High Stakes Poker IV

One of my favourite shows is returning with
brand new episodes, and a big $ upgrade.

High Stakes Poker which airs on the
Game Show Network (GSN) will unveil
its new season August 27th at 9pm.

The first half of the season will have a
familiar look and feel, as players stake
$100k of their own money to play NLH.
Returning players include Doyle Brunson,
Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Jennifer
Harman, Barry Greenstein, Eli Elezra,
Phil Laak, Sammy Farha, and Todd Brunson.
Phil Hellmuth returns after a 2 season absense.

The real excitement begins in the last 7
episodes of season IV. Beginning with the
November 7th episode, High Stakes Poker
could be called 'Really High Stakes Poker',
as the minimum buy in grows to $500,000,
which means that there will be $5 million
in play as the cards fly.
The action on those $500k buy in
episodes is really fast. Rumour has it
that one guy gets stacked, and then almost
stacked again (after he reloaded) within a
span of about 20 minutes.

Needless to say, the person in question
was none too happy about it, and the
table were merciless in bringing the
needles out. It's all in fun, but with the
money so high with the new elevated
buy in, the tensions run kind of high
as well, and that makes for good television.

JERRY YANG WINS

I was tired, and I was only watching
it on tv from my couch !!

Nearly 16 hours after his dominating
final table performance began,
Jerry Yang from Temecula, CA
beat Tuan Lam from Canada to
capture the 2007 World Series of
Poker Main Event Championship.

Yang, who qualified for the Main Event
in a live $225 satellite at the Pechanga
casino, picked up the bracelet, a Corum
watch, and $8.25 million in prize money.

Tuan Lam played patiently and always
seemed to be card dead or waiting
for that one big opportunity to double
up through Yang. It will be interesting
to see the edited down version of the
final table and see if he really was
card dead or playing overly tight.

Canadian WSOP ME Champ ?

Wont be Daniel...or Gavin Smith
or any of the other big name Canucks.
How about TUAN LAM

Keep an eye on Seat 6:

TUAN LAM
Hometown: Mississauga, ON
Online Name: BABYHAN
Chip Count: 21,315,000 (2nd in chips)
Tuan Lam was born in Vietnam on
New Years Day in 1966, during the war.
He eventually immigrated to Canada
at the age of 19. He now lives in the
Toronto area where he plays online
poker professionally. Prior to turning pro,
Lam worked as a general laborer for
a metal company. Then, he learned
how to play poker from friends and
became a professional dealer.
This is his third year to attend the WSOP.
His prior cashes were 46th place in
an event last year and 78th place in a
WSOP tournament held in 2005.
He also earned 2nd in the 2005
PokerStars WCOP 6-handed NL
tournament for a cool $55,000.
He is married with two children.

WSOP ME Final Table

6,358 players started the WSOP
Main Event on July 6th.
Nine days later, 36 players remained
in the field. Sunday's Day 6 required a
grueling 16 hours of play to get from the
36 players down to a final nine, finally
reached when Scotty Nguyen (out 11th)and
Steven Garfinkle (out 10th) exited at the end
of play. Players starting Day Six were
guaranteed a minimum of $285,678.

Here are the seating assignments and
chip counts for Tuesday's final table:
Seat 1: Jon Kalmar – 20,320,000
Seat 2: Lee Childs – 13,240,000
Seat 3: Philip Hilm – 22,070,000
Seat 4: Jerry Yang – 8,450,000
Seat 5: Raymond Rahme – 16,320,000
Seat 6: Tuan Lam – 21,315,000
Seat 7: Alex Kravchenko – 6,570,000
Seat 8: Lee Watkinson – 9,925,000
Seat 9: Hevad Khan – 9,205,000

Looks like it could be a real
exciting final table with no
landslide chip leader.


I think that the blinds will start at
$100,000/$200,000 with an $30,000 ante
...so the short stacks will have about
50 big blinds to work with starting out.


And here's what they're playing for:
1st: $8,250,000
2nd: $4,840,981
3rd: $3,048,025
4th: $1,852,721
5th: $1,255,069
6th: $956,243
7th: $705,229
8th: $585,934
9th: $525,934

Total Prize Pool: $59,784,954

WSOP Day 5

Looks like my predictions are the
KISS OF DEATH...hahaha.

Down to only 36 players going into
day number six. A few well known
pro's are still left including
Scotty Nyguyen, Daniel Alaei,
and Lee Watkinson.

Hevad "Rain" Khan has been a poker
assassin for the last five days
repeatedly knocking out the big
named pro's at his table...
someone to keep an eye for.

(Table 2)
Seat 1: Daniel Alaei 1,995,800
Seat 2: David Tran 10,280,000
Seat 3: Ray Henson 8,250,000
Seat 4: Philip Hilm 9,950,000
Seat 5: Lee Watkinson 3,500,000
Seat 6: Bob Slezak 2,115,000
Seat 7: Jason Welch 2,115,000
Seat 8: Jeff Bryan 2,100,000
Seat 9: Ryan Elson 1,785,000

(Table 3)
Seat 1: Steven Garfinkle 2,115,000
Seat 2: Peter Darvill 2,430,000
Seat 3: Robin Bergren 520,000
Seat 4: Hevad Khan 7,585,000
Seat 5: Allan King 1,000,000
Seat 6: Mikkel Madsen 2,080,000
Seat 7: Roy Winston 1,071,000
Seat 8: Paulo Loureiro 1,645,000
Seat 9: Kevin Kim 610,000

(Table 4)
Seat 1: Jason Koshi 1,175,000
Seat 2: Lee Childs 6,520,000
Seat 3: Jon Kalmar 2,665,000
Seat 4: Stefan Mattsson 3,260,000
Seat 5: Christian Togsverd 2,030,000
Seat 6: Jerry Yang 5,090,000
Seat 7: Kenny Tran 4,955,000
Seat 8: Tuan Lam 3,600,000
Seat 9: Hoa Nguyen 2,205,000


(Table 5)
Seat 1: Ron Kluber 3,070,000
Seat 2: William Spadea 4,575,000
Seat 3: Bill Edler 2,680,000
Seat 4: John Armbrust 2,600,000
Seat 5: Scott Freeman 7,360,000
Seat 6: Kevin Farry 7,400,000
Seat 7: Scotty Nguyen 1,960,000
Seat 8: Alex Kravchenko 1,555,000
Seat 9: Raymond Rahme 3,100,000

WSOP M.E. Day 4 UPDATE

337 players started Day Four of
the Main Event of the 2007 WSOP;
two thirds of them would exit by
the end of the day's action.

Only 112 players remain, beginning
Day Five, chasing the Main Event
Championship and $8.5M first prize.

Among the casualties of Day Four
were three former World Champions,
a rock star, a couple of internet
celebrities, and one superhero.

Notable players still alive in the
Main Event include Gus Hansen,
Lee Watkinson, 2007 WSOP bracelet
winners Bill Edler and Alex Kravchenko,
Evad 'Rain' Khan, Jee 'Mr. Rain'
Banghart, Humberto Brenes,
Ed de Haas, Mikkel Madsen
and Chad Brown.

(My personal picks to make the
final table are Gus Hansen,
Chad Brown and Sven Heinecker)


Five former WSOP Main Event
champions started the day, but only
two finished with chips.

Robert Varkonyi, Carlos Mortensen
and Berry Johnston all went to the
rail, leaving only Scotty Nguyen and
Huck Seed with a shot at a second
main event title.

Premier Poker Tour

Our First Event was a Huge Success !

4 Full Tables with lots of great poker
action. We gave away a stack of
of poker magazines, hats and t-shirts
and everyone had a good time.

A bunch of comments about it being
"Quality" poker. I love to hear that !
I hope we can improve everyone's
skills even more over the next while.

Hope you can join us next
Wednesday at Chez Brunet
and check it out.

More venues will be announced soon.

Premier Poker Tour WINNER

DUSTIN LEWIS

July 11th 2007

WSOP Cashes

Congrats go out to 2 of the guys

from my Vegas group who were

not only there for some good times,

they were there to take care of business.

BRUNO MELIAMBRO from Ottawa

and KEVIN BROWN from Hamilton

both cashed cheques at the

WSOP $1500 NL Tournament.

Each busted out around 197-200

besting over 3000 other players.

Name Dropping

So who did i see in Vegas ?

Ben Affleck
Charles Barkley
Annie Duke
Howard Lederer
Susan Lederer
Phil Helmuth
Barry Greenstein
Doyle Brunson
Robert Williamson III
Montel Williams
Clonie Gowan
Jennifer Harman
Andy Bloch
Andrew Black
Sean Sheikan
Cheryl Hines
Michael Binger
Miami John Cernuto
Justin Bonomo
Steve Zolotow
Freddy Deeb
Eric Siedel
Chad Brown
Antonio Esfandiari
Brad Garret
Don Cheadle
Ray Romano
Mekhi Phifer
Lou Diamond Phillips
Jamie Gold
Jesus Ferguson
Jason Alexander
Chief Wiggum (Hank Azaria)
Dan Shak
Brandon Moran
Nolan Dalla
Phil Gordon
Shanon Elizabeth
Joe Hachem
Rafe Furst
Victor Ramdin
Barney Boatman
Dave Devilfish Ulliot
Robert Mizrachi
Ram Vaswani
Juha Helppi
Molly Hellmuth (I played beside her and got to see brother Phil's 11th WSOP bracelet)

I made it back from Vegas
with a few bucks in my pocket
and my ego mostly intact.

Got to play with some full time
grinders, a bunch of WSOP main event
entrants and a few drunk donkies too.

Mostly played $1/2 NL at the Golden Nugget
(Downtown on Fremont St.) Played at Caesars
Palace and Binions too. The line up to play
at Bellagio and Rio were rediculously long.
Next time I'm going to stay on the Strip
and play some of the big casino's.
During the world series, there's no shortage
of bad players itching to give away their
money at the Rio, Bellagio, Caesars, MGM, etc.

It surprised me how many 'new' poker players
shyed away from No Limit. They like the idea
of Limit poker and only being able to bet a
set amount per round. But for some reason,
they would end up losing more money in
big pots at limit, than they would have at NL.
During hands i had folded, i watched the 2/4
and 3/6 limit games over my shoulder, routinely
capping the bets and building $100-$200 pots,
and then someone takes it down with a King high,
or a rivered pair of 3's etc. It was so juicey, but
i just couldnt bring myself to move over and play limit.

Will's in Vegas

I'll be in Las Vegas until July 8th.
Hopefully I come back with a bunch
of cash, or atleast some good bad-beat
stories.

I may or may not be able to answer
phone calls and emails until then.

Premier Poker Tour ANNOUNCEMENT !

The first event of the new
Premier Poker Tour Season
has been announced.

WEDNESDAY
JULY 11th, 7pm

CHEZ BRUNET
332 Wellington Rd.
(just North of Baseline, in the strip mall
beside National Sports & Staples)

watch www.PremierPokerTour.ca
for more venue announcements !

WSOP Player of the Year Standings

Name / Points / Wins / Earnings

Jeffrey Lisandro /195 / 1 / $448,778
Scott Clements / 162 / 1 / $318,666
Phil Hellmuth / 160 / 1 / $725,380
Tom Schneider / 155 / 1 / $269,116
William Durkee / 155 / 1 / $619,201
Alexander Kravchenko / 150 / 1 / $264,663
Eric Lynch / 140 /0 / $176,079
Nesbitt Coburn / 140 / 0 / $126,500
Jared Davis / 138 / 0 / $202,528
Humberto Brenes / 135 / 0 / $337,105

Helmuth Extends Streak

Phil Hellmuth made more headlines,
this time by cashing in Event #34,
$3,000 Limit Hold 'Em.

The cash was Hellmuth's fourth
this year and the 61st WSOP payday
of his career, again extending his
own record. Hellmuth exited soon
after cashing, though, finishing 25th
among the 27th paying spots.

Hoyt Corkins Wins Bracelet

Event #30, $2,500 NLHE Six-Handed

— Corkins Goes Wire-to-Wire for Win
June 21, 2007 by Michael Friedman

Hoyt 'The Alabama Cowboy' Corkins

snapped a 15-year dry spell on

Wednesday by taking down the

first-place cash of $515,065 and

the highly coveted bracelet in the

Six Handed $2,500 NL Hold'em Event

Entrants: 847

Corkins held the lead at the end of
both Day One and Day Two action

and finished off Terrence Chan

heads up for the victory.

Thater, Pillai Collect Bracelets

Katja Thater and Shankar Pillai were

the day's big winners in action Monday,

Day 19 of play at the 2007 World Series

of Poker.

Both came from behind to land their

first WSOP bracelets, Thater in Event #29,

$1,500 Razz, and Pillai in Event #28,

$3,000 No Limit Hold 'Em.

Pillai's event also saw Phil Hellmuth tie

T.J. Coultier's career WSOP mark of 39

WSOP final-table appearances.

Thater had a huge task at hand in claiming

the Razz title, beginning the day far behind

the overnight leader, 2005 WSOP Razz

champ O'Neil Longson.

Thater had other worries as well, with a

final table that also included Men Nguyen,

Paul 'Eskimo' Clark and Mark Vos.

Thater, though picked up most of the final-table
knockouts in a succession of huge hands that

saw several players jump to the lead at various

times during play.

Thater eventually finished off Larry St. Jean

for the win, with Longson in third and Clark

in fourth. Thater collected $132,653 for her

first WSOP victory.

ELI ELEZRA tops Scotty Nguyen for Bracelt

Eli Elezra Tops Nguyen for First Bracelet
June 17, 2007 byMichael Friedman
Saturday provided one of the 2007

World Series of Poker's most interesting
days of play yet, as a star-studded final
table in Event #24, $3000 7-Card Stud H/L.
(Entrants: 236)


Starting the day with the chip lead was
'Big Game' regular and high-stakes
cash-game player Eli Elezra.

The rest of the final table consisted of:
Russell 'Dutch' Boyd, George Hardie,
David Sklansky, Scotty Nguyen,
John Harkness, Thor Hansen, and
Marshall Ragir.

Elezra, one of the few remaining players
in the Big Game previously without a
WSOP bracelet, would ultimately change
that here, taking home the title after
an entertaining heads-up battle against
Scotty Nguyen.

Chan Misses 11th Bracelet

Event #23, $1,500 PLO
Chan Misses 11th; Clements Goes Wire to Wire

23 players returned on Friday to decide
the winner of Event #23, $1500 Pot Limit Omaha,
the last of 576 players who began play on Thursday.

Scott Clements held a healthy overnight lead,
though attention was on Johnny Chan in
fourth place, to see if he could win his 11th
WSOP bracelet and tie Phil Hellmuth for
the overall lead.

2007 bracelet winner Burt Boutin was
dismissed at the outset (22nd), and
Chan's hopes ended early as well.

After a slow start, Chan moved his
entire stack in after a flop of 8-2-2
and was called by Martin Davis.

Chan could only show Q-J-9-5
against Davis's J-J-6-6 and, once the
board blanked out, Chan exited in 20th.

Davis soon followed, despite knocking out
Chan, departing in 18th.

250 WSOP ME Seat 2b Won Sunday

Sunday:
250 WSOP Main Event
Seats up for Grabs


Both PokerStars and Full Tilt Replace
Major Sunday Events With Massive
World Series Main Event Qualifiers.



If you haven’t yet secured your seat
in the 2007 World Series of Poker
main event, this Sunday is likely to be
your biggest chance. POKERSTARS
and FULL TILT are offering a combined
250 guaranteed seats to the main event
from just two tournaments, along with
the plethora of other main event
satellites that are continuously running.


Both sites are forgoing their normally
scheduled major Sunday tournaments
in favor of the huge qualifiers.


The PokerStars Sunday Million is being
replaced this week by a tournament
guaranteeing 150 seats in the WSOP
main event while the Full Tilt $400,000
guaranteed tournament will be replaced
by a 100-seat-guaranteed tournament.

The sites undoubtedly chose to replace
the Sunday majors, rather than run both
them and the massive qualifiers at once,
because the qualifiers alone are
guaranteeing more in prizes than the
sites’ major events guarantee.

In PokerStars’ case, the site is
guaranteeing $1.8 million in prizes
(150 main event prize packages worth
$12,000 apiece: $10,000 for the buy-in
and $2,000 for travel and spending $)
compared to the Sunday Million’s
$1 million-guaranteed prize pool.

Full Tilt is taking an even bigger leap,
proportionately, by guaranteeing
$1.2 million worth of prize packages
(its packages are also $12,000 apiece)
compared to its regularly scheduled
$400,000 guarantee. Full Tilt also adds
extra incentives for its main event
seat winners. Full Tilt will give any
player who qualifies through the site
$10 million if the player wins the
main event, $100,000 for finishing
in second or third place, and $50,000
for making the final table (only if the
player wears a Full Tilt logo when
doing it, of course).

The 150-seat-guaranteed tournament
on PokerStars will be held on
Sunday, June 17 at 4:30 p.m. ET
(the same time as the Sunday Million
is usually held) and will have a
$370 buy-in. Satellites for the event
are currently being held for as low as
$2.20 (for a sixhanded triple-shootout
tournament) or 500 FPP Points (for a
rebuy tournament available exclusively
to PokerStars members with SilverStar
VIP status or higher).

The 100-seat-guaranteed tournament
on Full Tilt is at 6 p.m. ET on
Sunday, June 17 (the same time that
its $400,000-guaranteed tournament
normally runs). The tournament has a
$535 buy-in and players can satellite
into the event for as little as $5.50
(for a turbo, rebuy sit-and-go tournament)
or 2,500 Full Tilt Points (for a normal
freezeout tournament).

The sites’ regularly scheduled
tournaments will return the following
week, on June 24. Full Tilt will be
offering its upped guarantee,
$500,000, for the first time that Sunday.

CHAN going for bracelet # 11

Johnny Chan Goes for WSOP Win No. 11


Phil Hellmuth broke a three-way tie
and took the top spot as the guy with the
most World Series of Poker bracelets in
history when he won the $1,500 NL
event Monday.

Today, Johnny Chan has a
chance to re-tie Hellmuth & win his 11th bracelet.
Chan, who is tied with Doyle Brunson on the most
bracelets won list with 10, is currently third in chips
in the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event.

New WSOP Bracelet Design

2007 H.O.R.S.E. Event Bracelet


2007 Main Event Bracelet


Luxury Swiss watchmaker CORUM
introduced the most elegant and
expensive bracelets in World Series
of Poker history at the opening of the
38th edition of poker’s longest-running,
richest and most prestigious event.

The winner of the $50,000 buy-in HORSE
Championship will walk off with a bracelet
boasting 91 black diamonds and two rubies.
CORUM drew from its heritage of
watch-making expertise and craftsmanship
in designing the World Championship $10k
Main Event bracelet, using a tonneau
(barrel) shaped case featuring 136 grams
of 18-carat white gold set with 120 diamonds.

“The World Series of Poker bracelet is the
most coveted prize in gaming and the
ultimate expression of excellence in poker,”
said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the WSOP.

“These spectacular bracelets are the finest
in the history of the WSOP, and will be
cherished by those skilled enough to win them."

More WSOP News - HELLMUTH !!!

June 12th

Hellmuth Makes WSOP History with his
11th Bracelet Win.


Phil Hellmuth's star shone bright on
Monday evening, as he emerged from the
sequestering of the private filming tent
in the Amazon Room with his 11th
WSOP bracelet, a new career mark.

Hellmuth, who broke his year-old tie
with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan
at ten bracelets each, captured the title
in Event #15, $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em.

Hellmuth's victory meant $637,254
in addition to the coveted 11th bracelet.

Hellmuth Breaks WSOP Record

Phil Hellmuth grew his legend by making
his second cash at the the '07 WSOP in
Event #15, $1500 No Limit Hold'em.
He extend extended his own record for
career WSOP cashes to 59.

Earlier, Hellmuth's 104th place finish
(for $3901) in event # 8, the $2,000
No Limit Hold Em tournament,
broke the record for most carear
cashes at the WSOP.

CUNNINGHAM earns 5th Bracelet

In what was one of the more

professional laden final tables

in recent memory, Allen Cunningham

was able to overcome an excellent

final table and take away the title

of champion in Event #13, the $5000

Pot Limit Hold 'Em tournament,

making history at the same time.

398 runners started the event on

Friday, building a prize pool of

1.87 million dollars and $487,287

would go to the winner of the event

on Sunday afternoon.

The Final Hand:

With the blinds at 40K/80K,

Lisandro raised from the button to

165K and Cunningham responded

with a reraise to 495K.

Lisandro pushed the remainder of his

stack into the center and Cunningham

called, showing K-9 to Lisandro's pocket

Queens. The flop kept Lisandro in the lead,

but a King on the turn gave the lead to

Cunningham. Once the river ran dry

for Lisandro, Allen Cunningham was

crowned the champion of the $5000

Pot Limit Hold 'Em event.

Final Standings:

1. Allen Cunningham - $487,287

2. Jeff Lisandro - $294,260

3. Humberto Brenes - $197,348

4. Jason Lester - $132,813

5. Joe Patrick - $99,142

6. Travis Rice - $78,565

7. Gavin Griffin - $58,924

8. Keith Lehr - $43,959

9. Alan Jaffray - $31,800

With the victory, Cunningham earned

his fifth World Series bracelet and also

became the fifth man in World Series

history to capture a bracelet in at least

three consecutive years.

Only Johnny Moss (74-76),

Doyle Brunson (76-79),

Gary "Bones" Berland (77-79) and

Erik Seidel (92-94)

can claim such success at the WSOP.

WSOP Alive and Very Well

There's been a lot of talk about how
the anti-online gambling bill would effect
turn outs at the Series in 2007.
The people have spoken !

Event #3 of the 2007 World Series of Poker,
had the largest non-Championship Event field
ever. On saturday afternoon, 2,998 players
crammed the Amazon Room, then the
Alternate Room and its roughly 60 tables
(inside an air-conditioned tent set up outside
of the Rio), then even stretched into the Rio's
poker room's nine tables.

Looks like 2006 USPC champ Alex Jacob
has a great shot at taking this one down.

Chip Counts:
1. Alex Jacob - 3,100,000
2. Paul Evans - 1,690,000
3. Jeff Yoak - 965,000
4. Matt Vengrin - 930,000
5. Ciaran O'Leary - 610,000
6. Thad Smith - 555,000
7. Craig Crivello - 495,000
8. Andreas Krause - 490,000
9. Bart Hanson - 210,000

Premier Poker Tour

The PPT CHAMPIONS CUP

The Premier Poker Tour is only

a few weeks away from launch.

Everything is coming together very well.

We will be making announcements very

shortly about locations and dates.

The Tour Season will culminate with

the Premier Poker Tour Championship

Tournament.

The winner will get their name

engraved on the PPT Champions Cup

and get their choice of grand prizes including:

* Trip for 2 to Las Vegas

* Kawartha Cottage Vacation for 6

* $1250 USD Full Tilt Package

* 42" HD Plasma/LCD TV

* $1600 BCC Fall/Winter Classic Entry

The Season Points Leader will get their choice of:

* Entry into min. $250,000 prize pool tournament

* Sony PlayStation PSP

* Apple iPOD Nano 4GB MP3 Player

* Lowrance iWay 250 GPS Navigator w/MP3

Degree Poker Details

Degree Poker Championship
Rama Tournament

Rama has updated their site with
details of the Rama Degree qualifier
tournament. Blinds & starting chips
have yet to be determined. (Hopefully
they will be increased from the 2,500 standard)

Rama is offering the chance to win 5 Casino
Rama designated seats in the 2007 Degree
Poker Championship. The top 5
finishers in the June 11, 2007 Casino
Rama Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament
will qualify* for a seat in the Degree Poker
Championship being held at Casino Rama
from June 25-29, 2007.

Tickets go on-sale Wednesday, May 30
at noon in-person at the Casino Rama
Box Office.Entry fee: $360 + $40 admin fee.

LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE, FIRST COME,
FIRST SERVED. More details at this link:

http://www.casinorama.com/pdfs/degree_poker_rules_regs.pdf

Casino Windsor Tournaments

They've changed some of their tournament entries and structures.

Monday $110

Tuesday $55

Wednesday $55

Thursday $55

Friday $110

Saturday $110

Sunday $110

Juice is a respectable 10%. All tournaments begin at 10am with registration opening at 9am (or 8am for players seated at live games). With full field of 60 players, tournament lasts 3.5-4 hours

Players begin with $2000 chips and blind levels are as follows:

25-50 20 minutes

50-100 20 minutes

100-200 20 minutes

200-400 30 minutes

300-600 30 minutes

500-1000 30 minutes

800-1600 30 minutes

1000-2000 30 minutes

1500-3000 30 minutes

2000-4000 30 minutes

3000-6000 30 minutes

Poker Wisdom

I watch a lot of poker on tv.
One thing i've noticed a lot lately
(new shows and old WSOP's too)
is a 'mistake' guys are making in
tournaments. It has to do with
the size of their pre-flop raise.

Playa ZZ bets and Playa EX goes
over the top for all of Playa ZZ's chips.
Playa ZZ goes into the tank, takes 2-3
minutes to decide because he's totally
frazzled and unsure what to do.

Lets say its a satelite tournament
with 100/200 blinds.

Playa ZZ with 2400 chips,
has Ah/Js and bets 700.

Playa EX reraises putting ZZ all in.

There's 3400 in the pot and its
1700 more for ZZ to call
getting 2-1 on his money.
He needs to win [1/3] one third
of the time to make calling profitable.

If he thinks that EX is a loose
reraiser then its an easy call.

If he thinks that EX is a tight
reraiser then its an easy fold.

But if its 50/50 even money,
then i think that ZZ made a mistake
in the size of his preflop raise.

Almost all the hands that would
reraise ZZ, are a favourite over
Ace-Jack offsuit.

If EX has Pocket Aces,
he's a huge favourite.

If he has pocket 66,
then he's a slight favourite.

If ZZ moved all in
(instead of raise to 700),
EX would usually fold hands
like 66 or suited Aces.
The All-in raise would cause EX
to consider what hands would raise
all in with, and realize that many
of them have him beat.
If EX calls the all-in, he's only getting
odds of 2700-to-2400 (9:8),
so he'll have to win 8 of 17 times
(47%) to be profitable.

Sometimes when ZZ moves all-in,
EX will have a hand like AA or KK
and be a big underdog. But in the
above scenario, ZZ was about even
to call EX's reraise anyways,
he's going to run into these big hands
at the same frequency.

Since ZZ's all-in move will often
pick up the blinds, it turns the situation
against pocket 66 from a small loss situation
into a small profit one, every time opponent
EX has a marginal reraising hand.

Something to think about and watch for on tv

Full Tilt Online Poker Series

FTOPS IV Underway at Full Tilt

The fourth installment of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) is in full swing right now over at Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt is guaranteeing at least $4 million in total prize money over 10 events, compared to $3.6 million last time.

The poker room is also adding more prizes for top finishers, including:

Limited edition FTOPS baseball caps (to everyone who cashes)
Baseball cap and limited edition FTOPS jacket (final table finishers)
Gold FTOPS jersey and gold FTOPS avatar plus all of the above (tournament winners)


And, as always, the overall leaderboard winner at the end of FTOPS IV will receive a custom avatar for use at Full Tilt.


As an added bonus this year, Full Tilt will hold an FTOPS Tournament of Champions, bringing together the 27 past FTOPS event winners plus the 10 from FTOPS IV to duke it out in a winner-take-all tournament. The champions’ champion will receive a $10,000 seat in the World Series of Poker Main Event.


FTOPS IV Schedule (Full Tilt Host in Parentheses, all times EST)

5/11 @ 9:00pm -- $200 + $16 NL Hold'em -- $300,000 guaranteed (Kristy Gazes)

5/12 @ 4:30pm -- $100 + $9 PL Omaha High w/Re-buys -- $150,000 guaranteed (Eric Froelich)

5/13 @ 6:00pm -- $300 + $22 NL Hold'em -- $750,000 guaranteed (Huck Seed)

5/14 @ 9:00pm -- $1000 + $60 NL Hold'em -- $300,000 guaranteed (Gavin Smith)

5/15 @ 9:00pm -- $200 + $16 HOSE -- $100,000 guaranteed (David Grey)

5/16 @ 9:00pm -- $200 + $16 NL Hold'em 6-Max -- $400,000 guaranteed (Jeff Madsen)

5/17 @ 9:00pm -- $200 + $16 PL Omaha High/Low -- $100,000 guaranteed (Layne Flack)

5/18 @ 9:00pm -- $200 + $16 PL Hold'em -- $150,000 guaranteed (David Singer)

5/19 @ 4:30pm -- $100 + $9 NL Hold'em w/Re-buys -- $250,000 guaranteed (Alan Boston)

5/20 @ 6:00pm -- $500 + $35 NL Hold'em Main Event -- $1,500,000 guaranteed (Gus Hansen)


Ongoing satellites are being held at Full Tilt for every FTOPS IV event. As part of Full Tilt’s “Satellite Challenge,” players may win more than one seat to the same FTOPS event. Cash will be awarded for every seat won after the first.

Click on one of the Full Tilt links on the side,
or just use the bonus code: PPT

*FUNDAMENTALS: Implied Odds

Implied Odds are the pot odds adjusted for future betting.

Lets say you flop a flush draw. There is $500 in the pot and your opponent bets $500. It costs you $500 to potentially win $1000, or Pot Odds of 2:1. You do not have proper Pot Odds to make the call.

But when you consider the Implied Odds, how much you will likely win from your opponent if you make your flush (and it is the best hand) it may be worth calling his bet. Keep in mind that if you are out of position with players to act behind you, a bet from one of them will make your implied odds calculation incorrect.

Vegas July 2007

Just a reminder to everyone....

The trip to Vegas that Sonny Rattan from PIC
was organizing is still a go. It actually has nothing
to do with PIC, its just that he's organizing it.

You can see the WSOP LIVE in Las Vegas!!

Special rates secured for our players at
The PLAZA hotel. The plaza poker room
will be holding Private tournaments,
open to our players only, if enough of us book.

Also during this time, the "POKER EXPO"
show is taking place July 5-8, anything and
everything to do with poker, in one place,
don’t miss it. The biggest names in poker
will be in Vegas for the WSOP, here is your
chance to meet them. (no guarantees, sorry )

Sunday – Thurs $34 per night
Fri & Sat - $64 per night.
Only 20 rooms secured at this rate, if we need
more, I may be able to get more. These rates are
per ROOM, NOT PER PERSON!!
So with 2 in a room, $17 each!!

Join the gang in Vegas, and remember,
What happens in Vegas, gets talked about
for MONTHS when you get home!!

Don’t just hear the stories, LIVE THEM!!

Rooms are available at this rate June 28 – July 10.
You can book any days during this time for our rate,
the actual group dates are July 4-10, Sonny will be
in Vegas from June 28, I'll be arriving on the 30th,
if you want to come early.

Plaza Hotel toll free 1-800-634-6575
You MUST mention SONNY RATTAN Group ,
And special code PIPT628 to get this rate.
If anyone wants to go, and needs a room mate,
let me know, and I will do my best to set you up
with another tour member.