www.CardPlayer.com Vol. 34/No. 8 April 7, 2021 AJ Benza Talks About The Return Of High Stakes Poker Qing Liu Surges Into The Player Of The Year Lead Strategy: Top Pros Explain Tournament Stack Size Considerations LONGTIME GRINDER RONNIE BARDAH: ‘POKER FOUND ME’ Former Survivor Contestant Kicks Off 2021 With The Largest Score Of His Career PLAYER_34_08_Cover.indd 1 3/18/21 10:47 AM PLAYER_08_GlobalPoker_DT.indd 2 3/16/21 9:39 AM PLAYER_08_GlobalPoker_DT.indd 3 3/16/21 9:39 AM Masthead - Card Player Vol. 34/No. 8 PUBLISHERS Barry Shulman | Jeff Shulman Editorial Corporate Office EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Julio Rodriguez 6940 O’Bannon Drive TOURNAMENT CONTENT MANAGER Erik Fast Las Vegas, Nevada 89117 ONLINE CONTENT MANAGER Steve Schult (702) 871-1720 Art [email protected] ART DIRECTOR Wendy McIntosh Subscriptions/Renewals 1-866-LVPOKER Website And Internet Services (1-866-587-6537) CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER Jaran Hardman PO Box 434 DATA COORDINATOR Morgan Young Congers, NY 10920-0434 Sales [email protected] ADVERTISING MANAGER Mary Hurbi Advertising Information NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Barbara Rogers [email protected] LAS VEGAS AND COLORADO SALES REPRESENTATIVE (702) 856-2206 Rich Korbin Distribution Information cardplayer Media LLC [email protected] CHAIRMAN AND CEO Barry Shulman PRESIDENT AND COO Jeff Shulman Results GENERAL COUNSEL Allyn Jaffrey Shulman [email protected] VP INTL. 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Published and printed in the United States. 4 CARDPLAYER.COM FOLLOW US ON TWITTER CardPlayerMedia 004_MastheadB.indd 4 3/16/21 9:25 AM PLAYER_08_Coushatta_FP.indd 3 3/16/21 9:38 AM Table of Contents - Card Player Vol. 34/No. 8 20 12 24 Features Strategies, Analysis Also In this Issue 20 & Commentary 4 Longtime Grinder Ronnie Bardah: 28 About Us ‘Poker Found Me’ A Costly Mistake In The WSOP Main Event 36 By Julio Rodriguez By Jonathan Little Tournament Schedules 24 29 38 High Stakes Poker Co-Host AJ Benza Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better: Going Poker Leaderboards Talks About His Favorite Hands High From The Show By Kevin Haney By Steve Schult 31 Tournament The Score That Kept Me In Action Hand Matchups The Inside Straight By Nathan Gamble 29 8 33 Daniel Dvoress vs. Poker News Recap Contracts and Poker: Ambiguous Bets Hermogenes Gelonezi 12 By Scott J. Burnham 30 Player Of The Year Update 34 Endrit Geci vs. Daniel Dvoress By Erik Fast In Memory Of Robert ‘Lee’ Mougous 33 By Lee Markholt and Mark Gregorich 16 Francisco Correia vs. Head Games: Tournament Stack Size Hermogenes Gelonezi Strategy and Final Table Preparation 35 By Craig Tapscott Daniel Dvoress vs. Endrit Geci Cover, RonnieCover, Bardah & Qing Liu photos courtesy of ©World Giron Poker Tour/Joe 6 CARDPLAYER.COM VOLUME 34 / ISSUE 8 006_TOC.indd 6 4/7/21 2:51 PM PALYER_08_bestbet_FP.indd 3 3/16/21 9:38 AM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT the INSIDE STRAIGHT News, Reviews, and Interviews From Around the Poker World DANIEL NEGREANU BETS PHIL HELLMUTH $400,000 THAT HE CAN’T BEAT HIGH ROLLER EVENTS By Steve Schult First, Daniel Negreanu It will be Hellmuth’s wanted to play Phil second appearance on Hellmuth heads-up. Now, the show after beating he’s making a big bet that Antonio Esfandiari three the 15-time World Series of straight matches for Poker bracelet winner can’t $400,000 in his fi rst go- compete against the world’s around. best poker players in high- Not only is Negreanu stakes tournaments. calling his heads-up Negreanu tweeted he bet game into question, but against the poker brat being the Canadian is also profi table in the $25,000 openly doubting how buy-in tournaments that good Hellmuth is at have recently started run- multi-table tournaments, ning again at the Aria in a format that has netted Las Vegas. Negreanu will reportedly be giving Hellmuth him the career WSOP bracelet record, as well as more than 2:1 odds against turning a profi t over a 50-tournament $22 million in earnings. sample size. Other high roller regulars agree with Negreanu. Ali Negreanu will be laying $400,000 against Hellmuth’s Imsirovic, a 24-year-old pro who has made a meteoric rise $200,000. If Hellmuth fi nishes in the black, Negreanu up the ranks while netting more than $9 million in tour- will lose the bet and fork over the six-fi gure sum. nament earnings, off ered to wager even more if Hellmuth “Bet off ered and accepted,” tweeted Negreanu. “I’m was willing to bet more on himself. laying $400K to Phil Hellmuth’s $200K that over 50 “If Hellmuth wants more action, I’ll bet as much as he $25K buy-in Aria tournaments Hellmuth will end up in wants,” tweeted Imsirovic. the red. If he shows a $1 profi t, he wins the bet.” When it comes to high-stakes tournaments, Hellmuth e bet looks like an extension of a recently ignited feud has always been somewhat of a polarizing fi gure. between the two poker legends. Following Negreanu’s sev- During his heads-up match with Esfandiari, high- en-fi gure loss to Doug Polk in their high-stakes heads-up stakes legend Phil Galfond gave Hellmuth props for grudge match, Hellmuth publicly criticized the six-time his game, saying that it took him a long time to realize bracelet winner’s play in the challenge. “just how talented he is.” e tweet, however, was met Hellmuth’s words sparked a fi ery response from with backlash from many high-stakes pros claiming that Negreanu, who countered with an off er to play heads-up Hellmuth was overrated. at any stakes, in any venue, for any duration. e challenge Aria’s Director of Poker Operations Sean McCormack seemed to imply a cash game format, which Negreanu had confi rmed that the casino hosts “a few [high roller events] just spent months studying, but the two instead agreed a month on average.” At that rate, Hellmuth likely won’t to play in a heads-up sit-n-go format on PokerGO’s High be able to complete the required number of events until Stakes Duel. 2022. m Sign Up For Card Player’s Free Poker School. Review Hundreds of Articles and Videos On Winning Poker Strategy. www.CardPlayerPokerSchool.com 8 CARDPLAYER.COM VOLUME 34 / ISSUE 8 008_News.indd 8 3/18/21 10:32 AM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT LAS VEGAS SANDS CORP SELLS STRIP PROPERTIES By Steve Schult Las Vegas Sands Corp. sold both “is investment also underscores of its Las Vegas Strip properties and as our conviction in a strong recovery a result will change its name to Sands, for Las Vegas as vaccines usher in a reflecting the fact it no longer owns reopening of leisure and travel in the any property in the city. United States and across the world,” e gaming giant sold e the company said in a statement. Venetian, e Palazzo, and the Sands Convention Center Last October, there were rumors circulating that this to a private equity firm and a real estate investment sale was imminent so that the company could focus more of trust. VICI Properties and Apollo Global Management have its efforts on its properties in Asia. e U.S.-based casinos purchased the properties for a combined $6.25 billion. only accounted for 13% of the company’s total revenue in According to a CNN report, Apollo bought the operat- 2019, while Singapore and Macau made up the rest of the ing company for $2.25 billion, and VICI is buying the earnings. underlying land and real estate for $4 billion. Before his passing in January, CEO Sheldon Adelson VICI Properties was formed during Caesars was lobbying for legalized brick-and-mortar gambling in Entertainment’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy when Caesars pro- Texas. posed splitting the company into a Real Estate Investment e original Sands Hotel and Casino opened in Trust that owns the land, and an operating company that December of 1952 before it was demolished in 1996. Las would run the day-to-day operations. While VICI clearly Vegas Sands previously owned the Sands Casino Resort has roots in Las Vegas, Apollo said this is the first major Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, but sold the property to the investment they were making in the city. Poarch Band of Creek Indians in 2019.