Valentine at the poker table

I already wrote about poker game and Valentine's day (http://pokerfreetalk.blogspot.com/2014/02/valentine-day-and-poker.html).

If you are still looking for the perfect gift for your poker player friend, than check out these designs...

WSOP Main Event 2014 Final Table – Part 2

Last three players remaining after day 8 of WSOP Main Event 2014. Felix Stephensen from Norway, the Dutchman Jorryt Van Hoof and Martin Jacobson from Sweden. The winner will take the prize of $10,000,000 to Europe.

Day 9 started with blinds at 600,000/1,200,000 and antes 200,000 in level 40. 

Big start for Jacobson. Already in the two first hands he could collect chips from his opponents through big raises preflop. Third hand played on this evening, he won after calling a raise from Stephensen preflop and a big bet on the turn.  

A few hands later Jacobson was in a battle of the blinds with Jorryt Van Hoof. He won a big pot again and took the chip lead at the table. 

Battle of the Blinds

Hand #269 brought a double up for the small stack Felix Stephenson. After Jorryt Van Hoof raised from the button position with Jc 5s, Stephensen called and the flop came 9c 4c 3h. The turn brought 5h and a 4,000,000 bet from Stephensen, called from Van Hoof. On the river  Kc Stephensen moved All In and after call from Van Hoof, he showed 9d 8s and collected the whole pot.

Hand #273 Van Hoof had fallen to shortest stack after playing his Ks Js against Felix Stephensen again. Stephensen hit a 7 high straight on the turn and betting high. Van Hoof called his flush draw that didn’t come and lost a big stack of chips.

Nothing changed until the hand #293. Jorryt Van Hoof on the button raised and got a reraise from Martin Jacobson. After a few moments he made his decision and moved All In. Jacobson with a quick call and As 10c dominated Ad 5d from Van Hoof. The board 10h 5s 2h Qc Qs was no help for Van Hoof and he was eliminated in 3^rd place with a money prize of $3,806,402.

After this hand Heads Up was started between Martin Jacobson and Felix Stephensen.

Only 35 hands were played in Heads up, Jacobson never gave up his chip lead and Stephensen didn’t have a chance to come near the chip stack of his opponent.

The last hand of the evening was #328. Felix Stephensen opened with a raise. Jacobson moved All In and Stephensen made his final call. Jacobson with a better starting hand 10h 10d against Ah 9h from Stephensen. The flop brought 3s 9c 10c, a set for the chip leader. The turn Kd and the river 4c didn’t change anything, Stephensen was busted on 2^nd place and took $5,145,968.

The winner of WSOP Main Event 2014 is Martin Jacobson and will take the $10,000,000 to Sweden.



Source: www.pokernews.com

WSOP Main Event 2014 FINAL TABLE - PART1

The WSOP Main Event 2014 final table started slow. Not much action and the most preflop raises were without a caller. Jorryt Van Hoof could maintain his chip leader position.

After 30 hands played Martin Jacobson lost a big pot against Andoni Larrabe and fell to last place. From this moment on, he was fighting as a small stack at the table.

 Hand #48 brought the chip leader more chips from Felix Stephensen who fell from the second big stack to third position.

The next big hand brought Mark Newhouse from sixth place to fourth against Felix Stephensen who folded after a big bet on the river. Stephensen, after this hand, was in position 6.

The first elimination of this final table came in hand #56 played between William Tonking and Mark Newhouse. After preflop bet, raise and reraise came 2d, 4c, Jh on the flop. Big bet from Tonking and call from Newhouse.  4h on the turn, Tonking checked to Mark Newhouse, he made a big bet and Tonking called. The river  brought Jc and Newhouse pushed all his chips in the middle. His pocket 10s was not enough against the pocket Qs from Tonking. Mark Newhouse had to go with a winning prize of $730,725. William Tonking now the chip leader on table.

After the next break,  level 37 started the with the blinds at 300000/600000 and antes of 75000 where Jorryt van Hoof took back his chip lead followed by William Tonking. 

Hand #100 brought the next elimination. Bruno Politano on the button moved All In with Qs, 10c and was called by Stephensen with 7c, 7s. The board 2c 6h 3h Kc 9h didn’t bring the cards Politano needed. He won a respectable $947,077.

Stealing the Blinds

Six hands later almost the same situation, Dan Sindelar on the Button with Jd, Jc moved all in and Van Hoof called with his big stack and suited Ah, 3h. The board came 7h 2h Ad 3d Qs, two pair for Van Hoof and Dan Sindelar was eliminated on place 7 with $1,235,862.

Hand #112 has Billy Pappas, the small stack at the table, all in with suited Ks Js. Martin Jacobson made the call with his suited Qd 3d and flopped a Queen. The lucky river brought a King and a double up to Billy Pappas. Three hands later another double Up for Pappas. His Kd Kc dominated the Kh Qh from Andoni Larrabe. Pappas flopped full house with three aces and this hand put him to the third place with a chip stack of 26,000,000 chips.

Hand #140 was the last hand for Andoni Larrabe. After a raise from chip leader Jorryt van Hoof on the button, he moved All In with Jc 10c. Jorryt van Hoof with his suited Kh 5h saw a King on the flop 8d 3h Ks. The turn 8h and the river 6d weren’t any help for Larrabe. Andoni was eliminated on the 6^th place and took a winning prize of $1,622,080.

Remaining 5 players:

Jorryt van Hoof with 85,475,000 chips, William Tonking with 52,375,000 chips, Felix Stephensen with 27.525,000, Billy Pappas with 27,125,000 and small stack Martin Jacobson with 7,795,000 chips remaining.

A few hands later it was possible for Jacobson to double up through William Tonking. His Ad 8h were the best against Ks Jh after the board brought 10c 6h 3c 5s 9d.

In  hand #154 Van Hoof climbed to over 94,000,000 on chips through Felix Stephensen. Next was a double up for Jacobson in hand #158 “sponsored” also by Stephensen. After these actions Stephensen fell to the last position and was now the small stack on the table with 19.825,000 chips.

Felix Stephensen’s turn came in the hand #184 when he doubled up with his pocket 7d 7c against Ac 9s from Jacobson. He flopped a set after the flop showed 8d 2c 7s. The turn 6d and the river 3h changed nothing. Jacobson now the last player on the battle field.

After hand #208 when Pappas went unlucky with his Ad Jh against pocket fives from Stephensen he remained with 50,000 chips at the table. The consequence was his all in for the next hand already after putting the ante. He also got pocket sevens 7c 7s, unlucky the chip leader Jorryt van Hoof held pocket Jacks Jh Jc. No help for Billy Pappas on the flop As Qd 2c, on the turn Qh and the river 6c. He was eliminated on 5^th place and will come home with $2,143,174.

William Tonking the last USA player at the table was now the small stack. In the Hand #224 he pushed his remaining chips in the middle with his pocket 2h 2c. He was called  by Jacobson with pocket tens 10h 10d. The flop brought 4c 5c Jc and more outs for Tonking. But the 6d on the turn and Qs on the river didn’t work and he was busted on place 4 with a winning money of $2,848,833.

End of day 8 of the WSOP Main Event 2014:

 Definitely the first prize of $10,000,000 will go to Europe!

Source: http://www.pokernews.com

WSOP Main event 2014 final table

All poker players have an appointment on November 10th 2014 at the final table of the WSOP Main Event 2014.

It will be an exciting evening.  I am sure there will be some nice moments, surprises and well played hands.

This year final table became more international. We will see the temperament of Spain and Brazil, the coolness of Scandinavia, the "royalty" of Netherlands and of course the superiority of USA.

Who is your favorite?

Final table will be streamed on ESPN2 on November 10th at 8 p.m. EST

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/type/upcoming/startDate/20141110/#sport/games/

Playing Position

WSOP Main Event 2014 November nine

WSOP Main Event 2014 final table is coming. Only a few days  and the November nine will take place at the poker table.

Everything started in July with entries of 6.683 poker players. Everyone had a vision. First step was to make it to the money and then to the final table.

It was a long way and hard battle through the 7 days in July for the nine finalists. Now they are preparing for the final step to win the most wanted bracelet and the prize of $10,000,000.

Who are the final nine? You can find it out.

Just watch the WSOP Main Event 2014 on Youtube. The episodes 1 to 10 are already online.

Here some cool and funny ideas for the champions

Poker and Halloween

Halloween is coming... 

...also for poker friends and poker fans

In the history of poker are spooky stories too. One of those is DEAD MAN'S HAND! The story about Will Bill Hickok you can find in my Blog post from January. It is a true story and I think really Halloween like :)

Now you can design your own T-Shirt for your POKER HALLOWEEN PARTY with one of the "Will Bill Hikock" or "Dead man's hand" designs. 

It's easy to create your own poker T-Shirt, choose your favorite design from one of the designs below, click on it and you can start to design your preferred Shirt.

 Have fun!

BLUFF

A bluff in a poker game is a bet or raise without holding the best hand but to convince your opponent(s) you have. It is a skill to bring the other players to fold their cards and to win the pot. 

I think, a bluff makes the difference between a lucky gambling game and a skill game. There are many ways to bluff at a poker table and the success of your bluff depends on your skills to know the people (psychology), the way they play (observation task), your chance to win (statistics), how to use the board for your advantage (persuasion) and when to bring your “poker face” into the game (self-discipline).

All these skills and the frequency of bluffing make the difference between a masterfull bluff and a gambling, donkey game.

There are two kinds of bluffs in a poker game*:

Pure bluff

A pure bluff, or stone-cold bluff, is a bet or raise with an inferior hand that has little or no chance of improving. A player making a pure bluff believes he can win the pot only if all opponents fold. The pot odds for a bluff are the ratio of the size of the bluff to the pot. A pure bluff has a positive expectation (will be profitable in the long run) when the probability of being called by an opponent is lower than the pot odds for the bluff.

Semi-bluff

In games with multiple betting rounds, to bluff on one round with an inferior or drawing hand that might improve in a later round is called a semi-bluff. A player making a semi-bluff can win the pot two different ways: by all opponents folding immediately or by catching a card to improve the player's hand. In some cases a player may be on a draw but with odds strong enough that he is favored to win the hand. In this case his bet is not classified as a semi-bluff even though his bet may force opponents to fold hands with better current strength.

* Source: Wikipedia