Casino Openings Tournament Results
Transcription
Casino Openings Tournament Results
Tom “Time” Leonard PAGE tells how—Improve Your Performance! 10 Chris Moneymaker PAGE PLAYER PROFILE by Phil Hevener PAGE Entertainment Best Bets 20 42 POKER PLAYER Vol. 8 Number 16 February 7, 2005 A Gambling Times Publication Copyright ©2004 Bi-Weekly $3.95 USA/$4.95 CANADA Tournament Casino Results Openings •Kiwi wins $1 Million Aussie Millions From left, Agua Caliente Chairman Richard Milanovich, former CA Governor Gray Davis, Cabazon Chairman John A. James. Final Event winner Jamil “The Real Deal” Dia Jamil “The Real Deal” Dia from Wellington in New Zealand, a self-employed food manufacturer and Lebanese Bakery owner, has just won the lionʼs share of Crownʼs 2005 “Aussie Millions” $2.63 million prize pool, walking away with the win- nerʼs purse of $1 Million, and the Australian Poker (Continued on page 15) •Jack Binion’s WPO in Full Swing Another 12 events at the Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi have been finalized as we go to press with this issue of Poker Player. The first two events were covered in the last issue, while the final events, including the Championship, will be (Continued on page 16) • Bike’s Americas Poker Classic at Halfway Point As we go to press, the Americaʼs Poker (Contʼd on page 31) •Successful Poker Derby Gets Hollypark Off To Good Start Hollywood Park Casinoʼs 3rd annual Poker Derby (Contʼd on page 18) •Fantasy Springs Expands The Cabazon Band of Mission Indians has indeed come a long way since their 1987 landmark Supreme Court decision that opened the door to Indian Gaming (Continued on page 41) •Harrah’s Rincon Expands Owned by the Rincon San Luiseno Band of Mission Indians and operated by Harrahs Entertainment, the Rincon Casino and Resort, nestled in the rolling hills of north(Continued on page 43) A Word from the “Mad Genius,” (Contʼd on page 33) Mike Caro •Tran Takes Harrahs First Circuit Today’s word is... •Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure Concludes The annual Pokerstars.com Caribbean adventure Nghi Van Tran took home $780,615 to Toronto, (Contʼd on page 19) •Tunica Grand American Nearly Complete (Contʼd on page 30) Turn to page 4 for more 0 74470 05299 9 0 6> The series fo 18 events held at the Grand Casino “PRICE” F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 1 $100,000 GUARANTEED RED DOUBLE LIGHT RED DOUBLE LIGHT WHEN THE RED DOUBLE LIGHT FLASHES OVER A SPECIFIC GAME/LIMIT ON THE MAIN CALL BOARD, THAT GAME/LIMIT WILL BE ELEGIBLE FOR DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF THE POSTED JACKPOT* TEXAS HOLD‘EM >Seven–days a week> $ $ $ $ 6– 12 & 8– 16 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. & 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 3:00 p.m. Qualifying hand: Aces-full-of tens-or-better—must use both hole cards ® 7301 Eastern Avenue, Bell Gardens, CA 90201 ♦ (562) 806-4646 ♦ www.thebike.com The Bicycle Casino reserves the right to cancel or modify this promotion at its sole discretion. All promotions and jackpots: no purchase necessary. See the Welcome Center for Details.*See flyer for specific game information. F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 3 Caro’s Word: “PRICE” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 It’s easier to understand the nature of poker if you think about price. Caroʼs Law of Poker Economics states: “Poker is the art of trading chances. To win, buy chances at a low price and sell chances at a high price.” In fact, that simple truth defines the core of poker success. Perhaps youʼve heard people talk about the secret to success in the stock market. Theyʼll say, “Buy low, sell high.” Sometimes theyʼre dead serious when they say this, and sometimes theyʼre just amusing themselves, because they realize thereʼs no real way to know for certain – at the moment of purchase or sale – whether a stock is low or high. It may seem low, but could go lower; and it may seem high, but could go higher. If either of those things happen, buying “low” didnʼt work, because your purchase lost value; and selling “high” didnʼt work, because you sold too soon and would have earned more by waiting. Still, the concept is profound in its simplicity. Retail business is based on the notion that you need to buy merchandise at the lowest price you can and sell it at the most profitable price. Poker is the same way, but instead of buying and selling physical merchandise, youʼre buying and selling chances. Letʼs examine what this means. What Does it Mean to “Buy Low” in Poker? Iʼm betting most people donʼt think theyʼre buying anything when they play poker. But they are. When you sit down to play poker seriously, youʼre not out to just win pots. Youʼre out to win pots only if the price is right and the risk is warranted. Again, itʼs the same as in any other business where you buy and sell. Youʼre looking for the best price. If something is too expensive, you wonʼt buy it at all. In poker, youʼre looking for good deals. Youʼre out to buy opportunity. If youʼre serious about winning, you sit in a game believing you have an expectation of earning a profit. And profit is all about price. Buying low means you called a bet with an advantage. You bought a chance, and you paid a cheap price. Overpriced Hands Now hereʼs a really important concept, and I want you to think about it long and hard: Tight players usually overprice their chances, so you should seldom buy from them; loose players usually under price their chances, so you should often buy from them. Got it? Let me get sidetracked for a minute. Weʼre talking about “buying” here, which means calling when an opponent has bet. Weʼre not talking about the fact that you can raise a tight opponent more liberally, because they fold more often. In that sense, you can play some hands more often against a too-tight opponent than a too-loose one, but those hands tend to be specifically your bluffs. Conversely, you play more mediumstrong hands against loose opponents, because they often call with even worse hands. Against them, the secret isnʼt bluffing more, itʼs betting semi-strong hands more. Anyway, back to todayʼs discussion. Like I said, tight players overprice their hands. When they wager, they have stronger hands, on average, than typical players would have in the same situation. Because of this, you need a stronger-than-usual hand to call. Remember, whenever you call, youʼre buying an opportunity. The purchase is always specu- lative, unless you have a hand that canʼt possibly be beat. So, in essence, youʼre buying an opportunity – a chance. And against tight players, chances are sold at a premium, so you need to be selective about when you buy. A Million Calls Keep in mind that you want that chance to be profitable in the long-run. A chance is theoretically profitable whenever you would expect to make money if you could make the same call with the same hopes and the same doubts a million times. If the average expected outcome for each one of those million calls averaged together is greater than nothing, youʼre getting a good deal. If itʼs considerably greater than nothing, youʼre getting a bargain. But, if you call tight opponents with the same hands with which you call loose opponents, youʼll lose money, except on your better hands. That means that your call is overall worth less than nothing. And since nothing is the break-even point, that means youʼre losing money. You paid too much. You didnʼt buy at a low-enough price. Your chance wasnʼt worth the money. So, you can see, in poker you are truly buying chances. And you need to get a good deal in order to win. Selling Chances High The other half of this concept is selling. When you have an advantage over your opponents, you have something to sell, and you need to get your most profitable price. In limit games, thereʼs usually only one price (unless someone is short of money). Itʼs whatever the designated betting increment is. In a $200/$400 game, for instance, it will be $400 or later betting rounds. Thatʼs the only price you can sell an opportunity for, so that greatly simplifies your decision. Itʼs now a matter of determining whether youʼll get a good deal if an opponent calls. If you will, you should often bet. If you wonʼt, you should often check. (Continued on page 8) 4 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 POKER PLAYER A Gambling Times Publication 3883 West Century Blvd. Inglewood, CA 90303 (310) 674-3365 Stanley R. Sludikoff EDITOR/PUBLISHER [email protected] Joel Gausten MANAGING EDITOR [email protected] John Thompson PRODUCTION DIRECTOR FOR idrome INFO DESIGN [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 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 8 Number 16. Copyright © February 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 2675 Windmill Pkwy., #111 Henderson NV 89074 702-269-1733 fax 702-614-1650 [email protected] CA (NORTH) Jerry Reed (650) 327-4810 [email protected] NV (NORTH), WA, OR, ID, MT, UT, CO & WY Byron Liggett P.O. Box 9874 Reno, NV 89507 775-746-5652 [email protected] ALL USA EAST OF THE ROCKIES Donna Blevins Gregory Weitzel 1108 E. Inverness Blvd., #611 Inverness, FL 34452 352-422-1441 [email protected] CARIBBEAN & INTERNET Mike D’Angelo Gina Malavassi Poker Media Group Plaza Colonial, Office 2-5 San Rafael de Escazu, Costa Rica U.S.: 213-291-1638 Costa Rica: +506-387-7627 [email protected] EUROPE Open PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT This notice will certify that 40,000 copies of Volume 8, Number 16 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. Low Buy-ins. Generous Guarantees! 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Century Blvd. Inglewood, CA 90303 *Live games only (310) 330-2800 ♠ (800) 888-4972 ♠ www.playhpc.com Management reserves the right to cancel promotions at its sole discretion. No purchase necessary for promotions. See Casino Manager for free entry information. Gambling Problem? Call (800) GAMBLER F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 5 Linda Johnson—The First Lady of Poker PART II CHIP CHATTEr By SUSIE ISAACS In the last issue of Poker Player we followed the life and career of Linda Johnson, the First Lady of Poker, from a very successful career in the post office to that of a low-limit professional poker player. Her postal career was unique because she was a high-ranking woman in a man’s world. She also blazed a new trail for women in poker becoming one of the first successful female professional poker players. Linda continues her saga; “In those days (1980) there were no poker magazines, books, videos, or seminars so one could study poker so not many of my opponents were very well versed. I absolutely loved what I was doing. You can’t believe how happy I was. However, I did miss my family and I always said that when they legalized other games in California, I would move back and I did, in 1985. I had moved up in limits every couple of years and I played regularly at the Bike and the Linda Johnson Commerce. “In 1997 a dream came true for me when I became only the second woman to win an open event at the World Series of Poker.” It is apparent that Linda loves poker. She seemed to glow as she reminisced about her life. “I never had any doubts about succeeding and I never had any goals except to play poker professionally. That changed in 1992. I took my first Card Player Cruise along with my best friends poker players Denny Axel and Scott Rogers. We had a ball! On the last morning we were sitting around talking about what how much fun we had. We wondered if we could somehow get involved in this business so that we could take all the cruises. Perhaps we could join forces or become partners with the Fields. [June and Phil Field owned Card Player magazine and Card Player Cruises at the time.] We set up a meeting with the Fields, posed our questions and Phil shocked us when he said that they where thinking about selling the whole business. That was the beginning of a new career for all three of us. We were three professional poker players. None of us knew anything about running a magazine. Part of the deal was that the Fields stay on for six months and teach us! Our first issue came out on April Fool’s Day in 1993, 68 pages black and white on newsprint with color on the cover. We didn’t make any money the first year and we knew that we needed to go full color and glossy to turn this venture prosperous. All we needed to do was add $100,000 to the overhead! That wasn’t an easy decision but we were gamblers. It turned out to be a winning bet. All of a sudden poker was opening in different states and we had a big and beautiful poker magazine. We were off and running.” Linda continued, “I want to be sure and convey my appreciation to June Field for having established the magazine. She birthed the first poker magazine and we raised it to adulthood.” In addition to her success with Card Player magazine and Card Player Cruises, Linda Johnson also spearheaded the World Poker Conferences, the World Poker Player’s Conferences, and the Tournament Director’s Association. Her latest venture is her participation in the World Poker Tour. She tells us that wonderful poker tale. “Steve Lipscomb, Mike Sexton and I were tourists in Costa Rica. We were in a rain forest talking about poker, of course. Steve told us his vision for the WPT. You might say that the World Poker Tour was born in the jungle! All Steve needed was funding. Mike was with Party Poker, which was a nice fit, as they became a charter member. We went to see Lyle when we got back to Vegas. He said that we would need six or eight charter members. We had six months to get them. We got them in six weeks and the deal was on!” Linda really thought the World Poker Tour would be a homerun. It turned out to be a grand slam! And the poker world is forever changed because of visionaries in the jungle, one who would be crowned “The First Lady of Poker.” 50HoursPlay ToQualify TOURNAMENT STARTS MARCH 19th! FIRST PLACE . . . . . $50,000 2nd Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20,000 3rd Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10,000 4th Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,500 5th Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 6th Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,000 7th Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,000 8th Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,500 9th Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,000 10th Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,500 11th-20th Place. . . . . . . . . . . $1,000 21st-30th Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . $750 31st-40th Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . $500 41st-300th Place. . . . . . . . . . . . $100 301st-? Balance Of Players . . . . $25 Chip Leaders After 1st Day. . . . $5,000 (Split Equally) ® 367-2411 Sahara At I-15 432-7777 Boulder Hwy. At 93-95 ® Susie Isaacs has written about poker and poker players since 1985. She is the first woman to win back-to-back titles at the World Series of Poker. Her latest venture is a line of “Designer Gaming Jewelry.” Visit www.susieisaacs.com. 6 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 631-1000 N. Rancho At Lake Mead 547-7777 Sunset Road At US 93/95 SM 658-4900 US 95 At N. Rancho Must be 21 or older. Visit the Poker Room for details. ©2005 Station Casinos Inc., Las Vegas, NV Know Your Limits! If you think you have a gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700. Look Nowhere Else. Southern California is the Epicenter of Poker. The Southern California Poker Tour (SCPT) is a series of televised events held at casinos and card rooms in Southern California featuring local poker players. The program currently airs in the San Diego television market on FOX and UPN and will be seen in the Los Angeles market beginning in January 2005. SCPT will include a limited number of tournaments outside the local area. These “Road Trip” programs will feature tournaments held at casinos within a day’s driving distance of the Southern California area. If you live in Southern California, look for an SCPT event near you. Sponsored by Qualify Online. Qualify online for SCPT events at The Gaming Club Online Poker Room. For as little as $5, win event packages including buy-in, airfare, accommodations, and spending money. You can play in the online satellites by simply going to: www.gamingclubpoker.com/socal. Find Out More. If you want to know where to play in Southern California, or if you want to find out more about The Southern California Poker Tour or Gaming Club Poker visit our website at www.4scpoker.com F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 7 X-Ray Vision POwer POKER PSYCHOLOGY By JAMES A. M CKENNA, PH D. If you could see what the other players are holding face down, you would play each hand differently. Also, if other players could see your cards in the hole, they will have the advantage. The ability to read what other players are likely holding is a skill no successful poker player lacks. Some players seem to have X-ray vision to know when to call, to raise, or fold. These “Clark Kent” players will fold when you have a good hand and call you when your hand has slim odds. How do they know!? There’s an inverse relationship between surprise and the ability to read other players. In other words, the more you are surprised by what other players are holding, the less you are accurately reading their hands. The important skills here are to know how to read other players and to avoid being read by other players. A lot of players are busy reading the cards they have and the cards showing. That only part of the job for good players. They are also reading people and how they may be thinking and what their actions mean. Every action has a meaning. “Clark Kent” players seem to know what such actions mean and how they apply to a particular player. Yes, the same action may have an entirely different read for different players. Reading these tells will increase your X-ray vision to figure out what other players are holding. Most of these signs have to do with betting patterns and how aggressive the bettor is. In other words, when an aggressive player is slow playing you can expect him or her to have a good hand. Similarly, when a more emotional, passive player gets aggressive with his or her bets, don’t worry too much. At the same time, if an ordinarily aggressive player throws his or her bet in, don’t be surprised if he or she is still chasing a hand. After reading this article, such a player may have the nuts. The ability to spot such things as semi-bluffs (knowing when a raise means a good hand or a draw to a hand) is an important X-ray skill. Spotting hands also includes reading the board in games like Texas Hold ‘Em. Knowing what’s possible when the board shows a pair, or two of the same suit, or small cards and the blind bets are equally important. Clark Kent was a mild mannered reporter who would change into a Superman when needed. This means that players with X-ray vision can be aggressive or passive. They can be tight players as well as loose ones. The common denominator is their abilities to figure out the actions of other players. So, in a sense, they are not seeing through your hole cards. Rather, you are showing them what you have by your actions. It’s common knowledge that lead will stop X-rays. So, how can one put lead around a hand to prevent being read? For one thing, discover your routine ways of playing and stick to them. This is lead to players who are reading you. To suddenly change your style is like turning your hand over so everyone can see it. Here’s an example: you check or call all the way to the river when a third suited card comes. Then, you suddenly seem to wake up and bet your obvious flush. You are surprised when everyone except those with two pairs fold. What would happen is you checked your flush? Right! You’d make a little more money and you’d surprise others. Sticking with your routines is like lead protecting your hand. Remember, there’s an inverse relationship between surprise and the ability to read other players. The more you can surprise a “Clark Kent” player, the more you are protecting your hand and keeping your hole cards a secret. 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]. 8 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 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]. T oday we will look at a little known fact of Omaha H/L split. What happens to the value of our Hand A-A-2-3 A-2-3-K A-2-K-K 2-3-4-5 T-J-Q-K What Happens to our the hands performed when they Hand Value in a Raised Pot were played separately. The pot when the low doesnʼt results are presented below. get there. Remember, we Base Hands Suit W Rate 1PDS 64.65% DSHM 47.44% 1PBS 47.59% DSHM 29.87% DSHM 14.40% hand when we enter a pot and the pot is raised and re-raised and ultimately capped? Let me set the stag for you. You are first to act and are holding the very powerful A-2-3-K double suited or A-2-K-K suited with net wins of $26.41 and $24.82 respectively. You throw in a raise and before it gets back to you the pot is capped. What should you do with your hand? In Omaha H/L, low hands dominate. Most players will only raise with a low hand or a hand that can work both ways. It should be pretty obvious that you are up against 2 or 3 other low hands especially if you play in a game that allows a bet and 4 raises. You are probably up against the nut low. Does you hand go down in value in these situations or does it go up? How much change, if any can you expect? Can it turn a winning hand into a losing one? To test out what happens I set five players up with the following hands; A-A-2-3, A-2-3-K, A-2-K-K, 2-3-4-5 and TJ-Q-K and dealt 5 million hands with each player playing one of the hands one million times. I then compared the results to how Sam Mudaro is the... Net 44.06 26.41 24.82 3.89 1.23 In those hands containing pairs, the ace is suited to the deuce. The others 3 hands are double suited with the two highest cards suited to the two lowest cards. This allows the player to make the two highest flushes he is capable of with his hand. Under the “Base Hands” caption I have the hands ranked by their single net performance, which ranges from $44.06 down to $1.23 for a non-low hand. Under the “Multiple” caption we see what happens to the net when all the listed hands face each other. The “% Change” represents the percentage change in the net either up or down. It ranges from a positive change of 817% to a decrease of 979%. All the changes are drastic and well over 100%. The best starting hand improves itʼs net by more than double. The worst starting hand of the group, the high only hand improves over 9 fold. Is there a pattern to these results or are they simply haphazard? It should be obvious that the high hands improved. Is the best starting hand a high hand? It sure is. The pair of aces may alone win the Multiple Net % Change 104.74 137.71% (39.86) -250.97% (43.81) -276.48% (34.21) -979.44% 11.28 817.00% have two nut flush draws in addition to a straight draw. The 2-3-4-5 has very little high potential, a poor flush and limited straight potential. It lost the most at -979.44%. The other hands are a little less obvious. The A-2-3-K is similar to the AA-2-3, or is it? First there is only one nut flush draw and with all that action you can assume the Ace is out there. Second it does not have the pair of aces. If the flop is a total bust it will lose to the aces. The same may be said of the A-2-K-K. The A-2-3-K has a better low draw and some counterfeit protection. So what have we learned? A-A-2-3 is still the best. High hands go up in value when there are a number of lows vying for position. This also reduces the chance of making a low and/or the chance of the lows splitting while the high enjoys half the pot. You may want to consider folding some lows, especially when not connected with the best of high draws. Next Time I will warp up the Poker Foundations series with a discussion tournament vs. ring game play, game selection and tracking your results. Caro’s Word: “PRICE” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Whatʼs this “often” stuff? I hear you. Youʼre saying that if youʼll get a good deal if an opponent calls, you should always bet, not often bet. But thatʼs not true. Sometimes you might check because you can lay a trap and get an even better deal later – sort of like advertising a product at below cost to get people in your store in hopes theyʼll buy something much pricier. And if youʼll get a bad deal if someone calls, that doesnʼt necessarily mean you shouldnʼt bet. Remember, they might not call. Youʼre offering them a good price to call the bet, so youʼre offering to sell a chance at the pot unprofitably, but youʼre hoping your opponent doesnʼt realize this, will decline the purchase, and will make the mistake of folding. This happens – especially in (Continued on page 29) NEVER Play Poker with a Man Named “DOC” By Dr. Scott Aigner HOW TO PLAY AGAINST THE LOCALS AT LAS VEGAS CASINOS well as other various factors that can decimate your dreams and your wallet. First off, remember that there is a time zone change for a number of you. It takes at least a day for each time zone difference to recover from the jet lag. Although this does not affect you quite as much when going to Las Vegas as it does when getting back home, I find that a good nightʼs rest after a day of travel is essential if you are planning a long stay at the poker table. Do not allow the anticipa- tion to affect your game. The game will be there every day and every hour you want to play for the most part. The games go around the clock at the bigger rooms. Start your game off right. Even a power nap of an hour can improve your ability to play a 4 hour session. You should also abstain from the use of alcohol. I believe this is a definite no no if you are serious about winning but even more so on the first night you are there. When you do go to play, I recommend that you start out at a smaller limit than your usual game until you are acquainted with the play of the opponents. I find that the games are definitely at least a level higher in the quality of players when in comparison to the local rooms I frequent. It could even be slightly higher than this depending on the room you are playing at. I find a world of difference in the play of the 15-30 game when compared to the 3060 game in a very popular poker room in Las Vegas. In the 15-30 game, you will find a few more weaker players on average than in the higher mid limit games. The passive, looser, and less aggressive players are easier to play against, easier to read, more predictable, less deceptive, and easier to win extra bets from. I also find (Continued on page 37) A number of recreational poker players have their dreams and their poker bankroll shattered when they visit Las Vegas. There are a number of reasons for this occurrence. It really is not just bad luck. The main factors that stack the odds against you from being a winner are traveling, a short bankroll, the caliber of play, the table composition, as Play the Circuit 5 Events. 5 Cities. 5 Months. 2005 Tournament Circuit Events: Harrah’s Atlantic City* January 7 – 18 Harrah’s Rincon San Diego February 20 – March 1 Rio® Las Vegas March 12 – 22 Harrah’s Lake Tahoe April 26 – May 10 Harrah’s New Orleans May 21 – 30 HOSTED BY GAMBLING ICON JACK BINION Call 1-877-367-9767 or visit worldseriesofpoker.com *Pending C.C.C. approval. Must be 21 years or older to participate in event. Official rules and details available at the Total Rewards® Center. Must be 21 or older to gamble. Know When To Stop Before You Start.® Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-522-4700. ©2005, Harrah’s License Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 5090-026-05 P O K E R P L AY E R 9 PART 40, Focus improving performance By TOM “TIME” LEONARD In past installments of Improving Performance, we’ve concentrated on a variety of situations which are paramount to winning play. Through examples of various situations we’ve stressed that playing a tight, aggressive and disciplined game coupled with a deep knowledge of the odds and their application should take down the money. Today let’s discuss focus. Certainly a basic truism for any competitive endeavor is to remain focused to the task at hand. Many sports embrace the mantra of “Keep your eye on the ball”. What should we be keeping our eyes on since there isn’t a ball in poker? Well, duh, your opponents! OK, but what should we be watching? Aside from their tendencies to play what kind of hands from what positions, we need to watch their physical mannerisms which can yield a wealth of information. I’ve advised in the past that watching the flop be dealt is not your best use of time. Instead of watching the cards, which are not going to change, you should be watching your opponents. Watch their eyes and attempt to see a reaction to the flop that they are busy staring at. As the action begins to unfold watch for hand movements and other body language to help interpret what actions are likely to be taken. Many players readily give off signals as to their interest in the current hand and if they plan to call, fold or raise. The more important keys to what likely is about to happen are to your left. Being able to determine what players in front of you are about to do is not as important as what players behind you plan to do. We’re all familiar with the patented fake chip reach but it doesn’t take long to identify who you can gain information from and who is playing fake tells. Here’s a fairly common tell which weaker players give off in a situation where the board contains three suited cards with at least one more card to come. Better players look at their pocket cards once, commit them to memory, place a chip or protective weight on them and then don’t feel the need to keep referring to them. How about the player who sees a third suited card hit the board and then needs to check his hole cards. He’s obviously checking to see whether he now has a flush draw. He doesn’t as yet have a flush because he would have remembered if his cards were suited. This is the kind of information which is available to the observant player. If you’re busy checking your own hand, which should not be the case, you’ll miss information that opponents may be offering. Another thing to focus on in your observation of opponents is who else is watching opponents intently, including you. These, of course, are your more savvy, dedicated opponents as they are working to enhance their expectation, not just sitting there playing their own cards. These better opponents are also the ones whom you may be able to induce folding a better hand with a well timed bluff or semi bluff. After all, it’s the clueless that won’t ever lay down a hand. There is much to be learned by remaining alert and keeping your focus on your opponents. Well, our goal for this installment is evident. If you’re already a focused, observant player, great, give yourself a pat on the back. If you think you need to improve in this area, set a goal to do just that and begin to improve your edge in games through garnering information about your opponents. 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]. 10 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 Blind Luck “An Elk? You saw an Elk? Raise.” “Yeah man, this huge bull. Reraise! Like he had a rack about 4 feet tall,” replied the kid. “Cap it at 40,”I said, “I have to go check it out. Iʼve never seen a wild Elk; especially by a casino parking lot.” “I call,” he replied, “I have the ace high nut flush!” “Figured that,” I said, “but it doesnʼt beat my 6 high straight flush.” His jaw dropped as the dealer stopped him from dragging in the pot. I held my own for the next couple of hours, but wasnʼt adding much to my stack. Mean-while, someone else was having phenomenal luck and I wondered if anyone has ever written about what to do when another player is on an unstoppable rush. That day, it was Lori from Big Springs, Texas. She was a real sweetheart, a nurse on holiday with her family at Casino Apache in Ruidoso, New Mexico. They were here to ski at the casinoʼs beautiful ski resort of Sierra Blanca. She had decided to spend her evening playing poker in a casino for the very first time, and was obviously having a great time. Trouble was, she couldnʼt see the community cards too well because she forgot her reading glasses! On several occasions, she called or overcalled with not even a pair. Yet, despite her playing a little on the silly side, not seeing the cards too well, and losing a few hands, she was running over the table! I recall one hand in particular when she called 40 dollars preflop to draw to a 5/8 offsuit. Yup, the final board had a 4. 6 and 7 to give her the nut straight! Another unforgettable hand was three handed with the other two players holding pocket rockets and pocket kings. The flop was Q, 2, 8, and it was capped at 40 dollars. The turn was a 6 and it was capped again. Our Lori called all the way, joking about giving some of the money back. The river brought another cap and another 8 to go with her 7/8 Fiction by Lionel “Cool Hand Lee” Garcia offsuit, and you can imagine the look on everyoneʼs face as her set won another huge pot. Her comment was, ”I thought you had a straight.” It was hilarious because there was no straight possible! She really could not see the cards well at all, but that sure didnʼt stop her from playing almost every hand. Well, the question that this game brought up was what would I suggest to someone who is playing against a player on such a hot rush. My personal plan of action is derived from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When the knights ran into the killer rabbit, they all hollered “Run away! Run away!” Thatʼs exactly what I did then and the only hands I played were my paid big blinds. Forget the odds and probabilities in these situations. They mean nothing when someone is catching hand after hand. I sat back and watched everyone else go on tilt attacking her with a variety of hands. I wasnʼt surprised to see player after player talking to himself after she outdrew them with whatever two cards she happened to have. Within three hours, she cashed out over 5 hundred dollars, tipped the dealer an extra 20 bucks, and said sheʼd be back for the grand opening of the beautiful , new Inn Of The Mountain Gods hotel and casino on March 15th. She laughed as I told her Iʼd be in the poker room just to see if she forgot her glasses again! So the truth of the matter is that I really canʼt suggest much when up against a rushing player. It is sheer suicide to attack them in most cases, so you donʼt want to play less than your premium hands. Naturally, if the board doesnʼt hit you, be careful about calling any bets. Donʼt waste any bets trying to keep this person out of a pot; it just wonʼt work and you may be burning up your own chips. If you can change tables, donʼt hesitate. Take a walk, be patient and above all, donʼt get caught up in the action of the moment. What good is great action if you are not the one raking in the chips? Later, as I approached the parking lot, there in the moonlight was this magnificent 6 by 6 bull Elk, (Continued on page 41) 5IFXPSMEGBNPVT/FX:PSLEFMJ DPNFTUP5IF.JSBHF &OKPZPWFSTUVGGFETBOEXJDIFTTVNQUVPVTNBU[PI CBMMTPVQBOEMPUTPG/FX:PSLBUUJUVEF NJSBHFDPN F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 11 DEBBIE BURKHEAD INTERVIEWS... Novice wins A$80,000 The only poker experience pub landlord Graham Smith had ever had was watching his friend Marty Wilson—aka “Mad Marty”—playing on his laptop at the bar at the Black Horse in Bridgenorth. But an odd set of circumstances found him playing for the first time Bob Corona CARDROOM MANAGER AT HARRAH’S RINCON employees and still growing. Poker in Europe By Nic Szeremeta in his life in the $10,000 buy-in PacificPoker. com no limit hold’em tournament on TV. Marty was helping out with the production of the event and Graham went along for the ride. Well, one of the players refused to sign his contract, refused to do an interview and refused to have a trade logo on his short covered over. Net result was that he got kicked out of the event. But that left the tournament short of a player at the last minute. So Graham was “put in” by Marty and another player anteing up half the buy-in each. The terms of the deal were that if Graham managed to survive the first round in the series of one table satellites, his backers would get their cash back and he would be on a freeroll for anything else. Not keen on dropping $5,000 in cold blood, Marty gave him the benefit of his 15 minute crash course on no limit hold’em—the main lesson of which was this: “If you don’t know what to do stick it all in.” Although Graham had never even picked up a poker chip in his life he remembered the lesson well. So when he found himself in the last three at his table and up against a raise from tournament expert John Shipley, he was not quite sure what he should do with his 6-3 off suit. He gazed up at the camera (which he knew Marty was watching), shrugged his shoulders and went all in. John Shipley’s A-J of clubs got cracked as Graham pulled a small pair. This crippled John, who went out shortly after and Graham then saw off German pro Roland Herring. In the six player semi-final, he kept up his good work knocking out Jac Arama, Tim Flanders, Irish Open champ Ivan Donnachie and George Geary. With two players going through, he found himself in the final where he finished fourth collecting A$80,000. Not surprisingly Graham has become a bit of a poker fan. Both Graham and his mentor Marty had some success in the recent Aussie Millions series in Melbourne. Marty won the pot limit Omaha for 29,000 Australian dollars and Graham finished third in the pot limit hold’em winning A$8,800. Europeans won a total of five events down under (outside of the main event which was in progress at time of writing). Londoner Richard Ashby, a regular in Melbourne, won the opening A$200 no limit hold’em competition from a field of 212 players and took his A$17,600 (EURO 12,000) prize money to the A$300-600 omaha cash game where at one time he was racking up a six figure profit. Norwegian Anders Berg picked up A$17,600 for runner-up spot. Tony Bloom, winner of the Aussie Millions title a year ago, showed that Melbourne was a happy hunting ground for him by winning the A$1,500 omaha hi-lo hours after arriving in town. It was off the plane and onto the table for a profit of A$24,600. Marcel Luske ended a four month drought of tournament wins by taking the A$5,000 pot limit Omaha event. The Flying Dutchman collected A$47,000 for his efforts. And 20-year-old Swede Michael Thuritz of Stockholm won the inaugural World Speed Championships and A$100,000 from a field of 212. This latter event, which featured two dealers at each table and a maximum decision time of 15 seconds, was made into a nine-part TV series which will be broadcast later this year. Nic Szeremeta is managing editor of Poker Europa magazine, the monthly news and views publication from the Euro side of the pond. To subscribe ( EURO 55 / $70) email: [email protected], and to find out what goes on in Europe, go to www.PokerInEurope.com 12 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 Native Californian, Bob Corona, makes the trip back to the Long Beach area frequently to visit with his folks that still reside in the home he was raised in more than 50 years ago. After high school and a couple of years of college Bob took a position as a Material Control Coordinator with the Hughes Aerospace Corporation and eventually worked his way up to Program Manager. At the time Bob was the only Program Manager without a degree. Bobʼs career ended 14 years later when General Motors bought Hughes. GM began losing Government contracts and started downsizing their operation. Bob knew it was only a matter of time so he took a voluntary lay off and moved to Las Vegas. In 1984 Bob was in Las Vegas playing poker and betting sports while looking for work. He enrolled in dealer school and within two weeks he had his first audition at the Poker Palace and was hired on as a poker dealer. After his stint at the Poker Palace there was the Aladdin and the Fremont. In 1993, while working at the Fremont Bob was approached to assist in the opening of a riverboat in Tunica, Mississippi. In 1994 when Samʼs Town opened Bob left his Cardroom Managerʼs position with the President Riverboat to manage the new cardroom at Samʼs Town. In 1997 Bob left Tunica and moved back to California to work as a dealer and eventually floor at the newly opened Viejas. In 2000 Bob took the position of cardroom manager of the new poker room at Puama but in 2002 they reduced their staff from seven days a week to three days so Bob left to work the floor when Barona opened. In March of 2004 Harrahʼs Rincon opened a poker room and hired Bob as cardroom manager. Bob oversees an eight table cardroom with 28 Debbie Burkhead: What area of California do you draw from? Bob Corona: Mostly Valley Center and Escondido but because we have hotel accommodations people come from everywhere. From February 20 through March 1, during our WSOP Circuit event the weekday rate is $69 per night and the weekend rate is $89 per night. DB: Could you explain how the WSOP Circuit event works? BC: We are one of five Harrahʼs throughout the United States that are running tournaments that lead up to a $10,000 buy-in event that will be televised on ESPN. Prior to the WSOP Circuit event we are running $40 one-table satellites daily. The winner receives a $330 buy-in to the Super Sunday tournament, second place gets their $40 back, these are no juice satellites and $30 goes to the dealers. The winner of the Super Sunday event will win a $10,000 seat in the WSOP circuit event to be held on Sunday, February 27. DB: How many events make up the WSOP Circuit tournament? BC: Nine, including the nolimit Championship event. The other events range from $200 to $1,000 buy-ins. There is also a ladies no-limit event and a no-limit super satellite day on Saturday, February 26. DB: Has television had a positive affect on your business? BC: Itʻs done nothing but make it better and itʻs just the tip of the iceberg. I believe we will see continuous growth over the next five years. Itʼs help take away the intimidation factor, we are seeing more women and younger people playing poker. DB: What affect has the Internet had on the world of poker? BC: It has really helped the brick and mortar rooms by introducing people to poker that would not normally venture into a poker room. They come in now knowing about the blinds and how to bet. My wife, Katt, is a perfect example, she now feels very comfortable playing in a cardroom after learning how to play online. DB: What makes you job enjoyable? BC: My staff, we have a super friendly staff with several new to the business thatʼs mentally very refreshing. We hired some from within and others right out of dealers school. Linda came from the cage, Richard was in security and Rita came from dealer school. These and all my other dealers are just so enthusiastic and really enjoy what they are doing which makes my job so much easier. Someone else that makes my job easy is my boss, John Sebastian, Director of Table games, heʼs very supportive and very firm but fair. John was skeptical about poker and now he sees that poker players are crossover players that are valuable customers and thatʼs something they hadnʼt seen before. DB: What live games do you offer your players? BC: We will spread any game that our customers would like to play. We spread $3-$6 and $4-$8 limit holdʼem with a kill and we spread two no-limit games on a regular basis, one with two $1 blinds and one with $1-$3 blinds. The first has a maximum $40 buy-in and the second has a $100 maximum buy-in. DB: What other incentives do you offer your players? BC: We have a bad beat jackpot. Aceʼs full of 10ʼs beaten by any 4 four of a kind or better gets 50% of the jackpot, the winning hand gets 25% and the table share is 25%. We also have one-half rack attacks every two hours, Sunday through Thursday from 1:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. We pick a table during those times and add $50 to the pot. DB: Do you offer daily tournaments? BC: Not at the moment but after the WSOP Circuit event we will be. Gravediggerʼs Shovel out of my cheaterʼs sleeve and holding it up to his face, “this Spade?” The Ugly Man yells, “Yes!” and grabs for the card. Jake shoots him. The Ugly Man clutches the rumors, ʻThe House of Cards is coming back to town.ʼ I went to Honey, Thumbs, and Wheels and said, ʻBeating the House will be our revenge!ʼ If theyʼd put up the buy-in, Iʼd be willing to play the “T” is for Tell A Poker Player Murder Mystery by Robert Arabella Honeyʼs not talking about the House of Cards. Her bodyguard, “Big Elmo,” lays sprawled, half-in and half-out of the front door of “The Girls,” Honeyʼs Strip Club/Poker Room. Whatʼs left of Honey herself is splattered all over her front steps. Neither is Thumbs. The City Morgueʼs “Meat Wagon” is parked in the alley behind “The Cat Flush Card Club.” Thumbs lays under two white sheets ten feet apart. Or Wheels. The Limp Inn has burned to the ground. The twisted remains of a melted wheelchair, and its charred-beyond-recognition owner, sit in the ruins. “Weʼre too late,” says Jake. “All the injured House of Cards players are dead.” “Yes,” I say. “No,” says The Ugly Man as he comes up behind me and slashes at my throat. I donʼt feel the knife make its shallow cut through my flesh - must be the pain killers.Jake aims his shotgun . . . “Drop your gun,” says The Ugly Man. . . . raises it to eye level . . . “Iʼll cut deeper!” . . . and says to me, “Itʼs a 50-50 shot. Your call.” Iʼve drawn to far worse odds. “Take the shot!” “Wait!” says the Ugly Man. Jake waits. “I have the girl,” he says to me. “Give me your invitation to the House Of Cards. Iʼll let her go.” “You donʼt have the Girl. I donʼt have the Invitation.” “Stop lying to me! I know you killed four poker players to get it! Give it to me or Iʼll finish cutting your throat right now! Give me The Spade!” The knife cuts deeper into my flesh. Jake begins to squeeze his trigger. “The Spade?” I ask. “You mean,” pulling the the As to whatʼs left of his chest. He drifts in and out of consciousness. “I didnʼt always look like this,” he says, putting a hand to his disfigured face, “The House of Cards scarred me just like they mutilated Honey, mangled Thumbs and crippled Wheels. They made us into freaks! Then we heard game.” He takes out a bloodsoaked check. Itʼs for $250,000. “I had the money. All I needed was an Invitation.” He coughs up a gush of blood, “Then I found out you had The Spade!” “Who told you I had. . . .” He talks over my question, “Now they have to let me play! Itʼs in the Rules. You show the Spade, you play. The gameʼs tonight. All I have to do now is stand on the corner. . . .” He drifts away. I shake him, ask, “What corner?” “. . . Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see . . .” and drifts away again. I sit there helpless as the Ugly Man bleeds out. Suddenly he opens his eyes, shakes The Spade in my face, yells, “Gyp told me his partner had an invitation to play at the House Of Cards. That was you, you lying son of. . . .” and dies. F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 (To be continued in the next issue of Poker Player) P O K E R P L AY E R 13 WHAT Was I Thinking? (Part 1 of My No-Limit Hold’Em Experience) I walk towards the double doors of the casino. I step on the black mat and they automatically FRESH YOUNG FACE OF Poker By Jennifer Matiran open, inviting me in. I, for the first time step into a world, I knew existed but had never experienced before. I hear voices, conversations, loud speakers then I wonder, what’s that clack, clack, clack sound? Oh, it’s just the chips, ahh, people playing with their chips, saw it on television but never heard it before. That might take a bit getting used to. There were players whose chips, on cue, glided and rolled in between their fingers, effortlessly. They shuffled their chips better than I can shuffle a deck of cards. This ain’t their first trip to the local casino, can’t possibly be with such, such…chip poetry? My pocket vibrates startling me, good lord, I’m more anxious than I think. I answer my mobile. “Hello, oh hi Dad…um it’s, I’ll explain later, hey Dad, I’ll call you back in a couple hours, is everything okay, Mom okay? Okay then I’ll talk to you in a few, I’m in the middle of something.” I’m actually on the verge of blowing away some cash. I chuckle at my own thought. Just a walk in the park, you can handle it, be positive. “K.C. for 4-8 Hold ‘em, K.C.” I hear on the loud speaker. About twenty feet off in the distance an older gentleman, a Tony Soprano type in a suit and tie with a microphone is calling a player’s name. The man waves and says, “Lock it.” “Table 29, lock it up for K.C.” Ahh, that’s where I should begin. I walk towards the floor man and guess what his nametag says? Tony. I’m so good. The board’s divided into several sections; each section it seems represents a different game. There are people waiting around. For what?… Their turn genius, oh yeah. I get to the podium and Tony hurriedly points at me with his marker. “Yeah” he grunts. Fine and how are you doing? Thinking much quicker than I’m able to speak, I finally spit out “um.” And just as the sound is coming out of my mouth Tony’s on to the next person. The guy says, “K.Z. for no-limit, $100 buy in.” Tony turns his back and puts the man’s initials on the board. He turns back towards me and I quickly say, “same please.” “Name?” “JM” “JM?” he says. Did I stutter? “Yes sir, JM.” Tony puts my initials on the list; I’m about the eighth one down. “Do I have time to go get something to drink?” I ask. “You should be all right JM.” He answers. As I approach the bar, a table to my left cheers loudly and a crowd starts to gather around them. “What are they so happy about?” I ask the bartender who it seems is a ‘surfer dude.’ “They just hit the jackpot.” “Jackpot?” “Yep, Aces full of tens or better beat by quads or better.” He continues. “Dude, my table was so close to hitting it the other night, the table share alone would’ve been 2 g’s EACH.” “No way?” I say, trying to act like I knew what the heck he was talking about. Next, I order a beverage, one to calm my nerves. What’s the worse that could happen, it’s only money. You’re, you know what to do, you’re gonna-the bartender (Jake) places my drink in front of me, breaking me away from my thought. “This is your first time playing huh?” What do I have a sign on my forehead? Say no, say no, and act cool. I end up saying “yes” instead. “It’s all good, maybe you’ll have beginners luck, just play solid and don’t let them intimidate you girl.” Just as I’m about to speak I hear “JM for no-limit Texas Hold’em” over the loud speaker. I quickly consume my drink; drop a ten on the counter “thanks you” I say as I set the glass back down. I get up and quickly head back towards Tony. Stay tuned for part 2 of What Was I Thinking? And until next time, “play solid and don’t let them intimidate 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 PO Box 2331, Corona CA 92878, or by e-mail at matiran@sbcglobal. net. Ms. Matiran has just completed her latest screenplay, her other passion (besides Poker!). 14 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 JOE MEETS HOBBY We just finished a long session of poker on Hobbyʼs boat at Marina Del Rey when one of his snooty pals said to me, “Poker brings together an unlikely group of people. Have you known Hobby long?” I was sure it was a put down and answered, “Yeah, we kind of grew up together.” “Really, I canʼt imagine. Tell me about it,” he replied with a bit of a sneer. “Itʼs a long story and already 3 oʼclock in the morning, but Iʼm a writer so maybe Iʼll write about it.” “Sure, Iʼll bet you will,” he said over his shoulder as he walked off. “Did you get that, Hobby? Your friend Chris pizzes me off. “Heʼs an ass and a persistent one at that. Iʼll bet you $100, if you see him again, heʼll ask for the story. “Well maybe I will document our history, Hobby.” This is how it began: “Fall in, shut up, and shape up!” A tough-looking sergeant bellowed at our rag tag group of draftees. All day long it was hurry up and wait. Weʼd run from place to place then wait in lines for medical exams, shots, clothing, field equipment and testing. When our task master said, “Take five, smoke if youʼve got ʻem,” we collapsed any place we find. A baby-faced kid next to me looked totally befuddled. He said, “I didnʼt know it was going to be this hard.” I thought: Kiddo, you havenʼt seen anything yet. He pulled a pack of Chesterfields from his pocket only to have it grabbed by a big guy on the other side of him who said, “I need a smoke.” “Sure, help yourself.” “Yeah, I will,” the big guy said with a laugh as he shook one out and put the pack back into his own pocket. The kid started to object, but after a snarl from the bully, he backed off. Heʼs in for a bad time I thought, but itʼs not my problem. Iʼve got my own butt to look after. I snagged a good spot in our assigned barracks, an upper bunk at the end of a row. And wouldnʼt you know it, who shows up to take the lower bunk but the baby-faced kid. “Would you mind?” he asked. I shrugged my shoulders and said, “I donʼt own the place, you donʼt have to ask me.” As the barracks filled up, the late comers were scurrying around trying to find an empty bunk. They say chickens attract hawks so I wasnʼt surprised when a tough looking bird threw the kidʼs gear off the bunk saying, “I like this one.” The little guy began to pick up his gear to move on. I could have left things as they were, but I hate a bully. I dropped down off my bunk into the face of the intruder. “My buddy doesnʼt want to move,” I said forcefully. He sized me up and mumbled something, but he picked up his gear and left. It helps that Iʼm over six feet, and can project a mean ready-to-rumble look. The kid was awestruck, looking at me like I was Jesus Christ. It was time to have an understanding. I wasnʼt about to become his baby sitter. “Cʼmon outside,” I said. As we walked behind the barracks he said hopefully, “Are we buddies.” “I just said that to get rid of the guy, I donʼt like bullies. But Iʼve got news for you; Iʼm not going to be your buddy if you canʼt hold your own.” I was afraid this guy was hopelessly soft. Better to find out now than later. With my open hand, I slapped him hard across the face. He was shocked and looked like he was going to cry. “What did you do that for?” he said, trying to hold back the tears. “Iʼm trying to find out if A Joe Joe & & Hobby Hobby fiction by David J. Valley you have any balls!” I made like I was going to slap him again and watched his eyes. He didnʼt flinch; there was a hardness in his look. I wasnʼt bluffing and let loose another swing. I was stunned when I felt a smack on my wrist. He stopped my arm in midair. I was impressed. Iʼve done a lot of street fighting, growing up in West L.A., but I never met anyone quick enough to cut off my delivery. “How the hell did you do that,” I asked. “I didnʼt want you to slap me again.” “Yeah, but how did you grab me so fast.” “I donʼt know. Iʼve always been quick with my hands.” “Okay kid, listen up. Maybe we can be buddies. I like it that youʼre willing to defend yourself, and your quickness is impressive. Iʼve never seen such fast reflexes. You could be a fighter, but youʼve got to develop and stand up to others like you just did to me. Youʼll probably get knocked around some, but with your speed and some training I think you can hold your own.” It wasnʼt much of a speech, but it was like air filling out a balloon, he expanded and looked like he could take on the world. “Gee, thatʼs great. Iʼll do my best,” he said as he flashed a cockeyed grin. “Whatʼs your name, kid?” “Hobart Newton, but people call me Hobby. Whatʼs yours?” “Crest, Joe Crest. Just call me Joe. A hand shake sealed our pact to be buddies. To me it was no big deal, but I suspected it meant a lot to Hobby. I considered him like a kid brother. I wouldnʼt worry about being nice, but Iʼd kept an eye on him. I wouldnʼt fight his battles either, but might help out if he got in over his head. Write to author David Valley at: [email protected] Kiwi Wins Aussie Millions Championship title, surviving a gruelling marathon three days of card play and beating an international field of the worldʼs best for the honors. The final hand saw him triumph Heads Up against Mike Simkins, a PartyPoker qualifier from the United States, with George “The Tasmaniac” Mamacas bowing out in third spot. Crownʼs 2005 “Aussie Millions” has created poker history this week as the richest poker festival staged outside of the United States, and the most prestigious poker event ever held in the Southern Hemisphere, placing Crown Poker squarely on the international poker circuit as one of the top tournaments worldwide. 263 poker guns from around the globe weighed in $10 000 each for a piece of the action. It has been a battle of endurance, of fierce skill and will, with the best man emerging on the day. “I am thrilled with the win. I have played cards all over Australasia and even in Russia, but to win the Aussie Millions here at Crown is very special. I have a large family, a wife and four children, and the $1 Million will come in very handy. It is a little life changing, but I wonʼt be giving up the day job just yet,” said Dia when asked about his Aussie Millions earn. The final table of the Aussie Millions has been filmed by i2i Television, to be post-edited for broadcast on Fox Sports Network U.S. and locally. See results below. Australia 5. Steve McLean . AU$110,000 Ireland 6. Warwick DunnettAU$80,000 United States 2. Sam Khouiss . . . AU$31,500 Australia 3. George Boutkaris AU$21,000 Australia United States Australia 9. Marcel Luske . . . AU$50,000 Amsterdam, Holland 10. James Potter . . . AU$30,000 Australia Australia Australia 4. Nick Assioti . . . . AU$10,500 7. Jonathan Paul . . AU$70,000 8. Gary Benson . . . AU$60,000 4. Larry Johansson AU$18,500 5. Mel Judah . . . . . . AU$9,250 CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/15/05 6. Leo Boxell. . . . . . . AU$2,400 Australia 7. Vegard Tunby . . . AU$2,000 8. Ashish Gupta . . . . AU$1,600 Australia 9. Tony Trimarchi . . AU$1,200 CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/16/05 TAG TEAM LIMIT HOLD’EM POT LIMIT OMAHA HI 2-DAY EVENT BUY-IN AU$500 + AU$50 CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/14/05 WPP WORLD SPEED POKER CHAMIONSHIP 3-DAY EVENT PLAYERS 80 BUY-IN AU$5,000 + AU$200 CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/17/05 PRIZE POOL AUSTRAILIAN MANLIA CHAMPIONSHIP BUY-IN AU$5,000 + AU$200 PLAYERS 37 AU$40,000 PRIZE POOL James Potter AU$185,000 AU$105,000 1. Carlo Larosa . . . AU$42,000 Australia PLAYERS 204 Australia Marcel Luske 2. Jeff Brown . . . . . . AU$8,400 Amsterdam, Holland PLAYERS 21 PRIZE POOL BUY-IN AU$1,500 + AU$100 1. James Potter . . . AU$13,200 1. Marcel Luske . . . AU$74,000 2. Mike Manttan . . AU$50,875 Australia 3. Frank Callaghan AU$32,375 Ireland (Continued from page 1) Australia 3. Ben Chan . . . . . . . AU$4,400 4. David Hatzis. . . . . AU$3,200 Australia PRIZE POOL AU$306,000 Michael Thuritz 1. Michael Thuritz AU$100,000 5. Tod Sik . . . . . . . . . AU$2,800 Australia Sweden (Continued on page 35) CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/18/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM MAIN EVENT BUY-IN AU$10,000 + AU$300 PLAYERS 263 PRIZE POOL AU$2,630,000 Jamil Dia 1. Jamil Dia . . . .AU$1,000,000 New Zealand 2. Mike Simkin. . . AU$465,000 United States 3. George Mamacas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AU$250,000 Australia 4. Martin Comer . AU$170,000 F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 15 LESSON 42: Simple, Powerful Key to Poker Success The latest lesson Mike has taught me is easy to apply to limit poker games. Here’s the concept behind it. You can focus on a poker decision in two primary ways. Conservative approach. Approach 1: Begin with the assumption that you should check or fold every hand and then gather evidence to the contrary. Only if the evidence is strong enough Lessons from mike caro university of poker BY DIANE MCHAFFIE to outweigh the argument that you should check or fold do you take an aggressive action, by betting, calling, or raising. Liberal approach. Approach 2: Assume that you will always take assertive action if possible – raising, betting, or calling. (Sometimes the most assertive play can be checking with the intention of raising if you’re bet into, but usually it’s just a simple bet or raise.) Once you’ve decided what the most assertive play would be, then you always take that action unless there are strong reasons to do differently. If you successfully argue against raising, then calling is the next most assertive action – and you should do that unless you can successfully find arguments to fold. You see, whether you use approach 1 or 2, you’re always beginning with a firm action in mind, then arguing against it. Mike says, “It’s much easier to find evidence rejecting the aggressive presumption than it is to find evidence rejecting the most conservative one. Therefore, if you choose the first, conservative approach, you usually won’t find enough evidence to make a more aggressive choice in full-handed games. For instance, you might begin with the assumption that you’re going to fold, weigh arguments to the contrary, and usually fold anyway. However, if you choose the second, liberal approach, it will be easier to find reasons not to bet, raise, or call. You often will defeat that initial choice, especially if it’s to bet or raise.” Mike teaches that in limit poker games, where the wagering is by a single unit, on early betting rounds, and by double that amount on later betting rounds, there’s an effective way to use these two approaches. Common Weakness. He advises, “When the betting and raising is by single units, such as $10 in a $10/$20 game, you should use the first approach. You should make up your mind to check or fold, whichever the situation merits, unless you can find a powerful and convincing reason to do otherwise. In other words, you need to argue yourself out of folding or checking. This will keep you on the right track, by helping you avoid an average player’s most common weakness – entering too many pots and calling or betting too often.” He suggests that when your betting doubles, such as $20 rounds in a $10/$20 game, you should do exactly the opposite. After you successfully argue against raising, you should prepare to call unless there is strong evidence that a fold would save you money. You’ll usually be able to convince yourself not to raise, unless you have a strong hand under favorable circumstances. But, it will be more difficult to convince yourself that you shouldn’t call. Folding too often. And that’s a good thing. While average players don’t fold often enough on later rounds, players trying to win, like us, strangely have a tendency to fold too often. That’s because, in our zeal to make solid decisions, we don’t adequately take into consideration that the pot is so large on late betting rounds, relative to how much it costs to call, that we’re supposed to usually call, even though we’re going to usually lose. By using the second approach on later rounds of betting, you will usually call correctly if your hand has any reasonable chance of winning. In summary: On early rounds of betting, begin with the assumption that you’re going to check or fold. On later rounds of betting, begin with the assumption that you’re usually going to call, if bet into. Then you can alter your play if there is strong evidence to the contrary. Mike convinced me that this system works like a charm, so I thought I’d just pass it along to you, in the hopes that you’ll profit from it. 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]. 16 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 Jack Binion’s included in the next issue. Tunica card rooms have been filled with poker players creating long waiting times for games during this time of year, as the WPOʼs popularity has grown rapidly in stature. See below for the latest results. Chris Savage Cannibalizes Final Table: Online Poker Whiz Runs Wire-to-Wire in First Major ‘Live’ Tournament Win The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers. —Sydney J. Harris In the not too far distant past, the general mindset of flesh and blood poker players towards online adversaries was one of contempt. They play too many starting hands. They have no ʻpeople readingʼ skills. They canʼt beat a real poker game. Then, along came an accountant from Tennessee named Chris Moneymaker and the poker world turned upside down. Moneymaker, true to his name, did the unthinkable – parlaying a $37 online tournament win into the 2003 world championship. The unlikeliest of winners ignited a fuse on a global powder keg, exploding into a worldwide proliferation of online poker sites, many with hundreds of games going 24/7 and thousands of players around the clock. Proving that online poker as a training ground for tournament success was no fluke, a Connecticut-based attorney, Greg Raymer, repeated the same feat again in 2004. Now, another online poker whiz, Chris Savage from Baton Rouge, LA has completed the technotrifecta. Savage, who achieved astonishing results online over the past year, won the $1,500 buy-in Limit Holdʼem event at the 2005 Jack Binion World Poker Open. First place paid $78,706 in cash, the coveted gold and diamond bracelet, and a $10,000 entry into the championship event, which starts next week. Savageʼs online tournament record alone would be enough to make him the envy of 99.9 percent of all poker players. Consider that he won an unprecedented 12 seats to the $10,000 buy-in Aruba event last year, just from his online play. Savage won eight other major online tournaments in 2004, as well. Now, heʼs broken into new territory – live tournaments. “When I first started playing poker online, I lost more money than anyone,” Savage said following his victory. “Then, I decided to take the game seriously. I started studying. I talked to friends on the phone for hours about poker strategy, and learned about all the things you need to become a good tournament player.... The most important this is – Iʼm not afraid to (get knocked out). I donʼt play to move up a notch in the prize money, I play to win first place.” Indeed, Savage never once let up in a relentless pursuit of his first live tournament win. “Iʼm able to fire the second shell and the third shell and make people fold the best hand,” Savage explained. “Iʼm going to keep firing bullets when I have the chip lead and itʼs very difficult for someone to call in their position.” 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #14 1/19/05 LIMIT TEXAS HOLD’EM BUY-IN $1,500 + $70 PLAYERS 176 PRIZE POOL $239,447 Chris Savage 1. Chris Savage . . . . . . $78,706 and $10,000 entry into WPT Baton Rouge LA 2. Mike Haney . . . . . . . $43,407 Marion, AR 3. Robert Perry . . . . . . $23,850 Highland Beach, FL, United States 4. Raja Kattamuri . . . . $19,080 Dallas, TX 5. Chris Tsiprailidis . . . $14,310 Syracuse, NY, United States 6. Dr Max Stern . . . . . . $11,925 Las Vegas, NV, United States 7. Frank Kassela . . . . . . $9,540 Germantown, TN, United States 8. Tom Franklin . . . . . . . $7,155 Gulfport, MS, United States 9. Gerard Johnston . . . . $4,918 St Charles, MO, United States ‘The Great Unknown’ New Orleans Business Owner Eddie Ameen Wins Top Prize in PotLimit Hold’em Event Standing out in the hallway in front of the tournament room at the 2005 Jack Binion World Poker Open, two men were having a discussion. One of those men happened to be Hans “Tuna” Lund – one of the greatest poker players of the last thirty years, and certainly one of the gameʼs top intellects. Tuna was lamenting the fact that winning at poker today is much tougher than in yesteryear. “If you make a big bet, now they come right back over the top of you,” Tuna grumbled. “You used to be able to make a bet and take the pot, but today, no one is afraid anymore.” Tuna is right. The final table of Event #13 confirms the worst fears of Tuna Lund, and many top pros who once dominated the tournament poker circuit. The nine finalists in this event were names and faces that, for the most part, no one would recognize. All of the money spots --18 in all -- were comprised of relatively ʻunknownʼ players. This is not to say these individuals arenʼt good, perhaps even great players. Indeed, thatʼs the scary part. The ʻgreat unknownsʼ have become so good so fast that they have just as decent a chance to win a tournament as any poker superstar. Chalk it up to the influence of televised tournaments and countless poker websites, strategy discussion groups, books, videos, seminars, and articles and what you have is poker egalitarianism – a large assembly of devoted and near-equally WPO in Full Swing talented tournament players who are separated not so much by differences in skill, but by public awareness and perception. Itʼs as though there are two groups of poker players – the discovered and the undiscovered. The undiscovered winner of this event was Eddie Ameen, a 57-yearold businessman from the New Orleans suburb of Metarie. Ameen owns a jewelry store as well as a successful personnel management firm. Ameen describes himself mostly as a ʻhome gameʼ player, but his performance in this event was way beyond what anyone would expect in your average Wednesday night poker game. Ameen collected first-place prize money of $69,392, an entry into the $10,000 buy-in championship event, and the coveted gold and diamond bracelet given to each event winner at the Jack Binion World Poker Open. World Champion Mads Andersen masters a ‘new’ game—Danish player wins first poker tournament and $118,379 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #13 1/18/05 POT LIMIT TEXAS HOLD’EM BUY-IN $1,000 + $60 PLAYERS 234 PRIZE POOL $210,979 Ed Ameen 1. Ed Ameen . . . . . . . . . $69,392 New Orleans, LA, United States 2. Chad Moore . . . . . . . $38,270 Frankfort, IN, United States 3. Amnon Filippi . . . . . $21,028 New york, NY, United States 4. Chad Moore . . . . . . . $16,822 Frankfort, IN, United States 5. Larry Keene . . . . . . . $12,617 Fitzgerald, GA, United States 6. Mark Fledderman . . $10,514 St Louis, MO, United States 7. Pete Bigelow . . . . . . . . $8,411 Moose Lake, MN, United States 8. Russell Burns . . . . . . . $6,308 DeKalb, IL, United States 9. Salem Helou . . . . . . . . $4,336 Lafayette, LA, United States The Great Dane: Former Backgammon Experts in any one field tend to be extraordinary in other areas, as well. For instance, those with a special talent for languages can learn a third or even a fourth language much easier than the rest of us. Great thinkers tend to understand multiple sciences – physics, chemistry, and mathematics, for example. Inventors are likely to initiate multiple discoveries, not just one. Intellectual aptitude extends to game theory, also. As proof – consider the winner of Event #12 at the 2005 Jack Binion World Poker Open. Danish-born master gamesman and 2002 Backgammon World Champion Mads Andersen topped a highly-competitive field of 135 players and earned his first poker victory. Not since Paul Magriel has any backgammon expert broken into the sanctified winnerʼs circle of a major poker tournament. Magriel, renowned for his backgammon expertise and achievements during the 1970s and 80s, made a number of poker tournament final tables in recent years. Now, Mads Andersen has invaded the poker world and is taking no prisoners. He arrived at the final table sixth in the chip count, overcame several short-stacked situations, staged a startling comeback, and by wiping out one of the worldʼs best Pot-Limit Omaha players, made a bold statement that he has arrived on the poker scene. 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #12 1/17/05 POT LIMIT OMAHA BUY-IN $1,000 + $60 PLAYERS 135 REBUYS 225 PRIZE POOL $328,829 (Continued from page 1) Mads Andersen 1. Mads Andersen . . . $118,379 Copenhagen, Denmark 2. Robert Williamson III . . . . . $65,766 Dallas, TX, United States 3. Karl Limbert . . . . . . $36,171 Margate, United Kingdom 4. Dale Morrow . . . . . . $26,306 Tunica, MS, United States 5. Larry Kozlove . . . . . $23,018 Louisville, KY, United States 6. Sherkhan Farnood . $19,730 Afghanistan 7. Tony Lay . . . . . . . . . $16,441 Oklahoma City, OK, United States 8. Ayaz Mahmood . . . . $13,153 Houston, TX, United States 9. Raul Paez . . . . . . . . . . $9,865 Barcelona, Spain Ruben Ybarra Wins First Poker Tournament, tops UK-champ Jac Arama in heads-up play for $138,647 prize History has a strange way of repeating itself. The (Continued on page 20) Pot Limit ~ No Limit Poker Players Monday Night Football Special Beginners Lessons Daily exclusively at the 11:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. LAS VEGAS, NEVADA • CENTER - “STRIP” • Poker players earn “Comp Dollars” • FREE flavored coffee bar and hors d’oeuvres for players • No limit tournaments Mon. 1:00 p.m. $40 Buy-In Tues. 7:00 p.m. $50 Buy-In Wed. 1:00 p.m. $40 Buy-In Wed. Midnight $40 Buy-In Thurs. 7:00 p.m. $50 Buy-In Sun. 1:00 p.m. $50 Buy-In All tournaments have re-buys and add-ons! For tournament info, contact the Poker Room at 702.731.3311 ext. 3750 F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 17 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Aussie Millions 2005 - Melbourne TRUE POKER By Peter “The Poet” COsta This event has proven so good for me over the last two years, I fully expected it to provide me with further material to work with. Well, that didn’t very look like likely as I looked in danger of being first out. Having taken my second-chance chips after just 40 minutes, and then losing almost half of them immediately - I was on the verge of dreaming about next year’s event. I then got what was a very lucky break when I bet 200 after the flop and got called twice. However, the second caller had accidentally thrown in two $500 by mistake. I called and so did the other player. I won the pot and increased my stack to 6,000 and back into the game. As the field of 263 began to dwindle, I began to slowly build to over 23,000. To say I was feeling confident, was an understatement. Down to just over 100 players remaining, two young internet qualifiers had the big stacks on my table. One in particular had become my target. He seemed to be raising far too many times and far too often UTG (under the gun). Everyone’s suspicions about the strength of his starting hands was proven correct when he was forced to call a re-raise by the BB after he again had raised UTG. Showing the 4-5 diamonds was about to make him everyone’s target. As you do, you wait and you wait until the right moment comes…. He again raised UTG and I called in late position with 88. The flop came three hearts and he bet out. I mucked and he showed the 6-7 hearts. With blinds of 300-600, he again raises UTG and makes it 2,000 to play. I called with 5-5. It was so sweet to see the flop of 8h-5c-Th. He bet 2,000 and I raised 4,000. He moved all-in and I beat him into the pot. The funny thing was that he actually had a hand this time as he throw over A-A. My chance had finally come. But a funny thing happened on the way to the next hand and to a stack of nearly 50,000 - runner runner hearts to give him the nut flush! It’s not often I’m stuck for words, but this was one of those times. And so I can finally dream of next year and of the Aussie Millions 2006. For those who have yet to make this trip - next year’s schedule is going to be changed with some very imaginative additions. I suggest that you keep an eye out for developments and make plans to visit these wonderful Aussie people. As for these Internet players - they sure add fun to the game. It seems that not having a mouse to click - makes no difference to their overall play. But I must add that most of them show a lot of guts and they don’t seemed fazed by their introduction real live tournaments. OK, so they create a minefield for the pro to overcome. But they also help to boost this years first prize to $1M. Bless them all and their clicking finger. Next stop is the Commerce in LA and to a hard month of tournaments - what a tough life this is! Until then—play well, get lucky and enjoy life. d Diamond Jim’s Casino 118 20th St. West Rosamond, California Exit A 14 Freeway The Best Little No-limit Tournament in Southern California HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO POKER DERBY EVENT #6 1/12/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM tournament concluded on January 16 with 2,094 total participants and a total prize pool of $555,800 over 10 events. It was no surprise that the turnout for holdʼem events exceeded expectations and helped push the total prize pool well over the original estimate. The Poker Derby traditionally appeals to a local crowd however four of this yearʼs winners hailed from out of state, or up the coast, including Detroit, Colorado Springs, San Jose and Walnut Creek, CA. The player with the hot hand turned out to be John Hoang, a local player out of Alhambra, CA. John won the limit holdʼem event on January 16 and captured enough points in other events to win the $10,000 Best All-Around Player contest. See the charts below for other winners and details. The next major tournament at Hollywood Park Casino is the 8th annual Sport of Kings, scheduled for March 30 - April 10, 2005. HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO POKER DERBY EVENT #10 1/16/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM P HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO POKER DERBY EVENT #9 1/15/05 LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $300 + $40 PLAYERS 111 PRIZE POOL $32,300 John Hoang 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. John Hoang . . . . . . . $12,885 Khiem Nguyen . . . . . . $6,445 Ronald Drew . . . . . . . $3,215 Chad Miyamoto . . . . . $2,085 Bruce Brown . . . . . . . $1,600 Michael Christian . . . $1,115 Frank Digiorgio . . . . . . .$795 Antoine Hasrouni . . . . .$630 Tom Noel . . . . . . . . . . . .$470 HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO POKER DERBY EVENT #8 1/14/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $200 + $30 PLAYERS 221 REBUYS 241 ADD-ONS 104 PRIZE POOL $109,800 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Joel Kop . . . . . . . . . . $40,050 Jeff Stroiman . . . . . . $20,865 Sung Yi . . . . . . . . . . . $10,430 Daniel Dahan . . . . . . . $7,135 Jacky Lee . . . . . . . . . . $4,940 John Hoang . . . . . . . . $3,845 Robert Fowlkes . . . . . $2,745 Franco Brunetti . . . . . $2,195 Michael Lucas . . . . . . $1,755 LIMIT HOLD’EM $84,100 BUY-IN $200 + $30 Adham Mackie 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. PLAYERS 152 Adham Mackie . . . . $30,695 William Greenberg . $15,980 Joel Kop . . . . . . . . . . . $7,990 Alan Myerson . . . . . . $5,465 Frank Schram . . . . . . $3,785 Maria Ho . . . . . . . . . . $2,945 Cruise erCash k o PTournament&Gamess 7 Day Cruises Caribbean NE-Canada Bermuda Alaska INFORMATION 866-272-0896 see us on the web www.pokergamesatsea.com PLAYERS 361 PRIZE POOL $70,035 George Panagakis 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. George Panagakis . . $25,560 Joel Tushnet . . . . . . . $13,305 Jill Siegel . . . . . . . . . . $6,655 Michael Lucas . . . . . . $4,550 David Sacks . . . . . . . . $3,150 Ba Minh Tran . . . . . . $2,450 David Daneshgar . . . . $1,750 Hiam Salmon . . . . . . . $1,400 Chellie Campbell . . . . $1,135 HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO POKER DERBY EVENT #5 1/11/05 OMAHA HI-LO BUY-IN $100 + $25 PLAYERS 133 REBUYS 111 PRIZE POOL 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Joel Kop HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO POKER DERBY EVENT #7 1/13/05 PLAYERS 63 REBUYS 114 ADD-ONS 97 PRIZE POOL Call for more info: 661-256-1400 F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P 7. Lance Allred. . . . . . . . $2,100 8. Fodil Moussa . . . . . . . $1,680 9. Henry Khauv . . . . . . . $1,355 BUY-IN $300 + $40 Poker Games at Sea P O K E R P L AY E R BUY-IN $200 + $30 (Continued from page 1) The Last Sunday of Each Month $100 Buy-in–No Rebuys $8,000 in Tournament Chips 18 Danny Morgan. . . . . . $2,950 James Wardell . . . . . . $1,915 George Shahrezay . . . $1,475 Daniel Torla . . . . . . . . $1,030 George Brinson . . . . . . .$735 Gregory M. Pierce . . . . .$595 Scott Silverman . . . . . . .$440 $23,670 Jeffrey Han . . . . . . . . $9,480 Errol Davidson . . . . . $4,735 John Hoang . . . . . . . . $2,365 Ronald Holborn . . . . . $1,540 Jeffrey Niedelman . . . $1,185 Michael Christensen . . .$830 Gary Mandell. . . . . . . . .$590 Jim Calcagno . . . . . . . . .$475 Cecil Belda . . . . . . . . . . .$355 HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO POKER DERBY EVENT #4 1/10/05 7-CARD STUD HI-LO BUY-IN $100 + $25 PLAYERS 129 REBUYS 109 PRIZE POOL $23,085 Feridoun Farboud 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Feridoun Farboud . . . $9,220 Mark Taylor . . . . . . . . $4,615 James Wardell . . . . . . $2,310 Joseph Schulman . . . . $1,385 Brett Freeman . . . . . . $1,155 n/a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$925 Sam Sanusi . . . . . . . . . . .$695 Phillip Penn . . . . . . . . . .$460 PRIZE POOL $29,490 HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO POKER DERBY EVENT #3 1/9/05 Mark Taylor 1. Mark Taylor . . . . . . . $11,795 2. William Behrens . . . . $5,900 LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $100 + $25 PLAYERS 227 REBUYS 200 PRIZE POOL 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. $41,420 Brian Kim . . . . . . . . $15,100 Bruce Brown . . . . . . . $7,870 Tony “TNT” Nasr . . . $3,930 Costas Hager . . . . . . . $2,690 Yong Woo Chung. . . . $1,865 Bahman Fathi . . . . . . $1,450 Seymour Sundell . . . . $1,035 Feridoun Farboud . . . . .$830 Tran Takes Harrahs First Circuit Canada by wining the main event at Harrahʼs Atlantic City. This was the first in a series of six Circuit Tournaments held at Harrahʼs properties in the USA.. Notables at the final table included Erik Lindgren, who came in 2nd and former world Champion Chris Ferguson. Another person named Tran, Mimi of Torrance, California took fourth place. There were twelve events in all at this tournament which began on January 7th and ran through the 18th.. See the results in the following charts. HARRAHS ATLANTIC CITY WSOP CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT 1/18/05 CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT NO LIMIT HOLD’EM 2-DAY EVENT BUY-IN $9,500 + $500 PLAYERS 249 PRIZE POOL $2,365,000 5. Aaron Bartley . . . . $141,930 2. Martin Julius . . . . . . $20,400 8. John Brown . . . . . . . $10,000 5. Alan Goodman. . . . . $12,495 6. Stan Goldstein . . . . $118,275 3. Alexandra Vuong . . . $11,220 9. Allen Cunningham . . $7,500 6. Allen Kessler . . . . . . $10,710 Los Angeles, CA, United States Ranco Palos Verde, CA, United States Ventura, CA, United States 7. Chad Brown . . . . . . . $94,620 4. Nick Frangos . . . . . . . $8,160 Cary, NC, United States Hassleholr, Sweden Los Angeles, CA, United States Mars Landing, NJ, United States 8. Chris Ferguson . . . . $70,965 5. David Chiu . . . . . . . . . $7,140 9. Michael Esposito . . . $47,310 Pacific Palisades, CA, United States Seaford, NY, United States HARRAHS ATLANTIC CITY WSOP CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT 1/15/05 L I P S NO LIMIT LADIES EVENT BUY-IN $200 + $30 PLAYERS 168 PRIZE POOL $33,600 1. Esther Ludwig . . . . . $11,088 Edison, NJ, United States Westminster, CA, United States Yonkers, NY, United States 6. Ted Forest. . . . . . . . . . $6,120 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM La Jolla, CA, United States 7. Robert Mackie . . . . . . $5,100 BUY-IN $500 + $60 Rowland Heights, CA, United States Las Vegas, NV, United States Staten Island, NY, United States PLAYERS 99 8. Anthony DeAngelo . . $4,080 Sewell, NJ, United States 9. Daniel Shak . . . . . . . . $3,060 Rosemont, NJ, United States PRIZE POOL $49,500 1. Rohit Chopra . . . . . . $17,820 HARRAHS ATLANTIC CITY WSOP CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT 1/13/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM 2-DAY EVENT BUY-IN $2,000 + $80 Wadsworth, OH, United States Leonia, NJ, United States $250,000 7. Tory Keomanivong . . $2,475 Upper Darby, PA, United States Marlboro, NJ, United States Ridgewood, NJ, United States 7. Terry Smith . . . . . . . . $1,344 HARRAHS ATLANTIC CITY WSOP CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT 1/11/05 Laurel, MD, United States 8. Bonnie Kornstein. . . . $1,008 Wyncote, PA, United States Lighthouse Pt., FL, United States $57,000 5. Alan Flaisman . . . . . . $3,465 6. Patricia Galasso . . . . . $1,680 $102,000 PRIZE POOL NV, United States Fairview Village, PA, United States 1. John Spadavecchia . $36,720 PLAYERS 57 New York, NY, United States 4. Jim Miller. . . . . . . . . . $3,960 Munroe Falls, OH, United States PLAYERS 51 BUY-IN $1,000 + $60 6. Sang Tae . . . . . . . . . . . $2,970 PLAYERS 125 PRIZE POOL Douglassville, PA, United States 9. Robert Jaffe . . . . . . . . $1,485 PRIZE POOL LIMIT HOLD’EM 2-DAY EVENT 3. Jon Kinkel . . . . . . . . . $5,445 Moncks Corner, SC, United States BUY-IN $2,000 + $80 HARRAHS ATLANTIC CITY WSOP CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT 1/10/05 Corona, CA, United States 5. Gina Saladino . . . . . . $2,016 LIMIT HOLD’EM 2-DAY EVENT Brooklyn, NY, United States 9. Dan Alspatch . . . . . . . $5,355 2. Ronald Rhoads . . . . . $9,900 8. Dean Schultz . . . . . . . $1,980 HARRAHS ATLANTIC CITY WSOP CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT 1/14/05 Huntington Valley, PA, United States 7. Douglas Gardner . . . . $8,925 4. Kathleen Hartman . . $2,688 9. Kathryn Dowling . . . . . .$672 Brooklyn, NY, United States 8. Freddy Spour . . . . . . . $7,140 Las Vegas, NV, United States 3. GiGi Dong . . . . . . . . . $3,360 Lake Grove, NY, United States HARRAHS ATLANTIC CITY WSOP CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT 1/12/05 2. Kathy Liebert . . . . . . $6,115 Newark, DE, United States Nghi Van Tran 1. Nghi Van Tran . . . . $780,615 (Continued from page 1) Alan Schein 1. Alan Schein . . . . . . . $90,000 New York, NY, United States 3. Adam Green. . . . . . . $27,500 Mars Landing, NJ, United States 2. Warren Karp . . . . . . $11,400 Lake Forrest, CA, United States NO LIMIT HOLD’EM 2-DAY EVENT 3. Alan Miller . . . . . . . . . $6,270 BUY-IN $1,500 + $70 4. Robert Rector . . . . . . $4,560 Nth Miami, FL, United States 2. Jon Finkel. . . . . . . . . $50,000 Nick Frangos 1. Nick Frangos . . . . . . $20,520 Bridgeport, WV, United States PLAYERS 119 PRIZE POOL Sharon, MA, United States 5. Sal Accard . . . . . . . . . $3,990 $178,500 Dix Hills, NY, United States 6. Gino Yu. . . . . . . . . . . . $3,420 4. Chris Reslock . . . . . . $20,000 1. Anthony M Tagliaferri . . . . . $64,260 Atlantic City, NJ, United States Williamsport, PA, United States 5. Frank Giaramida . . $17,500 2. Michael Borovetz. . . $35,700 N Massapequa, NY, United States Carson, CA, United States 8. Mike Dellaratto . . . . . $2,280 6. Brian Mogelefsky . . $15,000 3. Douglas Carli . . . . . . $19,635 Huntington, NY, United States Alliance, OH, United States 9. Alan Flaisman . . . . . . $1,710 7. James Keller . . . . . . $12,500 4. William Blanda . . . . $14,280 Reston, VA, United States Fayetteville, NC, United States Torrance, CA, United States 7. Craig Gray . . . . . . . . . $2,850 Portland, OR, United States Galloway, NJ Humble, TX, United States Wadsworth, OH, United States (Continued on page 21) North York, ON, Canada 2. Erick Lindgren . . . $430,521 POWERFUL ADVERTISING REACH... 3. Nick Frangos . . . . . $236,550 POKER PLAYER Las Vegas, NV, United States Mars Landing, NJ, United States 4. Mimi Tran . . . . . . . $189,240 Torrance, CA, United States $40 Could Lead To $2 Million! One of Las Vegas’ most comfortable and elegant poker rooms also offers poker players the most exciting bonuses. Hit any qualifying high hand during a bonus round and receive an additional $50.00. $1-5 Seven-Card Stud • $4 & 8 Hold ’Em with a 1/2 Kill • $6 & 12 Hold ’Em with a 1/2 Kill Monday through Friday $30 and $50 Buy-in Tournaments • $40 buy-in • Qualifying tournaments every day • You could end up on TV with the big players Las Vegas action, San Diego style! Just 20 minutes northeast of Escondido (Please check Tournament Schedule) For details, call 877-777-2457 or visit www.harrahs.com For Player Room Rates call toll-free 877- 632-7510 or 702- 632-7790. mandalaybay.com San Diego Must be 21 or older to gamble. Know When To Stop Before You Start.® Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-522-4700. Owned by the Rincon San Luiseño Band of Mission Indians. Managed by HCAL Corporation. ©2005, Harrah’s License Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 19 Compounding Mistakes STUD SENSE By ASHLEY ADAMS I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times. After an hour or two of tight you’re down to about $300 after staring with $500. You still think you’re playing well, but you’re getting a little bored and frustrated at the bad run of cards and the resulting lack of meaningful action. You decide to bust out of your tight image, at least for a hand. You’ve committed yourself to some aggressive play as soon as you get anything close to a playable hand. You’re dealt (9h Th)Ks. A 3d is the bring-in and is four or five to your right. She brings it in for the $3.00 and gets a caller before the action gets to you. Three players remain plus the bring-in. You decide to complete it to $10—certainly a bit of a wild raise for you. But no Aces are exposed and you figure you might win the antes and the bring-ins. No luck on the ante steal. You get called by two players—the bring-in with a 3d and the person who initially called the bring-in with a Js. A nine and a ten folded but your King is fully live as are the cards of your callers. You get a Queen of Hearts on Fourth Street giving you (9h Th)Ks Qh. The Jack gets an 8 and the 3 gets a suited Ace. The 3h-Ah bets; the Js-8d calls and it’s to you. You figure you have a Straight draw and a Flush draw and four cards that are all at least pretty high. It’s still the lower tier of betting and there are two other players in. With the pot odds and your outs you figure it’s a borderline call. But you haven’t played many hands lately – so you convince yourself to make the call. On Fifth Street you pair your 9 with (9h Th)KS Qh 9c. You see (xx)3h-Ah-Kd and (xx) Js-8c-Qs. The Ace is high and bets. The Jack calls. You figure that you have a shot at trips, two pair or even a straight or a flush. And it’s three-way action. So you call too. On Sixth Street you don’t improve. But apparently neither do your opponents. The Ace bets, the Jack calls, and you figure that the pot is so large you’re committed to calling now. On the River you catch another Ten for two pair. The Ace bets. The Jack folds. And you figure that the pot odds justify a call. So you do, only to lose to Aces over Threes. What you’ve done is compounded your small mistake on Third Street with a series of compounding mistakes that ended up costing you a bundle. It’s not that any single decision was a colossal mistake. But incrementally you stumbled into a bankroll depleting error. How’d it happen? Simply put, you got stuck in the momentum of the hand. When your ante steal didn’t work you should have quit. But you became improperly committed to pushing the hand until you won. And so you lost eight small bets instead of only one. Let’s face it. It’s hard to admit defeat when you began as the aggressor. And yet, to win in the long run, we frequently have to do just that. If our raise on Third Street, which may have been ill conceived to begin with, doesn’t work, we should check and fold on Fourth Street if we don’t hit the right card. And if by Fifth Street we still haven’t improved, we shouldn’t just bet in an attempt to win. Sometimes a tactical retreat is the best move to avoid a huge compounding error. Jack Binion’s WPO $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Holdʼem event at the 2005 Jack Binion World Poker Open featured yet another stunning comeback victory and a breakthrough win for a new poker champion. Ruben Ybarra, a 36-yearold mortgage broker from Chicago, IL made his first final table ever after more than 20 tries. He ended up with first-place prize money of $138,647, the coveted gold and diamond bracelet, and an entry into the $10,000 championship event. He did it the hard way. Consider the hand he won early on Day One, way prior to making it to the final table: With 200 players remaining, Ybarra started with pocket Aces, made a pre-flop raise, and was inexplicably called by a player holding 2-3. A deuce came on the flop, and Ybarra bet out. The opponent called. The turn brought another deuce, and Ybarra made a bet and was check-raised ʻall in.” He called. The river brought a beautiful Ace. “If I wouldnʼt have caught that Ace yesterday, I wouldnʼt even be here,” Ybarra said. That turned out to be the biggest hand of Ybarraʼs life. 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #11 1/16/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $1,500 + $70 PLAYERS 314 PRIZE POOL $435,200 Ruben Ybarra 1. Ruben Ybarra . . . . $138,647 Chicago, IL, United States 2. Jac Arama . . . . . . . . $76,256 London, United Kingdom 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] 20 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 3. Leo Boothe . . . . . . . . $38,994 Fairriday, LA, United States 4. J C Tran . . . . . . . . . . $30,329 Sacramento, CA, United States 5. Tom Komulainen . . . $25,996 Iron River, MI, United States 6. Glyn Banks. . . . . . . . $21,664 Smithville, TN, United States 7. Jeff Burns . . . . . . . . . $17,331 Mt Juliet, TN, United States 8. Davood Mehrmand . $12,998 Frankfurt, Germany 9. Jo Handman. . . . . . . . $8,665 London, United Kingdom Persistence Pays Off: After 20 tries and six straight years at the JBWPO, Nick Yobbagy wins first poker tournament, defeats newcomer Hung Ly in four-hour heads-up marathon The game of poker can be divided into two distinct eras – before and after. In the before era, Limit Holdʼem was king. All live holdʼem games were limit. Limit Holdʼem tournaments attracted the largest fields and generated the vast majority of tournament circuit prize money. NoLimit was a distant second in popularity, and was nonexistent as an option inside virtually all cardrooms within the United States. From Tunica to Las Vegas, it was easier to find a professional full-time keno player than to find a NoLimit Holdʼem cash game. Then came televised poker – and everything changed. After the revolution, No-Limit Holdʼem became the game. Todayʼs poker neophytes are drawn to No-Limit. As proof, look no further than this yearʼs Jack Binion World Poker Open. The first two NoLimit events at this yearʼs tournament – comprised mostly of new faces -- set all-time attendance records. Indeed, No-Limit games of all sizes have popped up in cardrooms from coastto-coast – including games with tiny blind structures all the way up to the biggest games in the world. Strangely enough, Limit Holdʼem now seems to be pokerʼs proverbial stepchild, still part of the family of course, but no longer the most desired and loved of the bunch. The winner of Event #10 at this yearʼs JBWPO was a throwback to the ʻbeforeʼ era. “I learned how to play poker when everything was Limit Holdʼem,” said Nick Yobbagy, a former executive with Eastman-Kodak and now a newly crowned poker champion. “The first time I played was back (Continued from page 17) in 1969 at the Stardust (Las Vegas). I grew up on limit poker. I like limit poker because I can manage myself better. I know what a hand is going to cost me. So, itʼs a very different game than No-Limit where one hand can cost all of your chips. In Limit poker you can take more chances.” 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #10 1/15/05 LIMIT TEXAS HOLD’EM BUY-IN $1,000 + $60 PLAYERS 310 PRIZE POOL $283,214 Nick Yobbagy 1. Nick Yobbagy . . . . . . $90,171 plus $10,000 entry into WPT Fort Collins, CO, United States 2. Hung Ly . . . . . . . . . . $49,594 Los Angeles, CA, United States 3. Gene Bowden . . . . . . $25,361 Yuma, AZ, United States 4. Norm Ketchum . . . . $19,725 Rockford, IL, United States 5. Sam Oliverio . . . . . . $16,907 Bridgeport, WV, United States 6. Minh Nguyen . . . . . . $14,089 Lake Elsinore, CA, United States 7. Matthew Palmer . . . $11,271 ON, Canada 8. Jose Rosenkrantz. . . . $8,454 Miami, FL, United States 9. Matt Overstreet . . . . . $5,810 Oxford, MS, United States ‘Paint Drying Contest’ won by Johnny Landreth: Alabaman Makes Deal with Opponents, then Wins Bracelet On the broad spectrum of poker tournament final tables, there are ʻlegendaryʼ clashes such as the Chan-Seidel rematch at the 2001 World Series of Poker. There are ʻgreatʼ final tables, such as Sirous Baghchehsaraieʼs stunning comeback win after being down 87 to 1 against Scott Fischman at this yearʼs JBWPO. There are ʻgoodʼ final tables, such as gadfly Avner Levyʼs victory over Maria Stern here last week. There are ʻaverageʼ final tables – which constitute many of the mid-level (Continued on page 21) Tran Takes Harrahs First Circuit (Continued from page 19) HARRAHS ATLANTIC CITY WSOP CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT 1/9/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM 2-DAY EVENT BUY-IN $1,000 + $60 PLAYERS 254 PRIZE POOL $254,000 1. Daniel Beers . . . . . . . $81,280 Canal Fulton, OH, United States 2. Salvatore Simeone . . $44,704 3. John C Zapinski . . . $12,400 Madison Heights, MI, United States 4. Jason Ruotolo . . . . . . $9,920 Smithfield, RI, United States 5. Anthony Hill . . . . . . . $7,440 Columbia, CT, United States 6. Michael Cacaj . . . . . . $6,200 Sterling Heights, MI, United States 7. Jose Luis Gomes . . . . $4,960 New York, NY 8. James Kinney. . . . . . . $3,720 Matthews, NC, United States 9. Ralph Ferro Jr. . . . . . $2,480 Ridgewood, NJ, United States Florham Park, NJ, United States 3. Sang Tae . . . . . . . . . . $22,860 Leonia, NJ, United States 4. Neal Gersony . . . . . . $17,780 Rocky Hill, CT, United States 5. Michael Candido . . . $15,240 Flourtown, PA, United States 6. Stephen Frame. . . . . $12,700 Cape May, NJ, United States HARRAHS ATLANTIC CITY WSOP CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT 1/7/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM 2-DAY EVENT BUY-IN $500 + $50 7. S J Giambrone . . . . . $10,160 PLAYERS 628 Staten Island, NY, United States 8. Scott Neuman. . . . . . . $7,620 Lakehurst, NJ, United States PRIZE POOL $314,000 9. Patrick Kelly . . . . . . . $5,080 New Hope, PA, United States HARRAHS ATLANTIC CITY WSOP CIRCUIT TOURNAMENT 1/10/05 LIMIT HOLD’EM 2-DAY EVENT BUY-IN $500 + $50 PLAYERS 248 PRIZE POOL $124,000 Michael Pascullo 1. Michael Pascullo . . . $91,060 Syosset, NY, United States 2. Wiliam Cole . . . . . . . $48,042 Murietta, CA, United States 3. James J Grogan . . . . $25,120 Deland, FL, United States 4. Konstantino Pashos . $21,980 Flushing, NY, United States 5. John M Botticello . . $18,840 Floral Park, NY, United States 6. John J Milone . . . . . $15,700 Babylon, NY, United States Casey Peters 1. Casey Peters . . . . . . . $40,920 7. Airy Sysouphan . . . . $12,560 Philadelphia, PA, United States 8. Michael Hickman . . . $9,420 Brick, NJ Media, PA, United States 2. Eric Rosica . . . . . . . . $22,568 9. Seth Gomes . . . . . . . . $6,280 Warminster, PA, United States New York, NY, United States Jack Binion’s WPO events. And occasionally, there are lackluster final tables, which happen every so often. Then -- there is Event #9, the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Holdʼem event at this yearʼs Jack Binion World Poker Open – which stands alone in the colorful kaleidoscope that is the poker world. To say that this final table lacked drama would be a gross understatement. There were few big hands, no turning points, no amazing comebacks, nor lively banter that normally characterizes just about every tournament finale. It wasnʼt necessarily the playersʼ fault. They played well, and deserved to be here, having topped a very tough field of 677 entrants. Most of them were relative newcomers to the final table experience, having never played for these stakes before. It certainly wasnʼt the fact that the stakes were below par – this event awarded the thirdhighest prize money pool so far this year, including a whopping $175,597 for first place. Fact was -- the final table was so utterly without drama that the sparse crowd gradually got fed up with the match, especially when play became short-handed, and drifted off to watch the NFL playoffs on television or play in live games. It all comes down to deals and dealmaking. When play became four handed, the remaining players cut a deal. They reportedly took $90,000 and change each. Such is the case with poker tournaments, where as long as the prize money is being put up exclusively by the players, they have the right (in most cases) to cut up the loot as they wish, whenever they want. We can debate the practice of dealmaking, and whether itʼs good or bad for poker. Or, we can simply say that deals are a part of the game and acknowledge the fact. They happen. 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #9 1/14/05 NO LIMIT TEXAS HOLD’EM BUY-IN $1,000 + $60 PLAYERS 667 PRIZE POOL $630,818 Johnny Landreth 1. Johnny Landreth . . $175,597 Lanett, AL, United States 2. Charlie Dawson . . . . $90,929 Lexington, KY, United States 3. Lee Grove . . . . . . . . . $50,167 (Continued from page 20) 4. Larry Butler. . . . . . . $43,896 Colorado Springs, CO, United States 5. Tracey Phan . . . . . . . $37,625 Los Angeles, CA, United States 6. Karl Limbert . . . . . . $31,355 Margate, United Kingdom 7. Vince Byrd . . . . . . . . $25,084 Dayton, TN, United States 8. Steve Hohn . . . . . . . . $18,813 Overland Park, KS, United States 9. Gio Rocca . . . . . . . . . $12,542 Toronto, ON, Canada Reversal of Fortune Redux: Sirous Baghchehsaraie Stages Greatest Comeback in Jack Binion World Poker Open History What are the chances that any poker player down 87 to 1 in the chip count would come back and win? Add the obstacle that the player holding the chip lead just so happened to be one of Englandʼs top poker pros, having finished high in several big tournaments recently -- including the 2004 World Series of Poker. Then, consider the game they were playing – Omaha High-Low Split, normally not a game contusive to massive chip swings. Finally, what are the odds this unprecedented reversal of fortune would all happen within a lightening-fast 35-minute period? Oddsmakers would certainly lay some pretty long odds on that proposition. At 9:52 pm CST, on January 14, 2005 a hun- Superior, NE, United States F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 (Continued on page 35) P O K E R P L AY E R 21 The Spring Poker Round-up, March 23-April 2, at the Wildhorse Resort & Casino, outside Pendleton, OR, should be on every tournament NORTH BY NORTHWEST asked & answered: Quizzes from Mike Caro University of Poker By Byron Liggett rider’s schedule. Like its namesake, the world famous “Pendleton Rodeo Round-up,” it’s an annual poker ‘rodeo’ that attracts Card Cowboys and Cowgirls throughout the West. Everybody will be there—the good, the bad and the ugly. There’ll be lots of action everyday at the Spring Poker Roundup. The days will be filled with the sound of players firing live chips and tournament chips. There’ll be man-to-man shootouts, gang fights and ambushes. At every table will be gunslingers, gold seekers and gamblers. They all want some of the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize money. Live games run from low limit to all-youcan-eat or be eaten. Sheriff Roland Waters, the Poker Manager, does a good job of keeping the peace. He doesn’t use force; he kills ‘em with kindness. The only Colt .45 Waters wears is a beer. “I figure if we just treat everybody like Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans they’ll have a good time,” the Sheriff explains. Indeed, the Spring Poker Round-up is affordable for the average cardhand. Buy-ins to tournament events range from $150 to $500 for the No-Limit Hold’em Championship. The tournament features more than $80,000 in added money! The Gaming Commission doesn’t allow signups over the phone or with a check. “You gotta be in person,” Sheriff Waters says, “or have someone be in person to sign up for you.” He adds, “But everyone who shows up will get in.” And, a lot of folks show up! Located in northeast Oregon, Pendleton is equal distance from Portland, Seattle, Spokane and Boise. This is the West. Wagon Trains on the Oregon Trail passed through here. Visitors to the Wildhorse Resort can have the complete Western experience, including poker games and good grub. If you want to ride the internet range and check it out, the trail is: www.wildhorseresort. com So, all you poker rodeo riders, saddle-up and move ‘em out! Northstar Casino, by SeaTac International Airport in Tacoma WA is a good spot to land a hand if you’re flying around Seattle or Puget Sound. You can park your plane at any of a dozen table games, including poker. Northstar is fast becoming a popular landing field for both local poker pilots and fly-by players as well. “This is a great place to spend a lay over,” a voice from the Hold’em hangar hollered, “I’ve been here three days!” They fly flops low and not so low at Northstar. Games range from light flights to long hauls, but they’re all first class seats. Captain Raymona Pendleton is in charge. She directs all table take-offs and landings. The man who runs the Control Tower is owner Dale Whitney. “We don’t keep our poker passengers waiting long to take-off,” he says. Controller Dale proudly points out that while Northstar has state-of-the-art security, no one has to pass through metal detectors, be fondled by home casino agents or has to take their shoes off. “It’s easy,” he says, “All you gotta do is buy your chips, taxi up to table and wait for take-off.” A lot of poker surfers are on their way to San Jose. They hope to catch the perfect flop and ride it to the Final Beach during the upcoming Shooting Star Tournament at Bay 101. Competitors will have plenty of opportunity to get their boogie board in shape before the tournament starts March 4th. World Poker Tour satellites will be held the week preceding the tournament, Feb. 20 to Mar. 1. You could ride the boards to glory before the Shooting Star Tournament lights up the night! If action’s the attraction, the 2005 World Poker Challenge, March 10-April 1 at the Reno Hilton, is where it’s at. It’s a 3-week drama. There’ll be card crashes, shoot-outs, narrow escapes, tragedies and triumphs. The Reno Hilton always produces a first class, big-budget epic. There are poker stars, card celebrities, great actors, and villains. If you want to be discovered, this is a good place to do it. Byron Liggett grew-up in the Northwest, working as a journalist and consultant for cardrooms in the early 1970s. Moving to Nevada in 1984, he became a gaming writer, editor and columnist for major player and trade publications. He has also acted as a consultant for most major poker tournaments to produce press & PR materials. Write him at [email protected] 22 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 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 #12 is about poker rules and etiquette, targeted at beginners. (Answers and explanations appear in the next issue.) Poker Rules and Etiquette (level: beginner) 1. If there’s a showdown after the betting is completed and you see that your hand is beat... a. You should always throw your hand away immediately without exposing it; b. You must show your hand to anyone who was dealt in and asks to see it; c. You have a right to spread your hand face up and make your opponent verbally announce that his hand beats yours; d. You should expose your losing hand only to players who are sitting next to you, but not to the whole table. 2. How much do you need to win before you’re allowed to remove some of the money from the table? a. There is no set amount of win, but traditionally you must have at least three minimum buy-ins on the table before you can take any chips or money out of play; b. You can always take money that you’ve won off the table, but you must always leave your original buy-in; c. It varies from casino to casino and home game to home game, but in general, you can only remove chips in excess of what the next highest player has on the table; d. Most house rules state that you can’t remove any chips from the table, except to buy food or beverages – or to tip the dealer or servers. 3. It’s considered unethical to slow down your play in the late stages of a tournament in order to have a better chance of advancing into the money when players at other tables are eliminated... a. True; b. False. 4. Leaning over to get a better look at an opponent’s secret cards is considered... a. Unethical or even cheating; b. OK, as long as you don’t lose your balance; c. OK, if you only do it once or twice an hour, but not if you do it constantly; d. Fair in tournaments, because opponents are supposed to hide their hands from every conceivable angle. 5. If what you say about the hand you spread in a showdown doesn’t matter and only the exposed cards on the table determine who wins, the rule is called... a. Cards speak; b. Show-and-shut-up; c. Poker vision; d. Words are wild. 6. Criticizing the play of opponents at the table is... a. Impolite and usually unprofitable; b. A powerful weapon that most pros find necessary; c. Expected of players who compete against each other often; d. Worth about seven small bets an hour, on average, as a psychological tactic. don’t get called, you’ll get the pot, so it’s a free chance at winning; d. You should immediately quit the game. 8. It’s OK to throw your chips directly into the pot if there’s a professional dealer seated, because the dealer has an obligation to see that the amount you wagered is right and can count the pot, if necessary... a. True; b. False. 9. Some casinos have a rule that states “verbal declarations are not binding.” This means... a. The game is set up as one where psychological warfare is enjoyed, and you and your opponents should try to say things at the showdown that will get the winner to foul his or her hand; b. You must use hand signals to indicate fold, check, call, and raise; c. You aren’t allowed to speak at the table, except during the shuffle. d. Anything a player says is ignored as a choice of action. Only the actions themselves matter. 10. Tipping professional dealers when you win a meaningful pot is... a. not done by most professional players; b. theoretically optional, but expected; c. something you do only if you’re winning; d. not allowed in most public cardrooms. 7. If you ever end up with two cards of the same rank and suit in your hand... a. It’s a sure sign that you’re being cheated; b. You should immediately announce the problem to the table, show your hand, and expect a new deck and a re-deal; c. Keep quiet and try to WATCH FOR bluff. If your get called, you ANSWERS IN OUR can show the hand and then NEXT ISSUE! it will be a misdeal. If you If you do not remember the questions, you will find them on our web site, www.gamblingtimes.com/poker_player When you arrive at the page, click on the “curto last issue’s questions rent issue” and scroll to page 35 answers Q #1 ANSWER: (d). The largest and oldest “main event” among poker tournaments is the World Series of Poker. Q #2 ANSWER: (a). It still costs just $10,000 to buy into the World Series of Poker main event, while some other tour(Continued on page 34) Only a winner knows the road to riches W E L C O M E Round-the-clock tournaments with $2,000,000 guaranteed in monthly prizes T O P O W E R P O K E R I ’ve been called Poker’s Greatest Living Legend, probably because I began winning when FDR was in the White House and gas was a couple pennies. In different Single-Table Tournaments º All limits parts, playing in a high stakes game meant you were risking your life along with your bankroll. So you might say poker is more than a game for me. When you play in my Multi-Table Tournaments º All limits Low Limits 5¢ - 10¢ to High Limits $50 - $100 Learn from and play with Doyle Brunson and Mike Caro room, you play to win - with games, tournaments and bonuses designed for the serious poker player who wants to advance to the next level. By exclusive arrangement with my buddy Mike Caro, you’ll have access to the most comprehensive library of serious learning tools in the history of the game. I’ll also give you a special collector’s hard-bound edition of my latest book Super/System 2*. Everybody wins in my room. Qualify for a seat in upcoming World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker Main Events WORLD CLASS POKER. WORLDWIDE. Enter the following code when registering: PP2005 *Action points required. See site for details. 24 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 25 a g n a h c Pe Poker FEBRUARY TOURNAMENT SERIES THURSDAY, FEB. 3 6:30PM Limit Hold’em Tournament $35+$15 Buy-In $5,000 Guarantee FRIDAY, FEB. 4 7:00PM Limit Hold’em Tournament $60+$10 Buy-In $10,000 Guarantee SATURDAY, FEB. 5 4:00PM No-Limit Hold’em Tournament $80+$15 Buy-In $15,000 Guarantee SUNDAY, FEB. 6 4:00PM No-Limit Hold’em Tournament $35+$15 Buy-In $5,000 Guarantee THURSDAY, FEB. 24 6:30PM Last Chance No-Limit Hold’em $85+$15 Buy-In $10,000 Guarantee FRIDAY, FEB. 25 7:00PM Last Chance No-Limit Hold’em $55+$15 Buy-In $6,000 Guarantee SATURDAY, FEB. 26 4:00PM 2005 Big Showdown Tournament $200+$50 Buy-In 1st Place $10,000 Buy-in seat to the 2005 World Series Guaranteed SUNDAY, FEB. 27 4:00PM No-Limit Hold’em Tournament $35+15 Buy-In/No Re-Buys California’s Best Poker Room presents the n e p O a g n Pecha t n e m a n r u o Poker T FEBRUARY 9-13, 2005 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2005 7:15PM All-Casino Employees’ Event No-Limit Hold’em $100+$20 $5,000 Guarantee D A I LY T O U R N A M E N T S C H E D U L E THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2005 7:15PM $10,000 Guaranteed Limit Hold’em $100+$20 Buy-In/No Re-buys FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2005 7:15PM $20,000 Guaranteed No-Limit Hold’em $200+$25 Buy-In/No Re-buys SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2005 2:00PM $30,000 Limit Hold’em $300+30 Buy-In/No Re-buys SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2005 2:00PM $100,000 Guaranteed No-Limit Hold’em $500+$40 Buy-In/No Re-buys DAILY DOUBLE JACKPOTS • Mon. thru Fri. 2-5PM • 1:30-3AM • 4-5AM • 6-9AM 10:00AM MONDAY 6:00PM 6:30PM 6:30PM to 9:30PM 9:30PM to Midnight 10:00AM TUESDAY 6:30PM 7:00PM to Midnight 10:00AM WEDNESDAY 6:00PM to Midnight 6:30PM 10:00AM THURSDAY 6:00PM to 9:00PM 9:00PM to Midnight 10:00AM FRIDAY 6:00PM to 8:00PM Hold’em Tournament $2,000 Guarantee $20 + $5 Buy-In/No Re-Buys Monday Night Football $2,000 Cash Giveaway No-Limit Hold’em Tournament $2,000 Guarantee $20 + $5 Buy-In/No Re-Buys Stud Double, Omaha Triple and Hold’em Quadruple Jackpot Double Jackpot No-Limit Hold’em Tournament $2,000 Guarantee $20 + $5 Buy-In/No Re-Buys Hold’em Tournament $2,000 Guarantee $20 + $5 Buy-In/No Re-Buys Rack Attack Tuesday $100 Drawings at the top of each hour and two $100 Drawings on the half hour Hold’em Tournament $20 + $5 Buy-In/No Re-Buys Wacky Wednesday No-Limit Hold’em $20 + $5 Buy-In/No Re-Buys $2,000 Guarantee No-Limit Hold’em Tournament $2,000 Guarantee $20 + $5 Buy-In/No Re-Buys Triple Hold’em Jackpot Thursdays Stud and Omaha Doubled Double Jackpot Hold’em Tournament $2,000 Guarantee $20 + $5 Buy-In/No Re-Buys $40,000 Hold’em Jackpot Fridays ($3-$6 and above) Stud, 2-4 Hold’em and Omaha Doubled 10:00AM No-Limit Hold’em Tournament $20 +$5 Buy-In/No Re-Buys Free entry for TOC Players SUNDAY 10:00AM Hold’em Tournament* $2,000 Guarantee $20 + $5 Buy-In/No Re-Buys *10 hours live play weekly = free entry No-Limit Hold’em Tournament $5,000 Guarantee $35 + $15 Buy-In/No Re-Buys *No 4pm tournament Feb. 13 Double Jackpot Sunday 1:00PM to 3:00PM & 6:00PM to 1:00AM SATELLITES DAILY at 4PM & 5PM THROUGH FEBRUARY 12, 2005 $1,500 Drawing $2,000 Guarantee SATURDAY 4:00PM* $5,000 Cash Best All Around Player Award! $2,000 Guarantee y Register Earl al & Get a Speci * Room Rate Get Details in the Pechanga Poker Room or call 1-877.711.2946 Extension 2472 *Must be Registered for Tournament Play. Subject to Availability/ Restrictions May Apply. Plus Applicable Tax. All AM Tournaments have a $2,000 Guarantee $20 Buy-in and a $5 Entry Fee. Daily winner receives entry into February 24th, 6:30PM Last Chance No-Limit Hold’em Tournament. Satellites Held daily at 4PM and 5PM for the Pechanga Resort & Casino’s $100,000 Guarantee No-Limit Hold’em Poker Tournament. All others must pay $500+$40 to enter on February 13th, 2005. All Jackpot promotions reset and doubled until end of promotion time. Please see a Poker Room Floor Person for promotion details. Management reserves the right to cancel or modify promotions without notice. Must be 21 or older to enter Casino. PECHANGA RESORT & CASINO • I-15 • TEMECULA • 877.711.2WIN • 45000 PECHANGA PARKWAY • www.pechanga.com 26 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 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 gametimes E & . Add’l on this day. Call •Denotes Advertiser REGION/Cardroom(Ad Pg.) NV Aladdin SOUTH Cannery Casino Circus Circus Club Fortune Col.Belle-Laughlin Golden Nugget Split Pi ....... Pineapple Po.........Pot Limit Pn.......Panginque S........... Stud 5 ...Five Card MONDAY Time Games 10A& N H 10A NH 11A L/N H 12P 7P& 11A 7P •Horseshoe 2P •Imperial Palace (p17) 1P •Mandalay Bay (p19) 10A 6P •Mirage (p11) 7P 10A 11A 7P $60RB(1)$40 2P $40RB$10 7P H NH NH NH 12P& L H Sh 7P Pi Circus Circus Eldorado Harrah's Reno 4P H Buy-in $30 $25 $40AO$3 $60RB(1)$40 2P $50RB$25 7P 12A $18 10A $15RB(1)$15 11A $120 7P $27RB$10 $40RB$20 $50RB(1)$50 $50RB(1)$50 $25 11A NH $50 7P& NH $25 12P& L/N H Z $25 11A NH $50 7P& NH $25 12P& L/N H Z H NH $18 10A $15RB(1)$15 11A H NH 7 Sh NH $27RB$10 $40RB$20 $50RB(1)$50 $50RB(1)$50 12P 7P 12P 8P& $18 10A $15RB(1)$15 11A $25RB$10 NHB HB NH NH $40RB$20 $27RB$10 $50RB(1)$50 $50RB(1)$50 12P HB 7P O H/L B 12P NH 8P& NH $27RB$10 $27RB$10 $50RB(1)$50 $50RB(1)$50 12P 7P 12P 8P& $25RB$10AO$20 6P& $40RB$20 7P NH NH $25RB$10AO$20 6P& $40RB$20 7P 7P H NH NH $40 10A $18AO$2 10A $32(30M) F NH NH $40 $23AO$2 10A LH $23AO$2 11A 6P NH $20RB$10 $15 12P& L H Sh $22RB$10 7P NH $15 10A& $25RB$10AO$20 6P& $40RB$20 7P $45RB$20AO$20 7P 7 Sh $15 12P& 7P $25 10A $40AO$3 12P 10A 11A 7P $60RB(1)$40 2P& $25 11A SUNDAY Buy-in Time Games NH $25 10A NH $24 Pi Z $12 L/NL $30RB$20AO(1)$20 $330RB$200AO(1)$200 NH 12P 10A 11A 7P $60RB(1)$40 2P& 1P NH $25 11A $25 12P& L/N H Z O H/L NH NH NH $25 NH $24 Pi Z $12 L/NL $60RB(1)$40AO$40 N H $125RB$100AO$100 NH NH $60RB(1)$40 $50RB$25 NH $25 $25 12P& L/N H Z $25 $30(30M) 5P O H/L B NHB NH NH Buy-in $18 10A $15RB(1)$15 11A $40RB(1)$20 $60RB(1)$40 $50RB(1)$50 $50RB(1)$50 H NH 12P 7P 12P 8P& HB NHB NH NH $25RB$10AO$20 6P& $40RB$20 7P $45RB$20AO$20 7P Po H NH NH $18 10A $15RB(1)$15 3P $50RB(1)$20 $125RB(1)$100 $50RB(1)$50 $50RB(1)$50 12P 7P 12P 8P& $25RB$10AO$20 6P& $60RB$40 7P $45RB$20AO$20 7P N H$330RB$200AO(1)$200 H NH NHB HB NH NH NH NH NH $18 $25RB$10 $50RB(1)$20 $60RB(1)$50 $50RB(1)$50 $50RB(1)$50 $25RB$10AO$20 $40RB$20 $45RB$20AO$20 NH $23AO$2 11A NH $23AO$2 Varies Varies Varies L H Sh NH $15 10A& $22RB$10 7 Sh $15 12P& L H Sh 7P NH 12P H $15 $22RB$10 F RB$20 F RB$10 $15 4P $22RB$20 $25 10A H $15 4P H $15 4P H $15 10A H $15 10A H $15 NH H NH NH NH $25 10A NH $25 10A NH $25 10A NH $25 10A NH $25 NH 6P $25AO$10 1P H NH $25RB$20 $25AO$10 1P 7P NH LH $25AO$10 $65 7P 2P NH $33RB$30 NH $115RB$100 6P 8P NH LH $110 6P $25RB$20 NH $110 6P NH $50 4P $15RB$10AO$10 10A& $17RB$5AO$5 10A H NH O H/L $5RB$5AO$10B$5 $15RB$10AO$10 NH $25RB$20 $15RB$10AO$10 10A& $17RB$5AO$5 10A NH LH $15RB$10AO$10 10A& $17RB$5AO$5 10A NH NH NH LH $35 10A $15 6P& NH NH LH NH $12 10A $12B$5 10A& CA Casino Morongo 10A 10A 5O O H/L LH NH $10RB$10AO$10 7P& $17RB$5AO(2)$5 6P& $15RB$10 12P $60 7P& NH O H/L H H NH NH $15RB$10AO$10 10A& $17RB$5AO$5 10A $12 10A 7 H/L Sp $12B$5 10A& N H $30RB$10AO$20 10A F RB$10AO(2)$10 10A $15RB$10 12P $25RB$20 7P N Cz Pi O H/L NH NH Club One Casino 7P Commerce Club •Crystal Park Casino (p29) NH $27RB(2)$15 10A NH •Diamond Jim’s (p18) 6P O Pi H $25RB$10 6P LH Hawaiian Gardens 12P •Hollywood Park (p5) 11A 7P NH 7 H/L LH $15RB$10 12P $17RB$10 11A $35 7P O H/L NH NH •Hustler Casino (p13) 7P Normandie Casino 10A Village Club NH L H $28RB(1)$20AO(1)$20 11A 11A 12P H 6P NH Pn $15RB$10 12P $17RB$10 11A $35 7P S H/L O H/L LH NH NH $35 10A $25 10A LH H 10A $35 11A $25 10A $12 6P& $12B$5 10A& H O F 6P& $12B$5 10A& LH NH $22 6P& $12B$5 10A H O H/L $60 10A DC $17RB$5AO(2)$5 6PWk2/4& $10RB$10AO$10 11A F 5P& $15RB(1)$10 12P $60RB(1)$10 7P 8P NH LH NH $15RB$10 12P $25RB$10 7P $60RB(1)$50 $27(80M)RB(2)$15 10A $40 NH $14RB$5/$10AO$20 10A 7P 7P $20RB$10 6P Wk4LadiesL H $15RB$10 12P $17RB$10 11A $35 7P H H NH $15RB$10 6P $17RB$10 11A $35 8P 7P NH$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5 10A LH Sp L H H NH $30RB(2)AO(1) O$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5 10A $25 6P LH/L OH/L $50RB$20AO$40 11A $36RB$20 11A H $77 11A $25RB$20 12P O H/L $55 6P O$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5 10A LH H H $48 $36RB$20 11A $10 H $20RB 7P O $50RB$20 7P H $50 Sp L H $40RB$40 6P H $40RB(1)$40 6P LH $40RB$40AO$40 6P H $60RB$40 6P 10A NH Sh NH 1P $20 $40RB(1)$40 6P 11A H H Sh O H/L $15 1P 6P $88 10A H/O H/L 6P 11A $20RB$20(1) 7P LH H H 6P H $10RB$5AO$10 7P AZ Apache Gold 12P Casino Arizona-Scottsdale Casino Del Sol Cliff Castle 11A 10A 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 6P Flop HH N H HH N H 7P NH Pn NH LH NH NH H NH LH $5RB$5AO$10B$5 4P $15RB$10AO$10 10A& $17RB$5AO$5 H NH O H/L LH LH $22RB$11 10A $25RB$10AO$20 $15 10A H $22RB$11 H $20 NH NH $12RB$10AO$10 6P& $25B$5 10A LH NH $17 $12B$5 H H $10RB$10AO$10 12P F RB$10AO(2)$10 3P H O H/L $5RB$5AO$5 F RB$10AO(2)$10 7P HH L H $30RB$10 H $20RB$10 $20RB$10 $20RB$20 $14RB$5/$10AO$20 7P& N H (80M) $40 1P Pn $15 7P NH $25 $50 7P Blue Water Casino Bucky’s Casino $5RB$5AO$10B$5 4P $15RB$10AO$10 10A& $17RB$5AO$5 10A 1P LH $25RB 6P $17RB$10 11A $225RB(1)$200 8P Mx 7 Po H $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 LH N H Sh $22RB$10 $120 $125RB(1)$100 O$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5 10A 7P $14RB$5/$10AO$20 7P& 7P NH LH $55 10A $20 10A $10RB$10AO$10 7P& $17RB$5AO(2)$5 10A •Club Caribe (p40) Oaks Card Club •Palace Indian Casino Sonoma Joe's $25 11A NH $50 $25 12P& L/N H Z H NH NH $15RB$10 10A 10A Gold Rush Kelly’s Cardroom Lucky Chances NH H NH NH $19 10A $15RB(1)$15 11A $120RB(1)$100 6P SATURDAY Buy-in Time Games NH $24 O H/L B $25RB$10AO$20 L/NL $60RB(1)$40AO$40 N H $230RB$200AO$100 HZ $40 10A NH $18AO$2 10A L O High 7P& O H/L $20RB$10 6P NH Sycuan Viejas California Grand Casino San Pablo Garden City $60RB(1)$40 2P& $50RB$25 NH L/N H $30(30M) 10A $60(30M) $230RB(1)$200 7 H/L NH $35 10A $15 6P& Cache Creek NH NH 12P 7P& 11A 7P Games HZ NHZ NH $25RB$10AO$20 6P& $40RB$20 7P LH NH 11A 12P NH $24 7P& O H/L B $25RB$10AO$20 11A L/NL $60RB(1)$40AO$40 7P L H $125RB$100AO$100 $60RB(1)$40 2P $50RB$25 7P $40RB$20 FRIDAY Buy-in Time $30 $25 10A $40AO$3 11A HZ $30(30M) 10A NHZ $60(30M) 6P L H $130RB$100AO(1)$100 7P HB NHB NH NH •Lucky Lady (p18) Oceans Eleven 10A •Pechanga (p26) 6P& CA Artichoke Joe’s NORTH Bay 101 THURSDAY Time Games 10A& N H 10A NH 11A L/N H HZ $30(30M) 10A NHZ $60(30M) 6P N H $130RB$100AO(1)$100 7P 12P 7P 12P 8P& $15 10A& 7P DAILY TOURNAMENTS 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] $15 4P 6P $25 10A CA Casino Pauma SAN •Harrahs Rincon (p19) 10A& N H 10A O H/L DIEGO Lake Elsinore CA •Bicycle Club (p5) 12P 7P L.A. NH $25 11A NH $50 7P& NH $25 12P& L/N H Z HZ $30(30M) 10A NHZ $60(30M) 6P L H $130RB$100AO(1)$100 7P Cactus Petes-Jackpot INLAND Lake Elsinore EMPIRE Time Games 10A& N H 10A NH 11A L/N H NH NH NH NH LH 8P WEDNESDAY Buy-in $30 $25 $40AO$3 NH NH Stardust 10A •Sunset Station (p6) 10A •Texas Station (p6) Virgin River Casino 6P Rainbow Cas. W Wendover Games NH NH L/N H NH NH O H/L NH Harvey's Tahoe •Peppermill (p37) 1P Time 10A& 10A 11A NH $24 H $110 L/NL $60RB(1)$40AO$40 N H $125RB$100AO(1)$100 River Palms 6P& •Sahara (p21) 7P •Sam’s Town (p38) 10A& TUESDAY Buy-in $30 $25 $40AO$3 #M ..# of players maximum RB ......... Re-buys AO ......... Add Ons Cz .............. Crazy E....... Elimination $24 12P 7PWk1& L/NL $60RB(1)$40AO$40 11A L H $125RB$100AO$100 7P •The Orleans (p35) 12P O H/L B 7P NHB •Plaza Casino (p21) 12P NH 8P& NH NV Atlantis Casino NORTH Boomtown Al ...... Alternates F .............Freeroll Z......... Freezeout Q .............Qualify Sh .........Shootout NH $24 12P HB $25RB$10AO$20 L/NL $60RB(1)$40AO$40 11A N H $125RB$100AO(1)$100 7P •Jokers Wild (p31) 11A NH 7P& NH Luxor 12P& L/N H Z Nevada Palace Oasis-Mesquite Stud Mx ..Mexican Poker DC Dealer’s Choice HH ... Headhunter B .......... Bounties Sp ............ Spread $60 7P $10RB$5 10A $15 11A $13RB$10AO$20 12P& $25RB$20 $20 11A $10 6P H NH O H/L Z H Sh NH HB H Sh NH Sh NH $15 1P $20 $40RB(1)$40 H Sh $15 1P $60RB$50AO$50 $10RB$5AO$10 $20RB$20(1) $25RB$15 7P 7P 3P& NH$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5 10A O H/L H Sh 10A LH 11A H $13RB$10AO$20 12P& $15+$5 11A H Sh F DA I LY TO U R N A M E N TS CO N T I N U E O N PAG E 29 7P& F 6P NH HB O H/L H $130 11A $10RB$5 10A $30 11A $30RBAO $25RB$20AO$50 $99 11A Sp L H 6P $70RB(1)$60 11A NH H $49RB$20AO$40 $70RB(1)$60 2P 10A 7P H NH Sp L H $50 2P $25RB(1)$20 10A $120RB(1)$100 7P H NH H $50 $25RB(1)$20 $60RB$40 $15 1P 5P $55 10A H Sh NF H $15 F 6P $55 6P 12P Varies $65RB$50AO$50 1P O H/L HB NH NHZ H Sh $20 $25 $60 11A $10RB$5 10A $15 11A $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 $25RB$15 7P&Ladies H Cz Pi $10 6P O H/L $20RB(2)$10 1P $25 NH Pi H Sh NH H 3P 2P $25RB$10AO$30 1P $60 4thWk10AN H $10RB$5 $15 LH $20 $220 $65RB(2)$50 $13RB$10AO$20 12P& 12P NH $25RB$15AO(1)$10 12P 3P 1P O H/L F H O H/L 7F RB$10 $20RB$10 $25 $150 11A $13RB$10AO$20 12P& 11A NH NH Sh NH $10RB$5AO$10 12P NH Cz Pi Z O H/L NH LH 6P $25RB$5AO$25 $130 7P $10RB$5 10A $15 6P& Pai Gow F 5P O$30RB$20AO(1)$50B(20)$5 10A H H O H/L F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 $25RB$15 12P $10 $13 1P H Sh $15 NH $13RB$10AO$20 HB $15+$5 H $40 H $13 P O K E R P L AY E R 27 You Gotta Have Mazel... In a recent column, we discussed “gambling.” What is gambling and how is it manifested it in both life and in the game of poker? We concluded that gambling is simply taking a chance – risking something of value. Today. Let’s address “mazel.” That’s a Yiddish word that SENIORS SCENE Mark Twain American Poet and Poker Player by Byron Liggett By George “The engineer” EPSTEIN has become part of our vernacular; you’ll even find it in some dictionaries, usually as “mazel tov,” meaning good luck. (It’s also an expression of success or good fortune.) Two Factors in Winning at Poker: You need to have both skill and mazel – good luck – to be a winner at the poker table. Skill helps you make the right decisions: Should I call or fold? Should I raise? Should I slow-play this hand? Should I checkraise? And there are many more decisions you will need to make while playing poker. The more skilled you are, the better will be your decisions. But no matter how prudent your decisions, if you don’t have some mazel, you probably will not go home a winner. How many times have you seen someone – perhaps yourself – go all the way to the river with a pair of kings; then a king falls on the river. Now you have trip kings! The player across the table who has been betting all the way, turns over pocket aces. Your trip kings take a nice pot! You were lucky; you had mazel! Another Example: Playing middle-limit hold’em at the Hustler Casino the other night, I was dealt pocket queens. I raised preflop from a middle position to try to force out a few opponents so my queens would have a better chance of holding up. The flop brought a third queen and two diamonds. An early-position player made the bet; and I decided not to raise yet because trip queens is most likely to win the pot, and I wanted to keep them in to help build the pot. On the turn, the dealer dropped a third diamond on the board. I studied the board: No pairs; not likely a straight draw. But three diamonds looked dangerous. After all, a flush beats threeof-a-kind. . . There was a bet and a raise before it got to me. Of course I had to call – as I prayed to the poker gods to pair the board for me so I could have a full-house. No, the dealer didn’t pair the board, but he did turn up a fourth diamond, the ace of diamonds. I took another look at my hole cards; I was sure I had the queen of diamonds. Yep! Was I ever lucky. I had mazel – maybe. . . I had hit a queen-high flush! Again there was a bet and a raise before it was my turn to declare. The only card that could beat my queen-high flush was the king of diamonds. The chance was small that one of the two bettors had it, I thought; so I reraised. The original raiser called me. I sighed with relief when he didn’t reraise; that sort of confirmed he didn’t have the king for the nut flush. I turned up my two queens – including the beautiful queen of diamonds. He showed his Jack-Ten of diamonds. He had made the flush on the turn. That fourth diamond had done the job for me. It was a huge pot, putting me well ahead. I really had mazel, didn’t I? I know I played the hand skillfully; but, in the final analysis, if I didn’t have mazel – when the fourth diamond fell on the river – I would have been second-best. Thanks to mazel, I was a winner! . . . So readers, what’s YOUR opinion? George “The Engineer” Epstein is the author of “The Greatest Book of Poker for Winners!” A retired engineer who received many industry and government awards and commendations, he continues to be active by consulting, editing an international technical newsletter, teaching an engineering course at UCLA, and serving as an officer in a professional engineering society. One engineering society has a scholarship in George’s honor. In writing his poker book, he applied the lessons learned while working as an engineer to solve problems. He is currently writing his next book on The Four Rules for Success in Life and Living. He can be reached by e-mail: [email protected] 28 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 “There are few things that are so unpardonably neglected in our country as poker. The upper class knows very little about it. Now and then you find ambassadors who have sort of a general knowledge of the game, but the ignorance of the people is fearful. Why, I have known clergymen, good men, kind-hearted, liberal, sincere, and all that, who did not know the meaning of a ʻflushʼ. It is enough to make one ashamed of oneʼs species.” —Mark Twain Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), the author of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi, Roughing It, and The Gilded Age, to mention only some of his best known works, became a legendary figure in American Life and Literature. Humorist, satirist, social pundit, Mark Twain wrote about an America on the make; from the riverboat era, to the California Gold Rush and opening of the West, through the Civil War and the nationʼs emergence as a world industrial power during the Gilded Age of the 1880s and ʻ90s. He crafted stories of adventure, tragedy and humor from the fabric of the American experience in the latter half of the 19th Century. Twain wrote in a uniquely American style, one that captured the character, courage and contradictions of his generation. Using the vernacular – the language, slang and colloquialisms of common Americans -- he dissected society, exposing its hypocrisies and laying bare its injustices in a manner that captured the countryʼs adoration. The first important author from the heart of America, Samuel Clemens was born in the Mississippi River town of Hannibal, Missouri in 1835. As a young man he earned a riverboat pilotʼs license and worked the Mississippi until the Civil War erupted in 1861, closing all river traffic. Clemens next headed West to the Nevada Territory to strike it rich as a prospector. Unsuccessful, he started writing for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise to make ends meet. He took his pen name, “Mark Twain”, which meant two fathoms of safe depth from his riverboat days. In 1865, Twain rewrote a tale heard in the gold fields. Called “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, it told of a contest in which one frog was filled with lead shot so it couldnʼt win. Twainʼs story became a sensation and he became a nationally recognized writer. Over the next 25 years Mark Twain would write the books that made him an American icon. From the riverboats of his youth, to the gold fields of the West, to the financial speculation of a young industrial nation, gambling was an inherent feature of the America that Mark Twain knew, wrote about, and of which he was so much a part. Steamboat races were a favorite spectator and gambling event. Mark Twain considered a horse race “pretty tame and colorless in comparison.” He wrote, “Two red-hot steamboats raging along, neck-and-neck, straining...every rivet in the boilers, quaking and shaking and groaning from stem to stern, spouting white steam from the pipes, pouring black smoke from the chimneys, raining down sparks, parting the river into long breaks of hissing foam – this is the sport that makes a bodyʼs liver curl with enjoyment.” He condemned hustlers wherever he found them. In his work, Life on the Mississippi, Twain tells the story of card cheats who try to rob a backwoods farmer. When the big pot developed, the sharpers bet all they had to get all the farmer had. “Four Kings, you damned fool!” declared the ringleader. “Four Aces, you ass!” thundered the farmer, pulling out a cocked revolver, “Iʼm a professional gambler myself and Iʼve been laying for you duffers all this voyage!” Cockfighting, popular throughout frontier America, was criticized as barbaric by the British. In his typically tongue-in-cheek style, Twain responded that while he considered it “inhuman sort of entertainment... still, it seems a much more respectable and far less cruel sport than foxhunting for the cocks like it; they experience, as well as confer enjoyment; which is not the foxʼs case.” Mark Twain described Baccarat as “a game whereby the croupier gathers in money with a flexible oar, then rakes it home. If I could have borrowed his oar I would have stayed.” He keenly observed that “a dollar picked up in the road brings more satisfaction to us than the 99 which we had to work for, and the money won at Faro or the stock market snuggles into our hearts in the same way.” For his money, Mark Twain preferred Poker. Draw was his game. He learned it in his youth on the Mississippi. Apparently, the writer was a strong player; a contemporary who considered himself a good player remarked that Twain “can play poker equal to any man.” Late in life, Standard Oil magnate Henry Rogers and Mark Twain became good friends when he helped the writer to avoid bankruptcy. Both shared a fondness for poker, billiards and liquor. On one occasion, Rogers invited Twain, Congressman T.B. Reed, and few business friends aboard his yacht for a cruise through the Caribbean. Poker and politics were paramount topics. In his notes, Twain reports that Reed won 23 pots in succession! After that, he says, they made no more stops. When the shipʼs captain announced an approaching port he was told, “sail on and do not interrupt the game!” Clearly, when Mark Twain died in 1910 at the age of 75, America lost a Son and poker lost a player. e-mail: [email protected] 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 27) 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 CO Midnight Rose TUESDAY Buy-in Time Games 12P H 7P $10 12P 8P LH $100 8P NH Derby Lane Palm Beach Kennel Club 1P 12P NH H 6P $45 6P $45 6P NH LO H/L H Palm Beach Princess Pompano Park Casino Seminole Hollywood Casino St Tropez Cruise 6P H $55 6P H 12P 8P NH O H/L 7P 10A NH DC Ute Mountain CT Foxwoods FL Dania Jai-Alai IA Catfish Bend Isle of Capri Winn-A-Vegas $75 6P $70RB$30AO$50 $20RB$20M24 $10RB$10 6P WEDNESDAY Buy-in Time Games NH S $40 7P $10 12P $150 O H/L NH $45 $45 1P $45 12P $55 6P 12P $70RB$10 6P 6P& NH $25RB$5AO 6P& LA Grand Coushatta 6P NH H MI Chip-In's Island Gold Strike Casino Resort 4A,6P& LH MN •Canterbury Park (p39) 10A Northern Light Casino Hotel Shooting Star Casino 12P 7 NH $35RB$15AO$25 4A,6P& NH MS Copa Casino Grand Casino(Biloxi) Grand Casino(Gulfport) H/O $15RB$10 12P H $10RB$15AO$25 6P& NE Rosebud Casino 7P NH NJ Tropicana 7P 6P NH S $30RBAO 7P $40 6P 6P 7P& NH F RB(1)$15AO$100 6P $20RB$20 2P 7P Trump Taj Mahal NM Cities of Gold Isleta Casino & Resort •Sandia Casino (p4) NY Turning Stone $100 6P $45 6P $45 6P NH NH H NH $55 $45 $65RB$10 6P& 7P N H/O $10RB$10AO$10 1P NH $150 NH $10RB$10AO 7P& 6P Pi $35RB$15AO$25 4A,6P& LH/NH Varies NH $10RB$5 6P $35RB$15AO$25 11A $10 12P S $45 $45 1P $45 NH $45 1P NH 6P $45 1P 12P $300 6P 8P N H Sh NH L/N H NH 12P& N H Sh $75 12P& N H $40RB$20AO 12P LH NHZ F$5RB(2)$5AO$5 12P $25 12P NH NH $25Z 5P H 12P H $5RB$15 12P $5RB$15AO$25 12P H $35RB(1)$15 12P 7 NH $30RBAO 7P $30 6P NH Varies Cz Pi H Varies $20RB(1)$10 6P $15RB(1)$15 7P& $35 H NH $25 6P $20RB(1)$20 2P $50RB$20 1P F RB$10 7P NH 7P $30RB$10 7P 7 S H/L OR Chinook Winds Casino 4P H $25RB(1)$5AO(1)$5 4P 6P O H/L $25RB(1)$5AO(1)$5 4P H $18RB$10 NH H NH NH $45 $45 $45 $130RB$20 $40RBAO 7P $40 6P $10RB$5 7P F RB$10 7P $25RB$5AO$10 4P 6P $35 7P(1st Wk) H $110 7P N H/O $10RB$10AO$10 $10RB$10 10A NH $10RB$10 NH LH $25RB$10 $35RB$15AO$25 10A H Sh 12P Wk1 N H $10RB$10AO$10 12P 7 $50RB$10AO$10 12P $12 $120 $10RB(3)$5AO$5 $30RB$10AO$10 Varies $25RB$10 3P $35RB$15AO$25 2P $50Z NH $95 HB $15RB$15 O H/L $10RB$15AO$25 10A 5P LH NH $60RB(1)$50 10A $10 NH $60RB(1)$50 7P NH $30RB$10AO$10 7P NH $30RB$10AO$10 $30RBAO 4P $75 6P NH NH $60RBAO 12P $170 NH LH NH 1P O H/L $20RB(1)$10AO$50 6P H $15RB(1)$15 7P& S H/L O H/L H/L Sp Z $10RB$5 7P $25 7P Tahoe H/L $25RB(1)$5AO(1)$5 4P N H $33RB(2)$15AO$15 H 2&7P H $30RB(1)$20AO$200 5P N H $50RB(2)$25AO(1)$35 2P $25RB$5 6P 7P Varies 12P $25 2P Pi S 12P Varies $25Z 4P 7P $10RB$5 $50 $10 2P NH NH LH/NH 7 Dakota Magic $30RB$10AO$10 $100 10A $40RB$20 1P $35RB$15AO$25 11A NHZ NH NH NH NH LH/NH $30RB$10AO$10 S H/L Buy-in NH S $20RB$20M24 $30RB$20 6P $35RB$15AO$25 11A $25 12P $35RB$10 7P 6P Gold Dust Casino, Deadwood Rosebud Casino 7P $45 $65 6P& $70RB$30AO$50 NH LH/NH NH H SD Dakota Sioux Buy-in Time Games S H/L 10A $25 12P $25RB$5 7P& Wildhorse Casino Resort SUNDAY 12P $10 12P 12P NHZ H Buy-in Time Games F RB$15AO$15/$30 H WA Blue Mountain Casino NH $20RB$20M24 1P ND 4 Bears Casino 10A SATURDAY $60 11A 12P Grand Casino(Tunica) Pearl River Resort NH NH 7P 5P H N H Sh NH Buy-in Time Games $20 7P $10 7P $40 12P $20RB$10AO$10 $25 12P NH H Buy-in Time Games FRIDAY $15RB$5AO$10 IL Hollywood Casino-Aurora KS Harrah’s Prarie Band NH S THURSDAY H NH H S H/L H H $65RBAO 12P $20RB$10 5P $15RB(1)$15 2P 12P 11A NH $25RB$5 $10RB$5 2P 2P H NH $20RB$10 $30RB$10 3P $25RB(1)$5AO(1)$5 $10RB$5 4P O H/L $50 7P NH S $15RB$10 O H/L NH O H/L H Varies H $10 $55RBAO $20RB(1)$10 $15RB(1)$15 $35 F RB$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 Chips Bremerton Chips La Center 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 Northern Quest Suquamash Clearwater Cas Wild Grizzly 7P 10A 11A 5P LO NH NH NH $15RB(2)$10 $25RB(2)$10 $20 $13RB$10 7P 10A 11A 5P L/N H NH NH NH $25 $25RB(2)$10 10A $20 11A $13RB$10 5P NH NH NH 7P $25RB(2)$10 10A $20 11A $13RB$10 5P NH NH NH NH $45 $25RB(2)$10 10A $20 11A $13RB$10 NH NH 5P $15RB(2)$10 10A& $20 11A 2P NB NH NH NH $35 F RB(2)$15 10A $20 $25RB$20 NH $25RB(2)$10 8P V $25RB$20AO$20 Caro’s Word: “PRICE” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 But, in general, think of poker as a game where you want to buy chances cheaply and sell them expensively. In no-limit, this comes into play all the ★ $12+$3 Buy-in (Multi-rebuys) FRID No-Lim AYS it Hold ’em SATUR No-Lim DAYS it Hold ’em Starting at 7:00 PM E Expensive, but Not Too Expensive time. You donʼt necessarily want to move all-in to protect a strong hand, you want to sell that hand at itʼs most profitable price. Maybe allin really is the most profitable price, but usually it isnʼt. If you overprice the chances youʼre selling in no-limit, youʼll get a call once in a while, but you probably wonʼt make as much profit as you would selling for less and getting lots of bad calls averaging more modest profit each. Itʼs all buying and selling. Life. Business. Poker. You buy. You sell. And ultimately you succeed according to your skill at the game of price – which just happens to be todayʼs word. BLUE LIN limit games -- when youʼre weak or bluffing and also when you have a hand that will likely win if called, but will be more profitable if you take the pot right now. So, you see, you shouldnʼt always bet, even if your opponent will get a bad deal by calling. And you shouldnʼt always check, even if your opponent would get a good deal by calling. Mike Caro is widely regarded as the worldʼs 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. Alameda Blvd. CAN Casino Regina 123 E. Artesia Blvd., Compton, CA 90220 (310) 631-3838 ♠ www.crystalparkcasino.com h E B R UA RY 7, 2i 0 0 5 F f E R P Li AY f ER i PfO K 29 Tunica Grand American Nearly Complete in Tunica, Mississippi is nearly complete with the finish of event # 15. Just two events remain at press time for this tournament that parallels the World Poker Open. Winning results are listed below. GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 16 1/21/04 4. Brian Wiegand . . . . . . $7,280 United States 5. Todd Tucker . . . . . . . . $6,370 United States 6. Pete Bigelow . . . . . . . . $5,460 Moose Lake, MN, United States 7. Michael Borovetz. . . . $5,460 Carson, CA, United States 8. Jody Garaventa . . . . . $5,460 Chapel Hill, NC 9. Faye Sonntag . . . . . . . $5,460 GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 15 1/20/04 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $1,000 + $60 BUY-IN $500 + $50 PLAYERS 25 PLAYERS 91 PRIZE POOL PRIZE POOL $91,000 1. Charlie Townsend . . $27,300 Rehoboth Beach, DE 2. Edward Ross . . . . . . $13,650 CT, United States 3. Ronald Long . . . . . . . $9,100 United States $15,000 1. Pam Bigelow . . . . . . . $4,500 2. John Napoli . . . . . . . . $2,250 9. Michael Gisondi. . . . . . .$900 Eddie Schwett . . . . . . $2,388 Charles Gilbert . . . . . $2,094 Marvin Lightfoot . . . . $1,260 Andy Karon . . . . . . . . $1,260 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $500 +$50 PLAYERS 70 PRIZE POOL $35,000 1. Colin Gordon . . . . . . $10,500 9. Sammy Noore . . . . . . $1,260 GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 10 1/15/04 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $500 + $50 PRIZE POOL Chicago, IL, United States Louisville, KY, United States 1. Abraham Watkins . . $24,900 United States 2. Tom Komulainen . . . $12,450 Iron River, MI, United States 4. John Hurst . . . . . . . . . $1,200 8. Jonathan Green . . . . . $2,100 9. Joseph Mobley . . . . . . $2,100 6. Jimmy Fedorkevich. . $2,490 7. Jerry Quinn . . . . . . . . $2,490 Brooklyn NY 5. Garner Robertson . . . $1,050 RI, United States Worcester, MA, United States Pendleton, KY United States 6. Bradley Scuville . . . . . . .$900 GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 13 1/18/04 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $300 + $30 PLAYERS 97 PRIZE POOL $29,100 Mt Juliet, TN, United States Blue Springs, MO, United States 8. George Jackson . . . . . $2,490 9. Adam Ranck . . . . . . . $2,490 GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 9 1/14/04 3. Billy Williford . . . . . . $2,910 Beaumont, TX, United States 4. Richard Jacobs . . . . . $2,328 5. Richard Mims . . . . . . $2,037 Houston, TX, United States 6. Danny Ward. . . . . . . . $1,746 7. Greg Benoit . . . . . . . . $1,746 8. Mack Ham . . . . . . . . . $1,746 Atlanta, GA, United States 9. Loukas Tseudos . . . . . $1,746 LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $300 + $30 PRIZE POOL $55,200 1. Larry Coleman . . . . . $8,280 2. David Shoop . . . . . . . . $8,280 3. Abraham Watkins . . . $8,280 United States 4. Jerry Quinn . . . . . . . . $8,280 Blue Springs, MO, United States 5. 6. 7. 8. William Watts . . . . . . $2,760 Robert Thomas . . . . . $1,656 Campbell Davis . . . . . $1,656 Scherrie Matthews . . $1,656 9. David Collins . . . . . . . $1,656 GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 8 1/13/04 PLAYERS 90 PRIZE POOL Hill Top Lakes, TX, United States Greenville, MS, United States Darren Brandes . . . . . $3,622 Gerald Krosnowski . . $1,610 Timothy Scully. . . . . . $1,380 Jerry Quinn . . . . . . . . $1,380 Blue Springs, MO, United States 8. Erwin Kline . . . . . . . . $1,380 9. Scherrie Matthews . . $1,380 Indianapolis, IN, United States GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 11 1/16/04 POT LIMIT OMAHA BUY-IN $200 + $20 1. Seth Baker . . . . . . . . . $4,170 2. John Sparrow . . . . . . $3,650 3. Bryan Jenkins . . . . . . $3,650 Chattanooga, TN, United States 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Knoxville, TN, United States 3. Larry Kozlove . . . . . . $2,543 Louisville, KY, United States 30 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 United States 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Byron Scally . . . . . . . . $8,400 Todd McKellar. . . . . . $5,040 Robert Redman . . . . . $3,360 Bob Selman . . . . . . . . $2,800 Robert Landauer . . . . $1,680 Burt Madden . . . . . . . $1,680 Michael Johnson . . . . $1,680 Brent Carter . . . . . . . $1,680 GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 5 1/10/04 LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $200 + $20 PLAYERS 207 PRIZE POOL 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. NV, United States 9. Charles Witherspoon $1,782 United States GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 4 1/9/04 OMAHA HI-LO BUY-IN $100 + $10 PLAYERS 241 PRIZE POOL PLAYERS 215 1. 2. 3. 4. $64,500 Tony Boyette . . . . . . . $7,866 Robert Redman . . . . . $7,866 Brian Lewis . . . . . . . . $7,866 Wayne Tyler . . . . . . . . $4,500 Ft. Atkinson, WI $41,900 1. Marion Busch . . . . . $12,937 United States 2. 3. 4. 5. Benjamin Gerard . . . $6,469 Phil Stelzer . . . . . . . . . $3,881 Paul Powers . . . . . . . . $2,587 James Ellis . . . . . . . . . $2,199 TX, United States 6. Jack Johnston . . . . . . $1,257 7. William O Donnell . . $1,257 IL, United States 8. Charles Walker . . . . . $1,257 United States 9. Unknown . . . . . . . . . . $1,257 GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 3 1/8/04 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM $200 + $20 PLAYERS 248 BUY-IN $300 + $30 PRIZE POOL $59,400 Ron Bowers . . . . . . . $17,820 Branham Biggers. . . . $8,910 Dave Shatunoff . . . . . $5,346 Regette Bechara. . . . . $3,564 Lenny Duvdivan . . . . $2,910 Clayton Mareno. . . . . $1,782 Joe Rasori. . . . . . . . . . $1,782 Martin Virgen . . . . . . $1,782 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM $21,000 1. Leon Averett . . . . . . . . $4,135 2. Norman Collingsworth . . . . . $3,540 Scott Rybka . . . . . . . . $3,650 Frank Bialik . . . . . . . . $3,600 James Rye . . . . . . . . . $3,650 Greg Benoit . . . . . . . . $3,650 George Andell . . . . . . $3,650 Mark Peters . . . . . . . . $2,130 GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 7 1/12/04 PLAYERS 105 PRIZE POOL $35,500 $56,000 1. Kendall Gennick . . . $16,800 BUY-IN $300 + $30 1. James Rosser . . . . . . . $3,622 4. 5. 6. 7. PLAYERS 230 PRIZE POOL LIMIT HOLD’EM $23,000 2. Marc Freud . . . . . . . . $3,662 3. William McCool . . . . $3,622 BUY-IN $200 + $20 PLAYERS 184 PLAYERS 59 PRIZE POOL NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $300 + $30 Indianapolis, IN, United States GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 12 1/17/04 GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 6 1/11/04 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM 1. Phil Stelzer . . . . . . . . . $8,730 2. Claude Sigmon. . . . . . $4,365 Biloxi, MS, United States East Falmouth, MA, United States $83,000 7. Carlo Sciannameo . . . $2,100 Clearwater, FL NC, United States PLAYERS 166 2. Pat Heneghan. . . . . . . $5,250 6. Ralph Gonnella . . . . . $2,100 Allen, TX 9. Ann McTiernan . . . . . $3,500 Lafayette, LA, United States Golden, CO, United States 3. Pena Abelardo . . . . . . $3,500 4. Brian Wiecamp . . . . . $2,800 5. Larry Kozlove . . . . . . $2,450 Alvarado, TX, United States 6. Seth Baker . . . . . . . . . $4,500 8. Salem Helou . . . . . . . . $1,260 Duluth, MN, United States GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 14 1/19/04 5. Jeffrey Chernosky . . . $4,500 7. Tim Lavalli. . . . . . . . . $4,500 8. Thomas McGrath . . . $3,500 3. Daniel Mogavero . . . . $1,500 ADVERTISE IN IT WORKS! NC, United States 4. 5. 6. 7. 3. Joshua Love . . . . . . . . $7,470 4. Anthony Bryant . . . . . $4,980 5. Jeff Burns . . . . . . . . . . $4,150 Jacksonville, IL POKER PLAYER 7. Bobby Jones . . . . . . . . . .$900 8. David Notaro . . . . . . . . .$900 (Continued from page 1) PRIZE POOL $71,800 1. Robert Burcham . . . $21,540 2. William McGee . . . . $10,770 3. Tom Komulainen . . . . $6,462 Iron River, MI, United States (Continued on page 31) Bike’s Americas Poker Classic Classic, a series of 10 events held at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California, I halfway through. These events favored by local players have buy-ins ranging from $100 to $300. See results below: (Continued from page 1) BICYCLE CASINO BICYCLE CASINO THE AMERICAS POKER CLASSIC THE AMERICAS POKER CLASSIC EVENT #4 1/20/05 EVENT #2 1/18/05 LIMIT HOLD’EM POT LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $100 + $20 BUY-IN $100 + $20 PLAYERS 317 PRIZE POOL PLAYERS 219 PRIZE POOL $31,700 $21,900 1. Mario Moreno . . . . . $11,890 WE ARE YOUR PLACE TO PLAY POKER TOURNAMENTS! Costa Mesa, CA, United States 2. Mick Brown . . . . . . . . $6,025 BICYCLE CASINO THE AMERICAS POKER CLASSIC EVENT #5 1/21/05 OMAHA HI-LO / STUD HI-LO BUY-IN $200 + $25 PLAYERS 128 PRIZE POOL $25,600 6. James Wardell . . . . . . $1,110 Nghia Nguyen DAILY AT 11:00 A.M. $25 No Limit Hold’em Tournament DAILY AT 2:00 P.M. $25 No Limit Hold’em Tournament. $10 Rebuys $250 GUARANTEED TO FIRST PLACE MONDAY – THURSDAY AT 7:00 P.M. $50 No Limit Hold’em Tournament. 7. Heung Lee . . . . . . . . . . .$795 1. Nghia Nguyen . . . . . . $8,215 Rules and structure sheets are available in the poker room. Management reserves all rights to change or alter these promotions at any time. 8. Josh Rihenberg . . . . . . .$635 2. Frederich Shonder . . $4,160 Los Angeles, CA, United States 3. David Garbowski. . . . $3,010 Cardiff, United Kingdom 4. Edgar Garong . . . . . . $2,060 Cerritos, CA, United States 5. Omar Campolongo . . $1,425 La Verne, CA, United States Westminster, United Kingdom Anaheim, CA, United States 9. Lamar Mitchell . . . . . . .$475 Vista, CA, United States WV, United States United States 3. Frank Blanco . . . . . . . $2,080 United States 4. Lance Brukman . . . . . $1,425 Long Beach, CA, United States BICYCLE CASINO THE AMERICAS POKER CLASSIC EVENT #3 1/19/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM Eric Plounkett 1. Eric Plounkett . . . . . $10,240 BUY-IN $100 + $20 PLAYERS 437 REBUYS 344 PRIZE POOL 5. Tran Tran . . . . . . . . . . . .$985 Garden Grove, CA 6. 7. 8. 9. Derek Soulakis . . . . . . . .$765 Lewis Concha. . . . . . . . .$545 Vincent McBride . . . . . .$440 Tony Grand . . . . . . . . . .$330 BICYCLE CASINO THE AMERICAS POKER CLASSIC $78,100 Buellfon, CA, United States EVENT #1 1/17/05 2. Omar Campolongo . . $5,120 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM 3. John Messick . . . . . . . $2,560 BUY-IN $100 + $20 La Verne, CA, United States Cincinnati, OH, United States PLAYERS 575 PRIZE POOL 4. Abraham Edusma . . . $1,535 $57,500 San Gabriel, CA, United States 5. Walter Smiley . . . . . . $1,280 Gardena, CA, United States 6. Rodolfo Cruz . . . . . . . $1,025 Covina, CA, United States 7. David White . . . . . . . . . .$770 Orange County, CA, United States 8. Hung Nguyen . . . . . . . . .$510 Cerritos, CA, United States Gary Stant 1. Gary Stant . . . . . . . . $28,900 Tunica Grand American (Continued from page 30) 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Vashon Tidwell . . . . . $4,308 Joe Pittman . . . . . . . . $3,590 John Pettibone . . . . . . $2,154 Curtis Chambers . . . . $2,154 Harold Key. . . . . . . . . $2,154 OH, United States Feridoun Farboud 2. Thai Tran . . . . . . . . . $14,260 United States 3. George Shahrezay . . . $7,030 Paramount, CA 4. Steven Moss . . . . . . . . $4,690 United States 5. Richard Myers . . . . . . $3,520 United States 6. Chester Burnett . . . . . $2,735 Ladera Ranch, CA, United States 7. Paramjit Gill . . . . . . . $1,950 Diamond Bar, CA 8. Giouvanni Donofrio . $1,560 Little Rock, AR, United States 9. Mike Heintschel . . . . . $1,170 Escondido, CA 1. Feridoun Farboud . . $20,700 Walnut Creek, CA, United States 2. William Tran . . . . . . $10,070 Montebello, CA, United States 3. Andrew Wang . . . . . . $4,945 Hacienda Heights, CA, United States 4. Jeremy Scharf . . . . . . $2,935 Valley Village, CA, United States 5. Ulises Molina . . . . . . . $2,300 Bell Gardens, CA, United States 6. 7. 8. 9. David Kim . . . . . . . . . $1,725 Joseph Harmatz. . . . . $1,440 Nicholas Dileo . . . . . . $1,150 Raffi Soulian . . . . . . . . .$865 GRAND CASINO TUNICA GRAND AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC EVENT 2 1/7/04 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $100 + $10 PLAYERS 240 REBUYS 112 PRIZE POOL $48,900 1. 2. 3. 4. Darrell Prossil . . . . . $14,670 Mark Erdberg . . . . . . $7,335 David Meany . . . . . . . $4,401 Bob Walker . . . . . . . . $2,934 Las Vegas NV 5. Larry Etter. . . . . . . . . $2,445 6. Tom Sawyer . . . . . . . . $1,467 Marysville, OH, United States 7. R Scott Sailors . . . . . . $1,467 8. John Parker . . . . . . . . $1,467 9. Pat Chadwick. . . . . . . $1,467 F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 31 Perks and Picks February in Las Vegas is shaping up as a great month for excellent specials and promotions around town. Besides the great poker room at the Palms, slot and video poker players who earn 300 points on penny or nickel machines receive a free buffet or $10.00 off food credit at the Sunrise Cafe or Garduno’s valid until February 28, 2005. The offer is good for one per person per day. The Bargain Bin By H. Scot Krause New members signing up for the Horseshoe Club at Binion’s in downtown Las Vegas can collect a WSOP (World Series of Poker) sandstone coaster after earning just 500 points ($250 coin-in). Sign up and earn 500 points in the first 24 hours of joining the club and receive a free souvenir coaster. Existing club members may have received a post card in the mail for a free coaster but can also earn them (up to four) for every 500 points accumulated on their account. In addition, “50 Reasons to play at the Shoe,” is the new drawing promotion currently running at the ‘Shoe through February 28th. Four cash drawings are held each day at 4:20 p.m., 5:20 p.m., 6:20 p.m. and 8:20 p.m. with five winners each collecting $50 for a total of $1000 given away each day. The twenty daily winners are then automatically entered into a drawing at 9:20 p.m. for $1,000. All winners are also entered into the Grand Prize Drawing on March 7th. The grand prize is a whopping $50,050. The casino will also give away runner-up cash prizes on March 7th of $10,050, $8,050, $6,050, $4,050 and $2,050. Pictures of all $1,000 winners in cut outs of a man or woman holding $50,050 will be given away as a souvenir at the grand prize event. The 1000 daily winners will be invited back on March 6 and 7 to compete for the big money and will receive two complimentary hotel room nights. Customers earn drawing tickets playing slots and video poker. One ticket is awarded for every 200 earned points. Table games and keno players are also eligible to earn drawing tickets. Staying at the hotel or dining in the restaurants will also get you a drawing ticket. Visit the Horseshoe Club for complete rules and details. In March, new owners MTG Gaming will take over the reins of the Horseshoe. The Cannery in North Las Vegas began with just two poker tables about a year and half ago. The number of tables have quadrupled since that time. They are now spreading $2-$4 Limit Hold’em, $4-$8 Limit Hold’em and $2-$5 Blind No Limit Hold’em. In addition, the Cannery hosts a $23 buy-in No Limit Tournament that begins daily at 10:00 a.m. Across town on the Southeast side of town, Nevada Palace is giving away Teddy Bears for Valentine’s Day on Sunday, February 13th to players after earning 50 points on your Player’s Circle club account. For President’s Day, pick up a free logo t-shirt after earning 50 points on Monday, February 21. It’s also double points for all machine play on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in February. Coast Casinos (Barbary Coast, Gold Coast, Orleans and Suncoast) are all offering double points on Valentine’s Day, Monday, February 14th and President’s Day, Monday, February 21st. That’s it for this week! 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 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 Card Room Roundup Palms Casino Resort 4321 W. Flamingo Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89103 (702) 942.7777 www.palms.com One of the most sought-after destinations in the entertainment capital of the world, the Palms Casino Resort offers Las Vegas a major destination getaway with a relaxing, affordable resort atmosphere. The $265-million property boasts a diverse mix of restaurants and bars, a spa and salon, a 14-theatre Cineplex (including IMAX), a 1,200seat, multi-use entertainment venue, over 20,000 square feet of meeting space and a 95,000-square-foot casino. The Palms Casino Resort is located on a 32-acre site just west of the Las Vegas Strip and I-15 on Flamingo Road, minutes from the Forum Shops and the Fashion Show Mall. Since its grand opening in 2001, the Palms has thrived under the guidance of president George Maloof. As President of Maloof Hotels since 1989, George also oversees the operation of hotels throughout the Southwest and California, including the Fiesta Casino Hotel in Las Vegas and the Central Palace Casino in Central City, Colorado. Known vative race and sports book. The casino has received “The Best of Las Vegas” awards for Best Paying Slots, Best Locals Hotel and Best Place to Play Slots in the Las Vegas ReviewJournalʼs “Best of Las Vegas” annual readerʼs poll. Of course, the center of all this great action is easily found inside the Palms poker room. The casinoʼs 10-table, 24-hour room is constantly packed, as even the most experienced Vegas veteran can find something new and exciting at the Palms. Last March, the Palms responded to the soaring popularity of No-Limit Holdʼem by opening an exclusive NoLimit room with four tables. Not surprisingly, the room is at full player capacity each and every day. Upcoming special events at the Palms include a special small buy-in No Limit tournament slated to run June 1 through mid July. Although the great poker boom has helped numerous casinos pick up their cardroom business, the Palms was one of the cityʼs greatest success stories long before the World his crew to ensure that a trip to the Palms is never forgotten. These efforts are highlighted by the Palmsʼ hugely successful Club Palms promotion (which awards prizes and cash to players for continued play) and daily high-hand contests. Like any successful enterprise, the Palms recognizes the importance of keeping its marketing fresh and innovative. Dedicated to appealing to players of all ages, the Palms mixes the thrill of poker with the glitz of Hollywood. Anyone who has watched “Celebrity Poker Showdown” on Bravo knows that it is not uncommon for a casino guest to share green felt glory alongside rocker Dave Navarro or sports giant Dennis Rodman. And where else can someone walk away with beautifully designed Kiss and Playboy collectible poker chips? When visiting the Palms, players are encouraged to spend time at any one of the Palmsʼ breathtaking hotel rooms. The casinoʼs 42-story hotel tower holds 430 finely appointed and oversized guestrooms and suites, all with extraordinary views of the Strip. Beautifully decorated with natural woods, soft color schemes of beige and taupe and stylish furniture, every guestroom includes televisions with high-speed Internet access, convenient data ports and stocked mini bars. Inside and out, the Palms was built for poker! for his hands-on involvement in the everyday operations of the Palms, George has earned a reputation among employees and patrons alike for his downto-earth style and personable nature. Unlike other large gaming businesses, the Palms is a place where everyone from poker players to casino personnel are made to feel right at home. Despite the Palmsʼ many other amenities, the establishmentʼs 95,000-square-foot casino remains its true heart and soul. The casino includes over 2,200 slot machines, 55 table games, keno and an inno- Poker Tour created a media frenzy. Since day one, the Palms has maintained phenomenal business thanks in large part to cardroom manager Gene Trimble. A lifelong poker enthusiast, Trimbleʼs many industry credits include being the person who helped launch Caribbean Stud in Las Vegas. Still passionate about the game, Trimble works with Just when you thought youʼd seen it all in Las Vegas, the Palms always offers something new. Whether you live in Las Vegas or have visited the city 100 times before, a trip to the Palms guarantees an experience you wonʼt have anywhere else. For more information on the Palms, please call (702) 942777 or visit www.palms.com. Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure Concludes tournament was won by John Gale of Bushey in the United Kingom, who took home $865,600 plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT final event later in the year. There were 461 entries in this field where the prize pool was just short of $3.6 million. Players won their way into this event by winning satellites on Pokerstars.comʼs web site. The events which concluded a week that began on January 5th and ended on the 11th, were held at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. See final results below. (Continued from page 1) plus...$25,000 Seat into WPT Championship Bushey, United Kingdom 2. Alex Balandin . . . . $484,700 New City, NJ, United States 3. Michael Westerlund$306,400 Gothenburg, Sweden 4. Patrick Hocking. . . $207,700 #2 Alex Balandin Medford, OR, United States 5. John Cernuto . . . . . $155,800 Las Vegas, NV, United States 6. Nenad Medic . . . . . $112,500 Canada 7. Greg Debora . . . . . . $91,700 Toronto, ON ATLANTIS RESORT & CASINO 1/11/05 CARIBBEAN ADVENTURE 8. Christian Kruel . . . . $73,700 #3 Mike Westerlund Rio De Janeiro Brazil 9. Steve Zolotow. . . . . . $65,800 WPT FINAL EVENT (4 DAY EVENT) Las Vegas, NV, United States #4 Patrick Hocking #5 John Cernuto BUY-IN $7,800 + $200 #6 Nenad Medic PLAYERS 461 PRIZE POOL $3,595,600 1. John Gale . . . . . . . . $865,600 Englishman John Gale goes home with $865,600! (Continued from page 18) 9. Ernesto Rojas. . . . . . . . .$665 HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO POKER DERBY EVENT #2 1/8/05 7-CARD STUD BUY-IN $100 + $25 PLAYERS 120 REBUYS 101 PRIZE POOL $21,435 Daniel Reed 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Daniel Reed . . . . . . . . $8,570 David Ristick . . . . . . . $4,285 Michael Fetter . . . . . . $2,140 John Mehrassa. . . . . . $1,285 Daniel Torla . . . . . . . . $1,070 Norman Lapin . . . . . . . .$855 Robert Koffroth. . . . . . .$640 Shant Kuyumjian . . . . .$430 HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO POKER DERBY EVENT #1 1/7/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $100 + $25 PLAYERS 351 REBUYS 415 ADD-ONS 214 PRIZE POOL $95,060 Sherrill Sipes 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Sherrill Sipes . . . . . . $34,695 Charles Miller . . . . . $18,060 Michael Fetter . . . . . . $9,030 Chanveacha Kong . . . $6,180 N/A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,280 Lewis Young . . . . . . . . $3,325 Norman Wheatcroft . $2,375 Zdenek Zborovsky . . $1,900 Michael Vitullo . . . . . $1,535 Just make the final table and be one of nine to win a $10,000 entry to the major poker event in Las Vegas. Come play in Casino Arizona’s No Limit Hold ‘Em Points Challenge. Tournaments are held every Monday - Friday and the last Saturday of the month, now through April 30, 2005. Qualifying players will go on to compete in the Semifinals, held May 7th, 2005, with top players advancing to the Championship Challenge on May 8th, 2005. The top nine players receive a $10,000 entry to the major poker event in Las Vegas. Call Casino Arizona for details. Casino Arizona reserves the right to cancel or alter this promotion at any time. All winners will be responsible for any tax liabilities. WE’VE GOT YOUR GAME 101 & Indian Bend Adjacent to Scottsdale 480-850-7777 www.casinoaz.com Owned and operated by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Please gamble responsibly. F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 33 Bad Memories… We all recognize the simple fact that we must learn from our mistakes, both in life and at the poker table. We also know that we must learn from our successes, always trying to remember what we did to produce the outcomes that we desired. Unfortunately, relying on our memories to handle these tasks is a dangerous proposition, as what we remember and how we remember is often skewed, incomplete, and inaccurate. POKER COUNSELOR By John Carlisle Many players aim to have their sessions at the table last between four to six hours. During that time, hundreds of hands will pass, with most of those leaving no lasting impression upon the player. Most of the time, we will learn very little from an individual hand. Instead, we learn, and evaluate ourselves the most on those few key, tough hands within that long session. Maybe it is the time of the successful bold bluff, the time you were scared away from your winning hand, or the bad beat that you took. Psychologists have found that we tend to remember events with a self-fulfilling slant. When we are beaten, our minds try to protect our psyche by rationalizing the beat. We find a way to pass blame onto something or someone else, thus ensuring continual self-confidence. The railbirds moaning about a run of unlucky cards are amongst those using these techniques. On the other side, we generally take full credit for success; we don’t easily recall our own fortunate luck or poor play from opponents after a big win. When we win a pot, we are content. One of the biggest areas of under-evaluation is pots won, but not maximized. We easily forget that we can be making many costly mistakes on winning hands, too. Internet poker players are enjoying an amazing tool to help evaluate their own play: hand histories. With a few clicks of the mouse, internet players can see each bet and action on any hand that they’d like to review. You might think that this would alleviate the mistakes in memory that I’m focusing upon. Don’t fool yourself, as the hand histories show only a piece of the puzzle. What you neglect to take into account is the emotional state that you were in during those moments -- were you confident, nervous, or plain scared? You don’t always correctly remember what you were thinking at the time about your opponent’s hand and the flow of play. In casinos and card rooms, we now see some players touting a notebook to jot down highlights of key hands. This is another outlet to attempt to combat the fallacies of our memory, but again we must remember that there was much more to the situation than the few notes we had time to scribble onto the paper. The key is to not passively rely on your memory to later evaluate your play. Your mind is trained and experienced in fooling you to protect or boost your psyche and confidence, making it nearly impossible to clearly and objectively evaluate yourself. Continue to use the internet hand histories or hand-written notes, but try to attach accurate self-evaluations with them. Take your self-evaluations to a deeper level, checking emotions and thoughts as much as bet amounts, raises, and calls. Enlist a playing buddy to observe you while you play, as his evaluations of you will not be shrouded by self-protection rationalization techniques. Your experiences will indeed lead you to become a different player, but will the experiences that you remember be the actual reality? Focus on faulty memories to play smarter, wiser, and harder while raking in more pots than ever. 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 University. You can ask the “Poker Counselor” your question at [email protected]. 34 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 More Than 160-Grand Up for Grabs at Pechanga To kick off the opening of its brand new, state-of-theart, 54-table poker room within its expanded resort area, Pechanga Resort & Casino has geared up to host a tournament series in which players have the chance to win more than southern California. Each of the dayʼs tournaments take place in the spacious Poker Room. The excitement builds over the five days and culminates on February 13th, giving players the final chance to cash in on the high advantage of a special $79 room rate on Wednesday, February 9th, Thursday, February 10th and Sunday, February 13th, and $129 on Friday, February 11th and Saturday, February 12th. To sign up to play in the tournaments with or $160,000 in prize pool money. >From Wednesday, February 9, 2005 to Sunday, February 13, 2005, the Pechanga Open Tournament will be one of the hottest poker tickets in stakes with the eventʼs final round, the guaranteed $100,000 No Limit Hold ʻEm tournament. Players wanting to be a part of this exciting action may register early and take without accommodations, call the Pechanga Resort & Casino hotel reservations department toll free at (877) 711-2WIN. See the ad on page 26 for additional details. asked & answered: C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E naments have had $25,000 entry fees, and one recent invitational event—Poker SuperStars II—is priced at $40,000 per player. Q #3 ANSWER: (c). Events where first place must win all the chips and gets only a predetermined share of the prize pool, the rest going to close finishers, such as 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, are called proportional payout tournaments. Q #4 ANSWER: (d). If first place is $100,000 and second place is $60,000, then the last two players already won $60,000 each and are fighting over the remaining $40,000 – winner take all. Q #5 ANSWER: (b). A single- 22 table tournament in which the winner wins an entry to a larger event is called a satellite tournament. Q #6 ANSWER: (a). It’s true that you can’t tell the truth about your hand in most major tournaments held in the last four years or so. This ridiculous rule means that—in those tournaments—you must be lying when you say anything specific about your hand, so you are giving information about your hand that opponents can figure out by process of elimination. If you could randomize and sometimes tell the truth for deception, rationality would return to the poker tournament circuit. (OK, that’s just a Mike Caro opinion, but it’s right on the money.) Q #7 ANSWER: (d). Over 2,500 players entered the 2004 World Series of Poker main even and most experts are predicting more this years. The exact count was 2,576 entrants at $10,000 each. Q #8 ANSWER: (c). Johnny Moss became the first modern poker world champion by being voted the title by his peers. He later repeated the championship in actual competition. Q #9 ANSWER: (c). Doyle Brunson won his first WSOP main event championship in 1976. Q #10 ANSWER: (b). The common term used to describe a tournament in which table winners advance is “shoot-out.” Aussie Millions 2. Emad Tahtouh . . AU$52,000 Jack Binion’s WPO (Continued from page 15) 3. Kevin Kelsall . . . AU$40,000 CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/10/05 4. Anders Berg . . . . AU$30,000 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM Australia Australia Norway BUY-IN AU$1,000 + AU$100 5. Richard Piper . . AU$20,000 United Kingdom PLAYERS 159 6. John Dwyer . . . . AU$10,000 United States CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/13/05 Han Luu LIMIT OMAHA HI-LO BUY-IN AU$1,500 + AU$100 1. Han Luu . . . . . . . AU$47,025 Australia 2. Jovan Skekic . . . AU$29,925 Australia PLAYERS 50 3. Steve Hegyi. . . . . AU$15,675 PRIZE POOL 4. Daniel Holm . . . . AU$11,400 Australia AU$75,000 Sweden 5. George Mamacas . AU$9,975 Tony Bloom Australia 1. Tony Bloom . . . . AU$24,650 6. Wes Bugiera . . . . . AU$8,550 London, United Kingdom Australia 2. Bill Risch . . . . . . AU$15,750 7. Peter Mordaunt . . AU$7,125 Australia Melbourne, Australia 3. David Gorr . . . . . . AU$8,250 8. David Chanduloy AU$5,700 Australia United States 4. Daniel Holm . . . . . AU$6,000 9. Arul Thillai . . . . . AU$4,275 Australia Sweden 5. John Warrener. . . AU$5,250 Australia 6. Steve Hegyi. . . . . . AU$4,500 Australia 7. Richard Ashby . . . AU$3,750 United Kingdom 8. Mel Judah . . . . . . AU$3,000 Australia 9. Michael Marcos . . AU$2,250 Australia CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/12/05 CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/9/05 POT LIMIT OMAHA BUY-IN AU$500 + AU$60 PLAYERS 83 REBUYS 96 PRIZE POOL AU$89,500 POT LIMIT HOLD’EM 2-DAY EVENT BUY-IN AU$1,000 + AU$100 Mad Marty Wilson 1. Mad Marty Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AU$29,535 UK dred or so spectators were gathered around the final table of Event #8 at the Jack Binion World Poker Open. After nearly six hours, the outcome seemed to be a foregone conclusion. Sitting at one end of the table, with a massive chip count of $437,000 was steely-eyed Brit, Gary Jones. At the opposite end of the table was the well-known Los Angeles touring pro Sirous Baghchehsaraie clutching onto his last five chips like an illegal alien gripping bus fare – a paltry five chips in all. Baghchehsaraie didnʼt have enough chips to post the big blind, let alone wait for a playable hand. Everyone rose to their feet and watched, anticipating the final hand of the night. Instead, what they witnessed was quite possibly the single greatest comeback in poker tournament history. It was baseballʼs Boston Red Sox upsetting the hated Yankees after being down 0-3, pro footballʼs Buffalo Bills overcoming a 32-point second-half deficit to stun Houston in the playoffs, basketballʼs Los Angeles Lakers rallying from 33points down to shock Dallas -- all rolled up into one whale of a poker tournament that is sure to be discussed for years to come. Recall pokerʼs famous ʻchip and a chairʼ story from the 1982 World Series. Jack Straus, may God rest his soul, now has a rival. His name is Sirous Baghchehcaraie. 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #8 1/13/05 LIMIT TEXAS HOLD’EM BUY-IN $500 + $50 PLAYERS 442 PRIZE POOL $209,224 Sirous Bagchcehsaraie 1. Sirous Bagchcehsaraie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $64,467 PRIZE POOL 3. Steve Hegyi. . . . . . AU$9,845 AU$175,000 35 TABLE CARDROOM 4. Tino Lechich . . . . AU$7,160 NON-SMOKING BETWEEN 9AM AND 3AM Australia Tino Lechich 1. Tino Lechich . . . AU$52,305 Australia 2. Edward Harris. . AU$33,285 Australia 3. Crocodile Bill Argyros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AU$17,435 Australia 4. Mike Comer . . . . AU$12,680 Australia 5. David Gorr . . . . . . AU$6,265 Australia 6. Mick Stanton . . . . AU$5,370 Sydney, Australia 7. Matt Spratt . . . . . AU$4,475 Australia Australia Australia Australia 7. Tod Sik . . . . . . . . . AU$7,925 Australia 8. Ray Sanchez . . . . . AU$6,340 Sweden LIVE GAMES Sydney, Australia 5. Michael Guttman AU$11,095 6. Gary Benson . . . . AU$9,510 Various Promotional Giveaways All Year 8. Martin Comer . . . AU$3,580 9. Kevin Khouiss . . . AU$2,685 CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/12/05 $1- $5 • 7-Card Stud $2- $4 • Texas Hold’em $4- $8- $8 • Texas Hold’em POT LIMIT HOLD’EM $10- $20 PLAYERS 177 AU$88,500 7-CARD STUD Michael Guttman No Limit • Texas Hold’em 4- $8- $8 • Omaha High with a 1/2 Kill 1. Michael Guttman AU$26,480 2. Peter Mordaunt . AU$16,853 Australia PRIZE POOL 3. Graham Smith . . . AU$8,828 AU$39,000 United Kingdom 4. Eddie Schwerdt . . AU$6,420 Lee Nelson Australia 1. Lee Nelson . . . . . AU$15,600 5. Mel Judah . . . . . . AU$5,618 New Zealand Australia 2. John Wylie . . . . . AU$10,725 6. Asle Gjesteland . . AU$4,815 New Zealand Norway 3. John Homann . . . AU$6,825 7. Ray Walter . . . . . . AU$4,013 Australia Australia 4. Richard Holmes . . AU$3,900 8. Joe Huminicki . . . AU$3,210 Australia Australia 5. Joe Cabret . . . . . . AU$1,950 9. David Chanduloy AU$2,408 Australia Winter Haven, FL, United States 5. Mark Dickstein . . . . $12,476 New York, NY, United States 6. Dustin Sitar . . . . . . . $10,397 Las Vegas, NV, United States 7. Luis Velador . . . . . . . . $8,318 Lake Elsinore, CA, United States 8. Billy Woodrum . . . . . $6,238 Lexington, KY, United States 9. Andy Karon . . . . . . . . $4,287 Duluth, MN, United States David Eller Seizes Second JBWPO Victory: Floridian stages formidable comeback and defeats WSOP multi-winner Scott Fischman in heads-up duel Skilled poker players have a tendency to gravitate to games like Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split, because there is a common feeling that the player has more control over the outcome. Unlike poker games like Texas Holdʼem, where “any two cards can win,” Stud High-Low tends to reward patience, hand-reading skills, card memory, (Continued on page 36) The Orleans is the “Home” of the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POKER TOUR™ Memorial Championship of Poker TM Schedule of Events Thursday, January 27 • 8pm WPPA Qualifier Satellite™ BUY-IN $500 Friday, January 28 • Noon & 8pm WPPA Qualifier Satellites™ Saturday, January 29 • Noon WPPA Memorial Championship of Poker ™ $500 $5000 $ Australia PLAYERS 39 • Texas Hold’em with a 1/2 Kill PRIZE POOL BUY-IN AU$1,000 + AU$100 • Texas Hold’em with a 1/2 Kill BUY-IN AU$500 + AU$50 CROWN CASINO AUSSIE MILLIONS 1/11/05 Las Vegas, NV, United States 4. Hilbert Shirey . . . . . $14,556 with a 1/2 Kill $6- $12 9. Joe Humunicki. . . AU$4,755 Melbourne, Australia London, England 3. Dr Max Stern . . . . . . $16,635 ♥♠♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠♦ 2. Lee Nelson . . . . . AU$18,795 Australia 2. Gary Jones . . . . . . . . $33,270 Los Angeles, CA, United States PLAYERS 105 REBUYS 70 New Zealand (Continued from page 21) United States $ 4- $8- $8 • Omaha High-Lo WPPA CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT IS EXPECTED TO BE TELEVISED WITH 100% OF EARNINGS GOING TO WPPA MEMBERS with a 1/2 Kill $ $ 10- 20 • Omaha High-Lo with a 1/2 Kill Player’s Rewards Card Comp Tracking System Earn Comp Dollars for Food When Playing in “Live” Games Two Tournaments Daily at 12 Noon and 7PM LAS VEGAS, NV (702) 365-7150 • (888) 365-7111 orleanscasino.com [email protected] Room Reservations: (800) 675-3267 A player does not have to be a WPPA member to enter tournaments. ♥♠♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠♦ F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 35 Bad Beat In a typical poker room you’ll usually find the same reoccurring theme. A player sitting down to his/her chosen game in hopes of playing their level best to extract the chips from the table. In my opinion, most of the really beatable games are located in the top sections of the casino. Usually these players in question will have some Dealer Vibes By Donald W. Woods, Jr. sort of plan to divest the table of their resources. UNTIL, the inevitable bad beat. Bad beat in theory, bad beat in mindset, bad beat in reality, but bad beat no less. Now comes the truth in advertisement. Are you the type of player who now succumbs to adversity? Can you handle the smirk? What smirk? The one from the player that called the raise out of position with a piece of rag hand, caught runner-runner to a gut shot straight beating your 3 of a kind on the last card? Well some players in an effort to keep their sanity say, “nice hand”. Nice hand? I can’t stand that reply from a player whom obviously is frustrated and upset, remembers where he read that player A says, just say nice hand, mumbles nice hand then blurts out DEALER GET A SET-UP! Yeah right, trying to be politically correct while taking it out on everybody else. You don’t really mean nice hand. What you really mean is: you moron how could you put that horrid beat on me right in the middle of my little run that I was trying to put together, to the tune of a $1,000 pot! I’m not advocating you get nasty or anything; just don’t say anything in rebuttal as opposed to the “nice hand” quip. Some of the most noteworthy occurrences with respect to tough tables happened while I was a dealer. I was dealing a happy go lucky type of table one evening, when Jerry Springer broke out. A player whom caught one of those runner-runner straights to win a gargantuan pot decided to gloat about it. The losing player took exception to the verbal rehashing and reminded the player that he was lucky to win the pot. Well, replied the winning player I’m lucky in everything I do. In that case, says the losing player you had better not say another word or I’ll be over there on you to try your luck. Now I must say at this point I do like these testosterone types of confrontation except the guy doing all the crazy talking was about, 5 foot nothing! This guy probably needed a pillow to sit on to drive his car. Now, that’s not the kicker! The kicker was the winning player whom all this was directed to must have been 6 ft. 4 or better. The floor man came over and told the two combatants to go outside. Well, I’m thinking the little guy better not go out there with this gladiator, when the little guy says, with an air of confidence, let’s take it to the streets. Everyone got really excited about the impending (W.W.F.) showdown and ran outside to lay witness. Well, since everyone left I gathered up my tray and went to the door. Well, to make a long story short it was a complete drubbing suffered by the…………drum roll please, …little guy! Not that the result was so shocking, it’s that the little guy could not fight a lick! Wow, he didn’t get in as much as a punc Here’s the moral of the story, if you can’t fight do not invite the player to go outside. Instead it’s ok to turn to the player and say, “nice hand”. Because that’s the only BAD BEAT I want you to take in 2005! Jack Binion’s WPO and selective-aggression. Seven-Card Stud HighLow Split players donʼt tend to tell as many ʻbad beatʼ stories. Thatʼs because ʻbad beatsʼ arenʼt nearly as common. They happen. But, in the long run, good starting multiway high-low hands tend to rake the most pots. On this night, a 41-year old Florida man usually had the best starting hands, and ended up winning the most pots. The seventh event of the 2005 Jack Binion World Poker Open, $500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split, was won by David N. Eller, from Port Orange, FL. Eller topped the largest ʻEight or Betterʼ field in JBWPO history, topping 272 players. Eller joined the exalted ranks of a select few, becoming only one of a dozen players who have won multiple titles as the JBWPO. In 2001, Eller won the Omaha High-Low Split event. Since then, Eller has continued to refine his poker game – playing tournaments live and online – which has now paid handsome dividends to the tune of $40,047 in first-place prize money. 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #7 1/12/05 7-CARD STUD HI-LO SPLIT BUY-IN $500 + $50 PLAYERS 272 PRIZE POOL $128,836 David Eller 1. David Eller . . . . . . . . $40,047 United States 2. Scott Fischman . . . . $22,393 Las Vegas, NV, United States 3. Rick Abrell . . . . . . . . $13,436 Terre Haute, IN, United States 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] 4. Tony Seco . . . . . . . . . . $9,597 Myrtle Beach, SC, United States 5. 6. 7. 8. Jeff Richman . . . . . . . $7,934 Derek Taylor . . . . . . . $6,270 Jim Hagen . . . . . . . . . $5,145 Eddie Ragl . . . . . . . . . $3,694 Fitzgerald, GA, United States 9. Larry Evans . . . . . . . . $2,375 Yellville, AZ, United States 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #6 1/11/05 POT LIMIT TEXAS HOLD’EM BUY-IN $500 + $50 PLAYERS 284 REBUYS 399 PRIZE POOL $312,810 (Continued from page 35) three hours to top the other eight finalists, as he never was in serious danger of losing the chip lead. This marked Paezʼs first major tournament victory. 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #5 1/10/05 LIMIT TEXAS HOLD’EM BUY-IN $500 + $50 PLAYERS 244 PRIZE POOL $115,463 Raul Paez 1. Raul Paez . . . . . . . . . $99,657 and a $10,000 seat in the WPT Final Barcelona, Spain 2. Tony Cousineau . . . . $54,811 Daytona Beach, FL, United States 3. Mike Lutz . . . . . . . . . $28,028 Louisville, KY, United States 4. Jack Ward . . . . . . . . $21,800 Gulfport, MS, United States 5. Robert Hooten . . . . . $18,685 Kansas City, KS, United States 6. Dave Cung . . . . . . . . $15,571 Calgary, AB, Canada 7. Vince Ballinger . . . . $12,457 Greenwood, IN 8. Chris Grigorian . . . . . $9,343 Panama City, CA, United States 9. Calvin Crain . . . . . . . $6,228 Lexington, KY, United States Toro! Toro! Toro! Spaniard Tops PotLimit Hold’em Event: Raul Paez captures first major poker title and $99,657 The wonderful country of Spain is known for many things -- Pablo Picasso, Flamenco guitar, Sangria wine, arch-style architecture, and bullfighting, to name a few. It may be time to add ʻpoker playersʼ as one of its greatest exports. After all, Spain produced 2001 World Series of Poker Champion -- Carlos Mortensen. His wife, Cecilia De Mortensen, from Madrid, won an event at the 2003 Jack Binion World Poker Open. Fellow countryman Carlos Fuentes, from Pamplona, finished second in an event here last year. Now, Raul Paez, from Barcelona, added his name to the talented list of Spanish poker champions. He won the $500 buy-in Pot-Limit Holdʼem event and collected $99,657 as top prize in JBWPO Event #6. Paez arrived at the final table with a decisive chip lead. His closest adversary (Jack Ward) was outchipped by 2 to 1. It took Paez Avner Levy 1. Avner Levy . . . . . . . . $37,308 Boca Raton, FL, United States 2. Maria Stern . . . . . . . $20,662 Las Vegas, NV, United States 3. Michael Bernstein . . $12,626 Cherry Hill, NJ, United States 4. Dan Smith . . . . . . . . . $9,183 Corydon, IN, United States 5. Mike Purdy . . . . . . . . $7,692 Chesapeake, VA, United States 6. Mickey Sisskind . . . . . $5,917 Detroit, MI, United States 7. Randy Lowery . . . . . . $4,734 Macon, GA, United States 8. Brian Taylor . . . . . . . . $3,550 Macon, GA, United States 9. David Rabbi . . . . . . . . $2,130 Las Vegas Nv 6TH ANNUAL JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN EVENT #14 1/19/05 LIMIT TEXAS HOLD’EM BUY-IN $500 + $50 PLAYERS 628 REBUYS 869 PRIZE POOL $697,527 Anthony Hellmann 1. Anthony Hellmann $201,365 Louisville, KY, United States 2. Pat Heneghan. . . . . $106,238 Chicago, IL, United States 3. Freddy Deeb. . . . . . . $55,550 Las Vegas, NV, United States 4. Davood Mehrmand . $48,606 Frankfurt, Germany 5. Jeremy Tinsley . . . . . $41,662 Beaumont, TX, United States 6. Zeb Strawn. . . . . . . . $34,718 Charlotte, NC, United States 7. Darrell Struck . . . . . $27,775 Dallas, TX, United States 8. Alan Katzen . . . . . . . $20,831 Memphis, TN, United States 9. Jack Ward . . . . . . . . $13,887 Gulfport, MS, United States Never Play Poker With a Man Named Doc that the conversation in the 15-30 games are a lot more friendly and the tables are much more enjoyable The lower you go in the limits the less professionals are playing as well as the least experienced players that you will be playing against. The number one rule in winning at poker is table selection. Use it to your advantage. If you do well on the first trip, you can always move up a level on the next one. When traveling, it is almost impossible to bring a proper bankroll to play poker effectively. The locals know this fact too. If you are not adequately bankrolled, the effect on your game will definitely take itʼs toll. I find that bringing a personal check along that can be cashed in a few minutes time is essential if you plan to play poker. Travelerʼs checks can also be cashed, but each one has to be signed and the biggest denomination is only one hundred dollars. Most Casinos have limitations on the number they will cash in a 24 hour period as well. Although a credit card can also be used, the price one pays is pretty steep. Most Casinos will cash a personal check for $500.00, some even higher. I recommend calling ahead and ask about debit cards and ATM machine fees as well. There is another disadvantage I see is in the amount of cash the recreational player has available to play with. Most players will buy in for at least twice the minimum and usually higher. The minimum buy in is only 20 times the big blind (or ten big bets). That is way too small of a buy in to play an effective game. A lot of the locals who see a player buy in for the minimum as a person who is playing with scared money. If they target you collectively only for this reason, your volatility will skyrocket. Try to minimize any appearance of that of a tourist unless you are so good that you welcome it. I personally have used this very ploy to my advantage at times, but it requires a very strong disciplined game, an ability to advertise early with a really bad hand, and a nice run of cards afterwards to exploit it. I suggest you have 50 times the big bet available in your pocket anytime you sit down at the poker table. Anything less will definitely affect your psyche. That is $1500.00 for the 15-30 game. If you lose twenty big bets then you have lost too much to play effectively at the limit you selected. At home you can make up this loss. In Las Vegas, you are most likely overmatched. I do not care how good of a player you are. Poker is a game of short term luck and long term skill. If you are being beaten like a drum, it is time to step away and accept the loss as a learning experience and either step down a level or else come back at another time. I also suggest that you minimize trying to get even right before your plane is ready to leave. Playing when behind is one thing. Playing when behind and your plane is going to be taking off in three hours is a sign of a desperate person. If you plan to play only a day or two I recommend that you play in the middle of your stay if possible. Sure there are some people who can go to Las Vegas and play every waking moment at the poker table from the time they arrive to the time they leave. I have also seen these same people lose their shirt and continue despite the fact that their opponentʼs are well rested and taking advantage of their sloppy play. Donʼt over extend your play unless you are winning in the game. My basic rule when I play is that I stop playing if I can recognize two mistakes within the last hour of play. If I find two mistakes then how many did I make that I did not even recognize? There are very few players who can continue to win consistently with that many errors. If I cannot determine whether I made a mistake then I am either doing very well or I am totally oblivious to my surroundings. I am sure (Continued from page 9) everyone should be able to tell the difference between the two. Finally, there are certain time periods where one might do better based on their playing style. The day shift starts around 10am and the evening shift begins around 8pm. The day shift is filled with more conservative players. The evening shift (especially on the week ends) is filled with loose aggressive players as well as people out to enjoy themselves. The night shift (2am to 10am) is filled with a mixture of different players but tend to be the action junkies, the stuck players, and loose tourist. There are also a number of pros who exploit these players during the night shift. These are generalizations and a number of different table compositions can exist at anytime in Las Vegas. I hope these tips will help you have a more enjoyable experience in Las Vegas. In the future I hope to expand on a few of these tips as well as add several more. Good Luck! SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26 thru SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2005 • Registration for: Noon Tournaments start @ 9 am Evening Tournaments start @ 6 pm • Gold Bracelet for the winners of each “Championship Event” • Satellites daily @ 8 am • Non-Smoking Room Special Room Rates For Tournament Players 39* $29* $ TOWER ROOM DELUXE ROOM Sundays thru Thursdays only 49 $ * TOWER ROOM 39 $ * Reno’s Best Poker Room DELUXE ROOM Fridays & Saturdays only Hotel Reservations call: (800) 282-2444. When registering, please use reference code: ETSPR05. • Weekly Tournaments and Bad Beat Jackpot suspended during Spring Poker Tournament • For more info call: (800) 648-6992, ext. 7275 or for complete tournament information go to www.PeppermillReno.com *Subject to Availability. The management reserves the right to modify or cancel this promotion at any time. F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 37 atch for Chris Moneymaker. The 2003 World Series of Poker champ is coming soon to a retail store shelf near you as he strives to leverage the recognition factor that has made him one of pokerʼs most visible personalities. The 28-year-old Nashville accountant became emblematic of every personʼs desire to strike it rich with a small W championship at the 2003 World Series, well . . . that was the first time he had ever tried his hand at a live tournament. And then he looks to one side and thereʼs two-time World Series champ Johnny Chan and on the other side thereʼs that highly regarded big money pro Phil Ivey. PLAYER Profile These are the things that can cause a tournament rookieʼs stomach to do a few flip-flops. But letʼs take it from the beginning, about four years ago when he started playing on-line. “I was doing poorly as I was learning the games, then I got on to Pokerstars and started playing their tournaments. Started off real rough. Never made much money,” shrugs, “hardly ever made it into the money.” Better times eventually began to arrive as his skills improved. He began to win. But he was still light years away from any thought of abandoning his Nashville lifestyle for Las Vegas. “I finally reached the point, I think it was a Saturday afternoon and I had about seventy dollars in my (Pokerstars) account and I decided to try my luck at a two-table forty-dollar satellite tournament.” The winner would move on to a bigger tournament where the rewards would include seats in the World Series of Poker. He ended up winning that and admits to feeling pretty good about that, but honestly . . . it would have been nice to have a little prize money. Winning was nice, Poker Player is pleased to welcome Phil Hevener back to its pages. Hevener was the Managing Editor of Poker Player from July 1983 to December 1985. Phil wanted to produce his own publication, which he did with Larry Hall. They called it, “Las Vegas Style.” A popular journalist who writes for many major publications, Phil was replaced in 1985 by Gary Thompson, who is now the spokesman for Harrahs Entertainment. 38 P O K E R P L AY E R CHRIS Moneymaker BY PHIL HEVENER investment as he parlayed a $40 on-line poker win into a seat in the $10,000 buyin and an eventual $2.5 million first prize at the Horseshoe Casinoʼs annual poker classic. So whatʼs a guy to do for an encore? A couple of things, such as continuing to play poker and improve the skills that helped give him the look of an overnight sensation. He and his partners are also prepared to power up a new company launching a variety of products Moneymaker hopes poker buffs everywhere will decide they cannot live without. Such as customized poker chips, an assortment of poker memorabilia, a book and vodeos. Will it all work? Who knows, the stillraging poker boom has Moneymaker and other freshly minted stars of the game convinced that nowʼs the time to take their best shots. Moneymakerʼs story retains an attractive sparkle even after countless tellings. He projects a downhome charm that complements his successful but unlikely leap toward overnight success on big time pokerʼs best known stage. He was well into his 20s before he took his first serious look at poker and when he sat down to the first day of the no limit hold ʻem but Moneymaker was not yet seeing himself going heads-up against Chan or Doyle Brunson. He considered himself a hardheaded realist and when the next level of competition arrived, he was aiming for the eight thousand dollars earmarked for the fourth place finisher. Yes, fourth place looked like a good idea. The free World Series seats for the first three finishers . . . F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 well, those could go to people who might be able to imagine themselves doing something like that. “I had some bills to pay,” he says, What happened was that the on-line tournament got down to the final table and surprise, surprise . . . Moneymaker was the chip leader. “I started dumping to get myself in position for that eight thousand and my buddy who was watching calls me and asks what the hell was I doing?” Mooneymakerʼs response was that he was trying to win himself some prize money. “What did he think I was doing?” He could not imagine himself playing in the World Series against the best in the world. His buddy shrugs, says, “Well, I think youʼre good enough to at least give it a shot.” “Yeah, but the (prize) moneyʼs important to me.” His buddy says okay, what heʼll do is buy half his action and give him five thousand. Moneymaker thinks about that, finally saying, okay, heʼs gonna go for it. Heʼll see if he can wrap up the satellite win. “At that point I had such a big chip lead that I could have won if I did not play another hand.” He wins and a week later Moneymaker is hit with the real shocker. His friend call, says sorry but he canʼt give him the five thousand. Something came up. So Moneymaker goes to his dad and another friend for the five grand to finance the trip to Las Vegas. “I got out to Las Vegas about a week early,” he said, “played some live no limit just to sort of acclimate myself to some of the pressures I knew I was going to be facing in that environment. What I had played till then was mostly 10-20 or 20-40, but I had never played no limit.” At what point in the tournament did he begin to think maybe, just maybe he could win? “Not until the last day,” Moneymaker says. “I got down to the third day of this four-day tournament and when I knocked out Chan I thought I had a chance to make some money but, but never in a million years was I thinking I might win. By the time he got to the final table on the fourth day, Moneymaker was feeling some confidence. “I just really liked what I saw. I felt like I had pretty good reads on most of the others there. I was a rookie till I got to the final table but all of a sudden I wasnʼt a rookie any more.” Moneymaker remembers, “The first day I was real, real cautious. The second day I was pretty cautious.” But he was thinking at night about his strategy, having to loosen up some and learn a lot in a hurry. Since the World Series ended and had been repeated countless times on ESPN, Moneymaker guesses he has probably seen it a couple of times, maybe three times. What is the first thing he treated himself to after the World Series as he suddenly became a millionaire? Moneymaker forces a short laugh. “It wasnʼt really planned but I went out and bought myself a new car, a BMW ʻcause the week after I won I wrapped by Infiniti around a tree” He plays now maybe three times a week on-line. “As far as tournaments go, I probably play 10-12 a year.” Whatʼs the chance of a repeat in the World Series? “Repeating is obvious very difficult, but Iʼve got a lot more faith in my skills. I have obviously learned a whole, whole lot the last year and a half.” Moneymaker says he likes the bigger than ever fields associated with the World Series. The nearly 2,600 players in this past yearʼs World Series was roughly three times the number when he won. Estimates have this yearʼs championship event topping 5,000 players. “As long as you donʼt step on a land mine the first day or so. Thereʼs so many amateurs, so many new guys. As long as you can use the first day or so to get yourself chips, itʼs easier than some of these cut-throat, 180-player fields (Continued on page 39) Prospecting for WSOP Gold at Boomtown By Byron Liggett Want a ticket to a gold mine? Boomtown Hotel/Casino, in Reno, is going to send one Poker Prospector to the World Series of Poker. Boomtownʼs Poker Mine is giving ten gold-seekers two opportunities every Thursday from January 27th through April 28th, at 2pm and 7pm, to pan for hand full of nuggets and a chance to go for all the gold at the World Series of Poker in July. Twice every Thursday, 10 poker prospectors will pay $100 & $25 entry fee to enter the mine shaft that leads to the World Series. Each player gets $1,000 with which to work the mine. They can chip away or blow away; one will holler “Eureka!” -- The other nine get glitter. “Thatʼs the mining business,” says Boss Bennett, “some get gold, others get lost.” The lucky Thursday poker prospectors who win nuggets get $100 and become part of the small, elite, pickʼn shovel brigade at the Poker Minerʼs Final, April 30th. There they will sluice the “River of Holdʼem-orNo-Return”. The one who gets the gold will receive $2,000 cash and a seat in the richest gold field in poker, the World Series in Las Vegas. Striking it rich there could mean more $3 million dollars! Runner-up in the Boomtown World Series Final doesnʼt go home broke. That miner gets $1,600 in gold dust to put in their saddle bags. In fact, every prospector at the last table will get some gold. There you have it. The World Series mine shaft is open every Thursday at 2pm and 7pm at Boomtown. Bring your dynamite! Player Profile: Chris Moneymaker CONTINUED FROM PAGE 38 with nothing but the best players in the world. With these bigger fields, at least youʼve got people who are giving off some chips.” Pokerʼs continuing growth and exposure on television means Moneymaker gets recognized just about everywhere he goes. “Never in a million years did I believe that would happen. Youʼve gotta remember, I was just this humble guy from Tennessee. I was kinda shy, wasnʼt a public speaker. I didnʼt do well in front of the camera or in front of a large group. You know, that was never my forte.” When he learned he was going on the David Letterman show, “I was probably more nervous there than I was at the World Series.” But he learned how to relax. “It gets easier as you do one or two of them . . . As far as this celebrity thing goes, itʼs good and itʼs bad. It has its benefits. You get recognized pretty much everywhere and you get treated pretty good.” He heaves a sigh, “But sometimes you just want to be alone with your family or get away by yourself or just take a break from it.” Hard to do when strangers approach him as though theyʼre good buddies, wanting to talk about this or that asking for autographs. Moneymaker field a lot of endorsement offers after his win, but he generally said thanks but no thanks. “What they wanted me to put my name on was either a piece of junk or I just wasnʼt real comfortable with the product.” The end result of the planning by he and his partners in this plan to create products for the retail market was an assortment of items that will be unveiled in early February and sold either on-line or at retail giants such as Target. The nature of efforts to exploit the widespread interest in poker may change – Moneymaker thinks the TV coverage is pretty much saturated – “You wonʼt see so many tournaments on television, but the numbers of people who want to play . . .” This is a figure that, he believes, is not going to go anywhere except up. “When I walk through an airport,” he says, “I get approached by a wide range of kids, 14-year-olds, 17year-olds. I mean, these kids are sitting at home and playing.” Looking into 2005, Moneymaker talks generally of video games, a biography, a film venture and other possibilities intended to stamp the Moneymaker image across the consciousness of poker buffs everywhere. Makes it hard to imagine the shy Nashville accountant could have once thought fourth place money looked like a good idea. Play world class poker at the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s two biggest and best beach front casino resorts, Grand Casino Gulfport & Grand Casino Biloxi APRIL 12-17, 2005 MIKE SMITH Poker Room manager, Grand Casino Biloxi 1-800-WIN-2-WIN Ext. 2923 TED VAUGHAN Poker Room manager, Grand Casino Gulfport 1-800-WIN-7777 Ext. 5667 DEALERS WANTED. PLEASE APPLY BY MARCH 1. EVENT # DATE 1 Tues., April 12 EVENT PROPERTY ENTRY FEE ENTRIES NO LIMIT HOLD ’EM Both $500 + $40 400 Final tables will be played at Biloxi April 13 2 Wed., April 13 NO LIMIT HOLD ’EM 3 Thurs., April 14 NO LIMIT HOLD ’EM Gulfport $200 + $20 200 Both $500 + $40 400 Final tables will be played at Gulfport April 15 4 Fri., April 15 NO LIMIT HOLD ’EM Biloxi $200 + $20 200 5 Sat., April 16 NO LIMIT HOLD ’EM Both $1,000 + $60 400 SPECIAL ROOM RATES START AT $65! CALL 1-800-354-2450 FOR RESERVATIONS AND MENTION THE SOUTHERN CLASSIC. Final tables will be played at Biloxi April 17 Registration for Events 1, 3 & 5 available at both properties. Connection Card required. Sign-ups will be cut off at midnight prior to those events. Both properties will be non-smoking for the duration of the Southern Classic. SATELLITES Beginning February 6, one table satellites to Events 1 & 3 ($65 entry), Event 5 ($125) Biloxi: Tues. & Thurs., 7–10 p.m. Gulfport: Sun. & Wed., 5–7 p.m. All tournaments start at 11 a.m. Alternates will not be accepted to Events 1, 3 & 5. Each location will start with approximately half the tournament field. Play will continue until a predetermined number of players remain. Final players of each event will reconvene at alternating locations. Finals for the main event will be at Grand Casino Biloxi. grandcasinos.com Gambling Problem? Call 1-888-777-9696. F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 39 Most of the time I do not write about how to play--Most of the time I try to remember how the game was played-but today I would like to give you folks a little poker tip... Position--Position--Position! First let me tell you folks that I made a little money in buying and selling real BacK in the saddle Again By OKLAHOMA JOHNNY HALE estate, and I have also had a lot of fun and made a little money playing poker. There is a great similarity in dealing in real estate and the playing of poker. In real estate the key word is LOCATION—LOCATION— LOCATION. The price of a piece of property varies greatly with where the property is located in relationship with the distance to the city: to the utilities, to the flood area, to the places of employment (jobs), to shopping, to schools, to recreation, and many other factors as well. In poker, the value of your poker hand varies greatly with your POSITION at the poker table. Your position at the poker table is determined by many factors. Assume that you are playing in a ten-handed no-limit poker game. The dealer (Button) will be # 1, the small blind will be # 2, and the big blind will be # 3, and then, in a clockwise direction going around the poker tables, each player’s position will become 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10. Now if all the players are of equal playing ability—and of course they are not—the strength of your position as the dealer would be the best and the strength or value of the other players positions would decrease in this order: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, (Big Blind # 3), (Small Blind # 2). Do you ever play a little Blackjack? And do you know one of the reasons that the house, most of the time, wins the money? Well, the reason is that the dealer has the strongest position—he is the last to act. All the other players must make their decisions—and stand or hit their hands trying to get to 21 before the dealer ever has to make a decision or take a risk of going broke (over 21). After all of the players have acted, the blackjack dealer follows a strict rule of the casino. The dealer must stand on hard 17 or hit soft 17 (i.e., A + 6 = soft 17) or stand on 10 + 7 or any combination of hard 17 (without an A). The dealer has no decisions to make—all the decisions are made for him by the rules of the casino. Now let’s go back to the poker game and assume that you are the dealer—here is why the dealer position is the strongest position in the poker game. Similar to the blackjack game, all of the players in front of you, # 4 thru # 10 must all act on their hand before you! Now you are in the catbird seat after players # 4 thru #10 have made their decisions. You can react to their action. You have just been waiting for them to make all those decisions and you have no risk in this hand—you may either throw your hand away, or call, or raise. When I was in the real estate business, I followed a simple rule, I called it BLASH. Now let me break that down for you: BL=Buy Low and SH=Sell High—therefore, Buy Low & Sell High becomes simply BLASH. I practiced a lot of BLASH in the real estate business and I have used the same rule in playing poker—get in the hand cheap, then, when you make the hand that is a winner, you should sell it high. If you would like to read more about how to play your position in a poker game, email me at Oklajohnny@aol. com, or just keep reading my columns in Poker Player and I will tell you more about why position is so important when you are playing poker. 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.seniorpoker. com. Johnny’s book, “The Gentleman Gambler,” is in its third printing. Contact Johnny for your copy. 40 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 Book reviews Play Poker Like Johnny Chan by Johnny Chan and Mark Karowe 239 pp; $29.95 Texas HoldʼEm Study Guide by Nick Gullo Laminated 2-sided 8.5x11 sheet Chan’s Poker Book Colorful, Instructional Johnny Chan is considered to be one of the all-time great poker players. (He won the World Series of Poker No-Limit Hold em title in 1987 and 1988.) He has now satisfied his fans by joining the ranks of high-profile players with a book geared to beginners and experienced players who might one day challenge him. Chan, nicknamed the Oriental Express, has coauthored Play Poker Like Johnny Chan with Mark Karowe (239 pages, paperbound, $29.95). The book is both biographical and instructional, printed on slick paper with examples of hands and flops in color. The wily Chan, who began gambling in Las Vegas at age 16 (he looked older), discovered poker four years later at the Golden Nugget and ran $2,500 into $30,000 (later blowing it all at a 21 table). When he moved to Las Vegas from Texas in 1979, it took him three years to perfect his game. After that there was no looking back. He remembers what it was like being a rank beginner, paying his “dues” and learning from mistakes. This book contains 14 chapters. The first four cover the basics like explaining hand rankings, general poker concepts (the importance of patience is emphasized) and what to expect the first time you enter a casino card room. This chapter should help the home player making that first big step. Chan and Karowe explain poker etiquette (dos and donʼts), such as what “string bets” are and how “cards speak” and why English is the only language allowed at the tables. The fifth chapter begins with coverage of limit holdʼem, followed by seven-card stud; seven card stud high low split, then Omaha and Omaha high low split. There is one chapter on no -limit holdʼem (23 pages) and a small section on tournament play (five pages). His advice is good and thereʼs logic to what he says about gaining valuable experience in smaller tournaments. The book contains a 12page section on Internet poker, and his views on bluffing and money management should guide the novice through dangerous straits. One section describes Chanʼs opinions of the great players like Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, the late Stu Ungar, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen. For some reason the authors got the spelling of Bob Stupak wrong; they have it as Stupack. Chan has 25 color photos in the book also. Overall, a good book outlining the fundamentals and some advanced concepts, with excellent analysis and illustrated examples of hands and flops, with an inside look at what Chan sacrificed in his early years to become a respected, feared, table legend. Gullo’s Hold ‘Em Guide Perfect For Beginners Nick Gullo, a Las Vegas casino veteran, who knows the games and the industry, has produced a timely, easy-to-use Texas Hold ʻem Study Guide (laminated 8x11-sized sheet, in color, two-sided) for the beginner or forgetful experienced player who needs a quick reference source for Hold ʻem poker. His guide quickly helps the novice know the hand rankings, starting hand information, lists 20 good starting hands, explains the importance of position, offers question to ponder as the action begins (things to watch for before and after the flop, on the turn and on the river). The guide explains key terms like kicker, pot and implied odds, connectors, outs. Thereʼs a mini-chart on the odds of making hands after the flop, a quick list of the types of games you may encounter (loose, tight, passive, aggressive), some general advice about winning playersʼ traits, what to do when losing. Overall, a nice collection of advice and guidelines for the greenhorn who needs quick advice at his or her fingertips. —Howard Schwartz Fantasy Springs Results LAKE ELSINORE HOTEL & CASINO 1/6/05 OMAHA HI-LO SPLIT BUY-IN $35 + $5 1 $35 RB PLAYERS 104 REBUYS 90 PRIZE POOL $6,340 Gerardo Felix 1. Gerardo Felix. . . . . . . .$2070 2. Amer Dardar . . . . . . . .$1035 3. Jim Bates . . . . . . . . . . . .$545 4. Ledonna Garbani . . . . .$435 5. Dave Totten . . . . . . . . . .$380 6. Ruben Vera . . . . . . . . . .$325 7. Max Steele . . . . . . . . . . .$270 8. Bill Eisenberg. . . . . . . . .$215 9. Randi Verin . . . . . . . . . .$165 in the United States. On January 13th, the Cabazon dedicated their new $200M expansion with a grand opening celebration attended by many dignitaries from current and former California state politicians to other tribes in the Palm Springs region. Fantasy springs now has a 12 story 250 room hotel, a new Special Events center, a renovated 100,000 square foot casino, off track betting facility, a bowling alley and four dining venues. Their poker room is managed by Mark Pickering. The ambitious plans for additional development include a golf course subdivision, a major shopping center, and additional resort development that will take this tribe way into the future with huge success. There is no doubt that gambling has turned this formerly struggling group of native Americans into a great Horatio Alger story that typifies what is hap- (Continued from page 1) pening all over the country. Mark Nichols is the CEO of the Cabazon who has guided them so well during this time. Featured at the opening celebration were an outdoor arena performance by Kool and the Gang and the west coast premier of Balagon, a cirque-style entertainment. Balagon is Russian for “marketplace circus.” The performance was highly entertaining which followed an outstanding dinner that began with a full lobster tail appetizer. PRIVATE CLUB DISTRIBUTION Several private clubs that have poker tables have contacted Poker Player requesting copies for distribution, and are now carrying this newspaper in their rooms. We have now implemented a policy that will make Poker Player available at any private club that requests them. Issues will be shipped in lots of 25, 50 or 100 only, to those private clubs who pay the postage and handling charges for these shipments. Full payment must be made for 13 issues, currently 6 months of publications, in advance. There is no charge for the paper itself, just the shipping charges. Charges for US shipments of 25 copies of 13 issues are about $10 per shipment. These charges DO NOT apply to public cardrooms. Contact Assistant Publisher, Joel Gausten at the listing below, for precise details and costs: Joel Gausten, Managing Editor, Poker Player newspaper, 3883 W. Century Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90303. Phone: 310-674-3365 Fax: 310-674-3205. e-mail: [email protected] 7. Maverick Snook. . . . . . .$360 8. Bob Davis . . . . . . . . . . . .$285 9. Jon Eoyang. . . . . . . . . . .$215 ENDLESS SUMMER 1/19/05 LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $20 + $15 PLAYERS 63 REBUYS 114 ADD-ONS 97 PRIZE POOL ENDLESS SUMMER 1/20/05 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $20 + $15 PLAYERS 149 REBUYS 387 ADD-ONS 210 PRIZE POOL 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. $14,175 Zeke Darrett . . . . . . . $5,670 David Kim . . . . . . . . . $2,835 Ian Herzon . . . . . . . . . $1,420 Damian Ross . . . . . . . . .$920 Brent Carlon . . . . . . . . .$715 Mike Shearer . . . . . . . . .$495 $5,205 Joseph Pace 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Joseph Pace . . . . . . . . $2,080 Cammeron Truesdale $1,195 Leo Kay . . . . . . . . . . . . .$625 Benjamin Savage . . . . . .$365 Keith Morris . . . . . . . . .$285 Larry Stone . . . . . . . . . .$235 O.J. Alcaraz . . . . . . . . . .$185 Steve Hearst . . . . . . . . . .$130 Darrell Woods . . . . . . . .$105 Blind Luck munching on apples from a tree in front of the Apache hunting lodge. As he wandered over to the cabin window and looked in, I couldnʼt help but wonder if he thought he was part of the herd of trophies hanging cont’d from page 11 on the wall. “Hey thereʼs uncle Charlie and cousin Billy.........Grandpa?” Then I realized, ”Smart Elk.” When he heard gunshots in the forest, he grunted,”Run away! Run away!” F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 41 Entertainment Listings Entertainment RePORT By LEN BUTCHER Country fans are in for a real treat come Feb. 4 as Tim McGraw takes the stage at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. He’s almost as famous for marrying fellow country star Faith Hill, but there’s no denying this guy’s the real thing. Born in the little town of Delhi, Louisiana, he moved to Nashville in 1989 when he was 21, but didn’t release his first album until 1992, which didn‘t make much noise in the music world. Two years later, however, he came out with another, Not A Moment Too Soon, that featured a controversial song called Indian Outlaw and it’s been all uphill since then. Especially in 1996, when McGraw teamed up with recording artist Faith Hill for the Spontaneous Combustion tour. It proved to be just that, as McGraw and Hill were married in October of the same year. The hits that followed are too numerous to mention, but ask any McGraw fan and they’ll rattle them off for you. Not afraid of controversy, he and his touring band, the Dancehall Doctors, recorded the 2002 studio album, Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors. The first single, Red Ragtop, suggested an abortion-related story line, a risky thing to talk or sing about, no matter what you’re doing or who you are. His not suffering any setbacks from this just shows how popular McGraw is. Maybe it’s because you couldn’t find a nicer guy -- and that goes for his wife as well. I had the pleasure of watching them both perform and meeting them here in Las Vegas, so I speak firsthand. If you like country music, you’re gonna love Tim McGraw. Now let’s move from country music to musical comedy, performed by two of the best. The Smothers Brothers are bringing their particular brand of laughs to the Riverside Resort in Laughlin Feb. 15-20. The older crowd will well remember the folk-singing, comedy duo of Tom and Dick Smothers, from their popular TV show that debuted in 1967. Why the date’s important is that this was a simpler, more conservative time, despite women burning bras, the increased use of drugs and Vietnam on everyone’s mind. These elements made The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour one of the most controversial television shows in history. Questions of taste and the Smothers’ oppositional politics led to very public battles over censorship. As you might expect, the people that pay usually win out, and this was the case when in 1969, CBS said “enough” and threw the show off the air. It was a real loss, both for the network and the viewers. Even the influential New York Times, took up their cause, but to no avail, but while they were unsuccessful in forcing CBS to reinstate the show, the Smothers did eventually win a suit against the network for breach of contract. Throughout the years, except for a time when the brothers were going their own ways, they have been performing to sell-out audiences around the country and attracting new, younger fans. I ran into Dick, who lives in Las Vegas, having lunch on the patio at one of the popular local joints in town. He was with his wife, and adorable little dog, having a conversation about nutrition (Dick’s a health nut) with someone who had stopped by their table to ask for an autograph. Dick had invited the guy to sit down for a few minutes, which turned out to be a half hour, as they became totally engrossed in trading views on nutrition and health. I just mention this to show you the kind of guy he is and give some insight as to why he and his brother are so popular with people, aside from their talent. If you’re anywhere around Laughlin mid-February, catch the show. You won’t be disappointed. Len Butcher, a 25-year resident of Las Vegas, is an online columnist for the Las Vegas ReviewJournal and a former Managing Editor of the Las Vegas Sun and of Gaming Today. Reach him at [email protected] 42 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 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 Commerce Casino Arena Patio Ballroom Dance Party Crystal Park Casino & Hotel Cambodian Dance Party (29) Karaoke El As De Oros Night Club Steve Miller Band Fantasy Springs Resort Doobie Brothers Harrah’s Rincon (19) Finish Line Lounge Hollywood Park Casino (5) Pechanga Resort & Casino Moody Blues (26) CONNECTICUT Joe Cocker Foxwoods Resort Casino Josh Groban Mohegan Sun Casino MISSISSIPPI Gold Strike Hotel Casino Pam Tillis (Tunica) Aaron Tippin Grand Casino (Biloxi) (39) Terri Clark Grand Casino (Tunica) Grand Casino (Gulfport) (39) Kansas Glen Frey Horseshoe Casino (Tunica) NEW JERSEY Brooks & Dunn Taj Majal Hotel & Casino Tropicana Casino & Resort Beth Tinnon (Atlantic City) NEW YORK Bill Engvall Turning Stone Casino NEVADA-LAS VEGAS Donn Arden’s Jubilee! Bally’s Resort & Casino O Bellagio Resort & Casino Binion’s Horseshoe Hotel & Honky Tonk Cowgirls Casino Vinnie Favorito Boulder Station Hotel & Night Ranger Casino (6) Heat of the Night Cannery Hotel & Casino Thunder From Down Under Excalibur Hotel & Casino Gladys Knight George Wallace Flamingo Las Vegas Bottoms Up The Second City Golden Nugget Hotel & Tony Bennett Casino Clint Holmes Harrah’s Hotel & Casino Imperial Palace Hotel & Legends In Concert Casino (17) Blue Man Group Luxor Resort & Casino Midnight Fantasy 8:30 p.m. Featuring three top comedians weekly. East L.A., Live Wednesdays 9 p.m.; Top comics, Karaoke Thursdays 8 p.m. Thursdays 8 p.m. to Midnight, Sundays 2-6 p.m. Fridays 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Nightly, except Tues., Wed. Presents Banda Nortina Sats 8 p.m.-3 a.m. Feb 7-8, 8 p.m. Jan 29, 8 p.m. Live Jazz, Tues. 8 p.m. Jan 28-29, 8 p.m. Feb 2, 9 p.m. Feb 8, 8 p.m. Feb 11, 9 p.m. Feb 5, 8 p.m. Feb 5, 8 p.m. Feb 11, 8 p.m. Feb 12, 9 p.m. Feb 18-19, 8 p.m. Ongoing, Tango’s Lounge, 8 p.m. Jan 29, 8 & 10 p.m. Sat-Thu, 8 p.m. Fridays through Tuesdays, 7:30 & 10:30 p.m. Ongoing, 7 & 11 p.m. (dark wednesdays) Ongoing, Tue-Sat 8 p.m., Fri-Sat 8 p.m. Feb 11, 8 p.m. Feb 4, 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. Feb 18-20, 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 7 & 10 p.m. Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Mamma Mia Monte Carlo Resort & Casino Magician Lance Burton 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. Feb 4, 8 p.m. 8 p.m. (Monday thru Friday) Feb 18, 9 p.m. & Feb 20-21, 10:30 p.m. Tuesdays thru Saturdays, 7pm; Tuesdays & Saturdays. 7 & 10 p.m. The Orleans Hotel & Casino (35) Art Laboe Feb 5, 7:30 p.m. Palace Station Hotel & Casino (6) Laugh Trax comedy club 7:30 & 10 p.m. Tuesdays thru Saturdays. Plaza Hotel & Casino (21) The Comedy Zone 9 p.m. Tuesdays thru Sundays. Sahara Hotel & Casino (21) The Platters, Coasters and Drifters 8 p.m. nightly Sam’s Town Hotel & Casino (38) The Verge Feb 2-6, 8 p.m. Tim McGraw Impressionist Danny Gans The Mirage Hotel & Casino (11) Dana Carvey Stardust Hotel & Casino Sunset Station (6) Texas Station (6) LAUGHLIN Wayne Newton Jan 24-Feb 9, 8 p.m. The Temptations & Feb 24-27, 8 p.m. The Four Tops Rock ’n’ Roll Hypnotist Thom Kaz Fridays, 10 p.m. Love Shack Fridays and Saturdays, 10 p.m. & 2 a.m. Riverboat Ramblers Strolling Colorado Belle Hotel Casino Dixieland Jazz Band Little Anthony & the Flamingo Hilton Hotel Casino Imperials Ramada Express Hotel Casino Todd Luxton & The Cadillacs Smothers Brothers Riverside Hotel Casino RENO The Palmores Atlantis Casino Resort Tony Vee Boomtown Larry the Cable Guy Eldorado Hotel Casino Harry Connick Reno Hilton Hotel Casino Fridays & Saturdays, 8 p.m. Feb 12, 7 p.m. Feb 13-16, 8 p.m. Feb 15-20, 7 p.m. 10 p.m.-4 a.m. Jan 15-30, 7 p.m. & 4 a.m. Feb 5, 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. Feb 17-18, 8 p.m. Harrahs Rincon EXPANDS ern San Diego county, some 17 miles east of Interstate 5, recently opened their doors to a $168 million expansion. Additions to the property include a 21 story hotel tower bringing the total number of rooms to 651. Another feature is a 7,500 square foot Spa. The two tiered pool is surrounded by a lush garden of private Jacuzzis with 8 private cabanas. New restaurants afford a wide variety of dining. The new poker room is run by popular veteran Bob Corona, who has a well trained exceptionally friendly staff. The World Series of Poker Circuit, owned and operated exclusively by Harrahʼs, will include six major tournaments, at Harrahʼs Atlantic City, NJ; Harrahʼs Rincon Casino and Resort (San Diego, CA); Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas, NV); Harrahʼs Resort (Lake Tahoe, NV); and Harrahʼs New Orleans, LA. The circuitʼs grand finale will be the 36th annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, most of which will be played at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino. The first circuit date concluded at Harrahʼs Atlantic City, running from January 7 to 18. See the story beginning on page 1. The second stop on the circuit will be at the Harrahʼs Rincon Casino and Resort in San Diego. The Harrahʼs Rincon Poker Tournament runs February 20 through March 1 and will include nine events . The WSOP Circuit ends in Las Vegas at the Rio All-Suites Casino and Hotel, making it the only venue which will host two stops. The 36th annual World Series of Poker begins on June 2 and ends 41 events later, with the world championship of poker main event. The championship event is expected to draw as many as 5,000 entries (or more) and will last an unprecedented nine days. The first 42 days of the WSOP will be held in the Rioʼs convention facility. Only the final two days (July 14 and 15) will be held at Binionʼs in downtown Las Vegas. Jack Binion will act as tournament host. Binion brings his proud family name and decades of experience in the gaming industry to the World Series of Poker Circuit, which unites the treasured traditions of the past with the excitement of the present, making for a triumphant future ahead for all poker players and people who love the game. Players will earn points based on their performance in all circuit events at each of the venues. At the con- clusion of the circuit, the top 100 point-earners will receive a freeroll invitation into the 2005 World Series of Poker “Tournament of Champions,” where a single winner will take home a top prize of $2 million. The 2005 Tournament of Champions will take place soon after the conclusion of the World Series of Poker Championship event, and will be held at the Rio. All championship events will be taped and aired on ESPN. “This circuit is going to set a new standard of excellence in poker,” said Ken Lambert, World Series of Poker Circuit Director. “For the first 35 years, players had to travel to Las Vegas to play in the best tournament in the world. Now, we are taking the (Continued from page 1) World Series directly to them. This way, even more players and fans of poker will have a chance to come and experience the excitement of the fastest-growing sport in America.” F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 P O K E R P L AY E R 43 Teach Your Children Saw a thing on the Today show not long ago about the downside of poker’s current rampant popularity. Seems that teenagers have been watching the game on TV KILLER Poker By John Vorhaus and have now taken it up at home. Sanctimonious “experts” are, of course, crawling from the woodwork to decry this trend, noting that people who gamble are more likely to go on to other high risk activities. Yeah? No kidding. And more than 90% of all heroin addicts once drank milk. As someone who recognizes that poker and gambling are two different animals to begin with, I find that this sort of public hand-wringing really toasts my cheese. I tried to contact the Today show to tell them so, but -- and you may find this hard to believe -- major network television is pretty much a one-way medium. Had I been able to reach them, I would have presented them with this, my manifesto on youth and poker: “To endow a young person with a clear understanding of poker is to do that child a great service. Beyond the obvious instruction in basic math, probability and money management, poker teaches psychology and human nature, and gives us deep insight into our own nature. It tests us in a certain crucible. It tempers us. “Poker is a survival skill. Just ask Richard Nixon, who funded his first congressional race with poker winnings racked up during a stint in the South Seas. Or ask any of my nieces or nephews whose expertise at hold’em kept them in CDs and sub sandwiches throughout their college years. “Poker is a social skill. If you know how to play the game, you can sit down at a table with strangers and walk away friends. Deals are negotiated over poker games. Strategic alliances struck. Careers advanced. “More than anything, poker builds character. It teaches us how to win with grace and how to lose with dignity. It teaches us how to get along with people of wildly different temperaments and backgrounds. It teaches us how to keep our head when all around us are losing theirs. “Am I concerned about raising a generation of degenerate gamblers? To the contrary. A young person who knows what it means to bet with the best of it is far less likely to throw away his money on no-win propositions like keno or carny games. Poker players, schooled in odds and steeled by outcomes, have a healthy disdain for that which seems too good to be true. Per Damon Runyon: “Son”, a father tells his boy, “no matter how far you travel in this world or how smart you get, always remember this. Someday, somewhere, a guy is going to come to you and show you a brand new deck of cards on which the seal is never broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that the jack of spades will jump out of this deck and squirt cider in your ear. But son, do not bet him, for as sure as you do, you are going to get an earful of cider.” “A poker player would know better. If you have kids, it’s never too soon to clue them in.” For what it’s worth. [JV’s latest books, POKER NIGHT and THE KILLER POKER HOLD’EM HANDBOOK are available now in bookstores or through www.vorza.com.] 44 P O K E R P L AY E R F E B R UA RY 7, 2 0 0 5 2005 WORLDWIDE POKER TOURNAMENTS To list your 3 day events contact: Joel Gausten, Managing Editor at: [email protected] DATE EVENT LOCATION >Jan 5-27 6th Ann. Jack Binion World Poker Open Gold Strike Casino Resort, Tunica, MS Jan 24-30 January Sales Rendezvous Casino, Brighton, Brighton, UK Jan 26-29 Seven Card Winter Challenge 2005, Casinos Austria, Seefeld, Austria Jan 26-30 The Scandinavian Open Casino Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Jan 26-Feb 24 LA Poker Classic Commerce Casino, Commerce, CA Jan 27-Feb 6 The San Diego Super Bowl of Poker Sycuan Casino, El Cajon, CA >Jan 27-29 Memorial Ch’ship of Poker The Orleans (AdPg 35), Las Vegas, NV >Jan 27-29 Texas Hold'em Poker Challenge Imperial Palace (AdPg 17), Las Vegas, NV Feb 1-13 Euro Finals of Poker Aviation Club de France, Paris, France Feb 9-13 Pechanga Open Pechanga Resort Casino, Temecula, CA >Feb 11-13 Sweethearts Wknd/Queen of Hearts Bicycle Casino (AdPg 3), Bell Gardens, CA Feb 15-20 French Open Deauville Casino, Deauville, France Feb 20-27 Bregenz Open Casinos Austria, Bregenz, Austria >Feb 20–March 1 Harrah’s Rincon Poker Tourn (ESPN) Harrah’s Rincon (AdPg 19), Valley Center, CA >Mar 3-20 Winnin’ o’ the Green Bicycle Casino (AdPg 3), Bell Gardens, CA Mar 4-11 Bay 101 Shooting Star Tourn. Bay 101, San Jose, CA Mar 10-12 No Limit Hold’em EPT Event Concord Card Casino. Vienna, Austria Mar 10-12 E-WSOP Trial Concord Casino, Vienna, Austria Mar 10-Apr 1 World Poker Challenge Reno Hilton, Reno, NV >Mar 11-28 Masters Ch’ship of Poker The Orleans (AdPg 35), Las Vegas, NV Mar 12-22 Rio Las Vegas Poker Tourn (ESPN) Rio Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV Mar 15-20 EPT Grand Final Casino Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo, Monaco Mar 22-Apr 2 Spring Poker Roundup Wildhorse Resort Casino, Pendleton, OR Mar 29-Apr 3 The Poker Classics Grosvenor Victoria Casino, London, England >Mar 30-Apr 10Sport of Kings Hollywood Park Casino (AdPg 5), Inglewood, CA Mar 31-Apr 24 3rd Ann. 5-Star World Poker Classic Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV >Apr 11-May 1 Stars and Stripes Bicycle Casino (AdPg 3), Bell Gardens, CA Apr 20-May 17 Plaza World Poker Classic Plaza Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV Apr 24-May 2 WSOP Warm Up VI Garden City Casino, San Jose, CA Apr 26-May 10 Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Poker Tourn (ESPN) Harvey’s Resort Casino, Stateline, NV >May 1-31 World Ch’ship of Poker The Orleans (AdPg 35), Las Vegas, NV May 5-10 Oasis Open Oasis Casino, Mesquite, NV May 6-22 Heavenly Hold’em Commerce Casino, Commerce, CA May 8-15 Paris Open of Poker Aviation Club de France, Paris, France May 11-15 Western Canadian Poker Classic Casino Yellowhead, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada May 12-22 Spring Pot of Gold Reno Hilton, Reno, NV May 21-30 Harrah’s New Orleans Bayou Poker Challenge (ESPN) Harrah’s Casino New Orleans, New Orleans, LA June 1-5 Estonian 5th Open Ch’ship Astoria-Palace Casino, Tallinn, Estonia >Jun 3-Jul 8 MSOP Bicycle Casino (AdPg 3), Bell Gardens, CA Jun 3-Jul 15 World Series of Poker 2005 Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV Jun 6-12 The World Masters Grosvenor Victoria Casino, London, England Jun 18-30 Fiesta al Lago Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV >July 1-31 U.S. Open Ch’ship of Poker The Orleans (AdPg 35), Las Vegas, NV >Jul 2-17 Larry Flynt’s Grand Slam of Poker IV Hustler Casino (AdPg 13), Gardena, CA Jul 11-29 Rendezvous a’ Paris Aviation Club de France, Paris, France Aug 4-Sept 4 Legends of Poker Bicycle Casino (AdPg 3), Bell Gardens, CA Aug 29–Sept 18 Borgata Poker Open Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ Sept 6-25 Calif. State Poker Ch’ship Commerce Casino, Commerce, CA Sept 26–Oct 2 The European Championships Grosvenor Victoria Casino, London, UK Sept 29-Oct 10 Fall Pot of Gold Reno Hilton, Reno, NV Sept 29-Oct 16 Big Poker October Bicycle Casino (AdPg 3), Bell Gardens, CA >Oct 17-30 Nat’l Ch’ship of Poker Hollywood Park Casino (AdPg 5), Inglewood, CA Nov 2-12 Fall Poker Roundup Wildhorse Resort Casino, Pendleton, OR Nov 4-20 Holiday Bonus Tournament Commerce Casino, Commerce, CA Nov 13-20 The Hold’em Series Aviation Club de France, Paris, France Nov 24-Dec 11 Turkey Shoot/Ho Ho Hold’em Bicycle Casino (AdPg 3), Bell Gardens, CA Nov 29-Dec 18 Five Diamond World Poker Classic Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV Nov 30-Dec 5 Campionato Italiano di Poker Hit Casino, Nova Gorica, Slovenia POKER PLAYER: IT’S ON THE INTERNET! The entire publication of Poker Player, ads and all, is now available on the internet. You can read the Current issue and all of our back issues, in their entirety, by going to: www.gamblingtimes.com/poker_player. to the town or even seen it on television; after all, there arenʼt many buildings shaped like old-fashioned paddlewheel boats. The Belle, along with the poker room, opened in 1987, and current poker room manager James Vincent has been there since almost the beginning, moving up to room manager five years W hile thoughts of poker in Nevada usually turn first to the many rooms in Las Vegas, there are several others located throughout the area in southern Nevada. Some of the larger rooms are in the Las Vegas suburbs of Henderson and CITY By Jason Zinzilieta ago. Vincent said while Laughlin has seen a few ups and downs over the years, he expects new players to come along with the surging real estate market happening in southern Nevada. OPEN HOURS # OF TABLES GAMES NL? HIGH LIMITS Daily 10:30a Daily 10a Daily 1p Wed 6p Thur-Sat 6p Daily 11a Daily 10a Daily 10a Fri-Sun 6p 7 4 3 1 1 4 3 4 1 H H Oh/l H 7 H H H Oh/l H H H 7 Y Y N N N N N N N 10-20 10-20 4-8 1-7 1-3-6 4-8 1-6 2-6 1-4 N N N S S S S S S Y Y* Y Y Y Y N Y N S/NS HOTEL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Southern Nevada Oasis Eureka Virgin River Exchange Club Stagecoach Pahrump Nugget Terrible’s Town Buffalo Bill’s Searchlight Nugget 10 11 North Las Vegas Texas Station N Las Vegas Cannery N Las Vegas 10 8 H Oh/l H Y Y 6-12 4-8 S S Y Y 12 Ramada Speedway 2 H Y 4-8 S Y 13 Poker Palace 24/7 24/7 3p; N Las Vegas Su,TueM,W,Th 4p; Fri,Sat 2p N Las Vegas Daily 4p 2 H N 3-6 S N 14 15 16 17 Henderson Sunset Station Club Fortune Fiesta Henderson Joker’s Wild Henderson Henderson Henderson Henderson 24/7 Daily 2p Daily 11a Daily 10a 12 3 3 3 H O H H H Y Y N Y 6-12 (O) 4-8 3-6 5-10 S S S S Y N Y N 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Laughlin Colorado Belle Riverside River Palms Harrah’s Edgewater Flamingo Ramada Express Avi Laughlin Laughlin Laughlin Laughlin Laughlin Laughlin Laughlin Laughlin 24/7 24/7 Daily 7a Daily 12p 24/7 Daily 7:30a 24/7 24/7 13 10 6 5 4 4 3 2 H 7 Oh/l H Oh/l H H H H H H Y Y Y Y N N N N 10-20 4-8 Any 10-20 2-4 4-8 2-6 2-3-4 N N N N S N S S Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Mesquite Mesquite Mesquite Beatty Beatty Pahrump Pahrump Primm Searchlight Hotel - Hotel/motel physically attached to casino * - Hotel on property, not attached S/NS - Smoking (S) or non-smoking (NS) poker room Days open, hours of operation and tables may vary North Las Vegas; others can be found in Mesquite to the north or Nye County to the west of Las Vegas. However, the largest concentration of poker rooms in southern Nevada outside of Las Vegas can be found about 100 miles to the south along the Colorado River in the small town of Laughlin. According to the Laughlin Visitor Center version of the Strip along the Colorado River, most of which support at least a few poker rooms today. An eleventh casino, the Avi, is located several miles south of Laughlin, and also offers poker to its patrons. Laughlinʼs largest poker room is located almost halfway down the Strip in the Colorado Belle, an easilyrecognizable casino to anyone who has ever traveled segment because the snowbirds are retirees, but we are seeing more (players).” “Our tournaments are stronger than they ever have been,” Vincent said. “We run 50 seats in a tournament, and itʼs not the easiest thing to get into. Youʼve got to be down here early to get into these NEVADA-PART II web site, it was Don Laughlinʼs purchase of a motel in 1964 and reopening it as the Riverside Resort that began the transformation of the area soon to become the town of Laughlin. Forty years later, this small town contains ten casinos on its own Poker Rooms in Southern Nevada, excluding Las Vegas MAP # CASINO Laughlin right now.” “Since the poker boom has been going on, last year at this time there were only four card rooms, and now thereʼs eight,” Vincent said of Laughlinʼs growing poker scene. “The Belleʼs always had a lionʼs share of the market share, so weʼre kind of known as the place to go, you can always find a game at any given “Ten or fifteen years ago, we used to have a lot of Arizona and California money coming in to meet up in Laughlin – they were playing pot limit and no limit games,” Vincent said. “When they started opening casinos in their backyards, we did experience a decrease, but the way the marketʼs going now with the real estate boom, thereʼs a lot of growth potential in time of the year.” According to Vincent, while their poker business is generally split between tourists and locals, he has two different definitions of what a “local player” is. “Local players maybe represent 20 percent of the room as far as business,” Vincent said. “We have whatʼs called a ʻregularʼ player. Laughlin is a very seasonal town, and weʼve got the same people who come every January and stay in January, people who come in February and stay in February. Itʼs the same people annually that come into Laughlin, and everyone knows each other.” Vincent also said while the sudden increase in pokerʼs popularity has helped his roomʼs business grow, it hasnʼt been as big a boom in Laughlin as it has in other areas of the country. “In Laughlin, weʼre not feeling the full impact of the television coverage,” Vincent said. “What Iʼm seeing is that television is driving them to the Internet, and from the Internet into the card rooms, and the majority of that segment is age 21 to 35. In Laughlin, we donʼt really fare that well with that particular tournaments, because theyʼre very popular.” “Television has definitely helped out,” Vincent continued. “Thereʼs more new players because of it. Pokerʼs one of those games that takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master, and weʼre getting a lot of new players to get in. Ten to fifteen years ago, people were reluctant to sit down because they were always afraid there was a shark on the table that was going to take their money, and that wasnʼt always the case, especially in limit poker – the best five cards are going to take the money. When we do poker lessons, thatʼs what we tell them. If we can get you past your first half-hour, this will be your game of choice.” To say poker is growing quickly in Nevada is an understatement; it seems every day thereʼs a new card room opening, or a casino is adding a few poker tables to the main casino floor. If your favorite casino hasnʼt offered poker, even in the recent past, be sure to check again the next time youʼre in Nevada – you might get a pleasant surprise. 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