Operation 80

OK, so last May before the WSOP me, EDOG, Ivey, and Ted The Idiot, were all drinking and talkin’ golf. My game was coming around nicely at the time, so I made a bet with them that I would shoot 80 or better from the blue tees at TPC Summerlin by next year’s WSOP. At the time my best round ever from there was 86. I made the bet, and in August after the WSOP I had some time to work on my game and before leaving for Europe in September I shot 83, 84, and 83 in that last week. Since then, I haven’t had any time at all to work on golf. None at all. Looking ahead to my schedule, I started to realize that it wasn’t looking good for me as I was running out of time. So I called my guy Christian and said we need to get to work! I leave for Austria on the 19th and won’t be back in Vegas until April 14th. Then I’m home, but I’ll be playing the WPT Championship on the 19th. Immediately after that I’m headed to Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Final. Originally I thought May would be totally free, but I’m now committed to a project from May 2-10. The good news there is that it’s all in happening in Vegas, and I’ll also probably have 2-3 days off in the middle of that depending how it goes. So Operation 80 must start now! Yesterday Christian came to the house and I hit 110 balls on my simulator. He noticed a key flaw immediately and we worked on two things: 1) My right knee was locking when I took the club back. That’s bad. So, we worked on hitting balls, but also maintaining my knee flex. Essentially it’s like hitting the golf ball with just arms and is designed to keep my lower body quiet which historically has always been a problem. 2) Getting my weight to my left side at impact. This was a secondary focus and something I definitely need to work on, but first we need to make sure I’m not swaying on the back swing. Today we went to the course to see where we are at. The greens were aerated. Sand all over them, huge holes which caused the ball to have a mind of it’s own when it hit the green, and it was also chilly and windy. Not ideal golf weather. The whole round Christian had me focusing solely on keeping my right knee flexed on every swing. It’s a drill, and when you practice properly it’s not supposed to give you immediate results. In the past, I always gambled when I played so there was never any time to dedicate solely to practice. We always had to make the best of what we had at the time. A symptom of swinging with just my arms was two fold, me coming over the top a lot, and also not hitting the ball anywhere since I wasn’t getting ANY weight behind it at all. I played the whole 18 like that and shot 57-59=116. A laughable score, but it’s a starting point to work from and improve on. Tomorrow I think Christian said we’ll focus on getting to my left side and that should help a lot. The way I was hitting the ball I had no chance to carry a few of the holes and I ended up making a 9 or a 10 on the hole. I’m keeping the goal simple for tomorrow. Just shoot better than 116. A modest goal to say the least. Before I leave for Austria I’m hoping to be back in the mid 90’s. We shall see. ********************************************************************** Basketball tonight! I joined a league this year with some of the guys from Poker Royalty and I’m excited to play! It’s an under 6′ 2″ league and our team lost last week. Neither E-DOG or myself could play, but we’ll both be there tonight. I used to love playing basketball and I just love team sports. There was one summer in high school where I played basketball everyday and got to the point where I was decent. We used to play a game called “American 21” which was every man for himself and we’d often play with 14 people, all of which were taller than me. I could never get a clean shot off, 1 on 13, so I developed an odd fade away jumper/sky hook that I got pretty good at, but it looks really ugly! I was devastated when I got cut from my high school team that year. All of my friends were on the team and they were really good. I was just hoping to ride the bench and offer moral support. I would have been a real team player for sure. It was my first, and only run in with affirmative action. My school at the time had 75% Chinese students. One Chinese student named Sam tried out for the team. He was maybe two inches taller than me, but he was just awful. He couldn’t dribble, he couldn’t shoot, he didn’t speak the language very well, but in the end Mr. Barker put him on the team. Everyone was shocked by it. I worked hard to get on that team and it got me excited about school. Well, getting left off the team left a bad taste in my mouth. I was already a gambler by that time and I challenged Mr.Barker to a one-on-one match for $100. I then told him I’d play Sam and if he beats me I’d give them both $100. I wanted on the team so bad!!! Mr.Barker game me some lame excuse about basketball being a team sport, not a one-on-one sport, whatever loser. So, instead of going to school since there didn’t seem to be a real point to it all at that point, I spent my days playing snooker at the pool hall. Eventually I found poker so I guess I should thank Mr.Barker for cutting me.
It’s fun to play games! I have been working really hard this year. I’ve played 6 tournaments already this year, plus the Premier League and the NBC Heads Up. On top of that, I’ve been working hard on other poker related responsibilities. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for fun and games, but I’m going to “play” this week before another long road trip that will see me go from Austria to London, London to Toronto (maybe), to New York, then to Mohegan Sun, and finally back home to Vegas. Shower time, 6:00pm tip off!
]]>

www.fullcontactpoker.com. In that blog there were three factors: Strength of Field, Tournament Structure, and finally, Field Size. I need to explain what I mean by tough, because after hearing some comments, and re-reading my blog, it wasn’t clear enough. When I think of “tough” I’m thinking in terms of the skill set required to win the event. Obviously larger field events are always tougher to win, but the skill set required to play in a tournament where many of the stacks range between 20-30 big blinds and have lots of average players, is minimal. There is a special skill set required to win tournaments with deep structures and a high percentage of skilled players. These 10 events I mentioned represented the top 10 skill based events that you simply can’t fluke. In order to win one of these, you have to be a high level thinker to a certain degree. Basic tournament strategy can help you cash, but in order to win one of these events, you have to play great. ***************************************************************** This is my 6th tournament of the year. I don’t include the Premier League, the NAPT Bounty Shootout, or the NBC Heads Up in that list because they aren’t really multi-table tournaments. I’ve only cashed in 1 of my first 5, but I bubbled two of the events, just missing out on the money. I made it through day one again, but it was a struggle to get any chips and then I lost a big pot to end the night: Blinds at 400-800 (100 ante) I raised under the gun to 1800, the ONLY hand I raised the entire hour. It was the first time I raised before the flop and it was with about 5 minutes left on the night. One player two to my left calls, and the button makes a strange raise to 4500. I have the 6d 9d and have to call another 2700 more. I think anything but a call there is a mistake. I called as did the other player. The flop came Kh 8h 7h and I planned on check folding no matter what happened on the flop. I checked, as did both of my opponents. The turn was the 5c which looks like gin for me. I decide to bet 11,500 to protect my hand. The first player calls me, and the button folds. The river is the Jd and I notice that my opponent only has 10,500 in front of him. Seems like a no-brainer, so I move him all in and he insta-calls me with the Ah Jh.
I later mention to Matusow that I lost a bunch of chips in a cooler, then I explain that I had the 6d 9d and he goes, “I love how he starts off telling me a cooler story by saying I have the 6d 9d LOL.”
It doesn’t matter what you start with, situations just come up sometimes where you are destined to lose some chips, and a lot had to go wrong for me to lose those chips: 1) If the button made a standard re-raise I fold
2) If there is a bet on the flop I fold
3) The turn had to be a non-heart 5 or a 10 That’s a pretty sick parlay! Oh well, I ended the night with 19,600 in chips to keep my streak alive, and now I have a day off in San Jose to veg before playing day 2. I don’t think I’ll leave my room. I may go to the gym for a bit, take on a few calls I need to make, and try to screw around on the internet if it’s stable enough, but it should be a chillaxing day. ]]>

10. WPT LA Poker Classic Strength of Field: LA is the poker capital of the world and almost all of the world’s top players (aged 21 and up) attend this event. At the late stages of these events, when the majority of the riff raff is gone, the play is high end. Tournament Structure: It’s the perfectly structured tournament. Matt Savage runs the joint now and assures that the antes are the right size throughout the tournament, and he even added an unprecedented 900-1800 level to add even more play. Field Size: This is the WPT’s most popular event and it always has a large field. The Commerce is the absolute perfect card room, dedicated solely to poker, and there is a monster room dedicated to just the tournament so that there is no need for more than one day one. 9. PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Strength of Field: While there are tons of qualifiers in the event, the field is also jam packed with all of the hotshot online players aged 18-21 that you don’t see in tournaments where the age limit is 21. They are very aggressive and fearless and can cause you lots of problems. Tournament Structure: It’s decent. Play is a little fast on day one as the limits are not 90 minutes, but there are plenty of intermediate levels without any 50% jumps along the way. Field Size: There were over 1500 players at this years event and all expectations are that next years field will be even bigger. 8. $10,000 No Limit Hold’em WSOP Heads Up Championship Strength of Field: There are hundreds of heads up specialists online and the majority of them are in this field which makes it very tough. Couple that with all of the big names looking for a bracelet and you have a very strong field. Tournament Structure: As is the case with all WSOP events the structure for this event is also top notch, giving players plenty of play. Field Size: It’s a big field for a 10k event, and as mentioned, the majority of the entrants are going to be tough. While many of the names may be unknown to the public, many of these unknowns come from the online world and are tough. For a heads up event, it’s the biggest field of the year. 7. PokerStars EPT Grand Final Strength of Field: The buy in is of decent size, at 10,000 Euro and that weeds out a lot of mediocre players, however, PokerStars, as always, does qualify a lot of players. The event is full of internet hotshots, but it also does draw a decent amount of local players that aren’t that tough. Tournament Structure: It’s the deepest structured tournament of any EPT and it gives players plenty of play with 90 minute levels. Field Size: Also draws the biggest crowds on the EPT as it occurs directly after EPT San Remo so those that didn’t do well there, as well as those who did, make the short drive down the road to play in the Grand Final. 6. WSOP Main Event Strength of Field: Obviously everyone plays in this event so all of the top players will be present, but overall it’s one of the softest fields of the year thanks to the sheer number of qualifies. It’s the “big one” and everyone wants their shot at glory. Tournament Structure: With two hour levels, it remains the only event in the world with levels that long. A luxury the WSOP has, since the event takes close to two weeks to complete. Field Size: Um, ya. This is kind of a big deal and the main reason this event makes the top ten despite field strength being so juicy. It’s a massive event. 5. WPT Championship Strength of Field: It’s a tough event. The WPT doesn’t really have much of a qualification process for any of it’s events and that’s also the key reason why numbers have dropped recently. People point to the economy, but the NAPT, and the PCA proved that it’s less about the economy than it is about online satellites. Tournament Structure: The Bellagio structures have changed for the worse over the last little bit, so it will be interesting to see if they right the ship or continue down the wrong path of simply adding more chips to correct the problems with it. There is too much play early which takes away key levels later on. Field Size: It’s not a small field, but it’s not huge either. Expect something in the 350 player range. 4. PokerStars NAPT Bounty Shootouts Strength of Field: The inaugural event was tough as nails! Every table was full of skilled players from the net, or old school pros like Hoyt Corkins at it. The NAPT Mohegan Sun event will likely be equally tough. The inaugural event was an invitational, but at Mohegan, it is open to any and everyone who can pony up a cool $25k. Tournament Structure: The structure at the final table was very deep and took over 12 hours to complete. That’s a 7 handed final table! It’s pretty deep, and the preliminary round at Mohegan Sun will also have added play and longer levels. The key aspect of this structure that separates it from other events is the fact that you get no reward for folding your way down to three players. It’s win or go home, which requires a player to have a vast skill set. He needs to be skilled at ring games as well as short handed, and heads up to make the final table. The bounty element also adds even more high level thinking to the event that you just don’t really see anywhere else. The players who played in the event, all loved it. Field Size: The first event drew 49 players, but with registration opening up to the public, as well as guaranteed coverage on ESPN2, you can expect to see more entries at Mohegan Sun. There will likely be a cap of 100 players, and I expect to see about 70-75 of the world’s best in attendance. Field size will also be determined based on whether or not FTP changes it’s policy for it’s sponsored players. FTP sponsored pros were prohibited from playing in the bounty shootout event. Many of them were invited, but apparently upper management made the decision to pull it’s players from the event. Either way, the event will be well attended. 3. WSOP Europe Main Event Strength of Field: Virtually no qualifiers, it’s overseas which means only the best players travel for it, and a high buy in, equals a very tough no limit hold’em field. Tournament Structure: As is the case with all WSOP events, the structure is just incredible. Field Size: It’s not a huge field, but first place always earned more than a million dollars. 2. $25,000 WSOP 6 Handed No Limit Hold’em Event Field Strength: This is the inaugural event, but I can assure you that the field for this event will be tough as nails. You simply cannot fluke a win in this event. You will likely see a 6 handed final table dominated by top notch online players and 6 handed cash game specialists. You can’t run and hide 6 handed. You have to get in there and play. Bad players beware, don’t enter these waters unless you can afford $25,000. This event will require the most advanced skills of any no limit hold’em event in the world. I’m afraid they may not be names the public know, but this event is destined to crown a worthy champion. Tournament Structure: The structures for all WSOP will be solid. No worries there. Field Size: It remains to be seen how many players we get, but the $40,000 event last year had great attendance. The buy in for this event is a bit smaller, but the fact that it’s 6 handed may scare away a few nits. A nit will never win this event! Sorry Chainsaw 🙂 1. $50,000 WSOP Players Championship Strength of Field: This event won’t have many, if any qualifiers in it, so you are left with sponsored pros and those with bankrolls big enough to pay the $50,000 entry fee. The event WILL be back on ESPN after a one year hiatus, and the format has reverted back to it’s original form with a bit of a tweak, adding 2-7 triple draw, NLH, and PLO to the mix. The final will be no limit hold’em. Tournament Structure: What the structure of this event is designed to do, is to crown the best all around poker player across 8 different disciplines, emphasizing no limit hold’em skills in the end game. This is the coolest event of the year bar none, and the structure gives players plenty of play. Field Size: As expected last year we saw about 1/3 of the field gone with the absence of ESPN coverage. I was kind of pissed about it, and predicted the decision would be a mistake. With no TV coverage, you lose many of the sponsored pros who aren’t rolled for a $50k buy in event. With ESPN back on board, as well as the addition of big bet games to attract the younger guys, the prestige of this event will be restored, and you can expect to see a field between 140-155 players. While many made for TV events offer strong fields in terms of strength, they were left off the list due to a combination of tournament structure and field size. Events like the Premier League, NBC Heads Up, and Poker After Dark, all boast strong starting fields, but the made for TV events have such fast paced structures that there is little room for high level poker to be played. Also omitted from the list were online events. There are several online events that boast strong fields, with good field sizes, and decent structures, but online poker is a completely different animal so no online events were counted, although, you’d be foolish to not marvel at the accomplishment of winning the WCOOP main event on Stars. I hoped you enjoyed this, and I look forward to hearing Gary Wise, Andrew Feldman, B.J. Nemeth, Bernard Lee, and the rest of the poker media cronies dissect my thoughts. ]]>

I’m just doing this for fun and don’t really want to hear about how bad my predictions are. I have no idea how any of the 7 qualifiers are, but some of them are going to win, so I went with some random upsets: Clubs Bracket Chris Moneymaker over Patrik Antonius: call it a hunch, but I think Moneymaker is due to run good. Eric Baldwin over Leo Wolpert: just a random guess. David Williams over Joe Cada: I have no idea who the favorite is in this match so I’ll go with the more experienced guy in this format and figure that Cada is due to get it in with AA and go broke to A-6 off. Huck Seed over Erik Seidel: Huck has the best record in NBC HU history, and Erik has the worst at 0-5. Both are obviously great players, but something about the set and the Feng Shui of the room seems to favor Seed and curse Seidel. Erick Lindgren over Dan Ramirez: I went with EDOG but I’m not so sure! I don’t know if he’s played much poker recently. Peter Eastgate over Bertrand “Elky” Grospeillier: An all PokerStars match-up, this one is tough to call. I went with Eastgate which may seem like a tiny upset. Ted Forrest over Stephen Quinn: I think Ted plays the amateur extremely well. He players everyone well, but I think he should be ok here. Dario Minieri over Jamie Gold: two aggressive players, I’m going with the younger one who bought a Porshe using FPP points on PokerStars thanks to dominating heads up sit n’ gos for years. Round 2: Chris Moneymaker over Eric Baldwin: call it a hunch. Moneymaker was obviously very lucky when he won in 2003, but since then he’s been pretty unlucky in made for TV events and I think that might change. Huck Seed over David Williams: the guy is a machine, what can I say? Peter Eastgate over Erick Lindgren: a tough match-up here, I flipped a coin and it landed on Eastgate. Dario Minieri over Ted Forrest: the young Italian bull’s aggression might get the best of Ted here. Round of 16 Chris Moneymaker over Huck Seed: Moneymaker magic this year! I am a believer! Peter Eastgate over Dario Minieri: Minieri bluffs at the wrong pot, and Eastgate eliminates him after flopping the nuts and never putting a bet in. Quarter-Finals: Peter Eastgate over Chris Moneymaker: The dream is over! Eastgate the PokerStars crusher eliminates Elky, Dario, and finally Moneymaker. Spades Bracket: Gavin Smith over Phil Ivey: the outcome here depends on how motivated Ivey is. He wasn’t at the draw party last night, so that made my decision a little easier. Gavin will be motivated and has had a good start to the year. Scotty Nguyen over Richard Edwards: Expect Scotty to talk Edwards out of his chips with a patented, “You call here gonna be all over baby” type line. Shawn Rice over Joe Hachem: Rice is a qualifier, but everyone knows that he’s a real player and a pro. Just a hunch on this one. Gabe Kaplan over Johnny Chan: Gabe watches loads of NLH and that’s gotta help his game. Chan is coming off a 10th place finish at the LAPC, fatigue could play a role, who knows. Jason Mercier over Daniel Negreanu: I’m not dumping for my bracket, lol. Jason is a tough opponent and has the will to win. He wants to win, and has the confidence that he can do so. He is very hungry, and that love of tournament poker and the tournament trail reminds me a lot of myself 10 years ago. Mike Sexton over Peter deKorver: only one who’s watched more poker than Gabe is probably Mike. I played Sexton heads up, and he’s tough. He’s incorporated a lot of good things into his game and he’s not afraid to stick it in when necessary. Tom “Durr” Dwan over Phil Gordon: Gordon hasn’t played much in recent years tending to his new family, so he’s likely to be rusty. His opponent? He’s not rusty, Durr is one of the world’s best players and plays at the highest levels regularly. Phil Laak over John Juanda: I played with Laak recently and was impressed. Juanda may still be suffering from a deadly case of TMM (too much money) and will have to bring is A game to defeat Laak. Round 2: Gavin Smith over Scotty Nguyen: Gavin is focused this year and has a lot to prove to himself. I expect him to show up ready to play and defeat the Prince of Poker. Shawn Rice over Gabe Kaplan: Just a hunch. Jason Mercier over Mike Sexton: I expect a tough match, but in the end I see Mercier breaking Sexton with KK vs QQ. Phil Laak over Tom “Durr” Dwan: I’m predicting a bit of an upset here, but not really. When the blinds get higher and the stacks get smaller, I don’t think many, if any players really have an edge on Laak, and I don’t think Durr has much experience playing short stacked poker. Round of 16: Gavin Smith over Shawn Rice: Riding the Canadian train. Phil Laak over Jason Mercier: a tough match-up, but Laak’s A-7 outdraws Mercier’s 99 for all the cheese. Quarter-Finals Phil Laak over Gavin Smith: Laak says, “Oh my God, Oh my God, so sick, so sick. Dealer, don’t do it to me, please, please, don’t do it,” as he runs around the table punching the air and then ultimately squeezing the dealer when Gavin misses his two overs and an open ended straight flush draw against Laak’s measely pair of 55’s. Hearts Bracket Jesper Hougaard over Allen Cunningham: just a hunch. Eli Elezra over Greg Meuller: this is Meuller’s first invite, I predict he gets a bit nervous and Eli just doesn’t do nervous. He was in the Israeli army for Heaven’s sakes, this is a piece of cake for the high stakes veteran. Annette Dworski over Chris Ferguson: this is one of my random qualifier predictions. I have no idea who she is or if she even knows what she’s doing. Kara Scott over Dennis Phillips: Kara is a bit of a dark horse in this thing, but she’s as prepared as anyone in the field for this format. Brock Parker over Doyle Brunson: as we all know Doyle hasn’t been out of the house much lately for health reasons, but he’s going to make a go of it. Brock is one tough customer, and he just doesn’t make too many mistakes. JP Kelly over Don Cheadle: Kelly is on fire coming off a great year. Phil Hellmuth over Howard Lederer: this has the potential of being a great match-up of old school vs. old school, but I’m going to give a healthy nod to Hellmuth who has FINALLY decided to revisit his strategy and work on improving his game. Annette Oberstad over Orel Hershiser: Annette’s first invite to the big dance and I think it will be a successful one. Round 2: Jesper Hougaard over Eli Elezra: Jesper doesn’t intimidate easily and a win may mean we hear the famous chant, “Uba Uba Uba, RAP, RAP, RAP!!!” Kara Scott over Annette Dworski: Kara doesn’t get a lot of attention for her poker skills, because she is usually in front of the camera working on TV shows, but she doesn’t suck. Brock Parker over J.P. Kelly: maybe the toughest match-up of the whole tournament amongst two relative unknowns who are both highly skilled players. Annette Oberstad over Phil Hellmuth: I think this will end up being an excellent match-up that personifies old school versus new school, but I’m going with new school in this one. Round of 16 Kara Scott over Jesper Hougaard: this could be Kara’s coming out party much like last year’s version, Vanessa Rousso. Brock Parker over Annette Oberstad: another super tough match, I’ll go with the calm, cool customer. Quarter-Finals Brock Parker over Kara Scott: Lady luck finally runs out as she bluffs at the wrong pot. Diamonds Bracket: Vanessa Rousso over Barry Greenstien: fresh with confidence from last years run to the final, Vanessa gets revenge on Barry who beat her in this event a couple years ago. Antonio Esfandiari over Sammy Farha: Antonio and his new mindset coach help defeat the tricky Farha who hasn’t been around the poker scene much lately. Expect a nice spread of Hummus, Baba Ganough, stuffed grape leaves, falafel, and Shwarma for this all Persian affair. Jennifer Harman over Jennifer Tilly: Believe it not, I think Tilly has studied the game harder than most people give her credit for and almost certainly has a better understanding of the math behind short stack strategy. I just can’t root against my sister. Mike Matusow over Jerry Yang: with all due respect to Yang, I don’t feel he’s done enough playing since his WSOP win to warrant an invite into this prestigious event. Bill Hunstress over Darvin Moon: another random guess! Andy Bloch over Annie Duke: this event was basically designed for a guy like Andy Bloch and his results have been good. He is a math guy and the structure heavily favors math based minds, especially in longer matches. Paul Wasicka over Andrew Wilson: Wasicka is inspired to play again and he just won an event. He’s also a previous champion here. Gus Hansen over Greg Raymer: Gus has been doing well this year and his level confidence is up. Round 2: Antonio Esfandiari over Vanessa Rousso: just a hunch. Jennifer Harman over Mike Matusow: Jenn and Mikey have battled for years in the “old days” and I think Jenn has his number. Mike will lose graciously, and be genuinely happy for Jennifer. Bill Huntress over Andy Bloch: who know Huntress was such a monster right? Haha, I have no clue, just another one of my random picks. Gus Hansen over Paul Wasicka: Gus will lull Wasicka to sleep my performing hypnotism by cutting his chips over and over until Wasicka wakes up and says, “What happened to my chips? Where is everyone? Hello?” Round of 16: Jennifer Harman over Antonio Esfandiari: Antonio is shocked to find out later when the show airs that Jenn actually outplayed him! He gives her credit for a monster every time, makes sick lay downs, and Jenn has air every time. Gus Hansen over Bill Huntress: I wasn’t going to pick the guy to win the whole thing! Quarter-Finals Gus Hansen over Jennifer Harman: Gus just tortures Jenn by cracking QQ, JJ, and AK with 8-4, J-6, and K-3. Jenn grabs her purse, and let’s Gus know how she feels about it, “Nice hand Gus you @%^$!% son of $@$*&^ lucky piece of #!%$@^” and the next day in the big game Jenn apologizes to Gus, buys him a drink, and in true Gus fashion, his natural response to that is something to the effect of, “I have a room here, let’s go have makeup sex so you can prove how sorry you really are.” Semi-Finals Peter Eastgate over Phil Laak: Laak gets it in 34%, flop makes him 22.63% (approx) and on the turn Eastgate nails the sick death card and Laak is hoping for the river to be a card that’s already shown. Clinging to the hope of a fouled deck and new life. Brock Parker over Gus Hansen: Parker whistles, chews gum, shows zero emotion, and ultimately crushes a puzzled Gus Hansen who is forced to make the bitter beer face about 5 times throughout the match.
FINALS Brock Parker over Peter Eastgate: Eastgate’s luck runs out and Brock Parker gets a much deserved win which leads to 43 internet forum threads with titles like: “Live Players are clueless”
“Brock Parker is God”
“How Sick is Brock Parker”
“Online Players > then Live Players AINEC”
THE END ]]>

Outdrawn: I raise with 9d 10d the guy min re-raises me and I call. Flop is 7-8-9 one diamond. Check check. Turn a 6d giving me a straight and a straight flush draw. I bet the turn he calls. River a 10, check check. He shows 55 and we chop. Anything else I think I get some value on the river. Outplayed: Super aggro Canadian kid makes it 4500 in the cutoff, I call on the button with Jc 8s, the “guy” calls from the small blind. Flop is Qs 10s 7s and we all check. Turn is a 9, they check to me and I bet 14,800. The “guy” makes it 35,000 and I call. River is a 9 and he he ships it all in and I quickly fold. He shows… two red threes! Outplayed: A lady raises weak, so I re-raise from the small blind to 19,700 with A-8, the “guy” calls in the big blind and is very obviously strong, like JJ or QQ for sure. Flop comes 8-8-8 flop is checked. Turn is a 10 I bet 28k he calls. River is a 2 I bet 70k and he folds the Queens. I should have bet the flop, ugh. Coolered: I limped with 6-8 and he raised to isolate me and I decided to call. The flop was K-9-7 with one heart. Check check. Turn is the 10h, I bet 6000, he raises 15,000 more, I move all in with the straight, he quickly calls me with… QJ. Ugly turn card yuk. Outdrawn/Outplayed: I raise with A-Q to 5600 and he raises to 15,000, I call. Flop is A-8-6 one diamond, I check call about 21,000. Turn is a Jd I check call 42,000. River is the 8d I check call 50,000… he shows A-J doh! I knew he had me that time, but he owned me all day and I couldn’t bring myself to fold it. I didn’t really lose a pot to anyone else. When I played pots with other people I basically busted them to stay alive and donate more chips to “the guy.” I forget his name, I know, I suck, but I often forget people’s names. The dude was 6′ 4″ tall, played football, is a limit hold’em guy from the east coast, wears a Patriots hat, plays 100-200 limit hold’em at Commerce, finds it easier to lose weight when he is home rather than the road, eats a lot when on a winning streak or a losing streak, does well with the diet when even, but he says he’s never even. So yeah, I know all that, but I have no freaking clue what the guy’s name is. I was in danger of bubbling again, but thanks to the fact I’m playing in the best structured tournament in the world, bar none, I was able to bounce back and get to 222,500 to end the night, still 70+ big blinds deep and just above the average. Hey Bellagio peeps, if you are listening or reading, take a look at this structure, stop with the insanely deep stacks early, and add more play to the middle of the tournament. Oh, and fix the pansy antes they suck!!! ***************************************************************** The night ended a bit later than normal so instead of going to Fresh N’ Easy I drove to a 24 hour VONS in Hollywood to pick up some groceries so I can eat stuff before play, during breaks, and then at the end of the night. On the way back, my navigator was playing tricks on me so I ended up in a strange part of town that seemed dark and rather impoverished if I may say.
I asked a guy how to get back on the freeway. He mumbled something to me and I noticed that him and all his boys were wearing blue bandanas and stuff. I, of course, was in a rental car, a red Dodge Charger and I had on a red t-shirt and a red hat. “Excuse me fine gentlemen, do you fancy you could help a lost tourist out with some directions? I’m trying to get back to the Commerce Casino, I’m there playing in a poker tournament where first prize is almost two million dollars! Oh, and by any chance, could any of you young boys spare change for a $100? I assume you boys should be rolling in tens and twenties from your line of work, right?” At that point I pulled out two $5000 bricks of cash that I just happened to have loose in my pockets. “Oops, didn’t even realize I had that in my pocket. Funny, I usually leave my stash of cash in the trunk, you never know who might want to rob you these days. All kinds of hoodlums running the streets at these late hours. You boys should be careful.” Then I realized that these young lads where serious about their security. One gentleman was grasping what he called an “Glock” while smoking a bit of medicinal marijuana. I assume he registered for a legal card in California somewhere, that would be illegal otherwise!
There was no reason to worry about them at all, they seemed to understand the dangers of the streets. Then one of the younger boys, “Ice Easy Street Killer” was his name, asked me, “Where dat scrilla at yo? I’m tryin’ to get paid.” “Oh, at the commerce Mr. Street Killer, or do you prefer Mr. Killer, or the full Mr. Ice Easy Street Killer? Yes, yes, you can come down to the conference room at the lovely and spacious casino and enjoy some of the choice foods available at the concession stand while you enjoy the festivities. Should be a smashing good time, do join us? Oh, but please ask Mr. Pookie Sheezie to leave his weapons in the car as the casino policy clearly states, “No weapons, automatic or not, are permitted on the casino floor.” I’m not too sure if the boys are going to make it to the casino tomorrow to watch me play, but I assume they’ll at least come back and drop off my car at the casino tomorrow. They asked me if they could borrow it, Pookie Sheezie’s baby mama needs to go get her hair did tomorrow and I obliged. It’s so nice to make new friends in Los Angeles! What a great city… Peace out my…. oh, wait a minute, I’m being told I can’t use that term. That’s a special term they use to show affection to eachother, but it’s really not for crackers. Understood.
]]>

250-500 (50)
300-600 (75)
400-800 (100)
500-1000 (100) That’s ALL of day two! Day three is equally slow: 600-1200 (200)
800-1600 (200)
900-1800 (300)
1000-2000 (300)
1200-2400 (400) There is a 900-1800 level! Most importantly, the antes NEVER drop below 25% of the small blind. Another rule for you tournament directors out there: never create a level where the antes are LESS than 25% of the small blind. If your only choice is to go with 16% or 33% of the small blind, go with 33%!
Smaller antes cause a stall in the action. Bigger antes, means MORE action, more confrontations, and just a much better game all around.
Another general rule for tournament directors: NEVER EVER create rules or structures geared towards appeasing the nits. The nits, by definition… are freaking NITS!!! A tournament should never award tight play, it should reward skilled play. ***************************************************************** I watched the end of the Canada/Slovakia game and it had my heart pumping! Canada almost blew it, but held off the Slovaks in the end, phew. This sets up what could go down as one of the greatest hockey games ever on Sunday. The U.S. will face Canada for gold. A few people asked me who I’d be cheering for, and I was like, “What???” I am Canadian. I’ll ALWAYS be Canadian, and I’ll always root for Canada. I think this is the best U.S. team in history, and was really surprised that prognosticators dismissed them because they were “too young and inexperienced.” That’s silly talk. They are young, but they are also really freaking good. Prediction: Canada 4 U.S. 2. ]]>

]]>

You are probably used to watching poker with the hole cards revealed, but there is something fun about watching the game without that information. It gives you more of a feel for what it’s like to have to guess like the players at the table do. Like, “He check-raised all in on the river? What could he have? What would I have to have to call him here? Does he look like he’s bluffing.” 3) Come on down! I’d encourage you to come down to the Venetian and watch it live. There will be a bar down in the Bellini room where all the action happens, and don’t quote me on this… but I think it just might be a free bar? Action will be going from 11:00am to approximately 2:00am so come on down and root on your favorite players. Here are the official table draws. Heats 5-7 will start at 11:00am, while Heats 1-4 will begin at 7:00pm: Table 1 1. Joe Sebok
2. Phil Laak
3. Justin Bonomo
4. David Williams
5. Joe Cassidy
6. Yevgeniy Timoshenko
7. Tommy Vedes Analysis: This could be the toughest heat of the 7. Phil Laak really impressed me recently at the Premier League, as did Timoshenko. Joe Cassidy and Justin Bonomo are also a force. I’m going with Timoshenko as my #1 seed to win this heat.
Table 2 1. (Satellite winner)
2. Dario Minieri
3. Tony G.
4. Alec Torelli
5. Isaac Haxton
6. Daniel Alaei
7. Peter Eastgate Analysis: Isaac Haxton is one of the most successful online players in the world, and has also had success in live events. Danny Alaei may seem like he’s been around for 20 years, and his poise at the table gives that kind of impression, but he’s also very young. Those are my two favorites in this heat, but I’ll give Haxton the edge in this faster paced structure. Table 3 1. Chris Moneymaker
2. Keith Gibson
3. Joe Cada
4. Jason Mercier
5. Hasan Habib
6. Matt Glantz
7. Ashton Griffin Analysis: Mercier is a rising star in the world of poker. Not only has he put up some sick results, the Bluff player of the year came across very well in his recent TV appearances on the WSOPE. His determination and his obsession with playing tournaments reminds me a lot of myself in my early 20’s. I’m not even picking a second horse here, Mercier is my clear #1 choice. Table 4 1. Andrew Robl
2. Lee Markholt
3. John Hennigan
4. Phil Galfond
5. Alex Kamberis
6. Brett Richey
7. Daniel Negreanu Analysis: For the sake of unbiased analysis I’m going to take myself out of the equation. This is a tough one for me to call. Once again, it’s a very tough heat. Two names stand out for me, Phil Galfond and John Hennigan. I’m not sure how much poker either has played in the last few months, but I know both to be very talented players. I’m going with Hennigan (but not really, if you know what I mean 🙂
Table 5 1. J.C Tran
2. Joe Hachem
3. Annie Duke
4. Jennifer Tilly
5. Vanessa Rousso
6. Di Dang
7. Faraz Jaka Analysis: What are the odds that we have exactly three women in the entire field, and they are ALL in the same heat! Of the three, one stands out in a structure like this, and that’s Vanessa Rousso. Few women, or men for that matter, spend more time analyzing and working on their game. We have another high stakes online player in Di Dang at the table, but the guy I’m looking at to win this heat is the guy that I just played heads up in the Premier League: J.C. Tran. Table 6 1. Scott Sevier
2. Brian Rast
3. Chau Giang
4. ElkY
5. Antonio Esfandiari
6. Sorel Mizzi
7. Barry Greenstein Analysis: This is another very tough heat and it should be a blood bath. I’ve always been impressed with Antonio Esfandiari’s game, and while he may have taken a few steps back over the years, it seems like he is taking poker more seriously of late and is very focused. The other guy that jumps out at me is known simply as “Elky.” I think Elky is an incredibly talented tournament player, whether it’s against weak competition or against top pros. I’m going with Elky for the win. Table 7 1. Phil Hellmuth
2. Adam Richardson
3. Hoyt Corkins
4. Greg Raymer
5. John Duthie
6. Hevad Khan
7. Steve Paul-Ambrose Analysis: This heat was a bit more difficult for me to pick. Hoyt Corkins is coming off of another impressive win on the WPT, but that was against a very different kind of field. I actually fancy the young guys in this heat, Hevad Khan and Steve Paul-Ambrose. I think I’m going to go out on a limb here and pick the soft spoken Team PokerStars Pro, and fellow Canadian, Steve Paul-Ambrose. ****************************************************************
The prize pool will look like this: If you win your table you collect a cool $75,000. For every bounty you collect along the way, that’s worth an additional $5000. All final table members will have pocketed at least $80,000, and they’ll be playing for a first prize of $455,000. Not only that, PokerStars.net has donated $100,000 to the prize pool, and that money will go to the top bounty hunter. Knock out the most players… pocket $100k. Pretty sweet. One thing I hope that many of you appreciate is the number of new names that were given an opportunity to participate in this prestigious event. I read the forums, and there has been an outcry to see some more new blood get an opportunity to take part in some of these cooler televised events. Well, you guys spoke, and PokerStars.net listened. I think this event offers a great mix of old school players, big names you know, as well as a solid number of young, internet phenoms trying to make a name for themselves. Kids like Alex “AJKHoosier” Kamberis, Ashton “Ashman” Griffin, Di Dang, and Alec Torelli, may not be household names to the average person, but if you “know poker” you know these names, and you want to see how they’ll do under the lights, and with the added pressure of the television cameras in their face. Will they dominate the “Live TV Players” as many may expect? Or will the pressure get to them and their live inexperience be there downfall? Only way to really find out, is to come on down to Venetian and join us in the Bellini room, or watch all the action from the privacy of your home, online at www.napt.com. I’ll be watching NAPT Live at home in the afternoon, and then I’ll head down to play my heat in the evening. This event is going to be one you just really don’t want to miss. Boys, get our your spreadsheets, get on MSN, Yahoo, AOL, or whatever messenger you have, and start your draft now! The event starts in t-12 hours!
]]>

So I came 4th in the Premier League and I’m very happy with that finish especially since I started out so poorly. I had a good shot to win it all, was even chip leader four handed, but in the end it was David Benyamine who won the title. Congrats to David, he’s an awesome player. After that, my buddies and I all ate at Veloce at the M casino which is a pretty cool restaurant with a great view from the top floor. We had some drinks and then everyone felt like playing poker so we did something I’d never done before. There were 7 of us, so we started our own game at Bellagio! The min limit we could play was $20-$40 so we did that and made it a mixed game. We played like 10 different games. I bought $10,000 in chips and just handed out chips to everyone. We tipped the dealer and we paid a rake… but it was all for fun! We weren’t playing for ANY money and it was still soooo much fun. I haven’t played poker like that in ages. My golf buddies Sam and Ted played, Christian my caddie/golf coach, Patty my assistant and Lisa, and then my other Korean friend “John Smith” played. It was a fun night and everyone had a blast. In split pots, we’d just throw some chips to one person and a random amount to the other. None of it mattered at all, but they were all enjoying the game. **************************************************************** Today I spent the WHOLE day at Venetian and I’m exhausted. We had a meeting at noon, then we did some interviews. After that we held a charity event for 3 Square, a Las Vegas Food Bank. The event was well attended by a wide range of celebrities. If you want names, you’ll have to read Phil Hellmuth’s next blog, he is the resident expert name dropper 🙂 I’ll bet $500 that his next blog contains the following: -at least 10 name drops
-a mention of a limousine
-a mention of Dom Perignon There was a bounty on my head in the event. Whoever busted me won an autographed guitar signed by Slash. Donnie Wahlberg ended up busting me during the rebuy period, and I felt bad for him because I was going to rebuy. I did rebuy, but they said that since Donnie did bust me he’d won the guitar which worked out great since apparently his son is in a band and plays guitar. Supposedly he’s talented as well. I busted out of the charity event early and went up to Tao for the PokerStars party. PokerStars throws the best parties and it’s not even close! They spare no expense and always lock up a great performer. At the PCA it was Kelly Rowland, and for the NAPT launch they had T-Pain do a set. I’ll tell you what, the NAPT is clear evidence that poker is NOT dead in the U.S. Far from it. There were so many fans at the Venetian it reminded me of the poker boom at it’s peak. The poker boom revitalized by the NAPT event. I’m sure the addition of the celebs didn’t hurt one bit. The other major key for the NAPT’s success is going to be qualifiers. With the addition of the qualifiers, we are going to likely see over 800 players at the NAPT Venetian. That’s just an incredible number and I can’t wait to play. I’m so amazingly proud of my association with PokerStars and have never been happier to be a part of the best team in poker. PokerStars really understands how to put on a tournament and they hire some of the smartest minds available to help ensure that the tours and televised shows are going to be a great success. The EPT is the most successful poker tour in the world (at the moment) and since then, that model has expanded to reach every corner of the Earth, and now finally, in North America to complete the puzzle. The NAPT is an important piece of the puzzle, and all of the pieces are coming together nicely. We couldn’t have a better team to televise the events, and ESPN is “the” place for poker in the U.S. so that’s obviously a really big deal for the NAPT. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life was agreeing to be an ambassador for PokerStars. I truly love everything about the company and am just SO excited about the direction things are headed on several levels. On that note, don’t you DARE miss the Sunday million this week! A $200 buy in event that pays… ONE MILLION DOLLARS for first! A $4 million guaranteed prize pool for $200!!! That is just insane. You’d be hard pressed to ever get better odds on your money than that. Unfortunately, I think I will be missing this event as I hope to still be in the NAPT Venetian event with a fighting chance to win it! Along with the NAPT main event, the hottest ticket in town is a seat in the $25,000 bounty shootout event on Feb 23rd. The event was slated for an elite field of 36, but interest has been bursting at the seams which may prompt the organizers to increase the field size to accommodate all of the interested players. See you guys at the Venetian… it should be a mad house tomorrow!
]]>