WSOP Main Event – Day 1D Round up

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: General, Tournaments
• Date: Jul 8,2008

This is the grand final for Day 1.  The Day 1D is the last chance people get to join the tournament, and as a result stands to be the busiest day in the tournament.  Today saw aggressive play from many well-known players as well as many ‘amateurs’ or should I say soon to be Pros.

Today’s grand total of entrants was a staggering 2,461.  This is more players than Day 1A and Day 1B combined – and it just goes to show how popular this tournament is, and how many people were ‘waiting’ to judge the field before they stepped in with their $10,000 buy-in.  Now we know today’s figure we can tell you how many people are going to be in the main competition.

Are you ready? 6844.  This gives a staggering total of over $64 million dollars in the prize pool and it looks set to be a very fierce competition this year, as only the top 666 players will win any money.  The good news is however, we have a lot of poker to play and hands to deal before we get anywhere near the good stuff.

So With Day 1D being the largest, was it the fiercest also? It looks set to be, with many professional players coming into the fold today.  With Phil Hellmuth making his ‘grand’ entrance today as well as Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey and Johnny Chan.

Today’s competition ended at nearly 1AM and the top six were

Steve Austin 149,000
David Oppenheim 123,000
Victor Ramdim 121,000
Carlos Mortenson 109,000
Gus Hanson 105,000

Surprisingly Phil Hellmuth’s wondrous entrance did not seem to help much, as he managed to finish the day with a mediocre 75,800 chips.  Enough to qualify, but certainly not enough to lead.  Surprisingly, last year’s champion Mr. Jerry Yang – managed to scrape by with a very mediocre 26,600 chips. 

This really was an aggressive and a well played day by everyone.

Congratulations, and enjoy your well-deserved one day vacation!

WSOP Main Event. Day 1B and Day 1C Round up

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: General, Tournaments
• Date: Jul 7,2008

This is the second official day of the World Series of Poker, and today sees more entrants than yesterday, with a grand total of 1158 entries into the competition.  It is still unclear as to just how many people will enter, but we will soon find out as the four days draw to a close.

Day 1B hosted inside the Amazon room of the Rio in Las Vegas.  In the end it came down to 615 players – surprisingly so far the competition has been remarkably vicious and numerous poker stars have already been eliminated. 

Amongst the current fold – the leading top six include
Brian Schaedlich $160,725
Robert Mizrachi $142,400
Nick Caltabiano $127,700
Liya Gerasimova $111,050
Robert Eckstut $110, 275

Being hosted on the fourth of July, we saw a large number of American flags being waved.  Every player on the field was given a miniature U.S.A flag but it has to be noted that at least a third of all players are foreign.

Sadly the number of players today was a little below expectations, but the play was still fierce and at the end of the day there was a spectacular fireworks ensemble.

Day 1C

Day 1C drew a much larger field of players than the previous few days. With 1928 entrants it is the largest so far.  Today saw a large number of poker pros in the field names including Max Pescatori, Huck Seed, T.J Cloutier, Larry Flynt, Sammy Farha, Kirk Morrison and Tony G to name a few, they were also sadly almost all eliminated by the players.  Former WSOP Champion Chris Moneymaker also graduated from Day 1C alongside some other well-known’s, but today saw a large number of players survive ready and waiting for Day 2.

In total – there are now 1,026 players that survived Day 1C currently ready for the next stage of the competition.

Good luck, you’ll all need it!

World Series of Poker – Main Event Day 1A Round up

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: General
• Date: Jul 5,2008

Today sees the end of the first day of play for the final event in the World Series. This event is so huge; it will run from the 3^rd July to November 10, 2008. Because of this, the first day has actually been split into four “sub” days named Day1-A Day1-B Day1-C and Day1-D.

Currently registration for this tournament remains open until Sunday. Until then no one knows how many people will enter for the poker tournament where the only requirement is $10,000 and enough time to win your millions.

With 155 tables – there was a grand number of players in the field for the first evening. However after five minutes, we saw our first loss, a rather disappointed Mr Barry Clancy of Texas who lost with 2 aces against 3 jacks.

In the first day there were also three “feature” tables from ESPN, the main table including the 98 Champion Scotty Nguyen, and the two other feature tables including popular and well-known players Bill Gazes and Ciaran O’Leary.

Day one also saw to eliminate a few previous champions. Bobby Baldwin, Berry Johnston, and Dan Harrington all did not manage to continue. Today also saw witness to well known television celebrity Jason Alexander being knocked out mid-way into the day. However popular actor Ray Romano managed not to succumb to a loss and knuckled down to survive until day two.

The grand leader of Day1-A is Mark Garner with a staggering 194,900 chips from an initial 20,000.

Stay tuned as we cover the main event.

Basic Hold’em Continued

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: General
• Date: Jun 29,2008

We’re going to take a look at limit Hold’em games today and try to work out a few basic playing strategies that will hopefully help you increase your game.  Follow these tips at your own caution; they come with absolutely no guarantee, but if you find an improvement in your game afterwards – please stop by to say thank you!

So to start, let’s recap on Hold’em rules.

1) – The Highest hand wins.
2) – Ace plays High & Low for straights
3) – You can raise three times
4) – Players may use any number of hole cards to make their hand.

Okay – so, how do we win this game?

From the rules we can recognize that Texas Hold’em is a ‘high-card’ game.  So, the highest card wins.  This obviously means exactly what it says, and it confers a little bit of advice as well.

There are three stages:

Flop
Turn
River

Only play your stronger hands!

This means being very selective and when you are early in the betting sequence, not afraid to fold.

Button

The button is an important feature of Texas Hold’em.  It is a little marker that signifies who the "dealer" would be if the game had one. 
If you are left of the button by one or two spots, you will be required to "post the blind" This means you are required to bet a pre-determined amount this round.  If you are posting blinds, stay in until the flop.

Tomorrow we’re going to continue, and talk more on hand strategy, so in the meanwhile have a play in some of our sponsored rooms and get a feel for the game.

Hold’em and other Poker.

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: General
• Date: Jun 27,2008

Hold’em has brought a huge influx of poker players back to the tables, both experienced and ‘newbies’ at the same time. As a result, there is a great contrast of players out there, and many people may be experienced at poker, but inexperienced at Hold’em in specific.

Today we’re going to take a quick look at some Hold’em fundamentals in order to hopefully improve your game, and teach you some discipline! Like any betting game, Discipline is the number one rule.

So – You need to learn discipline for yourself. Remember and work a system and play within your own limits. Even if you think you’re a pro if you play risky hands expect to suffer. Only play within your system, and only play what you can afford to lose..

Betting; the heart and soul of any poker game. If we play for money, this is where it comes down to. Many players show their hand by the amount they bet, and in no-limits Hold’em good betting is a very important strategy. There are two kinds of betters, those that play for money, and those that play for ego. Betting is not about winning, it’s about taking a percentage of the pot based on odds. You put your money in, when you have a high chance of winning and when that chance improves, so does your wager. It is important to regulate your betting behaviour, and follow through with the discipline rule.

Remember, poker may just be a game, but these two rules above, are the foundations of any poker game regardless of whether it is Hold’em Omaha or any other. They also apply to both online and offline poker rooms and they take a lot of practice. Be patient and follow your own rules and you will develop as a strong poker player.