The third event of the 2005 World Series of Poker Circuit at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Resort played the final table this evening, March 15. The final hand was won by Asher Derei of Las Vegas when his pocket Ace paired on the flop and defeated an all in John Barbieri of Runnymead, New Jersey. The two players had been going heads-up for more than an hour before the last hand was dealt. Las Vegas professional player, James Van Alstyne, finished in third place after he lost the lead and most of his chips when a river eight made a straight for Asher to beat Van Alstyne's flop paired King.

The following list of the final nine players includes their chip position (indicated by the number in the parenthesis following the name) coming into the final table along with the prize money won.

1. Asher Derei(3) Las Vegas $93,120

2. John Barberi(1) Runnymeade, NJ $51,216

3. James Van Alstyne(2) Las Vegas $26,390

4. Blair Rodman(4) n/a $20,370

5. K D Adams(6) Las Vegas $17,460

6. Leon Kunkel(5) Miami, FL $14,550

7. David Levi(7) Las Vegas $11,640

8. Johnny Landreth(8) n/a $8,730

9. Sam Grizzle(9) Las Vegas $5,820

Today's victory was the first WSOP Circuit event for Asher Derei. Along with the cash he receives the gold championship ring. The final table began at 4:00 pm and play continued for more than 4 hours before the winner was crowned.

Event #4, $1,000 + $60 buy in Limit Hold'em, got under way at noon today with the final table scheduled for 4:00 pm tomorrow. Among the notable professional players spotted in this event was Max Pescatori, Minneapolis Jim, Dan Alspach and Andy Bloch.

The following 'official report' from World Series of Poker Media Director, Nolan Dalla, covers the details of the final table and the official order of finish for event #3.

2005 World Series of Poker
Las Vegas Circuit Event
Rio All-Suites Casino and Resort
Daily Report

After many years and several other tournament wins, Israeli-born poker pro wins Rio's Limit Hold'em championship

Every poker player has a unique story, all his own. Behind every poker face, there are distinctive human characteristics that make every poker decision the appendage of a long chain of life's experiences. But there are players who truly stand out. Asher Derei's story is just as captivating as it is unique.

"I started playing poker in Israel," Derei said. "There were house games every Friday night. There were so many games. I came from a kibbutz and we didn't get a lot of money. Our parents would send us money, but it wasn't very much. So, I was helping my allowance from the kibbutz by playing poker."

Derei's fascination with the game continued when he joined the Israeli Army. "We used to play no-limit and five card draw between attacks," he said. "The (enemy) would attack us every day at certain times, and when we weren't fighting...we were playing poker. You wait for hours between attacks. You have to do something...otherwise get bored to death. This is how I became experienced and learned how to play poker."

Derei moved from Israel to Europe and enjoyed several tournament successes, including championship wins in Holland, England, and elsewhere. But bigger pots were to be found across the Atlantic. Derei came to the United States primarily for one reason...to play poker. Since most of the biggest tournaments, including the World Series of Poker, took place in the U.S., it was natural for Derei to relocate. He settled down in Los Angeles and continued to achieve success at the tables.

Yet, for all of his cashes and final tables, the one thing that had eluded the 52-year-old poker pro had been a title at the World Series of Poker. When play commenced at Event #3 at the Rio Las Vegas WSOP Circuit, Derei was the clear crowd favorite. He came to the final table third in chips, but he was outgunned by formidable chip-leader John Barbieri by almost 4 to 1.

On Day One, 291 players were eliminated. Places 10 through 27 were paid prize money in amounts ranging from $1,745 up to $3,490. On Day Two, nine players returned for the final table and were eliminated in the following order:

9th Place...It didn't take long for the action to start. On the very first hand, two players were eliminated. Lovable Sam Grizzle was low on chips and moved 'all in' with 9-6 (top pair) after the flop came 9-5-3. Johnny Landreth (second lowest in chips) thought he had a monster, since he had 3-3 and flopped a set. Trouble was...the chip leader John Barbieri had 5-5 and flopped a bigger set. It was a nightmare start for both Grizzle and Landreth. Blanks fell on the turn and river and, before anyone had settled in their seats, two players were eliminated and it was down to the final seven. South Carolina-born Grizzle walked away in a daze with $5,820 for 9th place.

8th Place...John Landreth suffered one of poker's worst indignities. Losing with 'set over set' is as painful as it is disheartening. Instead of tripling up and becoming a force at the final table, Landreth instead was forced to hit the rail. Landreth, from Alabama won a tournament in Tunica, MS last year and will certainly be someone to watch in future WSOP Circuit events. He collected $8,730 for 8th place.

7th Place...The quick win gave John Barbieri an even bigger chip lead. He crossed the $300,000 mark before the next player was eliminated. Another Israeli-born poker pro, David Levi came in third lowest in chips...and was knocked out in sequential order. Levi was playing with few chips and made a raise from the small blind with K-8 hoping to steal the blinds and survive another round. Fellow former-countryman Asher Derei had Q-9 called and flopped a Queen. Levi was gone before you could say 'Lehitraot.' He received $11,640.

6th Place...Leon Kunkle, from Miami, Fla., went out next. Kunkle who plays mostly online and has won a few local tournaments, was short on chips and made his final stand with 8-9 suited. James Van Alstyne had an Ace and called the modest sized raise and picked up an Ace on the turn which left Kunkle crackled and drawing dead. Kunkle earned $14,550 as the 6th-place finisher...not bad for two days of poker playing.

5th Place...K.D, Adams made a nice run. Out-chipped by the table captain Barbieri by nearly 10 to 1 throughout, Adam survived two hours before being bounced out of the finale. Adams picked up A-5 and tried to take the blinds with a raise but was covered by Barbieri with 9-9. An unnecessary Nine fell on the turn for a full-house, destroying Adams' final hopes of a comeback. A Las Vegas local, Adams made $17,460 for 5th place.

4th Place...This was Blair Rodman's second final table at the Rio. He appeared in Event #1, making him the only player to make two final tables. Rodman was cheered on by supporters but failed to bring home a crowd-pleasing victory. He finally ran out of steam when he was short on chips and was hammered by James Van Alstyne's pocket Aces. Rodman picked up a draw on the river but failed to hit, so he was out. Rodman collected $20,370 for 4th place.

3rd Place...The final table essentially took place in two distinct phases. The first phase consisted of the elimination of the first six players. Stage two was the three-way battle between Barbieri, Derei, and Van Alstyne. The chips went back and forth for over an hour, with Barbieri maintaining his chip lead most of the way. He started with $266K against Derei with $177K and Van Alstyne with $167K. Van Alstyne nearly broke Derei when his Q-8 paired on the turn against Derei's flopped top pair (Nines). Derei was left with a paltry $40K and looked to be the next elimination. But Derei is certainly resilient. Twenty minutes later, he doubled up twice and put Van Alstyne back into third chip position. A key hand took place when Derei had 10-9 of hearts and moved 'all in' after the flop came Kh-Jh-7. Van ALsyne had top pair with Kings. Derei missed his flush but spiked an Eight on the river, good for a straight. That was perhaps the key hand of the tournament. Van Alstyne went out a short time later with K-J of diamonds after two diamonds flopped. John Barbieri had pocket Nines, which held up. James Van Alstyne, who has made three WSOP final tables and other tournament wins, received $26,194 for third place.

The heads-up duel between John Barbieri and Asher Derei lasted about 15 minutes. Barbieri, a high-stakes player from Atlantic City was not as widely known in tournament circles as the more experienced Derei. Nevertheless, Barbieri was in control of the final table until the very end, when his chip lead vanished and he ended up short on chips. On Hand #139 of the final table the last chapter was closed when Barbieri was dealt Q-9 against Derei's A-9. The final board was massive overkill, showing A-7-4-9-x...good for two pair for the winner. As runner up, Barbieri received $51,215.

Asher Derei caught one big break at the final table (making the straight when play was three-handed) but also demonstrated the depths of his experience and game knowledge. Analogies between 'poker and life' and 'poker and war' may be cliched and overused, but Derei clearly won the battle on this day. The spoils of victory included $93,120 in prize money and the gold ring, awarded to every WSOP Circuit event winner.

Mazal Tov, Asher!

Report by Nolan Dalla...World Series of Poker Media Director

Rio Poker Room Manager...Michael Matts

Is poker on TV the most boring thing to happen to viewers since the political conventions? If you read this column you would certainly believe that to be true. I think the author, Gene Collier, of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was having a vapor locked brain day and couldn’t think of anything to write about. He compares poker with the likes of pro wrestling (actually considers poker more boring). After reading his article I guess I don’t have to guess about his qualifications to write critical reviews of the sport. After all, he's been playing since he was seven and remembers every detail of his Grandmother winning a thirteen cent pot. He then says,"Now that was poker!" He does state that some of his favorite exciting TV shows are “Three’s Company,” “Green Acres” and “Major League Baseball.” Wow, with such sterling qualifications how far off the mark can this article be? Guess I should immediately stop watching televised poker before I begin suffering from poker boredom syndrome, PBS. No, wait , we can't use that acronym, its already taken by the Public TV people . I know I must be getting close to having some of the serious boredom symtoms since I did read his entire article with only a couple of coffee breaks. I guess my bottom line here is if you don’t like what’s on then change the damn channel. We only have about a million channel choices to choose from so grab the changer and entertain yourself. Hell, maybe you will run across some "Green Acres" reruns featuring Arnold, your favorite funny pig. Maybe you will really luck out and find a two day marathon of every episode of "Three's Company." I would bet that Gene doesn’t even like the Curling matches shown on Canadian TV. Curling, now there is some genuine cliff hanger sports TV.

I have though about this problem of televised poker being a boring game and have tried to think of some ways to liven it up. Make it as exciting as "Three’s Company," so I have done this week's Nines List about the top nine ways to make televised poker more exciting.

9. Guns are not only allowed but are encouraged.
8. Red Bull IVs for every player.
7. Quentin Tarantino directs all final table filming.
6. Two words: Exploding chips.
5. Suzanne Somers and Arnold Ziffel are at every final table.
4. Jackie Chan instead of Johnny Chan.
3. 1/2 Hold'em, 1/2 mud wrestling.
2. Replace lame commentators with exciting newspaper sports columnists.
1. Shana Hiatt nude!

That's it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos' "Muck It" cartoon.

I got into an interesting conversations with Bob from playersbooks the other day on the subject of reads and reading people. Basically he talked and I listened. The object of poker is to move as many chips as possible from the opponent's stacks into my stacks on any given hand. As the skill of the players increase the cards become less important, while the perception of what the cards are becomes very important. Bob contends there are four basic levels of reading cards and poker players.

Level 1: Reading your cards – This first level is fairly obvious, if you don’t know what your hand is and where it places in the entropy of the board you should probably forgo the game… well except for the Omaha Hi-Lo split event in the WSOP (winner misread his hand and thought he had a straight), but that's Omaha

Level 2: Reading your opponent's hand – This is where those unconscious activities and habits become tells. If you have a solid read on what your opponent is holding then the lay-downs and re-raises become a far easier decision even if it isn't always a more profitable one. A a little good advice from Chris Ferguson on this subject, "If you're not sure whether to fold or call, fold. If you're not sure whether to call or raise, raise."

Level 3: Reading what your opponent thinks you have. It’s one thing to get a read on an a opponent, and quite another to get a read on that player's read of you! It gets a bit complicated, all of this I thought, they thought, I thought.... stuff, but I offer teh following example: You’re a rock and decide to bluff the hand, you already have a good read on your opponent that and you know he has second/third pair. You can then structure your bets to convince the opponent to lay down his hand by making him believe your hand is superior. This is also the level where the false tell comes into play. That is, an intentional action that is designed to be picked up by other players and appears to be an unconscious tell. For example, I puff out my cheeks every time I bluff the pot… do it a couple of times, then when I have the nuts I puff out the cheeks and my observant opponent is convinced I'm bluffing again an throws more of his chips into my pot.

Level 4: Reading what the other player thinks you think their hand is. Wow, now it really gets complicated by adding another layer of logic and deceit. Perhaps a simpler way to think about this is it's the same as level 3 except you put yourself in your opponents head and see it from their point of view. Another example, You think the other player is on a medium pocket pair but you give off false tells so your observant opponent concludes that you think they are holding a drawing hand. All of this gets more and more complicated as we add new skills to our game. I'm nt at all surprised that the Hollywood crowd typically rises quickly through the ranks and become tough players once they gain some real game experience. The advanced skills a player has to develop to play an "A" level game requires considerable acting abilities. Remember that appearing weak when you are strong and strong when you are weak becomes more and more difficult as you move up in the ranks and your opponents are experts at correctly calling your hand. A common thread that all of the great pros share is the almost magical ability to place players on a hand. For some is is a born with knack, but the rest of us must study, practice and develop this prerequisite skill.

I’m not sure how deep this rabbit hole goes; but, I suspect it can go pretty damn deep on occasion. Personally, I’ve never progressed beyond reading what another player has. One of the greatest poker players in the world, Chip Reese, once commented, “If you never play someone on the next level you don't even know that level exists. It's almost like another dimension.”

The objective here can be summed up quite simply. Make players with drawing hands pay to see every card and when you have the drawing hand you want to see additional cards at as low a price as possible.

A made hand on the flop with possible draws.

Suppose the flop comes with two connected or two suited cards:

Connected: Kd 6h 7c

Suited: Kd 3d 9s

You are on Big Slick so you definetly don’t want to slow play your pair of Kings with top kicker in either of these situations. Allowing a player on an open-ended straight draw or a flush draw to see cards for free is bad strategy, the preferred play is to win the pot right now, so you bet out to make drawing to the hand too expensive and they fold. If you check your top pair to the river and the drawing hands miss you also may have to deal with a bluff. The odds for completing a flush is about 3-1 and the inside straight draw about 5-1 so structure your bets so that your opponent is getting negative pot-odds if they call. A pot sized bet is always a good choice because no drawing hand will have 2-1 odds of completing (In a rare scenario, two connected over-cards with a straight and flush draw will have pots odds to call a pot sized bet). If your opponent calls the pot size bet and then misses on the turn they have only one card to come so an increased bet size will make it extremely expensive to keep drawing for that straight or flush. This strategy works to your advantage if they fold, you win the pot, and if they call and miss you will take down a much larger pot. If the drawing hand calls and hits you can quickly fold. Using this betting tactic you’ll win more often than the drawing hands. If you are raised you have to know the opponent well enough to put them on a hand. Is this a draw trying to scare you or two pair? Maybe even a set or just a total bluff trying to raise you into the muck?

If you’re on the drawing hand you want to see 4th street for free. One tactic I’ve been fairly successful with is to re-raise a minimal pre-flop raise. I am, as often as not, flat called and then checked on the flop giving me the turn for this early minimal investment (often the river as well). A lot of players make small raises on the flop, so if it’s relatively inexpensive to re-raise I consider it worth the risk. The benefit is to slow down my opponent’s betting when they flop top/second pair so my drawing hand can be completed at minimal expense.

This is a bit of fancy play and can back-fire when your opponent comes back with a large raise; but, you can then quickly fold. I’d rather commit a few chips early rather than having to fold my draw to a large bet on 4th street.

Eric Seidel wins Ultimate Poker Challenge at the Plaza!

Eric Seidel, professional poker player from Las Vegas, took his chip lead into the Ultimate Poker Challenge final table on Monday and never looked back. He won the event and picked up the first place prize money from the $35,000 prize pool collected from 35 players that entered this event. Our congratulations to Eric for his win. He is now qualified to play in the semi-final tournament.

This is really a brief topic for me; there are very few hands I’ll re-raise with unless I know I’m looking at a super loose player. This is written primarily for tournament play but works equally well in most ring games.

Re-raising: Three hands for me, Aces, Kings and sometimes Queens. I know this is a short, tight list. If I know I have the best hand before the flop then I don’t want a bunch of random drawing hands staying in. I won’t raise all-in; but, I’ll defiantly double the original raise, usually taking it to 8x or 10x the BB. If the original better raises yet again (and about half the time it seems to be an all-in raise) I’ll always call with Aces, usually call with Kings (unless I know I’m against a super tight player) and fold with Queens (unless I’m risking less then 1/3 of my stack and/or I know I’m against a very loose player). The problem with Queens as a re-raising hand is about 50% of the time an over card will hit the board and a lot of pre-flop action is a sure guarantee another player is holding an Ace or King. Queens vs. Big Slick is a coin flip and I’d rather make better odds for myself when possible. I try to get in cheaply with Queens and then I can easily muck the pair when over cards hit and the action heats up. If I’m re-raised with my Kings I will call, unless I know the player is the type who would only keep swinging with Aces. A lot of players I encounter will keep coming with a random Ace, a random King, Tens, Jacks, Queens, and some bluff-o-matics with any two cards. Aces I refuse to limp with, always a raise. I used to slow play Aces occasionally and just lost too many hands to random trash suck-out that made a flush / straight / two pair.

Getting re-raised before the flop: This is a big red flag! Depending on stack size and tournament level it may be best to lay down and wait for a better spot.
What T.J. says: “Kings and Aces, Queens are out, unless your against a small pair raiser.” T.J. Likes to play “second-hand-low” sometimes, where he flat-calls the raise in front of him and he’s close to the original raiser (I would guess one or two seats off). This will let him fold with minimal loss if he misses the flop. With Aces TJ points out that “If you limp with Aces you won’t go broke with Aces”. A poker pro I know told me a simple way to double my take from low-limit hold’em, “Never call a pre-flop raise, period.”

Bluffing and running a bluff is probably the most mis-played aspect of poker (slow playing big wired pairs while letting someone make a hand is a close second). I almost never bluff in a ring game; I keep my margins up by folding and losing less rather than bluffing to win more. On the other hand, in tournament play, especially during the middle and latter stages bluffing becomes an important and indispensable part of the game; unless of course, the cards happen to run over you and you win all the chips without ever needing to bluff. The following are my thoughts on bluffing.

Know your opponent!
Do *NOT* try to bluff against fish, maniacs or calling stations. T.J. Cloutier said it best in his book, "Championship No-Limit and Pot-limit Hold'em," with, “We all bluff, but nobody can bluff a weak player. That would be like committing suicide.” The players to bluff are the farmers, the conservative/tight and the skilled player. If you haven’t determined the types of players at your table then don’t bluff.

Bluffing and position.
It’s, of course, better to run a bluff from a late position where you have the ability to see all the action in front of you, I usually run my bluffs from the button or a couple of seats behind the button, not always of course; but, usually. I rarely run a bluff out of the blinds, unless I am about 90% certain it will succeed, the reason being of course, these are the most common bluffing positions and a lot of players know this and will call.

Types of Bluffs.

The Total Bluff:
You have nothing, no likely draws, no pair, and you’ll probably end up playing the board if it comes down to showing your cards. I’ll run this bluff on the flop if I think my opponent has missed; or before the flop if there has been no action and the blinds are from mostly conservative players. Then, I’ll follow this up with a pot-sized bet on the flop and I’ll either be raised and fold (If a conservative player is raising you are usually in trouble) or the opponent will fold and I take down the pot.

The Semi-Bluff:
I’d say this is the most common bluff, a straight or flush draw hand betting out to grab the pot right there while also having the option to make a hand on the turn or river if you are called. You really want to pick up the pot then and there and not draw to your hand; unless of course, pot odds are in your favor and then it’s more of a value bet to make sure your get paid off.

The Re-Steal bluff:
I’d call this the most difficult of bluffs to correctly play and successfully pull. You not only have to decide the correct amount to re-raise to pick up the pot; but also, you have to correctly surmise that your opponent is running a bluff. If I am sure I’m looking at a bluff and I have a semi-bluffing hand I’ll usually then check out my opponent’s chip count and if they are short stacked I’ll put them all in if they call. I make this play to win the pot right there; but, I still have a chance to eliminate them if I make my draw. If I’m on an average or short stack I’ll usually take a pass at trying to bluff and steal the pot since I don’t like to risk my seat on a drawing hand.

When to Bluff:
The short answer is when you believe your opponent is relatively weak and unlikely to call. The in-depth response is when you determine that you can probably build and take down a pot with your bluff and never have to show the cards you portend to have. For example, let’s say you raise 4x BB pre-flop and one of the blinds decides to call. The board comes:

Kh 5h 3d

If you decide to bluff Kings now is the time for a pot sized bet, if your bluffing a flush draw then a check is in order followed by a pot sized or all-in bet when another heart hits the board. The object is to show strength and convince the other player that they are on a loser.

How to Bluff:
Don’t hesitate! Seize the moment! If you’re going to bluff the pot move like you have the hand you’re bluffing. It’s not just the size of the bet; but, how the bet is made. As Sun Tsu said in the “Art of War”, “When weak appear strong.” Better yet, minimize variance in play style so your action appears the same whether bluffing or not. One of the few times you want to appear to be a pattern player.

Final Thoughts.
Don’t get married to your bluff. Against a real hand you’re toast. Know when to lay down and save your chips for a better opportunity. Don’t bluff early on. The early bluff does not support your table image as that of a tight (and hopefully aggressive) and rock solid player to be feared. It makes it far less likely you’ll run a successful bluff against playes in the middle and latter stages of the tournament since most of the bad players are already gone. A thought that always come to mind when considering a bluff is something I heard from an experienced old player, “If you bluff more than once a week you are probably not as good as you think you are.”

Links:
Check out this great post from Poker and Devotion on Poker and Relationships.

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.

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.

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.

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