| Home | Sitemap | Contact us |
| Home | Sitemap | Contact us |
|
1.Against All Odds 2.World Series Of Poker Hands | An Ultimatebet.com Hand The professional poker world has been turned upside down as a result of amateur players dominating the top prizes at poker’s most prestigious tournaments. It’s just amazing. Robert Varkonyi winning the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2002, amateur player Alan Goehring winning the $25,000 buy-in World Poker Tournament Championship in 2003, and Chris Moneymaker-he invested $30 in an online poker tournament and parlayed that up to $2.5 million-winning the 2003 WSOP. The buzz on the street is “Anyone can win!” and “If Money-maker can do it, why can’t I? I’ll buy in for a hundred dollars and give it a shot.” This is drawing unprecedented numbers of players into online poker rooms. And some of these players are creating their own legends. Kingofding and TICKER (Erick Lindgren) are two players known to have made over $1 million playing online poker card games.
While in Aruba playing in UltimateBet.com’s World Poker Tournament event, I made a few bad plays along the way, and found myself knocked out of the tournament on day two. Erick Lindgren, already $1 million ahead playing online poker, proved his mastery of online players one more time, and would up winning the $500,000 first-place prize. (By the way, in 2004, with a $4 million prize pool guaranteed, along with a $1 million first prize, UltimateBet.com (UB) is going to have the single biggest event ever held in Aruba.) With the thought poker of relaxing on my mind, I decided to play an actual online tournament while hanging out on the balcony of my hotel room-overlooking the beach-with a Rum Punch in my hand. It was the Sunday $200 buy-in no-limit Hold’em poker game tournament, and UB had 500 players. The total purse was $100,000, with a first place prize of $24,000. When I saw the prize pool posted, I thought, “Wow, I can really win something for my $200 invetment.” With 55 players remaining, the following hand came up between “philhellmuth” (me) and “Krazykunuk” (James Worth) who is an excellent tournament player. The blinds were $500-$1,000, everyone folded to James on the button, and James opened for $3,000 of his $15,000 total. I was in the big blind with Qh-9h and $18,000 total.
I was thinking, “OK, perhaps James is trying to steal the blind with a weak hand, but he knows that it is philhellmuth in the big blind and usually players have a real hand when they raise my blind.” Thus I liked folding as the best option, or moving all-in as my second-best option, with calling the bet as the worst. Why call and get yourself in trouble somehow? If James is raising with, say, Q-10, then I would go broke with some flops. In that case, folding would be a great option, but moving all-in would probably win the gaming money. Somehow, however, my thinking got double-crossed, and I decided to call the bet. The flop came down 9d-7c-6s, and I decided that there was a high low poker probability that I had the best hand. I was thinking, “OK, if I check, and he checks, and now a card higher than an eight comes off, then I’ll be forced to play my hand, even though I potentially let James hit that higher card for free. Thus, I should bet out something that would prevent James from calling with say, K-J, but not enough to scare him away if he has a pair. I would love to bet out small, and have him move in on me with nothing, or with a pair that I would beat.” So I bet out $3,500, hoping for a raise from James. In fact, James did raise all-in, and I called him quickly. James shoed me 10-8, which made a straight on the flop. When a two and a jack came off the next two cards, James won the $30,500 pot, and I was left with $3,000. I thought, “Phil, you dummy, you knew calling before the fop was the worst option! You let him hit his hand, and then paid him off spookey hand. Moving all-in would have worked because there is no way he would have called with 10-8.”
Oh well, how bad could it be? I was in Aruba; I had a nice view of beach, a lot of my friends close by, and a Rum Punch in my hand.
OUR PARTNERSCasino Software India / Online Play Poker / Online Poker Copyright 2005-06 All Rights Reserved www.poker.tj |
6.From The Other Side Of Table 7.Poker Hollywood Style |
