A puzzle for you

Before bed yesterday I worked on an old New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle, as I do most nights. The gimmick in this one was that the themed answers were combinations of college or university names. For example, when the clue was "Whole-grain food," the answer was "BROWNRICE." When the clue was "Specialist in a duck blind," the answer was "DRAKEHUNTER." Got it?

OK, now the one for you to solve is this: "Got lucky at poker." The answer has ten letters. Scroll down for hints if you find that you need them. I'll post the answer in the comments section in about 24 hours if nobody else has done so by then (though that seems highly unlikely); don't look there unless you want to see the answer.







HINT #1: One school is in New Jersey, the other in New York.








HINT #2: The first name is four letters, the second six.









HINT #3: The first one starts with D, the second with Q.

Who I want at the table

With apologies to Emma Lazarus.


Give me your tired, your rich,
Your hooded douchebags yearning to get even,
The wretched refuse of your donkament.
Send these, the drunk, uber-tilted to me.
I lift my Red Bull inside the Golden Nugget.


(Image found here.)

Guess the casino, #561

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.




Answer: O'Shea's

Poker gems, #378

Alex Fitzgerald, in Bluff magazine article, June, 2010, p. 92.


Most online MTTers couldn't find their stained SpongeBob underwear without an intense Two Plus Two strategy discussion.

How DO people run so good?

I've been playing a lot of razz tournaments online lately. Well, I'm not sure what qualifies as "a lot" in the world of online poker, but for me two a day is "a lot," and that's about what I've been averaging. I don't know why, exactly. I get on kicks of one game or another and do a lot of it until I get bored and move on to something else.

With the majority of the razz tournaments, there has been a distinct pattern--not universal, but happening the majority of the times I play. The one I just finished was an absolutely typical example.

Phase 1: I start off slow, playing tight-aggressive. That keeps me sort of in the middle of the pack or a little below average.

Phase 2: Then there comes one or two big pots, in which I bet the best hand hard all the way, and get called all the way by an inferior hand or two. That pushes me to or near the top of the leaderboard. Here's that hand from today's tournament. As you can see by the pot size, it was being bet aggressively to the end:



And, as per the pattern, that took me to the front of the pack:



Phase 3: I go card dead, and fall somewhat in the rankings, but still stay in reasonably good shape.

Phase 4: The flame-out. There comes a series of two or three hands in which I again push with the best hand and either brick out or get some horrible suckout. Today's was a one-two punch, starting with this:



Remember, these are not shuffled as on Full Tilt's hand histories; you're seeing the cards as they were dealt. With my 7 on the river, my opponent could only win with a 4 or a 5, at least two of which were dead. He had at most six outs and made it.

Just a couple of hands later came this one:



I was ahead on every street until 7th. He could chop with a 3 (two of which were dead), or win with a 2. That's it. And he got it.

Phase 5: I fizzle out. Today, after being down as you see to just over one big bet, I got a double-up, but it all went in shortly thereafter and didn't survive. Most commonly I have been bubbling or nearly so. Today I didn't even quite make the final table. (Four places were paying.)

Sunday night I spent most of the middle part of the tourney not just as chip leader, but with more than double what the next guy had. Cruising, totally cruising. By the time we got to the final table of eight players, my lead had narrowed to just one or two big bets, but I was still on top, and had six or seven times what the short stacks had. Five were paid. I lost a rather spectacular series of three hands in a row, causing me to crash and burn in fifth, making the minimum cash, in exactly the same way as shown above.

I'm not looking for sympathy; I understand that if you play razz, you have to expect pain and suffering. But I'm genuinely astonished at the consistency with which this pattern has repeated itself over and over again for the past five or six days that I've been playing regularly. It's just plain baffling how the run-good kicks in with turbochargers, then abandons me just short of the finish line.

How DO people run so good?




I still LOL every time I watch this brilliant little movie (NSFW warning):

PokerStars Big Lame

PokerStars "Big Game" has been on the air for just three weeks--every weekday, five shows per guest, three guest players so far. I've been enjoying it and haven't missed one yet.

But yesterday they went to a "best of," splicing together segments from the first 15 episodes.

No. Wrong. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Way to kill the momentum, PokerStars.

The hands they're showing are not exactly distant memories. There hasn't been enough time elapse for them to become pleasant "oh yeah, that was cool" re-watches. You also don't have enough premium material built up yet.

A "best of " show when you've only been running for three weeks is as lame as when a poker room starts a brand-new series of tournaments and calls it their "Classic." (I'm looking at you, Aria.) You have to earn the moral right to a "best of" show by putting out good stuff week after week, month after month. "High Stakes Poker" could legitimately do a "best of" series, with six solid seasons to look back on. Three weeks? Not even close.

This isn't complicated, guys. Your viewers don't want regurgitated stuff they've just seen recently. They want new material--new episodes, new players, new hands. Why not give it to them?

Guess the casino, #560

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.




Answer: Mandalay Bay

Deuce-Four haiku

This actually occurred to me last night during one of those groggy moments of not-quite-asleep and not-quite-awake between periods of true sleep. I have no idea why the brain went this way, but it did:

Villain has aces
Flop comes ace, three, and a five
Better have Deuce-Four

Guess the casino, #559

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.




Answer: Hooters

What's in a screen name? #2

I woulda spelled it differently, but I love the general idea.

Oh, snap!

Even as we speak I am in a big $11 razz tournament on Full Tilt. Michael Craig is on my right, so I might win my buy-in back if I knock him out. Anyway, the table has just had this lovely conservation:

Dealer: jerry dash shows 8,5,3,2,A
Dealer: jerry dash wins the pot (1,135) with 8,5,3,2,A
Dealer: Hand #22090344640
Dealer: jerry dash wins the pot (585)
Dealer: Hand #22090352424
poolplayer11: retard luckbox
Dealer: poolplayer11 has 15 seconds left to act
poolplayer11: had u crushed till 4th st
Dealer: Michael Craig wins the pot (735)
Dealer: Hand #22090365415
jerry dash: crushed till 4th st. and you actually count that in a 7 card game...no wonder you're a loser
Dealer: jerry dash has 15 seconds left to act
poolplayer11: yep im a lose
poolplayer11: r
poolplayer11: and your a retard
Dealer: poolplayer11 wins the pot (100)
Dealer: Hand #22090372983
poolplayer11: &&%%ing moron
Dealer: jerry dash has 15 seconds left to act
jerry dash: looks silly calling someone a retard when you can't even spell at 3rd grade level
jerry dash: what are you, 12?
poolplayer11: yep and your still a retard

(Poolplayer11 folds after Michael Craig bets on 7th street showing A-2-4-6)
Dealer: Hand #22090402808
Dealer: poolplayer11 has 15 seconds left to act
dino800: nice 1 mike
poolplayer11: a235 and two pair nh man your a moron to
Dealer: Michael Craig wins the pot (1,585)
patg237: lol
Dealer: Hand #22090416012
poolplayer11: sooo gay
Dealer: Michael Craig has 15 seconds left to act
Michael Craig: wheel in five. you're a luckbox that you made two pair.
Dealer: jerry dash has 15 seconds left to act
poolplayer11: sure
Michael Craig: thank full tilt for rigging it in your favor.
dino800: ur r a cry baby loser ....go back 2 pool
Michael Craig: you were on fire and begging for someone to pour gasoline on you.


Dealer: Hand #22090455040
Dealer: grandhammer wins the pot (140)
Dealer: Hand #22090462316
poolplayer11: see mike might think he is a pro i actually play poker for a living and im a littile drunk thats why im at home
patg237: u da man
Dealer: poolplayer11 wins the pot (300)
Dealer: Hand #22090469944
poolplayer11: i never do good online
poolplayer11: i %#&&ing hate this site
Michael Craig: maybe there's a reason
jerry dash: a pro who gets drunk--you must live at home with your parents
Dealer: Rakewell wins the pot (220)
Dealer: Hand #22090478535
poolplayer11: yep
poolplayer11: i live with my parent go to the casino every night
poolplayer11: make my money and dont pay rient
patg237: omg ur so cool
poolplayer11: i know
jerry dash: gag me with an ace of clubs


With scintillating conversation like that available, why would anybody ever turn the chat box off?

(Personally, my favorite line is, "had u crushed till 4th st," said with not a hint of irony.)

PLO gel

I just learned of the existence of this stuff called "PLO Gel," made by Transderma Pharmaceuticals.

What I can't figure out from the product information, though, is whether you use the stuff to help you play PLO better, or to quell the cravings to play this highly addictive game.

Guess the casino, #558

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.




Answer: Gold Coast

Admiration

I just finished watching the third week of PokerStars "Big Game" show. This post is just to say how much I came off admiring the week's "loose cannon," Nadya Magnus.

To understand the dynamics, you have to know the structure of the game. Each week there is an amateur player who has won an online qualifying tournament. That player is staked $100,000 cash to play against five pros. They play for 150 hands. At the end of that, the loose cannon gets to keep any profit above the starting 100K, but if he or she is below that mark, he or she must relinquish the remainder and walk away empty-handed. Additionally, at the end of the season, whichever loose cannon has shown the most profit gets five $10,000 NAPT tournament entries--a pretty nice bonus. The first week's loose cannon, Ernest Wiggins, had turned in a $50,000 profit, so any subsequent players know that they have to beat that to have any chance at the bonus.

So Nadya had built her stack nicely to something like $170,000 by Thursday's show. She could have coasted at that point, just fold, fold, fold without even looking. Doing so not only would have locked up a handsome profit, but allowed her to be certain to end the week ahead of Wiggins and in contention for the 50K bonus. She didn't do that. She kept her foot on the gas pedal and kept up the aggression as if she played these stakes every day and the money meant nothing to her.

Unfortunately, she took some hits and got down to $141,000 on Friday's show, when there were only 20 or so hands left to go. Again, she could have put a tourniquet on the bleeding wound, gone defensive, and ensured her profit, though it would mean giving up on the bonus. She did not. She picked up pocket queens and played them fearlessly, winning a nice pot that put her up to $154,000, I believe.

Once again, she was in a position from which she could fold her way to a profit. She had to survive only ten more hands, so she could still pay the blinds and antes without giving up her lead on Wiggins. Again, she choose otherwise, and kept playing to maximize profit on every hand. On the next hand after the queens, she picked up A-K in the small blind, with a raise before it got to her. Given how often we all know AK can go down in flames, it would be very tempting to let it go and sit tight, or maybe just call the raise and proceed cautiously. But no, she put in the reraise--a bet that was big enough that if she lost the pot she would be below Wiggins' benchmark, and maybe not get a chance to get ahead of him again. She got a caller, then bet again on the flop--even though it missed her and she was out of position--and took it down.

The remaining few hands she was dealt junk and had easy folds, and she ended up with a $63,200 profit for the week, a very impressive performance. In fact, she won more than any of the pros against whom she played, with the exception of Justin Bonomo, who was hitting on all cylinders and racked up over 200K profit. But my admiration for her play would be the same even if she had gotten coolered or bad beat on those last two big pots she played, because she resisted the temptation to go into lock-down mode and was totally fearless. She was the embodiment of Mike McDermott's aphorism: "You can't lose what you don't put in the middle--but you can't win much, either."

She did take a conservative line on her final decision of the week. She could either take her profit, or keep it on the table and play for another 150 hands. She chose to take the money and run. I don't blame her one bit. That's not being scared, it's being smart. She has to know that she has a -EV playing against the rosters that the producers put into the game. She was lucky to end up as far ahead as she did--winning 158 big blinds in 150 hands against that lineup is phenomenally good, and she couldn't realistically expect to repeat her good fortune. Her most likely outcome if she kept playing would be to experience what statisticians like to call regression to the mean, and what the rest of us call the ugly side of variance. It's much, much smarter to take the cash and keep building her bankroll by using it to play in games and stakes where she has the edge, which is most definitely not against Bonomo, Barry Greenstein, Jason Mercier, etc.

Well done, Nadya.

Poker gems, #377

Grange95, concluding a recent hand story, here.


So, in a bit of orientational irony, a gay guy used a straight flush to beat a straight guy's set of queens.

Guess the casino, #557

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.




Answer: Boulder Station

Inexplicable

I just got eliminated from an $11 razz tournament. I lasted about 30 minutes--probably the shortest time in my personal history for such an event. That was largely because the thing started with the most bizarre series of razz hands I've ever seen.

I was a couple of minutes late registering, so one or two hands had been played before I joined the table. On my first hand, I was dealt (43)A, one of the best possible starting hands. I was delighted. But I had two challengers in the hand, and it was already getting weird because it was a player with a queen showing that first completed. It was then raised by my second opponent, and I reraised. We got it capped. In fact, we got it capped on every betting round except the last, where I bet out and then just called a raise because of a suspicion that my one sensible opponent might have caught a lucky river card. He had just a K-7 on 6th. I had an 8-4, but when I didn't improve on 7th, I needed to be cautious. I was right, unfortunately:




The weird thing, as you can see, is that the guy with the queen showing came along--not only came along, in fact, but was driving the raising just as much as I was. It was only because of his actions that we got it capped every street. Otherwise, I believe my more sensible opponent would have just called one bet each time, and possibly even folded. And the guy with the queen did this despite catching, in succession, a king, a nine, and another queen! As the final hand history shows, the best hand he could have started with (we don't know exactly because of FTP's scrambling of the three down cards) was 10-J-Q!

Here's the full hand history:

Full Tilt Poker Game #22044079393: $10 + $1 Tournament (170066414), Table 4 - 30/60 Ante 5 - Limit Razz - 1:18:27 ET - 2010/07/03
Seat 1: BreckGoat (1,495)
Seat 2: spie10 (1,485)
Seat 3: Rakewell (1,500)
Seat 4: john21703 (1,500)
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 (1,260)
Seat 6: ozzykorn (1,375)
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome (1,495)
BreckGoat antes 5
spie10 antes 5
Rakewell antes 5
john21703 antes 5
goldenphoenix98 antes 5
ozzykorn antes 5
VegasHerelCome antes 5
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to BreckGoat [7h]
Dealt to spie10 [8c]
Dealt to Rakewell [4h 3d] [Ah]
Dealt to john21703 [Qs]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [Qc]
Dealt to ozzykorn [9s]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [Ac]
john21703 is high with [Qs]
john21703 brings in for 10
goldenphoenix98 completes it to 30
ozzykorn folds
VegasHerelCome raises to 60
BreckGoat folds
spie10 folds
Rakewell raises to 90
john21703 folds
goldenphoenix98 calls 60
VegasHerelCome raises to 120
Rakewell calls 30
goldenphoenix98 calls 30
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [4h 3d Ah] [8h]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [Qc] [Ks]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [Ac] [7s]
VegasHerelCome bets 30
Rakewell raises to 60
goldenphoenix98 raises to 90
VegasHerelCome raises to 120
Rakewell calls 60
goldenphoenix98 calls 30
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [4h 3d Ah 8h] [2s]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [Qc Ks] [9h]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [Ac 7s] [Kh]
Rakewell bets 60
goldenphoenix98 raises to 120
VegasHerelCome calls 120
Rakewell raises to 180
goldenphoenix98 raises to 240
VegasHerelCome calls 120
Rakewell calls 60
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [4h 3d Ah 8h 2s] [As]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [Qc Ks 9h] [Qd]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [Ac 7s Kh] [Ad]
Rakewell bets 60
goldenphoenix98 has been disconnected
rubbersoul sits down
goldenphoenix98 has 15 seconds left to act
goldenphoenix98 has reconnected
goldenphoenix98 has 15 seconds left to act
goldenphoenix98 raises to 120
rubbersoul is feeling happy
VegasHerelCome calls 120
Rakewell raises to 180
goldenphoenix98 raises to 240
VegasHerelCome calls 120
Rakewell calls 60
ozzykorn: were playing razz right?
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [4h 3d Ah 8h 2s As] [3h]
Rakewell bets 60
goldenphoenix98 raises to 120
VegasHerelCome calls 120
Rakewell calls 60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
goldenphoenix98 shows [Qh Jd Qc Ks 9h Qd Th] K,Q,J,T,9
VegasHerelCome shows [6s 5d Ac 7s Kh Ad 2h] 7,6,5,2,A
Rakewell mucks
VegasHerelCome wins the pot (2,565) with 7,6,5,2,A
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,565 Rake 0
Seat 1: BreckGoat folded on 3rd St.
Seat 2: spie10 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 3: Rakewell mucked [4h 3h Ah 8h 2s As 3d] - 8,4,3,2,A
Seat 4: john21703 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 showed [Qh Jd Qc Ks 9h Qd Th] and lost with K,Q,J,T,9
Seat 6: ozzykorn folded on 3rd St.
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome showed [6s 5d Ac 7s Kh Ad 2h] and won (2,565) with 7,6,5,2,A


So, OK, I figure that the queen guy meant to sign up for a regular stud tournament and accidentally got razz instead. But now he made three queens (as he would see it) and lost to what would appear to be a pair of aces. Now he will surely give himself a dope slap, figure out what happened, and make the best of what's left of his stack, right?

Nope.

This was the very next hand:



I was dealt the (45)2, another premium starter, but could only improve to a smooth 10, after getting a pair and a king. My nutty opponent started with either (Q8)5 or (88)5, finished with a Q-8 and was still leading at the betting. It didn't get capped because my king and pair made me cautious. Against most opponents, I probably would have folded, but after the previous hand I suspected that more insanity was afoot, and I was right.

Hand history:

Full Tilt Poker Game #22044104742: $10 + $1 Tournament (170066414), Table 4 - 30/60 Ante 5 - Limit Razz - 1:20:13 ET - 2010/07/03
Seat 2: NSAID (1,500)
Seat 3: Rakewell (655)
Seat 4: john21703 (1,485)
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 (415)
Seat 6: ozzykorn (1,370)
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome (3,215)
Seat 8: rubbersoul (1,500)
NSAID antes 5
Rakewell antes 5
john21703 antes 5
goldenphoenix98 antes 5
ozzykorn antes 5
VegasHerelCome antes 5
rubbersoul antes 5
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to NSAID [7d]
Dealt to Rakewell [4s 5h] [2c]
Dealt to john21703 [3h]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [5s]
Dealt to ozzykorn [4h]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [5d]
Dealt to rubbersoul [Kd]
rubbersoul is high with [Kd]
poguemahone68 sits down
rubbersoul has 15 seconds left to act
rubbersoul brings in for 10
NSAID completes it to 30
Rakewell raises to 60
john21703 folds
goldenphoenix98 raises to 90
ozzykorn folds
VegasHerelCome folds
rubbersoul folds
NSAID calls 60
Rakewell raises to 120
goldenphoenix98 calls 30
NSAID calls 30
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to NSAID [7d] [9h]
Dealt to Rakewell [4s 5h 2c] [Kc]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [5s] [7s]
goldenphoenix98 bets 30
NSAID calls 30
Rakewell calls 30
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to NSAID [7d 9h] [7h]
Dealt to Rakewell [4s 5h 2c Kc] [2s]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [5s 7s] [Qs]
goldenphoenix98 bets 60
NSAID calls 60
Rakewell calls 60
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to NSAID [7d 9h 7h] [7c]
Dealt to Rakewell [4s 5h 2c Kc 2s] [6d]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [5s 7s Qs] [4c]
goldenphoenix98 bets 60
NSAID folds
Rakewell calls 60
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [4s 5h 2c Kc 2s 6d] [Td]
goldenphoenix98 bets 60
Rakewell calls 60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
goldenphoenix98 shows [Qh 8s 5s 7s Qs 4c 8c] Q,8,7,5,4
Rakewell shows [Td 5h 2c Kc 2s 6d 4s] T,6,5,4,2
Rakewell wins the pot (915) with T,6,5,4,2
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 915 Rake 0
Seat 2: NSAID folded on 6th St.
Seat 3: Rakewell showed [Td 5h 2c Kc 2s 6d 4s] and won (915) with T,6,5,4,2
Seat 4: john21703 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 showed [Qh 8s 5s 7s Qs 4c 8c] and lost with Q,8,7,5,4
Seat 6: ozzykorn folded on 3rd St.
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome folded on 3rd St.
Seat 8: rubbersoul folded on 3rd St.

On the next hand, I got my third good one in a row: (73)6. Would you like to guess who my opponent was?



This time, though, he or she was actually ahead. We got it all in on 3rd street, so the cards were revealed at that point, with no subsequent scrambling by FTP. I didn't catch up:

Full Tilt Poker Game #22044121030: $10 + $1 Tournament (170066414), Table 4 - 30/60 Ante 5 - Limit Razz - 1:21:22 ET - 2010/07/03
Seat 1: poguemahone68 (1,500)
Seat 2: NSAID (1,285)
Seat 3: Rakewell (1,235)
Seat 4: john21703 (1,480)
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 (80)
Seat 6: ozzykorn (1,365)
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome (3,210)
Seat 8: rubbersoul (1,485)
poguemahone68 antes 5
NSAID antes 5
Rakewell antes 5
john21703 antes 5
goldenphoenix98 antes 5
ozzykorn antes 5
VegasHerelCome antes 5
rubbersoul antes 5
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to poguemahone68 [Kh]
Dealt to NSAID [5c]
Dealt to Rakewell [7s 3h] [6d]
Dealt to john21703 [8s]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [4c]
Dealt to ozzykorn [Ah]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [Qc]
Dealt to rubbersoul [Ac]
poguemahone68 is high with [Kh]
poguemahone68 brings in for 10
NSAID folds
Rakewell completes it to 30
john21703 folds
goldenphoenix98 raises to 60
ozzykorn folds
VegasHerelCome folds
rubbersoul folds
poguemahone68 folds
Rakewell raises to 90
goldenphoenix98 calls 15, and is all in
Rakewell shows [7s 3h 6d]
goldenphoenix98 shows [As 3s 4c]
Uncalled bet of 15 returned to Rakewell
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [7s 3h 6d] [8d]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [As 3s 4c] [Ts]
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [7s 3h 6d 8d] [Kc]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [As 3s 4c Ts] [2s]
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [7s 3h 6d 8d Kc] [7h]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [As 3s 4c Ts 2s] [8c]
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [7s 3h 6d 8d Kc 7h] [5s]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [As 3s 4c Ts 2s 8c] [Js]
Rakewell shows [7s 3h 6d 8d Kc 7h 5s] 8,7,6,5,3
goldenphoenix98 shows [As 3s 4c Ts 2s 8c Js] 8,4,3,2,A
goldenphoenix98 wins the pot (200) with 8,4,3,2,A
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 200 Rake 0
Seat 1: poguemahone68 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 2: NSAID folded on 3rd St.
Seat 3: Rakewell showed [7s 3h 6d 8d Kc 7h 5s] and lost with 8,7,6,5,3
Seat 4: john21703 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 showed [As 3s 4c Ts 2s 8c Js] and won (200) with 8,4,3,2,A
Seat 6: ozzykorn folded on 3rd St.
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome folded on 3rd St.
Seat 8: rubbersoul folded on 3rd St.

Anyway, the net result of this series of hands was that I was very quickly the shortest stack in the game. I might have won another small pot or two, but that was about it for me. Everything else was a big ol' pile of bricks on my few good starting hands, and I was out.

Better than bubbling, I guess, which usually seems to be my fate in these things, after wasting two or three hours. And I did get a decent story out of it: the story of the kamikaze razz player.

Jeff Sarwer

I slacked off in my poker magazine reading for a while, but I'm gradually getting caught up.

The May issue of Bluff magazine had one of the most interesting player profiles I've ever read. It's available online here in case you missed it.

Jeff Sarwer was a true child prodigy in chess, even being invited to provide commentary on televised matches at age 7. In fact, he was the inspiration for the fictional central character in the film "Searching for Bobby Fischer." But he suddenly vanished from the chess world. Now that he has re-emerged, we know what happened to him.

I'll let you read it for yourselves, but it's an amazing story involving an abusive and radical father who drove his kids around Canada instead of getting them formal educations, a stint in foster homes, then a clandestine reuniting with his father and the remainder of his childhood spent on the lam, evading child protection authorities.

After having some business success, he has now turned his interests to poker on the European tournament circuit, and notable figures such as Shawn Deeb and Jonathan Aguiar are prasing his raw talent as if he is the Messiah of poker, unlike anybody they have seen before.

Is it just hype, or is there really something new and phenomenal emerging here? I don't know, but this article sure makes me curious to sit back and watch for the next few years.

"You've got to have a look"

There's a small but wonderful playhouse in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, called the Park Square Theatre. I used to get season tickets every year when I lived there because the productions were always first-rate. Back in 2001 I saw Terrence McNally's play "Master Class," which was about Maria Callas teaching opera singing to music students late in her career, after her own voice was shot.

One of the memorable lines from it (as witnessed by the fact that I still remember it) was her advice about standing out from the mass of other people who will be trying out for the same roles: "To be remembered, you've got to have a look." She then picked out students who, in her view, had accomplished this important objective with their style choices, and those who had failed.

For some reason that came back to my mind today while playing at the Rio. I looked over at the next table and saw this:





This young man has picked a look, all right: Kneeling on a backward-facing chair, leaning over the table, butt high in the air, jeans low, six inches of boxers showing.

It's not a particularly flattering look, mind you, but it is indeed a look, and he will therefore be remembered. Well done, sir!

Guess the casino, #556

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Answer: Wynn

Poker gems, #376

Mike Caro, in Bluff magazine column, May, 2010, p. 37. He is recounting how Gardena, California, gained and then lost its status as a poker center.


Players took turns dealing, and everything that's popping into your head right now happened. Making a living as an honest player was tough, and I had to choose games carefully.... Cheating wasn't the only obstacle. There were other annoyances, such as murder.

Guess the casino, #555

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.




Answer: Texas Station