Week 30-2009 Boring, boring, boring ....

I decided to take some rest and played only 3 times this week, total of 21 hour and -$153.
Thursday I played the $50 tournament at the Red Mouse, and made a final table, but no cigar. Reggie's A,J made the four card flush against my pocket queens. Later in the cash game I made $100, and I was pleased to end the night plus $50. I won just one hand with pocket nines and the flop 9,8,8.
Friday in Scott's game no excitement, but at the end of night I lost two hands in a row and recorded -$260.
Saturday at Ho-Chunk I was up in Holdem $130, and than lost $70 in Omaha, but the night was positive $60.

Can someone tell me how professional players pay rent when they are card dead for two months?

PLO game at Ho-Chunk

Last night I played another session of boring poker at Ho-Chunk. When round-by-round limit table broke, we made a suggestion to the poker room manager to start $1/$2 PLO table. There was a lot of interest. Usually people at Ho-Chunk are afraid of $5/$5 PLO pots, but it looks like we found a good balance. We started about midnight with the full table, and even had 4-5 players on the list. At the table there were known Madison action players Sven, Ted, Bruce, Philly, and locals Bill W, Baraboo Bob, the other Bob, and a few other. Pots were big enough and we had a lot of exciting hands. This game may become standard for weekends, so if you are at Ho-Chunk put your name on the waiting list. Till then read a good Omaha book. Here are some recommended by Mr. Wegas:

Kings and Queens

For a period, starting in the 15th century, French playing-card manufacturers assigned to each of the court cards names taken from history or mythology. This practice had largely disappeared by the 19th century.

In the standard English playing card deck, the king and the other face cards represent no one in particular (though the king of hearts is sometimes referred to as the "suicide king" because he appears to be sticking his sword into his head; evidently, the king of hearts is also the only one of the kings without a moustache, whereas the king of diamonds is the only king not be depicted carrying a sword, wielding an axe instead). The most common names for the court cards were:

Kings
Spades: Called “David” on the French deck, probably after the biblical character. He holds a scepter in one hand, and a harp is visible below it (confirming the biblical attribution). He faces forward, a little to the left. On the English deck, he holds a sword. He faces forward, a little to the right.

Hearts: Called “Charles” on the French deck, probably after Charles the Great (Charlemagne) — or perhaps after French king Charles VII. He holds a sword. He faces forward, a little to the right. On the English deck, he also holds a sword (above his head), and both his hands are visible. Unlike the other kings, he does not have a mustache. He faces forward, a little to the left.

Diamonds: Called “César” on the French deck, probably after Julius Cæsar. He has no distinguishing attribute, and no visible hands. He faces right, and is seen in profile. On the English deck, he has an axe behind him, and one hand sticking in front of him. He faces left, and is seen in profile.

Clubs: Called “Alexandre” on the French deck, probably after Alexander the Great. He holds a scepter in one hand, with a shield (?) just below it. He faces forward, a little to the right. On the English deck, he holds a sword in his hand, with an imperial orb just beside it (seemingly floating in air). He faces forward, a little to the left.

Queens
Spades: Called “Pallas” on the French deck, possibly after the Greek goddess Athena. She faces left, and is seen in profile. On the English deck, she is the only queen with a scepter. She faces forward, a little to the right.

Hearts: Called “Judith” on the French deck, probably after the biblical character (or perhaps after Judith of Bavaria). She faces forward, a little to the left. On the English deck, she also faces forward, a little to the left (she is not reversed with respect to the French deck).

Diamonds: Called “Rachel” on the French deck, possibly after the biblical character. She faces forward, a little to the right. On the English deck, she faces forward, a little to the left.

Clubs: Called “Argine” on the French deck, an anagram of latin “regina” (“queen”); some have suggested that the name may (also) be related to the Greek Argos. She is the only queen not holding a flower. She faces forward, a little to the right. On the English deck, she does hold a flower like the other queens. She faces forward, a little to the left.

Jacks
Spades: Called “Hogier” on the French deck: origin is uncertain, but perhaps after Ogier the Dane from the Song of Rolland. He has a feather in his hat. He faces forward, a little to the right. On the English deck, he holds an unidentifiable object (initially a spear). He has a mustache. He faces right, and is seen in profile.

Hearts: Called “Lahire” on the French deck: origin is uncertain, but may refer to Étienne “La Hire” de Vignolles, companion of arms to Joan of Arc. He faces forward, a little to the left, and his face is a little slanted to the left. On the English deck, he also holds a leaf, and has an axe behind his head. He has a mustache. He faces left, and is seen in profile.

Diamonds: Called “Hector” on the French deck, possibly not after the Trojan hero, but perhaps after a companion (brother?) of Lancelot. He faces right, and is seen in profile. On the English deck, he holds a sword. He faces forward, a little to the left.

Clubs: Called “Lancelot” on the French deck, probably after the Arthurian hero. He holds a shield (?) attached to a string. He faces forward, a little to the left. On the English deck, he holds an unreadable object (originally an arrow). There is a feather sticking from his hat. He faces forward, a little to the right.

Check also The Four King Truth

Rounders

Respect is all you have left in the morning.

Week 29-2009

Played five times this week, including a small tournament, for 24 hours and negative $115. I just can not put two winning hands together.
Charts are comparison between the first five months of this year, and the last two months. Good news is, for July I'm down only $150. (Flat line in April is: two weeks period I spent in Europe and didn't play poker.)

Runner, Runner For $74,223

It's Sunday, just before midnight, and I’m watching two PLO tables on Full Tilt. Blinds are $200/$400 with $70 ante. The Great Gus Hansen is in the small blind. UTG makes it $1,400, call, fold and Gus makes it $6,420 to go. BB folds, UTG raises to $21,480 and the next player calls all in for $15,568. On the flop UTG goes all in for $7,439 and Gus calls. Total pot is $74,223.

Gus Hansen was playing three tables. I was watching two tables for about 30 minutes. When I opened the tables, Gus had about $14,000 on one and over $53,000 on the second. Just a half hour later when I left he had over $280,000. On the third table he was all the time about $60K.

Skill Versus Chance in Poker

By Mike Sexton for POKER NEWS DAILY Posted on March 29, 2009

Recently, I went to Charleston, South Carolina to testify as an “expert witness” in a poker trial. The case was the Town of Mount Pleasant versus five poker players who pled not guilty when they were busted for playing in a $20 tournament in someone’s house a couple of years ago. South Carolina law is similar to about 20 other states’ laws which say that it’s illegal to bet on any games of chance (in South Carolina, any game of dice or cards is considered to be a game of chance). Our mission was to prove that No Limit Hold’em poker was predominantly (more than 51%) a game of skill rather than chance. Fortunately for everyone in the poker world, Judge Larry Duffy agreed to hear testimony on this.

To poker players, whether poker is a game of skill or chance is a “no-brainer.” In my research for this case, I learned that several previous cases failed to prove this in court (even though two recent rulings in Pennsylvania and Colorado ruled that skill was the predominant factor in Hold’em). Proving that skill predominates over chance in a court of law is quite different than discussing it among poker players. Even if someone was a big favorite to win a pot, people who really don’t play poker see that any card can come up in the end and, therefore, many would think that Hold’em poker is primarily a game of chance.

Twenty states have laws similar to South Carolina’s, which says that it’s illegal to bet on any games of dice or cards. They claim it’s illegal to gamble on games of chance. If we were able to prove to the judge that poker was predominantly (51% or more) a game of skill, then perhaps the law could be changed to allow poker players to play in their homes without fear of criminalization. Obviously, the more court rulings that agree with this, the better the chance we have to change the laws nationwide.

Prior to going to South Carolina, I was forwarded a paper written by Howard Lederer on the predominant factor of skill versus chance in poker (specifically in No Limit Hold’em, as this was the game these guys were playing when they were busted). I thought Howard’s paper was brilliant. It was well thought out and very well written. Howard understood why previous cases had failed to prove that skill predominated over chance in poker. For the most part, they basically rested their testimony on the fact that that better players have an edge and the same people win year after year. He felt this thought process was doomed to fail in court.

The crux of Howard’s paper focused on the “predominant factor” and the skill elements of the game - things that are in total control of the player such as betting, calling, and folding. Everyone agrees on what the chance elements are in poker - the randomness of the cards and how they are dealt. The skill elements are what need to be defined. If there was no betting or folding in poker, it would be showdown poker and the luckiest player would win. It would simply be a game of chance. But that’s not how poker is played. One key point (verified by over 100 million hands played) is that over 70% of the hands dealt in No Limit Hold’em do not go to showdown (regardless of who may or may not have had the best hand). These pots are won by the skill applied by the player betting and getting everyone out of the pot.

In my testimony, I listed ten points that I felt were vital to becoming a successful poker player and stressed that there is so much more to playing poker than just the cards you get. I brought footage of actual hands that were played on the World Poker Tour to use for demonstration. They showed bluffing (where the guy won the pot, not because of his cards, but because of his skill), amateurs making mistakes, tells that were read properly by an opponent, someone making a tough call, and someone making a good laydown. These visual aids were very impressive in demonstrating that skill predominates over chance in No Limit Hold’em.

After hearing the testimony of myself and Dr. Bob Hannum (an expert in gaming mathematics who also testified as an expert witness), it seemed pretty obvious to all, especially the judge, that skill was the predominant factor in poker. Although the prosecutor asked us a few questions, he didn’t really make an effort to produce any contradictory evidence to the facts we testified on. He said his case didn’t matter whether poker was a game of skill or chance, but simply that these players were playing in a “house of gaming” and were guilty as charged.

The decision by the Judge Duffy resoundingly held poker to be a game of skill. However, he ruled against the five defendants. Judge Duffy is leaving it up to the appellate courts in South Carolina to decide if that fact is determinative of whether playing in a home game with a rake is legal under South Carolina law. He noted the absence of authority from the South Carolina Supreme Court as to whether the predominance test is the law in the state.

To quote Judge Duffy in his decision, “This Court, based on the above stated facts, finds that Texas Hold’em is a game of skill. The evidence and studies are overwhelming that this is so.”

This was my first testimonial as an expert witness and it was a unique experience for me. It was also a positive result for poker. The case will be appealed to a higher court and we hope that it goes by the “predominance” part of the state statute. If so, look for the law to change where people can play poker in the privacy of their homes (whether online or live) without fear of criminal prosecution.

A special thanks to the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) for their support in this case. They helped fund the attorneys and expert witnesses in an effort to stand up for the rights of poker players. I also want to thank Bob Ciaffone (advocate for poker players’ rights) and Chuck Humphrey (expert on gaming law) for their efforts in coordinating the lawyers and expert witnesses for the case. The brief of amicus curiae put together by Tom Goldstein was fantastic. Everyone who enjoys poker owes them a tip of the hat, as they are all fighting for your right to play poker.

It was a fun four days in Charleston for me. Someone said, “Sexton’s a rock star!” I wouldn’t go that far, but I was appreciated by the defendants and the supporters of the case for being there. I was in the local papers and on television every day. One blogger from the courtroom wrote, “Everyone in that courtroom should have paid to hear Sexton’s testimony!” I must say, that was pretty cool. To that blogger and to Howard Lederer (for writing that paper), let me say, “Thank you!”

Related Posts:

1. South Carolina Judge Finds Poker is a Game of Skill, Defendants Still Guilty
   In breaking news from South Carolina, Judge Larry Duffy “wrote that there is ‘overwhelming’ evidence...
2. Dutch Probability Expert Claims Poker Is Game of Skill, Not Chance
   Dutch Professor used his retirement speech to drop a bomb, stating that according to his...
3. Study Reveals Poker is a Game of Skill
   In a study released on Friday, it was revealed that Texas Hold'em, statistically at least,...

Poker Tracker

Being successful at poker not only involves thinking about cards and bets, you also need to be thinking about your game habits. When and how much do you play, where and when do your winning sessions occur? Do you know your hourly win rate in cash games and online tournaments? Can you tell how profitable one home game is compared to the other?

Online Tracking Services:
www.pokercharts.com/ $2 montly fee
http://www.pokerjunkie.com/module-BankrollTracker.html Free Online Bankrol Tracker
http://www.thefuturepokerstar.co.uk/2008/02/poker-bankroll-stats-spreadsheet.html  Excell spreadsheet

Free Poker Game Tracker by Mr. Wegas
To track my games I started with a simple Excel spreadsheet, but later I created a dabase in MS Access 2000. You can download this program and use it. After a few weeks, if you have any new ideas for more reports or functionality, let me know and I can make some changes. You need MS Access on your computer to use this tracking tool. Access is part of MS Office, but not included in basic versions.

Click to Download Free Poker Tracker Database


Screen shot of the main Poker Game Tracker window with sample data.

WSOP Final 9

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:04:50
Meet Your November Nine
What a day of poker! If you asked anyone in the media when we got here this morning if we thought the tournament would be down to its final nine players -- the November Nine -- before 11pm, we would have laughed and challenged you to put your whole bankroll on it. Yet here we are, just shy of 11pm, with the final nine players bagging and tagging for the night. But that's getting slightly ahead of the action. We started today at noon with 27 players. Leo Margets, the sole woman in the field, was the first elimination just twenty minutes into the day. That seemed to set the tone for play, as players got their chips into the middle with glee. Before we finished the first level of play, three more players were eliminated, including the good-for-television Antonio Esfandiari. All through the day, players continued to be eliminated at a rapid pace. We thought there would be mini-bubbles at 19 left, 16 left, and 13 left. In fact there were no such bubbles. The big stacks did their jobs today, as Darvin Moon, Steven Begleiter and Billy Kopp all applied relentless pressure on the short stacks. It was unfortunate for Kopp that he ran a small flush into a bigger flush and went busto in 12th place, a classic elimination that is sure to haunt Kopp for a long time. Of course there's one other player whom everyone was watching today. Some consider him to be the greatest player in the world; all were hoping he'd make the final table. Phil Ivey started off trending dangerously downwards, but he seemed to recognize what many other players did not -- the stacks were still relatively deep and the levels were still two-hours long. No need to panic. Ivey didn't panic, and as a result he secured a spot in the November Nine. When Jordan Smith said "Good night, Moon" and exited in tenth place, the November Nine were determined. Here they are!

Darvin Moon	58,930,000
Steven Begleiter	29,885,000
Eric Buchman	34,800,000
Jeff Shulman	19,580,000
Joe Cada	13,215,000
Kevin Schaffel	12,390,000
Phil Ivey	9,765,000
Antoine Saout	9,500,000
James Akenhead	6,800,000

Moon will be the chip leader for the next four months. Many will argue that this is the most talented Main Event final table to have been assembled in years. They'll have almost four months to argue back and forth over which player they think has the best shot. The final table festivities will take place from November 7 - 10.
Check who didn't make the final table.

WSOP 2009 November 9 OK, but who was 10th
by dusanjova

The WPT For Sale?

From Wall Street Journal
The World Series of Poker in Las Vegas is heading down for the final table. Thousands of wannabes in dark glasses are being winnowed down to nine. But the most coveted prize in the game isn't the only thing up for grabs right now.

Is TV's World Poker Tour up for sale?

"We can't comment... beyond saying we've provided confidential data to third parties," chief financial officer Tom Flahie told me last week.

Chief executive Steve Lipscomb, in the offshore gambling haven of Gibraltar last week for unspecified industry talks, went further. "We've had discussions with, and exchanged documents with, some companies that have expressed an interest," he said from his cell phone.

Sounds like it.

Whether a deal emerges is, of course, another matter. But it isn't hard to see why the WPT would be in play. Years of losses and missteps have left it looking like an impulse purchase for a major broadcaster or an online poker company.

With its stock at $1.25, parent company WPT Enterprises is now valued at a paltry $25 million. The company has about $18 million in net cash sitting on its balance sheet. Flahie confirmed that pretty much all of that would be available to an acquirer. So the "enterprise value" -- the net cost -- would only be about $7 million or so at current prices.

World Poker Tour depends on sponsorship for its TV programs (for which a deal for an eighth season on Fox Sports, which like MarketWatch is owned by News Corp., has just been signed). Lipscomb says, when he talks to potential sponsors, "The inevitable question when someone is about to pay you $3 million, or $4 million, or $5 million, is (for them) to look and say, 'Why don't I just buy your company?'"

Lipscomb adds: "Oftentimes the answer is: It's not for sale. But of course everything is always for sale."

What may sweeten the pot is that the company has, at least for now, stopped hemorrhaging money. It generated positive cash flow last quarter for the first time in more than two years. And Flahie says he's confident they will break even, or better, for the year.

Big drop for one-time highflier

It's a long comedown for a company that was once valued at half a billion dollars and revolutionized TV poker. Even critics concede Steve Lipscomb and the World Poker Tour played a key role in creating the poker boom. They launched the tour -- a series of high-stakes tournaments in various cities -- back in 2003. The key invention was the so-called "hole cam," a camera that let TV viewers see the players' hidden or "hole" cards during the betting.

In 2005, at the height, the stock hit $26 and poker legend Doyle Brunson was rumored to be mulling a $700 million bid.

What went wrong? Critics say the World Poker Tour was swamped on TV by too many copycats. Meanwhile it never found a way to convert its brand name into a reliable revenue stream. Even selling WPT-branded products didn't work: Online casinos give away many of the same things for free.

Company mistakes didn't help -- from a failed venture in China to letting costs get out of control. From 2004 to 2008 overhead trebled to $22 million while revenues, after a brief boom, fell backwards.

Yet while WPT has struggled, the worldwide poker boom has gone from strength to strength.

A record 61,000 people entered at least one of the events at this year's World Series of Poker (which is not connected to the WPT) in Las Vegas. And that includes about 6,500 who either found, or won, the $10,000 needed to enter the main event -- the No Limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament being played out right now.

That's down a bit from a peak a few years ago, thanks to the recession and the crackdown on U.S. Internet poker. But it's still 10 times the number who turned up as recently as 2002.

The poker boom in the U.S. isn't quite as manic as it was a few years ago. But overseas it is still growing like Topsy. There are moves afoot to organize poker like chess, with an agreed set of rules and an international governing body. International Federation of Poker president Anthony Holden, author of "Big Deal: A Year as a Professional Poker Player" and "Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom," says he hopes poker will join the mind sports "Olympiads" in due course.

This international boom may give World Poker Tour an opening -- if it finds the right partner and plays the hand right. It still has a number of assets, including a reasonably strong brand in a crowded field, expertise and valuable front man Mike Sexton, the most recognizable presenter in the game. You have to figure almost any manager could squeeze more than a few million dollars of value out of that.

Lipscomb says the World Poker Tour is now broadcast in more than 150 countries. In France, his second biggest market, episodes sometimes get more viewers than in the U.S.

Better times in the cards?

A lot may depend on the key issue facing the entire poker business -- whether the laws restricting online gambling in the U.S. are likely to change. If they do, you can expect a free-for-all as operators try to grab market share quickly. Online poker was booming before the Republican-controlled Congress cracked down with new laws in 2006.

Things are looking more promising these days. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is pressing to legalize online gambling, and recently introduced a bill to that effect. Poker players everywhere hope they have a friend in the White House, where a born-again recovering addict has been replaced by a bona fide -- er, card-carrying -- card player. Barack Obama, notes Holden, is the first poker-playing president since Nixon. He may be the keenest card player in the White House since Truman.

Other countries are also taking a second look at liberalizing online gambling laws. The big reason? Governments desperately need more revenues -- and legalizing, regulating and taxing online gambling may give them just that.

There are reasons to hope that things may look up for the World Poker Tour after all.

Week 28-2009

It's booooring. I played 5 sessions at Ho-Chunk, for a total of 30 hours and negative $61.
After 11(13) winning weeks, I lost in 5 of last 6 weeks.

Excalibur removes electronic tables

By Gary Trask

LAS VEGAS 6 July 2009 – Less than year after going all-electronic in its poker room, Excalibur is going back to live dealers and real chips and cards. A MGM Mirage spokesperson confirmed that the company planned to remove the 12 PokerPro electronic poker tables on Monday and hoped to have its live poker room back in action by as early as Friday.

It was just last August that Excalibur became the first casino in Las Vegas to host a poker room with exclusively electronic tables. The flashy PokerPro tables made by PokerTek were installed and Excalibur's Vice President of Gaming Operations Todd DeRemer said at the time that the hope was the new tables would give the casino an "opportunity to pique the interest of a different kind of player."

But on Sunday night, Lynn Holt, the VP of Marketing for Excalibur admitted that did not turn out to be the case.

"Excalibur was happy to be the first Las Vegas Strip casino to offer poker players the opportunity to enjoy the PokerTek automated system," Holt said. "We found the system to be an efficient and viable poker alternative for players at all levels.

"While our experience was successful, we ultimately found that live poker games more accurately reflect the interactive poker experience customers have come to expect when they make their way to the excitement of the Las Vegas Strip."

In a press release last month, PokerTek said that it received notification on June 19 that the Excalibur had "elected to exercise its rights to terminate its agreement at any time if the field trial for the PokerPro system lasted more than four months." PokerPro received final approval by the Nevada Gaming Commission and exited field trial on March 19, 2009.

"We thoroughly enjoyed working with the Excalibur and their partnership was critical to the success of our field trial in Nevada," said Mark Roberson, PokerTek's acting CEO. "Over the past year, we've built a strong base of PokerPro players and our product is stronger than ever as a result of the field trial process. We do not expect the termination of this agreement to have a significant impact on our reported revenues or results of operations."

Navarro

Joe Navarro spent over twenty-five years with the FBI, working both as an agent and as a supervisor in the area of counterintelligence and counterterrorism. Through his work, he has become one of the foremost authorities on reading the nonverbal communications that human beings exhibit when they are lying. Joe first realized that his skill set could be applicable to poker after filming a Discovery Channel special entitled “More Than Human” where he met Annie Duke in a test of human lie detectors against machine lie detectors. He then applied his craft at Camp Hellmuth, Phil’s poker fantasy camp in August 2005, and by some accounts, stole the show with his presentation on Decoding Non Verbals at the Poker Table. Applying his expertise to poker, Joe is revolutionizing the science of detecting and interpreting tells. The subtle mannerisms that betray the strength or weakness of a player’s hand. Navarro teaches "Read Em and Reap" seminar www.navarropoker.com, and often shares his information at WSOP Academy events. Navarro is now poised to reinvent the study of poker “tells” and create a new generation of poker players to be feared. You can read some of Narro's articles online at www.bluffmagazine.com

Week 27-2009

I'm officially on the way down. Week ended down $185 after 42 hours of bad cards. Thursday was the only bright moment. We played a mixed game(Holdem, Omaha, Pineapple) at Paul'l Bar in Middleton. Friday I had a big loss at Ho-Chunk. There was no bad beats, just bad hands for many hours.

I'm wondering how professional players make living with cards like this. I'm sitting there for hours and not playing a hand. There is about 30 hands per hour. With 9 players at the table everyone should win on average 3 hands per hour. But it's not like that. I sometimes don't enter the pot for 2-3 hours. That is almost 100 hands. So who is wining my 3 hands? I have no clue, but it's boring.

Hail Cesar

Watch Phil Hellmuth Caesar Entrance at the 2009 WSOP on RawVegas.tv
Phil enters the main event.