Well... Let's start with something about me :-) Recently, I add new pictures to my
Poker group on Yahoo, so feel free to give a look there! These are just a few previews of my pics:
Now, time for poker as usual...
My top-pick of the day... This transcript of Phil´s interview with Dale Blasingame has one of the highest density of usefulness per sentence I ever found in poker articles. If you wanna listen the
POKER VERB from the
POKER CHAMP himself, check http://cctvimedia.clearchannel.com/woai/audio/hellmuth1.MP3
Serious Poker Advice from Phil Hellmuth
From www.woai.com, by Dale Blasingame
Wow.
Did you catch the show Phil Hellmuth put on at the World Series main event this year? ESPN aired Mount Hellmuth's eruption this past Tuesday. It was the "Poker Brat" at his finest. At one point, he even asked an opponent if he knew how to spell poker.
Not all that unusual if you've followed Hellmuth's career. Fortunately, I got a head's up to watch the episode from the man himself, just four days earlier.
Yes, I partied with Phil Hellmuth last Friday night. It was up in Austin... and I guess I didn't really party WITH Phil. I was AT a party with Phil. It was thrown by Green Tie Poker and featured a seminar by the nine-time world champ.
The funniest part? Hellmuth came dressed as Phil Hellmuth. Black windbreaker (it was 85 degrees outside), headphones (it was inside a loud bar) and sunglasses (yeah, the bar was dark).
In real life, Hellmuth's a cool guy. He was funny, sarcastic and, of course, he knows his poker. After giving the crowd of about 250 some great insight into his victory at the Heads Up Championship (seen on News 4 WOAI), he took a few questions.
First topic: How do you build your bankroll to become a professional player?
Phil's key - don't go crazy.
"I think the way to do it is to start in a very small game. That's the way I did it," Hellmuth said. "I would play a $0.50 ante, no-limit hold 'em game. I could just sit there and wait forever. I was in the position where $20 meant a lot to me. The guys at the table...$20 didn't mean anything to them. So I would just sit there and very patiently build my bankroll. All of a sudden, I'd be up $300 or $400 and I'd have all that in front of me and they'd want it match it because it didn't matter to them. So I'd play a patient game and I'd play in situations where I could afford to wait. I think too many people bust themselves in one day, one month or maybe a two month period. You should never lose all your money in a one month time frame. Yet many people do it in one week or one day. Playing professional poker is not easy. I've been very blessed and very lucky and I have a good constitution for it. When I got low on money, I didn't start doing drugs or drinking or freak out. I always thought 'there's this really bright future coming.' I could really see it. So I could be depressed in the moment or I could be really happy about this wonderful future coming. I kind of like having a little pressure on me, so I have a good temperament to do this. You have to build your money slowly at first. Then you work your way up the limits. If you're a great player, you're going to get to the biggest games, don't worry. Some people try to take shortcuts and never make it there. Work your way up and as you get to each level or limit, make sure you're learning new things."
Second topic: Ever wonder what kind of cash games the top pros play?
Let's just say they're games I will probably never see in my lifetime.
"In Aruba, we were playing $200-$400 triple draw 2-7. It's a low-ball game that's been all the rage among the high-end players," Hellmuth said. "I also played no-limit hold 'em down there and won like $16,000 an hour. I should have won more but I folded a winner for a lot of money."
Third topic: What's the difference between online and real-life tournaments.
Obviously... there are plenty.
"The ultimate in fast is probably the online, ten-player tournament. The ultimate in slow is the main event of the World Series of Poker," according to Hellmuth. "So you have ten minutes versus ten days. A big difference, right? There's also about 5,500 more people at the World Series. So it changes your strategy. Online you can take a lot more chances. You can be very aggressive and play more big pots. You know, you have to be lucky at some point in an online tournament. You might wait for KQs and put it all in and hope your opponent has KJ or AJ and you can outdraw them...where in the real world you can just sit there and fold forever. Slow tournament...play slow. Fast tournament...play fast. I have fun at both. I wish we had a World Series of Poker every day, especially since Chan and Doyle got #10 and I didn't."
Final topic: How can you tell when someone is bluffing?
Phil's answer - It's all in the body language.
"It does seem like amateurs, when they miss the flop, they lean back in their chair," said Hellmuth. "When they hit the flop, they lean forward. As if, 'I hit it, I'm getting ready to act,' as if, 'I missed, I'm getting ready to fold.' You would think people would be able to crack that, right? We act the same way as monkeys...when they do the tests and the studies. It's really ingrained in us. I talked to an expert with the FBI and he told me it's impossible to bluff and do this (makes steeple formation with his hands in front of his mouth). If you're going to bluff and you're going to do the steeple, it's impossible without your mouth moving. I tried it...and I think I was able to bluff with the steeple. But the day I figured that out, which was two months ago, I went to the Bicycle Club and every time I bluffed like that and they folded even quicker. So there's something there in their mind. I'm giving them a false tell...so that's a really good one."
After the seminar and Q&A session, Hellmuth stuck around and played in a shootout with some players who qualified online.
My advice? Take the Hellmuth you see on TV with a grain of salt. He himself even admitted this "bad boy of poker" persona has earned him millions and millions of dollars in endorsements. Sure, he's an emotional guy and those outbursts probably aren't planned. But in person, Phil Hellmuth comes across as a good guy... and we all know he's a hell of a poker player.
Well done Earl! Hope I am gonna make it, too, in 2007 :-)
Earl's Excellent Poker Adventure - Day Six
From PokerNews, by Earl Burton
Well, I did it. I made it to the final table of a World Poker Tour tournament!
Granted, it isn't the way that I truly want to. While being a tournament reporter can be an exciting life, you have about four days of true tedium to work through to get to those moments of excitement. When you are at the tables, playing for the opportunity to win large sums of money, those moments of excitement can be more frequent! So while I didn't make it to the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship as a player, at least I was there as a reporter!
There's a lot of work that goes into these tournaments that you see on TV. The crowd was seated at about 5PM, but the tournament wasn't set to start until seven. The two hours were spent taking crowd shots and filming the WPT Season Four commercial that you should be seeing soon on the Travel Channel. The players all arrived around 6:30 and waited to get their battery packs and microphones on and, around 7:30 in the evening, we actually started the final table of the tournament. It shaped up like this:
Seat 1: Longtime poker player Tony Grand, short stacked with 118,000 chips
Seat 2: Veteran high stakes cash game master Minh Ly, chip leader with 3,056,000 chips
Seat 3: Former World Champion Dan Harrington, 2,937,000
Seat 4: Las Vegas poker player Don Zewin, 552,000
Seat 5: WPT Mirage champion Gavin Smith, 1,368,000
Seat 6: Denmark's Jan Sorensen (2005 WSOP Seven Card Stud Champion), 370,000
This was probably one of the most professional laden final tables of the WPT's history. It could have been better with Barry Greenstein, who finished tenth, and Chris Ferguson (out in eleventh), but the men who worked their way to this prestigious seat at the Bellagio definitely brought some serious poker skills along with them. With three serious short stacks, we at least figured that they would be quickly eliminated and then settle in for a long battle.
We had barely gotten started when, on Hand 8, Tony Grand decided it was time to make a stand. Tony was pretty much the story of the entirety of the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship. At 81 years old, he has played poker for his entire life and, to date, this has been his finest achievement, in addition to being the oldest final table player in WPT history. After pushing in, both Minh Ly and Jan Sorensen both called him. When the board came down 2-7-5-10-Q, Minh bet out and forced Jan from the pot. When the cards were turned up, we kept Tony around for more poker (to the delight of the audience) when his Q-9 barely outraced Minh's Q-8, tripling him up.
Eleven hands later, after Gavin Smith raised the pot, Grand was all in again. After Don Zewin came all-in over the top, Gavin dropped his hand and the race was on between two Las Vegas poker playing veterans. Tony held the edge with his pocket tens, but Don came with an A-Q for the battle. An Ace on the flop and an unnecessary Ace on the river sealed the end of the night for Tony Grand, in sixth place for $96,560.
"I really didn't want to take him out," I heard Gavin Smith say later. Two hands previous to this, Gavin and Tony locked up and Tony drew out a flush on him. He was honestly somewhat relieved not to be the person who knocked the octogenarian from the event! As it was, it was another Vegas veteran, Don Zewin, who did it.
It wouldn't be long before our next departure would occur. Jan Sorensen showed that his skills in the game extended far beyond Seven Card Stud by getting to this final table and, with a stack withering from the antes and blinds, found a hand to go with. He pushed all in on Hand 23 with his pocket fives, only to see Don Zewin call him. Zewin showed a dominant hand with pocket sevens and, once the board provided no help for Jan, he left the Fontana Ballroom in fifth place with $137,940.
This was less than an hour into the event, and we would get into the true nature of poker. For the next four plus hours, there was no one eliminated from the game. Gavin Smith, who is truly one of the bright stars of the future of the game, launched into an ultra-aggressive style that, at one point, captured him more than half the chips left in the game. Don Zewin showed the skills honed in Las Vegas as, repeatedly, he put his tournament life on the line and came out the victor. Both "Action Dan" and Minh repeatedly battled with their other two table mates, but were unable to gain a significant advantage. We went through two level ups before the action heated up tremendously.
With the blinds at 100K/200K with a 20K ante on Hand 135, Dan Harrington decided it was time to play. He raised the pot to 600K, prompting an all in move from Don Zewin. Zewin only had approximately 400,000 more chips, so Harrington made the pot odds move when he called. Dan turned up a very un-Harrington-like hand of the 9-7 of clubs, which was dominated by Don's pocket nines. Zewin had to have hated the flop of 4c-7-Kc and, with a blank turn, was sucked out by the former World Champion when a ten of clubs hit the river. Zewin, who had played tremendously throughout the entire tournament, was eliminated in fourth worth $189,630.
The very next hand would lead to the next elimination. Minh moved all in from the button and, after deliberating for several minutes, Gavin Smith called him from the big blind. Minh's K-8 shrunk in comparison to Gavin's A-7 but, once a King hit the flop, Gavin was crippled to the point that he was all in on the next hand. Harrington moved a raise in to force out Minh and turned up another interesting hand, the 8-4 of spades. Gavin had to like his chance as, fitting of the namesake of the tournament, he turned up the 10-2 of hearts (the Doyle Brunson). This time, however, there was no magic in the hand as Dan hit an eight on the flop and added a four on the turn to send Gavin home in third with $327,610 for his efforts. It was obvious in looking at Gavin, once he was away from the table, that he was truly devastated. In both cases, he had got his money in with the best hand and, both times, he came away the victim instead of the victor. Close friend and confidant Erick Lindgren, who sat in the audience and sweated his compatriot, provided some condolence on the unfortunate turn of events.
Down to two, the chip counts looked like this:
Dan Harrington: 3.375M
Minh Ly: 5.020M
It was nearly over on the next hand. Harrington raised the pot and, when Minh moved all in, called. A more typical Dan Harrington hand of A-J covered Minh's K-J and, when the board blanked out, Harrington captured the chip lead. It was Ly's turn to double on the next hand and we continued the heads up battle for a few more hands.
The two traded the chip lead back and forth and, after a level up to 150K/300K (30K ante), the final hand came. On Hand 151, Minh moved all in and Dan called him. Harrington had the dominant hand of Ah-5c to Ly's Jc-3h. The poker gods graced Minh with a three on the flop and, once the drama of the turn and river blanks, Minh Ly was the champion of the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship, taking the $1,000,060 first place check! Dan Harrington was down in second, but the $620,370 was a nice consolation prize.
Ironically, it was a three that Minh had lost to when he was playing Doyle Brunson heads up at the World Series this year when Doyle captured his tenth bracelet. Perhaps there was some poetic justice in the factor that Minh won Doyle's tournament by defeating his opponent with a three as well! Minh was visibly shocked and stunned during the awards ceremony, with Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten and the new and lovely (and better than previous) hostess Courtney Friel when he was able to utter, "I wanted to gamble...and I did. I'm happy I won!"
Once the tournament was over, the press corps relaxed as well. I was able to sit back with my peers and enjoy our week of work, including toasting Minh himself as he came by our table. I sat back and truly enjoyed the thrills of poker and life in Las Vegas! In the epilogue to this saga, I'll look at many of the things I came to learn during my time in Vegas and, perhaps, may answer some questions you've been wondering about as my Excellent Poker Adventure comes to a close!
This is a kinf od dejavu´ for most of us...
Why No-Limit Poker is Better Than Poker
From www.andpop.com, by Joshua Heilpern
If you are a tight-aggressive player, you need to consider playing No-Limit Hold 'em if you aren't already. With proper play, not only can you expect to increase your hourly win rate, but you can make it much more difficult for your opponents to draw out on you.
First of all, let's explain the fundamental differences between Limit and No-Limit. In Limit Hold 'em, you can only raise the amount of the big blind and most cardrooms and online poker rooms will cap the betting at 3 raises. In No-Limit Hold 'em, the only betting rule is that the minimum be at least the size of the big blind. You can bet your whole stack if you want to.
Sure, it takes more knowledge, experience, and courage to play No-Limit (NL) well, but it will pay off for you if you play it right.
To get you started, the standard raise in NL is 3-4 times the big blind. After the flop, a good bet to make when you have a strong hand is about the size of the pot. If you're looking for information on the flop, you might consider a bet of 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the pot. You also might consider making only a small bet if you're holding a monster hand and want to get called. Or you could always check-raise in that situation. Also be aware that the value of drawing hands that play well in limit games like K-J suited goes way down in NL play. Better hands to have are big pocket pairs or suited connectors.
So, why is it better to play NL? Simple: It's much easier to make a lot more money. Playing NL, you can afford to play only your strong hands. For example, in a two hour poker session you can play only one good hand and still make good money. You can more than double your stack on any given hand. In Limit poker, you have to constantly be winning pots to come out ahead. The blinds come around too quickly to sit on your hands. You have to work hard, play for a long time, and play your best game at all times to make good money at Limit poker.
Think about this: Most good poker authors will tell you that a good Limit player can expect to make about one big blind per hour. So, in other words, you can expect to make $10 an hour at a Limit $5/10 game if you play it right. On the other hand, if you buy-in for $500 at a $5/10 NL game, go all-in on your first hand with pocket Aces, get called by one opponent with pocket Kings and he doesn't improve, you've just won another $500 without breaking a sweat. That's an average of 50 hours of Limit gameplay.
Also, you can make your drawing opponents always go against the odds. In NL, you control the pot odds that your opponent is getting. If you see two suited or connecting cards on the board, betting the size of the pot into one opponent will make them go against the odds to draw. Sure, they're still going to hit their draws occasionally, but at least you made it a bad play for them to do so.
It takes the right personality to play at NL games. You can't be timid, and you have to know how much to bet at the right times. If you can't do that, then stick to Limit poker for now and come back to try NL if and when the time is right.
As a Limit player who converted to NL, I can tell you that it isn't too difficult to adapt your game. I can also tell you that after I learned to play NL, I never sat down at another Limit table. You can also tell you that after I learned to play NL, I never sat down at another Limit table.
NBC Poker event moves to Caesars
From www.pokernews.com, by Michael Friedman
Last year, NBC made major waves with its broadcast of "The National Heads-Up Poker Championship." The one-on-one tournament featured a college basketball-like, single elimination format and was held at the famous Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.
Ratings were solid for the inaugural tournament and sponsors were pleased with the hotly contested action on the felt. Although the six episodes were broadcast over the course of six weeks, there was no shortage of viewers as the grueling elimination matches reached on average, over four million viewers per broadcast.
But things have changed for the now annual event, as it moves location and sets up shop in Caesar's Palace's new poker room. This year's event features a total prize pool of $1.5 million, paying out $500,000 to the first place winner.
According to Harrah's Entertainment vice president of sports and entertainment marketing, Jeffery Pollack, the move made sense for the recently added venue. "This is a terrific addition to our portfolio of sports ventures. We're thrilled Caesar's Palace has joined with NBC Sports to showcase this increasingly popular event in Caesar's new poker room."
This year's coverage will expand to 10 hours, broadcast in six shows which will be telecasted on Sundays in April and May. Things are sure to be hotter this time around when "The Brat," Phil Hellmuth looks to repeat his first-place finish of a year ago. Hellmuth will have his work cut out for him as he takes on a field of 63 other top flight competitors like the legendary Doyle Brunson, the ever-intriguing Gus Hansen, and the man Hellmuth bested last year for the big cash, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.
Senior vice president for NBC Jon Miller, believes this type of programming is what the public is looking for. "This event has special qualities that have enabled it to rise in the poker landscape and establish a uniqueness that the public can embrace. The head-to-head confrontation between players, who are now legitimate stars, provides compelling competition for players and makes for entertaining television," said Miller in a recent press release.
With an all-star line-up of players, the match-ups will be decided by the luck of the draw and should immediately raise the stakes for the players. They will have to be able to adjust styles on the fly for this old school, western style shootout.
ONLINE POKER
Some legal changes about internet poker and my usual review of generous online poker free rolls and prizes. Remember, take advantage of every single
poker promotion you can, because winning is good, but winning money using money which aren´t ours, well... that´s priceless! :-)
Kasper continues Internet poker push
From AP (it stands for Associated Press, not Angel poker :-)
BISMARCK, N.D. - A lawmaker who advocated making North Dakota the first state to license Internet poker companies has been in demand as a speaker on the issue, making trips to Las Vegas, Montreal and the Caribbean island of Antigua this year.
Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, and four other North Dakota legislators went to Antigua for four days earlier this month on what they described as an unofficial trade mission. Their trip was paid for by the Antiguan government, they said.
Antigua licenses Internet poker companies, and Antiguan government statements on the trip focused on North Dakota's potential role in Internet gambling, including the possible use of the state-owned Bank of North Dakota to handle wagers.
Last September, Kasper was a featured speaker at the Casino Affiliate Convention in Las Vegas, which focused on Internet marketing for the gambling industry.
In June, he attended the annual Global Interactive Gaming Summit & Expo in Montreal, a conference organized by the River City Group of St. Charles, Mo. River City's chief executive officer, Sue Schneider, helped lobby for Kasper's Internet poker measure during the 2005 Legislature.
Kasper believes state licensing of poker Web sites is a potentially lucrative source of money for the state treasury, and industry officials who favored his bill said they were eager for U.S. regulation.
"I am not putting away the idea of getting into Internet gaming licenses in North Dakota," Kasper said. "The revenue we missed is too great to pass up."
Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands have approved bills allowing for state licensing and regulation of Internet poker sites, but have been wary of following through because of U.S. Justice Department statements that Internet gambling is illegal in the United States.
Kasper and the other four lawmakers who took the Antigua trip said a number of trade possibilities were discussed with government officials.
Fargo Reps. Ron Iverson, Blair Thoreson and Bette Grande and Bismarck Rep. Mark Dosch, all of whom are Republicans, went on the trip with Kasper.
Iverson, Thoreson and Dosch were co-sponsors of Kasper's Internet poker measure, which was approved in the state House before it was defeated, 44-3, in the North Dakota Senate last March.
"I wouldn't say it was for gaming," Grande said of the trip. "Was it part of it? Was it brought up? Yes."
Antigua, a tiny island nation west of the Dominican Republic, has a population of about 69,000 people. It covers 108 square miles, compared to Burleigh County's surface area of 1,633 square miles.
The country's gross national product is about $800 million, compared to North Dakota's gross state product of $21 billion.
North Dakota lawmakers who go on trips sponsored by other individuals, companies or organizations are not required to disclose them.
Sen. April Fairfield, D-Eldridge, introduced legislation this year to require lawmakers to disclose their travel reimbursements, and obtain permission beforehand to make any trip from the chairman of the Legislative Council. Sen. Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck, the Senate majority leader, is the council's present chairman.
The travel disclosure requirement was removed from the final version of the bill that the Legislature approved. Instead, the threshold at which a lobbyist must report spending on an individual legislator was increased from $50 to $60, and lobbyists' annual registration fees were raised from $20 to $25.
CelebPoker.com is Sending Players “Down Under” for the Opportunity of a Lifetime
From www.emediawire.com
The Australian Poker Championship is held at the world renowned Crown Casino in Australia. The 2005 main event pool was in excess of $2 Million Dollars, one of only a few tournaments outside the US to generate a seven figure prize pool.
(PRWEB) October 24, 2005 -- When the World Series of Poker replays have ended the world will look to Australia this January for the most exciting poker event to ever take place outside the US. The Aussie Millions is a tournament like no other. Players from all over the world will come to compete for a prize pool worth over $2 Million dollars. What makes the event so unique are the buy in options and levels and how many ways there are to qualify for a seat.
One option available to players and tournament hopefuls is winning a seat through www.CelebPoker.com. Every day players can get on the site and play in a qualifier for a mere $10. This is an unbelievable value considering the prize package offered by CelebPoker.com is valued at over $11,600. The details of the tournaments including times can be found at http://www.celebpoker.com/tournaments_featured.asp
The tremendous offer from CelebPoker.com is this; play at one of the low entry tournaments for $10 and win a chance to part of the Crown Poker Championships this year. This is a legitimate deal and no other poker room in the world is making it easier to qualify and attend. Like previous events and promotions, CelebPoker.com is rising to the top and claiming its stake as one of the premier poker rooms online.
The Australian Poker Championship is held at the world renowned Crown Casino in Australia. The 2005 main event pool was in excess of $2 Million Dollars, one of only a few tournaments outside the US to generate a seven figure prize pool. Next year looks set to be even bigger with a projected first prize of $1 Million Dollars! This is becoming one of the most prestigious poker events in the world. Don’t forget you will also have the opportunity to play against Joe Hachem in his home town of Melbourne. Hachem won the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event. You can play against the World Champion on his home ground and become your own international poker icon.
Players are finding this offer exciting and the amount of positive feedback can be seen by the number of hopefuls counting their chips and drawing for the straights at the CelebPoker.com tables recently. The action on CelebPoker.com is so real to life with their advanced software and interactive player chat. People from around the world are logging on and playing the site daily in various tournaments, ring games and celebrity events. What the Aussie Millions does for the poker world is provide an international event outside the World Series of Poker. What CelebPoker.com is doing is giving the average poker player a chance to use this skill and a bit of good fortune to move his game to a whole new level and gain a massive life experience opportunity.
$250,000 Awarded Online at Titan Poker's Jackpot Tournaments
From www.emediawire.com
Any player who wins six consecutive Fort Knox tournaments -- Titan Poker's newest Jackpot Sit 'N' Go promotion -- will win a $100,000 Jackpot Prize.
(PRWEB) October 24, 2005 -- $250,000 in Jackpot Prize money has already been awarded to poker players at the Jackpot Sit 'N' Go Tournaments of Titan Poker (http://www.titanpoker.com)-- one of the newest and fastest growing online poker rooms. Winners of consecutive Titan Poker's Jackpot Sit 'N' Go Tournaments, staged in conjunction with the iPoker network, take home huge Jackpot Prizes as large as $100,000.
Since their introduction a few months ago, nearly 60,000 Jackpot Sit 'N' Go Tournaments have been staged on the iPoker network, and 159 unique players have won Jackpot Prizes. A total of $250,000 in prizes have been distributed, with a number of individual players taking home over $30,000 each.
The Fort Knox Jackpot Sit 'N' Go Tournaments are the latest jackpot tournaments to be offered by Titan Poker. Any player who wins six consecutive six-player Fort Knox Jackpot Sit 'N' Go Tournaments will take home a Jackpot Prize of $100,000. Players who finish in first or second place in six consecutive Fort Knox tournaments will be awarded a $750 Jackpot Prize.
Already available at Titan Poker are the popular Rio and Maui Progressive Jackpot Sit 'N' Go Tournaments, which offer starting jackpots of $25,000 and $15,000 respectively. The Rio and Maui jackpots grow progressively each week if no player manages to win enough consecutive tournaments to take the jackpot prize.
