Episode #155: Poker music

MAIN TOPIC
St. Pete Times pop music critic Sean Daly, who also co-hosts the Stuck in the '80s podcast, rocks our studio to talk about the best music to play for your home game and the best tunes to fire up your iPod with at the tournament table. Click here to listen to the show.

OTHER TOPICS
We're TV stars: If you missed our appearance on TV this week, here's your chance to catch it.

AIPS: Congrats again to rascony for winning the wild, wild rebuy event. Remember, razz is next!

WSOP: The World Series of Poker gets started on Friday with a $10,000 World Championship event (pot-limit hold'em). An eco-friendly poker table will be on display this year, and we wonder aloud about the quality of dealers in Vegas for the next couple of months with a bouquet of other tournament series in town at the same time.

Hotline: PokerGeek says Ante Up helped him through recent tornadoes in Minnesota (glad to hear everyone is alright), and Sharkey gets his aces cracked.

Tampa Bay Poker Replay: The bad beat jackpot at the Seminole Hard Rock casino in Tampa is north of $400K, and One-Eyed Jack's in Sarasota is launching new WSOP guarantee tournaments.

One Minute Mystery: Columbo gets cold feet and checks his A-7 down. Good thing. His opponent had played 9-9 - poorly.

HAND OF THE WEEK
Nicholas from Australia sends us a stud8 hand where he starts with buried aces and a 6 door card. He caps the action on 3rd Street, pairs his 6 on Fourth but can't chase anyone away.

It's bricks around on Fifth, and it's bet, call, call. But on Sixth, the original frisky bettor pairs his door card (7) and the action gets capped. On 7th, everyone slows down, which is good for our hero, who loses the high half of the pot to Aces and sevens. Ouch.

NEXT WEEK'S SHOW
TBA

- SCOTT

We made the 4 p.m. news!

One of our listeners, Michael Weber, is a producer for Channel 10 news and recently visited our studios and produced a news segment on us. It just ran on the news, but here is a link so you can check it out.

-- Chris

Send us your music choices

This week's show is dedicated to what might make for great music while you play poker. We've brought this up on the blog but we never had our special guest, St. Pete Times Music Guru Sean Daly, on before. So, send us what your favorite music to listen to (either on your iPod or in your home game) and tell us why and we'll try to bring it up on the show.

-- Chris

AIPS III Event #6 created

The sixth event in this year's AIPS has been created and is open for registration.

It's Razz! Buy-in is $5+$0.50. Cards in the air at 9 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, June 26, on FullTilt.

For all the info on AIPS, from the schedule to past winners to registration details, click here.

- SCOTT

The sixth event in this year's AIPS has been created and is open for registration.

It's Razz! Buy-in is $5+$0.50. Cards in the air at 9 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, June 26, on FullTilt.

For all the info on AIPS, from the schedule to past winners to registration details, click here.

- SCOTT

AIPS III Event #5 Champion: rascony

Congratulations to rascony, who wins the fifth AIPS III banana as champion of the No-Limit Hold'em Rebuy event, which drew 101 entrants, 394 rebuys and 82 add-ons.

rascony won the title very early this morning when he paired his 8 on the flop to beat the pocket 5s of Rant2112. Congrats to everyone who made the final table!

Just-for-recognition bounties go to:

• Unknown (Chris "willhopper" 24th place)
• rascony (Scott "OffDeadline" 27th place)
• Unknown (Columbo "columbo" 85th place)
• (Fasso "stpetebeach" DNP)

NEXT EVENT: Razz, Thursday, June 26, 9 p.m. Eastern

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

Click here for the schedule and all the info on AIPS III 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

Congratulations to rascony, who wins the fifth AIPS III banana as champion of the No-Limit Hold'em Rebuy event, which drew 101 entrants, 394 rebuys and 82 add-ons.

rascony won the title very early this morning when he paired his 8 on the flop to beat the pocket 5s of Rant2112. Congrats to everyone who made the final table!

Just-for-recognition bounties go to:

• Unknown (Chris "willhopper" 24th place)
• rascony (Scott "OffDeadline" 27th place)
• Unknown (Columbo "columbo" 85th place)
• (Fasso "stpetebeach" DNP)

NEXT EVENT: Razz, Thursday, June 26, 9 p.m. Eastern

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

Click here for the schedule and all the info on AIPS III 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

Congratulations to rascony, who wins the fifth AIPS III banana as champion of the No-Limit Hold'em Rebuy event, which drew 101 entrants, 394 rebuys and 82 add-ons.

rascony won the title very early this morning when he paired his 8 on the flop to beat the pocket 5s of Rant2112. Congrats to everyone who made the final table!

Just-for-recognition bounties go to:

• Unknown (Chris "willhopper" 24th place)
• rascony (Scott "OffDeadline" 27th place)
• Unknown (Columbo "columbo" 85th place)
• (Fasso "stpetebeach" DNP)

NEXT EVENT: Razz, Thursday, June 26, 9 p.m. Eastern

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

Click here for the schedule and all the info on AIPS III 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

Congratulations to rascony, who wins the fifth AIPS III banana as champion of the No-Limit Hold'em Rebuy event, which drew 101 entrants, 394 rebuys and 82 add-ons.

rascony won the title very early this morning when he paired his 8 on the flop to beat the pocket 5s of Rant2112. Congrats to everyone who made the final table!

Just-for-recognition bounties go to:

• Unknown (Chris "willhopper" 24th place)
• rascony (Scott "OffDeadline" 27th place)
• Unknown (Columbo "columbo" 85th place)
• (Fasso "stpetebeach" DNP)

NEXT EVENT: Razz, Thursday, June 26, 9 p.m. Eastern

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

Click here for the schedule and all the info on AIPS III 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

Congratulations to rascony, who wins the fifth AIPS III banana as champion of the No-Limit Hold'em Rebuy event, which drew 101 entrants, 394 rebuys and 82 add-ons.

rascony won the title very early this morning when he paired his 8 on the flop to beat the pocket 5s of Rant2112. Congrats to everyone who made the final table!

Just-for-recognition bounties go to:

• Unknown (Chris "willhopper" 24th place)
• rascony (Scott "OffDeadline" 27th place)
• Unknown (Columbo "columbo" 85th place)
• (Fasso "stpetebeach" DNP)

NEXT EVENT: Razz, Thursday, June 26, 9 p.m. Eastern

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

Click here for the schedule and all the info on AIPS III 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

Congratulations to rascony, who wins the fifth AIPS III banana as champion of the No-Limit Hold'em Rebuy event, which drew 101 entrants, 394 rebuys and 82 add-ons.

rascony won the title very early this morning when he paired his 8 on the flop to beat the pocket 5s of Rant2112. Congrats to everyone who made the final table!

Just-for-recognition bounties go to:

• Unknown (Chris "willhopper" 24th place)
• rascony (Scott "OffDeadline" 27th place)
• Unknown (Columbo "columbo" 85th place)
• (Fasso "stpetebeach" DNP)

NEXT EVENT: Razz, Thursday, June 26, 9 p.m. Eastern

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

Click here for the schedule and all the info on AIPS III 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

Congratulations to rascony, who wins the fifth AIPS III banana as champion of the No-Limit Hold'em Rebuy event, which drew 101 entrants, 394 rebuys and 82 add-ons.

rascony won the title very early this morning when he paired his 8 on the flop to beat the pocket 5s of Rant2112. Congrats to everyone who made the final table!

Just-for-recognition bounties go to:

Episode #154: Mailbag!

MAIN TOPIC
It's been a few months since we've opened the Ante Up! Mailbag, so hear our answers to questions about bubble play, our intro music, "overcalling," online competition, Twitter, mystery money transfers, the Ante Up! store, badugi, loose passive tables, small blind calls, angle shooting, flopping the nut straight, stud 8 and the legality of online poker. Click here to listen to the show.

OTHER TOPICS

Unplug the TV, Chris!: Despite my constant pleas to my co-host to avoid the pain that televised poker brings him, he's a sucker for punishment. Check out the most recent blog posts to get the story.

AIPS fruit delivery: Just in time for tonight's fifth event of AIPS, Chris finally gets around to sending out the first four bananas. Winners, send us a photo with your prize - and the elementary school envelopes they come in.

Poker comes to Macau: The Chinese gambling mecca that very soon will make us forget about Las Vegas gets its first live poker room, named for PokerStars.

Hotline: ScottyPeppers from Washington rallies against his state's stifling poker laws, and Lee from Long Island gives Scott a reason to rant yet again about the World Series of Poker's delayed final table.

Tampa Bay Poker Replay: The Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood stages a $3,000 buy-in event, and Derby Lane is giving away a Rolex.

HAND OF THE WEEK

Ante Up home-gamer Snuffy sends us a stud 8 hand from a $6/$12 live game table:

He starts with split Aces and a king, completes and gets two callers.

On Fourth Street, he pairs his king and opts for a check-raise.

On Fifth Street, the action-leader pairs his Jack (the case one), and a raising war breaks out.

On Sixth Street, everyone whiffs except for the player going low, who picks up a baby. It gets capped nonetheless.

On Seventh Street, Snuffy misses and check-calls, losing to a low straight.

NEXT WEEK'S SHOW
Times' music critic Sean Daly and poker music. Post your questions, playlists, stories, etc., about music here.

- SCOTT

One Minute Mystery: The Case of the All Too Common Scenario

We're deep into a three-table no-limit tournament. Blinds are 200/400 with a 25 ante. We have about 9,800 in chips, with an M of 15.

The table is slowing down when it's folded to us in the cutoff with Ad-7c. We raise 3x, and the big blind calls.

The flop: 10c-Jc-8d. Big blind checks, and our bet of 1,400 is called.

The turn: 10-h.

Big blind checks. What do we do?

Times file photo

PAD editing: Brilliant or horrible? UPDATE!

Photo courtesy of NBC

Last night I watched the first episode of Analysts Week on Poker After Dark and I have to admit it wasn't easy. These guys were all talking up a storm, which is fine because that's really what the producers want. But one end of the table would talk about one story and the other end of the table would talk about another one. I'd start listening to one story and then the mikes would get turned up on the other end of the table and I'd lose track of the first story. And even the players were getting ticked off at Ali Nejad. He took like three minutes to act whenever he had a hand, and it was mostly because he was TALKING!

But nothing was worse than when Chad Brown was trying to tell a story of a prop bet with Mike "The Mouth" Matusow and he couldn't finish his story because Robert Williamson wouldn't shut up. Williamson kept talking and saying he knew what the prop bet was and that he had heard it already. WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE COUNTRY? I sat there and paused the TiVo and SCREAMED at the television for RWIII to SHUT UP!!! And wouldn't you know it, when he finally let Chad tell the story the damn episode ended and he never finished!!

I didn't tune in after 2 a.m. this morning to see if they actually let the rest of the story be broadcast or if it ended up on the cutting room floor. I couldn't find the episode online yet, so I'll have to wait till I get home. But if that story isn't completed I'll be ticked off ... almost as mad as I am at David Goldhill of GSN!!!

Regardless if I get to hear the rest of the story, I can't decide if this was a brilliant piece of editing or just a terrible mistake. If I wasn't such a die-hard fan of poker I might be discouraged enough to say "Screw this show!" and not watch it. It was a very frustrating episode.

UPDATE: OK, so I had a chance to watch the second show and they returned to Chad Brown's story about his prop bet with Matusow, and they even made a point of having the substitute announcer (a job I COVET) say "And now Chad Brown continues telling his prop bet story." So, my final verdict is this editing job was both brilliant and horrible. Brilliant because it got me to write about it today (and I'll likely talk about it on the show) but horrible because of how ticked off it made me and obviously others since people posted here with the same feelings. In the end it was a good move for PAD because any publicity is good publicity and I fell for it. Oh, and by the way, the story was a HUGE letdown.

-- Chris

An open letter to GSN CEO David Goldhill

To: David Goldhill, new CEO of Game Show Network

Dear Mr. Goldhill,

My name is Christopher Cosenza and I represent a very powerful group: the Ante Up! Nation. I'm writing this letter to help you understand the importance of High Stakes Poker on Game Show Network. True, poker isn't a game show, and so under that argument you win, but it is a game ... of skill. Of course I'd argue Love Connection isn't exactly a game show either, but I digress.

Word is you may dislike having HSP on your network because it's "gambling." Well, I'm here to tell you poker is less like gambling than nearly every show on your schedule. Let's take Press Your Luck for instance. Aside from some mindless trivia to earn a spin, those contestants are merely playing an oversized antiquated slot machine. There's no skill involved. Sure, they may have a strategy when deciding to pass or press, but let's be fair: There's no skill in Press Your Luck. In fact, I would venture to say 95 percent of all of your shows are based on chance and luck (hell, it's right there in the title!). And don't get me started on BINGO AMERICA!

Poker, on the other hand, is a test of skill, cunning and psychology. Sure, large sums of money are involved, but what game show doesn't have large sums of money these days? Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Again, it's right there in the title. And if we're being completely honest, your job is to secure ratings and revenue, is it not? Name ONE other non-poker show where contestants put up THEIR OWN MONEY? You can't. Sure, the poker players get paid a nominal fee to be on your show, but that merely adds up to one big blind for these talented indivuduals. And, your overhead must be extremely small on a show like this: The set is all but provided by the casino, the cameras are at most a handful and the salaries of the hosts are minimal. Sure, there's a crew and production, but what show doesn't have that? It's part of running a network.

On behalf of the Ante Up! Nation and all TV poker fans out there, I'm asking you to please pick up the phone and call Mori Eskandani and order another season of High Stakes Poker.

-- Chris Cosenza, Ante Up! co-host and High Stakes Poker fan

We have a new hero

Photo courtesy of WPT

Not sure how this got by me when I was up there, but this is Rich Meli, and clearly he has his priorities in order. What's more important to him ... winning the Foxwoods tournament or winning a banana? This man knows the importance of the yellow fruit! If you don't know who Rich Meli is, don't worry, neither do I. But he has one WPT cash for $27K (19th @ Foxwoods). I remember watching him play but I didn't know who he was. I came across this shot while scanning through WPT photos. I think I'll try to get him to play in the next AIPS event.

-- Chris