Just Poker Talk

• Negreanu Recommends Changes for WSOP Main Event

Daniel Negreanu authored an article in Card Player Magazine and he made some recommendations for changes to the WSOP Main Event. He hopes to help to keep the Main Event as the Worlds most Prestigious Poker Event. He expresses two major concerns: 1. legislators point to the Main Event as proof that Poker is not a game of skill   2. will the Main Event hold people’s interest when each year complete unknowns win the title. Daniel makes good points in the story and makes three recommendations:

1. Raise the Buy-In

Daniel doesn’t like this suggestion but notes that the $10,000 buy-in for the Main Event makes it tied for the 4th largest buy-in for a WSOP event when you add in re-buy events. He also has a blurb about the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.

Also, $10,000 in 1970 represented a huge buy-in event, but by today’s standards, it’s just another tournament. In fact, the World Poker Tour boasts two well-attended events at Bellagio with bigger buy-ins than that (the $25,000 WPT Championship and the $15,000 buy-in December event). In fact, in both Europe and Australia, there are events with bigger buy-ins than $10,000 source

2. Slow it Down

Daniel talks about this years change to double the chips for the Main Event but also double the blinds and how that didn’t change the amount of play you get. He provides a structure he would like to see used to allow more Poker to be played.

I think the best way to crown the “world champion” is to add more play, especially in the early levels. In fact, the typical WPT event has more play than the WSOP main event. source

3. Change the Format 

Two ways to change the format were discussed by Daniel. 1. Separate heats, i.e. 60 tournaments each with 100 players and if you make it to the final 10 of a tournament you cash. The winner of the heat makes the Main Event Final Table. 2. Make the Main Event a Total Shootout. Daniel felt a major problem with Major Tournament Poker is:

is that they often reward those who “hide” or “squeak into the money” by avoiding confrontation. With a shootout, that becomes impossible, because in order to win, you have to do well in shorthanded situations. source

Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger isn’t sure about Daniel’s Change the Format idea but the other two ideas would be great. Take a look at the story and see what you think.

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

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• Review of Caesars Poker Room

I found this review of the Caesars Poker Room over at Up For Poker. Blogger Otis goes into a lot of detail with his review. Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger has lost some of his money in Caesars Poker Room.

Otis breaks down the review into:

• The Good

Otis likes the structure of the mid-day tournaments as you get to play lots of poker. The dealing staff is very competent and the payouts very good.

It was not a push and hope fest after the first level. In fact, it took us more than six hours to reach the final table and the winner was not declared until two hours later. Frankly, I’m not sure if I’ve found more play for such an inexpensive buy-in in any daily tournament. source

• The Bad

Discusses the inability to broker deals effectively. Harrah’s eliminated paying out a different amount than the percentages listed in the payout schedule.

Harrah’s ended up cutting a deal that requires them to pay out exactly the percentages listed on their payout schedules. If you ask a poker room manager at Caesars about this, he will tell you that the Nevada Gaming Commission requires Caesars to follow these rules and at no point will Caesars pay out an amount different than listed on the payout schedule. source

Seems like this came from all the deals at the WSOP that caused IRS to get involved. Otis goes on to explain that yes you can still broker a deal, but somebody has to sign for the actual top amount listed by Caesars and it impacts the ability to get all involved to agree to the chop.

• The Ugly

According to Otis the Juice Caesars collects is too much in fees. He provides details and ends the section with this quote:

I believe in the staff and dealers getting their tokes, but when the juice on a $120 is that big, convincing folks to tip any more is going to be hard.

I no like-a da juice. source

Up For Poker is an enjoyable blog to read and this was an excellent review of Caesars Poker Room.

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

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• Card Player Magazine - Todd Brunson and UIGEA

Todd Brunson joins a long list of Poker Players that bash the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in this story in Card Player Magazine. Like many others Todd recommends getting U.S. regulation to online Poker and of course then letting the United States benefit by taxing the online Poker industry. He makes many of the same points that have already been made by others but says it a little more forceful. He indicates the elected officials that forced the UIGEA through with the the Port Security bill are ’small minded’.  

When these small-minded congressmen couldn’t get the bill through by itself, the proper, legal way, they attached it to a popular defense bill to increase port security. What does Internet gaming have to do with port security? What a cheap, slimy move!  source

In an earlier post I asked you to go to Poker Players Alliance (PPA) site and register to join the PPA and fight against UIGEA and while at the PPA site: Use the site to send letters to your elected Congressmen to support HR 2046 the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act and HR 2610 the Skill Game Protection Act. It is not too late to assist the PPA to get UIGEA modified to allow Online Poker. Please do it today.

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

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• $821,000 Bad Beat Jackpot won

Absolute Poker’s Bad Beat Jackpot had risen to $821,670 before it was claimed on Wednesday August 29th, 2007. Online player KADI suffered the bad beat but was rewarded with half of the 65% of the Jackpot awarded to the players at the table. KADI received $267,042. The winner of the hand received 25% of the Jackpot totaling $133,521. The remaining players at the table each received $33,380. 

25% of the Bad Beat Jackpot is rolled over to the next Bad Beat Jackpot and 10% is taken by Absolute Poker.

KADI ended up with a Straight Flush to the 10 and was beaten by a Straight Flush to the King. You can click ====> here to read Absolute Poker’s web report.

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

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• PTS Reservation Service Announced

PokerNews is reporting today that PTSeats Reservation Service is now accepting Poker Tournament Reservations for the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. The site is reporting that other Casinos in Vegas are ‘Coming Soon’ to the Reservation Service. No more getting to the Tournament site an hour early to ensure you don’t get shut out of the tournament. The PTseats accept credit cards. Poker Tournament buy ins have always been ‘Cash Only’.

The site charges a fee based on a percentage of the buy in for the tournament being ‘purchased’. A quick check of one tournament shows that for a $300 (+$50) tournament, the service charge for providing the seat is $14. So, to buy in early for a $300 (+$50) tournament will cost you $364 via the website. Once you buy in, the website sends you a printable ticket, which you present at the casino with your table and seat number already assigned.

Rather than for just local daily/weekly tournaments, one area this service might be especially good for is for preliminary events to tournament series. For example, right now players can buy in to many of the prelim events at the USPC (held at the Trump Taj Mahal) direct through the website. source

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

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• Absolute Poker ‘Bad Beat’ Jackpot nears $700,000

The Absolute Poker (AP) ’Bad Beat’ Jackpot that grows at a rate of $2,000 per hour will reach $700,000 sometime early on Tuesday if no online player suffers a bad beat. Absolute Poker an online poker room that still accepts U.S. players instituted a ‘Bad Beat’ Jackpot in late June of 2007. AP has already paid out $1.4 million in the jackpots.

Here is information from AP that explains the ‘Bad Beat’ Jackpot.

HOW IT WORKS

Look for our new ‘Bad Beat Jackpot’ tables and watch our jackpot grow. We’ll collect $0.50 from the pot of each raked hand that is raked .25 or more. The poker jackpot will keep growing until someone hits an unbelievable bad beat.

What constitutes a bad beat? If you lose a hand holding four eights (8888) or  anything better, that’s a bad beat. But at these tables, your luck couldn’t be better.

Thanks to your bad beat, everyone at the table will win a piece of the distributed jackpot. And you’ll take the majority of the prize.

As soon as someone hits a qualifying bad beat, 65% of the jackpot will be shared between everyone at the online poker table where the bad beat went down. 25% will go towards the next jackpot and 10% will go to the house.

We’ll take the new amount and divide it amongst the players seated at the Bad Beat Jackpot table.

• The loser of the hand – ie. the bad beat victim - will take 50% of the prize
• The winner of the hand will take 25% of the prize
• The rest of the players seated at the table will share the remaining 25%

Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger will be heading to AP to see if I can get a bad beat. I get beat all the time at the tables, so I just have to hope to flop quad 8s or better and have somebody hit a straight flush. I can get all my poker loses back in one ‘Bad Beat’. That is my plan and I am sticking to it. I think it is a good plan. Certainly better than my current plan of trying to win enough playing at the tables to retire from blogging.

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

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• New York Congressmen Oppose Poker Ban

Congressmen Steve Israel and Pete King a democrat and republican from New York both have expressed their support for Representative Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (IGREA) HR 2406. They published an editorial titled ‘Web Gambling: Tax, don’t Ban’ in the New York Post.

The congressmen find irony in the enactment and enforcement of the UIGEA.

“Years ago, the Treasury’s Secret Service agents used to help Harry Truman put poker games together in the White House,� they wrote. “Now they’d be locking him up.�

The two legislators believe there are more important items on the American agenda.

“Frankly, federal law enforcement officials have bigger fish to fry,� they stated.

Protecting the President, investigating counterfeit money and tracking terrorist financing were mentioned as better ways of spending U.S. funds.

American history and the basic right of privacy were cited.

“In the end, there is the question of how much we want government to be involved in our private lives: For many, playing poker with friends on the Internet is a way to unwind at the end of the day,� the men said. “Technology aside, Web gambling isn’t so different than the way Americans have relaxed and enjoyed the company of friends for decades.� source

In an earlier post your ‘Dead Money’ blogger requested that you support the Poker Players Alliance (PPA)  by going to their site and joining the Alliance. Also at the site you can easily send a letter to your representative to support HR 2406 and HR 2610 ‘Skill Game Protection Act’.

Now you have two New York Congressmen that are supporting your ‘Dead Money’ blogger. If you like playing online Poker go to the PPA site and register and send those letters to your congressmen to get the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) changed.

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

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• WSOP Academy schedules Camp in Atlantic City

WSOP Academy has scheduled a No-Limit Hold ‘Em Camp in Atlantic City on December 1st and 2nd, 2007. The dates are just before the WSOP Circuit event that begins on December 8th, 2007 at Harrah’s Atlantic City. Full details on the Camp can be seen =====> here.

Instructors for the Camp are:

• 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer
• Former FBI Agent Joe Navarro
• Alex Outhred

Camp Agenda includes:

• Live Hand Demonstrations
• Interactive Workshops
• In depth Seminars
• Tournament at end of Day 1 with Champion awarded a seat to the $5,000 WSOP Circuit Event in Atlantic City

The event is limited to the first 100 registrants and organizers fully expect the seats to sell out early. The price tag on this poker-intense weekend is $1,699. For complete details regarding the Atlantic City camp and other WSOP Academy events, visit www.wsopacademy.com or call 1-800-989-WSOP. source

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

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• PokerTek PokerPro in Detroit Casinos

In an earlier post your ‘Dead Money’blogger discussed the 1st fully electronic Poker Room. No dealers, no shuffling of cards, no chips. Just like playing online but you get to sit across from your opponents. Today there is a story in the local Detroit press that discusses how the PokerTek PokerPros are not being received that well in Detroit.

“I tried the PokerPro at Greektown,” said Guy Hickey, 44, of Warren. He’s a manager of operations for an engineering firm, and plays a lot of hands at Greektown’s traditional tables now. “I didn’t care for them. You miss the interaction of the chips and passing cards back and forth. It’s not the same. It’s like playing at home on your computer.” source

The story goes on to say once the luster of the new product wore off it appears that live poker players went back to the tables. The articles references the New Buffalo Michigan Four Winds Casino and Resort that is the worlds only completely electronic Poker Room.

Four Winds Casino and Resort in New Buffalo, a mega-complex that just opened Aug. 2, is wagering that electronic poker tables will bring in enough to replace dealers altogether. While the casino still uses live employees for other table games, its poker room is entirely electronic.

“Lots of confidence in the product is what it comes down to. I think it’s been very well received,” Four Winds general manager Matt Harkness said. The room runs a little less than half full during the week and fills up on weekends. “Many people in the demographic that play poker are very computer-savvy. Many people learn to play poker on the computer. So it’s an easy transition for people to make. I think it’s the future.” source

So just another view that the traditional Poker Rooms still have some life and Dealers will not be out of a job just yet. Go to this ====> link to read the entire story.

• Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger Michael

was in the Detroit Greektown Casino today but played at a traditional Poker Table with a dealer, shuffling of cards and chips and of course ‘Tokes’ the very few times I actually prevailed in a hand.

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

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• CBS announces Survivor 15 Cast

CBS has announced the 16 contestants for Survivor China the 15th installment of the popular reality TV series. You can see the complete cast at this link. 

Now you are probably checking the link to see if you went to Just Poker Talk or Reality TV Talk. Relax you are at the Poker blog. The reason I am blogging about this announcement is because of one of the 16 participants is non other than Professional Poker Player Jean-Robert Bellande. Conspicuously absent from the 2007 WSOP in July and now we know why. Jean-Robert was in China competing with 15 other Survivors for $1 million dollars that goes to the winner.
Jean-Robert in his introduction video discusses how he is used to comfortable hotels and air conditioned casinos and thought he was not a good candidate for Survivor. But when he gave it some thought he realized that he had a 1 in 16 shot for the $1 million prize and determined the odds were better than most poker tournaments. He goes on to say he is a little bit over weight and out of shape and he is not an outdoors-man. He views his Survivor participation as a big challenge and looks forward to competing. He views Poker and Survivor as both ‘Mental’ games. His strategy will be similar to when he enters a Poker Tournament. For the first little while he will be evaluating his opponents. Who are the strong players, who are the weak players and who he can mess with and who he doesn’t want to get into any kind of confrontation with. See the video here. It will be interesting to see how Jean-Robert’s Poker style plays in Survivor.

Survivor China Premieres on Thursday September 20, 2007 at 8 eastern.

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

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• Poker Players Alliance

Needs your support. They have a goal of 1 million poker players to register for Poker Players Alliance. If you click the logo you will be taken to their site and see that they have over 660,000 registered PPA members. Ever since last October when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was signed into law Poker players have been joining this grass roots effort to assist in getting Poker back into the legal forefront of the United States.
The site has lots of information regarding Fighting for Poker including:

• Major Points
• Federal Legislation
• Latest Member Actions

The reason I am blogging about this today, is I saw on the site the ability to send pre-filled letters to your congressman to support HR 2046 the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 sponsored by Rep Barney Frank and to support HR 2610 the ‘Skill Game Protection Act’ introduced by congressman Robert Wexler. The site even sends the letters for you. It couldn’t be easier to tell your Congressman that you support Poker and have the Country start down the path to removing the UIGEA law.

So your ‘Dead Money’ blogger is recommending that you join the Poker Players Alliance and click a couple links to send the letters to your Congressman. Please do it now.

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

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• Fit or Fold is Silly - Mason Malmuth

In the August issue of Two Plus Two Internet Magazine, Mason Malmuth has a great article that discussed the ‘Fit or Fold’ strategy and the weakness of that style and how it really will be quite costly. It goes into many examples and tells you how over the long run the Fit or Fold strategy makes money for your opponent.

Fit or Fold applies to playing the flop in Hold ‘Em. If the flop fits your hand you stay in the hand, if it doesn’t fit you must acquit…. err fold.

Malmuth references his book ‘Hold ‘em Poker for Advanced Players’  he co-authored with David Skalansky, when the article discusses a short handed game with an aggressive player and the flop didn’t fit. Folding or by calling about 50% of the time when you hit or have a draw will only lead to long term profits by your opponent.

He refers to the book again when discussing a large multi-way pot and how you get 12-1 to call if there was a pre-flop raise but only 7-1 if no pre-flop raise. Discussing how that goes into your decision instead of blindly using ‘Fit or Fold’.

At the end of the article Malmuth ends with this gem regarding Fit or Fold: 

By the way, there is another point to be made about “Fit or Fold”, and this point has been mentioned many times before in my writing. It is the fact that poker is not simple. If it were, we would all be playing correctly and there would be no winners. So fortunately, it is a good thing that “Fit or Fold’ is a silly concept. source

Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger finds the Two Plus Two Internet Magazine an excellent source for Poker information.
Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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

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