Online Poker: Interview with Brent ‘Bhanks11′ Hanks
August 11, 2008
Leaving a job that you’re passionate about can be very hard. Brent Hanks had been teaching fifth and sixth graders at a small school since he had graduated from college at St. Bona Venture in rural New York.
“I really loved teaching; I loved the kids, and I loved what I did,” Hanks said. “I left [teaching] because I realized that before I got a little older than what I am [25], if I was going to make this poker thing work, I really needed to make it happen now.”
Poker: Be prepared to adjust your strategy
August 8, 2008
Poker is about making good decisions based on your hand, your stack, your opponents, their style, the pot size and the cards on the board. As the hand proceeds, you gain information that can help you make the right decisions, but sometimes you’re not sure where you are in a hand until it’s too late. At the $10,000-buy-in main event of the World Series of Poker at the Las Vegas’ Rio Hotel in 2007, pro Mark Gregorich drew 9-10 offsuit in the big blind. After four players limped in ahead of him with blinds at $50-$100, Gregorich checked his option. Five players took a flop of 7-8-9 rainbow, giving Gregorich top pair and an open-ended straight draw
World Poker Tour post’s weak results
August 7, 2008
The World Poker Tour has yet to see improvement in numbers despite a number of moves it has been making at the beginning of this year.
The WPT has released its numbers for the second quarter of 2008 and the results are weak, but the company seems to remain optimistic and confident that the moves they’ve been making will pay off in the end.
“We continue to be disappointed in our online gaming results and have begun directing resources in our growing sponsorship business,” said Steve Lipscomb, WPT’s president and CEO. “On the other hand, we continue to be encouraged by the strength of our brand in the domestic and international marketplace.”
Even when on a losing streak, poker enriches your vocabulary
August 5, 2008
SHAGGY DOGS: TO CALL a person’s bluff is to test their claims and issue a challenge for them to reveal the truth.
Poker, from which the phrase derives, is essentially a game of deception where each player pretends to have the winning hand and the others have to consider the truth of that assertion against the value of the cards in their own hand.
Once play begins, the chips (money tokens) are placed on the table and then the chips are down (things are getting serious). The expression poker-faced, meaning to reveal no outward emotion, comes from this part of the game.
California Poker Rooms Will Soon Go Unleaded
August 4, 2008
Thanks, in part, to an Arizona television station’s news expose, a number of California casinos are ready to convert to lead-free poker chips. In an expose conducted by Channel 15 (ABC) Phoenix , the station found that chips made by Paulson Gaming Supplies had lead levels in excess of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.
Research compiled by the Center for Environmental Health (CEHCA) find that Paulson chips are currently in use at 28 of the 30 largest US casinos, as well as in poker rooms in South America and Asia. The GPI line can also be purchased for private use from retail locations.
Poker chips should contain no more than .005 percent lead. The expose revealed that the lead levels in the paint were as high as 400 percent of EPA approved levels. As for the insides, some cores were found to be as high as 50 percent lead, answering any questions as to how a clay chip hides its weight.
Poker: How to make the most of a so-so hand
August 1, 2008
Playing middle pairs can be a tricky proposition, especially when the board pairs or anovercard comes, but if you figure out what specific bets mean from specific players, you can make the most of a so-so hand.
At the $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Las Vegas’ Bellagio in 2007, Erick Lindgren picked up pocket 9s under the gun. With blinds at $800-$1,600 plus a $200 ante, Lindgren, an aggressive pro, raised to $4,500.
“I was raising to thin the field and mix it up,” said Lindgren, winner of two World Poker Tour titles.
Three players in late position called, as did Raymond Davis in the big blind.
“When I got four callers,” Lindgren said, “I wanted to flop a 9.”
Top 10 Non Poker Books for Poker Players
July 31, 2008
I have a theory. Maybe just a hunch. Call it wishful thinking even. But I believe better people make better poker players. Certainly, a sociopath might have an advantage where aggression is concerned. However, when we think about long-term success across a decades-long career, poker longevity can only truly be achieved by those individuals who have their acts together.
Every poker book written by every poker expert will archly discuss the importance of such personal attributes as patience, self-discipline, psychological control. Yet, few, if any, teach you how to acquire those traits.
$40,000 in poker earnings sought from Seward VFD
July 30, 2008
The state attorney general wants a rural Westmoreland County fire department to surrender more than $40,000 it raised from poker tournaments it held last year as fundraisers.
The tournaments were organized by Greensburg attorney Larry Burns, who faces misdemeanor gambling charges for allegedly running Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments in Seward.
A petition was filed this week in Cambria County seeking $40,814 the department earned from gambling.
