Poker Pub Poker Blog

Preakness Notes

Well the Preakness is behind us. I planned to discuss the Preakness yesterday before post time. However, too many “things” came up that commanded my attention. My heart goes out to Barbaro. It was a real shame to see him go out like that. I am hoping the injury to his leg is not life threatening. Not to trivialize his injury by talking about the gambling aspect of this, but this is a poker blog… and we DO discuss gambling at the Poker Pub. Do you realize that the betting public had Barbaro as the 3 to 5 favorite? Furthermore, do you realize what exactly three to five odds means?

Simply put, a horse at three to five is believed to win the race 62.5% of the time. That means if the race is run 100 times, he wins 62 times. In a field such as those encountered in the Triple Crown, that is unreal. I do not care how great the horse is believed to be. No horse should be 3 to 5. Needless to say, while any exotic bets I placed yesterday did contain Barbaro, they were not exclusively dependant upon his showing up in the money. Long story short, Hemmingway’s Key messed up my Superfecta bet. The Belmont is going to be a wide-open race. Historically, this is the race that I have the most problems in handicapping. I plan to modify my “formula” to try to compensate, as I see the flaw in the logic of my analysis, and “think” I can mathematically compensate this year.

Live Game Notes

Today is the “monthly game.” Your drunken Beer Gawd is the defending champion. For anyone playing today, the bad news is that I am playing phenomenal poker as of late and feel confident that I will repeat. The good news is that due to my internet connection issues lately, I am perhaps not “up to form.” Last month going into the game, I was playing daily. I played my normal dose of cash games and put in some overtime with both CheckRayz/Shark tournaments, and public poker tournaments. My mentality was tweaked to focus on intense poker tournament play. Outside of CheckRayz tournaments and league tournaments with my team (Shark Army), I have played little to no poker this week. This is not an excuse in advance. I do plan to win, once again regardless of cards and bad beats. I’m taking a bite out of Bill Fillmaff’s plus EV rules and letting everyone know I do not accept bad beats (I guess that means that any bad beats that come my way is a misdeal, by his logic).

No seriously, I plan to repeat as champion. I am predicting this month will feature our largest field ever for the “monthly game.” As always, I am really looking forward to getting together with the group. As usual, I will have the run down on the event and stories spun into strategy that will last all week.

Poker Tournaments of Interest for the week

Here are the tournaments I have my eye on this week. You may be wise in taking interest as well! Links to poker rooms are provided. If you find a tourney you like, or a poker room new to you, please show appreciation by clicking my links.

Sunday 21 May

11am EDT - $100K guaranteed MTQ ($5+.50) River Belle Poker.
11.30am EDT - $100K guaranteed MTQ ($5+.50) River Belle Poker.
2pm EDT - Celebrity Classic $500 added to the prize pool - Hollywood Poker ($10+1).
3pm EDT - Jungle Poker $1000 weekly freeroll poker tournament.
3.30pm EDT - $100K Guaranteed ($50+5) - River Belle Poker.
5pm EDT - $25K Guaranteed - Kiwi Poker ($100+9).
6pm EDT - Jungle Poker $1000 weekly first deposit freeroll poker tourney.
6.15pm EDT - $10K guarantee ($50+5) - Poker.com
7.30pm EDT - Short table$2000 guaranteed - Kiwi Poker ($10+1) .
11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).

Monday 22 May

11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).
3.30pm EDT - $19K Guarantee - River Belle Poker ($10+1).
5pm EDT - $11K Guarantee - River Belle Poker ($30+3).

Tuesday 23 May

9pm EDT - $100 Private Freeroll Poker Tournament via Shark Poker Tour - Absolute Poker.
11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).

Wednesday 24 May

11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).

Thursday 25 May

9pm EDT - $5 buy-in, $200 added, launch bonus on Bornsupreme “weekly match” brought to you by the Shark Poker Tour at Absolute Poker.
11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).

Friday 26 May

6.45pm EDT - 10K guaranteed at Noble Poker ($30+3).
7.45pm EDT - WSOP Super Satellite ($300+15) Kiwi Poker. 15 peeps in this one at time of print. Satellite qualifiers are going on all week at Kiwi. This is a don’t miss event!
10pm EDT - $100 freeroll via online shark at Poker.com
10.30pm EDT - CheckRayz private 15K guaranteed MTQ freeze-out ($5+.50) at Kiwi Poker, 1 seat added to the prize pool.
11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).

Saturday 27 May

4.30pm EDT - $15K guarantee ($50+5) - Noble Poker
4.30pm EDT - $15K guarantee ($50+5) - Kiwi Poker
5pm EDT - $1+.10 “donk-fest” with $300 added to the prize pool! Brought to you by Online Shark at Pokertime.
5.30pm EDT - WSOP Final ($725+65) - River Belle Poker - satellite qualifiers going on all week!
11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).

For starters, having issues with internet connection really sucks. I did not find out that I was not going to have proper service for the duration of yesterday until it was later in the evening. For that reason, I was neither able to place my infamous tech support phone calls, nor was I able to gain a replacement for the Poker League some members of the Shark Forum and I are ~~playing in~~ dominating.

Despite being “connected” for roughly two in six hands, I managed to take fourth place in my leg last night. This comes the night after putting forth a highlight reel performance winning my leg. The team stepped it up as well 2 nights ago, with Clayshooter winning his leg as well. Unfortunately, last night Born won his group, but we did not “place.” That being said, we are still on top of the table and the boys are going to bring ‘er home tonight!

As a sidenote, if there’s anyone within reading distance that would like to play team with us, we are forming a second team. I am eventually planning to migrate to the second team, initially pulling double duty, but eventually finding a permanent home on team number two. Bob, our (unofficially named by me) first quarter CheckRayz MVP has already dropped an indication of interest. Judith has agreed to put the team together, and we are looking for some more players to form our team. I “believe” that we are looking at the 9pm timeslot for right now. Details of the second team for the poker league can be found here.

Tonight marks our weekly match at Kiwi for the CheckRayz 15K guaranteed private satellite qualifier. I have tested it out and we are now all set to go (read: the infamous “money transfer incident” has been resolved). This brings me to the first piece of mail from the Mailbag.

Mailbag time

First letter is actually initiated by me (gasp!) and is addressed to my affiliate manager at Kiwi. It reads:

Hi Le,

I registered and unregistered real quick today for the CheckRayz tourneytomorrow. It looks like the problem has been resolved.

Thanks!

Mike

Her reply (wow, this seems so backwards):

Hi Mike,

This is very good news. We want to ensure the 15K mtq runs smoothlytonight, please let me know if you or any of your Checkrayz members haveany issues while registering the tourney. I will in the office until6pm, send me an email if you need assistance.Thanks Mike, good luck and have fun this evening!

Regards,
Le

Bottom line, get all known issues to me, if any, by 5pm tonight, so I can bring them to her attention.

Back to normal format here and Norman is up:

Hi, Mike. Just for the record, will you handle the Leaderboard points the same way as you did at Kiwi? Gary 1st, you 2nd, and me 3rd? I really wasn't looking at the chip totals that closely, but I think that was the order when we were closed down. I know it's not your fault, but I think we need a contingency plan if this happens again. We are playing at Kiwi Friday, so we should be prepared if they do it again. Let me know what you decide. Maybe ask several of the regular players for suggestions. Talk to you soon. Take care. Norman

To which, I retort:

Hey Norm,

Yea, I handled it the same way. I had Gary covered by 1000 or so when I took down that all in pot with prince. The backup plan, for this quarter at least is going to be ending chip count. I had 15 and small change after blinds were posted, prince had 2400 or so.Anyways, i did update the board. Let me know if it looks right.

Talk to you soon.

Mike

Back at me from Norman:

Sorry, Mike, I didn't mean to short change you! LOL. Like I said, I wasn't watching the chip totals real closely for you and Gary, I just knew he had the lead before the last hand. This is better for me anyway, because I get to stay in first a little longer! LOL. Everyone on the final table got their points except 9th place, "Frederics0", unless he is on the list under another name. I didn't see anyone else getting 8 points, though. See you Friday at Kiwi. Take care. Norman

All that being said, we can deduce that when the tournament ends, which the end is triggered by the number of players equaling exactly the number of 15K guaranteed tokens shown in the prize pool, we’ll go with final chip count to determine how Leaderboard points are assigned. Additional note, the fredrics person was not located in the database. If he contacts me this weekend, I'll credit him points.

Pardon me while I change the channel, as I just realized that Barney is on, despite the kids having gone to school a few hours ago (they watch PBS in the morning before getting ready for school. I usually leave the television on for background noise purposes while they are away and I am taking chips from donks, but never on PBS).

Finally, we will wrap up the mailbag this week with Judith. She writes (summary):

Mike,

I need help recruiting for the second team.

Judith

Ask and you shall receive. Here is the plan. We would like ten peeps who are willing and able to play in the league at 9pm Monday-Friday. Each player will play 2-3 nights per week, as five players are named to the team for each night’s competition. I am committing to playing three of those nights, Wednesday-Thursday-Friday. Players can play more or less than three nights per week, as the team schedule and personal schedules/preferences allows.

Individuals interested should go to the poker team forum here and indicate interest. If you’re not a member of the Shark Forum, feel free to sign up. However, if you’re not comfortable posting publicly on the forum, you may also indicate interest by sending me an email. My address can be located through the CheckRayz site.

We are looking for both established and up and coming players, who are willing to learn the game better. I am both willing and able to offer coaching to anyone on the team desiring such. I typically have multiple windows open and offer commentary as appropriate. So, in conclusion, let us know you are interested!

Tomorrow, I would predict, connection willing, there is going to be talk on the Preakness as well as thoughts on Sunday’s “monthly game,” of which I am the reigning champion.

Mike

CheckRayz Mailbag

Bill Fillmaff has taught me to win virtual millions with his proven method... Secret system! Thanks to Bill and his instructional videos I now have a whole closet of "virtual sockrolls." If Fred McGriff were endorsing poker videos, this is the one he'd choose!

The ten most important things Bill Fillmaff and Secret System have taught me:

10. I owe him a royalty when I win a tournament with his signature hand (KJoffsuit). He has it copywritten.

9. I've been pronouncing Bellagio wrong for all these years.

8. Without Secret System, we're all donkeys.

7. Reading his book is positive EV.

6. Not reading his book is negative EV.

5. Multi-tabling was invented by Bill Fillmaff and is possible not just online, but also live, with the help of a picture of yourself, placed on the back of your head.

4. Proper sock roll management is of paramount importance.

3. Pointing out how amateur someone's play is while at the table is positive EV.

2. The value call with the nuts is perhaps the most powerful move in poker.

1. Bill Fillmaff is the greatest, all others are tied for last.

In fact, Bill's Secret System set of instructional videos are so great, I can't limit the top ten list to just ten lessons!

Additional thing Bill Fillmaff's Secret System has taught me:

a. Telling people what I just folded when it hits the board is plus EV.

b. Pocket kings are not a good hand to defend vs. an All-in move. Waiting for a better spot is advised.

c. Its extremely important to tell the dealer that I refuse to accept bad beats.

Thanks Bill for sharing your knowledge!

So, if we recall, I had issues getting registered for the private CheckRayz tournament that I hosted at Kiwi Poker on Friday. Here's a follow up to my dialogue with their support department between my affiliate manager and I.

Kiwi affiliate manager’s response to the cc’s from Friday night

Hi Mike,

We read over the messages sent back and forth between you and our KCPsupport team Friday below. We wanted to say that on behalf of our affiliate team that we are trulysorry that you were not able to enter your own Checkrayz tourney onFriday evening.

As you may know, we had thought all was resolved. But it seems that it was not. We understand your disappointment andfrustration. We can only assure you that we are getting to the bottomthis and finding out what happened on Friday evening. We want to make sure that this type of situation does not happen again,to you or to any of our affiliates for that matter.

We appreciate your business and would like to continue supporting you bythe highest standards.I wanted to thank you for patience Mike. I will be in touch again shortly.

Kind regards,

Le

My reply

Hi Le,

Thank you for getting back to me on this. I appreciate your hard work and attention on not only this matter, but in everything we've worked on together since I came onboard as an affiliate. Your dedication and attention to detail, especially as of late, has been top notch and I truly appreciate it.

That being said, I do not fault you on the issue at hand from Friday. I feel you did your best to both resolve the situation and also to keep me in the loop. In fact, I would not have even held support accountable had I felt for one second they were "listening" to me. I feel as if they stopped reading once they saw the terms "affiliate" and "private tourney registration issues." If they'd simply have referenced the dialogue between you and I, which I passed along to them, perhaps citing "i understand you and Le have discussed the issue, however, without her contacting us right now, we cannot help," I'd have at least felt like I was heard, and that nothing could have helped me - no harm no foul, we tried. Instead, I was assisted in feeling as if I was typing upon dead ears, which is/was extremely frustrating as you could surely tell from the tone and pace of my interactions with support.

We do have the entire week ahead of us to try to get this resolved. Eventually, we'll get it right :) As a quick sidenote, I do truly believe that the concept of not allowing players involved in p2p transfers in cash games and sit n gos is a great policy! I think the spirit of the policy is beneficial to the players, serving as protection of sort - lowering the possibility of collusion via shared bankroll. I think the policy reflects highly on the level of commitment of Kiwi to us players.
Finally, as discussed last week, the 15K token that was not able to appear in the prize pool should be awarded to the appropriate player.

Thanks again for your efforts and talk to you soon!

Mike

Le’s timely response (she’s definitely stepped up and has been on the ball)

Hi Mike,

Good morning to you and thanks for your email. I appreciate your feedback and comments about our KCP support. Don'tworry, your voice has been heard! I will forward on your comments tothe appropriate department.Also, we will issue the 2nd token to your player, thanksfor letting us know.Be in touch soon.

Warm regards,

Le

Call me foolish perhaps, but I remain confident that the poker affiliate gods will take care of me on this one and we’ll get it right by this next week. As for the depths of support hell, I can’t say that it’s a pleasant place to visit and wish it upon no one.

There is reason that the mailbag was late this week. Now usually I do not have to deal with support at the various poker rooms in which I play. On the rare occasion, its a "blast" (read: it sucks, I don't wish it on my worst enemy, fingernails being ripped off one by one slowly and deliberately is less painful, etc.). Only twice in the history of dealing with a poker room support have I had an overall pleasant experience... Poker.com's support is by far the best in the business. River Belle did not do a bad job either. All others are simply tied for last place, so far in my ever so humble opinion. So before we "head south" here, hats off to Poker.com & River Belle's customer support!

Now onto the good stuff (the mailbag). We're making this a one trick pony this week here at the mailbag, as we're going to detail my email correspondance between myself and the entire talented staff of a poker room support.

To give you background into this dialogue, we had issues last week with the CheckRayz 15K Guaranteed Multi-Table Qualifier. My affiliate manager was right on the case. She was very proactive in responding and working to resolve the problems we had, which there were two. First, the prize pool did not reflect the extra token to the 15K qualifier that was to be placed into the prize pool. We discovered that the software doesn't allow it and she promptly credited the individual who took second place the token. Second, there was a small issue of the software turning away anyone at the door (of the private tourney) who was involved in a money transfer with another player who was registered for the tournament. Last week, TexasDan could not get into the tournament - because I had previously transferred $$$ to him for launching my drunken donk arse from a tournament (KJ v AA - bad beat in Bill Fillmaff's book, as KJ should always win - when he plays it, at least). There were others who had been involved in money transfers with me as well, but I had myself manually registered for the tournament, not realizing that others would be locked out by my doing so. This was one of those live and learn experiences.

Now as a further sidenote, I think it is great that they (Kiwi's cashiering system) are being proactive in trying to prevent collusion amongst players. I've been told that the theory behind this is to prevent individuals involved in money transfers on the poker room's software at Kiwi Poker from being able to play sit n go tournaments together. This surely helps to prevent peeps from "going into business" together, specifically in the jackpot sit n gos. I do firmly believe that any measure taken by poker rooms to protect online players is a great thing, EVEN IF IT COMES AT MY EXPENSE. That being said, I bring you the semi-edited email thread, first between myself and my Kiwi affiliate manager, then between myself and kiwi's "24-7 customer support." Of course, I'll be offering color commentary along the way (my email in plain text, their responses in italics, my commentary in bold). We start mid conversation with the manager and I, discussing my "problems" back on Monday.

Hi Le,

First off, thanks for getting me into the tourney. The efforts are very much appreciated. However, there are two problems. First, at least one of my members are also having issues entering the tourney, due to the same reasons.

As I had said before, there is lots of transferring going on by me to my members. I need for EVERYONE who has access to the tourney password to be permitted entry for our future events.

Second, the prize pool agreed upon below is not the same that is reflected in the tourney. Currently, with 13 players, the prize pool shows one seat, $5 for second, $3 for third, $2 for fourth. The added seat we agreed upon below doesn't seem to have been added. First and second should be awarded a seat with 13 entered. I assume this was a configuration error of some sort. That being said the playeer who finished second place is in need of a 15K token.

Mike

Summary: She manually placed me into the tournament on Friday of last week, as stated earlier. Unfortunately, this locked Dan out. The prize pool had "issues."

Le's response:

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your email. Am also glad to hear that you were able to play in the Checkrayz 15K mtq event on Friday night. We will have to take a closer look into why its not easy for players to enter tourneys when they have received a player-to-player transfer and get back to you on this one.

Also, the prize pool that we had arranged for the Checkrayz 15K event is as per our agreement but it may be a display issue in the KCP client why this special prize pool arrangement was not reflected in the tourney description. We will make sure that the 15K tokens are issued to the proper players and find out more about the display of the prize pool structure. Thanks Mike. We will be in touch shortly.

Kind regards,
Le
Affiliate Marketing Coordinator
Gaming Partners Affiliate Network

Le did a great job getting back to me in a timely manner. Additionally, she hit each one of my issues (both of which are big plusses in my book).

Moving on to Tuesday:

Hi Mike,

I wanted to get in touch about the Checkyrayz 15K tourneys. :) Firstly, your player has been issued a token from the 2nd place win in the Checkrayz 15K MTQ by our team. We did our best but Kiwi Casino Poker can not configure the Checkrayz 15K mtq prize pool to display the exact token prizes to be paid out as per the player entered into the tournament. Our best solution to this is to note the special prize pool in the private tourney description write up. But rest assured the prizes will pay out as per our arrangement, even if we can not get it to display as so! Finally we are still looking into clearing up the player-to-player transfer restrictions. We will come back with something as soon as we can.

Thanks for your patience Mike. Will be in touch soon.

Kind regards,
Le
Affiliate Marketing Coordinator
Gaming Partners Affiliate Network

OK, she gets back to me, in a proactive manner, informing me that the proper player was credited with the token. Additionally, she puts in my mind that the "known issues" going into next week's tourney is that the prize pool cannot display properly. Additionally, the money transfer issue is still a problem, but is being worked on. Once again, mad props to Le for being proactive in informing me where we stand. She is moving up the list quickly of my favorite affiliate managers to work with by addressing everything quickly and in full.

I respond thanking her for letting me know what's going on, and express that I'm more concerned about the actual payouts than the display. And providing the tokens award as per agreement, I'm cool with it.

moving along to wednesday... another update from Le (scoring more points!):

Hi Mike,

How are you? It seems that the prize pool pay out can not be configure exactly to our liking, but rest assured, the pay out will be properly awarded to Checkrayz players! Also, you'll be happy to hear that Checkrayz players, in fact all Kiwi Casino Poker players will not have any issue with playing in the same tourney or at the same table if they are recipients of the player-to-player funds transfers. The only restriction of this policy will be reserved for sit n go and cash table games.

Hope this information helps. Again thanks for your patience Mike, just let me know if you need anything else. Have good evening!

Regards,
Le
Affiliate Marketing Coordinator
Gaming Partners Affiliate Network

Wow, this is awesome. The follow-up continues, and the issue I had with p-p money transfers is both explained and resolved, according to Le. This is great, both in that she has informed me, and that they worked to resolve this small matter. Additional shout out for putting me in the loop about when money transfers via player to player cannot play together. I register for the tournament, because the coast is now clear.

Fast forward to Friday.

Hi Le,

One of my players just informed me he could not register for the tournament tonight due to the money transfer issue. It apparantly did not resolve. I'm withdrawing so everyone else can register, but will need to be manually placed into the event last minute --- unless the issue gets fixed.

Please advise,
Mike

Short, sweet, to the point. The beer guy "taking one for the team."

Her timely response:

Hi Mike,
Could you please send us the players' Kiwi Casino Poker nick name who wasn't able to register for the Checkrayz 15K tourney?
I will contact our support team and see how this can be resolved ASAP.

Thanks Mike.

Regards,
Le

I send her the player's names along with the players who I have transfer records of within the last 2 months. Not a complete list though, as I've moved more money at kiwi, but their records that I can access can only go back to last month. Once again, mad props to Le for staying on top of this. She responds thanking me for my additional info, as well as for what she had specifically asked for (when i do business I try to anticipate needs/future needs and provide accordingly). She tells me she'll follow up as appropriate.

Hi Mike,

Was able to get in touch with our support team and they've assured us that you can register into the Checkrayz 15K MYQ tonight and your players. Please let me know how it goes, hopefully I'll be here for a little while longer to assist if need be.

Thanks Mike.
Warm regards,
Le

Ironically, I receive this email while attempting to register. Like, specifically, the moment I'm being denied entry due to the transfer problem. I try again in five minutes, still nothing... I inform her of such, she assures me it will be taken care of by tourney start time.

Enter the Beer Guy's dialogue with support, as she is no longer in the office. I took the fam out to dinner and returned, unable to enter the tournament.

Hello,

I was working with Le today to get myself registered for the 10.30 EDT CheckRayz 15K MTQ (see correspondance below). My screenname is imhere4thebeer. I am the affiliate rep for this tournament. I need to be manually placed into the tournament approximately five minutes before start time.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Mike

Stated fact, and attached the email thread to the email to support. Receive the canned response telling me blah blah blah, 24-7 support.... committed to our customers... etc. Ten minutes later, mailbox gets a present.

Dear Mike,

Thank you for contacting Kiwi Casino Poker. Hi this is Jojo of Kiwi Casino Poker Support! We acknowledge receipt of your email, if you need to be added to the list, please ask your affiliate manager to contact our poker room manager, because we have no authority to add players in restricted tournament lists.

Have a pleasant day Mike and good luck! Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Kiwi Casino Poker Support Team. We are available 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week.

With Best Regards,
Jojo
Kiwi Casino Poker

OK, Jojo instructs me to contact my rep manager (Le) to get me into this tournament. I did so per the emails I forwarded them. I strongly suspect we did not read below our nose, so I reply... (to JoJo, I assume)

This is extremely disappointing. I was ASSURED this was taken care of and would be taken care of. As per below, my affiliate manager sent an email to support alerting them of this issue and surely asking them to allow me access and release the rule on money transfers not being allowed to play . How was it not resolved?

I'm extremely disappointed.
Mike

Sense the frustration in my tone yet? Oh, incomes a reply, assuming its from "jojo." We read:

Dear Michael,
Thank you for contacting Kiwi Casino Poker. Hi, this is Lem from the support team and I'm glad to be of assistance Michael, as what my colleagues informed you need to directly contact your affiliate manager regarding this matter so that you may have the eligibility for the CheckRayz $15,000 MTQ. Your affiliate manager would directly contact us and as soon as we have updates from them, rest assured that we will keep you posted. Your patience and cooperation is greatly appreciated in handling this matter.

Thank you.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Kiwi Casino Poker Support Team. We are available 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week.

With Best Regards,
Lemmuel
Kiwi Casino Poker

OK Lem will be referred to as "not jojo," though just like "is jojo," "not jojo" does not read below his nose either. If he scrolled down through the history of my email, he'd clearly see Le had in fact referenced contacting them directly, support's response stating I was good to go, and talk of me still not being able to access the tournament. Furthermore, "not jojo" would see that I'm allowed to play and could have easily placed me in the tournament. Or maybe I am too harsh. Perhaps he could have located the email Le sent regarding this issue and put me in. Either way, I should be in the tournament. So, I respond:

Hi,

OK, apparantly you're not understanding. Let me break this down further.

As per this email thread, I did directly contact my affiliate measure regarding this matter. The affiliate manager did directly contact you, as per her commentary below. My patience is a moot point now, as this issue was claimed to have been resolved HOURS AGO. The tournament in question has already taken place. Now, it is a matter of principle.

Per the email below which I hinted to, Le --- my affiliate manager... the one I contacted directly, informed me that I was able to enter. After all, I have the password. In fact, I am the affiliate for that matter. She said the issue regarding "money transfers" did not apply to us and that it was not an issue. She also informed me support said I'd be able to enter with no problem, as the restrictions on players who transferred money to one another only applied to sit n gos. Apparantly someone mis-informed her, which leaves me very disappointed.

My dillemma is now that my players who entered the tournament and I are aware of why it is I am not able to play tonight. I had to withdrawl because two players needed in, and I had the affiliate manager to work with on this matter all day long. We worked, she explained that support informed her it was fixed. I tried and failed. She informed me that she emailed support and that it would be resolved. Someone dropped the ball here.

They knew that I'd be there, because I was told this issue would be resolved.

In conclusion, please start reading this entire email from all the way at the bottom to the top. You'll clearly see that I did in fact contact my rep and she did in fact contact support and did in fact assure me this issue was going to be resolved.

Mike

That was all typed in one breath, by the way. I assume the recipient was neither "is jojo" nor "not jojo." I also assume this person read the email as per instructed. Furthermore, I'd not be surprised if they threw the "death button" on my player account, sentencing me to a lifetime supply of hammers in the hole. Little do they know, I am +EV on the hammer. "neither 'is jojo' nor 'not jojo' " responds:

Dear Mike,

Thank you for contacting Kiwi Casino Poker. I am Geloy your committed support team representative ready to assist you today. We would like to inform you that we are still waiting for the relevant department’s reply with regard to your concern on tournaments. We ask for your patience with regard to this matter. Thank you for your understanding.We passionately offer our members the best quality service attainable and your satisfaction is our main goal.Enjoy the rest of your day Mike. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Kiwi Casino Poker Support Team.

We are available 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week.

With Best Regards,

Geloy
Kiwi Casino Poker

I was right, it either went to a third person in support, or these emails are linked to one of those "myspace what customer support name fits you" surveys where their login consists of answering four questions, and a randomly generated customer support name is applied to the "regards" portion of the email. But wait, there's another one inbound.

Dear Michael,

Thank you for choosing Kiwi Casino Poker! We would like to confirm that we have received your email and it has been forwarded to the relevant department. You will be contacted as soon as possible with further information. In the meantime, we kindly ask for your patience and cooperation in handling this matter.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Kiwi Casino Poker Support Team.

They are available 24*7 at:Email: support@kiwicasinopoker.com

Toll Free (U.S. only)Phone: 1-866-636-3516
Fax: 1-866-289-1596

InternationalPhone: 63-2-845-9015
Fax: 63-2-845-9016

Warmest regards,
Kiwi Casino Poker Support Team

OK, just like myspace tools, apparantly the random name generator was down. I'm thinking the last thing they want to do is to pick up the phone and have me on the other end of it. And no, I didn't place a phone call either. I am kicking back, calming down, and putting together a blog entry.

I rest certain that Le was not at fault on this one. After all, she responded to each of my points in a timely manner and proactively kept me in the loop. Someone that thorough is not going to drop the ball or forget to email support. I'm placing blame on support, thankful its not too often that I must utilize them.

I'll keep everyone posted on how this one turns out come monday when le returns to work, seeing all the cc'd correspondance. Until then, have a great weekend...

Mike

CheckRayz Mailbag

League Play and CheckRayz tournament commentary

Last night the Beer Guy made his Pokerroom league debut for Team Shark, representing the Shark Powered Network (CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark, and the SPN Forum) in league play. As expected, we rose to the occasion and took down first place for the night, moving us third overall. Yours truly, despite all going on, won my leg of league play. Teammates Bornsupreme and clayshooter both took second places, and reelcrazy and gary812 took third and fifth respectively in their legs. Great showing by the team!

By all fault of my own, I had quite a full plate yesterday, considering I had three tournaments going on at once, with the league, the CheckRayz money added poker tournament at Poker4ever, and the CheckRayz heads up poker challenge at Celeb Poker. CheckRayz standout Lazrus knocked the beer man out of the heads up challenge in the first round, moving on to take down the event. He’s had my number lately, as this is two events in a row Lazrus has knocked me out of. Last person to own me in this manor was TexasDan, though he did so during bounty week, and collected nicely. Ironically, Dan and I had the exact same hands both times he ousted me. He had aces acting behind me, I had the Fillmaff (KJ) and was making a move, only to run smack dab into his aces both times.

As a note/warning to Laz, Dan has not been the same on a poker table full of beer since the two in a row. He’s been haunted by the Beer Guy, raising up over him, hitting the flop hard, knocking him off his hand, affecting his game. Don’t let that happen to ya. Keep playing your game and you’ll do fine. Don’t let the thought of ousting the Beer Guy in three straight CheckRayz tournament nights (that I’ve played) get into your head. Additionally, don’t let it get into your head that I’m putting $20 up if you can make it a third time (special launch bonus exclusive to you). Don’t be shy, rise up and collect the bounty. Third time is a charm!

Is it my imagination or am I trying to stir up a friendly rivalry? Or maybe its that I’m trying to counteract the state of “owned” I’ve been in whenever on the table with Sir Lazrus? A little of both even? One final note, Larry; Don’t just sing it… bring it!

Blogger Poker Tour Talk

As we all probably know, the Beer Guy hosted blogger poker tour event number four, appropriately named “We’re Just Here 4 the Beer.” Yesterday, I received a prize pack for hosting event number four from the BPT and Poker.com. I like receiving free stuff, especially when the free stuff are more than I expected to receive. Two poker.com hats, a poker.com coffee mug, poker.com beer koozie, poker.com keychain, poker.com bracelets, and my personal favorite, a poker.com card holder coin. It could be used as a dealer button, however I’m liking it guarding the Beer Guy’s cards personally.

This weekend, Dutch Boyd is hosting event number five of the Blogger Poker Tour. He has the password on his blog, which can be found here. From the sounds of it, Dutch is ready to play. The fifth event is slated to begin at 4.30pm EDT this Saturday. Top four finishers qualify for the Grand Finals, where the Blogger Poker Tour will send one skillful blogger (the winner) to the World Series of Poker! Don’t miss out on these events. This a great opportunity to win your way to the WSOP. If you’re a blogger and have a blog (there’s more to blogging than merely having a blog, by the way), register for the tour. Registration is accepted on the blogger poker tour website.

Tomorrow marks the triumphant return of the infamous Friday Mailbag. Until then… See you tonight at AP for the weekly Shark Poker Tour buyin. It seems that Sharky sweetened the prize pool by putting more money added to the prize pool in his weekly poker tournament, making it a $200 money added to the prize pool poker tournament.

CheckRayz Announcements
Poker News
Blogger Poker Tour

I just discovered that CheckRayz have two tournaments scheduled for tonight. First there is the CheckRayz-Celeb heads up poker challenge at 9pm EDT. At 10pm, we're at poker4ever. This was a scheduling error. I totally missed it - never saw it coming. I did not intend to have the tournaments on the same day, for those of you keeping score. I suspect my wide range of focus has caused me to be scatter-brained, and its showing.

My attention to detail has seemed to drop off lately. I typically work on multiple tasks at the same time with little difficulty. In fact, this typically plays to my advantage by having many things going on at once. One of my "known issues" is that I am easily "distracted." One of my friends once talked about how the universe works against him by nature. He "knew" certain things to be true. For example, when he was in a hurry to get somewhere, he'd hit every traffic light in town... and God help him if we were in road construction season. He was often in a hurry, needless to say. Additionally, in his spare time, he loved to read, though he was "always" interupted when he was in the middle of a good book. In fact, interuption after interuption would occur when he found his place.

So, being a logical guy, and a math major with a minor in philosophy, he saw the potential relationship between these two problems of his. He "knew" he'd be slowed down when in a rush, and distracted when in the middle of a good book. So to solve the time issue, he would bring his book with him when on the road. Of course, he'd hit every light/traffic jam in town. When this happens, he opens his book, quickly finding his place. This causes chaos in the universe as "the rules" state he may not read uninterupted, so the traffic jam imediately is relieved, thus he tricks the universe into getting him to his destination on time at the expense of missing out on reading a book he'd never be "permitted" to finish anyways.

I often do something similar. I know that I am easily distracted, as I said above. So, often when I am playing poker, I'll be blogging, or talking strategy to a friend, or scheduling a tournament, or working on a side project. I know if I am not multi-tasking, I will find something less productive to distract me... so I figure why not "pick" that which distracts? Over time, I get good at this and have three tables open, two IM windows, my blog, and four emails to poker reps all going at once. Did I mention I'm also on the telephone?

Yea, I'm taking on too much at once. Its time to slow down, relax a bit, and focus primarily on the main tasks at hand. Contrary to what I'd like to believe, there's a lot that can be accomplished in the 24 hour day. I lost track of the main purpose of the "controlled distraction," which was to productively control that which captures my "side" attention, to more of a distraction out of obligation (I need to get all of this done NOW!). My work is suffering, my game is slightly suffering, and now its right in front of me.

Time to re-focus... Nuff said.

Mike

Yesterday, I talked about heads up poker play, comparing it to piecing together a puzzle. Today, I'd like to briefly expand on the post, and additionally remind everyone that the CheckRayz Heads up challenge opens for registration at 10pm EDT. Registration can be taken at Celeb Poker in the tournament lobby. The private heads up tournament is open to all members of CheckRayz. As with all CheckRayz-Celeb Poker events, there is no password. However, in order to see the tournament, you must have downloaded through one of the CheckRayz links, which can be conveniently found here.

Heads up...

As the poker tournament progresses, we discussed yesterday that our play is adapting to the stage of the tournament. We're contrarians by nature, so when everyone is typically tightening up around the bubble, we're opening up our offense. Additionally, as the tables shorten, we're becoming more willing to play more hands. We recognize that at shorter tables, more of our hands are playable and have more positive expected value characteristics than at full tables.

The one thing we MUST remember while we're evolving throughout the tournament is to "keep your head up." No, I don't mean stare at your monitor mindlessly. I am referring to being observant to the changes in player behavior at the tables. Ever notice someone, specifically in a rebuy/addon tournament appear to be a total donk in round one and two of the blinds? You know exactly the person I speak of, I'm sure. The guy who seems to be limping with 2-3s (the "baby schroeck" - SuperDonk's alter ego's signature hand). In the event "that guy" is still around nearing the end of the first hour, objectively watch his play. Is he showing down hands such as the 2-3s still or has his play tightened up substantially? Some people like to donk it up in the opening minutes of a rebuy. Psychologically speaking, I have them labeled a donk for the duration, even if they show down only group I hands from then on out, when in reality he was perhaps looking to donk it up in hopes of making me label him accordingly, and thus getting action from me later when "the board obviously missed us all."

Its imperative to know your opposition at all stages of the game. As another example, it would probably be helpful to know that as the tournament progresses and we get shorter handed and/or closer to the bubble, I tend to play more hands and push harder than I normally would. That is because, as I said, I'm opening up the offense, breaking out the "gadget" and "high impact plays" from my playbook in hopes of "picking apart" your conservative, soft "prevent defense." If you knew I was planning to do this, you'd either come at me more aggressively, or you'd be more inclined to play me "man to man"... if not just get out of the way and let someone else battle it out with me. Yes, knowing this would be ever so helpful (just like my knowing you know is helpful as well - gotta love human chess now, don't ya?). Seriously though, if everyone at the table was acutely aware that towards the end of a tournament, with blinds increasing and my M in the red, I'm pushing allin with anything of higher +EV than 10-8 offsuit, the profitability of that move decreases. Why is that? I have factored into my expected value equation that some of the times I will steal a pot uncontested with this move and other times I will be called by a better hand, only to outdraw (read: out-donk) them.

Bottom line, be aware of who's game is evolving right along with yours. More often than not, you'll find the guy you end up heads up with is still playing as if he is at a full table. He'll be putting out his "standard raise" & not as willing to reraise you. He'll fold to continuation bets, or when you jam it on the turn. Unlike you, his game is not evolving as the tournament progresses. He truly begins to believe that you're getting monster hands and betting them... because that is what he would do. When he finally calls or reraises ya, he probably has you beat preflop. Think of what his hand range is when he finally gets around to growing a pair, and play accordingly on the flop, relative to that and how your hand fits the flop.

If in fact, you're up against someone who has adjusted to the shorthanded and heads up play, then think of which hands he'd likely play the way he's playing, observing him for predictable patterns, and adjust accordingly. Essentially this becomes the "I know what you're doing, and I know you know that I know what you're doing game." Far more challenging than the static player, but a lot more fun. Bottom line, keep your heads up the whole way through and know your opposition.

Reminder, CheckRayz $100 freeroll tournament at the poker tables of Poker4ever. Password is available on the CheckRayz poker tournament schedule page. You must be logged in to retrieve the password for the free poker tournament. I will not be present for the tournament tonight, as our ever so "classy" soccer team has a game tonight. Have fun and see you at the heads up challenge!

Mike

Poker Tournament Strategy
Endgame Strategy
Poker Tournaments

As you may have noticed from my post yesterday, I'm pondering a move of this blog in the very near future. I'm playing around with some new looks and features for the remodeled Poker Pub. I do admit, though, that the new site is not going to be the final site. That being said, I will continue to blog here and then post to the new site. I do, however, plan to use the word press software platform, so it makes sense to post to that site for that reason alone. My ultimate plan is to have the CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour website, and the Poker Pub on the same server. There's many reasons to do such a thing, though I admit selfishness and convienance are the two most compelling reasons.

Ok now that is out of the way, and taking into consideration I did not do a mailbag this week, in protest to the gambling legislation being pushed through our government, I bring you the ever so lengthy, lacking flow email response to CheckRayz MVP Bob (BC5457). As a sidenote, I am posting this today, because I feel it would be helpful to those compelled to play in the CheckRayz heads up poker tournament at Celeb Poker. Registration for the tournament opens tommorrow at 10pm.

Bob writes:

Mike I need help in heads up play. I can hang around the final table, but heads up I need help. If you can give any advice or point me in the right direction I would be very thankful.

Thanks

Bob

I respond (after taking a deep breath):

Playing heads up is more of an "art form" and less of a science. I compare general poker play to telling a story or painting a picture. Heads up play, I look at moreso as a puzzle. To piece together a puzzle of how successful heads up play can work, I'll first talk about play at a full table, and then break down to a short-handed table, then finally to heads up play, as this is a natural progression. At a full (9-10 person table), the tight aggressive player (TAG), who respects "position" has the clear tactical advantage. The TAG player understands his starting hand selection, plays the hand hard, and often wins without showdown - usually, the earlier he acts the more of a monster he has. He of course, slightly relaxes his hand selection as he moves to later positions. He has a clear advantage at a full table simply because he is more selective in the hands he plays, and often when he shows down, he has the best hand at showdown, or clearly had the better hand preflop.

As the table shortens, the semi-loose aggressive player begins to take charge as the most profitable player at the table over time. He too throws chips with a vengence and respects position. However, he recognizes that as the table shortens, there is less of a chance that people have a hand that is better than his preflop. He is willing to play hands normally suitable for middle position on full tables when first to act, and will often raise with two playable cards from the late positions. He recognizes that the blinds are coming around quicker, so he must see more flops and/or steal more often in order to maintain and grow his chip count. Quite often, you'll see him raise his connectors, and limp with his monsters when he's acting late. A successful semi-loose aggressive player completely understands how his hand best plays (heads up, or multi-way) and will often win pots that the flop totally missed him (and everyone else involved in the hand).

This type of player, the semi-loose aggressive types, stands the best chance of converting from short handed play to heads up play in a given tournament. Throughout the average tournament, he's "tight enough" that he's not in donk territory, but loose enough that he can relate to the mind of a donk, providing he survives the initial stage of a tournament. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe the Tight Aggressive Approach is the best overall posture to maintain at the poker tables, but its exactly that... a base posture.

By nature, I am a tight aggressive player. As a tournament gets closer to the end stages, or the end game, I "evolve" into a semi-loose aggressive player. I relax my standards as we approach the bubble (in general, not taking into account chip count or "M calculation"). When we reach heads up play, its safe to assume I am as close to a donk as I can possibly be.

When playing heads up, the "smart" Loose aggressive playing style is best suited to be a successful heads up playa. Every hand you play is heads up here. So this begs a few questions. First, what hands are playable? And as a follow-up, how does one deal with the "problem" of holding a nice multi-way hand, but only having one opponent to play it against.

So, first thing's first. Heads up, any two "playable" cards are in fact playable. I'll typically play any hand without a two or three, but containing one high card (i.e. - A4offsuit and above, K-5off and above, Q7off and above, Jack-eight and up). Any two suited cards are playable as well (even the two three suited). Additionally, any pocket pair is playable.

Typically, I mix my play up, making it damn near impossible for a player to get a solid read on me. At the same time, I am trying my best to get a read on my opposition. I'm "keeping score" to understand what the minimal action I can throw to get him to fold is. Often, you'll find that a combination of a preflop raise, followed by a continuation bet on the flop is sufficient to fold someone up, or a preflop raise, check on the flop, bet out on the turn (the old stop and go play) will entice a fold. I'm always making notes as to what will entice a fold, as well as to how the opponent is responding to my aggression or lack of it. I try to vary this though, so as to not become predictable myself.

Once again, not taking chip count into consideration, I mix up my plays preflop. If I have a playable hand, I'll randomly limp, raise min., raise two, three, four, five times the blinds. I'll randomly continue the bet on the flop, or reraise. I keep in mind that I am not only betting my hand, but also betting against his hand.

When in the big blind, I will often raise if he limps, to see how he responds. I'm testing him here as well, to see if he'll limp/fold. If he does, then I know that I can more often than not push him off the pot with this move. Additionally, I am discouraging him from playing hands he's not comfortable playing to a raise (limiting his hand range, making it an easier read for me). He'll end up folding uncontested more often than not, if he feels I am going to raise it, which gives me more chips without a fight, and the insight that he's only playing hands that have some quality to them. This tells me that when he does limp/call, I might have to improve on the flop to continue, and will definitely need to improve on the turn/river if he calls my continuation bet.

When I am playing out of the small blind, is he raising me? Will he fold to a raise? How small of a raise is likely to fold him up? All these things I am mentally noting. I enjoy having a feel for what the least common denominator is to get someone to fold up and go home. Keep in mind, my "random actions" are very deliberate in purpose --- confusing the opposition, encouraging folding, and putting together a puzzle piece by piece, working different areas of the puzzle at once. I'll work the top left portion of the puzzle for a little bit, then break off and string together a few pieces in the middle, or on the bottom, then move onto the next part where I see two-three pieces that can fit and help me to come closer to the conclusion - putting together the entire thing, making it into a full picture.

As for the next "problem" how does one play hands "correctly" heads up when they fair better multi-way? There's no easy answer to this question. As a basic rule, you "could" put in a raise with the multi-way hands (7-6offsuit, for example). If called, this will give you better odds to draw. However, the problem becomes, you cannot always raise 7-6offsuit and never raise AA. This also makes you too predictable. I just come to understand what kind of hand I have, how it best plays, and then randomly decide what I am doing (random is the key word). I know that if holding seven six, and the flop misses me, I either have to steal the pot between now and showdown, or will have to improve to win at showdown (even if 2-3-3 hits the board and I'm confident it missed my opposition as well, I KNOW that if I showdown and the board misses us both to the river, I do not have the best hand with 7-6 off). So in this portion, knowing what kind of hand you have, and how it will hold up based on hitting the board, missing the board, or both you and the opponent hitting the board is of paramount importance. People are more likely to call a raise or raise themselves with ace seven, king seven than they are with queen or jack seven. This poses a potential problem if king-seven-two rainbowed hits the board, and less of a problem if jack seven two hits. The board with the king/ace is likely to have hit you both, maybe even giving him two pair. I typically grasp how my hand ranks based on what "story I have told" this hand and the few hands before... or more specifically, what parts of my puzzle have I been working on.

Finally, from a chip stack standpoint, I'm keeping score of the percentage of chips in my possession and also how much the blinds cut into him per hand. If I have the stack, and the blinds are costly (blinds 100-200, I have 3000 chips, he has 1000 chips), I'm typically raising to 1000 if I'm playing, espcially when I am in the big blind and he's limped incorrectly. Doing this sends the clear message he has one hand to get it right. Besides, he's probably allin on the flop anyways, so I might as well make him decide how strong his hand is now, as opposed to letting him make me decide on the flop. If I'm on the other end of the spectrum, and have 1000 chips, with blinds 100-200, I'm in allin or fold mode, being content with stealing, but accepting that I have great implied odds of him either folding or doubling me up.

In conclusion, I relax my hand standards, make my play appear totally random... keeping the pressure on, and all the while, I am putting together my puzzle. I hope this helps you out. I'm planning to blog on heads up on Tuesday on the Poker Pub, including a lot of the above, as well as Harrington's take on heads up play.

Let me know if you have any further questions, concerns or ideas... or if anything above needs further clarified, explained or expanded on. Thanks again for supporting the tour.

Talk to you soon,

Mike

More on heads up play tommorrow, perhaps? Oh by the way, please feel free to comment here on the new look of the poker pub over there.

Please excuse the mess. I'm doing an impromptu move of the Poker Pub . The new location has quite a few more features that makes my life easier. That being said, I'll be posting both places for the time being, and eventually phase this one out, or keep both... not sure yet. In the interim, it looks like my posts got all jumbled together. Please excuse the mess.

Mike

Here's the (partial) list of tournaments that have caught my eye and interest for the week:

Today *Sunday*

8pm EDT - Noble Poker - CheckRayz $3+.30 10K Guaranteed MTQ, with rebuy and addons first hour. 2 seats are added, despite what the prize pool shows. I suspect the network they play on is not set up in such a manner to show the added chips, thus they'll be awarded manually (beer guy - poker pub guarantee).

8.30pm EDT - 32 Red Poker - $1000 Freeroll.

10pm EDT - New Poker Room - Jungle Poker - $500 Freeroll heads up poker tournament! 128 peeps allowed for this one, so register early! Download Jungle Poker here.

Monday 5/8

12pm EDT - 32 Red Poker - $1000 Freeroll poker tournament.

Tuesday 5/9

2pm EDT - $500 Freeroll poker tournament. Jungle Poker.

6pm EDT - $400 Freeroll Omaha Tournament. once again, Jungle Poker.

6pm EDT $12K Guaranteed NL Texas Holdem Tournament. 32 Red Poker.

9.05pm EDT CheckRayz Private $100 Freeroll at Poker4Ever.

Weds 5/10

3.45pm EDT - WSOP Ladies Super Satellite. $15.20+1.30 - River Belle Poker.

8.15pm EDT - Sun Poker. $100 freeroll. Private SPN event via Online Shark.

8.45pm EDT - WSOP Ladies Super Satellite. $7.60+.65 - River Belle Poker.

10.05pm EDT - CheckRayz Texas Holdem Private $100 added to prize pool tournament. $5+.50 - Poker4ever.

Thurs 5/11

3.45pm EDT - WSOP Shorthanded Super Satellite. $12.50+1. River Belle Poker.

8.45pm EDT - WSOP Shorthanded Super Satellite. $25+2. River Belle Poker.

9pmEDT - $5+.50 $200 added. Absolute Poker. Private SPN tourney via Shark Poker Tour.

10pm EDT - $5+.50 $50 added to the prize pool. CheckRayz Heads up challenge. Celeb Poker. (registration opens on weds 5/10 at 10pm EDT).

Friday 5/12

6.45pm EDT $10K Guaranteed at Noble Poker. $30+3.

10.30pm EDT CheckRayz Private $15K Guaranteed MTQ. $5+.50 - 1 seat added to the prize pool. Kiwi Poker.

Saturday 5/13

4.30pm EDT - $15K Guaranteed freezeout. Kiwi Poker. $50+5.

5pm EDT - $200 Freeroll at Pokertime. SPN Private tournament via Online Shark.

* note: private free poker tournaments and money added poker tournaments via CheckRayz require registration through the CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour website. Registration with CheckRayz is free. Passwords for CheckRayz events are located on the poker tournament schedule page. You must be logged in to register. Password sharing is not permitted. CheckRayz reserves the right to move to strip unauthorized individuals of their tournament prizes won through CheckRayz if they are not an "invited guest" of CheckRayz.

* note 2: private free poker tournaments and money added poker tournaments via SPN can be accessed via either the online shark poker website and the Shark Poker Tour website. Sharky also may reserve the right to motion to revoke prize money accumulated by any unathorized peeps in his private tournaments. Said another way, you must be registered at the appropriate websites before registering for the tournament. Password sharing is not permitted.

Sunday Shout outs

Yea, I know. The above tourney schedule, with the exception of the "legaleze" makes it seem as if I am writing without really "writing." The shout outs do the same thing, I am sure. But hey... at least it proves to some extent I am reading, right?

First off, a big poker pub shout out to Norman of the CheckRayz tour. Norm's been volunteering pro bono proofreading my site, checking the tourneys and the schedule page, calendars and emails against one another. And of course, I'm doing ten things at once minimum, so it keeps him busy. I truely appreciate the time you take to make sure the message I am putting out is consistant and accurate. Thank you Norman!

Speaking of friends and tour members. Thanks to CT for helping me organize my betting scheme for the Derby. Typically, I am great at rating the ponys, however I fall a bit short in constructing my bets. She helped me a great deal, but my pony picking fell short.

A blanket Shout out goes to everyone in the "blogosphere" who actually, unlike me, use grammar and spell check in their work. Starting next week, Imma step it up and actually check my work before I submit. (Boooooo!)

Thanks again to Haley for tipping me off via her blog on the poker legislation progress.

Another thanks to haley for "pimping" Lou Kreiger's Poker Blog. Lou has been writing up a storm on the legislation currently being considered. He's doing a great job of writing objectively and trying to assist those politicians in thinging things through prudently. Shout out to him as well.

Once again, Felicia Lee gets a shout out for knocking yet another one out of the park with the phenominal post on ~~grabbing your balls~~ Self Esteem and Poker. She's an every day read for the beer guy. I highly suggest that every poker player of all skill levels make her a daily read as well.

Finally, a shout out goes to everyone who has helped to make CheckRayz the hottest and best poker tour on the net!

Mike

For the first time in picking the ponys, my "pseudo-scientific" method failed. Ass handed to me, nuff said...

Finally, (Kentucky) Derby Day is upon us. As per my "normal protocol," I've checked the weather, reevaluated my statistics, crunched them one additional way, and checked the current odds. Below you'll find my derby predictions, which barring a miracle/catastrophy, I'll stick with until post time. I got the majority of my handicapping in on Thursday, so as to avoid the hype. Here's where I take the hype factor, and some other things and combine them with the infamous "pseudo-scientific" method of mine. My assigned odds listed after pp and horse name, morning line odds followed by "current odds" (of close of advanced wagering on Friday night) in parentheses.

Win Contenders - Horses I believe to have a high likelyhood to be racing to first place:

11 Sweetnorthernsaint 4-1 (10-1, 7-1)

3 Keyed Entry 5-1 (30-1, 42-1) "the $42 dollar horse" perhaps? (handicapping reference)

4 Sinister Minister 5-1 (12-1, 5-1)

Money Contenders - Horses I believe to have little likelyhood of winning the race, but stand a greater than random chance of finishing in the money (second or third):

8 Barbaro 8-1 (4-1, 5-1)

18 Brother Derek 9-1 (3-1, 10-1)

9 Sharp Humor 10-1 (20-1, 25-1)

16 Cause to Believe 20-1 (50-1, 26-1)

All other horses, I believe have significantly less than a random chance of winning/finishing in the money.

How do you bet this?

Well, honestly I don't know how YOU bet this. I do know how I plan to bet this though, significant thanks to "chippy" for helping me carve this out into a betting plan that makes sense with respect to the "exotic bets."

For starters, all my win contenders will be bet accordingly. So, count on a ticket reading 11,3,4 win. The horses in that universe will also be bet to place/show providing they're overlays in my odds to the public odds. Additionally, my "money contenders" will get place/show bets if they're in overlay territory. I don't have them as legit win contenders, so I will bet them off as place show (in the money). Right now, assuming the odds do not change (they will), I'm betting 9 and 16 to place and show each.

As for the exotic bets, I was considering going with the superfecta, however, i think the trifecta is more along my comfort level.

11,3,4 with 11,3,4,8,18,9 with 11,3,4,8,18,9 will be my most likely trifecta bet, unless I for some reason bump one of the money contenders off the chart.

Additionally, I'll work through some exacta bets, with 11,3,4 wheeling through my money contenders list.

I do have a positive EV outlook on my races. I know which horses I like and more importantly why I like them. I'm also keeping my eye on the other horses, and understanding why the public likes them. Using the two perspectives, I've achieved my ideal bets. If the perfect race is run, I'm a winner (based on my figures, and assuming my "pseudo-scientific" method is dead on). If a less than perfect race is run, I'm at least playing the +EV ponys, the ones who I would play every time this race is run based on the information available right now.

Good luck and have fun betting the ponys.

Mike

Well, we're back on the legislation watch here at the Poker Pub. And of course, that calls for me to be on my soapbox pushing common sense to the "leaders" of our country that they obviously turned in when they took office. This time, I'm not only talking to/about the US Government, but now also the state of Washington as well.

First off, thanks to Haley's post, I had come across this last night and was able to digest the news and give it some additional thought.

News broke that the "great" (eyes now rolling) state of Washington has enacted laws banning "interaction with any device or terminal involving…any game of chance including…poker or other cards." Of course, this goes on to say that there is no governing body to enforce this law, nor does it address how they plan to monitor one's online endeavers. Furthermore, the sponsors of the bill are well known to have taken several campaign contributions from several of the brick and mortor casinos located within the state of Washington on reservation land.

Additional reports cite that the federal government has starting moving on the bogus Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, sponsored by the idiot rep from Virginia Bob Goodlatte. The judiciary sub-committee voted on Wednesday to endorse the act. Next stop is the entire judiciary committee, who I might remind that there was a survey conducted on whether or not the people believed online gambling should be outlawed.

This Internet Gambling Prohibition Act is not a good thing at all...

For starters, (listen up Washington)... Poker is an American Pastime. People from all walks of life, from members of congress, to chief justices justices, to the "common American" have played poker. Poker is not a "bad thing." We "permit" it in casinos. Yet, we try to make it "bad" by throwing the gut wrenching "I-word" in front of it, referring to it as "internet poker" and suddenly, its saturated with negative bias. Gotta love the art of spin.

Poker is not a game of chance, it is a game of skill. Poker players must grasp the concept of money management, strategy, psychology, and math. By way of comparison, the state run lottery is not as demanding (yet, the act wishes to establish and maintain the legallity of playing the state run lottery online, go figure).

Next, these tools are walking all over our individual freedoms, as in order to enforce this hostile act, they will need to increase the level of surveillance of our private affairs without having sufficient cause. As Americans, is this not an infringement of our personal freedoms and civil liberties?

This "act" requires our financial institutions (the banks we trust with our money) to babysit us. Its requiring "Joe Banker" to monitor our activities, review our checks and debit card transactions to ensure we're not "gambling online." With this act's approval, the government will be telling us how we are permitted to use the money in which we've earned. This is sending a clear message that we may not play poker in our homes, but instead, we should get out there, spend the money on the inflated gasoline, drive to the casino where the rules all change... we can go there and play, but not in the comfort of our own home.

Additionally, Rep. Idiot of VA wishes to force the internet service providers to remove gambling related links upon court order. Said another way, they're moving to censor us - blocking access to content they do not "approve of." This would be the same thing we "shamed" China for doing. Our citizens, last I checked, have a right to the free flow of information via the newspapers and internet.

Finally, this legislation is hypocritical at best. Online poker is illegal under the act, yet betting on horse racing, playing the state run lottery, and fantasy football leagues played for money are permitted. It should be noted, by the way that this is nearly the EXACT SAME BILL that the evil Jack Abramoff was pushing for. We all remember Jack, don't we? He was the guy making all kinds of "illegal donations" to politician trying desperately to get a bill passed for his "client," who ironically was... a company called eLottery. His goal was not to legalize online gambline... it was in fact to try to gain special legal protections for his client and online lotteries. Go figure, the people now fighting his battle are attempting to confuse the population into believing that passing these laws will show Jack that we won't be corrupted. Last I checked, you "show" someone something of this nature by not passing the similar bill that he was trying to bribe a brotha into passing?

I encourage each and every person who comes across this entry of mine to do the following:

1. Write or call your local or state representative and alert him/her of your position on this matter.

2. Write or call your congressman.

3. Send a letter to the editor of your newspaper.

4. Join the Poker Players Alliance and help us fight to keep poker legal.

No mailbag tonight, as I wish to just focus on this issue.

Mike

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Well, numbers have been crunched... field sorted through, so here we are with my Continuation ~~Bet~~, I mean post on the Kentucky Derby. I must have poker on the brain (surprise surprise).

Anyways, I did my pseudo-scientific number crunching and analysis and have assigned the following odds to the field (note: I'm basing my odds on as near 100% as possible, as opposed to the 137.61% handicappers are using for this race):

Here's how my analysis breaks down:

Group one horses - Win contenders (horses I believe have a very strong chance of winning the race, of which I assigned 5-1 or greater odds --- official morning line odds are in parantheses) - roughly 61% chance on my scale of moneying from this group:

4 Sinister Minister 3-1 (12-1)
11 Sweetnorthernsaint 4-1 (10-1)
3 Keyed Entry 5-1 (30-1)

Group two horses - Money Contenders (horses I believe have a chance of finishing top three, of which assigned odds between group one and group three odds --- official morning line odds are in parantheses) As a group, these horses combined get roughly 29% chance of winning, however, the only potential value plays I'd make are with Sharp Humor... Brother Derek gets just better than "random odds of winning" on my scorecard.:

9 Sharp Humor 8-1 (20-1)
18 Brother Derek 9-1 (3-1)

17 Lawyer Ron less than "random odds" of winning (4-1)
6 Showing Up less than "random odds" of winning (20-1)
8 Barbaro less than "random odds" of winning (4-1)
7 Bob and John less than "random odds" of winning (12-1)

Group three horses - Non Contenders (horses I believe have very little chance of finishing in the top three, of which I assigned roughly a ten percent total chance of any one of them finishing in the top three and did not bother to statistically represent my odds, as they're insignificant to me for my predictions --- official morning line odds are in parantheses) These horses have "significantly less than random odds of winning" based on my calculations:

16 Cause to Believe (50-1)
2 Steppenwolfer (30-1)
12 Private Vow (50-1)

14 Deputy Glitters (50-1)
20 Flashy Bull (50-1)
5 Point Determined (12-1)
10 A.P. Warrior (15-1)

13 Bluegrass Cat (30-1)
19 Storm Treasure (50-1)
1 Jazil (30-1)

15 Seaside Retreat (50-1)

That being said, providing the "perfect race" is run (see 2004 Kentucky Derby) I have the finish going down Sinister Minister, Sweetnorthernsaint, Keyed Entry. All three horses, in addition to being my favorites have significant value based on my card vs. the morning line (4-11-3 boxed). It should be noted, I've first turned this into a nine horse race, then I narrowed it down to five horses who I have assigned "better than random odds" of winning/finishing in the money. For these reasons, I only stated my personal odds on the horses who I assigned better than random odds of winning the race. Consequently, any bets I place will only contain those horses who I give better than a random chance of winning/finishing in the money.

Here we go, tieing this into poker now. It stands to reason that if I play only hands that have a better than "random" chance of winning, I'm only playing those hands in which I expect to win. Additionally, if I play them "well," I'm maximizing my profitibilty over the long term. In the short run though, the hands are not guaranteed to be profitable, especially considering the "perfect flop" does not always come down each and every hand. That being said, I don't necessarily expect the "perfect race" to be run. However, just like playing +EV hands, I've given myself the best chance of capitalizing on my winnings in the event a perfect or near perfect board appears... In terms of racing, I'm only betting on horses that are +EV in my mind.

These, however, are just my thoughts... I'm not a professional pony picker I just play one on the PP (Poker Pub). Feel free to discuss, ask questions, leave comments, request I be deemed insane, etc.

Mike

I can't go another day without talking ponies, given the Kentucky Derby is a few days away. The horses have drawn their posts and opening lines set. I'll be spending the next few days intermittantly "doing my homework," cruching numbers and assigning my own odds to the horses. I have a "hobby level at best" interest in the races, specifically the triple crown races, and I've been somewhat successful using my little handicapping formula, especially in the Derby.

I'd previously posted on the poker pub on my "uneducated derby thoughts," where I named three horses I was liking. Of which, two are in the derby, which is not bad for futures predictions without crunching numbers back in March. Point Determined (12-1), and Sweetnorthernsaint (10-1) are in, First Samuari is not. Back in March, Brother Derek was the favorite and he still seems to be at 3-1. I had no reason to not like him before, and do not now... however, without having crunched numbers, I'm still not able to get behind him in this race. We'll see though in the next few days when I crunch my numbers and put the horses to the statistical test.

The field is shaping up as follows:

1 Jazil 30-1
2 Steppenwolfer 30-1
3 Keyed Entry 30-1
4 Sinister Minister 12-1
5 Point Determined 12-1
6 Showing Up 20-1
7 Bob and John 12-1
8 Barbaro 4-1
9 Sharp Humor 20-1
10 A.P. Warrior 15-1
11 Sweetnorthernsaint 10-1
12 Private Vow 50-1
13 Bluegrass Cat 30-1
14 Deputy Glitters 50-1
15 Seaside Retreat 50-1
16 Cause to Believe 50-1
17 Lawyer Ron 4-1
18 Brother Derek 3-1
19 Storm Treasure 50-1
20 Flashy Bull 50-1

I'll be covering the Derby in greater detail over the next few days, as the "numbers" come out tonight that interest me. By Friday, I'll have my predictions.

As for tonight, the CheckRayz Leaderboard poker tour heats up with a $5+.50 $100 added tournament at River Belle Poker. Expect the A game.

Mike

A wise person once said "when all else fails, destroy any and all evidence you've even tried." That's how I feel about today's post. Do I "have to" post every day? Nah... I don't. I have, however, got into the habbit of posting daily during the week, and typically at the very least one or two days of the weekend. So by posting today, I'm in a sense sticking to my personal posting discipline, as opposed to posting "out of obligation."

I actually started a post three different times, all on strategy. I wasn't "feeling it," so I just deleted the posts (hence destroying the evidence). That being said, I cannot personally give anyone anything I feel is worth reading today. However... I can "pimp" other peeps posts (recent and historical), in hopes of not only giving my regular readers some worthwhile material, but also perhaps putting them on to some quality bloggage.

For starters, if there was one blog post I've read that has changed my life both on and off the tables, it is this post by Felicia on Personal Responisibility and Poker. This was one of the few posts I've read and had a major shift in overall Philosophy. I'm not going to go into details or summarize her post for her, as she worded it perfectly already - see for yourself. I will say though, that this post marked the day that my ass quit getting chapped when someone such as SuperDonk made a call that was outragiously poor. Both the content and the context of her entry really really hit home. I reccommend this article she wrote to everyone, poker playaz or not. She is "the" must read in my blogger library.

Probably the funniest of blogs I read is the Donkey Manifesto. These bloggers don't really update often, but when they do post, they make it well worth the wait. I strongly suspect that one cannot possibly come up with priceless material such as this post on the bad play of the day or the defective $20 dollar comp, or the donking time machine on a regular basis. Go through the archives on this one, lots of great... and absolutely hilarious stories, cutting edge interviews asking the tough questions that the Daily Show won't even ask.

Slipping away from bloggage for a second, I had mentioned that I'd talk playing the AK. Instead of discussing it personally, (my communication skills are lacking today), I'll link ya to the shark forum, where we discussed playing the AK.

Back to bloggage. Is online poker rigged? Find out here, and here.

Finally, Haley had some quality bloggage on the blogger community both here and here (once again, note the lack of "skills" i use by describing the links as "here and here"... told ya its an off day 4 me). No seriously, I just started reading Haley's blog this past week, as I had discovered her work through the blogger poker tour. She and I were on the same page regarding some of the "blogs" participating or trying to participate in the tour. Through her writings, and via a brief discussion or two on the table in the BPT event, I strongly suspect she has a lot to offer the poker community. Thus, "shoutin' out" to her, and sending "mad props".

Hopefully, tommorrow I'll feel it a bit more in the creativity department. Until then...

Mike

I've been hinting at a big announcement regarding CheckRayz and the month of May. Well, May is here, and coincidentally enough, so is the announcement.

As we all may or may not know, we have five "featured rooms" at CheckRayz. These are the rooms who provide us with the most support and tournaments. I carefully select these rooms using my "special formula." They keep the lights on and the money rolling in on the 'Rayz site. My "Challenge" for the month of may involves each of these five featured rooms.

First though, I'd like to welcome Poker4ever as our newest member to the featured rooms list of fame. Poker4ever are a relatively new, and quite innovative poker room. They "get it" in that they offer plenty of free money to those who "work" their site. The more ya play, the more free money you can chance winning. Simple enough.

OK, on to the introduction of the May edition of the CheckRayz Challenge:

Bottom lining you here, folks, we're stepping up to the plate and awarding $100 first prize to the playa who generates the most overall net rake at the five combined featured rooms. I'm using all five combined because sometimes a given poker room doesn't have a "good game" in one's "comfort zone" so sometimes it takes a few different rooms to give me the game or games I am looking for (read: the beer guy has several rooms he plays ring games and tourneys at, and will never limit his focus to only one room). It is possible to be the winner of this challenge by using only one room, should you have a room that you're comfortable with like that, of course. Naturally, you must "track" under me so that I can monitor and verify the progress in this challenge (yet another reason why we're using five rooms, some peeps are under me at only three or four rooms, I don't wish to exclude anyone). Additionally, I am excluded from participating in this Challenge event. In the leaderboard tourneys I'm in the trenches with you guys. Not the case with the challenge this month. Finally, in order to have your play considered for this Challenge, you must make a deposit in the month of may at each site you wish to be considered for. Oh, I nearly forgot, the winner of the challenge at each site will receive a swag gift package from the particiapting featured poker rooms. Of course, I do reserve the right to modify or adjust the terms of this challenge as I have to, but that's the scope of the deal.

CheckRayz Challenge Summary

1. deposit at CheckRayz featured poker rooms you're "tracked" through me,

2. "Donk it up" at these rooms, generating profit for yourself and in the process we're calculating your net rake. Rake the most combined net rake in the month of May, win $100,

3. Generate the most net rake at one of the featured rooms, win a gift pack,

4. Beer Guy, not eligable... Everyone else tracked by me, is eligable,

5. Beer Guy will fine tune this challenge as he has to (note: I'll only tweak as "necessary," which also means I will not "take away" from the challenge, I'll either add to it or further define to close any loopholes my non lawyering donk self have left open and discovered).

Should this challenge catch on, receive positive feedback and generate results, I'll reserve the right to do it again in June and beyond, as well as offer additional challenges, perhaps ones more exclusive to individual featured rooms.

One final note, keep in mind folks, more "activity" translates into more money added. Unless its a site specific special freeroll, I have absolutely no intentions of holding a freeroll above $100 presently. Any additional funds the poker rooms kick our way will be used to either sweeten the buyins, or to hold additional buyins. In this manner, this challenge of mine is designed to reward the players for playing, give further incentive to players to play, and to sweeten our portfolio of money added buyins for the leaderboard tour. Thanks to all for supporting our tour and for giving it your all at our featured rooms.

Edit 5/11 ---- The Beer guy is envoking his right/need to modify the terms and conditions of the challenge.

1. Each room one wishes to have their play considered for count, must have a deposit in the month of May.

2. Players become "active" in the challenge when they reach the established minimum threshold in one of the featured rooms based on activity, detailed below.

(condition one in the edit applies for all rooms you wish to be considered for in the month of May. Condition two is a minimum requirement, which needs to be only met in one of the five featured rooms.)

List of CheckRayz Featured Poker Rooms - * May 11 edit, reflecting min. requirement for activation

Poker4ever - accumulate 250 rake points

Celeb Poker - 250 raked hands at .50/$1 and above

Hollywood Poker - 300 poker points *** Beer Guy's reccomendation.

Kiwi Poker - earn 1000 aces (note for tourney players: aces are awarded for tournament play at a rate of 20 aces per $1 buyin fee).

River Belle Poker - 300 raked hands at .50/1 and above

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