Irish Open Reaches Final Table
Two Hundred and Sixty-Seven runners began the 2008 Irish Open Poker Championship last week. Now they are down to the final six for tomorrow's final table. Among the starters were: Last year's Irish Open champ Marty Smyth, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, Roland De Wolfe, Alan Smurfit, Teddy Sheringham, Jon Kalmar, Andy Black, Todd Brunson, John Duthie, Bruno Fitoussi and Ian Frazer, Sorel Mizzi, Padraig Parkinson, Conor Tate, Surinder Sunar. Of those big names exactly zero made the final table, which goes off on Monday at the Citywest Hotel card room in Dublin.
Here is how the final six will stack up tomorrow. Chip counts are approximate.
Seat 1: Neil Channing 2,700,000
Seat 2: Tim Blake 850,000
Seat 3: Kai Paulsen 650,000
Seat 4: Thomas Dunwoodie 875,000
Seat 5: Edwin Troupier 525,000
Seat 6: Donal Norton 1,000,000
Poker Skill or Luck: Real Data
The Poker Shrink wants to remind you that his position of skill versus luck in poker is that there is no luck in poker. None! There is variance that arises from the random distribution of cards in a standard poker deck but what some call luck is only a statistical anomaly that will disappear with successive trials.
That being said; there has been way too much argument, particularly in front of legislatures and courts on the question of: Poker, game of skill or game of luck. Why debate something that can be empirically verified? I mean you wouldn't debate whether a "heart pill" would cure you or kill you. You would expect testing and so would the governmental agencies involved. So why not simply run the tests?
Well, a group at Case Western University has done just that. The test was quite simple: they took some students with little knowledge of how to play poker and gave half of them a brief history of poker and the other half some basic strategy guidelines (like what are good starting hands in Hold'em). Surprise, surprise; the group with the strategy tips did better than the uninstructed group. Furthermore, the groups each improved as they played more hands and self-deduced better playing strategies. Even in the short term timespan of these trials: some skill won out over simply the "luck" of the draw.
Read the full article here.
Fox Sports TV to Broadcast Aussie Millions
Fox Sports Television will begin coverage of the 2008 Aussie Millions tournament next month. The Aussie Millions cash game with a $100,000 entry stack by each player will begin airing on Fox Sports Saturday March 23rd. Times will vary on different cable providers with all Fox Sports programming.
There will be four one hour episodes of the Big Cash Game at Aussie Millions. This year's cash game included: Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Tony G., Tom Dwan, Brian Townsend, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and John Juanda. The Aussie Millions main event tournament will follow the four weeks of cash game coverage.
Fox Sports TV to Broadcast Aussie Millions
Fox Sports Television will begin coverage of the 2008 Aussie Millions tournament next month. The Aussie Millions cash game with a $100,000 entry stack by each player will begin airing on Fox Sports Saturday March 23rd. Times will vary on different cable providers with all Fox Sports programming.
There will be four one hour episodes of the Big Cash Game at Aussie Millions. This year's cash game included: Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Tony G., Tom Dwan, Brian Townsend, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and John Juanda. The Aussie Millions main event tournament will follow the four weeks of cash game coverage.
Antigua Ups Ante in Poker Trade Dispute
In the ongoing saga of David vs. Goliath (Antigua vs. U.S.), it appears the big, bad United States government seems to think they can violate World Trade Organization rules and still dictate the actions of other countries. Afterall, several countries have settled with the U.S. over the banning of online gaming by the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act. It would seem only natural that the behemoth U.S. should think that other nations would take the meager settlements and move on. Taking on the U.S. in any legal action can have dire consequences in other areas.
Antigua & Barbuda was the first country to step up and demand the U.S. honor WTO regulations and allow online gaming access to the U.S. market. The U.S. trade commission ignored the WTO suit filed by Antigua and lost the hearing and subsequent appeals. Finally, after a massive reduction in the original award, the U.S. semi-agreed to the $3.2 million compensation offered to Antigua. The U.S. further went on to attempt to specify how Antigua could collect such compensation.
Well it appears David is not listening again Goliath and now it appears that Antigua may be leading the way in an all out assault on the arrogant position of the United States.
As reported by the leading U.S. entertainment newspaper, Variety:
"The government of Antigua is likely to abrogate intellectual property treaties with the U.S. by the end of March and authorize wholesale copying of American movies, music and other 'soft targets' if the Bush administration fails to respond to proposals for settling a trade dispute between the two counties."The Motion Picture Assn. of America has been closely following the case with tremendous concern fearing that the copying could be extensively damaging and that -- worse -- a dangerous precedent could be set for other small countries angry at U.S. trade policy."
"It is not our preferred option to punish the MPAA or others for the U.S. government's intransigence, but the U.S. has refused to negotiate fairly,"
said Mark E. Mendel, who represents Antigua. Goods and materials that would be copied include
"virtually everything from pharmaceuticals to music, anything with IP protection that can be duplicated, though we'll go for softer targets first."
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All of this because some right wing politicians don't want us to play a little online poker. Makes you want to run right out and participate in the politial process, doesn't it?
The Bodog Poker Open Sets Records!
photo courtesy BodogLife.com
The Bodog Poker Open Main Event happened last Sunday and set a record for the biggest tournament in Bodog history! The prize pool was just over $300,000 after Bodog sweetened the pot with an additional $25,000.
The field of 596 brought out some heavy hitters like pros Annette "Annette_15? Obrestad, Kevin "beLOWaBOVe" Saul, Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, Eric "Rizen" Lynch and obviously, Bodog pros Josh Arieh, David Williams and Evelyn Ng.
In the end it was Shawn "phatcat" Luman who received the distinction of being named the first-ever Bodog Poker Champion. He earned $76,280 for his win as well as that super flashy and pimpin' Omega Speedmaster watch worth $4,400.
With the Bodog Poker Open all wrapped up for this year, the new focus in the Bodog Poker room will switch to the 2008 World Series of Poker qualifiers. There are at least four WSOP seats up for grabs every week in March and April with that number jumping to five per week in May and June.
Sky Sports to Air WSOPE 2007 in April
If you weren't in London last fall for the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe, Sky Sports is bringing you all the action in April on eight consecutive nights.
Even if you were there in London, the three events of the 2007 WSOPE were played across three different casinos and catching all the action was impossible. So here is a chance to view the highlights of the tournaments and have a ringside seat for all three final tables.
Each one hour episode will show twice each evening on the various Sky Sports Network channels. Here is the schedule of 2007 WSOPE:
Episode---Date ----Time -----Channel
# 1 ---21/04/08 ----21:00 ---Sky Sports 3 Digital
# 1 ---21/04/08 ----24:00 ---Sky Sports 2 Digital
# 2 ---22/04/08 ----21:00 ---Sky Sports 3 Digital
# 2 ---22/04/08 ----24:00 ---Sky Sports 2 Digital
# 3 ---23/04/08 ----21:00 ---Sky Sports 3 Digital
# 3 ---23/04/08 ----24:00 ---Sky Sports 2 Digital
# 4 ---24/04/08 ----21:30 ---Sky Sports 2 Digital
# 4 ---24/04/08 ----24:00 ---Sky Sports 2 Digital
# 5 ---25/04/08 ----21:00 ---Sky Sports 3 Digital
# 5 ---25/04/08 ----24:00 ---Sky Sports 2 Digital
# 6 ---26/04/08 ----21:00 ---Sky Sports 3 Digital
# 6 ---26/04/08 ----24:00 ---Sky Sports 2 Digital
# 7 ---27/04/08 ----21:00 ---Sky Sports Xtra
# 7 ---27/04/08 ----24:00 ---Sky Sports Xtra
# 8 ---28/04/08 ----21:30 ---Sky Sports 2 Digital
# 8 ---28/04/08 ----24:00 ---Sky Sports 3 Digital
Sweden Ends Poker Prohibition
In a classic example of changing a law by not enforcing the law, the government of Sweden has ended it monopoly on online gaming by advising all state prosecutors to halt cases against media organizations accepting ads from foreign online gambling companies, which means that many online poker operators may now decide to begin advertising in Sweden, competing openly with state-supoprted Svenska Spel. And if you can advertise, then apparently you may also operate and accept customers.
The case under consideration had to do with advertising but the ruling signals the government's decision to halt its previous position to allow gaming only with the state sponsored site. The continuing pressure of the European Union was, of course, a strong influence on the decision.
The ruling to open Swedish media to foreign gambling operators acknowledges the European Commission action against Sweden challenging their protectionist practices against foreign gambling operators. But whether my law, or enforcement or wax-sealed letter ruling, it appears one of the major nations in defiance of the EU gaming policy has capitulated.
"It seems that the courts in Sweden are finally starting to accept the changes taking place in Europe and in EC Law,"
one legal counsel said.
2008 Five Star WPT Championship Coming to Bellagio
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Bellagio Las Vegas, Home of the WPT Championship
Tuesday, April 1st, will see the start of satellites for the first event of the Sixth Annual Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio on the Las Vegas strip. A $2,000 NLHE contest kicks off the 5 Star tournament on Wednesday, April 2nd. Events run throughout the month and concludes with the final table of the $25,000 WPT No-Limit Hold'em Championship on April 26. This is the big one so expect to see all of the pros, semi-pros, hopefuls and the hopeless gathered at the luxurious resort for one of poker's top premier events. The events will be under the guidance of Tournament Director, Tom McClelland, the man that invented and perfected the tournament director position. We always have a good time covering events at the Bellagio and appreciate the support they provide to the scribes and picture takers delivering the events to the world through the magic of the Internet.
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Carlos Mortensen will be defending his 2007 WPT Championship title
Change of subject: A casual observation. I've been playing in some NLHE cash games around Vegas after a long period of "nothing but work," right here on the Prof's Blogs. I've noticed there has been an upgrading of the young talent cruising the NLHE tables. I still consider the games to be soft, offering the better players a good exchange rate; but, I'm surprised by the quality of some of the younger players.
Considering the detrimental efforts of the 2006 anti-gambling legislation that dumped on the poker industry, I erroneously believed this would stifle the depth of the upcoming crop of poker players. Not so. Even with the difficulties for the average US citizen to gain poker playing experience through their computers the game has evolved to a much higher level of player sophistication.
In the last few days I've listened to a hand analysis that was multi-layered complication resulting in a spot on conclusion that netted a couple of hundred dollars in the pot. One of the better young players at the table had gotten a read on a newbie, cataloged the hand events and then made what appeared to be a questionable call. He read him like a book then acted, it was exactly the right thing to do.
Another observation worth sharing. Another of the players commented, "I always play better poker if I'm losing." Got me to thinking about the cause and effects of poker. Discounting the "I'm losing so I go on tilt crowd," do you play better if you're behind? Does you game tighten up? Do you drop out of the draw hands earlier? Do the basic rules of starting cards, position, player tells, and bluffing become more important? if you answer yes, then why don't you always play like you're down?
Years ago when we mostly played limit hold'em and seven card stud, one of the wise old timers told me, "If you bluff more than twice a month you're not as good as you think you are." In today's entry level NLHE casino games the bluff is practiced like a religion. It's considered the 'manly' play.
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Steve Billarakis, youngest winner of a WSOP event ever at 21 years and a few days, posing with friends, money and bracelet
World Series of Poker Europe 2008
The second year of the World Series of Poker of Europe will not include an expansion beyond the size, scope or location of last year's inaugural tournament. London will again be the location for the WSOPE and the tournaments will again be shared between the same three casinos: St. James (Fifty), Leicester Square (The Casino at the Empire) and Marble Arch (Sportsman).
The 2008 World Series of Poker Europe will be held from September 19th to October 1st, 2008 in London, England. Last year the WSOPE consisted of three events in same number of days: a HORSE tournament, a Pot Limit Omaha event and the Championship No Limit Hold'em tournament. We should expect a similar schedule this year.
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