Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

You know what they say, “Once you go black, you never go back”.  Well, PokerStars have done something truly amazing today, and changed their lobby to a cool new black look.  Unfortunately they didn’t apply this change to the table layout also, as it is still the fugly gold-like look.  This could be the start of an overhaul on the current software, which is definitely getting a little outdated.  I really like the new black look, and hope that they apply this to the tables also.
Sure, I know there are free templates/layouts available for the software, but I am just too lazy to figure out how to change those things.

Nice work PokerStars!  Here is a screenshot:

For those of you without PokerStars accounts, come out from under your rock.  This is THE BEST POKER SITE and if you aren’t playing poker here, you aren’t playing online.  Check our PokerStars Marketing Code page for a great bonus!

The Kahnawakee commission has released a statement with regards to the AP/UB scandals today. It appears that they will be appointing Frank Catania (I hope its not this Frank Catania) a former Director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to lead an audit of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet.

“The main purpose of the investigation is to ensure that the games offered to the public are fair and honest and that all player protections as required by the Kahnawake Gaming Regulations are being complied with, without exception,” the statement advises.

They claim that if any criminal activity is found they will report it to the proper authorities, but I wouldn’t believe it until I see the arrests in a legitimate newspaper.

So basically what I got out of this is that they are going to investigate the company that will no longer exist anymore as it will be moving to the Cereus Network shortly anyway. Pretty dumb IMO.

If you are really interested, you can see the whole press release here:

July 29, 2008 (InfoPowa) – Good to its word last week, when it promised further developments within days, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission has issued another statement on the continuing furore over multi-million dollar cheating at the UltimateBet and Absolute Poker online poker websites.

The statement advises that an independent monitor has been appointed to investigate KGC Licensee, Tokwiro Ent., parent company of both Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. The investigation will be led by former New Jersey State Gaming Regulator, Frank Catania.

A respected regulatory expert in online gambling circles, Catania is a former Director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), the regulatory and enforcement agency responsible for maintaining integrity and trust in all Atlantic City gaming operations. As division director, he was a driving force in updating the New Jersey Casino Control Act by fine tuning the balance between regulatory necessity and economic stewardship.

After leaving the DGE, he served as the vice president in charge of compliance for Players International, Inc. where he was instrumental in resolving compliance issues the company had encountered in the State of Louisiana, prior to his appointment. He is a principal in Catania Gaming Consultants and the Law Offices of Catania & Associates LLC.

Unfortunately, the KGC release does not disclose a key element that is already being seen as an impediment to Catania’s independence: he was involved with the KGC at a formative stage of the jurisdiction, acting as a consultant and framing the regulations used by the Commission. Before the ink on the statement was dry, players were remarking on this, raising doubts as to the real effectiveness of the investigation when so many pressing ownership and value questions remain unanswered.

The statement claims that the Independent Monitoring Team will be given the task of completing a full forensic audit/investigation of the online gaming business of both licensed entities.

“The main purpose of the investigation is to ensure that the games offered to the public are fair and honest and that all player protections as required by the Kahnawake Gaming Regulations are being complied with, without exception,” the statement advises.

“The monitoring team will also be charged with verification that all those involved in the fraudulent activities in any manner, no matter how slight, have been or are removed from the licensee company and verify that Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker have submitted to full compliance with the directives issued by the KGC and recommended by the independent monitor.

“Furthermore, Mr. Catania’s team will be empowered by the KGC to have full access to interview all employees, past or present, review all records, contact and interview all sub contractors and individuals whom the monitoring team believes necessary.

“Any failure by the licensees could result in immediate revocation of their license privileges with the KGC. In the event that any criminal activity is found to have occurred, such activity will be reported to the appropriate authorities for possible prosecution.”

The KGC says its licensee, Tokwiro Enterprises has agreed to comply fully and submit all assistance required by the team.

KGC Chairman, Dean Montour added: “While the ongoing investigative process has dominated the attention of the KGC in recent months, we are fully confident in the ability of the Independent Monitoring Team to deliver results and assist the Commission in bringing this matter to a decisive conclusion.”

Early player reactions were that the KGC would be better advised to appoint an investigator who was not associated with the jurisdiction and was totally independent of both the KGC and the companies involved. At this late stage it would probably be difficult to corral all of the evidence, important questions remained unanswered and little appeared to be happening regarding the prosecution of the perpetrators. Whilst it was accepted that a clean-up operation was necessary, there was a danger that the latest move could be perceived as a cosmetic attempt to repair seriously damaged trust and reputation rather than get to the bottom of the affair and publish all the details.

Craig Marquis is one of the final 9 players left in the 2008 WSOP Main Event. Today he was over at Full Tilt Poker answering questions in the Ask The Pro section of the site, so I decided to throw some questions to him.

At first I was wondering who the hell is Craig Marquis, and how he became a pro, but after a quick google search I quickly figured it out. Apparently he is good buddies with Tom Dwan, and since 2007 has been tearing up the poker tables moving from 2/4 to 200/400 under the username CraigMarq.

Here are some of the best ones from the chat with Craig:

Question From brbgraham: Who are you?
Craig Marquis: craig, who are you?
Question From brbgraham: Tiffany Michelle or Kimberly Lansing?
Craig Marquis: kimberly
Question From GINGER88: If you weren’t a poker profesional, what other profession would you have chosen?
Craig Marquis: ninja
Question From fireball030303: where r u from, where did u start playing
Craig Marquis: arlington, tx, i started playing on full tilt in january 07
Question From brbgraham: How did you become a Full Tilt Pro?
Craig Marquis: it was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
Question From Reeny1010: you have already won 1,2 mil, did you get a part of that or not not before november?
Craig Marquis: i got paid 9th place money already
Question From ranger110: is this chat an obligation with full tilt?
Craig Marquis: nope, im just bored
Question From brbgraham: Did you dime out chino to the cops for the outstanding warrants?
Craig Marquis: yes, i hired Dog the Bounty Hunter
Question From NocturnalK: so what steps should I take to becoming a poker pro?
Craig Marquis: play a ton
Question From Reeny1010: do you still play with your “old” poker friends and what limits do you play with them?
Craig Marquis: my “old” poker friends play nosebleeds on here, so I don’t play with them often
Question From bustdanutsnya: how do you recommend playing sit n go turbos
Craig Marquis: turbo styleeeeee
Question From brbgraham: Why did you pick Full Tilt over Stars…. was it in hopes to score a date with Jennifer Harman?
Craig Marquis: i like their software a tonnnnn more. stars software tilts me
Question From GINGER88: annybody you like to play online that isn’t a pro. you dont have to mention names and do you do
fairly well against them?
Craig Marquis: yea, i have my favorites to play against. pretty much anyone who is bad. i <3 them
Question From brbgraham: What are you doing to prepare for the big game… private tutouring?
Craig Marquis: not really.
Question From brbgraham: How many suckouts did it take to get to the final table?
Craig Marquis: 2
Question From durrrr6: why tom dwan is not a pro on full tilt
Craig Marquis: he doesn’t want to be i don’t think
Question From brbgraham: What is the best advice you would give someone new to poker?
Craig Marquis: play, a lot
Question From phear41: can you read souls?
Craig Marquis: yes, but only when im wearing my soul reader sunglasses
Question From mbs24: how do you calculate odds?
Craig Marquis: with maths
Question From brbgraham: Who do you think is the biggest threat at the final table?
Craig Marquis: whoever has the most chips right now. i think its dennis
Question From Beiss: What is your favourite moment in your poker career?
Craig Marquis: when i soulcrushed brandon cantu on day 6 of the wsop and snapcalled his river bluff for the biggest pot of the
tournament, giving me the chip lead
Question From Reeny1010: is your strategy the same like jerrys last year and to play that agressive?
Craig Marquis: my strategy is nothing like jerry yangs
Craig Marquis: except for the wanting to win part
Question From brbgraham: What will you do with the money if you win?
Craig Marquis: buy an aston martin dbs
Question From Mirek1988: james bond huh
Craig Marquis: yea, hes a baller
Question From Beiss: What is meaning of life?
Craig Marquis: 42
Question From Nicholas Vietri: Do you play any other site besides fulltilt?
Craig Marquis: nope
Craig Marquis: i <3 me some full tilt.
Question From brbgraham: How did you go from playing 2/4 to 200/400 in under a year? How much did you start with, and did
you win just in cash games?
Craig Marquis: i started with $100 and worked my way up in cash games
Question From ShavedNuTs: i have to say coming from poker stars i love full tilt, did poker stars confront you at
the main event?
Craig Marquis: yea, a full tilt rep and a stars rep had a sword fight to the death, the winner got to sponsor me
Question From GINGER88: im at a final table with less than 5 to 1000 blinds do i push with j or higher?
Craig Marquis: yes
Question From flexibleguy: How does FTP compare to live games at the casinos?
Craig Marquis: its better, u don’t have to wear pants while you play
Question From Reeny1010: what was your biggest cash game win and loss on a day?
Craig Marquis: a lot, and a not quite as much as a lot
Question From Nicholas Vietri: What was your job before u became a pro poker player
Craig Marquis: i was a student, and sold cell phones
Question From Lothar42: What’s the biggest strategy difference in playing cash games vs tournaments?
Craig Marquis: adjusting to different stack sizes
Question From Nicholas Vietri: Do you think playign to much play money can mess up your game?
Craig Marquis: yes
Question From 5J: Has any one inspired you more than any one to become what you are today?
Craig Marquis: well jealousy. i was jealous of david benefield and tom dwan, cuz i went to their badass new years party. so i
told myself i could do the same thing
Question From Reeny1010: do you have to pay the entrance for the wsop tournements cash or before with bank transfer?
Craig Marquis: either one
Question From Nicholas Vietri: Do u worry one day you will lose all your money and go broke?
Craig Marquis: no, i’m not that kind of poker player
Question From Valdozz: When did u first time play poker, and when did u decide that u want to become a pro poker player?
Craig Marquis: january 07 id idnt really decide i wanted to be a pro, i was just making better money than at my job
Question From 5J: favourite song?
Craig Marquis: right now i like viva la vida by cold play
Question From brbgraham: Got any secrets?
Craig Marquis: yup
Question From mbs24: what college did u go to and did you graduate and were u a good student?
Craig Marquis: i went to community college a bit, then uta a bit, i wasnt’ a very good student
Question From Reeny1010: who do you think is the best heads up player in hold’em, is there anyone you are afraid of?
Craig Marquis: lots of people. urindanger is amazing hu
Question From kleister32: Do you think that 53s suited call of Phear’s was good on the flop, if he planned on bluffing any spade
?
Craig Marquis: probably not
Craig Marquis: i mean, the only hands hes bluffing me off of, don’t have a pair
Question From SMG297: i’m useless at poker what should i do
Craig Marquis: be a doctor or something cool
Question From mbs24: do u get a lot of girls from poker?
Craig Marquis: i do alright

If you would like to chat with the pros for FREE, head over to FullTiltPoker.com

It looks like flipping is the hottest new trend at full tilt poker nowadays. After my post yesterday, players were at the tables again on Monday night flipping away for $8k a pop. The list of players included LoLina (Who we believe to be Tim Phan), OnTheRize, John Juanda, David Oppenheim, ICallSoWhat, and several other players throughout the game. Even degenerate flipament specialist Ziigmund joined in on the action at one point.

A player under the username Wegetables literally got “Rinsed” during the flip fest. Wegetables decided to join in on the flipping action that was going on with around $24k. After adding some more, and losing his first buy-in, Wegetables reloaded another $40k.

After losing the next $40k in the $8k flips, Wegetables agreed to flip for a final $40k with Full Tilt Poker Pro John Juanda. Juanda held one of the worst possible starting hands, but what happened next was unbelieveable. Here is the hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #7421378249: Table Oboe (heads up) - $200/$400 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 3:47:19 ET - 2008/07/29
Wegetables posts the small blind of $200
John Juanda: gl
Wegetables: good luck
John Juanda posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Wegetables raises to $1,200
Wegetables: good hand?
John Juanda: i got monster
John Juanda has 15 seconds left to act
John Juanda raises to $2,000
Wegetables: i need a four
Wegetables raises to $6,000
John Juanda: but of course i could be bluffing
John Juanda has 15 seconds left to act
John Juanda raises to $18,000
Wegetables: thats what makes you the pro
Wegetables has 15 seconds left to act
Wegetables raises to $40,000, and is all in
John Juanda calls $22,000, and is all in
Wegetables shows [4d Qd Kd 4s]
John Juanda shows [Td Ts Th Ah]
*** FLOP *** [7h 7s Tc]
*** TURN *** [7h 7s Tc] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [7h 7s Tc 4h] [Qh]
Wegetables shows a full house, Fours full of Sevens
John Juanda shows a full house, Tens full of Sevens
John Juanda wins the pot ($79,999.50) with a full house, Tens full of Sevens
Wegetables is sitting out
Wegetables: wow
John Juanda: that was sick
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $80,000 | Rake $0.50
Board: [7h 7s Tc 4h Qh]
Seat 1: Wegetables (small blind) showed [4d Qd Kd 4s] and lost with a full house, Fours full of Sevens
Seat 2: John Juanda (big blind) showed [Td Ts Th Ah] and won ($79,999.50) with a full house, Tens full of Sevens

Watch these degens live at FullTiltPoker.com

On Saturday night while I was playing on Full Tilt Poker I noticed some action going on at the high stakes PLO tables. So, I decided to check it out and noticed that Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, SteveSung, LoLina and several other players were doing $20k flips on the 200/400 PLO tables.

Basically the players would raise it up to $20k preflop, then check it around for the turn and the river. At some points there were 5 players at the table and they pots were $100,000 each hand.

I am not sure who the big winners and losers were, but when Antonius left he said he was down $100k and was sitting with over $350k at the table. Gus Hansen was the only one who seemed happy and typed “GGGG ” as he left the table.

Taylor Caby tried his luck, but lost $100k in about 5 minutes. As he left the table he wrote: “I lost a bad ferrari flipping”.

Some other players that joined included OnTheRize and pr1nnyraid.

It was pretty interesting to watch these degenerate gamblers throwing around such large amounts of money as this went on for about 2 hours.

You can see the logs from all the flips here, or you can download the chat from the game here.

If you have never seen this action online, you gotta download Full Tilt Poker today.

Many players think that poker sites are much more organized and planned then they actually are.  Here are some of the common myths people have about online poker sites:

1) New Players Always Win (at first): - FALSE - Many people seem to think that if they join a poker site they are guaranteed to win at first.  This is also known as beginners luck.  This is completely false as poker sites all use random number generators to create the cards, so really this is just a myth.  On the other hand, everytime I start playing Blackjack online I seem to start winning at first, followed by about 10 dealer blackjacks in a row.  That is definitely much more questionable than online poker.

2) Cash Out Myth - FALSE - Many players believe that if they cash out they will go on a losing streak.  This is does have some truth to it, but the reality is it is completely false.  The reason why there could be some truth is chances are someone cashing out rather soon is not practicing any form of bankroll management.  They are probably playing games way too high for their bankroll and don’t leave enough bankroll behind to factor in the variance of poker.

3) Online Poker Hands are Set Up to Make the Site More Money - FALSE - Nothing is more frustrating when your pocket kings run into pocket aces.  Sure, this may seem like the poker sites are against you, but the reality is this kind of stuff happens all the time in live poker too.  Poker sites don’t set up hands to make more money in rake.

4) You are playing against robots - POSSIBLY TRUE - Many people have developed advanced robots or poker bots that will play based on your play.  This does happen, but is also easily exploitable.  If you figure out you are playing against a robot you can usually get this machine off hands very easily.  Most sites do everything they can to stop these from existing, but the reality is they still do get through as they can be hard for the site to detect.

5) Hackers Can See Your Hole Cards - MOSTLY FALSE - Up until recently I would have said this was impossible, but the cheating scandal at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet proved otherwise.  The only way this is possible is if it is done internally and most poker sites are honest.  The companies above were complete idiots though as they stand to make way more money frunning a legit poker site, then they do cheating players.  Something like this would never happen at a site like PokerStars.com as they make way too much money to jeopordize their reputation.

If you have any other myths about online poker, post them below in the comments section and we will write about them shortly.