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Anyone who has spent serious time playing live poker knows that it’s about more than just the cards in your hand. Beyond the percentages and range calculations, live poker is a game of people. And if you take the time to learn how those people behave in certain situations, they will reveal their hands to you over and over again, even if they never show you a single card. Taking advantage of these behavioral tells will give you an enormous edge over your opponents. And those tells are definitely out there – but only if you know how to spot them.
In the words of the immortal Rounder, Mike McDermott:
“They wear their tells like signs around their necks. Facial ticks, nervous fingers, a hand over a mouth, the way a cigarette is smoked. Little unconscious gestures that reveal the cards in their hands. We catch everything. If a fish acts strong, he’s bluffing. If he acts meek, he’s got a hand.”
With Zachary Elwood’s new “Reading Poker Tells Video Series” – a poker training site devoted entirely to the study of physical tells – the comprehension of a lifetime study is available to you right now. Best of all, you can even check out some free sample content by clicking the offer below:
Sign up NOW for Zachary Elwood’s free 3-part email course
Any fan of poker should be a member of the site for the sheer entertainment value of the content. The subject is fascinating; it’s nearly impossible to not be completely absorbed in the hands presented, testing your own people-reading skills as the hand unfolds. I found myself mesmerized. Even if you don’t use it as a study aid, it’s just plain fun to watch.
But of course, these are training aids and they absolutely function as such. The amorphous concept of “tells” is broken down into topics that are easy to conceptualize, including the amount of time an opponent takes to bet, opponents who talk during the hand, and my personal favorite, “ostentatious behavior.”
Each video starts with a simple iteration of the concept and shows progressively more complex variations. This creates natural break-points in the lessons that allow you to slowly build an understanding of the material.
For example, the first video on “defensive hand movements” begins with obvious gestures before moving on to more subtle ones. You learn the concept first, and only then move on to the kind of subdued movements you are more likely to encounter. It’s akin to learning to hit a fastball; you start at half the speed and gradually move up.
Although the content is both compelling and useful, I do have one criticism; namely that Elwood’s delivery of the material can be slightly monotone at times. This is not just nitpicking stylistic delivery.
The in-depth nature of the material means long study sessions with multiple viewings are required to truly assimilate the lessons being taught. Listening to a presentation without enough energetic auditory does make the process less effortless than it could be.
Admittedly, my first reaction to the concept of a physical tells training site was skepticism. Everyone knows tells exist, but I had my doubts that they would be both extensive and systematic enough to warrant an entire training site.
But five minutes into the first video I had already been won over. Each tell is laid out in a complex map of its variations and subtleties. Elwood takes great care to go into not just “what to look for” but also the psychology behind the action.
This approach takes what could easily devolve into a patchwork of “if X, then Y” rules and instead dynamically shows you not just the what but the why. The result is not a checklist, but a holistic picture of how emotion, biology, and evolution combine at the poker table. You won’t just gain a few tips and tricks – you’ll have a deeper understanding of a critical aspect of live play.
In an era where everything is “optimized” mathematically, it’s great to see the same kind of treatment being applied to the more esoteric concepts of poker. If this site hadn’t existed already, they would have had to build it.
On February 25, 2016, poker will be changed forever. If you are as big a fan of the game as I am, you should make a point to be a part of it.
On the surface of it, the inaugural GPL draft is just the latest attempt at making poker “cool” again with the younger crowd. But the actual meaning runs much deeper; it’s the date that Alex Dreyfus will step up for the community and bankroll the proposition that poker is much more than just picking numbers in roulette.
The question of whether poker can be a profitable business endeavor beyond collecting rake will finally be answered once and for all. And make no mistake – this opportunity won’t happen again. The sheer amount of money Alex Dreyfus has poured into the GPL all but guarantees that.
That’s why the time is now for every fan of the game to get out there and support the project. You can tune in on Twitch, talk it up to friends, and pass the news along on social media. Let everyone know poker is going mainstream.
But if you still aren’t convinced, here are the top 3 reasons why you should care about the inaugural GPL draft and help it to be a success.
Poker has definitely come a long way from the smoke filled rooms it once thrived in. Today, the fact that many do consider it to be a skill game has given it a cultural legitimacy it didn’t enjoy a decade ago. But ironically, it had the consequence of setting a ceiling to its cultural appeal.
GPL will try to break through this barrier by highlighting the entertainment aspect of poker. In seeking a middle ground between amateurs getting big paydays and sharks playing for half-million dollar pots, it’s target audience is the casual fan of compelling content.
This is new ground for poker. If it’s successful, the game could see a fundamental shift in how it is viewed. Although it will always be considered a game with aspects of gambling, I could see a scenario where different “forms” of poker are considered to exist – one gambling, and one “sporting”.
The enthusiasm that accompanies anything “sporty” could create the conditions for new legitimacy. At base, the big idea behind the GPI and GPL – and even HoldemX – in the first place is to turn poker into a sport. Many of the features of the league – such as paying players an hourly wage – are designed to evoke not a game being played for money, but an arena for the display of highly skilled, gaming competitors.
It’s a setup deliberately designed to tap into one of the best formats for mass consumption. If the paradigm is shifted, there could be a new groundswell of enthusiasm for the game. Once that happens, it’s conceivable that there will be a lot more pressure – both popular and business – towards making US online poker regulation a priority.
Everything about the GPL promises to be fun for fans of poker.
For starters, the matches are going to be in real-time, and contested in a giant cube. That alone should provide enough entertainment value to tune in. You’ll also get to see your favorite players in a unique, exciting format. It’s clear from the response on social media from players eligible to be drafted that the competition will be serious and fierce. The players are going to want to win, and not just for the money.
All of this has the potential to create a charged environment that, even if all of its other hopes for the game at large go unfulfilled, promises to be a lot of fun to watch.
OK, maybe we’re still FAR away from having poker out by the Great Pyramids, but the GPL’s Cube is really cool.
In just over a week, the 2nd Annual American Poker Awards will take place in Los Angeles, California. The affair will be as elegant as the previous year and award honors to those who have contributed to the American poker scene in various ways.
The February 25th ceremony will honor the 2015 Player of the Year, Byron Kaverman, as well as the 2015 Female Player of the Year, Kelly Minkin. These awards are solely based on the Global Poker Index rankings. In addition, there are categories for awards that were chosen by the GPI and nominees that were selected by industry players and executives. A select jury will pick the ultimate winners.
The full list of American Poker Awards categories and nominees can be found on their website.
I would like to add some categories that I feel are missing from the lineup. As the list is now comprised, it seems that judging the Event of the Year (both with buy-ins less than and more than $2K) is based on the performance of the tournaments themselves. Instead of honoring events, I feel that it is more important to honor people, both players and industry executives, who make up the poker community.
This is something that could likely be calculated by the Global Poker Index with a cumulative formula that tracks players over the course of two or three years. While one big score, like a WSOP Main Event win, shouldn’t be a sole determining factor, the increasing success of a player over the course of time could possibly be measured. Players who work hard over long periods of time to improve their skills and achieve results to show it should be rewarded.
This is not intended to reward the poker player who gave the most money to charity. Rather, it is a way to honor those who have engaged in numerous philanthropic endeavors, whether organizing charity tournaments, participating or promoting REG, or promoted charitable giving. It would be a tough category to judge, but honoring those who spend a lot of time trying to help others is something to consider.
Rating the best US online poker sites is difficult with such a small industry. For the American market, there are few sites from which to choose the best promotion, but each of them offers various promotion schemes throughout the year. Without using data and traffic calculations to determine the most successful promotion, voters would use other criteria, such as level of innovation, player inclusion, and general creativity.
READ: Why the Global Poker Index’s American Poker Awards Matter
This category would reward the person who has done the most to promote online poker throughout the year. It could be a public relations person, head of poker marketing for an online site, member of Poker Players Alliance, or even a politician who fights for online poker legislation. This list of nominees can include poker players as well as others involved in the industry who work hard for the expansion of Internet poker in America.
There are many people in the poker industry who put great effort into poker productions, which range from documentaries for Poker Central to interviews on poker media websites. From Jason Somerville‘s Run It Up! show to poker coaching videos, there are many options to judge for entertainment and substance.
Finally, instead of putting Kevin Mathers in with the media nominees each year, I believe he should be given a one-time achievement award for all of his contributions to the industry. He is the preeminent Tweeter in the poker world, the one to whom everyone addresses questions about everything from tournament schedules to live streams. He has answered questions for me on numerous occasions, often also supplying a link that saved time and effort. I’m sure he has done that for many of you. His desire to promote everything in poker, from players to articles to tournaments, is an invaluable tool. Can we just give him one big honor that serves as our never-ending gratitude?
Be sure to tune in to the GPL Twitch channel on February 25th to see who wins!
With the exception of underage players or collusion, you seldom hear of players getting disqualified from poker tournaments in live online casinos. However, it is an occasional occurrence that happens in live poker rooms.
In fact, we tend to hear of at least one or two players kicked out of high profile events every year for breaking the rules or committing an egregious offense. Today, I present you with three ways to keep from getting kicked out of live poker tournaments along with some stories from the few times I’ve seen players get the axe in live events.
It is generally a good idea to watch your language at the poker table, but you definitely shouldn’t cuss the Tournament Director (TD), especially not after he just made a ruling. Back in 2006, I was playing an Omaha Hi-Lo Event at Winning O’ The Green in Las Vegas and John Bonetti was at my direct left for almost the entire time.
I say almost because he was “asked to leave” at one point for his conduct. Anyone who knows about John knows he was a dealer abuser and this night was no exception. The first TD didn’t do a lot other than warn John, but then we finally got a no-nonsense type of TD that had a zero-tolerance policy for bullshit.
When he came on shift and a dealer complained about John’s antics, he gave John a warning and said “if I hear from you again, you are gone.” John looks at me and says “can you believe this f***ing guy?” and looks at the TD.
The eyes of this TD went ablaze and he immediately threw John out of the tournament. He thought that John had looked at him and said “F*** you!” John demanded the floor manager be called, but that was a waste of time as this guy knew John’s reputation. Amazingly, they only kicked him out of the tournament and not out of the casino.
You want to complain? Fine. You feel you need to cuss a blue streak? Fine, but you will probably get a penalty. Just don’t cuss the TD or you will be disqualified, hit the rail, and maybe the parking lot.
The only thing that should be in your water bottle at the poker tables is water, or some type of consumable liquid. (Don’t even go there.) If you must release your bodily fluids, please go elsewhere to do so… and wash your danged hands afterwards!
My thoughts on my lunge bet with @bp22 and my DQ from PCA Main. https://t.co/yBCtJBVGTn
— Antonio Esfandiari (@MagicAntonio) January 12, 2016
A guy was almost disqualified from a Limit Hold’em event at the Bike a few years back because someone was accusing him of “pleasuring” himself at the table. In his accuser’s defense, what he was doing definitely didn’t look appropriate. During the third time (yes, this happened three times), someone finally yelled to the tournament director and said in a very loud voice “tell this guy to quick jerking off at the table.”
Image credit: Whyatt Cartoons
The guy stood up immediately and showed that his pants were not undone but rather that he was scratching himself. I give the TD all the credit in the world for the way he handled it. He looked at the guy and told him that from that point on, he had to go outside or to the bathroom and take care of his issue or he would be asked to leave. “And also be sure to wash your hands when you get back. We have hand sanitizer too at the desk, just ask for it. Nobody wants your hands on the cards after you’ve scratched.”
The guy had to excuse himself four more times during the event, but at least he used hand sanitizer afterwards.
Anyone who has played tournament poker knows this already, but those of you new to live tournaments may not know that you cannot put tournament chips into your pocket. If you do, they are taken out of play. Basically, if you put your chips into your pocket, you are disqualified.
While this may sound silly, there is a good reason behind this. It is to protect against players who might try to illegally introduce chips into a tournament. Amazingly, I have seen this scheme tried in a low-level tournament in Las Vegas.
Back in 2007, I was playing a late night poker tournament at the Riviera and after about the 6th level the action was stopped and we were all forced to leave the tournament area. In fact, the break took so long that some of us went over to play at the $2-$4 Limit Hold’em game that was running.
After about 90 minutes, the tournament resumed and we noticed that one of the chip leaders was no longer with us. It turned out that this person had introduced tournament chips into the game that he didn’t win.
How did he get them? We found out that he had been pocketing one to two chips a night during one of the small tournaments and saving them for a tournament where he could introduce them and try to win.
He deemed this particular event worthy of trying his scam. The player wasn’t that bright because he increased his stack from 4,500 to over 20,000 during the break. The offending player was kicked out of the casino and banned for life. He spent around two weeks devising the scheme and was busted the first time trying to cash in – on an event with a top prize of a little under $1,000.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that just about anything that can happen in poker will happen at one point or another. Things that seem like common sense ultimately become gentle reminders for poker players.
It’s a lot like warning labels on certain products. Most of us wouldn’t think to use a hair dryer in the shower, but someone along the line thought they could get ready faster by doing so. Now, there’s a warning label for that. Think of the above examples as warning labels for live poker tournaments.
“So it’s like poker and Uno?” asked my housemate as I sat playing HoldemX. Kind of I thought, my mouse hovering over a ‘Pair Hole Card’ XCard, as I tried to remember which XCard my opponent played on the flop.
Late Tuesday evening, the free Holdemx Alpha was finally released and since then I’ve spent a great deal of time playing the game and watching people play. The game format is simple to pick up: It’s poker with power-ups. 15 ‘XCards’ with names like ‘Re-deal Flop’, ‘Hole-card +1’ and ‘6th Street’ for you to use during normal heads-up poker play.
(Ed. note: For a brief, more formal, introduction to HoldemX, we suggest you watch the video below… Props to Laura Cornelius on the vocals)
Let me make one thing clear: I love the game. I think it’s clever, new and addictive – up to a point. If there’s one thing we’ve come to learn from the Global Poker Index, it’s that they don’t half-ass things. You want a poker World Cup? Boom, congratulations Italy. You want an international poker league? Boom, the draft is at the end of the month.
I’ve been trying to come up with an anecdote to describe my experience with HoldemX to those who perhaps haven’t had a chance to play it yet. Firstly, it’s certainly not like ordinary free casino games. So, imagine hearing that this year’s must-have Christmas present is a trampoline, and that you’ve heard that it’s amazing from several people who’ve received their Christmas present early. And then imagine opening your present on Christmas day to find a trampette. Sure you can bounce up and down and play around on it, but there’s no space to do flips or grab your friends to play with you on it and it’s just not as exciting as you expected it to be.
Before its release, the game was much-lauded on Twitter by pros who had been invited to try it out, yet the game feels half-finished. Granted, it is currently in alpha, but features you would have expected to have after all this hype, such as chat, levelling up and opponent selection, are missing. Real-money play, something which is apparently a goal for HoldemX seems to be a long way off.
Nevertheless, with the game at such an early stage there are opportunities for you to get to grips with some game strategy before the pool of players gets any bigger. Firstly, flushes are bad, regardless of the suit-changing XCards, because if your opponent notices you changing the suit of a card, you are sending a clear and obvious message to your opponent what your hole cards are and subsequently how strong your hand is. Straights are also bad, in that by adjusting one card you leave it open for your opponent to just change it again. Therefore it’s much more worth your while to aim for sets and full houses in order to conceal your holdings.
Now seems like a good time to stream more #HoldemX. https://t.co/RJmsEIpT7t Come hang out and watch the experiment! @playholdemx
— Jonathan Little (@JonathanLittle) February 4, 2016
Another important thing to keep an eye on is your time-bank. Currently set at three minutes for each player, I’d wager that more than two thirds of my games have ended due to a player timing out rather than someone winning all the chips. It’s infuriating that at such an early stage in the game, where no one really knows how to play, I’m being punished for deliberating on my decisions. Hopefully in the future this will be increased.
My final piece of advice is to experiment with the combinations of picks and bans to use. I’ve already started coming up with ‘Decks’ to try out! There’s the ‘Modifier Deck’, which uses the Board Card +1/-1 and Hole Card +1/-1 XCards to give the most flexibility to your play. Similarly, there’s the ‘Board Manipulator Deck’, with Re-deal Flop/Turn/River, 6th Street and Board +1/-1, which is a more defensive deck against your opponent.
However, in my experience the best deck to play right now (ban-permitting) is the ‘Set-Hunter Deck’. XCards like Pair Top Card, Pair Bottom Card as well as Hole Card +1/-1 have the benefit of concealing any changes you make exclusively to your hole cards, making it harder for your opponent to develop a counter strategy.
Like I said, I love playing HoldemX. But recently I found myself only manging a couple of games before reverting back to my university assignments. The reason? There is no incentive for me to play. Yet, I am sure there are many ideas in the pipeline to expand the game, and I eagerly await them. If you want to play the Alpha, and provide the Global Poker Index with feedback, then head to www.holdemx.com to try it out… and, of course, you can always let Alex Dreyfus know what you think on Twitter :-).
I always pictured Vanessa Selbst as a unique, courageous woman competing among the best poker players at the felt, but I recently discovered that she fights as hard outside the casino, especially for those without means and the underprivileged.
Vanessa Selbst with one of her three WSOP bracelets
The Brooklyn native was working a full-time job in 2007 before she decided to become a poker professional. She quit, started playing full-time, and still worked three days a week for an organization and a cause close to her heart. Her part-time job also involved legal work and she soon realized she could not perform optimally without a Law degree. Selbst returned to Yale Law School where she earned her Law degree in 2012.
I met Vanessa for the first time in 2013, in London. I interviewed her for a Czech poker magazine. She was in midst of a super-successful poker career and had worked her way up to the top of the world poker rankings. She became the first woman to reach the #1 GPI ranking in June 2014.
Here’s a partial summary of Vanessa Selbst´s impressive poker achievements:
But the statistics don’t mean so much to her anymore.
Today, Selbst continues fulfilling her aspirations in terms of working for civil rights. She was the driving force behind the organization of a charity poker event called Blinds & Justice, and, in her own words, “is excited for the future”.
Back in December, I caught up with Vanessa on a break during a first day of the €10K EPT 12 Prague High Roller event. We spoke about charity, blind justice, and, of course, poker.
How are you, Vanessa?
I´m great, thank you; and you?
I´m fine. How are you doing poker-wise here in Prague?
Not so well, I played the €2K, the Main Event, then another €2K event, and I have not cashed in any of them. I am in the High Roller right now. I have less than the starting stack, so, not doing great, but still trying.*
Are you enjoying Prague? You mentioned to me here in 2013 that it had been your first poker-related trip to Prague. Did you manage to see the city?
To be honest with you, I like the city lot more now. When I first came here, I didn’t love it. This trip, I´ve spent more time going around, getting away from the Hilton. It really is just a beautiful city with a cool vibe.
Has this (2015) been a successful year for you in poker?
A bunch of things were preventing me from playing a lot of poker this year. I wasn’t able to play most of the high rollers, or the WSOP Main Event. Unfortunately, I played very little, and I haven’t been successful when I played. I won this celebrity shootout for a million. That was a nice year saver. Other than that, I didn’t have many results. This is first year when I was playing that I have been on a downswing. It´s new territory.
May I ask what was preventing you from playing more poker?
It was a combination of a few things. I was doing a bunch of stuff for my Law studies. I was studying for Bar exams at the beginning of the year and then I had some health issues.
You organized an event called Blinds and Justice at the end of September 2015. What is the project about? How did it go?
Charity poker is an awesome thing that has been happening in poker community. People are getting behind positive aspects of charity and using poker as the way to get people involved. People love poker, and they are going to come out to the poker tournament, especially if there are celebrities and poker stars playing. It is a great way to raise money for something you believe in.
This one was for the Urban Justice Center, which is an organization in New York that provides legal services to the neediest communities; the ones that are the most underrepresented in New York. I am on the Board of the organization and I feel very passionate about it and the people they serve.
There are a lot of charity tournaments but they don’t tend to be geared towards social justice causes. They are mostly focused on health-related projects, diseases, children, and other, obviously, worthy causes, but I felt this is an area I wanted to make a charity tournament for: Adults who also need support because they don´t necessarily get it very often. And it went really, really well.
Daniel Negreanu came, I was there, Erik Seidel too, and a bunch of other pros and celebrities. We had a great time. Daniel managed to make it to the final table together with a couple of celebrities. It had a great atmosphere and vibe; everybody had fun. We raised $160,000, which surpassed my goal. I didn’t expect to raise that much in the first year. I think it was a huge success all around. I spent September in New York working on the organization and doing everything I could to make people come and to spread the word. I put a lot of work into it and I´m really pleased how it turned out. I´m excited for the future years.
What are your expectations for the future?
I´ve got a lot of very positive feedback. I hope people will tell their friends and come back next year. This way, we can grow the tournament. Like I said, it is a great cause.
Blinds & Justice – What does the title symbolize?
This is a thing. It was supposed to be a play on words and I sort of messed it up. I´m actually changing the title next year. It´s going to be Justice is Blinds.
It´s a funny story of how I got it wrong. There is a phrase “justice is blind”. It means everybody gets equal justice under the law. Justice doesn’t depend on what you look like or who you are. It is an idea that justice is supposed to be the same for everybody. Whether or not this actually happens is another story. It is a phrase.
But I remembered the song – Arlo Guthrie´s Alice’s Restaurant Massacre. If you don’t know it, it is not really a song, it is a ballad – an 18-minute thing. I was into it when I was a kid, and there is a phrase in there, when Arlo says: “it was a typical case of American blind justice, and there wasn’t nothing he could do about it”. That combination blind justice stuck in my mind. I was thinking that was it. I made it Blinds & Justice and I don’t think most people got it. My friend told me: “You´re really missing out on an opportunity here; you should´ve called it Justice is Blinds. And I thought: “Oh, that´s the phrase!” I think more people will get it when we change it next year. That´s the idea behind it and, obviously, blinds for poker.
You mentioned you are on Board of the Urban Justice Center in New York. You were involved in community centers before. Do you work there as a lawyer as well?
I don’t right now. I still have a couple of hurdles to get pass to be admitted to practice law. I passed all the exams I had to this year, so that’s good, but I have to do a bit more work before I can practice law. I´m hoping I´ll be able to do so. The Urban Justice Center is a group of several separate organizations, so either with one of the organizations there, or – I have friends working for non-profit organizations. Hopefully, I will link up and I´ll be able to volunteer when I´m home from poker.
Last time I spoke to you, you mentioned you wanted to create a website to fight injustice done by police officers. How did it go?
I was trying to take on a really massive undertaking and I didn’t understand how big of a project this was. I wasn’t the right person because I didn’t have the time to commit. Basically, I was trying to have another full-time career. That’s not something I could do. I know people who are working on this, though. Police brutality has been in the news a lot. It´s an issue that I´ve cared about strongly for a long time, and I think there wasn’t enough attention given to it.
It is still a persistent problem but now it is more in the spotlight, and people are more aware. This is a good thing. There are a lot of changes that are hopefully going to be happening in the States regarding police accountability; maybe body cameras. Obviously, it is ridiculously unfortunate that we had to have so many terrible things happen to get us to this point, but I am very optimistic for the changes that are happening.
Vanessa wins an American Poker Award | Image credit: revolutionpix for GPI
I watched your acceptance speech at the inaugural American Poker Awards, where you received an award for being the 2014 Female Player of the Year. You kind of made fun of the discussion held around women´s events. My question is: Do you care about rankings and do you think men and women should be ranked separately?
I don’t think that there needs to be separate rankings.
I get these questions a lot on the importance of ladies tournaments. For better or worse, that´s what they´re called. I do think they bring a lot of women into the game. That´s a really positive thing. In general, the point is to promote women in poker, but there is no reason why women should be ranked any differently. There is nothing inherently different about us playing the game. It was a bit weird to receive that. Yes, it is nice to be recognized, for sure, but I would like to just be a successful player.
Honestly, the rankings are not that important, especially now. For me poker is about having fun and making money. It´s not necessarily about “being number 1”. If it were, I would play a lot more poker. To be at the top, you really have to be playing all the time. There was a time in my life when I was doing that. It is not now. I am older and I cannot be travelling all the time. I have a home and a family and I appreciate the time that I have at home. I don’t know if I’ll ever be at the top of the rankings again, but that´s fine.
Alexandre Dreyfus recently tweeted he plans one of the panels of GPI American Poker Conference to address “poker and women”. It was followed by reactions such as: “there should be women on the panel” because it is not unusual for there to be panels discussing women´s issues with no women on them. What are your thoughts on this? Would you join the panel?
I have a very pessimistic attitude, unfortunately. The poker community is very inhospitable to women, just as the world is very inhospitable to women. It´s no different in poker. It is the same problem that you see in every other sphere. It´s been that way for decades and I don’t know what are we going to accomplish by talking about it. The conversation is being held. People are talking on Twitter and other places about why – maybe – it is inhospitable and what can we do to change that.
For people who want to think about it, it is great that the conversation is happening, but in terms of beating it to death? It´s got diminishing returns. The first conversation is truly important to have. The second conversation is great. The third and the fourth – now it is on everybody´s minds. I don’t know what good the ninth and tenth conversation is going to do. We have already reached all the people who believe it is something we should focus on. The rest are just going to keep on keeping on the way they have been.
You set up a Twitch channel. You had your first streaming at the beginning of December. How did it go and what you want to bring to Twitch viewers?
I´m genuinely happy about my Twitch channel. Yes, I launched it a few weeks ago. It is Twitch.tv/VanessaSelbst – very easy. I hope to get it more regular soon. I´m not playing too much online poker. I wanted to do something different. I like to do commentary – both, strategic and otherwise. So, I´m taking the EPT episodes or the Shark Cage; whatever PokerStars broadcasts are. I get them without the commentary, I watch them with my followers, and we talk about them. It´s cool to interact with people in the chat. They´re asking me questions. We talk strategy. It went well and I’m excited to do more.
Please join for 1st Twitch stream Sat 7PM EST https://t.co/Kwc4p9DjNV. I’ll be watching an old EPT ep + giving commentary. #latetotheparty
— Vanessa Selbst (@VanessaSelbst) November 23, 2015
—
Our conversation lasted just about 15 minutes, but I really enjoyed talking to Vanessa. Immediately after our interview, she rushed back to her table in the €10K NLH High Roller event. Ultimately, she finished in eighth place, cashing for €74,550.
Hopefully, Vanessa left Prague with more good memories and we’ll see her back there again next year. In the meantime, you can follow her on Twitter @VanessaSelbst as well as join her on Twitch whenever she decides to do some more live streaming.
In December 2011 it was the first time in history that Prague was set to host a World Poker Tour stop. I was hired to do live coverage of the Main Event. It felt like a dream come true.
Back then, everything about the event was magical to me – the press from all over the world, the poker stars I was introduced to, the strangers on the organization board. There were several firsts for me at this event. Not only was it the first time I reported live from an international event, but it was also the first time I met Steve Frezer. Though he operates on the other side of the poker table, as a tournament director and event manager, Steve’s hardly a personality you can hardly overlook on the world poker circuit.
Steve, with two of his favorite poker dealers. Image credit: Tomáš Stacha, King’s Casino
Last year, the grand Prague Poker Festival (PPF) returned to Prague with WPT Main Event, a great schedule of other events, a stellar line-up of poker pros and, once again, Steve Frezer.
Prior to speaking with him for this interview I didn’t know much about Steve, but I was certain about a few things: he always smiles, he makes people laugh and comfortable, and he’s got a big heart and an open mind. I wanted to learn more about him, so I stopped by the King´s Casino (reopened in the Corinthia Towers hotel to host the PPF 2015) to have a talk with him.
Who is Steve Frezer in a few sentences?
I am an earthling. I am a world citizen. I´ve been traveling since I was 18 and I am in my late forties now.
I think I´m just a good guy trying to enjoy life, to see all I can and do everything I can, before it´s time I can´t do it anymore. And I’ve got a wife and a son.
Image credit: Tomáš Stacha, King’s Casino
What background do you come from?
My parents were New York Jewish; they moved to South Florida when I was four years old. I grew up in South Florida. When I graduated from high school, I packed my bag and I left. I have been traveling a lot since. I´ve lived in New Orleans for the last 20 years.
How did you get into poker?
I went into the military for a few years. When I got out of the military, I came back to Florida and started working as a bet taker. I worked at horse tracks. Florida, at that time, had 25/50c poker, $10 max and I got a job dealing back then.
From there, I’ve just steadily escalated to where I am at now.
What made you join the military?
As I said before, when I was 18 I moved out. I was just your basic 18-year-old out of the house, having a good time; no direction. I lost a few jobs, no jobs worth keeping, and then – I guess a marine recruiter did his job well. I walked by and started chatting with him. He invited me for some free pizza and before you knew it I signed the contract.
Free pizza will get a lot from me!
Frankly, I did it for the college money. I had no one paying for college for me and I felt like I wasted my high school years partying too much. I wanted to go to college and actually use my brain for once. So, I went to the military to get the money to go to college.
Who has been the major influencer in your life?
Maybe a lot of musical influencers. Stephen King, the author, had a major influence on me. A lot of rock n´ roll musicians, I guess.
My step father. He was a really good man.
What did he teach you?
To be honest, honest to a fault, almost; to be straightforward, no BS.
What do you appreciate the most in people?
A smile, and honesty. Honesty is a big deal for me.
What makes you angry, upset?
Hypocrites – people will say one thing, do another. Drives me nuts. I can´t stand it. I hate people that lie to your face and then say something else behind your back.
And then guns. People that like guns. I don’t like those people.
The Planet Earth Poker Events – is this your company?
Yes.
Are you behind the organization of the whole Prague Poker Festival? What else do you do?
As you know, I worked as a tournament director for the World Series of Poker, for PokerStars – EPT and WPT – but it is a tough business, to stay in it for as long as I´ve stayed in it. About three years ago I decided to do my own poker events. With all the contacts I´ve got and all the casinos and people I know, I thought I would be my own boss instead of working for somebody else. It is a dream, right, to work for yourself? You can control how things are done and do things the way they should be done, and you have nobody yelling at you.
Image credit: Tomáš Stacha, King’s Casino
How do you feel the Prague Poker Festival went? You had a prediction for the World Poker Tour Main Event. Over 500 players. That did not happen. Was it a big disappointment?
No, it wasn’t a big disappointment. If you ask me, at any event I´m at, I will always give you a number a 200-300 higher than I am expecting because I like to be optimistic about it. Sometimes I’m joking a little when I say it.
It was fantastic. It was our fifth year of the festival, fourth time doing it here with King´s, and first time bringing back the WPT Main Event. We kind of got torn down when we went to do Nationals the last two years. We are building it back up. I think we have a great number, 256. 250 last year for the National – which was a €1k. This was a€3k, so we have got more people with triple the buy-in and the side events were bigger than they´ve ever been here. All the €1k-s were huge, the WPT side events were great, as you can see now, the Redbet mini event is not very “mini”. OFC TonyBet was huge – a little bit lower on Main Event, but High Roller was up 50%.
You certainly run some popular events!
Yes, we have a lot of events that are not really competing with EPT. We are in the place (Ed. note: Prague) where, basically, the whole poker world is right now. We can run some different kind of events, smaller events, some bigger, but as long as we schedule it right, we don´t compete with PokerStars and that is good for everybody. I think we are bringing people for them as well, not that they would need it.
How many people work on the event, referring to dealers and floor staff? Do you hire local staff as well?
I bring my own crew of dealers here. We call ourselves the blacklist crew because we are independent and a lot of them don’t get hired by PokerStars for one reason or another. It is quite an international staff. We probably have got seven or more countries represented amongst dealers. As far as how many people work the festival – it is a lot! Casino employees, hotel employees… As far as for our crew – the event crew – we bring around 50 dealers and three of the best floor people in the world – we are about 55 people.
Image credit: Tomáš Stacha, King’s Casino
I noticed on social media that you post pics, commenting with day number. You are on a journey. How long you have been travelling?
Because we do events all over world and in the United States, we just happen to have three events in a row – well, not in a row, there are couple of weeks in-between each of them. I didn’t want to leave my family behind for the whole time, and I didn’t want to take three round-trip plane tickets from New Orleans to here, and my son starts school next year, so, this was the great time for us to take really long trip through Europe. We are on a total 94-day road trip. Some of it is working, some of it is not working.
It is not as expensive as people might think. People might think: Oh my god, you are on a 94-day road trip through Europe? We rented out our house, so, we are actually saving money by being out here and not having to spend it on the airfare. We are using the Airbnb as much as we can, and, of course, I get the free hotel room for the events.
How old is your son?
He is four years old.
Right. Tell me, how does it work to travel Europe with a 4-year-old kid?
It is a lot of fun. I don’t think he appreciates it as much as me and my wife – for sure. But I think he´ll appreciate it in a few years, especially when he starts talking to other kids in school and figures out they haven’t done anything that he´s been able to do.
We don’t get as much adult time, it is just the three of us. There is time when we need break from a 4-year-old and we don’t get it. But that is okay, and he is used to it. We brought the PlayStation with us – that helps out a lot.
As you know, I´ve been taking a lot of pictures. He will remember the trip. It´s been pretty special so far.
This is our third event since we´ve started the trip. After Prague, we are going to finish the trip in Salzburg, Austria. We are going to go skiing in Salzburg. Then we finally go home on Christmas.
Christmas at the airport?
Yes. We usually spend Christmas in the airport. I am usually doing the Prague Poker Festival.
We are not religious people. Christmas is not an important holiday for us. Over the last five years, for sure, it has been spent in the airport. You can get cheap flights to the US on Christmas. Real trick! Thanksgiving and Christmas are two easy days to fly.
Which places you have visited that were the most memorable?
I´ve visited 63 countries in last 20 years. You can say a lot about a lot of the cities. Paris was one of my favorites, even though we have not been there in a few years. We just went to Croatia and it became one of my favorites for sure. It is so beautiful. What happens in that part of the world, history didn’t teach us in the US. The Dalmatian coastline from Dubrovnik all the way up to Split. Beautiful. We drove that; it was very, very memorable.
There are weird places, too. For me being in Moscow was like being on Mars. They look like Americans but their alphabet is different. We spent a week in February in Moscow. That was very different.
Of course, if you ask my wife, she would probably mention seven or eight Caribbean stops, that is her favorite.
And Prague. Every time we come to Prague we love it. We have been coming here for 10 years.
Read: A Recreational Poker Player’s Guide to Playing Poker in Prague
You play poker frequently. What do you think poker can teach you?
Something you can use in your life? If you play a lot, for sure it can teach you how to read people. Not in a way that you know exactly what they are thinking, but your instincts and your impressions are usually right on. When you think somebody might not be telling you the truth, they are probably not. I think that by following your instincts in poker you are usually going to go the right way, and if you´re following your instincts in life, you´ll be also heading in the right direction.
What did it teach you, or maybe, what did it give you?
I´ve always had this saying that I never wanted to have a career. Then I got deep into poker and I finally did have a career in poker and I really enjoy it. It has given me a life, the life I can travel the world in; something out of the ordinary. I don´t have to be the nine-to-five person, work every day. I get to meet all kinds of different people.
You know, when you work in a place where people come to have fun, come to have a good time, come to gamble, it is nice. When you go to work, people come to your work to have fun, to enjoy themselves. Instead of when you work on construction dealing with people that are working. For me, it has been the greatest thing. I am not really working, I am hanging out with people who are having a good time.
What are your predictions for 2016 on the live tournament poker circuit?
It´s going to get bigger and bigger. People say there are too many tours, I don’t think so at all. If you look at live tournaments, the numbers go up all over. Smaller tours, local events, bigger tours – the numbers are up. I´m waiting for more US states to come online. I think there is going to be a second boom in the US when some of the bigger states come online. There is room for quite a few new tours in the US as well. There is definitely room for a world tour of somebody that is not WPT, WSOP, or EPT because none of them have a world tour that is a true world tour.
There is a market out there for a mid-range tour, and I think there is market out there for a high-limit tour as well. There are a lot of pieces of the pie, and it is a big poker pie, that are not being eaten. Poker is going to keep growing and I don’t see any reason why not. As more countries come aboard, more states in the US come aboard. I am very optimistic about the poker industry for the future.
There are still countries in Europe where you cannot play live poker, or you can play, but limited. Here in Prague, the new local law has taken effect, the Card Casino Prague poker room was shut down and we could go on listing other obstacles to the poker business. Isn’t this a reason for concern?
These may be changes on a temporary basis. Eventually, they´re going to open up again. More and more countries are opening up; for instance Georgia. There are other markets opening up as well. I remember when we first went to Deauville in France – EPT Season 1. Most of the French players – 80 to 90% of them – were brand new players. I really enjoy going to countries where everybody is sort of new, everybody is learning and you can see it grow, as in France. It is really exciting. Prague will get there. It is part of the EU, it must be open.
Finally, what do you think makes someone a top tournament director?
I think you have to be strong. Of course, you have to know the rules like the back of your hand. You have to be fair, treat each player equally. I don’t think you should play favorites in any way. Poker stars shouldn’t get their way. A lot of pushy players they want to get their way; their business and their hand would depend on how you rule.
Image credit: LinkedIn
You come to the table and you enforce the rules to the letter of the law. Me, personally, I don’t like it when a floor person will rule one way or the other, I like when a floor person comes to the table, makes the decision based on the rule, states the rule, and then walks away. That´s what a good tournament director is: fair, enforces the rules the same way across the board, and is strong about it.
Ed. Note: This poker room review was written up by one of Cardplayer Lifestyle’s loyal readers, Hank_AK. We would also like to thank him for the courtesy photo.
The Casino in Brussels is known as the Grand Casino Viage and it is located at Anspach Boulevard 30. At least while I was there, there was a lot of construction going on in the area, so be advised that a taxi will leave you a couple blocks away. Note that it’s really the only place to play live poker in the Belgian capital.
Image from Grand Casino Viage Facebook page
As with all casinos in Belgium, you need to be 21 and have a valid passport to enter. I was greeted by hundreds of slots (375 to be exact), which make for some decent entertainment if you get bored playing poker. The establishment’s dress code states that no hats, caps, burkas, sunglasses, or masks were allowed. Coat check costs half a euro while entry to the casino costs €10. However, they do give you a €5 chip to play with.
Aside from the slot games and the poker, on the main floor you’ll find blackjack and roulette tables. The minimum roulette bet was €5, whereas minimum blackjack bets ranged from €10-€25.
While smoking was not allowed in the casino, the bathrooms absolutely reeked of cigarette smoke (even though signs prohibited smoking there, too).
In general this casino was on the smallish side, with an air of neighborhood play.
Grand Casino Viage €5 poker chip
The poker tables are located on the second floor of the casino. Disturbingly, all table talk is in French, including by the dealer. Repeated requests for English to be spoken were ignored.
Every night they have cash games starting at 7 pm. Table stakes run anywhere from €2/€2 up to €10/€20, with the minimum buy-in at the low-stakes tables set at €100. Texas Hold’em is spread at the cash game tables, as is Pot Limit Omaha. The best part: the rake is only 5%! Also, at the cash tables, staff came around every hour to request a €4 “tax” from each player.
On the Wednesday night I was there, they had no Omaha cash games running; only the €2/€2 no-limit Hold’em games. As far as tournaments are concerned, on Mondays there’s a rebuy Sit N’ Go with a buy-in of €60 (unlimited number of players) and a €100 Sit N’ Go on Wednesday (limit of 40 players). All Sit N’ Gos start at 8 pm.
The €100 Sit N’ Go ran with 20 players the night I was there. I didn’t cash in the tournament. I had pocket tens and the board read: 5, 5, 5, 7, and 3, with three clubs. In other words, my boat was looking very good. Unfortunately, I lost 60%% of my stack to quad 5s, so I was soon eliminated. I then moved to the cash tables.
At the cash tables, I found that even when I had pocket kings and bet 7x BB pre-flop, no one folded. On that specific hand, the flop delivered three unconnected clubs. Sure enough the one player who moved all in ended up holding the 3 and 8 of clubs. It seemed to me that the “regular” style of play in this poker room was to always see the flop, no matter how much the pre-flop bet. This kept happening all night long.
Hopefully, next time I review a poker room, I’ll be able to tell you stories of how much money I won instead of another bad beat story. 🙂
If you would like to submit a poker room review or other poker blog content for publication on Cardplayer Lifestyle, please contact us.
Think back to when you first started playing poker. Every time you sat down at the table or logged in, there was a sense of excitement and anticipation. After the game, you’d be counting the hours until you could do it again.
Fast forward a few years and now you find that you don’t have the same enthusiasm for the game. In fact, sometimes thinking about an upcoming poker game fills you with a sense of – well nothing. You frankly couldn’t give a tinker’s damn about your next poker game.
You’ve become bored with the game of poker and would rather spend your time playing blackjack in online casinos or gambling on Daily Fantasy Sports. The reality is that many of us get bored with poker at one point or another. It’s a natural part of the game, but it is something you can recover from. Let’s take a look at some things you can do to rekindle your desire to play poker.
When I hear of a poker player talking about becoming bored with poker, my first question is whether they play anything other than Texas Hold’em. The answer is almost always no. That’s when I start pitching other poker variants.
For starters, you’re immersing yourself to a different way of thinking as it comes to poker. Every variant has its own set of rules and strategy. Those that are action players, I tend to steer towards Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo, while other players I will introduce to various games such as Stud, 2-7 Lowball, etc.
Poker variants | Image credit: PokerNews.com
Sometimes the problem isn’t necessarily the game, but rather the company that you’re keeping. The truth is that we outgrow some people. Those guys who were a riot to hang out with when you first started playing the game have become “douchnozzles.” They think they’re the next big thing in poker, but have to be backed to play a $235 tournament.
If you find that your home game or the regulars at your casino are sucking the fun out of your game, try a new location. Chances are that you can find another home game in your area with new players to get to know. In the worst-case scenario, start up your own game and conveniently forget to invite those who were annoying you.
Sometimes, the problem with boredom in poker stems from the stakes a player frequents. Perhaps you are playing at a level that is too high for your bankroll and you’re staying stressed? Other times, the fun is poker is lost due to playing “seriously” or “professionally.” In these cases, maybe it is time to switch stakes.
For some, just moving down a level or two in stakes is enough to relieve the pressure. If your risk for ruin is dramatically reduced, you can open up your game and have fun. For others, you may have to consider finding a way to “play for fun.”
By playing for fun, this could mean playing at such ridiculously low stakes that the money doesn’t matter or maybe even switching to playing free poker. Get together with some friends and play for pennies or log in to play for free online. There’s no pressure, no risk of going busto, and plenty of opportunities for fun.
No, I have not fell and bumped my head. I am advocating that you leave the game for a limited period of time if you find yourself bored with poker. Absence is supposed to make the heart grow fonder and this is typically the case with poker players.
For some of you, poker has been a virtual obsession that has consumed a majority of your free time. For others, poker has been your profession and is all that you have been doing with your life for a while. Maybe it is time for you to step away for a few weeks, a few months, or even longer?
One of my poker mentors was going through a rough patch in his game and found his interest in poker waning. He left the game for close to two months and went on vacation with his family. After two months of not playing a single hand of poker, he came back to play some tournaments at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Over the course of three days, he won two tournaments and final tabled the other to win over $130,000.
Are you really getting bored with poker or do you just suck at it? OK, maybe you don’t suck but you’re results are sucking and it makes it difficult to play poker. Quite a few of us have gone through similar experiences. This is a time where you need to work on improving your poker game.
Take a few weeks and sign up for a training site or maybe hire a poker coach. Have them evaluate your game and identify the leaks that are causing you to lose and effectively sucking the fun out of your game.
You’d be surprised how quickly poker becomes fun again after you go back to winning.
There are few reasons for you to continue playing a game that you’re bored with. Regardless of the money at stake, poker is supposed to be a game. Games are supposed to be enjoyed. If you are not enjoying the game, your performance will ultimately suffer and you will be forced to quit playing anyway.
When you find yourself bored with poker, do something about it. Find a way to rekindle your passion and make the game fun again. That guy or gal that used to count the hours until the next game is still in there; you just need to put in the work to bring them back out.
With over $4 million in live tournament earnings, Jake Cody, the youngest ever poker Triple Crown winner, sits among the top 10 on England’s All Time Money List. The Rochdale native earned his first major poker title in 2010. His extraordinary blaze of glory started in Deauville and it took Jake only 16 months to complete the Triple Crown at the age of 22. After this grand success, he quickly became one of Britain´s favourite poker players, winning awards, signing up with different online sponsors and finally achieving the dream-come-true Team PokerStars Pro status in 2013.
Cody has not let up and has continued his fearless journey, both on and off the felt. At the end of 2015, we met in Prague during the year´s final EPT festival and spoke a little bit about everything, including his career, his family and his recent trip to Africa with Right to Play.
Enjoy the interview.
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How did you start out in poker? I remember reading you began online, depositing just a few dollars.
Yes, I actually deposited one time, I deposited $10. I have changed money between websites – transferring them, but I have never deposited again since. I still have got my bankroll from those initial $10.
What was your first significant big win? What would you consider “big” back when you were starting out in poker?
Obviously, it progresses. I was just playing tiny, micro stakes. With that $10, I was playing 1 cent tournaments. I remember I’d built up the bankroll to a few hundred dollars and then I won a satellite into a $200 Sunday major. I finished 11th in it for $2,500. It was right at the start, and it was, literally, an insane amount of money at that time. I could not believe I had this amount of money. I withdrew around 75% of that. I was like: Oh my God!
Like, “What am I going to do? I´m going to go partying!”.
Yeah, exactly.
I left the remainder as my bankroll and continued to play. At the time I enjoyed poker a lot, but I never saw it as a career. I was just playing random games, whether I was playing Sit N’ Gos, tournaments or cash games, it felt like it was less stressful than it is now.
When did you start playing poker?
I used to play for a pool team, when I was 15. So, I actually learned the game at this age. But I only started playing poker when I was 18.
Did you dream of making it pro?
Even to this day, I´m still quite a poker fan. I watch a lot of TV poker. When I first started, I bought Phil Hellmuth´s book – Play Poker Like the Pros. Hellmuth, Negreanu, Gus Hansen; those guys, they were my idols. It is funny, now I´ve got to meet them. And I´m still a bit stressed about it to be honest.
My interest kind of grew and grew. I thought it was a fun game and then I saw poker on TV and – oh my God, there is online poker! I also found out that there is live poker in the UK and in Europe. It became a big passion and as soon as I got interested, it was my dream to make it pro.
Tell me a bit about your background.
Growing up, it was just me and my mom. I´m from northern town in England called Rochdale, which is quite an underprivileged place. It is not a nice area. I´d say it helps you to have a hunger to succeed when you come from a lesser background.
You are the youngest ever to complete the Triple Crown. After the years, do you still find it your greatest achievement?
Yes, for sure. I would say my greatest poker achievement. I think it is difficult to replicate those few wins anyway. If the record gets broken, I will be quite surprised, because it would have to happen in exact order, as I was the right age.
It would have to be someone who turns 21 and wins a WSOP bracelet…
Yes, instantly wins a bracelet. So, it is actually very hard, which I´m obviously happy about.
Your website is all new; I just checked it out. You gave it a revamp. You still write blog posts, but I am missing one. You visited Africa with the “Right to Play” organization, and I have not seen anything written up about it. I noticed you mentioned on social media that you were not comfortable taking pictures. What happened?
There was a video that was made.
I didn’t post too much at the time but this was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Charity project in Uganda – https://t.co/SBMBLp77n5
— Jake Cody (@JakeCody) November 4, 2015
Obviously, I want to get as much exposure for Right to Play as possible, but it felt a bit distasteful to take pictures while on the trip. It felt like: Here I am, trying to help people. To me, that came across kind of badly. I wanted to support the cause myself as much as I could and raise awareness. I didn´t want to brag about being there, if that makes sense.
But of course, raising awareness is the core of it, so, I can understand why people do that.
Do you plan to write about it?
Now you mention it, I would like to write about it. I´ve learned a lot from the experience. I would not say it was life changing, but it was very touching. It is so difficult to find the right words to justify it. You don’t want to sound blustering. I was a bit worried about that.
Saying that, I’ve got a lot of great experiences and memories, it would be nice to have the blog post. Just to recap the memories, maybe it could inspire someone else to help.
I’m looking forward to reading it! Could you sum up what was inspirational and touching about the experience?
Seeing children happy and playing, oblivious to their surroundings. They are underprivileged; they have got a lot of issues in their lives. When they go to the playground and play games, they could be any kids in the world. It is heart-warming to see them happy and playful when, obviously, they´ve got a lot of sad things going on.
Right to Play is a non-profit organization. What does it stand for and why would you encourage people to donate towards this charity?
The organization helps children in less-privileged countries. They help them to thrive to become better people, teaching them through games. You can see when kids are in the classroom that it is kind of “more strict” than when you teach them through games, they are really interacting. Each game Right to Play conducts is trying to teach them a certain thing. It´s so good when you actually get to experience it. You can see how the kids react to it.
The first half of the trip we went to the teachers´ training course with coaches from Uganda, who were going to become teachers for Right to Play. We did a little crash course. The second half of the trip we went to schools to see how it is implemented. It was an amazing thing to see. It was very difficult – hard to describe it. I look back at it fondly, but it wasn´t a “nice” experience. Touching experience for sure.
You are a father to a little girl. How old is Ari now?
Almost two years old. That was another thing when I was out there. I saw some of the little girls, I could see her in them.
What has changed for you since you became father and what kind of parent are you trying to be? You told me a while back that your “father wasn’t really around”.
I think, as any parent, you always want to improve on how your parents brought you up. I believe having children inspires you to become a better person yourself and to be a good role model. I´m aware I´m going to be an influence on her as she´s growing up and I want to be a good influence. I want her to grow up looking up to me. It makes you want to be a better person and do the best you can. It is very difficult, though.
How do you manage to balance family life and a poker career?
Anybody who has children has their own personal issues throughout their journey; everyone has difficulties. Playing poker has its own specifics. I´m away quite a lot, but then when I´m home, I don’t have a set routine. I can be around and spend a lot of quality time with my family. It is nice, and I miss them a lot when I´m away.
I love my work, too. It is nice to have a passion. Finding the balance is difficult and it is definitely tough on Alex, my girlfriend.
How do you grind online with a toddler? They are unstoppable!
Yeah, unstoppable.
She usually goes to sleep at 9pm. For example, on Sunday, I probably start around 6. She´s just running around. She might just grab my leg, pull my shirt, she is okay. And Alex is really understanding. She helps out a lot, and she knows… It’s poker, it’s work.
Do you consider your results on the felt satisfactory since winning the Triple Crown?
I´ve had quite successful years. I´ve made a lot of final tables. I’ve found it difficult to actually win a tournament. I understand how poker works, I don’t get frustrated really. I think one of my strengths is that I don’t really tilt, ever. I make decisions based on what I think is the correct thing to do, rather than letting emotions influence me. I understand that making final tables doesn’t mean you´re always going to win. You´ve got to put yourself in good positions and it will hopefully work out.
What are your favourite poker destinations?
I have a soft spot for Vegas. I know some people go there for the whole World Series of Poker and then get burned out, but I think I could actually live in Vegas. I wouldn’t live in Vegas, but I think I could live in there. Other than that, I think Barcelona is probably my favourite EPT, and honestly, I really like Prague, too. It is such a cool city. In the winter, it is kind of magical.
Your best results were achieved in NLH events, but I’m wondering if you also regularly play other poker variants? As I ask the question, I’m reminded of the story of you jumping in a Stud event at the WSOP one year having zero previous experience…
That’s a funny story, actually. The year prior, my friend Matthew Perrins – he also comes from Rochdale – he played the Deuce to Seven. He´d never played the game before and he won the event. He watched some videos on YouTube for two hours and then won the bracelet. This was in 2011, the same year I won my bracelet. So, the following year, I was like: I´m gonna try to replicate this! I´m gonna play Limit Stud.
I was on DeucesCracked trying to find any kind of Limit Stud videos. I watched two videos – OK! Nailed this! I really thought I knew what I was doing. We started with 4,500 chips and I instantly pretty much doubled up. I had 8,000 and thought “I´m actually going to win this tournament!” After that I didn’t win a pot. Also, because it is a limit game, you cannot get it all-in preflop. It is very much a maths game. My stack slowly chipped away and it was depressing, I didn’t have a chance, and then I went all-in and out. There wasn’t a fairytale ending, unfortunately.
I´ve been trying to learn PLO this year. I´ve played a lot of cash games this year and some of them, let´s say half of them, in PLO. I´ve been trying to improve that side of it.
Do you play live poker in local casinos in the UK? You reside in London, now, right?
Yes, I moved to London in February. I´ve been trying to play more cash games. It is just something to do in London really, because it is so expensive there. You definitely can try to level this by playing more cash games. So, half PLO, half Hold’em. Luckily, a lot of my friends are really good PLO players, so I can talk the hands through with them… like JP Kelly.
How do you work on your game?
I believe studying is, in fact, just as important as playing. I call it “being in lab”, if you don’t try to improve. I am always on top of the latest software, like PioSOLVER at the moment.
What is going on with your Twitch channel? You don’t stream.
I do have an account. I tried to stream once, but I was having a few audio problems. It kind of put me off, but I do want to start. I think I can make it quite fun; just haven’t got round to it yet. Very soon, that´s going to be me!
What are your aspirations in poker now? Still hunting bracelets?
I think a realistic goal is just to try to improve as much as you can. Results-based goals like winning bracelets are, in general, a pretty bad idea. You could work really hard on your game, put yourself in great position and not win a bracelet. On the flip side, you could be kind of lazy and win a bracelet.
An overall goal for me is to keep up with the game, keep working hard. For the longest time my goal was to become the first ever two-time EPT winner. Obviously, Vicky Coren managed to do that before me. But still, there is no guy who has done it, so I can be the first guy to do it.
From very humble beginnings, you managed to eventually build up your bankroll to what it is today. Do you think someone could replicate this feat nowadays? What would you recommend to someone who wants to start playing?
I think it is still possible. There is a bit of hype about how difficult poker is these days. I don’t think poker is as robotic as it´s made out to be. There is a lot of great value if you look for it. If I was introducing poker to someone for the first time, I would probably recommend playing online as the best way to learn the basic rules and how the game works. You get to play way more hands in a shorter space of time. I would say, make a small deposit on PokerStars and start from there.
When you get into poker, you should try different variants and forms and decide which one you like the best. The one you enjoy the most is the one you will work hardest at. I don’t think it is better to pick one and then be hating that form of poker and just doing it for the sake of it. Having a love for poker is very important. If you lose love for poker, it´s the beginning of the end.
Anthropology professor David Hayano had always loved playing poker with classmates, friends, and, on one occasion in 1971, with strangers at a smoky cardroom in Gardena, California. The visit didn’t go well. He lost fifteen bucks. Hayano returned in 1973 and won almost three hundred dollars in an hour. “Nobody I knew earned more than $300 per day at a job,” he wondered. “Yet there were dozens, even hundreds of players in these and bigger games. How did they do it? How could I do it?”
The result of Hayano’s curiosity, Poker Faces (1981), is the only ethnography of a poker room and, for that reason alone, a valuable resource for understanding the culture of the game. Hayano spent over 10,000 hours at the tables in Gardena, an area in southern Los Angeles that, during the 1970s and 80s, had the greatest concentration of draw poker clubs in the world. By 1975, he had played in every club and competed regularly in the highest-stakes games.
Hayano’s aim is to illuminate an American subculture that can’t be understood from the outside. Most of poker’s distortions and self-serving stereotypes remain unchallenged, Hayano insists, because they are based on little or no participation in the cardrooms, coupled with a vague understanding of the social dynamics of poker-playing. “My attempt to present an insider’s view of the work of professional poker players,” he writes, “could only be accomplished by prolonged immersion and, most important, by being a player.”
One of the strongest parts of the book is Hayano’s understanding of how different social groups meet and mingle in the cardroom. Players are united—or estranged—by age, gender, occupation, sleeping schedule, or preferred betting limit. They play poker for all kinds of reasons. For many elderly regulars, to take one example, “their main concern seems to be to pass the time in small-stakes games, meet with friends, watch television, and eat moderately priced meals. In this respect, generally maligned and neglected social institutions such as bus depots, racetracks, and cardrooms may fulfill beneficial social functions that have gone unrecognized.” Poker, for these folks, isn’t about winning money. It’s about routine, structure, and a kind of community.
Different stakes may also link or alienate the cardroom population. Two regulars may frequent the same club for 10 years, only 20 feet apart, and yet they may never recognize or interact with each other. Doctors and lawyers may become known suckers, the unwitting victims of college dropouts, plumbers, or housewives. The cardroom redefines—and sometimes inverts—the social pecking order.
Defining a professional poker player is tricky business. It depends on results that can rapidly change or be skewed by one big score (Jamie Gold, anyone?). Neither is pro status linked to formalized education: ability is judged by skill and results, not by a piece of paper saying that you went to “poker school.”
There also are problems of self-definition or, perhaps more accurately, self-deception. Someone may make $50,000 a year and call herself a part-time player; someone else may consider $5,000 enough to “go pro.” “Yep, I’ve been a pro for the last five years,” says the haggard, hooded guy across the table just before he punts off his stack.
Hayano splits the professional player into four overlapping categories:
Problems of definition are one thing. But what about the special personal characteristics that distinguish winners from losers?
You know why most of these players go busted? It’s not because they don’t know how to play. That’s not it. It’s because of their egos. They’ve got to show everybody and themselves that they’re the world’s greatest. I just sit back and play my game, and they can make all the moves and talk they want. In twenty years I’ve seen hundreds of these flashes in the pan. Give them the trophies. I’ll take the money.
—a Gardena winning regular
According to Hayano, the most common traits of winning players are:
Winners are also able to create a gap between how they appear to others (too loose) and their actual strong holdings. “Regulars and pros often put on the image of a person who gambles, makes risky bets, bluffs frequently, or is nothing but an incompetent player, especially to newcomers in the game who do not know them. This may involve advertising a bluff, making a loose call and showing your hand, or feigning an ignorance of the rules,” Hayano notes. Winners talk loose and play tight.
Despite success on the felt, the poker pro’s career can be volatile and lonely, filled with rough emotional and financial swings. The mythical life of the poker pro—the steep stakes, the bling, the gaudy houses and sexy mommas—is a far cry from the humdrum reality of most workaday grinders. “A few players in the limelight have realized these dreams of success,” Hayano writes. “But to the inestimable number of strugglers and casualties of round-the-clock play and broken-down bankrolls, the career is more a chimerical delusion, more like a nightmare factory.”
“After last night’s loss I went to my car looking for a rope or a gun but I couldn’t find them. When I did find the rope I tied it to a post and stuck my head in it. But the rope broke. So here I am.”
—a Gardena losing regular
If life is tough for winners, then it’s even worse for the losers. Hayano estimates that losing players compose a whopping 95-99% of the cardroom population.
Why do so many players lose? First of all, most players are simply inexperienced, imperceptive, and bad at fundamental poker strategy.
Second, they put too much stock in luck, believing that independent random events are somehow linked (“the flush hasn’t hit the last nine times; it must be coming in now!”).
Finally, losing players lack discipline. They fail to keep records, study, or exercise proper time and bankroll management. They play for hours on end with no plan in mind. They insist on upping the stakes and pursuing “get-even” strategies. And they fail to distinguish between poker and casino games of pure luck, falling victim to roulette, craps, or the slots.
Unfortunately, “staying in action” becomes the only option for digging out of a financial hole. “I can’t afford to work,” says one losing regular. “What would I do if I did? Make three bucks an hour? I’d have to work 200 years just to get even for the last month.” Gambling becomes both the cause of financial ruin and the only hope for salvation.
Much has changed in the 30 years since Poker Faces was published. In the 1970s, poker was often stigmatized alongside gambling, addiction, and other kinds of “deviant” behavior. Today, even if it remains maligned and misunderstood, the game has become more mainstream. Thanks ESPN!
It also goes without saying that online gaming has revolutionized poker’s landscape. Even in those same smoky Gardena cardrooms, we can find smartphones with poker tracking apps and online poker refugees who have been forced into the live arena.
Overall, though, Poker Faces remains a rigorous, readable ethnography of the poker room. Hayano succeeds in revealing part of poker’s fascinating and dysfunctional culture, and for that we should be grateful.
New Jersey will be incorporating new rules for online gambling operators in 2016. One of those new rules will allow online poker operators to pay celebrity endorsers to play online poker.
U.S.-regulated online poker has few ambassadors at present. Greg Merson, the 2012 WSOP Main Event Champion, is probably the most well-known. As of next year, however, we’re likely to probably see some new celebrity ambassadors start representing online poker sites, perhaps even in Pennsylvania.
With that said, a few celebrities out there are most definitely not a good fit for online poker. Our list below looks at seven celebrities who should not receive online poker sponsorships.
Some days it seems that Donald Trump wakes up wondering, “Who can we offend today?” The unlikely frontrunner for the Republican Party nomination for the 2016 elections would be among the worst candidates for an online poker sponsorship. If he hasn’t already offended one segment of your player base, just give him time and he will surely get around to doing so.
A couple of years ago, Tom Brady would have probably been the perfect celebrity candidate for an online poker sponsorship. But after last year, his value is greatly deflated. Whether you like him or not, a person tied to a cheating scandal is not a proper spokesman for your site. He might be the “Ultimate Bet” in football or a “Lock” to win the Super Bowl, but cheating and poker don’t mix.
Charlie Sheen may have been a perfect candidate to be a sponsored player on the (unregulated) “Winning” Poker Network except for the fact that his career has been experiencing a catastrophic downward spiral. Yes, he is the star of Anger Management, but that’s about the only positive thing we can say about the former Two and a Half Men star in recent years.
Martha Stewart has built an empire helping people improve their homes, but would she have what it takes to be an online poker ambassador? Some would say no because of her involvement with insider trading of ImClone Software Systems stock in 2001.
While her past conviction may disqualify her from being an ambassador, imagine the ads if she signed with an online poker company…
Hogan is a Real American – that is if that American was born before the Civil War. In the past, Hogan was a hero to millions of little kids and that popularity could have been capitalized upon by a creative online poker site.
Hogan was released from his WWE contract last year after making racist statements about his daughter’s boyfriend. Now, it seems that the only former wrestler who is hated more is Shawn Michaels when he visits Canada. Hogan might be racist, but at least he didn’t screw Bret. Either way, he isn’t right to rep an online poker site.
Read: The Top 10 WWE Superstars I’d Hate to Play Poker With
The man who is single handedly attempting to shut down online gambling in the United States is the last person who ought to receive an online poker sponsorship. Could you imagine the tagline for such a site?
Play with Sheldon Adelson at ScrewYouPoker.com now before he shuts us down!
Glenn Beck would certainly stir up conversation as an online poker ambassador, but the backlash from his detractors may be more than a site would want to tolerate. The conservative political talk show host is demonized by the liberal media and liberals in the United States. Tom Leykis would classify him as a “Right Wing Wacko.”
While it is unlikely that Beck would support online poker on a moral level, he might do so to support state’s rights. Of course, his opponents would call his politics into question as well as his religious convictions. They’d then find a way to blame online gambling for the woes of the country – or they could just blame George W. Bush; after all, Democrats love blaming “Dubya” for the state of the country.
Should any other celebrity have made our list? Do you feel as though any of the people listed above IS, in fact, deserving of an online poker sponsorship? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on the Cardplayer Lifestyle Facebook page.