The Beautiful Poker Game

Observant poker players who happen also to be football fans (the vast majority in our experience) may have noticed something a little disconcerting during the recent ‘play-off weekend’ broadcasts.

In between watching fans from Hull, Doncaster and Stockport celebrate their respective promotions, the commercial breaks provided details of satellite TV’s forthcoming sporting highlights. Nothing unusual in that, you might think, except the focal point of this well-produced in-house publicity was next season’s Premier League action which kicks off in mid-August. That’s almost three months away.

Now there’s nothing wrong with some advance notice, but we have the whole summer with which to contend before the beautiful game returns.

Once again, the domestic football season has galloped towards its traditionally exciting finale, leaving many of us to experience our annual bout of sporting emptiness as we long for football’s return; action-packed promotional reminders of what we’re missing in the meantime only serve to worsen our heartache.

I exaggerate of course – but not much, because before we witness another top-flight season dominated by erm, well, you know who, we have the marvellous prospect of the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland, although sadly shorn of home country involvement. Given each game’s convenient timing however, Euro 2008 provides us with a golden opportunity to get in some serious poker without missing a single important match.

Granted, we’ll not have any newspaper reports offering wild estimates of the cost to British businesses of “a record number of sick days” as one of the home nations progresses in the competition, but let’s be positive. Nor will we have to contend with one of those tear-jerking montages of tournament highs and lows set to heart-rending Phil Collins music after England tumble out having lost on penalties.

And so, being poker-and-footy-loving guys, we’ve done two things:

First, we’ve initiated our own version of the ‘beautiful game’ to coincide with Euro 08 by having our own poker tournament, replete with group stages, quarter finals, semis and a final which, should you emerge successful, could see you winging your way to the Caribbean Poker Classic (CPC) in the autumn.

Second, we’ve assembled our guide to the Euro 2008 group stages and suggested a number of ways in which your poker experience can be enhanced without having to sacrifice the TV remote control for a second…

To reach the group stages of our ‘Beautiful Game’ tourney all you need to do is play for real money between 1st May and the 5th June. During the group stages which run from 7th June, the objective is to get into the top 50 MPP earners in your group before the 18th June as you will automatically qualify for the quarter final stage scheduled to end on 24th June. Imagine you’re Germany or Italy – ie doing enough to qualify but saving your best until later on in the tournament.

It’s a similar arrangement to get into the semi finals, but by now you will need to have upped your game as only the top 20 MPP earners from each quarter final group are assured a place in the semis. There’s no extra time and nor any penalty shoot-outs here, so you have to get it right first time to get through.

Pundits reckon that semi finals are a lottery; well, we don’t think so, certainly not in poker, but you’ll have to be at your very best to make the final because only five MPP earners will make it through from each semi final group and into the final on 30th June, the day after the Euro 08 final – arranged to ensure you miss none of the footy action.

The poker final offers the potential to scoop a bigger prize than any home nation footballers are likely to win this summer: a trip to the live final table in London where you could win a ,000 CPC package and a jaunt to the Caribbean this autumn. The great thing about this tournament is that you can participate while still taking all of the football action in; clever eh?

Furthermore, unlike the home nation’s stars, you can still make our Beautiful Game group stages; all you have to do is start playing now!

Now the poker side of matters is dealt with, back to the footy.

Let’s start at the very beginning: you will know the round ball version of the beautiful game is officially under way when television pictures show shots of Swiss fans waving inflatable gnomes as their side prepare to get hammered by the Czech Republic in the opening match. The game kicks off at 5pm, so beforehand, may we suggest an inaugural (if you haven’t done so already) crack at a CPC qualifier?

Our first daily CPC satellite starts at 2.15pm, so you could be celebrating a place in the daily satellite, which starts immediately after the Portugal v Turkey duel has ended, while contemplating the happy prospect of watching both opening fixtures. It also means that in addition to our ‘Beautiful Game’ tourney, you have another crack at making the CPC.

Sunday promises to be a little slow, particularly as joint hosts Austria play Croatia at 5pm. You could not be blamed if you gave this encounter a body swerve and instead took the opportunity to try out Hold ‘Em Blackjack in six-seated STTs or MTTs instead. With buy-ins starting from and the game combining the betting and bluffing excitement of Texas Hold ‘Em with the simplicity and speed of blackjack, if you get plenty of practice in by the end of the week, you could be playing in our regular ,000 Hold ‘Em Blackjack MTT.

Relax afterwards while absorbing all of the historic significance of the Germany v Poland game and pondering over your blackjack strategies; don’t take your eye off the match though as this one promises fireworks after hearty renditions of each nation’s national anthem. ‘No love lost’ would be among the most appropriate labels to apply to this duel.

On Monday night, we get Euro 08’s first heavyweight clash: Holland v Italy. Here we will have our initial chance to observe Italian players surrounding the referee and making those delightful finger-and-thumb gestures in an attempt to have an opponent either booked or sent off. Italy to win 1-0 against the run of play. Appropriate poker homework: read How to cheat your friends at Poker by Penn Jillette and Mickey D Lynn.

Tuesday’s meeting of Spain and Russia in Innsbruck could be a cracker, although the same could not be said of the evening duel involving reigning European champions Greece and Sweden in Salzburg, which may offer the opportunity for you to return to your poker roots.

Remember the poker you first played at school? It was almost certainly seven-card stud – well, now you can play it with us too. Don’t forget, stud is where you get dealt two hole cards face down and a third face up; the player with the lowest showing card (known as the door card) starts the betting. Three further face up cards are dealt, each accompanied by a round of betting, before one final face down card is dealt – a pre-cursor to the last betting round. As an alternative to watching two sides likely to be eliminated at the group stage, it could be more entertaining and, if you can draw upon your school-day prowess, potentially profitable too.

Portugal are in action on Wednesday when they face the Czech Republic in Geneva. We’re offering 100 MPPs to the first person to email us after the match commentator has said something akin to: “and here’s Ronaldo. He’s really putting on an exhibition now” at the first hint of a back heel or step-over by England’s Player of the Year.

If you have not yet secured your ,000 CPC Lite package, Wednesday night’s Switzerland-Turkey game is the ideal chance to participate in the daily satellite at 7.40pm. Okay, so the game kicks off at 7.45pm, but the probability is that both sides will only have one more fixture remaining after this one and the prospect of the Caribbean in November sounds significantly more appealing than watching a match that fails to inspire.

The same cannot be said two days later for another belter is on the cards when Holland take on France in Berne on Friday 13th June. With Italy almost certainly having beaten Romania earlier, this could develop into a feisty affair and ultimately prove unlucky for one side. Again, we have 100 MPPs on offer to the first reader to email us once a television studio guest refers to Group C as ‘the group of death’.

By Saturday, we’re midway through the group stages and almost midway through the month which means you should be checking your status in our the ,000 leaderboard freeroll.

Each month until the end of October, we’re offering our top 500 MPP earners, the 400 leading tournament players and the best 100 Headhunter players the chance to win one of six ,000 CPC Lite packages. Check where you stand before either of Saturday’s potentially exciting contests and apply yourself to claiming your place if you’re not yet in the top 1,000. Meanwhile, listen out for: “He may have got away with that in the Premier League, but not with this referee”, although this phrase may have been uttered several times already.

The tournament’s final batch of group matches get under way on Sunday 15th June when hosts Switzerland meet Portugal in Basle. If we haven’t seen it already, this could be the occasion when a ‘hot-headed’ player is substituted and rips off his shirt as he storms down the tunnel while our ubiquitous commentator states the frustratingly obvious by coming out with something like: “Well, [insert player name] doesn’t look happy with that decision.”

It might sound similarly obvious, but this is a great chance to run the rule over your monthly bonus payment where you get £25 for every 375 MPPs earned. To do this, you should go to ‘cashier’ and click on the ‘my promotions’ tab and then on ‘reward’ to see where you stand. Keep your shirt on if it’s not as high as you imagined – you know what to do to get your balance higher.

Although Germany’s clash with Austria in Vienna on Monday promises to be a rather friendly meeting of minds, it’s possible that one side may need to win to be assured of making further progress. Accordingly, this could be the first match where we witness a goalkeeper being booked for playing ‘mind-games’ prior to a penalty being taken (see also Holland v Romania), ie arguing over ball placement, refusing to stand on his line, eyeballing the penalty taker etc. We’ve got our third and final award of 100 MPPs to give to the person who first hears a commentator say, “we’ve seen him do this before” as said goalkeeper (in either of these two matches) comes close to being sent off for displaying his ‘mind-game’ skills.

Tuesday night presents us with the tournament’s outstanding fixture when France face Italy in Zurich. As it’s a 7.45pm kick off, you might be best advised to play in the 4.15pm CPC daily satellite for as victory would guarantee a seat in the 9.45pm satellite. This way, you could take in this re-run of the 2006 World Cup final, an ideal way to relax ahead of your poker tournament later that night.

The final two group stage games are played on Wednesday 18th June with Group D’s respective outsiders (Greece and Sweden) possibly in with a chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages. Would it be a surprise if Spain and Russia fell at the first hurdle? Perhaps not, but beforehand, if you’re undecided about the night’s poker action, why not try something a little different? We’re referring to pot-limit Omaha of course. It’s a simple variant on Hold ‘Em: players are dealt four, not two cards and may only use two of these four to form their hand. What’s complicated about that?

Meanwhile, look out for a reserve goalkeeper in full kit (including gloves) to be the first player to burst off the bench, sprint onto the pitch and punch the air as his team secures its passage to the quarter finals. Afterwards, listen how hard a presenter tries to talk up the Russia v Sweden highlights package scheduled to be broadcast after midnight.

By then you won’t care: your monthly poker bonus will be winging its way to your account, you’ll have a lorry-load of MPPs to your name, a CPC Lite package under your belt and be en route to discussing poker and football on our next podcast where you will, of course, be feted as our player of the month. You will also find yourself preparing for the second half of our Beautiful Game tourney, the closing stages of which are scheduled for the following day, but more on that in our next Euro 08 update – once we know the identity of the quarter final qualifiers.

Tags: caribbean, Euro 08, football, live poker, poker

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 10:59 am and is filed under News & Promotions Blog.