Poker News

Andrew Wiggins on How to Play Rush Poker

Recently, the USA-friendly Full Tilt Poker introduced Rush Poker, which allows players to move tables quickly after their action in a hand has ended. Poker News Daily sat down with CardRunners instructor and Full Tilt Poker pro Andrew “muddywater” Wiggins to discuss the brand new addition.

Poker News Daily: Give us your first impressions of Rush Poker. Was it a hit with you?

Andrew Wiggins: I love the idea. I'm an action junkie, so it's perfect for me. The more hands I can play in an hour, the happier I am.

PND: Do you have any tips for gaining an edge in the face-paced game that you can share with our readers?

Andrew Wiggins: It's early and I'm sure the play will change as people get used to the new game play. However, I've done well playing tight early and attacking in position. Players are playing extra tight because it seems worthwhile to wait for a good hand. That's something you can exploit. You also have the added advantage of players at your table not knowing that you are playing very loose in position.

PND: Does taking notes on players become a necessity or does the action go way too quickly?

Andrew Wiggins: I think the action is way too quick to take notes. I've never been a good note-taker though, so take that with a grain of salt.

PND: A lot of players have experienced issues with their Heads-Up Displays (HUDs) not working properly. What’s your take?

Andrew Wiggins: It seems that the action is too quick for the HUDs to keep up. I love that. I've never been one to rely heavily on my HUD and I know that puts me at a disadvantage against those who know how to use it well. By essentially eliminating the possibility of using a HUD, I think the games have more uncertainty and therefore more gambling.

PND: Is ABC poker the most common strategy in Rush Poker games or what's an overarching style that you think players will use?

Andrew Wiggins: ABC poker seems to be the common style at the moment, but the games have only been out for a few days. These games will, without question, evolve. The key is to adjust your game properly. For now, I like playing loosely to exploit the excess usage of ABC poker.

PND: Do you think that Rush Poker will be here to stay or is it a fad?

Andrew Wiggins: I think Rush Poker is an evolution of the game of poker that is here to stay. It's a brilliant move by Full Tilt Poker and I applaud them for being innovative. I hadn't played a hand of No Limit Hold’em cash in over six months because I was just too bored of the game. I can't get enough of rush. If the poker sites can do anything to get people enthusiastic about playing, then they are doing something right. That's what gets fish to the games.

PND: How have you fared so far? What stakes have you test driven?

Andrew Wiggins: I have done quite well so far, but I have a small sample size. I've played 100nl for the vast majority of my play. I've seen some really poor play and I'm hoping that becomes a trend.

PND: Explain who Rush Poker is best suited for.

Andrew Wiggins: Rush Poker is best for the action junkie who gets bored at a regular poker table, but I think anyone would enjoy it. You don't have to pay attention to HUD stats or table dynamics and you get to play a ton of hands. Who wouldn't like that?

Andy Bloch Discusses Rush Poker Strategy

Recently, Rush Poker made its debut on Full Tilt Poker. The fast-paced style of cash game allows players to move from one table to another as soon as their action in a hand is finished. As such, players have been able to see upwards of 300 hands per hour. Poker News Daily sat down with Full Tilt Poker pro Andy Bloch to get his take on the new addition to the site’s already impressive lineup, his goals for 2010, and his thoughts on the online poker phenomenon known as Isildur1.

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. What were your first impressions of Rush Poker?

Andy Bloch: I think it’s great and it’s had a great reception so far. Sure, there were people who found fault with it at first, but once you get used to it, it’s great. I tried it out a couple of months ago and thought it was amazing. Back when I first started playing, I remember training software that was like this. When you folded, a new hand started right away, so you’re always making decisions. This is how poker really should be.

PND: Some players we’ve talked to critiqued that Rush Poker creates ABC poker players. Is there a different overarching strategy to it?

Andy Bloch: To some degree, it’ll train people more to play ABC poker. You’ll have less of a reason to play speculative hands because you can fold and get a new hand right away, but that creates more opportunities. There will be a lot of people taking advantage of the tight play and playing a lot more hands pre-flop. There’s no need to worry about getting a reckless image.

You can raise every hand on the button, for example, whereas at a regular cash game table, you wouldn’t do that because people would pick up on it. You could also just raise pre-flop in Rush Poker every time the action folds to you. In Rush Poker, therefore, taking notes becomes really important. If you see any unusual play, you’ll want to make a note and tag a player. It might come in handy later on.

PND: How have you fared so far and what stakes did you play?

Andy Bloch: It seems like my opponents have been hitting sets on me after we get the money in, but I don’t know if I’m up or down. I’ve played all of the stakes they offer, including play money. It seems like people play better at the Rush Poker play money tables than at the normal play money tables. They are less likely to play every hand because they know they can just fold, so they’re marginally more selective.

PND: Would you like to see Rush Poker added for MTTs and sit and gos?

Andy Bloch: I’d love to see Rush Poker added for heads-up play, tournaments, sit and gos, and different forms of poker like Stud. You have to pay attention to the up-cards in Stud, so it’s hard to multi-table.

PND: What poker goals do you have for 2010?

Andy Bloch: I’m going to the L.A. Poker Classic and hopefully playing some of the earlier events. They have a HORSE tournament and a Chinese Poker tournament. They also have a heads-up event and an Ironman no-break tournament.  I’ll probably play about the same number of tournaments as last year, but I want to play more online. I had a bad year last year. Whenever I have a bad year, I just try to work on my game and go over my strategy. My goal is to win a bracelet on June 1st. That is the end of the $50,000 Player’s Championship and the final day of the first three open events at the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

PND: Are you still planning to be involved with organizations like the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) this year?

Andy Bloch: Absolutely. This year coming up is an important year. It looks like we can finally get a law passed, get rid of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), and get online poker regulated. If we can get that done, it’d be great for everyone in the poker world, from the grinder to the recreational player to someone who has dreams of being sponsored by a site.

PND: Talk about the rise and fall of Isildur1 on Full Tilt’s nosebleed cash game tables.

Andy Bloch: That story is crazy in a lot of ways. It happens from time to time in poker and in other games too. Unless Isildur1 follows it up with another run, you can chalk it up to luck. He’s a good player, but he jumped into the high-stakes games too quickly, not realizing the type of talent that’s out there. He made himself a target and wasn’t willing to back down. It’s a great story and I hope he comes back and shows people that it wasn’t a fluke.

PND: Was there any possibility of Andy Bloch facing off against Isildur1?

Andy Bloch: I don’t have much experience in Pot Limit Omaha. I need to work on that too and that’s another one of my goals for 2010. I need to get into a position where I can feel comfortable sitting down in any limit game.

Rush Poker Player Reactions

"Online poker on steroids." That's how one TwoPlusTwo poster described Rush Poker, the newest spectacle introduced by Full Tilt Poker that has action junkies drooling over a fast-paced format we've never seen before.

Full Tilt, the world's second largest online poker site, launched Rush Poker in its latest software update on Tuesday. The concept is this: Players join a large player pool in a ring game and face a different table of players every hand they play. As soon as they fold their hand, they'll be moved to another table for their next hand.

The player response thus far has been overwhelming.

"Hats off to Full Tilt, the update is awesome," said TwoPlusTwo forum poster Robusto1. "PokerStars should take notes. FTP has taken a risk deviating away from the norm and I'm sure it will pay off. Now that the two sites aren't as homogeneous they might start competing on price (rake)."

"I think it's amazing," added another TwoPlusTwo member. "It's like FTP found a way to turn what would be semi competent players and turn them into complete donkaholics. I played $25NL and it felt like I was playing on PartyPoker back in the day. I never got paid off more with my big hands. Villains were pushing all-in on complete bluffs when I had full houses, calling me down with mid pair. Plus I get rakeback so it's like a wet dream."

Rakeback seems to be a leading reason as to the popularity of the new concept. Both rakeback and Full Tilt Points (FTPs) are calculated the same as they would in a regular ring game, but players will play far more hands at a table of Rush Poker. On average, players will see around 300 hands per hour.

In a poll on TwoPlusTwo asking if members like FTP's Rush Poker, 72% of poll takers said "Yes" through 700 votes. While most agreed that the new concept is enjoyable, many questioned whether it is good for the game.

"It's more like video poker in my view than normal poker," said TheGaussBeast. "No reads, no table dynamic. Furthermore, playing you get into gambling mode. I am susceptible to this as I suppose many, but not all players are. You are clicking away getting that mental stimulation that is akin to slots. You can take your time, but will you?"

"I don't like it for these reasons. Moreover, I am concerned that this is exactly where the fish will go. To the rush tables to gamble it up, leaving a bunch of regulars to fight and grind it out at the normal tables."

TwoPlusTwo member StoneRoses agreed: "What good is finding a read on a player if you don't seem him for another 20 minutes? This, if anything, promotes ABC poker in my opinion, no player specific plays just standard lines non-stop."

Full Tilt Red Pro and CardRunners instructor Taylor "Green Plastic" Caby weighed in with his opinions, addressing both ends of the spectrum: "I actually think the Rush games will benefit thinking players. The 35 big blind buy-in makes short stacking harder, the lack of HUD (heads up display) might even more than make up for the fact that you can't get 'traditional' reads on players."

"Yeah, I don't know if a guy historically opens light on the cutoff or what his cold-four-betting range is," Caby continued, "but I do know he's from Spain, bought in for 41 big blinds, and his FTP name is FelipeIvey1948 -- I'd like to think I have a pretty good idea what he's all about."

"In sum, I don't think these games will become more popular than regular poker, but there are a lot of reasons why I think it's good for sites to experiment with stuff like this in order to offer a more options for their customers."

Rush Poker Player Reactions

"Online poker on steroids." That's how one TwoPlusTwo poster described Rush Poker, the newest spectacle introduced by Full Tilt Poker that has action junkies drooling over a fast-paced format we've never seen before.

Full Tilt, the world's second largest online poker site, launched Rush Poker in its latest software update on Tuesday. The concept is this: Players join a large player pool in a ring game and face a different table of players every hand they play. As soon as they fold their hand, they'll be moved to another table for their next hand.

The player response thus far has been overwhelming.

"Hats off to Full Tilt, the update is awesome," said TwoPlusTwo forum poster Robusto1. "PokerStars should take notes. FTP has taken a risk deviating away from the norm and I'm sure it will pay off. Now that the two sites aren't as homogeneous they might start competing on price (rake)."

"I think it's amazing," added another TwoPlusTwo member. "It's like FTP found a way to turn what would be semi competent players and turn them into complete donkaholics. I played $25NL and it felt like I was playing on PartyPoker back in the day. I never got paid off more with my big hands. Villains were pushing all-in on complete bluffs when I had full houses, calling me down with mid pair. Plus I get rakeback so it's like a wet dream."

Rakeback seems to be a leading reason as to the popularity of the new concept. Both rakeback and Full Tilt Points (FTPs) are calculated the same as they would in a regular ring game, but players will play far more hands at a table of Rush Poker. On average, players will see around 300 hands per hour.

In a poll on TwoPlusTwo asking if members like FTP's Rush Poker, 72% of poll takers said "Yes" through 700 votes. While most agreed that the new concept is enjoyable, many questioned whether it is good for the game.

"It's more like video poker in my view than normal poker," said TheGaussBeast. "No reads, no table dynamic. Furthermore, playing you get into gambling mode. I am susceptible to this as I suppose many, but not all players are. You are clicking away getting that mental stimulation that is akin to slots. You can take your time, but will you?"

"I don't like it for these reasons. Moreover, I am concerned that this is exactly where the fish will go. To the rush tables to gamble it up, leaving a bunch of regulars to fight and grind it out at the normal tables."

TwoPlusTwo member StoneRoses agreed: "What good is finding a read on a player if you don't seem him for another 20 minutes? This, if anything, promotes ABC poker in my opinion, no player specific plays just standard lines non-stop."

Full Tilt Red Pro and CardRunners instructor Taylor "Green Plastic" Caby weighed in with his opinions, addressing both ends of the spectrum: "I actually think the Rush games will benefit thinking players. The 35 big blind buy-in makes short stacking harder, the lack of HUD (heads up display) might even more than make up for the fact that you can't get 'traditional' reads on players."

"Yeah, I don't know if a guy historically opens light on the cutoff or what his cold-four-betting range is," Caby continued, "but I do know he's from Spain, bought in for 41 big blinds, and his FTP name is FelipeIvey1948 -- I'd like to think I have a pretty good idea what he's all about."

"In sum, I don't think these games will become more popular than regular poker, but there are a lot of reasons why I think it's good for sites to experiment with stuff like this in order to offer a more options for their customers."

PokerStars Announces North American Poker Tour

Look out, North America! Long absent poker events sponsored by PokerStars, the continent will host the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) beginning on January 20th at the Venetian, with another stop planned for Mohegan Sun.

Model Joanna Krupa, who was introduced to the PokerStars family during the fourth installment of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge,” will serve as the NAPT’s on-screen host. A television deal is in the works and PokerStars officials have employed 411, the same company that produces the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on ESPN, to create each episode. The identity of a television partner should be released in the next two weeks.

PokerStars players from the United States and Canada currently have to hop on an airplane and travel to far away lands for PokerStars-sponsored tournaments. PokerStars-backed series include the European Poker Tour (EPT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), Russian Poker Tour (RPT), Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), Italian Poker Tour (IPT) Czech-Slovak Poker Tour (CSPT), Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT), and U.K. and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT).

At the Venetian in Las Vegas, the final tournament of the casino’s Deep Stack Extravaganza will be the $5,000 buy-in NAPT Main Event. The fun in Sin City will take place from February 20th to 24th and side events will also play out. From Las Vegas, PokerStars NAPT officials will travel 2,600 miles due east to Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. The tournament series in the popular East Coast casino will see its Main Event held from April 7th to 11th as the kickoff of a brand new poker festival.

Negreanu commented in a press release furnished by the world’s largest online poker site, “I'm really looking forward to the launch of the NAPT. PokerStars.net has done an excellent job sponsoring meaningful tournaments around the world with the EPT, LAPT, APPT, and various other local tours – and it’s exciting to see them coming to my home town of Las Vegas! With the addition of the NAPT, I'll have a chance to play some tournaments on home soil and I'm very excited about that.” 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada and Team PokerStars Pro member Vanessa Rousso are among the bevy of site pros who are expected to turn out.

Technically, the first tournament of the NAPT was the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which is ongoing from the Atlantis Resort and Casino across the harbor from Nassau in the Bahamas. Satellites to the Venetian and Mohegan Sun tournaments will take place on PokerStars, which happily accepts players from the United States. Besides Cada, other WSOP Main Event champions to call the site home include Chris Moneymaker (2003), Greg Raymer (2004), Joe Hachem (2005), Peter Eastgate (2008), and Tom McEvoy (1983).

In North America, the NAPT will compete against several longstanding brands such as the World Poker Tour (WPT) and WSOP Circuit. The WPT is in the midst of filming its eighth season, the first with the backing of Party Gaming, which purchased the rights to the series in October. Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and actor Vince Van Patten continue to bring the WPT to life each week on Fox Sports Net. The WSOP Circuit has been crisscrossing the United States since 2004, stopping at various Harrah’s properties along the way. Circuit staffers are now camped out in Tunica, Mississippi for the fifth stop of the 2009-2010 season. The series gets underway in the Deep South on January 20th from Harrah’s Tunica.

Krupa has graced the covers of a handful of brand-name magazines, including “FHM,” “Maxim,” “Playboy,” and “Stuff.” She appeared on Season 9 of the ABC reality series “Dancing with the Stars” and also tested her sports skills in the network’s “Superstars.” Krupa defeated 9/11 first responder Mike Kosowski on the fourth episode of the “Million Dollar Challenge;” Kosowski would later go on to defeat Negreanu and earn the $1 million grand prize.

Additional stops for Season 1 of the NAPT will also be announced.

Top 5 of 2009: Yevgeniy Timoshenko’s Year

With an eye on the great poker personalities that have made the scene and the interesting fodder they’ve provided for us over the past 12 months, we’ve come up with our very own Top 5 Poker News Stories of 2009.

The plan is to present them to you every other day from now until New Year’s Eve and we continue today with No. 4: Yevgeniy Timoshenko’s Year.

Yevgeniy Timoshenko started playing poker online when he was just 15 years old.

With wins in the PokerStars Sunday Million, the daily $100 rebuy and the Sunday $200 rebuy online, plus solid live results in prelims at the Irish Poker Open, Paris Open, the Aussie Millions, World Series of Poker Europe, EPT Barcelona and a win in the 2008 APPT Macau main event, he was a poker-made millionaire even before his 21st birthday.

But it’s the feats he accomplished soon after turning 21 that suddenly has the entire world convinced he is one of poker’s brightest new stars.

With the smell of spring in the Las Vegas air, the Ukranian-born and Washington State raised Timoshenko proved he was a force to be reckoned with this past April, winning more than $2.1 million and one of poker’s most prestigious crowns at the Season 7 WPT Championship.

This one win would have been enough to cement his status as one of the game’s young greats, but Timoshenko’s year had just begun.

His summer was spent collecting close to $100k in cashes from the 2009 World Series of Poker, but another massive score was right around the corner.

The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker main event is by far the most coveted online title in the game and this September, Timoshenko booked the win, adding $1.7 million to his online MTT winnings.

PokerListings caught up with the budding superstar just weeks later as he found himself among the leaders in the final 36 of the WSOPE main event.

At the time, he explained how his game was designed for both the virtual felt and the kind you can touch and feel.

"I think my game is very adaptable to both online and live play," he said. "If you are just good at reading people you are not going to have as much success online and if you're only good at the math and playing ABC, you might do well online, but you're probably not going to do well live."

Winning two of poker’s biggest tournaments in a single year has obviously helped Timoshenko earn a few fans, especially among his peers.

“Yevgeniy is one of, if not the best tournament player around,” said EPT San Remo and WSOP Bracelet winner Jason Mercier. “I really like his game. I got the chance to play against him for the first time live deep in a 1k event at Bellagio a few weeks ago. I was pretty much plowing through the entire field until he showed up at my table. We have similar styles, which makes him tough to play against.

“One of the things that makes him so good is that he is almost always one level above everyone else at the table. In my opinion, there is no one better at No-Limit Hold’em tournaments.”

With more than $2.2 million in live tournament earnings this year, and another $2.2 million won online, including two of the most prestigious titles on either stage, Yevgeniy Timoshenko’s year was an easy choice for No. 4 on PokerListings’ Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009.

 

PokerListings' Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009:

• No. 5: The Emergence of Luke Schwartz
  

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Joe Cada Appears on PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge

On last weekend’s episode of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge,” 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Joe Cada appeared, but did not play. Instead, PokerStars sponsored celebrities trumped the challengers on the FOX poker franchise.

The first contestant of the afternoon was Dwayne Buth, who came out dressed in wrestling headgear as a former aficionado of the sport. His mission was to help the Cal State Fullerton wrestling team remain in existence and, appropriately, found himself up against Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Tito Ortiz. In the first round, each player began with 20,000 in chips and show front man Daniel Negreanu was seated alongside the contestant. He was unable see either player’s hole cards and Buth held one time out that he could use to consult with Negreanu at any point. On the line was a trip to the Bahamas for the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Suckouts occurred left and right during the match, with the underdog seemingly always coming out ahead on the river. In one hand, Ortiz was all-in with K-10 against Buth’s pocket deuces. The board came 8-6-5-5, leaving Ortiz drawing to a king, 10, six, or eight. Sure enough, an eight hit on the river and Ortiz doubled up. Then, Ortiz cracked Buth’s pocket kings with 9-7 of diamonds despite Buth being a 94% favorite after the flop. Ortiz candidly commented, “I’m pulling a Joe Cada right now.”

Buth raised to 10,000 pre-flop with A-J and Ortiz was all-in with 5-4 of diamonds. The flop came 8-9-9, keeping Buth ahead, and a deuce on the turn left Ortiz drawing to a four or five. Sure enough, a four hit on the river, giving Ortiz a six-outer and yet another double up. Then, it was Buth’s turn to suck out. With the board reading 5-6-7-A, Buth held 4-9 against Ortiz’s 8-10 and needed a three or eight on the river to stay alive. The river came a three and Buth doubled after hitting one of his seven outs to a straight.

Ortiz finally send Buth’s chip stack plummeting to less than one big blind in the roller coaster of a match and then TKO’d the contestant after his A-2 of spades overcame Buth’s pocket sevens. Among those watching in the crowd was 2008 WSOP November Nine member Dennis Phillips. Buth walked away empty-handed, but received a hearty ovation from the crowd and “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” host Chris Rose.

The second contestant to take to the stage was Mike Kosowski, a first responder on September 11th, 2001. He squared off against model Joanna Krupa, who appeared on the ABC reality series “Dancing with the Stars.” Kosowski played highly conservatively throughout the match against Krupa, including one hand where Krupa called pre-flop with K-7 and Kosowski raised to 10,000 with A-7. Krupa made the call and the flop came Q-3-8. Instead of putting in a continuation bet, Kosowski checked, Krupa bet 4,000, and the challenger called. After the turn came another eight, Kosowski checked, Krupa bet 4,000, and Kosowski folded, leaving Negreanu to question, “Really?”

In the final hand, Kosowski picked up 6-9 of hearts and used his time out card to consult with Negreanu. The member of Team PokerStars Pro told him to push all-in and then continue playing aggressively. However, Krupa picked up Q-J and called Kosowski’s shove. The board ran out 8-K-4-8-A and that was all she wrote. No pro contestants took to the felts on the show, which aired on Sunday afternoon following FOX coverage of the National Football League.

Next up for “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” is the grand finale on December 27th. Four contestants will battle to see who will play heads-up against Negreanu for the $1 million first place prize. The show has already been renewed for Season 2.

Chess Prodigy Checkmates EPT

At eight years old, Canadian Jeff Sarwer won the Under 10 World Youth Chess Championship in Puerto Rico.

By the time he was nine, he was travelling around North America taking on 40 players at a time in a series of simultaneous chess demonstrations, playing the world’s best speed chess hustlers in New York’s Washington Square and earning himself a lifetime membership in the revered Manhattan Chess Club.

He quickly became a darling of the media, was pegged by Grand Masters as a future World Champion and even became the inspiration for a character in the famed poker film Searching For Bobby Fischer.

But it all came to a crashing halt.

His father pulled him out of chess and the alternative lifestyle he had them living, including refusing to enroll Sarwer and his sister in school and having them sleep in the car as they travelled around, came under intense scrutiny.

Canadian authorities soon removed Sarwer and his sister from their father’s care, but they ran away to be reunited with him, spending the better part of the next 20 years in anonymity, traveling around Europe under a cloud of secrecy.

“I had a pretty tough childhood,” Sarwer said. “My father was quite controlling. But he was a really interesting character and there are a lot of good sides to him as well. As an adult I’ve just called it a wash and moved on with my life.”

In 2007 he resurfaced on the chess scene entering a tournament in Poland, where he now lives.

However, the 31-year-old was soon bitten by the poker bug.

“I’ve always loved poker as a game,” he said. “It has gotten so popular over the last couple of years it just finally grabbed me as well. Poker is all over TV, all my friends play. So I just figured let’s get into this, it’s a fun game.”

Sarwer read Harrington on Hold 'em by 1995 WSOP Main Event champion Dan Harrington and headed for Prague to play in the PokerStars European Poker Tour’s annual Czech Republic stop last year.

“I really knew nothing but the basics,” he said. “But I did manage to cash, so that was good for my confidence.”

The €7,000 he earned for a 54th place finish was just the start. By February of this year he had managed to make the final table at the European Masters of Poker event in Tallinn, finishing third for €29,760.

He booked a few small cashes in lower buy-in events across Europe and then this October, things really seemed to click as he absolutely dominated play at EPT Warsaw before busting tenth.

But Sarwer would not have to wait long for a real breakthrough.

Just a few weeks later he made the final table at EPT Vilamoura, finishing third for €156,170.

“I’ve developed and I think I just started to realize exactly what’s going on here,” he explained. “All I needed was a few good conversations with some really good players in order to get my game there.

“My confidence has always been up there. I believe in admitting I’m wrong when I’m wrong, but genuine confidence, I have that from chess and from life.”

When it comes to poker, it appears his chess background has given Sarwer a lot more than confidence. He believes there are several parallels between the two games.

“There are a lot of similarities and a lot of things that are different,” he said. “The things that are similar include having to pay attention, gather information and think a few moves ahead about what types of moves people will do, what your opponent is feeling and what he’s thinking. All that stuff is a little bit like chess.

“Certainly at a Master level, or a decent level of chess, there is a lot of meta game and that transfers over to poker for me.”

And while Sarwer’s poker experience is still quite limited, he has already grasped that the game is infinitely more intricate than it appears on the surface.

“In chess you can see things on the surface, look three or four moves deep, and eventually you are going to lose when someone traps you into something less obvious,” he said. “It’s the same with poker. You can just play ABC and not pay attention to what’s happening at the table and somebody is eventually going to catch you.”

While experience and a willingness to learn from others have played a big role in Sarwer’s recent success, he also attributes it to a newfound aggression.

“I’ve really opened up and become quite an aggressive player,” he said. “A lot of chess players tend to be a bit nittier and more technical. I just don’t happen to play that way right now because it’s not in my character.”

After an up and down day on the EPT Prague felt Thursday, Sarwer eventually busted, ending his string of deep finishes on the EPT.

But despite business commitments in Poland and the fact he claims he’s still just a “poker hobbyist” and not a professional player, it appears his new found love for the game will keep him coming back.

“I’ve made a lot of good friends amongst the online players,” he said. “They have that rare combination of being sharp, analytical and fun. The top poker players all seem to have that and I have a lot in common with that mindset.

“I love hanging around them. I’m nowhere near the top yet and I suppose it’s still too early to tell if I’ll make it there, but we’ll see.”

PokerStars EPT Prague continues with Day 3 Friday. For comprehensive coverage from the Czech Republic, tune into PokerListings’ Live Updates.

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WSOP Main Event Runner-Up Darvin Moon to be Featured During Patriots/Saints Game

On Monday night, Week 12 of the National Football League (NFL) will conclude with the 7-3 New England Patriots visiting Louisiana to take on the undefeated New Orleans Saints. Featured during the game will be 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon.

Kickoff is scheduled for 8:30pm ET and the contest will air on cable station ESPN in the United States. It was believed that Moon would be present for the on-field coin toss, when teams choose whether to kick or receive and which goal to defend. However, the rumor ultimately proved to be false. Instead, Moon will be present in the Saints locker room during pre-game festivities and will be recognized on both ESPN as well as the Superdome’s massive screen. The stadium holds 70,000 rabid fans and is completely sold out for the primetime contest.

The game marks one of two Monday night tilts for the Saints this season. The club defeated the division rival Atlanta Falcons earlier this month 35-27 in front of a national viewing audience. Greg Bensel, Saints Vice President of Communications for the NFL team, told Poker News Daily, “Darvin is a guy that we have followed while he made his miraculous run in the Main Event. He first came to our attention as the lone guy in the tournament that refused money so he could keep his Saints hat on. He is a typical Saints fan – passionate and in love with his team – and we are proud to call him a friend of our team and a true Saints fan.”

In the early morning hours of November 10th, Moon fell to Michigan pro Joe Cada heads-up in the finale of the $10,000 buy-in tournament. In the process, Cada became the youngest WSOP Main Event champion ever at the tender age of 21, eclipsing Peter Eastgate’s standing record, set in 2008, by one year. Moon banked $5.2 million in the process and outlasted all but one player in the field of 6,494. He elected not to sign any logo deals for the final table or throughout the tournament, instead wearing a Saints hat and a Wheeling Island Hotel Casino shirt. Moon purportedly requested a one-off logo deal for $350,000, but could not reach an agreement with any company.

Moon will be seated in Bensel’s box during the game. The Maryland logger has been discussing the event with the media for some time now and also claimed that the Saints granted him season tickets. The Saints have been a juggernaut on offense this year, reminiscent of Moon’s run down the stretch in the Main Event. The club has scored 30 points in all but three games this season and bested the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week by 31 points. Quarterback Drew Brees, a Purdue product, is sixth in the NFL in passing yards with 2,746 and first in touchdowns with 22. He was the first quarterback taken in many fantasy football leagues this season coming off a career best 34 touchdown performance in 2008; he’s on pace for 35 this year.

Monday Night Football airs on ESPN, the same station that owns the broadcast rights to the WSOP. The longtime football staple formerly aired on ABC before making the move to its sister station, ESPN; Disney owns both. ESPN formerly carried Sunday Night Football, which now makes its home on NBC.

We look forward to seeing Moon on Monday night. Are you ready for some football?

Joe Cada Recaps WSOP, David Letterman on PocketFives Podcast

This week, the online poker forum PocketFives.com welcomed 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event winner Joe Cada, who signed up for a PocketFives.com account using the moniker “jcada99.”

Check out the audio:

Cada appeared on the “Late Show with David Letterman” on Tuesday night in a four-minute segment following actress Penelope Cruz. On his interview with the longtime CBS host, Cada told the PocketFives.com Podcast, “It was very exciting. I was probably more nervous to do that than the final table. It was cool to meet Dave. He’s a funny guy.” Letterman and Cada covered a substantial amount of ground during the terse interview, with topics ranging from Cada’s backers to his beginnings in the game.

Preparing for November’s resumption of the $10,000 buy-in tournament meant over 100 days of waiting for play to kick off. While several at the table sought coaching and some escaped on vacation, Cada relayed how he spent the downtime: “I just tried to remain focused and not think about the money. I wanted to play the best poker that I could and not play scared either.” As a result of his win, Cada will parlay his fame into continued involvement with the poker world. He noted, “I’ll continue to play poker and I’ll always play poker. We have a few big tournaments coming up, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas and the Five Diamond at the Bellagio. I’m going to continue to play big tournaments and play online.”

His parents, though initially gun shy about his poker endeavors, have ultimately come around to support the new millionaire. Cada revealed, “My family has been very supportive and my friends have been very supportive too. There have been a lot of people helping me through this and I’m very appreciative of all of that. I’ve been really busy, so I haven’t had too much time to talk to them yet.” His girlfriend served as his ambassador at the Rio during the Main Event final table, answering Cada’s phone and keeping him company throughout the off-day before heads-up play.

Cada is a heads-up online poker specialist and, holding better than a 2:1 chip lead when play was down to two against Maryland logger Darvin Moon, was considered to be favored by most. However, Moon put up a fight, leaving Cada to admit, “Darvin Moon did impress me with his heads-up play. He played really well and put me to a lot of tough decisions. He wanted to play very aggressively, which he did, and put me in a lot of tough spots. Darvin played excellent heads-up poker and took it to me for the beginning part of the match.”

Moon showed down monsters leading up to the nine-handed final table, developing an image as a rock in a table full of experienced poker players. Cada picked up on the same image, telling PocketFives.com Podcast Host David Huber, “Darvin came to the final table with an image that he didn’t bluff too much, barely at all. He always had a monster and tried to use that image to his advantage at the final table. He put in a lot of big raises and tried to put people in a lot of tough spots.”

While Moon turned up the tempo at the final table, poker pros Jeff Shulman and Team Full Tilt member Phil Ivey clamped down, playing mostly ABC poker. On the tightness of the two pros, Cada commented, “I was very surprised, especially when I saw the video. I was surprised that Shulman folded nines on the button when Ivey shipped. I was also surprised to see Ivey fold jacks when he got 3bet. Those hands surprised me and they were playing really tight throughout the 17 hours. Shulman opened up more as we got shorter-handed and I had 18 big blinds, which was my reason to ship with threes.”

Finally, after watching the WSOP Main Event unfold on ESPN, Cada relayed his thoughts on the network’s coverage, which will continue until at least April of 2018: “I wish they would have shown more hands that I was involved with, but they did a good job. There was a ton of footage, so it was hard to see a lot of the interesting hands. They didn’t show a few of my 4bets and there was a crucial hand against Darvin heads-up that I thought they were going to show where he 3bet and I 4bet with 10-3 and he ended up folding fours.”

Cada has looked and sounded professional throughout his various media appearances, coached in interviewing by PokerRoad’s Joe Stapleton and Top Set Management. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest Joe Cada interviews.

Poker2Nite Debuts on Fox Sports Net

Wednesday night marked the first episode of the UB.net poker news show “Poker2Nite.” The new franchise stars PokerRoad personalities Joe Sebok and Scott Huff and airs at 11:00pm ET on Wednesdays on Fox Sports Net.

Last night’s show began with a discussion of the major news item of the week, the win by Joe Cada in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Cada became the youngest champion ever of the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament at age 21 and turned 22 on November 18th. In the final hand of the tournament, which was replayed on “Poker2Nite,” Cada shoved with pocket nines and Maryland logger Darvin Moon made the call for his tournament life with Q-J of diamonds. The two were off to the races with $3 million in real money on the line. In the end, Cada emerged victorious. He told “Poker2Nite’s” Lacey Jones after play had concluded, “I knew the odds of winning it were a long shot.”

Huff gave his take on the emergence of Cada: “The kid immediately goes out and does a lot of live interviews. He’s accepted a number of mainstream media appearances and it feels like he’s ready to step into the spotlight and be an ambassador for the game.” Huff and Sebok then debated whether it was fair that the winner of the Main Event had a “job” to promote the game. Sebok stated, “It’s an opportunity. I would snatch up that job in a second.” Sebok took 56th in the 2009 Main Event, earning $108,000.

Attention then turned to the departure of WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, who resigned from his post just days after Cada was crowned the newest World Champion. Pollack’s legacy includes the introduction of the $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship, the November Nine, and a reduction in the number of player complaints. Sebok, who was one of several pros who weighed in following Pollack’s departure on social media sites like Twitter, told “Poker2Nite” viewers, “Jeffrey Pollack definitely changed the game for the better.”

UB.net logos appeared in the background and in commercials during each break. The new site was launched earlier this week replacing Ultimate Bet, which was long known by the two-letter acronym. “Poker2Nite” is featured on the front page of UB.net and UB.com and a press release announcing the new site called the series “a new television show that is truly about poker, not just another reality or game show.” Huff and Sebok are veterans of the media side of poker through their work with PokerRoad Radio. Both bring an energetic demeanor to the silver screen and looked at home in front of Fox Sports Net television cameras.

Dana Workman, who has appeared in various sitcoms on ABC and FOX, gave her Weekly Misdeal and Huff and Sebok examined which fans at the tournament in Las Vegas were the rowdiest. Cada’s won the contest, as the youngster’s cheering section came decked out in yellow shirts and screamed loudly throughout the marathon festivities. The younger age of Cada’s fans may have contributed to their excitement, as supporters of Antoine Saout and Steven Begleiter, who were dressed in blue, appeared to be of an older age.

Joining the show as its first guest was San Jose native and ESPN poker announcer Lon McEachern, about whom Huff jokingly claimed, “I brought him on to force him to pass the torch.” McEachern, who first broadcasted the WSOP on ESPN in 2002 alongside Gabe Kaplan, told “Poker2Nite” fans, “It’s an event now. To have that many people watching nine guys sit and play cards was incredible. To come from the obscure beginnings to where it is now has been the ride of a lifetime.”

In addition to its 11:00am ET debut each Wednesday night, “Poker2Nite” re-airs on Thursdays at 4:00pm ET and Fridays at 11:00am ET and 6:00pm ET. Check local listings for full details.

Hand Dissection – Reed Hensel at the 2009 WSOP Main Event

Abusing the money bubble has become an effective tactic in tournament poker. It is generally accepted that players should turn up the aggression as the bubble approaches because, in most cases, players will tighten up to guarantee a cash reward.

No better example of this practice came than at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. With the money bubble looming and a payday of $21,365 in sight, short stacks began folding premium pocket pairs face up as bigger stacks applied pressure. On multiple occasions, pocket kings hit the muck pre-flop and the standard “abc” poker went completely out the window.

If you’ve been following ESPN’s coverage of this year’s Main Event, then you might recall the final hand on the bubble between Kansas pro Reed Hensel and Kia Hamadani that later created some debate among poker fanatics. With 649 players remaining and the top 648 getting paid, Hamadani was all-in for his last chip when Hensel made a play at the pot with rags to drive out the other players at the table and win the side pot. Hensel’s hand ultimately trumped Hamadani’s to secure a payday for the remaining players in the field. Hensel took some time with Poker News Daily to discuss the hand.

Hand Recap:

Blinds 2,500/5,000, ante 500

One spot before the money, Hamadani is all-in pre-flop for his last blue 500 chip. Hamadani, in early position, doesn’t peek at his hole cards and the action folds around to Hensel in the hijack. Hensel raises to 17,000 with 9h-2c. Marty Zabib calls from the small blind and Mike Nye decides to tag along from the big blind.

On a flop of Qh-6h-Qd, Zabib and Nye check and Hensel fires out a continuation bet of 20,000. The two players fold and Hensel scoops the side pot worth 51,000. Now that he’s heads-up against the short stack, Hensel tables 9h-2c. A cheerful Hamadani becomes visibly crushed as he turns over 4c-3h. The Amazon Room erupts as Hensel’s nine-high is in front and, when the nine of diamonds lands on the turn, Hamadani is left drawing dead. Hensel scoops the main pot of 4,500 and Hamadani is ousted one spot out of the money.

Poker News Daily: First, describe a little bit how this table was playing on the money bubble. Were the players being passive for the most part? Was anyone opening a high percentage of pots?

Hensel: My table was incredibly passive on the bubble. One guy folded J-J face up from the big blind to my 2.5x opening raise. I was fortunate to land the best seat at the table as well. I was in Seat 6 or 7 and the only two people that really knew how to exploit the bubble were to my direct right. This meant that for seven out of nine hands every orbit, I had position on both of them. If both of them folded, I raised and took the blinds down. If one of them opened, I could bet them with any two cards and put them in a very tough spot. I bet their raises around 30% of the time. I would have done it more, but they were folding probably more than they should have, so I was happy with taking the blinds four times per orbit.

PND: Did Hamadani’s declining stack affect your bubble strategy?

Hensel: I don’t think this had much of an effect of what I was doing. He started the day with 200,000 in chips and then got down to 30,000, where he folded every hand until the bubble hand. I guess if he had maintained a stack, it could have influenced my play more because he seemed really aggressive, so I imagine he would have wanted a piece of the free blinds as well. Everyone else at the table knew that we were really close to the money and they could look at Hamadani’s stack and see that all they had to do was wait him out, hence they became more willing to fold to my raises.

PND: I’m assuming that since you opened the betting with 9-2 offsuit, you would make this play with any two cards. Talk about the value of raising pre-flop in such a critical situation.

Hensel: It’s really common knowledge that around the bubble is the best point in a poker tournament to apply pressure by raising and taking pots down uncontested. There isn’t a tournament where this is more apparent than the Main Event. I haven’t played too many $10,000 tournaments outside of two Main Events, but I can’t imagine that in some random WPT or EPT stop people are folding A-A and K-K too often just to double their money.

Like I said earlier, a guy showed me his J-J and folded to my pre-flop open even though I had been raising four or five times an orbit. Because of this and my dream situation at the table, I simply had to raise every hand when they folded to me. The blinds were 2,500-5,000 with a 500 ante. I would raise to 12,000 or 13,000 and win 12,000 chips.  I really don’t think I got called once out of 30 or so raises. I probably ran good and didn’t run into Q-Q, K-K, or A-A, so in reality, I probably should have gotten raised all-in once or twice. The point still stands that risking 12,000 to win 12,000 is incredibly profitable when it works somewhere around 85% of the time.

PND: Zabib and Nye decided to call and take a flop. With what range of hands would you expect them to defend their blinds in this spot?

Hensel: When both solid players folded to me, I knew I was raising before I looked at my cards and they just happened to be 9-2. I decided to make it 17,000 pre-flop instead of my standard 12,000 because I really wanted them to fold so I could win the 7,500 chips and maybe get more bubble hands in if Hamadani beat me. I thought this would make it seem like I had a premium hand. I figured both Zabib and Nye would fold, but it wasn’t too surprising that they flatted.

A standard thing to do in this situation is to check every hand down through the river to help the odds that one of our three hands beats the all-in hand. However, this is not the smartest thing to do, especially when a side pot is involved. At the time, I figured Zabib had a slightly above average hand, probably a middle pair or A-J suited. I figured Nye had any two cards, as he would have the amateurish attitude of checking it down.

PND: How often are you expecting them to fold after you made a continuation bet on the flop? Explain why this play is so profitable.

Hensel: On the specific flop of Q-Q-6, I thought they would fold just about everything. I bet small for two reasons. One, I thought it would represent a strong hand and could possibly get a hand like A-6 or 7-7 to fold. Second, if one of them had a hand that they wouldn’t fold like 6-6 or Q-X, then I save myself chips because I would have shut down had either of them check-called the flop. The side pot was 51,000 and I risked 20,000 to win it, which I do probably 80% of the time. At that point, I didn’t care about the 4,500 in the main pot. It turns out that I maybe even overestimated their calling range because Nye said he folded Ah-Kh, which was a nut flush draw. If he folds this, I could see him folding Q-2 to Q-J and possibly K-Q.  He just really wanted to cash.

PND: How much did “making the money” in the WSOP Main Event mean to you? Were you playing it the same way you’d play any tournament online?

Hensel: I played the entire tournament a lot tighter than I would online. People in this tournament give up too much with a deep stack, making it kind of silly to get into leveling wars with other good players. Making the money did matter to me, but I wouldn’t have been crushed if I had bubbled. I pretty much didn’t want to go out on some crazy bluff out of the money, but I wasn’t going to pass on a +EV spot just to make it in.

PND: I’ve had people try to convince me that you only made this play because the ESPN cameras were rolling. Is there any truth to that?

Hensel: None at all. As cliché as it sounds, I didn’t even notice them during the hand.

PND: You ultimately finished in 70th place in the Main Event, collecting $90,344. How would you grade your experience over the six days?

Hensel: I had a great time in this tournament. On each of the first three days, I lost half of my stack during the first level and then spent the rest of each day grinding it back. This was emotionally exhausting and I’m glad there were a lot of off days up front or I may not have made it. Overall, though, I give myself an A+ and hope to make the final 100 again in the next few years, as I think I learned a lot about end game strategy in live tournaments.

Doyle Brunson Blasts Face the Ace, Million Dollar Challenge

In a recent blog entry that appeared on DoylesRoom.com, site namesake Doyle Brunson blasted two poker franchises to hit television airwaves in recent months: NBC’s “Face the Ace” and FOX’s “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.”

As talk show host Jim Rome would say, any time a person begins a sentence with “No disrespect intended,” someone is going to be disrespected. On the two poker game shows, which air on network television stations on weekend afternoons, Brunson commented, “No disrespect intended, but these poker shows are awful. Full Tilt’s ‘Face the Ace’ and Poker Stars ‘Million Dollar Challenge’ are so bad, it’s embarrassing. There is no skill involved in either show and I can’t imagine getting an audience that will watch the shows.” Both series saw online qualifiers take to the felts to play heads-up against heralded poker pros.

“Face the Ace” began airing on August 1st and originally claimed the 9:00pm ET hour on Saturday night. It aired for two episodes in prime time before a planned decision to move the poker franchise to afternoons on the weekend day. The first episode of the Steve Schrippa-hosted show featured Don Topel taking home $200,000, but it mustered just a 0.4 rating with a 2 share, which meant that only 1.59 million viewers had tuned in. Its competition included “America’s Most Wanted” and the movie “Red Eye,” which aired on ABC.

One week later on August 8th, Topel lost the $1 million match to Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith and walked away with nothing. The news was equally grim for NBC, which saw the second installment of “Face the Ace” generate a 0.3 rating with a 1 share, the equivalent of 1.46 million viewers age 18 to 49. “Face the Ace” airs once per month on the network, with future one-hour episodes scheduled to be shown on October 31st, November 14th, December 12th, and January 2nd. NBC also broadcasts the National Heads-Up Poker Championship as well as “Poker After Dark,” which airs Monday to Saturday at 2:05am ET.

The “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” premiered last Sunday following NFL on FOX coverage, or around 4:30pm ET in most markets. Daniel Negreanu serves as the face of the franchise, helping contestants battle PokerStars-sponsored sports figures and pros in the first two rounds. Then, Negreanu transitions from friend to foe, taking contestants on heads-up in the third round with $100,000 on the line. All $100,000 winners advance to the Table of Champions, whose victor faces Negreanu for $1 million. Last week, Father Andrew Trapp earned $100,000 after defeating former NBA star John Salley and professional poker player Vanessa Rousso.

“Million Dollar Challenge” returns this Sunday following the NFL on FOX. Then, like “Face the Ace,” it will air once per month, with November 22nd, December 13th, and December 27th serving as its remaining dates. “Face the Ace” and “Million Dollar Challenge” exclusively feature Full Tilt and PokerStars pros, respectively.

Brunson also commented on the recent departure of A.J. Benza from GSN’s “High Stakes Poker.” On the televised ring game series, Brunson explained in his blog, “As I travel around, the High Stakes [Poker] cash games are the ones all the fans talk about and I agree with them that they are by far the most interesting. Speaking of that, I read where A.J. Benza is being replaced on GSN’s High Stakes Poker show. That’s too bad, I like A.J.’s subtle sense of humor. Vanessa Rousso is named as his likely replacement. I’m pro-Vanessa so I think she will fit in nicely with the old comic Gabe Kaplan.” Rousso told Poker News Daily that she is not the next host of “High Stakes Poker.” To clear the air, GSN is scheduled to make an announcement by the end of the week.

WSOP Main Event Days 5 and 6 Air on ESPN

With 96% of the field gone, players took to the felts for Days 5 and 6 of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on ESPN. Three women, two former Main Event champions, and one gold bracelet remained.

The first hand shown at the feature table, which once again contained Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Jeff Shulman, saw Randy Propson and Grospellier see a flop of 10-2-6. The action went check-check to bring a king on the turn and Grospellier check-called a bet of 42,000 from Propson. The river was a deuce and Grospellier once again check-called a bet, this time 75,000. Grospellier showed A-8 for ace-high, good enough to scoop the 330,000 chip pot. Elsewhere in the room, Phil Ivey bet 40,000 on a board of 8-7-7-8-J and Charles Clark called. Ivey showed J-6 for a rivered two pair to claim the pot.

At Table Two, Andreas Flakstad shoved all-in holding pocket eights on a 7-J-2-3-5 board with three hearts. Antonio Esfandiari tanked before finally folding pocket queens. Table Two also included “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” winner Lou Diamond Phillips. Back at the feature table, Brent Catalano doubled up at the expense of Joe Hachem, who joined the cast. Catalano held pocket queens in the hand, which saw Hachem miss a flush draw.

In the PokerStars-sponsored “Straight from the Pros” segment, Hachem relived a hand from the 2007 Main Event in which he stressed the importance of position. Then, back at the Rio, Estelle Denis, one of three women remaining in the field, pushed all-in over the top of a raise by J.C. Tran. However, the dealer pulled her cards into the muck. A floor supervisor, Steve Frezer, was called. After Denis told him her cards, Frezer looked at the top two cards in the deck, which did not match, and her hand was declared dead. Denis noted that she had aces.

Joe Sebok could be found alongside his cousin, Mike Linn, and both were decked out in PokerRoad gear. In the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand, Francois Balmigere raised pre-flop with unknown cards and Hachem called from the big blind with 5-7 of diamonds. The flop came 10-5-2. Hachem checked, Balmigere bet 43,000, and Hachem called to see the turn fall an ace. Hachem once again checked, Balmigere fired out a bet of 86,000, about half the size of the pot, and Hachem folded. Balmigere held just 6-7 for a bluff.

At Table Two, Esfandiari signed a woman’s chest and promptly autographed a man’s stomach, attracting the attention of ESPN cameras. Then, his pocket aces sent Adam Sanders and his pocket tens packing after the board ran out 4-K-K-8-3. In “The Nuts,” which asked poker pros which of their peers would make ideal reality television show contestants, Phil Hellmuth claimed his agent inquired if he wanted to be on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” In one of the final hands shown during the first episode, which aired at 9:00pm ET, Phillips was all-in with kings against two players holding pocket aces. The board came 8-9-9-5-9 and one of the last celebrities left in the field hit the rails in 186th place.

The second episode profiled Day 6 at the 2009 WSOP Main Event and kicked off with a rap by bracelet winner Prahlad Friedman. ESPN announcer Norman Chad quipped, “In terms of rapping, I’d have to put him ahead of Jeff Madsen, but behind Jay Z.” Out in the field, ESPN viewers saw two eventual November Nine members clash, as James Akenhead check-raised Steve Begleiter, who promptly re-raised to 505,000. Akenhead made the call on the 9-8-Q board with two clubs to see the three of spades hit the turn. Akenhead check-called an 850,000 chip bet to bring the river, the seven of spades. Both players checked and Begleiter scooped the massive 2.8 million chip pot with 9-7 for two pair.

Seated at the same table during the 10:00pm ET episode were Hachem, Tran, Dennis Phillips, and Peter Eastgate, a group dubbed by ESPN announcer Lon McEachern “the table of death.” Elsewhere, Dan Bilzerian, one-half of the Norman Chad-labeled “Flying Bilzerian Brothers,” was ousted by Jonathan Tamayo with his A-6 could not out-draw pocket tens. After the Full Tilt Poker sponsored segment “Deal Me In” recapped a hand with Jennifer Harman during the 2005 Main Event, Nichoel Peppe took down a pot at Table Two. Peppe and Leo Margets headlined the side table and represented the lone women remaining in the 2009 WSOP Main Event after Denis was sent packing.

Darvin Moon put in a raise to 650,000 and Ben Lamb called on a board of A-3-2-J. The river came a nine. Lamb checked, Moon bet 500,000, and Lamb folded, boosting Moon’s chip stack to 4.1 million, among the top tallies in the Amazon Room. Adam Bilzerian doubled up after calling all-in with 5-4 on a board of 6-5-2. His opponent showed J-9 for a bluff and Bilzerian’s hand held up. Bilzerian would give some of his newfound chips to John Martin after Martin was all-in with pocket nines on a 5-8-7-2 board with two spades. Bilzerian held 5-6 of the suit for flush and straight draws, but the river was the jack of hearts.

Tom Schneider, the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year, took down a 2.6 million chip pot at the feature table to close out Tuesday’s WSOP on ESPN festivities. New episodes air at 9:00pm ET on Tuesdays on ESPN and replay throughout the week.

Timoshenko on fire in WSOPE final 36

While the Ukranian born and U.S. raised 21-year-old currently sits 15th in chips, surrounded by a group of poker's greatest stars who are all trailing chip leader and 2009 WSOP bracelet winner Matt Hawrilenko in the fight for a seat at the final table, recent history has to make him a favorite to book one.

Timoshenko has more than $3 million in career live tournament earnings, including $2,149,960 from a win at the 2009 WPT Championship this past April, all collected over the last two and a half years.

But his poker prowess extends to the virtual felt as well.

Just last week he took down the PokerStars WCOOP main event, adding $1.7 million to his online MTT winnings, which now total more than $3 million over the past three years.

Weaned on online poker, starting when he was just 15-years-old, Timoshenko told PokerListings his game is built for both the virtual felt and inside the brick and mortar.

"I think my game is very adaptable to both online and live play," he said. "If you are just good at reading people you are not going to have as much success online and if you're only good at the math and playing ABC, you might do well online, but you're probably not going to do well live."

A serious student of the game, Timoshenko certainly appreciates that experience is an important factor in his success.

"I definitely paid my dues before I became successful and started making lots of money," he said. "I spent a lot of time playing, learning, reviewing my play and just talking to other people about poker and seeing what I could pick up."

However, his approach to learning the game has been a bit more analytical than most.

"There are definitely players that have played a lot more hands of poker than me," he said. "I just took a different approach. I studied and reviewed sessions as much as I played poker when I started out."

As scary as it sounds, Timoshenko admits he's still learning how to pick up some of live poker's subtleties, but he is obviously getting more comfortable with them every day.

"I'm very much a math guy," he said. "A lot of the reads I make are not based on live tells, but more on picking up on player tendencies, bet sizing and the way people play different strength hands. I use all that information to make my decisions.

"But I've been more comfortable with live poker for a while. It's not the way I started playing poker, I've played a lot more hands online than live and because of that, I guess I feel more comfortable playing online than live."

The chance for Timoshenko to get even more comfortable will come as the final 36 plays down to a final nine at the WSOPE main event starting at 12 p.m. BST in London Wednesday.

But with names like Praz Bansi, Arnaud Mattern, Eric Liu, John Kabbaj, Chris Bjorin, Ram Vaswani, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu and a host of others still well stacked, it will not be a walk in the park for the young star.

For more from the WSOPE main event, including chip counts, photos and live updates, click through to PokerListings' Live Tournaments page.

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Sunday Night Football Dominates Amazing Race Premiere in Ratings

The National Football League (NFL) game between the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals garnered an 8.2 rating on Sunday night during the 8:00pm ET hour to lead all programs. The CBS reality series Amazing Race, which features poker pros Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho, premiered at 7.1.

Amazing Race began around 8:15pm ET as a result of a late finish of a football game that aired on CBS. During the 8:00pm ET hour, Sunday Night Football generated an 8.2 rating according to HitFix, Amazing Race came in at 7.1, ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition mustered a 6.4 rating, and Fox’s The Simpsons came in at 4.5. Another show that aired during the first of two hours for Amazing Race was The Cleveland Show (5.3 rating), which premiered on Sunday night at 8:30pm ET on Fox.

Amazing Race’s 15th season premiere featured a two-hour episode, seeing a 5.8 rating during its second hour, a sharp drop-off. Sunday Night Football, which was approaching halftime at 9:00pm ET, attracted a solid 9.7 rating during its second of three hours. Fox again ran two half-hour programs, with Family Guy grabbing a 5.7 rating and American Dad chiming in with a 4.1. Meanwhile, Desperate Housewives returned to score an 8.4 rating. The hour-long program airs on ABC and bumped Amazing Race to third in the ratings during the time slot.

The number of viewers of Sunday Night Football dwindled during the 10:00pm ET hour, when the game became a blowout, generating an 8.7 rating. Indianapolis won 31-10, with quarterback Peyton Manning tossing four touchdowns in primetime; the Colts led 21-3 at the intermission. The game generated additional interest given that Arizona is the defending National Football Conference (NFC) champions and narrowly defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in January’s Super Bowl.

HitFix noted that NBC averaged 12.7 million viewers during the three-hour time period and mustered an 8.0 rating. CBS, which carries Amazing Race, was in second place with a 7.3 rating and 11.7 million viewers. Amazing Race is regularly one hour in length, but aired for 120 minutes over the weekend for its debut episode. Next week, Pittsburgh will host the San Diego Chargers on Sunday Night Football, which will surely lead to another ratings-rich affair for NBC.

Previously, ESPN held the rights to Sunday Night Football before the honor went to NBC in time for the 2006 season. The NBC version originally featured Al Michaels and John Madden in the broadcast booth. Madden retired before the start of the 2009 campaign and was replaced by Cris Collinsworth. Amazing Race has aired on Sunday nights since Season 10 in the 8:00pm ET hour. Previous versions have aired on Thursday night, Wednesday night, and Tuesday night. The latter has been the traditional evening for new episodes of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on ESPN.

Amazing Race once again won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program in 2009. In fact, Amazing Race has won the honor every year the award has been given out and, this time around, it bested American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Project Runway, and Top Chef. Amazing Race features Executive Producers Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman, and Jerry Bruckheimer, who has been behind movie blockbusters like Top Gun, The Rock, and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Michelle and Ho were nearly sent home from Tokyo on the season premiere of Amazing Race, but finished last in a non-elimination leg. Despite having to complete a Speed Bump, an extra task only they had to perform, Michelle and Ho rallied to finish seventh out of 11 teams. Now, 10 remain as the cast heads to Cambodia. Check out Amazing Race at 8:00pm ET on CBS every Sunday.

Jamie Gold - Poker Player Profile

Jamie Gold is the winner of the largest cash prize in a televised sports event - $12 million for the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event. After outlasting 8,772 players over the course of eleven grueling days, Gold instantly became a poker-star and one of the many faces of the game. Having been taught poker at a very young age by his grandfather, winning the WSOP was somewhat of a life-long dream for Jami Gold, who had a mere $100K in cashes before making the gargantuan score. Since then, Jamie’s life has been a whirlwind of magazine covers, article publications, and various T.V. appearances on shows like GSN’s “High Stakes Poker”, NBC’s “Poker After Dark” and “National Heads Up Championship”, ABC’s “Celebrity Pro-Am”, and of course, ESPN’s “World Series of Poker”.

As with many other poker professionals, Jamie Gold started somewhere else – in his case, as a talent agent interning with J. Michael Bloom. After moving to Los Angeles at the age of 21, Gold worked for a few years before co-founding the successful Gold-Bouchard management company that boasted such clients as James Gandolfini, Jimmy Fallon and Felicity Huffman.  He is now the acting head of an entertainment company called Buzznation.

In balancing life, poker, and a job while still being able to donate some of his time and wealth, Jamie Gold has earned a very becoming moniker: The Poker Philanthropist. Chief among his charitable endeavors is his involvement in the fight against ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, the illness which claimed the life of his father, Robert. He has also attended, supported, or hosted more than 40 charity events since his WSOP victory. Whether he’s busy with his professional career, playing on the felt, or our giving back to the community, Jamie Gold is a true champion.

Face the Ace Struggles in Ratings, Debuts in Last Place

NBC’s new poker show “Face the Ace” debuted on NBC on Saturday night, with contestant Don Topel winning $200,000. This week, he’ll go for $1 million. Despite the high-stakes drama, “Face the Ace” premiered in last place in the ratings.

“Face the Ace” aired from 9:00pm ET to 10:00pm ET on Saturday night. According to television ratings provided by TVByTheNumbers.com, during its first half-hour, the series of heads-up poker matches garnered a 0.4 rating with a 2 share, equating to 1.59 million viewers. Of the four major networks in the United States, NBC took last during that time slot. FOX, which aired an episode of “America’s Most Wanted,” claimed the top spot with a 1.5 rating and 6 share, or 4.43 million viewers.

During its first half-hour, “Face the Ace” also squared off against the ABC movie “Red Eye,” which kicked off at 8:00pm ET and ran for three hours. During the 9:00pm ET to 9:30pm ET time slot, “Red Eye,” claimed a 0.7 rating with a 3 share, good for the second best tally with 3.27 million viewers. Finally, CBS aired a rerun of “Numb3rs” between 9:00pm ET and 10:00pm ET. During the hour-long show’s first 30 minutes, “Numb3rs” also generated a 0.7 rating with a 3 share, equating to 3.26 million viewers and falling just short of the ABC movie.

During its second half-hour, “Face the Ace” was up against the same three shows. “America’s Most Wanted” once again led the way with a 1.6 rating and a 6 share for 4.78 million viewers. “Red Eye” claimed a 0.9 rating and a 4 share, which translated into 3.82 million viewers. “Numb3rs” boasted a 0.7 rating with a 3 share, good for 3.57 million viewers. Once again, “Face the Ace” rounded out the top four, taking a 0.4 rating with a 2 share. The poker television show attracted 1.54 million viewers.

Several NBC affiliates pre-empted “Face the Ace” for local programming, including the Houston and Detroit affiliates, two of the largest markets in the country. Formerly airing in the time slot currently held by “Face the Ace” was “Kings,” likely a much pricier series to produce. Therefore, NBC’s margin may be slightly higher on “Face the Ace.” A poster on TVByTheNumbers.com noted that despite “Face the Ace’s” sluggish ratings, “Kings also had a price tag that was how much bigger?” Full Tilt Poker sponsors “Face the Ace”. All of its “aces” are pros of the online poker site.

TVByTheNumbers.com reports ratings for viewers aged 18 to 49. “Face the Ace,” as a poker-themed show, does not target the full spectrum of this demographic. “Poker After Dark,” NBC’s daily poker show, airs at 2:05am ET. This week’s match-up is entitled “Close But No Cigar” and includes players who have reached the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, but have yet to claim a title in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament: Mike Matusow, Lee Watkinson, Allen Cunningham, Dewey Tomko, Andy Black, and David Williams.

A thread that appeared on the online poker forum PocketFives.com recommended several improvements for future episodes of “Face the Ace,” including having a contestant’s loved ones on stage rooting them on (in a similar fashion to the NBC game show “Deal or No Deal”), Full Tilt Poker pros railing their colleagues, a player winning an on-stage sit and go to face an ace, and a new host.

“Face the Ace” will air this Saturday, August 8th, at 9:00pm ET. Then, it can be seen once per month until January of 2010. Show officials described the first two primetime episodes as an opportunity to “test the waters” for future programming choices. Here’s when you can catch “Face the Ace”:

August 8th, 2009 – 9:00pm ET
September 12th, 2009 – 2:00pm ET
October 31st, 2009 – 3:30pm ET
November 14th, 2009 – 3:00pm ET
December 12th, 2009 – 3:00pm ET
January 2nd, 2010 – 2:30pm ET

We want to know what you think. What would improve the ratings for NBC’s “Face the Ace”? Leave a comment and voice your choice.

Harlem Globetrotters, Miss America May Join Tiffany Michelle on Amazing Race

According to an article that appeared this week in The Examiner, two members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and Miss America 2004 may join poker players Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho on Season 15 of the CBS reality show “Amazing Race.”

Poker News Daily can confirm that Tiffany Michelle is among the cast for the 15th cycle of the reality series, citing anonymous sources inside the industry. Her rumored partner is Maria Ho, who Reality Fan Forum snapped a picture of at Los Angeles International Airport on the day that “Amazing Race” filming allegedly began. In the image, she did not appear to be donning a backpack (as is customary for “Amazing Race” teams); instead, she was pulling a suitcase. Michelle and Ho represent the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Events, respectively.

The Examiner speculates that Harlem Globetrotters members Nate “Big Easy” Lofton and Herbert “Flight Time” Lang are members of the “Amazing Race” cast. Lang attended Centenary College in Louisiana and wears #4 for the showcase basketball team. His biography found on the Harlem Globetrotters website appropriately reads, “He is a self-proclaimed reality TV junkie… What Flight Time likes about reality TV is that, even though he knows parts are staged and scripted for dramatic effect, ‘After a certain amount of time, you really get to see what people are like.’” Lang was roped into reality television after catching an episode of CBS staple “Survivor.”

Lofton attended Southeast Louisiana and grew up in New Orleans. His biography notes, “His gregarious personality and thunderous dunks entertain Globetrotter fans young and old.” A total of 26 players make up the current roster of the Harlem Globetrotters, which showcase unusual basketball skills at venues around the world. Several members of the team, including Lang, appeared on the ABC reality series “The Bachelorette” in May. The Globetrotters challenged the seven remaining bachelors to a pick-up game of basketball, with bachelorette Jillian Harris looking on intently. “The Bachelorette” wrapped up on Monday night with Harris riding off into the sunset with Ed Swiderski.

Joining Lang, Lofton, Michelle, and Ho will likely be Miss America 2004, Ericka Dunlap. The Examiner notes that “Amazing Race” has featured pageant winners before, as Dustin-Leigh Konzelman and Kandice Pelletier competed as part of Season 10 and All-Stars. Dunlap hails from Florida; the reigning Miss America is Katie Stern, a native of Indiana. No indication was given as to who will partner with Dunlap for “Amazing Race.”

An entry appearing on Wikipedia adds that two newscasters from the television network C-SPAN will also take part in “Amazing Race” when the 15th season kicks off in September. The show pits teams of two against each other in a race around the world. Along the way, they’ll complete various challenges as part of “Detours” (a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons) and “Road Blocks” (a task that only one team member can perform). Each leg typically consists of one Detour and one Road Block; many of the legs end with the last team arriving at the “Pit Stop” being eliminated.

“Amazing Race” will once again air on Sunday nights, debuting on September 27th for two hours. The popular reality program follows CBS News program “60 Minutes” and will serve as the lead-in for the new drama “Three Rivers.” “Amazing Race” is an Emmy-winning reality show whose reigning champions are lawyers and siblings Tammy and Victor. In seasons past, the top prize has been $1 million and to date, no “celebrity” installment of “Amazing Race” has taken place.

Other poker players who have appeared on major reality shows include Annie Duke, who finished as the runner-up to comedian Joan Rivers on the second season of “Celebrity Apprentice.” In addition, Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande competed on “Survivor: China,” the 15th cycle of the cornerstone CBS show. Bellande was the eighth player voted out of “Survivor: China” and served as a member of the jury.

Alex Bolotin Wins WSOP Ante Up for Africa; Mike Tyson Enters

The 2009 installment of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Ante Up for Africa charity tournament brought out Hollywood’s elite and poker’s biggest names. In the end, Alex “Diesel” Boloton emerged victorious, winning $176,000 and donating half of his earnings to the ENOUGH Project and International Rescue Committee.

A total of 137 players took to the felts inside the Amazon Room for the Ante Up for Africa event, one of four tournaments that will be televised as part of ESPN’s coverage of the 2009 WSOP. In 2007, the charity gala attracted 167 runners, while just 88 turned out last year. Prior to the festivities kicking off on Thursday, Ante Up for Africa Co-Founder and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke told reporters, “I knew how effective poker was as a fundraising tool. However, you can throw as much money at a problem as you want, but ESPN will help get awareness of things going on.” The Celebrity Apprentice runner-up added, “Poker players know how fortunate they are. We have a different view of money and what money is for. A lot of poker players are very socially responsible.”

A red carpet entrance preceded the festivities, with a bevy of stars lending their names to the $5,000 buy-in charity event. Among the first entrants down the red carpet was “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Brad Garrett, who told reporters that he’d want his tombstone to read, “I could smell it from here.” Following Garrett was former professional basketball star and current NBA on TNT analyst Charles Barkley, who explained that he was frustrated after poor performances in the Ante Up for Africa event over the past two years. He told People Magazine that the Cleveland Cavaliers acquiring Shaquille O’Neal was “a really good pickup.”

WSOP bracelet winner Jason Mercier, fresh off inking a sponsorship agreement with PokerStars, explained, “This feels really weird. I’m here with celebrities and stars of the poker world.” When asked what celebrity he ogled the most, Mercier responded, “Charles Barkley – I watched him play basketball since I was a little kid.” Mercier then joked, “Watch me take this down.” Others who followed Mercier down the red carpet included comedian Sarah Silverman, NBA on TNT analyst Kenny Smith, actor Dean Cain, “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander, Ben Affleck, “Rounders” star Matt Damon, and rapper Nelly.

One of the surprise turnouts to the 2009 WSOP Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament was legendary boxer Mike Tyson, who has recently gained a cult following as a result of his cameo in the box office blockbuster “The Hangover.” Tyson told Poker News Daily that he does not regularly play poker, but was looking forward to competing. A tiger did not accompany him down the red carpet. Media outlets in attendance included US Weekly, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the L.A. Times, ABC Radio, the Hollywood Reporter, the Associated Press, and a variety of local television stations and Hollywood photo services.

Poker’s elite dominated the final standings, with Rafe Furst, Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Jennifer Harman, Steve Zolotow, and Ultimate Bet pro Matt “mattg1983” Graham all making the money. Other poker stars that turned out included 2008 WSOP Main Event Last Woman Standing Tiffany Michelle, Andy Bloch, Brandon Cantu, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, Greg “FBT” Mueller, Barry Greenstein, Greg Raymer, Robert Williamson III, Dennis Phillips, Ylon Schwartz, Peter Eastgate, and Victor Ramdin.

The tournament ran for 10 hours, about twice as long as WSOP officials had estimated prior to the event. At the end of the day, $362,000 was raised for charity. The top 10 finishers were as follows:

1. Alex Bolotin - $176,449
2. Adam Richardson - $109,194
3. Rafe Furst - $72,308
4. Erik Seidel - $51,601
5. Chris Ferguson - $38,550
6. Phil Gordon - $30,760
7. John Hennigan - $25,900
8. Matt Kay - $22,970
9. Jennifer Harman - $21,439
10. Phillip Tom - $15,713

Politics and Poker: Online Again in 2010?

Remember ABC’s 'Schoolhouse Rock' and its musical segment, 'I’m Just a Bill,' showing how a bill becomes law? It was three minutes of Disney genius...

Poker News in Brief: May 4-10, 2009

As an ongoing feature every Sunday, PokerListings compiles a list of interesting stories from around the poker world that didn't quite make the front page.

This week we're looking at some more Tom Dwan and Fullflush1 insults, a surprisingly resilient poker market and the ongoing battle to legalize online poker.

Tom "durrrr" Dwan and __FullFlush1__ trade blows on Poker Show

It was quite a week for Poker Show on Boylesport.com. The show, hosted by Jesse May, was fortunate enough to get both Tom Dwan and arch-nemesis Luke" __FullFlush1__" Schwartz in the same week.

Dwan was the first one to appear on the show and when asked what he thought about __FullFlush1__ he responded by saying, "Who?"

Other than that Dwan was fairly casual about Schwartz in the interview saying he really hadn't played him that much.

The next day Schwartz was the opposite. Schwartz implied durrrr only wins against him when he hits two outers and gets incredibly lucky. Dwan wasn't the only target either as Schwartz also talked trash about Andrew Feldman, Greeks, Italians and even Phil Ivey.

Dwan and Schwartz appear destined for a 50,000 hand battle royale.

You can listen to the shows by going here

New Orleans a bright spot for the WSOPC

Although it's been a slow year for the WSOPC the New Orleans event is off to a spectacular start. The first event of the series drew 572 entries which is the biggest turn out in more than two years for the New Orleans circuit stop.

The eventual winner, Casey Lang Chiasson, won nearly $50,000 for taking part in the $300 buy-in event. The main event of WSOPC New Orleans starts on May 21.

Debate continues to rage over online gambling legislation

It's been anything but dull since Rep. Barney Frank introduced his pro-online gambling bill earlier this week that would essentially repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Now the author of UIGEA, Rep. Spencer Bachus, is speaking out against Frank's bill, suggesting it will lead to children becoming addicted to online gambling.

"Illegal off-shore Internet gambling sites are a criminal enterprise and allowing them to operate unfettered in the United States would present a clear danger to our youth, who are subject to becoming addicted to gambling at an early age," wrote Bachus on his website.

Earlier in the week, Jeffrey Sandman mentioned that despite the online gambling prohibition there were still millions Americans gambling online. A large part of Barney Frank's Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2267) is dedicated to limiting underage online gambling.

Florida approves gaming bill

Floridians looking to play some No-Limit Hold'em have finally had their prayers answered.

Earlier this week the legislature for the state of Florida approved the expansion of poker in the state and that includes a removal of the maximum buy-in for No-Limit Hold'em.

The bill was the source of serious debate between the Floriday State Senate and House but they were finally able to reach consensus this week.

The 15-year agreement is subject to approval by the Seminole tribal nation and is estimated to generate at least $150 million in annual payments from the Seminoles to the state.

The legislation also allows all cardrooms located at horse tracks and jai alai frontons to offer expanded No-Limit Hold'em without the buy-in limitations.

Click here to learn more.

Complications for legal poker in Texas

Amazingly Texans are still not legally allowed to play Texas No-Limit Hold'em in their home state and the group looking to legalize it was dealt a major blow this week.

Apparently Texas Gov. Rick Perry changed his position once again and assuming Perry plans to veto it, Rep. Jose Menendez said he has no intentions of bringing a dead bill to the floor.

The two biggest threats to legal poker in Texas, Texans Against Gambling and the Christian Life Association, put out memos regarding the bill this week and the House Committee seems to have taken notice.

It's worth checking out here. as they've been doing extensive coverage on the fight for legal poker in Texas. If you're interested you can also get more information here.

Players sue L.A. casinos over bad beat jackpots

L.A.-area casinos took a bad beat of their own this week as two players filed a lawsuit against them.

Dennis Chae and Jeff Kim are suing the Bicycle Club, Commerce, Hustler, Hollywood Park and Hawaiian Garden Casinos because floor managers would not let them compete in bad beat jackpots unless they played at tables that collected the $1 per pot fees, even though ads said no purchase was required.

It's not exactly a new issue. In 2005, Attorney General Bill Lockyer cautioned casinos that the promotions violated State Law unless players were allowed to win jackpots without paying the fee.

To learn more check out the L.A. Times story here

Visit PokerListings.com

Annie Duke Appears on Ellen, Talks Celebrity Apprentice and Poker Strategy

On Monday, poker pro Annie Duke, a contestant on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice, appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to talk about her upcoming showdown against comedian Joan Rivers. Duke even found time to discuss poker strategy with the talk show host.

In the upcoming season finale of Celebrity Apprentice, which airs at 8:00pm ET on Sunday night on NBC and runs for three hours, Duke will argue why she deserves to be crowned champion of the popular reality program. Her adversary, Rivers, has labeled Duke “two-faced” and “manipulative” throughout the series. DeGeneres asked whether Duke plays Celebrity Apprentice similar to a poker game. Duke responded, “It’s a game and you have to play your strategy. I think it’s a game about business, so I don’t understand the personal level [Rivers] brought it to. When you’re playing poker, you’ll check-raise your best friend and then go out for a drink with them and have a good time. Those things are really separate, so it’s confusing to me.”

One of Rivers’ prime accusations was that Duke called Playboy Playmate of the Year Brande Roderick an “idiot” during this season of Celebrity Apprentice, a charge that the World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner denies. Duke told DeGeneres, “I had lots of private interviews and cameras on me 15 hours a day, so they could have used that [if I said it]. The only people who have called Brande an idiot are Joan and Melissa [Rivers]. It is a game and it is a fake job and you get fake fired all in the name of raising a wonderful amount of money for charity, which is what it’s really about.” Duke has raised over $260,000 for her charity, Refugees International, an organization she works with as part of Ante Up for Africa.

During the most recent episode of Celebrity Apprentice, Season 1 winner Piers Morgan lauded Duke’s ability not to become upset despite being labeled a “Nazi,” “pit viper,” and “whore” by the Rivers family. On the comparisons, Duke commented, “It was so horrific to be attacked like that, particularly being called worse than Hitler, which is offensive. She’s comparing me to someone who slaughtered six million Jews and it’s not like we’ve solved hate crimes. It was an awful thing to have said to me.” Although last week Duke used an analogy comparing Joan Rivers to a cancer, she has largely remained composed. The Ultimate Bet pro explained to DeGeneres, “I learned at the tables that being emotional like that brings you down to their level. When people are trying to get power over you with those kinds of insults, the only way to give them that power is to react.”

The conversation between Duke and DeGeneres then turned to poker, with the talk show host questioning why she shouldn’t play 7-2 when the likelihood of the flop coming 7-7-2 is the same as it is falling Q-A-K. Duke imparted her poker knowledge: “You should only be putting the percentage of money in the pot the percentage of the time your hand will win. 7-2 doesn’t win very often.”  Throughout the poker conversation, DeGeneres properly used terms such as “flop” and “boat” in front of her live studio audience.

The seven minute appearance ended with Duke autographing a WSOP Academy chipset to help raise money for the Humane Society. In addition, WSOP officials donated a $4,000 prize package to a future Boot Camp. “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” airs on ABC. Rivers is slated to appear on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” on Friday, which airs at 12:35am ET on NBC.

The three hour Celebrity Apprentice finale airs at 8:00pm ET on Sunday on NBC. Former contestants, including Roderick, NBA star Dennis Rodman, and comedian Tom Green will support Duke. Country music star Clint Black, Melissa Rivers, and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker will be led by Rivers. According to a description found on Comcast Cable’s on-screen guide, the episode surrounds the Cirque du Soleil production Wintuk.

Isaac Haxton Interview with Poker News Daily

Poker News Daily: You finished as the runner up to Ryan "Daut44" Daut in the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, banking $861,000. Critique Daut’s play during that tournament.

Haxton: I thought he played really well. Going into the final table having played against all of those guys, he was the one who I knew the least about and was the least concerned with. He seemed to be playing pretty tight and straightforward and continued to do that until we got heads-up. I think he’s maybe a little bit too ABC in terms of playing, but he knows what he’s doing and played well.

PND: How did you get started in poker?

Haxton: The first time I played poker was with friends in high school. I started going to the local casino in upstate New York, Turning Stone, and played a bit in some home games in college. Then, I started playing online. When I put money online, I started taking poker more seriously.

PND: Was there a moment you realized that poker could be more than just a hobby?

Haxton: I started taking it seriously because it was something I could make money doing. I took a summer to play full-time. In that period, I moved up from playing $3-$6 Limit Hold’em to $30-$60 and occasionally bigger. I ran really well. In all honesty, I wasn’t good yet and I don’t think I’d be beating $3-$6 with that kind of skill level today. I thought I would get my degree, go to graduate school, and become a professional academic. I changed my mind about three years into college.

PND: Have your parents been supportive of your poker career?

Haxton: They have been supportive. It’s mostly been one less thing to worry about. It’s nice to have the support of your parents regardless of what you’re doing. I know a lot of my friends have to put up with a lot of crap from their parents who think they’re wasting their lives being professional gamblers. My parents understood it right off the bat. They’re both bright, mathematically inclined people. They had no trouble understanding that skill predominates in poker and the best player is a big favorite to make money in the long-run.

PND: Whose tournament game do you respect the most and why?

Haxton: All of the standard answers I agree with. In terms of players that people might not have heard about, there’s a guy who has been crushing $25-$50 on PokerStars, Deldar182. His real name is David Eldar and he’s from Australia. He was a teenage Scrabble champion and has been killing PokerStars over the last few months. Phil “Jman28” Galfond would also be near the top of the list.

PND: What advice do you have for beginners?

Haxton: Don’t go broke. Almost no one practices good bankroll management when they start out in poker. That’s why most of the professional players I know were very successful in the first six months when they started playing. In small-stakes games, you should have 40 buy-ins for a No Limit Hold’em game and 500 to 600 big bets for a Limit Hold’em game.

PND: Does being computer-oriented give you a leg up on the competition in poker?

Haxton: It’s helped. I have a reputation as a math guy that I don’t 100% deserve. It’s not like I’m sitting in front of my computer running simulations and crunching numbers all night. I play as much by feel as just about anyone else does, but at the same time, I think I understand the math more than my peers.

Betting for Value

We all know what the point of playing poker is. To make money. Well, considering it is a game, the point is also to have fun, but you don’t need to learn strategies about having fun now, do you? You want to make money playing poker. For some, a good day at the tables is finishing up five bucks. For high stakes players, a good day could mean finishing up five hundred bucks. Regardless of the limits you play, you should always be looking for opportunities to extract that extra bet from your opponent. And that is where the value bet comes in.

There are varying opinions of what exactly a value bet is, but in a nutshell, it is a bet (and for the purposes of this article, we’ll stick to a river bet) you make when you believe you have the best hand and you want your opponent to call because you don’t think you’ll be able to make more money any other way. You are trying to get every last ounce of value from the hand. It is easily one of the toughest bets to make in poker, as it is far from an exact science. Let’s look at a few things to consider.

Opponent’s Hand Strength

This is the most important part of the value bet, for obvious reasons. Without having any idea of what your opponent might be holding, you will have no clue how to properly bet. If you think he has a monster, you of course don’t want to bet into him. If you think he has nothing, it doesn’t matter what you bet, as he is extremely unlikely to call you. Anything in between, as long as you believe it to be worse than your hand, and you have some decisions to make. Putting your opponent on a hand is one of the basics of poker, but it is still one of the most difficult aspects of the game to come remotely close to mastering. Like anything, it takes practice. Only The Amazing Kreskin is born with hand reading abilities.

Your Image

Part of determining your bet size, once you conclude that you have the best hand, is to be self-aware, to understand how your opponent views you. If your table image is one of a maniac or a big bluffer, you may be able to induce a call with a huge bet. If the only time you bet on the river is when you have a winning hand, then you may have to bet smaller. If your opponent views you as a strong player, he is unlikely to try anything tricky against you, so you will be able to get a better read on his hand based on what action he takes.

Opponent’s Image

Just like the image you project will affect how your opponent plays the hand, so will your view of your opponent affect how you play the hand. If you believe he is skilled, he is likely to play in a reasonable manner and at the same time know a little something about poker math and things like pot odds. If he plays loose, this will tell you one thing. If he plays tight, this will tell you another. If he gets married to hands, you will be able to bet more. If he lays down most non-nut hands, you will have to play small ball.

Let’s look at an example of the thought process behind a value bet.

The game is $1/$2 No-Limit Texas Hold’em. You have 8s-9s in late position. Two opponents in middle position limp, you call, the small blind folds, and the big blind checks (for simplicity’s sake, let’s just say stack sizes are not a factor here). The flop comes 8h-9d-Jc. The first limper makes a $6 bet into the $9 pot. The second limper folds, and you decide to smooth call with your two pair. The big blind folds, so it is just you and one opponent in a $21 pot.

The As hits on the turn and your opponent checks. You bet $12 and he calls. The 2s is dealt on the river and your opponent checks to you again. What is your play?

The most important thing here is to figure out what sort of hand he might have. You have determined that he is a pretty average player and he limped pre-flop, so it is very unlikely that he has a big pocket pair, A-K, or even A-Q. He did open the action with a decent size bet after the flop out of position, so chances are, he had something he liked. Top pair seems like a solid guess so far. Chances are he didn’t flop a set of 8’s or 9’s, not only because you have one of each, but also because he probably would have tried to trap or at least go for a check-raise, despite the board looking a little dangerous.

The check on the turn is very telling. You view this opponent as a fairly straight-forward player, which means that the Ace likely made him nervous. In a different situation, you might think he just hit something big like a set of Aces or maybe two pair with A-J, but since we ruled out a big pair earlier, the set is very unlikely. A-J could be a possibility, but there wouldn’t be much reason for him to slow down now if he had that since he already bet on the flop. Top pair still looks like a good guess, and since he looks to be afraid of the Ace, we could surmise that he has K-J or Q-J, as those are also two hands the run-of-the-mill players like to limp with pre-flop. He obviously still has something, though, or would not have called your bet.

The deuce on the river does nothing to change how we perceive the hand, and since he checked again, it looks like that K-J or Q-J very well could be what he has and he just doesn’t want to risk a check-raise. We want to make a bet that won’t scare him off, but at the same time is large enough to give us a nice profit.  I say an appropriate bet would be relatively small, less than half the pot. If he has K-J, he might still think it has a chance to be good and that your turn bet may have just been trying to get him out of the pot. A $15 bet into the $45 pot could work – it’s not much larger than the turn bet, so it will feel more manageable to your opponent and might make it look like you are also a bit wary of your hand, since you aren’t ratcheting up the betting very much. $20 might work, as well, but I wouldn’t go much higher than that. In my opinion, erring on the side of underbetting is the prudent move if you aren’t sure how much to bet, as I’d rather sacrifice a few bucks and still extract a final bet from my opponent than bet too much, have him fold, and not make any more money in the hand.

Much of this changes if your perception of your opponent is different. For instance, if he hasn’t shown any ability to let go of hands, then you can make a larger value bet, since he will probably call it. Similarly, if you have a crazy bluffer table image (we assumed, for this example, that everyone sees you as a solid player), you could get away with betting more, as your opponent may see it as a bluff.

Now, if your opponent all of a sudden check-raises you on the river, you will need to lay down your hand. This type of ABC-style opponent isn’t going to mess around with a bluff here.

Aussie Senator Admits Error in Internet Censorship Policy

A blacklist authored by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) aiming to censor various “indecent” websites, including online poker sites, leaked last month with the help of anonymous sources. Now, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is beginning to own up to errors within his controversial internet censorship policy following an uproar from the Australian community.

Among the more than 2,000 blacklisted sites were numerous online poker sites, including PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, as well as sites with hyperlinks to such banned sites. These websites were scheduled to be secretly blocked by Australia’s Internet service providers (ISPs). The list was leaked by wikileaks.com, a leading online antagonist of government censorship and a supporter of freedom of information made up of anonymous submissions.

ABC TV’s “Q&A” program that aired on March 26 was Senator Conroy’s first major media appearance to discuss the government's internet censorship plans. The response from viewers was substantial as more than 2,000 people sent in web and video questions regarding the government’s censorship proposals.

“We’ve never seen anything like the avalanche Stephen Conroy has generated,” said the show’s host, Tony Jones, when introducing Conroy.

Conroy’s admissions during the broadcast created even more of a stir and left considerable doubt regarding the government’s ability to filter the internet without unintentionally blocking legitimate websites. He acknowledged that images taken by artist/photographer Bill Henson were added to the prohibited websites list in error, and cast blame on the “Russian Mob” for the addition of a dentist’s site to the list, saying that the Mob hacked into the dentist’s site. Several other sites were on the blacklist even though they changed hosting providers and cleaned up their sites several years ago.

“The classification board looked at (Bill Henson’s) website and actually said it’s PG,” Conroy said.  “A technical error inside ACMA I’m advised included it, but it was actually cleared by the Classification Board, so it shouldn’t be on the list.”

“I’ve asked ACMA in the last few hours to go through their entire list again to see if there are any other examples of this.”

Conroy’s comments raised concerns from Australians about freedom of speech issues. Because the community doesn’t have access to the blacklist they’re unaware of the criteria used in the banning process.

Such a ban on poker websites would have a huge effect in Australia, where the industry has been thriving even despite recent restrictions enforced by ACMA. The Internet Gambling Act 2001, which has been around for years, makes it unlawful to provide an interactive gambling service to a customer physically present in Australia. Only recently has ACMA become more determined in restricting such illegal material.

Some of the biggest poker tournaments in the world take place in Australia, including the multi-million dollar Aussie Millions as well as the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, Asian Poker Tour, and Australia-New Zealand Poker Tour.