of Highway 90.
9. Gulfport Grand – the casino was broken in half, and
one part now sits on 90.
10. Gulfport Copa – previously beside of the Gulfport
Grand, is now in the Grand’s parking lot.
11. Isle of Capri, Lula – status unknown
Just about the time we all expected the worst was
over for the Gulf Coast, the Nation turned its attention
to New Orleans on Tuesday, August 30, 2005, when a
levee broke and flooded the entire city . . . I thought of
the WSOP Circuit Event that had been scheduled for
Harrah’s in October and realized that three of Harrah’s
properties were now affected.
Just prior to press time, we were able to speak with
Harrah’s spokesperson, David Strow, regarding the
Grand Casinos and Hotels in Biloxi and Gulfport, and
Harrah’s in New Orleans: “Of course, all three of the
properties are currently closed, with the two Mississippi
properties closed indefinitely due to their extreme damage. The New Orleans property received relatively modest damage. They first estimated only a four week closing for Harrah’s New Orleans until the Mayor announced
today that they estimated the city of New Orleans
would be closed for at least 90 days. Therefore, the
reopening of Harrah’s in New Orleans will be completely
dependent on the reopening of the city.”
Harrah’s has stepped up to the plate and has their
priorities in line. Harrah’s spokesperson outlined their
efforts to assist these displaced employees:
1. Harrah’s major concern is to account for the 8,000
employees of the three affected properties and
help them during this unprecedented time. They
have set up an emergency employee information
line only for use by employees of these three properties – 877.422.7466.
2. Harrah’s is sheltering employees at some of their
other properties in Tunica, Bossier City, and Lake
Charles.
3. All affected employees’ base pay will be guaranteed
for a full 90 days.
4. The Harrah’s Foundation has seeded an Employee
Recovery Fund with $1,000,000 and invites other
Harrah’s employees and the public to contribute to
the fund. You can find contribution information on
their website, www.Harrahs.com.
5. Harrah’s is scouring their corporation for job openings, and the displaced employees will be given
first priority for any available jobs.
Harrah’s spokesperson ended our conversation with,
“Tell everyone . . . WE’LL BE BACK! Harrah’s will be
back to the Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Coasts, and
we’ll be bigger and better than ever!”
Bravo for Harrah’s!
A true entrepreneur at heart, Donna Blevins is a marketing consultant, professional speaker and trainer, as well
as a poker journalist. She looks forward to meeting you
at the final table. Contact Donna to advertise in Poker
Player, to cover your poker tournament or with article
ideas - [email protected].
Hot
Tip
ant screamed as he shoved
the weapon through the
window opening.
Dumb move. Hobby’s
hand shot up, grabbed the
.45 and wrenched it free. I
heard a snap then a scream
as the attacker quickly
withdrew his empty hand
with its trigger finger
pointed askew. He staggered back then rushed to
the SUV, barely getting
aboard before it raced off.
“Jeez, Hobby, that was a
pretty reckless thing to do.
He could have shot you, or
worse yet, me!”
“No sweat, Joe. I saw the
safety was on. It wouldn’t
fire.”
“Take another look,
buddy. The lever is pointing down.”
Hobby stared at it. As
the color rapidly left his
face he said, “Oh my God.”
Blaring horns from
behind us impelled Hobby
to move the car. He asked,
“What do we do now?”
“We should probably
stop and report it to the
police, but I’ve got a better idea and a hot tip for
the first race. We’ll call my
cop friend at the West L.A.
precinct from the clubhouse.”
“Sounds good to me,”
Hobby replied. “But where
did you get the hot tip?”
The perp’s license plate
was 5BAM921.
“So?” Hobby said.
“So...in the first race
there’s a horse named
Bambambambino. And the
odds are 9 to 1!”
I’d like to say I made a
bundle on that longshot,
but as of this writing the
nag hasn’t crossed the finish line.
Write to author David Valley
at: [email protected]
Bike’s Legends of Poker
Ac-Qc. She busted on the
next hand with Q-J when
Alspach, with Q-7, turned
a 7.
Alspach, a retired
electronics exec, took a
big hit on hand 55 when
Reategui, with Qh-6h,
turned a flush. Next,
Brandenburg, a retired
mathematician/engineer,
finished fifth. He moved
in for $12,500 with A-9.
Alspach called with K-J
and flopped a king.
Two hands later it got
heads-up. Anthony, using
his chips as a battering
ram, opened for $12,000
with just 7-5. Alspach
called with Ah-2h, then
moved in when a flop of
7h-6c-3h gave him a nut
flush draw. Reategui had
a paired seven, and then
made a straight when an 84 came with no hearts.
It wasn’t much of a
final match-up. Daniel
Alaei, a pro with wins at
Legends and Commerce
and a $55,000 cash-out at
this year’s WSOP championship, had $28,000 and
Reategui had 10 times as
much. On the first hand
Alaei was all in with K10. Reategui had 9-8 and
caught two more 8s to win
going away.
Anthony Reategui
describes himself as one
of the laziest pros in the
business, playing just
often enough to support
his life style. He pretty
much sticks to tournaments, live and online. He
has a bracelet in a World
Series shootout event and
a number of small wins in
Arizona. His normal style
of play is aggressive, and
even more so tonight with
all his chips.
Tonight he needed to
make seven rebuys, but
his investment obviously
paid off. He was down to
$1,000 before the break,
then doubled up and
moved up from there. He
picked up a lot of chips
when it was down to three
tables, because all the players wanted to make the
money and were reluctant
to get involved. He gave
some credit to the lucky
black shirt he was wearing, the same one he had
on when he won the World
Series event.
BICYCLE OF CASINO
EVENT #26
8/23/05
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $500 +$50
PLAYERS 175
REBUYS 243
PRIZE
POOL
$209,000
1.
2.
3.
4.
Anthony Reategui
Anthony Reategui . . $83,600
Daniel Ahei . . . . . . . . $39,715
Dan Alspach . . . . . . . $19,855
Joe Brandenburg . . . $12,540
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Mimi Tran . . . . . . . . . $9,405
Mickey Mills . . . . . . . $7,315
Tony Nguyen . . . . . . . $5,225
Henry Caslin . . . . . . . $4,180
Trace Kingery . . . . . . $3,660
Smith Wins-After 19 Hours!
This was the longest tournament in Bicycle Casino
history. The final table
started at 4:40 a.m. and
ended at 11:30, over four
hours longer than any
prior event. It seemed at
first as if highway builder
John Smith would win
in a walk. He arrived at
the final table way in
front with 105,700 chips
and later knocked out six
straight players to get
heads up with pro player
Phillip Luong holding a
5-1 lead. At one point he
led 17-1. But in the end,
it took a grueling 99hand heads-up battle with
numerous chip-lead changes before Smith could
claim victory in Legends
event 25, $1,000 no-limit
hold’em.
Final table blinds started
at $1,000-$2,000 with
$300 antes, 45:14 remaining. Farzin Akhtar had
been short-chipped and all
in repeatedly since 10 p.m.
He sucked out once more
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
37
The Moving to Las Vegas Legends
Pulling a U Haul Classic! before Luong finally ran A-8. No problem. An 8
Whether it was to start a new life, a gold rush, or to
seek adventure, there have been count-
NEVER PLAY Poker with
a man CALLed “DOC”
By Dr. Scott Aigner, M.D.
less Americans who have moved west
over the centuries. At one time travel across America
was in a covered wagon. The past thirty years it has
been in a U-haul. Unlike in the 1800’s when the migration was westward, the migration to Las Vegas has
been from everywhere. There has been a phenomenal
growth in the past decade and there is little evidence
that this growth will slow down soon. Poker has also
seen an explosion in popularity and has been growing
exponentially over the past several years. I have been
contemplating a move to Las Vegas to play poker
full for some time. That time has finally come. It has
never been a better time for the professional poker
player then right now, in my opinion.
In the past most of those who tried to make it as
a professional would ultimately fail. I have read a
number of articles on how tough it is to make it and
have considered my situation very carefully. I made
a plan to play professionally on a part time basis for
1 year and live out of a suitcase traveling to different
venues to gain first hand knowledge on what it takes
to be a professional poker player. During this time I
found a few things that bothered me. First, was the
travel. Second, was the additional expenses involved
in the travel (especially when I was mainly playing ring
games). Finally, was the fact that I was away from my
family too often. If I didn’t have success in the past
16 months I certainly would not be writing about my
intentions now. Could I still fail? Of course I could! But
I have been living the dream and I want to continue.
My poker career is unique when compared to most
of the other professional poker players who started
out young, single, and without family responsibilities. The majority also end their professional playing
days in their early 40’s. I started mine at 45 and have
a wife and kids. It should not be the ideal time to
change careers but for me it is.
There are a lot of pitfalls to avoid when playing
professionally. I know what they are and my level of
maturity is pivotal to my success. I have the benefit
of starting out with an adequate bankroll. I have been
able to psychologically handle the ups and downs in
poker and learned long ago to avoid the leaks that
occur in a Casino environment. I have no desire to
play games with a negative expectation. If I had
moved to Vegas 10 years ago to play poker professionally there is no doubt that I would have failed.
This article is a little different than what I have
written in the past. Some of you might even be slightly disappointed that I didn’t discuss strategy or a situational analysis. But for those who look a little deeper
they will see that I did give advice about playing the
game. Just as in poker we have to make educated
guesses in life too. If we are not looking at the nuts
we have to add an unknown factor into the equation.
Life is a lot like poker. You need to have a plan, consider all of the alternatives, and make your best decision based on what you know and what you believe to
be most likely (probability). It doesn’t get any simpler
than that.
Dr Aigner is a board certified Urologist. He has multiple final table finishes in major tournaments including a WPO bracelet in 2001. You can contact him at
http://www.PokerStrategyForum.com
38
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
him down on hand 11 with
pocket aces.
Yarom “Yo Yo” Limor,
finding nothing to play and
blinded down to $5,000,
moved in with A-7, the
best he had seen. Sirous
Baghchehsaraie, in the big
blind, called with A-J, and
Limor finished ninth.
At the break, with blinds
now at $1,500-$3,000,
Smith now led with
$164,000.
Paul Lee started in
strong second position
with 820,400, but went
downhill after that. In
particular, he was Smith’s
whipping boy, losing
repeatedly to him. By
hand 43 he was in the big
blind with only $4,500
left. On that hand, Smith
opened for $6,000, Nick
“Chairman” Mao moved
in for about $45,000, Lee
tossed in his last chips,
and then Smith moved in
too. Mao had A-K, Smith
had pocket queens and Lee
just 7-6. When the board
came 10-4-2-10-2, Lee
finished eighth, Mao was
seventh, and Smith now
had about 250k.
Two hands later, Sirous
moved in for about
$25,000 with A-K. Smith
called, way behind with
flopped, and suddenly we
were down to five players. A few hands later,
Smith made it four in a
row. Brian Lee was all in
for $2,500 from the big
blind with Qs-Js and Smith
knocked him out with K-2.
Smith now had
$324,500 to $84,000 for
Mel Starkman; $56,000 for
Luong; and $33,500 for
Jimmy Tran. A deal was
discussed and rejected. In
one of his very few reversals so far, Smith handed
over $60,000 after Luong
moved in with pocket 10s
and Smith missed a flush.
But a few deals later, on
hand 63, he recouped it
all when Starkman moved
in for about 60k with KQ. Smith called with A-Q
and knocked out his fifth
straight player after the
board came J-10-2-J-J.
Smith now had about
430,000 of the 498,000
chips in play. After blinds
went to $3,000-$6,000
with $1,000 antes, Tran,
who had earlier been saved
by a couple of great laydowns, finally went out
when he moved in with
Q-J on a flop of 10-8-8
and Smith nailed his sixth
straight victim with pocket
jacks.
of P
Heads-up, he led Luong
314k to 84k. But Luong
gradually moved up until
hand 103 when his pocket
7s held up against K-Q
and he took a lead of about
280k-220k. It looked as if
Luong might get the win
until he lost a $454,000
pot, with 9-9 versus 10-10
and was suddenly back
down to 28k. Back and
forth the lead went with
Luong in charge again at
the $6,000-$12,000 level
when he missed a straight
but made a flush. After
many more twists and
turns, the final turnaround
came when Smith, with
A-K to Kc-10c, left Luong
with 58k. Four deals later,
on hand 185, the marathon
finally ended when Luong
was all in with 9-6 and lost
to Smith’s 10-7 when a 7
flopped.
John Smith is in the
highway construction
business, but finds time
to play a fair amount of
tournaments. His biggest
win came when he took
first place and an official
$127,410 in a $1,000 L.A.
Poker Classic event this
year. He chopped that
one, and refused to do a
deal this time because he
wanted a pure win. He also
wanted to redeem him-
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Poker at the Bike
self because he was still
annoyed at letting Tuan Le
bluff him in a big pot at
a Five-Star Classic event.
He also has a fourth in a
Winnin’ o’ the Green event
this year
He felt that the key to
his victory tonight was his
inconsistency, trying to not
do the same things twice
and keeping everyone
guessing and being aggressive when he needed to be.
He paid tribute to Phillip
Luong. “He did a superb
job. For a time I felt he
was going to win it.”
Short-chipped, he had to
call a raise all in with 6-4
and missed an open-end
straight draw.
Blinds at the final table
started at $2,000-$4,000
with $500 antes, 35:55
left. On the first deal the
rich got richer. John Lau
moved in for $30,000 with
pocket queens. Quintero
called with A-K, turned an
ace and now had 200k.
Luis Villalobos finished
ninth when he raised his
last $12,000 with A-J.
Alan Myerson, with K-9,
filled when three 4s and
a king hit. On hand 20,
Mike Sadeghian threw in
his last $6,500 with Q-5.
He got two callers and
Nam Le broke him with
a paired 7. Next to depart
was Myerson. He moved
in for $7,000 with Ad-2d,
missed a flush and lost to
Reategui, who also paired
a 7.
Blinds were now
$3,000-$6,000 with $1,000
antes. Quintero was still
way ahead with $208,500,
while Jim Phan was on life
support with $5,500, then
$2,500. But Phan made a
quick recovery, tripling up
by flopping a straight, then
doubling through by flopping two pair, eventually
climbing to $40,000.
Mark Bryan, a mortgage
broker, was in trouble
throughout the final table,
all in many times. On hand
35, he was down to $1,000
when Sang Pham turned
A-2 into a straight. But
after three more all-ins,
Bryan recovered.
Hand 41 was the big
one. Reategui, kept betting
with 9-9 while Quintero
kept calling with 4-4 on a
flop of J-7-3 and a 6 turn
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BICYCLE OF CASINO
EVENT #25
8/22/05
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $1,000 +$70
PLAYERS 249
PRIZE
POOL
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
$249,000
John Smith
John Smith . . . . . . . . $93,405
Phillip Luong . . . . . . $47,310
Jimmy Tran . . . . . . . $23,655
Melvin Starkman. . . $16,185
Brian Lee . . . . . . . . . $11,205
Sirus B . . . . . . . . . . . . $8,715
Nick Mao . . . . . . . . . . $6,225
Paul Lee . . . . . . . . . . . $4,980
Yarom Limor . . . . . . . $3,735
Nam Le Wins in
Late Rush
Tonight’s $300 no-limit
event was anything but
predictable. First it seemed
that Albert Quintero, a car
wash owner, would hose
it. He started the final
table with an enormous
lead of 167,500 chips,
building to more than
200,000. Then, Arizona
pro Anthony Reategui
beat him in a $145,000
pot and surged into an
even bigger lead. Next,
after a massacre with four
players gunned down in
seven hands, Reategui got
heads up with Nam Le
with a nearly 2-1 advantage. After five hands, Le
slipped into a slight lead,
and two hands later the
Huntington Beach pro had
all the chips and the title.
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table was PokerStars marketing VP Dan Goldman.
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S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
39
Overcalls
PART 3: NLHE Small Buy-In Tournament Strategy
improving performance
SMALL STAKES TOURNAMENTS
PART 55, Enticing
By TOM “TIME” LEONARD
As we continue our attempt to ferret out possible nuances of our game
which can be improved upon, today let’s delve into
when it might be appropriate to entice several overcalls instead of raising with our very best hands.
An overcall is when a player calls after a player in
front of him has already called the initial bettor.
Experienced players realize that to overcall requires
a better hand than just calling. Obviously, the difference is that you now need to beat more than one
hand. The bettor could be bluffing but the caller
in front of you sure isn’t. Many beginning to intermediate players are too focused to the perceived
strength of their own hands and automatically fold
weak ones, call with mediocre ones and raise with
strong ones. On the surface that course of action
sounds reasonable. However, winning poker is about
maximizing the amount of bets won not playing by
some predetermined formula. You need to recognize profitable situations and exploit them.
As an example, if you’re in a five way hand and
the turn card just made you a monster and an
opponent bets into you with three players yet to
act behind you, should you raise? If you feel that
your hand is strong enough that it doesn’t need to
be protected and that your raise, in all likelihood,
will induce the players behind you to fold then you
should just flat call to trap additional bets behind
you. A raise in this instance would probably yield
one additional bet from the call of the original bettor while a call may capture three additional bets
from the players yet to act. In addition, a call might
entice one of those players behind you to raise so
that you can then re-raise. It’s simple math but an
opportunity that is often missed by less experienced
or savvy players.
Before you decide to adopt this strategy there are
certain criteria which should be met to make it the
ploy of choice. Obviously, you need players behind
you but they also should be players who don’t truly
understand the dynamics of overcalling. You also
need a hand that you’re fairly certain is the winner,
although if the original bettor has you beaten you
will lose less than you would have if you had raised.
So that’s a bonus to utilizing this strategy. Another
criteria is the size of the pot. You should only
attempt enticing overcalls if the pot is not too large.
If the pot is large, the opponents behind you may
well feel compelled to call your raise based on the
pot size and thereby pad your win even further.
Our goal for this session is one we’ve had before.
Namely, not to play automatic/formula poker but to
consider the elements of each situation to utilize
strategies that will enhance your bottom line. If
you’re trying to win one to two big bets per hour
then the situation outlined above could earn you
an extra couple of hours by being astute enough to
recognize a situation in which it makes more sense
to entice overcalls instead of chasing away customers. Then you can knock off early and go to the ball
game. In fact, you should buy a round of beers and
hotdogs for your buddies with that extra money.
See you next “TIME”.
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].
40
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
Betting
As we continue to look at
what makes for a successful
strategy in low buy-in tournaments, always remember
that if the blinds have not
caught up to you yet, they
soon will. For this reason, it
is important that you understand how to bet effectively.
I learned the importance
of betting your big hands
properly in one of my early
tournaments. There were
six limpers who saw a flop
of J-9-3. The player who
initially limped under-thegun fired a big bet at the
pot, was called by a middle
position player, then the
button minimum-raised.
The initial bettor pushed
all-in, the middle position
player pushed, and the button called!
Their hands? The early
limper had had K-K, the
button had A-A, and middle
position had J-9. When I
was finally to able close my
mouth (it had been hanging
open rather widely), I asked
the guy on the button why
he would limp with A-A in
that position. “I was just
trying to build the pot.”
Yech. I’m not sure that’s
a proper way to begin a
new paragraph, but how can
you say anything else on
such a poorly played hand?
True, K-K would have gone
broke no matter how the
action went, but the A-A
player drove the nail into
his own coffin.
If there’s one mistake I
see happen over and over
again, it’s people misplaying pocket Aces and pocket
Kings, usually followed by
the statement, “I was just
trying to build the pot.” I
won a tournament last week
due largely to one key hand
when we were down to
four players. Two players
limped, the chip-leader in
the small blind minimumraised, I called with the
5-6 of hearts since I knew
the other two would follow suit. I busted the small
blind’s K-K on a flop of
x-6-6.
If you recall, our first
key concept from the last
article was practice selec-
By Jeremiah Smith
tive aggression. We achieve
this through our betting, so
our second key concept is
that a big hand equals a big
bet. Believe it or not, there
is such a thing as value-betting pre-flop.
In low buy-in tournaments, the overwhelming
majority of players in these
tournaments will call any
raise pre-flop with any
pocket pair in the early and
middle stages. If the blinds
are 50-100 and you have
1900 chips, go ahead and
pop it up to 750. This does
two things:
1) It eliminates the possibility of people calling
with suited connectors—the hands that
have a better chance
of cracking you once
they see a flop.
2) It’s really tough to
extract extra chips
from a small-medium
pair once a scare card
hits the flop and they
miss their set.
Hands like K-Q, A-Q, AJ and any pocket pair will
call you almost every time.
Since you are only going to
get a few premium hands,
it’s important to maximize
your winnings. Just don’t
forget to adjust your exact
betting amount to the tex-
ture of the table.
In the middle stages, our
third concept is what will
make or break your tournament. Knowing when
to stop raising and start
pushing can be the difference. Because a standard
raise can often make you
pot-committed, getting
all your money in now is
sometimes the best move.
In the next two articles, I
will share with you how
to vary this strategy up by
making effective “smallball” moves to keep you in
contention.
In tournaments that
include antes in their structure, stealing the blinds
and antes by pushing is
essential. Picking these
up at least once a round
can keep you alive. It’s all
about what Dan Harrington
calls “first in vigorish,” that
is you make other players
react to you by putting all
your money in.
• Early position: any
pair 7-7 or higher, A-K,
A-Q, A-J
• Middle position: add
any pair, A10, K-Q,
K-J suited, QJ suited,
10-J suited
• Late position: just
about anything depend(Continued on page 45)
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Legends of Poker at the Bike
card. The 9s held up, and
suddenly Quintero was
down to about $80,000
while Reategui had roughly $240,000.
The slaughter started
right after blinds went to
$4,000-$8,000 with $1,500
antes. First, Pham pushed
in his $7,500 with K-J and
Le beat him with pocket
4s. A hand later, Phan
moved in for $40,000
with A-2, missed a wheel
draw, and finished fifth
when Reategui, with A-4,
flopped a 4. Next it was
Quintero’s turn. He committed with Ad-4d and
couldn’t catch Reategui’s
pocket jacks. And then
Bryan moved in for
$13,000 with Q-7. “I’m
game,” said Reategui.
“I’m in,” said Le. Le, with
K-2, did the job when a
king flopped.
Heads-up, Reategui,
who won a WSOP nolimit shootout this year,
had about 325k to 171
for Le. After three hands,
Le moved into a slight
lead when Reategui made
a $30,000 bluff into a
board of K-10-2-6-K,
then mucked when Le
called. On the final hand,
Reategui had K-Q and had
what looked like a good
flop of Q-J-8. But Le, with
J-8, had two pair. When
a 7 turned, Nam bet 40k
and Reategui moved in
for 166k. Le had him just
covered and that ended the
evening.
(As a footnote, the saddest record of Legends
2005 thus far is held by
Chris Grigorian, who said
he has finished three times
on the bubble. Come on
Chris, break the bubble.)
Nam Le has been playing full time for about a
year and a half, mostly
tournaments, but also
$100-$200 limit side
games. His biggest tournament cash-out was
$152,000 for finishing
sixth in the Bellagio’s
Five Diamond event last
year. He also has wins
at Commerce’s Holiday
Bonus tournament and
in $300 no-limit event at
the Hustler’s Grand Slam
last month. He’s had three
cashes in nine WSOP tries.
Tonight, while he was
never “desperate,” he
never had many chips
until he won a big pot
with 13 players left when
he flopped a set of 5s
against pocket 7s. His
style of play depends on
the players, and he felt
this final table was on the
passive side, which made
his choices easier. In the
hand where he picked off
Reagesui’s bluff and took
the lead, he disclosed that
he had pocket 9s. “I would
have called no matter
what,” he said.
BICYCLE OF CASINO
EVENT #24
8/21/05
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $300 +$40
PLAYERS 377
REBUYS 619
PRIZE
POOL
$298,800
Nam Le
1. Nam Le . . . . . . . . . . $110,550
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Anthony Reategui . . $54,530
Mark Bryan . . . . . . . $26,890
Albert Quintero . . . . $17,930
John Phan . . . . . . . . $13,445
Sang Pham . . . . . . . . $10,455
Alan Myerson . . . . . . $7,460
Mike Sadeghian . . . . . $5,975
Luis Villalobos . . . . . . $4,480
Online Pro Wins
1K Event
Giving up a job he “hated,”
as a computer consultant
in New Hampshire, Jim
Buckley moved west,
began playing full time
online, studied hard and
tonight won his first major
land tournament, $1,000
limit hold’em.
It took about two hours
to lose the last two players
before the final table started at 3 a.m. With limits of
$1,000-$2,000, 260,570
chips in play, hour rounds,
and the smallest stack
being $16,000, it looked
like a long day ahead. At
least we had David Levi to
entertain us with his singing and dialect wisecracks.
It then took only eight
deals to lose our first player, poker player Ali Eslami,
who was lowest chipped.
He was all in with A-8,
in bad shape against Tom
Kang’s A-9, and in much
worse shape when an ace
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S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
41
Relax and Do Exactly
What I Tell You
BacK in the saddle Again
I have been asked many times to teach
poker players how to play poker and how
to win poker tournaments. Well, I would like first to tell
you folks that today I teach poker—a lot better than I play
poker.
I have been playing poker for over 70 years and that’s
a long period of time to do most anything. In my long
lifetime, I have done most everything, seen most everything, heard most everything, been most everywhere, had
my foot caught in a lot of traps, got out of the traps and
snares of life with a few scars of the battles...
...And have played in a lot of poker games.
Today I still can play a little poker! But I am happy to tell
you that I have taken the actor Clint Eastwood’s advice—
remember when he said in one of his movies—“A man has
to learn his limitations.”? So thanks to Clint, I have learned
my limitations—I have learned my limitations both in life
and the living of it, and poker and the playing of it.
On certain days for short periods of time—I still enjoy
playing the game of poker. I never grow tired of talking
poker or writing poker or for than matter teaching poker.
So for the next few columns here in the Poker Player
newspaper I plan in this column, “Back in the Saddle
Again,” to attempt to teach you folks a little poker.
I plan to open online—as the OK-J Oklahoma University
of Poker—soon, so you are invited to enroll in my new
poker university.
Over the years I have given out poker advice to many
poker players! I am going to write a lot of this advice
down—and tell a lot of you young whippersnappers just
how to win when you play poker and how to win poker
tournaments.
But first let me tell you about just one about one of my
past poker students. This lady had never played the game
of No Limit Hold Em’ Poker.
She had played the game of Blackjack in the casinos.
There was to be a ladies-only poker tournament and
each player who had played in the America’s Cup poker
classic at the Old Vegas World in Las Vegas, Nevada who
wanted to could nominate a lady to play for them in the
ladies only event. The winner was to receive the championship trophy and a full length mink coat.
The lady that I had selected to represent me in the
ladies only event was named Jane. Jane said to me,
“Johnny, I have never played this No Limit Hold em” game
of poker!”
I said, “That’s all right Jane, I will give you a five minute
lesson on how to play!”
Jane said, “Johnny, I am a fast learner—but not that fast.”
I said, “Just relax and do exactly what I tell you. Now
listen up close for just five minutes and I will make you a
ladies poker champion!”
Jane listened to me and followed my instructions exactly and she won the ladies tournament and the full length
mink fur coat.
Yes, Jane was my wife Carol’s mother.
If you cannot wait until the next column to learn what I
told her in that five-minute lesson that caused her to win
her first no limit hold em poker tournament—Email me at
[email protected] and I will give you the five-minute
lesson that will be published here in the next issue of
PokerPlayer.
Until next time, remember to STAY LUCKY!!!
Editor’s Notes: You may contact OK-J at his e-mail
[email protected], or play poker LIVE, ONLINE
with Johnny, Carol and Sarah at www.OK-J.com.
Johnny’s book, “The Gentleman Gambler,” is in its
third printing. Contact Johnny for your copy.
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
Online Poker
by Doyle Brunson
183pp w/bonus CD, $14.95
No-Limit Life
By OKLAHOMA JOHNNY HALE
42
Book reviews
by Charlie Shoten
117pp, $19.95
Brunson’s Online
Poker & Shoten’s
No-Limit Life—
Both Invigorating
Books
World Series of Poker
Champion Doyle
Brunson’s Online Poker
and Charlie Shoten’s NoLimit Life are new arrivals
in poker literature and both
have value for those who
are serious about improving their game.
Brunson, whose reputation as a player and author
(Super System, Super
System 2) was established
in the 1970s and which
continues today, joins a
new wave of authors advising the novice on what
to expect in the world of
online play; including
more than two dozen poker
strategies and identifying
online “tells.” In a dozen
concise, but well-illustrated
chapters he discusses the
impact of televised poker
and how online poker now
ushers in a new era.
One chapter offers a
list of places to play with
information on where you
may learn to play or discuss the game and the benefits of online learning.
Brunson, ever the teacher, recommends how to
download software, fund
your account, and how to
get a taste by playing small
money before advancing to
bigger.
The meatiest chapter
focuses on the basic rules
of play and procedures
including how hold ‘em,
Omaha and seven-stud and
other games are played
followed by an interesting
discussion on why online
play is worse than live
play.
Eight pages later,
Brunson re-focuses with
two dozen reasons online
poker is better (including
the practice factor, more
hands per hour, no tipping
required, playing for smaller limits).
Brunson advises avoiding doing anything fancy
in a game filled with weak
players. “Online, you’ll
find that opponents are
treating poker a little more
than bingo, paying attention to their own hands
mostly and paying attention to you only a little or
not at all ... make obvious,
strong decisions. Don’t try
to be too fancy....”
This book might be
subtitled Concise Online
Poker. Brunson writes to
the point -- short sentences,
common sense, direct -with examples and a world
of experience to draw
from. I highly recommend
it to those motivated to try
online poker and who have
many a question about how
to go about it properly.
Charlie Shoten is a positive thinker, an optimist,
philosopher, and a solid
no-limit player who has
found peace within himself
and has learned control,
self-discipline and the
power to focus during long
poker sessions, especially
those tournaments where
many a play may “hit the
wall” in regard to mental
and physical stamina.
Many a player has gone
on tilt or made a men-
tal error
because
of fatigue.
Many players
have not yet learned how
to deal with bad beats,
losses, damage to an ego
and self-esteem. They selfdestruct for a variety of
reasons.
Shoten has come to grips
with the key factors. His
book is not so much what
cards to play and how but
dealing with negativity,
enhancing self-esteem,
establishing “positive persona” at the tables, and
learning how to avoid or
bounce back from disasters.
This might be called a
“mind-clearing” book as it
is filled with advice about
positive thinking and how
to apply the principles at
the card table. The book
has soul, depth of character. It makes you look at
yourself differently, putting
poker, survival and quality
life in proper perspective.
I can’t guarantee you’ll
become an overnight winner after reading the book,
but you’ll certainly better
understand that it takes
more than luck and a big
stack to win regularly.
—Howard Schwartz
recuse myself.”
The purpose of the
(Continued from page 30) Supreme Court is to make
certain the rules of the
game are followed. Chief
legislative and political
Justice William O. Douglas
issues facing the Court.
called the Court the “keeper
In an NBC interview,
of the conscience”. Hence,
Chief Justice Rehnquist
was asked if he would with- it is easy to understand
why poker - a democratic
draw himself from a case
game of honor, integrity,
involving one of his poker
wit, and wisdom – has long
buddies. The 80-year old
Chief Justice said, “No. If it appealed to Justices of the
United States Supreme
were a regular game... and
Court.
the only occasion I saw the
person was at the monthly
game, no, I don’t think I’d
e-mail: [email protected]
William H. Rehnquist
Legends
and 9 flopped.
Blinds went to $1,000$1,500 with $1,500-$3,000
limits. The two biggest
gainers in the round had
been Robert “Chip Burner”
Turner, firing away, picking up pots, and doubling
his starting chips to about
$40,000, and Levi, who
had moved up sharply,
from $27,500 to roughly
$50,000.
On hand 19, Jason
Steinhorn, an engineering
manager with a second
in a limit hold’em event
at the World Series this
year, started with 9c-2h in
the big blind and flopped
a nine. When four hearts
came, he had a baby flush
and bet his last chips.
Antoine Hasrouni, who
had called all the way
with 5h-5s, had a bigger
flush and two were gone.
Meanwhile, Levi had kept
moving up, and by the
time he won a pot with
a flopped set of 10s was
close to $70,000.
On hand 68, at 4:30
a.m., X.B. Reed III, a
CEO, raised with As-4s.
Turner re-raised and Reed
three-bet and went all in.
Turner’s jacks held up, and
we were down to seven.
Limits became $3,000$6,000. Nick Henna went
all in and survived for the
fourth time when he paired
an ace to outrun Hasrouni’s
pocket 10s, and eventually moved into the lead
with about $50,000...then
$65,000. “Free-fall then
parachute,” observed Kang,
making an up-and-down
motion with his hand. As
play continued, Buckley
took a big pot from Kang
and began to move into
contention.
Turner went all in from
the small blind on hand
76 with Ah-6h. Edward
Yoo had A-K in the big
blind and it was over when
a king flopped as Turner
finished seventh. Yoo, a
financial analyst, had started as second chip-leader,
but had been hanging on
for a long time. Finally, at
5 a.m., he re-raised all in
with A-Q and got knocked
out when Henna’s pocket
8s held up.
Then, just a few hands
later, Hasrouni, an engineer, went broke. He was
PART 3: NLHE Small Buy-In Tournament Strategy
all in with A-10 and lost
to Kang’s J-J on a board
of 5-3-3-Q-5. Four were
left, none of them shortchipped. As play went on,
Buckley beat Henna, a
food broker salesman, in a
couple of pots and moved
into the lead. Kang, meanwhile, had gotten shortchipped and went out in
a capped pot. He had A-4
and lost when Henna, with
K-6, flopped a king.
At the next break,
Buckley had 120k; Henna,
107k; and Levi was down
to 33k. Returning, the
limits were now $5,000(Continued on page 45)
S M A L L S TA K E S T O U R N A M E N T S
Betting
ing on who is in the
blinds
Middle position is the
trickiest spot. If you can’t
raise with a hand because
there are too many following your action, it’s usually
best to just pass.
Generally open-pushing
in early position with a big
pair is not a bad play as the
likelihood of being called
by a smaller pair increases.
I read about a hand where
Scott Fischman pushed allin pre-flop under the gun
with A-A at this year’s first
c o n t ’d
from
$1500 WSOP event for an
inordinate amount of chips
in relationship to blinds
and was called by 9-9.
When an average-to-big
stack open-pushes most
players put you on a small
pair. With a big hand in
late position, a standard
raise is the right move as
there are less players with
a chance of giving you
action. (Around the bubble
and at the final table, I
recommend a standard
raise since action is much
tighter).
page
40
I have seen a conservative player win an
occasional small buy-in
tournament, but the best
long-term results are from
the players who pick their
spots wisely and have no
fear pushing all of their
chips into the middle. As
you develop this fearlessness, I’ll be watching for
you at the next final table.
I’m really looking forward to our next few articles as we start looking into
how to make successful
moves in these events.
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S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
43
Entertainment
Listings
Entertainment RePORT
By LEN BUTCHER
I recently went to see impressionist/singer
Gordie Brown at the Golden Nugget, where he
performs every night except Wednesday and
Thursday. Here‚s a guy with great talent and who puts 110 percent
into every show. The night I was there, which was a weeknight, the
joint was packed and he got a well-deserved five-minute standing
ovation at the end of his performance. I had a chance to catch up
with him after the show to find out a little bit more about him.
Brown hails from Montreal and began his working career as a
political cartoonist for an Ottawa newspaper. His fellow workers
secretly entered him in a contest after listening to him do some
impressions in the office. He reluctantly entered, but ended up
winning. That, he says, “Got a lot of media attention and then
everything snowballed from there.”
It was also a big move for him because, he says, “I was basically shy, so winning the contest gave me the self confidence to
continue.”
Not knowing exactly what area of showbiz he wanted to pursue,
Brown began by writing songs and joining a band. He says, “The
impressions really didn’t take hold until after I’d seen Rich Little
perform. Before that, I’d done a bit of Elvis and Michael Jackson,
but that was it. When I went to see Rich Little, I was in the front
row and he shook my hand and I was so awed by his performance,
I went home that night thinking, ‘if I can do two impressions, why I
can’t I learn more?’
“Initially, I started out doing Rich’s material, but little by
little started writing my own. I’ve always had a comic sense and
my mind always thought that way. When I was on stage it was
always easier for me to ad lib then to labor over writing a joke.
So between the ad libbing and the writing, it all started to come
together at the right time.”
He first came to Las Vegas in the late ‘80s to look for work,
didn‚t have much luck, returned to Canada, but then got a call to
come back to Vegas, and he hasn’t looked back.
After opening for people like Paul Anka and Rich Little, as well
as other Las Vegas shows, he was asked to perform at the Golden
Nugget.
“The Golden Nugget people have been wonderful. I’ve been
happy with them and they with me, so it’s worked out well.”
For now, Brown’s happy to be living and working in Las Vegas.
It’s great when you can be home with your family every day (he
has four children). “I just want to keep entertaining and building
my name in this town.”
So far he’s doing a great job at both. Catch his show. You won’t
be disappointed.
Andre Agassi’s 10th Grand Slam for Children will be featuring
another superstar lineup when it takes to the stage Oct. 1 at the
MGM Grand. Mary J. Blige, Celine Dion, Duran Duran, Earth, Wind &
Fire and George Lopez are just a few of the stars already on board
and David Foster will again return as musical director. This is a
major event in our town and it’s all for a good cause.
It’s interesting to note that comedian Robin Williams, who has
been a fixture at the event, will not appear this year, supposedly
because of using blue material in his act. Also missing for the second year in a row is Dennis Miller, whose political comments two
years ago brought on an angry outburst from Elton John during
the closing act. Time to kiss and make up, guys.
Tickets are $150 and $100 (not including applicable service
charges and taxes), and you can get them at the MGM Grand
Garden Arena box office, all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations
(Tower Records/WOW!, select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers,
Robinsons-May stores and Ritmo Latino).
Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person. You can also
charge by phone, call MGM Grand Reservations at 800-929-1111,
or Ticketmaster at (702) 474-4000. Or you can go to www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com. Is there anywhere you
can’t get them?
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]
44
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
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]
CALIFORNIA
Agua Caliente Casino
Comedy Shop
Arena Patio
DJ / Karaoke
Live Bands
Ballroom Dance Party
Crystal Park Casino & Hotel Cambodian Dance Party
(16)
Karaoke
El As De Oros Night Club
Darryl Worley
Fantasy Springs Resort
Hall & Oates
Harrah’s Rincon
Hollywood Park Casino (7) Finish Line Lounge
Pechanga Resort & Casino (28) Liza Minnelli
CONNECTICUT
Saber Al-Rubai
Foxwoods Resort Casino
Drew Carey
Mohegan Sun Casino
MISSISSIPPI
Gold Strike Hotel Casino
Crystal Gayle
(Tunica)
Wayne Newton
Grand Casino (Biloxi)
The Temptations
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Colgate Country Showdown
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SHeDAISY
Horseshoe Casino (Tunica)
NEW JERSEY
Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina
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X, an Erotic Adventure
Tropicana Casino & Resort Josh Gracin
(Atlantic City)
NEW YORK
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NEVADA-LAS VEGAS
Magician Steve Wyrick
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Donn Arden’s Jubilee!
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O
Bellagio Resort & Casino
Boulder Station Hotel &
Sammy Kershaw
Casino (10)
Ronnie Milsap
Cannery Hotel & Casino
Thunder From Down Under
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Gladys Knight
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Golden Nugget Hotel &
Casino
Tony Bennett
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Harrah’s Hotel & Casino
Imperial Palace Hotel &
Legends In Concert
Casino (21)
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Casino
MGM Grand
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Magician Lance Burton
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Palace Station Hotel &
Laugh Trax comedy club
Casino (10)
The Comedy Zone
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The Platters, Coasters and
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(34)
Eddie Money
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Rick Thomas
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Casino
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LAUGHLIN
Blues Brews Festival
Colorado Belle Hotel Casino Riverboat Ramblers Strolling
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RENO
The Palmores
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Smokey Joe’s Cafe
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ZZ Top
Reno Hilton Hotel Casino
8:30 p.m. Featuring three top comedians
weekly.
Joker’s Comedy Club, Karaoke Thursdays 8 p.m.
Sunday-Wednesday, 9 p.m.
Fridays & Saturdays, 9 p.m.
Thursdays 8 p.m. to Midnight, Sundays 2-6 p.m.
Fridays 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Thursday through Monday
Presents Banda Nortina Sats 8 p.m.-3 a.m.
Sept 21, 8 p.m.
Sept 25, 8 p.m.
Live Jazz, Tues. 8 p.m.
Sept 30, 8 p.m.
Sept 15, 7 p.m.
Sept 29, 7 p.m.
Oct 28, 8 p.m.
Sept 22-23, 8 p.m.
Sept 30, 9 p.m. & Oct 1, 8 p.m.
Oct 1, 7 p.m.
Sept 23, 9 p.m.
Sept 24, 8 p.m.
thru Sept 4, 8 p.m.
Sept 30-Oct 1, 8 p.m..
Sept 30, 8 p.m.
Ongoing, Wednesday through Monday, 7 & 10 p.m.
Sat-Thu, 8 p.m.
Fridays through Tuesdays, 7:30 & 10:30 p.m.
Sept 23, 8 p.m.
Sept 24, 8 p.m.
Fridays through Wednesdays. 8:30 & 10:30 p.m.
Tuesdays through Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 p.m.
Mondays through Saturdays, 2 & 4 p.m.
Thursdays through Tuesdays, 8 p.m.
Ongoing, 7:30 p.m.
Sept 22-24, 8 p.m.
Monday through Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Mondays through Saturdays, 7 & 10 p.m.
7 p.m. Nightly
Tuesdays through Sundays, 8:30 p.m.
7 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays; 8 p.m.
Fridays; 7 & 10:30 p.m. Saturdays, Mondays.
Sept 24, 8 p.m.
Oct 15, 8 p.m.
8 p.m. (Monday thru Friday)
Sept 23, 9 p.m. & Sept 24, 10:30 p.m.
Tuesdays thru Saturdays, 7pm; Tuesdays &
Saturdays. 7 & 10 p.m.
Sept 22-25, 8 p.m.
7:30 & 10 p.m. Tuesdays thru Saturdays.
9 p.m. Tuesdays thru Sundays.
8 p.m. nightly
Sept 20, 4:30 p.m. & 8:30 p.m.
Sept 17, 7 & 9 p.m.
Sept 21-24, 8 p.m.
Ongoing, 2 & 4 p.m.
Ongoing, 10:30 p.m.
Ongoing, 6:30 & 8:30 p.m.
Ongoing, 2 & 4 p.m.
Nov 11, 7:30 p.m.
Fridays and Saturdays, 10 p.m.
Ongoing, 7:30 p.m. & 10 p.m.
Ongoing, 8 p.m.
Sept 24, All Day
Fridays & Saturdays, 8 p.m.
Sept 16, 8 p.m.
Oct 8-10, 7 p.m.
Sept 28-Oct 2, 8 p.m.
10 p.m.-4 a.m.
Jun 9-Sep 4, 8 p.m.
Sept 24, 8 p.m.
Legends of Poker at the Bike
$10,000. In the next few
hands, Buckley beat Henna
twice and lost to Levi
once, and then a chip-count
deal was proposed as the
time neared 6 a.m. Buckley
had 150,000 chips and of
the remaining 140,000,
Henna had slightly more
than Levi. The deal was
made and Buckley’s credentials as a pro were
established.
After struggling for a
year playing at Foxwoods,
Jim Buckley began playing
online last summer, and
then seriously and full time
after he quit his computer
job in November. He paid
for the move here from his
winnings in a Vegas trip.
Until now, he had been
playing almost exclusively
online. It was slow going
for a while, but recently
things fell into place. “I
feel I’ve got a really good
system now,” Buckley
said. While he’s won some
smallish tournaments
online, this is his first big
win “against pros.” From
here he plans to go to
Foxwoods for the World
Poker Tour.
Tonight in early going
he was all in but fought his
way back. “I played really
well, but also had good
cards,” he said. He had
trouble handling Henna
when it was five or sixhanded, because Henna,
playing aggressively, had
position. “But later, when
I had position on him, that
took his aggressiveness
away. I had him after that.”
BICYCLE OF CASINO
EVENT #23
8/20/05
LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $1,000 +$70
PLAYERS 130
PRIZE
POOL
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
$130,000
Jim Buckley
Jim Buckley . . . . . . . $52,000
Nick Henna . . . . . . . $24,700
David Levi . . . . . . . . $12,350
Tom Kang . . . . . . . . . . $7,800
Antoine Hasroomi . . . $5,850
6.
7.
8.
9.
Edward Yoo . . . . . . . . $4,550
Robert Turner . . . . . . $3,250
X.B. Reed III . . . . . . . $2,600
Jason Steinhorn . . . . . $2,275
Plastics Maker
Wins 145K!
In a pot that had more than
700,000 of the 774,000
chips in play, Alex Shin
turned A-3 into a wheel,
left David “The Dragon”
Pham (who had pocket
queens) in third place
and then nailed down a
$145,125 no-deals victory
a few hands later. It was
the second tournament victory for the plastics manufacturer.
On hand 55, Shin
began to turn everything
around. On a flop of 106-5, Tilston, with 10-3,
made a small bet. Shin,
with K-10 moved in for
$124,000 more. Tilston
called and was left with
about $65,000 when he
didn’t help. Then, on the
next hand, Tilston opened
for $20,000, Shin moved
in with A-3 for about
$360,000, and Pham, with
Q-Q called all in for about
$240,000. Tilston, after
long thought, folded his
K-Q and saved himself
$71,595 after a board of
4-4-2-8-5 gave Shin a
miracle wheel.
Shin picked up Tilston’s
last chips a few hands later
when he moved in with
Ks-10s and Shin, with Jd8d, made a flush.
Alex Shin imports and
manufacturers plastic
houseware items. He’s
been playing poker for
just two or three years
and divides his time about
equally between cash
games and tournaments.
In live action he plays nolimit games, $600 buy-ins
at one casino, and either
$500 or $1,000 at another.
He’s had no prior liveaction tournament win, in
a $500 Heavenly Hold’em
event, and has another win
in an online tournament.
He said he was in
good shape throughout this
two-day event. His style is
to play a lot of hands and
see what the flop brings,
rather than to move in a
lot. Tonight he played a
lot of suited connectors,
which paid off a lot for
him. When he arrived
for day two he had about
$90,000 in chips, arrived
at the final table in second
position with $182,000,
and was never in any difficulty after that.
BICYCLE OF CASINO
EVENT #22
8/19/05
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $1,500 +$80
PLAYERS 258
PRIZE
POOL
$387,000
Alex Shin
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
Alex Shin . . . . . . . . $145,125
Keith Tilston . . . . . . $73,530
David Pham . . . . . . . $36,765
Russ Floyd . . . . . . . . $25,155
Steven King . . . . . . . $17,415
Delmiro Toldeo . . . . $13,545
Danny Pourat. . . . . . . $9,675
Ruth Turobiner . . . . . $7,740
Phuoc Nguyen . . . . . . $5,805
45
Instant Hand Histories
Imagine this scenario in a realworld cardroom: You
make a river bet, get called, and turn
over your hand. Your opponent mucks
2005 WORLDWIDE
POKER TOURNAMENTS
NOW! Get Tournament Listings at our website: www.pokerplayernewspaper.com
KILLER Poker
>Denotes Advertiser; Poker Association Events also denoted: t=World Poker Tour,
s=World Series of Poker and e=European Poker Tour.
By John Vorhaus
his cards without showing, but curiosity gets the best of you, so you reach into the
muck and peek at his discards. How many times do
you think you could do this before they threw your
sorry, angle-shooting ass out of the casino?
Yet online you can do it all day, every day, and if
you’re not aware of it you should be. Every online
poker site has a handy little feature called instant
hand histories. At the click of a button, a little text
box pops up or, on some sites, a graphic clone of
the hand just played. There, much to your delight,
you will see the cards of everyone who called the
final bet, whether they voluntarily showed their
hands or not. Likewise, if everyone checked on the
river, everyone’s cards will be laid naked to the
world in the instant hand history.
This tool is so massively useful, it’s sometimes
worth not betting on the river, just to see what the
other guy had. Suppose you make a raise up front
with, let’s say, pocket eights. You get reraised from
‘round back, but the flop comes so scary, perhaps
three to a royal flush, that both you and your foe
are frozen into inaction. By the time you get to the
river, you’re pretty sure that if you bet he’ll fold,
and if the pot’s big enough to be worth winning, of
course you’ll bet. But suppose both you and your
foe’s money is very deep (or you’re in the early
rounds of a sitngo, when chips are cheap.) If you
check, and he checks behind you, your hand will be
revealed first and if you have him beat his will go in
the muck. But it’ll still be there in the hand history,
and a click of a button will reveal it to you. Why
that lying sack of sushi! He reraised with 7-8 suited! Well! Well, indeed. That’s a thing worth knowing.
I find that instant hand histories are indispensable in match play, where I’m concerned with the
betting patterns of just a single opponent, and it’s
well worthwhile to know whether he considers A-x
a raising hand, whether he likes to drag his monsters and, most crucially, whether he’ll call with
cheese. Instant hand histories give me access to
this information and, as noted above, it’s sometimes worthwhile just to check it down at the river
for the sake of seeing what he’s got. It’s amazing
how quickly the picture comes clear.
Of course my picture is equally being revealed,
assuming my foe is smart enough to click the
hand history button, and why would I assume
otherwise? For this reason, I’ll sometimes make
small river bets I wouldn’t otherwise bet. Say
I don’t want it known that I raised preflop with
utter cheese but we get to the river without much
further action. At this point I may know that the
only way to keep my hand a secret is to bet if he
checks, and hope he folds. If I bet and I’m called,
yes I lose some chips, but I don’t give away any
extra information since if he had checked and I’d
checked behind him, he could have that information through hand history anyhow.
Think about all the times you’ve said to yourself,
“Damn, I wish I knew what that guy had.” Thanks
to instant hand histories, a lot of times you can
know. All it takes is remembering to peek.
To list your 3-day events contact: Joel Gausten, Managing Editor at: [email protected]
DATE
EVENT
>Sept. 5-11
No-Limit Hold-Em Championship
Sept 6-25
Calif. State Poker Ch’ship
Sep 11-22
Borgata Poker Open
Sept 16-17
Barcelona Open
Sept 19-22
Fahrenheit Poker Festival
>Sept 19-Oct 7 United States Poker Ch’ship
Sept 19-Oct 18 Barcelona Open
Sept 25-Oct 3
Aruba Poker Classic
Sept 26–Oct 2 The World Masters
Sept 26–Oct 4 Austrian Classics
Sept 29-Oct 10 Fall Pot of Gold
Sept 29-Oct 12 Grand Casino Biloxi Poker Tournament
>Sept 29-Oct 16 Big Poker October
Sep 30-Oct 2
Grosvenor Poker Masters
Oct 4-6
Baden Classic
Oct 5-9
Canadian Poker Championship
>Oct 8-21
Fall Poker Classic
Oct 9-19
Russian Poker Championships
>Oct 17-30
Nat’l Ch’ship of Poker
Oct 20-23
Autumn Tournament
Oct 21-24
Bay 101 Open
Oct 23-27
Doyle Brunson’s N. American Poker Ch’ship
Oct 27-30
The Irish Winter Tournament
Oct 27-Nov 18
Foxwoods World Poker Finals
Nov 2-12
Fall Poker Roundup
Nov 4-20
Holiday Bonus Tournament
Nov 5-12
MasterClassics of Poker
>Nov 7-22
St Maartens Open
Nov 13-20
The Hold’em Series
Nov 14-20
Northern Lights
Nov 16-20
Anniversary Tour
Nov 21-27
Midland Masters
Nov 23-27
Anniversary Tour
Nov 23-27
Anniversary Tour 2005
>Nov 24-Dec 11 Turkey Shoot/Ho Ho Hold’em
Nov 29-Dec 18
Five Diamond World Poker Classic
Nov 30-Dec 5
Campionato Italiano di Poker
Dec 1-4
Irish Christmas Poker Festival
Dec 5-11
Christmas Cracker
Dec 6-11
Christmas Tournament
Dec 12-18
Helsinki Freezeout
Dec 16-20
Anniversary Tour 2005
Dec 17-22
Heavyweight Championship of Poker
Jan. 25-28
Scandinavian Open
Feb. 8-11
French Open
POKER
ON
TV
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, Hogansburg, NY
Commerce Casino, Commerce, CA
tBorgata Hotel and Casino, Atlantic City, NJ
Gran Casino de Barcelona, Spain
Rendezvous Casino at the Kursaal, Southend-on-Sea, UK
Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, NJ
Casino de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Radisson, Aruba
Grosvenor Victoria Casino, London, UK
Concord Card Casino, Vienna, Austria
Reno Hilton, Reno, NV
Grand Casino, Biloxi, MS
Bicycle Casino (AdPg 3), Bell Gardens, CA
Grosvenor Victoria Casino, London, U.K.
eGrand Casino, Baden Baden, Germany
Casino Yellowhead, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Canterbury Park Card Club (AdPg 36), Shakopee, MN
Korona Casino, Moscow, Russian Federation
Hollywood Park Casino (AdPg 7), Inglewood, CA
Grand Casino, Vilnius, Lithuania
Bay 101, San Jose, CA
tBellagio, Las Vegas, NV
Merrian Square Club, Dublin, Ireland
Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT
Wildhorse Resort Casino, Pendleton, OR
Commerce Casino, Commerce, CA
Holland Casino, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sonesta Maho Beach Resort & Casino, St Maarten
Aviation Club de France, Paris, France
Grosvenor Casino, Blackpool, England
Olympic Casino Latvia at Radisson SAS Hotel
Grosvenor Casino Walsall, Walsall, West Midlands, UK
Reval Park Hotel & Casino, Tallinn, Estonia
Olympic Casino Lietuva at Reval Hotel, Vilnius, Lithuania
Bicycle Casino (AdPg 3), Bell Gardens, CA
tBellagio, Las Vegas, NV
Hit Casino, Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Macau Sporting Club, Cork, Ireland
Grosvenor Casino Luton, Bedfordshire, UK
Astoria-Palace Club & Casino, Tallinn, Estonia
Grand Casino Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Olympic Casino Latvia @ Radison SAS Hotel, Riga, Latvia
Watch for venue announcement!
eCasino Copenhagen (Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel), Denmark
eCasino Bairrere, Rue Edmond Blanc, Deauville, France
World Poker Tour. Wednesdays
& Saturdays. (Check local listing for
times). Travel Channel.
Thursdays. 10:00 PM. E!
Celebrity Poker Showdown.
9/7-8, 9/10-30/2005. (Check local listings
for times). Bravo.
Ultimate Poker Challenge.
Fridays & Saturdays. (check local listings
for times/channels).
Poker Superstars Invitational.
Sundays. 8:00 PM. Fox Sports.
European Poker Tour.
Wednesdays-Fridays. (check local listings for times). EuroSport.
E! Hollywood Hold’em.
[John Vorhaus is the author of Poker Night and
the Killer Poker book series, and news
ambassador for UltimateBet.com.]
46
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G
gambling, after Iowa, in
February 1990, and the first
riverboat casino opened in
Alton in 1991. In June 1999,
then-Gov. George Ryan
changed the law to allow
ambling in Illinois
has a long and
infamous history.
Havana, Illinois was known
as Little Reno because of
Al Capone’s development
says Jeff Deuschler, dualrate supervisor for the
Hollywood Casino.
“We get a wide variety
of players, young to
old retirees that come
in on a daily basis
– as well as some
people who play
professionally,”
says Neal
Perry, director
of casino operations for the Hollywood
Casino.
Deuschler believes the skill
of the average casino player,
not the age, is different today.
“I wouldn’t say the crowd is
younger. It’s more amateur
now – it used to be a subculture, now it’s exposed to the
general public. There’s a huge
Poker Rooms in Illinois
# ON
MAP CASINO
1
2
OPEN
# OF
HOURS
TABLES
9a-4a Sun-Thurs, 6
Hollywood Casino – Aurora Aurora
10a-4a Fri-Sat
Harrah’s Metropolis Casino Metropolis 7 days, 12 noon
4
CITY
GAMES
HIGH
NL? LIMITS S/NS HOTEL
N,L
Y
20/40
NS
N
N,L,O
Y
4/8
NS
Y
S/NS – Poker room allows smoking (S), non-smoking (NS) or both (B)
Days open, hours of operation, games offered and tables may vary
of floating casinos on the
Illinois River. In the mid1930s, the Nitti gang ran
casino games in Calumet
City and Cicero, and this
continued under Accardo
and Ricca in the 1950s. In
1953, state troopers raided 14
casinos and taverns in Mason
County, ending gambling
in that area. Eventually the
Mafia influence on gambling
in the Chicago area decreased
and legal lotteries and riverboat gambling sprung up.
Illinois became the second
state to authorize riverboat
riverboat casinos to remain
docked.
Though it seems as if
Lake Michigan is choking
on riverboat casinos, many
of those casinos actually
reside across the state line,
in Indiana. In fact, there are
only two casinos in Illinois
that offer poker, and neither
are on the Great Lake itself:
Harrah’s Metropolis Casino
on the Ohio River in southern
Illinois, and the Hollywood
Casino in Aurora, on the Fox
River, west of Chicago.
“Business is boomin’!”
influx of ESPN experts.”
Tournaments at the
Hollywood have caught
on. “We hold tournaments
every Wednesday, and we
get a wide variety of players
that come in for that,” says
Perry. “Male and female of
all ages.”
“We also offer what
we call Marquee Premier
Tournaments,” says Perry.
These tournaments are used
as a marketing tool and are
invitation-only. Players are
invited through their casino
host. Deuschler said that
Sundays, 10:15 a.m. (sign-ups start at 7 a.m.)
$10,000 Guarantee – First Prize $2,000
Plus $1,000 in Cash Drawings,
every half hour, 4 — 11:45 p.m.
$60 Entry Fee, No Re-buys. Lunch and $20 Poker Coupon Included.
140 Seats Maximum.
NOW Every Day! Play NO -LIMIT Texas Hold’em
More tournaments every day at 10:15 a.m. and Tuesdays & Thursdays at 7 p.m.
For more information call 1-800-CHUMASH, ext. 3850.
 E. Hwy , Santa Ynez, CA
Exit  at Solvang, East through Solvang  miles.
Must be 18 or older to enter casino. Chumash Casino Resort
reserves the right to cancel or change promotions.
48
S E P T E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 0 5
there are also single-table
tournaments throughout the
day on Sunday – and some
Sundays, they get up to 10 in
a day.
ILLINOIS
By Steve Horton
“Last year on Sundays
we offered super satellites
to get into the WPT’s World
Poker Championship.” Perry
said. “Entry was $60, with
first place receiving $500
and entry into the regular, 80
player $500 buy-in tournament.” The winner of that
tournament received the
$25,000 buy-in to the World
Poker Tour Championship,
as well as the $500 entry fee
and $2500 in expenses.
Perry believes the future
is bright for casino poker. “I
think it will hang around for
awhile. The younger crowd is
developing into poker players. As long as television is
televising, it will continue to
build popularity.”
Deuschler agrees.
“Momentum is going to subside a little, but it’s created a
lot of die-hard players. I don’t
ever foresee it going back to
its subculture status.”
NOONERS
All Nooner events start at 12:15 p.m.
DAYS
BUY-IN/ENTRY
REBUY
GUARANTEE
Mon.
Tue.
Wed.
Thu.
Fri.
$20 / $10
$20 / $10
$50 / $10
$20 / $10
$20 / $10
$10
$10
$1-50
$10
$10
$3,000
$3,000
$7,500
$3,000
$3,000
UYS
NO REB
NOONER NIGHT FRENZY TOURNAMENT
All Nooner Nite Frenzy events start at 7 p.m.
DAYS BUY-IN/ENTRY
Sun. $100 + $25
Mon. $100 + $25
Tue. $100 + $25
Wed. $100 + $25
Thu. $100 + $25
Fri. $100 + $25
ALSO
AY
TUESDHT
NIG
KER
O
P
N
A
C
I
X
ME +$10
QUALIFYING DATES:
September 4th-7th
and September 13th — 26th.
$15 uys
$10 Reb
NOONER NITE FRENZY POINT PLAYOFFS
Win seats to our upcoming major tournament
events. (Seats are non-transferable). ALL players with points are qualified to participate in
the point playoffs. Each player receives $500
in starting chips, plus 5 times their point total
in bonus chips. All players who make the
money qualify to play in the points playoff on
September 27, 2005.
The number of points a player will receive will
be based on the number of players paid.
Example: If 27 places will be paid. First place
will receive 27 points whereas 27th place
would receive 1 point. Etc.
POINT PLAYOFF:
Tuesday, September 27th at 7:00 P.M. $100
buy-in, $25 entry fee, no rebuys
ADDED PRIZES:
1st and 2nd place will win one seat each
into the Big Poker Oktober No Limit
Hold em Championship.*
*Value at $2,580 each
®
7301 Eastern Ave., Bell Gardens, CA 90201 ¥ (562) 806-4646 ¥ www.thebike.com
The Bicycle Casino reserves the right to change or cancel this promotion at its sole discretion. No Purchase necessary. Call the Welcome Center for Details.
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