Party Poker Blog

Scott Stapp & Mimi Rogers Poker Blog

"If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky?"
Lanislaw J. Lec

Was it really only a week ago that I was running around like my ass was on fire, preparing for a poker tournament? Thankfully, nothing on the agenda today but full-fledged slacking.

I didn't play last nite. Boooo - I hate missing friday evening Party Poker but I'm in a state of flux regarding my poker playing goals. I sweated Fuzz in the Stars NL satellite and sadly, he didn't fare too well.

I managed to do some research regarding customization of clay chips. I can't run another tournament until I get mine hot stamped or embossed. This will likely be an expensive proposition. But I discovered these machines called Kingsley hot-foil stampers that perhaps you could do yourself. The manufacturer who built them is no longer in business, but there are plenty of them floating around on Ebay. Check this contraption out. Kingsley Hot Foil Stamping Machine.

I can just picture a drunken Iggy trying to play with that thing. Hilarity would ensue. I'd either burn my house down or lose an appendage.

So now I'm back at square one, calling up local printers to see if anyone can help me. Arg.

Let's get to the linkage. Lots of content, per usual.

For those of you who have never read Howard Lederer's 2003 WSOP trip reports, here are all four days on the same page. Enjoy.
Howard Lederer: My 4 day diary of the 2003 WSOP

Continuing with WSOP news, from RGP:
---
"Harrah's was negotiating a 'flexible agreement' with
Jack Binion, who might again become involved in the
downtown Las Vegas casino built by his father."

Associated Press story:

Sounds to me like there is a good chance of seeing Jack at the WSOP.

It could indeed. It could take on the aspect of "old home week";
and become a reunion of sorts; it may function as "History"-- (the
last time the WSOP was held there); it could function as The Future--
the biggest one ever (as Poker enters its biggest year); it could
function as The Last Goodbye before they turn the lights out; it could
serve as a final reunion of people self-banned from the place; it
could serve as Old-Timer's get-together with a "gauzy memory of the
past" aspect; it could serve as just One Giant Get-Together nobody
wants to miss; it will serve as an event of interest just to see how
somebody else runs the event. Finally, it will serve as a magnet for
big national media due to all of the above. Serving as the Biggest
and the Last, the Future and the Past, Old Home week, Big Payouts, and Memory Lane, this is a hand that has so many "outs" it's going to be almost impossible to miss with the River Card.
---

HARRAH'S Officially Buys Binion's Horseshoe
--
Harrah's Entertainment says they will keep the same Horseshoe feel. They also promise the most famous poker tournament in the world will stay right there.

Harrah's set these dates for the tournament: April 2 for the $2,000 buy-in Limit Hold'em event. May 22 for the $10,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em world championship.
--

And from my favorite Vegas newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, comes this article:
Binion's Horseshoe: Deal with Harrah's finalized
--
Industry insiders say bad choices and mismanagement by Becky Behnen brought about the demise of the downtown property.

When she took over control of the property from Jack Binion in 1998, she made a number of changes that experts said transformed the property from one of the city's most action-packed casinos into a run-of-the mill grind joint.

Binion's is believed to owe as much as $20 million to Jack Binion's Horseshoe Gaming Holdings, $7.5 million to the Internal Revenue Service, $3 million to the Fremont Street Experience, $1 million to the Culinary union's pension and health plans and unknown amounts to the casino's landlords and smaller creditors.
--

And finally, some non WSOP poker news:
Poker mania: Card game undergoes resurgence
Seniors, college students boost game's popularity
--
Erie County District Attorney Bradley Foulk said he's not about to bother people for playing low-stakes, friendly poker games.

"I'm not so naïve to think that folks, whether they be senior citizens or otherwise, don't engage in penny ante games of amusement. ... That's not something that I would consider gambling in violation of the crimes code,'' he said.
--

And a mention of the World Poker Tour in this TV column:
Wide world of non-sports coming to TV
--
That's good news for me and my poker buddies, who used to gather to gamble on the show rather than play our own game. We haven't had much drama during six long months of reruns.

The season premiere will air Sunday, featuring celebrities like Jack Black and Drew Carey. It will be followed by a heads-up meeting with the Super Bowl pre-game show next weekend.
--

And finally, another Business Wire article documenting the cultural juggernaut that is poker.
World Poker Tour Events Continue Dramatic Growth; The Inaugural Year of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Proves to be a Winning Hand:
--
Lakes Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq:LACO) today announced the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which began January 18, 2004 on board the Royal Caribbean's "Voyageur of the Seas", is the latest event on the World Poker Tour to demonstrate the domino effect of the television show's huge popularity. Records have been set in each of the tour stops and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, hosted by PokerStars.com, is no exception with its debut featuring a huge number of players, prize money and first place payout.

219 Players Contend for $1,642,500 in the High Stakes WPT Tournament
--

Good Lord, another massive post and I'm not even drinking. Someone oughta pay me for this insanity.

Let's do a quick poker blog linkage, shall we? Some great stuff out there - I don't know what the hell I'd be reading without the bloggers out there. RGP? Forget it. 2+2? Not bloody likely. It's a vapid wasteland of net kooks out there.

Up for Poker has some great info about the tournaments on Empire Poker - I really appreciate the tip - I've really never bothered with tourneys there, and it appears as if i'm missing the boat.
--
The $150+12 Sunday Night Gameday tournament is $25,000 guaranteed (for you non-tourney players, that means the prize pool will be at least $25,000). Last week I believe this tournament only had about 50 entrants. If even 100 enter this week, then EmpirePoker will have to add $10,000 to the prize pool to make the guaranteed $25,000. That's a deal.
--

I'll be there Sunday night - thanks again for the heads-up!

The mighty Chris Halverson has created a mechanism for posting card suits on MT and potentially other blog systems. Kudos, Chris.

PokerGrub talks about attending his new play - fascinating must read. Congratulations Grubby! And, of course, the Hammer challenge continues....

Poker Penguin has another thought provoking post on betting in No Limit, especially tournaments.

And from thefatguy list of blogger links, I discovered this locals poker journal:
Rantsofayoungmind

Thanks for reading and good luck at da tables!

Link of the Day:
Oh the humanity, I can't even describe this. It's safe for work and funny as hell. Who woulda thunk a slug could be this bright?
THE MAZE OF PAIN!!

Phil Ivey & Evelyn Ng Poker Blog

"You know what luck is? Luck is believing you're lucky....to hold front position in this rat-race, you've got to believe you're lucky."
Stanley Kowalski, A Streetcar Named Desire

From the Poker Comic:
--
Luck never encounters my mind when playing poker. People that believe in superstitions and say "I hope it's my lucky day" before sitting down at a table are never going to become good poker players until they release these false notions of fate. The vague state of being "lucky" can only exist on one single event at a time. Will I hit my flush draw on the river this hand? Mathematics say it will happen once every 4.5 times, but in this lone situation, it is pure chance that it will occur just this time. This is the only version of luck I believe in.
--

Amen, brother. Running bad is a state of mind. I know a lot of players who, while "running bad", will loosen up, play some questionable hands to hit a big pot and will either: #1: hit a nice run and reinforce their poor play or #2: dig themselves a deeper hole. Guess which happens more often?

Short-term luck has a great deal more impact in no-limit tourneys, my game of choice as of late. As I primarily am a grinder, I don't even perceive of luck as a factor in poker play. I take my beats in stride and take my wins as affirmation. In the long run, tight, solid playing with the odds will get the money. But this no-limit mentality is an entity unto itself.

So, no, I'm not going to wax poetic about a bad beat (that's for later in this post) but I *am* going to answer a question that one of my favorite bloggers recently asked me: which game is better to learn first - limit or no-limit hold em?

Hands down, limit poker. I know some of you may disagree, but for me it's clear - by grounding yourself in the basics of limit play, your fundamental understanding of no-limit will deepen. Obviously, there are tools and moves that you can use in no-limit that are not applicable in limit, but all the same, any serious student that begins his poker playing with no-limit instead of limit is doing a disservice to both games.

Sound limit play is mechanical. The decisions to call, raise or fold aren't nearly as important as in no-limit, when your entire stack is in jeopardy on every hand. Learn the basics first.

And more importantly, limit is a much more popular way to play here in the States. The Euro's primarily play pot-limit, which is the most difficult of all. But if you are hitting a casino to play hold em here in the US, you are likely to be sitting limit, not no-limit.

I can see why many new players LOVE playing no-limit, especially given the explosion of poker on TV, but damn, I see too many guys cutting their teeth on NL.

/end rant

Poker blog link list is updated on the right.

Good God, 33,000 players on Party Poker right now. If you are playing anywhere else, you are a stubborn fool.

It seems the bonus whoring loophole is closed (I prolly shouldn't have posted so vehemently about it) but still, the second unique player identity on Empire makes it more than worthwhile to play on both - especially if you diligently track the fish ala PokerTracker. Sign up with my damn bonus code! It makes these long Guinness-fueled posts worthwhile.

The Bluegrass Poker Series (see prior posts) is this weekend. Not sure if I'm gonna attend. Unlimited rebuys for the first hour.

I'll possibly attempt another tourney this spring. I'll keep you posted.

My high school is running a 300 person no-limit tournament next month. They will take in 30k in entry fees and pay out 9k. Not a bad charity gig, eh?

Damn, you are only as good as your last post. And I keep pounding em out. It takes effort to put these rambling posts together. I may need a sabbatical soon.

That being said, here's your latest poker linkage:

Yet another new poker blog with a fine post:
Cardplayer's journal
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HOW TO BE A TOURNAMENT IDIOT AND LOSE ALL YOUR CHIPS
-

Excellent article from MSNBC.com about poker. Read it now.
No bluff — poker is the real TV deal
Televised poker quickly is becoming hottest craze
--
"Poker passed the Larry Test in the biggest way possible, which is to say Larry showed up one day babbling about the game he’d watched the night before the way a 12- year-old tells his friends about discovering the Playboy magazine in his father’s closet. Poker, it seems, has gone mainstream."
--

Interesting article about wagering on the SuperBowl and online gambling, in general.
BetonSports.com expects record number of American consumers betting on Super Bowl.

Consider the following BetonSports.com statistics:
-

"No wife can endure a gambling husband unless he is a steady winner."
Lord Dewar

Nine years here.

Thanks to PokerCode, I created this silly, animated Phil Helmuth. Get it while you can, it's deleted in 14 days.
Phil Helmuth trash-talking me.

I'm still winding down after the weekend tourney. Co-workers, friends, and emails were nothing but overwhelmingly positive, so it went as well as I imagined. I'm stoked that everyone had a blast - it was a surreal experience and well worth it. Encouragement for an encore has been loud and clear.

So I'm mulling it over. If anyone has a tip on embossing or customizing existing clay chips, please let me know.

By the way, I played Strat-O-Matic back in the day. Sad but true. I loved that game before the days of roto.

Poker blog roll call: I've been gone for a few days now, so allow me to pimp my fellow bloggers:

MeneGene has promised me a Phil Helmuth bashing post tonight, so make sure to hit his blog.

Thanks to my fellow bloggers for linking up and reading my friend Royal's blog. Again, he knows poker. Chemical engineer + poker acumen + retooling his game = scary muther. The fact that this healthy bank-rolled big bet player is grinding out 10,000 hands at 50.1 speaks volumes about how serious he is. Check out his freaking $36 pot in 50.1 on his blog. Can you say 36 big bets? Oh the humanity.

Another great post on PokerWorks about dealing high-limit at the Bellagio. Linda kicks too much ass - I am always thankful that she shares her thoughts on the big games with us.

Ok, I was pestered enough to finally link up Ugarte's poker blog. Very well-written account of a NL ring game with strangers.

Per usual, Pauly rules. Check out his post about my weekend.
--
Just read about Iggy's No Limit Tourney which he set up, ran, and played in this weekend. Whew! Too bad he came in seventh out of 51 (his tourney paid out six places with $1100 going to the first place winner!) Sounds like a great time. I think we should all take up a collection and send Iggy to the 2004 WSOP as the Blogger Representative.
--

I'm down with that. :)

TheFatGuy nearly always gets a chuckle out of me. This is no small feat.
--
We'll just call this The Tertiary Adjunct to the Hammer Challenge. The rules are that you have to post the chat & hand history on your blog, and send me the link. I don't care if it's at the 5¢/10¢ tables (but it must be a real money table)...I just want to see if the HAMMER! meme can spread past the poker blogger community.
--

The funniest poker blogger alive, playwright PokerGrub. There's too many funny lines for me to quote just one, so just read the intro and go hit his site:
-
Twenty questions
"Gamblers Anonymous offers the following questions to anyone who may have a gambling problem. These questions are provided to help the individual decide if he or she is a compulsive gambler and wants to stop gambling.
-

And I've gotta link to Hdouble because he quoted Confederacy of the Dunces.

Oh yeah, in case you didn't know:

Jack > Becky

Experts: Mismanagement brought down landmark Vegas casino
--
"She had a little jewel with the World Series of Poker, good restaurants and steady business," he said. "Jack Binion thrived when he had it, so you've got to point your finger at Becky if you're looking to blame someone for the Horseshoe's demise."
--

Daily Racing Forum continues to weigh in on poker and Binions:
Where the real players gambled
--
Still, almost anyone who lived or visited here before the town turned corporate has a Horseshoe moment.
--

Three new poker blogs:
Design by Fire Poker Blog

Rhymes with Joker

Garro

And BoyGenius gets a link for pimping me with this false statement:
-
Here’s your poker-related musing for today, as because I am part of the Ig-centric poker blogging community, I’m obligated to talk about poker on the near-daily basis.
-

And from the cultural juggarnaut that is poker:
Poker night at home isn't the same after new shows
-
The problem is that I'm watching so many poker shows on television these days, I barely have time to gamble anymore. Maybe you've seen them; just about every network has one.
-

Oh yeah, the new Cardplayer is out.

Better yet, go read the new PokerSavvy article:
--
Seven Tips for Big-Bet Cash Games
Pot- and no-limit cash games can be exciting and profitable. But if you're not careful you can lose a bundle in a hurry. These tips will help you add to your stack as you move to the big-bet tables.
--

RGP is still essentially worthless. Someone once called it a cesspool and they'd be correct. Thank God we have these poker blogs to read or I'd be going nuts for interesting poker content on the web.

I truly enjoy thinking/reading about poker strategy. The more I learn, the more I question. Learning - improving in poker is a beautiful thing. It's an affirmation. Poker is really nothing but a decision making process over and over. Paper, rock, scissors. Making adjustments to your and your opponents adjustments.

It's skill and judgement that determine profitability. Culpability is crucial. In the long run, you don't get paid paid to win pots, you get paid to make the right decisions.

And these decisions are exacerbated in no-limit. One poor read and your stack is gone. A terrible decision in limit will likely only cost you a few big bets. And because I don't feel like dedicating HOURS to a tourney tonight, I'm putting my grinder hat back on and playing some limit.

Wish me luck and thanks for reading.

Aliens Abducted My Panties
Gail, a sexually active woman with partners of both sexes, wants to get to the bottom of something: The abduction of her panties by aliens. "Even when I felt his arm sliding under my rear and sliding my panties down I felt more and more relaxed," she explains.

Phil Helmuth & Russ Gorgiev Poker Blogs

"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet."
Grantland Rice

Queen City Poker Series

Oh my, where to even begin??

I'm absolutely wiped out. I spent all Friday and Saturday running around, accumulating tables, chairs and massive amounts of other random stuff needed to run a largish poker tournament. I spent three hours cleaning up the carnage today (and still not close to being done) so this post may be rambling and disjointed - forgive me, my brain is mush. Setting up and cleaning up has been pretty much a one-man show.

Cleaning up is a drag. This morning, all I could do was scratch my head in amazement while surveying the day after decimation.

So 51 players showed up for my first 'real' non home game no-limit tournament. I was expecting and hoping for about 30. Yikes! And this was without a dozen regulars not being able to make it.

Because I had to scramble for extra everything, we started 30 minutes late. That was the only snafu of the night. We had six tables (I had expected to have three tables ten-handed) at the start. Thankfully, I did have six tables set up. Chairs, on the other hand....

Oh yeah, $50 entry fee with all money redistributed in prize money. I rented the space because I thought it would be fun as hell to run a local no-limit tournament. And it was.

I started everyone with 10k in chips - blinds at 100.200, doubling in 100 increments every thirty minutes. This worked really well. At the start of the 5th hour we were 1000.2000 with a 100 ante.

100.200 200.400 300.600 400.800 500.1000
and so on.

There's alot of work involved with keeping things running smoothly, tables getting short, moving players around, et al, so it was hard sometimes to focus on the actual game, but I had a tremendous amount of help from my field general, Rick, in running things.

Random notes:

Fuzz was knocked out on the second hand of the tournament when he was dealt KK and got all his money in against, you guessed it, Mister Glass's AA. Oh the humanity. Fuzz was a HUGE help as he stuck around and dealt for nearly the entire nite: he figures nearly 400 hands. He kept his table laughing by yelling every time a King appeared, "Where the hell where you when I needed you?!" Fuzz also helped me a ton on Saturday by helping move additional tables and chairs with his truck. Thank you, Fuzz!

We had four girls play, with meaux, the esteemed hostess of our home game, lasting longest, as she made it to the final two tables in her first ever real hold em experience. Amazing.

First place paid over $1100.

I started the tourney at 6.00 pm, hoping not to be up into the wee hours of the morning. As if. Play finished at 3.30 AM when the last two left, Ian and Matt, decided to split the money and walk away. They wouldn't even shove it all-in on one hand to determine a winner! Boooo, but honestly, at that point, I really didn't care.

I was able to pay out six places. Of course, I finished freaking SEVENTH.

Here's how I was eliminated at the final table: small stack on big blind moves in after I raised preflop from the button with AK. Giant stack in mid smooth-calls and I move in my 35k. Big Stack calls and turns over KT and little stack has 56. Woohooo! Domination! But a ten on the flop and a ten on the turn puts me out.

Damn. I'm not one for bad beat stories but I sure was disappointed to get knocked out like that. That was an 85k pot. For the record, giant stack boy is a good friend who is the resident sheriff in our home game. He played great, finishing third.

A west-side fella named "Chirp" finished fourth. Chirp? He had tattoos of every card suit on his forearm so I assumed he was a good player when he was seated at my initial table. We played together for 5 or 6 hours and avoided pots with each other.

We also had guys named Tex, Dino and Gino. I announced at the onset of the tourney that there would be NO side-games. You could stay and watch but couldn't gamble. That really helped clear people out.

But Rick gave me the best advice - spread the tables out, don't consolidate - the churn rate will be higher if you spread out thirty guys six-handed at five tables, versus ten-handed at three. Brilliant!

Actually, the game had really thinned out by 9.30. That really put my mind at ease. Plus, I have some BIG friends. Non vegan types. So the built-in security was another bonus.

The best decision I made was creating this as a no-drinking tournament. Sure, there were a few people surreptitiously sneaking whisky into their cokes (yours truly, included) or guzzling beer in the parking lot during our five minute break every hour, but for the most part, it was a sober game. Removing alcohol from the equation was a smart move.

I can't believe I just typed that and meant it.

I was told that the police DID show up and sat in the parking lot for perhaps 30 minutes, but they never got out of their car, and thankfully, missed our hourly break. I'm sure they were curious - we were playing at an office complex right off a main road - seeing 40-50 cars there on a Saturday night would be unusual. I was prepared to tell them it was an AA meeting.

At one point, I announced that I was taking any donations to help defray the cost of putting on the tourney and many people threw some dollars in. That was cool, even though I still lost my ass.

I was too overwhelmed to tell everyone to SIGN UP WITH PARTYPOKER BONUS CODE IGGY OR IGGY1 ON EMPIRE. I had way too much to deal with to even think about going there, but I did hear plenty of interesting conversation about online poker play. I kept my mouth shut because it was obvious noone knew WTF they were talking about.

Gmoney stomped off after losing and left with my field general's car keys in his coat pocket. That truly sucked. A huge thanks to Filmgeek and meaux for tracking that down. It prolly cost me 20k in chips trying to deal with that headache.

I never got cards to speak of. That I finished seventh is testimony to luck my ability to float and pick spots when necessary. I had QQ once and AK twice and that was it. I did double-thru with AJ tho, when the flop came jack high and a big stack made a huge bet. I came over the top and he called with an open-ended straight draw that didn't materialize. Whew.

I hardly played any hands.

Hand of the tourney was my field general getting AA against S's KK and another player's QQ and all the money got in before the flop. Big scoop with the aces standing up. Looking forward to downloading co-workers' impressions on Monday.

Another friend and co-worker, Joshua, got into a small wreck and had random breasts flashed at him on the highway. He had quite the evening.

So it was a smashing success, methinks. I hope Filmgeek will write a trip report since he writes 100x better than I.

I had many people encourage me to do this again. After cleaning the carnage today, I'm in NO hurry to do so. I do have access to bigger and better space for an even much bigger tourney but I can't do this while losing money. I don't necessarily want to make money (that's illegal) but I sure as hell wouldn't mind breaking even on the deal. That seems fair for all the work involved.

God knows how many players I could have gotten. Getting players isn't a problem.

I'm toying with the idea from the Bluegrass Poker Series. See prior posts for details. Abridged version: They have a rebuy that goes into a separate prize pool to send someone to the WSOP championship event in their name. That's a fantastic idea and is something I may do. We had over $2500 in prize money this time. One $50 rebuy - in only four tournaments, I'd have the ten grand to do the same.

So do I do this again? The WSOP is in May, so I'd need to get going if I wanna send someone there.

I have many links and new blogs to point out, but I'm simply too tired to do so. Come back tomorrow and I'll return to your regularly scheduled blogcast.

Again, thanks to anyone who helped me put this monstrosity of a tourney on. I couldn't have done it without the help (especially Fuzz, Filmgeek and m0). Filmgeek also graciously dealt at several tables and had nary a misdeal. I can't describe how cool that is to have friends pitch in and help.

Now I'm entertaining thoughts of a 200 person NL tourney. I have 8,000 square feet of space at my disposal. 20 tables, 200 chairs, 2,000,000 in chips - how hard could it be?

Kill me. Kill me now.

Link of the Day:
Til Dignity Do Us Part
The yuppie panhandling site Pay for Cynthia's Wedding seeks $25,000 to fund a couple's dream nuptials. "Our life is the Fine Living Channel," explains Cynthia Wachtel.