Mike Caro “SKILL” - Poker Player Newspaper
Transcription
Mike Caro “SKILL” - Poker Player Newspaper
9 Celebrity Crossword PAGE tribute to Nenad Medic 12 28 14 17 20 Phil Hevener profiles PAGE Mohegan Sun Poker Director Bruce Dixon 13 PAGE Entertainment Best Bets 32 POKER PLAYER Vol. 12 Number 7 September 29, 2008 A Gambling Times Publication www.pokerplayernewspaper.com Copyright ©2008 Bi-Weekly $3.95 Borgata Poker Open Beguiles Boardwalk Boulevardiers OK, OK, so it’s not on the Boardwalk. But it is in Atlantic City, and we needed the alliteration to make the headline sing. From September 3September 18 the Borgata becomes poker’s east coast standard bearer, as sixteen tournament events will be played along with a fiveday World Poker Tour event that gets under way September 14 and concludes on the eighteenth. There’s a guaranteed $5 million prize pool for the Commerce Kicks In! Event 11 winner Adam Chipiuk will bring $74,074 back to his Edmonton, Alberta home championship event, so quite a few poker players will walk away well rewarded for their week’s work. While the $10,000 buy-in main event is being played out—it’s Event No. 13 on the Borgata’s schedule— Events 14, 15, and 16 will also be played during that same five-day period, ensuring that there’s something for everybody. Those good enough and fortunate (Continued on page 9) Card Room Roundup: The Poker Lounge at the Hard Rock By D B Debbie bbi B Burkhead kh d In February 2007, Morgans Hotel Group and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners acquired the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Following the purchase, an $800 million expansion was planned and the poker room was just a small part of that endeavor. Upon completion the Hard Rock will increase the number of guest rooms to almost 2,000 and the North Hollywood’s Eyal Revah exits tenth event with $17,930 If the Borgata is this month’s capitol of east coast poker, Commerce rules the west, as the California State Poker Championship, which began on September 2 and runs through September 21 with 18 events all told, got off in grand style when John Andrus powered through 494 opponents to take the $200 buy-in no-limit hold’em opening event. (Continued on page 9) Mike Caro “SKILL” Today’s word is... Turn to page 4 for more 0 74470 05299 9 4 0> (Continued on page 15) Buy-ins for the California State Poker Championship series are popularly priced, with the majority of events costing either $225 or $335 to enter. There are a few $545 buy-in events scheduled, and the main event is priced at $1,580—a bargain by main event standards. We have results from the w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 1 Sunday, October 12th • Noon Get ready for no-limit action and compete for a total prize purse of $20,000* Hosted by KOMP’s on-air personalities • $50 Satellites start Oct. 5 "UYINs 2EBUYs )NITIAL#HIPSs 2EBUY#HIPSs Win fabulous giveaways, including $1,500 Free Gas, a Cruise for Two, a VIP Party for Ten at Tommy Rockers, and free poker lessons from the Tony Shelton Dealing School! Plus, players receive complimentary entry into the ZizZazz Loser’s Lounge from 6-10pm for food and entertainment. For tournament details, call (702) 388-2400. 301 Fremont Street #ORNEROFRD#ARSONs!CROSSFROM.EONOPOLIS sWWWlTZGERALDSLASVEGASCOM #ASHPAYOUTBASEDONNUMBEROFENTRANTS'AMBLINGPROBLEM#ALL¥-AJESTIC3TAR#ASINOS,,# 2 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m POKER PLAYER N E W S PA P E R P R E S E N TS . . . The 2008 Poker Employees Championship Tournament *FORMERLY THE WORLD POKER DEALER CHAMPIONSHIPS AT SAHARA HOTEL AND CASINO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA • DECEMBER 1-4, 2008 All current and former employees of a licensed public card room, including Circuit Dealers are eligible to play. Other occupations, peripheral and supportive of the land-based Poker Industry, may also play to include: published poker journalists, poker book authors, marketing executives, poker cruise employees, and tournament promotion companies are eligible. Professional and amateur players who do not fall into one of the categories above are not eligible to play. The standard here is that the player must have held a paid position either within or directly supportive of the Poker Industry. SCHEDULE Sunday – November 30, 1:00 pm – Single Table Satellites Begin for Main Event entry plus $20 cash Monday – December 1, 1:00 pm $100 buy-in + $20 Tuesday – December 2, 1:00 pm $200 buy-in + $30 Wednesday – December 3, 1:00 pm - $300 buy-in + $40 Thursday – December 4, 1:00 pm – Championship $500 buy-in + $50 All games will be No Limit Texas Hold ‘em. All games will be played to conclusion in one session w/appropriate breaks. The winner of the main event will receive an engraved trophy. Players are encouraged to reserve their seat for each event in advance with Gary DeWitt. There are a maximum of 200 seats for each event. For further details contact Gary DeWitt, Sahara Poker Manager – [email protected] (702) 481-4814 Or Contact Nick Gullo, [email protected], phone: (702) 480-7683 w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 3 WSOP Europe, A Razor-Edged WPT Stop, Michael Phelps, and a New Poker ‘Sun’ POKER NEWS By Haley Hintze WORLD SERIES OF POKER EUROPE APPROACHES The second go-round for the World Series of Poker Europe begins later this month, the centerpiece of a busy calendar of poker events on the Continent that’s seemingly destined to define September as the month that professional poker turns its collective gaze across the Atlantic. This year’s edition of the WSOPE expands slightly, moving from three events to four, and unlike last year, all action will be held at Leicester Square in London instead of being spread across multiple properties. All eyes will be on young Norwegian superstar Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, whose stunning victory in the first WSOPE Main Event even became a political cause celebre in her native land. JOHN “THE RAZOR” PHAN CAPTURES WPT LEGENDS STOP Even as the World Poker Tour struggled to find a new broadcast home for its just-begun Season VII before its move to Fox Sports, plans for that season’s first event continued. For the WPT, its new season got off to a great start; one of poker’s hottest players, John “The Razor” Phan, captured the season-opening WPT Legends event. Phan came from behind to defeat emerging star Amit “Amak316” Makhija after the two dispensed of the four shorter stacks to make the final. It’s the latest episode in a continuing WPT rush for Phan, who has made three of the last six WPT final tables to be contested. POKER RETURNS TO MOHEGAN SUN Connecticut’s vast Mohegan Sun Resort Casino was one of the largest US casinos that did not offer poker, a situation which changed around Labor Day. True, Mohegan Sun had a poker room prior to 2003, but pulled its tables—despite poker’s blossoming popularity— in favor of other gambling options. Five years later, poker returned to Mohegan Sun when they opened their new 64,000-square-foot addition—the Casino of the Wind—which includes a 42-table poker room. Among the amenities are 24 televisions suspended above the floor to allow players to track sports and other programming. OLYMPICS MEETS POKER… TWICE The constant but tenuous relationship between mainstream celebrities and poker warmed up again as the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics wrapped up, with widespread reports that record-setting US swimmer Michael Phelps was an avid online poker player, spending hours at a time on his computer playing the game. The reports turned out to have substance when only days later, a Las Vegas news source sighted Phelps receiving poker lessons from none other than Doyle Brunson’s son Todd, this shortly after an Asian poker event offered a free entry for Phelps to hang around China long enough to play. The fame generated by Phelps’ eight gold medals in Beijing—making his total 14 gold medals overall—will likely land him a generous endorsement deal within the poker world if he chooses to stay involved with the game. WSOP Europe sponsor Betfair is among those to make an offer to Phelps to play under their corporate name, offering him a free £10,000 seat in London. As it was, another long-time Olympic hero also cemented his relationship with poker: Swedish hockey star Mats Sundin. Sundin’s Olympic heroics and continuing fame with the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs made him one of Sweden’s most cherished sports stars, and he was signed by online site PokerStars as part of its growing lineup of “Poker Ambassadors,” which also includes baseballer Orel Hershiser and German tennis great Boris Becker. No word yet on whether Sundin will immediately hang up his skates in favor of a seat at the table, though poker is sure to figure in his future. THE APPLE OF POKER’S EYE Speaking of PokerStars, the current largest of all online poker sites became the second major US-facing site—joining Full Tilt—to offer a complete Macintosh version of its software. Stars had a beta version available for nine months which lacked only a handful of minor capabilities, but with the formal release of their Mac client, the opportunities for Mac users to play poker on their computers increased dramatically. Caro’s Word: “Skill” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 I’ve answered 100 questions so far in this series. If you’re just tuning in, you’re probably wondering what “this series” means. For the past several months this “Today’s Word” column has usually focused on interviews of the writer. Me. Except, unlike most interviews where the questions are posed by reporters who sometimes have little understanding of poker, I get to both ask and answer. That pleases me. The best part is that each column stands by itself. Even though the question numbers run consecutively from column to column, there’s really no requirement that you be familiar with my previous self-interviews. You can read just one, some, or all—and in any order. Now it’s time for question 101, centering on today’s word “Skill.” Question 101: Can you name a poker question that you’re frequently asked, for which the answer is unclear? Sure. But I’ve got to say first that the answer is clear to me, even though it’s probably seldom clear or satisfying to the questioner. The question is posed something like this: “Is poker mostly skill or mostly luck?” The answer is that there’s no obvious way to define poker that makes it either a game of skill or luck. It’s both; and it’s neither. Poker is what it is. Since it’s obvious that decisions matter in poker and that some choices are superior to others, skill provides an advantage. Luck provides an escape. But because skill gives you an advantage, luck must eventually be overwhelmed. And if you could play the game long enough, skill would prevail with absolute certainty. In the long run, poker is therefore completely a game of skill and not a Tony Shelton's Poker Dealing School and Dealer Referral Service Dealer Training for MAJOR POKER Tournaments and Cash Games Fee $625.00 (16) Games Omaha Hold'em 7-Card Stud Mixed Games Contact the Referral Service Now!! Visa MC Call James (702) 366-1276 618 E. Carson St. Las Vegas, NV 89101 [email protected] S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 Stanley R. Sludikoff PUBLISHER [email protected] Lou Krieger EDITOR [email protected] A. R. Dyck MANAGING EDITOR [email protected] John Thompson PRODUCTION DIRECTOR FOR idrome INFO DESIGN [email protected] Joseph Smith WEBMASTER [email protected] Mike Caro SENIOR EDITOR [email protected] Jennifer Matiran ASSOCIATE EDITOR [email protected] Len Butcher ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR [email protected] Wendeen H. Eolis EDITORIAL CONSULTANT Phil Hevener CONSULTANT Contributing Editors Ashley Adams Robert Arabella Richard Burke John Caldwell John Carlisle Nick Christenson Leo Cummins Barbara Connors Nolan Dalla George Epstein Russ Fox Tony Guerrera “Oklahoma Johnny” Hale Tom Leonard Paul “Dr. Pauly” McGuire Diane McHaffie James McKenna Myles Mellor Sam Mudaro Jennifer Newell Jonathan Raab I. Nelson Rose Howard Schwartz Max Shapiro Joseph Smith, Sr. David Valley Donald Woods Poker Player will be published Bi-Weekly by Gambling Times Incorporated, Stanley R. Sludikoff, President. Volume 12 Number 7. Copyright ©September 2008 by Gambling Times Incorporated. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Advertising Sales Roy Student NATIONAL SALES MANAGER 702-784-5112 NV, AZ, NM Debbie Burkhead 9030 Arkose Ct. Las Vegas, NV 89123 702-269-1733 fax 702-614-1650 [email protected] SOUTHERN CA 714-585-3299 [email protected] NORTHERN CA Peter Secor 510-299-7915 [email protected] EASTERN & SOUTHERN STATES EXCEPT FL, MS, LA Gary Shenfeld No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em Tournaments Everyday P.O. Box 780 Atlantic City, NJ 08404 609-892-6472 fax 609-822-4478 [email protected] FL, MS, LA Donna Marks $25 buy in w/ $10 re-buys 10:00 am, 7:00 pm, and 10:00 pm! 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Ask our Poker Room Staff for details W8521 Tower Drive Adell, WI 53001 262-707-3536 [email protected] EUROPE, CARIBBEAN & INTERNET T Poker Media Group USCANY Poker Room 702-947-5917 255 E Flamingo Rd (Just West of Paradise) www.tuscanylv.com P O K E R P L AY E R 3883 West Century Blvd. Inglewood, CA 90303 (310) 674-3365 www.pokerplayernewspaper.com Jennifer Matiran Haley Hintze is the managing editor of PokerNews.com 4 (Continued on page 31) POKER PLAYER A Gambling Times Publication w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m Escazu, San Jose, Costa Rica U.S.: 305-677-9905 Costa Rica: +506-838-0412 [email protected] PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT This notice will certify that 48,500 copies of Volume 12, Number 7 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. T H E D E E P S TA C K E X T R AVA G A N Z A I V NOVEMBER 1ST – NOVEMBER 25TH, 2008 The first three events of the 2008 Deep Stack Extravaganza Series resulted in a total prize pool of more than $14,000,000 and 26,000 entrants. Don’t miss out on your share of the fourth and final DSE event of 2008! DATE BUYIN EVENT DATE BUYIN EVENT Saturday 11/01/08 Sunday 11/02/08 Monday 11/03/08 Tuesday 11/04/08 Wednesday 11/05/08 Thursday 11/06/08 Friday 11/07/08 Saturday 11/08/08 Sunday 11/09/08 Monday 11/10/08 Tuesday 11/11/08 Wednesday 11/12/08 Thursday 11/13/08 $540 1,060 330 330 330 330 540 540 1,060 330 330 330 330 No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit Friday 11/14/08 Saturday 11/15/08 Sunday 11/16/08 Monday 11/17/08 Tuesday 11/18/08 Wednesday 11/19/08 Thursday 11/20/08 Friday 11/21/08 Saturday 11/22/08 Saturday 11/22/08 Sunday 11/23/08 Monday 11/24/08 Tuesday 11/25/08 $540 540 1,060 330 330 330 330 540 540 275 2,500 2,500 2,500 No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit Super Satellite No Limit Day 2 Day 3 Starting chips for the $330 NLH event will be $10,000 and an additional $2,000 in chips with an optional $10 staff bonus. The $540 and $1060 NLH events will begin with $12,500 in starting chips and $2,500 additional chips with an optional $10 staff bonus. The $2,500 NLH event will begin with $15,000 in starting chips and $5,000 additional chips with an optional $10 staff bonus. T H E N E W F A C E O F P O K E R .TM For information call 702.414.POKR (7657) www.venetian.com Registraion for each event opens at 9 p.m. on the preceding evening. Late registration is permitted for the first two hours of each event. Tournament begins at noon daily. Super Satellite for the $2,500 event will begin at 7 p.m. Registration opens at 5 p.m. Starting chips will be $4,000. Total Cash Prize: Payouts are based on the number of participants that enter the tournament. 3% of prize pool is withheld for poker room staff. Open to the public - All participants must be at least 21 years of age and have a Club Grazie account. Promotional Suite Rates: $139 Sunday through Thursday and $179 on Friday and Saturday (based on availability). Make reservations by calling 877-444-3777 and referencing group code # CK88L1. Free Deep Stack Logo merchandise with every tournament entry while supplies last. Tournament winners earn points to qualify for Best Overall Players cash awards. All prizes will be paid in casino chips. 1/2% will be withheld from all Deep Stack IV tournament prize pools for best overall points winners. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 5 Choosing Your Starting Hands in No-Limit Hold’em, PART 1 LOU KRIEGER ON POKER By Lou Krieger© Choosing the right starting hands is just as important in no-limit hold’em as it is in a fixed-limit game, but there are significant differences in the kind of hands you should consider playing. This is the first in a two-part series that aims to get to the core of making decisions about which hands to play and which hands to throw away in no-limit hold’em games. In a fixed-limit game, the trick is to push every small edge. In a fixed-limit game your profit comes from small, repetitive edges, played time after time and you have to base your choice of starting hands accordingly. But in a no-limit game you don’t necessarily want to play hands that offer a small edge. Instead, you’re in search of hands that can grow very big. A hand such as K-J, which can be played for a raise under the right circumstances in fixed-limit hold’em, is the kind of hand that figures to make top pair with a good side card and show a profit in fixed limit games when it does. But in a no-limit game, you’re not after hands that figure to make one pair with a big kicker; you want hands that will allow you to go after all of an opponent’s chips in one fell swoop. Here’s an example. A pocket pair of sixes is vulnerable in a fixed-limit game because the flop will almost always contain cards bigger than your pair, and any opponent holding cards ranked higher than six can easily wind up with a bigger pair than yours. While the odds against flopping a set are 7.5-to-1 regardless of whether you’re in a fixed- or no-limit game, because you’re limited in the amount you can wager, the pay off for flopping a set in a fixed-limit game is usually not sizeable enough to justify bucking those odds. But when you might be able to win an opponent’s entire stack if you’re lucky enough to flop a set, you can afford to call a small bet in a no-limit game because you know that the cost to see the flop will be more than offset by those occasions when your measly pair of sixes grows into a very big hand. Choosing a starting hand in no-limit hold’em is more often related to your chip count and your position in the betting order than anything else. No-limit hold’em is all about implied odds, the money you figure to win if you get lucky and make a big hand. The more you and your opponent each have in front of you, the more you can take a flyer on hands that will probably be unceremoniously tossed away on the flop, but are hands that have the potential to grow very large indeed, and will enable you to win a huge pot when they do. This is very different than fixed-limit hold’em, where you are looking for small edges in high volume pots. The choice of which hands to play in a no-limit game is heavily influenced by stack size. That’s another way of saying that hand selection in no-limit hold’em is driven by the chips you and your opponent each have available for play, and how willing your opponent is to commit all or most of his chips with something less than the very best possible hand. And don’t forget position. Having position on your opponent guarantees that you bat last. Whenever you act after your adversary, you can play any number of hands he can’t afford to, secure in the fact that your bet will force him to release his hand more often than not. We’ll talk more about starting hands in no-limit hold’em next issue. Visit Lou Krieger online and check out all his books at www.loukrieger.com. You can read his blog at http://loukrieger.blogspot.com and write directly to him at [email protected]. 6 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 October Special! $3,000 * BONUS FOR FOUR SIX’s! EVERY WEDNESDAY! PALACE STATION . BOULDER STATION . TEXAS STATION SUNSET STATION . SANTA FE STATION . GREEN VALLEY RANCH . RED ROCK StationCasinos.com * Must have 2 six’s in your hand. Only good in Jumbo Hold’Em. Jumbo Poker rules apply. Details available at the Poker Rooms. Must be 21 or older. ©2008 Station Casinos, Inc., Las Vegas, NV Know Your Limits! If you think you have a gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m F E ? I A > = ; ; K H H 7 IK H ; D 7 ; J & + : ; & " FE A; & & H JE K HD ; 7C ;D J " ' D J & & D ( ( ! & : ' ' & 0& & 7 ; C j <; ; ('i ; I < J J ?D D HO O 9 E ; J 7 L D JH O C # ; ; D :7 9 ; = & ; I $ ; ; D ?D ( )& K < O ! J O K < # H I ? J B ?D ! ij D D 7 # ?D ' ; 7 K O # J G K O 9 = E D 8 8K E ; & 7O > & ' && I: E ) ; D : C H ; F J I 79 M ; A : D ; I: ;L 7O M E 9 JE ; L ? I 8 ? ; H J ?D J H E : I K 9 ?D D ? 7J> ; E C = E: M ?D 9E < =EJJ78;?DJE8;7BB?D$ w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 7 Successful Bluffing Strategy and Tactics SENIORS SCENE By George “The engineer” EPSTEIN Mike Caro, “The Mad Genius of Poker,” is one of my favorite poker celebrities. In fact, his seminars some years ago at the Hollywood Park Casino helped me to become a winner when I first got serious about poker. Indeed, even though I am a good deal older than Mike, I look upon him as my poker mentor, and I believe I am not the only one who regards Mike in such high esteem. I always look forward to his columns in the Poker Player Newspaper. Recently, in connection with a discussion of “random,” he examined several issues concerning bluffing. (See PPN, August 4, 2008.) With all due respect, I would like to augment Mike’s comments. When to Bluff. I agree that a winner should bluff on occasion, but not too often! Knowing when to bluff is important. As Mike wrote, “If you know an opponent is likely to call, you should seldom—if ever—risk a bluff.” By the same token, “If an opponent is especially unlikely to call … that’s a good time to bluff.” The implication is that you need to assess your opponents by observing how they play. A calling station is almost impossible to bluff. On the other hand, a very conservative, timid player is an easy bluff victim. It’s a lot easier to bluff when your opponents are checking, and a lot harder if there is any raising, and it’s especially tough if someone reraises. It’s much easier to bluff against a single opponent than against several, but even that can work in a lowlimit hold’em game if you do it right. . . (We’ll discuss bluffing tactics below.) Image is Important. Mike asked: “What would happen if you never bluffed and only bet your very best hands?” After a while, your opponents would realize this and only call when they held monster hands. You would not win much money. Mike is really addressing your image—how your opponents perceive you. If you earned an image as a tight player, then it would make good sense “to bluff profitably at least once—because that bluff would be unexpected and (most often) would succeed.” In this case, Mike makes another good suggestion: “After succeeding in that bluff, you can stretch that to … more bluffs … until you reach a point where you’re almost bluffing too many times.” You will know when that point is reached because someone will call your bluff without a strong hand. That, of course, should be the warning sign to cut back on your bluffing attempts. The Best Bluffing Tactic. I think that’s a great strategy for bluffing. But what is the best tactic—the best way to pull off your bluff? Some players believe you should act weak when bluffing. I disagree. I have found that the Esther Bluff is by far the best tactic. It works for me two out of three attempts. Anytime a bluff works more than once out of four tries, it is bound to be profitable. As I have described in previous columns, this tactic was created three years ago by my then 10-year-old granddaughter, Esther Fayla Epstein. In a nutshell, Esther bluffed by acting exactly the same way as she did when she held a monster hand. That message left no doubt in my mind that she had my small pair or busted-flush-draw beaten. At least that was the case until I realized that she bluffed too often. So, readers, what’s your opinion? George “The Engineer” Epstein is the author of The Greatest Book of Poker for Winners! and Hold’em or Fold’em?—An Algorithm for Making the Key Decision and teaches poker at the Claude Pepper Sr. Citizen Center in Los Angeles. Contact George at [email protected]. 8 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 Sam Mudaro, BA, MBA, is a practicing tax accountant and financial executive with 35 years of analytical business expertise. He uses simulation software to analyze and develop strategies for Omaha/8 and other forms of poker. Reach Sam at: [email protected]. We begin today with 1,336 remaining starting hands that comprise 1,279 profitable hands— those averaging a net win of a dollar or more—43 that are marginally profitable, those with net wins under a dollar, and 14 unprofitable hands. When we began with 11,995 unique starting hands our goal was to develop a set of rules that would eliminate all the 10,061 unprofitable hands, and as many marginally profitable hands as possible. I developed this total of 64 rules based on each hand’s average net win, which is defined as the average amount won or lost by each starting hand in each position at a full table, played by a tight player in a tight game. For the benefit of those new to this series, and because it appears in several rules today, here is a brief explanation of L2L, 2HM and 2HL. A hand that is suited L2L has the two low cards suited to each other. 2HL defines a hand where the second highest card is suited to the lowest card. 2HM is when the second highest card is suited to the card above the rank of the lowest card. An ace is always counted as low. Rule 59–Except for pairs, eliminate any starting hand that begins with A-3-7 or A-3-6 that is suited L2L, 2HM or 2HL and does not end with a king. This rule contains only one exception. A king when combined with these three low suited cards is the only high card that allows the hand to be profitable. This rule eliminates 27 hands, bringing the total for this group down to 1,336 from the initial 2,777. This rule eliminates two marginally profitable hands and 25 that are unprofitable, leaving us with just 14 unprofitable hands to deal with. Rule 60–Eliminate any starting hand that begins with A-3-5, ends with an eight thru ten, and is suited L2L, 2HL or 2HM. This rule shows how three otherwise good low cards can turn w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m Sam Mudaro is the... Starting Hand Rules, PART 13 against you when combined with a mid-range card, and how they are suited plays a key role. Remember, we always want the two high cards suited to the two low cards, or suited to the low card in single suited hands. This rule eliminates six starting hands, four marginal, and two unprofitable hands. Rule 61–Eliminate any starting hand that begins with an A-3-4 and ends with an eight that is suited L2L, 2HL or 2HM. A-3-4 is obviously a better low forming hand then A-3-5. This allows a seven or a ten to become profitable when combined with A-3-4, but it is not enough to raise an eight into profitability. This rule eliminates three hands, all of which are unprofitable. Only nine unprofitable hands remain. For the next rule we’ll revisit A-5 and concentrate on the few starting hands that slipped through the rules. We will look at hands of the specific pattern A-5x-T, where the x may be replaced by any card. Rule 62–Eliminate any hand beginning with A-5 and ends with a single ten regardless of how suited. The one exception is A-5T-T. The pair of tens makes the hand profitable. This rule eliminates six starting hands—four marginally profitable and two that are unprofitable. Remember that the “x” may be replaced with five through nine. Rule 63–Eliminate A-38-9 starting hands when suited H2L, H2H or H2M. A number of starting hands were eliminated because they ended with a nine or contained an eight and a nine, but this group escaped elimination. We are now left with 1,318 starting hands and only the A-2 to deal with. Next time we’ll conclude with the last rule, which deals with hands that begin with A-2. Yes, there are starting hands containing an A-2 that are unprofitable. I will also summarize this series and present the starting hand charts. Those of you who are awaiting my book, please send me an email with the word “book” in the subject line, and you’ll be placed on the mailing list. So what have we learned? Even when holding three good low cards your starting hand may not be profitable when suited in certain way or contains a bandit. Lastly, here are some more terms from my poker glossary— Fill Up–To fill up is to make a full house. Final Table–The final table in a tournament is the last table of player which may consist of 10 or fewer persons. First Position–Is also referred to as under the gun, and is the first person to act in the first round of betting. In hold’em, it is the first person left of the blinds. Fish–A fish is an unskilled player who is also known as a live-one or pigeon. To fish is to call with a weak hand hoping to catch and inside straight or other long shot hand. Five-handed–Usually heard when a card room is attempting to start a new game or one is close to breaking up. A player may say “I will play five handed.” Meaning, I will start or continue to play with five players at the table. Five-way–A five-way pot or five way action has five players contesting the outcome. Fixed-Limit–As opposed to pot-limit or no-limit games it has fixed denominated betting and raising limits for each round of betting that are set at the onset of the game. Flag–A term used to denote a high denomination chip, usually $5,000 or larger. Fancy Play–This is an action, checking, betting or raising in a situation where normal play would dictate otherwise in an attempt to deceive your opponents. Borgata Commerce: California State Championship (Cont’d from page 1) (Cont’d from page 1) enough to stay alive in the main event will keep playing, while others won’t lack for tournament poker, since there’ll be three other events onsite too. This issue of Poker Player Newspaper contains the results from the six most recent events. Next issue brings the remaining events, and probably a newly-minted millionaire or two. BORGATA POKER OPEN EVENT #11 9/11/08 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $500 + $60 PLAYERS 520 PRIZE POOL $260,000 1. 2. 3. 4. Adam Chipiuk . . . . $74,074 Jason Min . . . . . . . . $39,000 Amnon Filippi . . . . . $20,150 Aristedes Santana . . $17,550 EVENT #10 9/10/08 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $2,500 + $150 PLAYERS 307 first ten events in this issue, with results from Events No. 11-18 in two weeks time. In the meantime, you still have time to play in some of these events if you’re in the neighborhood. The price is right, and the ability to call yourself a California State Champion if you win has a nice ring to it—don’t you think? COMMERCE CASINO EVENT #10 9/11/08 CAL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP NO LIMIT HOLD’EM EVENT #9 2. Antonio Chavez . . . $20,210 9/10/08 EVENT #7 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $200 + $25 PLAYERS 150 PRIZE POOL PRIZE POOL $65,378 $29,100 Kevin Farenbaugh Floyd Kaylor 1. Kevin Farenbaugh . $17,655 2. Adrian Kuan . . . . . . . $9,872 EVENT #8 EVENT #5 EVENT #6 BUY-IN $300 + $35 PLAYERS 421 REBUYS 656 PRIZE POOL $313,407 Minh Nguyen 1. Floyd Kaylor . . . . . . . $8,150 9/7/08 1. Minh Nguyen . . . . . $81,481 2. Jean Rouukoz . . . . . $47,324 EVENT #4 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM 9/9/08 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $200 + $25 PLAYERS 394 PRIZE POOL PRIZE POOL $84,202 $121,735 $76,436 Kwinsee Khoa Tran Antonio Chavez Harry Lee $64,020 1. Eyal Revah . . . . . . . $17,930 1. Harry Lee . . . . . . . . $34,045 9/5/08 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $100 + $20 PLAYERS 866 BUY-IN $500 + $45 PLAYERS 251 9/6/08 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM REBUY UNLIMITED 9/8/08 LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $200 + $25 PLAYERS 337 PRIZE POOL BUY-IN $300 + $35 PLAYERS 220 PRIZE POOL 1. Antonio Chavez . . . $19,315 2. Corazon Johnson . . $12,163 1. Kwinsee Khoa Tran $20,637 (Continued on page 33) $75,000 ADDED! 1 14 Caribbean Cruises Awarded PRIZE POOL $767,500 Manelic Minaya 1. 2. 3. 4. 2. Brian Nguyen . . . . . $10,627 Manelic Minaya . . . $222,575 Jack Schanbacher $128,940 Henry Theiling . . . . $63,703 Andrew Gold . . . . . $53,725 EVENT #9 9/9/08 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $500 + $60 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ PRIZE POOL ______________________________________________________________________________________________ November # fee Cash2 Cruise3 5th #1 Wed Noon No-Limit Hold ’em $200 $15 $3,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 5th ss #1 Wed eve 6:30pm Super Satellite for $1,000 event $100 $15 $1,000 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 6th #2 Thurs Noon H.O.R.S.E. $200 $15 $3,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 7th #3 Fri Noon Limit Hold ’em $200 $15 $3,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 8th #4 Sat Noon No-Limit Hold ’em $300 $15 $5,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 9th #5 Sun Noon No-Limit Hold ’em $200 $15 $3,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 10th #6 Mon Noon Stud High-Low Split 8 or Better $200 $15 $3,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 10th #7 Mon eve 6:30pm Seniors No-Limit Hold ’em $200 $10 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 11th #8 Tue Noon No-Limit Shoot-Out $200 $15 $3,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 11th #9 Tue 2:30pm Ladies No-Limit Hold ’em $200 $15 $3,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 12th #10 Wed Noon Omaha High-Low Split 8 or Better $200 $15 $3,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 12th ss #2 Wed eve 6:30pm Super Satellite for $1,000 event $100 $15 $1,000 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 13th #11 Thurs Noon S.H.O.E. $200 $15 $3,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 13th BJ Thurs eve 6:30pm Ultimate Blackjack Tour – ClubUBT.com $100 $15 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 14th #12 Fri Noon No-Limit Hold ’em $500 $15 $5,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 15th #13 Sat day 1 Noon No-Limit Hold ’em, Day One $1,000 $15 $10,000 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 16th #13 Sun day 2 11:00am Event #12, Day Two Finals Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 16th #14 Sun 11:00am No-Limit Hold ’em $200 $15 $3,000 Yes ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Date Event $235,500 Howard Wolper 1. 2. 3. 4. The world’s most player friendly tournament, guaranteed! ~ Vince Burgio PLAYERS 471 Howard Wolper . . . $67,400 Andre Boyer . . . . . . $36,503 Dennis Levi . . . . . . . $18,840 Jonas Wexler . . . . . . $16,485 EVENT #8 9/8/08 7-CARD STUD BUY-IN $300 + $50 PLAYERS 169 PRIZE POOL $50,700 Francis Pinchot 1. Francis Pinchot . . . . $17,238 2. John M. Coyle . . . . . $9,126 EVENT #7 9/8/08 Day Time Tournament Buy in Entry Added Caribbean NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $400 + $50 PLAYERS 483 PRIZE POOL $193,200 John Gale 1. John Gale . . . . . . . . $55,293 2. Philip Vitale . . . . . . $29,946 3. David Peay . . . . . . . $15,456 EVENT #6 9/7/08 LIMIT HOLD’EM Tournament Goodies Hotel Deals s s s s s s s s s s Please call Billie Robbins or Ernestine Morning Owl at 541-966-1549. Lots of added cash Low buy-ins, big money No rebuys Entry fees a measly $15 No house fee satellites Live game rake always only $3 More live games added Free gourmet buffet for all players Affordable Wildhorse room rates Steep discounts at nearby hotels Notes Total added in cash and cruises Actual cash added to prize money 3 Eight-day Caribbean cruise to winner worth $2,000 1 2 Seniors Hall of Fame BUY-IN $300 + $50 PLAYERS 291 PRIZE POOL $87,300 1. Howard Wolper . . . $26,190 2. Edward Mallon . . . . $14,841 I-84 Exit 216, Pendleton, Oregon 97801 Wildhorse reserves the right to alter, cancel, or change this promotion in any way, including the prize money distribution. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 9 Continuation Bets in No-limit Hold’em POKER TO THE NTH DEGREE By Tony Guerrera For any given flop, the probability that an opponent misses the flop is a function of his hand distribution and the board cards. Your play on the flop will be a function of the flop and your opponents’ hand distributions. But to keep things simple, your opponent will miss the flop about two-thirds of the time when he has unpaired hole cards. Your opponents won’t fold to two-thirds of your flop bets: • Sometimes your opponent has a pocket pair that doesn’t need to match any cards on the flop. • Sometimes your opponent has a draw. • Sometimes your opponents may bluff by raising on the flop, or calling with the intention of bluffing on a subsequent betting round. When heads-up on the flop, you should bet a good percentage of the time—even when you’ve missed. Betting a flop that doesn’t help you after raising preflop, is a continuation bet. If you’re to be a successful no-limit hold’em player, you need to employ the continuation bet. How Many Opponents Can You Continuation Bet Into? Although a single opponent will miss the flop about two-thirds of the time, the probability that all your opponents miss the flop decreases with more opponents. A rule of thumb is to avoid continuation betting into more than two opponents. You should also be cautious when continuation betting into two opponents—mainly because of bet sizing issues. How Big Should Your Continuation Bets Be? Suppose you’re in the big blind in a no-limit hold’em game with $1-$2 blinds. Action folds to the button, who raises to $6. The small blind folds, and it’s $4 for you to call. If you call and check on the flop, you know your opponent will make a pot-sized continuation bet 100 percent of the time. Accounting for the implied odds created by your opponent’s inevitable bet on the flop, you’re getting $22-to-$4, or $5.5-to-$1 on your money. The odds against you hitting a pair with unpaired hole cards are only 2-to-1. Sure, you’ll have a positional disadvantage after the flop, and you’ll need to invest additional money too (you need to consider reverse implied odds). While you shouldn’t defend the big blind with any two cards in this situation, this opponent is exploitable. To keep your opponents from exploiting you, keep your continuation bets around half the size of the pot. You’ll be surprised at how much fold equity this bet carries. You’ll also be surprised at how much value you’ll squeeze from your made hands with this bet. The Frequency of Your Continuation Bets. A well-balanced attack entails continuation betting often enough to pick up pots but seldom enough to dissuade your opponents from bluffing you at will. To reduce the frequency of your continuation bets, let the flop dictate your action. With some minor exceptions, I always bet the flop headsup when: • I have at least a pair. • I have a draw. I always bet made hands—even those which will only be called by better hands—and I always semibluff. When neither of these conditions is met, I’ll also continuation bet unless the flop is likely to have helped my opponent: • The flop contains at least two ranks that are ten or higher (players call raises with high cards). • The flop is connected to the point where someone could have flopped a straight (players call raises with connected cards). • The flop is monotone (with two hole cards, and players calling raises with high cards, chances are good that a continuation bet will have little fold equity). The only time I’ll continuation bet on boards like these is if I have ace-high on a draw-heavy board. Now my continuation bet is really a value bet against my opponents’ draws, and when my opponent happens to have a pair, this bet with ace-high serves as a semi-bluff with overcard outs. Many players shoot themselves in the foot by mistakes having to do with continuation betting. Avoid them, and the continuation bet will serve you as the weapon it’s designed to be. Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker by the Numbers and Killer Poker Shorthanded (with John Vorhaus). Visit him online at www.killerev.com, and check out his weekly show, Killer Poker Analysis, on Rounder’s Radio (www.roundersradio.com) Fridays from 5:00PM to 6:00PM Pacific Time. 10 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m A Poker Player Murder Mystery by Robert Arabella ON THE POKER ROAD Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night? —Jack Kerouac, On the Road [This is a work of poker fiction set ten thousand hands in the future. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.] After Nevada legalized gambling, but before they built the superhighways, State Route 9 had brought so many old school poker players into Las Vegas that they started calling it the poker road. “In the early 1950’s—when a gallon of gas cost only 32 cents— road gamblers and poker hustlers wandered around the back highways always on the lookout for poker road kill. Playing poker on the road was a dangerous job back then and players had to watch both their cards and their backs. “When asked whether he had ever killed another poker player, Johnny Moss replied, ‘I don’t know if he died.’ And Doyle Brunson once said, ‘To start with, you had to keep from getting arrested by the police. Then, you had to keep from getting cheated in the games. You also had to worry about collecting the money if you won. Finally, after all that was said and done, you had to keep from getting hijacked.’ If they could get to Las Vegas in one piece, all of those dangers disappeared. Then all they had to worry about was each other. Kind of like how I worry about you, soldier boy.” “I am not a soldier,” says Gunterson. “I am a U.S. Marine.” “Soldier? Marine? What’s the difference?” “What’s the difference between Injun Squaw and Native American?” “I prefer to be called an indigenous person.” “I prefer to be called a gyrene. Where exactly is it Almost as soon as the yellow crime scene’s do not cross tape came down from around the bombedout ruins of the Las Vegas Crystal Casino’s Poker Room, construction crews erected twelve-foothigh barriers across the Strip to hide the damage. Architectural renderings plastered onto the barriers promised “The New and Improved Las Vegas Crystal Hotel & Casino Opening In 2021!” In fact The Crystal would never be rebuilt and the site remains a vacant lot. When all that she could see of Sin City was a soft and distant neon blur in the pickup’s rearview mirror, Camarin SanJamie turned her battered Ford off the interstate and onto the two-lane blacktop that old timers still call the poker road. “Why’d they call this the poker road?” asks Tom Gunterson, watching the speedometer lean ever faster towards the right. “Back in the day when Las Vegas was just getting started, there were only two federal highways running through Nevada—U.S. 50, New York to San Francisco, and U.S. 66, Chicago to Los Angeles—both of which bypassed Las Vegas, one to the north the other to the south. All that was left to connect Las Vegas to the outside world was Nevada State Route 9, a hundred miles of twisty, cracked and crumbling asphalt. that this poker road leads?” “I’m tired of the cookie cutter, fluorescent-lit, temperature-controlled, big rake, corporate casino card rooms and so we are going to a poker room so old that the tables wobble, the cards have a thousand smudge prints and the chips, like the players, are rough around the edges. Hang on, soldier boy,” yells Cammy SanJamie, flooring the gas pedal. “I am taking you to a hold’em honky tonk! Neither noticed the shiny black car, its lights off, trailing after them in the darkness. (To be continued in the next issue of Poker Player) GO ALL-IN. ANY DAY. Daily No Limit Hold ‘Em Tournaments Monday, 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, 11:15 a.m. & 7 p.m. Wednesday, 11:15 a.m. & 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 11:15 a.m. Last Saturday of every month, 10 a.m. Graveyard Bonus Jackpots Monday-Friday, 3 a.m.-8 a.m. Aces Cracked Daily starting Oct. 1st, 3 a.m.-9 a.m. Monte Carlo Days Saturdays and Sundays, 3 a.m.-9 a.m. Big Stack Tournament Nov. 22nd, 10 a.m. Couples Tournament Oct. 4th & 26th, Dec. 6th, 9 a.m. Omaha Hi-Lo Tournament Oct. 18th, 9 a.m. Ladies Tournament Nov. 9th, 10 a.m. Turkey Drive Tournament Nov. 15th, 9 a.m. 6th Annual Christmas Toy Drive Tournament Dec. 13th, 9 a.m. Bubble Bust Out Tournament Dec. 20th, 9 a.m. Earn points all year long Management reserves the right to modify or cancel these promotions at any time. See Poker Room for complete details. 101 & Indian Bend 480-850-7777 casinoarizona.com Owned and operated by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Please gamble responsibly. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 11 The Isle at Pompano: “It’s All About the Staff!” Global Poker Run III Focus on FLORIDA By Donna Marks I had a very pleasant surprise yesterday when I walked into the Isle at Pompano Casino poker room in Pompano, FL. It’s a magnificent room, located on the second floor, well spread out, with a great atmosphere. I sat down with poker room manager Mike Smith who has been in the business 30 years, and with the Isles on and off for the last decade. Mike started out as a dealer at the Silver City Casino in Las Vegas in 1978, moved on to the Union Plaza, Dunes, Flamingo, Sycuan in San Diego, and finally to the Isle in Vicksburg, MS. He has been with several Isle properties over the years and worked at the Isle in Pompano on three different occasions. When I asked him what makes his room special, he was adamant about the fact that it’s all because of his staff. He explained what a great crew he has, all the way from the dealers to supervisors, and I must say it was not only a relaxed surrounding but a happy one. I was happy to bump into an old friend of mine, day shift supervisor Vinny Gatto who used to deal when I was a shift manager at the old Seminole Casino. Steve Leone is on swing shift, and David Berman rounds out the relief shift. The poker room is open 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are open noon to midnight during the week, and from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. on weekends. The lively 38-table room stays full most of the day and night. I happened to be there at 1 p.m. and there were 25 tables going already. Mike told me they are completely full on weekends. Their games are $1-$2 limit and $2-$4 limit with a three-raise maximum. No-limit games feature different blind structures, but the maximum buy-in for any game is $100. You can even reserve your seats online at PTseats.com, a service where you can sign up for tournaments at a specific casino without waiting in line at the poker room. Seventy percent of the games they spread are no-limit. They also have heads-up tournaments with a $525 buy-in to win $1,000, as well as heads-up tournaments with an $840 buy-in where the winner takes home $1,600. Single-table tournaments range from buy-ins of $60 to $505. They also offer two bounty tournaments; one for $150 and the other for a $350 buy in. All are ten-player tournaments. On October 3-6 they are running the Isle Open Deep Stack Tournament. It features a $900 buy-in with a $150,000 guarantee. The event features 60 minute rounds, and your buy-in gets you 20,000 in chips. This provides a lot of play for the money, and the event promises to be a lot of fun, with a great prize to boot! The Isle also runs some great daily promotions. They have a $100 prize for a royal flush, as well as bad-beat jackpots for stud, Omaha and Texas hold’em. Monday through Thursday features a spin-to-win promotion, in which lucky players can win anything from a polo shirt to $599 in cash. There are two winners every 2 hours—one from the limit game and another from the no-limit games. They also have a full menu in the poker room where you can eat right at the table. So go see Mike and the crew at the Isle CasinoRacing at Pompano Park. 1800 S.W. Third St. Pompano Beach, Fl. 33069 1-954-972-2000, ext. 5123 or 5124 Donna Marks has worked in the poker industry on both coasts, as a dealer, in management, and as a player. She is Poker Player Newspaper’s sales rep in the Florida area. Reach Donna at [email protected] 12 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 A Joe & Hobby fiction by David J. Valley nother small itinerary change, we won’t be stopping at Ensenada. Mike has to take Lazybuns to the shipyard for some engine work. He’ll fill the tanks with diesel too, so we won’t have to stop; we’ll just head straight for Cabo. What do you think?” Hobby asked. “You know best, el capitan,” I replied with a salute. “Say, I delivered a chef for the cruise; how’re you making out with the rest of the crew?” “Great. Mike signed on two trainees from the maritime academy, which with him and Pablo, will take care of the sailing, not to mention the captain’s considerable involvement. And, I’ve got two housekeepers. Hey, Pablo, tell Joe about your aunts.” “They’re old maids who do domestic work. You’ll like them.” “Tell him about the weird one, Pablo.” “I wouldn’t say she’s weird, maybe just a little loco. She talks with candles.” “What do you mean? Does she hold candles and wave them like semaphore flags?” “No, she talks to the flame, and the flame answers her. Sometime she can predict when things will happen. Would you like to meet her?” “She’s here?” “Yes, she’s cleaning the cabins. I’ll get her.” “Tell her to bring her candle.” “I thought you had a regular cleaning service, Hobby.” “I did, but their contract ran out so I thought I might as well get Pablo’s aunts started before we leave for “A the cruise.” The small 50-60 year-old woman gripping a cloth bag seemed demure but she eye-balled me like she was a cop and I was the prime suspect. “My name is Rose,” she said pleasantly. I introduced myself, told her I was a writer and interested in unusual things. “Like my candle,” she said with a smile. “Yes, Pablo told me about it. I wonder if you could show me how it works?” She looked doubtful and turned to Pablo who gave her a reassuring nod. “I need a quiet place, no breeze.” “Why don’t you sit at the dining table. I’ll shut off the air conditioning and we can watch from over here. Would that be okay?” Hobby asked. She put an ordinary looking candle into a clear glass holder, lighted it and began mumbling something we couldn’t make out. “Joe, can you see the flame moving?” “Yeah, but it’s from her breath as she speaks.” After a few minutes, she turned her head so that her ear was near the flame. Unexpectedly, the flame continued to waver and flicker. She seemed perplexed and shook her head before turning back to speak to the flame. “What’s up, Pablo?” I asked. “I have no idea, Joe.” Again Rose turned her ear to the fluttering flame to listen. After a minute, she abruptly blew out the candle and put it and its holder back into her bag. As she walked over to us she said something in Spanish to Pablo. “She said the flame talked to her about you Joe, but it didn’t make any sense.” “Ask her to tell me what it was.” After more jabbering back-and-forth in Spanish Pablo said, “I don’t understand either, but the best way I can say it is that you will to ride a bicycle tonight and win lots of money.” Rose looked apologetic so I said, “Thank you. It was very interesting to watch you. I’m not sure what the message means, but I’ll think about it.” Rose gave a slight bow and went back to her chores. Hobby gave a shrug of his shoulders and said, “It’s not exactly getting the winning lottery numbers.” “No, but it is weirdly fascinating.” An idea suddenly popped into my consciousness. “Do you have copy of Poker Player Newspaper?” “Under the end table there,” Hobby said as he pointed. I found the page listing California Daily Tournaments. “There’s a $60 buy-in tournament tonight at the Bicycle, maybe that’s what Rose connected with!” I said with rising excitement, “You want to go?” “Sure, I’ll even pop for dinner.” When we signed up for the tournament, I asked, “Many playing tonight?” “Yeah, Thursday’s our big night we’ll have more than a hundred. You guy want to sit at the same table?” “No,” Hobby volunteered. Since we were early, we went to the lounge for an after-dinner drink. I got a double Kahlua on-the-rocks for an extra caffeine boost. “What’s your game plan, Joe?” “Same as usual, play conservatively and try to survive until I get hands worth more aggressive play. I’m not going to let the candle message influence me. How about you?” “I like to experiment. (Continued on page 21) Fast Answers About Anything POKER! pokerplayernewspaper.com w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m Get us on the web! M sions with groups that could as buying the button and ing himself lured to a big ohegan Sun Poker eventually bring televised playing over. “Stuff like opportunity running poker Director Bruce poker tournaments to that is simply not allowed operations at the Mohegan Dixon says it was just one Mohegan Sun, but it is too here.” Sun 15 years after that first of those things, him being early to talk in any detail The new room expects dealing job. at the right place at the about those possibilities. to benefit in part from the right time to discover a lifeHospitality is stressed so fact that it offers players changing opportunity. often by card rooms everyanother option He was PLAYER BRUCE to the drive to where that it has the flavor wandering of a cliché, but with so Atlantic City. through BY PHIL HEVENER many card rooms to choose But it is offerone of the ing much more than conve- from, it has never been Atlantic City casinos shortmore important. Dixon says nience and hospitality. ly after poker came to the it is high on the Mohegan There will be a monthcasinos there on June 25, Sun list of things to stress. long tournament beginning “I’ve been lucky,” he 1993. Dixon was about 20 “The over-all look and October 1 with a guaranteed grins. at the time and not a gamfeel of the room, the décor, prize pool of $750,000. Dixon says poker on the bler. Neither was anyone in Check with the poker room the comfort level is going east coast has evolved to his family, but how could the point that it looks pretty to find out about the myriad to be a lot better than some he resist the inviting noise of our competitors. The possibilities for qualifying. and crowds associated with much like poker as it is location of the monitors has As for other upcoming played in the card rooms the big casinos? been carefully thought out. possibilities, Dixon says of Nevada and California, “I saw all these people We’ve got chairs that are he is currently in discusexcept for procedures such sitting down playing something or other—I didn’t know anything about the game then—so I asked one of the supervisors there what it was that was going on.” Told this was the poker room and those were poker players playing poker. “Interesting,” Dixon said to himself, as he stood there watching until something clicked. Maybe this was october 16-28, 2008 where he should be … the man in the middle of the action, the man everyone else at the table was look$ 1,000,000+ MAIN EVENT TOTAL PRIZE MONEY* ing to. Thurs, Oct 16 6PM Satellites & 7PM Tournaments begin It looked like fun and 12PM No-Limit Hold’em $300 + $40 1 Fri, Oct 17 4PM Pot-Limit Omaha w/re-buys $500 + $50 2 Fri, Oct 17 there was probably a pay12PM No-Limit Hold’em $500 + $50 3 Sat, Oct 18 check in the deal too. 11AM Ladies No-Limit Hold’em (1 day) $300 + $45 4 Sat, Oct 18 A short time later he 12PM No-Limit Hold’em $500 + $50 5 Sun, Oct 19 11AM Ladies No-Limit Hold’em (1 day) $200 + $35 6 Sun, Oct 19 contacted one of the dealer Mon, Oct 20 12PM No-Limit Hold’em $300 + $40 7 schools. His thoughts about 4PM Omaha Hi-Low 8/better $300 + $40 8 Mon, Oct 20 possibilities had morphed 12PM No-Limit Hold’em $300 + $40 9 Tues, Oct 21 12PM No-Limit Hold’em $300 + $40 10 Wed, Oct 22 into action and Dixon found 12PM No-Limit Hold’em $500 + $50 11 Thurs, Oct 23 himself sliding into the 12PM No-Limit Hold’em $500 + $50 12 Fri, Oct 24 kind of green felt world he Sat, Oct 25 12, 4 & 8PM Mega Satellite $500 + $40 12PM No-Limit Hold’em Championship $5,000+$150 13 Sun, Oct 26 would never have imagined. Mon, Oct 27 12PM Day 2 of Championship Event His first job was at the 12PM No-Limit Hold’em $200 + $30 14 Mon, Oct 27 Taj Mahal and “As a first Tues, Oct 28 12PM Day 3 of Championship Event 12PM No-Limit Hold’em $200 + $30 15 Tues, Oct 28 job, it was interesting, I liked it.” Mega Satellites Daily at 4PM I Poker Tournaments Nightly at 7PM He quickly moved up to a floor position, remainEnjoy contemporary style and plasma TVs in one of our newly ing at the Taj for several renovated hotel rooms for $69/night during the World Poker Open. years before going on to the Tropicana and then CALL 1-888-245-7529 ext. 1136 OR 1-662-357-1135 FOR RESERVATIONS. the Borgata before find- Profile Dixon a step or two above what players will find elsewhere, but I think it is our customer service that is really going to set us apart.” And how will this occur? Dixon doesn’t miss a beat, continuing, “We’re going to treat players more like guests in our homes … not just players.” And the games themselves? Dixon says the room expects to start on the low limit end of things, with $2-$4 stud and hold’em as opposed to the $1-$3 that are usually fund elsewhere. He envisions $5-$10, $10$20 and $50-$100 stud limits on a regular basis. As (Continued on page 16) GOLD STRIKE POKER OPEN 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. d e _ j Y 7 [ J^ k e _ied O TUNICA RESORTS, MS +0,!9sGOLDSTRIKECOM *Top Prize of $1,000,000 is based on a minimum of 200 entrants. All rights reserved. Must be 21 or older and present proper identification. Tournament subject to official rules available at the Poker Room Booth. The Mississippi Gaming Commission reserves the right to investigate any and all complaints and disputes regarding tournaments, promotions and drawings. Management reserves the right to cancel, change or modify the tournament, promotion or drawing with prior written approval from the Mississippi Gaming Commission. All events are two-day events unless otherwise noted. $5,150 will be withheld from the prize pool in Events 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12 so that the winner of each event will receive a buy-in to the Championship Event on October 26, 2008. Seats are nonrefundable and non-transferable. ©2008 MGM MIRAGE®. Gambling Problem? Call 1-888-777-9696. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 13 Don’t Miss the Final Deep Stack of 2008 at the Venetian. The first three Extravaganzas of 2008 drew 26,000 entrants and produced a total prize pool more than $14,000,000. When tournament poker players voiced DEBBIE DOES POKER By DEBBIE BURKHEAD their desire for more starting chips the Venetian stepped up to the plate and created the Deep Stack. The first event, held in February 2007, proved to be a huge success due to the increased amount of starting chips and favorable blind structure. The Venetian’s success prompted others in the industry to follow suit, with the trend becoming so popular that even the World Series of Poker began doubling players’ starting stacks for their events. Since coining the term “Deep Stack” the Venetian has been instrumental in motivating their competitors to create such terms as, “Mega Stack,” Monster Stack” and “Big Stack.” The final Deep Stack Extravaganza of 2008 is slated for November 1-25 with buy-ins ranging from $540$2,500. Starting stacks for $330 no-limit hold’em will be $10,000 with an additional $2,000 in chips for an optional $10 staff bonus. The $540 and $1,060 events will begin with $12,500 and an additional $2,500 for an optional $10 staff bonus. The $2,500 event will start with $15,000 and an additional $2,000 with the optional $10 staff bonus. All events begin at noon with 30 minute levels in $330 events, 40 minute levels in $540 and $1,060 events, and one hour rounds in the $2,500 event. A $225 buy-in super satellite for the $2,500 event will be played Saturday, November 22 at 7 p.m. It features a $225 buy-in and players will receive $4,000 in starting chips. Tournament winners will earn points to qualify for best overall player cash awards. For more information see the information see the Venetian ad in this issue of Poker Player Newspaper. Ten Days of Great Tournament Action at the Peppermill in Reno. The Fall Poker Tournament is scheduled for October 17- 26 and will feature increased starting stacks. Buy-ins range from $120 to $1,060 for the championship event. Players receive $3,000 in starting chips in the $120 events, $4,000 in the $225 events, and $10,000 in the $1,060 championship event. Players also receive an additional $1,500 in starting chips for an optional $10 dealer bonus buy -in the $120 events, and an additional $2,000 in the $225 events and championship event. The tournament will be held in the Tahoe Grand Ballroom. Special room rates of $39-$59 per night for the Montego Bay and $49-$69 for the tower are available. A gold bracelet will be awarded to the winner of the championship winner. For more information see the Peppermill ad in this issue of Poker Player Newspaper. The Poker Lounge at the Hard Rock. If you are looking for a different kind of poker room with unique amenities, check out the Poker Lounge at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. Cardroom Manager, Houston Waldie and his experienced staff have created a very innovative cardroom. For a more comprehensive description and photos of the Poker Lounge at the Hard Rock see the Cardroom Roundup in this issue of Poker Player Newspaper. Podcasting—the Next Evolution. I was recently honored to be part of Dianna Donofrio’s new podcast show, “Women’s Poker Yak.” Her main focus is primarily women who have made an impact in the poker world. The podcasts will spotlight some of the most prominent women in poker and the gaming industry. Listen to my interview along with others such as Jan Fisher and Linda Johnson at www.womenspokeryak.com. Dianna is not only a poker player but is actively involved in raising money through various celebrity and charity poker tournaments. Debbie Burkhead is a long time poker player, writer and sales rep for Poker Player. You may contact Debbie at [email protected]. 14 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m Hard Rock LV’s New Poker Lounge (Cont’d from page 1) casino floor will double in size and be able to serve 4,000 guests. A new convention center will be 60,000 square feet. Parking will not be a problem either, with the expansion of the new underground valet that will accommodate close to 300 cars. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has always been proud of their innovative spirit, and the new ownership is no exception. The soft opening on August 14 rolled out their innovative Poker Lounge. Amenities include 10 televisions for sports viewing and 10 more on the way in the near future, luxurious bathrooms offering valet service, and cocktail/food servers. Hard Rock is the only poker room providing sports runners in the room. The room is slated to have five video poker machines installed for those who need a break from poker or who want to play while waiting for a seat. Smoking is not permitted in the poker room but smokers are able to smoke in the big comfy chairs located in the lounge area at the front of the poker room. There are six individual rooms for private parties and high limit games with music piped in that can be controlled separately from the casino. To celebrate the grand opening of the newest concept in card rooms Hard Rock will bring in Billy Idol and the Black Crows to perform on Sept. 12 and 13 at the Joint. The 18 table Poker Lounge uses the latest version of the Genesis Tracking system that contacts your cell phone when your seat is ready. No more waiting around to hear your name called. They delight in possessing two 114 inch poker tables, the largest in North America, which are reserved for private parties and games of $5-$10 and higher. There will be no more cramped feeling with eight feet between tables and state of the art chairs. The tables and chairs were designed by cardroom manager Houston Waldie. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m The Poker Lounge offers a wide variety of games. In keeping with the innovative spirit of the Hard Rock they are spreading a new game called hard rock straddle. Normally in hold’em the big blind has last action, but with this new version the button has true last action unless multiple action occurs, then it reverts back to the big blind. Hard rock straddle is a $1-$2, $2-$5, or $5-$10 no-limit hold’em game with buy-ins ranging from a minimum of $100 to a maximum $2,000. “The players love it and the game is designed to create action,” said swing shift manager Jim Miller. Another version of hold’em that the Poker Lounge is spreading is $1-$2 and $2-$5 “no-river hold’em.” The players are dealt three cards and all three cards play. There is a pre-flop bet, a flop bet, and a turn bet—but no river card is dealt. The Poker Lounge is also spreading ROE (a round of each) a round of no-limit hold’em and a round of pot limit hold’em with limits ranging from $5-$10 and $10-$25. Tournaments are available seven days a week: Monday through Friday at 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., with buy-ins ranging from $65-$125 and starting chips of $5,000. Tournaments begin at noon on Saturday and Sunday with a $175 buy-in and there’s a 3 p.m. event with a $330 buy-in and $10,000 in starting chips. All events are no-limit with 30 minute levels. Casino host Steve Cyr is also taking on the title of Poker Lounge marketing manager. Cyr is available to assist in private parties and is presently taking registration for poker leagues. Leagues of all levels are available and players may make up their own team of four players. Player tracking cards will keep track of hours played. Players earn comps at the rate of $1.00 to $2.00 per hour based on game limit. Comp dollars can be used S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 (Continued on page 33) P O K E R P L AY E R 15 The Visitor FICTION BY LEO CUMMINS T he priest was playing cards with the man propped up in the hospital bed. The man took the discard from the pile and declared, “Gin!” “You wouldn’t be manipulating the cards on me would you, Frank?” the priest asked as he mucked his cards on the portable bedside table. “You mean like this?” The man in bed gave the cards a professional shuffle and proceeded to deal the four aces off the top of the deck. “Exactly,” the priest said. “You know I stopped that kind of thing a long time ago—especially here in Vegas. Besides, you’re not only my priest but my brother, too. I wouldn’t cheat you.” “Except when we where kids and you wanted candy money.” “That was then. This is now. And I appreciate it that you came to Vegas for my operation.” “A place that’s hotter than hell, I must say,” the priest remarked. “Now tell me again about your operation.” “It’s a tumor near the heart. They want to go in— dig it out and test it to see if it’s malignant.” “And if it is?” The man shrugged. “I’ll take it day-by-day. We’ve both had a good run since the days back in Chicago. You went to the seminary.” “And you,” the priest said. “Disappeared into the back rooms in Cicero to learn your trade.” “And after I graduated, I was moved to Vegas by my instructors to catch cheats in the casinos—rather than be one.” “To the everlasting disappointment of our mother. Bless her soul.” “She just wanted us to be happy.” “And you’ve been happy with your life here in Vegas?” A grin spread across the face of the man in bed. “Well let’s say I haven’t exactly been celibate.” “And now?” “And now what?” The man in bed said angrily. “Are you suggesting that my lifestyle has led to my present condition? And I called you here to ask for forgiveness?” “No, of course not,” the (Continued on page 33) Player Profile: Bruce Dixon CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 for hold’em, Dixon believes there is a good market for $60-$120, $80-$160 and $100-$200 games. But he quickly adds, speaking several days before the room’s debut, that this kind of talk amounts to pre-opening speculation. “The truth is, we’re going to be paying close attention to what our customers want to see and we will respond accordingly.” Dixon is responsible for training and evaluating over 300 poker personnel, ensuring proper table security, strategic planning and budget analysis, and implementing Mohegan Sun’s poker policies and procedures. Table Games VP Rocco Santoro said of Dixon, “We’re very excited to welcome Bruce to our team. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this position and is sure to be a valuable asset to the Mohegan Sun team. Prior to his arrival at the Mohegan Sun, Dixon served as poker room manager at Atlantic City’s Borgata. There he assisted in the opening and expansion of Borgata’s poker room, which is now at 85 tables. Additionally, Dixon held the position as shift manager at the Tropicana 16 P O K E R P L AY E R in Atlantic City and before that he was a floor supervisor at the Taj Mahal. Dixon holds an associate’s degree in computer information systems from Atlantic Cape Community College of New Jersey. He now lives in Groton, CT, with his wife and two children. The Mohegan Sun’s poker room opened in late August within the resort Casino of the Wind. The games featured there include Omaha, Texas hold’em, seven-card stud, razz, and pineapple. Oh yes … let’s not forget the universally popular nolimit hold’em, enough of it to satisfy all the appetite players may have for it. Mohegan Sun is currently in the midst of Project Horizon, an expansion plan that includes a 920-room hotel tower featuring 261 House of Blues-themed rooms and an exclusive members-only House of Blues Foundation Room. The expansion also includes additional retail and entertainment space and a new 64,000-square-foot Casino of the Wind. When the work is complete in 2010, Project Horizon will have added 1.4 million square feet to the existing complex. Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan Tribe, opened S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 in 1992 about 13 miles from the Foxwoods resort. Mohegan Sun is one of the most spectacular entertainment, gaming, shopping and meeting destinations in the United States. It is situated on 240 acres along the Thames River in scenic southeastern Connecticut and is about 15 minutes from the museums, antique shops and waterfront of Mystic County. The casino is an easy drive from the New York, Boston, Hartford and Providence areas. Grand Opening T O U R N A M E N T September 30, 2008 6pm $ 150 Buy-In includes a Hat & T-Shirt 100% of Buy-In Money is returned to the prize pool $ 25 Bounties paid for each player you knock out Bounty Money paid by the Suncoast $ 5000 in Starting Chips $ 10 staff add-on receives an additional $1000 in chips Cake, Coffee and Champagne will be served immediately following the final table prize money and trophy presentation LAS VEGAS SUNCOASTCASINO.COM HIGH HAND JACKPOTS EVERY DAY 4-of-a-Kind Starts at $50 Straight & Royal Flushes Start at $100 ♥♥♥ WE SPREAD $ 2-$4 $4-$8 Limit Texas Hold’em $1-$2 $2-$5 Blind No-Limit Texas Hold’em No-Limit Texas Hold’Em Daily Tournaments • $45 Buy-In Monday Thru Sunday 10am ooo No-Limit Texas Hold’Em Evening Tournaments • $65 Buy-In Monday Thru Thursday 7pm w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m POKER ROOM Open 24 Hours 11 Non-Smoking Tables 797-8073 SouthPointCasino.com ALL EVENTS MAY BE LIMITED TO 600 PLAYERS OPTIONAL BONUS CHIPS MAY BE PURCHASED IN SELECTED EVENTS◆ Over $580,000 in Guarantees! DAY DATE Thu 9/25 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em $50 + $10 = $60 Fri 9/26 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em $100 + $20 = $120 Sat 9/27 2:00 PM Omaha Hi-Lo $100 + $20 = $120 Sat 9/27 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em** $100 + $20 = $120 Sun 9/28 2:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em $50 + $10 = $60 Mon 9/29 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em $100 + $20 = $120 9/30 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em $200 + $25 = $225 Tue TIME EVENT BUY-IN Wed 10/1 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em** ENTRY TOTAL $50 + $10 = $60 Thu 10/2 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em $100 + $20 = $120 Fri 10/3 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em $100 + $20 = $120 Sat 10/4 2:00 PM 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo $100 + $20 = $120 Sat 10/4 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em** $300 + $35 = $335 Sun 10/5 2:00 PM Queen of Clubs No Limit Hold 'em $50 + $10 = $60 Sun 10/5 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em* $100 + $20 = $120 Mon 10/6 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em $200 + $25 = $225 Tue 10/7 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em $50 + $10 = $60 Wed Thu Thu Fri 10/8 10/9 10/9 10/10 Fri 10/10 7:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em Championship (2 day event) Sat 10/11 4:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em Championship (Finals) Sun 10/12 4:00 PM Player Appreciation-No Limit Hold 'em▲ 7:00 PM 1:00 PM 7:00 PM 1:00 PM No Limit Hold 'em Special Mega Satellite-No Limit Hold 'em Special Mega Satellite-No Limit Hold 'em Special Mega Satellite-No Limit Hold 'em $300 $60 $60 $60 + + + + $35 $10 $10 $10 = = = = $335 $70 $70 $70 GUARANTEES $15,000.00 $25,000.00 $10,000.00 $50,000.00 $15,000.00 $25,000.00 $30,000.00 $20,000.00 $25,000.00 $25,000.00 $10,000.00 $100,000.00 $7,500.00 $20,000.00 $30,000.00 $15,000.00 $50,000.00 STARTING CHIPS OPTIONAL BONUS CHIPS 5,000 1,000 for $5 7,000 1,000 for $5 4,000 1,000 for $5 3,000 5,000 1,000 for $5 7,000 1,000 for $5 8,000 1,000 for $5 3,000 7,000 1,000 for $5 7,000 1,000 for $5 4,000 1,000 for $5 3,000 5,000 1,000 for $5 5,000 8,000 1,000 for $5 5,000 1,000 for $5 9,000 4,000 4,000 4,000 1,000 for $5 1,000 for $5 1,000 for $5 1,000 for $5 $500 + $45 = $545 $100,000.00 17,500 2,500 for $10 $100 + $20 = $120 $15,000 ADDED 7,000 1,000 for $5 DAILY SATELLITES STARTING AT 2:00PM WEEKDAYS & 11:00AM WEEKENDS B CLU R SSIC C L AM E M B E ea must hav All players o Rewards Card asin Bicycle C participate. to 7301 Eastern Ave., Bell Gardens, CA 90201 ♦ (562) 806-4646 ♦ www.thebike.com * One Optional Rebuy, ** Multiple Rebuys. ◆Monies collected for bonus chips will go to the tournament staff and dealers. Players must purchase their bonus chips before they begin playing. ▲ Must participate in one Deepstack Big Poker Oktober event to qualify. Residents of foreign countries without a U.S. tax treaty and non-residents of California will be subject to withholding. Tax form W2G will be issued to all players winning over $5,000. $3 from every $100 in prize money will be withheld for tournament staff. The Bicycle Casino reserves the right to revise, cancel, suspend or modify tournament events at it's sole discretion and without prior notice. All promotions and jackpots: no purchase necessary. See Official Rules at the Welcome Center. I.D may be required to receive any payment. P LEASE GAMBLE RESPONSIBLY. 1-800-GAMBLER. GEGA-000451 w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 17 WORLD POKER FINALS TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE DAY DATE TOURNAMENT DAY DATE TOURNAMENT Mon Oct 20 $300 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-out Round 1 Wed Oct 29 $600 Limit Hold’em Thu Oct 30 $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Limited to 700 entries) Top 3 players at each table advance to the Finals at 4pm on 10/20/08 Mon Mon Oct 20 Oct 20 $300 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-out Round 2 (Limited to 900 entries) (Limited to 650 entries) Top 3 players at each table advance to the Finals at 4pm on 10/20/08 Fri Oct 31 $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em $300 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-out Finals Sat Nov 1 $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Only Round 1 & 2 table winners from 10/20/08 will be allowed to play Sun Nov 2 $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Limited to 600 entries) Tue Oct 21 $600 7-Card Stud Mon Nov 3 $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Wed Oct 22 $600 No-Limit Hold’em Tue Nov 4 Final Act $10,000 Championship Qualifier (Limited to 900 entries) Tue Nov 4 Final Act $10,000 Championship Qualifier $600 Omaha 8+ Wed Nov 5 Day 1A $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship (Must be 50 by 10/24/08 in order to qualify) Wed Nov 5 Final Act $10,000 Championship Qualifier Thu Nov 6 Day 1B $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship (Limited to 380 entries) Top 3 players at each table advance to the Finals at 4pm on 10/26/08 Fri Nov 7 Day 2 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship $600 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-out Round 2 Sat Nov 8 Day 3 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship Sun Nov 9 Day 4 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship Mon Nov 10 Day 5 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship Tue Nov 11 Day 6 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship “WPT Final Table” Thu Oct 23 Fri Oct 24 $600 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Sat Oct 25 $300 Ladies Only No-Limit Hold’em Sun Oct 26 $600 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-out Round 1 Sun Oct 26 (Limited to 380 entries) Top 3 players at each table advance to the Finals at 4pm on 10/26/08 Sun Oct 26 $600 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-out Finals Only Round 1 & 2 table winners from 10/26/08 will be allowed to play Mon Oct 27 $600 7-Card Stud 8+ Tue Oct 28 $600 No-Limit Hold’em (Limited to 900 entries) • Must be at least 21 years of age. • 3% of each prize pool will be withheld for Tournament Staff. • Foxwoods reserves the right to limit seating, cancel or modify tournaments at its sole discretion and without prior notice. Hotel Reservations Call 1-800-FOXWOODS Two Trees Inn: Fri – Sat $139 Deluxe/$149 Jr. Suite Sun – Thur $89 Deluxe/$109 Jr. Suite (Group #T11684) Great Cedar Hotel: Fri – Sat $159 • Sun – Thur $109 (Group #F19652) Grand Pequot Tower: Fri – Sat $209 • Sun – Thur $149 (Group #F24754) Rooms may be booked beginning on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 @ 10am Visit foxwoods.com for tournament information/results or call 1-800-48-POKER M a s h a n t u c k e t P e q u o t Tr i b a l N a t i o n 20 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m Time. Some events C start after the hour ...........AM, PM O A,WkP................Week ..... Additional gameD &.times on this day. Call. E ........Hold’em .No Limit Hold’em .Limit Hold’em N .............No Limit L ................... Limit .............Stud ..7-Card Stud ..5-Card Stud MONDAY LAS VEGAS & NEVADA SOUTH •GOLD BAR DENOTES ADVERTISER NEVADA NORTH ........ Omaha H/L .High/Low Split Pi...........Pineapple Po...........Pot Limit Pn.........Panginque Mx ..Mexican Poker DC .Dealer’s Choice TIME Aquarius Resort & Casino 8A Bally’s 11A 10A Binnion’s on s Gamblinng Hall Ha (15 5) 2P& Caesars Palace 9A& Cannery Casino 7P& Circus Circus 11A& Club Fortune-Henderson 10A& Colorado Belle-Laughlin Edgewater-Laughlin Excalibur 9A& Goold Coaast st (25 5) 10A Goldden n Nugge get 11A& 10A Gree Gree een Vallley e Ran nch (6) 7P Harrah’s Las Vegas 11A& Imperial Palace 1P Jokers Wild 7P& Luxor 9A& Mandalay Bay 10A& MGM 11A& Mirage 7P Monte Carlo 9A& Nevada Palace 10A Oasis-Mesquite 11A 11A Pala lacee Sta tatioon (6) 6P Paris 7P Planet Hollywood 1P& Plaza Casino 12A& Rampart 12P Red Rock ck Stati tati tioon (6) 10A Rio Suite Casino 12P& River Palms 10A& 1P& Riivier erra Poke keer Roo Room om (24 4) 10A Sahara 11A& Sam’s Town 7P& Sa ta Fee Stati Sant tation n (6) 12P 10A Sooutth Po Poin nt Ca Casin no (16) 7P 4P Speedway Stratosphere 8A& 10A Sun Cooas Sun a t (116) 7P Suns Su nsett Sta tati ta tioon (6) 11A Teexa x s Sttation io (6) Treasure Island 11A& Tropicana 10A& Tropicana Express-Laughlin 4A Tuscan any (4) 7P& 12P Veneetian Ve ti n (5 5) 8P Virgin River Casino 6P Wynn Las Vegas 2P Atlantis Casino 12P& Boomtown Cactus Petes-Jackpot 7P Carson Valley Inn 12P Circus Circus 11A Eldorado Grand Sierra 9A Harrah’s Reno 10A& | HH ...... Headhunter B ............ Bounties Sp .............. Spread Al .........Alternates Z........... Freezeout Cz ................ Crazy E..........Elimination TUESDAY GAMES BUY-IN| TIME Z $17 8A NH $65 11A NH $50 10A NH $70 2P& NH $65 9A& NH $35+ 7P& NH $43+ 11A& 6P NH $25 10A& NHZ NH NH NH L O H/L NHB NH NH NHZ NH NH NH NH H NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH L/N H NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH L H Sh Pi N H Sh NH NH NH $35 9A& $22 10A $55+ 11A& $40 10A $40 $60+ 11A& $50+ 7P $25+ 7P& $22+ 9A& $40 10A& $65 11A& $125 7P $50 9A& $18 10A $15+ 11A $40 11A $40 6P $65 7P $50+ 1P& $65+ 12A& $40 12P $100 10A $40+ 12P& $30+ 10A& $44+ 1P& $44+ 10A $40+ 11A& $45+ 7P& $35+ 12P $45 10A $65 7P $23+ 4P $60 8A& $40+ 10A $40+ 7P $40 11A 7P $60 11A& $50+ 10A& $22 4A $22 7P& $145 12P $175 8P $35+ $120+ 2P $15 10A& 7P $15+ $20 12P $17 11A 6P $40 9A $25 10A Q ............... Qualify Sh ...........Shootout + ..Rebuys, Add-Ons OK F ............... Freeroll Lad ..... Ladies Only Men ........Men Only DAILY TOURNAMENTS NOW! Get Tournament Listings at our website: w w w. p o k e r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m www.pokerplayernewspaper.com Note: All tournaments are subject to change. Check with the Cardroom for any updates. Cardrooms— please send your schedules to Managing Editor A.R. Dyck, [email protected] | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY GAMES BUY-IN|TIME Z $17 8A NH $65 11A NH $50 10A NH $70 2P& NH $65 9A& NH $35+ 7P& NH $43+ 11A& NH $35 6P NH $25 10A GAMES BUY-IN|TIME Z $17 8A NH $65 11A NH $50 10A NH $70 2P& NH $65 9A& NH $35+ 10A NH $43+ 11A& NH $35 6P NH $25 10A& | FRIDAY GAMES BUY-IN|TIME Z $17 8A NH $65 11A NH $50 10A NH $70 2P& NH $65 9A& NH $35 10A NH $43+ 11A& NH $35 NH $25 10A& NHB NH NH NHZ NH NH NH NH H NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH L/N H NH NH NH NH O H/L B NH NH $35 9A& $22 10A $55+ 11A& $40 10A 7P $60+ 11A& $50+ 1P $25+ 7P& $22+ 9A& $40 10A& $65 6P $125 7P $50 9A& $19 10A $15+ 11A& $40 11A $40 6P $65 7P $50+ 1P& $65+ 12A& $40 12P $100 10A $40+ 12P& $30+ 10A& $44+ 1P& $44+ 10A $40+ 11A& $45+ 7P& $35+ 12P $45 10A $65 7P $23+ 4P $60 8A& $40+ 10A $40+ 7P $50+ 11A $37+ $60 11A& $50+ 10A& NHZ NH NH NH Horse NHB NH NH NHZ NH NH NH NH H NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH L/N H NH NH NH NH $35 9A& $22 10A $55+ 11A& $40 10A $40 7P $60+ 11A& $50+ 7P $25+ 7P& $22+ 9A& $40 10A& $125 11A& $125 7P $50 9A& $18 10A $15+ 11A $40 11A $40 6P $65 7P $50+ 1P& $65+ 12A& $40 12P $100 10A $40+ 12P& $30+ 10A& $44+ 1P& $44+ 10A $40+ 11A& $45+ 7P& $35+ 12P $45 10A $65 7P $23+ $60 8A& $40+ 10A $40+ 7P $40 11A NHZ NH NH NH NH NHB NH NH NHZ NH NH NH NH H NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH L/N H NH NH NH NHB $35 9A& $22 10A $55+ 11A& $40 10A $100 $60+ 11A& $50+ 1P $25+ 7P& $22+ 9A& $40 10A& $65 11A $230 $50 9A& $18 10A $15+ 11A $40 11A $40 6P $65 7P $50+ 1P& $65+ 12A& $40 12P $100 10A $40+ 12P& $30+ 10A& $44+ 1P& $44+ 10A $40+ 11A& $45+ 7P& $35+ 12P $45 10A $65 $23+ 4P $60 8A& $40+ 10A $40+ 7P $50+ 11A NH NH NH NH NH NH $22 4A $22 7P& $145 12P $175 8P NH NH NH NH NH 7 Sh NH $120+ 2P $15 12P& $22+ 7P $20 6P& $17 11A $22+ $40 9A $25 10A NH L H Sh $60 11A& $50+ 10A& 6P $22 4A $22 7P& $145 12P $175 8P 6P $120+ 2P $15 10A& NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH 7 Sh $60 11A& $50+ 10A& Var $22 4A $22 7P& $145 12P $175 8P $35+ $120+ 2P $15 12P& 7P NH NH NH F+ $40 6P& $17 11A NH NH $45+ 12P $17 11A NH NH $40 9A $25 10A NH NH $40 9A $25 10A NHZ NH NH NH N H Sh NH NH NH NH | SATURDAY | GAMES BUY-IN|TIME Z $17 8A NH $65 11A NH $50 10A NH $70 2P& NH $125 9A& NH $35 10A NH $43+ 11A& 4P NH $25 10A GAMES BUY-IN|TIME Z $17 8A NH $80+ 11A NH $50 10A NH $70 2P& NH $65 9A& NH $35 10A NH $43+ NH $40 NH $25 10A& 12P NHZ $35 9A& NH $22 10A NH $55+ 11A& NH $40 10A SUNDAY GAMES BUY-IN Z $17 NH $80+ NH $50 NH $70 NH $65 NH $35 NH NH NHZ NH NH L O H/L $25 $65 $35 $22 $55+ $40 $60+ 11A& $50+ 1P $35+ 7P& $30 12P& NHB NH NH NHZ $60+ $50+ $25+ $30 NH NH NH H NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH $125 $125 $50 $18 $35+ $40 $40 $65 $50+ $65+ $40 $100 $40+ $30+ $44+ $44+ $40+ $45+ $35+ $45 NH NH NH NH $60 $40+ $40+ $50+ NHZ NH NH NH $35 9A& $22 10A $55+ 11A& $40 10A NHB NHZ NH NHZ N HZ NH $60+ 11A& 1P $35+ 7P& $22+ 12P& $40 $65 NHB NHZ NH NHZ NH H NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH $50 9A& $18 10A $15+ 11A $40 11A $40 6P $65 7P $50+ 1P& $65+ 12A& $40 $100 10A $40+ 12P& $30+ 10A& $44+ $44+ 10A $40+ 11A& $45+ 7P& $35+ 10A $45 10A NH H NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH Lad N H NH 6P 5P $50 9A& $18 10A $15+ 2P $40 11A $40 6P $65 7P $50+ 1P& $65+ 12A& 12P $100 10A $40+ 12P& $30+ 10A& 1P& $44+ 10A $40+ 11A& $45+ 7P& $35+ 12P $45 10A L/N H NH NH NH NH $23+ 4P $60 8A& $40+ 10A $40+ 7P $40 11A L/N H NH NH NH NH $23+ $60 8A& $40+ 10A $40+ 7P $50+ 11A NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH $60 11A& $50+ 10A& Var $22 4A $22 7P& $540 12P $175 8P 2P NH NH $60 $50+ NH NH NH NH $60 11A& $50+ 10A& 6P $22 4A $22 7P& $145 12P $175 8P NH NH NH NH NH $22 $22 $145 $175 $35+ NH L H Sh NH $120+ $15 10A& $22+ 7 Sh N H Sh NH $20 12P $17 10A N H Sh NH $15 12P& 7P 12P $20 6P& $17 10A L H Sh NH H N H Lad NH $15 $22+ F+ $30 $17 NH NH $40 10A $25 10A NH NH $50 10A $25 10A NH NH $50 $25 NH NH NH DA I LY TO U R N A M E N T L I ST I N G S CO N T I N U E O N PAG E 23 Global Poker Run III (Continued from page 12) Tonight I’m going to play a lot of hands and be aggressive from the get-go.” “Good luck. It’s about time we took our seats.” I thought I recognized a couple faces at my table, but couldn’t say I knew anyone. It was a rather typical mix. My very first hand I had kings! Wow, maybe I was in for a big night. I won the hand but couldn’t encourage much of a pot. After that I had zilch. Once in a while I got some marginally promising hand like small runners or a small pair, but every time I tried to limp in, someone playing from Hobby’s game plan would put in a double or triple raise. When the first raise in blinds was announced, I was down to about 20 percent of my starting chips. There was no re-buy. I caught a pair of queens and hoped my luck was turning, but I lost to kings and I was the table’s short stack. I wouldn’t have bet my non-suited A-6 under-thegun, but the coming blinds would take most of what I had anyway, so I went all-in. Three others called. The flop was an A-6, which w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m held up. After that I was golden, winning most of my contested hands and before long I was at the final table. On the ride home I asked Hobby, “How much of my five-thou should I give Rose?” Write to author David Valley at: [email protected] S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 21 Winstar World Championship Series—$3 Million RIVER Event, PART 2 MIDWEST MILIEU ANTE UP! DAILY TOURNAMENTS Monday – Friday $35 Tournaments. By bonnie demos At 11 a.m. the remaining 150 players from the Winstar World Championship Series River Event began their battle for the title of first WWCS champion. The winner would receive a cash prize of $700,000 and gold bracelet, plus a bit of fame to boot, as it was a televised event. Finalists emerged from a field of almost 1,500 topnotch players from across the country and included poker greats Kido Pham and Winstar’s Red River RoundUp 2007 second place finisher, T.J. Cloutier. At the onset, play resembled a demolition derby, with the first table breaking in only five minutes, and nearly half of the field eliminated within the first hour. Things settled down after that and the field narrowed down to the final ten players around 10 p.m. Dominated by Texans, nine to be exact, the televised battle at the final table began with Annie Duke and Greg Raymer serving as live commentators for the high stakes event. Professional player Young Cho from Enid, Oklahoma with an impressive string of WPT and WSOP final table cashes under his belt was intent on capturing his fist major tournament title. After several hours of intense play, the championship was close to a reality for Cho as he and part-time player and novelist Jim Carroll, faced off in a heads-up battle for the title with very close to even chip stacks. Throughout the final table, Jim Carroll had been the comedian in the group. He chatted and joked with the announcer, pulled a few pranks, and brushed off the final table intensity with lighthearted jokes and comments while portraying the image of a passive, conservative player. When heads-up play began, Jim flawlessly switched gears and became the aggressor, retaining his affable façade all the while. He finished off the match in short order, and captured the title of first WWCS River Champion. After completing his hosting duties Greg Raymer came down to the floor to chat it up with both players and offer some oneon-one evaluation of their play. Greg is somewhat of a regular at the Winner Jim Carroll (left) with host Greg Raymer Winstar Poker room, and is often seen mixing it up with the players at cash games. The WWCS River was Winstar’s inaugural entry into the rarefied air of high stakes tournaments, offering a guaranteed prize pool of $3 million and televised events, but it won’t be the last. This highly successful event drew professional and high level players from almost every state in the country. Plans for the 2009 WWCS River are already in motion. Located in Thackerville, Oklahoma on the Texas border, the 46-table Winstar Casino poker room is the largest poker room in the Central Time Zone, and it is easily accessible from the Dallas airport. A new resort complex and extensive renovation of the existing property are currently near completion, and will offer players nationwide a new “must see” poker destination, in addition to the new “must play” WWCS events. Starting at 10:15 am. $20 “Live” Play Coupon with Tournament Buy-in. MONDAY 7 pm. $50 Buy-in. $10 Service Fee. $20 “Live” Play Coupon. TUESDAY & THURSDAY WEDNESDAY Ladies Night. 7 pm. $35 Buy-in. $200 Added. $20 “Live” Play Coupon. SATURDAY 10:15 am. $20 Buy-in. $10 Re-buys. $6,000 Guaranteed. SUNDAY $80 Buy-in. $10,000 Guaranteed. Earn additional tournament chips p byy playing p y g in the 2 hours prior to the start of the tournament. nt. 3400 E Highway 246, Santa Ynez, CA 1-800-chumash • chumashcasino.com Must be 18 or older. Chumash Casino Resort reserves the right to cancel or change promotions. Bonnie Demos from the midwest, Gambler, poker player and award winning chef, has enjoyed working in the gaming industry for the past several years. Write her at [email protected] 22 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 7 pm. $70 Buy-in. $10 Service Fee. No Re-buys. $4,500 Guaranteed. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m DA I LY TO U R N A M E N T L I ST I N G S (CO N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 2 1 ) MONDAY CALIFORNIANORTH CALIF.—SAN DIEGO & INLAND EMPIRE CALIFORNIA- NEVADA LOS ANGELES NORTH •GOLD BAR DENOTES ADVERTISER | TUESDAY TIME GAMES BUY-IN| TIME 1P& 8P 10A& 6P 1P 7P 8P 6P 7P 6P 1P 6P. 11A 7P 7P 7P 10A 6P 7P& 7P& 10A NH NH NHB NH NH NH NH NH NH O Pi H NH NH NH NH NH NH 5O NH NH NH NHB 6P $25 1P $25+ $25 10A& $30+ 6P $40 1P $60 7P $10+ $65+ 6P $30+ 7P $25+ 6P $30+ 1P $65+ 6P $30+ 11A $150 7P $125+ 7P $25+ 7P $30+ 7P& $10+ 6P $60+ 1P $40 7P& $20+ 10A& 7P 10A Pechaanga (30 0) 6P Sobob boba (23) 10A Sppotligh gght 29 2 , Cooac achellla (2 22) 11A& Sycuan y 10A& Viejas j 10A Village g Club 10A Angie’s g Poker Club, Chico 11A NH NH NH NH NH NH NH O NH Artichoke Joe’s 11A Bayy 101 Black Oak Casino, Tuolumne Black Sheepp Inn, Cameron Park Cache Creek California Grand Cameo Club, Stockton Casino Real Cardroom Central Coast Casino, Grover Beach Central Coast Casino, Paso Robles Club One Casino, Fresno 9A& 11A Harvey’s y Tahoe Peppppermi milll Rainbow Cas. W Wendover Sands Regency, g y Reno Winners Hotel/Casino-Winnemucca Biccyccle Clu ub ((17 7) Club Caribe Coommer mmerce cee Clubb (3 (36) 6) Crystal y Casino Diamond Jim’s Hawaii i an Garrdens (18) Holl llyw ywoood Park (35) Hustler Casino Norrmanddiee Ca No Casi sin si no (1) Casino Morongo g Casino Pauma Fantasyy Springs, p g Indio Harrah’s Rincon Lake Elsinore Luckyy Ladyy Oceans Eleven | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY GAMES BUY-IN|TIME H NH $25+ $25 1P& GAMES BUY-IN|TIME | FRIDAY GAMES BUY-IN|TIME NH $25 7P NH $115+ 6P 8P $25 10A& $12+ 6P $40 1P $60 $110 $25+ $25 10A& $30+ 4P $40 2P 6P $25 10A& $55+ 6P 7P NH NH NHB NH NH $35+ $50 $25 $30+ $60 2P $120+ 1P $30+ 5P $25+ 1P& $340 4A $20+ 1P $30+ 11A $120 5P 3P $25+ 4P $55 11A $20+ 4P $40+ 12P $40 5P $20+ 12P $22+ 10A $75 11A $35+ 10A 4P $40 1P& $30 11A& $36 10A& $12+ 10A $30+ 10A $20 11A& Mx NH NH NH NH NH NH HORSE Pai Gow NH H NH NH NH NH H NH NH NH NH NH NH NH LH NH $33 $65+ $120+ $50 $65+ $125+ $35+ $65 $25+ $5 $20+ $40+ $50-$3Kguar $7+ $22+ $100+ $20+ $40+ $45 $30 $16+ $12+ $25+ $20 NH $49+ Sp L H NH NH $70+ $25 $55 NH NH 10A 10A $20 10A $10 LH NH $55 $30+ $20 NH $60 12P NH $50 NH LH NHB O Po NH $25 10A& $18+ 6P $40 1P $60 7P NHB N H Turbo NH NH $25 10A& $18+ 6P $40 1P $60 7P NHB NHZ NH NH NH NH LH O H/L NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NHB $65+ 6P $30+ 7P $20+ 6P $65 1P $55+ 6P $30+ 11A $35+ 7P $125+ 7P $25+ 7P $50+ 10A $10+ 7P $30+ 7P& $40 7P& $20+ 10A& NH NH Lad L H NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NHB NHB $65+ 6P $30+ 7P $25 $55+ 1P $55+ 6P $30+ 11A $150 7P $230 7P $25+ 7P $30 7P& $15+ 7P $60+ 7P& $40 7P& $20+ 10A NH NH $65+ 1P $50+ 7P NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH H NH NH NH NHB $30+ 4A $65+ 4P $30+ 11A $35+ 7P $125+ $25+ 4P $60 10A $15+ 4P $60+ 7P& $40 12P $20+ 10A NH NH NH NH $50+ 7P $20+ 10A $20+ 6P $25 10A& $30 11A& $16+ 10A& $12+ 10A& $30+ 10A $20 11A NH NH NH NH NH NH O H/L NH NH $50+ 7P $35+ 10A $20+ 6P $30 10A& $30 11A& $16+ 10A& $12+ 10A& $30+ 10A $20 11A $50+ 10A $20+ 10A $35+ 9P $25 10A $30 11A& $16+ 10A& $12+ 10A& $30+ 10A $20 11A NH NH $40 10A $20+ 10A $20+ 6P $30 10A& $30 11A& $16+ 10A& $12+ 10A& $30+ 10A $20 11A LH $28+ 11A LH $25 6P Sp L H NH $70+ 9A $25 11A Sp L H NH $50+ 9A $25 11A NH NH NH NH NH NH NH O NH L H/L O H/L Sp L HH NH H $25+ 12P 6P $20 10A F 10A $27+ 7P& 12P 6P 10A NH NH 10A 7P& NH NH $40+ $20 10A 10A $5 $100 7P NH NH NH $50+ 11A LH $48 $55+ 9A& $25 11A Sp L H NH $50+ 9A $25 11A O H/L $55 6P H $10 NH NH $40+ $20 10A 10A $25 $50 7P& NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NHB NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NHB NH $120+ 1P NH $30+ 7P NH 1P LH $65+ 2P Wk1&3 N H $155 6P Mx $30+ 11A LH $225 3P N H Sh $25+ 4P $45 11A $20+ 4P $110 12P $40 11A& $20+ 10A 10A $40 10A $20+ 10A $20 + $25 11A $30 11A& $26+ 10A& $12+ 10A $30+ 10A $20 11A& NH NH NH NH NH NH O H/L NH NH NH NH NH NH O NH 6P $20 10A $5 10A F 10A SUNDAY GAMES BUY-IN|TIME NHB N H Turbo NH NH NHB NH NH O O NH | SATURDAY | GAMES BUY-IN|TIME Sp L H NH NH NH NH $110 9A $25 11A $20 10A 10A $5 $27+ 7P& Sp L H NH $125+ 9A $25 11A 2P GAMES BUY-IN DA I LY TO U R N A M E N T L I ST I N G S CO N T I N U E O N PAG E 25 w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 23 What Time Is It? It’s Mickey Mauer Summer Camp Time! FISHING AROUND By Jan Fisher OK, that’s a little hokey but after spending my second year at Mickey’s Camp (http://mickeyscamp.com), I just felt like getting silly and Kumbaya for a title was even worse! Mickey’s is a summer camp for adults that raises lots of money for the less fortunate. The camp at Bradford Woods in Martinsville, Indiana is 2,500 acres and lush in foliage, lakes, swimming pool, marshmallow pits, and many man-made areas complete with climbing walls, alpine towers, obstacle courses, and lots of cabins to house the campers. Though the camp is pricey, Mickey Mauer, the founder and philanthropist managed to get all the meals donated and mostly volunteer instructors so that $1,100 of the $1,500 tuition goes to the various charities. One of the beauties of the structure is that each camper can designate a portion of his or her proceeds to a preferred charity. I was there because they needed some poker experts. Mike Sexton volunteered for the position in the past, but he was unavailable last year and recommended that Linda Johnson and I teach the first year camp for women. We gladly accepted and taught at the YMCA in Shelbyville, Indiana. They invited us back, not only for the women’s camp but for the reintroduction of poker as a men’s activity. We taught two sessions for each, then ran a tournament for the women and another for the men. The 131 women and 135 men had 42 activities to choose from, including backgammon, billiards, bridge, fly fishing, scuba, shotgun, gourmet cooking, wine tasting, raft racing, yoga, canoeing, boxing, guitar, politics, golf, chess, and beer tasting. Mickey’s raised more than $100,000 per year for local and national charities and now, in the second year of a camp for women and for men, the $1,000,000 mark was topped. Last year, $235,000 went to 90 different charities! Many campers come back year after year and are treated like royalty. The first night is a meet and great at the dinner tent. After a great meal, the microphone is passed and campers introduces themselves. It’s amazing how accomplished this group is… doctors, lawyers, architects, scientists, philanthropists, friends and family of Mauer’s, firefighters, police officers, and on and Men’s winners (l to r, above): Larry Smith (2nd), Greg Johnson (1st) and Kevin Etzkorn (3rd). on. I felt rather shallow You know that’s me in back! when I got the mic and Ladies winners (l to r, front row, below): told them I was a poker Marcia Goldstone (2nd—this year and last!), Janie Maurer (1st), and Lou Fludzinski (3rd). player! Oh well… poker In back, it’s me again with Mickey himself! is now “accepted!” Running two poker tournaments was a lot of fun and the ladies had about 50 players while the men had close to 100. We did our best to teach them the TDA rules but it is challenging with mostly novices who are more concerned with having fun. I enjoyed being a camper when I wasn’t teaching and took some cool courses. Self-defense, juggling, magic, jumping off a high tower (on a rope of course), massage, skeet, rifle, hand guns, and so much more. The evenings were highlighted by speeches from the governor, and the retired head of the space program who now is into Indiana politics. There also were pool and billiards demonstrations twice—one nine-time Guinness Book of World Records champion LoreeJon Jones and the latter by the famous Black Widow. I sure hope the course dates work next year; I’d hate to miss it. Come and join me! Moving right along! )(-, #' ),0, Editor’s Note: Jan Fisher has 30 years experience as a poker player, tournament director, strategist/columnist, cofounder of the Tournament Directors Association, Partner in Card Player Cruises, WPT Boot Camp instructor and statistician, and live studio announcer for the Professional Poker Tour. E-mail Jan at [email protected]. 24 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m Time. Some events &. ........ Additional Limit Hold’em start after the hour gametimes. Call. N ..........No Limit A, P ....... AM, PM ..... Hold’em L ................ Limit Wk .............Week .No Limit Hold’em ..........Stud MONDAY •GOLD BAR DENOTES ADVERTISER SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIANORTH TIME AZ CO KS NM Colusa Casino Comstock Card Room, Tracyy Del Rio Casino, Isleton Feather Falls Cas., Oroville Folsom Lake Bowl Garden Cityy Gold Countryy Cas.-Oroville Gold Rush Golden West-Bakersfield Jackso ckso son Ra Ranc nche h ri ria Kelly’s y Cardroom Limelight g Cardroom-Sac’to Livermore Casino Luckyy Buck Cardroom, Livermore Luckyy Chances Luckyy Derbyy Casino Merced Poker Room Mike’s Card Casino. Oakdale Napa p Valleyy Casino Oaks Card Club-Emeryville y 101 Club-Petaluma Pastime Cardroom, Benicia Pete’s 881 Club Phoenix Casino Poker Flats, Merced River Club Casino-Petaluma River Rock Casino-Geyserville y San Pablo Lytton y Casino Sho Ka Wah, Hopland p Tachi Palace Casino Turlock Poker Room Wine Countryy Casino Apache p Gold Blu Bl ue Watter Casin inoo (26) (2 ) Bucky’s y Casino Caasino no Ariz.-Sc z. cotttsd sdaale (11)) Casino Del Sol Cliff Castle Fort McDowell B ......... Bounties T ............... Turbo .7-Card Stud ..... Omaha Pi........Pineapple Pn......Panginque DCDealer’s Choice Sp ........... Spread .5-Card Stud H/LHigh/Low Split Po........Pot Limit Mx .Mexican Poker HH ...Headhunter Al ......Alternates DAILY TOURNAMENTS (CONT’D FROM PAGE 23) 6P Wk1 Lad N H 10A& NH 10A Sp L 7P NH 10A& 6P 10A& 11A 9A 9A 9A 11A& 10A 6P | TUESDAY GAMES BUY-IN| TIME NH Sh NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH 6P $55+ 6P $40 10A& $60+ 10A $25 7P 1P 6P $30+ 10A& $20 $25 10A& $25+ 11A $20 9A $65+ 9A $14+ 9A $7 11A& 0+ 10A $60 6P 7P 7P | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY GAMES BUY-IN|TIME LH NH NH H NH H Sh NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH $15 $10+ 6P $40 10A& $40+ 10A $25 7P $15 1P $20+ 6P $30+ 10A& 6P $25 10A& $25+ 11A $20 9A $175 9A $14+ 9A $7 11A& 0+ 10A $60 6P 6P $50 F GAMES BUY-IN|TIME 6P LO NH Sp L NH H Sh NH NH Sh NH NH NH NH NH NH NH LH LH 6P $55+ $40 10A& $40+ 10A $25 7P $15 1P $58 $30+ 10A& $20 $25 10A& $25+ 11A $20 9A $65+ 9A $14+ 9A $7 11A& 0+ 10A $60 $65+ 7P 7P 6P 10A 11A& 7P NH NH NH NH $80+ $30+ 10A $15 11A& $17+ 5P 7P 10A& 10A NH NH NH NH $55+ $45 7P $12 10A& $20 10A NH NH NH $60 7P $12 10A& $20 10A 6P NH NH NH H $115 $12 10A& $20 10A $25+ 7P 7P 11A 10A 10A 12P& NH HZ N H Sh NH 12P $60 7P $10+ 10A $25 10A $13+ 12P& H NH O H/L Z L H Sh NH $25+ $130 7P $10+ 10A $25 10A& $13+ 12P& NH Cz Pi Z N H Sh NH $130 11A $10+ 10A $25 10A $13+ 12P& $20 11A $30+ 1P& F 6P HB NH H NH NH Gila River/Wild Horse Pass 12P NH $25+ Gila River-Vee Quiva Harrah’s Ak Chin Hon-Dah Casino Paradise Casino Gilpin p Hotel & Casino Midnight g Rose-Cripple pp Crk Ute Mountain Prairie Band Casino & Resort Cities of Gold Isleta Casino & Resort Route 66 Casino Sand n ia Cassinoo (2 25) 11A 1P& 6P 7B NH Flop $20 11A $30+ 1P& $10 6P HB NH H Sh 12P& 8P 6P 6P& 6P 2P 11A N H Sh NH H NH NH NH NH $10+ 12P& $60 7P $20+ $25+ 6P& $30 6P $10+ 2P $25 11A 7P NHZ NH $30+ 10A $15 11A& 7P 7P NH NH NH NH $30+ 10A $15 11A& $55 $55 NH Cz Pi NH NH Var $40 12P $30 6P $20+ 2P $25 11A $35 FRIDAY NH NH H NH H Sh $30+ 6P 6P $40 10A& $40+ 10A $25 12P& $15 1P $50 10A NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH O H/L HB $25 10A& $25+ 11A $20 9A $120 $14+ 9A $7 11A& 0+ 10A | SATURDAY | GAMES BUY-IN|TIME NH $30+ 4P 12P LH $15 6P NH $45 NH $40 10A& Sp L $60+ NH $25 12P& H Sh $15 1P 2P $60 10A 5P NH $25 10A& NH $25+ 11A NH $20 9A O NH NH $30+ $15 11A& 7P NH $40 10A& NH $40 NH H Sh LH $15 12P& $15 $5+ 2P $60 10A& F 6P $25 1P $25+ 7P $20 9A 9A 11A $7 11A& 0+ 10A $60 2P $65+ 1P 5P NH $15 NH NH NH NH $25+ $7 11A& 0+ 10A 2P 11A NH NH NH Var 12P NH 5P 11A $12 10A& $20 10A $20 $25 NH NH NH NH $15 5P $55 5P Wk1 10A 9P $55+ 5P $35+ 11P $12 10A& $20 10A $60 11A $10+ 10A $25 10A $13+ 12P& NH Pi N H Sh NH 12P $60 10AWk4 $10+ $25 11A $13+ 12P& $20 11A $30+ 1P& $10 6P $20 $30+ 1P& $25 N H Sh NH $10+ 12P& $35 7P NHZ NH $24 12P& $55+ 2P NH NH NH NH $10+ 7P& $30 6P $5+ 2P $25 11A NH NH NH NH $40+ 12P $30 6P $20+ 2P $25 11A NH NH $25+ SUNDAY GAMES BUY-IN|TIME GAMES BUY-IN NH $30+ 2P Wk2 N H $170 NH $40+ 12P NH $40+ LH $15 $50 F NH NHZ L H Sh NH Men H NAI HB NH O H/L 12P $24 12P& $45 7P | GAMES BUY-IN|TIME NH $15+ 6P Z........ Freezeout Sh ........Shootout Cz ............. Crazy + Re-buys and/or E...... Elimination Add-ons allowed Q ............Qualify F ............Freeroll NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH H NH $55+ 6P 11A $40 $125 $55 $65 9P $75 5P $35+ $12 10A& $20 10A 3P 2P $25+ 1P $150 NH NH $15+ $120 N H Sh $20 NH $50 NH $60 NH $20 NH $225 Lad N H $14+ NH $7 NH 0+ NH $60 NH $125+ NH $20+ NH O/8 NH $45+ $50+ NH NH $65 $15 NH NH H O H/L 7F $12 $20 $20+ $25 $80+ 10A $13+ 12P& O Sh NH $25 $13+ 11A $60 12P& $10 $13 1P $20+ 12P& $60 12P 12P $10+ 3A $40 5P $5+ 2P $18 11A 12P HB NH $20 $60 H NH NH 7 NH NB NH NH Var $13 $20+ $55 $15 $200+ $110 $5+ $25 $35 12P NH NH NH NH NH $30+ 12P& 3P 1P $10+ 12P& F 12P NH H O H/L NH NH $100 10A $50 5P $20+ 2P $25 7P NH NH NH NH DA I LY TO U R N A M E N T L I ST I N G S CO N T I N U E O N PAG E 27 NON-SMOKING • 8 TABLES • OPEN 24 HOURS Win your share of over $40,000 4000 W. FLAMINGO ROAD • LAS VEGAS • 367-7111 POKER ROOM SPREADING $2- $4 $100 & $4- $8 Limit Hold’em (Full Blind • 1/2 Kill) Buy-In • $1- $2 Blinds • No-Limit Hold’em $4- $8 Omaha High $3 Maximum Rake on All Games Lowest Poker Rake in Town ...in the No-limit Texas Hold-em tournament on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 2 pm. Registration begins on October 1, 2008 at 8 am at the poker cage. DAILY HOLD’EM TOURNAMENT 10am • $22 BUY-IN • NO RE-BUYS $265 + $30 + $5 PROGRESSIVE HIGH HAND JACKPOTS 4-of-a-Kind Starts at $50 Straight and Royal Flushes Starts at $100 505.796.7744 800.526.9366 HOST YOUR OWN PRIVATE OR COMPANY TOURNAMENT Contact Poker Floor Supervisor for Details Close to Home... Far from Ordinary www.sandiacasino.com 30 Rainbow Road N.E. • Albuquerque, NM 87113 w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m *Total prize money is based on maximum participation. Complete rules available in the Sandia Resort & Casino Poker Room. S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 25 Cherokee Siloam Springs: It Didn’t Rain on Their Parade The timing was right, or Mother Nature and the weatherman appear to be very fond of poker players, because the Cherokee Casino in Siloam Springs, OK squeezed in a nice, nine-event poker tournament and managed to do so just a few days before Hurricane Ike dropped more rain in that part of the country in 24 hours than we Southern Californians see in an entire year. Their Third Annual Blast to the Past Poker Tournament, held over a six day period, featured buy-ins ranging from $120 - $550. BLAST TO THE PAST 8/28/08 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $100 + $20 PLAYERS 17 PRIZE POOL $1,700 1. Ryan Watson . . . . . . . . .$765 2. Nickolas Amos . . . . . . .$459 8/27/08 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM JACK & JILL BUY-IN $100 + $20 PLAYERS 64 (32 TEAMS) PRIZE POOL $2,880 CHEROKEE—SILOAM SPRINGS BLAST TO THE PAST 8/31/08 MAIN EVENT— NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $500 + $50 PLAYERS 28 Mike & Shanna Barnett Mike Barnett . . . . . . . . .$648 Shanna Barnett . . . . . . .$648 Mary Loos . . . . . . . . . . .$360 David Ramsey . . . . . . . .$360 BLAST TO THE PAST PRIZE POOL 8/2708 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM $13,580 BUY-IN $100 + $20 Rudy Foutz PLAYERS 33 1. Rudy Foutz . . . . . . . . $6,790 2. Clint Karstetter . . . . $4,074 3. Sean Sanaikone . . . . . $2,716 BLAST TO THE PAST TIE. TIE. TIE. TIE. 8/30/08 OMAHA HI-LO PRIZE POOL $2,931 Elizabeth Little 1. Elizabeth Little . . . . . $1,296 2. Rick Gebhart . . . . . . . .$743 BUY-IN $100 + $20 PLAYERS 29 PRIZE POOL $2,610 1. Michael D Baker . . . $1,305 2. Royce Cates . . . . . . . . . .$783 3. Ernie Grant . . . . . . . . . .$522 BLAST TO THE PAST 8/29/08 TRIPLE DRAW LOW BALL MORE Poker etiquette BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN Rule No. 6—Act in Turn. Poker is a game based on position. Poker should be played clockwise after the blinds. The game’s basic premise is that position is paramount. Acting out-of-turn provides other players at the table with an unfair advantage. Players are more likely to contemplate making a move when they know they have fewer opponents left to act behind them. My daddy taught me a good way to circumvent this problem. Only look at your cards when it is your turn to act. Doing this guards against your giving off any hints or tells about your hand, and forces you to act in turn. Rule No. 7—All Money on the Table is in Play. The other night while playing at the Bellagio, a man at the table had about $400 in bills on the table, along with $150 in chips. He opened the pot for $50 in an aggressive $2-$5 no-limit hold’em game and was faced with a raise of $150. When it came time to make his decision he casu- BUY-IN $100 + $20 PLAYERS 9 ENDLESS SUMMER 9/11/08 PRIZE POOL $810 Bobby Prier Monte Snyder $2,165 1. Monte Snyder . . . . . . . .$405 2. Billy Harrington . . . . . .$243 3. Kevin Kelsey . . . . . . . . .$162 BLAST TO THE PAST ENDLESS SUMMER DEEPSTACK 9/10/08 8/29/08 POT LIMIT OMAHA Keenan Smith BUY-IN $100 + $20 PLAYERS 10 PRIZE POOL $2,315 $900 1. Monte Snyder . . . . . . . .$630 2. Alan Toland . . . . . . . . . .$270 BLAST TO THE PAST ENDLESS SUMMER 9/1/08 8/28/08 Aaron Moskowitz LIMIT H.O.S.E. BUY-IN $100 + $20 $2,150 PLAYERS 25 PRIZE POOL ENDLESS SUMMER 8/28/08 $2,500 Shinji Kakihara Mike Baker 1. Mike Baker . . . . . . . . $1,125 2. Doyle Bratton . . . . . . . .$675 3. Greg Judkins . . . . . . . .$450 26 P O K E R P L AY E R $1,895 S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 ally slipped the remaining bills into his pocket and proceeded to call with the remainder of his chips. The other players informed him that what he did was unacceptable. By oklahoma SARAH hale Ryan Watson BLAST TO THE PAST Thanks so much for joining me back here for the second article about poker etiquette. These are the remaining five of the top ten rules that novice players should be mindful of at the poker table. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m Poker is played at table stakes, meaning that money always plays and cannot be removed from the table. Small items like cocktails, food, and massages can be purchased with chips or cash, but for the most part this rule is concrete. Rule No. 8—Splashing the Pot. This is a rule that novice players frequently disregard. When you are calling or placing a bet you should leave the money or checks directly in front of you. Do not put the money into the communal pot. Slashing the pot makes it difficult for the dealer and other players to see if the pot is correct or to make any valuable calculations based on the relationship of the bet to the size of the pot. The dealer will make any adjustments necessary as long as you announce your action. Rule No. 9—Keep Hollywooding in Hollywood. Sometimes while playing poker you are faced with decisions that may take more than your average allotment of time and it is perfectly acceptable to courteously inform the table that you may need a bit more time to come to your decision. But for normal, mundane decisions, please act as quickly as possible. The only exception to this rule is in a tournament when you are down to the final few tables. In this situation if you are seated at the short handed table the blinds will hit you faster then is fair. This is the only time I recommend playing slower than average. Rule No. 10—Don’t Educate a Player. No matter how bad you feel when someone sucks out on you, do not educate or berate novice or poor players. The real winning player will smile, knock the table, and wait for a time to extract sweet revenge. We all made our mistakes in the school of hard knocks, so why pass on valuable knowledge to someone who maybe has gotten lucky a time or two but has the capability to fund our bankroll? If you educate a novice, guess what? He will no longer be a novice! Thank again for joining me this time. I am Oklahoma Sarah and I always Stay Lucky! You may contact Sarah and OK-J at Oklajohnny@aol. com. Visit Oklahoma Sarah and Oklahoma Johnny at their website— www.ok-j.com. DA I LY TO U R N A M E N T L I ST I N G S (CO N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 25 ) MONDAY OK OR Chinook Winds Casino WA NORTHWEST Wildhorse Casino Resort Blue Mountain Casino Chips p Bremerton Chips p La Center Chips p Lakewood Chips p Tukwila Drift-On-Inn Final Table Cas., Everett Goldie’s Little Creek Casino Muckleshoot Casino Northern Quest Point Defiance Cafe & Cas., Tacoma Suquamash q Clearwater Wild Grizzly NORTHEAST | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY $35 10A 10A $25 7P $20 10A $20+ 7P $25+ 6P $40 7P $115 7P $30 7P NH LH NH Lad N H NH Lad N H NH NH 4P H $25+ 4P O H/L $25+ 4P 1P 9A 12P 9A 4P 11A 12P 11A 7P 7P 10A 10P 11A 5P N O H/L NH NH NH NH H NH NH LO NH NH NH NH NH 6P $20+ 1P $20 9A $35 12P $20 9A $20 4P $35 11A $30+ 12P $13+ 11A $15+ 7P $65+ 7P $35 10A $40 7P $20 11A $13+ 5P H NH NH NH NH NH H NH NH L/N H NH NH NH NH NH $18+ $20+ 1P $20 9A $35 12P $20 9A $20 4P $35 11A $30+ 12P $13+ 11A $25 $65 7P $35 10A $115 10P $20 11A $13+ 5P $35 10A 10A $35 7P $20 10A $20+ 10A& $65+ 6P $20 $60 1P $30+ 7P NH NHB $35 10A 10A $120 7P $20 10A $20+ $25+ 6P 7P $60 1P $35 7P NH $25+ 4P NH NH NH NH NH NHB NH NH NH NH 6P $20+ 1P $20 9A $35 12P $20 9A $20 4P $35 11A $30+ 7P& $13+ 11A 7P $80 7P $35+ 10A $40 7P $20 11A $13+ 5P 7 $10+ 7P NH NH NH NH NH H NH NH 7P 4 Bears Casino 7P ND Dakota Magic 7P NE Rosebud Casino 7P SD Dakota Sioux 6P Gold Dust Cas., Deadwood Rosebud Casino 7P Silverado Casino Deadwood 6P NH NJ NY Poker Room at Nashua Elks Rockingham g Park, Salem The Lodge g at Belmont Seabrook Greyhound Park Caesars Atlantic City Harrah’s Atlantic City Tropicana p Tru Tr ump Ta Taj Mah Mahal Akwesasne Mohawk Majesty j Casino Boar Seeneca Alleg egan a y (2 2) Sene necaa N Niaagara raa (2) 2) IA IL MIDWEST TUESDAY MT Black Jack’s Casino CT Foxwoods IN MI MN WI MISSISSIPPI RIVER | NH Srs N H NH NH NH NH NH NHB 110A 0A 5P Cherrok okeee-Rola oland 10A Ch herokkee-W -W W. Silooam m 10A Comanche Red River Cas. 6P Thunderbird Casino, Norman 7P WinStar World Casino 7P Astoria Bar & Poker Room, Eugene g 7P Cherokee Ch ee-Cat atoo at ooosa PACIFIC NORTHWEST PACIFIC NORTHWEST SOUTHWEST •GOLD BAR DENOTES ADVERTISER LA MO MS Turn Tu nin ingg St S on one (1 (14) 4) Catfish Bend Diamond Jo’s “Worth” Isle of Capri p Winn-A-Vegas g F+ 7P NH $30+ 7P $65+ 2P $40 7P $115 11A $45 7P NH $25+ 4P H NH NH N O H/L H/L Sp Z $33+ $20+ 1P $20 9A $35 12P $20 9A $20 4P $35 11A $25+ 12P $13+ 11A $45 $65 11A $40 10A $65 10P $20 11A $13+ NH NH NH NH NH NH NH H NH NH NH NH NH $65+ 2P F 5P $165 $30 3P NH NH NHB Deepstack $35 10A 10A $120 NH $35 N H Deepstack $110 4P NH $25+ 1P $20+ 1P $20 9A $100 12P $20 9A $20 4P $35 11A $30+ 12P $13+ 11A $35 $60 11A 10A $40 7P $20 $25+ H NH NH NH NH NH H NH NH $18+ $20+ $20 $35 $20 $20 $35 $50+ $28+ NH NH NH $60 $35 $115 H F+ $60+ $50 $50 3P $25+ $20+ 1P $20 9A $35 12P $20 9A $20 4P $35 11A $30+ 12P $13+ 11A 5P $60 11A $35 $40 10P $20 11A 2P N O H/L NH NH NH NH H NH NH NB NH NH $10+ 2P H NH NH F $100 $10+ 7P H $20+ $25 7P NH 2P NH $30+ 3P NH $30+ 7P NH $30+ 6P O H/L $10+ 4P NH 7P NH $25+ 4P 2P $30+ 6P 3P NHZ H NH NH $60 $40 $30+ $88 NH $340 12P NH $560 12P NH $340 NH $75 6P& NH $40 6P N H League $40 7P NH $50 5P& NH $80+ 3P NH $150 8P LH $30+ 4P NH $120 6P NHZ $57 7P NH $65 7P N H Deepstack $90 11A NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH Terminator $75 2P& $60 2P $20+ 5P& $50 1P& $80+ 1P $330 12P $60+ 12P $225 6P& $37+ 12P $65 7P $60 10A NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NHZ NH NH $60+ 2P& $60 2P $75 1P& $50+ 1P& $100+ 7P $560 12P $65+ 12P $340 6P $87 7P $65 7P $120 12P NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH $60+ $60 $50 $50+ $85+ $1,200 $55+ $120 $58 $65 $60 Poker League $95 10A Poker League $95 N H Sh $50 NH $40+ NH $65 NH $60 10A Deepstack $120 10A 6P $85 11A $20+ 3P Var 12P NH Deepstack NH NH NH $50 $120 $120 $60 $25+ 2P N H/O $10+ 11A NH $90 7P H $230 6P 6P& NH 5P& 3P 7P 7P 6P 7P NH NH NH NH NH NHZ $50 5P& $80+ 3P $150 12P $30+ 7P $120 6P $67 7P NH NH NH 7 NH NHZ 11A 7P 10A 7P 12P 7P 6P 10A NHB NHB NH NH LH NH O H/L NH $55 11A $55 7P $60 10A $60 7P $60 7P $20+ 7P $30+ 6P $15 6P NH NH NH NH NHB NH NH NH $75 6P& 6P $35 7PWk1 7P NH NH NH $40 $45+ $100+ 12P& Sit N Go $55/100 NH $55+ 6P 12P 7P 7P NH NH NH 6P Wk3 NH $25 12P $25+ $35+ 6P $120+ 6P H $110 7P H $50 BNH $65 7P NH $11+ NH $180 6P NH $150+ 6P NH $230 6P NH NH $75 6P& $40 6P 7P $50 5P& $80+ 3P $120 7P $30+ 7P $65 6P $57 7P 7P $40 11A $40 7P $60 10A $60 7P $50+ 7P $20+ 7P $45 $15 6P 7P NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH NH $75 6P& $40 6P $20+ 7P $50 5P& $80+ 3P $150 7P $40+ 7P $65 6P $27+ 7P $65 7P $60 6P $40 $60 10A $60 7P $85+ 12P $20+ 7P 6P $50 $10+ 1P NH 7 NHZ H $75+ NH N H/O NH 6P $50 1P& 6P 6P NH NH Pi Pi 7P $25+ 6P NH NH $25 12P 7P 7P $30+ 6P Wk2 F+ NH NH NH 7P $85+ 12A $100+ 12P& $10+ 6P $10+ 6P $25+ 12P $40+ 6P& $65+ 6P $120+ 6P $25 1P& $35 12P& $90+ 11A& NH NH NH $25 1P& $35 12P& $35+ 5P& NH $65 1P NH $65 1P 7P $20+ $100 6P& $45 1P& $60 6P& $150 $42 12P& $100 12P $200 6P $35+ 7P $120 12P& $150 1P& $25+ NH $130B 7P NH NH NH NH NHZ Sit N Go NH NH NH NHB NH Var 11A 1P& 12P& 4A& NH NH NH $25 1P& $35 12P& $65 5P& NH NH NH 1P NH $65 1P NH NH NHB NH NH NHZ Sit N Go NH NH NH NH NH $65+ $20+ 7P $25 6P& $25+ 1P& $60 6P& $100 6P $45 12P& $65 6P $55+ 6P $125 7P $150 12P& $120 3P 8P NHB $25 6P& N H DeepStack $600 1P& NH $60 6P& Sit N Go NH NHZ NH NHB NH NH LH NH NH NH $50 $65+ $80 10A $30+ 6P $35+ 6P $200 12-10P Sit N Go $55/100 $25+ $75+ NH 11A 11A& Var NH NH NH $160 NH 6P 7P 7P 6P& 1P& 6P& 11A& 12P& 12P 6P 7P 12P& 6P NH NH NH NH Tahoe H/L NH N O H/L NH NH NH NH H Lad N H NH NH NH NH NH $35 10A 10A NH 4P Wk1-4 N H B $20 7P NH Grand Casino(Tunica) NH $10+ 6P 2-10P 6P $35 10A 10A $30 $20 10A SUNDAY $30+ $30+ $44 1P 11A 7P F+ 7P NH Lad N H NH | SATURDAY | NH NH NH Belterra (Florence) Horseshoe Southern Indiana Majestic j Star Chip-In’s p Island The Island Resort, Harris Lac Vieux Desert Cas., Watersmeet Can Ca nterbury Par arkk (3 (33 3) Fortune Bay Casino Northern Light g Casino Shootingg Star Casino Menominee Casino Oneida Casino, Green Bay Potawatomi Northern Lights, g Carter St Croix Casino, Turtle Lake Grand Coushatta Horseshoe CasinoShreveport p Harrah’s St Louis Lumiere Place Gold Strike Casino (Tunica) S H/L FRIDAY 7 H/L Hollywood Casino-Aurora Horseshoe Casino (Tunica) Pearl River Resort Dania Jai-Alai Derby Lane Gulfstream Park Racingg & Casino Hard Rock Mardi Gras Gamingg Ctr, Hollywd Palm Beach Kennel Club Palm Beach Princess Seminole Casino Brighton g Seminole Hollywood Cas. The Isle at Pompano p Park CANADA Casino Regina FLORIDA S | $45 12P& $100 6P $120 6P $20+ $150 12P& $100 6P NHZ N H Sat NH 12P $50 12P& $40+ 1P $35+ 1P Wk3 12P $25 2P $30 7P $55+ $60 NH NH NH LH F$5+ 12P NHZ $25 12P N H Sat $40 + 12P 12P 12P $140 1P& NH $40 2P $35 12P NH $55 4P $120 5P& NH $120+ 11A& NHB $100 1APCAWDSEOMPY $65+ 1P NH $65+ 4P NH $65+ 2P 2P N H Sh $35 NHB $50 6P& NH $100 6P& N H DeepStack $600 2P& N H DeepStack $600 2P& NH $60 6P& NH $60 6P& 11A NHZ $150 11A& Sit N Go $42 12P& Sit N Go $45 12P& NH $65 12P Sh $65 12P NH $200 6P NH $200 6P 7P NH $150 7P NHB $150 12P& NH $100 12P& NH $350 2P NH $200 2P NH NH NHZ w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m $200+ $200 8A& NH $60 3P NH $35+ 6P NHB 2P NH Lad N H $100+ 10A Wk3 N H 5P NH NH $10+ 12P 7 NH $50+ 12P NH $60 NH NH NH NH NH Var $80 $25+ $25+ $30+ $50+ $15+ $10+ $30+ $115 Var NH NH NH $110 12P $55 12P& $35+ 1P& NH NH BNH $25 $35 $65+ NH $130 1P NH $130 NH $130+ 4P NHB NH NH NHZ Sit N Go NH NH NH NH NH S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 $100 5P& $60 1P $120 6P& $200 $45 12P& $65 12P $200 6P $130 $65 12P& $200 12P $130+ NHB $50 N H DeepStack $600 NH $60 Sit N Go NH NH $45 $100 $200 NHB NH $150 $350 P O K E R P L AY E R 27 Happy Hour and Iron Man X X X X Poker Player Word ONLINE POKER Paul “Dr. Pauly” McGuire I took a hiatus from online poker earlier this summer when I lived in Las Vegas. With live poker just a five minute drive away, online poker became an afterthought. When my assignment at the 2008 World Series of Poker was complete, I quickly drove back to Los Angeles. I didn’t waste any time and immediately found myself back into my old routine—grinding away at the virtual tables. I primarily play cash games on Full Tilt and lucky for me they were in the middle of a promotion which catered to my online poker diet. Full Tilt Poker hosts happy hour promotions, where during designated times players can earn up to triple player points. The majority of the time, you earn double points for playing cash games and specific tables during random two-hour periods. I was multi-tabling limit hold’em and stud tables and accumulating double player points during happy hours. Those extra player points are eligible towards Full Tilt’s Iron Man Promotion, which rewards their regular players. All you have to do is earn at least 50 player points a day for 20 days, or earn 100 points over 15 days within a calendar month to qualify for the lowest level of iron man status. Not only do you get a nifty special chip next to your avatar—so your opponents can wilt in fear knowing that you are a true grinder—but you also qualify for an exclusive freeroll only open to qualifiers. Visit Full Tilt Poker’s website (http://www.fulltiltpoker.com) for more information on their promotions. It took me most of the entire month of August, but I reached the highest iron man level. I can’t tell if I should be proud of that accomplishment or be ashamed of my utter degeneracy. Most of the time, online poker is a video game for me. The money lacks significance. My online bankroll is nothing more than a score total and lacks any physical or material value. In a live poker game you play with chips, but always have to rebuy with greenbacks. When you dig into your pocket and pull out a couple of big bills of the local currency, you can imagine the buying power of the money in your hand as you toss it to the dealer for a rebuy or call over a chip runner to snag you more bullets. But when you reload online all it takes is a simple click of the button. There’s no physical exchange of currency. The transaction occurred in the virtual world. One second, you had $0 at your table and in the blink of an eye, you have a full buy-in, just like restarting a video game after it is over. Video games have help desensitized my generation from the horrors of getting felted in poker. Iron man was an excuse to play every day and I justified breaking a lot of my self-imposed rules to basically show off. After some reflection, I’m satisfied that I set and accomplished that goal. However, I’m not so thrilled that I made decisions (mostly regarding length of play and table selection) that were less than optimal. Alas, I am no longer Pauly McGuire; I am Iron Man. Paul “Dr. Pauly” McGuire is a writer, poker player, and avid traveler from New York City. He’s the author of the Tao of Poker blog which can be found at taopoker.blogspot.com. Feel free to contact him at [email protected]. 28 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 Every other issue’s crossword puzzle honors a poker celebrity and will be about that person’s life. Today’s puzzle honors pro poker player Nenad Medic. Crossword by Myles Mellor. 1. Call 20. Walking bird 2. Folded (2 words) 8. Santa sound 22. Name for a big game 9. Say __ to (turn down) 10. Poker slang for the jack of spades 11. Open for the limit instead of raising (2 words) 3. Inadvertently expose cards 24. E-mail shorthand for the big blind 4. Aggressive bet (2 words) 12. Savings account 30. ____ the pot (raise) 13. Compass direction 31. Oral (bet) 14. Having ante’d 35. Type of light, abbr 15. One form of hold’em (2 words) 36. Purple color 37. Playing very tight (goes with 38 across) 4 5 6 17. ____ bluff (successful bluff against a strong hand) 9 12 18. Three 13 14 21. Brit. politician 15 16 19 20 17 18 24. Wins of all someone else’s chips 23 25 27 26. Poker slang for the king of spades 26 28 30 29 31 35 37 32 33 34 36 27. Low card 28. Wander 29. ___ play a hand 38 The correct solution to the puzzle will be found only at: www.pokerplayernewspaper.com. It will be posted on the cover date. card room. Tom McEvoy wins $45,000 at the Irish Poker Chamionships. He’s featured in an article where he offers clear and specific advice on tournament play. 25 Years Ago in Poker Player Newspaper Volume 1, Number 24—see it at www.pokerplayernewspaper.com Johnny Chan wins the World Columns include: Doyle Series of Poker $10,000 event Brunson answering the most with pocket sixes, making frequently asked questions Dewey Tomko 1983 main event of new poker players. David runner up. Sklansky explains how to In N. Las Vegas, Golden put your opponent on a Nugget opens up a brand new hand. Tex Sheahan discusses w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m 23. Blood group 21 22 24 16. Any card not in play (2 words) 7 8 11 6. Blunder 7. A Duke 29. For that reason 15. Poker pro born in Serbia and #1 at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals No Limit Hold’em Championship in 2006 (goes with 25 across) 10 5. Physics law maker 27. End of the week, briefly 14. Required to check if a player is underage 3 23. Opposed to 25. See 15 across 13. Polite term to address another player 2 DOWN 19. Something you are not allowed to do (2 words) 1. Freak hand, often five specific but random cards, allowed to win once a night 1 38. See 37 across 17. Three of a kind ACROSS 32. Evybaby’s initials 33. Declare 34. A while back why it’s important to be conservative when things are running band and to exploit opportunity when it comes. Photos in this issue include: Johnny Chan, Dewey Tomko, Joe Rulli, Joe Rizzo, Bob Stupak, Tom McEvoy, Stanley Sludikoff, Mike Caro, Norman Jay, Jenny Des Voix, Chuck Knight, Norman J. Bogart, Glenda Bridges, Rowan La Barge, David “Chip” Reese and Roger Moore Bring your Game The World Series of Poker Circuit Event October 24th – November 2nd Date Event # Time Tournament Buy-In 10/24/08 1 Noon No Limit Texas Hold 'Em (2 day) $345 10/25/08 2 Noon No Limit Texas Hold 'Em (2 day) $555 10/26/08 3 Noon No Limit Texas Hold 'Em (2 day) $1,100 10/26/08 4 3 p.m. Ladies Event (1 day) $235 10/27/08 5 Noon No Limit Texas Hold 'Em (2 day) $555 10/27/08 6 3 p.m. Pot Limit Omaha w/$100 rebuys (1 day) $235 10/28/08 7 Noon No Limit Texas Hold 'Em (2 day) $775 10/28/08 8 3 p.m. H.O.R.S.E. (2 day) $345 10/29/08 9 Noon No Limit Texas Hold 'Em (2 day) $2,100 10/29/08 10/30/08 10 3 p.m. Noon Omaha-8 (2 day) Mega Satellite $345 $555 10/30/08 3 p.m. Mega Satellite $555 10/30/08 7 p.m. Mega Satellite $555 Noon Noon Noon No Limit Texas Hold 'Em (3 day) $5,150 $555 $345 10/31/08 11/1/08 11/2/08 11 12 13 No Limit Texas Hold 'Em (2 day) No Limit Texas Hold 'Em (1day) Come and experience the Midwest’s largest poker room where we’re hosting Chicago’s first-ever WSOP Circuit Event. The ultimate bragging rights are up for grabs because if you win here, you’ll get a seat at the Big Show next summer in Vegas. So, are you in? For complete tournament information call 1-219-473-6065 Just 20 minutes from downtown Chicago www.horseshoe.com Must be 21 years or older to gamble. Know When to Stop Before You Start®. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-9-WITH-IT. ©2008, Harrah’s License Company, LLC. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 29 Colorado Poker, PART 1 THE EIKS’ VIEW BY Mike Eikenberry In my last two articles I wrote about the largest tournament in Colorado history and how a regular Colorado casino player went deep in the WSOP Main Event, winning almost $80,000. In addition, it was recently announced that enough (and several thousands more) signatures were obtained to place an initiative on the ballot this fall to increase cash game maximum bets from $ 5 to $ 100 dollars. If this passes, expect to see quick and extensive growth in the number of Colorado destination casino resorts. For those of you unfamiliar with poker in Colorado, play is limited to Blackhawk/Central City—adjacent towns 40 minutes from Denver—and Cripple Creek, which is about the same distance from Colorado Springs. The maximum bet is $5 in cash games, but five raises are allowed. However, in tournament play, no such limit exists. Thus the biggest action is in tournament play. The Gilpin poker room in Blackhawk offers the most tournaments, and their weekly schedule currently includes no-limit hold’em tournaments every day at 10 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., and 7 p.m. The 10 a.m. tourney is a nitro, similar to an online ultra turbo format. For a $40 or $60 entry fee each of ten players receives 10,000 starting chips. Blinds go up every 5 minutes and the last two remaining players split the purse, with 80 percent to first and 20 percent for second. The noon tourney is a $65 buy-in during the weekdays and $80 on weekends. No re-buys are allowed, and each player starts with $6,000-$8,000 in tournaments chips. Four to six starting tables are the usual with one spot paid for each table. A typical first place prize is $1,000. The 3 p.m. tourney is $65 to $90 buy-in during the week and $150 on Saturday. Starting chips range from 10,000-13,000. The number of starting tables is usually one or two more than the noon event and one spot is paid for each table. The Sunday 3 p.m. tourney is a $300 buy-in and 6-7 tables are typical, with one player paid for each starting table. Starting chips are 15,000 per player. The 7 p.m. tourney has a buy-in that ranges from $120 to $200 and each player receives starting chips of 10,000 to 20,000. Numerous special events are also run at the Gilpin. Hawg Days offers final prizes including $25,000 in cash and a 2009 Harley Davidson Dyna Super Glide. Players get points for reaching the final table of preliminary tourneys with the finals held in October. The Fan Poker Challenge IV is being run at the same time. Prizes include three seats in the annual Five Diamond Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Vegas, three trips for two to Mexico, and two Brunswick poker tables. The Gilpin is open daily from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Players may sign up for tournaments 90 minutes in advance. No phone-in reservations are allowed. A bad beat jackpot is offered for each tournament. BREAKING NEWS! Brian Weaver, poker room manager at the Gilpin, has just announced that each Saturday at 11 a.m. the Gilpin will be offering a $330 buy-in colossal tournament. The total players will be in the 70-80 range with first place over $ 7,000. As mentioned above, cash games are offered only in limit poker. Limit hold’em games are offered with one blind of from $2 to $5. A dealer’s choice game is also offered with two $5 blinds. The button may choose Omaha, pineapple, or crazy pineapple. He must also select whether the hand will be high only or high-low eight-or-better. In future articles, poker at the Golden Gates, the Lodge, the Ameristar, and other casinos will be detailed. Right now the Lodge poker room has a bad beat jackpot approaching $450,000. >316/<5/ >=93@ =D3@ #1/A6 57D3/E/GA2C@7<5A3>B3;03@ A3>B3;03@>@=;=B7=<A 2=C0:38/19>=BA Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday & Thursday 2AM-9AM, every even hour Monday,Wednesday & Friday • 2PM-4PM Monday,Wednesday & Friday • 8PM-10PM P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 Thursday & Sunday • 2PM-11PM $ 5,000 Cash Giveaway Each Day 1st - $300, 2nd - $150 in Hold’em & $50 in Omaha 1/A7<=3;>:=G33<756B E7:2E32<3A2/GA $ 3D3@G;=<2/G 5,000 Cash Giveaway • 3PM–11PM 5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Tournament Monday • 7PM $ 30 Buy-in + $10 Entry Fee for all other players FREE Buy-in for employees of all casinos $ 5@/D3G/@2;/2;=<3G Tuesday & Thursday • 2AM–8AM Up to $1,700 Cash Giveaway $1,000 Mini Jackpot every other hour! :3B¸A;/93/23/:BC3A2/GA Win up to $5,000 Cash between 2PM-11PM ;=<2/G<756B4==B0/:: $ 5,000 Cash Giveaway ;=<B6:GB=C@</;3<BA • Thursday, September 11 • 7PM Ladies Only No-Limit Hold’em $85 Buy-in + $15 Entry Fee 1st Place: $1,000 Buy-in Entry to 2009 WSOP Ladies Only Event • Friday, September 12 • 7PM $ 15,000 Guarantee No-Limit Hold’em $75 Buy-in + $20 Entry Fee • Saturday, September 13 • 7PM Big Showdown Series Tournament $200 Buy-in + $25 Entry Fee 1st Place: $10,000 Buy-in Entry to the 2009 World Series of Poker • Thursday, September 25 • 7PM Ladies Only No-Limit Hold’em $85 Buy-in + $15 Entry Fee 1st Place: $1,000 Buy-in Entry to 2009 WSOP Ladies Only Event • Friday, September 26 • 7PM $ 15,000 Guarantee No-Limit Hold’em $75 Buy-in + $20 Entry Fee • Saturday, September 27 • 7PM Big Showdown Series Tournament $200 Buy-in + $25 Entry Fee 1st Place: $10,000 Buy-in Entry to the 2009 World Series of Poker >:3/A3D7A7B>316/<5/1=;4=@2/7:G/<2 3D3<7<5B=C@</;3<B7<4=@;/B7=< All weekday AM/PM tournaments have an entry fee. Players must be seated at a live game to win cash promotion prize. All jackpot promotions reset and doubled until end of promotion time. Tournament series replaces daily tournaments on dates shown. Please see a Poker Room Floorperson for promotion details. Management reserves the right to cancel or modify promotions without notice. Must be 21 or older to enter Casino. Smoke-free poker room. Mike Eikenberry got his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia, where he played varsity tennis and basketball. Founder of one of the leading national tennis camps, Mike is an avid amateur who has played both tournaments and live games for over 25 years. He can be reached at [email protected] 30 67566/<2=4B636=C@ w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m "#>316/<5/>9EGB3;31C:/1/' #' EEE>316/<5/1=; Caro’s Word: “Skill” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 game of luck whatsoever. In the short term, though, luck can be powerful enough to humble worldclass players, even when facing inferior opponents or even novices. That’s why professionals must think “long run.” Question 102: Isn’t skill versus luck in poker just an academic argument? Does it have any practical importance? It has a great deal of practical importance. For one thing, it’s important that serious players understand the nature of poker. But more critically, legal cases have been decided on the skill-versus-luck question. I’ve been an expert witness in cases when governments have tried to ban poker based on the misconception that it is a game of luck. Question 103: Is there a way to make poker skill more likely to prevail in the short term? Absolutely. You could make poker games more complicated. Or you could devise rules to make it more difficult to draw out. Heck, you could even ask me to program a computer to decide who made the best decisions during a hand and award the pot on that basis. But we don’t want that to happen. We don’t want to take the steep short-term luck factor out of poker. We don’t want the best players to win every session. At least we don’t want that if we’re serious about poker and about winning. It is precisely the fact that inferior players have a chance to win tonight, despite being out-skilled, that keeps the money flowing and makes the endeavor worthwhile. If you adopt that attitude, you’ll be less frustrated by bad beats, and you’ll begin to understand one of the key necessities to maximizing poker profit. If all we wanted to do was determine who’s best, we could just take a quiz. I’d win, and we could retire the game of poker as an intellectual puzzle for which the solution is known. Question 104: But people still play chess, even though it’s purely a game of skill, right? That’s sort of a good point, but let’s examine it. People play chess for completely different reasons than they play poker. Financial gain isn’t usually the motive. And weak players don’t bet big money regularly against grand masters. In poker, however, weak players challenge professionals regularly. But there’s an even more important issue here. Chess isn’t a game of pure skill. Scratch that off your list of common-sense truths. Chess is a game in which decisions are more consistently rewarded than in poker. That’s true. But there’s still luck in chess. That’s why similarly skilled chess players can and do make wagers. Beyond that, having a little more skill can occasionally backfire at chess. If you see seven moves ahead and your opponent sees only six moves ahead, maybe the game dynamic changes on the ninth move—and you would have avoided disaster if you’d only seen five moves ahead. Strange, but evident. Additionally, you could easily turn chess into a game of short-term luck. What if you got to choose your best move, but then your opponent got to roll dice to see if you were allowed to make it or lose your turn? In that case, weaker players might frequently win. In some ways, it would be like the luck of the cards in poker. Would that make chess less skillful? No! The same skills would be necessary and the better player would still have the same advantages. But the right decisions wouldn’t be as consistently rewarded. In many ways, poker is a more complex and skillful game than chess. It’s just that the intermediate luck factor makes correct decisions and deep probing seem less vital. In the long run, the right choices matter just as much. Mike Caro is widely regarded as the world’s foremost authority on poker strategy, psychology, and statistics. A renowned player and founder of Mike Caro University of Poker, Gaming, and Life Strategy, he is known as “the Mad Genius of Poker,” because of his lively delivery of concepts and latest research. You can visit him at www.poker1.com. 7A:3 =>3< #233>AB/19 >=93@B=C@</;3<B <]:W[Wb6]ZR·3[1VO[^W]\aVW^ =Qb]PS`!³$ '0cgW\ C\Wba$;W\cbSZSdSZa Play in this exciting three-day event for a guaranteed $150,000 in prize money! Register now at Isle® Casino Pompano Park poker room, or online at www.theislepompanopark.com. Powerline Road, South of Atlantic Blvd. )SLEOF#APRI#IRCLEs0OMPANO"EACH&,s)3,%7).swww.theislepompanopark.com ©2008 Isle of Capri Casino, Inc. Must be 21. Complete details available at Isle® Casino poker room. Gambling problem? Call 1-888-ADMIT-IT. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 31 PART 130, Whiffing Entertainment Listings improving performance By TOM “TIME” LEONARD Whiffing, for the uninitiated, is a term used in sports to denote completely missing the ball. Have you ever witnessed an amateur golfer stand over his ball with enormous concentration while his swing connects with nothing but air? Well, he whiffed. As this space has been reserved for poker, not golf, I’ll now direct the discussion to whiffing the flop. We’ve all been there… a promising two-card start that completely whiffs the flop and now the action is on you. Unfortunately, this is a fairly common occurrence in hold’em. Let’s take a look at a specific example. You’re sitting in your favorite card emporium and have just been dealt a new hand which you have not as yet looked at. Why have you not looked? You know the answer… because you are watching your opponents look at their cards as you try and pick up some clues about their impending intentions. OK… back to the task at hand. As the action approaches, you peel back the corners of your holding and are delighted to see Super Slick… a suited Big Slick. You fire a raise and are called by five players. The dealer presents the flop and… whiff… no ace, no king and none of your suit. Hardly seems fair, but it happens so frequently that you are not surprised. The question is, what do you do now? Many players feel compelled to lead with a continuation bet as they were the pre-flop aggressor and no one made it three bets. They believe they either have the best hand currently or have six outs to make the best hand. Others curse their misfortune and meekly check to see what happens and then fold to a single bet. That certainly sounds like wimp poker but let’s reserve making judgments for now. Let’s examine what criteria should guide us to make the best of a not so great situation. Since whiffing the flop is such a frequent occurrence it deserves some careful consideration before just opting to default to an auto-pilot response. One of the most critical elements to consider is how many opponents saw the flop. If you’re heads-up then you may very well still have the best hand. On the other hand, if there are five others looking at the board then you are almost certainly behind. In a multiway pot if the flop didn’t hit you, in all likelihood, it hit someone else. Another key factor to consider is the texture of the flop. If it is very coordinated and supports a straight draw or flush draw, caution should be exercised. If your current image is one of a tight player and the board isn’t coordinated, I would definitely fire a bet representing a big pair, which was a possible holding based upon my pre-flop raise. As always, some knowledge concerning your opponents’ tendencies is another criterion which can help you make a sound decision. Also, let’s not forget position as an important element. First to act and would be leading into a crowd is quite different than if you’re last to act and it appears to be an orphaned pot waiting to be adopted. Our goal for today is to remember to fight the impulse to play formulaic poker, always reacting the same way in these situations. Consider the critical elements outlined above before just making a knee jerk decision. The play of over cards can always be profitable … either because they prevail or because of the chips you save by mucking them early. See you next “TIME.” Tom “Time” Leonard has played poker in Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and California for more than 30 years and written about the game since 1994. Contact Tom at [email protected]. 32 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 Poker Player Advertisers are shown in RED along with their ad’s page number To list your event, contact Len Butcher, Entertainment Editor at [email protected] ARIZONA Bob Newhart Casino Arizona (11) CALIFORNIA Chumash Casino Resort (22) Ana Gabriel Comedian Rudy Morena Commerce Casino (36) Finish Line Lounge Hollywood Park Casino (35) Pechanga Resort & Casino (30) Boyz II Men Frank Caliendo Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino NEVADA-LAS VEGAS Bellagio “O” Caesars Palace Cannery Hotel & Casino Excalibur Bette Midler David Allan Coe Louie Anderson Larry G. Jones Fitzgerald’s Hotel & Casino (2) Country Superstars Tribute Joe Jackson Green Valley Ranch (6) Sarah Silverman Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Rita Rudner Harrah’s Hotel & Casino Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino Legends In Concert Joker’s Wild Las Vegas Hilton Troubador Lounge-Live Entertainment Johnny Mathis Menopause, the Musical The Scintas Oct 14. 8 p.m. Sept 11, 8 p.m. Thursdays, 8:30 p.m. Live Jazz, Tues. 8 p.m. Oct 10, 8 p.m. Oct 15, 8 p.m. 7:30 & 10:30 p.m. nightly (dark Wednesdays & Thursdays) Oct 9-19, 7:30 p.m. Sept 5, 8 p.m. Nightly (dark Fridays) Thurs thru Mon, 9 p.m. Ongoing, 8 p.m. Oct 18, 8 p.m. Feb 22-23, 8 & 11 p.m. Ongoing (dark Sundays), 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 7 & 10 p.m. Fri & Sat, 9 p.m. Oct 17-18, 8 p.m. 8 p.m. nightly Sat thru Thu 9:30 p.m. nightly Fri thru Wed Sun thru Fri, 8 p.m. & Sat, 7 & 9 Carrot Top Luxor Resort & Casino p.m. New Kids On The Block Oct 11, 8 p.m. 7 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Mamma Mia Sundays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 7 & 10:30 p.m. Saturdays, Mondays. Santana Oct 4, 8 p.m. MGM Grand Hotel & Casino KA. Fri thru Tue, 8 p.m. Kevin James Oct 4-5, 10 p.m The Mirage Hotel & Casino Thursdays thru Mondays, 7:30 & The Beatles LOVE 10:30 p.m. Magician Lance Burton Tuesdays thru Saturdays, 7pm; Monte Carlo Resort & Casino Tuesdays & Saturdays. 7 & 10 p.m. Dana Carvey The Orleans Oct 3-5, 8 p.m. Palace Station Hotel & Casino (6) Magician Jeff McBride Nightly, 7:30 p.m. (dark Tuesdays) Daughtry Red Rock Hotel & Casino Aug 15, 8 p.m. Crazy Girls Wed thru Mon, 9:30 p.m. La Cage Riviera Hotel & Casino (24) Wed thru Mon, 7:30 p.m. Neil Diamond Tribute Sun thru Thu, 7 p.m. Roseanne Barr Sat-Wed, 9:30 p.m. Sahara Hotel & Casino The Platters, Coasters 8 p.m. nightly and Drifters Soul Express Santa Fe Station (6) Sept 27, 7 p.m. Suncoast Hotel & Casino (16) Foghat Oct 11, 8 p.m. Atomic Punks Sunset Station (6) Sept 20, 7 p.m. Randy Travis Texas Station (6) Oct 17, 7 p.m. Ongoing, Wednesdays thru Mystere Treasure Island Saturdays 7:30 p.m. Phantom of the Opera Nightly, 7 & 10 p.m. Blue Man Group Venetian Hotel & Casino (5) Nightly, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. Wayne Brady Ongoing, 9 p.m. Spamalot Ongoing (dark Thursdays), 8 p.m. Wynn Las Vegas Le Reve Nightly, 7 & 9:30 p.m. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m The Visitor (CONT’D FROM PAGE 16) priest said as a short, greybearded man in green scrubs entered the room. “Sorry,” the bearded man said. “Am I interrupting?” “If you mean the performance of my last rites ...” The man in bed said, “The answer is, no! And you are?” “Someone who is just checking on the comfort of the patients.” The man in bed gave the little bearded man a long hard look. “I haven’t seen you around here before.” “No,” the bearded man said. “I generally appear at the end of the patient’s stay.” Eyeing the playing cards on the table he said, “Ah! Cards, my favorite pastime.” “And what’s your game?” The man in bed asked. “Gin Rummy.” The bearded man said. A mischievous smile crossed the face of the man in bed. “Care for a quick game?” “Yes, I would.” “Now Frank,” the priest said. “I’m sure this gentleman has other patients to attend to.” “Actually, I don’t,” the bearded man said. “Ok.” The man in bed said. “We’ll play just one hand. No knocking. It takes gin to win.” “And the stakes?” The bearded man asked. “If I win. You stay away for awhile longer.” “And if I win?” “Do with me what you will.” “Agreed.” “My cards, my shuffle,” the man in bed said. “And I cut the cards,” the bearded man said, eyes glistening. “Of course.” The man in bed gave the cards a long shuffle, let the bearded man the cut and to dealt each of them a ten-card hand of gin rummy. For the next five minutes the priest carefully watched his brother and the bearded man play down the stack until finally… “Gin!” The man in bed announced as he laid down his hand. The bearded man looked disappointed and asked, “What was the winning card you drew?” “The ace of hearts.” “But of course,” he said, regretfully. “Now I must go. Good luck with your operation.” “Do I need it?” “Not this time.” As he turned to leave, the bearded man removed a card from his pocket and placed it on the stack of playing cards. “My card… for future reference,” he said. After the bearded man left the room, the priest’s face was flushed with rage. “Frank!” he said, barely controlling his fury. “You cheated that man. Why?” “I had a gut feeling about him.” “And what was that feeling?” he demanded. The man in bed glanced at the card the bearded man left, smiled, and handed it to the priest. “Here’s why,” he said. “You should have no problem reading it. It’s in Latin.” The priest’s face turned white as he read the single word engraved on the card— Mort`e. “That man was…?” “Yes. Mort`e or Death in Latin.” “And you, Frank?” “Just played the game of my life and cheated— Death.” Write to writer Leo Cummins at 31 Timber Lane, Hilton Head Island, SC 29926 Hard Rock– Commerce New Poker Lounge LIMIT HOLD’EM (Cont’d from page 9) 2. Shant Kuyumjian . . $11,542 EVENT #3 (Cont’d from page 15) anywhere in the casino. Waldie stated, “We will spread whatever the players want to play and we have a very professional staff of dealers and floor supervisors with the knowledge to do that.” According to Waldie, “President and COO, Randy Kwasniewski and VP and General Manager, Mark Gore truly understand the value of a poker room and barred no expense to provide a novel poker room.” 9/4/08 BUY-IN $200 + $25 PLAYERS 200 PRIZE POOL $38,800 1. Enrico Rivera . . . . . $10,864 EVENT #2 9/3/08 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $300 + $35 PLAYERS 299 PRIZE POOL $87,009 1. Dung Le . . . . . . . . . . $24,356 EVENT #1 9/2/08 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM BUY-IN $200 + $25 PLAYERS 494 PRIZE POOL $98,800 1. Jack Andrus . . . . . . $24,917 2. Sergio Silva . . . . . . . $14,471 Canterbury Park Fall Poker Classic turing a e f r a e This y PS! CHI MORE October 10 – 23, 2008 DATE DAY Oct. 10 Oct. 11 Oct. 12 Oct. 13 Oct. 14 Oct. 15 Oct. 16 Oct. 17 Oct. 18 Oct. 19 Oct. 19 Oct. 20 Oct. 21 Oct. 22 Friday, Noon No-Limit Hold’em Saturday, Noon Limit Hold’em Sunday, Noon No-Limit Hold’em Monday, Noon No-Limit Hold’em Tuesday, Noon Limit Hold’em Wednesday, Noon Omaha Hi-Lo Thursday, Noon No-Limit Hold’em Friday, Noon No-Limit Hold’em Saturday, Noon No-Limit Hold’em Sunday, Noon Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Sunday, 4 PM 7-Card Stud Monday, Noon No-Limit Hold’em Tuesday, Noon No-Limit Hold’em Wednesday, Noon No-Limit Hold’em 2–DAY CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT Thursday, Noon Last Chance No-Limit Hold’em Oct. 23 GAME BUY-IN + ENTRY FEE $300 + $40 $300 + $40 $300 + $40 $200 + $30 $200 + $30 $200 + $30 $200 + $30 $300 + $40 $500 + $50 $200 + $30 $200 + $30 $200 + $30 $500 + $50 $1,000 + $80 $200 + $30 TWO BONUS EVENING EVENTS Sunday, October 12 and Tuesday, October 14 at 6:00 PM $200 + 30 No Limit Hold’em Seating Limited to 300 Players SUPER SATELLITES For the Championship Event Nightly Wed., Oct. 15 – Tues., Oct. 21 at 6:00 PM (Sunday Oct. 19 at 8 PM) $100 + 20 – 3000 Chips! The Midwest’s Premier Poker Room Located 25 minutes south of Minneapolis/St. Paul For all tournament or lodging information, call 952-445-6870, 1-866-MN-POKER or email [email protected] Schedule subject to change. 3% of Prize Pool withheld for tournament dealers. Must be 18 to play at Canterbury Park. CANTERBURY PARK 1100 Canterbury Road, Shakopee, MN 55379 | www. canterburypark.com | Playing responsibly is always your best bet. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 33 KGC Orders Investigation of UB & AP Parent Company 2008-2009 WORLDWIDE POKER TOURNAMENTS Online Poker Perspective NOW! Get Tournament Listings at our website: www.pokerplayernewspaper.com BY Jennifer Newell The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) finally stepped into the UltimateBet cheating scandal to issue a statement in late July, more than seven months after a cheating scandal that featured superuser accounts able to see everyone’s hole cards was allegedly reported to UB. The company that issues and regulates the gaming licenses for UB and numerous other online poker sites told the public that it has been integrally involved in the investigations. This column has not been short of discussion about Tokwiro Enterprises, the company that purchased Absolute Poker and UltimateBet—both online poker sites that came with cheating scandals that would be unveiled after the sales. Not only did Tokwiro discover that cheating had been occurring through player complaints and rogue player investigations—not through its own due diligence or security measures—but neither AP nor UB lost their gaming licenses as a result. Could that have something to do with the fact that the owner of Tokwiro, Joe Norton, was Grand Chief of the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory for nearly 25 years prior to his 2004 retirement? Draw your own conclusions there. The KGC’s July statement touted its own “exemplary” record of regulating online gaming for over nine years, but acknowledged that no industry is “…immune from abuse.” In discussing the AP and UB scandals, KGC gave credit to the players who brought these issues to light, and with specific regard to the ongoing UB investigations, noted that it has played a large role in ensuring that the system leaks were identified and rectified and that cheated players were being reimbursed. The regulatory body’s decision was supposed to be issued within the “next several days.” It was not. Instead, four days later, another statement came from the KGC, this one a bit unexpected. “Effective immediately, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) has appointed an independent monitor, led by former New Jersey State Gaming Regulator, Frank Catania, to investigate the KGC Licensee, Tokwiro Ent., parent company of both Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet … The Independent Monitoring Team will be given the task of completing a full forensic audit/investigation of the online gaming business of both licensed entities. The main purpose of the investigation is to ensure that the games offered to the public are fair and honest and that all player protections as required by the Kahnawake Gaming Regulations are being complied with, without exception. “The monitoring team will also be charged with verification that all those involved in the fraudulent activities in any manner, no matter how slight, have been or are removed from the licensee company and verify that UltimateBet and Absolute Poker have submitted to full compliance with the directives issued by the KGC and recommended by the independent monitor.” The statement goes on to say that any failure by the licensees to comply “could result in immediate revocation of their license privileges with the KGC.” This is the first time during either scandal that the KGC has seriously floated the possibility of revocation of a gaming license. And the very seriousness of this Tokwiro investigation itself lets it be known that the KGC is willing to put its own former Grand Chief under a spotlight to try to alleviate any concerns that special treatment is being provided in this case. Upon the conclusion of Mr. Catania’s investigation of Tokwiro Enterprises, the KGC will review the report and use it in conjunction of other UB and AP investigations to comprise a final decision regarding these scandals. For the sake of the poker community and the future of online poker, it is not unreasonable to expect a reasonable amount of transparency and a sense that no stone has been left unturned. Jennifer Newell is a compulsive writer. In addition to Poker Player Newspaper, she writes for numerous publications and blogs at Pokerati.com as California Jen. In her little bit of spare time, she plays poker, too. Contact her at [email protected]. 34 P O K E R P L AY E R S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 >Denotes Advertiser; Poker Association Events also denoted: t=World Poker Tour, s=World Series of Poker and e=European Poker Tour. To list your 3-day events contact: A.R. Dyck, Managing Editor, at: [email protected] DATE EVENT LOCATION >Sep 2-21 >Sep 14-Oct 8 Calif. State Poker Ch’ship U.S. Poker Championship Mid-America Poker Ch’ship CA State Ladies Championship World Series of Poker Europe Borgata Open Big Poker Oktober EPT London WSOP Circuit Event Canadian Poker Championship North American Poker Ch’ship Heartland Poker Tour Event Fall Poker Classic National Ch’ship of Poker Binion’s Poker Open 2nd Annual Caesars Palace Classic Fall Poker Tournament Festa al Lago World Poker Finals WSOP Circuit Event Holiday Bonus Tournament Deep Stack Extravaganza Fall Poker Round-Up Latin Series of Poker (LSOP) Polish Open Turkey Shoot/Ho-Ho Hold’em Superstacks Hold’em Series Poker Employees Ch’ship Tourn. WSOP Circuit Event EPT Prague Doyle Brunsion 5-Diamond Classic Aussie Millions Championship Gulf Coast Poker Championship EPT Deauville WSOP Circuit Event LA Poker Classic Borgata Classic Oklahoma State Poker Ch’ship WSOP Circuit Event Scandinavian Open Wynn Classic WSOP Circuit Event Celebrity Invitational German Open Bay 101 Shooting Star WSOP Circuit Event Poker’s #1 Family Tournament Foxwoods Poker Classic WSOP Circuit Event EPT San Remo WPT World Championship EPT Grand Final Heavenly Hold’Em WSOP Circuit Event Mid-South Poker Classic Commerce Casino (Ad Pg 36), Commerce, CA Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, NJ Horseshoe Casino, Tunica, MS Ocean’s Eleven Casino, San Diego, CA London Clubs International, London, England tBorgata, Atlantic City, NJ The Bicycle Casino (Ad Pg 17), Bell Gardens, CA eGrosvenor Victoria Casino, London, England sCaesars Indiana, Elizabeth, IN Casino Yellowhead, Edmonton, AB, Canada tFallsview Resort Casino, Niagara Falls, Canada Turning Stone Resort & Casino (Ad Pg 14), Verona, NY Canterbury Park (Ad Pg 33), Shakopee, MN Hollywood Park Casino (Ad Pg 35), Inglewood, CA Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel (Ad Pg 15), Las Vegas, NV Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV Peppermill Hotel Casino, Reno, NV tBellagio, Las Vegas, NV tFoxwoods Resort Casino (Ad Pg 19), Mashantucket, CT sHorseshoe Casino Hotel (Ad Pg 29), Hammond, IN Commerce Casino (Ad Pg 36), Commerce, CA The Venetian (Ad Pg 5). Las Vegas, NV Wildhorse Resort & Casino (Ad Pg 9), Pendleton, OR Martino Resort & Casino, Alajuela, Costa Rica eHyatt Regency, Warsaw, Poland The Bicycle Casino (Ad Pg 17), Bell Gardens, CA Turning Stone Resort & Casino (Ad Pg 14), Verona, NY Sahara (Ad Pg 3), Las Vegas, NV sHarrah’s, Atlantic City, NJ eGolden Prague Poker, Prague, Czech Republic tBellagio, Las Vegas, NV Crown Casino, Melbourne, Australia tBeau Rivage, Biloxi, MS eCasino Barriere, Deauville, France sHarrah’s, Tunica, MS tCommerce Casino (Ad Pg 36), Commerce, CA tBorgata, Atlantic City, NJ Cherokee Casino Resort, Catoosa, OK sHorseshoe Casino Hotel, Council Bluffs, IA eCasino Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Wynn, Las Vegas, NV sCaesars, Atlantic City, NJ tCommerce Casino (Ad Pg 36), Commerce, CA eCasino Hohensyburg, Dortmund, Germany tBay 101, San Jose, CA sHarrah’s Rincon, San Diego, CA Hollywood Park Casino (Ad Pg 35), Inglewood, CA tFoxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT sCaesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV eCasino Sanremo, San Remo, Italy tBellagio, Las Vegas, NV eMonte Carlo Bay Resort, Monte Carlo Commerce Casino (Ad Pg 36), Commerce, CA sHarrah’s, New Orleans, LA Cherokee Casino, Catoosa, OK Sep 15-24 Sep 18-21 Sep 19-Oct 2 Sep 21-25 >Sep 25-Oct 12 Oct 1-5 Oct 2-14 Oct 8-12 Oct 10-16 >Oct 10-20 >Oct 10-23 >Oct 15-26 >Oct 15-Nov 3 Oct 16-30 Oct 17-26 Oct 20-25 >Oct 20-Nov 11 >Oct 24-Nov 2 >Nov 1-16 >Nov 1-25 >Nov 5-15 >Nov 14-23 Nov 15-19 >Nov 20-Dec 7 >Nov 28-Dec 7 >Dec 1-4 Dec 5-18 Dec 9-13 Dec 13-19 Jan 4-26 Jan 16-19 Jan 20-24 Jan 20-Feb 9 >Jan 22-Mar 2 Jan 25-29 Feb 5-16 Feb 12-25 Feb 17-21 Feb 25-Mar 19 Mar 4-14 >Mar 7-9 Mar 10-14 Mar 16-20 Mar 19-29 >Mar 20-22 Apr 4-9 Apr 12-29 Apr 18-23 Apr 18-25 Apr 28-May 3 >May 1-16 May 8-20 May 12-18 POKER ON TV High Stakes Poker. Mondays 8 PM, Tuesdays through Saturdays 2 AM, Sundays 9 PM. GSN. U.S. Poker Championship. Wednesdays 3 AM. ESPNC. Poker After Dark. Tuesdays through Saturdays 2:05 AM, Sundays 2 AM. NBC. World Poker Tour. Mondays 9 PM, Tuesdays 12 AM, Sundays 7 PM. GSN. Saturdays 7, 9 & 11 PM, Sundays 1 AM. Travel Poker Superstars Invitational. Mondays 3 PM, Tuesdays 5 PM, Wednesdays 4 PM, Thursdays 8:30 AM & All Times EDT 3 PM, Sundays 3 AM. FSN. w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m World Series of Poker. (Check local listing for times). ESPNC/ESPN2. * OCTOBER 15TH – 26TH, 2008 EVENT DAY 1 No-Limit Hold’em 2 No-Limit Hold’em 3 E.O. (1/2 Stud H/L 1/2 Omaha H/L) 4 No-Limit Hold’em ESPN Shootout 5 No-Limit Hold’em 6 No-Limit Hold’em 7 No-Limit Hold’em DeepStack 8 No-Limit Hold’em DeepStack 9 No-Limit Hold’em 10 H.O.R.S.E. 11 No-Limit Hold’em Mega Super Satellite 12a No-Limit Hold’em DATE Wed. Oct. 15th Thurs. Oct. 16th Fri. Oct. 17th TIME BUY-IN REBUY GUARANTEE 7:15pm $100 +$25 7:15pm $200 +$30 7:15pm $200 +$30 Multi No No Oct. 18th 5:15pm $100 +$20 No Sun. Oct. 19th Mon. Oct. 20th Tues. Oct. 21st 5:15pm $100 +$25 7:15pm $100 +$25 7:15pm $200 +$30 Multi One No Starting Chips Wed. 7:15pm $300 +$40 No 5,000 Thurs. Oct. 23rd 7:15pm $100 +$25 Fri Oct. 24th 7:15pm $200 +$30 Sat. Oct. 25th 11:00am $100 +$20 Mult No No Sat. Oct. 22nd Sat. Oct. 25th 5:15pm $1500 +$80 12b No-Limit Hold’em Sun. Oct. 26th 5:15pm (Main Event-2 Day Event) No $100,000 $10,000 ** WSOP Seat + Cash! $50,000 5,000 Starting Chips $50,000 10,000 Starting Chips (Main Event-2nd Day) Daily Satellites begin Monday, October 13th at 2:00pm Weekdays & 12:00 Noon Weekends Satellite buy-ins range from $40 tO $120. Winner Trophies, Free Food, & Free Gifts! Stay & Play Packages Available! • (310) 330-2800, ext. 2328 “THE BEST PLACE TO PLAY IN L.A.!” 3883 W. Century Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90303 • (310) 330-2800 • www.playhpc.com Management reserves the right to cancel this tournament at anytime. Must be 21 or older to participate. *$1,000,000.00 is Estimated Prize Pool. $5 from every $100 in prize money will be withheld for the tournament staff. **If a $10k seat is not awarded (less than 10 qualifiers) cash will be awarded to 1st place. $2,000 will be withheld from the prize pool for the June ’09 WSOP Super Satellite entries.“Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER” w w w. p o ke r p l a y e r n e w s p a p e r. c o m S E P T E M B E R 29, 2 0 0 8 P O K E R P L AY E R 35