Podcast Award nominations are in ...

... and Ante Up! was shut out. But thanks for all of you who nominated us. We'll just try harder next year. (I did think our best shot was in the Gaming category, but looks as if "Gaming" meant video games, so oh well).

However, one of my good buddies Ryan Zundell was nominated in the Sports category. Give him a listen here and then vote for them here.

*UPDATE* - PPT out?

**THE PPT IS NOT DEAD** Here is a response I received to this posting**

Saw your blog about the PPT and the LV Advisor made a mis-print. The PPT has not been cancelled by the Travel Channel. For season two, we’ve not yet announced a distribution partner and have not yet announced a plan.

Karen Trachtenberg
Media Relations Coordinator
WPT Enterprises, Inc.

The Las Vegas Advisor is reporting that the Travel Channel has pulled the plug on the Professional Poker Tour. TC's Web site is still promoting it, but I've noticed it's no longer on my Tivo schedule. Also, LVA has a funny list of the top 10 gripes players have about the "changes" at the World Series of Poker. I won't violate their copyright by reprinting it here, but all regular visitors should already be subscribers of this great newsletter at lasvegasadvisor.com.

More on my Foxwoods trip

Hey all,

Our show was going a little long today, so I left out a few things that happened to me at Foxwoods' $1-2 NLHE table, figuring if anyone cared they could read about it here.

During the hour ride to the casino I thought about the different strategies I might take given certain situations and players. My predetermined approach was that I was going to have to be real creative. I have had three straight winning sessions at Foxwoods (though the last time I was there I netted $25 after just an hour and had to leave). But to be honest, during those sessions I pretty much played just premium hands or good hands in position and then played pretty straight-forward. The reason being was that the players I faced were very aggressive and all I had to do was find a hand and there was always someone there willing to give me action.

So this time I thought I would come in and really play differently to keep them off their toes, etc. But you know what? It was a real passive table to start (and I think that was because they started a new table with the 10 of us so everyone was a little hesitant to loosen up.) This passivity allowed me to limp with hands like suited aces or suited connectors/1-gappers, which paid off handsomely. I flopped a straight when I was holding 8♠10♠ in position. I let him bet the whole way, but when a third heart, which also paired the board, came on the river I knuckled behind him and missed a bet. He had made trips and was trying to trap me. I could have made a ton more on that hand but still made about 50 units.

But to get back to my original point, I really didn't have to do anything except play clean poker. And that's the lesson here, boys and girls. Always be prepared to adjust. If you get invited to a home game and someone tells you the players are very good, don't take that person's word for it unless you really respect their play, etc. I was convinced I was going to have to elevate my game to come out a big winner, but when I sat down these players were either beginners, drunks, tourists or just plain poor. I tend to give players too much credit when I first sit down with them, which is a good general rule of thumb, but in this case I identified in the first 10 minutes who the fish were and who would lose a lot of money to me.

One guy, who was in his 70s, kept betting middle pair like he was holding the stone cold nuts. And the one time he picked up a decent hand (aces and fours) he ran into my Dead Man's Hand, which I made on the river. I raised his 25-unit bet on the river to 50 and he quickly called. I think that frustrated him even more, but it didn't keep him from reaching into his pocket and pulling out two $25 chips over and over and over again. I would say he lost close to 500 in about 3 hours.

If you guys think I misplayed the KK hand at the end you may have a point. But I'm not really sure I made all of my points on the show because, again, it was clearly running long and I was just skimming through my notes. If I had reraised preflop to at least 130 units, would I have lost the guy in the middle? And did I want to? Also, if the guy with the big stack came back over the top with everything he had, was I really willing to risk it all there? I did put him on QQ or JJ, but I'm not Daniel Negreanu. I could have been wrong about that "big-chip" tell, or that reaction he had when I asked him how much he had left. If he pushed for 280 more units, did I really want to call off my 5 hours of hard work and profit? If my read was wrong I'm down to less than my original buy-in. So by smooth-calling I was hoping for a flop that didn't have an ace or paint, and then I would take what I could from him. I think if I had pushed preflop he may have folded, especially after I asked him what he had left. I think he knew he was beat. Since I only smooth-called and then made the bets small enough where he had to call, he wasn't really getting the right odds to do it since he knew he needed trips to beat me. Could I have bet more on the end and gotten a call? I don't know. I always scream at the TV when someone pushes all-in at the end and loses the guy with the second-best hand. I wanted to make more money but I didn't want to lose him. What was the magic number? Maybe I hit it, maybe I didn't. But I do know I got paid off because of the size of the bets. And remember, this isn't the Internet and it's not a tournament. If you watch High Stakes Poker (my new favorite show) Negreanu isn't betting the pot when he has a monster, he's betting what doesn't look fishy and what he thinks his opponent will call. If you watch the cash games you'll see the bets don't always reflect pot-sized or half the pot. During the hand, those bets I made were the ones I felt that would get called. But by the turn, if he had come over the top I would have pushed because I was convinced I had the best hand. But there was no way he was going to push because he knew I had him beat, hence my smallish bets.

This may seem hard to believe, but I estimate there was only one hand that I folded preflop that would have won had I stayed in, and I say that knowing I played for 5 hours. The button raised to 15 units when I was in the small blind with A-2. I folded and the flop would have given me trip-twos. But really, other than that, if I folded preflop, I wouldn't have made the winning hand at any other time. It was really weird.

I also mentioned the AJ hand where I laid it down after a flop that had an Ace and a King. I was surprised he showed me the AQ, but like I said he liked to show his hands, which ultimately cost him a bundle when I picked up those kings. Anyway, that AJ was the best laydown I made, but there were a few other times where I laid it down and was correct to do so, including once with pocket 10s preflop, and another time with the same hand postflop when it came Q-9-3. I knew these were good laydowns because on the preflop fold pocket aces were shown and on the latter hand it went to the river and one guy showed AQ and the other guy had trip 3s. They were clearly hands where I could have gotten into trouble, but my discipline really took over and paid off.

I think I said this on the show, but it really was the most complete, satisfying session of my young poker career. I read players really well, gambled when I needed to, laid off when I needed to, made a bunch of big hands and posted the biggest single win of my career. Did I miss a few bets? Absolutely. Did I misplay that KK hand at the end? Maybe. Did I overplay a medium pocket pair a coupla times? Yes. But overall, it was a great session the saw a 650% gain on my buy-in. Not bad for five hours' work. I haven't felt that good about my poker play since I won the first tournament I ever entered.

I may be headed back tomorrow. We'll see.

A Derby Lane cash, but ...

The good news: I took down 4th place in last night's Stud Hi/Lo tournament at Derby Lane, tripling my buy-in after tip. It was only my second Stud Hi/Lo tournament (not counting HORSE events). The bad news: I can't believe that Rod Serling wasn't the tournament director, because we HAD to be playing in the Twilight Zone.

The good news: I survived with 10-11 players left by catching a one-outter - the case 10 for a chopped pot.
The bad news: I donked off my last 900 chips with what I thought was a low, but turned out to be only a pair of 4s. But I was so incredibly shortstacked at that point, I doubt my error cost me any higher of a place.

The good news: 8 players at my starting table. One very good player. Three players who said straight up they've never played Stud Hi/Lo before, including one who never really grasped the concept of a "low" hand. And three players who proved by their play pretty quickly that they had no idea what they were doing. (One called my final bet even though I had three Jacks showing and all he had was a pair and no low).
The bad news: Our table was the first to break up.

The good news: Started with 1,500 in chips, with a 5 ante and 5 bring-in and 20/40 limits.
The bad news: I can't believe I'm even going to type this. After the bring-in (which had to be 5 according to one dealer, and could be completed to 20 according to another dealer) anyone other player who wants to "call" (and yes, the quotes are necessary) MUST put in 20. MUST. MUST. MUST. So you are FORCED to complete if you want to play. Now, if this isn't the zaniest form of Stud I've ever heard of, it gets better. Say you're have the bring in, but you have a good hand. In a normal Stud game, you'd likely go ahead an complete here. But what is that really gaining you in this format, if that's the bet everyone else will have to make anyhow? Well, some players thought they could be crafty and bring it in for the minimum, and then raise it when came back around to them. I tended to agree, only because the rest of the structure is so zany. But every dealer and director that was consulted at each of my first 3 tables said no. You can't raise unless someone has "raised" after you (yes, quotes necessary again since any "call" is a "raise," but not a "raise" that's applicable here). But wait - there's more! So at the final table, a player brings it in for 400, two of us "call" the 800 and the bring-in player tries to raise it to 1,600. Here we go again! But this time, the director rules that yes, you can raise it! So I found myself arguing both sides of this decision, which made my fellow opponents think *I* was the one on the Twilight Zone. I was saying that, yes, I think he should be able to raise, but since we haven't played that way at any other table, how can we start now when we're down to 5 players?!?! Sigh........

I'm trying really hard not to be critical of Derby Lane's room. Dealers are great, players are bad. They bought new tables, and boosted the starting chip counts for their tournaments. But the problems with this tournament went beyond the zany structure. The structure also forced dealers to constantly make change, so we really only got in 5-6 hands per level, and since the limits raise so quickly, that takes an awful lot of the "poker" out of a tournament in which even a reasonable sound player could cash in every time since i doubt any more than 10 of the 44 entrants were solid players. When I asked a director how they came up with this structure, the answer was "that's just the way we've always done it."

So, if you have a bottle of Tylenol and $50 handy, get on over to Derby on Monday nights (once a month) and get some of this easy cash. If you can handle it.

Rounders - rent it

RELEASE DATE: 1998 RATING: R (Internet kids must be accompanied by their degenerate gambling parents) STARRING: Mike Fasso as Michael McDermott Scott Long as Worm/Petra Chris Cosenza as Joey Knish SYNOPSIS: Poker dude overvalues his full house. American with very, very bad Russian accent eats Oreos and empties dude's pockets. Dude crashes, but luckily has fetching girlfriend to ease the pain. Loser dude gets out of the can. Loser dude messes up poker dude's life. Poker dude loses fetching girlfriend, says no to fetching one-night stand (Are you serious?!?!) Loser dude gets poker dude messed up (We all saw THAT coming). Poker dude sips gin, and then fleeces fatherly professor out of 10 large in the middle of the night. Poker dude cracks the Oreo code, goes to Vegas to blow it all again.

Mike "Fatso/Pesto/Bard/Lance" Fasso joined us for his week's podcast to talk about one of the best poker movies out there (and, yes, Chris, "Cincinnati Kid" was better). If you actually survived that 82-minute-long podcast and want to share your thoughts on the movie or Gretchen Mol, post it all right here.

SunPoker comes through!

I know we've been talking about this for a while, but SunPoker finally got the swag to us. We talked about it on the show, and as promised, here's a shot of the products we have been given so we can give it to you. Remember, if you send us a Hand of the Week, we will need a mailing address. And if you want a shirt send us the preferred size. Now, here's the deal. You need to send us ALL of the hand's information, and if ANYTHING is missing we won't use it. We just have to be sure to have all of our bases covered. And just because you sent us a hand doesn't mean you'll get something. We need to have it on the show as THE Hand of the Week. OK? We have a very durable hat with stitched logo, a nice quality T-shirt or a deck of cards with the SunPoker logo.

So, we'd like to thank SunPoker and of course Cowboy Kenna James for making this happen. These products should last a while, but if we run out of anything we will let you know so you will know your options.

Drawing dead in Deadwood

Have you all seen this yet? It's a poker game for the show Deadwood and it features some of the characters from the show. You can actually intimidate the players by pressing certain buttons, etc. It uses the voices of the actual actors and has 3D graphics. You have to download something called Virtools but it was pretty painless (and I did it on a PC so I don't know if it works for Macs). I've never watched the show (and y'all know this because I'm too cheap for digital cable, much less HBO), but this was entertaining. It's obviously not for serious poker fans and it's obviously not for money, but it's kinda cool.

Check it out here.

My marketing idea

OK,

I've been giving this a lot of thought. If you listened to last week's show (No. 56) you heard me comment on how we have been getting a lot of calls and emails from Ante-Uppers who listen to us on their commutes. Whether it's riding the tube in London, the metro in Rome or driving across Ohio or Texas, they need to listen in. Most of the comments come from cell phone callers who say they're making their way across some stretch of asphalt and that we are keeping them company.
That got me to thinking: I could make vanity plates for the front of all our listeners' cars that read ANTE UP! IS MY CO-PILOT. I've put a prototype on here to gauge the response. What would you expect to pay for such a rare and coveted relic? Wait before you answer! This plate is crafted from some of the finest recycled aluminum beer cans found inside Scott's garage. Would you pay $60? Don't answer yet! These babies were hand painted by me after I busted out of our home game and refused to deal to the other Ante Up Nation. Now, you could expect to pay $80 for such a fine product. But for a limited time, in honor of my fantasy poker prowess over Scott, I am prepared to offer this plate for $19.99. And, if you act now I will throw in the two screws that will fasten it to your Geo Metro! That's right, an ANTE UP! IS MY CO-PILOT vanity plate made from Scott Long's empties and Chris Cosenza's blood, sweat and tears, plus two screws for only $19.99*

The line starts behind Gambit.

*Sales tax and $10,000 shipping and handling fees apply. Please note, any similarities to the S&H fees resembling an entry into the World Series of Poker's main event is purely coincidental.

Big Brother All-Stars odds

OK, this post has absolutely NOTHING to do with poker. But here's the deal: I'm a reality TV junkie and - shock - a degenerate gambler, so after watching last night's premiere of Big Brother All-Stars, I decided to make my first attempt at handicapping anything. Sure, I could just share my oddsmaking with the six or seven fans of the show out there. But by posting it here, I get it out in public, so if I actually nail any of this on the head in September, I can say "Told ya."

So, if anyone is still reading, here are my odds to WIN:
1. NAKOMIS (3-1): Creative player with no allies or enemies. Also, the only player with green hair. That has to count for something.
2. DIANE (5-1): Unattached, and just smart enough that she could win in the final vote. If she doesn't fall in love - again.
3. WILL (8-1): Sure, everyone SAYS they're gunning for him, but that's what happened last time. Paging Dr. Evil ...
4. JAMES (10-1): Yes, everyone wants to eliminate everyone from Season 6 pronto, but a plan like that never works. And if anyone is slick enough to escape, it's Jimmy Boy.
5. JASE (12-1): Going in, I would have never given him this much respect. OK, so I still don't give him much respect. But he might just might be the key swing player.
6. ALISON (15-1): Yeah, she's nominated this week. But I think she'll stick around. The guys have to cuddle with some one. And no one is a better "Floater."
7. MIKE BOOGIE (18-1): Really has no chance on his own, but he could ride Will's evil coattails just far enough to count.
8. MARCELLAS (20-1): One of the true mysteries in the bunch.
9. ERIKA (23-1): No one thinks she should be even playing.
10. DANIELLE (25-1): Who exposes their cards THIS early? Sigh. She was one of my early favorites, but is likely going home this week.
11. KAYSAR (30-1): Man, Season 6 is HATED.
12. JANELLE (35-1): Man, Season 6 is REALLY HATED.
13. GEORGE (50-1): Guess every cast needs an old guy. Good luck, Col. Sanders.
14. HOWIE (50-1): Odds improve to 49-1 if in a Big Brother twist, Obi-Wan, Yoda and The Force join the game.

The art of poker

Ha! One of our listeners, MillionAyers, shows off the Picasso in him in this painting of the regulars at his home game. (he's fifth from the left). They also have a traveling trophy that each week's winner gets to keep. Not bad ideas for keeping the home game fun. Thanks a Million! (yuk, yuk, yuk).

Heads Up Thoughts

I've been playing a lot of heads up on Full Tilt lately -- just the $5 version, no-limit hold 'em -- but a few things that have been working for me might work at bigger limits.

1. Raise a lot. This is pretty obvious, but any pair, two high cards, ace, or suited connector is usually worth a raise preflop, or a call of an opponent's standard preflop raise. I played a recent match against a very passive player in which in 50 hands, he raised preflop maybe twice. It's possible his cards were horrible, but it's more likely he was playing way too tight.

2. Play it like pot-limit. Even though it's no-limit, my preflop raises are pot-sized (3X) and my post-flop bets are pot-sized. I'll rarely go higher. This bet size seems to be big enough to run over the passive-tight players, yet small enough to protect your stack in case someone plays back at you and you only have, for example, overcards. Which leads to...

3. Be willing to get away from hands. Aggression is essential in heads up, but you still need to fold your button now and then (like when you've run over someone six hands in a row and you have absolute rags) to maintain the image that, when you do play, you have a real hand. And sometimes it's not a good idea to fire that second ot third "shell." An example: I have KQ suited on the button, raise pot, and get called. Flop is 77J rainbow. Opponent checks, I bet pot, he calls. Turn is a 2. He checks again. It depends on the player, but I might just check behind here and be done with the hand. He's called a preflop raise, which means he could have a bare ace, which beats me (even tight players know the value of an ace heads up), a jack, or a small pair (if so he's super-tight; he should have re-raised). His play smells sneaky-tight: check-calling when there is no flush or staight draw working. Let's say I check behind, the river is an ace, and he bets. I can easily fold. If he checks the river I've probably won the hand. The point is: There's another hand coming up in 2 seconds. You don't have to keep pushing one that is only overcards. Now, if you put the ace in my hand in this situation, I'll probably fire out again if he checks the turn, but I'll fold to a raise. Even the aggressor needs to slow down now and then.

4. Don't slowplay big hands preflop. I used to do this a lot, but if you're raising and betting pot all the time and you put in a minimum bet or raise, it looks fishy. (Assuming the opponent is paying attention -- not always the case.) Why let someone get a cheap look at a flop, turn and river when you're holding KK? I like to get value for my big hands. I see a lot of "sneaky" slow-playing with AA, KK and QQ in heads up, but I think a straightforward 3X followed by pot-sized bets works better.

5. Fold, call, raise ratio. Against passive players, and they seem to proliferate on Full Tilt in heads up, I'm guessing a good ratio is to raise 50 percent, call 35 percent, and fold 15 percent, but I'm open to having my mind changed. Certainly if you're folding anywhere near half your hands you're playing too tight.

Am I crazy? Wait, don't answer that ...

So last week, Southwest Airlines had a killer sale for flights from/to Tampa. With taxes, it came to $108 roundtrip for 10 or so cities. I quickly nabbed tickets for back-to-back September weekends in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, to see my beloved Buckeyes stomp on Cincinnati and Penn State (and to pick up some of those tasty buckeye treats - even better with nutmeg!).

And then I made the mistake(?) of logging into my Southwest frequent flier account. Turns out, I only needed to make one more roundtrip to earn a free ticket! Wahoo! ... And then I saw the fine print: The roundtrip must be taken by Sept. 2. Ugh! Rivered again! So I set out on a 2-day odyssey to find a quick $108 weekend trip, pretty much just so I could score my free ticket. My wife watched in amusement as I spoutted out questions like, "Hey, what is there to do in Little Rock?!?!" I even tried to coax Fasso into flying to Chicago with me for a weekend poker binge. He laughed - hard.

I took my manic trip-searching right up to the sale's deadline before I surrendered.
But yesterday, I logged in to find a "Ding!" waiting. (No, not the bell we use in the studio - Southwest's sale sound). And guess what? The price to New Orleans dropped from $108 to $98 (hey, that's one big bet and tip in a $4/$8 game). The kicker, though, was it was only good on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So, yes, this is the August trip I booked:

Arrive in New Orleans at 8:25 a.m.
Leave New Orleans at 6:30 p.m. THE SAME DAY.

Yes, that's right, I'm flying solo to New Orleans for what will probably be at best a 6-hour session of cards at Harrah's.

Am I crazy? Wait, I already asked that ...