Archive for April, 2010

Hi there poker world !

Today I ‘ll inform you a little bit about the upcoming Spring Championship  of Online Poker for 2010 at PokerStars. Yours truly is of course in as well. You may remember that I’ve won 4 tournament tickets to play during the SCOOP 2010. I’ve won those during the WBCOOP earlier this year, as you could see at my site. I’ve a $11, $16.50, $22 and $ 33 tournament ticket so I can play at different stakes and levels. Hopefully I can cash at least once which will be a big benefit for my bankroll. Ok, I see you thinking. Of course I should say that I can WIN one, but my luck during coin flips at PokerStars hasn’t been of the highest calibre. Anyway I’m sticking to my smallball poker game plan! We’ll see…

Here are some facts and stats about the upcoming SCOOP, starting at May 2 and ending with the Main Event at May 16 :There is a total Guarenteed Prize Pool of $45,000,000 between the 38 Events. The lowest buy-in is $11 and the highest buy-in is $10,300.

This serie of tournaments is composed of many different poker variants, such as Hold’em, Omaha and Stud, and there are also the mixed games such as Horse and 8-Game. An other good thing about the SCOOP is definately the fact that every event have three different buy-in levels: Low, Medium and High. So really anyone can experience this event and maybe become a SCOOP-champion.

One event I’ll probably play is the 8-game. I’ve only played it once before at the WBCOOP and I immediately cashed. What a miracle it was because I didn’t even know than how every game should be played ! Maybe it’s perfect for me and it was a lot of fun also. There exists also a mix form, as they’ll never stop inventing new games. How can we learn a game for god sakes?!? The first time I’ve heard this 8 game Mix I didn’t think it had something to do with poker but this is How to play 8 Game Mix !

Hopefully I’ll see you at the SCOOP tables and beat your Aces !! I’ll report about my results and experiences during the SCOOP between the last names of my Most Famous Poker Player top-100.

Cheers,

J.M.

Hi there poker nit !

It has been a while, I know. But I was very busy trying to explore all the different online poker rooms out there. I can assure you that there are many, as you know yourself. You must see which poker room offers you the best deals, the best first deposit offers and of course the best and most variated program. That’s a bit my problem at FatBet poker because there are just a little players, and mostly fish which is very nice, but there aren’t any good tournaments or sit and go’s. I’ve noticed that I’m not very lucky on the online cash games. Maybe my play is better suited for an online poker tournament as I’ve noticed in the past. I think that I just miss a little bit of aggressiveness to be successful at the cash games, especially when I don’t hit flops for a while. But that’s certainly not a problem for the next two players…

(14)   =>   ANTONIO   ESFANDIARI

> Amir Esfandiari

> born 08/12/1978, Tehran (IRA)

> resides now in San Francisco, California (USA)

> Nickname : ‘ The Magician ‘

> won 1 Bracelet (’04 Pot Limit Hold’em)

> became 24th at the WSOP Main Event in 2009

> won 1 WPT-title (LA Poker Classic ‘04)

> has Live Tournament Earnings of over $3,500,000 (until 2009)

Antonio moved to the United States, San José in California, with his family at the age of 9. He changed his first name in Antonio at the age of 19 and became a professional magician. He was being introduced in poker while he was performing magic. He’s well-known as a great, funny and complete poker player who made different final tables at WPT and EPT and has excellent results at the big cash games. He became 2nd at the third season of Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and appeared on each season of GSN’s High Stakes Poker and NBC’s Poker After Dark. As a former magician, he’s famous for his chip and card trick techniques and his classy, fluorescent shirts. He co-starred with his best friend Phil Laak in the Tv show I Bet You and they’ve created the table game ‘What Johnny Lodden Thinks‘ together. Antonio is one of the few players who doesn’t like online poker and rarely plays. According to Phil Hellmuth, Antonio has been his worst nightmare at the poker table for years.

(13)   =>   STU   UNGAR

> Stuart Errol “Stu” Ungar

> born 08/09/1953 in New York City (USA)

> died 22/11/1998 of a heart condition in a Motel room.

> was married to Madeline and had 2 kids, Stefanie and Ritchie.

> Nickname : ‘ The Kid ‘ or ‘ Stuey ‘

> is the only player who won the WSOP Main Event 3 times !! (’80,’81,’97)

> won 2 other Bracelets (’81 2-7 Draw/ ‘83 Seven Card Stud)

> was being introduced into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2001.

> won an estimated 30 million dollar in his career.

Born to Jewish parents, Stuey started to gamble very early in the bar of his father playing gin and won his first local tournament at the age of 10. He was a gifted and genius kid who was always busy calculating odds, just like his mentor Victor Romano. Stu quickly dropped out of school to play gin rummy full time to support his mother and family after the death of his father. He took up poker in 1974 when he moved to Vegas. He entered the World Series in 1980 as his second Texas Hold’em tournament and won after beating Doyle Brunson in heads-up play. He became the third player, next to Brunson and Johnny Moss,  the year after who was back to back world champion of poker. Stuey was infamous for his arrogance and criticizing talk at the table. But his memory and card counting ability was immense which made him also a feared blackjack player for the casinos. Years later he became a cocaine addict, which badly influenced his results, but not his game. He loved the action and was always ready to gamble and bet on anything. He won the WSOP Main Event in 1997 after he received the buy-in from his good friend Billy Baxter as Stu was deeply in debt due to his gambling and coke addiction. He wasted his earnings in the following months on crack and sports betting and saw every Vegas gutter, despite several offers from his close friend Bob Stupak. Stuey also won Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker 3 times in ‘84,’88 and ‘89, when it was considered the world’s second most prestigious poker title. There came a movie in 2003 based on his life called: ‘ High Roller: The Stu Ungar story‘. His biography was published in 2005 and ESPN’s Emmy winning documentary about his life was broadcast in 2006 which proved that he’s still a true poker legend. Mister Stu Ungar is wildly considered as the greatest and most talented Texas Hold’em and gin rummy player of all time.

See you next time for two of the best online and real life players on this planet, as we’re closer to the magical top Ten. Beware of the bad beats !

Cheers,

J.M.

Welcome Poker Lovers !

I’ve decided to quit Everest Poker for a while because the site did let me down. Okay, there were a lot of fish but they were quite lucky most of the time. The lay-out and tournament offer is quite disappointing and the cash games tables aren’t extensive. I hate to wait when I’ve some time left to play some hands. But I’m glad that I could manage to double my starting stack, so it still was a successful collaboration. I’m thinking about where I’m going to play poker now. You may always give me any advice about poker sites! But for now, I think that I’m going to explore FatBet Poker. They offer a big rakeback and 1000% First Deposit Bonus. So that should be perfect to play some cash game there in combination with the tournaments at PokerStars. I’ll inform you about my winnings but for now here are the next two legends !

(16)   =>   PHIL   LAAK

> Philip Laak

> born 08/09/1972, Dublin (IRE)

> resides now in Los Angeles, California (USA)

> dating fellow poker pro and actress Jennifer Tilly

> Nickname : ‘ The Unabomber ‘

> won 1 WPT-title (’04 Celebrity Invitational)

> won 2 Poker After Dark titles.

> won the PartyPoker.com World Open V Championship in 2009.

> has Live Tournament Earnings of almost $ 2,000,000 (until 2009)

Although born in Ireland, Phil was actually raised on the East Coast of the United States where he graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a Mechanical degree in Engineering. He has a variety of past jobs, including engineer, gardener, professional world-class backgammon player,  real estate investor and many more. Phil is one of the most controversial characters on the circuit while he’s playing with his own special style. He’s also very extravagant and talkative with his unusual and inventive speeches. He created the term ‘Felted‘ , meaning when you lost all your chips. Phil got his Nickname because he’s always wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses at the table and so looks as the forensic sketch of Theodore Kaczynski. Mr. Laak is a former roommate and best friend of fellow poker pro Antonio Esfandiari. They made the tv show ‘ I Bet You’ together and created the ‘What Johnny Lodden Thinks’ game. Phil has proven that he’s good in tournaments and high stakes cash games. He won the inaugural William Hill Poker Grand Prix, after beating Ram Vaswani, made 3 WPT final tables and appeared in several Poker Royale series and seasons of High Stakes Poker. He has written a monthly column in Bluff Magazine since 2005. He beated Polaris, a poker playing computer program developed by the University of Alberta in 2007, together with Ali Eslami.

(15)   =>   DAN   HARRINGTON

> born 06/12/1945 in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA)

> resides now in Santa Monica, California.

> Nickname : ‘ Action Dan ‘

> was the 1995 WSOP Main Event World Champion Winner

> won 1 other Bracelet (’95 NL Hold’em)

> won 1 WPT-Title (’07 Legends of Poker)

> played against Bill Gates at Harvard.

> has Live Tournament Winnings of over$ 6,600,000 (until 2009)

Dan is a former backgammon champion, U.S Chessmaster and bankrutcy atterney. He’s one of the premium players from the Mayfair Club in the mid-1980s, along with others like Lederer, Seidel and Zolotow. He consideres himself as a part-time poker player(only for the money !) while he’s more a successful businessman. He owns and operates his own real estate and stock market company Anchor Loans. Dan is well-known for his green Boston Red Sox cap and for his solid, tight, agressive play with strict starting hands standards, which makes him one of the best tournament players in history. Mr. Harrington could be called ‘Mister Main Event’ for his deep runs in the WSOP ME. He was 17th in 1996, 6th in 1987, 3th in 2003, 4th in 2004 and of course did he won in 1995. His back to back Main Event final tables has been regarded as the greatest accomplishment in the World Series of Poker History. Besides playing poker, Dan is very famous for his series of instructional poker books, widely recognized as the “Poker Bible” for any NL Hold’em Tournament player, published by Two Plus Two Publishing and co-authored by Bill Robertie.

Well, we’ve still 14 players to go in my Most Famous Poker Players list and yet you see such great names. It’s only getting beter, that I can promise you. Another mysterious thing about those two players is the fact they both aren’t that much into online poker. They love the live action, each in a other way;). For now, I’m going to make some more money online, using the small ball poker strategy which always benefits me before trapping them and getting all the money in with at least 90% chance. I hope that I run good this time.

Cheers,

J.M.