If you’re still rocking a Zack Morris phone, just installed AOL 3.0 from that disc you received 10 years ago in your mailbox, and think a PDA is your best bet for managing your personal information, than you’re light years behind on the technological curb and robbing yourself of some intuitive and amazing iPhone poker apps.
Sick of reading those pesky token Hold’em cards telling you what hand beats what when you open up a pack of Bicycle cards? Want to know the odds of that mongoloid who just caught his fifth runner runner full house against you? Well you’re in luck!
The Card Player Poker Odds Calculator iPhone app is available for download through the iTunes store front and will put to rest just who really was the lucky one at your home game. And the best part? It’s free.
The calculator works for tables with up to nine players and shows the probability of each players hand being the winner pre-flop, on the flop, on the turn, and on the river. It can only be be used with Hold’em and Omaha and works on both the iPhone and iPod Touch. No Badugi or 2-7 Triple Draw for you!
If you’re still running the blinds of your home game by looking at a clock on the wall or are pretending you had your ante in before your friends Motorola Razr timer went off, it’s time to enter the mobile age. The Poker Blind Timer app will help you manage the entire structure of tourney, and is able to be adjusted at any point during play. With similar timer blind buttons costing between $10-$15 dollars on Amazon and at Wal-Mart, it would be a tall order finding a reason why you shouldn’t download this free app and showcase it at your home game on Friday night.
If you’re trying to maintain your earnings, track your progress, and make sure its the other guy that goes busto, then the Poker Income Ultimate – Free Bankroll Tracker is for you. Bankroll management is crucial to sustaining a healthy and prosperous poker lifetime, and this app will hold your hand and show you your financial hemorrhages like its your own personal accountant. Here’s the first numbers it will help you crunch: it’s $0.00.
For $1.99, Poker Radar will find you all the nearby action, featuring worldwide locations of over 2000 casinos and card rooms, up-to-date contact information and descriptions, player ratings and reviews, and details of their events schedule. You can even find listings for home games and private clubs. Sure, Google is only a few clicks away, but for 199 pennies, you’ll never get lost in the confines of a dumpy casino website looking for the starting time of their daily $500 tourney ever again.
No, we aren’t talking about a sequel where the “Big Papa” of poker is starring alongside Nicholas Cage. The deserts in Vegas aren’t the only things that have dried up, according to Doyle Brunson’s latest blog post:
“Las Vegas is becoming more and more a not very desirable place for a poker pro to live. There are simply isn’t very many high limit games anywhere. What’s with the economy, the world wide tournaments, and the internet poker, the outlook for live cash games are bleak. Poker is on the verge of making a very significant change and in my opinion very bad change.
I’m considering moving to California; at least there are a few mid level games that are played regularly.”
This here newfangled internet whosie-whatsit is taking away from Texas Dolly’s live action at the Bellagio’s $4,000/$8,000 limit mixed game, and he’s gonna let you know about it. It’s comical to me that Brunson has such a disdain for the path internet poker is taking as he makes the most ungrammatically correct addition to his blog…as he tweets to Annie Duke about sleeping pills…as he owns his own poker site. I think you can see where I’m going.
With all the recent big games that fellow pros Phil Ivey, Tom “durrr” Dwan, Chau Giang, and John Juanda have found in Macau, could we possibly see Big Papa in Big China, with a special guest appearance by Kurt Russell himself? If he wants big action, nothing has even come close in recent years to the millions of dollars flowing across the felt in these games, with local wealthy businessmen willing to test the waters with their endless fortunes.
Below is Card Player Magazine’s “High Stakes Living” segment which offers a candid look at Brunson’s Vegas digs, a very unassuming abode in dire need of an interior makeover from a HGTV reality show. This home may soon be yours if Doyle decides to head west with the gold rush.
With his million dollar runner-up finish recently at the $100k No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller event at the Caribbean stop on the North American Poker Tour, the esteemed Daniel “Kid Poker” Negeanu has knocked Phil Ivey off his throne atop the all-time money winners spot…for now. While another big Ivey score is both inevitable and imminent with the fast approaching 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Negreanu has once again in his illustrious career outshined his fellow peers.
The $1 million payday was his third largest cash to date, trailing behind his Five-Diamond World Poker Classic II and Borgata Poker Open WPT wins for $1,770,218 and $1,117,400, respectively. From the turn of the century ESPN broadcasts showing his mom making him lunch to his eventual $14,131,104 in tourney winnings he’s accumulated over his lifetime, Negreanu has come a long way.
The four-time bracelet winner and poker natural has made dents across all major tourney circuits not seen in size since cannonballs hit the USS Constitution, with deep finishes riddled throughout the WSOP, the WSOP Circuit, the World Poker Tour (WPT), and the European Poker Tour. He saw his banner year in 2004-2005 when he received not one but three Player of the Year accolades from the WSOP, Card Player Magazine, and WPT. With books, video games (it’s plural because only two people bought Stacked on the Xbox), and endorsements so far up his ass he’s breathing dollar bills, Kid Poker could live the rest of his life off of royalties alone. But his career hasn’t all been smiles and memories.
If I may piss on Negreanu’s parade here for just a moment, for a man who seems like he has won it all during his tenure on and off the felt, he has a severe Achilles’ heel: cash games. He is down close to $2 million dollars across the six seasons of High Stakes Poker, an astronomical amount considering he’s playing the game he built his empire on. If you waltzed on out of a cave and knew nothing about him, you would never be able to tell the difference between him playing and the producers giving a Vegas vagrant a $200k bankroll to squander. While cash tables are certainly a different mentality than tourney tables, the greats of the game are capable of sustaining themselves across the adversities of both. Albeit he still has millions of dollars to show, it is safe to assume that he has blown considerable amounts off the television cameras as well and that his chip stack hemorrhaging would be cause for concern if it weren’t somebody who wasn’t so well-received, well-endorsed, and the face of every product branded with the livelihood of poker.
All things considered when comparing Negreanu to the track record of the man he just recently inched passed, Ivey still sits higher on a grander scale, up tens of millions of dollars across all aspects of his play. But at the end of the end, and for the time being, Negreanu can toot his own horn as he rides the Tourney Express to Cashmoneyville.
I’ve seen a lot of poker variations in my day, but one of the coolest definitely has to be cowboy poker. Okay, cowboy poker has very little to do with the actual poker game, and much more to do with rodeo theatrics than anything. But it’s still got cards and the word “poker” involved.
In any case, if you haven’t heard of cowboy poker, let me explain. It involves several cowboys sitting at a poker table with cards in their hands, and a raging bull charging at the table. The last person to throw down their cards and run from the table is declared the winner of the game.
Now I’m normally not a big rodeo fan, but this game is actually pretty cool to watch. Some of the games are light-hearted and funny, while other can get downright vicious. I’d recommend watching both….though the second video is pretty gruesome.
My oh my, what a year it has been for poker in 2010. We recently revisited the past 12 months like the Ghost of Poker Past, looking back at the good, the bad, and the ugly. (Seriously, men cross-dressing in female bracelet events?) A Canadian Main Event champ who defied all odds as he climbed back from just $5,000 chips on day 4, “The Grinder” and his career-defining year to remember, Annie Duke winning the NBC National Heads-Up Championship, the ups and downs of poker legislation, all four Mizrachi brothers cashing the Main Event–these are just some of the things that come to mind when I reminisce. They are all pale in comparison to 2010′s major headline: the undeniable presence of World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, their presumably broke owners, and their auctions on eBay.
It was a stunning story when T.J. Cloutier christened the year in January with the auction of his 2005 $5,000 No-Limit Hold’Em event bracelet. The once illustrious gatekeeper of the felt had apparently fallen upon hard times, as speculation swirled around the poker community as to what exactly had become of Cloutier when his bracelet appeared on the chopping block for a Vegas pawn shop’s eBay listing. All signs pointed to the craps tables as the culprit, an unrelenting addiction which had helped his fortune and fame diminish faster than drugs and alcohol combined. A man, who at the pinnacle of his career earned himself the title of having the most WSOP cashes, would see his bracelet sell for $4,006, a mere spec in the sun of the empire he had squandered.
The stigma surrounding Cloutier wore off quickly though when it was realized the he was just the beginning of the latest trend befalling the poker industry. We looked previously at the auctions of Paul “Eskimo” Clark’s 1997 $1,500 Razz bracelet (selling for $4,050) and the 1999 Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet of Hassan Kamoei (which received no bids at the close of the 10-day auction and the $3,800 starting price). It is interesting to note that Kamoei won his bracelet by outlasting a table that included Clouter. While Doyle Brunson is known as the “Godfather of Poker” for his influence on the game, in light of this year’s overwhelming display of busto and his apparently deep roots at the center of it all, Cloutier can now be referred to as “The Godfather of Broke.”
Peter Eastgate’s 2007 Main Event bracelet was the only auction from 2010 not sold for financial gain and was a news headline in of itself. Earlier in the year, he announced his retirement from poker, and his bracelet auction was a way to help further remove himself from a lifestyle that had grinded him into the ground. All the proceeds of his auction went on to benefit UNICEF, in what turned out to be a noble swan song for Eastgate from the felt.
What better way to close out the year but with another bracelet for sale on eBay, this time belonging to Brad Daugherty. As the year has progressed, the names of the owners behind these auctions has grown increasingly more obscure, highlighted by Kamoei and now Daugherty, which is sad considering he is a previous Main Event champion. Not just any Main Event: he is the first ever winner of a Main Event prize worth $1 million. Considering the names of other winners and their staying power from the same 10-year span (Mortensen, Ferguson, Seed, Nguyen), it was a victory that would only serve to shadow him for the rest of a career highlighted by comparably insignificant grinding that brought in winnings at a decimal and a fraction of that life-changing score.
The bracelet, inscribed with the bulbous name “BRAD” on the front, was made from 96 grams of 14K gold at a time when bracelets knew nothing of diamonds, a scrap value of $2,484.50 at current exchange rates. All things considered, it would go on to reach $30,100 by auction’s end, a modest amount that wasn’t enough to trigger Daughtery’s reserve price. For a man down and out and a piece of jewelry adorned with an inscribed name that sticks out like a cold sore, you’d think holding high standard would be the last thing somebody would be doing.
The stunning influx of all these auctions in the past year has almost become comical to the point where it’s insulting to the legacy of the WSOP and the achievement of taking down an event. There is nothing admirable about having worked your entire life to achieve the status of “bracelet winner” then frivilously spending all your winnings and putting yourself in a position to be nil back at square one. The saying “that’s poker” doesn’t apply here, because it isn’t as much of an issue of a coin flip as it is just common sense and personal restraint. Here’s to hoping 2010 was both the beginning and the end to the eBay trend and that bracelets will be staying on wrists and in trophy cases where they belong.
A hand from the Ballys Las Vegas World Series of Poker Circuit Championhip between Thang “Kido” Pham and J.C. Tran. Pham and Tran would eventually go on to take first and second, respectively, winning $453,456 and $251,920 for their efforts, outlasting a final table stacked with the likes of Lee Watkinson, Joe Hachem, and Scotty Nguyen.
Hevad Khan during the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event
Watching his performance all these years later still makes me want to go out and stab the first vagrant I see. Khan defines the word “obnoxious”–bolded, italicized, and underlined–with the full-body seizures he called his post-hand celebrating. His “oohs” and “aahs” as he mimicked a gorilla, or yelling “BULLLLLLLDOOOOZZZZEERRRRRR” then doing his tubby little mad man shuffle, saw me clenching my fists harder than I would have around my door handles staring down the impending head-on collision of a Mac truck. If the Mississippi River was the line for this self-proclaimed funny man’s behavior, Khan crossed it into Alaska. It was arguably the most egregious table display of any televised poker broadcast and a perfect example of how sometimes, people aren’t laughing with you but at you.
His behavior was so notorious that a new rule was enacted the following year to prevent copycat douchebaggery:
“Excessive celebration through extended theatrics, inappropriate behavior, or physical actions, gestures, or conduct may be subject to penalty. Any player that engages a member of the tournament staff during the celebration or utilizes any property of Harrah’s will be penalized in accordance with Rules No. 31 and/or 51. Harrah’s property includes but is not limited to chairs, tournament tables, and stanchions.”
One of his random tablemates said it best: “Just act normal, OK?” Let’s find a nice, soft patch of land behind the ol’ tool shed, right next to where Old Yeller resides, and toss Khan’s 15 minutes of fame deep down into a hole to never be heard from again.
Scotty Nguyen during the 2008 $50k H.O.R.S.E. World Championship
A man whom many pros considered to be one of the greatest to play the game, Chip Reese died on December 4, 2007 due complications with pneumonia. It seemed only fitting that a year after winning the inaugural $50k H.O.R.S.E. tourney just months before his untimely passing, the event was renamed in his honor and the “David ‘Chip’ Reese Memorial Trophy” was to be presented to the winner (the trophy is now handed out at the $50k Poker Player’s Championship after the sudden decline of the H.O.R.S.E. event).
What better way to honor one of your well-respected and beloved peers in the wake of his absence? Make a complete ass of yourself as you drunkenly belittle the remaining players at the final table and defecate on his memory in the process. While not so much obnoxious as it was graceless and an atrocious display of character and tact, Scotty Nguyen, the “Prince of Poker”, looked more like a serf tending to the horse’s stables. It was a performance that would have even seen the words “ridiculous” and “embarrassing” stop returning his calls.
It all started with a spark, provided when young gun Michael DeMichele irked all the old poker pro gatekeepers with his giddy demeanor, excessive celebrating, and questionable plays which made more enemies than friends when it looked like he slow-played Barry Greenstein and misread his winning flush against Huck Seed, telling him he had two pair. While his youthful exuberance was certainly trying on the patience of all that played witness, even it could not prepare us for Nguyen’s televised train wreck.
The compound interest of a botched 11th place finish in the 2007 Main Event, fleeting luck in his hands, a few too many cocktails, and DeMichele’s behavior turned that spark into a structural fire that would go on to burn down 10 city blocks, when Nguyen proceeded to turn his anger on the twentysomething, with a bombardment like a verbal Pearl Harbor. But it didn’t end there.
Nguyen, who saw his luck turn in several hands with well-respected Erick Lindgren, then turned the onslaught in his direction, continuing his drunken Jekyll and Hyde act and further shaming the glistening legacy of Chip Reese.
His classiest moment came when he finally shut up after winning the event, the $1,989,120, and the Chip Reese trophy, which immediately needed to be washed and polished to remove the tarnish from Nguyen’s shame. While the nearly $2 million was certainly undeserved, onlookers could take solace in the fact that it was just the steep price Nguyen paid for his televised personality suicide. If I was DeMichele or Lindgren though, I would have grabbed him by his Jerry curls in the parking lot and put his face all-in through the pavement.
“I knew him for 35 years, I never saw him get mad or raise his voice,” said Doyle Brunson to The Associated Press following Reese’s passing. “He had the most even disposition of anyone I’ve ever met. He’s certainly the best poker player that ever lived.”
Touching sentiment that makes this somehow even harder to watch:
Phil Hellmuth during anything
The name speaks for itself. One part accomplished no-limit hold’em player, one part 12-year-old temper tantrum, and all narcissist, his antics are that laughable, pathetic, “make you feel better about yourself” sort of disgraceful. His lack of respect for other players, for the game, and for himself have produced a highlight reel of some of humanity’s worst moments. The rants about Europeans, the progressively awful entrances at the WSOP Main Event, the insults about people not even being able to spell “poker”–Hellmuth knowns no bounds and makes everyone around him feel better about themselves every time he speaks. It’s all been said and done about “The Poker Brat”, a horse that’s been beaten so many times that if I went in depth about his antics again, PETA may begin to publicly boycott this blog.
Nobody knows poker like Phil Hellmuth, who would be the first and only person to tell you that. He also knows overweening, shame, and self-importance better than anyone else, too.
With Peter Eastgate’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event championship bracelet reaching $147,500 on eBay at the closing bell, it seems as though he’s started a trend in the poker world.
Paul “Eskimo” Clark is a name that hasn’t been muttered since the WSOP broadcasts back in 2002-2003. He is a three-time bracelet winner, with victories held in the 1997 $5000 Stud Limit 7 Card Stud, the 1999 $1500 Razz, and the 2002 $1500 Limit 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo events. With $2,695,439 in tourney winnings over the decades of his pro status, words like “how?” and “why?” are all that you’re left with looking back at his career.
The eBay auction is a listing for his Razz bracelet, which he bested a field of 141 players to gain. The item’s current location is Ireland, a magical, far away land that apparently saw Eskimo placing his gold in the pot at the end of the rainbow rather than taking it. From this alone, we can deduce that the bracelet is likely years removed from his ownership and that the seller is of no obvious relation.
As is evidenced by its incredibly underwhelming presentability, the bracelet was years before the poker boom created a monster and had respectable jewelry to match the now universally accepted Vegas accomplishment. A side-by-side comparison of eBay auctions with Eastgate’s Main Event bracelet to Eskimo’s Razz is like comparing a Picasso to a child’s Paint by Number. Albeit wins of different calibers, it’s amazing what a difference a couple years make.
Aside from his three bracelets and first and second place finishes at World Poker Tour events, Eskimo’s real claim to fame is his introduction of Badugi to American poker, a three card draw lowball variant. Heavily popular in Korea and Vietnam, Eskimo took the premise with him back to the high stakes Las Vegas card rooms after discovering it while enlisted in the military. It isn’t known when exactly the mixed-game was invented, but it has never been refuted that its introduction to western culture is due wholly to Eskimo.
Sadly though, there’s a thin line between “donating to charity” and “flat broke”. Actually, scratch that–there’s a line the size of a swelling fire hose between the two, and it’s safe to assume that a name as faded as the Goo Goo Dolls is just another pro down on his luck. Eskimo is in all likelihood another T.J. Cloutier story, that of a man who’s vices away from the felt in a town that chews up credit lines was spit out soulless and face down in the gutter. As soon as the savings account reaches meth head status, the kneejerk reaction is to pawn off your valuables to fuel your fix, which is sad when it’s something as prestigious as a WSOP bracelet. Some people will go their entire lives falling short of attaining one, but to Eskimo, it was just another item with a price .
As poker keeps evolving, more than a few players are turning towards poker coaching as a means of getting better. And while we all know that getting a second opinion on our game could be very helpful, most of us don’t have several hundred dollars a month to throw at poker coaches. So does this mean coaching is totally out of your budget?
Fortunately, the answer is ‘no.’ In fact, there are a couple of affordable ways for lower bankroll players to receive the coaching that they desperately need. The first and most common way is to receive an online coaching session or two (as opposed to actually meeting with the coach). With an online session, you’ll have to use an instant messenger service to communicate with the coach and find out where the leaks are in your game. Some coaches might even have you use a service like TeamViewer where the coach can actually see your screen. Depending on how long the session(s) is, you might only end up paying $100 or $200 for some great coaching advice.
Another option for getting affordable coaching advice to enter a staking agreement where you hand over a certain percentage of your profits in exchange for coaching (usually 50%). This is definitely a good idea for those who can’t get over the hump, yet need some coaching advice. However, the drawback is that your agreement could turn you into an indentured servant depending on how long the coach is allowed to keep taking profits.
In any case, both of these methods at least allow you to get some important poker coaching if you’re worried about the effect that it will take on your wallet. Just make sure that you find a knowledgeable coach who commonly plays the same poker format that you do.
