Wise Hand Poker

I really enjoy having the opportunity to write about whats going on in the Poker Community here in Los Angeles and my adventures playing.However I may have jinxed myself talking about how bad I run at the Bicycle Casino or how Bad my Luck is. Last night again I get knocked out by a guy who is playing 6-3 spades because it was SUITED after a 600 chip raise by me.(Pocket Queens) I am not going to bore you with how the hand played out,only everyone at the table just shook their heads as they saw his hand and they also were gracious enough to shake my hand as I left.

So if I am not playing I am not writing. Therefore the hiatus for awhile. I may stop in and say hello but the only Poker I will be playing is with my Xterminator Poker Crew Members and that is not even for another week or so. Take care all I am done whining! Be safe and e-mail me here with any questions gripes or concerns you may have and I will gladly try and answer them for you.

The Deputy

My best buddy and I just placed 4th in a massive tournament on Pokerstars for a win of 17,000. I thought this would jump start my life but things have really gotten outta control. Pokerstars is everything in our lives. My roommate and I can't go to sleep before 2 am. At any point in the night I can login and see at least two friends danglin' in tournaments and cash games. Gambling problems are supposed to occur when you can't win and thus you sell your life (or body) for any chance to get back into the game. What are the psychologists supposed to call this?

In hindsight I've developed the top ten reasons you know you are addicted to Pokerstars:

1.) You refer to your friends as their pokerstars login names. Pele24, want a shot of jager? Danglelapsy you wanna hit the gym? Eddymack88 and Crunch97 are your best friends.

2.) After losing with pocket queens for the third straight time you blame your string of bad luck on women and ban them from your life.

3.) Your mom and dad accept that you're NOT involved in a gay porn ring after continuously walking in on you and your friends with laptops sitting in a dark, silent, basement.

4.) Drinks, fast-food, and sporting tickets are all paid with pstar transfers. "Crimsonkal10 if you grab me some chicken strips and fries I'll hit you with 20 on stars" or "Scotty33 you grab these double vodka cran's and I'll get you in that 6.50 turbo" - These are normal, regular, everyday conversations.

5.) The girl you were seein' cheats on you and you refer to it as a suckout.

6.) Your planning your next trip to the Bahamas from all the travel points you've accumulated on your Visa Gold Travel card thanks to your Pokerstar purchases.

7.) You have to set your alarm to get up for the Sunday Million at noon.

8.) Three of your ex-girlfriends complain after regularly receiving pokerstars propoganda in the mail from the time you signed them up for the 50 dollar "first-time" signup bonus.

9.) You refer to Pokerstars Spokesman Greg Raymer as your bestfriend: "well...I met Greg in Vegas... at Mcdonalds" you tell everyone.

10.) You think that wearing a Pokerstars pajama top to the bar that you bought with your frequent player points is actually a GOOD idea.

- Morry

Lets first start out with my adventure in the first event of the Winnin of The Green at the Bike. Now I started my poker playing at the Bike two years ago this event. I have had some success there but overall this place has it out for me. Maybe thats the wrong way to think but I could tell you stories about my beats at the Bike that would either make your head spin or you would just not believe me.

Playing at the Bike lately for me is like playing on line. the one outer comes or the miracle gut shot whatever the opponent needs he gets.

I did make one small mistake last night by playing K-9Clubs and lost about 500 chips to a higher pair,but I had 4900 chips and we were only playing 7 levels and here it is the beginning of level 5 and I am average after starting with 1500 chips.

Not to drag this out,Iam small blind have 66 and there is one limper as it comes to the big blind who checks. The flop is 6-5-5 and The limper checks and so do I.I have flopped a full house and I was hoping the big blind was going to try and steal. Well he bets out 1000 chips into the 1350 pot. Limper folds I bet 2000 chips and he goes all in and I call. He turns over A-5 hearts and I have him dominated until the last 5 comes on the turn and gives him quads. I have 800 left and the next hand I have JJ and go all in on a flop of 3-7-8 only to run into pocket 8's who sent me packing. he actually won a big pot because another player with A-8 went all in and lost also. So off I go over to Commerce to watch the final table. I am actually thinking about never playing another tournament as I drive over to Commerce. But I am a stubborn guy and I will probably play the Bounty Event today. If I get dirtied one more time at the Bike. I am done there until next years charity event. By the way I lost at my Charity this year with the best hand going in also>>>!!!!!

The final table was only about 6 1/2 hours long and it was a treat to watch. I was there for Nam Le "No Limit Nam" as I call him. I also told him last night I gave him a new nickname and he laughed. It just shows how cool Nam really is. He took a bad beat against Ivey with pocket Aces and Ivey called his 800K all in with pocket 3's and turned a three. Nam took 4th and about $411,000 after playing superb poker and showing his class stayed and watched fellow Poker player and friend Quin Do battle Ivey Heads up.Most players would of stormed out and pouted,but not Nam. He spoke with all the supporters who were there for him and it was around 30-40 people. Kido Pham was one of them as was Tuan Le. Paul Valencia and I were having fun cracking some Jokes and had Kido laughing a few times.

Quin Do used one of our Charity event fallen Heroes coins as his card protector during the final table and that is quite an honor. I thanked him as Ivey was unbeatable and took Quin out in second on the third hand heads up.

It is always a pleasure to meet new a quality people. The Le family has great personalities and are genuine. I wish them all nothing but the best and I cannot wait until July to see the LAPC on GSN. There were some hands played I would die to see the whole cards, so I hope those hands are not edited out come July.

Thank you Nam Le for allowing me to be a part of your team last night. Thank you Quin Do also. Congratulations on making a final table at one of the toughest events all year!!

Take Care,,,Be Safe

Before I get into my thoughts, let me just say that if you have nothing to do tonight and are a true poker fan check out the live updates of the LAPC tonight. None other than Phil Ivey is in first place. Phil Hellmuth is in third and Nam Le has some work to do in sixth. This could and should be an amazing final table.

Poker has been going better lately. I’ve been slowly building my roll back up, but it’s still not where it was when things were going well for me in summer. I would love to find more time to play but I have been pretty busy this semester. I think it’s helping me actually as I am only playing when I truly want to play. But, this is the reason I am going crazy.

I have tons of small assignments to do this semester and I’ll be amazed if I don’t blank on one of them. I haven’t had this problem yet, but I’ll have a deer in the headlights look on my face if it does happen.

I want to be done with college more than ever right now. Since my first very first semester of college, I haven’t been a fan of it. Classes have always seemed dumb for me. A lot of the stuff I learn in my journalism classes, I could easily learn form editors telling me what they like and don’t like about articles I write for them. It frustrates me a little. The good thing is that I only have 2 ½ semesters to go and my next two will consist of mostly journalism classes.

Hopefully things calm down and I can handle my workload and work in just a little more poker. I’m sure some of you read that and think I have it easy and wish you only had it as easy as me. It’s not as much that I can’t do it as I just don’t want to do it. If I had a decent job offer right now I would take it in a heartbeat and say goodbye to college. This of course won’t happen though.

Well, I think that is enough ranting for today. Try to stay sane, everyone.

I didn't have a chance to go to Commerce last night and sweat Nam. Wednesday night in the Diamond house is family night. I took my wife and girls to Logans,a great little steak house here in town. We then came home and watched a movie the girls wanted to watch,,,High School Musical...enough said!!!

I did periodically get up and check the updates and my fellow crew member Paul called me with updates as he and his wife Sylvia were there watching.

Talking about crew members,our good friend Josh Nichols had surgery on his throat yesterday. He had a growth on his thyroid and they removed it. The great news is the biopsy says its not cancer and he will be home on Friday. We LOVE you Josh and cannot wait to get you healthy so we can take your hard earned dollars from you.

The final table is tonight and I am going to try and make it. The Winnin of the Green Tournament series starts at the Bicycle Casino today. It has 2 start times 1:15 and 7:15 and I think I am going to play at the 1:15 time. Its a $335.00 buy in and it is a 2 day event. I expect between the two times there should be around 600 entries. I will be done in time to make it over to Commerce to watch the end of the Final table.

Yet I may just change my mind and go to the Final table at 5:00 pm to sweat Nam. He will have a huge entourage there in just family members. J.C. Tran may not be there tonight because the NBC Heads Up begins today in Vegas. Some very poor scheduling on the part of NBC and Caesars I think.

I will be playing as often as I can this next few weeks. The Winnin of the Green has some smaller buy in events and The competition is usually decent.

Hope everyone has a great day and I will let you know tomorrow how the evening went. Here is a Shout Out to the guys from Pokerroad Radio who did a great job at the Main Event of the LAPC. Sebok and Huff and Shronk it is always good to talk with you all,great site and I wish you the Best!

I would like to congratulate Chris Bell on the birth of his twin daughters. As you saw the other day Chris when you were able to see my four girls flirt with you what your in for or maybe what I am in for?? Anyway Congratulations Chris.

Take Care Be Safe......

Just a heads-up on tinght's Wise Hand Poker Radio podcast, starting at 8PM EST (5PM PST) over at rounders.radio.com. Of course, you can always finding it by clicking the massive black banner att he top of the wisehandpoker.com main page.

We have three great guests coming on tonight. First off is Bill Edler, the 2007 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year. call that a feather in the show's cap. Bill is going to talk to us about his whirlwind year and the NBC national Heads-Up Poker Championship, since he'll be playing in it starting Friday.

Our second guest is Roy Winston. Roy has over $2 million in tournament winnings, included amongst that the title he took at the WPT's 2007 Borgata Open main event. Winston, who now plays full-time, gave up a thriving medical practice to do so. We'll speak with him about that tough decision and the obvious benefits that have come with it.

Finally, we'll be chatting with Tommy Angelo. I'm right in the middle of Tommy's book, 'Elements of Poker', so he's going to come on and chat abotu the book and the unusual approach it takes to teaching the game.

All in all, I think it's going to be a great show with three very interesting guys. be sure to click that big black banner. Thanks in advance for listening, and as always, send me some feedback! It's always a good thing. Enjoy the show,

Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com

Hey guys, just wanted to point out the final table that seems to be taking shape over at the WPT's LA Poker Championships. Here's a look at the final 18 heading into the penultimate day of play, courtesy of cardplayer.com:

1 Phil Ivey 1,543,000
2 Blair Hinkle 1,541,000
3 Phil Hellmuth Jr. 1,399,000
4 Nam Le 1,254,000
5 Michael Carson 1,029,000
6 Michael Watson 987,000
7 Charles Moore 921,000
8 WeiKai Chang 751,000
9 Quinn Do 695,000
10 Matt Brady 497,000
11 Jennifer Tilly 417,000
12 Jeffrey Schwimmer 413,000
13 Theo Tran 410,000
14 Scott Montgomery 386,000
15 Peter De Best 291,000
16 David Singer 285,000
17 Brian Taylor 228,000
18 Yury Parad 214,000

Neither Ivey or Hellmuth has ever won a WPT, and both have tried and come close more times than either would care to count. What's more, the two have an established history of massive prop betting, so you could see some fun interactions in that regard also.

As big a deal as those two names are, I'd be damn worried abotu Nam Le were I them. Ask anyone on the circuit to name the most consistantly strong performers in the game and his name is going to come up. Plus, he has a little experience with actually winning WPTs.

Finally, there's Jen Tilly. Jen's had her share of questionable TV moments in this game, but i can't help but admire the tenacity with which she's applied herself to learning poker over the last few years, and it shows in results like this one. Oh, and her making the final table wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for poker, know what I mean? Keep an eye on things today...should be a good one.

Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com

Stopped by the Commerce last night and watched the main Event field play down to 18. I sweated Nam Le for most of the time I was there last night. He made a couple of great lay downs and then picked up a huge pot when he re raised the player to his right and his opponent went all in and Nam called. Opponent...AQ Nam..KK no Ace hit the flop and Nam now had a stack over one million. I haven't told nam this yet but his parents must have known he was destined to be a poker player. They gave him the initials of NL...His knew name should be, "No Limit Nam"

Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth and the Philly, well that would be ....Jennifer Tilly....were playing very well but Jennifer dropped in chips before the end of the night. Eric hershler last years champ went out 26th and that is some accomplishment after winning last years event.

My friend Theo tran was all in just before dinner break and was called by another player who had A-J off suit. The flop gave Theo quad 3's and doubled him up to around 450,00 chips and at the end of the night is sitting at around 430,000 chips. Nam is at 1.2 million and I am hoping he can take this event down. He has to go through Phil Ivey and The Poker Brat in order to win the 1.5 million U.S. dollars...

I actually played some cash games last night and had a sick run in the 40.00 NL and walked away with 300.00. I sat down at the 9-18 and made a 300.00 profit also. I went to the 400.00 NL game and it was crazy and I went down to 50 Dollars at one point and then went on a rush.I came home only 475.00 richer,but I had a lot of fun.
The final 18 play down to 6 players tonight and it should be some great poker. I am getting ready for the Winnin of the Green tournament at thee Bike this coming Friday. Should be a great event.

Take care ....Be Safe

Vote in these polls. The results will be read and debated on the March 1st show from the first day of the NBC Heads-up Championship.

Least deserving invitee - http://www.opinionpower.com/Surveys/716052713.html

Biggest Snub - http://www.opinionpower.com/Surveys/229052714.html

-shronk

Sunday February 24th, 2008 its Three Thirty in the morning and I awaken to this buzzing sound. At first I think I am dreaming,but I quickly realize it is time to get up and start the day.This is going to be a little different than normal,because today will not only be a work day,but The Second Annual Memorial Poker Classic Day!

I get started with the three "S" as I like to call them, shit shower and shine.I finish putting some Items for the Charity Event in my Truck and off I go to 7-11 to get my morning cup as I drive into downtown Los Angeles for work.There are some mornings I don't think I am even fully awake as I often realize "I am here already, where did Irwindale go" ..hmmmm had I sleep drove? Anyway as I pull into the 20 story building where I work and drive down to the 4th floor underground to park,I turn off my windshield wipers as it has been pouring with rain all the way into work. I think to myself the rain is going to be a blessing in disguise for the tournament tonight. No one will be doing outdoor activities due to the rain and now they may decide to go out and play some poker in the warmth confines of the Bicycle Casino.

It turns out to be a very quiet Sunday morning at work. I thought Murphys Law was going to sneak in here today and not allow me to make the charity event.The people of LA cooperated and as 1pm rolled around (I left 2 hours earlier then normal) I was out of my uniform and heading down to the Bike to meet my right hand man Craig MCclleland. Craig is also a Deputy and if not for him this event would not be the same. He has helped me immensely the past two years and I truly thank him for his hard work and dedication,this event would not have got off the ground without his help.

Rich from Full Tilt Poker arrives with some fantastic gear and we start setting up all the gifts and prizes we have for this event. It was a lot more work than I thought and my wife arrived to help us stuff all the Full Tilt bags with hats,shirts,coins and magazines from All-In and Bluff.

People start arriving just before three and Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher who flew in from Sctty Nguyen's event in Oklahoma this morning so they could be here for this event, arrive.

Allyn Jefferey Shulman who I met the night before at Robert Turner's 60th birthday party arrives and wants to know why there are competitor magazines here and not Card Players.We have a great discussion with Linda and Jan and Allyn gives me her card and tells me to call her when next years event is planned. Allyn is a wonderful women and I thank her very much for her support and taking time to attend this event. A lot of people told me they were going to come and only Chad Brown and Minh Nguyen and John Vorhaus kept there word. Mark Seif,Kenna James Antonio Esfandari,Chris Bell,Gavin Smith are forgiven because they were playing day two of the Main Event of the LAPC and I know if they were out,they would be here supporting this event.

There were 119 entrants and after a great buffet dinner and some introductions of some of the attendee's, as well as Lindas and Jans intro,Linda said those famous words all Poker players love to hear,"Shuffle up and Deal"!!

We followed all the tournament rules except for one. Denny Williams the tournament Director at the Bike who was instrumental in getting this event here tonight,told everyone they had a choice if the dropped the "F" bomb word. You could pay a $10.00 fine or take a 2 round penalty. I think we made 3 or 4 hundred dollars because of this rule. You had to be here to see it. People were reaching into their pockets and pulling out money,slapping it on the table and then letting loose with the word. It set a trend and made it for a very jovial evening. Denny even saw the fun we were having and jumped in and began to play as Ron Kramer and Mark Taylor ran the rest of the show and catered to those who yelled "Re-Buy"(Denny ended up taking third place and the 40 inch LCD Sony Television)

I have to mention here a class act. After the first hour we had our raffle and gave the players a chance to win some great gifts and due some add ons for $100.00 or $200.00. Full Tilt brought in a Genuine Full Tilt Jersey with Phil Ivey's Name and Number on the back and Phil penned his name on one of the numbers on the back of the jersey. ( He wears number 11)My good friend, Jim Pittman, who also bought us our Poker Coins this year had the winning bid on the autographed Laker ball for $700.00 got into a bidding war with some very nice lady for the Full Tilt Jersey and ended up the highest bidder at $325.00.It was obvious the lady was disappointed because she had said Phil is her favorite player. The lady was seated right behind Jim at another table and as I collected the money, Jim gave the Lady the jersey he had just paid for. Now that is CLASS! Jim thank you for all of your support. You may not be able to spell poker (LOL) but you have a heart of gold! When I announced to the crowd what Jim had just done he got a standing ovation.

Well to make a long story short the tournament ended at 12:30 am and I had to go to work this morning after 2 hours of sleep so I am just a little tired typing here. I busted out 21st when my 99 went all in against 77 and 44 and a 7 came on the turn. It was a fantastic evening thanks to Linda and Jan. Mark put a $250.00 cash bounty on the both of them so they had to dodge several bullets. Jan made the final table taking 5th and for our months of hard work the fallen heroes Charity is around $22,000 richer. This should be able to help a lot of people this year and I have to thank so many for their help. I will write another blog later this week thanking everyone who helped and donated to our cause.

Please take Care and be safe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good night.