So here I am in Cyprus adjusting to the ten hour time difference between LA/Vegas and I’m catching up on the action at PCA and came across a video update with Daniel Negreanu where he is playing a hand against an opponent and they are on the river. Here is the link, watch it for yourself before you read any further:

http://www.cardplayer.com/cptv/channels/13-other-poker-videos/poker-videos/3964-2010-pokerstars-caribbean-adventure-negreanu-calls-floor

I am going to go out on a limb here and say Negreanu has to know the rules of poker by now. So when he raises his opponent’s river bet and his opponent thinks it was a call and begins to roll over his hand, he knows full well that it doesn’t stop the action. It may result in a warning or penalty, but the hand is not over. In fact Negreanu has the advantage because he has seen part of his opponent’s hand. Then at the end of the video Negreanu say’s “I wasn’t going to call anyway,” yeah right! The whole thing, calling the floor after he saw part of the hand was an attempt to see if his straight was good and decide if his opponent had aces up or a full house. It was a terrible decision by the floor person, clearly being pressured by Negreanu. Kind of interesting that he is helping roll out a new poker tour as an “ambassador” of PS, and he muscles the floor guy, who you can see has a PS logo on his shirt, I was truly shocked by the whole episode. Let me know what you think.

I would like to say Happy New Year to all of you and may this year bring prosperity and peace of us.  I made a quick trip to Las Vegas to celebrate the New Year at Aria, which is the newest of the MGM-Mirage properties and is at City Center.  They have a great poker room, which is being run by Adam Altwies who came over from the Bellagio.  I have known Adam for years and am sure he will do a great job.

The room itself is really nice with a spacious layout and comfortable chairs.  I played a little low stakes no limit holdem and had Karina Jett sitting on my right.  I have always liked Karina and her husband Chip, in fact I remember playing my first 10k buy in at the Commerce and playing against Chip.  I was completely intimidated by him.  We did however become friends, so I always think of them very warmly.  Karina did win a pretty good sized pot from me when I made a flush and she made the nut flush.   I think the poker room at Aria may become “the room” to play in Las Vegas.

I really didn’t play much while in Vegas, but did stumble into the Bellagio poker room just as a $25-50 game was starting, and since there was a seat open I decided to play for a bit.  I knew most of the players in the game, several Vegas pro’s who make a full time living in the game and unlike most New Year’s weekends, almost no “tourists.”  I picked up AK suited about the 5^th hand of the game and limped in UTG +1.  Several others limped and the button raised to $350.  I re-raised to $1,000 and he folded.  A few hands later, the same situation repeated, only this time I got 3 callers.  The flop came AAK and I almost wet my pants.  I was first to act and checked, as did everyone else.  I opened with a small bet on the turn and the original raiser called.  I made a 45% of the pot bet on the river and he again called and although he never showed he said later that he had QQ.  Over the next 3 hours I flopped two sets and won good pots, and had AA 5 times.  I cannot remember running better in a session.  One time with aces, an early position player made it $150 and 3 players called.  I was in the small blind and raised to $900, trying to represent a squeeze and trying to look like I didn’t want any callers.  The original raiser called and the flop came A J 4 rainbow.  The other player had about 5k in front of him and I made what I thought looked like a weak continuation bet of $750.  He quickly raised $2,200 and was clearly happy with his hand and pot committed, so I moved all in, and he called.  The board did manage to throw up a back door flush and he quickly showed A J off-suit as I flipped over my set of aces.

I only played for three or four hours and quit for a reason that was a first for me.  That is, I won pretty much every pot I entered and had more than quadrupled my buy-in, so I felt like is was a perfect session, and although I could have stayed and perhaps won more, I almost felt it couldn’t get any better.  Usually, if the game is decent and I feel like I’m playing well, have nowhere else to be, and am not tired I will just keep playing.  When you run well, and feel like you are playing well, poker is more fun than you should be allowed to have.  May all of you out there have days like I had, just not against me!

I am back in Cyprus, and it is really great.  It is an ideal setting for a resort on a cliff over looking the Mediterranean.  On the way here I spent a day in Istanbul.  Last time I was there it rained like crazy the whole time.  This time I got to see much more of the city which was spectacular.

Everything about the poker in Cyprus I love.  They have a great tournament facility with very comfortable tables and chairs.  The service is attentive and they provide lots of refreshments and snacks.  While in the main casino and playing cash games they also have food available in an area much like they provide in high roller areas of U.S. casinos.

The cash games here remind me of playing at my local casino in Palm Springs California, in that it is mostly a recreational crowd, playing poker for entertainment.  The games in Vegas have become quite different and at the mid and high stakes level have toughened up over the past couple of years.  I find this one of the most attractive features of the games here.  While some players like to find the most competitive games, against the toughest opponents, I now and again like a game with “recreational” players who want to have fun and perhaps don’t have the sharpest skill set when it comes to poker.

First off, I would like to congratulate someone I consider to be a great player and a good friend, Daniel Alaei, who won the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic. I have had the opportunity to play both tournaments and cash games with him and know he’s one of the best out there. I unfortunately didn’t make it to that event, I have been working on some projects at home and playing online daily. I have played most of the mini FTOP events and have had a few decent cashes but haven’t been able to go the distance. I have been really working on my online game this month trying to play quality poker and have certainly been putting in the hours. I kind of wish the mini FTOPs or the regular FTOPs would run continuously, although I might become a shut in.

I’ve made some changes in my January schedule. I won’t be making the trek to Melbourne for the Aussie Millions this year. Although I wish I could figure out a way to get there- but I have too many previous commitments. I will be in Cyprus for the beginning of January, for what should be great live action and a good tournament or two. For more information, go to cyprus411.com. I’m planning on making it to Beau Rivage after Cyprus, but will definitely make it to Borgata for their winter tournament series. As usual, they have a great assortment of events with excellent structures and as good of a tournament/poker room as you’ll find anywhere. Following the Borgata, Matt Savage has put together yet another tournament series at The Commerce, and if that’s not enough for you the WSOP schedule for 2010 was just released.

On a personal note, it’s been a little over a year since I lost my dog Falko. I feel like I am now ready to find a new dog, but it will have to be another German Sheppard. Convincing my wife has been tough let me tell you.

From time to time I watch some poker on TV. I like to see if I can pick up anything specific on the players for use against them later and also general playing style as well. So I recorded Poker After Dark this past week, which was a high stakes cash game, and watched it over the weekend. It had a great cast with Patrick Antonius, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu and Tom Dwan. I thought it was one of the best line-ups possible; all great players and the banter would be enjoyable as well.

Much to my surprise I found it not even close to my expectations. Early on they each (except for Hellmuth) put $100,000 in the middle and just ran out the whole board. They wanted a little gamble and hoped it would put some of the players on tilt if they lost, and while this may be fun to do occasionally, it’s not poker. They showed very few hands and the ones they did, really were not representative of great poker. Although I will say Patrick made some big folds that I thought were good against Tom Dwan even though he was ahead. Sometimes you need to fold the best hand. Hellmuth and Dwan mixed it up a few times, and those hands were interesting. Dwan had 66 and Hellmuth 77 and although the pot started multi-way, Hellmuth continued on the flop, which missed both players, and Dwan hung around to catch a six on the turn. Hellmuth got away from Dwan’s value bet on the river. I don’t think Dwan played the hand very well, other than catching a two outer on the turn. The show then cut to this year’s NBC Heads Up match between Hellmuth and Dwan where they get it all in pre-flop with AA vs. 10 10, and Dwan hits a 10 and sucks out. Hellmuth does berate Dwan for his call with pocket 10’s. I am not sure Dwan is ever folding pocket 10’s pre-flop in a heads up match unless he is much deeper. What was interesting is that Negreanu bet Hellmuth that he would lose in the poker after dark cash game, and that was the source of some good natured abuse. Durr did double up Hellmuth in a hand where the flop hit Hellmuth and Durr turned a flush only to have Hellmuth river a bigger flush. Interestingly enough Durr when deciding whether or not to call Hellmuth’s all in on the river talked through the possibilities and concluded Hellmuth had it, and then called anyway. It was like a page from Negreanu’s play-book where he correctly deduces his opponents hand, which beats him and then calls anyway.

I find that I am asked on a regular basis about Tom Dwan or Durr as he is known online and is he the best. Everyone wants to know how he does what he does and about the stakes he plays. In many a sport a dominant player emerges and for their time they are unbeatable. In basketball I always think of Michael Jordan as that guy. Although Theo Tran argued with me that he though LeBron James is much more dominant today than Jordan ever was, I don’t even think this is worth addressing. In golf it was Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and now Tiger Woods, although Tiger recently moved his ball into a hazardous lie and wound up on the wrong side of a club. In their own time they were each the best and since they never played against each other while in their prime, you cant really compare them.

I say the same thing about Durr. He is that type of dominant player. Although unlike professional sports there is a fair amount of luck involved which will have an impact on short-term performance. In poker it’s sometimes hard to pick the overall best. You have cash games and tournaments, lots of different games and high stakes, very high stakes and just plain crazy. There is no question that Durr has changed poker and the way it is played. I am waiting to see his final results with Patrick and then of course Ivey. I would have to say across the board from game to game and tournament to cash, it’s hard to pick anyone who is better than Phil Ivey. It seems the action is heating up with the relatively recent arrival of the somewhat mysterious Isildur1. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. I had a brief chat online with Isildur1 who seems like a good guy. I don’t see myself playing those stakes anytime soon or for that matter ever, unless I inherit like half a billion from a rich relative that I don’t know about, but I enjoy the stakes I play and am content only meeting those guys at the tournament tables. The way I look at it is it would be fun to take a shot but if I lost, which is highly likely because in a cash game I would not be comfortable at those stakes, which would negatively affect my play and I am definitely an underdog in that group anyway. Still it would be fun, right up until I lost my buy-in and wanted to find Dr. Kevorkian. I wonder if you have to wait a long time for an appointment, and does he take my insurance, I guess he could just bill me?

One topic I address frequently with new players is bankroll management. It is perhaps the fundamental corner stone around which a winning poker game is built. Even a solid winning player that plays above their bankroll can find them selves broke with a short run of bad luck. I am very conservative when it comes to bankroll management. In cash games you should have a minimum of 20 times the buy-in, and I’m liking 50-200 buy-ins. You may think that’s crazy and it depends what games you are playing and whether they are live or online. For instance if you are playing 6 simultaneous games online each with a 1k buy-in and lets say they are PLO where more often than not your whole buy-in will be in the pot several times in a session versus someone playing a live limit game with a 1k buy in, bankroll requirements will be quite different.

If you are playing 200/400 PLO and you are 100-200k deep, you can go through several buy-ins in a day and if you run bad over the course of a month, which sooner or later happens to everyone, it is conceivable to drop 10 million or more. So how big does your bankroll and net worth have to be? Pretty damn big, in fact almost nobody should be playing those limits. For some players ego dictates they level they like to play, other’s look for softer games, whatever choices you make try and satisfy a few rules. Never play so big that you are jeopardizing money you need for necessities, Don’t play so big that you are uncomfortable and it affects your play, try and pick a level you can beat or at least tolerate the losses.

I was sitting around bored in an airport with Wifi recently, and was looking at interesting App’s for the iphone or itouch, and I found 2 poker App’s that are worth talking about. First is Poker Cruncher, which initially appears to be a straightforward holdem odds calculator, but has an advanced version, which is much more. It calculates not only win/loss/tie stats, but can also look at other players hand ranges and calculate equity based on those ranges. I have been playing around with it for a few weeks now and really like it. Interestingly enough I have won a few prop bets at the table when some make a claim like “ I was the favorite in that hand” and you can real time calculate the exact odds and prove or disprove a claim. I am really pretty good at calculating outs and odds in a hand, and my methodology in a hand is to put a player on a range of hands and based on my knowledge of them and by carefully analyzing the situation I narrow that range of hands and calculate my equity in the hand. This App is simply an excellent tool to help hone your knowledge and sharpen your skill set.

The second App by the same designer, ICM Cruncher, which has just been released, includes an ICM (independent chip model) calculator, a final table chop dealmaker, and a push/call/fold ICM decision analyzer. For those of you not familiar with the use of ICM, you should be. Anyway, the chop deal helps calculate a fair split of a prize pool based on chip stack size. It does not have a way to modify it for the skills of your opponent. The ICM decision analyzer is truly interesting. I need a little more time to keep playing with it, but generally it seems pretty cool. Now I’m not sure if you could pick it up and use it at the table during the hand, but you could check your play after the hand or help analyze your impending situation between hands.

If you have an iphone or itouch I highly recommend these App’s. Using these two tools can and will increase your poker IQ and should therefore improve your results. If you use them I would appreciate some feedback. I have thought of a few ideas for some new App’s both poker and otherwise, maybe that will be my next project.

I have pretty much set me schedule through March with Cyprus and Aussie Millions in January, LAPC at The Commerce in February, and the big question mark for me before Prague was San Remo and Monte Carlo in April. I will most likely return for San Remo and Monte Carlo. Also, my wife works for an Italian company so we can go together and take some vacation in Italy. She has lived in Italy in the past and is fluent in Italian, and several other languages. Those who are polyglots always impress me. I can barely get by in English, and many of you are quick to point out my many grammatical errors. When I was in grade school English and particularly grammar was my worst subject. I excelled in math and science, but could never really get the hang of grammar. As it turns out I was severely dyslexic, which was not diagnosed in those days. The good news for me about that is at least I didn’t have to ride the short bus.

I really had a great time in Prague. Much of the old parts of the city look like something out of a fairy tale. The Prague Castle, which I visited a few days ago, was sensational. Its history goes back to the 9^th century and I was awe struck by it. I had an interesting conversation with a group of Northern Europeans about how the US is perceived and it was more than a little shocking. We were talking about the latest terrorism by extremists in the Middle East and they thought our ultra conservative right wing was pretty much as bad and almost fascist. They discussed the US policy on torture and interrogation established under President Bush, as well as the so-called “patriot Act” and how they were appalled by it. Although I have tremendous pride in America I found myself embarrassed by “our” behavior. The world looks to us for leaderships and we have fallen well short, and although there was huge worldwide optimism with Obama, that seems to have crumbled. He seems more concerned with getting re-elected than making the hard choices and doing right. His has been in office now for almost a year and I’m still waiting to be impressed.

How did we as a nation condone torture? I even here people saying as long as you are torturing the right ones, or almost all are guilty. When did we allow people to be convicted before a trial, and those who made up the rules take no responsibility for their actions? I want our people and country to be free from terrorists just as much as anyone but I’m not willing to cut corners and give back all that we stand for to accomplish it. If we allow that to happen, the terrorists have already won.

How did we come so far off center? I am not sure, but I think fear is to blame. The Republican Party made us afraid. Afraid of terrorism, afraid of a disruption of our way of life and afraid to take the hard road. We live in a free society, but freedom is not free. It comes at a great cost, but the cost is not to all of us, only to those we now let fight for us, on foreign soil, far away. While we at home, me included, lead our lives relatively free of the impact. Our forces have suffered over 4,000 killed and more than 31,500 wounded. I watched a program about some of the returning wounded in my hotel the other night and although I have been in the service, treated devastating disease and injury as a physician, I am still disturbed by what we have allowed to happen to our troops over there and by our behavior over here. We have given them too few resources that are desperately needed, whether it’s those that arrived without up to standard body armor or unarmored vehicles, or not enough air support, or left in exposed and vulnerable positions by inept commanders and allowed to be over-run by enemy forces. Then President Bush declaring that the war is over and we won was nothing more than a joke. We never sent enough troops to get the job done, if we even knew what that job was. Iran is probably right now more of a threat than Iraq ever was. They never had weapons of mass destruction and no terrorists, until now that is. So let’s either commit the resources to get the job done, or bring everyone home now.

We here at home are more concerned with Tiger Woods’ domestic squabbling, although I did like what pro golfer Jasper Parnevik said, and seeing that he introduced his then nanny and Swedish model Elin to Tiger, about her using a 5 iron to give Tiger and his vehicle a beating; “he’s lucky she didn’t use a driver.” Where does one find a nanny that’s a Swedish model, or is it a Swedish model that doubles as a nanny?

It’s been pointed out to me that perhaps we need these distractions, but I don’t think so, because those of us out there fighting are not the ones being distracted. We are distracted enough by all that is unimportant. I think it’s time for us and our elected representatives to focus on the issues. Enough arranging deck chairs on the titanic already, how about some forward progress for a change.

I made it to Prague safe and sound. I am kind of excited to be playing my first EPT event. In years past the structures were sort of old school, with not a great blind structure or starting chip stack. Now it resembles the WPT in both. Especially when you come a long way for one event, it’s nice to feel like you are getting some value. This event was capped at 600 runners and with day 1a and 1b in the books it drew 584. AT 5,000 Euros it makes for an excellent prize pool. I was very interested to see what the field would be like. I had lunch with Greg Reymer while in Scottsdale last week and his opinion is that the fields at the EPT events are as competitive as the WPT’s. I agree with him that the top 100 players in each event are equivalent, however with fields of almost 600 versus 250-300 for the WPT’s and WSOP circuit events, it would appear to me that there is substantial value. With that being said I had a tough day.

There are also a good assortment of cash games, mostly no limit holdem and PLO.

I began the day at a late registration table and had Elky two to my right. He raised my blind pretty much every time. The third time around I called him with 55 after his 2.5 big blind raise. The flop came 5 7 k. He continued for 75% of the pot and I called. The turn brought a 9 and I bet 75% of the pot. He called and on the river an 8 fell and I checked. He bet 75% of the pot and I made a bad call. He of course showed 6 10 off suit. I then lost JJ to KJ when a king came on the river on a player who kept calling my bets for a flush draw. The table then broke and I took my 12k stack to the next table. This was a much better table. I never got a big pair or a great situation all day but managed to grind back up to 35k, and that table finally broke. I of course wind up next to Elky again and he is now the chip leader with about 175k. He was still playing every hand and in the Gus Hansen mode was getting so many chips in the pot against several of the short stacks early that he was forced to call the post flop shove. It seemed no matter what he needed managed to come. Although he did lose the last hand and gave up a double up. I was only at this table for 45 minutes, but was unable to play one hand. I finished the day with 31,000 chips, which was well below the 52,000 chip average. While playing at my second table the player to my right was quite friendly, Petter Karal. Although Norwegian, his family was originally Czech, and he knew Prague well and spoke the language. He invited me to dinner after the day’s play and we went to the central square for a traditional Czech dinner. The food was great and plentiful and for about $40 for 2 really cheap compared to the hotel. I am staying at the hotel that is hosting the event and although it is convenient it is somewhat overpriced. I was able to get a good hotel rate and flight package online. The costs in the hotel are a little crazy. For Internet in the room it is 25 Euros per day, and a small bottle of soda or water is 115 Czech or about $7, and a sandwich around $20-25. The good news is right across form the tournament area is a market where the same items are 90% less! There is also a really nice Internet coffee shop where I have breakfast and catch up online. I don’t mind paying a little more for the convenience, but 25 Euros per day for Internet service, which is about $37, is a bit much.

I’m off for a run along the river that runs through the center of the city then off to play. With the blinds and antes at 600/1,200 and 100 I have 25 big blinds or an m of about 11. I will have my work cut out for me, but still have some time.

I may make it to the Bellagio 5 Diamond, depending on the timing of this event. I would like to play the PLO and HORSE events, but it will be tight. I am curious how many players Bellagio will draw at the $15,000 buy in level. I would set the over-under at 325.

It was a very interesting night. At Kevin O’Donnell’s Restaurant in Scottsdale we had a great evening of eating and drinking. It seemed like most of the poker world was there for dinner and more than a few celebrities. Greg Raymer, Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, Jeff Madsen, Pam Brunson, Kenna James, Erica Schoenberg, Tom Schneider, Layne Flack, and many more. On the ride to the restaurant I talked with Richard Karn who was the co-star of the hit series Home Improvement.

At the end of dinner Phil Hellmuth got on the mike and announced that in 30 minutes he was auctioning off Clonie’s right to Taser Brandon Cantu and not only was it a charitable contribution to the Taser Foundation for Fallen Officer’s, but it was being professionally filmed and put on you-tube. It just so happened that Layne Flack is filming a pilot for a reality series “Life in the Fast Layne.” And had his film crew with him. So the auction began with an opening bid of $3,000 by Mark Swartz who was knocked out of the WSOP by Brandon in 8^th place when Brandon called his KJ shove with 10 10 on his way to winning a bracelet. Swartz still hurting by Brandon’s knock out blow decided revenge with a Taser might be the sweet way to go. There were a couple of other bids and finally Swartz said $4,000 and Hellmuth said, “sold.”

Before the bidding ended, Antonio Esfandiari wrestled the microphone from Hellmuth and challenged him to a heads up freeze out for $100,000 and the loser gets Tasered by the winner. No final decision was reached on this wager, I think the terms are still being negotiated but something will happen and someone will get Tasered.

Brandon then signed a waiver, stood where he was told and the experts from the Taser Organization placed safety glasses on him and Swartz took aim. I have to say Brandon took it like a man, never made a sound and didn’t complain. He fell forward and the Taser safety personnel caught him and gently lowered him. After a few seconds he was back standing up and showed his marks where the Taser barbs hit him. I asked him what it was like and he responded, “on a scale of 1 to 10 it was about a nine.” Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=554cbEe-DAc&feature=autoshare_twitter

I also met the family of Kenny Richards, who is a young man battling Syringomyelia, which is a cystic disease of the spinal cord. On Sunday at 4pm there will be a poker tournament at KO’s restaurant, 14850 N Northsight Blvd in Scottsdale. Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari and KO will all be there playing to help raise money for Kenny. If you can come by it will be much appreciated. For information: 480-922-7200.

I’m now headed to Scottsdale for the last of three of charity events. What has been most interesting for me has been my interaction with Phil Hellmuth. The event I hosted with my brother and Anthony Edwards (from the TV series ER) Phil Hellmuth attended and brought his mother, sister and a friend, who all played in support of the charity. Although eliminated relatively early in the tournament, Phil stayed until the end and did the announcing for the final table. He did a great job as the announcer and MC, giving the play by play. He also took photos with every attendee that wanted one. He was anything but a poker brat. Quite frankly he was terrific, and I better stop here or Daniel Negreanu will accuse me of some illicit affair with him.

There were some great players at last night’s event, which again Phil hosted. Steven Begleiter straight from his November 9 appearance and 6th place finish in the WSOP main event and Nicole Rowe, who took 2nd in the Borgata’s women’s event to a man, was there helping give the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia a boost. I still don’t really get why a man would choose to play in a ladies event, but then Jose Conseco tried to play in a women’s only event at Commerce and was turned away so go figure. I think Conseco’s next stop after that was a fight against Danny from the Partridge family. I know it sounds crazy but seriously you can’t even make up stuff this good. The truth is stranger than fiction. Some make the argument why should there be separate women’s events. I think it’s just fine, especially if it draws more female players to the game.

Tonight at Kevin O’Donnell’s Bar in Scottsdale Brandon Cantu will submit to his Taser fate, and the right to shoot him is being auctioned off, with the proceeds going to the Fallen Hero’s Charity. My next blog will give you the details and a link to a video clip.

I am off to Scottsdale for what should be a great event and a very interesting weekend. The Taser Foundation is a charity for the families of fallen police officers, being hosted by the company that makes the Taser. If you are in the area and are interested in attending here is the link to the schedule and who will be there: http://www.taserfoundation.org/sites/HoldEmForHeroes/Pages/default.aspx

Phil Hellmuth is the host of the event and is also the host of another event tomorrow night in New York: http://giving.chop.edu/site/PageServer?pagename=all_PokerHomepage

One of the “events” in Scottsdale, which will make this really interesting, and as many of you may recall, last year there was a lost longer bet between Brandon Cantu and Clonie Gowan during this event and the winner got to Taser the Loser. Clonie won, so Brandon is due to be Tasered at Kevin O’Donnell’s Bar in Scottsdale, http://www.kodonnellsrestaurant.com/ in front of a crowd this Thursday evening. We are talking about the Taser that shoots the two wires that stick into you, not the one where you are just touched with the end of it. At one point Clonie offered him a buy out, which Brandon declined. I was thinking Clonie could have a live charity auction for the right to Taser Brandon, with the proceeds going to the charity.