The Poker Lab Rat

Jerry Yang had been chip leader since early in the day, when it got to heads up play he had a 5-1 chip lead over his opponent Tuan Lam.

Jerry had looked to bully Tuan into submission, doubling Tuan up once didn’t even slow him down.

Once again from the button Jerry kept the heat on and raised to 2.3 million, this time however Tuan had a hand and reraised all in, Jerry went into the tank and decided he liked his chances.

The cards were flipped and it was a race, Jerry had a slight lead with pocket 8’s, but Tuan had two over cards and flush possibilities with A-Q all diamonds.

The flop comes down Q-5-9 and suddenly its Tuan in the lead, and it will take a miracle 8 or runner cards for a straight for Jerry to eliminate Tuan on this hand.

The turn is a 7, and while it opens up the chances of a back door straight for Jerry, Tuan is still in the lead, and it looks like he is about to double up again.

The river card however ended that dream, the river brought a miracle 6, completing Jerry’s backdoor straight, and handed Jerry the 2007 WSOP Main Event Championship.

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During the World Series of Poker, players are confronted with massive fields. For example, in the 2006 WSOP, nearly 2,800 players bought into the first $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. Throughout the Series, it was common to see starting fields of 1,500 to 2,000.

Many players who are accustomed to playing in smaller tournaments can be overwhelmed by the prospect of competing against so many people. Some feel they need to make major adjustments to their games in order to be competitive. They play faster than they normally would, playing marginal hands and looking for the opportunities to gamble.

I think this is a big mistake. You should never alter your strategy to compensate for the size of the field. When you sit down to play in a tournament, you should concentrate only on things you can control.

Whether you’re playing against 200 or 2,000 players, you should be focused on how you’re going to beat the other players at your table. Let the rest of the tournament take care of itself. If you manage to make good decisions against your opponents, you’ll have the opportunity to accumulate the chips and survive as the field dwindles.

If you manage to stick around, you’ll have the opportunity for a nice payday. But if you gamble excessively in the early stages and bust out, you’ve got no chance at all.

In any tournament, the determining factor for whether you should play a given hand is the size of the blinds. If you have 10,000 in chips and the blinds are 50 and 100, there’s no need to play A-J in early position. But if you have 10,000 in chips and the blinds are 1,000 and 2,000, you need to move in with that same hand. It’s the blind structure that should determine how you play, not the number of players in the event.

In the WSOP Main Event, I’ve seen a lot of players feel pressured by the vast size of the field. But it’s a false pressure. The Main Event has a great structure. The blinds increase slowly, so you can play patiently and look for your spots.

You can’t win any large event in the first hour on the first day, so don’t worry about what’s happening elsewhere in a tournament. Play your game and do your best to beat the players at your table. It’s the surest path to success in any tournament, no matter the size of the field.

Wisdom of the Pros: A Lesson from Full Tilt Poker by Howard Lederer.

Play Howard Lederer online – like many of the top professional players Howard plays exclusively at FullTiltPoker.com. Tables highlighted red in the poker room lobby have a pro seated. Check it out!

Also check out the full archive of tips from professional poker players online at PokerLabRat.com here.

The WSOP Main Event has concluded for another year and Jerry Yang will probably still be partying after his $8,250,000 win! However, why should he be the only one celebrating? The team at Eurobet Poker are joining in with their own WSOP After-Party - and you’re invited!

See you at a table 4th - 19th August at Eurobet Poker as they’re running 16 days of events (including a $5,000 added Main Event) over a range of poker formats and with some special bonuses which could see you raking in the big bucks!

High-Five! Party On with the WSOP Winning Hand!
Win any hand during any WSOP After-Party event with Jerry Yang’s WSOP winning hand (8c/8d) and Eurobet Poker’ll give you a $10 bonus. Win the WSOP After-Party Main Event with the same result as Yang’s WSOP Main Event last hand (a nine-high straight following pocket 8 hole cards) and you’ll win a $5,000 bonus!

Celebrate a Winning Streak – With Extra Cash!
If you win 3 WSOP After-Party events, they’ll pay you a $500 bonus! Win 5 and you’ll get an extra $1,500 bonus, and if you win at least 3 WSOP After-Party events AND the WSOP After-Party Main Event, you’ll score a $5,000 bonus – on top of all your winnings!

So one lucky winner could walk away with an extra $10,000!

You’re invited to the biggest party of the year – the Eurobet Poker WSOP After-Party!

Eurobet Poker is a long standing member of the Ongame Poker Network and is part of Europe’s largest betting & gaming company, Gala.

Fancy yourself as a bit of a player? Bodog Entertainment, one of the world’s fastest growing digital entertainment companies, is gearing up for its autumn launch into Europe with a spectacular offer to poker players from the U.K., Ireland, and Western Europe.

Bodog is giving six winners a chance to make history and join Team Bodog for the inaugural WSOP Europe tournament, which kicks off on September 6 in London. The Main Event, a No-Limit Texas Hold’Em Championship will run at the hottest poker destination in town, The Casino in Leicester Square September 10-16.

The lucky Bodog winners also have the chance to play hard in London once the poker is finished for the day with a fantastic prize package. Not only will the six each win the £10,000 tournament buy-in, they also receive 5-star hotel accommodation as well as travel expenses and a chauffeur to whisk them around the capital.

“Poker at Bodog isn’t just a game, it’s a lifestyle,” says Calvin Ayre, Founder of Bodog Entertainment. “We’re giving European poker players the chance to taste the highlife and join Team Bodog playing against the stars of the poker world in London, which is quickly becoming the coolest place in the world to play poker. We’re looking forward to hitting European shores; this is just a taste of what’s to come from Bodog.”

For a chance at winning, players must register for a poker account at Bodog.com, download the poker software, and look out for the tournaments named ‘Euro Main Event’. There are different levels of tournament depending on your budget. Semifinals take place only on Sunday, August 19 at 15.05 GMT.

This could well be a shot at the big time for one of the six lucky winners. Last year star Bodog player Leif Force used his Bodog earnings to buy himself a seat at the WSOP in Las Vegas where he earned $1,154,527.

Bodog is quietly gearing up for its full launch into Europe later this year. British players will be able to play casino and poker on Bodog.com from pound sterling accounts, as well as place bets on popular U.K. sporting events like football, cricket, rugby, and horse racing. Bodog.com will also have a wide selection of pop culture bets available for British reality television programmes, as well as the celebrity milestone bets that have proven popular worldwide.

The qualifying tournaments for the WSOP Europe run until Sunday August 19 at Bodog.com. If you’re ready to ramp up your poker career - check it out at Bodog Poker now!

  Here’s a link to our latest review of Bodog Poker.

Jerry Yang wins the 2007 World Series Of Poker Main Event  and $8.25 Million !!

After 11 tournament days - and after surviving 6,300 other players - it all came down to a typical Texas Hold-em race and a gutshot suckout - as Jerry Yang eliminated Tuan Lam to win all the chips and the 2007 WSOP World Championship.

After a bit of pre-amble both players got all their chips in preflop with Yang holding pocket 8’s while Lam had AQd.

>> Which hand would you rather have ? Pockets or over cards? << 

The flop comes out Q95 (no diamonds) and Lam takes a big lead with top pair and a double up would put him back close to level chips.

>> Changed your mind yet ? <<

The turn is a 7 meaning that Yang picks up a gut-shot straight draw, potentially winning with an eight (for a set) or a six (for a nine-high straight). Just 6 outs.

>> Still sure ? <<

Yang is a 13/87 underdog on the river but a six of hearts appears giving Yang the best hand with a 9-high straight … showing that in the end winning a tournament requires Lady Luck.

>> Damn Suckouts !! <<

Tuan Lam earns $4.8m for second place - but the main event bracelet and the most coveted title in poker of WSOP Main Event World Champion belongs to Jerry Yang.

Day 6 took 16 hours to complete - and I’m not going to tell you anything about it - so that you can watch the ESPN World Series Of Poker coverage later without knowing exactly how it all happened.

But for those readers who NEED to know who’s through to the final table - here are the seating assignments and chip counts for Tuesday’s final table:

THE FINAL TABLE :
Seat 1: Jon Kalmar —–– 20,320,000
Seat 2: Lee Childs –—— 13,240,000
Seat 3: Philip Hilm –—– 22,070,000
Seat 4: Jerry Yang –——- 8,450,000
Seat 5: Raymond Rahme  16,320,000
Seat 6: Tuan Lam –——– 21,315,000
Seat 7: Alex Kravchenko 6,570,000
Seat 8: Lee Watkinson – 9,925,000
Seat 9: Hevad Khan –—- 9,205,000

THE PRIZE MONEY :
1st: $8,250,000
2nd: $4,840,981
3rd: $3,048,025
4th: $1,852,721
5th: $1,255,069
6th: $956,243
7th: $705,229
8th: $585,934
9th: $525,934

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

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.

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.