Archive for the ‘Poker Tournaments’ Category

WSOP to name Event after Deceased Jerry Buss

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013

One of the biggest news stories from yesterday was that Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss passed away at the age of 80. He’d been battling cancer and was hospitalized last Thursday before dying on Monday. Because of Buss’ poker playing background, the World Series of Poker is in the process of naming a tournament after him.

As reported by TMZ, the WSOP wants to either name their Seven Card Stud Championship after Buss, or at least dedicate a trophy to him – much like the “Chip Reese Memorial Trophy” that goes to the $50k Players Championship winner. A WSOP rep told TMZ:

At the appropriate time, we will seek to ask the family to honor [Jerry's] legacy by possibly naming our WSOP Seven Card Stud Championship after him or awarding the victor a special perpetual trophy in his honor.

“We’re definitely going to miss seeing him … Even when the Lakers were playing in the NBA Finals, you could often find Dr. Buss playing his favorite game — Seven Card Stud — at the World Series of Poker.

As the above statement alludes to, Jerry Buss was very fond of playing high stakes Seven Card Stud cash games. He also experienced success in the Stud tournament scene after finishing third place in a 1991 WSOP Seven Card Stud event.

Later on in life, Buss got into lots of other tournaments and played from 1991 to 2011, when age and declining health convinced him to stop playing so much poker. None of Buss’ cashes were overly-large – with his biggest being worth $33,800 – but he did manage to accumulate $172,490 in winnings before passing away.

As a testament to how much Dr. Buss loved poker, he once skipped a Los Angeles Lakers NBA Championship parade to play poker at the Bicycle Casino, which was just 10 miles away. Taking everything here into account, it’s no wonder why the WSOP wants to name an event after him.

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Hot Model Lily Kiletto just misses WPT History

Sunday, February 17th, 2013

While female poker players have definitely cracked the male-dominated barrier in WSOP events – having collectively won lots of gold bracelets – they’ve yet to do the same in the World Poker Tour. In fact, women haven’t won an open WPT tournament of any kind since the organization began operating in 2002.

Lily Kiletto was recently trying to change this bit of history at the 2013 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open. Kiletto was already turning heads because she’s a stunning, hot, exotic model; the fact that she was chasing a major poker title just gave red-blooded males even more reason to gawk at her.

The dark-skinned beauty began the Lucky Hearts Open final table with the shortest stack (860k chips). However, she made some gutsy calls, built her stack, and survived until a heads-up match with Matt Giannetti. The latter took the fun out of things after cruising to victory and adding $298,304 to his impressive total of $4,265,072 in career winnings.

As for Kiletto, she collected the tidy sum of $191,180 after finishing runner-up and brought her career earnings to $212,169. In all, the 30-year-old has $212,180 in live poker tournament winnings and put herself on the poker map.

The second place Lucky Hearts Open finish may not be enough to land Kiletto a major sponsorship deal. But after giving herself a huge bankroll boost, it’s likely that we’ll continue seeing the model/fashion designer in plenty more future tourneys.

This is especially true since she had already been playing in poker tournaments on her own since 2011. Kiletto had racked up 11 tourney cashes prior to the big Lucky Hearts runner-up effort. So it appears as if she has a solid knowledge of the game and could continue her success in the future.

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Michael Phelps competes in First Major Poker Tournament

Thursday, January 10th, 2013

Olympic great Michael Phelps continues his flirtation with the poker world after competing in the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. This was actually Phelps’ first “major” live tournament and he admitted to being nervous about the experience.

However, the nerves quickly subsided and he got some big hands early on to remain in contention. Phelps would go on to survive the first day and make a strong run in the second day as well. Unfortunately, he was eliminated on the final level of Day 2 by Eddy Sabat.

The hand began with Sabat leading out with 4,800 chips, which Michael called. With the rest of the table having folded, the flop was dealt Ks-Qd-5d. Sabat bet another 6,200 and Phelps called before the dealer dealt a 6c turn card. Eddy checked here while the 18-time Olympic gold medalist bet out 8,000 chips; Sabat called and a Jc river card was dealt afterward.

This prompted Sabat to go all-in while Phelps called him and flipped over 6s-6h for a set. However, Sabat had him beat after completing a broadway straight on the river.

With Michael Phelps now eliminated, so too goes the biggest celebrity at the 2013 PCA Main Event. But with a solid performance in his first big poker tournament, it’s likely that we’ll see the best swimmer in history at other major events.

As for his entire poker career, Phelps spent a lot of time playing cash games in Las Vegas following the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. He became friends with poker greats like Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth during this time while improving his live skills. Eventually, Phelps final tabled a 2008 Caesars Palace Classic side event and earned $5,213 for the finish. Now that he’s retired from swimming, we should see a few more strong tournament finishes from him.

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Why Poker Freerolls can be more Frustrating than Real Money Play

Monday, December 17th, 2012

A lot of online poker players initially get their start by playing freerolls. After all, if you’re leery about putting money on the line, open-entry freerolls (no entry requirements) are a great way to build a bankroll from scratch. But there’s also a big downside to starting out with open-entry freerolls. In fact, they can be very frustrating and we’ll explain why below.

Heavy Competition

The main problem with most freerolls is that the proportion between players and the prize money is badly skewed. For example, there might be 2,000 players competing for a $100 prize pool; this works out to $0.05 of expected value for the average player.

Taking the heavy amount of competition into account, it gets really frustrating trying to make money in freerolls. There are going to be tons of times when you make deep runs in freeroll tournaments, only to bust out close to the money. Considering how only around 1.5-2% of the field cashes, it’s really heart-breaking to just miss a cash.

Time-Waster

Compounding the stress of an open-entry freeroll is the fact that you’ll be getting very little money out of your time. Going further, you might only earn a few cents per hour when everything is averaged out. This being said, many players are simply better off making a small deposit and grinding their way up from the lower stakes.

A Good Practice

While most freerolls aren’t exactly money-generators, players shouldn’t totally discount them – especially beginners. Anybody who’s new to online poker can get a lot of benefit out of playing these free tournaments. There’s no money to risk, and you get to compete against other opponents for a prize pool.

But the main thing to understand here is that it’s tough making any serious money from freerolls. So if profit is your entire poker goal, make a deposit, keep learning strategy, and grind your way up the stakes.

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WSOP Champ Greg Merson – A Tale of Drugs and Redemption

Friday, November 2nd, 2012

By now pretty much the whole poker world has heard of Greg Merson’s 2012 WSOP Main Event victory. Following a 103-day break before final table play began, Merson dispatched his last eight opponents this week en route to the $8,531,853 first place prize. Thanks to his Main Event victory, the 24-year-old was also able to grab the 2012 WSOP Player of the Year award too.

But what many people may not know about Merson is that there’s more to this story than just some young poker player winning a big tournament. The Laurel, Maryland native was actually addicted to drugs just a short time ago before getting his life on track.

How to cope

As for how it all happened, Black Friday struck and hampered Merson’s ability to play on the biggest online poker sites. What ensued was a severe depression that had him wondering how he was going to continue making a living with the game. Merson eventually coped with his problems by turning to drugs, which is when he finally hit rock bottom.

Re-dedication

Luckily, Merson wouldn’t stay mired in this downward spiral forever. He turned to live poker tournaments in hopes of replacing the loss of online poker revenue. And he certainly accomplished this goal after winning the 2012 WSOP Event #57 (6-max Hold’em) tournament along with $1,136,197.

Of course, this was only a warm-up of what was yet to come since we now know that Merson also captured the Main Event title along with another $8.53 million. Thanks to these latest victories, he now has an impressive $9,851,557 in live tournament cashes. More importantly, he’s overcame the drug problems that he dealt with last year and looks on track to continue having an excellent poker career.

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Greg Raymer wins third HPT Title, proves Longevity

Wednesday, October 24th, 2012

Winning the WSOP Main Event is by no means a recipe for long-term success. Jerry Yang, Jamie Gold and Robert Varkonyi are all prime examples of this point. However, there are also plenty of ME champions who have made a nice career out of poker including Greg Raymer.

The Raleigh, North Carolina native added yet another big accolade to his career by recently winning his third Heartland Poker Tour title. Raymer beat out a 185-player field to win HTP Altoona along with a $72,089 payout. He defeated Chad Lawson heads-up to secure the title, and you can see the complete final table results below:

1. Greg Raymer – $72,089
2. Chad Lawson – $41,771
3. Craig Casino – $26,275
4. Ben Stroh – $22,233
5. Ed Sinnett – $16,978
6. Josh Birkenbuel – $14,526

What’s truly impressive about Raymer’s HTP titles is that they’ve all come within the past few months. Before we continue discussing how great this accomplishment is, take a closer look at the three Heartland wins:

2012 HPT Route 66 – 1st place, $71,875
2012 HPT St. Louis – 1st place, $121,973
2012 HPT Altoona – 1st place, $72,089

After winning three HPT tournaments in a single year, Raymer becomes the only player to do so. In addition to this, he’s also the only person other than Jeremy Dresch to win three HPT events overall.

These wins are just the tip of the iceberg because Greg Raymer has truly proven the test of time by winning $7,285,094 in live poker tournaments. Some of the most notable tourney finishes in Raymer’s career include a third place effort in the 2009 40th Anniversary event ($775k), 25th place in the 2005 WSOP Main Event ($305k), and of course his 2004 WSOP Main Event victory ($5 million).

Besides his playing career, Raymer has gained considerable respect for his involvement with the Poker Players Alliance. Going further, he’s done a lot of fighting for players’ rights and is an adamant supporter of legal online poker. Hopefully all of his hard work in this department will pay off someday!

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Phil Hellmuth wins WSOPE Main Event

Friday, October 5th, 2012

Just yesterday, we discussed how Phil Hellmuth was leading the 2012 WSOPE Main Event final table. The truth is that we didn’t expect the Poker Brat to actually win – even with his experience and skill – because it seems like the final table chip leader is never a safe bet for some reason. But Hellmuth was able to finish the job and win the WSOPE Main Event along with €1,022,376 ($1.33 million).

The Poker Brat was quite humbled by his victory as he said, “I don’t say this often, but I am truly humbled by this. This is one of the most prestigious titles in poker and to get this one, it’s right up there with the (1989) World Championship.”

Hellmuth continued to reflect on the WSOPE win by saying, “I played the best poker of my life in this tournament. My game is constantly evolving. I tried some new things out that really worked this time. My game is never the same. You’ve got to constantly be improving, and that’s what I do.”

What’s truly impressive about Hellmuth is how he continues to make poker history, despite holding plenty of records already. His WSOPE victory makes him the only player to ever win both this tournament and the WSOP Main Event.

The Poker Brat also extended his gold bracelet record to 13, which means neither Doyle Brunson nor Johnny Chan will be catching him any time soon with their 10 bracelets. It’ll also be a long time before anybody even comes close to the 95 WSOP cashes that Hellmuth has accumulated in his career.

Once the 2012 WSOP Main Event concludes on October 30th, Phil will be adding a Player of the Year award to his lengthy list of accolades. All in all, this year was extremely kind to Hellmuth.

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Phil Hellmuth in Position to win 2012 WSOPE Main Event

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

With $16,159,430 in live tournament winnings and a record 12 WSOP gold bracelets, it seems like Phil Hellmuth has won just about everything. But the reality is that there are titles the Poker Brat hasn’t won including the WSOPE Main Event. Interestingly enough, the Poker Brat is in a good position to add the 2012 WSOPE Main Event title to his decorated resume since he leads the final table with 3,434,000 chips.

But it’s worth mentioning that he leads by the slimmest of margins because Sergii Baranov is right behind him with 3,339,000 chips. The Ukrainian businessman is an amateur player who’s won two EPT side events in his career.

Joseph Cheong (1.966 million) is definitely a player of interest on this final table since he finished third place in the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Thanks to this $4,130,059 cash and plenty of other strong tournament finishes, Cheong has racked up $5,377,687 in career winnings.

Both Stephane Albertini (1.162m) and Christopher Brammer (851k) are certainly formidable players. Both of these poker pros have experienced considerable success on the live tournament circuit and will be looking to add their biggest career cashes.

One more player that should definitely be discussed here is Jason Mercier. Sure the Florida native has one of the smallest remaining chip stacks, but his experience definitely makes him someone to watch. It would be nice to see Mercier collect a big cash since he’s struggled in 2012 – or at least struggling for a guy who’s collected $7,912,297 in live tourneys.

With just one more day to go in the WSOPE Main Event, we’ll get to see the winner crowned tonight. Hellmuth would certainly provide a marquee winner, but both Cheong and Mercier are well-noted players as well.

2012 WSOPE Main Event Final Table

1. Phil Hellmuth – 3,434,000 chips
2. Sergii Baranov – 3,339,000
3. Joseph Cheong – 1,966,000
4. Stephane Albertini – 1,162,000
5. Christopher Brammer – 851,000
6. Stephane Girault – 664,000
7. Jason Mercier – 652,000
8. Paul Tedeschi – 543,000

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Why Tournament Players have Trouble with Cash Games

Monday, September 24th, 2012

Most great poker players are able to go back and forth between cash games and tournaments without much difficulty. But the majority of tourney players aren’t great, which means they struggle when making the switch to ring games. And there are a host of reasons why certain grinders struggle to make money in cash play. That said, here are a few things poker tournament players need to realize when making the transition.

Pressure from Blinds

Unless you’re playing cash games with a severely-limited bankroll – which we definitely preach against – the blinds aren’t going to provide any pressure. They stay the same throughout play and don’t increase like in tournaments. But in tourneys, blinds increase in levels, which forces you to make aggressive moves to accumulate chips and stay alive. In short, you don’t have to play with as much urgency in cash play.

Deep Stacks

When you get into the middle and late stages of poker tournaments, having 100 big blinds is a gift and will give you a huge advantage. But in cash games, nearly everybody is going to be playing with 100 big blinds since players can reload whenever they want to. Much like the blinds, you aren’t pressured by stack sizes, which generally makes a tighter approach necessary.

No Limit

One thing players really need to be aware of when they play poker cash games is that there’s no limit to losses. Unlike a tourney, where the most you can lose is a buy-in, cash games see no cap on the amount of money that can be lost. This being said, you need to constantly review sessions and study poker strategy to improve. Also, make sure that you’re studying strategy appropriate to the states you play.

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Partouche Poker Tour closing

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

Another controversy has struck the Partouche Poker Tour after this organization failed to cover an alleged €5 million guaranteed event. There were 556 participants who bought into the €8,500 tournament in hopes of winning a piece of the €5 million prize pool. However, the actual pool only hit €4.25 million, and the PPT didn’t want to cover the €725k overlay.

Claims were made by PPT chairman Maxime Masquelier that this French Riviera tournament was never supposed to offer a €5 million guarantee. But Justin Bonomo showed some evidence that suggested otherwise when he tweeted:

Good thing I posted screenshots instead of links. @partouchepoker is actively deleting instances of the word guarantee. Very incriminating…If @partouchepoker fixes the prize pool I will forgive. Otherwise I will never play there again and I will keep spreading the word.

Because there has been so much controversy surrounding this debacle, Patrick Partouche decided to close the tournament series indefinitely. Here is his explanation on why:

For forty years I have dedicated my life, my name, my family, to gaming, including poker, my passion. And now I hear that what we do is not enough, is not honest. The Partouche Poker Tour bears my name, that of my family. I will not accept, my staff will not accept, that people can say ‘Partouche are thieves’, ‘Partouche are cheats’. As a result, this week you attended the last edition of the Partouche Poker Tour.

Partouche seems to think that there was no miscommunication on the website, and they had no intention of deceiving players; however, some pro players have provided pictures off the PPT website clearly stating that the money was guaranteed.

There have been really good past events hosted by the Partouche Poker Tour, including last year when Sam Trickett won a €1,000,000 prize in the Season 5 Main Event. Unfortunately, we won’t get to keep seeing these great tournaments since Partouche seems bent on canceling the series.

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