Quebec Government to Form Regulated Poker Sites

Earlier this week, the Quebec government approved the province’s lottery commission to create and establish online poker and sports betting sites in 2010. The poker site will be ran by gaming company Loto-Quebec, in conjunction with the BC and Atlantic Lottery Corporation. Only residents within the province’s borders will have access to the site, though those same players will be allowed to play against users from other participating jurisdictions.

“I believe this to be an efficient way of fighting the underground economy,” said Quebec’s finance minister, Raymond Bachand. “Our citizens are not (currently) protected, and the money goes to illegal channels.”

According to Loto-Quebec, the poker site will use age-verification methods to keep underage players from playing, as well as including deposit limits and self-exclusion limits aimed at deterring problem gamblers.

“(Many) online gambling sites obviously do not offer an assistance program for vulnerable players,” said Loto-Quebec president and CEO Alain Cousineau. “(This) leaves the state to pick up the costs of problem online gambling without reaping any benefits.”

The Quebec government hopes to pull in at least $50 million in the next three years through the new venture, stating that regulating online poker was more practical than attempting to ban all existing gaming sites. And as usual, anti-gambling advocates are already speaking out against the new site, claiming that it will generate a large amount of problem gamblers.

“Any new type of gambling always attracts new people, especially now when it’s a hidden one that you can do in the den in your pajamas while your spouse is fast asleep,” a local anti-gambling advocate, Sol Boxenbaum, told CTV Montreal, a Quebec television station.

T.J. Cloutier WSOP Bracelet Sold for $4,006

A little while back I talked about how eBay had an auction going for what many figured had to be a hoax; an official WSOP bracelet owned by the legendary T.J. Cloutier. The item was put up for sale by a pawn shop that claimed it had acquired the bracelet directly from T.J., a statement that has recently been confirmed by the poker pro himself. Well, that auction has ended and Cake Poker has scooped up the bracelet for a total of $4,006.

The bracelet was awarded to T.J. for winning the WSOP $5,000 no-limit hold’em championship, a feat that also netted himself $657,100. It is made of 14 karat gold and is diamond-encrusted, just one of the reasons why many players would never be able to part with it if they managed to win one. Cloutier hasn’t released an official reason why he pawned the bracelet in the first place, although it has been reported that he talked about it briefly with the producer of the Hardcore Poker Show.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “Yeah, it’s mine. I was short. I pawned it. I tried to get it back with my ticket but I was too late.”

Those following the journey of the bracelet wondered what exactly Cake Poker would do with the coveted prize, though the online site has already confirmed that they will be returning the bracelet to Cloutier after working it into some promotions.

“Since winning the bid and celebrating wildly, we have taken some time to reflect on our glorious new prize. As much as we would love to have a WSOP bracelet, or even award it to one of our cherished poker players, we can’t, in good conscience keep it from the man who rightfully won it, which is why we’ve decided to return it to T.J. Cloutier…just as soon as we have some fun with it.”

Sunday Million’s Two Million Guarantee Winner

PokerStars is known for their Sunday Million Guarantee, but this past Sunday Million was a “Special Edition” with a $2 million guarantee. This turned out to be a record breaking tournament bringing 19,377 players to take part in the tournament. The previous Sunday Million record breaker was back in November which drew 18,283 players. With 19,377 players, the tournament had a very healthy prize pool of $3,875,400.

Going in to the final table celofyz33 was the chip leader with 37,219,555 chips, and hunter10999 was the short stack with 2,504,305. However, after all the action played out it was OX45AL who claimed the first place prize of $550,011.29.

After checking the stats of this mystery player who took down one of online’s most infamous events, it appears he is not the regular online grinder. According to Official Poker Rankings, OX45AL has logged very periodic play on PokerStars. In fact, he has less than 100 tournament entries from 2006-2010. Most of the tournaments he has played on PokerStars were between under $20. According to his online stats, it appears he has only played in one Sunday Million tournament, and was lucky enough to win it the first time.

Maybe OX45AL is a live pro. Maybe he plays on another site. Or maybe he is just that good. One thing is certain. He will probably be playing a whole lot more tournaments on PokerStars in the future.

2010 Deep Stack Extravaganza I Running Thru February 24

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
DSE at The Venetian2010 DSE I at The Venetian Poker Room


2010 Deep Stack Extravaganza (DSE) series is currently running the first installment through February 24 at the Venetian Poker Room. Stop by on Friday before the High Noon start time with your $340 buy-in and play in the most popular (and copied) Las Vegas poker tournaments especially designed to give the average bankrolled players the same experience as the high dollar events. More starting chips and longer play at limit levels ensure your poker skills will definitely become a factor.

Registration begins at 9 PM the day before for each daily Noon event. Accumulate points that count towards the four Best Overall Player Awards. Satellites, Super Satellites, and 7 pm second chance tournaments run daily. DSE Tournament players are eligible for a special reduced room rate by calling 1-877-444-5777 for reservations with Group Code CP02L1. Complete details are available by calling The Venetian Poker Room direct at 702.414.7657 or visit www.venetian.com.

LAPC $1 Million Guarantee- Day 1B

The LAPC had a very successful Day 1 start for their $1 million guarantee event with almost 1,300 players. At the end of Day 1A, there were 117 players that got paid, and 18 players advanced to Day 2. This was turning out to be an interesting tournament being that a player could play all four start days and make the money every day.

The beginning of Day 1B was fairly successful for me. I went from 3,000 in starting chips to 8,000 in just the first level. The first hand I played, I had called a raise after limping in middle position with 10 9 off suit. I check called the initial raiser all the way down with just a pair of tens with over’s, a flush, and a straight possibility on the board. After putting in 2/3 of his stack in, the initial raiser announced he had king high. Coupled with good cards and great reads I continued to take down some decent size pots. My play throughout the day was consistent and determined. However, I managed to make two mistakes that really put a dent in my upward momentum.

One mistake was early in the tournament. I noticed that there was a gentleman to my right who was very tight. If he called on the flop, it generally meant that he had a good hand and he would see it until the river. I raised preflop with two suited face cards and he called my raised after everyone else folded. I flopped a flush draw and a gut shot, and since there was an ace on the flop I fired a bet after he checked to me. I was hoping to use the ace as a scare card and take it down there, but he made the call. The turn saw similar action, and I pretty much put him all in on the river. He called showing a pair of aces with a nine kicker.

Although this might have been a good play against another player, I should have known that he was the one person on the table who wouldn’t be able to lay down top pair marginal kicker. I definitely should have slowed down after he called me on the flop knowing what kind of player he was. The point is: It can’t be a good play if you don’t take the type of player into account.

In the middle stages of the tournament, I ran into another sticky situation. I had just been moved to a new table and raised in middle position with Ah Kh. The big blind called. The flop came K 6 3 rainbow. The big blind checked, I bet, he min-raised me. Since I had just sat down at the table, I didn’t have much information on this guy. I called the raise. The turn brought a 9 to which the big blind immediately over pushed all in. It seemed like he was representing a set here. I had him covered, but if I made the call and was wrong it would cripple me. I decided to lay my hand down in hopes of finding a better spot against him. Sure enough, he showed me A Q for no pair.

As it turned out, I never got another shot to take his chips. It was also the best situation I had to gain a big chip stack, and I had let it slip through my fingers.
The tournament fizzled out from there. My cards went dry, and I wasn’t able to steal any pots. I ended up pushing all in over the top of a raise with QQ and got called by KQ off. He hit a gut shot straight on the turn to knock me out 40 places from the money.

Jennifer Harman to Donate 1 Percent of Winnings to Charity

When it comes to players willing to give back to the global community, poker has always played host to some of the most generous professional in the world of sports. Some poker pros donate money outright, while others like Jamie Gold host a number of charity-driven tournaments/events. Jennifer Harman has always been one of the frontrunners when it comes to giving back, even more so now that she has agreed to donate 1% of her future poker earnings to the NephCure foundation, an organization that researches cures for kidney diseases.

“Kidney disease is extremely difficult,” said Harman, who has undergone two kidney transplants herself. “It is invisible, and it affects kids and adults alike. NephCure is trying to find an answer, and I’m here to help by joining ‘All-in for a Cure.’”

The charity program ‘All-in for Cure’ has been in existence for some time now, having been founded by Poker Players International. The foundation asks poker players to donate 1% of their winnings to NephCure, with dozens of other pros including Lee Childs, Matt Glantz and Frank Vizza also a part of the cause.

“It is great to have someone with the pedigree and reputation of Jennifer joining PPI’s pledge program,” said PPI’s market head Eric Siegel, who has a son with kidney disease. “Having her involved in this program is a tremendous benefit to everyone, and I expect it to lead to more players coming on board. She understands the responsibility to give back. By doing so, hopefully we can find a cure for this horrible disease that affects thousands of people.”

In addition to her new commitment with NephCure, Harman will continue to host a special charity tournament that benefits the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Lacy Jones Joins The Canadian Poker Tour

Model and poker player, Lacy Jones, has just become the new fact of the CPT. She will be featured prominently on the tour’s new online video network Canadian Poker Player Television.

In recent years the CPT has seen a decline in female participation, and they are hoping that their new host will help bring women back to the felt.

Jones seems to be very excited about her new career with the CPT. “I truly love Canadians and am so happy to be a part of the Canadian Poker Tour,” said Jones.

To cement Jones’ place as host of the CPT, she will be featured on an upcoming issues of Canadian Poker Player Magazine, and will be the fact of the upcoming Winter Freeze out to be held at Cash Casino from Feb. 24-28.

“Here is a girl that loves hockey, loves Canadian beer and is an amazing poker player to top it off,” said CPT President Kelly Kellner.

Lacy Jones was originally hired by a poker company to do modeling work. She then moved on to hosting for the WSOP and doing various poker spokes modeling. Over the years she has proven that she is not just a pretty face in the poker room, but can be a contender on the tables as well. She has had multiple cashes in the Borgata Open and has a WSOP cash as well. She even picked up a sponsorship deal from Bodog.

Forming a Suitable Home Game

I can definitely appreciate the concept of the poker home game, as that is the way that innumerable players are introduced to poker for the first time. Personally however, I can barely tolerate them unless the conditions are absolutely perfect. The reason I play more online poker than I do live poker is because live poker moves too slow for my tastes. Players often take too long to make decisions and human dealers just can’t calculate things like side pots with the speed and accuracy of a computer. Now look at a home game, where dealing is normally handled in a community format where everyone takes a turn, including the people that don’t know to burn a card in-between each street. Ugh.

The next headache is the quality of players at these home games. I played in a few where some participants have needed to keep a hand ranking cheat sheet with them so that they can remember that a flush beats a straight. As a byproduct of their lack of information, you can count on them never making a smart call or betting the right amount depending on the situation. Sure it can be looked at as easy money as long as your patient, but I’m not patient, I need a certain amount of hands per hour and to have everyone at my table filled with at least a general understanding of how games like Texas Hold’em work.

So if you’re reading this and considering yourself a fairly informed poker player and are considering throwing a home game or helping a buddy throw one, take my advice. If you’re looking to keep the game competition and moving along, don’t invite beginners, you’ll be sitting there for 5min per hand while they’re deciding to make a call with third pair. Next, when it comes to dealing, always have two decks in play, unless everyone at the table is really adapt at shuffling quickly. The reason for two decks is that way you always have a deck shuffled and ready to go for the next hand, with one player shuffling the deck that’s not in use for that particular hand so that it’s prepared for the next round. Employ a card-shuffling machine if you like, just make sure there’s always a freshly shuffled deck ready to go.

The next suggestion is pretty hardcore and should only be used by those running a really strict home game, maybe even a home game tournament, and that’s to turn off any extrasensory devices like a television while the game is going. If you put a major boxing/UFC fight on the tube during your home game, the entire match is going to be slowed down due to everyone paying attention to the TV, which is fine as long as you don’t care about having a tightly run game.

Lastly, if you don’t already own some of the standard poker accessories like a dealer button, chip racks or nice cards, you may want to invest $50 to pick all that stuff up. It adds another level of professionalism to your games and will assist in speeding up things. Again, only take these tips to heart if want a home game to closely emulate the type of experience provided at a live card room. If you’re looking to just have a get together with friends, then play it as loosely as you want, just don’t invite me.

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