12:08 a.m. Update:  Matt Hyland does it again by winning the Minnesota Freeze Out and $41K!  This is Hyland’s 2nd major title in 2 months.  He recently took down the MSPT – Hinckley in late November for $39K.

1/30/2011

121 Entrants

$17,370 Prize Pool     

1st Place                      Matt Hyland                           $41,080

2nd Place                    Erick Wright                            $23,474

3rd Place                     Derek McMaster                     $14,671

4th Place                     Saeed Ghasemimehr               $11,737

5th Place                     Justin Thurlow                        $8,803

6th Place                     Michael Wilmes                      $6,455

7th Place                     Ronald Spain                          $4,695

8th Place                     Mark Sandness                        $3,521

9th Place                     Judd Greenagel                       $2,934

8:55 p.m. Update: We’re down to 10 players here at Canterbury. Judd Greenagel, Justin Thurlow, Mark Sandness and Matt Hyland are among those remaining.  First place is $41K.

Jason Senti was knocked out by Greenagel with approximately 30 players remaining.

Seat 1: Saeed Ghasemimehr

Seat 2: Matt Hyland

Seat 3: Judd Greenagel

Seat 4: Timothy Speck

Seat 5: Erick Wright

Seat 6: Ron Spain

Seat 7: Mark Sandness

Seat 8: Michael Wilmes

Seat 9: Derek McMasters

Seat 10: Justin Thurlow

5:17 PM Update: Just arriving here at Canterbury Park for the Minnesota Freeze Out.  The buy-in today was $1,000 + $100, there were 121 players who entered for a shot at the big prize.  Only 36 still remain.  The top 9 spots will be paid.  First place is $41,080.

The players are currently on dinner break so its difficult to see who is still in.  I do know that Jason Senti, Rob Waz Waz, Matt Hyland and Todd Melander still have chips.  I will update a better notables list when the players return in 15 minutes.

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In the opening couple orbits of a poker session, observant players are closely scouting their competition.  This is so natural to good card players that they hardly even notice they’re doing it.  But each play, each motion and each hand is stored in a vault in their brain, valuable information from which they can later draw to help make important decisions.  But how long does it take to determine whether or not your opponents are playing well or playing poorly?  It is my contention that an accurate analysis of your opponents’ play is nearly impossible to achieve right away.

I’ll give an example that hopefully will illustrate why I believe it’s difficult to identify, in the early stages of a poker game, the good players and the bad, even after viewing multiple hands.

I have K-Q of hearts on the button, and a middle position player limps.  I raise.  Both of the blinds fold, and when the limper calls, we see the flop heads-up.  The flop is 10-5-4, with one heart.  The limper checks, and I continuation bet.  He calls.  The turn is the 9 of hearts.  He once again checks.  I bet.  He calls.  The river is another 9, and the limper checks for a third time.  I’m not going to win without a bet, and although the merits of firing another bullet on the river are certainly debatable, I bet again.  He begrudgingly calls.  I show my hand.  He turns over A-J and scoops the pot without a pair.

Now, here I am, four minutes into a session, losing a contested pot to Ace-high, left to determine whether this player is brilliant or oblivious.  A cogent argument could be made for either side.  The line between brilliance and stupidity can be razor thin on any specific hand, particularly when you have little ancillary information with which to work.  He could definitely have had a read on me.  Perhaps I was not convincing in my aggressiveness, and perhaps he knew where he was the entire time.  Or, he could just as easily be a terrible player, completely unaware of his hand value in relation to mine.  He could just be a guy who hates to fold; there are many of those types out there!

I’m not typically the type of writer to give advice.  It isn’t my intention.  That said, if I may offer one shred of wisdom it would be to let go of the first impressions of our fellow players we so desperately cling to.  It’s human nature to create an image of somebody, and hold onto it for dear life, even in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.  It’s how we understand the world, our brains need to categorize our surroundings.  But, if anything, be flexible.  That man who called every bet with Ace-high is so damn frustrating, but let his continued play determine whether or not you respect him.  Perhaps he really is a thoughtful players, and thoughtful players need to be approached differently than the airheads.

As a final aside, when I’m faced with an early-session situation that calls for me to analyze an opponent’s poker intelligence, I pay less attention to the poker plays and more attention to the gestures.  In the end, of course, the plays will be far more instrumental in determining skill; however, in the short term, I find, for instance, that the way a person plays with his or her chips to be a more telling indication of their experience.  Novices, for example, handle their chips clumsily, and this may be an indication of clumsy play.  More experienced players tend to be more graceful with their stacks.  [Please note: This is a very unreliable system, and I only use it to break ties on very marginal decisions]

The Minnesota State Poker Tour has joined forces with Brandon Merkt, an up and coming professional MMA fighter.

The 26-year old Merkt is 5’3″, 135 pounds and hails from New Richmond, Wisconsin.  Merkt has been fighting professionally for 6 years and boasts a 9-0 record, 15-0 lifetime.

Merkt’s next contest will be Friday, February 4th at the Bloomington Sheraton.  He’ll be taking on Bill Friday, 7-1 record.

If there are any poker players or fans who plan on attending, email Bryan Mileski, bryan@mnpokermag.com, and we’ll hook you up with some FREE MSPT gear for the fight to support Brandon!

WHEN:  Friday, February 4th, Doors open at 7:00, fights start at 8:00. 

GENERAL ADMISSION $30, VIP SEATING $75

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR OR CALL 612-275-7906

www.VIVIDMMA.com

Why does Phil Hellmuth act like a little girl every time he loses a pot?  Because he’s a self-absorbed sociopath.  But also, it’s because he’s so exacerbated with the total lack of skill it takes to win individual pots.

Poker can be so overwhelmingly frustrating at times, particularly when you’re running poorly.  You’ll sit and grind and grind and grind, and hardly carve out any profit.  Meanwhile, Juggles McGee on the other side of the table continually scoops pots without so much as realizing his good fortune and total lack of ability.  He hits gut-shots for three big bets, he backdoors his runner-runner flush, and, for good measure, he also wins pots when he doesn’t even know he has the best hand!

The reason losing to these players in the short term is so soul-crushing is because of the thoughtful preparation you’ve put in versus the absolute refusal to consider even the most elementary strategy on their part.  You’ve analyzed the best plays, and acted accordingly.  They, on the other hand, don’t think.  It hurts their brain.  They act on misguided instinct, and throw chips in the pot with extreme carelessness.  All of your conclusions about the best plays based on reason and skill are thrown out the window when that revolting Six-of-Clubs hits the river, filling his inside straight.

Yeah, yeah, yeah; I know, in the long run, these players will always lose.  And I know these are precisely the players you want to have at your table.  But just for entertainment purposes, I’d like to propose a rules change:

At every showdown, players must explain their reasoning for playing the hand as they did.

While this is clearly a terrible idea, as it would result in bad players leaving the poker arena forever, it would certainly cut down on immediate visceral aggravation.  If you lost a pot with Pocket Queens to the man with 9-5, refusing to fold for two bets on the Q-8-6-2 board (with, of course, the 7 hitting the river), he would then have to justify his logic.

DEALER:  ”Okay, sir, please explain why you called two bets on the turn.”

PLAYER:  ”Well, you know… I thought, like, I could get a straight.  How could I possibly put my opponent on a hand that beat me?  I had a straight draw, I couldn’t fold!  I had outs!”

DEALER:  ”I’m afraid that simply won’t suffice.  I award the pot to the Pocket Queens.”

I like to play make-believe…

Bryan Mileski, President and Publisher of Minnesota Poker Magazine and Co-Founder of the Minnesota State Poker Tour was recently named Minnesota Poker Player Alliance (PPA) State Director.

The Poker Players Alliance is a non-profit membership organization of offline and online poker players.  The membership consists of enthusiasts from around the United States who have joined together to speak with one voice to promote the game and protect the right to play poker in all its forms.

The PPA’s mission is to establish favorable laws that provide poker players with a secure, safe and regulated place to play.  Through education and awareness the PPA will keep this game of skill, one of America’s oldest recreational activities, free from egregious government intervention and misguided laws.

Congratulations to Bryan!  After personally seeing the amount of work he puts in to promote poker in this state and the great things he’s done for poker in Minnesota, I know he’ll represent us players well!

To join the PPA and to support your right to play poker, visit:  www.theppa.org

This week there is a new face among the top 10 online players in Minnesota.  Andrew “aheggem” Heggem from Minneapolis had a couple big cashes that launched him into the number 8 slot this week.  On January 20th Andrew took first place in the 42K Guarantee on Full Tilt, cashing 9K and 219 online player points.  Also on the 20th he took 6th place in PokerStars $55 NL Hold’em [40K Guaranteed], cashing 2K and 76 online player points.

The majority of my time spent at the limit hold’em table is at the 8-16 game.  I play 8-16 perhaps 75% of the time, with the other 25% split between the 6-12 and 15-30 games.  There is money to be made at the 15-30 game, but I find the competition far easier at the 8-16 table.  If only I could get 8-16 players to play for 15-30 stakes.  But therein is the point of this blog: I have come to realize that a typical 8-16 player has a very different demeanor than your average 15-30 player.

The average person at an 8-16 game is generally easy-going, though not very observant.  He likes to gamble, create large pots and play very aggressively.  The aggression aides his game, as he loves deception; however, the lack of observational skills cost him dearly in the long run.  The 8-16 player focuses only on himself.  He will maneuver his game, sometimes elegantly; yet, he will fail to notice even the most fundamental maneuvers in his opponents.  Focusing only on himself is also a social downfall of the 8-16 species; they will nauseate you with inaccurate statistics of every pot they’ve lost since 1996.  They are, however, typically very kind mammals.  There are few harsh words for their opponents’ specific plays, as they are usually not articulate enough to form a coherent argument.

15-30 players, on the other hand, while far more intelligent, are also very territorial and egotistical.  These players will rarely bore you with the minutia of their losses; they will, however, brazenly attack the way their opponents play their cards, as their understanding of the game is far more advanced than that of their 8-16 counterparts.  The 15-30 player will also play very aggressively, and change his strategy when necessary.  He does, additionally, understand these changes in his opponents, as the 8-16 player fails to do.  This aspect of the 15-30 creature makes the game quite different from 8-16.  8-16 pots are large with many opponents, whereas a typical 15-30 game has fewer opponents, smaller pots, and wiser participants.

The downfall of the 15-30 player, however, is his territorial egotism.  The atmosphere is very much a boy’s club, with unofficial membership being gained only through very frequently participating.  Everybody knows everybody else.  As such, when a new player arrives, he is immediately underestimated.

A hand, for instance, came up recently involving me and a regular at the 15-30 game.  Keep in mind, I do not play 15-30 very often, and while I do know a number of the players, I am certainly not “one of them.”  Most of the players regard me as an outsider, an occasional player who doesn’t know what he’s doing.  I’m in the small-blind, and action folds to the cut-off, a man who had been tirelessly raising most pots.  He raises.  The button, a smart player, calls.  I look down at A-7 of hearts.  If the button had folded, I likely would’ve three-bet.  Instead, I call.  The big-blind folds.  The flop is 9-9-6, two hearts.  I check, the original raiser bets, and the button folds.  I decide to try and take control of the hand, and check-raise.  I like the four-flush, obviously, but there is a good chance my hand is currently leading, with only Ace-high.  The cut-off re-raises.  I call.  The re-raise does not really scare me, as this is a very common play to remain in control of the action.  The turn is another 6, making the board 9-9-6-6.  I check.  The cut-off bets.  I think for a few moments, but it’s a pretty easy call.  I don’t put him on a 9 or a 6, and if he does, in fact, have an over-pair, I have 12 live cards (3 aces and 9 hearts).  I call.  The river is the 4-of-hearts, making my flush.  I check.  I could easily have bet here, but I thought there was a good chance my hand was best from beginning to end, and betting into him on the river negated giving him a chance to bet with nothing.  In other words, I don’t believe he would’ve called me on the river.  He checks disgustedly behind me, saying “If you could call on the turn, you must have the best hand.”  I roll over my flush, and he mucks.

Immediately following the hand, he began needling me.  ”You couldn’t fold that on the turn?”

“Nope,” I simply responded.

“And you didn’t even bet when you got there?  Jesus…”

“Sorry.”

Funny enough, a conversation started between the cut-off agitator and the thoughtful player on the button.  The button, who I do not know personally, and who appeared to know the cut-off player very well, simply said, “He played the hand perfectly.”  (This point can be debated, but the interaction was nonetheless entertaining).

The point is this: the man never would’ve said a word to me if I were “one of them.”  If he had known me, he would’ve respected my play and been quiet.  Since I’m only an occasional player, however, he felt that he had the right to comment upon my “blunder,” as he saw it.  Furthermore, he used what he felt was good “evidence” in that hand to continue underestimating me.  He rarely gave me credit for a hand, and was constantly disgusted with my re-raises.

I have no doubt that this egotism and rampant underestimation of newcomers is a serious downfall of the 15-30 breed.  The 8-16 man, of course, does not have equal egotism, but simply inferior skills.  I’d like to be clear, however, that the inferior skills of the 8-16 player will generally far surpass the egotism of the 15-30 player when deciding which game is softer…

(Although it may seem as I though, I, too, am underestimating players at the 8-16 game, there is an abundance of evidence to suggest that my assessment is correct.  Also, when a player sits down that I, in fact, know nothing about, I assume he is skilled until he proves otherwise)

The next major tournament will go down January 26-30 at Canterbury Park, The Great Minnesota Freeze Out.  Qualifying heats for $250 will take place Wednesday through Saturday.  The $1,000 + $100 Main Event will go down on Sunday, January 30th starting at 10:30 AM.

For more information and structures, visit:

http://www.canterburypark.com/Poker/TournamentSchedule/GreatMNFreezeout2/tabid/274/Default.aspx