Cover: Howard Lederer - A Man For All Moments

Howard Lederer has been there, done that , and with a recent million-dollar win, isn’t slowing down. Read more

David Williams - Keeping It Simple Is Stupid

Heads-up strategy: Why relying on hard and fast rules is a recipe for defeat by WSOP Bracelet Winner David Williams.

WITH NBC’S NATIONAL HEADS-UP POKER CHAMPIONSHIP around the corner, I thought it might be a good idea to start thinking about heads-up play, since it is so different than nine- or 10-handed, or even short-handed poker.

As I write this, it occurs to me that the strategies and ideas behind winning heads-up No-Limit Hold ’Em sound, more than any other form of play, like dummy poker: Top pair is the nuts. Raise every time you’re in position. Float or call the flop often with just an ace-high.

On paper, this sounds like the easiest poker game you’ve ever played. However, if you think that’s the case, please stay away from the heads-up sit-and-go tournaments online, unless I’m sitting at the table. My point is that there are common misconceptions that because you are only playing one opponent, your decisions are less thoughtful and everything is robotic. In full-table poker, you often need to have something in order to call. In heads-up play, it’s often true that you don’t need much of a hand to win, and if you have nothing, you can often get away with a bluff.

Trust me, heads-up poker play may be the purest form of psychological warfare this game has to offer. It’s no wonder why the old westerns and Rounders and every other poker movie always comes down to a one-on-one battle between the good guy and the villain.

To get started with our strategy, let’s review those “dummy poker” tips I mentioned at the top of the article, but let’s discuss them in more detail. Then you can pick up on the right way to interpret them:

Top pair is the nuts. In reality, you have to feel out your opponents before you determine this. Most of the time, it’s not wise to lay down top pair, because unlike a normal nine- or 10-handed table, you only have to beat one opponent. Now, while I’m not a hardcore math guy, I do know that it’s not easy to get a pair, and in fact, you only flop a pair in Hold ’Em something like 30 percent of the time. Say the flop comes 9-7-2, and you have 9-4. As weak of a holding as that is, if you bet the right amount of between 50-75 percent of the pot through all streets, your opponent will likely be calling you down with hands like A-7, 7-8, K-2, and even ace- or king-high! Your opponents know how hard it is to flop something, so if you’re not facing re-raises and all-ins, your marginal holding might be the best hand.

Raise every time you’re in position. I am a heavy advocate of raising on the button around 80 percent of the time heads-up. I tend to fold only 2-3 offsuit and other similar hands. And I often only do that if I am short-stacked, since I won’t have the ability to call if re-raised.

More important then the value of your cards is pressure. Again, going on the philosophy of how hard it is to make a pair heads-up, your opponent is making a mistake by calling you with a wide range of hands, since he will be out of position for the rest of the hand and will be virtually clueless on where he is at in the hand. To make this style of play profitable, however, you have to be willing to put out the continuation bet on the flop, often times with no pair, just to keep the pressure on. You’re going to win more pots with nothing heads-up. Therefore, you must also be willing to give up on the hand if your opponents play back at you. For the amount of times you’ll be chopping away and winning the small pots, you have to be willing to let a speculative hand go if you face resistance, since the style you’re employing is working well enough that you don’t need to get yourself involved in a large pot without the goods.

Float or call the flop with an ace high. While this is a risky play, it is a key adjustment you need to make from nine- and 10-handed play to heads-up. Floating the flop, which means calling a flop bet with nothing so that you can steal the pot with a bet on the turn, is used more frequently in heads-up play, often to counteract the types of continuation bets I discussed earlier in this article.

While you will be applying pressure on the button and raising often, you will often find that your opponent might have the same strategy. When this is the case, the best way to find out if the bet he’s making on the flop is for value or for bluffing purposes is to call the flop and see what happens on the turn.

Now, there are many different ways to interpret your opponent’s turn play. If your opponent bets the same amount or smaller on the turn, it could be because he is a bad value bettor and is looking to extract what he thinks is the most from you, or it could mean he’s stabbing at the pot a second time because he feels obligated to do so. If your read on the situation tells you that this is the case, then a feeler raise of two to five times what he bet should be enough to find out if you can take this pot or not. If your opponent checks, the pressure must be applied. We aren’t giving your opponent any free breathing room where it isn’t necessary. We gave him enough to hang himself in the hand, and now he’s seemingly giving up, so that pot belongs to us.

Remember: Heads-up play isn’t as simple as it seems. And if you follow specific “rules” on what to do instead of factoring in your opponent’s style, the stack sizes, and the situation, you won’t get far in the one-on-one version of this game.

This article brought to you by Bodog nation. Play with pros David Williams, Josh Arieh, and Evelyn Ng at BodogLife.com.

Five Questions With Poker Player Barry Greenstein

1. Most players have a favorite starting Hold ’Em hand. What’s yours?
Well, the truth is, no matter what anyone tells you, their favorite starting hand is two aces. Anything else is just some hand they may have won something with. 2-3 offsuit used to be a hand that I’d play to bluff people with when I was younger, and any hand can be effective when you’re playing deep-stack No-Limit Hold ’Em, which is what I used to play. But tournaments are a hybrid where it’s shorter stacked, so you can’t play these garbage hands as profitably.

2. Has the online community ever asked you to say something on TV that was so embarrassing you absolutely had to refuse?
One of the things they’ve asked me to do occasionally is more of an in-your-face type of thing when I beat someone a pot, like they want me to say “Ship it crucial” or “Ship it holla.” But I’ve explained to them that I can’t do anything that would be clearly unsportsmanlike. Even the time on High Stakes Poker, when I won a pot from Erick Lindgren and said “lol donkaments,” that’s one of the most famous incidents now associated with me, I was calling it on myself for making such a big overbet, and I then read that someone else thought I was trying to show Erick up. So I said to Erick, “I hope you realize I wasn’t in any way trying to make you look bad or say anything about you, I was saying it about me making a big overbet.” And he said, “That’s okay, I played the hand like a donkey anyway.” He didn’t take it personally.

3. For entertainment value, what player do you most like to find sitting at your table?
I don’t play to be entertained by my opponents, so it’s not something that I usually think about. But I’d say Phil Ivey, just because when we’re at the same table we joke around with each other a lot because we’re good friends. I know I can put him down and he can put me down and we never take it personally. He’s probably the only one that I would beat out of a big pot and then laugh at him.

4. You seem just about un-tilt-able. When’s the last time you went on tilt at the poker table?
Actually, I’m still on tilt right now, because, in the event I just played in, I’d set up a guy pretty well to put in all his chips, we were two of the chip leaders, and I had two queens and he had A-Q. We got all our chips in the middle and he hit an ace on the turn and busted me. I knew I was going to get him to put in all his chips, and I did, and as a result he’s at the final table. I’m still on tilt, and that was almost 24 hours ago.

5. Every tournament, you give a copy of Ace On The River to the player who eliminates you. Have you ever considered that the players you eliminate may need it more? As the so-called “Robin Hood Of Poker,” isn’t it a bit unusual for you to be giving to the rich like that?

Well, at the final table that I was recently at in Niagara Falls, the tournament director announced to the crowd that I’ll give the copy of the book to whoever knocks me out, and if I win it, I’ll give it to the second-place finisher. And I quickly corrected him, because to me, that would be like an insult. If I knock someone out and give him a copy of my book, it would look like I was saying, “Here, buddy, you have something to learn.” My book is for sale at the normal bookstores and on Amazon.com, but you have to knock me out of a major tournament to get a signed, dated copy with a detailed description of your triumph.

2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship

ALL IN spotlights 10 players to watch at the 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

REMEMBER THAT GOD-AWFUL THEME SONG to the inaugural National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2005? The chorus began “That was a crazy game of poker” (which also happens to be the name of the song), and it stuck in your head as painfully as any song since “Mambo # 5.” The tune was irritating, the lyrics were embarrassing, and as an opener to every show, it had poker fans across the country wearing out the fast-forward buttons on their TiVo remotes.

But damn if the refrain wasn’t appropriate for last year’s Heads-Up Championship.
The 2007 version of the NHUPC was nothing if not a crazy three days of poker. The eventual champion, Paul Wasicka, didn’t even know he was in the tournament until 24 hours before it began. Actress Shannon Elizabeth went all the way to the semifinals and was within one card of reaching the finals. Of the eight players who reached the quarterfinals, six were playing in the NHUPC for the first time and neither of the other two had ever gotten past the second round. Oh, and Don Cheadle beat Phil Ivey.

Simply put, the ’07 NHUPC was full of surprises, and it proved that making predictions about a wild event like this is a dangerous road to go down.

But there are nevertheless certain attributes that make a player a favorite to do well in a heads-up tournament like this, and there are certain elements to the structure that benefit some competitors while limiting others.

Looking at the field of 64, we’ve selected 10 players (listed alphabetically) whom we consider favorites to go all the way, 10 poker pros with the best shot at creating a racket in the brackets. And not only are we identifying them and explaining why they made our elite list of 10, but we’re also speculating as to their “realistic odds of winning.” Note that these aren’t actual betting odds; those will always be lower because the bookmakers like to make money. But these are realistic odds (with 30-1 being the best we could give anyone in a field where the average player is 63-1).

If the tournament plays out with any level of predictability, then these are the 10 players to watch. However, if it turns out to be another “crazy game of poker,” then, well, there are 64 players worth keeping an eye on.

CAESARS PALACE LIVE SCHEDULE
Feb. 29 First Round
March 1 Second & Third Rounds
March 2 Quarterfinals, Semifinals & Finals

NBC BROADCAST SCHEDULE
(all times Eastern)
Episode 1 April 13, 12 p.m.-2 p.m.
Episode 2 April 20, 12 p.m.-1 p.m.
Episode 3 April 27, 12 p.m.-2 p.m.
Episode 4 May 4, 12 p.m.-2 p.m.
Episode 5 May 11, 12 p.m.-2 p.m.
Episode 6 May 18, 12 p.m.-3 p.m.

Annie Duke
The first two years of the NHUPC were not kind to the ladies. No women advanced past the round of 16, and Duke didn’t advance past the first round either year. But in ’07, the ladies turned a corner, with two females reaching the quarterfinals (Kristy Gazes and Shannon Elizabeth) and one (Elizabeth) going a step farther, to the semifinals. And Duke began to turn that corner as well, defeating Jeff Shulman in the first round before falling to eventual quarterfinalist Nam Le in round two.

The bottom line is, the stage is set for a woman to do well this year, maybe even to win the whole thing, and Duke has just the right style, in that she’s never too aggressive, never too passive, and rarely makes huge mistakes. If she can get a little help from the deck here and there, she’ll be extremely difficult to defeat.
Realistic Odds Of Winning: 45-1

Bill Edler
2007 was a dream year for Las Vegas-based pro Edler, as he won his first WSOP bracelet and his first WPT title, pocketed more than $2.75-million, and came within one vote of being named Player of the Year by ALL IN. And significantly, he defeated Barry Greenstein in the finals of a 64-player, $10,000 buy-in heads-up tournament at the Crystal Casino in Compton, California, in February.

Edler has never been invited to the NHUPC before, but that win at the Crystal Casino illustrates that his game is suited to this format. And a win over Greenstein, who has reached at least the third round of the NHUPC every year, speaks volumes. Just because you’ve never seen Edler play on TV before doesn’t mean he isn’t among the elite, and he’ll have his chance to prove it for a national TV audience when the cards hit the felt at Caesars.
Realistic Odds Of Winning: 40-1

Sam Farha
There are some who say that the hyper-aggressive Farha plays too many hands, and when he exits a tournament early, that’s often the reason for his downfall. Fortunately for poker’s ultimate sharp-dressed man, in a heads-up match there’s no such thing as playing too many hands. Farha’s highly active, unpredictable style is perfect for the NHUPC, and his run to the quarterfinals in ’06, which ended in a wild, 31/2-hour shootout with eventual champion Ted Forrest, is testament to what he can do in this setting.

Farha is a master of poker psychology, and his game is rooted in the notion that he can put his opponents on a hand but they can’t begin to guess what he’s holding. In heads-up play, that’s an enormous advantage. Whenever they start a National Heads-Up Omaha Championship, Farha will be the odds-on favorite. Until then, in a No-Limit Hold ’Em event like this, he still has to be somewhere in the top 10.
Realistic Odds Of Winning: 40-1

Chris Ferguson
How could we not include a man who’s reached the finals twice in the three-year history of the NHUPC and who boasts an all-time record of 10-3 in the event? Despite an upset first-round loss last year to Scott Fischman (himself a first-rate heads-up competitor), Ferguson is a force in this tournament—and in poker in general, as he owns five World Series bracelets and last year became the only man to claim three WSOP Circuit rings.

The key to Ferguson’s success is his consistency, in terms of his demeanor, his movements, his timing, and his bets. Nobody is impossible to read, but “Jesus” comes damned close. They say poker is a game of “incomplete information.” Nobody gives out information less complete than Ferguson does.
Realistic Odds Of Winning: 35-1

Phil Hellmuth
Everybody has an opinion about Hellmuth. But there’s one opinion we should all agree on: The man is a hell of a Hold ’Em player.

Eleven bracelets don’t lie. That’s more WSOP titles than anyone’s ever won, and every last one of them came in Hold ’Em. And of course, he won the first NHUPC back in 2005, marking himself as a player to watch in this event every year. He had to skip the event last year due to a scheduling conflict, and that rates to make him extra hungry to go deep, as Hellmuth is nothing if not determined to prove himself over and over.

“The Poker Brat” isn’t afraid to make tough laydowns (as you may have heard, he can dodge bullets, baby), and conceding the small pots so that he can win the big pots is key to the formula that has made him a millionaire many times over. He loves to set traps, and if enough opponents walk into them, he’ll be adding a half-million bucks to his bank account at the NHUPC.
Realistic Odds Of Winning: 35-1

Phil Ivey
You might think it odd that we’d include a player with an 0-3 lifetime record in the NHUPC among our 10 to watch. And we’d agree that it’s odd … if it was any player other than Ivey.

Ivey is generally recognized as the all-around best player in the game today, and though his focus in these events is sometimes questionable—he’d often rather be in a juicy cash game or honing his backswing—you have to figure that “0-3” number bothers him and he’ll show up determined this year. It seems Ivey just needs to get over the hump and win his first-round match, and he’ll instantly become the most dangerous man in the field.

Against Chad Brown in ’06, he had the cards to blame. Against Don Cheadle last year, he had himself to blame. This year, there’s no blame game, no excuses. Ivey needs a win. And that makes him a doubly scary opponent for anyone.
Realistic Odds Of Winning: 40-1

Daniel Negreanu
Somewhat like Ivey, Negreanu is one of those guys who has to be given a shot at winning every poker tournament he enters. When “Kid Poker” is on his game and the cards are being cooperative, he’s a tough out for anyone. And unlike Ivey, he seems to take every tournament seriously. When he’s playing in the NHUPC, there’s no place he’d rather be. He always pushes himself to do a little extra homework, game plan one step beyond, and find a way to move on to the next round.

Negreanu has one quarterfinal NHUPC appearance and an overall winning record of 4-3. Those are good stats, but not good enough for Negreanu. And a first-round exit last year at the hands of friendly rival Mike Matusow only served to stoke his fire.

Every year, Negreanu takes the time at the end of the “pairings party” to fill out his entire bracket with predictions. Perhaps this is the year he’d be wise to write his own name down six times.
Realistic Odds Of Winning: 35-1

Gavin Smith
There are a lot of reasons to get behind mouthy Canadian Smith in the NHUPC. His lifetime record of 4-2 includes an impressive run to the semifinals last year that saw him count Johnny Chan and Andy Bloch among his victims. He plays the river as well as anyone in poker, both in terms of making tough laydowns and making genius bluffs when he senses weakness. And in a recent Poker After Dark showdown, he found himself heads-up and at a chip deficit against Phil Ivey and rallied to win. And he did so completely drunk.

Yes, the luck of the cards had a lot to do with it. Especially when the booze led Smith to a few questionable decisions and the deck bailed him out. But hey, a win over Ivey is a win over Ivey. Sober or sloshed, Smith is a serious threat to win the NHUPC. And if he’s in the middle of a match and finds himself in a hole playing sober, then hey, send a few pints his way.
Realistic Odds Of Winning: 35-1

Kenny Tran
Before last year’s World Series of Poker, most poker fans had never heard of Tran, an L.A. cash game mainstay without much of a national reputation. Then he went and finished fifth in the $50K H.O.R.S.E. tournament and 16th in the Main Event, along the way uttering for the benefit of the ESPN audience some Hellmuthian self-glorifying exclamations. And a new love-him-or-hate-him TV poker star was born.

Tran makes some reckless plays. He makes some jaw-dropping calls. He won’t be run over, and he’ll gladly run you over if you let him. He definitely fits that category of “guys nobody wants in the same part of the bracket as them,” as his pressure and unpredictability can be overwhelming. He’s an X-factor. This will be his first time participating in the NHUPC. But if he makes the impression we expect him to make, it won’t be his last.
Realistic Odds Of Winning: 45-1

Paul Wasicka
If there was a number-one seed at this year’s Heads-Up Championship, it would have to be Wasicka. Not only is he the defending champ, having gone 7-0 in last year’s tournament (including a 2-0 sweep of Chad Brown in the finals), but he made it to the sixth round of the $5,000 heads-up event at the WSOP, extending his winning streak to 12 straight major heads-up matches before he finally lost. You can talk all you want about the role luck plays in poker. But nobody’s lucky enough to win 12 heads-up matches in a row without being scary-good.

Wasicka has just the right temperament, just the right card sense, and in part because he’s financially set for life (more than $7.5-million in tournaments in the last two years), he plays without fear.

Wasicka’s quiet. He’s laid back. He doesn’t have a gimmick. In other words, he isn’t a TV programmer’s dream. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s the man to beat at the ’08 NHUPC.
Realistic Odds Of Winning: 30-1

World Poker Tours Brett Faustman - The Ultimate Takedown

How former college wrestler Brett Faustman outmaneuvered Deeb, Nguyen, and Corkins to claim WPT glory.

TUNICA, MISSISSIPPI, IS NO LAS VEGAS. For 51 weeks out of the year, it more closely resembles a Southern-fried Atlantic City circa 1985, but for one week in January each year, this sleepy little casino town suddenly turns into the place to be if you’re a poker player. Why? Exactly two reasons: the $7,500 World Series of Poker Circuit event at the Grand Casino and the $10,000 World Poker Open at the Gold Strike Casino. In the words of Brett Faustman, a 28-year-old commercial insurance salesman from Lansing, Michigan, “Tunica’s the place to be in January.”

While on vacation with his father, Faustman hoped to win a seat in one of the two tournaments. He entered a satellite for the WSOP event, but busted out within an hour. Undaunted, he started playing cash games, quickly recouping his losses and then some. Up $12,000, he headed for the Gold Strike and entered a $1,000 mega-satellite. Eight hours later, he’d won a seat.

As is becoming the norm in big buy-in tournaments, the WPO’s organizers split the first day of the event into two separate days. While this is usually done to accommodate large fields, at the Gold Strike it was done to help out late arrivals, particularly those straggling in from the Aussie Millions. It proved to be a good idea, as Day 1B attracted 142 players, 25 more than had started on Day 1A. One of the late entrants was John Phan. Another was Brett Faustman.

With only three tables left on Day Three, these two voluble individuals would clash in a confrontation that would leave one of them oddly quiet. While Phan’s loquaciousness seemed inspired by gamesmanship and copious amounts of alcohol, Faustman’s appeared to come from an inclination to spread good cheer.

“I just like to have fun at the table and get people laughing,” he said. “I had almost every one of the dealers cracking up at some point. A lot of them were telling me they were rooting for me because I used to deal myself.”

Beyond ingratiating him with the dealers at the Gold Strike, Faustman’s experience dealing poker at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, gave him a crash course in a game that, for some, can take “a lifetime to master.”

When he arrived at Phan’s table, he was on a short stack, but he didn’t sit back and wait to get blinded off. He played three out of five hands at one point, and on the sixth he made it $20,000 from early position. Phan re-raised to $80,000 with A-K, but Faustman had kings and moved all in. “The Razor” called, failed to catch an ace, and suddenly he was down to his last $4,000. He would be eliminated soon after in 22nd place.

Faustman had little time to celebrate. Just a few hands later, T.J. Cloutier raised from the button with K-Q. Dealt A-4 in the big blind, Faustman came over the top of him. “A-4 doesn’t look so bad against T.J. Cloutier on the button trying to steal the blinds,” he said. “I guess a lot of people might lay that down, but I felt like I was making the right move to get the money.”

It worked. Cloutier called and Faustman took the pot with ace-high, eliminating the legendary Texan in 21st place.

Winning those two big pots back to back vaulted Faustman to the top of the leader board. When the last 10 players in the tournament were moved to a single table, he was in second place with $885,000. He added to his chip stack by knocking out Jose Rosenkrantz in 10th place before getting involved in an interesting confrontation with Dutch Boyd. After Boyd opened for a raise from under the gun, Faustman called with pocket eights, the same cards he’d folded on the previous hand when Boyd had moved all in. This time he got to see a flop: J-3-2 with two spades.

Boyd bet $48,000, and Faustman called.

The turn was the 9s. Boyd bet $90,000.

“I didn’t believe he’d hit spades,” said Faustman. “I didn’t believe he had any of that flop other than a big ace of spades, so I made a minimum raise to try to make him believe that I was the one with the spades or a set. I buried my head in my hands, hoping he wouldn’t call. After about two minutes, he called, and I was thinking, Oh, shit, what am I going to do now?”

The river was the 3h.

Boyd checked, Faustman moved all in, and Boyd folded, leaving him with only 59,000.
“I talked to him later,” said Faustman. “He had A-Q with the ace of spades. He called my minimum raise on the turn because it was just small enough for him to try to catch his flush on the river or an ace or a queen. Everything was working in my favor all tournament. That hand was kind of an example of that.”
***
Because the WPO is a World Poker Tour event, once it got down to the final seven players the tension at the table got ratcheted up a notch—the next player eliminated wouldn’t be making it onto the television program. Most amateurs in Brett Faustman’s position would have gone out of their way to avoid getting into any major confrontations, but that’s not his style. A former collegiate wrestler at Central Michigan University, he still lives by his old grappling credo: “Don’t even step on the mat if you’re intimidated.”
So when Men Nguyen raised under the gun to $46,000, Faustman didn’t hesitate before calling from the big blind. (It helped that he had A-K.) Faustman even added a personal flourish, checking in the dark, a move that seemed to momentarily befuddle “The Master.” When the flop came J-10-3, Nguyen opted to check as well.
The turn was the deuce of spades and both players checked once again, but when the queen of diamonds fell on the river, they suddenly sprang to life. Faustman bet $200,000, Nguyen raised to $500,000, and Faustman moved all in.

“What do you have, K-9?” Nguyen asked before calling.

When Faustman flipped over A-K for the nuts, his cheering section went crazy. Nguyen spent a long, agonizing (and completely unnecessary) minute playing to the crowd before he flipped over his own A-K. With all that was at stake, it was one of the more exciting chopped pots you’ll ever see.

Twenty minutes later, Freddy Deeb made a spade flush to eliminate Michael Baas, and the final televised table was set. To the surprise of everyone (except possibly himself), Brett Faustman was in second place with $1,282,000. His reward? He got to sit between Deeb and Nguyen at one of the toughest final tables in WPT history.

As soon as Nguyen took his seat, he asked a cocktail waitress to bring him a Corona.
“Hurry up, before he goes broke,” joked Deeb.

Picking up the thread of the verbal battle they’d been having for days, Nguyen looked over at Deeb and smirked. “Hello, Shorty!”

If Nguyen is taller than Deeb, it’s not by much. Both men would need a Manhattan phone book to stand on to come close to 5’8”. So it was clearly a joke, albeit one with some bite to it. Nguyen had been displaying such testiness all week long. The only way he was going to be leaving Tunica happy was if he won this tournament.

“In the WPT, I’ve finished fifth, sixth, and fourth,” he said in an interview on worldpokertour.com before the start of the final table. “That’s the best one, fourth. I’m going to do my best to win today because I’m hungry for a WPT title.”

To achieve that end, Nguyen was not above trying to gain an advantage by any means necessary. One of his tactics was buying beers for the amateur from Michigan. Faustman saw through the ploy and even felt bold enough to play a few mind games with Nguyen himself. During a hand against Hoyt Corkins, Nguyen announced he was playing it blind. As soon as it was over, Faustman turned to Nguyen and said jokingly, “Men, I saw you look at your cards.”

“You did?” he asked, before snapping, “No, you didn’t.”

“Are you on tilt?” Faustman asked playfully.

“I’m Men The Master. I’m a professional. You’re just a little boy.”

Soon after Corkins eliminated John Spadavecchia in sixth place, Nguyen would finally get to pick on someone his own size, calling a $60,000 raise Deeb made from under the gun. The flop came 10-9-5 with two hearts. Deeb bet $150,000, inspiring Nguyen to shout, “All you can eat, baby!” and shove his last $641,000 into the pot. Deeb thought for about a minute before making the call, showing A-7 of hearts. Nguyen turned over pocket queens, which held up, making him the new chip leader.

Meanwhile, Corkins was quietly building a chip stack. He won a race by flopping an ace to eliminate Gabe Costner, a 30-year-old cash-game specialist who plays at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, five nights a week, in fifth place. Corkins was starting to feel right at home at the Gold Strike and for good reason—the Horseshoe Casino just across the street had been his “home casino” from 1995 to 2003.

Corkins had just taken over the chip lead with four players remaining when he got involved in a hand with Faustman. Corkins raised to $100,000 before the flop, and Faustman, needing chips and thinking Corkins was on a steal, moved all in with A-4.

“I’ve seen him make those raises with K-Q and J-10 suited,” Faustman explained, “and I thought my ace-high might be good. I was thinking I might get him to lay it down. He called immediately with A-K and I said, ‘Aw, man, I’m dominated.’ Before we even played the hand, I said, ‘Hoyt, my hat’s off to you. People just don’t know where they’re at against you.’”

It was Faustman’s first major misstep of the entire tournament, but it ended up working in his favor. The flop came 3-2-2, and a five on the turn gave him an improbable straight as well as the chip lead.

With the blinds rapidly increasing, play quickly devolved into a shove-fest. Deeb lost several such hands to Nguyen, and Faustman finished him off, calling with A-K of hearts after Deeb tried to make a move with 8-7 of diamonds.

With three players left and skyrocketing blinds, Nguyen attempted a move of his own with K-10 of diamonds. Corkins called quickly with pocket jacks. When the jacks held up, Corkins only had to get past one more player to capture his second WPT title. Unfortunately for him, that player was starting to look like the Moneymaker of Michigan.
***
If Faustman had any advantage over Corkins, it was that he was amazingly relaxed. “It’s a freeroll,” he said in an interview on worldpokertour.com. “I’ve already made more money than I know what to do with.”

He had also devised a game plan to combat his opponent’s strengths. “Hoyt likes to press. He’s a super-aggressive player. My plan was to not get into pre-flop raising battles with him because he’s only calling me with a hand that has me beat. With that kind of player, if I checked it to him, he was going to press hard. I ended up picking up some big hands and slow-playing them before the flop and got him to put in a lot of money trying to steal those hands.”

One such hand occurred roughly halfway through their heads-up battle. Corkins limped in from the button, and Faustman checked his option. The flop came A-9-2. Faustman checked, Corkins bet $80,000, and Faustman called. When the 3s fell on the turn, Faustman led out for $140,000. Corkins raised to $600,000, and Faustman moved all in, forcing Corkins to fold.

“I flopped a set of deuces,” Faustman later confessed. “My strategy of checking a big hand to him worked.”

That hand gave Faustman the chip lead, at which point he abruptly shifted gears. Now whenever he picked up a big hand he started betting into Corkins, trying to make it look like a steal.

He employed this very strategy on the 43rd hand of their heads-up duel. After Corkins limped in on the button for $80,000, Faustman raised to $250,000. Corkins thought it over for a couple of minutes before he finally called. The flop came 9-9-3 with two clubs. Faustman bet $280,000, Corkins moved all in, and Faustman called. Corkins had a pocket pair, deuces, but so did Faustman and his was bigger. Faustman’s queens gave him the title as well as $892,413.

“I just think I had been leaning on Hoyt for so long he had no idea where I was at,” said Faustman. “With an ugly board like 9-9-3, I can’t say I wouldn’t have made that same move if I were him.”

Corkins, who has now finished second twice at a WPT final table, compared the loss to “a kick in the gut.”

For Faustman, it was a beautiful end to a dream vacation, which might explain how he was able to defeat a tableful of seasoned pros. He was on vacation. Poker is what he likes to do for fun.

In the wake of his victory, everyone kept asking him if he was going to start playing poker professionally, but the affable ex-dealer from Michigan wasn’t having any of it. Beyond playing in the WPT Championship in April and perhaps the WSOP after that, he has little desire to turn poker into a job. Then again …

“Who knows what’s going to happen in the WPT Championship?” he said. “If I win that thing, yes, I would be on the circuit for sure after that.”

Storms Reback is a freelance writer from Austin, Texas, who co-wrote All In: The (Almost) Entirely True History Of The World Series Of Poker and collaborated with Sam Farha on Farha On Omaha.

One Tough Table
Four of the five players Faustman had to beat at the final table were highly accomplished veterans:
Freddy Deeb: Two WSOP bracelets, one of which was the 2007 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, and one WPT title at the 2005 Ultimate Poker Classic.
Men Nguyen: Six WSOP bracelets and four Player of the Year awards.
John Spadavecchia: Ten WSOP final tables, including victories in the $5,000 Deuce-To-Seven Draw event in 1991 and the WSOP Circuit event in Las Vegas in 2006; also finished third in the WSOP Main Event in 1994.
Hoyt Corkins: Two WSOP bracelets, five WPT final tables, including a WPT title at Foxwoods in 2003.

The World Poker Open Final Results
1. Brett Faustman $892,413
2. Hoyt Corkins $458,267
3. Men Nguyen $241,193
4. Freddy Deeb $168,835
5. Gabe Costner $123,008
6. John Spadavecchia $96,477

Aussie Millions - Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Who? Who? Who?

The unknowns dominate the main event Down Under, prompting questions about the future of poker celebrity

“THAT SUCKS.”
The muttering came from Erik Seidel, who was showing a rare display of grief. He was looking at his opponent’s bet, and it was huge—$1,750,000. He’d been going heads up with this kid, who looked as though he’d get ID’d buying a pack of smokes, for hours. Time after time, the kid had been pressing. Anytime Seidel wanted to play a small pot, he got pounded with an oversized raise. Just a few hands earlier, Seidel had been raised off a very big pot, only to see the kid’s bluff.

Erik had shown his mettle, though. You don’t collect eight WSOP bracelets without having the ability to deal with every sort of opponent. He made a couple of big calls and he forced some tough decisions of his own. Starting at a 2-to-1 chip disadvantage, Seidel took the lead for a time. But this kid was tough and relentless and he was catching big hands. At the moment the kid put out that $1.75-million bet, he was in control of the action.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this in Australia. There was only one recognizable name at the final table of the Aussie Millions $10,000 buy-in main event—Seidel—and only one other recognizable face made it to the final 30, Max “The Italian Pirate” Pescatori.

Of course, we’ve come to expect mostly anonymous final table lineups to emerge from the massive WSOP and WPT fields. And we’re all used to twentysomethings like this kid winning major events. But it wasn’t supposed to be like this in Australia. Not at all.

Last year, Full Tilt Poker became the sponsor of the Aussie Millions. It is now the company’s signature event. For months prior to the tournament, Full Tilt ran satellites, and there was no doubt that the Full Tilt pros would be out in force. Phil Ivey was in Melbourne, and he was joined by Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Allen Cunningham, Jen Harman, John Juanda, and Erick Lindgren, to name just a few. In all, 60 Full Tilt pros made the trip.

In 2007, Full Tilt made a similar trek Down Under, and their roster of pros dominated the tournament, with Kristy Gazes, Andy Black, and Gus Hansen making the final seven. Hansen played a masterful tournament, and took down the championship after defeating young Internet pro Jimmy Fricke in heads-up play.

In 2008, the Internet superstars performed no better than their brick-and-mortar peers. Where were Jordan “Imsolucky” Morgan and Tom “Durrr” Dwan and Nikki “Kai Buxxe” Jedlicka? They were all in Australia; they played in the tournament. But on the day of the final table, they were nowhere to be found.

We were left with the likes of the kid (a 21-year-old from Moscow, Russia, whose actual name is Alexander Kostritsin), Michael Chrisanthopoulos, Peter Ling, Nino Marotta, Antonio Casale, and Peter Mobbs. Prior to the Aussie Millions, none of these six had managed a tournament cash of more than $7,500.

The fact that a group of unknowns could dominate a final table here, at this event, with this lineup, raises some interesting questions about the future of tournament poker and the future of poker celebrity.
***
When the World Poker Tour started its breakthrough broadcasts in 2002, there weren’t a lot of people who’d pony up $10,000 to play in a poker tournament. Only 89 played in the inaugural Foxwoods tournament, and the final four were Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Layne Flack, and Howard Lederer. A few more showed up at the Los Angeles Poker Classic, and the final six included Scotty Nguyen, John Hennigan, Freedy Deeb, John Juanda, and Gus Hansen. The Lucky Chances tournament that year was a $3,000 buy-in (can you imagine any excitement around a $3K now?) that introduced viewers to Paul Darden, Antonio Esfandiari, and Phil Hellmuth.

By 2004, with the poker boom in full swing, the poker-watching public had been introduced to Daniel Negreanu, Chris Ferguson, Doyle Brunson, Erick Lindgren, and most of the other big names you can rattle off the top of your head.

They became stars, this group. They were sought to endorse online poker rooms, video games, and liquors. Ferguson was in a “This is SportsCenter” spot, and Hellmuth, Negreanu, and Nguyen were in a widely seen Diet Pepsi commercial.

In the few years since, the tournament circuit has continued—grown si

gnificantly, in fact—but the celebrity that accompanies stellar results has all but stopped. Don’t believe us? If we gave you a Law & Order-type photo array and asked you to pick out the guy who made three WPT final tables in 2007 and won over $2,000,000, could you pick out Jonathan Little? Or if we asked you to spot the guy who won three $10K events in 2007, could you spot Bill Edler?

Even if it’s no problem for you—you’re something of a poker geek—try running the faces or names past your brother-in-law, who watches a little poker but isn’t considering, for example, a subscription to this magazine. Any chance he’ll recognize Edler or Little?

“If you weren’t one of the guys who was lucky enough to be around at the start of televised poker, no one really cares,” said Phil Gordon, whose stint on Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown made him a nationally recognized celebrity and a best-selling author. The new players who have great years can make a lot of money playing the game, he said, “but becoming famous and monetizing that fame is going to be very difficult.”

Gordon’s right. The new players hoping for their turn on People’s sexiest people alive lists (a la Hansen) have several things working against them, and most of these factors were on display in Australia.

For starters, too many players are too good. There are hundreds of great online tournament pros at this point, any of whom are capable of winning a big tournament or having a big year if the cards fall correctly. In Australia, we saw just how deep the talent pool may be. Take Kostritsin for example. He plays online some, but doesn’t have a particularly noteworthy reputation. He concentrates on live play in Moscow. He plays in $20,000 buy-in cash games, and he makes a fortune.

During a break from the tournament, Seidel commented on how impressed he’s been with what he’s seen in tournaments throughout the year. “They’re all geniuses,” was his blanket statement on the young players moving into the game.

With so much talent in the game and so much luck involved in tournament poker, it’s going to be nearly impossible for any one player to keep himself in the public eye. Every year will bring a new hot player and a new set of winners.

Another key factor is that the old guard remains strong. In sports that rely on physical prowess, there’s an arc to a player’s career. A great football player may have five or six years at the top of his game. The media attention he enjoys may last beyond the peak of his talents, but inevitably the cameras will seek out someone younger and fitter.

But in poker there is no need. Us lazy media types don’t need to go searching for new story subjects, because the tried-and-true ones are still around. This magazine can devote its cover to Howard Lederer, who won the $100K buy-in event at the Aussie Millions, or we can spend this article focusing on Seidel, who is widely known. It’s easier—and more likely to sell magazines—than trying to introduce our readers to a Russian cash-game specialist who we may never see on the tournament trail again.

Phil Gordon summed it up nicely: “There are enough big names that keep winning that keep pushing the kids down the media ladder. Take Phil Hellmuth. The guy just keeps winning. Who’s going to replace him at the top of the media circus? It’s not gonna happen.”

Scott Clements, who has collected two WSOP bracelets and a WPT win in the last two years, wouldn’t mind some more recognition or off-the-table income. He’s looking for an agent who might find him some deals once his WPT victory airs on TV in the U.S. If any newcomer can succeed in media, it’s Clements. He’s extremely fit and good-looking, articulate, and a master of all poker games.

But there’s nothing lined up yet. Beyond his Full Tilt endorsement, there may not be much in the offing.

When asked if he thought this was unfair, if he deserved more recognition, Clements acknowledged that it would have been nice to be in on the ground floor and get that added income. But he’s made millions and he knows he’s been fortunate. “I’ve got a really good life, ” Clements said.

He and his wife are thinking of starting a business in the Vegas area. And he’s guaranteed some TV time later this year; he got an invitation to NBC’s Heads-Up Championship.
***
The kid (Kostritsin) and the vet (Seidel) sat across from one another, trading jabs. The kid was audacious. There seemed to be no bet that he was unwilling to raise. In a key hand, with blinds of $40K/$80K, Seidel raised to $225K on the button and Kostristin came over the top, making it $800K. Seidel called.

The flop was Kh-Kd-Jc, and Kostritsin bet $750K. Seidel raised to $1.9-million. The kid raised again, making $3.4-Million. Seidel folded, looking disgusted. The kid then showed him A-10—nothing but a gutshot.

But Seidel remained calm, trying to play hands on his own terms while the kid pressed. Erik doesn’t rattle easily. In time, he found a great spot. The two ended up all-in preflop—and Seidel’s A-K held up against Kostritsin’s K-J.

The battle continued, with the Seidel picking his spots and Kostritsin forcing tough decisions.

Then came the hand of the tournament, where the kid, who will likely never see much press beyond this article, and Seidel, who had an inadvertent starring role in Rounders, showed why they’re both deserving of whatever spotlight poker can shine.
The blinds were $50K/$100K, and Seidel raised on the button to $300K. Kostritsin called. The flop was Ah-8c-4d and both players checked. The turn brought a king. Kotstrisin check-raised Seidel’s $250K bet, making it $950K. Seidel thought, then called. The river was a seven, and the kid made it $1.75-million.

“That sucks,” said Seidel.

He thought for five minutes. Then he called. Kostritsin smiled sheepishly. “An eight,” he said, showing 8s-9d.

“It’s good.” The pot, and eventually the tournament, would go to Kostritsin.
The kid was brave, and maybe foolish, enough to put it all on the line in that spot. He sensed weakness, and he was willing to go for a big play. Seidel was savvy enough to spot what both players thought was a pure bluff.

“I thought he had a king,” said Kotstrisin. He added respectfully, “He read me perfect.”
It will make for great TV. And a few years ago, that kind of display might have made the kid famous. Today, he’s going to have to settle for a brief acknowledgment and respect within the poker world, and $1,500,000.

That’s not bad.

Jay Greenspan, a New York-based freelance writer, is the author of Hunting Fish: A Cross-Country Search For America’s Worst Poker Players.

Aussie Millions: The Final Results
1. Alexander Kostritsin $1,450,396
2. Erik Seidel $879,028
3. Michael Chrisanthopoulos $615,320
4. Peter Ling $439,514
5. Nino Marotta $351,611
6. Antonio Casale $263,708
7. Peter Mobbs $197,781
Other noteworthy finishers:
10. Max Pescatori $118,669
34. Andy Black $26,371
36. Tiffany Williamson $26,371
37. Peter Feldman $21,976
46. Raymond Rahme $21,976
53. Kenna James $21,976
62. Tom Dwan $21,976
73. Erick Lindgren $13,185
77. Perry Friedman $13,185

The Best In The World?
When we think of the best tournament players, we tend to focus exclusively on No-Limit Hold ’Em. At this point in poker history, so many players are so strong in the game that it’s difficult to say who’s the best. But if you were to add the other big-bet game (Pot-Limit Omaha) when judging overall tournament skill, you might have to conclude that Lee Watkinson is the best in the business.

In Australia, Watkinson won the $3,000 buy-in PLO event. This comes on the heels of his win in the $10,000 PLO tournament at the 2007 WSOP (generally viewed as the “world championship” of PLO). Lee also took second in a WSOP PLO event in 2004.
Of course, Watkinson is no slouch when it comes to Texas Hold ’Em. In 2004, he won $1,000,000 in 32 days by taking second in two WPT tournaments. In ’07, he finished eighth in the WSOP Main Event and made another WPT final table.

Is Watkinson the best big-bet tournament player in the world?
He at least has to be in the discussion.