Posts Tagged ‘world series of poker’

I’m about to leave for the airport, and it occurs to me that I haven’t actually posted about my Main Event plans! I’ll be at the 2+2 party tonight and then playing my first day on July 9th, Day 1C. I’m in Vegas until at least the 12th, hopefully longer, so please let me know if you’re in town. I don’t have a lot of plans past the 9th.

Despite the record-setting turnout in the preliminary events, I’m predicting a smaller main event than we’ve seen in recent years. I think the influx at the prelims is largely due to relatively serious American players who in past years skipped the prelims to play online but this year didn’t have that option. I believe most of the players were already playing in the Main Event, so there won’t be the same surge of new players. Add to that the lack of online satellites for US players and I expect to see fewer than 6000 this year. Of course I hope to be proven wrong.

I know the Twitter account hasn’t been too active lately, but now is a good time to start following @thinkingpoker, because there will be plenty to say while I’m in Vegas.

Wish me luck and stay tuned!

As “The Poker Philosopher”, and in honor of one of my favorite non-poker blogs, I occasionally consider the ethical dimensions of a high-profile controversy in the poker community. Today, I consider the WSOP Ladies’ Event, which began yesterday and is scheduled to conclude tomorrow. Older editions of The Poker Ethicist are available in the archives.

Once again this year, a handful of men have entered the WSOP Ladies’ Event, citing a belief that a women-only event is discriminatory and a Nevada Gaming Commission policy that prevents the WSOP from actually excluding, rather than just discouraging, male players. Critics of these men say that they are only playing because they expect the field to be softer (no pun intended) than open events of comparable buy-in.

Do these men have a case for discrimination? Is it ethical for the WSOP to offer an event that excludes (or at least attempts to exclude) players based on their gender?

Shaun Deeb in the 2010 WSOP Ladies' Event

It is. This event serves not to exclude but to include.  Read the complete post...

Now that the WSOP is in full-swing, many players will be taking a shot or two at events well above their usual buy-in levels. This can be a great opportunity, because the $1000 and $1500 NLHE events attract hundreds of players weaker than what you’d see in an average $20 MTT on PokerStars.

What sets these tournaments apart is that, unlike the $20 donkament, they also attract some of the best tournament players in the world. This means that if you run bad at table drawing, you could end up with David Baker or Tony Dunst on your left. Understandably, this is a stressful thought for less experienced players considering these events. I have a couple of pieces of advice for these players:

1. Take Advantage of the Opportunity. Presumably part of the reason you are playing this tournament is for the experience of playing at the WSOP. Well, part of that experience is butting heads with the best of the world. Of course you’d rather watch them from afar than from their immediate right, but you can’t control that now. Observe them closely and try to pick up a few things that you can add to your own game. Even if they end up taking your chips, at least you’ll have learned something in the process.  Read the complete post...

Last week, I posted plans to play a few of the early WSOP preliminary events. I was scheduled to leave for that trip this morning.

I woke up feeling miserable this morning, so much so that I didn’t feel up to the long flight from Charleston, SC to Las Vegas, nor was I confident that I’d feel up to playing the $5K tomorrow, which was my primary reason for going. After looking over my schedule again, it didn’t seem worth it to fly out there for just a $1K, a $1500, and a small-field $10K, so I just canceled the whole trip.

Despite having reservations for a flight and a room at the Rio that together amounted to more than $800, it cost me barely $50 to cancel everything. I lost my first night at the Rio, which was wicked cheap because it was a weeknight, and the cost of my flight is fully reusable within one year. Heart Southwest Airlines!

My biggest regret is that I was planning on meeting a few of you in Las Vegas, and that isn’t going to happen now. I’m very sorry to miss you, but hopefully some of you will be around during the Main Event as well, which I still fully intend to play.

Before I became a serious poker player, I loved to watch poker on TV. Now, I can hardly stand it. I did watch a few episodes of this year’s WSOP broadcast, mostly from the days I expected to be on there and for the final table coverage. It’s clearly increased in sophistication over the years, jettisoning the “rules of NLHE” segment and adding features like VP$IP statistics. I’m assuming this reflects an audience that understands the game a lot better than it did several years ago.

Nevertheless, I feel like they still cater too much to the lowest common denominator. I realize there are (hopefully) tons of people watching who aren’t going to care one lick about table dynamics or anything like that, but I don’t see how it hurts them to include some information that is slightly beyond their understanding. I feel like that’s generally how sports are covered. Presumably football commentators sometimes talk about plays or factors that are beyond the understanding of some appreciable chunk of their audience, but they get away with it.

Given that they are making some effort to speculate as to why players are playing hands the way they are, I believe that they ought to try to get it right. On the 2+2 Pokercast recently, Lon Mceachern said something to the effect of, “There are 100 different ways to play a hand, so no matter what explanation you’re going to give, you’re not going to please everyone.”  Read the complete post...

What a run. In the last two days I’ve 20x’ed my chips without ever seeing TT, QQ, KK, or AA. I did have AK quite a few times today, though, and I connected with a few flops when it counted.

I stole more than my share of pots for a few hands, then made a questionable 4-bet shove with AKo. UTG+1 had raised to 2500, and I called with AKo next to his act. Then Brian Jensen re-raised to 8500, the raiser folded, and I shoved like 55K. He snap-called with KK, and then though I turned a flush draw, I couldn’t get there on the river. I probably should have just 3-bet the original raiser, and that would have had the added advantage of being able to get away if Brian cold 4-bet. Anyway, that didn’t help.

Not long after, I flatted a raise from a kind of active older Japanese guy with 99 on my BB. Flop was perfect: A92 with a flush draw. I check, he bets 4000, I raise to 14000, he calls. Turn A. I bet 30K, he puts me all in for like 75K total, I call and hold vs. his AQ.  Read the complete post...

Well, today’s the day! I’ll be playing Day 1C, beginning in about 3 hours. I know I don’t tweet much outside of poker tournaments, but I will be sending updates from my phone about chip counts and big pots. You can follow me at www.twitter.com/thinkingpoker. Of course I’ll post some more detailed info to the blog tomorrow as well.

Thanks to all those who are rooting for me!

I’m embarrassed to say that I’d never heard of Praz before I played with him during this year’s PCA, but I could tell immediately that he was a great player. He has this intense table presence that you rarely see, where you can tell he is studying everything that happens at the table, considering all of his options, and fighting for every pot he possibly can. Getting involved in a pot with him was intimidating, so it was no surprise how many blinds he was able to steal.

Like I say, I’m embarrassed I hadn’t heard of him, because it’s clear to me that he’s soon going to be recognized as a top-tier player. He final tabled the most recent WSOP Europe and now has won his second bracelet in a huge field $1500 NLHE tournament. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Praz, but hopefully not at my tables.