Poker From The Rail» Andy Bloch

2009 PPA National Poker Week

AlCantHang — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:02:27 +0000

When I first began writing this post I had a disclaimer at the top stating that my non-US readers could probably go right by and ignore it. Then I realized that writing about the process of keeping access to online poker in the United States is important to players across the entire world.

While covering the 2009 World Series of Poker, there was an important press conference held by the Poker Players Alliance in the Rio prior to the Seniors Event. John Pappas, Executive Director of the PPA, was joined by former Senator Alfonse D’Amato and U.S. Representative Shelley Berkely who spoke about the current developments in the U.S. Congress in the battle of online poker.

The PPA also announced the creation of National Poker Week in Washington, DC. It was scheduled to begin after the 2009 World Series of Poker November Nine formed, a time when the poker world is focused. The activities began yesterday with updates from PPA and today began the big push. People from across the country spent the afternoon meeting with their congressional representatives to lobby for the game they love and the freedom to play it online. They were joined by many big poker names including Andy Bloch, Greg Raymer, and Annie Duke.

They also launched an online petition which will be presented to U.S. President Obama on Wednesday, July22nd. Full Tilt encourage all players to sign the petition and contact their Senator/House Representative to voice your feelings. Full Tilt is also helping to encourage this participation by offering a $10,000 freeroll to any player who uses the PPA website to send their thoughts. Freeroll information can be found here on the PPA website.

Please click the links below, sign the petition, email Members of Congress, fight for your game. Also below is a video from Congressman Barney Frank concerning National Poker Week.

Poker Players Alliance
Poker is Not a Crime – Poker Petition
National Poker Week

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 PPA National Poker Week

2009 World Series of Poker – Interview with Andy Bloch

AlCantHang — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:56:49 +0000

Andy Bloch playing in the 2009 World Series of Poker $40,000 Event #2
Photo credit: Gene Bromberg

Andy Bloch is one of the top players on Full Tilt and a player everyone wants to engage in conversation. He is playing in the 2009 World Series of Poker trying to win his first bracelet, sporting his own congregation of railbirds and fans. He can be found supporting many charities with his time, money and participation.

Andy took time out to speak with Tuscaloosa Johnny prior to kicking off his WSOP campaign and answer some questions about his experiences, goals, and the success of Full Tilt Poker.

Andy Bloch Q & A
by Tuscaloosa Johnny Kampis

One of the founding members of Full Tilt Poker, Andy Bloch is a Harvard law school graduate and former player on the M.I.T. blackjack team. And in case you haven’t heard he’s also a heck of a poker player with more than $4 million in tournament winnings, with several World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour final table appearances.

I first met Andy in 2004 during my first trip to the WSOP. At the time the oldest poker tournament was still held at Binion’s Horseshoe and Full Tilt Poker was in beta testing. My how things have changed. I caught up with Andy on Sunday as he played the $750,000 Guaranteed and the Put a Bad Beat on Cancer charity event on Full Tilt Poker, and was preparing for the nearly two months long 2009 WSOP.

The World Series of Poker is starting this week. Are you looking forward to it?

“Of course, that’s what you look forward to throughout the whole year. Every year you have five or six weeks of work and the rest of the year you look forward to getting back to the World Series.”

So the World Series is like Christmas for poker players?

“Except it’s like five weeks so it’s 40 days of Christmas, and you get to come back in November – or at least you’re hoping to.”

When you get toward the end, is the grind tough mentally?

“Whether you’ve had good results or bad results by the end of it you’re thinking, God, I really need a vacation. Why do I do this to myself? But you look forward to it all year. It’s great to have so many tournaments to play. The World Series is almost like a regular job. It’s actually worse than a regular job because you’re going in every day, sometimes at noon, sometimes at 5 p.m. and you can play until 2 a.m. or later. You’ve got to get up and come back in the next day and it’s seven days a week for five weeks straight.”

Most people would put you on the short list of the best players who have never won a bracelet and obviously you have come very close before. Is it frustrating for you to not have a bracelet or does it matter?

“I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating. I wish I had a bracelet. I got a little bit unlucky in a couple of hands in which I could have won the bracelet. I don’t feel like I’ve blown off and not given myself the opportunity to win bracelets. I wouldn’t mind having that monkey off my back and when people ask how many bracelets you have I don’t have to tell them zero, or make up some story about 0.93 bracelets or whatever.”

“Depending on how you calculate it mathematically I am over a whole bracelet in expectation. After I lost to Chip Reese when people asked me how many bracelets I have I would jokingly say 0.93 because I had Chip all-in four times and that was the chance he would win all four of those. And then I had another chance for a bracelet last year at the World Series at the first event. The only time I actually had everyone all-in was a big three-way pot where all three of us had pairs and I had the little pair. So I had about an 18 percent chance of winning that hand, and if I had won the hand I would have won the tournament right there. The chance that I don’t have any bracelets…you could argue that I could easily have two bracelets by now. The thing is you can’t judge your poker career by the results of a few hands after you’re already all-in. There are people that have won bracelets that got lucky in winning and they know that. Of course, people that have five bracelets or seven bracelets or 11 bracelets there has definitely been a lot of skill and they deserved those bracelets. I’d rather people say that I deserve to have one bracelet now than have someone say I got lucky to win one bracelet.”

When I first met you in 2004, Full Tilt Poker was just starting. Five years later is has grown into a behemoth. Did you ever think it would get as big as it has?

“That’s certainly what we were hoping. We were looking at the biggest sites back then and said if we were 10 percent as big as they were then that Full Tilt would be a success. We ended up passing what every site was back then as when we started and now we’re the second biggest site, much bigger than Party Poker was and Party Poker is now, and there’s one more site on our radar that we’re trying to catch.”

“Besides the success that Full Tilt Poker has, it’s also been pretty flattering that a lot of the other sites have copied some of the things that Full Tilt has done – the use of the players and the marketing. The television ads – you just look at the quality of the ads that were out there before Full Tilt started and then the quality of the ads now. They’re just enormously better.”

Do you have any goals in poker?

“Not really anymore. I’d love to win a few bracelets. My short-term goal is I’d like to win the second event of the World Series, the $40K, but, you know, that’s not really a goal. It’s going to be something that I’m going to try to do.”

Do you have any business stuff going on that you’re involved in or other things outside of poker?

“I haven’t done any more books or DVDs. I had that chapter in the Full Tilt Poker tournament strategy guide. That book is still out there and the DVD is still available. Right now I’ve spending a lot of time playing charity poker events. There seems to be more charity events than ever before. It seems that every charity event that ever started they keep doing it every year and then new charities come along and hold their own. So far this year as far as live charity events I’ve already done six or seven. It seems like there is one every couple of weeks.”

What are your thoughts on “Celebrity Apprentice” and the outcome of that? (Andy appeared on the show during a charity event to support Annie Duke.)

“I thought obviously that Annie Duke should have won. They made a lot of things unfair so that they could justify Joan Rivers winning. It seems like after that fact that they wanted her to win from the beginning. There were so many opportunities in which she should have been fired, but Donald Trump gave some excuse to fire somebody else. Annie obviously did the best job of anyone. She worked hard and contributed to her team.”

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Interview with Andy Bloch

Mike Matusow and Andy Bloch video interviews

AlCantHang — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:00:03 +0000

The last chance for a Full Tilt red letter pro to final table the WPT World Championship rested on the shoulders of Jennifer Harman. Unfortunately she busted before they halted play for the day in 11th place. Ross Boatman also ran deep for the Hendon Mod, Jeff Madsen made the final two tables but David Grey busted early in they day.

Poker legend Scotty Nguyen goes into the day with a chip lead. He is looking for his 7th WPT television table and second WPT victory.

While no big name Full Tilt pros will be sitting at the final table, that doesn’t mean we don’t have a few video interviews / snippets left for your enjoyment. After the jump you can see Mike Matusow all fired up and Andy Bloch going through nailing a straight flush.

After the jump.

Videos courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Mike Matusow and Andy Bloch video interviews

Kevin Smith takes on Andy Bloch

AlCantHang — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:06:08 +0000

Kevin Smith playing in the 2007 World Series of Poker
Photo credit: Getty Images

Sometimes acting as your correspondent for Poker FROM the Rail can get a little tedious waiting for long running bubbles to burst or dealing with the horrible chat-side of railbirds. Other times it’s a blast, this weekend had one of the good times.

I recently joined the 21st century and joined the anti-christ of social media, Twitter. While I was getting my feel for this micro-blogging tool I came across one of my favorite celebrities. Writer/director/actor/all-around-funnyman Kevin Smith has half of the world following along with his various updates throughout the day. Whether talking about his current project or his private life, always entertaining.

This weekend popped up a completely different surprise. He twittered (tweeted? twetter?) that he had some time on his hands and was hopping on Full Tilt Poker to play some turbo Sit n Go’s for a few hours, even throwing his FTP username in the update. I knew that Smith was prone to sling some chips during his down time but did not realize he spent time playing online.

I punched the clock and got to work hitting the rail. The very first SnG I see him playing gets even more interesting when I see Full Tilt pro Andy Bloch sitting to his left. (Later confirmed that Andy Bloch is following Kevin Smith on twitter, just not sure whether it was before or after this session). Smith pushed his way out early in the first SnG but won his next one.

SilentBob had himself a nice little weekend finishing up around $250 playing everything from $24 to $119 6-max turbo SnGs.

This twitter phenomenom has some interesting effects and consequences. Look for a post later in the week where we take a look at how this new “media” can be a plus and minus for poker players.

Photo credit: ViewAskew.com

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Kevin Smith takes on Andy Bloch

Friday Night Fights

AlCantHang — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:21:30 +0000

Always looking to push the envelope, Full Tilt Poker is now adding an extra twist to your Friday nights. The Friday Night Fights. There are three new guarantee tournaments as well the chance to rail a Heads-Up match between two of your favorite Full Tilt pros. This week’s battle will take place between Gus Hansen and Andy Bloch.

Their match will kick off at 21:00ET but you can get in on the action an hour earlier by joining one of the $5,000 Sweat Tournaments. For $11 you can enter a $5,000 guarantee tournament with a chance at bigger prizes. You have an option to choose between a Gus Hansen or Andy Bloch tournaments, if you win the Sweat Tournament and your players wins his match, you will automatically win an entry into the $75,000 guarantee Friday Night Fights Knockout Tournament.

The Friday Night Fights Knockout Tournament is the final event of the night with a $500+35 entry fee and plenty of chances for some KO dollars. The tournament kicks off at 21:00ET along with the Gus Hansen/Andy Bloch Main Event.

More after the jump

Gus Hansen – Has over $7,000,000 in career tournament earnings. Has four World Poker Tour Championships including the very first WPT event at the Bellagio. His last tournament win was the 2007 Aussie Millions but came close to winning this year’s WPT World Championship finishing second for $1.7 million. Hansen spends a lot of his time playing high stakes, high limit online poker. Either Heads-Up or the big 6-max tables, Hansen is always at the top of the list when it comes to grinding it out at the big limits.

Andy Bloch – Has nearly $4,000,000 in career tournament earnings. Had two final table appearance during the 2008 World Series of Poker, finishing second in Event #1 and 7th in Event #30. Bloch’s HU resume includes a 5th place and 2nd place finish in National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Friday Night Fights

Full Tilt Poker Academy – A first look

AlCantHang — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:24:17 +0000

I heard awhile ago that we were about to see the launch of the Full Tilt Poker Academy and I was pretty excited. I know the principle people involved in the project, leaving little doubt that the new site would be impressive and educational. The roster of players involved alone guarantees an increase in poker understanding in just a few sessions.

At first glance you can find four short lessons that will kick start your game:

Chris Ferguson – Bankroll Managment
Andy Bloch – Math Made Easy
Howard Lederer – Betting Basics
Phil Gordon – 5 Common Hold’em Leaks

There are other lessons, sessions with the pros where they walk you through their actions in specific hands, podcasts with various players, and different challenges to test your new skills on the Full Tilt Poker tables.

I’ve only spent a few hours digging deep into the Academy to get my initial response. I will spend the next few days really getting into the material and bring you my thoughts in my next post. I am also looking for other players/bloggers interested in sharing their thoughts. If you would like to contribute, you can leave a comment on the blog or send an email to battleofthebloggers@fulltiltpoker.com.

Other posts about the Full Tilt Poker Academy and challenges:

Full Tilt Poker Academy – First Challenge
Full Tilt Poker Academy – Bankroll Management Challenge
Full Tilt Poker Academy – Pre-flop Play Challenge

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Full Tilt Poker Academy – A first look

2008 World Series of Poker Europe – Full Tilt pros making noise

AlCantHang — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:19:35 +0000

Andy Bloch begins WSoP-E Day 3 atop the leaderboard

Full Tilt pros Andy Bloch and Eric Seidel began the World Series of Poker Europe Day 3 sitting atop a leaderboard that was seeing plenty of action from other FTP pros in the field. Brian “sbrugby” Townsend, John Juanda and Brandon Adams are also in the running with large stacks in the event. The WSoP-E has a structure that will allow the players plenty of room to make moves and make their way into the money, the final table and eventual winner.

The 2008 World Series of Poker Europe is a smaller version of the Las Vegas version with only 4 events but it still drew a large number of pros. It has been a successful series for the Full Tilt pros. Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer made the final table of the H.O.R.S.E event. Max Pescatori and Chris Ferguson made the final table of the Pot Limit Omaha tournament with Joe Beevers and Allen Cunningham finishing in the top 18.

As Day 3 of the Main Event continues on, Full Tilt pros continue to make their way to the top of chip counts. Mike Matusow, Erik Seidel and John Juanda are sitting with top 5 stacks. Scott Fischman, Josh Arieh and Brandon Adams are still making noise.

For regular live updates, please check out Michael Craig at the Full Tilt Poker Blog as he follows along with the action.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2008 World Series of Poker Europe – Full Tilt pros making noise

Heads Up: Andy Bloch Versus JJ Liu

One Angry Monkey — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:47:20 +0000

Not all single elimination tournaments are created equal – welcome to the best. The Full Tilt Poker Heads-Up Challenge takes 64 of our top pros and pits them against one another in a Mortal Kombat style showdown to the death. OK, well not to the death, but you get the idea. There will not be blood, but there will be poker. Oh yes, there will. This week’s match is the last of our three seed versus 14 seed face-offs, with Andy “I’m a hell of a lot smarter than you” Bloch taking on JJ “Supreme fashion sense” Liu. Check out the full bracket below − on to the fight:

Category	Andy Bloch	JJ Liu	Survey Says
Career Earnings	More than $3.2 million	Almost $1.7 million	I could be wrong, but I believe this is the closest career earnings contest we’ve had to date. JJ has certainly taken home an impressive amount of money, just not enough to steal this category from Bloch. Andy takes the early lead.
Major Titles	Amazingly enough, Andy has yet to take home either a WSOP or WPT event.	JJ has also never scored a major title, although she did take down the WPT Ladies’ Night Out in 2006.	This is another first for us, as neither of our players has won a major title. Let’s make like soccer and call this one a tie. Soccer, my god, what will those wacky Europeans think of next?
Tournament Play	Though Bloch has never won a major title, he has taken down several smaller tourneys and finished second at the $50K HORSE event in the 2006 WSOP (for a cool $1 million score).	Liu is one of the best women players on the circuit today, as she has proven with her Ladies’ Night win and a second-place finish at the 2007 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars event.	This is another tough one. Who would have ever thought that we’d have a genuinely close match on our hands here? I’d love to give this one to JJ because she really is a great tourney player, but the edge has to go to Bloch here. The Rock will not be denied, he leads 2-0 (or 2.5-.5, if you want to get technical about it, which I really don’t).
Cash Game Play	Does blackjack count as a cash game?	Not known as a cash game specialist, but that doesn’t mean she won’t clean up at the ring games from time to time.	To be perfectly honest (which I rarely ever am), I don’t think either of these two are known for their cash game prowess. I may be wrong. I may be right. I may be crazy. But it just might be a lunatic that you’re looking for. And yes, that’s the last time you’ll see me quoting Billy Joel lyrics (unless it’s “Piano Man,” that song always helps me to remember what a drunk, pathetic loser I am). Anyway, let’s give this one to Andy, I’ve got a feeling he rocks the cash games a bit harder than JJ.
Best Game	HORSE	No-Limit Hold ‘em	They say that HORSE is truly the game of real poker players. Who are they? I have no idea, but they’re out there – and they’re coming for you… While I agree that HORSE is a good indicator of who’s the best overall poker player, it’s also really boring. I mean, like wake me up when it’s over boring. With that said, this category has to go to Liu. No-Limit Hold ‘em, it’s the true game of champions.
Playing Style	Poker by the numbers	Free spirited	I guess it makes sense that a mathematical genius plays a mathematics based style. Unfortunately for me, I never learned to add. There it is – the cat’s out of the bag. I’ve gone through most of my life thinking that trigonometry was a type of sushi. But that’s a story for a different post. The numbers man takes down the free spirit again – the score now stands at 4-1 for Bloch.
Nickname	The Rock	Technically speaking, JJ is her nickname. Joanne Jishun is her real name – thank god for abbreviations.	As with all Chevy trucks, Andy Bloch is like a rock – at the poker table that is. While I’m not certain if that means he’s a lifeless, inanimate piece of sediment or somehow refers to his playing style, I do know that “The Rock” is a much cooler nickname than “JJ.” Andy takes down another category.
Fashion Sense	Cowboy X Computer Nerd = Cool?	Bad acid trip X Chinese silk = WTF?	Liu is famous for showing up to poker events dressed up to the nines. And yes, that is the last time you’ll see me using the expression “to the nines.” Now, I’m no fashion maven here, so all I can safely say is that she has a very “interesting” look going for her. I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m not saying it’s good. What I am saying, though, is that I just don’t get it. Bloch, on the other hand, seems to have found his niche (along with Chris Ferguson) in the “I may be a nerd but this cowboy hat makes me at least 17.5% cooler” crowd. Notch another one up for Andy; he now leads by a score of 6-1.
Outside Poker	This former member of the MIT blackjack team holds a law degree from fair Harvard U and even passed the bar exam and everything. Yet he chooses to spend his days fleecing degenerate gamblers rather than innocent members of society. Good for him.	JJ loves to travel and play the piano in her spare time. Isn’t that quaint?	Now I love to play the piano as much as the next guy – I rock Beethoven’s ninth like nobody’s business – but you’ve got to respect a guy who gives up a potentially multi-million dollar career for a completely different multi-million dollar career. Mad props to this rock-like law man as he takes down the final category.

And that’s that folks. Andy Bloch takes down JJ Liu by a score of 7-1 (OK, 7.5-1.5). Check back for more madness and mayhem next week as we continue onwards in this journey that is the best single elimination tournament that ever was or ever will be…

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Heads Up: Andy Bloch Versus JJ Liu

The Pros Speak: Andy Bloch

The Captain — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:22:44 +0000

Welcome back to The Pros Speak. This week we have Andy Bloch – truly a man of many talents. In addition to being a world-class poker player, he holds degrees in electrical engineering and law, was a member of the MIT Blackjack Team, and runs the (Unofficial) World Poker Tour Fan Site. Clearly, he’s got a lot going on.

In spite of his busy schedule, Andy was good enough to give us a few minutes of his time and share his thoughts on a few things. Here’s what he had to say:

What’s an "average" day consist of for you?

There really is no average day in my life. For the six weeks of the WSOP, I get up at about 10:30 a.m. and get to the Rio for the noon tournament (or later if I’m playing a later event). The rest of the year, if I’m not playing in a live tournament, I’ll often play on line. But I don’t have a set schedule and I do travel a lot. In the past year, I’ve traveled all around the world, from Australia for the Aussie Millions in January, to London for the WSOP Europe, all over Germany for Full Tilt’s Million Euro Challenge, to Washington, DC for a charity poker tournament and to lobby Congress with the Poker Players Alliance. I’ve also been to Ireland, the Netherlands, and Israel.

Do you ever play poker “just for fun?”

Sure, I play for fun – once a week or more. In fact, I only play if it’s fun, even when I’m playing high limits. Sometimes I’ll play for play money or $1 Sit & Gos, or join a friend at a low buy-in tournament around town. Sometimes I’ll be out with other pros in a casino, and we’ll play low limits while making much bigger side bets on the flop. A couple of months ago, after a concert at the House of Blues, I beat Phil Gordon for about $4500 betting on the flops while we played 2-4 no limit at the Mandalay Bay.

What would you do if you weren’t playing poker for a living?

I might be doing some other gambling, or making use of one of my degrees – Law and Electrical Engineering.

Away from poker, what do you do to relax?

I’ve started to play golf. Last year, I tried playing for the first time in Melbourne, lost a dozen balls, and didn’t finish most of the holes. Chris Ferguson and I started taking lessons at the end of the summer.

Who’s the poker player you admire most?

Chris Ferguson – I’ve never seen him be mean to anyone.

What something interesting about you that people might not know?

I’ve been arrested five times. Four incidents took place in casinos because of my blackjack skills (in three different countries plus a Native American reservation), where the bogus charges were always dropped. My other arrest was at an anti-war demonstration in front of the White House. Representing myself, I had my conviction overturned on appeal on First Amendment grounds.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Andy Bloch