Two-Time Super High Roller Bowl Champion Timothy Adams Has Already Cashed for $5.9 Million This Year

www.CardPlayer.com Vol. 33/No. 12 June 3, 2020

TWO-TIME SUPER HIGH ROLLER BOWL CHAMPION TIMOTHY ADAMS HAS ALREADY CASHED FOR $5.9 MILLION THIS YEAR

Matt Damon VS Mike McDermott, Transitioning From The Candy Store And Rounders Cheating Moves Live To Online Poker Isn’t Always Open

PLAYER_33_12_Cover.indd 1 5/13/20 1:46 PM PLAYER_12_GlobalPoker_DT.indd 2 5/14/20 2:17 PM PLAYER_12_GlobalPoker_DT.indd 3 5/14/20 2:17 PM Masthead - Card Player Vol. 33/No. 12

PUBLISHERS Barry Shulman | Jeff Shulman ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Justin Marchand

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Card Player (ISSN 1089-2044) is published biweekly by Card Player Media LLC, 6940 O’Bannon Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89117. Annual subscriptions are $39.95 U.S. ($59.95 U.S. for two years), $59.95 Canada, and $75.95 International. Remit payment to CUSTOMER SERIVCE, CARD PLAYER MAGAZINE, PO BOX 434, CONGERS, NY 10920-0434 or call 1-866-587- 6537. Periodicals postage paid at Las Vegas, NV, and additional mailing offices USPS #022-483. POSTMASTER: Send all address changes to CARD PLAYER MAGAZINE, PO BOX 434, CONGERS, NY 10920-0434. Card Player makes no representations as to whether online gaming is legal in your community. Please check with your local authorities. Reproduction or use in whole or part is prohibited without prior permission from the publisher. Contributors are afforded the opportunity to express themselves to the fullest; however, statements and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Information is gathered only from sources considered to be reliable; however, accuracy is not guaranteed. Publisher does not endorse any of the products or services advertised in this magazine, nor is publisher responsible for the contents of any ad copy. Published and printed in the United States.

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004_Masthead.indd 4 5/13/20 12:01 PM PLAYER_12_bestbet_FP.indd 3 5/14/20 2:19 PM Table of Contents - Card Player Vol. 33/No. 12 18 14

Features Strategies, Analysis Also In this Issue 18 & Commentary 4 Two-Time Super High Roller Bowl 22 About Us Champion Timothy Adams Has Already 2020: The Candy Store Isn’t Always Open 38 Cashed for $5.9 Million This Year By Steve Zolotow Poker Leaderboards By Erik Fast 23 Should You Go Pro? The Inside Straight By Jonathan Little Tournament 8 24 Hand Matchups Poker News Recap True Tales From A Hollywood Poker 25 12 Hustler: Matt Damon Vs Mike McDermott Tony Tran vs. Erkut Yilmaz And Rounders Cheating Moves Revealed Player Of The Year Update 27 By Houston Curtis Erkut Yilmaz vs. Kevin Rabichow 14 27 Poker Strategy: Transitioning From 29 Patience vs. Aggression Live To Online Poker With Poker Vlogger By Greg Raymer Kevin Rabichow vs. Tony Tran Jeff Sluzinski 36 By Steve Schult 28 Kevin Rabichow vs. Robert Heidorn 16 Badugi: A Discussion On Two-Card Draws By Kevin Haney Poker Stories Podcast With Faraz Jaka By Card Player News Team

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006_TOC.indd 6 5/14/20 12:26 PM PLAYER_10_Bike_FP.indd 3 5/14/20 2:20 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

the INSIDE STRAIGHT News, Reviews, and Interviews From Around the Poker World FOUR-MAX POKER TO BE THE NORM WHEN LAS VEGAS CASINOS REOPEN By Steve Schult

"Only four players will be allowed at a poker table, four players at a roulette table, six players at a craps table and only three per blackjack table."

Four-max poker will be the standard in Las Vegas poker rooms when casinos ﬁ rst reopen. e Nevada Gaming Control Board released health and safety policies for Silver State casinos to implement that will allow them to resume gaming operations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. ose policies dictate that there will be a limited amount of seating available at every operational gaming table. Only four players will be allowed at a poker table, four players at a roulette table, six players at a craps table and only three per blackjack table. A player-per-table limit eliminates any sort of full ring, or even six-max poker for the immediate future. It essentially eliminates poker tournaments until these rules are relaxed and the virus becomes less of a concern. It is part of broader social distancing measures regulators are forcing operators to comply with. Casinos will also ensure that large groups do not congregate in sportsbooks, bingo halls and keno lounges. e guide- lines also recommend that chairs and stools in front of every other slot machine be removed. Any area of the hotel or casino that forms a queue will require patrons to keep their distance from one another. Other areas of the resorts will have similar measures in place. Dayclubs and nightclubs will remain closed until further notice. In order to reopen, casinos must submit a plan that outlines how staﬀ will comply with the new regulations. ose plans, which will only allow casinos to operate at 50 percent capacity, must be submitted at least seven days before guests are allowed into the buildings again. Aside from table limits and social distancing measures, new regulations include proper signage posted throughout the building reminding patrons of proper hygiene, mandated hand washing by employees on every break, appropriate personal protective equipment, most likely mask and facial coverings, worn by employees, and enhanced cleaning procedures. e policies still did not give an exact date or timeline for when casinos will reopen. Nevada casinos have been closed since Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered a shutdown of all nonessential businesses on March 17. m

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008_News.indd 8 5/14/20 2:12 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

FORER POKER PRO DOUG POLK STARTS PROCESS TO RECALL LAS VEGAS MAYOR By Steve Schult

Former Poker pro Doug Polk is making waves in the Las Vegas political world after filing a notice of intent to recall Mayor Carolyn Goodman. e move comes a couple of weeks after Goodman made headlines with a controversial CNN interview with Anderson Cooper where she advocated for hotels and casinos to be reopened immediately and made remarks about using the city as a “control group” for coronavirus. e three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner made the first of a two-step process to initiate a recall election as he explained in a YouTube video he published to his channel. e first step was to file the notice of intent with the City Clerk. Polk needed to get three signatures from Vegas residents that voted in the last Mayoral election. “I got a couple extra signatures just in case and we have an official petition signed,” said Polk. e next step is acquiring 25 percent of the voters from the last election to sign a petition requesting a recall election. ere were 26,723 total votes the last time Goodman was elected, meaning Polk will need at least 6,681 of those voters to sign the petition. Once the threshold is met and the paperwork is filed, Goodman will have to run again in an election. Polk clarified that if he is successful in his efforts, there is no guarantee that Goodman will be removed. “is isn’t an impeachment. ere will be a new election. Goodman could win again,” said Polk. Polk noted that there was a change.org petition to remove Goodman from office, but he informed his viewers that the petition was useless. e only way Goodman can be removed from office at this point is through the ballot box. At the end of his video, Polk joked about running against Goodman and jumped into a com- edy sketch where he gave a campaign speech centered around the premise that he was simply not Goodman. Polk has tweeted in the past that he had political aspirations, but when reached for comment Polk indicated that it likely won’t be in a possible recall election against Goodman. “At some point, I am going to get into politics,” said Polk. “I have a feeling this will not be it, but I’m not against the idea.” e current mayor responded to Polk’s actions on Twitter with a tweet that said “Regarding the recall effort: is is America. at’s his choice.” Goodman has been elected to the position for three consecutive terms. Her term is scheduled to end 2024. She is following in the footsteps of her husband, Oscar Goodman, who held the same office over three terms from 1999-2011. m

“AT SOME POINT, I AM GOING TO GET INTO POLITICS,” SAID POLK. “I HAVE A FEELING THIS WILL NOT BE IT, BUT I’M NOT AGAINST THE IDEA.”

008_News.indd 9 5/14/20 2:12 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT - News, reviews, and interviews from around the poker world

MGM RESORTS MAY MAKE 63,000 FURLOUGHS PERMANENT LAYOFFS "Nevada’s largest employer will likely open a handful of casinos By Steve Schult and gradually reopen the rest as it is proved that casino resorts can Furloughs could become permanent layoffs as some casi- operate while keeping guests safe." no companies are realizing that the COVID-19 pandemic could have effects that reach further than just the length of the shutdown. According to a Las Vegas Review-Journal Report, MGM Resorts sent a legal notice to employees that those furloughs could “last more than six months or become permanent.” Acting CEO Bill Hornbuckle sent the letter and cited a possible decline in travel and tourism as the reason for the possible permanency of the furloughs. MGM continues deep cuts. e company laid off four Las Vegas Strip hotel presidents and delegated those respon- sibilities to the presidents of the remaining Strip properties. It has also been reported that when gaming gets approval from the state to reopen, MGM won’t reopen all of its properties at once. Instead, Nevada’s largest employer will likely open a March 17, MGM furloughed 63,000 workers. e company handful of casinos and gradually reopen the rest as it is employs 70,000 domestic workers in total with its nine proved that casino resorts can operate while keeping guests casino properties on the Las Vegas Strip, two in Mississippi, safe. as well as one in Atlantic City, Detroit, Maryland, Ohio, Station Casinos will implement that exact plan in Nevada Massachusetts and New York. by keeping Palms, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, and Furloughed workers were originally eligible to receive Texas Station casinos closed initially. CEO Frank Fertitta benefits from the company’s health plan through June 30. also announced that the company would be laying off a In response to the news, MGM has extended that deadline “significant but unspecified number of employees.” through Aug. 31. Shortly after Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak declared a state ere is still no definitive timeline for when Nevada of emergency and shut down all ‘nonessential’ businesses on casinos will open their doors again. m MGM Resorts Proposes Las Vegas Strip Solution For Finishing The 2020 NBA Season By Erik Fast

Both the Las Vegas Strip and the players of the National in the scheduling. Basketball Association are currently sitting idle, sidelined e pitch to the NBA and WNBA report- by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. According to the New edly offered the Mandalay Bay as the hub of York Times, MGM Resorts International has come up with a this quarantined block on the south end of solution that might put both of those parties back in action. the strip, with up to 24 basketball courts to MGM reportedly proposed that their currently unused be built in the connected convention center. strip properties could be utilized as a quarantined village e Mandalay Bay is connected to the Four Seasons and that could house professional athletes and their families, the Delano, with an enclosed walkway to the nearby Luxor as well as league personnel and the media workers required Hotel which would house MGM service staff were the pro- to broadcast the games to fans around the world. is idea posal accepted. would allow the remaining games of the season to be played MGM’s offer apparently included the use of the trap- in a centralized and controlled environment, removing the pings of typical Las Vegas vacations for those staying in the need for teams to undertake potentially dangerous travel quarantined area, including spas, lounges, and even gaming from venue to venue in order to play. areas. Each NBA team plays 82 games during their regular Similar proposals have reportedly been made to other season, with 16 teams making the playoffs. When play was major sports leagues facing similar difficulties in finish- halted on March 11, the 30 teams of the league had all ing their current seasons, including the National Hockey completed between 63-67 games each, depending on quirks League and Major League Soccer. m

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008_News.indd 10 5/14/20 2:12 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT Macau Gaming LEGENDARY SPORTS Revenue Plunges BETTOR BILLY WALTERS TO 97% In April BE RELEASED FROM PRISON By Steve Schult By Steve Schult

Gross gaming revenue from Macau casinos plum- meted in April, marking the biggest year-over-year drop in Macau’s gambling history. The COVID-19 pandemic is going to allow legendary sports Macau casinos won $95 million from gamblers in bettor Billy Walters to serve the rest of his five-year prison April. e figures represent a 97 percent decline from sentence under house arrest. April 2019, topping February’s record for its 88 percent In early May, Walters was released from federal prison in drop, stemming mostly from the 15-day forced closure of Pensacola, Florida. Walters has served more than three of his casinos in response to coronavirus. five-year-sentence for insider trading. ere was a slight rebound in March, as gaming rev- During his gambling career, Walters was considered one of enue only fell 80 percent, but as the COVID-19 pandemic the sharpest sports bettors on the planet. During his 39-year spreads throughout the rest of the globe and the Chinese sports betting career, he only had one losing year and netted government continues to restrict visas, the numbers tens of millions in the process. dropped to record lows. He will serve the remainder of his sentence in his San According to a report from the South China Morning Diego home. He will be considered a free man on Feb. 14, 2022. Post, casino operators are losing $1 million per day as bac- The combination of Walters’ age and the spread of COVID-19 carat and roulette tables “remain nearly empty.” throughout the U.S. prison system are key components of why e Chinese newspaper is also reporting that Melco Walters is being released from custody. Resorts and Entertainment, a Hong Kong-based gam- The passage of the CARES Act, which brought unem- ing company with multiple properties in the former ployment insurance to professional poker players, allowed Portuguese colony, began slashing its executive staff. Attorney General William Barr to release some older prison Chairman Lawrence Ho forfeited his salary for the rest inmates into home arrest as the coronavirus has proven to be of the year, citing that the number of customers in the more lethal to the older population. casinos is “virtually zero.” The 73-year-old was convicted in July 2017 and slapped e pandemic seems to be acting to bottom out the with a $10 million fine for six years of insider trading with for- market, which has seen seven straight months of declin- mer Dean Foods Co. Chairman Tom Davis. ing revenue. Before the spread of coronavirus, the Macau Between 2008-2014, Walters made $25 million based off gambling industry was suffering declines from both the information given to him by Dean about a relationship with a trade war with the U.S. and the escalating protests in restaurant company that was not yet public. In a 2018 inter- Hong Kong. view with ESPN, Walters blamed golf pro Phil Mickelson for the Executives from American casino companies are opti- conviction. mistic about a quick turnaround in Macau’s gaming Walters claimed that Mickelson owed him $2 million from market. a gambling debt. Walters offered up the inside information, Bill Hornbuckle, acting CEO for MGM Resorts, said which led to Mickelson also netting seven-figures, which was in a earnings call that the casinos should recover early subsequently forefeited to the U.S. Securities and Exchange in the summer as the virus concerns begin to slow. Rob Commission in a 2016 civil case. Goldstein, president of Las Vegas Sands, said that that the Last October, Walters appealed to a federal judge that his Chinese government will begin lifting travel restrictions sentence should be cut short because of “prosecutorial mis- to Macau from the mainland later this month. conduct.” Walters argued that the prosecutors leaked facts to Increased visitation to the island will undoubtedly the media before the trial and that those leaks caused Davis spark an uptick in gaming revenue, as it is the centerpiece to cooperate with authorities. The judge denied his motion. m of the local economy. m

008_News.indd 11 5/14/20 2:12 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT - Player of the year As of 5-5-2020

Place Players Points Final Tables Winnings A Look At Players Outside the Top 20 Making Waves In Recent Weeks

1 Vincent Wan 2,280 1 $909,420 Ross Ward - 28th Place (1,268 points) 2 Farid Jattin 2,177 6 $1,205,493

3 Anton Suarez 2,100 1 $1,000,000 28

4 Cary Katz 2,095 8 $2,420,543

5 Kahle Burns 1,956 6 $2,923,988

6 Ngoc Hoang 1,900 1 $909,420

7 Aaron Van Blarcum 1,896 8 $1,854,522

8 Sam Greenwood 1,881 6 $1,357,807 Ross Ward has been one of the most consis- 9 Tim Adams 1,857 6 $5,904,777 tent players in smaller-stakes tournaments so far in 2020. The Gainesville, Georgia resi- dent has already made seven final tables 10 Brian Altman 1,848 3 $542,866 this year, with three outright title wins and a survivor event victory earned along the way. He started the year off with a win in 11 Michael Addamo 1,806 5 $2,143,310 a $340 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza in January, 12 Pablo Silva 1,800 1 $1,000,000 defeating a field of 518 entries to win $31,179 and 336 points. Less than a fortnight later he won a $400 buy-in event at the Wynn 13 Christian Rudolph 1,750 1 $620,000 Signature Series, outlasting 381 other players to earn another $20,501 and 240 points. 14 James Romero 1,736 2 $745,000 He was also among the 11 players to earn the top payout in a survivor event at the Wynn Spring Classic in late February, earning 15 Erik Seidel 1,686 5 $669,649 $3,000 and 45 additional points. His fourth title came in a $600 buy-in event at the WPT 16 Eric Afriat 1,680 1 $394,120 DeepStack Showdown at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas. He defeated a field of 85 entries to earn $10,000 and 96 points for that vic- 17 Alex Foxen 1,597 6 $1,603,559 tory. His largest score of the year came in a $1,600 buy-in, also held at The Venetian. He 18 Nino Ullmann 1,540 2 $370,609 placed fourth out of 699 entries in that event to earn $100,000 and 420 POY points. With $175,441 in year-to-date earnings and 1,268 19 Stephen Chidwick 1,537 6 $1,043,973 points, Ward now occupies the 28th-place spot on the Card Player Player of the Year leaderboard. 20 Gareth Pepper 1,520 1 $690,000

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012_POY.indd 12 5/14/20 10:12 AM 33 Phil Ivey - 33rd Place (1,190 points) Poker Hall of Famer Phil Ivey currently sits in 33rd place in the 2020 POY rankings, with one title and four final-table finishes through the first quarter of the year. All of Ivey’s cashes took place at the partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Sochi, with three of the scores coming in short deck events. Ivey finished runner-up in a $50,000 buy-in event in that format, earning $525,000 and 425 points. Just two days after that he won a different $50,000 buy-in short deck tournament, securing $865,050 and 510 points as the champion. It was his first live tournament victory in nearly two years. He closed out the streak with a fifth-place showing in a $100,000 buy-in short deck event for $240,000 and another 150 points. The ten-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner has not finished inside the top 50 in the year-end POY standings since 2012, when he ended up in 21st place. Ivey has been an infrequent participant in live tournaments throughout much of this decade, likely due to his being embroiled in legal battles over contested baccarat winnings. 44 Seth Davies - 44th Place (1,075 points) Seth Davies has made four final tables already in 2020, cashing for $1,031,133 in POY- qualified events since the new year began. The 2016 World Poker Tour Canadian Spring Championship winner kicked his year off with a third-place finish in a $25,000 no-limit hold’em high roller at the Australian Poker Open for $121,613 and 280 points in late January. A few weeks later he finished as the runner-up in a $10,000 buy-in event at the Aria Winter High Roller Series, earning another $114,000 and 200 points. He then went on a cashing spree in Sochi, earning three cashes and making two official final tables. In the span of a week in Russia, Davies cashed for $795,520 and added 595 to his annual points total. The Bend, Oregon native has climbed into 44th place in the POY standings as a result, with 1,075 total points so far. He’ll be a player to watch when live tournament action gets back underway.

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012_POY.indd 13 5/14/20 10:12 AM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT - poker Strategy

POKER STRATEGY Transitioning From Live To Online Poker With Poker Vlogger Je Sluzinski

By Steve Schult

Jeff Sluzinski, better known as Jeff “Boski” to his viewers, has one of the most popular poker vlogs on YouTube. Sluzinski’s vlog chronicles his life as a poker pro playing tournaments in Las Vegas. The Michigan native has made his living playing tournament poker, both live and online for the last 15 years. He has racked up $919,421 in live tournament earnings over his lengthy career, as well as more than $630,000 on the virtual felt. He is known as the “Original ACR Pro” and is currently a sponsored pro for Americas Cardroom. Since the coronavirus-induced gaming shutdown in the U.S., many live players have been forced to move to the online realm to continue playing. Card Player sat down with Sluzinski to discuss some of the finer points of transitioning from live to online poker.

Steve Schult: ere are lots of poker players around the JS: Since there are no physical tells, timing and sizing country who aren’t able to play live poker and have been tells are going to be more important. It’s going to be more forced into the online world. What is going to stand out of a math-based game. ere’s programs, such as legal to new online players as the biggest difference between the heads-up displays [HUDs], which anyone can use, that two variants? can give you a better idea of your opponent’s tendencies, Jeff Sluzinski: e action. Even if you are just playing even if you’re not paying attention. one table online, you will be seeing a lot more hands than SS: I know some sites like Americas Cardroom allows a you would be if you were live. e dealer doesn’t have to HUD and other sites like WSOP.com and Global Poker do shuffle the cards, players don’t take as long to act, and you not. Do you notice a difference in game quality between have the option to multi-table. sites with or without HUDs? What are your overall So you will have two, three, or even four times as much thoughts on this type of software? action depending on how many tables you can play. Take JS: Some players do feel that it gives some people an it easy, take it slow, and don’t be discouraged. Don’t start unfair advantage. Some people have even messaged me thinking that you alone are getting more bad beats, more recently and they said ‘Hey man, I saw you were using a action hands. It’s just a numbers game. You’re going to see HUD. at’s cheating. at’s like using steroids.’ more bad beats. You’re going to see more coolers. It’s not Well, I get what you’re saying. But if steroids were legal rigged. and didn’t hurt your body and were available to everybody, SS: With the increased variance because of the increased then I guess everybody would take steroids. Information is number of hands, is the threat of tilt more prevalent? Is there power. And I think most sites you can have a HUD on. I more of an emphasis on the mental game aspect of poker? see both sides of that coin, but they have been around since JS: You could say that. It’s a lot easier to tilt online day one and I think there are more unethical practices because there are more hands. You’re going to get hit with going on that I think are more dangerous to the commu- more shots. Imagine you’re in a boxing match. In a live nity than HUDs. setting, you might play one round. But online, you play It’s just the nature of the beast. If there is money being 12 rounds in the same time you play one round and you’re wagered, people are going to find an edge. at’s just the going to absorb a lot more punches. harsh reality of it. And how you deal with this adversity is going to dictate SS: If someone came to you and said they were going how your session goes, so you’re a lot more susceptible to tilt. to use a HUD for the first time. What stats would you tell SS: I like that analogy. at’s a good one. them to look at to spot leaks in both their own game and JS: It feels like a punch to the gut every time I take a their opponents? bad beat. It never stops hurting. JS: It’s going to take you a long time to set up the HUD SS: What about the absence of physical tells? A lot of and understand what the numbers mean. Otherwise, it’s new online players don’t enjoy the fact that you can’t see going to be screen clutter and you won’t even know what your opponents and read their body language. How reli- you’re looking at. So, you want to educate yourself as to what able can timing tells and other online tells be to replace the the numbers mean and what those stats say about a player. physical aspect of live play? In general, a fishy player will have a big gap between

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014_PokerStrategy_Jeff Sluzinski.indd 14 5/14/20 2:13 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT “I think there is a softer player pool live than online and as a general rule, your stakes should be divided by 10 when you play online. If you are normally a $1-$2 player live, you should be playing $.10-$.20 online If you play $100 tournaments live, then you should play $10 tournaments online. That is going to have a comparable skill level.”

their PFR [preflop raise percentage] and their VPIP [vol- SS: In your opinion, which is going to have the softer untarily puts money into pot percentage]. at means they player pool? Online tournaments or cash games. limp a lot and don’t raise a lot. ey might be something JS: I’m sure cash games are closer to solved, if that’s a like a 40/10 [VPIP/PFR], while a solid reg might be 25/20. thing. But there aren’t as many variations in cash games SS: One of the other aspects that stick out to me is the as there is in tournaments. And it’s always safer to play stakes that are played. Most players play smaller stakes tournaments. Not to say that there is a lot of collusion online than they would live. $1-$2 live doesn’t play the and cheating going on in online poker, but if you are in a same as $1-$2 online. Why is that? 1,000-person online tournament, there is less of a chance JS: at’s a very good point. I think there is a softer that two buddies are sharing hole cards. I do think that player pool live than online and as a general rule, your sites, for the most part, do a very good job of policing this. stakes should be divided by 10 when you play online. If SS: e last thing I wanted to touch on was bankroll you are normally a $1-$2 player live, you should be playing management. With the increased variance, how many $.10-$.20 online. buy-ins is considered reasonable to have for a given stake? If you play $100 tournaments live, then you should Should you even keep your entire roll online or keep some play $10 tournaments online. at is going to have a of it separated? comparable skill level and I believe this is because the JS: As long as you trust the site, you should have at least average person that plays online is just more versed than 100 buy-ins for your average tournament buy-in amount. live players. ey have played more hands and they have If you play a $10 tournament and a $20 tournament, then more experience. your average buy-in is $15. So you should have at least e volume and the experience are going to make them $1,500 ready to put into play whenever need be. a better player overall and it is going to make the bad play- But 250 buy-ins is a more reasonable amount if you ers go broke quicker. ey’ll play more hands per hour want to become a professional poker player in order to even if the stakes are lower, especially with the ability to withstand the swings of playing tournaments. And even multi-table. then, there is still a very good chance that you’ll lose all SS: Speaking of multi-tabling, back in the glory days of that money, even if you are a winning tournament player. online poker, there were several guys that would play 24 at’s how insane the swings can be. tables or more. at’s not really prevalent anymore, but as You can play where you fold a lot and try to cash at a people get more comfortable playing two or three tables at slightly higher rate to lower the variance, but that will hurt a time, what is the max number of tables they can realisti- your long-term win-rate. cally shoot for? SS: Any other advice for aspiring online players? JS: It definitely depends on the person. Back in the day, JS: Don’t take shots, unless it’s a super juicy tourna- I was one of those players on PokerStars. I played 20 tour- ment. And don’t gamble more than you can afford to lose. naments at once and just stacked them all on top of one Tilt can be a real problem, especially if the money really another and they just kept popping up. means something to you. at is really going to amplify Decision. Boop. Another decision. Boop. ey just kept the tilt. popping up one after another. e main reason people Let’s say you got your stimulus check and your wife tells have cut back on tables is because the game has gotten you that there are some bills to pay. And you say “Honey, harder. erefore, you have to pay closer attention to your I’m going to double it online.” Don’t do that. opponents in different situations, while tournament or Tell her “Honey, let me put $50 online and $1,150 we’ll table selecting more. put towards the bills and food. Let me have a little fun.” m

014_PokerStrategy_Jeff Sluzinski.indd 15 5/14/20 2:13 PM Card Player Podcast

POKER STORIES PODCAST

With Faraz Jaka

Poker Stories is a long-form audio podcast series that features casual interviews with some of the game’s best players and personalities. Each episode highlights a well-known member of the poker world and dives deep into their favorite tales both on and off the felt.

To listen, visit www.cardplayer.com/poker-podcasts or download it directly to your device from any number of mobile apps, such as Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify. Catch up on past episodes featuring notables such as Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Justin Bonomo, Nick Schulman, Barry Greenstein, Michael Mizrachi, Bryn Kenney, Mike Sexton, Brian Rast, Chris Moneymaker, Maria Ho, Joe Cada, Freddy Deeb, and many more.

Age: 34 From: San Jose, California Online Tournament Earnings: $4.3 Million Live Tournament Earnings: $6.7 Million

Top Live Tournament Scores July 2009 WPT Bellagio Cup Main Event 2nd Place $774,870 Jan. 2012 PokerStars Caribbean 3rd Place $755,000 Adventure Main Event Dec. 2009 WPT Five Diamond World 3rd Place $571,374 Poker Classic Main Event April 2018 WPT Seminole Hard Rock 2nd Place $454,496 Poker Showdown Main Event July 2009 WSOP $5,000 Six-Max NLHE 3rd Place $400,526

Faraz Jaka is a former World Poker Tour Player of the Year, and has more than $6.8 million in career live tournament earnings, to go along with another $4.3 million won online. The 34-year-old from San Jose, California has several notable final-table finishes on his poker resume, including runner-up showings at the Bellagio Cup for $774,870 and the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown for $454,496. He finished third at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $571,374 and third at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for another $755,000. He also has six final-table appearances at the World Series of Poker. Jaka is well known for his nomadic lifestyle, having reduced his belongings to just two small suitcases so that he could more easily travel the globe between tournament stops. CNN even went so far as to dub him ‘The Homeless Millionaire’ as the University of Illinois graduate split his time between five-star hotels and the couches of strangers. After nearly a decade of non-stop moving, Jaka brieﬂy put down roots in Brazil for an online poker project, before recently resuming his travels on the circuit with his new wife. Jaka has also started to share his poker knowledge and years of experience with the students at two-time WPT champion Jonathan Little’s PokerCoaching.com website. Highlights from this interview include being an angry kid, running the mile with a torn ligament, escaping home and crossing the country, being eToilet, blowing a six-ﬁgure bankroll in college, going from dorm games to Vegas, falling from $50-$100 no-limit to $5 sngs, WPT POY, getting Card Player Magazine respect, poker pros who ‘fake it’, reducing his life to two bags, the ups and downs of launching an online poker site, tying the knot, poker coaching, ten days of silence in ailand, selling magnets and FUBU, underground cash games in Mexico City, playing with Kevin Hart and Nelly, and an ideal trip into the Congo.

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016_Podcast_Faraz Jaka.indd 16 5/14/20 2:14 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

The Transcript Highlights

How He Built And Blew A Six-Figure Bankroll While Still In College Julio Rodriguez: I want to talk about your initial run in college. You found poker, you did pretty well. You got yourself a nickname because you liked chasing fl ushes. But how the hell do you run up a six-fi gure bankroll and then blow it all in a week? Faraz Jaka: Well, blowing it all wasn’t that hard. To start out, there was a guy playing in the dorms and he wanted to teach everybody else how to play. We did a $5, or $10 tournament, it was about 12 or 13 of us. Only two of the guys knew how to play, and I ended up winning it. en we got into it and started playing a weekly 10-25 cent game. I remember being down like $180 after a couple of weeks, which was a lot of money for me at the time, and I could see where this was going. I didn’t want to spiral and blow a bunch of money I shouldn’t. I decided that if I get down $200, I would stop playing. After that, I went on a tear. I won a few hundred dollars and started looking for bigger games around campus, fraternities, charity events. I started playing online, and would jump into these huge games I shouldn’t have been in. Jump in $5-$10 with the minimum buy-in, and run it up. I built up a $10,000 bankroll over the course of a couple months. JR: So far that’s normal… FJ: Me and my friend Ben Lefew started taking these crazy trips to Vegas from college. I showed up to his dorm once, ursday night, 1 a.m., and said, ‘Ben, we should go to Vegas!’ He said, ‘I know, we are always talking about it. Let’s plan a trip.’ I said, ‘No! We should go now!’ Literally on a whim, we fl y to Vegas. I remember we booked a later fl ight so we could go to the bank fi rst, to get money. We thought you shouldn’t carry large amount of cash, so we needed to get traveler’s checks. Like that was what we were supposed to do. (laughing) We took a couple thousand each… show up to Vegas, and of course don’t even use the traveler’s checks, just the ATMs. He was playing $80-$160 limit, and I was playing $10-$20 no-limit. Buying in for $2,000 with only $10,000 to my name. We’d both make like $5,000 or $6,000, fl y back and become heroes in our dorm. We literally fl ew back the next week and did it again, and it became a regular thing. Now we’re the kids at school with money, buying everybody drinks, throwing crazy parties. I started playing online more, and jumped into these $25-$50 games. I had a crazy week where I ran $5,000 into a $30,000 stack. I started playing heads-up games, and I was playing guys… I didn’t even know who they were at the time. I was playing Prahlad Friedman, Ram Vaswani. ese were the guys who sat there, waiting for someone to play them at the largest games. I was battling those guys, unaware of who they were, with my hyper-aggressive style, and basically ran it up to $170,000 by the end of the week. I was fl ying high, thinking I was going to be making millions of dollars a year, just doing this. I stopped going to class. I ended up basically losing it all over the course of the next year, which was a very dark and depressing time period for me. Just to go from that high, to that low in a short period of time, was really tough. JR: I’m amazed you stayed in poker. FJ: I didn’t even go from $170,000 to broke. I went from $170,000 to negative $30,000. I was in debt from borrowing some money. My parents had found out I was playing because an article came out in the University newspaper that said, ‘Student Wins $120,000 Playing Online Poker.’ ey think I’m in summer school, I’m really in Vegas playing cash games during the WSOP. So my dad is freaking out, and I agreed to invest a bunch of the money in property, but now I’ve lost it all and I was too embar- rassed to tell them. m

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016_Podcast_Faraz Jaka.indd 17 5/14/20 2:14 PM TWO-TIME SUPER HIGH ROLLER BOWL CHAMPION TIMOTHY ADAMS HAS ALREADY CASHED FOR $5.9 MILLION THIS YEAR

How The Canadian Pro With $24.4 Million In Career Earnings Rose To The Pinnacle of Tournament Poker

By Erik Fast ©Poker Central ©Poker

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018_CoverStory.indd 18 5/14/20 2:15 PM imothy Adams has cashed for more money than or even $0.25-$0.50. I think people were buying in for any other live poker tournament player so far $5-$20 and playing shallow-stacked cash games. After in 2020. In fact, his $5,904,777 in scores since that, I eventually got someone in the residence game who the new year dawned was more than double was playing on Full Tilt Poker to send me some money on theT amount that any other player had earned before the there. I kept losing but I was very interested. casinos were closed worldwide. CP: What about the game piqued your interest? e 33-year-old Canadian poker pro kicked off the TA: I just felt right away that the game was very com- year with a spree of big scores in Australia, making four plex and that made me very intrigued. It felt like there final tables down under, cashing for nearly $2.2 million were endless situations and possibilities to figure out, and and winning two titles along the way. He took down a I guess that’s what has kept me interested for all these $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the Australian years. Poker Open and followed that up by winning the inau- CP: Do you think you have any particular skills or gural $250,000 AUD buy-in Super High Roller Bowl personality traits that helped you excel at poker? Australia for $1.5 million less than a week later. TA: I think what has helped me a lot throughout the In March Adams made his way to Russia for the years, especially in the early years, is that I have a good MILLIONS Super High Roller Sochi series. He got his memory. I tend to remember very random things and feet wet with a final-table finish in one of the early high- could recall a lot of poker hands in detail. Nowadays, stakes events, earning $116,000 for a fifth-place show- a good memory still helps a lot, but I think the most ing in a $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event. Just 41 important trait is having a good work ethic. days after winning the Super High Roller Bowl Australia, CP: Do you have a background playing other strategy Adams outlasted a field of 40 entries in the $250,000 games or sports? Did any of your immediate family, par- buy-in Super High Roller Bowl ents, or siblings play? Russia to earn the title and TA: I had no background the top prize of $3.6 million. in strategy games growing Adams became just the second up. I played a lot of sports player to ever win two SHRB growing up and was lucky titles, after Justin Bonomo enough to have a great child- won both the Las Vegas and hood with a lot of active Macau events held in 2018. friends. My main sports I His incredible run didn’t “I’ve always been played were ice-hockey and just get going in 2020. He soccer. I’ve always been driv- made a total of 13 final tables driven by competition en by competition and I’ve in 2019, winning four titles always loved tournament and cashing for nearly $6.3 and I’ve always loved formats in sports. million along the way. Adams CP: When you made the now has more than $24.4 mil- tournament formats decision to go pro, was the lion in lifetime live tourna- move supported by your ment earnings, which puts in sports.” family? him in 20th place on poker’s TA: I think it was a grad- all-time money list. He is ual thing regarding poker currently the second-highest being a part of my life. My earning Canadian player of parents didn’t have much of all-time, behind only Daniel a clue what poker was and Negreanu, who has $40.9 mil- at first were worried that it lion in career cashes. would take over my stud- While many of Adams’ biggest victories have come in ies. I made sure to complete my degree in commerce high roller events, he is also a World Series of Poker brace- at McMaster University, mainly for my parents, even let winner. He defeated a field of 750 entries in the $2,500 though I was playing so much poker throughout my buy-in four-max no-limit hold’em event at the 2012 WSOP university days. to earn the gold hardware and the top prize of $392,476. CP: You won a WSOP bracelet nearly eight years ago. Card Player recently spoke to Adams during the live What did that victory mean for you at that point? Did tournament shutdown that resulted from the global coro- it change the trajectory of your career at all, from your navirus outbreak. In the conversation, he discussed how point of view? he first got into the game, his rise to the highest stakes in TA: It was essentially a stepping stone for me to start the world, his back-to-back SHRB titles, and more. playing more live poker. I was mainly playing online at Card Player: When did you first start to play poker, that point. Once you have a bit of success playing live, it and how did you find the game? definitely gives you the itch to keep going. Timothy Adams: First year of university when I was CP: How did the transition to playing high roller and 18. Didn’t know what poker even was and my room- super high roller events happen? mate played, had a set of chips and everything. ere TA: I was basically having success playing both online were quite a lot of other people that played poker around and live and had the opportunity to play bigger stakes. campus and we started a nightly game in our residence at’s generally the progression for most people jumping

©Poker Central ©Poker rec room, usually $5 MTT (multi-table tournament) style into the high roller tournaments.

018_CoverStory.indd 19 5/14/20 2:15 PM © Manuel Kovsca Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd

“WINNING MONEY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. CRAVING EXTERNAL VALIDATION CAN BE A SLIPPERY SLOPE IF THAT IS WHAT YOU’RE FOCUSED ON.”

CP: Do you remember the first high roller $25,000 or CP: What is your favorite part of playing primarily above you played? Was it any more stressful, or were you high rollers? What’s the best aspect of this niche part of able to take the changes in stride? the live tournament circuit, for you? Conversely, what’s TA: I played the $50,000 buy-in event at European your least favorite part? Poker Tour Barcelona in 2012. at was quite new to me TA: Nowadays, most of my opponents have become as it was my first time playing poker in Europe. I was close friends of mine. So it’s just nice to meet up with also playing the biggest buy-in of my life. I don’t think I people you consider friends at these poker stops, play was overly nervous, but I did punt off my stack on day 2 poker against them, hang out off the felt, etc. It’s just in terrible fashion, so there were likely some nerves that really fun. Also, I love playing and competing so for me, I was oblivious to. it’s the most fun thing I can do. I guess the least favorite CP: Did you find success in super high rollers right part is when you fall into issues with bad sleep patterns. away, or was there a bit of getting accustomed to their It’s always a challenge to fight fatigue and exhaustion. differences compared with other events? But over the years, I’ve found certain ways to deal with TA: I played a few super high rollers between 2012 to that. I minimize things like drinking alcohol, try to 2014 or so. ere were only a few of them per year com- always get eight hours of sleep, even if it means sacrific- pared to nowadays where there are a few at each stop. I had ing going for breakfast or going to the gym. If there is a a couple decent runs in my first few of them, in Monaco spa at the hotel, I’ll usually start my day in the sauna or and London, which probably got me hooked. (Author’s steam room. at always re-energizes me. note: Adams finished fourth in a €100,000 buy-in at the CP: Your four largest career scores have all come with EPT Grand Final in Monaco in 2013 for $627,525 and the past year and a few months. You’ve had by far the two sixth in the €50,000 buy-in at EPT London later that year largest years of your career in 2019 and already in 2020. for another $280,793). I just loved the atmosphere. ey What do you attribute your recent success to? Have you were intense but at the same time, very casual. e banter made any changes in training, lifestyle, approach to the at the table was always friendly and pleasant. game?

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018_CoverStory.indd 20 5/14/20 2:15 PM Adams’ incredible run didn’t just get going in 2020. He made a total of 13 final tables in 2019, winning four titles and cashing for nearly $6.3 million along the way. Adams now has more than $24.4 million in lifetime live tournament earnings, which puts him in 20th place on poker’s all-time money list.

TA: I think the biggest thing is just putting in work ever been at this given moment, but I feel obligated that away from the tables. Trying to improve and get better that is the norm. takes a lot of effort behind the scenes. Playing is the fun CP: Can you share your thoughts on winning back- part and that’s what I try to tell myself. To enjoy the to-back Super High Roller Bowl events? Where would game once you’re playing because the tedious and strenu- that accomplishment rank, for you, in your list of poker ous parts are sitting for many hours by yourself trying to achievements? improve your understanding of the game. TA: Yeah, for me that was probably the pinnacle of CP: So you were in Sochi and playing the last few my poker accomplishments. It is always amazing to win events of the partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller a poker tournament, but clearly winning back to back series there while the poker world started to shut down SHRB events was something special. I am sure I will due to the pandemic. Can you talk about the atmosphere appreciate it even more in the future when I look back. there? Was it hard to know the best course of action, in Right now, I am just kind of riding the wave. regards to continuing to play or not? CP: You are now sitting inside the top 10 in the 2020 TA: To be honest, in Sochi, we were in a bit of a Card Player Player of the Year race. Would winning an bubble. e tournament venue was in a pretty isolated award like a POY, that seeks to compare players based on area. ere was definitely lots of talk about COVID at their performance throughout a year as opposed to any the tables, people were being careful with how much single event, be meaningful to you? Where do you fall on they’d touch the chips and also people were sanitizing the spectrum between players who care very much about and washing hands like crazy. accolades, and those who are just in it to win money? CP: You recently took to social media to offer some TA: Winning money is the most important thing. complimentary poker coaching to Twitter followers who Craving external validation can be a slippery slope if that were self-isolating during the pandemic. How did you is what you’re focused on. Of course, winning things like come up with that idea? POY is nice and I would be pleased to win. I do take a TA: I just thought it’d be a nice way to give back a look at the rankings systems from time to time. little back to the poker community. Even just a small CP: Do you envision poker being your only career? If gesture like giving up some of my time. e idea actually it weren’t, what else would you be interested in pursuing? was a bit inspired through my friend Sam Greenwood TA: Definitely something in sports. Something like who posted on Twitter that he was willing to answer any sports psychology has always been interesting to me, it poker questions people had. I thought that was kind of clearly has many overlaps with poker. cool so that’s what gave me the idea. CP: Do you have any other goals, perhaps outside of CP: Would you say that you are a better player today poker, that you are shooting for in the next few years? than ever before? TA: Just to remain consistent. Staying healthy physi- TA: I mean, you should always be improving, in theo- cally and mentally are always top priorities. ry. I am sure I will look back at how I play now in a year CP: What are your goals as a player in the next few from now and see a bunch of holes in my game. at’s the years? great thing about poker, there is always so much to learn. TA: It sounds boring but it’s just to keep showing up So to answer the question, yes I think I am the best I’ve and getting better. It’s all about the journey. m

018_CoverStory.indd 21 5/14/20 2:15 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary 2020: THE CANDY STORE ISN’T ALWAYS OPEN By Steve Zolotow “When I used to win every e current coronavirus crisis has reminded me of an important concept. It is one that I have written about and night, I thought those talked about for nearly 50 years. games were a candy store. It begins with a story. I had a friend, Howie B, who was the best stud player in several games on the upper east side Now I realize, the candy of New York during the 1970’s. He had played with Stu Unger and Eric Drache when they were still on the East store isn’t always open.” Coast. We called him Howie the Horse both because of his size and his habit of going out to Aqueduct or Belmont race track each day. He usually lost whatever he had won the night before. In fact, he occasionally lost more than he had won the night before, and came back in debt. For a while, it didn’t matter. Stores, but let’s look at times in the fi nancial arenas when Every day he’d lose at the track, but every night he’d win at this concept applied: the poker game. • e fi rst option traders to apply the Black-Sholes But over time, the games got tougher. Some of the really model on the American Stock Exchange had a temporary horrendous players went broke or got tired of losing and ‘Candy Store.’ quit. eir places were taken by guys who played reasonably • From about 1990 to 2006 buying real estate was a well. Some of the other weak players got better. ‘Candy Store.’ Suddenly the game of musical chairs ended, Finally, the inevitable happened. e Horse went on a and those holding houses or condos were in big trouble. losing streak at poker. And things at the track didn’t get is happens even in personal situations. e fi rst month any better. He got an afternoon job tending bar at one of of many relationships are full of wine and roses. ings start the local joints. is served the dual purposes of providing to go sour, and it may end a few months (or years) later when a little cash and keeping him away from the track. the miserable couple splits. e recent fi lm Marriage Story One afternoon, I stopped in for a few beers. I gave him portrays this well. a lecture about money management and playing only when Prior to Covid-19, live poker and poker tournaments you have the best of it. (To this day, I continue to give had been booming again. e games may not have been as similar lectures to talented games-players who are periodi- great as they were after Moneymaker won the World Series cally broke.) of Poker main event, but until recently the poker ‘Candy He said, “When I used to win every night, I thought Store’ was open. Likewise, business was great for bars, res- those games were a candy store. Now I realize, the candy taurants, casinos, airlines, cruise ships, etc. Not anymore. store isn’t always open.” ose Candy Stores are closed. Now online gaming, espe- I laughed, had a few more beers and left. On the way cially poker, is fl ourishing as inexperienced players, trapped home, it dawned on me that he had made a really profound in their homes with nothing to do, start to play. Win their comment on gambling, or perhaps even life in general. It is money while it’s there and buy stock in online poker if you crucial to realize that the candy store isn’t always open! can. What do I mean? I mean that there are times when you e lesson to be learned is that if you fi nd a great situ- get into a very good situation. When that happens, make ation and start making a fortune, don’t blow it on casino your money and enjoy some of it. But don’t make the mis- gambling, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Everything gets take of thinking you can blow it all because the situation tougher. Big losers will quit or go broke. e average player will never end. will become more knowledgeable and more skillful. And no Let me give you some examples of times the candy store one ever knows what idiocy the government will perpetrate was open for me: next. • When Atlantic City casinos fi rst went into operation, If you catch yourself thinking, “I’m a great player, a big they dealt blackjack with early surrender counters that had winner and things are so good that it doesn’t matter what a huge edge. On top of that, there were some very inexpe- I do with my winnings. I can always win more,” remember rienced dealers, whose mistakes in the player’s favor were that the ‘Candy Store’ won’t always be open. seldom corrected. • When Los Angeles poker clubs won their lawsuit and Steve ‘Zee’ Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is started dealing a variety of games, not just draw poker, and a successful gamesplayer. He has been a when Atlantic City put in poker, ‘Candy Stores’ opened up. full-time gambler for over 35 years. With two • When I fi rst began to bet on sports, local bookmak- WSOP bracelets and few million in tourna- ers had radically diff erent lines in diff erent cities. e 49ers ment cashes, he is easing into retirement. He might be favored in San Francisco while their opponent, the currently devotes most of his time to poker. Giants, were favored in New York. He can be found at some major tournaments and playing in cash • Sites like Full Tilt, Doyle’s Room, or Ultimate Bet games in Vegas. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his were booming and soft before Black Friday. bars on Avenue A in New York City -The Library near Houston and I could go on and on with examples of gambling Candy Doc Holliday’s on 9th St. are his favorites.

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022_S&A.indd 22 5/14/20 2:16 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary SHOULD YOU GO PRO?

By Jonathan Little

If you do not particularly enjoy your day job or are strug- In my opinion, it is short-sighted to try to become a pro- gling in these difficult times due to the COVID-19 virus, fessional poker player without at least a year’s worth of living you may have considered looking into poker as a way to expenses set aside and a nice bankroll, at least 5,000 big make a little money on the side, or perhaps even as a way blinds for no-limit hold’em cash games, or 100 buy-ins for to gain some financial freedom. Every time I host a Q&A tournaments. So, if you spend $3,000 each month on routine webinar on PokerCoaching.com, I find myself answering expenses, you need at least $60,000 before even considering the classic question: “When should I become a professional becoming a $2-$5 pro. I know this sounds like a lot, but if poker player?” you want to be safe, especially since you are not sure if you As with most questions related to poker, the answer is, have the required skills to be a pro, it is the prudent decision. “It depends.” ere are numerous factors that should influence your Let’s assume you play $2-$5 no-limit hold’em at a local decision to become a professional player. If you have a family, card room (I realize you may your expenses will be much be forced to play online at more than a single person, the moment due to the virus, and the expenses will prob- but this example still applies), ably increase as time goes which is about the stakes most “In my opinion, it is short- forward, especially if you people play who ask this ques- have young children. You tion. $2-$5 is the largest game sighted to try to become will also find it hard to jus- that runs on a regular basis tify putting in numerous in most local card rooms and a professional poker hours at the table while you most players who can beat are missing your kids grow this game feel like they are player without at least up. is will often result in decently good at poker. a year’s worth of living playing during non-peak Let’s assume you make hours, which will cut your $50 per hour. When I played expenses set aside and a win rate. $5-$10 at Bellagio eight years If you currently have ago, over the course of a year nice bankroll of at least a “normal” job that pays playing about 50 hours each well, you will also have week, I made around $100 5,000 big blinds for no-limit a tough time justifying per hour. Ten big blinds per the move to poker. If you hour is a solid win rate that hold’em cash games or 100 make $40 per hour at your most excellent players can job, which provides a nice, achieve as long as the games buy-ins for tournaments.” secure paycheck, there is are decently soft and the rake really no reason to rely on is not too high. So, if you play poker, even if your actual 40 hours per week, you will hourly rate may be slightly make around $8,000 per month at $2-$5, which sounds higher. ere is a lot of value in having no variance to your great, at least initially. monthly income, even if it is not exciting and you have to ere are a few problems with this nice $96,000 per year report to a boss you may not especially like. salary. First, few people actually want to play 40 hours per One thing most players don’t consider when going pro week. I found myself constantly wanting to take days off or is that you may not be as good as you think you are. If you cut sessions short because I simply did not enjoy sitting at the do not have a long track record of winning, you should not table for that many hours. Many players feel a desire to take even consider quitting your job. I estimate that you need at time off either when they are winning or losing. Because of least a 500-hour sample in the game you plan on playing this, you will probably only be able to average 30 hours per before attempting to go pro. ese 500 hours will also have week. You are now looking at $72,000 salary. let you grind up an adequate bankroll for the game. Ideally, Next, you have to pay taxes. Assuming you pay 20 per- this trial period will let you know if you enjoy playing poker cent or so, you will actually bring home $57,600, which and also roughly what your win rate is. I also suggest you still isn’t too shabby. You will probably need to buy health diligently study my in-depth book, Mastering Small Stakes insurance, which will cost around $250 per month, reducing No-Limit Hold’em. your disposable income to $54,600 each year. While this You may find you love poker as a hobby, but not as a job. doesn’t sound too bad, you also need to set aside money for Before actually quitting your job, take some vacation time retirement, which will set you back around $10,000 per year, away from your job and play poker as you would if you were though you will eventually get that back at some point. is a professional. is will give you a sense of what it feels like will leave you with about $45,000 per year to live on while to play poker every day. Compared to playing recreationally, also trying to grow your bankroll. playing poker professionally requires a drastically different

022_S&A.indd 23 5/14/20 2:16 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

mindset. initially considering going pro. Playing tournaments only You may have noticed that I did not mention becom- becomes a reasonable idea when the buy-ins become very ing a professional tournament player. is is because it is large, assuming the fi elds remain soft, because then, you can quite diffi cult to put in enough time at the table to give expect to have a high hourly rate. you a steady sizable return. Also, small-stakes tournaments In the end, if someone hates their 9-to-5 job and wants to in most local casinos are only barely profi table due to poor play poker, they are probably going to give it a try. Do your structures and high rake. best to make sure the decision is the correct one because For example, if you can play a $200 buy-in + $30 rake if you’re wrong, you may squander a lot of time and a lot tournament at your casino every day that has a relatively fast of money. If you decide to make the leap, let me know on structure, you may win something like $50 per game. If each Twitter @JonathanLittle. Good luck! m tournament takes four hours on average, you will win $5 per hour ($50 per game – $30 rake). Even if your tournament Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion with is incredibly soft, you may win at the rate of $20 per hour, more than $6 million in tournament winnings. which is about as much as a great player will win at $1-$2 Each week, he posts an educational blog and cash games. podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com, where you Putting in four hours per day playing a tournament with can get a FREE poker training video that details a win rate of $20 per hour will not make you rich. Since most five things you must master if you want to win casinos don’t have daily $500 buy-in or larger tournaments, at tournament poker. You can also sign up for his FREE Excelling at No I suggest you devote your time to cash games when you are Limit Hold’em webinars at HoldemBook.com/signup. TRUE TALES FROM A HOLLYWOOD POKER HUSTLER: MATT DAMON VS MIKE MCDERMOTT, AND ROUNDERS CHEATING MOVES REVEALED By Houston Curtis

We all know it, we all love it. e No, it wasn’t a box offi ce sensation 1998 fi lm Rounders, directed by John by any stretch of the imagination, Dahl, written by Brian Koppelman but like many cult classics, Rounders and David Levien, produced by Joel is a fi lm that has continuously found Stillerman and Ted Demme, and of its way into the hearts and minds course, starring Matt Damon and Ed of every new poker playing gen- Norton, has become a staple for poker eration since its inception. From players everywhere. McDermott’s fi ctional clash with How many times have you been Johnny Chan, to the real-life 1998 walking through a poker room, or hang- main event where Damon was poeti- ing out at your local Wednesday night cally thwarted by Doyle Brunson home game when someone shouts one of with K-K against A-A, to poker great the following lines? “Kid’s got alligator Daniel Negreanu demanding in a blood,” or how about “Don’t splash di tweet that Rounders 2 be produced! pot,” “I just got comped at the noodle It’s as if the fi lm has become a rite of bar,” “Give me three stacks of high soci- passage for all those who set out to ety,” or the two-word phrase that gets take the game seriously. spun more often than a Lady Gaga tune Negreanu, is of course correct. in West Hollywood on a Saturday night, ere truly is a fever pitch in the “Very a-gress-ive.” poker community for a Rounders And of course, let’s not forget the sequel. If such a fi lm escapes turn- fi lm’s famous opening line, “If you can’t around and actually gets made, it spot the sucker in your fi rst half hour at may never hold the sentimental place the table, then you are the sucker.” in our hearts like the original, but Rounders seems to hold a very special place in the heart of let’s face it… we would all go see it! today’s poker players, (myself included) and has undoubtedly One thing I’ve noticed however, is that while so many poker become an important part of poker history. For years I have enthusiasts have memorized the fi lm damn near line by line— always been baffl ed at how often Hollywood would get it there are at least two classic scenes chock full of beautiful dialog wrong when trying to portray poker on the big screen. en, that every poker fan can recite. Yet, most I’ve come across have here comes a fi lm that gets it right on so many levels. One no clue as to the meaning behind the words. e scenes I’m could arguably credit Rounders alongside Chris Moneymaker’s referring to include the insider cheating terminology that is WSOP win and the WPT’s revolutionary hole card cam as one narrated by Damon as he and Norton’s characters (Mike McD of the most important contributors to the poker boom of the and Worm) hustle an elitist frat house poker game. e other early 2000’s. scene with insider cheating terminology whittled throughout

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022_S&A.indd 24 5/14/20 2:16 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

the dialogue occurs when Worm gets busted for dirty dealing (three stacks of high society.) at being said, who do you in a room full of off-duty cops. think has a better stomach for huge losses in a poker game, After today, the mystery surrounding these cheating terms Mike McD or Matt Damon? will be solved. And furthermore, I have created a special video Let’s just say, Mr. Damon wouldn’t be calling up Knish supplement that demonstrates these classic, hard-to-spot cheat- after he lost in our game and asking him if he could drive the ing moves, but will also provide some crucial, rarely-shared tips truck! Matt was all smiles and seemed to enjoy busting the that will teach you what to look out for so you can avoid hav- chops of his good buddy and fellow Oscar-winning cohort ing such tactics used against you in your own game. Affleck as Ben reluctantly wrote me a check at the end of the Sounds fun right? But before we dive into that, I would night to cover Matt’s loss. love to share a quick excerpt from my book Billion Dollar When the story about my poker game originally broke in Hollywood Heist that tells of the time Matt Damon played in the press and was centered around the tell-all that became my private game alongside Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire. Molly’s Game, you saw Matt Damon’s name and picture fea------tured on almost every headline alongside Tobey Maguire, Ben [Matt was every bit as nice as you’d think he would be. What Affleck, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Even when I was interviewed impressed me most was the fact that when Ben introduced us, Matt by the media and told them Damon wasn’t a regular in the had already been given the lowdown by Ben on everyone at the game, they chose to ignore that fact, amongst several others. I table. He said, “Oh yeah . . . you’re the Backyard Wrestling guy guess sometimes the media has selective hearing. Ben was telling me about.” I feel as if there’s a large portion of the poker community As nice a guy as Matt was, he certainly wasn’t the poker player suffering from its own form of “selective hearing” when it he portrayed on the big screen in Rounders. I took him for about comes to the harsh reality of card cheating. e younger fty grand that night, to which Aeck had to write the check generation of poker players are great at spotting mathemati- because Matt didn’t have enough on him to cover it. We invited cal improbabilities, like those that led to busting recent poker him to come back any time, but truth be told, that was the only cheat Mike Postle. time Damon ever played in the big game. He just didn’t have the But what if we take the analyzation of hand history out of gamble in him like Ben or the rest of us. He wasn’t interested.] the equation? Does old school sleight-of-hand card manipula------tion still exist in the modern poker world? You bet it does. And Another thing that stuck in my mind the night Matt joined even though today we have everything from electronic shuf- us for the game was the fact that the minimum buy in was fling machines to very strict shuffling procedures, fresh deck $20,000 higher than that of his Rounders on-screen persona procedures along with scrambling and cut card enforcement, during the scene where he rolled into Teddy KGB’s place and players still need to arm themselves with knowledge in terms of mustered up the courage to risk his entire bankroll of 30 grand how to spot when the cards are being manipulated by a dealer

ANALYSISAnalysis TOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP Tony Tran came into the ﬁ nal table of the 2020 2020 WPT Rolling Thunder World Poker Tour Rolling under main event $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event as the shortest stack with six players remaining. Tran was one of two players at the ﬁ nal WPT Tony Tran Erkut Yilmaz table with a title under their belt, having taken down the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble 810,000 chips 2,340,000 chips back in 2018. e other WPT champion at K 3 K J the table was Tran’s opponent in this hand: Winning Percentage Winning Percentage Erkut Yilmaz, the defending champion of this

Before Flop: 23.0% Before Flop: 69.0% very event and the winner of the 2018 WPT

K 3 J After Flop: 11.0% K After Flop: 83.0% Borgata Poker Open. In a battle of the blinds, After Turn: 7.0% After Turn: 93.0% Tran raised the K-3 off suit from the small blind and Yilmaz made the call with his dominating PREFLOP K-J off suit. Both players made top pair on the fl op. Tran checked and Yilmaz elected to check With six players remaining and blinds of 10,000-20,000 with a big blind behind. e turn brought a second diamond on ante of 20,000, Tony Tran raised to 60,000 from the small blind. Erkut board and Tran elected to make a smallish bet Yilmaz called from the big blind. of 45,000 into the pot of 140,000. Yilmaz made the call and the Qn completed the board. Tran checked to Yilmaz, who now felt comfortable fi ring out a healthy value bet of 180,000 into K 7 2 4 Q the 230,000 pot. Tran underrepresented his top FLOP

TURN pair by checking on the ﬂ op, which could have

RIVER helped tip this decision toward a call. Instead, 4 Q 2 7

K he managed to make the big laydown of top pair, preserving roughly a quarter of his stack Tran checked. Tran bet 45,000. Tran checked. with the disciplined fold. Tran ended up keep- Yilmaz checked. Yilmaz called. Yilmaz bet 180,000. Tran folded. ing his stack above 35 big blinds as a result.

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022_S&A.indd 25 5/14/20 2:16 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

Does old school sleight of hand card manipulation still exist in the modern poker world? You bet it does. And even though today we have everything from electronic shuffling machines to very strict shuffling procedures, fresh deck procedures along with scrambling and cut card enforcement, players still need to arm themselves with knowledge in terms of how to spot when the cards are being manipulated by a dealer who is on the take.

who is on the take. culled, then stacked and dealt back into play. And stepping outside the casino, it becomes even more The Overhand Run Up: At one time, this move was prob- important for those of you playing in high-stakes home games ably one of the most-used forms of cheating and is one where the deal is still being passed around the table or where of the moves used for stacking the deck in ones favor. In the rules of how a fixed dealer runs the game aren’t as strin- the video, I demonstrate this method which looks like an gently enforced as they would be in a casino. ordinary overhand shuffle. While overhand shuffles have A great place to start learning what to look out for is to go been eliminated from casino card rooms, they are still very back to Rounders to grasp a better true understanding of what popular amongst most all home games. e basic principle: the cheating terminology referenced in the movie really meant, Let’s say a pair of Aces is culled to the top of the deck. “e and what to look out for in terms of spotting it. cheat would then begin to seemingly shuffle the deck in In the scene where Damon and Norton take on the frat an overhand fashion. But in reality, the cheat is “running boys, there are two sections. Section one, lists a series of collu- up cards” to place the proper number of cards in between sion techniques including: Signaling, Trapping, and Chip Placing. each ace so he can then deal the cards sending the aces to It is the second section that I want to give a primary focus whomever he wants. on in today’s column. e second section of the scene lists a I demonstrated this old sleight-of-hand maneuver on this series of cheating techniques that include the following: Discard week’s supplemental video in the link below. One way to Culls, Pickup Culls, Overhand Run Ups, and The Double Duke. avoid having to deal with an overhand run up is to begin Discard and Pickup Culls: is is a sleight-of-hand method implementing casino-style dealing procedures in your game. It mechanics use to locate desired cards that will later be stacked won’t stop a master cheat from doing the same thing during a into a hand giving him or someone on his team an advantage. riffle shuffle, but it will stop many cheats who only know how e mechanic learns how to spot cards as they are being dis- to stack cards using an overhand run up. carded into the muck and as they’re being picked up to be dealt The Double Duke: Sometimes a cheat will wait all night to in the next hand. He then manipulates the culled cards during execute one move, and one move only. e famed, Double what seems like a normal act of gathering and shuffling. Duke! A Double Duke is simply the act of dealing the mark The Discard Cull: In home games this move would often be a huge hand that will ultimately get beat by a slightly bigger accomplished during a dealer’s choice game, where the deal hand which would be dealt to the cheats partner. ere are is being passed around the table. Many home games have a several ways a cheat can prepare the deck for a Double Duke, loose, social atmosphere where drinking and joking are enough including the use of culling and doing overhand run ups! Ever of a distraction for a player who has already folded to literally wonder if that time you lost your entire stack at the end of the rummage through the discards as they’re being tossed into the night to a set over set was more than just a bad beat? If you ever muck. e discard cull would usually happen when the cheater have such suspicions, keep an eye on who dealt the hand and drops out of the hand prior to his deal. en, once the cards who won the big pot. is might prove valuable information are fully scooped up and in his full control, he knows exactly that gets you one step closer to finding out if you’re up against where the culled cards are located and can now manipulate two or more cheaters who are working together. them to the bottom of the deck or in a stacking procedure that As someone who used to work on the darker side of the card will give him or his partner the winning hand. manipulation equation, one thing I tell my students and clients The Pickup Cull: Pickup Culls occur during the act of is this: A masterful cheat can manipulate a deck so effortlessly clearing the table after a showdown. Pickup Culling is often that even another master cheat would have trouble seeing the considered more deceptive than Discard Culls since there is manipulation happen right before his eyes. erefore, it’s no rabbit hunting involved. A masterful mechanic can cull always good to know as much as possible about who and cards while making it seem as if he’s simply scooping up the where you are playing, especially when not playing in a licensed muck. Remember, just having the simple knowledge of a few casino. e last thing you want is for Worm to show up and cards and where they are placed already gives the cheat an clean you out of all your hard-earned cash! edge. Anything beyond that, simply increases that edge and Be sure to watch the supplement video here ultimately transforms from having an advantage, to flat out https://youtu.be/PfufDyrtxIU for a visual demonstration of some controlling the outcome of a hand based on the cards that were of the things we’ve covered today, (including the two scenes

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022_S&A.indd 26 5/14/20 2:16 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

from Rounders.) e best way to protect yourself from getting cheated in PATIENCE VS. AGGRESSION a poker game is to learn how to execute the moves that a master mechanic would be using in the ﬁ rst place. If your By Greg Raymer game is your livelihood, you might want to consider famil- iarizing yourself with a deeper understanding of these meth- I received this email recently, and thought this was a ods by checking out some of my free tutorials at KardSharp. topic that many readers would relate to. com or subscribing to my YouTube channel. m

Houston Curtis, founder of KardSharp.com and Hi Greg, author of Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist has lived I just nished your book. I liked it! Well written. I liked the a successful double life as both a producer and examples provided to clarify/emphasize your point… is it better card mechanic for nearly 30 years. His credits to be patient or to be aggressive to make it deep into a tourna- include executive producing gambling related ment? Which strategy will take your further? TV shows such as The Ultimate Blackjack Tour a n k s , J o h n on CBS, The Aruba Poker Classic on GSN, and pioneering the poker instructional DVD genre with titles featuring poker champion Phil I’m pleased you liked my book, and thank you for the Hellmuth. Barred for life from Las Vegas Golden Nugget for “excessive kind words. Now to dig into your question. My answer, in winning” at blackjack, Houston is one of the world’s most successful its simplest form, is you are asking the wrong question. card mechanics and sleight-of-hand artists of the modern era. Curtis, You pose the question as if we are talking about a who rarely plays in tournaments, won a 2004 Legends of Poker greyscale, with pure white at one end, pure black at the no-limit hold’em championship event besting Scotty Nguyen heads- other, and shades of grey in-between. For your question, up at the final table before going on to co-found the elite Hollywood it presupposes that being more aggressive means being less poker ring that inspired Aaron Sorkin’s Academy Award-nominated patient, and vice versa. It is kind of like asking me if I like film Molly’s Game. Curtis resides in Phoenix, Arizona where in addition my ai curry to be creamier, or spicier? You can change to running a production company and independent record label, he is one without aff ecting the other. In poker, you can be both also a private gaming/casino protection consultant to clients across more patient and more aggressive, at the same time. the globe seeking insight into master level card cheating tactics via e real trick is fi guring out when it is a good time to be advanced sleight-of-hand technique. To reach Houston for a speaking more patient, in the sense of folding the current hand and engagement, consulting or production services send email to waiting for something better. And fi guring out when it is [email protected] a good time to play the hand you are dealt, and take some TOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP ANALYSISAnalysis is hand features a clash between the two 2020 WPT Rolling Thunder largest stacks at the fi nal table. Erkut Yilmaz $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event picked up J-8 suited in late position and raised. Chip leader Kevin Rabichow defended his Erkut Yilmaz Kevin Rabichow big blind with A-6 off suit. e fl op brought 2,500,000 chips 2,600,000 chips a paired board of 4-2-2 rainbow. Rabichow check-called with his ace high, likely assum- J 8 A 6 ing that his hand just has too much showdown Winning Percentage Winning Percentage value versus what should be a near-automatic

Before Flop: 46.0% Before Flop: 54.0% continuation bet from Yilmaz. e turn

J 8 6 After Flop: 23.0% A After Flop: 76.0% p After Turn: 86.0% After Turn: 14.0% brought the 9 to make a backdoor fl ush draw possible. Rabichow checked and Yilmaz checked behind. e 6p on the river paired PREFLOP Rabichow. Should he value bet, trying to extract chips from A-K highs or perhaps 4-X? With six players remaining and blinds of 10,000 - 20,000 and a big blind Or does his hand work better as a bluff catcher? ante of 20,000, Erkut Yilmaz raised to 45,000 from the cutoff . Kevin In this particular instance, Yilmaz had indeed Rabichow called from the big blind. arrived at the river without much in the way of showdown value. As a result, he fi red out a bluff of 145,000 into the 170,000 pot when 4 2 2 9 6 Rabichow ultimately checked to him. Rabichow followed through and made the call to win the FLOP

TURN

RIVER pot, increasing his lead while taking a chunk

9 6 2 2 4 out of the most accomplished opponent at the table in Yilmaz, a two-time WPT champion Rabichow checked. Yilmaz Rabichow Rabichow checked. and WPT Player of the Year award winner from bet 25,000. Rabichow checked. Yilmaz Yilmaz bet 145,000. season 17. called. checked. Rabichow called.

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022_S&A.indd 27 5/14/20 2:16 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

risk in doing so. ose who don’t are not really as good as their reputation Overall, whenever you choose to play a hand, it is would suggest. e only exceptions I can think of are some almost always better to play the hand aggressively. One great short-handed players who play way too many hands of my favorite training exercises I teach my students is the in a full-ring game, but know they do so. eir solution is “No-Call” game. When doing this, you enter a low buy-in to only play in short-handed games. In truth, they ought to game, preferably a tournament, and the rule for this train- be able to become good players at a full table, but for some ing exercise is you are never allowed to call. Even though reason don’t have it in them to fold so often. there are many situations where calling is the better choice, For the rest of us, we do need to learn to wait and only for training purposes, you never call. e only exception play starting hands that are going to be +EV (positive is when raising is not an option. For example, if you are expected value) for us to play. Another factor here is that heads-up and the opponent goes all-in, you are allowed to this is not a ﬁ xed and rigid range of hands. You can correctly call, since raising is not an option. However, if there is a play many more hands from late position than early posi- third player in the pot who also has more chips than the tion. You can play many more hands in certain situations, all-in player, raising is an option, and you must raise or fold. such as being a big stack near the bubble. Learn all you can is exercise teaches the student to be more aggressive, to recognize all the +EV spots you are dealt, play most of as they no longer have the passive option of calling. ey those aggressively, and just fold all the rest. m can still check, fold, bet or raise. ey just can’t call. Most players are surprised at the numerous times they normally Greg Raymer is the 2004 WSOP world would have called, now raise instead, and take down the pot champion, winner of numerous major titles, immediately. and has more than $7 million in earnings. Another big factor in this exercise is that many players He recently authored “FossilMan’s Winning are much too loose, and should be playing fewer hands. is Tournament Strategies,” available from D&B exercise forces them to fold all those mediocre and weak Publishing, Amazon, and other retailers. He hands. And if not, then they must raise with those hands, is sponsored by Blue Shark Optics, YouStake, and ShareMyPair. To and try to bluﬀ with them! contact Greg please tweet at him using @FossilMan or go to www. As for patience, all the best players have it in abundance. FossilManPoker.com. BADUGI: A DISCUSSION ON TWO-CARD DRAWS By Kevin Haney

Poker games evolve over the years and Badugi is their opponents and these players will often call mul- no exception. Back when it was originally introduced, tiple bets cold with their two-card draws. Badugi was often played in a relatively straight forward Since we can often successfully value bet the river fashion. Most players contesting the pot were in there with premium tri hands the value of D2s has increased with either pat badugis or tri hands attempting to com- but as with any aspect of poker and life it’s best to not plete a badugi. Two-card draws, like Ap 2n, were pri- go too far overboard. In this issue we will analyze two- marily only played when stealing or defending blinds. card draws, the good and the bad, and see if we can Inexperienced players may not have realized that draw any conclusions. making a badugi was as hard as it is and may have given Improvement Probabilities more respect to river bets than they should have. They When we start out with Am 2n 4m 6m and draw two would often only call the river with a badugi and some- the chances of improving are as follows: times even fold made, but bad badugis. It was relatively Cumulative common to see the river check through even when both players held good three-card badugis! Probability Probability Nowadays in an aggressive game you will hardly Badugi 10.0% 10.0% ever see the river check through when there are two A-2-3 9.1% 19.1% relatively strong tris out such as A-2-4 and A-3-5. The A-2-4 will often bet for value if the A-3-5 hadn’t already A-2-4 8.2% 27.3% done so. It is not uncommon to see call downs with A-2-5 7.3% 34.6% A-5-6 or worse. Many players now consider Badugi a race to the best A-2-6 6.4% 41.0% three-card badugi and there is an increased prevalence A-2-7 5.5% 46.5% of players entering the pot with two-card draws (D2s) A-2-8 4.6% 51.1% such as A-2, A-3, 2-3, and A-4 from all positions. When a strong tri is obtained these players will get aggressive As the chart above indicates this hand has a 51 per- looking for max value and will continue searching for it cent chance to improve to an 8 tri or better with a 10 on the river even without a Badugi. percent chance of making a Badugi, the median badugi Others are just addicted to the action and love the made being an A-2-9-10. These are decent odds to thrill of going uphill and putting some bad beats on improve, however 49 percent of the time you will still

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022_S&A.indd 28 5/14/20 2:16 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

have nothing and three-card sevens and eights are quite mediocre. Over the course of two draws you will have A-2 (34%) vs. K-Q-J-10 an unimproved A-2 approximately 24 percent of the A-2 (24%) vs. J-10-9-8 time and will be hard pressed to continue on the turn. A-2 (16%) vs. 9-8-7-6 The Am 2n 4m 6m is one of the strongest two-card A-2 (8%) vs.7-6-5-4 draws in that it does not block any of its own outs and also has a decent chance to block one of the low spades As bad as those equities are will actually fare even worse that our opponent may need. When our opponent in actual game play as the two-card draws will struggle to requires a spade we hold significant blockers against realize their equity. While an initial dealt badugi is usually them making a strong hand. on the weaker side we still must improve early on the hand With a hand such as Am 2n 9o 10o (and drawing in order to remain in the pot. On the ﬁrst draw when we two) we block two of our own outs to make a badugi don’t improve to at least a three-card eight or nine it is really and do not block opponents from making their stron- an uphill battle with two draws to go: gest hands. When blocking a few of our outs we will only make a badugi around 8.6 percent of the time on A-2 (22%) vs. K-Q-J-10 the first draw; a slight reduction but still noteworthy. A-2 (15%) vs. J-10-9-8 Now suppose on the first draw we improve to Am 2n A-2 (9%) vs. 9-8-7-6 7p and are chasing a jack Badugi. Since we discarded A-2 (4%) vs. 7-6-5-4 two of the cards we need we may now only have five outs instead of seven which is a somewhat significant A-2 is a sizeable underdog to mediocre tri hands and 29 percent reduction. And making a tri and then draw- from a “hot/cold” perspective is also taking the worst of it ing one is the typical route you will take when making against the worst three-card eight: a badugi. The other cards in our hand are not often considered A-2 (41%) vs. 2-4-6 by players. However, details such as this should be fac- A-2 (44%) vs. A-5-7 tored into our decision making especially in the closer A-2 (48%) vs. 8-7-6 situations. Sampling of Equities and Playability Considerations Once again, we also must improve in order to realize our A dealt Badugi is the two-card draw’s Achilles heel; equity and while we will often make a good three-card hand the following are “hot/cold” equities at the beginning we should not overrate our implied odds. Your opponent of the hand against various pats: drawing one card has around a 20 percent chance of hit-

ANALYSISAnalysis TOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP In this hand, Tony Tran won a sizable pot with a riv- 2020 WPT Rolling Thunder ered straight. e clash started with chip leader Kevin $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event Rabichow raising with the lowly 10-7 oﬀ suit from the button. While his hand certainly leaves something to be desired, his dominant position at the table and on Kevin Rabichow Tony Tran the leaderboard were surely compelling factors in his 3,200,000 chips 775,000 chips decision to raise. Rabichow had the beneﬁ t of know- ing that all of the other players outside of the blinds 10 7 J 8 had already passed on their hands, leaving only him- Winning Percentage Winning Percentage self and the two shortest stacks at the table in Jake

Before Flop: 36.0% Before Flop: 62.0% Schwartz (23.4 big blinds) and Tony Tran (31 big

10 7 8 After Flop: 38.0% J After Flop: 62.0% blinds). While neither of the blinds was in total des- After Turn: 23.0% After Turn: 77.0% peration mode, both should have been very wary of tangling with the chip leader who had them covered multiple times over. With that in mind, Rabichow PREFLOP can expect tighter defending ranges from them and therefore more folds prefl op, and likely more cautious With six players remaining and blinds of 15,000 - 25,000 with a big play post-fl op. Schwartz did get out of the way but blind ante of 25,000, Kevin Rabichow raised to 55,000 from the button. Tran defended the big blind and fl opped an open- Tony Tran called from the big blind. ended straight draw. He did indeed play it carefully, electing to just check-call the fl op with his draw. Rabichow fl opped top pair and continuation bet, but decided to check behind on the turn after his fl op bet 10 9 3 5 Q was called. Tran made his straight on the river and led out for a healthy bet of 225,000 into the pot of FLOP TURN

RIVER 240,000. e large sizing didn’t deter Rabichow, who

5 Q 9 3 10 likely fi gured that Tran could utilize a similar bet when bluffi ng. Rabichow made the call with second Tran checked. Tran bet pair only to be shown Tran’s straight. Tran surpassed Tran checked. Rabichow 1.1 million in chips after the hand while eating into bet 45,000. Tran called. Rabichow 225,000. Rabichow’s lead on the fi eld. checked. Rabichow called.

NOTE: WINNING PERCENTAGES DO NOT INCLUDE TIES. ODDS PROVIDED BY CARDPLAYER.COM/POKER-TOOLS/ODDS-CALCULATOR/TEXAS-HOLDEM

022_S&A.indd 29 5/14/20 2:16 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

ting a badugi of which the median is an eight or a nine. When you hold an A-2, you have around a 10 percent chance to hit a badugi of which the median is around a 10-9. us, he’s twice as likely to improve to a badugi and when he does it will be stronger on average. In any form of poker, your opponent is in a commanding position when he has both the best hand and best draw. Two card draws are also quite mediocre in multi-way pots. e value of drawing to a good three card is greatly diminished when it’s possible someone already has a badugi or when you are up against two one card draws because the odds of at least one of them making a Badugi by the end is around 75 percent. As previously discussed, when playing D2s the two discards can have a big impact on the overall strength of your hand. For example, 2n 3m 4m 6m is a better holding than Am 2n 9o 10o because if your opponent requires a spade you have blockers against his hand while at the same time you are not blocking cards that you may need to win the pot. Below are a few sample equities that demonstrate the blocker eﬀ ect: Villain’s Holdings 3p 5n 7o Jo 10m 9n 3p 3p 5n 7m 2n 3m 4m 6m 48% 28% 46% Am 2n 9o 10o 41% 22% 46%

When up against a three-card Badugi without a spade or a Badugi we fare much better with a hand such as 2n 3m 4m 6m. e times our opponent has a tri with a spade both hands are approximately equal, however, when holding three low spades it is more likely villain does not have one. Concluding Thoughts Two-card draws do not fare that well at all versus pat hands or in multi-way pots thus we should not get in the habit of playing them from early position or cold-calling a three-bet which is a huge leak. Most often these holdings should be reserved as opens from late position or when defending the big blind preferably against a single opponent. However, given the good pot odds we are getting we can usually defend the big blind against a raise and a call especially against loose players who will often be drawing two themselves. at said one situation where we should tend to muck is when we are speciﬁ cally up against an early position open followed by another call. Here we are often up against a pat and a D1 SUBSCRIBE NOW or at the very minimum two solid D1s. If the situation seems close the other two cards in your hand can act as a tiebreaker. Since the two discards impact the value of your holding it would be a mistake to compile your opening hand standards in such a way where you may open A-2 and A-3 from a particular position but fold hands such as 2n 3m 4m 6m that are better than your average A-2 holding. In the next installment 26 Issues For $39.95 on Badugi we will present a set of suggested openings for all hand types. m

Kevin Haney is a former actuary of MetLife but left the corporate job to focus on his passions for poker www.cardplayer.com/link/subscribe and fitness. He is co-owner of Elite Fitness Club in Oceanport, NJ and is a certified personal trainer. 1-866-587-6537 With regards to poker he got his start way back in 2003 and particularly enjoys taking new players interested in mixed games under his wing and quickly making them proficient in all variants. If interested in learning more, playing mixed games online, or just saying hello he can be reached at [email protected].

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022_S&A.indd 30 5/14/20 2:16 PM PLAYER_12_ACR_FP.indd 3 5/14/20 2:21 PM Schedules - major tournaments

FOR COMPLETE TOURNAMENT RESULTS AND LISTINGS, VISIT CARDPLAYER.COM

JUNE June 11-13 Summer Classic Coushatta Casino & Resort • Kinder, LA

JULY July 6-13 Summer Open Bay 101 • San Jose, CA

July 22-Aug. 3 Potomac Summer Poker Open MGM National Harbor • Oxon Hill, MD

July 23-26 Card Player Poker Tour Ocean’s Eleven Casino • Oceanside, CA

July 26 No-Limit Hold’em Tournament Lucky Chances • Colma, CA

AUGUST Aug. 9-16 Summer Poker Round-Up Wildhorse Resort & Casino • Pendleton, OR

Aug. 11-13 WSOP Circuit Global Casino Championship Harrah’s Casino • Cherokee, NC

Aug. 22 No-Limit Hold’em Tournament Lucky Chances • Colma, CA

SEPTEMBER Sept. 4-20 Commerce Hold’em Series Commerce Casino • Commerce, CA

Sept. 10-19 Card Player Poker Tour Card Player Cruises • Eastern Caribbean

Sept. 27 No-Limit Hold’em Tournament Lucky Chances • Colma, CA

Sept. 28-Oct. 20 Card Player Poker Tour Bicycle Casino • Bell Gardens, CA

NOVEMBER Nov. 6-16 Card Player Poker Tour Seneca Niagara Casino • Niagara Falls, NY

Nov. 6-22 L.A. Poker Open Commerce Casino • Commerce, CA

Nov. 13-23 Gold Rush Poker Series Lucky Chances • Colma, CA

AO-Add On B-Bonus CP-Crazy Pineapple H.O.R.S.E.-Hold’em, Omaha Eight-or-Better, Razz, Seven-Card Stud, Seven-Card Stud Eight- or-Better R.O.S.E.-Razz, Omaha Eight-or-Better, Seven-Card Stud, Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better KO- Knock Out or Bounty LH-Limit Hold’em MP-Mexican Poker NLH-No-Limit Hold’em O H/L-Omaha Eight-or-Better PLO-Pot-Limit Omaha RB-Rebuy SH/L-Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better SLH-Spread-Limit Hold’em

9:30 a.m. NLH, $130 ($2.5K Guarantee) ARIZONA TUESDAY THURSDAY 9:30 a.m. NLH, $130 12:00 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $20 TALKING STICK RESORT - SCOTTSDALE WEDNESDAY ($2K Guarantee) MONDAY 9:30 a.m. NLH, $150 5:00 p.m. NLH, $80 AO $20 KO $25 11:15 a.m. NLH, $125 THURSDAY ($2.5K Guarantee) 7:15 p.m. NLH, $170 9:30 a.m. NLH, $130 8:00 p.m. MP, $30 RB $10 AO $10 TUESDAY FRIDAY ($1.5K Guarantee) 11:15 a.m. NLH, $125 9:30 a.m. NLH, $150 10:00 p.m. NLH, $60 RB $50 AO $40 7:15 p.m. NLH, $200 SATURDAY KO $10 ($2K Guarantee) WEDNESDAY 9:00 a.m. NLH, $250 FRIDAY 11:15 a.m. NLH, $125 SUNDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $20 7:15 p.m. NLH, $170 9:00 a.m. NLH, $150 ($2K Guarantee) THURSDAY 4:00 p.m. NLH, $40 AO $30 11:15 a.m. NLH, $125 BICYCLE CASINO - BELL GARDENS ($5K Guarantee) 7:15 p.m. NLH, $170 MONDAY 5:30 p.m. NLH, $65 AO $50 FRIDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $70 AO $20 KO $20 ($5K Guarantee) 11:15 a.m. NLH, $125 ($2K Guarantee) 7:00 p.m. NLH, $90 AO $70 7:15 p.m. NLH, $200 5:00 p.m. NLH, $75 ($2.5K Guarantee) ($5K Guarantee) SATURDAY TUESDAY 10:00 p.m. NLH, $60 RB $50 AO $40 11:15 a.m. NLH, $240 12:00 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $20 KO $10 ($2K Guarantee) SUNDAY ($2K Guarantee) SATURDAY 11:15 a.m. NLH, $160 5:00 p.m. NLH, $30 RB $10 AO $10 12:00 p.m. NLH, $65 AO $50 ($2.5K Guarantee) ($20K Guarantee) CALIFORNIA WEDNESDAY 2:00 p.m. NLH, $90 AO $70 12:00 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $20 ($20K Guarantee) BAY 101 - SAN JOSE ($2K Guarantee) 4:00 p.m. NLH, $115 AO $90 MONDAY 5:00 p.m. NLH, $65 AO $20 ($20K Guarantee)

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034_Schedules.indd 32 5/13/20 1:22 PM Schedules

10:00 p.m. NLH, $60 RB $50 AO $40 9:30 p.m. NLH, $70 AO $20 1:00 p.m. NLH, $235 KO $10 ($2K Guarantee) ($1K Guarantee) SUNDAY FRIDAY OCEAN’S ELEVEN - OCEANSIDE 12:00 p.m. NLH, $40 AO $30 12:15 p.m. NLH, $90 ($4K Guarantee) MONDAY-THURSDAY ($10K Guarantee) 6:45 p.m. NLH, $115 RB $50 10:00 a.m. NLH, $55 AO $5 1:30 p.m. NLH, $65 AO $50 ($30K Guarantee) ($3K Guarantee) ($10K Guarantee) SATURDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $55 AO $5 3:00 p.m. NLH, $90 AO $70 11:00 a.m. NLH, $50 RB $20 ($3K Guarantee) ($10K Guarantee) ($5K Guarantee) FRIDAY 3:00 p.m. NLH, $100 RB $50 10:00 a.m. NLH, $55 AO $5 CHUMASH CASINO - SANTA YNEZ ($5K Guarantee) ($3K Guarantee) MONDAY SUNDAY 6:00 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $5 10:15 a.m. NLH, $40 12:15 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 KO $25 ($5K Guarantee) 7:00 p.m. PLO, $0 AO $20 ($5K Guarantee) SATURDAY TUESDAY 3:00 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $40 10:00 a.m. NLH, $230 AO $10 10:15 a.m. NLH, $40 ($3K Guarantee) ($20K Guarantee) 7:00 p.m. NLH, $60 7:00 p.m. NLH, $55 AO $5 WEDNESDAY KO $20 ($3K Guarantee) 10:15 a.m. NLH, $40 HUSTLER CASINO - GARDENA SUNDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $50 MONDAY 10:00 a.m. NLH, $90 AO $50 THURSDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 AO $40 KO $25 ($10K Guarantee) 10:15 a.m. NLH, $50 KO $10 ($2K Guarantee) 7:00 p.m. NLH, $40 TUESDAY FRIDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $80 RB $40 10:15 a.m. NLH, $40 ($2K Guarantee) CONNECTICUT 7:15 p.m. NLH, $150 WEDNESDAY SATURDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 AO $40 KO $25 FOXWOODS - MASHANTUCKET 1:15 p.m. NLH, $120 ($5K Guarantee) ($2K Guarantee) MONDAY SUNDAY THURSDAY 10:00 a.m NLH, $100 1:15 p.m. NLH, $100 KO $25 7:00 p.m. NLH, $80 RB $40 6:00 p.m. NLH, $120 ($3K Guarantee) ($2K Guarantee) TUESDAY FRIDAY 10:00 a.m NLH, $120 COMMERCE CASINO - COMMERCE 7:00 p.m. NLH, $80 RB $40 2:00 p.m NLH, $100 KO $25 MONDAY-THURSDAY ($2K Guarantee) 6:00 p.m. NLH, $120 ($10K Guarantee) 12:00 p.m. NLH, $65 ($2.5K Guarantee) SATURDAY WEDNESDAY 6:00 p.m. NLH, $65 ($3.5K Guarantee) 3:00 p.m. NLH, $80 RB $40 10:00 a.m NLH, $100 FRIDAY ($2K Guarantee) 2:00 p.m NLH, $120 KO $50 12:00 p.m. NLH, $65 ($2.5K Guarantee) 6:00 p.m. NLH, $120 ($15K Guarantee) 6:00 p.m. NLH, $150 KO $50 LUCKY CHANCES - COLMA THURSDAY ($5K Guarantee) MONDAY 10:00 a.m NLH, $120 KO $25 SATURDAY 9:30 a.m. NLH, $120 AO $10 FRIDAY 1:00 p.m. NLH, $150 ($15K Guarantee) ($3K 1st Place Guarantee) 10:00 a.m NLH, $100 SUNDAY TUESDAY 2:00 p.m NLH, $100 KO $25 1:00 p.m. NLH, $65 RB $50 9:30 a.m. NLH, $200 AO $10 6:00 p.m. NLH, $160 ($8K Guarantee) ($10K Guarantee) ($4K 1st Place Guarantee) 8:30 p.m NLH, $100 WEDNESDAY SATURDAY GARDENS CASINO - HAWAIIAN GARDENS 9:30 a.m. NLH, $120 AO $10 9:00 a.m NLH, $60 MONDAY ($3K 1st Place Guarantee) 11:00 a.m NLH, $180 ($8K Guarantee) 12:15 p.m. NLH, $30 RB $10 AO $10 THURSDAY 5:00 p.m. NLH, $140 ($5K Guarantee) ($8K Guarantee) 9:30 a.m. NLH, $120 AO $10 8:30 p.m NLH, $120 KO $50 6:45 p.m. NLH, $10 RB $10 AO $10 ($3K 1st Place Guarantee) SUNDAY ($3K Guarantee) FRIDAY 9:00 a.m NLH, $60 TUESDAY 9:30 a.m. NLH, $120 AO $10 12:00 p.m. NLH, $140 12:15 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 ($3K 1st Place Guarantee) 5:00 p.m. NLH, $230 ($5K Guarantee) SATURDAY 6:45 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 KO $25 9:30 a.m. NLH, $120 AO $10 MOHEGAN SUN - UNCASVILLE ($5K Guarantee) ($3K 1st Place Guarantee) MONDAY WEDNESDAY SUNDAY 10:00 a.m NLH, $85 KO $25 12:15 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 KO $25 9:30 a.m. NLH, $250 AO $10 2:00 p.m NLH, $75 ($5K Guarantee) ($8K 1st Place Guarantee) 6:00 p.m NLH, $100 6:45 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 TUESDAY ($5K Guarantee) OAKS CARD CLUB - EMERYVILLE 10:00 a.m NLH, $75 9:30 p.m. NLH, $70 AO $20 MONDAY 2:00 p.m NLH, $85 KO $25 ($1K Guarantee) 6:15 p.m. NLH, $150 6:00 p.m. NLH, $120 ($10K Guarantee) THURSDAY WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY 12:15 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $40 6:15 p.m. NLH, $185 10:00 a.m NLH, $75 ($4K Guarantee) SATURDAY 2:00 p.m NLH, $85 KO $25 6:45 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 KO $25 11:00 a.m. NLH, $185 6:00 p.m. NLH, $100 ($6K Guarantee) SUNDAY THURSDAY

034_Schedules.indd 33 5/13/20 1:22 PM Schedules - Daily tournaments

10:00 a.m NLH, $75 2:00 p.m NLH, $180 THURSDAY 2:00 p.m NLH, $85 KO $25 12:00 p.m. NLH, $40 6:00 p.m. NLH, $120 ($5K Guarantee) 6:30 p.m. PLO/NLH, $60 FRIDAY LOUISIANA FRIDAY 11:00 a.m NLH, $75 12:00 p.m. NLH, $40 2:00 p.m NLH, $100 COUSHATTA CASINO & RESORT - KINDER 6:30 p.m. NLH, $60 AO $20 AO $20 6:00 p.m NLH, $120 TUESDAY SATURDAY SATURDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 6:30 p.m. NLH, $125 KO $25 11:00 a.m NLH, $150 THURSDAY SUNDAY 5:00 p.m NLH, $120 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 12:00 p.m. NLH, $140/$240/$500 SUNDAY FRIDAY 6:30 p.m. NLH, $40 11:00 a.m NLH, $200 KO $50 7:00 p.m. NLH, $120 5:00 p.m. NLH, $120 SATURDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $200 NEVADA FLORIDA SUNDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $100 BESTBET - JACKSONVILLE VENETIAN HOTEL & CASINO - LAS VEGAS MONDAY MARYLAND MONDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $50 12:10 p.m. NLH, $150 ($8K Guarantee) 7:00 p.m. PLO H/L, $125 KO $25 LIVE! CASINO & HOTEL - HANOVER 6:10 p.m. NLH, $125 KO $25 TUESDAY MONDAY ($4K Guarantee) 12:00 p.m. NLH, $150 12:15 p.m. NLH, $120 KO $25 TUESDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $125 KO $25 ($3K Guarantee) 12:10 p.m. NLH, $150 ($8K Guarantee) WEDNESDAY 7:15 p.m. NLH, $140 ($4K Guarantee) 6:10 p.m. NLH, $200 KO $50 12:00 p.m. NLH, $50 TUESDAY ($9K Guarantee) 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 12:15 p.m. NLH, $140 ($3K Guarantee) WEDNESDAY THURSDAY 7:15 p.m. NLH, $120 KO $25 12:10 p.m. NLH, $150 ($8K Guarantee) 12:00 p.m. NLH, $125 KO $25 ($5K Guarantee) 6:10 p.m. NLH, $125 ($4K Guarantee) 7:00 p.m. NLH, $50 WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 12:15 p.m. NLH, $150 ($3K Guarantee) 12:10 p.m. NLH, $150 ($8K Guarantee) 12:00 p.m. NLH, $150 7:15 p.m. NLH, $130 ($15K Guarantee) 6:10 p.m. NLH, $125 KO $25 7:00 p.m. NLH, $240 KO $100 THURSDAY ($6K Guarantee) SATURDAY 12:15 p.m. NLH, $160 KO $50 FRIDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $155 ($3K Guarantee) 12:10 p.m. NLH, $200 AO $100 7:00 p.m. NLH, $155 7:15p.m. NLH, $150 ($5K Guarantee) ($20K Guarantee) SUNDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $150 12:15 p.m. NLH, $200 ($5K Guarantee) 12:10 p.m. NLH, $340 ($25K Guarantee) 7:00 p.m. NLH, $50 7:15 p.m. NLH, $140 ($5K Guarantee) 6:10 p.m. NLH, $125 ($4K Guarantee) SATURDAY SUNDAY PALM BEACH KENNEL CLUB - W. PALM BEACH 11:15 a.m. NLH, $100 ($10K Guarantee) 12:10 p.m. NLH, $250 ($15K Guarantee) MONDAY 7:15 p.m. NLH, $130 6:10 p.m. NLH, $125 ($4K Guarantee) 12:15 p.m. NLH, $70 ($2.5K Guarantee) SUNDAY 6:30 p.m. NLH, $70 ($2K Guarantee) 3:15 p.m. NLH, $130 ($15K Guarantee) NEW YORK TUESDAY 6:15 p.m. NLH, $130 12:15 p.m. NLH, $70 SENECA NIAGARA - NIAGARA FALLS 6:30 p.m. NLH, $70 MGM NATIONAL HARBOR - OXON HILL MONDAY WEDNESDAY MONDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 ($2K Guarantee) 12:15 p.m. NLH, $100 ($3K Guarantee) 11:15 a.m. NLH, $120 ($5K Guarantee) TUESDAY 6:30 p.m. NLH, $100 ($2K Guarantee) 7:15 p.m. NLH, $235 ($10K Guarantee) 10:00 a.m. NLH, $45 THURSDAY TUESDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $45 12:15 p.m. NLH, $100 ($2K Guarantee) 11:15 a.m. NLH, $240 ($10K Guarantee) WEDNESDAY 6:30 p.m. NLH, $100 ($1.5K Guarantee) 7:15 p.m. NLH, $120 ($5K Guarantee) 10:00 a.m. NLH, $80 FRIDAY WEDNESDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 ($2K Guarantee) 12:15 p.m. NLH, $120 ($10K Guarantee) 11:15 a.m. NLH, $120 ($5K Guarantee) THURSDAY 6:30 p.m. NLH, $40 AO $20 7:15 p.m. NLH, $200 KO $50 10:00 a.m. NLH, $60 ($8K Guarantee) THURSDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $60 SATURDAY 11:15 a.m. NLH, $150 KO $25 FRIDAY 12:15 p.m. NLH, $120 ($5K Guarantee) ($5K Guarantee) 10:00 a.m. NLH, $80 6:30 p.m. NLH, $40 AO $20 7:15 p.m. NLH, $125 ($5K Guarantee) SATURDAY ($5K Guarantee) SUNDAY 10:00 a.m. NLH, $20 ($1K Guarantee) 11:15 a.m. NLH, $350 KO $100 11:00 a.m. NLH, $150 ILLINOIS ($20K Guarantee) SUNDAY 10:00 a.m. NLH, $60 RGC POKER (for locations see RGCPoker.com) MICHIGAN 6:00 p.m. NLH, $125 ($2.5K Guarantee) DAILY 1:00 p.m. NLH, $40 FIREKEEPERS CASINO - BATTLE CREEK TURNING STONE - VERONA 5:00 p.m. NLH, $80 MONDAY-WEDNESDAY MONDAY 6:30 p.m. NLH, $40 12:00 p.m. NLH, $40 12:00 p.m NLH, $50 SATURDAY 6:30 p.m. NLH, $40 7:00 p.m. NLH, $65

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034_Schedules.indd 34 5/13/20 1:22 PM PLAYER_TalkingStick_FP.indd 3 5/14/20 2:21 PM Schedules - Daily tournaments

TUESDAY TUESDAY SILVERADO FRANKLIN - DEADWOOD 12:00 p.m NLH, $50 7:00 p.m NLH, $80 THURSDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $15 ($1K Guarantee) 10:00 p.m NLH, $50 6:30 p.m. NLH, $88 WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY 12:00 p.m NLH, $65 KO $10 7:00 p.m NLH, $100 KO $25 SATURDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $65 THURSDAY 2:00 p.m. NLH, $44 7:00 p.m NLH, $80 THURSDAY SUNDAY 12:00 p.m NLH, $65 KO $10 10:00 p.m NLH, $45 3:00 p.m. NLH, $33 7:00 p.m. NLH, $15 ($1K Guarantee) FRIDAY FRIDAY 5:00 p.m NLH, $135 12:00 p.m NLH, $100 KO $25 SATURDAY TEXAS 7:00 p.m. NLH, $50 11:00 a.m NLH, $250 SATURDAY SUNDAY 12:00 p.m NLH, $65 10:00 a.m NLH, $80 CELEBRITY CARD CLUB - ODESSA 4:00 p.m NLH, $100 KO $25 2:00 p.m NLH, $250 TUESDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $25 7:00 p.m NLH, $80 7:00 p.m. PLO, $50 SUNDAY 10:00 p.m NLH, $45 THURSDAY 12:00 p.m NLH, $50 7:00 p.m. NLH, $60 6:00 p.m. NLH, $30 OREGON

EASTERN POKER TOUR WILDHORSE - PENDLETON WISCONSIN PUB POKER EVENTS, NEWS, RANKINGS TUESDAY AND UPDATES CAN BE VIEWED AT EAST- 6:30 p.m. NLH, $35 POTAWATOMI - MILWAUKEE ERNPOKERTOUR.COM THURSDAY 6:30 p.m. NLH, $55 TUESDAY NORTH CAROLINA SATURDAY 6:15 p.m. NLH, $80 1:00 p.m. NLH, $75 THURSDAY HARRAH’S - CHEROKEE SUNDAY 6:15 p.m. NLH, $125 MONDAY 1:00 p.m. NLH, $35 7:00 p.m NLH, $80 SUNDAY 10:00 p.m NLH, $50 SOUTH DAKOTA 12:15 p.m NLH, $150

ANALYSISAnalysis TOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP In this hand, Kevin Rabichow found himself involved in a big pot with an overpair facing a wily opponent who 2020 WPT Rolling Thunder had him out chipped. Rabichow picked up pocket kings as the fi rst to act in the cutoff and min-raised. Rabichow $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event started the hand in second chip position behind only Robert Heidorn, who had recently overtaken the chip Kevin Rabichow Robert Heidorn lead by winning a fl urry of pots after the fi nal four players returned from a scheduled break. Heidorn was fresh 2,700,000 chips 4,100,000 chips off his best year ever on the live tournament circuit in 2019, having fi nished eighth in the World Series of Poker K K 8 6 main event last year for $800,000. Heidorn defended his Winning Percentage Winning Percentage big blind with 8-6 off suit and fl opped an open-ended

Before Flop: 83.0% Before Flop: 17.0% straight draw on the J-7-5 board that included two spades.

K K 6 After Flop: 63.0% 8 After Flop: 37.0% Heidorn elected to use his straight draw as a semi-bluff After Turn: 82.0% After Turn: 18.0% and check-raised Rabichow’s continuation bet of 75,000 to 280,000. Rabichow called and the Jp turn paired the board. Heidorn decided to keep his foot on the gas and PREFLOP bet 300,000. Rabichow was in a precarious situation despite his strong hand. He could simply be up against a semi-bluff , with varying degrees of strength possible there With four players remaining and blinds of 25,000-50,000 with a big blind ranging from Heidorn’s actual open-ended straight draw to ante of 50,000, Kevin Rabichow raised to 100,000 from the cutoff . Robert something like a fl ush and straight combo draw like 10m Heidorn called from the big blind. 9m or 9m 8m. Heidorn could also have trips or better on this turn, with fl opped sets and some possible J-X’s in his fl op check-raising range. Rabichow made the call, though, and the 8n completed the board. At this point Heidorn J 7 5 J 8 had missed his straight draw but improved his showdown value. If he were to continue betting, it would likely only

FLOP be as a bluﬀ , as he would be unlikely to get called by TURN

RIVER worse. ere also might not be enough stronger hands that

J 8 7 5 J he could hope to fold out with a bluff , outside of perhaps something like pocket nines or pocket tens. In the end, Heidorn elected to just check and Rabichow checked back Heidorn checked. Rabichow bet Heidorn bet Heidorn checked. to take down the sizable pot. Rabichow went on to fi nish 75,000. Heidorn check-raised to 300,000. Rabichow fourth in this event for $85,800, while Heidorn earned 280,000. Rabichow called. Rabichow called. checked. $122,105 as the third-place fi nisher.

NOTE: WINNING PERCENTAGES DO NOT INCLUDE TIES. ODDS PROVIDED BY CARDPLAYER.COM/POKER-TOOLS/ODDS-CALCULATOR/TEXAS-HOLDEM

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034_Schedules.indd 36 5/13/20 1:23 PM Card Player Poker Tour For those who play to win.

OCEAN’S 11 CASINO THE BICYCLE CASINO Schedule TBD Schedule TBD JULY 23 TO 26, 2020 SEPTEMBER 28 TO OCTOBER 20, 2020 Oceans11.com • 1-760-439-6988 TheBike.com • 1-800-781-2456

CARD PLAYER CRUISES SENECA NIAGARA CASINO $340 No-Limit Hold’em $50 Bounty Sept. 16 Schedule TBD SEPTEMBER 10 TO 19, 2020 NOVEMBER 6 TO 16, 2020 Cardplayercruises.com • 1-888-999-4880 Senecagames.com • 1-877-873-6322

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CPPT_5_Ver1_FP.indd 2 5/13/20 1:44 PM Poker Leaderboards

WORLD POKER TOUR MAIN TOUR ALLTIME EARNINGS The World Poker Tour’s first-ever online main event is set to take place Place Player Career Live Earnings from May 10-20 on partypoker. The $5,000,000 guaranteed tournament 1st Carlos Mortensen $6,738,670 will see the first player add their name to the WPT Champions Cup 2nd Daniel Negreanu $5,832,951 from a tournament held on the internet. This event will be the first of the tour’s 19th season. As it currently stands, Spanish poker pro 3rd Michael Mizrachi $5,044,443 Carlos Mortensen is the WPT’s leading money winner with 4th Tuan Le $4,533,943 more than $6.7 million in cashes on the main WPT tour. 5th Chino Rheem $4,063,043 Mortensen is one of the six players with three or more titles won on the main tour. Four of the six are among the 6th Gus Hansen $4,051,782 top ten in total earnings. Those players are Mortensen, 7th Jonathan Little $4,005,439 Chino Rheem, Gus Hansen, and the only player with 8th Alan Goehring $3,968,724 four wins on the tour: Darren Elias. Eric Afriat and Anthony Zinno have both won three WPT titles 9th J.C. Tran $3,888,598 as well, but with $3,142,860 and $3,004,959 in 10th Darren Elias $3,836,799 respective tour earnings, they sit in 18th and 23rd place on this leaderboard.

ALLTIME WORLD SERIES OF POKER BRACELET EVENT CASHES

Rank Player WSOP Cashes The 2020 World Series of Poker has been officially postponed this summer due to the coronavirus outbreak, with the hope being that it can 1 Phil Hellmuth 153 be rescheduled for sometime in the fall. As a result, it might be many 2 Chris Ferguson 143 months until another official WSOP bracelet event is held. In the mean- 3 Daniel Negreanu 131 time, here is a look at the players who have accumulated the most cashes in bracelet events across the past five decades. Phil Hellmuth 4 Erik Seidel 114 is currently sitting in first place on this leaderboard with 153 cashes. 5 Roland Israelashvili 112 He is also the all-time title leader with 15 bracelets, and fourth in career 6 Barry Greenstein 110 earnings from WSOP events with just more than $15 million. Hellmuth made 12 cashes at the WSOP in Las Vegas in 2019 alone, with another 7 Men Nguyen 100 four earned at last year’s WSOP Europe festival. Like Hellmuth, Roland 8 Humberto Brenes 94 Israelashvili also made 16 total cashes in 2019. He had ten in-the-money 9 Chris Bjorin 94 finishes in Vegas, then added six more at the WSOPE to bring his career total to 112. As a result he now sits in fifth place in the rankings, just 10 Yueqi Zhu 93 two cashes ahead of sixth-ranked Barry Greenstein.

GERMAN ALLTIME LIVE TOURNAMENT EARNINGS LIST Germany has produced a number of the best high-stakes tournament Place Player Live Earnings poker players in the world, and is the most represented country near 1st Fedor Holz $32,992,603 the top of the all-time money list outside of America. Fedor Holz is the nation’s leading earner with just shy of $33 million in total live 2nd Christoph Vogelsang $24,977,615 tournament cashes. Holz currently sits in eighth place on the overall 3rd Rainer Kempe $21,447,162 money list, and is the only German among the top ten. Christoph Vogelsang is the next-highest earner with more than $24.9 4th Dominik Nitsche $18,341,826 million in career scores. Vogelsang has accumulated 5th Ole Schemion $16,295,045 six seven-figure cashes, but has only won two live tournament titles in his career. His largest score came 6th Steffen Sontheimer $13,755,117 when he took down the 2017 Super High Roller Bowl for 7th Hossein Ensan $12,748,243 $6 million. Vogelsang came close to a second SHRB title this year. He finished runner-up in the 2020 8th Koray Aldemir $12,289,051 SHRB Russia for $2.4 million in March to help 9th Philipp Gruissem $11,470,050 close the gap between himself and Holz. He remains more than $8 million behind his 10th Manig Loeser $11,204,098 fellow countryman.

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