Aug
25
by Chad Holloway
Having reported on nearly a dozen tournaments for PokerNews, it is rare that a hand catches my attention. I’ve seen pretty much every situation, or so I thought before I watched Poker After Dark the other week and saw a hand develop between Phil Hellmuth and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow in the $100,000 Cash Game. What transpired left me dumbfounded and in shock, leading me to question whether or not such play has a place in poker.
The hand in question began when Peter Jetten opened for $1,400 with {Ad}{Kc} and received a call from Hellmuth’s {As}{Ks} on the button. Matusow then looked down at {Jc}{Js} in the small blind and three-bet to $5,300, which Jetten called. “Time for me to jump out the window boys,” Hellmuth exclaimed before four-betting to $18,000. Matusow, who explained earlier in the week that he was opening up his game, announced a five-bet to $53,300.
Jetten reluctantly folded, while Hellmuth anxiously counted down his stack. After some posturing, the “Poker Brat” moved all-in for $88,600 total. Matusow made the call and suddenly there was a $183,200 pot on the line. Needless to say, a flip for nearly $200K was exciting poker, and no doubt what viewers were hoping for. Unfortunately, that excitement was cut short and the $200K pot wiped from existence.
“What do you want to do here?” Matusow asked his opponent. “Wanna run it twice? You wanna play for real? It’s a big f***k’in pot, what do you want to do?” While Hellmuth was off on one of his patented rants, it became obvious that Matusow was nervous concerning the amount of money on the line. Eventually Hellmuth sat back down and asked Matusow what he wanted to do. “I say we put $10,000 apiece in and run it,” Matusow responded.
Excuse me?
It was at this point where I found myself shaking my head in disbelief. I’ve no problem with running it multiple times, but to take back money and play for 1/10th of the pot was something I had never witnessed. Why even create a pot that big in the first place if you’re not willing to play for it? Hell, why even play in the game? As it happened, Matusow was a 54 percent favorite to win the hand. In addition, he must have known that Jetten folded a strong hand, quite possibly one containing either an ace or king. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why he would want to take his money back? What astonished me even more was the fact that the producers let it happen.
After some negotiating and bickering back and forth, the duo decided to leave just $21,600 in the pot and watched as the board ran out {Jd}{3h}{9c}{Ah}{Qd}.
I’ll admit, when the $100,000 Cash Game week first began, I was pretty excited. The lineup was quite different than the usual players like Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Phil Laak, and Phil Ivey. The new lineup featured famous players who were known for their tournament prowess but took a risk by venturing into the cash-game realm. I was really looking forward to seeing these new players in action, and I was entertained early on by the likes Jean-Robert Bellande, Chris Ferguson, and Michal Mizrachi. However, any enthusiasm I had quickly evaporated after watching the aforementioned hand.
Now I won’t go so far as to say Hellmuth and Matusow were colluding; clearly they’re friends and were just looking to remove the gamble. Also, Matusow was kind enough to ask Jetten, who had money invested in the hand, if he had a problem with it. I can tell you that if I were in Jetten’s shoes, I'd have a problem with it. Perhaps Jetten is more generous than I since he allowed his opponents to take their money back. In the post-match roundtable, Jetten expressed his thoughts to hostess Leeann Tweeden:
“I don’t have any problems with what [Matusow’s] saying, I just didn’t think Mike made a very good decision because I don’t think it’s really a coin flip. Once I’ve put in $5,000, you gotta start thinking that, you know, ace-king might have a couple of its outs killed. You might end up being a bigger favorite . . . If you’re 55 percent, I know you don’t want to be a sicko and get all your money in, but you know, it's poker. I would have gambled personally.”
Truth be told, I understand why Hellmuth and Matusow made the decision that they did, although I doubt it was respected by viewers. In the same post-match roundtable, Matusow explained:
“Basically the play of the hand was what the public got to see, and I thought that was a really pretty amazing play on probably both of our parts, and once the money’s there, I have no problems playing for $20,000 and taking the rest out on a coin flip. Some of these guys that they watch play, they’re worth $50 million, $20 million, or $10 million. $100,000 is a lot of money to me . . . $100,000 means something to me now. Four years ago it didn’t mean crap, and the bottom line is, when you get sick of going broke in your lifetime and money means something to you a little but more, you respect it a little bit more, and I just felt that was a spot against one of my good friends that always gets beaten to death on these TV shows, it was a good spot for us to play for a small pot. That’s all.”
In other words, Hellmuth and Matusow were nits and wanted to nit it up. Fair enough, that’s what nits do and I get that. What I don’t understand is why the PAD producers would ever allow this to happen. If players wish to reduce variance, then they should be able to run it as many times as they want, I’m fine with that, but to have viewers become “invested” in a pot and suddenly take it away without closure, which is essentially what happened, well, that is just ridiculous and bad for TV. Secondly, if you want an entertaining show, be sure to find players who are willing to mix it up and have the proper bankroll to play a high-stakes game, otherwise all you're producing is a show as exciting as Face the Ace (Both shows are produced by the same people by the way).
As the roundtable wound down, Ferguson gave his two cents and stated that he wasn’t surprised with what transpired as reducing the pot is common practice in high-stakes cash games. While that may be true (I don’t play in high-stakes cash games), it was certainly unprecedented on television and, in my opinion, has no place in games designed for entertainment value. I don’t know if PAD will be back on the air given the events of Black Friday, but if it is ever resurrected, I hope the producers spend my two cents wisely.
Aug
23
by jake
Unabomber Poker wants you to represent Down Under at the Aussie Millions next year, which is why it will start running satellites for it this September.
Aussie Millions is one of the richest and most prestigious live poker tournaments in the world. Taking place at the beautiful Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, the Aussie Millions tournaments attract players from around the world as they compete across 19 days of tournaments through January.
Unabomber Poker will soon be running Aussie Millions qualifiers. Prize packages will be worth $16,000 USD to cover the $10,600 AUD buy-in to the No Limit Holdem Main Event with plenty of cash left over to go towards travel and accommodation.
There will be a Final Aussie Millions Qualifier running on the last Sunday of each month with a buy-in of $250 + $18. There will also be various satellites including a $0.20 Super Satellite running every two hours.
Check the Unabomber Live Poker Satellites page in September for more information.
Jun
21
by Chad Holloway
On Friday, June 10, 2011, I played in my first-ever World Series of Poker tournament, an event at least 15 years in the making. I’ve always wanted to play in a WSOP event, and regretted not doing so in my previous visits. I decided this was the year and decided Event #17: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. would be it. I’d have gone with a no-limit event, but I figured the limit format of the H.O.R.S.E. would ensure I’d get my money’s worth.
I wasn’t thrilled that the tournament started at Noon, considering I had worked until 3:30 AM that morning, but I was at the Rio and ready to go at the start of the tournament. Interestingly, I was in my seat (Table 53 Seat 5) in the Pavilion waiting for things to start, I got a phone call from the producer of the History Channel’s Pawn Stars TV show. I had submitted some old WSOP photos for consideration and they called me to schedule a time to film. Needless to say, I was super excited and it put me in a great mood for the tournament.
*I’ll be sure to write more on the Pawn Stars experience in a future post.
Now I’ve been working the WSOP for three years, having covered dozens of tournaments, but this was the first time I’d actually paid to be there. Instead of hovering around the tournament floor, bouncing from table to table, I paid $1,500 in cold hard cash. I was no longer a vulture scavenging for the remnants of action; I was a hawk eagerly looking for easy prey.
Things got off to a fast start. During the first round, which was hold’em, I picked up pocket queens and bet every step of the way as the board ran out 2-Q-6-2-7, giving me a full house. Surprisingly, I got paid off by two players. Not bad for the first hand I ever won at the WSOP. A few minutes later, Matt Savage took his seat to my immediate right. I’d never met Savage before, but I knew him as the Tournament Director for the World Poker Tour. Not long after, former WPT champ Tuan Le was moved two to my left. Needless to say, the table was getting tougher.
I managed to chip up to 5,600, from a starting stack of 4,500, by the end of Level 2.Come Level 5, I was sitting with 6,150, which right around the time 1998 WSOP Main Event Champion Scotty Nguyen sat down at my table in Seat 8. I love me some Scotty, baby, and I knew it was going to be a fun day. Win or lose, at least I’d get to play with a World Champion.
Two things happened right before the dinner break. First, Savage was busted by Le. Second, I took a shot at busting Nguyen in a hand of Omaha Hi/Low. Unfortunately for me, the distinction of the man who knocked Nguyen out of the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. eluded me as he survived to triple up. Had I knocked him out, I had a nickname all picked out. I was going to insist people call me the “H.O.R.S.E. Whisperer,” at least for awhile.
After dinner, I returned to a stack of 9,800, which was above the average of 7,200. Nguyen busted a short time later, which was followed by our table being broke. I was moved to Table 41 where I encountered the second most-famous Chad at the table, Norman Chad. I was looking forward to some good conversation with ESPN’s color commentator, but he was unusually quiet. I chipped up a little at Table 41 before breaking again and being moved to Table 2. Obviously this table wasn’t going to break at all on Day 1, so I was happy to see the most notable players at the table were 2008 Main Event fourth-place finisher Ylon Schwartz and 2008 Ladies Event Champ Svetlana Gromenkova.
Around this time I did an interview for PokerNews which was really cool. Being a part of the PokerNews team is great because everyone is in you corner and pulling for you. Unfortunately, with only two levels to go in the night, the cards went cold. The big blinds and antes began eating away at my stack and before too long I was well below the chip average. With only 6,500 remaining, I made a stand in the Stud Hi/Lo round after making a 6-5-3-2-A low on sixth street. Schwartz bet the entire time and I had a bad feeling he had made a better low; however, with just 1,600 back, I called off on the river. Sure enough, Schwartz rolled over a wheel to scoop the pot. Good game me.
While I didn’t cash, I was happy with my performance. I busted around 200th place (out of 963), meaning I cracked the top 20% of the field. I truly look forward to my next WSOP event, and hopefully my first cash. In my next post, I’ll bring you up to date on my various fantasy poker leagues, and also fill you in on some of the more interesting things that have happened in Las Vegas and at the WSOP. In the meantime, be sure to follow me on Twitter @ChadAHolloway.
*Picture courtesy of PokerNews
Jun
10
by Chad Holloway
It’s really nice to be back in Vegas for the summer and getting to see so many poker friends, both players and media members alike. This year PokerNews has been kind enough to put me up in a house along with four other media veterans in Eric Ramsey, Mickey Doft, Paul Oresteen, and Jon “Jon Bon” Boncek. I get along with them all, the house it sweet, and I can tell it is going to be a much more comfortable summer than the one I experienced last year (I spent seven weeks in the Hard Rock with no kitchen, washer/dryer, etc.).
The cash games here in Vegas have been tearing me up, but I’ve managed a couple of tournament scores that have evened me up. First, I played an $85 buy-in NLHE tournament at Caesar’s Palace and chopped that four ways for around $900 each. The second tournament was also at Caesar’s, but was a part of their Summer Mega-Stack Series 2011. The event was the $130 buy-in Limit Omaha 8 or Better tournament took place on June 2, 2011. Players started with 12K in chips and the event attracted 132 players. I made it all the way to the final table and we decided to chop seven-handed, which was a good idea considering the big stack only had around five big bets. We chopped based on chips, which looked as follows:
Seat 1: 230,000
Seat 2: 160,000
Myself: 265,000
Seat 5: 505,000
Seat 6: 100,000
Seat 7: 345,000
Seat 9: 290,000
As you can see, I was sitting fourth in chips which allowed me to lock up $1,367. I was happy with the chop considering the original payouts were: 1st- $2,946; 2nd- $2,049; 3rd- $1,536; 4th- $1,191; 5th- $858; 6th- $659; and 7th- $538. Like I said, the betting limits were so high (40,000-80,000) that it was a matter of luck at that point. Plus, I brought up the idea of a chop right before the blinds hit me, so I’m sure I got some extra value there.
Speaking of poker tournaments, I’m really excited to play my very first World Series of Poker bracelet event on Friday, June 10, 2011. I am already registered to play the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. at noon that day, and I’ll finally be able to check “Play a WSOP Event” off my bucket list. That’ll just leave “Play the Main Event!” I’ll be sitting at Table 53/Seat 5 in the Pavilion White area. I sold some of my action in that event and am looking to make a lot of people, myself included, a great deal of money. It sure would be nice to finish in that top ten percent. I’ll obviously be posting about that experience in a future blog.
In other Vegas news, I went to see Daniel Tosh of Comedy Central’s Tosh.O do standup at Mandalay Bay last week. There were like 8,000 people there, but it was still a great show. I’m a huge Tosh fan, so it was great to get the chance to see him live. He’s also a Miami Dolphins fan, so that makes him alright in my book.
In fantasy poker news, I am not doing so hot. In the 2011 ESPN Fantasy Poker League I am in dead last with zero points after ten events. It didn’t help that I had Phil Ivey and he decided to skip the 2011 WSOP. That’s like losing your star player to injury reserve in fantasy football. I hated to do it, but I used my one-time drop on him and picked up Steve Billirakis in his place. I think that was a good pickup, but I’m not thrilled I had to use it in that spot since I was planning on dropping one of my no-limit specialists and replacing them. I understand and support what Ivey is doing, but it sure wreaked havoc on my fantasy team. Here is a look at the standings through ten events:
Feldman: 207 (8 points from Mercier in Event 11 coming)
Bradley: 185
Baldwin: 117
Pilgrim: 94
Lee: 65
Chops: 63
Phillips: 43
Wise: 32
Seif: 17
Negreanu: 6
Holloway: 0 (Points for Billirakis coming)
*Billirakis ended up finishing third in the $10K Omaha Hi/Low Championship which bumped me into 5th place!
I’ll be posting a lot of fantasy poker updates throughout the WSOP, so be sure to keep checking the blog for those. In the meantime, be sure to follow me on Twitter @ChadAHolloway. Also, I’m trying to get Phil “Unabomber” Laak to do our PokerNews Podcast sooner than later, so if you have any questions for him, shoot them to me on Twitter and I’ll do my best to ask them on the air.