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December 30, 2005Full Tilt Poker Goes MACFull Tilt Poker announced recently that they are now MAC COMPATIBLE. There has been a lot of problems for those poker players that wanted to play some texas holdem poker online, and owned mac's! Most software's were not compatible and they were basically out of luck, OR with extremely limited options. Well, NOW players are able to utilize their MAC, and play against the NUMEROUS pro's at Full Tilt! CLICK HERE to give Full Tilt Poker a try! Posted by fatbill at 01:02 PM | Comments (0) In Playing Texas Holdem PokerI played in a small Multi Table Texas Holdem Poker Tournament last night at the club. I thought I was playing very well, and making correct reads for most of the night. I made a number of correct calls, AND a number of correct lay-down's when I needed to. After the first break ( end of level 3 ) I was up almost double the starting chip count, and feeling really good about my game. Shortly after resuming play, we were down to 20 players, and my table got broken up and we got integrated in to the other two tables. At this point cards went TOTALLY south for me! I got really nice hole cards, but hit absolutely nothing on the flops, and found my 'Nice stack' dwindled down to under 4K by the next break. Shortly after this break, I was moved to even out the tables. Cards STILL were poor, but I was able to hold my own for a while. Once blinds got higher, I was starting to see my stack dwindle because of the blinds and ante's. Even with stealing some blinds, I was hurting. Down to 2K in the BB ( blinds 400/200-25 ), and I get t7o. The small just calls ( he's the big stack ). The flop comes 6 j t. The small bets 1K. I dont think he has shit, and he's been known to make moves and bluff a lot. I go over the top all-in. He has to call the small amount remaining, and turns over A8o. I was correct in my read, he had NOTHING, and I had a pair of t's. He of course sucked out the A on the river..... Posted by fatbill at 12:52 PM | Comments (0) December 26, 2005Played Texas Holdem PokerI went to the club with my son for the annual Christmas Party Tournament of No Limit Texas Holdem Poker. THere was a really good turn out, and because of the Party, we started with 5000 in chips instead of the normal 3000. Play was pretty even keeled for the first few rounds, and because of the amount of starting chips, players were not going out as fast as normal. After level 6, I still had 5K in chips! Then this hand happened..... I'm dealt QQ in middle position. The Chip leader comes out for 4X, and I decide just to call. The big Blind also calls, and everyone else folds. The board is a 10 high rainbow. The chip leader makes it 1500... I go over the top for another 2100 going all in! I'm figuring, there are only a couple hands that have me beat, assuming no one hit their trips. The big blind folds, and the chip leader calls... she has pocket aces..... thats my luck.... none. Posted by fatbill at 09:55 AM | Comments (0) December 23, 20052005 Player of the YearAs announced by CardPlayer Men "the master" Nguyn is the 2005 Card Player Player of the year! "There will be no postscript this time. No garbage points to fight over. Men “The Master” Nguyen is the 2005 Card Player Player of the Year. Nguyen showed consistency and closing speed in 2005. He cashed in events both big and small, making 16 final tables and pocketing close to $1 million. He had victories at three WSOP Circuit preliminary events, and like all great champions, showed his mettle with his dramatic victory to stave off John Phan at the Trump Classic. This will be Nguyen’s fourth Player of the Year award. He also took home the honor in 1997, 2001, and 2003. " Posted by fatbill at 08:38 AM | Comments (0) WPT Open LetterAs reported by PokerNews.com there was recently an open letter published by the founder of the WPT to address some issues that have been encountered in running tournaments. One such issue was the language in the waiver required for film rights. Anyways... here is the letter in it's entirty: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ An Open Letter to the Poker Community from WPT Founder, Steven Lipscomb As I take stock of all the things we have to be thankful for in the holiday season, I find it appropriate and necessary to share some thoughts with the poker community at large. Firmly believing that people will, in the end, be judged by their actions, I have long made it a policy at the World Poker Tour to let our actions speak for themselves. The persistence of widely disseminated misinformation regarding a number of things has prompted me to break with that tradition today. I want to first state that the relationship between the WPT and our players is one of paramount importance to us. Neither the WPT nor the players would be enjoying the extraordinary success we have seen over the last three years without each other. It is essential that we all respect and appreciate what the players, the WPT casinos and the WPT staff have brought to the table in creating this new world of poker. We truly value the relationship we continue to have with our players and see it as a two-way street. We encourage players to bring their concerns directly to us in the effort to ensure a healthy, positive and fruitful relationship and we will continue to attempt to address those issues as quickly as possible. To help facilitate communication, we are launching a "For Players Only" portion of our website early next year, designed to foster information exchange and dialogue directly with WPT players. Players should make sure we have current email information so we can send them a Players Only password. That being said, I would like to focus on the issues that have caused unnecessary concern in order to help put them in perspective. FILMING RELEASES: The latest hot button issue seems to be the filming release we require players to sign before they play in World Poker Tour events. The release we utilize is a standard filming release that all production companies must have signed by everyone they film - or the television broadcaster will refuse to air our material. Filming releases are always broadly drafted to protect against frivolous law suits. The language is clear. The production company can use all the footage it shoots and the person's image in all media. But, the story does not end there. The World Poker Tour is a business. We value our relationship with WPT players and have always acted with great care and deference when using player images. The few players now trying to stir up controversy around player releases are lost in hypotheticals - not reality. A perfect example occurred recently. Without my approval, a banner ad featuring three prominent players was used by a WPT affiliate to drive people to our online poker site. Within an hour of hearing about the ad, I had it removed - not because we were legally obligated to, but because the players asked us to—and we take their concerns seriously. We have always acted this way as a matter of course. But, I am happy to go on record today to promise the poker community that we will always listen to a player who feels that he or she is uncomfortable with how we use their image. If we feel we can or should, we will modify or eliminate that use. And, if not, we will explain, to the best of our ability, why not. What I cannot do is subject WPTE to endless lawsuits by severely restricting the rights we obtain in our filming release. No credible production company could or would do so. And, it is in the interest of all poker players for the WPT to be focusing its efforts and resources on growing poker into one of the largest sports in the world - rather than defending an endless line of frivolous lawsuits. I challenge the poker community to be very cautious about accepting misinformation without looking further. I am convinced that, if people take the time to investigate how the World Poker Tour has acted, they will agree that we should be commended as a company for the way we have handled this issue—and the way we listen and respond to players in general. One more thing. The few players trying to make this a wedge issue want people to believe that players may lose endorsement opportunities because of signing WPT or ESPN film releases. Once again, this is not a real concern, but a remote hypothetical. You need to ask if any player has lost an endorsement deal because of WPT, ESPN, FOX, etc. filming releases. The answer is there are none. Players should always let potential sponsors know that they have signed the industry-standard, filming release that makes it possible for them to be on television - and therefore be of value to the sponsor. Sponsors and manufacturers deal with these circumstances all the time - on every television show from Survivor to Seinfeld. If you are lucky enough to have your television poker exposure make you a star worthy of endorsement contracts, the release will not impede that process. And, finally, players who have played in any WPT events over the last three and a half years have already signed a release. That means that signing a release at the next hundred or a thousand WPT tournaments will have no effect of committing them any more than they are already committed. THE WORLD POKER TOUR HAS YET TO TURN A PROFIT: Another rampant misunderstanding in the poker community is that the World Poker Tour or WPT Enterprises (WPTE) is making massive profits and is somehow the evil empire that refuses to spread the wealth. Nothing could be further from the truth. WPTE has been in business for four years and has yet to turn a profit. We continue to invest in what we believe will be the bright future of poker and the league that launched poker as a sport. And we, more than any institution in the business, have taken and continue to take steps to grow the poker world in general to benefit players and the broader community. Just a few examples: In our second season, we launched and funded the first player management company in history - not because we thought it would make us money, but because we wanted to foster relationships and build opportunities for players. We passed that organization on to Brian Balsbaugh who has managed to make meaningful sponsorship deals a reality for an ever-growing group of players. In a broader sense, it is the World Poker Tour, its staff and casino partners that have made this poker boom possible. Every player that commentates on a rival TV show, every player that wins a million dollar first prize, every player that participates in or endorses an online poker room, every player that sits down in a packed poker room full of new players benefits from the World Poker Tour. Some people seem to forget that just three years ago you had to wait a year to get a shot at a million dollar first prize tournament. Poker rooms were being shut down across the country and industry leaders were holding conferences seeking ways to save a dying business. People forget that the biggest five and ten thousand dollar buy-in events had thirty to sixty people in them - not the six to nine hundred players you see today. A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY A tremendous land of opportunity has been created and opened to the poker community by the World Poker Tour and the other poker shows it has spawned. Poker rooms across the country are making money as they never imagined they could or would. Online poker has exploded from a two hundred million dollar market to a three billion dollar market by associating with the WPT and other television shows. And, whereas no one wanted to put regularly scheduled poker on television in the U.S. in 2001/2002, at least fifteen shows are currently airing in the U.S. - copying the WPT format. There are a lot of people making money in the poker market today. Most of those opportunities did not exist prior to the World Poker Tour. The three founders of Party Gaming cashed out over a billion dollars from their business this year. Estimates are that Full Tilt Poker, owned and launched by A-list poker players, is making hundreds of thousands of dollars a day, millions of dollars a month. Poker players are being paid for appearances, they are endorsing products and poker sites and they are even beginning to crack the difficult layers of legitimate corporate sponsorship. Free-roll television shows totaling millions of dollars in prize money are being announced monthly and new poker interest shows are being produced as well. THE WORLD POKER TOUR The World Poker Tour is excited by all of this - and no one is happier than Lyle Berman or me when players do well and manage to cash in on the poker boom. But, with all the money being made, the poker community should be aware that the guy who put up millions of dollars to change the poker world - Mr. Lyle Berman - has, to date, not made a cent. He has never drawn a salary and, as of today, he and Lakes Entertainment have not sold one share of World Poker Tour stock. Their investment has appreciated, but I can not imagine that poker players or the poker community begrudge him that - any more than they would expect Party Gaming's investors or the Full Tilt players to redistribute their profits. For my own part, all my compensation is a matter of public record. And, to quote the wife of one of our WPT Champions, "I've seen what you made to launch this business and no poker player would have done it for that. I wouldn't have done it." As to my stock in the company, I have sold less than twenty percent of my ownership and continue to believe and invest in the future growth of poker and the World Poker Tour. WE ARE AN OPEN BOOK, PLEASE COME READ US As a public company, all of this information is easily assessable on any search engine: YAHOO! Finance, CNN Business, Motley Fool, MSNBC, etc. I encourage members of the poker community to look at our company information. Under the watchful eye of the Securities and Exchange Commission, we report how much money the company makes, how much it spends, how much executives are paid and even how much stock, if any, those executives sell. Lyle can attest to the fact that we have yet to turn a profit. He made a $10,000 bet with another poker player when the World Poker Tour began that the company would turn a profit sometime in the first five years. To date, he has not been able to collect on that bet. THE WPT AND THE POKER COMMUNITY I guess I would like to ask the poker community in general and the poker player community in particular to help us keep focused on the task at hand - which is to grow poker into the largest global sports phenomenon in history. I ask that you judge us by what we do and look beyond rumor. Seek the truth; don't just accept misinformation as gospel. While individual players may have their own motivation for spreading misinformation about the WPT or anyone else in our community, keep an open mind and look for the reality. Everyone has his/her own agenda and we are no exception to that rule. But, our incentives tend to align with the growth of poker as a sport that will continue to bring benefit to everyone in the community. I appreciate your taking time to digest these thoughts. Together we have managed to change the face of poker forever. Together we have managed to dispel the perception that poker could never be a sport. We look forward to working together in 2006 to find new ways that we can grow the poker world together. And, on behalf of Lyle, Robyn and everyone at the World Poker Tour, we wish a safe and joyous holiday season to you and yours. We truly feel blessed to be a part of this exciting time in poker. Regards, Steve Posted by fatbill at 08:30 AM | Comments (0) December 19, 2005Poker Tournaments in Jan 2006I was looking at what was coming up for the new year, and MAN are there a lot of tournaments scheduled for January! How the hell do these promoters expect the pros to make all of these events, with the timing that is laid out? Here are the events and the dates, so you can see what I mean! 2006 Pokerstar's Caribbean Poker Adventure - WPT 2006 Jack Binion WSOP Tournament Circuit-Grand Tunica 2006 Aussie Millions 2006 Gold Strike World Poker Open - WPT 2006 L.A. Poker Classic 2006 Borgota Winter Poker Open - WPT My Guess is that a number of pros will be playing in both the Jack ABinion and the Gold Strike, since they are both in Tunica, and they over lap. You would think that the WSOP and the WPT would do SOME co-ordinating of events so that there would be less overlap. This would be better for BOTH tours, as MORE of the top pros would be able to appear at both. This would make for better TV, and hence, more of an audience! Posted by fatbill at 10:37 AM | Comments (0) December 17, 20055 Diamond Classic WinnerRehne Pedersen wins the 2005 WPT Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic, winning $2,078,185, a gold-and-diamond bracelet, and a $25,500 entry into the season-ending WPT World Championship. Patrik Antonius finished second, earning $1,046,470. Doyle Brunson Eliminated in 3rd Place ($563,485) Posted by fatbill at 11:53 AM | Comments (0) December 16, 20055 Diamond Classic Final TableWell, the 2005 4th Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic is down to the final table of 6. Those left, and their chip counts are: 1 Joanne "J.J." Liu 3,630,000 Chips Play will resume at 7PM PST to determine this year's champion. There were 555 Entries to this event, making a total prize pool of $8,075,250, paying out the top 100 entries. Posted by fatbill at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) December 14, 2005Thoughts on Limit Texas Holdem PokerI thought I would write some thoughts about the differences I have witnessed playing Limit Texas Holdem Poker online. This is something different for me, as I have concentrated mainly on No Limit Texas Holdem Poker, in both my Online, and my offline play. Normally, I play tournament texas holdem poker, in either sit-n-go formats, or in some sort of satellite event. I also belong to a private poker club that concentrates mainly on tournament style play, to prepare it's players for big events. In both of these formats, I generally play No Limit Texas Holdem, and have become accustomed to that style of play. I have played limit texas holdem poker in casino's in the past. Mainly when the local casino's were just getting poker rooms started up, and they did not have, or allow, No Limit action. In most cases, Casinos offered stakes that were of the $2/$4 or $3/$6 betting on the low end, up to $10/$20 on the high end. Frankly, I thought playing limit poker in these places was terribly boring, Probably because my style of play is a bit tight. To explain a bit further, Stakes of $2/$4 means that the Small Blind is $1 and the Big Blind is $2. Betting starts out at $2 max bet, with 3-4 raises allowed. After the turn, the maximum bet is increased to $4, again with 3-4 raises allowed. A fellow player that I talk to frequently from my club, has been tracking his progress for his online limit texas holdem poker play. He plays a lot of hands, and usually plays 3 to 4 tables at a time at a certain limit blind stake. His results were interesting enought to get me thinking that it was something I should try to see if my results were any different. I went out and purchased Poker Tracker@ to keep track of my play, and set out playing in some small stakes limit games online. Usually I play two tables at a time, as it is easier for me to keep track of play that way. The first thing that I noticed about Limit Texas HOldem Poker, is that MANY more players stay to see flops than in No Limit Texas Holdem. Not only that, but many more players stay in a hand much longer in limit play. It is highly unusual in No Limit TExas Holdem poker for more than two players to stay in a hand through the river, IF play even gets to the river. In Limit play, no only does play get to betting after the river, but it is not unusual for 3 or 4 players to be in the hand at that point. I believe that this is true partially because the cost of seeing addional cards is not as prohibitive in limit play. In NO Limit Texas Holdem, to see the turn or the river, you must be willing to risk a substantial bet, usually 4 to 5 times the big blind, to see a card. In Limit Texas Holdem Poker, it is not uncommon for that same card to only cost you ONE big blind. Since the cost is so low, players are more apt to stay to attempt to catch those low percentage plays. This style of 'river rat' play can be extremely frustrating for most good players. If you hit a hand on the flop, you can not get weaker players out of the hand in limit, due to the cost of play mentioned above. The same hand played in No Limit Texas Holdem would be so costly to continue for a weak hand, because of the amount of the bet, that it would be folded most of the time. This is part of playing online that you must adjust to, and if you do, it can be highly rewarding. Remember, odds are, that river rats will only hit their 'hopeful' hands a small percentage of the time! Posted by fatbill at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio - 2005Well, things are heating up in the No Limit Texas Holdem Poker $15K buy in Championship at the 2005 4th Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic. They are down to 120 players, and one of the all time greats, Doyle Brunson is in the running for the $2Million Top Prize! Here are the top ten chip counts as they sit now: 1. Patrik Antonius - $644,700 The action picks back up at Noon Vegas Time today.... Posted by fatbill at 09:46 AM | Comments (0) December 12, 2005POY Race Just got HotterThe race for Player of the Year just got hotter, as Men 'The Master' Nguyen just passed John Pham to take the top spot! Men's performance at the 5 Star Classic, which includes TWO final table apperances in No Limit Texas Holdem Poker, pushed him ahead of Pham by 124 points. A more in depth article on this can be found at PokerNews .com Others still in the hunt, and with a good chance at POY honors include: Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Tony Ma, Gavin Smith and Max Pescatori. The Main event at the 5 Star kicks off today with the $15,000 No Limit Texas Holdem Poker Championship! This event could go a long way in deciding the POY race. Posted by fatbill at 09:01 AM | Comments (0) December 10, 2005WSOP Showboat tourneyChris Reslock wins the WSOP Circuit Championship at the Showboat Casino in Atlantic City, winning $335,235, a gold-and-diamond ring, and entry into the 2006 WSOP Tournament of Champions. John Juanda finished in second place, earning $186,240. Seems Juanda's luck is about the same... bad. He has just not had much luck in either WSOP Circuit or WPT events..... Speaking of the WPT.. the Five Diamond World Poker Classic is drawing to a conclusion, with the main event, the $10,000 No Limit Texas Holdem Poker event, scheduled for Monday the 12th. The $5,000 No Limit Texas Holdem Poker event concluded yesterday. There were 253 entries, with the following results: There was also a $2,500 No Limit Texas Holdem Poker SENIORS event yesterday, drawing 135 players. They are down to the top twenty five: Posted by fatbill at 09:15 AM | Comments (0) December 09, 2005Getting back into it...I have been under the weather somewhat of late, and have neglected things here, so lets see if we can do some updating.... There are two major tournaments going on in the Atlantic City area right now... 2005 Trump Classic Poker Tournament, and Pretty unusual for two Texas Holdem Poker events to be held at the same time in the same area, but I'd assume that Trump is trying to capitalize on the players being in town. Most of the events in the Trump Classic, are $300 buy in events. THe WSOP Circuit event is winding down, with the final group in the main event being held today.
Juanda has a pretty good chip lead, and is going to be hard to unseat! Posted by fatbill at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) December 02, 20052005 Bellagio Five Diamond ClassicThe 2005 4th Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic is in full swing now, with the first two events in the books. It's impressive to see some of the top names playing in the early events! The first event: Second event: Posted by fatbill at 11:34 AM | Comments (0) Playing Texas Holdem Poker Online...My results thus far, from playing texas holdem poker ring games online have been less than impressive. I'm having a difficult time adjusting to the river rat mentality of most of the players that I've run across in the lower limits at the poker rooms I have played at. It is hard for me to imagine someone coming over the top of me TWICE with something like K8s when I'm holding rockets.... and THEN getting rewarded by hitting a straight on the river. Now, if this was an isolated issue, I'd say no big deal, but yesterday's sessions were ALL like that! Rivered, Rivered, Rivered..... it was ugly and I was not pleased. I decided to buy some software to help me analyze my play, and compare that play over a number of hands. We will see how it works out, and if I like it, I'll post my findings, and what I am using. Posted by fatbill at 11:23 AM | Comments (0) |
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