Wise Hand Poker

Well, I am officially done with my junior year in college. I am excited and scared about only having one more year left. I am not a big fan of school, but not knowing what my life will be like in a year is a little terrifying.

With exams recently, I haven't had much time to get any poker in. It's been bad as of late when I can find the time to play. It seems like I have been suffering a lot of variance most of this school year. I went on a huge heater last summer; I hope I can do that again this year.

It looks the the tournament back home is having a hard time getting people to play. I wouldn't be surprised if they cancel it. None the less, I am sure there will be some cash games this summer. Hopefully I can rake in some dough from those.

I have relieved I like playing live a lot more than online. I just have a feel in a live game that I believe gives me an edge.

I have been enjoying this past year being able to blog here at wisehandpoker immensely. My poker game has improved partly because I am the type when I take something on I read,study and get involved as much as I can. I have played in 15 tournaments this year and have played well in about 10 of them. I have put to use what I have learned from friends and from the material I have read and studied. A break is good and spending time with my wife and girls is awesome. My job, well it has been busy and I have been putting in some extra hours and pocketing a little extra cash from the County.

I read on-line as much as I can regarding Poker and I continually talk to the friends I have made in the past two years playing Poker. I remember when I started playing two years ago and had the opportunity to meet a few poker icon's because I live here in LA and played in tournaments at the Commerce and the Bike.

Some of the first individuals I met were the hard working Poker Reporters who roamed the aisles writing down hands of the players we are most interested in and posting them on the sites they worked for. You truly have to love poker to do this, as it is hard work and a thankless job. The Pro's love these reporters though, because they get the word out to their families and friends on how they are doing in a tournament and give them much needed exposure.

If you have been a constant reader of my blog's you know I was very vocal when Bluff and Cardplayer monopolized the tournament reporting and some friends were out of work. I since have come to know Eric Morris the President of Bluff magazine and he is a big supporter of My Charity Event and a very down to earth guy.

Cardplayer would not give mention to my Charity event because of my blogs and when Allyn Jaffrey Shulman attended my Charity Event she demanded to know why CP was not involved.

Allyn is a fantastic person and I was honored to be able to meet her. I explained what I thought might be the reason and she told me CP will be a big contributor to the Charity next year.

I am an old fashioned type of guy and I do not forget the people who have been kind to me in my life. When I first started playing Poker I was a pea in a pod in the Poker Community. I made some friends and in two years time hundreds of people are saying hello to me that I never have met. Pretty awesome and I want to thank all of you. I do not have an ego so all of you do not have to worry about my bald head getting any bigger. I am a down to earth as they come and this is why I supported all those who took me under their wings and introduced me to others in the Poker Community. I will always do my best to stand by you and support you!!

Several of them because of their talents caught on with other companies and are doing well. I am very happy for them.

With all of the turmoil in Poker right now I am glad too see Bluff and Cardplayer trying to keep Poker in the Limelight. I have three subscriptions to Poker magazines, Bluff, CP and All-In and cannot wait for them to come each month.I am grateful as a poker enthusiast Bluff and CP even send reporters to events so the Poker enthusiast can go on-line and keep up with their favorite players on the tournament trail. Thank you Bluff and CP for your continuing effort on keeping Poker in the forefront.

I am so looking forward to the tournament reports from this years WSOP. I know how tired you reporters are going to be and the difficult task of 12-14 hour days you have ahead of you! I want to thank you all in advance for your dedication and hard work you our about to embark on!!

I will be attending some of the events as my time permits this year and I am going to introduce myself to as many of you that I can and THANK YOU personally for the work you do for us avid Poker enthusiasts on a daily basis during tournaments.

I will be handing out some T-Shirts from my Charity Poker Event to as many of you as I can. So at least you will have one more clean shirt to wear during your month in Vegas.

Good luck to all those who are venturing to Sin City in the next few weeks to work at the WSOP and to those of you who are going to play. I will be writing some blogs about my experiences in Vegas and if you allow me to, will post the names of the people I meet there this year.

Also I called the WPT again today and no one answered. Tomorrow I will drive by their office (it's in an area I patrol) and go up there and try and get some info for all of you about the future of broadcasts on TV for the WPT.

Just as I posted this, my contact at the WPT returned my call. NO COMMENT NO COMMENT..is what I was told. However they did not seem to disappointed and are currently not looking for work, Its a sign right? Only time will tell...
Take Care and Be Safe...

The Game Show Network (GSN) who has for the past few years entertained its audiences with several different Poker Shows,announced yesterday they will no longer be broadcasting High Stakes Poker.

HSP was on Monday Nights and it was shown just before the 2 hour episodes of the WPT. GSN signed only a one year contract with the WPT and several people have tried to contact GSN for comment,however they are not talking. So as it stands now, we do not know if the WPT will be back for another season.

I tried calling my contact at the WPT for 2 days now and cannot get a hold of them. I guess ESPN will be the only game in town and they also did not film the U.S. Poker Championships in Atlantic City this year. Stand by for a lot of reruns or Poker only August through November on ESPN.

As we wait for the WSOP to start (16 days from now) table talk is still about the WSOP holding the final table for 117 days.

Robert "Chip Burner" Turner told me he thinks the decision is "Pure Genius" and Harrahs should hold the final table at the "Thomas and Mack Center" at UNLV, charge admission and he believes it will sell out, around 18,000 seats.

The major complaint by most is top professionals are going to make money coaching the final 9.

My rebuttal is, maybe,maybe not. After all the final 9 will have to have some Poker skills to get through the 9,000 person field. Oh of course there will be incredible luck needed. Look at Jerry Yang last year. The one hand that saved him has not ever really been talked about.

Jerry held A5 and was way behind after an all in call when the river hit a 4 giving Jerry a straight. A incredible card and he ends up winning the Main Event.

The professionals always like to chip up early and get very aggressive and in a tournament of this size with as much dead money as ever, I think if they actually played patiently and Poker as they write it in their books they would have a much better chance.

I have never played a tournament over $1000.00 buy in and the biggest field other than the WSOP Seniors Event last year (1900 players) was a $545.00 buy in during the 2007 LA Poker Classic with 790 players. I made a bad call with 17 players left with QJ diamonds against the small blind who was aggressive. he held 3-9 off and beat me with a 3.

Every professional has been waiting for the WSOP because it is the one event that makes you gain the respect of Poker players throughout the world.

If you win an event or go deep and accrue points your name is on all the big screens in the Amazon room and all over the poker web sites.

You are measured as a Poker Player on how you do at the WSOP.

Getting back to the WSOP. My point is Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Ultimate bet along with Absolute Poker will try and get one of the players to wear their logo. These sites have representatives who will be paid by the site you sign with to coach you. The site will pay them more than you will and it will be just an added bonus for you making the final table and you never know you could end up like Rhame and be a Poker Star pro.

Full Tilt and Poker Stars have the market when it comes to signing players. They have the most pro's and the most players. Maybe just maybe on-line will be legalized in the US by November creating more competition as well as huge signing bonuses for the final 9.

Coaching will not make the final 9 any better? Coaching will confuse the player more than it will help him? The final 9 will make a deal and everyone but them will lose money?

The WSOP will never be the same? Espn made a mistake?

These are some of the questions we all talked about and as time goes by the next few weeks hopefully there will be answers.

My question is will the WSOP allow conflicting sponsorships to get involved. For instance, Budweiser dressing up a player in a Nascar Suit when Milwaulkees Best paid millions to have its name on the Poker tables.

Jeffrey Pollack wants this. Will it ruin big sponsorships for 2009?

I personally like the delay. I am going to watch each episode like and wait each week for the next to show. Its become like your favorite TV show that says stay tuned for clips to next week, Like I did with Heroes,until it got boring.

It will lead us up to November creating excitement to finally see the finale. I mean I already knew who won the main Event last year,but I still watched every episode ESPN showed.

Look forward to seeing you all up there this year. I will be there off and on during the series.. Good Luck to all of you who play and shoot me an e-mail if you enter an event and I will post your name here and pass on any respectable message you would like the readers to know.

Take care...be safe