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Almost every activity we perform in our day-to-day lives involves some kind of risk analysis process. This, of course, includes playing online poker, which I have analyzed here at Cardplayer Lifestyle in the past. We can analyze a risk as long as we have valid data to analyze it.
In what made poker headlines a few days ago, but only ever so briefly, PokerStars refunded thousands of dollars to numerous Spin & Go players. The refund was issued to players who participated in games where others were “in violation of our Terms of Service”, as per an email sent by the PokerStars Game Integrity Team. Notably, however, the email simply mentioned that they became aware of an incident, but no specifics are revealed.
When someone decides to play online poker at PokerStars, there’s an assumption that all gameplay is fair and that PokerStars does everything possible to protect the integrity of the game. In other words, every PokerStars customer performs a risk analysis before he/she goes ahead and risks money by playing on their online poker software.
By their own admission, PokerStars discovered a leak in their security system. They admit in their email that gameplay was compromised, and therefore refunded money to all players who may have been affected. While this is commendable, and certainly the right thing to do, I believe that the fact PokerStars has not fully disclosed the details of the incident is a very big problem, for three important reasons:
In my opinion, without full clarity regarding the three above-mentioned issues, a customer cannot have enough information to decide whether or not they ought to continue playing on PokerStars’ software.
Once again, the fact that the PokerStars Game Integrity Team disclosed to customers that there was problem in the first place is praiseworthy. Yet, stating: “We regret that we will be unable to answer questions as to how your specific credit amount was calculated. Likewise, we are not at liberty to identify the specific games or player(s) in question. Suffice to say that the offender(s) have been barred from the site and you will not encounter them again” violates a customer’s trust, in my opinion.
When PokerStars customers have real money at risk while playing, full disclosure regarding security breaches is a must; down to the last detail.
Ever since their inception, approximately two decades ago, online casinos have grown in popularity due to a number of factors, including convenience, bonuses and promotions being offered, and game selection.
For starters, since you can access the Internet anywhere, that means that you can play your favorite casino games anywhere. You no longer have to live close to a land-based casino to play some of the most popular slots and card games online. Naturally, this means you also save the cost of travel and accommodation that used to be tacked on, by definition, to casino play.
When it comes to bonuses and promotions, online casinos really broke the mold, as they’re traditionally way better than those offered by brick and mortar casino establishments. Since there are many online casinos at which you can play, the competition among them means they’re ready to offer you some great incentives, including extra cash! In particular, some online casinos, like vegaspalms.ca, offer very generous bonuses and promotions to ensure your loyalty.
Of course, the tremendous game selection available at many online casinos means that you’ll never be lacking for fun entertainment. Whether it’s the hundreds of slots on offer or the dozens varieties of table games at your disposal, you’ll always have numerous gaming options, including:
While most readers of this poker blog imagine poker being played among people seated round a table, online casinos offer plenty of action for those players who wish to face the house, instead. Whether you’re playing one of the many video poker machines, or against a Live Dealer in a game of Casino Hold’em or Caribbean Stud, the poker at an online casino is plenty fun! Some games even offer six-figure jackpots to be won, sums which would be out of reach if you were playing for low stakes against your friends in a home game or $1/2 at your local casino.
They are many variations of this game, but the most popular options tend to have 5 Cards and give players a chance to Bluff in an attempt to win a pot of money even if they don’t have the cars to back up what they are purporting. Generally, this game is very fast paced and only needs one deck of cards.
Also referred to as 21, blackjack is one of the most popular card games on the entire planet. This is largely due to the fact that only takes a couple of minutes to learn but can produce hours of entertainment. And, of course, players can win lots of money in the process.
Blackjack is like poker in more way than one, specifically in the respect that using the right strategy can increase the likelihood of you winning. Even in this house game, where the cards are stacked against you by definition, plenty of players end up winning more often than not due to employing the right strategies. Perhaps this ability to increase your own edge against the casino is what makes blackjack such a popular card game.
There are some who say that baccarat is just like blackjack, but with a little bit of a twist. Instead of trying to hit 21, players try to hit 9. Because of the similarities that this game has to blackjack and because of its legendary popularity – think James Bond in Monte Carlo – more and more casinos are promoting their baccarat offerings (especially land-based casinos in Asia).
Just like in brick and mortar casinos, the popular card online card games listed above constitute some of the reasons people keep on coming back for more gaming entertainment. Beyond fun and excitement, there’s always money to be won – and that temptation has been luring gamblers since games of chance were first invented.
What do you think about the card games listed above? Are they on your list of favorites? Let us know in the comments section below or on our Facebook page.
“I think there was more pressure on everybody because it was so high. I could see the people playing in it were affected by it a little bit. That’s what he wanted to do. Get everybody out of their element. And I think he did it a little bit with $100,000-$200,000 because after it was over, we all said, ‘No, we’re never going to do that again.”
—Doyle Brunson
***
Scanning the walkway outside McCarran International Airport, I noticed a man who looked like a burly Harry Potter.
Jared had made it to Vegas.
I had recently seen him and his puggle, Flynn, in Boston during an early leg of my poker road trip. My plan was to make a counterclockwise loop around the country, visiting friends, family, and casinos along the way. Assuming, of course, that my ’99 Ford Escort would be up to the task.
And so far it had been. In the last few weeks I’d driven past corn stalks and cattle farms, past the ragged red rocks of Badlands National Park, past colossal wind turbines arranged in neat diagonal rows. I saw the strange majesty of Devil’s Tower, which bulges out of the Wyoming wilderness like a jagged tooth. Now I was in Las Vegas to meet Jared, who was spending a weekend here to celebrate a new job.
He met me with a grin. “How’s the trip going?”
“Just visited my brother in Montana,” I said. “And I haven’t lost all my money at the tables. So I’d say it’s going well.”
“And the car?”
“Still running. We’ll see if it gets me to New Orleans.”
“I hope so. You wouldn’t want to disappoint Flynn.”
“Of course not,” I said. “Maybe we can win him some doggie treats this weekend.”
***
Bobby’s Room, at the Bellagio
After a meal at CraftSteak, Jared and I walked into the Bellagio for some poker. As we took our seats at a $1/3 no-limit Hold’em table, I peered into a luxurious glass-enclosed area where players sat with piles of high-denomination chips.
Bobby’s Room.
Named after poker pro Bobby Baldwin, the room has become part of Vegas lore. Maybe its most famous story—captured in Michael Craig’s gripping book The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King—involves Andy Beal, a Dallas banker and entrepreneur who caught the poker bug in the early 2000s. He’d found success in real estate at age 24, eventually transitioning to banking in the late eighties. By 1992, Beal Bank was worth $1.2 billion.
But Beal’s pursuits weren’t about money: he worked out his “Beal Conjecture” in theoretical mathematics and, after studying satellite technology, he launched Beal Aerospace in 1997. The company closed in 2000, with Beal reportedly spending $200 million of his own money. Nevertheless, he insisted, the failed venture “was a wonderful experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, not even the money I spent on it.”
Thanks to an obsessive work ethic, a love of numbers, and an endless bankroll, Beal eventually turned his attention to poker. After growing bored with the “small” $80/160 limit at the Bellagio, he casually requested a higher-stakes game—much higher. News spread quickly among the Vegas sharks. Who was this bold fool wagering hundreds of thousands of dollars?
And so, a rivalry was born. On about 10 occasions from 2001 to 2004, Beal played heads-up limit hold ‘em against some of the best players in the world. The core group—known as “The Corporation”—included Todd and Doyle Brunson, Jen Harman, Chip Reese, Chau Giang, Howard Lederer, and Ted Forrest. At first, Beal was outmatched, but, as his obsessive nature kicked in, the skill gap began to close. He also made eccentric demands to keep his competition off-balance, including:
A great virtue of Craig’s narrative is that it doesn’t take sides. One of the most inspiring parts of Beal’s story, and why I ended up rooting for him, is his tenacity and willingness to master the skills of almost any imaginable field: real estate, mathematics, space flight, limit Hold’em—take your pick. His core philosophy—underlying his approach to poker and to risk itself—seems to involve flouting accepted wisdom.
None of this, it turns out, guarantees success. Phil Ivey crushed Beal in a monumental series of heads-up matches, winning $16 million in the final contest. The Dallas banker returned home down—but apparently not out. In January 2015, after a decade-long hiatus, Beal challenged Todd Brunson in Bobby’s Room. He lost $5 million.
This is the best I could get. Looks about even now at 5 million each pic.twitter.com/I1oA74Liym
— Kyle Loman (@Kloman22) January 24, 2015
***
Now, staring from my $1/3 hold ‘em seat into the room where Beal and The Corporation had wagered millions, I recognize most of the high-rollers. There was Main Event winner Huck Seed. There was Survivor contestant and “broke living” expert Jean-Robert Bellande. There was high-stakes regular Eli Elezra. And there, slumped genially in his chair, presiding over everyone, was the Godfather himself, Doyle Brunson.
Just another night in Bobby’s Room.
“Your action.” The dealer’s reminder jolted me back to my $1/3 game, where the table was waiting on me. Oops.
Jared, sitting on my direct right, had raised again—to $15—and I had to decide whether the six-seven of hearts was worth a call. Playing with friends could be awkward, especially if they whined or whimpered when they lost. But Jared wasn’t this type. He eagerly looked to take everyone’s chips—including mine—and I did the same.
We were poker players, after all.
I tossed in calling chips and, summoning my inner Beal, watched the dealer spread a five, eight, and nine with two hearts. I had binked the perfect flop!
Meeting my eyes with a grin, Jared bet $50. I raised to $125. Raising was best, I figured, because a bunch of scary turn cards might prevent his overpairs from continuing. Not that I had to worry much about Jared folding—it wasn’t something that he liked to do. He quickly called my raise and, after seeing the turn, the ten of hearts, instantly moved all-in.
“Call,” I said quickly, exposing my baby flush. “You have any outs?”
“Nope,” Jared said, chuckling along with me, “but I have a pair!”
As the dealer pushed me the pot, I felt uneasy. Luck, not skill, had shipped me these chips. I glanced back inside Bobby’s Room, my gaze resting on the brim of Doyle’s ten-gallon hat. What separated me from Doyle or Andy Beal? Yachtloads of cash, obviously, but there was more to the answer—things like effort and daring and courage bordering on foolishness.
I shifted my chair so that its back faced Doyle. Focus was another virtue that I needed to work on. At least I could do that. As for the future, there were plenty of fun possibilities: I could battle heads-up with Jared, or drive in circles around the country, or read Michael Craig’s book.
Finnish celebrity and former Miss Finland Sara Chafak has scored big in terms of popularity in the poker world. The video of the bluff she pulled off against Ronnie Bardah on an episode of Shark Cage went viral in late 2014 and was considered one of the best poker moments of the year.
Image credit: Sara Chafak Twitter
Chafak is a beautiful woman of many talents. She studied marketing and economics. She is also a model, a singer, a songwriter, and a TV personality. She even hosts her own cooking show! And, of course, she enjoys playing poker. While she has skyrocketed to poker world celebrity, she is also grounded, confident, and determined.
I sat down for an interview with Sara Chafak back in December just before she joined the field of the EPT Prague women´s event. We discussed her dreams, ambitions, beauty pageants, poker experience, and much more.
Please briefly describe Sara Chafak to me.
Sara is a weirdo package, running back and forth. I am into so many things, but I love it.
And I´m present. What else?
Well, that´s usually enough to be present. Could you tell us a bit about your family background? What did you want to become as a kid? Did you have a dream, a vision of yourself?
I had so many dreams and I still do have them. I feel like without having a dream I would suffocate.
I come from Finland. I was born in Helsinki. My father is originally from Morocco and my mother is Finnish. My parents broke up when I was around 9 years old. I had quite a hectic childhood, but I believe I turned out fine.
I did dream about becoming Miss Finland, enlisting in the army, and playing poker. Of course, whatever I do, I want to do it 100%. That´s my motto, although some find it to be a cliché. That´s how I am. All or nothing. No middle ground. I´m a perfectionist as well. Sometimes I make it very hard for myself in terms of pushing myself too much, but that´s who I am; that´s where my drive comes from.
You said you dreamt about becoming a beauty queen. Where did that come from?
Yes, I did. I was 6 years old when I decided I was going to be Miss Finland – not necessarily that I was going to participate in a pageant. I said to myself: I´m going to be Miss Finland, and – many years later – it happened. It was crazy! Of course I´d dreamt about it all my life and I used to be bullied because of it as well. Other kids were like: It´s not a job. It´s not a calling. I want to be a doctor. I want to be a police officer. And I said: Yeah, I want to be Miss Finland and a singer. I want to be in the entertainment industry.
Tell me what exactly is the role of a beauty queen? What kind of profession is that? Beauty pageants seem to be superficial contests, but if you are successful, you can use the platform for other things.
That´s true. You can do so much. Basically, being in a beauty pageant means also being a role model, especially for kids, young people. It´s even better to have talents outside the “beauty world”, or to be highly educated. You set an example and represent your country as well.
Image credit: Missuniverse.com
How did poker fit into this? How did you start?
I started with home games first. It was fun. I won a lot and thought to myself: Why am I not playing for real? And then I turned 19 and I started playing in different pubs in Finland. At that time, it was still legal to have these small poker tournaments. I won a couple and one of them awarded a seat at a final table. I couldn’t make it, as I had a severe flu. I even asked my doctor if I could attend while wearing a mask and gloves, and she said: “No! You can´t go there.”
As it was the biggest achievement in poker for me at that time, I was very disappointed. The winner would get a ticket to the Main Event! After that, I stopped playing for a while. I finished school and started university studies. Poker was not priority.
What happened next? When did you cross paths with poker again?
I went to university in Estonia, but then I won the Miss Finland pageant and returned to Finland. While there, I did have some free time and eventually I started playing poker again.
It was a funny coincidence that led me to PokerStars. In Finland, PokerStars runs this “speed poker competition,” this event for 10 celebrities. I was hesitating at first. I didn’t want the publicity, but they talked me into it. So, I agreed to do it on my own terms. I was going to sit at the hairdresser, have my hair done and play in the event. They filmed it as I was just sitting there, hoping my hair would not burn with all the color on it; and I won it! I got a ticket to the Barcelona Estrellas Main Event. This was my first ever major poker tournament. I got through to Day 2. I was on fire. I got spotted by PokerStars people and the media and did some interviews. It was at that point in time that PokerStars staff members started playing with the idea of putting me on Shark Cage. My reaction was – Ok, well, let´s do it!
That´s where you pulled that amazing bluff! What an incredible, viral video!
Yeah, this first hand I played I took a huge risk. I knew what I was doing. The people who know me, they can see it in my eyes – my adrenaline level was going through the roof. I had to do it; the situation was perfect. It was just me and Ronnie, and I chatted with Ronnie before we started.
I met him backstage and he introduced himself: “Hi, I´m Ronnie, are you hosting the show?” That was so funny. He made the whole thing so much fun on TV as well, he´s a huge personality. Of course, I didn’t think it would go viral and get as much attention as it did.
Are you enjoying being a part of the poker world?
It feels like home to me. I´ve always enjoyed it. Even before the Shark Cage experience and all the buzz around the bluff, I had enjoyed it. It’s sort of weird, because I am ADHD-kind of person, and you have to sit still a lot. Poker keeps me focused.
Do you feel comfortable surrounded by men 95% of the time? That´s obviously a bit different than a beauty pageant.
True, but I have five brothers. My best friend is a man. I don’t mind. I´ve always been into boyish stuff – football, army, etc.
How often do you play poker? Do you play online?
I play on PokerStars anytime I´m free. I´m a night person, so I like to play their tournaments. You can see me playing online a couple times a week. I don’t grind almost 24/7, like professionals, but someday, I will get there, too.
How do you prepare for a live poker tournament?
I´m a bit superstitious, so, I need to go through my routines. Always. I need to get my sleep. If I don’t sleep, I´m screwed. I read. I try to relax as much as possible because if you are stressed out, you are not concentrating fully. I cannot drink coffee. It doesn’t work for me. I´m overly sensitive to caffeine; I start shaking and can´t concentrate. Other than that, just basic things really; I enjoy a good shower, I need good food. I´m foodie and I´m also a professional cook.
Basically, no drama before playing poker.
You mentioned you are a professional chef. Where do you show off your cooking skills?
I have my own cooking show. It´s called From Salt to Saffron. The salt in the title represents Finland, and saffron represents Morocco – reflecting my roots. It is produced for FOX and broadcast in Finland and a couple of Baltic countries.
You don’t compete in beauty pageants any longer, but what was it like to represent Finland at the 2012 Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas? What did you think of the female competitive environment?
It was hectic and it was exactly what I was expecting it to be. I had the best roommate ever. She was from Denmark and she looked just like my mother when she was young, which was a bit funny.
Girls are girls, lionesses, protecting their territory. They may not show it in public, but their claws are always ready. But it was fun.
What kind of people do you like to surround yourself with?
Calm, confident and humble people. I don’t like drama, gossip and BS.
Sara, doing some media work with James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton.
What is the first thing you notice about people when you meet them?
Kindness, humbleness. I believe you can sense a lot from the beginning of a conversation.
What´s your definition of beauty?
This is a cliché to say, but I must say it. It comes from within. A good person is never ugly.
Last question: What aspirations do you have in poker?
The biggest! That´s why I play. Time isn´t only money, because you cannot get back time. But in poker, it is different and I am very competitive. I play to try and score the biggest achievements. Why else would anyone do it?
As the U.S. Presidential campaign heats up ahead of the November elections, two men who were once political and professional opponents have decided to cast aside their differences and are looking to change the United States for the better.
Poker players Matt Glantz and Daniel Negreanu have formed the New Americans Party and are letting their ideological differences rest as they make a united run at leaders of the Free World. “We’ve disagreed on a few things,” Glantz said during the announcement of their candidacy this morning, “and plenty of it has been because Daniel doesn’t know anything about the United States as he’s from Canada. But we will be able to make a difference for the country as we look to make online poker legal again in America.”
Negreanu was equally excited for the campaign to begin. “Matt doesn’t know everything he thinks he does. I’ve completed all the classwork prior to becoming a citizen of the United States and I know what it takes to work with the legislative branch and who we need to talk to in the judicial branch. Additionally, with my knowledge of Twitter, I can get our campaign slogan of #makeonlinepokerlegalagain working for us as we drive towards the White House.”
Although they are getting into the campaign late, they have plenty of ammunition against their opponents. As far as the presumptive choice for the Democratic Party, Glantz states that “Between Daniel and I, we’ve got a better grasp on computer issues and have nothing to hide on our systems, except maybe some datamined hand histories from Poker Table Ratings.” For GOP leader Donald Trump, Negreanu remarks that “The Trump Taj Mahal was a pit when I won the 1999 U. S. Poker Championship. I don’t want to see Trump do the same thing to the U.S. economy.” As far as other candidates such as Senators Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz, Glantz is dismissive of what he calls the “pack chasing the leaders like me and Daniel.”
@Hlas I carry more than one vote. I won’t keep silent and will make my voice heard and sway as many as I can.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) March 12, 2016
The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) is stepping into the mix, getting behind the New Americans Party campaign with full throat. “After seeing Marco Rubio go down as the last anti-online poker candidate in the field, we were wondering what we were going to do for the rest of the campaign,” said Rich Muny, the Vice President of Player Relations for the PPA. “Now that Matt and Daniel have decided to join forces, we for the first time have a campaign that we can get behind. We encourage all PPA members to Tweet at their representatives in Congress and individual state legislators five times a day, while including the #makeonlinepokerlegalagain campaign slogan!”
Congratulations Daniel! https://t.co/vW8Bubw1nk
— PokerPlayersAlliance (@ppapoker) March 13, 2016
There is some controversy in the New Americans Party campaign, however. The Ted Cruz campaign has alleged that the party officials are promising cabinet positions to people for support of their candidacy, pointing out that PPA Executive Director John Pappas is in line to be the Treasury Secretary and that noted poker writer and World Series of Poker Media Director Nolan Dalla will be their choice for Secretary of State. Dalla, however, has denied any involvement with the New Americans Party, simply saying, “Any political party that would have me as a member shouldn’t have a scent of power given to them.”
For those annoyed by my political posts, things could be worse. This masochist in Japan has sent 37 million tweets. https://t.co/olPlNcZC56
— Nolan Dalla (@nolandalla) March 22, 2016
Also not to be outdone is Negreanu’s “bromance” partner in Phil Hellmuth. After being linked for years with Negreanu during broadcasts of the World Series of Poker and more recently with the Global Poker League, Hellmuth is reportedly miffed that Negreanu would not consider him for a running mate nor a spot on the Cabinet. As such, Hellmuth has said that he will run for Governor of California with his “close friend and home game player” Golden State Warriors owner Chamath Palihapitiya, as his choice for Lieutenant Governor. “We already have been calling for #makeGoldenStateonlinepokerlegalagain, way before what Daniel and Matt have been doing,” Hellmuth huffed as he headed out to see if Steph Curry knew who he was.
Future CA Governor Phil Hellmuth and Lt. Governor and “best bud” Chamath Palihapitiyah
The one problem that the New Americans Party is running into is how to list their candidates on ballots across the United States. Will Glantz be the President and Negreanu the Vice President or vice versa? “We’ll have a heads up match, best two of three, just like we used to do with the National Heads Up Poker Championships on NBC, after we win the election” Negreanu said. “That way, no one will be able to deny who the better poker player – and who the better President – will be.”
One of the key things about any sporting pastime is that it has rules. Rules for those events, however, haven’t always been the same as they are now. Take poker, for example. Did you know that originally there were only four players to the game? Now did you know that, technically, this is incorrect? This little idiosyncrasy and other tidbits of information are unveiled as poker gets prime attention in a new book that focuses on the sports world.
Authored by Gary Belsky and Neil Fine, On the Origins of Sports (the title of the book is a tongue firmly planted in cheek play on evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin’s seminal work on the subject, On the Origins of Species) examines 21 different sports or activities – because there is some debate as to their true “sports” qualifications – and tries to find the first codification of their rules. The book recognizes some of the usual suspects – football, basketball, baseball, etc. – but also delves into sports (and here’s where the “activities” term might come into play) such as kickball, whiffle ball, fantasy football and Rochambeau (otherwise known as “Rock-Paper-Scissors” …by the way, thanks for the rules on “Rock-Paper-Scissors-Spock-Lizard,” guys!). Needless to say, you can see that there is some seriousness to Belsky and Fine’s research, but they did have a bit of fun along the way.
Poker is one of the 21 sports that gets a great deal of attention from Belsky and Fine and they do find some intriguing information. While accepting the generally believed rule that some form of poker goes as far back as the Chinese in the 10th century, Belsky and Fine believe that the modern game is more closely related to the 17th century French game poque, which they state was in itself a derivative of earlier Spanish and Germanic card games (primero and Poch, report Belsky and Fine). Each game had the same basic set rules as to the hierarchy of hands, but what set them apart – according to Belsky and Fine – was that the best hand didn’t necessarily always win.
Excerpted from On the Origins of Sports by Gary Belsky and Neil Fine (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2016. Illustrations by Sarah Rutherford.
The element of “bluff” is what brought Belsky and Fine to the first recorded rules for “poker.” (Yes, the game had been played on the riverboats of the Mississippi River in the early 1800s with four players and 20 cards, but no codified rules existed.) According to their research, Belsky and Fine found Bohn’s First Hand-Book of Games, which introduced the rules of poker as we might be able to recognize it today. First published in 1850, On the Origins of Sports goes to the 1856 version of Bohn’s First Hand-Book of Games to replicate the rules of poker.
There are some similarities, such as a “full table” being 10 players (with the 52-card deck, that was all that could play what was at that time called “draw” poker) and each player would “deposit an equal stake in the pond,” or ante in to play the hand. After the cards were dealt, there was another round of betting in which either a player could win by showing down the best hand or betting out their opponents. Surprisingly, even at this early date there was discussion of “counters” or “chips” being in usage rather than actual money.
There were some differences in the Bohn’s rules, however. Under those 1856 rules, there was no such thing as a straight, a straight flush, or a royal flush. The hand rankings were quite simple, consisting of one pair, two pair, “three of equal value” (now, of course, three-of-a-kind), a flush, a “full hand” (full house), and “four of equal value” (four-of-a-kind). If no one decided to play after anteing up, then the chips stayed in the center and were played under a “Double Head” pot (and even a “Treble Head” if it went another round with no action post-deal). Finally, there are those who like to think that they invented the “straddle” bet… nope, it is detailed in Bohn’s rules, called a “Blind” bet because the player left of the dealer puts in the extra chips over the ante (the rules also state that a player left of that player can additionally “blind” bet, if it is double the original bet).
The chapter on poker in Belsky and Fine’s book isn’t Earth-shattering information that will revolutionize what we know about poker. It is outstanding, however, that poker gets its due alongside those more “traditional” sporting endeavors that people originally think of in this manner. For Belsky and Fine to put the effort into researching poker’s colorful history – and to find its first codified rules – is something that is truly special.
Excerpted from On the Origins of Sports by Gary Belsky and Neil Fine (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2016. Illustrations by Sarah Rutherford.
On the Origins of Sports is also a truly unique book. While it is a tremendously researched tome, it is also a great deal of fun, especially where the authors point out the changes in the rules to today’s version of the sport. It is quite interesting to see how some sports evolved from their early days when their rules reflected different times and different purposes for their creation. For example, basketball didn’t originally have a cap on the number of players on the floor, so more people could play and get their exercise at the YMCA in Springfield, MA, where Dr. James Naismith created the game. It may also surprise you as to where certain sports also got their starts; from this book you’ll learn that Abner Doubleday didn’t invent baseball, that fantasy football has been around for decades longer than you really know, and that UFC fights, when they first started in 1993, could have gone on all night (and only had nine rules!).
If you consider yourself a historian of sports – or would just like to read a book that has a fun time with the history of the games we play and watch – On the Origin of Sports would be up your alley. The chapter on poker is simply icing on the cake. Get the book here!
It may seem like it has been eons ago, but the rise and fall of (the old, non-Amaya/Rational Group-owned) Full Tilt Poker only took about seven years in full fruition and rotten ending. From its birth in 2004, with a tongue firmly planted in cheek “campaign” to put poker in the Summer Olympics in Greece, to its shameful closure in 2011 following the federal government’s attack of “Black Friday,” the site gave many in the online poker world a place to call home and/or bred a new generation of poker players (and, don’t forget, the home of the largest nosebleed cash games in the history of online poker). It also made “stars” of some of the members of Team Full Tilt.
The players listed below were some of the most popular members of Team Full Tilt during its run, but at least one of them had been ejected from the fold before the actions of “Black Friday” and, in hindsight, might have been the original “whistleblower” in the Full Tilt folly. A couple of others have continued on in the game while a couple more have disappeared altogether. This list is the answer to the question “whatever happened to _____ from Full Tilt Poker?” that many are looking for.
Image credit: PokerPlayerNewspaper.com
Gowen joined 2015 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Jennifer Harman as the only two females on the Team Full Tilt roster and was quite proud to represent the company. From roughly 2004-2008, Gowen promoted the Full Tilt brand virtually everywhere she went, in tournaments around the world, on many televised poker shows (including Poker After Dark) and at other poker functions. Those all came to a close in 2008, however.
Feeling that she had not received adequate compensation for her promotion of the site, Gowen filed a lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker and its related entities, seeking 1% of the $40 billion estimated value of the company. In the resulting affidavits that came out, Gowen accused the owners of Full Tilt Poker – essentially the Team Full Tilt members – of receiving regular payouts and loans from the website’s profits; these things were proven to be true when Full Tilt closed its doors three years later. Despite having been proven right in hindsight, the courts didn’t support Gowen then, dismissing her lawsuit in early 2010 due to lack of merit.
Since her ejection from Team Full Tilt, Gowen has drifted away from tournament poker. Her last cash was in 2009 at the Aussie Millions but, even with nearly seven years away from the tournament felt, her $1.6 million in earnings puts her in 23rd place among Texas poker players. It is rumored that Gowen is still a big part of the cash game circuit in the state of Texas, where she plied her skills long before Full Tilt Poker ever came along.
World Series of Poker bracelet holder Perry Friedman was one of the players who kept in the background of Full Tilt Poker, but it was arguable that he might have been one their best poker players. He is also one the rare exceptions who have been able to go on after the site’s closure and maintain somewhat of a successful run on the tournament poker tables.
Since Full Tilt Poker closed in the fall of 2011, Friedman has kept his hand in the world of poker. He has added eight cashes at the WSOP to his resume since 2012, with his best finish a fourth place run in the 2012 $5000 Seven Card Stud event. Since the closure of Full Tilt Poker, he has earned $114,457 in tournament cashes. It doesn’t appear that Friedman plies his trade on the tournament circuit anymore (save for WSOP time), so he may also be in the local cash game arena.
Image credit: Pokerlistings.com
A former member of the MIT Blackjack Team, Bloch has also continued onward on the tournament poker journey since the demise of Full Tilt Poker. Perhaps his crowning achievement in poker came after Full Tilt’s closure when Bloch won the 2012 $1500 Seven Card Stud event at the WSOP, his only trip to the winner’s circle at the WSOP. He would utilize that win to earn a third place finish in the 2012 $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship at the WSOP (for his second largest payday ever of $561,738) and capped off that year with a deep finish at the World Poker Tour’s Five Diamond World Poker Classic in December.
Since then, however, we haven’t seen many results from Bloch. His tournament poker earnings since 2013 are $34,883, with every cash (nine) coming at the WSOP. Perhaps this is the reason that Bloch’s 10,591 square foot mansion in Las Vegas is on the market? If, after looking at the photos of the luxurious home, you feel you would be a good new owner, be prepared to open the wallet. According to listings, the price on the mansion is a tick short of $9 million.
Image credit: PokerNews.com
One of the “Phils” who terrorized the poker world in the 2000s, Phil Gordon racked up over $2.7 million in tournament poker earnings and took down a WPT title during the inaugural season of that tour. The one area that he wasn’t able to reach the pinnacle of success at, however, was the WSOP. Despite earning 22 cashes at the WSOP, he never took a bracelet, with third place his highest ever finish (twice, although he did win the WSOP charity event “Ante Up for Africa” in 2010).
The author of several poker books that assist players even today, Gordon was poised to have another run at a bracelet at the WSOP in 2011. He was coming off a deep run at the NBC National Heads Up Championship in March when Black Friday hit. Gordon hasn’t had a tournament poker cash since that dark day.
This isn’t to say that Gordon hasn’t landed on his feet. An entrepreneurial success even before his days in the Full Tilt Poker stable, Gordon has founded a new company called Chatbox, a business platform that allows businesses to talk to their customers over a variety of social media that are available by combining them into one seamless operation. Gordon hasn’t drifted far from poker, either, stepping up for charitable reasons (most recently at Tiger Woods’ charity poker event to benefit his foundation), something that was always in his nature even when he was an active player.
Ah, the two men who have become the pariahs of the Full Tilt Poker tragedy. Men who would be otherwise locks for the Poker Hall of Fame instead find themselves inexorably linked for all time with the Albatross that was the old Full Tilt Poker. With the specter of the death of Full Tilt Poker hanging over both of their heads, neither man has been back to the cashier’s cage (in a casino, at least) since “Black Friday.”
Not that one hasn’t tried. Following the release of the “Lederer Files” in 2012 (a series of interviews with PokerNews where he attempted to explain the situations that caused Full Tilt Poker’s demise), Lederer tried to step back into the tournament poker arena, but found the vitriol from the denizens of poker too much to deal with at the tables. After that limited run in 2012, Lederer has stayed far away from the tournament poker trail, even though he may want very badly to return.
Image credit: OnlinePokerReport.com
Ferguson was arguably the one in the best position to walk away from poker and not just because of his PhD in computer sciences. The 2000 WSOP Championship Event winner (and overall five-time bracelet holder), Ferguson was as intelligent in his financial dealings as he was at the poker table. When Full Tilt Poker closed its doors, it is believed that Ferguson had invested enough in other areas that he could handle the reality of never playing poker again more than anyone else on the Team Full Tilt roster. [Ed. note: Cardplayer Lifestyle published the last known picture of Ferguson, from January, 2012 here.]
These are but a few of those who were involved with the old Full Tilt Poker. Wouldn’t it be great to talk to Gowen again now that she’s been somewhat vindicated? Wouldn’t a discussion with Ferguson be an eye-opener, as he is the only person in the Full Tilt saga who has never been heard from? Maybe one day we’ll hear these stories but, for now, they simply fade into the realms of poker’s jaded history.
I first met Eugene when he played the WPT Prague Main Event in 2011. I ran after him just as he busted the tournament to find out what happened for the live coverage. He exited the field shortly after the players got in the money with a min cash; obviously he wasn’t very happy. Oh well. Today I know better than to ask a player about his final hand immediately after busting out. And I´d like to think I know Eugene a lot better as well.
Ten-year-old Eugene Katchalov moved to Brooklyn, New York, with his mom in 1991. They left Ukraine to reunite with his father, who had already lived in the US for two years and managed to get them out of the country. In one of our previous conversations, Katchalov recalls that he understood his mom “wanted to raise him in a country where he could have a better future.” I would say that he´s made the most out of the opportunity.
Today, Eugene Katchalov is a well-known American poker professional, and he chooses to represent Ukraine. He joined the elite PokerStars Team PROs in 2011, the very same year he won the PCA Super High Roller, his first WSOP bracelet, and earned the BLUFF Player Of the Year title. It was one of the most successful years for him, if not the most successful. Eugene’s accomplishments at the table and the new contract with PokerStars certainly put him in the limelight. But he was no newbie in the poker world. He´s been playing poker professionally since 2003.
I sat down with Eugene during the EPT Prague festival in December to find out what he´s been up to recently. We spoke about his engagement to Anna Selyukova, similarities between tournament poker and start-ups, and a lot more. I hope you enjoy the interview.
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How is Eugene Katchalov today?
Eugene Katchalov is good! It´s been a long trip to Prague. I´ve got three more days here, couple of more side events to play.
Where do you reside now? Still in Las Vegas?
In general, I spend a lot of time with my fiancée in Kiev, Ukraine now. We rented an apartment there. You can say I live there, but I don’t spend the whole year there. Basically, Kiev has become my base, and we travel from there to New York, the Bahamas, etc.
How have you fared at the poker tables here in Prague?
I did make a final table of €500 shootout, but that´s nothing special. Then I didn’t have any other results. I played total of six tournaments.
How would you sum up this year (2015) in terms of poker results? You played the World Series, you went deep in WCOOP event, a few deep runs on the EPT circuit, but still no additional bracelets to add to your collection.
Yes, I finished second in a WCOOP mixed-game event. I cashed five times at the WSOP, but they were all minor cashes. I ended up being down still for the World Series. I guess being down isn’t good. But it is what it is. Nothing terrible.
Eugene, winning his bracelet. Image credit: PokerNews
How does it affect you, when you are down for a poker tournament series? What do you take from it?
For the past year and a half, but really crucially even more for the last few months I´ve been working hard on my game. I´ve been learning new ways of working on my game and I´m enjoying it a lot. It´s important to constantly improve. I don’t think I can just rely upon my experience and knowledge from the past to win in the future. I need to fix a lot of holes and leaks which I may have. I can see a lot of good results coming from that. I´m looking at the future optimistically.
Specifically, how do you work on your game?
There is a lot of approaches that I use. Even when I´m playing, I´m just observing what everybody does without seeing their cards. One of my strengths is pattern recognition. I´m trying to find patterns in terms of where people´s weaknesses or strengths are, in general, and then to see if I can take advantage of that. Also, when people play hands, I try to put myself in their shoes and picture myself: “If I had this hand, what would I do in this spot? If I had that hand, what I would do in that spot?” After that, I come up with a lot of ideas that I apply on my own game. I like to watch final tables as well, whether it is online or live.
Do you go on Twitch?
Occasionally. Not very often.
Didn’t you stream with ElkY?
One time. We streamed for fun when he was in Las Vegas. There are some good players on Twitch, but it´s not my main learning platform by any means.
If you missed the Premiere of #PokerChatinVegas with @EugeneKatchalov , i just uploaded it : https://t.co/wPLXEjl2ee pic.twitter.com/69LFnGARHm
— ElkY (@elkypoker) June 4, 2015
You are involved in many other ventures. Your life is certainly not just poker. You got engaged recently. Living with someone – it is – let´s say – time restricting. Is there still enough time for poker? How do you balance all your activities?
I think I´m playing … it is close to as much poker as I´d been playing, even before I was engaged. My relationship is not prohibiting me from playing poker. It sucks, of course, if I have to travel and she cannot come with me and is busy with her own things. But she tries to travel with me as much as she can. I guess I´m playing slightly less, but it is still pretty heavy schedule of poker. I plan to play a heavy schedule next year, too.
I know you enjoy to travel. What special places have you visited throughout this year?
Probably the most memorably was Iceland, where I proposed to my fiancé. It was truly memorable. It is a beautiful country with a gorgeous scenery.
I remember seeing the video. You put the engagement ring in your pocket and took her to the top of a mountain, right?
That was the top of a volcano.
And then? She didn’t know at all, right?
She didn’t. I was hiding it. I planned it close to two months in advance. I was trying to find the ring. Obviously, I haven´t done anything like that before. Everything was very new for me. It is very hard to keep things hidden from Anna; she is very suspicious. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, but I succeeded somehow.
The plan was to go to Iceland and I figured there would be a lot of cool places where I could propose. I wasn’t sure exactly where. I figured I could find the place on the spot, when we got there.
Once we got there, we went to the tourist center and started looking at the activities to do. I saw this helicopter flight around Iceland, where you also land on the top of a volcano – the famous volcano that blew up five years ago that stopped all the airline traffic. I thought that would be really, really cool and kind of romantic, too. I decided to do it there.
How did you manage to film the whole thing?
I was replaying the moment in my head many times before. I was really nervous. I knew we are going with a small group – usually six or seven people can go, plus pilot. My plan was to ask one of the passengers just to take a picture of us. Then I got the idea to film it with my phone. There were two couples and a man with his son with us, but I decided to ask the pilot because when we stepped out, we were going to spend only around three minutes before we had to leave again. So, I asked my girlfriend to go and pose, that we are going to take a picture together – “go ahead, go ahead”, and I told the pilot in the ear that I´m going to propose, “please, just videotape this.” And he was like: “OH, ****! OK!”
Story of my engagement to @selyukovaanna in this week’s Viva (largest Ukrainian Tabloid) ????❤️?? https://t.co/ZduXqPN68I
— Eugene Katchalov (@EugeneKatchalov) September 25, 2015
I can understand. You can easily screw up: Oh, I forgot to press the record button. Sorry!
Yeah, exactly. But I thought a picture is not the same thing. Video is much more memorable, much nicer.
I had the ring in my pocket. I was so nervous, and then we were posing for what she thought was a picture and I started telling her that I love her, and she was like “why are you telling me this, we are supposed to take a picture, what are you doing? Tell me this later.” Then I got down on one knee and that was when she started freaking out and realizing what was going on. The pilot was amazing. He wasn’t filming us just from one perspective. He walked around to show where we are and all the people that were with us were overwhelmed and happy for us. This was truly sweet, a memorable day.
Wonderful. Congratulations again!
Thank you.
How did you meet Anna? Was it the love at first sight?
We met through mutual friends. She was the winner of the Bachelor, in Ukraine. There was no chemistry between her and the guy after she won it, and some friends asked her if she wanted to meet me, because there was a time when I was supposed to be on the Bachelor. When she was first competing just to get on the show, it was a secret who the Bachelor is, plus it wasn’t decided yet. They were asking all the girls, who would you want the Bachelor to be? And there were rumors on the Internet that it might be me, and she mentioned it. They have this recording of her saying it. So, they asked her if she´d like to meet me afterwards and then they asked me. I said “Sure, why not? It would be fun experience.” We chatted online for about a month and then I invited her to come to New York for a week and she came by.
I wouldn’t call it “love at first sight” and I don’t think I´m that type of person. We liked each other right away. I was surprised how much I liked her and it took off from there. It just kept getting better and better. I also think that that´s a much healthier way to start a relationship. In many “first sights,” everything is “all-in” at first and it just downgrades from there. It´s much better to start slow and then upgrade slowly.
Went to a traditional Ukrainian restaurant yesterday……..in NYC 🙂 #TarasBulba pic.twitter.com/7I6klMujFV
— Eugene Katchalov (@EugeneKatchalov) January 15, 2014
Is the time of “settling down and having a family” coming?
Yeah, I think, eventually. I mean, this is the first step. We would love to have kids. We´re probably in no hurry. Probably within a couple of years…
In general, what kind of people do you like to have around yourself?
Thought-provoking people. People who make me think about certain things I haven’t thought of before. I like to discuss current events in the world; technology. Intelligence is important for me.
You did some public speaking this year. What were the projects about?
I skipped EPT Malta for a public speaking event in Ukraine. It was a business event, where some of the top CEOs of Ukraine businesses came together. I was asked to speak at the event. There are a lot of similarities between poker and business and I wanted to showcase that. I created a presentation which did exactly that – demonstrated not only similarities between business and poker, but more specifically similarities between start-ups and tournament poker. Percentage-wise, the odds are very similar in terms of success and how often you can expect results.
#Видео дня: полная запись Public Talk с @EugeneKatchalov #покер #интервью #Украинаhttps://t.co/ZC4oviDe1w pic.twitter.com/ZjXsMBjeWw
— napoker (@napokercom) April 22, 2015
Can you expand on that and explain in more detail?
Let´s say you play in a poker tournament. What are your odds to win a poker tournament? Pretty small, no matter how good you are. We are talking about the EPT Main Event in Prague for example, where there are over 1,000 people participating. And even if you´re the best player in the field, your chances of actually winning the event are less than 1%. To make the final table, slightly over 1%, so, maybe 2-3% of the time you can make the final table. In the start-up world, in business, it is very similar as to when you invest in a brand new start-up from the get-go. Most start-ups fail, that’s just statistics. Then some go on to be a successes and then very few go on to be huge successes. These are start-ups that become unicorns – they start from nothing and then are worth billions of dollars. Unicorns are very, very rare – which is why they are called unicorns.
You can look at poker tournaments in terms of odds of finding the unicorn. You should understand that it is something very difficult and rare. Percentage-wise, it is similar. Whether you are professional tournament poker player or a venture capitalist, you kind of think along the same lines in terms of risk. Your approach to risk is similar. You understand that investing in one, or two or three tournaments in poker does not mean you´re going to win anything. Very often you can play 50 tournaments and not win anything. You can still be down and that doesn’t mean your equity is negative. It is a matter of diversifying.
How do you prepare for public speaking? Did you do a course, perhaps?
Before the last public speech I actually took professional lessons from a Ukrainian guy who specializes in preparing people for TED talks. I thought that would be a really cool opportunity to learn from someone like that. I hired him and took quite a few lessons. We´d built my speech, the outlines; we put it together. It was very helpful. Even then, I would not call myself a very comfortable public speaker. I´m very nervous and I don’t feel comfortable. I feel comfortable doing Q&A. It is much easier for me, but to talk about things from memory, I find challenging.
Eugene, during a Q&A session at the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
How successful are you in terms of investments outside poker? How is MatchPoint NYC doing? What other businesses are you involved in?
MatchPoint is doing well; it´s growing all the time, which is nice. It is a seasonal business, there are ups and downs to it, but overall it´s doing well. I´m happy with it. But MatchPoint is not a start-up investment. The risks are different. Some investments I´ve made I knew were long shots. They are like poker tournaments; I invest and most of the time I get zero back, but then there is a small chance I get a huge return. MatchPoint is a very different type of investment; it is a much safer investment. There is very little downside, and the upside is also limited.
Start-ups I invested in haven’t really done too well, but I’m always looking for new things to do. I don’t want to do only poker. I don’t think that’s smart. I love poker and I enjoy playing it, but I don’t think it´s smart to do just that. I´m always looking for new ventures and opportunities.
— MatchPointNYC (@MatchPointNYC) May 25, 2015
Are you still as much into fitness and healthy lifestyle? How do you keep fit?
I still exercise a lot. My routine now is three days on one day off. I don’t travel with my trainer anymore. We haven’t travelled together for the past two years, but we still correspond every day. He sends me trainings every day and I send him feedback, and we built the next training based on that. That´s perfect for me, because I know exercises well enough, I just need someone to structure them. So, I do work out a lot. My diet is probably not as good as I´d like it to be. I gained a little bit of weight. It´s difficult to stick to a diet, but I still try.
I did stop meditation. I regret it. I actually resumed it recently. I had a problem after WCOOP. I discovered irregular beating of my heart, so I went to see a doctor and found out I have heart arrhythmia. I think it is inherited from my dad. It might be also stress-related therefore I believe meditation could be very helpful for that.
What are your plans for the next year (2016) in poker?
I want to continue focusing on my live game. The online game is becoming very, very tough. The opportunity to be a winner in live poker will continue. There´s going to be a lot of equity, live. I don’t think players improve as fast live as they do online. So, that´s why I believe there´s a lot of opportunity to win vs. online – that´s completely different game. Online, I´ll be playing mainly to practice and to experiment with different concepts.
Outside poker? Probably the wedding?
I don’t know when that´s going to take place. We were thinking about summer, maybe next summer. It´s open. It´s much more for our families rather than for us. I think we´re past that stage when it´s super important for us.
Image credit: revolutionpix for GPI
The history of the most popular gambling games is a long and fascinating one, a pure blend of legend of myth, reasonable conjectures, and established fact. It easily encompasses civilizations and cultures from all around the world, from medival Italy to Ancient Egypt to the highly modern online casino.
Don’t mistake it for anything else: gambling is not simply a game, as it sometimes can change the course of history. For instance, in the 11th century, a land fight between Sweden and Norway was settled by rolling the dices. On the same note, gambling was established in China to bring money into the country’s coffers (especially the army’s).
Dice were first used by early humans and were made of bones or stones. Dice are the oldest form of gambling. They have been used in ancient Egypt as a form of fortune telling, but bone rolling made the transition to the gambling game it is today.
Cards were another form of gambling in the early times. The oldest playing cards ever found date back to the 11th century and come from China. The type of playing cards we are familiar with today was actually introduced by the French and includes recognizable suits: diamonds, hearts, clubs, spades.
Not all gambling-related games and activities are ancient. The first slot machine ever invented dates back to 1887 by Fey Charles in California, USA, and it changed forever the way people would gamble. The so-called ‘fruit machines’ in the UK are considered the quintessential casino game and now take up more than 80% of the floor space in modern land-based casinos.
Speaking of casino games history, there’s a legend that says Roulette is somehow linked to the Devil because when adding the numbers on the roulette together (from 1 to 36), they total 666, and according to the Bible that is the mark of the beast.
On the same note, Francois Blanc – the so-called Magician of Monte Carlo, is said to have invented the game known as ‘European Roulette’ when he moved to Germany. His version offered much more chances of winning to gamblers.
Francois Blanc went on and transformed the city of Monte Carlo to what it is today – a glamorous destination for avid gamblers. Most people believe that he made a deal with Satan to learn all the secrets of this famous game. Reality or fairy tale? You decide.
If you’d like to play roulette online right now, you can do it at Mr Green casino online.
One of the most popular casino games in the world thanks to events such as the WSOP and the fact that there is no house edge involved. Your skill actually dictates how the game will end. We’re talking about a highly respected game with millions of prizes to be redeemed.
Its history is unbelievable, mostly because in the 19th century in America it was played by thieves and scoundrels. Many cities around the world banned gambling in the early 1800s. That was the point when gamblers took the game to the frontiers and riverboats of the Wild West. Death was involved, too, as many fights started when people were playing poker. A legendary death was that of Wild Bill Hickok, who was shot in the head by a buffalo hunter called McCall. Hickok was supposedly holding two pair with all black eights and aces at the time. That hand is still known today as the ‘Dead Man’s Hand’.
Baccarat is the gambling game synonymous with exclusivity, intrigue and prestige, having been made famous by James Bond, making it a game of choice among casinos’ elite clientele.
The very early origins of Baccarat are not sophisticated at all. It was actually associated with death and life. For instance, the ancient Etruscans in 1000 BC decided the fate of young priestesses using this game. Young virgins had to roll a 9 or 8 to be worthy of the position of priestess. Rolling a 7 or 6 meant that the young virgin was not favored by the gods and she was forced to become a societal outcast. Rolling a 5 meant walking out to the sea and drowning. It meant death.
Just about a year ago, James “jaimestaples” Staples became a ´Friend of PokerStars´ and burst onto the poker scene. The fresh-faced poker professional from Alberta, Canada, has become one of poker’s most popular Twitch streamers within a very short time. His incredible drive and passion for the game as well as willingness to give back to the community has brought him much success and a huge legion of fans.
Since signing his sponsorship deal, Jaime’s Twitch channel has grown from around 4,800 to over 56,000 followers. Later in 2015, he gained “Team Online” status and joined the EPT live circuit. I caught up with Jaime at the recent EPT Prague festival to find out a bit more about his Twitch experience, dreams, and goals for the future.
How are you? This is your first time in Europe; first time in Prague. How do you like it so far?
A lot of firsts this trip!
It´s been so much fun. The city is absolutely beautiful. The EPT is best live tournament I have ever played. It is simply so organized and clean and tidy. I´m having a great time playing so far. We are through the first 12 levels of the tournament, so, we are getting towards the end of Day 2. My stack is around 30 thousand. Nothing huge, but you know, there is time; this is a good structure. Hopefully, I will continue building it up.
What experience do you have on the live circuit? What tournaments have you played so far?
I played the World Series of Poker Main Event and a couple of side events; maybe six or seven. In terms of big live tournaments, I don’t have a ton of experience. I have played a lot of live cash games, sort of coming up in poker, but not too much on the circuit. This is a new thing for me. (Ed. note: Since EPT Prague, Jaime has also played at the PCA and EPT Dublin.)
How many years have you been playing poker?
I´ve been playing poker for six years, I´ve only been a pro for one year. I started playing online when I was eighteen and half or so. I began with freerolls, building my way up.
I spoke with Jake Cody earlier. He actually started from very little and it worked, as he never had to deposit again. How did it work for you? How much was your initial investment in poker?
It was three $100 deposits for me. When I first got into the game, I didn’t treat it very seriously. I treated it like the recreational player. I didn’t know what bankroll management was. I would just play whatever I wanted to play; then I just learned over time. I said: OK, I want to be successful at this, I need to manage my bankroll. So, the third $100 deposit stuck and everything else came from there.
I noticed you tweeted about visiting Old Town Square here in Prague; specifically you watched the Astronomical Clock. What else did you see?
I haven’t had time to do full tour yet. I did go through the Old Town. I did the bus tour, which was amazing. These are long days here at the tournament. I haven’t had enough time to check out all the spots. I´m looking forward to finding some local pubs. People say exciting things about that. I´ve not seen much more than what I shared on Twitter so far.
Prague Christmas market hype #twitch #EPT #poker #travel pic.twitter.com/DFmc9JtUSe
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples) January 23, 2016
Do you remember your first ever live poker game?
I do! I was so nervous – walking in for the first time. I think it is kind of intimidating if you´ve never played before, when you see the houseman, usually a secluded room and you don’t really know how it works. I remember being really afraid. Then I sat down and I realized these are just regular people and I was probably better than them already at that point – it was a $1/2 game. So, I do remember being scared, but really loving it after maybe 30 minutes of getting used to it.
What brought to you to the Twitch platform? Did you play other online games before?
I started streaming on October 25th, 2014. It coincided with me dropping out of school and deciding on playing full time as a poker professional. When I did that, I realized I wanted to be part of the poker industry. This is what I wanted to do with my life, I wanted to give back to the game. It perfectly coincided with it, launching and me having the opportunity: this is it, I can do this. I saw Jason Somerville´s stream and said to myself: OK, I´ll try it out. I´ve never streamed anything before on Twitch, and I´ve never been on Twitch before. Recently, I started playing other games just for fun on there, to see what that’s like. I watch a bunch of other games; CS: GO (Counter Strike: Global Offensive) is one of them.
The first experience for me on Twitch was poker.
You helped Daniel Negreanu to set up his Twitch channel, right?
Yes, that is true.
This made you look like you are some kind of special IT wizard. How did this happen? Are you more technically literate?
No, no, I am not!
Daniel tweeted something like “I´m trying to set up Twitch”, and one of the people that follows me tweeted back to Daniel: Hey, ask Jaime. So, he did message me, I got him on Skype and I set him up. But I don’t really know what I’m doing. I´ve never been a broadcaster before. I´m not great with computers. I just took him through the basics and he was very kind to tweet out “this wizkid is helping me to set up Twitch”. But, you know, I don’t know if I earned that title. I didn’t do anything special for him. This was my introduction to Daniel Negreanu – setting up his Twitch channel.
@RealKidPoker Pinching myself! Thanks for doing what you do Daniel. I have looked up to you since the start.
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples) December 14, 2015
This year, you signed an official sponsorship deal with PokerStars. What do you think made them approach you?
I was very surprised that it happened at the time it did. It had always been a dream of mine to be sponsored by PokerStars, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon – on April 1st, 2015. It was just six months after I launched my stream. It was really crazy. There is a reason they thought we would be good fit together.
There is this new community on Twitch – it makes poker fun and exciting, something that maybe has not been the focus of poker for a while. So, I think they see that as really valuable and saw me speaking for eight hours a day and probably expected that I would be able to represent their site as Team Online – which is the status I´ve just achieved.
Where does Jamie Staples come from? Tell us a bit about your background.
My parents are both teachers. May dad was a professor – he just retired recently and my mom is a high school teacher; both in music. I´d say fairly academic background. For me, I did go to college and university. I took some business classes and eventually ended up in a lot of philosophy classes. I enjoyed it but it was really just a place holder for what I knew I wanted to do – which was this. It took me a long time to gather the confidence to take the path that I was supposed to take, not the easy road.
Did you have a dream job as a kid? What did you want to become?
I wanted to be a professional golfer. The same approach I take to poker I took to golf. I was obsessed with it. I set up my school schedules so I got off at noon and then I could go play all afternoon – usually two rounds on a course a day. I´ve always been that way. I find something that I´m passionate about and I try to become as good as I can at it. There was a lot to that growing up.
I remember, as a kid, I would get on these things that I really liked: Once I really liked biking for a couple of months. I would ride up and down our street for two hours – literally, just our street. I was into Space Jam when I was six or seven, and I would watch it twice a day. I was like: Find something and go for it!
You mentioned you loved golf and approached it the same way you now do poker. Can you pinpoint any similarities between golf and poker?
I think the main similarity is that the mental game is a huge part of both of them. That´s the biggest crossover I see in there. On the golf course, you´re out there for four hours and you are, hopefully, making around 70 shots, if you’re really good. That´s a lot of time to think about what you are doing right or wrong. I took a lot of from golf and applied it to my poker game. The two are very similar in terms of how you should approach them, namely, not being results oriented. You need to focus on the input, not the outcome.
How do you prepare for streaming on Twitch?
It comes fairly natural to me now. I wake up and I do sort of a work grind before I start streaming. Then, I have my coffee and just talk to people, like you talk to anyone. After that, there is more work grind. It is really nothing too special – just waking up in the morning.
Streaming some poker live on @Twitch Come hang! #HouseofCards https://t.co/NaXQT6rC4H pic.twitter.com/0Bo0KSyDrd
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples) March 2, 2016
Let´s say I´m a recreational player and I want to learn more about poker, but I feel a bit intimidated by the whole thing. Why should I tune in to watch you?
Right! I give people a brutally honest look at what my life is like as a professional poker player. I´m trying to help them through some of the things they´re going to experience the first times playing, and I share in where I’m going and the struggles that I´m going through and what I´m trying to level up to as well. It is actual reality of what my life is and I think it is more engaging as opposed to the produced reality you find on TV.
When you fully brick a Sunday tournament schedule #poker #pokergifs #twitch #twitchpoker pic.twitter.com/LL38V3QWrh
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples) February 5, 2016
Part of your work is to help people to improve their poker game. What helps you improve your own game?
It has changed over the time. Now, the most useful in terms of money and time spent is doing simulations. Using tools like ICMizer. When you are not playing and you´re studying, you can plug in hands and simulate: I raise this, and they go all-in with this range of hands, what should I call… That is not a tool that will be particularly useful if you don’t know what ´range of hands´ means, but as you progress more, those are the most effective ways of getting better.
Outside poker, what else are you into? Do you still play golf?
Not much. I played like two rounds this year.
I enjoy arts, movies, music, and books, but I as you can probably tell, I´m kind of one track person. People keep talking about balance and how it is important, and I just don’t know if that´s me. What makes me feel good in life is working towards the goal and achieving it. That´s what I spend as many hours as I can on.
I follow you on Twitch and every time you go live I get an email. That happens almost every day. Watch out, PokerStaples is live! How often do you stream?
I stream six days a week. The work around streaming takes a lot of time. You stream for eight hours and then there is around five hours a day of other stuff that goes into it. Running a YouTube channel for example and doing social media type stuff; that is what’s happening behind the scenes when I´m not on the air – the mornings, the evenings and on the seventh day.
Well, you’re obviously very busy in the day-to-day grind. To end off, tell us a little about what your goals are on the live poker circuit? What are your dreams and expectations?
I´d love to win an EPT event and I´d love to win a World Series of Poker bracelet. It is really hard to set that specific goal. Results are variable. I´m trying to focus on what I can control, which is the input. So, I´m working hard. But it is definitely a dream – winning a bracelet, winning an EPT event, even winning a Sunday major, SCOOP event, WCOOP event. That is what I´m working towards now.
Just hit 3,000,000 views on Twitch. I owe it all to you all. You improve my life everyday and I’m grateful #twitchfamily
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples) March 4, 2016
It’s almost that time of year again. In just three months, fans will descend upon the Rio in Las Vegas to rail the pros, chips will be rustling beneath fingertips, and dreams will either come true or be crushed every night with the single turn of a card. I couldn’t be more excited for the 47th annual World Series of Poker Main Event to get started!
True, it might be a tall order to surpass the drama that unfolded last year when Daniel Negreanu almost made the WSOP Main Event final table. But if history is any guide, the poker community need not worry. This year, too, will find its own way to make its mark and become another poker extravaganza for the ages.
It’s easy to see why. As the entire poker world gets ready to “shuffle up and deal,” there will be a chip and a chair waiting for players of all skill levels and bankrolls. And there will be bracelets up for grabs in pretty much every single major poker discipline except for video poker.
The best thing about the the world’s biggest celebration of poker is that recreational players have just as much of a shot at fame and riches as the professionals. To mark the recent release of the full 2016 WSOP schedule, I decided to take a look at the five 2016 WSOP events that I’m most excited for – both to play and to sweat – as a recreational player.
The WSOP gets off to a fast start with the return of what was easily one of last year’s most popular events: the Colossus.
For recreational players looking to get the experience of playing the Main Event without having to put up the $10,000 entry, this is THE number one can’t-miss tournament to play this year.
Of course, experiencing the look and feel of the Main Event isn’t the only reason to play this event. The $1,000,000 guarantee for first place will have more than one player using up their “one time” trying to fade a river card during the Colossus II.
The buy-in for this one might be a little steep for me and most recreational poker players (Ed. note: What Bradley means to say is that $50,000 buys a whole lot of Cheerios), but nothing gets my inner fanboy going like an event full of the world’s best players.
To me, the big buy-in is not what makes the Poker Players Championship so special. Its the extremely competitive nature of an event that is essentially the professional poker players’ main event that brings out the best in everyone who participates.
The combination of poker talent and diverse poker formats being spread in a single tournament makes for can’t-miss action. For fans of high-level poker and poker celebrity, this is without a doubt THE event of the year.
The idea of playing poker for a bracelet together with a group of your poker playing buddies is, in this writer’s opinion, the most exciting addition to this year’s WSOP schedule.
I believe it’s a fantastic concept that will be a huge success. Who doesn’t believe that their home poker game is the toughest in the world? Now, you’ll be able to take your shot at proving it to the world and earning those bragging rights at the World Series of Poker.
This is what we think of when we hear “tag team”… Imagine it with cards, chips, and bracelets up for grabs!
Even better, the buy-in is paid on a per-team basis, meaning that for a four-player team, the price point for a chance at a WSOP bracelet has been dropped down to an incredible $250 per person.
The more female voices we have in poker, the stronger the game becomes. That’s why one of my favorite events on the calendar is the one that celebrates the participation of women in the game.
Female poker players should definitely take advantage of what is always a warm and festive atmosphere. For men, this is your chance to introduce poker to your mother/wife/daughter/girlfriend and support diversity, growth, and spreading the joy of the amazing game we all love to as many people as possible.
Or, you could choose to be THAT GUY and pay the full $10,000 to enter the event yourself… Please don’t be THAT GUY… (Ed. note: Since the law prohibits the WSOP from outright excluding men, women get a 90% discount on the official buy-in)
The big one. There is no tournament like the World Series of Poker Main Event. It’s an American institution.
Whether it’s Moneymaker bluffing Farha, Jerry Yang clutching a picture of his family, or Daniel Negreanu sprawled out on the floor after failing to fade the river, the gravity and sheer awesomeness of this most democratic of World Championships cannot be understated. The odds are very strong you wouldn’t even be reading this sentence if it wasn’t for this tournament.
Players flock from all over the world for the chance to be called poker’s “World Champion.” The Main Event always has a carnival atmosphere to it and brings out what is best and fun in poker.
There is no other event that shines a brighter spotlight on the pageantry, competitiveness, and emotion of poker than this one. Even if you aren’t able to play it, you can’t be a true fan of the game if you don’t follow the incredible drama that always unfolds.
What are your favorite events to play in or sweat the rail from at the World Series of Poker? Drop us a line in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
Unless you were like Cardplayer Lifestyle Founder Robbie Strazynski and had your head buried in the GPL Draft last Thursday, you heard that PokerStars NJ will officially launch on March 21, 2016. It took an ownership change, over a year of investigations and even organizational changes to get to this point.
The question now is how successful PokerStars will be in the New Jersey marketplace. Will they become the world’s largest poker site in the Garden State or will they be the latest addition to an already oversaturated online poker market.
It’s obvious that PokerStars is going to spend a TON of money in promoting PokerStars NJ. That promotion has already started with the announcement of their $25,000 freeroll paying $5,000 to the winner.
However, an angle that nobody seems to be covering is PokerStars and their marketing for former online poker players. The company operated in New Jersey prior to Black Friday and – to our knowledge – they are not restricted from using their player list to contact former players.
This gives PokerStars a distinct advantage over other online poker sites that launched in New Jersey in 2013 and afterwards. They have a virtual Rolodex of players that they can reach out to and say “come back and play with us. Here’s $20 to try us out.”
But they’re not restricted to New Jersey. PokerStars could reach out to former players all over the United States to let them know that they can come to New Jersey and play. After all, the only requirement is that you are physically located in New Jersey. You don’t have to live there.
We could envision PokerStars sending out emails stating: “The next time you’re in the Garden State, play on PokerStarsNJ.com. Here’s $20 to try us out.” The best part about such a promotion is that it is low-cost and can help bring in a few more customers that may not have otherwise played online poker while visiting New Jersey.
PokerStars hasn’t dealt their first hand in New Jersey and we can already see images of them making it rain on online poker players. As mentioned earlier, they are offering a $25,000 freeroll shortly after they launch. Next, they have already announced that Spin & Go tournaments are going to be available on the website.
PokerStars announced late last year that they were reallocating funds previously used to fund their Rest-of-World VIP program to fund special promotions for players. We expect they will take some of those funds and use them to sweeten the pot for New Jersey players in the first few months after launch.
While it is too early – even for sites like M88 – to speculate just how much free money will be out there, we expect that it will dwarf anything that WSOP.com, Borgata Poker, PartyPoker or 888Poker threw at players in late 2013 / early 2014.
How much traffic would a special $100,000 Spin & Go promotion bring to the site? How about a $250,000 Spin & Go promotion? Do they dare offer a $1 million Spin & Go? If they want to make a statement, this would definitely be one route to go.
Overlays, freerolls and added money – oh my! The first three months could be lucrative for online poker players in New Jersey.
Oh, plus there’s the new mobile app Duel By PokerStars to market heavily as well!
With the right mix of promotions and marketing, PokerStars can dominate the New Jersey online poker market from the outset. Some players will come over to the site just because it is a new option. Others will come over looking for more opportunity than they have received so far from NJ online poker.
In the early weeks following the launch, we expect PokerStars will jump to #1 in the state as player try and take advantage of launch promotions, signup bonuses, and any other free money PokerStars decides to throw out to players.
Starting in month three or four, we will get a better idea of whether PokerStars will be the dominating force in NJ online poker or if their return will be a temporary blip on the radar. We’re still waiting to see what else PokerStars has to offer but for now we will safely say that the site will be no worse than a close #2 six months after launch. However, with the right mix, they can easily take the top spot in the NJ online poker market – and stay there.
