Gambling News Blog

The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky should be on everyone’s must-read list of poker books. It is a classic, for good reason. Within the book’s pages Sklansky addresses, powerfully and broadly, winning concepts of play including how to read hands, strategic plays, how to conceal the strength of your hand with slow play, how to bluff, what a semi-bluff is, and many other critical pieces of strategic poker insight. If you haven’t read it and mastered it, you should.
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October was one of the most diverse months of 2007 when it came to important stories in poker. Major tourneys spanned the globe, a prominent online room made its return to the U.S. market, legislative and legal news made regular appearances and even a couple of unusual scandals offered gripping reads. At times the news was sensational, and it was always interesting. Here’s the most important of what October had to offer:

Absolute Poker ‘Security Breach’ Acknowledged — An interesting chapter in online poker history unfolded when amateur sleuthing by a dedicated group of high-stakes online players detected a severe statistical anomaly at Absolute Poker, suggesting that something was amiss
both in those games and in a curious tournament that ran on the site. Faced with a growing public outcry, Absolute investigated and eventually confirmed that a “high-ranking consultant” with access to critical components of the site’s software had arranged a technical means to view competitors’ hole cards, and had illegally collected at least several hundred thousand dollars from customers’ accounts through unfair play. Once the situation was uncovered, Absolute began the process of repaying the money taken illegitimately, as an audit of the site’s software and internal processes was ordered.
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News from the poker world in September came primarily from the felt itself. The month brought numerous major events, both online and live, capped by the history-making, inaugural World Series of Poker Europe festivities in London. WSOP-Europe marked the first time ever that the coveted WSOP bracelets were awarded outside the state of Nevada, and each of the three events were among the headline leaders for a month. Elsewhere, other big tourneys also gave us champions, and the largest of all online poker series, PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker, begun another record-setting run. September was a very busy month, with the following just a sampling of it had to offer:
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Last week, the all-important state of Nevada approved the proposed acquisition of Harrah’s Entertainment by private-equity firms Apollo Management and TPG Capital. Harrah’s shareholders approved the sale in April 2007, but for the sale to become final the plan had to be approved by over a dozen different regulatory boards in the states and international locales where Harrah’s operates. The European Union and most US states involved had already approved of the sale, but because of Harrah’s vast holdings in the state, Nevada was the recognized linchpin of the regulatory process. Harrah’s is still waiting for word from the National Indian Gambling Commission, which is expected by the end of the month. The
unanimous vote by the Nevada Gaming Commission followed the recommendation the Nevada Gaming Control Board at its hearing earlier this month.
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Following a few weeks of slow news following the conclusion of the 2007 WSOP, August returned to a normal poker pace with major tourneys both live and online, plus a scattering of business news. Mergers and acquisitions were one of the major ‘business’ themes of poker in 2007, and MGM Grand’s courting of a new international partner resulted in a deal that will change Las Vegas history. As summer drew to a close, these stories dominated the news:

Sander Lyloff Takes PokerStars.net EPT — Denmark’s Sander Lyloff made a big splash on the poker scene in August by taking down the PokerStars.net European Poker Tour event in Barcelona, Spain. Lyloff triumphed over a 543-player field stuffed with
top-flight international players to capture the €1,170,000 first-place prize, winning a longer-than-normal final day that began with 13 players after the previous day’s action couldn’t get down to the normal nine by the casino’s end of day. Lyloff was in second place behind Mika Paasonen as the last day’s action began, and stayed near the top throughout before taking down the win.
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Have you ever attended a poker seminar with a topic of “How to Play Against Women”? I was very surprised when I saw this topic on the agenda for a WPT Boot Camp about a year ago. I’ve never forgotten the subject, nor the many questions asked by the seminar’s male attendees.

It has always been my belief that women are more intuitive than men, a view shared by many others. As more women find success in poker, you will hear about this subject. I recently watched the WPT show from The Shooting Star that featured the heads-up match between Ted Forrest and JJ Liu. When JJ was interviewed, she made a remark that made me think hard on the subject. JJ said, “Because I’m a woman, the men automatically
think they can bluff me, but when they do, it becomes easier for me to read them.” JJ hit on the one area where I believe women have an advantage over men, intuition.
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June saw the 38th World Series of Poker being its record-setting run at the Rio in Las Vegas, with throngs of would-be poker champions stretching the facilities to its limits, if not beyond. Every day brought one or two new champs, all while a handful of other big stories played out elsewhere in the poker world. There was no shortage of worthwhile poker stories as summer arrived in style:

Hellmuth Wins 11th Career WSOP Bracelet — Who would capture an 11th WSOP bracelet first? All three players with ten career titles made deep runs at bracelets in the opening weeks of the WSOP. But when the efforts of Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan in other events fell short, it left the door open for Phil
Hellmuth, Jr. to make history. Hellmuth won his 11th career bracelet in Event #15, $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em. Hellmuth emerged from a massive pack of 2,628 entrants to outlast Andy Philachack and seven others in a final seen by almost no one, for it was held inside the special Bluff tent created as a venue for televising a select number of finals designated as pay-per-view (via Internet) events. Nonetheless, word of Hellmuth’s triumph still spread through the Amazon Room and beyond and a special ceremony was quickly arranged. Hellmuth collected $637,254 in his record-setting triumph.
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The Remote Gaming Association (RGA) has filed a complaint against the US under the European Union’s Trade Barriers Regulation on behalf of European online gambling companies. Clive Hawkswood, RGA’s Chief Executive said, “We have been left with no choice but to pursue all legal avenues available to challenge the US Department of Justice for its discriminatory enforcement activities against European online gaming operators.”

In their press release, the RGA pointed out that while the US Department of Justice continues to claim that all online gambling is illegal and has exerted pressure on foreign online gaming companies with forfeitures and threatened prosecutions, they have left domestic online
gambling companies, specifically relating to online horseracing wagering, unfettered.
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Here’s the lead-up to this hand:

The table is playing extremely loose-passive. It was unreal, as we were often getting five- and six-way limped pots, and at least three guys on the table were huge stations with no clue.

My (Tony’s) image is TAG (tight-aggressive). I haven’t opened a ton of pots, but when I do I always continuation-bet and haven’t had to show my cards yet. In the last half hour I raised pre-flop, got called by Joe Hachem, bet out on a 5-A-9-J flop and turn, then check-folded a deuce river.
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July in poker means just one thing: Main Event time at the World Series of Poker. While much of the pre-tourney speculation centered on the number of entrants (which turned out to be 6,358, slightly higher than most predictions), once the action began all attention was focused on who would march toward the bracelet and add his name into poker history. Other big events wrapped up as well, and the usual sprinkling of news ‘from the outside’ made it an interesting month:

Yang Wins 2007 WSOP Main Event — Jerry Yang’s triumph in the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event was a true rags-to-riches tale. Yang, an immigrant refugee who scraped his way to a better life after arriving in the U.S.,
won a seat to the ME in another casino tournament and made it pay off in the biggest way possible, for $8.25 million. Yang was one of the shortest stacks at the start of the ME final table but put on a brash display of aggressive poker, quickly surging into the lead and picking off opponents one by one. The last to fall was Canadian Tuam Lam, who cashed for $4,840,981 as the runner-up. South African Raymond Rahme finished third ($3,048,025) and emerging Russian star Alex Kravchenko, who had won a bracelet earlier in the Series, took fourth ($1,852,721) in perhaps the most international Main Event final table the WSOP had ever seen.
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