Well, I had planned to post on pocket pairs today, but something very odd is happening (happened?) and I hope some reader/blogger might be able to help. It seems this blog has somehow, over night, offended the little bots of Google.

I'll admit I'm a tad vain about this little blog, mostly because I work my tail off on it. So, when I did my vanity search on lasvegasvegas and didn't see the blog listed in the results I started to panic(and Pauly, it's Widespread!). So, I bring up the little Google search bar on my browser and click the "get cache" button for the blog... well there is no cache. The poker blog has been dropped from searches and I have not a clue as to why. If anyone can offer advice it would be greatly appreciated.

On another note, the interview with Mike is set up for Friday so plenty of time to mull over poker questions for "The Mouth".

Posted by pokerprof at 1:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I have a new personal project that hopefully will improve my overall game and especially my tournament play. I am reading or re-reading instructional poker books and then applying the strategies to online play. I typically chart my tournament play and have re-read the T.J. Cloutier with Tom McEvoy book, “Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold'em,” and have played in a few PP $10 SNL and SPL tournaments and tried to practice what I have learned from the book. I charted my play and have noted some major differences. In general, I play far fewer hands during the early and middle tournament stages. I also play “Big Slick” with much more caution and attention to position (remember that an unimproved A-K loses to a pair of deuces) and am not as quick to gamble my tournament seat on the cards before the flop. During the final stage of the tournament I am now playing more hands and playing them much more aggressively. T. J. says that there is no substitute for “tight and aggressive” play, especially during the end game and I have found this to be one true axiom.

I have read most everything available over the past years about poker. The problem is I apparently have not made an effort to apply it to my game so I am starting over in a self improvement program and will study and apply. The competition found in the poker ring games and tournaments today require the successful player to develop and play an ‘A' game all the time. If you do not have an ‘A” game then get busy developing one. Buy, beg, borrow or steal some poker books and read them and then read them again. Apply what you have learned and make notes of your play for later comparison. Play as often as you can and when not in a hand remain focused on the table; watching what other players are doing, why they do it and the results. Add the successful moves to your arsenal. Watch the professionals on televised tournaments and study what they are doing and why. My current sample size is too small for any definitive trends to emerge; but, the last three $10 SNL's on Party are three for three and this is without the cards running over me. In the short term I can say that Tom and T.J. are exactly right and I will keep reading and playing so I can say they are right in the long term.

I also saw something on the WPT the other night, one of those "huh? moments". One of the filler segments was "If I am dealt pocket rockets (Aces) would I rather my opponent held a pair of 7's or King's?" The answer was Kings and the reason given was the slight 2% statistical edge for the sevens,... huh? I also would rather my opponent has Kings because they are more confident betting the big pair; therefore, I am likely to win a lot more. Of note, the reason the pair of sevens have an ever so slightly better win rate against Aces than the pair of Kings is more straight possibilities with a seven.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Since the Tom McEvoy interview seemed to go over pretty well, I thought I'd take another crack at it, and this time it's Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. For anyone not sure of who Mike is, he has a couple of WSOP bracelets and Phil Hellmuth thinks Mike is one of the best limit Omaha players alive. So if anyone has a question for The Mouth, it'll get asked. This will happen sometime later this week and comments will stay open until just before the interview. By the way, I'm avoiding the nickname "motormouth" because Mike hates this nickname and prefers either “The Mouth” his nickname as a dealer “Prime Time”.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, it’s been a week of celebrities for the poker blogging community. Almost everyone has had something to say about Ben Affleck’s poker victory, but Otis at Up for Poker has posted the most articulate commentary on the matter. Wil Wheaton filmed the Hollywood Home Game episode but fans will have to wait for the episode due to NDA's. Paul Tillison(Paulsburbon) is becoming something of a poker celebrity himself with a nice sized tournament win. Finally, The Fat Guy has a solid discussion on the value the Hilton Sisters (pocket queens).

Posted by pokerprof at 2:27 PM | Permalink

The final hand for the Hard Rock Celebrity Pro-Am Poker Tournament was finally dealt a few minutes after One o’clock this morning. Dan Alspach of La Joya, California beat Dennis Axel of Las Vegas for the championship and the $25,000 first place money and Pro-Am trophy. Dennis received $12,000 for his second place effort. The celebrity and professional players didn’t fare well with none of the celebrities making the final table and only one pro, Barry Tanenbaum, finishing in the money. The following list of the final table players gives the order of finish and the amount won from the $60,000 prize pool. During the final table play the Hard Rock Hotel announced they would pay the dealer’s tokes so the winners could keep all of the winnings. We commend the Hard Rock for their generosity.

Final table players:

1st Dan Alspach $25,000
2nd Denny Axel $12,000
3rd James Vecchio $7,000
4th Chad Layne $5,000
5th Gaylord Erickson $4,000
6th James papas $2,500
7th Laurene Holland $2,000
8th Steve Knovak $1,500
9th Barry Tanenbaum $1,000

The majority of the professionals and celebrities left soon after elimination but a few remained for the marathon duration. David Williams, 2nd place WSOP $10,000 final event finisher, was in and out and Gary Busey remained until the final hand. The tournament got off to a slow start but quickly picked up the pace. The event was well organized and hosted by Lisa Tenner of Tenner and Associates. We enjoyed the evening, visiting with the stars and pros even though I spent most of my time behind the camera. You can view all of the action from our arrival to the final hand so please visit our Pro-Am Gallery and yes there are more pictures of Jennifer Tilly here.

Posted by flipchipro at 8:02 PM | Permalink

Well, on last minute notice we hear about a star-studded poker gathering going on tonight at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino here in Las Vegas. So we said what the heck and decided to head on over to see if it would be a smash hit or a total dud. The result, a smash hit, without a doubt. The event is set up as a 15 table no-limit hold’em tournament with a $500 entry fee and a total prize purse of $60,000 ($25,000 for taking top honors). Well, the entry fee bought participants a lot more then their $10,000 in starting chips.

Activities kicked off at 5:00pm (actually closer to 5:15) with a seminar on Texas no limit hold’em tournaments from noted professional Barry Tenenbaum who can be found swimming the mid-limit tables at the Belligao most nights. His presentation, although slightly rocky (I think he lost a lot of the audience, especially when discussing pot odds) covered the basics of Hold’em, the meaning of no limit, and structure of tournament poker admirably.

Next came the 1 hour social gathering and poker lessons, and this is when thing started to heat up. On the balcony level of the “The Joint” players, pros, stars and media gathered and mingled while noted professionals including Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher dolled out some of the basics and finer points of tournament poker to contestants. All the while big names mingled with the room including Lou Diamond Phillips, Jennifer Tilly and Gary Busey. The real stars of the evening; however, were the professional poker players. Even the celebrities gathered round to listen to Tom McEvoy, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak and Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari. After an hour of carousing and poker lessons the tournament festivities got under way.

Fifteen tables several with noted celebrities and every table with a noted professional player awaited the players. The professionals were given ‘dog tags’ at the start of the event, and if you were the lucky player that managed to knock them out they had to give up the tags (including any tags they acquired from knocking out other professionals). These tags netted the player $100 each for taking down the bounty. Well, the event is still under way and close to wraping up as I write this, a complete report and photo gallery of this interesting mixture of poker professionals and amateurs (I include the celebrities) will shortly follow.

Posted by pokerprof at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Prof provides us with his version of the future describing coming technology with words I can’t even find in my dictionary. Now we know why he gets the super fast HAL 9000 while I have to make do with the Commodore 64. Me thinks Mr. PokerProf thinks way too much and even then he forgets to mention the single most important reason for poker’s popularity and bright future. In one word, Poker is Fun! (Guess that would be three words). Name another leisure activity that offers more entertainment and even rewards the newbie novice players that read a few books and then apply what they have learned. Go to any tournament live or on the internet and you will see players with little experience in the professional poker world winning (Moneymaker comes to mind). Poker is a game that is quickly learned and rarely mastered. Every player has a shot at stardom and riches. I have been playing this game way longer than I care to remember and yet I still feel the rush of excitement every time I sit down to play.

I will never get to swing at a hundred mile an hour pitch in a World Series’ game much less hit a winning homerun, catch the critical pass in the Super Bowl, slip into the green jacket at the Masters or even walk across the court at Wimbledon. Ain’t gonna happen. Not ever; but, I damn well may find myself across the table from Doyle Brunson or T J Cloutier playing heads up for the bracelet and title of World Series of Poker Champion. It can happen to me and it can happen to you. That’s why poker has a bright future. You don’t really need to be a professor of anything to figure that out just a player.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:19 PM | Permalink

The future of poker and tournaments.

Well, after reading the flipchipro’s rather flippant look at the future of poker I couldn’t help but think about what the future holds for the current media crazed poker industry. An industry that only a couple of years ago was veiled in smoky obscurity and dominated by a few ‘relatively unknown outside the business’ professionals. Everything changed in a flash of televised tournaments and the emerging Internet players. I will offer my thoughts about the future of poker.

Tournaments of the future

In one word (actually an acronym), RFID. RFID stands for radio frequency identification and consist of a small info chip and transmitting antenna. These little buggers will be molded into every tournament chip. The “smart poker table” will continually interrogate each chip and report exactly how much money a player has and how much is in the pot. Palming, pushing and stealing chips will become a thing of the past. If fact, I can envision the final table of a major tournament using an RFID smart table feeding directly to a streaming website providing real time chip count and pot information to avid fans. This concept of RFID poker chips combined with a smart poker table top has already been patented. The success and spectacular growth of current poker tournaments is due in large part to the “card cam” that provides the television audience with a view of the player’s down cards. The spectators become involved in each hand and what better way to learn? The upcoming ESPN Sports network coverage of the World Series of Poker has added an additional camera that can offer a peek at the next card to be dealt from the deck.

The Internet poker sites

I don’t see much new innovation here. Better graphics, a fancier interface and more game options, yeah, but drastic changes, no way! The current on-line poker sites serve their intended purpose and do it very well, allowing people to quickly learn to play and bet in real time. The game designers took a page from the video poker machine people and have kept the human interface simple. The problems with on line poker that must be solved are the legalities of the business. The most difficult barrier to on line poker is the transfer of money into your casino account and the subsequent associated risks. A solution to these issues will provide legitimacy and much needed uniform industry regulation. Indian Casinos went through a similar evolution and finally found a compromise through state-by-state administered gaming compacts.

Television or poker as a spectator sport

The innovative World Poker Tour, ESPN’s upcoming 22 episodes of WSOP coverage, the Celebrity Home Game (which I hear will have Wil Wheaton, blogger extraordinaire, on the next installment), the Final Table Challenge and Lord only knows how many other poker show clones await the television audience. The popularity of the WPT has our monolithic-mega-media business scrambling to cash in on the poker craze. Namely, every “Hollywood idea man” will pitch his “great” poker show idea and the receptive media exec will sign a blank check for the production. The public is presented with countless hours of horrid poker (?) shows saturating the airways over the next couple of years. I can hear the pitch now:

Idea Man: “This show combines the best of everything, it’s like ‘Survivor’ meets ‘The Rounders’.”

Clueless pointy hair studio exec: “Great, I hear this poker thing is big, really big, let’s do it! And we have a great spin-off, “Strip Poker Showdown!”

Six months and many millions of dollars later:

The audience: “What utter crap… Hey! ‘Get Smart’ is on the rerun channel….. *click*”

The copycats will probably butcher poker and poker tournaments with many of the new shows becoming one night stands. The entertainment side of the poker business will settle back down and I expect there will be a few good poker related shows to compliment the excellent tournament coverage we have now. Rumor says the Fox network is currently putting together a live broadcast of a major tournament event to be done in a NFL Sunday game style broadcast. Providing they can get beyond the inherent table game boredom factor it may well work. I think poker and televised poker tournaments will continue to grow in popularity, improve with innovative technology and elevate the great players to rock star status. The astronomical prize money, alone, guarantees this.

Final thoughts

The future of poker couldn’t be brighter. Home games are more popular than ever as evidenced from record poker chip sales, casino poker rooms are packed with players, new rooms are being added weekly and Internet casinos have introduced the game to millions. Poker has become prime time entertainment with poker related shows offered daily on television. The Internet has a thriving poker blog community that is rapidly developing a voice that extends into the traditional media. Professional poker players are treated like any other sport stars. I am confident the legal issues surrounding Internet casinos will be resolved with the virtual poker world emerging the winner. The future of the poker industry? When I peeked it was a couple of pocket rockets.

Posted by pokerprof at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Should online players wear sunglasses?
After reading my colleagues rather long winded view of skill or chance in online poker games I have to add my opinions. I believe it is more of a chance thing at the lower limits and skill at the higher limits; of course, I also think this applies to live games, too. The three outlined requirements for a game of skill covered betting, reading tells and table position. I think we all agree that betting strategies and table position are comparable whether live or Internet so the only thing left is reading your opponent’s tells. The lack of face-to-face contact in on line poker makes getting a read quite difficult. In my opinion the on line games require a much greater degree of skill to read the digital tells you receive from the small screen.

Therefore, let me be the first to propose that the next generation of on line casino poker incorporates a web cam aimed at each player that transmits your live mug shot to the opponent’s screen where it can be used to read your tells in a more traditional manner. This would certainly help the on line poker community bring in those final live game only hold-outs that refuse to play on line because it really isn’t poker, even the diehards that refuse to come get their free bonus code money. What possible excuse can they give for not joining the on line fun when all the traditional game elements are now found on line? Hell, they can even wear their sunglasses. Of course, the hardcore trouble makers will spread rumors that they are being subjected to digital scrutiny as a result of computer savvy nerds writing code that detects and catalogues even the most subtle player tells. Entrepreneurs, fresh from selling plasma TV’s on eBay, will open websites where you can purchase “the total tell package” for anyone that has ever played on line. The potential for realism is virtually unlimited. A future patch could include a smoke detector so even the no-smoking rule could be enforced. A dress code would soon follow. Damn, I see great stuff here.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On-line poker a game of chance or a game of skill?

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit lately and wonder, is on-line poker a game of skill? Will it be able to meet the existing legal criteria required to make it a game of skill? And what, exactly, makes poker a game of skill? The existing live game structure has produced many players that make their livelihood through the skills they bring to the poker table.
What factors go into winning through skill? I cannot find the elements our legal system used to determine that poker is a game of skill (perhaps there are no elements and skill is implied), so I am forced to hypothesize on what these factors are likely to be. In traditional poker there is the betting strategy, reading your opponent(s) and strength of table position. These three elements combine to make live poker a game of skill; because, through development and application of the three you can win the pot without having the best hand. It’s interesting to note from what I have been able to discover that the law favors stud poker as a game of skill but not draw poker.

Betting strategy and table position are both elements present in on-line poker; but how about reading your opponents? Obviously, reading tells isn’t present in the same form or to the degree found in traditional poker so the question becomes, “How necessary are skills to read opponents tells in making poker a game of skill? If reads are totally removed all that’s left are the bet and table position; then, without the ability to have a feel for what the opponent maybe holding it becomes more like draw poker. But, this is not the case, there are on-line tells and ways to read past the tiny little pixilated avatars of your opponents. The problem traditional players have with the on line reads is shifting their skills to tells of a generally different form. I present a few intuitive on line tells:

1. If an opponent is using the auto-check/bet button it’s usually a good indication they don’t have a hand when the autocheck is activated or do have a hand in the case of autobet.
2. Past betting/playing tactics, will give me a good idea of where a player stands in a hand.
3. A bet or raise on 4th/5th street by a checking opponent is a solid indication they improved their drawing hand.

Of course, the sophisticated player may be presenting misinformation and setting a trap, another level of skill.

So there are on-line tells and when combined with traditional game elements on line poker would appear to be very much a game of skill. If on line poker is a game of skill, can I make a living at it?

Part II. The three certainties in life: Death, Taxes, and reading this joke.

Taxes & IRS

In 1987, the Supreme Court issued a decision upholding a taxpayer’s claim that his gambling (playing poker) constituted a business. The Supreme Court ruled that the proper test to determine if an activity is a “trade or business” is that the taxpayer must be involved in the activity with regularity and continuity with the primary purpose or expectation of making a profit. A quote from the Supreme Court’s ruling follows:

“If a taxpayer devotes his full-time activity to gambling and it is his intended livelihood source, it would seem that basic concepts of fairness demand that his activity be regarded as a trade or business just as any other readily accepted activity, such as being a retail store proprietor or, to come closer categorically, a casino operator or an active trader on the exchanges.”

The Court went on to further clarify its’ opinion by stating:

“A sporadic activity, a hobby, or an amusement diversion does not qualify.”

Poker is the one card game where the best hand does not always win the money. There are two basic ways to win in poker; either have the best hand or through your actions convince your opponent you have the best hand. If the winner was always the best hand poker would be a game of chance. The best a player could expect over the long haul would be to break even and after subtracting the rake would always show a loss. This would be an easy call for the IRS since it does not meet any of the above criteria; therefore, we must assume that poker is a game of skill and the professional poker player can earn their livelihood by developing and using specialized skill sets whither in a live game or playing on the Internet.

I am certain that the first test of on line poker as a game of skill is nigh at hand and probably will come in the form of the IRS attempting to disallow a taxpayer’s claim of being a professional poker player. Everyone playing Internet poker should always declare all winning and deductions to the extent allowed by the IRS code.

Posted by pokerprof at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm most appreciative for the comments offered by Felicia, Maudie and BadBlood to my rambling “Should females play poker?” I didn't realize the amount of prejudice toward female players in today’s poker rooms. This is deplorable, unacceptable and quite frankly, surprising, I spend a lot of time in Las Vegas poker rooms and haven't paid much attention to the situation until the last few days. The ladies are getting a raw deal and often are subjected to verbal abuse that goes way beyond what could be considered 'game strategy'. People that create an unwelcome, hostile atmosphere for women players do not belong in the business on either side of the table. I welcome your opinions, solutions and any stories of situations you may want to share to supplement my current research project into the female/male player demography.

The Orleans Open 2004 Poker Tournament at the Orleans Hotel and Casino here in Las Vegas is coming up July 10th through the 25th. I'll provide coverage complete with photos.

Posted by flipchipro at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Call Rasie, or Muck It has an interesting post on the rules for misdeals. Iggy, is always digging up solid content and has a real jewel of a RGP cat fight involving Men ?The Master?, while the Poker Grub has an examination of bonus codes/bonus wars. Linda (Pokerworks) always has great tales of the table and The Penguin is looking for a proposition wagering nemesis. I've been busy with ?The Mac? interview and the WSOP photos.

Posted by pokerprof at 6:31 AM | Permalink

The top female finisher in the $10,000 Championship event of the 2004 World Series of Poker was Rose Richie, a 48-year-old grandmother from St Petersburg, Florida. Ms Richie finished 98th in the field of 2,576 entrants and received $20,000 in prize money. Rose was in the 12th spot with $225,400 in chips on the fourth day of the event and had accumulated $280,000 before the cards turned and she failed to catch a flop. Rose won her $10,000 seat through an online tournament at the Royal Vegas Online casino. She was sponsored by PrimaPoker.com, receiving an all expense paid trip to the WSOP complete with hotel and spending money.
Rose Richie is an entrepreneur and small business owner that has had to overcome some major health problems. She is a breast cancer survivor and has lupus, a disease that affects the immune system and afflicts its’ victims with chronic pain. Rose actually has lupus to thank for her initial interest in online poker. Suffering from insomnia as a result of the lupus pain she turned to the nocturnal Internet and found online poker, quickly learning to hold her own and consistently win.
Rose Richie came to the 2004 WSOP with the goal of becoming the first woman and grandmother to make it to the final table. She got close to realizing her dream finishing ahead of 2478 entrants. We congratulate Rose for her tough play and finish in the money. Will 2005 will be the year of the woman at the World Series of Poker?

Posted by flipchipro at 7:49 PM | Permalink

I had planned to play in the $60 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament tonight at Sam’s town but just didn’t have the energy to make it to the Casino. I have just spent the better part of the last two weeks sorting, identifying and compiling the 2004 World Series of Poker Photo Gallery. Additionally, I spent about three days (and nights) working on the Tom McEvoy interview (see post below) and am just damn tired so after I finish this post I am going to do nothing but watch some mindless movie on the tellie and nap.
During my photo sorting I really noticed that there are few women in the high stakes poker business. Trying to find photos of female players from the 2004 WSOP collection is difficult because there were few ladies playing. Unlike most competitions poker does not rely on strength, speed or size so why not more girls? Does anyone know the distribution of male and female players on the Internet? I would think it would be close to a fifty-fifty curve. Enough of this heavy stuff for today. I will research this question and write a future posting. No more poker related anything for me for the rest of the evening. On to the movie; damn! It's “The Rounders.”

Posted by flipchipro at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

We arrived at Tom McEvoy’s Las Vegas home in the early evening and did not know what to expect from the 1983 World Series of Poker champion. We were greeted at the door by an informal Tom McEvoy, the legend himself. He invited us in and the interview began with Tom warming up to our questions with a brief history of his early days in Las Vegas leading up to his WSOP win. He proudly showed us an original painting of the 1983 final table with himself and Doyle Brunson. Tom is a soft spoken former accountant that takes the game of poker very seriously. He is quite intelligent and has written more books on poker than any other player. Following is Tom McEvoy’s answers to our questions:

Prof: So what are your current projects?

Tom: I am finishing my 11th book “Beat Texas Hold’em” which has already pre-sold 30,000 copies. This book will not only cover traditional poker games and tournaments, but offers a lot of material on on-line playing as well. The other big project I’m working on is the pilot episode for “Final Table Challenge.” It’s going to be very different from the existing shows, the different players will come in through low buy-in events, from 10 different casinos, this will give new players, or players without a lot of exposure an opportunity to make it onto the program. This show will offer a lot more depth and analysis then existing programs. The episode will be filmed at Sam’s Town on September 14th and I’ll be one of the color commentators.

Prof: I just hope you won’t call a pair of 2’s “the real hand”

Tom: Well, I plan to say anything I damn well please.

Prof: What are your thoughts on on-line poker and the players it’s bringing to the tables?

Tom: On-line players are very different, but stand a good chance in these larger tournament formats such as the WSOP final event. Events with over 1,000 players are rare in traditional tournaments; but on-line it’s not uncommon to see a field of 1,700 players. This last weekend there were two tournaments I wanted to play in and I couldn’t decide on one so I played in both, one was on Pokerstars and I think it had 1,672 participants, and the other on Party Poker had I think 1,603. The on-line player learns survival skills that allow them to survive the grind in live tournament play. I think this is a big advantage of the on-line player, they have developed these survival skill.

At the World Series this year I only recognized two faces at my table, I couldn’t even put names to them. There were about 7 players that should have had “Internet” stamped on their forehead. I won my seat this year in a Pokerstars qualifier. One guy, was really interesting, he only had one move. He would either fold, or push all of his chips into the pot and close up his hood then lay his head on the table… I wonder where he learned this from?

Prof: On the subject of the World Series, for the 2005 event the rumor is they plan to cap the top prizes, I heard at 6 million and pay a lot more places, what do you think about this?

Tom: I think it’s a great idea, this will encourage a lot of people to enter the event, speculation is that there will be 5,000 for next years championship event, I think this is realistic, I also heard they’re thinking about raising the entry fee, this is a really bad idea, they won’t attract the field with an increased buy-in.

Prof: On-line poker right now is in an ambiguous legal state, it’s illegal to operate an on-line casino in the US and under the Wire Tap and Patriot Act it could even be illegal to play.

Tom: Technically, you’re breaking the law when you play on-line, but during prohibition you were breaking the law when you took a drink. They couldn’t possibly lock up everyone that took a drink during prohibition, and they can’t lock up everyone that plays on the internet sites. They are far more likely to go after the internet sites that run sports books as opposed to on-line poker. Almost all of these companies are based in Costa Rica, the Cayman Islands. What we really need to do, instead of fighting internet gaming they need to tax and regulate it. I know it’s common sense, but when would we ever accuse the government of having common sense. Not only that but, poker has a skill factor that makes it so it can be beat. It would be nice if it were taxed and regulated so that so that we would know the sites were honest rather then these mysterious off-shore sites, but the on-line casinos would be insane to cheat the players because they make so much money regardless and cheating could kill the site. Besides often you’re playing more then one table at a time, I can barely handle four, and when you have a player at more then one table they’re generating more revenue then a player at a brick and mortar casino.

Flipchip: In traditional poker there is a lot of skill, that’s the reason we see the same people at the final table in tournaments all the time, what about on-line?

Tom: There is skill, the problem is players change their handles and there are so many more of them you don’t meet the same people. You can’t look them in the eye; in fact, TJ Cloutier refuses to play on-line at all. I think there is a lot to on-line poker, even though you can’t see your opponents. Sometime you can tell by their hesitation if they have a hand or not, there are actually on-line tells. For example people will autocheck, click the autocheck button, so when you see the table check a lot of times that’s an indication they don’t have anything, you can fire a bet and get them to fold. This is not all original; I think Moneymaker talked about it not long ago. There are so many players online that have never read a poker book, these people think they can play Ace-Jack with all their chips and win. The big problems with on-line players are they overplay their hands, they make all kinds of mistakes. They over bet the pot they under bet the pot, I see this in every online game. The worst move I have seen is a player making a raise the size of the big blind in a no-limit game; if there is a more mindless play in no limit hold’em I haven’t seen it. You drive nobody out of the pot, it re-opens the betting, maybe they’re trying to make the pot bigger, but if that is their intent there are far better ways to do this. If you have a big pair for example, you’re not raising enough to accomplish the goal which is to thin out the field. You see a lot of total inexperience on-line, you would think with these players playing for real money they would invest in a good book… they would have the cost of the book back with one pot.

Flipchip: I read a book that you co-authored with TJ Clouiter and the drift of it was that TJ accused you of thinking too much…
Tom: You’re Right
Flipchip: … that you tend to over analyze the play.

Tom: You have a point, I think about poker way more then I should, even when I’m not thinking about poker it’s always on the back of my mind. I’m a theoretician, not a mathematician, a theoretician. A lot of the mathematicians that play professionally don’t seem to have a good grasp on the other elements of poker, the psychological elements playing the players, they are pure math players; there are so many variables that I always start out the answer to a poker question with “It depends,” the type of player, the size of the pot, your position, previous betting, it depends.

Prof: Okay, “Dick at Call, Raise or Muck It asked about your role in the first non-smoking tournament.”

Tom: That is one of my favorite stories! It all started with the Showboat, which became the Castaways, I was recruited to put on the first non-smoking tournament in 1998. In the mean time, before that tournament occurred, Harrah’s bought the property and the two guys that took over, Ill never forget their last names, Zimmermen and Zammerman if there are any two more misguided people in the world of poker I haven’t met them. They had all kinds of issues with it. Basically they shot me down wanting to know why they should be the ones to have the first non-smoking tournament. That was the entire draw. So it didn’t work out and that’s when I approached Gatewood at Sam’s Town, we put together the same tournament and it was held in November of 1999, this was the first non-smoking tournament in Las Vegas, the first in all of Nevada for that matter. There was some strong opposition to this at first, a lot of the smokers threatening to boycott the casino, but they didn’t have to give up smoking, just give it up during the tournament. So after they saw there wasn’t a major drop-off in attendance, a lot of the other places fell in line and started holding non-smoking tournaments. I think the non-smoking tournaments in Calfornia at the same time also helped a lot. It got so the smokers liked it better to have the non-smoking tournaments. The biggest challenge was the Horseshoe itself, the Binion clan was smokers, I got to be casual friends with a young Benny Behnen and I said look, I’ll make you a deal, if you make the World Series of Poker non-smoking, I’ll give you poker lessons. The 2002 World Series of Poker was the first non-smoking WSOP. It’s just a case where the majority rules and by this time there were a lot more non smokers in poker than smokers. It’s also common sense, it’s a health hazard and in some places where you already had environment hazards, like the Horseshoe crud, this was presenting a major health risk to the players. My efforts helped prove to the industry that a non-smoking tournament could be successful. I remember the last time I was in a tournament in Tunica, it was smoking and after 30 minutes I was sick and I was deathly sick after four days. I left, swore I would never set foot in the state until the tournaments were non-smoking. And now non-smoking tournaments are more successful, with players that couldn’t attend because of health issues coming back. Some of the new players can’t believe that tournaments once allowed smoking, it was only five years ago that all the tournaments were smoking. I got to the point where I just couldn’t be around the smoke. The Internet solved that, it’s always non smoking. These smokers should be considered pariahs, they think they have a right to smoke. They don’t have a right to jeopardize my health, they can go outside. By the way it’s proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the addiction to poker is greater then the addiction to smoking. These hard core chain smokers threatened to quit, but came right back.

Prof: Could you give me a bit of your own poker history?

Tom: I started playing professionally in 1978, the best thing that ever happened to me was getting fired from my job that year and that gave me the opportunity to pursue poker full time. I spent about 6 months flying back and forth and during one 5-10 game I made over 1,000 dollars, well, this is over three times what I was making at my accounting job and more then the President of the company made (he made about 50,000 a year). I really started playing when I was about 5 years old with my Grandmother. I remember when I was in grade school; I used to play the other kids for their lunch money. I’d win all of my friend Johnny’s lunch money and his mother would call my mother. My Mom always said the same thing “If little Johnny is dumb enough to lose his money there is nothing I can do about it.” His mom would forbid him to play for about a week or so and then he would be begging to get back into my school yard game.

Prof: The life of a professional poker player must experience significant fluctuations and ups and down far exceeding a traditional job, has this been your experience?

Tom: Absolutely! I don’t know of any professional poker player that hasn’t gone broke, even the very best. I went broke after winning the World Series, but not because I lost it all in high stakes games, I went broke because I made some bad financial decisions, gave a lot to deadbeats, and was taken by scams. I’m just now really recovering from all of that.

Tom: At the World Series there were only two faces I recognized for the table I was playing at, two.

Prof: John at badblood poker wants to know how much of your success you attribute to reading other players books?

Tom: I read every poker book I can find. Even the really awful ones have something to offer, I try to take at least one really good idea or concept away from every book I read. The first poker book I read was Dolly Brunson’s “Super System”
back when it was called “How to Win 1,000,000 playing poker.” When I went to buy the book from his little publishing company he was there and I told him one day I would play against him. In fact I’ve been at a table with every World Series of Poker champion, both living and dead, except Greg Raymer, I guess I’ll have to get into a game with him to keep my record intact.

Prof: Last question, from Cardsspeak, are the strategies from your book still applicable to the larger field, 1000+, seen in tournaments today.

Tom: You can’t control anything beyond your own table, all you have to do is focus on your own table, the strategies are still applicable. The only thing that changes is there are some new survival strategies for these very large fields, but the basic strategy doesn’t change with a larger field size.

Flipchip: I have one final question, which player do you respect the most?

Tom: I guess it would be TJ. Yea, it has to be T J Cloutier. He is always tough plays a solid game and even though he has never won the World Series he has won more Series money than most anyone else.

The interview ended, we thanked our gracious host and took our leave. Tom had given us an evening of his time and answered all of our questions. He is a great spokesperson for the game and is the most prolific writer of poker books in the business. His tournament expertise is well outlined in his books and is a must read for anyone seriously considering playing the game. He provides personal one-on-one instructions to players and remarked about how much he enjoys teaching and writing. Tom McEvoy is one of the true gentlemen of the game and forever a Champion.

Posted by pokerprof at 2:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

The 2004 World Series of Poker photo gallery is now complete and available for viewing. I have been editing the hundreds of photographs we took during the thirty plus days of tournament action and I'm already suffering from nostalgia. This was the last year at Binion’s Horseshoe for the WSOP. The 2005 tournament will be hosted at the Rio Hotel and Casino in its’ entirety except for the last day, final table $10,000 Championship event. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman cut a deal with Harrah’s executives to play next year’s final Championship table at the historic downtown Horseshoe to commemorate the City of Las Vegas Centennial celebrated throughout 2005. When the final hand is dealt the World Series of Poker will be gone from downtown Las Vegas forever, a victim of its’ own success.
I know the Rio is a great property located close to some of the most popular “in-spots” in Las Vegas including the Orleans and Maloof’s Palms Hotel and Casino. The Rio has more than ample space to host the WSOP with the thousands of players, spectators and media the event attracts; but, I will miss the Horseshoe. The new owners of Binion’s Horseshoe and Harrah’s, owner of the World Series of Poker, did too good of a job with the tournament this year. The downtown property was cleaned up, repaired and renewed to an original state not seen during the Becky Behnen Binion’s Dark Age reign. I expected to see Benny himself coming around the next corner complete with his fur duster and Stetson hat. I did see Benny’s son, Jack Binion, shaking hands and greeting old friends. Yes, I do miss the old days and next year we will all talk about the good ole days at the Horseshoe.
The 2004 WSOP set more records for number of entrants, prize money and fans than we can list here. This year was the Internet Players against the BM players and the Internet people did damn good. The Internet accounted for six of the nine players at the final table of the championship event including winner, Greg Raymer. One third of the 2576 entrants in the $10,000 championship event came from Internet casinos. The 2005 WSOP promises to be another unbelievable record setting affair. The estimated field for next year’s championship event is five thousand + players. The rumor mill says the first prize will be capped at six million with everyone at the final table a millionaire while hundreds of finishers will receive a piece of the pie. Sounds like 2005 will be a great year for the WSOP, Horseshoe or not.

Posted by pokerprof at 9:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just a quick note to let everyone know the 2004 WSOP tournament poker photo gallery is now on-line. We just finished the interview with 1983 WSOP Champion Tom McEvoy and it's long and in-depth, I hope to have this up in the next couple of days.

Posted by pokerprof at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, I had a chance to talk with poker legend Tom McEvoy today and it looks like I'll be interviewing him on Tuesday at 7:00pm for a blog post. For those who are not familiar with Tom, he has 4 World Series of Poker Bracelets including one for the 1983 WSOP main event, was voted best all around poker player in 1994, has written some excellent poker books including "Tournament Poker" and has a list on tournament wins and titles that would fill a book. So if you have a question for Tom, just post it here (in the comments) and I'll have it in my hands on Tuesday.

Posted by pokerprof at 3:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Everyone seems to be blogging these days. I've seen posts on many blogs about the good and bad effects this proliferation has created. Every new poker blog worth its' words becomes a good thing for other bloggers and the poker industry in general. Many of the new blogs sprouting up won't survive as the owners rapidly lose interest and enthusiasm. The blogs that do make it will become a welcome addition to the blog community and an addition to that critical mass that makes the whole much greater than the individual parts (read power). Now on to the specific finds this week. Any of my readers whom are considering poker blogging and have hopes of being well read should check out Up for Poker, a great blog looking to add a few authors. On the subject of good content, Paul Phillips' Journal has an almost complete examination of pocket JJ's; I can't wait to compare this to Pauly's look at the trouble hand (when he posts it *nudge* *nudge*). Dick has a worthwhile look at luck in poker over at Call, Raise or Muck It (June 10th entry). Hdouble has posted his definition of 'fish' and finally The Poker Chronicles has moved to a new URL so update your links.
Remember, even the pseudo-successful blog requires your constant attention with new content posted on a routine basis :).

Posted by pokerprof at 3:07 PM | Permalink

I noticed a couple of new items when I hopped onto Party Poker recently and had to take a closer look.

First, the new bad beat jackpot tables:

Bad beat jackpots are one of the great innovations that helps keep poker rooms full. Las Vegas Casino, Sam’s Town, has a bad beat jackpot that keeps the room full when it gets into the $25,000 range. Now, to hit the jackpot at Sam’s Town you must have Aces full of Queens beaten by any 4-of-a-kind or better hand with the stipulation that your your hole cards must play in the hand and the pot must contain at least twenty dollars. Party poker kept the hole card stipulation and raised the minimum bad beat hand to quad 10’s; additionally, four players must be in the hand. For me, the jackpot (currently at $5000 with daily increases until hit) is way too much of a long shot; but, it will be interesting to see how long before some lucky player takes it down. I am not sure if the rake for the BB jackpot games has increased. My experience with bad beat jackpots is not really good. Like most large piles of money they tend to attract the dishonest element. Case in point is when a dealer and two accomplices rigged a bad beat jackpot by bringing in a cold deck; thankfully, they were caught and are now doing slammer time where they can perfect their technique. This has occured in more than one casino here in Vegas. Happened twice within two weeks at the Riviera Casino.

Next item, Multi-table tournaments:

20-30 dollar buy-in 3 table tournaments. You start with $1000 in chips and very low blinds. Blinds increase every 10 minutes and the top 5 places are paid 3 times the buy-in for fifth up to 9 times for 1st with a linear payment progression. Great idea! Player skill is apparently more of a factor involved in placing in these tournaments than the single tables. The liniear pay out scale is a little disconcerting; but, in my opinion, it’s a great environment to build tournament skills.

Finally:

On the advice of fellow bloggers I headed for the 2/4 tables, every hand was cracked. Pocket Kings cracked by an ace on the river, a flopped nut flush cracked by 5’s full of 2’s (held and called capped betting with a 52o!!) and a few other hands. Owoeeee! Well, I’ll come back to these wild tables soon, no doubt. I am preparing the weekly summary so visit tomorrow. I will probably play in a live no limit hold'em tournament tonight. Sixty dollar buy-in with one forty dollar rebuy and first place usually pays between two and three thousand.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:59 PM | Permalink

I wrote in an earlier post that I can usually see one or more player’s hole cards often enough to give me a distinct advantage, often in a critical decision situation. Do I have Superman vision and can see through the cards? No, of course not, but some players may think so. They never realize that I’m seeing their hole cards when they see them. Sometimes, in a moment of charitable weakness, I will offer a bit of advice about the player’s responsibility to protect their hand. Other times, not. Depends on my mood and the size of the stacks of poker chips in front of me. What is the best method to look at your hole cards and not show them to anyone else, player or bystander? Watching a typical game will illustrate that there are many methods, some better than other. You need to pick one and practice with it until it is a natural act. I have developed a hands folded over the cards and sides flat on the table to insure that I alone see my hole cards. The only difficulty with this method is seeing your cards in poor lighting. I would suggest you wear your glasses if you need them to see close up. Sun glasses can make this impossible. I have sat next to sunglassed, “learned everything I need to know from television,” poker players that have to turn the cards up to the lights in order to see. I see the cards not just a flash of color. If they are wearing the mirror glasses currently in vogue most of the players in the poker room down the street are taking a peek. There are many methods of looking at your hand and protecting it at the same time. Some players use their stacks of poker chips to hide the cards from view. Pick a method that works for you, practice and have your friends critique your peeks. Don’t shuffle the hole cards over one another because all of us locals will see them. Look, remember and place them back on the table until you win or muck. In closing I am thinking of offering a line of sunglasses especially for the poker player. They will be dark, so dark that other players can’t see your eyes; hell, you can’t even see the other players. Reflective, they may be used in emergencies to signal rescue aircraft and they will be large. Big enough to cover most of your face, players will use you as a grooming aid. Anyone read anything about RFID tagged poker chip sets, casino chips, tournament chips with the transmitter molded permanently into the clay filled acrylic body and read by a "smart" poker table top? TGIF!

Posted by flipchipro at 4:35 PM | Permalink

I spent most of the afternoon watching a friend play mid limit hold’em on PP (someday I have to get a life) and I commented about their overly tight play. They mucked a pair of J’s and the river would have brought the third J and the pot. Another cynical comment from me and my friend responded with, “Had I stayed in the hand the jack would probably not have come, it could have just as easily been a three of clubs”. Huh? Please remember that I am primarily a live game player; and as such, I know that the community cards are ‘set’ during the shuffle. Doesn’t matter who stays or goes in the hand, the five community cards will remain the same, whether I play or muck. Incidentally, I believe this is one of the tributes collected by the poker Gods to make you suffer and to affect your play long after your ‘would have caught the river’ cards are mucked and the hand should be forgotten history. I am assuming that in the online game the cards are shuffled (that random number generator thing) in the same manner as in a live game and then the virtual deck is in a permanent ‘set’ until the hand is completed. My friend said this is probably wrong and the remaining deck is probably reshuffled before each community card is pitch based upon some multi-place decimal clock (Again, that random number generator thing). They also said that shuffling the cards one time and ‘setting the deck’, as in a live game, could be a security breach since some bored, overly clever sixth grader might crack into the code and read the ‘set deck’ before the cards are dealt. This would give the player an absolute license to steal.
So, the question for today becomes, “How similar are the mechanics of an online game to a live game”? I really don’t have a clue about this one. Carefully evaluating all the ‘facts’ I know and apply to online poker made me realize they aren’t ‘facts’. I have assumed that the online game is a direct clone of the live game and now my friend has cast a cloud of doubt and disrupted my logic. I know in an online casino game it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference how the deck is handled, shuffled or dealt as long as it is a totally random event, no advance information is available and all 52 of the cards are present. Another “burning” (sorry, had to say it) question that comes to mind is the burn card. In live action the burn is another line of defense against the accidental flashing of the deck, something that never happens in the virtual world so I am assuming there is no burn card.
All of the negative nuisances of a live game including misdeals, boxed cards, dup cards, marked and manipulated decks, missing cards and dishonest dealers are missing from the virtual game, a major marketing advantage for the online house. Poker has always had one persistent form of gaining an unfair advantage (cheating) in a live game, collusion players. Confederates that quietly infiltrate a live ring game and then communicate information through a sophisticated system of well rehearsed signals called a “kit.” These players usually only need to pass along four pieces of information-bet, check, fold or raise and the game is suddenly skewed to favor them. This could easily be accomplished in an online casino. Players move into a virtual table while in reality they are sitting side by side in the same room where they freely share hand information. They don’t even need signals. Online collusion players would not have as much information since they can’t see other player’s cards (In live action a very good reason to never share your down cards with an idle player); but, a number of them in the same game could certainly produce a slight advantage. Does collusion cheating occur in online poker? Again, I don’t know but would be very surprised if it did not. This one would be a natural for the dorm lifestyle.
I would appreciate any information anyone has about the questions I have posed and will compile and publish the pertinent comments in a future post. I am sure this ranting is only my paranoia showing, but what the hell? Oh yea, if you see any sixth graders driving Corvettes to school seize their hard drive and send it to me.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I have to admit, I was skeptical about the whole internet poker scene. From the static avatars to the legal issues I beat to death earlier. Well, I’ve now been playing around for a couple of days at the micro-limit games and, I suppose a report is in order.

The Micro-limits or “All Stations Calling”

I cannot easily recall a hand that didn’t go to the river in the .50/1 micro limit. I played with this for about 400 hands. Although I won a bit in the long run it was hard earned, because you cannot bet aggressively enough to chase people out hunting for a river miracle and with 2 to 4 players hunting for runner-runner as often as not someone catches it making even pocket rockets a 50/50 proposition. I decided to move on and try a few of the single table tournaments.

Single Table Tournaments or “where did my fish go”?

I played in exactly 10 taking 2nd twice and 3rd twice. The rapid blind increases and small starting stacks meant if I didn’t hit a flop in the first 30 hands or so I’d be in trouble. If I did hit early I could almost always coast into the top 3 places with ease. The big problem I found here was when it got down to four or five players play became tighter then Scrooge on Christmas Eve. Once down to 3 play loosened up again, but the monster blinds or either 150/300 or 200/400 at this point devoured stacks quickly. I wound up in 3rd both times going into the final three with a severe short stack. In both 2nd place finishes, when it was down to two of us I faced a crap shoot where it was either go all-in or fold. In short, this is the least profitable thing I’ve tried.

1 / 2 Hold’em or “My God… it’s full of fish!”

Well, this is where I’ve been for the past three days and I must say for a solid, patient player 1/2 is a dependable source of revenue. Every table has calling stations, but, unlike the micro limits, they are rarely more then 3 people at the river, so the good hands tend to hold up. People play mediocre hands and I see a lot of action at these tables.

After my first few days on-line I’d say, “Come on in, the water is fine.”

Posted by pokerprof at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I’ve played poker in Las Vegas for about three decades and remember playing at the Dunes when it was a contract room run by Johnny Moss with three tables sharing space with Keno. The big-time room in those days was the Sahara. You might well see Major Riddle, owner of the Dunes, slugging it out in a no limit ring game. One of the Sahara room dealers told about the time he was dealing the big game when the Major raised a pot with a “hand written on a napkin” title to the Dunes. I have played in most of the rooms in Vegas over the years and have been an observer of the waxing and waning of the poker industry. I was there opening day for the absolutely superb room at the Las Vegas Hilton. (In my opinion the finest poker room the city has ever seen); but, I have never seen anything even close to the current popularity of poker. Everyone now plays America’s favorite game. Most Vegas poker rooms have a player wait list for a seat to open up. Poker has been around in a little changed form for more than a century so why all the interest?
Indian casinos, tournaments on television and the Internet. Online casinos offering 24/7 action from the comfort of your home has to be the single most important factor for making poker so popular. The digital generation has grown up staring at the tube for most of their needs so the evolution of casino poker to an internet game was a natural. Internet casinos have provided the industry with the same meteoric growth curve that video poker machines did for slot departments. Players find the online experience to be much more appealing and less intimidating than sitting across the table from live players. An additional benefit is retaining your anonymity, screwing up on the tube is much less an embarrassment than doing so in a live game. Is Internet poker the same game played in Las Vegas poker rooms? In one word, No! When I play online certain elements of the game that I rely on are not there. I will never see any hole cards flashed, something I can usually count on to give me a pot or save me from contributing to a losing one (I love sunglasses, especially the mirrored ones where I can often catch a flash of color). I can study the little avatars forever and never see one bead of sweat, they never play with their chips, their nostrils don’t contract when they gulp for air and the slight facial muscle twitch just isn’t there. I can’t watch the other players reacting to the flop. I can’t hear the nervous chatter or watch the inexperienced players make rookie mistakes. Hell, I can’t even identify the rookies. What are the online tells? Do they exist? Can virtual reality nuisances be complied into some useable format that will give you a slight advantage? I have discussed this with my learned peers and they assure me that there are certain tells that may be gleaned from the small screen; but, so slight that it offers no discernable advantage. I have always been a little suspicious of the online casinos and those random number generators operating in an unregulated medium, but again, the wise ones tell me my worries are for naught. I realize that I am acting like a paranoid fool; but after all, paranoid people do have enemies too.
So, what do I see as the most obvious difference between online and live games? It has to be the cocktail girls. I live in Las Vegas so the drinks are free and provided non stop by scantily clad young ladies. When I am playing online I have to not only get my own refreshments but I have to pay for them. When I am playing in a casino and have a losing session I can always take comfort in knowing that I did have quite a few “free” drinks (How many cokes can you buy with eight hundred?). How can the online casinos ever offer this convenience? And how about those little avatars sitting stone-faced around the virtual table? How long before I can design my own character or buy a custom creation from some clever entrepreneur? How long before the onscreen game figures have their own set of tells, interact with each other, yell obscenities, throw cards, smoke, get drunk, splash pots, string bet, crowd your table space, spill drinks, tell really bad jokes, use every single poker cliché in one sentence and relate every detail of every bad beat ever suffered. I can hardly wait for the next evolutionary level of realism. Speaking of bad beats, I once was third with quad kings.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today’s entry was written for me by none other then the reigning champion of poker Greg “Fossilman” Raymer. The day before the final table of the World Series of Poker final event I sent an e-mail to the 2+2 and rec.gaming.poker frequenter. Yesterday, mixed in amongst the spam, solicitations and standard fair was his response. So here are the five questions and answers from the master himself. I expect the world will be seeing a lot more of Fossilman in the future. Greg is a true gentleman, and without doubt, a master of poker. Also, if you want to browse Greg's 2+2 wisdom Chip has created a direct link to the Fossilman's posts.

The following questions and answers are presented exactly as received from the Fossilman:

1. How did you get you start in poker? How did you enter the WSOP?

I played nickel, dime poker in college. I stumbled across a charity game in
Chicago, and then bought books and started playing seriously. About 10
years ago now.

I first entered the WSOP 2 years ago, paying $10K in cash out of my
bankroll. Last year and this year I would've paid cash, but managed to win
a seat in advance instead. This year I won a $160 Double Shootout on
PokerStars about a week before the main event started.

2. Are their any particular players you look up too?

I like anybody who is a gentleman, or lady, at the table.

3. The glasses! (I love them!) Is their a story behind them?

Two years ago I was on a family vacation to DisneyWorld, and saw them in the
Tower of Terror gift shop, about a month before the main event. I just had
to wear them at the table, and did so.

4. Any advice for new players?

Buy some good books, and always play your best. Practice for free or for
small stakes (as on PokerStars.com), and work your way up by winning your
way up.

5. What are your poker plans after the WSOP?

I will now be traveling the country and the world for at least a year,
playing in all the big poker tournaments. PokerStars.com will likely be
paying all my expenses and entry fees in exchange for me wearing their logo
and promoting their site. If not them, then somebody else will likely offer
the same or better deal.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, it’s been quite a week on the blogger scene, with Iggy posting his WSOP report and the experience of being at a table with poker legend Phil Hellmuth. Bill brings us a great fish spotting tip. I firmly believe that if you want to spot a fish in on-line poker, go to a table; you should see between 5 and 7 of them. Jack Nine offsuit found the Shana Hiatt Playboy issue, boy did that brighten my day. CJ’s epic saga "Cold Cards Hot Dice" the story of a $500 bankroll is over at Up for Poker, While Matt of The Poker Chronicles has posted the novella of his Atlantic City Trip. Finally let me point out the blog "Call, Raise, or Muck it" run by Dick, the Sam’s Town Poker Room manager, he has a unique take on the poker scene with a writing style reminiscent of Hemingway (not Ernest, but his far lesser known cousin... Bubba).

Posted by pokerprof at 4:37 AM | Permalink

Puggy Pearson was wandering through the 2004 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe, we made eye contact, he came over and said, “I remember you from across the table, we’ve played together before”. Yes, true enough, we have played in a few tournaments together and the bad luck of the draw seated me across from this cigar smoking, non stop talking poker genius. I was seated at one WSOP satellite table when Puggy was wearing a top hat affair that looked like a tree trunk, complete with a real stuffed squirrel climbing out of a knothole. Did we play together? No, not really, Puggy played while I labored at retaining my sanity and not doing something so stupid he would feel obligated to announce it to the entire room. Yes, Puggy played and I simply survived. The never ending verbiage would go into pause mode to get your attention when he knew you had quit listening. When your eyes returned to that glazed level of confusion brought on by his non-stop barrage of senseless questions and comments Puggy knew you couldn’t possibly think about your hand since you couldn’t even see your cards. All those words got in the way.

My first question was, “Where have you been and why don’t we see you in WSOP events?” The answer was a simple, “I’m getting old and my health is failing.” He went on to add that it has become almost impossible for him to sit in a poker seat for much more than an hour. The grueling hours of play required in most tournament events have precluded the always colorful icon from continuing to compete in the majors. You couldn’t tell that he is in such declining health by looking (see photo). In fact, Puggy does not appear to be aging at all. He continues to tell great stories to anyone wanting to hear some of true history of the game and today was no exception.

We talked about all the years of his playing and contributing to the WSOP and he talked about the time before Benny Binion had the marathon match between Nick the Greek and Johnny Moss in 1949. Puggy, The Greek and a few other high stakes poker players were in Reno having one of their typical playing sessions when Puggy got the idea that they would each put a predetermined amount of cash into the pot; then, each player would receive an equal starting number of chips. They would play until one player had all the chips and that player would take all the money. Once you were in you could not cash out, you played until you went broke and was eliminated or you outlasted all the other players and won it all. This is probably the very first time a freeze-out poker tournament was played and it was Puggy’s idea. The Greek liked the format so much he carried the idea to Las Vegas and pitched it to his old friend, Benny Binion. Benny saw the potential draw such an event could provide his downtown casino and agreed to host a heads-up match between Nick the Greek and Johnny Moss. That legendary match lasted five months and was played in a window of the casino so spectators could watch. Benny noted that people enjoyed watching the two play high stakes poker, showing up each day like spectators at a sporting event. The World Series of Poker first played in 1972 was a result of these early tournament observations. I guess you could say that poker tournaments are a result of Puggy’s original idea for the game in Reno in the late forties. Puggy Pearson is the originator of Poker tournaments and if you don’t believe me then ask Puggy the next time you see him. He enjoys relating stories of the early days.

When I ask to photograph him he pulled out his ever-present cigar and then looked around for a “pretty girl”. “Can’t take a picture of me without a pretty girl”, so fortunately WSOP Horseshoe employee, Crystal Waggoner, was close by and was happy to be photographed with the poker legend. Of note, Crystal is the grand daughter of a famous lady player, Marsha Waggoner. Puggy then told me that if the other person in the photograph was a man he would have his hand in the guy’s wallet pocket. He then said that when it is a pretty girl he prefers they have their hand in his pocket. I realized that nothing has really changed with Puggy; the fat cigar, an eye for the ladies and the ability to entertain with his wonderful gift of gab. I enjoyed visiting with the man and can only wish that he was still holding court at the WSOP poker tables; although honestly, I hope it is not at my table.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ironies of the WSOP

I have read and digested the article (see below) on the legality of on-line poker by my learned colleague, The Poker Prof. Apparently, the Internet poker rooms are not only illegal but could result in the loss of the money in your bank accounts. For most of us this would be a top-level catastrophe. Does this really happen? Absolutely! One of my lawyer friends acquaintances relates horror stories of unlucky on-line players having bank accounts, credit card accounts and even Paypal accounts frozen by the federal powers that be because the owner did something (often the ‘something’ is not well defined- more like the smoke than the actual fire) as simple as depositing or receiving money from an on-line casino account. Even though the seized accounts are usually reclaimed; you may rest assured that many weeks or months will have passed. Your money is unavailable to you during this period. Additionally, you are racking up some hefty legal expenses. Try to imagine how your life would be impacted if you were suddenly cut-off from your money, credit cards and bank accounts.
The question now becomes, Should 2004 WSOP Champion Greg Raymer be arrested, punished and subsequently disbarred for having knowingly broken the law by playing in on-line casinos? Should the $5 million first place money be seized and placed into some general public fund to assist enforcement authorities in their quest to protect us from ourselves? That WSOP platinum champion’s bracelet could be a great center piece in the DOJ’s trophy room. How about all the other players that won on-line tournaments and seats into the WSOP? The FBI can easily check the WSOP rosters to identify and nab this horrid group of evil-doers. It appears The Poker Prof has done his homework and outlined all the steps required to arrest and bring to justice all of these law breakers. Think about how much better you will sleep knowing that this blight to mankind has been eradicated. I only say this for the greater good of the whole.

Posted by flipchipro at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (1)

I am not an expert on this by any means, but since I plan to begin my foray into on-line poker very soon, it’s high-time I researched the topic before I risk my bank account and my freedom. So let me share some disturbing information, some thoughts and some (what I think are) reasonable solutions. The thing that caught my eye was this article where 3.2 million dollars has been seized by the feds.

First, the answer to the title question right now is a capital NO! It’s not legal under federal law, meaning it’s illegal in every state despite that state’s laws (e.g. poker is legal in California and Nevada). Now, the question becomes why not? And an ancillary to the predicate is what can we do to make it legal? Before I go about trying to answer these questions some facts.

1. Almost every poker blogger plays on-line poker.

2. Quite a few people can and do make a living at on-line poker, especially during the economic downturn.

3. On-line poker sites have millions upon millions of registered accounts and each account is a voice.

A primer of Criminal Law as it relates to on-line poker:
Crimes in the United States fall into two categories, malum per se and malum prohibitum. Simply put, the former means malicious by definition (rape, theft, murder) and the latter means malicious by consensus whereby society agrees to prohibit the behavior (marijuana, prostitution, on-line poker). So on-line poker is prohibited and much like the failed attempt to outlaw alcohol at the beginning of the 20th Century, the attempt to outlaw on-line poker can meet the same fate.

The history of the law, the people and the deep pockets behind it:

The law against on-line poker is an amendment to the Wire Act created to curb organized crime, and a ton information is here . The most important points are that this law enables federal agencies to go after end-uses and fine or imprison them. Grandma might end up in the slammer for 6 months because she was playing micro limits online! This little beauty of an act comes from the distinguished Senator John Kyl (AZ) and Representative Bob Goodlatte (VA) and the Deep Pockets behind them. The FBI can go after people any time they please and with the broad powers granted by the PATROIT Act can do so with impunity. Interesting to note, there is serious money behind making on-line poker illegal, as Goodlatte so kindly pointed out. He is supported by organizations across the spectrum, from Ralph Reed to Ralph Nader, and from the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling to the American Gaming Association, the National Association of Attorneys General and even the National Football League. Heaven forbid the on-line poker sites get the money before you buy your $100 NFL football tickets or spend it in a good old-fashioned brick and morter casino.

Arguments can and will be made to keep on-line poker illegal and the count-arguments we can respond with:

1. On-line poker is gambling and gambling is illegal.
Response: Wrong! Poker is a game of skill (or people could not make a living at it). Several states already recognize poker as a game of skill (the IRS allows poker pros to register as such), including the aforementioned California.
2. On-line poker aids in felonious activity, such as terrorism and money laundering.
Response: This is a pickle, because I am sure there is some truth to this, so the response is lengthy.

First, the percentage of money laundered through on-line poker sites will be miniscule. Second, there are many, many better methods for money laundering; Internet poker is a very minor source of laundering. Therefore, based on these two statements, the reasoned response to this argument is as follows. The benefits of on-line poker to the individual greatly outweigh the perceived negative impact. On-Line poker could be a vehicle for an illegal activity; but, so can a car, a gun or an auction on eBay. We don’t outlaw these things because they might be used as part of a crime; instead, we punish the criminal for the crime. Don’t punish the internet poker player for the misdeeds of a few, punish the criminal for the misdeeds committed! I don’t see the government outlawing eBay auctions because there is rampant auction fraud, or outlawing cars because people use them in bank robberies. Don’t outlaw internet poker because it could be used as part of a money laundering operation.
3. On-line poker contributes to the moral degradation of the middle and lower class, especially for the addict.
Response: Don’t legislate morality! Society can decide if it’s moral without the input of our well bribed representatives. As for the problem gambler, on-line poker is a small hole they can slake their thirst from, plugging it will not stop these people from moving on to the next hole: Indian Casinos, Home Games, Las Vegas, Bingo etc.

I am sure there will be other arguments made, but these strike me as the primaries.

A forecast for the future

If we continue down the current path, online-poker will not only remain illegal but disregard for this law will be enforced. If the money-laundering/terrorist argument outlined above is not met head-on by the on-line poker community as an organized whole, then the on-line poker player could end up facing the same persecution as cannabis smokers currently face. This is exactly how it can happen. First, under the PATROIT act anything or anyone even quasi-sorta-almost related to terrorism can be held without representation until the war on terrorism is won. The enforcement community can by-pass the legal system to tap/bug/spy on any suspected citizen. Now, our computers with their internet connections are the boxes George Orwell predicted in “1984”. They allow Uncle Sam to monitor every Internet user; everywhere we go and what we do when we get there. Existing systems such as Echelon and Carnivore ensure this. Because there is already a precedent of large, powerful private corporations using the legal system to make anything perceived as harming their business model a criminal offense (RIAA). I fully expect the same knee-jerk reaction to on-line poker once some pointed-haired VP with more dollars then sense suggests on-line poker is hurting their profits.

Changing the forecast:
For the Individual: Contact your representative; tell them your vote and the votes of all your friends will go for a candidate that supports repealing the current laws against internet poker. Spread the word! E-mail, use message boards and chat (such as on the poker sites themselves). In mass this can work wonders.
For the On-Line Casinos: Bribe Contribute large sums to the campaigns of our esteemed and honorable Representatives and Senators. If the RIAA can buy a criminal offense for the civil crime of copyright infringement then the billions behind on-line casinos can buy legality for on-line poker sites. Begin now before it becomes too hot of an issue. Make your operations transparent and cooperate with Interpol and other law enforcement agencies when there is suspicion of money laundering, especially monies to fund terrorism. Consider establishing a governing body to oversee all Internet gaming operations. If you provide the goverment a handy mouse trap to catch the criminals they will view Internet poker as an asset to prevent crime rather then a vehicle to commit it.

Posted by pokerprof at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

What is the probability of winning one of the coveted World Series of Poker event champion bracelets? Slim to none and mostly none? For most of us this is a sad fact of life, we will never wear one of the gold bracelets. But wait! There is hope. Two of the WSOP champion bracelets are now out of pawn and for sale at Pioneer Loan & Pawn here in Las Vegas (I got an e-mail from a friend that works there). The bracelets were pawned by the original owners whom we cannot identify (honestly, we don’t know who they are and Pioneer isn’t saying) and are not engraved with any identification. The people at Pioneer Pawn have certified the ownership and authenticity of both bracelets with a visit to the Horseshoe. The bracelets are from the years 1999 and 2000. The 1999 bracelet is 118.5 gm of 14k gold and the 2000 bracelet is 126 gm of 18k gold. You can pick up the ’99 for $3000 and the ’00 goes for $5000. These two pieces of WSOP history will probably not last long since they are highly collectible. What a surprise to find these beauties available. I guess this just proves that even if you best the field on any given day you can still lose it all. Should I ever win one of the bracelets I will probably elect to starve before I part with it

Posted by flipchipro at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)