It’s an interesting dilemma that Full Tilt Poker faces as they did an outstanding job (beginning on day 5 of the main event really), of patching up a large number of players to the World’s 2nd largest poker site.

In the quest to bring into Full Tilt’s stable of incredible pro’s a Main Event Champion from a WSOP after the 2003 poker boom, Full Tilt Patches were plentiful, guaranteeing them a ton of TV time.  As play got down to the final table, there were only 2 players (Jonathan Duhamel and Jason Senti) who were not wearing Full Tilt Patches.  7 players consequently are wearing Full Tilt gear, but only 3 are allowed.  Hence, the dilemma.

In choosing whom Full Tilt should patch between John Dolan, Joseph Cheong, John Racener, Matthew Jarvis, Filippo Candio, Michael Mizrachi, and Soi Nguyen, the brass at Full Tilt has a tough business decision on its hands.  First: which of the players is going to be the most likely player to gain the most TV time, and Second: which of the players are most likely to help grow the site.

When answering question 1, you have to take a look at chip stacks, and the person with the most of the group is John Dolan.  With 46,250,000 in chips, Dolan has twice as many chips as any of the remaining Full Tilt Players.  He’s 2nd in chips heading into the event, and what history has shown us is that even though that might not guarantee a win, Dolan could practically fold his way to a 3rd or 4th place finish.  What that means is he’ll have the most time on camera, which means that he should get the patch.

When answering question 2, I would have to say that you have to look at patching Michael Mizrachi.  The seasoned pro has the opportunity to become Poker’s all time leading money winner, and accomplish a feat like no other in poker.  Mizrachi can pull off an amazing double by winning both the $50k Players Championship and the Main Event should he outlast 8 more players, and also brings to the table perhaps the best back story in poker as a result.  Couple that story along with the run that everyone with the last name Mizrachi had in this year’s main event, “The Year of the Mizrachi” is a story that has the interest of both the poker enthusiast and the casual observer, which makes him interesting to everyone.  And with that, he should lock up the second patch.

Now for the last patch, you have to ask the question of the 5 remaining players, which of them is the most deserving to wear a Full Tilt Logo?  Joseph Cheong and John Racener come in with the next most chips with 23 million and 19 million respectively.  They are followed by Filippo Candio and Matthew Jarvis who have virtually identical stacks with 16 million each, and then Soi Nguyen as the shortest of the group with 9.6 million.  The reality is, any one of these players is a single double away (save for Nguyen who might need 2) from completely flipping this table on its head.  And really, it’s still anyone’s tournament to win as even the short stack has about 15 big blinds to play with.

While I think that John Racener and Joseph Cheong are probably the most likely players to exert their experience and win the event, I find myself agreeing with the selection of Filippo Candio as the 3rd player.  I actually picked Racener to win the event, and I think that he would be a fantastic addition to the list of “Poker Ambassador’s” that have won the event in the past, but it is Candio alone that can really extend interest to the European market.

The lone remaining Italian in the main event is also the only Euro left, and in a continent that has absolutely exploded during the poker boom, is the best remaining player to represent the continent across the pond.  When it comes to the U.S. Market, Dolan and Mizrachi have (as Gary Wise puts it) “got that covered.”  But for all of Candio’s faults as a player, and for all the times that he luck-boxed his way into the position that he’s in (See the Cheong hand where Candio cracks Aces with a runner-runner straight for his life as exhibit “A”), Candio has something going for him that no other player can bring to the table, a target demographic that can’t be reached by anyone other than him.

We’ll find out tomorrow whom Full Tilt elects to go with to represent their brand, but I’m really interested in seeing who it is that they choose to wear their colors.

Article posted from: Twitter Poker Tour

It promises to be a great, made for TV event, and I’m looking forward to meeting everyone there. If you have any questions for the pro’s, or any of the staff there, let me know and I’ll make sure that they get asked.

Article posted from: Twitter Poker Tour

So I made a tentative schedule to cover 12 of the 59 events (57 bracelet events and the Tournament of Champion and the Ante up For Africa event), and started by saying, “I’ll just do the championship events, and the $25k NLHE 6-max events.”  Well, that gave me 9 days at home.

I’m still looking to cut back a great deal, so I’m wondering for all of you WSOP Pundits, which events do you think that I should avoid.  Here’s the list of the events already penciled in for me:

#2 – $50k Players Championship – 5 days
#10 – $10k 7 Card Stud Championship – 3 days
#15 – $10k 7 Card Stud Hi/Low Championship – 3 Days
#19 – 2-7 Draw Lowball (NL) Championship – 3 Days
#25 – Omaha Hi/Low Championship – 3 Days
#29 – Limit Hold’em Championship - 3 Days
#35 – Heads Up NLHE Championship – 3 Days
#38 – Pot Limit Hold’em Championship – 3 Days
#43 – H.O.R.S.E. Championship – 3 Days
#52 -$25k NLHE 6-max – 4 Days
#55 – PLO Championship – 3 Days
#57 – Main Event – 13 Days

I did scratch the Tournament of Champions (an 8 day event) and the Ante Up for Africa (1 day event) which I think I should probably go to as well, but I wanted to stick to the bracelet events.  I may change my position based on the fact that ESPN will be covering those events, so that means TV time, which means more pros.  But I really need some breaks in there too.  Which of the above events do you care the least about?

Article posted from: Twitter Poker Tour

The Monday Minute recaps the big stories in poker in the last week and the important upcoming events.  This week, the NAPT makes a last minute change, The Brunson 10 grows by one, and find out who ships the Wynn.

• The PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun made some waves in the poker community this week, as they announced a major change in their high-roller event just a few weeks prior to the event taking place.  Originally slated to be a $10,000 uncapped bounty shootout, the event has suddenly switched gears, increasing the entry to a $25,000 bounty shootout that will be capped at 81 players.  The sudden jump in buy-in, and the limitation of the field size has poker pundits in the online poker forums in quite an uproar.  Satellites are running now for the NAPT Mohegan Sun on PokerStars.
• The “Brunson 10” is now 60% complete as DoylesRoom announced the 6^th member of their esteemed online poker team.  Steve “gboro780” Gross becomes the latest member joining Alex Kamberis, Zachary Clark, Amit Makhija, Chris Moorman, and Dani Stern.  The “Brunson 10” is slowly becoming one of the better collections of pro poker players, and adding the 2009 Card Player’s Player of the Year certainly speaks volumes for the quality of players that Doyle is assembling.  Gross has approximately $3 million in career online tournament winnings, and has kicked off 2010 just as hot as his 2009.  With just 4 remaining spots to fill, speculation is rampant amongst the poker community as to whom the next addition to the team will be. (find out how to get a 110% deposit bonus and 33% rakeback on DoylesRoom here: TPT Rakeback)
• Congratulations are in order to Brandon Cantu who dominated the Final Table at the Wynn Classic en route to a championship worth $363,844.  Cantu successfully navigated his way to the chip lead of the 242-player star studded field, and entered the 10 player final table as the chip leader.  There he got Full Tilt Poker Pro Erick Lindgren all in preflop with AA vs. KK, eliminating Lindgren in 10^th place ($17,606) and vaulting Cantu to a giant chip lead that he’d never relinquish.  Congrats again to Brandon.
• Showdown Couture, a recent prize sponsor for the Twitter Poker Tour charity event for Bad Beat on Cancer, announced a riveting signing this week.  The poker apparel company inked reigning World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Joe Cada as a celebrity spokesperson for the brand.  Cada joins 2006 WSOP Main Event Runner up Paul Wassika and Mike “Timex” McDonald on the Shodown Pro-Team. 

Upcoming Events

Day 2 is in the books for the WPT Championship at the Hollywood Poker Open.  The event at the Hollywood Casino in Lawerenceburg, Indiana began on Saturday, March 20^th with just 144 players.  Despite the small field, there were still plenty of big name pros, as is custom to a WPT event.  After 2 days of play notables Carlos Mortensen, Erick Lindgren, and Eric ‘Rizen’ Lynch are all over the tournament chip average.  The final table will begin on Wednesday, March 24^th, at 4PM, with the remaining players vying for the $393,820 first place prize, and the title of WPT Champion.

Then later this week, the WPT Bucharest gets underway at the Regent Bucharest Casino, in Bucharest, Romania.  The first European stop of the 2010 WPT tour kicks off on this Saturday, March 27th, and promises to be one of the better turnouts of the WPT schedule, fielding one of the stronger groups of No Limit Hold’em players. 

Finally, for those in the Las Vegas area, the 4^th Annual Jennifer Harman Charity Poker Tournament is ready to get underway at the Venetian on April 13^th.  The event is a $300 + $30 buy-in tournament with $100 rebuys during the first 3 levels of play, and a one-time $100 add-on.   All proceeds from the event benefit the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals No-Kill Animal Shelter.  Prizes include a Main Event seat to the World Series of Poker to the winner.  Matt Savage, the esteemed Tournament Director of the LA Poker Classic, will emcee the event starting at 4:00PM.  Players will have the opportunity to mix it up at the tables with stars like Dennis Haskins (aka Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell), Lou Diamond Phillips, and a whole host of the professional players. 

Article posted from: Twitter Poker Tour

In addition, we will be joined live by Angel “GIJoe” Valdez (@Gijoevaldez) from the Online Poker Team.  Angel is playing live at the World Series of Poker Circuit event at Harrah’s Casino in San Diego, and will be live with updates on the event, and interviews. 

Finally, we will be joined at approximitely 11PM EST by Full Tilt Pro, Andy Bloch.  Feel free to submit your questions to Andy either right here on the site through the comments, or in the chat room during the broadcast, and have the pro answer you live on the show, tonight.

Don’t miss the show.  The chat room and Usteam feed are avalaible on the site at http://www.twitterpokertour.com/live/.  And help us spread the word!

Article posted from: Twitter Poker Tour

But for the other 20 spots, poker fans around the globe can cast their votes as to who they feel is the most deserving players to join the field.  The criterion is simple; you must be a WSOP Bracelet Holder in order to be eligible to participate.  Based on this, I’ve comprised a list of the most deserving players to compete in the event based on 4 different criteria. 

1^st – The top bracelet winners:  This category is simple.  He who has the most bracelets wins.  I mean, you can’t exactly pass up the individuals who have the most championships under their belt.  So in this category, here are the 5 entrants:

Phil Hellmuth – “The Poker Brat” tops the list with the most WSOP Bracelets with 11, and all of them coming in No Limit Hold’em events.  This is a tournament that he belongs in, end of discussion.

Johnny Chan – With 10 WSOP Bracelets to his credit, the back to back Main Event Champion has proven that he’s among the best to ever squeeze two hole cards.  While we haven’t seen him run deep in events lately, Chan does have a WSOP resume that is difficult to top.  42 total cashes and more than $4.2 Million in career WSOP earnings, including a 5^th place finish at last year’s Heads Up NLHE Event.  Chan gets an easy nod.

Doyle Brunson – Any Tournament of Champions event wouldn’t be complete without the “Godfather” of poker.  I mean, he wrote the book on the game. Literally.  Brunson’s 10 WSOP Bracelets make him an automatic entry as well.

Erik Seidel – He’s the guy that just never seems to get the recognition or accolades when mentioning the top poker players in the game.  But when it comes to playing poker, every player pray’s that he doesn’t sit at your table.  An expert at taking your chips away from you, Seidel is the owner of 8 WSOP Bracelets, good for 5^th most all time, and 4^th among living poker players. 

Phil Ivey – With 7 WSOP Bracelets, Ivey is by far the most qualified player for any tournament.  He’s got to be the odds on favorite to win at poker, regardless of the stake, and regardless of the game.  He’s currently pokers top player, and makes a case for being the game’s best overall player ever.  He’s in by a landslide.

2^nd Category – The most WSOP Career Winnings – Bear in mind that you have to actually be a bracelet winner to gain entry into this event, and the idea here is to put some recent main event winners into the field as they bring a certain celebrity to the event that comes unmatched.  I mean, when you’re a world champion, you’re interesting.  And fans want to see you play.  Here’s a list of the top 5 WSOP Bracelet winners that aren’t on the list of automatic entries or in the 1^st group.

Jamie Gold – Courtesy of his World Championship takedown of the largest tournament field in WSOP history, Gold still holds the top spot on the WSOP Career earning list.  He’s also the only player that has an 8-figure win total with more than $12 Million in career WSOP earnings.  And yes, some of that came from the 3 cashes that were NOT part of the Main Event win.

Peter Eastgate – This Main Event Champ has 1 other cash to his name in the WSOP that was not a main event win.  He really established himself as a force to be reckoned with when he followed up his Main Event win with a 78^th place finish in last year’s Main Event.  Eastgate will be around the WSOP for years, and he’s a deserving champion that should play in this event.

Jerry Yang – The only WSOP Cash for Yang was his run of good cards in the Main Event in 2007.  That win still has him at 4^th place overall in the career WSOP money list with over $8 million.  Because of his recent win, I think that Jerry deserves to be here.  Perhaps not as much as another player who will be omitted, but based on the criteria, I hope he gets an invite.

Joe Hachem – What would a WSOP poker tournament be without the chant of “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy.”  Hachem is a great champion, and tremendous ambassador for the game.  In addition, he’s a great player, having now cashed in 10 WSOP Events, and holding more than $7.9 million in career WSOP earnings.  Hachem has the total resume to deserve his shot.

Allen Cunningham – I was surprised to see his name pop up as high on this list.  But when I looked back at his resume, it made sense.  He has 5 bracelets, and 41 cashes in WSOP events.  His total of $6.7 million in career WSOP earnings makes him a lock to be in this event.

3^rd Category – The All Time Money List – This is for events around the globe.  While the WSOP hosts “The Big One” in the main event, there are other places around the world where you can make money playing poker.  These guys have built their resumes and made more money than anyone else that plays the game of poker in tournament winnings, and they have a WSOP bracelet, so they’re eligible.

Daniel Negreanu – If Phil Ivey didn’t play the Aussie Millions earlier this year, than Daniel would still be number 1 on the all time list.  But being number 2 with more than $12.5 Million in career earnings isn’t so bad.  “Kid Poker” also has 5 WSOP Bracelets to hang from his wrist, and nearly has 2 others as he had 2 runner up finishes in WSOP events in 2009.  I think it would surprise no one to see Daniel, a fierce competitor, reclaim the top spot of the biggest money winner of all time, and this event would certainly be one that he could do it in.

Scotty Nguyen – The man who calls everyone, and everything, and ends every sentence with the word “Baby,” currently sits in 5^th place on the Career all time money list with more than $11.1 Million.  Scotty has so many championships, so many deep runs in big tournaments, and wears so much “Bling,” he’s just got to be invited to a Tournament of Champions Baby!

T.J. Cloutier – I was actually surprised to see this member of the Old Guard qualify in this area.  I think of T.J. being one of those guys who has cashed from when the game first began gaining credibility.  He’s been around the game for so long, that you forget how good this guy really is.  T.J. is still currently 10^th overall in the Career Money list with more than $9.7 million in career tournament winnings.  Plus if he wins this, he may not have to put another one of his 5 WSOP Bracelets up for sale.

John Juanda – He’s such a solid player, that I was surprised to wait this long to call his name.   Juanda has 4 WSOP Bracelets, 50 WSOP Cashes, and oh by the way $9.7 million in career earnings, for 11^th on the all time list. 

Carlos Mortenson – Another name that surprised me, but I think that’s the way that “The Matador” likes it.  It’s funny to me that I never thought of Carlos as one of the largest money winners (he has $9.2 Million in career winnings), but it’s kind of that way in tournaments too.  You don’t really realize that he’s around until he’s just stacked some player and creates a giant tower with his chips.  His chip stacking structures would be such a tremendous addition to this tournament, and the 2 bracelets (1 Main Event) and 14 other cashes give him the resume that says “I Belong”.

4^th and Final Category – What have you done for me lately.  This is the category where I think it is open for some discussion.  The 5 players in this category are the hottest players out there who already have a bracelet, and are simply deserving players.  I’ll make their case now:

Jason Mercier – Who is hotter than this guy?  It seems like if this guy is playing in a tournament, he’s cashing in it.  The only question is how deep he’s going to run.  Mercier final tabled what seems like more tournaments than anyone lately.  Recently he final tabled the WSOPE Main Event in dominant fashion, finished 3^rd in the LA Poker Classic High Roller, and made the elite 8 of the NBC Heads Up event.  It’s astonishing that Jason has only the 1 WSOP bracelet to his name, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if he wins another this year.

Daniel Alaei – Recent months have been very good to this 2 time WSOP Bracelet winner.  How about a  WSOP Bracelet in the $10k Omaha Hi/Lo in the summer, a WPT Championship in December, and a runner up in the LA Poker Classic High Roller event.  This guy brings one of the best poker games in poker to the table every time he sits down, and his cashes continue to be huge.  Daniel finished 10^th overall on 2009’s money list and already has more than $200k in winnings to kick off 2010. 

Eric Baldwin – “Basebaldy” has really established himself in the online world, but in live play he scores just as big.  He won his first WSOP Bracelet this past summer in the $1,500 NLHE event, and then proceeded to cash in about everything he played in.  Baldwin finished 2009 26^th on the money list in live earnings with 17 final tables, 4 first place finishes.  Eric had a breakout year that was good enough to earn him the prestigious 2009 CardPlayer Player Of the Year title, and he secured himself a deserving spot in this event.

Scott Seiver – This is probably the player that you’re least familiar with on this list, and maybe the player that is the most likely to win it all.  Scott followed up his 4^th place finish at the NAPT High Roller event (a $215,000 cash) with a victory in the LA Poker Classic for $425k.  The guy has been the hottest player out there in events that require huge buy ins, and he’s been slaying the competition in them.  It’s hard to argue that anyone is playing better poker than Scott right now, and his 1^st place finish in the 2008 $5,000 buy in No Limit Hold’em event makes him eligible. 

Jeffrey Lisandro – You have to make a spot for the reigning WSOP Player of the year, especially considering the fact that Lisandro won THREE bracelets in this past World Series.  The guy ran ridiculously hot during the summer in Las Vegas, and while his 2009 earnings were less than $1 million, it’s the victory’s that make “The Iceman” deserving of the final spot here.

It’ll be interesting to see who the fans vote in, but this is who I cast my votes for.  I would hope that with the final 2 spots, that WSOP awards Greg Raymer (who finished 6^th in the WSOP Money List, and just outside the all time money list as well), and probably Chris Ferguson.  I think that those two players would be good choices to represent a Tournament of Champions. 

If you think that I missed someone, let me know.  I’d love to know who you think I left out, and why they should be in and someone else out.  Let me know.

Article posted from: Twitter Poker Tour

Tournament Details for the BBoC $5 Donation

Place: Full Tilt Poker
Date: February 21^st, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM EST
Cost: $10 ($5 entry plus $5 donation to BBoC)
Tourney ID#: 135222348
Tourney PW: TPTFORBBOC

Tournament Details for the BBoC $10 Donation

Place: Full Tilt Poker
Date: February 21^st, 2010
Time: 6:15 PM EST
Cost: $20 ($10 entry plus $10 donation to BBoC)
Tourney ID#: 135896328
Tourney PW: TPTFORBBOC

Tournament Details for the BBoC $20 Donation

Place: Full Tilt Poker
Date: February 21^st, 2010
Time: 6:30 PM EST
Cost: $40 ($20 entry plus $20 donation to BBoC)
Tourney ID#: 135896400
Tourney PW: TPTFORBBOC

Additionally, we will be running contests until the start of each BBoC Event that will allow you to win a buy in to each of the tournaments.  More on those to come.  But early registration is definitely suggested!!

Article posted from: Twitter Poker Tour

The Fastest Poker Game on the Planet

Full Tilt Poker has a new ring game called “Rush Poker” and it is certainly one of a kind.  For the details on how “Rush Poker” works, you can check here: Full Tilt Poker’s Explanation

There are many positives and negatives to playing the game of poker at this speed.  On the positive side is the sheer amount of hands that you can get in due to the speed of the game.  No other platform allows for you to get more hands in per hour.  I was multi-tabling a “Rush poker” table with 2 other cash games, and the speed between the 3 ring games wasn’t even close.  It was almost 5 hands to 1 vs. a normal cash game on average, sometimes more.    More hands mean more experience, and more for your Rake Back in theory.  You will also see action more often than at normal ring games, simply because you’re going to see more premium hands per session than a standard ring game, due to the fact that you’re going to be dealt more hands.

But the large negatives are just that……large.  Something I found to be troublesome is that you’re really unable to take notes on your opponents because as soon as you’ve made your decision to fold a hand, you’re whisked away to another table, unable to see the result of the previous hand.  Immediately, you’re placed into a new table, with new opponents, in a completely random position.  You may go from folding Ad-Jd under the gun (an unenviable position to play this hand), directly to the button with 9-3os, and back to the Big Blind with pocket T’s.  The seating is completely at random, so it’s difficult to get a read on your opponents, which means that you’re just really playing your cards against your opponents.

Additionally, with the seating being completely random, it is possible to land yourself in a blind several hands in a row (I once was either placed in a big blind or a small blind for 5 consecutive hands).  Generally speaking, the blinds are where we typically lose the most money as poker players simply because we have to play our hands from out of position.  However, I also had a string of 11 consecutive hands in a row played from the button, the cutoff, or the hijack seat.  So this can work out to be a positive as well as you are also going to see your fair share of hands in position as well.

One big takeaway that I had from my sessions of “Rush Poker” was that there was far less bluffing than a standard ring game.  I believe that this has to due with the speed of the game, and players dumping their marginal hands with greater frequency when there are card dead.  Players are much less likely to take risks when they’re holdings are poor if they know that their next hand will be coming in mere seconds.  I mean, who wants to hold onto K-7 in the SB when you can simply muck this hand instantly, and wake up with another in position in under a second.  Whereas in a standard ring game, if action were to fold to the SB, I see a hand in this range raised, blind vs. blind, with much greater frequency.

What this means it that there will be fewer large pots built.  This can be both good and bad depending on your style of play.  I think that the jury is still out on whether or not this will actually stand the test of time with poker players, but the great benefit of seeing so many more hands per session could absolutely lead to this being a game that sticks around for a long time.  What do you think of this new game?

Article posted from: Twitter Poker Tour

Tournament #132631980 (18:00 ET) $1

Tournament #132631509 (18:00 ET) $2

Tournament #132631907 (18:00 ET) $5

Tournament #132631862 (18:00 ET) $10

Tournament #132631794 (18:00 ET) $50

Tournament #132631722 (18:00 ET) $100

Tournament #132631257 (18:00 ET) $200

Tournament #132628728 (18:00 ET) $500 buy in

Tournament #132632216 (18:00 ET) $26 (w/ Satellites)

Tournament #132632349 (18:00 ET) $75 (w/ Satellites)

In lieu of creating a private TPT tournament, I would encourage each member of the TPT to join as many of these tournaments as you can to raise funding for the Haiti Relief Fund. Thanks.

Article posted from: Twitter Poker Tour

Details of the tournament (the tournament ID, password, time, and buy-in amount), will be made available in the next 24 hours.  Stay tuned for complete information.

Our heart goes out to our TPT Family member @ronjohn78, who has family in Haiti.  Lets help make this tournament a huge success.

Article posted from: Twitter Poker Tour