Had great fun last night playing a poker tournament. Feel like I haven’t been able to say that much lately.
If you happen to follow Chris Moneymaker on Twitter, you might have seen him yesterday inviting people to join his new PokerStars Home Game. He has a new website -- Team Moneymaker -- which is part of a few new projects he’s developing, among them the PS Home Game. And the good news for those of us in the U.S. who aren’t able to play real money games, his Home Game is for play chips.
I signed up during the afternoon and then participated in the first of a few tournaments Moneymaker scheduled during the evening. Eventually he got his Twitch channel up and running as well, and provided commentary and feedback as we played.
I have to say I got a big kick out of Moneymaker’s stream, especially one time when I mistyped an opening raise with pocket jacks from UTG -- making it nearly 5x the big blind when I had been aiming for just under 3x -- and a couple of minutes later Moneymaker was commenting and making a note on me about my oversized open.
There were only 17 in this first tournament (including “Money800”). I stumbled early on, with none of my steal attempts or c-bets seeming to accomplish anything other than my dribbling away chips. But then I managed to pick up some decent hands and get paid for them, and eventually made it all of the way to having a chip lead with three players left.
Ran into some hard luck at that point -- if I were tweeting my progress, my followers would’ve gotten an “Out. QQ < AQ, then AJ < A8” note like those we’re all always seeing in our timelines -- and went out in third. The buy-in was exactly 1 play chip, my prize for finishing third was exactly 3, but the entertainment derived from those two hours was considerable.
So was the instruction, as I found myself genuinely challenged by certain decisions along the way and appreciating Moneymaker’s advice to players as he talked about bet-sizing and other decisions made by others (and himself) on Twitch.
I believe his plan will be to host Home Games each Monday night at 8 p.m. Eastern time, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple of hundred at least taking part -- maybe more -- by the time word gets around and some momentum is built up. If you’re curious, you can join Team Moneymaker here, then join his Home Game using the Club ID 1954662 and Invitation Code TeamMoneymaker2015.
Just a quick post tonight to announce that I’m planning to fire back up the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games this Sunday, October 6 on PokerStars.
The HBPHGs have been on a hiatus of sorts over the last three months. For those who’ve played in them before, you know that the PokerStars Home Games are set up on a quarterly system, meaning each “season” lasts for three months. We’ve had four such seasons thus far, with the season champions being thejim2020 (Season 1), Kevmath (Season 2), RiVeRrAtaCe (Season 3), and linglemungo (Season 4).
When July rolled around and it was time to start a new season, I was in Las Vegas for the last few weeks of the WSOP. Had a few trips since then, too, and so I ended up deciding it better just to wait until October than to have a half-season.
Each of the last four seasons I’ve awarded prizes to the top three finishers, usually poker books, but sometimes DVDs as well. I’ll do so again this time, too. There will be three items to choose from, from which the top finisher in the league standings gets first choice, then the runner-up gets a pick, then the third item goes to the third-place finisher.
The games are all free -- that is, they only cost play money chips to play. If you aren’t a member of the HBPHGs, the ClubID is 530631 and the Invitation code is noshinola.
Right now I’m almost at the upper maximum for members. I’ve written PokerStars and unfortunately they won’t raise the maximum for me because we’re just a play money group.
However, if you try to join and receive a message saying the club is full, just send me a tweet @hardboiledpoker and I’ll make a space for you (there are members whom I know aren’t currently playing).
Here’s the schedule for Sunday:
Event No. 1, 20:00 ET -- No-Limit Hold’em
Event No. 2, 21:00 ET -- 8-game
The tourneys usually both will wind up by around 22:00 ET (the earlier tourney has 5-minute levels and the later one 3-minute levels).
I would be choosing Courchevel or 5-card Omaha, if they were listed among the Home Game tourneys. Still, there’s a lot to choose from and rest assured there will be a Badugi event among other exotic variants along the way. All seasons so far have lasted 20 tourneys, and I expect we’ll probably have the same number for Season 5.
The games are fun -- and competitive -- so come on out and join us!
Yesterday the final events of Season 3 of the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games played out, and when the dust settled it was tim00 managing to hold off a late rush to keep the top spot in the Season 3 standings. By winning tim00 joins thejim2020 and Kevmath as HBP Season winners.
As with the first two seasons of the HBP Home Games, there were 20 events total in Season 3, and tim00 collected the most points by winning three events, taking second a couple of times, and finishing third twice as well.
I say he withstood a “late rush”... in fact, I somehow managed to win the last event (the 8-game) to creep up close to Tim in the standings, but he took second in that final tournament and thus earned a few more points in Event No. 20 to maintain the lead. (I know my challenging for the title sounds like an April Fools’ Day gag, but it’s all true!)
FBees89 finished third in the final event last night and also ended up third in the Season 3 standings thanks to four cashes and two event wins. And SmBoatDrinks ended up in the fourth spot after winning one event and finishing runner-up three other times. Like tim00, those two are due to receive prizes for their Season 3 finishes.
Meanwhile, psx120 just missed out on the prizes this time with a fifth-place finish in Season 3, although I expect he’s not feeling too badly. Just take a look at his avatar!
Michigan indeed surprised many by making the Final Four this weekend, the first time the Wolverines have made it that far since 1993. I’ve actually been spending some time over the last couple of weeks thinking about that 1993 finale to the NCAA season in which my Tar Heels won it all following a dramatic championship game with the “Fab Five.” Gonna be posting something over on Ocelot Sports this Friday (the 20th anniversary of that game), so stay tuned.
There were more than 60 entrants in my pool this year, and out of all of those brackets only one had Michigan in the Final Four. Just two had Syracuse making it that far, while unsurprisingly no one picked ninth-seeded Wichita State to make it.
Meanwhile, about two-thirds of us picked Louisville to win their region, and like just about all of the others who did that was my only correct Final Four pick, too. I was delighted to see the Cardinals crush Duke yesterday, although like everyone else I was fairly horrified by the bizarre and gruesome Kevin Ware injury. I was mentioning last week how basketball has become a much more physical game than it was even just a couple of decades ago, but Ware’s fall was kind of unrelated to that trend, just a flukey, unfortunate occurrence.
No longer in the running pool-wise and with no dog in the fight anymore, I suppose I’ll hop on the Wichita State Shockers bandwagon going forward, although I kind of doubt anyone left can match Louisville. I’ll be distracted this weekend, though, as the current plan is for me to be up at Foxwoods helping cover the next WSOP Circuit Main Event. (More on that to come.)
In fact, I’ll be busy the next couple of weekends, so I’ll probably delay starting Season 4 of the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games until the middle of the month, from which point the season will run through the end of June. Am thinking I’ll strike the Sunday afternoon events as they aren’t really attracting many players. And it seems like the 20:00 ET and 21:00 ET events on Sunday nights work fairly well for most of the regulars, so I’ll probably keep with that same schedule going forward.
Below are the final standings for Season 3. Thanks to everyone for playing! And as I have said before, if anyone has any suggestions for Season 4 -- or prizes to donate -- let me know.
I wanted to give a quick update today on the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games Season 3 series that will be coming to an end this Sunday, March 31st.
Like the first two HBP HG series, this third one is featuring 20 tournaments total, with the last three events playing out Sunday (3/31) as follows:
Event 18: 16:00 ET -- Triple Stud
Event 19: 20:00 ET -- No-Limit Hold’em
Event 20: 21:00 ET -- 8-Game
All of my tournaments feature buy-ins of 530 play money chips. All also feature starting stacks of 3,000 chips, with the 16:00 and 21:00 tourneys using three-minute levels and the 20:00 one having levels lasting five minutes each. Most tourneys tend to last a little over an hour, with that 20:00 one sometimes extending a little longer.
I had originally only had tournaments on Sunday evenings, which usually works out well for me and also seems to suit the schedules of a lot of my American buddies who have been playing. However, those events don’t really work for the Europeans, and I know there are a few who’d like to play occasionally. Thus did I add the Sunday afternoon events, although the turnouts for those have been on the small side so I might not continue that going forward.
So far tournaments have had as many as 16 players participating, with the usual field size being around a dozen. While there are play money prizes for top finishers, what everyone is really playing for are points for the season standings. Those are awarded to the top third of the field for each event (e.g., for a 12-player tourney, the top four get points).
Here’s a look at the Season 3 leader board through 17 events:
RiVeRrAtAcE has won three events so far, thus helping him secure first position with three tourneys left to go. Somehow I’ve lucked into second place in these standings, although when it comes to awarding prizes to the top three finishers, I’m not part of that equation. Thus if the season were to end today, SmBoatDrinks and Psx120 would be eligible for prizes with FBees89 being the Season 3 bubble boy.
Points are calculated according to the number of entrants, and for most events the winner has picked up more than four points. That means RiVeRrAtAcE does not have Season 3 locked up just yet, as a couple of good finishes by those in the chase pack can push them ahead of him in the standings.
This time I have two books and one DVD I plan to give as prizes. One book is Reading Poker Tells by Zach Elwood, which I reviewed for Betfair Poker last year. Another is a copy of Paul “Dr. Pauly” McGuire’s Lost Vegas, which I also reviewed for Betfair Poker when it first came out in 2010. Finally I have DVD copies of Rounders, one of which is a regular DVD and the other Blu-Ray; whoever wins the DVD will get to choose among the formats (i.e., I’m only giving away one of the two DVDs this time).
The first-place finisher will get to choose between three prizes -- either of the two books or a Rounders DVD (in whichever format the winner prefers). Then the second-place finisher gets to choose between whatever two prizes are left, and the third-place finisher gets the last item. I’ll be mailing the prizes.
I will probably start a Season 4 in April, which again will last for three months through the end of June. Once again I’ll be mixing up the offerings, including a lot of non-hold’em events and perhaps even those new 5-Card Omaha games PokerStars has started to offer if they become options (they haven’t yet).
If you haven’t played and want to join my Home Games club, see the info on the right-hand column for doing so. Right now I only have a few spots left before the club reaches 100 players, which I’ve been told is the maximum PokerStars will allow for these play money-only clubs. But if I reach 100, I’ll start removing some players who haven’t been participating so as to open up spots.
Meanwhile, let me ask those who have been playing to send along any suggestions regarding times, types of games, or anything else regarding the HBP HGs.
Spent part of yesterday idly watching PokerStars’ big 7th anniversary Sunday Million tournament play out while also noting the mix of tweets from participating players and angst-ridden Americans unable to play. A total of 49,287 entered the event, thus creating a prize pool of $9,857,400 (well over the special $7 million guarantee).
Later on came the other “Sunday majors,” the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games, that is. Last night we had a H.O.S.E. event (won by Bruckner_7th) and a Razz one (won by SmBoatDrinks). I somehow managed to luckbox my way into winning the Badugi tournament the week before.
I’m noticing this morning that the results of last night’s tourneys might not have been recorded in our Season 3 standings, which I’ll look into today. (EDIT [added 3/7/13]: The problem -- whatever it was -- has been resolved and the standings are now up-to-date.)
So far we’ve played eight events in Season 3, and I think I’ll actually schedule three events on each of the next four Sundays. One will be at 16:00 ET on Sunday afternoons, and the other two at 20:00 ET and 21:00 ET (as usual). I’m hoping perhaps with those earlier events to enable some of my European buddies to play a few tourneys. Adding the extra tourneys will also help us get to a total of 20 events before Season 3 concludes at the end of March.
As was the case with Season 1 and Season 2, the top three finishers in the season’s standings will win prizes. Again one of the prizes will be a copy of Zach Elwood’s Reading Poker Tells, a very helpful book regarding tells in live poker that I reviewed for Betfair Poker here. I also have picked up a Rounders DVD that I’ll throw in as a prize, too, if perhaps someone doesn’t have it already.
I’ve yet to settle on what the third prize will be this time. If anyone has books or DVDs they’d like to donate, let me know. Meanwhile, these remaining events in Season 3 will be covering a variety of games (as usual). For those who have been playing, feel free to suggest games/variants in the comments below.
Sure, it ain’t quite playing for millions of dollars. But I know I’ve enjoyed the Home Games a lot, and I think they’ve provided a lot of fun for others, too.
The football went well, as I managed to have my best week of the year with my picks, going 14-2 to gain three full games on the leaders. Still leaves me four out with just one week to go, but I’m close enough to keep caring about how things turn out. Was most proud to see my two “hero picks” both come through yesterday (Minnesota and Baltimore). Also took Seattle in the late game, and so enjoyed watching their dominating romp over the 49ers.
Meanwhile, the last two events of Season 2 of the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games series on PokerStars played out last night. The first one, Event No. 19, was a “deep-stacked” no-limit hold’em event that Mickey won and I took second. I joked with Mickey once we reached heads-up, asking him if we could just split the play money and stop there (as we saw happen earlier in the week at Sands Bethlehem).
Mickey managed to win the second event last night as well, Event No. 20, a H.O.R.S.E. one. Despite that late surge, he didn’t quite crack the top three in the Season 2 standings to win a book.
In the end, Kevmath ended up taking the top spot, winning two of the 20 events along the way while finishing in the top three seven times. (Points were earned by finishing in the top third of a given event, which generally meant making the top 3-5 as the fields ranged from 10-15 players.)
Nasal_Drip took runner-up in Season 2, having won three events out of the 20, tying with Mickey for the most wins of anyone in Season 2. And Season 1 winnerthejim2020 finished third, having won a couple of the tournaments this time around, too. (Click the pic to enlarge and see the full standings.)
I’ll be sending each of those three books for their finishes. (See this post for details.) ’Tis the season, after all. Thanks again to Mike Fasso and Zach Elwood for donating books for me to award as prizes. And thanks as well to everyone for playing in the HBP Home Games. Big fun all around.
Meanwhile, we’ll run a Season 3 starting in January. I’ll probably stick to a similar schedule (Sunday nights), which I know makes it hard for our European friends to play but I suppose I’m mainly trying to offer something for us poor Yanks to do while we wait for online poker to return for us. By the way, I mentioned on Friday how I’m trying to move my funds from the now-dormant Hero Poker over to Carbon, but I still await a response to my request. Have a feeling it’s going to take a while.
Finally, if anyone has any poker and/or gambling books (or DVDs or anything else) that might work as prizes and you’re willing to donate them, let me know. Anyone wanting to join up, the info for doing so is over in the right-hand sidebar.
A tougher slate of games coming up Sunday, though, with nine of the 12 games currently sporting spreads of three points or less. Then Monday night my poor, pitiful Panthers are playing the equally execrable Eagles in what has to be one of the worst MNF match-ups in recent memory. Not to mention another hard game to pick.
Speaking of looking ahead to Sunday, I wanted to report that Season 2 of the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games at PokerStars is in full swing, with two more tourneys scheduled for Sunday night. This week will be Event Nos. 13 and 14, a six-handed pot-limit Omaha tournament (at 20:00 ET) followed by a H.O.R.S.E. tourney (at 21:00).
As was the case with Season 1, there will be 20 tourneys altogether this season, with everything wrapping up by the end of December. The top three finishers in the league standings will win books which I will be shipping to them. I have three ready to go for prizes. What I thought I’d do is let the first-place finisher pick one, then the second-place finisher select from the other two, with the third-place finisher getting the remaining one.
One of the books is the great Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling (2006) written by David G. Schwartz who heads the Center for Gaming Research over at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. It’s a nice hardback copy donated to the cause by our friend and occasional HBP HG player Mike Fasso.
Another is Zach Elwood’s Reading Poker Tells which the author himself donated as a prize. I reviewed Elwood’s book for Betfair Poker a while back, and many others have chimed in on the web and on Twitter regarding how useful the book is for identifying and understanding tells at the table.
Finally, I have a copy of Byron Jacobs’s 2011 strategy book Think Like a Poker Pro to give as a prize. I have to admit that I haven’t read all of it, but what I’ve read seems good and the book did get some praise here and there on the forums, in particular for its limit hold’em advice. It comes with a three-hour video CD, too.
(By the way, if anyone out there would like to donate poker and/or gambling books for me to give as prizes in future seasons of the HBP HG, let me know.)
Anyhow, like I say those finishing in the top three will get to choose which titles they’d like according to their order of finish. Through 12 events, linglemungo is leading the points race with Kevmath second, **GMONEY*722 third, and Season 1 winner thejim2020 currently in fourth.
If you haven’t been playing tourneys in Season 2, there’s still time to collect enough points to move up the leaderboard. See the right-hand column for info about upcoming HBP HG tourneys as well as the club ID/invite code to join my PokerStars Home Game.
Various obligations got in the way of my posting earlier today, I’m afraid. I did, however, want to report on a successful finale to Season 1 of the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games Series.
I mean I realize some people might be distracted by that other tournament series currently playing out this week in Cannes, France. But for those contending for the title of HBP HG Player of the Season for this inaugural season, the WSOPE necessarily took a back seat for a few hours Sunday night.
Yesterday we played Event Nos. 19 and 20, again following a similar schedule to the one employed for the previous nine Sundays (with one tourney at 20:00 ET and the other at 21:00 ET).
In the earlier event, a no-limit hold’em tourney, it was it was AvoidOddLaw winning after outlasting Grange95, with RiVeRrAtAcE taking third.
The final event was an 8-game mixed tournament, and thejim2020 grabbed the gold in that one, outlasting Bruckner_7th (2nd) and Foaming_H (3rd) to do so. (I managed to just miss the medal stand in both events last night, twice taking fourth.)
After Event No. 19 it appeared Grange95 (of the great crAAKKer blog) -- winner of four events during Season 1 -- was in good shape to earn Player of the Series, sitting in first and a few points ahead of thejim2020. But thejim2020’s victory in the final event was enough to nudge his total into the lead to win the title. That was thejim2020’s third tourney win in Season 1, plus he had several more high finishes to accumulate the needed points. To the left are complete standings for Season 1 (click to enlarge).
As I mentioned yesterday, thejim2020 gets a copy of Poker: Bets, Bluffs and Bad Beats by Al Alvarez for his efforts. Meanwhile Season 1 runner-up Grange95 and third-place finisher SmBoatDrinks will each be sent copies of Zach Elwood’s Reading Poker Tells.
Season 2 of the HBP Home Games will kick off this coming Sunday with two more events. If you’d like to play in Season 2 and aren’t already in my PokerStars Home Game, look over in the right-hand column for sign-up info. (All events are free -- i.e., for play chips.)
Before I schedule this Sunday’s events -- and before I plot out the rest of the second season -- let me ask anyone with suggestions and/or feedback to leave me a comment either about Season 1 or what I should consider for Season 2.
Also, if there are any poker authors or others with an interest in sponsoring the HBP Home Games with prizes, do let me know that as well.
Congratulations to thejim2020 and thanks again to everyone who played in Season 1. Big fun, folks!
The first season of the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games on PokerStars comes to a close tonight with two more tournaments.
At 20:00 ET comes a full ring, no-limit hold’em tourney (Event No. 19), then at 21:00 ET comes an 8-game mixed tourney (Event No. 20).
This makes 10 straight Sunday nights I’ve hosted tournaments, and it has been a ton of fun playing different games and enjoying a little bit of competition at the tables. Even though the tourneys are free to enter (play chips), they’ve been plenty competitive. Usually between 12-15 players are entering each tourney, although there have been several with more players, including one with 24.
With 18 of 20 events completed, the points race is tight, with Grange95 enjoying a slight lead at present thanks in part to his four wins. The next two spots are occupied by thejim2020 and SmBoatDrinks, both of whom could overtake Grange95 tonight, with **GMONEY*72 also having a shot. (There is a look at the current top 10 at left.)
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ll be sending the winner of HBP HG Season 1 a copy of Poker: Bets, Bluffs and Bad Beats by Al Avarez.
I have a late-game surprise to announce, too. Those finishing second and third in the final Season 1 standings will also be receiving prizes, copies of Zach Elwood’s Reading Poker Tells, a book I’ve mentioned here before and reviewed over on the Betfair Poker blog a while time back.
Anyone who’d like to play in the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games is welcome. The Club ID number is 530631 and the invitation code is noshinola.
Season 2 begins next week and will go from October through December. (I’ll probably end the second season prior to Christmas.) I expect we’ll continue with a similar schedule next week with tourneys every Sunday, although I will probably start scheduling some events during the afternoon so as to make it easier for our European friends to play, too.
There will be prizes as well for top Season 2 performers (stay tuned!). Meanwhile, good luck to all tonight.
Had fun again last night playing Hard-Boiled Poker Home Games on PokerStars while watching the opening weekend of NFL football. We’re still pushing through “Season 1” of the HBP HG, playing two tourneys each Sunday night until the end of September. By the end there will have been 20 events in this season, then at the beginning of October I’ll begin a “Season 2” that will play through the end of December.
As I’ve mentioned here before, players in each of the events can accumulate points for finishing in the top third of the field, and the one earning the most points for the season is going to win a copy of Poker: Bets, Bluffs and Bad Beats by Al Alvarez. I’m looking into lining up a few extra prizes for Season 2, so that one won’t be a winner-take-all.
I’ve been trying to schedule various games besides no-limit hold’em to keep things interesting. Last night we played pot-limit hold’em (Event No. 13) and what PokerStars calls “Triple Stud” (Event No. 14), the latter rotating between the three stud games in H.O.R.S.E. -- that is, stud (high only), stud hi/lo, and razz.
One of the ongoing challenges when playing Triple Stud was simply to remember which game was being played. The levels only lasted three minutes, which meant the games were switching frequently, and I think just about every one of us at least once started a hand thinking it was one stud variant when in fact it was a different one. Keeping track of the games is part of the challenge of any mixed game format, but I think the test might be slightly more taxing when all of the games are stud and thus superficially appear similar.
Kind of got me thinking a little about how “poker” covers so many different kinds of games. Or, to put it another way, how flexible that word “poker” really is in terms of what it could be said to define.
Heck, when I create Home Games, PokerStars let’s me choose from 17 different poker variants, with a number of those allowing for different betting formats (e.g., no-limit, pot-limit, fixed-limit). And of course there are options for full ring, short-handed, heads-up, different level durations, different starting stacks, and so forth. We couldn’t get through all of different poker games if we played a 100-event series.
Many say there are certain elements that are absolutely essential for a game to be called “poker.” I’ve heard and read a number of attempts at pinning those elements down, with most usually declaring that in order for a game to qualify as “poker,” it must involve cards, money, and bluffing.
Think about it, though... what a huge range of possibility exists for games that include those three criteria. And I’m not even completely sure those three elements are absolutely essential or cannot be modified significantly without carrying the game outside of the boundaries of what we can still call “poker.”
It’s like “literature” or “the novel” or other ambiguous categories or genres, really. One could even argue that as long as participants can agree on rules and that the game is still going to be called “poker,” then it’s poker.
How do you define poker? What elements would you say are utterly essential for a game to be called poker?
The 2012 World Championship of Online Poker begins today on PokerStars. What began as a nine-tournament series back in 2002 has now grown to a massive 65-tournament schedule lasting over three weeks.
I was noting here last September when the WCOOP came around how it marked the first one in which Americans couldn’t participate, and was thus wondering how that might affect the popular online tournament series. Back in 2010 just over a third of the 141,126 entrants were from the U.S., with Americans winning 33 of the 62 events that year. Total prize money for those 62 events in 2010 was more than $63.1 million.
Last year there were again 62 events, and while the total number of entrants and the prize pools were indeed down without the Americans participating, the totals were still staggering. The guarantees were scaled back in anticipation of smaller fields, the series total going from $50 million guaranteed to $30 million. However, the tourneys still drew a total of 119,832 entrants, thus building prize pools exceeding $47.1 million.
In all players from 137 countries cashing in WCOOP events in 2011. Russia and Canada ended up seeing the most players enter, with each country comprising about 11% of the total entrants. And Russia took the most titles with 10, followed by the United Kingdom with eight.
When following some of the major tourneys on PokerStars such as the Super Tuesday or Sunday Million, I’ve noticed that Russia and Canada are being heavily represented in those tournaments, with the U.K., Costa Rica, Ukraine, and Mexico starting to come on as well.
For example, a couple of weeks ago there was a Super Tuesday (a $1,050 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament) which saw four players from Canada make the final table, two each from the U.K. and Costa Rica, and one from Ukraine. Four more from Canada made the Super Tuesday final table last week, too, as did Shaun Deeb playing from Mexico.
Of course, as Deeb’s example suggests, a lot of those players designated as being from Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, and elsewhere are in fact U.S. players who have relocated to play on PokerStars. I have been seeing a ton of tweets in my Twitter feed from U.S. players describing how they are traveling out of the country just for September in order to play the WCOOP.
The guarantees for the 2012 WCOOP again total $30 million, even with a few additional events to bring the total to 65. Have to believe that’s being conservative -- i.e., guarantees for most tourneys will surely be met, and the overall numbers will likely end up challenging last year’s totals.
Check the WCOOP site for the full schedule, including information about satellites. They will be running the always-entertaining WCOOP Radio show, too, with shows happening every day at 15:00 ET throughout the series.
Best of luck to those able to play. And for those who can’t (or even if you can), let me invite you to play in the Hard-Boiled Poker Home Game tonight on PokerStars, either in a 6-max NLHE tourney (at 20:00 ET) or a Razz one (at 21:00). It’s free to play -- check the sidebar for info on how to join my Home Game.
Had fun last night with Event Nos. 7 and 8 in Season 1 of the Hard-Boiled Poker Home League on PokerStars. Gonna have to think of a groovy name or acronym or something for the series, I think. Something more eye-catching than “HBP HG” or whatever.
Good turnouts last night, too, with 18 players joining both events. The way the league works points are awarded for finishing in the top third of the field, which meant the top six finishers in both tourneys got something points-wise last night.
PokerGeekMN won Event No. 7 (mixed hold’em), with **GMONEY*722 (@throwinrocks) taking second and AvoidOddLaw third. Then in Event No. 8 (2-7 NL) it was Grange95 coming out on top. SmBoatDrinks took second in that one (after finishing fourth in Event No. 7), while I managed to sneak into third.
Hadn’t played deuce-to-seven in a while -- long enough to have forgotten I enjoy the game. I continue to piddle around for small change on those Merge sites (Hero and Carbon), and while they do offer non-standard games there’s almost never anything but hold’em or PLO going.
Can’t say I ever really studied 2-7 NL that carefully. I did long ago read Daniel Negreanu’s short chapter in Super System 2 covering triple draw, though I don’t recall ever read anything specifically teaching how to play no-limit deuce-to-seven. I did learn from Negreanu the importance of starting with at least a deuce, though.
In deuce-to-seven NL and other draw games on PokerStars, you click on the cards you don’t want (i.e., the ones you want to discard) when it comes time to do so. Always seemed intuitive enough to me, although last night someone mentioned how he wished there was an option to do the reverse -- i.e., to click on the cards you want to keep.
In fact, I think he might’ve messed up an early hand after having gotten it backwards. He mentioned how when playing video poker you click the “hold” buttons under the cards you want to keep, and I could see how someone used to doing that might not think to click on unwanted cards.
As I’ve been doing every Sunday, the early tourney (starting at 20:00 ET) featured five-minute levels while I set up the later one (21:00) to have three-minute levels. As it happened, both events ended right around the same time, just after 10 p.m. my time.
I know that three-minute levels essentially turns a tourney into a turbo, but I don’t want to create tourneys that are going to run too late on Sunday nights. So I think I’ll keep with the same format for now, and if the fields continue to increase, I might push the start times back an hour earlier.
After last night’s tourneys, **GMONEY*722 has moved into the top spot in the league standings with thejim2020 and Gambit 727 close behind. That pic above shows the standings at the moment (click to enlarge). We’ve played eight out of the 20 events so far; thus there’s still a way to go and plenty of time for catching up. Will continue to do two events each Sunday night through the end of September, at which point “Season 1” will conclude.
As I mentioned before, the “Season 1” winner will get a copy of Poker: Bets, Beats and Bluffs by Al Alvarez, a nifty book of essay-like chapters that also includes a lot of cool photos and illustrations.
I’m starting a new semester of my “Poker in American Film and Culture” class today, and in fact in today’s first meeting I’ll have the students read and discuss part of the first chapter, titled “The American Game.” That opening by Alvarez does a neat job of explaining how poker is in many ways representative of American culture, a topic I think I might take up tomorrow in another context.
I’ll probably include a Badugi tourney this coming week, and perhaps Omaha/8 for the other. Feel free to pass along suggestions of all kinds for how I might conduct this here tournament series or any ideas I might want to consider for Season 2. Meanwhile, anyone interested in playing in these free tourneys is welcome. If you aren’t in the HBP HG, see the right-hand column for info on joining up.
Played a little poker last night while watching the heavily-edited, frequently-interrupted, and frustratingly-abridged version of the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony on NBC.
Poker-wise much fun was had as Events No. 5 and 6 in the first season of the Hard-Boiled Poker league played out over at PokerStars (in my “Hard-Boiled Poker Home Game”).
There will be 20 events altogether during this inaugural HBP HG season, with two every Sunday night through the end of September. I was determined this week to grab a few points to try and move up a little in the league standings, having played four events without scoring any at all. The way the PokerStars points system works, you have to finish in the top third of a tourney to get any points.
I just missed making the points in Event No. 5, the PLO8 tourney, finishing fifth (of 12) despite playing several hands badly. I did get there in Event No. 6, though, the NLH turbo one in which I turned into a card rack near the end to finish runner-up (of 15).
Last night’s winners were LuckKey4Me (No. 5) and thejim2020 (No. 6). Psx120 managed to grab some points last night to sneak into first place in the Season 1 standings, just ahead of thejim2020 and Gambit 727. Still plenty of opportunities to catch the leaders and win the copy of Poker: Bets, Bluffs and Bad Beats by Al Alvarez (as I talked about Friday). Look to the right for info about joining my Home Game.
Meanwhile, I occasionally enjoyed some of the closing ceremony performances, with Eric Idle’s reprise of Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” a clear highlight. Overall the spectacle seemed more like a super-long, highly uneven Super Bowl halftime show than a logical conclusion to the Olympics narrative, but the bits shown between commercials -- 20 minutes’ worth per hour (no shinola) -- were mostly entertaining to listen to and watch.
Was definitely dismayed, though, by some of NBC’s cuts to the show, including the decision to drop Ray Davies doing “Waterloo Sunset.” Leaving out Muse’s performance of “Survival,” the official song of the London games, seemed another unfortunate omission. We didn’t get to see Kate Bush, either, doing “Running Up That Hill,” the opener from one of the best pop LPs ever, Hounds of Love.
Of course, even when Kate Bush was at her most popular here in the U.S. it was mostly just with a small category of folks, so I get NBC deciding to show other, more familiar acts (although some of those featured in truth aren’t all that big on this side of the pond).
I kept it on, though, as I knew from afternoon tweets that The Who would be coming on at the end to rock Wembley. But NBC weirdly decided to stop the show at 11 p.m. just prior to The Who’s appearance.
“That concludes the closing ceremony,” said host Bob Costas just as the U.K. band Take That finished their tune, “Rule the World,” adding “We’ll be back to wrap things up after this.”
What we were watching didn’t really conclude the closing ceremony, I thought. And that “we’ll be back” teaser made it sound like there was more to come. So with the poker tourneys having long ended, I continued to watch.
Immediately after Costas spoke, NBC began to show the premiere of a new situation comedy it has been incessantly hyping with commercials throughout the last two-and-a-half weeks, Animal Practice. I thought at first I was watching another commercial, but after two minutes realized it was an actual episode.
During that span I saw a woman calling to her cat, Giggles, from the balcony of her high-rise apartment. The cat then leaps from the ledge -- kind of an upsetting thing to see, actually. The show then cuts to the waiting room of an ER for animals, where a doctor soon explains to the cat’s owner that Giggles will survive the fall. The doctor absurdly adds the cat had attempted suicide because it was in heat and frustrated. He then seems to hit on the woman.
It was an especially unfunny and unpleasant couple of minutes. And as soon as I understood it wasn’t stopping after that lame opening, I shut the sucker off and went to bed. I see this morning that NBC apparently did air The Who’s performance an hour later, after the local news.
With Costas’ lead-in and the withholding of the finale, NBC had literally tried to trick some part of its large audience to watch the pilot of this surely-doomed sitcom. As @Franzgleekout tweeted last night “NBC pulling this Animal Practice stunt is like someone who's just stolen your wallet kicking you in the balls for good measure.” Indeed, NBC’s decision-making with regards to scheduling and audience manipulation headlined this morning’s coverage of the show.
I enjoyed following the Olympic Games as much as anyone, but found that other relentless game of hide-and-seek NBC played with its delayed, edited coverage incredibly wearisome. Such a mess, really, and probably symbolic in some way of our highly cynical, commercialized culture.
As a sports fan, I’m glad to be done with all that applesauce and move back to enjoying live sporting events in real time. I’m ready for some football.
What I’m saying is, I’ve got a fever. And the only prescription is...
Been meaning for a while to post something here about my recently-started PokerStars Home Game tourney series, as well as to invite anyone who’d like to play to join up.
This Sunday (August 12) I’m scheduling two more tourneys, starting at 20:00 ET and 21:00 ET. The first will be a pot-limit Omaha high/low tournament (with five-minute levels) and the second a no-limit hold’em tourney (with three-minute levels). The tourneys are free to enter, just costing play chips.
If you haven’t already, you’ll need to join my “Hard-Boiled Poker” Home Game in order to play in the tournaments. The Club ID is 530631 and invitation code noshinola. Once you put in your request to join I have to accept it, then you’ll be able to play. I’ll be off and on the grid this weekend, but don’t worry -- I’ll get in there and accept your request well before the tourneys begin Sunday night.
Those who are already in the HBP HG can go ahead and register for one or both tourneys. You’ll see I’m designating these events “Season 1.” I’m kind of doing a test run of sorts for a tournament series. It started a couple of weeks ago, and will last through the end of September. With two events scheduled every Sunday night, that means there will be 20 events in all for this first season.
To make the whole idea of playing for play chips a little more interesting, I’ve decided to award a prize to the winner of this inaugural HBP Home Game season, a copy of Poker: Bets, Bluffs and Bad Beats by Al Alvarez.
This is Alvarez’s lesser known poker book, with his 1983 The Biggest Game in Town (about the 1981 WSOP) being his most famous. It’s a cool “coffee table”-type book with great essays by Alvarez and a ton of cool photos. As I say, I’ll be shipping a copy to the player coming out on top in this first series.
Gambit 727 has jumped out to an early lead through the first four events, with Psx120 next and FullHouse538 in third. Don’t fret, though, if you haven’t played in any events yet... take down just one tourney and you’ll grab enough points to challenge for the lead.
We’re using the points system devised by the PS Home Games which I haven’t studied too closely but seems fair enough. Each tournament is assigned a point per player; for example, if 15 people play, the tourney awards 15 points total. Those finishing in the top third of the field divide up the points, with the winner getting the most points, second next most, and so on.
Each week I plan to create one non-NLHE event and one NLHE one. Over on the right-hand column you will see the upcoming games listed, and I will probably eventually add a leaderboard over there as well. I may also post something here every once in a while about the games, too, especially once we get near the end of Season 1.
So far we’ve played PLO and H.O.R.S.E. along with a couple of NLHE events. Feel free to leave comments here with suggestions about games to spread and/or other ideas for the HBP tourney series (either for this one or future ones).
Had some fun last night hosting a PokerStars “Home Game” (for play money, natch). Got 15 players to join an 8-game mix tourney I humbly dubbed the “Poker Players Championship.” Also started a “second chance” no-limit hold’em tourney that got almost as many runners and provided some additional grins as well.
Kevmath took down the HBP PPC, outlasting Grange95 and Gambit (who also “cashed”). And Gambit won the second chance event, with insider66 taking second and Merchdawg third.
The 8-game tourney I created had five-minute levels and 3,000 starting chips, and with 15 players it ended up lasting a little over two-and-a-half hours. Meanwhile, the second chance NLHE tourney had three-minute levels and 3,000 to start, and lasted just under an hour.
Had fun during the 8-game event occasionally tossing out faux announcements when games were changing, e.g., “We are now switching the game to 600/1200 Mumbletypeg.” At one point Kevmath asked if Cat’s Cradle could be included, to which I evoked a strict rule -- no string games.
By the way, we also all made sure to ask Kevmath for links to the live stream. And when the reentry period ended.
I’m thinking it might be fun to establish a regular Sunday night game with a main tourney going off at 20:00 ET and a “second chance” one at 21:00 ET. That time frame seems to work for both east and west coasters (although perhaps not so much for our friends in Europe and elsewhere).
Perhaps I can rotate the games for both, with the main tourney always featuring a slower structure than the second chance one, and a goal for both to get done by 10 or 10:30 p.m. ET. Of course, if we get a lot of players it will necessarily take longer to complete, but I’ll try to monitor that (and adjust) as we go.
I’ll start a new “season” of tourneys this week, too, and post the standings here as it unfolds. Gonna ponder a little further on it over the next few days and then announce a schedule. Perhaps I can come up with a prize or three for those who come out on top at season’s end, too.
For now, though, I’ll open it all up to suggestions -- types of tourneys, times, prizes, etc. Comment here or via Twitter @hardboiledpoker. For now, the first event will tentatively be scheduled for this Sunday, July 29, at 20:00 ET, with a “second chance” event at 21:00 ET.
Meanwhile, if you want to join my Home Game, the Club ID number is 530631 and Invitation code noshinola.
Had a nice, relaxing day yesterday, made even nicer by all of the friendly birthday tweets I received. (Thanks again, all.) Yeah, it was my birthday, which I didn’t mention here but did note on Twitter when I decided to host a “Birthday Bash” home game over on PokerStars.
By the way, if you have a PokerStars account and want to join my “Hard-Boiled Poker” home game in which the games are for play money (and pride), the Club ID is 530631 and the invitation code is noshinola. I’ll probably crank up another couple of tourneys this week, which I’ll announce over Twitter (@hardboiledpoker).
Am thinking it might be fun to set up some sort of weekly tourney or league at some point, probably after I return from the WSOP in mid-July. Anyone with suggestions and/or preferences for times, tourney types, structures, etc., feel free to send them along.
Mostly rode out the big day at home, although I did go out at one point for some errands, including a needed visit to the eye doctor.
I’ve worn eyeglasses for most of my adult life, and not long ago got a new prescription and had the lenses replaced in the frame I’ve had for a few years. Unfortunately that old frame finally gave out and broke -- on my Uruguay trip, actually -- and so I had to go in to see about that.
Anyway, I relate this mundane bit of trivia to you mainly because of a funny moment that came up along the way. Before heading over to the eye doctor, I fished around to see if perhaps I had any old glasses lying around. I found a pair, put them on, and was kind of floored by the fact that the world appeared an indecipherable, blurry mess when I looked through them.
Wow, I thought. I didn’t realize my new prescription was that different.
It was my birthday, mind you. And perhaps as a result, ideas of getting older and bodies failing and all the other existential applesauce that sometimes accompany such momentous occasions surfaced even more quickly than usual.
I indulged for a few minutes in a probably predictable bit of brooding, then found more immediate distractions to keep such thoughts at bay. You know, like usual. What our lives mostly consist of, right? Staying in motion. Keeping busy. Looking at what’s just ahead.
Eventually Vera got home and at some point we got around to discussing my quest for a new pair of spectacles. Something in my story sounded a little off to her, and quickly she set it right after pointing out where I’d gone wrong.
That old pair of glasses I’d tried on weren’t mine. They were hers. No wonder I couldn’t see a thing through them.
In my defense, Vera’s glasses do look very similar to mine, with the same small oval lenses. Even to people who can see clearly. Her prescription is much, much different, though. And really, if I’d thought about it for more than a few seconds, I’d have realized there was no way those lenses were at any point in time ever correct for me.
In fact, after a bit more searching I did find an older pair of mine from a few years back, and after putting them on realized my vision hasn’t weakened all that much over the last few years.
Thought it was funny, though, how quickly and easily self-doubt can come. Happens in poker all the time, even in a single hand. We make a decision on an early street about an opponent’s possible holdings, then something happens later to make us doubt that earlier read.
“Man, did I see things badly before,” we think. Then come to find out we were seeing just fine earlier, it was later we started misread the situation. Not to mention misread our own judgment -- our ability to see -- as well.
Have to say I’ve all but given up on online poker at the moment. Still have those small rolls on a couple of Merge sites (Hero and Carbon), but a recent “upgrade” of the Merge network has introduced so many issues that playing anything has become quite a struggle.
Two days ago I thought I’d try a sit-n-go on Hero, but couldn’t get past the initial tourney lobbies to get a seat. Then yesterday I did manage to register for one, but when the SNG began the table never opened. When I tried to open the table manually, I encountered the above image.
None more black, as Nigel Tufnel would say.
I tweeted that picture yesterday, in response to which Kevmath quipped: “That picture's still loading, what's supposed to happen? #CWIDT.” I told him it was reminding me of the old Full Tilt Poker promise “You're just a few seconds away from playing the most exciting poker games anywhere online” we used to stare at when the client wouldn’t load.
Was kind of funny, actually, as the tourney lobby continued to reflect the SNG going on as usual, with the levels going up and the stack sizes changing, ostensibly because blinds were being won. At one point I was weirdly leading the SNG, then just as strangely two-thirds of my stack disappeared and I was last. I can’t figure how that could happen without someone actually playing my stack, but who knows?
In any case, after about 40 minutes or so the SNG was finally shut down and the entry fees refunded. Meanwhile, I did manage to get a cash table to load, and everyone there was complaining in the chat box about various problems they were encountering with the site, including difficulties related to cashing out.
Speaking of, players on Lock Poker -- which recently broke away from Merge to join up with Cake Poker to form their own network, called Revolution Gaming -- apparently have encountered some examples of credit card fraud related to the cards they’ve used on that site. Players on Carbon Poker (still with Merge) have encountered similar issues, as PokerFuse reported yesterday.
I mentioned before how after running into initial difficulty when attempting to deposit on sites following Black Friday, I essentially gave up trying. Eventually I won some cabbage in freerolls on both Hero and Carbon, and that’s the money with which I’ve played on those sites. I have never tried to withdraw from either (not that there’s much there to take out).
My friend Bob, the Poker Grump, had similar difficulties with Merge yesterday. Bob has been more adventurous than I with online poker of late. Just the other day he wrote an informative post updating his current experiences with various sites, including Bovada, Black Chip Poker (a Merge site), Luvin Poker (an Everleaf site), the Winning Poker Network (formerly known as Doyle’s Room), and Cake Poker. The post provides good overview of the post-apocalyptic-wasteland-like-scene we currently have here in the U.S. as far as online poker is concerned.
Meanwhile, play money games on PokerStars work beautifully. I always liked Stars’ software much better than FTP’s, actually, and don’t really get it when people keep repeating the line that FTP had the best software at the time of its demise.
I started a Hard-Boiled Poker “Home Game” several months months ago, and at the end of the Punta del Este trip I finally invited some of my buddies to join and we played a few SNGs. Gave me the idea to crank up the sucker for real, perhaps eventually hosting some sort of weekly tourney for readers of the blog.
If anyone with a PokerStars account wants to join my Home Game, the Club ID is 530631 and the invitation code is noshinola. (Here’s an overview of what PS Home Games are and how they work, in case you aren’t up on them.) I’ll probably wait a bit to see if the club fills up with folks, and if it does I’ll start scheduling some tourneys for us. Will announce tourneys via Twitter (@hardboiledpoker) and perhaps write about them here, too.
Might be fun. Something to do, anyway, while this other game is still loading.
I first started playing online poker many years ago. PokerStars was the first site I joined, and for several months I only played for play money. In fact, even after I made my first deposit, I continued to split time between the play money games and real money games. Eventually I managed to build up that initial deposit into a modest roll, then at some point left the play money games behind for good.
When I think back to those days of battling for play chips, a couple of things spring to mind. One is how useful it was to practice that way. Even though the play was at times crazily erratic, with the absence of real money encouraging a lot of loose, undisciplined play, I know I learned a lot both in the ring games and tournaments that proved helpful for me over on the cash side.
There was one other aspect of the play money games I remember -- a lot of socializing in the chat box. In fact, I recall getting to know quite a number of folks, players whom I eventually found myself searching for whenever I signed on. If they happened to be online too, I would usually join their tables and engage in what was often a lot of fun, entertaining banter while playing.
Whereas I took a lot of the strategy I’d learned over to the cash games once I made that move, the socializing/chatting I quickly left behind. I encountered a few players here and there who would try to open up genuinely friendly conversations -- that is, players who wanted to talk about something other than an opponent’s resemblance to barnyard animals or invite others to have relations with themselves -- but for the most part it was all business, even when playing for pennies.
It’s pretty much been that way ever since for me online. I’ll occasionally find myself in special tournaments or situations where I’m playing against friends (or friendly types) and some socializing will happen, but for the most part I’m completely on my own, each session another silent, solo flight.
For a couple of reasons, then, the announcement this week of these new PokerStars Home Games made me think again about those early play money days. One was the fact that the Home Games are being rolled out initially on the dot-net (i.e., play money) side only, although word is they’ll become available on the cash side in the very near future. The other reason, though, was how the idea of setting up these private “clubs” reminded me of those early chat-filled games.
I’ve been reading around about the new Home Games, exploring the FAQs to find out more about how they’ll work. It looks like each player is only allowed to set up a single “club” (for which he or she will act as “Club Manager”), but everyone is able to participate in as many as three different clubs. Also, each club is limited to 50 participants.
When setting up a club, the Club Manager chooses a name and also creates a special invitation code that he or she then gives to invited players. From what I can tell, there isn’t a way to send that invite/code through the PokerStars client, but it has to be done separately (e.g., via email). Once a player gets an invite, he or she will click on a “Join a Poker Club” button and enter the code. Sounds a little like those ESPN “clubs” for fantasy leagues or pick’em pools, actually.
The Club Manager also acts as a Club Administrator, and can additionally grant administrative privileges to other invited players, including scheduling tournaments and setting up customized ring games. Most of the games are available (hold’em, Omaha, stud, H.O.R.S.E.), and via the game management tools one can customize a number of details like the way the club lobby looks and so on. Sounds like there are ways to set up leaderboards, player stats, and other fun stuff, too.
Interestingly, the Chat Moderators who are available to arbitrate all of the other cash games and poker tournaments on the site will not be around to help out for the Home Games, the idea being you’re playing with people you know (and trust) and thus there won’t be a need for the Mods to come settle disputes. Could end up creating some issues, I suppose, including problems with collusion (Home Games players are able to play from the same IP address, says the FAQ), but this kind of makes sense.
Once this opens up on the dot-com side, I’m thinking it might be cool to set up a “Hard-Boiled Poker Club,” although I kind of wish I could invite more than 50 friends to play. I imagine PokerStars will probably keep tweaking things and perhaps will lift that restriction down the road if some ask them to do so.
Could be strange, actually, to “host” games like this online. Probably would feel some responsibility to ensure all were enjoying themselves whenever they came to my little “club” to play. In any event, I think for those who do end up taking part in this Home Games idea, the main purpose for participating would have to be to increase one’s enjoyment of the game -- to socialize and have fun -- and not (necessarily) to profit.
I know that’s an idea that is foreign to some poker players, namely, that one can play poker for reasons other than to make money. But for a lot of us “recreational” players (as I’ve here confessed myself to be), there really are other reasons why we like to play.
Something I learned -- along with basic strategy, hand rankings, and the like -- way back during those days of playing for play chips.
