Razpoker

$100,000 Aussie Challenge

2012-01-23T22:37:00.000-08:00

Last year saw 38 play the Aussie Millions $100K event (won by Sam Trickett), but this time just 22 players ponied up the hefty entry fee to participate, among them such poker luminaries as Tom Dwan, Daniel Negreanu, J.C. Tran, Erik Seidel, Jason Mercier, and Phil Ivey. Ivey was eliminated in ninth place at the hands of Gus Hansen.

Heads up, Dan Smith and Mikhail Smirnov went back and forth in hopes of winning the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge. In the end however it was Smith who outlasted the Russian poker pro to claim the title and the $1,012,000 first place prize. Smirnov walked away with $616,000 for his runner-up performance.

On the last hand, Smirnov's chips were pushed in the midlle with Qh-6h against Smith's 2d-2s. Smith's small pocket pair prevailed, the board coming Kd-5h-Ac-Jc-8c to give the American the title.

Payouts:

1st: Dan Smith -- $1,012,000
2nd: Mikhail Smirnov -- $616,000
3rd: Joe Hachem -- $330,000
4th: Tony G -- $242,000

Smith more than doubled his lifetime live tournaments earnings with the seven-figure score. His only other live win was in 2008 when he won a Heartland Poker Tour event in Turning Stone, N.Y. for a bit over $100 k..

The Durrrr vs Ziigmund video

2012-01-14T22:51:00.000-08:00

The Challenge, as you'd expect, generated a considerable amount of buzz even before any poker pros raised their hands to play. However, three of the game's best will face Dwan and receive 3:1 odds on their money: Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and David Benyamine. The latter two are World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holders; in fact, Ivey owns five of them. In 2005, Antonius won the prestigious European Poker Tour (EPT) Baden event. He also finished third in the 2007 WSOP World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha for $311,000. The trio combines for $5.25 million in career WSOP cashes. Ivey and Antonius are both members of Team Full Tilt. It's interesting to see if Tom Dwan will comeback with another challenge for 2012.

Happy New Year !

2011-12-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all the poker players out there !
We hope to see you all coming back to see more poker videos and read more poker news !

Safe to play poker online ?

2011-12-17T23:23:00.000-08:00

IS the online poker rigged? After the Absolute Poker drama , and the Poker Stars drama and ending with Full Tilt drama, what can we believe?

Many times we noticed awkward things while playing , bad players hitting 2 outers and the question asked is : is online poker random ? There was a theory discussed on a few other sites about the poker rooms trying to keep the bad players in the game. Totally untrue .

The chances of a room fixing cards to help the bad players save money are almost non-existent. Only when you start to think about the side effects of such a system can you appreciate the absurdity of such a theory.

If a room is helping a bad player from losing money, at the same time the room will be taking this money from the good players to compensate. Therefore there would be no such thing as the online pros that make a living from playing online poker, because they will find it too difficult to win money due to a ‘fair’ system.

In addition, the site would have to scrap the use of its RNG and design a system that is able to detect a losing player and be able to deliver ‘good hands’ to those players. Not only would this be incredibly difficult for the sites to create, but it would also be illegal. If a site were found to be utilizing such a system to help make them more money, they would incur a staggering amount of fines and be heavily prosecuted. The events from this year, had a strong impact on the safety part of the software, The poker rooms know this and so it would be dangerously unwise for them to even consider using such a system.

It's true that you will see far more bad beats online than you will during live play, but this is not because it is rigged. There are two reasons why you see such a high frequency of beats online:

The action at an online poker table runs much faster than the action at a live table. More hands = more beats.

You are not sitting face to face with any of your opponents whilst playing online.

To elaborate that, the players are happier to call down large bets and raises on unlikely draws, as they do not have to worry about being berated by other players at the table (except for a few words in a chat box). If a player is playing at a live table, they are more likely to avoid calling with terrible odds for a draw because they would not like to be criticized because of their bad play.

Nowadays, where the technology is dominating, can we agree that online poker is random ? Never say never .

Online poker after Black Friday

2011-05-08T22:16:00.000-07:00

When the Black Friday indictments hit, the online poker world went into an utter frenzy. Play funds were frozen on Full Tilt, PokerStars, Absolute Poker, and Ultimatebet. Some players have their entire bankroll locked up online and others are unable to pay their bills due to their accounts being frozen. For the most part, sites covering this issue have focused on pros and online grinders that make a living playing the game online. But what about the little guy? What about the recreational players who now cannot play at these sites?

Regardless of what many sites will have you believe, it is the little guys that fuel these online poker sites and give the pros and grinders an income stream. The players that deposit $50 to $100 at a time and regularly donate to the games are the ones that feed our poker economy. These are really the guys that we should be focusing our attention to. What happens with these guys now?

Some of these players will try and find a way to play on sites such as Lock Poker or Bodog. Unfortunately, the events of recent days are going to drive many of these same players away from the game. They are going to be fearful that the DOJ is going to come down on the sites that currently service US players. These players will say to themselves “Why risk having more money frozen on another site?”

At the same time, for many of these players, that $50, $100, or $200 locked up online represents their entire poker bankroll. These players are truly playing for fun and cannot afford to reload, or at least not for a while. For all intents and purposes, their online poker players days are done until their get their money back. Good luck in getting many of them to join with another site.

While it is true that sites still servicing the United States have seen dramatic growth in recent weeks, the numbers are still nowhere near the number of players currently locked out of Full Tilt, etc. Live casinos are assuming that these players will start to filter over to their tables. In areas that players can reasonably drive to a casino, this may happen. The problem is that for many players, $50 or $100 is all that they can afford to play with. Unless you play low stakes limit Hold’em, that equates to about one reasonable buy-in for NL Hold’em. If they blow through that, they are done. As such, casual player traffic may pick up, but how much money it will bring to the table will be minimal in many cases.

I realize the outlook I paint here is somewhat grim regarding casual players. You need to realize that many casual players are going to react based on fear of losing their money or even getting in trouble with the DOJ. It does not matter how much we sit here and debate politics, the fact remains that online poker is being prosecuted by the US government. When it comes down to fight or flight for many people, they will choose flight. That keeps them out of trouble, and unfortunately for poker, out of the game.

Online poker collapse

2011-04-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

In online poker circles, they’re calling it Black Friday: On April 15, the federal government shut down several major online poker sites, filing criminal charges against the operators and cutting off the cash flow of those who were playing online poker for a living.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan says the three leading sites among U.S. users tried to trick their way around a ban that prevents U.S. banks from processing payments for offshore virtual gambling halls. Authorities charged 11 executives, including the founders of Ireland’s FullTiltPoker.com, Costa Rica’s AbsolutePoker.com, and PokerStars.com, based on the Isle of Mann, with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling. Prosecutors say that the poker companies fooled some banks and bribed others to keep the money flowing.

The charging documents name two principals from each company, plus others who allegedly worked with them to illegally process payments.

The Internet poker market in the U.S. was $5.1 billion last year, 7.1 percent higher than 2009, and the global market is about $30 billion, according to Bloomberg, which cites data from U.K.-based H2 Gambling Capital.

Now, though, U.S. users who try to access the three shuttered sites will find themselves looking at two Department of Justice seals, explaining that the domain names have been seized. H2 Gambling, the data company that has been tracking the fallout since Friday, noted on Sunday that PokerStars' player traffic was down 26 percent, FullTilt’s fell 50 percent, and Absolute Poker's dropped 40 percent.

Meanwhile, other gambling sites that continue to service the U.S. market appear to be beneficiaries of the shutdown, confirming the claims of disappointed poker players who said their games would simply shift to new locations.

According to H2 Gambling data, Merge Poker, Bodog, and the Cake Poker Network are seeing increases in traffic of between 10 and 30 percent since their rivals closed shop.

Meanwhile, those in the U.S. who have actually quit their jobs to play poker online now have thousands of dollars tied up in accounts that they can no longer access.

WSOP 2010 - final table

2010-10-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Duhamel (65.9 million in chips): The chip leader offered one of the most dominating big-stack performances we've seen on a final table bubble. He bullied the rest of the table for nearly six hours to build the top stack going into the final table. The 22-year-old from Montreal was thrilled to make the final table and soak up all the experiences that come with it.
Jonathan Duhamel is the 2010 main event final table chip leader.
"I've been playing online for a living for the last one and a half years," he said. "In December I finished 10th in EPT Prague. That's my biggest live finish. I mostly play cash, so I don't have a lot of notable finishes. [This is] the biggest final table of the biggest tournament of the year and being there [is] nice, but at the same time, I'm about winning. I won't be happy just to be there."

John Dolan (46.2 million in chips): When we think of impressive poker performances under tons of pressure, Dolan's name will come to the mind of poker fans from here on out. The 24-year-old Bonita Springs, Fla., native will bring the second-largest stack into the final table, but starting Day 8, he had only 2 million in chips which put him 24th out of 27 players.
After chipping up throughout the day, most of his chips came between the third and sixth hours on the 10-player final table bubble. He changed gears at the perfect time and turned an average stack into one that will most definitely have an impact in November.
"I was fortunate to pick up some hands at the beginning at the final table," he said. "I was able to do some things and as we progressed a little bit and my stack was a little deeper. It's amazing [to be part of this experience]. Obviously you hope for this, but you never expect any of this. It's just awesome."

Joseph Cheong (23.5 million in chips): Is it possible that the most experienced player at the final table is just 24 years old? Cheong thinks so. "I'm a full-time player," said Cheong, who's been living the life for more than two years. "I think I have an advantage. I've played over 10,000 tournaments and I think that experience plays to my advantage. There are a lot of solid guys here, but I think I'm going to win this tournament."
Poker is Cheong's life. "I'm living hotel to hotel, living at tournaments," he said. "I rented an apartment at Panorama this summer. I'm exhausted, but I'm relieved that I'm finally at the final table of the main event. I'm playing to win the whole tournament. I haven't slowed down on any of the bubbles, though the equity of the November Nine made me think about it. I'm ready to win this tournament."

John Racener (19.0 million in chips): Don't look now, but Racener is about to become a star. Traveling the poker circuit for the past few years, Racener has had notable success including a WSOP Circuit title for more than half a million in earnings as well as 11 WSOP cashes (which includes his main event result). Mizrachi was thrilled to see Racener as part of the final table, and letting it all set in, Racener knows that this may be his moment to break away from the pack.

Matt Jarvis (17.6 million in chips): Jarvis, a 25-year-old Canadian, found himself in the WSOP main event after making the decision to refocus on his poker. "I was a student, took some time off to play poker and I'm continuing on with that right now," said Jarvis upon making the November Nine. "I'm basically a full-time player." The decision is looking pretty good right about now.
Jarvis, who's been making his living online, has only one five-figure cash in live play to his credit, but that hasn't hurt his confidence here. Asked about his chances in November, he confessed that he didn't like seeing the Grinder's stack building, but liked his chances. "I'm confident going forward," he said with a smile. "I think I've played pretty well and I'm feeling good. It's amazing. It's every poker player's dream to make the November Nine. I'm stoked! Everything's good right now."

Filippo Candio (16.4 million in chips): The last European standing, the pro from Sardinia, Italy, travels around his country as a well-respected pro who plays in a multitude of events. He won the Italian Poker Tour Campionato Italiano stop in 2009, which really put him on the map overseas, and now he'll be a face that every poker fan will recognize by the end of the year.
"I am very happy," Candio said. "I'm [ready] to be a November Niner with all my heart, with all of my techniques and with all of my skill. For me, I'm part of the history of poker, I'm the first Italian, the last European and the first Sardinian."
One of Candio's supporters is bracelet winner Max Pescatori, who had nothing but praise for the 26-year-old's game.

Michael Mizrachi (14.4 million in chips): In 2009 the poker community rallied around Phil Ivey, and in 2010, Mizrachi will be the man. The $50,000 Players' Championship victory started out his WSOP on an extremely high note, and despite spending two days among the bottom of the chip counts, Mizrachi simply did not want to head home. The Miami native is one of the most well-known players in the world, with more than $8.8 million in live tournament earnings and success in every venue, both live and online. He doesn't quite have the stack he was hoping for, but he made it and is ready for a run at the title this November.
"I'm kind of washed up right now, but at least I'll have four months to recover," joked Mizrachi after the final table was set. "I took down all the pros in the Players' Championship, they were players that I haven't played with before. I pretty much know how everyone plays here, but with the blinds so high, it's not the same game. I look forward to representing the pros in November."

Soi Nguyen (9.6 million in chips): In a field full of online pros, Soi Nguyen is the exception to the rule. The 37-year-old Santa Ana, Calif., native is playing in just his fourth live tournament with the support and backing of former November Niner Chino Rheem, Nam Le and dozens of others.
"This is the best time of my life," said Nguyen upon making the final table. "I didn't think I had any shot. I just came for the experience. Last night, Nam told me, 'Dude, this is every poker player's dream. This place, this tournament.' It's just been an awesome ride."
"Being the amateur doesn't bother me at all," said Nguyen, admitting he was happy to blanket himself in his naïveté. "Last night, I played against a name player I didn't know at all. It let me just play poker against him instead of fearing him. I think that works to my advantage."

Jason Senti (7.6 million in chips): Senti's been playing poker professionally for three years. While he's obviously excited about his spot in the November Nine, he's keeping a level eye on the effect it could have on his life. "This is certainly a boost to my poker career," said the Minneapolis native. "I've been a professional for a few years now and it'll give me increased exposure that might help me work out a deal with a poker site. Most of all, I won't have to worry about money. I won't go looking to buy new cars or the like, but it'll be easy to put more away, into retirement and invest in businesses, stuff like that."
While Senti recognizes the stature making the November Nine represents, he's keeping it in perspective. "Making the November Nine is the pinnacle in the public eye, but I don't think it's near the accomplishment of making the transition from an engineering job to making a very good living online, but this is public," said the 28-year-old professional. "It's a wonderful opportunity. It's the biggest thing I've done. If nothing else, it's validation to relatives who don't necessarily approve of what I do. Obviously I like what I do, so that should help."

The lead up to the final table will be all about the Grinder, but on Nov. 6 it will be all about Duhamel. For the next four months we'll analyze, discuss, predict and argue about which of these players will emerge victorious, and no matter who pulls through, fans of the game will be happy. At this point, all we know is that there are now nine new poker superstars with nine separate stories to complete. Each of them will share their lives with us throughout the hiatus and now that we've seen what they can offer at the felt, we're going to be all ears. This is only the beginning of their time in the spotlight and after pulling through a 17-hour Day 8, each of them deserves it. Congratulations to the 2010 November Nine.

High Stakes Poker – a look back at the best HSP hands

2010-02-19T23:36:00.000-08:00

With a new season of High Stakes poker set to air soon, featuring a revamped commentating crew (AJ Benza is replaced by Kara Scott) and many returning as well as new poker professionals, the time has never been better to take a look at some of the most memorable HSP hands ever played.

Sammy Farha’s pocket Ks cracking Barry Greenstein’s pocket rockets certainly earn a spot on this list. On the very last hand of the session, the two above named players picked up the monster starting hands. Knowing that he was in control of the situation, Barry Greenstein raised to $2,500 preflop and Farha re-raised him. A re-raising war ensued which eventually got both players all-in. By that time, the pot had grown to $361,800. Farha offered to run the board twice but Greenstein naturally refused. The K which landed on the flop gave Farha the lead though and the rest of the board failed to bail Greenstein out.

The set over set encounter between Amir Nasseri and Ted Forrest was undoubtedly highlight reel material too. Nasseri had a pair of 5s in his pocket, faced with Forrest’s pocket deuces and with Daniel Negreanu’s Jc, 10c. The three players saw a flop of 5,4,2 rainbow, and Negreanu made an attempt to steal the pot. Nasseri made it obvious for the Canadian that he had no business being in that hand though and Negreanu promptly acknowledged the situation by folding. The two sets got their respective owners all in, before the turn card landed. The turn and the river did nothing to further Forrest’s case and Nasseri picked up the $206,600 pot.

When it comes to large pots, few players can best Tom Dwan. Endowed with an incredible knack to make monster pots happen, Dwan once locked horns with Greenstein over a $548,700 pot on HSP. Peter Eastgate was the one who ignited the action, as Greenstein tagged along on a Q,8o and Dwan was more than happy to be involved with his pocket rockets.

The flop of J,10,3 found only Dwan and Greenstein in the hand though, both of them willing to go all the way. The 9s which fell on the turn, gave Greenstein a straight against Dwan’s overpair and the 5d on the river sealed the deal for good.

Stay tuned for more memorable HSP hands in the second part of the series.

Steve Larson, an online poker player from Canada, visit his rakeback site for more useful information.

Poker Strategy – WSOP satellites

2010-02-09T19:52:00.000-08:00

“Satelliting” your way into the WSOP’s Main Event or into one of its side events (more and more poker rooms offer super satellites for such side events lately) is probably the best kind of approach you – the average online poker player- can adopt. Buying into these events directly costs a lot, and even if you had the money for it, you’d still have to overcome some pretty unbelievable odds to have your investment turn any dividends. The problem is, the WSOP is too much of a long-shot for an average Joe.

Fortunately, online poker satellites offer an alternative way in, and thus they’ve opened a whole world of possibilities for average players. By the time the WSOP draws near, most online poker rooms will have pinned WSOP qualifiers onto their promotions schedule. There will be plenty of opportunities, but you’ll have to do your best to optimize your chances, because not all WSOP super satellites are created equal.

Some of them feature a freeze-out format. There’s only one seat offered by these WSOP events, which means that the winner takes all. Regardless of how few players seem to play in these freezeout format satellites, you’re still better of playing in an event which offers multiple seats to the top finishers. Sign up for rakeback too. There’s no telling how many tries it’ll take you to get your hands on that coveted seat, and make no mistakes, you’ll be paying tournament fees on each and every one of those satellites. Rake back will give you a rebate on those tourney fees and it may just save you enough money to let you play in one additional satellite that may turn out to be the missing piece.

Strategy-wise, early stage satellite play is about the same as early-stage MTT or SNG play. Your primary objective is to protect your stack. Try to avoid all-in situations as much as you can and play good old TAG ABC poker which will allow you to chip up every now and then, preferably in time to keep up with the escalating blinds. The Harrington system is a great starting point when it comes to satellite strategy. Read up on it a little and you’ll see that you’ll be able to apply its teachings at the tables.

Unlike in regular MTTs though, where even past the money bubble it is in your interest to advance as far as possible, in satellites, once you’ve made the bubble you’re home free. Therefore, your only objective is to make it past the bubble. This goal requires a different kind of approach. By adding up the number of registrants and by multiplying the result with the size of your starting stack, you’ll find the total number of chips in play. Divide that number with the number of WSOP seats available and you’ll find your “magic number”. All you need to do is to multiply that by 0.75 (to take the existence of large stacks into account) and you have a stack-size which would guarantee you a seat. Once your stack reaches that size, tighten up like there’s no tomorrow and protect your chips by all means. Avoid locking horns with other big stacks at all costs. Once you reach your magic number, all that’s left to do is to sail into the harbor. Don’t let some macho bullshit sabotage your achievements.

Steve Larson, an online poker player from Canada, visit his rakeback site for more useful information.

Biggest pot in online poker history

2009-11-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

Last night it finally happened: a seven figure pot in online poker. As expected, it came in a hand involving the high stakes phenom Isildur1, but the winner of the pot is this year's biggest winner on Full Tilt Poker, Patrik Antonius. And the size of the pot? A staggering 1,356,947 dollars!

At the start of the hand Patrik had approximately $1.25 million while Isildur1 was sitting behind a stack of $678k. There was $162k in the pot already when the rest of the money went in on the flop:

$1.356.947 in the pot

Patrik was about a 55% favorite on flop and his hand was good to the end.

The last 24 hours haven't treated Isildur1 kindly, as in a period from Saturday morning to Sunday morning CET he has lost $3.36 million dollars to his two great rivals, Patrik Antonius (+$2.1 million) and Phil Ivey (+$1.2 million).

Source: Highstakesdb.

Tom Dwan joins Full Tilt team

2009-11-10T00:58:00.001-08:00

Dwan began playing online poker with a $50 bankroll focusing initially on $6 sit-and-go's. After finding he could beat these games he turned to cash games where he grinded through the low stakes, building up his bankroll before reaching his current level of play which is often $500/$1000 stakes in which he plays against other notable professional players such as Phil Ivey, David Oppenheim, David Benyamine, Gus Hansen, John Juanda and Patrik Antonius. Dwan has said that since playing online he has never gone broke.

During this WSOP weekend the announcement of Tom “durrrr” Dwan and his recent addition to Team Full Tilt was not observed by everybody. Tom is renowned in the poker world as being one of the best high-stakes cash game players around and for his fearlessness at the tables, willing to take on anyone for any amount.

Dwan has yet to be re-added to the list of hosts for the ongoing series, but there are still three unoccupied spots up for grabs, including the Main Event, which takes place Sunday, November 15.
The last player to be added to the team was Patrik Antonius, in June of 2008. Dwan is currently in the middle of an epic 50,000-hand heads-up battle with Antonius titled the “Durrrr Challenge,” and is up approximately $780,000 through the halfway point of play.
“Team Full Tilt doesn’t take adding a team member lightly,” said Team Full Tilt pro, Howard Lederer. “But, Tom Dwan has proven, through skill and dynamic play, that he will be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come. We are proud to count Tom as one of our own.”

Phil Hellmuth antics

2009-07-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows that Phil Hellmuth is quite a character . Not once he went on and on about his knowledge of the game and how good is he and his quote about : "if luck wouldn't be involved I would won every poker tournament" ....
He went crazy last year at the WSOP Main event against the Romanian player Cristian Dragomir after a bluff. You can find some of his funny stuff here.

This year at the WSOP Main Event 2009 Phil had one of his unforgetble entries. Check out this video :

Four men carried Hellmuth, who was dressed as the former Roman emperor, including a gold crown, grey furs and a black cape, to the red carpet where 11 models wearing body paint to look like Roman warriors and another row of women in white toga-like dresses were waiting for him.

They were his escort as he made his way up the red carpet before he entered the Rio and made his way to the tournament area for Day 1c of the $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold’em (Event 57) in the Amazon Room.

As he followed the path, there were another almost 80 models tossing rose pedals in the air as he made his grand entrance, which included drums and horns, and a crowd with cameras in front, behind and alongside him the entire way.

Once he reached the tournament area with 12 minutes left in Level 1, his entourage followed him onto the stage around one of the two feature stages where ESPN was filming the table Hellmuth would be playing at for the day.

“We’re just having as much fun as we can have,” Hellmuth said during the 20-minute break at the end of the level. “I thought it was great. Having the girls with the body paint was just fun. I mean, come on, how often do you see girls with just body paint on?”

Hellmuth said he will be Caesar at the WSOP Europe, which will take place Sept. 17 to Oct. 1 in London.

“We’re going to do Caesar theme at the World Series of Poker Europe as well, so Caesar is like a yearlong theme,” the 1989 Main Event champion said. “Because when you do Caesar, you want to do him big and you want to do him right.”

The entrance added to the legend of Hellmuth, which some love and others can’t stand.

While hundreds of fans were lining the red carpet as he walked in and were taking photos and asking for autographs, others were scowling at the fashionably late entry.

Just as Hellmuth entered the Rio, one man told him, “Phil, you’re shameless, totally shameless.” It caught Hellmuth’s ear and he went over and shook the man’s hand.

Further into the hotel, however, Brett Jungblut walked by the exhibition after he left the tournament area and loudly said, “Biggest clown in town.”

The reaction and the large media coverage of it, Hellumth said, is good for the game.

WSOP Omaha Eight-or-Better event (#18)

2009-06-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

The WSOP is on the way , and the race for bracelets is at his peak, A few professionals came very close to win some, one of them actually won.

The $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker World Championship Omaha Eight-or-Better event (#18), wrapped up yesterday with Daniel Alaei taking the title and his second WSOP bracelet.

Alaei beat out a surprisingly star studded final 17 for an open event that included Scott Clements, Alex Kravchenko, John Monnette, Toto Leonidas and two PokerRoaders Annie Duke and Daniel Negreanu.

Both Duke and Negreanu were dangerously short numerous times throughout the difficult final day of play, but remarkably were both still able to squeak their way onto the final table before finally being dispatched with.

For the first place finish Alaei pocketed $445,898.

The final table finish positions for Event #18, the $10,000 buy-in World Championship Omaha Hi/Lo were as follows:

1st. Daniel Alaei- $445,898

2nd. Scott Clements- $275,946

3rd. Ben Boyd- $182,730

4th. Daniel Negreanu- $130,401

5th. John Monnette- $97,422

6th. Greg Jamison- $77,736

7th. Thomas Koral- $65,453

8th. Annie Duke- $58,049

9th. Yueqi (Rich) Zhu- $54,179

For further details on Event #18 visit www.worldseriesofpoker.com

US players accepted at Carbon Poker

2009-06-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

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WSOP 2009

2009-05-19T18:04:00.000-07:00

Finally ... the poker saga is approaching . In a few days WSOP 2009 will start in Las Vegas.

The 2009 WSOP schedule will have a tough act to follow with last year's Series setting substantial new records. Despite a wretched global economy, an online poker market that has yet to fully recover from the US government's obsession with blocking its citizens from playing $5 Sit and Gos in their pajamas, and an overall drop in poker's sponsored overhyping, 2008 saw records in both overall entrants and total prize money.

Nearly 58,000 players battled for their share of over $180,000,000 in total prizes over the course of 55 events. It's truly refreshing to see so many poker players still flock to the WSOP and stimulate the poker economy, proving that there are still millions dedicated to the game. Peter Eastgate, a Denmark native, ended up winning the Main Event and over $9 million.

The 2009 WSOP schedule looks almost identical to last year's version: numerous $10,000 championship events, lots of mixed events, and a slight increase with 57 total events. I was happy to see Harrah's stick with the championship events, which creates the feel of several mini Main Events throughout the WSOP. While most still agree that No Limit Hold'em is the ultimate tournament game of choice, it's also refreshing to see so many mixed events worked into the schedule. Besides several Pot-Limit and Limit events, HORSE, Stud, and Omaha also make healthy appearances. Even Lowball will have 3 events and Razz will have 1.

With so much money being invested in everything from sports events to movies to video games to poker tournaments, sequels with minor tinkering are far easier to pull off and have become the norm rather than truly creating something creative and new. Despite high fees, questionable playing conditions, and inordinate marketing that ultimately lessens the player experience, Harrah's has done a solid job since they took over the tournament. Perhaps sticking with what has worked in the past isn't such a bad thing.

Good luck everyone !

Annie Duke fired !

2009-05-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

What a grand finale for the Celebrity Apprentice!

Annie Duke's first words after the last boardroom :

"I know people are wondering how I could go from saying I respected Joan in the last boardroom to the private interview where I said she was not a nice person and she had made the fight personal for me. I am aware it seemed like a weird juxtaposition from the boardroom to the final private interview last episode but here is what happened in between. I tried to extend some sort of “good game” to Joan. Just tell her I respected her for getting to the final two. And the video below is what a got in return. I particularly love where she says “I won’t allow America to hear it.” Makes that last interview of mine make more sense, I think."

Throughout the second season of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice the rivalry between poker pro Annie Duke and comedian Joan Rivers was heated to say the least. So it was only fitting that those two contestants go head-to-head in the final episode to determine who Donald Trump would name his “celebrity apprentice”.

The three-hour season finale had the two contestants each working on creating an event and auction for people attending a Cirque de Soleil show. Duke and Rivers were each given a team of recently fired contestants to help them with the task. During the task the design firm that both Duke and Rivers were too use quit after finding Rivers too difficult to work with.

Despite raising nearly three times as much money for charity during the final task Duke was fired after Trump chose the 75 year old Rivers as his second celebrity apprentice. During the season Rivers had compared Duke to Adolf Hitler and made numerous disparaging comments about poker players in general.

As the winner Rivers was awarded $250,000 for the charity she was playing for.

Face the Ace

2009-04-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

A new poker show is ready to debut on TV !
The company that produces NBC’s Poker After Dark will mix everyone’s favorite game with reality television when Face The Ace premieres this summer.

Poker Productions, the company responsible for the late night hit for NBC, is betting that poker fans nationwide will tune in to Face The Ace when the poker reality show debuts in August. Hosted by Steve Schirripa (”The Sopranos”), the show will center on contestants drawn from online qualifying tournaments who play heads-up no limit hold’em against poker pros.

Each contestant will start off by choosing one of four doors, behind each of which lies a pro player. If the contestant wins his match against the first pro, he’ll have to make a choice: take the money and run, or let it ride and play against another pro? Beating three pros in a row will be worth $1 million, but a loss means a trip home empty-handed.

NBC Universal TV executive VP Jerry Petry told Variety that the network had picked up an initial run of seven episodes, with the option of ordering more if the show succeeds in its Saturday afternoon time slot.

This isn’t the first time that poker and reality television have been mixed together. Fox Sports Net teamed with UltimateBet to start the trend with Best Damn Poker Show, where a field of contestants competed against one another on teams headed up by poker pros Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth.

What people don’t seem to understand is that there is much more than talent and knowledge that is required to be a great poker player. You have to be able to handle adversity without going off the deep end. You have to have the character to handle the pitfalls fo life. Also there is the ability to implement the things you do know. That is probably the biggest difference between good poker players and great poker players. Anyway, a freezeout between good poker players is usually a coin flip.

In addition to a different format - the players will play against pros, not other amateurs - Face The Ace will also have the benefit of being one of the big four television networks with its national audience. Poker fans will get their first taste of the show on Saturday, August 1, at 9 p.m. ET.

Bluff or fold ?

2009-03-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

Are you dealt pocket Aces on every single hand? (If you are, I will pay for your airplane ticket and entry fee for the next World Poker Tour event). But for the rest of us, we have to do the best with our good cards and learn to win hands when we have nothing.I have played against people who say that bluffing is lying, and it is immoral. I don't even try to argue with these people, because bluffing is really the most fundamental strategy in Texas Hold 'Em. If there was no bluffing, the game would be luck, and you'd be better off playing "Rummy".

Bluffing is simple, right? All you have to do is convince the other players that you have the best hand, and get them to fold their hands. Well, now that you know that, you are ready to win thousands of dollars an hour playing Texas Hold 'Em... If ONLY it were that easy. In fact, bluffing is not even a skill It's an ART as in the Bluffmagazine.

There are players that are very successful that never really master the art of bluffing, but you will never reach the "next level"unless you master the art of the bluff. Bluffing is the most powerful play in Texas Hold 'Em. It will give you complete control over the game, and allow you to win even when you catch bad cards. No matter who you are, or how talented and successful you are, you can strengthen your ability to bluff.

In Texas Hold 'Em, there are 4 rules of bluffing. If you follow these rules, you will see an immediate increase in your success in playing Texas Hold 'Em poker.

Rule No. 1

Calls and small raises are for wimps

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have played hands where some amateur called me down the line and when he turned over scraps told me he was "bluffing."Of course, I didn't tell him that he was wasting his money right away, instead I let him lose the rest of his chips to me, and then I told him the truth. If you are someone who always seems to get caught on your bluffs, chances are that you simply don't bet or raise enough to make any difference. Think about it, if you have a lot of chips committed to a pot, are you going to fold to a tiny raise? Of course not, so if you don't raise enough, you are going to get called, and your are going to lose your bankroll.

Rule #2

Never Bluff The Short Stack

When you are playing against a player who is on the short stack of the table, it is probably a good idea to avoid bluffing them. A player on the short stack is usually going to be a little more desperate, and much more likely to call you down the line, or re-raise you.There are some cases where this might not be true. If a player is short-stacked because people were able to buy pots from him, and you miss a draw or find yourself in a bad situation, you might want to bluff yourself out. However, as a general rule, you don't want to bluff the short-stacked player at your table.

Rule #3

Be Wary Of Bluffing Bad Players

Many times, you are going to find that bad players will call you all the way down even through you bluffed well, and they have only marginal hands. I have seen skilled, experienced players go broke trying to bluff some run-of-the-mill player with a pair of two's. The general rule of thumb is this... a bad player is usually more likely to call a bluff than a good player, so you should only bluff poor players when you have to.

Rule #4

Know The Bluffs

Bluffing takes many forms, and understanding and taking advantage of these forms will allow you to increase your ability to play Texas Hold 'Em significantly.

These forms of bluffing include:-

Stone Cold Bluff - when a player places a huge bet on nothing. This requires icy blood, but if you are able to pull it off, it can tear apart a player and put them on tilt. If you get caught on a stone-cold bluff, you are in big trouble. It means that another player at the table has a very good hand. To avoid getting called on a stone-cold bluff, make sure that you are in the correct position (the last person to act) and that there hasn't been any serious action before you (big bets or raises). Ideally, everyone before you would check, which would tell you that there are no strong hands in play. -

Semi-Bluff - when a player has a marginal hand or is on a draw. If someone has K-Q-J-10 of spades, and goes "all-in" they are on a semi-bluff. While the hand has the potential to be great, when they place the bet, it is nothing. If you think that someone is semi-bluffing, a re-raise will often force someone on a draw to fold their hand. If they call, watch out for cards that could complete a flush or a straight.

Representing The Flop - I played people who "knew" they had a better hand, but still folded away their money away because I "represented the flop." This is a very important skill to master, because this will work against players of all skill levels. The key to this is to bet enough to scare out most of the players before the flop, but little enough to let people think that you need to catch a card. Then when the flop comes, bet like they were the best cards that could have be dealt. If the flop is 2-2-7, your goal is to convince the other player that you were holding a pair of 7's... or better yet, 2's.

Rule #5

Mix Up Your Style

Bluffing is not something that can be set in stone. There are infinite combinations of personalities, cards, situations, and playing styles. So, never get caught up in any single bluffing style. There are a lot of ways that you can use bluffing to your advantage, for example, if you start mixing up your bluffing from time to time you can play "mind games" with your opponents. This can be a powerful advantage, because when your opponents cannot get a good read on you, you gain control of the game, and you gain an advantage over everyone at the table.If you follow the same bluffing style all night, your opponents will catch on, and sooner or later, you are going to get caught with your hand in the cookie jar.
And to show that you are a versatile player you can always show you cards after the hand is over or you can show just one card - option available only at Carbon Poker

FOLDING - THE HEART OF POKER

I suppose, I should admit that I am mistaken, bluffing is NOT the most important skill in Texas Hold 'Em - FOLDING is the most important skill in Texas Hold 'Em. If you don't know when to lay your cards down, you are destined for a career of bad beats, lost hands, and frustration about your lost money.The key to learning to fold is to leave your emotions at the door.

The reason that most people get burned is they start thinking, "Well, I already have so much money in this pot, I should just call, even though I know I am beat." NEVER, ever take this mentality. The second you feel that you are going to lose a hand, fold. You don't prove anything by throwing away your money. The only thing you prove is that you don't know anything about poker, and apparently, you don't like your money.

There is, however one exception to this rule. At the beginning of a game, it is always a good idea to learn how each player thinks and plays. If you are having trouble figuring out a player's tells and playing style, it is worth it to lose a couple of chips to find them. If you are reading this and thinking... "Wow, I really need to take my poker skills to the next level, and start making money with my hobby"... then you are absolutely right.

Author: Rory Monahan (Texas-Holdem-Secrets.com)

High Stakes Poker Season 5

2009-03-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Arguably the best televised poker show of the moment has recently released its line-up. The fifth season of High Stakes Poker was filmed between 19 to 21st of December in the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino and has some very interesting names making their appearance. Both the winner and the runner-up of this year's WSOP Main Event, Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov are amongst those who will be there.

We'll also be able to see young pros Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies and Dario Minieri making their first appearance to High Stakes Poker. Other newcomers include Hollywood director Nick Cassavetes (director of movies like John Q, Alpha Dog and The Notebook), the creator of The Simpsons: Sam Simon, and Giorgio Medici, a successful businessman and president of the Medici Consulting and Investment LLC.

Of course we'll see familiar faces as well. Players like Doyle Brunson, Patrik Antonius, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, David Benyamine and Phil Ivey will be playing as well, amongst others.

Here is a little teaser of what we gonna see --------->

The full list of players scheduled include (in alphabetical order): Patrik Antonius, Mike Baxter, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Nick Cassavetes, Ivan Demidov, Tom Dwan, Peter Eastgate, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Phil Laak, Howard Lederer, Giorgio Medici, Dario Minieri, Daniel Negreanu, Ilari Sahamies, Bob Safai and Sam Simon.

The minimum buy-in for this season will be $200,000.
We ll be back with details about what happened .

Tight poker

2008-11-20T00:53:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we feel like playing extremely prudent , trying to play only when we have the best hand definitely.

When it comes to poker, the truth is, most people play way too many hands. In fact, some poker experts suggest that you should play less than 15% of the hands you’re dealt…because you probably won’t have more than one big win per hour. For many online poker players, it would require too much patience to wait for that big hand—and be very tough to throw away anything except the “best hands.” But if you’ve got the patience and are willing to play tight, here are a few tips for playing the pre-flop, and deciding when to set money in or get out fast.

When in early position, only play hands AA, KK, AKs, AK, AQs, AQ, AJs, QQ, JJ, TT, 99 and 88. That’s it—nothing more. And if you’re raised, you may even want to throw some of the latter away. Only re-raise with the first few.

When in middle position, you can play all the above hands, plus AJ, ATs, KQs, 77, 66, 55. And that’s it! Again, if raised, you may want to throw some of these away. Re-raise only with the top cards.

In late position, or if in the small blind, play all of the above hands plus AT, KQ, KJs, QJs, 44, 33, 22. If raised, don’t be hesitant to throw any of these away. Only re-raise with the best cards above.

Of course, it never hurts to check anything in the big blind position and see what flops. But if someone has raised, use the above strategies to determine if it’s worth staying in.

Is this tight play? You bet! When playing with this strategy, the first thing you’ll discover is how hard it is to throw away cards such as KT or even A9…but the odds show that for every one time you threw away a hand that would have won, you also threw away a hand that would have lost much more.

Playing tight like this isn’t always the most dramatic or fast-paced, but more often than not, it is more profitable over the long run. So get out there and play tight! And as you learn more about the game and your opponents, you can loosen up and increase your profits even more.
Good luck and many won pots!

Contact

2008-10-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

For any kind of inquiries please use the form below !
Thank you !

UB invades the WSOP Main Event

2008-07-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

For most of the players in the World Series physically getting there isn't much of a big deal. Even if you're from out of town it's not like finding a taxi in Vegas is hard. You get to the Rio, find out if you're playing in the Amazon Room or elsewhere in the casino, and then find your table. Piece of cake.

But some people don't like to take the easy way out. They don't just want to show up. The want to make an entrance. A grand entrance. A big splash. They don't want people breaking off conversations in mid-thread to follow them across the room, murmured comments barely audible above the hush. No, they want noise. Lots of noise. A ruckus, a hullabaloo.

As if you haven't already guessed, I'm writing about Phil Hellmuth's entrance today to the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. As you may have heard Phil "invaded" the Rio with members of the UB Army. All Phil has to do now is negotiate his way through 6,844 players and capture his second World Championship and his 12th bracelet. I think he'll find more resistance from the opposition than he did during today's assault.

Absolute Poker statement

2007-10-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

In order to clarify the incident from the Absolute Poker Room , every player received a statement from Joe Norton, the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake .
The statement acknowledges the security breach within Absolute's system that allowed information about opponents' hole cards to be transmitted to several suspect accounts, and confirmed that the hand log released accidentally to Marco 'CrazyMarco' Johnson, the runner-up in the suspect tournament, did in fact highlight the security flaw that allowed the site to be compromised.

October 21, 2007

Dear AP Player:

I am the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and the owner of Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, which holds a 100% interest in Absolute Poker.

As many of our players are aware, there has been a security breach in our system that allowed unlawful access to player information that resulted in unfair play. I am writing to you today to let you know what we know so far in order to set the record straight, and to assure you of AP's commitment to player security. I am sure that this letter will not address all of the questions and concerns you may have, nor will it extinguish the heated discussion surrounding this issue. At this point, our intention is to let you know all we can disclose and to assure you of our continued efforts to keep you informed as best we can as the investigations continue.

We deeply regret this situation has occurred. A breach in security in online poker is serious and of great concern to players and the industry worldwide, and this particular situation has been the subject of debate within the poker player community and in the media, giving rise to the creation of several websites and hundreds and hundreds of comments, opinions, and theories of what occurred – some of which are accurate, and some that are not.

Like you, I have not been happy that during the initial stage of our investigation, AP has not been more forthcoming in providing a timely or comprehensive explanation on this matter, giving rise to anger, suspicion, and concern on the part of our valued customers. I hope that our customers can appreciate that this remains an incredibly complex and sensitive issue, and I want to give you my strongest possible assurance that we will be as forthcoming as possible on how this breach occurred and what we are doing to remedy the situation.

What We Know and Actions We Have

AP was notified by a customer that a possible cheating incident occurred during a recent tournament, and in response forwarded players' hand logs. This disclosure of the hand logs prompted our customers to determine that a more serious security breach had occurred. We immediately launched an internal investigation and also requested a formal audit by Gaming Associates, an acknowledged world-wide expert in audits, interactive gaming tests, and information security.

Based upon our preliminary findings, it appears that the integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems. As has been speculated in several online forums, this consultant devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems to access third-party computers and accounts to view hole cards of other customers during play without their knowledge. As this consultant was aware of the details of our fraud detection process, the likelihood that the scheme would be uncovered through our normal procedures was minimized. We consider this security breach to be a horrendous and inexcusable offense.

We will pay for all losses suffered by the affected players as soon as our audit is finished and the amounts are determined. Although we are in the process of attempting to recover all the winnings of this consultant, any unrecovered losses of affected players will be paid by Absolute Poker so that all affected persons will be made whole.

Next Steps

We are still investigating whether the consultant was acting alone or in concert with others, and it appears at this time that all account holders are innocent of collusion and were unaware of any wrong-doing by the consultant, who was immediately terminated. We continue to investigate this matter aggressively, and all of these preliminary findings are subject to the audits currently underway. We have recently uncovered additional accounts used by the consultant that have not been publicly reported. So as to not compromise the investigation, we are not releasing the names of these additional accounts at this time, and will contact these affected customers individually.

The specific allegations of unlawful activity are being investigated both by AP and by the authorized authorities, including the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. We will continue to actively cooperate with these authorities in full compliance with the Regulations Concerning Interactive Gaming. In addition to our own investigation and the audit by Gaming Associates, we have also submitted to an audit by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

Please be assured that we have corrected the problem that allowed the system to be unfairly manipulated. We are working furiously to increase the safeguards within our systems. While we are satisfied that our systems are secured, we realize that our security systems must be continuously monitored and enhanced.

Without question, this incident has been unfortunate for all concerned, and we will emerge as a stronger company. I realize it will take some time and much more information for AP to re-earn the trust and confidence of our customers who are in doubt of our commitment to the highest levels of security, privacy and integrity. As we move to address and correct this situation, our valued customers have played a vital role in uncovering this scheme through various online forums and have become an active part of the solution.

With my full sincerity, I thank you, and I promise to keep you updated as we bring this situation to a close.

Sincerely,
Joe Norton

Absolute also announced plans to begin working on calculating refunds based on cash-game play involving the supposed cheating accounts, the entire list of which has not been released at this time. Those payments are expected to be calculated within the upcoming Gaming Associates audit.

Pokerstars weekend winners

2007-10-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

Congratulations for the following players who Final Tabled the following MTTs this weekend on the best online poker room PokerStars :

PokerStars Sunday Million
$1 Million Guaranteed
Buy-In: $215
6,366 entrants
$1,273,000 paid out to 900 places

Pairofnothin - $183,086
ClubbedBoat - $95,362
McNAbb2 - $68,625
twin peaks07 - $53,474
LukeFromB13 - $40,869
Ralfinator - $29,283
Crawfdad - $21,007
canalman - $12,732
Binde - $7,893

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up
$400k Guaranteed
Buy-In: $215
2,273 entrants
$454,600 paid out to 360 places

Kennethmedh - $88,828
n1stunnor - $45,005
the wa®den - $29,958
daobvious - $24,093
walrus_poker - $19,093
Slaktaren007 - $14,501
Poker Tuck - $10,410
blai528 - $6,546
power2prut - $3,818

PokerStars Second Chance
$200k Guaranteed
Buy-In: $215
1,097 entrants
$219,400 paid out to 153 places

Gyuliend - $47,171
HouseeLover - $25,955
Horizon 1 - $17,552
clarkatroid - $14,041
Batera - $11,299
janwillem111 - $8,556
jesse42782 - $6,362
dogsballs - $4,388
Stoweski - $2,523

PokerStars 150k Guaranteed NLH
Buy-In: $215 with Rebuys
286 entrants
$231,600 paid out to 27 places

agriffrod - $63,690
crice25 - $40,530
GRinDer444 - $26,865
The Anvil - $18,528
THE__D__RY - $13,896
LITTTLEMAN - $10,422
scarface_79 - $8,106
BackDoorovic - $6,021
dblgutshot - $3,937

How random is Online Poker ?

2007-10-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

You ever wonder how the deck is shuffled in an online poker game? Who can you hold responsible for that terrible suckout on the river? Randomly shuffled cards can be seen as the core business of online poker rooms and you will be surprised how much effort is required to achieve truly random cards. Read on about online poker rooms, quantum mechanics, radioactive decay and more.

First let's determine the requirements for the source of a true random generator: Firstly it should be high-entropic source. Entropy is the 'measure of the disorder and randomness in a closed system'. You're still reading? Good, the second requirement is that the source should be nondeterministic. This means the there is no way in which the source can be controlled, calculated or predicted (note: our first requirement guarantees those last two properties).

Now we know this we can throw computers out of the window as far as randomness is concerned. Math is the only language your computer speaks and randomness and math are mutually exclusive. Basically any random function which is created by humans or by machines built by humans can not be nondeterministic. To create true randomness we must turn to something bigger (or actually much, much smaller) then ourselves.

The way to go is physics and the field of quantum mechanics in particular (the relationship between radiation and matter). In quantum mechanics certain physical phenomena, such as the nuclear decay of certain atoms, are fundamentally random and cannot, in principle, be predicted. This right here is our answer. These phenomenon's are used by hardware random number generators to generate a truly (from our perspective, at this time) random number.

The hardware number generators are used by poker sites to shuffle the deck and are thoroughly tested by independent third parties. The implementation of the generator differs per site but you can be sure the deck is shuffled more randomly then a dealer in a live game ever will.

I hope this article provided some insight in how the deck is shuffled in an online poker game. It's pretty sick the state of an atom (about 1 million times as small as the thickness of a hair) is responsible for the cards you get. So next time you suffer a bad beat, think of this article, count to ten, and blame the atoms!

NOTE: I only know for a fact PokerStars , Carbon Poker , and PokerNordica use certified random number generators. If you're not sure about the software you use, drop them an email.