Just Poker Talk

• Phil Hellmuth Tableside Manners

Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger in an earlier post discussed the ESPN performance of Hellmuth at a WSOP $3000 NLHE final table. Turns out that Phil Hellmuth viewed the performance and was less than pleased with his antics. You probably know that Hellmuth is a blogger for CardPlayer. Imagine my surprise when I read a post in his blog dated August 8th the day he was the ‘Main Event’ on the 2 hour ESPN broadcast. Here is what he said about the ESPN ’show’

Well, let me say one thing about the 2 hour “Phil Hellmuth” show on ESPN tonight. After I was eliminated, I was rooting for Beth Shak to win! I know that I said-in private to my wife and friends Greg and Janelle Pierson-that I didn’t think that Beth could win, but I was still 100% rooting for her. I didn’t think she could win because I felt like she would over-play A-Q again, or another similar hand, and lose most of her chips in one fell swoop. Enough said. On another note, at one point, while watching the show, I was annoyed with myself! I don’t even mind that I said, “I’m the best Hold’em player in the world,” but some of the other stuff I said was too over the top. Oh well, at least it was an entertaining show.

And how about Ivey being in the right place at the right time and beating me out of $109,000 while WATCHING the final table!! The first final table he has watched in years and he MAKES $109,000, sigh. I don’t mind him earning, but why did it have to be against me, again!?! I loved the collage they did on me, and was it me, or did Norman Chad actually lighten a bit on me for once? Norman sure gave me credit for my feats, and took me to task for my mouth, fair enough. source

So your ‘Dead Money’ blogger surmizes that Hellmuth agrees with him that Phil should clean up his Tableside manners as he is near the top of all time greats NLHE players as I said in this post.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, Phil Hellmuth, ESPN, WSOP, Hold ‘Em,

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• Harvard Professor wants to use Poker Theory at College

has a story about a Harvard Law Professor pushing to incorporate Poker skills into the curriculum of universities and secondary schools.

Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson is set to announce the forming of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society, an organization that ‘views poker as a game of skill that can be used as a teaching tool at all levels of academia and in secondary education.’ source

Maybe if your ‘Dead Money’ blogger would of had Poker Theory in college he would have finished school in the normal amount of time, not to mention going to all the classes and he wouldn’t be ‘Dead Money’ at the tables. I can see it now, those hateful math story problems…….you are on a train traveling 55 mph heading east and you are in the ‘Poker’ car with 8 outs after the turn and there is $300 in the pot and you have to call $60 to see the river…….do you call? Those type of story problems would have been a lot more fun to tackle.

The Society aims to offer workshops and seminars to secondary schools and community centers, using poker as a means of developing strategic thinking skills. Bringing the secondary strategic lessons taught by poker to underprivileged neighborhoods is among the highest of Nesson’s goals with the project. He also hopes to sponsor team poker matches between law, business and other graduate-level programs, and to conduct seminars and conferences that explore poker as a means to teach strategic thinking and related public-policy issues.

The Society’s first chapter will be based at Harvard, and more chapters are expected to open later in the year. Nesson also hopes to launch a ‘team poker,’ NCAA-style championship between competing American universities. source

Wow, you can almost imagine a future with the NCAA Final Four for Poker. Can you see it now? CBS hyping the Tournament endlessly not to mention the Bracket show and Phil Gordon analyzing the Finals. Don’t forget ESPN high lights of the big upsets and Bad Beats. ‘Poker Today’ on every night to discuss who is going to win the NCAA Poker Tournament this year and the top 10 and RPI rankings. Matusow, Hellmuth, Negreanu, Brunson, Gowen as the ‘Experts’ in the studio. Sideline reporters Gold, Hachem, Moneymaker, Raymer.

Count me in.

• Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger Michael will be looking into Harvard admission criteria just in case his luck changes at the tables and he can afford the tuition.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, Harvard,  Poker Theory, CBS, NCAA  

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• History of Poker Video

Click the logo to go to PokerTube home page and you can find a History Channel production of the History of Poker. PokerTube has a 6 part video on its site. Links at the bottom of this post for all 6 installments without stopping at PokerTube first. The video was made in 2003 and many of the current big names of Poker are featured throughout the History of Poker video.

The ‘Dead Money’ blogger watched it and found it very interesting. The video starts with the daily ‘Big Game’ being played in Las Vegas with narration. All the players at the table are recognizable to anybody that watches any Televised Poker today.

I don’t want to give away the History of Poker but here are some of the high lights.

• Poker Introduced by the French with a 20 card deck in New Orleans in 1800’s
• Riverboats up and down the Mississippi spawned the ‘Riverboat Dandies’
• Civil War introduced new Poker games 
• Wild West Poker with Wild Bill Hickock 
• Poker Players always looking for ‘Producers’, today they would look for ‘Dead Money’
• Changing Gambling Laws in the U.S.
• Poker in the White House, FDR, Truman and Nixon before he started politics
• Texas Rounders
  • Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Sailor Roberts, Crandall Addington, Johnny Moss and from Tennessee Puggy Pearson
• Migration to Reno and Vegas after Texas dried up
• Benny Binion and the Horseshoe Casino
• Johnny Moss and Nick the Greek’s 5 Month Poker game and Nick’s famous line ‘Mr. Moss I am afraid I will have to let you go’
• WSOP beginnings in 1970 and the growth provided by Jack Binion’s invention of Satellites

The 6th installment ends just starting to discuss the infusion of Women into Poker, so I suspect that more installments will come on PokerTube.

Click on any individual Part to go directly to that video
Part 1 History Channel - History of Poker
Part 2 History Channel - History of Poker
Part 3 History Channel - History of Poker
Part 4 History Channel - History of Poker
Part 5 History Channel - History of Poker
Part 6 History Channel - History of Poker

• Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger Michael enjoyed every minute of the videos.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

History Channel, PokerTube, WSOP, Benny Binion, Jack Binion, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Puggy Pearson, Sailor Roberts, Crandall Addington, WSOP, Las Vegas, Reno, Texas, Johnny Moss, Nick the Greek  

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• Poker Power Rankings from Bluff/ESPN

has their Live Tournament Power Rankings as the end of July. Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger is intrigued by the Rankings and thought he would show you some of the interesting rankings here. Of course you can see the complete list by clicking the Bluff/ESPN Power Rankings logo above.

The Bluff/ESPN Power Rankings are based on the results of major tournaments over a trailing 24-month period. Qualifying tournaments must have a minimum $5,000 buy-in and at least 100 participants.

Since the Power Rankings are based only on Tournaments the Major Big Cash game players might not be a high as you would think. Their performance and winnings are not taken into consideration for the Rankings.
The top 10 includes:

1. Bill Elder
2. Erik Cajelais
3. Michael Mizarachi
4. Kathy Leibert
5. Ted Lawson
6. John Juanda
7. Nam Le
8. Barry Greenstein
9. Joe Sebok
10. Kirk Morrison

Quite a family affair with Greenstein and Sebok in the Top 10 and what happens if Sebok overtakes Barry and moves into 8th?

Other names in the top 100.
13. Paul Wasicka
15. Chad Brown
22. Men (The Master) Nguyen
23. Michael Binger
28. Scotty Nguyen
30. Phil Ivey
34. Scott Fischman
40. Daniel Negreanu
43. Mike Matusow
47. Gavin Smith
51. Carlos Mortenson
52. Allen Cunningham
53. Jason Lester
62. Erik Seidel
75. David Williams
78. Humberto Brenes
89. Joe Hachem
90. Hoyt Corkins
98. Phil Hellmuth

Other notables and their Power Rankings include:
113. Freddy Deeb
119. Gus Hansen
122. Erik Lindgren
123. Cyndy Violette
135. Jesus Ferguson
150. Doyle Brunson
156. Andrew Black
164. Michael Gracz
168. Clonie Gowen
174. Chip Reese
181. Johnny Chan
187. Andy Bloch
204. Mark Seif
206. Dan Harrington
227. T.J. Cloutier
230. Annie Duke
237. Huck Seed
241. Marcel Luske
250. Jean-Robert Bellande

The complete list can be seen at Bluff/ESPN Power Rankings

Poker, Bluff, ESPN, Power Rankings,  

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• Hellmuth, Ivey, Brunson, Cunningham register for WSOP Europe

had a story discussing the inaugural WSOP Europe starting on September 6th in London.

The Main Event, a six-day £10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament, is scheduled to begin September 10th, and will be hosted by The Empire, The Sportsman and Fifty, which are all part of London Clubs International (LCI) . Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack has high hopes that this new tournament series will become Europe’s most prestigious. “We fully expect World Series of Poker Europe, presented by Betfair.com, to become Europe’s preeminent poker tournament,” Pollack said. “We’re thrilled that so many of the game’s biggest names will participate.” source

• WSOP Europe has Commitments from the following big names
  • Phil Hellmuth
  • Jennifer Harman
  • Doyle Brunson
  • Phil Ivey
  • Allen Cunningham
  • Erik Seidel
  • Howard Lederer
  • Gus Hansen
  • Jamie Gold
  • Eli Elezra

WSOP Europe information can be found at WSOP Europe

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, WSOP, WSOP Europe, Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Jamie Gold, Gus Hansen, Allen Cunningham, Jennifer Harman, Erik Seidel, Eli Elezra, Howard Lederer,

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• Harvard Study does not support fears about Online Gambling

had this story recently, a comprehensive study of online gambling behaviors.

Harvard Medical School’s Division of Addictions characterizes a majority of online gamblers’ behavior as “moderate,” concluding that its findings do not support previously-made claims that online gambling has “an inherent propensity” to cause problem or “excessive” gambling.
source

the study responds to the current paucity of information regarding online gambling and to the fact that “concerns about Internet gambling are growing across various interest groups.” For similar reasons, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) proposed a House bill (H.R. 2140) early last month to provide for a study of online gambling by the National Academy of Sciences source

The study included:

• Data from 40,000 individuals over an 8 month period in 2005
• Time spent gambling
• Frequency of placing bets
• Amount bet

Researchers concluded that:

“the subscribers’ gambling activity levels were moderate,” and that the “findings reported here do not support the speculation that Internet gambling has an inherent propensity to encourage excessive gambling among a large proportion of players.” source

The author concludes the story by reporting that future studies will likely include the online Poker Industry.

• Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger Michael

hopes any future study doesn’t include his online money won, tournament wins or in the money finishes, because he is pretty certain the study will return ‘no data found’.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, Online Gambling, Harvard,

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• Video to show you how to Shuffle your chips like the pros

YouTube has this short video that provides you instruction on how to Chip shuffle like the pros. I know that after watching the video your ‘Dead Money’blogger will shuffling the chips anytime he has at least 4 chips in front of him. In other words not very often. Just click on the YouTube logo above to start the video.

• Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger Michael is off practicing shuffling chips.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, Just Poker Talk, YouTube,

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• PokerListing Provides a great Service

Check out this site before you go hunting for a Poker Book. PokerListing Ranks the Poker Book Retailers and keeps them updated in Real time. They have 25 Poker Book Retailers listed. For each Retailer PokerListing provides a summary of what the site provides.

Some of the hi-lights of the retailers offerings.

• Rebates
• Discounts
• e-books
• Reviews of books
• Promotions everywhere
• All the Poker accessories you need

• Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger Michael needs some Poker instructions books so he can graduate from ‘Dead Money’ to ‘Donkey’.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, PokerListing

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• Phil Hellmuth tableside manners are on display on ESPN

Did you see the ESPN broadcast of the attempt by Phil Hellmuth to capture a 12 WSOP bracelet on Tuesday? ESPN devoted both hours of their WSOP broadcast to this event. The event was a NLHE $3000 buy in that Hellmuth made the final table. Hellmuth did not win his 12th bracelet so his atrocious tableside manner was on display throughout the 90 minutes that he survived during the broadcast.  

In case you didn’t see it, here are some of the ‘Highlights’.

• Complaining that other Players didn’t respect him. Saying things like ‘Everytime I put in a raise these dummies come over the top’.  ‘I am the greatest NLHE player in the world and I can’t get any respect’
• Tell other players he was going to bust them for sure. Just in case you didn’t know he is Phil Hellmuth the greatest NLHE player in the world. Phil didn’t bust the players that he told this to. He said this multiple times to two specific players that he felt they didn’t know how to play NLHE.
• Whine constantly that everytime he had a raising hand players would raise him, he had trouble with 2 players in particular. In watching what ESPN showed these players never raised him just trying to steal, they always had very good or even premium hands.
• He survived at least 6 occasions when he was All-In but, he lost at least $100,000 in cash to Phil Ivey. Ivey gave Hellmuth ‘insurance’, at appropriate odds based on the hands, each time Hellmuth was All-In. When Hellmuth won the hand he would lose cash to Ivey. Each time he was All-In it seemed that all would have to wait for Hellmuth and Ivey to figure out the odds and agree on the insurance bet before the dealer could continue with dealing the community cards. ESPN seemed to love this.
• Telling all that would listen that the world doesn’t know how good he is. 
• When his final all in was called by a big stack player and Phil had a weak Ace, he said for all to hear that he couldn’t believe that she called a big raise with KQ suited. He went on to say how he couldn’t believe how bad the players at the final table were.
• He had many other critical comments for all the players. Just too numerous to recount all of them in this post.

Of course all of this stuff is part of Phil’s act. One of the other pros at the table was quoted on the broadcast saying something like: Phil is great at taking advantage of weak players. Phil’s comments get inside their heads and he just runs them over. Also, that stuff doesn’t work against the experienced pros who basically just ignore it.

ESPN analyst Norman Chad took every opportunity to point out Phil’s Tableside manner. He even said the event was like a 3 ring circus with Phil being 2 of the rings. He also said he would rather watch Phil at a final table then anything else Vegas had. 

Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger in an earlier post gave Phil credit for being one of the all time great Poker players, but his Tableside manner does him no favors with anyone that actually ranks the all time greats. His Tableside manner will hold him back from ever being ranked the greatest of all time in my humble opinion. Also in this post I discussed how Phil seems to be all about the ‘Show’ and this ESPN broadcast just make me think that even more. I don’t think it would be fun for me to be at Phil’s table, of course being ‘Dead Money’, I don’t ever expect to be seated with him, thankfully.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Phil Hellmuth, WSOP, NLHE, ESPN, Norm Chad 

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• Fully Automated Poker Room Opens in Michigan

Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo Michigan became the 1st fully automated Poker Room in the world. The Poker Room will feature 15 PokerTek ‘PokerPro’ ten seat tables and 4 PokerPro heads up tables. Four Winds is the 1st Casino to go fully automated. PokerPro means no waiting while cards are dealt, no waiting shuffling of the deck, no waiting for while pots are split and no need for anyone to create side pots as PokerPro accomplishes all these functions instantly.

PokerTek’s Chief Executive Officer Lou White had this reaction:

“PokerTek is pleased to be working with an operator whose dedication to making this room a success is only rivaled by their desire to exceed player’s expectations by offering such a broad range of game offerings, tournament schedules and major tournament satellite events.” source

Ned Harkness Four Winds Casino GM said:

“We’re going to offer the best action in the region,” Our tournament schedule is second to none, our games are all reasonably priced and playing on PokerPro gives players more action with fewer hassles and distractions.” source

Click here to see all the details on PokerTek PokerPro electronic Poker tables.

Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger looks forward to trying out these electronic tables next time he is in a Casino that offers them. The way it seems the PokerPro offers the speed of online Poker with the ability to look at your opponent across a Poker table. Another plus to me is if I want to communicate something to an opponent I can just say it. Probably people will be less likely to drop ‘F’ bombs on you if they are not anonymous. Is this the way of the future? Poker Rooms fully automated with electronic Poker Tables might some day be all there is and we will long for the old days. If that happens Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo Michigan will always be the 1st.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Four Winds Casino, PokerTek, PokerPro, Poker,

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• Types of Poker Players that take the fun out

Just your ‘Dead Money’ bloggers rant on the Types of Poker Players he finds irritating to play against. I don’t mean irritating in that they play well and take my money. I know I am ‘Dead Money’, I just like to play and I actually hold my own against them. I mean I do not enjoy playing with them as it is no fun. I was just having a discussion yesterday with my son about how much I enjoy playing Poker and writing about Poker and talking about Poker. Guess you could say one of my passions is poker. That being said when I play online or go to a B&M facility there are specific types of players that I can’t wait to see them leave my table. Doesn’t mean I go on Tilt or anything, just means I don’t have as much fun when these types are there.

See if you recognize the types of Poker Players and if you have played against them.

• Trying to teach you how to play

You know the type always trying to show you how they know it all when it comes to poker with comments like:

•  
  • ‘you shouldn’t have called’
  • ‘you should have known I had you beat,  
  • ‘pots odds dictated that you should have called’, said after you muck
  • ‘what are you doing calling an all-in with A-7 off’?
• Critical of and rude to all other players at table and dealers

I have heard at live games or seen online comments like:

•  
  • ‘you are an idiot’
  • ‘what a stupid a** playing that’
  • ‘where did you learn to play like that’?
  • ‘is this your 1st game’?  

I actually am in a home game with a player that is a good person but has told me he just trys to irritate other players to get them on tilt so he can get their chips. He readily accepts that somebody has to wear the black hat. Envisions himself the Phil Hellmuth or Mike Matusow of the home game. In a post earlier this month I talked about the World Poker Association (WPA) development of a Code of Ethics. One of the sections addresses player to player relationships and another section deals with player and dealer relationship. I hope the Code of Ethics become the standard of how poker is played everywhere.

• Constant whining about Bad Beats
  • Citing the Percentages
    • ‘I was 80-20 to win after the flop’
    • ‘I had you 3-1 after the turn’
    • ‘you were 4% to hit that on the river’
  • Saying things like:
    • ‘I can’t believe you sucked out like that’
    • ‘I had a boat and they hit quads’
    • ‘I flopped a straight they hit a back door flush’
    • ‘they hit a 2 outer’ 
• Loud happy winner, Quiet ornery loser 

When winning you have the incessant happy chatter with everybody, the constant chip rifling, the loud bets, the showing of their cards including the bluffs, the nutz, the big laydowns.

Of course seeing their cards is a good thing for the other players but when combined with the noise I still find it irritating.

Just the opposite when losing, hardly says a word (not necessarily bad), no chip rifling, never see their cards, big frown on their face.

• Tells you why they called
  • ‘I had you on’,
  • ‘I felt you were bluffing’
  • ‘knew I had you beat’
  • ‘I am on a rush’, ‘

Personally, I try to ignore all of the types listed and just focus on playing poker. Very rarely use the chat box online and at B&M generally have very little to say. I think part of the reason there are so many of these types of players now, is that Televised Poker seems to show so many instances of this behavior. ESPN almost tries to make a celebrity of the player that exhibits these playing styles. Just thought I would Rant a little bit.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, Just Poker Talk, Phil Hellmuth, ESPN,

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

•  has this video of Hellmuth winning his 11 WSOP Bracelet.

Just click on the PokerTube logo above to see the video.

As I have put in this previous post Hellmuth is certainly at the top of the list of all time great poker players.

• Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger Michael can’t even win 11 $5 sit and goes.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, Just Poker Talk, Phil Hellmuth, WSOP, Hold ‘Em,

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• Harrah’s Announces 2007-2008 WSOP Circuit Schedule

Riding the buzz from the recently finished 2007 WSOP, at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Harrah’s released the 2007-2008 WSOP Circuit Schedule today.

• Some Highlights of the 2007-2008 WSOP Circuit Schedule
  • 12 Sites compared to 11 the last 2 years
  • $5,000 entry fee for Main Event
  • Each Circuit site will be scheduled for 2 weeks of Poker
  • Cheaper Satellites to the Main Circuit events

  “Strong customer demand prompted us to add another event to the Circuit schedule,” said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “Each event brings the thrills and excitement of the WSOP to poker players at the local and regional level” source

• Harrah’s Official List and Dates:
  • Grand Casino Tunica, Aug. 29-Sept. 13, 2007
  • Caesars Indiana, Oct. 17-Nov. 2, 2007
  • Harvey’s Tahoe, Nov. 3-13, 2007
  • Harrah’s New Orleans, Nov. 26-Dec. 5, 2007
  • Harrah’s Atlantic City, Dec. 8-18, 2007
  • Grand Casino Tunica, Jan. 3-22, 2008
  • Harrah’s Rincon San Diego North, Jan. 27-Feb. 7, 2008
  • Horseshoe Council Bluffs, Feb. 18-27, 2008
  • Caesars Atlantic City, Mar. 5-15, 2008
  • Caesars Indiana, Apr. 2-16, 2008
  • Caesars Palace Las Vegas, April 20-May 1, 2008
  • Harrah’s New Orleans, May 9-21, 2008

  WSOP Circuit events has also been known to attract many professional poker players. Pros like Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Gavin Griffin, Gavin Smith, Davidson Matthew, Men “The Master” Nguyen, David “The Dragon” Pham, Scott Fischman, Steve Wong, Chad Brown, and Phil Gordon all attended Circuit Events last year. source

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, Just Poker Talk, WSOP, WSOP Circuit, Harrah’s, Hold ‘Em,

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

Do Poker Rushes Exist?

had a story by Arthur Reber Playing the Rush recently that your ‘Dead Money’ blogger not only found fascinating but made me really get lost in this whole ‘Rushes’ question and if they really exist.

Since I started playing poker I have always believed in the Rush concept. You know what I mean. You win a couple hands and all of sudden you are not mucking that 7-2 off suit you were just dealt and you hit a set of ducks. I know I have fell into that situation often and I always thought it got me some chips. Now after reading Arthur’s story I am not so sure about the Rush. 

Arthur makes to me very convincing points that the concept of a Rush is wrong mathematically. That the Rush is more a outgrowth of your own play improving when you win some hands and of other players at the table believing you are on a Rush and staying out of your way.

He made a comparison to athletes that seem to hit every shot or go on a tear at the plate. He discussed the ‘Hot Hand’ concept of a coach that feeds a shooter who seems to hit every shot. Also he mentioned the manager that adjusts the lineup to get the hot bat higher in the lineup so they might get more at bats.

Arthur talked about three reasons why a player would play a Rush.

1. Playing my rush because I’m ‘running good’

He details that most players believe this is accurate but they are wrong. He explains that what you are really saying is:

‘that you believe what happened in the past will continue into the future’

Mathematically this is wrong as each hand is independent of earlier hands Arthur explains.

Arthur wraps up the 1st reason by saying:

‘There is no increased likelihood of winning the next hand because you’ve been running good - just like there is no increased likelihood of losing the next hand if you’ve been running bad.

Arthur discusses the 2nd reason players play rushes.

2. Playing my Rush because I’m sharper when I’m winning

Arthur tells us that this reason is closer to a good reason. He lets us know that most players play better when winning. Winning increases confidence and aggressiveness.

So there is some reason to play a rush if your game is sharper than usual when you do. ‘this argument has nothing to do with being on a rush, if you are like most recreational players, your game is better when you are winning’

Arthur moves on to the 3rd reason players play rushes.

3. Playing my Rush because I can dominate the table.

Arthur tells us that this reason is the one that makes the most sense.

The key is that most players believe that rushes are real, that they will continue and that the ‘rusher’ is going to ride his wave of good fortune as long as he can. When someone goes on a serious rush a chorus of refrains will be heard from others at the table. ‘Man, you’re really on a roll no way am I playing a hand against you’ or ‘I am just going to stay out of your way for a while’

Essentially players will fear the ‘Rush’ and not be playing optimal poker and you can take advantage of it. But it is not because of the ‘Rush’.

Arthur ends the Rush discussion by telling of a study psychologist Amos Tversky did some years ago. Tversky was trying to analyze the ‘Hot Hand’ theory by charting every shot several basketball players took over a full season. He found little evidence of the ‘Hot Hand’ theory.

Players got hot about as often as a random number generator got hot. If a player shoots about 50% overall, we would expect to see a run of shots made and missed - and we can calculate just how many runs we ought to see and how long the runs should be.

The source for all the quotes in this blog is: Playing the Rush

The study by Tversky was really fascinating to me because it took your ‘Dead Money’ blogger back to his childhood when ‘Grandpa Joe’ introduced me to Lifetime averages. I was beside myself with worry when one of the veterans on my favorite Major League Baseball team was only barely hitting above the ‘Mendoza’ line about 2 weeks into the season one year. ‘Grandpa Joe’ showed me the Lifetime Average on the back of the player’s baseball card and told me that by the end of the season the player would hit pretty close to his Lifetime Average. Sure enough the player did and I remembered that reading Arthur’s discussion of the ‘Hot Hand’ study by Amos Tversky.
Sadly, it also reminded your ‘Dead Money’ blogger that he will always be the ‘Dead Money’ at the poker table because my ‘Lifetime Average’ is ‘Dead Money’.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, Just Poker Talk, Poker Rushes, Arthur Reber, Amos Tversky,

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan

• World Poker Association (WPA) Announces Code of Ethics

The WPA has released a Code of Ethics with the intention of having Standards for Poker Tournaments developed. The Code of Ethics contains 5 sections discussing professional poker behavior as viewed by the WPA’s members.

• Five Sections of the Code of Ethics

1. General Provisions
2. Relationships among players
3. Relationships between players and dealers
4. Player-Management relationships
5. External relationships

Examples are a strict banning of collusion in any form at the tables, and general behavioral guidelines designed to improve the overall professionalism and respect of and for the game.

According to Wendeen Eolis, Vice Chair of the WPA and Chair of the Ethics Committee, “The Ethics Code is the cornerstone on which the WPA has established itself as a single, unified voice for millions in the commitment to professionalism in the worldwide poker community.” source

You can see the entire WPA Code of Ethics by clicking ====> here.

• Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger Michael certainly hopes that some of Professional Pokers biggest names, read very closely the Relationship between players and the Relationship between Players and Dealers sections. Or at least Televised Poker stops glorifying the ‘Poker Bad Boys’ young and old, at times abominable behavior. You know who you are.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

Poker, Just Poker Talk, World Poker Association, WPA,  Code of Ethics,  

• Poker Calculators
  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Omaha

• Poker Podcasts

• Poker Forums

• Sports Podcasts
  • Suicide Fan Podcast for the Die Hard Sports Fan