is Online - Poker Player Newspaper

Transcription

9
Celebrity Crossword PAGE
tribute to
J. C. Tran
12
24
14
17
20
Dave Simon
profile by
Phil Hevener
PAGE
PAGE
Entertainment
Best Bets
8
36
POKER PLAYER
Vol. 10 Number 23 May 14, 2007 A Gambling Times Publication www.pokerplayernewspaper.com Copyright ©2007 Bi-Weekly $3.95 USA/$4.95 CANADA
Carlos Mortensen
Defeats Record
Field for WPT
Championship
$3.9 Million for
First Place
By Lou Krieger
The World Poker Tour
Championship held at the
Bellagio in Las Vegas began
with 639 entrants paying
$25,000 apiece to buy-in,
creating a record prize pool
of $15,495,750. Three
instant millionaires were to
come out of this tournament,
with $3,970,415 going to
the first place finisher and
$2,011,135 to second. With
a prize pool this large, the
WPT Championship became
the richest poker tournament
outside of the World Series
of Poker’s main event.
After two flights of Day
1, Anna Wroblewski, who
won the $3,000 buy-in event
at the Bellagio Five-Star,
was the first player to break
the 100,000 chip mark and
then the 200,000 mark.
She finished the day as the
chip leader with $211,325.
Sammy Farha was close
behind in second with
The Big Game
is Online
Wendeen H. Eolis
$210.700.
At the end of Day Two,
Roland DeWolfe took the
chip lead with $535,000,
trailed closely by Phil
Hellmuth with $528,100.
First day chip leader Anna
Wroblewski dropped down
to 12th place with $346,000.
By the end of Day Three,
Phil Hellmuth leapfrogged
into the lead. By this point
in the competition, seven
players had more than $1
million in chips.
(Continued on page 16)
Wildhorse Round-Up Underway
This is a ten-event tournament. Reports filtering in
tell us that the events are
very well run, with favorable
structures and added money.
IGREA is an
innovative frontal
assault on UIGEA
Representative Frank attacks
the pertinent portions of
UIGEA without any attempt
to repeal it. He focuses on
the issue of credit cards
Michael Bolcerek, President
A Word from the
“Mad Genius,”
A Big Salute for the
Stars and Stripes
As we go to press,
the Stars and Stripes
Tournament is well underway at the Bicycle Casino
in Bell Gardens, which
is Los Angeles-adjacent.
The fields are big, and we
have reportage for the most
recent eight events in this
Poker players’ voices
are rising
Mike Caro
issue. We’ll cap it off with
the results from the final six
events in our next issue.
As we head into the
height of the poker tournament season, we’re seeing
big numbers at most events.
That’s great for everyone in
Today’s word is...
“LIFE”
Turn to page 4 for more
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0
9
2 0>
The Wildhorse Casino
and Resort’s Round-Up is
underway and going strong
as expected, with record
crowds signing up to play.
Large fields of players seem
to be the rule of the day at
poker tournaments all across
the country this year, and
Pendleton in eastern Oregon
is no exception. Any rumor
you may have heard about
poker reaching the peak of its
arc continues to be dashed by
those who show up to take a
seat and play.
The deed has been done.
Congressman Barney
Frank (MA) has introduced
the Internet Gambling
Regulation and Enforcement
Act (IGREA) of 2007 into
the United States House of
Representatives. IGREA is a
cleverly constructed piece of
legislation.
for online gambling payments—a matter that falls
squarely within the control
of the Financial Services
Committee’s portfolio. And
he offers up his own plan for
the future of online gaming
with provisions for licensing
and regulating it.
The Congressman recently
summarized his decision
to carry the IGREA flag,
explaining, “I spend a lot of
time worrying about how
to protect people from others, but I have no more time
to worry about protecting
people from themselves.”
*See Web site for details. Enjoy the free games, and before playing in the real money games, please check with your local jurisdiction regarding the legality of Internet poker. ©2005 Full Tilt Poker. All rights reserved.
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M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
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M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
3
POKER NEWS
By John Caldwell
Caro’s Word: “Life”
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
CONGRESSMAN FRANK
INTRODUCES BILL TO
COUNTERACT UIGEA
Barney Frank, the U.S. Congressman (D-MA)
who has been outspoken of his criticism of the Unlawful
Internet Gambling Enforcement Act [UIEGA] in recent weeks,
today introduced legislation designed to overturn the bill.
Congressman Frank’s new bill will attempt to render the UIGEA
unenforceable by establishing a set of rules under which U.S.
banking institutions will be able to accept transactions from
properly licensed and regulated gambling services. Those entities who desire to be licensed will have to provide a few things
like corporate financial statements and corporate structure
documents: In addition, any company applying to be licensed
under the law must be willing to be subject to United States
law in all gaming related matters.
POKER.COM ON THE AUCTION BLOCK
An upcoming auction of Internet domain names hosted by registrar service Moniker.com represents one way for the aspiring
poker entrepreneur to grab hold of a choice piece of virtual
real estate... assuming that most of the juicy poker-related
names have been snapped up already. However, a report from
a British-based online site suggests that ‘poker.com’ is among
the names available at the auction. Several of the multiple
iterations of ‘poker’ are held by hosting sites looking to make a
buck; for new names, you’d have to stretch it out all the way to
pokerpokerpokerpokerpokerpoker pokerpokerpokerpoker.com
to land a yet-unregistered domain. Good luck with that.
DO POCKET ACES LOOK DIFFERENT IN
HIGH DEF?
ESPN has announced that its latest wave of HD (high-definition)
broadcasts will include some of the action broadcast from this
summer’s World Series of Poker, one of the network’s ‘tentpole
summer events.’ Hi-def is a first in the TV-poker world, and
ESPN currently plans 32 hours of coverage in the upgraded
format in both the Main and earlier events. However, the quick
shots of hole cards interspersed throughout will not receive a
similar upgrade, so you won’t be able to see if players’ palms
are sweating as they make their big move.
FRANCE FORCES CANCELLATION OF
WPT PARIS EVENT
The good news is the Grand Prix de Paris championship event
at the Aviation Club de France on May 6th, is still going to play.
However, those who were hoping to make the WPT’s televised
final table are out of luck. The WPT officially announced recently that they were unable to navigate France’s increasingly
difficult gaming regulations with enough lead time to commit
to the taping. This cancellation is the second major poker
tournament scheduled to be held in France to be cancelled
this year. In January, online poker site Poker Stars announced
the cancellation of their European Poker Tour event, set to be
played in the French coastal town of Deauville.
JENNIFER HARMAN TOURNAMENT
RAISES MONEY FOR ANIMAL SHELTER
The brightest stars in the poker world turned out for the
Jennifer Harman charity poker tournament and auction, which
was held recently at Caesars Palace. The $300 buy in tournament with $200 rebuys was the perfect amount for a lot of
action. Top player Eli Elizera went all-in blind on 11 consecutive hands, all in the name of charity. The tables were packed
with some of poker’s biggest names. My table, for example,
included David Williams, Daniel Negreanu, Jamie Gold, and Andy
Black. The tournament and related auction raised $128,000
for the Nevada SPCA No-Kill Shelter. For more information
about this very worthy charity, check out www.nevadaspca.org.
John Caldwell is the Editor-In-Chief of PokerNews.com,
a leading poker information portal. Prior to PokerNews,
John spent 15 years in music artist management, working
with artists like Stone Temple Pilots, and Hootie and the
Blowfish. Originally from Redondo Beach, CA, John lives
in Los Angeles, and spends about 4 months a year in Las
Vegas.. Reach him by e-mail at john@pokernews.com.
4
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
T
oday, I want to share
a poker tactic that
succeeds in real life
beyond the tables.
First, let me tell you
about MCU – Mike Caro
University of Poker. Well,
that’s the short name that
people are most familiar
with, but there’s a longer
one that more fully explains
my reasons for founding the university. The
complete name is Mike
Caro University of Poker,
Gaming, and Life Strategy.
The “gaming” part is a
bit ambiguous these days.
For decades it was the term
used to soft-sell the casino
business and related wagering activities. Apparently,
some folks thought that
the word “gaming” could
serve as a euphemism; they
feared coming right out and
saying “gambling,” which
had a more negative connotation than it has today.
However, recently others have begun competing
vigorously for entitlement
to the word “gaming.” And
– wow, what a shock – it
turns out to be groups that
play games! Specifically,
people who are serious
about computer games,
including those played on
specialty devices like Xbox,
PlayStation, or Nintendo
consider themselves gamers. And they often don’t
gamble.
I can assure you that the
TUSCANY
“Gaming” in the full name
of MCU does, in fact, mean
gambling – although logically it could be otherwise,
because I sometimes teach
tactics that apply to winning at other games where
gambling may not be present.
Stan Sludikoff
As an aside, I should pay
tribute to Stanley Sludikoff,
publisher of this newspaper.
In the 1970s, he founded
what quickly became the
leading magazine in the
world of gambling. He
named it Gambling Times.
He didn’t call it “Gaming
Times” – he came right
out and said it. Gambling.
For decades, Sludikoff
promoted gambling and,
specifically poker, in ways
nobody else had dared. And
for his astounding number
of milestone innovations
and contributions to poker,
Oklahoma Johnny Hale
chose him (along with an
equally deserving Phyllis
Caro) to be inducted into
poker’s Senior’s Hall of
Fame last month.
I had the honor of introducing Stan, and I pointed
out that most poker players
don’t realize how much
he’s done for us. Instead of
prancing around the world
promoting himself, he’s
quietly stayed behind the
scenes promoting the game.
POKER
PLAYER
A Gambling Times Publication
3883 West Century Blvd.
Inglewood, CA 90303
(310) 674-3365
www.pokerplayernewspaper.com
Stanley R. Sludikoff
PUBLISHER
srs@gamblingtimes.com
Lou Krieger
EDITOR
loukrieger@aol.com
A. R. Dyck
MANAGING EDITOR
ard@gamblingtimes.com
John Thompson
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
FOR idrome INFO DESIGN
poker@idrome.net
Joseph Smith
WEBMASTER
jsmith@pokerplayernewspaper.com
Mike Caro
SENIOR EDITOR
caro@caro.com
Byron Liggett
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
byronpokerplayer@aol.com
Jennifer Matiran
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
jm@gamblingtimes.com
Paul “Dr. Pauly”
McGuire
INTERNET EDITOR
pauly@lasvegasvegas.com
H. Scot Krause
PROMOTIONS EDITOR
krauseinvegas@cox.net
Len Butcher
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
lennylv@cox.net
Wendeen H. Eolis
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
Phil Hevener
CONSULTANT
Contributing
Columnists
Nolan Dalla George Epstein
“Oklahoma Johnny” Hale
Ashley Adams Diane McHaffie
James McKenna
I. Nelson Rose John Vorhaus
Poker Player will be published Bi-Weekly by
Gambling Times Incorporated,
Stanley R. Sludikoff, President.
Volume 10 Number 23.
Copyright © May 2007 by Gambling
Times Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without
written permission is prohibited.
Advertising Sales
NV (SOUTH), AZ, NM
Debbie Burkhead
9030 Arkose Ct.
Las Vegas, NV 89123
702-269-1733
fax 702-614-1650
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714-585-3299
jm@gamblingtimes.com
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EASTERN & SOUTHERN STATES
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fax 609-345-5584
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PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT
This notice will certify that 46,000 copies of Volume
10, Number 23 of Poker Player were printed at Valley
Printers, 16230 Filbert Street, Sylmar, CA 91342.
Distribution to newsstands, card clubs, poker rooms and
other distribution points throughout the United States,
Canada, the Caribbean, Central America and Europe.
Wildhorse Scotty Nguyen Challenge III—It’s Tulsa Time!
(Cont’d from page 1)
We have the results from
events 1-4 in this issue. Next
issue features the final four
events along with coverage
by Byron Liggett.
SPRING ROUND-UP
WILDHORSE CASINO
EVENT #4
4/22/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $200 + $10
PLAYERS 759
PRIZE
POOL
$156,800
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Brian Brubaker $32,849
Jim Woodward .$26,280
Rick Thackeray II $19,709
Tyler Snell . . . . .$13,800
Tony Petrina . . . .$9,600
Jack Bingham . . .$6,970
Mary Braska . . .$5,650
Alan Miskin . . . .$4,336
Jhon Nguyen . . . .$3,745
SPRING ROUND-UP
WILDHORSE CASINO
EVENT #3
4/21/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $300 + $10
PLAYERS 846
PRIZE
POOL
$264,400
1. Steve Gloor . . . .$55,567
2. Kevin Klunder
AKA “K-Dollar”$44,454
3. Kyle Adams . . .$33,340
4. Ken McBride . .$23,338
5. Leon Dannon . .$16,226
6. James Haslage . $11,780
7. Sean Mullaghy . .$9,558
8. John Peasley . . . .$7,335
9. Susie Isaacs . . . . .$6,340
SPRING ROUND-UP
WILDHORSE CASINO
EVENT #2
4/20/07
LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $200 + $10
PLAYERS 460
PRIZE
POOL
$90,250
1. Shaun Tobin
AKA “Tobiko” .$22,565
2. Brian Englewood $18,050
3. Scott Linden . . .$13,540
4. Randy Vestal . . . .$9,476
5. Vandy Yem . . . . .$6,588
6. Tom Wooley . . . .$4,783
7. John Oliver . . . . .$3,881
8. Steve Stencil . . . .$2,978
9. John Louden . . . .$2,572
SPRING ROUND-UP
WILDHORSE CASINO
EVENT #1
4/19/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $200 + $19
PLAYERS 636
PRIZE
POOL
$116,100
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Darren Black . .$29,043
Jose Gonzalez . .$23,234
CJ Cooper . . . . .$17,426
Steve Liebenthal $12,198
Mike Torres . . . .$8,426
Victor Ellingson .$6,157
Mark Cooper . . .$4,995
Jim McKinney . .$3,833
Jason Griffin . . . .$3,310
By Byron Liggett
The “Scotty Nguyen
Challenge III”, May 17-30,
is one of the premier events
in the game. Oklahoma,
“Where the South Meets the
West,” is a national poker
power and this tournament
is considered by many to be
the region’s most important.
The Scotty Nguyen
Challenge features two con-
tests a day. The main event
begins at 11am and the “second chance” event starts at
6pm. There are a variety of
events, most in the $100 to
$300 buy-in range. Among
the two weeks of competition are 10 “featured events.”
The winners of each “featured event” will play for a
$10,000 buy-in WSOP seat.
A women’s-only no-limit
hold’em event May 24th will
be hosted by two celebrities of the game, the “First
Lady of Poker”, Linda
Johnson and her associate Jan Fisher. The winner
of the event will receive a
seat in the WSOP Ladies’
Tournament.
The Championship, a
$5,000+150 buy-in No-Limit
Hold’em event will kick-off
May 27th. It will continue
through the 28th and conclude with the Final Table on
the 29th. The Final Table will
be filmed for TV.
The CHEROKEE
Casino is a world class
resort by any measure. Its
poker program is proof. Few
poker rooms in the country are as large (36-tables),
N E W S PA P E R P R E S E N TS . . .
The 2007 World Poker
Dealer Championships
AT
BINION’S GAMBLING HALL AND HOTEL
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA • SEPTEMBER 25-29, 2007
All public poker rooms,
worldwide, are invited to
send their EMPLOYEES
to the Second annual
World Poker Dealer
championships. This year
there are 4 events, all
are NO LIMIT HOLD ‘EM.
Players may NOT enter
directly, but, must be
the REPRESENTATIVES
of their card room, AND,
be employed there for
at least 3 months prior.
Winners will be required
to show proof of employment.
Participants may be
selected directly by the
card room, or through a
satellite event (preferable). Employees who
would like to play are
encouraged to bring
this event to the attention of their card room
SCHEDULE
Monday – September 24 – Evening
Registration, Orientation, Social Gathering –
Hors d’oeuvres, drinks
Tuesday – September 25 – Noon
Ladies Only event
(any female that works in a card room).
$500 buy-in - $50 entry fee
Wednesday – September 26 – 9:00 AM –
Finals of Ladies event (if needed)
Dealer’s Event – Noon
$1,000 buy-in - $100 entry fee
Thursday – September 27 – 9:00 AM –
Finals of Dealer’s event (if needed)
Supervisor’s Event – Noon
Friday – September 28 – 9:00 AM –
Finals of Supervisor’s event (if needed)
Owner’s and Manager’s Event – Noon
Saturday – September 29 – 10:00 AM –
Finals of Owner/Manager event
Champagne Celebration/Luncheon Banquet –
Awards – 2 PM
manager. All Card rooms
are requested to inform
Binion’s, at the earliest
possible date, of their
participation.
Cardrooms may send
a maximum number of
players to each event
based upon the size of
their regular card room:
1-9 tables
10-19 tables
20-29 tables
30-39 tables
40 or more
tables
1 player
2 players
3 players
4 players
5 players
Owner’s and manager’s
event includes shift
managers and above.
Supervisor’s event
includes all positions
between dealer and shift
manager, plus marketing, security and cashier
employees. Contestants
may only play in ONE
event.
Additional registration will take place at 10 AM – each event starting date.
For further details contact Gary DeWitt, Binions Poker Manager – gdewitt@binions.com (702) 366-7525
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
5
Hands You’re Bound
to Go Broke On
KRIEGER’s CORNER
By Lou Krieger©
Sometimes there’s nothing you can do to avoid going
broke in a poker tournament. It’s just poker’s nature, and
while many players replay hands like these over and over
in their heads, there’s not much to be gained from it. It’s
just destiny, and recently destiny found me twice on the
same day.
I played four six-handed tournaments online on that
fateful day. I won two of them and finished second in the
other two. And I might have done better. But for the intervention of fate’s fickle finger.
With three players still alive—one was just barely alive;
he was on life support and circling the drain—I was dealt
a pocket pair of aces, Texas hold’em’s very best starting
hand. The guy on life support went all-in on his big blind
and was raised by the button, who probably wanted to
shut me out of the hand and play the pot heads-up against
the all-in player.
I had the very best hand you can be dealt so I didn’t
much care what the raiser might have tucked away. His
raise didn’t concern me and neither did the short-stacked
guy who was circling the drain. After all, neither of them
had a better hand than I did, and that made me the favorite.
If I won this pivotal hand, I’d be a dominating, overwhelming, prohibitive favorite to win the tournament so I
moved all-in from the small blind. The button had only a
few more chips than I did. If he won, I’d be eliminated. If I
won, he’ll only have one or two chips remaining. If the guy
circling the drain won, he still wouldn’t have enough chips
to be a factor in this tournament.
Because two of us were all-in there was no more betting
and, our hands were turned face-up. The flop was 9-5-3 of
mixed suits and I loved it. The big blind had 8-2 and was
essentially toast. The button had K-Q, but the flop missed
him completely. Wouldn’t you know it; he caught a jack on
the turn and a ten on the river for a straight and won the
tournament when he eliminated both of us on the same
hand. I won second place money because I began the pot
with more chips than Mr. All-In From the Big Blind.
The other “you’re-gonna-go-broke-and you-can’t doanything-about-it” hand I occurred when I had Ah-5h and
bet about half my stack of chips into a 5d-5c-4s flop. The
turn card was an inconsequential eight and I was called
when I bet the remainder of my chips. I liked it. I was in
great shape, or so I thought. After all, trips with an ace
kicker is a potent hand heads-up and my chances looked
good.
The only two hands that could beat me were 5-4 or
4-4, because if my opponent held either of those hands,
his full house would beat my three fives. But I didn’t think
he had either of those hands. I thought he had a pair that
was higher than the pair of fives on the board. But my
optimism died quickly when my opponent turned over 5-4
for a full house. The turn card was an eight, which was of
no use to me. The river could have saved me with either
an ace for a win or another four or an eight for a tie, but
none of those cards jumped out of the deck, and I wound
up a bridesmaid again.
There was no way I could avoid going broke on those
hands, particularly when the blinds had escalated to the
point where one lost pot puts you in very bad shape. I had
to commit my chips on each of those hands. But that’s
poker; sometimes you lose and can’t do a thing about
it—and all the wouldas, couldas, and shouldas in the world
won’t get you anywhere at the poker table.
Visit Lou Krieger online and check out all his
books at www.loukrieger.com. You can read his
blog at http://loukrieger.blogspot.com and write
directly to him at loukrieger@aol.com.
6
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
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M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
7
Equality Or Equity?
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
By Byron Liggett
Poker Tournament Directors have to have the
right stuff. That was the point of this column a couple of issues
ago. One example used was Director Jimmy Summerfeld’s decision in a $2,000 WSOP Shootout last year.
There were 100 tables and the contestants were to play to
the last player at each table. Then, the 100 winners would meet
to play for the money. That was how the event was publicized.
But the event attracted only 600 players. Consequently,
Jimmy started the tournament with 6 players at each of the 100
tables. Each 6-handed table would play to one player. Instead of
having to beat 9 players to get to the money round, each player
had only to beat 5.
One player protested loudly about “the structure change.” He
thought they should play at full tables. Card Player writer Mike
O’Malley agreed. He wrote in the magazine that, “If a tournament is going to be run differently than was expected, it should
be clearly identified.”
O’Malley might have liked a press release, but it was time for
the Enterprise to take-off and Commander Sommerfeld put it in
the air with six at a table. The decision seemed fair to everyone
equally.
Most readers who responded to the issue were sympathetic
to Sommerfeld. Tournament Director for the Choctaw Casino, in
Durant, Oklahoma, David Brown wrote to say, “thank you very
much.”
Located along the border with Texas, the Choctaw Casino is
an action attraction where poker tournaments are a feature. The
18-table poker room is quiet, comfortable and sexy. Table Games
/ Poker Mgr. Chris Howell and his staff have made it a poker
power.
But not all readers agreed with Sommerfeld’s decision, nor
this column’s conclusion that it was little more than “sour
grapes,” a “tempest in a tea pot,” whining when winning waned.
An especially gracious, articulate and thoughtful critic was
Glenn C., of Pasadena. A serious, capable, calculating player, he
raises the issue of equity.
After a thorough analysis and explanation, Glenn concludes,
“Although it may be true that it is easier to get through five
players instead of nine, because of the structure of paying table
winners, the reduction of 40 percent of the total field (600 not
1,000), has caused a 50 percent decline in the prize pool ($1.6
million to $800,000).”
Some players play the cards, some play the money, some
play chairs, and some play tables, but you can bet (they do)
that among the most dangerous players are those who play the
equity.
*
*
*
The Peppermill has added a major new poker tournament to
its seasonal events. The “Summer Poker Tournament,” June 817, looks like it’s going to be a scorcher.
The new summer event is the innovation of recently appointed Poker Manager Mike Gainey. “There’s always been a demand
for a big summer poker tournament in northern Nevada,” Gainey
explained. “Unlike Las Vegas, in this end of the state, summer is
our busiest season.”
The Summer Tournament will see the Peppermill’s exquisite Grand Ball Room turn into a flop house. There’ll be plenty
of Hold’em, several Omaha Hi/Lo events, and even a Crazy
Pineapple for dessert. June 14th will be the $100+20 Ladies’
no-limit hold’em pole dance. The final championship no-limit
hold’em event, $1,000+60, will be Sunday, June 17th.
One of the best poker men in the business, Assistant Poker
Manager Bobby Helman, promises the cards will be hot and the
pool will be cool. So, this summer don’t go to the beach and kick
sand in the little guy’s face, come to the Peppermill and take his
money.
ave Simon has a reputation as a thinking man,
a guy with ideas that have
made a difference.
The Hawaiian Gardens
Casino host believes he’s
done it again.
This time it is the casino’s
first National Sit-n-Go
Championship set for noon
on May 12, with $100,000
in guaranteed prize money
based on at least 100 players
D
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
what’s a man gonna do, his
tone also saying he is very
aware that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery in the
hotly competitive world of
poker tournament promotions.
A sit-n-go is usually played 9-handed at
Hawaiian Gardens, and 10handed online. The National
Championship will also be
10-handed.
For the purposes of the
PLAYER
DAVE
BY PHIL HEVENER
Simon
Profile
coming up with the $1,050
buy-in.
“What could be easier,” is
the way Simon thinks about
it.
But a national championship?
Why not? The way Simon
sees it, this is how you’ve
gotta think when you’re laying out a first time event that
could grow into something
really, really big as time goes
by.
“Besides, we started the sitn-go here at the Gardens, why
not start the national championship?”
Making this sound like
every good idea has to begin
somewhere.
The sit-n-go format was
happy with 150 this first time
around.”
And it will definitely have
a national look to it. “I’ve got
people coming in from all
parts of the country.”
This is not necessarily
surprising because Simon’s
Hawaiian Gardens promotions have been getting attention for a long time.
“We started sit-n-go events
here about three years ago
and then Party Poker stole
the idea from us three weeks
later and put them on their
website.”
He gives it a shrug, like
Poker Player is pleased to welcome Phil Hevener back to its pages.
Hevener was the Managing Editor of Poker Player from July 1983 to
December 1985. Phil wanted to produce his own publication, which he
did with Larry Hall. They called it, “Las Vegas Style.” A popular journalist who writes for many major publications, Phil was replaced in 1985 by
Gary Thompson, who is now the spokesman for Harrahs Entertainment.
Byron Liggett, originally from the Northwest, lives in Reno
and has been a gaming & poker writer, columnist and consultant for 25 years. email: byronpokerplayer@aol.com
8
created for players who do
not have the hours necessary
to battle their way through a
hundred or so other players.
Simon does not want to
speculate about the likely
entry total. “We couldn’t take
more than three- or four-hundred people. I mean, we don’t
have the space. But I’ll be
May 12 event, each table is
going to play down to one
person who will be guaranteed a minimum of $3,000.
Table winners will then reassemble and play down to
the eventual national champion.
But Simon is quick to point
out that things may change by
next year.
“One of the things I’m
going to do is have a comprehensive questionnaire for
each person playing. I’d like
them to let me know what
they’d like to see for future
tournaments.
“But to get things up and
running this first time I wanted to keep things as simple as
possible. Not everyone knows
what a sit-n-go is.”
How was the format created?
Simon and another executive who has since left the
club found themselves dis(Continued on page 26)
Wendeen: The Big Game is Online
of the Poker Players
Alliance, applauds Frank’s
legislation. He crows, “We
are very excited about this
bill.” Bolcerek claims his
association has 442,000 +
members, and he anticipates attracting another fifty
thousand within a matter of
weeks. Of late, Mr. Frank
appears to be impressed with
the potential political power
of online poker players.
A few short weeks ago,
the Massachusetts Senator
made a public point of shunning any collaboration on
his bill with the online poker
industry, and in particular
with PPA Chairman, former
Senator Alfonse D’Amato.
During that same period, he
noted that he would not consider a specific poker carve
out in his legislation, explaining he was not persuaded
of any reason to distinguish
poker from blackjack.
This week, however a
seemingly more enlightened
Frank has seen fit to make
repeated public references
to the mushrooming resentment of American-based
poker players over government efforts to crush online
gaming by American residents. Two days ago, in an
interview on National Public
Radio, he told his listeners
that there are a lot of poker
players out there who are
angered by the bureaucratic
attempts to deprive them of
the right to choose a little
Texas Hold’em after dinner—from the comfort of
a cyberspace seat in their
homes.
In comments following
his press conference last
Thursday, Mr. Frank also
showed a grasp of the swelling grassroots movement
among poker players across
the country. He suggested
that poker players may not
be known for having gone to
the polls before, but predicts
that next time around, they
will be there in droves, ready
to pull the voting lever likeliest to take anti-gambling
politicians down.
IGREA is on a slow
track
While Frank’s recent comments are heartwarming in
the online poker community,
his commitment to working
toward passage of this bill, is
hardly set in stone. Last week
while in Brussels, he highlighted this point after meeting with European Union
Commissioner for Internal
Market and Services, Charlie
McCreevy. Mr. Frank said
that part of the purpose of his
bill is to test the level of support for it, but that no major
victory was likely any time
soon. He added that his bill
is not focused on the broader
issues raised by recent World
Trade Organization rulings.
He said, “My committee
only has jurisdiction over
credit cards.
Representative Frank’s
narrowly bounded tour de
force has been an obvious
labor of love and drama during the past several weeks.
IGREA of 2007 addresses
several issues of varying
merit that are raised by antigambling groups: potential
money laundering, gambling
addiction and perhaps most
heatedly, as of late, underage gambling at online poker
sites.
Mr. Frank noted in
his press conference last
Thursday, in addition to an
enforcement framework,
with provisions to license
and regulate online gambling, there are also appropriate opt-outs available to individual states, Indian tribes,
and sports leagues.
Gambling law expert
Chuck Humphrey offers
insights
Gambling law expert Chuck
Humphrey comments on
the new bill as follows:
“The Frank bill brings two
improvements to the online
gambling arena: It creates
a licensing authority for
online gaming operators that
applies on a nationwide,
rather than a state-by-state
basis and it solves the conundrum created in last year’s
Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act of legal
online gaming being able
May 7 - 23
th
to be conducted only in a
single state at any one time.”
Humphrey added, “The present text of the bill has some
significant internal inconsistencies and apparent oversights that will need to be
corrected in Congressional
committee sessions. One
such example; states can opt
out of allowing a licensed
operator to offer online gaming to its residents. But, it is
not clear whether the test is
that a state must specifically
permit one or more forms of
online gambling or whether
the only requirement is that
a state not have a law spe(Continued on page 15)
rd
Room Reservations 800-77-POKER (800-777-6537) • Tournament Information 702-791-7291 • mirage.com
Registration for all main events will begin at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, May 7, 2007. All main events start at noon. All Super Satellites will seat as many entries as
possible into the Championship Event (May 19, 2007). The Heads-Up NLH Tournament is a multi-day event and is limited to 128 entries. Each round in Heads-Up
play is a best 2 out of 3 to advance. 3% of the prize pool will be withheld for poker room staff. *Champion receives a $10,000 (non-negotiable, non-refundable,
non-transferable) entry into the May 19th Championship Event. **Champion receives a $25,500 (non-negotiable, non-refundable, non-transferable) entry into the
WPT Finals at Bellagio in April 2008. Management reserves the right to modify, suspend, or cancel this promotion at its sole discretion and without prior notice. All
tournaments are subject to table availability. The Mirage endorses responsible gaming. If you or someone you know has a problem gaming responsibly, please call
the 24-hour Problem Gamblers HelpLine at 1-800-522-4700. ©2007 MGM MIRAGE®. All rights reserved.
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
9
LESSON 101:
Missing a Bet
Lessons from mike caro
university of poker
BY DIANE M C HAFFIE
“Missing a bet” is a term used when you have checked, but could
have bet and possibly have made a profit. You wimped out because
you were unsure of your opponent’s upcoming actions and it
appeared safer to just check. Skilled players will say that you
“missed a bet.”
If you eagerly bet, thinking you might miss a golden opportunity
if you didn’t, as skilled players often do, then you could find yourself
betting far too often.
Deception. Many times you can earn more money by merely
checking instead of betting. You’re giving the other players a chance
to “take advantage” with a weaker hand. Mike says you should
intentionally “miss a bet” routinely when you have an opponent who
likes to be in control and bets frequently. This can bring profit to you
at less expense, because you’ve allowed your opponent who likes to
do the betting, bet for you. As Mike likes to say, “There is built-in
value in deception.”
Questions to consider. You should give careful thought to what
your profit could be if you checked or bet. How safe is it going to be
to bet? Are you the last to act? What action did your opponent take?
Is your medium hand going to be strong enough to be profitable?
When considering what your best move is, ask yourself if there
is a possibility that your opponent will call you with a better hand.
What are the chances that your opponent is going to raise, and
you’ll call and lose? What if you don’t call or raise, but choose to
fold instead, and your opponent wins with a weaker hand than the
one you just threw away? Is betting that marginal hand going to be
the best decision?
Sometimes even minor hands are worrisome and can be stressful
when you’re trying to determine whether they are going to be profitable to bet. Some skilled players have learned the hard way when
it’s going to be to their advantage to bet those hands or not. Some
have never learned at all. Maybe they could increase their profits
if they were more in tune with what their opponent’s actions might
be or if there was a possibility that their opponent could be setting
them up.
Tells. Mike teaches that if you’re holding a moderate hand, and
your opponent has shown a tell indicating he might not have the
superior hand, then take the plunge and bet. But, if by observing
your opponent, there’s any doubt about the strength of his hand,
play it safe and check.
If you are observant and discreetly scrutinize your opponent, you
often can determine what your actions should be. By being cautious
and perceptive, more profit is possible.
You should be aware if your opponent is studying his cards too
intently. He’s trying to scare you off. He wants you to think he is
holding an impressive hand. Don’t fall for it! It’s a safe time to bet.
Another action to notice is when your opponent makes a subtle
move toward his chips. He wants you to think he’s going to bet.
Wrong! He’s trying to deceive you, to spook you. Take the leap and
bet!
Now, suppose the player is watching you, to the extent that you
think you have a piece of spinach stuck in your tooth. Well, he’s
actually trying to intimidate you. He doesn’t have the cards that it’s
going to take to deter you. Bet! It’s safe.
Dangerous. The opponent that you do want to consider dangerous is the one looking away from you, making your bet seem safe.
Yes, he’s the one with the fantastic hand. He’s the one that’s going
to squash you.
Warning! Mike stresses that if you don’t notice anything that
indicates your opponent is likely to be weak or worried, you should
play it safe and just check any moderately strong hand. Follow that
simple rule and your next bet-or-check decision will be less of a
guessing game.
Diane McHaffie is Director of Operations at Mike Caro
University of Poker, Gaming, and Life Strategy. Her
diverse career spans banking, promotion of major financial seminars and the raising of White-tailed Deer. You
can write her online at diane@caro.com.
10
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
Sam Mudaro, BA, MBA, is a practicing tax
accountant and financial executive originally
from New York with over 35 years of analytical business expertise. He and his wife Eva
are nine-year Las Vegas residents. Sam uses
simulation software to analyze and develop
strategies for Omaha Hi/Lo and other forms of
poker. Reach Sam at: realguru2003@yahoo.com.
I
magine walking into
your favorite poker room
armed with your trusty laptop, loaded with all the latest state of the art software
that allows you to play
perfect poker against the
particular players at your
table. Even more remarkable, you’re advised how
to play perfectly against
the subset of players that
are in the pot with you.
Taking into account the
current betting action, the
individual betting pattern of
each player, and the exact
probability of winning with
your given holdings including your own strengths and
weaknesses, the program
will recommend your next
course of action.
“Impossible,” you say!
Well I would agree if your
favorite poker room is a
brick and mortar card room.
However if you play on
the Internet, it is all possible and readily available
today. I have not seen one
program that does it all yet.
A search of the Internet will
point you in the direction
of individual components.
A Google search of the
combined phase “Poker
Tools” returned 453,000
items headed by a site
entitled “Poker Top 10:
Top free poker tools available online!” followed by
“Poker Top 10: Top commercial poker tools online.”
Poker software varies in
what they are designed to
do. Poker odds calculators
allow you to set up and
compare one hand against
another. You may even set
the board cards allowing
you to compare one starting
hand against another with
different board configuration. The results show how
often the given hands will
win versus the other hands.
One thing to remember
when using this type of
software is that win percentage is not everything.
Most people are familiar
with the results of these calculations as they are typically displayed during most
TV broadcasts. Hold-em
software predominates but
here are two Omaha H/L
Sam Mudaro is the...
Playing on
sites: http://twodimes.
the Internet
net/poker/ and http://
exist that will search all
www.turningriver.com/.
the tables for you and find
Training and advisors
the tables with the softest
software will help improve
players or one to the exact
your live game as well as
specification you define.
your internet game by disRobots - often called
playing the relative strength
of your hand, based on how “bots” - are another type of
software that enables you
many people have folded
and called. Special advisors to enter an expert computer
driven player into a game.
geared to tournament play
take into account chip mod- The software is designed to
play perfect poker. I have
eling. Have you ever wonnot discussed this type of
dered whether you should
software as most sites can
be pushing or folding once
now detect this and have
the blinds become large?
banned the use of robots.
Some software packages
Most of these software
that enable this type of
tools work effortlessly in
analysis may be found
the background while you
at: http://sngwiz.com/ and
http://sitngo-analyzer.com/. are playing at your favorite
poker site. A number of the
Wilson’s software will
sites offer trial versions of
let you practice without an
internet connection. It has a their software or the software is free to download.
built in advisor which you
may call up during the play You should check out any
software before you purof a hand for advice and
chase it to determine that
analysis. You may also run
predefined simulations with it will be accepted by and
work with the online site
complete statistical reportwhere you play. These tools
ing. Simulation software
can definitely improve your
offers more flexibility in
game, but you must use
defining playing parameters. You can calculate win them wisely in combination with your own judgpercentage and determine
ment. Used correctly they
the average dollar amount
will offer you an advantage
a hand will earn. This is a
powerful tool for evaluating over those players not so
adequately equipped.
different starting hands.
Next time I will begin
Tracking software allows
a series of articles where
you to keep track of how
I will examine the play of
you played each hand, and
A-2-L where L is any low
create a database to anacard, other then an ace or
lyze your play. This helps
deuce before and after the
close holes in your game
and generally allows you to flop.
So what have we
fine tool your skills. Other
learned? If you plan on
tracking software will read
risking real money on line
the hand histories of your
you should arm yourself
opponents. This informawith the best tools possible.
tion is then analyzed and
Your opponent may be a
taken into account when
advising you to check, fold, novice, but armed with the
proper tools may play like
bet or raise. It allows you
an expert.
to exploit weakness found
in your opponent’s game.
A couple of sites offering
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such software are: http://
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Caro’s Word: “Life”
And he’s the one man,
back when poker wasn’t so
popular, who had the vision
to give us what we needed
most – a voice.
Over 20 years later, I
founded MCU, but even
in those more modern
times, I couldn’t quite
bring myself to include the
word “gambling.” There
are other unsettling things
about MCU you should
know. First of all, it isn’t
really a university or even
a school. I’m not sure what
it has become, other than
an umbrella name for occasional courses, seminars,
research, books, and videos.
No degrees
You can’t earn an advanced
degree at MCU, although
that was my original plan.
It doesn’t exist in any one
location anymore, except
perhaps in the Ozarks
where I now reside and
purchased a 31 acre “campus” for its potential future
classroom use. And that’s
why when reporters ask
me to describe MCU, I tell
them it’s a hoax. Maybe
that’s a little too cute or
self-effacing, but it’s almost
true. But the more I say
that, the more reporters
seem to write about it. Go
figure.
Now we arrive at today’s
main point. The name
includes “Life Strategy.”
What’s that? It’s the most
important potential thing
that MCU offers. I realized
this long ago when I did my
first keynote speech that
focused on poker tactics
as equated to life strategy.
And long before that (and
we’re talking about two
decades ago) I announced
a life-strategy book called
“Poker Without Cards.” If
you’re one of those still
waiting for the on-sale date,
you might need to wait a
little longer. I’m still slowly
resolving my lifelong infatuation with procrastination
as art form.
So, without making you
wait for the book, here’s the
first of several examples of
poker tactics in everyday
life that I’ll be sharing now
and then. Some, including
this one, will be adapted
from my previous writings…
246 injustices
Don’t let every injustice
bother you. In gambling
and in life, there’s always
injustice. Bet on it! Poker’s
worst starting hands
often win. And bad players sometimes get lucky.
Dealers may fumble the
deck and expose cards
that cost you money or
may wrongly accuse you
of not anteing. In life, it’s
the same. In fact, there’s
so much injustice that we
couldn’t possibly devote
ourselves to setting things
right.
Next year there will
probably be 246 unbelievably unjust things that will
happen to you personally.
Cashiers will hand you too
little change. People will
spread falsehoods about
you. Someone will misunderstand what you say.
Crooks will scam you. On
and on. And we’re guessing that this will happen
246 times next year. If it
only happens 230 times,
you’re having a good
year! So, you can either
just going on to the next
thing, or you can damage
your chances of success by
dwelling on each injustice,
talking about it, fuming
over it.
All that fusing, all that
fuming, all that waste
of mental energy really
doesn’t make sense. Why
should you get aggravated,
especially if you’re having
a good year? So, simply,
learn to overlook injustices
unless you’re prepared to
invest time, energy, and
resources to act on them.
Yes, it’s sometimes noble
to act against injustice, but
quibbling doesn’t count. I
teach that if it’s only worth
a quibble, it probably isn’t
worth your time at all.
Mike Caro is widely
regarded as the world’s
foremost authority on
poker strategy, psychology,
and statistics. A renowned
player and founder of Mike
Caro University of Poker,
Gaming, and Life Strategy,
he is known as “the Mad
Genius of Poker,” because
of his lively delivery
of concepts and latest
research. You can visit him
at www.poker1.com.
Tale of
tells
2
PART 2
BY LEO CUMMINS
I was at the final table at
the Mirage’s Sunday afternoon No Limit Hold’em
Tournament with the green
eyed, redheaded lady I met
at the registration desk. She
was on a rush and busted
two of the young Internet
gunslingers early on. That
left seven of us going for the
five money slots.
The blinds were eating
into my stack and I knew I
had to make something happen and I figured it would
probably be with the redheaded lady. Fortunately, I
picked-up her second tell
that prevented her from
busting me out.
I had pocket Jacks in the
middle position and raised
the bet to $1,500. The redhead called and the rest of
the table folded.
“The adversaries once
again,” she said to me across
the table.
I smiled and nodded in
agreement.
The flop was A-J-4. It
gave me a set of Jacks but
when I looked up from
the table, I noticed that the
redhead’s second tell had
popped-up and I checked.
There was no doubt in my
mind that she made a set of
Aces. Her face is expressionless but I knew she is
thinking about the previous
hand I called her down on,
and she wanted to trap me.
“Check,” she said. Trap
sprung.
“Good,” I said to myself,
“I got a free turn card.”
It was a 7s — no help.
“Check,” I said.
Disappointment flashed
across her face and she
asked, “How much do you
have?”
I give her a count.
“All in,” she said.
If I was going to laydown the hand, I thought I
might as well have some fun
along the way. So I began
to slow-play. I stacked and
restacked my chips a few
times and did a pretty fair
acting job of agonizing over
making a decision to call.
Finally, I flipped my cards
over and said, “It’s yours. I
know you have my set beat.”
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M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
11
A New Column is Born
FISHING AROUND
By Jan Fisher
Let me introduce myself before I get to
the meat (hold the potatoes) of this column. My name is Jan Fisher and I have been involved in the
poker industry for more than 30 years. My poker experience
includes being a co-owner of Card Player Cruises, a poker
dealer, statistician for the World Poker Tour, WPT Boot Camp
instructor, tournament director, board member of the Poker
Players Alliance, avid poker player, and co-founder of the
Tournament Director’s Association (TDA). It is my affiliation
with the TDA that inspired my first column for Poker Player
Newspaper.
I take extreme exception to much of what Oklahoma
Johnny Hale has written about the TDA. Hale incorrectly claims that TDA rules allow a player to raise himself.
Oklahoma Johnny was apparently the victim of a bad decision
by a tournament director who allowed an all-in raise that was
less than the previous bet to reopen the betting. This ruling
is directly contrary to TDA rule #10, which states: “In no-limit
and pot-limit, an all-in bet of less than a full raise does not
reopen the betting to a player who already has acted.”
Hale also stated that “The TDA doesn’t play much poker,
they just govern it.” Again he is wrong. Matt Savage, Dave
Lamb, Linda Johnson, and I founded this organization and we
all play poker. In fact, I would venture to say that most tournament directors play poker.
In the current issue, Hale says that he does not respect the
TDA because:
1. “The TDA is controlled by the casino, not the players.”
Hale may not be aware that TDA meetings are often
attended by players as well as tournament directors who
work together with the goal of fairness to everyone to
formulate the current TDA rules.
2. “Tournament directors are not paid or hired by the TDA.”
I’m sorry. I don’t understand what he is trying to say by
this. The TDA is an organization formed to standardize
tournament rules…it does not hire tournament directors.
3. “The tournament director is hired by the casino and
must please the casino – not the poker players.” Actually
all poker room employees are hired by the casino, not
just the tournament directors. I disagree that they do
not have to please the players; they must find a way to
please both players and cardrooms since unhappy players will find a different cardroom to play poker.
Hale goes on to say that some of the “TDA tournament
directors “don’t have proper training, make biased decisions,
try to please the winners, don’t understand how to play poker,
act like dictators and treat players like serfs.” Well first of all,
there are no “TDA tournament directors.” There are cardrooms
that use TDA rules and if they have a tournament director who
is guilty of the infractions listed above, steps should be taken
to correct the situation, the same as they would be with any
problem employee.
The TDA is an organization that I am very proud of, and it
has done an outstanding job of creating rules that benefit
both players and cardrooms. I strongly encourage you to go
to the TDA website (Pokertda.com) and read, download, study,
and memorize these rules. While all players don’t agree with
every TDA rule, I believe that if you took a survey, the overwhelming majority would agree that the TDA has improved
tournament play by standardizing so many tournament rules.
Moving right along…
Editor’s Note: Jan Fisher has been involved in the poker
industry for 30 years as a poker player, tournament director, strategist/columnist, co-founder of the
Tournament Directors Association, Partner in Card Player
Cruises, WPT Boot Camp instructor and statistician, and
live studio announcer for the Professional Poker Tour. She
also does many charity events and gives poker seminars.
Reach Jan via email at Jan@cardplayercruises.com. She
enjoys reader feedback and will reply to email.
12
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
Playing hold’em, do you have
a favorite hand – two hole
cards that give you that warm
feeling as you peek at the
corners? Personally, I have
several favorites. Best of all
are pocket aces; after all,
that’s the best hand possible
preflop.
I also like ace-queen
suited. I’ve named that
– is so gorgeous, and you
never know what the flop
will bring. Besides, the pot
odds were attractive and, with
six opponents seeing the flop,
the implied pot odds were
enormous. . .
The flop came down with
two more of my suit. It was
two spades and a nine of
diamonds. Now I had four-
I Was Dealt a
Beautiful “Caitlin”
SENIORS SCENE
By George “The engineer” EPSTEIN
combination a “Caitlin” in
honor of my beautiful, bright
and charismatic 19-year-old
grandniece from Boston.
(She is a sophomore at
Harvard, majoring in Earth
and Planetary Sciences; She’s
an all-A student who dreams
of becoming an astronaut.)
Like her, ace-queen suited is
beautiful to behold. Caitlin
is learning to play poker and
has made great progress.
Next time she visits, I hope
to continue her education.
Caitlin will be a winner!
Playing low-limit at a
local casino, I looked down
at a Caitlin. In an early
position, I called the blind.
The player two seats to my
left raised and was reraised
by the next player. Well, I
was smitten by my Caitlin,
so with barely a moment’s
thought, I called – even after
the betting was capped by a
third raise. With all the raising, I knew my hand surely
was far from being a favorite.
But A-Q suited – a Caitlin
to-the-spade-flush, ace-high.
Beautiful! If I made a flush, it
would be the nut flush. With
no pairs on the board, a fullhouse against me was a longshot. Besides, deep down, I
knew Caitlin would not let
me down. The blind came out
betting. I considered raising.
After all the card odds were
less than 2-to-1 against my
making the nut flush, whereas
the pot odds were huge! I
decided to play it slow and
cool at this point. Let the
others do the betting and raising. I was not disappointed
as the betting was raised and
reraised. I called, hoping for
another spade on the turn.
Alas, the turn brought
the deuce of diamonds – no
spade. Now there were two
diamonds as well as two
spades on the board. Still
no pair, so a full-house was
unlikely. But a diamondflush was just as likely as
my spade-flush. Again I just
called to see the river.
Eureka! Pay dirt! The
MAY JACKET
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promotion
at any time
dealer deftly laid down a
lovely (to me) five of spades
on the river. I was home free!
Caitlin had come through
for me in spades! This time
I raised after the blind came
out betting. A player across
the table studied his hole
cards – and reraised. The
blind folded. I reraised without hesitation and was called
by the gent across the table.
Now I could see the expression on his face change from
confidence to doubt. As I
showed my A-Q of spades,
he exposed his K-10 of
spades. Shaking his head, he
decided to leave the game
as I scooped in an enormous
pot – thanks to my beautiful
Caitlin.
To add frosting to the cake,
the player to my left showed
A-10 of diamonds. Had
the river been a diamond,
he would have had the nut
flush instead of me. Thanks,
Caitlin.
. . . So readers, what’s
YOUR opinion?
George “The Engineer”
Epstein is the author of
The Greatest Book of
Poker for Winners! and
Hold’em or Fold’em? – An
Algorithm for Making
the Key Decision (T/C
Press, PO Box 36006, Los
Angeles, CA 90036) He
teaches poker courses and
the Poker Lab at the Claude
Pepper Sr. Citizen Center
under the auspices of the
City of Los Angeles Dept.
of Recreation and Parks.
George can be reached by
e-mail: geps222@msn.com.
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Tale of
tells
2
PART 2
CONT’D FROM PAGE 11
My unexpected move
startled her and she looked
as disappointed as a cat
watching a mouse escaping
from a carefully planned
trap. “Good lay-down.” she
said, showing her set of
aces.
Twenty minutes later we
were down to six players
and I was on the bubble
with a short stack. I went
all-in with pocket queens
and was called down by the
big blind with an A-K. I was
a winner until I was sucked
out on the river by the Ace.
It wasn’t a bad beat, just bad
luck.
With me busted out, the
tournament director called
a break to collect the IDs of
the players who were now in
the money and to take care
of the necessary paperwork
back in his office. While
this was happening, the redhead cornered me.
“How did you read me
on those two hands?” she
asked. “Did you pick up
some tells?”
I looked into her green
eyes. They weren’t pleading, just filled with curiosity. “What’s in it for me if
I, pardon the pun, if I ‘tell’
you?” I said.
She moved into my space.
“I’ll owe you. Big time.
Look, I know I can win this
thing, but if someone else is
smart enough to pick up my
tells I’ll be at a disadvantage.”
I thought for a moment
and decided it couldn’t hurt
if she really did windup
owing me — big time.
“All right,” I said. And
explained how she gave her
bluff away by toying with
her broach.
She nodded. “How about
that lay-down of yours?
That was positively spooky
laying down a set of 10s.”
I smiled and leaned over
and whispered in her ear.
“Oh my God!” she said.
“I’ve got to fix that right
away. Try stalling the game
until get back. Tell them I
had to go to the ladies room
— real bad.” With that, she
practically flew out of the
poker room.
After a long 10 minutes
and some annoying looks
from the tournament director and grumbling from the
other players, the redhead
slid into her assigned seat
and gave me a quick wink
and the game was on.
Forty-five minutes later it
was over. I watched as she
took down the final pot with
a nut flush without a tell in
sight.
With first place money
safely tucked into her purse
she asked me, “Drink?”
“At the bar?” I said.
Putting her arm through
mine, “No. My place.”
Her place turned out to be
a two-bedroom apartment
on the 26th floor in one of
the new condos that were
mushrooming up and down
the strip.
“Impressive view,” I said,
looking out of the floor to
ceiling windows in the living room.
“Yes,” she said. “But distracting at times like this.”
Moving to a bank of wall
switches she pressed one
and heavy drapes slowly
closed over the view.
I smiled. “What next?
Music?”
“Why not?” she said,
pressing another switch.
Moments later a Miles
Davis’ rendition of ‘So
What?’ floated into the
room.
“Why are you shaking
your head?” she asked.
“This place. It’s not you.
It’s more of a bachelor’s
pad.”
“It was a bachelor’s pad,
or so my ex thought before I
caught him here with one of
his dancers. Now it’s mine
— among other things. Lots
of other things. But that’s a
different story. Right now
it’s just you and me.”
She moved closer to me
and I could feel the warmth
of her body and smelled
the unmistakable scent of
a woman. A very desirable
woman.
“Now,” she said. “It’s
time to show you how I
fixed that second ‘tell’ of
mine.” She slowly removed
her blouse revealing a bra
that wasn’t there at the
beginning of the tournament.
“Thank God the hotel
boutique was still open,”
she said. Reaching behind
her, she unfastened the bra
and let it drop to the floor.
Taking my hands, she placed
them on her breasts. They
were firm and real and I
felt her nipples grow hard
between my fingers.
“Yes, she said, moving
her hands to my belt buckle,
“You discovered my two
tells. And I only bet my top
pair when I’m sure I have
the nuts.”
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M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
13
Northwood Iowa’s Diamond
Jo Casino Re-Opens
Poker Room
MIDWEST MILIEU
By bonnie demos
Friday, April 27, 2007... After a one-year hiatus
the Diamond Jo Casino located in Northwood, IA
announced the re-opening of a bigger and better
poker room. Located on Hwy. I-35 on the northern
Iowa, southern Minnesota border, this explosively
popular casino has brought poker back into the
game. The casino originally offered poker when it
opened over one year ago, however, the success
of the casino was far greater than anticipated, slot
floor space was at a premium, and ultimately the
poker room gave way to slot space.
Poker is now back by popular demand, and will
be even bigger and better than ever. Along with
the re-opening of the poker room Diamond Jo
has also added seasoned veteran Ken Long to
bring poker to a new level in the area. Ken is a
long time veteran of Tunica’s poker rooms, The
Grand for 7 years, and The Gold Strike for 4, then
on to the Horseshoe in Council Bluffs, IA before
taking his current position as poker room manager at Diamond Jo, Northwood. No stranger to
high stakes action, Ken’s years of experience and
expertise will no doubt play a key role in developing this property into a premier poker destination
in the Midwest. He is hitting the ground running;
weekly tournaments are scheduled to begin on
Monday, April 30 as follows:
EVERY MONDAY – HIGH NOON
NL Texas hold’em tourney $30 Buy-in. No re-buys.
EVERY TUESDAY – 6:30 PM
NL Texas hold’em bounty tourney $40 Buy-in. No re-buys.
EVERY WEDNESDAY – 11 AM
NL Texas hold’em tourney $20 Buy-in 1st hour, unlimited re-buys.
EVERY THURSDAY – 6:30 PM
NL Texas hold’em tourney $60 Buy-in. No re-buys.
1ST SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH
NL Texas hold’em tourney $210 Buy-In.
EVERY SUNDAY—POKER LEAGUE
$35 Buy-In 2 Month Tourney – Cash, Points, Prizes + Main Event
Plans are in the works for additional tournament
action and will be announced in the near future.
The 7-table poker rooms offer nolimit, fixed-limit, Omaha, and 7card stud, at a variety of spreads.
Located a short, scenic 1 ½ hour drive from the
Minneapolis/St. Paul area, this poker room is positioned to draw plenty of player action.
Sportsmen have the opportunity to enjoy outdoor re-creation in addition to poker, as the property also offers a variety of outdoor activities at
their exclusive golf and gaming lodge, Pheasant
Links.
Please contact the Diamond Jo Casino directly
for additional info; they are waiting to “Delight”
you!
777 Diamond Jo Lane
Northwood, IA 50459
(641) 323-7777
Congratulations and best of luck to Ken Long
and the staff of Diamond Jo casino on the reopening of their Poker Room.
Bonnie Demos from the midwest, Gambler, poker player and award winning chef, has enjoyed working in the
gaming industry for the past several years.
Write her at bdemos1@wi.rr.com
14
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
Wendeen: The Big Game is Online
cifically prohibiting a given
form of online gaming.”
Where is D’Amato?
The gambling industry’s
generally high-kicking celebration of the Frank bill is
not necessarily universal,
however. Even within the
increasingly united ranks
of the online poker world,
at least one high-profile
online poker entrepreneur is
reserved about Frank’s proposed legislation. He says,
“With only 11 states in which
private sector gambling is
legal, I’m not sure that in the
end we will get very far, if
states have an opt-out provision.”
Mr. D’Amato, who is
leading the charge as the
PPA’s chairman and chief
flak, has been a man of few
public words lately, giving
little more than polite lip
service and serving up nice
platitudes to the Frank bill.
He has said, “It’s a common sense approach.” From
inside the Beltway, comes
word that D’Amato and the
PPA may be more excited
about Florida Representative
Robert Wexler’s imminent
plans to submit a poker
carve-out bill.
If D’Amato helps to get
the UIGEA undone, not only
does he complete his mission for the PPA, but he also
stands to earn a “knock your
socks off” bonus directly
from some online operators—according to a big
player in the off shore online
poker business.
Frank is center stage
For the moment, Frank has
put IGREA in the spotlight,
and he is basking in the
attention it brings on his civil
libertarian views. He seems
to be unconcerned about all
that is going on in the wings.
Senate Democratic Majority
Whip Harry Reid has signalled his continued support
for just one piece of gambling legislation—a study bill
that is slated for introduction
by Nevada Representative
Shelley Berkley next week.
Mr. Frank isn’t paying any
obvious attention to the
likely bill coming out of Mr.
Wexler’s office.
Both Ms. Berkley and Mr.
Wexler are among the 11
co-sponsors of Frank’s bill.
According to the spokesperson for the American Ganing
Association, high profile
casino leaders are taking a
hard look at the Frank legislation this week. Mr. Frank
is certainly having a bright
moment in the sun.
Berkley stands tall
Yesterday I caught up with
Shelley Berkley over lunch.
We both chose sushi. It was
a Dutch treat deal with her
on a cell phone in Las Vegas
and I on my mobile in New
York. We talked about the
week that was in online gaming quarters.
Ms. Berkley had not made
it to Frank’s press conference in Washington, but she
was totally in the loop on the
day’s activities and the events
that led up to her and her colleagues’ decisions to line up
as co-sponsors of the IGREA
bill . She said, “I am cautiously optimistic about it.”
“Can the PPA play a positive role here?” I inquired.
She warned that the PPA
members must come out in
force and make their voices
heard with their representatives. “Is D’Amato an asset
in the process?” I then asked.
She moved the conversation
away from D’Amato, but
offered more generally, “It
is the PPA membership, in a
compelling grass roots movement of its own, more than
a lobbyist, who will create
the real prospect of victory in
this fight.”
We returned to the subject of the Frank bill. The
Congresswoman praises his
effort “to ignite the debate”
that should have taken place
before UIGEA was considered for a vote last year.
Robert Wexler is at
stage right
Online poker players are still
hopeful of a fast and complete rescue—in an unfettered poker carve-out from
UIGEA that excludes poker
from any gambling prohibitions by treating it as a game
of skill. This is the road that
Representative Wexler is
reportedly poised to travel.
Passage of a bill based on
this strategy is a near-term
long shot according to most
everyone’s calculations on
the Hill. But the jury is still
out as to who is whistling
Dixie and who will actually
make headway in Congress
with favorable online gambling legislation this year.
Wendeen Eolis advises commercial and online gaming
companies as part of her
legal business/ contract
negotiations consulting practices. She currently serves
as Vice-Chair of the World
Poker Association and chairs
its Government Relations
Committee. Ms. Eolis is also
an internationally recognized
tournament poker player;
she was elected to the WPT’s
Inaugural Professional Poker
Tour and has cashed in five
WSOP events. Her published
articles are read in poker
and legal journals Visit eolis.
com for info on her upcoming manual, Secrets of the
People Reader. This article is
an adaptation of interviews
and material that may be
part of Ms. Eolis’ forthcoming book, Power Poker
Dame.
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
15
Welcome Back Kotter, A Razz
Question, and BoDog Kudos
THE EIKS’ VIEW
BY Mike Eikenberry
Recently I was watching the WPT Tournament of Champions
on TV. The tournament got down to Mike Sexton and Daniel
Negreanu playing heads-up for the $1 million first prize.
The play was very entertaining and Sexton won after a long
battle. During one hand, Mike lost a significant amount of
chips only to turn around and win them back a hand or two
later. After the second hand, Mike could clearly be heard
singing, “Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back,” as
he raked in the pot. This brought back memories of a hand
involving Gabe Kaplan and Stu Ungar, thirty years before.
During the 70’s and 80’s Gabe Kaplan was a regular
on the high-limit poker circuit and often played in tournaments with a number of top finishes. During part of
this time, he also starred in the popular television show
Welcome Back Kotter, featuring John Travolta as Vinnie
Barbarino. The show also had a well-known theme song.
The closing refrain of “Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.” always came to my mind when I thought of
the show.
In the 80’s during the WSOP, Gabe was playing in a big
no-limit cash game. Each player had at least $30,000
in chips. I was sitting nearby in a $20-$40 limit hold’em
game. Every once in a while I would take a short walk and
stretch near their no-limit table and watch a couple of
hands. Stu Ungar was playing very aggressively and winning pretty big. Everybody else seemed to be losing or a
small winner.
In one hand, Stu (small blind), and 2 other players called
Gabe’s button $2,000 raise to see the flop, which was 4-55 with 2 clubs. Stu made a $3,000 bet, Gabe called and the
other 2 players folded. The turn car was a three of hearts.
Stuey bet $5,000 and Gabe called again. The last card was
the deuce of clubs. Two pair, Straights, flushes, trips, full
houses, quads, and even straight flushes were possible. Stu
made a sizeable bet and Gabe raised all-in. Stuey quickly
called, making a total pot of over $60,000. Gabe turned
over two 4s for 4s full, but Stuey turned over 5-4 off suit
for 5s full of fours.
Gabe went a little ballistic and headed to the restroom
with Stuey right beside him explaining how he could call with
5-4 off suit. This was the biggest live action I had seen at
the time and I was amazed at the hand and how Stu Ungar
won it. A couple hours later as I left, Gabe had a big smile on
his face as he raked in a pot equal to or bigger than the one
he lost to Ungar earlier. He had hit a third Queen on the river
to beat Ungar’s pocket Aces. As Stu railed at him for his call
and Gabe stacked the huge pile of chips, I thought I heard
him softly singing, “Welcome back, welcome back, welcome
back,” which seemed appropriate to me.
RAZZ QUESTION. I am a novice in Razz and have a
question for my readers. Recently I found myself in the following heads-up Razz situation:
On Fifth Street, my opponent bet a board of 7-9-J. I had
a board of 6-9-Q with a 3 and ace in the hole. I had called
on Third Street and bet and been called on Fourth Street.
My opponent bet on Fifth Street. Should I fold, call, or
raise? Please explain your answer.
BODOG KUDOS. Getting your money out of an online
poker site is not easy as it used to be. I would like to thank
BoDog for finding a way to distribute my money at their
site to me at no cost and fast. Unfortunately, I have not
found any other sites willing to do this.
Mike Eikenberry got his undergraduate and law degrees
from the University of Virginia, where he played varsity
tennis and basketball. Founder of one of the leading
national tennis camps, Mike is an avid amateur who has
played both tournaments and live games for over 25
years. He can be reached at theeiks@comcast.net
16
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
WPT Championship
Seat
Player
Chip Count
1
Phil Hellmuth
$1,827,000
2
Raymond Davis $1,704,000
3
Loi Phan
$1,419,000
4
Kirk Morrison
$1,327,000
5
Roland Dewolfe $1,287,000
6 Thomas Wahlroos $1,189,000
7
Can Hua
$1,041,000
But a lot of poker remained
to be played yet. Some
of the early day big stacks
dropped way down the
leaderboard while others
suffered the ultimate fate:
elimination. Only one of
the Day Three leaders, Kirk
Morrison, made it to the
final table.
Heading into the final
day, the leaderboard looked
like this:
Seat
Player
Chip Count
1
Kirk Morrison
4,194,000
2
Guy Lilaberte
4,690,000
3 Carlos Mortensen 6,501,000
4
Mike Wattel
2,587,000
5
Paul Lee
1,1828,000
6 Thien “Tim” Phan 2,162,000
It was an interesting field
with an international flavor,
and included Guy Laliberte,
the richest man in Canada
and the co-founder of
“Cirque du Soleil.” Also
among the final six was
Carlos “The Matador”
Mortensen who was seeking to become only player
to win both the WSOP
Main Event, which he did in
2001, and the WPT World
Championship.
The final six began play
a few minutes past 5:00
PM Friday night, May 27
and just after midnight on
Saturday morning it’s all
over. After three hours
of heads-up play Carlos
Mortensen took the title and
won $3,970,415. Mortensen
became the only person to
win both the WSOP Main
Event and the WPT World
Championship. Nice.
WPT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
5-STAR WORLD
POKER CLASSIC
WPT EVENT SEASON 5
BELLAGIO CASINO
4/27/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
CHAMPIONSHIP
BUY-IN $25,000 + $500
PLAYERS 639
PRIZE
POOL
$15,495,750
1. Juan Carlos
Mortensen . .$3,970,415
2. Kirk Morrison $2,011,135
3. Paul Lee . . . .$1,082,920
4. Guy Laliberte $696,220
5. Thien Phan . . $464,110
6. Mike Wattel . .
7. Thomas
Wahlroos . . . .
8. Scott Fischman
9. Tommy Vu . . .
$309,405
$278,465
$247,525
$216,585
5-STAR WORLD
POKER CLASSIC
WPT EVENT SEASON 5
BELLAGIO CASINO
4/18/07
SENIORS
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $2,500 + $120
PLAYERS 195
PRIZE
POOL
$472,875
1.
2.
3.
4.
Blake Buffington $191,030
Mike Stonehill . $98,425
James Flynn . . $49,210
Jerry Matlock . $26,830
5-STAR WORLD
POKER CLASSIC
WPT EVENT SEASON 5
BELLAGIO CASINO
4/17/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $5,000 + $180
PLAYERS 324
PRIZE
POOL
$1,425,900
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Adeeb Harb . . $501,635
Ted Lawson . . $294,085
Mack Lee . . . . $147,040
Dave Ulliott . . . $84,035
Chris Birchby . $63,020
5-STAR WORLD
POKER CLASSIC
WPT EVENT SEASON 5
BELLAGIO CASINO
4/16/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $3,000 + $120
PLAYERS 324
PRIZE
POOL
$942,840
1. Anna
Wroblewski . . $337,395
2. Jon Dull . . . . . $192,640
3. Abel Meijberg . $96,320
4. Peter Feldman $55,025
5. Colin Gordon . $41,280
5-STAR WORLD
POKER CLASSIC
WPT EVENT SEASON 5
BELLAGIO CASINO
4/15/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $2,500 + $120
PLAYERS 331
PRIZE
POOL
$827,500
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Jesse Martin . $289,740
Scott Clements $163,205
Paul Spitalnic . $81,606
Paul Alterman $46,625
Noah Boeken . . $34,975
5-STAR WORLD
POKER CLASSIC
WPT EVENT SEASON 5
BELLAGIO CASINO
4/14/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $2,000 + $100
PLAYERS 483
PRIZE
POOL
$937,020
1. Jared Hamby AKA
“TheWacoKidd” $298,955
2. Kathy Liebert $164,075
3. David Daneshgar $86,595
4. Justin Gaines . $50,120
5. Chad Layne . . . $36,460
6. Chuck Pacheco $25,525
5-STAR WORLD
POKER CLASSIC
WPT EVENT SEASON 5
BELLAGIO CASINO
4/13/07
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $1,500 + $90
PLAYERS 654
PRIZE
POOL
$951,570
1. Anh Van Nguyen
. . . . . . . . . . . . $303,320
2. Matthew
Casterella . . . . $166,695
3. Mike Landers . $87,975
4. Ted Lawson . . . $50,940
5. Jim Pechac . . . $37,045
6. Jay Jones . . . . . $25,930
A PROPERTY OF
4000 W. Flamingo Road • Las Vegas
367-7111
SPREADING DAILY
$
2-$4
$
4-$8 Limit Texas Hold’em
$
100 Buy-in No-Limit Hold’em
1-$2 Blinds
$
ALSO:
All Games
Full Blind
1/2 Kill
$1-$5
7 Card Stud
$3 Max
Rake
$ $
4- 8
Omaha-Hi
DAILY TOURNAMENT 10am
$22
Buy-in No Re-Buys
No Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament
Monday - Thursday
1500 Starting Chips
$
5 for 500 Chips Optional Dealers Bonus
$
35 Buy-in • 40 Players Max
Sign-ups 5pm • Tournament 6pm
$
See poker room for details
NON SMOKING
8 TABLES
OPEN 24 Hrs
Come join us in the poker room
7 days a week
Stars & Stripes
the poker community.
BICYCLE CASINO
4/25/07
STARS & STRIPES
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BOUNTY
BUY-IN $225 + $30
PLAYERS 260
PRIZE
POOL
$52,000
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ernie Trujillo . $19,500
Eric Tener . . . . . $9,620
Anthony Lee . . $4,680
Matt Rolph . . . . $3,105
BICYCLE CASINO
4/24/07
STARS & STRIPES
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $300 + $40
PLAYERS 219
PRIZE
POOL
$63,729
1.
2.
3.
4.
Rafael Maronyan $23,899
Wayne Chang $11,795
Robert Ozeran . $5,735
Keith Helgevold $3,825
BICYCLE CASINO
4/23/07
STARS & STRIPES
BICYCLE CASINO
4/19/07
STARS & STRIPES
POT LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $100 + $25
PLAYERS 228
PRIZE
POOL
$22,116
1. Paramjit Gill . . $8,291
2. Gamliel Shiri . . $4,090
3. Anthony Lee . . $2,000
BICYCLE CASINO
4/18/07
STARS & STRIPES
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $200 + $30
PLAYERS 326
PRIZE
POOL
$63,244
1. Levon Zakarian $23,739
2. Stephane Fitoussi $11,700
3. Ali Bahman Sabahi $5,690
Scotty Nguyen Challenge III
sophisticated, or as integrated into the operation of the
entire property.
Tournament namesake
and host, Scotty Nguyen,
is one of the most popular
and respected pros in the
game. He’s won over $6.7
million in a career that’s
brought him four WSOP
bracelets, including the 1998
Championship.
Rick O’Connell (ROC),
the Director of Poker
& Table Games, Tony
Armstrong, Sr. Manager of
Poker, and Jimmie Sims,
Poker Manager, are the
architect’s of the Cherokee
Casinos’ nationally recog-
nized success with poker.
Asked what their secret was,
ROC declared, “Action!
Action! Action!”
ROC’s right. With 36
tables (all with automatic
shufflers), a full compliment
of daily, weekly and annual
tournaments, and every kind
of live game you can afford,
the Cherokee Casino is a
poker player’s playground.
Jimmie Sims credits his
staff for much of the success of their program. “Our
tournament directors Brooks
Turk and Shawn Baldwin
have worked the WSOP and
other tournaments. They’re
pros,” Sims says. For large,
major, annual events like the
Scotty Nguyen Challenge,
the casino also brings in
nationally known tournament director Jimmy
Sommerfeld to assist.
Already one of the top
properties in the state, the
Cherokee Casino has just
announced a $100+ million
dollar expansion to include
a new hotel tower, added
convention space, new restaurants and much more.
“We intend to remain at the
forefront of the gaming and
entertainment industry in the
state,” declares Cherokee
Nation Enterprises C.E.O.
David Stewart.
Time to Ram-and-Jam
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
PLAZA PLAYER
APPRECIATION
BUY-IN $100 + $25
PLAYERS 186
PRIZE
POOL
$35,400
1.
2.
3.
4.
Antonio Ferrer $10,615
Charles Wright $5,310
Donald Carlton $3,275
William Cheng . $2,300
BICYCLE CASINO
4/22/07
STARS & STRIPES
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
/ LIMIT
BUY-IN $200 + $30
PLAYERS 166
PRIZE
POOL
$33,200
1.
2.
3.
4.
James Carroll $12,884
Robert Terzyan $6,125
Truc Nguyen . . $3,060
Matthew Vlofsky $1,930
BICYCLE CASINO
4/21/07
STARS & STRIPES
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
REBUY UNLIMITED
BUY-IN $200 + $30
PLAYERS 294
REBUYS 450
PRIZE
POOL
$144,336
1.
2.
3.
4.
Robert A Duarte $54,106
Peter Nguyen . $26,700
Jorge Walker . $12,990
Chris Beardmore $8,660
BICYCLE CASINO
4/20/07
STARS & STRIPES
DAILY NO LIMIT TOURNAMENTS
9 A.M.
6 P.M.
SIT N GO’S
HIGH HAND BONUSES
For more information, call 702.730.7780.
Monte Carlo endorses responsible gaming. If you or someone you know has a problem
gaming responsibly, please call the 24-hour Problem Gamblers HelpLine at 1.800.522.4700
OMAHA HI/LO
BUY-IN $200 + $30
PLAYERS 146
PRIZE
POOL
$28,324
1.
2.
3.
4.
Phillip Penn Sr $11,324
James Harrington $5,380
Ted Spires . . . . . $2,690
Paul Arellanes . $1,700
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
17
A Small Blind Draw
STRAIGHT SKINNY
By RICHARD G. BURKE
On a Friday afternoon in mid-winter
my local poker room was crowded. In a ten-handed
$4-$8 hold’em game, I was the small blind. Two
players voluntarily called and six folded when I
peeked at my hand and saw Jf-6f. Because my
pot odds were 7-to-1, I called.
The chances of a good flop for any two suited
cards are about 1 in 7. A good flop would be a full
house or quads, a probability of about 1 percent,
C(6,3)/C(50,3); a flush, a probability of C(11,3)/
C(50,3), also about 1 percent; two pair or trips,
about 3 percent, C(6,2)*C(44,1)/C(50,3); and for an
unpaired flop with two clubs, C(11,2)*C(33,1)/C(50,3),
or about 9 percent. Those four probabilities can be
added to obtain 13.6 percent, or about 1 chance in
7.4. If the pot odds are larger than the card odds,
it’s not a bad bet.
Even if the big blind were to raise, the pot odds
would likely still be 8 for 1, because most players
who freely enter the pot will call one raise, and
there would be 24 chips in the pot at my turn, again
offering 8 for 1 pot odds. The big blind did raise and
we three all called.
The flop was Ad-Qf-Tf. I counted my outs: any
one of nine clubs would make a flush, but the Af
would pair the board; any of the three other kings
would make a straight, but anyone else with a jack
would tie me. Thus, I had eight clean outs and four
iffy ones. My cards odds were between 1 in 6 and 1
in 4.
It’s important to remember that even the smallest flush wins 76 percent of the time when there are
exactly three trumps on an unpaired board. The Qf
promoted my potential flush to third nut: it would
win 88 percent of the time.
I checked, the big blind bet, a player folded, Fred
called. After the rake, bad-beat drop, and toke-to-be,
my pot odds were $39 for $4, about 10 for 1. I just
called. (I should have raised.)
The turn was the 4f, for Ad-Qf-Tf-4f on the
board; three clubs, and no pairs. I checked. The big
blind bet; Fred called; I raised, making the others
pay to improve. After the rake, bad-beat drop, and
toke-to-be, there was $71 in the pot, offering 10 for
1 odds to a caller. Two pair would have four outs for
card odds of 1 in 11, not a great call but not awful
either. If someone had aces-up with the Af, then
she would have eleven outs, for card odds of 1 in 4.
Someone with a set would have ten outs for card
odds of 1 in 4.4, a good call. The big blind called.
Fred folded.
The 9d was a great river card because it didn’t
pair the board and it wasn’t a club. The board was
Ad-Qf-Tf-4f-9d. I bet; the big blind called; I
tabled the third nut flush. The big blind flashed AfQd and hurled them into the muck.
The big blind had top two pair and seven additional outs holding the Af, so her lead bet on the turn
wasn’t a mistake. Without the trump ace, she should
just check with those three trumps on the board.
Your pot odds aren’t usually large enough to call
with any two suited hole cards unless there are
seven other players, except in the blinds. In the
small blind with just three callers, my pot odds are 8
for 1, so I call with any suited hand.
Mr. Burke is the author of Flop: The Art of Winning at
Low-Limit Hold ’Em, on sale at amazon &
kokopellipress.com. E-mail your Hold ’Em questions to
richardburke@comcast.net
18
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
Every day I am still dismayed about the current
state of online poker.
I’m still shocked that our
lawmakers took the time,
money, and energy to
attack our game. Sites that
promote suicide, bomb-
that picks a winnable fight
with something that is
relatively defenseless (i.e.
online gaming).”
Indeed, we were relatively defenseless at the
time of the attack on the
game. We had just started
Readers React
POKER COUNSELOR
By John Carlisle, MA, NCC
making, and pornography
are all within a click of
any youngster, yet adult
Americans are having a
hard time finding a way to
play poker online.
Most poker players
simply shrug their shoulders and accept their
fate. Some have their
money still in the grips
of Neteller, while others
have been unable to cash
out their chips from their
favorite online casinos.
While there are at least
two active poker alliances
working to try to lobby for
us, most recreational players feels powerless in this
situation. What can one
player do against the US
Government, after all?
My email inbox was
filled after I wrote about
poker seemingly becoming
Public Enemy Number 1.
The responses help to fuel
a powerful emotion within
me: hope. Complacency
only places our stamp of
approval on the situation. I
was thrilled to see you, the
readers, react with such
vigor.
Glenn from South
Pasadena, California,
wrote, “The seemingly
(to us) misdirected attack
is rooted in our national
identity and history. For
better and for worse, our
country was founded
with a puritanical foundation. The fact that these
other, more vile, evils
are present online and in
real life don’t change the
fact that they view gambling as bad…If given the
chance, they would probably support legislation to
eradicate all of the vices
mentioned in your article;
however, since there is no
legislation currently out
front banning it, we do
not hear from them…Rare
is the lawmaker that
pushes an agenda that has
little chance of winning.
Common is the legislator
our ascent
into the mainstream sporting world, largely fueled
by the endorsement dollars and exposure via the
online game. Poker players
are millions and millions
strong in numbers, though.
We do have a voice, and
we do have some collective lobbying and voting
power.
Susan of Woodland
Hills, California, might
help to inspire us all: “A
group of volunteers used
to gather in secret to play
poker when I was in the
Peace Corps in 1966 in
Venezuela. We weren’t
supposed to congregate in
groups after 10:00 pm, but
you couldn’t stop young
Americans who thought
they could get away with
anything in 1966. We
played for puya’s which
were around 1/10th of a
penny at the time I think…
It gave me a lifelong love
of Poker! I’m still trying
to save the world. This
time from idiotic and
mean spirited government
Day
regulations. I am a 62 year
old grandmother. I enjoy
the challenge of Texas
Holdem as a pastime. I am
not a professional. I have
played online poker for
several years. The nearest casino is an hour away
and certainly I cannot go
as often as I’d like to play
poker. So, online is the
perfect solution. Do I feel
like a sleaze? Of course
not. This regulation is
ridiculous. I have written
my representative, called
Diane Feinstein’s office
and Sen. Boxer. I will also
call Barney Frank’s office.
We poker players have to
make some noise!”
Poker is not a team contest. We tend to fall into
the habit of looking out for
ourselves in this individualistic contest. Well, folks,
we are in this one together.
A recreational poker-playing Grandmother and a
21 year-old professional
poker player have the
same focus and same goal.
Let’s band together and
continue to follow Susan’s
advice to “make some
noise!”
John Carlisle is a
National Certified
Counselor with a Master’s
degree in Counseling
Psychology from West
Virginia University, and a
Bachelor’s of Psychology
from Lock Haven
University. Find out more
by emailing him at
pokercounselor@yahoo.com
Game
Buy-in
Sun. nite/Mon. am ♦ Spread Lmt Hold’Em ♦ $120
Mon. nite/Tues. am ♦ Spread Lmt Hold’Em ♦ $120
Registration begins 12am. Tournaments begin 1:45am.
Limited seating.
1801 Bering Drive, San Jose, California (408) 451–8888 bay101.com
Play with your head, not over it. Is gambling a problem? Call 1.800.GAMBLER
Oklahoma Johnny Hale and his
daughter Oklahoma Sarah say:
“We’re Poker’s
#1 Family.”
Are you going
to let them
get away
with that?!!
Event to be held at
Hollywood Park
Casino on June
16 & 17
Father’s Day
weekend 2007
The Game is
Tag Team H.O.R.S.E
The Buy-in is $2,000
+ $200 Entry Fee/Team
Teams may buy-in directly
or Win a Satellite entry
Every Public Card Room in the World may send
their #1 Family(2-person team). Every public card
room in the world has been informed about this
event— ASK YOURS TO STAGE A SATELLITE.
For further information and registration,
contact Marilyn Brison (310) 330-2800 x2601,
marilynb@playhpc.com
Created and Sponsored by
GAMES: H.O.R.S.E. Tag Team: Only
one member of the team may play
at one time. Players and games
will alternate between – Hold ‘em,
Omaha High, Razz (2-7 lowball),
Seven Card Stud, and Eight or better.
Team members Must alternate from
one event to the next. After each
team member has played each game
once, two switchouts will be granted
to each team.
ELIGIBILITY: All teams must be Parent/Child. Natural, adopted, step and
Newspaper
In-law relationships are eligible. No
relationship less than three years
long will be permitted. Cash winners
must show documentary proof of
relationship to collect prize money.
DIRECT BUY-IN. Any qualified family, even those who may have lost
in a satellite event, may play in this
Final Event, when they supply the
buy-in and entry fee ($2,200)
SATELLITES: All public card rooms,
worldwide, are encouraged to send
their 2007 #1 Family. Card rooms
may produce only ONE representative family team, either by satellite,
or, by selection. Representatives
are encouraged to wear their card
room’s logo.
SATELLITE BUY-IN. Only one family team may represent each public
card room. Card rooms are invited
to hold one satellite event where
the buy-in will be determined by a
prize sufficient to cover the Final
buy-in and entry fee ($2,200) for
one team. An additional sum may
be added to the prize pool for
travel expenses and for the local
house tournament fee. For example, if 10 teams play and $1000
extra is to be awarded, the fees
will be $320/team + a house fee. If
there are 100 families, the fees will
only be $32/team + a house fee.
TELEVISION COVERAGE: We
are working on television coverage, but, due to the short time
involved, we cannot make any
guarantees for this year.
Come Back To Where It All Began!
Binion’s 1st Annual Poker Classic
Starts May 31 st at Binion’s
Legendary Poker Room.
Date
Thur, May 31
Time Event
Buy-in
2pm No-Limit Hold'em
$65
(Casino Employees Only)
Fri, June 1
$150
Sat, June 2
4pm Pot-Limit Hold'em
$150
Sun, June 3
4pm Limit Hold'em
$150
Mon, June 4
2pm Limit Omaha 8 or better
$150
Tues, June 5 2pm No-Limit Hold'em
$200
Wed, June 6
2pm No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed) $150
Thur, June 7 2pm Seven Card Stud
$150
Fri, June 8
2pm H.O.R.S.E.
$250
Sat, June 9
4pm Ladies No-Limit Hold'em
$100
Sun, June 10 4pm Seven Card Stud 8 or better
$200
Mon, June 11 2pm No-Limit Hold'em Shootout
$150
Tues, June 12 2pm No-Limit Hold'em
$500
Wed, June 13 2pm Pot-Limit Omaha
$150
Thur, June 14 2pm No-Limit Hold'em
$200
Fri, June 15
$150
Sat, June 16 4pm Razz
$150
Date
Sun, June 17
Mon, June 18
Tues, June 19
Wed, June 20
Thur, June 21
Fri, June 22
Sat, June 23
Sun, June 24
Mon, June 25
Tues, June 26
Wed, June 27
Thur, June 28
Fri, June 29
Sat, June 30
Sun, July 1
Mon, July 2
Tues, July 3
Wed, July 4
Time
4pm
2pm
2pm
2pm
2pm
2pm
4pm
4pm
2pm
2pm
2pm
2pm
2pm
12pm
4pm
2pm
2pm
2pm
Event
Buy-in
No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed) $200
Seven Card Stud
$200
Limit Hold'em
$150
No-Limit Hold'em
$150
Pot-Limit Hold'em
$200
No-Limit Hold'em
$100
Mixed Hold'em (limit/no-limit) $150
Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or better
$150
Limit Hold'em
$200
Limit Omaha 8 or better
$200
Seven Card Stud 8 or better
$100
Limit 2-7 Triple Draw
$100
No-Limit Hold'em
$150
Pot Limit Omaha
$1,000
No-Limit Hold'em w/rebuys
$100
Limit Hold'em
$150
No-Limit Hold'em
$500
No-Limit Hold'em
$500
Visit www.binions.com for complete event details.
Must be 21 or older. Prize pool based on number of participants.
Management reserves the right to change, cancel or amend.
Employees of Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel or MTR are not eligible.
Additional restrictions may apply. Pick up complete sets of
rules at Club Binion's.
Know When to Stop Before You Start.® Gambling
Problem? Call 1.800.522.4700 ©2007
128 EAST FREMONT · LAS VEGAS, NV 89101
·
1·800·937·6537
·
www.binions.com
MAY 21 - MAY 30, 2007
DAY
DATE
Mon 5/21
Tue
5/22
Wed 5/23
Thu
5/24
Thu
5/24
Fri
5/25
Sat
5/26
Sun 5/27
Mon 5/28
Tue
5/29
Wed 5/30
TIME
EVENT
No Limit Hold'em (1 Event, 2 Start Times, 2 Day Event) ▲
7:15 pm
Omaha Hi-Lo
3:15 pm
Mo’s Heads-Up Match Play No Limit Hold'em (Day 1)
3:15 pm
Mo’s Heads-Up Match Play No Limit Hold'em (FINALS)
7:15 pm
Pot Limit Hold ‘em
7:15 pm
Stud Hi-Lo
3:15 pm, 7:15 pm No Limit Hold'em** (1 Event, 2 Start Times, 2 Day Event) ▲
$75K GUARANTEED
3:15 pm
LADIES MEGA SUPER SATELLITE NO LIMIT HOLD ‘EM❖
7:15 pm
Limit Hold'em
7:15 pm
Omaha Hi-Lo
3:15 pm, 7:15 pm No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed(1 Event, 2 Start Times, 2 Day Event) ▲
3:15 pm, 7:15 pm
BUY-IN
S/C
ENTRY
TOTAL
$120
$97 + $3 + $20 = $120
$1,940+ $60 + $90 = $2,090
$97 + $3 + $20 =
$225
$194 + $6 + $25 = $225
$97 + $3 + $20 = $120
$194 + $6 + $25 =
$120
$194 + $6 + $25 = $225
$194 + $6 + $25 = $225
$194 + $6 + $25 = $225
$100 + $0 + $20 =
**Multi-rebuy. ❖ For every $1,070 in the prize pool, we’ll award one seat into the Legends of Poker Ladies Poker Party on Aug. 18.
▲Each group will play six levels each. All remaining players will
return the next day at 5:15 p.m. In all events that have a prize pool greater than $100,000, the first place winner will receive a $9,500 + $300 + $200 entry (non-negotiable, non-refundable and
non-transferable) into the 2007 Legends of Poker/WPT event as part of their prize. Funds for any additional prized will be deducted from the total prize pool before other percentages are calculated.
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Time. Some events
C start after the hour
...........AM, PM
O A,WkP................Week
..... Additional gameD &.times
on this day. Call.
E ........Hold’em
.No Limit Hold’em
.Limit Hold’em
N .............No Limit
L ................... Limit
.............Stud
..7-Card Stud
..5-Card Stud
........ Omaha
H/L .High/Low Split
Pi...........Pineapple
Po...........Pot Limit
Pn.........Panginque
Mx ..Mexican Poker
DC .Dealer’s Choice
MONDAY
•GOLD BAR DENOTES ADVERTISER
TIME
|
HH ...... Headhunter
B ............ Bounties
Sp .............. Spread
Al .........Alternates
Z........... Freezeout
Cz ................ Crazy
E..........Elimination
TUESDAY
GAMES BUY-IN| TIME
Q ............... Qualify
Sh ...........Shootout
+ ..Re-Buys and/or
Add-Ons allowed
F ............... Freeroll
Lad ..... Ladies Only
Men ........Men Only
DAILY TOURNAMENTS
NOW! Get Tournament Listings at our website:
www.pokerplayernewspaper.com
Note: All tournaments are subject to change. Check with the Cardroom for any updates. Cardrooms—
please send your schedules to Managing Editor A.R. Dyck, ard@gamblingtimes.com
| WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
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| SATURDAY |
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M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
23
Screen Names
ONLINE POKER
Paul “Dr. Pauly” McGuire
You finally opened up an online poker account
and could not decide upon a screen name. All
the good ones are taken, so what do you do? Do you choose a
common nickname like “Sully” or a not-so-common moniker like
“Dr. Pauly?” Most online poker screen names break down into a
few categories.
Rounders’ Characters: Some poker players are obsessed
with the film Rounders and it’s the source of inspiration for
their screen name. You’ve seen them at your tables: Worm69,
MikeMcD23, and JoeyKnish80. It’s sad and not very creative.
So many players have adopted these names that if you try to
signup on PokerStars for TeddyKGB, and you’ll end up getting
TeddyKGB6280441. Outside of poker, no one understands those
obscure references, but inside my apartment I poke fun at you
and label you a big Rounders geek in my notes. Hey, Worm69, try
slowplaying a flopped straight against me and I’ll shove every
one of Teddy KGB’s Oreos up your least favorite orifice.
Poker Pros: There are a bunch of online players who take on
the persona of their favorite pro: AnnieDuke76, TexasDolly102,
JamieGold44, and Fossilman666. Unfortunately, sharing the
same online name with a pro is about as close as those newbies
are going to come to making a final table at the WSOP, especially
when they play like a donkey and call all-in re-raises with bottom pair. I salivate when those players sit down at my table.
Poker Terminology: There are some cool poker phrases that
are incorporated into screen name: RiveredAgain, FloppedQuads,
and JacksUp. Although a few of them are cheesy, he majority
of them are some of the more creative names out there. Clever
people tend to be more intelligent. Watch out for those players.
Can I Buy a Vowel: Maybe they’re from Finland, or from
a new republic that was formerly part of the Soviet Union, or
perhaps they’re just plain weird. Those folks use an odd mixture
of letters and numbers as their names: ksjtk474kfrvk or dhdmggt2831142. Good luck getting support on the phone and spelling out your account name if you ever run into a glitch and your
table freezes.
Fictional Characters: I used to play on Party Poker under
a name of a popular 70s TV character. These days, there are
lots of random James Bond references and a slew of witty literary ones are out there too. The Simpson’s references always
make me laugh such as DuffMan765 or Apu711. Then there’s
also ClaireDanes72, AllyMcBeal33, Turtle420, Frodo99, and
KilgoreTrout4.
Inside Jokes and Nicknames: Some players use their real
world nicknames, like BigMike33, SmellyEd, or AlCantHang. I
always ask them the origin of their name in the chat. It makes
for stimulating conversation.
Hometown: Those are folks who can’t come up with an original name, so they use their city or state as part of their screen
name such as AmarilloLou, PeteNM, HawaiiBetty, or CincyTom. I
always ask them how the weather is.
So what should you pick? A friend of mine who is an online
pro suggests picking something common and ordinary so as not
to draw too much attention to yourself. He thrives on anonymity and would rather not let the public know that he’s a pro.
Although some pros play at Full Tilt under their real name, they
often have secret screen names on other sites. And if you play
on PokerStars, he suggests not posting a picture of yourself and
leaving the icon blank altogether, in order to fly below the radar.
The creative person in me wants to tell you to pick something
off-beat but similar to your personality, perhaps something to
do with your favorite book or band. Biblical names are also fun.
Next time you are stuck, thumb through the bible or if you just
recently had a kid, dig up that old book of baby names.
And in case you were wondering, I can often be found playing
online as... DrPauly.
Paul “Dr. Pauly” McGuire is a writer, poker player, and avid
traveler from New York City. He’s the author of the Tao of
Poker blog which can be found at taopoker.blogspot.com.
Feel free to contact him at pauly@lasvegasvegas.com.
24
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
X
X
X
X
Poker Player
Each issue’s crossword puzzle
honors a poker celebrity
and will be about that
person’s life. Today’s puzzle
honors poker pro J. C. Tran. Crossword by Myles Mellor.
ACROSS
1. Poor player playing for
high stakes
21. End ___
44. Medical show
22. Total
45. Accidental turn overs (2
words)
23. ___ card: last card of
that rank still in the deck
4. The “Dragon”
7. Tony __
9. __ __ carte?
Word
DOWN
25. Surinder ___: he likes
number 3
1. 5 high straight with ace
low
27. Increase the stakes
10. Good card for a straight
2. Winning play with it
29. See 18 across
11. Beats 10 across
3. Snacks
31. Excited
12. Close
33. Access code for ATM’s
4. Pro players rarely get
into this state
14. National Trust (abbr.)
36. Stomach muscles
5. For an estimate (3 words)
15. Classic Paul Newman
movie based on gambling
37. Pseudo noise, for short
6. French for sea
38. Michael ___ : poker star
who has a Phd in physics
from Stanford University
7. “The Master’s” first
name
18. Fed a wrong signal to,
in a way
20. 2nd in the LA Poker
classic in March 2007 (goes
with 28 across)
1
2
3
4
5
12
19
6
7
16. Mister Cloutier
8
10
11
18
13. Inside, prefix
42. Prettiest girl and a
poker card?
9
15
8. Bets
40. Refusal
13
19. Payments for a club
14
16
23. ___ the deck: create a
hand which makes it almost
impossible for anyone to
catch up
17
20
21
22
23
24
25
27
33
26
30
31
34
35
37
38
41
24. American Airlines, for
short
26. Nothing cards
28
29
17. Good limit holdem
player, John
39
42
28. Doing the right thing
32
36
30. Summer month
40
32. Musical instruments
43
34. __ luck (fortunate)
44
35. Location
45
39. And so on
The correct solution to the puzzle will be found
only at: www.pokerplayernewspaper.com.
It will be posted on the cover date.
41. Raised
43. Near, abbr.
POKER
Poker Superstars Invitational.
Mondays 6 AM & 8 PM, Tuesdays 8
PM, Wednesdays 12:30 AM & 8 PM,
Thursdays & Fridays 8 PM. Fox Sports.
ON
Professional Poker Tour.
Saturdays 9 PM, Sundays 12 AM. Travel.
Aussie Millions. Saturdays 11 PM,
Wednesdays 8:30 AM. Fox Sports.
Heartland Poker Tour. (Check
local listings for times/stations).
High Stakes Poker. Mondays 8, 9
& 10 PM, Tuesdays 2 AM, Wednesdays 2
Am, Thursdays 9 PM. GSN.
Learn from the Poker Pros.
Wednesdays 6, 7:30 & 10 PM, Thursdays
2:30 AM & 7 PM, Sundays 12 AM. Fox
Sports.
National Heads-Up Poker
Championship. Sundays Noon-1 PM
EDT (3-4 PM PDT). NBC Sports.
Poker After Dark. Tuesdays
through Saturdays 2:05 AM, Sundays 2
All Times EDT AM. NBC.
TV
UPC: Cash Poker. Mondays 12:30
AM. (Check local listings for stations).
U.S.P.C. Check local listings for times/
channels. ESPNC/ESPN2.
World Poker Tour. Wednesdays 9
PM, Thursdays 12 AM, Saturdays 12 PM.
Travel
World Series of Poker. (Check
local listing for times). ESPNC/ESPN2.
Time. Some events &. ........ Additional
Limit Hold’em
start after the hour
gametimes. Call. N ..........No Limit
A, P ....... AM, PM
..... Hold’em L ................ Limit
Wk .............Week
.No Limit Hold’em
..........Stud
MONDAY
DIEGO & CALIFORNIACALIFORNIA—NORTH CALIFORNIA—SAN
LOS ANGELES
INLAND EMPIRE
TIME
B ......... Bounties
T ............... Turbo
.7-Card Stud
..... Omaha Pi........Pineapple Pn......Panginque DCDealer’s Choice Sp ........... Spread
.5-Card Stud H/LHigh/Low Split Po........Pot Limit Mx .Mexican Poker HH ...Headhunter Al ......Alternates
DAILY TOURNAMENTS (CONT’D FROM PAGE 23)
|
TUESDAY
GAMES BUY-IN| TIME
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
|
FRIDAY
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
Z........ Freezeout Sh ........Shootout
Cz ............. Crazy + Re-buys and/or
E...... Elimination Add-ons allowed
Q ............Qualify F ............Freeroll
| SATURDAY |
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
SUNDAY
GAMES BUY-IN
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Casino Morongo
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Lucky Lady
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Casino San Pablo
Club One Casino, Fresno
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Del Rio Casino, Isleton
Feather Falls Cas., Oroville
Garden City
Gold Country Cas.-Oroville
Start qualifying now for
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Between April 1st and June 9th
You could win a seat into the Main Event
of the 2007 World Series of Poker
for as little as $25
Contact the
poker room
for more details.
For more information on this or any other of our table games
promotions contact us at our toll free number 1-866-280-3261
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Congratulations
On Tuesdays
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May 8th and 22nd
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and Saturdays
May 12th and 26th Poker Room offers Limit and No Limit Hold’em,
Tier one and Two Limit and Pot Limit H/L 8 or Better and Omaha
Qualifiers will take
the place of
Regular
Tournaments
Poker Room Tournament Schedule
Time
Event
RB/AO
Entry Fee
2 PM Bounty Tournament
N/A
$100+$20
$25 bounty on all players
May 13 Sunday
2 PM Sunday Tournament
RB/AO $100+$25
May 19 Saturday 1 PM Ladies Tournament
N/A
$55+$15
May 20 Sunday
RB
$40+$25
May 27 Sunday
N/A
$500+$50
$5000 added to prize pool
Date
Day
May 6 Sunday
New Cash Game Buy In’s
$1-$2 No Limit $50 - $200
$2-$5 No Limit $200 - $1000
$5-$10 No Limit $400 - $5000
Cash plays on $5-$10 No Limit
Daily Poker Room Tournaments
Day
Time
Event
RB/AO
Mondays
6 PM
No Limit Hold’em
RB/AO
Tuesdays
6 PM
$500 Added NLH
1 RB/AO
Wednesdays 6 PM
No Limit Hold’em
RB/AO
Thursdays 6 PM
$500 Added NLH
1 RB/AO
Fridays
2 PM
No Limit Hold’em
RB/AO
Saturday
2 PM
No Limit Hold’em
1 RB/AO
Entry Fee
$15+$10
$50+$15
$15+$10
$50+$15
$15+$10
$50+$10
Comanche Red River Casino reserves the right
to alter or cancel any tournaments as needed.
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
25
Cream Rises to the Top
Player Profile: Dave Simon
POKER IN EUROPE
By JONATHAN RAAB
Anyone can win a game of poker on any
given day, but over the long course the
chips and the money work their way to the better players. Former European Number One Dave “El Blondie”
Colclough has been one of Europe’s most successful
players over the last decade or
so, but even top players run cold
sometimes. For the last twelve
months luck has not been on his
side.
More often than I care to
remember I have witnessed him
sheepishly sloping away from the
table and heading for the exit
during the early stages of major
tournaments and indeed it is over
Dave Colclough
two years since he scored his last
significant victory. That all changed in Manchester at
Leg 4 of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, where Welshman
Colclough tore through the 285 runner field to take down
the first prize of just under £100,000 ($200,000).
After successfully surviving day one with an above
average chip stack, Colclough, who founded online poker
news site blondepoker.com, began to dominate early on
day two. By his own admission the cards did smack him
in the face but he used his big stack to play an aggressive game and with forty or so runners left, seemed
a certainty to make the final table. But he did not run
away with the tournament all on his own. Barry Neville,
an aggressive player from Sheffield was also pulling
away from the rest of the field at a similar rate. By the
time they got down the final
table, they commanded 60% of
the chips in play between them,
with Colclough holding a narrow
advantage. It was therefore no
surprise that they ended up heads
up battling it out for the trophy.
In the three previous legs of
the Tour, the heads up stages
have been short and relatively
disappointing, but this one was
Barry Neville
a marathon by contrast, lasting
just short of three hours. Both played exceptional poker
throughout the event and this continued right up to the
final hand, which the Welshman eventually won when
making a flush on the river against Neville’s top two pair.
In his post- match interview Colclough praised his opponent, saying that in all his years of playing, this was the
toughest heads up battle he had ever faced.
Barry is not so well known outside of the UK, but he
did cash in the main event of the 2005 WSOP, knocking
out Vinny Vinh on the way. On that occasion Barry reraised Vinny several times, frustrating his opponent, who
arrogantly barked “Who do you think you are?” Never
one to be out-talked, the Englishman promptly retorted
“I’m Barry from Sheffield, who the **** are you?”
There was some criticism of dealing standards at the
event, which many said had not lived up to the high standards set at the previous leg, but the event was hailed as
a success by most of the participants. It is the first leg of
the Tour not to have sold out, but with 285 participants
it was not far off the 320 capacity. The next £1,000
($2,000) buy-in leg of the GUKPT takes place in Brighton
in May.
Jonathan Raab is a poker consultant and tournament reporter. He works for online poker site Blue
Square as their representative at live poker events in
the UK and Europe and is the Tour Manager for the
GUKPT. Email: jr@bluesq.com
26
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
cussing the fact that “your
garden variety tournament,
whether it was in southern
California, Las Vegas or
wherever, was one of these
marathon events . . .
“We decided there was a
market for something that
would not take so much
time, something for the many
people of the world who do
not have eight or nine hours
to invest in an event.”
The reaction to their first
efforts was strong enough
that they kept looking for
modifications, events that
could be completed in two to
four hours, maybe even less.
This eventually brought
them to the sit-n-go format. As their tournaments
evolved, they decided 9 seats
were better than 10.
“It was one extra seat you
didn’t have to take the time
to sell,” Simon says. Also, at
our tables, 10 seats were very
crowded, 9 was more comfortable, like the difference
between business class and
coach.”
Simon says he made a
point of paying attention to
what makes a difference with
the players.
For instance, the Gardens
has a regular $100 sit-n-go
that is usually completed in
a little more than an hour. It
has an advertised payout of
$575 for first and $325 for
second. But what usually
happens is the players will
decide to pay three places.
“We’re happy to let them
decide that, but we don’t
advertise it because if we did
then the players would probably want to pay four places.”
The payout structure
would be too diluted.
As for the single table format, Simon sees it as a good
idea that keeps generating
returns.
“The excitement stays at
a high-level. It’s like you’re
always at the final table.”
Simon has tried sit-n-go
events with a bigger buy-in,
$500 in one case, but it did
not get a satisfactory level of
response except from a handful of people wanting to act
like high-rollers.
“The people who play our
sit-n-go tourneys are largely
the $100 no-limit players and
the $6-$12 limit payers.”
The way Simon sees it,
offering a $575 first prize for
a $100 buy-in represents an
economic model that feels
comfortable to the biggest
part of the Hawaiian Gardens
customer base.
Sit-n-go events are
scheduled four days a week
because the casino is so busy
that there is a limit to what
can be scheduled and when.
He grins, “We do not
have a lot of empty tables.
We could actually use a new
building.”
Which suggests a very
high class kind of problem.
Simon has been in the
card club business close to
18 years. This includes about
10 years at the Commerce
before his move over to
the Gardens where he is in
charge of the hold’em games.
Things have worked out
nicely, he says, sounding like
he means it. “The Gardens
has gone from being a place
no one had ever heard of
before to being the second biggest in the state of
California in terms of gross
income.”
What have been the drivers behind this kind of success?
Simon pauses before continuing in a tone that suggests
he is glad the question was
asked.
“Good customer service is
huge, and we are pretty much
the leader in innovation. We
were actually the first ones to
start the restricted buy-in nolimit games.”
This was back in the
spring of 2002, a period that
just happened to coincide
with Party Poker filming its
first made for television nolimit hold’em tournament.
“People eventually copied
what we started here and it
is pretty much everywhere
now.”
Simon thinks his ability
to get the restricted buy-in
no-limit games started at the
Gardens will be his legacy.
“The way that happened, I
had been a big fan of no-limit
poker for a long time. Back
then, when all the big boys
came into town for some big
event we would have potlimit or no-limit games, but
when they went away you
never saw a no-limit game
till they came back again.”
Another thing. Simon got
to thinking that in a no-limit
game the guy with the most
money usually had a decided
advantage. Maybe, just
maybe, there was a way to
level the playing field.
“I got to thinking about a
no-limit game where everyone starts with a hundred
dollars.”
Simon spent about seven
months thinking it through,
coming up with ideas for
covering the various possibilities that might arise. The
day came when he was ready
to take the idea to his boss
for approval. He pitched it to
the casino manager and eight
shift managers.
The next day the casino
manager calls him in and
says he has some bad news.
Seven out of the nine people
listening to Simon’s pitch
had decided, “This game has
no chance. Another couldn’t
decide and the casino manager said he had not voted.
Simon countered, thinking
later that this was the clincher. “Look, I’m gonna tell you
right now how sure I am of
this. I do not need a big jackpot to get this game going,
because I do not want the
jackpot to be a lure. I do not
need any advertising and I do
not want any props, no house
players. That’s how sure I am
the game will go.”
The casino manager gave
Simon a long look and told
him to go ahead.
“You’re the first person
who ever brought me a new
idea and didn’t want a lot
of this and that to help get it
going. So go ahead, take your
shot.”
Simon remembers how he
put the game down on April
12, 2002. He remembers the
crowd that gathered to watch
it. He remembers the satisfaction he felt.
It was months before
another LA-area casino copied Simon’s idea.
Five years later as he’s
remembering how it all
began. He casts a glance
around the casino, telling a
reporter, “We’ve got 40 nolimit games going right now.”
And the thinking has not
stopped. Simon is putting the
finishing touches on a tournament format he’s not free to
talk about yet.
“But we think it is going to
catch on like wild fire.”
Another good idea, so he
hopes.
Limit Hold’em
A, P ....... AM, PM
..... Hold’em L ................ Limit
Wk .............Week
.No Limit Hold’em
..........Stud
MONDAY
TIME
CALIFORNIA—NORTH
T ............... Turbo
.7-Card Stud
|
TUESDAY
GAMES BUY-IN| TIME
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
|
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
FRIDAY
| SATURDAY |
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
SUNDAY
GAMES BUY-IN
Gold Rush
Golden West-Bakersfield
Kelly’s Cardroom
Limelight Cardroom-Sac’to
Lucky Chances
Lucky Derby Casino
Oaks Card Club-Emeryville
San Pablo Lytton Casino
Sonoma Joe’s
Apache Gold
Blue Water Casino
Bucky’s Casino
AZ
Casino Del Sol
Cliff Castle
Fort McDowell
SOUTHWEST
Gila River/Wild Horse Pass
AZ
CO
Gila River-Vee Quiva
Harrah’s Ak Chin
Hon-Dah Casino
Paradise Casino
Gilpin Hotel & Casino
Midnight Rose-Cripple Crk
Ute Mountain
KS
Harrah’s Prarie Band
NM
Cities of Gold
Isleta Casino & Resort
Route 66 Casino
OK
Thunderbird Casino, Norman
$
$
$
$
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
27
Your Signatures
POwer POKER PSYCHOLOGY
By JAMES A. M C KENNA, P H D.
A Signature is how a person signs his or
her name to something they have done. It
may be an “x” or any mark on a bank check or a letter to
a friend. Some signatures are hard to decipher and others are as plain as can be. There a lot of ways to make
a signature in poker—to sign your name by how you bet,
call, raise, and fold. All have distinctions that will identify
you and tell other players who you are. It’s your unique
signature.
Let’s see how different players sign things in a typical
Texas hold’em game. For the purposes of this discussion,
we will only be speaking about low-limit cash games. The
signatures change in higher limit and no-limit games. In
fact, that’s a whole new article. For now, let’s just discuss
signatures in low limit hold’em games.
Players will vary in what hands they will play. This
ranges from betting very tightly using odds and logic
to being erratic and betting with any two cards. Both
extremes (and all methods in between) are unique signatures that can be easy as well as hard to read. You
usually know that when a tight player is signing his bets
that he had a good starting hand. However, with loose
players, when they sign their bets it’s anyone’s guess as
to how solid their starting hands are. Just ask any player
who has called a loose bettor and learned that the loose
bettor had the best hand from the start.
Another set of signatures are how players call. Some
are “calling stations” and would call a barking dog off a
porch. Others only call if they think they have the best
hand. Still there are those who sign their calls with hope
and will chase if they have good pot odds and plenty of
over-cards. Your calling signature will tell a lot about who
you are.
Then we move to the other extreme where players will
only call if they can raise. They may have a clear signature when they raise or a fuzzy one because they just
called to set up a trap. Raising bets can also have a distinct signature. Some players who will “raise hell when
they get into heaven.” Others will only raise after they
have trapped you with a check. In this case, checking is
a form of counterfeiting a signature. This is a “pretend
fold” suggesting weakness to trap other players.
Finally, there are a whole series of folding signatures.
These range from never folding to folding too much. A
player who never folds and losses a lot is not much better than a player who folds if you look crossed-eyes at
him or her. Both are signing their folds to be predictable
and easy to play. However, when a player signs his or
her folds with no pattern, it’s an entirely different story.
I have also often seen players start to fold and changing
their mind to call. If you get to see their hand, you know
that they would never have folded and it was a big act.
At the same time, witness the player who signs his folds
impulsively and doesn’t stop to think that he may have
had the best hand.
Take notice of how you sign your moves the next time
you are in a low-limit cash game. How do you bet and
what do you bet on? When do you call other bets? When
are you likely to raise? Finally, are you folding enough
hands or too many? These are all your poker signatures.
They are uniquely you as much as every check or letter
that you write and sign.
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Jim McKenna, better known in poker rooms as “Jimmy Mac,” has been
practicing psychotherapy for over thirty-five years. This knowledge of
human behavior combined with his many years of gaming experience
gives him a unique perspective on the psychology of the gamer. His
books, the acclaimed “Beyond Tells: Power Poker Psychology,” and
now “Beyond Bluffs: Master the Mysteries of Poker,” are published
by Kensington Press. Jim welcomes e-mail comments and suggestions
at Jim@Jimmckenna-PhD.com
28
No-Limit Poker Tournament
A
Limit Hold’em
A, P ....... AM, PM
..... Hold’em L ................ Limit
Wk .............Week
.No Limit Hold’em
..........Stud
MONDAY
NORTHWEST
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
TIME
OR
WA
T ............... Turbo
.7-Card Stud
|
TUESDAY
GAMES BUY-IN| TIME
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
|
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
FRIDAY
| SATURDAY |
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
GAMES BUY-IN|TIME
SUNDAY
GAMES BUY-IN
Chinook Winds Casino
Wildhorse Casino Resort
Blue Mountain Casino
Chips Bremerton
Chips La Center
Chips Lakewood
Chips Tukwila
Drift-On-Inn
Final Table Cas., Everett
Goldie’s
Little Creek Casino
Muckleshoot Casino
Northern Quest
Point Defiance Cafe & Cas., Tacoma
Suquamash Clearwater
Wild Grizzly
MT Black Jack’s Casino
4 Bears Casino
ND Dakota Magic
NE Rosebud Casino
SD
Dakota Sioux
Gold Dust Cas., Deadwood
Rosebud Casino
Silverado Casino Deadwood
NORTHEAST
CT Foxwoods
NH Seabrook Greyhound Park
NJ
NY
IA
MIDWEST
IL
IN
MI
Turning Stone
Catfish Bend
Isle of Capri
Winn-A-Vegas
Hollywood Casino-Aurora
Belterra (Florence)
Caesars Indiana
Majestic Star
Chip-In’s Island
Lac Vieux Desert Cas., Watersmeet
Fortune Bay Casino
MN Northern Light Casino
WI
LA
MO
MS
FLORIDA
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Caesar’s Atlantic City
Harrah’s Atlantic City
Tropicana
Trump Taj Mahal
Akwesasne Mohawk
Majesty Casino Boar
Shooting Star Casino
Menominee Casino, Keshena
Oneida Casino, Green Bay
Potawatomi Northern Lights, Carter
St Croix Casino, Turtle Lake
Grand Coushatta
Horseshoe CasinoShreveport
Harrah’s St Louis
Isle of Capri
Copa Casino
Gold Strike Casino (Tunica)
Grand Casino(Tunica)
Horseshoe Casino (Tunica)
Pearl River Resort
Dania Jai-Alai
Derby Lane
Mardi Gras Gaming Ctr, Hollywd
Palm Beach Princess
Pompano Park Casino
St Tropez Cruise
CANADA Casino Regina
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
29
Playing with Strangers in
Home Games, PART 2 OF 2
STUD SENSE
By ASHLEY ADAMS
(In Part I of this article I described how I got invited to a
home poker game in Florence, Alabama. This is the conclusion of that story.)
My trip to this country poker game was terrific and I
stopped more than once along the way to enjoy a region
of the country very different from my urban home in
Boston. I sampled the great Abe’s Grill on route 72
in Corinth, Mississippi and visited the Alabama Music
Hall of Fame near Florence, Alabama. I sampled great
Brunswick stew at Chiefs Bar BQ right on the border of
Alabama and Tennessee. And I found my way to what
turned into a very pleasant poker game just outside
Florence, Alabama. I could give you more details but, as
the guys in the game reminded me, then I’d have to kill
you.
Poker is technically illegal in Alabama and games
have on occasion been busted, but these guys can find
a nightly game – at the Moose, Elks, Lions, Eagles, or
some other group named after an animal. And for all of
you who think that folks who don’t play in casinos or on
line don’t know how to play, let me tell you that at least
as high a percentage of the folks can play in this game
as in any casino game I’ve been in. They loved the slow
play – and they loved telling stories about them. Here’s
one of a few I heard. Imagine a thick Alabama twang as
you read it.
“Just a month ago I was playing no limit. I got pocket
kings, but I just raised the minimum. I got a call from the
big blind. The flop comes Ks-Kd-Qc. He bets the pot. I
just smooth call. The turn is Qs. He checks and I make
a small bet. He calls. I am sucking him in and looking to
take his whole stack on the river. The River is the Js.
He checks. I push in my whole stack and he calls me
in an instant. Do you know he had As-Ts? How about
that?”
As if to prove his point, on my second hand I had aces
and jacks on the turn, with the board A-J-3-3. My opponent, whom I thought I had a pretty good read on, bet
very strongly. He glanced at his chip stack when the turn
card hit, said something I didn’t understand, and did that
little gesture with his fingers indicating all in. I thought
long and hard and then laid down my hand – even though
I had already put in about half of my initial stack of
$200. He was nice enough to show me quad 3s.
I had a three and a half hour drive back to Tunica
– some of it over the beautiful Natchez Trace (which
I recommend to anyone near the area – it’s gorgeous
in a sultry southern way). So I left at about 10:00 PM,
having played for about three hours. The good ol’ boys
had taken this slick eastern card shark for about $125. I
didn’t mind a bit. The experience and the delicious food
the host provided from the nearby Bar BQ place made
the whole trip worthwhile. I’ll gladly go back.
I didn’t hear any banjo music wafting through the
glade and lost any illusions I might have harbored about
rural home game players not being up to the same
speed as casino poker players. These guys were friendly,
welcoming, and very good. I only wish we could have
played some 7-card Stud! Maybe next visit.
Ashley Adams is the author of Winning 7-Card Stud,
(Kensington Press 2003). He has been playing 7-Card
Stud for 40 years—and profitably in casinos for the past
10 years. He has played in casinos all over the world,
including England, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Hungary,
Canada and the United States, but plays most frequently
at at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard Connecticut.
Professionally, he is a union organizer and an agent for
broadcasters. He can be reached at: asha34@aol.com
30
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
Jenny Kriewald: 1st Woman HPT Champ
By Byron Liggett
Jenny Kriewald, a 29year old mother of three
and owner of a day care
center, became the first
woman to win a Heartland
Poker Tour tournament.
On Sunday, April 15th, she
outlasted 133 players in the
championship event to capture 1st Place and $52,973
at the Shooting Star
Casino, in Mahnomen,
MN.
Jenny won her way
into the HPT event
playing in a free bar
league in her hometown. The Dakota
Poker League champ
then parlayed her freeroll win into a seat in
the Heartland Poker
Tournament where she
reached the Final Table as
the chip leader and never
looked back.
Jenny exclaimed, “This
feels awesome. I’m going
to Vegas!” Kriewald plans
to play in the ladies event at
the World Series of Poker
(WSOP) this summer in
Las Vegas.
“The Heartland Poker
Tour is wonderful. It gives
regular folks a chance to
have a fun, unique and
exciting experience, win or
lose. More women should
give the game a chance and
events like the HPT offer a
perfect opportunity.”
The Heartland Poker
Tour, in just its third season, has become one of the
foremost successes in the
business. It will conduct
and broadcast tournaments
in more than a dozen locations around the country
in 2007. The HPT crew
next travels to the Leelanau
Sands Casino, near Traverse
City, Michigan.
Already one of the top
three televised poker productions in the country
viewed in more than 50
million households annually, the 2007 Tour has just
completed a deal to air in
119 million homes through-
out Europe and Asia.
The Heartland Poker
Tour was created for poker
players in local casinos
and neighborhood card
rooms around the country.
The HPT is like the Minor
Leagues. It was designed
and developed to give players everywhere a chance to
make the Big Time.
HPT Tournaments
are customarily five days long.
Preliminary events
are held the first
four days and the
Championship event
concludes on the fifth
day. The elimination
of the last six players, the “Final Table,”
of the Championship
event, is televised.
Convinced a lot of local
players would like a shot at
stardom, Heartland keeps
the cost of entry within
the reach of most people.
Consequently, because there
are so many participants
the prize money is exciting.
Add an audience, lights and
TV cameras, and players in
the Championship feel like
they’re competing at the
World Series of Poker in
Las Vegas.
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PART 1
ALWAYS before every roll of the dice regardless
you follow this procedure.
$200 on the pass line or come bet
$100 on the don’t or don’t come
$50 in the Àeld and
$10 on any craps.
Shooter rolls a 7, $200-($100+$50+$10)
=you win $40
Shooter rolls an 11, ($200+$50)($100+$10) =you win $140
Shooter rolls a 12, ($150+$70)($200) =you win $20
Shooter rolls a 2,
($100+$100+$70)-($200)
=you win $70
Shooter rolls a 3,
($100+$50+$70)-($200)
=you win $20
12 out of 36 combinations on
the dice, player cannot
possibly lose, he only wins.
This section is obsolete.
PART 2
If the shooter rolls 4, 9 or 10 house pays
you $50 in the Àeld. In case of 4 or 10
you add another $50 to it and then you
lay $100 odds. If the number is 9 you
only add $25 to it and then you lay $75
odds and remember no longer the player
would pay one red cent commission.
Now if the shooter rolls a 7 after he
rolled any one of 4, 9, or 10 the player
cannot possibly lose and again only
wins.
22 out of 36 combinations the player
can not possibly lose. The ratio of wa-
gering must
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at all times, for
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or $20, $10, $5 and $1.
Just imagine for a moment
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M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
31
Shorthanded Hold’em Starting
Requirements
Card Room Roundup
KILLER Poker
By John Vorhaus
No limit hold’em has been called “a
game of people played with cards.” Shorthanded
hold’em is like that, only more so. There are countless times when the question isn’t whether you have
a hand, but whether your foe does, and whether he
can be driven off the pot if he does not. We all know
that poker is based on what beats what, but in shorthanded hold’em, it’s much more a case of who beats
whom.
So what sort of starting hands should you be looking for in shorthanded play? I’m tempted to say “any
two will do,” because often the will to bet is all that
matters. While it’s not quite as simple as that, the
strength of starting cards definitely descends as the
number of players goes down.
Here’s why. On average, one starting hold’em
hand out of five will contain either an ace or a pair.
This means that in a full ring game, an average of
two players will have “real” hands, and if you aren’t
one of them, you can comfortably assume you’re
beaten and fold. In a shorthanded setting, though,
the odds are good (and the shorter the game the
better the odds) that “nobody’s got nothing.” With
this in mind, you can look favorably on hands like
K-Q, J-T suited, and bad aces. In a context where
nobody’s got nothing, these hands – plus pairs and
good aces, of course – become monsters.
Likewise, when you start looking at flops, you’re
going to be looking for weaker hits than you would
in a fullhanded game. Hitting the flop shorthanded
means hitting top pair/no kicker, middle pair/good
kicker, or even a naked bottom pair. You’d hesitate
to go to war with these holdings in a ten-way game,
but shorthanded they’re well worth backing with
your bucks. Conversely, your draws go down in value
shorthanded because there are fewer players to pay
you off when you hit.
No matter what cards you hold, always think about
them in terms of the image you project. A tough one
is usually called for, because shorthanded games are
supercharged games, and there’s really no place in
them for weak, cautious, timid play, either for image
or for real. Your goal should always be to control the
action with raises and reraises. Here’s a good way to
measure your chances for success in a shorthanded
game: If you find that you’re generally the one putting in the last bet, you’re probably in good shape.
Conversely, the more you find yourself calling along,
the more at risk you’re likely to be.
Finally there’s this: Most people don’t know how
to play shorthanded hold’em. They bring their fullhanded wait and see mentality to shorthanded play
– where it really just doesn’t work very well. So skill
yourself up in this variant of poker, adopt its core
philosophy – not wait and see, but swoop and pummel – and you can be the boss of the small table: a
very profitable role to play. Because at the end of
the day, shorthanded play is a different breed of cat.
Patience is punished, not rewarded. Betting strength
and hand strength don’t correlate. And the single
most effective playing style is attentive bully. Master
that style, and you’ll find that shorthanded hold’em
can mean significant long green for you.
Mirage
Hotel & Casino
3400 Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
Toll free: 800.374.9000 Local: 702.791.7111 www.mirage.com
Out front stands an active
volcano that erupts at the
top of every hour in a traffic stopping fiery display of
might and magic. Out back
dolphins swim in a peaceful ocean lagoon. It has to
be the Mirage Resort. The
spectacular first jewel in
the legacy of Steve Wynn’s
Las Vegas strip makeover.
When the resort opened
in 1989 it brought a new
level of luxury and themed
sophistication to the Las
Vegas resort scene.
The hotel offers 3004
rooms and suites with a
level of space and amenities to please everyone.
Standard rooms are oversize and well appointed
with attention to detail.
Suites are spectacular and
will provide an unforgettable Las Vegas stay. Guests
can book reservations by
calling the toll free number
800.374.9000 or by clicking to the Mirage website.
Hotel guest can enjoy the
Spa with a full service
salon and a Health Club
[John Vorhaus is the author of the Killer Poker book
series, including Killer Poker No Limit and (with Tony
Guerrera) the upcoming Killer Poker Shorthanded.
Visit him online at vorza.com.]
32
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
that includes a wide array
of state-of-the-art exercise
equipment, a lounge and
juice bar.
Dining options at the
Mirage range from the long
line of dollars signs guaranteed to provide a never
forgotten dining experience
to fast food outlets from
nationally known brands.
My favorite deli west of the
Hudson is Carnegie Deli
at the Mirage; and yes, it
is the latest from the family owned, world famous
Carnegie Deli in New
York City. The popular
California Pizza Kitchen is
located across the way from
the deli and both are very
convenient to the poker
room.
The white table cloth
set will enjoy the varied
choices of upscale restaurants operated by world
renowned chefs. Fin,
Stacks, Samba Brazilian
Steakhouse, Caribe Café,
Paradise Café, Japonis,
Coconuts Ice Cream Shop,
and numerous coffee bars
Inside the Mirage’s Poker Room.
will provide whatever you
seek to eat. For those who
aren’t sure what they are
craving, it’s the Cravings
buffet that’s considered
by many to be the best of
the strip. Room service is
available 24 hours and features a full menu for your
pleasure.
Nightlife with the beautiful people at the Mirage
happens at the popular Jet
nightclub or the Revolution
Lounge. If your passion
is entertainment and you
come for the shows then
book reservations to take in
the Danny Gans Show, “the
man of a thousand voices.”
“Love,” the Beatles tribute show from Cirque du
Soleil performs nightly at
the Mirage resort so call for
tickets.
Mirage Resort’s casino is
100,000 Square feet filled
with more than 2,300 stateof-the-art slots and poker
machines. A full complement of tables games
including Black Jack,
Craps, Roulette, plus all of
Pechanga Poker
O
N
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD
0
0
the currently popular game
variations. A 296 seat Race
and Sports Book provides
comfortable accommodations for the bettors. Keno
players will enjoy the plush
Keno Lounge. Included in
the Mirage casino is a 30
table poker room.
The Mirage poker room
supports 30 tables with
Shufflemasters for a secure,
fast, smooth game. Games
spread vary from low dollar all the way up to “How
much you got?” Limits
vary from entry level $3-$6
up to a structured buy-in,
no-limit format. Varieties
include Texas hold’em,
Omaha 8 or Better, 7-card
stud, and most other variants with enough interest.
The Mirage Poker Room is
one of the most popular in
Las Vegas because of the
management style of Donna
Harris, Director of Mirage
Poker Operations.
Poker players have easy
parking in the eight story
garage. Poker lessons are
offered daily 5:00 PM-1:00
AM (except Tuesday and
,
Wednesday). Players can
earn food comps including a Mirage buffet ticket.
Casino room rates are also
available. For complete
details or any questions
call the poker room at
702.791.2290.
The Mirage Poker Room
runs the Mirage Poker Zone
Tournaments daily, Sunday
through Thursday evenings
with details as follows:
,
N
00
H
$5,000 Guarantee No-Limit Holdʼem
$ 0 u -in $ 0 ntr ee
$ 0 u -in $10 ntr ee
H
00
5
,
,
0
N
$ 5 u -in $15 ntr ee
H
H
$100 u -in $ 25 ntr ee
10 H
Ladies Only No-Limit Holdʼem
$ 5 uy-in $15 ntr y ee
1st Place: $1,000 Buy-in seat World Series Ladies Only Event 2007
N
,
00
H
0
0
ree entry or Ladies to 10
H
,
1
H
,
2
H
,
25 H
,
00
Sunday, 5:00 PM
no-limit hold’em, $430 buy-in
1
ournament
$10, 000 Guarantee No-Limit Holdʼem
2
200 i
o do n eries ournament
$200 uy-in $25 ntry ee
H
1st Place: $10,000 Buy-in seat to the 2007 World Series, Guaranteed
N
00
Monday, 7:00 PM,
Tuesday, 7:00 PM,
,
2
$100 uy -in $ 25 ntry ee
H
DAILY TOURNAMENTS
Wednesday, 7:00 PM,
DAILY DOUBLE JACKPOTS • Monday thru Friday 1-5PM • 9PM-12AM • 1:30-5AM • 6-9AM
Thursday, 7:00 PM,
NOTE: Free Breakfast 5AM-7AM Monday-Friday for every seated Rewards Club players. Free Entry on Memorial
Day for Military Personnel. Show us proof of service and you are in our 10AM tournament absolutely free.
The Mirage Poker
Showdown tournament
begins May 7 then continues through May 23,
when the $10,000 WPT
Championship final table is
played for the TV cameras.
Make plans now and I’ll
see you at the Mirage in
May.
—Joseph Smith, Sr.
Monthly free roll $7,500 Free roll last day of the month at 6:30pm. Must have 40 hours to qualify.
ON
10: 00 AM
: 0
M
T
A
10: 00 AM
6:30 PM
N
A
10: 00 AM
6:30 PM
TH
A
10: 00 AM
2:00 PM -11 :00 PM
A
10: 00 AM
$599
Earn $599 Monthly
When You Play 126 Hours
ANY Live Game * ANY Limit * ANY Time
AT
A
10: 00 AM
Earn Double Hours 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Daily
N A
10: 00 AM
Twice daily No-limit tournaments
2pm and 7:30pm Sun-Thurs
2pm and 6:30pm Fri & Sat
See or call the Jokers Wild Poker Room for details.
(702) 567-8474
4:00 PM
No-Limit Holdʼem Tournament
$2,000 Garuantee
Ta Team Tournament
Limit No Limit
$5,000 Garuantee
Mu lti le $20 e- uys
No Limit Holdʼem Tournament
$ 5 uy-in $5 ntry ee
$4,000 Garuantee
$5 uy-in $5 ntry ee
$2,000 Garuantee
No-limit Holdʼem Tournament
$20 uy-in $ 5 ntry ee
$2,000 Garuantee
$2,000 Garuantee
$25 uy-in
$ 5 ntry ee
$10 ounties Out o Pri e Pool or e ery la yer
No-Holdʼem Tournament
$2,000 Garuantee
Hi Hand ery Hour
$5,000 Total a
1st $300 2nd $150 Holdʼem & $50 Omaha
No-limit Holdʼem Tournament
$5 uy-in $5 ntry ee
$2,000 Garuantee
$ 20 uy-in $5 ntry ee
$4,000 Garuantee
$20 uy-in $5 ntry ee TO
T urs
$2,000 Garuantee
ree entry
$5,000 Garuantee
All Weekday AM/PM Tournaments have an Entry Fee. All Jackpot promotions reset and doubled until end of promotion time.
Tournament Series replaces Daily Tournaments on dates shown. Hotel Poker Rate is subject to availability Monday thru Thursday and
no discounts on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Please see a Poker Room Floor Person for promotion details. Management reserves the
right to cancel or modify promotions without notice. Must be 21 or older to enter Casino.
SMOKE FREE POKER ROOM
45000 PECHANGA PARKWAY • I-15 • TEMECULA, CA • 877.711.2WIN
WWW.PECHANGA.COM
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
33
My View on the TDA
BacK in the saddle Again
By OKLAHOMA JOHNNY HALE
In a recent column I wrote about tournament directors and tournament rules. I
wrote about all-in play and how sometimes
players are allowed to raise themselves. if you missed
those columns, you can read them at www.pokerplayernewspaper.com , or just e-mail me with your comments
and questions.
I received a lot of e-mail and a lot of questions from
my poker playing friends as I played poker in the poker
rooms of Hollywood Park, the Orleans, the Venetian, Red
Rock, the Gold Coast and the other poker rooms where I
regularly play. Some of the e-mails were from the VIP’s of
the poker world and some tournament directors who are
members of the TDA.
I have been requested to retract my statements. I will
not retract them. But I will try to make my words as clear
as possible.
Many of the TDA directors are my good friends and do
a wonderful job, and those tournament directors have my
full confidence and respect. They are doing a good job and
are really trying to make poker as good and fair as possible.
The TDA as an organization does not have my respect.
Here’s why.
• The TDA is an organization that is controlled by the
casinos, not the players.
• Tournament directors are not paid or hired by the TDA.
• The Tournament director is hired by the casino and
must please the casino – not the poker players.
Some of the TDA tournament directors:
• Govern poker for the house, not for the poker players.
• Do not have the proper training for the position of
tournament director.
• Do not play poker as often as the poker players do.
• Do not understand how to play and how the game
should be played.
• Run the poker tournament as if they were a dictator
and that the players are their serfs.
• Play favorites to [me] and others that they think will
be helpful in their job and make decisions based on
their best interest – not the best interest of the poker
tournament.
• Try their best to please the winners and play buddies
with them.
• Use their power to penalize certain players that they
do not personally like and permitted others that they
do like to do the same things without penalties.
• Permit their boss – the casino – to allow certain people to stand behind a certain player with cell phone
in hand, or sit with a certain players that they have
sponsored into the tournament.
I know that I have angered many TDA directors but I
would rather light one candle than cuss the darkness. I
have spent a lifetime playing and trying to improve poker,
a lifetime of trying to bring poker out of the smoky back
rooms and into the living rooms of the world! I had some
success in promulgating the rules of poker and I will keep
trying to improve poker.
I vote in each election—and have the right to comment
on the performance of the politicians. I have played in
hundreds and hundreds of poker tournaments for over
sixty years and I believe I have the right to comment on
the performance of poker directors.
Until Next Time, Remember to STAY LUCKY!!
You may contact OK-J at his e-mail Oklajohnny@
aol.com, or play poker LIVE, ONLINE with Johnny,
Carol and Sarah at www.OK-J.com. Johnny’s book,
“The Gentleman Gambler,” is in its third printing.
Contact Johnny for your copy.
34
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
Book reviews
Winning Secrets
of Poker
by Peter Thomas Fornatale
Daily Racing Form Press, 2006
ISBN: 1-932910-93-X
235 pp, $24.95
One of the most reliable
ways to learn how to do a
task well is to learn from
those who already know.
Most of us won’t get the
opportunity to ask questions
of the best poker players
in the world, so we’ll have
to settle for having someone else do that for us. In
“Winning Secrets of Poker,”
Peter Thomas Fornatale
extensively interviews 18
people making at least a significant chunk of their livelihood by playing poker. We
come to understand something of how they approach
the game from these conversations.
Fornatale interviews an
intriguing mix of players. He
talks to true poker celebrities
from the tournament circuit, such as Phil Hellmuth,
Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer
Harman, and Ted Forrest.
He consults with poker
book authors such as David
Sklansky, Ed Miller, Matt
Matros, and Matt Lessinger.
He also talks to unknown
professionals, including
three who prefer to remain
anonymous. I don’t know if
the wide variety of people
to whom the author talked
was due to choice or circumstance, but I greatly appreciated the diversity of voices
presented in this book.
While players such as
Hellmuth and Negreanu
certainly deserve to be
included in a book of this
nature, one doesn’t have to
go to great lengths to hear
what they have to say about
poker from other sources.
That doesn’t mean that
their perspectives aren’t
important, but I was pleased
that among the high power
professionals we got to hear
from Harman and Forrest,
two extremely well-credentialed players who haven’t
had the same level of saturation in the poker press.
Even more, though, I
enjoyed hearing from players I knew much less about.
The profiles of Danish professional Morten Erlandsen
and the three anonymous
professionals were particularly interesting to me
because these were perspec-
tives on poker that I hadn’t
heard before. Conversations
with other pros that aren’t
likely to be household
names include Alan Boston,
Max Pescatori, and Liz Lieu.
Because Fornatale con-
sulted with such a wide
spectrum of professional
players, we get some divergent views on how to
become a successful poker
player. More than a few of
these notions are contradictory. At times the author
probes a little deeper in an
attempt to reconcile some
of these discrepancies, but
many remain unresolved or
lurk under a surface barely
scratched. This is entirely
understandable, but I would
have enjoyed a more vigorous debate on some of these
topics.
There are two ways an
d
interview
book can
work.
It can
work as entertainment, and
“Winning Secrets of Poker”
succeeds in this regard. It
can also work as an information source, and while
we get some interesting perspectives on poker, there’s
not as much here as the
aspiring poker student might
hope. Fornatale asks some
strategy-focused questions,
but few of the subjects seem
prepared to talk in those
sorts of specifics in this format.
The bottom line is that
I did enjoy this book. I
thought the questions were
well-considered and the
selection of subjects was
thoughtful. I found it very
reminiscent of the book
“Gambling Wizards” by
Richard Munchkin in that it
contained good interviews
with intriguing people from
the world of gambling.
Those looking for deep
strategic insight or careful
arguments for and against
various approaches to the
game may feel that the book
comes short of what they
would hope. However, that
doesn’t mean it’s not worth
reading, so I recommend it.
—Nick Christenson
Diamond Jim’s Casino
118 20th St. West
Rosamond, California
Exit A 14 Freeway
The Best Little No-limit Tournament in Southern California
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A Poker Player Murder Mystery by Robert Arabella
MISS
You can chain me, you can
torture me, you can even
destroy this body, but you
will never imprison my mind.
—Mahatma Gandhi
[This article is based on
Robert Arabella’s Decline
and Fall of the Poker
Empire, published in 2026 by
Poker Player.]
DEAL
states, “Quote: ‘Upon our
first meeting, Miss Gray
gave to me, free of charge, a
copy of Krieger’s Poker For
Dummies, an illegal Class
“B” Poker Book. This only
whetted my appetite for more
illegal poker books. Miss
Gray then informed me that
“only the first poker book
is free” and then offered, at
a high price, to supply me
with an illegal Class “A”
Poker Book, to wit, Slansky’s
Theory Of Poker.’ Unquote.”
“To wit?” thinks Delia
Gray; “What nitwit says “to
wit’?” But again, knowing
it is not her time to speak,
stays silent.
The Poker Policeman finishes, “Offering Class “A”
Poker Books is an aggravated
felony carrying a fifty year
prison term.”
Here he stops and Delia,
knowing her part by heart,
pleads, “Officer! I swear I’m
innocent. This is all a mistake. You must believe me!
What can I do? I am totally
at your mercy.” Whereupon
she collapses into uncontrollable sobs.
“What you can do,” says
Officer Boots, “is to give me
the names of all poker players known to you. If you do
that, we will overlook your
crimes and allow you to go.”
“O, thank you!” she tells
him. “Thank you!”
Officer Boots slides a
paper and pen to Delia Gray,
who puts on a show of the
slightest hesitation, which
brings the warning, “Fifty
years!” at which time she
madly scribbles names.
“Only four?”
“That’s all the poker players I know. I swear!”
Jack Boot checks her list
against his Redberry, and
frowns, “This is a list of
poker players that have been
previously apprehended.”
“I’m so glad you’ve
already caught them! It’s not
my fault that you’ve been too
efficient.”
The Poker Policeman
nods, “You’re right. We have
been too efficient. You’re
free to go”– Delia Gray
stands up – “to Hell.” Officer
Boots calls her a name he
never heard from his mother,
and hits her with his electric
baton.
[This is a work of poker fiction set ten thousand hands
in the future. Any resemblance to persons living or
dead is coincidental.]
(To be continued in the next
issue of Poker Player)
The Poker Police have issued
a $1,000,000 Dead-or-Alive
Reward for “Miss Deal,” the
anonymous female author of
2021’s Power to the Poker
People. “Miss Deal’s” antiWar On Poker book, which
begins, I will stop playing
poker only when my cards
are pried out of my cold dead
hands, has sparked the Poker
Rebellion in the same way
that two other books–Rachel
Carson’s Silent Spring and
Betty Friedan’s Feminine
Mystique–sparked the
Environmental and Sexual
Revolutions.
Reverend President Biggs
Brother calls her, “The most
dangerous poker playing
woman in America.” Every
day the Poker Police ask
themselves the same question, “Where is she?”
“Miss Deal,” Delia Gray,
is in Interrogation Room 101
of Middleburg Tennessee’s
Poker Police Headquarters.
She has been through
this routine before and is
unafraid.
Her interrogator, to whom
she shows a fearful face, is
Poker Policeman Jack Boots,
“You have been charged with
possession of an illegal Class
“C” poker book, Animal
Farm, which is a felony
violation of The Prohibition
Poker Act of 2021, punishable
by ten years imprisonment.”
Delia Gray shivers. The
Poker Policemen continues, “The individual you
were apprehended with, Mr.
Winston Smith, has signed
a complete confession naming you as his supplier of
forbidden poker books. He
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
35
Entertainment
Listings
Entertainment RePORT
By LEN BUTCHER
What do you get if you take a funny Jewish guy
and a Southern Belle? If you’re Marty Allen and Karon
Kate, it’s the best comedic couple to hit the stage
since Burns and Allen or Stiller and Meara.
This delightful pair are entertaining audiences at the Gold Coast in
Las Vegas for an indefinite run. For the past seven years, the Las Vegas
couple have become a fixture on
the cruise ship circuit, performing
some 600 shows and though it
was fun, having a permanent gig
in your home town is a welcome
change.
I caught up to Marty and Karon
the other day in their dressing
room to talk about their careers
and the show.
Marty Allen and Karon Kate
Marty, who has made “Hello
dere!” household words, and whose hair looks like he put his finger in
an electrical socket, said his career in comedy actually started when he
was a kid in high school who made everybody laugh. “But I loved to write
and I always wanted to be a reporter because I looked great in a trench
coat,” he says laughing. “But seriously, I did want to be a journalist, but
I started to do comedy and moved to California from my home town of
Pittsburgh, with my cousin.” An avid sports fan, Marty says he sleeps
wearing a Steelers helmet and he was wearing a baseball cap with the
Steelers logo when we talked.
“When we got to LA I played little clubs, did comedy, sung parodies,
did a little bit of dancing. It was all good training. Then I went back to
Pittsburgh and I was like the local comic. One day, the owner of club tells
me they’ve got me booked with a girl singer. As I was always booked
with a girl singer, I didn’t get that excited about it until he told me it was
Sarah Vaughan.
“I worked with Sarah, she took a liking to me and as it turned out, she
was a good friend of Nat King Cole. She was talking to Nat one day and
told him she had a comedian that opened for her and said she thought I’d
be good for him, because in those days name singers always used comics
to open for them.
“So I started opening for Nat. At the time, Steve Rossi was a production singer at the Sands and he told Nat he’d like to do something different. Nat says, ‘Martin and Lewis are hot. I’ve got a comedian that works
with me and maybe if you two got together…’ Steve called me, and we
decided to meet. He looked like Rock Hudson, sang great, so we decided
to give it a try and began playing small clubs. Their show clicked and the
combo of Allen & Rossi became one of the hottest acts in show business
for the next decade.
“And then,” says Marty, fondly looking at his wife, “I got lucky. I found
Karon.”
Karon, a Mississippi belle, had carved out her own career as a singer
who also played piano. She had become tired of working alone and had
returned to Los Angeles where she had been living before going on the
road. “A friend of mine offered me a job at Ciro’s, the famous LA restaurant, as a daytime manager, so I took it and soon after, Marty walked in
one day with his agent who was a frequent customer. While waiting for
his lunch, Marty had written all over his menu, so I asked him if he would
sign it for me. While we talked, he found out I was a singer and asked me
to work with him. That was it. That was over 20 years ago.”
Of Marty, who just turned 85, Karon says, “He’s forever young. The
minute he walks out on stage he becomes this childlike character. His
whole being changes.”
“Now if I could only do that at home,” Marty interjects, laughing.
As for relaxing, when they have the time, Karon loves to garden, sew
and cook while Marty loves to swim. “If we had a pool, it would be even
better,” he says. He’s also an avid sports fan with football topping the
list, but admits he’s not much of a gambler.
Marty and Karon perform one show nightly at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays
through Sundays. Tickets are a very reasonable $29.95 plus tax. Well
worth the money.
Len Butcher, a 25-year resident of Las Vegas, is an
online columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal
and a former Managing Editor of the Las Vegas Sun
and of Gaming Today. Reach him at lennylv@cox.net
36
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
Poker Player Advertisers are shown in RED along with their ad’s page number
To list your event, contact Len Butcher, Entertainment Editor at lennylv@cox.net
ARIZONA
Kenny Rogers
Casino Arizona (13)
CALIFORNIA
Chumash Casino Resort (28) Natalie Cole
Ballroom Dance Party
Cambodian Dance Party
Crystal Casino & Hotel
Karaoke
El As De Oros Night Club
Hollywood Park Casino (3) Finish Line Lounge
Pechanga Resort & Casino (33) Tom Jones
Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino (7) Ron White
INDIANA
Caesars Indiana Hotel & Casino Commodores Concert
NEVADA-LAS VEGAS
Magician Steve Wyrick
Aladdin Hotel & Casino
Donn Arden’s Jubilee!
Bally’s Resort & Casino
“The Price is Right” Live Stage Show
Boulder Station Hotel & Casino (6) Delbert McClinton
Celine Dion
Caesar’s Palace
Mel Carter & Lenny Welch
Cannery Hotel & Casino
Fitzgerald’s Hotel & Casino (27) Steve Connolly
Marty Allen & Karon Kate
Gold Coast (16)
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Green Valley Ranch Hotel & Casino
Rita Rudner
Harrah’s Hotel & Casino
Legends In Concert
Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino
Troubador Lounge-Live Entertainment
Joker’s Wild (33)
Paul Anka
Joe Piscopo
Las Vegas Hilton
Menopause, the Musical
Carrot Top
Luxor Resort & Casino
Kenny Chesney
Mandalay Bay Resort &
Casino
Mamma Mia
Howie Mandel
KA.
Impressionist Danny Gans
The Mirage Hotel & Casino (9) Ray Romano
The Beatles LOVE
MGM Grand Hotel & Casino
Monte Carlo Resort & Casino (17) Magician Lance Burton
Earl Turner
Gabe Kaplan’s Laugh Trax
Playboy Comedy Club
Palms Casino & Resort (28)
Alajandro Sanz
Zowie Bowie
Red Rock Hotel & Casino
Crazy Girls
La Cage
Riviera Hotel & Casino (8)
Splash
Neil Diamond Tribute
The Scintas
The Amazing Jonathan
Sahara Hotel & Casino
The Platters, Coasters and
Drifters
Bo Bice & Gary Nichols
Santa Fe Station (6)
Bite
Stratosphere Hotel &
American Superstars
Casino
Viva Las Vegas
.38 Special & Kansas
Sunset Station (6)
The Whispers
Texas Station (6)
Mystere
Treasure Island
Phantom of the Opera
Venetian Hotel & Casino
Blue Man Group
(37)
Gordie Brown
OKLAHOMA
Creedence Clearwater Revisited
Cherokee Casino
Palace Station Hotel &
Casino (6)
July 2, 9 p.m.
May 24, 8 p.m.
Thursdays 8 p.m. to Midnight, Sundays 2-6 p.m.
Fridays 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Thursday through Monday
Presents Banda Nortina Sats 8 p.m.-3 a.m.
Live Jazz, Tues. 8 p.m.
May 25-27, 8 p.m.
Apr 26, 8 p.m.
May 25, 7:30 p.m.
Ongoing, Wednesday through Monday, 7 & 10 p.m.
Sat-Thu, 8 p.m.
Tues, Thurs & Sat, 2:30 p.m. & Fri, 8 p.m.
May 25, 8 p.m.
May 2-6, 8:30 p.m.
May 12, 8 p.m.
Thurs thru Mon, 10:30 p.m.
Nightly (dark Mon-Tue), 7:30 p.m.
May 18, 8 p.m.
Ongoing (dark sundays), 8 p.m.
Mondays through Saturdays, 7 & 10 p.m.
Fri & Sat, 9 p.m.
May 4-5, 8 p.m.
Sundays thru Tuesdays. 9:30 p.m.
8 p.m. nightly Sat thru Thu
Sun thru Fri, 8 p.m. & Sat, 7 & 9 p.m.
May 3-4, 8 p.m.
7 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays; 8 p.m.
Fridays; 7 & 10:30 p.m. Saturdays, Mondays.
Thru May 2, 9 p.m.
Fri thru Tue, 7:30& 10:30 p.m.
8 p.m. (Monday thru Friday)
May 4-5, 10:30 p.m
Thursdays thru Mondays, 7:30 & 10:30 p.m.
Tuesdays thru Saturdays, 7pm; Tuesdays &
Saturdays. 7 & 10 p.m.
Thu thru Sun, 8 p.m.
Tuesdays thru Saturdays, 7 p.m.
Saturdays, 8 & 10:30 p.m.
Jun 6, 8 p.m.
Nightly, 8 p.m.
Wed thru Mon, 9:30 p.m.
Wed thru Mon, 7:30 p.m.
Tue thru Sun, 9:30 p.m
Sun thru Thu, 7 p.m.
Tue-Sat, 7 p.m.
Fri-Wed, 10 p.m.
8 p.m. nightly
May 25, 8 p.m.
Ongoing, 10:30 p.m.
Ongoing, 6:30 & 8:30 p.m.
Ongoing, 2 & 4 p.m.
May 19, 7:30 p.m.
May 18, 8 p.m.
Ongoing, Wednesdays thru Saturdays 7:30 p.m.
Nightly, 7 & 10 p.m.
Nightly, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m.
Ongoing, 7:30 p.m. (dark Wed & Thu)
May 18, 8 p.m.
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TDA rules apply to all poker tournaments held at The Venetian. Management reserves the right to cancel or change tournaments.
Three percent of total prize pool is withheld for poker room staff. Winners will be paid in casino chips. Residents of foreign countries
without a U.S. tax treaty will be subject to withholding. Registration begins in the poker room two hours prior to the start of the event.
Must be 21 years or older to attend. The Venetian management reserves all rights. *Applies to all live poker games.
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
37
The Fight In California Over
New Compacts
POKer AND
THE LAW
By I. NELSON ROSE
The California State Legislature is debating whether to allow a few tribes
to greatly expand the number of slot machines in their casinos in return
for sharing up to 25 percent of the revenue with the state.
The major stumbling block is the unions. Under the deals the tribes
made with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, casino workers can only organize through an election. Union leaders point to some incidents in which
employers have interfered with these elections. This, of course, is illegal. But it can stall the creation of a union for years.
Union leaders want casino employees to merely sign cards to join a
union.
The second issue is that the compacts were negotiated prior to a
recent important federal court decision, knocking out almost all of the
regulations by the National Indian Gaming Commission (“NIGC”) to control tribal casinos. The problem dates back to the creation of the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”).
The IGRA was a comprise. Congress had to find a way to protect
tribal sovereignty while allowing states to decide what forms of gambling they would permit.
The solution was to divide all gambling into three parts, each with
different rules.
Class I gaming, the most harmless – mainly home poker games and
traditional Indian games played at festivals – is left up to the tribes to
self-regulate.
Class II, bingo and poker, is mainly regulated by the tribes, with some
oversight by the NIGC. Tribes can only operate Class II games if they
are in a state that permits the games. Poker in Indian casinos has to
have the same hours of operation and table limits allowed by state law.
Bingo, however, is broadly defined, allowing tribes to offer linked video
bingo devices, which look and play a lot like slot machines.
Class III comprises the most dangerous forms of gambling – slot
machines; casino banking table games, like blackjack, craps and roulette; pari-mutuel betting; and lotteries. These are only allowed if the
tribe agrees in a compact to let the state be at least a co-regulator.
Because the tribes and states were to be the primary co-regulators
of Class III gaming, the NIGC was not given much of a role.
The enormous growth of Indian casinos led to calls for greater federal governmental controls. Twelve times Congress considered laws to
amend the IGRA, to permit the NIGC to regulate Class III gaming. None
of these passed, but the NIGC began to operate as if they had.
The NIGC regulations set out minimum internal control standards
(“MICS”) for everything from how the games were played, to internal
and external audits, down to how many employees must be involved in
emptying coin buckets from slot machines.
The U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia held that, “While
surely well-intentioned, the NIGC has overstepped it bounds.”
The Court found that Congress was clear in the IGRA in dividing up
the sovereign powers of the states, tribes and federal government. The
NIGC has no role in regulating Class III gaming.
Tribes argue that there are already regulations in place. For example,
they point to the independent annual audit they have to submit to the
federal government, and the co-regulation by the California Gambling
Control Commission.
Opponents point to problems the Commission has had in trying
to regulate tribal casinos. These include disputes over whether the
Commission has to give the tribes notice before inspecting the tribes’
slot machines.
If the Legislature approves the compact, the state will eventually get
more than $500 million a year.
Let’s see – unions complaining about how they organize workers and
some technicalities about regulation versus half a billion dollars a year...
How do you think they will vote?
Professor I Nelson Rose is recognized as one of the
world’s leading experts on gambling law. His latest
books, Gaming Law: Cases and Materials and Internet
Gaming Law, are available through his website,
www.gamblingandthelaw.com.
38
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
2007-08 WORLDWIDE
POKER TOURNAMENTS
NOW! Get Tournament Listings at our website: www.pokerplayernewspaper.com
>Denotes Advertiser; Poker Association Events also denoted: t=World Poker Tour,
s=World Series of Poker and e=European Poker Tour.
To list your 3-day events contact: A.R. Dyck, Managing Editor, at: ard@gamblingtimes.com
DATE
EVENT
LOCATION
>May 4-20
Heavenly Hold’em
Johnny Chan Poker Classic
WPS Bahamas Poker Showdown
East Coast Poker Ch’ships V
NPA Tour
Mirage Poker Showdown
Oasis Open Poker Tournament
Spring Festival (incl. Nat’l Sit’N
Go Ch’ship May 12, 12 noon)
Grand Prix de Paris
Spring Pot of Gold
WSOP Circuit Event
Turning Stone Classic
Nat’l Poker League Paris Open
Top of the Mountain
Heartland Poker Tour Event
Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge III
Deadwood Shootout
Commerce Casino (AdPg 39), Commerce, CA
River Rock Casino Resort, Richmond, BC, Canada
Crystal Palace Casino, Cable Beach Resort, Bahamas
Turning Stone Resort & Casino, Verona, NY
Hollywood Park Casino (AdPg 3), L.A., CA
tMirage Hotel & Casino (AdPg 9), Las Vegas, NV
Oasis Resort & Casino, Mesquite, NV
May 6-13
May 6-16
May 7-13
>May 8-20
>May 8-23
>May 10-14
>May 11-13
Hawaiian Gardens Casino (AdPg 21), Hawaiian Gardens, CA
tAviation Club of France, Paris, France
Grand Sierra Hotel & Casino, Reno, NV
sHarrah’s New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
Turning Stone Resort Casino, Verona, NY
Cercle Gaillon Casino, Paris, France
Spirit Mountain Casino, Grand Ronde, OR
Leelanau Sands Casino, Peshawbestown, MN
Cherokee Casino Resort, Tulsa, OK
Gold Dust Gaming, Cadillac Jack’s Gaming
Resort, Old Style Saloon No. 10, Lucky Nugget
Card Club, Deadwood, SD
>May 19-25
CEO Poker Challenge (Atl. City) Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, NJ
>May 21-31
Mini Series Warm Ups
The Bicycle Casino (AdPg 22), Bell Gardens, CA
May 22-Jun 2
Mandalay Bay Poker Ch’ship
tMandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
May 25-Jun 4
Spring Fling
Sycuan Resort & Casino, El Cajon, CA
>May 31-July 4 Mini Series
June 1-July 17
World Series of Poker
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
>June 8-17
Peppermill Summer Poker Ch’ship Peppermill Casino (AdPg 35), Reno, NV
June 10-17
Turning Stone Casino, Verona, NY
June 12-16
Casino Poker Masters
Casino Seefeld, Tirol, Austria
June 13-26
Borgata Summer Poker Open
Borgata Casino & Spa, Atlantic City, NJ
>Jun 16-17
Poker’s #1 Family Tournament Hollywood Park Casino (AdPg 19), L.A., CA
>July 2-8
CEO Poker Challenge (Las Vegas) The Venetian (ad Pg 39), Las Vegas, NV
July 11-13
Bellagio World Cup
tBellagio Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
July 14-30
Orleans Open
The Orleans Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
July 20-29
LA Summer Slam
Crystal Casino, Compton, CA
July 21-29
Majestic Star Casino, Gary, IN
>Aug 2-31
Legends of Poker
tBicycle Casino (AdPg 22), Bell Gardens, CA
Aug 20-27
Grand Casino Mille Lacs, Onamia, MN
Aug 29-Sep 2
Edmonton Poker Classic
Casino Edmonton, Edmonton, AB, Canada
>Sep 4-23
California State Poker Ch’ship Commerce Casino (AdPg 39), Commerce, CA
Sep 12-16
Northern Lights Casino, Walker, MN
Sep 16-20
Borgata Open
tThe Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ
>Sep 25-29 World Poker Dealer Ch’ships Binion’s Gambling Hall (AdPg 19), Las Vegas, NV
Sep 27-30
California Ladies State Ch’ship Oceans 11 Casino, Oceanside, CA
>Sep 27-Oct 14 Big Poker Oktober
October 3-8
Canadian Poker Championship Casino Yellowhead, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Oct. 7-13
North American Poker Ch’ship tNiagara Fallsview Resort Casino, Niagara Falls, Canada
Oct 15-20
Anniversary Series
Spirit Mountain Casino, Grand Ronde, OR
Oct 31-Nov 3
Meskwaki Casino, Tama, IA
>Nov 2-18
Holiday Bonus Tournament
Commerce Casino (AdPg 39), Commerce, CA
>Nov 6-18
Fall Poker Round-Up
Wildhorse Casino, Pendleton, OR
Nov 8-13
World Poker Finals
tFoxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT
Nov 11 -18
Casino del Sol, Tuscon, AZ
>Nov 22-Dec 9 Turkey Shoot/Ho-Ho Hold’em The Bicycle Casino (AdPg 22), Bell Gardens, CA
Dec 1-9
Majestic Star Casino, Gary, IN
Dec 13-18
Bellagio 5 Diamond World Poker Classic tBellagio, Las Vegas, NV
>Jan 5-8
Poker Stars Caribbean Poker Adventure tAtlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas
Jan 21-25
World Poker Open
tGold Strike Casino, Tunica, MS
>Feb 23-28 L.A. Poker Classic
tCommerce Casino (AdPg 39), LA, CA
>Mar 1-3
WPT Celebrity Invitational
tCommerce Casino (AdPg 39), LA, CA
>Mar 10-14
Bay 101 Shooting Star
tBay 101 (AdPg 18), San Jose, CA
>Mar 25-Apr 11 Heavyweight Championship of Poker Peppermill Casino (AdPg 35), Reno, NV
Apr 19-25
WPT World Championship
tBellagio, Las Vegas, NV
May 11-16
May 11-21
May 11-23
May 12-21
May 13-22
May 14-19
May 16-20
>May 17-30
>May 18-20
M AY 1 4 , 2 0 0 7
39
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WORLD SERIES OF POKER and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC, and are in no way connected with PokerStars.com

is Online - Poker Player Newspaper

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