Files Found! Poker Audio from 2004-2006

We still have this desktop PC in use that is probably more than a decade old now. We use it for a few household-related tasks, among them printing documents with the even older printer attached to it (although that is rarely needed in this mostly paperless world). It’s not even online, which in truth has probably helped add to its longevity, being isolated as it is from the scary virus-filled outside world.

As you might imagine, there are some old, old files on there, including some old audio files of poker podcasts from back when podcasts first became a thing. I’ve written about those before here, including recently. In fact it was just in December of last year I shared a screenshot of all the folders on the drive containing those old shows.

I guess I’ve got a little bit of hoarder in me, having continued to keep all those files. The only reason I downloaded them in the first place was because that was typically the method of listening to them then. We weren’t listening to podcasts on our phones quite yet, and so a lot of the time I’d download the show and listen on my computer while playing online.

Anyhow, for a long time I’ve been going back to those directories and to other places on that old PC to look for something else -- something I knew I had downloaded once upon a time, but could never quite put my finger on where it could be.

In 2005, CardPlayer sponsored live audio commentary for that year’s World Series of Poker Main Event final table. I remember listening all night and into the morning, with the sun having risen here on the east coast by the time Joe Hachem finally ousted Steve Dannenmann in a short heads-up battle to win. Shortly after that CardPlayer posted the .mp3s on their site -- one per week, I think -- eventually posting eight files which totaled something like 13.5 hours’ worth of audio. It wasn’t long after that the files were no longer available.

I was positive I had downloaded those files, and I thought I must have them somewhere but just couldn’t figure out where. Finally -- kind of randomly -- I looked in an old external drive last week and there they were, along with some other old poker-related goodies.

Among the other files there were what I believe might even be the entire run of Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio shows (from 2004-2006), a number of Ante Up! episodes from their first couple of years (2005-2006), some episodes of CardPlayer’s The Circuit from early 2006, Phil Gordon’s 2005 WSOP podcasts plus some Poker Edge shows, the old Poker Diagram podcast (anyone remember that one?), and several episodes of Rounders the Poker Show (forerunner to the 2+2 Pokercast) from the summer of 2006.

I think the latter collection of Rounders shows might include the Jamie Gold interview he gave just a couple of days after winning the 2006 WSOP -- the one I believe was later admitted into court as part of Crispin Leyser’s lawsuit against him that was eventually settled out of court in 2007. (I hope so, anyway.)

I grabbed the 2005 WSOP shows, got ‘em loaded on the iPod, and listened to the first 20 minutes today. Phil Hellmuth and Jeff Shulman are hosting, and already within that short introductory section had on Gary Thompson and Howard Greenbaum of Harrah’s, Mike Matusow (who was at that final table and destined to go out in ninth), Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (then, and still), and Oklahoma Johnny Hale.

I remember lots of other guests coming and going throughout the marathon, including Puggy Pearson who would pass away the following spring. I found myself wanting to jot down some notes as I listened, thinking perhaps I’ll share some highlights here once I get through it all.

What a time that was, and it’s hard to believe it’s now over a decade ago. A time when I couldn’t get enough poker -- I’d listen, watch, or read anything. You too, probably.

Tuning In: A Few Recent Poker Podcasts

Was doing some work in the barn today and listened to a few poker podcasts while I did.

I first went back about a month to hear Bill Chen’s segment on Episode 371 of the Two Plus Two Pokercast. Chen’s always an interesting one to listen to -- very relatable for me, not because of the depth of his analytical thinking, but for the place of poker in his life as something very important but not all-consuming.

Then I checked out the latest PokerNews podcast -- Episode 326 -- which started with some discussion from Donnie and Rich about the recently completed PokerStars Pro Tour in California and then featured a enjoyable conversation with WSOP National Championship winner Loni Harwood. All interesting and fun and a good quick catch-up on recent events in poker.

Finally I dialed up a podcast I hadn’t tuned into for a while -- Ante Up! -- which just last month made it a full decade’s worth of podcasting. I used to listen to these guys -- Chris Cosenza and Scott Long -- constantly back when they first started out and wrote about their shows here fairly frequently, too. Tuning in again, I had to grin at how much the show had remained the same with the familiar mix of personal anecdotes about their own play, a run-through of news items, and some strategy talk.

They aren’t numbering their shows, but 10-plus years’ worth of weekly podcasts must add up to well over 500 by this point. Kind of brings to mind the story of this blog (into its 10th year now) which I know by this point readers sometimes drift away from and then return occasionally, perhaps surprised to see things still chugging along as usual.

The episode I grabbed was from a couple of weeks back, the one in which they discussed Matt Savage’s recent Facebook poll and discussion inviting players to weigh in about what they thought constituted an excellent tournament structure -- the 7/30/15 episode.

If you didn’t follow that whole discussion from Savage, the Ante Up! show is a good way to catch up with its particulars. (Indeed, as one of the few not on Facebook, I’ll admit I didn’t quite follow the entire structure discussion.) They get into it about the 12-minute mark and the discussion lasts about 15 minutes.

By the way, according to those responding to Savage’s poll, the most-important to least-important factors when it comes to creating an excellent structure were determined to be (1) time; (2) levels; (3) player ability; and (4) chips, or starting stack.

Savage agreed that of these four, the number of chips in the starting stack should be considered the least important -- since the length of levels and schedule of blinds/antes increases can obviously make a “deep” stack less deep, relatively speaking. Meanwhile, Savage agreed with the importance of having well measured levels (e.g., not skipping steps along the way), and that the length of levels does in fact have a lot to do with how great and/or appropriate a structure is.

Gonna have to get Ante Up! back into the regular rotation here. Have always enjoyed the way Chris and Scott approach all things poker, representing as they do the perspective of the great majority of us -- i.e., non-pros who greatly enjoy playing the game and following the stories surrounding it (including the stories involving those who are pros).

2012 WSOP, Day 33: Cruising Along

For me Day 33 of the 2012 World Series of Poker began a lot like the previous ten days with me rising early, doing some scribbling, then heading over to the Rio for another lengthy stay. Have worked seven of the last eight days, and am looking at another four days on before my next day of rest arrives.

Later in the morning I met up with my buddies Chris Cosenza and Scott Long of Ante Up (the magazine and podcast). I’ve met each of those guys more than once before at previous WSOPs, but I think this was the first time we were able to sit down for more than a few minutes to chat.

Long time readers know that when I first started writing the blog I would often talk about poker podcasts to which I was listening, with the weekly Ante Up show being one of only a few regular ones to discuss.

Since those early days, Chris and Scott launched a monthly magazine to go along with the podcast, and if you visit their website you’ll discover they have a lot more going on, too, including frequently hosting Ante Up cruises where folks can play poker and visit various destinations.

Speaking of the Ante Up cruises, I told them how yesterday I was helping cover the final table of Event No. 47, the $1,500 PLO8 event, and Scott mentioned how one of the players, Steven Loube (last name rhymes with “robe”), had been on a few with his wife. Loube was second in chips to start the day, having enjoyed a serious rush near the end of Day 2 to catapult to the top of the counts.

As it happened, Loube would win the event yesterday, a turn of events I think even he would admit was a bit improbable. After all, as he let us know during the course of the day, this was his first ever WSOP event! He also mentioned how the most he’d ever won before in a poker tournament was a $50 gift certificate (“good for food, but not for liquor”).

Loube mostly sat tight during the early going as the short stacks fell. He did get involved in a big three-way hand at one point in which he made a big fold on the flop in what was really a tricky spot. As it happened, if he’d stayed in he would have won the hand and a lot of chips, but it probably was prudent not to have taken the risk at that point.

Loube also had a hand in which he made a somewhat serious blunder, calling a big bet on the river thinking he had a flush when in fact he did not (he had misread the board). His reaction was great, though -- suitably self-effacing, maybe a little embarrassed, but you could tell it probably wasn’t going to send him spiraling into tilt mode.

There was other evidence along the way that Loube was the least experienced at the table, especially once it got to four-handed (which lasted an especially long time, about five hours). He more than once noted how tired he was, suggesting he’d never played so much poker in three days before. He had Advil with him, too, and I believe popped a couple along the way to help ease the pain caused by having to concentrate so long and so intensely.

If I were to have bet on who would win with four left, I would’ve picked either of the other three players -- Timothy Finne, Roch Cousineau, or Cam McKinley -- over Loube. But the amateur hung in there, and once McKinley was eliminated and the blinds jumped up, the gambling began in earnest.

Three-handed didn’t last very long, not enough time for your humble scribbler to toss out a line about Loube being caught between a “Roch” and a hard place (as he most definitely was). Cousineau was soon ousted, and it was down to just Loube and Finne.

I wasn’t pulling for anyone in particular as I watched -- I really never do with these things -- and in fact like Finne a lot both as a player (this was his fifth WSOP final table) and a personality (lots of grinning, humorous and friendly comments). But it was kind of cool to witness the excitement of Loube and his supporters after he’d won.

The 34-year-old personal injury attorney was pretty humble about it all afterwards, too. When one of his buddies said something about him playing all of the rest of the events now, he immediately shook his head. “No way, this is way too tough,” he said, obviously worn out by the long tourney journey, an adventure as exotic as any cruise or other vacation he has ever taken, I’m sure.

When watching and reporting on these suckers, it is definitely a lot easier to identify with guys like Loube than, say, those high rollers at the final table of Event No. 45, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship won by Michael Mizrachi yesterday. Just easier to relate to someone for whom the money is that much more meaningful, and the experience perhaps that much more special, too.

I like that picture Joe Giron took yesterday (see left) of Loube under the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign that hangs above the stage in the Pavilion room, one of many cool ones Joe snapped. Kind of underscored the excitement of the day for Loube, as does that kind of anxious-seeming smile on his face.

I can relate to that fatigue Loube felt yesterday, too. “Every time I meet you, you always seem exhausted,” said Chris to me yesterday morning early on during our visit. Indeed, we’ve only ever met at the WSOP -- when I am in the middle of working these lengthy, uninterrupted stretches -- and so I understood what he was saying. It is a long, long journey.

Today it continues for me with Event No. 51, the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship, which I’ll be covering from start-to-finish. Am looking forward to doing so. Two years ago I helped cover the second and third days of this event. I was not on it last year when once again more men played and one even made the final table.

I’m curious to experience the first-day vibe of this tourney, and perhaps enjoy some more of that feeling of poker being special and fun. Kind of thing keeps you cruising along, you know? Even if you’re a little tired, and the waters a little rough.

Ante Up Magazine Announces 2012 Ante Awards

The guys at Ante Up magazine are marking their seventh anniversary of covering poker soon. June 15 will mark the occasion. Once again I’m shaking my head to discover another reminder I’ve been doing this here poker thing for a long time.

Long time readers here remember I used to write about the Ante Up podcast fairly frequently back in the day. Along with Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio and Rounders, the Poker Show (later to become the Two Plus Two Pokercast), Ante Up was one of the few poker podcasts around during those early days. And it would often happen that listening to those old shows would inspire various musings here.

Like the Lord Admirals, Scott Long and Chris Cosenza catered their show to the amateur/recreational player. I loved tuning in every week and eventually becoming part of the community of listeners chatting to each other about the show and other poker-related matters on the podcast’s message board, as well as playing online in the Ante Up Intercontinental Poker Series (AIPS).

For the first three years the podcast was run in association with the St. Petersburg Times, then in the summer of 2008 the pair broke out on their own to continue the podcast while also starting a monthly poker magazine. I believe at the outset they kind of narrowed their focus to Florida poker, primarily. However, after nearly four years they’ve expanded their coverage and reach nationally, with the magazine now turning up in card rooms all over the U.S.

I got to meet Scott and Chris at the WSOP a few times over the years, and continue to stay in touch. Not long ago Chris and I exchanged some messages about poker on the television show M*A*S*H after I’d written a “Pop Poker” piece on the topic for Poker Listings. As it happens, Chris had been mentioning M*A*S*H on the show, but as I’d fallen behind on the podcast I’d missed those references.

In association with the upcoming anniversary, Ante Up is conducting a poll -- what they are calling the “2012 Ante Awards” -- in which among the several questions being asked is “What is your favorite poker blog?” The guys have included Hard-Boiled Poker among the possible answers to the question, along with Shaniac’s great blog, the one Daniel Negreanu regularly keeps over at Full Contact Poker, Phil Galfond’s smart blog (which I was writing about just a couple of weeks ago), and the always-worth-reading one kept by our friend Bob, the Poker Grump.

Some pretty decent company, blog-wise. Click here to get to the survey.

Voting requires entering an email address. Having been on the mailing list for Ante Up for a good while now, I imagine this will mean receiving a monthly update from the guys when a new issue of the magazine comes out. You can win some prizes, too, by taking the survey, including various poker gear, a copy of All In: The Poker Movie, or lunch and a poker lesson with Chris Moneymaker.

Even if you don’t take the survey, check out the magazine (which you can read online) and/or the podcast, both of which continue to entertain and inform. Was just checking out the latest few shows, including one not long ago in which the pair talked about the best poker scenes in non-poker movies (5/17/12). Then the last couple of shows saw Scott taking a hiatus, but the always hilarious Mike Fasso stepped in as co-host for one (5/24/12), and friend of the show/magazine (and myself) Lee Childs was on for the other (5/31/12).

Big thanks to the fellas for including HBP in the poll.

2011 WSOP, Day 31: In Which I Lose to Joe Hachem in Chinese Poker

1,400th post here, folks. Damn does the time fly.

Was another full day yesterday at the World Series of Poker. Work-wise, I was helping cover Event No. 51, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/8 event. But it seemed like every moment -- even during the breaks -- was crammed with activity for your humble scribbler.

The days are invariably long here. Or so my watch says. But I’m keeping so busy, they seem to fly by. I sit down, get the laptop fired up, and next thing I know they are announcing it is time to bag up chips.

PLO/8 events are always kind of curious to cover, both because the game is kind of a strange one and because the players who enter it come to it with such wildly varying degrees of expertise. One of those games where it is probably the case that only a small percentage of the players are genuinely well-versed in PLO/8 strategy, yet a high percentage believe they are stronger at the game than everyone else -- and willingly say so, too.

Anyhow, the day went by rather fast as the field rapidly shrunk from a whopping 946 down to just 134.

Along the way I finally met Alex Outhred, a.k.a. @alexpokerguy, who is playing in the event and returns today to an above-average stack. I think I first became aware of Alex in 2007 when he turned up as a contestant on that show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” where I believe he won a big chunk of change. Then in 2008 he made a deep run at the WSOP Main Event, finishing 54th.

I know also that Outhred has spent some time on the poker media side of things, too. If you follow him on Twitter, you know he’s a very sociable, friendly guy with lots of interesting, funny, and provocative things to say. Was fun to follow him in the event yesterday, too.

On the dinner break I ran into the Ante Up! guys, Chris Cosenza and Scott Long, each of whom I’d met separately at previous WSOPs before. Their poker podcast -- one of the first -- continues to run weekly, and their Florida-based magazine, started about three years ago, has recently gone national.

We chatted about a few things, including how I kind of saw something similar in the paths we had all taken, career-wise. Like me, both Chris and Scott had full-time jobs outside of poker (for them, in journalism), then saw their interest in the game take them into a new profession -- taking an avocation, as they say, and making it a vocation.

When the night was over I stopped in briefly at the Gold Coast bowling alley to visit with some of the bloggers as well as Heath Chick and his wife. They are in town for a few days to play a couple of events before taking a trip to New York for what sounds like it will be a fun vacation. Was great catching up with them.

One other memorable moment from yesterday to share. During one of the breaks I was sitting to the side with Ben Ludlow (with whom I was covering Event No. 51) and Harley Stoffmaker (another blogger who was off yesterday), when Harley pulled out a deck of cards and suggested playing some Chinese poker. As he dealt, Joe Hachem -- who was playing in our event -- passed by. “Joe, you want in?” called Harley, and the 2005 WSOP Main Event champ said he did.

We set our hands, the champ took the top and middle while I managed to make the best bottom with kings full. “Pass the sugar,” he said, and then ran around the Pavilion room holding an Australian flag aloft.

Okay, perhaps that isn't quite what happened. But I now have something in common with Steve Dannenmann, although he won $4.25 million for finishing second to Hachem while I won a story.

Incidentally, we were playing with Harley’s Full Tilt Poker deck of cards, and did get a chuckle about having the PokerStars pro play with them. Lot of buzz at the Rio about the Full Tilt Poker shutdown on Wednesday, then the news of FTP being sold to a group of European investors (reported in the Los Angeles Times) which most seem to be taking as signifying U.S. players will finally be getting their funds back. I’m too buried in everything else at the moment to follow the story closely, so it has been primarily just tweets -- and not too many deets -- for me regarding what is happening.

Today it’s back for more PLO/8 for me. The Ladies Event begins today as well, and I may go over there during my breaks to see how Day 1 of that one goes, too.

Looks like another packed day ahead. Should go by quickly -- especially good because tomorrow Vera Valmore will be arriving to visit for a few days.

Gonna try to slow down some while she’s here, though. Don’t want time to fly by too quickly during those days, for sure.

The Not-So-Loose Cannon Folds Aces

Haven’t had the chance to watch as much of PokerStars.net The Big Game as I would’ve liked over the last few weeks.

When I do watch, however, I’m almost always entertained. Definitely one of the better poker shows out there at the moment.

The website for the show is excellent, by the way. All of the episodes are neatly organized with descriptions and ready to watch. There are extensive statistics on there regarding the play of both the pros and the amateurs -- the “Loose Cannons,” as they are called. Plus, you can replay hands in a hand replayer and call up the video for each and every hand. It’s the kind of extensive coverage you’d think the WSOP might want to start pulling together for its Main Event final table (or other events’ final tables, too), enabling all sorts of post-game analysis for us poker junkies.

I did get a chance recently to watch Week 10 of the show’s current season. Was encouraged to check it out after hearing all of the buzz about an unusual scenario that developed during that week’s episodes.

An amateur named David Fishman was the Loose Cannon that week. As the show’s format dictates, he was staked with $100,000 and given an opportunity to play 150 hands of no-limit hold’em against a table full of pros. The blinds ($200/$400) and antes ($100) are significant, forcing a lot of action. Any profit Fishman made was his to keep, and if he happened to make more profit than any of the other Loose Cannons, he’d additionally win a handsome $50K PokerStars NAPT prize package.

Through 96 hands -- that is, through the beginning of episode 4 (of 5) -- Fishman had managed to chip up nearly $20,000 from his starting stack. Then came a huge hand between the amateur and Phil Hellmuth in which Fishman rivered a Broadway straight and somehow got the Poker Brat to pay him off with his two pair. Here’s that hand:



See Fishman shaking there as he waited to see if Hellmuth would make the call? And then Hellmuth does! Awesome stuff.

When the hand was over, Fishman was suddenly up to $240,200 -- a $140,200 profit -- which meant a couple of things. One, with 53 hands left to be played, he already had life-changing money sitting in front of him. Secondly, he had pushed into the lead in the race for the NAPT package, and if he could end the session without losing too many chips, he’d probably win that, too. (Only a couple of weeks remained in the season for other Loose Cannons to beat his total winnings.)

“Can the Loose Cannon Decide when to leave the cash game if they’re doing well?” So asks a question on the FAQ page of the Big Game’s site. The answer is no. The amateur “must remain in the game,” continuing to commit blinds and antes as the 150 hands play out.

So, what would you do if you were in Fishman’s spot? Would you tighten up here? A little? A lot?

For the next 16 hands, Fishman folded mostly raggedy hands. Then came Hand No. 114. Phil Laak opened with a raise from middle position with pocket sixes. Jason Mercier, new to the table, called the raise from the button with pocket fours.

Then Fishman, in the small blind, looked down to see his hand -- .

He looked again. Then he folded. No shinola!

As it happened, the flop gave Laak quad sixes, so looking at it from a results-oriented point of view, Fishman saved at least whatever chips he might’ve put in preflop on the hand, perhaps even more. Still, folding pocket aces... in a cash game... wild stuff to watch.

I love the conversation after the hand. (As I say, you can dial it up on the Big Game site easily enough.) Fishman tells the table what he folded. “No,” says David Williams with a grin. “Was it really?” he then adds, starting to believe. “No way,” says a completely stone-faced Mercier, not completely aware of the dynamic that had evolved after Fishman’s big double-up. You can tell, though, that the pros were starting to believe -- and understand -- the play by the time the next hand is dealt.

Hand No. 121 brings Fishman yet another dilemma when he’s dealt pocket kings on the button. It folds to him, and he limps for $400, saying he’ll see one flop if the blinds will allow him to do so. The small blind -- a businessman named William Perkins -- raises with . Then Williams reraises from the BB with A-Q, and Fishman gets out. A queen flops, and Williams ends up taking the hand right there.

“I would have had you there, David,” says Fishman, then revealing that he had been dealt K-K. “Come on,” says Mercier. “I don’t know you yet... these guys know you,” he says, pleading for some further explanation. “Are you legit?”

“Yes,” says Williams. “He’s telling the truth,” he confirms as he stacks the chips. “He’s legit.”

Fishman would fold his way through the rest of the session, ending with $229,600 (i.e., a $129,600 profit).

Was interesting to hear some of the talk on the podcasts about the show and Fishman’s decision to fold rather than risk what he’d won.

Over on the Ante Up! podcast (the 12/9/10 episode), the hosts marveled at Fishman’s having folded aces preflop, but ultimately endorsed the play. They were a little less supportive of the decision on the Two Plus Two Pokercast (episode 151, 12/7/10), with co-host Adam Schwartz in particular decrying the play as way, way too nitty for his taste.

“I’m not saying you have to raise,” said Schwartz. “[But] he mucks the aces, and I want to puke.... My mouth is open and I’m like ‘What just happened?’”

I guess I would tend to agree more with the Ante Up! guys, understanding Fishman’s decision not to risk what for him was a huge windfall. In any event, I think that even though the last two episodes of the week were mostly taken up with relatively non-interesting hands between the pros, it still made for some riveting poker, especially thanks to the pros’ ongoing discussions regarding the Loose Cannon’s refusal to gamble.

Besides, I think we all can agree that seeing Hellmuth lose -- and cry afterwards -- always makes for good TV.

2010 WSOP, Day 42: Day 1d Anecdotes

Day 1d of the Main Event had a rhythm that I think mirrored that of the first three Day 1 flights. A very high energy for the first six hours of play -- both from players and from those of us covering them -- followed by a relatively slower pace during the three hours that followed the 90-minute dinner break.

From the reporting side, we’re finally finding ourselves in a situation where a 2,000-plus field is manageable, with many more of us working at once to write reports, keep track of counts, and so forth. And I don’t think anyone minds the relatively shorter work days during the Main Event, too.

There were a few interesting moments that came up yesterday, although nothing truly jawdropping. No one wins the Main Event on the first day. Some build big stacks but even that is not yet terribly notable. There is a long way to go.

Thought I would share a few of the more interesting moments along the way from Day 1d.

One occurred just after one of the breaks yesterday as I sat behind my laptop writing up another hand. Near the desk where I worked, tourney officials had positioned the rail in a way that spectators could edge out a little in front of where I sat, and I so I had a few occasionally ask me questions like “Where’s Phil Ivey?” and the like.

In this case a young Asian man for whom English is probably a second language leaned over and asked me a couple of questions about the prize pool. How many players would cash? How much was first place? This was the beginning of the second level, actually, and since registration hadn’t closed, those things had yet to be determined. But I gave him an estimate, saying there would probably be more than 7,000 players (there ended up being 7,319), and that usually the top 10% made the money, so 700-odd players should be cashing.

He then asked about the stack sizes. What was the average? I told him at that point, for those playing Day 1d, it was still probably not a lot more than the 30,000 with which they’d started.

He had more questions, and while I didn’t really have time to keep answering, there was something about his demeanor that made me want to help. He wanted to know what the average was of those who’d finished the first three days. Again, I didn’t have an exact figure, but knowing about 70% of those who started the previous Day 1 flights made it through to Day 2, I estimated the average stack was probably less than 45,000 still.

“What if you have 94,000? Is that good?” Yes, I said. That’s pretty good relative to the field. Then he asked me a question that completely took me by surprise, and kind of explained all of other questions, too.

“Should I play tight?”

Ha! This wasn’t just a curious fan on the rail asking about the machinations of the Main Event. He was a player! I asked and he said he’d played on Day 1a, and so he’ll be coming back for today’s Day 2a.

I didn’t have a straight answer to his last question, saying something about how it probably would depend on his table and what seemed right to do. He was curious about whether he’d be able to make the money with his current stack -- i.e., I suppose thinking about whether he’d already accumulated enough chips to fold his way to the cash. I told him I doubted that, since there’d still be more than 5,000 players left at the start of Day 2.

A memorable exchange, and one that kind of points up the fact that the Main Event, despite its $10,000 price tag, does attract many novices without a lot of tournament experience, including those who -- like my friend on the rail, most likely -- qualified via an inexpensive satellite.

The oldest player in WSOP history, 97-year-old Jack Ury, was in my section yesterday, and I watched him play a bit. Truly remarkable. Though a bit hard of hearing, Ury seems fully cognizant of just about everything going on around him at the table, and he did win some hands, sitting there with more than his starting stack for most of the day.

Another story that stood out a bit yesterday was of the fellow who returned from dinner break and could not remember where he sat. Apparently he was led around the Amazon Room for some time by a tourney official, much like someone who’d forgotten where he’d parked his car, in an effort to locate his seat. Ducky wrote up a post about the incident.

I did want to mention a couple of other more personal highlights from yesterday. One was finally meeting Chris Cosenza of the Ante Up! podcast and magazine.

I saw Chris during the dinner break in the halls interviewing Freddy Deeb, and we ended up speaking afterwards a bit. Was glad to get the chance to thank Chris for the many hours of entertainment he’d given me since the show’s debut way back in 2005, as well as for the chance to participate in that community of listeners that grew up around the show, especially during its first few years.

I also had a quick meeting with another player from Day 1d, a reader who came around right at the end of the dinner break to share some nice words about Hard-Boiled Poker. He mentioned some of the reasons why he liked the blog, which was very nice to hear and much appreciated.

And really, I saw added reason to value his opinion since he clearly knew better than to ask me whether or not he should play tight.

I mentioned yesterday I had a chance this week to interview WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla, and you can now read our conversation over at Betfair Poker. We talked about his getting started with the WSOP back in 2002, the 2010 WSOP so far, the Ladies Event, and the whole business of covering the WSOP. Nolan is a busy guy these days -- as you can imagine -- and I really enjoyed and appreciated our getting to spend some time talking with him about the game we love.

Meanwhile, it is back to the grind today, as I help collect more Main Event anecdotes for PokerNews. Check out the coverage of Day 2a over there today.

Live Poker: Palm Beach Kennel Club, West Palm Beach, FL

Last week I accompanied Vera Valmore to West Palm Beach, Florida in order to watch some top-level dressage at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby. And since Florida is one of those states that offers live poker, I thought I’d take the opportunity to play some while there.

As far as the Derby went, it was cold and windy the first day, but the weather turned quite pleasant afterwards, with highs in the low 70s. Thus did Vera and I enjoy relatively nice conditions for watching the rides, some by Olympians and others with high achievements in dressage on both the national and international level.

One very sad note -- a top rider, Courtney King-Dye, suffered a serious head injury while schooling one of her horses the day before the show began. The young horse she was riding apparently slipped, causing King-Dye -- who wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time -- to fall. She remains in a coma, though her condition is stable. The wearing of helmets either in practice rides or during competitions is a big issue in dressage, and the accident has brought new attention to the importance of taking safety precautions.

After that first day at Horse Park at White Fences Equestrian Estates in Loxahatchee, Florida, Vera and I decided to take a quick trip over to see the Palm Beach Kennel Club, located near the airport and not too far from the hotel where we were staying. I’d heard the guys on the Florida-based poker podcast Ante Up! refer to the PBKC frequently, and was curious to see just what they had to offer. It was early evening. If any limit hold’em tables were going, I would sit down for a short while, then we would try to find some place to eat.

The PBKC has a long history, with folks having come there to bet on the greyhounds since way back in the 1930s. The poker room -- actually two rooms, one larger one on the lower level, and a smaller room for tourneys upstairs -- came much, much later, probably in the late 1990s when parimutuel facilities were first allowed to offer poker. The club boasts that with the addition of the upstairs room a couple of years ago it now has the most tables (60 total) of any place in the entire state.

I knew through Ante Up! that live poker had experienced something of a resurgence in Florida over the last few years, thanks largely to a bill that went into effect in 2007 allowing for the addition of no-limit games (though with a $100-max. buy-in). The new terms also meant the maximum bet in limit games was raised -- but just to $5. Another bill was proposed last year that would remove the caps on buy-ins for NL games, take away maximum bet limits in limit games, and also allow for extended hours, although various machinations between the Florida legislature and the Seminole tribe have prevented that from being implemented just yet.

I spoke with Scott Long of Ante Up! (who co-hosts the show with Chris Cosenza) just to make sure I was clear on what the current laws were. Indeed, the $100 max-buy in remains in place for NL games, as does the $5 limit on bets in limit games. The maximum buy-in for tourneys is $800 or thereabouts (Long says some places have managed to find a way to finagle up to $1,000 buy-ins somehow). Long shared with me the comparison he and Cosenza often make when highlighting the present absurdity of the poker-gambling situation in Florida.

“I can go down to the Kennel Club and bet $50,000 on a dog running around the track, but can’t buy in for more than $100 to play poker,” explained Long. He added how the motorcycle-riding thrill-seeker Evel Knievel, who lived his latter years in Florida prior to his death a couple of years ago, apparently used to go place $10,000 bets on the greyhounds from time to time, screwing up the odds considerably when he did.

It does sound as though the law to remove caps and betting limits has a good chance of going through this summer, though, and so perhaps the situation will be different in Florida soon.

Vera and I found the PBKC without too much difficulty, although figuring out how to enter the place was less obvious. After a half-minute of wandering around the front, someone directed us to the turnstiles, through which we went and then entered the building from the back.

There appeared to be a lot of activity, with perhaps 20-25 tables going (of the 40 in the downstairs room). Most tables were spreading $1-$2 and $2-$5 NLHE, with three $2-$4 LHE games going. (Long told me that was what you mostly find as far as limit hold’em goes, with a few $1-$5 or $2-$5 spread limit games here and there.) I grabbed a seat at a LHE table, though I knew I wouldn’t be playing for long as there didn’t seem very much for Vera to do while she waited.

I took a seat at a full table, noticing a lot of trash underneath the table and unclaimed bottles and napkins everywhere. In the end, I’d probably play no more than 40 minutes or so -- like 20-25 hands at most -- and thanks to some ridiculously good cards walked away up a surprising $90. What happened? I caught cards, made hands, and got paid. Not too complicated.

After losing the first hand with pocket jacks, I began collecting chips in rapid fashion starting with a hand in which I got in the small blind, flopped two pair, then turned a boat. Followed that with another hand in which I limped in with the rest of the table with A-6-suited to see a flop come 8-6-6. Two of us made it to the river on that one, with my opponent angrily showing the case six (with a lesser kicker, presumably). He left soon afterwards, grumbling to a friend about his misfortune and/or the quality of play.

A few hands later I picked up pocket treys in late position and limped along with about six others. Flop 6-3-3. Whoa. Some nice cards they be dealing here, I thought. Afterwards I thought of Mike Fasso, who used to appear on Ante Up! now and then as a guest host, and one time when he memorably exclaimed “I never flopped quads in my life.... IN MY LIFE!”

Well, I’d done it. And even better, there was a bet and call before it got to me. I called, as did two more. The turn brought another six. It checked to me, I bet, and two just called. Couldn’t quite figure why neither would raise there (assuming at least one had to have had a six). River was a face card, I bet again, and just the older fellow called. Indeed, he had a six, and was just calling down his sixes full.

The ridiculous run good continued, as the very next hand I picked up two black aces. There was a raise before me, I three-bet, and ultimately there were two callers. Flop . It checked to me, I bet, and both called. Turn was the . This time the preflop raiser bet, I raised, and the early position player called the two bets, which signaled he probably couldn’t have the straight. The preflop raiser -- whom I thought might have K-K or Q-Q -- called as well. The river brought the , and when the preflop raiser again bet I just called, a little wary the EP player might have chased down his flush. But he just called, too, and we showed our cards.

The early position player had pocket sevens -- he’d flopped a lesser set. And the preflop raiser had -- he’d flopped two pair. Definitely a cooler for both, although it could’ve been even worse for them had the turn and river not coordinated the board like that.

Thus the big win. Much more luck than skill, for sure. I cashed out, grabbed Vera, and we were out of there. As I said, there wasn’t really much for Vera to do there. I mentioned the trash laying about. The felt on the table was worn down, too, adding a little to the sordid atmosphere. The dealers were competent and friendly, though, and aside from the one grumbler the players were cordial, too. After my quads hand, the dealer had passed me a slip to fill out to enter the high-hand jackpot, to be awarded on Saturday.

I ended up returning on Saturday for another session and to see if I might have won the jackpot. There were multiple drawings throughout the day, starting at 1 p.m. (when the place opened). Got there early and explored the place a little more, checking out the theater-style seating upstairs from which to view the races as well as wandering outside at the track a bit. Many folks -- including a lot of old-timers -- were there early studying the day’s races and settling on their picks. A line formed outside the poker room, too, which opened at 12:30 p.m. Probably 30 tables were filled with players by the time the first hands of the day were dealt.

The early drawings were for $1,000, and one had to be present to win. While there I again played, this time for an hour-and-a-half or so. As I (mostly) folded hands, I listened hopefully for my name to be called. Alas, it was not, although I would pick up another $49 before I left. Wasn’t so much good cards this time as bad, loose, passive play by others. If I had stuck around until the evening, I’d have learned if I’d won the larger $5,000 jackpot, but I wasn’t going to be spending the entire day and night there.

Again, I’ll say the dealers were fine and all of the staff with whom I interacted were pleasant. Getting a cocktail waitress did appear to be a bit of a struggle for others at times. I cashed out, grabbed a copy of Ante Up! magazine, and made my way back around the building and out to the rental car. Vera and I ended up that night in City Place -- a nice, pedestrian-friendly downtown area in West Palm Beach with lots of stores, restaurants, and live music. All made extra fun by my being able to pay our way with poker profits.

Will be interesting to see what happens in Florida once the caps and limits are lifted and places like the Palm Beach Kennel Club possibly become more of a targeted destination for serious poker players. Imposing those limits doesn’t much affect a recreational type like me, but I know many are anxious to see “real” poker start to be offered.

I’d had no time at all to play while covering the NAPT Venetian the week before, so it was good to get to play, even for just a couple of short sessions. And especially good to flop quads, even at $2/$4.

Staying Tuned

Been keeping up with a number of podcasts (see the list over in the right-hand column), but I thought today I’d recommend three particular episodes for your listening pleasure.

The guys on Ante Up! continue to roll along, still managing not to have missed a single week since the podcast’s debut way back in the spring of 2005. They are now producing a magazine, too, which one can find in Florida cardrooms (or to which one can subscribe). The mag is somewhat oriented toward the Florida poker scene, although they also include less local items like interviews with pros and other features. The Ante Up! blog appears now to be solely devoted to Florida poker news, but the podcast remains directed toward a more general audience of poker enthusiasts.

Last week’s show (the 11/21/08 episode) featured the first of a two-part interview with the Mad Genius of Poker, Mike Caro. Now I know not everyone thinks Caro is the bee’s knees when it comes to poker strategy and advice, with some wanting to judge him harshly for his paltry tourney record. But one can’t deny his poker acumen, not to mention his importance to poker history and literature as a chief contributor to the original Super/System and author of hundreds of columns. He is also a pretty funny dude. Lotsa grins in this first part of the interview, and he even addresses that question about why he has so few tourney cashes.

Another show worth your time is the most recent episode of Keep Flopping Aces, hosted by Lou Krieger. On last week’s show (11/20/08), Lou had Tim Lavalli, a.k.a. the Poker Shrink, a.k.a. winner of Event 1 of Run Good Challenge 2: Electric Boogaloo, on to discuss various items related to poker and psychology. Tim offered some terrific observations about tilt (a discussion that resonated with me a bit after that brief bout I had with tilt last week), as well as some specific responses to a couple of infamous episodes from the 2008 WSOP -- Scotty Nguyen’s behavior at the $50 H.O.R.S.E. final table & Phil Hellmuth’s end of day 5 outburst at Cristian Dragomir and penalty (subsequently rescinded) during the Main Event.

I was there at the Rio for both of those events, but witnessed neither of them first hand, having been working a different tourney during the H.O.R.S.E. final table and covering the outer tables on Day 5 of the Main Event. Tim, meanwhile, was right there watching both, and has some interesting insights into both the players’ psychology as well as some opinions about how the tournament directors handled (or mishandled) the situations. Lou and Tim also speculate a bit about plans for next summer’s WSOP, including talk of going to some sort of “yellow card/red card” system like is used in soccer.

Finally, if you are looking for a genuine howler of a show you might go back and check out the 11/5/08 episode of PokerRoad Radio. This was their first show from the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. I usually end up listening to most of the PokerRoad shows when they come out, although I’ve found myself sometimes skipping through some of the “game show”-like segments (e.g., “How Much Would It Take?”) if I’m pressed for time. Ali Nejad’s humor is usually hit-or-miss for me -- sometimes he genuinely cracks me up, though not always. However, I do think he’s particularly good with interviews, which is why I’ll occasionally skip ahead to the latter half of the show when the guests come on.

On that 11/5/08 show, Nejad, Joe Sebok, and Court Harrington had two guests on at once, Eugene Todd (bro) and Will “the Thrill” Failla. As anyone who has heard Todd on the show before can attest, the man is pretty friggin’ hilarious. Failla (also from New York) is equally funny (and foul-mouthed), and the pair play off each other to good effect during this interview. To give you an idea what the interview was like, on a subsequent show they reported that someone had emailed them that the “F-bomb” had been dropped something like 115 times during this particular episode. (Needless to say, don’t follow this here recommendation if yr among the easily offended.)

Anyhow, dial up the show and skip ahead to the interview which starts at about the 42-minute mark. Then, around the 49-minute mark comes one of the funniest damn hand recaps ever chronicled. Failla tells the story of a hand he played early in the Foxwoods tourney, a hand he simply was not going to lose. Trust me, you will not be able to listen to this without laughing. Easily one of the funniest things I’ve heard on a poker podcast since Beyond the Table or perhaps that appearance by Haralabos Voulgaris on The Circuit a couple of years ago.

Hope you enjoy these. Meanwhile, for you old time radio fans a tenth episode of The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show is in the works and should be appearing in the near future. Stay tuned!

2008 WSOP, Day 12: Omadraw!

Yr reading the 500th post here. Damn lot of scribblin’, that!

Let me start this one by thanking everyone once again for coming back. And big thanks for all them nice words I’ve received both here, in my email box, and have seen elsewhere around these here intertubes. Means a hell of a lot.

Haven’t written too much here lately about the poker podcasts, but I have been following them. Let me recommend a couple of recent shows to you, in case the WSOP might’ve distracted you from catching them.

One is a podcast I only recently found, the one done by Howard Schwartz, proprietor of the Gamblers Book Shop in Las Vegas. Some might remember I visited the GBS and met Howard last spring. Some time late last year, Howard started a regular podcast in which he interviews authors and other prominent figures in the Vegas gambling scene. Some of you might have read Dr. Pauly’s post yesterday about Archie Karas, the legendary gambler who once turned $10,000 into $17 million, then lost it all. Schwartz interviewed Karas a couple of weeks ago, and he’s every bit as fascinating as Pauly indicates. Click here for that episode, or go here to get to the homepage for the Gamblers Book Club podcast.

Also wanted to recommend the latest episode of Ante Up! in which High Stakes Poker co-host A.J. Benza talks about the show’s possible future. Benza is a funny, smart dude who isn’t shy about sharing his thoughts and opinions. In addition to discussing HSP, he also talks about the Godfather films, his appearance in the last Rocky movie, and his past work as a gossip columnist. You’ll definitely be entertained by this one, I promise you. Click here to get there.

Oh, and while I’m at it I might as well remind you, too, about The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show, four episodes of which have been produced. The fifth will come out in a couple of weeks. The podcast features various examples of storytelling, all of which concern poker and/or gambling, and each episode contains an entire old time radio show as well. Check it out.

Looking ahead, then, to today’s action at the WSOP . . .

For PokerNews I’ll be helping cover Day 1 of Event No. 19, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event. The first hand will be dealt at the crack of noon, and I expect it’ll be a long day at the laptop. The schedule of play says the plan will be to play ten one-hour levels today. Add in the breaks (including a dinner break after level 6), and that means I’ll probably be there reporting until 1 a.m. or so.

But you know I’m not complaining. It’s Omadraw, baby!

Other stuff happening as well, of course. Another six-event day at the Rio. Head over to PokerNews for the complete line-up. Meanwhile, I wanted to make one last observation heading into play today.

As of this morning, we’ve had 18 events get started at this year’s World Series of Poker, about a third of the total number of events planned. Four of those 18 events are described as “new” in 2008. Actually, the only “new” event technically speaking was Event No. 8, the World Championship Mixed Event (a.k.a., S.P.L.E.N.D.O.R.), but the other three feature different buy-in amounts than what we saw in 2007: the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold’em event (Event No. 1), the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout (Event No. 11), and the $10,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud event (Event No. 14). That means we’ve had people register for and play in 14 events thus far that correspond to events from last summer.

A lot was made of that huge turnout for the first $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event (Event No. 2). Some observers seem to view these entrants figures as an indicator of the overall health of poker, generally speaking, even though there are always numerous other factors that potentially affect how many people sign up for and play in a given event. Still, I thought it would be interesting to see how thus far the numbers of entrants in 2008 events are comparing to what we saw in 2007 for corresponding events.

What are we seeing? Pretty simple to summarize, really. As far as the numbers of entrants go, the WSOP is holding steady.



Eight of the 14 events have had more entrants in 2008, and six have had fewer entrants. Aside from Event No. 2, no huge changes one way or the other in any of the events. And in a couple of cases, the comparison really doesn’t have much meaning. In this year’s Event No. 9, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event, registration was capped at 1,236, so more might’ve played the event otherwise. And they bumped up to ten-handed tables in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout (Event No. 17), versus the nine-handed tables they had last year. So changes in the numbers of entrants don’t mean too much in those events.

We’ll see if the “holding steady” pattern continues as we get deeper in the schedule. As far as the Main Event goes, these numbers perhaps suggest we’ll probably see something similar to last year’s total of 6,538.

There is one change here, though, that I think might be worth pointing out -- that 20% increase in the number of entrants in Event No. 6, the $1,500 Omaha/8 event. Might indicate something about Omaha’s increased popularity, one could argue. Last year 576 entered the $1,500 PLO event (the one I’m covering today). Wouldn’t be surprised to see quite a few more than that today.

Speaking of which, do follow them live updates over on PokerNews. And thanks again for reading!

Seven Dwarfs & Seventy-One Big Bets

May started with a big bang, with huge wins the first couple of days. Things calmed down a bit over the next week, though, and now we’re back to a more reasonable pace as we approach the month’s midway point. Still mostly playing pot limit Omaha -- and still mostly at the $25 max. tables -- although I’m finding I have a strange desire to try 2-7 Triple Draw some before I head Vegas-ward at the end of the month.

Anyhow, been meaning to share this crazy-ass Stud/8 hand from a few weeks ago. I’ve been enjoying interspersing quiet little sessions of Stud/8 and H.O.R.S.E. when I don’t feel like dealing with the larger PLO pots. Provides a nice contrast with the sometimes volatile world of PLO.

I sent this one to the Ante Up! guys as a possible “Hand of the Week,” although frankly I think it is probably too much of a spectacle to work for that segment. Besides the general wackiness involved with this particular hand, Stud/8 hands are generally difficult to narrate. I’m gonna give it a shot, though.

The stakes were $0.50/$1.00. Here’s how the table appeared as the hand began:



Yeah, I know. Shoulda figured something funny was gonna happen with this crowd.

Hadn’t been at the table for that long, though I’d been there long enough to have seen Dopey raising more hands than yr average dwarf. We all posted the nickel ante and the cards were dealt.

*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to Dopey
Dealt to Bashful
Dealt to Sleepy
Dealt to Short-Stacked Shamus [] []
Dealt to Sneezy
Dealt to Grumpy
Dealt to Happy
Dealt to Doc

I brought it in for a quarter, Sneezy folded, and Grumpy (with the king) raised it to fifty cents. Happy called, then Doc promptly reraised to a dollar. Dopey, Sleepy, and Shamus all called, then Grumpy reraised it. The pot ended up being capped, with six of us going to fourth street. Pot already $12.00.

I liked my low draw well enough. Three of my low cards were out, though, so I’d proceed with caution.

*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to Dopey
Dealt to Sleepy
Dealt to Short-Stacked Shamus [] []
Dealt to Grumpy
Dealt to Happy
Dealt to Doc

I pick up the six, but so did Happy. Dopey and Sleepy appear to have 8-lows going. A couple more of my low cards were gone, but I’m thinking I want to see fifth.

Grumpy bets, Happy raises, all four of us call the buck, then Grumpy reraises. Happy just calls the $1.50, and we all call, too. Still six of us in the hand. Pot now $21.00. So much for calming down with a few quiet hands of Stud/8 . . . .

*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to Dopey
Dealt to Sleepy
Dealt to Short-Stacked Shamus [] []
Dealt to Grumpy
Dealt to Happy
Dealt to Doc

Ugh. I bricked, and Dopey was looking like he might’ve made his low. Grumpy bet out again, both Happy and Doc called, then Dopey raised. I guess he got there. Sleepy called the two bucks and the action was on me.

This is where I might’ve considered bailing, but there was just too much in the middle at this point -- $28 at the moment. I knew I’d probably have to put four dollars in here to see sixth, but with all five of the other dwarfs also putting in the four (as it appeared was going to happen), sticking around seemed reasonable. Even if it weren’t, I’m not a good enough Stud/8 player to resist staying here. I called, Grumpy predictably reraised, and eventually Dopey capped it. Bottom line: all six players put in $4.00 to see sixth street. The pot was up to $45.00.

*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to Dopey
Dealt to Sleepy
Dealt to Short-Stacked Shamus [] []
Dealt to Grumpy
Dealt to Happy
Dealt to Doc

Magic mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? Damn sure it ain’t me. The pot was creeping up past fifty clams, and the piss-poor net I was sewing to catch ’em was full o’ holes.

We ran through a similar sequence as on fifth, with Grumpy and Dopey catching us all in the whipsaw with their raises & reraises. Only difference here was that Doc dropped out and Dopey finally ran out of money. As we went to seventh street, I was thinking I was probably drawing dead, with Happy having perhaps made a 6-low. Was stuck, though, mesmerized by a pot that now exceeded $64.00.

*** RIVER ***
Dealt to Short-Stacked Shamus [] [] []

Well, I have a low. And perhaps a chance. Grumpy bet a dollar, Happy reraised with his last $1.45, I called, and Grumpy just called as well. The final pot was $71.05. Here’s what the five of us had:

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dopey:
Sleepy:
Short-Stacked Shamus:
Grumpy:
Happy:

Happy took the High half, having filled up on fifth street. And somehow I’d snuck outta the castle with the low. We each made $35 on the hand, about $22 of which was profit.

So Dopey had started jamming the pot on fifth with his 8-7 low. Poor Sleepy was still drawing to his (smoother) 8-low at the end. And I was definitely a lucky ducky to grab that trey on the end. Happy might have been the only one of all of us who could claim to have played his hand well from start to finish, although after fifth it kind of played itself.

A 71-big bet Stud/8 hand! When that was over, I decided I needed to head back over to the PLO tables. Less stress over there.