The Poker Lab Rat

It took 14 hours today as the organisers wanted to cut the field to 36 players, and that did not happen until 2am when Ayaz Mahmood busted out in 37th place.

David Tran takes over at the top of the leaderboard with an impressive haul of just over 10m chips - but overall it was a day when previously featured players busted out - nearly all the same way by ignoring the basic premise that while AK is a good starting hand … it’s still only a DRAWING hand.

Let’s start with “Super” Dario Minieri who busted out early, trying a few internet poker tricks and really mixing it up, but he pushed into a flopped set of 3’s from Reagan Silber and then tried to river rat a flush, failed and was out in 96th place ($67K)

Gus Hansen also finally ran into trouble with his aggressive style, calling a big all-in pre-flop with AK against Ryan Elsons JJ. No improvement and Hansen was effectively crippled finishing in 61st for $154K.

Humberto Brenes also fell going too hard with “Big Slick” going all-in with AKh and getting called by the pocket Aces of Hevad Khan. The flop gave Brenes hope with a K, but all cards were spades, and a 10s on the river gave Khan a winning flush with his As.

Also going out were yesterday’s leader Dag Martin Mikkelsen who had (you guessed it) AK, re-raising all-in pre-flop and getting called by David Tran’s pocket Aces. End of tournament Dag. 42nd place and $237K.

So for all poker readers out there of all experience - we’ve just seen three top players who were involved deep in the biggest tournament of their lives who ALL over-valued AK and busted out. Lesson learned? I hope so.

Now just 36 players remain - including 1998 WSOP champion Scotty Nguyen on 1.9m in chips - and they’ll do all all again tomorrow. How many will Big Slick claim ?

The official top ten in chips entering Day Six play:
David Tran ——- 10,280,000
Philip Hilm —— 9,950,000
Ray Henson —-— 8,250,000
Hevad Khan —-— 7,585,000
Kevin Farry —— 7,400,000
Scott Freeman  7,360,000
Lee Childs ——- 6,520,000
Jerry Yang ——- 5,090,000
Kenny Tran ——- 4,955,000
William Spadea 4,575,000

Poker is a game of incomplete information. The more information you have, the better your decisions will be. Where you are sitting in relation to the blinds and the button dictates your “position” at the table. In early position, you will be forced to act first, without knowing what your opponents will do behind you.

While in late position, you have the advantage of knowing what each of your opponents has chosen to do before you make your decision. This is why position is perhaps the most important factor to take into consideration when devising your strategy in any given hand.

In a perfect world, you’d get to have the button on every single hand. But, since poker is an egalitarian sport, the button moves forward every hand one seat at a time, so that everyone gets their turn to be in the blinds and to also be in late position.

In a typical full 10 handed table, before the flop, you might consider early position to be the first 4 seats (the blinds and the two seats to their left). Middle position would be the 5, 6 & 7 seats, and late position would be the 8, 9 & 10 (10 being the button). Position determines the order in which you are to act, not the actual seat you are sitting in. The closer you are to being the button, the more likely you are to be last to act. For instance; you might be in the big blind, but you would be last to act should you find yourself up against only the small blind.

In early position, you really only have the strength of your cards to base your decisions on. You have no idea what the subsequent actions of your opponents will be, so it is much more dangerous territory to find yourself in. It is best to play significantly tighter in early position, and avoid finding yourself in marginal or tricky situations.

Middle position gives you a little more information than early position, so you can broaden your spectrum of hands slightly, but if you are still the first to enter the pot, you are still in unknown waters as to what those behind you will do. I consider middle and mid-late position to be good at disguising what type of hand you might hold, because your position is more undetermined than if you were clearly in early position, or steal position. However, this might make it even trickier to play for a beginner, so novices should still play somewhat cautiously.

Late position is where you have the biggest edge. You can be far more ‘creative’ when you know that you are going to be last to act in subsequent betting rounds. This is the best spot to play in, so you can be much more liberal with the kinds of hands that you play. When you find yourself last to act, you will be able to maximize your winnings more effectively by value betting more often. You’ll also be better at cutting your losses when you miss by not bluffing in a hopeless situation.

-Evelyn Ng

Evelyn plays online poker exclusively at US friendly Bodog Poker. You can win bounty prizes by knocking out a pro - and of course bragging rights! Check out Bodog Poker today for easy-play online poker and a great poker room bonus of 10% first deposit match uncapped!

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It was an eventful day four at the World Series of Poker main event - with only a third of the 337 players that started the day surviving until the end.

The new leader is Dag Martin Mikkelson - who was also the leader of Day 1b -  he finished the day with 3.7m chips and a large lead over second placed Charis Anastasiou on 2.6m chips.

There are still several big names left in including Gus Hansen on 1.5m chips, Jeff Banghart, Scotty Nguyen, and former main event winner Huckleberry Seed, as well as the over the top poker personality Humberto Brenes.

Former 2001 main event winner Carlos Mortensen was eliminated when his Jacks ran into Queens, and 2002 winner Robert Varkonyi went out after pushing with A5 into a K,J,10 flop and finding that his opponent was holding AQ.

(Ooops)

Day five is planned to whittle the remaining 112 players down to 27, beginning at noon PDT.

The key to succeeding in tournament play is being able to handle the ups and downs, because it’s not always going to go perfectly. Your chip stack is not always going to shoot upwards, which means you’ll often need to make good decisions when you don’t have a lot of chips.

Many players get frustrated when they have a short stack. They look down and see Ace-rag, King-Queen, King-Jack or some similar hand and they just focus on their own cards instead of seeing the whole picture. That kind of short-sightedness can quickly make a short stack even smaller and put the player on the rail.

Successfully playing a short stack takes a lot of determination. I believe it’s like a mental war when you have the short stack because it isn’t fun when you look around and everyone has all those chips. They’re getting to play fun hands like 9-10 suited and Jack-10 suited and you don’t have enough chips to play those hands, so you’re just sitting there watching while everyone else is playing poker.

I was playing in a $1,500 No-Limit tournament at the World Series of Poker* when I raised under the gun with pocket Kings. It was Day Two of the tournament and it was the first hand I’d played after about 90 minutes of folding. Another player went all-in behind me and it was one of those situations where she didn’t take her time to properly evaluate what had transpired so far. After not playing a single hand, I had raised with 40% of my stack in the earliest pre-flop position, which usually signals a monster. She pushed anyway with KJ and I think if she’d taken her time, she might have made a different decision.

You need to have patience when you’re short stacked. You can’t let poor results from previous hands affect you. Instead, I think it’s really good to tighten up after losing a pot so that you can regroup. To recover from being short stacked, you really have to take your time and evaluate every situation. Who cares if you’re taking longer than anyone else at the table?

Before the words “all-in” escape your mouth, take a couple of deep breaths, take 20 seconds and take a look at where the raise is coming from, how much it is for, and how much the person has behind. So many times I see people coming over the top of other players and not realizing their opponent is already committed and that their chips are going in the pot. Before you push all of your chips into the middle on a call with a short stack, look at the person you’re playing, re-evaluate your hand, the raise, and what position it’s coming from at the table. You have to remember that as long as you have chips you have a chance to climb from the bottom of the ladder to the chip lead.

That brings up another key point: I don’t care what anyone else has in the tournament because when I start worrying about how many chips other people have, I’m not focused on the task at hand, which is increasing my chip stack. Short stacked or not, I own my chips until I push them into the middle; it’s up to my best judgment to determine the best time to commit them to a pot.

Being on the short stack demands that you make the right decision every time you play a pot because making the wrong one will bust you. Don’t be in such a hurry to shove those chips in. Find the right spot. Don’t get frustrated by a string of poor starting hands. At some point, you might have to take a gamble and push if you can open the pot, but until that time, you control your own destiny. Effectively reading the table and the situation before you act will help you survive and, quite possibly, even win.

Erica Schoenberg

Nicknamed “Poker Babe”, Erica was formerly a professional blackjack player. You can play Erica Schoenberg online at Full Tilt Poker.
For more information on Full Tilt, here’s a link to our latest review of Full Tilt Poker at PokerLabRat.com

It’s been a busy day on Day 3 with more high profile professional poker players being sent to the rails - internet players getting stronger - and the emergence of Super Dario !

Young Italian star Dario Minieri of PokerStars fame sits atop the chip leaderboard after Day 3 with his huge stack of chips totalling nearly 2.4m significantly ahead of second placed Jeff Weiss on 1.5m and leading the 337 players left in the tournament.

Internet players generally had a good day with as Sorel ‘Imper1um’ Mizzi, Jared ‘Waco Kid’ Hamby, Darrell ‘Gigabet’ Dicken, Hevad ‘Rain’ Khan, Matt ‘Mattster24′ Sterling, and Peter ‘Nordberg’ Feldman all made it through to Day 4.

Former world Champions Robert Varkonyi, Berry Johnston, Huck Seed, Carlos Mortensen and Scotty Nguyen also made it through to keep the fight going for the old-timers.

We also have two players who have already won WSOP bracelets in 2007 still in the running with Alex Kravchenko and Bill Edler showing that their earlier wins were no fluke.

And of course yesterday’s leader Gus Hansen in still well in the running sitting with 1.0m in chips which places him just outside the top 10.

Day 4 continues at noon.

Now we are getting somewhere as there are just 808 players left in the main event after the end of Day 2b and pro player Gus Hansen is on top of the pile.

It was another day where the pro players found that amateur players are more than capable of matching it with the TV stars with several high-profile players departing.

Former world champions Chris Moneymaker and Brad Daugherty were eliminated, as were Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham and Phil Gordon.

Negreanu was eliminated after calling an all-in after the flop needing a 9 to hit a gutshot straight - which never came. While Gordon pushed all-in pre-flop with 65o and never looked likely.

On the flipside there were several well-known internet stars who fared better with Sorel ‘Imper1um’ Mizzi, Darrell ‘Gigabet’ Dicken and Matt ‘SamENole’ Smith all making it through the day.

One star who did perform to his reputation was Gus Hansen who finished day 2b on top with 622,300 chips.

Other players high on the 2B board include Shawn Chaconas, Carl Olson, Matt Keikoan, Francois Safieddine, Dario Minieri, Fabrice Soulier, Chad Brown, Hasan Habib, Peter Feldman, Ted Forrest and Carlos Mortensen.

Action resumes today at Noon PDT as the 808 survivors of Day 2A and 2B are merged and play toward the money bubble, which should burst early on Day Three.

PS: If you want to check out the latest poker tip from Gus Hansen, WSOP Day 2b chip leader, visit our blog post here. Betting out of Position - GUS HANSEN

About Gus: Nicknamed “The Great Dane” he was born in 1974 just outside Copenhagen, Denmark. Gus is the only player to have won 4 WPT Titles and was the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event Winner. Gus plays online at FullTiltPoker.com.

With over 2,000 players qualifying from Day 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d, the organisers at the Rio decided to have two second days - affectionately known as 2a and 2b.

Day 2a consisted of all the qualifiers from Days 1a and 1b and there were 1,037 player who returned to the Amazon Room at the Rio Casino on Tuesday.

The pace was hot and heavy though and the play finished earlier than expected when the number of players remaining hit 350 - because the floor staff do not want to risk hitting the money bubble of 621st place without having everyone in playing at the same time.

Play on Day 2B will now stop at exactly the same point in the level so that no-one is disadvantaged. Phew the hassles in arranging a world championship eh?

So who went out today ? ** WARNING SPOILER ALERT **

Dan Harrington busted out when his AQ came up against AK - while last years runner-up Paul Wasicka departed after his pocket 8’s could not match AJh wehn a flop of AAQ arrived.

2005 World Champion Joe Hachem is no more, neither is Aussie Tony G after running into pocket Aces, while 2007 player of the year Tom Schneider is also on the rails when his pocket 9’s couldn’t match pocket Kings.

The Day 2A field was ended with Jeff ‘Mr. Rain’ Banghart on top, with Kenny Tran, Alex Melnikow, Conor Tate and Cory Carroll all in the top ten, which is as follows:

Jeff Banghart — 570,100
Jeff Weiss — 550,000
Jon Monves — 549,800
Bradley Ellis — 509,400
Yuan-I Hsieh — 489,900
Kenny Tran — 484,900
Alex Melnikow — 480,100
Conor Tate — 440,000
Cory Carroll — 419,900
Jerry Yang — 415,500

Onto day 2b …

We’ll we’ve just seen the end of the fourth “Day One” - rather boringly titled Day 1d - but there has been plenty of action after the first official “day’s play”.

** SPOILER WARNING ** If you read on then you will find out about some high profile eliminations … you’ve been warned.

Several former World Champions started the day, including 2006 Main Event Champion Jamie Gold and 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Also falling by the wayside were Phil Hellmuth, Chip Reese, Michael Craig, Dutch Boyd, Freddy Deeb and Cyndy Violette while notable survivors included Daniel Negreanu, Ted Forrest and Gus Hansen.

Jamie Gold was eliminated when he moved all in pre-flop with a rather dodgy Q9s and he was called by an A7o. Neither player improved and Gold was eliminated by the Ace kicker.

All around the world poker fans can rejioce in the knowledge that we will not have to put up with the smug-faced gnome grinning at us during the ESPN WSOP coverage this year.

Our oldest player 94yo Jack “Jeffrey” Ury had some good fortune early in the day When his AQd was helped by a flop of Q4Q and he doubled up to around 21,00 in chips - but by the end of the day it appears that he had been eliminated - at least I cannot find him in the current chip standings.

So onto day 2a then - to be followed by day 2b - as this 6,300+ player marathon continues ..

WSOP Serious About Cell Phone Ban

Poker pro David Singer is distraught over the cellphone controversy surrounding his Day 1 elimination from the tournament.

Apparently Jack Effel wants to investigate whether or not the player in question was using his phone for text messaging purposes; Singer believes that fact is irrelevant.

Here is the official cellphone policy, as stated in the 2007 WSOP rulebook: “82. Cell Phone Rule: A player who wants to use a cellular phone must step away from the table. Any player on the cell phone or texting a messaging when the dealer delivers the first card from the deck will have a dead hand. No cell phones can be placed on a poker table.”

Singer, who of course is a lawyer by profession , has requested a refund from tournament staff and was seeking the opportunity to play in one of the remaining Day 1’s. He apparently intends to speak with the gaming commission about the situation.

Yes - and that includes iPhones

An official announcement was made to the Main Event Day 1d tournament floor yesterday that although the iPhones are “pretty cool devices”, since they can be used as a cell phone they are now officially not allowed. Apparently they were previously OK as long as the earphones were not jacked in.

PS: Have you checked out the Bodog Casino Win an iPhone competition? Play Let ‘em Ride at Bodog to win one of 15 iPhones. See our blog posting here.

With four day 1’s in this Main Event looking at chip counts and player standings across the board is fairly pointless. Many “big name” players have already been eliminated including Steve Brecher, T.J. Cloutier, Kristy Gazes, Rafe Furst, Clonie Gowen…

Just to give you a sense of scale, here are the all-up player numbers:

Day 1A had 1,287 players, Day 1B 1,545 players, Day 1C 1,743, and Day 1D 1,772. That’s a event total of around 6,347 players - more than in 2005, but less than in 2006. Given the crazy constraints imposed on US poker players via UIGEA, that’s an impressive number.

A couple of the media highlights for WSOP Day 1D include:
Jack “Jeffrey’” Ury who is 94 years old, making him the oldest player in the history of the World Series of Poker. And you though poker was turning into a game for whizz kids.

And, as always, getting more attention than he deserves, the Poker Brat Phil Hellmuth shows us once again that he has no shame.

Hellmuth was staged to arrive in an Ultimate Bet racing car. As you do. He apparently crashed the car in the parking lot yesterday so arrived in a limo wearing a racing uniform and carrying a helmet. Eleven women (each supposedly representing one of the eleven bracelets he’s won) greeted him and escorted the him to the Amazon Ballroom on his quest for bracelet #12 and his second overall World Championship.

A frenzy of media and fans chased him down the hallway as he posed for photos and signed autographs. ESPN’s film crew of course capturing his every move. He finally entered the Amazon Ballroom to take up his empty seat, two hours late. Would he be a pain to have at your table, or what?

His tablemates joked that he should wear the racing helmet so he didn’t have to hide his face with his hands. I bet many of them wished he’d done more damage in his carpark prang.

–Mike