Pokerblog – 2004 August

I watched the latest installment of the WSOP Main Event on ESPN tonight and thought it was the most entertaining to date. As expected, the WSOP brodcasts make me nostalgic for the old Horseshoe. Even though the Rio is a much more fitting location for the incredibly popular WSOP I will miss all those great years at Binion�s. I am happy to know that I have a good collection of WSOP photographs taken over the years and an even better collection of memories. Thanks to Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman�s negotiating skills (honed razor sharp during his years as the mob�s lawyer man and mouth piece) and next year�s Las Vegas Centennial Celebration, Harrahs has agreed to hold the final table for the 2005 main event at the Horseshoe one last time. When the final hand of the 2005 tournament is dealt it will really be the last WSOP at the historic downtown joint. I am sure that many of us will shed a few tears of sadness for the end of a great poker era. Of course, many of us will also be cheering for the continuation of the biggest event in tournament poker and welcome the next era in it�s new, modern, spacious home, the Rio.

Many of the young players will never know the �old� feel of the event since they never had the opportunity to compete at Binions. The relocated WSOP will not be the same event it has been all these years and that is probably a good thing. Even the World Series of Poker must continue to evolve and grow. I am reminded that we are lucky indeed that the WSOP will remain here in Las Vegas considering all the turmoil the Horseshoe suffered through during the reign of Becky Behnen Binion. Many poker industry insiders believed the WSOP was going to move out of state or simply end. Harrahs not only stepped up and saved the event; but, they did a great rush job getting the Horseshoe clean, remodeled and staffed in time for the 2004 event. I will certainly miss Binion�s Horseshoe and all the great times I had at past World Series of Poker tournaments, but not for very long. I am already plotting my coverage of the 2005 World Series of Poker at Harrah�s Rio property and should have an information page for the 2005 WSOP up and running within a few days.

Enough of this reminiscing about what was. The Poker Prof always reminds me that I am just proving I am getting old when I start a sentence with, �I remember when poker was……..� He suddenly remembers he has some pressing problems requiring his immediate presence somewhere else. I will be at the Four Queens tomorrow for the start of the annual Poker Classic Tournament.

Posted by flipchipro at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This promises to be a big week for poker here in Las Vegas. The Four Queens Poker Classic begins its nineteen day run on Wednesday and the Ultimate Poker Challenge offers the second installment in the filmed tournament at the Plaza. The Ultimate challenge runs for three days beginning on Saturday. Downtown Las Vegas will again be the center of the poker world for a couple of weeks. In addition, to the tournaments and the Labor Day holiday weekend, the MAGIC Convention, Men�s Apparel Guild in California, the largest clothing show on the planet begins today and usually many of the 100K attendees stay over for the three day weekend. Hotel rooms and rental cars will probably be in short supply so if you plan to be here for the tournaments now would be a good time to make your arrangements; otherwise, you may be sleeping in your car. This reminds me of some advice an old poker player once offered, �Always carry a pillow and blanket, a cup and a jar of peanut butter in your car, that way you will always have a warm place to sleep and something to eat.� About the cup? The cup serves a two fold purpose, first, it will provide you something to put water in when you are eating the peanut butter and if you are really in a slump, it can be your fundraiser. Fill it with pencils and sit outside the Horseshoe until you have enough to get back into the game.

You have probably noticed that the Poker Prof�s blog doesn�t offer much Internet poker content and rarely will you read a play-by-play of a hand or game. There are many bloggers already offering content that fills this important poker niche. I am indeed fortunate to live in Las Vegas so I fill an obligation to offer my news and views of live action from the gambling capitol of the world. Our readers write asking for even more of our very Vegas related poker content. I will continue to cover the poker tournaments held here in Las Vegas with timely posts and live action photos. If it concerns the poker business then it concerns me. Blogging is the vehicle to satisfy my passion for the game and all the wonderful characters that play in the many events. I blog about poker and not about blogging. I sometimes have to remind myself it is not about me or my blog, it is about poker. The game and the players will always be the most important consideration here.

I will be at the Four Queens for the duration of the tournament with my camera and hopefully I will play in a few of the events. I will blog most days from the Four Queens. I will cover the Ultimate Poker Challenge at the Plaza and provide results and photos from this event. I will connect with Felicia Lee next Monday when she comes for the Four Queens tournament. I will get some photos and post a few so she can join HDouble in our giants of poker �bad portrait� photo gallery.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Question: Are you seeing a pop-up when you come here?
A reader wrote me saying a nasty pop-up is opening when they come to this blog. There should be zero pop-ups (I hate the damn things!), so if something is creating a popup when you visit please leave a comment and I’ll kill the annoyance asap.

I�ve not been around much this week in the world of poker or blogs thanks to a couple of monster gigs I�ve been handed with 11th hour deadlines. So I spent the better part of the morning trying to catch up on a weeks worth of blog reading. Now on to the week in review:

First, Up for Poker has a great post on Poker and Life lessons that is a must read. On the subject of how mood and sleep affect play both Once in a Blu Moon and Outkicked have some thoughts and experiences. I agree, don�t play in an off mood or when your tired, this leads to mistakes, and mistakes cost money�usually. Kevin continues to offer a wonderfully fresh perspective on poker over at Stan�s Ace Nuts, he has become one of my favorite reads.

I noticed that the Hilton Sisters got their fair share of press from the poker blog community, keep this up and people searching for Paris Hilton will get Dr. Pauly.

Finally, a cartoonist has a new every Wednesday poker cartoon running called Returning Champions (there is also GuppytoShark�s comic). On the subject of cartoons I just noticed this week has a slightly political bent so I might as well point out a nifty site that help to determine just how liberal/conservative you are (link found on Urban Scrawl).

Stinger: (from a must read post on Chris Halverson�s Blog)
Coach (to a fish): You must work next to that little diver guy in the fish tank.

Posted by pokerprof at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I have spent a good part of the last two days in downtown Las Vegas. The Prof and I are trying to complete the photographs for the virtual Vegas tour. I was surprised by the size of the crowds on Fremont Street. Standing room only tourists and locals gives the entire scene a very festive party flavor. Live entertainment is great, free and loud. The Experience light show with the new sixteen million lights and the million watt sound system is worth the trip. The Horseshoe, Plaza and Golden Nugget have a poker room and the action is usually good. The Plaza is hosting the Ultimate Poker Challenge series of tournaments and the Four Queens Poker Classic begins its nineteen day run on Wednesday, September 1. I have always liked the old Vegas atmosphere and service you now find only in the downtown joints. Some of the properties are a little seedy and the crowd is often not as well heeled as the strip people but they always seem to have more fun. I have never had a problem with downtown in more than two decades. The food is typical Las Vegas fare with specials for everything from hot dogs to white table cloth elegance. Everyone should have at least one dinner at the Center Stage Restaurant inside the glass dome at the Plaza. You will recognize the view down Fremont Street from the many movie scenes that have been filmed from the Center Stage restaurant.

Daily poker tournaments are a permanent part of Binion�s poker offerings. The Horseshoe offers No Limit Texas Hold�em tournaments 7 days a week at 2 pm. Registration opens at 12 pm and the buy-in is $60 with a one time bonus buy of $10 that gets you 50% more chips. One optional rebuy is available for $40. Friday, Saturday and Sunday has an additional evening no Limit Hold�em tournament with a $125 buy-in, a one time bonus buy of $25 gets you an additional $500 in tournament chips. One optional $50 rebuy is offered. These tournaments are a great inexpensive lesson in Las Vegas style no limit hold�em and an added bonus is the invaluable tournament playing experience. The competition is first rate and will certainly help you in developing an �A� game. The tournaments have become quite popular so you may want to get there early.

The Nines List for this week.

Top Nine Reasons poker is my favorite game.

9. I don�t have to buy an expensive set of clubs to play.
8. Size really doesn�t matter.
7. You can eat while you play.
6. I was never very good at games like monopoly.
5. Meeting people with the same first name as a city.
4. Drinking alcohol is encouraged.
3. Telling bad beat stories.
2. Making everyone wait ten minutes while I play with my chips then fold.
1. Strip Poker!

That’s it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos’ “Muck It” cartoon.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The magic of Las Vegas keeps visitors coming in record numbers. McCarran International Airport will handle record passenger traffic this month. More people than any previous month in history. The massive problems 9-11 created for the tourism industry and the slowdown in air travel are no longer an issue here in Las Vegas. Vegas continues to evolve and prosper independently of national or world economy problems. When Asimov wrote his classic �Foundation Trilogy� he must have researched and developed the model for the fictional pleasure Planet, Kalgan, from Las Vegas. Kalgan�s sole existence was to provide entertainment and pleasure to everyone. Kalgan was the place where enemies came to party together before returning to the reality of killing each other. Throughout the thousand years of the trilogy the planet was independent of problems and catastrophes of other worlds, everyone respected Kalgan and had no desire to cause harm to their favorite place in the Foundation universe. I can�t help but think this logic has to apply to Las Vegas. A dark fact of the 9-11 tragedy happened right here in Las Vegas. The hijackers came here in the final days before 9-11 and spent some time acting like any other vacationing tourist. They stayed in hotels, rented cars, went to shows, ate some great meals, gambled and saw the sights. Enemies partying among enemies before going out to kill each other. The only apparent reason for the terrorist visits was to party in the city that parties for a living. Las Vegas, just like Kardan, offers something for everyone.

Where am I going with this somewhat convoluted line of reasoning? I think Las Vegas is probably the safest vacation destination in the world. Just like Kalgan, why would anyone dare to destroy the place they consider their most favorite just-for-fun destination? Las Vegas is the city the world associates with excitement, fun and pleasure. Just thinking about going to Las Vegas can drive your blood pressure up. Some of the doomsday naysayers preach the line of Las Vegas being the center of sin and evil. After all, it is referred to as �Sin City,� so it just stands to reason it would be at the top of every religious fanatic terrorist list, right? Well, yes and no. Las Vegas was at the top of some really evil people�s list; but, not as a target, rather, a place to hold that final fun fling. Every time the threat level is raised or a warning is issued I just don�t take it very seriously. I keep remembering that other place, Kardan, and get some comfort in knowing that no harm ever came to them and probably no harm will come to Vegas. It�s where the world prefers to party, regardless of your definition of good and bad or right and wrong we all seem to agree on the preferred place for fun.

The Prof and I went downtown to Binions tonight and probably were too late for Felicia so we will try again during the Four Queens Poker Classic next week. We watched the light show (Tonight�s version was much better than last week) with the thousands of people strolling on the Fremont Street Experience pedestrian mall.

Posted by flipchipro at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Everyone is getting in on the poker boom. The Prof and I had lunch today with one of our friends and poker industry insiders. I always enjoy these social outings and especially the talk during the meal. Today we discussed the Las Vegas hotels that are adding rooms or have added poker rooms to their casino. The MGM Mirage is currently constructing a room that will open in March �05 with thirty tables. The number of players the Vegas casinos can accommodate is getting close to the capacity of poker only clubs in LA. Another interesting topic concerns the downsizing of the recently opened room at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. Rumor says the room will go to eight tables when it is moved up front next to the sports book. The Golden Nugget’s new poker room has been regressing since it�s opening prior to the World Series of Poker this past April. First, it can�t retain manager, Eric Drache, and now the �less tables make for better poker� thing makes me wonder if the new owners of the Golden Nugget are micro-managing the property into oblivion. If you are a viewer of the Golden Nugget TV show about the mega-rich former dot-com boys and their new toy then you probably can understand the reasoning behind downsizing the poker room when most other poker rooms are super-sizing.

I read the “Table Monitor” post over at Call, Raise or Muck It, and am wondering if there is some truth here or is this just a bit of on-line poker satire? Either way most of us have found some unusual happenings when on-line. I know it is always easier to blame our shortcomings on things outside our control, such as is described in this posting. When I was first in Las Vegas playing poker years ago I was convinced that I was often cheated and that accounted for my frequent losses. I could usually beat the poker games I was accustomed to playing in back home so why did I find winning here in Las Vegas so difficult? Only after considerable live play experience did I finally realize that I wasn�t good enough to play a winning Vegas game. The Las Vegas regulars didn�t need to cheat to take my money, I had more leaks that a sieve. Maybe the same thing is going on here with on-line games. I have to remind myself that it is a totally new poker game and probably is as different from live games as those home games I played differed from Vegas poker room games. I will reserve my opinion about the on-line stuff until after I have more experience.

Felicia is coming to town tomorrow and will probably play in the NLHE tournament tomorrow evening at Sam�s Town. The tournament begins at 7:00 pm and has a $60 entry fee. Players begin with $1000 in tournament chips and have one optional $40 rebuy during the first hour or a two-for-one add-on at the end of the rebuy period. First place money is in the range of $1200 plus. The Poker Prof and I will head over to Sams and try to hook up and if we don’t find them in the tournament there we will look downtown at Binions. I will have the camera close at hand and post photos on Saturday.

Posted by flipchipro at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Four Queens Poker Classic Tournament comes to downtown Las Vegas a week from today. The annual tournament kicks off next Wednesday, September 1, 2004, with a $100+$20 Limit Hold�em event at 12:00 noon. The tournament will hold events daily through September 19th. Two events will be held each day at 12:00 pm and 7:00 pm with entry fees ranging from $100+$20 through $500+$40. There will be one $1000+$60 Limit Hold�em event on September 15th and one $1000+$60 No-Limit Hold�em event on September 16th. The final three day Championship event will be $5000+$150 No-Limit Hold�em starting on September 17th. Some of the events have one rebuy. A ladies only Limit Hold�em event will be at 7:00 pm on Sunday, September 5th, and the entry fee is $100+$20.

The Four Queens Poker Classic has proven to be a popular tournament attracting a large number of players in past years. Everyone will find the game they prefer from the offerings of Hold�em, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8/OB, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo 8/OB and Razz. The two a day schedule provides everyone endless tournament action. Combined with the satellites players can compete around the clock.

I will be there for the events with my camera and will post results and a photo gallery of the tournament. This event is on the Hendon Mob’s Prima Poker tour schedule so hopefully we will get an opportunity to visit with these Internet poker stars. The Four Queens is a noted Las Vegas landmark located in downtown Vegas under the canopy of the Fremont Street Experience. You can contact the Four Queens at 800.634.6045 or 702.385.4011. Tournament information is available at 702.339.8892.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The objective here can be summed up quite simply. Make players with drawing hands pay to see every card and when you have the drawing hand you want to see additional cards at as low a price as possible.

A made hand on the flop with possible draws.

Suppose the flop comes with two connected or two suited cards:

Connected: Kd 6h 7c

Suited: Kd 3d 9s

You are on Big Slick so you definetly don�t want to slow play your pair of Kings with top kicker in either of these situations. Allowing a player on an open-ended straight draw or a flush draw to see cards for free is bad strategy, the preferred play is to win the pot right now, so you bet out to make drawing to the hand too expensive and they fold. If you check your top pair to the river and the drawing hands miss you also may have to deal with a bluff. The odds for completing a flush is about 3-1 and the inside straight draw about 5-1 so structure your bets so that your opponent is getting negative pot-odds if they call. A pot sized bet is always a good choice because no drawing hand will have 2-1 odds of completing (In a rare scenario, two connected over-cards with a straight and flush draw will have pots odds to call a pot sized bet). If your opponent calls the pot size bet and then misses on the turn they have only one card to come so an increased bet size will make it extremely expensive to keep drawing for that straight or flush. This strategy works to your advantage if they fold, you win the pot, and if they call and miss you will take down a much larger pot. If the drawing hand calls and hits you can quickly fold. Using this betting tactic you�ll win more often than the drawing hands. If you are raised you have to know the opponent well enough to put them on a hand. Is this a draw trying to scare you or two pair? Maybe even a set or just a total bluff trying to raise you into the muck?

If you�re on the drawing hand you want to see 4th street for free. One tactic I�ve been fairly successful with is to re-raise a minimal pre-flop raise. I am, as often as not, flat called and then checked on the flop giving me the turn for this early minimal investment (often the river as well). A lot of players make small raises on the flop, so if it�s relatively inexpensive to re-raise I consider it worth the risk. The benefit is to slow down my opponent�s betting when they flop top/second pair so my drawing hand can be completed at minimal expense.

This is a bit of fancy play and can back-fire when your opponent comes back with a large raise; but, you can then quickly fold. I�d rather commit a few chips early rather than having to fold my draw to a large bet on 4th street.

Eric Seidel wins Ultimate Poker Challenge at the Plaza!

Eric Seidel, professional poker player from Las Vegas, took his chip lead into the Ultimate Poker Challenge final table on Monday and never looked back. He won the event and picked up the first place prize money from the $35,000 prize pool collected from 35 players that entered this event. Our congratulations to Eric for his win. He is now qualified to play in the semi-final tournament.

Posted by pokerprof at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The �Ultimate Poker Challenge� at the Plaza in downtown Las Vegas was playing down to the final table when I was there yesterday. The place had more of a movie set atmosphere than a poker room with a large number of TV people sitting around in black CSI T-shirts wearing Crew ID�s. The TV set final table was surrounded with an incredible array of camera equipment and the custom table has very stealthy hole cams. The host of the first ever poker syndicated television series to be offered on broadcast TV will be Chad Brown, former TV soap opera regular turned poker pro. The female co-host for the series has not been cast.

The format for the series of tournaments was described as a mix of amateurs playing against the professionals, nothing new here since that is always the format. The buy-in for each of the 23 qualifying events is $1000 +$60. The top winners from each event will move on to the semi-finals and then eight finalists will play in the Championship event for what was described as �millions of dollars.� The next tournament will be held on Labor Day weekend at the Plaza in downtown Las Vegas and then continue each weekend throughout October. The production company responsible for the series is TVi Media. The producer of the show, Sam Riddle, said they originally wanted to have the series at one of the California poker clubs but decided to hold it in Las Vegas after asking an old friend and colleague now living in Las Vegas, Robin Leach, to help them locate a Vegas site to host the event. The series is currently scheduled to debut sometime in September on more than 100 TV stations around the country.

Las Vegas is the center for all things poker and in addition to 24 hour live poker room action players are offered daily tournaments and thousands if not millions in prize money. The good poker players can develop into great players and then go on to win not only money but enjoy the fame that comes with the celebrity status. The industry mucked along for decades without any growth and even appeared to be close to flat-lining, when many of the hotels closed their poker rooms and filled the empty space with video slot machines. Then, almost overnight, Internet poker clubs combined with televised poker tournaments to breathe life back into the industry and the avalanche of poker popularity that followed is nothing short of phenomenal. The legitimate media now refers to poker as a �sport� and professional poker players are �stars.� The final quantum leap was provided when Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker, proving to millions of viewers and players alike that anyone can win the ultimate prize and wear the coveted WSOP Championship bracelet. Even though I have often made it known that I think Chris Moneymaker is not a top professional player I would vote him into the Poker Hall of Fame right now. He did more for the good of the game than anyone since Benny Binion or Amarillo Slim. The only thing I can fault him for is he apparently reads and believes his press releases.

The Ultimate Poker Challenge is open to anyone so if you have an extra $1060 lying around that you want to turn into a few million and become a famous TV celebrity in the process then try to make it to Plaza here in Las Vegas. Who knows, you may be the very next Moneymaker making money playing poker.

A note for those people wondering why our website and blog disappeared this evening. At about 6:30 pm pst until approximately 10:00 pm pst our web host was hit with a DOS attack. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have created. Our hosting service has proven to be very dependable over the years and down time is so rare that we immediately jump on the phone with our account rep to determine if the world has ended. Of course, we are very happy they quickly resolved the problem and are back on the air.

Posted by flipchipro at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For starters check out Pauly for the Hilton Sister’s Challenge Part 5. (It begins and ends tomorrow). In the same vein as the Hilton sisters, Bill’s Blog has some nice photos (from an artistic perspective, of course) of Shana Hiatt. The Poker Chronicles takes a look at Full Tilt while Genius of the Poker has a great tale from the Planet tables. Be sure to check out the new blog Stan’s Ace Nuts to follow Kevin Barbieux’s (yes, that Kevin, the homeless man from Nashville who has become an Internet celebrity with his now-famous blog, The Homeless Guy) foray into the world of poker. I am sure Kevin will offer his unique philosophical look at poker from a never before explored viewpoint.
I’ve also created pages for the Top Nine Lists and the J. Santos cartoons, Muck It!. Both features can now be browsed without having to dig though all my ramblings. To close, I have to say it’s a shame I won’t have a chance to beat Otis this time around.

Posted by pokerprof at 2:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another typical late summer Saturday in Las Vegas. Town full of visitors from everywhere and the streets full of cars from LA. The intense summer heat is apparently over for this year with the nights beginning to cool off and the days staying around a hundred. I can live with that. I never got registered to play in Iggy�s Monty Memorial Poker Blogger Tournament due to an inability to fund my account. I have tried every option available over the last nine days and have tried three different credit cards, two debit cards and two checking accounts with no luck. I continue to get a, �We don�t offer our services to Nevada residents,� email. I�m waiting for Net Teller to verify my checking account but don�t think it is going to happen since my Nevada bank doesn�t accept unsolicited deposits. What a hassle this has proven to be. Anyone else have a problem opening and funding an account at Pacific? Just another benefit of living in the gambling capital of the universe, automatic protection from myself when I try to send some of that casual money out of state.

Today is a good day to introduce everyone to Poker Puff, the feline member of our household. PP is a Maine Coon that has lived with us for seventeen years. As you can see, she has survived many a bar room fight and now lives in semi-retirement chasing lizards and butterflies. She even has a Las Vegas style buffet of favorite treats and prefers chilled bottled water. Poker Puff has considerable experience with poker, having spent her entire life here in Las Vegas. Poker Puff takes full credit for teaching the Poker Prof everything he knows about the game and she often likes to help him when he is blogging so if you see �cat-like typing� don�t be alarmed.

One of the Ultimate Poker Challenge events is going on downtown at the Plaza Hotel so I will check out the action. The event concludes tomorrow.

The Nines List for this week.

Top Nine Reasons to become a Professional Poker Player.

9. I once watched �The Rounders� 32 times in a row.
8. My probation officer said I have to have a job.
7. I have a closet full of hooded sweatshirts.
6. Free $4 food comps.
5. Sitting next to Daniel Negreanu.
4. I�m a natural born liar.
3. I look good in sunglasses.
2. I spent a month learning to shuffle poker chips.
1. Poker tournament groupies.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos’ “Muck It” cartoon.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The poker industry growth curve is a study in exponential functions, a sport growing at warp speed. I have been calling poker a sport for years and will continue to do so. It has all the elements of any other highly competitive endeavor, even the physical considerations are present in the form of endurance that require the players to remain razor sharp for ten to twelve continuous hours day after day. Playing at the top tournament level is very unforgiving and often a single mistake means you will be waiting another year for that bracelet. Many wonder if poker is really a sport. Some of these same people once questioned the athletic qualities of stock car racing. We all know the training and conditioning the drivers go through to survive in a hostile race track environment for many hours while remaining mentally sharp and not making any mistakes. Racing is another sport that doesn�t allow any mistakes.

I have tried to draw the parallel comparison with stock car racing for another reason. When I watch the stock car racing I see cars and drivers covered in decals and the corporate symbology of their many sponsors. When I watch the WPT tournament broadcast I see a much sanitized group of players sitting in a very sterile environment, no decals or emblems, not one single sponsor logo in sight. For just a moment think of the racing TV telecasts without these rolling billboards driven by drivers covered with sponsor logos. The cars are just painted different colors and have a number on the side. The drivers are attired in plain coveralls with no logos or lettering. This presents a damn boring mind picture, at least in my mind. The participation of sponsors has become a part of almost all televised sports, even haute professional golf, so why are the professional poker players denied the opportunity to earn some sponsor�s money. Would this take away from the tournament broadcast? I think not. I believe it would add an element of professionalism to the sport of poker by association with those already established and accepted broadcast sports that allow players this gratuity. Even more important than the sport’s image would be the freedom granted to the players to earn expense money, allowing them to concentrate on the game without the added worries of meeting expenses. I also believe it would attract to the game more young prot�g�s that currently are left out because they can�t afford to play without some sponsorship. ESPN didn�t forbid the wearing of sponsor logos during the WSOP and you will see some of the players in shirts and hats provided by corporations paying the players to wear them. Notice how much this adds to the telecast during the next ESPN WSOP installment then compare it to the boringly perfect WPT broadcast. I like it with the sponsors so please weigh in here and tell me if I�m wrong.

Posted by flipchipro at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finally have the photos taken at the Stratosphere in the Vegas photo gallery. Here are a couple of shots from the �Top of the World Restaurant.� The new images start on page 8 of the gallery, or just go right to them (opens a new browser window).
And now for something completely different… Drunk Wildlife!
I found this news story on paulsburbon.

Posted by pokerprof at 7:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I watched ESPN�s Main Event, two hours of coverage of the first two elimination days of the 2004 WSOP final event and I have a few observations and opinions. I realized how difficult the WSOP $10,000 No-limit Hold’em Championship event has become. Reaching the final table is not only a crap shoot, due to the sheer numbers of entrants; but, trying to survive the totally unreadable amateur players is changing the Championship event into a game that doesn�t make the pros the heavy favorites as in past years. The professional players, using skills developed from thousands of hours of play with fellow professionals, often appeared confused and unable to make a sound decision. Daniel Negreanu, currently the number one ranked poker player, used all his talents to finally make the right decision to muck his losing hand after commenting that he didn�t have a clue about what to do. Some of these amateur newbies give the term �calling station� a bad name. The future WSOP Championship events will require the great players to develop new skills for dealing with the unpredictable amateurs and Internet players while retaining the ability to play their �A� game with fellow pros. The winner of the event will probably be the professional player that has extensive experience in Internet poker combined with considerable live game experience. I thought the 2003 WSOP was determined with a heavy helping of luck. I think the 2004 event was won by the best player, Greg Raymer; because, he brought the experience to survive in a very large field of semi-skilled Internet players and enough live game knowledge to play with anyone. I am not at all surprised that Greg �Fossilman� Raymer won the main event this year. He brought to the 2004 WSOP the right experience and qualifications; then, combined this with his aggressive play and some luck to best the field.

I am fortunate that I live in Las Vegas and was at the WSOP everyday with my press pass giving me access to everyone and everything. I was often very close to the action and have to point out how different your observations of the play are when you do not know the players hole cards during the hand. Point in fact, during the second ESPN hour last night when Chris Ferguson tries to bluff his 7-2o (the Hammer! I wonder if he reads PokerGurb?). I was there for the live play of this hand and remember thinking that the amateur player should fold. Any pro would have released their hand before the flop when Ferguson put in the first raise. The pros usually refuse to risk their seat on a third rate drawing hand; but not this new breed player, no sir, they come in off the street to go all-in with a possible pair draw. The TV version lets me immediately know Chris has a 7-2o, worst starting hand in hold�em, and this information makes the bluff play appear to be a big mistake that Ferguson compounds when he continues to bet. Watching this play live and not knowing either player�s hole cards; then, watching the ESPN TV version knowing the hole cards makes for a considerable difference in the perception of the players and how the hand plays out. Sometimes the hole cameras remove too much of the mystique from poker. Yes, I agree, the cameras are responsible for the overwhelming popularity of TV poker and are a necessary innovation for continued television popularity which is a very good thing for the overall poker business. I know we can�t live without them and they will forever be a part of tournament poker broadcast; but, everyone should try at least once to watch the game live. Otherwise, you are missing the very best part of the game, the mystery and aura of the great players doing a little live magic show. It will most certainly be worth the price of the trip.

In other news I noticed that Texas poker law is getting some press, and even mentions the very charity event I blogged about here.

Posted by flipchipro at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Poker is going down the road to legitimacy. Poker is no longer the exclusive game of your Uncle never-had-a job Joe. It has become the mainstream pastime of the rich and famous as evidenced by the popularity of Celebrity Poker Showdown, watched by the masses out here in TV land. If it is good enough for all those movie star types and the idle rich then why the hell isn�t it legal? I understand that the game itself is usually not outside the law, just the wagering on the outcome of a hand. My question today is, �can poker be played without some form of associated betting?� Without wagering is it still poker?

I think the answer is a simple no. Without betting there can be no poker. Even when we play for pure fun we have to provide a unit of wagering whither it is play money or matchsticks. The game is built around using our skills, primarily money management, to win the prize even when we do not have the highest ranked poker hand. That�s the heart of poker, the driving force that attracts so many of us. The best hand doesn�t always win and often ends up in the muck. Unlike other sports where the outcome, the winner, is determined by a scoreboard unaffected by wagering, poker winners are always affected and determined by wagering. Every time we play we hear someone say, �The cards break even,� and they do, exactly. Everyone will get the same distribution of bad and good hands over a given period of time. The given time period may well be longer than your playing session or even a number of playing sessions; but, when plotted over the course of thousands of poker hands the standard bell shaped curve must be defined. Without a system of wagering poker is reduced to a random cut of the cards and all the players will get the same number of winners and losers if they play enough hands. My point of this is what part of poker is harming society at large?

I come home from work and don�t really feel like going back out into the traffic jams burning two buck a gallon gasoline to drive myself to the horse track across the county and pay the price of admission into the track so I might enjoy a little adrenalin rush from betting on a winner. All legal and good. Instead, if I prefer to sit down in my favorite chair, turn on my computer and enjoy the adrenalin rush from winning a four dollar pot in an online poker game I�m doing something that is not legal and risky. At any minute a jackbooted squad can break down my door, seize my property and haul me straight to jail. This is an exageration right now, but could change in the future. Depending on how they choose to charge me I could theoretically be held without due process until the end of the war. A hefty risk for a little entertainment. Maybe it is because I didn�t have to pay to come into the online casino. Maybe they should charge admission just like the horse tracks. And how about my Uncle never-had-a-job Joe that spent all his time playing poker in back rooms losing an occasional tractor or cow? He finally quit playing poker after he lost the whole damn farm playing the market.

Looking about the headlines from today ESPN has a Moneymaker inverview and the Hilton Sisters were spotted at a poker tournament. I think I’ll stop by one of the sports books and check out the over/under line on the Nicky Hilton marriage annulment.

Stinger:
JeanieJ: “I saw Moneymaker on T.V this evening advertising a ‘Poker for dummies’ video. Staring, him and the editor of Card Player magazine.”
MagicMark: What’s it called? Perhaps “How to hit on the river!”?

Posted by flipchipro at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is really a brief topic for me; there are very few hands I�ll re-raise with unless I know I�m looking at a super loose player. This is written primarily for tournament play but works equally well in most ring games.

Re-raising: Three hands for me, Aces, Kings and sometimes Queens. I know this is a short, tight list. If I know I have the best hand before the flop then I don�t want a bunch of random drawing hands staying in. I won�t raise all-in; but, I�ll defiantly double the original raise, usually taking it to 8x or 10x the BB. If the original better raises yet again (and about half the time it seems to be an all-in raise) I�ll always call with Aces, usually call with Kings (unless I know I�m against a super tight player) and fold with Queens (unless I�m risking less then 1/3 of my stack and/or I know I�m against a very loose player). The problem with Queens as a re-raising hand is about 50% of the time an over card will hit the board and a lot of pre-flop action is a sure guarantee another player is holding an Ace or King. Queens vs. Big Slick is a coin flip and I�d rather make better odds for myself when possible. I try to get in cheaply with Queens and then I can easily muck the pair when over cards hit and the action heats up. If I�m re-raised with my Kings I will call, unless I know the player is the type who would only keep swinging with Aces. A lot of players I encounter will keep coming with a random Ace, a random King, Tens, Jacks, Queens, and some bluff-o-matics with any two cards. Aces I refuse to limp with, always a raise. I used to slow play Aces occasionally and just lost too many hands to random trash suck-out that made a flush / straight / two pair.

Getting re-raised before the flop: This is a big red flag! Depending on stack size and tournament level it may be best to lay down and wait for a better spot.
What T.J. says: �Kings and Aces, Queens are out, unless your against a small pair raiser.� T.J. Likes to play �second-hand-low� sometimes, where he flat-calls the raise in front of him and he�s close to the original raiser (I would guess one or two seats off). This will let him fold with minimal loss if he misses the flop. With Aces TJ points out that �If you limp with Aces you won�t go broke with Aces�. A poker pro I know told me a simple way to double my take from low-limit hold�em, �Never call a pre-flop raise, period.�

Posted by pokerprof at 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out Poker Grub�s Binion�s experience for another perspective on the famous poker room. The Poker Chronicles has a look at the zerorake website (membership fee based). Riding the F-train is planning reviews of the New York City cards rooms. Be sure to hit Paulsburbon for another look at the World Series of Poker Coverage and Adventures of a Poker Nerd for another perspective on Hurricane Charley. More poker goodness from CGoP, this time with a round-up of all the good SNG strategy on the net. Finally, I have to pimp the Casino[ptz] blog run by Dave Schwartz over at UNLV, his is a wonderful Las Vegas blog.

Poll Results from Question of the Week 1
Question: Late in a no limit hold’em tournament the flop comes rainbow with no straight or flush draw, the Small Blind raises all-in and everyone folds, it’s now your action, what is the minimum hand you need to call with if you don’t know your opponent and calling will put you all-in?

Top Pair Top Kicker 24.26%
Wired Overpair 14.71%
Bottom Two Pair 11.76%
Top Two Pair 21.32%
Any Trips 20.59%
Top Trips 7.35%

I�m an �Any Trips� type in this situation, interesting to see that top pair top kicker is the single most popular answer, this surprised me.

Posted by pokerprof at 6:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 14, 2004

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