CheckRayz-Noble Poker tourney tonight

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Noble Poker

Tonight CheckRayz will be playing out a money added poker tournament at Noble Poker. Buy-in for this event is $2+.20. $25 is added to the prize pool. For those of you who need to do so, feel free to use this link to download the Noble Poker Poker Room Software. As always, CheckRayz Tournament Leaderboard Points will be on the line.

CheckRayz is hosting a Tuesday night tournament every week in August. Each week, both the buy-in and the money added will increase. Next Tuesday, the CheckRayz Noble Poker tournament will be $3+.30 with $50 added to the prize pool. Following that will be a $4+.40 with $75 added to the prize pool. Finally, we’ll hold a $5+.50 with $100 added to the prize pool.


Depending on how well the Tuesday time slot works, this may be our regular thing at Noble Poker. I’m liking how well the regular BBB Thursdays work with the Shark Poker Tour, and it sounds as if the Vet’s Series is also catching on. For that reason, I’d like to maintain some consistency with our CheckRayz events. As always, feedback is welcome.

Courtesy of Cardplayer Magazine…


WSOP Chip Count - 27 remain


1. Jamie Gold 13 mil
2. Erik Friberg 7.735 mil
3. David Einhorn 6.905 mil
4. Rhett Butler 6.4 mil
5. Dan Nassif 5.43 mil
6. Richard Lee 5.275 mil
6. Michael Binger 5.275 mil
8. William Thorsson 3.765 mil
9. Jeffrey Lisandro 3.75 mil
10. Kevin Aaronson 3.67 mil
11. Doug Kim 3.595 mil
12. John Magill 3.275 mil
13. Allen Cunningham 2.65 mil
14. Leif Force 2.265 mil
15. Kevin O’Donnell 2.13 mil
16. Prahlad Friedman 1.85 mil
17. Eric Lynch 1.785 mil
18. Lee Kort 1.7 mil
19. Rob Roseman 1.685 mil
20. Fred Goldberg 1.611 mil
21. Dustin Hokmes 1.21 mil
22. Sirous Jamshidi 1.19 mil
23. Luke Chung 1.1 mil
24. Paul Wasicka 700K
25. Siddharth Jain 675K
26. Mark Garner 635K
27. Richard Wyrick 570K


I’m familiar with none of the remaining players beyond what I have read. I do have to now say that I am pulling for David Einhorn to win the WSOP Main event. He’s substantially in the money. Knowing this, he still announces a decision that he’s donating his entire winnings to a charity, specifically the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease. I’m not knocking anyone who “gives” or “pledges” money, however, it’s one thing for someone to go in there thinking “if I win, I’ll donate x,” and the event’s not even begun - one not knowing if they‘re going to cash, for that matter. It’s another entirely different creature for one to pledge the entire amount KNOWING they’re getting paid. I am Tippin my mug to ya David!

Mike

45 remain at the WSOP Main Event

Chip Count

1 Jamie Gold 7.33mil
2 Erik Friberg 5.905mil
3 William Thorsson 3.545 mil
4 Rhett Butler 3.21mil
5 Kevin Aaronson 3.19 mil
6 Ricki Nielsen 3.17 mil
7 Siddharth Jain 3.09 mil
8 Michael Binger 3.045 mil
9 Jeffrey Lisandro 2.995 mil - dude who busted Annie Duke
10 James Routos 2.775 mil
11 Richard Lee 2.35 mil
12 David Einhorn 2.34 mil
13 Robert Betts 2.235 mil
14 Andrew Schreibman 2.2 mil
15 Dan Schmiech 2.155 mil
16 Paul Wasicka 2.055 mil
17 Lee Kort 2.005 mil
18 John Magill 1.955 mil
19 Eric Lynch 1.94 mil
20 Rob Roseman 1.845 mil
21 Mark Garner 1.81 mil
22 Mitch Schock 1.785 mil
23 Kevin O’Donnell 1.6 mil
23 Prahlad Friedman 1.6 mil
25 Mikael Thuritz 1.5 mil
26 Paul Raeburn 1.385 mil
27 Eric Molina 1.36 mil
28 Doug Kim 1.335 mil
29 Marc Friedmann 1.315 mil
30 WeiKai Chang 1.295 mil
31 Allen Cunningham 1.29 mil
32 Brian Hansen 1.23 mil
33 Rob Berryman 1.15 mil
34 Cuong Do 1.115 mil
35 Dustin Holmes 1.1 mil
36 Fred Goldberg 1.08 mil
37 Kyle Bowker 885K
38 Sirous Jamshidi 845K
39 John Lee 805K
40 Richard Wyrick 800K
41 Humberto Brenes 565K
42 Luke Chung 560K
43 Leif Force 510K
44 Dan Nassif 495K
45 Lowell Kim 350K

WSOP Update - 135 players remain...

If I were to have three picks for who I believed would final table the WSOP main event (out of the big names), they've all been eliminated as of yesterday. I believed Daniel Negreanu, after his donkfest in the rebuy, would have been refreshed and focused enough to go all the way. Additionally, I would not have found it surprising to see Joe Hachem at that table again. I also had "Fossilman" hitting up the final table on my unofficial list. Joe and Dan were eliminated yesterday. For "more fuller" coverage of the WSOP, we send you off to Dr. Pauly, who has been providing great coverage throughout the WSOP.

Chip Counts

1. Jamie Gold 3.7 million
2. Max Reele 2.358 million
3. James Routos 2.279 million
4. Kyle Bowker 2.272 million - first player this year to accumulate 1 mil plus.
5. Michael Binger 1.889 million
6. Prahlad Friedman 1.558 million
7. Ricki Nielsen 1.388 million
8. Kevin Aaronson 1.354 million
9. WeiKai Chang 1.343 million
10. Noah Siegel 1.283 million
11. Brian Hansen 1.273 million
12. Dmitri Nobles 1.252 million

26. Annie Duke 919K

Quick sidenote: SuperDonk, his girlfriend, and I went to this party last night, where we met some dude who sold cars and has the last name of Hammer. If that's not plus EV, I'm not sure what is.

Mike

Day 3 WSOP Update and Dropping the Hammer

481 People remain at the close of Day 3 of the WSOP. This also suggests the bubble has burst and we’re in the money in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Daniel Negreanu is the player who was on the roller coaster ride today dropping down to nearly 20,000 chips and back over 100K.

Notable WSOP Chip counts

1. David Chiu 650.000
2. Kyle Bowler 600,000
99. Joe Hachem 180,000
109. Hoyt Corkins 163,000
113. Annie Duke 156,000
127. Ted Forrest 138,000
135. Daniel Negreanu 104,000
145. Tom McEvoy 80,000
161. Cyndy Violette 45,000

Dropping the Hammer…

The Promotional CheckRayz-Celeb $500 freeroll is in the record books. The monstrosity of a poker player screen named reelcrazy11 took down the tourney. In case anyone is keeping score, this marks four months straight now that reel has won every CheckRayz event he’s entered. Said another way, the guy’s not losing in CheckRayz events. He went four for four in Q2, went on to take down the Shootout and capture the Q2 crown, and then the $500 freeroll. Wow.

Your’s truly was last in chips. Norman limps UTG, I peak down and see “it“… I know what I must do. Bam, I raise all-in. Reel folds. To my surprise, Norm calls (for some reason I have this belief that my all-in bluff moves never will get called for some reason). Norman turns over pocket threes. I am struggling to get to my paint program to screenshot my busting out with the hammer, when a seven decides to show up on the turn. I forget that I am looking for the paint program as I am both laughing at my luck and feeling bad for Norman who was actually playing while I was being a clown.

Dropping the hammer is an art form though. We’ll take a look at some historical hammer dropping. As you can see, it’s no easy task:

Hammer being dropped in the WSOP Main Event by a poker blogger while April is covering it (this is money),

The 2005 Hammer Photo Challenge run by Bill Rini at Bill’s Poker blog,

Another Bill Hammer Photo.

OK, enough obsession with the hammer.

Norman went on to take third place, and of course, I took second. Sweet cashes for all of us in a really tough field. Reel and I kept joking about the min raise. Occasionally, he’d taunt me with this min raise. Other times, I would throw one in on his BB. Additionally, I’d make it a point to fold and announce I respected his raise when he would do a more “standard” raise, such as 3x.

Overall, great tournament, lots of CheckRayz Tournament Leaderboard points and your’s truly is 2/3 in making a “final table” this quarter, only missing out at the 32 red freeroll, which I was the chip leader for quite some time.

That reminds me, I forgot where I was… and no Buddha , I was not referring to “well, this is Prima” either. Not saying what I am referring to, however, I will say that I forgot for a second that one “may” in fact be likely to play a hand such as queen eight to a seemingly substantial pre-flop raise. I refer to Buddha, because he had suggested that Gary was a transparent player and easy to read. Additionally, cited that Gary’s over betting was going to get him into trouble. I believe it was Gary who eliminated Buddha, however. And I look forward to seeing them show it down later on at a “not prima” tournament site.

Well, that’s enough for now. If I am not mistaking, I’ve written every day this past week. This would be a recent record. That should continue to be the case. I am seemingly over my writer’s block, and back “donking” it up on the virtual felt. I’m trying to teach myself PLO8. It’s a challenge, as I am not a fast learner, I have no respect for my teacher, and honestly, I’m just a horrible student! But, I think I’ll be ready to advance to PLO8 for second graders here in a few short days, where the title of the second grade course is “they really pay a low hand?”

Mike



Poker News
Poker Tournaments
CheckRayz Announcements

Is There Proper Use of the Min Raise in Poker

Yes, you read correctly… It seems that I’ve implied that there is a proper use of the min-raise in poker, despite all my min-raise bashing. If I come through, we’re going to discuss this. But first, a CheckRayz reminder or two:

1. The Promotional CelebPoker $500 freeroll poker tournament is tonight. Registration is open. 50 raked hands at .50/1 or higher between June 1 and now is how one earns their entry. Of course, this also assumes you've downloaded through me. Hope to see everyone there.

2. I think we're going to begin running private "seat added" qualifiers to the $100K Guaranteed Sunday Shootouts at River Belle Poker in the very near future. Stay tuned to the Poker Pub for details.

3. Also in the coming soon department is the "BeerGuy's Poker Room of the Month" promotion, which is in the works. Again, stay tuned to the Poker Pub for more information.

"And now it's time for our featured presentation..." (voice in the background chimes in over and over again...: please keep small children quiet and turn your cell phone's off... please keep small children quiet and turn your cell phone's off... please keep small children quiet and turn your cell phone's off... ).


When raising, we need to consider several things when sizing our raise… and yes, the size of one’s raise is of extreme importance. (When we're discussing min raises or raising in general for the purposes of this article, we're specifically referring to preflop raising, unless otherwise specified). Some of the things to consider when sizing a raise is the nature of the players at your table (are they gonna stomp all over a min raise, do I need to raise to define my hand in order to get two to three handed, are they going to view a min raise as an actual raise or just look at it as a kill pot), the size of your opposition’s stacks relative to yours (are they deep, shallow, a mixture), your table image (am I a monster or a donk, am I tricky or transparent, have I been raising, have I shown down recently), and what kind of hand you’re holding are a few of the many things to consider when sizing out a raise.

Additionally, as a rule of thumb, we typically want to raise to either define our hands, or to build a pot. We are not doing well to both build a pot and define our hands, or more specifically, alerting our opposition we have a hand and also giving them correct odds to play along when we can in fact be outdrawn. It becomes a huge, catastrophic mistake to tell an opponent what we have, and then set the price so that it is correct for them to come kick our asses.

So if we have to take all of that into consideration, when is it appropriate to put in a min raise? Well, the only reason I can come up with to condone the min raise is when you’re simply wanting to play this one hand as if the blinds have gone up one level. Most players will correctly treat the min raise as a limp. So, if blinds are 50/100, you’re simply wishing to play that hand as if it were 100/200. This really does little to drive players out of the hand. A player with aces will still consider re-raising. A tricky player in position may even re-raise with nothing, knowing you’ve invested very little and could get away from your hand with great ease. This is essentially nothing more than an over-pronounced slow play. As we well know, slow plays are rarely correct, especially when there’s a chance of being beat by a draw or redraw.

Bottom line: min-raising, just like slow playing is a tricky concept to correctly master and is rarely “correct.” You’re suggesting you may have a hand and giving players the correct odds to crack it. Min raises may sometimes be ok, but do you know when that is?

Mike

WSOP Chip Count, CheckRayz Stuff, News and A Quick Strategy Lead-in

Notable WSOP Chip Counts

1. Dmitri Nobles 553,000
2. Daniel Peletier 335,000
3. Daniel Negreanu 331,000
30. Joe Hachem 142,200
40. Ted Forrest 125,000
60. Cyndy Violette 85,000
78. Tom McEvoy 60,000
82. Freddy Deeb 58,000

CheckRayz Stuff

Decent showing last night at the 32 Red Freeroll Poker Tournament. I forgot where I was sometime throughout the tournament. I was setting the pace on the lead lap for the majority of the first three rounds, and dealt Ace - nine of hearts on the button. Early position min. raises. Of course, with position I reraise. She calls cleanly.

The flop comes eight of hearts, six of hearts, three of hearts, giving me the nut flush on the flop. Player min bets, I raise, she calls. Turn comes a queen. Player checks, I bet 1/3 of the pot, she calls. River comes queen of hearts. Player bets, I reraise putting her allin, because while she “could“ be holding a queen, I don‘t think she is. I have her on a pocket pair, but I don’t think she set. She calls and shows me how totally wrong I was. She didn’t have a pocket pair. She definitely didn’t have a flush either. She was holding queen - eight not suited. I forgot this was a freeroll and in freerolls we typically raise and chase with any one face card, any suited, and any pair regardless of the board, and thus I had no valid read. Next time, someone remind me!

I think I like the feel of the 32 Red Software, which means if I like them, we’re likely to keep them. Don’t be surprised to see another poker tournament, probably a money added buyin sometime early next month. I’m also looking to do a PL Omaha Hi/Lo tournament sometime this summer and perhaps a deep stack tourney.

Poker4ever Update

Yesterday, I was working on the Poker4ever story, as there were rumours circulating over their payouts, originally started by the login message that reads as follows:

“Due to the current legal initiatives, payments from and to the USA related to gaming activities cannot be guaranteed. We have therefore decided not to accept US mailing addresses for payment purposes - or payments to and from US bank accounts.”

I wanted to clarify that they would still “allow” Neteller transactions, and other transactions of the sort. They responded to my query with the following:


“Due to the current legal situation in the United States surrounding the operation of online poker casinos, we are unfortunately unable to process bank wire transfers between POKER4EVER and bank accounts located in the United States at this time. Should you wish to make a deposit or cash out, Neteller remains as a viable option to bank wire.

We must inform you, however, that once a player has initiated a cashout from his/her POKER4EVER Player Account via Neteller, POKER4EVER is not responsible for those funds reaching the player once that player's Neteller account has been credited by POKER4EVER.Similarly, should a player wish to make a deposit in to their POKER4EVER Player Account via Neteller, POKER4EVER is responsible for those funds when they have been deposited into that player's POKER4EVER Account by Neteller, and not before.

If you have any additional questions, please to not hesitate to contact us: support@poker4ever.com “

I nearly accepted that answer until I actually submitted a withdrawal request of my own. This is something I have done before. I’ve deposited there, I’ve withdrawn money… all through Neteller, not a big deal. Well, I was shocked when I got an email requesting identification to be placed on file. So, once again, I contacted poker4ever’s customer support to find out why they would now want my identification. Their response:

“Thank you for your email. It is a new requirement from the LGA (Gaming commission) due to the legal issues in the USA. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us 24/7.”

…The only thing is, there are no current legal issues in the US. Now, p4e support could be, perhaps, preparing for such legal issues, but to the best of my knowledge, there are no current legal issues in the United States that would cause them to only now need my identification or anyone else’s. I guess I could understand if they wanted it from the start, but I have a hard time taking them seriously now that they want it after about six months of my playing there. I guess I rank them up there with the bar that suddenly wants to start carding my group and I when we’ve been going there for months on end and they’ve never once cared to see our ID’s. I’ll comply, but I’m not really happy about it and moreso suspicious if anything. I’ve got a funny feeling about this, but not sure I can determine why conclusively yet. I will continue to follow and research this issue. I do advise though that one does not keep a significant portion of their bankroll at a smaller poker room.

Strategy Articly Lead In

Barring any happenings, tomorrow is going to be a total strategy day. I’ll have the chip counts as well, but it’s going to be mostly strategy. I even have the topic picked out. I’m not tipping my hand here, but it’s a topic Judith is rather fond of. And that will be tomorrow on the Poker Pub.


Mike



Poker News
Poker Tournaments

update on poker4ever

Poker4ever's response to my query:

"Due to the current legal situation in the United States surrounding the operation of online poker casinos, we are unfortunately unable to process bank wire transfers between POKER4EVER and bank accounts located in the United States at this time. Should you wish to make a deposit or cash out, Neteller remains as a viable option to bank wire.

We must inform you, however, that once a player has initiated a cashout from his/her POKER4EVER Player Account via Neteller, POKER4EVER is not responsible for those funds reaching the player once that player's Neteller account has been credited by POKER4EVER.

Similarly, should a player wish to make a deposit in to their POKER4EVER Player Account via Neteller, POKER4EVER is responsible for those funds when they have been deposited into that player's POKER4EVER Account by Neteller, and not before. If you have any additional questions, please to not hesitate to contact us: support@poker4ever.com"

So, it sounds as if they're simply bracing for impact. That being said, I'd not keep a large chunk of my bankroll there... or any other poker room for that matter. Neteller transactions are quick and painless. Nothing wrong with back n forthing.

Mike

poker4ever login message...

"Due to the current legal initiatives, payments from and to the USA related to gaming activities cannot be guaranteed. We have therefore decided not to accept US mailing addresses for payment purposes - or payments to and from US bank accounts."

I'm going to look into this and post my findings here. My feelings are that they are denying credit card and bank accounts and mailing out checks to the US but neteller will still be accepted. However, we will wait and see.

Mike

CheckRayz News and Day 2B Chip counts

Well, I received a few emails requesting I continue WSOP Talk. My plan was to get back to writing a little bit, so how about splitting the difference? I’ll do a chip count update and then get into whatever it is I wish to say…

Top prize for the WSOP this year is 12 Million dollars… Wow!


Notable Chip Counts

1. Jon Lane 405,000
2. Ken Jacobs 395,000
54. Theo Tran 113,000
92. Annie Duke 73,000
105. Chris Ferguson 60,000
133. Layne Flack 25,000
140. Phil Ivey 20,000


CheckRayz News

1. Private CheckRayz freeroll poker tournament tonight at 32 Red Poker. Password available on the CheckRayz poker tournament schedule and passwords page.

2. Still time to qualify for the private $500 promotional freeroll poker tournament at Celeb Poker. Download Celeb poker through me, rake 50 hands at .50/1 or higher to be eligible. Tourney is slated for Friday at 10pm EDT. Small field expected.

3. Kiwi Poker have scheduled us a satellite freeroll! Top prize for the freeroll poker tournament is a token for the 15K Guaranteed. Second through sixth place will receive a token to the CheckRayz $5+.50 $100 added poker tournament scheduled for this month. This is sure to give the opportunity for our freerollin players to qualify and play with the real money playas.

More tomorrow… rumour has it that there might even be a strategy post in the works.

Mike

1D Highlights

This is the last day I’ll be doing highlights (I think). I will, however, have a list of links to get coverage… not that what I was doing is coverage or anything… but, I’m going to get back to “writing” one way or the other… If you’ve stayed with me this far, keep reading, or scroll down as there is CheckRayz news included.

Erik Seidel is sent to the rail early, when his aces get cracked by queens.

Joe Seebok and Gavin Smith showed up around 6.30pm with Joe dressed as Wonder Woman.

Fast forward to the clock striking midnight, and Chris Moneymaker hits the rail when he loses on the river. An hour later, Scott Fischman is railed, as is Isabelle Mercier - went out AK v AJ and a jack fell to the board.

Johnny Chan follows suit and is also eliminated.

Freddy Deeb is on fire, sitting at 56K and playing some phenomenal poker, it would seem. Same would apply to Joe Hachem, who is also sitting around 56K.

Notable Chip Counts

1. Peter Tran 142,000
2. Alex Balandin 120,000
24. Freddy Deeb 57,000
27. Joe Hachem 56,500
52. Huck Seed 29,000
71. Cyndy Violette 21,000

Railed

Isabelle Mercier
Chris Moneymaker
Chip Reese
Erick Lindgren
Vince Van Patten
Lennox Lewis
Erik Seidel
Scott Fischman
Johnny Chan

CheckRayz News

Well, it looks like between Shark’s schedule and the CheckRayz schedule, we are going to be keeping everyone busy. Roughly, I counted about 30 freeroll poker tournaments, satellites poker tourneys, and money added poker tournaments between CheckRayz Poker, OnlineShark Poker, and the Shark Poker Tour. This leaves a lot of time on the virtual felt of the poker tables. Please suggest to your friends that they sign up for our poker tours to help us grow.

There’s a lot of value added to these tournaments, some of which is not visible. Obviously, each tournament we hold has an overlay in the prize pool, with either free prizes or money added and low buyins. Sit back sometime and watch the play, experience the atmosphere at the final tables. To me, that is something one cannot buy. The people associated with the respective tours are great… wonderful even, and they know their stuff, generally speaking. Playing poker with this group can help one learn a lot. Don’t be afraid to discuss a hand with someone on our tours, asking how they played something or why they played it the way they did.

That being said, tomorrow we have the introductory freeroll at 32 Red Poker. This marks the first time CheckRayz have been to 32 Red. Download their 32 Red poker room here. Additionally, the $500 Promo Freeroll at Celeb Poker replays on Friday. Feel free to qualify for it now if you did not qualify for it the first time around. Simply download through me, deposit and play 50 raked hands at .50/1 or above and you’re in!

Next week, we take a trip back to Noble Poker with our first weekly money added buy-in. Noble Poker has been great to us, let’s show them and all our other poker rooms who add value to the prize pools some love!

More tourneys are still in the work, don’t forget the Shark Vet Series on Sundays and Thursdays at AP with Born!

Mike

Day 1c Highlights…

Thanks once again to cardplayer.com for keeping me updated on the play throughout the day.

Day 3 kicks off with “the Unabomber”, Jennifer Harman, Daniel Negreanu, Sammy Farha and company.

Sammy is ousted from play a bit more… just a bit more than an hour into the tournament. On a heart filled board of 9-6-4, Sammy bets into action. The turn brings another six. River delivers a ten. Sammy moves allin and reveals a full house 9’s over sixes. His opposition shows pocket sixes for the quad sixes. Sammy Farha is eliminated.

Jennifer Tilly folds into a reraise, dropping her chip count to 5,200.

Speaking of 5,200, Greg Raymer goes from 5,200 to 11,100 in chips in the first hour. Two hours later, he’d be at 5,400 chips.

Joe Sebok arrives dressed as Spiderman.

Negreanu, fresh off his donk-fest at the rebuy event, begins working his table showing down 10 high and jack high after taking down the last two hands. He has a chip count of 23,000 4 hours.

Onto the Jennifers. Jennifer Harman sits with 1375 chips on the brink of elimination while Jennifer Tilly gets eliminated AJ v A6 (A6 two paired). Harman joins her on the rail shortly after.

Greg Raymer makes a push and brings his count to 15,200.

The Mouth also makes it busto on day 1c, as his set of sevens gets slapped around by a flush that comes on the river.

Back to Daniel Negreanu, as he takes down a 21K pot when he catches his flush on the table. It seems that his opposition allowed him to set the price of the flop and the turn, thus making him a cheap date to catch either his flush or his straight draws. He now sits at 41.5K.

Raymer back down to 7000 after the dinner break. A bit later he finds himself sitting around 16,000. Then 19K. Then down to 6500 when the clock is put on him. He calls and is beat. Today’s play seems to have been quite the roller coaster ride for Greg, which we find Greg sitting at 50K a bit before the end of the day’s play.

Speaking of roller coasters, Mark Seif dipped down to 4500 chips then chipped up a few hands later to 13K when his twos boated on the flop of 3-3-2.

Negreanu continues to be an opening day monster, when he flips over the nut straight vs. a lower straight, chipping him up to 54K, then 78.5K. It sounds as if his donk-fest has rejuvenated him and he’s playing phenomenal poker.

And at 3am PDT, play for Day 1C comes to an end.

Notable Chip Counts at the end of Day 1C

1. Adam Jones 123,000
2. William Thorsson 115,000
14. Daniel Negreanu 78,500
25. Paul Sexton 63,000
35. Greg Raymer 48,900
56. Tom McEvoy 32,000

Eliminated on Day 1

T.J. Cloutier
Phil Gordon
Mike “the mouth” Matusow
Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Tilly
Sam Farha
Phil Laak

As for our CheckRayz poker tournaments, the calendar of events is beginning to take form for August. As you can clearly see, we're back and have a full schedule of freeroll and money added poker tournaments. It should be noted, I'm not done building out the calendar, so keep checking back!

Mike

Thanks once again to card player.com for the real time updates.

As usual, Phil Hellmuth is being a tool himself and showing up fashionably delayed. His seat empty as Day 1B begins play. It should be noted that someone of Phil’s “obvious status” is never late, only delayed.

Less than an hour into the tourney, a sick hand plays out… Dramatic preflop raising, reraising, and all-in’ing between three players, all rightfully so. AA v KK v QQ. KK put his hand down preflop, leaving AA v QQ to battle it out. The kings would have been the winning hand, however.
Phil arrives roughly two hours into the tournament.

Mike Caro maintains a monstrous run chipping up to $25K within the opening hours of the tourney.

Roughly four hours and forty-five minutes into the tournament, Phil Hellmuth is ousted from the tourney with a battle of AQ v 7-7. The sevens hold up and Phil is sent to the rail,
Shortly after, Gavin Smith, and Shannon Elizabeth find themselves on the rail.

Nearly six grueling hours into Day 1B, Ron Jeremy manages to stick it in while holding big slick. He nails the money shot on the flop with two pair and he doubles the size of his stack, now sitting at 6,600. He busts about an hour or so later playing King five suited vs. A-10s.

Doyle Brunson is eliminated from play on a checked flop of 10-10-6. A five comes on the turn bringing a third club, which Brunson bets into. River is a 7 of spades. Doyle pushes allin (holding pocket nines). His opposition turns over K-10.

Chris Ferguson continues to accumulate chips, as does Phil Ivey. Jesus chips up to 39.2K, while Ivey sits at 46K.

Notables Chip at the end of Day 1B

1. Eric Sonstegard 83,000
2. Theo Tran 82,950
37. Men “The Master” 33,200
48. Annie Duke 26,000
60. Mike Caro 23,000
67. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson 21,000
79. Phil Ivey 16,000

Eliminated

Phil Hellmuth Jr., Howard Lederer, Gavin Smith, Joe Sebok, Ron Jeremy, Shannon Elizabeth, Todd Brunson, Vanessa Rousso, Doyle Brunson, Evelyn Ng

WSOP Day 1A recap...

Thanks to CardPlayer Magazine, here are some of the highlights of Day 1A of the WSOP:

Norm MacDonald was chipleader, then got mowed down, then eliminated.

Player named Jack Mahalingam pushes allin with pocket 8's (eight spades, eight clubs). Up against pocket fives. 6s, 5s, 5d hits the board, followed by 9s. The one outer... 7s comes giving the striaght flush over quad fives. Grab the man a towel.

A "call bluff" with high card of eight is made.

Mike Sexton, with QQ, eliminates "Action Dan" holding J7s when the fourth heart hits the board, giving Sexton a higher flush.

"Jennicide" got her dates mixed up and was absent for most of the day, only to fight back for the privledge of having her queens lay down vs pocket twos.

Gus Hansen has his aces cracked and is later eliminated 66 v A7o.

David Sklansky doubles his stack, and then some throughout day 1.

Dutch Boyd gets mowed down by eight six not suited. He builds back up, but is eliminated when his opposition calls his allin with Ace ten, bustin up the pocket queens.

One player had pocket aces nine times during day 1a!

Some notable chip counts

1. Paul McCaffrey 111,800
27. Mike Sexton 42,500
30. Barry Greenstein 34,500
35. (like the name) Victor Hammar 33,000
48. David Sklansky 26,000

Mike

highlights from the CheckRayz-Celeb $500 free poker tourney

1. The poker tournament started at 10pm EDT.

2. The tournament was still going when blinds were 200,000/400,000 at 3am EDT, with five players remaining.

3. It became "correct" to not play unless one had pocket aces.

4. Gary812 set a world record for most times folding on the button in a row.

5. Reelcrazy found out why it's not always ok to min raise (although he seems to think that I'd have called an allin with my pocket sixes).

6. The software ended up glitching, causing blinds to not post and the button was froze on Gary.

7. The tournament will be rescheduled.

That being said, we have our makeup tournament scheduled for 10pm EDT on Friday August 4th at 10pm EDT. Once again, this tournament will be a $500 promotional freeroll poker tournament for CheckRayz members. You must have downloaded Celeb's poker room through me, which can also be done right here (download CelebPoker to being raking and enter the private $500 freeroll poker tournament here). Remember, 50 raked hands at .50/1 or above between June 1 and now gets you in!

Mike

CheckRayz Announcements

Donk on the poker table...

Next time you're called a donk, donkey, jackass, fish, tool, SuperDonk, "bad player," crazy, (insert poker insult of choice here), just remember that Daniel Negreanu rebought 48 times during the WSOP No Limit Hold'em with Re-buys tournament, according to the Poker.com blog. This number is believed to be an all time record, and in fact accounted for roughly 2.8% of all the rebuys in the tournament.

In a fit of irony, another donk, Phil Hellmuth Jr. took down the event, netting him his tenth WSOP Bracelet.

Mike

Registration now open for the $500 Celeb Poker Freeroll...

Registration is now open for the CheckRayz $500 promotional freeroll at Celeb Poker. Remember, download through me, fifty raked hands at .50/1 or above qualifies you. The timeframe for these raked hands run from June 1 - tourney start time.

In the event anyone has problems registering for the event and they believe they have met the above criteria, it's in your best interest to contact me via instant messenger or personal email. All of which may be found through the Shark Forum. I caution though, do not wait until the last minute to try to register. I may not be immediately available in the early evening, thus I cannot help. Additionally, the affiliate managers are on a different timezone than most of us who will be playing, thus they may not be available to assist during the evening hours either.

See you tommorrow at Celeb!

Mike

Hey Mike… how bout a blog post some time this year?

OK OK…

So after some time off from blogging and away from the poker table, by popular demand I’m back. Not sure “how” back, but I am in fact back. Got a lil table action in this weekend, first at my bud’s bachelor party, where I took down the ten person tourney just in time to come home to play in the CheckRayz Championships. Way to go Reel, our second quarter champion. It should be noted, Reel is undefeated in CheckRayz tourneys for the second quarter. We’ll see if he can maintain his perfect run when he goes one on one in the steel cage vs. Clayshooter in the title vs. title match. Details to come soon.

Speaking of details, Thursday is the CheckRayz $500 promotional freeroll at Celeb Poker. Download CelebPoker through me, deposit, rake fifty hands at .50/1 or higher, and earn a chance to compete for $500 in a small field. Don’t wait until the last minute to meet the requirements. Get started now!

In other news, I managed to finish a strong 8th in a $3 Noble Poker rebuy tourney yesterday. I was really happy with my play and my reads, in addition to the cash. This follows up my fourth place finish in my “weekly” game. I’m beginning to believe the time away from the tables allowed me to re-focus. That being said, look out at the “monthly” tournament this weekend. Could it be a three-peat for the Beer Guy? Well, not exactly a three-peat, as Mitch stole one won a tournament in between my two wins. In any event, I look to become the first three time winner of the “monthly” game. Only “the shirt” and I have won the tournament twice. Speaking of “the shirt,” he had a strong second place finish in the “weekly” game. Way to go!

My favorite hand from the “weekly” game, I had chipped up as the blinds increased, action folds to me. I look at the hole cards and see the ever so powerful 4-5 suited (to spades) lookin back at me. I think for a second, and throw in a 4x blinds raise. The small blind calls cleanly and the big blind folds. Flow comes 4 clubs -10 spades, eight of spades. The small blind bets out ¾ of the pot, leaving about half the pot behind his bet at best. Obviously this is one of those “moments” where I either move all-in or I fold, for if I call this bet, he’s all-in on the turn no matter what falls. Of course, I have to talk this through out loud. I need all the help I can get making live reads, especially considering I have more time to think it through live than online.

My read on my opposition is one of the following:

Ace of spades - x unsuited, with X being a card lower than nine, 40% likely

King-Queen not suited through king eight not suited, with the king being of spades 25% likely

King-ten suited, King Jack suited, with neither of which being spades 25% likely

Pocket twos (don’t ask) or ace-x suited or king jack suited to spades 10% likely.

If he has a pocket pair higher than twos, he reraises. If he’s playing Ace big suited, once again, he reraises. More than likely if on a flush draw he moves all-in.

So, let’s count up my outs if I am currently behind.

If in fact I am behind, my fives are probably good, giving me three outs clean. My remaining fours are probably clean as well, so we’ll call that two. I’m “probably” good on the flush draw, but we’ll call it eight outs, because it’s very well likely he has either the ace or king of spades. So, we’re looking at roughly 13 outs if I am behind or on a redraw. Additionally, there’s a runner-runner miracle straight on the board. If I am wrong and he’s suited to spades and we flush, I have five outs but still have him covered and have barely enough chips to survive. Although, my M remains between six and ten whether I fold now, or move all-in and lose… Hmmm.

Of course, my opposition interrupts me and says something along the lines of “is this all math to you?” His posture sooooo suggests he wants me to fold. He’s not wanting me to call, nor is he wanting me to move. This really convinces me that I am ahead. He might be on a draw, but I’m ahead. So, I raise to all-in. He gets irritated and calls, and flips over King-Jack of spades to my four five of spades. A five hit’s the turn, giving me two pair and a ten of diamonds hits the board, missing the both of us. I get the old “good game, you prick,” and he’s ousted from the tournament. It should be noted, I don’t think anyone at that tournament, let alone that table could have put me on four-five of spades.

Well, that’s it for now… Who knows, maybe I can put forth a second blog post tomorrow and make it two posts in a row?

Until then…

Mike

Refocus...

So, this past weekend has been dedicated to refocusing on poker. As stated before, I somehow lost focus and found myself unable to make accurate reads, and doing other donk-like things. I stated I believed this was due to both "off table baggage" that needed emptied and maybe too much repitition. Time away from the table would surely be beneficial to both bankroll and state of mind.

So, here I am, making my return to the felt; recommitted, focused, dedicated. Gone are the days of playing to merely pass time. Doing so is -EV. I'm not going to play with the boys unless I plan to win. Again, -EV. I'm not going to open a table, knowing in 20 minutes I have somewhere to be or a call to take. Still, -EV. When it's time for cards, it's time for cards, period. If I can't or won't give it my all, then I won't give at all.

Enter the weekly live card game. I sat focused, let chips fly around me as two of the biggest LAG's in the weekly tournaments were at my table and slinging chips all around. I sat back and let that happen, carefully picking my spots. It would have been fun to get caught up in a pot between them, but it's not my style... and not +EV unless I'm going in with a quality hand and in position. As a result of this discipline, I did not enter a pot with them before they both busted out. I did, however, manage to chip up a time or two before our table broke down.

12 players remaining, blinds increase, action folds to me on the button. Looking down, I see the four-five of spades looking up at me. I throw out a standard 4x blinds raise, thinking total steal. A somewhat short-stacked small blind makes "the call." Big blind folds up shop. The flop comes 4c-10s-8s. Acting first, the SB pushes forth a 3/4 pot sized bet, which leaves him about 1/2 the pot left in his stack. Obviously, my decision is call or fold.

Going through my reps, he thinks I have overcards, I think he has overcards (40% likely in my mind) or an overcard (60% likely) - probably not suited (60% likely). He'd not have just called with a large pocket pair. He's not the type of player to call with a small PP either, though I imagine he "could" do so with twos, but I find it unlikely he'd fire with twos, unless he thought the board didn't help me, which is quite possible. He "could" have King, King-ten, King-Jack, or King Queen. Maybe even queen jack-queen ten, though less likely, unless suited. Maybe "the ace" and a ten? Nah... I don't think he'd call with "the ace" and a big card.

Let's see what I have, relative to the board. Here I sit, bottom pair, shit kicker, and flush draw. IF I am behind, which I do not think I am... I theoretically have outs for redraw with my two remaining fours, and three fives. There's five outs with great certainty. Miracle runner runner
straight is a possibility, but I wouldn't even count that as an out. I do have the luxery of 9 outs, maybe eight for a flush.

There's my 13-14 outs I need... If I am behind or redrawing, that is. I think I am confidently ahead though. Thus, I call. There was good news and bad news to this call, before the turn and river came. The good news is that I was in fact ahead... slightly. The bad news is that he did have overcards, two of them to be exact... King Jack Suited. They were suited to spades though. I knew he was not happy with my calling, based on his commentary while I was talking through my math problem. So, I sit ahead, he has the outs. My hand holds, as the board misses him but gives me two pair (5 on the turn). He ponders assult, as I rake my chips in.

I end up taking fourth place in this tournament, not a bad showing. I managed to maintain interest in the game the entire time. I paid attention to hands I was not in. I made quality laydowns when I read behind. I feel the focus to my game returning. Maybe a break was all I needed.

Mike

Champion Crowned...

Well, the second quarter CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour is now in the record books. Reelcrazy has been crowned the second quarter champion. As an interesteing side note, Reel has won every CheckRayz tourney he has entered this past quarter. Absolutely amazing. Great job! While I was not there for the ending of the tournament, I hear it was exciting with lots of back and forth action.

A key hand while I was there had me limping utg with an M of about ten, six players remaining, and roughly the average stack. Action folded around reel, our chip leader, who puts in a small raise, roughly twice the pot. When limping, this was EXACTLY what I had hoped for. I didn't wish to be heads up with a short stack. Honestly I wouldn't have minded having a shortstack in between, but I wanted our chip leader in the big blind to raise, which he was doing when he seemingly had a hand. So, getting my wish, I re-raise all-in. He's pretty sure he's facing one of four hands (if he counted the hammer in his four), but makes the call, considering he is also in the range. With all my chips in the center of the table and in my most preferred of situations, I watch an ace hit the flop giving him a pair of aces with a king kicker to my pocket pair of kings. Dream situation, variance dictated it wasn't happening tonight.

As a reminder, we have the $500 promotional freeroll poker tournament at Celeb Poker this week. Download Celeb Poker through me, open an account, deposit, and play 50 raked hands at .50/$1 or higher between June 1 and the tourney start date to be eligable for play.

Finally, my "monthly" game is coming up in one week. I have to admit, mentally I am still not "ready for prime time." My reads are getting better, but my head's just not in the game as of late, as I had previously mentioned. This week though, I'll be going through the Hulk Hogan training routine by bleaching my hair, dying my skin, and throwing baby oil all over myself saying my prayers, taking my vitamins, and working hard. I just have to clear my mind and focus. This week, I'll get back into the game.

Good luck to everyone participating in the Shark Vet Series. I'm unable to participate due to my Sunday afternoon committments to my weekly local live games I run.

Mike

change in plans for the shootout...

of course plan A can never work... No seriously, the $300 CheckRayz Leaderboard Shootout is showing to take place on Saturday July 22 at 10pm EDT. This means the tourney will not hold on Friday night as originally planned.

Mike