Live Poker Blog and Podcasts

With the World Series excitement barely over, the sixth event of this year’s World Poker Tour just kicked off. Yup, I am talking about Festa al Lago at Bellagio. The event attracted over 400 players (sadly, this may be the future size of the World Series field).

Day One saw some blood early on. On the fourth hand, David Singer’s flopped set got cracked when an opponent hit a two-outer. A number of notables did not make it through the first day and followed Singer out: John Juanda, “Miami” John Cernuto, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Shulman, Jeff Shulman, T.J. Cloutier, Doyle Brunson, and oh yes, Mr. Popular Jamie Gold.

Scotty Nguyen, who still appears to be in the game, had a special reason to celebrate: on October 10th, his wife Julie gave birth to their first son Kody. Scary thought. But everybody’s eyes are on J.C. Tran who already won over $90,000 in preliminary events (multiple cashes).

This year alone, Tran has already won over a million in the tournament circuit, including a $670,000 cash in World Championship of Online Poker. Nobody has performed comparably with respect to consistency playing the circuit in recent times.

The Festa al Lago tournament pays top 100 places and with the winner taking home well over a million.

Well, if you didn’t catch this one, don’t worry. There’s good news folks. After Festa al Lago ends, the WPT Canadian Open is on at the Fallsview Casino from October 22nd to 24th and… the entry fee is only $2500+$200.

The final table will be played out on October 30th. For more details, check the WPT web site. The Fallsview Casino will also be hosting the North American Poker Championship from October 25th to 28th. Check out more info at the casino web site.

Perhaps with the seeming decline of online games in the US, B&M cardrooms will see a boost once again. And that’s not a bad thing.

A recent moment: Gold raises to $1,700,000 and Wasicka makes the call. The flop comes Queen of clubs, 8 of hearts, and 5 of hearts. Wasicka bets $1,500,000 and Gold moves all in. Wasicka calls and shows 10 of hearts and 10 of spades.

However, Gold turns over Queen of spades and 9 of clubs for a pair of queens. The turn is the ace of diamonds. The river is the 4 of clubs. Paul Wasicka is eliminated from the tournament in 2nd place and earns $6,102,499. The winner takes home $12 million.

Love him or hate, Jamie Gold is still the reigning World Champ. Perhaps the least liked one at that. Never mind that half his winnings are still frozen in Vegas because he (allegedly) tried ripping off a friend. Most players don’t like Gold and it is easy to see why. As he said in one of the post-interviews:

“I probably bluffed more in this tournament than anyone has in a major poker event. I was bluffing probably 80 percent of the time. I told them almost every time I was bluffing that I had nothing, and told them they would have to call me. They just threw away their cards. For whatever reason, I had this influence on people.”

“I just told them the truth and they did the exact opposite, probably because no one has experienced a poker player continually telling the truth. I told the truth every single time, and every single time, they did exactly what I wanted them to do. No one ever believed me. I would say, ‘I told you I was bluffing. When I tell you next time, you really should listen to me.’ The next time, they would think I was going to trick them, and they played right into my hands.”

How interesting. In other words, his $12 million payday was a result of naivety and stupidity of others. Nobody had the brains to notice that Gold was almost always telling the truth about his cards. Clearly, nobody was as smart as he was. Hmmm. Then again, as Gold himself says: “From day one, I was never in jeopardy of being out of the tournament.” Of course not. How could he ever be eliminated?

The post-interview response of the poker community seemed to be rather uniform: “this guy is full of shit!”, cried most players on the forums. There does not seem to be a change of sentiment within the community. Well, not everything that glitters is gold, says the old cliché. Or Gold’s, for that matter.

Suppose you know you will be stranded on a deserted island and can take only one poker book with you. What would you take?

The question is of course hypothetical: you are not likely to find yourself in this situation. Yet, it is interesting to think it through. Which book is likely to maximize your understanding of the game? What is the ultimate “poker bible”?

David Sklansky’s “The Theory of Poker” comes close for many players, and with a good reason. Never mind Sklansky’s poor writing. The book is filled with insightful discussion of the most important considerations such as expectation, hourly rate, the fundamental theorem of poker, the ante structure, free card, pot odds, effective pot odds, implied pot odds and reverse implied odds, deception, semi-bluffing, raising, check-raising, slow playing, loose and tight play, the importance of position, reading hands, psychology of the game…etc.

You name it. The list could go on. Every single important aspect of the game is covered. The book addresses the game in a sophisticated way:

“Beginning poker players sometimes ask, ‘What do you do in this particular situation?’ There is really no correct answer to that question because it’s the wrong question. Rules of thumb that say to fold one hand, call with another, and raise with yet another simply won’t get a poker player beyond the beginning stages. The right question is: ‘What do you consider in this particular situation before determining what to do?’” (The Theory of Poker, xi).

Poker is a game of incomplete information that requires a careful consideration of many factors. Sklansky succeeds in not only elucidating them but also in showing how they relate together. Some factors are more important than others, but no single factor is usually the sole determinant. Good poker is a matter of thorough rational analysis backed up by solid, tested principles.

In one interview, Greg Raymer, the winner of the 2004 WSOP Main Event, stated he would not be able to win without Sklansky’s Theory of Poker. You can’t go wrong by checking it out for yourself.