Poker Index

Interview with Mike Matusow

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:18:16 +0000

Interview with Mike Matusow
by Steve Marzolf Mike Matusow, a card-carrying member of team Full Tilt, has been around the pro poker circuit long enough to earn his nickname as “The Mouth” a few times over. Most recently, he took third in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event, pulling in just under $370k…and talking some serious smack in the process. But when we caught up with him, he had an ironic message for players out there: “Calm down.” You almost took it all at Bay 101 – what was that like? I’ve only played three WPTs in two years – one last year and two this year. I went down there and played really hard. I went down there hungry and wanting to win, and I played really well. But I wish I would have caught some cards against the lunatics, the ones who were raising and re-raising every hand. Tell us about that three-bet that took you out. I mean, he was just raising at every button, and I thought I had a pretty good read on him. I’d been re-raising and shoving on him left and right. I shoved on him with 2-9. He didn’t have to call me with K-Q. It was still 25 percent of his stack, even if he’s ahead. Most of the time, I’m going to have a pair or an ace there. I didn’t really mind the call, cause once it got down to three-handed, they were playing really carefully against me. They knew that if they opened too much, I’d just keep shipping on them. So they started folding a little bit and limping, and it looked like there was going to be no way I could get chips – especially as card-dead as I was. So I didn’t mind just shipping on him every time he opened the button. I was looking at his face and how he reacted to his cards. I shipped on him six times before, and he insta-folded all six. So I thought I had a tell on him. Maybe that time I just rushed it. You’ve consistently had good showings at WPT games. Yeah. I don’t play many. I don’t chase the tournament circuit anymore. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a losing proposition. It’s $750,000 a year to play on the tournament circuit, and you’ve gotta finish at least second in one tournament to make any money. You’ve been in the game a long time – what are the biggest changes you’ve seen? I mean, these kids play pretty good, but when it’s a deep-stack tournament, they’ve gotta know when to slow down. We were playing 100 big blinds deep, and they’re going raise, re-raise, re-raise, trying to outplay each other, playing four-handed. I was just hoping to pick up 8-8 or anything, but I didn’t even see a playable hand. I think the best hand I saw was K-10 offsuit. If I’d picked up any hand behind them, I’d have gotten all the chips. It was the greatest spot in the world – I was like in heaven – but then I was looking at 2-7 offsuit for like eight hours. What spurs that aggressive play? They’re all used to playing online where you have to 3-bet and 4-bet all the time to stay alive when the blinds get up there. When you’re playing deep-stacked, you’re supposed to just play solid and pick your spots. But these guys were ridiculous. They were so hyper-aggressive it was a joke. It fit perfect into my style. I had two playable hands in 154 hands, and I finished 3rd. If I’d won the hand I went out on, then I’d have 30 percent of the chips and who knows what happens? Where do you think the game is going long-term? I don’t know – there’s just so many good players. I think if they just want to keep running $100,000 buy-in tournaments, they’ll have everybody broke within a year. I’m not a big fan of those tournaments. Then, I was saying the same thing four years ago about the $10,000 buy-in tournaments. Everybody would have gone broke on those too, if they hadn’t been satelliting so many people in. You’ve been at this a long time – what are the biggest lessons you’ve learned? Everybody glorifies these people who play heads-up and win millions of dollars, but they’re going to lose it, too. Ain’t nobody who’s better than anybody else playing heads-up poker. Poker’s about playing and beating bad players. There’s definitely less bad players now – and there’s a lot of good players. It’s tough to win now; it’s a lot harder to make a living. Lucky for me, I don’t have to depend on it anymore. I wouldn’t be happy if I had to grind and make a living online or even live nowadays. It sure wouldn’t be easy. Have cash games in Vegas gotten tougher, too? The mixed games are still good, but the no-limit games are all dried up, unless you get invited to a house game. Poker has become a showdown contest. That’s all it is. It’s just because everybody tries to outplay each other. When I came up, it wasn’t like that. It was about making correct decisions, playing solid, attacking blinds and weakness…just playing good and solid. Now it’s all about three-betting, four-betting, five…Come on man. Tell me about your nickname – how often do you hit your opponents with the trash talk? Not much anymore. Though I did it down in Bay 101. Because I just got hot and started making hands. When people play bad against me, I talk a lot of shit. I catch some cards, I’ll rub it in their face. At the WPT, I had a hand where the guy raises under the gun, and three people call so I call in the big blind with Qd-4d. Flop comes 2-4-Q. I lead out the pot, and the guy who raised under the gun calls. The two who came in behind fold. The turn card is 7d, and I have queens and fours on the flush draw. I bet $4800, he makes it $11,000 so I move all in. He calls and shows me three sevens. And I said, “You gotta be kidding me.” Then it’s a 3d on the river, and I start screaming: “That’ll teach you to play bad against me, motherfucker. You get what you deserve. You’re an idiot.” Then I start berating him something fierce. I lead out into four people with a Q-4-2 rainbow. What do you think I’m leading out with, complete air? Like two sevens are any good there. What have you been playing lately? I don’t play. I went to Australia and won about a quarter million. Then I went to L.A. and played the cash games there for a couple weeks and won another $250,000 there. Then I went down to Bay 101 and cashed $370k there. So it’s been a good year.

Strategy with Kristy: Aaron Jones Part Two

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:00:27 +0000

Strategy with Kristy: Aaron Jones Part Two
April 11 2012, PokerNews Staff Related Articles Strategy with Kristy: Aaron Jones Part One Strategy with Kristy: Reid Young Discusses Showdown Value Strategy with Kristy: Tax Time Share It Tags Aaron Jones, Poker Strategy, PokerNews Podcast, PokerNews Strategy Print In the first of this two-part interview for the Strategy with Kristy podcast, LeggoPoker CEO Aaron Jones answered poker theory questions sent in by listeners. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can listen to it here: Podcast Powered By Podbean For Part Two, Jones analyzes poker hands sent in by listeners. To make it easier to follow along, host Kristy Arnett has posted the hand histories in her latest PokerNews blog. In the first hand, the Hero is faced with an under-the-gun raise to $11.50 in a $2/$4 no-limit hold’em six-max game online. He has pocket sixes in the big blind. Here is a snippet from the interview after Arnett asked Jones what options the Hero has in this spot preflop: Theoretically, I guess, they are sort of the easiest hands to play in some ways because you’re never going to be put in a particular position. Whereas if you defend a hand like jack-ten suited or something like that, it will sometimes come like ten-six-five and you’ll have to decide if you’re going to call all three streets, two streets, how many streets your opponent would bet with a bluff. There are nine outs to overcards that can come, or even if he has a draw, there are overcards that can come that will make you fold the best hand. There are a lot of dicey situations. With a hand like a pair, you can somewhat play for set value. However, we’re not quite getting a good enough price to just do that. Because, it’s not like he’s always going to have pocket aces and it’s going to come king-six-five. Sometimes he’s going to have pocket kings or sometimes he’s going to have ace-queen and it’s going to come king-six-five. In both cases, we don’t get any extra money from him. So, from a theoretical point of view, small pairs are some of the most poorly played because people think, “Oh cool. I’m just going to call a few bucks here or a few bucks there. Oh, it’s a few more bucks? What are my odds preflop? What are my implied odds? Alright, we’re just going to try to hit three-of-a-kind. If I do, I’ll just shovel a bunch of money in postflop.” That was a great idea in 2007 and still a pretty good one in 2009. But, now that it’s 2012, it’s a little bit more difficult to get away with stuff like that. I would probably not defend pocket twos through fives here in this exact situation. I might even fold sixes against the right guy, but more than likely, I would call. You have to sort of construct a calling range here though that is pleasing to the balance gods. Say we always want to call here with pocket sixes through tens. We never want to three-bet with those hands because it could put us in a position where we fold the best hand if we get four-bet by ace-king. We don’t have any blockers to him having blockers to four-bet bluff us. There are just a lot of reasons we don’t want to be three-betting sixes through tens. But, you can’t only have sixes through tens in your range. You’d much rather have sixes through tens and also have queen-jack suited, king-queen suited, ace-jack suited, and maybe like ace-queen offsuit in your calling range. Even against some guys who I didn’t think their four-betting range or their getting-it-in range is particularly wide, I would call a hand like ace-king. Podcast Powered By Podbean Tune in every week for new episodes of Strategy with Kristy. Feel free to send in questions, ideas or suggestions for the podcast to kristy@pokernews.com. Also remember to follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news. Follow PokerNews Staff on Comments No comments yet. Be the first to post one!

Players Gear Up for $1,000,000 iPOPS

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:36:22 +0000

Players Gear Up for $1,000,000 iPOPS
Posted by Steven, April 25, 2012 The first of the five iPOPS series events kicks off on Sunday night at 19:00 GMT+1. The tournament is called the iPOPS #1 $200,000 GP and direct buy-ins are only $100+$9, which is a lower price than the usual Sunday night $200,000 Guaranteed tournament. But like the other four tournaments on the iPOPS schedule, players do not have to pay the full buy-in price but can win their seats at one of the many ongoing satellites being staged around the clock. The second iPOPS event will be the iPOPS #2 $50,000 GP on Monday night. This is a special tournament for Omaha Poker enthusiasts, as the tournament will be staged as Pot Limit Omaha and will feature a $40 + $4 buy-in. Re-buys and an add-on are available. The popular Monday Night Omaha tournament will not take place on Monday, as players will be eager to play this special iPOPS tournament instead. iPOPS continues with additional Texas Holdem No Limit Poker action, with the next event being the iPOPS #3 $150,000 GP on May 2nd. High rollers will be particularly interested in the iPOPS #4 High Roller $100,000 GP on May 4th. Its stiff $500 + $30 buy-in and freezeout format will be sure to limit the participants to serious poker players only. The concluding online event of the $1,000,000 iPOPS series is the iPOPS #5 $500,000 GP on May 6th. This freezeout event features buy-ins of $125 + $10. The unique part of this tournament is that the action will pause when only 27 players remain. These finalists will continue the tournament in a live setting at the Gran Casino de Barcelona on June 1st. With not only $500,000 in prizes at stake in this tournament but also a trip to Barcelona for a live poker finish included, players will be thrilled to take their seats at this concluding iPOPS event.

Lord of the Grind

admin — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:18:19 +0000

Lord of the Grind
Starting March 1st, 2012 Want a seat as a Knight of the Round Poker Table? Pass one of the infamous Lord of the Grind monthly poker grinder trials and claim your rewards and honorary seat . The Lord of the Grind Challenge Pokertrials can be mastered in 4 levels of difficulty: Collect points every day and reach yourtargeted Lord of the Grind Shield. As a reward you’ll get a pending bonus and some cash also! Please click here to visit Titan Poker Promotion Date: 06 March 2012 Subscribe to this poker promotions feed

Pius Heinz wins 2011 WSOP

admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:18:27 +0000

Pius Heinz wins 2011 WSOP
The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event title has finally been claimed. Pius Heinz, a 22-year-old professional poker player from Cologne, Germany, took the title holding Ace-King against Martin Staszko’s Ten-Seven. Neither hand improved and Heinz took home $8.7 million with ace-high. Not only was Heinz the first German to win the Main, he was the first to sit at the final table. Over 6800 players from 85 different nations started the event over 13 days, with a prize pool of $64,540,858. The top 693 cashed and the tournament broke, as usual, over a period of five months between the body of the event and the final table, the “November Nine.” Notably, third-place finisher Ben Lamb was looking to culminate a sick, sick run at the WSOP. He place in five consecutive tournaments, making the final table of four of them, and winning one of them. This unheard-of streak locked him up solidly for the WSOP Player of the Year title. For the first time, the Main Event was broadcast (almost) live. There was a delay of several minutes to limit the ability of players to exploit the private pocket card cameras. Although this could potentially allow players to learn about very recent hands during breaks, creating a unique angle on the most important final table of the year. The continuing high turnout of the WSOP is taken as proof that the allure of poker continues throughout the world despite a federal crackdown against online poker. # Player Earnings Country 1 Pius Heinz $8,715,638 Germany 2 Martin Staszko $5,433,086 Czech Republic 3 Ben Lamb $4,021,138 United States 4 Matt Giannetti $3,012,700 United States 5 Phil Collins $2,269,599 United States 6 Eoghan O’Dea $1,720,831 Ireland 7 Bob Bounahra $1,314,097 Belize 8 Anton Makiieveskyi $1,010,015 Ukraine 9 Sam Holden $782,115 United Kingdom Copyright 2012 Ace Nine, LLC Legal | Contact Us | Site Map

Interview with Vanessa Rousso

admin — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 06:18:15 +0000

Interview with Vanessa Rousso
by Steve Marzolf As a lawyer, poker pro and self-described “huge dork,” Vanessa Rousso has made a name for herself in tournament poker, earning more than $3.7 million since 2006. Lately, she’s been repping for PokerStars and running poker “boot camps” to raise up the next crop of winning players. We called Vanessa up to talk about her tactics for surviving – and thriving – in the high-pressure world of large-buy-in tournaments. So you’re primarily a tournament player? I would say I’m only a tournament player. I can play a cash game or two. But to be honest with you, I play so many tournaments as it is, that if I play cash games too, it’s just too much poker. I like to have balance in my life, and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to play tournaments, cash games and do all the other things I like to do. Mike Matusow was complaining to us that high-buy-in tourneys have gotten too risky to profit on – what do you think of that statement? My results are skewed toward high buy-ins. I find that in the smaller buy-ins, I don’t do as well. The higher the buy-in, the more pressure and the better I play. I guess my own particular strategies are more suited to high-buy-in events against better players. So, for me, I’d rather play fewer events that are higher buy-in. What do you think it is about your style that matches up so well with those events? I think it’s probably rooted in logical ability. Basically, the higher the buy-in, the deeper the chip stacks, right? So, there’s more opportunity for telling stories with your bets and raises, and there’s more opportunity for tricking and trapping your opponents. In smaller buy-ins, you have to play more ABC optimally and just exploit the mistakes your opponents are making. At the higher levels, you’re not really waiting for your opponents to make errors – you’re more trying to trick and trap them. So it’s a little bit more of a mind game. I guess I don’t have the patience to play the ABC right way that I should in the smaller buy-ins, and then in the bigger buy-ins, tricking other thinking opponents is enough of a challenge that I give it my A-plus effort every time. But you cut your teeth playing sit-n-go’s, right? Well, I started off playing on the internet for free when I was in college, and then when I turned 21, I started playing live – that was when I was in law school in Miami. The first casino I played at was the Seminole Hard Rock down there, which had sit-n-go’s. I’d play on the weekends, and that’s how I built up my first bankroll. Why did sit-n-go’s work for you? They really had a definable, optimal strategy. Once you figure them out, there are only so many dynamics that can come up in one 10-person, set-blind-structure, $150-buy-in game. There’s just not that many ways it can go down. It took me a couple weeks to figure it out, but once I did, it was a formula that I could apply to that situation. And it was pretty consistent at making money. For beginners who want to follow in your footsteps, what sit-n-go advice do you have for them? I’m really big into reading the books and preparing for poker the same way you would for any money-making opportunity. People don’t just jump into investment banking without any schooling about it. I read like 30 books in a couple months before I started. Also, you need to be a lot more patient than people think you need to be. People come in to play, and they try to take advantage of the low blind levels to play hands that are a little more speculative. But really, the chips are worth next to nothing when the table is still 9- or 10-handed. For instance, many people may find that they double up or even triple up early on in a match, but then don’t even make the top three. Because that early on, those chips just aren’t worth anything. Therefore risking chips to accumulate those early chips isn’t worth it. It’s profitable to play much, much tighter than you think in the early stages. Once your career got moving, was there a moment when things really came together for you? I think it was when I came in 7th in the $25,000 buy-in WPT main event back in 2006. It was the first time I’d taken a shot on the pro circuit, and it worked out. I won a quarter-million dollars, and that pretty much launched my career. It gave me the confidence to continue playing the circuit. Then later that year I won another 400-some thousand in various events. So 2006 was really the big year for me. Can you describe the processes running in your mind when you’re at a game like that and trying to get a read on your opponents? Getting a read all boils down to two categories – are they comfortable or uncomfortable? Because, if they have a good hand and they’re an experienced player, that’s a situation where they’re going to be super-comfortable. Good players have had aces a million times, so their hands aren’t trembling at aces anymore – it’s just something that makes them feel confident. Whereas even a good player can get nervous when they’re in on a big bluff, because that’s a situation that’s less in their control. On the flip side, inexperienced players will be a lot more uncomfortable with good hands because they’re not used to getting aces, kings, queens. The adrenaline’s been released. And since beginners tend to think poker is a lot more about bluffing, they can actually look pretty comfortable holding nothing. Good players, though, know how easy it is to get caught bluffing. So, if you can put your opponent into the comfortable/uncomfortable category, and then determine whether or not they’re an experienced player, it can really help you decide whether they have a hand. Is this the kind of stuff you get into during your poker boot camps? Yeah. I break down tournament strategy into a logical formula and give people guidelines to follow. Rather than vague principles, I give them specific strategies to follow. Mostly, I try to simplify the extremely complex game of tournament poker. Some of the things they can expect to learn are how to use “M” in hand selection; I cover some advanced reading techniques; I cover some game theory and poker stuff, as well. If anyone’s interested, they can get more info at www.bigslickbootcamp.com.

$160,000 in Las Vegas Prize Packages

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:19:05 +0000

$160,000 in Las Vegas Prize Packages
Posted by Steven, April 17, 2012 Registration opens on April 23rd for the Warrior League 2012, a multi-table tournament league awarding over $160,000 in Las Vegas prize packages to top finishers. The Warrior League 2012 consists of six No Limit Holdem events. Players can participate in all six tournaments for a one-time buy-in of $200+$15. The first event will be staged on May 7th. Participating players receive leaderboard points based on their finishing position in each tournament. A players best 5 out of 6 tournaments are considered for the leaderboard. The last event on the league schedule is the Warrior League Grand Final, which will be staged on May 28th. Entries will be awarded to the top 50% of the players on the leagues leaderboard up to that stage. Double leaderboard points will be given to players participating in the Grand Final. At the conclusion of the Warrior League 2012, the top players on the leaderboard will receive prizes that include entries to the events in Las Vegas this summer. The overall winner of the league will receive a package valued at $16,300, which includes entry to the Main Event as well as an entry to a Side Event. To participate in the Warrior League 2012, players must register to a no play tournament listed in the software under the Land Based tab.

Top 5 Poker TV Shows

admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 22:54:08 +0000

Top 5 Poker TV Shows
published on 03/04/11 at 9:00 am Looking to catch some great poker action on your television set this week? Then, this is the article that clues you in about where all the poker action is. So, read on to find out which TV channels you have to set your dial to for watching shows packed with poker glitz!! #1 Poker TV Show: GSNs High Stakes PokerThis show was launched in 2006 and was one-of-a-kind among all existing poker shows because one could sit alongside the top poker professionals from all corners of the globe, such as Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu of PokerStars, and Jen Harman as opposed to the tournament format of other shows. Thus, this show allowed viewers to watch the poker biggies gamble with their personal cash (tons of it, really considering each player had to buy-in using USD 100,000 with variations of deals one doesnt normally get to see anywhere else. #2 Poker TV show: ESPNs World Series of PokerThis show has got to be the biggest ever in televised poker event history since nowhere else can viewers tune in to such a tremendous variety of poker games. You have Texas Holdem, 7-card Stud andOmaha played high with the Main Event being the real crowd puller because it is here that the nail-biting finish table action has everyone betting on who will walk away with the No Limit Holdem tournaments multi-million dollar first prize! #3 Poker TV show: World Poker TourThis show definitely has all the poker nuts tuning in to the WPT and also dragging along family and friends to watch the action after it launched with much fanfare in 2003. It rapidly climbed up the TRP charts and became the Travel Channels top rated program because of great poker tournament coverage from across the countrys best casinos. Each hand that is relayed on the TV screen causes hearts of poker fans to beat faster with the pace of the action speeding up across all the different channels the show airs on: from Fox Sports to Travel Channel to GSN, which is sponsored by PokerStars.net, viewers have a choice of which channel they want to change the dial for in order to be part of the poker claim to fame just like the pros featured on this show! #4 Poker TV show: Bravos Celebrity Poker ShowdownThis show really built up the games popularity, much like the shows listed above because it brought in a niche audience to watch their favorite stars vying for great poker prize pools amid light-hearted bantering and some fabulous on-screen chemistry between the hosts: Phil Gordon of FullTilt and Dave Foley who came across as naturals when it came to informative commentary of the shows action. Lots of poker fun, cool prizes, celebrity flavors and the rumors of poker veteran Phil Hellmuth taking to the hosting keep this TV show on the hot list of many card game enthusiasts. #5 Poker TV show: GSNs Poker RoyaleThis TV show about poker is unique because it combines two opposing groups that come together to duke it out at the poker table, across different segments like Girls versus Boys or Celebrities versus Professionals. Three players from each group face each other at the No Limit Holdem tournament and compete for the host of prizes and of course, fan favor! Related posts: Online Poker Affiliate Shows Us How Its Done! The Most Undeserving Player Wins Twitter Poker Tour Europe Event

Game Tweaks For Online Poker.

admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:18:15 +0000

Game Tweaks For Online Poker.
You might be to annoyed and too exhausted to read tips for winning poker. For all you know, they may not even be true. But these hints are just some of the tips that you certainly should follow as these are not just any kind of poker tip, but they are hints specifically tailored for online poker. You can go here for online poker reviews, if you are thinking about playing online poker. Be social As you play online poker from cyberspace you can be friendly. You can not do this in live poker as youll have to have your game face on. Since your opposers have no way of examining your face, you will be able to be chummy with them by chatting with them while playing poker. This might appear as though an insignificant act, but it can actually assist you deliver the goods in online poker. Whether or not you lose in a specified game, you acquire a friend. Your new friend may aid you with tips or what not as you play more poker. Poker Players you are nice to often become easier opponents and youll be able to beat them more often. Never mind how come you want to befriend them being kind is always helpful. Use free rolls. In Live poker you wont see many freerolls You can find many poker sites to play freerolls at. There are many great benefits to freerolls The first advantage is you get to practice playing poker for free. The second reason is the many poker players of many abilitys you will meet. Because free roll tournaments are practically free, many players good or bad commonly join free roll tournaments. You are able to measure your level of competence through these. Lastly, free roll tournaments will give you the chance to win a ample amount of money. In live poker you will usually have to risk money to gain money. Freeroll tournaments dont require an up front money investment. It is a win-win situation. Do not bet too much. You must be careful with how much you wager at online poker. Before even thinking about it, arrange some sort of limit for yourself. Before playing online poker, make sure that you know just how much you are willing to wager. Online poker has a lot of advantages for tracking your money. If you lose your money and you have used your predefined bankroll amount, you should stop playing. You are not likely to have success by just buying in for more money Take some time to read some about poker, and learn more about strategy before you play more.

Interview with Vanessa Rousso

admin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 03:36:15 +0000