WSOP 2008 Schedule

The 2008 WSOP will be held once again in the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The Series will start on May 30th and it will run until July 17th.

I have posted a link on the right to a Google Calendar that I will update with all the event dates, times and details as they become available.

Latest Tournament Results

So far, October has been a very good month for me in playing tournaments, especially non Hold-Em games.

A few days ago I managed my first cash in my freeroll mission. A couple days later I followed it up in a 520 person event by cashing and finishing in 40th place. This was a NLHE event.

Last night, while the in-laws were eating, drinking and being merry during Thanksgiving I was playing in a 1000 person RAZZ Multi Table Tournament. Even though this wasn't for real money the goal was still the same. I found that the competition was very soft and I really learned a lot reading hands and putting pressure on my opponents. After several hours had passed, and my fair share of hands that held up I made my way to the final table, out of 8 players remaining I was in 4th.

When the dust settled and all was said and done I managed to get 3rd place overall in the tournament. The hand that crippled me was when my 8-6 got crushed by my opponents wheel. I felt I played very well, especially against a large, if not strong field.

Nothing keeps a person motivated to play in more tournaments like some strong finishes.

poker

First cash with free account

Today I managed to cash in my first free tournament playing under my "no deposit" account on Full Tilt. The part that I feel the best about is the fact that I was able to get 3rd place out of the 1270 entrants in a game that I have never played before. That game is Pot Limit Omaha Hi. I have played lots of Omaha Hi/Lo but Hi only was still a mystery to me.

In terms of my play I feel that I did well. I know I got really lucky on two hands early on in the tournament but for most of the tournament I have just been playing the hands I feel are solid and hitting strong boards. I played aggressive and I didn't get check raised very often so when that did happen I was very sure that I was beaten. Near the end I also got lucky and hit my flush draw on the river, but we were all in on the flop when I had top pair and, the nut flush draw and a back-door straight draw. Poker can sometimes be about catching draws, and with the number of outs it was a great chance for me to double up at a key moment of the tournament. Once we got to the final two tables I just coasted to the final table without much difficulty. The two hands that knocked me out were basically well played by both of us. My two pair with straight and flush draw was beaten by a set, and my Flush was then beaten by a full house. It was a very good way to go out, compared to a bad beat. I won't be losing sleep about my play tonight.

So now I have some real cash in my account ($20.00) and I've pulled off the first goal in this experiment, get a cash. Goal two, start playing in micro limit cash games. I'll do this if my buy in for that micro limit is less then 5% of my overall bankroll.

The lowest limit is $0.05-$0.10. At that limit, $10 is my buy in for that limit. So, $200 is my bankroll goal before I'll be ready to hit those micro tables with the proper bankroll.

Full Freeroll Registration < 60 Seconds

I just signed into my first free roll tournament at Full Tilt for my experiment. It took less then 60 seconds for the maximum number of entrants (2700) to be reached. Now I just have to wait 40 minutes for the tournament to start...

I played solid throughout the tournament. I should have played a pocket pair of nines in early position. Would have tripled up against two high aces.

Had AK in middle position. Raised 3X BB. (This was fourth hand that I raised pre-flop.)
Two callers.

Flop 5-A-2

I bet out 3/4 of the pot and was re-raised by the button. No need to wait for something better as only 1% are paid. Called and was against A5 (two pair). No help on turn and river.

30 minutes and I played OK. I could have easily been up against a bluff (considering the four hands earlier) a weaker kicker such as AJ or AQ and I still technically had 6 outs on the turn. Later on in the tournament, near the money I may have laid it down but I'd rather have lots of chips early on in a free roll then spend too much time waiting for monster hands.

Here's My Mission

I you have any basic knowledge of poker, and its personalities then you have no doubt seen this gentleman:

His name is Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and he is one of the most well known, respected poker players out there. One of the things that make him so remarkable is the fact that he is constantly challenging himself, and his poker. One of these challenges is an attempt to turn nothing into $10,000.

For this experiment he entered into free rolls offered by Full Tilt Poker and by using strict bankroll management techniques he aims to turn his initial investment of nothing into $10,000. He has done this once before, using $1.

I love the idea of this type of challenge and I have decided to do the same. I have just opened an account at Full Tilt Poker and I am going to try to do the same thing. My goal though is to reach one hundred thousand dollars rather then just ten thousand.

The only rule is that I'm not going to deposit any money into this account, ever. In the future I plan to add more poker rooms and I am not placing any restriction in the games I play. The goal here is to try to make something from nothing. Even though I'm not placing a time guideline on this experiment I would like to have this experiment to pay for my trip and tournament entry into the WSOP 2008, one year from now.

I plan to also use poker tracking software and these blogs to keep track of my progress. I do expect this to take a lot of time and effort but I plan to build my online bankroll up using nothing but poker skill. By the time all is said and done, I'll be able to stand proud and tell people that I never once gambled using this free account.

Here goes nothing...

Even I'm allowed to get lucky.

The month of March has been pretty uneventful so far. I'm finally starting to receive my Bluff magazine from the subscription that was given to me at Christmas. I guess the third time is the charm. They were sending the magazines to the people that bought me the subscription. After the gift givers called a third time to tell them that the magazines are being sent to the wrong address they have finally fixed things. I'm still waiting for my all-in magazine subscription to kick in. I sent an e-mail to the Joe Average Poker but I still haven't received a response.

Aside from reading magazines I've also been playing a little bit of poker. I've had one live session so far at Seneca and my regular daily on-line sessions. My on-line game is doing well. I have only been playing at Poker Stars and my bankroll has climbed to an increase of over 30% in the last month and a half. I took a little bit of a beating during my session at Seneca so March and February end up being a wash. I consider that pretty good since I have also been spending a lot of time learning Omaha Hi/Lo. I'm still on a climb though so I hope I can make a decent dent on my poor January results by the end of the month. I will have at least 3 more live sessions this month so hopefully I play well and don't get unlucky.

I did get unusually lucky in a free roll I just played in. The tournament was held by Poker Stars for Canadians only. They ran two daily tournaments for a week and I only ended up getting to play in one of them. This was also a turbo tournament which meant the blinds went up very quickly and it quickly became clear that you would have to push pre-flop on almost every hand you decided to play. The top 450 out of 3000 would cash and the top 100 would be entered in a WSOP Main Event seat event. My tournament was pretty average for the first 30-35 minutes or so. I started with strong hands and they usually held up. For the most part I never got involved in any pots where I wasn't the favourite pre-flop. Since that's when all the money is going in being the pre-flop fav is all I'm really trying to do.

The luck aspect comes in after the flop. On about 25-30% of my hands, and 2-3 all-in's I had to come from behind and get help from the turn or river to win the hand. I was able to get lucky and pull the cards I needed right when I needed them. Once I got to the money a lot of small stacks were eliminated and I made it to the top 200. My goal now was simple, make the top 100. I only had to play one hand during this time, and my Kings held up against Ax. By the time I made it into the top 100 all my goals for the tournament were met. I made the money and I made it into a tournament that could give me a seat into the WSOP Main Event. The rest of the tournament I played only premium hands but with an M of only 4-6 I was all-in pre-flop almost every hand. I flirted with being on the final table but ultimately I got knocked out in 12th. There was only one hand, Q9o that I should of played near the end of the tourney but I was up against a big-stack raise and a bigger stack re-raise that would have put me all in. I would have won the hand and tripled up at a key moment but I stand by my decision.

That's it for now. Chances are I'm just going to be playing on-line for the week but I should have an update after Saturday since I'm playing in the freeroll and I should be going to Seneca for a live session.

A Tough Way to Break Even

Over the weekend I separated my poker between two different sources. On Saturday I had a four hour session of low-limit Hold Em and on Sunday I played in several Sit and Go’s and some low-limit Omaha Hi/Lo.

Over the course of my session at Brantford here were some of the starting hands that didn’t win:

KK (twice)
AK
JJ
TT
AJ

The sad part of the session was not the fact that I lost with these hands but rather that I won with :

33 (flopped a set and held on through heavy betting and raising)

T8 (these were suited and I turned a flush)

I look at the bright side though and it is pretty simple in this case. When I can still break even after getting a lot of strong starting hands beaten it means I’m able to read my opponents and lay down losing hands before I invest too much money in them.

I did end up making one mistake that I will hopefully learn from. I had a new player sit down two seats to my right. I was dealt ATo UTG. By the time the action got around to me the new player (in the small blind) raised it up. I called as did everyone else in the hand. The flop came A K 9 rainbow. The original raiser bet out, the person on my right called, as did I and most other people in the hand. A lot of argument could be made for me to raise here but with low-limit I wanted to see what would happen on the turn. I’m not knocking anyone out with a raise here and if the small blind checks I’m pretty sure I have the best hand. I realized that I probably had 5 outs, any Ten or Ace. Before the turn came I knew that the person to my right held JQ, and therefore any 10 gives him the nut straight. The turn comes a 6 and the small blind bets out again. The gut to my right calls (chasing a 3 outer) and I decide to fold. A blank comes on the river. The small blind bets out and Mr. Chase folds. The player turns over Jacks and takes down the pot.

Even though I know it was a bad decision to fold now, in the course of the hand it was very easy to put my opponent on AJ, AQ, AK, KK or Aces. He raised pre-flop in the blinds with Jacks. This is usually an overly aggressive move that doesn’t pay off that well. If any over card comes out, in this case two did, then you usually figure your Jacks are no good. At the same time this person came out betting on each street showing no fear with the Ace on board. My mistake was not raising the turn. If I raise the turn the original better probably calls and checks the river, or folds. Even though I may have made more mistakes throughout the session, this was the only one that kept me thinking.

I played several Sit and Go’s on Sunday as well as some low-limit Omaha. I won 1 one of the bigger buy in SnG’s and that took care of the few that I didn’t cash in. I also find that I do better in the non-turbo Omaha Pot Limit H/L Sng’s due to the structure and speed. I find myself making more mis-reads and mistakes during the Turbo sessions.

All in all a mediocre weekend of poker, but I did eek out a profit, I learned that I need to raise on the turn more often and I learned that even I can get lucky and win a pot with T8.

This is the Poker I Remember Playing

In the past two days I have played in 5 SnG tournaments and two short term (less then 2 hour) ring games.

5 for 5 cashes

2 for 2 in the ring games, 10 BB/hr for the first and 18 BB/hr during the second ring game.

I just hope I keep it up.

Maybe My First Time Was a Clue

Over the past week I have grown a great fondness for the poker game Omaha Hi/Lo. The game plays very similar to Texas Hold Em with a few subtle, and at the same time complex changes.

The similarities revolve around the mechanics of the gameplay and betting while the type of hands and draws played make up the complexities.

There are two different types of Omaha that I have seen, a Hi only version and a Hi/Lo version. The Hi/Lo version is the one I play since it tends to be more fun and generate more action. In the Hi/Lo version, the high hand and the low hand splits that pot at the end of the hand. For a low hand to qualify, it must be made up of 5 cards (3 on the board and 2 in a persons hand) that are all less then 8. The best low hand (and often the best high hand as well) is A-2-3-4-5. This is known as the "Wheel" since A-5 is the lowest possible straight and it also acts as a straight for a high hand.

The basics rules of the game are as follows. Each person receives 4 hole cards. Hole cards are hidden cards. There is a round of betting and like in Texas Hold Em there ar ethe blinds, sometimes an ante and the dealer position moves clockwise at the beginning of each new deal. Once the betting is closed out 3 cards are dealt in the middle. This is known as the flop. A round of betting occurs and once finished the turn card (4th card) is revealed. Another round of betting ensues and when the betting is finished the 5th and final card (the river) is flipped over. Then there is one final round of betting and any players still left in the hand reveal their cards.

This game shares several similarites to Texas Hold Em with the two following rule changes offering the differences that make things interesting:

1 - When creating their best 5 card hand(s) the player "Must" use two of their four hole cards.

2 - When creating their best 5 card hnad(s) the player "Must" use three cards from the board.

In Hi/Lo, since you have to make two different 5 card hands you can use the same cards for both your low hand and you high hand.

If you need to learn more, read the article in Super System 2 as it will give you a great deal of valuable information.

The first time I played Omaha, along with probably 90% of beginers was totally by accident. I was trying to signup for a Texas Hold Em tournament when I clicked on the Omaha Tournament by mistake. By the time I was dealt my first hand and noticed I had 4 cards instead of my expected two, I knew I was in trouble. I quickly looked up the rules and tried to figure out the best way to play. I had a basic understanding of the game but I figured I had all but lost my entry fee.

By the time the smoke cleared I finished 3rd out of a field of nearly 100. I know I got very lucky one time but for the rest of the time I just focused on making the low and sometimes pulled off the high as well. I tried my luck at the game a few other times but never seemed to get anywhere so I gave it up, until now that is. Whenever I played HORSE I used that time to work on my Omaha Hi/Lo game as well.

On a ride home I read through the Omaha article in Super System 2 and I became very interested. I figured I'd give it another shot. Ever since I have really started taking a shine to the game. The main reason I feel is because it seems like Omaha rewards proper strategy more then Texas Hold Em. Patient players who play the right starting cards tend to do very well and when a person plays too many starting hands their stack seems to suffer. There is still luck and bad beats but it seems to be a lot more rare then in Texas Hold Em.

The main starting hand rule is: If you can't scoop the pot, there is no sense in playing the hand.

Maybe I'll Have Better Luck On Another Site...

Last night was the beginning of my vow to stay away from Full Tilt poker, except for the odd free-roll and AIPS tournament. I moved some money around so now I’m able to play at several different sites. My first night of non Full Tilt action was relatively successful.

I played in a total of four tournaments. My first was a NL Sit and Go that lasted only 1 hand for me. I had AKo on the button and was trying to limp in with everyone else. Before anyone thinks of raising this hand I didn’t really see a point yet. There is a lot of dead money out there but plenty of reasons to see a flop cheaply. Most importantly, with so many people in the pot, a small raise is getting plenty of callers. I’d rather see if I can flop big. An interesting development happened though. The big blind put in a min raise. By the time it got around to me there was over T400 in the pot. I figured a big raise would take all those chips in, and with AKo only 2 hands (AA, KK) really give me any trouble. I push all-in since any reasonable raise meant to drive out chasers gets me pot-committed anyways. I get one caller, the big blind and he flips over 77. This is a race situation and with the dead money in the pot, the odds are in my favor. Some will contest that some Aces or Kings were folded by some of the limpers but I still feel if one or two of my outs are gone the math is still correct. Plus, if I take the pot down I get a huge stack, a nice table image, and I can pretty much coast into four-handed play.

Alas no outs came and I was eliminated right away. This doesn’t bother me that much considering I felt I made the right play and I would do it again in the same situation.

The next Sit and Go was an Omaha Hi/Lo8 Hold Em split game. Since playing HORSE this game has quickly become one of my favorites, right behind Texas Hold Em. My first hand dealt was AcAs2s8c. This is a great hand since I can get the nut low and I’m in great shape if I get a flush draw. The action is capped pre-flop with 7 players and this hand, the first hand of the tournament is starting to set the stage for what should be a quick, action filled tournament. By the turn I’m any club away from the nut flush and any card less then an 8 to give me the low. With all the capping of the betting that has happened on the flop and turn I figure I’m going to tie my low with at least one other person so I’m really hoping for the club, and when the Ten of clubs hits the river I know I’m golden. By the time the dust settles I scoop both the high and the low and after hand #1 I now have 33% of the chips in play! 20 minutes later I take first place in the tournament, never really putting my chips at risk unnecessarily.

The next tournament was a Limit Texas Hold Em I mistakenly got into, figuring it was No-Limit. I love limit ring games but I’m not a big fan of limit sit and go’s. There’s not much to say about this tournament since I was playing the Omaha at the same time and focusing a lot more on that one. I finished the tournament in 5^th place, never really playing the game the way it should have been played.

The final sit and go of the night was a No-Limit Texas Hold Em sng. Glad I didn’t make that mistake twice. This was one of the best Sit and Go’s I’ve had in Texas Hold Em in a while. When I had strong hands, they held up, when I had weak hands it was easy to let them go. I was able to steal blinds efficiently and stay out of the way of any crazy hands and pots. Things tightened up considerably when we got down to 5 handed but I basically stayed in the area of the chip lead the entire time. By the time I made the money I was the short stack with a bit of a mountain to climb up. The blinds were still pretty reasonable so I wasn’t panicking. By the time I got heads up I was at a 3-10 chip disadvantage. I played strong heads up, doubling up, giving some back, doubling up again with strong hands. I did get lucky on one hand when I went all in after a low board with KQo. My opponent called with a pair of Tens and I spiked a King on the river to win the hand and give myself the 18-2 chip lead. With where the blinds were and the pre-flop action it was obvious that I was going to have to go all-in once the flop came down. My opponent went so far as to call me a “fish” which I found was very funny. We had been playing heads up for 20 minutes and on the Internet that is an eternity. I came back from being a huge dog and then yes, got lucky on one hand. It’s a player like these that I love being up against. They are willing to blame so many of there losses to fish and lucky players that they aren’t willing to look at the mistakes they made throughout the session and identify their own leaks and rough edges.

I’m not one to say that I didn’t get lucky; I did, for one hand. Most of the other hands I played were the best hands because I was patient and waited for the right situation to exploit. I get my fair share of bad luck at the tables but I never insult the opponent who just beat me. I get mad and I curse them in my mind but getting those beats is part of the game.

So, all-in-all it was a very good night and certainly a refreshing change of pace. Even earlier at lunch, while playing at Full Tilt, I was three outed on the river to knock me out in 4^th during a sit and go. 75-80% of my losses at Full Tilt are from when I have hands that are 70% favorites or higher when I get all my money in there. I know in time, that the cards will break my way and things will even out, I just think that for the next little while those cards are going to be dealt to me at Party Poker.com

TOP TEN

TOP TEN:

February has started off being a better month then January, and there is a still lot more time in the month to go. Even though I compare one month to another I know that comparing two constants in poker is never a good idea. Each situation, game, mood, etc is different. It’s better to look at the whole game and decide whether you are playing good poker or not.

As for January I feel I played OK poker. I made my fair share of mistakes and made a number of strong plays. I did get unlucky in a lot of my sit and go’s but I know that time will be the true measure of my luck, not just 20 tournaments. My live game was good, except for a tournament that I could get any traction in. My bankroll took a hit of about 15%. This sounds bad but it really boiled down to two sessions, a tournament and one on-line session where I let myself chase too much and go on tilt at the end. If those two sessions were removed then my bankroll would have taken less then a 3% hit, and after some of the cards I seemed to be getting, that would have been very acceptable.

After two live sessions and some on-line play, I’m slightly ahead in February. I won’t be playing live any more this month due to traveling conditions which means I’m going to have to focus on my on-line game. I’m going to start playing at Poker Stars and Party Poker a bit to see how things go there.

As far as the two live sessions go, things did go well. The first session I left with an ROI of 55% after 4 hours and the 2^nd I left down a bit, but still made more then a 1 BB profit per hour played. The most interesting story was related to the first session I played. I went to Seneca Niagara casino with a buddy on Friday night. My friend and I had gone several times in the last six months and he never seemed to be able to come up with a winning session. After some discussion of pot-odds, outs and the types of bets to make with drawing hands I came up with a strategy for him to employ:

The TOP TEN.

Very simply, when he was not in the blinds, or on the Dealer button, he was allowed to play anything other then the top 10 hands, and this would apply for the first hour of his session. After the hour was finished he would be free to play any style he wished. After 1 hour, he won two huge pots and nearly doubled his starting buy-in. I wanted him to get used to playing in position, and playing only with quality cards. Now, the hands that he won with were very playable, so I don’t think my strategy made him more money in those hands, but I do think that getting him to focus on position and starting hand selection got him to reduce the number of weaker hands he played. This probably caused him an extra 20% in ROI by the time his session was over.

Maybe it’s just January

Three weeks into January and my poker is not going as I had hoped. I have played several sit and go’s and a little bit of cash games and nothing is really going my way. Financially I have not lost a lot of money, only 15% of my bankroll but the bad beats at Full Tilt are starting to get to me. I don’t think that Full Tilt is rigged, nor do I think any reputable site is, but I am certainly going to start playing elsewhere so see if things improve.

I’d say that 25% of my losses are due to playing badly or making mistakes, but that leaves 75% to bad beats, and I can be honest and say that I have suffered my fair share. On one hand, getting the bad beats means that at least I was ahead in the hand and just got unlucky, but on the other hand it’s very frustrating.

January of 2006 was the same way. Things just weren’t going my way on the felt. Once February rolled around things started to improve and I ended up having a very good year. Everyone goes through these periods of ‘rough play’ and I’m no different. I just need to make sure I keep my head on straight and get my money in with the best of it.

The key is to keep moving forward. I know for the most part I’m playing well and making the right decisions, and the cards will break for me in the long run. I just have to stay focused, patient and take advantage of the times where the cards come my way.

Live Game Good, Tournament Bad

I went to the Seneca Niagara Casino on Saturday with a buddy and ended up having a pretty good live game session, and a not so good tournament session.

The tournament was a mid-range buy in with a total of 47 participants. I tried playing a little more of a lowball style early on but never seem to hit any flops. Then I tightened up and waited for premium hands. When they came I got no callers and when I missed it seemed like I was always up against a raise and a re-raise, and I’d be out of position. I was never really in contention with this tournament and was knocked out at the one hour thirty minute mark.

I quickly moved over to my regular game and had an impact immediately. My first hand was AKs and I hit my Ace on the flop. I had a caller all the way so my first pot ended up being a decent one. I spent about nine hours at that table and left with an ROI of 51%. I didn’t get as many Big Bets per hour as I would have liked but that was mostly doe to some tough hands near the end of my session.

Overall, I have to say that I was very happy with my performance in the live game. I was very relaxed and had a very good read on the table. I spent more time thinking about my decisions and I think that went a long way to keeping me out of trouble. I found myself either winning small pots or very large pots and I think that’s the safest way to play low-limit. It seems like with the average sized pots you never really know where you stand in the hand and it’s always vulnerable.

My only regret is not starting later on in the day since the action didn’t start to build until the 8 pm mark or so. The one bonus you get at an American poker room is that the drinks are free so it can be more profitable if your opponents start hitting the sauce.

Woo Hoo

So, I get into the office this morning and plug my iPod into the computer to listen to some podcasts that I downloaded in the morning. I started up the Joe Average podcast and settled in to checking some e-mails and getting down to work.

About 10 minutes into the show they get to a segment that they refer to as "What Would You Do?" This is a weekly segment where Robin (one of the hosts) describes a normally tricky hand and asks the audience to give their opinion on what they would do during a key point in the hand. When she started talking about the hand I remembered that I had submitted my thoughts on the hand. I focused a bit more because I really wanted to see how close I got.

Well, before they announce how the hand was finished, they announce the winner, and as I'm sure your guessing she announced my name! This completely blew me away. I listened to her describe the hand, just as I had guessed and when all was said and done, she lost the hand, but I was still correct with my guess.

It's not a game unless there is a prize and I get to receive a 12 month subscription to All-In magazine. This is a great read that I pickup whenever I see it on the newsstand so getting this subscription is quite the bonus. The 'kicker' in all this was that it was the first entry I have ever submitted for the 'What Would You Do' segment.

Winning this was a great start to my day and I'm sure the feeling is going to last with me for quite a while, hopefully at least until my session on Saturday.

I recommend everyone listening to this outstanding podcast. It's one of the few that I truly look forward to and I'm sure anyone who grabs an episode or two will get hooked. You can get to the show by clicking the following link.

http://www.joeaveragepoker.com/

Thanks again Fred, Charles and especially the Queen of Hearts Robin Farley.

WSOP 2007 Events Schedule

Harrah's has posted the event schedule for this years World Series of Poker. To see the schedule go to www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

You can add all of the events that are scheduled to happen at the World Series of Poker, 2007, by clicking the button. You need to have an account with Google for this to work.

A Little Poker at Lunch

I usually go to a buddies apartment close to work at lunch to play X-Box and eat lunch. It’s better then sitting at our desk, or even the “diner” at work. Well today I forgot my controller so we figured we may as well play some on-line poker. I brought my Mac so I could play at Full-Tilt and he played at Paradise. We each did well in our respective Sit and Go’s. I earned second in a 9 person Turbo tourney and he won his 5 person tourney. Not a bad way to blow through our lunch break.

My buddies table was more challenging as well because he had to deal with a maniac on his left. It forced him to be more patient and wait for a killer hand. When the dust settled, he had to take the maniac heads-up and finished him off by some strong, aggressive pre-flop raises.

Things were pretty simple at my table. I got good hands when I needed them, played tight to get to the bubble and played aggressive once I got into the money. I have to admit that I did get super lucky when we were three handed. I had AJo and I raised. The short stack went all-in (which he had been doing quite a bit at this point) so I called. I had him covered so I figured this was my shot. He turned over Kings and I know I’m pretty much done. With no Ace on the flop I stopped paying attention until the chips got pushed to me. I ended up rivering a four, giving me a straight and taking the other player out. Yes, I got lucky, but I’m not going to apologize for it. It happens.

To finish it off, I hit a Jack on the flop, bet, was raised and went all-in with my JTs. My opponent flips over Aces and that’s it for me. Second place and I finished the tourney in 30 minutes, nice.

1 for 3 in Sit In Go’s and a Test Drive of Poker Office.

Last night I played in three sit and go’s with mixed results. I earned 3^rd place in one of them, 7^th in the second and 4^th in the last one I played. The most frustrating placement was 4^th, for several reasons.

1. I had connection problems throughout the session which caused me to miss between 8-12 hands. That easily could have made a difference between fourth and third place.
2. The very act of finishing on the bubble is frustrating in itself. To be so close to the money and not being able to make it stings.
3. I suffered a very bad beat, that sucked away my chips faster then Paris Hilton in a dark room with a camcorder. I had jacks and raised. I was re-raised by nine’s and had another caller after with AJo. I went all-in and was called by both players. The AJ caught an Ace on the river. Since I was in the chip lead prior to this hand I still had around 1500 chips. I lost 500 more within a couple hands after losing a race against a short stack. I had sixes, they had AKo and he hit his King on the flop.

All in all there wasn’t much I could do to avoid getting knocked out where I did. The good news is that I was able to use a new piece of poker tracking software called Poker Office. To some this isn’t new at all as it has been around for quite a while. I have to say that I’m very impressed with the features and benefits that the program offers. I’ll offer up a more comprehensive review when I’ve had a chance to play a bit more.

First Impressions - Poker After Dark

I had heard many of my podcasts talking about this show, mostly due to the fact that Shana Hiatt makes her long anticipated return to poker. The first challenge was to actually find a way to watch this show. Since I live in Canada, or maybe because of where I live in Ontario the show wasn't airing on any of the channels to my disposal. I tried going to the website and even though the episodes were available for viewing I wasn't able to see them due to my location. Canada has very strict standards that they make Canadians follow when it comes to accessing television shows from America.

After a few days of frustration I finally found a site that was hosting torrents for the show. I'll have a review shortly regarding that site since it's easily the most kick ass site when it comes to Poker related torrents. I'm surprised that it took me so long to find it, but now that I have I'm sure that I will make good use of it. If I've peaked your curiosity, and you know what a 'torrent' is then feel free to go to www.thepokerbay.org for some terrific downloads.

So, I finally get to watch Poker After Dark and right off the bat there is quite a bit I enjoy about it. The format (a 6 person freeze-out, winner take all tournament) is ideal for TV, and gives viewers a chance to see how these types of tournaments should be played. Since the program takes a week to show just one 6 person sit and go they show a large percentage of hands and so you really get to see how the Pro's play their hands. By comparison, ESPN shows only around 10% or less of the hands during the tables they cover during the World Series of Poker.

The first thing that struck me is how a lot of the pro's were not playing their powerful pairs aggressively pre-flop. This trap-em strategy flies in the face to conventional poker wisdom, and it was nice to see pro's willing to change their style of play. It's also important to remember that all the players at the table were top quality caliber. The return of Shana Hiatt was also nice to see. You could tell that they didn't use her enough at the beginning of the week, and I'm sure in future episodes she will have more features on the show. On a side note, I listened to an interview with Shana and the Rounders Poker show where they were asking about the fact that the show is on late. It's on after Conan on weekdays and a special Directors Cut - wrap up episode is on after Saturday Night Live. She responded to the question by saying "Thank God for Tivo." I just wonder if she's going to get a call from someone at NBC reminding her that NBC makes money off of ads, which Tivo can delete, and therefore maybe she doesn't want to support a device that takes away the revenue that pays her salary. Just a thought...

All-in-all it was a great show to watch and contrary to other poker shows you can learn quite a bit from this one. Whether the show will be successful in the long run only time will tell. There are still some minor quirks to work out but I'm sure they will listen to the Players and the viewers and make the necessary adjustments.

Home Game Organizer - PokerRoom.com

In my quest to find an on-line room that plays Chinese poker I discovered a great program that can be used to organize a home tournament with extreme ease and flexibility. This application is perfect for a person who wants to host a tournament with a minimal amount of fuss and muss.

It's simple and works the exact way a tournament organizer should. The best part of the application is that it's free. It's nice to see a poker site giving everyone such a valuable and helpful piece of software for no cost, or expecatations.

You can download the software by clicking the following link:

http://pokerroom.com/promos/poker-shop/free-stuff/organizer.html


Fig 1 - This is the start page. Just click Create New Tournament to begin.



Fig 2 - Enter in the name of the tournament and all the details required.



Fig 3 - Enter, delete or change the blind and level settings.



Fig 4 - Save your settings and then click on Start Tournament to be taken to the Tournament screen.



Fig 5 - As the tournament progresses you can reduce the amount of entires and see the main details change dynamically.

It's tough to give a higher recommendation to a program. If you own a computer and you don't have an application like this you should download it and use it. It does something that all software strives to do - it works exactly as expected.

Book Review – The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time

When I think of poker books I like to separate them into two categories: strategy books and story books. Let me just say that The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King is one hell of a great poker story book.

The book chronicles the biggest game of poker ever conceived and all the twists and turns along the way. The story revolves around a rich banker by the name of Andy Beal who arrives in Vegas, takes up poker and searches for the richest game he can find. The story that spans several years is nothing short of remarkable, with fortunes being won and lost during some incredible heads-up poker matches.

Apart from telling the story of Andy Beal and his quest to play in the very biggest games the book also peels back the curtain and gives the readers a glimpse into the poker world that isn’t shown on TV. The author, Michael Craig pulls very few punches when describing some of the events that took place and how the players involved acted when their entire bankroll was on the line.

The main thing I gained from this book is a new-found respect for some of the players mentioned in the book, most notably, Todd Brunson, Ted Forrest, Jennifer Harman, and Howard Lederer. These players, who are well known from what you see on TV, are so much more accomplished when you look at their performances in the high-limit matches during their career.

If you are looking for a great story of poker, and an honest, almost painful view of what the high-stakes of poker is all about, pick this book up. It may not offer you a lot in terms of strategy, but it will sure give you a lot to think and talk about.

The following is a link to amazon to buy the book:

The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King