Love Nuke

Names of few famous celebrities where making headlines last week for their alleged involvement in an illegal celebrity poker tournament. The name which was most dragged into the whole issue was Tobey Maguire who is facing lawsuit for his connections with former hedge fund manager Brad Ruderman. Apart from Tobey other celebrity names that were associated include Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon though none of them are facing any legal issues surrounding the controversy. The game, run by convicted con man and former hedge fund manager Brad Ruderman, attract a fairly well-heeled clientele of the Hollywood elite.

Tobey Maguire, star of the Spider-Man films, has hired a lawyer to argue that the poker gameisn’t illegal, as he’s being sued in connection with them and a $300,000 debt that was paid off with money Ruderman took from investors.

Reports now indicate that cocaine and hookers were also present at the games, with inside sources saying that

“It was known to a handful of us that one player would keep two hookers down the hall of the hotel in another room. He would disappear for 30-minutes at a time, leaving the main players in the game frustrated. In reality, he was getting to do blow (in a room with) two hookers.”

How Maguire plans to argue that a poker game run by a convicted con artist(a game in which Maguire himself is reported to have been winning over a million dollars a month in) ought to be interesting. But even more interesting than that is the unknown identity of the “one player”. No indication yet on who that might be, but it will probably be very newsworthy when it gets out, as it almost certainly will.

Late summer and early autumn are times when poker blossoms. At this time of the year there is a veritable feast of both live and online events that could keep any poker player occupied more or less permanently. To help you through these action packed times, we though you might like a few hot poker tips.

Always re-raise when possible – you have a good hand and you have beer re-raised; your best action is to re-raise again so as to increase the size of the pot. If you don’t think you will win, then get out straight away, but you are still in therefore you think you will win, so maximise your profits.

Play every pot that is worthwhile – you can’t win a pot if you are not in it. Don’t play with rubbish, but make sure other players pay to see the flop. Make them fold and take their blinds as more people fold than play.

Go all in on big pots that you have encouraged – by raising and re-raising you have driven the pot to a high level and there is still the river and maybe the turn to go. Now is the time to go all in. It will be tough for your opponents to decide whether or not to call and mostly he or she will fold and you win a huge pot.

Go all-in when you have the biggest stack – especially when you have forced up the pot. This really puts pressure on your opponents and it is a reliable way of intimidating them into making errors of judgment.

Yes – all these tips concern aggressive play, but August is a good time to get aggressive if you intend to win some substantial cash and build up your bankroll.

“…gulp”

An ellipsis and four letters.  So simple, yet it says so much.  This was the Tweet made by Howard Lederer at 4:49am Las Vegas time in response to fellow Team Full Tilt member Phil Ivey winning his eighth World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet.  Ivey out-dueled poker author and 2006 double bracelet winner Bill Chen to win the $3,000 HORSE event and $329,840.  Ivey has now pulled into a tie with Erik Seidel for fifth on the all-time WSOP bracelet list behind Phil Hellmuth (11), Johnny Chan (10),Doyle Brunson (10), and Johnny Moss (nine).

But that princely sum of just over $329,000 pales in comparison to the amount of money Ivey may have won in side bets with other poker pros.  It is not known for certain exactly how much Ivey will be collecting from top players such as Eli Elezra and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, but put it this way, word is that after winning, Ivey turned to someone and asked, “So how much is first, anyway?”

This brings us back to Lederer and his concise Tweet.  According to PokerListings, before this year’s WSOP, he bet Ivey $5 million that the young poker stud would not win two WSOP bracelets by the end of 2011.  Lederer is obviously starting to sweat now that Ivey is halfway there with all of next year’s WSOP plus 17 events this year still remaining.  After the tournament, the 33-year old Ivey told WSOP officials, “I think I can win 30 gold bracelets.  I think I can reach that if I keep playing and stay healthy.”

Ivey’s run to the title was one of the more impressive of the 2010 WSOP.  He was in decent shape when play started Monday with 25 players remaining, but when the field was narrowed to 16, or the final two tables, he was lagging behind as the shortest chip stack.  He then made a tremendous run and to reach the final table in second place behind only Chen.

He would need all of those chips to beat an extremely tough final table.  In addition to Chen, it included a combined eight bracelets from Jeffrey Lisandro, John Juanda, Ken Aldridge, and Chad Brown.  And those are just the final table players.  Bowing out Monday on the way to the final table were names like David Singer, Scott Seiver, Dan Heimiller, Farzad Bonyadi, and David Benyamine.

But even after knocking out Juanda in third place, Ivey entered heads-up play with Chen facing a 3-to-1 chip deficit.  After about 10 minutes, the gap had widened, as Ivey’s stack fell below one million.  But just over a half-hour into heads-up, Ivey took the lead, eventually flip-flopping the stacks that the two players had to start the one-on-one match.  Chen didn’t give up, though, and took the lead back, but Ivey turned the tables once again and didn’t look back.

After about two hours, the end came on a Razz hand.  On fifth street, all of Chen’s chips were in the pot and the two players showed their hands.  Chen had a strong one – a made 7-6 – but Ivey had him beat with a made 6-5.  Chen would need either a 3 for a chop or running 3-4 for a wheel to win the pot.  Both players received a 7 on sixth street, changing nothing, and Ivey was the one who made his wheel, drawing a 4 on the river to seal the deal.  Chen won $203,802 for second place.

According to TheHendonMob.com, the win gives Ivey $4,886,988 in total winnings in his WSOP history, putting him 12th on the all-time list.  The $329,840 in prize money for the tournament moved him back ahead of Daniel Negreanufor the top spot on the overall live tournament winnings leaderboard.  Ivey now has $12,836,394 in brick-and-mortar tournament earnings in his career, just ahead of Negreanu’s $12,633,218.

Former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack has a new gig. After parting ways with Harrah’s last November, Pollack is the new Executive Chairman of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and will serve on the company’s Board of Directors, according to the Sports Business Journal.

Former PBR CEO Randy Bernard stepped down in February to make his way to the Indy Racing League (IRL). Pollack has already made an impact on the new company despite having little tenure. He told the Sports Business Journal, “We’ll take a fresh look at scheduling and where we hold our competitions” and added, “We may retire the title of CEO, that’s something we haven’t decided.” Pollack makes his home in Los Angeles and PBR is based in Colorado.

In addition to the WSOP, Pollack previously held down positions with the NBA and NASCAR, making him one of the industry’s top sports marketers. He once expressed his desire to have poker players competing at the annual WSOP look like NASCAR drivers, leading to the deluge of high-profile logos gracing the series’ telecasts. He joined Harrah’s in 2005 and was instrumental in serving as the primary liaison between poker players and WSOP management.

Three days following Joe Cada’s victory over Darvin Moon in the finale of the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Pollack announced that he was leaving his post. Appropriately for the new-age WSOP Commissioner, he Tweeted his final statements to the poker world: “Thank you for allowing me to be part of the WSOP these last few years. I will always be a fan and friend to the poker community.” Pollack has not made a Twitter entry since November 13th.

On TwoPlusTwo, posters reacted to Pollack’s new gig with PBR. TwoPlusTwo member “PADRE24” questioned, “Congrats to Jeff! He did a great job and will be a good rep for bull riding. I wonder if he has to wear a cowboy hat now?” Meanwhile, “Eponymous” joked, “He probably just wants to meet Jewel, who is married to one of the PBR founders.” Jewel is married to Ty Murray, who is an advisor to the PBR’s Board.

Pollack is a half-brother of Gary Bettman, the Commissioner of the NHL, and was instrumental in bringing on several non-poker sponsors to the WSOP including Sirius Satellite Radio, AOL, Milwaukee’s Best, and Planters Peanuts. The latter sponsored the “Good Instinct Moment” during WSOP on ESPN telecasts. Current WSOP sponsors include Everest Poker, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, and Bluff Magazine.

In a December interview with Poker News Daily, UB.com pro and reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Annie Duke explained what Pollack’s departure meant to the poker community: “The community agrees that it may be bad for the players. What that speaks to, whether it’s true or not, was that he was a big friend to the players and that’s his legacy. What an amazing legacy for someone to have.”

WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart has assumed many of the front-line duties of Pollack, but no new Commissioner has been named. During the first bracelet ceremony of 2010, WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel took on the duties of awarding the piece of hardware to Hoai Pham, winner of the $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em tournament.

Bluff Magazine Editor-in-Chief Lance Bradley told Poker News Daily that PBR was wise to Pollack into its ranks: “I think the PBR is lucky to have somebody like Jeffrey on board with them. Jeffrey will probably admit he knows as much about bull riding as he did about poker when he started with Harrah’s – and that’s a good thing. They didn’t bring him onboard for his cowboy expertise – they brought him onboard for his experience taking a brand to the next level.”

In Texas Holdem, after players place required blinds or antes (see the Robert’s Rules of Poker in the upper right for basic structure rules), all players receive two down cards which remain hidden until the final showdown of hands. After the first two cards are dealt, a round of betting occurs. Next, three community cards are turned over at the same time. This is called the flop. Another round of betting follows. Then a fourth community card is exposed, the turn card, followed by another betting round. Finally a fifth community is dealt, the river card, and a last round of betting ensues.

After the completion of all betting comes the showdown. Players make hands by using the best five-card combination of their two personal cards and the five community cards. A player may use one or both cards out of their hand, or use only the five community cards.

A dealer button rotates around the table so each player is in the dealer’s position once a round. Normally two blinds are used, but other structures, including antes instead of or in addition to blinds can be used.

Irregularities
If the first card dealt is exposed, a misdeal results, meaning the dealer will reshuffle and re-deal the cards. If during the course of the deal any of the other down cards (hole cards) are exposed due to a dealer error, the deal continues. After completing the deal, the dealer replaces the exposed card with the top card on the deck, and the exposed card is then used for the burn card. If during the deal more than one hole card is exposed, this a misdeal and the cards are re-dealt. There is no option for a player to keep an exposed card.

If the dealer mistakenly deals the first player a third down card, that card is returned to the deck, placed on top, and used as the burn card. If the dealer accidentally deals two or more extra cards, it is a misdeal regardless of any betting that may have already occurred.

If the flop contains too many cards, the cards are retrieved, re-shuffled and the flop is re-dealt — even if it is possible to surmise which card is the “extra” card.

If the dealer accidentally turns the fourth card before a betting round was completed, the exposed card is taken back out of play, even if the remaining player or players choose to not call any final bets. Once betting is genuinely completed, the dealer burns and exposes what would have been the fifth card in the fourth card’s place. After the next round of betting, the dealer will reshuffle the remaining deck, but not burn cards or discards, including the card that had been incorrectly exposed, and then exposes a river card without burning a card. If the river card is exposed prematurely, the deck is reshuffled/re-dealt similarly.

Cards Speak
Cards Speak, which means no matter what a player says about the value of their Texas Holdem hand, the actual value is the best possible hand the combination of cards can make. Player’s should protect their own hands, but the casino dealer should read the proper value of what a player’s hand is.

To win a pot you must show both your cards. Showing one but discarding the other will cause a player to lose the pot. A player must first declare they want to play the five community cards (play the board) before discarding their hole cards. If a player discards their hand before stating they want to play the board, they relinquish their claim to the pot.