Tag: poker

What Is Poker?

Nick Momrik2 Comments

Where have I been you ask? Shit…who am I asking? Does anyone even visit this “poker” blog anymore?

I haven’t written here in 5 or 6 months. I’ve played poker barely more than that. In mid-January on a flight back from San Francisco, I had a night long layover in Las Vegas. Hit up the MGM and about $180 playing $3/6 hold’em. It was fun and I wish I’d make time to do it a little more often. I made a few rookie mistakes, but that’s bound to happen when you haven’t played poker in months. I flopped a set of queens, turned a full house, and rivered quads all on the same hand. I was called all the way by two players, even after I check-raised the flop. They even called out my hand after the check-raise, but had to call me down. I was taking their money, so I was happy.

I don’t have money at any online poker sites and without checking my records, I’d bet I haven’t played a single hand of online poker in over 6 months. I still have a couple of hundred stuck in Neteller waiting for them to get their shit together and let US players withdraw. The online poker legislation or whatever you want to call it took away my interest in playing for the most part. I still like to play, but I’m making more productive use of the time I used to spend online playing poker.

I’ll still make posts here from time to time, but I doubt you’ll ever see the posting frequency of a year or two ago.

Until next time…head on over to Card Tricks and give me some suggestions!

Card Golf

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I just wrote up a review over at Primary Rough of a new card game called Card Golf. It’s a game that could really be interesting when gambling is applied. While looking through their site I found this… “Card Golf is not a drinking game. The game requires math, which is difficult to compute when […]

Review: The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King

Nick Momrik4 Comments

The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All TimeInside the Richest Poker Game of All Time

I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf since Christmas, when I received it as a gift. A few weeks ago I finally got around to reading it and finished it last week. It ranks right up near the top with some of the other poker related books I’ve read.

Before starting on the book I knew the general idea of what the book was about, but I really had no idea the events discussed in the book happened so recently. The “Richest Poker Game” was just before and around the time of Chris Moneymaker’s famous World Series of Poker win.

For those not familiar with everything, “The Professor” in the title refers to poker pro Howard Lederer, “The Banker” refers to Andy Beal, and “The Suicide King” is the King of Hearts because of his sword stabbing his own head. The “Richest Poker Game” was a limit hold’em heads-up match between Andy Beal and a group of poker professionals. The game was played at limits up to $100,000/$200,000, so swings of millions of dollars were not unusual.

Michael Craig did a great job telling the story by piecing together information from many different sources about the game. It’s really an insightful read into the high stakes poker world. I’d easily give it an A.

Cashed Out

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Wow, what a crazy few days it’s been in the poker world. Lots of great posts out there about the new legislation/laws/whatever you want to call it. I won’t even try to explain any of it here. I will give my opinion though…I think the government is making a big mistake and it sucks.

I’ve cashed my bankroll out of the poker sites and also cashed everything out of Neteller. I rarely play poker anymore and I don’t feel like fighting to get my money back later, so I’m taking my money and running for now. I’ll keep my eye on the situation, but to tell you the truth I don’t think it’s really going to affect me much. I don’t make time for poker like I used to. Too many other things in life I’d rather be doing than sitting in front of my computer getting kicked in the balls on the river by a 2 out donkey draw.

2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Results

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A list of the winners so far in the 2006 World Series of Poker.

  1. $500 No-Limit Hold’em Casino Employee – Chris Gros
  2. $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Brandon Cantu
  3. $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em – Rafe Furst
  4. $1,500 Limit Hold’em – Kianoush Abolfathi
  5. $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Short Handed 6/Table – Russ Boyd (Dutch Boyd)
  6. $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Mark Vos
  7. $3,000 Limit Hold’em – William Chen
  8. $2,000 Omaha High-Low 8/OB – Jack Zwerner
  9. $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Jeff Cabanillas
  10. $1,500 Seven Card Stud – David Williams
  11. $5,000 Omaha High-Low 8/OB – Sam Farha
  12. $1,500 Limit Hold’em – Bob Chalmers
  13. $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Max Pescatori
  14. $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em w/ Rebuys – Allen Cunningham
  15. $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em – Mary Jones
  16. $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha – Lee Watkinson
  17. $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Jon Friedberg
  18. $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em – Eric Kesselman
  19. $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Seniors – Clare Miller
  20. $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. – David Reese (Chip Reese)
  21. $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Short Handed 6/Table – William Chen
  22. $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Jeff Madsen
  23. $3,000 Limit Hold’em – Ian Johns
  24. $3,000 Omaha High-Low 8/OB – Scott Clements
  25. $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout – David Pham
  26. $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys – Eric Froehlich
  27. $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha – Rafael Perry
  28. $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Mats Rahmn
  29. $5,000 Seven Card Stud – Benjamin Lin
  30. $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em – John Gale
  31. $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short Handed 6/Table – Jeff Madsen
  32. $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Justin Scott
  33. $1,500 Seven Card Razz – James Richburg
  34. $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em – Jason Lester
  35. $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Phil Hellmuth Jr.
  36. $1,000 Seven Card Stud High-Low 8/OB – Patrick Poels
  37. $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball – Daniel Alaei

The $10,000 No-Limit Main Event starts tomorrow and it’s scheduled to run through August 10, 2006 when we’ll have another world champion crowned.

The WSOP Player of the Year race is still wide open. Jeff Madsen, a 21-year-old college student, is currently in the lead with 4 final table appearances, 2 bracelets, and over $1.4 million in winnings. After winning his record tying 10th golf bracelet the other night at his 3rd final table, Phil Hellmuth sits in 2nd, and has won over $1.1 million. Hellmuth also ranks #1 in career cashes at the WSOP with 55.

List compiled from results at CardPlayer.

Jeff Madsen Who?

Nick Momrik1 Comment

Jeff Madsen is a 21-year-old poker player from Los Angeles, CA and he’s dominating the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP). This year is obviously his first WSOP and he’s already won 2 bracelets and finished 3rd in another event. Early this morning he made yet another final table and will go for gold bracelet #3. Currently he’s 2nd in the WSOP Player of the Year standings to Phil Hellmuth (20 points behind), but that will change after today’s event is over.

The kid’s results are quite impressive.

07/05/2006 Omaha High-Low 8/OB – 3rd place ($97,552.00)

07/16/2006 No-Limit Hold’em – 1st place ($660,948.00)

07/22/2006 No-Limit Hold’em Short Handed 6/Table – 1st place ($643,381.00)

07/26/2006 Seven Card Stud High-Low 8/OB – 3rd place ($65,971.00)

The interesting thing is that Madsen isn’t dominating any single type of poker. He’s made the final table in 4 completely different games of poker. That’s skill.