A World Trade Organization arbitration panel ruled in December that Antigua and Barbuda are entitled to $21 million a year from the United States, far below the $3.4 billion that these Caribbean islands sought in their claim against the United States concerning Internet gambling.
The $15,000 buy-in Doyle Brunson Classic has become one of the most popular stops on the World Poker Tour. Every December, the poker world descends upon the Bellagio in Las Vegas to battle in the last major tournament of the calendar year. In 2007, the participants showed up in record numbers, and they created the largest prize pool in tournament poker history, outside of the World Series of Poker main event and the WPT World Championship. A field of 664 players pumped the prize pool up to $9,661,200, with a first-place prize worth $2,482,605.
In early 1941, Gen. Joseph Mauborgne, chief signal officer of the U.S. Army, recommended to the Canadians that they hire [Herbert O.] Yardley to run their code-breaking unit, describing him as "an expert cryptographer and fine organizer." They did. Relieved to be working for the Allies again, Yardley and Edna moved to Ottawa. Between June and November, Yardley built Canada's cryptographic bureau pretty much from scratch, training its fledgling staff to decode messages intercepted on their way to and from Germany and Japan.
The poker world saw the new year start with a bang as the first major tournament of 2008, the European Poker Tour $8,000 buy-in PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, shattered a host of records.
Phil Ivey needs no introduction. He is perhaps the game's most feared cash-game player, and if there is a big game running, odds are that Ivey is part of the action. Phil honed his poker instincts by playing nonstop for almost five years, and is notorious for his acute observational abilities and his gamble. He can often be found at Bellagio, where he plays $4,000-$8,000, and participating in the biggest online games available.
Recently I played on the hit show Poker After Dark, and in my last column I discussed a few hands that were played during the "Hecklers Week" show, which featured Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, Gavin Smith, Bobby Bellande (the poker player who was on Survivor), Shawn "The Sheik" Sheikhan, Sam Grizzle, and I.
December was a good month for me in tournaments. I entered three, winning the first and placing 15th in the third. Ironically, the 15th-place finish in the WPT's Doyle Brunson Classic at Bellagio paid two and a half times ($96,335) more than the first-place win ($38,500), which was the Beauty and the Bet tournament, benifiting the TASER Foundation and hosted by Phil Hellmuth at the Palms Casino.
Smart people sometimes do very stupid things; at least that's what I tell myself when I do something very stupid. But, perhaps there is something wrong with my underlying premise! The fact is that no matter how well you play or how many millions of hands you play, sometimes you just read a situation wrong and go off for chips that you shouldn't have.
"Floating" someone on the flop has come to mean calling in position with little or nothing, because you suspect your opponent is weak and you intend to steal the pot from him on the turn or river. I give credit to whoever first coined the term, because it is one of the few pieces of poker lingo that I actually like . (On the flip side of the coin, whoever started calling bad players "donkeys" or "donks" deserves to be donked upside the head). Indeed, calling in position almost feels like you are floating in midair above your opponent, waiting for him to show weakness before you strike.
The unwillingness to try new things dooms many poker players to lackluster results. It's very easy to develop a style, a pattern of play, and just follow it without thinking. How do you play? If you flop a set, do you always check it on the flop? If you flop top pair, do you always make a small raise to "see where you're at"? In similar situations, do you always tend to adopt a similar approach? If you're honest with yourself, the answer is probably that you do tend to play on "autopilot" much of the time.
