Live Poker Blog and Podcasts

One way to avoid making mistakes in life is to learn from those of others. If you haven’t already, pick up “One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey ‘The Kid’ Ungar, the World’s Greatest Poker Player”.

It is generally agreed in the poker community that Stu Ungar was the greatest poker player in the history of the game, certainly the greatest no limit hold’em player. It is estimated that he won over $30 million in his lifetime, including the World Series which he won three times (1980, 1981, and his “comeback” win in 1997).

When he was found dead a year later in 1998 from a drug overdose, he could not pay for his own funeral. Ungar’s story illustrates that it is not the opponents at the table that are so much of a problem: it is those that are inside. Rather instructive for all of us.

The book itself is a great read and hard to put down. Doyle Brunson says: “I knew Stuey Ungar well and played with him many, many times. He was one of the most remarkable characters to ever sit down at a poker table.”

“Reading One of a Kind not only brought him back to life for me, it vividly re-created a time and place that we’ll likely never see again. For anyone interested in understanding and unraveling the legend of poker’s most creative thinker and tortured soul, this is the real deal!”

If you like DVDs, check out The Highroller, Stu Ungar’s story. The movie does not come anywhere near the quality of the book, but it is still worth watching.

Was Stu an idiot or a genius? Strangely, those two do not seem to be mutually exclusive.

We all have our favorite poker players. When you ask around, lot of names will get thrown. Surprisingly few people mention Dan Harrington. It is surprising because Dan is a true “gamer’s gamer”.

Dan is a former backgammon and chess champion. By profession a lawyer, he won the World Series of Poker in 1995 cashing in “only” a million. Incredibly, “Action” Dan (an ironic reference to his tight playing style) made the final table in the main even of the World Series three other times: finishing 6th in 1987, 3rd in 2003 (the memorable Moneymaker-Farha table), and 4th in 2004.

The story of his win in 1995 is just funny. Down to the final table, Harrington proposed a 9-way settlement. He explained to other players how everyone could get rich and even offered free investment counseling.

One of the players (now largely unknown) outrightly rejected the idea and influenced the others to do so as well. The rest is history. Dan rolled over the table to take the million.

Dan of course does not limit himself to poker. He is also a successful real estate and stock market investor.

Despite his accomplishments, Dan loves to keep a low profile. There is no “official” web site. When he plays, there are no flashy clothes or “status symbols”. It is not about glamour for Dan. It is about the game.

The cool thing is that Dan wrote three books about the game, the series “Harrington on Hold’em”. If you don’t have them, drop everything and run to your bookstore! They are worth their weight in gold.

The first volume deals with Strategic Play, the second volume with End Game, and the third volume is a nifty little Workbook. Learn no limit hold’em from a guy who made close to $5 million in his life playing live poker. Check out all of Dan’s books at Amazon.

Dan may be getting old, but he’s still the Man!

Wow! Does this suck or what?

The word out there is that the days of online qualifying for the World Series of Poker are over folks!

How come?

Well, there was a leak from Harrah’s Entertainment, the company that happens to own the World Series, that online qualifiers for the World Series will no longer be accepted. More exactly, it was said that Harrah will no longer accept “third party registrations” on behalf of poker web sites and online satellite winners.

Thomson, the director of Harrah’s communication clarified, “While we’re still reviewing registration requirements, it’s likely we will accept third-party registrations from entities such as charitable and civic organizations and offline tribal and commercial casinos in the US and abroad with whom we have licensing agreements to conduct WSOP satellites, as well as entities for which we have sponsorship agreements that run contests for their customers. We will most likely not be accepting third-party registrations from other entities. We will, of course, continue to accept registrations from individuals.”

So it will probably not be possible to win your seat online. Some online web sites are already implementing this. Full Tilt, for example, already sent out an email: “Unfortunately due to the upcoming change in legislation Full Tilt Poker will no longer be able to satellite US residents into live tournaments in US. This policy will be effective immediately.”

Player response?

“THIS is the end of online poker. When the WSOP/WPT attendance dies, so will the influx of new players. Un-[censored] real.”

“It’s safe to say that more than 4,400 players who played in this year’s main event got in it by playing online poker. To put it into perspective, that number is only 1,219 less than the total number of players in last year’s main event, and dominates the 2004 figure of 2,576 players.”

Of course, you can win 10K online and use that as your entry fee. The question is: how many players will be temped to cash out their 10K instead of using it for the WSOP?

Expect significant shrinkage folks.