Last week I had a chance to chat with my good friend, and fellow poker enthusiast, John Kriesel about his newfound political aspirations.

Kriesel is running for the Minnesota House of Representatives seat in District 57A which covers Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park, South St. Paul and Grey Cloud Island Township. Personally, I think it’s cool that he’s running for this seat, because if elected it will be nice to know that poker players have somebody who understands the current issues.

“I have always had an interest in politics,” Kriesel says, “but rather than sit back and watch from afar I thought it was time to get involved. I believe that people should be put before politics, the partisan antics need to come to an end, and that is what I plan to do if elected.”

Kriesel served as an intern at the US Senate in Washington DC, and he has served as a volunteer on other local campaigns, providing him with some valuable experience.

I had a chance to ask John about his thoughts on poker in Minnesota. After all, many poker players wonder why we can’t play no-limit hold’em, and they also wonder why online poker hasn’t been fully regulated nation-wide yet.

PMac: A lot of poker players feel that poker is mistreated by government, mostly out of ignorance. Poker still is NOT considered a game of skill, legally, and is lumped in with blackjack, pai gow, etc… Yet in Minnesota alone, more than 400,000 people play poker on at least a semi-regular basis. What are your thoughts on poker as a skill game? And if legislators were fully educated, would they feel differently about the “moral issues” regarding poker?

Kriesel: “The game of poker is predominantly about making correct decisions not just benefiting from mere chance; this fact alone separates the game from any other game played under the roof of a casino. For this reason, I will support a bill that labels poker as a game of skill within our state.
“Where I believe I differ from other elected officials is that I am not ashamed to admit that I enjoy playing poker and other casino games. I know firsthand that a skilled poker player, over time, will win more than that of an inexperienced or bad player. Although that statement can be said about any casino game, the difference with poker is that it is played against other players and not the house.

“In a study conducted last year by Cigital, over the course of 103 million hands, 75.7% of hands did not go to showdown, meaning that three-quarters of all hands played were won based on the skill of the bettor and not the strength of their hand. According to the study, in the remaining 24.3% of hands that did make it to showdown, the player who held the best hand only won 50.3% of the time. In the other 49.7% of pots, the player with the best hand folded prior to showdown. Overall, the best hand actually won the pot just 12% of the time. Therefore, according to the study, Texas Hold’em can be seen as 88% skill and not predominated by chance.

“It is my belief (or call it my hope) that if legislators learned these facts, their stance on the “moral issues” of poker would change. With that being said, I am sure that some will still consider poker gambling, regardless of the language of the law.”

It’s refreshing to chat with an aspiring politician who “gets it” when it comes to poker. John certainly has my endorsement.

If you have questions for Kriesel or want to help with his campaign in any way (you do not have to live in his district) visit www.johnkriesel.org or email John at john@johnkriesel.org. You can also follow him on Twitter (@johnkriesel), and on Facebook.

Beginning April 4th, the Black Bear Casino Sunday No Limit Hold em tournament has been added to the list of eligible tournaments receiving points to the Minnesota Poker Magazine Player of the Year race.

The Sunday tournament is a $100 + $10 buy-in beginning at noon. Registration begins at 11:00 am.

For more information about this tournament or Black Bear Casino, visit:
www.blackbearcasinoresort.com/promoweeklypoker.html

For more information regarding the Minnesota Poker Magazine POY, visit:
www.mnpokermag.com/2009/07/01/player-of-the-year-tournament-schedule/

As we all know, no matter how great you are, winning a poker tournament can be extremely difficult to do (unless you’re Jeremy Dresch).  This is why it can often be difficult for a poker player to measure one’s success.  It feels like we are failing so often…but are we? 

I’ve always asked myself, how often should I be cashing?  As in all poker discussions there are variables when answering this question.  If you win one tournament or cash high enough your ITM (in the money) cash rate can be less.  Conversely, if you are one to cash often but hit the money with a short stack and fizzle out, you’ll need to cash more often.  This is obvious I know. 

The best baseball players in the world fail 65% – 70% of the time if they are a .300+ hitter.  The odds are even worse for a poker player.  

When determining a successful cash rate, the level of competition is certainly a factor.  The best online MTT (multi-table tournament) players generally finish ITM at a rate of 11-12% when the buy-in is $100+.  THAT’S IT!  About 1 out of 10!  It is similar for medium stakes buy-in MTT players ($26-$75).  It is usually true though that players with a higher ITM have a lower ROI% (return on investment).  I’m using online stats here because there are sites that track this information, so apply it to live multi-table tournaments as you see fit.

 This means that the players who hold on to simply get into the money often play less aggressive when just trying to cash and short-stack themselves.  They will cash often but generally not go deep, earning themselves less money per cash.  

This is why ROI is the number a player should be more concerned with.  On the other hand, if you are putting yourself in position to cash often, eventually you will get lucky or bust through for a possible big pay day. 

So what’s a decent ROI?  Again, that depends on a few factors.  What’s your primary motivation for playing MTTs?  How many MTTs are you playing?  Etc.  Some good (high buy-in) MTT players have an ROI of +25% but are playing a high volume of tournaments.  Others may be +150%. 

Ultimately, you really want to shoot for the final table when playing MTTs.  At first you might want to just play for the money, which is fine, but without a big score along the way it’ll be difficult to maintain a bankroll, let alone actually increasing it.  

This is why I cringe often when I see players chop at final tables.  Its hard enough to get there let alone wasting that rare opportunity for a big pay day (even if you’re short stacked).  Typically you’re one hand away from turning the tide.  Without that big pay day, you’ll always be grinding with your bankroll. 

MTTs are a tough go, until you get a decent cash that is.  This is why most MTT players suggest not playing an MTT that is more than 2% of your bankroll. 

I think if you just focus on improving your game along the way, gaining more experience all the time, play with good bankroll management, etc., the bankroll will take care of itself (in other words…. you don’t need to calculate that you’d need to be cashing 40% of the time). 

To show you an example from personal experience, and again I’m showing you online stats because they are tracked.  In the calendar year 2007 (the last time I had time to play poker somewhat regularly to generate a decent sample size), I played 132 tournaments on PokerStars and was in the money 22 times for a cash (ITM) rate of 17%, which is considered very high.  My average buy-in was $118.  But most importantly, I won 2 tournaments.  

On a side note, as we discuss in the Lance Harris article, some online MTT pros play 12 tournaments at a time or 17+ per day.  That puts my 132 tournaments in a year sample size to shame.

So as a player in 2007, I succeeded 17% of the time (failed 83%), won only 2 of the 132 tournaments I played and from that was ranked in the top 1,091 of 145,624 players on that site.  My ROI was 206%. 

The moral of the story is this, its perfectly common to go 10, 15 or even more tournaments in a row without a cash.  This can feel discouraging especially if you’re a live-game player since you’re probably playing one tournament per day at the most.  It can seem like forever.  That’s poker, it’s the law of large numbers.  You need a large sample size which is hundreds of tournaments at the least to determine your success.  

This is why its important to manage your bankroll, so you can withstand the normal and expected downswings. 

Don’t forget, if you are good enough and fortunate enough to get to a final table, don’t be a pansy.  Seize the moment.  This is a bankroll defining moment.

I found this interesting blog from Steve Madsen, who finished 6th in the Heartland Poker Tour event at Shooting Star Casino this past weekend. Madsen hosted the FAN Poker Radio Show with Jack Seaman in Fargo last summer, and he writes about his deep HPT run.

From NorthlandPoker.com

So this weekend I go to Shooting Star casino to play in the HPT event. Now, I want to mention that Shooting Star is having some dealer issues. I don’t really any details, but a lot of their great dealers have quit or been fired recently. So, I was reluctant to go. Anyway, because of my cousin Joshua’s nagging about how great my torunament playing has been, I decide to drive up and play. My weekend started off bad when I miss the first qualifier because of a flooded road. But, that was the only bad part of my weekend. I got to the casino around three on Friday and by the time the 7 o’clock qualifier starts I’m ahead in blackjack enough to pay for my qualifier with a few hundred to spare.

The qualifier was actually uneventful. I was short stacked for awhile. Hit a couple of hands. Easily made it into the main event.

The main event was another story. I felt like I was on a roller coaster.

2 hours into play I had 4 times the chip-average only to fall back down within 5 hands. I had a streak of cards that were ok hands. AJ, 77, 55, A10. All of which i would raise and have someone go all in over the top of me. I didn’t want to make a big mistake so I laid all of these hands down to the all-in bets. I showed most of them to get respect for having OK hands and having the ability to lay them down. Finally, the 5th hand I get is AK and do my usual raise. At this point I’m visibly on tilt. So, of course the small blind wants to capitalize and moves all in. The big blind thinks for awhile and likewise, moves all in for a small raise. I have both covered and decide its time to gamble. I call and I’m surprised to see I’m a huge favorite as they hold A10 and AJ. I win the hand and take 2 players out. After that players stop stealing from me, although I played much fewer hands.

I did play one hand poorly on day one. I have JJ, someone in early position raises. The gentleman (and eventual HPT winner) sitting next to me calls. It was one of the first “calls” I had seen in a long time. It had become an all-in fest due to the blinds and antes. I also call with my JJ on the button and the blinds fold. There is around 60,000 in the pot. The flop comes J 5 2 rainbow. The first guy checks and the winner bets 48,000. We are 2 of the 3 big chip stacks at the table. I’m putting him on a monster like AA , KK, QQ.  He starts talking, telling me how he knows I like to see flops with J10 and that I’m going to get myself in trouble with it. At this point, I don’t know if he has the over pair or under to that Jack and is maybe trying to get me off of my J if I hit it. I decide to push all in and hope he can’t lay down an over pair or that the original raiser was slow playing his over pair. They both fold. Yes, I overplayed my hand and could have probably gotten more chips had I called. But, I didn’t want to slow play my way into getting beat. If they had called with AA and hit I could have lived with that. But, if an Ace comes on the turn…  I would have been sick if I just let him catch instead of just taking down a 100,000 pot.

The biggest hand for me all weekend is a hand I wasn’t in. Nobody was. It was the first hand delt to the TV six. We were all nervous, trying to figure out the cameras for our whole cards. I was the short stack at 190.000 and in the big blind. Play is folded to seat 6 who shows his cards to the camera and starts to reach into his pocket for a card protector. The dealer, Tim, mucks his cards. He cries out in protest that he was about to move all in. He asks for his cards back as they would have been on camera. The tournament director calmly say we don’t pull cards out of the muck. The button then moves all in and steals my blinds. This is where it hurt me. The button only had 210.000 in chips and seat 6 had 300,000. So, if seat six moves all in with his 10 10 (which he shared once play was over) and the button calls with AK. If the tens hold I move up to 5thplace and make and extra 1700 bucks. If he hits an ace or king, seat six is left with 90.000 and unable to take me out 2 hands later.  I know Tim and he is my favorite dealer at Shooting Star, he had worked very long hours and was still smiling and happy, but I will say that one hurt, stung the rest of the night! It wasn’t his fault I got 6th.

I played great poker just made one huge mistake. I set my goal to be on tv, not to win the tournament. With 8 people left, I said I was making it to TV no matter what and I didn’t play a hand for almost 2 hrs. I had had a huge chip stack and instead of stealing blinds and keeping it. I was content with only stealing 2 blinds in 2 hours and letting myself get blinded down to nothing.

I should be happy, I accomplished a goal in my life, to play poker on TV. I set a goal for the tournament and I reached it. But now, I just regret what might have been. I hope I can contimue to play at a high level and someday get a chance like that again. Lesson learned, the next time I will be more willing to die in seventh with a chance at the big prize.

- Steve Madsen

With two Minnesota State Poker Tour events on the horizon — Running Aces in April and Northern Lights in June — the MSPT is launching Satellite Saturdays.

Beginning this Saturday, March 27, MSPT hopefuls can play $60 single table sit ‘n go satellites all day, every Saturday, at Running Aces Harness Park and Northern Lights Casino. The satellites at Running Aces feed into the April 7-11 MSPT event, and the satellites at Northern Lights feed into the June 9-13 MSPT event.

The format is simple. A sign-up sheet will be available in each cardroom ALL DAY every Saturday, and once 10 players sign up the SNG will begin. Top two will earn a $250 MSPT qualifier seat.

The Minnesota State Poker Tour has held two events since launching in December, 2009, and the winners of each event have taken home $34,000 and $36,000 respectively.

Chad Lashinski

Chad Lashinski hit his second big score in the last five months by winning the Running Aces Pot o’ Gold $500 buy-in tournament on Sunday night for $16,990, outlasting a field of 129.

Lashinski also won a Fall Poker Classic event in October for $22,376 at Canterbury Park.

The tournament provided a $25,000 starting stack with 40-minute blind levels, which is one of the better structures of any tournament in the state over the last 12 months.

Results:

1. Chad Lashinski, $16,990
2. Scott Heiligman, $10,920
3. Zach Weiler, $7,890
4. Chris Dolan, $4,855
5. Thomas Hammers, $3,640
6. Bruce Vang, $3,035
7. Max Stephens, $2,425
8. Jeff Dobrin, $2,125
9. Dan Stewart, $1,820
10. Bob Spizman, $905

Courtesy of HPT

Matt Alexander entered the Heartland Poker Tour Shooting Star final table as chip leader, and he eventually walked away from Mahnomen the winner — a $48,521 in the HPT’s first of two stops in Minnesota this year.

Alexander now has over $50,000 in career HPT winnings, and over $90,000 in live tournament winnings.

Steve Madsen, who is the former host of the Fan Poker Show up in Fargo, ND, also reached the TV final table.

Alexander went into heads-up play against Bryan Reisner as an overwhelming chip underdog, but after multiple double-ups he eventually won the title with pocket aces.

Results (172 entrants, $1,100 Main Event):

1. Matt Alexander, $48,521
2. Bryan Reisner, $24,260
3. Todd Larson, $14,556
4. Wesley Gronhord, $11,322
5. Tom Stambaugh, $9,704
6. Steve Madsen, $8,087

For full results and photo gallery, check out the HPT recap page.

Running Aces

This is a big weekend for the Minnesota tournament poker scene, with the Heartland Poker Tour invading Shooting Star Casino, and Running Aces holding a $500 buy-in Pot ‘o Gold tournament on Sunday. Both tournaments should attract decent field sizes.

If you plan on playing in either event, feel free to drop us a line, either in the comments section or via email (phil@mnpokermag.com).

We’re also currently finalizing the April issue of Minnesota Poker Magazine, and to be honest, it’s probably one of the most interesting issues we’ve had since launching in June of 2009. With Jeremy Dresch going nuts and winning yet another big tournament — the February MSPT at Mille Lacs — and with Lance Harris winning $330k in an FTOPs event, we basically had two cover stories. These are two of the biggest stories of the last 12 months, and they both happened in the same week.

Crazy.

Bryan and I had a chance to swing by Lance’s house in Apple Valley last week to shoot the breeze and snap some photos. He’s a great dude and a great poker player. I’m sure you’ll hear plenty more about him as the months go on.

Lance Harris playing Golden Tee

From PokerNews.com:

Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act regulations will not receive another delay from the Treasury Department, according to CongressmanBarney Frank. The anti-poker legislation will go into effect June 1.

It appears the power play by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) in blocking President Obama’s Treasury nominees from taking office worked, strong-arming Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

“Geithner promised he won’t delay the bill again because Kyl was holding up all the nominees,” Frank said in a phone interview with PokerNews.

Kyl lifted his block in early February, apparently after getting what he wanted from Geithner.

Frank isn’t concerned about the development. He believes that, in the long run, UIGEA regulations going into effect will help to eradicate the flawed legislation rather than just delay it.

“It’s fine with me,” Frank said. “I think it’s frankly so dumb and oppressive that it will create support to repeal the bill. I think, once it goes into effect, banks are going to raise hell and all the bankers will go to the Senate to complain.”

The UIGEA would prohibit U.S. financial institutions, including banks and credit card companies, from sending money to Internet poker sites. The controversial legislation, which would put the responsibility on the banks to decide what constitutes unlawful Internet gambling and identify the sites that fall in that category, has long been delayed since it was passed by Congress in October 2006.

The compliance date for UIGEA regulations was scheduled for Dec. 1 of last year. The Poker Players Alliance petitioned for a delay, supported by Frank and more than 20 of his fellow Congressmen, and Geithner granted a six-month extension to allow Congress time to pursue legislation that would make the UIGEA obsolete.

Frank held a hearing on his Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act a week later in the House Financial Services Committee, but no further progress has been made as Frank, the head of the committee, focused his attention on more pressing economic concerns. Frank says he still intends to have a markup of that bill, which would override the UIGEA, in the committee “sometime this spring, probably in May.”

PPA leaders had hoped that progress on the regulation bill by getting it passed in the committee would convince Geithner that another delay was justified, but it appears Kyl — the long-time opponent of Internet poker who pushed for the UIGEA’s passage — used his political maneuvering to win this round.

“The Treasury, Federal Reserve, Congress and the banking community agree that the proposed UIGEA regulations are overly broad and lack the key definition of ‘unlawful Internet gambling,’” PPA executive director John Pappas said. “This was the case when the regulations were delayed in November and it remains the case today. Enacting the final rule on June 1st without this clarification would be a huge mistake and will add another layer of confusion upon an already complex matter.”

“Ultimately, there needs to be legislation like HR 2267 or S 1597 that will remove the confusion and establish a clear and sensible regulatory policy that the government, banks and, most importantly, consumers can rely on. The PPA remains optimistic that this will happen sooner rather than later, and that the misguided enactment of the UIGEA will be a catalyst for this change.”

Poker news has been slow locally over the last few weeks, but here are some tidbits to chew on…

- Brandon “oncommand” Meyers finished 2nd in a PokerStars $1k event on March 3 for $56,550. Meyers, who recently moved from Minnesota to Ohio, had a rough start to the year on PokerStars, but he has now profited over $60,000 in 2010 so far across all sites.

- “babyshark33″ still sits atop the PocketFives.com Minnesota Online Rankings, even after Eric “acquad” Brix and Lance “kingpin023″ Harris won the Sunday Million and FTOPs, respectively. “babyshark33″ plays mostly multi-table tournaments with buy-ins under $109, which makes his $70,000 net profit so far in 2010 somewhat incredible.

Just to put it in perspective, “babyshark33″ averages 17 multi-table tournaments PER DAY online.

- Mitch Ackerman of Sauk Rapids had a successful trip courtesy of Card Player Cruises last week, winning two no-limit hold’em tournaments for over $6,000 total profit. The 7-night cruise left out of Galveston, TX.

- Former University of Minnesota student Amit Makhija was among the first three members chosen to make up “The Brunson 10,” which is a group of 10 young, elite poker players that represent Doyle’s Room. Earlier today, Steve “gboro780″ Gross was chosen as the 6th member.

* If you ever have any news or notes from online tournaments or from card rooms across the country, email phil@mnpokermag.com.