Poker Players have Stalkers Now?

In past decades, we’ve seen numerous movie stars and musicians being stalked by members of the public.  Their obvious fame and camera time sometimes earns them some overzealous fans who will do just about anything to be like their idols – or be with them.  But I do have to admit that I’ve never really heard of such a thing as a person stalking a poker player…..at least until now.

Patrik Antonius – also known as one of poker’s biggest heartthrobs (if there is such a thing haha) – is the poker player in question who’s being stalked.  However, it’s not by some crazed woman who’s looking to get a piece of Antonius, but rather it is a person who’s posing as Antonius on Twitter.  This goes beyond just posing as Antonius though since the person is also following Antonius’ movements very closely so they have something to twitter about each day.

What’s kind of funny about the situation is that a lot of the posts are trash talk aimed at fellow pro Doyle Brunson.  Some of the posts mention stuff about how Patrik supposedly bluffed Doyle all night and there is even one post which says that Brunson is too senile to play against Antonius anymore.  Understandably thinking Patrik sent the texts; Brunson was a little angry about the situation and said something to Antonius about them.  Luckily, Patrik Antonius didn’t actually send the texts so he has nothing to worry about in that regards.

Still, it has to be annoying to have somebody sending out texts like that and pretending to be you.  I’m not sure about the legality of this situation or if the person who’s doing the twittering can be prosecuted, but hopefully for Patrik this thing comes to an end soon.

Poker Winnings still won’t be Released

If you’re a poker player then just thank god that you don’t live in New York.  Not only did the Southern District of New York decide to seize the funds of over 20,000 poker players, but the government has decided to hold on to the money for quite some time into the future.  In fact, it has reported that it could be years before the millions in online poker money will ever be seen again.

But at least I’ve heard a semi-good reason as to why the money is being withheld now – although it’s not that good of a reason.  A refuted money launderer named Douglas Reddick is at the forefront of the case and, for some reason, he is the main reason why the money won’t be unlocked.  I haven’t heard the full details of the case, but I’m still wondering why charges against the Canadian Reddick is the reason why over 20,000 players had to have their money frozen.

The one good thing about the case is that Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars really took the brunt of the money being seized.  That’s because, when players’ checks started bouncing, both sites reimbursed their players for the cash that was frozen.  So from what I’ve heard, Full Tilt and PokerStars are the ones who are eating the costs of the money that’s been seized.

Still, I think it is ridiculous that New York could potentially hold on to this money for years because of a pending case against one man.  I know the UIGEA has a lot to do with this as well so maybe once it’s repealed, states won’t be able to do crazy things like this with online poker money in the future.

Shaq hits the Poker Tables

Shaquille O’Neal has always been one of my favorite sports personalities.  He’s a big, badass who could easily bully all of the other players on the court at any time and act equally as intimidating to the media.  And while he is a bully on the court at times (just ask Dwight Howard), Shaq has never just been some big guy trying to act all hard to the media.  Instead, Shaq has consistently been one of the most entertaining NBA players off of the court as well with his goofy antics and funny sayings.

His latest venture, a TV Show called “Shaq Vs.”, sees him taking on different athletes and people in their game of skill.  One episode I saw pitted him against NFL quarterback Ben Roethslisberger in a football game; Roethslisberger’s team won despite Shaq’s big game.

Well Shaq has supposedly taken to the felt in one episode of Shaq Vs. as he squared off against Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, and Erick Lindgren in poker.  The episode hasn’t been aired yet so we’ll have to wait and see how he fares against these poker pros, but I can tell you that I can’t wait till this episode is on.

It will be interesting to see the big man at the poker table because I had no idea he played.  In fact, he might very well not play but I’m sure he learned some skills before going against these guys.  I’m wondering how the format will go as well since they could all play at once or in heads-up matchups.  I guess I’ll have to wait and see when the poker episode of Shaq Vs. airs.

What’s Up with this Poker Ambassador Thing?

There are a few terms I hate to continually hear.  One of them has to be when people call poker “pokes” as I don’t understand this at all.  Seriously, can people not just say poker?  Or is that one extra syllable just too much for them?  Another thing I hate to hear is donkey.  This isn’t annoying in terms of sound like pokes, but rather because it’s so overused by people who have no idea what the hell they’re talking about.  They’ll call people donks for sticking in a hand where they were only a slight underdog (ex. Q-Q vs. K-K).

All of this aside, my new most hated poker word is ambassador.  I just don’t understand why the phrase poker ambassador is used so much these days.   You can’t go a week without somebody writing an article about how we need more poker ambassadors.  Now I know the game needs help in legality terms and maybe some players actions can give poker a bad name.  However, there are certain things that just make poker fun to watch like Scotty Nguyen getting drunk or Hevad Khan acting like a complete jackass. 

To me, this is the kind of stuff that makes poker entertaining.  I want to see Layne Flack hated by 80% of the poker population because he’s rude and an 8 o’clock drunk.  I like watching clips of Tony G berating other players for challenging him in a hand.  Poker is a game of personalities and emotions; not a gentlemen’s club where everyone is sipping tea and talking politics.  Thousands of dollars are on the line for all of these players so they’d be betraying themselves if they sat there and acted like a “poker ambassador”.  I honestly hope I never hear this phrase again!

Picking the Right Ring Game

One thing that really amazes me about many poker players is that they blindly pick cash games to play in without putting any thought into the process.  In fact, some people don’t even consider that there’s a process to picking the right game for their playing style.

But veteran players know that some thought definitely needs to be put into picking the right ring games.  I always use 4 different criteria when selecting the cash games I play with the first thing being the limit I’m comfortable with.  After playing poker for a few years now, I’ve found that the limit I’m most comfortable with is $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em.  And since I have never really tried to be some big-time pro, that limit has worked for what I do.

Another thing I like to look at when deciding what ring game I’ll play in is the percentage of players seeing the flop as well as the average pot size.  These two stats are easy to see since they’re right next to each table, but many players still ignore the numbers.  They are very important though and should definitely be taken into account when choosing ring games because avg. pot size and players seeing the flop show if a table is loose or tight.  And depending on what type of player you are, you’ll want to pick the table that suits you.

One last thing I check into when choosing the table I want to play at is the people I’m playing with.  On loose tables, players are going to make huge raises and go all-in which can make some people – including myself – uncomfortable.  I normally like to play against tighter players since the pots are smaller and the action moves a little slower, but some people hate this because they want to make lots of money.  But no matter what your preference is, the key thing to remember is that some thought needs to be put into picking ring games.

Could “Poker King” be the Next “Rounders”?

I must admit I laughed after seeing a headline which featured Johnny Chan saying that a Chinese movie called Poker King could be bigger than Rounders.  After all, Rounders is a classic movie which inspired many people to take up the game of poker when they saw it in the late 90′s.  2003 WSOP Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker was one such person as he confessed he never would’ve taken up poker had it not been for Rounders.  I definitely have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this film as well.

But after checking out what Johnny Chan had to say, I can actually see what he’s talking about.  Chan said of Poker King, “It (‘Poker King’) has the potential to be much, much bigger than Rounders ever was.  Say there are over one billion Chinese speaking people in the world.  Now compare that to the United States and their 300 million people.  You can see that this could be huge.  Rounders gave poker a new lease of life in the West – this could kick start a new poker boom in Asia.”

I suppose that if Poker King is marketed heavily and shown across the Chinese nation then it definitely does have the potential to be much bigger than Rounders ever was.  After all, it’s hard to compete with a potential market of over a billion people.  Plus there will be a number of big Chinese film stars in the movie too which will only make it even more appealing to the population of China.  And if Poker King is as big as Chan predicts, I wonder if it will start some kind of poker boom over there as well.  We’ll see….

The Value of Small Pocket Pairs in Sit and Go’s

I am a person who definitely likes to play in Sit and Go poker tournaments.  They’re quick, they’re easy, and the action is intense.  And through all of the Sit and Go’s that I have played, I’ve noticed how valuable small pocket pairs can be at certain points of a Sit and Go tourney – especially in the earlier stages!

That’s because the low blinds in the early stages of a Sit and Go really allow you to maximize the effectiveness of small pocket pairs since they are most useful when flops can be seen for cheap.  If you can get to the flop cheaply then you’ve got a chance to flop a set and double up through somebody who doesn’t realize this.  Get lucky and you might even be able to see some turns as well with small pocket pairs when a weak board hits and nobody wants to bet.

Unfortunately, small pocket pairs aren’t quite as effective in the middle part of a tournament since the blinds are too high to see flops cheaply.  And even if you do limp in, other players could raise which definitely makes it not worth seeing the flop.

However, once a Sit and Go is in its later stages pocket pairs become effective again.  If you’re sitting on a big stack you can use small pairs to steal blinds and other hands since they at least give you something when called.  And if you have a small stack a small pair will give you a chance if you’re called when trying to steal hands where nothing is on the board.  In the end, you really just need to focus on where you’re at in a Sit and Go and base your use of pocket pairs on that.

A-Q: A Very Dangerous Hand

Daniel Negreanu once said that A-Q is a hand which has cost him millions of dollars over his career.  And I never really thought about this too much despite hearing the quote until I read a good article on the subject.  Basically, the article went into a discussion about how most people will play A-Q like it’s a premium hand even though it isn’t even an equal to J-J or A-K.

Furthermore, players like to play A-Q out of position thinking its value allows it to be played from early position – even if somebody has raised the pot.  But the truth is that you can’t play A-Q like it’s a premium hand, and you definitely can’t get caught playing it out of position!

The reasoning is that, although A-Q is a theoretically a top 10 hand, it is still a drawing hand since you don’t have a made pair or even connectors.  With A-Q, you’re relying on the board to at least turn up an ace or the unlikelier K-J-10 combo.  You can also get a very good two pair with A-Q, but this is yet again another hand which relies on the board heavily.

Personally, I think A-Q is a very useful hand to play in loose/aggressive games where everyone is betting out with marginal hands.  But on a tight, nitty table you’re not going to get as much value out of A-Q since players will be sitting around waiting for premium hands more often.  And when you’re going up against A-A to J-J/A-K, you’re going to be dominated more times than not.  In short, I can definitely understand Negreanu’s quote a lot better now.

New Online Poker Scam

When my friend won event #13 of the WSOP of poker, it was definitely a time for him to celebrate.  Not only did he win over $500,000, but he also grabbed his first WSOP gold bracelet which is something few poker players ever get to experience.  And with all of this going on, his return to Ohio definitely should have been even sweeter since he was returning as a WSOP champion.

However, things weren’t so great when he returned after finding out that he was the victim of a new scam aimed at online poker scam.  Basically, somebody tricked him into clicking on a link so that they could put a key stroke logger on his computer which would allow them to get his passwords and other info. 

The way it worked is that they sent him an e-mail from a start-up poker room claiming that they wanted to pay him $5,000 a month plus give him 100% rakeback on all of the hands he played there.  And this seemed like a somewhat legitimate offer since he had just won a WSOP bracelet, and was already one of the top-rated online tournament players in the world.

Unfortunately, the whole offer was simply a fraudulent trick which could’ve cost him thousands of dollars.  Luckily, Full Tilt Poker sent him an e-mail immediately detailing the key stroke logger scam and telling him to get rid of it right away.  So my friend had somebody reload his Windows software which effectively removed the key stroke logger from his computer.  I don’t know how Full Tilt catches this stuff so fast, but I’m glad they did and I know for sure he’s glad they did!

Playing in Shorthanded Poker Tournaments

Back in the day, shorthanded poker tournaments weren’t much of a draw since man had yet to even conquer traditional Texas Hold’em tourneys.  But now that regular Hold’em tournaments feature so many good players, people have moved on to new types of tourneys and shorthanded tournaments happen to fall into this category.  6-max table tournaments have especially gained popularity since they’re prominently featured in the FTOPS series. 

I’ll admit that I have yet to master the shorthanded tourney, but I have employed some strategy that has helped me cash in plenty of these 6-max tournaments.  The first thing I always do is open up the range of hands I am willing to play.  This not only includes playing hands like pocket 9′s more often, but it also includes playing them out of position too.  For instance, if I’m two seats to the left of the big blind, and first seat has called then I’ll almost always play the pocket 9′s (assuming they’re not a major rock).

Another thing I do when playing in shorthanded tournaments is play more loose and aggressive.  In a shorthanded tournament, you don’t have time to sit back and wait for everyone to beat each other up; if you do this then you’ll be blinded out of the tournament in no time!  So you’ve really got to open up your play and start being more loose and aggressive.

One more thing I like to do when playing in 6-max tournaments is spend the first 20 minutes of a new table studying opponents.  Now this might sound a little contradictory to playing loose and aggressive, but you’ve got to play tight in the beginning since you don’t have the luxury of sitting back and gathering info like in traditional tournaments.  If you do these things then you should be pretty successful in 6-max tourneys right off the bat.