Miami’s Poker Blog

Some players dream that when they play the World Series of Poker, they will be able to cash in an event. Some players dream of winning a WSOP bracelet one time in their lives. If your Phil Ivey, you dream of two or three bracelets in the course of the whole series. If your Brock Parker, you dream of winning two bracelets within a week of each other…and you actually do it.

Brock Parker first found an interest in poker through the card game Magic. The card game Magic, like Poker, is a game that depends on strategy, reading opponents, and having a little luck on your side. Through Magic, Brock was able to find an appreciation of Poker and started playing online. He has cashed in several other events, but this year he really proved what he was made out of.

The first Six Handed Limit Event 14 of the Series, and it was taken down by Brock. He beat out 367 players to make it to the final table. Once he got to the final table of the event, he was not the favorite to win. Daniel Negreanu led the final table, and once it got to heads up Negreanu had Parker at a 3 to 1 disadvantage in chips. Parker never gave up though. He played solid, caught cards, and was able to over take Negreanu for the win.

Parker then went on to play the Six Handed NL Event 19. Parker again played solidly as the final table dwindled down to just two players. Joe Serock and Brock Parker were heads up for the money, the bracelet, and all the glory. Parker started hitting cards, and Serock lost some key hands. Serock eventually jammed with pocket tens, but ran into Parker’s queens to bust out.

It has been quite an accomplishment for Brock Parker to come into the World Series as a relatively unknown player, and then come out with a World Series bracelet. Not only has he won a bracelet, but he has won two within days of each other. He will definitely be a player to watch in upcoming tournaments.

If you’re one of the many players that first got into poker thanks to the Chris Moneymaker 2003 WSOP poker boom era, you’ve missed out on a lot of the history behind the World Series of Poker. There have been 28 WSOP Main Event champions, stretching as far back as 1970. Take a moment to brush up on some of the biggest names in poker you’ve probably never heard of. Also, take a look at the dramatic difference in the 1st place cash as early as just seven years ago.

2008: Peter Eastgate - $ 9,152,416

2007: Jerry Yang - $8,250,000

2006: Jamie Gold - $12,000,000

2005: Joseph Hachem - $7,500,000

2004: Greg Raymer - $5,000,000

2003: Chris Moneymaker - $2,500,000

2002: Robert Varkonyi - $2,000,000

2001: Carlos Mortensen - $1,500,000

2000: Chris Ferguson - $1,500,000

1999: J. J. “Noel” Furlong - $1,000,000

1998: Scotty Nguyen - $1,000,000

1997: Stu Ungar - $1,000,000

1996: Huck Seed - $1,000,000

1995: Dan Harrington - $1,000,000

1994: Russ Hamilton - $1,000,000

1993: Jim Bechtel - $1,000,000

1992: Hamid Dastmalchi - $1,000,000

1991: Brad Daugherty - $1,000,000

1990: Mansour Matloubi - $895,000

1989: Phil Hellmuth - $755,000

1988: Johnny Chan - $700,000

1987: Johnny Chan - $625,000

1986: Berry Johnston - $570,000

1985: Bill Smith - $700,000

1984: Jack Keller - $660,000

1983: Tom McEvoy - $580,000

1982: Jack Strauss - $520,000

1981: Stu Ungar - $375,000

1980: Stu Ungar - $385,000

1979: Hal Fowler - $270,000

1978: Bobby Baldwin - $210,000

1977: Doyle Brunson - $340,000

1976: Doyle Brunson - $220,000

1975: Sailor Roberts - $210,000

1974: Johnny Moss - $160,000

1973: Puggy Pearson - $130,000

1972: Amarillo Slim Preston - $80,000

1971: Johnny Moss - $30,000

1970: Johnny Moss n/a

Earlier this week I was chatting with Andy Black while he was playing the $1,500 PLO World Series event. It was about an hour and a half into the tournament, and suddenly one of the guys on his table yells, “Andy, what seat are you supposed to be in?!” Andy turns to him seeming a bit confused, but realizes there is a kid standing next to him looking at his seat assignment card. Andy pulls out his assignment card and realizes that he was sitting in the right seat, but on a totally different table. I’m standing there wondering why the original dealer hadn’t caught the mistake in the first place, but it really wasn’t too surprising. It is the series after all.

The floor is called over so he can decide what to do. “Well, he will just have to move to his original table and seat.” It seemed like a logical enough ruling. Then the players started asking about his chips. He had won a few pots at the table, and now he was going to move to another table and take his chips with him. The floor just bluntly said, “There isn’t anything I can do. He’s going to move to his original seat and take his chips.” It didn’t seem right to me, as it put the players at his first table at a disadvantage. The chips they had lost to him had been taken out of play and they wouldn’t be given the chance to get them back. On top of that, his next table will have the advantage of taking more chips from him. It seemed like a domino effect of mistakes.

This story was brought up to several other floor men, not affiliated with the World Series of Poker, and they said the ruling wasn’t correct. Being that Andy had made the mistake, one floor man said that he would have moved him to his original seat and made him play at the starting chip count. “It’s his fault that he sat at the wrong table, and he could use the extra chips to bully his next table around because of the chips he won at the wrong table.” Another floorman suggested taking the extra chips and just adding them to the pot as an ante for the players on the original table. Either way, it definitely seemed like a decision for the tournament director to make, or someone higher up. It is just one of many rulings that will be made at the WSOP this year that may or may not be appropriate for the situation.

Although the WSOP is in full swing, many eyes in the poker world are still fixed on the legendary Card Player Magazine “Player of the Year” honors, which is entering the halfway point of the season. Here’s a look at the top ten players in the running for the title at the moment.

Player Rank Final Tables Points Winnings
Poorya Nazari 1 1 3,000 $3,000,000
Jude Ainsworth 2 3 2,840 $1,009,885
Cornel Cimpan 3 2 2,730 $1,703,828
Anthony Gregg 4 1 2,500 $1,700,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko 5 1 2,448 $2,149,960
Constant Rijkenberg 6 1 2,400 $1,960,400
Steve Brecher 7 1 2,340 $1,025,500
Stewart Scott 8 2 2,336 $1,500,542
Chris Moore 9 2 2,110 $481,500
Bertrand Grospellier 10 3 2,102 $926,659

This year was supposed to be the year of cutbacks, and the poker community was anticipating smaller fields because of the hard times. However, it seems that is not the case and the fields are just as strong as ever this year.
The series kicked off with the $40,000 buy in event which attracted over 200 players. Most people were wondering if the event would break 100 players, but those skeptics were definitely wrong. There were big name pros who were taking part in the event as well as lesser known players. The event proved that even the big buy in events were going to be a hit this year.
Event 4 brought the $1,000 “Stimulus” Event which catered to those that may not be able to afford $1,500 or bigger buy in tournaments. This event saw an impressive 6,012 players which was only pales in comparison to the Main Event. It was so popular that the event completely sold out and players were turned away from registering. This event was supposed to be a four day event with two day starts, but ended up needing five days to finish.
Event 3 also broke records this year. Event 3 was the $1,500 Omaha High Low Split 8 or Better, and it saw a lot of big name pros. Not only were the pros interested in playing this event, but it brought it over 950 players. This was the biggest live Omaha tournament to date, and no one could have expected such a strong turnout.
There is still a lot of time and events left in the 2009 WSOP, and it seems that this is the year to break all records.

Phil Ivey is no stranger to winning poker tournaments and taking home titles, but he has been looking forward to the chance to take home another WSOP bracelet. Tonight, he was able to prove why he is the best poker player out there by taking home his 6th bracelet from the WSOP. In the Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball event Ivey was up against John Monette. Phil put on his game face and really sought to crush his competition with is aggressive play. In the end it payed off and Phil was able to gain a significant chip lead. John kept his hopes up and tried to put the pressure on Phil as the short stack, but in the end it was Phil who came out on top. Phil Ivey took home the bracelet and $96,361.

There is still plenty of time to make the drive/flight down to the Vegas for the World Series of Poker, and it’s a trip I strongly suggest you consider. I’ll be heading down there myself from June 18th – 22nd, and although the WSOP can’t compare in grand overall scale against some mega events like the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup, there is no shortage of reasons to attend this epic poker extravaganza.

Here are 5 of those reasons:

1. Meet the pros, get their autograph.
2. Freebies from many different poker companies and online card rooms.
3. Play in some of the juiciest side games in the world. The cash game tables during the WSOP are loaded with fish.
4. Play in an inexpensive satellite for a chance at making it into one of the larger tournaments.
5. Bare witness to the largest gathering of poker players you’ve ever seen.

Bonus Reason: The chance to be berated on live television by Phil Hellmuth.

To the typical player, making it in the money at even a single WSOP event could be the accomplishment of a lifetime. However, to be considered among the ten most successful WSOP players of all time, you would need at least 45 cashes to even make the list. Considering that practically all of the names here are continuing to cash in the WSOP even as the fields for the tournaments get larger and larger, it appears that these ten players will be all but impossible to catch up to on the all-time most WSOP cashes list.

#10 and #9 (Tied) – Brent Carter and John Juanda – 45 cashes
#8 – Chau Giang – 46 cashes
#7 – Humberto Brenes – 52 cashes
#6 – Erik Seidel – 53 cashes
#5 and #4 (Tied) – T.J. Cloutier and Berry Johnston – 55 cashes
#3 – Chris Ferguson – 57 cashes
#2 – Men Nguyen – 62 cashes
#1 – Phil Hellmutth – 69 cashes

The day started out with ten hopefuls waiting to be condensed to the final table of the Deuce to Seven NL Event 23 at the World Series of Poker. Roland De Wolfe was the first to fall which was not much of a surprise being that he was the short stack. Then Justin Smith took the fall, and players were down to the final table.

The day started out with a lot of excitement as two more players were unable to build their chips. Michael Binger was a short stack and moved all in from early position. John Juanda made the call. To everyone’s surprise, Binger opted to draw two cards. This seemed to perplex Juanda as well, and he took a moment to decide how many he was going to draw. He decided to stand pat, which turned out to be the right decision. Juanda turned over 10-8-6-4-2, and Binger was out pairing his nine for 9-9-K-7-2.

David Benyamine would be the next to go out after he moved in over the top of Sung’s raise. Sung made the call and stood pat, leaving Benyamine to draw one card. It wasn’t the card he need as it paired his nine to make 9-9-6-5-4 against Sung’s J-8-7-3-2.

At this point, six were left. Vince Musso started off the day as the chip leader, but John Juanda and Ville Wahlbeck were the favorites to win the event. Nick Schulman had been riding his short stack to stay alive, and Steve Sung had been gaining momentum with his aggression. Archie Karas was the silent contender at the table.

Vince Musso has lost the chip lead, but was able to double up through Juanda. After Musso raised to 36k from the small blind, Juanda pushed him all in. Musso called and each player drew a card. Musso showed an 8-7 low which was good against Juanda’s 9-8 low.

Musso wasn’t able to hold onto his chips though. He jammed once again, and Ville Wahlbeck called. Wahlbeck stood pat, and Musso decided to draw one. Walkbeck table a perfect 7-5-4-3-2 leaving Musso drawing dead with a 9-5 low.

Archie Karas was the next victim and moved in against Steve Sung who called. Both players rapped pat, but it was Sung who came out on top with 10-9-8-7-3 against J-10-8-5-2.
John Juanda, who was once the chip leader at the final table, had lost some substantial pots. He lost a big one to Steve Sung when Juanda put Sung in for his tournament life. Sung called after tanking for a few minutes and both players stood pat. It was a close showdown as Juanda showed 9 8 6 5 4 for low, and Sung showed 9- 5- 4- 3- 2 to best him. This was a critical pot, and after losing this Juanda was the short stack with only 250k left.

Juanda did end up moving all in against Nick Schulman who made the call. Each player drew one card and Juanda turned over 9- 6- 5- 4- 3, but Schulman had the best of it with 8- 7- 5- 3- 2. Juanda became the 4th place finisher of this event.

Nick Schulman was playing incredibly well at this point. Despite the aggression coming from Steve Sung, he was able to take down a few nice size pots without a showdown . In a three way pot, Schulman was able to bet his way to winning over 500k. Then Sung decided to stand up against Schulman after he raised to 60k. Sung came over the top for 170k, and Schulman insta shoved on Sung. It was a decision for his tournament life, and the chance at another bracelet for Sung, so he went into the tank. Ultimately he decided to call. Sung stood pat, and then it was Schulman’s time to tank. He decided to stand pat as well. It was extremely close. Sung turned over T-8-5-4-3 against Schulman’s T-8-5-4-2. It turned out to be a very good pat from Schulman.

In the heads up match between Nick Schulman and Ville Wahlbeck, it became an uphill climb for Wahlbeck very quickly. Schulman had Wahlbeck 3:1, and Schulman was a strong contender at this point. He was aggressive, and he was getting great hands against Wahlbeck. In smart heads up play, Schulman was patiently cautious about lending Wahlbeck too many chips. In the end, it all came down to a bluff and a perfect hand.

Schulman opened for 75k, and Wahlbeck came over the top for 250k. Schulman called and each player drew one card. Wahlbeck quickly moved all in. Even more quickly, Schulman made the call. Wahlbeck knew he was crushed when he turned over a busted low with 9-9-8-5-2 against Schulman’s perfect 7-5-4-3-2.
In a dramatic ending, Nick Schulman became the champion of the No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw tournament for 2009. He took home an impressive $279,742 for 1st place and the most sought after bracelet in the world.

Try as we may, eventually when playing in an S&G tournament we are going to get tired, distracted and just downright lazy. Although you may be able to perform most tasks up to typical standard when tired and uninterested, in poker it can lead to bad decision making and losing money.

It’s easy to preach and just tell you to never be exhausted whenever you play, but that’s not a realistic expectation. Instead, here are some suggestions for how to get your attention and focus back on the S&G at hand.

1. Remove the distractions – Are you watching a movie or TV while trying to play? You need to get the major distractions out of your mind and out of eye sight when playing otherwise you won’t be paying attention to the game and could be missing out on important information.

2. Promote blood flow – Often times, just the act of sitting in a chair for a few hours can leave your body restless and tiresome. If you can afford to, sit out for a few hands and stand up and walk around the room for a little bit. This will get the blood circulating back through your body and should raise your alertness enough to be able to focus on your hands.

3. Instant energy – Personally, energy drinks make me jittery, but I have been known to take some supplements in order to get some kick boosts when I know I might be playing some long sessions or a number of S&G’s. Grab your favorite energy supplier of choice and always have it within reach when you start to feel less than optimal at the online tables.

I’ve established before that when it comes to competitively playing Sit & Go’s, you’re really aiming to come in 1st, as the prize money for 2nd and 3rd (in a standard nine player event) won’t be profitable enough in the long run. But in order to play for 1st, you need to get into the money to begin with, which means you’ll become very familiar with being on the bubble, the situation at the table where just one more player needs to bust out before the remaining players get paid.

The bubble can do weird things to poker players, some will get desperate and start overplaying bad hands while others will tighten up so much that they won’t play any hands at all. Neither of those extremes is very good. Still, you can’t treat playing on the bubble like you would any regular poker situation. You need to avoid putting yourself at risk as much as possible, and that includes making some very tough laydowns, because if you don’t make top three, all the prior effort was a waste.

Here’s an example of when I didn’t follow my own advice. I was playing a $10 Sit & Go the other night and had worked myself into a position where I was about tied for 2nd/3rd in chips (approx. $3,100) with four players left. The chip leader had about three times as many chips as I did, and the short stack was down to $640. I looked down to see pocket Q-Q in first position. I raised to about $480, hoping to convince the short stack to push the rest of his chips in, only for him to fold and for the chip leader to raise me all in.

In just about any other situation, especially since I knew this player was making moves with mediocre hands, I would insta-call. But in this particular case, the disciplined move is to lay it down because he could very easily have me dominated or on a coin flip, all situations I don’t want to stake my tournament life on while on the button, especially with the short stack on life support.

Well, I was so sure that he pushed with just a semi-strong hand that I called anyways, and turns out I was right, as he flipped over A-Q unsuited. The flop and turn came blanks, but he spiked one of the remaining three aces on the river to knock me out of the tournament. Would most players play it like I did? Probably, but they shouldn’t. Instead of waiting for either myself or another player to bust the short stack, I needlessly put myself at risk and missed making it into the money.

The point is, be willing to make the big laydowns in certain situations when locked in bubble play in a Sit & Go. Pre-flop all-in’s are extremely risky, so pick your hands wisely and coast stress free into the money.

Life in the poker world would be much easier if we could sit down at a table and automatically know exactly how every person at the table plays. If we knew exactly how every player played, we would be able to bluff them with ease and know when they had the nuts. We would also have an easier time extracting the maximum amount of chips from them. Thankfully, this isn’t too far fetched. It may not be as easy as just looking at a player, but after come careful observation at a table you should be able to have a good idea of how they play.

When you first sit down at a table, take some time to watch the action extra carefully. Within a few hands you will be able to identify the loose player at the table. He is probably the one entering or opening a lot of pots. The aggressive player will be opening and actively trying to take down the pots. The tight players won’t enter into many pots, but when he does he always shows good hands. This is fairly basic, and the challenge comes when finding the predictors of how a person plays a specific hand.

Whether it be from their poker education or just out of habit, players condition themselves to play a certain way given the fabric of their hands. For example, most players will raise with pocket aces when there is more than one person in the pot in order to isolate their opponent. Players will have hand predictors that will give you clues to what kind of hand they are playing. Finding the predictor of a loose player will be easier than a tight player because a looser player will be involved in and show down more hands. You will be able to see what they do when they flop an open ended straight draw. Will they bet at the pot, or will they just check and hope to hit their card? What is a big bet to this opponent that will get him off his draws? Pay attention to the situation as well. Was he in late position when he made that bet? Was it a multiway pot? Why did he make that move in that situation? The idea is to try to get inside your opponents head so you can have more information about what his moves mean when you are in a pot with him.

The more you start practicing identifying your opponents, the faster and more effective you will be at outplaying them. One valuable method of practicing this is to take notes on what your opponents’ actions are. If they called a bet to hit their gut shot, write down the hand, pot size, and bet amount. Review it and determine if he was getting pot odds, or if there was some other reason he was calling the bet in that situation. If you or another player made a big bet to get him off his draw, write it down so you will know in the future what bet amount he will fold to. These notes will also be useful for future study to identify opponents who have similar playing styles to those you have played previously.

Had a interesting little scenario come up just today while playing some Sit & Go tournaments. Got A-K unsuited on the button, raised it up to three times the big blind, and got two callers. Then the flop came K-K-K, giving me quads right out of the gate, something I’ve never had happen when I was holding just one of the quad cards in the pocket. To be honest, I was a little stunned and didn’t even realize what was going on at the table until I realized that there had already been a bet and a call and now it was my turn to act.

Hoping to making the most of the hand, especially if someone had a pocket pair and flopped a full house, I just smooth called. The turn brought a harmless looking 6, and there was yet another bet and a call in front of me. One more smooth call I thought, and then I’ll raise on the river. Fifth street brings a 8, and to my dismay both players check. I put out a very small value bet, and they both fold. Still, I made about as much as I could’ve hoped.

With quads, it’s hard to maximize value, as really the only thing someone’s going to call large bets with is if they have a strong full house, and even then they might be a little weary. Obviously I was lucky to flop quads AND be on the button at the same time, but even then I couldn’t really use my position to re-raise as that would’ve just easily scared off everyone else.

Regardless, it was nice to flop the stone nuts and watch opponents bet and call right into my avalanche of Kings, kind of like a reward for all the hard work and mind reading I have to do the rest of the time. Of course this means I’ve used up all my karma for the month, so maybe it’s time to play it safe and head down to the microlimits.

One of the hardest questions to answer when playing a cash game is knowing when to get up. There have been times when I have sat at even for 5 hours, and then suddenly I have a massive rush of cards. Then there are other times when I am up just a little bit and things take a turn for the worst. I know several people who set goals for themselves, and as soon as they hit that goal they rack up and run for the door. I have seen other people who hit hand after hand building a big chip stack, then they go broke because they didn’t leave when they were ahead. Since nothing is predetermined in poker, it is impossible to know exactly when the best time to leave is. However, making the best decision consistently will be profitable in the long run.

One of the biggest mistakes that I see beginning players make is that they build up a big chip stack but they don’t know when to quit; they inevitably end up losing it all. The easiest way to know if you should continue playing once you’ve built up a big stack is assessing how you are playing, how your cards are running, and how your table is. However, if the game turns bad or there is not much profit to be made, it might be time to take your winnings. Also, be aware of the players you might have taken big stacks from. They may be apt to start playing back at you. If you start getting loose with your chips because you have a big stack, it is time to get up. When you are playing well, it is always a good idea to keep playing as long as you can. This will ensure that you will maximize your profits during winning sessions.