Episode #127: Jean-Robert Bellande
CBS photo
MAIN TOPIC
Jean-Robert Bellande, recently booted off the hit reality show Survivor, gives us a ring to chat about the show, poker and how the two worked together. This spring, he has a book coming out, Broke and Living Like a Millionaire, and he gives us a preview of some of the humor that'll be in it. And check out the exhaustive, and entertaining, interview with him in Bluff. Click here to listen to the show.
OTHER TOPICS
AIPS: Congrats to two-time banana winner C furbee, and mark the calendar for the Main Event on Dec. 15. Click here for details.
Conn home game: Chris shares some more details from the Ante Up! MeetUp home game in Connecticut.
Don't eat these chips!: The state of Arizona says there is too much lead in Paulsons.
Hotline: Listeners call in to chat about the possibility of a daily show ... as long as it isn't in a parking garage. You, too, can be on the show. Just call toll-free 1-866-371-9605.
Tampa Bay Poker Replay: Scott recounts his experience at the Vinny Lecavalier charity tournament, including an odd encounter with Ante Upper and WSOP bracelet winner Don Baruch; the first Battle of the Bay goes to the Silks Cardroom at Tampa Bay Downs; and we chat briefly about the Seminoles' compact with Florida.
One-Minute Mystery: Did you make the call? Well, you're on the rail then, as our opponent had K-10.
HAND OF THE WEEK
SamRiver57 does us the pleasure of letting us break down a pot-limit Omaha High hand.
With an early position min raise, and a call from the cut-off, our hero makes the call from the SB with 10s-7d-10c-5h, and the BB bails. We're not a fan of entering this pot out of position with such a weak holding.
The flop is 10h-6c-Ks, so we hit middle set, but that's dangerous in Omaha, especially with a straight draw on board. Our hero bets out pot, gets the raiser to fold, but the cutoff calls. Ouch.
The turn is 9h, completing two straights and adding a flush draw, none of which we have. But our hero bets out big again, and is raised big by his opponent. Seeing erratic play from his opponent previously, SamRiver moves all in for a small raise and learns he's up against the nut straight. The river is no help.
Our advice: Position is huge in Omaha, and you need a monster - or redraws - to bet confidently out of position. Second set doesn't cut it.
NEXT WEEK'S SHOW
Chris shares his interviews with pros from his trip to Foxwoods
- SCOTT
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).
When I heard the flop I thought: another set will bite the dust. Sets in PLO have lost more than won, even top set.
Posted by: Erwin Blonk | November 16, 2007 at 05:58 PM
I must say I was disappointed with (most of) the Jean-Robert Bellande interview.
It's easy to explain: I've never seen Survivor, I have no clue how it works, and you didn't give your audience a quick summary of the game mechanics.
For example, what the heck is an "immunity idol"?
Posted by: bitguru | November 17, 2007 at 01:45 AM
Great show, fellas.
Erwin is right . . . even flopping a set w/yr AA is never gonna be worry-free (unless, perhaps, you've flopped the boat). ESPECIALLY from EP. (Gonna post on the forum about this one.)
Posted by: Short-Stacked Shamus | November 17, 2007 at 08:46 AM
That's fair, bitguru, but we were caught between a rock and a hard place in that we would have both Survivor and poker fans listening and we didn't want to dwell too much on either theme. If it helps any now, an immunity idol, if discovered and presented during the vote off, would absolve you from any votes cast against you during that one voting session. Tribal Council is when the tribe (or team) comes together and has to air its dirty laundry with the host and then they vote someone off the show. That's probably the only "insider" knowledge you're missing. But then again, if you don't watch the show the entire Survivor portion of the interview would be lost on you, so you can see our dilemma. Hopefully the rest of the show was entertaining for you.
Posted by: Chris Cosenza | November 17, 2007 at 10:57 AM
I am really fascinated by strategy in Survivor - the paradox of wanting to knock people out but wanting to keep them onside in the vote for you.
Sounds like Jean Robert had a sound strategy to try and get James out, but the others made amistake.
In England Survivor never caught on - I think it leaked out to the press who had won - but I was struck by how poorly some of the competitors played by not taking chances to evict people who were likely to beat them in a final
Posted by: Boil | November 20, 2007 at 12:11 PM