WSOP 2009 Final table – Phil Ivey’s elimination

Phil Ivey’s elimination was beyond doubt one of the most significant moments of the November Nine showdown. This video segment covers two such key moments:

One of them is the Ivey vs Cada hand which doesn’t just cripple the Full Tilt pro, but which also sets Cada on course to becoming the eventual winner.
The hand, matching Cada’s pocket 4s against Ivey’s A,8 is joined in progress. It comes up shortly after Ivey folded his pocket Jacks when faced with Antoine Saout’s pocket 7s – a hand which I discussed in a previous blog post. This hand is the beginning of the end for Ivey, as his A,8o fails to improve and Cada’s flimsy pocket 4s hold up to give the 21 year old a much needed boost.

While the majority of the public present at the Penn and Teller theatre does root for Ivey, and while the outcome of this hand is a disappointment, it is just a coin-flip that doesn’t go Ivey’s way, there’s nothing particularly lucky or unlucky about it for either party involved. Cada does start with a flimsy lead and the board allows him to retain his lead. As a result of the loss, Ivey goes down to 9,375,000 chips, while Cada doubles up and reaches 12 million again, after a close brush with elimination. Ivey doesn’t seem particularly phased by the loss and Darvin Moon offers him mints to get the bad taste of the hand out of his mount.
Ironically, it’d be the same Darvin Moon who would have Ivey all-in for his tournament life a few hands later.

Ivey picks up an apple from his supporters and an A,K at the table he decides to trust his tournament life to. It’s not like he’s taking a swipe at the blinds. I think he is actually anxious to get someone to call him. The A,K is an excellent coin-flip hand, specially against a player who decides to make the call on a low pocket pair, as it so often happens this late in an event. Sure enough, Darvin Moon calls him and the reason Ivey doesn’t seem to be nervous at all is because he knows that at the very best, he’ll get a coin-flip. Moon gives him way better odds than a coin-flip, but unfortunately Lady Luck sides with the logger once again and lands a Q on the flop, silencing the “Ivey! Ivey!” chants. The rest, as they say, is history.
Limited to 3 outs, Ivey fails to make a hand on the turn and the river and his 2009 WSOP Main Event is over.
Ivey may have made some mistakes along the way, but this final hand of his was certainly not one of them. The odds were 75-25% in his favor before the flop: whatever was up to him, he did it. It was through no fault of his own that Moon had sold his soul to some sort of shady deity and scored that 3 outer on the flop. Had he not put himself into the position of being desperate for a double up, he may have played hands differently and history would’ve taken another course. Over a mere few hands he chipped Cada up though, setting him up for his eventually successful title run, and got himself out of the way… maybe it was just meant to be.

The video also shows a less significant hand between Begleiter and Saout. Less significant for the casual viewer that is, I’m quite sure it was not the least bit insignificant for those involved and their supporters. Begleiter picked up some suited connectors (7c, 8c) and decided to generate some action on them. Antoine Saout had Ah, Kh though, and after the flop, which fell 8h, 3c, 9h, something of a perfect hand situation developed. Saout picked up a 4-card flush, and a whole bunch of outs to improve past the hand that Begleiter was likely to have. Beglieter had a pair of 8s which was an already made hand on the flop, but thanks to the myriad of opportunities for Saout’s hand to improve, the odds were still 50-50. Of course, both players shoved all-in and as expected a 10h landed on the turn to give Saout the hand and to put him into the chip lead.

2009 WSOP Final Table – Ivey’s mistake and Schulman’s coaching staff

With the WSOP’s final table finally over and with Phil Ivey eliminated in 7th place, bookmakers world over could breath a sigh of relief. Prior to the November Nine showdown, so much square money had come in on Ivey that balancing the bets became impossible for bookmakers who were forced to cover all those Ivey bets from their pockets. An Ivey win would’ve therefore pretty much ruined the smaller operations and it would’ve dealt big operations like Bodog and Party a major blow too. In that case, bettors would’ve been ones to celebrate.

Unfortunately for them though, Ivey has pretty much let them down. Contrary to reports that he committed no mistakes at the final table whatsoever and that it was only bad luck that prevented him from advancing any further, we can now safely say that Ivey did in fact commit at least a crucial mistake. Take a look at the following video and you’ll understand what I’m talking about:

The hand against Antoine Saout that Ivey plays in this video was probably the one that led to his eventual downfall.

At the beginning of the clip, Ivey is still very much in contention. He has a stack of 16,325,000 chips, just about 8% of all the chips in play, and he’s obviously looking for an opportunity to double up. Having picked up a pair of Js, he couldn’t possibly ask for a better opportunity. He raises to 1.25 million, possibly to warn off those looking for a free ride. Antoine Saout’s re-raise to 4.05 million puzzles him though. The Frenchman has pocket 7s against Ivey’s pocket J’s and he probably puts Ivey on something like A,K so he comes in looking to pressure the shorter stack into a coin-flip. Little does he know that with his pocket 7s he’s actually a 20-80% underdog, and as far from a coin-flip as possible. Ivey tries to get a read on him, and he obviously gets the wrong one as he decides to fold the 80% favorite. I’m pretty sure he put Saout on a higher pocket pair.

Now then, pocket Js are admittedly tricky to play, but this late in a tourney, when looking for a double up opportunity, a player of Ivey’s caliber just shouldn’t fold them when faced with a pocket 7s… Ivey’s mistake is not a huge one in terms of chips lost on this very hand, but rather in terms of a missed opportunity. This hand represents the turning point in his final table evolution. From this point onward, his stack starts heading south. He elects to take a coin-flip against Joe Cada a few hands later, which may be the right move mathematically speaking, but in light of the opportunity he missed with his pocket Js, it’s just plain wrong. The bottom line is: had Ivey not misread Antoine Saout with his pocket 7s, things may have turned out quite differently. We may have had bettors celebrating and the bookies mourning right now.

Another interesting thing in this video is the bit about the pre November Nine preparations and training that Jeff Schulman had apparently put in with Phil Hellmuth and co. I only have one thing to day about that: who knew? Who knew one could actually hire one of the most successful (and according to some the most obnoxious) poker professional ever to run a simulation of the actual final table, with each of the participants trying to mimic one of the actual November Nine members as closely as possible? I suppose when a few million dollars are on the line nothing is far fetched when it comes to bettering one’s odds.
Frankly, I would probably have done the same given the opportunity, but in an interview given shortly after the November Nine had been set back in the summer, Schulman discussed how disgusted he was with the way well known professionals were treated by WSOP organizers and staff, and how generally disappointed he was with the way business was done in the poker world. At that point I never would’ve imagined him hiring Phil Hellmuth to be his coach and mentor for the final table run.

Schulman did seem like a reasonable man in that interview too though, and I suppose it’s every bit as reasonable as can be to further his cause every which way he can.
As Phil Ivey notes in this video though, Jeff was the one who had complained about everyone not being treated equally, and about some of the better bankrolled players bringing their coaches onto the stage for support. Truth be said, Schulman’s coach was indeed kept on a short leash as far as talking was concerned, but all in all I suppose the whole coach-on-stage setup seems a hell of a lot less fair when you’re not one reaping its benefits. The second you can afford it though, the whole fairness and equal treatment issue is seen in an entire different light.

The nifty thing about Phil Hellmuth’s coaching segment in this video is that it offers us railbirds an inside look at how a contender prepares for the big showdown. Schulman’s coaching staff may be the most dysfunctional one this side of the Oakland Raiders, but as long as it helps…

10 key moments of the 2009 WSOP final table

After a few months of waiting and tons of hype surrounding it, the 2008 WSOP’s final table has finally yielded a winner. Bouncing back from the edge of extinction, Joe Cada took home the title, following a 20-hour marathon session stretched over two days, as well as countless suck outs and bad beats. The youngest ever Big Dance winner, Cada beat Peter Eastgate’s record, and saved bookmakers world over, who were positively dreading a Phil Ivey victory.

At 20 hours long, this final table was the longest one in WSOP history and as such it definitely had more than its fair share of surprising turnarounds, producing some of the best poker TV material ever.
Here are some of the most radical, hair raising and gut wrenching moments of the 2009 WSOP final table showdown.

The first such moment is undoubtedly Darwin Moon’s stone cold Ace-high bluff, with which he managed to double Antoine Saout up, without ever having any sort of equity in the hand. The whole thing started of innocently enough. Saout decided to take a swipe at the pot from the cut-off with J,2o. He got called by Moon though who was probably growing impatient to see someone eliminated. Moon was sitting in the SB. The flop fell K,J,2 rainbow, giving Saout a definitive lead in the hand. Moon bet 2.5 million and happy to see some action, the Frenchman quickly made it 6.7 million. For some reason (again, the urge to see someone eliminated thus putting him closer to the prize may have clouded Moon’s mind), Moon put Saout all-in. Happy to hit such an outstanding opportunity, Saout made the call without giving it any more thought. Everybody was surprised to see that Moon had made the move on nothing but an A-high. The 3 that feel on the turn did look like an attempt from Lady Luck to once again turn things around Moon’s way, but the 2 on the river sealed the deal and doubled Saout up, prolonging the lease on his tournament life.

Given the fact that he eventually walked away the winner, and that he had been down to 4 BBs at one stage, every hand that Cada was involved in was obviously a key one. One such key Cada-moment was the double up he earned from Darvin Moon, which effectively catapulted him back into contention, raising his stack to Buchman’s and Saout’s level.
Moon was the one who kicked off the hostilities in this hand, firing out a bet on a K,9. Cada had an itching trigger finger with the pocket rockets he was sitting on, so he was quick to make it 5.6 million. In response, Moon moved all-in. Seizing the golden opportunity, Cada wasted no time and made the call. The flop fell 9,6,3 and Moon once again looked like he was going to catch up. The turn and the river bricked out though, and Cada caught up with the other competitors stacks-wise.
Shaffel’s elimination at the hands of Eric Buchman would go down as another key moment. The two players were all-in on a K,K vs A,A match-up, Shaffel’s side of the hall delighted with the odds. They weren’t that happy after the flop though as it brought about a K to give Buchman the lead. The turn added insult to injury though, as it not only failed to bail Shaffel out, it landed the 4th K, giving Buchman quads and Shaffel a trip to the rail.

Following all the amateurish calls and suck-outs, a textbook hand between Cada and Moon (during their heads-up confrontation) also made my list. This one featured a skillful move on Moon’s part and a borderline genius call from Cada. With the board having fallen 10,9,5,10, Cada was faced with a decision for all his chips holding a J,9o in his pocket. He pondered about the call for 5 whole minutes before deciding to take his chances. His two pair was indeed in the lead at that point as Moon had 7s, 8s and plenty of outs. The 3h on the river gave Cada the pot.

Darvin Moon’s A,Qo, the same hand that sent Phil Ivey packing in 7th place, definitely deserves a mention in this list, as it cost Steve Begleiter his tournament life too. Having been turned into a deadly weapon in Moon’s hands by Lady Luck, the A,Qo claimed yet another final table scalp when Begleiter shoved all-in on his pocket Qs and got called by Moon. As everyone had grown to expect it by that stage, Moon spiked an A on the river to bounce Begleiter. Begleiter had his hand shaken by Phil Hellmuth then, who told him he was impressed with the way he’d handled himself at the final table.

Akenhead’s miracle definitely belongs on this list too. He decided to pin his tournament hopes on a K,Qo he’d picked up, which would’ve been ok, had it not been for Eric Buchman’s A,K with which he was called. The flop landed a bunch of blanks and the K on the turn wasn’t of much help for Akenhead either. He needed a Q on the river to survive, and that’s exactly what he got. His supporters went berserk following the river card, and all types of jubilant behavior erupted.
Phil Ivey’s elimination was probably the biggest turning point of the final table. The Full Tilt pro got all his chips in good on an A,Ko against Moon’s A,Qo. The flop brought a Q and Ivey’s title bid came to an abrupt end in 7th place.
There were other defining moments at the final table too, but I need to wrap this piece up somehow. More in another post.

Joe Cada, Darwin Moon and Lady Luck

That’s right, the title of this post is not meant to belittle Joey Cada and Darwin Moon’s November Nine showdown accomplishments, but if we look at it from a neutral angle, the trio from the title is exactly what it took to set up the heads-up match for the bracelet. The fact that luck played a big role in their ascent to the final stage of the Main Event is by no means taking anything away from the two. It is well known that no poker player can ever win a MTT without having Lady Luck by his side. Given the sheer size and the quality of the competition at an event like the Big Dance, I reckon it’s safe to say that making it to the final table took enormous amounts of luck too.

Is it better to be lucky than to be skilled? Phil Ivey’s 7th place elimination seems to testify for that statement. The Full Tilt pro didn’t commit a single mistake, he played everything by the book. He got unlucky on two occasions though and that seems to have been enough to hasten his demise.

Moon and Cada on the other hand got incredibly lucky on quite a few occasions. Here’s a rundown of the critical hands the two of them won in order to advance through the field. While Moon did commit his share of final table mistakes, due to the large stack on which he started, these mistakes never really put his tournament life into immediate danger. Cada on the other hand, danced on the edge quite a few times, needing several double ups and lucky breaks to thread the needle. After he made the mistake of calling Jeff Schulman’s all in with A,Jo against A,K o, and lost most of his stack, he was left with 2.25 million chips, barely hanging on. He really needed Lady Luck’s intervention at that stage, and sure enough he got it. He first doubled up through Eric Buchman whose 4c, 5c proved to be no match for his J,4o. That win though still had him short-stacked at 4.8 million chips. What followed was a double up frenzy, and with luck firmly by his side, Cada delivered the strike that would change the entire evolution of the final table. With 5.8 million chips in his stack, Cada locked horns with none other than Phil Ivey. Still with little to lose, he shoved all in on pocket 4s, in response to Ivey’s preflop raise. Ivey thought about the call for a while and he eventually made it, holding A,8o. The board failed to tip the coin-flip his way and thus Ivey’s stack went to 10.3 million, pushing him further away from a healthy shot at the title. Cada on the other hand, chipped up to 12.5 million, thus effectively returning to the real battle.
Phil Ivey’s elimination in 7th place bore Lady Luck’s mark as well. This time, it was Darvin Moon who benefited from the luck factor. The two players got all their chips in with Ivey’s A,K ahead of Moon’s A,Q. The Q on the flop changed the situation though, and the turn and the river failed to hit Ivey too.
An even luckier hand for Darvin Moon was the one that sealed Steve Begleiter’s fate. Moon got it all-in again with A,Q against Begleiter’s pocket Qs. All Begleiter needed to do was to fade another Ace, and right up to the turn that’s exactly what he did. The river though, brought an A, and Begleiter was done for the day. The move earned Moon more than 23 million chips, allowing him to reclaim the chip lead.

Of all November Nine members, Frenchman Antoine Saout was the one who showed the most skill (Ivey didn’t really get the chance to do so), with all that though, he was no match for the tag team of Lady Luck and Joey Cada. Saout got his chips in on pocket Qs against Cada’s pocket deuces first, but a 2 on the flop blew the whole thing up in his face.

The final blow was only a coin-flip (Saout’s pocket 8s vs Cada’s A,Ko) but at this stage, luck had already made up its mind about who it was going to back.
This elimination set the heads-up stage and offered Cada a more than 2-1 chip advantage going into it.

Moon was the one who took care of Eric Buchman, when his Kd,Jd got lucky against Buchman’s A,5o. Moon spiked a K on the turn to send Buchman to the rail, his lucky streak as hot as ever.

Of course, we shouldn’t forget the way Cada crippled Jeff Schulman either. Schulman got his chips in good on a pair of Js and Cada shoved all-in on his pocket 3s for his tournament life. The 3 on the flop meant that he got a ticket to hang around while Schulman’s stack was hit badly.

Which of the two finalists was luckier though? They both had luck firmly planted in their corner, but while Cada managed to turn an 13,215,000 stack into a 135,950,000 one, Moon’s 58,930,000 chip final table starting stack dwindled to 58,850,000. That kind of explains why Cada eventually won it all too…

Darvin Moon and the final table

Beyond doubt and beyond all the public money going in on Phil Ivey at the books, Darvin Moon was the statistical favorite of the November Nine showdown. He was the chip leader and as such – as someone so fittingly noted – he could afford to fall asleep at the final table and still make it to 3rd or 4th.

Just how did the admittedly ultra tight player manage to maneuver himself into this position though? A big chunk of his 58,930,000 chips came from Billy Kopp, in a controversial hand (well the reporting of which was controversial anyway), which thrust him right into the November Nine, and which pretty much killed Kopp’s chances to make it to the final table. In the said hand, Moon and Kopp both flopped flushes, however Moon’s flush was higher than Kopp’s.
Faced with this typical perfect hand situation, there was no way for Kopp to duck the bullet. Moon later said about the hand that he got incredibly lucky and that the flop hit him over the head, that’s why he decided to commit to such a big move, despite the fact that he was a super tight player.

Now then, the controversy seeped into the hand when correspondents reported that the board had in fact paired and that there was a chance Moon’s flush wasn’t good. Those who disputed his call pointed to the fact that a super tight player may have laid that hand down, whilst Moon went ahead and ended up crippling Kopp. When asked about the possibilities generated by the paired board, Darvin Moon said the board wasn’t paired. As later reviews of the hand in question proved it though, it had in fact paired and those reporting it had in fact been correct in the firstplace. One thing is obvious from this whole confusion: Moon had misread the board, and he made his calls accordingly.

The funny thing about it all was Kopp had played perfect poker all through the event, right up to the hand in question. According to Moon it was that single slip that cost Kopp the final table appearance and a massive cash, which his stack would probably have made possible, had he not lost it.

Being the super tight player that he was, Moon said he got lucky time and time again too. He said when he was strong preflop, the flop didn‘t hurt him, and when he was weak preflop, flops helped him out. He never got his chips in without being certain his hand was indeed the best one at the table. The crucial perfect hand that he scored against Kopp was one where he made a pretty accurate read on a player who barely played any hands and who had played perfect poker up until that point.
Going into the final table with the biggest stack, Moon is obviously the favorite to win the title. He could probably afford to not even show up and he’d still make it to a nice spot before blinding out. In regards to the strategy he would deploy at the final table, Moon said he’d be extra tight trying to take advantage of his large stack.

Update: Sure enough, he did just that and made it to the heads-up stage without problems, albeit on a shorter stack than Joe Cada. Proving to be the master of shifting gears though, Moon began to pile on the pressure and from being 2-1 down, he is currently 2-1 up on Cada and still going strong. The bout so far looks like a real heavyweight battle. The two of them are exchanging heavy punches but no serious damage has been inflicted thus far.

Update: Joe Cada is the 2009 WSOP Main Event champion.

10 key moments of the 2009 WSOP final table

After a few months of waiting and tons of hype surrounding it, the 2008 WSOP’s final table has finally yielded a winner. Bouncing back from the edge of extinction, Joe Cada took home the title, following a 20-hour marathon session stretched over two days, as well as countless suck outs and bad beats. The youngest ever Big Dance winner, Cada beat Peter Eastgate’s record, and saved bookmakers world over, who were positively dreading a Phil Ivey victory.

At 20 hours long, this final table was the longest one in WSOP history and as such it definitely had more than its fair share of surprising turnarounds, producing some of the best poker TV material ever.
Here are some of the most radical, hair raising and gut wrenching moments of the 2009 WSOP final table showdown.

The first such moment is undoubtedly Darwin Moon’s stone cold Ace-high bluff, with which he managed to double Antoine Saout up, without ever having any sort of equity in the hand. The whole thing started of innocently enough. Saout decided to take a swipe at the pot from the cut-off with J,2o. He got called by Moon though who was probably growing impatient to see someone eliminated. Moon was sitting in the SB. The flop fell K,J,2 rainbow, giving Saout a definitive lead in the hand. Moon bet 2.5 million and happy to see some action, the Frenchman quickly made it 6.7 million. For some reason (again, the urge to see someone eliminated thus putting him closer to the prize may have clouded Moon’s mind), Moon put Saout all-in. Happy to hit such an outstanding opportunity, Saout made the call without giving it any more thought. Everybody was surprised to see that Moon had made the move on nothing but an A-high. The 3 that feel on the turn did look like an attempt from Lady Luck to once again turn things around Moon’s way, but the 2 on the river sealed the deal and doubled Saout up, prolonging the lease on his tournament life.

Given the fact that he eventually walked away the winner, and that he had been down to 4 BBs at one stage, every hand that Cada was involved in was obviously a key one. One such key Cada-moment was the double up he earned from Darvin Moon, which effectively catapulted him back into contention, raising his stack to Buchman’s and Saout’s level.
Moon was the one who kicked off the hostilities in this hand, firing out a bet on a K,9. Cada had an itching trigger finger with the pocket rockets he was sitting on, so he was quick to make it 5.6 million. In response, Moon moved all-in. Seizing the golden opportunity, Cada wasted no time and made the call. The flop fell 9,6,3 and Moon once again looked like he was going to catch up. The turn and the river bricked out though, and Cada caught up with the other competitors stacks-wise.
Shaffel’s elimination at the hands of Eric Buchman would go down as another key moment. The two players were all-in on a K,K vs A,A match-up, Shaffel’s side of the hall delighted with the odds. They weren’t that happy after the flop though as it brought about a K to give Buchman the lead. The turn added insult to injury though, as it not only failed to bail Shaffel out, it landed the 4th K, giving Buchman quads and Shaffel a trip to the rail.

Following all the amateurish calls and suck-outs, a textbook hand between Cada and Moon (during their heads-up confrontation) also made my list. This one featured a skillful move on Moon’s part and a borderline genius call from Cada. With the board having fallen 10,9,5,10, Cada was faced with a decision for all his chips holding a J,9o in his pocket. He pondered about the call for 5 whole minutes before deciding to take his chances. His two pair was indeed in the lead at that point as Moon had 7s, 8s and plenty of outs. The 3h on the river gave Cada the pot.

Darvin Moon’s A,Qo, the same hand that sent Phil Ivey packing in 7th place, definitely deserves a mention in this list, as it cost Steve Begleiter his tournament life too. Having been turned into a deadly weapon in Moon’s hands by Lady Luck, the A,Qo claimed yet another final table scalp when Begleiter shoved all-in on his pocket Qs and got called by Moon. As everyone had grown to expect it by that stage, Moon spiked an A on the river to bounce Begleiter. Begleiter had his hand shaken by Phil Hellmuth then, who told him he was impressed with the way he’d handled himself at the final table.

Akenhead’s miracle definitely belongs on this list too. He decided to pin his tournament hopes on a K,Qo he’d picked up, which would’ve been ok, had it not been for Eric Buchman’s A,K with which he was called. The flop landed a bunch of blanks and the K on the turn wasn’t of much help for Akenhead either. He needed a Q on the river to survive, and that’s exactly what he got. His supporters went berserk following the river card, and all types of jubilant behavior erupted.
Phil Ivey’s elimination was probably the biggest turning point of the final table. The Full Tilt pro got all his chips in good on an A,Ko against Moon’s A,Qo. The flop brought a Q and Ivey’s title bid came to an abrupt end in 7th place.
There were other defining moments at the final table too, but I need to wrap this piece up somehow. More in another post.

Poker rookie mistakes – Phil Ivey mucks winner

There’s no doubt about it whatsoever. Rookies make countless mistakes at the poker table. Starting from playing too many hands, and continuing with taking their losing hands way too far and firing out dark tunnel bluffs, they do it all. One of the most frustrating mistakes they make though is that they simply fail to read their hands. That’s right: they make a hand that’s pretty good, sometimes even the best hand at the table and then they fold it when pressured by someone with top pair, or even worse: they muck the winner. Of course, misreading the board or their hand and then shoving all-in on what they think is a straight/flush is also a relatively common mistake, one that’s probably even more frustrating than mucking the winner.
When it comes to mucking the winner, Phil Ivey is probably the person to go to for advice. Why is he the one? Take a look at this video and you’ll understand:

Believe it or not, Ivey himself has some experience in the matter, and top level one at that. During the 2009 WSOP Main Event, he misread a hand (in which he had actually hit a flush) and mucked the winner, offering his opponent the undeserved (and may I mention rather large) pot as a gift. As you can see, it happens to the best of them, so it will definitely happen with rookies.
Here’s my take on what might’ve happened with Ivey. Professional players do not re-check their starting hands, or at least they try not to. They take an initial look at it and that’s well enough for them. The reason why they try to avoid re-checking is that it will offer a huge read to their opponents. Consider the following example: you’re playing with a professional player and you check your starting hand. Because of the way your brain is built though, you’ll only memorize the face value of your cards and maybe whether you’re holding red/black ones. The suit itself is highly likely to elude your short term memory. Four spades land on the table and you’re thinking: the 8 I had in my pocket was a black card… Was it a spade or a club? At that point, you re-check your starting hand and see that you do indeed have a flush. Your skilled opponent however knows the exact reason why you’ve re-checked your starting hand, and he’ll draw his conclusions based on the move you make next, conclusions which have a very good chance of being the right ones at that point. The same goes for various other card combinations too. Most high level professional players are so good at getting into your head that a simple gesture like that will completely blow your cover.

This may be – in my opinion – the reason why Ivey didn’t re-check his starting hand and why he failed to read the flush he’d made. Pocket pairs are highly likely to be misread suit-wise. The player takes a look at them and sees that he has a pair of 8s. The very fact that he already has a made hand takes up his focus and he begins to root for landing a set. He’ll generally look at the board from the perspective is his pocket pair, thus missing other possibilities. Straights are not missed as easily as flushes are because the face value of the cards is involved there, rather than the suits.

Apparently, regardless of his high level of poker thought, Ivey got caught up in the pocket pair trap and completely failed to take the flush possibility into account. Not wanting his opponent to see his pocket hands, he mocked them convinced that the other guy made a pair of As over his pocket 8s.
How do you avoid misreading hands and especially misreading your hand like that? If you’re playing online, it’s relatively easy to avoid such mistakes. Use the 4-color deck to make it easier on your eyes and brain to pay attention to the board. Most online poker rooms warn you if you make a hand, so all you really need to do is to take a look at the ticker or the message across the screen to realize what you’re holding.

Obviously, it’s much more difficult to keep track of the situation at a live table. One thing that may be helpful there is to adopt the 10-second rule. Do not make a move for 10 seconds, rather just contemplate the board a little and think about the various combinations your pocket hand might’ve hit. Don’t rush the decision, even if you’re fairly certain it is indeed the correct one.

Of course, some people say Ivey didn’t misread in the above video. He may have thought the other guy had a higher spade, but that logic just doesn’t seem to hold water because Ivey wasn’t actually faced with a raise to make a fold. They both went to showdown unchallenged and Ivey didn’t show. I say it was a misread, and even though one may well strain a “brain-muscle” trying to think on Ivey’s level, he too is only human as this here mistake proves beyond doubt. Bottom line: I’m pretty sure Ivey thought his pocket 8s were facing down a pair of As or a bigger pair, that’s why he mucked it.

Jeff Schulman offering us a behind the scenes peak into the WSOP Main Event

Following his successful rise into the ranks of the 2009 November Nine, Jeff Schulman – obviously a very down to earth guy (or at least trying hard to look like one) – gives us a piece of his mind about how the WSOP truly works – from the commoner’s perspective.

Take a look at the following video and take a minute to think about it:

Even though I have been playing poker online for quite a few years now, I haven’t yet managed to land a WSOP seat, and I’m just not prepared to cough up the direct buy-in either for some reason… I don’t know. It may the working class mentality of sticking to small-ball that I just can’t shake… or the possession of an all too vivid imagination that depicts the moment I lose my buy-in and head to the rail in such lifelike colors…the bottom line is I have never actually taken part in a WSOP event. As your regular (and hopefully better than average) online player, I’ve always nurtured this vision about what the WSOP could be like. Well thanks loads Jeff Schulman, you’ve just ruined it all for me. Common sense backs this guy up all the way though. Everywhere you turn, people get treated differently: some always seem to land on their feet, others can never crawl out of the gutter. Why would it be any different at the WSOP Main Event? I mean equal opportunity is capital baloney and everyone knows that. What Jeff does in this interview is that he delivers a slap across the faces of all those who thought the WSOP was supposed to be this out of this world frenzy of glitz and glamour where even the average Joe could be king for a day.

First off: celebrities and poker celebrities were allowed in while the regular guys got turned away. I have to admit I did not foresee this limited space problem happening. I mean these guys were trying hard to attract as many participants as possible. Pollack himself said that in an interview before the series got rolling. They would’ve loved to break the 2006 record, so how come players weren’t allowed in on the final day? How come the final day 1 exodus took organizers by surprise this way? It was something predictable, that’s the state of affairs at every prestigious live event. What makes that issue even worse is the fact that common folks were apparently treated like scum yet again. Now why doesn’t that surprise me? I know my $10k and your $10k is not worth as much as poker celebrity’s, and I know it’s supposedly good for the game to have accomplished professionals playing. After all, who cares to see you or me on television? But to see such open discrimination must’ve been pretty damn humiliating for those everyday folks who pep-talked themselves into heading down to Vegas for the Big Dance and found that their hard-earned money was no good there. Aren’t we the masses supposed to develop a taste for the game? Isn’t that what the whole Main Event is about? How is the Big Dance supposed to help popularize the game, if it treats regular folks this way?

That brings me to another issue brought up Schulman: the dealer cutting undeserved slack to a pretty woman. Well, that’s just plain un-professional, I don’t suppose there was any sort of malice involved, although it can be pretty disappointing, to the point that witnessing it several times could send some people tilting. Then again, who cares about what you do? You should probably be glad you were allowed to rub shoulders with some of poker’s greats and some Hollywood celebrities.

The singing of the national anthem and the podiums… I’ll have to agree with Schulman on that one too. Some of these guys may be known all over the world, and they may be outlandishly good at what they do, but should they be treated like athletes representing their county at the Olympics? Hm…that’s got to be over the top there…although if one is to consider poker a sport indeed, it may have some justification. As far as the bracelet is concerned, no, I don’t think Schulman would give it away or toss it to the bin. It may not be the most stylish and tasteful piece of jewelry, but one has to be practical about it: that thing’s worth much more than gold it’s made of, although every time a new one finds its way to a winner, the others lose value.

How big a chance does Schulman stand for taking down the big one this year? He’s third in chips so I’d say above average. Other than that all I can say is I don’t know, and don’t you believe anyone else who tells you otherwise. People speculate a lot and they spare no ink putting their thoughts to paper, but the bottom line is poker’s way too unpredictable. One thing looks certain though: if Jeff Schulman wins it, he’ll probably go down in poker history as the guy who rode off into the sunset with his prize money and never gave a rat’s behind about what’s good for the game. Don’t go looking for tips to this guy either. He’ll tell you to take it easy. It’s just poker for crying out loud, there’s no rocket science involved.

Barney Frank’s “Shuffle up and Deal” at WSOP Main Event

For the poker player or gambling site owner who hasn’t lived under a rock for the past few years, Dem. Rep. Barney Frank doesn’t need any sort of introduction. He has been at the forefront of the battle for the legalization and regulation of online poker and gambling, and he has been the most active authority figures, trying to undo the damage caused by the 2006 UIGEA. For those of you who are not on a first name basis with this ominous piece of legislation (rightfully called by Frank “the stupidest bill in American History”) the UIGEA is in fact the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, passed after it had been attached to the Safe Port Bill by Senate majority leader Bill Frist. The move was obviously a political one meant to secure the support of a clearly defined target group, for a Presidential bid that eventually failed. Despite all that, the UIGEA has remained in place to this day making life miserable for all those who offer online poker and gambling services to the US public, but especially to financial institutions which now have to play the role of a law enforcement agency and block all transfers with gambling and poker related destinations.

To make a long story short, Frank was the honorary guest charged with the task of kicking off the WSOP 2009 Main Event hostilities by calling out the traditional “Shuffle Up and Deal”. He didn’t miss the opportunity to address the issue of poker regulation in a brief media conference. The entity responsible for Frank’s presence at the Main Event was the PPA (Poker Players Alliance) which has actively supported the Congressman’s numerous anti-UIGEA initiatives.
Of these, two are currently up: H.R. 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act of 2009 – which sets a blueprint in regards to the regulation of the online gambling industry in the US – and H.R. 2266, the Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act, which aims to table the implementation of the UIGEA scheduled for the end of this year.

At the press event, Frank once again slammed the way the UIGEA was passed and highlighted the downsides of a piece of legislation which not only interferes grossly with the personal freedoms guaranteed by the constitution, but in great lines, it fails miserably at what it’s set out to accomplish.
Even though most of those who are not well informed about the stipulations of the UIGEA consider that it is a piece of legislation directly aimed at outlawing online poker and online gambling, it does nothing of the sort. Rather, it goes after the banking industry by forbidding it to complete player transactions to and from online gambling and poker sites.
Frank also addressed the IGREA, his previous bill meant to overturn the UIGEA which faded in committee in 2008. Ha said the bill was defeated on unfounded arguments involving money laundering, drug smuggling etc, and that had it cleared the committee, the bill would’ve certainly ended up being vetoed by President Bush. The Congressman didn’t miss the opportunity to sneak in a few punches aimed at the Republican leadership which enacted the UIGEA. The irony in forbidding people to gamble with their own money was obvious, as the Republicans readily allowed institutions to gamble with other people’s money in the billions.
The true short-comings of the UIGEA are not solely linked to the “extraordinary” interference with people’s liberties. The law itself has been cataloged as the worst piece of US legislation by numerous experts, due to other factors as well.
First of all, it fails to define what qualifies as illegal online gambling. It fails to establish the clear guidelines in regards to implementation. The law is fully intent on burdening financial institutions with law enforcement duties, something for which the above named institutions are ill-equipped for. In order to fully comply with the provisions of the UIGEA, the already beleaguered financial sector will be burdened with hefty expenses, all in the name of restricting people’s access to spending their own money the way they see fit.
The law takes online poker under the same umbrella with online gambling, oblivious to the fact that several courts all over the nation have since established precedents for considering poker a game of skill rather than one of chance.
The UIGEA also closes the door on any sort of regulation of the online gambling industry, thus depriving the federal budget of billions of dollars of potential income.

Barney Frank was also asked about the recent seizure of several tens of millions of dollars from online poker and gambling player accounts. In response to that question, he delivered another thinly veiled jab towards his political opponents, floating the idea that Bush-era holdovers must’ve been behind the actions of the Southern District of New York DoJ’s actions.

In closure, Frank specified that separate timelines were likely to develop for the two bills the hopes of the online poker and gambling industry are currently pinned on. He said that as a first objective, the postponement of the implementation of UIGEA provisions would be satisfactory. With the implementation process suspended, he could then work on a more elaborate approach to online gambling and poker regulation, especially because people still need proof that it is indeed feasible to put a regulatory scheme into place.

Phil Ivey: the One the poker community has been waiting for?

Does poker really need a redeemer? I mean are we really that desperate? Following the 2003 explosion, provoked by Chris Moneymaker’s Main Event victory (coupled with a number of other factors) poker and online poker seemed destined for world domination. Online poker rooms sprung up like mushrooms on a rain-soaked forest-floor, and tales of getting rich quick through online poker floated every step of the way.

For a good few years now, things have been going downhill though. Let’s admit it: I find no shame in it. The industry has been on the ropes since the UIGEA, and the UIGEA doesn’t seem to be the sole cause of the decline. While like it or not, lawmakers pushing their own political agenda and not giving a rat’s ass about poker, have managed to up end a previously thriving industry, it has become obvious that the industry has adapted to the new circumstances and that therefore the UIGEA cannot be considered responsible for the continued decline, or rather the lack of growth in both the online and the offline sector. The roots of this problem are deeper. Could it be that the popularity explosion set off by Moneymaker and then Raymer’s wins has just run out of steam? I mean there has to be a peak to it somewhere and maybe we’ve reached that peak already. These are some of the reasons why people – experts and amateurs alike – have been keeping an eye on various WSOP Main Event final tables, looking for that possible redeemer who may just nudge the industry out of the rut, and make the much needed growth a reality again.

Several champions were crowned and many of them have disappeared right back into non existence by virtue of the lifestyle they’ve managed to attain through their Main Event winnings. The One hasn’t surfaced yet though. The formula of a no-name, God-fearing, lucky amateur who rises from rags to riches through a meager online satellite buy-in, so successful in Moneymaker’s case, has been tested again when Jerry Yang won the Big Dance a couple of years ago. I think it’s safe to say that it has ended up as a miserable failure. Not only did Yang disappear after his win, these days many experts have him on top of their list of Main Event winners who haven’t really done anything for the good of the game.
Yang’s example clearly shows: copying the Moneymaker effect and letting it explode once again is a much more complicated matter than previously thought. It’s not exactly a cinch to replicate all the circumstances that led to the Moneymaker effect, and because the WSOP is not a lab experiment, the undertaking may be an impossible one altogether.

Industry experts nowadays nurture no illusions about a 2003-like explosion happening. They would be well content with a much smaller bang though. Since the rags to riches story appears to have grown tired, maybe a different angle approach is needed…Maybe people don’t want to see another – apparently random – player walk away with the millions that the WSOP Main Event offers to the winner. Maybe people do need to receive some actual proof that this game is a skill based one indeed and that it rewards the pro who has been perfecting his game for years rather than an amateur favored by luck.

Enter Phil Ivey, the respected Full Tilt pro, considered THE best poker player in the world by many. A possible “Ivey effect” in 2009 would be the opposite of the 2003-2004 Moneymaker effect. How would that conceivably work towards the good of the game and the industry? For one thing: players world over would gain a renewed appetite for the game, seeing how skill was being rewarded over blind luck and the outburst of excitement would draw in new participants. On the other hand, the government would finally gain undeniable high-level proof supporting the skill based nature of poker and that may come in more than handy in the fight against the 2006 UIGEA (although many of the political forces supporting the “stupidest law” in American history had very different reasons for pushing it through in the first place, and therefore their approach is not likely to change, regardless of what common sense says).

So, just how real is the possibility of a small 2009 poker boom?
The November Nine setup the WSOP has been experimenting with is quite useless without any big names in the lineup. Last year, that point has been driven home, but last year’s final table has also pointed it out that with a big name or two in the lineup, the November Nine could potentially set off the long awaited fireworks. This year, those fireworks may just light up the sky one more time. With Ivey one of the November Nine, the circumstances are aligning perfectly.

One question remains: though Ivey is probably the best poker player alive today, he’s not a show boating, UIGEA busting, aggressively spotlight-hungry character. As a matter of fact, he’s the kind of laid back personality who appears to go through life knowing what he wants and knowing exactly how he can get it. Is this the guy we want to pit against the unscrupulous politicians of Capitol Hill who may not know what they want but who are prepared to give it their all for an idea?
Could be. Ivey will certainly understand the nature of the position he’ll be in provided he wins the Big Dance in November. He’ll also understand more than any amateur ever could the types of hopes that burden the shoulders of a WSOP Main Event champion.

His final table appearance is great for the industry as it is. His winning it, may well be the life saving device the industry is so desperately clawing for. Come November we’ll see.

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