Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

This year at the WSOP marks the Second time that there have literally been months between the creation of the final table, and the final table actually starting to play. 

What may not be widely known is that once this tourney starts, there is guaranteed to be at least one 24 hour pause.  As soon as they are down to the final 2 players, the game stops for 24 hours. 

When i found out about the months long pause between getting the final nine players, and having the “November Nine” play, i really thought it could change the game in a lot of ways.  It’s not often in a poker tournament that you know the 9 people you’ll be playing against for 8,000,000, and with all the resources out there you could theoretically study each one.  But with 24 hours between knocking out the 3rd player and the start of heads up play, you could have a 24 hours of study time for the one player standing in your way. 

And that’s not all.  With a 24 hour pause, the player who is chip leader could lose their momentum, or the player who is short stacked could use the time to regroup, and talk straegy with his coach / pro friends / anyone who is interested in talking strategy with one of the top 2 poker players of 2009.

In my opinion this 24 hour break helps the person who is tired or short stacked, and takes away the advantage of momentum and being able to last deep in a tourney.  I’ll be interested to see if they keep this break in future tourneys.  We’ll have to see how heavily it affects the final outcome of the 2009 WSOP.

There is nothing I like more when playing poker than looking down and seeing pocket Aces.  But occasionally, I’ll make a mistake, and wont raise enough, or there will just be too many people in the hand to maximize the AA potential. Folding Aces is difficult, but going broke on a hand you’re clearly beat on is just plain silly. 

And that leads me to the point.  Sometimes players fall in love with their hand, completely ignoring all of the big flashing signs to FOLD IT.  Its easy to do with AA or KK, but sometimes players (especially new players) can’t see past their own cards and only see what they want to see.  They end up getting burned.   Paying attention to the board, all of it, not just what hit for you, isextremely important.  Equally important is the betting.  If you’re rocking top pair, but people are playing back at you have a look at the board.  Is there a flush out there?  A straight?  I’m not advocating playing scared, just smart.  Knowing what can beat you, and what you can beat is a great practice to get into.

All of the info you need is right there if you’re willing to listen to it. 

With the ’09 World Series of Poker final table just a few weeks away, and Phil Ivey running not too badly on it…Full Tilt has introduced a brand new promotion in which some players get to take home some of the cash Phil Ivey makes off the final table!

You need to opt in for this promotion to take effect, (go to “My Promotions” in the cashier section, and follow the link) but once you are registered you’ll be entered into Random drawings.  The draws will be based on the amount of time you play at Full Tilt and the results.  In a cash game, any time you earn Full Tilt Points (FTP) you get five drawing tickets.  In a tourney (less than 30 players) you’ll earn five tickets for cashing in the money.  For biggertourneys (more than 30 players) you’ll get 20 tickets for cashing.  Final table gets 50 more tickets. 

The winners of the draws will get a seat the 5% Piece of Phil Ivey event.  Based on how much Ivey wins off the Main Even, the winner will get 5% of the winnings.  The worst he could do is 9th, and that means a cool $63000. 

If you don’t get a seat to the 5% of Phil Ivey event, you could also win other draws.  These inclue 1% of Phil’s money (minimum $12,000), and 600 cash payouts.

The Draws start Friday, November 6th at 10am, and the tournaments will be held Saturday November 7th at 2.  I would opt in early to ensure you get as many chances to win as possible!! Also, hope Phil takes the Main Event down this year!!

We’ve all been there.  You’re in mid position, later in a tourney, and you raise 3x the big blind.  Then someone in late position re-raises you all in.  But…you’re holding a high pocket pair.  Sure, it’s not KK or AA, but it’s STRONG.  And what are the chances that the guy in late position is holding one of the 2 hands that you’ll be only 20% to beat???

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t play these hands.  What i AM saying, however, is slow down and really think about what your opponent is holding.  If the guy has been playing position all night, and you feel you have a good read on him, for sure gamble a bit.  If it’s out of character for your opponent to re-raise or push, be very careful.

Its worth it to note that even a newer player is unlikely to re-raise (even in late position) with 99 or 1010, so any re-raise (or push) needs to be seriously considered, and balanced with what you know of the player (tells, history, aggressivness).  If you know very little about the player, it’s good to give them the benefit of the doubt and wait for a better shot to take them out later in the tourney.

Full Tilt poker is constantly trying to create the ultimate player experience.  They are always updating their interface and really do listen to feedback from players and pro’s alike.

The latest client update did not disappoint.  Two new options stand above, and they are innovative, and bring the feeling of playing on a high stakes televised cash game.

The first is the “Run it twice” option.  Essentially, this will add a new check box beside the “auto-post” and “auto-muck” options.  So, if two players with the “Run It Twice” box checked are all in, the remaining community cards will be laid down twice.  Twoseparate boards are created and each board is worth 50% of the pot.  This gets a little more excitement into the game, and can prevent you from losing your whole stack on one bad coin flip.

The other is a brand new concept in tournament play.  They are called “Cashout Tournaments,” and they allow players to withdraw part of all of their chips at any stage in the tournament.  At the start of the tournaments the buy ins are divided in two.  The first half forms a regular prizepool.  The other half goes into a cashout pool.  Any time before the final table you can withdraw chips in 10% increments of the starting stack.  Each of theses increments is equal to 5% of the buy in.  If you withdraw all your chips at once, this eliminates youfrom the tournament (and presumably removes your chips from play..which is kind of weird for everyone else playing in the tournament..). The cashout option can be accessed at any point by clicking on a large red button in the upper left of the table window.  Clicking the button will give you a window displaying how many chips you have and what compensation you will be paid for them.  Once you reach the final table, you no longer have the option to cash out.  The remaining cashout pool is distributed between the players who are left, in proportion to their stack size.

I’m not sure how the Cashout Tournament will work out, it seems like there are bugs to shake out on it.  If anyone has played one of these tournaments, i’d love to hear about it!  The “Run it twice” option really makes me want to fire up a cash game right now!  Right now the option is onlyavailable on certain NLHE, Omaha Hi, and HA tables in the Ivey’s Room section of Full Tilt...but there are plans to roll it out to other tables as well (maybe tournaments….although i’m not sure how that would work..)

Again, if you’ve played either of these options, i’d love to hear from you!  How do they work?? Is the run it twice option as cool as it sounds?? I have to wait until later to play!

On october 3rd i reported that two players on Full Tilt had their accounts deleted and their $50000 winnings forefitted for being accused of using poker bot’s on Full Tilt’s site.  A clear violation of the TOS.  They are seeking $80,000 in damages.

Today Full Tilt has responded with a press release, stating their position.

“Full Tilt Poker has been made aware of the recent filing of a baseless lawsuit by former Full Tilt Poker customers – Ms. Lary Kennedy and Mr. Greg Omotoy. Both of these player accounts were appropriately terminated for multiple violations of the express terms and conditions governing fair and lawful play in the Full Tilt Poker online virtual cardroom, including their own admissions of using multiple accounts,” was how they began.

Full Tilt went on to say that the claims have “no merit,” are “false assertions,” and that they will “remain committed to protecting their players from anything that might compromise the integrity of its [Full Tilt's] games.”

So, on one side, we have players claiming that Full Tilt uses bots to “increase the factor of luck in the games” and on the other Full Tilt saying that these players clearly violated the terms of service, cheated, and were dealt with accordingly.

Not that i’m taking sides, but this seems like a slam dunk.