Speedyfold Poker Blog

I made a case a while back (with lots of evidence) of why RaiseOnce on Pokerstars was very probably Phil Ivey. See this RaiseOnce Ivey post. But now I am essentially going to confirm it.

RaiseOnce was registered in the 10K WCOOP 8-Game (and sat out) and not registered for the running $5K WCOOP Main Event. The WSOPE Main Event in London was still running at the time (with Ivey still in it). Then when the WSOPE ME concluded for the evening about 20 mins later RaiseOnce sits into the WCOOP 8-Game and registers for the $5K WCOOP Main Event AND Ivey joins a table of $300/$600 PLO on Full Tilt within the same few minutes. The writing is on the wall. It is confirmed in every way shape and form apart from actually coming out of Ivey’s lips.

As a later after-note to this post: At 19.43 ET - he disconnected at both Stars and FTP at precisely the same time. Final confirmation really.

How much can you make in poker cash games? Over the years I have heard this question many times from many different people, thinking of seriously giving it a go. So I thought I would post a little inspiriation for any potential cash game converts out there. Some people scoff at the fact that you can be a pro at $1/$2 or $2/$4 etc but as you can see it is pretty realistic for players willing to put in the time.

The figures are profit, followed by hands played, followed by Big Bets won per 100 hands. A Big Bet in NL Holdem is twice the Big Blind. So 5.41 BB/100 at $0.10/$0.25 is 5.41×0.5 won per 100 hands. ie $2.70

Winnings in a month at $0.10/$0.25 NLHE

1. rshofbldtothehd Full Tilt $1,738 64,233 5.41
2. HippieAlbino PokerStars $1,615 156,315 2.07
3. ur_suspect PokerStars $1,607 53,130 6.05
4. l LadyLuck l PokerStars $1,578 36,121 8.74
5. yogayoga2008 PokerStars $1,409 110,972 2.54
6. L3NGTHY PokerStars $1,360 26,413 10.3
7. JoseFranco08 PokerStars $1,339 48,182 5.56
8. FRIENDO Absolute Poker $1,289 11,085 23.26
9. mehike PokerStars $1,212 23,517 10.31
10. KillingAce PokerStars $1,183 60,017 3.94

Winnings in a month at $0.25/$0.50 NLHE

1. PushItDown PokerStars $4,611 27,029 17.06
2. Big Greeno Full Tilt $4,404 30,234 14.56
3. asseskiller PokerStars $4,143 51,180 8.09
4. malishka1985 Full Tilt $3,148 47,246 6.66
5. chomberz PokerStars $3,091 54,593 5.66
6. AdonisZeus iPoker $2,866 80,829 3.55
7. arienop Full Tilt $2,817 10,956 25.71
8. UrNailed Full Tilt $2,707 7,716 35.08
9. tayfos3333 PokerStars $2,693 33,781 7.97
10. knuffi1986 PokerStars $2,656 24,448 10.86

Winnings in a month at $0.50/$1 NLHE

1. QQ-Q u a d s-QQ Full Tilt $11,885 110,744 5.37
2. Marshall000 PokerStars $10,460 187,483 2.79
3. PAKETA7 Full Tilt Poker $8,463 126,872 3.34
4. helen_gamble PokerStars $8,414 111,080 3.79
5. Ljuti_Gusar PokerStars $8,164 133,143 3.07
6. Highpothead PokerStars $7,088 263,316 1.35
7. EyeballsMary Full Tilt $6,907 100,803 3.43
8. 4timmy PokerStars $6,616 89,053 3.71
9. MagicNinja Full Tilt $6,613 3,304 100.08
10. gutter23 PokerStars $6,473 138,218 2.34

Inspired yet? If you are then dont forget to sign-up for a rakeback deal to improve your winnings even more.

Winnings in a month at $1/$2 NLHE

1. Gooserer PokerStars $14,344 85,045 4.22
2. U2KILLERS Full Tilt $13,368 64,093 5.21
3. WolleMalone PokerStars $11,536 130,370 2.21
4. RaulFu PokerStars $10,958 99,104 2.76
5. Peedy69 PokerStars $10,350 74,268 3.48
6. rbrizzy Full Tilt $10,253 60,234 4.26
7. obtrice11 PokerStars $10,084 12,629 19.96
8. GayGambla Full Tilt $9,974 63,926 3.9
9. kin575 Full Tilt $9,684 80,677 3
10. hope floatz PokerStars $9,545 37,474 6.37

Winnings in a month at $2/$4 NLHE

1. Dave4112 Full Tilt $23,207 53,034 5.47
2. GUIGUI_88 Absolute Poker $18,665 41,948 5.56
3. Victoria92 iPoker $15,792 6,991 28.24
4. DUSHELOV Absolute Poker $15,724 17,171 11.45
5. ezyeeyore_ Full Tilt $15,263 64,807 2.94
6. CATWOTISADOG Absolute Poker $15,239 25,821 7.38
7. Ghoulio1 ongame $14,933 7,118 26.22
8. Magic_Water99 Full Tilt $14,645 27,887 6.56
9. RobSainter Full Tilt $14,539 48,387 3.76
10. d123kid PartyPoker $14,463 20,697 8.73

Winnings in a month at $3/$6 NLHE

1. waitamin08 Full Tilt $28,630 57,897 4.12
2. GRASS 318 PokerStars $24,906 87,034 2.38
3. Alpha 5.20 PokerStars $24,464 80,476 2.53
4. markwin11 PokerStars $22,444 29,302 6.38
5. RobSainter Full Tilt $22,323 20,521 9.07
6. inwooke PokerStars $20,295 65,305 2.59
7. Sharknebulah PokerStars $20,276 25,294 6.68
8. jj_raise PokerStars $19,238 43,217 3.71
9. JC-TheGuide PokerStars $18,702 23,795 6.55
10. mrienader PokerStars $17,680 27,589 5.34

Winnings in a month at $5/$10 NLHE

1. Tim0thee Full Tilt $114,403 71,990 7.95
2. LAICHZEIT10 PartyPoker $85,820 29,124 14.73
3. ADUBERT1 Absolute Poker $49,144 14,701 16.71
4. fengikareh PokerStars $48,230 8,259 29.2
5. TeRRoRBRaTzE PartyPoker $45,639 14,891 15.32
6. MoNteiRoZoR Full Tilt $44,083 39,273 5.61
7. thebud9999 PokerStars $37,896 22,648 8.37
8. DRAGONALLIN PokerStars.fr $37,862 30,664 6.17
9. x_QUIXTAR_x PokerStars $37,839 45,111 4.19
10. digital_love Cake Poker $37,061 9,750 19.01

Winnings in a month at $10/$20 NLHE

1. ZicoTumba PartyPoker $86,432 13,280 16.27
2. runawayT PokerStars $54,626 12,075 11.31
3. moi_rhums33 Full Tilt $49,268 20,219 6.09
4. UMD Tennis Full Tilt $49,205 7,497 16.41
5. DerjatUroven PartyPoker $43,977 7,501 14.66
6. timmo1122 Bodog Poker $41,731 23,036 4.53
7. fengikareh PokerStars $41,684 4,493 23.19
8. deamoneye PokerStars $34,065 2,847 29.91
9. The_Eend Full Tilt $32,132 3,886 20.67
10. 26071985 PokerStars $31,760 2,798 28.38

Winnings in a month at $25/$50 NLHE

1. AGGRESSIVE22 PartyPoker $198,243 9,876 20.07
2. MikiOpasniy PokerStars $150,633 14,247 10.57
3. tuff_shark PokerStars $108,665 15,384 7.06
4. carreira PokerStars $106,049 10,644 9.96
5. matate PokerStars $103,813 30,188 3.44
6. Al K. Holick PokerStars $96,886 10,741 9.02
7. refracmalo iPoker $88,839 7,765 11.44
8. FLIPokeHer Full Tilt $83,912 7,047 11.91
9. FreeLancerZZ PokerStars $80,121 15,431 5.19
10. phounder Full Tilt $79,951 8,101 9.87

So as you can see the cash game earnings potential is very high in poker even at the relatively low levels. Be prepared to put in a few thousand hands a day 5 days a week, and before you know it you are hitting 60,000 hands a month.

RaiseOnce on Pokerstars won the $25K Highroller Heads-up WCOOP Event on Pokerstars last night. He’s also been seen playing very high stakes over the years at the cash tables on Stars. But who is RaiseOnce I hear you ask. Well I am here to say that it is 99% certain that RaiseOnce on PokerStars is the one and only Phil Ivey. Cue shocked expression.

The 7-part Evidence

1. Location: Las Vegas. Yes yes in isolation hardly evidence really. But lets continue…

2. RaiseOnce/Phil Ivey play very very few online tournaments. Only really the ultra high buy-in ones:

Pokerstars

9 tournaments. Buy-Ins:
$25,500 x 1
$10,300 x 4
$5,200 x 2
$1050 x 2
That’s an ABI of $8800

Full Tilt

16 tournaments. Buy-Ins:
$25,000 x 4
$2620 x 4
$2100 x 1
$1060 x 2
$535 x 3
$216 x 2
That’s an ABI of $7296

3. Language Similarities

otterkopf: gg
otterkopf: be back later
RaiseOnce: thx

harrington25: YOU ARE THE GREATEST TO EVER PLAY THE GAME
harrington25: LOVE THE 78 HAND
Phil Ivey: thx

Ziigmund: ok gl m8
Phil Ivey: thx u2

Phil Ivey: someone just transferreed me 6dollars
Phil Ivey: thx whoever that is

4. Cash Games

Plays all games, and plays them at a v.high standard at the highest levels. For example at 1000/2000 Limit HE, and 1000/2000 2-7 Triple Draw. The player pool of people doing that is very very small.

Here he is in action:

PokerStars Game #49923191501: Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball Limit ($1000/$2000 USD) - 2010/09/20 18:46:40 ET
Table ‘Psyche III’ 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Wrasse ($32500 in chips)
Seat 5: oogee ($40460 in chips)
Seat 6: RaiseOnce ($45960 in chips)
Wrasse: posts small blind $500
oogee: posts big blind $1000
*** DEALING HANDS ***
RaiseOnce: raises $1000 to $2000
Wrasse: raises $1000 to $3000
oogee: folds
RaiseOnce: calls $1000
*** FIRST DRAW ***
Wrasse: discards 1 card
RaiseOnce: discards 2 cards
Wrasse: bets $1000
RaiseOnce: calls $1000
*** SECOND DRAW ***
Wrasse: discards 1 card
RaiseOnce: discards 2 cards
Wrasse: bets $2000
RaiseOnce: raises $2000 to $4000
Wrasse: calls $2000
*** THIRD DRAW ***
Wrasse: discards 1 card
RaiseOnce: stands pat
Wrasse: checks
RaiseOnce: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Wrasse: shows [8c 6d 5h 2c Jh] (Lo: J,8,6,5,2)
RaiseOnce: shows [3d 8s Ts 4h 2d] (Lo: T,8,4,3,2)
RaiseOnce collected $16998 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $17000 | Rake $2
Seat 1: Wrasse (small blind) showed [8c 6d 5h 2c Jh] and lost with Lo: J,8,6,5,2
Seat 5: oogee (big blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 6: RaiseOnce (button) showed [3d 8s Ts 4h 2d] and won ($16998) with Lo: T,8,4,3,2

5. Live Buy-ins via Pokerstars

RaiseOnce registered for the £20,000 High Roller London EPT event via Pokerstars. He also registered for the 25,000 Euros EPT High Roller Event in Monte Carlo via Pokerstars. The EPT is owned by Pokerstars so registering via them is the easiest way. Now these events had a very small number of entrants.

The Americans who played the London EPT Highroller:

Chris Moneymaker
Dennis Phillips
Greg Raymer
Vanessa Rousso
Steve O’Dwyer
Nicholas Schulman
Erik Sediel
Dan Shak
David Steicke
Vadim Trincher
Brian Powell
Joe Cada
Tom Dwan
Chris Ferguson
Matt Glantz
Barry Greenstein
Ashton Griffin
Phil Ivey
John Juanda
Harrison Kaczka
Eugene Katchalov
Bryn Kenney

As you can see many of those names have very well known Pokerstars IDs, particularly the PokerStars Pros. So if we actually remove those names we get:

Erik Seidel
Phil Ivey
Dan Shak
David Steicke
Vadim Trincher
Brian Powell
Chris Ferguson
Matt Glantz
John Juanda

If we then take off the players who didnt play the Monte Carlo EPT High Roller we get:

Phil Ivey
Chris Ferguson
Dan Shak
David Steicke
John Juanda
Erik Seidel

Then if you ask yourself who plays the highest stakes games on Full Tilt out of those you only really end up with:

Phil Ivey

6: Availability. Yes again hardly evidence (as in no.1) but building a full picture here.

Phil Ivey is currently in London but there is a bit of a gap in events. His had busted from events in progress and had a while to wait before the WSOPE 10K Heads-up and the WSOPE Main Event. A perfect time to have a crack at the $25K Heads-up WCOOP on Pokerstars.

7. Playing Style Similarities

RaiseOnce on Pokerstars has a very similar playing style to Phil Ivey on Full Tilt. And I dont just mean to the naked eye, but using a range of PT3 stats. The style/stats also arent very similar to any other high stakes players. Many of the stats are very close to or in the same orientation/magnitute as the Full Tilt account. For example his C-bet Percentage in limit holdem and the amount he calls from the BB when playing Heads-up games.

In conclusion, hello Phil

It is surprising that Crazy Pineapple hasnt been picked up by any of the main online sites as a bit of a fun alternative game. I can’t seem to ever get a game going without someone at some point suggesting to play some Crazy Pineapple. When you look at the sort of numbers the small games get on Stars etc, then it cant exactly do any worse. In fact I think adoption will be quite reasonable and tournament numbers pretty decent too.

I will give a quick description of how it’s played whilst we’re on the subject, just in case you are not sure:

Crazy Pineapple is exactly like Holdem but instead you get 3 hole cards. Assuming you dont fold pre-flop, then when the flop comes you must discard one of your hole cards. It then preceeds as holdem. Essentially it is an action inducing game where more players stay involved to see the flop because of a lot more possibilities of connecting. And then post flop there is normally also quite a bit of action because of the connected hands and better draws. The sort of interesting dynamics it raises is whether to keep a weak pair or to go for a draw.

The long road to online poker taxation seems to have started in the USA. Which at face value doesnt sound like a good thing at all, but is actually pretty positive news. For several years now online poker in the USA has had a status that is for all intents and purposes illegal. So when the USA figures out the best way to tax online poker (which there has been initial steps towards) it can officially approve and regulate it. This would mean re-opening the US to fully legal online poker. Now there’s the good news.

It may take time, but the momentum seems sufficient to get there eventually. This is particular good for the likes of Party Poker, the former giant of the online poker world and still a formidable presense. They of all the sites probably have the most to gain as they have a player database of over 10 million American players, who were former players at their site before US regulation.

So it is going to be an interesting year or so ahead, especially with Party Poker waiting in the wings ready to shake up the current status quo.

Peter Eastgate has announced his retirement from poker. The 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event champion has decided it is time to call it a day and move on to new things.

Eastgate’s short but successful career comprised of many high WSOP and EPT cashes including the following notable scores:

Mar 2010 - $20K NBC National Heads-Up Championship - 5th $ 75,000

Feb 2010 - Deep Stack Extravaganza, Las Vegas - 7th $ 85,000

Feb 2010 - DKK 35,000 Main Event EPT Copenhagen - 22nd DKK 80,000

Jan 2010 - €5K Main Event EPT Deauville - 8th € 70,000

Oct 2009 - £5K Main Event EPT London - 2nd £ 530,000

Jul 2009 - $10K WSOP Main Event - 78th $ 68,979

Jan 2009 - $4,800 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 1st $ 343,000

Jul 2008 - $10K WSOP, Las Vegas - 1st $ 9,152,416

Eastgate, from Denmark, but living in London is speculated to return to his homeland following his retirement.

In a statement about his retirement Eastgate said:

“When I started playing poker for a living, it was never my goal to spend the rest of my life as a professional poker player. My goal was to become financially independent. I achieved that by winning the WSOP main event in 2008. The period following has taken me on a worldwide tour, where I have seen some amazing places and met many new people; it has been a great experience.”

“In the 20 months following my WSOP win, I feel that I have lost my motivation for playing high-level poker along the way. I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life. What this will be, I do not yet know. I have decided to take a break from live tournament poker, and try to focus on Peter Eastgate, the person.”

This year’s WSOP has seen some of the biggest prop bets ever. Not only has there been the Durrrr ones we have already discussed, but Phil Ivey has got some massive ones booked in. Howard Lederer has laid 5 million dollars against him getting 2 bracelets over the course of the next 3 years. Phil Ivey is already half way there after winning Event 37, the $3000 horse event. Following that win Ivey also booked bets running into the millions at 7-1 about him getting a 2nd bracelet this year. eg Phil’s $50,000 to villians $350,000

Phil has also got bets direct with Durrrr over who will get the most bracelets over 2 years. After nearly a great start for Durrrr (finishing 2nd in Event 11) Ivey has lept ahead with that Event 37 win, making it 1-0 to Ivey. Things look like a big uphill struggle now for durrrr, as Ivey is a bit of a bracelet machine given the proper motivation (ie money) and already has a total of 8 lifetime bracelets to his name now. Durrrr is still looking for his first one, but no doubt has the talent to get there.

Bets and talk about bracelets have been frantic of late, with Ivey vs Hellmuth also a lot in the news. Hellmuth has had a couple of deep runs (most recently 7th in a PLO8 event) but no bracelets this year. Most people in the industry seem to think it is only a matter of time before Ivey overtakes Hellmuth, some thinking in less than 5 years. Many are also speculating on Ivey even reaching the dizzy heights of 30 bracelets in his career. He’s sure come a long way since his No Home Jerome days.

Since Tom “Durrrr” Dwan became a member of Team Full Tilt there has been a promise to play more tournaments, so this year at the WSOP Durrrr is really going to go for it on the tournament volume. As a bit of encouragement he has been taking bets on himself getting a bracelet. He offered 3.25-1 on him getting a bracelet this year (including the WSOP Events in London) and 2-1 on him getting 2 bracelets in 3 years. In other words to bet against him you would need to put up $32,500 to win a $10,000 profit if he didnt win one this year. Those odds look pretty decent. Durrrr is a great player, but pretty much unproven in majors MTTs, and the WSOP does have many events with huge field sizes, so winning a bracelet is going to be far from easy. Whether he wins the bet only time will tell, but as a betting man I would bet against it for sure. Nevertheless, good luck Durrrr.

This was a pretty interesting hand from the Party Poker Premier League. Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz vs Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko. FullFlush a minor legend from the cash game tables, and Jovial Gent a legend from tournament play. Although it’s clearly a ballsy play, I do have a small problem with it. The speed of the shove makes the hand look really weak in my opinion. Add that with how he looks afterwards and maybe a call is findable. But how can you possibly call with KJ for so much? Almost impossible in reality.

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