Things are getting rough over at ZyngaPoker, where I recently hero-called a bluff with 6th pair not because it was obvious but because I was curious and otherwise didn’t really care. LOL good times:
OP-ED
I recently set off a minor controversy when I mentioned to @Pokerati that a Red Rock Casino poker dealer complained that new Heartland Poker champion Rob Perelman (@veerob) didn’t leave a dealer tip at the conclusion of the tournament.
First, I do not know Rob at all and was not making an accusation against him. I merely passed along the information because I knew @Pokerati had been covering the tournament. Second, as with any tournament cash of any size, Rob is free to spend or not spend his money any way he pleases. (He later tweeted that he tipped $2,000 on his $158,755 cash. The confusion being that he left the tip the next day after most of the dealers were gone and not directly after the tournament.)
Still, I believe the practice of tipping is an aspect of poker that merits discussion. Certainly, there is no standard for tipping in cash games or tournaments, and a lot is left to chance when the casino and other players alike rely on winners to pick up the check.
You may not agree with me to tip 10% of winnings of more than $10,000 in a poker tournament, but you can certainly agree that .00025% is extremely low!
Mike Caro makes a number of salient points when it comes to tipping in both cash games and tournaments in his article from 2006 here. How one player tips in poker is probably no different than how the same player tips at a restaurant or when getting a haircut.
Some players think that the part of a poker tournament buy-in withheld from the prize pool should cover everything. I have heard that of the house cut for the HPT main event (a $1000+100 tournament), $50 went to Red Rock Casino and $50 to the Heartland Poker Tour. I find it a little incredulous that a Las Vegas casino would split the house cut 50/50, but it’s possible.
A little excitement at WPT Bucharest this weekend, when controversial soccer agent Giovani Becali got kicked out of the tournament … Hmm, throwing chips and threats of blows … seems like a little Phil Hellmuth + (old) Hevad Khan + Bobby Knight with maybe a dash of European football violence thrown in.
Kinda funny to see the new-and-improved, PartyPokerfied Tony G becoming an etiquette ambassador instructing poker bad-boys on how to behave at the tables.
Meanwhile, as WPT-Bucharest continues … the WPT is hyping a pretty competitive field for a relatively small (161 players, €3,000+300) new WPT event:
Pomp and circumstance is underway … and a betuxed TD Jack Effel began with a lesson on “poker fan etiquette”. Jack’s rules:
[Editor’s Note: Booooo!]
With all that explained, Jack “Link’s” Effel (who’s clearly been studying the works of the Buffer Brothers and touring rock bands) tried to rally the crowd to see who had the biggest cheering section. In terms of volume, Joe Cada’s rail-gang was clearly the loudest. “Joey! Joey! Joey!”
But in terms of style … Antoine Saout’s Frenchy hooligans definitely have it. They are all wearing Everest Poker soccer jerseys, with “Saout” on the back, along with Everest Poker scarves … and they’re showing us American sports fans don’t know a thing about local support songs.
As the mostly American crowd briefly paused to listen to whatever soccery song they were singing … Cada’s fans finally drowned them out with the creatively eloquent: “USA! USA! USA!”
They’re calling it Trash Talk Tuesdays, and indeed, have heard a teensy little buzz about it around town. Follow me on twitter for updates. My plan is to play tight and not get caught up in twittering.
As you can tell, this will be a big game for me — essentially $2/$5/$10 NLH that I hear grows even bigger as the night goes on. I’m a little nervous — am pretty sure it’s poor game selection to risk a third of your bankroll in a potentially wild, unfamiliar game playing at higher stakes than you’re used to. But sheesh, they’ve even got a bonus for playing the hammer! Go Dream Team money …
From Hard Rock Poker Lounge:
Trash Talk Tuesdays
Bad Sportsmanship Encouraged – ornery dealers, slow rollers & grown men crying…
Buy-in: $300-$3000
Mandatory “Hard Rock Straddle” on the button
Blinds: $2-$5
Seven Deuce BountyWarning: If you’re a whiny little baby who can’t take a joke about ginormously fat and disgusting your mother is, then this event is not for you. So stop reading this and MOVE ON!
More about this game from 2+2 here and Doc W (who took the picture from that game above) here.
UPDATE: You can see my results on twitter … but in a nutshell, this game plays WAAY bigger than 2/5 or even 5/10. Got my ass handed to me (twice) before dropping down to “Wacky 1-2” … which is essentially the same game with 1/2 blinds and a forced $4 straddle.
Event 35 was won this evening by Dick Richard Austin. And evidently, that’s all he really wanted to be said about that. Therefore, there will be no bracelet ceremony or information released about him…or his bracelet…or his poker accomplishment. (Gotta twist the knife even more for 2nd place Sorel Mizzi and 3rd place Cliff Josephy, wouldn’t ya think?) The media release about the event read:
Following Austin’s victory, he declined to be interviewed. Furthermore, Austin refuses to participate in the traditional WSOP gold bracelet ceremony. This means there will be no gold bracelet ceremony held on Saturday, June 20th.
Austin is the first WSOP winner to decline participation in post-tournament activities. All other 34 gold bracelet winners this year have agreed to participate in interviews and festivities.
The WSOP Media and Pubic Relations makes every effort to provide as much background information about the winner as possible. However, coverage of this tournament (Event 35) is, by necessity, limited to facts and figures about the event, rather than the winner.
· Austin collected $409,484 for first place. He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet.
· According to the official records, Austin now has 1 win, 1 final table appearance, and 1 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP. He has $409,484 in career WSOP winnings.
Benjo is back, just in time for the first ever “brasslet” ceremony, which raises a burning new question of poker etiquette that players never before had to consider: To stand or not to stand for the national anthem when you’re in the middle of a hand? Pauly and the Angry Frenchman also speculate on which will be the first non-American nation to book a WSOP win. I show up for the night shift, of course — just in time for hand-for-hand in the $40k — only to have Pauly fill me in on everything I missed between my arrival and my last reading of the Tao.
Tao of Pokerati at the 40th WSOP
Las Vegas, NVEpisode 11.5: Star-Spangled Hammer
3:08
[audio:tao/TaoPokerati_WSOP_Anthems_Benjo_05.mp3]Episode 11.6: Night Shift
2:47
[audio:tao/TaoPokerati_WSOP_40KBubble_06.mp3]
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My latest Bluff column is now up online … in this episode I call out the Scandis for potentially causing a violent international incident:
Without a doubt, for low stakes players MGM cash games can be a test of nerves…. Little did I know it would be a test of my sanity, not to mention my criminal intent.
The villain in this story is a slowroller, so I’m sure most will understand. Before the night was over he had an entire table plotting revenge. The plan was to gang-tackle him in an elevator, beat him senseless, take his money, then beat him some more, and then, just to let him know we weren’t really crooks, roll up the cash and wedge it in his facial orifices. Or at least that’s what one of us was thinking… that’ll teach him proper etiquette!
The data’s just starting to come in … as final WSOP dealer paychecks went out last week:
I picked up my toke check from the final table on Thursday. I got a grand total of $9.37 for my 8 main event downs so an extra $1.17 a down.
Hmm, OK, so if I’m doing my math right … that comes to an extra $2.34/hr (pre-tax) for WSOP main event dealers. Not sure if that’s good/bad or fair/not — but theoretically an additional $800 from the November Nine for a week’s worth of main event dealing doesn’t sound too shabby. Obviously dealers weren’t thrilled that nearly half of the remaining $32 million in main event prize pool money still to be toked out — 1st and 2nd place — went to two Euros, who come from quite the different tipping cultures. (Seriously, when Danes have to give 60 percent to their gov, can you really blame them for stiffing the pizza guy?)
But hey, the penguins dealt the turns and rivers. So clearly, it’s all in their hands: WSOP dealers reap what they sew. No?
Tiffany Michelle officially responded to the “clock-calling” incident with Paul Snead on her website today:
I’ve had several people asking about MY SIDE of the story in regards to calling the clock on Paul Snead in the WSOP Main Event which has now become an infamous clip on ESPN. This is my response…
Really? None of you have EVER under any circumstance called the clock in the middle of a poker game…ever? Trust me, I don’t make a habit of calling the clock on people. I think in four years of playing tournaments that was probably the second or third time I’ve ever done that.
Tiffany Michelle was the subject of much controversy over the summer when she signed a WSOP main event sponsorship deal with UltimateBet and incurred the wrath of Tony G and PokerNews in the process. There were several sides to that story, which consisted of a response from Tiffany and a personal account/semi-truce from Tony G.
Less than a month later, Tiffany signed a longer-term deal with UB. That spurred some talk within the poker community, but she is in the news again, this time as a result of her actions at the WSOP main event as chronicled by ESPN. The most talked-about incident involved her calling the clock on an opponent, during a hand of which she was not a part, and the criticism she received from Craig Marquis. If you haven’t seen it, here ya go, with the hand in question at the beginning of the video:
Evidently, Tiffany received some not-so-cutesy messages from people after the show aired, and she responded with a post on her website, MySpace, and 2+2. In essence, she blamed television editing, the fact that she’s a female, and the non-understanding people have of her and her poker game for the hubbub. To see the entire message, as posted on her website, click here.
In response to the post on 2+2 by Tiffany of the above-mentioned message, Craig Marquis called her disrespectful and rude. To see his short and not-sweet forum comment, click here.
Another perspective on Tiffany’s general demeanor at the WSOP main event was posted by F-Train, wherein he called her self-impressed and noted that as a tournament reporter, he was not a fan. For the post, click here.
The Poker King also had a few things to say about Tiffany by calling her out for general bad behavior and opining that her hype-train is now nothing more than smoldering wreckage. The entire opinion post can be found by clicking here.
While this is certainly not the biggest of controversies to hit the poker community, it has several interesting sides to it.
While Jen was slaving away covering the WCOOP on the PokerStarsBlog this weekend, I was extremely busy playing in a $1,000 freeroll on PokerStars (12 players max). I’m sure it won’t make her extra-happy to know that I overslept for this special-invite tourney and logged in with an M < 1. But that's what it took to make the final table -- playing tighter than ever. My stats en route to finishing 9th:
During current Hold’em session you were dealt 122 hands and saw flop:
– 0 out of 21 times while in big blind (0%)
– 0 out of 22 times while in small blind (0%)
– 2 out of 79 times in other positions (2%)
– a total of 2 out of 122 (1%)
Pots won at showdown – 1 of 2 (50%)
Pots won without showdown – 0
The series of events is called The Run Good Challenge — mad props to our friends at PokerListings for putting it on. 10 independent typists and two professional bloggers from Listings … duking it out in a game of online hungry-hungry hippo for real American cash:
Event 1: NLHE, regular Stars Structure (Sept 6)
Event 2: NLHE, turbo structure (Sept 13)
Event 3: NLHE/PLO, regular structure (Sept 20)
Grand Final: NLHE Deep Stack structure (Sept 27)For the three prelims the top three spots will pay: $600, $300, $100. Grand final will consist of top five performers from external bloggers plus best of Dan or myself and will pay all six spots: $1,000, $650, $400, $200, $150, $100.
Sweet, no? Be sure to click below for “live” chatlog coverage from the feature table — kinda interesting to see how entertaining poker can be when you eliminate the hands. (And gives you disturbing insight into the sick minds of bloggers competing in a tournament that couldn’t happen at the WSOP without the entire final table being sent to the penalty box.)
Good piece on PokerListings naming the “Top 5 Etiquette Mistakes” at the brick-and-mortar tables.
Their five faux pas:
5. Stalling
4. Stinking
3. Unmucking
2. Misrepresenting
1. Slow-rolling
The one I think they left out — which I would put at number 2, probably — is Table Talk.
Mean Gene was on the scene when all was shaking down — and he’s got some great details about just how drinky a fete the $50k HORSE championship really was — for players, fans, and reporters alike — and the bad vibes all around that may or may not have come across on ESPN.
(I was wondering about that beer-bottle label, or lack thereof. Indeed, I can imagine how even the attempt to force someone to drink Milwaukee’s Best Light could spark a little tilt.)
Whether or not it was reality-TV editing that turned the Prince of Poker into the Puck of Poker during the $50k HORSE event … here’s an edited down version of the edited down version that compiles Scotty Nguyen’s drunken antics into a 10-minute YouTube vid.
Scotty Nguyen Belligerent Drunk Montage
Amazing to think that 10 minutes of mouth-off is all it takes to taint the public perception of one’s entire life. But hey, I’m sure Bill Clinton has had similar thoughts. Unless of course there weren’t two different Scottys in play, in which case then it was just a matter of time before the camera eventually captured, er, reality?
