August 2011
IRISH OPEN CHAMPION Niall Smyth
GUS HANSEN Return of the High Stakes Hero
POKER STRATEGY News and Views
PRO LIFE Karl Fenton
JAKE CODY
Wins $25,000 WSOP Heads-Up Championship Aug_Cover.indd 1
6/30/11 11:10 AM
CPE_08_08_PaddyPower_DT.indd 2
6/29/11 3:16 PM
CPE_08_08_PaddyPower_DT.indd 3
6/29/11 3:17 PM
CPE_08_07_PokerView_DT.indd 2
6/1/11 4:59 PM
CPE_08_07_PokerView_DT.indd 3
6/1/11 5:00 PM
Graduate your game with the
CP POKER SCHOOL
www.CardPlayerPokerSchool.com
CPE_PokerSchool_2_DT.indd 2
6/29/11 4:23 PM
C
ard Player has organized its best strategy articles and videos from more than 20 years of poker media experience into a powerful learning tool. The Card Player Poker School’s 10 free poker courses are guaranteed to make you a better player. The school consists of:
Hundreds of free strategy articles and videos 10 free comprehensive poker courses Free offers from the world’s best poker sites Free Poker Tools to increase your winnings
Enroll Now
CPE_PokerSchool_2_DT.indd 3
IT’S FREE!
6/29/11 4:23 PM
FROM THE EUROPEAN BUREAU CHIEF
I
BY BRENDAN MURRAY
Las Vegas and the Virtual World Collide By the time this issue of Card Player hits casinos and card rooms across Europe, the World Series of Poker main event will be in full swing. At the time of writing, with just over one-third of events completed, European players have been more than holding their own with seven bracelets including one for Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and three for the Brits. It’s shaping up to be a vintage year for Euro poker players but a mixed one for U.S. players and, indeed, the U.S. industry. With online poker currently off the agenda in the land of the free, all eyes were turning to the WSOP to see what the effect would be. Reports from the Rio Hotel and Casino, where the event is held, say advertising around the event is very muted compared to previous years but numbers have been on the up. By the end of the second week, cash game action was up 12 percent according to WSOP officials and most tournaments posted increased participation too. Whether this is directly attributable to the “Black Friday” (the day of the Department of Justice indictments in the U.S.) effect of the absence of online poker is impossible to say with certainty but one poker player in Vegas told your humble editor that, “There’s a lot of guys out here taking a swing at it. They used to be able to make a living online with rakeback and the like but they’re being found out here very quickly.” Indeed the absence, so far at least, of big online names crushing it in Vegas is obvious. The absence also of one name in particular got the Series off to a controversial start as Phil Ivey, one time darling of the poker world and Full Tilt pro, announced he’d be staying away from the Series and, to boot, was suing his former sponsor. In a bizarre and unprecedented episode of public laundry washing Ivey and Full Tilt got into a bitter argument in the full glare of the world’s poker players who stood agog at the latest twist in the Black Friday tale. Whatever about poker being a game of drama and suspense the events surrounding the industry of the last few months in the U.S have matched it every step of the way. Despite the seemingly perilous state of affairs for online poker in the U.S. there are some encouraging signs that legislation regulating the industry and putting it on a strong legal footing is not far away. Nevada-based gaming giant International Game Technology’s recent purchase of Sweden’s Entraction poker network, the Nevada state assembly passing an online poker bill, and moves afoot at federal level for another push at national legislation mean all is not lost. U.S. lawmakers can’t uninvent online poker and prohibition is a dangerous road to go down as history tells us. ♠
8
CARDPLAYER.COM
008_08_CPE_FTEBC.indd 8
6/30/11 10:47 AM
PLAYER_05_Bodog_IBC.indd 3
6/2/11 9:16 AM
TABLE OF CONTENTS | CARD PLAYER EUROPE VOL. 8/NO. 8
FROM THE EUROPEAN BUREAU CHIEF 8
| Las Vegas and the Virtual World Collide by Brendan Murray
THE INSIDE STRAIGHT 14 | Reviews, News, and Interviews From Around the Poker World 20 | Hand History Time Capsule: Jerry Yang 22 | Capture the Flag: ‘Crazy Mike’ Thorpe 24 | Final-Table Takedown: Bryan Piccioli
28 34
INDUSTRY NEWS 26 | Poker Business News From Europe
FEATURES 28 | Jake Cody Wins $25,000 Heads-Up Championship by Ryan Lucchesi 34 | Gus Hansen: Climbing Out of the High-Stakes Dungeon by Brian Pempus 38 | Karl ‘discomonkey’ Fenton by Rebecca McAdam
42 | 2011 World Series of Poker by Phil Hellmuth 43 | Leaving $80 on the Table by Roy Cooke
COMMENTARIES & PERSONALITIES 44 | ‘Congratudolences’ by Matt Matros 45 | Sole Survivor by Niall Smyth
MISCELLANEOUS 46 | When I Was a Donk: John Phan 48 | European Tournament Trail 48 | Advertising Index 50 | Player of the Year
10
46
Cover image and Gus Hansen image on this page courtesy of PokerStars.com/Neil Stoddart
FEATURED COLUMNISTS
CARDPLAYER.COM
010_08_CPE_TOC.indd 10
6/30/11 10:20 AM
CPE_08_08_Bellagio_FP.indd 3
6/29/11 3:15 PM
MASTHEAD • VOL. 8 NO. 8
PUBLISHERS Barry Shulman | Jeff Shulman ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dominik Karelus EDITORIAL European Bureau Chief Brendan Murray Managing Editor Julio Rodriguez Tournament Content Manager Ryan Lucchesi Staff Writers Rebecca McAdam, Brian Pempus Contributing Writer Craig Tapscott Senior Columnist Roy Cooke ART Art Director Wendy Chang Graphic Designer/Photographer Andria Smith Multimedia Producer Erik Fast WEBSITE AND INTERNET SERVICES Applications Developer Jaran Hardman Web Developer Jeremy Woertink Web Art Director Ali Feary Web Designer Yoke Kittrell Data Coordinator Joe Hulbert System Administrator Anthony Terry SALES Vice President of Sales (West Coast/Europe/Internet) Trey Aldridge Midwest and Southern U.S. Sales Representative Cliff Demos +1.262.707.1416 Advertising Coordinator Mary Hurbi CARDPLAYER MEDIA LLC Chairman and CEO Barry Shulman President and COO Jeff Shulman Online Gaming Counsel Allyn Jaffrey Shulman Chief Financial Officer Peter J. Romleski, Esq. Chief Media Officer Justin Marchand Facilities Manager Jody Ivener
CORPORATE OFFICE 6940 O’Bannon Drive Las Vegas, Nevada 89117, USA +1.702.871.1720 phone +1.702.856.2222 general fax +1.702.871.2674 sales fax +1.702.856.2290 accounting fax
[email protected] Customer Service +1.702.871.1720 ADVERTISING INFORMATION Vice President of Sales (West Coast/Europe/Internet) Trey Aldridge
[email protected] +1.702.871.1720 www.CardPlayer.com
12
CARDPLAYER.COM
012_08_CPE_Masthead.indd 12
6/29/11 4:46 PM
Poker Tools | 'pok r tools | 1 • Poker Odds Calculator : Learn your exact chances of winning in any given hand
2 • Stats Tracker : Track your online and live poker results for free
3 • Hand Matchups : The biggest pots and most interesting hands from the world’s largest poker tournaments
Improve your poker game. Visit www.CardPlayer.com/poker-tools
CPPS_Brand_21_FP.indd 3
6/29/11 4:23 PM
INSIDE STRAIGHT
I
NEWS, REVIEWS, AND INTERVIEWS
World Series of Poker Bracelet Winners At the time of writing the World Series of Poker had awarded 21 bracelets and Europe looked as if it was gunning for a record haul with seven in the bag and well over half of the Series still to go. The European winners so far were Jake Cody (UK), Eugene Katchalov (Russia), Matt Perrins (UK), Viacheslav Zhukov (Russia), Darren Woods, (UK), Bertrand Grospellier (France) and Elie Payan (France). Here is the list of WSOP winners so far:
14
Event #1
$500 Casino employees nolimit hold’em
Sean Drake
$82,292
Event #2
$25,000 Heads up no-limit hold’em championship
Jake Cody
$851,192
Event #3
$1,500 Omaha high-low Spliteight-or-better
Francesco Barbaro
$262,283 $874,116
Event #4
$5,000 No-limit hold’em
Allen Bari
Event #5
$1,500 Seven card stud
Eugene Katchalov $ 122,909
Event #6
$1,500 Limit hold’em
Harrison Wilder
$205,065
Event #7
$10,000 Pot-limit hold’em championship
Amir Lehavot
$573,456
Event #8
$1,000 No-limit hold’em
Sean Getzwiller
$611,185
Event #9
$1,500 2-7 draw lowball (nolimit)
Matthew Perrins
$102,105
Event #10
$1,500 No-limit hold’em/sixhanded
Geffrey Klein
$544,388
Event #11
$10,000 Omaha high-low spliteight-or-better championship
Viacheslav Zhukov
$465,216
Event #12
$1,500 Triple chance no-limit hold’em
David Diaz
$352,808
Event #13
$1,500 No-limit hold’em shootout
Andrew Badecker $369,371
Event #14
$3,000 Limit hold’em
Tyler Bonkowski
$220,817
Event #15
$1,500 Pot limit hold’em
Brian Rast
$227,232
Event #16
$10,000 2-7 draw lowball championship (no-limit)
John Juanda
$367,170
Event #17
$1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
Aaron Steury
$289,283
Event #18
$1,500 No-limit hold’em
Foster Hays
$735,400
Event #19
$2,500 Limit hold’em/sixhanded
Darren Woods
$213,431
Event #20
$1,000 No-limit hold’em
Jason Somerville
$493,091
Event #21
$10,000 Seven card stud cham- Bertrand pionship Grospellier
$331,639
Event #22
$1,500 Pot-limit Omaha
$292,825
Elie Payan
PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Winter Festival Returns
T
he Burlington Hotel in Dublin will play host to the PaddyPowerPoker. com Irish Winter Festival this year from October 28 to 31. A schedule of side events is yet to be released but for now players can look forward to a main event with a slightly decreased buy-in of €1,000 + €100 and featuring a €20,000 Sole Survivor promotion. Another incentive to qualify for the popular event at PaddyPowerPoker.com is all players who do so before Sept. 1 will receive a free €100 sports bet with PaddyPower.com. Super satellites began at the site on Jun. 12 with a €150 + €12 no-limit hold’em freezeout at 8 p.m. guaranteeing three packages. This satellite will be held every Sunday. Following this, each Monday at 8 p.m., is a €20 + €2 no-limit hold’em event with rebuys/add-on and one seat on offer. Feeders for these satellites are running daily. Paddy Power, communications manager for the site, said, “Last year the Irish Winter Festival was such a success with the likes of Dennis Taylor and Eric Bristow entertaining the crowds, the introduction of the Blind Man’s Bluff World Championship, and the creation of the World’s largest chip stack which took 3 full days to build and stood at 3 meters tall. No wonder people are looking forward to the IWF 2011 already and we know it won’t disappoint!”. ♠
CARDPLAYER.COM
014_08_CPE_InsideStraightNEWS.indd 14
6/30/11 10:21 AM
INSIDE STRAIGHT
I
NEWS, REVIEWS, AND INTERVIEWS
Romanian Wins European Masters of Poker Bulgaria
Jeff Lisandro
Y
oung Romanian poker player Abdul Atilar Seiar is the fourth European Masters of Poker champion of season III after he defeated 276 opponents at the Crystal Crown Casino, Sunny Beach, Bulgaria to take home the top prize of €65,100 in early June. Seiar got heads up in the €1,100 buy-in game as 4:1 chip leader against Finnish player Riku Molander. He finished Molander off in around 15 hands when he put the Finn all in and his pocket 3s held against A-5 suited. The final table payouts were: First
Abdula Atila Seiar (Romania)
€65,100
Second
Riku Molander (Finland)
€39,060
Third
Luka Vovk (Slovenia)
€25,480
Fourth
Kiril Donovski (Bulgaria)
€15,510
Fifth
Mikko Taskinen
€12,190
Sixth
Andre Moreira (Portugal)
€9,420
Seventh Ciorabai Ferdi (Romania)
€8,310
Eighth
€7,200
Ofir Pinhasov (Israel)
Ninth Ionescu Alexandru (Romania) €6,090 The tour now moves on to Clontarf Castle, Dublin, Ireland from July 28 to 31. ♠
Grand Series of Poker Returns Ongame Network has announced details of season II Grand Series of Poker (GSOP) which will have five stops running from August 2011 to April 2012. The schedule for the Series is: Aug. 2-7
Old Trafford football stadium Manchester, England
Oct. 11-15
Porto Carras, Greece
Feb. 1-6
Salzburg, Austria
Apr. 21-28
Dominican Republic
Details of buy-ins for the event have yet to be announced but PartyPoker.com has qualifiers up and running for the Old Trafford event and players can qualify for all stops for as little as $2. Heidi Skogster, poker manager at Ongame room Betsson, said, “The player response has been very positive throughout the GSOP Live tour, and our players will be happy to hear we’re doing it again. The locations Ongame has secured for the second season will really make GSOP Live 2 something you will not want to miss.” ♠
Jeff Lisandro Joins Matchbook.com Matchbook.com and Check Raise Management have announced the signing of multiple WSOP bracelet holder Jeffrey Lisandro. The Italian, who has more than $4 million in lifetime winnings, will now act as worldwide ambassador for Matchbook.com. The “Iceman” said, “I’m truly delighted to be part of Matchbook, I’m looking forward to representing the brand on my travels around the world. My first competitive stop as an Ambassador is the World Series Of Poker on the 31st May, where I’ll be announcing a whole range of exclusive poker markets at Matchbook.com. “I am hungry for more bracelets, I plan to play as much as possible and if the cards fall my way I am confident I can add more titles at WSOP 2011.” ♠
Poker Growing in India A back-to-back winner and a near-miss for Card Player India were some of the highlights of the first India Poker Open which took place at the Clubs Card room aboard Casino Carnival, Goa, from May 12-15. The INR 100,000 (Eur 1,572) buy-in no-limit hold’em main event began on the third day of the festival and attracted 30 players, which in turn created a total prize pool of INR 2,700,000 (€42,432). This is one of the largest prize pools in Indian poker tournament history. With the organisers promising to keep the payouts top-heavy, PokerGuru pro Mihail Stoykov walked away with the first-place prize of INR 1,200,000 (€18,859) after beating his final opponent Card Player India chief editor Dhaval Mudgal. Here are the results and payouts (INR): 1
Mihail Stoykov
1,200,000
2
Dhaval Mudgal
800,000
3
Jasven Saigal
500,000
4
Vedant Thadani
200,000 CARDPLAYER.COM
014_08_CPE_InsideStraightNEWS.indd 15
15
6/30/11 10:22 AM
INSIDE STRAIGHT
World Poker Tour Crowns Youngest Champion
I
Lukas Berglund topped a Lucas total field of 216 at the World Berglund Poker Tour Spanish Championship in Barcelona to become the youngest ever WPT champion at the end of May. The 18-year-old Swede impacted the final table like a whirlwind, sucking up all the chips, and personally sending each of his opponents to the rail. Straight out of school, the young gun adds €206,000 to his name for a terrific performance. Here are the results and payouts:
NEWS, REVIEWS, AND INTERVIEWS
Thomas Kremser
PokerStars Season Eight EPT Dates PokerStars.com has announced details of season eight of the European Poker Tour. Seven stops have been announced between August 2011 and January 2012 with the biggest change being the San Remo event moving to October from its traditional April stop to coincide with the World Series of Poker Europe just over the border on the French Riviera around the same time. The schedule release so far is: EPT Tallin, Estonia
Aug, 2 – 7, 2011
€4,000 + 250
EPT Barcelona, Spain
Aug 27–Sep 1, 2011
€5,000 + 300
EPT London, UK Sep 30–Oct 5, 2011
£5,000 + 250
EPT San Remo, Italy
Oct 21 – 27, 2011
€4,600 + 300
EPT Prague, Czech Republic
Dec 5 – 10, 2011
€5,000 + 300
2012 PCA, Bahamas
Jan 5 – 15, 2012
$10,000 + 300
EPT Deauville, France
Jan 31 – Feb 6, 2012
€5,000 + 300
Elsewhere, well-known tournament director Thomas Kremser’s company TK Poker Events broke ties with the Tour. In the official release, Kremser said, “The time is right to explore new adventures and also to adjust our business model to emphasize closer cooperation with licensed casino operators.” When the relationship was terminated, Thomas Kremser said, “I am excited about exploring new vistas and growing treasured relationships with casinos that have come to rely on TK as the face of professionalism, integrity and exceptional service in poker tournament operations and consulting matters.” ♠ 16
First
Lukas Berglund
Second
Romain Matteoli
€260,000 €118,000
Third
Frederic Bussot
€64,000
Fourth
Jorge Duffour
€47,000
Fifth
Guillem Usero
€40,000
Sixth
Alexander Sidorin
€33,500
Seventh
Artur Koren
€27,000
Eight
Markus Ristola
€20,200 Rob Angood
All Good For Angood At PKR Live VI PKR Live VI was taken down by Victoria Casino regular Rob Angood in May. Angood beat 242 players including his final opponent Kevin Ayow to the first-place prize of £36,638 (postdeal) from a total prize pool of £170,100. The £750 buy-in event was held at the Fox Poker Club in London and saw some of the best players on the UK scene, with familiar faces such as Neil Channing, Andrew Feldman, Nik Persaud, and Priyan de Mel taking their seats. The final table was a mix of PKR players, local regulars, and live up-and-comers. When play got down to fourhanded a deal was made. Here are the final table results and payouts (deal in brackets): First
Rob Angood
£40,420 (£36,638)
Second
Kevin Ayow
£28,915 (£24,887)
Third
Darren Fuller
£20,835 (£21,000)
Fourth
Phil Sanki
£14,885 (£22,530)
Fifth
Will Dorey
£11,905
Sixth
Guy Steel
£8,080
Seventh
Craig McCorkell
£6,280
Eighth
Mark Stuart
£4,680
Ninth
Ross Jarvis
£3,400
CARDPLAYER.COM
014_08_CPE_InsideStraightNEWS.indd 16
6/30/11 10:22 AM
Graduate your game with the INSIDE STRAIGHT
CP POKER SCHOOL Hundreds of free strategy articles and videos Ten free comprehensive poker courses
Enroll Now
Free offers from world’s best poker sites Free Poker Tools to increase your winnings
Phil Ivey Sues Full Tilt Poker Clark County District Court records show that Phil Ivey filed a lawsuit against Tiltware, the company that provides software and marketing for Full Tilt Poker, at the end of May in Las Vegas. Case No. A-11-642387-C is listed as Phillip Ivey, Jr., Plaintiff vs. Tiltware LLC, Defendant. According to Associated Press, the company has denied Ivey’s request to pursue other professional opportunities in poker. As a result, Ivey is seeking more than $150 million for “injunctive relief, declaratory relief and damages”. The lead attorney listed for the case is David Zeltner Chesnoff, a high-powered criminal defense attorney based in Las Vegas. No hearing on the lawsuit has been scheduled according to the court calender. The suit comes quickly after Ivey announced his intentions through Facebook and his website. Ivey said that he will not play in the 2011 World Series of Poker and announced that he had “electronically filed a lawsuit against Tiltware”, in a disjointed, six-part statement. Shortly after the news broke, a cleaned-up press release went up on Ivey’s website. No verbal confirmation from the eight-time bracelet winner has been achieved at this time, and multiple Full Tilt pros in attendance on day 1 of the $25,000 heads-up event, which Ivey was absent from, said they knew nothing about the Ivey announcement. Here is the full statement: “For many years, I have been proud to call myself a poker player. This great sport has taken me to places I only imagined going and I have been blessed with much success. It is therefore with deep regret that I believe I am compelled to release the following statement. I am deeply disappointed and embarrassed that Full Tilt players have not been paid money they are owed. I am equally embarrassed that as a result many players cannot compete in
earning potential. It takes just seconds to enroll, and it is ABSOLUTELY FREE! The ten available courses include Getting Started Playing Poker, Betting and Poker Math, Position and Reads, Bankroll Management and Avoiding Pitfalls, Playing Specific Hands, Shorthanded and Heads Up Strategy, Poker Tournament Play, Limit Hold’em Strategy, Omaha Strategy, and Stud and Other Games. Each of those courses is divided up into numerous subsections and is followed up by a course quiz. Students can then view their own personalised Study Guide and keep up to date with the latest strategic trends by visiting the What’s New section. Check out CardPlayerPokerSchool.com. ♠
NEWS, REVIEWS, AND INTERVIEWS
Card Player Media has collected the best articles and videos from its vast library of strategy content to create a dynamic, poker educational experience - Card Player Poker Shcool. Whether you’re new to the game or made it to many final tables, the Card Player Poker School will help you become a better poker player. Explore hundreds of articles and videos organised into 10 comprehensive courses designed to increase your
www.cardplayerpokerschool.com
I
Card Player Poker School Launches Online
IT’S FREE!
Phil Ivey
tournaments and have suffered economic harm. I am not playing in the World Series of Poker as I do not believe it is fair that I compete when others cannot. I am doing everything I can to seek a solution to the problem as quickly as possible. My name and reputation have been dragged through the mud, through the inactivity and indecision of others and on behalf of all poker players I refuse to remain silent any longer. I have electronically filed a lawsuit against Tiltware related to the unsettled player accounts. As I am sure the public can imagine, this was not an easy decision for me. I whole heartedly refuse to accept non-action as to repayment of players funds and I am angered that people who have supported me throughout my career have been treated so poorly. I sincerely hope this statement will ignite those capable of resolving the problems into immediate action and would like to clarify that until a solution is reached that cements the security of all players, both US and International, I will, as I have for the last six weeks, dedicate the entirety of my time and CARDPLAYER.COM
014_08_CPE_InsideStraightNEWS.indd 17
17
6/30/11 10:23 AM
INSIDE STRAIGHT
I NEWS, REVIEWS, AND INTERVIEWS 18
efforts to finding a solution for those who have been wronged by the painfully slow process of repayment.” Less than 24 hours after Ivey publicly criticised Full Tilt Poker and filed the lawsuit, Tiltware issued the following statement in response: “Contrary to his sanctimonious public statements, Phil Ivey’s meritless lawsuit is about helping just one player — himself. In an effort to further enrich himself at the expense of others, Mr. Ivey appears to have timed his lawsuit to thwart pending deals with several parties that would put money back in players’ pockets. In fact, Mr. Ivey has been invited — and has declined — to take actions that could assist the company in these efforts, including paying back a large sum of money he owes the site. Tiltware doubts Mr. Ivey’s frivolous and self-serving lawsuit will ever get to court. But if it does, the company looks forward to presenting facts demonstrating that Mr. Ivey is putting his own narrow financial interests ahead of the players he professes to help.” Ivey, regarded by many as the best player to ever live, won nearly $20 million at the virtual felt on Full Tilt Poker — topping the all-time in the digital game. ♠
German Wins PokerStars Sunday Million The PokerStars Sunday Million returned with 4,833 entrants on the last Sunday of May. The player to top them all was Tobias “PokerNoob999” Reinkemeier. The German, who has a SCOOP title in his arsenal (from 2009), now adds a Sunday Million title to Tobias Reinkemeier his collection plus $135,053.32. He now has more than $2.7 million in lifetime winnings. When play got down to the serious end of things, Reinkemeier was sitting comfortably among chip leaders. The final table was reached in level 33 with blinds at 100,000-200,000 plus a 20,000 ante. Soon after the final table began, a nine-way deal was made, which saw $20,000 put to one side for whoever was the last player standing. It was PokerNoob999 and The__Anfied who made it to heads-up play with PokerNoob999 out in front. After a few back and forths, the German pro got the better of his opponent and the final hand came with The__Anfied holding K♥ 9♦ and Renkemeier holding pocket twos. The board fell A♠ 10♠ 6♦ 7♣ 6♠ and the German stole the show with two pair. He received a total of $135,053.32 for first place while The__Anfied walked away with $129,319. Here are the final results and payouts featuring the nine-way deal: 1
Tobias “PokerNoob999” Reinkemeier
$135,053.32
2
The__Anfied
$129,319.00
3
TomsBrakis
$26,834.20
4
Maroc_Dk 77
$49,354.30
5
rumazon
$42,861.55
6
3max
$25,917.22
7
sedinoel
$37,521.16
8
reutsim
$42,295.27
9
swillslinger
$40,773.98
Patrik Antonius
Patrik Antonius Enduring Wild Swings At one point in the last week of May, Patrik Antonius had passed Gus Hansen on the 2011 leader board for cash-game winnings. However, Antonius imploded, giving all of his profits back in the following days. Antonius started off the run by destroying Rui Cao for about $800,000 at $500-$1,000 pot-limit Omaha. By capturing multiple six-figures pots, Antonius was in command the entire match, sending his French opponent into surrender. Combined with other one-versus-one sessions, Antonius had profited nearly $1 million from the European crowd in just one day on Full Tilt Poker. With nearly $3 million in earnings on the year, Antonius was now ahead of Hansen, who had been hovering around $3.5 million for the past couple of months before recently dropping about a million of his profits. Hansen seemed to have something to say about being second on the leader board, because shortly after Antonius passed him, the Danish pro went on to help take back all of Antonius’ winnings from the week and then some. Largely in nosebleed limit Omaha high-low eight-or-better sessions, Hansen took his fellow site pro for hundreds of thousands, sending Antonius on a downward spiral that eventually saw about $1.5 million of his recent winnings disintegrate. As a result, Hansen is back on top in cyberspace with $3.5 million in virtual currency. Other news from that week includes American Cole South returning to action on Full Tilt Poker. South, who lists his new location as Canada, has been a huge loser online this year, but managed to win about $200,000 in sessions over the past week across the border up north. Over at PokerStars, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom is having one of his best months since reemerging onto the scene after going broke again and again during his exciting run on Full Tilt Poker back in 2009 and 2010. Blom is now in the black about $450,000 from heads-up matches in May, but if his history is any prediction for the future, he will likely dump all of that back into the high-stakes sea. Blom has been one of the most unsuccessful six-max pot-limit Omaha players online this year. While a player like South allegedly made the move to Canada, a high-stakes pro like Ashton Griffin is relishing in his ability to broaden his life goals and take a break from the six-figure coin flips of the nosebleed culture — check out Card Player TV at CardPlayer.com for an interview with him and other big name poker pros. ♠
CARDPLAYER.COM
014_08_CPE_InsideStraightNEWS.indd 18
6/30/11 10:23 AM
Does your poker media campaign look like this?
It does not have to.
From press releases to full-service media campaigns – we will help you get noticed.
CPPS_Brand_17_PMC2_FP.indd 3
6/29/11 4:25 PM
INSIDE STRAIGHT
I
HAND HISTORY TIME CAPSULE
Jerry Yang’s Main-Event Run By Card Player Staff action to 2.5 million — good for more than 10 times the big blind. Yang’s aggression was able to help him get his opponents to make illtimed bluffs, as well as fold the superior hand on numerous occasions. Yang didn’t have much to work with when he made it to the final table in 2007, but his playing style turned out to be the perfect strategy for him to overcome the chip deficit and make a run toward the title. Here is a brief look at a series of hands in the early stages of the final table that helped Yang build momentum and confidence in his fearless pursuit of the bracelet: Jerry Yang Shoves, Gets Lee Childs to Fold an Overpair The Hand
T
he World Series of Poker main event has historically been home to some of poker’s most infamous and interesting hands. 2007 was no exception, as an amateur player named Jerry Yang, who entered the main event after winning a $225 live satellite, outlasted a massive field of 6,358 to take home $8.25 million in prize money. Remarkably, Yang entered the final
table as the second-shortest stack, but by implementing a hyperaggressive playing style, the Californian was able to mow through his competition, en route to eliminating all but one of his opponents in the grueling 12-hour contest. His full-throttle mindset started the moment he was dealt two cards, as his opening raises were typically massive relative to the blinds. For example, one hand with pocket eights, with the blinds at 120,000-240,000, Yang opened the
With the blinds at 120,000240,000, Childs raised to 720,000 with pocket queens. Yang, on Childs’ immediate left, looked down at a pair of jacks and three-bet to 2.5 million. Action was folded back to Childs, and he made the call. With 5.6 million in the middle, the flop came 7♣ 4♦ 2♣. Childs bet 3 million into his aggressive opponent, and Yang quickly announced all in for 7.78 million more. Childs had him covered, and went into the tank. He eventually folded the ladies faceup, and Yang, looking visibly shaken, raked in the pot of nearly 20 million.
Graduate your game with the
CP POKER SCHOOL Hundreds of free strategy articles and videos Ten free comprehensive poker courses Free offers from world’s best poker sites Free Poker Tools to increase your winnings 20
Enroll Now
IT’S FREE!
www.cardplayerpokerschool.com
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_18_HandHistory.indd 20
6/29/11 4:41 PM
INSIDE STRAIGHT Jerry Yang Bets Big, Sets Up Aggressive Table Dynamic With Phillip Hilm
I
HAND HISTORY TIME CAPSULE
J
J
Q
Q
The Hand
Q
J 4
4
7
8
K
8
8
Jerry Yang Keeps Firing, Eliminates Phillip Hilm in Ninth
Q
K
8
2
2
7
Lee Childs 13,300,000
Jerry Yang 18,420,000
Q
J Jerry Yang 10,300,000
Q
With the blinds at 120,000240,000, Yang raised to 2.5 million from the cutoff with a pair of eights, and Hilm made the call from the big blind with the K♥ Q♠. The flop was awesome for Yang, as it came A♥ 10♦ 8♠. Hilm checked, and Yang didn’t slow-play his set. He bet 3 million, and Hilm called with just a gutshotstraight draw. The turn brought the 3♦, and Hilm checked once again. Yang shoved all in for 12.92 million. Hilm had his opponent covered, but gave up on his draw and mucked. Yang raked in the pot and was building steam, as the hand catapulted him to the chip lead with 25 million.
Phillip Hilm 22,000,000
The Hand
3
K
8
5
8
K 5
J
K
up the payout ladder. However, the amateur clearly had one thing in mind — scooping up all the chips in play. His hyperaggressive style was perfect for his seat position, chip stack, and experience level against a tough fi nal table that also included Lee Watkinson, Hevad Khan, and Alexander Kravchenko. So, where do you think Yang’s performance ranks among those of
2
5
J
6
2
K
Phillip Hilm 19,400,000
6
A Jerry Yang 24,600,000
5
A
A
8
10
It seems likely Yang would have been eliminated early from the fi nal table if he was just in the business of surviving and trying to move
10
8
How the Hand Histories Look Now
A
3
Less than one orbit later after the previous hand with Hilm (with the blinds still at 120,000-240,000), Yang raised to 1 million with big slick, and Hilm called out of position again, this time out of the small blind with suited connectors. The flop came K♦ J♦ 5♣, and Hilm checked. Yang fired 2 million, and the bet was quickly called by Hilm. The 2♥ fell on the turn, and Hilm checked again. Yang bet 4 million, and Hilm moved all in for 12.4 million more. Yang made the call and flipped over the A♥ K♠. Hilm showed 8♦ 5♦, and the crowd reacted with a mix of glee, disappointment, and excitement. The river brought the 6♣, and Hilm was eliminated in ninth place. He played an aggressive game early, but Yang was more aggressive and had position in the key spots, as the Scandinavian went from the largest chip stack at the start of the day to the first player to be eliminated. After the hand, Yang was the overwhelming chip leader, as he had a third of the chips in play with more than 44 million. The title eventually proved to be all his after gaining the massive chip lead with the elimination of the former chip leader.
other main-event winners? Could Yang have won with a more conservative, survivalist strategy? Could you argue he was just the benefi ciary of bad plays by his opponents, such as the blowup of Hilm? Should less experienced players implement his style of raising large prefl op in order to make post-flop decisions easier? Those questions are for you to answer. ♠ CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_18_HandHistory.indd 21
21
6/29/11 4:42 PM
INSIDE STRAIGHT
I
CAPTURE THE FLAG
‘Crazy Mike’ Thorpe By Brian Pempus “Crazy Mike” Thorpe has been a fixture in the highstakes mixed games in Las Vegas for quite some time. The poker pro has been grinding along in the big games at Aria with the likes of Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Jennifer Harman, Barry Greenstein, Shaun Deeb, JeanRobert Bellande, and Eugene Katchalov day in and day out at limits as high as $1,000-$2,000. According to Thorpe, he was among the group of players who spearheaded the move to Aria from Bellagio. Thorpe is known for his crazy antics at the table, keeping an old nickname even when other famous Mikes in poker, such as “Crazy Mike” Caro and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, are poker household names. Despite his success, especially from hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits from online limit hold’em, Thorpe has largely flown under the radar in the poker community — except, of course, from some occasions when he has lived up to his moniker. He is famous for challenging anyone to heads-up limit hold’em, his bread-and-butter game. As “Thorpie” on PokerStars, the Las Vegas resident was, back in his online-grinding prime, one of the most feared fixedlimit hold’em players in the world. Despite the allure of playing for six-figure pots against a group of poker’s elite at cash-game tables these days, Thorpe has found time to compete in this summer’s World Series of Poker — not surprisingly, in the events with a fixed-betting structure. Over his poker career, Thorpe has cashed numerous times in limit hold’em events at the WSOP, but the deep run has so far eluded him. Card Player caught up with the mixed-game whiz to 22
talk about the Aria cash games, his start in poker, and the state of limit hold’em. Brian Pempus: So, what is your poker background? Mike Thorpe: My claim to fame would be heads-up limit hold’em, where I am considered … well, I am delusional in thinking that I am one of the best in the world, but at least my friends think I am in the top 20 in the world in the discipline. I have played millions of hands of heads-up limit hold’em online, and I eventually gravitated to mixed games a year or two ago because online limit hold’em died. The game is pretty much solved, and everyone is really good at it. My edge is very small in the game these days. Thus, I had to learn new games to continue to be a poker player, and that’s exactly what I did. BP: So, for example, with those epic marathon matches between Patrik Antonius and a German player, where each experienced million-dollar swings, it was just money moving back and forth with really no discernible “better player”? MT: Yes. I am actually friends with some of the German players who are considered some of the best in the world. The Germans are really good, and they usually beat most Americans in limit hold’em, but I had to find new games because I wasn’t getting action. Even one of the best German players wouldn’t play me at the stakes I wanted to play, which was lower than he typically played. He wanted to play me at super high limits, but I couldn’t afford the swings at those levels. I wanted to play $100-$200 or $200-$400 across multiple tables against him, but he wanted to play $1,000-2,000 and $2,000-$4,000. The swings at those levels are hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that’s a little bit
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_24_CaptureTheFlag.indd 22
6/29/11 4:46 PM
INSIDE STRAIGHT
J
9
Winning Percentage Before Flop: 35.3% After Flop: 68.1% After Turn: 70.5%
9
10
10
J
Q Winning Percentage Before Flop: 63.7% After Flop: 31.9% After Turn: 29.5%
Lars Bonding, 640,000 in chips
Q
Preflop
9
J
Cajelais checked, Bonding checked, Kelly bet 42,000, Cajelais folded, Bonding raised to 109,000, Kelly went all in, Bonding called.
10
RIVER
TURN
2
2
9
10
J
K
K
FLOP
Final day, two tables remaining, with the blinds at 3,000-6,000 with a 1,000 ante, Kelly raised to 12,000, Erik Cajelais called from the small blind, Bonding called from the big blind.
CAPTURE THE FLAG
2011 World Series of Poker $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout
I
BP: How has Black Friday affected the big cash games in town? MT: The games have picked up a lot since then. When we Internet people can’t play online anymore, we have to go to a casino to find action. We are really excited about the future of these types of games at Aria, but even if they just remained steady and the same, that would be great. BP: Final question: How did you get the nickname “Crazy Mike”? MT: Nine or 10 years ago in San Diego, I was stationed in the Navy. When I was in the service, I played poker in local cardrooms, and there were three Mikes at the time who were regulars in the games. Everyone called me “Crazy Mike” because when I was 18 or 19 years old, I would run around and yell like a hyena and jump on top of the tables, and do all sorts of other crazy things. The name just stuck after that. I am known just by my nickname now, as I don’t think anyone in the big cash games these days even knows my last name, which is kind of funny. I guess that I have branded myself well. However, going back to my behavior at the table — there have been lots of incidents at Aria, but I try not to be malicious in nature or as annoying and obnoxious as I used to be. I have just given some fun needles sometimes to certain players. We have had some fun times in the big mixed games lately. ♠
TOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP Dan Kelly, 521,000 in chips
CAPTURE THE FLAG INSIDE STRAIGHT
too much in a session for me. These days in the cash games at Aria, I usually buy in for 50 big bets, or about $30,000, which is much more reasonable. BP: You mentioned the cash games at Aria. There has definitely been a buzz around these games lately. How have they been in your eyes? MT: Aria is the only place in Las Vegas where you can play black-chip cash games. We have done well in the past few months to mold our games to have a unique player base to keep the games going every day. We started playing $200-$400 about six months ago, and have gravitated up to $300-$600 and $400-$800. We usually have three games or more at those stakes running every day, which will continue throughout the Series. BP: What poker variants do you play in this game? MT: Well, when I am in the game, we play “Mike Says,” and if I am not in the game, it’s a mix that includes badeucey and badacey, Omaha, Texas hold’em, deuce-to-seven, razz, deuce-to-seven triple draw, and all of the other classic mixed games that are out there. It’s a lot of fun. In Mike Says, I get to pick the game and the limit, and that’s about it. The regulars give me this because they consider me a fish. I lost a lot of money in the cash games when we first started playing a year ago, but I’ve done a little better since then. They still let me play Mike Says, which is nice.
I
Analysis Analysis The WSOP 2011 shootout featured an adjusted structure, with nine players per table on day one and 10 players on day two, each playing down to a winner. The final day started with 16 players divided between two tables that eventually combined for 10-handed play. Bonding set a trap with his flopped two pair, while Kelly offered a semibluffing continuation-bet with his open-end straight draw. With a multiway pot and signs of weakness from the blinds, Kelly favored the bet over taking the free card. However, once Bonding sprung his trap, Kelly shoved his draw into the check-raise, hoping to force a fold. Kelly was playing fast with his remaining 77 big blinds at this point, and did not give Bonding’s check-raise its due. He also may have overestimated his outs to the queens. Kelly improved on the turn to second pair, giving him five additional outs along with his open-end straight draw. Bonding could not fade the draw, losing 80 percent of his stack on the beat. It was an unfortunate scenario for Bonding, who received incredible preflop pot odds out of the blind and an opponent who insisted on creating a huge pot into his top-two holding on the flop. Bonding ultimately finished 10th, for $20,586, while Kelly went on to finish sixth, for $58,903.
NOTE: WINNING PERCENTAGES DO NOT INCLUDE TIES. ODDS PROVIDED BY CARDPLAYER.COM /POKER-TOOLS/ODDS-CALCULATOR /TEXAS-HOLDEM CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_24_CaptureTheFlag.indd 23
23
6/29/11 4:46 PM
INSIDE STRAIGHT
I
FINAL-TABLE TAKEDOWN
Bryan Piccioli Ramps Up the Aggression and Applies Pressure at the Final Table By Craig Tapscott and Bryan Piccioli
Bryan Piccioli is a 21-year-old poker pro from Buffalo, New York, currently residing in New York City. Specializing mainly in online multitable tournaments, he has recently begun expanding his horizons into the live-tournament arena. His biggest score came in February of this year when he chopped the Full Tilt Online Poker Series $2,100 two-day event for $282,245. He also has made some good runs in live $10,000 tournaments, including the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, EPT Monte Carlo, and WPT Foxwoods events. Piccioli has more than $3.7 million in online- and livetournament career cashes.
Event
Full Tilt Poker nolimit hold’em
Buy-in
$150
Players in the Event
4,474
First Place
$119,752
Finish
Third
Hand No. 1 The villain raises to 68,000 from early position. Craig Tapscott: What do you know
about the villain at this point? Bryan Piccioli: He’s definitely a competent player. I know that he has won a big online tournament in the past, so I know that he can handle the pressure of a big final table. CT: You came to this final table as the chip leader. What’s the plan? BP: When I have a big chip lead at the start of the final table, I want to apply a lot of pressure to the other stacks that are above average. I know that they can’t really put a lot of their stack at risk in marginal spots, because of the other short stacks.
24
is somewhat small, in retrospect. But his open was just a min-raise, and I think it accomplishes the same thing as a bigger three-bet. With this sizing, an opponent is going to flat-call a lot, and you will have position and the initiative on the flop.
bet this time, a bit less than half the pot. I know at this point that if he calls, the pot is at about 1.1 million on the river, and his stack would be around 875,000. This sets up a nice-size river jam, depending on what the river card is.
The villain calls. Flop: 10♠ 7♣ 2♦ (pot: 379,130) The villain checks. BP: I now have top pair on quite a dry
The villain calls. CT: What hand range are you putting
flop. Determining the bet-sizing on the flop is really important, in my opinion. Piccioli bets 98,565. CT: Why so small? BP: You’re right, this is pretty small
Bryan Piccioli reraises to 156,565 with the 10♥ 8♥ from the hijack position. BP: These are the kinds of hands that
compared to what I would continuationbet normally in a spot like this. I really don’t want to get check-raised here. Sometimes I even check these flops back. CT: Really? Explain. BP: Well, it might sound crazy to threebet light with a hand like 10-8 suited after flopping top pair, which is pretty much the best-case scenario. The bad thing about checking back the flop here is that there are a lot of scare cards on the turn that hit my opponent’s range. I think by betting quite small here, about 25 percent of the pot, it gets my opponent to just check-call or check-fold the majority of his range. You shouldn’t be getting checkraised on flops like this too often.
I like to three-bet in this spot — suited connectors and hands that flop well when I’m in position. My three-bet size here is to a little less than five big blinds, which
The villain calls. Turn: 8♠ (pot: 576,260) The villain checks. Piccioli bets 265,265. BP: I decide to put out a decent-sized
him on? BP: His range here consists mainly of one-pair hands. It could be hands like 7-6 suited, 9-7 suited, 9-8 suited, 10-9, J-10, Q-10, K-10, A-10, and pocket pairs like 8-8, 9-9, and maybe even J-J. The turn also brings a second spade, so he could’ve picked up a flush draw with his suitedconnector hands. River: Q♥ (pot: 1,106,790) The villain checks. CT: How do you feel about this river
card? BP: There are a lot worse rivers, but this river could be a potential scare card for him and we may not get paid off big now. If he’s check-calling the flop and the turn with a lot of one-pair hands, he’s not likely to call an all-in bet with almost 900,000 still in his stack on the river, mainly because if he folds, he’d still be in the top five in chips. When he’s checkcalling with these one-pair hands, he’s hoping that a decent percentage of the time, I’m barreling with hands such as A-Q, K-Q, Q-J, and so on — and I would get there on the river with those hands. CT: So, how can you squeeze value out
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_22_FTT.indd 24
6/29/11 4:43 PM
INSIDE STRAIGHT 8
5
8 2
8
2
7
Q
8
10
Villain 1,400,951
Q
10
7
Hand No. 1
5
5
Bryan Piccioli 3,518,818
FINAL-TABLE TAKEDOWN
5
10
I
10
Blinds: 17,000-34,000 • Antes: 4,000 Players at the Table: 8
10
K
K
10 5
J
5
8
8
J
8
Q
Villain 4,683,112
8
A
Bryan Piccioli 5,819,549 Hand No. 2
K
K
A
Q
Blinds: 40,000-80,000 • Antes: 10,000 Players at the Table: 3 of your hand at this point? BP: I decided to go for a somewhat small value-bet instead of jamming. Piccioli bets 345,685. BP: This bet leaves him with about
530,000 if he calls and is wrong. At this point, he can still afford to try to make a hero-call on me and be in decent contention at the final table. I think that in these spots, it’s best to leave your opponent some chips behind, because he’s way more likely to pay off a value-bet really light than pay off an all-in bet. The villain tanks and then calls, and reveals the 5♦ 5♥. Piccioli wins the pot of 1,798,160. Hand No. 2 CT: What are the final-table dynamics
between you and the villain? BP: The villain in this hand is very aggressive, and my image is also pretty
crazy. This happens pretty frequently when you get two active players playing deep-stacked poker three-handed at the end of a tournament. In this scenario, fireworks are sure to be set off. Bryan Piccioli raises to 230,230 from the small blind with the A♣ 10♦. BP: Usually, I’m not a very big fan of
A-10, especially when it’s offsuit. But in a spot like this, I was very happy with the blind-versus-blind situation in a threehanded format with the dynamics that I had going with the villain. From the small blind, I usually raise about 2.3 to 2.5 times the big blind, but we are very deep. In these instances, I like making a little bit bigger raise to discourage him from resisting too much. The villain reraises to 629,963 from the big blind. BP: This is a pretty big three-bet, con-
sidering that he’s in position; it’s a reraise
of almost triple my bet, which was pretty uncommon for him. I wasn’t sure if it meant strength or weakness. One thing I did know is that folding was out of the question. My A-10 offsuit is just too good a hand to consider folding to a single threebet, given the dynamics at this point. The options here were: call, go all in, or fourbet to induce a bluff-shove. CT: So, in this spot, folding is absolutely out of the question? BP: Yes. I think flat-calling is, as well. As I explained earlier, A-10 is a hand that I hate playing when deep-stacked and out of position, especially in a three-bet pot when my opponent is the aggressor. So, I immediately ruled out folding and flatcalling as options. This left jam or four-bet to induce a shove. CT: What’s the main factor that your decision comes down to? BP: Pretty much what it came down to was how high a percentage of the time I thought this guy would five-bet all in as a bluff. After thinking back to the first hand of the final table, when he called a massive overbet-shove on an A-6-6-5-3 board containing three clubs with just 10-10, I knew that he wasn’t afraid to put his stack on the line in a marginal spot. He had three-bet me on more than one occasion, and vice versa. To me, everything led to the fact that inducing was the better option here. Yes, I know that A-10 offsuit is not the best hand to do this with, and probably is at the very bottom of my four-bet/calling range, but I think it was the better option, given our history. Piccioli reraises to 1,234,567. The villain shoves all in. BP: At this point, I’m not ecstatic about
the whole thing. I would’ve been perfectly content with a fold, but I made this fourbet to try to induce him to bluff, so of course I snap-call. Piccioli calls. The villain reveals the K♥ K♦. BP: Oops! Even in this instance, where he basically has the nuts, I still have almost 30 percent equity. Flop: Q♥ 8♦ 5♥ (pot: 9,376,224) Turn: J♠ (pot: 9,376,224) River: 8♥ (pot: 9,376,224) The villain wins the pot of 9,376,224. CT: Any regrets on how this hand
played out after thinking it over again? BP: Maybe just shove all in instead of trying to induce. With the other player sitting with less than 3 million in chips, the villain probably won’t fivebet all in light as often as I originally thought. ♠ CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_22_FTT.indd 25
25
6/29/11 4:43 PM
INDUSTRY NEWS
Dragonfish To Enter Italian Poker Market
Calls For Aussie Online Poker Regulation Australian Betfair chief executive Andrew Thwaits has called for online poker operators in the country to be regulated saying current legislation is not working. He told the Australian newspaper that, “While it is pleasing to see both the federal and state governments taking the integrity of betting in sports seriously and on a united front, the present legislation is clearly not working when it comes to online poker. “Online sports betting in this country turns over $300 million a year, is highly regulated and we pay our taxes, while operators of online poker sites are not, many of which are controlled and run offshore.” ♠
International Poker Network €2 Million Upgrade The International Poker Network, home to online poker rooms such as Mermaid Poker and Virgin Poker, has announced a €2 million investment in upgrading the network. In a statement GTECH G2, operator of the network, said, “The investment will deliver players on the IPN with bigger and better promotions and tournaments. Creating the ultimate poker experience for any player is something GTECH G2 are 110% committed too. This investment is an important part of continually rewarding existing new players and attracting new players to the network.” The upgrade will also see a doubling of the poker software development team which is currently updating the software module by module. ♠
Pinnacle Poker Closes Doors This Week Entraction poker network site Pinnacle Poker shut down for good in mid-June. The site was advised by Entraction, which was recently taken over by U.S. gaming giant IGT, that its Curacao license was no longer sufficient under “recent updates to 26
888.com’s business-to-business online gaming wing, Dragonfish, has received certification from the Italian regulator Amministrazione Autonoma Dei Monopoli Di Stato (AAMS). Itai Frieberger, chief operation officer for 888, said “This successful certification of our products by AAMS further reaffirms our focus and commitment to the growing Italian iGaming market.” Online cash games were launched in Italy earlier this year and 888 already offers online poker in Italy under its 888.it business. “We have been active under the Italian online regulated regime over the past few years,” Frieberger added, “and we are looking forward to further bolstering our gaming proposition through our 888.it operation as well as through our Dragonfish-powered partners. “We aim to present Italian players with a world-class and fully localised gaming experience by leveraging our 14 years of online casino excellence. We welcome new opportunities to grow our market share as Italy becomes increasingly active.” ♠
EU gaming regulation”. In a statement the company said, “The steps required to remain within the Entraction network will necessitate a significant commitment for Pinnacle Poker. Given that our current focus is on developing our leading Sportsbook and Casino products, we have decided not to pursue the necessary changes.” Funds can no longer be transferred into Pinnacle Poker and from Wednesday June 15 all access to the client was closed off. ♠
CARDPLAYER.COM
026_08_CPE_IndustryNews.indd 26
6/30/11 10:25 AM
INDUSTRY NEWS
French Poker Liquidity May Receive Boost The French government has received a report recommending it changes many of the rules relating to online gaming in the country including reducing tax and sharing liquidity in the poker sector.
In total 15 proposals have been put forward by two MPs, Jean-Francois Lamour and Aurelie Filippetti, who argue that existing legislation is impacting the sector negatively. A number of companies such as Betfair and Unibet have withdrawn from the French market while others complain of punitive taxes and players bemoan the high rake. However one government source said it was unlikely there would be any significant changes until next year at least. ♠
Hungarian Poker Club Shut Down The Miami Poker Club in Budapest, Hungary has been raided for the second time in six months. The National Tax and Customs Office (NAV) raided the shopping mall-based club and found 40 tables in action. Tables, chips and other evidence was seized. Last November the club, which is the largest in Hungary, was fined Ft10 million (€37,300) for being in violation of Hungarian law but it reopened again soon afterwards. Poker in Hungary is very strictly regulated. ♠
Poland Set To Ban Online Poker Poland is in the grip of an online poker crisis after President Bronislaw Komorowski signed an amendment to an upcoming law which will ban the Internet pastime. The law is expected to come into effect later in the summer but does not affect President Bronislaw sports betting which, Komorowski according to a Polish news report in Bankier. pl, relates to events in the “real world”, providing servers are located within the EU and the company has a .pl domain name. According to Jacek Kapica, undersecretary to the Ministry of Finance, “Poker is a gambling game, based on a random element (a hand of cards). Worse, it’s a game, leading to addiction. However as a member of the European Union Poland is now likely to come under fierce pressure from other countries which believe the new law to be in contravention of EU competition rules which state countires must allow goods and services from other countires to pass freely across borders. ♠
Casino Gran Madrid Offers Online Poker Casino Gran Madrid has become the first to be certified by the government of Madrid and is now officially licensed
Sportingbet Poker Revenue Down 29 Percent Sportingbet plc has issued its interim financial report for the third quarter of its financial year to the end of April 2011. Poker net revenue was down 29 percent to £3.2 million compared to £4.5 million in the same period last year. The company said this was, “… due to the continued presence of large operators who used US liquidity to build up substantial European operations. Whilst the US facing elements of two such operators were closed by the US authorities on 15 April, we have as yet seen no material benefit in Europe from this.” However the company also said, “Poker continued to perform well in challenging market conditions. In the quarter we also delivered our first B2B poker deal with Opoker.com.” Poker accounts for 5.9 percent of group revenue. ♠
William Hill And Playtech Call Truce Online gaming partners William Hill and Playtech have announced an “amicable resolution” to their recent dispute over joint venture William Hill Online. In February this year William Hill took out an injunction against iPoker owner Playtech preventing it from making “significant amendments” to their deal at a time when news reports suggested Playtech was in talks with Hill’s British bookmaking rival, Ladbrokes. According to the statement issued on behalf of both parties, changes to the original agreement have been made which “grant greater flexibility to their respective operations… which may open up further commercial opportunities for the parties”. ♠ to offer poker, blackjack, slots, and roulette on its very own site. Due to an agreement signed in 2009, the site will be powered by Playtech software, with a player management system provided by MediaTech Solutions. Only Madrid residents aged 18 and over will be allowed to play at first. ♠ CARDPLAYER.COM
026_08_CPE_IndustryNews.indd 27
27
6/30/11 10:26 AM
28
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_26_CoverStory.indd 28
6/29/11 4:34 PM
JAKE CODY
Wins $25,000 Heads-Up Championship, Claims Poker’s Third Triple Crown 22-Year-Old British Professional Becomes Youngest Player to Bag EPT, WPT and WSOP Titles BY RYAN LUCCHESI Jake Cody began his poker career as an afterthought to a pool league he played in with a friend back in Rochdale, England, in the vicinity of Manchester. After the billiards was done for the evening, a social £5 game followed every Monday. “I thought it was a fun game that made for good banter. My friend and I started playing more and eventually we started playing heads up, and that is where I got my first experience. That is where I first learned the game,” said Cody. While he might have fallen short of becoming Britain’s Fast Eddie Felson, the 22-year-old professional poker player did learn to hustle on the felt. He put his early lessons in heads-up poker to good use during the first week at the 2011 World Series of Poker, winning the $25,000 heads-up nolimit hold’em championship. The win capped off an amazing 18-month run for Cody, when he became the youngest player in history to win Poker’s Triple Crown. He joined American Gavin Griffin and fellow Brit Roland de Wolfe as just the third player in poker history to join the club. On Jan. 25, 2010, Cody won the European Poker Tour Deauville main event to claim his first major victory and $1,199,037 in prize money. On Sept. 5 of that same year, he took home his first World Poker Tour title at the London Poker Classic, which was good for another $425,492 in prize money. His recent gold bracelet victory on June 3, 2011, gave Cody another $851,192, and increased his career earnings to $2,901,131. More importantly, it gave him his first victory at the WSOP, and gave him the magical trifecta that has eluded all but two other players before him.
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_26_CoverStory.indd 29
29
6/29/11 4:34 PM
Gold Bracelet Path
The 2011 WSOP heads-up championship featured a new price tag of $25,000, so the tournament attracted 128 of the best heads-up poker players in the world. This meant that any player who hoped to win the first open buy-in event of the 42nd-annual WSOP would have to defeat seven tough opponents in succession. For Jake Cody, that path led through the following players: Brandon Adams in round one, Frank Kassela in round two, Dani Stern in round three, Jonathan Jaffee in the Sweet 16, Anthony Guetti in the Elite Eight, Gus Hansen in the Final Four, and finally, Yevgeniy Timoshenko in the championship round. Cody didn’t breeze through the tournament flawlessly, but he did finish undefeated, and he impressed many along the way, especially at the end of the tournament. Cody won quietly in the first three rounds, and then he faced his toughest test of the tournament in the Elite Eight against Guetti. “Guetti was able to read me very well. At times it felt like he bluffed me in a few big pots. In the first match against him, I got absolutely obliterated. Then we went to a small dinner break and that helped. I then doubled up and felt like I had control of the match,” said Cody. He pulled himself together after the break and worked hard until he held the chip advantage. Cody eventually put Guetti to an all-in decision with pocket tens, and Guetti decided to make the all-in call with pocket sevens, which were unable to come from behind. Cody then really found his stride as the tournament progressed. He did not have to reload either of his two options for more chips, neither in his semifinal match against Hansen nor again in the finals against Timoshenko. A boisterous and energetic crowd of Englishmen supported Cody as he played great poker on the final day of the tournament, and throughout the noise, the cheers, and the laughs from the crowd, he remained stoic in his seat at the felt. His calm demeanor betrayed nothing, and only his wild hair betrayed any hint of the aggression he was employing from within. Cody was brilliant against Hansen in the Final Four. He showed no signs of intimidation, and won more than 90 percent of the pots at showdown during a dominating performance. “I would like to think he was surprised. I don’t think he knew too much about me before the match. I think he might have underestimated me a little bit,” said Cody. “Right at the start he gave up a pot after betting three streets with queen
high against my top pair, and I think from there I had the momentum for the whole match. I felt like I was reading him well. I was getting hands when I needed to, as well. I kept being aggressive and kept the pressure on him.” In the key hand that took place early in the match, Hansen had fired three times at a 9♦ 5♥ 2♠ 7♦ 8♣ board, but Cody was undeterred and called him down. Hansen said he had a queen after the river, and then Cody turned over Q♥ 9♣ to win the hand and knock out one of Hansen’s legs. After that hand, it was indeed a steady march downhill for Hansen, who in the end was forced to move all in with A♦ 4♣. He had picked the wrong spot to do so, for Cody was waiting with A♠ 5♠. The board ran out K♥ 8♥ 6♥ 5♥ 6♠ to give Cody the spot against Timoshenko in the finals. Cody won the first all-in confrontation in the finals when his pocket sixes won a race against the A-4 of Timoshenko, which sent Timoshenko reaching for the first reload chip worth 1.6 million. The second time that Timoshenko was all in, it was Cody who held the baby-ace offsuit with A-3 in the hole, but he was ahead of the J♣ 10♠ of his opponent. The board gave Cody another ace on the river, and Timoshenko was down to his final 1.6 million chip. Cody held all the momentum once again, and his cheering section knew it, unleashing the loudest cheers the Amazon Room had heard in quite some time. Cody used the advantage he had and struck quickly at Timoshenko one last time. On the final hand Timoshenko made an all-in call preflop after Cody had shoved all in following a limp from Timoshenko. Their cards: Cody: K♣ 9♣ Timoshenko: A♣ 5♠ Board: K♥ Q♦ 4♥ 6♥ 4♦ As soon as the final card was dealt and Cody was the champion of the event, the crowd of British supporters broke into chants of “Triple Crown! Triple Crown!” They honored the achievement of their countryman, and in the ensuing days they would have much more to celebrate. Cody’s win was just the first of a dozen final-table appearances scored by the British early at this year’s World Series, and the first of two gold bracelets. It may turn out to be the Year of the Brit, or it may not, when all 58 bracelets are handed out, but one thing is for sure: The British are here, and Cody has led the way with one of the most impressive gold bracelet performances in the modern era of poker. ♠
Jake Cody and Gus Hansen
30
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_26_CoverStory.indd 30
6/29/11 4:36 PM
An Interview With the Champion
JAKE CODY Ryan Lucchesi: The fi rst thing to jump out about your victory is that not only are you the third Triple Crown winner, but at 22, you are the youngest winner of the Triple Crown. How does this 18-month run feel from the driver’s seat, where you have won on all three major tours? Jake Cody: In the last few days it has started to sink in, and I thought, “Oh my God, how have I achieved all of this?” It’s more than I ever would have dreamed of, really. Just one of those wins is what every poker player wants, so to win all three is incredible. The record is going to be so hard to break since you can’t play for a bracelet until you’re 21. It will be hard to break, so I think I will go down in the record books, which is a very cool thing. RL: You join Gavin Griffi n and Roland de Wolfe as Triple Crown winners. Do you take a lot of pride in the fact that there are now two Triple Crown winners from England? JC: It’s great; I think it shows how far British poker has come. There are a lot of great British players fi nding success. A lot of those players are really good friends of
mine, and I think that showed in how many great players were there on the rail when I won. RL: Is the success of British players a reflection of the strength of that feeling of community? Do you guys share a lot of ideas about the game? JC: Sure. We’re always talking about hands, and that defi nitely helps. A few of us have run well to win the events that we have, but we are all players who think at a high level, and we exchange different ideas. It defi nitely helps a lot. Most of the time when we are playing online, we will be on Skype with each other talking about hands. There is also the GUKPT [Grosvenor U.K. Poker Tour] and the UKIPT [U.K. and Ireland Poker Tour] now, and those are the local tournaments that we all go to and then socialize at within our community. RL: How important have those strong regional tours been to growing the talent base for British poker? JC: I think it’s a great step to bigger stuff. It’s perfect, the buy-ins are good, and the structure is actually really good. It is great experience in game play for when you move up to the EPT [European Poker Tour]. That is where I got my start in live poker. In Nottingham this year, the CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_26_CoverStory.indd 31
31
6/29/11 4:37 PM
UKIPT event was over a thousand players. Poker is still growing in the U.K. because it is on TV all the time. RL: Do you feel because of Black Friday that British and European players have an edge moving forward, or at least an opportunity to grow the player base ahead of the U.S. in terms of popularity? JC: I think how much it hinders the U.S., and that it is not great for poker overall, but in Europe it helps at the same time. There is more focus on the European players now. RL: Do you believe this could be the year of the Brit at the World Series of Poker? JC: It’s possible; I think last year was a great year for England. I think we had six or seven bracelets — that’s a lot of bracelets. I think it’s amazing we could win that many. RL: With so much success so early in your poker career, what do you think is possible to achieve in the course of your live-tournament career? JC: I feel like it could be a while until my next fi nal table where I’m on a big stage again. I don’t know when it is going to slow down because it feels like such a whirlwind. I’m probably going to go through some stretches where I’m not winning. In terms of goals, winning another bracelet would be amazing. Nobody has ever won two EPTs, so I’m one of the players who might be able to do that. I’m going to play a lot of EPT events. I’m defi nitely going to travel around Europe and the world playing in all of the big tournaments in the foreseeable future, but I don’t think
You should be very flexible when you play heads up, as well. One of the most important things about heads up is adjusting to your opponents to combat their styles. Don’t make it easy for them and don’t play into their hands. Always be the one who’s making them answer questions. I want to play in them when I’m in my 40s. I don’t think it is a great lifestyle when you want to settle down, and it is a lot harder to do when you have more responsibilities. RL: You had a lot of great crowd support during the fi nal table, which obviously must have felt great. You always looked so calm and focused no matter what was going on around you. How are you able to just zero in on your opponent in those exciting and loud situations? JC: That has always been one of my strengths. You can’t think of it as such a big match. You have to go into it just trying to play your best and trying to beat your opponent. You can’t think of players like Gus Hansen or Timoshenko as a level above you; you’ve got to try and play at just that same level and beat them. RL: Do you try and drastically switch up your strategy if a player has a strong read on you heads up? JC: I like to physically slow things down and take a 32
Results From the WSOP $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship 1
Jake Cody
$851,192
2
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
$525,980
3
Gus Hansen
$283,966
3
Eric Froehlich
$283,966
5
Matthew Marafioti
$138,852
5
Anthony Guetti
$138,852
5
Nikolay Evdakov
$138,852
5
David Paredes
$138,852
9
Tom Dwan
$67,436
9
Steve Billirakis
$67,436
9
John Duthie
$67,436
9
Olivier Busquet
$67,436
9
Richard Lyndaker
$67,436
9
Kunimaro Kojo
$67,436
9
Mikhail Smirnov
$67,436
9
Jonathan Jaffe
$67,436
few more seconds in each decision I make. When they’re winning every hand, it feels like they’ve got you on the ropes, but that slows things down. It’s like playing a defensive strategy and holding on to the ball in football. RL: How do you prepare for a heads-up tournament? JC: Before I played primarily in live tournaments, I played heads up online, and lately I have been watching a lot of high-stakes heads-up training videos. I have more experience than one might expect. RL: What advice would you give to players who want to start playing more heads-up poker? JC: I think it is very important to be fearless, and I think it is very important to be self-critical. Even if it feels like you’re playing really well, you should still feel like you can change anything to improve. You should be very flexible when you play heads up, as well. One of the most important things about heads up is adjusting to your opponents to combat their styles. Don’t make it easy for them and don’t play into their hands. Always be the one who’s making them answer questions. RL: How important is it to push momentum in a heads-up match by playing aggressively both preflop and post-flop? JC: I think momentum is huge heads up. When things are going your way, keep the aggression up and don’t slow down. You need to put your opponent in awkward spots. If your opponent has you on the turn, anything you do feels really transparent, and he’s going to read you well no matter what you do. You feel like you can’t do anything sometimes. When you fi nd yourself on that side of the momentum, you need to try to slow down the match to try and win a few small pots, and not do anything too crazy for a while. Try and gain control of the match a little bit. ♠
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_26_CoverStory.indd 32
6/29/11 4:39 PM
WIN LAS VEGAS TRIPS WITH BINGPOKER.COM, VIRGINPOKER.COM, AND LADBROKESPOKER.COM
QUALIFY ONLINE FOR THE GROSVENOR UNITED KINGDOM POKER TOUR ON BLUESQ.COM/CPE
July 2010
May 2008
July 2008
PATRIK ANTONIUS CHALLENGES DOYLE BRUNSON
RESIDENT COLUMNISTS
PLUS BEATEN TO THE PUNCH: WORLD BOXING ROUNDUP
NEW FACES OF DUTCH POKER
WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP 2008 PREVIEW
PARTYPOKER.COM PREMIER LEAGUE
ROY BRINDLEY ON HARRY FINDLAY
PLUS EUROPEAN POKER TOUR GRAND FINAL
PHIL HELLMUTH & GUS HANSEN
INVESTING IN ONLINE POKER STOCKS
BOOKMAKING
IS A SHORT-STACKING GENIUS ABOUT TO KILL ONLINE POKER?
A BRIEF HISTORY
DAVID CHIU
WIMBLEDON
WINS THE WORLD POKER TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
OMAHA AND HOLD’EM STRATEGY
BETTING TIPS
IRISH OPEN CHAMPION JAMES MITCHELL ROY BRINDLEY ON TOURNAMENT DIRECTORS EUROPEAN POKER TOUR — MONTE CARLO OR BUST
DAN HARRINGTON’S
£ 2.50 € 4.00 $ 5.00 Skr 45.00
£ 2.50 € 4.00 $ 5.00 Skr 45
£ 2.50 € 4.00 $ 5.00 Skr 45.00
LIV BOEREE ROCKS
CHALLENGE THE GODFATHER AT DOYLESROOM.COM
UNIVERSE
POKERSTARS.COM EPT SAN REMO c1_JulyCover.indd 1
c1_05_CPE_CVR_May.indd 1
3/27/08 12:30:03 PM
c1_07_CPE_CVR_July.indd 1
6/1/10 11:38:14 AM
6/4/08 12:38:53 PM
December 2008
£ 2.50 € 4.00 $ 5.00 Skr 45.00
c1_12_CPE_CVR_december.indd 1
10/31/08 12:06:41 PM
FREE GIFT POKER SOFTWARE CD INSIDE FOR YOU
January 2008
PLUS BEST BETS FOR 2008: TENNIS DARTS DOGS UFC HORSES: CHRISTMAS RACING PREVIEW
MARCUS LEHMAN WINS WORLD POKER TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP STRATEGIES & ANALYSIS: BECOME A WINNING PLAYER TODAY
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: THE BEST NFL TEAM EVER? £ 2.50 € 4.00 Skr 45.00
Annette_15
Ushers in the New Age of Poker c1_01_CPE_CVR_Jan.indd 1
25
$
12 ISSUES
CPPS_Sub_1_FP.indd 3
12/3/07 1:21:05 PM
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE www.cardplayer.com/europe-sub
OR CALL (+44) 18 44 21 47 24 6/29/11 4:25 PM
All photos in this feature courtesy of Full Tilt Poker
34
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_36_CoverStory.indd 34
6/29/11 4:30 PM
Climbing Out of the
HIGH-STAKES
Dungeon
By Brian Pempus
G
us Hansen’s situation can be loosely compared to that of a couple of players from the 1994 major league baseball strike, which ended the season prematurely in early August. During that summer, Matt Williams of the San Francisco Giants had a chance to break Roger Maris’ single-season record of 61 home runs. Williams had hit 43 home runs when the strike forced the cancellation of the remaining 47 games of the regular season. Ken Griffey Jr., who also was on pace to approach the record, ended the season with one fewer home run than Williams, and was quoted as saying that they chose a poor season to have a good year. And Hansen picked the wrong time to put up his best-ever online results. However, Hansen is a stubborn guy, and just like baseball, online poker will make a comeback. After falling about $10 million into the red from playing on the Internet this past fall, Hansen began having doubts about his ability to beat the virtual competition. But the career games player remained resilient, even when it seemed like the nosebleed-stakes regulars were swarming around his tables. His efforts have paid off, as he is sitting on $4 million in profits from online poker in 2011. Those results are likely to hold, not only because the 37-year-old Danish poker pro has retooled his game, but because the unfortunate
developments of April 15 in the United States have thus far asphyxiated the nosebleed-stakes scene. Hansen, who is a Full Tilt Poker pro living overseas in Monaco, had no comment on the legal issue. Even though American high-stakes players have been absent from the tables on Full Tilt Poker, Hansen has still been online, logging nosebleed-stakes action against European foes. Despite putting in the majority of his hours online in the recent past, Hansen is one of the most accomplished live players ever. With three World Poker Tour wins, a World Series of Poker Europe bracelet, and numerous other titles, Hansen has amassed $7.7 million in career tournament earnings. He is also a regular participant in the largest live cash games in the world, and once held the record for the largest pot won in televised cash-game history. Card Player talked to Hansen about his massive upswing in online games, as well as his game-playing life, less than 12 hours before “Black Friday” [April 15] in the poker world.
A Lifer in the Competitive Gaming World Despite taking tennis and soccer very seriously in his youth, Hansen said that he was never talented enough to become a professional athlete, and if it wasn’t for a random coincidence, he wouldn’t have been a professional games player, either. Hansen always had a love for CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_36_CoverStory.indd 35
35
6/29/11 4:30 PM
“MOST OF THE WORK HAS BEEN MY OWN STUBBORNNESS IN KEEPING AT IT, EVEN THOUGH MY RESULTS WERE EXCRUCIATINGLY POOR,” Hansen said. “I stayed with it, trying to understand why I was losing to specific people.”
competition, whether it was a contest that relied on mostly physical or mostly mental abilities, and he found a real skill in moving pieces around a backgammon board. He soon discovered tournament play, and it wasn’t long before an 18-year-old Hansen found himself on his way to the 1993 World Championship of Backgammon in Monaco. At that point, what started out as just fun was now a way for Hansen to compete against the best in the world — something he never would have been able to do in sports. Drifting into professional gaming wasn’t what his parents had envisioned for him, but they soon realized that their Gustav had found something in which his talent could be actualized. It became obvious to Hansen’s family that some of the raw ability that he was lacking on the tennis court and the soccer field was present at the backgammon table. “When I made the decision to be a professional games player, the questions were: What are you getting yourself into? Shouldn’t you get an education? However, I was raised in a very open-minded way, in the sense that my parents were open to the fact that I had found a different path. At first, it seemed to them to be a very strange path, but they quickly realized that I was happy with what I was doing, and it was going all right. Initially, they were surprised, and for lack of a better word, disappointed, 36
but that quickly washed away.” Hansen isn’t completely sure when he branched off into poker, but he estimates that it was around the same year that he made his first trip to Monaco. Sounding like a true gambler, Hansen calls his discovery of poker a random event, as he doesn’t think his move to the game was a conscious decision. He said that it was more of a natural progression for a young kid who just loved to play games, as well as basic common sense to have more than one discipline in his repertoire. Despite losing constantly during the acclimation period, poker soon became Hansen’s obsession. “The green felt as a battlefield is always interesting to me,” said Hansen, who began making frequent trips to the United States in the mid-1990s for competitive poker. “The mind games you can play against your opponent are always a lot of fun.” After practice and hours spent at the table studying opponents and learning the basic strategy of poker, the gaming polymath began a suitcase lifestyle that he would maintain until this day.
Moneymaker Who? The Gus Hansen Effect Long before Hansen was consumed by the nosebleed-stakes online cash games, he was arguably the face of the WPT. His first major-tournament cash was a win in the inaugural WPT Five-Diamond World Poker Classic
in 2002, for a massive $556,460 firstplace prize. Hansen’s aggressive style of play sent Freddy Deeb to the rail in third place when Deeb’s A-K was outflopped by Hansen’s Q-10, after all of the money went into the middle preflop. In an interview after his elimination, Deeb called Hansen’s play at the final table “very bad,” and said, “I would like to play this game with him every day for the rest of my life.” Hansen’s game was misunderstood by not only most people watching televised poker for the first time, but by some of the experienced pros in the poker world. “My style of play in 2002 and 2003 was a little bit of an eye-opener for a lot of people,” said Hansen, who was chosen as one of People magazine’s “50 Sexiest Men Alive” in 2004. “When people saw it back then, and realized it wasn’t the recommended style, they would attribute it to me being crazy and from Europe. However, when the lunatic did very well in the tournament, people started to think that maybe my play wasn’t completely insane, and had some merits.” After captivating poker minds across the country, Hansen made aggressiveness a popular style, which seemed to resonate through the poker boom and beyond. “In 2011, aggressive poker is accepted as the right way of playing,” Hansen said. “In 2003, it was more about people waiting around and trying to trap people.
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_36_CoverStory.indd 36
6/29/11 4:31 PM
It is very hard to trap people if you don’t have an aggressive approach and image beforehand. Right now, the question is how aggressive you should be, and nobody really has the answer. My style back then indicated to other players that there were different ways to play other than waiting around.” Despite getting vast amounts of attention as one of the more alluring poker characters to watch on TV in the early 2000s, Hansen remains one of the more humble players in the game today. He admits that his star persona helped increase poker’s popularity, but he refuses to try to gauge how much of it can be traced back to his rush of success in the WPT’s infancy.
The Best Online Upswing of His Career Hansen’s online-poker career has been marred by hot starts to begin a calendar year, followed by the extermination of those winnings to finish the year in a massive hole. That vicious trend has made Hansen one of the biggest losers in the history of Internet poker. However, since winning his first World Series of Poker bracelet, in London last September, Hansen has been on a tear, erasing about $6 million of his career losses on the virtual felt. “I’ve made some corrections to mistakes that I’ve been making in the past,” Hansen said. “My focus is a little better, and I stopped playing too loose in some situations. I’ve adjusted to different opponents, and basically have been running a lot better. If we go a year back in time, I wasn’t running too well, and was making bad decisions, which led to the downfall. Fixing the poor decision-making and getting the best of the cards is a recipe for winning on the Internet.” Even though Hansen has friendships with some of the best cashgame players in the world, he has accomplished the miraculous turnaround largely on his own. His analytical approach has evolved into a self-reflective philosophy, one that has enabled him to take an honest look at what was making him lose session after session for months at a time. “Most of the work has been my own stubbornness in keeping at it, even though my results were excruciatingly poor,” Hansen said. “I stayed with it, trying to understand why I was losing to specific people.” While focusing on taming his
aggressiveness, Hansen also tries to keep variance at a minimum these days, frequently leaving tables when he becomes too deep-stacked. “I don’t mind playing a big pot, but all within reason,” said Hansen, who has played primarily capped pot-limit Omaha over the past eight months. “I don’t have $200 million to play coin flips for a million at a time, and neither does anyone else — but they seem to think that is the right way to go. I shy away from the insane deep-stack games. I did have one session recently against [Scott] ‘URnotINdanger2’ [Palmer], in which we played deep, but once we got up to $200,000 each, I sat out and opened a new table with more reasonably sized stacks.” A lot of professional poker players want to play $200-$400 pot-limit Omaha with $500,000 stack sizes, according to Hansen. “Who do they think they are? John Wayne? I know that [Ilari] ‘Ziigmund’ [Sahamies] thinks he can deep-stack outplay anyone in the world, but looking at his results, he obviously can’t. Why do you want to put up $500,000 in a $200-$400 game just to get it all in when you have top set against flush and straight draws? Why do you want to flip a coin for that amount? It seems like players today think, the bigger, the better, because they think they are the greatest of all time.” His conservative style of play has worked out well in marathon sessions against Palmer and against another of online poker’s biggest winners — Dan “jungleman12” Cates. Hansen attributes his success against the pair of Maryland natives to patience. “Whenever I hit a good flop and they hit a poor flop, they throw in a bluff, and it seems like I’m taking all of their money,” Hansen said. Although people tend to become more conservative as they age, Hansen said that none of his change in style is a result of nearing 40. “I was just sick of losing on the Internet,” Hansen said. “Oftentimes, you have to blame yourself for losing. Changing a losing game seemed like a good strategy. I was looking for a prettier outcome, and that obviously meant correcting some of the flaws and changing gears more often within a session.” In the midst of what seemed like a perpetual career downswing, Hansen took breaks to clear his head. He said that it’s generally a good idea to step away from poker if things are
going the wrong way. “If you are in a brain freeze, it’s a good idea to go for a run, take a break for a week or two, or whatever amount of time is needed to recoup and get your head back on track. I have never felt like I needed six months off, or something like that. I don’t think that’s the right approach, but it’s definitely good to clear your thoughts and spend time doing something else that you enjoy, whether it’s sports, lying on the beach, vacationing, sex, drugs, or rock ’n’ roll — whatever floats your boat.”
Not a Danish Nostradamus About a year ago, it seemed inevitable that Hansen would become the most unsuccessful online player in history. Poker, perhaps more so than most things in life, is incredibly unpredictable. A losing session can quickly become a player’s best ever, a career year can erode into devastation with a single day of poor bankroll management, one day a robust high-stakes scene can evaporate, and an 18-yearold kid from Denmark, who didn’t know that a flush beat a straight, can eventually become one of the most recognizable faces of no-limit hold’em. “When I was 18 and just out of high school, I never imagined myself sitting at a green table playing cards on TV with many people watching,” Hansen said. “The fact that it has taken that turn is obviously positive, not because I need to be on TV, but because the game that I play has become more popular, and more possibilities have come along. In the late 1990s, you would have had to have been Nostradamus to predict the poker boom.” While the poker community is rallying around a goal of creating a sustainable online-poker system in the future that is good for the game as well as its players, no one is able to predict what exactly will happen in the upcoming months. Poker is a game of swings, and as Hansen put it, you would have to be Nostradamus to see the future. Despite the volatility of poker, it seems a certainty that fans of the game will be able to watch the tumultuous sessions of Hansen for many more years to come. The “Great Dane” isn’t going anywhere. “I rarely plan too far ahead,” Hansen admitted, “but it’s hard to imagine that I will completely leave the gambling world to do something else.” ♠ CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_36_CoverStory.indd 37
37
6/29/11 4:32 PM
38
CARDPLAYER.COM
038_08_CPE_FEA_KarlFenton.indd 38
6/30/11 10:49 AM
KARL
“discomonkey”
FENTON By Rebecca McAdam
Karl Fenton is a 25-year-old living and studying in the UK and really coming into his own in the world of poker. Card Player Europe chatted to “discomonkey” only days after his latest online win and just before he hit the bright lights of Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. Rebecca McAdam: Tell me more about yourself — where you’re from, what you were doing before poker, and so on. Karl Fenton: Ok well I was born in Scunthorpe, and live with my parents in a small town called Caistor in Lincolnshire until I went to university at 21 to study advertising and marketing. Poker success and uni coincided to be honest. I won my first major score in August 2008 for $6.000, when I was totally life busto and deposited my last $60 in true degen style. RM: Where did you discover poker? KF: Well, I used to play a lot of pool (barely missing out on an England trial in 2009) and one of the guys I used to play with thought I might like it, I downloaded a poker client and swiftly lost $200, this was back in late 2007. RM: So you didn’t do too good in the beginning then? KF: Not really. I made some small money when I moved sites. RM: How did you improve your game? KF: Well, I was in a very bad gokarting accident in March 2008, broke both my ankles and my finger, and was off work for eight weeks. I played, watched and studied 17 hours a day and slept for seven on my parents sofa as I couldn’t get upstairs, and was making £200 a week which was about my wage at the time. RM: So would you be of the belief that it takes a lot more than just the amount of hands you play to improve? KF: Yes, in my opinion you have to have innate skills in certain areas, you have to be patient, logical (even the crazy poker players have logic behind their plays), and hard working for the most part. RM: Were you playing cash online mostly? KF: No, tournaments. They were short field multi-table tournaments (MTT), 30-60 runners, and I played all the £10 and £20 buy-ins on Sky [Poker] through the night and invariably won. RM: Had you played much live at this point? KF: Not at all. I started to play in a CARDPLAYER.COM
038_08_CPE_FEA_KarlFenton.indd 39
39
6/30/11 10:49 AM
pub poker league. It was friendly with a lot of people from the pool league. At first I wasn’t too successful as live is obviously different to online, but once I adapted I was one of only two people to win the league multiple times, which obviously isn’t a big achievement but it was to me at the time. RM: What did you have to do to adapt? KF: The stacks are shorter in those games and people don’t look at stack size, bet size, or anything like that in those games. They are mostly there for fun, and just to play cards. RM: What about your first major live event? KF: I think my first live major MTT was PKR Live, the first one. RM: When I speak to players who call themselves live players they largely believe that the main thing online players have a problem with in live fields is tells. Did you have a problem with this? KF: Yes, while playing PKR Live, one of the dealers told me from seeing the play that I did a specific thing when I was strong. RM: Can you say what it is? KF: Yeah I don’t do it now. I used to put my arms out in front of me, in a very strong looking position when I had a hand and fold my arms or do something else when I was weak. I have studied some psychology at college so I understand some stuff about body language and the like so I immediately knew what he was saying was correct. I was taking a strong body language pose when I had a good hand, and something weak when I was weak. RM: Did you get the feeling you should play more live after that, so you could improve, or did you prefer online? KF: It’s a non-contest really. Living in Lincoln at university, the nearest casino is an hour away, so any live poker is monthly at Grosvenor UK Poker Tour events or UK & Ireland Poker Tour games. RM: Your preference is based on convenience then? KF: Yes, I have a pretty good record at live poker. Obviously it’s a smaller sample in softer fields but I feel I play well live compared with online. RM: Your name came into the headlines in 2009 when you won PKR Live II — was that your biggest win at the time in poker? KF: Yes, previously it was £15,000, and me and my friend chopped that 40
tournament so I got £18,000 for it. RM: That must have made you feel you had taken the right path then? KF: Yeah, especially when they made me a PKR Pro [team member] a week or so later. I went from zero money and being just a random poker player who won a little bit, and a month later I got third for $40,000 in the $1,000 Monday on FullTilt which meant I was up $100,000 and in magazines and a face of a poker site in just over nine months, which when you put it like that, looks crazy. RM: That third place finish must have really come at a good time because I can imagine if a site makes you a team pro, you probably feel pressure to keep the results coming in? KF: Yeah and in all honesty, I wasn’t even that good. I was aggro and could play poker but to be going deep in 1k events, you have to be very good or very lucky. At the time in that tournament I was the latter. RM: So what changed? KF: Well, I went off to Vegas, won nothing, came back, won nothing, went nearly busto in October 2009 and got backed by the same guy who still backs me for MTTs, an American limit hold’em crusher/ business man, and under him I managed to lose another $50,000 in four months, so I had managed to waste £30,000 of my money and $50,000 of his. RM: What were your thoughts then? Did you ever consider stopping? KF: He decided that I was worth the effort; I was thinking the right things, just executing them incorrectly. I wasn’t sure what to do, I’d always done well or at least I thought I had, that is one of the hardest parts of an MTT player’s life, knowing you are playing well or not. It’s so easy to say it’s just variance when you lose or it’s all skill when you win, there are very, very few people that truly understand MTT variance. After this $50,000 losing streak for my backer, he got me coaching by his biggest horse. That was around a year ago now and I’m still backed by the same guy and coached by the same guy and I’m up around $190,000 at the moment in the period he has coached me. RM: You had some good results in Las Vegas in 2010, this was obviously during the time you were turning things around. That must have been nice to return to Vegas and have something to show from it.
KF: Yeah, I went to Vegas nearly broke, I got backed by this guy in November 2009 and didn’t get paid from poker until June 2010, and I didn’t have a lot of money when I got backed. I am very privileged with the friends I have in poker though, not necessarily huge names but winners, and they bailed me out when I needed it and never asked me for the money until I had it. The two people that I’m most grateful for their financial help were Andrew Cradock and James Sudworth (PKR pro). If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have gone to Vegas. RM: Would you also discuss hands and strategy with these people too, or was it mainly with your coach? KF: Yeah, not so much James, he has a busy life and plays cash whereas I play tournaments. I have a number of people I can post hands to and get answers; my coach is one of course, then there are players like Jon Spinks, Craig McCorkel, Chris Brammer, Alex Carter, Jamie Sykes, Ash Mason, Toby Lewis, and so on, who will give me their thoughts if I post a hand. It’s so important to player development to get thoughts from these sorts of players, they are all very good and winners of hundreds of thousands, and they give you a different perspective based on their own style. RM: If you all discuss hands, you must get a wide range of opinions or do you find that you come up with the “right way” to play certain hands? KF: Exactly, or not even one right way, the most right way. RM: Do you then find your group of friends would all have a similar style because you influence each other? KF: I guess so, yeah, to some degree, we are all similar in age, we all started playing the game in the last three-to-six years I’d imagine, and we are, as a rule, all aggressive players, some more so than others, and there is a lot of creativity. All of the guys I mentioned and the others such as John Eames, Jack Ellwood, Jake Cody, and a ton of other guys from the UK scene are all highly intelligent people. It’s hard to mention everyone, the UK has a lot of very good, dangerous players now, and I’m in a fortunate position to be able to talk to a large percent of them and take in information on hands and knowledge they have on the game. RM: When you come up against each other at events, you probably have a good idea of what they will do?
CARDPLAYER.COM
038_08_CPE_FEA_KarlFenton.indd 40
6/30/11 10:50 AM
When I was in Vegas last summer, I cashed the Venetian $1,000 buy-in for $45,000, partied, flew back to see my sister get married, flew back two days later, busted the $1,500 six-max and then went home and chopped the $1,000 buy in heads up for $60,000, so in terms of one score, the $91,000 was the most, but I did have $100,000 in less than seven days during Vegas.
KF: Right, there is some definite levelling going on. It’s more fun to play the drunken cash games, the tournaments we are all trying to win and are likely to avoid each other if we can. RM: You took down the PokerStars Sunday 500, is that your biggest cash? KF: Yes, when I was in Vegas last summer, I cashed the Venetian $1,000 buy-in for $45,000, partied, flew back to see my sister get married, flew back two days later, busted the $1,500 six-max and then went home and chopped the $1,000 buy in heads up for $60,000, so in terms of one score, the $91,000 was the most, but I did have $100,000 in less than seven days during Vegas. RM: The fields in these events, like the Pokerstars $500 buy-in, are quite big, how do you get through them? What’s the recipe to success? KF: One thousand runners is not so big, it feels doable and to be honest when you’re playing the $100 rebuy, $500, Sunday Brawl, Sunday Mulligan, all of these have big money, you’re not trying to win one tournament, you’re trying to win one of 35 on a Sunday. RM: Do you think if you can only afford to play one you shouldn’t be playing it? KF: Definitely, unless you satellited, bankroll management is something not enough people do very well, me included, I’m better off being backed, for now at least. RM: Are you more careful when someone else buys you in? KF: Well yes, I feel I’m a pretty genuine guy, so I won’t ever enter a tournament and waste his money, whereas my own I might just not be bothered and spew it off. RM: Right. So, was the PokerStars Sunday 500 tough? KF: Yes, the toughest final table I have ever had without question. RM: How so?
KF: The people. There was “gboro”, who is widely renowned as one of the best in the world, two to my left. He’s not super-aggro, but very tough, “gray 31” is a high stakes regular, “oncommand” who is also a high stakes regular and is super aggro, “hitthehole” (Tom Middleton), “jvbizz” another high stakes regular, “mementmori” (Mickey Peterson), “obvaments” yet another high stakes regular, and a random I didn’t know. I had won a big flip on the final-table bubble A-Q versus J-J, blind versus blind, so I was chip leader. RM: Pressure? KF: Very much so. I had had a 10-month stretch of not being paid by my backer and I wasn’t exactly flush with money with Vegas coming up and having a girlfriend in Florida I go and visit. RM: So how did you play it? KF: Well I was kind of tight at first, the 500 is an exceptional structure, so I was 80-90 big blinds deep at the start, I had the other two big stacks in the small blind and big blind when I was on the hijack, and the two people to my left were quite short and capable of shoving light and correctly, so there weren’t many good spots to apply pressure. I waited a while and played good hands and took good spots and then two or three people busted and I had a tight image. RM: Was the heads up quick? KF: About 70 hands, we never discussed a deal at any point of the final. I have always been someone who performs better under intense pressure. RM: Did you have anyone with you at this point because when you win an online tourney sometimes the initial celebrations aren’t as good considering the circumstances. KF: I was at my parents’ house after coming home from a pool tournament that ran over Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday morning, there was some drinking involved and not much sleep. I went back to my parents, played the 16-hour session, and at 9 a.m. my Dad was getting breakfast, he asked me how I was doing, I told him I was heads up for 91k or 66k, he swore, laughed, shook his head and went into the kitchen to get breakfast. RM: Madness! KF: Yeah, I earned 2.5 times the yearly wage in the UK in seven hours. RM: Are you going to be playing many live events now? KF: Not in the immediate future, university deadlines are piling up. RM: You obviously then don’t want to just play poker all your life. KF: No, the plan is to be freelance in an area of advertising and marketing and do that when poker is boring or I need a break. RM: Nice plan! Are you going to buy anything with your winnings by the way? KF: Well I have been known for winning money and then spending it on crazy stuff. The first year I won 40k, I bought a 2k outfit from Dolce and Gabbana; $700 shirt, $700 trousers, $400 belt, $400 shoes. I grew a little, so now the shoes are my Dad’s, and the trousers need altering. This year in Vegas I won $100,000 in a week, I took all the guys out and spent $2,500 on drinks for everyone, and bought a $500 Armani hoodie, and $400 Gucci shoes. I love nice things! RM: Are you planning your next shopping spree after your recent win then? KF: My girlfriend is a good influence on me, she won’t let me buy ridiculous things. RM: So no more shoes for your dad? KF: Yeah exactly, not unless I win something huge. RM: Diamond encrusted laces all the way then! ♠ CARDPLAYER.COM
038_08_CPE_FEA_KarlFenton.indd 41
41
6/30/11 10:50 AM
FEATURED COLUMNIST
I
TODD BRUNSON • THE BIG GAME
2011 World Series of Poker A Slow Start
If I was beat, I was J badly beat, with few w outs to draw to. As it turned out, I was dead to a jack with one to come ... nice. second pair and no kicker won’t win any awards, either. As I said earlier, this should have been an easy laydown. That king could have hit him in many ways, as I already said, and I may not have had the best hand to begin with. I still had more than half of my chips, and the blinds were still low. Even though I wanted to chip up or get out, this wasn’t a spot to gamble. If I was beat, I was badly beat, with few outs to draw to. As it turned out, I was dead to a jack with one to come ... nice. My first reaction was to be mad that I had gotten top pair drawn out on by K-7 offsuit. After some more thought, I realized that although I had been unlucky, I had allowed my opponent the opportunity to get lucky against me — it was my own fault. This goes to show that you always should be reviewing your plays. Anyone can make a bad play; the important thing is to recognize your mistakes and make sure not to repeat them. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who don’t learn from their bad plays are doomed to wind up on the rail. ♠
8
8
42
bet about full pot, 1,200. My opponent studied for around a full minute before shipping his stack, which was bigger than mine; I had 2,400 behind. Normally I think I would have a pretty easy fold here, but two things stopped me. The first was the strategy I had going in not to lay down anything marginal. The second was the read I had gotten on my opponent preflop, that he was weak. I called, and he showed me K-7. He had flopped second pair and turned two pair. The river didn’t change anything, and I was out the door. I think I really, really played this hand badly. Can you count the mistakes I made in this one hand? Let’s start from the beginning. The first thing I did was call preflop. As I said, I thought my opponent was weak. Now, I could have reraised right there and probably taken it down, but if he decided to call, I would have been out of position for the rest of the hand. I think calling was fine. On the flop, a check-raise was definitely the right play. However, the amount I chose to raise was another story. By calling the 225 and only raising 300 more, I was begging for a call, and my hand just wasn’t that big. A larger raise would have put him to the test right then and there. My raise wasn’t even really large enough to qualify his hand. He might have just been floating, looking for a spot to take it away later. When the king came, it easily could have hit just such a hand — K-Q or K-J would fall into this category — not to mention the fact he might have held a flush draw with a king in it. Once I made such a small raise on the flop, I should have followed through with a small-ball tactic and bet about half the pot on the turn. That way, I would have had plenty of fold equity and I could have easily gotten away from the hand. Those were my biggest mistakes, in my opinion. I either should have raised more on the flop or bet less on fourth street. You just can’t mix those two styles in one hand — it was just bad. Calling off the rest of my chips with
J
T
his was the first time in years that I was actually looking forward to the WSOP. It has always been a difficult and stressful six weeks, but I had been killing the live games at the Aria, so I hoped my luck would carry over into the WSOP. Besides the luck factor, I had been playing — basically training — almost every day for more than six months. I was ready! I played four events in the first nine days, making day two in each one, but not cashing. I came really close in the $10,000 pot-limit hold’em event, but my pocket tens couldn’t stand up to J-9. My next event was the $1,500 no-limit hold’em shootout event. I came close last year, and even saved with the guy who won our table (Chris Moore, who still hasn’t paid me, by the way). I was looking forward to the shootout, as this used to be my specialty, but that was a long time ago. Nowadays, I play predominantly mixed games, and when I do play no-limit hold’em, it’s pretty much always a full game. I know that tons of Internet kids play these single-table shootouts all day long, every day. This knowledge, along with the knowledge there’s always another tournament if I get knocked out, led me to devise a strategy going in that I wasn’t going to lay down anything marginal. The first good draw or made hand I picked up I was going to go with and get chips, or go out and play the next event. Looking back, I don’t think this was a great strategy. In the very least, it wasn’t a good strategy early, as we started with plenty of chips. I signed up the night before so I could show up a little late, as usual. When I arrived, the blinds were still pretty low, and a player already had been eliminated. I hadn’t played a hand for a while when a young player raised my blind from late position. The blinds were 25-50, and he raised to 125. I looked at J♥ 8♥ and called. I got a pretty good flop: J-7-2 with two diamonds. I checked, and he bet 225. I check-raised to 525, and he called. The turn put out an offsuit king, and I
Todd Brunson has been a professional poker player for more than 20 years. While primarily a cash-game player, he still has managed to win 18 major tournaments, for more than $3.5 million. He has won one bracelet and cashed 25 times at the World Series of Poker. You can play with Todd online at DoylesRoom. com or live at his tournament, The Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge, in Bigfork, Montana. Check his website, ToddBrunson.com, for details.
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_32_Featured_Columnists.indd 42
6/29/11 4:44 PM
FEATURED COLUMNIST
I
ROY COOKE • REAL POKER
Leaving $80 on the Table One of the most difficult things about playing poker at a professional level is consistently maintaining a high-quality game, particularly when outside influences like health and relationship issues affect you. There is no sick pay nor paid leaves in poker. Yeah, a select ultra-talented few can play limited hours a year and still maintain a quality lifestyle. But life’s reality for most professionals is grinding out a living day in and day out, week in and week out, with months turning into years. It’s less demanding to reach a high-quality game level than to constantly maintain it. I was a week out of minor surgery, had been on painkillers for a week, and was not playing at my best. I had just undergone a few bad sessions in a row and was questioning my determination to play when not feeling strong. But a friend was in town whom I enjoyed seeing and playing with, so I was pushing myself. I raised under the gun with the Q♦ J♦ in a seven-handed $40$80 limit hold’em game. The field folded to Marvin, a successful New York businessman who loves the Las Vegas action and plays both fearlessly and aggressively. He three-bet me on the button. The blinds folded and I flat-called, knowing that Marvin had a strong holding to three-bet my upfront raise. We took the flop heads up. The flop came 10♥ 9♦ 4♥, giving me an open-ender, a backdoor-flush draw, and two overcards. I checked to Marvin, intent on check-raising. I felt that if he had a hand like A-K or A-Q, I might be able to play him off it. Marvin fired and I check-raised. He flat-called. I was unsure what Marvin held, as he often gets tricky, making lots of trap plays as well as bluffs and raise bluffs. That said, I was betting the turn no matter what came. If he held a hand like A-K, A-Q, or 7-7, I wanted to maintain the pressure on him to fold. The turn brought the 8♥, making my straight, but placing three hearts on the board. I fired and was called. I read Marvin’s range of hands as an overpair without a heart, or two big cards containing a heart. Being fearless and aggressive, I thought Marvin would raise with an overpair with a heart, but wouldn’t without the additional value of the flush draw. And there was no way he was folding any big heart. The river was the 4♦, pairing the board. Confident I held the best hand, I fired, and Marvin raised. I rethought my read. Was my read on the turn correct? Could he have a flush? With Marvin’s basic poker nature being so aggressive, I didn’t think there was much chance he slow-played the flush on the turn. Could he have flopped a set, slow-played the flop, flat-called the turn and made a full house? Once again, Marvin’s “full speed ahead” mentality made me think it was unlikely. An overpair made sense. It both matched Marvin’s aggressive mentality to play it that way, and would be an intelligent manner to play the hand to maximize equity from me if I held a smaller overpair or had flopped a smaller pair, both within the range Marvin would read me for. So what was my best play? Would Marvin call a reraise from me if he held an overpair? I thought he would. Obviously, based on my analysis, a reraise was in order. But
I won the pot, but I had made a fundamental error, one I never should have made, and I had left $80 of my money in Marvin’s stack. instead, I flat-called! Marvin showed the A♦ A♣, and I turned over my straight. I won the pot, but I had made a fundamental error, one I never should have made, and I had left $80 of my money in Marvin’s stack. I retraced my thoughts. I had let my self-doubts about my own current state of play talk myself out of raising. The combination of physically feeling down and not recently having done well had psychologically influenced me into not pulling the trigger on a play I read to be right. My confidence had gone astray, and the uncertainty of the situation disoriented my thinking. I knew what to do, and didn’t do it. God, I hate myself when I do that. Knowing what to do is one thing, but doing it is what really matters. It’s a distinction some people don’t seem to get. Emotionally, fears causing internal self-doubt hold all of us back from time to time, causing us to make poor decisions. Other psychological issues often cause us not to play our best. An easy solution is not to play when we are feeling affected in any way. But first we have to recognize that we are affected, and second, there are going to be times when we are not at 100 percent but either the need to play is present or the timing to play is good, such as when a tournament is in town and the games are good. When I sense things are not quite right within myself, but want to give playing a shot, I play tighter. I don’t necessarily mean playing fewer hands, though folding marginal situations may be generally correct if your thinking is not up to par. Rather, I mean playing the general situation tighter, not playing the game if it is marginal, not pushing yourself and sitting through a long session if you get stuck, or any other circumstances that make you unlikely to play your best. Don’t take a bad situation and make it a horrific one. Accept your current limitations, solve the source of the problem, and come back and play when you’re better prepared to play well. Take pride in being your best. I know I wasn’t at my best when I played this hand. I’m disappointed in myself and particularly disappointed that Marvin left town with $80 that was rightfully mine. And, I know he’s very happy with that fact and has no intention of giving it back! ♠ Roy Cooke played poker professionally for 16 years prior to becoming a successful Las Vegas real-estate broker/ salesman in 1989. Should you wish to get any information about real-estate matters — including purchase, sale, or mortgage — his office number is (702) 396-6575, and his e-mail address is
[email protected]. His website is www. roycooke.com. You also may find him on Facebook. CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_32_Featured_Columnists.indd 43
43
6/29/11 4:44 PM
8
‘Congratudolences’ COMMENTARIES & PERSONALITIES
A combination of “congratulations” and “condolences” By Matt Matros
W
hether I bust out immediately, or in the middle of the pack, or shortly before making the money, or shortly after making the money, or at a final table in a highpaying position, it never feels good to lose all of my tournament chips. In the heat of the moment, it’s almost impossible to think about how much money has been won, even when it’s a healthy sum. There’s only one happy player at the end of a poker tournament — quite a dispiriting thought, but unfortunately that’s the nature of the game. Psychologically, it’s bad enough to come close to a big score without hitting, but too many near misses can also pose practical financial difficulties. I’ll try to explain why, and what we can do about it to ease the pain. I recently finished 11th in the $1,500 limit hold’em event at the World Series of Poker (the same event that I won last year, incidentally). This is the perfect example of a result that’s gratifying in some ways but devastating in others. Some tournament players tell each other, “Congratudolences” — a combination of “congratulations” and “condolences” — after making a good run but not winning. I received several congratudolences after my bust-out. Congratulations were in order because 11th place out of 675 entrants is far better than I possibly could
44
have expected on a regular basis. I outperformed my typical rate of return by many buy-ins. On the other hand, I was three spots away from earning almost twice as much money as I did, seven spots away from winning an additional 30 buy-ins, and 10 spots away from repeating as a WSOP bracelet winner. Such an opportunity doesn’t come along very often, and it’s undeniably sad to miss out on it when it does. So, condolences. Leaving sadness aside, however, there are legitimate reasons to view a deep run without a big score as something of a failure. True, a player who finished 11th in every tournament he played would be the best player of all time, but that’s a ridiculous hypothetical. In the real world, even the strongest players fail to cash at least 80 percent of the time, and usually more. That means that on those rare occasions when you do cash, you have to make it count. You need to earn an average of four buy-ins profit per cash just to break even, and more if you want to be a winning player. For my 11th-place finish, I earned a profit of about 6.5 buy-ins. That’s not bad, but if that’s my average “good result,” I won’t be much better than break-even overall. Indeed, since that limit hold’em tournament, I’ve failed to cash in my next three events as of this writing, and am well on my way to being without profit for this year’s WSOP. (Editor’s note: Matt cashed again in the next event that he played.) My friend Bill Chen says that if you would’ve accepted your result before the tournament started, you
have to be happy with the result after the tournament is over. His point is welltaken, but the fact remains that if your good results are only small cashes, you won’t be a winner. The question, then, is, how can tournament players keep their sanity? If it’s rare to cash in a tournament, and if it’s important that cashes at least sometimes be big ones, how do we deal with a seemingly endless string of events without a big score? Well, I think we don’t always keep our sanity, but the secret is that it’s OK. Poker players aren’t expected to be automatons, mindlessly recording their cashes and moving on from one tournament to the next as if nothing happened. Near misses, bubbles, and long droughts are inevitable. The key to handling them, for me, is knowing that they’re inevitable, and making sure that I appropriately vent my frustrations; I play golf, go to the movies, eat an overpriced meal, or just spend a few hours complaining to my buddies. When I eventually return to the tables, I’m ready to play my best game. For me, this stress release is vital to my tournament-playing lifestyle. The great thing about poker is that every once in a while, it goes well. Don’t forget to celebrate your successes. I’m not just talking about a bunch of drinks at a club the night of the score. Remembering your successes through all of the downswings can be a great way to maintain a level head. When I’m having a bad day, I look at the bracelet that I won last year, and it usually makes me feel better. There’s a reason that we all play this game, and if your primary motive is financial, it makes sense that you should derive joy from the times that you win. Otherwise, what’s the point? I often write about the mathematics of poker, and I promise to get back to strategy, game theory, and numbersbased advice in future columns. But without the emotional wherewithal to handle the grind of bad result after bad result, all of the math in the world won’t help you. So please, offer me congratudolences on my recent 11thplace finish. In the meantime, I’m going to recount every bad beat to my friend “Action Bob” while eating a large popcorn and watching X-Men: First Class. ♠ Matt Matros is the author of The Making of a Poker Player. He is also a featured coach for cardrunners.com.
CARDPLAYER.COM
044_08_CPE_CP_Matros.indd 44
6/30/11 10:30 AM
By Niall Smyth I have to admit since winning the Irish Open I’ve been keeping a fairly low profile, especially in terms of playing live poker. If I was to try bullshit you I’d tell you I’ve been saving myself for my trip to Vegas but in truth, like most poker players out there, I’m just really lazy. I’ve decided to take a year’s career break from work. I want to make the most of the opportunity given to me by winning Paddy Power Poker’s Sole Survivor. It’s a really exciting time for me. Not only do I get to play a couple of European Poker Tour events and many events around Ireland and the UK but I’m going to be tackling three events at the World Series, the last of
I
these being the main event itself. This will be another poker dream I can mark off my list after this year. What I love most about all this is that there is absolutely no pressure on me to compete. I can relax and enjoy them to the full. Also, in the future I can look back and say I was a poker pro for a year. My current online poker play has been exclusively on Paddy Power, I’m not sure if it’s my superstitious nature or my blinding loyalty but I’ve never enjoyed online poker as much. I’ve won one tournament and made final tables in two others so I’m showing a profit of around 10k from tournaments since the Irish Open. In the cash games I’ve been, at best, very spewy. My game is limit Omaha eight-or-better and the switch to pot-limit Omaha
COMMENTARIES & PERSONALITIES
Sole Survivor
eight-or-better has been anything but smooth. The challenge of beating the game is tough but I am enjoying it. The World Series has started and it’s my favourite time of year as I am a degenerate railer. I love following the pros and seeing how they get on. I know this might sound a bit sad to some people but I enjoy it and I always say if you enjoy something, Just Do It. Oh yeah, Nike has just started sponsoring me too! The best of the action so far was Phil Hellmuth fighting to win a record 12th bracelet in 2-7 Draw. John Juanda overcame a big chip disadvantage and spoiled what would have been the biggest story of the series to win his fifth bracelet. Well this brings me nicely along to the start of my own adventure — Vegas. I’ll be playing two Omaha hi/ low events, a $1,500 event on June 30 and a $5,000 event on July 5, before jumping straight into the granddaddy of all tournaments, the main event. I’ve never even been to Vegas before so this is exciting enough. Everyone I’ve talked to has said it is one of the best experiences you can have in life, although many have balked when I tell them I’m staying for 25 days. I guess they don’t get that I’m going over there to work. Well, I’m allowed say that now that I’ve gone pro. I guess I don’t really know what to expect from this trip. All I know is after what has happened to me so far this year I’d be as surprised to come away with three bracelets as none. Well, not really, as for me to come away with three is a near statistical improbability but hopefully I can at least cash in something. Who knows what might happen? I’ll just let my mind run wild until it all kicks off. If at any stage you want updates on my progress I’m blogging for Paddy Power and Card Player and if you like you can follow me on Twitter @NiallSmythers. I’m not very good at reponding to comments yet but if you decide to follow I promise I’ll get better. ♠ Niall Smyth is the 2011 Irish Open champion and Sole Survivor winner. He took down €550,000 for the former and €100,000 for the latter and has taken a year’s leave from his job to concentrate on poker. CARDPLAYER.COM
045_08_CPE_CP_Smyth.indd 45
45
6/30/11 10:31 AM
WHEN I WAS A DONK I PLUGGING POKER LEAKS
WHEN I WAS A
DONK With John Phan By Brian Pempus In this new series, Card Player asks top pros to rewind back to their humble beginnings and provide insights regarding the mistakes, leaks, and deficiencies that they had to overcome in order to improve their games.
John Phan is one of the deadliest no-limit hold’em players in the poker world. The California poker pro broke out back in 1998, emerging as a consistent grinder on the tournament circuit. Since then, Phan has gone on to record 19 major tournament victories, along with an impressive 116 cashes. In 2008, he won two World Series of Poker bracelets and the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker main event for more than $1 million. In that year alone, Phan scored for $2.1 million, en route to winning the Card Player Player of the Year race in convincing fashion. Here, Phan talks about his earliest betting mistakes when he was an inexperienced player in no-limit hold’em tournaments, and how he eventually gained the experience necessary to become one of poker’s elite — cashing for more than $5.5 million lifetime. “When I was a beginner, I didn’t really know how to bet my hands. I wasn’t making people pay for their draws, and as a result they were getting there too often against me. I have a limit hold’em background, and I think some of that made my transition to no-limit hold’em tournaments a bit rocky. Unless you are running really well at the time, and are feeling confi dent you can slow-play and let them see a free card, you shouldn’t slow-play your hands. I don’t slow-play anymore. If I have a big hand, I will get it in there quickly and try to avoid the bad beat. I’d rather win small pots these days by betting strong than slow-playing and seeing a bad beat. You have to realize when people are not willing to put their tournament life on the line with a draw. You really have to put it in there when you know your opponent is weak, or on a draw. That’s what it takes to win. “Consequently, you have to overbet sometimes. I overbet a lot on the river, as well, hoping to get extra value in certain situations, which is something I wasn’t good at when I was a beginner. Knowing how to bet your hands correctly — for example, to price people out of draws, and, on the end, to get additional value — is something I wasn’t good at when I first started. I am really good at thin valuebets these days, as well, but that wasn’t a concept that I 46
“When I was a beginner, I didn’t really know how to bet my hands. I wasn’t making people pay for their draws, and as a result they were getting there too often against me.”
understood when I was a new player. If you know they missed a draw, perhaps an ace-high flush draw, sometimes you have to value-bet your middle or bottom pair, in hopes of getting looked up by an ace-high hand. That’s how I get a lot of chips in these big tournaments. “The lesson to take away from this is that you have to learn from your early mistakes — that is what a good poker player does. Anytime you are a new player you are going to make mistakes, but you shouldn’t beat yourself up over them. You have to be willing to admit that you aren’t playing perfectly, and then fi gure out the solutions. For me, it was learning how to bet my hands correctly.” ♠
CARDPLAYER.COM
PLAYER_74_WhenIWasADonk.indd 46
6/30/11 2:38 PM
Are you a winning poker player? With all of the books, training websites, and analytic software out there, it can be difficult to choose the best product to improve your game. To help increase your profits at the poker table, Card Player has partnered with the best online pokereducators to bring you elite-level training options. Log-on today and check out some free training videos at: www.cardplayer.com/poker-training
CP_Brand34_PokerTrainingCPE.indd 1
6/29/11 4:27 PM
EUROPEAN TOURNAMENT CIRCUIT FOR COMPLETE TOURNAMENT RESULTS AND LISTINGS, VISIT CARDPLAYER.COM JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
July 24-31
Full Tilt Poker Series Russia & Ukraine
Rus Hotel, Kiev, Ukraine
www.fulltiltpoker.com
July 28-31
European Masters of Poker
Clontarf Castle, Dublin, Ireland
www.europeanmastersofpoker.com
July 28-31
Paradise Poker Tour
Casino Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
www.paradisepoker.com
Aug. 11-15
UK & Ireland Poker Tour
Edinburgh Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, Scotland
www.ukipt.com
Aug. 25-28
Unibet Open
The Burlington Hotel, Dublin, Ireland
www.unibetopen.com
Aug. 26-31
European Poker Tour Barcelona
Gran Casino, Barcelona, Spain
www.europeanpokertour.com
Sept. 8-15
UK & Ireland Poker Tour
The Burlington Hotel, Dublin, Ireland
www.ukipt.com
Sept. 18-25
Full Tilt Poker Series Russia & Ukraine
Rus Hotel, Kiev, Ukraine
www.fulltiltpoker.com
Sept 20 – Oct. 2
European Masters of Poker Barcelona
Gran Casino, Barcelona, Spain
www.europeanmastersofpoker.com
Oct. 7-15
World Series of Poker Europe Le Croisette Casino Barierre
Cannes, France
www.wsop.com
Oct. 21-27
European Poker Tour Casino Sanremo
San Remo, Italy
www.europeanpokertour.com
Oct. 28-31
Irish Winter Festival Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland
www.paddypowerpoker.com
denotes a Player of the Year qualifying tournament. POY designation is based on historical data and is subject to change at any time.
THE AD INDEX Bellagio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Is your news making headlines? We offer a world class Press Release and Public Relations Strategy service for your company, product or event - with guaranteed, measurable results.
Betfair.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Bodog.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Card Player Poker Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Card Player Poker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Card Player Poker School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 7 Card Player Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 PaddyPowerPoker.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3 Poker Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Poker Media Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19, 48 Poker View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 5 TheBestPokerPlayer.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 48
CARDPLAYER.COM
048_08_CPE_AdIndex.indd 48
48
6/30/11 11:43 AM
WHO IS THE BEST POKER PLAYER?
THE BEST POKER PLAYER.COM
CP_Brand_35_BestPokerPlayer_CPE.indd 3
6/29/11 4:27 PM
Online Player of the Year
Player of the Year
European Player of the Year
PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2011
50
Rank
Player
1
Nationality
Points
Winnings
Anton Ionel
3,500
$1,778,140
2
Max Heinzelmann
3,200
$1,602,542
3
Alessio Isaia
3,108
$827,297
4
Martin Rettenmaier
2,944
$465,175
5
Martin Jacobson
2,887
$1,145,754
6
Maxim Lykov
2,436
$894,800
7
Mikhail Lakhitov
2,204
$846,165
8
James Keys
2,128
$1,040,516
9
Torsten Brinkmann
2,110
$1,344,861
10
Michael Tureniec
2,040
$707,607
Rank
Player
Points
Winnings
1
Sam Stein
4,334
$1,784,380
2
Galen Hall
4,284
$3,004,198
3
Taylor von Kriegenbergh
3,560
$1,306,340
4
Anton Ionel
3,500
$1,778,140
5
Vivek Rajkumar
3,416
$1,540,770
6
Ben Lamb
3,360
$1,074,354
7
Allen Bari
3,352
$1,124,993
8
Max Heinzelmann
3,200
$1,602,542
9
Alessio Isaia
3,108
$827,297
10
Martin Rettenmaier
2,944
$465,175
Nationality
Rank
Player
Points
Winnings
1
schappuscha
4,866
$520,149
2
Jason ‘jdpc27’ Wheeler
4,616
$399,222
3
Russell ‘rdcrsn’ Carson
4,504
$510,291
4
Aleh ‘cooltwister’ Plauski
4,472
$428,378
5
Flush_Entity
4,456
$417,482
6
Chris ‘Moorman1’ Moorman
4,338
$556,221
7
Bryan ‘bparis’ Paris
4,290
$460,834
8
Jon ‘LUFCBas’ Spinks
4,206
$355,563
9
Alex ‘Kadabra’ Keating
4,086
$420,998
10
Anthony ‘wwwBTHEREcom’ Gregg
3,884
$428,154
Anton Ionel
Sam Stein
CARDPLAYER.COM
000_08_CPE_POY.indd 50
6/30/11 10:27 AM
CP_Poker_9_CPE.indd 3
6/29/11 4:29 PM
CPE_08_07_Betfair_FP.indd 3
6/1/11 4:57 PM
