Drawing Considerations

If the flop is two-suited and you’re holding a pair of the same suit then you will almost always want to draw.  The reason being is that your pot odds will be 2-1, and you will especially want to draw if you’ve got additional outs like overcards and/or a straight draw.  But there are also times when you’ll want to avoid drawing for the flush on a two-suited flop.

One of these situations is when you’re heads-up with only a flush draw to your credit.  In this case, the other player will most likely have better odds to win the hand.  Another situation is when there is a pair on the board and somebody is betting heavily.  Here someone probably has trips, and could hit a full house even if you get your flush.  One more time when you’ll want to fold your hand is if you have a small flush draw, and the flop sees a lot of action.  This scenario probably means your small flush will be beaten by a bigger one.

Playing 3-Suited Flops

Having 3 cards of the same suit on the board requires a little different strategy than having 2 suited cards.  In most cases, everyone will be a little more cautions unless they’re holding a suited ace so it’s hard to get any heavy action on the flop.  Unless your hand has additional value then you should avoid playing too aggressively on flops like this.

Greg Sessler was the latest man to benefit from such a move as he took down a WSOP Circuit Event in Lake Tahoe.  The tournament was called the “Lake Tahoe Ladies Championship” and it was a $340 event.  96 players entered the tourney, and Sessler was one of them after he claimed he wanted to participate because he had the day off, and was looking for somewhere to play poker.

Sessler definitely picked a good time to take the day off since he ended up winning the Ladies Championship, and he earned a $9,900 payday for doing so.  The crowd was definitely against Sessler as they were cheering every time a male was eliminated from the supposed ladies-only tournament.  However, he was able to come through and take the victory despite the crowd being against him.

With Sessler’s victory, and Abraham Korotki winning a Ladies No-Limit Hold’em event in September, many people are starting to question the appearance of men in women’s events.  The WSOP covered themselves on this issue by saying, “The WSOP isn’t a political organization and can’t be expected to get involved in debates about sexism, discrimination, or other polarizing issues which may be applicable to poker tournaments.”  Even with this statement, many will still be questioning why Korotki, Sessler, and others are allowed to play in these female tournaments.

For years, poker players only appeared on TV if it was related to the actual game of poker.  However, we’ve recently begun seeing poker players appear in a lot of mainstream television shows and movies.  Daniel Negreanu appearing in the movie “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, Annie Duke being one of the finalist on “The Apprentice”, and Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho appearing on the hit CBS reality series “Amazing Race” are just a couple of the latest examples.  Popular poker pro Erik Seidel added his name to the list this week.

Seidel made his mainstream television debut on the HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm” which revolves around the fictional life of Seinfeld producer Larry David.  The episode that Seidel appeared in was entitled “Officer Krupke”, and Erik is prominently featured in a shot where Larry and his onscreen wife Cheryl Hines are talking at a restaurant about a Seinfeld reunion.

Many have wondered how/why Seidel was on Curb Your Enthusiasm.  The 8-time WSOP gold bracelet winner explained that he is a huge fan of the show, and had been looking for a way to appear on it.  So basically, being able to appear on Curb Your Enthusiasm was a dream for Seidel since he is such a big fan of the show.

It has also been rumored that another poker pro might be making an appearance on a HBO show.  Daniel Negreanu will appear in an episode of the hit show “Entourage” along with fellow poker player/actor Ben Affleck.  Aside from his role as a poker player in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Negreanu also recently appeared in the “Body Issue” of ESPN: The Magazine.  Being on HBO’s “Entourage”, which is a drama based on the fictional life of a movie star and his friends, would only further cement Negreanu’s mainstream status.

Those are the final two players remaining in the Main Event of the 2009 World Series of Poker. After prelim rounds, winners, losers, months of promotion and the longest final table in WSOP history, these two have outlasted over 6K worth of players.

Heads up action goes off tonight at 10pm PST — so you East Coasters better get in a nap now, or prepare for a long night of poker.

Cada entered the final 9 in 5th place and now holds over a 2-1 chip advantage of Moon.

Think you know who’ll win? Hit the comments and let us know!

The bookmakers can sleep easily as Phil Ivey is out of the World Series of Poker final table. Ivey was knocked out in 7th place by full time logger Darvin Moon called on the big blind with A-Q to Ivey’s A-K. Much to the chagrin of the cheering crowd, Moon hit a Queen on the flop and sent Ivey packing.

Here is the current chip count with the final six players:

Eric Buchman – 55,500,000
Antoine Saout – 53,075,000
Darvin Moon – 39,325,000
Jeff Shulman – 17,275,000
Steven Begleiter – 16,150,000
Joseph Cada – 13,450,000

Moon has fallen off the lead, but continues to play reasonably well. Eric Buchman

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.

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.

Home game players in the suburb of Solon were stuck up by  rifle-carrying robbers, stripped of their pants and pepper sprayed while theives took off with about $11K worth of cash (and reportedly some jewelery).

One of the players was outside having a smoke when he was cornered by the gunmen and forced to lead them to the game. The poker game was advertised on a Cleveland area website.

This came only 6 months after a robbery of a massive home game of about $75,000 in a similar area.

In Ohio, home games are legal if the host does not charge a fee or take any rake. I think they should start investing in some security for these high-rolling events, or at least make the meetups a bit more private.