Wise Hand Poker

As some of you may know, about 60 lbs ago I was co-captain of the basketball team in high school. There was another kid named Henner Derstein, and we were the only two 3pt shooters on the team.

With three games to go in my junior year, some punk from Upper Merion took out my legs on a layup and I fell to the floor and dislocated my right shoulder (and tore every tendon and ligament).

At the banquet at the end of that year, Coach Engard said that I had "the potential to be the best shooter to ever come through Souderton (my high school)."

All summer Henner and I came up with our own elaborate shooting routine. Before and after every practice and before and after every game one person would stand about 3 feet from the basket on one side and shoot free-throw style. You had to stay at that spot until you made 10, then moved on. It usually took Henner and I 11 or 12 shots to get the 10 makes. See, we understood shooting, as we had both studied it. Coming onto the court and blowing up 3s right away is just going to fuck up your mechanics. Each day you have to re-teach all your fast-twitch muscles - that's your "touch." Lots of shooters have great mechanics, not many have great "touch."

So anyway, in December I suffered my fourth shoulder dislocation (this one more serious than the 2nd and 3rd since after the 3rd time, they went in and totally reconstructed my shoulder. This latest dislocation surely blew out any repairs they had done.)

My rehab for my should was coming along much slower this time; in fact, today was the first time I had shot a basketball in over 6 months.

So I woke up at like 6am and was bored out of my mind by 7am, so I decided it was time to really start to try to learn to shoot again, and I went to Walmart and got a new basketball (both of the $160 balls that I stole from Hatboro Horsham were left back in philly).

Walking up to the court and dribbling, I noticed a little rust, but I could still handle the ball well and could still do some of my old "And1Mixtape" tricks.

So I walk up to the rim. About 3 feet away. Bounce the ball twice. Knees bent. Smooth release.

Airball.

Not even close.

I shot from 3 feet away from the basket for a while. About 20 minutes and 40 shots later, I got my first make.

I made three more 3-footers in the rest of that hour.

It doesn't seem fair that you should have to relearn something - especially something you're an expert on. In that summer with Henner, I probably shot over 10,000 shots. And that was when I was already a good shooter. I can't even imagine how many it's going to take to get back ANYTHING that resembles my old shot.

That's the depressing moment. The moment you realize that no matter what you do, you'll never be as good as you used to.

It has already been almost a week and the conversation at Commerce last night was about Absolute Poker Scandal along with the Ultimate Bet scandal, as well as the WSOP changes.

My good friend George Pineda made yet another final table in the $545.00 NL event at Commerce's Heavenly Holdem Tournament. One of the guys at the final table was wearing an Ultimate Bet hat and this stirred up a conversation amongst the rail birds.

I was amazed to hear some of the Poker players NEVER heard about the scandal and some said they could care less since all on-line Poker is rigged.

However the main topic of conversation was about the WSOP. Just not about the November 9, but some other changes as well.

I just listened and found some of the guys points to be very interesting. One group of guys say if they make the final table during the 117 day delay they are going to make a deal to chop the money 9 ways. Some believe there will be a clause not allowing this,but it was an interesting debate anyway. Also some of the guys were talking about where they are staying. One group rented a house for 10k...for 6 weeks..7 bedrooms,pool Jacuzzi,and satellite TV. I guess thats not a bad deal for 5 guys.

George took 4th last night after making some incredible lay downs. Twice he layed down pocket 9's to an all in call, once pocket 7's and finally 10-10. The BB was amazed when George showed him 10-10 as he turned over AA.. George just got blinded down near the end and couldn't win a race with 4 left. Congratulations George another stellar performance!

If you want to read some more about the pro's thoughts on the WSOP format, go to ESPN Poker Club and read Gary Wise's interviews with several top names. Great articles Gary, lets hear some more.

Take Care...Be Safe....

Well the talk is still about the WSOP final table being played in November. Actually two days in November. The final 9 play down to the final 2,(unless when there are three players left and all 3 go all in,this would ruin some advertising dollars)The final two would come back the next night for heads up and be shown on TV the next day after editing some of the boring hands out.

This event used to be the world championship. It is still considered by many professionals, who would love to have that piece of jewelry given at the end of the event to the winner, as well as their photo up in the Amazon room for life as the Champions Event.

Its hard to change your mind set after so many years, but I believe as do others the Championship Event is now the HORSE Event. It is truly a skill of the all around player.

This would not make for very good television though,because most people are NL players only and do not understand the other games.Therefore they probably would not watch it as intensely as they do NL.

After much thought and reading some other opinions as well as Jeffrey Pollack's reasoning, Maybe we should give this a chance. So what if these 9 players get coached, I think after going through a field of 9,000 they have some skills and they deserve to have those skills polished.

They unfortunately have something tragic happen to them, the family still benefits plus this would cause even more of us to watch. The media would focus on this and it would make the event even more popular due to the extra media coverage surrounding a tragedy.

If this is making ESPN more money, Great!, ESPN is the premier Sports channel on TV and I believe no one else does a better job with Sporting events then them. Also no one else covers Poker Like they do and I am sure the Final table will be edited correctly this year to show a more personal side of the Players.

Sometimes we have a difficult time with change. Not only in our jobs but in our personal life. I have learned to be flexible because my Job requires it on a daily basis and it has helped me in my personal life.

If this does not work, The WSOP goes back to the way it was. No harm, No foul. However this new format could be the way of the future for Big Events, I could see the WPT trying something new to get their viewer ship up soon or we will lose another Poker Show on TV and the Players will lose some pretty good income.

We should be focusing our attention to the legalization of on line. This would make the WSOP even better because of the monies the on-line sites would put back into Poker.

Lets Give this a chance and hold our negative opinions until after November. I kind of think after much thought,it is going to be a good thing if Harrahs does indeed take care of the "November 9" as they are now being called, with getting them back to Vegas and accommodating their families transportation.

Take Care...Be safe...

I told my self before playing the $225.00 NL event at Commerce last night not to worry how tournaments have treated me there the past year. I chopped a satellite to get into this event and had come in 3rd in two others (No Money though)and I have been playing very well as of late.

The fields have been above average the past 4 days and that is a good sign for Poker here in LA. Last night there were 308 people entered.

Not to make this a long blog,although I should since I will not be playing for a whileI lasted 50 minutes last night. A big improvement over the last several tournaments.

I am in seat 5 and the button is in seat 3. Under the gun raises to 175 when the blinds had just gone to 50-25.. I have 66 and I call the 175 as does the button.The flop..10d-6d-4h. Under the gun bets 300 and I think of pushing here but I saw him smile here and I only called the 300. The button also called and I knew some one was on a flush draw and now I know I should of just pushed in. We only started with 1500 in chips so I was trying to be careful. The turn was the Qs and under the gun checked. I now push as does the button and to my amazement so does under the gun.

Under the gun QQ for a turned set and the button2-4 diamonds the river...8d to give the button a flush and I am scratching my head on the way out of the ballroom. I would of lost to the set of Queens no matter what. If I had pushed on the flop he was going to call anyway. I just do not know how the button called 2-4 d for 175.

I have [played well this year and maybe a break will do me some good. I am going to start working Overtime at work to build up some vacation time for this summer.I have 2 weeks off in July and the family and me are going to Laughlin boating over the July 4th week and then to Vegas to watch the WSOP and have some fun.

I am still playing the Seniors event at the WSOP and possibly might take a drive up to the Caesars Deep Stack at the beginning of June for one day.

Also at the end of May the Bicycle Casino is hosting a deep stack tourney with 50,60 and 100 dollar buy ins. I just may play some 40 dollar events to keep sharp, schedule permitting.

I hope all is well with all of you and if you need to get in touch with me ,pkrwisehand@sbcglobal.net...Take care...Be Safe............

My friend brian showed me this thign the other day. Basically you get unlimited .10 freerolls on sports bets. If you run it up past $20, you can cash out, or you can just keep running it up. If you bust, they give you another .10 to start out with. So far it's just been a fun way to have something extra to root on (especially when baseball season is the only thing going, which I find monumentally boring).

I never wanted to get into real sports betting because I've seen what it's done to people, but this is like fantasy sports betting since there's really no risk.

If you want to sign up go here: www.centsports.com

WPT/PokerRoad Bounty Tournament!

WPT.com and PokerRoad have teamed up to put together a great tournament with bounties and added cash, as well as a chance for you to get a 100% deposit bonus on the WPT's real-money site.

This is for only NON-US CUSTOMERS at this time. (contact your congressman to change that).

Sign up to play on the WPT's site, receive a 100% deposit bonus, and compete in the $10 bounty tournament against Antonio Esfandiari, Jody Trainer (former Canadian Player of the Year), Joe Sebok, and Super-Producer Court Harrington of PokerRoad Radio (all of which have $50 bounties on them, as well as PokerRoad gear).

Here's what you need to do:

1. Go to the PokerRoad Radio page on PokerRoad.com and click through the WPT banner at the top of the page (or use the bonus code 'ROAD' when signing up at WPT) in order to get your deposit bonus. THIS PART IS VERY IMPORTANT!

2. Deposit at least $11 (the buy-in for the tournament). The more you deposit, the more WPT will match in bonuses (up to $100).

3. Register for the tournament:
- Tournament Name: WPT Canadian Open
- Date: May 11 02:00 UK (6pm Pacific on May 10th)
- Added Cash to Prize Pool: $300
- Type: Bounty $50 per bounty player (plus PokerRoad gear)

4. Play in the tournament and get to chat and play with our bounties: Antonio Esfandiari, Joe Sebok, and Court Harrington.

5. Take the thing down, collect your bounties and gear, and go on to run it up huge on WPT's real-money site!

The click-through bonus banner can be found on the PokerRoad Radio page. Sign up now and take out Court "Nitzilla" Harrington, and hand Joe his third career "Seventhbok."

I am hoping the name of the tournament is an omen for me. Last night I did not play the $335.00 multi-rebuy event. However 411 people did play and they had 525 re-buys and 129 add ons making first place a very nice 80,000.

I did play a satellite and ended up chopping it,so I have my buy in $225.00 for tonight and $335.00 for Tuesday Night.

I am hoping its heavenly for me!! I am really making good reads and if I can survive some unusual play by others, I should have a great next two days.

I am going to take a break after Tuesday and work some overtime because I am going on Vacation for 2 weeks in July and I am planning on attending the WSOP in the next few weeks. Mainly as a spectator,but I am going to play some satellites and I am already registered in the Senior's Event.

Congratulations to my friend Luis Concha who won the Bicycle Casino's Free roll event yesterday. It was for all the players who had played so many hours in cash games and the Bike put up a 15,000 prize pool.

The final Table of 10 made a deal because the blinds had grown to the 12,000-6,000 limit and since it was free money no one really wanted to have to pay Uncle Sam anything. Smart move guy's!

I have been enjoying reading about the WSOP decision to play the Final Table in November. Some excellent points have been made by so many. I have even read some blogs by famous players who are against it and they lay out their reasoning very well. I am sure there is going to be a lot more debates over the next few months regarding this issue.

Take Care all ...Be Safe..