Speedyfold Poker Blog

The following are a selection of odds offered by Ladbrokes for a player to reach the Final Table of the WSOP 2008 Main Event. (The final table means one of the last 9 players).

Personally I think you would be crazy to bet on any of the guys with odds of shorter than 126 to 1. Phil Ivey is good, but 34 to 1 in a 7000 entrant event is clearly a poor bet.

The 186 to 1 and 251 to 1 players are a lot more attractive. Sure, its a bit of a lottery, but I think I will bet on a few for a bit of fun

Phil Ivey 34.00
Allen Cunningham 51.00
Phil Hellmuth 51.00
Daniel Negreanu 61.00
JC Tran 61.00
Carlos Mortensen 91.00
David “The Dragon” Pham 91.00
Erik Seidel 91.00
Gus Hansen 91.00
Johnny Chan 91.00
Kenny Tran 91.00
Mike Matusow 91.00
Patrik Antonious 91.00
Alan Goehring 126.00
Dan Harrington 126.00
Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott 126.00
Doyle Brunson 126.00
Greg Raymer 126.00
Howard Lederer 126.00
Joe Hachem 126.00
John Juanda 126.00
Johnny Lodden 126.00
Juha Helppi 126.00
Julian Gardner 126.00
Kirk Morrison 126.00
Layne Flack 126.00
Marcel Luske 126.00
Max Pescatori 126.00
Michael Mizrachi 126.00
Roland De Wolfe 126.00
Scott Fischmann 126.00
Sorel Mizzi 126.00 (Imper1um)
Tony G 126.00
Antonio Esfandiari 151.00
Brian Townsend 151.00
Bruno Fitoussi 151.00
Chris Ferguson 151.00
David Benyamine 151.00
Dewey Tomko 151.00
Erick Lindgren 151.00
Gavin Griffin 151.00
Gavin Smith 151.00
Huck Seed 151.00
Jennefer Harman 151.00
John Hennigan 151.00
Justin Bonomo 151.00
Lee Nelson 151.00
Mads Anderson 151.00
Phil Laak 151.00
Praz Bansi 151.00
Scotty Nguyen 151.00
Theo Jorgenson 151.00
Tim Phan 151.00
Todd Brunson 151.00
Tom Dwan 151.00 (Durrrr)
William Thorson 151.00
Andy Black 186.00
Andy Bloch 186.00
Anne Wroblewski 186.00
Annie Duke 186.00
Barny Boatman 186.00
Bill Chen 186.00
Bill Edler 186.00
Bo Sehlstedt 186.00
Can Kim Hua 186.00
Carl Olson 186.00
Carmel Petrescu 186.00
Chad Brown 186.00
Chau Giang 186.00
Chip Jett 186.00
Chris Bjorin 186.00
Cindy Violette 186.00
Cliff Josephy 186.00
Dario Minieri 186.00
Darrell Dickin 186.00
Dave Colclough 186.00
David Chiu 186.00
David Levi 186.00
David Oppenheim 186.00
David Singer 186.00
David Williams 186.00
Dutch Boyd 186.00
Eric Haber 186.00 (Sheets)
Eric Froelich 186.00
Eric Lynch 186.00 (Rizen)
Farzad Bonyadi 186.00
Freddy Deeb 186.00
Gabe Thaler 186.00
Hevad Khan 186.00 (RainKhan)
Hoyt Corkins 186.00
Ilarie Sahamies 186.00
Jason Lester 186.00
Jeff Kimber 186.00
Jeff Lisandro 186.00
Jeff Madsen 186.00
Jennifer Leigh 186.00
Jerome Bradpiece 186.00
Joe Awada 186.00
Joe Beevers 186.00
Johan Storakers 186.00
John Kabbaj 186.00
John Phan 186.00
Jon “Skalie” Kalmar 186.00
Jon Turner 186.00
Jorryt Van Hoof 186.00
Julian Thew 186.00
Karl Mahrenholz 186.00
Katherine Hartree 186.00
Keith “The Camel” Hawkins 186.00
Kevin Saul 186.00
Kirill Gerasimov 186.00
Lars Bonding 186.00
Lee Markholt 186.00
Lee Watkinson 186.00
Liz Liu 186.00
Markus Golser 186.00
Martin Green 186.00
Martin Wendt 186.00
Marty Smyth 186.00
Men “The Master” Nguyen 186.00
Mikael Thuritz 186.00
Mike Binger 186.00
Mike Sexton 186.00
Minh Ly 186.00
Neil “Bad Beat” Channing 186.00
Nick Binger 186.00
Nick Gibson 186.00
Nik Persaud 186.00
Noah Boeken 186.00
Padraig Parkinson 186.00
Paul Darden 186.00
Paul Wasicka 186.00
Philip Marmostein 186.00
Ralph Perry 186.00
Richard Toth 186.00
Robert Mizrachi 186.00
Robert Williamson 186.00
Rory Mathews 186.00
Ross Boatman 186.00
Ryan Daut 186.00
Scott Clements 186.00 (BigRiskky)
Shannon Elizabeth 186.00
Stuart Fox 186.00
Surinder Sunar 186.00
TJ Cloutier 186.00
Ted Forest 186.00
Ted Lawson 186.00
Thierry Van Der Berg 186.00
Thomas Bihl 186.00
Thomas Keller 186.00
Thor Hansen 186.00
Tom McEvoy 186.00
Tony Bloom 186.00
Toto Leonides 186.00
Vanessa Rousso 186.00
Vicky Coren 186.00
Josh Arieh 201.00
Aaron Kanter 251.00
Al Krux 251.00
Alan Kessler 251.00
Alan Smurfit 251.00
Alex Jacob 251.00
Alex Kravchenko 251.00
Amir Vahedi 251.00
Ben Grundy 251.00
Ben Roberts 251.00
Berry Johnston 251.00
Beth Shak 251.00
Betrand Grospellier 251.00 (ElKy)
Bill Gazes 251.00
Billy Argyros 251.00
Billy Baxter 251.00
Bjorn-Erik Glenn 251.00
Blair Rodman 251.00
Bobby Baldwin 251.00
Brad Booth 251.00
Brad Daugherty 251.00
Brandon Adams 251.00
Brandon Cantu 251.00
Brent Carter 251.00
Brett Jungblutt 251.00
Brian Haversen 251.00
Bruce Yamron 251.00
Burt Boutin 251.00
Champie Douglas 251.00
Chris Bigler 251.00
Chris Grigorian 251.00
Chris McCormack 251.00
Chris Moneymaker 251.00
Ciaran O’Leary 251.00
Clonie Gowen 251.00
Conor Tate 251.00
Cory Carroll 251.00
Dag Maarten Mikkelsen 251.00
Dan Alspach 251.00
Dan Heimiller 251.00
David Grey 251.00
David Tran 251.00
Davood Mehrmand 251.00
Devin Porter 251.00
Donnacha O’Dea 251.00
Dustin Woolf 251.00
Eddy Scharf 251.00
Eli Elezra 251.00
Elie Marciano 251.00
Eric Hershler 251.00
Eric Mizrachi 251.00
Erica Schoenberg 251.00
Erik Friberg 251.00
Evelyn Ng 251.00
Fabrice Soulier 251.00
Glen Chorny 251.00
Hans “Tuna” Lund 251.00
Haralabous Voulgaris 251.00
Harry Demetriou 251.00
Hasan Habib 251.00
Henning Granstad 251.00
Humberto Brenes 251.00
Ian Woodley 251.00
Isaac Baron 251.00
Isabelle Mercier 251.00
Ivo Donev 251.00
JJ Liu 251.00
JP Kelly 251.00
James Worth 251.00
Jamie Gold 251.00
Jan Heitmann 251.00
Jan Sorenson 251.00
Jani Sontula 251.00
Jason Strasser 251.00
Jay Heimowitz 251.00
Jean “The Prince” Gaspard 251.00
Jean-Robert Bellande 251.00
Jeff Shulman 251.00
Jennefer Tilly 251.00
Jerry Yang 251.00
Jesse Jones 251.00
Jim Bechtel 251.00
Jim McManus 251.00
Jim Meehan 251.00
Joe Sebok 251.00
Joe Tehan 251.00
John Cernuto 251.00
John D’Agastino 251.00
John Duthie 251.00
John Dwyer 251.00
John Gale 251.00
John Tabatabai 251.00
Jonas Klausen 251.00
Jordan Morgan 251.00
Karina Jett 251.00
Kathy Liebert 251.00
Katja Thater 251.00
Keith Sexton 251.00
Kenna James 251.00
Ketul Nathwani 251.00
Kristy Gazes 251.00
Lawrence Gosney 251.00
Louis Asmo 251.00
Luca Pagano 251.00
Marc Goodwin 251.00
Marc Naalden 251.00
Marco Traniello 251.00
Maria Ho 251.00
Mark Gregoritch 251.00
Mark Newhouse 251.00
Mark Seif 251.00
Mark Teltscher 251.00
Mark Vos 251.00
Martin De Knijf 251.00
Mats Rahmn 251.00
Matt Lefkowitz 251.00
Melissa Hayden 251.00
Michael Gracz 251.00
Michael Greco 251.00
Nenad Medic 251.00
Pam Brunson 251.00
Paul Zimbler 251.00
Perry Friedman 251.00
Phil Curtis 251.00
Phil Gordon 251.00
Philip Hilm 251.00
Prahlad Freedman 251.00
Rafe Furst 251.00
Rafit Amit 251.00
Ray Davis 251.00
Raymond Rahmne 251.00
Rene Mouritsen 251.00
Rhett Butler 251.00
Richard “Chufty” Ashby 251.00
Robert Varkonyi 251.00
Roberto Romanello 251.00
Rolf Slotboom 251.00
Russ Hamilton 251.00
Sam Farha 251.00
Shannon Shorr 251.00
Soren Kongsgaard 251.00
Steve Billarikis 251.00
Steve Brecher 251.00
Steve Paul-Ambrose 251.00 (stevejpa)
Steve Wong 251.00
Steve Zolotow 251.00
Steven Dannenmann 251.00
Stig Rasmussen 251.00
Terrence Chan 251.00
Thomas Wahlroos 251.00
Tony Cousineau 251.00
Tony Ma 251.00
Tuan Lam 251.00
Venessa Selbst 251.00
Victor Ramdin 251.00
Young Phan 251.00

No-Limit Omaha - Right or Wrong?

PokerStars have recently started to offer NL Omaha tournaments. Part of me considers this sacriledge to the great game (PLO). Part of me thinks, oh well, it’s not that bad. But what’s the reality. Friend or Foe? Right or Wrong?

Omaha is a game played fast enough and loose enough as it is. NL Omaha is almost encouring recklessness and coin-flip lotteries. Of course it can be played in a refined manner too, but that seems rare. Just one hyper aggressive player at the table can change the whole dynamics of Omaha. And that isnt rare. Full Stack launches of 20-30BBs seem common place, and value-bets seem to have been fully abandoned in favor of the 5x Pot size launch when the draw comes in.

Part of me wants to attribute this to the fact that NLO is in itself to blame. IE the game has caused the bad play. But really I think it is the NL tag alone. Suddenly NL Holdem players are signing up for Omaha, and are clueless really. Launching chips around with shear abandon. The PL and Limit tags on any game had them running for the hills, but suddenly the NL prefix turns the tourney into fair game for the NLHE loyalists….or so it certainly seems.

Now, as all good players should agree, this should be considered a good thing, not bad. The more reckless donks and hopeless fish the better. So do you give up the pureness of PLO for an unnatural yet potentially very +EV game? The jury is most definately out on that one.

WSOP Steps on PokerStars

These are a lot of fun, and a good way to attempt to qualify for the WSOP Main Event.

Each step is a 9-seater Sit-and-go

WSOP Step 1
$7.50 Buy-in
1st = Advance to Step 2
2nd = Advance to Step 2
3rd = Repeat Step 1
4th = $1.50 cash

WSOP Step 2
1st = Advance to Step 3
2nd = Advance to Step 3
3rd = Repeat Step 2
4th = Repeat Step 2
5th = Back to Step 1

WSOP Step 3
1st = Advance to Step 4
2nd = Advance to Step 4
3rd = Repeat Step 3
4th = Repeat Step 3
5th = Repeat Step 3

WSOP Step 4
1st = Advance to Step 5
2nd = Advance to Step 5
3rd = Repeat Step 4
4th = Back to Step 3
5th = Back to Step 3
6th = Back to Step 2

WSOP Step 5
1st = Advance to Step 6
2nd = Advance to Step 6
3rd = Repeat Step 5
4th = Repeat Step 5
5th = Back to Step 4
6th = Back to Step 4

WSOP Step 6
1st = $12,500 WSOP Main Event Package (Entry and Expenses)
2nd = $1500 Cash
3rd = $1500 Cash
4th = $1000 Cash
5th = $1000 Cash
6th = $500 Cash

If you dont want to start at step 1, you can join at a later step. For example you can buy-in directly into Step 2 for $27.00

The 12,000 player entry limit was indeed met, and after just over 9 hours of play Schmidl90 took down the PokerStars Turbo Takedown for May

1st Schmidl89 $100,000
2nd Pokerguden $60,000
3rd L_Sprewell $40,000
4th biggboss120 $32,500
5th nevada_nl $25,000

A notable finish for ch0ppy in 17th (a former PokerStars Sunday Million winner), cashing $2500

The unluckiest man of the evening title goes to kendo217, who finished on the bubble in 4001st place (particularly annoying no doubt in such a wide-payment (1/3 of field) system).

None other than crosscourtbh (poker nuts will remember him) finished one further out in 4002nd place

The first of the planned monthly “Turbo Takedown” tournaments on PokerStars is this evening. As we speak only 500 out of the 12,000 spots are left, so it looks very likely to fill completely

Out of the 12,000 entrants, 4000 get paid. A whopping 1/3 of the field.

The buy-in is 5000 FPPs (Frequent Player Points), and there is a $1,000,000 Prizepool. The 1st prize is $100,000

As I say, this is going to be a monthly event, so if you dont make it tonight, look out for it next month

PokerStars are very generously matching all donations by its players towards the relief effort following the recent earthquake and devistation in China. You can donate by simply registering for a pseudo tournament in the PokerStars Special Tournament Lobby. You can donate anything from $1 up to $100 using this method. PokerStars will then match all amounts donated and send the money to The Red Cross.

Some of the players who have very generously donated $100 include

DumpingKGB
aakkari
barryg1
eisenhower1
Feb19
Genius28
Iftarii
luckybacon
MattSuspect
Paolo69
pezi2000
Remi1973
SirWatts
taktloss47
Tmay420
ViennaNights
zangbezan24

Well done to those and others for the philanthropic spirit. Our thoughts are with all those in China affected.

I am sure you are familiar with the game Where’s Wally or Where’s Waldo.  How about Where’s Phil Ivey?

Somewhere here at the Lakers game.  Can you spot him (really not that difficult)

Anyone who plays alot of poker, will probably know what it is like to get it in the ear from the Mrs/Girlfriend.   Poker can be very time consuming, particularly tournament play.  And the worst thing about tournaments is that if the Mrs wants to make plans, it is tough to say when exactly you will be free, because you could bust out in 10 mins time, or be playing for another 6 hours and win the damn thing (you lucksack!)

This, combined with things like foul moods following a particular bad beat ridden evening, makes it potentially far from harmonious on the homelife to be a poker junkie.

I think probably the best method to deal with it is to get them involved, in terms of playing a little.  You’ll often find that they find it quite enjoyable to play the occassional tournament.  Ask for them to take over (a cheaper buy-in!) once, and sit back and watch them get hooked ;)   Well, maybe it wont work every time, but you get the drift.

The only other advice I can give is to try play poker in a seperate room if possible (eg an office), and try to keep it seperate from the home life.  At least then the swearing doesnt interfere with their favorite TV program!

Good Luck, and hopefully you wont have to compromise on your playing time that much.  If you do, then only one phrase remains….under the thumb or what!

FTOPS VIII - Great series for player Halfrek

Halfrek wins FTOPS Event 11 ($1050 Buy-in NLHE) and FTOPS Event 21 ($2620 Buy-in NLHE, 2-day event)

When they arrived at the final table Halfrek was positioned ominously, but the chip lead was held be long-term chip leader philivey567.  Whilst philivey567 busted out in 4th, Halfrek was there for the full duration.  Here is the final hand

Full Tilt Poker Game #6473542521: FTOPS Event #21 (47445419), Table 59 - 15000/30000 Ante 4000 - No Limit Hold’em - 22:44:14 ET - 2008/05/18
Seat 1: Halfrek (2,681,910)
Seat 7: JRShaffy (1,813,090)
Halfrek antes 4,000
JRShaffy antes 4,000
JRShaffy posts the small blind of 15,000
Halfrek posts the big blind of 30,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
JRShaffy raises to 85,000
Halfrek has 15 seconds left to act
Halfrek raises to 275,000
JRShaffy has 15 seconds left to act
JRShaffy raises to 589,000
Halfrek has 15 seconds left to act
Halfrek has requested TIME
Halfrek calls 314,000
*** FLOP *** [Qs Kd 2h]
Halfrek checks
JRShaffy has 15 seconds left to act
JRShaffy bets 500,000
Halfrek raises to 2,088,910, and is all in
JRShaffy calls 720,090, and is all in
Halfrek shows [Ts Ks]
JRShaffy shows [9c Qd]
Uncalled bet of 868,820 returned to Halfrek
*** TURN *** [Qs Kd 2h] [6h]
*** RIVER *** [Qs Kd 2h 6h] [Ac]
Halfrek shows a pair of Kings
JRShaffy shows a pair of Queens
Halfrek wins the pot (3,626,180) with a pair of Kings
JRShaffy stands up
Halfrek stands up
Cubs 217 (Observer): 2 jerseys omg!!
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,626,180 | Rake 0
Board: [Qs Kd 2h 6h Ac]
Seat 1: Halfrek (big blind) showed [Ts Ks] and won (3,626,180) with a pair of Kings
Seat 7: JRShaffy (small blind) showed [9c Qd] and lost with a pair of Queens

899 Entrants - $2650 Buy-in

Result

1. Halrek $516,925
2. JRShaffy $325,887.50
3. IfHeDiesHeDies $241,606.25
4. philivey567 $185,418.75
5. binrich $140,468.75
6. ckingusc $101,137.50
7. TheStein $67,425
8. lilfishy897 $52,591.50
9. Hoss_TBF $38,207.50
A notable finish for PearlJammed in 22nd

Getting your raise size correct at various stages in a tournament is an important aspect to successful play.  Basically the later on the tournament you get, the shallower your standard raise should become (obv as a general rule, not in all instances).

As you start to get deep 2.5 times the big blind or less is perfectly fine.   Many players will not call to even a small raise, at this point, unless they have a half-decent hand.  So it enables you to pick up pots very cheaply.  With the antes on offer as well, this makes each hand a very desirable pot.

The shallow pre-flop raise like this also gives you more room to either fold cheaply, or to evaluate any raise/push to see if there is value there for you.

We can illustrate with an example.  Here, poker pro Jon Turner (PearlJammed) is deep in a tournament, and raises to his standard for the blind level, 4875.  This is 2.4375 times the big blind.    With the antes, there is a 5000 chip gain here on offer if the opponents fold, which they do in this example.   Very much low risk for high gain, compared to a std 3xBB raise before the antes.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6468631057: FTOPS Event #21 (47445419), Table 15 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold’em - 16:33:39 ET - 2008/05/18
Seat 1: binrich (25,064)
Seat 3: ckingusc (49,646)
Seat 4: 747wd (72,740)
Seat 5: PearlJammed (109,613)
Seat 6: lilfishy897 (196,251)
Seat 7: rrrobins (199,538)
Seat 8: Erich Kollmann (93,315)
Seat 9: I_Do_Goats (172,888)
binrich antes 250
ckingusc antes 250
747wd antes 250
PearlJammed antes 250
lilfishy897 antes 250
rrrobins antes 250
Erich Kollmann antes 250
I_Do_Goats antes 250
I_Do_Goats posts the small blind of 1,000
binrich posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
ckingusc folds
747wd folds
PearlJammed raises to 4,875
lilfishy897 folds
rrrobins folds
Erich Kollmann folds
I_Do_Goats folds
binrich folds
Uncalled bet of 2,875 returned to PearlJammed
PearlJammed mucks
PearlJammed wins the pot (7,000)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7,000 | Rake 0
Seat 1: binrich (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: ckingusc folded before the Flop
Seat 4: 747wd folded before the Flop
Seat 5: PearlJammed collected (7,000), mucked
Seat 6: lilfishy897 folded before the Flop
Seat 7: rrrobins folded before the Flop
Seat 8: Erich Kollmann (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: I_Do_Goats (small blind) folded before the Flop