Poker News

Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt Joins DragTheBar.com

Poker training site DragTheBar.com announced Friday that renowned online player and instructor Dusty “Leatherass9” Schmidt has joined the company as a lead instructor. Schmidt will make poker videos and actively participate in the site’s member forums, according to DragTheBar.com CEO and professional poker player Hunter Bick.

“Dusty is one of the top mid-to-high-stakes players in the world, period”, Bick said. “He’s played so many hands at such a high win rate that his depth is simply unmatched. But as good a player as he is, he’s an even better instructor. It’s unusual to find someone who can do both. We don’t want our site to just have good poker players as coaches – they must be well spoken and great teachers too. Dusty embodies those qualities better than anyone.”

Schmidt, 28, joins DragTheBar.com after spending three years as a lead instructor for StoxPoker. Schmidt joined the site as a member and gradually worked his way into a role as co-owner and instructor. He resigned from the company last week due to “irreconcilable differences.”

On the felts, Schmidt has earned more than $3 million during his five-year career, logging nearly seven million hands over 10,000 hours. In 2007, Schmidt achieved PokerStars’ SuperNova Elite status in just eight months while playing high-stakes cash games. He posted the world’s highest win rate in both $5/$10 No Limit and $10/$20 No Limit in 2007 and 2008. In a four-month period between November 2007 and February 2008, Schmidt won in excess of $600,000 playing high-stakes cash games. Today, he can be found playing as high as $25/$50 No Limit online, often as many as 20 tables at a time.

“I couldn’t be more excited about coming to DragTheBar.com”, Schmidt said. “I was feeling as though I was getting away from my teaching roots a little bit and this allows me to do what I love and do best. The relationship just feels really, really good. They support my interests, and in turn I’m looking forward to watching this site become the finest in the world in very short order. I can’t wait to get involved with their members and watch them improve as poker players.”

Schmidt becomes the 11th coach at DragTheBar.com, a roster that includes some of the world’s top online-poker players, including Jeremy “ChipSteela” Menard and Ian “IggyMcFy” Gordon. The site offers affordable memberships and its poker-training videos are compatible with iPods and other mp3 players.

On top of coaching and playing, Schmidt recently released his top-selling book, Treat Your Poker Like a Business. The book focuses on teaching players how to develop a professional approach to the game, both on and off the felts. He provides readers advice on a range of subjects from winning strategies and profitable times to play to software and record keeping.

“Poker has done a tremendous amount for me in terms of the independence and quality of life I’m able to experience now”, Schmidt says. “I like to think that I have something to offer all poker players, from those who view it as recreational to aspiring pros who want to turn the game into something more serious than a hobby.”

Layne Flack goes global

"I believe that poker has a great future in Europe and I would love to be a part of it," Flack said after signing on with Scandinavian-based poker agency Poker Icons this week.

Flack, who owns six World Series of Poker bracelets, was nicknamed "Back 2 Back Flack" after winning two consecutive events at the 2002 WSOP and again at the 2003 WSOP.

His last bracelet win came in 2008, although Flack managed an eighth place finish in the $2,500 2-7 Lowball and a seventh in the $2,500 Mixed Event this summer.

The 40-year-old star started in poker in the early 90s running games throughout the state of Montana and has gone on to amass more than $4 million in career earnings through 14 major titles and 70 cashes.

His time in the public eye hasn't been all roses, however.

Flack had to skip the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Championship this year because he spent the night in a Las Vegas jail charged with DUI Liquor, speeding and failing to yield to an emergency vehicle.

He later claimed innocence.

Flack has also sought treatment for substance abuse in the past, but in an interview with PokerListings after winning his sixth WSOP bracelet in 2008, he claimed to have left those problems behind him.

Poker Icons CEO Lars Kollind says while restrictions on Internet gambling have had a negative effect on American poker, the game is still growing in Europe and Flack is making the right move.

"There is good action in Europe, and good poker players look for the best action," he said.

"In Europe a well-merited player like Layne is looked upon as a big star, newsworthy and with a great potential for a sponsorship."

Poker Icons represents some of the biggest names in European poker, including Annette Obrestad, Jesper Hougaard, Arnaud Mattern, and Soren Kongsgaard, in addition to a growing roster of top American players that includes Kathy Liebert and 2006 WSOP Main Event champ Jamie Gold.

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High Stakes Omaha Games in Las Vegas

Since the inception of the World Series of Poker 40 years ago, one of the biggest attractions wasn’t the tournament series itself but the side games that occurred after people had busted out of their tournaments. All too often the real sharks of Las Vegas would be waiting in the juicy side games where the home game heroes would end up after their tournament was finished. All too often the result was that the sharks cleaned the tourists out and fattened their bankrolls for the rest of the year.

Times are a little different in Las Vegas 40 years later as poker is offered at just about every major casino in town. The idea of sharks waiting at every cash game is something of the past since so many casual tourists in town have some experience playing poker and don’t mind sitting down at the games when they are out gambling. This means that the fields for the small stakes tables, be it Limit Hold’em, No Limit Texas Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha are so big that good poker players should do well if they can avoid the coolers and bad beats no matter where they play.

More often than not, the biggest game in a poker room is Pot Limit Omaha. Because of the drawing nature of the game, pots are always bigger in PLO games than they are for No Limit Hold’em. When a huge whale comes in to town (someone with ridiculous amounts of money to burn) and wants big poker action, they’re playing Pot Limit Omaha. As famed rounder Sammy Farha was quoted as saying, “If No Limit Texas Hold’em is the Cadillac of poker, then Pot Limit Omaha is the Porsche.”

The days of juicy side cash games at the World Series of Poker aren’t too removed as the venue has changed to the swankier and bigger poker room at the Rio in Las Vegas. With the WSOP in town, the high rollers are constantly on the lookout for a big game to prove their skills in addition to taking home big profits. According to more than one source, one of the biggest games for Pot Limit Omaha is currently running daily at the Rio in the form of a 25-25-50 game. That means that there’s two small blinds of $25 and one big blind of $50 in a 9-handed format. To say this is an action packed game would be the littlest complement one could bestow on the game.

Regular players in that game include popular pro David “Devilfish” Ulliot and other internet PLO superstars such as DJ Sensei, Eric Liu, Harrington25 (not Dan Harrington) and colson10 have been spotted at the main game at the Rio. Many in that main game, as evidenced by recent posts in their blogs, have said that the game isn’t juicy at all and is similar to their regular games online. The idea for them was finding juicy games against lesser competition while in Las Vegas. Omaha does seem to be taking off in Las Vegas this summer as the game is more widespread than it has been in recent memory.

According to reports, the aforementioned Rio has been running 25-25-50 PLO every day and if requested, they have started up a 50-100-200 game during peak gambling hours in Sin City. Also at the Rio was a half 100-200 PLO and half 100-200-400 No Limit Hold’em game with antes which was running regularly through the WSOP week. Finally, the Rio has been known to run a 75-150 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better game and players are encouraged to call in to the Rio poker room to request a seat at any of the big games.

Other hotels in Vegas are also running Pot Limit Omaha, including some of the smallest stakes seen for poker in Vegas casinos for players looking to learn the game live. At the Excalibur Hotel, they are offering up a regular $0.50-$1 Pot Limit Omaha game at their electronic PokerPro table which seems perfectly suited for the game to keep it moving quickly, as most dealt Omaha games run quite slow. Regular PLO games are known to be going at both Caesars Palace and Bellagio.

If you’re in Las Vegas this summer during the WSOP event season and are looking to get in on the action, there’s plenty of mega-high limit games at the Rio, in addition to games at Caesars. For those of you with oil company ownership money, you can always get in on the mixed game action at Bobby’s Room at Bellagio which requires a minimum $20,000 buy-in. If you win in that game, you just might be able to buy that Porsche Sammy Farha was talking about.

Schulman shoots down stars in 2-7 Championship

Come the final reckoning, it was young New York pro Nick Schulman who took down the title, the bracelet and $279,742 in cash.

Schulman has had many poker successes, including winning two WPT titles and nearly $4 million in tournament cashes but taking down the coveted WSOP bracelet meant more than just the money.

"The prestige of the bracelet is a little overwhelming," he said. "They say these tournaments aren't about the money and I never used to think like that but I kind of know what they mean now - the bracelet's a little sweeter than the cash!"

The Deuce-to-Seven Championship draws together the cream of the poker world and its winner can rightfully claim to have beaten the best of the best.

Every year the final table of this prestigious event reads like a who's who of poker and this year was no exception.

Michael Binger and French high-stakes player David Benyamine were the first men to stumble in 8th and 7th respectively, before the eliminations of Vince Musso and gambling legend Archie Karas in the next two spots left the play four-handed.

At this point Schulman looked like he may be the next big name casualty, but he was about to go on a huge tear that would see him rocket up to the chip lead, leaving John Juanda and Steve Sung in his wake on the rail.

Heads-up for the bracelet with Player of the Year contender Ville Wahlbeck, Schulman had a 2-1 chip advantage that he never relinquished, despite some tenacious play from his in-form opponent.

"I think he's a great player," said Schulman of Wahlbeck. "Any poker game he plays, he's going to be great at it."

Schulman accepted he had conquered a strong field but was humble in his assessment of his play.

"There wasn't a weak spot in that field," he acknowledged. "But the cards came my way and I was able to capitalize."

He went on to explain why Deuce-to-Seven is such a big draw for the big-name pros.

"It's a very simple game but the intangible qualities that make somebody a very good poker player are what would make them excel at Deuce-to-Seven," he said. "It's a game of very few decisions but they mean everything - it's pure poker."

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Adjusting to a tight game

In order to become a successful poker player you need to be a master of the ability to change gears. In this article we will go over some of the strategies that can be applied to a tight game.

Many poker players make the assumption that they will not be able to make any money playing at tight tables, they are wrong. A good poker player will be able to adjust his game to make him a winning player even at tight tables.

A tight player will always be making the mistake of folding way to many hands, this is something that you can take advantage of and take down a lot of small pots. As they will be folding a lot more than a loose player you can raise with a wider range of hands then normal and in this way you will be taking down a lot of small pots. Eventually the tight player will pick up a good hand and call your bets but by then you will be playing with the money that you have been winning in all the small pots and not having to risk the money you initially brought to the table.

Try out this strategy without risking any of your own money by getting a no deposit poker bonus to your favourite online poker room.

Joan Rivers Talks to PND About Annie Duke and Celebrity Apprentice

This weekend, comedian Joan Rivers will square off against archrival Annie Duke in the finale of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice. The three hour episode airs at 8:00pm ET. Rivers sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss her mindset headed into the finals.

Poker News Daily: Why did you sign up for Celebrity Apprentice? What was appealing about the show?

Rivers: The fact that Melissa and I could have five weeks together was very appealing. The challenges of the show were also appealing. I love a challenge. Celebrity Apprentice has been very good for my charity, God’s Love We Deliver. It’s a local charity for me and I’m very involved with them. We’ve raised over $125,000 for them.

PND: Had you watched previous seasons of the show?

Rivers: I have never seen it before. I knew it was about raising money for charity, but I thought it was actually doing tasks to help your charity out, not pulling out a list of contacts and making calls. I got my Rolodex real fast.

PND: You’ve had an ongoing clash with poker player Annie Duke. In your opinion, when did the feud start and why?

Rivers: It started from the very beginning. Annie is a very good poker player obviously, but plays people like poker. Poker should be kept at the poker table. God knows I love poker. If you look at that painting with the dogs playing poker, I’m the fifth one on the right. Suddenly, it evolved into “Joan doesn’t like poker players.” I started in Las Vegas.

My downstairs neighbor plays slots, so it’d be like me saying, “I hate slots.” It got out of hand and became ridiculous. My father worked his way through medical school playing poker. What I do like about poker players is that they keep the masseuses up all night in Las Vegas. No one uses masseuses at night except for poker players and entertainers.

PND: You mentioned to Piers Morgan on last week’s episode that your biggest problem with Duke is that she is manipulative. Can you explain how she’s manipulative?

Rivers: It’s not a “fun” manipulative, if you know what I mean. We all know how to play each other. We’re all good business people. You don’t invite yourself out to dinner with me and then go tell Brande that I asked you, but I didn’t ask her.

PND: What was your own strategy coming into the game?

Rivers: I used the same strategy that I have used throughout my life and it’s been a good one: Put blinders on and just go forward. Don’t look to your left and don’t look to your right; just concentrate on where you’re going and go the extra mile. I am such a hard worker. I am talking to you right now and have three meetings in the next four hours. Then, I get on a plane to London, have two meetings there, and will be back on Friday to appear on Jimmy Fallon’s show. On Saturday afternoon, I’m taking my grandson to the theater and then performing that night in New Jersey. On Sunday, I have the Celebrity Apprentice finale.

PND: You and show host Donald Trump seem to have a considerable amount of history together. Can you talk about your relationship with Trump prior to the show?

Rivers: I’ve seen him around and was always friendly with his ex-sister-in-law and his sister. I have great respect for Donald. He’s an extremely smart man. Don’t ever be fooled by Donald. He didn’t get to where he is by luck.

PND: Talk about your relationship with your daughter, Melissa Rivers, on the show. Is that indicative of your relationship away from Celebrity Apprentice?

Rivers: Probably. I’m a very family-oriented person. Business is business; work is work. When every chip is down, my family is always first. That’s the way we were brought up.

PND: Talk about your reaction to Melissa’s firing.

Rivers: If Melissa had been fired for something she did wrong or a lack of work, then that’s fine. However, she was fired for duplicity, sleaziness, and high school pettiness. Annie found the stupid blonde and knew damn well that she had to get rid of her competition. When we were all girlfriends in the beginning of the show, Annie went down the line saying things like, “Claudia Jordan is lazy” and “Brande Roderick is stupid.” She said that Melissa and I were her biggest competition. Annie is a smart person, but at some point, you have to push yourself away from the poker table.

PND: Heading into the final episode, what will it take for Joan Rivers to win?

Rivers: If winning means money, I don’t win, but that’s what brought this country to its knees. Look at the Bernard Madoffs and the AIGs: If it’s only about money, then I don’t want to win. If it’s about playing a great game, I never stopped and I won a lot. I brought in a lot of money, but that wasn’t all I did.

PND: If Celebrity Apprentice producers called you to compete on a future season, would we see you on air?

Rivers: In a second. Give me a task. Say that I have 24 hours to build the Brooklyn Bridge and I’ll do it. Give me 24 hours to play poker and get into a tournament and I’ll do it. I love challenges.

PND: Where does your love for challenges stem from?

Rivers: I think my career has been a series of challenges. I’ve written books, produced plays, and have two new series coming out. It’s always something new. When you’re a child, you say, “I want to do that.” I’m still like a little kid in that respect. I’m the Benjamin Button of comedy.

Brazilian Poker Queen Joins Team PokerStars

The most successful Latin American woman is awarded with a prestigious contract with the world’s biggest online poker room, PokerStars.com. Maria Mayrink is going to become a full time poker professional and will form a part of the Team Pokerstars.

Her face is well known on the international poker scene and she was recently on the cover of CardPlayer in Brazil where she was also interviewed and told the story of how she got started playing poker. Maria is very ambitious and popular, her blog gets over 200.000 visitors every month. During the 2008 WSOP she became the second most successful Brazilian player. In the world of online poker she is more known under her poker alias and nickname which is “Maridu”.

In an interview Maria said, “I really feel that joining Team PokerStars will improve my chances of making it in the poker world. Since poker is my true passion it is very important that I take this opportunity to evolve as a poker player. This contract with PokerStars.com gives me a chance to prove to the entire world that I am a good poker player and that I can make it on the tour and I hope that I will get the chance to play the major poker tournaments in Europe”.

Maria is not only a poker player but also a producer at a large TV Network in South America but recently she signed a contract with the leading poker agency Poker Icons who played a big role when it came to getting a good deal when joining Team PokerStars.

Maria is spending all of her spare time playing poker and you would think that this might cause some problems in the household but since her boyfriend is also a poker professional (Jon “Apestyles” Fleet) this is not causing any problems at all.

We are looking forward to seeing Maria Mayrinck in all the big poker tournaments the coming years and we wish her the best of luck.

If you are looking to challange Maria for a game of poker we advice you to use the PokerStars marketing code PAWSUB465 when you create your account for a nice $50 free bonus.