Online casinos and poker

June saw the 38th World Series of Poker being its record-setting run at the Rio in Las Vegas, with throngs of would-be poker champions stretching the facilities to its limits, if not beyond. Every day brought one or two new champs, all while a handful of other big stories played out elsewhere in the poker world. There was no shortage of worthwhile poker stories as summer arrived in style:

Hellmuth Wins 11th Career WSOP Bracelet — Who would capture an 11th WSOP bracelet first? All three players with ten career titles made deep runs at bracelets in the opening weeks of the WSOP. But when the efforts of Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan in other events fell short, it left the door open for Phil
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Hellmuth, Jr. to make history. Hellmuth won his 11th career bracelet in Event #15, $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em. Hellmuth emerged from a massive pack of 2,628 entrants to outlast Andy Philachack and seven others in a final seen by almost no one, for it was held inside the special Bluff tent created as a venue for televising a select number of finals designated as pay-per-view (via Internet) events. Nonetheless, word of Hellmuth’s triumph still spread through the Amazon Room and beyond and a special ceremony was quickly arranged. Hellmuth collected $637,254 in his record-setting triumph.

Antigua Asks for $3.44B from U.S. in WTO Trade Dispute — Early in June, the island nation of Antigua & Barbuda filed a claim for $3.44 billion in annual compensation from the U.S. as its rightful award for its successful case against the U.S. over ‘offshore’ access to the Internet gambling marke, specifically horseracing in this case. While some arbitration judgment was assured, once the U.S. abandoned its final appeal, the amount ultimately due was a matter of widely divergent opinions. The U.S. scoffed at Antigua’ claim and suggested that $500,000 might be appropriate, while other countries filed similar WTO claims as the deadline for filing passed. The largest of these was a $100 billion claim filed by the European Union, representing the interests of most European countries.

Freddy Deeb Takes $50K H.O.R.S.E. Championship — The biggest payday and most prestige at the WSOP outside the Main Event goes to the winner of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship, which returned for its second edition as Event #39 of the 2007 WSOP. 148 of poker’s biggest stars sought the title, including the late Chip Reese, who returned here to defend his crown from the inaugural 2006 event. The 2007 edition produced the most potent final table of the entire WSOP, consisting of Barry Greenstein, Amnon Filippi, Freddy Deeb, Thor Hansen, Kenny Tran, David Singer, Bruno Fitoussi and John Hanson. Deeb emerged the winner after overtaking final-table chip leader Filippi, collecting $2,276,832 and the special winner’s bracelet. Fitoussi emerged as the runner-up, cashing for $1,278,720.

Full Contact Poker Ceases Operations; Negreanu Joins PokerStars — The online poker sites hit hardest by the market impact of the UIGEA were moderately sized sites that catered extensively to the U.S. Among those was Full Contact Poker, which announced in June that it would cease the online-room portion of its operations and continue on as a discussion forum only, where it remained a major player. FCP announced the sale of its account base to PokerStars, and only a couple of days later, FCP spokesman Daniel Negreanu announced that he was making the move as well, joining the impressie lineup of Team PokerStars sponsored players and instantly becoming one of the site’s most recognizable endorsers.

PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Announced — A new major poker tour serving the booming Asian Pacific Rim poker market was announced in June with PokerStars’ launch of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour. The tour initially scheduled stops for Manila, The Phillipines, and Seoul, South Korea, along with a season-end championship in Sydney, Australia. The APPT would be boosted later in the year with the addition of an event in Macao, the first-ever major poker tournament held in Mainland China. The APPT events drew respectable entries at all venues and established a solid base for major poker tournaments in the region.

Schneider Becomes 2007 WSOP’s Only Double Winner — Winning two bracelets in the same World Series of Poker requires both exceptional skill and a great rush of cards. In 2007 the breakthrough performance was accomplished by veteran cash-game player Tom ‘Donkey Bomber’ Schneider, who won his first title early on in Event #5, $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha & 7 Card Stud (Hi/Lo), and followed that up by taking down Event #46, $1,000 7-Card Stud (Hi/Lo). In addition, Schneider held on to narrowly edge out Jeffrey Lisandro for 2007 WSOP Player of the Year honors.

Billirakis Snags ‘Youngest-Ever Winner’ Title ¬— With an age limit of 21 in place for all Nevada-based WSOP events, the record for youngest-ever bracelet winner has edged ever closer to that 21-year minimum. While Jeff Madsen had claimed the record in 2006 by winning the first of his two bracelets in that series, his mark lasted exactly one year: Steve Billirakis, aged 21 years and 10 days, set a new youthful standard by winning the very first event of the 2007 WSOP, the $5,000 ‘Mixed Event’ tourney. Billirakis outlasted Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller to collect the $536,287 winner’s prize in an auspicious WSOP debut.

NETeller’s Lawrence Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy Charges — The NETeller saga marched on throughout the year. Shortly after the company itself announced a plan to repay U.S. customers whose funds had been frozen for months, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that NETeller co-founder John Lawrence had pled guilty to one count of conspiracy regarding the facilitation of money transfers between U.S. residents and offshore gambling sites, primarily bookmakers. Lawrence agreed to be partially responsible for the $100 million the U.S. was believed to be seeking in the case.

I drove down to Atlantic City, New Jersey from my home in Boston, Massachusetts to see how the poker scene was playing out in this East Coast gambling mecca. I left at 3:00 AM on a Saturday morning, stopped only briefly for coffee and a short nap, and arrived refreshed and ready for action at 9:00 AM.

My first stop was the Hilton – the southernmost poker room on the strip known as the boardwalk. My plan was simple. I parked on the street next to the Hilton at a meter – for about $4 in quarters. I would then play successively at each poker room, from one end of the boardwalk at the Hilton, to the other end at the Showboat. In between I would hit, in order, the Tropicana, Caesar’s, the Wild
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West, Bally’s, Resorts, and the Trump Taj Majal. If I had any time remaining during my first day I would take a jitney to the marina area of Atlantic City – about two miles or so from the boardwalk, and play at Harrahs and the Borgota, before returning back to my car at the Hilton by jitney.

I kicked things off at the Hilton, remembering that two years earlier, when I had played there, the place was just kicking off huge plans to expand and upgrade the room. The room had been rocking back then – all newly renovated and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean from the impressive casino’s second floor. There were over a dozen tables in full action including limit hold’em and stud besides no-limit hold’em. The future looked bright indeed.

Alas. I was hugely disappointed to find that the upstairs room was no more – though players talked about returning to some smaller new space that was under renovation. Today, and for the past few months, they were downstairs, next to some blackjack tables. Their once proud, bursting room had been reduced to one table on this Saturday morning of Veteran’s Day weekend. And though the floor person said this was a slow time, knowing players told me that there might be one or two other tables as the day progressed. My, how the mighty had fallen.

Even so, my playing experience was relaxed and pleasant. The room is a peaceful alternative to the other rooms in Atlantic City. The patrons at my table eagerly told me why they liked it here. “It’s not full of hot shot kids and drunks,” said one poker player. “It’s more quiet than the big rooms,” added another player helpfully.

And so it was.

The room has the standard rake of 10% up to a maximum of $4. There is also a bad beat jackpot of $1 taken from the pot. Aces full of jacks beaten qualifies you for it – and you have to have two aces in your hand to hit it.

There was a $1/2 no-limit game when I was there. They expected maybe another table – of $2/4 limit. They never get higher than this, said a player, though another added that they sometimes get a $2/5 no-limit game.

The comps are generous by any standard I’m familiar with. Players earn $2 an hour in the $1/2 game, $3/hour at the $2/5 game and, officially, $5/hour at the $5/10 game that, apparently, never is spread (but if it were that would that be the highest player comp I’ve ever seen).

The poker room spreads a monthly tournament with a $250 buy-in and there’s also the annual New Jersey State Tournament. They also list daily tournaments, but I was told by regular players that they only go off on the weekends. The rest of the time the room is pretty much dead, as it was on this Saturday morning. Things pick up a little for Friday night. And Saturday night is their busy time – maybe with three or four tables going at once.

The level of play while I was there was, as advertised by the players, pretty subdued. Players tended to be loose and passive pre-flop. Then they all tightened up. One player would come out for $10 and the rest would usually fold – perhaps with a brave soul calling and then folding on the turn to a $20 bet.

In the hour or so that I played I saw maybe three rivers – usually in hands that were not bet on the turn or river. As I said, it was indeed a subdued no-limit game. I lost $15 pretty much just watching all but one hand. I raised in late position with A-J after three players had called the $2 big blind. I had folded all of my hands until then and hoped I might steal the pot. I got called by one player in early position who bet the flop for $30 when the board was Q-Q-10. I quickly folded and he showed me a queen. As I said, nice relaxed game.

The physical playing conditions were okay – surely nothing special. Wedged in next to table games wasn’t annoying in the morning – with the other games still relatively quiet. But I imagine that ambient noise and passing traffic might be distracting and bothersome as the general attendance picked up later. The chairs were general-issue banquet chairs – thinly padded but not uncomfortable. The lighting was about average, surely acceptable though not nearly as nice or bright as some rooms designed for poker. The dealers were all competent, helpful, and skilled… and unobtrusive. The floor was friendly but knew less about the room than most of the players, and couldn’t answer any questions about the rake, player comps, or games being spread.

All in all, I’d come back to kill some time or if I had business on this end of the boardwalk. If I lived in the area and wanted a nice place to come regularly, earn comps, and relax, I’d surely consider making this my regular room. But as a tourist, craving action, I think I’d tend to gravitate toward the bigger, more lively places down at the other end of the boardwalk.

I was playing at my favorite stud venue, Foxwoods, this past week. They had a midday stud tournament, so I took off a day from work to play in it. It was a nice diversion.

I drove down, arrived an hour before the tournament was set to go off and found there were no open seats in either the $20/40 or $10/20 game. So I eagerly took one of the four open seats in the $5/10 game, becoming the fifth player in the game.

My first concern was resisting the urge to try and run over the lower-stakes short-handed game. This is a powerful temptation in such a game for me for two reasons. First of all, since I normally play higher, the stakes lure me into “screwing around” by playing more
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wildly than normal. It takes some discipline to take the lower stakes seriously. It’s a normal distraction, but also a potentially damaging one. A few foolish hands that go to the river in $5/10 can cost over $100.

The other temptation comes from it being short-handed. This temptation is based on the apparent and oft-held, but incorrect, notion that it makes sense to bluff more frequently in a short-handed stud game. With fewer players, and thus fewer opponents, it seems that bluffing more often than in a full game is a correct strategy. But it isn’t. Let me explain.

It’s true that there are fewer players who must be convinced of the true strength of your hand when you bet – since there are fewer players to begin with. But the object in poker is not to win the pot but to maximize the money you win.

In stud, a short-handed game has a pot that is smaller to start off with than a full game. Think about it. Each player antes $1 in a $10/20 game. In a full game that is $8 in antes. The bring-in is $3. That’s a pot of $11 in a full game. In a five-player game an ante steal wins the five antes plus the $3 bring for $8, a $10 bet to win $8.00. In a full game the steal attempt risks $10 to win $11. That’s a much better return on the investment.

A stealer in a short game may win more pots. But the risk-to-reward ratio is worse for him – and so it makes less sense.

But, you might ask, aren’t there fewer players to convince? Wouldn’t that make it more likely to succeed?

Not necessarily. In a full game, timed correctly, a bluff may only need to convince one player. Just wait until it’s only you and the bring-in.

What you really should be doing in a short-handed game is value-betting more. Those hands that are medium strength for a full game are more likely to be the best hand at the table in a short-handed one – since there are fewer opponents. So you’ll be in more hands and being more aggressive – but it won’t be because you’re trying to bluff more but because your hand is more likely to be the best one at the shorter table.

Similarly, drawing hands tend to be less profitable – since there are likely to be smaller pots than in full games. This isn’t always true, of course, since even full games can be heads-up most of the time if you’re up against tight players. But in short games, it’s less likely on average that you’ll have many players going to the river – meaning the money you win when your draws come in is likely to be less. This, in turn, makes it generally less profitable to play those drawing hands.

In any event, I held in check my natural inclination to be more aggressive in this short-handed game. As it turned out, I got out drawn on the river a few times and managed to lose $25 in about an hour while I waited for the tournament. Who’s to say if I would have done better or worse had I been more aggressive? As it was, I felt as if I played each hand correctly so I didn’t mind losing the $25.

Sadly, the tournament was not what I was hoping for. Having played in some no-limit hold ‘em tournaments at Foxwoods, I was expecting 50 or 60 players at this noon stud affair. There were only six of us. The house gave us the option of taking our buy-ins back and canceling the tournament. But we had all driven down to play in a stud tournament. So that’s what we elected to do.

The proper strategy for playing a six-handed tournament is different from playing a multi-table tournament or even a single-table tournament with a full table. A lot depends on the particular structure of the event.

This tournament had 20-minute blinds, a $5,000 starting stack, and a $50/100 limit to begin. The limits went up by either 50% or 100% each level. This makes it a moderately accelerating deep-stack tournament. There is a premium for careful, solid play. Though it’s always nice to accumulate chips early, there’s no need to bully anyone at the start.

As it was, this tournament was an extreme example of how to play short-handed cash games. Have patience, wait for either high-quality hands or excellent situations, and then be aggressive.

The experience can be very difficult – watching, as one will, the passing back and forth of large amounts of chips, as other players aggressively push against each other for small advantages. But waiting and watching is generally the best approach. Let other players get impatient, play too aggressively, and get knocked out – leaving you in the money.

After four hours of this I was in the money. That, in and of itself, might not seem like much of an accomplishment, considering that three of the six starters cashed. But after four hours it sure seemed like something. By then, I was impatient. And the 50%, 30%, 20% split was so flat that I couldn’t justify sticking around (and I guess it provided a convenient excuse for becoming wildly aggressive). I incorrectly ramped up my aggressiveness, pushed very hard – almost maniacally, and busted out shortly after making the money. The better strategy for winning the event would have been to wait until either of the other two players got impatient – and then watched them do what I did. But I didn’t have it in me to wait around. Hey, none of us are perfect!

In sum, let me list the general strategy tips for playing in a short-handed tournament:

1. With a deep stacked structure, put a premium on patience;
2. Wait for high quality starting cards;
3. Let opponents knock themselves out;
4. Resist the urge to gamble with borderline cards – especially early in the tournament;
5. Play very aggressively when you have an advantage – but wait until you’re sure you have that advantage;
6. Stay out of the way of players who have already locked horns. Let them fight it out between themselves;
7. If the structure is steep – with first getting more than 50% of the money, play to win;
8. With a shallow-structured event, shoot to make the money first, and then worry about where you’ll finish.