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Who will win the Main Event?

Monday, November 02, 2009

It's been hyped for four long months, but the World Series of Poker Main Event is just around the corner. This Friday, November 6, in fact.

Odds are currently pointing in Darvin Moon's favor, if only for the fact that he is the clear chip leader. Moon is an incredible example of how an amateur poker player can compete at the highest level in the sport. A logger from Maryland, Moon took out $130 satellite event to move into the WSOP Main Event. Alongside Steven Begleiter and Antoine Saout, Moon has no WSOP earnings to his name. Yet.

Phil Ivey is the only member of the November Nine that has any WSOP bracelets, seven in total. If it weren't for his meagre chip count, he would be far and away the favorite to win, but as it stands he has to be content with his odds.

While it may be true that Ivey is the only bracelet winner, five other competitors have two or more WSOP cashes to their name. Eric Buchman, Jeff Shulman, Joe Cada, Kevin Schaffel, and James Akenhead are all veterans of the World Series of Poker, and all know just what it takes to finish in the money.

Darvin Moon - 58,930,000
Eric Buchman - 34,800,000
Steven Begleiter - 29,885,000
Jeff Shulman - 19,580,000
Joe Cada - 13,215,000
Phil Ivey - 9,765,000
Kevin Schaffel - 12,390,000
Antonie Saout - 9,500,000
James Akenhead - 6,800,000

So who do you think will take out this year's Main Event? Will Darvin Moon shock everyone and beat out the pros? Or will Phil Ivey prove his dominance of the sport by coming from nearly 50 million chips down to win? Have your say by commenting below.


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Daniel Negreanu's top 10 players

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Daniel Negreanu: PokerStars pro, Kid Poker, and self-confessed poker stats geek.

In a recent blog entitled "I am a Stats Geek Like No Other", Negreanu dissects mountains of statistics and information in order to systematize his top ten poker professionals into three unique lists.

You can take a look at Negreanu's official blog here.

Kid Poker took every player who had participated in 30 or more World Poker Tour events into consideration, and assumed that there would be a standard ROI (return on investment) of at least $20k in order to cover food, accommodation, flights, taxes, etc.

He used several categories to organize the 176 qualifying players into the lists, with Total Earnings, Final Tables, and Cash Percentages all factoring into the final result.

The results are quite interesting:

Top Ten Players in Earnings Per Event:

1. Carlos Mortensen - $107,354.29
2. Jonathan Little - $93,077.19
3. Martin DeKnijff - $92,130.72
4. David Chiu - $91,053.53
5. Gus Hansen - $90,816.93
6. Tuan Le - $90,781.26
7. Nick Schulman - $77,838.60
8. Michael Mizrachi - $69,479.43
9. Daniel Negreanu - $68,591.79
10. Alan Goehring - $59,936.17

Bottom Ten Players in Earnings Per Event:

Don Barton - $2,056.33
Matt Glanttz - $1,794.71
Jean-Roberte Bellande - $1,792.57
John Esposito - $1,678.67
Yosh Nakano - $1,547.50
Jason Lester - $1,010.52
Robert Williamson III - $1,000.00
Alan Schien - $938.45
Dan Alspach - $728.47
Frank Kassela - $606.29
"Essentially what that means, is that for every $10,000 on average that these players put into an event, they get back what's listed."
Finally, Negreanu lists his top 10 (okay, 11) players based on final table percentages:

1. Gus Hansen - 15.6%
2. Scotty Nguyen - 11.1%
3. Jonathan Little - 10.8%
4. Phil Ivey - 10.5%
5. Ted Forrest - 8.8%
6. Daniel Negreanu - 8.6%
6. Can Kim Hua - 8.6%
6. Humberto Brenes - 8.6%
9. David Pham - 8.4%
10. Steve Sung - 8.3%
10. Hoyt Corkins - 8.3%

- TheDoctor


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Poker Dad Hits Supernova Elite


The PokerStars blog has reported that Dan 'DannyOhBoy' Grolemund has reached PokerStars' top VIP level - Supernova Elite - for earning 1 million VPPs. That's impressive enough as it is, but it gets better, as he did it in just 10 months and all while looking after his newborn baby boy.

Grolemund even credits his son with helping him, saying "It is because of him that I was able to reach Supernova Elite so soon." It may seem like a baby would make earning 1 million VPPs even harder to achieve, but the more you hear from Grolemund, the more it seems to make sense. If his kid has a poker face anything like the one pictured here, there'll be a promising future for the lad.

He apparently followed a strict schedule revolving around his son.

"I planned my poker sessions around his sleep schedule. I moved a high chair and a playpen right next to my computer," said Grolemund.

Most of the focus has been on how unbelievable it is that he managed to do this while looking after his new kid (1 of 3) and keeping his business running wife happy, but I can honestly see how poker and caring for an infant would be complementary. Many stay-at-home parents find that they need some purpose outside of their role as carer, and who here wouldn't consider poker to be a fun way to do that?

Apparently, Grolemund is going to continue playing despite having achieved Supernova Elite level, which goes to show how it's so much easier to achieve goals like this when you make them a habit. Continuing isn't such a bad idea, either, as there are tangible benefits to earning so many VPPs, a fact that Grolemund used to convince his wife that this whole venture was a good idea.

"I sat down with my wife at the beginning of the year, explained the benefits of becoming a Supernova Elite, and we both agreed that I should go for it ... She can't wait to go on the two luxury vacations that PokerStars will provide to us," said Grolemund.

Is anyone else out there a stay-at-home parent who plays poker as well as raising kids? Have you got any tips on how to manage your time effectively? Tell us all about it in the comments.

-Shad

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UFC Poker Room

Thursday, October 22, 2009

You may not know this, but I'm an MMA fan. My favorite fighter is Michael Bisping, and no, I am not from England.

Today I was surprised to see the UFC have launched a poker room. What are they thinking? You don't even have the option of playing for real money and the software is nowhere near as nice as somewhere like Full Tilt Poker.

They've had an interest in poker recently though. For proof of this phenomena, look at the early eliminations in the WSOP Main Event in recent years to find many UFC stars. I guess it makes sense seeing as so many events are held in Vegas at places like Mandaly Bay.

I'm not sure how happy previous poker sponsors of the UFC will be with this move, though. It might get UFC fans interested in poker a little bit more, and it'll get them used to playing online, but it does seem like competition. It's hard to tell what's going on here, but it has to be more than just a UFC advertisement.

My advice would probably be to steer clear of the UFC room if you are looking to play poker. It's good for curiosity value only if you are looking for the best online poker games.

Any other mixed martial arts fans or martial artists out there? Are you interested in playing in a UFC themed poker room? Tell us all about it in the comments.

- Shad


Posted at 7:11 AM Permalink | 1 comments | Talk on the Poker Forum


Regulating US online poker

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I was reading an interesting article published on the Los Angeles Times website this morning regarding Internet gambling in the United States. You can check out the full piece here.

Michael Hiltzik argues that "the activity [online gambling] is unstoppable, so let's regulate it."

That statement alone is sure to hit more than a few nerves with the conservatives on this topic, but he makes a good point. The USA is one of the few countries on the globe that has passed any law related to online gambling, yet it boasts the most popular gambling venues, poker tournaments, and gambling-based television channels in the world. Hypocrisy?

"Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) have both introduced bills in Congress to lift a federal ban on much online play and clarify the law, which is ambiguous in the way it defines online gambling and is difficult even for the banks it concerns and lawyers to understand.

Their goals include taking a piece of the action for the U.S. Treasury, on the political principle that sins always seem less deadly when there's money to be squeezed from them. The consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated in 2007 that legalization could yield as much as $43 billion in tax revenue over 10 years if it includes sports betting, $34 billion even if it doesn't."

Hiltzik isn't one to beat around the bush, and Internet gambling seems to be a subject quite close to his heart.

"It's fair to say that the American approach to Internet gambling, which is legal in much of the rest of the world, is absurd. (Indeed, the federal ban placed the U.S. in Dutch with international trading partners that host online gambling companies, which have complained to the World Trade Organization that it violates trade treaties the U.S. signed.) State laws are wildly inconsistent and sometimes hypocritically excessive.

This is always a great topic to discuss, so why not state your opinion on the current Internet gambling laws by commenting below.

-TheDoctor


Posted at 1:00 AM Permalink | 2 comments | Talk on the Poker Forum


Slow rolling young punks

Friday, October 16, 2009

It's Friday, so here's one of my favorite WSOP videos to help your day go faster.



Love seeing the old guy show the young whippersnapper who's got 'the nuts'!


Posted at 2:23 AM Permalink | 0 comments | Talk on the Poker Forum


Holy man wins $100k

Tuesday, October 13, 2009


Who'da thunk it?

Last week we brought you the story of South Carolina priest Father Andrew Trapp being accepted to compete in the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge. If his audition tape was anything to go by, he wasn't going to last long at the tables.

Well, we couldn't have been more wrong!

Trapp ended up defeating not only NBA Champion John Salley, and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso, but also four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu. I bet that there aren't too many priests who can say they've done that.

The good Father picked up $100,000 for his troubles, and now has a chance to head back to the tables in December for the $1,000,000 grand prize.

True to his word, Trapp immediately donated all of his winnings to the St. Michael's Church in Southern California. His goal for a new church is currently $1.5 million short, so you can bet your bottom dollar that he will be out to win come the end of the year.

You too can join in on the Million Dollar Challenge at PokerStars, so head on over, sign up, and submit a quick 2-minute video for your chance to topple "Father Rambo" in the finals.

- TheDoctor


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