Archive for July, 2007

Spare a thought for Luke Staudenmaier who became the first player to be knocked out of the World Series of Poker main event - his demise came in the cruellest of fashions.

Holding pocket aces in the very first hand to be played at the event, the 21-year-old could not believe his luck when an opponent called an all-in before the flop. Doing what any sane poker player would do, he called the bet and saw his rival’s cards of Ac-Kc.

Staudenmaier was to be bitterly disappointed as he was beaten on the river with a flush draw.

“I’m sure I’ll never live it down although I couldn’t do anything to change it,” said Staudenmaier.

“I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”

A pretty commendable attitude considering his bad luck meant that his ten-minute appearance at the tournament (buy-in $10,000) had cost him a cool $1,000 per minute.

There has been much talk about the numbers entering the main event this year being down on last year’s record total of over 8,000 contestants, but there a couple of reasons why this was the case.

First, the US legislation which bars players based in America from playing online poker for money has obviously had a huge effect- considering where the tournament is held.

However, most importantly it is because players who won through to the series by playing in satellite tournaments have been keeping the cash rather than using it to buy into the competition.

This is due to the organisers banning online sites from directly entering players who had won tournaments on their sites.

The numbers are still up on the 2005 figure and the supporting games have attracted huge numbers.

The tournament has come on in leaps and bounds since its inaugural event in 1991 when just 215 hungry poker players turned up for the event.

The prize money this year goes down to 621st place with the player in that position able to double his buy-in fee with the player finishing one place behind getting free entry into next season’s tournament.

One player who was not too happy at this year’s event was Tommy Giampialo who fell foul of the long established rule about not revealing your hand during play. Asked by an opponent, who was thinking of calling him, whether he held a king, Tommy replied that he had and his opponent folded.

Like a schoolboy snitch, the opponent went to get a ruling and Tommy was penalised with a nine-hand penalty. “Had you lied about the hand,” the official told Giampialo “that would have been okay.”

And I thought honesty was always the best poker policy.

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge may not be one of the most famous painters in the world but the early 20th century artist was responsible for a series of works that have become icons in the world of poker.

His nine paintings, which made up the series Dogs Playing Poker, are the most widely known poker-related pictures and his anthropomorphized works have been reprinted and copied throughout the last century.

The works were originally commissioned for a cigar company and each show various dogs sat around a table playing poker – though what type of poker is unclear – with some of the canine’s smoking cigars.

The most famous picture, A Bold Bluff, together with another entitled Waterloo, was sold in 2005 for $590,400.

A Bold Bluff

The oil painting depicts five dogs sat around a card table with the central figure – a St Bernard – having just gone all-in while appearing to hold a weak hand. The rest of the dogs are staring at their rival apparently trying to see whether he is bluffing or has indeed ‘got the goods’.

Waterloo

A follow up to A Bold Bluff sees the table looking in disbelief as the St Bernard reveals his bluff – showing a pair of twos. The rest of the table seem shocked by events with one dog up on his feet, another staring away in disbelief while one is looking down at the floor. The winner appears to have a slight grin on his face.

A Friend in Need

This painting depicts a bit of skulduggery as one dog appearas to be passing an ace to his friend dog on his left hand side. The rest of the table are oblivious to the cheating going on apart from another hound, seated close by, who appears to be watching what is happening.

Coolidge’s achievement of producing these much sought after pieces of poker art is all the more remarkable considering he had no formal training as an artist, and had begun life as a sketcher before making a living producing Comic Foregrounds. These foregrounds are still popular to this day and are common at seaside resorts and tourist attractions. A person puts their head through a life-size foreground and a picture is taken.

Local newspaper’s can be a great source for news but some interesting stories sometimes don’t get the coverage they might deserve.

The nationals would never pick up on story about a player who finished 187th out of 1,800 in any type of competition but for the Express and Echo it was a nice tale about a local man who is doing well at poker.

It tells the story of a player called Alan Vinnicombe who, although he only finished 187th, still managed to finish in the top ten per cent in the tournament in the World series of Poker.

And the former landlord from a small village has an interesting tale for any aspiring card player.

“Like most people, I started on the internet, entering little tournaments,” he said.

“I started winning four or five tournaments a month, so I moved up to a higher level.”

Vinnicombe turned professional last February and now regularly competes all across the country, Europe and America and relishes the challenge that international competition brings.

He said: “I enjoy playing international events. It’s funny how the national traits come out in the game - the French, for example, can be very flamboyant.

“I travel the world, I meet great people and I love playing the game - I think I’m very lucky.”

The card player, ranked 212th in Europe, and 55th in the UK, believes he could earn a salary of at least £100,000 this year.

One tournament he won in March netted him a £15,000 jackpot.

But rewards do not come without hard graft. He puts at least 60 hours a week into his poker - a game he admits can be mentally gruelling.

With the upcoming Vegas no-limit competition requiring around £6,000 just to take part, Vinnicombe is aware of the risks and put his success down to intuition and the collection of sunglasses he uses to hide his emotions.

He said: “I have a good sense of working out what other people have got. I also have a selection of sunglasses - it’s important not to give anything away.”

While not a necessity for online poker, the use of sunglasses is causing a bit of a storm in the world of Texas Hold ‘Em and many think the use of dark glasses is an unfair advantage and want their use outlawed in all tournaments.

Personally I just think they look slightly ridiculous and, being someone who does not like to stand out from the crowd, I would be too embarrassed to wear them. I always get the feeling that the players who sport poker spectacles are suffering from some sort of mid-life crisis or I am just deeply suspicious of them.

Leading professional Annie Duke agrees with me. Speaking at the launch of her new computer software poker game, she said: “I would like to see sunglasses banned. I think that part of the game is exposing oneself to the other players and part of the skill is to not give yourself away. I think allowing people to hide behind things, which is what I consider sunglasses to be, is not very courageous and I don’t think at the top professional level people should be allowed to do it. I think that you should have to show your eyes.”

Duke believes players should be able to maintain a statue like pose at all times and cites the fact that many great players including her brother Howard Lederer don’t wear sunglasses - although she does concede that she finds it hard to read her own cards when wearing shades.

“I don’t wear sunglasses because I don’t believe you should and because I can’t see the cards if I do. I’m hiding my eyes but I have no idea what my hand is. So I think on balance it’s probably better not to have them on my face. But you know my brother doesn’t wear sun glasses. Phil Ivey doesn’t wear sunglasses. There are a lot of players who just don’t wear them because they really do obscure your vision.

“What you have to do is be very aware of how players perceive you at the table. If you look at the top players, it has to do with sitting like a statue. It’s just a matter of disciplining yourself to make your face blank, completely relaxing every muscle in your face and just sitting there until the hand’s over. It takes a while to get it, but hopefully I’m not giving away too much information. I seem to be doing OK without the sunglasses. I think there are some moves now to get rid of the sunglasses which would be something I’d really like to see.”

Next week, Lizard sunglasses – they have to be seen to be believed!

While visiting friends in Hamburg recently, I was shown some poker software and participated in a few hands but while the animations were excellent and there was plenty of potential for humour, I ultimately lost interest because we were playing for imitation money.

Playing poker for real money totally changes the dynamics of the game. The stakes do not necessarily have to be high but that little bit of risk tends to sharpen up people’s brains and tighten up their game, giving the overall experience a very different feel.

In no money games, there is little scope for bluffing. Players can feel free to play their hands as they want without the fear of going out of the game. If players lose all their money then they just re-load.

Someone once gave me a cheat code to play a computer game in God Mode - meaning I couldn’t get killed. I enjoyed it for a while but in the end it is ultimately frustrating and you feel as though you are cheating yourself. Playing poker for fake money has a pretty similar feeling.

Seeing that that computer game was the last time I played any sort of computer software, I couldn’t really comment on how good the graphics were on this particular game I was watching and taking part in. To me, they looked really smart and frighteningly lifelike and the ability to speak the odd phrase or react to situation was interesting - to begin with.

The camera feature is a nice trick that allows you a different perspective of the play, while choosing your avatar would be fun for some people.

To keep the game marginally honest, players could spend any extra winnings on little add-ons such as sunglasses, beards and jewellery so, at least for some, there was the incentive to play as though the cash was real.

One of the most interesting features of the game was to be able to shout out a few things at your fellow players. These range from exclamations of frustration at the cards you have been dealt to the standard ‘good hand’. My warped sense of humour thought perhaps there was room for a few expletives in there and maybe the option to throw a tantrum and storm off – perhaps knocking over the table.

If anything, the software showed me how far the technology of graphics has advanced and that some sort of interaction is key for the long term success of any internet site.

Hamburg, by the way, is a very beautiful and understated city. By contrast, the Reeperbahn, where I stayed, is a cross between Blackpool and Amsterdam. I enjoyed it though and even bought the T-shirt.