The WSOP Blog

Common Pre-Flop Mistakes Made by Texas Hold’em Players

James — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:20:47 +0000

The most common mistake the recreational poker player makes is to play too many hands. Pre flop mistakes end up costing you a lot of money. In the short run they might get you involved in a hand that costs you your whole stack. In the long run you are going to be losing money a few blinds at a time.

If you are finding yourself playing this hand, you qualify as playing too many hands.

Playing too many hands is the basic problem. A bad player is going to limp in with any two cards. They want to see the flop in case they hit it. A really bad player is going to limp in and then call with any bit of the flop. The problem with this strategy is two fold.

The first problem is that a bad hand will not win enough of the time. Limping in with 3x8x is not profitable. You will never flop trips enough to make the call profitable. The most common situation is that you will limp in and check fold when you miss the flop.

The next problem with this strategy is that limping in puts you in a bad spot. If you are in early position and limp in with a weak holding you are going to have to fold to a raise. If someone in later position makes a raise you will want to fold. Limping with trash hands is bad; calling a raise with trash hands is terrible.

Once you understand that you do not want to limp in with trash hands, you have to think about pot odds. If you have a pocket pair then you will want to see the flop, but you have to consider stack sizes.

Suppose you are sitting in a cash game and have 100+ big blinds and you have pocket 3’s. A tight player who has around 40 big blinds makes a raise to 10x the big blind. They are essentially committing themselves to the pot. You do not have odds to set mine.

Suppose you do call an oversized raise from a short stack. What do you do if someone behind you, who has you covered, makes a re-raise or shoves all in? You do not want to get a pair of 3’s all in for 100 big blinds in a cash game, so you fold.

The ideal situation to set mine is to limp in when there are no short stacks behind you, and no players who are hyper aggressive. Then you can see a cheap flop. The same can be said for suited connectors. You want to play with an awareness of stack sizes and pot odds.

Do not call with incorrect pot odds. When you are making preflop decisions you need to factor in the opponents ranges, as well as your implied odds. It is correct to call a raise with a pocket pair if the raiser has enough chips behind. The deeper the stacks, the more hands you should play.

Theoretically, in a really deep-stacked game, you could limp in with any two cards. However, normal games are rarely more than 100-200 big blinds deep. This means that trash hands have to be tossed out and pocket pairs should be played for a small price.

The most important thing to avoid is the desire to see the flop every hand. The player who limps in every single time is the player who will crack Aces with 2c8d when the flop comes 2xJx8x, but they are also going to be a losing player long term.

Don’t make the mistake of having to see every flop. Don’t get committed to hands. Aces and Kings can lose you a lot of money if you can’t let them go. Lean these two concepts and you will eliminate a major leak that plagues beginner poker players.

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2012 WSOP Schedule Released

James — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:45:39 +0000

WSOP officials earlier today released the schedule for the 2012 WSOP. The 2012 WSOP will be held from May 27^th through July 16^th 2012 at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

The battle for the bracelets starts May 27th.

This year, a total of 61 bracelet events will comprise the schedule with every major form of poker being spread in tournament format. In addition to the bracelet events, daily deep stack tournaments will also be held three times a day and range in buy-ins from $135 to $235.

Several changes are in place for the 2012 schedule. First, there has been an increase in table capacity. There will now be 470 tables in use this summer, an increase from the 378 tables used in 2011. In addition, the WSOP Main Event will only have three starting days due to increased capacity. The Main Event kicks off on July 7^th and will continue through July 16^th. This year, there will be no scheduled off days, and as such the Main Event will be three days shorter.

The November Nine has been eliminated this year, but not the delayed final table. The final nine players will return to the Rio on Sunday October 28^th and play down to heads-up. Those players will return on Tuesday, October 30^th to play for the bracelet.

Numerous new events have been added to the schedule this year including the Big One for One Drop, the $1 Million event that will donate 11.1% of the prize pool to One Drop. There will also be a $2,500 Four-Handed NL Event as well as a $3,000 Heads-Up NL Hold’em/PL Omaha Event. Both are never before held events at the WSOP.

A couple of other changes include the Seniors Event start time being moved up to 10 a.m. and starting this year, Caesars is legally able to enforce the “Ladies Only” portion of the Ladies Event. They have even listed the event as the Ladies-Only No-Limit Hold’em Championship.

More information about the 2012 WSOP as well as the complete schedule can be found at WSOP.com.

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WSOP Bracelet Winner Thor Hansen Diagnosed With Terminal Cancer

James — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:52:59 +0000

The poker world was saddened on Tuesday to learn that two-time WSOP bracelet winner Thor Hansen has been stricken with terminal cancer.

Thor Hansen won 2 WSOP bracelets and over $2.9 Million in his poker career.

The announcement was made on twitter by Andreas Høivold who said that “It is a very sad day for Norwegian poker. The world’s best Thor Hansen has terminal cancer. He is now in a hospital recovering from surgery.”

Considered by many to be the “Godfather of Norwegian Poker”, Hansen is among the most respected poker players on the planet. For his career, Hansen has amassed $2.9 Million in tournament winnings dating back to 1987.

Hansen won his first major title in 1988 when he took down the $5,000 Seven Card Stud Event at the 1988 WSOP. He would go on to win the 2002 $1,500 Ace to Five Draw event to give him his 2nd WSOP bracelet. In addition, Hansen finished 8th in the 2007 WSOP $50,000 HORSE Event. He also had an impressive five cashes in the WSOP Main Event in 1990,1998, 2007,2008 and 2009. His best finish in the Main Event was 21st in 1998.

The news came as a huge shock to many in the poker community as Hansen seemed fine to many people just weeks before this announcement. Ten-time bracelet winning and two-time WSOP Main Event champion Doyle Brunson said on twitter that he ” Just got the news that while Thor has terminal cancer, he will probably make it for 3 years or more.”

News regarding what type of cancer that Hansen has, nor his prognosis for how long he has is known at this time. Former WSOP Europe Main Event winner Annette Obrestad was quoted on TwoPlusTwo forums as saying ” “I seriously cried when I read [about] this. I don’t know anyone like him. He truly is one of a kind. All the best Thor, ur an inspiration for us all.”

We here at thewsopblog.com wish Thor Hansen well and send our hopes for a miraculous recovery.

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Five Worst WSOP Main Event Champions in History

James — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:28:14 +0000

Sometimes a person wins the WSOP Main Event on sheer luck. They might have a run of cards that comes once in a lifetime. Everyone who wins the Main Event is going to need to get lucky, but some of the winners relied almost exclusively on luck. Here is a list of the top five worst Main Event champs ever.

Robert Varkonyi is considered one of the biggest luckboxes in WSOP Main Event history.

Robert Varkonyi

Varkonyi seems to get on many poker players nerves. He did not have the grandiosity of some of the other amateurs, but nevertheless he makes the list. During his Main Event run his play was considered so bad that commentator Phil Hellmuth declared that he would shave his head if Varkonyi won. The next year, Varkonyi went out on Day 1 of the Main Event and former two-time champion Doyle Brunson even commented on how fortunate Varkonyi was to have won the prior year based on what he saw of his play.

Varkonyi was an Investment Banker before turning to poker full time. Since his Main Event win he has had some decent success but nothing to match his first time out.

Joe Cada

Joe Cada got lucky, very lucky. He was also a good player. Unlike some of the people on this list, Cada has made a lot of money in online tournaments. It is his quiet demeanor and lack of charisma that strikes some the wrong way.

There were many in the poker world praying that Darvin Moon would take the title. Moon seemed to be another Moneymaker figure who might bring in a whole new demographic. Cada was just another Internet kid shipping his stack light and getting lucky.

Jamie Gold

Jamie Gold is certainly recognized as one of the more popular figures. His could be said to be notorious. His “top-top” comments, his questionable table talk, and his insane run of cards all make people talk.

Unfortunately, Gold may be remembered more for failing to honor his deal with a backer after the Main Event than for the good he done after winning.

Gold might actually be said to be good for the game. He appeared on many cash games and never nitted it up. In addition, he has used his celebrity to benefit many charities with charity and celebrity poker tournaments. He is a lively and talkative person, even if he was not a world-class player.

Jerry Yang

Jerry Yang makes most peoples list of the worst Main Event champs. His overbearing personality is almost entirely the reason. He strutted around the stage like a demented preacher calling on God to assist him with his poker win. This struck some as offense and others as ridiculous.

Yang almost became a caricature of himself during the final stages of the event. His constant talk about charity, religion, and God’s personal interest in his poker success rubbed many the wrong way. In addition, Yang’s failure to really embrace the role of poker ambassador made him disliked by those in poker. While many found him an inspiration due to his morals and charity, many in the poker world were disappointed in his win.

Russ Hamilton

Hamilton is, without a doubt, the worst Main Event champ. This has everything to do with his association with Ultimate Bet. While some players might not have helped the game, Hamilton seriously hurt it.

Not only did he outright steal money from players via the super using scandal, he caused irreparable damage to the image of online poker in the non-playing population. Hamilton is not only the worst Main Event champ, but is also considered one of the worst people in the entire poker scene. His Main Event banner is no longer displayed during the WSOP.

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Freddy Deeb Wins First Ever Los Angeles WSOP Circuit Main Event

James — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:44:29 +0000

Earlier this month, the Bicycle Casino in Los Angles held their first ever World Series of Poker Circuit Event. This was the first time the circuit was in a Los Angeles casino and the event was capped off by the $1,500 NL Hold’em Main Event. The event drew a staggering 549 players for the event and by the time the final table was reached, WSoP bracelet winner Freddy Deeb emerged as the champion.

Freddy Deeb wins the first ever WSOP Circuit Event to be held at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.

The finale for this event was stacked with former bracelet winners Deeb and David Singontinko. Former circuit ring winners Alexandru Masek and Tsung Lu were also at the table. Deeb started the final table with the chip lead with 2.35 Million and was never in any real danger the entire time.

Once heads-up play was reached between Deeb and former ring winner Masek, deeb held a 2-1 chip lead and the final matched last just about an hour. The final hand saw Masek all-in and flipping for his tournament life with Ah-Kh against pocket queens for Deeb. The board flop and turn both brought a heart and gave Masek a chance for a flush, but the river fell a harmless 4d to give Deeb his first circuit ring and a spot into the National Championship.

Freddy Deeb took home $171,810 in addition to his first ring for taking down the Bike Circuit Main Event. This brings Deeb’s lifetime winnings to around $3.5 Million. Deeb has two WSOP bracelet, one for the 1996 2-7 Lowball Championship and the other for his winning the 2007 WSOP $50,000 HORSE Event.

Deeb’s win earned him a spot into the $1 Million guaranteed 2011-2012 WSOP Circuit National Championship to be held in Las Vegas at the Circuit season’s end. The winner of the event will be awarded the first WSOP bracelet of 2012.

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Five Greatest WSOP Main Event Champions

James — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:12:47 +0000

The WSOP Main Event is the title all poker players dream about. It not only comes with a life-changing amount of money, but it places the winner in a select group of players who are remembered as being the best in the world. Of course, some players are remembered more fondly than others.

Doyle Brunson (left) and Stu Ungar (center) are the two most storied WSOP Main Event Champions in history.

There are Main Event Champs who are considered to have won simply because of dumb luck and then there are those select few who are considered the greatest. Below are the five greatest Main Event champs.

Doyle Brunson

The fields were not as large when Doyle won his back-to-back championships, but his wins are still one of the most impressive accomplishments. He won the title in 1976 and 1977. Brunson went on to become one of the driving forces in the popularization of poker. His book Super System revolutionized the way in which people played poker. Brunson has also won bracelets in Stud 8, Razz, H.O.R.S.E., Seven Card Stud, and Lowball.

Johnny Chan

Chan won back-to-back Main Event brackets in 1987 and 1988. He got heads up against Phil Hellmuth in 1989. Chan has also won more bracelets than anyone other than Phil Hellmuth. Chan has won bracelets in PLO, Lowball, Limit Hold Em, Seven Card Stud, and Pot Limit Hold Em. Like Brunson, Chan is also a big winner in cash games.

Phil Hellmuth Jr.

Hellmuth won the title in 1989. Though he has only won the Main Event once, he is certainly one of greatest. Hellmuth himself calls himself the greatest No Limit tournament poker player in the world. His knack for self-publicity along with his 11 bracelets certainly qualifies him for inclusion in any list.

He is arguably the most famous poker player in the world. His behavior and self-aggrandizing attitude has created a huge following. People love him, hate him, and love to hate him. All of his bracelets have come in No Limit Events. Even when the game changed, and the tournament fields grew larger, Hellmuth continued to have success winning titles.

Stu Ungar

Stu Ungar is recognized as a gambling prodigy. He first made his mark in the Gin Rummy games of NYC. Then he took on poker. He won the Main Event back to back in 1980 and 1981. Unfortunately, Ungar also had a drug problem. He became addicted to cocaine and was also caught up in sports betting. He returned to win the Main Event in 1997 in what is one of the great comeback stories in poker history. Sadly, Ungar died the next year before he could win another title.

Johnny Moss

Johnny Moss is the only other player besides Stu Ungar to win 3 Main Event titles. Moss won the first two Main Events (1970,1971) and also won it in 1974. Moss went on to win 9 bracelets. This places him behind only Hellmuth, Brunson and Chan.

Moss is also remembered as one of the biggest and best cash game players in the world. The heads up match Moss had with Nick The Greek is possibly the largest one in poker history. The match took place in 1949 and lasted several months. Moss is said to have won several million dollars.

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Epic Poker League Could Be Sold Within 60 Days

James — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:30:56 +0000

Last year, the Epic Poker League began play as the “PGA of professional poker.” The series of events, each capped with $20,000 rake-free Main Event, have been heralded by many and disdained by others. Now, it appears that the fledgling poker league may be in sale talks.

Epic Poker League could be sold within 60 days.

In a story broken by Wicked Chops Poker, it was reported that Pinnacle Entertainment is currently in talks with the Epic Poker League about a potential sale. According to details, it appears that if talks prove successful, the EPL could be owned by Pinnacle within the next 60 days.

According to reports, the acquisition could have come about partially in part due to a business relationship in the past between EPL co-founder Jeffrey Pollack and Pinnacle’s Director of Marketing Ginny Shanks. The two worked together when Pollack joined Harrah’s back in 2005 and took over the WSOP. Reports also credit Shanks with coming up with the Tournament of Champions freeroll that Annie Duke won in 2004 for $2 Million.

Should this sale go down, it would be a major acquisition for Pinnacle and could spell financial security for the Epic Poker League. There have been concerns about the EPL’s solvency from the beginning with former WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu being among the strongest critics of the league.

The fourth and final event prior to Season 1 championship was delayed until a still to be determine date somewhere around April or May. This move was said to be due to player requests, but now some wonder if the sale talks were the real reason behind the move.

No further details have been reported about what, if any, significant changes would happen in the league as a result of the sale. Annie Duke is the current commissioner of the EPL with Matt Savage at the Tournament Director. We will bring you more on this story as details develop.

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2012 WSOP Dates Released in Dealer Training Ad

James — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:17:47 +0000

The 2012 WSOP date have been announced, but not exactly in a way that you would normally expect. Yesterday, the WSOP posted a job announcement on their twitter looking for poker dealers for the 2012 WSOP. In that ad, the dates for the event were listed.

WSOP dates have been released.

According to the job ad, the 2012 WSOP will be held from May 31st, 2012 through July 20th, 2012. A schedule for the event has not been released as of yet, nor has there been any type of announcement regarding whether the November Nine concept will be used once again.

The WSOP is also doing something a bit different this year. For those wanting to deal at the 2012 World Series of Poker, Caesars is offering a dealer academy for those wanting to work the event this summer.

The academy is broken up into two parts. First, dealers can be trained on how to deal in Texas Hold’em games for a fee of $600. The sessions are 5 hours long and look to run about 18 days in length. Once a dealer has completed the NL Hold’em academy, they can register for the “Advanced” academy where they can learn to deal non-Hold’em games. This academy costs $300 and dealers must have completed the NL Hold’em portion.

Now, we realize that $900 is a bit steep for many to pay for training, but the WSOP does offer full reimbursement to dealers that work at least 40 hours during the 2012 WSOP.

This academy should help the WSOP to resolve issues that sometimes arise due to not being able to find enough suitable dealer candidates. In addition, it may help to resolve certain player complaints from last year’s WSOP. There were many complaints over the quality of the dealers, not just in the non-Hold’em games, but also in the standard Hold’em games.

As stated earlier, a schedule for the 2012 WSOP has yet to be released. We will provide that once it becomes available.

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PokerRoom.com Back after Two Year Hiatus

James — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:01:40 +0000

PokerRoom.com is back after the two year hiatus from the online poker game. Now, with their hand back in the game fans and the media are expecting that the poker website is going to be back and better than ever.

PokerRoom is back

News of the return of the poker website was announced via Twitter and stated that the website was going to be back up and running offering cash poker games to players in 2012. Now, just over a month later it looks like PokerRoom.com has indeed made a comeback and is back in the game.

PokerRoom.com offers players a unique playing experience, as players can not only register to become part of the online community, but players can also sign up to make their first deposit into the online casino and take part in sit-and-go and tournament games at PokerRoom.com.

The newly designed website is ready for the comeback of the year and is welcoming back players that have sat at the virtual tables in the past, as well as new players in their first time taking to the online Texas Holdem tables.

PokerRoom.com is welcoming back players with an exclusive welcome bonus that gives the player one hundred percent of the deposit as a casino bonus, for deposits of one hundred dollars, five hundred, or one thousand dollars. Players can take advantage of the exclusive deposit bonuses by signing up and making their first easy deposit to PokerRoom.com – and get ready to play immediately.

The rumours have been buzzing around the internet for weeks in anticipation of the comeback of the popular poker website. Now, players can head on over to the PokerRoom website and make their first deposit to take part in poker games at one of the original poker websites offering real money games to players just like you.

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Doyle Brunson Receives Lifetime Epic Poker League Players Card

James — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:30:16 +0000

Ten time WSOP bracelet winner and poker icon Doyle Brunson has won just about every award that there is to win in poker. He is a two-time WSOP Main Event champion, a World Poker Tour champion, and the author of the “poker bible” in Super System. Now, Doyle Brunson is the first player in poker history to receive a lifetime players card from the Epic Poker League.

Doyle Brunson receives lifetime Epic Poker League players card.

The Epic Poker League started play in 2011 and is setup as the “PGA of professional poker.” Players earn player cards, typically ranging from 2 to 5 years, based on their performance in recent events and certain criteria. When the league was formed, commissioner and formers WSOP bracelet winner Annie Duke stated that there would be a limited number of lifetime cards awarded. Brunson was awarded that card on December 14th in recognition of his lifetime of achievement in the game.

Of the honor, Brunson told the Associated Press that, “It’s unnecessary but I guess it’s nice to be remembered for what we went through to get poker to this point. Most people just don’t realize exactly what all transpired … but we went through some pretty adverse things.”

Duke stated of Doyle’s accomplishments, “He just has this secret sauce of every accomplishment you can imagine, big generosity to the poker community, incredible longevity, amazing ambassadorship. And then on top of that he’s just an easy guy to really like.”

Brunson’s legacy is known by most that follow the game of poker. Starting originally as a road rounder, Brunson took part in games in just about every legal poker game and many of the illegal underground games of his era. Brunson was part of the first ever World Series of Poker back in 1970 and has played in almost every WSOP in existence.

Brunson won back to back WSOP Main Event titles in 1976 and 1977 and won both titles with a 10-2. The 10-2 is now known as the Brunson. Over his career, Brunson has won titles in just about ever variant of poker spread in casinos, and some that are no longer spread.

For his career he has won over $6 Million in verifiable tournament results. Of course, many events prior to the late 1990′s were not recorded. Factor in the countless Millions that Brunson has won in cash games, he is probably one of the biggest winners in poker of all-time.

Brunson has stated that he will not be increasing his playing time in EPL events due to his card. He stated that at his age, playing tournaments is too much of a grind. As has been his tendency in the past, he much prefers cash games. Of course, as long as Brunson is able, we will continue to see him at the poker tables.

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