Is the Game Show About to Fold High Stakes Poker?

The word on the street, or at least the word on popular poker blogs like Pokerati and Wicked Chops, is that High Stakes Poker (HSP)—a favorite of many poker aficionados (and yes, that includes me)—will fold what thus far has been a winning hand. Pokerati quoted HSP co-host A.J. Benza this way:

"Far as Gabe and I know ... the show isn't coming back. The network is going to go in a different direction and that ain’t good news for our show, especially since we skew a higher-aged audience.

Never mind that we're the network's No. 1 show. Still and all, no one calls us from the network to say squat. Only Kevin Bellincoff checks in periodically, but it just don't seem like good news … They're treating us like s**t. All we ever did was make them a bunch of money."

High Stakes Poker soared to popularity because it featured big-name professional poker players, like Doyle Brunson (pictured), Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Sammy Farha, Jennifer Harman and others buying in with $100,000 of their own money and trying to best each other in a high stakes, no-limit hold’em cash game. The show, which features Gabe Kaplan and A.J. Benza as commentators, has been the top rated show on the Game Show Network.

But all that took place before the departure of GSN’s president Rich Cronin, who stood foursquare behind poker shows on GSN.

Now if you’re in a speculating kind of mood, riddle me this: If GSN drops High Stakes Poker—their most popular show—where does that leave the World Poker Tour?

Off to Ireland for Two Weeks

You won't see any new posts for the next two weeks. I'll be in Ireland on a family vacation. My wife was born and brought up there, so it's time for a visit, time to kiss the Blarney Stone again (that's me in front of Blarney Castle in the rain, the last time I was in Ireland), time to go to Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cobh, Cork, Kerry, Sligo, and a few other places too.

When I'm back--in early June--I'll post the best of the Ireland pictures here.

Meanwhile, I'll have a Guinness for each and every one of you, unless I'm in County Cork. Then I'll order up a Murphy's.

Shifting Gears at the Poker Table

I was playing online a few days ago and got an interesting lesson in table composition. When I joined the game, it was a full-table game that happened to be playing six-handed when I sat down. It was not a six-handed table.

Nevertheless, the game typified the aggression found at tables expressly set aside for six-handed play. We played for about 30 minutes when the table suddenly filled up. Now there were no open seats and almost immediately, all of the uber-aggressive players during the table’s short handed phase tightened up quite a bit, and the game played like a full table, not like the short-handed game it had been a few minutes ago.

The lesson is this: When you take notes on your opponents at the table, be aware that players are very likely to change playing styles as the table fills up or empties out. The person you’ve pegged as a maniac at a short table might be a very cautious player when the table fills up.

It’s also worth noting those players who prefer full tables and don’t really adjust well to short handed play. They’ll make mistakes and provide profit making opportunities to everyone who can shift gears quickly—in accordance with how the table’s composition changes as players come and go.

The great thing about note-taking is that you have the beginnings of a book on your opponents. The flip side of that coin is that players are not usually as fixed and rigid as notes make them seem. Players change style for a variety of reasons. It isn’t limited to table size. Players change because of table composition, because of the way they feel, because of a bad beat they took a few minutes ago at the table or a bad beat they took at home, or at work, or any number of other factors. It’s always a good idea to make sure your opponent is playing like the notes you’ve taken say he will.

If not, you’ve got to make some adjustments on the fly, or else you’re aiming at a target that’s on the move and out of sight.

The World Poker Association: Taking it to the (No) Limit

The World Poker Association announced the launch of its first educational event for members—63 Money Making Tips to Win a Bundle at the WSOP—to be held during the WPA Inaugural Conference at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino May 28 - 29, 2008.

Three experienced poker coaches—author, radio host, and a LIPS Tour champion Lisa Adams, lawyer, accomplished player, and Washington Poker School founder Ken Adams, and Francois Montmirel, principal of the acclaimed French School of Poker—will tutor the audience as part of a panel moderated by poker legend Mike Caro.

The panel will tackle issues such as building successful strategies against rising tournament players, differences in styles of play between Americans and Europeans, and tips for improving your game against any woman at your table.

WPA Chairman, Wendeen H. Eolis says, "The Conference is a winning trifecta ticket, allowing members to sharpen their tournament skills, network at the must-be-seen opening cocktail party, May 28 and then prove their bragging rights in the WPA Mega Satellite, May 29."

The Conference will open with the WPA's Inaugural Membership Meeting where the election of Directors of the World Poker Association will be completed for the new membership year (June, 2008 through May 2009).The officer slate s is headed by Eolis as Chairman, with Ken Adams as Vice Chair, Roy Winston as Secretary, and Rhett Butler as Treasurer.

Additional Director nominees are Lisa Adams, Michael Binger, Doyle Brunson, Joe Hachem, Jesse Jones, Thomas Kremser, J.J. Liu, Victor Ramdin, Blair Rodman, Roger Saad, and Harry Thomas, Jr. The slate was enthusiastically endorsed by the current Board, which also tipped its hat to Jesse Jones supporting his nomination as a director with the title of Chairman Emeritus, in recognition of him as the founder of the WPA.

I’ve been a member of the Board of Directors for the past year and have seen this organization build steam and begin evolving from just a dream and a vision to a direction that’s supportive of increased professionalism in poker. Commenting on her anticipated role as the Association's chief elected officer, Eolis says: "I am the short-term steward for the evolving vision of the WPA." Of her colleagues, she adds, "The new Board slate reflects the best in diversity and a group of doers with an abundance of smarts at the poker table.”

To me it looks all good. I’ll miss my interaction with the board; but it’s in very good hands.

Rally Against Washington State's Draconian Online Poker Law May 15

Legislation signed into law by Washington’s Governor Chris Gregorie makes felons of anyone playing poker online. The law puts online poker on par with child pornography and heroin possession.

Lee Rousso, the Poker Players Alliance’s (PPA) Washington State Director, presents his case to the King County Superior Court on May 15, and the PPA will hold a rally and press conference outside the courthouse immediately following the hearing. Russo challenges the law’s constitutionality, arguing that it violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, which reserves the right to regulate interstate and international commerce for congress. Most state attempts to regulate the Internet run afoul of the Commerce Clause, and Washington's law should be no exception.

Poker luminaries Andy Bloch and Barry Greenstein (pictured) will join Washington State members of the PPA at the rally to show their support for Rousso's efforts to keep poker legal. The rally will be held at the Maleng Regional Justice Center, 401 – 4th Ave. North, Kent, WA 98032.

For additional information please contact Teresa Schofield at either of these numbers: 202-347-7516 (office), (202)739-1312 (mobile), or via email at: tschofield@theheraldgroup.com

The WSOP: In for a dime, in for a dollar.

In for a dime, in for a dollar. That's what I’m thinking as I stare at a schedule of events for this year’s World Series of Poker (2007 main event winner Jerry Yang pictured left) that came in the mail last week.

It’s tough to make sense of 54 events, but if you stop and stare at the schedule long enough, some things start to pop out at you.

For instance, if you are on a budget, and can only play weekends, you’ve got it a WSOP that’s just made for you. On Saturday, May 31 there’s a $1,500 4-day, no-limit hold’em tournament. On Friday, June 6 you’ll find a 3-day limit hold’em event. Seven days later you’ll find a 3-day razz tournament and the next day, June 14, a 3-day, no-limit hold’em event is scheduled.

One week later, on June 21, another $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event is set, and they yet another will be contested on June 28.

So you can play in five events, or six—if you bust out of the razz event on June 13 and opt to play the no-limit hold’em tournament the following day. At $1,500 each, that makes a grand total of $9,000—one thousand less than you’d spend to enter the main event. If you allot that additional grand to travel, you can get six times the play—though far less glory if you win—than you can by playing in the main event.

If you’ve got the jack, there’s a high-rollers WSOP with your name on it. There are eight, $10,000 buy-in events scheduled (pot-limit hold’em on May 30; mixed event on June 4; 7-card stud on June 7; heads-up no-limit hold’em June 13; limit hold’em June 15; Omaha/8 June 19; pot-limit Omaha June 29; and the main event, no-limit Texas hold’em on July 3. You can enjoy a bigger, more expensive trip to the WSOP for $80,000. But if you really want to spice things up a bit, you can play in the world championship HORSE event on June 25. That will set you back $50,000 and make the cost of your high-rollers WSOP trip a cool $130,000 just for entry fees, never mind the travel and lodging.

There’s more than a little something for everyone here, and we’re not even talking about any other tournaments that will overlap the WSOP.

What's New at This Year's World Series of Poker

By now everyone is buzzing about the decision to play the WSOP main event’s final table in November, which creates a long time period in which to generate buzz about the event, create viewership for ESPN, and allow the final table to be broadcast in near real time.

But last Thursday, when Jeffrey Pollack, the World Series of Poker’s commissioner appeared on my radio show, Keep Flopping Aces—it aired originally at 6 p.m. Pacific Time (9 Eastern Time) on http://www.roundersradio/, and can now be heard as a podcast by going to the station and downloading the broadcast—he outlined a number of other changes we can expect at the 2008 WSOP. Here are some of the major changes for 2008:

A Dozen Changes, Straight From the Horses Mouth

1. No tent for poker this year. While it might be used to house a food court, no one will have to play poker in the hot, windy, uncomfortable tent.
2. There’ll be a separate room for satellites
3. They are separating the casino cage from the tournament area in order to allow for better processing and keep crowds from interfering with the play.
4. There’ll be a strong effort to reduce unsportsmanlike conduct, with significant discretion given floor supervisors in rendering decisions.
5. No cellphones or other voice enabled devices can be used at the table.
6. Event registration opens May 28.
7. There’ll be more space between tables in the Amazon room.
8. A concierge service will be established to help players with room reservation, dinner reservations, and other sorts of arrangements.
9. There’ll be more food choices.
10. There’ll be more restrooms too.
11. When the final table is established, all players will receive ninth place prize money. The remainder of the prize pool will be invested with interest accruing to the players when the final table is played out in November.
12. Players can wear sponsor logs, but no single company name can be represented more than once on a single clothing item. There’s a maximum size limit of 12 square inches per logo. The 16 week period between the time the final table is established and November, when the final table is actually played, will give the nine finalists a chance to secure all the sponsorship they can.

Will There be a Tournament of Champions?

When I asked whether there’ll be another Tournament of Champions, I was told that they are “… working on it,” and an announcement will be made at some unspecified future date.

Will the WSOP Move From the Rio? Don't Count on It!

When I asked whether the WSOP has any plans to abandon the Rio and move the event to Caesars Palace, or some other Harrah’s property, Pollack was adamant in telling me that they were happy with the Rio and intend to stay there

Any Special Plans for 2009, the WSOP's 40th Birthday?

Since 2009 will mark the WSOP’s 40th birthday, I asked whether they had any special plans in place yet to celebrate it. I was told that they are working on that, but no details will be released until plans are finalized—at which time they’ll hold a press conference.