Poll Results

Here are the results of the latest poll to close.

There is currently one poll running that affects our home game.  It requests you to weigh in on which tournament you want as part of the WSOD this year.  The winning game will be played as a 2011 bracelet event.  Go vote now!

A new poll is running now, it should be a close one.

WOULD YOU RATHER...

Daniel Negreanu at the World Series of Golf 2009

I kind of liked this poll!

Raging V Poker Club - February 2011 Results and Pictures

As a lot of you are aware, some of our female poker players created a female only poker club that they have aptly named "The Raging V Poker Club"  Their latest travelling show rolled through my basement last night and here is how it all played out...

If this is what the regular game looked like, we'd have a lot more regulars...

Cheers indeed.

I did not choose to wear the requested "duty belt only" dealer uniform - look at the disappointed faces...

Verve being Vervillian

It was a friendly game!

T-Mart was taking a picture of her chips and these people got in her way.

Ali-G, K-Mart, snot rag, Shaski, Verve, Kirby

Bobby making out with the dealer's ear

If this doesn't look fun, you need to see a Doctor - come out next time ladies!

So how'd they finish, you ask?  Well I happen to have pictures!

Verville came in 3rd after being ridonculously low in chips for a long time.  She played great and kicked ass!  Nice comeback Verve...

Verve wearing her special "In the money" outfit

Kirby has also been playing very good poker lately and she seemed to be in the pots at the right time.  She made T-Mart tilt like I've never seen her tilt before.  It was very funny...  Kirb came in 2nd and won a mitt-full of cash but no bracelet - look out ladies, she's overdue!

Kirby and her children

T-Money Mart.  She played great and played carefully after some early exits in earlier tournaments.  there was a pivotal hand with Shari when they were the 2 chip leaders and T-Mart had 77 and Shari had A6.  The flop came A76 and there is no way to get away from it, T-Mart became the monster chip leader and rode the wave to take down the third Raging V Poker Club bracelet.  Congrats T!

3 bracelets and 2 wrists - Bracelet rental rates are reasonable, inquire via e-mail

I had a blast as the honorary dealer and the ladies were a blast to hang out with for the night.  I can vouch that the table talk is way different than a regular Pass The Dip game and it kept me laughing all night!

If you are reading this and

1. have a female friend that you would like to invite out,

2. have a wife or girlfriend, you would like out of the house OR

3. enjoy poker and do not have a penis

please contact Tracy (or I can get you in touch with her) and she can add you to her mailing list.

For more on the Raging V Poker Club, they have their own permanent area under pages.

NBC Heads Up Poker Championship Participants Announced

2011 NBC Heads Up Poker Championship NBC has announced its lineup for the annual NBC Heads Up Poker Championship. 64 poker pros will each pay a $25 000 entry fee and the first prize will be $750 000. For those not familiar with this tournament, it is run as a bracket event, much like college basketball's March Madness.  All of the matches will be knock out events, meaning it is a best of 1.  The final will be the only match that will be a best of 3 to determine this year's Champion. The tournament was won last year by Annie Duke although she will have a tough time defending her title against a very talented field. Caesar's Palace will host the event from March 4th to 6th with the draw to determine the player's spots in the bracket to be held the day before.  The event will air on NBC for 6 consecutive Sundays starting April 17th. Here is the complete list of players in the 2011 NBC Heads Up Championship: Jason Alexander Patrik Antonius Eric Baldwin David Benyamine Andy Bloch Liv Boeree James Bord Doyle Brunson Joe Cada Daniel Cates Johnny Chan Don Cheadle Nicolas Chouity Allen Cunningham Jonathan Duhamel Annie Duke Tom Dwan Peter Eastgate Eli Elezra Antonio Esfandiari Chris Ferguson Ted Forrest Phil Galfond Phil Gordon Barry Greenstein Bertrand Grospellier Joe Hachem Gus Hansen Jennifer Harman Phil Hellmuth Phil Ivey Faraz Jaka John Juanda Gabe Kaplan Frank Kassela Eugene Katchalov Phil Laak Howard Lederer Erick Lindgren Ayaz Mahmood Thomas Marchese Mike Matusow Jason Mercier Michael Mizrachi Sorel Mizzi Chris Moneymaker Daniel Negreanu Scotty Nguyen Annette Obrestad Dennis Phillips Dwyte Pilgrim John Racener Greg Raymer Vanessa Rousso Kara Scott Huck Seed Erik Seidel Vanessa Selbst Emmitt Smith Gavin Smith Jennifer Tilly Melburn Whitmire David Williams Justin Young

Ali G - Kicking Ass and Taking Numbers and the Triumphant Return of Nat X

Tuesday was a night of champions.  And me.

X finally made it out to a game after getting raked through the coals in multiple comments.  I remember now why I arrange the poker nights on nights he can't make it.  He was a monster.

Thumbing a ride on the poker road of awesomeness - BLECCCHHH

Bob was in vintage form.  I'm thinking at this point the only way to combat his ridiculously good play is to buy a dozen more cats to mess with his recent breathing issues that I've finally realized is not a tell, but rather a serious medical condition.  I just might buy him a big stack of pizzas too as he claims he is allergic to pizza as well.  Actually that gives me an idea...

Papa John - My new pizza cat

Little Caesar - My other new pizza cat

I'm gonna troll KIJIJI until I find more pizza cats Bobby, sorry but it's got to be done.

Even though BSB and X played great this night was really Ali-G's coming out party.

She's gay.

OK she's not, but she played a rainbow flop* like nobody's business!  She really played some awesome poker.  She wasn't lucky enough to be hit in the face with the deck** like Big Stack or X but she still made a tidy profit on the back of some really good play.

Welcome to Da Ali-G Show

The other Ali G repping the Raging V Poker Club

It was probably the smallest turn out ever for one of our games.  Several regulars were on vacation, a couple were sick and Kramp was scared (strangely not of us taking his money but rather of the repercussions from his wonderful wife as he's overplayed his poker quota for the month this week).

Here is one final shot of the group of us...

OK, so I didn't mention The Cobra, but he was there.  He was like Frank "The Tank" in Old School - he was streaky and it ended bad, enough said.

By the way the blog bonus is now at $30 and so I will draw one name at the next cash game to win a free buy in.  Leave comments to be eligible, leave them daily to increase your chances.

Be forewarned, my new winning streak starts next game!

*rainbow flop = all 3 cards on the flop are of different suits
**hit in the face with the deck = a rush of good cards

More Poker Shirts

Here is the second instalment of poker T-Shirts - Strangely it is hard to find a good poker vest out there, but I'll keep my eyes open.  Shirt 16 is in honour of T-Mart and shirt 20 was written with Kramp in mind.  I think my favourite of the bunch is shirt 18 with a side order of shirt 20.

One Vegas trip a few of us tried playing the tourist card and entered a tournament with terrible poker shirts and Vegas coloured visors we bought downtown.  Gepeddo left the price tag on his and he final tabled the Binion's daily tournament.  Maybe I'll do a post on hideous tourist poker shirts in the future...

  shirt 13

 shirt 14

  shirt 15

  shirt 16

  shirt 17

  shirt 18

  shirt 19

  shirt 20

The Start Of It All

When I was younger my friends and I had a tradition, we would head off to Waldo's cabin for a weekend every August for 3 days of worry free fun in the sun.  In 2003, Jason Mowat brought some of those really cheap red white and blue .0001 gram poker chips (which by the way can be found on the internet for $2 for 100 chips).

He also came armed with poker for dummies, which suited us just fine.  Up until then the only poker any of us had played was old school dealer's choice poker, you know the games; Kings and Little Ones, Pregnant 3's, Baseball, Chicago Low.  We had never even heard of texas hold em or any other community card games.

We played our first $5 a head tournament that Friday night and we played continually until we had to leave on Sunday.  Our turn out to Waldo's was quite small in 2003 (4 people only) which worked great if you wanted to stay in the game.  You never sat long before another game started.  The games started fairly slow as we had to thumb through the Poker For Dummies (too often) to find out what we were supposed to be doing.*  Once we had the basics, we all were hooked.

Here are the pictures of Harvey (PGE - Pre-Gepeddo-Era), Waldo, Jason Mowat and Me...

We all had to wear Waldo's parent's gardening hats.  I wish I still had the awesome purple Palamino Club hat. 

Harv, Jason and Waldo (There he is!)

Following this weekend we started our home poker game.  It ran occasionally and we moved from tournaments to 10 cent / 25 cent Fixed Limit Hold Em.  Can you imagine playing for a $3 pot?  (Those were the days when Harv was ultra aggressive and ultra tilty LOL).  We continued the tradition of cards during our Waldo cabin weekend and the turn outs grew bigger. I believe it was 2004 when we played with a full table and The Crantini Kid and Gepeddo got their poker names.

Over the years, Jay, Mike and I have stuck with it and we've made a healthy regular game out of that night.  You've all joined us as friends of ours, friends or co-workers of friends, clients or even in Solly's case, you delivered pizza and decided to stay and play.  A couple of you are 7 degrees of separation from the original player that was part of our game.  I'd say we've ended up with a pretty fun and diverse group with a common love of losing money the game.

Cheers to you all, thanks for making it fun!

*--We had so little knowledge of the game that we believed 73 off suit was the worst starting hand.  When we learned this was not the case, 73 off suit became a trademark of our future games, inspiring a tournament series and a long running jackpot bonus.

Game Tomorrow

Tomorrow we have the return of Nat X to our poker jamboree.  Its good to see his return on the blog as his comments are usually full of content, insightful and mean.

Don't forget the game starts at 7:30 and is a cash game only.

For more information, check the Upcoming Games / Events / Open Invitations page.

Super Donkeys Movie - Original Pass The Dip Video

Well Dandy apparently was off the radar for a while, having fun and playing poker on a cruise that turned into a working holiday.  In international waters, you best work off your debts.

Now that he's back, he's making videos.  This one stars Nat X and someone reporting to be my uncle.  No one makes fun of Kramp in this one, but you should watch it none the less.

Check out his submission here ---> Super Donkeys Movie

X-Man by Dandy Bloch

Looking at the picture of X in the still shot above, doesn't it look like he has a reservoir tip on top and is ribbed for your pleasure?  It suits his "Trojan" Horse style of trapping game!

Cogan's Trade - New Poker Movie in Production

By Jay A. Fernandez

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Ray Liotta has joined the cast of "Cogan's Trade," an all-star crime thriller headlined by Brad Pitt.

Pitt's Jackie Cogan is a professional enforcer who must investigate a heist that took place during a high-stakes poker game under protection of the mob. Liotta will play Mark "Markie" Trattman, the unfortunate hustler who runs the game in a motel room and finds things only going downhill from there.

The cast also includes James Gandolfini, Javier Bardem, Sam Rockwell, Casey Affleck, Mark Ruffalo, Vincent Curatola and Richard Jenkins.

Andrew Dominik is directing from his adaptation of the 1974 George V. Higgins novel. The Weinstein Co. and Pitt's Plan B Entertainment are producing the project, which will begin shooting in New Orleans later this month for an early 2012 release.

Liotta recently appeared in the Sundance premieres "The Son of No One" and "The Details." He hits theaters in October with the comedy "Wanderlust."

Ray Liotta to play "Markie" Trattman in Cogan's Trade

My Favourite Store

My favourite man-caveish store is AVO Recreation at 619 Ferry Road.

They deal with all items related to Pool / Billiards, Ping Pong, Darts, Air Hockey, Foosball and Shuffleboard.  Oh yeah, and poker.

I've bought 3 poker tables over the years from them and currently they range from $299 to $1799.  They also carry decent poker table top designs for $89 and $159.

They also carry a variety of pretty cool poker chips, timers, buttons, cards (Copag and Gemaco), chip trays, card markers and other poker related items.  The service is great and if you need something, just ask and I'm sure they can work something out for you.

AVO has an on-line catalog that list a lot, but not all of their products.  Here is the link to their web site;

AVO Recreation

AVO Recreation

Officer Harvey Deserves Respect AKA People Are Gonna Get It! - Original Pass The Dip Video

In our latest original poker video installment, Gepeddo Harvey is still reeling from a poker night where everything went wrong.  He plots his revenge in a pre game chat with Clayton.

This is the link ---> Harvey and Clayton in a pre game discussion where Mike lets his strategy slip

Player Nickname Poll Results

WHICH PLAYER NICKNAMES ARE YOUR FAVOURITES? (CHOOSE AS MANY AS YOU'D LIKE)

It was a tight race but The Crantini Kid's last minute handshake / kissing babies shameless self-promotion did the trick as he held off a surging Gepeddo Harvey and the ever-popular Dandy Bloch and the well named Brain Kramp.

A new poll is up and waiting for your vote!  There is also a "Would you rather poll" already running.

Professional Poker Player Profile: Eric Seidel

ERIC SEIDEL

Erik Seidel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erik Seidel (born November 6, 1959) is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas,Nevada with eight World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. He is also a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.^[1]

Seidel was born in New York City. Originally a tournament backgammon player for eight years, he eventually started playing the stock market, and then moved on to poker. He was one of the group of now famous players from the Mayfair Club, including Stu Ungar, Jay Heimowitz, Mickey Appleman, Howard Lederer, Jason Lester, Steve Zolotow, Paul Magriel and Dan Harrington.

In his first major tournament, Seidel was runner-up in the 1988 World Series of Poker main event toJohnny Chan. This final hand was featured in the movie Rounders. Seidel made the WSOP main event final table again in 1999, finishing in 4th place in the event won by Noel Furlong.

He won his first WSOP bracelet in 1992 and won his eighth and most recent bracelet in 2007. Seidel has won bracelets in five different games, including Hold'em, Omaha, and Deuce to Seven Draw. Only four players in the history of the WSOP, world champions Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson,Johnny Chan, and Johnny Moss, have won more bracelets than Seidel.

During the sixth season of the World Poker Tour, Seidel won the 2008 WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic, earning $992,890.

Seidel is part of the design team for Full Tilt Poker.

In January 2007, Seidel finished in second place in the Aussie Millions $100k event and took home $550,000(AUD), beaten by Erick Lindgren in Heads-Up play when he moved all-in with KJ of hearts on a two-heart flop and Lindgren called with a pair of aces and his 7 kicker became an eventual straight.

In January 2008, Seidel finished in second place in the Aussie Millions $10k main event and won $1,000,000(AUD).

In March 2010, Seidel finished in second place in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship and collected $250,000 after a 1-2 loss to Annie Duke in the final.

As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $13,700,000,^[2] of which $4,352,051 have been won at the WSOP.^[3] His 60 WSOP cashes put him in 4th for all time, tied with Berry Johnston.

Seidel has won eight WSOP bracelets.

Year	Tournament	Prize (US$)
1992	$2,500 Limit Hold'em	$168,000
1993	$2,500 Omaha 8 or better	$94,000
1994	$5,000 Limit Hold'em	$210,000
1998	$5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw	$132,700
2001	$3,000 No Limit Hold'em	$411,300
2003	$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha	$146,100
2005	$2,000 No Limit Hold'em	$611,795
2007	$5,000 World Championship No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball w/rebuys	$538,835

Here are his results so far from 2011 courtesy of the Hendon Mob.  He has been cleaning up in absolutely everything!  Imagine - $3.5 million in a month, must be nice!

27-Jan-2011		A$ 250,000 Super High Roller No Limit Hold'em 2011 Aussie Millions Poker Championship,Melbourne	1st	A$ 2,500,000	$ 2,472,555
22-Jan-2011		A$ 100,000 No Limit Hold'em 2011 Aussie Millions Poker Championship,Melbourne	3rd	A$ 625,000	$ 618,139
13-Jan-2011		$ 25,000 No Limit Hold'em - High Roller Event PokerStars Caribbean Adventure,Paradise Island	4th		$ 295,960
10-Jan-2011		$ 5,000 No Limit Hold'em - 6 Max PokerStars Caribbean Adventure,Paradise Island	3rd		$ 46,560