UIGEA and its effects a month after D-day

Before June 1st, the online poker world had a perpetual Damocles’ sword hanging above, the unknown about what would follow the full enactment of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) a threat tossed into a back room but never forgotten about. Politicians and organizations representing the interests of poker players had done everything they could, yet the inevitable continued to draw near. Apparently, there wasn’t anything one could do but to accept the role of spectator and hope for the best. Now, one month after the fateful day, it is high-time we took a look back at how the UIGEA has made its effects on the online poker community.

As far as player numbers are concerned, the infamous law doesn’t seem to have made any sort of an impact. According to the PPA (Poker Players’ Alliance), player numbers have stayed steady as the deadline passed, and there are at least as many Americans playing online poker these days as there were before June 1st. What exactly does this mean as far as the UIGEA’s restrictions are concerned? It means that players had already made adjustments well before the “dreaded” deadline. I remember that when president Bush signed the bill into a law, there was widespread panic in online poker and online gambling circles. Players made all the moves they deemed necessary then, thus the June 1st deadline didn’t really present them with any new challenges. E-wallets were the preferred payment method chosen by poker players, because the UIGEA only affected payments made to online poker sites and funds received from such sources. The e-wallet acts as a buffer between the true source of the funds and the recipients, so transferring money to and from any of these e-wallets is still perfectly legal.

The PPA has apparently asked players to communicate any UIGEA-related money transfer problems to them, and so far very few such complaints were logged, which means players do not encounter out of the ordinary problems when going about their online poker related financial matters.
The interesting – and in a way ironic – this about the UIGEA is that its provisions failed to even slow online poker down, while they seriously disrupted online horse racing operations, which were exempted from under the said restrictions. Poker sites have adjusted together with the poker players, so by the time the UIGEA came into full effect, the online poker world had already adapted to a post-UIGEA environment. Online horse racing sites, apparently not threatened by the law, saw no need to adopt similarly radical measures concerning their funds transfer systems. The fact that the UIGEA has pretty much killed all credit card deposits therefore hurt them the most.

Meanwhile, the offensive to repeal the UIGEA continues. The PPA and various other political entities involved in the battle are already planning their next move: they intend to bring to attention the way the UIGEA has failed to achieve what it was supposed to, and to once again come up with alternatives which are based on the repealing of the obviously ineffective (and quite possibly unconstitutional) piece of legislation.
July seems the be the month for action for the PPA. The organization is requesting donations for the renewed offensive, donations which can be made at their website.

Phil Ivey – on a roll again

Phil Ivey has apparently set himself a rather ambitious goal as far as WSOP bracelets are concerned. The Full Tilt Poker pro has said shortly after he pocketed his 8th gold bracelet the other day that he would aim to win 30 such pieces of jewelry in his poker career. The statement was a rather shocking one, in light of the fact that the person with the most WSOP bracelets is currently Phil Hellmuth, who’s won 11 thus far. Considering that it’s coming from Phil Ivey though, a player well known for his cool headedness and for his abilities at the green felt (many consider him the best pound for pound poker player in the world today), there may be some weight behind it.

First of all, compared to most other professional sports, poker offers an overwhelmingly high number of chances for players to grab a WSOP bracelet each year. Both in Golf and in Tennis, there a lot fewer such opportunities, yet the top players have managed to accumulate around 20 titles without problems. I know what you’ll say: in none of those sports is the outcome as dependent on luck as it is in poker. While there are a massive 60 bracelet opportunities each year, the luck factor means that one person will find it extremely difficult to constantly walk away with the gold. The skill factor certainly means that a player with Ivey’s skills will consistently go deep in various events, but the luck factor is potent enough to deny the win nonetheless. Event with luck factored in though, Ivey stands a pretty good chance to walk away with at least a bracelet each year. As long as he keeps making final tables, it’s just a question of enough shots given for him to make it all the way.
The other variable in the equation is the number of years that Ivey’s poker career will span. Unlike most professional sports though, age is not really a factor in poker. A certain amount of mental decline is inevitable with age, but that has not been known to affect players’ poker performances significantly. One should only look at Doyle Brunson for inspiration in this respect, but the Legend himself is just one of many who play well into their seventies. The record breaking starting field at the seniors’ event has certainly proved that rather than the exception, Tex Dolly is actually the rule.
Holdem still seems to be the most popular poker variant at the WSOP and it keeps attracting the biggest starting fields. For a Holdem specialist, it’s obviously pretty tough to wade through all the competition on the way to a title. Ivey however, is quite adept at PLO and mixed games as well. These poker variants, when combined with high buy-ins, create perfect opportunities for Ivey and for other players like him to make deep runs.
One might ask if he’s indeed that capable of scoring bracelets, why is it that he’s only scored 8 so far? The reason is simple: a few years ago, players like Ivey had little to no motivation when it came to fighting for bracelets. These days though, thanks to the side bets which have upped the stakes on bracelets considerably for these guys, most of the top online and live poker players are back in WSOP action.

Last but certainly not least, we mustn’t forget that it’s Phil Ivey we’re talking about. If this guy sets his sight on something, chances are he won’t stop until he achieves what he wants.

Top World Series of Poker stories

Having reached the half-way point of the 2010 WSOP, I reckon it’s about time we turned around and took a look at the stories yielded by the Series so far, because they have been plenty and plenty diverse too.
First on the order of the day is the British invasion. It’s not a secret that the Brits are generally good poker players, but this year, their contingent has pretty much surpassed all expectations so far. No fewer than 3 Englishmen walked away with WSOP bracelets, and that fact alone doesn’t even begin to describe their dominance. Praz Bansi, James Dempsey and Richard Ashby were the ones who grabbed bracelets during the first half of the Series. Dempsey is one of the prime candidates for the WSOP Player of the Year title, having won a bracelet and having come pretty darn close to winning a second one too.
Praz Bansi was the one who started the “invasion”. He won his bracelet in the $1,500 NL Holdem event. Dempsey followed him with his bracelet win, then Ashby captured the title in the $1,500 7-Card Stud event, proving that NL Holdem was not the only game in which the Brits excelled.

The other big story of the 2010 Series was – and I probably should’ve put this one first – Michael Mizrachi. There’s no doubting the fact that Mizrachi was one of the hottest up and coming young players a few years ago. It’s also no secret that his subsequent evolution as a poker player was quite a disappointment. Not content with heading back down the path to anonymity like so many before him, Mizrachi made a stellar comeback in the 2010 Series. His win in the $50k Players’ Championship event was an awesome one, but he did not rest on his laurels in the wake of that achievement either. He followed it up with a 6th place finish in the 7-Card Stud World Championship event and a few more deep runs in other – smaller buy-in – events.

When it comes to individual performance, we just have to talk about Vladimir Schmelev. A virtual unknown before the 2010 WSOP, Schmelev burst onto the scene in a more than spectacular fashion, surviving all the way to 2nd place in the Players’ World Championship, which Mizrachi eventually won.
He made his second final table in the $10k 7-Card Stud World Championship, and eventually finished in 7th place. He appeared near the top of the ranks in pretty much every World Championship event in the Series so far.
Though he seems like he’s been in a rut lately, the Russian may yet have a few tricks up his sleeve in the remaining 20 or so events.

Tom Dwan has definitely stolen quite a bit of the spotlight this year. He did so not by winning bracelets though, neither by finishing near the top in various events. Rather, the most radical representative of the new nosebleed stakes online poker generation drew attention through the ridiculously large prop bets he made with fellow poker professionals and through his eagerness to play in as many of the small buy-in events as possible. Dwan came tantalizingly close to securing his own piece of WSOP gold in Event #11. He fell just short of the goal though, losing to Simon Watt heads-up, and thus failing to win an untold amount of money in side bets. The Series is still on though, and Dwan still has plenty of opportunities to turn life extremely sour for Daniel Negreanu and Mike Matusow, two of the players who probably have quite of bit of money riding on the said side-bets.

Some thoughts on the WSOP’s $1,000 Ladies’ Event

The $1,000 NL Holdem Ladies’ Championship event of the 2010 WSOP may not have been the biggest buy-in one and it may not have attracted the largest starting field either, but it has definitely generated the most buzz of all WSOP events by far. This event is slowly but surely becoming a source of perpetual conflict as more and more people set about creating havoc in it for whatever reason each year. Now, I’ll put this forth from the start: I’m not about to take sides in this conflict, because it’s way too awkward and weird for me to do that.

Here are the facts: several male poker players, including Shaun Deeb and David Sesso, registered to play in the Ladies’ event. One may ask: well, what were these guys doing registering for a ladies’ event? I know…It pretty much left me puzzled as well. Why on earth would any guy want to play in a ladies event of anything? I mean there’s women’s basketball and it would obviously not be proper for a guy to take part in that…Since we all like to consider poker a sport, why would one of us want to participate in the ladies’ event? I know some folks are going to say that gender segregation in this case is bad because it conveys the wrong message. While on the basketball court women may not be able to keep up physically with the male athletes, that is certainly not the case at the poker table, where all one has to do is to sit around and to get a massage every now and then when the going becomes taxing and uncomfortable. Other than that, poker only requires thought and in that respect, women are obviously quite equal to men.

In a statement released on YouTube:

Shaun Deeb says among other things that the very reason they decided to register for the event was to protest gender segregation as a means of belittling women’s intellectual capabilities. While apparently it does make sense, that assertion is a rather leaky one from several angles. I mean if you’re going out there with the risk of making a fool of yourself to show respect for poker playing women, why on earth would you go in drag? I don’t care if Shaun lost a prop bet regarding the drag thing or not, it’s just not done. It smells of mockery and of juvenile hot-headedness. It’s a gesture far more suited for a frat party than for a WSOP event, especially one where the author intends to show respect for women.

Sure, some folks may have supported Deeb and his peers, but the fact that the majority of the women applauded whenever a male player was eliminated says quite a lot about how those players felt about the issue. Deeb says all he did was to engage into friendly table chatter with the women at his table to assure them of his support. Has it ever occurred to him that maybe those women never felt the need for anyone to support them? Maybe they just wanted a friendly game of poker in an all-female environment, without any cross-dressed male supporters cheering them on from across the table. Why on earth would they ever need any kind of support? They are full-fledged and fully capable poker players, aren’t they? Would Shaun Deeb like some guy in drag to continuously assure him of his support from the next seat in the events in which he plays?

Was it right on the part of the security to harass these guys for being there? No. They should never have harassed them. They should never have allowed them to enter the tournament area in the first place since it was obvious they were up to no good. Want to voice your opinion on the matter? Want to protest gender segregation in poker? By all means, do it. Just don’t mess up other people’s game while at it.
Does it feel awkward to have embarrassed yourself in public? It should. Swallow the pill and don’t go on the air depicting yourself as a victim. It’s the only decent thing to do after a stunt like that.

Tom Dwan still bracelet-less

There’s a HUGE difference between mere mortals playing in WSOP events and well-known poker pros doing the same. For us mortals, the game is about the money, thus all we root for is to finish as high as possible on the final leader-board to possibly build us a house instead of buying a car. For pros, it’s about bracelets. Even this attitude of theirs offers these guys an advantage. While mere mortals will settle for being “farmers”, pros like Tom Dwan will always be “foxes”. They will fully exploit the lulls preceding various bubbles, and they will generally enjoy all the advantages offered by the fact that they’re only interested in all the marbles.
I mean for a guy like Sam Farha, what do a few hundred thousands dollars mean? Not much. From a strictly financial perspective, the first place prize doesn’t mean a whole lot either. How come then that the tiny piece of WSOP jewelry is so precious for these players? The answer is simple. No longer satisfied by the prizes awarded by various WSOP events, professionals have turned to prop bets.

The WSOP is a living-breathing entity which evolves constantly. Before the Chris Moneymaker/Greg Raymer years, only a few of the pros attended the events. In the wake of the popularity explosion caused by the above mentioned two PokerStars pros and by the internet, countless amateurs have been drawn to the tables, thus indirectly re-introducing value for the pros. Prize-pools sky-rocketed and the level of competition became extremely attractive as well. Television got involved too, and soon, high stakes pros were lured back to the tables yet again hoping to catch a feature table where they could work off their 15 minutes of fame. Apparently, every time pros would have a reason to lose interest in the Series, something new came along that brought them right back to the tables.
With the advent of nosebleed stakes online games, Bobby’s room would no longer be the only place where players could wager incredible amounts of money. Soon, a nosebleed stakes online poker elite developed which was then joined by many of the “name” pros world over. Many of these players have built bankrolls beyond the wildest dreams of mortals, and thus they lost interest in the WSOP again. Why would Tom Dwan bust himself playing in an event, the first prize of which would barely equate one average size pot that he routinely plays for? What is playing in a $2,000 event for Phil Ivey if not the purest form of wasted time? The prop bet was the factor that brought these guys back to the WSOP tables yet again.

I’m sure you know about Dwan’s 2010 bracelet chase already. Supposedly, he has a huge amount of money riding on prop bets, money that could end up in his bankroll in case he won a bracelet. Exactly how much money it is that he’s looking to win no one knows, but the mere fact that he shows so much interest in the issue means it’s probably much more than we could ever fathom.
Event #11, the $1,500 NL Holdem one, in which Dwan finished runner-up may have thus seen the largest prize-jump from 2nd place to 1st. Officially, Dwan won $381,885 for his second place finish, while the winner pocketed $614,248. The actual difference was much bigger than $232,363 though. Word has it, the total Dwan stands to collect after a possible bracelet win, is somewhere around $9 million. Mike Matusow dropped the number $12.5 million in an interview. The validity of these numbers cannot be confirmed, but given that Matusow is one of the players who quite literally danced across the room in the wake of Dwan’s loss in event #11, his words have to carry a lot of weight in the matter.

Dwan took the disappointing loss in stride though. The following day, he was right back at the tables, stacking chips and peeking at hole-cards as if nothing had happened. Was he disappointed to have come so near to taking down the biggest pot of his life? He probably was, but he looked genuinely excited nonetheless, obviously enjoying his position, having found yet another meaning in the WSOP.

An in-depth look at the $50k Players’ Championship event

The first major event of the 2010 WSOP carried great significance. Besides the fact that it pretty much set the tone for the rest of the Series, the $50,000 Players’ Championship event would introduce several changes over the $50k HORSE event which it replaced for the first time this year. All those changes represented reasons for jitters for the organizers. First of all, the familiar HORSE structure was changed to an 8-game structure this year, with the addition of NL Holdem and PL Omaha to the mix. The final table of the event would ditch the 8-game structure – so difficult to keep up with for TV viewers – and it would adopt a straightforward NL Holdem one.
With so many things going on, how did the biggest buy-in event of the 2010 WSOP fare? The answer to that question is a resounding “great!” from just about every angle.

The event saw the emergence of Michael Mizrachi, one of the toughest grinders of the poker world ever to go bracelet-less for such an extended period of time. Michael Mizrachi fought his way through a stellar field, which lacked fish almost completely. The super slow structure of the event definitely played into his hands, minimizing the luck factor and creating an almost endless grind most of the participants were ill-equipped to handle.
At the end of it all, Mizrachi, who had lately only seen the spotlight on account of his IRS problems, drove home the point that despite his previous lack of WSOP success, he was in fact one of the best live poker players of his generation.
The final table of the event couldn’t possibly have been a better one. Robert Mizrachi, Michael’s brother was the one who held the biggest stack of chips going into the final table, and Michael would have to go through him to get to the title. The sibling rivalry was kept at a minimum during the early going, but soon the inevitable happened and the unstoppable force met the immovable object. Sparks flew as Michael eliminated his brother in 5th place, thus maneuvering himself into prime position for the final stretch of the event. Was Robert Mizrachi disappointed to be sent to the rail by his own brother? You bet he was, but at the end of the day, I guess both Mizrachis would agree that this was one of the best possible scenarios for them at the event’s final table.

The NL Holdem factor at the final table definitely had a say in the eventual outcome of the event. Michael Mizrachi is a great NL Holdem tournament player and when going deep, he has a knack for finishing on top, which is exactly what he did here. Some people (myself included) liked the transition to NL Holdem at the final table. For a televised event, NL Holdem definitely makes better viewing than a complicated 8-game structure… there’s not a whole lot more to say about that. David Oppenheim and Vladimir Schmelev, both accomplished cash game specialists, would probably disagree with me on this one though.

The Main Reason for the structure switch was the fact that ESPN decided to cover the event yet again. Last year, the HORSE event had no ESPN coverage. The changes made by the organizers definitely appealed to the TV folks as well as to the audience, and make no mistake about it, to have those cameras there is a huge thing for every live poker event, even for a $50k WSOP one.

The Players’ Championship was quite probably the perfect choice to use as a series opener. Having all those “name” pros go up against each other right out of the gates does a lot to get the whole thing rolling so to speak. It really did hammer home the point that the WSOP was in town and that it meant business as ever.

Tom Dwan and the WSOP

It’s not a secret in the poker world that Tom Dwan, one of the best known online poker prodigies, was not exactly vying for the player of the year title in past WSOP editions. He seemed more preoccupied with other, more directly rewarding games, like the big game at Bobby’s Room, actual WSOP events relegated to a perpetual second place on his list of priorities. This year though, the New Jersey Wonderkid will adopt a radically different approach. He may not be among the favorites to win several bracelets, or even one, but that underdog status has just created him a great opportunity to collect fabulous sums from people willing to bet against him in the WSOP bracelet race. Exactly how much money he would win in case he managed to get his hands on WSOP gold is unclear, though he did say in an interview that it would be the biggest single win of his life.

In order to facilitate his odds for the WSOP gold, Dwan will play in as many WSOP events as he’ll be able to. Unlike in years past, he’s already played in several events, including the $50k Players’ Championship event. While he is definitely not a mixed games specialist, Dwan defied the odds to roll with the big boys towards his first WSOP gold. Unfortunately for him, he fell well short in that event, not even making the money.
Driven on by the WSOP side-bet possibilities, Dwan has played in many of the low buy-in events too this year. He achieved his first ever WSOP cash in one of these events: the $5,000 NL Holdem Shootout. Whatever the case, he does seem to be inching closer to that title he now wants so bad.

The WSOP bracelet side-bet craze started quite a while back, but it only really hit the public spotlight last year, as Phil Ivey was getting closer and closer to the top ranks of the Main Event. Ivey may have won two bracelets and a rather fabulous amount of money in those events, but all that was probably dwarfed by the dough he collected on the various side bets, after winning those bracelets. Pretty soon, there’s going to be way more money on bracelet side-bets then on the actual bracelets themselves. In the case of “name” players like Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey, this already seems to be the case.
What exactly is the impact of this fact on the games themselves? Well, not much. As a regular mortal, looking to score a win to build a house or to get a poker career going with the prize money, you shouldn’t expect to pick up a lot a dough this way. It’s a privilege only reserved for the big names, and in that respect, it can only be good for the game in the long-run. Dwan was never really interested in playing in the small buy-in events, and look at him now. If it gets more “name” players to the tables of the smaller buy-in events, thus further raising their profile, then so be it. If these guys like to gamble, so be it.

Will Dwan get his two bracelets this year and be on his way to Hawaii as he plans to do? Only the Gods of Poker and time can answer that question. We’ll see. And if we do see Dwan walk away with that bracelet, we’ll know there’s a whole lot more to it than bragging rights.

2010 WSOP picks

I know poker is not like the NBA or the NFL, in the sense that it’s much more unpredictable, and I also know that there’s not a whole lot of sense in making any kind of picks when it comes to poker, but I’ve got the WSOP fever and it’s all just so much fun, I can’t help myself.
First stop’s first: Phil Ivey. How many bracelets do you reckon he’ll win this year? He may be the best poker player pound for pound, and the interesting thing about him is that unlike some of his high stakes live poker peers (Daniel Negreanu) he’s equally good online. All that does not really guarantee anything though. The WSOP is such a large-scale series of events, featuring such large starting fields that pure skill doesn’t offer any sort of guarantees. Expert opinions run a pretty wide gamut when it comes to predicting the number of bracelets Ivey will pocket. Some say 3, most say 1 and some say none. Just to stay on the safe side, I’ll say one. There are a few high buy-in events to which the access of the public is pretty much restricted by the sums involved. In such events, Ivey may well outshine his peers to score a bracelet. There are several such events which means he gets several shots. I’ll stick with one.

In how many events will Tom Dwan show up? The Full Tilt Poker pro has been at the forefront of the online gambling industry for a couple of years now, although his live poker performance has never quite been on par with his online one. He’s also primarily a cash game player and there’s not much of that at the WSOP. The number of events he’ll play will obviously hinge on way too many variables to accurately predict. If he finds himself a nice cash game which turns out to be profitable for him, he may not show up at the WSOP at all. If he doesn’t find any cash games to capture his interest, he may play in several events. The experts’ opinions are varied on this matter too. Some say he’ll participate in 8 events, other are more cautious with 3. The bottom line is, regardless of how many events he’ll play, Dwan is certainly not among the favorites to walk away with a gold bracelet this year.

Who will be the WSOP player of the year? This guy has to a be a tournament specialist, and a person who knows how to manage his extra curricular activities too, so he’ll be able to come back over and over for more. As far as tournaments runs are concerned, Jason Mercier certainly seems to fit the above description. On second thought, Sorel Mizzi seems to be just as good a pick, too. Mostly known for his online antics in the past, Mizzi seems to have successfully crossed some sort of a line lately, as he’s been winning and cashing deep in one live tournament after the other. He will certainly carry a great deal of momentum into his WSOP run, coming off a few successful European endeavors.

Who will be the biggest disappointment of the series? The queue of likely candidates for this dubious award is longer and more diverse than for any other. Although he said he was a great pick to take down at least a bracelet, Daniel Negreanu may find himself in the squeeze if he fails to deliver in the wake of such a confident statement. The same goes for pretty much any of the greats. Fail to deliver and you’ll find yourself high up on the list of disappointing WSOP performances. Phil Hellmuth is always a ticking time-bomb, and Annie Duke has put herself in a prime spot for failure too, through her reality show presence. The bottom line: if you’re a poker celebrity, you’re walking around with a target on your back. Heavy expectations always carry great potential for failure.

2010 WSOP bursts onto the scene!

2010 marks the 41st edition of the biggest live poker fiesta on the planet, the World Series of Poker, also known as just WSOP for connoisseurs. The event is set to become bigger and better than ever before, with more side events, more interesting action, more “name” players and much bigger prize-pools. Keen on making last year’s Main Event fiasco forgotten (on the last day 1 flight droves of players had their access denied on account of lack of space), tournament officials have already taken all the steps deemed necessary to prevent another such incident. The competition area inside the Main Event venue has been expanded, ready to accept all comers.

With the first few days of the series already behind us, we’re slowly beginning to settle into the grind. After special events like the $50k Players’ Championship event, the $500 Casino Employees event and the first of a newly introduced string of $1,000 NL Holdem events, regular stuff like the $1,500 NL Holdem event and the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or better event are now unfolding.
The $500 Casino Employees event has been used as the official kick-off tournament of the series for a few years now. This year, it was as successful as ever, once again responsible for the giving out of the first bracelet of the series.

The $50k Players’ Championship event has grown into a true pro-based event, which once again attracted a select field of poker professionals. The large buy-in and the extra deep starting stack structure have made this event a true testing ground for professional players. There aren’t that many people in the world who are willing to cough up $50,000 to buy into a poker event, and the Players’ Championship only wants to see those who are fully capable of just that at its tables. The unique 8-game structure is another hurdle in the path of wealthy amateurs: in order to have any sort of chances for triumph in this event, one needs to be a truly well-rounded poker player. The battle for the Chip Reese memorial trophy features Limit Holdem, Omaha 8, Razz, 2-7 Triple Draw, 7-Card Stud, Stud 8, NL Holdem and PLO. It is apparently an evolved version of the $50k HORSE event of recent years, which was equally selective and equally exhaustive as far as the stretching of the participants’ poker skills were concerned.

The final table of the event will be a NL Holdem only one, something that some experts think may offer an advantage to day 3 chip leader Michael Mizrachi, who is currently in pursuit of his brother, Robert, the chip leader of the event heading into the final table. Unfortunately for those who were looking for the emergence of the People’s Champion, Phil Ivey, he’s already out, together with a cast of characters no Hollywood movie about poker could ever put together regardless of the size of its budget.
With so many famous faces in the lime-light, this event will be televised and it will be broadcast on ESPN, in the fall.

The other bright spot of the WSOP’s first day was the $1,00 NL Holdem event. As it is constantly evolving, twisting and turning to meet the needs of as wide an audience as possible, the WSOP has come up with the Stimulus Special last year. The event featuring a more than reasonable buy-in for a WSOP event ($1,000) was hugely successful, surpassing even the wildest expectations of the organizers. This year, the Stimulus events are back, a whole bunch of them actually. The first one has already attracted a more than reasonable starting field over its 2 day 1 flights. How the rest of the $1,000 NL Holdem events will fare remains to be seen, but the size of the buy-in represents a virtual guarantee when it comes to registrant numbers.

Texas Hold’em quick lesson for beginners on the eve of the WSOP

The WSOP is yet again upon us. Poker portals and forums are abuzz with news as events seem to shift into overdrive compared to the rest of the year. You can hear, read and see poker everywhere and the game gains a lot of exposure with people who are not exactly hot-wired to the game on a regular basis. What’s great about the WSOP is that it never fails to rustle up new interest and to bring new players to the green felt. If you’re a beginner, and you get caught up in the WSOP fever, you may want to read into this little ad-hoc Holdem guide I put together. I’m not going to delude you: it’s probably too little too late anyway, but it’s still better than nothing.

Why this Texas Hold’em guide instead of another poker variant? Simple: Texas Hold’em is the game which gives rookies a fair fighting chance against experienced players in the short-run. Don’t even think about registering for a PLO (Pot Limit Omaha) event or for a mixed game one. As a beginner, you should only aim for Texas Hold’em. In all other poker variants, you’ll be swept off the table. In Holdem, you’ll have the luck factor working for you and thus you’ll be able to keep up with the big boys in the short-term. Over the long-run you’ll still probably be gutted, but you do need some sort of a taste of success to get you going, and believe me, you’re not going to get that at the PLO or Stud tables.

I mentioned the luck factor above. Many beginners are still not 100% sure about whether or not poker is gambling. The answer to that is yes and no. There’s a definite luck element in poker, which concerns the cards that you are dealt and the ones that will land on the board as the community cards. There’s absolutely nothing you can do to influence those cards. What you can influence though is when you put your money into the middle, and that makes all the difference in the world. Poker is a game about card strength. It is also a finely tuned psychological game, an aspect which great players control extremely well. As a beginner, try to stay clear of complicated situations. Don’t abuse the bluff. Your goal should always be to keep your post-flop decisions as simple as possible. To that end, you need to shape your preflop decisions accordingly.
Preflop action is mostly about starting hand selection. As a beginner, you should place great importance on starting hand selection. Play only monsters like A,A,k,k, QQ,j,j. These are all made hands, capable of taking down the pot without any sort of improvement. In the later stages of a tournament, don’t be afraid to shove all-in on such hands, especially if you’re short-stacked. The problem with such hands is that they carry pretty flimsy odds to improve with the board, therefore it’s safe to say they’re not great implied odds hands.
Small pocket pairs, suited connectors and suited one gappers on the other hand are excellent implied odds hands, and they’re well playable in a cash game. Tournament poker is a different breed of animal though, so only play these starting hands when you’re deep stacked.
All of these starting hands will make your post-flop decisions extremely simple. When the flop falls, take a look at its texture. If you reckon your high pair holds, you can keep pumping the pot, preferably in an aggressive way to drive out drawing hands. If you’re playing one of the implied odds hands I pointed out above, you should see if the flop hits you or not. If it does, keep feeding the pot and hope for one of your opponents to tag along. If the flop misses you, you should just fold it.
Position: Texas Hold’em is a positional game, which gives a distinct advantage to players who act late. Make sure you match everything you do to your position, even your starting hand selection should be bolder when in late position.