Poker Pub Poker Blog

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions... BPT - only at Poker.com!

As part of my continuing coverage and participation in the Blogger Poker Tour, which is sending two Bloggers to the Aussie Millions, courtesy of Poker.com, I took the opportunity to have a Poker Pub side Chat with Season 2, Event 1 winner ReplicantPoker.

Rep has been blogging for nearly 2 months now at http://replicantpoker.blogspot.com/, but has been a poker player for roughly two years. In addition to winning event one of the BPT Season 2, rep took down the poker.com forum challenge. It would seem that he has been quite successful at taking down events on poker.com. After all, Rep does consider himself a tourney specialist and it surely shows. He has what it takes to be a champion in poker tournament play, but admits he does not have the patience to sit and grind it out in the ring. He looks to Phil Ivey as his inspiration to tourney play, calling Phil "one of the greatest tourney players ever."

It was in the Poker.com Forum where Rep first heard of the Blogger Poker Tour. "When I heard about it, I thought I'd give it a shot," rep tells the Beer Guy over a cold one at the Poker Pub. "My first event was fantastic! There are some truly great players and I will definitely be back."

I cited to Rep that when the final table formed, he was sitting in seventh in chips, having roughly 1/3 of that of the chip leader. I had to know, what was the plan going into that final table?

Rep tells me "Whenever I make a final table I never have a plan I just take it as it comes, I was worried about natsdad (the chip leader with 30.7K chips when the table formed) and hacksaw (fourth in chips at 13.5K) the most as I have a lot of respect for them, I only wanted to go up against one of them with aces or kings."

As it turned out, he outlasted both of his respected foes and ended up heads up with Michael1965, where Michael pushed with 3c4c, only to run into Rep’s Hilton sisters. Nicky was able to hold an intoxicated Paris up and the sisters emerged victorious... ReplicantPoker takes down event number one of the BPT Season 2.

As we finish our Beer, I ask ReplicantPoker if he takes down the entire tour and represents the Blogger Poker Tour and Poker.com in the Aussie Millions, how he would approach the Millions. He suggests he will approach the tournament "calmly, making sure he was not readable, while hoping for some big hands. Most importantly, he will remain calm."

Thanks to Rep for sitting down with me over a beer to discuss the BPT. After one week, and looking at the Leaderboard, Rep sits in second place with 225 points. ViezeMan, with the host bonus sits in first place.

Event number 2 of the Blogger Poker Tour Season 2, called "Royal's Bluff Till You Drop Bender" is scheduled to take place on October 7 at 3pm Poker.com time (GMT-5, for those keeping score).

BPT Leaderboard After Round 1
1 ViezeMan (HB) 258
2 ReplicantPoker 225
3 Michael1965 185
4 Irongirl 164.25
5 BobbyOlsen 144
6 JCL514 124.25
7 natsdad 105
8 Quackpot 103.5
9 Hacksaw2000 102
10 astinaguy 100.5

11 brodoughno 99
12 kufolem 65
13 kanyezee 64
14 BenPlayin8 63
15 mpgabriel 62
16 OhioMike 61
17 Osssss 60
18 Mada1970 59
19 imjusthere4thebeer 58
20 xScrewballx 57

On the Bubble
21 burnley1 56
22 kdollar00 55
23 DamRiver 54
24 DawgRoyal 53
25 caroon 52

(courtesy http://www.bloggerpokertour.com/schedule.htm#leaderboard)

To join the Blogger Poker Tour, one need only be a Blogger and have a Blog. Register for the Blogger Poker Tour here to blog or win your way to the 2007 Aussie Millions!

Mike

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions... BPT - only at Poker.com!

Just received this email from the poker players alliance. It's now time to act peeps!

THIS IS NOT A TEST -- Call Your Senator Now!

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is attaching the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act to a bill that is expected to be approved by the Congress early this evening.

PLEASE call your Senators today and tell them that they should oppose the Internet gambling bill being part of Port Security legislation. If the Port Security bill passes, with the Internet gambling language included, your ability to enjoy poker online will be at serious risk. Each member of the Poker Players Alliance has two Senators which are listed below. They need to hear from you RIGHT NOW!

Let them know that you care about your rights to play poker. Please Call!!! Tell your Senators to oppose attaching Internet gambling to Port Security!

First Name
Last Name
State
Phone Number
Ted Stevens AK (202) 224-3004
Lisa Murkowski AK (202) 224-6665

Richard Shelby AL (202) 224-5744
Jeff Sessions AL (202) 224-4124

Mark Pryor AR (202) 224-2353
Blanche Lincoln AR (202) 224-4843

John McCain AZ (202) 224-2235
Jon Kyl AZ (202) 224-4521

Barbara Boxer CA (202) 224-3553
Dianne Feinstein CA (202) 224-3841

Wayne Allard CO (202) 224-5941
Ken Salazar CO (202) 224-5852

Joseph Lieberman CT (202) 224-4041
Christopher Dodd CT (202) 224-2823

Joseph Biden DE (202) 224-5042
Thomas Carper DE (202) 224-2441

Mel Martinez FL (202)224-3041
Bill Nelson FL (202) 224-5274

Johnny Isakson GA (202) 224-3643
Saxby Chambliss GA (202) 224-3521

Daniel Akaka HI (202) 224-6361
Daniel Inouye HI (202) 224-3934

Tom Harkin IA (202) 224-3254
Charles Grassley IA (202) 224-3744

Michael Crapo ID (202) 224-6142
Larry Craig ID (202) 224-2752

Barack Obama IL (202) 224-2854
Richard Durbin IL (202) 224-2152

Richard Lugar IN (202) 224-4814
Evan Bayh IN (202) 224-5623

Pat Roberts KS (202) 224-4774
Sam Brownback KS (202) 224-6521

Mitch McConnell KY (202) 224-2541
Jim Bunning KY (202) 224-4343

David Vitter LA (202) 224-4623
Mary Landrieu LA (202) 224-5824

Edward Kennedy MA (202) 224-4543
John Kerry MA (202) 224-2742

Barbara Mikulski MD (202) 224-4654
Paul Sarbanes MD (202) 224-4524

Olympia Snowe ME (202) 224-5344
Susan Collins ME (202) 224-2523

Carl Levin MI (202) 224-6221
Debbie Stabenow MI (202) 224-4822

Norm Coleman MN (202) 224-5641
Mark Dayton MN (202) 224-3244

Christopher Bond MO (202) 224-5721
James Talent MO (202) 224-6154

Thad Cochran MS (202) 224-5054
Trent Lott MS (202) 224-6253

Conrad Burns MT (202) 224-2644
Max Baucus MT (202) 224-2651

Richard Burr NC (202) 224-3154
Elizabeth Dole NC (202) 224-6342

Kent Conrad ND (202) 224-2043
Byron Dorgan ND (202) 224-2551

Chuck Hagel NE (202) 224-4224
Ben Nelson NE (202) 224-6551

John Sununu NH (202) 224-2841
Judd Gregg NH (202) 224-3324

Robert Menendez NJ (202) 224-4744
Frank Lautenberg NJ (202) 224-3224

Jeff Bingaman NM (202) 224-5521
Pete Domenici NM (202) 224-6621

John Ensign NV (202) 224-6244
Harry Reid NV (202) 224-3542

Charles Schumer NY (202) 224-6542
Hillary Clinton NY (202) 224-4451

George Voinovich OH (202) 224-3353
Mike DeWine OH (202) 224-2315

James Inhofe OK (202) 224-4721
Tom Coburn OK (202) 224-5754

Gordon Smith OR (202) 224-3753
Ron Wyden OR (202) 224-5244

Arlen Specter PA (202) 224-4254
Rick Santorum PA (202) 224-6324

Lincoln Chafee RI (202) 224-2921
Jack Reed RI (202) 224-4642

Jim DeMint SC (202) 224-6121
Lindsey Graham SC (202) 224-5972

Tim Johnson SD (202) 224-5842
John Thune SD (202) 224-2321

Bill Frist TN (202) 224-3344
Lamar Alexander TN (202) 224-4944

Kay Hutchison TX (202) 224-5922
John Cornyn TX (202) 224-2934

Robert Bennett UT (202) 224-5444
Orrin Hatch UT (202) 224-5251

George Allen VA (202) 224-4024
John Warner VA (202) 224-2023

James Jeffords VT (202) 224-5141
Patrick Leahy VT (202) 224-4242

Maria Cantwell WA (202) 224-3441
Patty Murray WA (202) 224-2621

Russell Feingold WI (202) 224-5323
Herb Kohl WI (202) 224-5653

Robert Byrd WV (202) 224-3954
John Rockefeller WV (202) 224-6472

Michael Enzi WY (202) 224-3424
Craig Thomas WY (202) 224-6441

Don't let them take away our freedom of choice!

Mike

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions... BPT - only at Poker.com!

Tonight, CheckRayz rolls up into Kiwi Poker's Poker room for the Friday Night $3+.30 donkfest with $50 added to the prize pool. Password for the Kiwi Tourney is KiwiFri5.

As you may be able to see, my database is still acting up, so the pw is posted here. Over the weekend, I anticipate I will have all of the tourneys for the month loaded into the server, and additionally that the database will be in proper working order.

Also, you may have noticed that the CheckRayz Challenge from September has been extended into October. Please show support and participate in the various challenges we put forth. Additionally, please help me to support the poker rooms who support us. If we wish to continue receiving money added tourneys and freeroll poker tournaments, we need to become or continue to be more active in the poker rooms who are helping us out. Please help me on this.

Have a great weekend,

Mike

Filed under: Poker Tournaments, Poker News

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions... BPT - only at Poker.com!

I know there are quite a few people on the home front are looking for a satellite specifically for the upcoming North American Poker Championship, to be held at the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls, Canada from October 24-29. I found a weekly satellite for just that!

Download UltimateBet here to Win your way to the WPT North American Poker Championship

October 24- 29, 2006 - Niagara Falls, Canada

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The World Poker Tour is heading north of the border to the incredible city of Niagara Falls, Canada. The North American Poker Championship is happening at the world-class Fallsview Casino Resort, a luxurious casino resort that rivals the most extravagant Vegas casinos.
Win your way there to experience one of the hottest poker tournaments – and one of the coolest cities – north of Vegas.

Win a $12,000 WPT Niagara Falls package

Play in our $300+20 Super Satellites to claim the ultimate $12,000 Niagara Falls package. The Super Satellites happen every Monday at 9:30pm ET from September 18th until October 17th.

The $12,000 package consists of:
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Claim your seat in October 24th’s $1,200 land-based satellite

Play in our $100+9 satellite every weeknight at 6:30pm ET between September 25th and October 20th and win a seat in the $1,200 satellite happening at Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls on October 24th. We’ll add $1,300 for travel, making each prize package worth $2,500!

Open the game, find the WPT tournament that’s right for you and win your way to Niagara Falls. We can’t wait to see you there.

Please be sure to read our terms and conditions below.
• $300+20 Super Satellites run every Monday at 9:30pm ET from September 18th to October 17th and guarantees to pay out at least one $12,000 prize package. Additional packages will be paid out for every $12,000 in the prize pool.
• $100+9 satellites run every weeknight at 6:30pm ET between September 25th and October 20th. Each satellite guarantees to pay out at least one $1,200 satellite seat (land-based tournament at the Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls on October 24) plus $1,300 for travel and accommodations.
• Arrangements for travel are winners’ responsibility.
• UltimateBet will be responsible for buying the winners into the WPT events listed in the promotion.• Winners will be notified on October 20th.
• Prize is non-transferable and may not be traded in for cash.
• Only one prize per winner

Filed under: Poker News, iPoker Network

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions... BPT - only at Poker.com!

Just when I thought I was ready to begin singing the ipoker network praise... It was discovered by my CheckRayz membership that ipoker has a new policy in place, seemingly in place since Sept 21st. This policy affects all ipoker rooms, Titan Poker, Kiwi Poker, USA Poker, and Noble Poker, among others. This policy allows for players (going forward) to have only 1 real money poker account per player. This means that anyone who downloaded any of the ipoker clients and registered a real money account through any of us at the SPN will not be permitted to open new accounts in the future at other poker rooms.

On a personal note, I think this policy sucks! For one, it restricts one's freedom of choice. What if, for example, someone downloads kiwi poker, has a bad experience with their top notch customer support desk, and wants to go to another ipoker client, such as Noble poker? They're stuck if they wish to play on this network. Additionally, the ability to bonus whore, compete in leaderboard events (such as mine) or move to newer poker rooms with a certain nitch market within the ipoker network are no longer an option. They might as well make 1 huge Ipoker room, and forget about the various brands at this point. Everyone wear uniforms, as you're all the same now... Garbage.

I have contacted ipoker and am awaiting a response. I suspect I will hear something about "blah blah blah, best interest of the customer, blah blah blah, protecting the brand, blah blah blah (insert blowing smoke up a$$ statement of choice here).

I can understand a policy similar to that of microgaming (sorry Norm), where they require everyone to have 1 screenname, yet allow the poker players access to all microgaming rooms. I'm known as the same player at 32 red as I am at River Belle Poker... but I am allowed access to both rooms. I cannot understand the logic behind restricting my freedom of choice...

More on the ipoker situation

In comments, Mitch writes:

Yeah, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. At work we have several
websites that basically accomplish the same goal just aimed at different
markets
and have slightly different structures. However if someone signs up
at one site
we aren't going to restrict them from having another account at
one of our other
sites. The only thing we try to keep them from doing is
from having multiple
accounts at the same site.

That's almost like
saying to a Sam's Club member that you can only go
to the store you signed
up at and no where else ... Not the best example, but
all I can think of.

Mitch

To which, I respond:

I agree Mitch. A poker room joins the network so they can have other players that help to seemingly fill their tables and play in their tourneys (giving me "action" so to speak without too many growing pains).

Said poker room is independant of one another within the network, only coming in contact with one another's players. Theoretically, I am and should be free to choose which poker room/rooms I wish to access the network through.

The networking concept is similar to a co-operative, where a group of companys form a group to increase their buying power and the co-operative negotiates favorable rates for all their members within a network of vendors. Each member of the co-op may purchase as he/she sees fit (within the rules) from any approved vendor. Each vendor in turn, may market to each member of the co-op as they see fit (within the rules).

Now, if the group of companys formed one huge company, as opposed to a co-op, then we're really only dealing with one massive corporation, not a group of companies. So, which is ipoker, a co-op network of sorts or is it a big company?

Mike

More Comments from the Trenches...

I've still not directly heard back from any ipoker reps. It does seem that the Poker Pub reader's voices are speaking up though. The comments continue to pour in...

Joey from EatSleepPoker writes:

I have noticed Titan's email support to be a little sketchy but wow I was
not aware of this. This is horse shit! I agree with all your points above and if
they are going to do this, why don't they just make one big hoplah room and call
it good.

Regards,

Joey

I respond:

From my experiences, Titan's support is not really strong, though they did come through for me the one time I needed them (took them six tries, but they came through no less). They probably benefit the most from this because they have been the monsters in marketing of the ipoker rooms.

I suggest people begin writing the poker rooms they have an account with in protest of this. In fact, I'll work on organizing a list of contacts and their email addresses.

Mike

Little Bro writes:

What's really lame about the whole thing is the fact that they cannot link
back to the one real money account. Also, from their error messages it really
isn't clear why I can't play with real money. All it tells me is that I already
have a real account and the cashier is not available. It's bad design
really.

Steveman

I reply...

No one ever accused the playtech software of having a superior design and/or feel, though they've come quite a long way... I'm still waiting for the four color deck...

Again, I do agree this is lame.

Mike

More to come as it's received...

Filed under: Live WSOP Main Event Coverage

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions... BPT - only at Poker.com!

Original post: http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com/2006/08/wsop-main-event-coverage.html - i am irritated that i've tried to make an original post three times today, but blogger just didn't feel like letting that happen.

All content written in the Poker Pub, http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com is under copyright. Said copyright is displayed on the left bar. Details of such copyright is available in easy to understand language by clicking on the Creative Commons link.

Final Table with chip counts

Seat 1 - Richard Lee - $11,820,000
Seat 2 - Erik Friberg - $9,605,000S
eat 3 - Paul Wasicka - $7,970,000
Seat 4 - Dan Nassif - $2,600,000
Seat 5 - Allen Cunningham - $17,770,000
Seat 6 - Michael Binger - $3,140,000
Seat 7 - Doug Kim - $6,770,000
Seat 8 - Jamie Gold - $26,650,000
Seat 9 - Rhett Butler - $4,815,000

Elimination hand - Jamie Gold calls from early position and Dan Nassif raises from the button. Jamie Gold makes the call. The flop comes 532 and Nassif pushes it allin. Gold immediately makes the call and shows 22 for a set. Nassif turns over AK and is behind. The turn is the A and Nassif needs a four for a chopped pot. However, the river is the 10 and Dan Nassif has been eliminated in 9th place.

Elimination hand - Friberg eliminated. Allin preflop with Gold... JJ v. QQ - gold set on the river, flop and turn missed everyone. 8th place for Erik Friberg and worth $1,979,189Elimination - Paul Wasicka raises to from mid position and Doug Kim calls from the button. The flop comes 443 and Wasicka bets out. Kim moves all in and Wasicka calls with a quickness. Kim shows 99 but runs into QQ. Kim is in trouble. The turn is the J and the river is the 7. Doug Kim has been eliminated in 7th place.

Chip Count Update
Jamie Gold $38,000,000
Richard Lee $19,300,000
Paul Wasicka $14,200,000
Allen Cunningham $12,900,000
Rhett Butler $3,100,000
Michael Binger $2,800,000

...break and I now have live feed...

10.15pm EDT - Parade of Champions, Hachem, Fossilman, Jesus, Scotty Nguyen, our first WSOP millionaire Brad Dougherty, Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Tom McEvoy all introduced...

10.20pm EDT - Discussion of Gold claiming he would rather finish second and may throw the game.

10.25 EDT - Players back from break and action is underway. Six handed...
Blinds 120,000-$240,000 with a $40,000 ante

Chip Count
Jamie Gold T37,400,000
Richard Lee T17,030,000
Allen Cunningham T15,230,000
Paul Wasicka T14,870,000
Rhett Butler T 3,365,000
Michael Binger T 2,280,000

Lee steals pot.

Cunningham-Gold battle. Gold raises, 10-9-8 flop. check check. 8 turn, 1.1 million bet from Cunningham. Gold raises into him and raises 4 million into the 3 million pot. Cunningham folds.
10.30pm EDT Next hand, Allen Cunningham moves allin. Call from Michael Binger. 22 v A6. Binger's Tourney life on the line... Flop comes As-6d-4d. Turn 5 of hearts, giving Allen outs with 3's or 2's. River misses and Michael Binger doubles up, sits around 4.5 million.

10.35pm EDT - Binger moves into 5th in chips

Butler moves allin, sitting with an M of a bit under 10. Butler steals on Gold’s blind.
Rough CountGold 40 milLee 17 milCunningham 14 milWasicka 11milBinger 4.5 milButler 3.2 mil
Wasica raises to 800,000 UTG. Cunningham flat calls in position. Flop comes AA9. Paul checks, Cunningham bets 1.1 million bet and takes down the pot just as Hellmuth shows up in the booth.
Wasicka call BB on the Cunningham UTG raise. 2-3-4 flop. Check from Wasica, followed with 1 million chip bet. Wasica does in fact lay it down.

Wasicka v Gold 5-5-7 -9-9 check down to the river. Gold takes it down with an Ace.
Butler raises 900K, which is 1/3 of his stack. Binger seemingly has a hand but he throws it in.
Lee limps, Wasicka raises it to 1 million, Lee calls the raise. Qd-9s-6d. Check check. 7s. Lee bets out 2.5 million, and Wasicka folds.

10.52 - Cunningham enters the pot making it 750K preflop, Butler moves allin from the Big Blind. Allen folds the hand.

Cunningham raises to 750K again. Gold calls from the button. Blinds fold. Flop comes 4c-8c-3s. Allen Cunningham bets 1.1 million. Gold, in position lays the hand down, Cunningham rakes it in.
Gold bluffs and shows with 2-3 in position and takes down a pot.

Gold raises in the cutoff Wasicka reraises in the SB. Gold folds.

5 deep limped pot As-Jd-9d. Gold bets 1 million into the pot. 4 folders... Gold takes down the unraised pot uncontested on the flop.

Gold in the BB. Jd-10c-7c check check. Ac. Binger picks up the pot.

11.05pm EDT - Cunningham raises and takes down another pot.

Gold enters pot on the button. Lee enters from the BB. Flop comes 10s-2c-9c. Lee takes the pot down.

Binger takes it down preflop.

Big hand - Gold raises to 800K, Cunningham puts in 560K from the BB to make the call. 8-8-3. Allen checks. Jamie bets 1 million allen calls. 2 clubs on the turn. Cunningham checks, Gold checks. Q comes on the river. Cunningham checks, Gold bets 2 million. Gold is talking around about his hand, straight up taunting Allen, saying he'll show his bluff. Allen Cunningham calls with A-9 and takes down the pot! Wow...

11.20 - Butler moves allin, takes the pot down.

Cunningham raises to 750K. Gold calls. Flop Q-J-5. Gold checks, Cunningham continues with 1.2 million. Gold folds. Cunningham continues to dominate Gold.

11.25pm EDT Cunningham raises. Binger moves overtop and allin. Roughly 3 million is the allin. Cunningham counts out his chips as he ponders the decision. Makes the call. Cunningham QsJs- Binger AQ.

Flop comes all clubs and misses both. Binger has Qc, Cunningham needs one of two jacks. River delivers a blank. Binger doubles through Cunningham to 7 million.

11.30pm EDT - Cunningham raises preflop takes the pot down uncontested.
Cunningham raises to 750K UTG. Gold took a walk, has been autofolded last two hands. Lee calls from the SB. From the BB, Wasicka reraises to 3 million into the 2 million pot. Cunningham folds. Lee folds.

Lee limps from the button, Wasicka completes, Cunningham checks on BB. Ah-2c-9h. Check, check, 900K. Call from Wasicka, fold from Cunningham. Ks Check, check on the turn. River 2d. Check from Paul, check. Paul Wasicka takes the pot down with two pair, after letting Richard Lee bluff some chips off to him. Wasicka moves into third place.

Gold limps UTG. Paul makes it 900K from the button. Gold Calls. A-K-10. Million chip bet from Paul (less than half pot). Gold folds and 3.4 million to Paul Wasicka.

BB Gold vs. Richard Lee (raise mid position preflop) 2h-7h-5d. Lee bets 1.1 million. Jamie Gold checkraised, making it 3 million total (1.9 million checkraise). Richard Lee folds.

Wasicka makes it 800K. Gold calls from the SB. Flop comes 9h-5h-10h. Check from Gold. Paul checks. 3d. Gold pushes 2 million in and takes the pot down.

11.45pmEDT - Gold raises on the button to 800K. Lee lays down the BB and Gold takes three in a row.

All-in :Gold limps from the cutoff. Lee is raising OOP from the SB to 1.2 million. Wasicka in BB folds. Gold re-raises 4 million additional. Gold seemingly has a monster, based on his posture. Richard Lee moves allin, Gold calls.

Gold has QQ v Richard Lee's JJ. Flop comes: x-K-K. Turn and River are blanks and Richard Lee has been eliminated. We're five handed with Jamie Gold having more than 1/2 the total chips. Wow!

Rough Chip Count
Jamie Gold T54 million
Paul Wasicka T14 million
Allen Cunningham T13 million
Michael Binger T7 million
Rhett Butler T3 million

Dinner Break... See you in 90 minutes.

Commentary: Like him or not, Jamie Gold has a presence about him at this final table. I do not find him to be the best player at the table. He seems to lack focus at times. He has made players (i.e. - Lee) make huge, costly mistakes. Allen Cunningham is by far the better player at this table, which is not really a surprise. He's taken his shots at Gold, picking and choosing his spots. I'm liking the way Cunningham has been playing. He and Wasicka are still alive, despite Gold seemingly running away with the chips. Binger and Butler do have the short stacks, but I'm not feeling the whole chip n chair story from them. I do foresee a Gold meltdown on the horizon.
The players return from dinner and we're nearly underway...

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

Blinds 120,000-$240,000 with a $40,000 ante
Rough Chip Count
Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T14 million M of 25
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T13 million M of 23
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T7 million M of 12
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T51 million M of 91
Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T3 million M of 5 - Red Zone

1.45am EDT - money is on it's way into the room. $12 million allegedly being brought out to the table. Money comes forever.

1.50am EDT play resumes for real this time. 28 minutes left at these blind levels.
First hand after the break Rhett Butler UTG+1 moves allin. Paul Wasicka calls from the button. Blinds fold. Butler A10 v Wasicka 88. And the flop comes... k-q-10, which reall helps Rhett. K on the turn, river is a miss and Rhett Butler doubles through Paul Wasicka.

Binger and Butler are roughly tied for last in chip count now with Binger doubling through.

2am EDT - Gold raises and takes the pot.

Cunningham steals from the cutoff.

Scotty Ngygen joins the commentary.

Gold steals from the button, raises from the cutoff next hand. Cunningham calls from the BB. Cunningham bets out on the turn, call from Gold. Possible straight on the board at the river, check/check. Allen flopped a straight flush draw, takes down the pot.

Gold limp raises after Binger raising initially. Binger lays down the hand, respecting the limp raise move. Gold had done this twice earlier both times with pocket Queens.

Butler raises on Jamie's BB and takes the pot, showing A10 UTG.

Chip Count

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T10.5 million
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T15 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T7.2 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T50 million
Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T6.3 million

Cunningham raises to 750K, Binger calls in position Q-10-6. 4d on turn. Cunningham moves at pot with 1.1 million (50% pot) call. J on the river. Check/check. Binger two pairs, Cunningham mucks. Binger takes in roughly 4 million.

Gold raises button Wasicka calls. Ks10s6s. Check check. Gold bets 1 million. Fold from Wasicka.
Gold raises again Qs-8c-3h. Gold bets 1 million again. call this time. 9c on the turn. Gold 2 million. Paul lays down OOP.

Gold is not letting up, staying active and aggressive.

Paul calls on the button. SB completes, BB checks. J-7-5 on the board. Checks through. 5d on the board from the turn. Binger comes out with 600K. Paul calls on the button. 7s on the river. Paul wins the pot with an ace high kicker to Binger's king high.

Big hand alert - Paul raises cutoff to 800K. Gold calls in the BB. KQ2dd. Check from Gold. 1.1 million continuation from Paul. CheckRaise from Jamie Gold of 4 million more. Paul is in all-in or fold mode here and moves. Gold calls with AK vs. K10. Wasicka is in trouble here. 10 comes on the turn, and it's looking good for Paul. AQJ hurts Paul. River is eight of diamonds. Get Paul a towel, as he sucks out on the turn and doubles through Jamie Gold in roughly a 18 million dollar pot.

Jamie Gold is disgusted, saying over and over "I can't play any better than that."

Blinds are up, now at T150K/T300K, ante of 50K as they color up...

2.30am EDT - updated chip counts

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T18 million M of 24
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T12.8 million M of 17
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T6.8 million M of 9
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T46 million M of 61
Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T6.2 million M of 8

Cunningham enters the pot with a million dollar raise. Butler moves allin from the SB. Alan folds.
Gold takes it down preflop.

Wasicka limps on the button. Cunningham moves and Binger and Wasicka fold.

Paul raises a million, Binger reraises to allin. Paul Wasicka looks at his chippage trying to get a count and determine what he's wanting to do. He folds.

Cunningham raises utg. Gold calls in position. Paul Wasicka calls on the BB. 8c-ah-2s. Allen bets out 1 million Jamie calls, Paul folds. Turn delivers 6d. Check/check. River 2h. Gold takes down the pot with a bet on the end. Chips got spilled from Butler, so they're going through to recalculate the pot.

2.45am EDT - Binger raises. Wasicka moves allin from the blinds. Binger lays down.
Gold raises UTG. Binger calls from the bb. KJ3 is the flop. Gold bets out. Binger moves allin on the CheckRayz. Gold calls with top pair. Binger v Gold, each with K-10, chopped pot.
Wasicka limps on Gold's BB. Flop As-9-4s. Gold checks. Wasicka bets and takes her down.
Wasicka makes it 1 million from the cutoff. Cunningham calls as does Butler calls from the BB. 8-6-2 rainbowed greets the players. Rhett checks, Wasicka continues, Cunningham moves all-in and folds everyone up.

Binger raises 1 million on the cutoff, Gold calls on the button. Wasicka moves 4 million more, squeezing. Binger folds. Gold calls. Paul shows AK and takes the pot down.
We're nearly 8 hrs into this tournament today.

Wasicka limps on the button yet again. AsAdJs. Check Check and Paul takes the pot down.
Wasicka is really pressuring, seemingly active in every pot recently, as he takes another down from the cutoff preflop and yet again from the UTG.

Wasicka in the BB, Gold raises. J-3-4. Gold bets and wins.

Butler raises from the button and wins the pot.

Paul limping button again. 7-3-2, three handed. Cunningham bets out from the SB. Binger raises to allin from the BB. Binger takes down the pot.

Paul moving on the cutoff again. Jamie calls the blind. A-4-7 on the board. Paul continues and wins.

Big hand - Paul raises 1 million UTG Binger moves allin from the button. 5.7 million more to call. Call is made! Paul has KQ vs Binger's KK. Flop comes: Q-7-3. Turn is an ace. River brings the 2 of hearts. Binger has doubled through Paul Wasicka.

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

Commentators kinda forgot there was a game going on as they talked over and through everyone.

Updated Chip Count
Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T13.9 million
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T9.6 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T13.5 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T46 million
Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T4.8 million

3.25am EDT - Paul raises small blind, Allen calls from the BB. Flop comes A-10-8 rainbow. Paul leads out on the flop, which is out of character, given his past OOP play. Allen throws his hand away.

Gold raises UTG 1.2 million, Paul calls on the button. A-3-9. Check check. J turns. Gold bets 1 million. Paul calls quickly. River 2h. Check Check. KJo v QJo. Paul takes the pot down.
Paul raises cutoff, Binger reraises, Paul folds yet again.

Note: I'm no longer going to do hand for hand updates, only big hands...

3.37am EDT - Butler All-in from the button Cunningham folds despite the math nearly working out.

All-in 3.44 - Butler allin after limp limp. Cunningham calls. Gold calls. Flop: Jh-6d-5d check/check. 2c. Gold bets, Cunningham folds. Gold's KJo vs Butler's 44. 3 or 4 keeps Butler alive. River is the ten of clubs. Gold takes down the pot and Rhett Butler is eliminated.
We're four handed...

"The Mouth" doin commentary, really critical of the earlier move by Richard Lee. Huge, huge mistake, though Mike is citing fatigue from the marathon as being a factor.

3.50am EDT - Updated Chip Counts
Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T14.2 million
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T10 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T12 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T52 million

3.57 - Gold limps, Binger raises. Gold asks for a chip count and calls. Flop comes A-10-2 rainbowed. 1.5 million into the pot. Gold folds.

Over/under betting going on via ESPN's email on when the WSOP will end. Over/under is 6am. Mattesow is pushing the over.

4am - Binger reraises, knocks Cunningham off a hand.

--- Word from our sponsors at the 4am mark. This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

All-in - Cunningham v Gold. Ac-Jc-3h. Cunningham small bet. Gold raises. Cunningham allin 4.2 million to go. Gold talks at Cunningham, asking if he's ready to go home. Gold folds up shop, Cunningham takes the pot down.

Gold raises from the button. Paul re-raises 2 million more. Gold folds up.

Chip Count through 184 hands

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T13.8 million
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T12.15 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T12.85 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T51.9 million

4.20 smoke break...

4.25 - 3 way action Allen raises, Paul and Jamie call. AJ9hhh Ac. Paul sends out a small seemingly suck bet on the turn. Cunningham raises it up 3 million more. Paul all-in. Allen folds. Paul shows Kqd for a huge huge bluff. Allen claims to have folded pocket tens, with the ten hearted. Huge huge huge bluff by Paul on Allen. WOW!

4.30am EDT - Cunningham moves allin from the button on Paul’s raise. Paul lays it down.

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

As an aside, it's really nice to be watching each and every hand played, as opposed to the soundbite highlights on ESPN, even if we don't get the pocket cams.

Gold vs. Cunningham. Cunningham bets on the turn. Gold raises. Little commentary back n forth between the two. Scratch that, lot's of talk. Gold can't seem to keep his trap shut. I suspect this is going to give Allen enough info to make the correct read. Fold.

Blinds will be 200K/400K 50K ante after the break.

Chip Count at the Break

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T18.7 million
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T7.6 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T15 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T49.35 million

Jennifer Harman has joined the commentary booth. She thinks Gold was worried about Cunningham, however, Paul's been surprising Jamie. She thinks Jamie should be playing small pot and in position, so he doesn't risk doubling anyone. Essentually, it's his tourney to lose.
9 hrs 30 minutes of final table poker played at the WSOP thus far.

5.10 am EDT - 3 handed. Paul raises, Mike, and Jamie. Flop comes 3-3-8. Paul bets, Michael Binger raises and takes the pot. This has been occuring regularly, with Michael coming over top of Paul.

Gold continues to limp UTG. Binger raises from the BB. Gold calls. Qd-6-5. Check/check. 10d turns. 1.5 million bet from Binger. Gold calls. Big pot, and the 9 of spades on the board. Binger checks. Gold bets out 4 million. Binger folds to the big bet. Gold shows 6-4.

Commentary on players raising and not continuing vs. the big stack. Gold seemingly stealing pot after pot due to weakness, and no one playing back at Gold.

Elimination - Binger raises, Gold calls, Cunningham allin.Binger fold, however Gold calls KdJd v Cunningham’s 10-10. Flop comes: A-K-8. Cunningham is in trouble. Turn card is a 7. River is the 3 of spades. Allen Cunningham is eliminated in fourth place.

Chip Count at 5.25am EDT

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka T15.475 million chips M of 20
Seat 3 - Michael Binger T12.35 million chips M of 16
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold T62.325 million chips M of 83

Chris Ferguson joins the commentary.

Wow, Jamie's "Sea" of chips is impressive.

Michael moves allin, folds Jamie up after his 1.2 million raise. Jamie folds.

Chip count

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T15.9 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T12 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T62 million

Binger moves all-in from the BB on Gold's button limp. Gold talks to him asking for him to help him decide, saying it's 50/50. Jamie Gold folds.

Q-9-4 Binger and Gold, SB - BB. Jamie bets, Michael calls. Ad on turn check check. 8s river. 4.15 million pot. Jamie bets and tells Michael he's probably bluffing. Jamie was in fact bluffing, as advertised. Michael folds and Jamie shows the Jack three unsuited, running a stone cold bluff.
Andy Bloch states that Binger has never “called” a bet on the river during this entire final table.
9-5-5 - Paul raises 1.2 million, Gold calls. Check from Paul, still no continuation from Paul. Ace on the turn. Paul bets the turn, Gold calls quickly. 6 on the end. Check/check. Jamie shows pocket tens and takes the pot down.

update: Gold - 66.125 million, Wasicka 13.225 million, Binger 11.25 million

Gold raises and Binger reraises. Binger seems the most willing to play back at Gold of the two.
5.50am EDT - Binger-Gold SB-BB. 6-2d-3d 1 million called by Gold. Qc check check. Kd on the river. 55 v 6d-8d. Gold takes another pot.

The action is relentless in that there are a shitload of flops seen.

Binger raises, Gold reraises, Binger folds.

2 limpers, Binger raises, takes down the pot.

Paul vs Gold Ad-8c-2c. Paul continues, Gold calls. Turn brings Kh. Check by Gold. Paul checks behind. 4c on river A-3 from Gold, Paul mucks.

Gold is doing well in keeping the pots small.

6am - Paul played stop n go and Jamie paid his two pair off.

Elimination - Binger calls Gold's all-in on the flop Binger A10 v 34... flop was 6-10-5. Turn is the 7 of clubs. River is a queen of spades. Binger is eliminated in third place. We're now heads up. This queen would have given Paul the flush.

Chip count for the heads up.

Gold - 78.125 million, Paul Wasicka 12.025 million.

This is a monsterous lead. Paul needs to double through twice to come back.

WSOP Heads up coverage brought to you by CheckRayz. Play free poker tourneys and money added poker tournaments with CheckRayz.

Replay of the Hachem win last year.

SB/Button acts first preflop and last after the flop, in case we're keeping score.

chip count roughly 78 mil to 12 mil, blinds 200k/400k 50k ante - Paul's M is 17.

And we're ready for head's up action. Money is on the table and we're shuffled up n dealin at 6.30am EDT.

6 of the seven final tablers have been eliminated by Gold.

1st pot taken down by Gold on the flop. Wasicka was being weak post flop when there were more players left. Let's see if he plays the same while head's up.

Paul raises preflop, Gold folds.

Gold shows he has standards and folds.

Min raise by paul. Jamie calls. Flop bet by Paul on a js-9s-9h board. Jamie calls cleanly. Turn comes Ks. Jamie fires the turn. Paul calls quickly. River comes 6s, making the board four flushed. 2 million bet by Gold. Paul asks Jamie if he has it. Jamie says he cannot talk anymore and then Jamie tells him either he's got it or he doesn't have a spade. Paul shows A-7s and takes the pot. Wow!

Jamie bets into the river with the board 6-4-3-7-A. Jamie tells him "you go allin, I probably fold." Paul lays the hand down.

Jamie Gold is limping on the button quite often. Paul raises from the BB and auto-calls. Flop comes Qc-8h-5h. 1.5 million by Paul. Jamie moves all-in. Asks if Paul has a Queen, then a pair, then balls and says let's do it. Jamie says he has not a good hand but is gonna win. Call!
10-10 v Q9 of Gold.

Turn: Ad

two outs remaining for Paul, as he must draw a ten
River: is the 4 of clubs.

Jamie Gold is your 2006 world series of poker main event champion, taking down the 12 million dollar first prize and the bracelet.

Mike

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Filed under: Blogger Poker Tour,
Aussie Millions,
Free Poker

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

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Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions... BPT - only at Poker.com!

The first event of the blogger poker tour is underway. I actually made it on time, despite the dream I had and the grand final incident. In looking at my table draw, I'm thinking I should have been fashionablly late.

With 75 players starting the tourney, immediately to my left sits the Season 1 Champ -
egonolsen. Followed by kiwiwiz, replicantpoker, jcl514 follows. Then tomonbass,
and viezeman - who went to aussie millions representing poker.com next.

Then sat a player who disgusts me so much as a person that I won't even type her name. I hope we get situated and re-establish standards for the requirements.

Finally, jbaldwin, who is seated to my immediate right.

And action... We're under way.

pearlsnapman first one out (at another table)...

jbaldwin mows down the non-blogging freeloader for a big pot to a thunderous ovation from yours truly.

and I get moved from that monstrocity of a table...

now sitting with (starting to my left)
freeroll26,
bobbyolson,
cazwil,
porkrind333,
astinaguy,
mortguns,
benplayin8,
neverlimp,
stratman4u.

I look up and see not only pocket aces, but someone handed the comish - Shane the chip lead... how does that happen? 12th of 63 remaining.

4.40pm EDT pokerind reraises ginormous amount, i smartly lay down my 3-8s on the button. Cazwill callsthe allin and we have AA v KK. Cazwil stacks porker and pokerind is crippled, only to lose tomy high card one hand later. 13th of 59 now, I am.

few steals here and there, chips firing back n forth... stratman crippled in two easy hands,first by neverlimp then by beenplayn... both hands strat had the better hand.

stratman gets his last 30 in utg+1. i limp with 7h-5h, only to encounter a raise. Heart flush draw, whichwouldn't have completed... freeroller was AA, ousts stratman. moves me back to 20th of 49.

redeyed30 joins only to leave us almost as quickly as he showed up. Now sitting 23rd of 45th with 2700 chips in hand.

Neverlimps does... and on my small blind. I flop a straight, he nails two pair and he's quickly stacked I'm up to 4860, sitting 10th of 44.

5.15 freerollers gets stacked and ousted by astinaguy's kk. 15th of 41 I currently sit. Mortgun pushes em all in with K6 and loses out to 83 in the BB breaking us down to 40, which puts monster ohiomike to my immediate right.

Burnley1 sits to my left, and bergeroo sitting shortstacked and way across the table. JCL returns and is two to my right.

While it's a great thing that Mike and his somewhat sizable stack is to my right, Burnley's monsterous stack is to my left, and just got somewhat reduced, but still... 9.6K to my 3.7K is quite large.

I'm in the middle of the field, 18 of 36. Tourney is short stacked and I'm tightening up for now.

Oops, I min raise with a shady hand, and get caught. 20th of 32 I sit. So much for tightening down the hatch.

And... three tables remain as I'm transferred. JCL514 is to my immediate left, followed by astinaguy, bobbyolsen, Mada1970, natsdad, cazwil, redeyed030, kanyesee, and quackpot who sits immediately to my right. I'm sitting 21 of 30. Blinds head north to 200/400 and I'm feeling the strangle hold. We all know what time it is real soon here, especially with an M of a bit over four. Although, it may be in my better interest to hang tough as long as possible, considering this is a points format. Players falling left and right, as I get Ajo UTG. Folds around to Quackpot on the bb who calls with 77. He calls, I double up - read "the ace" came on the river. Still in the game, I am! 5000 and 12th place, with 27 remaining. As I glance acrosee the table, I see Mada1970 took down a 20K freeroll. Not much limping in this tourney right now, and rightfully so, perhaps. Mada doubles through astinaguy. Mada was pretty much dead, but has come back nicely.

And we're down to two tables. I sit with 4420 chips in 15th place out of 20. Mada sits to my left 4680 chips, followed by kanyezee 13.1K, Quackpot with 12.9K, hacksaw2000 4840, brodoughno 9878, astinaguy 10.3K, burnley1 6410, irongirl 13264, kufolem 3938.

We're now hand for hand and blinds are 300/600. Top ten positions get paid, for the record. I really do like the leaderboard format for this blogger poker tour tourney. We receive a score the inverse of the number of entries and place we finished. As I right this, burnley is eliminated via astinaguy. 19 remain. Blinds fold through to me on the BB. SB I receive A6. Action folds to me, I push allin and inspire a fold from Mada, while I am showing an ace. 11 of 19 on the button for me now with 5320 chips.

On the other table sits OhioMike 6730. To his left sits Osssss 3525, followed by replicantpoker 11.2K, mpgabriel 9690, BobbyOlsen 7885, Michael1965 with 4265 chips. Then comes JCL514 with 1705 chips, natsdad 11.1K, benplayin8 with 2648 chips, and finally xscrewballx with 3140 chips.

19 players still remain, and I sit 12/19. UTG I have AQ. Action folds all the way through to me. I do not show. Irongirl min raises on the button with 66. I lay down 2-4. She of course shows. Blinds advance to 400/800 while I'm SB'ing it. I fold. Seems like that other table is going to the river a great deal more than we are. I push allin on the cutoff. Folds around to me. 11 of 19 now. KQ mid position allin, all fold. Up to 7620 chips and into 9th place, just north of the bubble.

We have an allin on the other table, screwball is allin utg. three handed, he's ousted. Down to 18 players, nine on each table. I push yet again UTG, this time with AJ and am called by quackpot and his pocket nines. This time I fail to catch up and I am eliminated in 18th place.

Final results:

1. ReplicantPoker
2. Michael1965
3. Irongirl
4. BobbyOlsen
5. JCL514
6. natsdad
7. Quackpot
8. Hacksaw2000
9. astinaguy
10. brodoughno

Links and revision will be posted on later Monday or early Tuesday. Have a great weekend everyone. Be sure to drop your links to my attention if I do not have you linked up.

Mike

Filed under: CheckRayz News

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions!

The password for tonight's $3+.30 $50 added tournament at Kiwi Poker is: KiwiFri4.

Filed under: Blogger Poker Tour, Aussie Millions, Free Poker, CheckRayz News

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions!

I think that Poker.com has found yet another way to market their Blogger Poker Tour. Long story short, I was dreaming in "Poker.comvision." For some odd reason, I was running fashionablly late for the big BPT event this weekend. For the season 1 Grand Final, I was running late as well, but not by my own doing. My internet connection blew. It took me quite a while to get to another computer, thanks to the neighbors - but we had difficulty getting the software to install properly (they didn't have their flash player or something updated). We finally got things going, and I stacked a few peeps and went on to win an ipod. With the emergence of this dream, I wonder if Poker.com and I could sell ad space in said dream?

I'm thinking that the trauma of running late for that tourney has me all wound up for this weekend's kickoff of the BPT. I'm not really sure why, other than the fact that I probably would much rather ship out to Aussie for the millions than to Vegas for the WSOP. Anyone interested in ACTIVELY participating in the Blogger Poker Tour may register here.

Speaking of the BPT, I'm going to go through and TRY to get the linkage updated for the Season 2 tour. If we all remember, I tried to go through and link to everyone who was a member of the tour. I also asked for peeps who got to the dance late to contact me, and I'd link em up. Yea, that project started off very well, but then just died off. Oh well, I am hoping to have a better system in place. In fact, here's what I am going to do, among other things.... I'll just simply ask the players at my table what their blog is and verify links then. That will work... Well, it will at least be a start...

Onto CheckRayz news... I'm happy to welcome Mitch to the tour... Yes, that would be Mitch from the monthly games... the same Mitch who had the $ necklace... The same Mitch who chills with the Ninjas... You know, Mitch! So, anyone seeing him at the tables, please be sure to give him a shout out. Don't confuse him with SuperDonk though, as they're two entirely different peeps...

That is all for now. We'll get one update... maybe two over the weekend - most likely regarding the BPT. Otherwise, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled blogging on Monday. I've had a house guest here this week and part of last, so writing and has not been at the top of my to do list.

Filed under: CheckRayz News

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions!

In case it went unnoticed, Norman won at Poker4ever on Monday, thus proving that a Norman win away from Noble poker does in fact occur. Or does that mean that he built such a bankroll at Noble that he was able to buy and pay for another poker room? Haha... no, seriously, congrats to Norm for the P4E win, and to Bob for the Noble win at our Tuesday event. Additional congrats to Becky and Judith for the freeroll finishes.

Tonight, I predict that yours truly will be taking down the 32 Red Event. I have my game face goin on, so see you there...

Mike

Filed under: CheckRayz News

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions!

We had database issues last week at CheckRayz, but they seem to be ok now. The tourneys for Monday are all loaded into the server now, and passwords are available on the CheckRayz site.

Expect sparatic posts from me throughout this week. I have things going on here on the homefront (read: out of town guest), so I won't be posting nearly as often or as thorough this week as I might in other weeks.

See everyone tonight at P4E!

Mike

Filed under: Blogger Poker Tour, Aussie Millions, Free Poker

All content written in the Poker Pub is covered under copyright. Said another way, unless you're at http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com reading this, then “THIS GUY IS RIPPING OFF CONTENT ORIGINALLY PRODUCED AT http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com AND MAY BE PLAGARIZING the work at the Poker Pub. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License and may not be reproduced or utilized in a manner against the terms set forth in the creative commons license.

The second season of the Blogger Poker Tour is set to begin. During the first season, we sent 1 player to the WSOP Main Event. This year, the blogger poker tour will be sending not one, but two bloggers to the Aussie Millions! The second season of the BPT looks to be a seven event season and will be utilizing leaderboard points, as opposed to last season's format of final tables.

Prizes

Of course, what would a poker tour of this nature be without prizes, right? For the seven preliminary events, the payout is as follows:

1st - $125
2nd - $100
3rd - $75
4th - $55
5th - $45
6th - $30
7th - $25
8th - $20
9th - $15
10th - $10

Additionally, knock the host from the tourney and win a $60 satellite entry!

Grand Final

The top 20 in leaderboard points will qualify for the Blogger Poker Tour season two Grand Final.

Prizes for the Grand Final are as follows:

1st Place - Seat in the 2007 Aussie Millions at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, which plays in January 2007 and is worth $10,000! Keep reading, there is more! Poker.com and the Blogger Poker Tour will be kicking in $2500 in travel n spending money, in addition to the Poker.com and Blogger Poker Tour VIP Pack! The grand prize package is worth over $12,500!

2nd place - 8 seat BPT Poker Table

3rd Place - 6 seat BPT Poker Table

4th - 10th - an official poker.com ipod nano. --- (Beerguy note: I won one of these during the first season. Took a bit to get it working, but it's sweet!

11-15th - poker.com chipset

16-20 - Poker.com Grand Final Tickey.

More Prizes? As if...

This prize structure sounds great to me as is... Free cash money for playing poker and blogging, then all these cool prizes for playing well and blogging... and now, the Blogger Poker Tour is even adding a prize for Blogging well!

The blogger determined to provide the best coverage of this season's blogger poker tour will be flown to Melbourne, Australia to cover the Aussie Millions Main Event on behalf of Poker.com!

1st Event set!

Event number one of season two is set to play out on Saturday, 23 September, 2006.

I hope to see everyone there... Remember, criteria for joining the tour is that you have a blog and are a blogger. Additionally, one must place the Blogger Poker Tour Banner on their blog's site. Sign up for the Blogger Poker Tour here. Be sure to tell them I sent you (sn: imjusthere4thebeer).

Mike

Filed under: CheckRayz News, Poker Tournaments

All content written in the Poker Pub is covered under copyright. Said another way, unless you're at http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com reading this, then “THIS GUY IS RIPPING OFF CONTENT ORIGINALLY PRODUCED AT http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com AND MAY BE PLAGARIZING the work at the Poker Pub. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License and may not be reproduced or utilized in a manner against the terms set forth in the creative commons license.

Friday 9/15 - Kiwi Poker $3+.30 $50 added to the prize pool. Rebuys and add-ons permitted during the first hour.

Monday 9/19 - Poker4Ever $5+.50 Freezeout with $100 added to the prize pool.

also on Monday 9/19 - Noble Poker Satellite Freeroll poker tournament - free entry poker tourney with top prize being a seat in the $15K guaranteed. Second through fifth place earn a seat in the CheckRayz Noble Poker Tuesday!

Tuesday 9/20 - Noble Poker Tuesday - $3+.30 $50 added to the prize pool. Rebuys and add-ons during hour number 1.

Wednesday 9/21 - 32 Red Poker - $3+.30 $50 added.

Hope to see everyone there...

Mike

Filed under: CheckRayz News

All content written in the Poker Pub is covered under copyright. Said another way, unless you're at http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com reading this, then “THIS GUY IS RIPPING OFF CONTENT ORIGINALLY PRODUCED AT http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com AND MAY BE PLAGARIZING the work at the Poker Pub. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License and may not be reproduced or utilized in a manner against the terms set forth in the creative commons license.

Tonight, Wednesday 9/13 at 9pm EDT is the time for tonight's CheckRayz Heads up Challenge. The money added poker tournament is $5+.50 and $50 is added to the prize pool. There's no password for the tourney, but in order to see the tournament and have access to it, you must have downloaded the Celeb Poker Software through me. Speaking of which, those who need to may download Celeb Poker for free here.

Last heads up challenge, your's truly took down with authority and I'm looking to repeat. Speaking of taking down, congrats to Billmax for FINALLY taking down Norman at Noble Poker. Norman has won 3 or 4 CheckRayz tourneys in a row at Noble Poker. It's getting to the point where they're going to rename Noble to Norman Poker and perhaps create a bust of Norm to replace the current dealer.

Finally, take a look at Sharky's new bad-ass webpage Shark's Vegas Strip --- it is an awesome casino page... WOW!

Mike

Filed under: Poker News, Politics & Poker

All content written in the Poker Pub is covered under copyright. Said another way, unless you're at http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com reading this, then “THIS GUY IS RIPPING OFF CONTENT ORIGINALLY PRODUCED AT http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com AND MAY BE PLAGARIZING the work at the Poker Pub. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License and may not be reproduced or utilized in a manner against the terms set forth in the creative commons license.

The U.S. Senate is Seeking to Ban Online Poker PPA Phone March on Capitol Hill Scheduled for Sept. 12.

Dear PPA Member:

Your urgent action is needed! On September 12th the Poker Players Alliance with the support of leading poker blogs and forums, PocketFives.com, Wicked Chops Poker and others are organizing a “Phone March” on Capitol Hill. From 9:00 AM Eastern Time, until 5:30 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday, September 12th, we are asking all PPA members and anyone interested in defending poker to call this toll free number, 800-289-1136 and be patched through to one of your two U.S. Senators in Washington D.C. When you call the 800 number you will hear a recording from fellow PPA member Greg “Fossilman” Raymer and then you will be prompted to enter your five digit zip code so you can be directed, free of charge, to your Senator’s office.

Note: The 800 number will only be active between 9:00 AM EST and 5:30 PM EST on Tuesday September 12.

Key points you should make:

* I am voter in your state.

* I strongly oppose any legislation that would prohibit online poker, and urge the Senator to vote against such legislation.

* Poker is a skill game enjoyed by 70 Million Americans.

* The Senator should seek to regulate online poker much like the government regulates other forms of gaming, like lotteries.

* Prohibitions don’t work. Any legislation that tries to ban online poker will only drive those players underground.

* Again, I urge the Senator to oppose any attempts to prohibit me from playing the great American game of poker on the Internet.

The threat to poker is real. Please forward this information to everyone you know who cares about poker and an American’s freedom to use the Internet. We need everyone possible to make their voice heard on September 12th!

Sincerely,
Michael Bolcerek
President Poker Players Alliance

Filed under: Poker Freerolls, CheckRayz News

All content written in the Poker Pub is covered under copyright. Said another way, unless you're at http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com reading this, then “THIS GUY IS RIPPING OFF CONTENT ORIGINALLY PRODUCED AT http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com AND MAY BE PLAGARIZING the work at the Poker Pub. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License and may not be reproduced or utilized in a manner against the terms set forth in the creative commons license.

Well, the CheckRayz Poker Tournament Schedule is now complete for September. If you've not looked at it... oh, maybe in the last ten minutes, I'd check it out. Somehow, we managed to squeeze four freerolls and some more $ added tourneys...

Filed under: Poker Strategy

All content written in the Poker Pub is covered under copyright. Said another way, unless you're at http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com reading this, then “THIS GUY IS RIPPING OFF CONTENT ORIGINALLY PRODUCED AT http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com AND MAY BE PLAGARIZING the work at the Poker Pub. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License and may not be reproduced or utilized in a manner against the terms set forth in the creative commons license.

Hand #1

You’re heads up on the button holding Ace-six of clubs vs. an early position raiser. For the sake of assumption, the player has shown down quality hands played in position. He raises 4x’s the big blind and was second to act preflop. T

he pot contains his four initial bets preflop, your four bets, and the folded big and small blind bets. You were rather certain the big blind would have made a call if he had something playable and were originally calculating his call into your equation when you decided to call.

For simplicity’s sake, the pot contains 10 bets (we’ll just say 10). You each have stacks of 1000 remaining. The flop is rainbowed and comes Ace diamonds -six hearts -three clubs. The opponent checks to you, what now?

My thoughts are that while you “may” be able afford to give a free card here, the opponent checked to me on the flop, yet he liked his hand enough to raise preflop out of position. I’m thinking that normally, he’d continue his bet if the flop didn’t help him somewhat. More than likely, he’s got a high ace, maybe even suited. He could also be holding kings-nines, however, he’d be more apt to bet the flop out of continuation to say the least. On the other hand, I’ve been helped by this flop significantly. Top two pair at the moment and a backdoor flush draw. I’m convinced this flop helped me and also got him a piece in such a manner that he was comfortable checking to me. If I check I have two streets to get his entire stack into the center (this is now my goal). If I bet, I get to see how much he thinks this flop helped him. It should be noted, if he folds to my bet, it’s likely this flop would have produced zero for me, thus it makes little sense to give a free card. Additionally, there’s no over cards to come, so checking now with the purpose of bluffing or semi-bluffing later is not going to apply here. If he has ace-king, ace-queen, etc. he’s going to pay you off. Heads up, two pair vs. early position when this board is checked to you, I make a clear argument for betting here and will gladly await a check raise coming back at me..

Clayshooter, long time SPT vet and first quarter CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour champion offers the following analysis:

1/2 pot sized bet. If he missed he won't catch up enough to pay you off big, so just take 10BB here. If he has A + anything he might catch a higher second pair so I bet to say I also hit the A plus have a kicker. Any kind of trap giving free cards hoping he'll catch a K-Q or whatever may lead to him catching higher two pair or making a set out of his pocket pair. Bet it and take it here, even if ahead you're not so far in front as to not be caught.

As you can see, Clay and I both agree betting is appropriate in this situation... I didn't list a bet size, but would be sympathetic to the 1/2 pot sized bet. Once again, if he folds, he was folding no matter what here.

Hand #2

You have Pocket sixes in the middle position, three handed on a flop of Ace clubs -King hearts - six clubs. You have one person acting before you in the big blind and one person in the cutoff to act behind you. The big blind is a trappy player who checks to you. Pot contains 12 bets, once again everyone has 1000 chips. Once again, you’ve been helped by this flop. While the BB may be trappy, he most likely didn’t overcall with pocket aces or kings. The cutoff didn’t simply call either with aces or kings. If either of them did, you’re destined to get stacked. There’s no over cards to the board for a bluff/semi-bluff here either, which means that if they‘re not scared of this flop now, they‘re not going to become scared short of queen-jack of hearts coming on the respective turn and river. I’d be inclined to continue the bet on this flop and hope both of them want to stick around and play back at you. Once again, my goal is to get each of them to donate 1000 chips to the center of the pot. I don’t wish to appear too excited, nor do I want to play too cautiously. Betting, once again, is the clear answer.

Clay's response:

check this all the way to the river, looking to reraise if the turn doesn't bring another club - unless the king. I likely get a bet out of one of them as they are likely playing at least one A or K here, maybe even both. A flop bet scares out all flush draws and K's while a check might lead to both betting the turn. I'm waaay in front and want someone else to take lead on this hand. I won't give a free river card only if the turn is a club, save the king.

Here Clay's opinion and my opinion differ. Remember, I'm against a trappy, tough player. When against a player who plays like this, they tend to interpret bets just as they intend them to mean, for the most part. If I check this flop, I look strong to him, because he'd check a strong flop. I'd prefer to play as if I am strong, in hopes of appearing weak. Odds are, he caught a piece of this flop, and there are no bluff over-cards to come. Though, there is the flush draw, which you still have to somewhat protect against. I bet somewhere between 1/4 and 3/4 the pot here, trying to pass it off as a disguised continuation bet. I personally believe a free card, checking down is -EV.

We'll cover more of situation three and four, on Monday. Additionally, we'll move to the turn and river of these hands in the near future.

Feel free to submit feedback on these hands for discussion.

Mike

Filed under: CheckRayz News

All content written in the Poker Pub is covered under copyright. Said another way, unless you're at http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com reading this, then “THIS GUY IS RIPPING OFF CONTENT ORIGINALLY PRODUCED AT http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com AND MAY BE PLAGARIZING the work at the Poker Pub. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License and may not be reproduced or utilized in a manner against the terms set forth in the creative commons license.

CheckRayz just signed with new poker room USA Poker. USA Poker have agreed to give CheckRayz members a private $200 intro freeroll poker tournament, which we will hold on Wednesday Sept 27 at 9pm EDT. Players wishing to participate in the $200 freeroll at USA Poker can utilize the link provided to download the USA poker software for this free tournament.

The password for this freeroll will be available on the CheckRayz tournament schedule and password area in the near future.

Mike

Filed under: Poker Tournaments

All content written in the Poker Pub is covered under copyright. Said another way, unless you're at http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com reading this, then “THIS GUY IS RIPPING OFF CONTENT ORIGINALLY PRODUCED AT http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com AND MAY BE PLAGARIZING the work at the Poker Pub. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License and may not be reproduced or utilized in a manner against the terms set forth in the creative commons license.

Well, I had the intention of doing a regular strategy discussion, however last week I got lost. As a refresher, I'll repost the first two in the series and hopefully tommorrow I'll be ready to continue... Until then, here's the repost:

http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com/2006/08/holdem-strategy-check-or-bet.html

Finally, I've "got around to it." The strategy intro post is here... This time we’re going to go into post-flop play. I could preface this series with discussion on preflop play, but I am making the assumption that those reading this already have a somewhat sound foundation of preflop hand selection and a concept of position (meaning 2-2 is more profitable when playing from the button than when playing from UTG and should usually be folded preflop UTG).

Much confusion falls upon the felt, once the dealer executes the flop. You see the board, you reflect on how this flop helped and/or hurt you. You might correctly go a step further and ponder how the flop may have helped or hurt your opposition. And maybe you even think on how your opposition thinks the flop affected you. You might even glance down at your chip stack and examine the stacks of the players remaining in the hand. Once the flop is delivered, the planning must begin.

Playing after the flop is very cerebral in nature. You need to not only know what you’re doing, but also why you’re doing it. Everything you do should be very deliberate. Every move, check or bet, call or raise, fold or play… should have a very dedicated and known (to you) purpose. Thinking about these things, knowing what to do and why, are the difference between being a craftsman of the trade, or a drone; the captain or the crew. We want to be the master of our tables, the writer of the script, we do not want to be servants to the other player or players. Nor do we wish to be merely a character cast in a story of donation and donkeyness. We want to manipulate those around us, causing them to be characters in our screenplay on the felt. Understanding when to check and when to bet, in addition to how much we should bet is the first step of this mastery process.

Throughout this series, we are going to cover the following:

Planning your hand flop to finish;

Basic Reasons for Checking and Basic Reasons for Betting;

How to Decide Whether to Check or Bet;

Sizing one’s bets, laying and accepting pot odds;

Once again, this series is designed for the beginner and is not at all meant to be the lone source of information. Additionally, I make no claims to be thorough in my writings in this or any other strategy series. Finally, as my disclaimer, while this strategy may work well for me, I make no claims that it “will” work well for everyone else. The stuff I discuss is of solid foundation and I grasp the concepts. Not everyone, however, will be able to. This is OK. Additionally, there is more than one way to skin a cat. I am completely aware of this. Agree or disagree, I look forward to working through this topic with my readers.

http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com/2006/08/deciding-whether-to-check-or-bet-on.html

You’ve met an early position raiser’s preflop raise with a call on the button. The flop comes Ace-six-three and you’re holding ace-six suited. What do you do when he checks it to you on the flop? Or how about three handed when you’ve raised middle position with pocket sixes and the flop comes Ace-King-Six? Holding nines under the gun four handed, flop delivers 10-3-5 all suited, what then? Pocket twos in the cutoff three handed and an unraised pot with a rainbowed flop all containing low cards. So much to decide and so little time to do so. With some theory and a little thought, one can better decide what to do. In the next few minutes, we’ll look over each of the above situations and go over how one should best play the hands. Keep in mind, this is all theoretical and there are always more than one way to do things. My intention is to more so get everyone thinking about some of the things that perhaps they may not normally think about when playing NL Texas Hold’em. Please note, these three situations will be visited later on in the series. For this reason, we won’t be playing the hypothetical hand all the way through right this moment, but instead we will do so throughout the series.

Situation one: You’re heads up on the button holding Ace-six of clubs vs. an early position raiser. For the sake of assumption, the player has shown down quality hands played in position. He raises 4x’s the big blind and was second to act preflop. The pot contains his four initial bets preflop, your four bets, and the folded big and small blind bets. You were rather certain the big blind would have made a call if he had something playable and were originally calculating his call into your equation when you decided to call.

For simplicity’s sake, the pot contains 10 bets (we’ll just say 10). You each have stacks of 1000 remaining. The flop is rainbowed and comes Ace diamonds -six hearts -three clubs. The opponent checks to you, what now?

My thoughts are that while you “may” be able afford to give a free card here, the opponent checked to me on the flop, yet he liked his hand enough to raise preflop out of position. I’m thinking that normally, he’d continue his bet if the flop didn’t help him somewhat. More than likely, he’s got a high ace, maybe even suited. He could also be holding kings-nines, however, he’d be more apt to bet the flop out of continuation to say the least. On the other hand, I’ve been helped by this flop significantly. Top two pair at the moment and a backdoor flush draw. I’m convinced this flop helped me and also got him a piece in such a manner that he was comfortable checking to me. If I check I have two streets to get his entire stack into the center (this is now my goal). If I bet, I get to see how much he thinks this flop helped him. It should be noted, if he folds to my bet, it’s likely this flop would have produced zero for me, thus it makes little sense to give a free card. Additionally, there’s no over cards to come, so checking now with the purpose of bluffing or semi-bluffing later is not going to apply here. If he has ace-king, ace-queen, etc. he’s going to pay you off. Heads up, two pair vs. early position when this board is checked to you, I make a clear argument for betting here and will gladly await a check raise coming back at me.

Situation two: You have Pocket sixes in the middle position, three handed on a flop of Ace clubs -King hearts - six clubs. You have one person acting before you in the big blind and one person in the cutoff to act behind you. The big blind is a trappy player who checks to you. Pot contains 12 bets, once again everyone has 1000 chips. Once again, you’ve been helped by this flop. While the BB may be trappy, he most likely didn’t overcall with pocket aces or kings. The cutoff didn’t simply call either with aces or kings. If either of them did, you’re destined to get stacked. There’s no over cards to the board for a bluff/semi-bluff here either, which means that if they‘re not scared of this flop now, they‘re not going to become scared short of queen-jack of hearts coming on the respective turn and river. I’d be inclined to continue the bet on this flop and hope both of them want to stick around and play back at you. Once again, my goal is to get each of them to donate 1000 chips to the center of the pot. I don’t wish to appear too excited, nor do I want to play too cautiously. Betting, once again, is the clear answer.

Situation three: Pocket nines (9c-9h) UTG raised 3x preflop, four handed, which includes the big blind, the small blind, and the person directly to your left. Flop comes 10c -3c -5c. What now? Once again, the suited board is either going to look scary or it’s not, period. If you check here, it’s going to give the player to your left an opportunity to bluff at the pot containing 12 bets (all have 1000 stacks). This time, you’re not wanting to build a pot, necessarily, instead you’re looking to weed out the players who do not have an over pair, the players who do not have a club or clubs in their hands, and the players who do not have a set. This board would be a great candidate for a check had it not been such a coordinated flop. There would be a bluff opportunity on the turn or river with an over card falling, plus the possibility of you hitting a set on the turn, but with the board being suited, I’d be likely to bet out and I’d be content getting either two handed or terminating the hand right here.

Situation four: You’ve limped into the pot preflop with pocket twos from the cutoff position. You’re four handed with 2 middle position limpers and the big blind. The flop comes 5-9-3 rainbowed. Everyone checks to you. The pot contains four bets presently, everyone sitting at 1000 chips. This flop “shouldn’t” scare anyone. You don’t have a big hand, so you do not really wish to build a big pot yet. If you bet into this flop, anyone calling or raising likely has you beat. I’d be inclined to give a free card here and check behind. If the hand is checked to me on the turn, I’d be more inclined to bet out strongly. Additionally, I’d be almost willing to represent an over card or set on the turn if the situation presents itself. Here checking behind is clearly the better move.

Next we’ll dig deeper into the “why’s” of the above. Feel free to comment, discuss, add to, and/or question anything in the above situations. Once again, there’s not any single correct answer for these problems. In many ways, the game of Hold’em is simple and easy to understand. The theory behind it‘s play, however, can be an entirely different creature, as it’s a game that can be learned in less than an hour, and mastered over the course of more than a lifetime.

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