3 Things Poker Players Can Be Thankful For

   Happy Thanksgiving Readers! It's been a tough year for us poker players with all that's taken place with the DOJ and online poker, Congress' epic failure to license and regulate the industry, and some countries and US states rejecting proposals for casinos and online gaming, but fear not! There are a few bright spots, and some reasons to be optimistic.

   It was a record setting year at the World Series of Poker. There were 75,672 entrants from 105 different nations. There were 58 events spanning a 50 day period, and the total prize pool was $191,999,010 making it the largest WSOP in history. The Main Event was the third largest poker tournament all time in a year which saw the epic take down of the three biggest online poker sites in the world. ESPN covered the final table and showed every hand on a 15 minute delay for the first time ever. This year's WSOP also hosted the largest live Pot Limit Omaha event in history with 1,071 entries, a 21 percent increase from 2010. 1st place was awarded $292,825. Next year the World Series of Poker will be hosting a 1 million dollar buy-in event which is unprecedented. A few WPT events saw an increase in traffic this year as well. These are clear signs that poker is still running strong.

   This week Governor Deval Patrick, of my home state of Massachusetts, signed a bill into law that will allow for the creation of three full-scale casinos and a slot-only casino. Massachusetts becomes the 40th state to legalize casinos and slot parlors. Opponents will likely seek a referendum to repeal the law in 2012, but personally I doubt they will be successful as this bill had a lot of support. It took Governor Patrick 3 years to get this done and he and his staff deserve a lot of credit. I happen to live on the western border of Massachusetts and the nearest casinos are Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods which are 2 hours away in Connecticut. There is also Turning Stone casino in upstate NY, but that's about 2 and a half hours (plus they don't serve alcohol there; less drunks mean less fish for us sharks to feed on). As it stands, I haven't played a live poker tournament in months! The signing of this bill could potentially put a casino just 45 minutes to an hour away thereby cutting my travel time in half. It looks as though I'll be playing a lot more live poker tournaments in the near future. Hooray!

   Now hear this, now hear this. Phil Ivey has returned to tournament poker. Finally! He sat out this year's WSOP in response to allegations against Full Tilt Poker, the website he endorsed. According to cardplayer.com, Ivey entered the Asian Pacific Poker Tour Macau main event on Wednesday. With over 13 million dollars in lifetime earnings, 8 WSOP bracelets (none of which are in No-Limit Hold Em), four top 25 finishes in the WSOP Main Event since 2002, and a WPT title, Ivey is considered by many, including myself, to be the best all around player in the game today. It looks as though poker has its "ambassador" back. Thank God! Welcome back Phil!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

And then there were six...

   In my last post I discussed the first three eliminations. This post will talk about the next three. Six players to go and "short-handed" poker begins. This is when the value of hands goes up. Hands like A-8 off that you throw away in the beginning now become raising hands in certain situations. As I watched the footage on Youtube I noticed that was where Pius Heinz started to try and run over the table. Only problem was Ben Lamb wouldn't let him.

   First to go out in this phase was yet another of my horses, Eoghan O'Dea who wins the Player I'd Most Like to Have a Beer (or a Guinness) with award. His bust out hand was Q-6 off, but the hand that crippled him was A-9 vs Ben Lamb's Q-8 suited. O'Dea raised coming out with his Ace and Lamb reraised all-in. O'Dea took some time to think before eventually making the call. I think O'Dea felt like he was ahead and he was right. The luck o' the Irish was not on his side as Lamb rivered an 8 to win the enormous pot leaving O'Dea with just 2.5 million or so in chips. And right before the dinner break! Ouch! I'd almost rather just bust before the break. Maybe O'Dea saw the opportunity to bust the best player at the table, but I still think it was not the right move for that situation. He was right that he was ahead, but that's pre-flop. The hand isn't over till that river is dealt. With a little patience he could have gone deeper into the tournament. I suspect O'Dea will be haunted by that hand for some time. Still, he played well and I'm willing to bet this is not the last we'll see of him.

   The next victim was 5th place finisher Phil Collins who wins the Loudest Entourage award. It seemed like he was just having an off night. Maybe the cards just weren't coming for him. I've had MANY nights like that! His bust out hand was A-7 suited in diamonds vs Heinz and his 9's once again. The flop came 4-5-6. The turn was the 9 of diamonds giving Collins all sorts of outs. The river didn't work for him though and Heinz won a pretty good sized pot. Okay, once again I don't agree. Collins still had 18 big blinds. It ain't much, but it's enough to stick around for little bit. You don't have to move with the first Ace you see. Maybe even just try to make a raise and win the blinds and antes. If you get reraised, just fold, but youth often lacks patience and I believe this to be the case here.

   In 4th place was the Most Resembling a Cop award winner, Matt Giannetti. Giannetti was the ONLY player at this final table with sunglasses. Frankly, I'm happy too see that. I don't like sunglasses at the table. I think it shows weakness. Letting your opponent see you stare at the middle of the table can be more intimidating than the shades. They look douchy (is that a word?). Nothing against Giannetti, he's a damn good poker player, but I just don't think the shades are necessary. He was crippled by Ben Lamb when his J-J lost to Benba's A-7 suited in hearts. Lamb hit the flush and Giannetti was hurting. He eventually busted with A-3 off vs Lamb's K-K. Giannetti probably had the most impressive showing of all. I thought he played patiently and picked his spots with precision. He's a pro no doubt about it. In fact, I was shocked to learn that he took down a WPT event during the four month hiatus. Yikes! Great job Matt, but please, lose the shades. You don't need 'em and you're probably a better player without them.


   Giannetti's bust out ended the day. On Tuesday 3 players (Pius Heinz, Ben Lamb, and Martin Staszko) would return to determine who would walk away with 8.7 million dollars and the highly coveted gold bracelet. That's all coming up next. Till then...