However, things are quite different when you are the short stack and have to fight for your tournament life.  In fact, you’ll have to go all-in at some point (or multiple points) just to get back to a decent chip stack.  Here are a couple things you should look at before deciding whether or not to go all-in with the short stack.

Hand Quality

This is one of the most obvious things you should think about before going all-in.  If you’ve got Q-Q or better pre-flop then you absolutely have to start thinking about shoving.  Even a hand like 9-9 or a drawing hand like Q-J might warrant going all-in if you’re really short stacked.  Of course, good hands don’t always fall to us when we’re short stacked so there is another thing you should definitely look at.

Required Odds

One more thing you need to be aware of before making the decision to go all-in is what your required odds are.  Basically required odds are really good odds that require you to go all-in when sitting on the short stack.  If you believe that you’re getting 2-to-1 odds on any hand then you should be shoving.

For instance, even if you think your opponent has A-K and you only have 10-9 then you should still be shoving since this hand will beat A-K almost 40% of the time.  When you put your opponents on this kind of range and get 2-to-1 odds or better then you need to be going all-in.

The CarbonPoker Thanksgiving jackpot has grown by over $1000 in the last 24 hours. You guys are rabid!

As of 13:06:24 Server Time on November 5, 2009 (that’s official!), the Jackpot is weighing in at $7,289.25. And that’s pre-cooked.

You guys still have 3.5 weeks to baste that into a pretty insane prizepool for the heads up leaderboard championship. Remember, you need to finish in the top 128 to get a spot and try for the payout.

Here’s the breakdown of how you get points:

1c of entry fee = 1 leaderboard point

Buy-in	Total LB Points	Points for 1st	Points for 2nd
$2 + 20c	40	28	12
$5 + 50c	100	70	30
$10 + $1	200	140	60
$25 + $2.50	500	350	150
$50 + $5	1000	700	300

And just so you know, you’re still not late to the party. There is plenty of time to crack the upper echelon of the leaderboard. Get grinding, turkeys.

According to many sources, GSN dumped Benza because they were looking to bring in an attractive female co-hostess.  At the time, rumors were swirling that poker pro Vanessa Rousso was the first choice by the network to fill Benza’s shoes.  Eventually, GSN would state that Rousso was not going to host HSP so former World Poker Tour hostess Shana Hiatt become another name thrown into the mix.

However, we now know that Hiatt won’t be the hostess either since it has been reported that poker pro Kara Scott will become the new commentator on High Stakes Poker.  Scott is one of the rising female professional players since she has earned $453,000 of her $500,000 career winnings in the last years and she’s also finished within the top 250 players in the last two WSOP Main Events.  In addition to her playing exploits, Scott has also done broadcasting work for the European Poker Tour and Poker Night Live.

The only thing that is standing in the way of Kara Scott being officially announced as the new HSP hostess is that she needs to obtain a permit which would allow her to work in the United States.  Without this permit, it would be illegal for Scott to work as the new HSP hostess according to US laws.  But it’s almost a given that Kara Scott will be able to get this permit since GSN is counting on it.

The good people at CarbonPoker seeded the jackpot with $2,500 and you players have jacked it up to over $6K already. If that’s not enough motivation to work your way up the leader board, I’m not sure you should even keep reading this.

As I told you before, half of each Turkey Jackpot SnG gets thrown into the Final Tourney Jackpot. The top 128 players on the Thanksgiving leader board will face off in a unique starting stack heads up bracket tourney (say that 3 times fast) at the end of the promotion.

Track the Thanksgiving Leader Board here to see how far you need to go to increase your stack. If the first four days are any indication, there will be a lot to play for at the end of the month.

Current Leaders:

1. sliekas
2. mazokie
3. LTUFlawless
4. Edener2012
5. Smaggie
6. vader46
7. freeroller4
8. 27imod
9. mart1129
10. racer13

Reasoning

In poker there are plenty of ups and downs and this can put a major strain on one’s bankroll.  Fortunately, this problem can be combated by aligning with a financial partner.  Using a partner in poker allows two players to pull their resources together in tournaments or cash games and share the spoils of victory afterwards.  Plus it can be pretty fun as well as motivating having a poker partner too.

Pros and Cons

There are definitely positives and negatives to playing with a poker partner.  One big positive is that you will have somebody to keep you motivated and to share a bankroll with.  This is a big advantage when you are experiencing those days when you just don’t wanna play poker or are having trouble funding your bankroll.  Another advantage is that you will have a fellow poker buddy to hang out with which is great from a social aspect.

The biggest con to playing with a partner is the money issues that arise from any normal partnership.  Whether it’s the fact that your partner isn’t good with money or a dispute about how the cash should be spent, it is never easy sharing a bankroll with another player.  Another big problem with partnerships is that two players may have a difficult time agreeing on how long to play each week.  Some players like to keep a light poker schedule while others want to grind all of the time.

Colluding

If you have a poker partner then it can be all too tempting to want to cheat.  When somebody cheats with a poker partner, this is commonly referred to as colluding in the poker world.  While some players may get away with colluding for a short while, most of them eventually get caught.

And when you’re caught colluding there can be major repercussions such as having your account banned, money taken away from your account, and possibly the shame of having everyone know you cheated if you’re a big name.  The most common type of colluding involves players sharing hand information with each other in order to gain an unfair advantage.  It goes without saying that you should avoid colluding at all costs!

No one in the game has the face, resume and likeability of the Texas Dolly himself. Winner of 10 WSOP bracelets, a Hall of Famer, and an ambassador for the game, I’m sure there was no issue with finding enough content to fill the 372 pages.

Godfather of Poker winds its way through Brunson’s beginnings in poker – far before it was covered by media outlets, legitimized and revered – when games were found in backrooms and were notoriously ‘wild west’. Through his career, Brunson was privy to shocking changes in how the game was perceived and played.

The only constant in poker has been Brunson.

The book’s forward was written by Mike Cochran and features backing from Sexton, Caro and many others in the industry.  Published by Cardoza, you can find this book for $26.95 USD.

Betting Every Time

The simplest way to capitalize on a big hand is to bet every time the action comes around to you.  This means laying down a wager on the flop, the turn, and the river which can be tough to pull off if players can put you on a monster hand.  However, this way can work if you’ve got a loose table image and other players think you’re likely to bluff.

Overbetting

Another good way to maximize profits on an excellent hand is to overbet.  Overbetting involves betting far more than the pot which can lure players into the trap of thinking that you’re betting big because you are bluffing.  Overbets are especially effective when other players are left guessing as to what you’re large bets mean.  The only problem with overbetting is that it may scare tight players away from making the call.

Check-Raise

The obvious advantage to a check-raise is that it allows you to have two bets in a single round rather than just one.  But while check-raising may be very advantageous from a chips standpoint, the big drawback is that you can lose a whole round of betting if an opponent decides to simply check as well.  All three of the aforementioned methods are great ways to build a big pot….it’s just up to you as to which situation calls for which method.

If you didn’t make the final table, and I’m assuming you didn’t, there’s no need to feel left out.

You can still make cash on the final table with a little bit of online wagering. Put your money where your picks are and look at the futures list for the winner of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

These are futures wagers, where you’re picking the winner. It’s not a horse race, so you can’t just bet to show. Pick the first place horse poker player.

Got a pick? Hit the comments to let me know.

WSOP 1st Place Finish**:

• Darvin Moon +200
• Eric Buchman +300
• Steven Begleiter +500
• Jeff Shulman +500
• Joe Cada +900
• Phil Ivey +325
• Kevin Schaffel +900
• Antonie Saout +1200
• James Akenhead +1200

It looks like a lot of the public money is pouring in on Ivey, so that’s why the profitability is so low on a guy that’s 7th in chips. Sure he’s good, but his name is even better.

When looking at value, I like Shulman at +500. His family’s been hot lately, and this could be a winning wager. But what do I know?

** For those of you who don’t know, this is how the wagering works: Think of these numbers as being based on $100 Wagers. For example, if you bet $100 on Joe Cada to win, you’d win $900; $100 on Ivey to win it all, $325 in winnings.

Walken is on a British show called Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and absolutely kills the delivery.

Enough talking, here’s the Christopher Walken Poker Face Video:

The bubble has burst for Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho in the Amazing Race. The girls were eliminated in The Netherlands, cutting the field of competitors down to 5 teams.

Ho and Michelle were eliminated when they failed to make it through a series of Dutch challenges that involved a strength testing carnival game (72 unsuccessful attempts for the girls while most teams did it in 1) and a par-8 version of clog golfing.

At the end of the competition, the girls didn’t finish that leg of the race and were eliminated by host, Phil Keoghan.

Ho and Michelle started this leg of the race in 2nd place, but had these ominous words to say before it began:

“Second place is awesome, but we’ve learned from poker that it’s really easy to get comfortable and get involved in pots that you shouldn’t.”

Foreshadowing! I guess that clog-golf was a pot that the girls should have stayed away from.

With the girls eliminated, I’ll probably stop posting about The Amazing Race, but I will continue watching it… only for the Globetrotters. Those guys are awesome.