Archive for August, 2009

Good Afternoon Poker Colleagues,

It’s time for the third episode of my list, and while I normally should be learning for my exam, I’ll put a little speed behind it;). So here we go :

(90) =>  LUCA   PAGANO

> born in 1978, Treviso (ITA)

> still lives in Treviso.

> has several finishes in EPT and WSOP

> plays at PokerStars as a member of the Team PokerStars professionals.

> has Total Live Winnings of almost $1.000.000 (2009)

Luca has studied Computer Science and likes to deal a lot in shares. His 11 cashes in the European Poker Tour ( = EPT) is also a record.

(89) =>  AMIR   VAHEDI

> born in 1961, Tehran ( IRAN).

> lives now in Sherman Oaks, California.

> won 1 Bracelet ( 2003 NL Hold’em)

> was NL Hold’em player of the year in 2001.

> won over $3.225.000 in live tournament play (2008).

Amir is pretty famous because he was the first tutor of actor Ben Affleck. He made the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003 where he finished sixth, namely after winner Chris Moneymaker.

(88) =>  MINH   LY

> Minh Hoang Ly

> born 24/03/1967, Vietnam.

> lives now in Temple City, California.

> married to Lu Binh.

> won 1 WPT title (2005) beating Dan Harrington heads-up.

> has live tournaments winnings over $2.700.000 (2008)

Minh is very well-known as a high stakes pro, playing regularly at ” The Big Game”. He finished 9th in the WSOP Main Event of 2002, the year Robert Varkonyi won. He was being imitated by Daniel Negreanu because of his heavy accent during the second season of the show High Stakes Poker, but finding it quite amusing.

(87) =>  VICKY   COREN

> Victoria Coren

> born 18/08/1973 in the UK.

> lives now in London (UK).

> Nickname:  Teacup

> won 1 EPT Title in London  (2006).

> plays at PokerStars as a member of Team PokerStars.

> won more than $1.200.000 (2008) in live tournament play.

Vicky is a very respected writer and presenter of several television shows in the UK. She writes weekly columns in The Observer and The Guardian. She was also the first woman ever to win a EPT tournament.

(86) =>  SEBASTIAN   RUTHENBERG

> born  06/02/1984, in Hamburg (GER) and still lives there.

> Nickname:  Miamivice

> won 1 Bracelet (2008 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low), beating Chris Ferguson heads-up.

> won 1 EPT Title in Barcelona (2008).

> has live tournament winnings of almost $3.000.000 (2008).

So , there were some good European Players in the spotlight today, next time it’s maybe different. I’m gonna dive in my books now, before I’m going to play at my home game tonight. Beware of the bad beats and see you next time !

J.M.

Hello Pokerplanet !!

Welcome to the second episode of my first pokerlist: the Most Famous Poker Player top-100. Today I’ll present you the next five players, meaning numbers 95 to 91 with among them the first former WSOP Main Event winner of the list, like I’ve said before. I hope you already have an idea about who it could be because I’m going to reveal him today, namely on number 91. But logically I’ll start where we stopped, starting with number 95.

(95) =>  MIMI  TRAN

> Thithi (Mimi) Tran

> born 05/07/1960 in Vietnam.

> lives now in Los Angeles, California.

> has 2 children.

> reached several final tables at the WSOP tournaments.

> her live tournaments winnings are above $1.500.00 (2009) with which she stands in the top 10 of the richest women in poker.

Mimi is probably the most famous because of her former relationship with poker Pro Barry Greenstein. She made a deal with him that when he would learn her to play poker, than she would teach him how to speak Vietnamese. Mimi is well known as a great high stakes cash game player which she proved on the first season of High Stakes Poker.

(94) =>  MAX PESCATORI

> Massimiliano Pescatori

> born 1971, Milan (ITA).

> lives now in Las Vegas, Nevada.

> Nickname : The Italian Pirate

> won 2 Bracelets (2006 NL Hold’em – 2008 PL Hold’em/Omaha)

> has over $2.800.000 (2009) in live tournament wnnings

Max moved to Vegas in 1994, where he first started to play Seven Card Stud before he switched to Hold’em because it was far more profitable for him. He’s also a typical Italian, very proud of his country which he often shows by wearing a bandana with the colours of Italy or a soccershirt from the Squadra Azzura.

(93) =>  J.J.  LIU

> Joanne Jishung Liu

> born 10/04/1965 in Taiwan

> married to Poker Pro Dan Alspach and got 3 kids.

> lives now in Palo Alto, California.

> Nickname :  J.J.

> ranked 6th in the Women’s All Time Money List with her live tournament winnings over $2.000.000.

She has a master’s degree in computer engineering. J.J. was also the first woman in 2007 who became second in the World Poker Tour Championship Event, losing heads-up to Ted Forrest. But she’s probably the most famous for her weird hats,  for her extravagant, colourful outfits and for her Greg Raymer glasses which she often wears during a hand.

(92) => ALEX  KRAVCHENKO

> Alexander Kravchenko

> born 21/04/1971 in USSR

> married and has 2 children

> lives now in Moscow (RUS)

> won 1 Bracelet ( 2007 Omaha Hi/Lo split 8 or better)

> plays at PokerStars as a member of the Team PokerStars Pro

> has life tournament winnings over $3.000.000 (2009)

With his Bracelet win in 2007 became Alex the first Russian ever to win a Bracelet. It was a good year for him because he also almost won the Main Event then, finishing 4th. Jerry Yang was the ultimate winner, more about him in a moment;) .

(91) => JERRY  YANG

> Xao ” Jerry” Yang

> born 1968 in Laos

> married and has 6 children

> lives now in Temecula, California.

> Nickname : The Shadow

> won 1 Bracelet ( 2007 Main Event WSOP)

> plays at Full Tilt Poker

> won 8.250.000$ for his win at the Main Event which is pretty much his total life tournament winnings (2009). He’s still in the top-15 of all time money winners in Poker, despite no other significant wins.

Jerry holds a master’s degree in health psychology and started to play poker in 2005. He qualified for the 2007 Main Event through a satellite, just like Chris Moneymaker did when he won in 2003. He came as 8th on the final table but he knocked out 7 of the 8 other players before winning heads-up against Tuan Lam when he made a straight on the river with his pair of eights against Tuan’s Ace-Queen ( top pair, top kicker). Jerry had always a picture of his six children at the table, which confirms his image of a true family man, who’s very religious and humble. He proved that once more by donating 10% (825.000$) of his Main Event prize money to several charities.

J.M.

Hi Pokerfriends !

I’m very glad to present you my first pokerlist, namely the Most Famous Poker Players (MFPP) top-100 !!! It’s finally finished so from now on you can follow it pending the next posts in which I’ll always give you five names, starting with number 100.  I’ve selected him on my own so it’s pretty subjective but you can always make a comment if you don’t agree. So here are the first five, numbers 100 to 96, I hope you recognize them .

(100) =>  BOB STUPAK

> born 06/04/1942 in Pittsburgh (USA)

> married twice, has three children, lives in Las Vegas

> nickname : The Polish Maverick

> won 1 bracelet (1989 the 2-7 lowball)

> has over 865.000$ live tournament winnings( 2008)

Robert E. “Bob” Stupak is considered as an entrepeneur and a former casino owner. He’s mostly recognized by his typical manner of talking and handling, namely very slow and weird due to a motorcrash accident in 1995, where he went in a coma and broke every bone in his face. He even became a politician in 2006 as a Democrat. But he’s probably become the most famous when he appeared in episode eight and nine of the first season of High Stakes Poker. He sat down on a table among others like Daniel Negreanu , Johnny Chan, Sam Farha and Todd Brunson. He didn’t play a single hand and while the others were making comments about his extremely tight play, he picked up AA, raised and got called by Daniel’s pocket sevens. After the flop came Q-10-8, he immediatly went all-in with a ridiculous oversized bet and got the pot. Finally that was also his only hand that he played.

(99) => LIZ  LIEU

> born 02/09/1974 in Vietnam.

> lives now in Los Angeles, California.

> nickname : Poker Diva

> has an exclusive partnership with Chilipoker

> has earned almost 700.000$ in live tournament play.

Liz have been introduced and encouraged to the no limit hold’em tournaments by John Phan because she only played limit cash games first and she became very successful with it. She also appeared on the PartyPoker.com Premier League II along others like Phil Hellmuth, Tony G and The Devilfish.

(98) =>  J.C.  TRAN

> Justin Cuong Van Tran

> born 20/01/1977  in Vietnam

> based in Sacramento, California

> won 2 bracelets (2008 NL hold’em – 2009 PLO) and 1 WPT title (2007)

> was WPT Player of the Year in their fifth season (2007)

> plays at PokerStars where he won the Main Event of the World Championship of Online Poker(WCOOP) in 2006

> has almost eight million $ of live tournament winnings ( 2009).

You can recognize him most of the time by his sporting outfits and hats, especially of the Yankees. He  has a university degree in Business Management. J.C. also won the PartyPoker.com Premier League III at the end of last year when he beat Tony G in heads-up play.

(97) => JUHA  HELPPI

> born 04/03/1977 in Helsinki ( FIN) and still lives there.

> nickname : Peasant

> won 1 WPT title ( 2002 Aruba)

> won in 2007 the PartyPoker.com Premier League II.

> has live tournament winnings over 2.400.00$ (2009)

Juha began his poker career as a poker dealer. He also won the first under water tournament organised by InterPoker in 2005 where he beat Phil Laak and Kenna James to win the Caribbean Poker Classic Extreme Poker bracelet. Juha is also known as a very good paintball player and he was even the captain of the national squad of Finland.

(96) => DAVID  SKLANSKY

> born in 1947 in Teaneck, New Jersey (USA) and he now lives in Henderson, Nevada.

> nickname : The Mathematician

> won 3 bracelets (1982 Draw High- 1982 Mixed doubles- 1983 Limit Omaha)

> is a top author on gambling theory and poker with more than 13 books, all published by Two Plus Two Publishing.

With several degrees on his back, David is widely considered as one of the founders of the Theoretical Poker school where the calculations and theory of probability are very important. Players like Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch and Brandon Adams are very close and familiar with that manner of playing poker. David brought in 1976 the first book out connected with poker, namely Hold’em Poker.

So people, we took off with those five interesting players, see you next time for the next five, the numbers 95-91. It won’t be too long to find out but for the one who are too curious,  I give this tip: next time you’ll see the first WSOP Main Event winner aka one of the former World Champions of Poker! You can think and guess already who it’s going to be

Cheers,

J.M.

Good Day Friends of Poker !

I’m running extremely bad this summer with some tremendous, horrifying beats and daily one and two outers hitting against me as well online as live. Especially Ace-King has become one of my most losing hands. I really think I’m gonna leave PokerStars for a while.Therefore, to gain some morale again, I’ll show you now one of the rare winning hands of the last months.

I was playing a multi table 3$-SnG and with the blinds at 50$/100$ my stack of 1400$ was a bit below the average. I woke up on the button with :

So I made a minimum raise on the button with three folding people in front of me and I only got a call from the small blind before we saw the flop: . Hellooo Yeah Baby, I just flopped the ABSOLUTE NUTS !!! There is just a chance of 0,245% to flop a four of a kind when you hold a pair. Thus I check after the SB checked and we saw the same after the turn came: . Finally I get some action on the river : . He bet half my stack into a pot of 500$ and I immediately chipped my stack in, followed by his call with . It’s so pleasant to play when you have the nuts !

I’ve got some other great news: my first list of the top-100 most Famous Poker Players is finished. I promised you some names of players who didn’t make my list, well here are the unlucky one’s: David Rheem, Robert Varkonyi, David Oppenheim, Jamie Rosen, Kirk Morrison, David Benefield, Lee Watkinson, Willy Tann and Hasan Habib.Next time you’ll see the numbers 100 to 96 ! Be there,

Cheers

J.M.

Hi Pokerfans ! !

I told you last time about that dreadful, sick beat against harmand24 where he made a runner runner inside straight bluff when I made trips on the flop.Now I’ll show you how I went out of that SnG two hands later. The blinds were 75$/ 150$ and after that beat I only had a tiny 365$ left behind. I sat on the button with :

So after a limp under the gun from harmand24 and twe folding people in front of me, I automatically shove with a good hand like Ace-Ten. I get a call from the small blind and our dear friend. Than the flop was pretty good for me :

After 2 checks ( Yeah I know, he didn’t shove at once ), the turn seems pretty harmless, especially followed by another 2 checks. Afterwards it was time for the deadly river: . The small blind checked again and when our friend betted out 300$ I immediately knew where I was .. dead and gone out of the Sng against .

You see really any hand can win against another in Poker at anytime, even against the premium hands, so be careful ! But I hope that I have the honour to sit at the same table again sometime as harmand24.

Next time I’ll show you that I also could win a hand and I’ll already tell you some names of PokerPlayers who didn’t get to my final top 100 most Famous PokerPlayers.

Cheers!

J.M.

Hi Pokerpeople !

My first post must be a special one so I want to show you the abominable, dark side of the Pokergame. Yeah, that’s right, how cruel and frustrating it could be, especially the beats that everyone will remember !! ( you’ll notice that I’m not overacting after reading this )
I’ve got the perfect example here to prove that:

I was playing a Sng (27 players / 3$ buy-in) at PokerStars. We were half way, 13 players left, with the blinds at 50$/ 100$ and I was one of the stack leaders at that moment with a stack of 6425$ before I woke up in the BB with

So I’m in the Big Blind, Harmand24 calls with 2 folded hands in front of him and hawind62 goes all-in over the top for another 1330$. I consider his possible hands and I put him on 2 high cards or a middle to high pair, something like Tens. After the button and small blind fold, I decide to call this 7 handed with a much better than average hand for about 20%  of my stack and have a good shot to eliminate an other player. Harmand24 also calls the all-in bet.

The flop was : 

That’s a very good flop for me and I check to see if Harmand24 eventually wants to check it down. Surprisingly he goes all-in for another 4655$. I think a while what he could probably have and as I knew him as a rather loose, wild player who definitely would have raised with a big Ace, I just put him on a weak Ace or maybe a little to middle pair or even worse. So I call and surprisingly see that,                                                                           Harmand24 has:   and hawind62 has

I was very lucky that I outflopped his Kings and that Harmand24 just makes a silly move with The Lierse (9,7). I’m glad that I easily eliminate 2 players now as I’m pretty confident to see turn and river. As cautious I went after the turn ,

as stunned and speechless I turned after the river

Rather than fury, it really left me half dead (with a stack of 440$), unconscious, because something like that as never happened to me. So sick. I still feel queasy as I think about it.Maybe I should have pushed all-in pre-flop? or bet first after the flop? I still think it wouldn’t have matter

I finished 12th because the next hand, the same guy gives me another sick beat which I’ll show you next time !

Cheers !

P.S. Shortly I’ll start with my first list, The top-100 most famous Poker Players ! So you can always leave your favourites in a comment or a message and I’ll take that into account.

See you soon,

J.M.