www.pokerimestari.com: a quickie review

Date: Thu, May 29, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

http://www.pokerimestari.com

We were contacted by the owners of pokerimestari.com today and asked to review their site. No one at WiseHandPoker reads any language that doesn't start with 'E' and end with 'nglish', but we took a look a look over there and it looks like a great portal for anyone who can actually read what's going on over there.

The easy thing for us about this review is the fact they link to a bunch of sites we're not affiliated with. The deals they have up for Titan Poker and PokerStars are competitive with any I've seen of late (actually, that they have an affiliate deal with Stars at all is pretty crazy...Stars is next to impossible to get to agree to affiliate work, and they generally spurn it), and the fact they've managed to make the kind of connections bodes well for their future.

Players of 'nettipokeri', the word for online poker over there, should be looking around pokerimestari.com and finding those good deals if the ones we have here aren't suiting their fancy. We're happy to tell you as much; the world is a big, big place and we're happy to share a small piece of it with someone else in the world of pokeri.

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Anxious--Bored--Can't Wait--I am a JERK?

Date: Wed, May 28, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

Today is my day off and I have been surfing all the Poker Web sites and reading numerous blogs about the upcoming WSOP and other Poker news.

It's a beautiful day here in Southern California and I promised my girls I would take them to their favorite place...Costco's. Thank goodness it's not Neiman Marcus,,,,yet..

I am going to wash and wax my truck and get the oil changed because on Monday Night , my work partner Craig and I will be driving to Vegas for a few days. I will be staying at the Orleans because Craig wants to play there evening tournaments there, as I will be at the Rio hitting the satellites.

I read Daniels blog today and he told us all how the Rio is set up for this years WSOP and I could here the excitement in his words.

He went inside the empty Amazon Room and took in the moment of peace and quiet before the storm on Saturday.

I could only imagine what was running through Daniels head as he looked around the empty room with all the banners and decorations for this year. Daniel didn't give us a hint what the decor was, but I bet it will be top notch.

I am so bored I am playing on Pokerstars.net today. I started with 400.00 in play money and I am already up to 27,000...Darn it..why isn't this real!!!!!

I received a comment on one of my blogs this week and they gave me some credit for the information I post,but they called me a jerk.

I have only been in the Poker community for 2 years and I have had the opportunity to meet some of the better known players. I try and e-mail them and stay in touch and a few of them are gracious enough to write back periodically and I would like to thank those of you who do. Some have totally ignored my e-mails, I guess they think since I am just a amateur player and a nice guy they are above me.

I am ok with that, I have and never will have an Ego, if it is because I am a Cop and they do not like Law Enforcemant, I understand. But I will tell you, Do not mistake my kindness for weakness, ask anyone who knows me in the Law Enforcement Community.

Poker has given me the opportunity to meet so many fantastic people. For years my only friends were cops and fireman and it is truly remarkable the friendships I have forged from playing Poker.

I will continue to be a people person and if some think I am a jerk because I like to meet and talk to people, I am sorry if I bothered you.

Life is way to short to walk around with a chip on your shoulder and think your better than another. I have seen so much death and destruction in my 22 years as a Cop it is such a pleasure to be able to get away from it 3 days a week.

The new Memorial Poker Classic Shirts for Fallen Heroes are done and they are fantastic looking.

They are long sleeve white shirts with the Fallen Heroes challenge coin in color on the back and I will be bringing them to give to some of the players as well as all the WSOP reporters this year.

So I am off to Costco's with the twins and I am counting the hours before i leave. I still have to work the weekend and I just might play a 200.00 tourney at the Bike Friday Night. As you know I do not like playing on a night before work, however this tourney starts at 415pm.

I am bringing my camera and will be taking a variety of pictures this coming month and will be posting them here at wisehand.

Until Tuesday,,,take Care ...Be Safe

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Poker Dreams

Date: Tue, May 27, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I wrote this article last year on Memorial day and I find it fitting to share it with you again. My son in law returned safe from Iraq last month and we are all very thankful for it. However there are almost 5,000 others who have not.

A loss of a brother,sister,mother or father,cousin nephew or best friend is the hardest thing for me to deal with in life. It is not easy for anyone to lose someone but when we do there are others to help us through the tough time.

I started my Charity Poker Tournament after losing so many friends in Law Enforcement to not only help the families but to make others aware Fireman and Cops are here to help and we sometimes sacrifice our lives for you as the men and women of our military are right now.

Thank you to everyone who does something to make this world a better place to live.

Since the poker explosion in 2003, which in part owes thanks to ESPN's coverage of the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and amateur player Chris Moneymaker's remarkable win, poker players have adopted dreams of becoming not only millionaires, but world famous celebrities.

We have all witnessed the fame and fortunes so many poker players have received over the past few years. The World Poker Tour has made several unknown individuals household names, as have Internet poker sites. So many of today's players were still in junior high or high school when they started watching poker on television, well before they were legally old enough to gamble.

Some of the most famous players had their dreams planted in their minds either by reading about the game of poker, or seeing something on television which gave them the lust for victory. Most of the time, it takes hard work and dedication to make your dream become a reality, but we have seen several people make millions playing poker, winning a huge tournament only to return to being just an average player.

I was listening to a very successful poker player, Gavin Smith, on his radio show from the Mirage Poker Classic a few weeks ago. He and his co-host, Joe Sebok, were discussing the amount of poker players who probably still have money in the bank from playing poker on the tournament circuit, those who are actually successful at their trade. Their final estimate was around 200 people. I found this to be very interesting!

I started to think of how many people have been playing the tournament trail recently, and could this just be some kind of fad that will diminish soon? We all have dreams of being at the final table on television in a major event at the WSOP. We all see the rich and famous going weekly to these extravagant parties, driving fancy cars and eating at the best restaurants. But what price do these people have to pay for their new found fame and fortune?

Several of the poker players I talk with tell me of multiple times of not knowing where their next meal might come from, or where their life is heading. Watching ESPN the other night, they were talking about how Howard Lederer in his early days of playing poker back in New York he would sleep on a park bench in Greenwich Village at night. I never slept on a park bench, but when I was younger and had just moved to California I lost my job and had to spend the cool wintry nights in the back seat of my car for awhile.

I guess if I were twenty-one years old and living at home I would spend all my allowance and hard earned money bluffing on the Internet trying to gain fame and fortune. I would probably even get together with my buddies and bring my roll of hundreds and play Monopoly for $10k a game.

Dreams are what the world is made of. They're what we are made of. Or are they?

As I sit here and write this, my daughter's 24 year-old boyfriend, who did one tour in Afghanistan, is already being sent back to Iraq in a few weeks. What about his dreams? What about the dreams of 3,500 U.S.A. military men who have lost their lives fighting to protect a country from dictatorship?

Poker is a game, and some say life is a game. Both are very, very tough at times. So, if you're to be one of the lucky ones who wins a bracelet or two, remember all those other dreamers who are not able to be here with us today. Remember your tough times and try and continue to be the person your family would be proud of. We tend to forget those who have fought to protect this country from our enemies. Memorial Day gives us a time to reflect back and thank those heroes who never had the opportunity to fulfill their dreams of coming back home to the loved one who so patiently waited for them, and to start a family or raise the one's they already had.

I have a dream. Do you? You should, and if you don't, start working on one today. It could be as small as dreaming for a new outfit, to as big as winning the lottery. It can be as small as hoping you and your sibling will be able to get along, to as big as everyone in the world getting along. No more poverty, no more racism, no murders. No more wars.

But since most of you reading this are poker players, start dreaming of winning the Main Event and becoming the poker ambassador for the next year, living with the title of World Champ for the rest of your life. But do not forget those who allow us the freedom to live out our dreams, the men and women who have given their lives to keep America the Home of the Brave and the Land of the FREE.

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Infinite Unlimited Sportsbetting Freerolls

Date: Mon, May 26, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

My friend brian showed me this thign the other day. Basically you get unlimited .10 freerolls on sports bets. If you run it up past $20, you can cash out, or you can just keep running it up. If you bust, they give you another .10 to start out with. So far it's just been a fun way to have something extra to root on (especially when baseball season is the only thing going, which I find monumentally boring).

I never wanted to get into real sports betting because I've seen what it's done to people, but this is like fantasy sports betting since there's really no risk.

If you want to sign up, click THIS LINK TO CENTSPORTS.COM!

After you're signed up, start making ridiculous 5 team parlays. The worst that happens is that you lose it, and they give you free money to start over again. If you signed up after seeing this, be sure to send me a message and we can get some trash talk goin. - shronkdaddy@gmail.com

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The Clock is Ticking

Date: Sat, May 24, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

We are just 7 days away from the greatest show on earth, The 2008 WSOP!! I am already making plans to be in Vegas on Tuesday morning June 2nd. I am hoping to play a satellite and be able to get into the 1k NL event with re buys that afternoon.

I do not want to spend my Poker bank roll at this years WSOP so I have to manage my money. I use it for rooms and food also and I keep a detailed log of all my expenses.

I have made more than I have spent this year because I had some success at the LAPC satellites and in March I had a lot of success in several cash games, so I am still in the black for the year.

While at home the past few weeks I played on line at Full Tilt for a bit. Let me just say I deleted FT from my computer and will not be playing on line for awhile. I didn't play cash games, mainly 45 and 54 person SNG's and a few 33.00 SNG's. I busted out 7th 4 times in 8 events and the top 6 get paid. I am not going into detail but I got chat banned for holding down a keyboard key and letting it run for about a minute after taking an unbelievable 2 beats in a row to lose all my chips.

After being banned I do not think I won a hand for 3 tournaments and when my QQ got beat by a K9 when the flop was 3-5-9 rainbow. He bet 1200 into a 1000 pot I went all in for 6k more and he called, a 9 hit the river for him. I hit the delete button as this happens way to often . It almost takes the fun out of playing Poker, so it will be just brick and mortar casinos for me from now on.

I had to get up at 2;00 am this morning because it is the start of Memorial week around the country. Cities everywhere are paying tribute to those Law Enforcement Officers who have died in the past year. My department has a run that starts at Headquarters and every Station participates. My units portion was from Compton Station to Century Station and we actually have a torch that we pass on to the next stations runners. On Wednesday at our Academy we will have a ceremony honoring those who are no longer with us by putting a bronze plaque with their names on it on a Memorial Wall built out of granite at our Academy.It is actually a heart wrenching event to go.

I just read my good friend Bryan Devonshire who writes at Pokerpages.com will no longer be writing for them. He posted his last article today and I am trying to call him and find out why.

Bryan has had a great year and he is the one instrumental in getting me to write Poker Articles along with Justin West. Hopefully he will be putting his words in a major magazine soon.

Go to ESPN Poker and read Gary Wise's article as he is in Costa Rica networking and hanging out with the "Shark" Humberto Brenes. Good Stuff..

Until next week....Take care and Be safe!!!

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Time to Tell you My Bad Beat Stories

Date: Wed, May 21, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I have told you before in my blogs about some of the beats I have taken. I don't complain, I just tell you the way the hand played out.

I took 3 weeks off because of the last three tournaments prior to Sunday nights I took some terrible beats. AA vs 77 and lose and AA vs JJ and lose and K-10 flop 2 pair and lose to runner runner spade for a flush. These events hurt because they were 300.00 buy ins and although I had won a satellite in 2 of them, the third I paid for out of my bank roll.

Sunday Night I told you how my opponent hit an 8 on the turn after HE went all in with A-8 vs my A-K on a Q-4-A flop. I had 19,000 chips above average at the time and even though this was only a 30.00 multi rebuy event, my competiveness is still as great as a 3 or 4 hundred dollar event. Someone told me this is the new poker generation. Make terrible calls out of position and catch a 2 outer when you have the rest of the deck in your favor.

Last Night I had my Tens cracked by 99 when the river put out a Kd for yet another flush. I had this guy all the way and he still called bets of 500, 1500, and 2200, leaving me with only 600 chips. The guy new he was beat,but he continued to call my bets. It again took runner runner diamonds for him to win with his 9d. Now I know everyone keeps saying ,"You want players like this in these big pots against you, or at your table" Ok maybe so, but continually they keep hitting miracles and I am out the door and it is becoming a little annoying.

I knew the task was going to be a tough one last night, when 824 people entered this $60.00 Event. I was just playing to keep sharp, but I it turned out to make me frustrated and had me scratching my head on what I can do.

I know I need to play through this and I am hoping the field at the WSOP is not going to play like the others have recently. If they do, hopefully the luck comes to my corner and I can have a profitable WSOP.

I will find out On Tuesday June 3rd as I will be at the Rio that morning. Until then, i am going to be spending time with the family and working some overtime to build up my vacation time.

Sorry for the whine today, but I needed to vent...Thanks...Take Care and Be Safe.

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Big Crowds at the Bike

Date: Tue, May 20, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

Sunday evening the Bicycle Casino started a week long Deep Stack tournament with affordable buy ins. They start at only 30.00. Denny Williams,the tournament director at the Bike told me they are trying to attract new players to the Casino with these inexpensive buy-ins.

He sure was correct as on Sunday there were 804 people who stood in line for almost 2 hours to register and play. I was not there,but I heard there were about 150 others who were turned away. If you were lucky enough to survive the field and win this event, it paid $6,400.00 for a 30.00 buy in.

It is attracting the newcomers to tournament Poker. Last night I played the 30.00 multiple rebuy event, 461 entrants and everyone got 3,000 in starting chips and you could rebuy during the first three 30 minute levels.

I immediately tripled up within the first 15 minutes with 99 when two very aggressive players hit one of the cards on the flop. 7-5-2. I checked the flop as they both did and when the turn was a 3 I bet the pot,300 chips and they both moved all in. I called them after about 3 minutes of thinking and one guy had A-5 and the other had A-7. My nines held up and I was off to building my stack up to 19,000 by the break.

After the break I have AK on the button when the blinds are 200-100 with a 25 ante. 5 limpers and I raise to 1200 chips and get 2 callers. The flop Q-4-A and I am first to act and put in 5,000, a pot size bet. One guy folds and the other goes ALL IN. Now this guy was raising every pot and his favorite words are all in. I called him and he turned over A-8. You know what hits the turn Right? 8d, and he had me covered and I was done for the night.

Tonight is a 60.00 buy in with no rebuys and 6,000 in starting chips with a 20,000 guaranteed prize pool.

These are low buy ins and I have not played for about 3 weeks. The WSOP is around the corner and I am playing a few of these to keep sharp. I will play tonight and then take the rest of the week off from playing as I have to start checking all my camping and boating gear as we get ready for our vacation.

Hope all is well with you, Take Care and Be Safe.

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One more year

Date: Thu, May 15, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

Well, I am officially done with my junior year in college. I am excited and scared about only having one more year left. I am not a big fan of school, but not knowing what my life will be like in a year is a little terrifying.

With exams recently, I haven't had much time to get any poker in. It's been bad as of late when I can find the time to play. It seems like I have been suffering a lot of variance most of this school year. I went on a huge heater last summer; I hope I can do that again this year.

It looks the the tournament back home is having a hard time getting people to play. I wouldn't be surprised if they cancel it. None the less, I am sure there will be some cash games this summer. Hopefully I can rake in some dough from those.

I have relieved I like playing live a lot more than online. I just have a feel in a live game that I believe gives me an edge.

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Two Weeks and Counting...WSOP

Date: Thu, May 15, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I have been enjoying this past year being able to blog here at wisehandpoker immensely. My poker game has improved partly because I am the type when I take something on I read,study and get involved as much as I can. I have played in 15 tournaments this year and have played well in about 10 of them. I have put to use what I have learned from friends and from the material I have read and studied. A break is good and spending time with my wife and girls is awesome. My job, well it has been busy and I have been putting in some extra hours and pocketing a little extra cash from the County.

I read on-line as much as I can regarding Poker and I continually talk to the friends I have made in the past two years playing Poker. I remember when I started playing two years ago and had the opportunity to meet a few poker icon's because I live here in LA and played in tournaments at the Commerce and the Bike.

Some of the first individuals I met were the hard working Poker Reporters who roamed the aisles writing down hands of the players we are most interested in and posting them on the sites they worked for. You truly have to love poker to do this, as it is hard work and a thankless job. The Pro's love these reporters though, because they get the word out to their families and friends on how they are doing in a tournament and give them much needed exposure.

If you have been a constant reader of my blog's you know I was very vocal when Bluff and Cardplayer monopolized the tournament reporting and some friends were out of work. I since have come to know Eric Morris the President of Bluff magazine and he is a big supporter of My Charity Event and a very down to earth guy.

Cardplayer would not give mention to my Charity event because of my blogs and when Allyn Jaffrey Shulman attended my Charity Event she demanded to know why CP was not involved.

Allyn is a fantastic person and I was honored to be able to meet her. I explained what I thought might be the reason and she told me CP will be a big contributor to the Charity next year.

I am an old fashioned type of guy and I do not forget the people who have been kind to me in my life. When I first started playing Poker I was a pea in a pod in the Poker Community. I made some friends and in two years time hundreds of people are saying hello to me that I never have met. Pretty awesome and I want to thank all of you. I do not have an ego so all of you do not have to worry about my bald head getting any bigger. I am a down to earth as they come and this is why I supported all those who took me under their wings and introduced me to others in the Poker Community. I will always do my best to stand by you and support you!!

Several of them because of their talents caught on with other companies and are doing well. I am very happy for them.

With all of the turmoil in Poker right now I am glad too see Bluff and Cardplayer trying to keep Poker in the Limelight. I have three subscriptions to Poker magazines, Bluff, CP and All-In and cannot wait for them to come each month.I am grateful as a poker enthusiast Bluff and CP even send reporters to events so the Poker enthusiast can go on-line and keep up with their favorite players on the tournament trail. Thank you Bluff and CP for your continuing effort on keeping Poker in the forefront.

I am so looking forward to the tournament reports from this years WSOP. I know how tired you reporters are going to be and the difficult task of 12-14 hour days you have ahead of you! I want to thank you all in advance for your dedication and hard work you our about to embark on!!

I will be attending some of the events as my time permits this year and I am going to introduce myself to as many of you that I can and THANK YOU personally for the work you do for us avid Poker enthusiasts on a daily basis during tournaments.

I will be handing out some T-Shirts from my Charity Poker Event to as many of you as I can. So at least you will have one more clean shirt to wear during your month in Vegas.

Good luck to all those who are venturing to Sin City in the next few weeks to work at the WSOP and to those of you who are going to play. I will be writing some blogs about my experiences in Vegas and if you allow me to, will post the names of the people I meet there this year.

Also I called the WPT again today and no one answered. Tomorrow I will drive by their office (it's in an area I patrol) and go up there and try and get some info for all of you about the future of broadcasts on TV for the WPT.

Just as I posted this, my contact at the WPT returned my call. NO COMMENT NO COMMENT..is what I was told. However they did not seem to disappointed and are currently not looking for work, Its a sign right? Only time will tell...
Take Care and Be Safe...

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WPT Broadcasts in Trouble

Date: Wed, May 14, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

The Game Show Network (GSN) who has for the past few years entertained its audiences with several different Poker Shows,announced yesterday they will no longer be broadcasting High Stakes Poker.

HSP was on Monday Nights and it was shown just before the 2 hour episodes of the WPT. GSN signed only a one year contract with the WPT and several people have tried to contact GSN for comment,however they are not talking. So as it stands now, we do not know if the WPT will be back for another season.

I tried calling my contact at the WPT for 2 days now and cannot get a hold of them. I guess ESPN will be the only game in town and they also did not film the U.S. Poker Championships in Atlantic City this year. Stand by for a lot of reruns or Poker only August through November on ESPN.

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The WSOP Still the talk of the Town

Date: Tue, May 13, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

As we wait for the WSOP to start (16 days from now) table talk is still about the WSOP holding the final table for 117 days.

Robert "Chip Burner" Turner told me he thinks the decision is "Pure Genius" and Harrahs should hold the final table at the "Thomas and Mack Center" at UNLV, charge admission and he believes it will sell out, around 18,000 seats.

The major complaint by most is top professionals are going to make money coaching the final 9.

My rebuttal is, maybe,maybe not. After all the final 9 will have to have some Poker skills to get through the 9,000 person field. Oh of course there will be incredible luck needed. Look at Jerry Yang last year. The one hand that saved him has not ever really been talked about.

Jerry held A5 and was way behind after an all in call when the river hit a 4 giving Jerry a straight. A incredible card and he ends up winning the Main Event.

The professionals always like to chip up early and get very aggressive and in a tournament of this size with as much dead money as ever, I think if they actually played patiently and Poker as they write it in their books they would have a much better chance.

I have never played a tournament over $1000.00 buy in and the biggest field other than the WSOP Seniors Event last year (1900 players) was a $545.00 buy in during the 2007 LA Poker Classic with 790 players. I made a bad call with 17 players left with QJ diamonds against the small blind who was aggressive. he held 3-9 off and beat me with a 3.

Every professional has been waiting for the WSOP because it is the one event that makes you gain the respect of Poker players throughout the world.

If you win an event or go deep and accrue points your name is on all the big screens in the Amazon room and all over the poker web sites.

You are measured as a Poker Player on how you do at the WSOP.

Getting back to the WSOP. My point is Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Ultimate bet along with Absolute Poker will try and get one of the players to wear their logo. These sites have representatives who will be paid by the site you sign with to coach you. The site will pay them more than you will and it will be just an added bonus for you making the final table and you never know you could end up like Rhame and be a Poker Star pro.

Full Tilt and Poker Stars have the market when it comes to signing players. They have the most pro's and the most players. Maybe just maybe on-line will be legalized in the US by November creating more competition as well as huge signing bonuses for the final 9.

Coaching will not make the final 9 any better? Coaching will confuse the player more than it will help him? The final 9 will make a deal and everyone but them will lose money?

The WSOP will never be the same? Espn made a mistake?

These are some of the questions we all talked about and as time goes by the next few weeks hopefully there will be answers.

My question is will the WSOP allow conflicting sponsorships to get involved. For instance, Budweiser dressing up a player in a Nascar Suit when Milwaulkees Best paid millions to have its name on the Poker tables.

Jeffrey Pollack wants this. Will it ruin big sponsorships for 2009?

I personally like the delay. I am going to watch each episode like and wait each week for the next to show. Its become like your favorite TV show that says stay tuned for clips to next week, Like I did with Heroes,until it got boring.

It will lead us up to November creating excitement to finally see the finale. I mean I already knew who won the main Event last year,but I still watched every episode ESPN showed.

Look forward to seeing you all up there this year. I will be there off and on during the series.. Good Luck to all of you who play and shoot me an e-mail if you enter an event and I will post your name here and pass on any respectable message you would like the readers to know.

Take care...be safe

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The Sweet Smell of Air

Date: Sat, May 10, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

As some of you may know, about 60 lbs ago I was co-captain of the basketball team in high school. There was another kid named Henner Derstein, and we were the only two 3pt shooters on the team.

With three games to go in my junior year, some punk from Upper Merion took out my legs on a layup and I fell to the floor and dislocated my right shoulder (and tore every tendon and ligament).

At the banquet at the end of that year, Coach Engard said that I had "the potential to be the best shooter to ever come through Souderton (my high school)."

All summer Henner and I came up with our own elaborate shooting routine. Before and after every practice and before and after every game one person would stand about 3 feet from the basket on one side and shoot free-throw style. You had to stay at that spot until you made 10, then moved on. It usually took Henner and I 11 or 12 shots to get the 10 makes. See, we understood shooting, as we had both studied it. Coming onto the court and blowing up 3s right away is just going to fuck up your mechanics. Each day you have to re-teach all your fast-twitch muscles - that's your "touch." Lots of shooters have great mechanics, not many have great "touch."

So anyway, in December I suffered my fourth shoulder dislocation (this one more serious than the 2nd and 3rd since after the 3rd time, they went in and totally reconstructed my shoulder. This latest dislocation surely blew out any repairs they had done.)

My rehab for my should was coming along much slower this time; in fact, today was the first time I had shot a basketball in over 6 months.

So I woke up at like 6am and was bored out of my mind by 7am, so I decided it was time to really start to try to learn to shoot again, and I went to Walmart and got a new basketball (both of the $160 balls that I stole from Hatboro Horsham were left back in philly).

Walking up to the court and dribbling, I noticed a little rust, but I could still handle the ball well and could still do some of my old "And1Mixtape" tricks.

So I walk up to the rim. About 3 feet away. Bounce the ball twice. Knees bent. Smooth release.

Airball.

Not even close.

I shot from 3 feet away from the basket for a while. About 20 minutes and 40 shots later, I got my first make.

I made three more 3-footers in the rest of that hour.

It doesn't seem fair that you should have to relearn something - especially something you're an expert on. In that summer with Henner, I probably shot over 10,000 shots. And that was when I was already a good shooter. I can't even imagine how many it's going to take to get back ANYTHING that resembles my old shot.

That's the depressing moment. The moment you realize that no matter what you do, you'll never be as good as you used to.

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More on The "November 9"

Date: Thu, May 8, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

It has already been almost a week and the conversation at Commerce last night was about Absolute Poker Scandal along with the Ultimate Bet scandal, as well as the WSOP changes.

My good friend George Pineda made yet another final table in the $545.00 NL event at Commerce's Heavenly Holdem Tournament. One of the guys at the final table was wearing an Ultimate Bet hat and this stirred up a conversation amongst the rail birds.

I was amazed to hear some of the Poker players NEVER heard about the scandal and some said they could care less since all on-line Poker is rigged.

However the main topic of conversation was about the WSOP. Just not about the November 9, but some other changes as well.

I just listened and found some of the guys points to be very interesting. One group of guys say if they make the final table during the 117 day delay they are going to make a deal to chop the money 9 ways. Some believe there will be a clause not allowing this,but it was an interesting debate anyway. Also some of the guys were talking about where they are staying. One group rented a house for 10k...for 6 weeks..7 bedrooms,pool Jacuzzi,and satellite TV. I guess thats not a bad deal for 5 guys.

George took 4th last night after making some incredible lay downs. Twice he layed down pocket 9's to an all in call, once pocket 7's and finally 10-10. The BB was amazed when George showed him 10-10 as he turned over AA.. George just got blinded down near the end and couldn't win a race with 4 left. Congratulations George another stellar performance!

If you want to read some more about the pro's thoughts on the WSOP format, go to ESPN Poker Club and read Gary Wise's interviews with several top names. Great articles Gary, lets hear some more.

Take Care...Be Safe....

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WSOP in November

Date: Wed, May 7, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

Well the talk is still about the WSOP final table being played in November. Actually two days in November. The final 9 play down to the final 2,(unless when there are three players left and all 3 go all in,this would ruin some advertising dollars)The final two would come back the next night for heads up and be shown on TV the next day after editing some of the boring hands out.

This event used to be the world championship. It is still considered by many professionals, who would love to have that piece of jewelry given at the end of the event to the winner, as well as their photo up in the Amazon room for life as the Champions Event.

Its hard to change your mind set after so many years, but I believe as do others the Championship Event is now the HORSE Event. It is truly a skill of the all around player.

This would not make for very good television though,because most people are NL players only and do not understand the other games.Therefore they probably would not watch it as intensely as they do NL.

After much thought and reading some other opinions as well as Jeffrey Pollack's reasoning, Maybe we should give this a chance. So what if these 9 players get coached, I think after going through a field of 9,000 they have some skills and they deserve to have those skills polished.

They unfortunately have something tragic happen to them, the family still benefits plus this would cause even more of us to watch. The media would focus on this and it would make the event even more popular due to the extra media coverage surrounding a tragedy.

If this is making ESPN more money, Great!, ESPN is the premier Sports channel on TV and I believe no one else does a better job with Sporting events then them. Also no one else covers Poker Like they do and I am sure the Final table will be edited correctly this year to show a more personal side of the Players.

Sometimes we have a difficult time with change. Not only in our jobs but in our personal life. I have learned to be flexible because my Job requires it on a daily basis and it has helped me in my personal life.

If this does not work, The WSOP goes back to the way it was. No harm, No foul. However this new format could be the way of the future for Big Events, I could see the WPT trying something new to get their viewer ship up soon or we will lose another Poker Show on TV and the Players will lose some pretty good income.

We should be focusing our attention to the legalization of on line. This would make the WSOP even better because of the monies the on-line sites would put back into Poker.

Lets Give this a chance and hold our negative opinions until after November. I kind of think after much thought,it is going to be a good thing if Harrahs does indeed take care of the "November 9" as they are now being called, with getting them back to Vegas and accommodating their families transportation.

Take Care...Be safe...

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