Calling A Clock
Sometimes I imagine a poker world where each player is hooked up to a set of electrodes and if they don’t make a decision within a specific time period “ZAP!†they are forced to fold or make a decision by a refreshing stream of electrodes. Since we don’t live in my perfect world and there are no time regulations in live games, what constitutes adequate time for live action? There is definitely a fine line when calling a clock on someone at the poker table. I have been in tournaments where a person’s tournament life is on the line, and their opponent calls a clock not giving them ample time to make a decision. I have also been on cash game tables where the drunk guy is taking 10 minutes to make every decision.
Personally, I have never called a clock on anyone and in most circumstances I wouldn’t advocate calling a clock. For the most part, I believe that some players genuinely need more time to make a decision. Perhaps the money that is on the line is a lot of money to them, and it isn’t easy for them to justify making a call for that amount. Maybe they need to replay the entire hand in their head, calculate odds, and play back previous hands with that opponent. There are several factors to consider, and some people take longer than others to siphon through all the information. A lot of times I will take several minutes to observe my opponent to get a read off of them. I know a player who takes a few minutes to decide because he is waiting for his instincts to kick in. In tournaments players who take a long time to decide can be even more frustrating because it affects how many hands are seen at that particular blind level. However, in tournaments these decisions are even more crucial because they are the difference between life and death.
I’ve seen players who use the clock to their advantage, especially in tournaments. There was one guy I played a tournament with, and any time it was heads up he would either go all in or place a bet and immediately call a clock on his opponent. It was definitely a strategy that put his opponent at a disadvantage of only having a minute to make a decision to make a bad call or fold the best hand. I think this is entirely in bad form to do this, and it’s just downright rude.
There have been several occasions where I’ve run into those repeat offenders of lengthy decision making. When a person is making a habit of taking an extended period of time to make even the smallest decisions, then I wouldn’t knock someone for getting inpatient and calling a clock on them. Maybe they will get the hint and start being more aware of the other people that are at the table. I recently sat at a table where this woman was slowing down the action every hand. She would continuously ask the dealer who raised, what the amount was, and continue to dramatize every little decision that was put to her. The whole table was getting upset and I was falling asleep, so I was glad when someone started calling the clock on her. In the future, I can’t see too many situations where I would call a clock on someone, but it is these instances that I think some action should be taken against those that are inconsiderate of others at the table.
April Fool’s Day Charity Poker at the Hard Rock Las Vegas
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Howard Lederer at the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Got any plans for April Fools Day? Want to play some poker and help raise money for a good cause? No matter how you answer these questions you should be at the Hard Rock Resort in Las Vegas for the Howard and Suzie Lederer April Fools Fundraiser. Bring your $200 + $30 buy-in to the Hard Rock Casino Poker Lounge (others have a poker room, the Hard Rock has a poker lounge) before the 3 PM start time April 1.
The winner of the tournament gets a seat in the 2009 WSOP at the Rio All-Suite Resort. That's right, you could parley your lowly $230 investment into a multi-million dollar pile of cash. Last year's WSOP Main Event winner received more than $9 million. The charity event winner will also get a Curtis and Co watch plus a Legacy Alliance designed crystal trophy. Of course, you could always use the $230 to buy 95 shares of Venetian stock (Sands Corp); but, you'd miss all the fun and the complimentary snacks.
All proceeds benefit the Warm Springs Preserve. Click for complete details at the event website.
RSVP: info@aprilfoolscpt.com
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Hard Rock Las Vegas
Learning Poker From TV: Bad Idea
I received a email a few days ago asking if watching a lot of poker on TV can make you a better player. While I do agree that watching poker can add more to your game than watching baseball could add to your swing, I definitely feel that the type of poker represented on TV doesn’t quite showcase the proper playing method that most students of the game should adhere to.
What are some of the issues? Well, the main problem is that on most of these shows you’re witnessing pros play against other pros for insane stakes. Everything about these circumstances makes the type of poker their playing different from the kind you play at your local card room. Playing for a $100,000 pot against Doyle Brunson when your Phil Hellmuth is not like when I’m playing for a $100 pot against some poker novice online.
Simply mimicking the style of pro players you watch on TV is not a way to advance your game, because there is a method to their madness. Gus Hansen doesn’t play any two cards just because he gets lucky and flops big a lot of the time. Hansen is one of the best post-flop players in the game and is able to read extreme weakness in his opponents, which allows him to take down pots even when he holds average card combinations. If you tried the same thing, you wouldn’t have any of the advantages that Gus has when making a similar move, such as table image, reading ability and just pure poker knowledge.
Another problem with trying to learn poker off of TV is that the TV cameras themselves have a effect on the players. Many times a player will make a move out of character just because they don’t want to look bad on TV. This leads to big name players making poor all-in calls and even worse folds, not exactly prime learning material for those watching at home.
Improving your poker game is easy; you just need to put in some additional effort that doesn’t involve sitting on the couch. Buy a few books, watch some online videos and put what you’ve learned into practice, and you’ll see your game grow one thousand times faster than if all you did was watch the World Poker Tour.
Venetian Deep Stack Series 2009 Schedules Released
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Venetian/Palazzo is the world's largest 5 Diamond resort
Schedules for the first four Deep Stack Extravaganza Series (DSE) are now available with the release of the DSE III numbers. Click here for all 2009 DSE Schedules with event conditions, buy-in $, dates, and times. The 2009 DSE Series IV event remains penciled in for November 1 - 25, firm scheduling will come later.
April brings the 2009 Deep Stack Extravaganza II running from April 1 - 25. Just in time for the coming of spring. It's a lessor known secret of Vegas locals that a seat in any of the events of the DSE II will renew the hope for happier, more prosperous times ahead.
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Venetian Poker Room invites all poker players to enjoy the many amenities of the largest poker room in Las Vegas
$275 buy-in Super Satellites begin in a couple of weeks on Wednesday, April 1, in the plush Venetian Poker Room. Regular events have buy-ins of $330, $550, $1070, and $2,500 for the Championship event. Most events are No-Limit Hold'em; although, players can enter the Deep Stack H.O.R.S.E. event for $330, instead of the $50,000 charged for the horse event at the other poker place, a savings of almost $50,000!
Registration for each event begins at 9 PM the prior day. Most regular events begin at Noon and play for 2 days. Super Satellite registrations open 2 hours prior to each event. Start times for Super Satellites are 12 PM, 4 PM, and 8 PM. Single table satellites made available everyday from 8 AM - 2 AM.
This is the poker tournament series for all poker players to test their mettle. This is the original poker tournament series with affordable buy-ins that plays like the high-dollar buy-in, world famous poker tournaments. Bigger starting chip stacks and blind levels almost twice as long as many comparable buy-in tournaments make up the secret of the Deep Stack Extravaganza's popularity and success with poker players. Of course, playing poker in the world's largest 5 Diamond resort scores high marks in the comfort category.
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Campanile Tower at the Venetian Las Vegas
Venetian Deep Stack Event Summer 2009
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For those of you who will be in Las Vegas for the WSOP or just want to feel some of that Las Vegas heat, the Venetian will be offering their Deep Stack Extravaganza tournaments again this summer. One of the great things about this tournament is it offers medium size buy in tournaments with a substantial amount of chips. These events range from $360-$5,000. The structure is significant enough to offer playtime at any buy in. For example, the $360 buy in gives over 12,000 in tournament chips with 40 minute levels. Playing a bunch of events at the WSOP can be pretty expensive, so it is nice that the Venetian is offering a tournament structure that lends to great play and decent prize pools. In the past, these Deep Stack events have attracted on average 500+ players per event. Even the lower buy in tournaments see first place prizes of $40,000 or more. These tournaments are a great way to get some experience in tournament play in medium size fields. Below is the list of events for the Deep Stack Extravaganza at the Venetian.
5/28/09 $250 Super Satellites
5/29/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
5/30/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
5/31/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/1/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/2/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
6/3/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
6/4/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/5/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/6/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/7/09 $1,070 No-Limit Hold'em
6/7/09 $550 H.O.R.S.E (4 P.M.)
6/8/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
6/9/09 $225 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout
6/10/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/11/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
6/12/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/13/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/14/09 $1,590 No-Limit Hold'em
6/14/09 $550 Omaha 8/B (4 P.M.)
6/15/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
6/16/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
6/17/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/18/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/18/09 $550 P.L.O. (4 P.M.)
6/19/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/20/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/21/09 $1,070 No-Limit Hold'em
6/22/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/23/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
6/24/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
6/25/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/26/09 $2,100 No-Limit Hold'em
6/27/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
6/28/09 $1,070 No-Limit Hold'em
6/29/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
6/30/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
7/1/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
7/2/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
7/3/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
7/4/09 $1,070 No-Limit Hold'em
7/5/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
7/6/09 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
7/7/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
7/8/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
7/9/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
7/10/09 $550 No-Limit Hold'em
7/11/09 $1,070 No-Limit Hold'em
7/12/09 $550 Super Satellites
7/13/09 $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship Event
Sit & Go Quick Strategy
Personally, I love online Sit & Go tournaments. They can be entered and won in under an hour, feature a wide assortment of opponents, and allow cunning players to take advantage of weak fields to consistently place in the money well over 90% of the time. The reason so many players bust out early at a Sit & Go is because they don’t understand if they should be playing these small, single table events like a cash game or like a deep-fielded tournament. The answer is neither, at least not through all the stages.
Sit & Go’s require intense patience crammed into about 30-45min of poker. You won’t be able to use hours of information gathering to get to know your opponents, instead you’ll need to watch every bet, raise, fold from the get go to develop an immediate profile on everyone at the table. This profile can be limited in its usefulness since it’s based on limited knowledge, but it does help, especially when you get down to the making it in the money.
Here’s a quick three-step process to doing well at a Sit & Go. Will use the scenario that you’re playing in a standard 9-player tournament, no with special rules such as a turbo blind structure.
Early Round
The first stages of a Sit & Go can be played very much like a deep-stacked tournament. There are many schools of thought on Sit & Go hand selection, and I tend to agree with the methodology that you should stick to the top ten starting hands combined with proper positioning strategy. You don’t want to give up too many chips early on fishing with small pairs or even medium strength hands like K-J because they can be too easily defeated, and your goal is to make it to the money.
Unless you get a big blind special and flop big, you’re going to want to wait for the premium stuff, pocket aces, KK, QQ, A-K, etc. Many times in these Sit & Go’s you only need to increase your chip stack by 50% in order to cruise into a comfortable spot that will allow you have even more patience with your hand selection. Since you’re mostly playing just premium hands, you’re going to want to make sure you maintain good betting discipline when you pick up these cards. If you overbet and pick up just the blinds, you’ve wasted the hand. Maximizing your profits and the amount of chips you’re extracting from your opponents is incredibly crucial during the early stages of a Sit & Go, because if done right and you are able to double up quickly, you might be able to reach the top 4-5 spots with little difficulty.
Mid-Game/Money Bubble
The middle of a Sit & Go is when a few players have been eliminated and there are now a few big stacks at the table. At most 9-player Sit & Go’s online, only the top three spots are paid, so even though you’ve outlasted about half of the field, it means nothing unless you get into the top three. How to play your hands at this stage depends heavily on your chip stack. If you are the chip leader or runner-up, there’s a sound strategy in just waiting for the other players to take each other out, putting you into the money without much of an effort. This doesn’t mean you should fold your pocket queens, but it also doesn’t mean you should be calling off big bets with a drawing hand just because you can afford to. Don’t gamble too much here if you have a sizeable chip lead, remember that the goal is to make the money.
If you’re stuck with about an average to low chip stack, you are essentially now looking for an opportunity to double up. It is not advisable to raise all-in pre-flop unless you have a very premium hand and are confident you are going to get just one caller. The problem with going all-in pre-flop before making the final three is that the other players at the table will have tightened their play immensely, as they themselves will not want to be knocked out at this crucial stage. Big bets or moving all-in to pick up the blinds doesn’t make sense here usually, because the tournament hasn’t been going on long enough in a Sit & Go to make winning the blinds worth risking your tournament life.
Instead, you need to play tight/aggressive poker. Flop big, play big, it might be your only shot. Also pay attention to how the other small stacks are playing, as the short stack at the table is probably going to have to go all-in with something less than premium. Pay attention to his betting patterns to see if you can pick up when he’s about to shove with a mediocre hand and you can then possibly call and knock him out of the tournament.
When it’s down to the final four bubble, everyone is going to be waiting for the short stack to bust out. Very rarely will you see the big stacks at the table get into a betting war with each other at this point, they rather just make it into the money. If you’re the short stack in this situation, see if you can ID which, if any, players at the table raise constantly pre-flop. If there is such a player at the table and you pick up a hand worth going all-in with, let him put that extra bet out there so that you can steal it out from him and possibly even induce a call. Playing for small pots and the blinds aren’t going to help you on the bubble, you’re going to need to double up.
In The Money
This is the stage of the Sit & Go where everything that has happened up to this point strategy wise can and has to be thrown out the window. The super-tight play that was pitch perfect just five minutes ago will now result in you folding to every bet when you don’t have top pair. The inability to switch gears this quickly is what results in many novice Sit & Go players finishing third. They continue to wait for the nuts, meanwhile their more experienced opponents have completely switched up their styles and are now playing aggressive heads-up method poker, even though there’s still three people at the table.
Smart, aggressive players do well once they’re in the money at a Sit & Go. It is very easy to see if an opponent is going to fold whenever he didn’t get a great piece of the flop, and you can constantly one-bet that player into folding almost every time. Not only does this let you pick up some easy pots, but when they do call or raise, you’ll know they have a legitimate hand and maybe you need to back off a little and minimize your risk.
Much like how everyone picked on the short stack during bubble play, the same will usually happen with the final three players, especially if the short stack is considerably short. If you find yourself in this position, you’re not going to have many options other than shoving with a medium strength hand. Remember that in three-handed play, often any ace will be good, and even the smallest pocket pairs will usually start out as the favorite. It might not be the ideal situation, but you need to double up early on so that your overall stack will grow enough to become a threat.
If you’re the big dog and in the money, you need to learn how to play bully poker. You’re going to want to make sure your opponents are not seeing too many cheap flops and you don’t want to check on too many streets, especially if you’ve classified the opponent as weak. If you constantly hammer on scared players during this final stage, you’ll goad them into shoving with a medium strength hand constantly, just to try to ease up the pressure.
Trapping is a great way to knock out these timid players as well if you flop big, as you can often induce them to go all-in if they catch any piece of a flop or turn. Let them hang themselves on weak cards and you’ll easily be able to exploit these situations.
Play smart, gather information and be able to switch gears if you want to crush your typical Sit & Go tournament.
Huck Seed Wins the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Former WSOP Main Event winner Huck Seed outlasted a field of over 60 of the worlds best heads-up poker players to become the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Champion, also becoming the overall most successful player in the history of the tournament. Seed took down female poker pro Vanessa Russo in a best of three matchup, winning two consecutive rounds, taking the title and $500,000 in cash, which was presented by 2008 Champion Chris Ferguson.
On his road to the final table, Seed was put up against David Oppenheim in the Elite Eight bracket, whom he eliminated when his pockets 8’s held up against Oppenheim’s A-Q. In the Final Four, Seed met Sam Farha in what became the longest individual round of the event, with the chip lead swaying back and forth constantly. Seed was finally able to put Farha away when his 10-8 of clubs made a flush on the river to overcome Farha’s A-K.
Praise should also be given to runner-up Vanessa Russo, who not only became the first female player ever to make it to the heads-up finals, but also do so by defeating an elite group of opponents that included Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Paul Wasicka and Daniel Negreanu. For her efforts, she took home $250,000 in cash.
Blinding Down
Sometimes, when playing tournaments, it is hard to build a stack and the moves you make just don’t work against your opponents. If you don’t catch cards, this can be detrimental to your chip count. The tendency at this point is to wait for top 10 hands like AA or AK. Don’t let yourself succumb to this downfall! If you are waiting for these prime hands, they likely will not come around until you are whittled down to just a few bets. If this is the case, you’ll be lucky if everyone at the table doesn’t call just to get you out. When you are playing a live tournament, once you get down to 10 bets it is pushing time. In online tournaments, if you get down to 6 or 7 bets it is time to make a move. The purpose of this is you still have enough bets to entice someone to fold their hand to you. In most cases, if you start pushing with 10 bets, small pocket pairs will fold to you and you will get the ace rag to fold as well. This being the case, you can assume that the hands that are going to call you will be the prime hands like AK, AQ, AJ, AA, KK, QQ, and JJ. This is actually a relief because it means that you can essentially push with any live cards to these hands. If your all-in bet does not scare them off (as it should), then you have live cards to whatever they are calling you with. This increases the chances of you hitting a pair, two pair, or a flush (if your suited) and winning. Some live hands would include medium suited connectors, KJ, KQ, JQ, J10, or any suited face card. When looking for a pushing hand, there is a tendency to push with any ace. It is often better not to push with ace rag because you will almost always we called by a better ace. The idea is to have enough bets that you can still push someone off their hands, but have live cards in case you are called by a better hand.
Position is important when pushing with this range of cards. You should be pushing in situations that give you the best chances of stealing the blinds and antes. We are not actually trying to get called and double up with these mediocre hands, so it is best to push in late position when there is less of a chance of getting called. The positions that would be best are the cutoff, button, small blind and possibly the hijack. These positions will lessen the chances of getting called as half the table has already folded. Pushing in these positions will be vital to your survival in this critical state. The trick is not to feel powerless and become silent when you are a short stack. You can still make some moves to push around the big stacks because you can still put a dent in their stacks if they call you and lose. There is a lot of power in that when used correctly. Just be sure not to use it over and over as someone will eventually call you with any two cards if they feel you are just pushing the table around. Don’t get greedy. You are just trying to collect one or two blinds each round so you have that much more time wait for prime hands that you can double up with. Be patient and take advantage of good situations!
2009 WSOP Opens Pre-Registration
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Thousands of players crowd into the 2008 World Series of Poker
Pre-registration for the 2009 World Series of Poker scheduled for May 26 thru July 15, 2009 at the Rio Resort in Las Vegas is now open. Players can register for any or all of the 57 bracelet events and the annual non-bracelet Ante Up For Africa charity event. This link will take you directly to the registration page. Entrants may also pre-register in person at the main cage of the Rio Resort in Las Vegas.
All WSOP players should familiarize themselves with the 2009 WSOP revised rules now available online. Detailed 2009 WSOP schedules, including satellites, are posted online.
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Do you seek poker's most elusive prize? A World Series of Poker Championship bracelet
If you are considering entering any of the 2009 WSOP events it's a good idea to pre-register as seating is limited for this highly popular series of poker tournaments. When the seating capacity is reached the event will be declared a sell-out and registration will be closed. Don't get shutout of this year's events at the world's first and still the most famous poker tournament of all, the 2009 World Sereis of Poker.
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Play and win events at the 2009 WSOP and you'll meet Las Vegas showgirls
Poker Related Seminar at UNLV Today
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University of Nevada Las Vegas
Ever wonder what goes on a day in the life of an average poker player?
Ph.D. candidate Jacob Avery will present his study "The Social Worlds of Everyday Poker Players" to the public on March 12 at 12:15 p.m.
This seminar is part of the Gaming Research Colloquium Series, which every month brings in guests to speak on topics centered around gambling.
The event takes place at UNLV in the Special Collections Reading Room at the Lied Library.
If you can't make it, a podcast of the talk will be available shortly after Thursday. Previous podcasts include "The Mob Never Ran Vegas" and "The Art of Managing Casino Games."
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WSOP Info is your source to online poker news and information regarding the WSOP 2008. The World Series Of Poker is the largest Poker event in the world.
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