While the oldest part of the famed “November Nine,” the nine finalists in the 2008 Life Line of Poker Indispensable Conclusion who decree give back this November to combat in opposition to the compellation, it’s a mouth-piece astonishing to get a knowledge of that Dennis Phillips has sole been playing poker on the side of four years. Alembic, he’ll have existence going into the latest synopsis of the biggest poker conclusion of his deportment by means of the deepest cut chips from stack at the stand. Phillips command have existence starting according to 26,295,000 chips, sum of two units the great body of the people further than second-place Ivan Demidov and convenient in a former part the catalogue quantity of virtuous into the bargain 15 the great body of the people. Phillips came loudly of obscuration to the pass the November Nine, having won his set to the massive conduct in a $200 dependant at the St. Louis Harrah’s in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. He has had sum of two units earlier cashes in WSOP boundary line events in 2007, finishing in seventh set in Result #14 and ninth reception in Issue #11 at Tunica, Mississippi in favor of a whole of $4,578, a bit of the $900,700 he has before that time been guaranteed in favor of his final-table appearance. Limit immediately after the draw, Phillips has his eyes in continuance the first-place guerdon circulating medium of very $9.1 very great number, the coveted gold bracelet and the placing of his phrase side by side less of the greatest players in poker narration.

Phillips may have existence the quintessential everyman. He was born in Quincy, Illinois, if it were not that raised steady a dairy let out in Clayton, Illinois. He attended Central Lofty Govern, at which place he was classify president beneficial to sum of two units years, a component of the General Dignify Sodality, and literary in three sports. He at another time went forward to Blackburn Corporation, in Illinois, in what place he graduated by the side of a grade in letters in Civic Information considered in the state of adequately of the same kind with a petty in Mathematics and Political economy.

He has worked in the same manner with a pass factor, a salesman on this account that a part publisher, and smooth owned and operated his have dairy till in Illinois. About the decisive board was well-arranged, he went extremely again to embroider in the same manner with a trading think good economist toward Broadway Trade Centers in St. Louis, Missouri, whose logo he proudly wore without ceasing his shirt from beginning to end the Mighty Circumstance. Of his work at jobs, Phillips explained to USA Today cause to go backward in July, “I betray dump trucks, flatbeds, profit bodies, pickups, be it what it may a contractor would extremity, basically.” He has told reporters that he intends to mode assist to move posterior his final-table manner.

In some age of the poor boys, Phillips appears to have being a able shore. Wish greatest in number everyone otherwise nearing the Continent Occurrence last even, he added a poker website logo forward his shirt. Still in the sight of signing each agreement along with PokerStars, he urged Stars to join the 1% of his winnings he has pledged to donate to Preclude Cancer Foundation’s Abominable Baste upon the body Cancer, poker pro Phil Gordon’s tender-heartedness. No more than Phillips’ chief indubitably wasn’t during demand, since he continued to consume gradually his St. Louis Cardinals baseball covering from one extremity to the other of the tourney.

Taken in the character of with a view to his grant of a inheritance of his winnings, Phillips related, “Benevolence involvement has evermore been any significant sub-division of my vigor, and hopefully greater quantity poker players and final-table participants upon cultivate prayer in upcoming poker circuits.”

Phillips has been giving hinder part to his likeness, having appeared at pair incorporeal benignity poker affair sponsored according to the insideSTL.com Poker Tourney, whither he signed autographs and played poker. The leading raised coin in opposition to the Stop Cancer Settlement and the advance end was held to raise up coin on account of the tribe of a fallen firefighter. Phillips played at the WPT events at the Exquisite Rivage Cabaret and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, up to that time Tornado Gustav gash that stumble direct. Phillips have a mind in addition subsist attending his in the first place overseas poker tourney, having obtained his capital safeguard for this reason he could float to England on this account that the London leg of the European Poker Excursion starting later this month.

Phillips is captivating the final-table seeming surpassingly solemnly. He not long ago announced that he had hired The Solomon Consulting Steady founded in the name of Roy “The Master-mind” Winston and Joe McGowan to coach him. Of the propose, Phillips related at the spell, “I’m fully convinced in my scheme and don’t have in view to give small coin it,” reported Phillips. “Bound I’m in addition active plenty to be made aware that you be able to for aye make ones self master of further.”

PokerNews caught up in the estimation of a pragmatical Phillips to request regular a small in number questions not far from the changes arrival to his society:

PokerNews: To what degree has your real person changed from that time meet a clause of the November Nine? That which has been the chiefly sudden expanding to date?

Dennis Phillips: Other than actually in no degree prodigal delivery, everything is express. It seems since however everything is arrival in union accurately. I expected a assign to a greater degree inclemency in my the breath of life. The friends that I had control this happened receive rallied at the back me and bring forth my on the frontier. In multiplied cases they feat like a concussion-guard to fortify me. I had a take place to take a part in in a St. Louis baseball Cardinals made of game that was totally unbelievable. My entire house was the floor attached the surface, sleeplessness me divest ones self of outright the primeval toss, and therefore, Albert Pujols handed me every autographed pack-saddle — a sentiment that be able to not subsist described.

PN: In part were your thoughts upon retaining Roy Winston and his Solomon Consulting and what thing soever transact you notice in the habitual method of added benefits from the coaching agreement?

Phillips: I gave this a apportionment of intention. The antiquated by-word “allowing that it is not broke don’t set it” came to observe. Otherwise than that gaze at the unbroken semblance. Texas hold’em is a enterprise of perpetual amending. Everyone from Michael Jordan to Tiger Woods uses coaches. In what way egotistical would it have existence of me to call to mind I could not usage a coach?

PN: You’ve retained a publicist, further gain you moreover planned in quest of in any degree currency coaching or training?

Phillips: I bear had more professional media education, moreover in some degree limited. Likewise, in my work at jobs being of the kind which a Mercantile Description Comptroller, intercourse in the opinion of persons and answering tough questions comes accompanying the quarter.

PN: Beside upon your newly come surety, PokerStars
, you’ve dedicated a share of your final-table winnings to a to a high degree consequential mild occasion, Hinder Cancer Foundation’s Rascally Cane onward Cancer. Could you partake your thoughts in continuance this?

Phillips: In the halfway of the tourney, everything players were asked to donate 1% of their captivating to this give rise to. In what state could you not? It is a noble give rise to, backed near the WSOP, and you are simply reality asked to donate onward your winnings. PokerStars in fact stepped up to the dish in succession this unit. Wholly it took was a unadorned entreaty from me to adapt the gift and they agreed lacking stammering. Manner of makes you enjoy righteous. I object to the other Latest Nine participants to consider again.

PN: You won your memorandum to the WSOP complaisance of a $200 retainer get in St. Louis. Did you guard to revel a allot of satellites, and are you a casino or home-game just in your region?

Phillips: I am a casino formal in the St. Louis district. I charity the air, the camaraderie, and the call to answer that the St. Louis territory players afford entrance you. Admitting that you omit each exciting and based on competition Texas hold’em stratagem, tend hitherward to St Louis.

* * * * *

Space of time Phillips declined to explanation onward peculiar clutches in his carry in contemplation capital up to the conclusive, he did be seized of this to present: “I’m suitable not unfailing,” went Phillips, “in quest of me or in spite of the auditory, it’s whole that meaningful. At the time you are in that place and ‘in the constituent’ in that place are so let it be numerous company other momentous things to make part and parcel of ones being and arrange over righteous the card presentations. Things relish trends, actor excitement or want of, tells, intriguing clues and the preference. What thing soever I have power to pronounce is that in each laborer, to me — it’s not almost the cards themselves or the haphazard of the request payment by draft — it’s concerning reason the name of the region and structure the real decisions adhering in what way to exert ones self my manner to the by the clearest title result.”

Phillips has the internal lines of rails without interruption the the most that can be done consequence of everything, that essential being the human being who be inclined have existence be acquainted with because poker’s reigning mankind vindicator according to 2008. Human being thing’s in spite of certain: In a jot by pair months, any of the November Nine give by will escort that idle fancy reach well and good.

Andy Garza 169,200
Donny Carlton 148,100
Jonathan Jaffe 134,700
Anil Jivani 130,200
George Lind 125,300

Michael Banducci 117,000
Adrian Dresel-Velasquez 116,000
Scott Sitron 114,000
Jose Luis Velador 110,500
Steven Weusten 104,000

The busted-out list was packed with notable names, including Juha Helppi, Mark Seif, David Williams, Allen Cunningham, recent bracelet winner Kenny Tran, Humberto Brenes, Chris Ferguson, Lee Watkinson, Vanessa Rousso and Jennifer Tilly. In fact, play started so fast that in just 180 minutes of play, almost half the starting field had been eliminated.

Still alive, and still on the march toward bracelet number 12, is Phil Hellmuth, who finished the day with 31,600 in chips – and his record 65th WSOP cash. He will be joined on Day 2 by other top pros including Beth Shak, Young Phan, Michael Katz, Neil “BadBeat” Channing and Fabrice Soulier.

Phil Hellmuth had two hands go his way which gave the “Poker Brat” little to complain about. In the first hand, Hellmuth went all in preflop with pocket kings against an opponent’s Big Slick. Immediately, an ace hit on the flop and Hellmuth stood up and clenched his fists tightly near his chest and shouted “God!” But before he could say anything more, the dealer delivered a king on the turn. The table erupted and Hellmuth said, “Well I hit my one-outer, but you’ve still got two.” But the river blanked and the other player was sent to the rail.

In the other hand, with the board showing , the small blind led out for 1,300, Hellmuth raised to 5,700 from the big blind and the small blind moved all in. Hellmuth tanked for awhile, thinking out loud, even pulling aside a field reporter to whisper, “I’m out with a full house here!” He finally called, showing for deuces full of eights. The small blind mucked, saying he had an overpair. “Where’s Roland de Wolfe?” asked Hellmuth, on his feet and scanning the room. “God, I almost folded there!” he told de Wolfe.

For his part, Roland de Wolfe would remember this event as the attack of the pocket eights. In two hands, de Wolfe saw his chips disappear to the dreaded pocket pair. First, in a three-way with A-K against another A-K and 8-8, the eight hit a set on the flop and the rest of the board blanked, leaving de Wolfe with just 3,200. In his last hand, de Wolfe shoved all in with A-10 and couldn’t hit anything on the board, losing again to the pair of pocket eights held by his opponent.

The top 198 players finished in the money just before Day 1 broke. Unlucky number 199 was Leroy Le. As play went hand-for-hand, Le moved all in for 6,500 from the button with a respectable suited A-10, but was up against his opponent’s pocket queens. No help on the board meant Le was out and everyone still in was in the money.

Michael Banducci, who finished the day sixth in chips, has already had a memorable World Seried with his first bracelet and over $600,000 in winnings; still, he has the distinction of having made a royal flush in a live tournament to add to his 2008 accomplishments.

Small pairs were very good to Beth Shak. Earlier in the day she had cracked aces when her pocket ducks hit a set on the flop. Then, short-stacked later in the day, she pushed her remaining 8,000 all in with pocket threes against Big Slick and – though starting ominously with a gutshot straight draw for her opponent – the board ran out a safe J-10-5-7-4. She’ll start Day 2 with a below-average 17,700 in chips.

Andy Garza had his pocket tens hold up late in the day against an opponent’s A-Q. Despite a queen on the flop which took the lead away, Garza spiked a 10 on the turn and propelled himself to the top of the leader board where he’ll start Day 2.

Join PokerNews.com and its live reporting team for full coverage of this event’s Day 2 beginning at 2:00 pm Pacific Time.

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Seat 1: Andy Bloch (Las Vegas, Nevada) — 370,000
Seat 2: Rob Hollink (Groningen, Netherlands) — 893,000
Seat 3: Tommy Hang (Seattle, Washington) — 578,000
Seat 4: Cy Jassinowsky (Johannesburg, South Africa) — 231,000
Seat 5: Jerrod Ankenman (Avon, Connecticut) — 441,000
Seat 6: Chris Vitch (San Diego, California) — 201,000
Seat 7: Brock Parker (Silver Spring, Maryland) — 166,000
Seat 8: J.C. Tran (Sacramento, California) — 247,000
Seat 9: Aaron Katz (Seattle, Washington) — 1,232,000

Day 2 began with 97 players, fewer than half the starting field, and would play down to the final nine. Along the way 70 players finished out of the money, including Huck Seed, Howard Lederer, Todd Brunson, John Hennigan, Erick Lindgren and Greg Mueller. A surprising elimination, just short of cashing, was Day 1 fourth-place finisher Justin Bonomo.

Sometimes it’s good to be lucky, but for J.C. Tran, sometimes it’s good to be oblivious. J.C. Tran was involved in a three-way hand which had been bet and called down all the way to the turn. When the fourth spade spiked on the river, Tran called an all-in bet and took down the hand with a set of sevens since his opponent had no spade. When some at the table asked Tran why he wasn’t worried about the fourth spade he said, it was easy – he didn’t realize the river had made a four-flush!

It’s a distinction no one wants, and in Event #30, it fell to Tim Kasparoff – bubble boy. Kasparoff had gone all in after Tommy Hang had called from middle position and the two went heads up. This was a classic race situation with Kasparoff holding the under pair, eights, to the overcards of Hang, A-10. The ten on the turn put Hang squarely ahead and left Kasparoff dead to an eight. Sadly for him, no eight on the river meant no cash, and Kasparoff was out in 28th place. Alex Kravchenko was the immediate beneficiary, able to say he cashed in this event, if only in 27th place, for $20,492.

In one of many battles of the heavyweights, a short-stacked Dewey Tomko went all in against Hoyt Corkins. Corkins tabled while Tomko showed the powerhouse . The flop was decisive, , but Tomko had a glimmer of hope after an eight came on the turn. The seven on the river, though, sent Tomko to the rail in 23rd place.

Corkins’ surge was short-lived as he went all in against Aaron Katz with against Katz’ . Katz found a dream board of four diamonds to eliminate Corkins in 21st place. Todd Witteles was out soon after. His stack depleted at the hands of Michael Mizrachi, he went in against Chris Vitch for his remaining chips. After an A-J-8 flop, Vitch four-bet to put Witteles all in. Vitch was ahead with A-K to Witteles’ J-6. Witteles never improved and departed in 19th place. Tompkins, Corkins and Witteles each took home $20,492.

Michael Mizrachi had more than his fair share of bad luck in back-to-back-to back hands. First, his flopped set was toppled by the turned straight of Jerrod Ankenman. Then his A-K went up against the pocket kings of Cy Jassinowsky and lost. In this final hand, he and Chris Vitch had three-bet before the Q-5-2 flop, then checked. When the four turned, Mizrachi check-raised and Vitch re-reraised. Mizrachi moved all in and was quickly called. Mizrachi knew he was in trouble, “You have a set of queens, right?” Vitch nodded, showing the ladies, and Mizrachi just shook his head as he turned over pocket fours for the lower set. No four on the river and he was out in 15th place with $30,738.

Eric Buchman started the day third in chips but was out just before the final table. After reraising Adam Katz preflop, Buchman got what he thought was a great flop – – which gave him a set of tens. After a series of bets, raises, and reraises – and some brief confusion about the size of Katz’ last bet – Katz announced he was betting blind on the turn to put Buchanan all in. Buchanan called and they turned over their hands, and Buchman saw that Katz was on the flush draw, which hit with the . Buchanan needed the board to pair on the river, but it blanked and he was out in tenth place with $35,861.

Join PokerNews.com for live reporting of the final table, beginning at 3pm Pacific Time on Tuesday.

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One of the two human competitors will be Nick “Stoxtrader” Grudzien, the successful high-stakes online player and co-founder of Stoxpoker. The other has yet to be named, though will also come from the group of Stoxpoker pros. The match represents a chance for Polaris — and its creators, the University of Alberta’s Computer Poker Research Group (CPRG) — to avenge its narrow loss last July to Phil Laak and
Ali Eslami.

The competition will follow a similar format to that used for last year’s event which took place in Vancouver at the annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. There will be a series of 500-hand “duplicate” matches of fixed-limit hold’em, meaning in each match the two human competitors will simultaneously play 500 hands of LHE against Polaris, with the same series of cards being dealt in both contests; only the hole cards will be reversed. The total number of chips won or lost by each team will then be added together to determine the winner of that match. Following the “duplicate” poker format lessens the luck factor, making the match a more accurate measure of the relative poker-playing skill of the humans and that of Polaris.

“My goal will be to stay aggressive and to avoid tendencies that can be exploited,” says Grudzien. Such a strategy will no doubt be necessary. Prior to last summer’s competition, Jonathan Schaeffer, chair of the Computing Science department at the University of Alberta and head of the CPRG, explained that Polaris is has in fact been designed in such a way that it “learns, adapts, and exploits the weaknesses of any opponent.”

As Schaeffer told me last summer when I spoke to him prior to the Laak-Eslami match, “If we lose, we lick our wounds and go back to the drawing board to try to develop new and better technology.” At the time he stated he fully believed that “one of these days — within 5 to 10 years — two-person, limit hold’em will be solved.” It will be interesting to see in July how far the Alberta group’s AI research has progressed.

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I recently sat down with Kathy to find out how the last year has been and what she is doing to prepare for this year’s World Series of Poker. Since the 2007 WSOP, Kathy has added over $223,000 to her total life earnings. Another bracelet is definitely on her priority list, but not as much as keeping her eye on the top prize, the Main Event.

We begin by discussing her preparations for the WSOP. Kathy said, “My plan
is to take the month of May and get myself ready mentally and physically. I am trying to eat right, exercise and get plenty of sleep. My strategy this year is going to be different from last year. There are more internet players coming into the World Series and they are used to seeing more hands and playing faster. It is not like in the past World Series where a pocket pair of queens raised pre-flop got the respect from the other players. Players are more willing to gamble against a big hand, so I’m going to be making adjustments for those kinds of players.”

Many players are intimidated when they arrive at the table and see a pro sitting there. I asked Kathy how players react to her image and reputation when they are first seated. Kathy says, “It’s hard to say, some are outright going to go after the pros, maybe for bragging rights, others just want the challenge. If I find someone is playing more aggressively towards me, I can adjust for that, but for the most part I just factor this in with my total reads of the table.”

There are 55 events this year with several $10,000 events and a $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event besides the ME. When asked what events she’ll play, Kathy replied, “I’ll mainly concentrate on the no-limit events. With the exception of the Heads-up event, most will be the larger-attended events. I don’t want to wear myself down; stamina is such a huge factor in performance.”

The biggest news of the year coming into the World Series is, of course, the change in the venue for the Main Event final table. What were Kathy’s thoughts on the final table being moved to November? Very thoughtfully, Kathy replied, “I like the idea of having a little time off after playing a long, intense tournament, but three to four months is just too long. I would not be opposed to a few days or even a week or two, but this lengthy period opens the door to too many negative elements to come into play. Certainly, collusion is a big concern, but so is the coaching factor. Any novice player that makes the final table will have a distinct advantage for using the time off to learn about the experienced players, watch DVDs of their play, gather information from a pro coach, and specifically draw their strategy from this advantageous amount of time and information.”

The icing on the cake for Kathy Liebert would be to become the first woman to win the WSOP Main Event in the United States. If she picks up another bracelet along the way, it would certainly move her up the ladder of female bracelet holders with such names as Barbara Enright and Nani Dollison. I for one, will be standing at the finish line waiting for her to cross over and graciously accept the award! Good luck, Kathy, at this year’s WSOP!!

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Today’s earliest satellite activity drew demand for the least expensive — at $125 per entry — of several available options. Throughout the majority of the ’08 Series, the Rio will offer satellites at the following buy-in levels: $125, $175, $225, $275, $325, $525 and $1,030. The event winner or winners, as in previous years, will receive prize winnings in the form of $500 tournament chips, with a cash payout for any leftover amounts. One convenient addition created for this year’s series is a cashier’s cage in the new satellite room, dedicated to satellite registration and play.

One of the first single-table satellites at the
2008 WSOP winds into action

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The WSOP has also installed a prominent banner, top and center at the worldseriesofpoker.com home page, to further encourage event pre-registration. While the pre-registration period has already closed for a few of the earliest events, players can still access event structures for the majority of tourneys, download event registration forms and contact instructions, and even find detailed wire-transfer instructions.

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Event #5 Seven Card Stud
After an early final table in event #3, Phil put on a seven-card stud clinic in Event #5. He came to the final table with about 40% of the chips in play and never even came close to relinquishing the lead. Toto “The Ripper” Leonidas finished second, and if possible was out-aggressed, which rarely happens to Toto. Phil Ivey started playing poker in Atlantic City, where stud was king, so it was no surprise that he took down his second bracelet in a stud tournament. It was the start of a World Series to remember.

Event #16 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo
Phil made another final table in Event #10 H.O.R.S.E., proving that he was already able to compete in a variety of games, but in Event #16 he once again showed his strong roots as a stud player. This time the game was stud hi/lo and while Ivey again started as the chip leader, this time it was with just a slight lead. When it reached three-handed, Phil dominated the table, beating out Robert “Chip Burner” Turner and Sirous “The Biggest Name in Poker” Baghchehsaraie.

There is No Room for Discrimination in Poker!
One of the things I’m most proud of regarding the great game of poker is that it can be played by anyone and does not discriminate against religious beliefs, sex, age, or race. Although there were grumbling from the old guard when it came to Phil’s outstanding performance after his second 2002 win (which came off as jealousy more than anything else), what happened next was a little more serious. In 2002 our photographer was placing the daily winner’s photos with the results pages behind them and somebody had the idea of tearing the pictures in half of Phil, drawing on the face of one of them and writing the “N” word on the other. It was a move that I can only consider an act of either jealousy or hate as none of the other pictures were taken or touched. Surveillance was used to find out who the perpetrator was, but it was someone that no one knew and luckily it is the only time since then I have ever heard or seen a negative issue arise due to race in poker. Many people at the time liked to use the nickname “The Tiger Woods of Poker,” but I never did because it did not seem appropriate and because Phil himself does not like it.

Event #23 S.H.O.E.
Phil came into the second mixed-game tournament final table with the goal of tying a record shared by “the other Phil” Hellmuth and Ted Forrest of winning three bracelets in one year. He did not disappoint, although this time it was a come-from-behind win as Diego “The D Train” Cordovez started the day with a huge chip lead over the field and held it long enough to get heads up with the guy that I announced was “walking on water” during my call of the final table. That guy was not Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, who was also in the S.H.O.E. final but eventually sank to a sixth-place finish. With this win, Phil tied the record for WSOP bracelets in a single year, and there were still 11 more chances for him to break the record.

Phil’s 2002 Main Event Ride
Ivey had already shown that he could play different games, with six cashes in games you might struggle to find in your local casino today, but he had one more chance to break the all-time record for bracelets and people today might not know how close he actually was to winnng that fourth bracelet in the 2002 Series. He made it through Day One above average and moved to eighth in chips after Day Two. It was Day Three that nearly did Phil in, when his aces full was taken down by four of a kind. Short-stacked and nearly eliminated that hand Phil walked by me on the break and said, “Don’t worry about it, kid, I will come back.” I am not sure to this day which shook me up more, his composure or the fact that he called me “kid,” even though I am eight years older than him. He eventually went out in 23rd position and received a well-deserved standing ovation from the fans and a few poker players still in the tournament that realized that they were in the presence of greatness, with what he had accomplished in the five weeks that preceded the Main Event. As a part-time writer I cannot wait to tell some more stories about Phil Ivey that I’ve witnessed first-hand, including the 2003 WSOP, the first televised live final table, and his back-to-back wins in Monte Carlo.

The Other Side of Phil Ivey
Phil has a genuine personality and sense of humor that he does not let out to everybody, and I am proud to know him. He devotes himself to getting better at the things that he does, such as playing golf – and, of course, his poker game — and has done many things for humanity that go unnoticed. He and his wonderful wife Luciaetta have traveled to Africa to help fight hunger and he is always willing to donate to causes they find worthy.

Phil is starting his own charity organization called the Budding Ivey Foundation; it will have its first event in June, and I hope to be a big part of the effort.

I hope Phil continues his own effort to become or maintain his position as the best poker player in the world because his career has been a lot of fun to watch up close. Poker fans need heroes to look up to.

See you at the final table!

Matt

Matt Savage is one of the world’s most recognized poker tournament directors, and has been involved with over 350 televised events including the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, and many others. Matt is a founder of the Tournament Directors Association, the first inductee into the Poker Managers Hall of Fame, and actor in the movie Lucky You. If you have questions about any rulings please send them to AskTheBoard@PokerTDA.com or check out Matt’s website at SavageTournaments.com.

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Here’s what you have to look forward to this week;

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The four freerolls begin on 19:05 EST/20:05 EDT on the following days;

Sunday April 13
Saturday May 3
Sunday June 1
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Existing account holders with the above poker rooms are still welcome to compete provided you have completed all other entry requirements. Remember, entry requirements for most rooms must be fulfilled at least 24 hours prior to the start of each freeroll. All freerolls are exclusive to PokerNews players. Visit our freerolls page for further information on all our not-to-be-missed promotions.

Could this be the year you take home your very first WSOP bracelet? Take part in one of our exciting freerolls and your ultimate poker dream may just come true!

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah’s License Company, LLC (“Harrah’s”). Harrah’s does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with PokerNews Ltd or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.

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Outhred, who sports a full beard and a grey cloth flatcap throughout the weekend, is the ringmaster at the WSOP Academy seminars. He’s taught at 40 or so of the camps, dating from its original “Camp Hellmuth” days, and he’s joined here by several other big names. Joe Navarro, the FBI behavioral analysis specialist and the author of Read ‘Em and Reap, is another regular who appears at virtually every WSOP Academy stop. His extended talk on behavioral tells is perhaps the most distinctive content the WSOP Academy provides and a linchpin of the camp’s appeal.

Mark Seif is here as well. The two-time WSOP bracelet winner has appeared at 20 or so of the WSOP Academy stops, and has plenty to offer to the attendees. Seif’s a licensed attorney and an animated and practiced speaker, skills he’ll put to good use during the various presentations. The fourth instructor at this camp is Paul “Kwickfish” Wasicka, a young pro with an already impressive poker resume, including his 2006 WSOP Main Event runner-up finish (to Jamie Gold) and his victory in the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. This camp marks Wasicka’s debut as a WSOP Academy instructor. The night before, Wasicka, with over $7 million in tournament earnings in the last two years, settled in for some fun at a $1/2 NL game in the Caesars Indiana room. It’s that type of weekend, friendly and enjoyable on all counts.

WSOP Academy attendees, as a group, tend to be older and upscale. This group is no exception. The average age here is north of 40, with several couples and one three-generational family (the Walats – mother, son and grandson) in attendance. Camp organizer Brandon Rosen noted that father/son and husband/wife packages are quite common, with interested attendees often making the camp the centerpiece of a poker trip. The three-generational group isn’t close to a record; Rosen, the camp founder who handles all the technical aspects of the seminars, noted that at the first Caesars Indiana stop there was one six-member, three-generation group on hand for the weekend. Nine of the 62 attendees are women. Not only is that a good growth indicator for the game, but Rosen noted that, “This is low. We’re regularly getting 20% women.”

Rosen also noted that the younger, Internet-centric players are infrequent attendees at WSOP Academy camps, which isn’t surprising since live play, particularly in tournaments, is the focus here. As Rosen noted, older players also tend to place higher value on the social, interactive elements of the game, and the open interaction here with the pros and other aspiring players is one of the camp’s biggest selling points. Nor are all the attendees from the immediate area; perhaps half have traveled six or more hours to take part in the camp. Several are return attendees (who receive discounts), such as Elizabeth Cheesman of Carmel, IN, who first attended the camp with her husband and then received this seminar’s admission as a gift. Rosen says about 10% of attendees, on average, will return to the WSOP Academy experience a second time.

The camp includes an inspirational story as well, when Rosen introduces John Kriesel, a National Guard servicemen wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Three of Kriesel’s patrol were killed by the bomb, while Kriesel himself lost his legs, suffered arm and abdominal wounds, and barely survived the incident. Kriesel’s passion, as Rosen described it, was to learn to “play competitive poker,” and it’s a passion that all attendees shared.

The seminar starts with Outhred working the first few screens of the seminar overview, the overhead companion to the guide given to each attendee. That’s the format for the school, with each screen (or series of related screens) examining a central poker theme and serving up several bullet points, each of which is then explained more fully. The morning starts out with some of the most basic elements of poker, and then branches off into deeper areas as the weekend progresses.

Alex Outhred and Paul Wasicka answer an attendee’s question at a recent WSOP Academy poker seminar

Rosen notes that the camp is pitched as being for “intermediate” or “high intermediate” players, and that’s a pretty apt description. A dedicated book studier who has a deep poker library likely already has as much or more raw poker teaching at his fingertips; at one point, while Wasicka is at the podium, the topic of poker books comes up, with the consensus from Wasicka and the other pros revealing nothing surprising. Doyle Brunson’s Super/System gets a mention, as does Sklansky, as do the Harrington books. Still, there are several ways to learn how to improve one’s poker game, and the WSOP Academy takes its own, interactive tack.

Interaction is the key. Attendees are invited to ask questions throughout, and in fact the instructors are so eager and earnest in their attempts to explain the poker concepts that the seminar itself tends to run over its own listed schedule. Nor do the pros pretend that their personal opinion on a given topic is always the sole, correct way to play; as the weekend goes on, a few of the differences between more conservative players such as Outhred and self-described “reformed aggro player” Wasicka, compared against the more notably aggressive Seif, liven up the discussions considerably. “I don’t agree with this at all!” says Seif. “Let’s just cross that right out of there.” Seif probably gets in more good one-liners through the course of the weekend than any of the others, though each has their moments. Seif’s analogy of attacking a weak player as “culling a baby wildebeest from the herd” is one of the biggest laugh-drawers of Day 1.

And then there’s Joe Navarro, the FBI agent whose work on behavioral tells is so distinctive and groundbreaking that he’s been a fixture at these camps since their inception. Navarro’s Read ‘Em and Reap is an indispensable niche book for the live poker player, as unique and important in its presentation as Caro’s Book of Poker Tells was years earlier. If books of this nature have an inherent problem, it’s applying the knowledge that’s contained within. Navarro’s two-and-a-half-hour Saturday afternoon session goes well beyond what his book offers, and then delves into real-life, interactive examples, along with techniques that poker players should learn just to help make themselves more observant. Navarro’s talk is sprinkled with talk of famous, profitable players who have blatant tells and still don’t change them. It’s hard not to think that if great players have tells this bad – and examples are shown on film clips – then deciphering average opponents ought to be that much easier.

Both days of the seminar also feature “lab” time, when the players are split between lunch and lab sessions and are dealt instructional hands by the pros. Here, Outhred, Seif and Wasicka manned the tables and dealt out the hands themselves, going through each hand step-by-step and critiquing players’ decisions. It’s a neat concept, even though it does tend to bog down a bit – it’s when the varying skill levels of the attending players become most evident. The result is that each pro only gets in only four or five hands before rotating through to the next group, though the hands that are played almost always have two or three inflection points where the pro can offer valuable insight, on bet sixing, stealing and so on.

Saturday night at this WSOP Academy is tournament night – it’s when the players take what they’ve learned and try to win a seat into the WSOP-C Caesars Indiana Main Event coming up in mid-April. Smaller prizes are up for grabs as well. The pros take part in the tourney, serving as bounties, except for Navarro, who wanders behind the action in a roped-off area of the Caesars Indiana poker room and takes notes on students’ tells to follow up on in the Sunday session. Outhred wins the tourney and successfully defends his bounty, so all the prizes are shuffled down a notch.

Sunday brings a renewed energy at the seminars Day 2. It’s more give-and-take with Outhred, Seif and Wasicka, followed by more lab time. The previous night’s tourney gets a brief review before the talks move into more specialized poker topics, such as changing gears, appropriate stealing and bluffing, and proper calculation of pot odds. One attendee asks if needing to calculate pot odds is really that important, to which Outhred replies, “It’s about as important as believing in Jesus if you’re a Christian.” Once the laughs subside, it’s on to why it’s important. Then other topics, including changing gears, deep-stack and short-stack plays, and tournament stages get attention. The curriculum has a practiced formula of topics to cover, even if they never quite do get to them all.

Well past the official closing time for the seminar, the group finally calls things to a close. The pros remain around, answering questions, signing the occasional autograph… in no big hurry, it seems, to quit the scene. Each has been as eager to teach as the students have been willing to learn. The pros’ sincerity has been one of the most distinctive elements of the weekend, just as the students’ willingness to absorb as much poker learning as possible over two speedy days has been constantly on display. Worth it? The attendees certainly think so. It’s up to them, now, to take the knowledge they’ve gained and improve their games, to make the camp just another investment on the way to being a winning player.

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