Randal Flowers Wins Festa Al Lago

Randal Flowers is only 22 years old, but he’s already famous in the poker scene. He just became the youngest player in poker history to win multiple World Poker Tour titles. He won the Festa Al Lago main event Wednesday night, defeating 355 players and winning $831,500. His total career cashes are now up to $1.7 million.

Randal Flowers plays online (where he’s won over $1 million) under the moniker “RandALLin”. He’s from Fort Worth, Texas.

Besides his WPT finishes, he also has two WSOP cashes. One of those was a tenth place finish in the six-handed $1500 no limit Texas holdem event.

His first big win was in June 2009 when he won $386,170 at the WPT event in Barcelona. Flowers was only 20 at the time, and he defeated a field of 172 players.

Full story at ESPN.

Range Balancing

Range Balancing

Range balancing is a poker strategy about balancing your possibility range of hands in given situations.  The aim of range balancing is that it makes it harder for opponents to narrow down your holding.  The idea of range balancing is fairly advanced stuff, and against poor or micro-stake players it doesn’t really make a difference.

Once you start moving up a couple of levels and into the low-mid stakes games like $0.25/$0.50 or $0.50/$1, then range balancing definitely becomes very important.  You’ll bump into a lot of regulars at these stakes who are capable of grinding out $30,000+ per year.  They will also be using live-tracking software and HUD stats with HM or PT to gain a better read on you.  All of this makes you a target for them.  Thus, in order to defend yourself from advanced players you need to make yourself less predictable.  You can think of range balancing as “blurring” your range – or acting as a shield against solid LAGs.

Almost every winning player at the mid-stakes cash games will be able to narrow down your range of hands accurately.  A TAG player at this table would be particularly exploitable since his possible range of hands from the word go is limited pre-flop.  At least by playing LAG with general HUD stats of 25/14, you can start merging and balancing your hand ranges to prevent yourself being too transparent.

It’s not just your predictability and level of thought that you’re trying to protect; it’s about playing poker optimally and getting the most value from your different hands.  For example, if you’re table image is too strong and you’ve only been 3betting premium hands pre-flop and double-barrelling TPTK on the turn, then players will start to adjust.  They won’t call your value bets as often as they should, because they are able to read that you have a strong hand and will fold weaker holdings in those situations.  In multiple instances like these, you’ll be losing value in the long term from overplaying big hands.

Likewise, if your table image is too weak then you won’t be able to bluff or win enough dead-money pots.  If you’re overplaying hands with a VPIP% of 35%+ or are 3betting 15%+ of your hands, then you’ll lose credit where it’s needed.  You’ll start getting hit back into more, 4bet bluffed pre-flop, check-raised on the flop or even floated to the river.   These are all disastrous situations because not only are your bluffs not working, but you’ll also be leaking too many chips to re-raises.  In these situations you need to fold out more hands and wait for your table image to strength up.

How to Balance Your Range

There are two basic ways for you to balance your range.  You can either play the same hands differently, or you can start playing a combination of hands the same way.  If you’re regular c-betting missed hand on the flop for example then start check-raising them instead.  Semi-bluffing with mid-pairs on a board like 7JQ is the perfect time to do so.

If your 3betting range is too polarised pre-flop then you can balance it by 3betting light from CO with hands like 34s or 910o.  This prevents folds around the board and balances out your 3bet%.  The last thing that you want is for nobody to be calling you when you raise pre-flop with AA or KK.  Generally speaking, the optimal 3bet frequency in a 6-max game is about 7% from my experience.  Anything above this will make your range appear too weak, and anything below means that you’re not playing enough hands and iso-raising too often.

There are a number of other ways to mix and mash up your hands.  On loose tables you can sometimes limp-shove your strong hands like AA or KK out of position in order to trap opponents.  Value shoving hands like AK in the late stages of MTTs is also very common particularly when you’re short stacked because it creates an image of weakness.  Likewise, you might want to check your monster hands on the turn rather than betting for value or you can even start floating premium hands more on the turn.

In summary, the more deceptive you make your game, the harder you make it for other opponents to out play or out-level you.  A c-bet percentage of 80% is much better than 30%.  One last point that I’d like to make however is that all seems well and good betting your strong hands and mixing them up nicely with weaker holdings.  This does fool opponents.  But a lot of the time opponents will be able to sense weakness by how often you fold to c-bets or double barrels.  A F/cbet%  of 66%+ for example is extremely high and will make you more prone to steals.  Hence, along with playing a wider range of hands more aggressively you should also be more willing to call and float other raises post-flop.

You can find more poker blogs here, but most of them aren’t going to cover this particular strategy subject.

EPT Berlin Poker Robbers…BUSTED!

The first suspect turned himself in on Monday, which does not qualify him as being “busted” per se, but suspect #2 was apprehended at a subway station in Berlin.

For some reason every time I think of European police, I can’t help but envision scenes from Ronin, and imagine Audi’s racing through cobblestone streets being chased by VW police cars and that all to familiar “Hee-Haa” of the Euro coppers.

But I digress. As of right now the authorities know who committed the brazen daylight robbery, and I assume its only a matter of time before they’re all toast.

These new developments have certainly taken much of the intrigue out of what began as a scary, albeit totally awesome casino heist, and made this robbery look exactly like these doofuses are – Dumb.

Charity Poker Room Not Immune To Gambling Laws

Well there you have it, no one is safe.

I predict in 5 years we’ll only be able to play poker against ourselves, in a basement with the lights off covered in a blanket.

Ok, I may be overreacting here. But with Visa and MC jumping ship I’m getting a bit paranoid.

In actuality a Michigan charity poker company was bilking charities out of user fees buy inflating the cost of using their charity poker services. So, ya, it’s not a witch hunt, its just authorities shutting down some shady faux businessmen.

The reason I think this is newsworthy is because it is newsworthy…as in…”IN the news”. And a debate sprung up amongst my poker playing buddies about how this affects the current political online poker climate.

On one hand, it reiterates and draws attention to the vast  amount of criminal behavior that comes along with any type of gambling, on the other hand, it established how badly strict regulation is needed throughout all facets of gambling, be it a shady Michigan charity poker room or the best poker web sites on the internet.

At the end of the day, we have a poker room that not only provided entertainment but millions of dollars in charitable contributions being shut down permanently, and once again a spotlight directed at the individuals in a position to regulate a hobby for millions that has a relevant role in our culture, as well as the ability to provide funding for those in need.

Visa and Mastercard Start Blocking Online Poker Transactions

Well, we all knew it was coming. Frankly, I’m surrised it didn’t happen sooner. It’s funny how easily giant corporations ignore stuff when it is against them making money. But it is here, and now getting a straight deposit or payout from your online poker site just got a heckuva lot harder.

In reality, it was most likely the precedent of the Rennick case and subsequent appeals that the big wigs were waiting on, to see if they had a chance to skirt prosecution if anything were to happen. The bucketloads of cash the make on Online casinos would far outweigh any legal expense if they thought they could win. But with the Rennick guilty verdict being upheld after this last appeal, they’re pulling the chute.

All in all, this shouldn’t cause the industry to collapse, certainly most regular online poker players have had experience jumping through a hoop or two already trying to deposit or cash out, so most people know the ins and outs of the bizz, but that’s not to say that it wont scare away a LOT of current and potential customers. June 1st 2010 is going to be interesting.

Hellooo North American Poker Tour!

Well, finally. A Tour for us American speaking folks. No more smarmy Brits guffaw-ing their way through our poker broadcasts! Now, how can we get a $5.99 buffet and a lingerie version on the air…..hmmm.

So yes, today in “It has to be true because its on ESPN” news, the North American Poker Tour announced 3 tour stops, the first being PCA, then the Ventian in Vegas and then the Connecticut Mohegan Sun.

Pokerstars also confirms the hostessing duties will be Joanna Kruppa, an that they have a guaranteed “Top Tier” broadcast partner.

When and during which sporting season is still to be determined, but this is a great opportunity to solidify some serious American Poker celebrities. For me, poker tours and TV became popular from the folks that go bonkers for televised darts. So, ya. Also, playing online poker or even casino games in an online casino takes a lot of the hassle away from getting your gambling fix, so if you don’t have the skills or the stones to get on tour…just hang online.

Full Tilt Introduces “Rush Poker”

It’s “intense”, it’s “Wild”! No it’s no not the “Crocodile Mile!” It’s Rush Poker recently launched buy Poker supersite Fullt Tilt poker. Labeled as the “most intense poker action in the world” by its creators. It’s essentially non-stop poker. If you fold, BAM, you’re off to another table to keep playing. You’re out on a hand, BING, new table.

It’s attention deficit disorder poker. I like. I can now have my online poker AND Red Bull!

Check out more at FullTiltPoker.com

Priest Wins 100 K?

Ya, thats right, 100 grand.

Not quite the “man of the cloth” we’re all used too is it?

Heres what the honorable(?) Rev. Andrew Trapp had to say about his participation in the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge:

“At the very least, even if I didn’t win any prize money, I was hoping it would help people to see that priests can have fun and be normal people and hopefully get a little bit of a fun twist on the image of the priesthood,”

The Assistant pastor (Ass Pastor….anybody?) hoped to at the least raise awareness of how the modern priesthood conducts itself, and winning the money for his church was simply a bonus.

Contrary to (hundreds of years of ) popular belief, Trapp says the the Catholic church no longer takes issue with playing card games or drinking a few beers, as long as its within reason.

I frankly, am heading down to the local chrch this Sunday to see if I can’t wrangle up a few worshipers for a game on the weekend, I’ll call it “Tithe Night”

From Wall St. to WPT?

Most finanacial exec’s from now defunct investment banking firm Bears Stearns are simply doing their best to move on, and pick up after the current economic crisis pretty much shattered their lives.

But one former advisor by the name of  Steven Begleiter is hanging out at the final table of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event at the Rio Hotel on Nov. 7th.

He outplayed more than 6 thousand other poker players, and now gets to sit at the final table with the likes of Phil Ivey and Jeff Schulman.

Not bad for a “loose cannon” rookie, and it gives another nod towards former finance and math professionals having increasing success transitioning from recreational to high stakes poker.

“Begs”, as they call him, likens his poker instincts to that of the financial world, out bidding and posteuring during asset acquizition negotiations on Wall Street.

Damn, makes me wonder why I skipped math class so much in high school.

Who would really want to Claim Face the Ace?

As if the new reality-based poker show Face the Ace didn’t have enough problems already with its terrible ratings, the show’s producers have been hit with a big lawsuit by a man who claims he came up with the idea for Face the Ace.  Brandon McSmith has leveled an $85,000,000 lawsuit against the show and says that Face the Ace is modeled after his idea of having amateur players compete against professionals for major cash and a seat in the World Series of Poker. 

And there is certainly some validity to McSmith’s claims too since he pitched the same kind of idea to a company called Poker Productions two years ago.  Unfortunately for McSmith, his seemingly good idea was rejected by Poker Productions which would have made one think that the idea was dead in the water.  However, the idea was not dead at all since we now have Face the Ace and the show was created by none other than Poker Productions.

But whatever the case may be and no matter who wins the lawsuit, both sides would have been better off forgetting this idea altogether.  The ratings for Face the Ace have been horrible (a re-run of Finding Nemo beat the show in ratings) and the prospects are bleak for things getting any better in the future.

As far as McSmith asking for $85 million in reparations, he might as well be asking for a gazillion dollars because this show isn’t hauling in shit money-wise.  Maybe Poker Productions has a decent amount of money or NBC would somehow be liable for some of the assumed damage – I don’t know.   The only thing that I do know is that this show has been nothing but trouble for all parties involved.