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Wednesday, November 4, 2015
I have seen crowd favorites. I have seen them all over the world. I have seen hometown heroes, superstars, and Cinderella stories. I have seen crowds rally around a person for no reason other than it felt like the right thing to do at the time. I thought I had seen it all.
I have never see any person receive the kind of support Daniel Negreanu got here tonight.
At any given point, there were more than 200 poker fans in the Amazon Room and thousands watching online. There were 11 men playing as the clock struck midnight, and Negreanu had nearly the whole of the crowd behind him. They counted as he did push-ups on the stage. The cheered when he picked up the blinds and antes. They roared when he won a pot of any size. No matter whether you love or hate the guy called Kid Poker, this man had everybody begging for him to make the November Nine.
That dream and the crowds it brought with it ended tonight when Negreanu flopped a pair of aces with ace-four. Short-stacked, he needed a double-up if he had any hope of doing well at the final table. Joe McKeehen had J♦3♦. He'd flopped two diamonds and a gutshot broadway draw. All-in, Negreanu needed to dodge a queen or a diamond. The turn brought a three, giving McKeehen more outs. The river was a queen, and Negreanu was gone in 11th place for $526,778. It ties his highest ever Main Event finish.
The disappointment in the room was palpable. Not only is Negreanu a crowd favorite, he is one of the most famous poker players in the world. There was no way to overstate the impact a final table appearance would've meant for the WSOP. The man had filled the Amazon Room bleachers by himself, and when he left, a lot of the joy and excitement followed him out.
"Watch this place clear out," said one man as he left the Amazon Room. "Nobody gives a shit anymore."
This is to take nothing away from the ten men who remain tonight. They have worked hard to make it this far, too, and Negreanu's departure should in no way taint their accomplishment. One of the ten remaining players will be the WSOP champion in November and become poker's ambassador to the rest of the world. All of them have earned the right to be here.
That doesn't, however, make the burn of watching Negreanu walk away any easier. Thing is, he is already one of poker's greatest ambassadors, and he's become so without ever being a Main Event champion. Legions of fans didn't just want this for themselves or for poker. They wanted it for Daniel, too.
"This the one feather in my cap I don't have yet," he said earlier today. "This is a great opportunity. You don't get a lot of them."
Afterward, before any of the fans, media, or WSOP staff had come to grips what what had happened, Negreanu's signature laugh echoed through the Rio hallways. He stood before cameras and microphones and spoke from his heart. There was disappointment, and it was clear, but there was something else there, too, when he was asked if--as many people here believed--poker needed him at the final table. His voice lowered for a moment.
"(The November Nine) is the most special final table of the year. I believed I could help by being there," he said. "I love to promote the game. I love this game. I owe it a lot. I live my dream life day to day, and without poker I wouldn't be here."
But now, at least this part of it--this insane dream where poker's biggest superstar takes poker's biggest stage to compete for its biggest championship--ends. Negreanu will leave the Rio tonight and the WSOP for another year. Who knows when--if ever--we will see a crowd of people so resolutely behind one player in a poker tournament. For many people, the disappointment will last for a while, but for Negreanu, it's not going to change who he is.
"I don't attach my results to my self worth, so whether I win at poker or lose at poker, I know who I am," he said.
Thanks for the show, Daniel. Thanks for the show.
Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging. Photography by PokerPhotoArchive.com
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[Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: World Series of Poker]
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
By now you know the drill, there's lots of tournaments taking place here in Barcelona and in most of them the numbers are off the charts and subsequently the prize pools are too. So we're going to skip all the bumpf and get straight down to brass tacks. The ESPT6 Barcelona €2,000 High Roller is massive. 1,055 players entered and 151 get paid. Tomorrow - or more likely at some point this week - the winner will be given a trophy and €372,500 whilst anyone who squeaks into the money will earn €3,600.
A short time ago Day 1 drew to a close after 15 forty-minute levels were completed. When the clock was paused and the last few hands declared 198 players were still in, allowing for a few last hand hail mary's going awry we can expect 190 or so players to come back tomorrow at 12.30 local time.
Leading the pack when time ticked down was Francisco Oliveira who'd amassed a gargantuan 504,000. That meant that barring any last minute doubles ups he finished well clear of Joao Baumgarten who had 395,000. The Brazilian led a chasing pack of big stacks that included: Fergal Cawley (360,000), Henning Wendlandt (355,000), Romain Paon (300,000) and Ondrej Goetz (270,000).
Team PokerStars Pro and Online was well represented today and it looks as if at least three of their number have advanced to Day 2.Chief amongst them is Johnny Lodden, the Norwegian has a penchant for running up big stacks and got his hands on another today as he was sitting behind a stack of around 265,000 when play wound down. He'll be joined tomorrow by Liv Boeree (128,000) and ElkY (120,000).
In a field as big as this there were, naturally, many notables and a number of them will return tomorrow to try and add another cash to their ledger. They include: Ryan Reiss (90,000), Benny Spindler (50,000), Craig McCorkell (230,000), Andrey Shatilov (110,000), Tom Hall (150,000), Adam Owen (215,000) and Shyam Srinivasan (90,000).
However, the likes of Robin Ylitalo, Dany Parlafes, Rasmus Agerskov, Luciana Manolea, Jean Montury, Sam Grafton and Martin Jacobson must turn their attention to other events tomorrow.
To get all the latest news, chip counts and payouts from EPT12 Barcelona, don't forget to download the EPT App on both Android or IOS.
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[Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Estrellas Poker Tour]
The Top Online Casino Gambling News Reporting Site Since 2002!
Published on April 2, 2014 by Terry Goodwin
The fiorst couple of months have been rocky for the new online casinos in New Jersey. While the projections have the state gaining over $12 million in tax revenue in the first seven months of regulated online gambling, that figure is far below the expectations of Governor Chris Christie.
When the governor was touting the economic impact that online casinos would have on New Jersey, he included a figure of $180 million that he wrote into the current budget. With the revenue nowhere near that number, Christie is starting to get heat for his projections.
"It wasn't that Christie had the wrong tax revenue projection figures," said Analyst Thomas Marks. "It is that his figures were too soon. It is going to take a few years before all the New Jersey gamblers convert to online casinos. So those numbers will probably be right in the long run, just not in 2014."
New Jersey is one of three states that have regulated online gambling. Nevada and Delaware have online casinos that are operational, with Nevada outperforming New Jersey to date. It was expected that Nevada would become the largest online gambling state in the US for the past decade.
Delaware and New Jersey have also entered into an agreement to allow gamblers from each state to play at online casinos based in Nevada of Delaware. New Jersey has not yet joined the network, but all indications are that Christie and lawmakers would like to eventually be included in a country-wide network.
One of the biggest challenges that online gambling faces in the immediate future is the push back that it is receiving from one of the most successful land-based casino owners. Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson has thrown hundreds of millions of dollars into lobbying efforts to make online casinos illegal on a federal level.
A bill has been introduced in recent weeks that would make Internet gambling at online casinos and poker rooms illegal. Several other bills working their way through Congress would regulate online gambling nationally in the US.
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[Source: Gambling News]
Monday, November 2, 2015
The World Series of Poker Circuit, which is in its 12th season, is currently at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana, which is just outside Chicago. We already told you about Amanda Heidbrick's win of $101,190 after topping 2,211 entrants in Event #1 $365 No-Limit Hold’em Reentry, and now, six events later, Cord Garcia has followed in her footsteps of capturing a coveted gold ring.
If that name sounds familiar, it should. That's because Garcia, who has been nicknamed "Colossus Cord," topped a record-setting field of 22,374 to win the 2015 WSOP Event #5 The Colossus, a $565 buy-in tournament that created a whooping prize pool of $11,187,000. For winning the largest live poker tournament in history, Garcia earned $638,880 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Prior to that, in 2012, Garcia won his first WSOP Circuit gold ring in Event #5: $365 No-Limit Hold'em at the Horseshoe Bossier City stop, a win that netted him $18,449. That means his latest win at Horseshoe Hammond marked the second gold ring for the 25-year-old pro from Houston, Texas.
“You don’t win first place often, so it feels good,” said Garcia. “I think every tournament is special in its own way. This is my second ring and I was really motivated to try to chase points this year for the [WSOP Global Casino Championship].”
In Event #7: $1,125 No-Limit Hold'em – a tournament that attracted 142 players and created a prize pool of $142,000 – Garcia prevailed over Brandon Fish, who was just a couple months removed from his win in the RunGood Poker Series Council Bluffs Main Event.
“I’m just trying to ride the wave and appreciate everything that’s happening and see what I can turn it into now,” Garcia said. “Everything I play for the rest of the year, it’s just icing on the cake. I’m going to keep staying at it and try to do something else.”
According to reports, Garcia, Fish and Kyle Julius battled for nearly three hours. Julius held the chip lead three-handed, but eventually doubled up Fish, who turned right around and finished the Chicago pro off in third place for $17,739. That set up a heads-up match that lasted another two hours, during which time both players flirted with elimination. Eventually Garcia took over the chip lead, and sent Fish packing in second place for $24,575.
“I would say I am more motivated now than ever,” said Garcia. “I know I’m capable of playing any stack at any time in any field. That’s definitely very valuable to have that mentality going in. At the same time I try to stay balanced and try to realize that I’m not invincible. It’s a very fine line […] I love the game — just keeping getting more trophies, more bracelets. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cord Garcia | $39,759 |
| 2 | Brandon Fish | $24,575 |
| 3 | Kyle Julius | $17,739 |
| 4 | Philip Ariganello | $13,034 |
| 5 | James Kasputis | $9,744 |
| 6 | Fadi Hamad | $7,408 |
| 7 | Sasidhar Bobba | $5,727 |
| 8 | Kevin Andriamahefa | $4,499 |
| 9 | Maxx Coleman | $3,591 |
This weekend, the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond $1,675 Main Event will take place, as well as a $5,300 High Roller ring event on Sunday. PokerNews will bring you recaps from both events upon completion of play.
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[Source: PokerNews]
Poker players love a positive freeroll. In hold’em we love having a flush draw with top pair-top kicker against the same hand without one. Some PLO players make their living from getting it in with the nuts against the nuts and having their redraws lined up for a scoop. Many of us started out online playing freerolls. Something for nothing, you can’t beat that.
While poker players love a good positive freeroll, they are less inclined to avoid the negative ones. Many can’t help but look at their hole cards after a walk. Some even have the egregious habit of rabbit hunting the turn or the river. There’s nothing to win, but still they cannot resist.
Today I want to discuss one other negative freeroll that still finds itself in common practice — looking at your All-in EV.
Back when I was still coaching I noticed two things among my cash game students. One was that all of them narrated their recent online poker ventures through the lens of All-in Expected Value — that stat available in tracking programs that compares your actual results to your expectation for all-in situations.
The second was that whether they were “running above” or “running below” All-in EV, it was messing with their confidence.
Those running above felt like they were due to come back to earth, suspected their play hadn’t been great, and generally felt mildly undeserving of their success. Meanwhile those running below felt they had been slighted, that they weren’t getting their due, and that their poker growth or aspirations to move up in stakes had been retarded by the universe’s capricious whims.
I invariably told my students that I hadn’t looked at All-in EV in years. I remember the day I decided to turn it off. Well, I remember the month, at least — it was September 2011. I have noticed a couple of things about myself since doing so.
First, I have never been curious. In fact All-in EV only came back to my mind as a concept when someone, usually a student, would mention it. Second, I had a more peaceful disposition during and after all-ins. I think I previously took all-ins to be a test of mettle, an opportunity to steel myself, to work on my mental fortitude. That’s a good enough attitude, I think, but after I turned off All-in EV I had an easier time accepting my fate every time it left my hands. And so it’s gone.
I noticed also, as with other things, I would mention this “best practice” to others, and fellow poker players (students or otherwise) would agree with me. They accepted the idea it was a sound habit to cultivate. But how many did it themselves? Very few, if any.
It isn’t just that All-in EV is a cracked looking glass. It is a true negative freeroll. Some of you might say, “But I am different, I am an objective observer who is genuinely curious. And this curiosity, being genuine, is academic and of interest.” I don’t believe you. Truthfully, what are the chances that you are? It is more likely that you’re deluding yourself — as I had been, every time I decided to look at my All-in EV mid- or post-session, telling myself it was going to be of some solace or assistance or that I could handle a peek.
What looking at All-in EV does is encourage the same bad habit MTT players have in telling sob stories, also known as bad beat stories. It assists you in the creation of some narrative — a story that you can tell yourself and (insufferably) others, about how your poker trajectory is somehow off course from what it would otherwise have been in some ideal universe of Newtonian celestial motion.
This in turn encourages you to avoid taking some responsibility for your poker fate. Come back to earth. What is is. The cards fall as they may. And you have not just to accept that, but take ownership of it.
How you are playing? How you are feeling? How big is your bankroll? How much sleep did you get? What is the skill level of your opponents in the game you’re thinking of playing? The answers to these questions along with other ingredients are what go into your game selection decisions. How well you ran the last session or how well you’ve run over X period of time has nothing to do with it. There is actually no reason for you to waste limited resources on the metric. You can only benefit from turning off All-in EV, never to look at it again.
Some won’t take my advice as sound and most won’t act on it. But it has the advantage of being true. Habits are hard to break and hard to make, but once in place they aren’t a strain either way. I think you’ll find the temptation to gander fades away once you’ve taken it off the table as an option.
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[Source: PokerNews]
Published on April 9, 2014 by Tom Jones
The business of poker tournaments has become a big one across the world, and with big money, usually comes people who want to scam their way into the money. That was the case this past Winter when a North Carolina poker player was caught using fake chips at a major tournament in New Jersey.
The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa has responded to the chip scandal by introducing new tournament poker chips for upcoming events. The chips have a wide array of color, and more importantly, have a way that the authentication of the chips can be detected by use of an ultraviolet light.
"This was very expensive, but very necessary," said Borgata Senior Vice-President Joe Lupo. "In order to have the biggest tournaments in Atlantic City and as the market leader, we need to ensure the integrity of the games."
In the Big Stack, no-limit event that was held at the Borgata this past Winter, Christian Lusardi was arrested for using chips from outside of the casino during the tournament. Lusardi's alleged chip scam has shed light on an industry that has become among the most profitable in the world, and exemplified the need for increased security.
"In some of these tournaments, players are walking away with millions of dollars," said Analyst Garret Brice. "And when that type of money is involved, there are always individuals and groups that are looking to gain an edge. I wouldn't be surprised to see more casinos going to this type of security."
The tournament in which the counterfeit chips were found has yet to be completed. Play was halted at the Borgata and play will resume once a full investigation into the fake chips has concluded. The tournament had reached the final three tables. Prior to that, prize money had already been awarded to those who were knocked out of the tournament.
In addition to adding the new chips, the Borgata has taken several other measures to ensure fair play during tournaments. Officials of the casino will be randomly checking chips throughout the day, making sure of their authenticity. Additional security will also be hired and on duty for live tournament events throughout the year.
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[Source: Gambling News]
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