Seventeen ex basketball players that were my teammates from 1950 to 1954 at Hardin Simmons University descended on Flathead Lake this week for a three day visit. The years rolled back and it wasn’t like we had been apart for over 50 years except for a couple of earlier reunions. The guys brought their wives and we had a terrific time. What a great group of people! We had a cookout on the lake each night and we had a lot of laughs and memories. We took a lot of rides on my pontoon boat that seats 15 people. A couple of us got on the jet skis and I called the rest a bunch of wimps because they wouldn’t get on them. Those things go 60 miles an hour and really give you a rush when you hit a few bumps caused by the wind and other boats. The ex-teammates came from as far away as Florida but most were from Texas. The youngest was 71 and the oldest, who was an army vet before he entered school, was 82.

Even though it was nice to get together, I felt my real age, perhaps for the first time. There is no getting around it, I’m as old as most of them. I do happen to have a youthful spirit, but the body is getting older and older. Oh well, it’s supposed to. Now it’s back to Vegas and getting ready to go to Macau with Todd. We are going to play in the APT and promote DoylesRoom online poker in Asia. We are looking forward to going and enjoying ourselves. It’s a long plane ride and it will be my first time there. The farthest east I have been is the Philippines and I remember how surprised I was that the public seemed to know who I was. They tell me to expect the same in Macau. We also plan on playing in a big cash game while we are there. The minimum buy in is $150,000 but a lot of the rich Chinese buy in for a million dollars. Should be interesting!

Doyle Brunson on Life in Montana

If you have ever driven over 1,000 miles in two days, you know the exact same feeling you have experienced with jet lag. I’ve been sitting around the past few days just chilling out and enjoying the slow paced life here in Montana.

Reflecting on the drive up here, it was pretty boring driving out of Vegas on Interstate 15 North. Mesquite was a nice break in the scenery but when I got to St George, Utah things really changed. The mountains and deep passes were breathtaking with their change of colors. I guess whatever ore was present gave a different hue to the land. There were blue, black, gold and red streaks running through the mountains and all of them were nice.

I had a bittersweet memory as I drove through St George. There is a health spa a few miles outside of town, and my pal the late Chip Reese and I were determined to stay there a few weeks until we lost some weight. It was an expensive spa and we paid a month in advance, about 6,000 dollars each. It was baseball season and we were betting a lot of games so we put a 4,000 dollar satellite system in our rooms where we could sweat the games. We felt it was well worth it. The next day we went to all their exercise classes, even the swimming classes. We ate all our meals at the cafeteria where the diet food was reasonably good. The second night Chip asked me if I had noticed the Sizzler Restaurant where we turned off the highway. When I said yes, he suggested we go eat our last meal there before we really got into this diet. Naturally I said yes, let’s go, so we went there and knocked a hole in their salad bar along with 2 or 3 entrees each. When we finished Chip looked at me, and I looked at him. Without a word being said, we got in his new BMW and drove 120 miles an hour back to Las Vegas. We laughed about that many times afterward because we never attempted to recover any of our money from the spa.

As we drove into the upper part of Utah, I was surprised to see the landscape change from mountains to plains and rolling hills. It looked like a scene from a Western movie with mesas on the hills and the ridges were almost crying for an Indian or a Cowboy riding across the skyline.

When I was a kid I used to read all of Zane Grey’s books about the old west. I always wondered what he was talking about when he talked about the purple mountains. When I got into Idaho it was obvious because the mountains had a deep purplish color. They were gorgeous and the farms were everywhere and the crops, mostly Alfalfa, were in full bloom. Each farmhouse had trees planted on the north side of their houses to keep the cold winter winds from blowing directly on the house.

We saw every kind of animal on our trip. We saw all kinds of cows and horses, lamas, buffalo, sheep, elk, deer and believe it or not, we saw a camel farm near Butte, Montana. I saw an old Texas Longhorn Steer as we came into Montana and I couldn’t help wondering if his ancestors came from Lonesome Dove with the old Texas Rangers Gus McRae and Woodrow Call.

Don’t be surprised if Obama or McCain neither one win Montana in the upcoming presidential election. There are Ron Paul billboards and posters everywhere. All the locals are talking Paul up and encouraging everyone to write him in when they vote. I kinda wish some other states would do the same because he is pro gambling.

Louise Brunson worked her way through the University Of Kentucky and pharmacy school at the University Of Georgia. She was the number 1 pharmacist at a chain of 150 drugstores. She gave birth to 4 great children and she has been a terrific wife and companion to me for 46 years. I say all this so you can see the good far, far outweighs the bad. But she had me captive in an automobile for two long days and she talked my ears off. My eardrums felt like Sitting Bull was having his tom-toms send out messages to all his tribes and I was the messenger. I’m sure some of you guys out there know what I’m talking about!

The Editors Blog The WPTL Makes Its TV Debut

By Eric Raskin
Aug. 19, 2008

A few quick thoughts on the surprisingly entertaining first-ever televised WPTL (World Poker Tour Ladies) tournament that premiered on GSN last night:

It’s interesting to see the contrast in looks when six women have to earn their way to a WPT final table vs. when the WPT picks out who the six will be …

The broadcast included a WPT executive noting that women are the fastest growing segment of the poker population, which has become one of those oft-repeated statements that nobody ever seems to back up with facts. Just once, I want to hear someone say that, then provide some hard data to support it. But as far as I can tell, the entrance of women into poker is not currently moving at a faster rate than the entrance of men. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, I just want some proof. The estimation that only 3% of the WSOP Main Event field this year was female leaves it unclear at best.

Say what you want about Nancy Todd Tyner’s poker skills, but you have to give her credit for creating an image and using it to her advantage. Everything about the way she looks, dresses, and acts screams “donkey,” and when a talented, experienced player like Vanessa Selbst starts losing to someone whose game she doesn’t respect, the result can be serious tilt—which is exactly what Tyner produced. Selbst truly believed she couldn’t be outplayed, she could only be outrun, and that led her to make mistakes she wouldn’t have made if she’d ignored Tyner’s exterior and viewed her as a capable player.

In the end, Selbst embarrassed herself a bit with her utter disrespect for Tyner, including some snide comments. But there shouldn’t be a double-standard here; when a male player gets whiny and abusive, like Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, etc., we criticize him but we also suggest that it’s good for TV. The same goes here. Maybe Selbst wasn’t ladylike, maybe it was uncomfortable at times, but the flying sparks made it a little more gripping to watch.

The Editor’s Blog–Poker And The Olympics

By Eric Raskin
Aug. 14, 2008

With the Beijing Olympics in full swing, this seems as good a time as any for me to weigh in on the talk that occasionally crops up about making poker an Olympic sport. My opinion on this matter is very clear: There’s no friggin’ way poker should be part of the Olympics.

Look, I love poker. I play a ton of it, I watch a ton of it, and it ultimately pays my bills. But it simply isn’t a sport. It’s a game. The argument that it requires physical endurance and is therefore a sport is flimsy at best. Hey, studying for exams in college required a lot of physical endurance, but that didn’t make Econ 101 a sport.

My father is a world-class bridge player, and I remember him telling me in ’92 that bridge was being considered for the Olympics. The mental image of my out-of-shape dad wearing a red, white, and blue warmup, walking alongside Michael, Magic, Larry, and the rest of the Dream Team during the opening ceremonies, was just too much to handle.

And it would be similarly absurd to see poker players competing in the Olympics. International competition in poker is wonderful, but the idea of someone who can’t even necessarily do a sit-up getting a gold medal draped around his neck is ridiculous.

On a side note about the Olympics, the Michael Phelps watch has been pretty absorbing … but if it’s a race he’s not involved in, I have to say, swimming bores me. It seems that around the country, Phelps has increased interest in swimming, and that’s great for the sport. (Yes, swimming most definitely is a sport.) But in my household, he’s increased interest in exactly eight races, and that’s all.

And lastly, on an unrelated side note, don’t forget about the ALL IN Free Poker Challenge tonight at 9:00 EST. Thanks to our friends at Wicked Chops Poker (www.wickedchopspoker.blogs.com) and Tao of Poker (www.taopoker.blogspot.com) for giving us a little plug this week. Definitely add their blogs to your daily surfing list if you haven’t already, and then join us tonight to win your share of $2,500 in cash and prizes in the free roll.

The Editor’s Blog–Feeling Good About Bad Beats

By Eric Raskin
August 11, 2008

A lot of poker players have a “no bad beat story” policy—they won’t tell the tales of their own bad beats, and they sure as hell don’t want to hear yours.

I mostly agree with that policy. I don’t want to hear the bad beat stories of random strangers, and I don’t want to subject them to my own. But my exception is that I have one close friend with whom I routinely discuss my play and his play after a session, and we’re allowed to vent about our bad beats with each other. Hey, when the beats are particularly brutal, it’s unhealthy not to tell someone.

Anyway, I won’t subject the allinmag.com readers to my bad beat stories, but I will just say that I had a two-day stretch last week where the beats were coming non-stop and, even though I’m very conservative with my bankroll management—I never put more than 5% at risk at once, and usually it’s more like 2%–I lost almost 15% of my bankroll at a particular Web site in just a couple of days.

Lately, I’ve been focusing on heads-up sit-n-gos, and it was just game after game where I got my opponents all in, frequently after the flop with five outs or less, and they just kept hitting their outs. It’s tough to beat an opponent twice in a heads-up match, and that’s precisely what you have to do when he sucks out and doubles up into the chip lead; you have to start over and find a way to beat him a second time. (And you have to pray that he doesn’t get lucky again and force you to beat him a third time.)

But here’s the thing: When I’m taking an inordinate amount of bad beats, after I get over the initial anger, I start to feel good about my game. Only superior players take more bad beats than they dish out. When I’m on a run where I’ve been the one administering the suckouts, I have to take a step back and assess what I’m doing wrong to get myself into those situations. You can’t evaluate your game based on wins and losses. You have to evaluate it based on how you’re playing. And if you’re being victimized by one bad beat or another, yes, it’s frustrating, but it’s also a sign that you’re making a lot of correct decisions.

Speaking of decisions, here’s one that may or may not have been correct—judge for yourself. In a heads-up sit-n-go, with blinds at $15/$30 and about $1,000 in my stack and $2,000 in my opponent’s, I was dealt two black aces in the big blind. My opponent limped. Not wanting to lose him, but also wanting to build a little bit of a pot, I did something I rarely do: I min-raised. It kind of telegraphed the strength of my hand, but what the heck, there’s nothing wrong with playing that way on occasion, as long as you mix it up and don’t do the exact same thing with aces the next time. He called the extra $30, and we were off to the flop.

The flop came Q-7-3, all clubs. With the ace of clubs in my hand, I figured I probably had the best hand at that moment, and if I had been miraculously outflopped, I definitely had outs. I bet $60 into a $120 pot, and my opponent called. The turn was an offsuit jack. Same situation—I could be up against two pair, but most likely I had the best hand, and I certainly still had a nut draw. This time, I checked, hoping to look weak and draw a bet out of my opponent. He bit (or so I thought) and bet half the pot, $120. I came over the top, raising to $450. He put me all in for just a few hundred more, and I made the automatic call. He tabled the 9c-2c, I didn’t hit my club on the river, and that was that, game over.

This wasn’t a bad beat, mind you, and I’m not complaining. From the flop on, he had the best hand. But I’m curious for feedback: Could I have gotten away from the hand at any point? Obviously, a bigger pre-flop raise would have been advisable in hindsight. And if I’d just check-called all the way, I could have kept the pot small and held onto some chips. But all in all, I think it was one of those hands where I was almost destined to go broke. Opinions, however, are welcome. You can post a comment below and let me know what you think …

And keep those bad beat stories to yourselves!

The Editor’s Blog — Appreciating The Genius Of Hellmuth

By Eric Raskin
August 4, 2008

I’ve met Phil Hellmuth several times, interviewed him a few times, even hung out with his parents once, and of course, I’ve watched him play hours upon hours of poker. And I still don’t quite know what to make of the guy. I can’t quite figure out where the shtick ends and the human being begins, and when he opens his mouth, I often find myself cringing over his social awkwardness while at the same time hanging on every word.

It took my wife all of about 30 seconds of watching him on TV to figure him out: “What a tool” was a her simple assessment. For me, it’s not that easy. Yes, he does come off as a tool most of the time. But he’s a tool who’s manipulating us all.

In any case, whatever direction the debate over his personality takes, there can be no debating this: The man is a sheer genius at the poker table. His dominance against elite players Ted Forrest and Chris Ferguson on last week’s special “Heads-Up Challenge” on Poker After Dark was all the proof you needed.

The common, clichéd knock on Hellmuth is that he only seems great when he’s picking on bad players, but surely nobody would label Forrest and Ferguson as such. Against both of them, Hellmuth was always a step ahead. “The Poker Brat” does his homework on his opponents, and always comes in with a game plan suited to not only the other man’s style of play, but also to how that other man perceives Hellmuth.

Phil’s call on the turn with third pair against Forrest, in the hand that ended their match, was utterly brilliant. I’d say at least 80 percent of all top pros would make the laydown in that spot, and another 15 percent would push all in and fail to bust Forrest. Few could make the flatcall, as Hellmuth did, and wait for the river to finish the job.

In his first match against Ferguson, Hellmuth got lucky to draw out by making two pair (fives and sixes) on the river against Chris’ pocket queens, but there was no luck involved in his all-in river raise. That was just a great read telling him he had the best hand and was up against a hand that would pay him off.

The rematch with “Jesus” was as one-sided as it gets. There’s no such thing as playing “perfect poker,” but from the hands NBC showed, this was damned close to perfection. Nothing Ferguson tried against Hellmuth worked; Phil always had an answer, and was always plotting his next move before seeing the next card.

The bottom line is, we can rag on Hellmuth all we want, especially when he makes an embarrassing mis-read, like his famous two-fisted chip shove with a dominated two pair against Barry Greenstein on High Stakes Poker a couple of years ago. But deep down, most of us wish we could understand No-Limit Hold ’Em strategy the way Hellmuth does. Not that his ego needs this stroking from me, but Phil, you deserve everyone’s respect at this point. If not as a person, then at least as a poker player.

The Editor’s Blog — Poker On My Mind And My DVR

By Eric Raskin
July 31, 2008

In advance of allinmag.com adding regular blogs from some of your favorite poker pros (negotiations are ongoing, but we should have some blockbuster announcements soon), you’re stuck with the Editor-in-Chief of the ALL IN magazine kicking off the blogging. A professional poker player, I am not. What I am, however, is a professional writer and editor who loves poker, plays it at an assortment of levels and in an assortment of venues, and watches an unhealthy amount of it on TV (especially for a guy with a 19-month-old daughter who ought to be playing the role of attentive father a little better). And that TV watching is what I’ll focus on in today’s blog.

With the return of the World Series of Poker to ESPN’s airwaves two Tuesdays ago, not to mention new episodes of Poker After Dark every night, we’ve all reached that point where our DVRs are filling up faster than we can drain them. Add in World Poker Tour, and you’re talking about nine hours of new poker programming each week (okay, more like 7.5 hours without commercials), and as the editor of a poker magazine, I feel an obligation to watch it all. (It doesn’t hurt that I enjoy watching most of it.)

I’ll discuss the WPT and WSOP coverage some other time, but for now, I want to focus on Poker After Dark. In terms of personality and chatter, this week’s “Heads-Up Challenge” has been as boring as it comes. And yet, I’m still riveted, because the play has been excellent. It also doesn’t hurt that heads-up sit-n-gos are my bread and butter, and therefore I find myself watching Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, and Paul Wasicka play with an eye on how the decisions they make can help my game.

Obviously, you have to feel bad for Wasicka, who played just about perfectly against Forrest and got unlucky twice when calling all-in with the best hand. Meanwhile, how about Teddy throwing some insults in the direction of his highly respectful opponent—calling Wasicka “methodical” and then snarkily clarifying that it wasn’t meant as a compliment? Maybe that was meant to take Wasicka out of his patient game and encourage him to make a mistake. Or maybe Forrest just hadn’t gotten any action in a while (double meaning fully intended).

Easily the hand of the week, so far, was the hand on which Hellmuth eliminated Forrest. Forrest check-raised with fourth pair on the turn, and Hellmuth made a tough but tremendously sharp call with third pair. Forrest, sensing Phil’s hesitance, made up his mind to push all in on the river, expecting Hellmuth to have to lay down, but Hellmuth hit two pair, making his call automatic. So yes, Hellmuth got a little bit lucky on the end. But, love or hate the Poker Brat, you have to respect the read and gutsy call he made on the turn. As Hellmuth might say, you don’t win 11 bracelets by accident, boys and girls.

More blogging to come next week. For now, good luck to everyone who plays in tonight’s ALL IN Free Poker Challenge, where the grand prize is a spot in a WPT Boot Camp getaway, a prize valued at nearly $2,000. Yeah, I’m a little bit biased, but this is, bar none, the best free roll you’ll find anywhere on the Internet.

Main Event Madness

WSOP blog

by ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann

Well, that’s all she wrote, people. Sure, over the next few days another cadre of poker superstars will begin to fill the litany of gambling lore as the WSOP Main Event comes closer and closer to its conclusion. This year, for the first time, there will be a 4 month break before the final table is played out while America (and the world) comes to know 9 new faces. But unfortunately, yours truly won’t be one of them. Time to pack up and go home — nothing to see here, people!

Oh, i tried. Valiantly. Day 1d was a slow but steady battle uphill, as i turned my 20,000 starting chips into 51,000 glorious shots at the title. But it was not to be, as the last level saw my 2 pairs of Jacks cracked (once by A5 and another improbably by a more than dominated J9 offsuit), as well as a badly timed AK and AQ go down in flames. I finished the day with 4150 chips — yes, you read that correctly. 8 big blinds going into the Day 2b 250/500 blind level. Fuck me.

The last 20 minutes of day 1 i tried like hell to find any ace, any pair, any 2 face cards to ship my money in on — i’d be damned if i had to wait 3 days to come back to 10 minutes of play on day 2. But it was not to be, and i found myself folding every variation of 96off i could find until play ended for the day and i found myself bagging my measly 7 chips — 4 1k chips, a $100, and 2 $25s. Sick.

Chip average going into Day 2b was about 44,000, so i knew i was a long shot at best. But lo and behold, fast forward 4 hours later, and yours truly is sitting on nearly 80,000 in chips!! Hell yeah, bitches! What can i say — KJ, 9T, and 33 were good to me (and what choice did i have — i only had AA twice in 2 days and got no action on both, and besides the 2 cracked Jacks, had NO other big pairs the entire tournament), providing key double/triple ups and the perfect moments. To be honest, i played some of my best poker that day, never once giving up or throwing my dwindling stack in with any two cards. This was the Main Event, baby, and true champions do not fucking give up!

That is, until my table starting filling up with a series of sick hyperaggressive European internet donks. Give me a break — these guys seemed so amazingly eager to get their entire stacks working with 5 high all too often. Despite doubling thru elkY several times, he eventually caught lightning in a bottle to take me out QQ over 99 in the last hour of play for the day. Yup, despite turning 4k into 80k, i was out at the hands of a guy who insisted on playing 86, 35, and the like to huge bets and raises preflop and even AFTER the flop despite completely MISSING the board and relying solely on sick turn/river raises and an arrogant belief that he could outplay the devil no matter what he held. The sad truth is, despite doubling me over over and over, it actually took him getting a real hand to take me out…

Another strange point to my Day 2b was that my longtime Girl Friday, Tiffany Michelle (of Pokernews fame) was moved to my table early on. Of all the gin joints, she got moved to my table! Strange to play against someone who knows every poker move you make, and whose very poker thoughts i can read as plain as day. We stayed away from each other for the most part (sorry i had to 3bet you with that AKsooooooted hunny) but hey, at the end of the day she was still there and i wasn’t. All i have to say is, now that she’s in the money — that 3% trade never looked so good! Goooooo HotChipz!

So, what now? Where to go from here? World Series Europe again? Back to Aruba? I guess. But I’d be lying if i didn’t say that this tournament — the main event — holds a special place in my heart, in the heart of all poker players who have played it. And despite making the top 20% of the field, i know that I’m just not gonna be happy til i have a really deep cash in this thing. All the other wins are nice, but this is really the one that counts. Ah shit, who am i kidding — i’m not gonna be able to rest til i’ve gone and won the whole damn thing. It’s true. Sure, its the sickest longshot under the sun, but you know what? I’m good enough….I’m smart enough…and dammit, people like me!

Rock on, bitches –

-hd.

badboy of blackjack online!

www.HollywoodDave.com

Internet Donks Rule No Limit Holdem

WSOP blog

by ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann

Ugh. I feel so dirty right now. After doing so well (for the most part, anyway) with mixed games over the past 2 weeks, I returned this weekend to the cold embrace of no limit holdem, playing the $1500 event yesterday & the $3000 event today. One word: annoying.

First off, the $1500 events here are a total crapshoot. 3000 starting chips is already a challenge, but going from 25/50, 50/100 and then 100/200 blinds (skipping 75/150) makes it that much harder. Bottom line is, you need cards early, and you need those cards to hold up. My big problem yesterday was that the 3 big hands I actually had (AK suited, KJ suited, and 99) all ran into AA, AA, and a flush, respectively. Obviously I got away from them as cheaply as possible, but with only 3000 chips to play with, its awful hard to define your hand while not crippling yourself in the process.

Anyway, the big struggle came today in the $3000 buy in. Starting with 6000 chips was definately nice, and I quickly realized the optimal strategy to use at my table. Since about half of the other players were hyperaggressive internet donks (for whom the term ‘folding equity’ is a way of life), all i had to do was sit back, check big hands & let them pay me off. Which happened beautifully for nearly 6 hours…

It was sick, watching these guys 4bet each other with A9 and TQ in a bizarre attempt to re-re-steal pots from one another. Hevad Khan was at my table and fluctuated between 3000 and 13000 chips about 4 times, not to mention the 3 or 4 other players for whom it seemed letting a hand go by without raising was a sin greater than life itself. The funny thing is, these guys kept trying to bluff me off hands despite the fact that I was one of the more solid players at the table — i can’t tell you how many times I called a raise, then checkraised the flop on these guys (their hands almost always instamucked). Obviously I started loosening up a bit as the blinds got larger, but for the most part I more than doubled my stack on simply getting paid off by the wild tendencies of my tablemates.

That is, until I got fucking crippled by some old man. Khan raised from mid-position, targeting my big blind (as usual) and everyone folded to the old dude in the small blind, who made the call (about 1000 at 150/300 blinds and a 25 ante). I looked down at AQ, and with 2500 already in the pot, I pushed for about 7500. It was an overbet, but with Khan at about 9000, I didn’t want to give him a chance to try to push me off the hand like he was fond to do. He instamucked, but then the old guy to my right, who had started the hand with 6000 and only had 1000 invested in the pot, somehow found a way to call off his entire stack with 44!!

Well, you know what happened next, I blanked and dude who made just about the worst call I’ve seen all series doubles through with fours to cripple me to 2500 in 150/300 blinds and about 14k chip average. Needless to say I maintained for as long as I could, but with the blinds going up again to 200/400, I pushed in late position with A8 and got called by JQ to find a Q on the flop. Do not pass go, do not collect a bracelet.

So…that was my fun weekend. I think next up is more no limit torture, but then later this week is (thank god) some stud and then some more omaha hi-lo. I love no limit, but the swings can seriously suck! Rock on –

-hd.

badboy of blackjack online!

www.HollywoodDave.com

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Omaha cash! HORSE crash!

WSOP blog

by ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann

Well its been one helluva rollercoaster this week for me at the Rio. After coming just shy of the money in last week’s $1500 Omaha hi-lo, I finally popped my WSOP cash cherry by finishing 26th in the $2000 Omaha hi-lo! Which of course was followed by a spectacular bustout in record time in the $3000 HORSE tourney….ah, poker gods, why are you so fickle?

First to the good stuff: Omaha, baby! Just like in the first tourney i played, i quickly established myself as the chip leader at my table on day 1 and remained there for a good 6 hours, just cleaning up on the inexperience of most of the competition. To be honest, I was really surprised by how weak the field here was; most of the 5/10 games online are harder to crack than this WSOP field of Omaha hopefuls.

But of course in typical fashion i ended up in serious trouble at the end of day 1, plummeting to 2100 chips by the last level of the day after spending the whole day flirting with the 10k mark. I basically doubled up every single shortstack at the table in one amazing hand after another where no matter how dominating a hand i got all their money in against, they always managed to draw out. But i held on and, with barely 20 minute to go in day 1, finally had a few solid hands actually hold up (imagine that) and rode the express elevator up to 19k in chips (chip average under 13k) to end the day.

Day 2 was even more of a whirlwind. Barely an hour into the action, i had taken my 19k stack and upgraded all the way to over 48k!! it was truly amazing, and despite obviously going on a rush of strong cards, most of the $$$ came not from having such great hands, but the incredibly soft field that insisted on paying me off with severely marginal holdings nearly every time. My day 2 table was even looser than day 1…pretty sick. But of course playing such loose players meant that eventually they’d draw out and draw out they did, knocking me back to 30k and then i went card dead for the rest of the day….

Even though my 30k was pretty far ahead of chip average, without playing many hands i didn’t accumulate much the rest of the day & eventually the field caught up and passed me. And of course the loose donkeys who had so generously built me up finally busted (for the most part) and were replaced by better and better players. By the time the money bubble burst, there was hardly a loose chip on the table & i was stuck nursing the same 19k stack i had come into the day with.

I gotta say, despite not really being able to take much credit for getting paid off so many times earlier in the tourney, i’m really proud of how i played my short stack late in day 2. For about 4 hours i somehow managed to squeeze every last drop of +EV out of my ridiculously short stack, refusing to bust and picking the perfect spots to jump in and stay alive amidst the very solid remaining players in the field. I used every trick in the book to maneuver myself from 60th place all the way down to 3 tables, busting in 26th only after i got my money all in 2 spectacular hands in a row where i was such a sick monster favorite to scoop & ended up getting quartered/scooped myself. I’m not one for bad beat stories but check out these last 2 hands & you’ll know why i was so disappointed to go out in such a dirty fashion after playing so well for so long:

Riding 21k in 2k/4k blinds, i raised an UTG caller to 8k with AA35 double suited (hearts/diamonds) and got a late position caller & the original UTG player as well. 3 way action saw the flop: 26Q, 2 diamonds. UTG player bet, i raised, late position folded, and UTG reraised so i could go all in heads up. He flips up A346 rainbow, so my aces are already gin & he’ll need to a pull a miracle here just to avoid getting quartered for half the low — not to mention my sick AA high with nut flush draw and gutshot straight draw. Well of course he rivers the miracle 5 to give him the straight, no diamonds hit for my flush, and suddenly I’M the one quartered all the fuck the way down to 9k.

The next hand is even sicker. Now i’m UTG and i pop it up to 8k with AKQ4, and get all in vs the BB (the former UTG caller who just quartered me). He flips up A58K an i flop an incredible 944!!!! it looks like a virtual lock for a double up until he goes perfect perfect 3-4 to make the wheel with his A5, cracking my flopped set and sending me to the rail. A really, really dirty end to an incredible battle. And did i mention the dude who sucked out in both hands went on to win the bracelet?!? Nice guy, good player, but god damn, man!

So…..i took a day off, did some yoga, and got ready for the $3000 HORSE yesterday. Well, lets just say that I didn’t think it was even POSSIBLE to bust out of a limit event before the first break…but now i know differently. Remember all the big hands i told you i got paid off on in Omaha? Well, i swear to god i had no less than a dozen big hands in HORSE & i lost EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Not only that, but in the split games i didn’t even pull off one chop — got scooped every time. I’m talking aces and kings cracked in holdem, strong highs/lows in Omaha cracked by nut/nut, 6 lows in razz cracked by the wheel, top pairs/flushes/straights in stud cracked by boats & bigger flushes/straights….the list goes on and on. In fact, in the hour and 48 minutes it took to play my 6k stack down to 0, i only won a single pot for about 2 bets. Never won another pot the whole time, not even the blinds. Absolutely horrifying.

So, the lesson this week is: poker giveth, and poker taketh away. Needless to say, my next event isn’t til Saturday’s $1500 so i got the hell outta vegas for 48 hours. Yup, that’s right, i came all the way back to LA just to sit in this coffeeshop and write this blog. Then i’m gonna turn around tomorrow and go back. Gotta stay spontaneous, baby!

Alright bitches, i’m out –

-hd.

badboy of blackjack online!

www.HollywoodDave.com

Quiet before the storm

WSOP blog

by ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann

So it’s official: one week in, and the 2008 WSOP is in full swing. What started as a mad dash has settled into the quiet, determined early stages of a long marathon. The media machine is up and running, with chip counters and bloggers patrolling the aisles for every possible snippet of information to report back to the world outside these packed walls. From my perch up here in the press section of the Amazon room, all i can see is an ocean of hopeful faces and the ever-present sound of chips being shuffled. Strange to think that out of this mess of sweat, focus and sheer desperation will emerge 55 heroes brandishing shiny new wrist jewelry. And one bracelet to rule them all.

My own 2-day journey in the first Omaha 8/b event was cut short on Wednesday just shy of the money, when my AA2J couldn’t pull out against a dominated AK23. Even though i went into Day 2 a few thousand ahead of chip average, the high blinds relative to those chip stacks still meant one or two bad hands spelled certain doom. And that’s exactly what happened — although it seemed like i couldn’t lose a pot for 6 hours on Day 1, i just couldn’t seem to win one on day 2. And in true Hollywood Dave style, I couldn’t resist busting out without leaving just a little angst behind:

Some newbie had gone all in on a marginal hand some hour or so earlier and ending up scooping a monster 4-way pot to send him from outhouse to penthouse. Impressive, exhilarating, and right on time for this poor schmo — but the guy just wouldn’t shut up about the hand for the next half hour. Some guys do drugs to get high, others skydive, but you could tell this guy’s high was to suck out in large pots. His whole demeanor changed, and after awhile of him verbally re-playing the hand, one or two of the players who had lost chips to him in that hand basically told him to chill out. So of course I chimed in as well, told him he reminded me of a crackhead who just got his fix, etc etc. All in good fun, of course. Until I busted. Then he wanted to be the big man who made the comment about karma on my way out. “Keep thinking you’re a genius,” I shot back, “You’re the only one who does.”

Petty? Maybe. But with the sea of degeneracy floating around the Rio right now, hardly a drop in the bucket. I’ve always thought that there are a lot of sick people in poker, and just because some of them hit a big score or 2 to justify their addiction (or sucked out on a key pot, in this guy’s case), doesn’t mean they’re any less sick. And what good is covering all the highs and lows of the sport if we don’t stop to acknowledge some of those low spots along the way?

Anyway, I’m off to get drunk and go bowling. Tomorrow is the shotgun wedding of one of my knocked-up friends at a classic Vegas ‘Elvis Chapel’ of love. And then Sunday is my glorious return to the felt, with the $2000 Omaha 8/b event. We’re talking serious money time here, people. I’m geared up, dialed in, and ready to rock. Bring on the World Series, in all its glorious degeneracy.

And i’ll try to be on my best behavior this time — but no promises.

-hd.

Hollywood Dave makes Omaha Day 2!

WSOP blog

by ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann

June 4th, 2008

Well it looks like my World Series is off to a great start — after winning nearly every tournament I played last year but failing to make a single day 2 in the 25+ WSOP ‘07 events I played, I finally got the monkey off my back tonite by making Day 2 of the first WSOP ‘08 event I played this year! So tomorrow I go into day 2 with just over chip average in Event #6, Omaha 8/b…

I’ve been pretty psyched for this particular event for a long time, since over the past 6 months or so I’ve spent 6+ days a week playing Omaha 8/b online, and not too long ago i took 3rd in an oe/b event at the Bike. So rather than starting this year’s WSOP with just another no limit holdem event, i wanted to kick things off in something that I feel like I have a much bigger edge in.

Don’t get me wrong, I love nlh tournies. But let’s face it, the ‘average’ player there is actually pretty decent. Not so in Omaha hi-lo — for some reason, most people just don’t get the subtle differences between Omaha hi and hi-lo. Which means that while I know i’m not the BEST player out there, i sure as shit have a monster edge over the majority of players who just don’t get the strategy differences.

Probably the biggest difference i notice is that people LOVE to raise with all high/all low hands, especially from early position. Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely a time and place for that, but as a general rule of thumb you’re just not gonna accumulate many chips if you insist on isolating yourself in a pot with a hand that has much smaller scoop potential. If you’re playing for half the pot, then make sure that half is as big as possible, right?

anyway, we’ll see what happens tomorrow. Even though i’m sitting at 14k in chips (12k chip average), the blinds are going up to 600/1200 so i’m not far off from being in trouble. Today was a rollercoaster — i was the chipleader of my table from about 20 minutes in until over 6 hours later — but after a couple big stacks moved to my table & outdrew me in a few key pots, I was on life support for a hot minute. Luckily in the last hour of play I was able to scoop a few big pots (from some players who were obviously getting tired and chasing bad draws) and actually take out a couple short stacks, including one guy who was actually one of the big stacks an hour earlier who kept fucking with me. Karma, baby…

alright, i gotta crash. Obv getting a massage tomorrow before we start, those Amazon room chairs are anything but comfortable. Rock on & more later –

-hd.

badboy of blackjack online

www.HollywoodDave.com

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This is Hollywood Dave

Hollywood Dave is a character… This guy has made a living as a successful PROFESSIONAL gambler! He’s also been kicked out of a few casinos but that comes with the sport.

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