Speedyfold Poker Blog

The last few months have been pretty amazing for female poker players. Liv Boeree hot on the heals of both Vanessa Selbst and Annie Duke. In fact the last 12 months or so has included by far the biggest collection of wins by women ever. Anyone get the feeling they’re taking over? …

In April 2010 Liv Boeree won the EPT San Remo for $1,698,300
In April 2010 Vanessa Selbst won the NAPT Mohegan Sun for $750,000
In March 2010 Annie Duke won the NBC Heads-up winning $500,000
In May 2009 Vanessa Rousso won the High Roller at the EPT Grand Final, winning $749,467
In March 2009 Sandra Naujoks won the EPT Dortmund for $1,159,541

Has Pokerstars got too much of a stranglehold of the poker tour world? It is certainly open to debate. Pokerstars owns and operates numerous live poker tours such as:

EPT - European Poker Tour
NAPT - North American Poker Tour (including the PCA)
LAPT - Latin America Poker Tour
APPT - Asia Pacific Poker Tour
ANZPT - Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour
IPT - Italian Poker Tour
UKIPT - UK and Ireland Poker Tour
RPT - Russian Poker Tour
CSPT - Czech-Slovak Poker Tour

It is an impressive portfolio for sure. But is it too much? We have seen recently the Full Tilt pros not being allowed to play in the NAPT because it is basically heavily promoting the Pokerstars brand.

I would tend to disagree though. It isnt like they’ve been buying up existing poker tours and taking them over. They are new tours, providing some great tournaments for poker players. Their immediate success is a product of the power and pockets of the Pokerstars brand. They have generated field sizes that any fledging tour could only dream of. If some of the major competing brands stop their players playing it is both unfortunate but also fully understandable. On the flip side I doubt Pokerstars will be allowing their main guys to play in any Full Tilt live tours either.

The saving grace to all this is that more well run and reliable live tournaments is a good thing for the average well-rolled poker player, and that the ultimate of all poker tours the WSOP remains unaffected, largely independant and the utlimate unifying tour for every player. In many sports and skill games such as Boxing, Darts, Chess etc there have been major splits at the top basically creating more than 1 world title. Thankfully with Poker this situation doesnt exist and long may that continue

If you are interested in qualifying for any of the above poker tours then signup with a $600 deposit bonus to Pokerstars who have plenty of online satellites available for all the tours

Full Tilt’s ironman rewards scheme must be one of the worst explained I’ve ever seen. How difficult can it be to explain this things in plain English and make them appealing to it’s players. Most poker players are inherently a little lazy when it comes to reading large chunks of text. Lets remember we stare at images and click buttons for most of the day ; Most of us want to glance at something and understand the gist of it within the first paragraph.

Full Tilt’s Ironman explanation though is a long ramble that doesnt really tell you much. What the hell is an Ironman Chip for instance, and how about Ironman Medals? And they have these very vague tables which imply you need to accumulate a certain number of points every day. However it doesnt explicity state that. Then they add more layers like Ironman Plus levels, and the need to opt-in and decide in advance what you want to use the points towards.

Language such as “You could receive bonus medals at the end of the month if you reach at least Bronze status and earn at least 500 points in a day. ”

It is the sort of information page that has just been repeatedly amended over time, and no-one has actually taken the step of sitting back for 2 mins and considering how it looks to “fresh eyes” to the page. I say all this not even really in personal frustration or anything, just more the fact that it such a poor use of an incentive scheme and marketing tool.

There was an interesting thing in the news today. In the UK Annette_15 was being used by Betfair to advertise their site. However there was a complaint. Not only is Annette quite young looking, but it was suggested that her actual screenname “Annette_15″ suggested she is younger than she actually is (she is currently 20 btw).

Whilst reviewing this complaint it was declared that there was in fact a law banning persons below 25 from being used for gambling advertising. Betfair seemed unaware of this law. They have therefore subsequently stated that they wont use Annette_15 again in the UK in any advertising compaigns.

It seems a little harsh considering that Annette won the WSOPE main event in the UK, making her a prime advertising asset. I guess I can see both sides of the argument, and hopefully it wont mean that Annette’s Betfair sponsorship is not renewed.

The WCOOP on PokerStars is well underway. In previous years this has been a tournament series that has got me licking my lips in anticipation. Large field, large buy-in, large stack, long blind levels, etc. OMG what was not to love. However this year’s WCOOP has been somewhat of a disappointment. Gone are virtually all of the 30 min blind levels. The stacks have frequently been a reduced size, and the starting blinds often have come in at a higher level. It is difficult not to think the series has been cheapened somewhat. It just doesnt feel that special.

Lets take tonights $320 HORSE event as a case in point:

There is a regular $33 HORSE tourney on Stars with 3000 starting chips, 12 minute blinds, and first levels of 20/40, 30/60, 40/80, 60/120, and 80/160. Regular, run-of-the-mill, ordinary HORSE tourney.

So, how special was Event 25 of the WCOOP I here you ask? A HORSE event with a $320 buy-in and 1180 entrants? I will tell you how special: 10 min blinds!! 5000 starting chips and first levels of 50/100, 50/100, 60/120, 60/120, and 80/160!!

It is a major disppointment that this has happened to virtually all events. God did I used to love playing this highly skillful series, where you’d still be pitting your wits 17 hours deep. Now it feels like so un-very-special in comparison.

All I can do is pray enough poker players moan in order that Stars re-instates the former glory of this series next year.

PokerStars have introduced a late reg policy for the WHOLE of the first hour of a tournament. At first it seemed like very selective tournaments, but now it appears to have been rolled out to about half of the whole schedule. It produces some very wierd situations, such as playing for 3 hours and finishing lower on the list than someone who lasted 10 minutes. This is because when you bust you simply get allocated the finish position of NO. OF PLAYERS NOW LEFT + 1. At the beginning you might only have 2000 entrants and bust first hand and get placed in 2000th, whereas by the end of the late reg hour there might be 5000 entrants, with 3500 left in, meaning if you bust at that point you get positioned lower (3500th) than the guy who busted the first hand.

It is good from the sense of increased prizepools in your favorite tournaments, and less good if you like an idea of what you are letting yourself in for in terms of field size. I suppose if you’re late it’s also good too (if we take things to the literal max!)

In the picture below you see 13 tournaments with late reg…. most of the screen. Perhaps this is too much, the jury is out.

Poker has some unusual surnames, and it is surprising when you see 2 or more of the more unusual ones in the same tournament. What is more surprising is they often are unrelated, which makes the coincidence a bit spooky. Here are some examples:

Freedy Deeb
Shaun Deeb (no relation)

Howard Lederer
Rob Lederer (no relation)

Phil Ivey
Craig Ivey (no relation)

Nguyens and Trans - let’s not even go there. There are easily 8-10 top pros with the surname Nguyen, and a good 5-6 with the surname Tran. Virtually without exception these are all unrelated to one another, and you will often see 2 or 3 or 4 them all deep in the same tourney at the same time.

Dan Harrington
Richard Harrington (no relation) - ok, name not that rare this time, but I thought I’d chuck it in there as both are still alive in Day 5 of the WSOP 2009 ME :p

Joe Sebok
Joe Serock (not technically a match, but hey pretty damn confusing ;))

Ones who DO have a relationship

Tom Dwan
Thomas Dwan (father of Durrrr, and often refered to as ‘Tom Dwan’)

Joe Hachem
Tony Hachem (brother of Joe)

TJ Cloutier
Eric Cloutier (son of TJ)

Grant Hinkle
Blair Hinkle (brother of Grant) - they both won WSOP bracelets in the same year in 2008

Thierry van den Berg
Erik van den Berg - both players still alive at Day 5 of the 2009 WSOP ME

Former crowd favorite, Tiffany Michelle, developed a bit of repuation as a super bitch at the 2008 WSOP. The 3 things in summary that did it were:

1. Calling the clock on someone when their tourney life was on the line and they had a tough decision

2. Eating fries at the table with her hands

3. Waggling her finger around (pointing at her chips) and not saying a word when asked for a chip count.

Having seen a few more recent interview videos with Tiffany, it seems that perhaps she received a bit of a hard time due partly to some rather harsh editing. For example, the player in question who she called the clock on had apparently been deciding for 10-15 minutes. She also says she received quite a lot of constant ribbing at the table, that put her quite a bit on the defensive, which naturally when seen in isolation looks like giving it some attitude.

Regarding the french fries saga she says she ate them with one hand and handled chips and the cards with the other hand.

Having seen the videos it’s tough not to like her as she always seems very friendly, passionate, and well-natured. The jury is out, I’ll let you decide for yourselves, but personally I’ve re-warmed to her as a poker personality, and it will be interesting to see if she can gradually turn the image around to a more favorable one.

Love him or hate him, durrrr has talent at the poker tables. His strongest game is probably NL Holdem, where he knows how to dominate a table and how to mix things up in a often hyper-aggressive style.

Many players almost worship the ground durrrr walks on. Others fall over themselves to try to knock him. As we remember from just a few months ago, this is the sort of prime example of the latter:

sunra18: so bad and so lucky
durrrr: i try
durrrr: u obv kno we can play more tbls
durrrr: if u rly believe tht
durrrr: not trying to rub nething in but just in case u thought id
sitout or somethin
sunra18: I mean, look at how u get your money in doofie
durrrr: ok tht 1 mightv been bad, sry
sunra18: should go broke when u dont hit your miracle cards
sunra18: puke
durrrr: im omw dont worry
Dealer: David Benyamine shows a full house, Kings full of
Fives
Dealer: durrrr shows two pair, Jacks and Fives
Dealer: David Benyamine wins the pot ($383,170.50) with a
full house, Kings full of Fives
sunra18: look durr
durrrr: nh
sunra18: u dont know this game
durrrr: lol go kill urself sunra
sunra18: always in with the worst
durrrr: thts kindv @&$%
David Benyamine: ty
sunra18: dont even know how to play deep, just pot with
shia..t
sunra18: u play as ugly as u look, go back to playing
pokemon u little geek
sunra18: U even know what a girl is`?
durrrr: pls play me hu to go busto
sunra18: loser
durrrr: instead of busting to someone else
durrrr: plsplspls
sunra18: plsplspsl
sunra18: get a life fagggg
sunra18: nobody likes to get close to a gayboy like u
sunra18: I always try to take seat as far as away from u
sunra18: retarded and ugly

Yes, sure durrrr can be described as a little geekish, but you could easily say that about 90% of players who are stuck behind their computer for large proportions of the day. Winning players easily attack haters, who pick up on the quirkiness of a player or small things they say and try to go after them verbally to try to knock them down.

Broadly speaking I think durrrr is ok. He’s seems to be enjoying himself with all these prop bets etc, and I think the guy gets more of a tough time than he deserves.

Poker in days gone by had a somewhat shady reputation. Consigned to the backrooms, and hidden out of public view.

Things have come a long way since those days. Not only is poker now seen as a much more legitamate pastime or even career, it has also developed a massive media interest, and has become a massive sector in the entertainment industry.

There are very well established tour circuits, and nearly every continent now has a thriving poker scene. Spinning off from this are big commercial endorsements, not just for the big poker players themselves, but for many celebrities or models who happen to have an interest or passion for the game. From Hollywood actors, to Sportsstars, to Glamour models, a recognisable face is a great way of attracting more players to the game.

The entertainment has gone way beyond live endorsements and magazine pictures. Now poker is a mainstay on television, attracting consistantly high viewing figures. To capitalise further on this you have seen such concepts as the November Nine where the final table of the WSOP was delayed for the prime motiavation of viewing figures.

Overall it is great for the game. Not only does it establish a degree of respectabilty and bring well regulated tournaments/evens. It also means there are more fish, and therefore bigger potential profits for the better players. A somewhat pleasant spin-off as well is that pro-poker players are no longer open to the variance of the game. When you are pulling in regularly endorsement deals or media related deals your bankroll from the game is much more comfortable, even before you start playing.

With the rise of the internet easy access to a game of poker is available in a large proportion of households in the developed world. This combined with the rise in it’s standing in the entertainment and television industries, means that poker’s popularity only seems set to grow still further.