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July 27, 2005Off to Vegas....We are off to Las Vegas in a couple of hours, so we wont be making any entries for a couple of days... We plan on playing a few Texas Holdem Tournaments while we are there, and I'm sure Wilcone will be playing in some No Limit Texas Holdem ring games.... With luck, we will have some success stories to report on when we return! See ya Sunday! Posted by fatbill at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) July 26, 2005Noble Poker addedI've added Noble Poker to my recommended listing of Poker Rooms. You can read the review in the ONLINE POKER SITES REVIEWED link here or on the right. One of the reasons, was this interesting idea for players that like Sit-N-Go type tournaments. ( SNG's are single table tournaments ) Noble poker will pay 1 MILLION DOLLARS to any player that can win seven consecutive low stakes SNG tournaments! 1 MILLION DOLLARS!! 6 in a row will net you $75K... and 5 in a row will net you $25K That aint a bad deal at all! CLICK HERE if you want to get in on this, or want more information.... Posted by fatbill at 09:18 AM | Comments (0) July 25, 2005Texas Holdem game last nightI played in a small Texas Holdem tournament last night for cash. There were only a little more than 20 players, and there was to be an optional add-on after the end of the thrid round. We started with 3000 in chips, and the add-on was for 1500 more. Things went pretty well for me most of the night, although I did not see that many decent hands. Early on, all the connectors that I tried to play never hit, and I went down about 1K by the end of the second level. After the add-on, cards were still pretty cold, but I managed to make what I did get pay well, and when we finally got down to the final 9, I was sitting pretty well at just over 6000. I never had a hand to play at the final table. NOT ONE... I watched my 6K dwindle down to 1600, when I pushed with QTd... 4 diamonds on the turn, but the river offered me no help, and I was out 8th.... That is the nature of the game. I'm not really dissapointed, as I made NO mistakes and lost NO big hands. Some encouragement heading into Vegas in two days! ;-) Posted by fatbill at 08:54 AM | Comments (0) July 23, 2005Vegas TournamentsThere are a couple tournaments going on in Vegas right now, that seem to be getting lost in the aftermath of the WSOP coverage. The Ultimate Poker Challange is going on at the Plaza. The final/main event goes off next week. The finals will be on Wednesday, which incidentally is the day we arrive in Vegas for our little 'family' adventure. I'm hoping at least to see some of the final table play when I get into town.... The Orleans has a tournament going on right now also. This tournament has much lower buy-in fees than most tournaments, which makes it attractive. It also has 'second chance' events each night for a $125 buy-in. I'm probably going to play at least one of these when I am in town, either Thrusday or Friday evening. It looks like they are drawing over 100 players to these events. Posted by fatbill at 08:38 AM | Comments (0) July 22, 2005Played well pre-Vegas!I played in the same Cash game last night as Wilcone, fortunately I had a little better results! ;-) I was short and down to $1025 when I was the Big Blind for $400. I had nothing, 57off.... the flop came 226.... I moved all in, as I was only up against two other players, one being the small blind. I took a chance that they would think I hit a Big Blind special.... they did, and folded, so I was able to double up. Next hand I get KK with one player ahead of me moving all in. I call! He has QQ.... we both hit a set on the flop, so I double up again! Now I'm over 4K, and we merge into the final 9. I was doing well, and at one point got the stack up over 6K, but took a huge hit when my AQ did not hit and I had to fold after calling a pre-flop raise.... All in moves with AKs, and JJ both went uncalled.... I was down to just over $3K when the player before me made it $1600 to go ( $800 big blind )... I had Pocket 9's... I either fold, or push, as calling would leave me only $1500... I decide to push... Unfortunately he had Jacks! I dont catch, and am out 6th... Posted by fatbill at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) Rather upsetting nightI played in a low end cash game with some good players, but I let myself get down to the felt and thats not good. I sure hope my vegas experience is gonna come through for me, lady luck left me and she doesnt seem to wanna come back. Posted by wilcone at 12:19 AM | Comments (0) July 21, 2005Phil Laak beats poker bot...There was a 'competition' held at Binions Horseshow recently, pitting several 'poker robots' against each other in Texas Holdem. The winning poker bot, named Poker Probot, came out victorious. This bot then went on to challange Phil Lack in a Limit Texas Holdem game. Laak beat the computer in a three hour contest, by adjusting his style to what he saw the computer doing: Playing too aggressively. 'Humans do it better' Posted by fatbill at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) July 20, 2005INteresting article...I read an interesting article at ESPN, that I thought I would share. You can read the entire article Here One of the most interesting parts: "Much has been written about the huge amounts of money many players are raking in, week after week, especially on the Web. But the fact is, in real life, such people are few and far between. Since there are very few, if any, reliable studies available that demonstrate the percentage of winners -- and big winners -- from among the tens of millions who play the game, you are probably wondering how I "know" this. Well, as it turns out, there is one group that can -- and does -- track this kind of stat, though they are not about to publicize the results. That group consists of online poker site management, two members of which revealed to me at the WSOP that what intuition suggests must be true -- only 8 and 7 percent, respectively, of all players on their sites finish the year in the black. And I'm not talking about deep in the black, either. The vast majority of those winners are not about to give up their day jobs." Posted by fatbill at 09:15 AM | Comments (0) July 18, 2005Getting called by questionable hands...I played in a live Texas Holdem tournament this past weekend that was a satellite into a bigger event for the upcoming Aruba Classic on the WPT. I played pretty well, all things considered. I really did not have that much in the way of cards, but got lucky playing several 'junk' hands in the blinds, so I was able to keep my chip count up. When I did get the 'big hands' I was able to capitalize on them, and make some modest gains in the chip stack.... Play got down to the final 7, and the table was being pretty tight. Only three would get the automatic buy-in to the next event. With a stack of 2700 Chips, and under the gun, I was dealt AQ, which was the best pre-flop hand I had had since we combined into the final table. Since the blinds were 800, there was little point in calling. I would have to push or fold. I decided to push it. I had not played a hand in a long time, and figured people would recognize that fact. I had previously pushed from this position and shown Pocket Rockets, and was counting on people to remember that, as I made it a point of commenting on it at the time. Frankly, I was just figuring to pick up the blinds and antes, which would have been a nice boost to my stack, figuring to cover my next big and small blinds.... Everyone folded to the Big Blind. He had me covered, but to make this call, EVEN with his big blind, would mean committing more than half his stack. After a few minutes of pondering, he says, "You probably have me dominated.... but I call"! HOW the hell can you make a call with the thought in your head that you would be dominated?? He had pocket 5's.... unfortunately, the board turned up 5 complete rags, and his 5's held. Posted by fatbill at 08:24 AM | Comments (0) July 17, 2005WSOP Update - Final StandingsWell, the big event is over, and all the winners have been listed, so here is the final World Series of Poker Overall Standings: Rank, Name/residence, Points, Final Tables, Winnings 1 Todd Witteles Las Vegas, NV 2,080 2 $463,195 They are only showing 326 Point earners in the listings, but there were many more in the cash, especially in the Main Event, where they paid 560 places there alone. Becasue of his win in the Main Event, Joseph Hachem moved into Second in the standings. Allen Cunningham and Eric Sidel BOTH made 4 final tables. Several players made 2 final tables, including Point Winner Todd Witteles A few fellow Michiganders fared well this year, including: Posted by fatbill at 07:01 AM | Comments (0) July 16, 2005WSOP Main Event Update - Final TableJoseph Hachem has just become the 2005 World Series of Poker champion, winning $7,500.000! It ended at approximately 6:40AM PST today! Here are the final table results, with earnings and POY points 1 Joseph Hachem $7,500,000 1920 The final numbers.... Posted by fatbill at 09:44 AM | Comments (0) July 15, 2005Wsop Main Event Update #8Well, the Final Table at the WSOP $10,000 Buy In No Limit Texas Holdem MAIN event is all set! Here is the table with the chip counts:
Interesting fact.... 11 of the final 27 players were online qualifiers, which guaranteed them at LEAST $350K. Cardplayer will be broadcasting LIVE audio of the Final Table later today, with commentators Danial Negraneau, Eric lingren, Phil Helmuth, and Jeniffer Harmon... should be interesting.... Posted by fatbill at 06:58 AM | Comments (0) July 14, 2005Some Side drama's at the WSOPThese side drama's are doubtful to make TV coverage, but are amoung the things that transpired during the last day's play. These are reported by CardPlayer.com ( whos coverage of the WSOP has been terrific! ) in their logs... "Some of the details are unclear, but about fifteen minutes ago at the Featured Table, one of the female dealers was quietly crying as she was replaced by the next dealer. Upon further investigation, one of the players at the final table was apparently being very critical of every mistake. According to Greg Raymer, it wasn't the content of what he was saying, but how he was saying it -- every criticism sounded like a spit in the face. If you took a transcript of what he said, it wouldn't appear to be very bad. But if you had to listen to it ... "Bing Wang was apparently confused following the last level of play. The break was scheduled to be 30 minutes, but Wang thought that it was a longer break for dinner. An easy mistake to make, considering a dinner break was announced, but for a different event also going on in the Amazon room. Wang has not returned to his seat and the tournament directors have made the decision to blind him off until he returns. The player sitting two spots to his right, Andy Black doesn't think that is fair. As a result, Black has asked the tournament directors to stop play until he returns. The ruling stands and Wang's chips are being blinded off. In an effort to help Wang out, Black is stalling and taking a very long time to do anything. Andy Black is visibly upset with what is taking place, and it appears that he is shedding a few tears." You knew there had to be some little drama's going on in the background! Posted by fatbill at 07:37 AM | Comments (0) WSOP Main Event Update #7They are down to the Final 27, and play will resume today at the Horseshoe. Those that remain, and their chip counts are: Notables that went out today include, Dutch Boyd, Lee Watkinson, Howard Lederer, and John Juanda.... A couple other small events that have gone on over the past couple days..... 1 John Pires $220,935, $1000 No Limit Texas Holdem, $882,505 Total Prize Pool, 971 Players - July 12th 1 Willie Tann $188,335m $1000 No Limit Texas Holdem, $697,360 Total Prize Pool, 758 Players - July 13th. It's easy to miss these smaller events in all the hype over the main event, and these are over-shadowed by the enormous prize pool for that Main Event. Still, these events had some impressive payouts! Posted by fatbill at 07:16 AM | Comments (0) July 13, 2005WSOP Main Event Update #6Play ended last night with 58 players remaining. Play will begin again today at Noon and continue until there are 27 players left. Those 27 players will move downtown to the Horseshoe for the final three tables and the eventual champion. Here are those remaining, and their chip counts:
Only a handful of 'name' pros remain, among them, The next 4 out will recieve $145,875 and then it jumps up to $173,880 until 46 are left. At that point the money jumps to $235,390 Once down to 27, players are assured at least $300,000+, but they have to make the final 9 to win a MILLION! Posted by fatbill at 07:52 AM | Comments (0) July 12, 2005Play Free Texas HoldemSo you have heard and see all the hype about Texas Holdem Poker, and you want to look into playing online, right? There are a few things to consider when you start your online play, lets see if we can address them! Playing for money or playing free? The fact of the matter, is that if you win money 20% of the time you play, you are ahead of the curve! There are those out there that win consistantly, and earn a very good living out of JUST playing online texas holdem! These players are normally referred to as the 'Sharks' Every major poker room on the internet offers you the opportunity to play texas holdem free! EVERY ONE OF THEM. You are able to play not only free texas holdem in ring games, but there are free texas holdem tournaments that you can enter and get a feel for the game. Realize, however, that when you play free texas holdem, the players are VERY loose and carefree with their play, UNLIKE playing for real money. It's very easy to risk 'PLAY MONEY', but when its YOUR money, its a totally different story. There is absolutely NO reason for you to risk your hard earned cash, until you have sufficient skills to compete in the money games. Even if you have money to burn, its senseless to just throw it away... you will do enought of that EVEN when you have the necessary skills and understanding of the game! ;-) Every game costs money to learn, and Texas Holdem is definately no different. Realize this, and accept the fact that it will cost you to learn to compete at higher and higher levels. Choosing the Right Poker room for Free Texas Holdem. As I mentioned, EVERY poker room that we recommend on this site offers free texas holdem play. We recommend these poker rooms because they are HONEST, FAIR, and run a good game. You can read more of our thoughts on each by looking at the Online Poker Sites Reviewed link on the main page. While I like playing at each of these poker rooms, I would suggest one of the bigger ones to start out. You will find more action, as they have more players. Look at PartyPoker.com, PokerRoom.com, or PacificPoker.com for starters. There are links to each poker site on the main page under ONLINE POKER ROOMS WE ENDORSE. When you have selected the poker room that appeals to you, you simply have to download their free software. NOTE: The DOWNLOAD IS TOTALLY FREE! There is ABSOLUTELY no risk in this download! It is NOT in the interest of the poker room to mess around with your computer and risk losing you as a player. Besides, We would not endorse any poker room that would play games with spyware or virus'.... that would hurt OUR credibility also! Once you have downloaded the free software, you will be asked to create a USERNAME, and PASSWORD for access to your account when you play. CHOOSE YOUR USERNAME WISELY! Once it is created, it is what you will be playing under, and getting known at the poker room by. Creating cute names that paint a target on your back may not be the best idea! ;-) Once you have the Username selected, and entered the appropriate information, you can start play. To supplement your play, take advantage of the free texas holdem articles and strategy guides that we have put together on this site. They will give you some insights into the rules of the game, as well as tips for playing. These can be found on the main page under POKER ARTILES/INFORMATION - Texas Holdem Poker Articles. Posted by fatbill at 01:22 PM | Comments (0) WSOP Main Event Update #5Day Three ended with 185 players remaining in the field. Play will resume today at Noon I dont think ANYONE expected to see Greg Raymer on top at this point... he'd gunning for the record book, if he can pull off the repeat! Three names stick out that CAN NOT be counted out: All are in the hunt with good chip stacks.... should be interesting! Posted by fatbill at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) July 11, 2005Online Gambling law 'untested'There is an interesting article in The Daily Times, of Maryville, Tn ( you can read the full article HERE. The part of the article that got me thinking was: "``I would imagine the argument that it is not illegal would be based on the fact that the bet is actually placed in a jurisdiction where gambling is legal,'' Young said. ``Until it is tested in court, no one can say for certain that it's legal or that it's against the law.''" Will they attempt to restrict resident's of states where Gambling is 'Not Legal' from going to states where is is? Is that so different than a web browser visiting some place where Gambling IS legal? interesting argument.... Posted by fatbill at 09:30 AM | Comments (0) WSOP Main Event Update #4Day 2 Ended with 569 Players remaining, and play resuming today at Noon PST. Play will resume on a hand-for-hand basis, to get down to the money. With only a few spots remaining to get into the money, expect play to be tight when they start, as its BUBBLE TIME! Among those still playing, are these notables: 6 Lee Watkinson $ 336,800 Play will move to the Horseshoe on Thursday....
Posted by fatbill at 08:42 AM | Comments (0) July 10, 2005WSOP Main Event Update #3Well, Day 1, Heat 3 is over, and the final 1868 players will continue play on 'day 2' later this afternoon. Heat 3 played down to 640. Lots of big names will not be among those that continue play.... Those that DO remain to continue play, include: This list may not be all inclusive... there are a lot of names to scan through! ;-) They announced the payout schedule! It goes like this: 1st: $7,500,000 Posted by fatbill at 08:45 AM | Comments (0) July 09, 2005WSOP Main Event update #2The Second heat of Day One concluded, with 606 players remaining. Heat three is today, again playing down to 650 or less, before combining the field tomorrow. There are a total of 5661 Entries for the Main event this year, FAR exceeding the 2004 event. A listing of Day One Heat One survivors can be found at PokerPages This page at Poker Pages.com has really nice listings of information for the WSOP events in the past. Good stuff to read for those wanting to catch up on past history of the WSOP. Posted by fatbill at 10:19 AM | Comments (0) Questionable calls, and whos making them...I played in a satelite tournament at the club this evening, with about 20 people who bought in... I played one of the best tournaments i have played in a long time, and got unlucky... With blinds at 2-400 with an ante i raised it to 2600 all in, and im not a loose player ( and people know that). I raised this with A-J unsuited, and everyone but one person stayed in the hand. "SHE" called me with a-9 suited in spades, now any good player who knows how tight I am woulda folded at that point...Thats over 3 times the blind. This is one hand that will run through my head, i played this hand correctly..i put people to a decision, the fact of the matter is that she caught a 9, thats all a measely 9. I HATE ACE RAG, no reason for her to call that much money but I guess i'll have to sit and wonder about this one for a while. I can not beat on myself for playing this hand wrong, but i cant stop thinking about it....so in case your wondering I only like american cheese with this whine. Posted by wilcone at 04:13 AM | Comments (0) July 08, 2005WSOP Main Event Update #1Well, the Main Event kicked off yesterday, with the First of 3 Day One's scheduled. Yep.. 3 Day Ones! Each day, they will have up to 2200 players, and play them down... then the three day survivors will play all together on Sunday. The people playing in the Saturday marathon will have the worst of it, having to return the next day, whereas yesterday and today's players will have some time to re-coop! Yesterday, they played 15 hours and took it down to 650! A bunch of notables were eliminated today.... it's gonna be a long haul for these players to make it to the money! Posted by fatbill at 08:20 AM | Comments (0) July 07, 2005WSOP Update 7-71 David Grey $365,135, $5000 No Limit Two to Seven Draw Lowball event, $989,860 Total Prize Pool, 65 Players ( 139 Rebuys ). The satellite's are over.... the MAIN EVENT starts TODAY! Here are the Top Listings for the Overall WSOP Point standings: The Overall WSOP Point champ will be decided at the Main Event! Posted by fatbill at 10:14 AM | Comments (0) July 06, 2005WSOP Events on TV?Dont expect to see the WSOP events on tv until the end of August. This is the Television schedule published for each event to be aired on ESPN: Posted by fatbill at 08:20 AM | Comments (0) WSOP Update 7-6John Heneghan Wins the $1000 Texas Holdem No Limit ( w/rebuys ), $2,350,020 Total Prize Pool ( 1584 Rebuys ), 894 Players. The $5000 No Liit Two to Seven Draw Lowball is still going on.... There is one $1000 Satellite scheduled for today, as well as a No Limit Texas Holdem Charity event. Tomorrow the Main Event - $10000 No Limit Texas Holdem tournament kicks off. It looks like the Overall WSOP standings will be decided by this event. Several players still have a real shot at it depending on points earned in the Main Event.... NOthing is announced about how many entries to the main event this year ( Last Year there were 2576 ), but to give you an idea of what they expect, here is the schedule they will use: July 7, Thursday Day 1A, The first 1,000 - 2,200 play down to 500-650 This would indicate they expect 6600 players! Posted by fatbill at 08:02 AM | Comments (0) July 05, 2005Dry spell? or is it?So i played in a tournament with 3 tables of play at the club. I was starting out fairly well when i flopped an open ended straight flush, it drained me when the turn gave the other guy a full house, and my straight flush never came. So i was dwindling holding my own for most of the tournament when i caught k-j in the hole, so i went all in hoping i wouldnt run into an ace....well thats exactly what i did, and i cant say i was upset by the call but i was upset i called that straight flush draw. Well ill be going to vegas in a couple of weeks and im hoping that all goes well and i come home with many stories, until then... Posted by wilcone at 12:36 PM | Comments (0) WSOP Update 7-51 Rafi Amit $511,835, $10000 Pot Limit Omaha Event, $1,551,000 Total Prize Pool, 165 Entries. 1 Todd Witteles $347,385, $3000 Limit Texas Holdem Event, $1,120,560 Total Prize Pool, 406 Entries. The $1000 No Limit Texas Holdem event is down to 54 players remaining. Show here are the top chip leaders: Today, Two events get underway: The main event kickes off Thursday.... There have been changes in the Overall WSOP Point Standings: Posted by fatbill at 08:19 AM | Comments (0) July 04, 2005WSOP Update 7-41 Andre Boyer $682,810, $3000 No Limit Texas Holdem, $2,767,600 Total Prize Pool, 1010 Entries! 1 Paul McKinney $202,725, $1000 No Limit Texas Holdem Seniors, $750,750 Total Prize Pool, 825 Entries. The $10000 Pot Limit Omaha event is down to 16 players. Players and their chip counts are: The $3000 Limit Texas Holdem event is down to 25 players. The top 34 made it into the money. Those remaining and their chip count are: Today the $1000 No Limit Holdem ( Multi Rebuy ) event gets underway. Only 3 Days until the main event!! Posted by fatbill at 09:37 AM | Comments (0) July 03, 2005WSOP Update 7-3David Chiu Wins Event #32 ($5,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split), $1,052,800 Total Prize Pool, 224 Entries. The $3000 No Limit Texas Holdem event is down to the final 9. Play will resume to day, with these players and their chip counts: The $1000 No Limit Texas Holdem Seniors event is down to the final 21, shown here with their chip counts: The $10000 Pot Limit Omaha event is down to 63 players, with play resuming today. Today the $3000 Limit Texas Holdem event gets underway. Allen Cunningham became the first person to Crack the $1 Million dollar mark in winnings. Of course, that feat will be more than matched once the main event is concluded. Expect 10 or more Million Dollar winners from the Main Event alone this year! Posted by fatbill at 08:17 AM | Comments (0) July 02, 2005World Series of Poker Overall StandingsThe Overall standings for the World Series of poker are pretty tight going into the final events. Mark Seif is still at the top, but other top pros are definately within striking distance! Here are the top 25: No one has topped $1 Million yet, althought Allen Cunningham is on the verge. Only a couple people have made more than two final tables. Posted by fatbill at 09:36 AM | Comments (0) WSOP Update 7-21 O'Neil Longson $125,690, $1500 Seven Card Razz, $401,580 Total Prize Pool, 291 Entries. The $5000 Omaha High-Low 8/OB event is down to the final table, shown here with chip counts: Those in the top 18 made the money.. they are: The $3000 No Limit Texas Holdem event is down to 51. Top 100 made it to the money. The top 10 players remaining by chip count are: Other notable chip counts: Billy Baxter $72,600 Two Events go off today: Only 5 days remain until the kick off of this year's MAIN EVENT! Posted by fatbill at 09:27 AM | Comments (0) July 01, 2005WSOP Update 7-11 Lawrence Gosney $483,195, $2000 No Limit Texas Holdem, $1,972,480 Total Prize Pool, 1072 Entries The $1500 Seven Card Razz event is down to the final 3 as of this writing with play continuing... as of 4:40AM Vegas Time here they are and their chip counts: Doyle Brunson Wins Event #29 $367,800, $5,000 Short-Handed No-Limit Texas Hold'em, $1,414,700 Total Prize Pool, 301 Entries The $5000 Omaha High-Low 8/OB event is down to 49 (top 18 make the money) with play resuming today. The top ten and their chip count are: Today the $3000 No Limit Texas Holdem event gets underway.... Posted by fatbill at 07:48 AM | Comments (0) |
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