Poker in Rio - not that you'd know it

Date: Wed, May 14, 2008 Internet

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Someone's missed a trick.

Bear in mind how the Aruba Poker Classic sets up for a final table...

Now bear in mind what Rio de Janeiro has to offer from a scenery standpoint:























































Now ask yourself, is this really the best the Latin American Poker Tour could do for the final table setting on its Brazilian stop?

Come on organisers; a little imagination, please...

[all Rio pics courtesy of philliecasablanca]

Poker books: the best ever title

Date: Mon, May 12, 2008 Internet

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Not quite sure what Alan Bostick's point is, in What Almost Every Poker Author Gets Wrong About Starting Hand Selection in Texas Hold'em. So accepted wisdom is a little back-to-front? It doesn't invalidate it, surely?

But I don't care. His article introduced me to The Best Poker Book Title Ever and for that, I'll forgive him anything.

There are reviews of John Fox's 1980s book (which deals primarily with draw poker) here, here, and here but what the hell? This is a book you buy primarily to leave it lying around the house ready for when guests call.

Like a Grateful Dead album or a bourbon bottle standing casually by your easy chair, it hints at the real, maverick you. And of all the stunning women out there, I reckon at least one in every ten thinks she can save a man with a self-destruction complex.

How to save your publisher thousands in promotion costs

Date: Mon, May 12, 2008 Internet

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Something not even Wilbur Smith and John Grisham can do: win the FullTilt $750,000 Guaranteed Event and watch those poker instructional strategies book sales soar all on their own...

Many congratulations, Matthew Hilger, for proving that those who can are sometimes also those who teach...

Poker Room Review - River Card Room, NH

Date: Fri, May 9, 2008 Internet

Poker News has this to say has about the River Card Room in Milford, New Hampshire, if you're looking for some entertainment around the Boston area.

Further reviews are here, along with a map providing directions to the poker room and details of other New Hampshire card rooms. Looks like one for the novices and intermediates rather than the ultra serious card players.

Poker Players and Loose Women Permitted Here

Date: Fri, May 9, 2008 Internet

Every theme bar entrepreneur should be made to read this piece about the Pioneer Saloon in Goodsprings, Nevada, (travel 25 miles south-west of Las Vegas) if only in the hope that the penny might finally drop.

"The sense of decorum at this town's 95-year-old watering hole is summed up by two signs that greet its patrons:

'Open Everyday Till The Drinking Stops.'

'Poker Players and Loose Women Are Permitted In This Establishment.'


"...ask the regulars about Gary. The longtime regular died unexpectedly while drinking in the bar a few years ago; they say the bartender downed Gary's unfinished beer, smashed the glass and proclaimed: 'To you!'"


"The place had been allowed to deteriorate, the staff says, until part of the floor collapsed one day, dumping patrons into a mining shaft."


"Friendly Dave (member No. 1872) also runs "chicken bingo" outside the bar. Players pay $10, pick a number on a board and wait to see if a chicken defecates on it."


"Locals say the saloon's star turn came in 1942: They claim a shaken Clark Gable waited there to hear whether wife Carole Lombard survived a plane crash on nearby Mt. Potosi. (She didn't)"

You don't reproduce something like this, Mr Theme Bar Entrepreneur. The best you can do is go away and come up with an idea of your own that's just as good.

And you'll excuse us if we don't hold our breath.

Free Poker Training Videos

Date: Tue, May 6, 2008 Internet

Enjoy these instructional videos freebies while you can. The one of Isaac Haxton commenting on low-stakes multi-tabling teaches me one thing within seconds: if you struggle just to follow multi-table poker, you probably shouldn't be playing it...

Bookmakers in European Union legal action

Date: Tue, May 6, 2008 Internet

Great bookmakers bust-up brewing in that utopia known as the European Union ("A unique economic and political partnership between 27 democratic European countries") where we're all one big happy family and everyone can muscle in on everyone else's markets without so much as a raised eyebrow in protest.

"Ladbrokes has received notice from lawyers representing Svenska Spel, threatening legal action against the company unless it withdraws an advertising campaign which it launched in Sweden on May 1st.

"The advertisement for sports betting carries the slogan 'Svenska Spel, Engelska Odds', which translates as 'Swedish Games, English Odds'."

If litigation was settled by soundbites, UK company Ladbrokes would be home and hosed already:

On the question of whether the advertisement could be seen as a direct provocation of Svenska Spel, [Ladbrokes'] Mr. Dilschmann says, 'actually, it is.

"'For a long time, Svenska Spel has insulted its consumers through an illegal economic monopoly and bad odds. To now try and monopolise the Swedish language is even more disappointing. Svenska Spel should be ashamed.

"'It is easy to understand why Svenska Spel wants to control the language. When you speak out clearly, it is obvious how bad their offering is. For a state-owned monopoly company I suppose it is natural to try and threaten its competitors into silence,' he said."

So what do you say to that, Svenska Spel?

"Ladbrokes is using our typeface and our company name in a commercial advertising inappropriate gambling. If they do not stop, we will take this to court."

Oh, right.

And that's why Wagering War is proud to be European. It's the continent that puts the 'Me' into 'Younion'.

Classy gesture by True Poker

Date: Fri, May 2, 2008 Internet

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Anyone who works in the corporate jungle will be familiar with the 'non-person' philosophy - the idea that the moment someone ceases to exist on your payroll or your sponsors' list, that person or entity ceases to exist, with not so much an acknowledgment of his leaving or what he did for you while he was there.

I believe it's all part of the brilliant executive mindset that believes any display of gratitude, compassion or even the remotest acknowledgment that an association which once worked well has run its course, is tantamount to weakness. Everything in Corporate Land must be positive and 'goodbye' is seen as a negative.

So hats off to True Poker for bucking the trend of this infantile crap and showing that there are still businessmen out there who can handle closure of commercial arrangements with a dignity that befits their age. Not to mention their salaries.

Here's the nub of how they announced the end of a deal with Third Bullet Poker:

"...Third Bullet Poker has informed TruePoker that it is moving its brand to the Cake Poker Network, effective May1st. By agreement between our companies, you do not have to stop play here on TruePoker’s software. You can have their Cake and play here too !

"...We wish Third Bullet Poker well in their new home and appreciated their business while their brand was hosted here."

It's a sad reflection on modern business mores that I have to hold this up as a refreshing breath of fresh air but so be it. A classy performance by True Poker and a welcome reminder that not everyone in modern corporate management has his head up his butt.
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On the subject of purported adults in high places, if you still wonder how the American authorities can still get themselves in such an almighty lather over Internet gambling, this story from the world of alcoholic beverages might make things a little clearer. And sadder.

Another bad rap for AK in a poker context

Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 Internet

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No matter how you play it, AK gets you in all sorts of trouble, especially when it's followed by 47:

After he was stopped by police, Michael Sean Conran told police he, his girlfriend and a friend had spent Monday night playing poker. After they left the party, Conran decided to pull off the road and fire the AK-47 that was in his car into the ground...

I'm sure we can all empathise with that. Personally, after a bad session at the tables, there's nothing I like more than to discharge mortar shells into a nearby shopping mall...

What was it Charlton Heston once said about gun control?



Now might be good...
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Just a thought on this whole Vegas tipping row. Personally, if we've got to the stage where seasoned journalists are writing phrases like "carefully negotiated, nuanced tipping policies", presumably with a straight face, isn't it time we were considering consigning the whole fatuous concept to the dustbin?

In a world devoid of tips, employers who don't pay enough to make tipping irrelevant, will struggle to attract employees or to keep them for long and they will be forced to raise their pay accordingly. Tipping becomes history, customers unfamiliar with those 'carefully negotiated nuances' are spared unnecessary embarrassment and management and unions are freed from one more drain on their time.

Am I missing something?
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Deal - a review
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Poker Twitter:

"researching Boris Becker's poker results this year. Concerned that 'gingerism' may be becoming a new 'racism'. Red headed jokes now v. nasty"

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I bow to no man in my admiration for Katja Thater but I do believe I've found the second Most Beautiful Woman in Poker.

Looking through the rest of Eric Willis' photo album, Poker Night in Walnut Creek, I must be honest: this is the kind of scenario that makes me think live poker may be a little overrated. The time for silly hats is New Year's Eve and even then I'm not overly keen.

That, however, was before I saw Melissa:



















Apparently no stranger to the word 'style', she carries a hat well and is clearly - how do I put this? - all woman. She is the most beautiful sight I have seen in poker for some time and undoubtedly my Poker Picture of the Day, save for the fact that she deserved far more than to be a mere footnote to today's post.
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So instead I've gone for this one. I don't know if I'm reading too much into it but it seems to be a poker twist on the Turin Shroud. If so, then it works.

Should my blog be more narrow-minded?

Date: Mon, Apr 28, 2008 Internet

Just thinking about how to take Wagering War forward, I would be interested to have readers' thoughts on the following:

Should this be purely a poker blog or do you like to read the occasional post on gambling in general?

I have no preference either way. WW started out as a general gambling blog but its focus is now 80-90% poker, reflecting the fact that the game is now my primary outlet when it comes to peeing money up the wall.

I still enjoy chronicling the odd thought on punting elsewhere, whether it involves quirks of the Turf or casino life in general but it occurs to me that diluting the poker element may be working against me.

So if you play poker yourself, how do you like your gambling blogs? Your vote and any other comments would be most welcome...

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Spin this: another in the series highlighting those fabulous PR coups that make you rejoice to be a gambler...

Mother expected in court for taking kids to card game
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Poker Pic of the Day

Poker: what if we called the pot a mutual fund...?

Date: Thu, Apr 24, 2008 Internet

Just when you think nothing can top the 'America's right to kidnap on foreign soil' story, mid-way through this broadcast, watch the last item on 'legalised online gambling':



Of course, there may be some of you who remain as duped by anyone in a shirt and tie as I used to be. "But you can't possibly equate poker or handicapping with investment banking," you might be thinking. "They are businessmen. They deal with serious stuff. Damn it, they wear a shirt and tie!!!"

Read this:

"...a culture of taking short-term risks for massive rewards meant bankers were not cautious enough"

"a number of investment banks overlooked basic risk controls in their drive to increase profits"

"...a remuneration structure which has encouraged some employees to take spectacular short-term risks, confident that if things work out well they will reap huge rewards, and if they don't they won't be around to pay the price. If it had been their own equity at risk, things might have played out differently."

Now you know why we have investment bankers. It's so that gamblers have someone to sneer at.

(And as for the kidnap outrage, thank you so much to MaryM from Wisconsin for the comment she posts at the end of this article on the subject in The Times. The reassurance is welcome, Mary: we were starting to wonder...)
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Calvin Ayre's departure (see Tuesday's post) - the fall-out begins?
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When poker players take a bath...
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Poker pic of the Day

End of the line - just about everywhere...

Date: Tue, Apr 22, 2008 Internet

Maybe I won't live long enough to see the Second Coming, or the edge of the universe but I will be able to say this: I saw the day when Calvin Ayre finally grew shy of publicity.

I don't know where to start with this story, whether it's the neat kick in the gonads administered by CardPlayer reporter Bob Pajich ("...self-proclaimed international playboy" - ouch) or the beautiful guff that Calvin manages to talk, right to the very end ("I was really more of a brand ambassador for Bodog...").

If anything, I'm more focused on working out exactly which lines I need to read between. I'm sorry, Calvin but the lifestyle you've enjoyed these last few years and the unabashed self-promotion that went with it, precludes any chance you had of going quietly. Hell, I've just set up a Google news alert against your name.

I can't believe we've heard the whole story here. I really can't.
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I'm sure Brandi Hawbaker's death will incite just as many column inches in blogs and forums as did her life, if not more.

I realised fairly early that this was one of those individuals whom, fairly or unfairly, becomes mired in grubby controversy that she just cannot shake off. Stories like this fill newspapers everywhere and I'm weary of them, so I didn't bother delving much when her name periodically crossed the radar.

For that reason, I don't presume to judge either her or her critics. I judge only the tragedy of a person snuffed out at 26. How you fall from a life that sees you turn a grand into two hundred grand in cash games and being able to take a month's vacation in Miami, to a state of ultimate despair in just months, I cannot begin to imagine.

I don't know how many epitaphs her passing might prompt but if one of them sees poker magazines easing off a tad on constantly selling the Las Vegas dream, it will be no bad thing. Vegas is a squalid, two-faced pit decked in tinsel and at times like this, even the tinsel doesn't look so good.

More and more, these days, I prefer to read about poker tournaments in comparatively ordinary places on this side of the Pond: Barcelona, Warsaw, hell, even Newcastle-upon-Tyne. My mother always maintains that there's a lot to be said for being ordinary and I think she's right.

I'm going off to be ordinary, shortly. Just a few small stakes S&G's before bed. It won't get me anywhere near 200 grand and Miami remains as out of reach as it's ever been but there's not a suicidal bone in my body and I can log onto a poker forum without having my heart in my mouth.

I only wish Brandi Hawbaker could have found a little more ordinariness in her life, before it was too late.
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Trivial in comparison, I know but it's also the end of cheap buffets in Vegas. Seems Sin City's New Big Thing is gentrification:

The move toward luxury in Las Vegas isn't merely a cynical ploy to shake down tourists for ever-more dollars, experts say. The upscaling of Las Vegas is also about survival.

As video poker and slot machines proliferated in racetracks and casinos around the country in the 1980s and 1990s, resorts on the Strip needed to add something new to their offerings, said David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"No one will fly for four hours to play a slot machine anymore," says Schwartz, "but they will fly four hours to stay in a luxury hotel."

I have bad news for you, guys. They've tried gentrification in British soccer. It's no antidote to tackiness...
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Pic of the Day

Buyers beware - is that a chip off the right block?

Date: Fri, Apr 18, 2008 Internet

So obsessed am I with simply hanging onto my chips, it never occurred to me that I might need to check where they come from. Thom Riemersma puts me straight.

Is Vegas recession-proof?

Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2008 Internet

One of the oldest tenets in stockmarket wisdom is that a portfolio built on excess never goes bust.

Buy shares in luxury jewellers, luxury car-makers, luxury anything, the theory goes, because the rich don't have recessions.

To listen to those mulling over the fate of Las Vegas, as recession looms over America, the same principle holds good. 'Whales' have the loot to rise above it, so Vegas will too.

Our old friend William Weidner, Sands CEO and foot-stamper-in-chief over the recent retreat from British shores, admits that the trade has felt "a bit" of the recent US slowdown but adds that the town has 'history' where bucking economic trends is concerned:

"Everyone has been consistently wrong about Las Vegas since the beginning," Weidner said, referring to prognosticators from as far back as the 1950s who said that the gambling corridor was verging on being overbuilt.

Of course, any CEO who publicly talked down his trade probably wouldn't be in a job too long and there are contrary voices to be heard on the suggestion that downturns are someone else's problem:

'It's conventional wisdom characteristic of a city and an industry far more accustomed to boom than bust, but it's just not true, experts say. Gamblers, whether motivated by compulsion or hope, don't necessarily double down when the economy spirals and belts tighten.

"It's an old idea that has very little relevance and maybe no relevance to the United States today," industry analyst Eugene Christiansen said.' - AP report for AZCentral.com

The hard-and-fast numbers, too, suggest that Sin City has the potential to go as bust as anywhere else, certainly where mortgage foreclosures are concerned.

I'm not sure I'll shed any tears for gambling's spiritual home just yet, however. Those economic woes of the 1990s referred to in the AZCentral.com story don't seem to have been anything like as grievous as is suggested in this prophecy of doom from the New York Times, published in 1992.

I wasn't gambling back then but I don't recall hearing of the sky falling in on a certain corner of Nevada, so for now, my money's on the Weidner view.

People always seek out their own form of palliative therapy in lean times. Take a survey of what the world's population would do next, were the planet to explode in an hour, and I suspect the majority would opt for sex over prayer...