WCOOP is over

I've been very busy the last few weeks blogging the WCOOP for PokerStars. It had originally been my intention to play in a few events, but when Brad contacted me about working it I couldn't pass that up. So I've spent the last 16 or 17 days watching three or four online tables at a time and reporting on the outcomes of the thousands of deals. All told, I worked 122.5 hours in that span. So as you can see I didn't have a lot of free time.

I can't describe to you how envious I was watching the final five players working out a deal last night.

"Oh you guys want more? I'll take $1.3 million instead of $1.6 million."

"I want to be guaranteed $800K so I have a chance to win $1 million." (They played for $200K and the bracelet.)

These aren't direct quotes, but they give you a general gist of the conversation. Can you imagine being in their shoes?

The interesting thing is that the guy who won (ckingusc) got less money than the guy who finished in second (liberace) due to the deal that was made with five left. I think the winner got $1.26 million or so and the second place guy got $1.3 million or so.

I have played little poker lately due to the time constrints. I've got about 600W$ I built up for WCOOP that I will apply to the PCA satellites. A tip to the Bahamas in January would be very nice and is a good goal to shoot for.

Meanwhile, I am still waiting to hear whether or not I get the job I interviewed for at UA. That would be a good one for me.

Olympics, college football and fall TV

Amy always asks why I never blog anymore. I just haven't had much to say. That's a good reason. Right?

I'm having Olympic withdrawls this week. Since Seoul 1988 I've been a very avid viewer of the Games, and with NBC airing them on its multiple networks this year I was glued to the set most of the day. The Beijing games brought back memories of 2004. I had just gotten my monstrosity of an HD TV right before the Athens games and I remember that we didn't even get NBC in HD and they had to add a special channel, and even that channel showed the games in HD a day after they had aired on the regular NBC network. HD viewing has certainly changed in four years.

I am so ready for college football now. Definitely my favorite sporting season. I was like a kid on Christmas catching some of the South Carolina vs. North Carolina St. game last night on ESPN. Bama takes on Clemson in the Georgia Dome on Saturday night. Oh boy. This is the best season opener we've had since we traveled to Pasadena to take on UCLA in 2000. That was the year we were ranked third in the preseason and won three games all season. I have higher expectations for this year.

And lastly for this TV junkie it's almost fall TV time. Prison Break (a fourth season, really?) starts Monday and the new 90210 premieres on Tuesday. 90210 you ask, really? I have to try it for the nostalgic value, especially with some of the old cast returning. I was hooked on that show as a teenager. Probably I'll watch it once and never turn it on again...

Vegas, WCOOP and overlays

Sorry I have been away for so long. Amy keeps asking me every day when I am going to post again and I just haven't been in the mood to write anything. So today I'll finally get back on the horse and write something. First, some Vegas afterthoughts in easy to read bullet form:

• Lengthy trips to Vegas may be out for me in the future unless the work is really good. As a married man planning on starting a family of more than two soon I won't be keen on being away for long periods anymore. As much as I love Vegas I am also starting to get a little tired of it. It's definitely getting to be a "been there, done that" feeling.
• Conversely, I still didn't feel like I had time to do all I wanted to do, even being there for more than three weeks. Never made it to an Area 51s game, didn't play as many tournaments as I wanted, didn't see enough new stuff. I guess there's just too much to do in Vegas. I'm also one of those people who never feels like he gets enough done on any given day. "There's never enough time" if you know what I mean.
• Railing Iggy definitely brought back wonderful memories of my only WSOP main event appearance in 2006. And he even busted on Day 3 in the money as I did.
• No celebrity encounters this year. I had hoped to say hello to James Woods since I got to interview him by phone for Rounder in the spring, but I never saw him. First summer since 2005 in which I didn't talk to Norm McDonald. Saw Jason Alexander walking past the hooker bar one night. Didn't even see Shannon Elizabeth, who "stalked" me in '06.
• The Golden Nugget pool is awesome. Amy and I partook one day while we stayed there. Tried the water slide once through the shark tank. Neat.
• The best part of going to Vegas these days, I think, is meeting old friends again. It's great to be able to hang out with Otis, Iggy, Pauly, Kristin, Jason, Dan, Jen, Gary, etc. etc., whether bowling, drinking or both. (And even more fun to own them at bowling!)
• Very disappointing trip financially. Lost at poker, and the contacts I made networking out there are only slowly starting to pan out, which leads me into the good news...

I'll be live blogging much of the World Championship of Online Poker for PokerStars, starting Sept. 5 and continuing through Sept. 22. Otis has put me down on the schedule for nearly every day and the shifts will be seven hours. I don't know all of the details of the "how" of it all, but I believe the format will be similar to what the "Site that Shall Not Be Named" on my blog does at the World Series of Poker. I'm ecstatic about the work as the pay is good and could lead to more blogging for PokerStars down the road. Many thanks to my man Otis.

Many thanks also to Al, who is doing a fine job with the Full Tilt Poker "Poker From the Rail" Blog. He has created a Blogger from the Rail corner in which he posts about bloggers on the web and allows us to do some guest posts. If you scroll down a bit you'll see my guest post from last week in which I talk about my WSOP main event favorite Dennis Phillips. I hope to do many more guest posts here in the future.

Since I'll be blogging the WCOOP that means I won't be playing much in it. I have played some FTOPS events, but have had no results. I busted about halfway through the first event, the $215 NLHE. I had terrible luck and tilty play in the $215 Stud and was one of the first ones out. I most recently went out a little more than halfway through the $215 LHE. And that tournament leads me to the conclusion of this post -- a discussion on overlays.

I'd love your feedback on this one. Perhaps you will call me "idiot" and "moron" like the players at my FTOPS LHE table did this week. Here's the setup: The event had a guaranteed prize pool of $200,000, but there were only 932 players in the event so the prize pool did not climb above the guaranteed $200,000 mark.

Here's where semantics may come in. Someone started talking about why he played just because of the overlay and I said that there wasn't really an overlay. I think it really depends on what the definition of overlay is. If you define overlay as the number of entrants not meeting the guaranteed prize pool, then yes, it was an overlay. I define overlay as "free" money where the host site is actually contributing to the prize pool to make up a shortfall. That was not the case here. (This is discounting the bustout bounties, which would make the FTOPS LHE event an overlay in my mind. We argued whether or not this was an overlay based solely on the number of entrants.)

The math is pretty simple. The cost of entry was $200 + $16, or $216. Based on 932 players, the money contributed for both prize pool and rake was $201,312, so FTP made $1,312 in rake and did not have to contribute money for a guaranteed prize pool shortfall. (Again, they did lose money based on bustout bounties, but that was not part of the argument.) For arguing that it wasn't a "true" overlay in that we did not get "free" money I was called all sorts of names. I said it shouldn't have been called an overlay, but a tournament with reduced rake. (Discounting bustout bounties, each player paid about $1.40 in fees.) What do you think?

Introducing my new blog...

While I procrastinate on blogging on Vegas afterthoughts I've managed to start a new blog with another one soon forthcoming. I figure why put all of my eggs in one basket? I hope in starting new blogs and writing on other non-poker related topics I am able to find new sources of revenue from more freelance writing and/or advertising.

That being said, my first new blog is called Press Start and focuses on video games. Specifically, I'm covering remakes of the old classics and the new releases of the old classics on the current consoles' download services, with some thoughts on the new stuff thrown in as well. I feel that there is still sufficient interest in the older games, but they get the short shrift from the more popular video gaming websites. For example, IGN and Gamespot miss many potential reviews of the Wii's Virtual Console, PS3 and Xbox Live Arcade releases. (Gamespot went months without reviewing a single VC release on the Wii.)

So please visit my new blog and feel free to give your input.

The second new blog is coming soon and will probably be of even more interest to the general population...

Site of the Week

Now occasionally as a blog owner you get queries from people asking if you'll review their site. More times than not these sites aren't worth reading, but I've recently been looking at a site I feel is worth your time. The site is called Poker Intensity and features a variable cornucopia of info on online poker. What struck me first about the site is that it doesn't shill for scum like Absolute Poker; in fact, the owners of the site recommend that you DO NOT play there. There is event a black list of sites to avoid. Instead, you get honest reviews of other preferred sites like PokerStars, where I plan to win a WCOOP tournament in the next couple of months.

Poker Intensity also features some recent and relevant poker news articles (hey, maybe I can write for them), online deposit methods, guides for new players and perhaps the coolest feature is a poker odds calculator that lets you input the odds of winning hands from hold'em to Omaha hi-lo to razz.

If you get bored of poker, the site also has a sister link to a horse betting site if that's your thing. That site also has info on sportsbooks and bingo. Gamble it up.

Overall, I recommend checking out the site. You can probably find something on there to interest you.

Life after Vegas

I've been on blogger vacation the last week. Posting has been a very low priority since my return from Vegas as I've been trying to catch up on other things. The first thing I did on my first morning back was mow my jungle. Nearly four weeks without cutting your yard in an Alabama summer tends to yield high grass. Where I come from we call it hay.

I still have plenty of yardwork to do, but it's been reaching triple digits on the thermostat around here and that's pretty brutal in the land of high humidity. So I've been cleaning up the house and such, and spending time with Amy.

I didn't have a profitable trip to Vegas from the poker playing standpoint, but I hope some of the networking I did will lead to more freelance writing opportunities. That remains to be seen as the weeks pass. Meanwhile, I am on the job hunt and there are a couple of good ones at UA I wouldn't mind getting. If that happens I've probably made my last lengthy World Series of Poker trip, but that's alright. I now suffer from burnout.

I'm gearing up for FTOPS and WCOOP now. A nice score in one of the events in those series would do wonders for my bankroll and state of mind. My initial $39 investment in my first WCOOP satellite has now yielded $725 in W dollars in less than a week so maybe I can keep that going. I've got some WSOP wrapup thoughts I never posted on any of the sites I have been blogging for so maybe I'll get to that soon.

The end is near

and I am ready to come home. I don't even remember what I last posted on here between the writing I do for my own blog, Pokerati and Full Tilt Poker. Most of the substantive stuff is on the other two sites.

I'm playing in a blackjack tournament at the Golden Nugget. It's a $100 buy-in with a $50,000 prize pool -- half to first. Here's the thing. Even though I've played few casino blackjack tournaments in my life I wrote many blackjack tournament strategy columns for Wise Hand Poker in a contract the site had with Get21.com, an upstart BJ tourney site (not even sure if it's still around, to be honest, as the supposed BJ tourney fad that the UBT was supposed to ignite didn't happen). So I had to study the game. I read all of Ken Smith's columns on his website. I read Ken Einiger's book. I got pretty knowledgable about BJ tournaments, but never really put that info into practice. So today I did and got past the first round. Too bad there's still three rounds to go to win. But, hey, you never know. At least if I bust out I will have spent a total of one to two hours at the table, whereas I've spent more than a solid work week at the tournament poker tables with only red ink to show for it.

A young kid was aggressive early and moved out to a big lead, but he kept betting big and eventually came back to the field. Meanwhile, I got lucky when I put out the occasional big bet and it became a close race. Only one would advance to the next round. The key hand was when I was dealt an 8 and he got a hard 12 with the dealer showing an 8. We were close in chips and he had out a 2,000 bet (the max) and I had 800. I decided to double down to get my wager close to his and hit a face card for an 18. The kid hit and got a 4 and wisely decided to stay with his 16. To my luck the dealer turned over a 4 and hit a 5 for 17, giving me a winning hand and the kid a loser.

Headed over to the Bellagio now to play a quick couple hours of poker before packing it in. Have to play the second round of the BJ tourney at 9:45 in the morning.

Recent updates via FTP posts

The latest update is that Iggy is now out. He lost a coin flip in the first level when he pushed in with A-J and was called by Jeremiah Smith and his nines. Iggy finished something like 405th for $28K. Not bad, sir, not bad at all...

Here's what I've been sending the last few days to Full Tilt Poker for the Blogger from the Rail posts:

Greetings from the World Series. I’ve been here for more than two weeks now, but am just now officially posting as the Blogger from the Rail. (Doesn’t it sound like a title of such importance?) If any of you reading this have never been to the WSOP or even Las Vegas, you need to plan a trip. If you love poker you have to come experience it.

This is actually my fifth year at poker’s grandest event. The first time, in 2004, the tournament was still held at Binion’s Horseshoe. It’s really hard to think of the size of the WSOP then with the size of it now. Today, for Day 2B of the main event they’ve got players spread all over the Rio, from the main play area of the Amazon ballroom to the Rio poker room, which is a good third of a mile away. I hear it’s in the neighborhood of 2,700 players playing today. Insane. I remember in 2004 when they were trying to find space for the nearly 2,600 players at Binion’s. Here in 2006, before the UIGEA was passed, there were nearly 9,000 runners. There were still nearly 7,000 this year. I think this poker fad has legs.

Let me share a quick history of my WSOP play. During that first trip in 2004, I took a shot at an event. It was the $1,000 with rebuys and I was attempting it on one buy in (Dumb move, I know. But as a novice what did I know?) At my table at various times were players with names like Vahedi, Tomko, Plastik, Longson, Rodman, Shoten and this guy they call Hellmuth. You may not be surprised to learn I didn’t fare so well.

I played one $1,500 NLHE event in 2005 with no luck and another in 2006 with similar fortunes. I won a main event seat in 2006 through another online poker site and was a card rack on Day 1, catching aces five times and flopping quad deuces against Patrik Antonius. I managed to take half his stack in another hand in which I turned a set of nines. My good fortune continued until I ran kings into aces shortly after making the money in Day 3. The 770th finish was good enough for $16,500.

Last year I played no WSOP events, but thanks to Full Tilt Poker and its Battle of the Bloggers Tournaments I was able to play the $1,500 HORSE event. I sat with Mike Matusow, himself a FTP pro. As seems to be usual in the $1,500 events I play here I didn’t last long. In fact, Matusow and another player busted me in the third level during Stud/8 when I missed both my low and flush draws.

I’ve used my Vegas bankroll I earned through the blogger tournaments to play other tournaments around town, but haven’t had much luck. I finally cashed last night in a $340 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza event, but only got $740 for the effort.

I’ll be bringing you more from the Rio in the coming days. Thanks for your patronage.



I have to admit I have watched the main event the last two years with great envy. After taking part in 2006 and experiencing the highs and lows of playing in poker’s biggest tournament, I am jealous every year I have to watch and not participate.

I felt a little thrill in railing Iggy, one of our most famous poker bloggers. He has been called the “Blogfather” because he was one of the first and best. This year, he won his first main event seat and I could sense the joy he had in getting to play the thing. It was like when a little kid opens his presents on Christmas. I remember that feeling. Well, then I asked him how it felt to play in it on Day 2 and he looked uninterested. “It beats work,” he said as he continued to fold his rag hands.

Players were eliminated briskly on Day 2. More than 63 percent of the field survived Day 1, but many hit the door quickly as the blinds and antes grew. At the end of the day less than 1,300 survived and prop bets were made among poker writers on whether or not enough players will be eliminated on Day 3 to reach the money line of 666.

By the end of the day you could sense palpable excitement in Iggy as he held nearly 87,000 chips (close to the average) entering Thursday’s Day 3 play. As we walked from the Rio to the Palms in search of beer he threatened to let out a primordial scream. Finally, as the afternoon had grown long he caught some hands.

Day 3 is the most treacherous day of the Series. It provides great disappointment for half the remaining field and great joy for most of the rest who survive into the cash. After all, $20,000+ is big money for most people, especially since many of them got into the main event for much less than $10,000.

I personally have a rooting interest in a few people today. There is Iggy, of course. There’s also Stephen L. from Toronto, a guy I met in Reno a couple of years ago and have been friends with since. And there’s Hoyt Corkins, my fellow Alabamian who I’ve gotten to know over the last few years, especially since I’ve been working with Rounder magazine where we feature a monthly Q & A segment with him. Hoyt and I are supposed to go hiking on Mt. Charleston when he busts out of the main event, but honestly I hope the trip can wait until next year. I’d be just as happy to see him make the final table.



Hand for hand play lasted an eternity Thursday at the Rio. I’m sure it seemed that way for the short-stacked participants, at least. The most amazing story was that of Argentinean Fernando Gordo, or more accurately his stack. Gordo did not show up Thursday to play his 140,000 stack and was blinded off as the day progressed. When the money bubble burst his stack was still alive, but down to 1,500. That stack earned him $21,230.

The three guys I was tracking had mixed results. My Toronto pal Stephen Ladowsky nursed a short stack most of the day and finally went out around 480th when he pushed with A-Q and ran into aces. Iggy managed to maintain and build his stack with some blind steals and re-steals and finished Day 3 with 177,000. Hoyt Corkins fared even better, using his aggressive style to build his stack up to nearly 480,000. It was funny watching him pace the aisles before play began this afternoon. Hoyt seemed more nervous today than he did before the final table of the World Poker Open in Tunica in January. (He finished second there.) I guess that shows you the importance of the World Series of Poker to people.

Iggy seemed very relaxed and drew fellow poker writer Jeremiah Smith two seats to his right. I talked with Jeremiah (who enters the day second in chip count with about $1.3 million) quite a bit last year so it’s good to see the former PokerWire reporter doing so well in this event. Plus, Jeremiah was dressed in Full Tilt Poker gear so of course we love him here on Poker From the Rail.

Phil Hellmuth and Jean Robert-Bellande are at the ESPN featured table today. There’s a dynamic duo for you that should make for good television.

I probably won’t stick around the Rio long here on Day 4 because if I want to make my fortune before I leave Vegas I need to try to satellite into the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza main event on Sunday. Maybe if I can win a mint it will give me a good bankroll for the upcoming FTOPS events.

Vegas trip photo dump

Here's much of the trip so far in pictures...







My Golden Gate box...er, room





The view out of the window






George Clooney stills my woman away at the wax museum





She plays piano like no other. Eat your heart out Liberace.






A wax figure of Ben Affleck playing poker seems a bit dated.






Why is she giving Bush the thumbs-up?
EDIT: Amy tells me she is not giving the thumbs-up, but is instead pointing (presumbly in a politician style).








I give him the thumbs-down.






Maybe a Faberge egg...after my first $10 million







The Imperial Palace has a fantastic car museum....and nearly all of them are for sale.

A cash...finally

The most recent news first: I cashed in a real live Vegas tournament! After my constant struggles I finally made the money, but I will not need any wheelbarrows to haul it home. I finished 22nd out of 513 in the Venetian DSE $340 NLHE event Tuesday, earning $740 or about a $400 profit. I won one key flip late when I raised with 10-10 from the button and the BB shoved. I pondered and called and he flipped over K-J. Thankfully, the only paint on the board was a Q. I lost another key coin flip with 9-9 vs. A-K that would have put me in a great position for a run at the final table. I lucked up with four tables remaining to beat A-Q with my A-2 when I rivered a duece. When we got down to three tables I may have overplayed 5-5 by raising all in after a limp (from a guy who I knew would fold his limp, one of those old, nitty players). Here's the thing: I had like 120K and the blinds were 6K and 12K with a 3K ante. So there was 45K in the flop preflop, plus 12K more from this guy. It would seem that shoves were a good idea. But here I ran into J-J. I flopped a 5, but the case jack came on the turn (someone said they folded the other one). That crippled me and I was gone within five minutes.

I've been railing Iggy today a bit in the main event. He's got about 50K after starting the day with 37K. He has Joe Bartholdi and David Singer at his table...tough break there...

Amy and I had a wonderful four days together. The GN room was nice. We went to see Penn & Teller, Madame Tussauds, Red Rock Canyon and other touristy stuff she hadn't seen before. We had to go to that coffeeshop in New York New York to get one of those exquisite desserts for her birthday.

No cigars

This has been a trip about coming close with nothing to show for it. The tournament tally so far:

Golden Nugget Grand Series Omaha Hi/Lo -- 21st of 162

Caesars Mega Stack NLHE -- 120ish of 560

Golden Nugget Grand Series HORSE -- 39th of 143

Of course, there was also the $1,500 WSOP HORSE in which I busted out in the third level...maybe I should have played the Limit Shootout instead or the NL donkament. Regardless, I have no cashes in any tournaments. I managed to chop a couple of satellites, but that's about it.

So to heck with playing poker. I have been focused today on writing about it.

I get one more main event shot in about an hour when I play the 6 p.m. mega satellite. An unidentified person is putting me in for a 50/50 split of any main event winnings.

Amy arrives tomorrow night so I am very excited about that. I miss my wife terribly.

The radio show went well. I think. I know that our owner Hank was happy with it. I believe you are supposed to be able to listen to it in archived fashion on http://www.holdemradio.com/, but I couldn't find the show on there. You can subscribe to the shows on iTunes, but they haven't updated the podcasts in more than a month. When I know how to listen to the show I will post it here.

Last night I watched the craziness at Phil Ivey's charity tournament at the Golden Nugget. Go to http://www.pokerati.com/ to read about the foolish behavior, as well as about this drunk fellow...

Hoyt and I talked briefly on the phone today. Sometime after he busts out of the main event we're going hiking up on Mt. Charleston. All I have are sneakers, but I'll give it a go.

That's the short report. Look forward to meeting Lucko and Riggstad and seeing Al Can't Hang and Iggy again. All are arriving in the next couple of days. Looking more forward to seeing my love...

Get here soon my Angelina!

HORSE update

Played the $1,500 HORSE yesterday. Report is on pokerati.com.

Doing a guest spot on Susie Issac's radio show today for Rounder magazine. Not sure where one can listen, but I will find out if it's archived.

No luck in Sin City

Quick update:

Finally got my media pass

Should just write for rest of Series

Because I can't win at poker

(Was that a haiku? Probably way to many syllables..)

Totals: Satellites -- 0 for 4, Tournaments --0 for 3 (11.5 hours Tuesday and 10 hours Thursday at Caesars with no cash to show)

I may not even play the HORSE tomorrow unless I do well in satellites tonight because it would put such a huge dent in my Vegas bankroll. I have to make it last for three weeks since I'm not going to walk around this town broke.

The luck will turn around. I know it.

Quick Vegas update

All sorts of snafus so far here in Vegas. I still don't have my media credential because I think there were some errors in the application process through Rounder. So I am doing my report from the lovely Fitzgerald's Krispy Kreme...

Finally found Ted yesterday so I will be moving in with him Friday. I called Binion's on Monday in between flights and they said he wasn't even checked in. I don't know why because when I bumped into him the other day he said he had been there. I stayed in my pal Stephen L's extra bed at the Rio on Monday and Tuesday and then used a 2 for 1 at the Golden Gate out of curiosity on the oldest casino in town's rooms. Oh my, they are tiny. We are talking rat in a cage small here. I have pictures, but haven't had a chance to load them on my laptop.

No luck poker wise so far. Played the $240 Omaha Hi-Lo at the Golden Nuggest Grand series Wednesday and finished 21st out of 162. Top 18 got paid. Played 11 and a half hours! Talk about a slow structure. 0 for 4 in WSOP satellites so far. Several close calls. Down about $800 on the trip through four days, but hopefully I can work my usual Vegas magic and turn it around.

Bowled with about a dozen bloggers Tuesday night at the Gold Coast after beers at the bar in celebration of Change 100's birthday. Owned Jason Kirk in a $20 prop bet, 136-134.

Taking it easy tonight, heading over to Binion's to play the 8 p.m. tourney. Maybe it won't be a week until my next post...

Words of Wisdom for Vegas Virgins

As I prepare to depart for Vegas this evening, I feel like an old hand when it comes to Vegas and the WSOP. I mean I first attended the World Series of Poker in 2004 when it was still at the Horseshoe, for goodness sake! I still remember the dry erase board they used to keep up with main event entries as they grew each day, the satellite area downstairs and the main tournament action in Benny's Bullpen.

It's hard to wrap my mind around the WSOP then versus the WSOP now. That year I spent a week in Vegas with my friend Brian. We were some broke SOBs who played more poker in the nightly Sahara tournaments than we did at the Horseshoe. I tried my hand at the $1,000 NLHE w/ rebuys at the WSOP (go back and look at my second post on this blog for that recap) and Brian won a seat into a supersatellite, but neither of us had any luck after that.

Then in 2005, I started my poker adventure after leaving the J-O-B, with nearly a month to bum around Sin City. Although it was by then my fourth trip to Vegas, that was the first time I really got to learn about the city other than the standard tourist destinations. I'll admit it was a little bit scary being alone for a month in a (for the most part) unfamiliar town. By now I'd say I know much of Vegas like the back of my hand. You know, the imporant things like the location of every In 'n Out Burger and the shortcut down Industrial from the Rio to Downtown.

As I believe there are quite a few bloggers making the trek out there this year for either their first trip to Vegas or their first trip to the WSOP, I will impart on these pages some of my accumulated knowledge on the subject...


Don't blow your wad

Don't get any dirty thoughts. This advice has nothing to do with strippers or hookers, but it has everything to do with the wad of money tucked into your jeans' pocket. I've heard first, second and third hand accounts of players with truckloads of online or local game wins taking a hefty percentage of their bankrolls to Vegas and blowing through it in a hurry. The WSOP is an expensive proposition. You could theoretically spend more than a quarter million buying into events in six weeks. Before you go, take stock of how much you are willing to risk on your trip. If you take $10K and plan to be there for three weeks, don't blow through $5K in the first four days. Don't put too much at risk early in your trip or you'll be eating 99-cent shrimp cocktails every night for dinner by the last week of your jaunt. A trick I tried on my first trip to Vegas (before I even played much poker) was to take envelopes for each day of the trip. I split the money I was taking to play with evenly among the envelopes, one for each day. At the end of the day I put any money still in my pocket into fresh envelopes not to be touched until I got home. If you stay disciplined this will guarantee you take money back home with you.


Stop and smell the roses

Vegas is a fun town, even if you don't like to gamble or play poker. I've had several friends go there and not gambled a nickel. They just go to enjoy the sights. If you've never been to Vegas, or even if you have, don't grind away at the tables every hour of every day. Go see a show, watch the Bellagio fountains, hike at Red Rock Canyon, see Hoover Dam...do anything but play poker for at least part of every day. I've compiled a mental list of some of the things I've never done before that I want to try this year...from going to an Area 51's minor league baseball game to just driving around the UNLV campus.


Don't forget the satellites

Although the satellites at the WSOP play like turbos I can't stress this enough -- play them! Satellite play at the Rio has traditionally been very soft. One caveat I must add is that you must be a good negotiator. Few satellite are played until the end. Usually they are chopped two or three ways. Fight for the best deal you can get if you make it to the end game. The Venetian also runs good satellites for those coveted octagonal buy-in chips into the DSE. Try some of those, as well.

WSOP Satellites for Profit

Most people enter World Series of Poker satellites with the idea of winning a seat in the main event and riding that seat to poker glory. However, another group of WSOP satellite players exists -- those with experience who play the called super satellites (multi table satellites) for profit. There are, as you will discover, many different ways to make money from poker games online.

How Can You Play a WSOP Super Satellite for Profit?

The first time you play in a WSOP satellite for the main event, you will be playing for a seat. If you win the seat, you will probably be required to take it.

Once you have won a seat though, the situation is different. If you win another satellite, you can’t take another seat in the tournament, since it is only permissible to play one seat per tournament. What you will be able to do instead is sell that seat to another prospective player. The more $10,000 seats you win, the more you can sell.

Why Play WSOP Satellites for Profit?

The prize pool distributes more evenly in a super satellite than in a regular tournament. Instead of the bulk of the money going to the first place finisher, everyone who cashes gets a $10,000 seat. Some players can hang on until the money comes and then eliminate the opposition. For those players, the super satellite may present a better option.

What Obstacles Will You Face When Playing WSOP Satellites for Profit?

Once you win your extra seat, you will still have to sell it. However, there is no shortage of interested potential WSOP competitors, so this should not be too much of a problem. In addition, you will still have to finish high in the tournament to qualify for a seat. Remember, most of the players you are competing against haven’t made it into the tournament yet, and are likely to fight you fiercely for the opportunity.

WSOP stats from Harrah's

Here's yesterday's WSOP midpoint press release verbatim:

39th ANNUAL WORLD SERIES OF POKER®
RUNNING STRONG AT HALF-WAY POINT

Through Thirty Tournaments, Records Set, Attendance Strong & Pros Doing Well

LAS VEGAS – June 19, 2008 – It took until just the second event of the 2008 World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee's Best Light to know it was going to be another strong year. A record 3,929 poker enthusiasts put up $1,500 each to compete in the first No Limit Hold'em event and things have continued to build nicely since.

The 3,929 entrants were the most-ever for a non-Main Event field and, through 30 events at the 2008 WSOP, the statistics are on target for another stellar year. Among the numbers, thus far (through 30 events):

24,642 entrants
821 average entrants per event
$59,117,189 in total prize money awarded
$1,970,573 average prize pool per event
$439,545 average first place prize per event

The storylines at the 2008 World Series of Poker are as colorful as ever:

KC's Finest: The Hinkle Brothers, from Kansas City, Missouri became the first-ever set of brothers to win bracelets in the same year. Grant won Event #2 and $831,432, with Blair winning Event #23 and $507,563. The Hinkle's become only the second set of brothers to win bracelets at the WSOP, joining the Pearson's, Puggy (1973) and J.C. (1994).

Is The Tide Turning?: Amateurs have had a lot of success at the World Series of Poker in recent years, including the record six consecutive years the Main Event has been won by an amateur. But this year professional poker players have won 23 of 30 (77%) of the bracelets handed out thus far. One of the best pros never to win a bracelet has shed that label. Erick Lindgren won his first bracelet and currently is tied for the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year standings, while notables Daniel Negreanu, David Singer, Barry Greenstein, Max Pescatori and Mike Matusow have all captured gold during the first half of this WSOP.

The Real "World": The World Series of Poker has seen an astounding influx of international players participating and cashing at the WSOP in recent years. In 2007, a record 87 countries and territories had entrants in the WSOP. This year shows that players cashing in tournaments are consistently from all corners of the globe. Through 30 events, 37 different countries have had an entrant cash. They are: Argentina; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Bolivia; Brazil; Canada; China; Denmark; England; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Germany; Gibraltar; Guatemala; Hungary; Indonesia; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Japan; Lebanon; Lithuania; Mexico; Monaco; Netherlands; Norway; Peru; Romania; Russia; Scotland; Slovakia; Sweden; Switzerland; United States and Venezuela.

Where's Vermont?: Through 30 events, all of the states in United States (and D.C.) have had at least one entrant cash in this year's World Series of Poker – except Vermont.

Sporting an Appearance: Baseball great Orel Hershiser, hockey star Jeremy Roenick, Miami Heat basketball player Earl Barron and Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss have all been seen playing during this year's WSOP.

-- more --
The Name Game: These folks are standing out at this year's WSOP: (through 30 events)

Most events entered this year:
Thomas McCormick (23)
Sirous Jamshidi (22)
Amnon Filippi (21)
Justin Bonomo (21)
Phil Ivey (21)

Most event cashes this year:
Nikolay Evdakov (6)
Rolf Slotboom (5)
Tom Schneider (5)
Kathy Liebert (5)
Alex Jacob (5)
Roland Isra (5)

Highest cash percentage this year:
Kathy Liebert - 62.5% (5 of 8 events entered)
Sarah Bilney - 50% (4 of 8 events entered)
Tom Lee - 50% (3 of 6 events entered)
Peter Debest - 50% (3 of 6 events entered)
Calen McNeil - 50% (3 of 6 events entered)

Most final tables reached this year: 2 (11 players tied)
Chris Bjorin; Andy Bloch; Alex Bolotin; Scott Clements; Jacobo Fernandez; Fu Wong; Minh Ly; Daniel Negreanu; J.C. Tran; Theo Tran

Money leaders at this year's WSOP:
Grant Hinkle - $831,462 (1 cash)
Phil Galfond - $817,781 (1 cash)
Nenad Medic - $810,608 (2 cashes)
Scott Seiver - 781,866 (3 cashes)
Duncan Bell - $666,697 (1 cash)

Tracking the Big Three: Phil Hellmuth, 11 bracelets, and Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson with 10 each have been busy trying to add to their lofty totals. Here are their results, thus far, at the 39th annual WSOP:
Hellmuth: Events entered: 15; Events Cashed: 2; Total Money Won: $106,896
Brunson: Events entered: 7; Events Cashed: 1; Total Money Won: $16,243
Chan: Events entered: 9; Events Cashed: 2; Total Money Won: $273,946

6 Days to Vegas

I have become a prize whore. In case you haven't heard, I was picked as the winner of the BBT writing contest. I'm not sure which I'm more proud of -- the monthly leaderboard wins or the writing contest. The leaderboards required months of marriage bending dedication, while I whipped out the writing contest posts in three or four hours, but I do write for a living.

Regardless, I am very happy to win this prize since it saves me a good $500 on airfare and a few hundred I would have spent on a hotel room if I had stayed until the end of the WSOP. (Now, I imagine that FTP will put me up in a room a wee bit nicer than Binion's for July 9-16, though I don't know which one yet.)

I anticipate the work will be similar to what I did for Party Poker at Pokerblog.com (still running over there thanks to Tim Lavali, aka "The Poker Shrink") in 2006, with about a post a day of whatever interesting things I see. The pay is the same too at $1,000 a week (or for a week in this case). I will also be writing for Dan Michalski at Pokerati.com during the Series, but Dan is a slavedriver. Just kidding. Dan has been a big help to me for finding writing work during the WSOP so I am happy to pay him back by working with him this year.

The FTP blog is called "Poker From the Rail", but I still hope to blog for them from the main event felt. That will require some satellite mastery on my part to get into the big one. I'll play a mega or two if I get a nice tournament score early in my trip or have a few extra WSOP satellite chips in my pocket later in the trip.

This really will probably be my last hurrah in Vegas, as in lengthy trip for the WSOP, at least for awhile. When I get back from Vegas I will be hitting the job trail, and would probably continue to do poker writing work on the side. But for the next month I'll be enjoying the fruits of my poker labor.

TOC aftermath

I can't say that 7 on the turn was a real punch to the gut, but yeah, it sucked.

Here's the set-up for those uninformed (though it has been written about on several other blogs already). We were down to the final 13 and I had about 9K. I opened in MP for 1,100 with blinds at 200-400 with Q-Q. Loretta8 in the BB re-shoved all in for about 7K and I called. Loretta showed 7-7 and the last 7 in the deck (as someone said they folded a 7) came out and I was crippled and soon eliminated in 13th.

I don't fault Loretta for the play, especially with so many TOCers playing scared. A re-shove will take a lot of pots. Had I won the pot I would have been 4th in chips out of 12 runners and who knows from there. Congrats to Loretta for taking down one of the $10K seats. My results in the TOC kind of validate my argument for the points race being the deciding factor for the "big" prize. But you can also argue that the winner of the main event is going to be whoever is luckiest so why not give the seat to whoever is luckiest in the TOC? I can see both sides of that.

There's so much short-term luck in this game. You just keep pushing edges over the years and you will come out ahead, it's just a matter of how much based on your success in a few crucial spots. If you're as lucky as Jamie Gold you are $12 million ahead. If you're as lucky as me you might be $100K ahead.

The reason the beat in the TOC was not a punch in the gut was thanks to my past success in the tournaments. Two $2K prizes for the March and May leaderboards and $750 for the overall leaderboard gives me $4,750 for the Vegas bankroll, which will include a $1,500 shot at the WSOP in HORSE (possibly NLHE if I change my mind) and another $1,500 to $2,000 in other tournaments around town (and some WSOP satellites for perhaps another $1,500 shot). So the TOC did feel like a true freeroll. I have been fortunate so I can't complain too much about the one outer.

Two weeks and counting until I depart...and this could be my last lengthy trip to Vegas for awhile if I go job hunting when I go back...more on that at a later date...

So, come one kids, I need comment replies and emails. Let's get the ball rolling on some late June/early July blogger gathering(s). Lucko is coming July 2. I saw that Loretta plans to play the ME for sure. Waffles is waffling on coming out I think. BWOP is going. What are travel plans and suggestions for meeting times/places/events?

Man tries to play WSOP ladies event

BARGE participant Alan Jaffrey attempted to play the ladies event in drag. Here's what he wrote about it:


I showed up at 11:30, met Patti, Sabyl, and a couple of friends at the coffee shop, borrowed Patti's hat, had them adjust my necklace andapply makeup, posed for photos with supportive and enthusiastic ladies at a couple of nearby tables who were also playing that afternoon, walked to the Amazon room, and promptly got pulled aside and kicked out by Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the World Series of Poker. I'm honestly surprised by this - as I told Jeff, I've never heard of anyone being denied entry to a poker tournament, including ladies events, on the basis of sex. He claims that "in the 31-year history ofthe World Series of Poker ladies event, no man has ever played."

I asked if he was not concerned about the sex discrimination aspects ofthis decision. "Not at all. Men are not a protected class." He talked about how they treat this event very seriously - "as do I, sir" - and about the importance of protecting "the integrity of the game." (Thought but not said: "Sir, judging from recent decisions byHarrah's, I have far more concern about the integrity of the game thanyou do!) He asked if I could understand his point of view. "I don't accept it, and I don't believe it's right. But you're the boss, and if you say I can't play, then I can't play." I'm disappointed and annoyed that I can't play, since I expected tohave more fun in this event than perhaps any other in the WSOP, and I'd really love to win the bracelet. C'est la vie.

I don't know whether or not they have the legal right to discriminate in this way, but I'm not going to make a big fuss. I don't care enough to fight it, and I have too much to lose to risk Harrah's blacklisting me and preventing me from playing future WSOP events. Maybe I'll have better luck in the WSOP Negro World Championship. Oh, wait, they don't have that. They wouldn't even dream of running that. Hmmmmm. At least I got a nice outfit out of the experience. Photos later.


Nolan Dalla chipped in his always well-thought out reasoning:


While I understand the spirit which motivated Alan to play in the Ladies Poker World Championship, I disagree strongly with his assumptions and conclusions. The WSOP feared that many men might "storm the castle" in this event. There were even fears that Phil Ivey might come in drag and crash the tournament (Note: He has a $2 million side bet that he will win a gold bracelet this year and has vowed to play in as many events as possible). No man (to my knowledge) has ever played in the Ladies event. Allowing a male to play in this event potentially opens up the floodgates which, in my view, would destroy the concept of a LADIES World Poker Championship.

Here's the scenario: One man plays this year. Twenty play next year (citing precedent was already established). Then, in 2010 a few hundred show up. Four years later, the Ladies event is no more. Argue all you want about equality of the sexes and the absurdity of offering special events for women, but the bottom line is:

(1) These events are immensely popular. Women enjoy them. So long as HET remains in business to profit, they are serving a market demand.

(2) This event brings many new players to the game. This point is irrefutable. I work 6-8 of these events a year and they are packed with new faces. After they bust, they gravitate to live games and other tournaments. This tournament is a terrific feeder for the entire WSOP.

(3) Finally, this tournament has been around for 31 years and meets the WSOP's goal of trying to diversify its games and composition to the greatest extent possible.

Alan is justified in being disappointed he could not play. On a personal note, I think most ladies would have welcomed him in the tournament. But the key point is -- he could have been the lynch-pin that ultimately destroys the Ladies World Poker Championship and for that reason I am in complete support of Harrah's decision.