Show #86 recap

Mike "Fatso, Pesto, Bard, Lance, Borat" Fasso returns to the show this week, his head a little larger than the last time he was on (See? It's so big it doesn't even fit in the frame!). And as it turns out, we had a lot to talk about. First and foremost was ...

AIPS 2: That's right, our successful tournament series kicked off its second season in grand style with Blazman defeating khanwoman in the end to take down the top prize. But, the bigger news was Fatso got off the schneid for the first time, earning 12th place. The Player of the Year points can be found here. As for our second event, 7-card stud, we just received word from Full Tilt Poker that it has been posted: Thursday, Feb. 15, 9 p.m. ET, $5+.50, password is anteup.

AUDIO CLIPS: One of our listeners, Short-Stacked Shamus actually had so much time on his hands that he went through a series of shows and compiled a "best of" Fasso audio byte, thus sending Fatso's already bursting cranium into the stratosphere! It was good stuff. ... Bill from Sarasota informed us that Show 85 was a milestone because we passed the late, great Lord Admiral podcast for most episodes. He had a lot of nice things to say and we blushed. ... And, coinciding with my return to Internet poker, Aquaman called in to bust my chops a little with his own acronym. So any elation felt from Bill's call was immediately squashed! You'll have to listen to find out what the acronym is. Again, good stuff. ... And finally, someone called in (though he didn't have the guts to leave his name) to essentially reprimand Scott for his Internet Gaming column he wrote in tbt* recently. We weren't sure of the level of his intoxication, but we were pretty sure anyone who calls us "wonderfuls" has to be on something. And then he has the nerve to say if we ever played him in Hold Em that we would never win. Bring it on drunk, creepy caller guy!

WISEHAND POKER: We have some exciting news this week with the debut of Gary Wise's Wisehand Poker Pro Tournament Report. For those of you who don't know Gary, he is the official blogger of the World Poker Tour, he has a regular column in Bluff and he has a very fun Web site at wisehandpoker.com. Gary is well-respected in the business and he travels with the WPT so he has access to all of the pros and all of the goings-on. He'll report every week there's a WPT event to keep the Ante Up! Nation up to date! We expect big things from Gary! Stay tuned to the end of the show for his first few attempts at filing his report.

ONE MINUTE MYSTERY: Columbo flops a nice hand in a MTT but he can't shake a MP limper. What is going on? Does he check behind this limper on the river or put out another bet with his two pair?

MAIN TOPIC - THE CHECK: Scott used the "check in the dark" strategy as a joke at Tampa Bay Downs and "confuddled" his opponent so much that he didn't even bet his aces. So we decided we should do a show on "The Art of the Check." We cover most of the ways you can check, from "In the Dark" to Check-Raising, to Check-Calling. Instead of giving away the milk here I'm gonna make you buy the cow. Listen to the show if you want to hear our strategies, etc.

HAND OF THE WEEK: This hand came to us from JHerky, and it was a Razz hand. I felt it perfectly expemplified when to check, but Scott, and for the most part Fasso, disagreed with me. Sixth street was scary to me and I thought it was the perfect time to check-call. Scott (Mr. Blind Aggression) Lang said you HAVE to bet!! Hear the hand and decide for yourselves.

-- Chris

P.S. I put a photo in the gallery of 9Gaiter, our AIPS Pot Limit Omaha champ.

Can you believe this hand?

Last night I played a bunch of games, from HORSE to NLHE (no cap, $.25-.50, which is where I made most of my money) Stud/8 and PLO. So it was getting kind of late and I had bought in (for $5) to the cheapest Stud/8 game FTP has to offer: $.25-.50. Immediately I had back-to-back hands that saw my high of trip/set/three-of-a-kind aces get beat by a backdoor low straight, and then my low-four-to-a-flush never got there. So I'm down to $1.80 at the table, but I'm up about $20 for the night, so this final $1.80 really doesn't mean anything to me. That's when this hand came up. Now, as you probably have guessed, I'm not big on posting hand histories here, but this time I just had to. I trimmed where I could.

Full Tilt Poker Game #1698847966: Table Rosamond - $0.25/$0.50 Ante  $0.05 - Limit Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo - 1:36:36 ET - 2007/01/30
Seat 1: NateDog04 ($13.55)
Seat 4: Golfball44 ($1.45)
Seat 5: anypair ($20.10)
Seat 6: willhopper ($1.80)
Seat 7: TooOldToWin ($30.95)
Seat 8: BoltFanFern ($50.55)
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to willhopper [6d 2c] [3d] <--- I realize two aces and a seven are out, which hurts my low hand, but those cards don't complete my straight and it means the odds of one of the bullets being paired is slightly reduced.
Dealt to TooOldToWin [2d]
Dealt to BoltFanFern [Kc]
Dealt to NateDog04 [7c]
Dealt to Golfball44 [Ad]
Dealt to anypair [Ac]
TooOldToWin is low with [2d]
TooOldToWin brings in for $0.10
BoltFanFern folds
NateDog04 folds
Golfball44 calls $0.10
anypair completes it to $0.25 <---- Completing out of obligation, I feel, since there's another ace out.
willhopper raises to $0.50 <---- I have three to a 6 low and straight possibilities for a scoop, so I raise to force out people behind me. (Yeah, like that's gonna work!)
TooOldToWin calls $0.40
Golfball44 calls $0.40
anypair raises to $0.75 <---- So, maybe he has a hand, but at this point I only have $1 left and I'm going to the end, so why not cap it right?
willhopper raises to $1 <--- CAP IT!!
TooOldToWin calls $0.50
Golfball44 calls $0.50
anypair calls $0.25
At this point I'm just hoping for another low card, but I can't believe the calls behind my consecutive 2-bet raises. ... oh wait, yes I can!

*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to willhopper [6d 2c 3d] [Qc] <--- doh!
Dealt to TooOldToWin [2d] [5h]
Dealt to Golfball44 [Ad] [Kd]
Dealt to anypair [Ac] [8s]
Golfball44 bets $0.25
anypair raises to $0.50
willhopper raises to $0.75, and is all in <--- of course I raise it, I can't fold and calling is useless.
TooOldToWin calls $0.75
Golfball44 calls $0.15, and is all in
anypair calls $0.25
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to willhopper [6d 2c 3d Qc] [3c] <---- NOOOOO!!! Don't pair me up!!!
Dealt to TooOldToWin [2d 5h] [7s]
Dealt to Golfball44 [Ad Kd] [5d]
Dealt to anypair [Ac 8s] [8d]
anypair bets $0.50
TooOldToWin raises to $1
anypair calls $0.50
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to willhopper [6d 2c 3d Qc 3c] [Ks] <---- Good Gawd, could I lay any more bricks? There goes my low! C'mon 3, K or Q!!!!!!
Dealt to TooOldToWin [2d 5h 7s] [4s]
Dealt to Golfball44 [Ad Kd 5d] [Qd]
Dealt to anypair [Ac 8s 8d] [Jh]
anypair checks
TooOldToWin bets $0.50
anypair calls $0.50
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to willhopper [6d 2c 3d Qc 3c Ks] [Ts] <--- Oh well, off to bed!
anypair checks
TooOldToWin bets $0.50 <--- a blessing in disguise
anypair folds <--- This is the key to the whole hand, and you will see why.
Uncalled bet of $0.50 returned to TooOldToWin
TooOldToWin wins side pot #2 ($2.85)
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TooOldToWin shows [As 9c 2d 5h 7s 4s 8c] (Ace Nine high) (7,5,4,2,A)
willhopper shows [Ts 6d 3d Qc 3c Ks 2c] (a pair of Threes)
willhopper wins high side #1 ($.50) with pair of 3s <--- Weird.
TooOldToWin wins low side pot #1 ($0.50) with 7,5,4,2,A
Golfball44 mucks
willhopper wins the high main pot ($2.85) with a pair of Threes <--- WHAT????
TooOldToWin wins the low main pot ($2.80) with 7,5,4,2,A
Golfball44 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $9.95 Main pot $5.90. Side pot 1 $1.05. Side pot 2 $3. | 
Rake $0.45 <--- ripoff ... but that's for another post another time.
Seat 1: NateDog04 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 4: Golfball44 mucked [8h 6h Ad Kd 5d Qd 3s] - HI: Ace King high;  LO: 8,6,5,3,A
Seat 5: anypair folded on 7th St. <---- This guy had a pair of 8s and would've beaten me, but instead ...
Seat 6: willhopper showed [Ts 6d 3d Qc 3c Ks 2c] and won ($3.35) with  HI: a pair of Threes
Seat 7: TooOldToWin showed [As 9c 2d 5h 7s 4s 8c] and won ($6.15)  with HI: Ace Nine high; LO: 7,5,4,2,A
Seat 8: BoltFanFern folded on 3rd St.

Unreal! I just wanted to go to bed and had a chance at a scooper. So at this point I decided to keep playing and I ran my $3.35 up to about $11 before signing off a decent winner for the entire evening. And you thought this was going to be another one of those online hands that I whined about, right? It was defintely one of those hands, but I ain't whinin!

-- Chris 

I'm back, and not loving it.

OK, so I made a 2007 Poker Resolution to return to online poker this year. After an AIPS event that saw me suck out at least three times to stay alive, I thought "Hey, maybe things will go in my favor now online!" With this in mind and my account flush with cash from Click2Pay I decided to re-enter the world of suckouts and bad beats. It didn't take long for me to realize nothing had changed (how could it?) and that I'd be seeing the same crap I saw when I quit playing online six months ago. I saw a one-outer and a two-outer on the first two hands, and though I wasn't involved, two outers would bite me on the butt as well. You'll see ...

One of the things I noticed was an amazing amount of Ante Up! listeners who swarmed to my tables to play with me. I figured I had been away so long that no one would be looking for me, but I was wrong. I played with, no lie, at least six listeners in an hour. And this happened as I floated from game to game, not in one place. It was nice playing with them, but I have to admit, it's very distracting. People chatting with me when I'm in a hand, playing EVERY pot I enter, etc. Of course, I am in no way comparing myself to the Full Tilt pros, but I can understand why they turn their chat off or play under aliases (something I no longer can enjoy). At one point so many people were talking to me and asking me questions that someone at the table (who I didn't know) asked: "Will, are you a pro?" It was the nicest and funniest thing ever asked of me at a table. I laughed and typed in "YEAH, PRO IDIOT" That got a few chuckles. The reason he asked was because even observers were finding me and asking questions, etc. It wasn't because of my play, believe me.

Anyway, as you can imagine, I chose to play microlimits (and cap games when it was NL) to curb any chance of big losses, and I was fortunate that I did. In the span of 25 minutes I lost the capped amount when my AA was cracked by a listener who called my UTG 3.5X BB raise with 33 and he hit a set. I told him I shoulda just pushed preflop and he said he woulda folded. And just before that hand I had A♥K♥ and raised to 8XBB on the button (I raised so much because there were three limpers and, of course, the blinds behind me) got one caller and the flop came A♣ 9♠ 4♥. He bet out the size of the pot and I capped it. He turned over 9♥9♣. Two big hands, to big losses to flopped sets. I decided to leave and try Stud/8. There I won three of the first four hands to erase my losses. That table dried up in a hurry though, so I moved on to HORSE. I won a decent amount in Stud/8 (which was the first game when I sat down) and then in Hold 'Em won a nice hand when my K♠4♠ BB special made the nuts on the turn and came up against a guy with top two. I posted a winning session (a small one at best) but still am very queasy over the whole Internet poker experience.

Not exactly what I had in mind for my first day back, but at least I'm ahead. And I hear Absolute Poker may have a Mac client out soon. If that's the case I will move over there and play under another name that NO ONE will figure out. LOL!

-- Chris

Click2Pay worked

After one week my initial deposit finally landed in my Click2Pay account. I transferred it to FTP and it went almost instantly. No fee, no nothing. So, I'm fully funded for AIPS2. But remember, if you don't have C2P account then you're too late. If you did get one, it works!

Please post your experiences with Click2Pay or other successful payment methods and how you did them so our listeners/readers can benefit from your good fortune. Thanks!

-- Chris

AIPS II Event #1 Champion: BLAZMAN

Congratulations to Blazman, who wins the first AIPS II banana as champion of the No-Limit Hold'em event, which drew 111 entrants.

Blazman took down the title with A-8 against khanwoman's A-7. Two Aces were on board by the end. Who knew Blaz could play heads up?

Bounties go to:

• 80sGuy (Fasso, 12th place)
• Blindguy74 (Chris, 31st place)
• Storit (Scott, 33rd place)
• Chipnut (Columbo, 78th place)

NEXT EVENT: Stud, Thursday, Feb. 15, 9 p.m. Eastern

Click here for the Player of the Year standings. (Special thanks to Ante Up! scorekeeper Gambit for compiling them and the first bananahead of the year Blazman for hosting the results).

Click here for the schedule and all the info on AIPS II events. We'll update it as we set dates for future events, and recognize champions. (This link is also permanently posted on the right-hand side of the blog with all the other important links).

- SCOTT

Episode #85 recap

MAIN TOPIC

Is this the beginning of the end? In a switch not seen since the 1987 Dudley Moore/Kirk Cameron flick Like Father Like Son, it's now Chris who is preaching a panic-free response to the tightening noose around third-party payment processors and it's Scott who is so despondent that online poker might be coming to an end that he burned his Visa card for $215 for season tickets to the Class A Clearwater Threshers (Sec. 115, Row 12, on the aisle).

Neteller bolted from the U.S. last week, and Click2Pay quickly followed (though if you got an account in under the wire, you appear to be safe. Go figure). Here are some options if you're not a minor-league baseball fan and still want to fund your online poker account:

ePassporte: It's the last e-wallet left that does business with U.S. FullTilt players. You'll pay 5 bucks for your first transfer, and 2 bucks for future ones. At least until they're run out of the country, too.

Visa gift cards: Some Ante Uppers report success in using these one-time cards to fund accounts. Some players even have lucked into being able to use Visa debit cards. You can find retailers that sell them here.

OTHER TOPICS

AIPS II: Don't forget! Noon this Saturday! All the info is at the AIPS II link on the right-hand side of this page. Ten-point bounties on Scott (offdeadline), Chris (willhopper), Fasso (stpetebeach) and Columbo (columbo), and any pros that might show up. Get here early, fire up the chat room (link also on the right-hand side of this page) and say hi.

Tampa Bay Downs: Scott hit the track this week, and realizes just how blinding poker can be. Did you know horses run there?

Home game: Such drama! These girls have nothing on the whinings of Fasso and Chris.

New movie: Buy your tickets now - the Madison Kid is coming. It's a movie chronicling the early days of Phil Hellmuth's life (back when he was an inspiration to Scott), stopping before his ego-driven recent exploits (when he became an inspiration to Chris). And who gets the honor of playing Phil? Surprisingly, it's not one of the Bratz girls. No, it's Hayden Christensen, that dude from the Star Wars prequels who got the bright idea to choose to live the rest of his days with some melted-face old dude instead of with Natalie Portman. (Guys like this have no right to roam the earth or any plant in any galaxy far, far away. I mean, really.) And Chris, in a very effective ploy to make sure Johnny Chan, James Earl Jones or Frank Oz never come on Ante Up! again, entertained us with stuff he learned from the discount DVD "Rich Little: How to Do Impressions That Only Rich Little Thinks Are Funny."

Pro-Am Equalizer: Sigh, another no-limit fest, but this one adds celebrities. Kill us now. But how can Ali be as tall as Phil Gordon?!? (Here's a picture of them together in real life, when Ali doesn't have phone books to stand on).

OMM: Much debate ensues after our favorite mystery man loses to a player who makes the "call of a lifetime" or "a solid, reasoned call" depending upon whether you're Columbo or Chris.

HAND OF THE WEEK

Now here's a surprise, Scott messes up the HOTW. Like, really bad. But hey, the lesson still works! Really! Our good friend Loren found it interesting that shortly after he posted on the forum about the dangers of playing J-10, he found himself in a hand where we flopped top two-pair with J-10. Chris got all whiny because Loren and I forgot a couple of minor details (the turn card and, um, the river card and, um, confirmation that Loren lost the hand).

- SCOTT

NBC Heads Up Championships

The roster and schedule for the NBC National Heads Up Championships have been released. Scott and I saw it and thought: There are WAY too many celebs on this list. But anyway, the NHPC takes place at Caesars Palace on March 1-4. Defending champ Ted Forrest and inaugural champ Phil Hellmuth will be there.

Here's the broadcast schedule, all times are Eastern:
April 8 - Noon to 1
April 15 - Noon to 1
April 22 - Noon to 1
April 29 - Noon to 2
May 6 - Noon to 2
May 13 - Noon to 2
May 20 - Noon to 3
And here's the complete list of players, followed by a comment from me:
Rene Angelil (Mr. Dion), Patrik Antonius (tough, young player), Bobby Baldwin (The owl still has game), David Benyamine (French's best shot), Andy Bloch (Someone say BlackJack?), Brad Booth (Who?), Humberto Brenes (Sit down already), Doyle Brunson (The Legend), Todd  Brunson (The Legend Jr.), Chad Brown (Poker host got game), Johnny Chan (The complete player), Don Cheadle (Stick to NFL commercials), T.J. Cloutier (big dude ... craps anyone?), Allen Cunningham (Smart Pig .. think about it), John D'Agostino (my fellow New Haven County boy!), Annie Duke (I'll be nice), Eli Elezra (It's Ell-eee, not Eee-lie), Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie needs you, poker doesn't), Antonio Esfandiari (Gigolo Call Boy), Sam Farha (Coolest man in poker), Chris Ferguson (Bridesmaid for a third time?), Scott Fischman (Is the Tank empty?), Ted Forrest (Re-peat! Re-peat! Doubt It Doubt It!), Jamie Gold (First-round bust), Barry Greenstein (My pick to go deep), Phil Gordon (I hear the booth calling), Clonie Gowen (She beat Kenna heads up in Australia), Tony G (Will he ACTUALLY eat someone this time?), Joe Hachem (He's for real), Gus Hansen (Changed his game too much), Jennifer Harman (She'll be the top female finsiher), Phil Hellmuth (Out in Round 2), Cheryl Hines (Larry David's calling), Phil Ivey (Never wins the big one anymore), Kenna James (my main man gets the national spotlight), John Juanda (Takes too many unneeded chances),

Gabe Kaplan (Welcome back ... to the announcers booth), Phil Laak (Bombs out), Howard Lederer (Another booth bomb), Nam Le (Great player, not sure on heads up play), Tuan Le (One of my picks to go deep), Erick Lindgren (He's too good for Ante Up!), Jeff Madsen (Ante Up Player of the Year), Mike Matusow (Mouth playing worst poker of his life, and this is no exception), Isabelle Mercier (Too tough for her own good), John Michael (Who?), Michael Mizrachi (Grinder has dulled a bit), Chris Moneymaker (Could surprise, but doubt it), Yosh Nakano (Not a fan), Daniel Negreanu (He could go all the way), Scotty Nguyen (Hey baby, you call it gonna be all owvuh), Greg Raymer (Whole world saw him bluff too much last year), Chip Reese (Best overall player in the world, but heads up not so much), Huck Seed, pictured, (My darkhorse), Erik Seidel (Tons of bracelets and could go far), Mike Sexton (WPT's calling), Shawn Sheikhan (Who will he tick off this year?), Jeff Shulman (CardPlayer big boy), Gavin Smith (Should be fun), Jennifer Tilly (Her time is up), JC Tran (Internet win gives him confidence) and David Williams (Too much confidence makes him donk off his stack in the second round).

Who do you think will win?

-- Chris

New show, a day early

Sometimes Scott and I have to post our show a day late because of schedule conflicts, but today (1/23) we get to post Show 85 early for the same reason. Dave, our engineer, has other duties here at the Times (how dare he!!!) and will be very busy tomorrow, so Scott and I came in very early today and recorded the show. So, it should be up very soon. I wasn't sure when Scott was going to put up the recap, but if history tells us anything it would be sometime Friday night (d'oh!). And I didn't want everyone thinking the show wasn't up till then. So enjoy!

Also, I added a photo or two to the gallery.

-- Chris

Neteller Out

Kinda like "Seacrest out." I suppose most of us who play on FullTilt got the e-mail this morning advising us to switch to Click2Pay or ePassporte because Neteller is quitting funding U.S. poker accounts. FullTilt seemed to be nudging people more toward Click2Pay, where the FAQ doesn't show any fees. ePassporte charges $5 per $100 transferred, which excludes them from my consideration. So, has anyone used Click2Pay? How are they?

Mike

Show #84 Recap

Scott and I interviewed Poker After Dark's Shana Hiatt, but first we had some other things to talk about, so here we go.

L.A. MEETUP: Scott and Fatso are headed to L.A. in February to play a bunch of poker. They are hoping members of the Ante Up! Nation can meet up on Saturday Feb. 24, but the location is TBD.

AIPS 2: Opening event, Texas NLHE, Jan. 27th, noon ET, Full Tilt Poker, password anteup. Also, FTP may bring 2-7 Triple Draw to its site soon.

WSOP SKED: It's finally out, and Scott and I may be there, stay tuned. But we take credit for a lot of the Ante Up! Nation wanting to enter the SHOE event. Don't forget, one-table satellites in Vegas will be NLHE even if you're looking to enter the Razz event. The schedule is here.

GREEN FLASHING LIGHTS: It seems that Canada can't get it's traffic lights straight. Some say a flashing green light means pedestrians can control the light for crossing while others say it has something to do with turning left. Depending on where you are in the Great White North, the light means something different. Or you can just do like Scott and floor it!!

PRAYING MANTIS: OK, so you won't go to jail for killing these little odd insects, as AZ Slick pointed out the Urban Myth on snopes.com.

FOSSILMAN FOR VP: Bluff Magazine ran a little blurb that Greg Raymer is in talks with the Libertarian Party to be its candidate for VP in 2008. So I think Scott should run for President. He was lukewarm on the idea. The campaign begins NOW!

ESFANDIARI STARRING AS HITCH: No, he's not remaking Will Smith's movie, but he says he is opening up his party animal services for $10K. He'll show you Sin City how he likes to see it, and he'll get you into the exclusive rooms and parties, but you'll have to close the deal. Scott says he'll show you all of the hotspots in Tampa Bay for the price of one entry fee into the Tampa Bay Downs weekly tournament. And if you buy him a six-pack of PBR it could be one wild ride!!

RETURN OF THE SHAMUS: One Minute Mystery is back after a slight hiatus, and this one seems very simple on the surface, but Columbo has his sneaky way of making us look foolish, so we'll wait to see what happens. And don't look for a clue in the title: Mookie B. Diddle.

MAIN TOPIC: Shana Hiatt, and her dog, joined us for a fun interview talking about everything from Poker After Dark, her bloopers and the WPT. She says there are no players she's looking to avoid interviewing, though she does say some have breath issues. LOL! We don't want to give away too much, you'll just have to listen.

HAND OF THE WEEK: Don (no, he's not with the Mafia) sent us a hand where everyone goes all-in. What's worth analyzing here? Oh, you'll see.

-- Chris

Best Tip Ever

If you haven't read Mike Matusow's Tip #94 on FullTilt, don't miss it. Mike explains why he four-bet a K-Q-9-2 hand in an Omaha/8 tournament. He gets at one of the big differences between Omaha/8 and Hold 'Em: the ability to estimate whether the deck is rich with low cards or not.

As for the L.A. Meetup, I'm fine with Saturday if that means more people can show up.

Mike

Ante Up MiniMeetUp: Los Angeles

Fasso and I are booked for a 4-night poker bender in L.A. next month, and are willing to hold an unofficial, casual meetup for any listeners in Southern California.

We'll be in town Feb. 21-25, staying in between Commerce and the Bike. (Yes, we're packing our bulletproof vests).

Fasso and I are thinking the night of Thursday, Feb. 22 for the meetup. We can all meet for dinner somewhere in or near the cardrooms, and then play a little afterwards. If you're interested, let us know by posting here, on the forum or by sending an email. Suggestions on a dining location are appreciated as well, as well as general suggestions on where and when to play in the L.A. area.

Asute followers of poker action will know that the Main Event of the WPT's L.A. Poker Classic will begin at Commerce while we're out there. Also, the night we leave, the Oscars are in Hollywood. Bonus AIPS II points to any listener who gets Kate Winslet, a shoo-in for nomination for Little Children, to attend the Ante Up Meetup.

- SCOTT

AIPS II: (Almost) All the Info

Here's just about everything you need to know about Ante Up Intercontinental Poker Series II. (Remember, we'll set the actual dates for each event about a month in advance):

WHAT

The Ante Up Intercontinental Poker Series is the official listener tournament series for the Ante Up pokercast. Last year's was 10 events over 6 weeks; this year, it's 12 events over 12 months.

WHERE

FullTilt. They have a pretty nice signup bonus going if you're not a member. FullTilt is also the home of the Thursday Night Ante Up Poker Nights. To find the tournaments, search the "Private Tournaments" tab for the date of the event. All events will be called "AIPS II." Password is "anteup"

WHEN

Tournaments will be at 9 p.m. Thursdays or noon Saturdays, Eastern time. These times allow Ante Up listeners wherever in the world they live to make at least one time. Here's the monthly schedule:

Saturday, January 27, noon Eastern - NL Hold'em (Champion: Blazman)
Thursday, February 15, 9 p.m. Eastern - Stud (Champion: C furbee)
Saturday, March 10, noon Eastern - Pot-Limit Omaha Hi (Champion: Joker10690)
Thursday, April 26, 9 p.m. Eastern - Razz (Champion: forceweaver)
Thursday, May 17, 9 p.m. Eastern - No-Limit Hold'em Short-Handed (Champion: J_Chitown)
Saturday, June 9, noon Eastern - Limit Omaha Hi-Lo (Champion: Gambit727)
Thursday, July 19, 9 p.m. Eastern - Pot-Limit Hold'em (Champion: GapBand85)
Thursday, August 23, 9 p.m. Eastern - Stud Hi-Lo (Champion: heffmike)
Thursday, September 27, 9 p.m. Eastern - Limit Hold'em (Champion: ErsatzSantiag0)
Thursday, October 25, 9 p.m. Eastern - Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo (Champion: predator06)
Thursday, November 15, 9 p.m. Eastern - HORSE (Champion: C furbee)
Saturday, December 15, noon Eastern - Main Event (Champion: JLBSox)

HOW MUCH

Entry fees for all events except the Main Event are $5+$0.50. The Main Event will be $24+$2, which will allow players to use a FullTilt satellite token if they wish. You can satellite in for as little as $4.40.

PRIZES

The winner of each event wins the coveted AIPS banana. And depending where you finish each tournament, you'll earn AIPS Player of the Year points. Gambit727 is the official scorekeeper of this year's event, and his formula for points takes into account the buy-in and number of entrants in each event. The AIPS Player of the Year will win a tacky trophy and be our guest on a future podcast. Also, FullTilt's normal payout structure is in effect, so cashing in any event will earn you cold, hard cash.

BOUNTIES

Knock out Scott (OffDeadline), Chris (willhopper), Fasso (stpetebeach) or Columbo (columbo) in any event, and you earn a bounty worth 10 Player of the Year points. We'll also put bounties on special guests, such as pros, who dare tread in the treacherous waters of an AIPS event.

WHAT ELSE?

What have we forgotten to tell you? Let us know, and we'll answer it here. Good luck!

Another winning session

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was headed to Gambit's famous floating home game with his IT friends over the weekend. It was a very good night, though again I fell victim too early in the SNG tournament when my kings-up lost to a gutshot straight on the river. I really like this home game because everyone is friendly, there's no stress and they are just a good bunch of people.

Everyone bought in for 20 units for the cash game with blinds at .25-.50. Stud games meant a .25 bring-in, .50 complete and full unit bet on 5th-7th streets. Also, like last time, if someone called NLHE the most anyone could lose was 10 units, which I haven't decided if I like yet (I'll explain later). We started at 7:45 and imagine my delight when Gambit called O8B and at least two of the seven players needed to ask what that game was. Same thing happened when Razz and Stud/8 were selected. Cha-ching was all I heard from that moment on.

To give you an idea of how well I did, from 7:45 until 10:20 I never needed to call NLHE or Omaha Hi. No one else called these games either! Anwyay, I was up about 70 units when one of the looser regulars arrived for the tournament. He played a coupla hands of stud, then at 10:20 it was my turn to call the final game before the tournament. Here was my chance to really take advantage of (1) the inexperience at the table and (2) the new arrival of our loose player. If you recall, the last time I played in Gambit's home game, I never chose NL, but when Fatso arrived he did. And on the very first hand I had picked up KK and won a decent pot.

This time, when I called NLHE, I was in the BB (Though in this case Gambit makes the blinds equal for some reason, not sure why. It makes sense in PL but I've never seen it in NL). So what did I look down at for the first hand of NL? Yep, KK. I got to do the whole Hollywood thing, too, proclaiming I called a Hold 'Em game even while I was in the BB, etc. So, just as I suspected (and hoped), the loose player raised to two units (8X the blinds!). It folded around to me and I just knew if I went all-in he'd call me with his ace-rag. I pushed for the full 10 units and sure enough he called. He turned over A-7 and never improved. Just like that I was up another 10 units.

On the next hand, one of the better players raised to 1 unit, and I looked down at 5d6d. I had to call, given that it's the type of hand where I can bust someone who might cling to top pair or an overpair, plus I was in the blinds so I got a discount. The flop came 5-6-A, two hearts, and he bet out 2 units. I really thought he had AK or AQ (actually I was praying he had that). I felt my table image was that of a bully because (1) I chose the game, (2) won the first pot an aggressive all-in as I got to show KK, and (3) I easily had 4x as many chips as the next person. I also wanted to protect against a suckout. Given all of these scenarios I thought pushing was the right play since there was 4.25 in the pot already, so I raised all-in (another 7 units). He turned over KK and flung them into the muck, calling me a name (in a playful manner, of course, but he was clearly shaken). I wanted to show him just one of my cards, but I didn't want everyone to think I was a bluffer at that point. There were only going to be a few more hands before the tournament so I showed him he was beat. I think he appreciated that, but I also wanted everyone to think I always had the nuts when I went all-in. The next hand I picked up a suited ace and raised to one unit. Everyone folded like a cheap tent. That pretty much wrapped up the cash-game portion of the evening for me.

This was important, as I thought I'd get respect going into the tournament. As it turned out I did get respect from key people, but the cards just didn't agree with me enough to get to the top-three spots. I won a 5-unit bounty, so the buy-in only cost 15, and I cleared almost 70 units in less than three hours. Not bad considering the .25-.50-1 betting increments and only calling NL once.

To get back to my earlier point about the 10-unit cap they put on the NL game. Is this a good thing for me? I can't help but wonder if I'd win more if there were no cap. Or would they tighten up knowing they could lose all of their money? I think people get involved a lot easier knowing they can only lose 10 on the hand, which means they're looser. And it keeps the game friendly and less stressful for them.

Let's disect my first hand and see what might've happened if there were no cap: KK vs. A7. He raised two units and I reraised all-in to 10 because I knew how loose he plays. Now, if it were true NL and he bought in for say 20 or 30 units, and I had my big stack, I probably wouldn't have bet all-in. I would've just reraised to 6 or so. He might've called and then the ragged flop would've missed him. I would've bet and he would've folded. Thus, I would've made 6 units from him instead of 10. Another scenario: I reraise preflop to 6 and he re-reraises me to like 20, trying to steal my 6 units. At that point I push and he has to call with his ace. But this scenario is unlikely.

Now, look at the 5d6d vs. KK hand: After the flop and he bet 2 units. With no cap, maybe I just call to trap him on the turn. Or maybe I just raise to 6. He might call then, suspecting I'm representing the ace, or he might try to make a move and reraise to 20 or so. That's when I push and get all of his chips because he's pot-committed. Of course, he still might've folded to my reraise and I would've won less. That ace, which I thought was going to lead to me getting paid off, ended up costing me another 10-unit win. But I'm not complaining. I'm just on the fence when it comes to this cap-game thing.

It's my fourth straight winning session in home games, including both times I played in Gambit's, so my confidence is starting to grow just in time for AIPS 2.

-- Chris

Back to Tampa Bay Downs

I finally made it back out to Tampa Bay Downs today. I hadn't been out there since opening day. Only 91 players registered for the noon tournament, quit a dip from the sold-out 140 on opening day. Some players said One-Eyed Jacks and a $100 Saturday tournament at the Hard Rock were siphoning players. But I wasn't complaining - top 9 got paid. That's 10 percent of the field.

Sadly, I bowed out in 22nd place. Played as well as I could have, but was forced to push with A high preflop on my last two hands. In the first, with about 6K in chips and 500/1000 blinds with 100 antes, I pushed with A-6 off. Only the short-stacked small blind called, with J-7 off. Flops a 7. Ergh. Next hand, a loose player raises under the gun, so I push with A-9 off. Only he calls, and he flips over Q-8 suited. Flops an 8 (rivers a Queen). Ergh. Out, just like that.

But I want the Ante Up Nation's advice on what I think may have been my only mistake. At our table was the best player I've ever seen at TB Downs. He's consistently at the final tables in the 3 years I've been going there, and rarely makes a mistake. He plays a wide range of hands, so it's almost impossible to put him on a hand. My only success in combating his style over the years has been to raise big behind him on flops when he makes a continuation bet and I connect. So here's the situation:

After I just won a decent pot, I felt comfortable, though not rich. The good player raises it to 1600 in middle position with blinds of 300/600 and a 75 ante. It's folded around to me in the small blind, where I look down at Q-J clubs. There's about 3100 in the pot, and it'll cost me 1300 to call. I certainly don't have math on my side, but this is the kind of hand I think I need to play to beat this guy.  And, I have the big blind behind me, too.

What do you do?

I ultimately decided it wasn't worth the gamble, being out of position, and mucked. The big blind calls, and the flop comes Q high with a straight draw. I would have turned the straight, but the hand was checked down and I wouldn't have needed it to win the pot.

Should I have called? Raised? Pushed?

- SCOTT

One game helps the other

If you listened to this week's show (or read the post below) you saw/heard that I admitted to getting better at stud in the past year. I think when I made the resolution last year I meant it for just straight 7-Card Stud, and not its variations such as Razz or Stud/8. But, the very fact that I play THOSE two games has helped my overall stud game. I've embraced Stud/8 (What? Chris likes a split game?) recently and even played HORSE online for the sake of the show's Hand of the Week segment.

But here's how one game helps the other: When I play Stud/8 I play very disciplined poker. I won't divulge my entire game plan (AIPS 2 is right around the corner, LOL!) but you can imagine the best way to play this game is to focus on the low. (Todd Brunson has a VERY excellent chapter on this in Super System 2) So, as I play the low, I get to see (1) what hands guys play, (2) how the cards fall (3) what likely wins the high hand and (4) how these players play their high hands (ie, betting patterns). By playing mostly the low it gives me an escape valve, if you will, and two chances to win the hand while learning the game. I'll lose less in S/8, too, and by playing mostly low hands, I can be patient when waiting for a high hand I'll choose to play. How does Razz help? It teaches me how to recognize boardlock (when I have better cards showing and can't be beat because of my corresponding hole cards) and it also allows me the opportunity of keeping track of the upcards without the further distraction of suits and straights. So, I've never claimed to be a very good stud player, but the lessons I've learned while playing S/8 and Razz have translated well into Stud and I'm better for it.

Here are a coupla stud (high only) tips that I read recently in a Roy West column in CardPlayer: When thinking about playing a hand for a straight there are only three starting hands you really should consider: Q-J-10, J-10-9 and 10-9-8, and he says the last one is marginal because you can only pair the 10 for strength. In other words, if you're playing Q-J-10 for a straight and you pair the Q and/or the J, you'll have a premium pair that could win the hand on its own merit. Whereas, 10s, 9s or 8s likely won't be enough. And if you're wondering about AKQ or KQJ, he says these are obviously straight possibilities but he likes to put them in is "overcard" category, for obvious reasons. But if you make Broadway with them, more power to you.

Now here's the meat of the tip: He says when you're playing the aforementioned straight-draw hands you need to look at the board to assess points to cards that can help (as it pertains to drawing a straight). If you have Q-J-10, cards that would be given 1 point would be a King and a 9, since these are cards that can directly help your straight. He then gives peripheral cards such as Aces and 8s a half-point because eventually you might need these cards. Here's the rub: If you look at the board and count up more than two points, you should probably muck the hand, unless you see it winning as an "overcard" hand. If you see two points or fewer, it's a playable hand. Example: You have J-10-9 and the doorcards show 7-7-Q-2. Playable? Well, the 7s would be a half-point each and the Queen would be one point, so yes, it's playable because it totals 2 points. What about if you have Q-J-10 and the doorcards are K-9-8-A? He says get out, because first there are 3 points out, plus the overcards (the King and the Ace) mean even if you pair the Queen or Jack they'll likely be no good. Great stuff.      

If you want to read the whole article go here.

I'm playing a little home game poker this weekend with Gambit (and possibly Fatso and Scott) so I hope to have something good to post. And don't forget, Shana Hiatt next week!

-- Chris

Episode #83 recap

MAIN TOPIC

Once again, Chris and I took a shot at resolving to do cool things in the New Year. Last year, we had mixed success, but certainly better than I think we expected to do. Here's a review of last year's New Year's resolutions:

CHRIS

1. Blog more - SUCCESS
2. Be nice to his family when he plays - SUCCESS (though we haven't asked the family yet)
3. Enter more tournaments, including a big one - SUCCESS/FAILURE (unless you count the Vinny Lecavalier tournament that tbt* paid our entry into. And only Chris would count that).
4. Get better at Seven-Card Stud - SUCCESS
5. Go to Vegas - FAILURE

SCOTT

1. Be more disciplined - SUCCESS/FAILURE (better at the table, not at the bankroll)
2. Take one big risk - FAILURE
3. Learn more games - SUCCESS
4. Read a poker book - SUCCESS (yes, I know, it's lame)

Now, onto this year's resolutions ...

CHRIS

1. Go to Vegas!
2. Play in a B&M tournament that is NOT hold'em
3. Try to qualify for the WPT event at Foxwoods
4. Get his family to play anything but NL hold'em SNGs
5. Return to Internet poker

SCOTT

1. Play in a big event
2. Not make televised poker appointment viewing
3. Learn to use a software program like PokerTracker
4. Become a bigger part of the Tampa Bay poker community
5. Meet more listeners/persuade Chris to do an Ante Up Meetup

So there you go. What chance do YOU think we have at making any or all of these reality? Of course, some we'll need (or could use) your help. Specifically, if you're active in the Tampa Bay poker community, we're interested in hearing what you think we should do to get more active. And, of course, I'd love it if the Ante Up Nation flooded Chris' email box with taunts to agree to a meetup. He can't be scared of all of you.

OTHER TOPICS

MONEY FOR PLAY CHIPS? Chris was propositioned by a Pokerroom player (no, not like that - at least that we've heard). The dude wanted to give Chris $150 in real money for 1 million play chips. Huh? Yeah, he balked, too.

BIG STACKS IN MICROLIMITS? One of our listeners shared with us a story of someone who sat down at microlimit no-limit hold'em table with about $2K in chips. Yikes. That's not an advantage, now is it? Not sure how this is allowed, but our advice: Avoid it.

RED BOOOOOOOOL: Scott explains why he's forced to overpronunciate "-ull" sounds. Yes, the answer is just as pathetic as you might imagine.

REMINDERS: The first AIPS II event is at noon on Saturday, Jan. 27. Sign up now! Also, Columbo and his One-Minute Mystery returns from a two-week break next week!

HAND OF THE WEEK

Jeff from Cincinnati shared with us a hand in which he flopped the nut flush and, of course, lost the hand to rivered quads. Ouch. We would have liked to have seen Jeff be more aggressive on the flop (remember, limit poker is all about value betting - a bet here or a bet there can add up), and slow down on the turn when the board paired (which should always give you pause). Better luck next time, Jeff.

Shana will be on Ante Up!

I received an email from Shana Hiatt's people today and they confirm she will be on the Jan. 17th show (No. 84). Here's your chance to ask her a question. Post them here and we will try to ask her. Just be sure to keep it clean and on the up and up. Some things we are sure to ask: What she was doing all of this time before Poker After Dark, the WPT suit, will she be doing the Heads Up Championships and what's the deal with Ali's voiceovers? There will be much more, but we want to give you a chance to ask so shoot away.

WSOP SKED: Also, for those of you who don't know the 2007 WSOP schedule has finally been released, and a special thanks to Dave82 in Ohio for getting it to me ASAP. Here it is:

Fri Jun 1 - $5,000 Mixed Hold'em (Limit & No Limit)
Fri Jun 1 - $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em Event
Sat Jun 2 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
Sun Jun 3 - $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em
Sun Jun 3 - $ 2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better
Mon Jun 4 - $1,500 Limit Hold'em
Mon Jun 4 - $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Re-buys
Tue Jun 5 – $1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/ Re-Buys
Tue Jun 5 - $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
Wed Jun 6 – $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em
Wed Jun 6 - $5,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud
Thu Jun 7 - $2,000 No limit Hold'em / Six Handed
Fri Jun 8 - $5,000World Championship Pot Limit Hold'em
Fri Jun 8 - $1,500 Seven Card Stud
Sat June 9 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Sat June 9 - $2,500 H.O.R.S.E.
Sun Jun 10 - $1,000 World Championship Ladies Event No-Limit Hold'em
Sun Jun 10 - $5,000 World Championship Limit Hold'em
Mon Jun 11 - $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Mon Jun 11 - $2,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-low-8 or Better
Tue Jun 12 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Shootout
Wed Jun 13 - $5,000 No Limit Hold'em
Thu Jun 14 - $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha
Thu Jun 14 - $3,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
Fri Jun 15 - $2,000 No Limit Hold'em
Fri Jun 15 - $5,000 H.O.R.S.E.
Sat Jun 16 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
Sun Jun 17 - $3,000 No Limit Hold'em
Sun Jun 17 - $1,500 Seven-Card Razz
Mon Jun 18 - $2,500 No Limit Hold'em / Six Handed
Tue Jun 19 - $5,000 World Championship Heads Up No Limit Hold'em
Tue Jun 19 - $2,000 Seven-Card Stud
Wed Jun 20 - $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Re-buys
Wed Jun 20 - $3,000 Limit Hold'em
Thu Jun 21 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
Thu Jun 21 - $5,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
Fri Jun 22 - $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Sat Jun 23 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Sun Jun 24 - $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E.
Sun Jun 24 - $1,500 Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No Limit)
Mon Jun 25 - $1,000 World Championship Seniors No Limit Hold'em
Mon Jun 25 - $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or better
Tue Jun 26 - $2,000 Limit Hold'em
Wed Jun 27 - $2,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split
Thu Jun 28 - $5,000 No Limit Hold'em / Six Handed
Thu Jun 28 - $1,000 Seven-card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better
Fri Jun 29 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em
Fri Jun 29 $1,000 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) w/ Re-Buys
Sat Jun 30 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
Sun Jul 1 $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha
Sun Jul 1 $1,000 S.H.O.E.
Mon Jul 2 $1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/ Re-Buys
Tue Jul 3 $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout
Wed Jul 4 Satellite Day
Wed Jul 4 $5,000 World Championship No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/Re-buys
Thu Jul 5 Satellite Day/Media Event
Fri Jul 6 $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Day 1A
Sat Jul 7 $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Day 1B
Sun Jul 8 $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Day 1C
Mon Jul 9 Day Off
Tue Jul 10 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Day 2
Wed Jul 11 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Day 3
Thu Jul 12 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Day 4
Fri Jul 13 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Day 5
Sat Jul 14 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Day 6
Sun Jul 15 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Day 7
Mon Jul 16 Day Off
Tue Jul 17 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Final Table

-- Chris

Score anyone?

Hey, can anyone tell me how the BCS Championship game ended last night?

I saw glorious Ted Ginn Jr. gallop 93 yards for a touchdown on the opening kickoff ... and then Fox interrupts my broadcast to show me an informercial about Poker After Dark. Sick.

(and yes, you gullible but lovable listeners, this is humor. Don't take any of it seriously. Well, you can take the Buckeyes thrashing seriously. Ouch.)

- SCOTT

I'm furious!

First let me say I enjoyed the kickoff week of Poker After Dark. It was slow-starting and Ali's comments seem to serve no purpose whatsoever except to annoy me, but I enjoyed the poker, the banter and the return of Shana. But, I have to say I am FURIOUS with our local NBC affiliate, WFLA Ch. 8. If you read Gambit's post on the forum you know the beginning of the show was pre-empted by, of all things, an informmercial. I also think there was some local high school sports thing there, too, but I fastforwarded with TiVo so I can't be positive.

Anyway, I can't say this is as bad as the time they broke into Tiger Woods' putt on 18 to set the scoring record at the U.S. Open (to give us a weather warning no less) but it's pretty damn close. All week we watched this show to see the Director's Cut on Saturday (which was supposed to be at 1 a.m. after SNL, but that ran long too because of football, I guess). Oh, it was the Director's CUT all right; it was cut in half! The best part of the show I assume would've been the recap of Phil Hellmuth's debacle and attitude, but we missed it all! I know we can watch all of the show here, but that's not the point. When I TiVo something, and this time I even had the smarts to tape the show afterward because of the stupid football game beforehand, I expect to see what I've been told ALL WEEK would be on. I really am not a fan of watching stuff on the Internet for long periods of time. Shape up WFLA! That being said, the Director's Cut wasn't very good. I assume, like a good wine, it will get better with age. They need to have these players really tell us some things that could be considered insight, rather than just rehashing what they already told Shana or what they said at the table. Hopefully NBC will come through and arrange this interview with her on Jan. 17.

Speaking of poker on TV, the Pro-Am Equalizer finally debuted on ESPN. And again this Ali guy is a commentator. He's joined by Phil Gordon (I guess the crappy play on Celebrity Poker was too much for him to stand but watching Jose Canseco limp with K4o UTG is acceptable now). I find it hysterical too that they introduce Gordon as an author but never say he's a poker player. Funny. Want to know what else is funny? The editing. On more than one occasion they talk about the series being played all through December on ABC, but if you tuned into one of our shows a while back you learned that ABC had a scheduling conflict and couldn't air the show when it wanted to, so it pushed the show to January and to ESPN. Wow! I wonder if that will continue.

Some of you may be confused as to how the announcers had ESPN mikes if it was pretaped for ABC. Well, they've been doing this synergy thing where ABC sports as been using ESPN in its coverage to give it more "cred" it seems. Makes sense I guess. As for the show, it was OK, nothing earthshattering. And if you don't know about it, they start the amateurs with a 3-2 chip lead. In the first SNG it didn't make one bit of difference, but in the second one, well, you'll have to watch the repeats. *** SPOILER *** I will say an amateur won.

-- Chris

Yes, this happened in a B&M room

OK, I'm back from the wonderful Pacific Northwest (truly, if the weather was better, I'd like it there a lot), and it's been a whole week since I've been able to send my easy-to-provoke co-host into a ferocious online tizzy. So here goes.

While at River Rock, I played three sessions, which lasted a total of about 14 hours. I estimate I was dealt in the neighborhood of about 400 hands. In the course of those 400 hands, all of this happened to me:

• I was dealt pocket Aces SIX times (losing five of them, four of them on the river)
• I rivered a royal flush
• I turned quad Jacks
• I won when my flopped set of 8s beat an opponent's flopped set of 3s (and by set, I mean we both had pocket pairs)
• And, for good measure, I flopped an open-ended royal flush draw that never improved (that was 21 outs that never got there on the next two cards. Yes, even pairing one of my cards would have won me the pot)

All told, I lost much more money on those hands than I won (but hey, I got a nice hat for the royal - thanks River Rock!)

Now, I don't want to set off a firestorm of computing to figure out just exactly what the odds were that all of that above would happen in just 400 hands (Gambit has plenty more to do than write a program for that), but suffice to say, it was extraordinary. And if it had happened to Chris online, the "I'm not saying the Internet is rigged, but what I really mean to say is that the Internet is rigged" debate would begin anew. Am I right?

My point, if I have one, is that this is further proof that poker is a remarkably complex game, and on any given day, in any given session, weird stuff can happen. And it makes no difference whether it's online or at a home game or in your local casino.

OK, Chris, fire away.

- SCOTT

Show #82 Recap

Well, Scott went and left me all alone here at Ante Up!, but he had the dedication to call in from River Rock in Vancouver (must be the example I set for him). He made it across the Canadian border okay, but ran into some language barriers at a local pub: jugs of Canadian are pitchers of Molson Canadian for the rest of you Ugly Americans. And Vancouverites, what's up with the flashing green lights?!?! (As a side note, I went and found the answer for him, it's here)

Here are some other things we talked about on the show this week:

AIPS 2! That's right, our very successful poker tournament series is back! Most Ante-Uppers wanted something that lasted awhile, and they wanted us to start the second series right away. So what better way to accomplish this than to have a monthly tournament that begins in January and ends in December? That's right, a yearlong AIPS!!! It returns to Full Tilt poker and the entries will be $5, though the Main Event will be more (TBD). And the points system for Player of the Year hasn't been finalized yet, but we'll be going with one very similar to what Gambit had posted at the end of last year's series. He'll be taking on this monster task and we'll ask him to email us the parameters of the system and we'll post them when we get them. Here is the schedule, though we don't know if they will be Thursday or Saturday starts, and the password is as always anteup:

AIPS II schedule
Jan. 27 Noon ET, Full Tilt $5+.50- NL Hold'em
February - Stud
March - Pot-Limit Omaha Hi
April - Razz
May - No-Limit Hold'em Short-Handed
June - Limit Omaha Hi-Lo
July - Pot-Limit Hold'em
August - Stud Hi-Lo
September - Limit Hold'em
October - Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo
November - HORSE
December - Main Event (NL Hold'em Double Stack)

IT'S TIME FOR THE (MINIBAR) PRICE IS RIGHT: A lot of you probably have listened to the Rounders podcast. And apparently they do this thing with their guests where they ask how much money they have in their pockets. Well, I got to talking to Cowboy Kenna James this week while he's in Australia for the Aussie Millions, and the conversation drifted to the outrageous prices for the minibar. For instance, a small bottle of Coke was $5.50, Red Bull (or is that Red Boooooowwwllll?) was $7.50 and a Kit-Kat was $4.50. Well, we found out that prices in Vancouver were all over the map. Maybe we'll do this with all of our guests when they call in from their hotel rooms.

Articulation: Scott and I will no longer stumble over pronouncing Godard, a frequent contributor to the show's mailbag and a true Ante Up! National. He sent us this link. Good stuff!

Hip-Hop is Slop: We had a caller confirm my Bling-Bling Ding-A-Ling item from last week, telling us that Hip-Hop Poker is quite possible the WORST thing to happen to poker ever!

Poker After Dark: We won't get into this because there's a lengthy discussion going on in the post below, plus we're hoping to have Shana on the show in a couple of weeks, but the consensus seems to be Poker After Dark is a keeper.

Columbo's Hiatus: Due to scheduling conflicts on our end the One Minute Mystery will return Jan. 17. But we did get a call from John in Dallas who loves the show and asks about the difference in playing aces in tournaments vs. cash games. Scott has some real life examples from Vancouver, which leads to ...

OUR MAIN TOPIC: Scott went to Seattle and Vancouver this week with his wife and called in a review of the River Rock Casino's card room, plus he mentions Seattle's scene. Here's what he had to say: Seattle area is brimming with poker options, most if not all of them spreading interesting games and running great tournaments and qualifiers. The Tulalip in Marysville, just north of Seattle, was spreading $2-$10 HORSE and $3-$6 Omaha 8 when Scott stopped by. Live HORSE, saddle up!

The River Rock is a gorgeous resort, done in an upscale lodge look (and no, there are no stuffed heads of dead animals on the walls). There's a great players club signup bonus - choice of a $10
shopping mall gift card or $10 in free slot play, which is really just a $10 voucher to cash in at the
cage, no play required. Unlike in Niagara, they will only hold your U.S. currency overnight. After that, you're on your own to exchange your Canadian bucks back to greenbacks. Poker room is large and spacious, like a larger, toned down version of the one at the Silverton Resort in Las Vegas. There were about 25-30 tables, all new with auto card shufflers, and a complimentary coffee and water bar in the room, but you have to pay for booze ($5.75 for a Labatt Blue. Ouch, eh?) Cocktail waitresses will order and bring you food, though, and they all accept chips as tips.

Computerized wait lists - floor managers roam the floor and will seat you when your name is called. Dealers were very good - Scott saw no mistakes in his first 7 hours. Few were devoid of personality, but plenty of others were a lot of fun.

Games: $2/$4 and $4/$8 limit games going (rake is 10 percent up to $4, up to $6-$8 for higher games) $1/$2-$2/$5-$3/$6 no limit games going (rake is 10 percent up to $5) Lists of interest for $2/$5 PL Omaha 8 and $5/$10 PL Omaha Hi.

Hand of the week: I went on Full Tilt Poker and played some HORSE recently so we'd have a hand of the week for the show (nothing's too good for the Ante Up! Nation). I had an interesting Stud/8 hand which teaches the value of keeping track of the upcards, not only for your hand, but for hands others are trying to sell you.

-- Chris

Poker After Dark

First off, Happy New Year! Here's hoping we turn a profit at the tables this year!

Anyway, I had a long boring three-day weekend (which I guess is still better than working, right?) and I played a little poker for fun (nothing too severe, just some HORSE and SNGs). Anyway, I had stayed up very late (or early as the case was) the first two nights I was off so I decided I wanted to get to bed at a decent hour. But then I remembered that when the clock struck 12 that it would be Jan. 2, and that meant the return of Shana Hiatt and the debut of NBC's Poker After Dark. So I stayed up (and I am paying for it now as I feel like hell today). Check out the site as it has more than the actual show does.

I emailed Shana's people today and am hoping to have an answer by the end of the week on whether or not she'll be doing the Jan. 17 show. I'm sure I'll be mentioning a lot of this on that show and I'll probably talk about it on this week's show too (which BTW is on Thursday so adjust your schedules). But I had to give my first impressions. The first thing that seemed odd to me was that NBC just broke into the show without any kind of acknowledgement that this was the first show, or really what the premise was or what. Plus, with Shana returning after a long time away you'd think there'd be some sort of "Hey, I'm Shana Hiatt and it's great to be back in the poker world." type of comment, but nothing. She just came on, said here's the players now let's play.

The chip counts occasionally were given, but they were listed according to seat assignment from top to bottom, so you immediately think the person on top is the leader, when in fact that's not the case. Kinda jarring. Also, they have this male announcer (not Shana) making these sporadic voiceover comments about hands and the players and the conversations that are going on at the table. It’s real awkward cuz we never find out who this guy is. For all we know we could be piped into some guy watching this in his underwear in his living room in Burbank. Also, he has no one there with him, like an expert, explaining anything.

I think NBC is going for this sort of "intimate" peek into a poker SNG by trying to show as much play and interaction as possible, but at times it got a little too intimate for me: "Hey Phil Hellmuth, how long have you been married?" said Annie Duke.

The strangest moment? When the Sheik asked if he could say a certain euphemism for male genitalia on the show, and instead of saying it and getting it bleeped out, he spelled it out so we could all know what he was talking about. Pure class!

Shana didn't really do much except introduce them, send us to and from commercial breaks and wrap it up. There was one awkward moment when Steve Zolotow turns to her across the room and says "Hey Shana, is it's true you're married now?" To which we see the back of her head kinda nod. Then he said: "Congratulations, or my condolences, whichever the case may be."

Overall I see the potential in this show. It's slow-going right now because they gave these players 20K in chips and the blinds were low. So there's a lot of poker, but that also means no exiting players for Shana to interview, etc. I assume NBC invented this show as a way to get Shana on TV and to get its share of the poker pie, but right now things need to speed up a bit. I have a feeling they will, so I'll watch tonight and get no sleep again. No rest for the weary Ante Up! Nation.

-- Chris