Poker has come along way from the days it was played in the back of smoke filled pool rooms where the only women you’d see were the cocktail waitress, wives, girlfriends, or even mistresses hanging out.
More and more women have shown an interest in poker, and for many women, the most special day of the year for them has always been playing in the ladies event at the WSOP.
My personal assistant is a perfect example of that. She works hard for me during the WSOP, but her one off day is the ladies event and she looks forward to playing in it every year. She’s been able to satellite her way in every year, and I’m always proud of her when she wins her seat! It’s pretty cool since she is new to poker.
Patty would never dare play in an open event for that kind of money. No chance. That holds true for many of the women, mostly beginners, who all use that event as a learning experience. Some women may start out playing in the ladies event, and then eventually play in the open events, but a large percentage of them would never have had an opportunity to experience the WSOP had it not been for this very special and historic event.
I mean, you have over 1000 women in that event who love it! Why in the world would we want to spoil their fun in the name of sexual equality? I mean really. Really????? Men have had it pretty good, so whining about sexual equality as a man is a pretty lame excuse to take part in a ladies event. It’s beyond lame, it’s just plain foolish. You aren’t fighting for men’s rights, or women’s right for that matter, you are just being an ass.
I think there were at least 6 men who played in the event this year, and I’d be willing to bet a pretty penny that their primary motivation was NOT sexual equality, it was equity. It’s a juicy, large field event with loads of beginners. I’m not saying that all of them were playing for that specific reason, but I’d bet a lot of money it wasn’t a concerted effort to “right the wrong of women having fun at the WSOP in a segregated event.”
Women still represent a minuscule percentage of open events. Outside of the ladies event, which has a 1000 player field, there is no way in hell that a total of 1000 women would play in the open events.
I’m not a woman, so I couldn’t fully understand the level of intimidation a woman would face when she sits down at a poker table full of men. For some, it’s no big deal, but for a large majority, I imagine they are a bit worried about “looking stupid” or being judged. It’s human nature.
This event helps put many of the women at ease. They all can learn together and enjoy the experience of playing in the world’s most prestigious series, the WSOP. Why do we want to take that away from them? Why do we want to destroy such a unique and special event that is so popular among most women?
Well, Shaun Deeb and Annie Duke think the event should be destroyed. Shaun Deeb and Annie Duke think that Patty should forget about looking forward to the ladies event, because they don’t like it. Well screw you!!! Don’t play in it if you don’t like it, but don’t ruin the fun for the 1000 women who do love the event so much.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it, women and men shouldn’t be separated in a game that isn’t physical, but that’s not the case in poker either. Every single bracelet event is an open event. The casino employee’s event, ladies event, and seniors event, are all special events catering to a special demographic… and they are popular. None of those bracelets “count” in the totals or stats. If Jennifer Harman wins the ladies event, she’d still have two bracelets… And one ladies event bracelet. Her bracelet count would be 2, not 3.
The WSOP is considering repercussions for men who entered the ladies event. I hope a precedent is set so that we can protect this event and let the ladies have some fun man, seriously… Why be a party pooper? Are there not more important causes to fight than this one? Leave the ladies event be. It DOES bring more women into poker, and the absurd notion that if it didn’t exist more women would play in open events is a bunch of bologna.
Why should 1000 women be deprived of having a good experience at the WSOP because Shaun Deeb and Annie Duke don’t like it?
Sometimes law gets in the way of logic and that’s the case with this event. Legally, you can’t shut out the men, because it discriminates based on gender, but if you think about it in terms of history, let’s look at who would be discriminated against: MEN. Men have had it pretty damn good. They could always work, vote, or pretty much do whatever they please, while women had to struggle and fight for their rights. Men aren’t being deprived here, and the only area you could argue that men get the short end of the stick is in custody battles in divorce court. Let the freaking ladies have a special event for them!
If you are offended by a special event created for women to play poker without having to deal with testosterone at the table, then you need to loosen up a bit and stop being so anal. Go fight a real battle and let the ladies play!
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Dan Michalski of Pokerati.com sent me an e-mail containing an article he posted on his site that was written by an “anonymous pro” in response to my blog regarding the PokerNews coverage this year. I read the article, and if this is a legitimate “pro” I will absolutely eat my hat. There is virtually no chance that it was written by a pro, but we’ll never know because the author decided that he didn’t have the guts to put his name to his article. That’s not a problem I have. I’m not afraid to own my opinions, whether they are right or wrong. When they are wrong, I have no qualms with saying so and apologizing if need be.
So on that note, I found it just totally frustrating when my blog on the PokerNews coverage was misinterpreted. Never for a second was I calling out the writers or chip counters of the event. In fact, one of them is staying with me for the whole month! It has NOTHING to do with the hardworking crew running around from table to table covering the event. I mean, it’s the same crew essentially as last year and last year was better. When that happens, it’s NEVER a case of the workers being the issue. I’m not accusing them of slacking off or smoking dope in the back of the Rio. That’s preposterous.
I had TONS of people come to me and complain that the chip count coverage of the events were awful. I agreed when I sweated some online, so I wrote a blog about it. In that blog, I also said that the updates would be better if the chip counts were solid and there were NO hand updates. I said “better” not ideal. If you had to choose between one or the other, I’d want to know the score of the game first and foremost.
When writing about a baseball game, it’s nice to give the readers some details, “Gonzalez hits into a double play to end the inning,” but you also HAVE to tell them the actual score! It’s a big deal.
So this year the updates weren’t as good, I wrote a blog stating my, as well as countless others opinions, saying so. If any of the people working the floor took it personally, I sincerely apologize. My comments were not, in any way, shape, or form, directed at you guys.
After I wrote the blog, I got a call from some of the people in charge and they explained to me some of the issues they were having this year. From technical issues to staffing issues. There were issues!
The next time I sweated an event, the coverage was excellent. In the Stud 8 event I was sweating Harman and Juanda and not only were the live updates good, the chip counts were constantly updated.
As for the “anonymous pro,” the credibility of that post HAS to be in question. It’s no different than a random internet forum post unless it has a name attached to it. It’s cowardly, plain and simple. If you want to be taken seriously “anonymous” then put your name at the bottom of your posts and take ownage of your words.
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With that out of the way, it’s time for me to do a P90X workout then head to the Rio. There are 10 left in the 2-7 NL single draw and I have a shot with 223,000. What an absolute relief it is to finally cash and get that monkey off my back. It will all be worth it if I get hot and end up with a bracelet in by far, my absolute worst game. I have improved just from a long day yesterday, but I know I’m not very good at this game. I have a few tricks up my sleeve in the game here and there, but I’m honestly not even sure if they make sense. Either way, I’m going to continue to just follow my first instinct and go with my gut. So far, that’s been working, and it seems like in this game that’s a very important aspect towards success.
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The reason he got so much action from people is because his strengths lie in fields that are usually much larger. Durrr is not very likely to win a limit bracelet based on what I’ve seen. The kid is an absolute NL genius, like sick good, but I don’t think he plays the limit games very well yet, and those events usually have shorter fields. If Durrr wins a bracelet in any stud game this year I’ll be absolutely shocked! It could happen, but I’m betting the don’t.
One thing is for sure, Durrr is great for poker. He creates a ton of excitement, is fun to watch play, and he is a true gentleman. Like one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in the poker world and I don’t say that about very many people. He loves the action, and is always willing to bet on his ability.
Sweating him that night was pretty exciting, I was totally into it! A little too close for comfort, but man, what a ride that was. I feel very lucky to have escaped, I thought he was going to win it for sure.
Now, if I didn’t have any side action against Durrr I’d totally be rooting for him to win a bracelet. He’s obviously the best player in the world without one, and he will get one, I’m just hoping he does it NEXT year.
I find it odd that some people were surprised that I was rooting against him? If you bet the Lakers over the Celtics, wouldn’t you be rooting FOR the Lakers and AGAINST the Celtics? I bet against Durrr, so why would I “pretend” to wish him luck? I wasn’t wishing him luck at all! When I walked into the room and he was leading with 15 players left I told him, “Oh gross, dude you can’t win this. I swear I hope you take like the ugliest beats ever!”
My only bet with him is a bracelet bet where I laid him 2-1 odds, me against him to win a bracelet this summer. If we both win one, it’s a wash. If I happen to turn things around and win one, then him winning won’t hurt nearly as bad and I might actually be rooting for him. Until I’ve got one, though, I’ll be pulling for Durrr to finish outside the winners circle. Seconds are just fine by me 🙂
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In the last two years I’ve had great starts at the WSOP and fizzled a bit near the end. I’m hoping this year is different, because it’s been my worst start in as long as I can remember, 0-10 so far. I just haven’t been able to get anything going. I’ve had some close calls, most notably coming 2nd in my NLH shootout heat, but overall I’m disappointed with my results, but not at all with my preparation or focus.
In fact, I could swear on a stack of Bibles that my lack of fatigue in the events has never been better. For years I’ve struggled with fatigue, stiffness, aches and pains, or what have you, but this year my body and mind feel as strong as ever. It’s no secret why. I’m doing the P90X everyday and I’m now two weeks in and loving it. It’s definitely helping me stay alert at the poker table and I’m confident the results will come. The slow start doesn’t have me down one bit. Sure I’m frustrated, but the WSOP is a long haul and I’m committed to giving it my all in every event I play.
The only event that I couldn’t really do that was the $1500 limit hold’em. I was deep in the stud, and made a last second decision to buy into that event anyway, but I obviously had to focus on the stud event so the limit hold’em was secondary.
There are some good events coming up for me. Tomorrow isn’t really one of them, a $5000 no limit hold’em event that should be pretty tough. I kind of like the tougher fields sometimes because it forces me to think on a higher level in order to outwit my opponents. It’s not an event I’m going to play ABC poker. Against tough players, I essentially just need to be more creative/aggressive in bluffing situations and that makes the game kind of fun. My experiment playing in the $100-$200 game on PokerStars definitely has me better equipped to deal with the players of today. I’m much less predictable in NLH than I had been. The game evolves and you need to constantly tweak and improve upon what you are doing or you won’t succeed.
The very next day is the $2000 limit hold’em. I came like 21st last year, 1st the year before that, and another 1st a couple years before that. I also came 2nd last year in the 6max limit hold’em to Brock Parker. My limit hold’em record is pretty good historically so I’m never disappointed to see those events on the horizon.
The 5pm event that day is the 10k 2-7 NL single draw event, my clear cut worst game. If I’m doing well in the limit event, I’ll skip it altogether since I pretty much suck at it.
Hopefully in the next blog I write, I’ll actually have some kind of deep run to discuss.
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PokerNews normally does a really good job with everything they do, but what in the world is up with the chip count coverage at the WSOP this year? They have a page for it, but clicking on it would be a complete waste of your time because not only is it rarely updated, it’s also nowhere near accurate.
I had friends sweating me in the 10k Stud event, and for most of day 1 they had me listed at 88k… problem is, at no point did I ever have even close to that many chips. My peak was 70k and I ended with about 50k. It’s so random that they’d just throw out the number 88k and leave it there all day.
At every break I tweet my chip count as do many of the pros playing in the events. Why don’t they have someone following the tweets and updating the chip counts that come directly from the players?
PokerNews has exclusive rights to covering the chip counts this year, and I don’t know who’s in charge, but if they don’t actually cover the events, I don’t see how they expect to retain the rights to cover the events next year.
I have heard tons of people complain about this. They have all kinds of live update posts with hands etc, but the majority of people really want to know how their favorites are doing chip wise. They’d be much better off focusing less on covering random hands and spending more time actually tracking chip counts.
The WPT updates are way better and it’s not even close. They do live updates too, but they also cover the top 30-40 players that the public likes to follow and update their chip counts regularly.
It’s frustrating when I’m at home to try and follow along with what’s going on in the tournaments, only to realize that the chip counts posted are beyond unreliable.
Either PokerNews has to go back to the format they used in previous years and actually do their best to give accurate reports on chip counts, or the WSOP will have to go with a new team to cover the chip counts.
It’s still early in the WSOP so I don’t think it’s too late to make some changes, and I really hope they listen. Seriously if ALL they had were just chip counts with zero hand updates, but the chip counts were on point, it would be better than the current coverage by a mile.
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There was a typo in my last blog and apparently some people couldn’t figure out that it was a typo and that shocked me. I wrote:
“Todd Brunson raised on the button 3-handed and I called from the SB with Ks 8s and Moore called from the BB. The flop came 8h-8d-3s. I checked, Moore checked, and Todd bet 4500. I raised to 10,000, and Moore moved all in. Todd called and I folded. Moore showed K-3 and Todd had J-8. It came spade, spade and I would have made the flush and busted them both! Instead, it was now heads up and I had a slight chip lead that I strengthened a bit before the key hand.”
In the typo I mention that Moore had K-3 and Todd had J-8. I also said it came spade, spade. If the flop was 8-8-3 how exactly could Moore bust Todd on that hand??? Seriously, I should put more typos in my blogs to test some of your poker/reading comprehension skills people! The flop was obviously 8-3-3.
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I was looking forward to the 10k Stud and felt like I played great. In the end, with 33 players left I raised with split kings and Brandon Adams called with split jacks. On fifth street he caught a dead king and check-raised me, so I went all in. This pot would give me a real chance to get back in the tournament. Going into the last card it was pair against pair, but Brandon made jacks up and I missed. Frustrating, but there are plenty of events left.
I was short chipped in the stud when it was time to buy into the $1500 limit hold’em event so I bought in anyway. I got to play a bit on the dinner break of the stud and ran my 4500 stack up to 6900 before having to go back. When I got back I still had 6000 in chips, but nothing really went right for me after that and I busted at around 11:30pm.
Today I play at 5:00pm, 2-7 NL single draw. This is definitely my worst game as I’ve never really developed a good feel for it. I’m going to focus on trying to plug some of my bigger leaks in the game tonight and do my best to make a run. If not, Sunday at 5:00pm is the biggie, the 10k Stud H/L event and I’ll be playing in that regardless of how the 2-7 event goes. It’s too juicy an event to pass up. I figure by 7:20pm tomorrow night, the latest you can register, if I was still in the 2-7 it would be pretty deep and yet still early in the Stud H/L. I can manage playing both and going back and forth on breaks if need be. To be honest, though, I don’t expect to do very well in the $1500 2-7 NL single draw.
So it’s been a slow start to the WSOP 2010 for me, but I’m not discouraged in the least. My focus level has been good, and I feel fresh everyday. Much stronger than last year mentally, and I’m going to make some deep runs, it’s only a matter of time.
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$50,000 8-Game: Painful to go out in this one, and the hand that send me in a downward spiral was a bit annoying. It was PLO and I raised in late position with Ac 9c 10 7, Noah Boeken called, as did the blind. The flop came 10c 8s 7c and I bet the flop, Noah called in position. The turn was the Jc giving me the nuts with two pair, so I bet pretty big again. The river was a 7, improving my hand to a full house, but I didn’t need to improve as I went from the nuts to only beating a bluff if Noah bet. I checked, and Noah bet smallish on the river so I called. His hand was 7-10-J-K. He called me on the turn with three pairs and made sevens full of jacks.
$1500 Omaha H/L: Another case of a weird call. I called a raise with 2-2-4-5 double suited in position, and the small blind, an Asian player from LA that I have seen before and assumed was a pro called. The flop came As Kh 6s. All checked to me and I bet with the second nut low draw and my flush draw. The Asian player called the flop with 8-9-10-J and no flush draw. Just a pure gutshot? That’s a pretty atrocious call there, but I lost that one too.
$1500 No Limit Hold’em: With no 5pm I decided to give this one a shot since I was out of the Omaha. I was doing really good, and came to realize that these things seem much easier than I would have expected. Very weak players in general and I got a hold of a good sized stack. I ended up busting just outside the money, and I missed one opportunity to get some chips that I regret now:
I raised to 1375 with AK with blinds at 300-600 with a 75 ante and only the big blind called, an aggressive internet player. The flop came 8c 8d 5c and he checked. I bet 1600 and he raised to 4050. I felt strongly that my AK was the best hand and he either had air or a draw. I called. The turn was the 3d and he went all in. I had 20,000 in front of me and wanted to call. I ended up talking myself out of the call figuring that even if I was right, he was going to river me a decent amount of the time and I had plenty of chips to play with. Truth is, though, 20,000 wasn’t really enough to play with, and if I call and win that pot I can “do my thang.” That was a mistake.
$5000 NLH Shootout: I feel like I was lucky enough to win this one, but in the end I couldn’t get the job done and finished second to Chris Moore. I had my chance to end in three handed in an odd pot. Todd Brunson raised on the button 3-handed and I called from the SB with Ks 8s and Moore called from the BB. The flop came 8h-8d-3s. I checked, Moore checked, and Todd bet 4500. I raised to 10,000, and Moore moved all in. Todd called and I folded. Moore showed K-3 and Todd had J-8. It came spade, spade and I would have made the flush and busted them both! Instead, it was now heads up and I had a slight chip lead that I strengthened a bit before the key hand:
He raised to 1300 on the button and I re-raised him to 5800 or so, I don’t remember, with A-5 off. The flop came 2-4-5 rainbow and I bet 8000, he raised me 15,000 more, and I went all in. He called with 44.
The last hand he limped on the button and I checked 6s 7s. The flop was Qs 8s 3 and I checked, he bet, and short stacked I moved all in. He called with a Queen and that was that.
$2500 2-7 Triple Draw: I busted out of the NLH event in time for triple draw, missing just the first hour. I proceeded to go on an insane rush making 7’s and 8’s like every hand. We start with 7500 in chips and I amassed 19,600 before moving to a new table. Then BAM. As good as I ran to get those chips, from that point on I didn’t drag a chip and was out in like an hour.
$1500 No Limit Hold’em: Since I busted the 2-7 unexpectedly, and once again there was no 5pm tournament, I took another shot in a NLH event. I was up to about 6500 playing well, then I called a raise on the button with 22. The flop came J-9-2 with two diamonds and the pre-flop raiser bet. I raised him, he went all in, and I called. He had 99… doh. I never really recovered from that.
So next up is the $10,000 7 Card Stud Championship. I came 10th in this event last year, and I feel like I’ve done decent in Stud at the WSOP which prompted me to check. I was surprised to see this:
2009 $10,000 Stud 10th
2008 $10,000 Stud 11th
2007 $2000 Stud 5th
I never really considered myself a great stud player, but I don’t think I suck either. I remember when I was grinding back at the Mirage in my early 20’s, I took it as a personal goal to learn stud. I was mainly a limit hold’em player back then, grinding in the 40-80 or 75-150 games, but when I’d wait for a seat I’d often sit in the 15-30 stud game with the locals to learn how to play. It paid off. I developed a decent feel for the game and it’s definitely a game where you need to have a good feel for what’s going on. You need to have your head in the game and understand what people are doing.
There are also some nuances to tournament stud that differ from playing stud cash games. I’d say the one guy I learned the most from, in terms of stud, is definitely Ivey. He’s the most aggressive stud player I’d ever played with, but playing a decent number of hours with him helped me understand the method to his madness and I incorporated a lot of that into my game.
So no noon event tomorrow gives me the day off, and I plan on continuing with my exercise program, the P90X. Today I started week 2, which is a repeat of week 1 and the goal was to do just a little better than last week, and I wasn’t disappointed. Not ecstatic, but certainly not ecstatic. An extra push up here, pull up there, and I was able to get a bit more out of the ab routine.
Many people were concerned that working out during the series would be draining, but I’m finding the opposite to be true. I’m not tired at all, in fact, the more exercise I do the more energy I feel I have.
If the $10,000 Stud event doesn’t go well, I’m always excited to play a limit hold’em event, and there is one slated for the next day at 5pm. I’m not discouraged at all by the slow start. The WSOP is a LONG grind and I’ll get my opportunities.
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Laser Hair Removal: So I decided rather than shaving my chest and the back of my neck, shoulders, etc. I’d go to Ideal Image and get the laser treatment. They say it takes like 9 treatments and it gets easier each time as the hair thins out. I went without numbing cream and it hurt like a ****. Next session I used the cream and it was manageable.
Today I went back for my second treatment and put the cream on 90 minutes before. Last time I put like 5 coats on from an hour in, like every 10 minutes! Well, the cream sinking into your skin is some BS! It hurt sooooo bad ouch. What I didn’t know was the the intensity of the laser increases the first 5 treatments.
As I’m doing it, I’m just cursing the whole time, seriously. Wondering, why in the world am I doing this? Ouch. I made it through and have my next appointment in two months, but man, if the laser gets more intense the next time I don’t know if I’ll get through it. My pain threshold is extremely low. Also, while you are doing this you can’t tan the areas you are zapping so I’ve got monster farmer tan going on right now and it’s going to have to be that way for like a year.
P90X Workouts: Everyone I talked to said this workout is the nuts. I did the fit test, and while I can’t do a proper chin up, for the most part I passed the test. I’m two days in, and day two was no joke. I did whats called a plyometric workout, which basically just has you jumping around for an hour doing squats, lunges, and all kinds of random exercises. Looked easy, and I figured it would be fun until Tony Horton recommended having a pail or something nearby in case you puke! Well, I didn’t puke, but I’m not so sure I’ll be able to walk tomm.
I’m doing the diet too, but being a vegan that means I need to rely heavily on tofu and seitan for the first month since carbs are a no-no in month one. Patty, my awesome assistant has me covered. Which reminds me, if you guys are looking for an assistant for the WSOP check out www.pokerassistantsforhire.com
My plan is to stay dedicated to this program throughout the WSOP. If need be I’ll do the workouts on my dinner break, but I don’t plan on skipping any. I actually think this will give me MORE energy in the long run. Maybe not in the beginning, but overall I think it will. I took some before pics, and no I ain’t posting them… in 90 days if I get in shape, then I’ll show you what it looks like, but until then I got some flab to deal with. 27.1% body fat! I was shocked. Too much beer I guess 🙂 Not anymore. No alcohol whatsoever until at least July 16th.
Sports and Science: I did that show a long time ago, don’t remember EXACTLY when it was, but I just saw it up on youtube and and thought I’d share: Lie Detector Episode
It’s a silly piece involving me, Phil Laak and a blond in a bikini. The very end is a bit funny/embarrassing, but whatever, I don’t really care! For the record, I was single when I shot this!
Cereus Network Final Word: After my last blog I received an e-mail from Paul Leggat trying to explain his position and what happened. I won’t share what he wrote, but here was my response to Paul:
“Like I said man, you seem like an ok guy but the brand you are associated with doesn’t do the poker world any good whatsoever. From the big cheating scandal to awarding a pot to PH when he lost the hand, to using crappy security software.
The fact that this was spotted by PTR and NOT you guys is just absolutely inexcusable. Especially considering the fact that security should be your top priority. You weren’t even using SSL and from what I heard that is standard.
As nice a guy as you might be, the company as a whole is an ugly wart on our industry. Can you honestly say, and truly believe that the existence of UB/AP in our industry is “good for poker.” Could you deny the fact that if Cereus didn’t exist at all, that would be better for poker?
I understand you want to make a buck and I don’t fault you for that. If you and I stepped aside and looked at this from the outside, though, I think you would wholeheartedly agree that shutting down the whole network would be best for poker. Not best for your pocketbook, or PH’s, or any of the other sponsored pros, but purely from the standpoint about what’s best for our game, the answer is clear… Shutting down the corrupted and poorly secured network would benefit the poker world as a whole. This isn’t personal. I’ve spoken out against UB for 10 years and year, after year I feel more and more vindicated about that decision. I don’t pass judgment on the sponsored pros. They need to eat I guess, but I could never in good conscious support a company that has failed again and again to do the right thing.Daniel.”
My history with UB is long. I spoke to Greg Pierson at the very inception of the site, before the software was even created. I liked the guy, he seemed really nice and professional. Then weird stuff started happening. He specifically said Russ Hamilton would have nothing to do with UB. Then out of the blue, not only is Russ an investor, he’s also in charge of policing the big games!
At the time, my concern, knowing full well that Russ had a shady past, was that Russ would look at players hole cards and then play in the games. I didn’t think he’d actually look at his opponents WHILE playing, but I was concerned enough by the fact that he’d have access to the hand histories. That’s a big edge when you play high.
Then WPT Aruba happened and I was asked to participate in a one table sit n’ go on TV. It was reported that the players were playing for a $250,000 freeroll. That was a lie. I declined to take part in that event, because I thought that was shady and unnecessary. At the time, I wrote something like, “If there was a $250,000 freeroll in Timbuktu I’d be on the next flight.” That was a lot of money back then, it still is.
I confronted Greg about it at a later date and he lied to my face. 10 minutes after Russ told me one story, Greg told me a completely different one. I told Steve Lipscomb of the WPT that he’d been lied to. They apparently promised a certain guarantee, so this phantom $250,000 assured they’d get there. Shady, shady, shady!!!
I’m not lying. Ask the participants in that event the following question: when you were asked to play in that event, were you under the impression that you were playing for $250,000? The truth is, the winner got a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship later that year.
I never took a penny from UB ever, and never did a deal with them. I used to wear the hat for them was back in 2001 I think, for a short period of time, well before I was aware of what was really going on. The minute I realized this company was built and founded on shady principals, I cut all ties with them. I take that kind of thing very seriously, and if I don’t feel good about something, I’m not going to just “go with it.” Back then I received SOOO much pressure to shut up. Everyone wanted me to keep my big mouth shut, and I regret now that I wasn’t louder then.
WSOP: Starts tomorrow with the 50k! I expect between 160-170 players. The previous record is 148, but I think the NLH and PLO will bring more internet guys in. We shall see.
Tonight, I’m doing a “high roller fantasy auction draft” and I’m well prepared. I’m a nerd for stuff like this, I just love fantasy anything. The guys from my hockey pool can attest to my dedication, and I’ve spent a good amount of time formulating my list of wants for tonight. After the draft is over, I’ll share my top 5 prospects for success this year.
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As mentioned in a previous blog, I’ll clearly title any blog topic so if you don’t care at all about it, you can skip past it:
GOLF: I did it! YES! It truly feels amazing to set your mind on a goal and then work hard at it, grind everyday, and then execute. No one in their right mind gave me any chance of ever shooting 80 from the back tees at TPC Summerlin except for me and my caddie/coach Christian. Well, eat somma that!
The timing of it is both a stress release and kind of lucky for weather reasons. I woke up early Thursday morning, about 6:30am, and got straight to work. My first 5 holes gave me a real chance. I started out with two birdies and three pars! With just four holes remaining I just needed to play bogey golf. Then disaster hit. I hit behind a 6 iron and ended up with a tough bunker shot. I ended up making a double bogey going into the final three holes, the longest and toughest on the course and now I’d need a par.
Well, on the next hole, with the guys I bet against watching, I drained a snake putt for par! From there it got scarier. Around the green on the next hole in 2 I hit a bad pitch leaving me 18 feet for par. Missed that putt and had to make a 5 footer coming back.
Same thing on the last hole! Close to the green in 2 I hit my pitch long and left leaving me a tough two putt for 80. I knocked it past the hole about 4 feet and needed this putt for 80. I was nervous, felt like my grip was a mess, was thinking a million things I shouldn’t have been, and finally just decided “Hit the dang ball!” I knocked in the putt and was so relieved!
Then the boys wanted their money back so we played another 18. My opponent said he was going to shoot 100 and asked for 7 a side lol. I gave him 5.5 on the front and shot my best front 9 ever, a 41, and he shot… 43! What a joke, I was down 4 holes. We adjusted to 4.5 on the back, I shot a 40 and he shot a 47 for a 90. I ended up LOSING 1 down even though it was my second best round ever. It could have easily been an 80 but I made a double on #10 when the putt was meaningless and I didn’t think about it.
After that 18 we scrambled. Me, Christian, and Ted the Idiot, vs that guy, his guy, and a PGA Tour Pro. The Pro played the back tees, the others played the whites, and me and my opponent played from the reds. We shot a 29 on 9 holes thanks to Ted the Idiot making some putts, and they shot a 32. The PGA pro called Christian a ringer which I don’t really get. It’s no secret Chrisitan, though 130 lbs soaking wet is a scratch golfer.
In fact, I think Christian was just as happy as I was. It annoyed him that no one thought we could do it and I think that just motivated him even more towards the goal. It’s pretty amazing to go from 116 to 109 to 101 back to 109 then down to 80 in about a month! Very satisyfing.
Anytime someone has challenged my ability to grind I’ve shown that when push comes to shove, I do have that extra gear and will work hard to achieve a goal.
The next three days were so windy and we played the member-member tournament. Christian played well, but man oh man, the wind just destroys my swing! I shot 102 on Sunday. If I hadn’t shot the 80 on Thursday I’d be stressing hard coming up to the WSOP.
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POKER: The $50,000 8-game Players Championship is literally just days away now and I’m super excited. Oh, and by the way, if you want to play a satellite for it they are running them at the Rio at 1pm, 4pm, and 7pm on the 27th. It will be interesting to see how many of the young internet players will play in it. I think there will be more than a few who feel their NLH and PLO game is strong enough to make it worth playing.
As for me, my strategy is to play super aggressively in the NLH and PLO portion and try to accumulate a bunch of chips. I plan on really trying to push people around and take them off hands if the situation warrants it. Not really afraid to go broke, I just want to get a hold of some big chips. (That’s my lame attempt at a blog bluff)
I haven’t fully decided how much I’m going to commit myself schedule wise to this years WSOP. I haven’t made any points bets and it doesn’t look like I’ll have any big action there. I think it’s better that way. I don’t need any extra motivation and this way I can take some time off if I feel burnt out. We shall see though…
FANTASY POKER:[b] There is the annual freeroll on Full Contact Poker again this year that’s up, and I also did the ESPN Fantasy draft which I literally crushed the field in last year with a team that looked like this:
Phil Ivey
Jeff Lisandro
David Chiu
Huck Seed
Danny Alaei
Jennifer Harman
Alexander Kostritsyn
Freddy Bonyadi
This year I had the second overall pick and decided to take myself (Ivey went first):
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
David Chiu
Justin “BoostedJ” Smith
Todd Brunson
Freddie Deeb
Brett Richey
John Monnette
I think I have another really strong team and made some side bets accordingly. Later this week, we are doing a high roller auction draft and I’m really looking forward to that. Auction drafts are just way more fun than snake drafts and require way more skill. I have my spreadsheet all ready to go for that and there is decent money on the line.
[b]POKER NEWS: Catching up on some poker news I came across something that, while not shocking, just makes me go hmmmm…. The Cereus Network, or UB/Absolute got hacked again! Just boggles my mind that anyone would want to support that company after what’s happened, but man, you’d think they’d actually focus intently on their security since they’d be under a microscope. Apparently, from what I’ve heard, in order to crack their software all you needed to have was a Windows calculator! That’s unreal.
About 10 years ago when the company was created I walked away from them because of Russ Hamilton’s involvement. He had a checkered past, and wasn’t trust worthy at all. I wanted no part of it and walked away, never having done a deal with them ever.
This company is just a bad apple in our poker community and I couldn’t imagine supporting them in any way. I said this 10 years ago, and since then I’ve only been proven correct by the huge scandal, and then again recently when they were aware of the security hole, but chose to keep the site up and running. If you know your software can be easily hacked, isn’t that the precise moment where you shut down for maintenance and fix the issue?
There may be new ownership trying to “right the ship” but how is anyone to know who’s been let go from the company and who’s still there from the days of the scandal?
Feels like one of those fool me once shame on you, fool me twice same on me situations. I realize that there are loads of players who wear their patches and endorse the site, but I just haven’t heard any of them explain to me how they justify that endorsement in light of what happened in the past, and then what’s just happened recently? Are you really OK with how this recent issue was handled?
I listened to The Poker Beat where Scott Huff said that we should talk about this stuff, and I commend him for doing so on his show. I always listen to that show, it’s really good. So, as I was listening, I decided he was right. I shouldn’t ignore it, I should share my thoughts on it regardless of the flack I’d receive. Being a PokerStars Team Pro obviously puts me in an awkward situation when it comes to talking about the competition, and you can obviously make the case that I have vested interest. Point taken.
Having said that, I’ve always been one to speak my mind and I’ve always spoken out against UB and my track record proves that. Long before I had any sponsorship deals, long before poker was big time, I outed the fact that UB lied to the WPT about the prize pool guarantee for their Aruba event. I never, ever attended the Aruba event despite it being on the WPT, and I could never bring myself to support them in any way.
I’ve spoken to, and only heard great things about their new guy Paul Leggatt, but this is a pretty big deal in my book. Dude, if you knew about this security issue, why, why, oh why didn’t you shut the site down immediately to fix it? I thought about that overnight, and couldn’t think of even one good reason not to shut it down until the site was secured. Maybe I’m missing something, but I can’t imagine what that would be.
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www.fullcontactpoker.com/wsop/
There are a few rematches from last year, Durr vs Patrik Antonius as well as Eastgate vs Demidov, but for the most part pairings were designed based on last years totals and players were grouped accordingly.
Last year Phil Ivey and I both cashed for a bit over $300,000 (excluding the main event) so I’m paired with him this year, while the guy I was paired with last year, Phil Hellmuth will be paired with Erick Lindgren. Some of the more interesting matchups:
Isaac Haxton vs Justin Bonomo
Todd Brunson vs Doyle Brunson
Jennifer Harman vs Annie Duke
Elky vs Scotty Nguyen
Mike Matusow vs Humberto Brenes
Phil Laak vs Jennifer Tilly
Evelyn Ng vs Liz Lieu
Michael Mizrachi vs Rob Mizrachi
Phil Galfond vs Alan Kessler
Joe Cada vs Annette Oberstad
Vanessa Selbst vs Liv Boeree
Scott Seiver vs Faraz Jaka
It doesn’t look like I’ll be making any points side bets this year at the series. My goal is bracelets, and not points. I do have bracelet bets against Ivey and Durr, but other than that I don’t have any real action as of yet and don’t think I’ll be making any bets. I honestly don’t need the extra motivation to play the WSOP. By not making any points bets, that will allow me to cut back on events played and play a sane schedule mainly focusing on the big ones and taking days off when need be.
I sometimes really enjoy grinding. My current grind is a golf grind, but I think it’s good preparation for the WSOP grind. It takes a lot of dedication to win this golf bet and no one really thinks I have a chance at all… except for me, and Christian.
I have about 10 days and I just need one 80 for the win. I shot 42-42=84 today and left a lot of shots out there. I’m really hoping I can put it all together tomorrow and win it with no sweat. I know I can do it. I checked my distances on my golf simulator and I’ve added 30 yards to my drives. That helps immensely with certain carry holes. Once I put it all together chipping and putting wise, I’m going to do it.
When I set my mind to do something I’m very capable of grinding and working really hard until I reach my goal. Right now it’s the golf, but once May 28th rolls around I’ll be doing everything I can to win a couple bracelets.
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POKER:
In the $25k heads up I made a play at the pot on the turn and was a bit unlucky in a weird way. I raised the button with 9c 7c and got re-raised and called. The flop came Kc 10c 6d. He led the flop and I called with a flush draw and a gutter ball. I have no problem getting it all in on the flop, but I decided that I was going to make a move later in the hand if I missed.
The turn was the Qd, so now I can hit an 8 for a straight, a club, or a Jack provided he doesn’t have an Ace in his hand. He bet the turn again, and so I felt like even if he has a set of KKK or QQQ here I’d have loads of outs. My read was that this guy would fold AK or AA on the turn, but in retrospect, I’m not so sure he would bet the turn with those hands which makes my play less good.
I shoved on the turn and he called with A-J. Bad result for me. Had I raised the flop I win it right there. Oh well, I could still hit the club. No club, so it was back to the links.
SCOOP $100: I got deep in that one, down to about 6000 players lol, before shoving with Ac 8c and getting called by Ah 10h. Flop came 10-10-8… see ya.
SCOOP $1000: I was doing great in this one until the first hand after the 15 minute break. Blinds were 600-1200 and I was dealt AK in first position and made it 2400. The player in seat two shoved for 23k. I had like 75k and made the call and he showed QQ. I am not so sure I made a good call before the flop, even though math was on my side. I just don’t think he’s bluffing there very often, but in the rare chance he has AQ I guess I kind of have to call him. I lost that race.
Then I min-raised with KK utg and the button shoved on me with Ac Qd. I called obviously and the flop came 10c 2c 2d Qc 3c. Runner runner clubs and I finished in 506th place. The event paid 495 places.
SCOOP $10,000: I started at a tough table and was below my starting stack for the first few hours until my KK held up against Ryan D’Angelo’s JJ, and then from there I was among the leaders for a while. I got moved to a different table and not much went right there. It was much more aggressive and I wasn’t picking up hands I could really go to war with so I spewed a little bit, but still maintained an average stack.
I min raised from second position with 7s 8s to 2800 I think, and both blinds called me. The flop came Ad Kh Jd. Checked to me and I decided to bet 3600 hoping the small blind had a hand like 77 and the big blind missed. The small blind folded and the big blind called. I figured he had a hand like Ace rage or maybe K-10 and was peeling in the hopes of checking it down with the best hand.
The turn was a 4, and he checked again. I decided to double barrel it, and bet 5600 leaving me with about 24,000, a pot sized bet, to possibly bluff the river if a blank rolled off. He called the 5600. At this point I give him at most A-10. With anything better I would assume he’d want to get it in on the turn.
The river was an 8, giving me a pretty meaningless pair unless he had a hand like 9d 10d or something like that. He checked, and I fired my last bullet at the pot. He tanked for quite a while, and I honestly felt like he was going to fold his Ace for sure. He finally called me with AQ and that was the end of me in 130th place. Even though I got caught on the hand, I honestly don’t mind the way I played the hand too much. I put him on the right kind of hand and put maximum pressure on him. He made a great call.
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GOLF:
Before the SCOOP I woke up at 6:30am to get some golf in. It’s May 17th and I have till May 28th to shoot an 80 or I’m going to lose a substantial amount of money. My schedule is now clear, though, with SCOOP being over as is The Big Game, so it will be balls to the wall, all out from here on in. Except today since the course is closed on Mondays.
I have to do it from the blue tees at TPC Summerlin, about 6900 yards or so. If I played from the white tees, about 6300 I would have done it in a cake walk with my short game. Distance is my issue, but I’m hitting the ball as far as I ever have now since the lesson with Hank Haney.
The other day I shot an 85, but after 8 holes it looked REALLY good. I made two birdies and was +1 through 8 holes. I went in the water on #18 (I played the back first) and ended up making a triple bogey for a 40. On the next 9, I had a shot to shoot the 80. From 150 yards out I needed to hole out for eagle. I went right at the pin, something I wouldn’t normally do, but it made sense considering the circumstances. I came up short and landed in the bunker, and ended up making a triple on that hole too for a round of 85.
The absolute best part of my game is pitching, chipping, bunker play, and putting. Well as of late, I’ve been really good off the tee and been a bit off chipping and putting. Today, we’ll be staying at the house practicing. I have a Jack Nicklaus designed green in the yard with a bunker and all and the green speed is close to 11.0 like Summerlin. I also have a golf simulator inside where we can work on my swing on camera which is helpful. That’s the plan today.
Once I get my putting speed back to where it was, I’ll be just fine. In my last couple rounds I’ve been hitting about 4 to 6 greens in regulation which is plenty for me. I honestly don’t need to hit many greens to shoot 80. When I’m right, I can get up and down pretty consistently. Besides, on many of the holes it’s simply not possible for me to hit the greens. On all but one of the par 4’s I’m using driver 3 wood. There is only one par 3 where I don’t use a driver off the tee. Par 5’s I’ve been playing better, driver, 3 wood, and then sometimes anything from a 5 to a 9 iron depending which one.
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GOING OUT:
I haven’t gone “out” in quite a while, but tonight some friends from junior high (I wasn’t in high school long enough to remember much of it) are in Vegas and I’m going to dinner with them. Pretty good story those two. They met in Junior high and got married, have a couple kids, and I haven’t seen them in ages. Well I saw Simon a couple years ago, but I haven’t seen Malinda his wife in probably close to 20 years. Should be fun. I’m not going to stay out too late, though, because I need to get back to the golf grind tomorrow.
POKER’S BEST INTEREST:
Even before poker was popular on television and hit mainstream, I’d always been vocal about issues I felt were in the best interest of poker. The difficult thing for most people to do in that regard, is separate what’s best for them personally, and what’s best for the game as a whole. That’s not something I struggle with and I think my track record proves that. A few examples:
WSOP Rebuy events: from a statistical perspective rebuys help make it easier for me to get deep in tournaments. Since winning money isn’t my primary goal and history is, these events skew history by allowing guys like me, or Ivey, or whoever will rebuy like madmen, a better opportunity to win.
While I love rebuy events, I never felt like it was right to allow rebuys in our Holy Grail of tournaments, where bracelets represent championships. I firmly supported getting rid of rebuy events, despite the fact that on a personal level, rebuys help me for sure.
WSOP Players Championship: I came up with the original idea for this event and brought it to Jeffrey Pollack. My best games are mostly limit games, but when I designed the event I thought it was important to make the final table no limit hold’em. I wanted to create a highly prestigious event that rewarded players with a complete skill set, while at the same time satisfying ESPN and the viewers who just want to watch hold’em. Stud 8 just isn’t going to work on TV.
Several members of the poker world later complained about it being NLH at the final table. They were thinking about what is best for them, and not what is best for the actual event. The bottom line is that the ratings slipped badly when HORSE was played out at the final table. It won’t work. ESPN asked to switch back to the ORIGINAL format, but there was resistance from people who weren’t looking at the big picture at all. They prefer HORSE, and they wanted it that way all the way through. They didn’t care if ESPN filmed it or not. Big mistake, and I told them so as soon as the decision was made. I predicted at least a 33% drop in attendance and when it was all said and done, my prediction was 100% accurate. I swear I felt like Jack Bauer at that very moment.
Luckily, the disaster which was last year has been rectified and the Players Championship will break a record this year for attendance. Book it. Over 148.
The Big Game: When PokerStars created this idea for a show where a player was going to be given $100,000 to sit with and could only keep what he won, immediately my mind started racing to try and figure out what kind of angles the Loose Cannon could play, and then figure out a way to prevent them from ruining the show. There were several concerns:
1. Stalling. If a player was winning, he could stall every hand and kill the show. Remedy: Loose Cannon MUST play 150 hands.
2. Shoving. If the Loose Cannon gets stuck and there are, say, 35 hands left, he could start moving all in before the flop. Well if no one picks up a hand to call him, that makes for pretty awful television. Remedy: make it pot limit before the flop, no limit after the flop.
3. Tightening up. This one is a bit more tricky, but if a Loose Cannon is ahead, say $40,000, he could just fold the rest of the show and keep whatever is left of his profit. Remedy: offer an additional prize to the Loose Cannon who wins the most money throughout the season. That doesn’t cure the problem, but the Loose Cannon playing tight doesn’t exactly hurt the show anyway since the other 5 players will be playing.
When thinking about a problem, you should always be aware of the WORST case scenarios and protect against those. In order for poker to continue to flourish, the game must remain interesting on television, so we have to think of ways to do that. This leads me to why I think it would be best to disallow the use of sunglasses on television. How about this for a worst-case scenario:
Imagine that everyone at a TV table decides that it is in their personal best interest to wear gloves, a winter jacket, scarf covering their mouth, sunglasses to cover their eyes, and a hoodie to cover everything else. Imagine a table of 6 players, and all you can see are their noses. Sounds pretty silly and far fetched right? Well, the rules DO allow it.
Every player at the table would currently have the right to completely take away the physical and social aspect of the game and cover up everything. If this were to happen… does anyone think that would help make poker more interesting?
You all have a right to wear sunglasses. You all have the right to remain silent on television. After all, it is your money and it is within the rules. My contention is that it would be in pokers best interest to at the very least get rid of sunglasses on televised poker shows.
Mainstream audiences are lured in by the mystique of the “poker face” and if we cover that up, we lose some of that magic. That won’t be a problem on The PokerStars.net The Big Game. You will see what’s BEHIND the sunglasses when Phil Hellmuth makes a raise. Poker as a game is interesting even when played online, but I believe it’s that much more interesting when you factor in emotion and the human element.
Here are a few pics from the show:
This first one is a view of the set in one of it’s looks. The set is pretty awesome and you can do a lot with it in terms of changing lighting, etc.
This is one of the tables you will see on the show minus the Loose Cannon who hadn’t sat down yet.
That’s Amanda Leatherman of course chatting it up at the table. Amanda plays a big role on the show as she spends a lot of time adoring her favorite poker player… Doyle Brunson!
That’s “Amanda’s couch” where she hangs out, watches the action and talks to the players, etc.
This is just me and Amanda being silly on set… as usual 🙂
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GOLF:
I shot an episode of the Haney Project with Ray Romano on the Golf Channel and it was one of the best days ever. First of all, to all the random people telling me they can help my golf game, I have a personal full-time coach that is ALWAYS there with me every single time I hit a ball. We just started working again recently after a long lay off. First day back I shot 116 and withing 12 rounds I was back to shooting a 91 from the back tees at TPC Summerlin. All of that, without being able to hit a drive past 200 yards. Laugh all you want, but once I get my distance back I’ll be flirting with low 80’s every round. My short game is good. I from 80 yards and in I think I’d rival most 5 handicappers rather easily. My struggle is distance.
So, I played 9 holes with Ray Romano for the show, then after that Christian (my coach) and I headed to the range to have Hank Haney, Tiger Woods golf coach, take a look at my swing. Christian is an excellent teacher, but Hank Haney is a pretty big deal and rather quickly he recognized what I needed to do to hit it farther. He slightly adjusted my posture, got my hands up over my shoulder on the back swing, and told me to swing faster. Not just coming down, but as fast as I can back, and as fast as I can through the ball, while turning my hands over at impact.
Within a few swings, I was hitting the ball 30 yards farther. No joke. Accuracy isn’t an issue for me, so it’s worth it for me to attack the ball more, giving up some accuracy so I can hit each club farther. I’m very excited to get back out on the course, but first, I have some poker to play.
(episode airs May 31st on the Golf Channel)
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SUNGLASSES: It is easier to see marked cards when you wear sunglasses. That’s just true. If everyone in an event was told they were prohibited from wearing sunglasses it’s as fair as allowing anyone to wear them.
In hockey, there is a rule on how much of a curve you can have on your stick. The rule is fair for everyone and is better for the sport as decided by the powers that be.
In baseball, you are not allowed to cork your bat. The league decided that corking your bat isn’t good for the game as a whole.
In golf, you can’t add vaseline to your club head. It takes spin off the ball and allows the ball to go farther. If you allowed every pro to do it, that would be fair, but the PGA deemed that “grease” wasn’t best for the game of golf.
In basketball, there is a 10 second rule that forces a team to advance past half court within 10 seconds or lose possession of the ball. This is better for the game, so the league decided this rule would help prevent teams from slowing the game down when they have a lead.
In football, all players MUST wear a helmet for their own safety. If a kicker felt he could see better without a helmet on, he would still not be allowed to go on the field without one because the league deemed it to be unsafe.
At the Olympics people are tested for performance enhancing drugs because the IOC wants a level playing field without drugs. Sure, it would be totally fair to change that rule and allow all athletes to use steroids, but the committee determined that it was in everyone’s best interest to ban the use of steroids from the sport.
These are random examples from various sports. We have rules in poker too. No string raises, verbal action is binding, no short raises, and in tournaments, no showing cards before the action has completed. The TDA has come up with a list of rules they feel appropriate for the game of poker, and many casinos abide by these rules.
My proposal to ban sunglasses from competitive poker does have merit. There are several ancillary benefits to doing so:
-Sunglasses make it easier to see marked cards
-Live poker is a human game that is different from online poker, and one of the skill sets is the ability to read your opponents.
-The absence of sunglasses makes for a much better television production. No TV poker producer will argue that. The fans and viewers want to see the emotion that is often covered up by shades.
-Banning the use of sunglasses in competitive poker as well as made for TV events is completely fair for everyone. Not like allowing them isn’t, but no one person can claim that this rule targets them specifically. Hiding your eyes is an advantage. By disallowing sunglasses, that advantage is taken away from every player involved creating a level playing field.
As mentioned previously, the majority of the world’s top players do not wear sunglasses. I don’t expect a sweeping rule change for all poker events to ban the use of sunglasses, but I see absolutely nothing wrong with creating a show, or poker tournament, with the explicit rule that sunglasses are not permitted.
That’s the case with the PokerStars.net The Big Game. If you are too afraid to play live poker without hiding, then you can choose not to play on the show. Any made for TV show has the absolute right to set such parameters
and I would hope that it becomes the norm.
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POKERSTARS.NET THE BIG GAME:
I’ve played two sessions so far and will be playing one more again tomorrow. I’m having an absolute blast and today I participated in some epically entertaining poker. The lineup was big on chatter and personality, and also tons of action: Myself, Doyle Brunson, Phil Laak, Tony G, Phil Hellmuth, and of course, the Loose Cannon who gets $100,000 to sit down with and gets to keep anything that he wins.
I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the poker world is going to love this show. I’ve been involved in many, many poker shows and I feel like I have a good idea as to what will work on TV and what won’t. I feel like, especially with the die hard poker players, they are a bit sick of watching made for TV events that ultimately come down to a shove fest with stacks less than 20 big blinds. I know I am. Cash poker is hot, and it creates more interesting poker. It’s not a coincidence that High Stakes Poker gets the most hits on youtube.
Well, with 6 handed poker, a pot limit pre, and no limit post flop structure, with the addition of a “contestant” the Loose Cannon who qualifies for the opportunity to play a cash game against some of the world’s best players, you end up with a very entertaining show.
The set is pretty sick. Many of the players who have appeared on the show have commented on it. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
Amanda Leatherman who you guys know from her days at PokerWire, PokerNews, PokerRoad, and also on the WPT, is always on set. Amanda’s role on the show covers many bases and allows her to show off some of that personality that’s made her a hit with poker fans and players alike. She’s really amazing at what she does and I’m a big fan myself. She’s cute, knows poker, and is very personable. I’ve always enjoyed doing “Dan updates” with her on the WPT and for PokerNews and am really glad that she’s a part of the show.
As I’ve mentioned in past blogs I spent a decent amount of time working on my game, specifically 6 max 100-200 no limit hold’em on PokerStars against some of the best players on the internet. Those guys are super tough, but I learned a lot from them. I’m trying my best to do well on The Big Game and feel like I’m playing pretty well. I’ve made some mistakes, but as you’ll see when the show airs, the types of mistakes I’ve made are much different than the mistakes you are used to seeing me make. The average player may not see the mistakes as being a big deal, but I’m certain that I’ve had opportunities to make excellent plays and haven’t made the optimal play. I am trying really hard, though, and I’m hoping that my last session goes well. I do feel really confident playing in this game, especially when comparing it to the tough online games I’d been playing.
Online you just don’t see a ton of limping before the flop, but when you are dealing with loose cannons and various types of live players, you end up seeing a lot of things you just wouldn’t see in a 100-200 game on Stars. Adjusting to those fundamental errors is interesting for me and I’m trying to figure out the best ways to exploit what I deem to be fundamental mistakes based on what I’ve learned online over the last few months.
I can’t reveal any results from the show, but I can tell you that the show is scheduled to air sometime in June. The episodes will air late night on FOX, five nights a week, Monday through Friday, one hour episodes. Each week you’ll see one Loose Cannon take his shot. If he happens to go broke before the Friday episode, the show does go on and he’s replaced with a player waiting to sit. I seriously can’t wait to watch this show! Some truly epic hands and table banter. Tony G… and Phil Hellmuth! Does it get any better? I mean really?
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