Show #72 Recap
THE RETURN OF SHANA HIATT: A lot of you may not know where Shana Hiatt, the former WPT host, has been. Well, according to a piece in CardPlayer (among other news organizations) she's been trying to return to host poker shows, but the WPT has been blocking her. Apparently she first tried to get a gig with NBC (Heads-Up Championships) but Steve Lipscomb pointed out that she had a noncompete clause in her contract. Well, an injunction has been granted by a California judge to allow Hiatt to work again, and if the WPT wants to fight the injunction it will have to appear in a Santa Monica courtroom to persuade the judge why this former favorite host can't work. Still no word on why she left the WPT, but it more than likely has something to do with formerly being married to WPT co-host Vince Van Patten's brother. Anyway, look for Shana to return to television Jan. 2 on Poker After Dark on NBC. Here are some details.
MORE TV: ESPN's ratings were good for the 2006 WSOP Main Event, up from last year but still down from 2004. More than a million viewers watched each episode this year but that still isn't the 1.5 million who watched in 2004. Scott and I speculate why that is, and yes it has something to do with almost all of the events being No Limit Hold Em.
LISTENER ON TV: Somehow I forgot to mention this on the show (maybe I was making fun of Scott too much?) Tune in to Mansion.Net's PokerDome tournament on Sunday Oct. 29 as Brett Otte will be representing ANTE UP! NATION. He won a spot a while back but will finally be on. It’s 11 p.m. Eastern but check local listings. Go BRETT!!!!
ANTEUPRADIO OFFICIALLY OFF THE AIR: Yep, the show by the same name as ours has stopped recording. I wondered if we need to snag that domain name when it goes under, but Scott assures me we wouldn't do anything cool with it anyway. Say your last goodbyes here. I have to admit I'm relieved because there was always some confusion in the marketplace!
FOLDING ACES PREFLOP? BLASHPHEMY!: We tried to put to rest the topic of folding aces preflop. You'll have to listen to this segment.
ONE MINUTE MYSTERY: Columbo gets into a pickle with no redraws as he's out of position in a PLO/8 tournament and has flopped the nut high. Be sure to email or call (866-371-9605, it's TOLL
FREE PEOPLE!!) us with your thoughts. Also, visit Columbo's blog.
RAZZ SWAG NOW ON SALE: One of our listeners, Natalie, said we needed to add a LET'S PLAY RAZZ! shirt to our inventory at the Ante Up! Store, and so I did just that. And remember, the gift-giving season is just around the corner. Pick up that ANTE UP! NATION thong for that special someone.
AIPS #7 RECAP AND TIPS FOR EVENTS #8 (Limit Hold 'Em) and 9 (HORSE): Scott sat there patiently as I got to gloat about my fifth-place finish in the AIPS PLO/8 tournament. He's a good sport. He has ZERO points, but he's still a good sport. 8-) But the real news is there are two AIPS events this week, so as is our M.O., here are the tips for each event, provided by Scott.
LIMIT
1. IT'S NOT NO-LIMIT: All those fancy moves you've learned watching WPT will get you into trouble. You can't push people off of big pairs when all you can fire is one structured bet.
2. MAXIMIZE VALUE: You have to make every bet count. Think hard about your possibilities of success in calling a bet, or the possibilities of losing a pot by folding when you may win.
3. PREPARE MENTALLY FOR SUCKOUTS: It's gonna happen.The players who can shake it off are the ones you'll see at the final table.
4. HANDS THAT FLOP BIG IN NL (PAIRS, SUITED CONNECTORS) GO DOWN IN VALUE: In no-limit, spiking a set is a sure-fire way to take a monster of chips off an opponent (well, except on FullTilt). In limit, you're not going to be able to break an opponent when you hit this hand, so tread carefully.
5. PAY ATTENTION TO POT ODDS: It's much easier in limit, since the structure is fixed. Often, you're able to call a two-bet pot from the big blind with many hands. Often, it makes sense to see the turn for one bet. Often, it makes sense to call on the river if you have anything.
HORSE
1. CONCENTRATE ON YOUR GOOD GAMES: Really focus on making every bet count in Hold 'Em, if that's your best game. And don't feel pressured to swap paint in Razz, if you have no idea what you're doing.
2. DON'T PLAY LOOSE IN HOLD 'EM: It's the game everyone is going to want a piece of, so why risk your chip lead trying to get cute with speculative hands?
3. PAY ATTENTION TO GAME BEING PLAYED: You'd be surprised how many people fail to notice when Razz turns to Stud, or Stud turns to Stud/8 or even that Razz is not Stud. When a player makes an illiogical play early in a new game, take a minute to consider whether he's just plain confused.
4. WHEN SHORT-STACKED, LIMP INTO A SPLIT-POT GAME: You have two shots at new life with every hand in Omaha/8 and Stud/8.
5. DON'T BE AFRAID TO SIT BACK DURING THE FIRST TRIP THROUGH ALL FIVE GAMES: Use this opportunity to get a feel for how your skill level at every game matches up with your opponents. Since the limits are low, you're not sacrificing much value, since you'll still be playing your big hands. Even if you get moved to a new table on the second trip, you should have a good idea of your general rank in skill.
MAIN TOPIC: MAILBAG!
There were a bunch of letters so I'll just go over the highlights. Our good friend Don is going to Atlantic City and will be visiting a casino for the first time. Scott and I give him some advice for a bunch of situations ... Sylvia wonders how to play the big stack once she has it and we chime in ... AZSlick has a coupla letters (1) What to do when a chop deal is offered at a final table and (2) a visit/review of Harrah's Laughlin in Nevada (NOT INDIANA!)... Mitch notices from our photo gallery that Scott never seems to change his shirt, and judging from the ventilation in the studio, I can verify that ... And Mike from Atlanta says he burns our shows on CD and since we are going over 80 minutes we are making it difficult to burn the show. We'll try to shorten up, but I think we failed this week. Sorry Mike! Here's something you might want to look into Mike.... click here!
HAND OF THE WEEK: Nikademus sent us to very similar hands from our Stud/8 AIPS tournament. We discussed the benefits of the check-call in Stud games. Send us your name and address and what you'd like and we'll send you some swag!
-- Chris
Christopher Cosenza is co-host of the longest running poker podcast on the planet, Ante Up! He started playing poker seriously in 2003 and his favorite players are Phil Ivey and Kenna James, though he tends to act like Phil Hellmuth if you make a bad play against him.
Scott Long, Ante Up!'s other co-host, is the author of the monthly Bet on It column in tbt*. He began gambling way too young (don't tell the fuzz!) and in the seventh grade, named his state "Gambleland" for a school project (State Animal? Loan shark, of course).
Haven't heard the show yet but as far the other Ante Up show calling it quits, you seem to be hanging in there pretty good among the poker podcast shake out. Quality shows, not skipped a single week (as far as I know), always informative and entertaining, not too mention probably the first podcast with a listener tournament series.
And I know, compared to the 'volunteer' shows (I don't want to use to word amateur, Lord Admiral for example was an excellent show by dedicated guys) you have corporate backing but that can also work out negatively (pulling the plug, pressuring for certain content etc).
So, props to you guys and can't wait for the big 100 (have you hired the Buccaneers stadium to throw a party yet?)
Posted by: Erwin Blonk | October 25, 2006 at 06:00 PM
Love the "let's play razz" shirts!!!
Any chance you could add a small ante up logo to the back of the shirt up around the neckline?? Just a thought.
Either way I think one is required wearing to the vegas in Dec for the WPT event.
Posted by: ChicagoMike | October 25, 2006 at 06:47 PM
Isn't there a logo on there you can add to the back Mike? If not I can upload one for you. Let me know.
Posted by: Chris Cosenza | October 25, 2006 at 09:18 PM
Oops, edit of my comment:
"you have corporate backing but that can also work out negatively (pulling the plug, pressuring for certain content etc).
should read:
"you have corporate backing but that could also work out negatively (pulling the plug, pressuring for certain content etc) but SPTimes lets you do all the great stuff with no pressure, afaik... :D They probably bought a piece of both of you in case you hit it big in the WSOP, WPT or online (but that's just Scott ;) )"
backspace and postdata suck
Posted by: Erwin Blonk | October 26, 2006 at 04:29 AM
Chris: "We're working on it, we're trying to get on the radio."
Scott: "That's true."
Chris: "Stay tuned for that."
!?!??! Come on, you can't slide that into the show and leave us hanging! Details!
Posted by: Nikademus | October 26, 2006 at 01:58 PM
Well, it's not what you might be thinking. A local AM station is in some sort of deal with our publications here and they have been asked if they would like to have our show on there. But that means just taking the back episodes and editing them and putting them on there. I don't think we are talking satellite or a live show just yet. But that may be something that happens. Stay tuned
Posted by: Chris Cosenza | October 26, 2006 at 03:52 PM
For those interested, I've written a little Windows application to calculate a "fair" chop based on the formula I've heard used most often that goes like this (suitable for laminating!); Each player gets the minimum payout PLUS a portion of the remaining prize pool proportional to their chip stack.
You can download the zipped Windows executable here:
http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=4465DealMaker.zip
I am going to port it to Windows Mobile 5 so I can have it handy on my PDA at the table (hey, you never know...). If anyone is interested in the Mobile version, just let me know.
Posted by: Gambit | October 26, 2006 at 07:00 PM