Just Poker Talk

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WSOP H.O.R.S.E. tournament started on Sunday June 24th and will crown the true ‘World Champion of Poker’ at the end of the 5 day tournament.

I say the true world champion because of the versatility the players must have to win the tournament. They must be good in 5 different poker games. H=Hold’em O=Omaha eight or better R=Razz S=Stud high E=Stud low Eight or better are all played during the tournament. 148 of the top world class players entered the H.O.R.S.E tournament putting up the $50,000 entry. Last year Chip Reese won the WSOP H.O.R.S.E championship.

Of course ESPN and many others feel very strongly that the WSOP Main Event winner is the World Champion of Poker. Last year when Jamie Gold won the Main Event the  $12 million he pocketed took him to right to the top of the all time tournament money winners list.

What did you think of Jamie’s tableside manner? How do you think he will do this year?

Another player with debated tableside manner Phil Helmuth, earlier won his 11th WSOP bracelet. Phil won the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event.

Here is a site that has many Poker Tournament videos. Sort of like youtube for Poker. Check it out.

 

Here is part 2 of the of the 2002 World Series of Poker.

poker, World Series of Poker 2002, Robert Varkonyi, Julian Gardner, Ralph Perry, Scott Gray, Harley Hall, Russell Rosenblum, Tony D, John Shipely, Minh Ly

The 2002 World Series of Poker is where my interest in poker began. I know Varkonyi got lucky, but his victory definitely made me influenced me, made me feel that I could win at poker too. This was also the first year where the viewer was able to see everyone’s cards and that really helped make poker entertaining for me to watch. Anyway here is the first part of the 2002 Final Table. I hope it inspires some people to play poker, like it did me.

poker, World Series of Poker 2002, Robert Varkonyi, Julian Gardner, Ralph Perry, Scott Gray, Harley Hall, Russell Rosenblum, Tony D, John Shipely, Minh Ly

Bluffing is my favorite aspect of poker. I’m not always successful, as it’s not easy to bluff players at the micro limits. It’s something that I can’t seem to learn, and I always end up trying to bluff players who call me anyway. Granted sometimes that is because I make irrational bluffs and get called for good reason. Bluffing keeps the game interesting to me and I love the mind games that come with playing a more deceptive and unpredictable style.

The psychology is what interests me. Sometimes I admit that I over think the craftiness of players and end up beating myself, but that’s all part of the process of improving my skills. I’m going to take a lot of hits along the way, and as long as I stay mentally tough through the losses, I should be able to adjust and be successful with a more deceptive style.

One thing I like to do is watch how other players bluff and try to figure out what they were thinking when they attempted a bluff. Here are the best bluffs from the 2003 World Series of Poker.

Sam Farha, Chris Moneymaker, poker, bluff, World Series of Poker

ESPN announced that this year’s coverage of the WSOP will be broadcast in HD. Maybe this is not exciting to most, but this is excellent news to me. I’ve been clamoring for HD coverage of the WSOP for two years, so I’m pretty excited about this news.

From tvweek.com

ESPN’s popular summer coverage of the “World Series of Poker” is being upgraded to high-definition, sources familiar with the decision said.

Starting in July, 32 hours of coverage will be presented in HD for the first time. The coverage will include the main Texas Hold ‘Em event as well as other World Series events. The tiny “hole-card cam” that briefly shows what each player is holding most likely be unconverted.

The upgrade makes “WSOP” the first regular poker series to be produced in HD.

The rest of the article can be read at tvweek.com

HD, ESPN, WSOP

1997 World Series of Poker, Stu Ungar, Gabe Kaplan, Mel Judah, Bob Walker, John Strzemp, Ron Stanley, Peter Bao

Today ESPN announced the events that they plan for their coverage of the 2007 World Series of Poker. For this year’s coverage, there are two noteworthy changes.

ESPN plans to expand their coverage of the Main Event to 16 hours, about four or five hours than last year. This makes sense due to the expected increase in participation at the Main Event.

The $50,000 buy-in HORSE tournament will also be covered, with six hours of coverage to be televised. The inclusion of the HORSE tournament appears to be a compromise for the lack of variety in the past two years’ lineup, which featured No-Limit Hold’em exclusively.

This differed from three years ago when ESPN covered Razz, Omaha, Omaha 8, Seven-Card-Stud, and Limit Hold’em. ESPN’s coverage that year was my first introduction to the other variations of poker, and, admittedly, it was difficult to follow some of the games at first, but it did not take long to pick up and understand how the games worked, however I can see why ESPN decided to focus on No-Limit Hold’em in subsequent years. It’s hard to enjoy a watching a game that the viewer does not understand how to play. Unless, I guess, the competitors are all scantily clad women, or whatever your preference. Another reason, I suspect, is that viewers began watching No-Limit Hold-em, and that’s what they want to watch. The problem is that, sooner or later, the game will get stale.

The following is a schedule of when the events will be played, not when they will be televised. It should also be noted that coverage of selected events are subject to change. The “OR” means that either the event above or below will be televised, not both, at least that is my interpretation of the schedule.

From Business Wire

The schedule of events ESPN plans to cover includes:

• June 1, Event No. 1: Mixed Hold ’Em World Championship, $5,000 buy-in.
• June 2, Event No. 3: No-Limit Hold ’Em, $1,500 buy-in.
• June 3, Event No. 4: Pot-Limit Hold ’Em, $1,500 buy-in.

OR

• June 4, Event No. 7: Pot-Limit Omaha, $5,000 buy-in.
• June 5, Event No. 8: No-Limit Hold ’Em, $1,000 buy-in with re-buys.
• June 8, Event No. 13: Pot-Limit Hold ’Em, $5,000 buy-in.
• June 17, Event No. 28: No-Limit Hold ’Em, $3,000 buy-in.
• June 18, Event No. 30: No-Limit Hold ’Em Six-Handed, $2,500 buy-in./
• June 19, Event No. 31: No-Limit Hold ’Em Heads Up, $5,000 buy-in

OR

• June 20, Event No. 33: Pot-Limit Omaha with Re-buys, $1,500 buy-in.
• June 24, Event No. 39: HORSE World Championship, $50,000 buy-in.
• July 1, Event No. 50: Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship, $10,000 buy-in.
• July 6, Event No. 55: No-Limit Hold ’Em Main Event, $10,000 buy-in.

World Series of Poker, ESPN, television, No-Limit Hold-em, HORSE, Main Event

I was happy to hear that GSN has renewed High Stakes Poker for a fourth season. It is one of my favorite poker shows. Plus it helps that I can watch episodes through YouTube, since I don’t have cable or a television.

In fact, eleven episodes from season three are posted on YouTube in short ten-minute segments, so that has allowed me to keep up with the show. Mostly I enjoy the show because there’s so much money on the line, and it’s refreshing to watch cash game play versus the customary tournament play that is televised.

Here an excerpt from the article from CardPlayer.com:

GSN today announced that filming of the fourth season of High Stakes Poker will take place at South Point Casino in Las Vegas in May. The show is the most-watched series on GSN in the highly sought after demographic of men ages 18 to 34.

“We are very pleased with the success of HIGH STAKES POKER and the tremendous buzz it has generated,� said Cronin., President and CEO of GSN. “It is far and away the most talked about poker show. We plan on making HSP 4 the richest season yet with players bringing up to a million dollars of their own money to play in the biggest cash game on TV.�

Here is the first episode of High Stakes Poker season three:

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1989 WSOP, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, poker, ESPN

Poker After Dark joins the saturated arena of televised poker in hopes of cashing in on the popularity of poker. The series offers much of the tried and true elements that have made the WPT and WSOP popular, but also adds a few wrinkles to the formula, which will appeal to hardcore poker fans.

Each week six top poker pros play a winner take all tournament with a buy-in of $20,000. Coverage is spread over five one hour episodes aired Monday through Friday at two a.m. A recap episode is aired on Saturday at one a.m.

Poker After Dark revolves around the premise that the viewer is drawn to the lives of professional poker players, since all of the show’s commentary is generated by table banter among the poker pros. There are no color commentators except for the occasional voice over comment that tells the viewer who won a hand or gives clarification on the banter.

The voice overs come off as more intrusive than informative. The randomness and sparseness of the comments make them feel out of place, and it doesn’t help that the commentator’s voice lacks personality and sounds both stiff and rushed. The banter feels relaxed and unforced, and there is enough of it that the voice over comments are unnecessary.

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When I was digging up information on Shana Hiatt yesterday, I found that she is now the host of Poker After Dark. This is a new poker show produced by NBC and airs Monday through Friday at two a.m. and at one a.m. on Saturday. I plan to post a full review of the show on Monday. Until now, enjoy the first episode of Poker After Dark.

Poker After Dark, Gus Hansen, Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Huck Seed, Shawn Sheikhan, Steve Zolotow