Top 10 Things Martin Staszko is Doing With His New Fame and Fortune

Top 10 Things Martin Staszko is Doing With His New Fame and Fortune

Please note: This post is not meant to offend. Only to provide a chuckle or perhaps two chuckles from the reader. If you are one who gets offended with poor attempts at humor, please do not continue reading...but if you do read on, please accept my aplology.

Top 10 Things Martin Staszko is Doing With His New Fame and Fortune

10. Opening a plaid fashion store on the Strip

9. Avoiding the constant calls from Matt Giannatti's girlfriend

8. Upgrading his home's dial-up connection to the Internet

7. Getting texts from Howard Lederer to be the new face of Full Tilt Poker

6. Buying the Czech Republic

5. Hiring Jason Bourne to liquidate Pius Heinz

4. Sacrificing two virgins to the poker gods for his success but having to leave Vegas to find them

3. Taking Rosetta Stone courses to learn how to say in 36 languages: "Damn, I should haven't called all-in with a lousy flush draw!"

2. Ending his 1-2 Koruna home poker game with Boris, Bogdan and Dudek

1. Making a sex video with Kim Kardashian

November Nine: My Experience Playing Against Heinz & Staszko at the WSOP.

Image via WikipediaNovember Nine: My Experience Playing Against Heinz & Staszko at the WSOP.

I was fortunate to have finished 71st at the WSOP Main Event and play against Pius Heinz and Martin Staszko: two of the players at the November Nine final table.

On Day 4, I spent the entire day having Heinz seated next to me, on my right. Here are my observations about his game:

• A successful online player who obviously has figured out how to play live.
• He is super aggressive, and will two, three and four bet preflop in order to the take the initiative with a c-bet on the flop, or better yet, get his opponent to fold before the flop.
• He was very lucky as he doubled up against a new player at our table with a big stack. This guy sat down and lost all his chips on two hands against Pius' two premium starting hands.
• In a leveling war against another aggressive player at the table, Pius hit his draw on the turn and got paid off big on his river bet.
• I learned a couple of moves from watching Pius play, which I have used in my game with some success.
• He is young, super aggressive and a really nice guy at the poker table.

How will Pius do at the final table?
While I will be rooting for him to win, my hunch is that he is going to get it all-in against an opponent's premium starting hand like pocket Kings and lose a big pot. Just a hunch.

On Day 5, Staszko was also seated next to me, on my right. Unlike Heinz, I only got to play against him for around 3 hours. Here are my observations of his game:

• A cautious player who uses his tight image to steal pots.
• He will enter a pot with a range of hands if he has been inactive for a while.
• My impression is that he likes to see flops and then evaluate the situation.
• An opponent's continuation bet will not get him to automatically fold, even if he only holds an Ace overcard to the board.
• He doesn't say a word at the table.
• It will be incredibly difficult to win chips from him.

How will Martin do at the final table?
Unlike Pius, I believe Martin will more cautious given his chip lead. My hunch is that he will finish in second or third place, as his lack of aggressiveness will hurt him when the game is short handed.

My selection to win it all: Phil Collins.

Who are you picking to win it all?

10 Specific Poker Tells You Can Cash-in On

10 Specific Poker Tells You Can Cash-in On

I may not be the best card player but I believe I am fairly good when it comes to reading my opponents. My ability to read players is about being able to differentiate when an opponent is strong or weak. Am I perfect at this skill? No. But, I have learned quite a bit that I want to share with you.

The one area that usually gets overlooked is the tells you provide your opponents. If you don't believe you
may signaling your hand strength to opponents, think again.

Recently, I moved all-in on the turn with a flush draw and an Ace overcard believing my opponent would fold since I showed strength pre-flop and flop, and calling my bet would cripple his stack. My opponent took quite a while to decide, but he did make the call. He said, "I know you're weak." I got lucky and I sucked out on the river. But, to me it meant I had a tell I needed to eliminate from my game.

One way to catch yourself giving a tell is to learn from these situations. Immediately think about what you did that gave away the strength of your hand. Perhaps at times you speak your bets and other times you are silent. Or, at times you slide your bet into the pot and other times toss them into the pot. Or, perhaps it was how you breathed after placing a big bet. It is not easy to find your own tells but you MUST do it to be a winning poker player.

Above I posted a picture of Hellmuth at the WSOP. The pose he is using is the one suggested by Joe Navarro to hide your tells during a hand. It may be something you should try.

Now, here are 10 specific poker tells you can cash-in on. Almost all of these tells are subconscious tells-- the player does not realize he is doing it. These subconscious tells often become habitual and indicate strength or weakness.

1. Preflop: Check the Player to your left
-The player to your left will often look at their cards when it is your turn to act and you check your hole cards. Pause when you do these and peek to see what he does when he plays a hand versus when he folds a hand.

It may be where he places a card protector. Or, it may be how he holds his cards in preparation of his action. Or, it may be how he leans slightly forward or back.

I can not stress enough how important it is to get in the habit of noticing your opponent's differences when folding or playing a hand pre-flop.

By the way, just because someone does not look at his hole cards until it is his turn at the start of a tournament does not mean that he will not start peeking an hour or more into the event. Keep checking.

2. Flop: 3 Cards of the Same Suit
-The most obvious tell on the flop is when the board comes with three cards of the same suit. 99% of the time if a player checks his hole cards after this flop, you can be sure he does not have a flush yet. He is checking in hopes that one of his hole cards is the same suit as those on the flop.

3. Speed of a Call on Flop
-A player who calls a bet quickly on the flop means that the decision to call is not a difficult one. These quick calls usually indicate the player has a piece of the board or is on a draw.

4. Speed of Bet on River When a Scare Card Hits
-Watch the player who has taken the lead in betting on the flop and turn, to see how quickly he bets on the river when a scare card hits. If the player does not miss a beat and bets, it usually means that he is not strong. Why? Because a scare card will make a player think for a while before deciding to bet or not.

In fact, there is a rhythm to the series of bets that simply does not make sense:

• flop: card on board, reach for chips, bet.
• turn: card on board, reach for chips, bet.
• river: SCARE card on board, reach for chips, bet. Huh?

Even if the player has been betting his draw and hit it on the river, he will usually pause before making that river bet.

5. Breathing after making a final bet
-I find it difficult to notice someone's breathing pattern. Instead, if I am trying to decide to call a big bet on the river or an all-in move, I will look at a person's chest. I need to pause about 10 seconds or so to see what happens. If after the pause, the person's chest starts to move in and out more noticeably, I take that as a sign of non-strength. It does not mean he is weak, but he is not strong.

6. Looking away after making a final bet
-This is almost a sign of strength. Let's say I find that the player is breathing more noticeably as above. If I have a good hand I am inclined to call. But, if the player looks away at any time after making the bet, I will use that as a more reliable indicator of strength. The reason is that a player who looks away usually does not want to give away any sign of the strength of his hand. Now, instead of calling, I will muck.

7. Torso Bobbing after making a final bet
-Navarro talks about how someone's feet is the most reliable poker tell. Well, I've never peeked under the table to check out an opponent's feet. But, if a player has happy feet, his torso will start bobbing quickly above the table. This is a sign of strength.

8. How bets are placed in the pot
-You may notice that the way you make a bet differs. Perhaps at times you slide in your bet, toss in your bet, toss in your bet with force, and/or bet palm down or palm up. Correct these mistakes and be consistent in how you place a bet in the pot.

Of course, you need to notice those same differences in how your opponents place a bet. These differences having meaning--strength or weakness. Make sure you have a consistent pattern before using these tells to make a decision.

9. Speech after making a bet or when making a bet
-A player who speaks after making a bet usually means strength. This player can not hold back his excitement of a strong hand and wants to tell everyone.

A player who speaks a bet may have meaning. Here, you need to see if there is a correlation of the strength of a hand when speaking versus not speaking a bet.

10. Posture after making a bet
-By posture I mean anything a player does with his hands and body that are different when strong versus weak. Let me share with you a couple of these:

• A player who put his hand over his mouth when he was strong but did not do this pose when he was weak
• A player who rested his head in his hand when he was strong but did not do this pose when he was weak

Of course, in all these tells, it is important to realize that every opponent is different and you are looking for consistent pattern.

Finally, there is something about having a "feeling" when getting a read on your opponent. Trust your feelings above all else. Recently, I was in a hand where I had pocket Jacks and had to decide whether to call an all-in bet pre-flop. I knew my hand was better than my opponent but I had a feeling that the last player yet to act had a stronger hand than me. I dismissed this feeling and called. It was a mistake as that last player had pocket Queens.

Trust your feelings!

At The World Series of Poker: The Rest Of The Story

Image by ama_lia via FlickrAt The World Series of Poker: The Rest Of The Story

I thought I would share some interesting notes and observations from the WSOP.

1. How players were selected for the featured tables.
I am not sure what was done the first few days, but everything was random for the Day 5 and Day 6 seats. At the end of the day, each table would high card for the button and the floorman would deal out table assignments for the next day.

It may be that when someone got knocked out at one of these featured tables, the floor would pick a poker celebrity or a big stack to move to the feature table. I was never selected--which was fine by me.

2. Women poker players.
It was funny how many women wore tops that revealed cleavage. It was even funnier when one of these ladies would wear sunglasses--like any guy at the table was checking out the color of their eyes.

Frankly, women poker players should have a big edge at the WSOP since they are such a rarity at the main event. I believe only 5%. But I guess they don't fully understand the mind of poker males. A friend of mine told me to start a school for women poker players.

3. Behind the scenes with ESPN.
It is interesting what happens at the WSOP to accommodate TV. When two or more players are all-in, the dealer stops dealing and he shouts "all-in at table number ..." One of the ESPN staff quickly decides if he wants this all-in recorded.

If not, the dealer continues the hand. If he does, the ESPN guy calls one of the camera crews to come to the table. The crew includes guys with a mike and two cameras.

After the crew is ready, the ESPN guy taps the dealer on the shoulder to deal the flop. The flop is done and the cameras focus on any player reaction. When ready, the ESPN guy gives the okay to the dealer for the turn, etc.

ESPN does a super job to make sure the crew arrives quickly so it does not slow the game down. Although, the reality is that there is more drama when the cards are dealt so deliberately.

4. ESPN and me.
I may appear on the Day 6 showing of the Main Event. Since I did not curse or go nuts when that Ace on the turn knocked me out, it is a long shot.

5. Mega satellite into the Main Event.
I went to Vegas with enough money to enter the three $550 mega satellites--one on each day. Frankly, I had a feeling that I was going to win a seat and get to the final table.

Day 1: I was very unlucky and got knocked out of the first satellite.
Day 2: I was very unlucky and got knocked out of the second satellite.
Day 3: This was my last shot at winning a seat. When we went to the first break, I was very unlucky and as a result, I only had enough chips to cover the small blind and 2 antes.

The first hand after the break, I was UTG+3. I was dealt 8-6 offsuit and folded. The flop was 8-8-6! Damn! I thought I blew my one chance.

The second hand UTG+2, I was dealt J-5 offsuit and went all-in. Enough to cover the small blind. I won when a 5 hit the flop and the other two players had Ace high.

After this hand, I got hot. It was incredible! "Never give up, never surrender!"

6. I was in Vegas for 14 Days!
I have never been in Vegas that long before. After the three days of satellite play, I played the next day in the WSOP Main Event. After I survived that day, I had to wait 3 days to play again.
And there was a wait after Day 2, and a day off after another day of play.

I made about three trips to a nearby laundromat. I went to see the Rat Pack at the Rio (don't waste your time). And, I went to a forgettable movie at the Palms.

Since I am very superstitious, I ate the same things every day. I am not going to have another Western omelette at the Rio or Ultimate Salad at TGIF again! Oh, well not until next year :-0

7. The competition in the Main Event.
Frankly, there was a very wide range of poker talent. The table composition was the most important factor in my performance.

The first days I was fortunate in that the competition at my tables were typical; meaning, the styles were consistent with what I've experienced in the Bay Area.

A lot of the players in the early days, though, seem to implode by Day 3 or Day 4. Perhaps it was the pressure. Perhaps it was the level of the competition, as the later days had a higher percentage of strong players.

Frankly, I felt the pressure the first two hours on Day 5, and frankly, all of Day 6.

8. What surprised me the most.
I was most surprised by the fact that the pros and internet kids were so bad at reading hands. It got to be so bad, I was laughing inside.

On Day 6, players who had to make a big decision would sometimes take one minute or more contemplating what to do. And after all that time, these players would make the wrong decision. It was funny, until...

My opponent made a terrible decision after studying my 3 bet pre-flop for a long time. He went all-in with A-T, thinking, I guess, that I would fold. But, I held pocket Kings and I was committed to the pot with almost 33% of my chips invested.

9. Can you win at the WSOP?
Yes. I believe anyone can win a WSOP bracelet. The thing is that most players continue to play in their comfort zone--without experimenting in order to get better. Get out of your comfort zone. Learn how the poker pros play. Learn how the internet kids play. Try these styles, and how to play against them.

Admittedly, I was not ready for the internet poker players who liked to 3 bet pre-flop with a wide range of hands. It took me until the dinner break to figure out how to play against them.

You can win it all. And, if you fail like me, you can still walk away with over $100,000.

How I Won Over $100,000 at the WSOP Main Event

Image via WikipediaHow I Won Over $100,000 at the WSOP Main Event

I thought I would share my approach to the 2011 WSOP Main Event since it may help you in your tournament strategy.

In many ways the Main Event is easier than your local tournament. The Main Event has 2 hour levels, a slow increase in blinds, is mostly played nine handed, and you get a deep chip stack of 30,000. While your local tournament becomes a luck-fest at the 6th level, at the Main Event the luck-fest is on the 6th day.

I re-read my book, Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves, as a reminder before I started playing at the Main Event. You have my poker book, right? :-)

Next, I set up my goal to double my stack each day. It would result in my taking the 30,000 in chips and turning it into 8 million for the final table.

My strategy was the following:

• to present myself as a predictable ABC player to make it easier to steal pots
  
• to play opposite my opponents table image to take advantage of their weakness
  
• to avoid difficult decisions on any one hand so I could survive the event
  
• to look for tells, especially if the player to my left would fold or enter a hand
  
• to avoid getting knocked out by a clueless player--no bad beats at the wrong time, please.
  

Here is a brief review of my key hands:

Day 1 (July 8, 2011):

Starting chips: 30,000

An aggressive player raised in early position, I called on the button with QQ. The board came Jack high. He bet and I called. The turn was a rag. He bet and I called. The river was a rag. He checked-called my bet. He had A-J.

I misplayed KK against one opponent. I raised and he called in position. The flop was A-Q-Q. I checked and he checked. The turn was a rag. I bet and he called. The river was a rag. I bet and he called. He hit a runner runner flush.

One key tell was that I knew when the player to my left would play his hand pre-flop. I used this to my advantage in the following key hand:

I made a min-raise with 7-7, knowing this guy wanted to raise. He raised, but it was no longer a big raise, so I could afford to see the flop. The flop was T-7-4. I bet into him and he raised. I called. The turn was a rag. I checked and he checked behind. The river was a rag. I bet and he called with his J-J.

My observations from Day 1 tended to be true throughout the tournament:
- Players at my table were mostly playing ABC poker, as I believe they were afraid to make a mistake.
- I took a check as a sign of weakness, so I'd bet and take down the pot.
- Opponents still don't realize their own tells.
- Don't show your hand to an opponent who folds. The player to my left did this once, and it made me realize he liked to 3 bet with a wide range of hands.
- The best tell is noticing betting patterns; not just c-betting or not, but how they play on different streets.

Ending chips: 50,000 (-10,000 from objective)

Day 2:

Starting chips: 50,000

The Day 2 competition was easier than Day 1. I felt there was more fear at the table than Day 1. In fact, a few players pushed with garbage as if they were saying:

"I'm scared as hell. I can't take it anymore!"

I was mostly card dead, so I did not accumulate as many chips as I would have liked.

Ending chips: 86,000 (-34,000 from objective)

Day 3:

Starting chips: 86,000

On Day 3, the play started to get more challenging.

On the first hand of play I was on the button and the big blind was missing. Everyone folded to the woman on my right, who raised. I had Q-9 and called. The flop was perfect K-J-T. She bet and I raised. She called. The turn was a rag. She checked and folded.

A few hands later, she raised again. I found Ah-Ad. I raised. She called. We were heads up. The flop was Kd-Td-4s. She bet into me! I put her on A-K since the bet was too big, I thought, to be a defensive one. I just called. The turn was a 6h. She bet big again. I called. The river was a 7d, completing a possible flush. She bet again, without hesitation.

What should I do? This was now a big pot, and I wondered if I had let her get her flush.

I thought for a moment, and it didn't add up. I mean, if she hit the flush on the river, she would have to think for a moment to size her bet. Especially since I could have the nut flush. I called. She had As-Jc and had damaged her chance to survive this day.

It was a big win for me. Except, later on, I ended up giving most of these new chips away when my flush lost to quad tens.

On Day 3, I was finally fortunate as I was dealt excellent starting hands.

In the BB, a player moved all-in. I found K-K and called. He made 22X BB all in move with A-J offsuit!? My Kings were ahead until the river, as the Ace hit. While it took my stack down by a third, I suddenly went on a mini rush.

The next hand I raised with 9-9. No one called.
The next hand I raised with A-A. No one called.
The next hand I raised with A-A again. No one called.
Back on the BB, I found A-K. 5 players called and I moved all-in. No one called.

A new player sat down to my right after the woman player was knocked out. He was a talker. And, he wanted everyone to know he knew the big TV poker stars and, of course, his stack was hurt due to bad beats. I was under the gun and raised with 9-9. Everyone folded to this guy in the BB. He called.

The flop was all rags with 2 hearts. He checked and I bet the pot. He moved all-in--which was about 65% of my stack. This was a tough spot since this was exactly the situation I was trying to avoid. A clueless player making a stupid play to knock me out. While this would not knock me out, it would be very tough to come back from a beat here. I folded.

The good news, though, was that the first hand back from the dinner back I was on the BB and found K-K. This guy moved all-in with A-J....he had over 25x the BB. I called. He got pissed when he did not improve and he started his speech about how unlucky he was.

Ending chips: 249,700 (+9,700 versus objective)

Day 4

Starting chips: 249,700

This was the most difficult table ever for me. Little did I know that four of the players who started at this table (including me), would end up finishing in the top 125 finishers in this event!

Seated on my right was Heinz (who made it to the final table. He is an excellent player and a good guy. I wish him the best in November). To my left were two other professional internet players.

After a while it was clear that these players loved to 2 bet and 3 bet pre-flop with a wide range of hands. Heinz was 3 betting players to his right. And, the players to my left were three betting as well. In fact, I believe the two players to my left 3 bet me like a ten times before the dinner break. Each time I folded.

At the dinner break, I was very very frustrated. I like to play flops and these characters were forcing me to fold. I decided that if it happened again, I would four bet.

Sure enough, in one of the first hands after the break, I raised and the player to my left 3 bet. It got back to me and I 4 bet. He folded.

The result of my doing this one time caused both the players to my left stopping that 3 betting of my raises. And, it led to my biggest pot win of the event....

I was in early position and raised with 7-6 suited. The guy to my left folded, but the next net pro just called. Heads up, the flop was 6-6-3 with a possible flush draw. I did not have the flush draw, but I knew my opponent would bet here with any hand, so I checked.

He bet. I now put in a big raise, as if on a flush draw. To my surprise, he re-raised! I moved in and he insta-called! He turned over 6-5 suited (no flush draw). The turn was a T. And when the river was a 2, rather than chopping the pot, I won big.

Ending chips: 757,000 (+277,000 versus objective)

Day 5

Starting chips: 757,000

Day 5 started with Erick Lindgren at my table. He made a bad play early on with pocket T's by moving all in after a raise from a player with A-A. However, he hit his T on the flop to double up.

I had some hands at this table and I was able to grow my stack a little. But...then...

I got moved to a new table, which was more aggressive. The player to my right was a nice guy, who spoke little English, by the name of Staszko. His playing style is much tighter and more cautious than Heinz. (Staszko is a good guy. And, I wish him the best at the final table.)

I was card dead here as well. And, almost every time I raised, the player to my left would call. The flop would miss me, and sometimes I would bet and sometimes I would check and give the pot up. The reason not to c-bet every time was to project strength, and take down the pot. Too often players c-bet the flop, get called, and then give up on the turn with a check-fold.

Unfortunately, I was card dead most of the entire time. It was very frustrating. On the last hand of the night, I doubled up with K-K.

Ending chips: 630,000 (-330,000 versus objective)

Day 6 (July 17, 2011):

Starting chips: 630,000

Lots of big stacks at the first table. While I was not one of the big stacks, I was confident I could make a comeback.

I raised on the SB, but the Russian player on the BB, moved all-in. I folded. Later that round, I was on the button with A-T and raised first in pre-flop. This guy re-raised and I moved all-in. He called with A-Q. I got lucky and hit my T to double up.

I got J-J in a middle position and raised. A woman who had not played a hand in about 2 hours, moved all-in. Good grief. If I lose this hand, I am as good as out of the event. I folded the Jacks.

I got moved to a table with Allan Cunningham who had about the same chip stack size as me.
Given my stack size, I moved in after a raise with pocket 4's and pocket Jacks. My opponent called both time and lost with K-J and A-3 suited.

For the next 3 hours, I did not play a hand. It was incredible how ugly the cards looked.

Right before the dinner break, a player raised in middle position. I found K-K and 3 bet about 3x his bet size. My opponent thought for a while and moved all-in. I insta-called. My opponent showed A-T suited. If I win here, I would have about 2 million in chips...and that was my chip goal for the day.

The flop was all rags, but the turn....

I finished in 71st place and won over $100,000. It was a great financial win, but I was very disappointed.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

My Trip To The WSOP & Full Tilt Poker Rumor

My Trip To The WSOP & Full Tilt Poker Rumor

WSOP 2011

I fly into Vegas on Thursday night. It was rather quiet in the Rio for a WSOP.

It was around 9 pm, so I decided to play in a middle limit hold'em cash game. There was only one $5-$10 and $10-$20 game going. Oh my, how times have changed.

After a 15 minute wait, I sat down at the $5-$10 game.
I played for 3 hours...and incredibly I won $700. It is remarkable to win so much at a limit game at this low a level. Frankly, I got the right mix of good cards, luck, a few good moves and bad players.

The next day I entered the $1,500 limit hold'em tournament. I didn't even make it to the dinner break.

The players were making some surprising pre-flop calls of raises. For example, a player raised under the gun, I found K-K and re-raised, and the player to my left called. The flop came down A-A-3. I bet and he raised. He was predictable after the flop, so he had to have an Ace, right? We both checked the turn and river since four hearts were on board. He showed A-7 of spades. That was a loose call, in my opinion, but he won the pot.

I left the Rio and went to the Mirage to check out their poker room. It was rather dead. No limit holdem games only no limit games. I wonder where all those Mirage, limit poker pros are these days?

They were about to start a $70 sit n go, so I signed up. The players in this game were novice ones, except for me and one other guy. Sure enough, he and I were the ones left to play for the money. He ended up getting some great hands heads up and beat me. I cashed but I was not happy about it.

On Saturday, I entered the super satellite for $330 to win a main even seat. There were over 80 players and again, I was fortunate in that the competition was not that strong. The payout was going to be 2 seats plus a third place cash of $3,400.

In the middle of the event, I took a tough beat with my K-Q vs 9-7--it cut my stack almost in half. The action was that he moved all-in pre-flop and I called on the big blind. I had just moved to this table and it was clear that players were pushing with a wide wide range of hands.

Fortunately, I came back to be at the final table. I believe of the times I moved all-in, I was only called once throughout the entire event. It was at the final table. I had 5-5, moved in, and was called by K-J. I won that pot.

When it got down to 5 players we agreed to a chop. One player was way ahead since he recently found pocket aces on the big blind after the small blind moved all-in with K-Q. The rest of us were about even in stacks so we agreed to the chip leader having the seat and the rest of us chopping things based on chips. It took 6 hours and it was a nice cash win.

One bad note about the satellite was the guy who was the WSOP satellite director for our game. The guy was bad news. It was like the Rio was the last place he wanted to be at the moment. He made one really bad decision at the final table and he useless when we wanted to calculate the payouts for chopping. The guy needs a major attitude adjustment.

His poor decision was the following. A player with a big stack raised in early position. Another player with a smaller stack pushed all of his chips into the pot and then said "Ok, I call." The first player, believing that his opponent had more chips, says "I'll call whatever is in there." The dealer turns over the cards and the original raiser wins.

Now, the dealer counts the chips of the small stack and realizes that he put out more than the original raise. He calls over the tournament director who says "verbal is binding" so the small stack doesn't lose all of this chips. Not correct. Verbal is binding when there is no action. There was action before he made his statement. Anyway, it was no big deal as this small stack eventually got knocked out, but still it should not have happened.

After that event was over, I went to Aria. I had not been there before and I wanted to check out their poker.

I arrived a little after 11pm. The poker room was packed. The hotel was packed. But, the restaurants adjacent to the poker room were both closed. And, if you wanted to order from the table it was at least a one hour wait.

Who is the genius at Aria who decided no one wants to eat after 11pm on a Saturday night in Vegas?

Anyway, after an hour wait, I sat down at the $2-$5 no limit cash game. I don't care for this style of poker even if it is the most popular now. It is boring to me, since the action often slows to a crawl. And the play is so predictable. But, I thought I would give it another try since it is almost the only game in town.

I played for 2 hours and I couldn't take it anymore. I won $100 but the whole thing is so boring to me.

The guy who was the worst player lost the most money--but he was some rich guy with a stack of hundreds in his pocket who wanted to play stupid starting hands to surprise his opponent with a stupid hand to win the pot. Everyone at the table won because of his play.

Brad Garrett, from Everyone Loves Raymond, sat down and played at our table for one round. The man is tall and has hands that are huge. He wore earbuds so he did not interact much--which is totally understandable. He was very polite. He had his tall, blonde girlfriend with him.

Net, I ended up adding to my Sunday Oaks win with this trip. I may try to head back for some more action at the WSOP. Overall, it did appear that fewer players were attending probably due to the economy, the end of online poker and, of course, not getting their money back from Full Tilt.

Full Tilt Poker Rumor

Here is what I heard. I did not substantiate this information, although my source is fairly reliable.

Phil Ivey is suing Full Tilt since they are not paying the players back, and he is not attending the WSOP. This has already been in the news. Now, for the rest of the story...

Ivey owns about 10% of Full Tilt. He has made millions and millions of dollars due to his ownership. (Does that mean he is suing himself..lol?)

I was told that the owners, including Ivey, had a vote about paying the players back. Ivey voted against paying the players since he wanted to get his money out of Full Tilt before the players would see a penny. When that was not approved, Ivey was not happy. Instead, he decided to play the publicity game and sue...not really on behalf of the players but really just wanting the money he is owed. What a gem of a guy, if this is true.

It seems that Full Tilt may counter sue, of course. (I wonder where all this lawyer-ing will take place?)

Overall, Ivey sounds like a real jerk here. Who knows maybe he needs the money for all the money he loses playing craps.

More importantly, I think this is another bad sign for players getting their money back. It smells more and more like these guys ran a Ponzi scheme on us.

Oh yeah, my source told me that no one has heard from Lederer or Ferguson, and they may not make an appearance at the WSOP.

That is the rumor I heard. If you know the real story, please share. Thanks!

Greg Raymer is No Longer a PokerStar

Greg Raymer is No Longer a PokerStar

I ran across an article that Greg Raymer and PokerStars split company. The speculation is that PokerStars is cutting back its support of World Series of Poker winners as they focus more on non-US pros and online winners.

First, I've never played against Greg Raymer. Second, from watching him play on TV, Greg appears to be an excellent player who enjoys putting pressure on his opponents whether he has the goods or not. Of course, the best evidence of his skill is his winning the 2004 World Series of Poker. Third, he seems like a really nice guy and I am sure he will end up getting his support from another online poker site.

And, that's my problem. Online poker sites should not be paying star players to play at their sites. If they want poker stars to appear in their ads or promotions, that is fine. But, to give them money to play at their site is just cheating the game, and the players at the site.

I don't blame the players for taking the money. Heck, no matter how good a poker player you are, you are going to have long stretches of losing your money. But, giving players an edge like this, especially the "pros," is just wrong IMHO.

Personal Experience Being Sponsored, sort of.

I would like to come up with an analogy that helps illustrate my point, but I don't have one. Poker is gambling. It is skill and luck. And, the combination of these two ingredients weighs heavier on the "luck" factor than any other sporting competition I can think of.

Players who don't care about the money are going to play different than if the money was coming out of their own pocket. At least that is what I have found in my own play.

For example, I was visiting a friend and he said that he wanted to see me play a poker tournament at a local casino. I guess he gave me grief because I had a book on tournament poker, and he wanted to get a good laugh when some young kid knocked me out. I told him I wasn't interested in playing.

To convince me to play, though, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He would give me the buy-in for the event and I could keep whatever I won. I didn't realize it at the time, but that is the kind of deal these poker stars get from the online poker sites.

Of course, I took him up on his offer, and entered the event. I guess it was a psychological thing or something, because I took more chances than I normally would do in a poker tournament. I'd like to say I won the event, but I didn't win. I finished second.

This was not some major poker tournament. It was a local game with maybe 100 players. And, my friend thought some of my all-in moves were too risky. Maybe, probably, actually, yes for sure! Why? I wasn't gambling at all. I had no risk. I wasn't using my money.

Oh yeah, let me share with you how I got knocked out at the end...I am ashamed to say that I tried to bluff out my opponent pre-flop when he was holding pocket Kings. Now you know why I'm not sponsored by a poker site :-)

My point to all of this is that online poker sites should not be influencing the results of any poker event. But, by paying poker pros to play at their sites, they are doing precisely that. Pay these stars to promote your site in all the other traditional marketing ways--from PR to advertising to promotion. Just not in a way that effects the outcome of the actual events where everyone else is risking their hard earned money.

If you agree, please let me know. If you disagree, I am sure I will read your comments.

Tournament Poker: A New Strategy...

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Tournament Poker: A New Strategy...

After a disappointing World Series, I took some time off to consider the state of tournament poker in general. I had witnessed plays at the Series that truly surprised me since they made no real sense to me at the time.

Now I realize that tournament poker has reached a
level where the traditional smart moves in the game need
to be updated. In fact, it may be that the game has changed
so much that even the long-time Pros are not doing as well
so they are playing more in the smaller, limit based events.

The theme of my tournament poker book is "Risk is Good." Today, it may have to be revised to "Risk is Good, But More Risk is Better."

A New Strategy

In fact, I am going to test out a new strategy based on what I've seen. I am going to look at playing tournaments where I take on more risk. For example,

In early stages, surprise the opposition, by limping with premium starting hands. If you get raised, move all-in.

In middle stages, play aggressive with raises and re-raise. Avoid calling.
Examples: Raise and re-raise with any pair, raise in back positions first in preflop, and attack the more aggressive players.

Moves:
Look to re-raise the raiser rather than calling a raise in middle and late stages of an event.
Look to move all-in with A-K.
Look to move all-in with A-9 or better by attacking players who raise too often or a back position.
Look to raise with any A, K, Q J-x hand from a back position.

My goal: To get to the final table with more chips or be eliminated faster.

Warning

One warning: I've discussed this strategy with a player who recently got to the final table of a no limit, World Series event. His reaction: It's a mistake. He believes that you have to play the game with skill, hope to have some luck, avoid bad luck, but to hang on and give yourself a chance to win.

What I Learned From the WSOP Final Table

What I Learned From the WSOP Final Table

I spent over 15 hours the past few days listening to the online telecast via Bluff Magazine and watching the ESPN broadcast of the final table. This may have been the most talented group of nine players to ever appear in the final table.

The first thing: Congrats to all the players! Congrats to Moon! Congrats to Cada! It was really super poker.

The second thing: To the poker players who criticized the play, give me a break. If there is one thing I've learned when it comes to a small group of poker players is that they love to criticize--especially anonymously and/or without any credentials to do so. Until you are under the pressure of playing for a Main Event bracelet, give it a rest.

The third thing: To the moderators on the Bluff Magazine online telecast and Phil Hellmuth, super job. I really enjoyed the poker commentary.

My Learning from the WSOP

1. Don't Play Too Tight.

I think Shulman played real tight at the final table. While he got unlucky with pocket Jacks, he either didn't get good cards or he didn't want to gamble. He folded pocket 9's against a re-raise from a worse hand. It would have been a race, but it seemed to me that he was always leaning to the fold rather than a willingness to gamble. Maybe that was the right thing to do--after all, Hellmuth was his coach.

But...Poker is gambling. It is impossible to control the risk in the game. Did Jeff get a "read" that his opponent was stronger than him? Or, was he was avoiding the risk?

"Risk is Good."

2. Even The Great Players Don't Read Their Opponents All that Well.

I was really surprised that the players did not appear to, or could not get, a read on their opponents. Hellmuth did a great job of reading players from the booth. Even Hellmuth said once, "I wish Cada would look up at his opponent" when Cada was making a key decision.

Ivey misread an opponent's strength. I guess if he can fold a winning hand, anything is possible.

I believe Buchman is a great player. Yet, he lost all those chips with A-Q at a time he was outplaying his opponents. Later on, Hellmuth tried to get Buchman to realize his play was wrong, but Buchman resisted and stated the math was right.

I agree with Hellmuth. Why risk everything when there was no urgency? He was the chip leader and on his way to winning the main event. I think the math in this case was not in assessing hand probabilities, but in the overall risk-reward probabilities of the game itself. But, I'm not sure since I'm not a pure math guy.

3. Super Aggressive Equals Super Wins.

I think Cada was super aggressive. I don't believe he even cared much about his opponents hands when he made those re-raises/all-ins with small pairs. The one thing I took away from Cada was that maybe winning poker is forgetting about "reading" your opponent. Just play more aggressive than your opponent.

Maybe this is what Cada learned from playing 20 events at the same time online. If you have a pocket pair or a big Ace hand, make a move with it and hope for the best.

I think one reason Cada had a problem with Moon throughout the event is that Moon was making super aggressive moves with and without hands. At least Cada needed a small pair to make those plays. Moon did not.

Overall, I believe being aggressive is the way to play winning poker. But, maybe, it is time to look at being super aggressive like Cada.

What was your impression of the final table?

Maybe poker is headed back to those days of the "all-in specialists." These players had one move in their arsenal--an all-in pre-flop move. If they won and doubled up early, it made them more dangerous. These all-in specialists went broke because opponents knew that they could outplay them by trapping them or calling with a wider range of hands.

This is a Must If You Are Into Poker!

This is a Must If You Are Into Poker!

Last night I found that there was a moderated netcast of the WSOP Final Table of the Main Event. The visual was not of the players or the event, but a diagram of player chip stacks, the action, and things you'd need to know if you really wanted to learn about poker.

Image via Wikipedia

It was excellent! I was going to watch/listen for a few hours, but it was addicting and I ended up watching for like 9+ hours, until around 6am--when it finally got to heads-up.

I have to give major kudos to the sponsors (Ubet, Bluff Magazine, something called poker maven VT (?) and others) the guys who did the moderation (David something and Joe Seebok), and the great guests (Ferguson, Duke, internet shiz kids, and more.)

The best part was when Hellmuth joined for the last hour or so. No matter what you think of Phil's style/act, he knows his poker. His discussion with the other moderator about his style of play of using reads versus the internet aggro guys was great.

The final table head-to head battle will be on Monday night at 10pm Pacific.

The link is: www.bluffmagazine.com/live/

If you are into the WSOP--you really should listen and watch.

I have avoided giving out who is still in or out of the event--since I know a lot of players are waiting for the ESPN broadcast.

Why Phil Ivey Won't Win the WSOP Main Event

Why Phil Ivey Won't Win the WSOP Main Event

Here are the final 9.
(And Congrats to Leo Margets, who was the woman who did the best at the 2009 main event.)

• Darvin Moon: being portrayed as the worst player
• Eric Buchman: New York poker pro.
• Steven Begleiter: helped to put you, me and the world in a recession. If he wins, there is no God.
  
• Jeff Shulman: his dad just won the WSOPE, so enough already.
• Kevin Schaffel: has ESPN shown him play one hand yet?
• Joseph Cada: did anyone card this kid? I think he asked me to buy him beer at the 7-11.
• Antoine Saout: the French Moneymaker? Uh oh, watch out, I think the French invented poker--pogue.
• James Akenhead: pro from London. He seems way too nice too win.
• Phil Ivey: the best player

My thoughts

I am rooting for Phil Ivey to win because it would be the best thing to happen to the game. A top pro winning would help to support legislation that is based on the fact that poker is a game of skill and not chance. (It would not make the two-faced NFL go away, and they will continue to pay off politicians to block legislation that allows online poker to be regulated and taxed.)

Ivey is the best poker player at the table, and maybe the world.

Ivey likes to be aggressive and control a table with his play. This may work in his favor since the tendency is to tighten up at the final table of the WSOP. Heck, I don't think I'd play a hand until it got down to 7 or 6 handed.

There are a number of poker pros at the final table. The difference between Ivey and another poker pro is not that great. It is not like comparing Barry Bonds against Marvin Bernard (although neither knew what that stuff was they were injecting into their body. =) It's more like comparing A-Rod and David Wright.

Bottom Line

Phil Ivey has a 25% chance to win the main event. Which means he has a better probability of losing the event.

My pick: Eric Buchman. New York, New York.

What do you think?

Most Popular Poker Posts

Image by chasingthegambler via Flickr

Top 5 Most Popular Poker Posts--These Are Hot

Thank you for reading my poker blog! 6 months ago I was getting about 1,100 visitors per month. Now, I am getting over 3,500 visitors per month to my blog--more than triple! My blog is hot--not even close to being as hot as Lacey Jones, of course.

I hope to continue to provide useful information for you, and interesting ways of presenting it. While my recent post about Phil Ivey's 35 hands to the final table of the WSOP main event took me many hours to assemble--it has been viewed over 420 times in just a few days.

If you missed any of these top 5 posts, you may want to check them out. As always, you never know if it can get you to a final table or maybe spot Lacey Jones at a major event.

Thanks again,
Mitchell


1. The Hands Phil Ivey Played at the Main Event of the WSOP to Get to The Final Table

2. 10 Key Actions to Use in a Poker Tournament: Learning from the Rio

3. This May Be My Most Important Post About Winning Tournament Poker Strategy

4. The Simple Secret to Winning at Online Poker

5. Poker Quiz: Early Rounds of Tournaments

The Hands Phil Ivey Played at the Main Event of the WSOP to Get to The Final Table

Phil Ivey-Not Every Hand Revealed

Let's see how Phil Ivey got to the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event. This is information from hands reported by cardplayer.com. The event started with 6,494 players. The winner will take home over $8.5 million.

Image via Wikipedia

Day 1D. July 7, 2009.

The first obstacle. Phil entered on the last day of the event. He got in, unlike 500+ other players who were left out and forced to find an outlet for $10,000 in that sleepy city of Las Vegas. By math, $5+ million in cash was standing in line outside the cage. By rumor, strippers had their best night of WSOP action.

Level 1 Hour 1.
Blinds: 50-100

Hand: Ivey builds his stack.
Flop 10h-6s-3s. Ivey bets 300 and is called by his lone opponent.
Turn Ks. Ivey bets 600. His opponent mucks.
Ivey: 31,000.
(My Comment: Your basic continuation bet on the flop by Ivey takes down the pot.)

Hand: The river helps...
Board: As-6c-9d-4c-6h. First player checks, and second player bets 1,250. Ivey raises to 4,000. First player folds but second player calls. Ivey shows Kd-6d, making trips on the river.

Level 3
Blinds: 150-300

Hand: Gotta know when to fold'em...
Turn: Ad-8s-8d-Kh. Player bets 1000, Ivey and another player calls.
River: 9s. Player bets 6,000, Ivey calls, but the last player raises to 16,000. Both Ivey and the first player fold. The raiser shows Ah-8h for a full house.
(My Comment: It's nice when you flop a full house. An easy fold with the river raise and two opponents.)

Hand: ...and to hold'em.
Flop: Ad-Jd-3h. Pot has 2,850. Ivey bets 1,700 and only gets one caller.
Turn: 2d. Both players check.
River: 9d Both players check. Ivey shows Ac-Kh to win pot.
Ivey at 58,000.
(My Comment: Excellent learning here. Even though, Ivey has top pair, top kicker he checks the turn. It's not because he thinks his opponent has a better hand. It's too control the pot size and possibly win more on the river if a scare card does not hit. A scare card did hit, though, and he had to check.)

Level 4
Blinds: 150-300 with a 25 ante

Hand: He's got him dominated.
Ivey calls an all-in bet of 8,825. Ivey show Ah-Qc. Opponent Ac-Jd.
Board: 8d-6s-3c-Ks-9d. Ivey wins pot.
Ivey at 82,000.
(My Comment: An easy call. A-Q and only risking a small percentage of his chip stack.)

Level 5
Blinds: 200-400 with a 50 ante

Hand: A semi-bluff on a draw?
Flop: As-6d-3s. Dutch Boyd bets 1,500 from the big blind. Ivey raises to 4,500. Boyd calls.
Turn: 4s. Both players check.
River: 8s. Both players check. Boyd shows 6h-3c for two pair. Ivey mucks.
Ivey at 105,000.
(My Comment: Difficult to know what is going on here. Maybe Ivey is playing his aggressive opponent with that flop raise. Maybe it's a semi-bluff on the flop. Not sure.)

End of day 1D: Ivey at 105,000. Leader at 340,000. Players left: 3,572

Day 2B: July 8, 2009
Level 6
Blinds: 250-500 with a 50 ante

Hand: They're just pocket Jacks...oh, it's Ivey.
Pre-flop a player limps, Erick Lindgren raises to 2,500 from late position and is called by Ivey in the big blind as well as the limper.

Image via Wikipedia

Flop: 9c-8d-4d. Ivey bets out for 6,000. The limper folds but Lindgren moves all-in, for only 17,500. Ivey calls and shows Jd-Jc. Lindgren shows Qh-Qd.
Turn: 7c.
River: Jh. Ouch!
(My Comment: You gotta get lucky to win. Could you fold an overpair here?)

Level 7
Blinds: 300-600 with a 75 ante

Hand: Was it Ivey's stare?
Turn: 4h-Js-9h-7c. Ivey calls a bet of 15,000
River: 8s. Ivey's opponent checks. Ivey bets 45,000 and his opponent mucks. He shows a set, 9c-9d! Ivey does not show and collects his chips.
Ivey at 148,000.
(My Comment: What happened on the flop would be nice to know. But, what exactly do you think Ivey has here? Did he turn a straight? Is he going to call a big turn bet, to complete a straight on the river?)

End of Day 2B-Ivey at 325,000

Day 3: July July 10, 2009. 2,134 players left.

Level 10
Blinds: 600-1,200 with a 200 ante

Hand: Can't win 'em all.
Player moves all-in pre-flop and Ivey calls. Opponent has Ah-10c. Ivey has 9h-9s.
Board: 6d-4d-3h-5c-10d. Ivey loses hand.
Ivey at 355,000.

Level 11
Blinds: 800-1,600 with a 200 ante

Hand: Sometimes you got to fold the winning hand. Maybe here?
Pre-flop Ivey raises to 4,500 from under the gun and two players call.
Flop: Js-5s-5h. Ivey bets 9,000, next player raises to 18,000. Other player folds but Ivey calls.
Turn: 2h. Ivey checks, and his opponent moves all-in with 85,400. Ivey thinks for a few minutes and mucks. Opponent shows one card, the Jd.
Ivey at 358,000.
(My Comment: All-in moves on the river are often either a complete bluff or the nuts. Looks like the nuts to Ivey.)

Day 3 ends. Ivey at 358,000. Leader at 1,380,500.

Day 4: July 11, 2009. 810 players left.

Level 16
Blinds: 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante

Hand: The rockets hold up and get paid big. Oh, yeah, it's Ivey.
Ivey raises pre-flop to 16,000 from early position and is called by one player.
Flop: 7s-2d-Qh. Ivey bets 23,000 and is called.
Turn: 8h. Ivey bets 55,000 and is called.
River: 4d. Ivey bets big enough to put opponent all-in. Opponents calls. Ivey shows As-Ah. Opponent mucks.
Ivey at 900,000. (Note: There is no reporting on how much of this pot contributed to Ivey's increase in chips from 358,000.)
(My Comment: Ivey fires the third bullet on the river. No resistance. No scare card. Maximum rewards.)

Level 17
Blinds: 3,000-6,000 with a 1,000 ante

Hand: Fold, dude. It's Phil Ivey!
Turn: Ac-Jc-7s-8s. Ivey bets 70,000. Opponent calls.
River: 3d. Ivey bets 120,000. Opponent folds.
Ivey near 1 million.
(My Comment: Pre-flop and flop play would be nice to know. He may just have top pair on the turn, and he is betting for value and making it expensive for his opponent to catch.)

Hand: Hello, it's Phil I-v-e-y!
Board: Qh-5h-9c-7c. Opponent checks. Ivey moves all-in. Opponent calls and shows Ad-9d. Ivey shows Kd-Kc.
River: 7s. Ivey wins.
Ivey at 1.1 million.

Hand: Does he have to wear a name tag?
Pre-flop Ivey raises to 16,000 preflop and the player on the big blind calls.
Flop: 9c-6s-3d. Opponent check-calls Ivey's bet of 22,000.
Turn: 8d. Ivey bets 55,000 and is called.
River: Kc. Ivey bets 120,000 and opponent folds.
Ivey at 1.2 million.
(My Comment: Ivey keeps firing even with that King on the river. The check-call is an interesting play by his opponent. A check raise on the turn may have forced Ivey to fold.)

Day 4 ends: Ivey with 1,276,000. Leader at 1,819,000.

Day 5-July 12, 2009. 407 players left.

Hand: You ain't gonna hit a set against The Man.
Pre-flop a player moves all-in and Ivey calls. Opponent shows 9h-9c. Ivey has Kd-Kc. Board: Ad-Ac-5c-Ah-8h. Ivey wins.
Ivey at 830,000. (It's noted that Ivey had dropped to 220,000 but no hands were reported. Maybe you are not allowed to report when Ivey losses a lot of chips.)

Day 5 ends. Ivey with 1,400,000. Leader at 4,872,000.

Day 6-July 13, 2009. 185 players left.

Level 21
Blinds: 8,000-16,000 with a 2,000 ante

Hand: Will they ever learn?
Flop: Qc-10c-10h. Ivey and opponent checks.
Turn: As. Ivey and opponent checks.
River 8h. Ivey bets 50,000 and his opponent mucks.
Ivey at 1.7 million.
(My Comment: Whoever bets first here wins on the river, I believe.)

Level 23
Blinds: 12,000-24,000 with a 3,000 ante

Hand: You are moving all-in with A-K against Ivey? You are not playing online.
Pre-flop a player raises to 75,000 from early position and another player calls. Ivey pushes all-in from the small blind for 1,800,000. Original raiser calls the all-in bet for his last 700,000. The other player folds. Ivey has Ks-Kc. Opponent Ah-Kd.
Board: Jc-5s-4d-7d-Js. Ivey wins.
Ivey at 2,680,000.
(My Comment: The first raiser has a tough decision since it's a re-raise from Ivey in the worst position pre-flop. Ivey is aggressive pre-flop, but is he going to re-raise an upfront raiser unless he has a premium hand? I don't think so. If I was the player with the A-K, I would put Ivey on pocket Queens and be wrong.)

Level 24
Blinds: 15,000-30,000 with a 4,000 ante

Hand: Q-Q beats J-J--except against P.I.
Pre-flop a player raises to 80,000 and Ivey re-raises to 260,000. His opponent moves all-in for his last 620,000 and Ivey calls. Opponent shows Qs-Qc. Ivey Jc-Jh.
Board: Js-9s-4c-5c-7c. Ivey wins.
Ivey at 3,260,000.
(My Comment: He got lucky, but he wasn't risking many chips.)

Hand: Charity for an author.
Pre-flop Ivey raises to 80,000 and Blair Rodman moves all-in for 362,000. Ivey calls and shows Ad-9s. Rodman has 8s-8h.
Board: Kc-10c-4d-6h-2s. Ivey loses a small pot.
(My Comment: Same as before. The risk is small. Ivey actually was in better shape than he might have thought he would be in, given that he has two overcards.)

Level 25
Blinds: 20,000-40,000 with a 5,000 ante

Hand: Meet the son of the Poker Gods.
Pre-flop Ivey bets 110,000 from the button and his opponent re-raises to 325,000 from the big blind. Ivey calls.
Flop: Qs-4h-2h. Opponent checks and Ivey moves all-in for 910,000. His opponent calls and shows the Qc-7h. Ivey reveals Jh-5h.
Turn: not a heart.
River: is a heart. Ivey hits his flush.
Ivey at over 5,000,000 now.
(My Comment: He tried to steal from the button, and decided to call with the suited hand. The play on the flop is not a bad one since it's a semi-bluff--and in this case, the "bluff" didn't work but the "semi" did:))

Day 6 Ends. Ivey at 6,345,000 Leader: Darvin Moon - 9,745,000

Day 7 July 14, 2009. 64 players left

Level 26
Blinds: 25,000-50,000 with a 5,000 ante

Hand: You are not playing against Phil Hellmuth, bro.
Pre-flop Phil Ivey raises to 135,000 and gets one caller.
Flop: 9c-3h-3s. Both players check.
Turn: 9d. Opponent bets 150,000. Ivey calls.
River: 7s. Opponent bets 360,000. Ivey calls. Opponent has nothing with a Qh-10h. Ivey shows As-Qh, a better nothing.
Ivey now over 7 million.
(My comment: This is another good learning hand. His opponent is one of the chip leaders. He wants to keep the pot small and keep his decisions easy. If he bets the flop and get called, his opponent will win this hand. Instead, he decides to call down his opponent's small bets. He induced a bluff on the turn and the river, to win a decent pot..)

Level 27 Update
Blinds: 30,000-60,000 with a 10,000 ante

Hand: He had to take an early bathroom break, I guess.
Pre-flop Ivey raises to 150,000 from the cutoff and opponent calls from the big blind.
Flop: Ad-5d-Kc. Opponent check-calls Ivey's bets of 225,000.
Turn: 3h. Both players check.
River: 5s. Opponent bets into Ivey with 350,000. Ivey folds and loses small pot.
Ivey at 8.4 million.
(My Comment: My guess is that his opponent has either top or second pair. Ivey clearly tried to steal pre-flop and take down the pot with a continuation bet on the flop. Once it didn't work, he was done with this hand.)

Level 27
Blinds: 30,000-60,000 with a 10,000 ante

Hand: Chip leader my ass.
Billy Kopp is the new chip leader with over 16 million. He raises pre-flop to 150,000 from the hijack position. Ivey calls from the cutoff.
Flop: 7d-7c-2c. Both players check.
Turn: 4h. Both players check.
River: Ac. Kopp bets 225,000. Ivey raises to 700,000 and his opponent folds.
Ivey up to 8.6 million.
(My Comment: Maybe he hit his Ace or maybe he felt his opponent was weak. A river raise usually indicates strength but it's hard to know what is happening here between these top 10 chip leaders.)

Hand: Ivey ain't three betting with 7-2 offsuit, buddy.
Ivey raises pre-flop from the button to 150,000 and gets re-raised to 460,000. Ivey re-re-raises to 1,160,000, and is called.
Flop: Kh-10d-4s. Ivey bets 1,200,000 after opponent checks. His opponent folds.
Ivey over 10,000,000.
(My Comment: His opponent has to fold to that re-raise. Give up when you are beat.)

Level 28
Blinds: 40,000-80,000 with a 10,000 ante

Hand: You just got pocket Kings? I got a 7!
Pre-flop a player raises to 205,000 and Ivey calls from the small blind.
Flop: Qs-7h-4c. Both payers check.
Turn: 7d. Ivey bets 350,000 and is called.
River: 4d. Ivey bets 750,000 and is called. Ivey shows 9c-7c. His opponent shows his pocket kings before mucking.
Ivey at 11,300,000.
(My Comment: His opponent got too fancy and it cost him. Ivey will defend his big blind with a big range of cards. If you want him to fold, pre-flop raise more than normal. If you want Ivey in, bet smaller pre-flop but make a larger flop bet. While the flop looks safe. It turned out to be a tough loss for his opponent with K-K.)

Level 29
Blinds: 50,000-100,000 with a 10,000 ante

Hand: You making fun of my 7. This time I got a 9!
Pre-flop a player raises to 260,000 from early position and Ivey calls from the big blind.
Flop: 10s-9d-6h. Both players check.
Turn: 9s. Ivey checks. Opponent bets 200,000 and Ivey check-raises to 600,000. Opponent calls.
River: 8c. Ivey bets 1,000,000 and is called. Ivey shows Jh-9h and wins with trips.
Ivey at 14,890,000.
(My Comment: A check raise on the turn can be a bluff, but with that scare card and coordinated board, Ivey is telling you I have a big hand and I'm going to get maximum value for it.)

Day 7 ends: 27 players Ivey at 11,350,000. Leader: Darvin Moon - 20,160,000

Day 8: July 15, 2009...Play 'till final table of 9 players

Level 30.
Blinds: 60,000-120,000 with a 15,000 ante

Hand: He owed the gods a Queen from before.
Player moves all-in preflop for 1,030,000. Ivey calls with Jc-Js. Opponent has Qc-5c.
Board: 10s-8h-2d-Qd-8s. Ivey loses.
(My Comment: It was a good call with only about a 10% chip loss.)

Level 30. 23 players left
Blinds: 60,000-120,000 with a 15,000 ante

Hand: What! This can't be--the favorite hand beats Ivey. Change the deck!
Pre-flop the first player raises to 290,000 and the second player moves all-in for almost 2.5 million. Ivey calls and the original raiser folds. Ivey has Jh-Jd. Opponent has Qh-Qd.
Board: 10h-5h-5c-7d-4d. Ivey loses.
Ivey down to under 6 million.
(My Comment: It's your basic cooler.)

Hand: What? Losing to Shulman. Change the dealer!
Ivey is first in pre-flop and calls from the small blind. Jeff Shulman checks from the big blind.
Flop: As-Js-2d. Ivey bets 120,000 and gets called by Shulman.
Turn: 2c. Ivey checks and folds after Shulman bets 200,000.
(My Comment: May as well take a shot with that Ace on the flop. Gotta figure your opponent would raise pre-flop with any Ace.)

Level 31. 19 players left
Blinds: 80,000-160,000 with a 20,000 ante

Hand: There is a disturbance in the Force.
Player raises pre-flop to 400,000 under-the-gun and Ivey raises to 1,150,000. His opponent moves all-in. Ivey calls and shows Ac-10h. His opponent has 2c-2s.
Board: Jc-6d-3c-4c-9s. Ivey loses.
Ivey at 2,640,000.
(My Comment: Ivey needs chips and he is forcing the action.)

Level 31. 15 players left
Blinds: 80,000-160,000 with a 20,000 ante

Hand: Phew...for a minute, I thought the world was coming to an end.
Phil Ivey raises pre-flop to 420,000 and gets one caller.
Flop: 8s-6c-4c. Ivey bets 600,000 and gets called
Turn: 4s. Both players check.
River: Kd. Both players check. Ivey shows 9s-9h, while opponent has 10c-9c. Ivey wins.
Ivey at 6.8 million. (There is no report how Ivey won over $4 million in chips. Someone check his pockets!)
(My Comment: Notice how he is not willing to make the pot bigger on the turn when the 4 pairs, or bet with the overcard on the river. He will only get called on the river by a player who has him beat.)

Level 32. 13 players left.
Blinds: 100,000-200,000 with a 30,000 ante

Hand: As it was before.
Ivey raises pre-flop to 525,000 and the big blind calls.
Flop: 6h-2h-2s. The big blind checks and Ivey bets 700,000. His opponent mucks.
Ivey at 7,200,000.
(My Comment: Your basic continuation bet on the flop by Ivey takes down the pot. Notice the texture of the flop is not threatening at all.)

Hand: As it should be.
Ivey raises to 500,000 pre-flop. Opponent calls.
Flop: 6s-5c-3d. Ivey bets 700,000 and opponent folds.
Ivey at 6.5 million (not reported on the hand or hands he lost 700,000).
(My Comment: Another continuation bet on the flop.)

Level 33. 12 players left.
Blinds: 120,000-240,000 with a 30,000 ante

Hand: As it is meant to be.
Ivey bets 675,000 pre-flop and is called.
Flop: Ad-7c-5d. Opponent check-calls Ivey's bet of 800,000.
Turn: 3d. Ivey gets his opponent to fold with a bet of 1,700,000.
Ivey at 9,030,000.
(My Comment: That looks like a scare card on the turn. I can't figure the check call on the flop by his opponent...a wide range of hands are possible.)

Hand: And as we hoped it would be.
A player moves all-in for 2,350,000 and Ivey calls. His opponent has Kc-Qs. Ivey Ah-10h.
Board: 8s-3s-3d-3h-5c. Ivey wins.
Ivey at 9,610,000.
(My Comment: I think this is the riskiest play of the day. He is risking more than one-third of his chips with A-10. Is it because the cards are suited? Even if he puts his opponent on a small or medium pair, the hand is a coin flip. I guess that's why he is Phil Ivey, and you are not=))

End of the Day

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Players Remaining: 9 out of 6,494

Chip Counts:

1. Darvin Moon - 58,930,000
2. Eric Buchman - 34,800,000
3. Steven Begleiter - 29,885,000
4. Jeff Shulman - 19,580,000
5. Joe Cada - 13,215,000
6. Kevin Schaffel - 12,390,000
7. Phil Ivey - 9,765,000
8. Antoine Saout - 9,500,000
9. James Akenhead - 6,800,000

If he is in 7th place, why is he the favorite to win?