It’s rare enough to find tournaments out there that add money to a prize pool, but adding a car that retails for approx. $65,000 is incredible!  Event #6 of the Chicago Poker Classic was a heads-up event capped at 128 players, with an added prize of this Porsche.  No money was taken out of $1,000 buy-in to account for the Porsche, it was simply added as a bonus on top of the first place prize money of $32,000.  The winner was also given the option to just take $50,000 instead of the car.

Which brings me to the question, would you keep the car or take the money?

To me it’s a no-brainer. As much fun as it would be to drive this beauty out of the casino, it just wouldn’t make much sense economically.  Not only do you have to pay insurance that is probably through the roof, but you have to pay taxes on the price of the car brand new.  Also a two-seater, rear-wheel drive car in the Midwest may not be the best year-round car.  However, if you happen to be in the market for a new Porsche and can afford it, I can see why you would keep it.  Either way, a nice problem to have.

I ended up playing this event and won the first match, but unfortunately lost the second match.  The first match started out slow and I ended up getting pretty short, but toward the end I went on a rush and fortunately came out on top.  In the second match, I nearly sealed the victory early, but unfortunately ran into a “cooler.”  I hit a flush only to be beaten by a higher one, and as a result doubled up my opponent.  After that it was a grind until the blinds got big and we were shoving nearly every hand.  I was dealt AQ, which was a monster since each of us had about 10 big blinds, however he woke up with queens and had me dominated. Busto.

The structure of the tournament was great, if anything they could have taken off at least one level, which says a lot since I would rarely complain about a tournament being too slow, but overall it was a solid, well-ran event.  Hopefully they have it again next year so I can take another shot at the Porsche!

It’s been a couple months since my last update, and I feel that I need to come out of hiding.  I had a solid month online in December followed by a rough start to the New Year in January, but all in all not much has changed.  One thing that I would like to do this year, is to get involved in some more live events.  Here are some events of interest that I would like to play in:

-Minnesota State Poker Tour events: Not only are these events local, but they also have an excellent structure.  For the low direct buy-in of about $1K and even cheaper if you get a seat through qualifiers and satellites, you are getting the type of structure you would expect in a 10k buy-in event.  Not only that but you also get a diamond bracelet for bragging rights.  I played in their first event and must say it is a great structure and is a huge addition to the Minnesota Poker scene.

Chicago Poker Classic: This poker series is actually located in Hammond, IN, and has a heads-up event of interest to me that I will definitely be playing.  I haven’t played in this event or casino in the past so I don’t really know what to expect, but the fact that they have a heads-up event makes it worth it for me.

WSOP/WSOPC: Within the last month or two, the new schedule of the World Series of Poker was released.  There are quite a few changes this year that will mostly benefit the mid stakes players that didn’t have the funds to pony up some of the big buy-in events, but still wanted to get the WSOP experience.  They have added several $1,000 buy-in NL events, and from what I have heard have decent structures.  I am guessing this is due to some of the competition the Venetian and Caesars events have given the WSOP.  I will for sure be in Vegas either for the WSOP or the other casinos events, and may check out some of the circuit events.

Probably add other events to the list, but it all depends on how the year goes…

For the first time in many years I went against my will and kept myself from all the live updates on the WSOP main event final table in order to watch the ESPN coverage without knowing the end result. This was an interesting little experiment, but after trying both methods of final table enjoyment it is without a doubt better for the serious fan to follow the live coverage.

1. First and foremost you have no idea about the flow of the table when just watching the edited TV version. A bluff or a fold makes a lot more sense when you see how the players have been playing the whole day. One example is Ivey’s fold with JJ under the gun to a 3-bet by Saout. This is a very justifiable fold even out of context, but when Norman Chad calls it a misstep by Ivey it is a meaningless statement considering we don’t know how Saout was playing the rest of the day (or his stack size in regards to the blinds for that matter). If Saout had been 3-betting Ivey often, then maybe there would be an argument for playing back or calling, but without knowing this it is hard to make an educated statement.

2. Blinds. Another issue I have with the TV coverage is the difficulty in knowing the blinds. I may have missed some displays but I had trouble seeing the current blind level and this information is very important. When you see a player go all-in with pocket 3’s, it makes a lot more sense when he has 10 or less big blinds than it does when he has 40 big blinds.

3. Stack Sizes. The few updates on players’ stack sizes also wasn’t enough for me. A huge factor in how a player plays is determined by his stack size in respect to the blinds and at times this information was hard to determine. Although I do give Norman Chad some credit for managing to mention how many big blinds the all-in was for on a few key hands.

4. Table Talk/Atmosphere. Lastly I think you are missing out on some of the table talk and general atmosphere of the final table when you only get bits and pieces on the telecast.

With some of these flaws I see in an edited-style coverage, I do think that ESPN does an excellent job with what they have to work with and I think that the delay until November is good for poker. While I can see how the casual fan can really enjoy the edited coverage, for poker die-hards, nothing beats live coverage.

With that said, bring back live video pay-per-view coverage!

This past month I have been getting back in the swing of things and putting some solid hours online poker hours in. One thing that has been on the back of my mind is the future of online poker, and whether the regulations are going to get worse or if the government will start to see things clearly and make some solid changes for the better. There have been some really good bills in the works for online poker, and a great deal of changes could be made for better or worse within the next 12 months. Lately I have been reading the forums and checking the news on bills and have read a mix between pessimistic players thinking that things could get much worse, and then on the other hand poker groups claiming that better things are on the horizon. Either way I may have fallen victim to a thing I call legislative tilt. Worrying about the future of online poker can definitely effect your game in a negative way, just like any other things that may be on your mind. Its tough enough to beat the online games, battle the rake….and now have to battle the U.S. government. The only solution to this is just to be optimistic and assume things are going to work out for the best.

Unfortunately Barney Frank’s bill to completely remove the UIGEA was recently rejected, however there does seem to be a silver lining in the decision. Apparently, it was basically stated that the UIGEA regulations effect only the states where gambling is illegal (which is only a few), meaning that it is not illegal to play online poker in Minnesota. This is just what I have gathered from reading articles on this, and I do not know all the facts so I could be wrong on this. If this bill would’ve passed it would’ve been a slam dunk for online poker, but there does appear to be some good in all of this.

Here is a complete article on the matter from cardplayer, you be the judge: http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/7501-pokers-uigea-upheld-by-u-s-3rd-circuit-court

In other poker news, there is a new show on G4 called 2 months 2 million, about a group of online pros living in Las Vegas attempting to make 2 million in 2 months among themselves. Great show that really gives you a taste of the high roller lifestyle that these young world class pros are living. Check it out

Things for me have been pretty normal, grinding away doing ok. I am going to start getting involved in more of the multi-table tourneys online, in hopes of hitting a big score, but I have been doing fairly well grinding the heads-up sngs. My biggest problem is that in the summer I have trouble sitting inside playing online poker as much as I would during other times of the year, so maybe if the weather gets cold or it rains more I will be forced to put in some long sessions. With that said there are some cool things going on in poker.

• Phil Ivey is part of the November 9!! The fact that not only a well known pro made the final table, but one that is widely considered the best poker player in the world, is incredible. This is going to be great for the hype that ESPN will generate in the upcoming months, and could really boost the ratings for this years final table coverage, which is always a good thing for the health of poker.

• Both Full Tilt and Poker Stars are offering promotions in relation to the PPA announcement of National Poker Week. By signing a petition in support of online poker for the PPA’s National Poker Week you are automatically entered into a freeroll at the site in which you go through. I strongly urge any online poker player or just anybody that is in support of the freedom to play online poker to check out both Poker Stars and Full Tilts website for their promotional details. Also check out the poker players alliance site to see how you can make your voice heard at pokerplayersalliance.com. Its good to get some letters sent to Al Franken, introducing him to the strong support of online poker in Minnesota.

If you are in the dark on some of the legality issues of online poker below is a link to a brief summary written by ESPN recently, and also a video from last month of PPA chairman Alfonse D’Amato addressing many issues and giving a brief overview of the legality of online poker.

ESPN article: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4338365

The video is a bit outdated by a month or so, but its a good video and worth a watch