I’ve been watching a lot of poker on TV lately (remember it is the dead of summer here in Las Vegas) and every show has one or two or more dot com multi-millionaires. Often these guys are retired thirty somethings with way too much time and money, people that discovered poker after they became the idle rich. I am not talking about professional players like Barry Greenstein, a retired millionaire software developer, whom has played poker for decades and donates all his winnings to children’s charities. I watch Barry and most of his play is textbook perfect and then I watch the other dot comers and most have reduced poker to a game of chance, spiced with a good helping of ego driven trash talk, “I knew my king would win.” I do enjoy watching the pros play, seeing them use skills developed from thousands of hours of top level competition. Many of the newcomers only bring their money and luck. I'm not complaining about the influx of all this new money: rather quite the opposite, I encourage everyone to play, I love the game and all the characters it attracts. Considering all the bored rich now playing the tournaments I guess that Benny Binion was right when he answered the question, “What does it take to make a good poker player?” His answer, “Money!”

Should you ever lose a pot and need a good excuse here’s a few I have heard:

Top nine reasons I didn’t win the pot.

9. I called just to keep you honest.
8. How could I lay down a pair of sixes?
7. You should have folded.
6. I have to leave anyway.
5. I was playing my rush.
4. I misread my hand.
3. I couldn’t see the flop because the lights got in my eyes.
2. I don’t really play for the money.
1. You didn’t play those pocket aces right.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Donald is coming to Vegas. Donald Trump announced yesterday that he has entered into a joint venture with New Frontier owner, Phil Ruffin, and they plan to build a $300 million, sixty-four story ultra plush residential tower in Las Vegas. The building will be constructed on 3.5 acres of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino’s 41 acre property located on the north end of the famous Las Vegas Strip. The building will be the tallest in Nevada eclipsing the forty-nine story $2.4 billion Wynn Resort under construction across the street. Trump said the project will break ground in 2005.

Posted by flipchipro at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is poker any better off now that it’s had over a year of rock solid television and media exposure? Now that it’s the darling of the charity fundraising events? Now that every aspect of the game is on continuous growth curves? The answer, I think, is yes and no.

I read the blogs, the news-clippings and watch the televised tournaments almost daily and the trend is, for the most part, very positive. Poker leagues, home games and people having a good time with a game of cards is defiantly growing by leaps and bounds and generating a lot of attention; so, all this popularity is the problem.

Poker has always been on the back burner, an afterthought for law enforcement and morality prudes alike, and now with the increased exposure it will be tested time and again by (sometimes) well-meaning groups and individuals that just don’t seem to get it. I added “sometimes” because the most dangerous groups and individuals that will oppose poker as the popular sport it’s become are the smart ones that see an opportunity to take center stage by voicing their condemnation of the sport. It doesn’t matter whether they believe it themselves or not. The Attorney General looking for headlines grabbers comes to mind. I don’t think we will see it this election year because the media feeding frenzy is already being served by a buffet crowded with many hot, headline grabbing issues. But just wait a couple of years. Poker’s growing popularity will hit the moral mainstream, especially when the current slate of hot issues has been quashed and is old news. I expect to see more then one person or group organizing and setting out on a crusade to make poker the latest devil that is destroying our society and corrupting our moral values.

From online poker’s imagined connection to funding terrorist groups, gambling abuse and addiction to the ‘horrid’ immorality that runs rampant through our peaceful communities. Well, of course it’s a load of crap; but, I just think its coming and the major reason is the US gaming industry. We can only hope they aren’t another RIAA that decimates diversity, growth, and new technology. Of course, we can also hope for five royal flushes in a row… I think the sun will burn out before either happens. When Indian Gaming took hold a few years back gaming executives were certain that it would be a disaster for Vegas and people would stop coming and leaving their money. A lot of casino dollars was donated to elect Las Vegas friendly, anti-Indian Casino politicians. In the end, the Indian Casinos were built and many of the Nation’s poverty stricken Indians found a source of wealth and independence. The Indian tribes won big and so did the short-sighted Vegas casino moguls. The advent of isolated Indian casinos introduced casino games of chance to the masses and the result has been a major reason for the record growth of the Las Vegas tourist industry. All those new players from the Indian casinos begin coming to Vegas to try their luck at the major leagues of casinos. The very same Indian Casinos that the Las Vegas gaming casino brain trust had opposed have become regional player introduction and training centers that provide a steady flow of tourist to Vegas. Today, right now, poker and internet poker are the coin of the realm and the stakes are high.

In other news, I found this nifty link about online poker tells.

Posted by pokerprof at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I had a chance to chat with poker’s “Senior Ambassador,” “Oklahoma Johnny” Hale recently, and if this personable elder statesman told fish stories rather then Las Vegas stories I am sure he would have caught Moby Dick and a giant squid on the same fishing trip. I also know that the stories Johnny generously shares are loaded with his wisdom and they’re entertaining to boot.

The conversation begin with Johnny informing me that he is no longer associated with “Card Player Magazine” since the management of the periodical recently offended most of the poker world by throwing its weight around as the only poker print game in town. As I understand it, they have raised their advertising rates by a factor of four so most of the smaller advertisers can no longer afford their rates. We will see if this business move has any impact on the poker print press market. My money says we will soon see some new competition for Card Player. All of that advertising revenue is looking for a new, affordable home.

“Oklahoma Johnny” took the time to tell some great stories about women, lawyers and poker. He gave me a copy of his book, “Gentleman Gambler,” which reads like a good blog, divided into bite sized short stories complete with exaggeration and hyperbole that makes for a great read. I can’t do justice to his story telling, but I will relate one of his stories just the same.

My early days in Vegas:

When I first moved out here, back in the 60’s it was because my first wife, a moral paragon, was fed up with my gambling ways and had asked for a divorce. I quickly agreed it was for the best (by this time we had gotten rich and had a large home where we lived on opposite ends, rarely seeing each other). I told her we didn’t need a lawyer for this, we could divide everything up fair and plain. She agreed but then talked to some of her rich friends and they told her she needed a lawyer, so a lawyer she got. Now, this lawyer said he wanted $4,000 for the divorce paperwork and even though I thought this was a little steep I paid him. I waited a couple of weeks and never heard a word from the lawyer so I called him and the fellow told me that the paper work was done but due to the size of our holdings $4,000 wasn’t enough, now it’s $20,000. I tell him, it’s the same paperwork, and he says yes it is but he still needs the 20 thousand. So I think on it for a second and tell him, “Give me five minutes, I need to make a call” so I quickly hang up. Well, I sit there for about five minutes watching the clock and then call him back. I say, “Well, sir, since I’m now in Vegas I’m going to send ‘Tommy and Jimmy’ out this Friday on an airplane and they will negotiate your fees and try to resolve this,” and then I hung up. I didn’t talk to that lawyer again: but, I got a call the next day from state chairman of the Democratic Party, an acquaintance of the lawyer trying to rip me off. He said that the lawyer had reconsidered and $4,000 was just fine and I should tell ‘Tommy and Jimmie’ to stay in Vegas. Oklahoma Johnny continued to entertain us with his love for lawyers and ended the conversation when he asked me, “If I knew when a lawyer would go to heaven?” Of course I said I didn’t so he answered his own question with, “When there’s no more room in Hell for another lawyer.”

Posted by pokerprof at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Orleans Open/2004 ended Sunday night when the final Championship event was played and Robert Slezak of Omaha, Nebraska outlasted 366 entrants to claim the $131,355 first prize money from the $366,000 prize pool. Richard Roberts of Chandler, Arizona finished second and collected $68,165 while Victor Perches of Las Vegas received $37,275 for third place. The $1060 No-Limit Hold’em Championship contest attracted many poker professionals vying for prize money and bragging rights. Spotted at the tables was Patty Gallagher of San Diego, California fresh from winning $91,120 for her third place finish in the WSOP $5000 Limit Hold’em event. Men “The Master” Nguyen was holding court at another table with his trademark stream of self-promotion chatter while Scotty Nguyen was trying to survive with a short stack. T.J. Cloutier had an early out when his cards failed to survive the flop and he was eliminated. Daniel Negreanu begin building a stack of chips that turned into a mountain and got him to the final table where he finished sixth and collected $13,315 for his efforts. “Oklahoma Johnny” Hale, Poker’s Senior Statesman, was in the room and took the time to tell us some great stories which the Poker Prof will offer in a post. Puggy Pearson was wandering through the crowd visiting with fans and friends.

The second chance tournament closed out this year’s Orleans Open and the room packed up and moved back to the first floor poker room shortly after the final and was dealt. The 2004 Open drew record crowds and all the events were a sell out. This annual multi-event tournament features low entry fees allowing all poker players to compete in a big-time event with the same professional poker stars that are commonly seen on televised poker. As in the past, the Orleans Open was well run by Orleans management including Garrett Okahara, Director of Poker; Bryan Gurden, Tournament Director; Robert Tagliaferria, Dealer Coordinator; Tom Reese, Tournament Supervisor and all the floor staff and dealers that made the 2004 event a success and a lot of fun for all. The complete results of the daily events are now available and the Photo Gallery is complete. Start planning now for the 2005 Orleans Open. The results and photo gallery for the event are complete.

Posted by flipchipro at 6:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Poker is becoming a trend in charity, and a successful one, so when I got a phone call from Janet Taylor in Texas about a poker charity fund-raiser for a 4 year old who needs a serious operation I knew I had to do what I could to help. She has set up a paypal account to accept donations for the e-mail address amarillodartassociation@hotmail.com or they can be mailed to "Amarillo Dart Association Fundraiser" P. O. Box 1282, Amarillo, TX 79105. She also sent me the scoop on the charity benefit, which follows exactly as I received it. Personally, I think charity is one of the medicinal uses for poker that will really help to build grass roots support and acceptance in the long haul. Right now, even with the media attention, I think the overall legal status is very borderline.

From the mother:

Alec Drerup was born 12-7-99 and suffered a brachial plexus injury at birth. He had full left arm paralysis and has been in physical and occupational therapy since he was 10 days old. He has endured 3 surgeries at the Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston. During his first surgery at 4 months of age we were told the nerves to the hand and wrist were severed from the spinal cord. Since then 2 other surgeries have been done to restore his left arm (excluding the hand and wrist) all in preparation for a procedure called the "Gracilis Surgery, in hopes of restoring feeling and movement to the hand and wrist. The Gracilis surgery will require several trips to Houston over the course of 12 months. One of those trips will be for an EMG (nerve sensory) test and evaluation. Another we will meet with the entire surgical team to discuss all surgical procedures and what we should prepare for as far as recovery is concerned. Surgery is scheduled the following morning. All we currently know about the Gracilis surgery is that it is lengthy (approx 12 to 25 hrs). They will transplant nerves, tendons and muscles from various places on Alec's body into his left arm, running the length of the arm tying into the nerve cloister on his left side, continuing across his chest or throat, tying into his right side nerve cloister that attached to his spinal cord. Alec will be sedated in ICU for 5 to 15 days. He will be released directly from ICU. Another trip will be for the removal of the skin graft from his surgery. After the surgery, Alec will have to be refrained from activity for several weeks (difficult for a 4-year old).

From Janet Taylor:

The Amarillo Dart Association ("ADA") is an unincorporated nonprofit association that promotes league play of steel-tip darts. The ADA regularly organizes and holds fundraisers for entities or individuals in need. Alec's parents need financial help with expenses not covered by insurance as well as the cost of travel, hotel, and meals. Since Alec's medical needs are not life threatening, agencies that could otherwise assist, funnel their aid to those whose needs are more immediate. To assist the ADA in raising funds to help cover out-of-pocket expenses for Alec's surgery, the ADA has organized a Texas Hold 'Em Poker tournament which is being held on Sunday, August 15, 2004, starting at 1 p.m., at Rocco's Martini Bar on Olsen near Paramount in Amarillo, Texas. Poker players are being requested to donate $20 to play in the tournament. The ADA and the Drerup family would gratefully appreciate any donation you would be willing to make via the PayPal account mentioned above.

WE ARE REQUESTING A $20 DONATION PER PLAYER.

We will have the wrap-up for the Orleans Open final event tomorrow and later in the week some stories from one of the poker legends, "Oklahoma Johnny" Hale who I begged for an interview with bumped into. We do have the photos for the Orleans Open updated with the final day including some shots of T.J. (on page 5).

Posted by pokerprof at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I’m beginning to wonder how long before HDouble will be on a WPT episode, given his winning playing abilities. It’s also worth checking out Pokerati who is following the “War on Poker” in Minnesota. Monte Christo has a great post on the top 10 barriers to being a winning poker player and just won a missive prize of his own, congrats! Maudie has a post on the pain of having aces cracked… ouch! To wrap this up, AlCantHang finally asked me a question (and yes, I whined for it), but he sure picked a doosey! I wonder if he’ll post up the entire answer.

Posted by pokerprof at 8:03 PM | Permalink

Anyone know what this is about? I found a brief news article, but neither side was talking to the press. This reeks of an ill conceived publicity stunt by Full Tilt Poker, of course, I could be wrong.

UPDATE: I just "got it" when I saw an ad for this on SpikeTV network. Basically I no longer consider it ill conceived, but a master stroke! You can't run ads for an on-line poker site anymore but you can run ads for your [insert cause here] (in this case Poker in the Olympics) site that is backed by your on line poker site. Genius! Sheer bloody genius!

Posted by pokerprof at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hot damn, the weekend is finally here; although, for us Las Vegas residents everyday is like Saturday night. Most of us joke about moving away from Vegas as soon as we have saved enough money for a ticket out of town; but, I really can’t imagine living anywhere else. The addiction here is not the gambling; instead it is the nature of the city itself. Twenty-four hours of everything. Non stop action. A never ending holiday atmosphere. Hundreds of thousands of visitors every day. I can order prime rib twenty-four hours a day and it cost me less than a fast food joint meal. Always something to do, something to see, something to eat and, of course, something to bet on in Vegas. Las Vegas is continually reinventing itself. Las Vegas history is very short lived and usually ends in a theatrically staged implosion. Las Vegas prefers to invest in the future with new billion dollar joints coming on-line every few months. The only thing we tend to retain is the layout of the city. If you look closely at the design of Las Vegas you will see it is one giant vacuum cleaner sucking up all that money.

I have listed some excuses you may use to justify a trip to Vegas. Try these out on your boss or spouse or whomever and come on down for a visit. I’m not so sure this much fun is legal.

The Top 9 list of excuses for a Vegas trip.

9. I need to cash in some dollar tokens from the last trip.
8. I have to see the all new Fremont Street Experience.
7. They’re giving away free hats at the Plaza.
6. I get high from the cigarette smoke in the casinos.
5. The Star Trek convention (music lovers should insert Elvis for Star Trek).
4. I found some all you can eat Circus Circus buffet passes.
3. The art & culture museums.
2. I have to ride the new monorail.
1. Free Booze!

Posted by flipchipro at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Orleans Open/2004 Tournament is winding down with the final regular event, $125 No-Limit Hold’em, played on Thursday, 07/22/04. Scott Fischman, a two event winner in the 2004 WSOP, remained in the action with a large stack when the field was down to three short tables. I caught Susie Isaac looking sharp and looking on from the rail. Prof has updated the photo gallery and has added the results for all the tournament action thru yesterday.

The first of the three Championship Events begins today when $340 Hi-Lo Omaha kicks off at High Noon. Saturday’s Championship event will be $550 Limit Hold’em starting at 12 Noon and the final Championship event to determine this year’s Orleans Open/2004 Champion, $1060 No-Limit Hold’em, will be played on Sunday, 07/25/04, starting at Noon. The popular Second Chance evening satellites, limited to 300 entrants, will continue through Sunday with registration open at 5:00 pm and starting at 7:00 pm. The Orleans Open/2004 has enjoyed great crowds throughout the 17 day run this year and tournament management is up to its’ usual high standards.

Fellow Blogger, Call, Raise or Muck It Poker Blog, played in the 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo event on Wednesday and finished on the bubble. This guy has more bad beat stories than Tricky Dick Nixon; but, if you are up to another one then read his tournament play-by-play. You may also read his posting about a recent trip to New Mexico and the visit with our sometimes cartoonist, J. Santos. I forgot to warn them that Santos is living proof that man can survive on alcohol alone.

Posted by flipchipro at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I get quite a bit of e-mail about poker and gambling with most being positive. Occasional I get an inquiry such as I've addressed here concerning the worries of the negative aspects of the game of poker, namely addiction and moral corruption. I have posted the recent e-mail (with permission and the names removed) along with my response. I would greatly appreciate reader comments and advice on this subject.

The E-mail from “Concerned Wife”:

“Looking for some advice and information resources. My teenage son plays Texas Hold 'Em with his friends about twice a week. The typical buy in is $20. He wins 90% of the time by my rough calculation.
My wife is concerned about 2 things- his becoming addicted to gambling, and taking advantage of less experienced players. My son has assured me that he would stop playing after losing $40 on any given night. He is a full time college student with a full time summer job and a very cocky attitude. He often watches WSOP on tv [sic].”

The PokerProf’s Response:

I am not sure you have anything to worry about here. Your son is exhibiting typical behavior for his age group and considering the recent spectacular rise in the popularity of poker, I’m surprised he only plays a couple of times a week. Please realize that I'm not an expert on the subject of addiction and therefore cannot offer any solutions, only opinions, which will hopefully give your wife some peace of mind. Poker is a game (sport) that can be mastered and through study combined with practice it becomes a vocation for some. When the casual, recreational poker player moves up to the professional ranks the game becomes work, very hard work. When you are playing you are at your job and to do your job well requires a dedication to develop and practice many skills. You indicated your son has a nine to one win ratio among his peers and that would indicate he has developed a very respectable understanding of the basic game. He also has set a stop loss to control his play bankroll, another indication of a serious, mature approach to the game. Probably, no matter how much you may nag him, he is not going to walk away from the game; so, you may want to consider becoming involved in his efforts and provide him with some good instructional poker books and encourage him to study and become a student of the game.

Your wife indicated that she is concerned he may become addicted to gambling (I am assuming as a result of playing poker). If your son has an addictive personality (does he smoke, drink, do drugs or anything to excess?) and begins to spend all of his time and resources playing whatever games of chance he can find (i.e. Lotteries, slot machines, most casino games-craps, blackjack, and sport’s bets) then you would, as the responsible parent, address this apparent addiction problem through professional evaluation and therapy. You can monitor his spending habits, college attendance and grades for early indications of gambling trouble. You did not mention if your son plays poker on-line, not a problem unto itself unless he spends an inordinate amount of his time in front of the computer plugged into casinos. His mother is concerned that he takes advantage of less experienced players and she considers this to be a problem. Isn’t this what sports is all about? Professional sports figures are dedicated to becoming the very best at what they do and through their skills they beat the competition. Bobby Bonds takes advantage of pitchers, Lance Armstrong takes advantage of other riders and Doyle Brunson takes advantage of poker players. No worry here, you need to quickly move this fear from the negative to the positive side of the page and be very happy he has the ability to take advantage of other players since this is an undeniable attribute of a winner.

To sum up our thoughts about your perceived problem, I don’t think you really have any justifiable concerns at this point. In fact, I think you are quite lucky to have a son that goes to college full time, works full time at his summer job and has learned enough about the game of poker to hold his own with his peers. And that cocky attitude? At his age I would be concerned if he didn’t an ‘attitude.’ If he continues to pursue his poker abilities he will fine tune that attitude to his advantage (Watch Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, and Men Nyugen on televised poker). Watching the WSOP on TV is definitely not a problem and actually serves a couple of purposes. First, as with most televised sports it is entertaining; but, most important is the opportunity to have an inside look at how the pros play, very much like sitting in a classroom at school. Although you did not make mention of the moral aspects of playing poker it is implied that you consider poker to be morally corrupting. We believe that poker is a wonderful past time and I am most happy it has finally come out of the dark, smoke filled closet to center stage. The players that go on to become professionals will have a very bright future, a respectable vocation and a most lucrative occupation. Poker is the only casino game the IRS classifies as a game of skill instead of random chance. It is the only casino endeavor where a player can legally and consistently win (Yes, I know there exist a very minute group of practicing blackjack card counters that can win). Many of our readers have considerable experience and expertise in all aspects of the game of poker and they also have kids so I'm appealing to them to help out here and share their expertise through their comments about this often controversial subject.

Posted by pokerprof at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 2004 Orleans Open Poker Tournament results are up and the event photos are updated, enjoy.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The results of events to date of the Orleans Open/2004 Poker Tournament are currently being set into a searchable database so you can easily find yourself and your friends that finished in the money. We are adding more photos to the gallery and will continue to cover and photograph the tournament which runs through this Sunday, July 25th. The final championship event, $1060 No-limit Hold’em, will begin at noon on Sunday and play will continue until one player has all the chips. The Orleans Open poker tournament is an annual event that has enjoyed a large turnout of players and fans alike. The lower entry fees allow everyone to play. The Orleans Hotel and Casino is located just off the Las Vegas Strip at 4500 W. Tropicana Avenue and you may call the poker room direct for tournament details at 1.702.365.7150 or 1.888.675.3267.

Posted by flipchipro at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The company said they have to have approximately 15 million riders a year to break even. Las Vegas currently gets about thirty million visitors a year so at least half of you have to ride the monorail. Another pitch I can make is your $3 fare is for a good cause since the private business that owns the system was granted charity status. That’s right, they don’t pay taxes. Rumors are also being floated around town that salaries paid to some of the company officials exceed $400K per year. Of course, we can’t confirm or deny this since all of the politicians and government officials or under an apparent gag order (self-imposed?) and the monorail company officials simply look into the camera with a Cheshire grin while stating that they will not discuss any salary information.

OK fine, we'll do some quick arithmetic for those 15 million riders, let’s see now, approximately 150 people per train with a train every nine minutes until midnight then times about 365 days in a year should equal something close to break even, so if we borrow a few million and carry a one…; well, anyway, you can do the math. Oh yea, I did forget to factor in that extra leap year day and I shouldn’t forget about all that clean air I am going to get to breathe. Clean air has got to be worth something.

To sum all this up, here is my adapted version of the Monorail Simpsons Song (with apologies to Matt Groening)

Broadbent: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Four-car
Monorail! ...
What'd I say?
Sen. Harry Reid: Monorail!
Broadbent: What's it called?
Las Vegas Commissioners: Monorail!
Broadbent: That's right! Monorail!
[crowd chants "Monorail" softly and rhythmically]
PokerProf: I hear those things are awfully small...
Broadbent: Not to worry there's room for all.
Safety Inspector: Is there a chance the track could bend?
Broadbent: Not on your life, my kick backed friend.
Mayor Goodman: What about a drunken slob?
Broadbent: Why worry with your cushy job.
Flipchip: Were you sent here by the man?
Broadbent: Oh goodness no, just Uncle Sam
PokerProf: Your a charity, so the salaries you have to tell.
Broadbent: No problem good sir, when it's a cold day in Hell.
PokerProf: I hope it won't cost the taxpayers much.
Broadbent: Only if you consider $650 million such.
I swear it's Vegas' only choice...
Throw up your wallets and raise your voice!
All: [singing] Monorail!
Broadbent: What's it called?
All: Monorail!
Broadbent: once again...
All: Monorail!
Flipchip: But Downtown street's are still all cracked and broken...
Broadbent: Sorry, but the mob has spoken!
All: [singing] Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
[big finish]
Monorail!

Posted by flipchipro at 9:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by pokerprof at 1:15 AM | Permalink

Interesting news this week from the epicenter of the gambling universe, Las Vegas. The merger of Harrah’s Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment will produce a monstrously powerful $9.4 billion empire. This deal follows closely on the heels of the recently completed mega merger ($6.9 billion) of MGM Mirage properties and Mandalay Resorts. The Las Vegas strip will be almost entirely controlled by two companies, sorta like our two party system controlling the country. The casino employees will certainly have to walk the straight and narrow or risk being shut out of the industry. A quick analysis of the mergers indicates that the overall effect will be to benefit the Vegas economy. These companies have properties all over the country and can now data mine the customer base and offer something for everyone with Las Vegas being the ultimate destination and winner. Poker rooms are opening all over town with the Imperial Palace having recently revived their poker room. Additional poker rooms will soon open at Bally’s, the MGM, Caesars and Wynn’s new joint.

The monorail train system opened this week to much hoopla and pageantry. The fast trains (50 mph) connect strip hotels and the convention center through a 4.4 mile track on the east side of the strip. Thirty thousand plus riders a day seems to be the expectation of use. Tickets are $3 and initial reactions from riders are quite positive. Company officials are telling us residents of the many benefits we will realize from this $650 million privately funded project with the top advantage being the cleaner air I get to breathe now that all those autos are parked. Yea, right, and how much public money will they need after the novelty wears off? How come it doesn’t go to the airport? Haven’t those taxi cab company owners made enough from their tight control of the local politicians transportation industry?

A study, by Dr. Alan Meister, an economist with the Los Angeles-based Analysis Group, indicates that Indian casino gaming grew eight times faster than non-Indian gaming in 2003. The Indian gambling industry took in $16.2 billion compared to non-Indian casino’s $26.5 billion in revenues. The Indians employ more then 460,000 employees nationwide and voluntarily paid $5.3 billion in taxes to states (Indian tribes are sovereign governments and cannot be taxed by states). I can remember when Las Vegas was funding efforts to stop Indian gaming believing it would kill the then Las Vegas gaming monopoly. Current statistics imply that our municipal brain trust was only off by 180 degrees. Indian gaming appears to bolster the tourist traffic to Vegas with the numbers going up every year. I like to think of Indian casinos as the Las Vegas farm clubs, providing us with a never ending source of trained rookie players.

A completely unconfirmed rumor heard in the street is the dates of the 2005 World Series of Poker. The tournament held annually in April and May will be moved to June 2nd through July 15th. This move will open a large window of opportunity for another really big poker tournament and could well be filled by the newly formed WPPA . The WPPA appears to be an effort to organize (unionize?) tournament players and dealers and the group has an apparent agreement with The Orleans Casino here in Las Vegas to run six ‘major tournaments’.

And finally, our friends over at Buyitinvegas are whining about not being mentioned as the suppliers of our copy of the new McEvoy book. Yes, they did give us the book and we are very grateful (if you are in the market for poker chip sets or most any casino quality gaming equipment these are the people to deal with). You may want to visit their blog Call, Raise or Muck-It and read the article on dealing, an informative look at the poker industry from an insider. Apparently he was sober when he wrote this post.

9. Can we eat at the Circus Circus buffet?
8. Mr. Moneymaker please report to the final table.
7. Jack nothing for low.
6. I sure miss Becky Behnen Binion.
5. Anyone have a light?
4. Cousin Sal is the odds on favorite to win the championship event.
3. Those ESPN people sure are friendly.
2. I’m only playing for the bracelet, all the money goes to charity (actually was heard once; Barry Greenstein gives it all to charity).
1. I hope I’m at the table with Doyle Brunson.

Posted by flipchipro at 8:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A first look at The New Players Series – No Limit Texas Hold’em


I got a copy of Tom McEvoy’s (co-authored with Brad Daugherty) brand new book, No-Limit Texas Hold’em: The New Player's Guide to Winning Poker's Biggest Game (The New Players Series) and devoured it in one sitting.

The Good:

It is 200 pages of solid, easy to understand content with the bulk of the text focusing on sample scenarios and extensive questions and answers based on player position, player style, current stack size and your down cards. It covers the ‘how-to’ of playing premium hands and trouble premium hands in some depth (hands like A-J or K-Q); but, the real focus is how to play the other players. The authors have described and use eight distinct personalities throughout the examples to cover most types of players encountered at a poker table. You have to decide what to do with your hand against the tight, loose, aggressive, solid, passive, novice, reckless and authoritative (commentator) players in well described game situations.

For the newbie or experienced player making the transition from Limit to No Limit Hold’em this is a good read. The text has a couple of easy to follow charts and lists of hands based on starting positions to help you make solid decisions for playing and betting your cards. For the intermediate player the extensive question and answer section offers considerable content on how to play particular hands in different situations. A section on bluffing and blind stealing is especially valuable to all players. Here is a sample of the text regarding what Tom and Brad have to say about playing pocket Jacks:

“A pair of Jacks is a hand that needs to be played with extreme caution both before the flop and after the flop. Jacks can run into a pair of aces, kings or queens before the flop and when an ace, king or queen comes on the flop, you will fear someone has hit an over card. In the early rounds of the tournament, try not to play a big pot with pocket jacks unless you flop a set (three of a kind).”

The real meat of the text (almost 100 pages) is the sample hands and situations. These are well thought out and give the reader a chance to decide how to play before finding out what the authors recommend and why they recommend a particular play.

The Bad:

On-line No Limit cash games are mentioned in passing with only nine pages and a couple of examples. This topic deserves an entire book; but, it’s good to see some on-line NL pointers included here.

There is little attention given to the necessity of changing gears during a tournament. While the book does an excellent job of providing a beginner the specifics of starting cards to play and amounts to bet, there is no hard information on how to 'loosen up' your game in the latter stage of tournament play.

The Verdict:

The book definitely gets a thumbs-up from me. I think the inexperienced and transitioning players should make this a must read. You will get your purchase price returned in short order if you read and follow the advice in “No-limit Texas Hold’em,” by Brad Daugherty & Tom McEvoy. In typical McEvoy style the text is well designed to build basic no limit tournament skills. I think it succeeds and the sample situation questions make it easy and enjoyable to know if you understand and retain the content.

In short, it’s a great book for the novice and the intermediate players will definitely pick up some new pointers. The experienced and advanced players may find the information too basic; although, the question and answer sections can provide a quick checkup of your "A" game.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Orleans Open/2004 is under way here in Las Vegas at the Orleans Hotel and Casino. The event today, Wednesday July 14th, is $230 Limit Hold’em. The tournament began at noon with 361 entrants playing for a piece of the $70,035 prize pool. The field had been cut to 30 players at the dinner break. The chip leader, Lenny of Las Vegas, attempted to orchestrate a deal to allow everyone remaining to receive at least $500 form the pool but it was a no go. Play continued after the break and ten more players were quickly eliminated. The single female in the field, Barb Mah of Calgary Canada, said this was her first tournament, ever. She has competed in a number of on line tournament but never a live one. Phil “Flip” Friedman of Atlantic City, New Jersey was protecting his large stack of chips in an effort to make the final table. Phil has been playing tournament poker for thirty years without one final table appearance.

The Orleans Open Tournament is an annual event hosted by Poker Room Manager, Garrett Okahara, and his experienced staff. The Tournament Director is Bryan Gurden and Tom Reese is the Tournament Supervisor. Robert Tagliaferri stays busy as dealer Coordinator. The floor people for today’s event were James Milkowski, Leon Wheeler, David Alizadeghannad and Steve McBaine. The events will continue everyday through Sunday, July 25, when the final Championship $1060 No-limit Hold’em starts at noon. Additional information for the Orleans Open/2004 can be had by calling the poker room at 1-888-365-7111 or 1-702-365-7150. Second chance evening tournaments begin everyday at 7:00pm and are $125 buy-in with one optional $100 rebuy during the first ninety minutes.

The regular Orleans poker room has been moved to the Mardi Gras Room on the second level due to the increased number of players and the tournament crowd. We will provide the winners once available in the mean time we already have a photo galley for this series of events.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A follow-up to the previous post, “Player Equality and other Myths,” is in order. The Blogfather, Iggy, reminded me that he always plays on-line as a female and has often blogged, Guinness and Poker, about how and why he finds this to be extremely profitable. It is well worth your time to read his experiences.

I totally agree that this can be developed into a player profit center with the smart players taking advantage of the “female poker players are less than equal” mindset that frequents many online games. During my early play as a ‘pseudo-female’ I did begin to exercise this advantage; although, I was initially quite uncomfortable with the player chat and often found myself wanting to slam some of the rude dudes. I have also considered the fact that some of the “dudes” are girls that portend to be a chauvinistic male (It can quickly become quite complicated). The anonymity of the Internet provides a completely different set of poker player opportunities that do not exist in the real world. We can be whatever we want to be and when we combine a well constructed facade with some creative cleverness a whole new set of skills emerge.

We have found a lot of information over at our friends’ website, Woman’s Poker Club. You can find some very interesting material here and have an opportunity to learn some of the opposite gender thoughts. Again, I think this stuff is a must read for the complete player, online or B&M.

Posted by flipchipro at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The project I have been researching concerning the discrimination against female poker players has turned out to be more involved than I had originally imagined. The brick and mortar problems are almost always present at the tables with many of the male majority players blaming their shortcomings on the nearest female, player or dealer. An apparent lack of poker skills resulting in a predictable loss is often summed up with a few choice 4-letters aimed squarely at the ladies. As expected, alcohol or rather a quantity of alcohol helps to fuel these misdirected tirades. I have been an observer of this behavior here in Las Vegas for many years. I remember the days when females on the waiting list were often passed over for the next male and any objection was countered with, “Why don’t you go play the slots, that’s why we have them, so you girls will leave the men alone” (I actually heard these very words from a well known manager directed at a female trying to get a seat in a Las Vegas casino poker room not so many years ago). The casinos have come a long way from the days when there was not one female dealer of any table game in all of Las Vegas, all men. The first female dealer I can remember was about 1967 at a Sam Boyd joint in Henderson and it was such an unimaginable event that we drove all the way out there to see this one gal dealing blackjack. Las Vegas still retains some of its male chauvinistic ways as evidenced by the lack of females in mid and upper management (How many female poker room managers do you know?). The exclusively female ranks of keno runners, cocktail and change people (still referred to as change girls) almost always report to a male boss. The toleration of verbal abuse directed solely at female poker players (and dealers) is all too often explained by the male dominant management mentality, “That’s just a part of his game.”

The reader's comments from the June 18th post, ‘Should females play poker?’ offered a variety of valid explanations for the gender abuse many female players must tolerate so I decided to register as a female on PP and play in the same games I normally frequent. I am often the only ‘female player' at the table and rarely can I get through even a short session without being singled out with rude gender related comments that I never see directed at my male ID. These comments can and do approach the totally obscene. Absolutely unacceptable behavior, even for the Internet, much worse than the live games. So what do we do to stop this? Blogger Extraordinaire Scott Chaffin, The Fat Guy, said it best in a comment on a previous post: “Not to be flippant, but no man should ever allow a lady to be treated any way that he wouldn't put up with himself. That goes for poker or tiddlywinks. All it takes is for people to demand decent behavior, and we'll get it. Rude talk is rude talk and it should not be tolerated.” We male players need to educate the jerks among us that we accept the ladies as equals and have no toleration for anything less.

I now think I know why the demography just doesn’t compute. I have always wondered why there are so few female players in Internet games, generally something between 15-20% by my unscientific observations, when I believe it should be more like 40-50%. I believe that many females register and play as a male. I certainly would and I'd definitely keep the player chat turned off.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Connectors are two consecutively ordered cards such as 7-8, 3-4 or 10-Jack. They may be suited or not; either way they deserve a bit of attention. Basically, I’ll only play connectors from a late position with a minimum of 3 limpers in the hand giving me decent pot odds to limp into. Once I see the flop it’s usually an easy decision of what to do next.

Before the flop:

Connectors cannot stand a large raise; it’s almost always incorrect to call a raise because pot odds will be against you unless there are at least four callers. Providing there are a lot of callers in front and the raise is less then 25% of my stack I’ll usually call. A lot of people calling a big raise typically indicates that many of big cards are out of the deck, leaving a small to middle card rich deck. This is exactly the deck favorable for small and middle connector drawing hands.

Flopping the Nut Straight:

I tend to play this hand very aggressively for a couple of reasons. One, I want the drawing hands to go away; two, I want the hands that remain to pay for every card assuring me of good pot odds. I do this to improve my odds of winning. Remember, a straight becomes trash on flushed, double-paired or even paired boards.

Flopping the Low (Ignorant) End of a Straight:

Assume the board comes 6-7-8 and you’re holding 4-5. From a late position, providing there has been no action, I’ll bring it in for a pot-sized raise. If someone cold calls it’s either a fish, a draw hand or a player slow playing the nut straight. A raise tends to be the upper end of a straight or a set. I’ll usually lay down to a raise in this situation. If the turn or river brings a 5 or 9 my hand is in real trouble and a raise always sends me to the muck.

Flopping top-pair or two pair:

Top pair with your connectors is a dead hand because the pair is generally too small to remain top pair and any over-pair wins. The only time I’ll stay in a pot with when my connectors flop top-pair is if I have the four card straight draw and with four people in the pot. Otherwise, it’s a no-brainer lay-down every time.
Two pair with connectors means there might be a straight draw, trips, or an over-pair. I’ll always bring my two pair in for a raise in a checked pot. I can’t take a lot of heat, especially when 4th street or the river over-pairs the board (counterfeiting my two pair).

Playing off your opponents:

Everything I have covered here is most useful if you don’t know your opponents. I consider these suggestions as my guidelines when I have not typed the other players (Situations such as SNG’s).

Timid Player:

I am never going to get more chips in the pot from this guy; and if I do, I’d better have the nut straight because he is always on a hand.

Tight Aggressive:

Another player type who will never put more chips more into the pot unless they have the made hand. I cannot call a raise from this player without the nuts and when they raise you’re probably looking at a set or better.

Loose Aggressive:

I want to build the pot against these guys and the best way is to let them lead the betting then come over the top. I definitely will want my straight if they re-raise; but, I will usually call with two pair since they often raise top pair with or without a kicker.

The fish:

They will usually call all the way to the river, and I say, “Let’em call!” They will get lucky once in a while but not often. I encourage them to donate chips to the pot.

A Word about Suited Connectors:

I don’t think suited connectors add much value to the hand and can put you in a definite stack reducer. When you make the flush there is a good chance you’ll lose to a bigger flush. I am looking for the nut straight or an easy lay-down with my connectors, not the flush draw.

Final Thoughts and Hands Worth a Mention:

The A-2 thru A-5 unsuited hands are dangerous and I usually don’t play them. I cannot make the nut straight other than the 10 through A. Even when I hit another Ace on the flop I’m generally out kicked.
The best connector hand you can have, 10-Jack, makes more nut straights then any other hand due to the long reach (7-Jack thru 10-Ace). Even when you miss your straight and pair up your hand retains value. When these cards are suited you may end up with a winning flush. I will play these cards in most situations.
Playing small connectors properly adds another dimension to your game and increases your winnings. When in doubt about the hand it is usually better to be conservative.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This week is a mixed bag of great posts from fellow bloggers. Stick and Move has some fish tactics that can be summed up as 'a made hand gets paid off.' The Penguin broke the news that his poker playing has finally met on of his big goals, while the PokerNerd has a great look at Celebrity Poker players. Maudie is mulling over the state of game in Falling off the Glacier. Otis at Up for Poker has a wonderful rant on on-line poker, including a look a disconnect protection. Finally, Table Tango brings some of the funniest stuff you?ll find, I wonder if the Eskimo takes requests?

One of our old friends, Jesus Santos, has finally resurfaced from an extended drunk sabbatical from somewhere south of the border. We have been buying and selling his art for a number of years. J. is an accomplished wood carver and painter who often sees the world through a fine, twisted mist of the spirit; so we never really know what to expect. He has agreed to provide a weekly "Santos Look" at poker so we present the very first edition of "Muck It."

Posted by pokerprof at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most Saturdays here in Las Vegas are low-key days for me. I usually don’t get any farther than the nearest poker room and that room often is Party Poker. The casino poker rooms require me to brave the triple digit heat, crowds, traffic and clothing. Someday the casino poker rooms will probably let players sit around in their underwear just like the virtual poker rooms. This would certainly put new meaning into commonly heard poker room expressions such as I’ve got nothing, one big pair or that’s some tell.

I have been watching and watching and watching the first two televised events of the 2004 WSOP on ESPN and decided to post my Top Nine List of things heard at the WSOP this year. I choose to do nine because the Top Ten List is already taken and nine seemed to be more appropriate for me, less work, and I have always been accused as being one brick short of a load.

Top Nine things heard at the 2004 WSOP

9. Has anyone seen Moneymaker?
8. Are those real?
7. Bring Mr. Nguyen another beer.
6. Is that Shana Hiatt over there?
5. How much for the drink?
4. What high school do you go to?
3. How much did those sunglasses cost?
2. I’ve never played with real people before.
1. Rebuy!

Posted by flipchipro at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have spent the past couple of days working on a not-for-profit website called Art Quotient. In a nutshell this is a publication (and virtual publication) that promotes student artists and is dedicated to keeping art education in our schools. While uploading some of the 70+ pieces (I'm the artprof webmaster) I ran across a couple that are totally Vegas and thought I’d use them as a segue between the Poker Blog and the Not-For-Profit web site. These students are amazing artists! Check out the art galleries at Art Quotient for all the student submissions and if you have a web site and want to help promote the arts Art Quotient just isn’t a bad place to start.

The artwork to the right includes one of the more Vegas applicable pieces. It clearly shows the influence of being a kid growing up in Las Vegas. I included one of my personal favorites from a student whose work is reminiscent of Norman Rockwell. You'll find tons of cool artwork a lot from Las Vegas students. During your next break from the tables check it out.

Posted by pokerprof at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The $10 SNG’s on PP are an addiction I continue to feed on a regular basis. I played in a couple of the tournaments late yesterday and finished one out of the money in both. I could probably have coasted into the money in at least one if I had listened to that small voice telling me to not gamble my seat on ‘Big Slick.’ Did I pay heed to this good advice? Hell no! I came to dance and what better cards than A-K to risk it all on? I have been quoting from T.J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy’s “Championship No-Limit & Pot-limit Hold’em” book a lot recently and this post is no exception. They list the three hands that knock more people out of hold’em tournaments as: “A pair of Queens, a Pair of Jacks or Ace-King.” I knew that, I had just finished my tenth reading of the book and there I am going all-in with my Ac-Kc after the flop shows Ks-2c-7c. I have top pair with top kicker and a four flush. I’m last and the betting puts me all-in if I call. The little voice is telling me that T.J. would probably fold and not risk finishing out of the money. Of course, being the consume tournament expert that I am, I don’t even consider folding and shove it all-in. The turn is a blank and the river appears to help no one. I lose to a set of deuces and am out of the action and trying to deal with that empty, brainless feeling. The second tournament I am in the seat to the right of the button when I get pocket Queens. We are four handed with about equal stacks; I raise 4xBB, the button folds and both the small and big blind calls. The flop is Qc-7s-8h. The small blind bets, the big blind folds and I raise. The small blind goes all in and I call all-in. The turn is the 5s and the river is Kh. My trip Queens lose to the 6s-9s making the nine high straight and I am out of the tournament. I should have folded the A-K in the first tournament and waited for the money; but, I will probably play the pair of Queens in a similar situation no differently, win or lose. I have a very hard time laying down trips with no over cards, made straights or flush draws.

The point of all of this whining is getting knocked out of two tournaments with two hands that Tom and T.J. list as most likely to get you eliminated. Ironically, I am knocked out of both tournaments playing two of the hands listed and I can’t find much fault with my play, especially the second time with the Queens. During the final $10,000 championship event of the WSOP I was taking a break outside of Benny’s Bullpin when Antonio Esfandiari walked out after he was eliminated from the tournament when his A-K all-in lost. He was kind enough to autograph our copy of All In magazine. I totally agree with Antonio’s comment about A-K.

Posted by flipchipro at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

There are some real gems of poker wisdom out there and Morton’s Theorem is certainly one of the best. Morton’s is basically a parallel theory to Slansky’s General Theorem of Poker which simply states, “When your opponent makes a mistake, you profit.” Slansky’s General is a great theory for heads-up play. In multi-way pots with calling stations and schools of fish; that is, on-line poker games, Morton’s is far more appropriate. Morton’s states: “When there is a multi-way pot the individual errors of opponents are reduced by the larger pot size.” In other words, hands with greater draw potential have an increased value as they will make their draw more often and in multi-way pots drawing hands usually win. The value of pairs is significantly reduced while the value of hands with nut-draw potential is increased. Very often the most unlikely straights, flushes and full houses will take down the pot crushing wired large over-pairs. So how has this affected my play? Simple! I put a lot less value on over-pairs in a multi-way pot. Almost all straight or flush draws that complete on the river will win the money, crushing the big pair starting hands. Hands with solid draw potential (suited connectors, Ace-any suited) I’ll limp in for the flop and if I hit 2 out of the three needed for my hand, multi-way pot odds usually make calling a no-brainer.

What is the best play with large over pairs? Hopefully, you have paid attention to the game and know how your opponents play in given situations. In a relatively tight game you should try to chase the draws out of the pot and win right there. You may end up in a heads up match and then play the flop very aggressively to again end the hand and take the money. In a loose game, I tend to shy away from playing these hands too aggressively. When my pair flops into trips and I don’t see many draws on the turn I’ll play aggressively; but, with draws on the board and more then 3 people in the pot my odds of winning are greatly reduced. This is the root of Morton’s Theorem, each individual player has a minute chance of cracking your hand; but, when the players in a multi-way are taken together they have better then 50/50 of besting your large pair. A classic case of the sum of the players being much greater than the individual players. You can also check out this excellent article on pot odds to decide what to do.

Lately, in tracking my play I’ve noticed the hands that are costing me the most are Q-Q, J-J and 10-10. When holding these three pairs and there is an over card and aggressive play it’s an automatic fold for me. The really difficult problem comes with my large over-pair (or trips) and the river brings the straight/flush. Of course, I’m very much pot committed (having raised the trips every time) at this time even though one of the calling stations has hit. It becomes a very difficult but exactly correct lay-down.

This brings up an interesting hand from a loose 2/4 game that illustrates the power of draws in multi-way. I’m on the button with Q-Q. Before the action gets to me there are 3 players in the pot and two raises. I re-raise and the small blind caps. Everyone calls. So 5 handed pre-flop and already $40 in the pot. The flop comes:

Qc 10h 7c

Ding! A 4th of July spectacular is going off in my head! By the time the action gets to me there are already 3 raises, so I cap. The turn is a total blank, 3d. Betting caps again, and it’s now a monster (for a 2/4 game) $160 pot. Now comes the river, the Ac.
The final board is:

Qc 10h 7c 3d Ac

Betting caps again and everyone stays in. My nut hand on the flop isn’t even third best, it’s 4th! The worst hand was pocket 10’s, then my Queens, next was pocket Aces, 2nd place went to a K-Jo and the lucky winner of the $240 pot? The 5-3 of clubs for a flush.

There is one pocket pair that is an exception to all of this hypothetical nonsense, Aces. Even ten handed, played to the river, Aces win a third of the time. This most powerful of all big pairs tend to make money no matter what. Contrary to what I often hear at the tables, I'll take the pocket rockets every hand.

Posted by pokerprof at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (1)

The World Series of Poker on ESPN started tonight and is a must see. I will be trying to spot myself and other staff from LasVegasVegas during the broadcasts. I spent the entire month (we covered every event) of the WSOP behind a camera taking the photos we published in our daily WSOP event post and the 150+ pictures in the WSOP Photo Gallery. We consider ourselves quite lucky to live in Las Vegas and be a part of the booming poker industry; but, as stated above we sometimes forget the stuff that our readers most enjoy. We will try to publish news and photos unique to Las Vegas, especially poker related stuff.

Posted by flipchipro at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mirco-limit strategy Ace-Any suited

This is one of my favorite hands to play in micro-limits. If I hit 2 of my suit on the flop I have about 4 to 1 odds of making my flush and occassioinally this hand brings me a gift with trips on the flop with top kicker. I prefer playing Ace-any suited over Jacks and below because in a large contested pot, when it hits, it’s the nuts. Of course, if the board pairs you may be looking at a house (okay a straight flush as well, but really, how often does that happen?); but, basically it’s an easy hand to play. Post flop I want at least 4BB it the pot to make it worth chasing (and in the micro-limits I almost always see this), I’ll even chase it runner-runner if I have 7BB in the pot. If I miss on the turn it’s an easy lay down and if I hit I’ll make a crying call to see the river. Nut drawing hands are very strong in the micro limits because of the excellent pot odds offered by the large numbers of limpers entering the pot. giving excellent pot odds for When the hand hits you have the nuts or an easy lay down when the flop is rags. Less than four people in the hand and pot odds arn't worth chasing. Another gift you may get is the check to the end and your always powerful Ace wins. I decided to offer this post after reading 2+2 forums where I ran across a post on crushing the micro limits that gives very sound advice on playing drawing hands in large contested pots. Well worth the read.

Hitting the flush on the flop usually requires slow play to let someone make a hand on 4th, unless there is a super aggressive player in the pot. Okay, so I have my flush on 4th; now, the question becomes how can I move the maximum money into my pot? In an early position I’ll check the pot like everyone else and wait for the late bet before I raise or raise/re-raise from a late position. Basically, I want to cap the betting. On the river I’ll bet/raise from any position rather then let the money get away with a check around the board. Oddly enough, while writing this I took down a $44 pot with Ac7c when the river brought me the last club. Winning in the micro limits is difficult and often the deciding factor is a combination of subtle factors such as I have listed here.

Posted by pokerprof at 5:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy Independence Day all. It looks like CJ is on a serious tournament winning rush over at Up for Poker, while JD at Cheap Thrills has his own poker tournament thoughts.
BuyitinVegas has a commentary on the final episode of the World Poker Tour. Chris Halverson is seeing green these days. While Al Can’t Hang saw a lot more than green with the Bud Girls. Wow.

Posted by pokerprof at 5:05 AM | Permalink

We will continue our discussions of playing different hands in tournament play. The draw hand might be considered the ultimate temptation. We work ourselves into a position of not having anything other than a couple of dozen outs including the big out, out of the tournament. Playing marginal cards usually gets us into draw predicaments and when we fail to muck these starters after missing the flop we compound our problems. An example would be small suited connectors. We play the connectors with the idea of catching the flop and having a powerhouse hand. Usually the other players have not put you on these cards so the strength of a small connector made hand becomes even more profitable. There is nothing wrong with playing small (5-6, 6-7, 7-8, 8-9) suited connectors in certain situations. Your position should be strong, either the button or first seat to the right of the button and you should have plenty of chips. Playing small connectors with a short stack is marginal at best and over the long haul will result in more eliminations than double ups. Remember that the short stack probably means you are gambling your tournament seat on your pocket cards so if you have an option choose them carefully.

T.J. Cloutier, one of the greatest poker players and game theory experts, said in his book, Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold’em, “In tournaments, draws are death. You’re always taking the worst of it when you are taking a draw; you know that you are always the underdog when you call a bet to draw to your hand.” I think this says it all about draw hands. Having the discipline to muck the hand even though we have a “good” multi-out draw is probably one of the subtle differences between good and great poker players. When playing starting cards that cannot stand on their own but need to catch a flop our critical decision comes on the flop. If we did not make the hand but have a draw and decide to pursue it we should raise, the very reason we play these cards from behind a big stack. We are hoping to win the hand right here; but, if we have callers we have doubled the amount of money we can win. Never flat call with a draw hand even from a strong position, either muck or raise.

Playing cards that put us in a position of having to hit the flop to have a hand should generally be limited to big blind hands and only when we limp in. When we intentionally play these cards we should follow some strict guidelines and be mentally prepared to quickly discard unimproved hands. I like to remember a bit of advice from one of my long-ago playing coaches, “Hope has no place in the professional player’s toolbox. If you are hoping to do anything; make a hand, win a pot, catch a case card or outplay your opponents; then, you aren’t nearly as good as you think you are.” Nobody ‘hopes’ more than the poker player on a draw.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:52 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

The past week has been spent reading, studying and the hardest of all, applying what I have learned. The results are almost magical. Follow the well defined rules and add a bit of intuition-from-experience and it becomes a winning combination. I am apparently one dumb student of the game. I have read everything over the years (I bought a copy of Doyle’s “Super System” book for a hundred dollars so long ago it was named “Win a Million Dollars Playing Poker”). Many of the poker books I have read and re-read to the point I can quote from them; but, have I applied what I have learned, No! The point of all this ranting is you have to make this knowledge a part of your game. It is not enough to know the right play, you must make the right play every time, no excuse; and then, you have an “A” game.

The word in the street here in Vegas is speculating about Steve Wynn’s new joint (renamed “Wynn Las Vegas” after all things French fell out of favor and “Le Reve” was discarded) is scheduled to open next year will have a one hundred table poker room. That’s right, 100 tables of full time poker action in the most opulent surroundings the gambling world has ever known. This place will have a man made mountain range and alpine lake hiding it from the ‘tacky’ Vegas Strip. You can also get your Ferrari or Masserati tuned at the full service dealerships located within the complex. No word yet on the poker operation’s manager; but, Wynn and Bobby Baldwin were recently seen dining in the same restaurant. These two teamed up at the Golden Nugget many years ago and changed the face of Las Vegas. The rumors continue that a new super tournament is in the works for the Wynn and if this is true then it will, in true Steve Wynn style, totally eclipse all current poker tournaments. Multiple qualifying events scheduled over the course of months leading to one “Mother of all Poker Tournaments.” We have even heard of in-the-hotel-only virtual poker tables where players can participate without leaving their rooms. I can’t wait for Wynn’s new project to open. When Steve Wynn has a grand opening it usually marks the beginning of a new era for Las Vegas. He always raises the bar up, way up!

Posted by flipchipro at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am not an expert or master of the game so take this post with a grain of salt and please feel free to blast me in the comments below. Here are some of my thoughts on playing small, 6 through T's, pocket pairs in tournaments. Any pair below 6’s gets mucked unless I am in the BB and no raise. Let’s consider what T.J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy say about small pairs.

T.J.: “I don’t play small pairs, but I might flat call from an early position with them, hoping not to get raised. If I do get raised, I’ll fold,” from "Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold’em." Tom also looks for a multi-way pot and plays them from late position or when the game is short handed. TJ wants multi-way action so that when the set does come, he can make serious money off it. He does not say why he might flat call from an early position, but my guess is because if he flops the set no one will put him on it.

T.J. commenting on Tom: “Tom doesn’t mind limping in with the small pairs or bringing them in for a small raise and will stand a small raise hoping to flop a set.”

Well, my thinking is more in line with Tom then T.J., if I can limp into the pot from the BB or a late position and there are a number of callers I’ll do so hoping to flop my set. If I don’t catch my set then I’m out to the first raise, period. If I do catch my set and there are no solid draws on the flop (three suited or three connectors) I’ll bet the pot or double any raise ahead of me. Ninety percent of the time I win at this point, even if it goes to the river, because the drawing hands are gone and the callers usually have either two pair or top pair with top kicker. The 10th time I run into a bigger set.

Another situation worth considering is when you catch the flop and the board pairs giving you the full house. If the board shows an over pair you must be cautious of a larger full house. I’ll bet the pot; but, if 4th street or the river bring a monster raise, I’ll fold unless I know the raiser is a loose player or I have detected a tell.

In the late stages of the tournament I’ll only come in with a small pocket pair if I get in for free on the BB blind or if I’m on a short stack, knowing I won’t be around much longer. In the short stack situation I tend to play the small pairs very agressivly, bringing them in for a raise from late position if there has been no early action. I will then push all-in after the flop if there has been no action or there are no over cards.

I have now listed my thoughts about small pocket pairs and after having read what I have written maybe I should lean more toward T.J. and mostly avoid playing small pairs so I stay out of the traps, especially the traps I set for myself.

Posted by pokerprof at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)