Poker From The Rail
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Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
by Lizzy Harrison
Poker is not a spectator sport. The view from the rail is usually obstructed and the crowds make it impossible to focus. The only way one can possibly follow the action is if they can get inside the ropes. Players and tournament staff are the only ones permitted inside. Other than the media.
Having a media badge at the World Series of Poker grants you access to the tournament floor while the events play out. This year, for the first time ever, I had the big daddy of all media credentials – I was on board with the company hired by ESPN to cover the big events.
That meant that instead of being the reporter waiting patiently for a turn to toss questions at a player of interest, I was able to physically remove that player from the tournament area while proclaiming, “We need him for an ESPN interview. After that he’s all yours.”
On my first day I saw people I’ve worked with for years lined up waiting to interview the first player to make it the $25,000 buy-in heads-up semi-finals. They’d been there sweating the action for hours and they would be there long into night. I swept in and took Yevgeniy Timoshenko away. As I headed across the hallway with Timoshenko in tow I saw a reporter, Steve*, begin the trek up the long hallway away from the Amazon Room. It looked like he wasn’t going to get Timoshenko and he was ready to head out into the hot Vegas night without his interview. I hustled Timoshenko into the studio and hurried back.
“Steve! Come here. I’ll make sure you get him when they’re done with him. Should be 20 minutes or so.” He nodded appreciatively and hovered near one of the numerous vacant benches that line the hallway. Not too long afterwards I saw the producer who had been interviewing Timoshenko in the hallway. This meant he’d completed the interview, yet Steve was still waiting patiently on the bench, alone. He was waiting for me to deliver Timoshenko. I panicked and ran into the studio to find out where the Ukranian pro had gone.
“I promised my friend I’d hand over Timoshenko once we were done with him.” I explained to a cameraman. He laughed at me. Then he went on to say that I had nothing to worry about and that I didn’t owe the reporters anything. Someone else chimed in that the production was costing the company tens of thousands of dollars and we didn’t have time to waste worrying about the media.
I began to explain that, not too long ago, I had been the media. I’d had interviews I’d waited up until the wee hours of the morning for snatched away from me, never to be seen again (at least not that night.) Now I was the one pulling the pros away from the outstretched voice recorders of the media.
I made my way over to Timoshenko and led him away from our studio. I walked him partway up the hall, just about to the bench where Steve still sat patiently. I wished him luck in his upcoming match and told him he was almost done with media obligations. Then I introduced him to Steve.
* – name changed to protect his identity
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Lizzy Harrison, WSOP, Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
With the 2011 WSOP on the horizon, Jennifer Harman invited a bunch of her friends to the Peppermill Resort and Casino in Reno for her annual Poker Throwdown to benefit the NSPCA. I was honored to be on the invite list where I was able to play a few fun hands with Robert Williamson III, talk with Annie Duke about her upcoming FS+G project (more on that later), and help raising money for a great charity.
680 players registered for the tournament with more than $115,000 raised on the day and it was a fun time. There were plenty of great players, celebrities, and friends in attendance. While sitting around the poker room I asked Full Tilt Academy producer Lizzy Harrison if she would like to write up a trip report and she obliged.
2011 Jennifer Harman Poker Throwdown
by Lizzy Harrison
Years ago, when Jen Harman ended a long-term relationship, she retained a high-profile attorney. She didn’t want the house and couldn’t care less about most of the stuff in it. What she wanted was custody of the four pups they’d adopted as a couple. Jen ended up with three of them.
I’ve heard Jen say, on numerous occasions, that rescue dogs are the only way to go. Jen is one to put her money where her mouth is and, for the past five years, she has hosted a charity poker tournament to raise money for the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA).
This year the tournament was held at the Peppermill in Reno, Nevada. I was invited to attend as a “celebrity” which made me feel pretty damn cool. My responsibilities included having my picture taken with an adorable 2-year pit mix, a 10-month old lab mix born with only 3 legs and a couple of pygmy goats. I was scared to hold the rabbit and I’m not sure why.
A whopping 680 players turned out for the $330 buy-in tournament and many of them were quite high profile. Of course Jen and her husband Marco were there, as were other top poker players like Andy Bloch, Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke, and Robert Williamson III. Real celebrity guests included Lou Diamond Phillips of “La Bamba” fame, Mekhi Phifer, and lots of Olympic snowboarders. World Series of Poker main event champions Jamie Gold and Jerry Yang were also in attendance.
At $50/rebuy almost everyone could afford to get back in when they lost their stack. Those would couldn’t were bought back in by other players that wanted to donate more to the NSPCA. Alex Outhred was on the mic and with his encouragement no respectable tournament participant could sneak out before the rebuy period ended. Over $110,000 was raised for the NSPCA.
With a Ketel OJ in hand I sat down to play. I’d just finished breakfast with my hubby, AlCantHang, and Kevmath and I was ready. The breakfast special that day was prime rib and eggs, and if I’d known I was going to be drinking all day I would have ordered that. Alas, I am a girl, and as one I ordered a chocolate croissant. Note to all readers: a chocolate croissant is not enough food to eat before playing poker and drinking for hours.
The actual tournament went pretty quickly. Within a few hours there were less than 100 players left and I had my game face on. By then I had moved to a new table and Jamie Gold was to my left. Luckily, I watched his Main Event win years back, so I knew exactly how he plays. I was carefully getting ready to trap the main event champion in a huge pot to propel me to the final table. Then JJ Liu hit a gutshot on me and I was out in 69th place.
Andy Bloch and 2007 WSOP Main Event winner Jerry Yang came to Reno to support the cause
Yang went on to final table the tournament
Actor Lou Diamond Phillips shows the camera exactly how many chips he has remaining
Daniel Negreanu shows actress Julie Benz some of the finer points of the game
Tags: AlCantHang, Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, Bloggers on the Rail, Daniel Negreanu, Guest Posts, Jennifer Harman, Jerry Yang, Lizzie Harrison
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Planning to hit Las Vegas this summer to play in a few tournaments during the World Series of Poker for the first time or just to rail the action? Even if you’ve been there before, “Tuscaloosa” Johnny is along with a guest post giving you some great ideas where to stay, how to get there, and what to do.
Vegas Vacation Logistics
By “Tuscaloosa” Johnny Kampis
Logistics. It’s generally a pretty boring topic (UPS songs about it be damned), but it’s important to try to figure out the best way to get from Point A to Point B. This applies whether you’re shipping goods across the world or just trying to figure out your Las Vegas plans.
There’s a lot going on not only at the Rio—home to the World Series of Poker—but all of Vegas. If you only plan to stay in Sin City for a week or less, you must try to cram a lot of poker and tourism into a short period of time, depending on your inclination to see the city and experience the other poker rooms. Here’s a quick primer on some of the important logistics of Las Vegas. Consider it your cheat sheet to packing a lot of fun into your stay in the most efficient way possible.
Where should I stay if I want to save a few bucks?
The Rio has actually been running some pretty good rates this summer and you can get a good room–not a true suite as they claim—for a pretty good price, but if you want to stay for weeks and are looking for something cheaper, you have plenty of options in the city.
As a general rule, the farther north you travel on the Strip the lower the rates you will find. Stratosphere (technically just north of the Strip), Circus Circus and Riviera all offer rock bottom prices on rooms, but these properties are practically on an island now with the closure of old-time casino hotels like Sahara, Stardust and Frontier. Your best bets for cheap rates are Imperial Palace mid Strip and Hooters and Excalibur on the south end of the Strip.
Rates Downtown are cheapest, as a rule. El Cortez, which is a block east of the Fremont Street Experience, is offering rooms for less than $20 a night on some dates this summer. While this property is the butt of many jokes, the rooms here actually get decent ratings from customers. If you stay on Fremont Street you’ll need some good transportation to get to the WSOP, which leads us into the next question…
If I choose not to stay at the Rio, what are my best transportation options for getting there?
To really answer the question, we must consider cost versus convenience. If money is no issue, you can cab it all over town. This is not a viable option if you plan to do a lot of traveling and are cost conscious, however, as cabs will cost you an average of $10-$20 a trip depending on how far you go. You can also rent a car for as low as about $20-$30 a day.
The city has a good bus system, with buses hitting every stop on the Strip an average of 15 minutes apart. Each ride costs only $2-$3 and you can buy multi-day passes that provide unlimited rides. Expect an excruciatingly slow ride. Since these buses stop every block or so, with plenty of people getting on (and having to feed their money into the fare machine) and off, you should leave for the Rio well ahead of any scheduled tournaments you plan to play–or expect to be late.
If you happen to be near mid Strip and need to catch a ride to the Rio you have an alternate option. Caesars Entertainment runs shuttle buses from Rio to and from sister properties Harrah’s and Bally’s. These shuttles pick up from each location every 15 minutes or so and can be a viable—and free—option for getting from the Strip to the Rio, and vice versa.
Can you walk it? Sure, if you can stand the triple digit temperatures during the day and the fear of getting mugged on this lonely stretch late at night. It’s about a mile walk from Caesars Palace to the Rio, and that will only take you to the front. It’s several hundred yards from the front of the casino to the WSOP area.
So I busted out of the noon WSOP event rather quickly when my [insert bad beat story here]. What other tournament choices do I have now?
Most events at competing tournament series also start at noon. Those that feature later starting times are smartly (at least in this writer’s opinion) trying to capture some of the WSOP “bustout” market. Namely, events at Binion’s Poker Classic start at 2 p.m. while the Caesars Summer Mega Stack series features alternate type events at 4 p.m., including plenty of large stack turbo NLHE tournament and Omaha tournaments.
Plenty of the casino poker rooms offer daily tournaments, with most in the evenings. Only a few, such as Binion’s and The Venetian, offer buy-ins of $100 or more. Most of the tournament series also have $100 or so “second chance” tournaments, usually beginning around 7 p.m.
Of course, you could just stay at the Rio and play the $235 2 p.m. tournament, the $185 6 p.m. tournament or the $135 10 p.m. tournament. Caesars Entertainment knows how to get the rake.
I don’t really want to overpay for food at the WSOP Poker Kitchen. What other options do I have?
Good luck finding cheap food at the Rio. If you buy into a WSOP bracelet event you get a whopping $10 coupon to at least save a few bucks. Too bad the Rio is on an island, so to speak, so you can’t quickly grab a bite to eat somewhere else on your dinner break.
If you have access to a car, you can make a quick jaunt over to the In ‘n Out Burger on Tropicana, which is only a couple of minutes away by motor transportation.
If you plan to leave the Rio in a situation where time is not a factor and you want to find cheap food, avoid the Strip and head Downtown. The buffets are cheaper, and there are a few fine dining options like Vic ‘n Anthony’s at Golden Nugget, Hugo’s Cellar at Four Queens and Binion’s Ranch Steakhouse at, well, Binion’s that generally offer lower prices than comparable restaurants on Las Vegas Boulevard. There’s always the 99-cent shrimp cocktail at Golden Gate, as well.
This is my first trip to the city and I want to see as much as I can in a day. What should I do?
As someone who has spent WAY too much time in Las Vegas, this is the advice I especially love to give since I’m one of those types who isn’t chained to the poker tables and loves to see the city. The advantage of tourism in Las Vegas is that 90 percent of the must-see attractions are all located on or very close to Las Vegas Boulevard, ne “the Strip.”
If you’re a poker player and only have one day to devote to tourism I would first get me a very comfortable pair of shoes as you will be doing a lot of walking. Fortunately, with plenty of sister properties connected to each other you can avoid some of the heat. Now get yourself to Mandalay Bay to start your Strip tour from south to north. Walk through the inside here to Luxor and then Excalibur. Walk across the pedestrian walkway over Tropicana Avenue to New York-New York. Head across the street and explore MGM Grand. Stop and play a little poker if you desire.
Head north to Planet Hollywood and then dart into Paris. From here you can walk through to Bally’s and then cross the street to Bellagio. Visit the poker room, of course. You’ll likely see some familiar faces. Get in a game if you can. Now walk outside and backtrack toward Aria and Cosmopolitan, two of Vegas’ newest faces. Stop to catch a show of the famed dancing Bellagio fountains if it’s near the top of the hour or half hour. If not, wait and catch the show upon your return.
Play a little poker at Aria and then head past Bellagio to Caesars Palace. Check out the massive casino, admiring the sportsbook and maybe playing poker if you have some time. Walk through the Forum Shoppes and you will come out near the entrance to The Mirage. Take the moving walkway into here and head left to see the poker room, which once was boss in Vegas many moons ago (perhaps you recall Mike McDermott’s lust for it in “Rounders.”)
By now the sun has hopefully set so you can take in the nighttime attractions the Strip has to offer. Try to catch the volcano “eruption” outside The Mirage at the top of the hour closest to sunset and then walk across the street to visit The Venetian and see the replica of St. Mark’s Square from the actual Venice out front. The massive poker room-easily the largest in size in Las Vegas—is right at the front of the casino. Try to get into a game for a little while. If you want to see the pirate “battle” at Treasure Island across the street go for it, but you won’t be missing much if you don’t and, besides, you have to line up early to get a decent view.
From either The Venetian or Treasure Island, head down to Wynn on the other side of Spring Mountain Road. You may notice it looks similar to Bellagio. No surprise there since Steve Wynn built both properties. Walk to the back to catch some poker action.
You’ll want to head down to Fremont Street before 11 p.m. to catch the last show of the Fremont Street Experience so keep an eye on the watch. If you’re short on time grab a cab. If you have plenty of time you can take the bus, which stops in front of Wynn. On the ride to Fremont Street watch for the Silver & Gold Pawn Shop of “Pawn Stars” fame, which is located a few blocks south on Main Avenue.
Catch the last showing of the FSE and then walk down to Binion’s. Skip the current poker room and walk back to the former poker room. Here in the back of the casino you will see the former WSOP tournament area and the Gallery of Champions that is still located on the left wall if you’re facing the back. Stop in the poker room on your way out to say you played here and then go get some sleep. If you still have pep catch some $1-$2 NLHE action across the street at Golden Nugget.
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Tuscaloosa Johnny, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Your Best Bets for Vegas this Summer
By Johnny Kampis
With so many options for accommodations and poker rooms, the choices in Las Vegas can be overwhelming. We’ve compiled some of the best bargains and features of Las Vegas to help you spend your time in the desert gambling mecca wisely.
Best $250 and under tournaments
Several of the tournament series in Vegas this summer are geared to appeal to more modest roller, with Binion’s, Caesars and The Orleans all offering small buy-in affairs. But the best of the bunch is The Grand Poker Series at the Golden Nugget. Held in the comfy and spacious Grand convention area, this series is known for its deep structures. Granted, this means you may play for more than 10 hours and bubble or min cash, but you can’t complain that you didn’t get a fair shake with the structure.
Best daily casino tournaments
For your money, you can’t beat the Venetian for its daily tournaments, as the structures are deep for an event with a reasonable buy in. The 7 p.m. nightly frolic has a $120 buy in and often attracts a few hundred players while the Deep Stack Extravaganza is running. Expect fast structures at most other daily tournaments, and fees of excess of 30 percent on many of them. One of the best returns for your money is the $50 + $10 daily tournament at Mandalay Bay that returns 80 percent of the cash to the prize pool.
Best tournaments for the non Hold’em fans
Although Golden Nugget gets an honorable mention here, the Summer Mega Stack Series at Caesars Palace earns the kudos for its daily 4 p.m. tournaments. Granted, you get a lot of turbo NLHE events in these afternoon gatherings, but you also see plenty of Omaha tournaments—10 in all, as well as a HORSE tournament. In addition, where else can you play a heads-up NLHE event with a $120 buy in? Of course, if you’re a high roller, then the WSOP offers plenty of events in most poker disciplines, but with buy ins that start at $1,500 most of us must watch from the sideline.
Best satellites
If you tire of the turbo structure of WSOP satellites that are designed to collect your money and determine a winner quickly, head over to The Venetian for the Deep Stack Extravaganza. The Italian-themed property has the edge in four ways. First, the structure is fair and gives you some play. Second, these are two winner satellites. Granted, you can’t win as much, but this method reduces the variance and keeps the satellite interesting when one player is running away with the chip lead. Thirdly, unlike the WSOP, The Venetian lets you buy in other players by trading satellite chips for cash, which helps you unload extra satellite chips and makes it easier to sit around and grind these for a profit. Lastly, the satellite chips you win here are good for any tournament held at The Venetian—including the dailies.
Best cash games
It’s hard to top the action at the Rio during the WSOP. You can choose from tables and tables of NLHE games of any size, in addition to games in other disciplines, as well as mixed games. You may find it hard sometimes to get a seat in the non-NLHE tables, as the ratio of tables to the number of players on the wait list tends to be more skewed. Unfortunately, you do not get rated for comps when playing cash games at the WSOP, and the rake structure is not the most favorable around.
On the Strip, the Bellagio offers plenty of action, but expect a long wait to get a seat-especially on a weekend. The Venetian and Aria are other rooms with plenty of action worth checking out during your stay.
Best mixed games
If you have the roll, you will find plenty of mixed games to your liking at the Rio. However, most of the mixed games start at 10-20 limits and go up–way up. For more recreational mixed games, try The Venetian or Aria, which are both open to spreading mixed games if you can get enough interest. The Venetian gets the edge because it tends to run more non-NLHE games.
Best hotel bargains on the Strip
If you can’t afford five-star accommodations, you still have plenty of options on the Strip—it just depends how low in quality and far from mid Strip you are willing to go. It’s easier to find deals north and south of the heart of the Strip. If you want to stay close to Flamingo Road–the thoroughfare that will take you to the Rio—check out Imperial Palace and Bill’s Gambling Hall. Bill’s is right on Flamingo, while Imperial Palace is a couple blocks up the Strip. Check rates at the Gold Coast, the Rio’s next door neighbor. If you can get a good deal here it’s hard to beat the convenience to the WSOP.
Best hotel deals Downtown
You would be hard pressed to find an expensive room on Fremont Street, as both the price and quality of most hotels here are quite a downgrade from those on the Strip. For a good deal and a nice room, it’s hard to beat the Golden Nugget, which offers regular $39 weekday rates on its accommodations. This rate tends to double on the weekend, but you will get a room that’s better than basic rooms on the Strip that rent for higher rates. Main Street Station is worth a look, too, as the accommodations get high ratings and the rates are even lower than the Nugget’s. The catch is that Main Street Station is a block down Main Street, which is an area you may not want to walk after dark.
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Tuscaloosa Johnny, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Your Vegas Summer Series Guide
By “Tuscaloosa” Johnny Kampis
As usual for a Las Vegas summer plenty of tournament series abound to attract some of the masses that descend on the Rio for the World Series of Poker. Tournament types and buy ins vary widely across the city and events can be found on the Strip, off Strip and downtown on Fremont Street.
Bellagio Cup
Only heavy hitters need apply to the Bellagio Cup this year, as the schedule is trimmed down to only two tournaments—including the $10,300 World Poker Tour event.
Bellagio will offer two $1,080 super satellites into the main event on July 10 and 11, and the WPT tournament will run from July 12-19. A second $5,180 NLHE tournament will take place on July 18 and 19.
See the schedule at http://bellagio.com/casino/world-poker-tour.aspx
Binion’s Poker Classic
String, duct tape and perhaps this event are all that continue to hold together the stalwart downtown property, which has seen its hotel and famed coffee shop close in the last few years. The Binion’s Poker Classic returns for a fifth year of competition from May 30 to July 11 with most tournament buy-ins at $150 and $200.
This series has been known for a wide variety of offerings, but tournaments definitely lean more toward No-Limit Hold’em in 2011 with 32 of 43 events in this format this year. The main event is a $1,000 NLHE tournament that lasts for two days, beginning on June 30. Of note is the final event on July 11, a $150 Dealer’s Choice tournament. The structure sheet for this event only reveals that all games will be of a limit nature and that games will rotate every eight hands, and does not specify how games are called.
Most events at the Binion’s Poker Classic begin at 2 p.m. A nightly $100 NLHE second chance tournament will be held at 7 p.m. Despite the lack of a hotel, players can get discounted room rates here—they are put up in sister property Four Queens across the street.
See the complete schedule at http://www.binions.com/gaming/poker_classic.php
Caesars Palace Summer Mega Stack Series
Want a big series? Try Caesars Palace, which will host 91 events in its Summer Mega Stack Series from May 30-July 15. No, that is not a typo—91 events.
This series will feature a NLHE event each day at noon and a variety of other tournaments daily at 4 p.m., including turbo NLHE, heads-up NLHE, HORSE, Limit Hold’em and all of the Omaha disciplines—including a Pot-Limit Big “O” Hi-Lo in which each player gets five hole cards instead of four.
Most buy ins will be in the $120 and $230 range, with a four-day $1,060 championship NLHE event that has two starting days.
Check out the schedule at http://www.caesarspalace.com/casinos/caesars-palace/casino-misc/poker-mega-stack-summer-2011-noon-detail.html
Grand Poker Series
This Golden Nugget series throws in some interesting wrinkles this year with the addition of a “Young Guns” NLHE event in which players must be 30 and under and the “Guys ‘n’ Dolls” NLHE tag team tournament with teams consisting of one male and one female player.
The majority of the buy-ins are in the $125 to $230 range, and this series is notable for the large number of Omaha tournaments, with 15 events in the Pot-Limit Omaha, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo and Limit Omaha Hi formats. Most events begin at noon and players start with 10,000 chips in each tournament (2,000 more can be had for the ubiquitous $10 dealer bonus).
The series runs from June 4 to July 4 with a two-day $1,080 championship NLHE event on July 2 and 3 and the annual Suzie and Howard Lederer charity tournament and pool party on Independence Day. The charity tournament, which always draws plenty of poker pros and semi-celebrities offers up a $20,000 seat on Poker After Dark to the winner.
Room rates begin at $42 per night on weekdays.
See the event list at http://goldennugget.com/downloads/gps_2011.pdf
Orleans Open
Once a major player in Vegas summer tournaments, the Orleans Open now consists of a small series of events prior to the WSOP. Running from May 21-29, most events cost $255 to enter and the final NLHE tournament will feature a $540 buy in. The Orleans, which is about a mile off the Strip, is home to some of the most populated Omaha Hi-Lo games in Vegas and this series will feature three events dedicated to that poker discipline, with one HORSE tournament among the mix.
Participants in each tournament get a $5 food voucher for use in casino dining areas. The Orleans will offer $35 weekday and $75 weekend room rates during the Orleans Open.
The Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza
This thrice-annual series at The Venetian is the closest that the WSOP has to a rival, and may be the root of Harrah’s offering low-buy-in afternoon deep stack tournaments to ostensibly keep the crowds from heading to the Strip. Despite Harrah’s ploys, the DSE still attracts plenty of players.
This is a great tournament series for fans of No Limit Texas Hold’em and not so much for fans of other poker games. As usual, the DSE summer schedule only features one HORSE, one PLO event, and one PLO8 tournament among the dozens of NLHE events during its May 27-July 15 run.
Most buy ins here are in the $340 and $550 range, with a handful in the $1,000 to $2,000 range. The series culminates in a $5,000 championship tournament. All tournaments with buy ins of $550 and less will be two-day events; those with higher buy-ins will be three-day events.
The top 10 players during the series will be awarded additional money, with one-half percent of each prize pool going to these rewards.
Room rates are higher this summer as management at The Venetian has decided to be tougher on comps and discounts in 2011. You can get a room here—all of them are suites—for $129 on weekdays and $179 on weekends. In addition, you must pay a $17 resort fee and there is a $30 charge to switch from one king bed to two queen beds.
Find the schedule here http://www.venetian.com/uploadedFiles/The_Venetian/Content_Blocks/Gaming/Deepstack_Extravaganza/DeepStackIII2011.pdf
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Tuscaloosa Johnny, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
You can count me among the list of people that has a hard time getting excited about this year’s WSOP Heads-Up Rematches. I mean, I remember in 2003 when Moneymaker went from a no-name accountant to WSOP Champ vividly. The memory of the bluff verses Sammy Farha is permanently etched into my brain, and even now it still surprises me that it worked when I see it replayed. I’ve seen it on ESPN at least a dozen times, which may be a low number considering the number of people that I talk to that say they watch it every time that it’s on . It was a magical event because when it happened nobody realized exactly how special the event would become, and how it would be this great turning point for the poker industry. To me, the rematch has none of the nostalgia attached to it, and that the thought of running em’ twice just doesn’t really get my blood boiling.
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Coolwhipflea, Guest Posts, Paul Ellis, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
by Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers
The World Series of Poker announced last week that they would hold a series of “Main Event Rematches” to be filmed in June on ESPN. The first two matches scheduled have already been announced: Chris Moneymaker v Sammy Farha from the 2003 Main Event and Phil Hellmuth v Johnny Chan in a repeat of their 1989 Main Event. Fan voting on Facebook will decide the final match, and the prevailing opinion is that a repeat of the 1988 Main Event between Chan and Erik Seidel will get the most votes.
Here’s some other WSOP Main Event heads-up duels people may want to see:
2000: Chris “Jesus” Ferguson v TJ Cloutier – Cloutier has 6 WSOP bracelets, but would like to have traded any of those wins for another chance at a Main Event win, having a pair of runner-up finishes in his Poker Hall of Fame career. The 2000 WSOP against Ferguson appears to be Cloutier’s last chance at Main Event glory, as he overcame Ferguson’s dominant chip advantage at the start of heads-up play to almost even in chips. Holding a dominating A-Q against Ferguson’s A-9, if Cloutier’s hand held up he’d hold most of the chips and have his picture appear on the Wall of Champions and eventually have his banner hanging in the Amazon Room. A fateful 9 of hearts on the river gave Jesus the title, a card that may haunt the former football player the rest of his poker career.
1978: Bobby Baldwin v Crandall Addington – A battle of two future Poker Hall of Fame members, the 1978 WSOP Main Event was one of the first poker tournaments to get national television coverage. The audience would see Baldwin, a “young gun” at the age of 28 take on the well-dressed Addington for the first place prize of $210,000. Addington held the chip lead when heads-up play began, but Baldwin pulled a daring bluff with just 10 high against his opponent to turn the tide and eventually become the youngest player to win the Main Event at that time. Both men later enjoyed successful careers in business, but another heads-up match between the two legends would be a welcome sight to those looking for some old-school poker.
2001: Dewey Tomko v Carlos Mortensen – Another player with a pair of runner-up finishes, Tomko held the best hand with one card to come, but the river would betray him both times. Jack Straus would make a high two pair against Tomko in 1982; against Mortensen his pocket aces were cracked on the river when a 9 on the river gave Mortensen a straight. The unflappable Tomko hasn’t given up trying to win a Main Event, playing every Main Event since 1974, and was entered into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2008.
And finally from 1994: Russ Hamilton v Hugh Vincent – I don’t know if Mr. Vincent’s still alive, but anything that could bring Russ back to Las Vegas would be a good idea. I’m sure certain members of the poker community would love to welcome him back with open arms and closed fists.
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Kevmath, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
by Jason “Spaceman” Kirk
I just got a press release announcing a special made-for-TV event that the WSOP is putting together. The show will consist of three rematches from famous heads-up duels in the WSOP Main Event, played out on June 2nd and air on July 26th on ESPN. Two of the rematches – 2003’s Chris Moneymaker v. Sam Farha and 1989’s Johnny Chan v. Phil Hellmuth – have been chosen by the WSOP, but the third is going to be chosen by the fans. I can understand the rationale behind both of the WSOP’s picks. Moneymaker’s win was the shot heard ‘round the world that ignited the poker boom, while the 1989 match saw Chan denied a third straight world championship and gave rise to the most monumental ego in the history of poker in the form of Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth. Fair enough. However, it seems pretty obvious to me that the WSOP missed out on a fantastic opportunity to give one of its greatest players a chance to shake an unfair mantle foisted upon him by Hollywood.
Erik Seidel’s first-ever WSOP cash was second place in the Main Event, which under normal circumstances would garner him a nice second-place check and the honor of having the details of his performance lost to all but his own memory. Thanks to screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien and their little 1999 movie Rounders, though, he’s known worldwide as the guy who moved all-in against Johnny Chan’s nut straight, even by people who don’t know anything more about poker other than to fold when the Russian guy gives his Oreo tell. Sure, Seidel has acquitted himself pretty well since then, especially so far this year. Sure, he now tops the all-time money list in tournament poker and is highly respected by his peers. But in popular culture, the Rounders moment lingers – and to me, as somebody who appreciates both Seidel’s achievements and the history of the game, that’s seriously not cool.
Luckily, the rematch could still happen. One of the four choices poker fans have before them is the Seidel-Chan. None of the other three – 2004’s Greg Raymer v. David Williams, 2006’s Jamie Gold v Paul Wasicka, and 2010’s Jonathan Duhamel v. John Racener – hold any of the same historical significance as Seidel-Chan. One of them goes a step further by raising the frightening spectre of allowing Jamie Gold to return to television. (Isn’t there a law somewhere banning that? If not, there should be.) The oldest matchup of the four available is by far the best choice, so consider this my request to the poker community at large to do a great poker player justice by voting Seidel-Chan today at WSOP Facebook page.
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Erik Seidel, Guest Posts, Jason "Spaceman" Kirk, Johnny Chan, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
by Paul “Coolwhipflea” Ellis
It all started with a home game.
I was a “Moneymaker Boom” guy. Watching that Tennessee accountant go from a $50 satellite to World Series of Poker Champion turned me onto poker. I didn’t go professional or anything. I mean, I hardly knew what the internet was at the time. But it sparked interest among some of my friends and we created a weekly home game at my place. While poker was the game of choice as we gathered around my dining room table, the purpose of the game was not monetarily related. We’d all tossed in some cash and the winner would walk away richer than he started the night, but it was about the fellowship, the camaraderie, and the overall fun of playing the game.
One of our home game crew was really into social media and urged us all to get onto something new called “Twitter.” After a few months of just making fun of him, I gave it a whirl and immediately developed a friend base among the twitter community. It was interesting to see and watch the evolution of friendships with people that you’d never met before, unfolding at a rate of 140 characters at a time. We weren’t using it to promote anything, or gain more followers. It was just for fun.
Most of my friends on twitter were poker players, and as a result the talk of getting together for a regular game eventually came up in conversation. With that idea, the Twitter Poker Tour idea was formed. Geoff Manning (@cprpoker) and Trevor Holowinski (@pokerplasm) created the first of the Twitter Poker Tour events in October of 2008, with the intent of having an online home game. The buy in was a meager $5 and the games were on Thursday nights. What started as a single table sit and go through a couple of friends on twitter, grew steadily as the weeks wore on. For fun, the Twitter Poker Tour created a website that hosted a monthly leaderboard based on who finished where in the weekly events. It kept the games competitive, and didn’t lose the home game feel.
I found the TPT in November of 2008, and it immediately drew me in. Just like my Friday night gang, I knew everyone at the tables, and it became something that I looked forward to each week. A year later, our little group had about 45-60 regulars on Thursday Nights, and Geoff and I had the idea of hosting a charity event. We selected a charity that was near to my heart, and hosted the “Bad Beat on Cancer” Charity tournament on Full Tilt Poker. My wife is a cancer survivor, having received a bone-marrow transplant and now living cancer free. The BBOC tournament was our way of being able to give back a little monetarily to the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
The BBOC event also launched a new idea for us as we decided to host a radio show while the game was in progress. On Thursday nights, we launch “The TPT Live Show” and for the first BBOC event, we were joined by guests Jan Bresch, the Executive Vice President and COO of The Prevent Cancer Foundation, as we chatted about the BBOC and how it all got started with Phil Gordon and Rafe Furst, and how their idea turned to millions of dollars raised for cancer prevention research. We were then joined by Team Full Tilt Pro Andy Bloch and ESPN’s Andrew Feldman. The $5 tournament raised a few thousand dollars for the cause, and made us proud about what we were doing.
The TPT Live show concept stuck, and it grew from there. We’ve since been joined by guests such as Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, fellow 2010 November Niners Matt Jarvis and John Dolan, 2008 WSOP November Niner Kelly Kim, 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Tablist Lee Childs, DeucesCracked co-founder Jay Rosenkrantz, WSOP Academy Instructor and former FBI Agent Joe Navarro, and so many more guests. It was beginning to feel like a real show whenever we went on air. The follower base continued to increase, and as the levels of participation grew, we were able to up the prizes that we gave away.
In May and June last year, we qualified a player for the World Series of Poker through a series of satellites on Full Tilt. Later in the year, one of our players was able to participate in the Main Event of the North American Poker Tour in Los Angeles. And this year, we hope to give more chances to our group to win something big as the TPT introduces the Twitter Poker Tour Championship Series.
The TPTCS will begin on Sunday April 3rd, and host 26 events over a 2 month stretch, wrapping up just before the 2011 WSOP begins. We have again teamed with Full Tilt Poker to host our events, and will be offering some fantastic cash prizes on top of the prize pools. The buy-in’s range from $2 to $50, with the winner of each event receiving entry into a freeroll TPTCS Tournament of Champions, where we are giving away a tournament seats on Full Tilt Poker between $26 and $216.
I’d never really imagined that a fun little $5 home game on Full Tilt Poker could lead to the opportunities that the TPT has created. It’ll be fun to watch the TPT grow as more and more people continue to find us, and join in on the fun. And who knows, maybe the next WSOP Champion will come from the TPTCS?
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Coolwhipflea, Guest Posts, Paul Ellis, Twitter Poker Tour
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
By Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers
Last week, Full Tilt Poker announced the Onyx Cup Series, consisting of six 100k and higher buy-in events across the world in the coming months. A couple of days later, the Bellagio announced they would hold their own 100k buy-in event May 18th and 19th, during the $25,000 WPT World Championship also held at the Bellagio. These recent developments bring up a question that has come up in recent years: Are there too many poker tournaments?
Before the World Poker Tour was established in 2003, the tournament circuit “season” consisted of a rag-tag group of tournaments, with the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas considered the season finale. In the years since the WPT was founded, series such as the European Poker Tour, Latin American Poker Tour, WSOP Circuit and Heartland Poker Tour (and dozens of others) have created an extremely crowded tournament calendar. The lament of the traveling tournament player having to spend 250k on the circuit only gets worse when you throw in a couple of six-figure buy-in events.
Personally, I feel the more poker that’s available the better. The casual poker player is the lifeblood of an online poker site and they’re needed more than ever these days. Ratings for the WSOP have fallen in recent years with the November Nine concept, which was tailored to get more mainstream attention for the WSOP Main Event final table. The fields in the Onyx Cup may be small, but they’ll be filled with plenty of big names people want to see combined with a small number of people going for a big payday.
Since some people like to consider poker a sport, let’s compare it to baseball. If you don’t start out with a boatload of cash like Guy Laliberte, Andy Beal, or some random businessman, players start in rookie ball (home games, cash games in a local casino, small-stakes games online). As you move up the minor leagues (regional tournaments, moving up in stakes live and online), the player base gets smaller, but tougher. Eventually, the best players will make their way to the big leagues (World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour, WSOP). An elite few will make their way into the super high-roller events like the Onyx Cup.
Could the timing of certain Onyx Cup tournaments be better? Maybe, but the tournament calendar makes it difficult to find premium dates for new events, which explains why they’re “competing” with established major tournaments. Will the tournaments be complete crapshoots? That will be answered in the coming weeks, but with the “shot clock” format, more hands will be played each level. Not every tournament needs a Matt Savage or even Chainsaw-approved structure. If people want to throw around six figures for a poker tournament, the structure is the least of their concerns.
In conclusion, the Onyx Cup Series is going to happen. There have been several proposed tournaments before with buy-ins ranging from $250,000 to $10,000,000 that never got out of the discussion stage. Let’s see how the first year pans out.
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Kevmath, Onyx Cup Series
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