Liu, one of the pros featured in our Easy Game documentary series last year, already has over $1.4 million in career live cashes including a $600,000 fourth-place finish at the PCA in 2012.

She followed that up with a third-place run at EPT San Remo 2011 for $524,075 and also has a standalone tournament title from the IPT San Remo.

One of the WPT's Season XI "Ones to Watch" Liu is another in a long line of great poker players to come from the #1 poker school in the world, the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

PKR's Top Female Pro, Spirit of Poker Nominee

Sofia Lӧvgren

 

Lӧvgren, who recently announced her departure from her original sponsor, PKR, is a Swedish pro who has impressed from the very start of her career.

One of the highest-volume and most profitable grinders on PKR the site signed her on as its first female pro four years ago.

She's gone on to cash for more than $130,000 on the live circuit, including four WSOP cashes and deep runs at EPT San Remo and the EPT London High Roller. while still primarily being an online cash-came grinder.

Based in Malta and Gothenburg, Lӧvgren was also one of the nominees (along with her boyfriend Luca Moschitta) for the 2013 PokerListings "Here Comes the Future" Award.

Liu and Lӧvgren join a growing pro roster at 888poker that also includes WSOPE Bracelet winner Jackie Glazier, Jessica Dawley and WSOP Main Event runner-up Jesse Sylvia.

To sign up for your own 888poker account and be eligible for an $888 sign-up bonus, visit our 888poker review.

Delighted to be a new @888poker ambassador. A great company with unlimited potential that has always kept poker fun.

Some guessed it would be Pokerstars but I have invested far too much in blue nail polish to go there! pic.twitter.com/EZa0LnY2bA

McDonald has dominated 2014 with two final tables at the Aussie Millions for $3 million in profit and second in the PCA Main Event for another $1 million.

Last night McDonald had to get past Finnish online icon Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro at the final table of the FTOPS Main Event.

McDonald eventually finished in third place but thanks to a favourable deal made three-handed, took down $200,000 in profit.

Online player Firaldo87 went on to win the tournament but only received $36,232 more for his efforts.

McDonald skyrocketed up the all-time Canadian money list this year with $10 million in overall profit and now sits behind only Jonathan Duhamel and Daniel Negreanu.

Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro Takes Fifth for $80k

Still got it.

 

Finnish poker pro Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro is a somewhat rare sighting in the MTT community but he certainly put his stamp on the FTOPS XXV Main Event.

Kelopuro smashed his way to fifth place for $79,778.

The Main Event of FTOPS XXV ended up drawing 2,557 to create a prize pool of $1.5 million.

Here are the complete final-table results for the FTOPS XXV Main Event final table (*reflects three-way deal):

Got a tip for a future 3-Bet? Drop a note in the comments and we'll gladly take a look.

Today in the 3-Bet we find Phil Ivey forging ahead in the face of a $9.6m lawsuit from Borgata, Michael Phelps finds poker just can't quite hold his attention like Olympic-level swimming and ana amateur gets his big shot - and big brick - on Poker Night in America.

1) Ivey Carries On, Bulks Up

The big story that broke before the weekend was of course the Borgata's $9.6m lawsuit against poker legend Phil Ivey.

The casino claims Ivey and a companion engaged in "edge sorting" at its Baccarat tables over four occasions in 2012, walking away with close to $10m.

Ivey, currently involved in a similar lawsuit with Crockfords Casino in London over the same tactics (this time as plantiff rather than defendant), likely did use his now-infamous advantage but clearly feels it's on the casino to protect its games.

How has IVey responded? Pretty much like any unfazeable poker legend would - "working smart" in the gym in Macau, as he posted on Instagram, and, we imagine, earning some back-up cake in the Macau Punto Banco pits.

2) Phelps Back in the Pool, Tests Waters for Olympic Return

We had high hopes Michael Phelps would trade in his speedos for a PokerStars patch and some upside-down Marcel Luske shades when he retired from swimming post-London but, alas, it seems our dream will have to wait awhile.

The impact a guy like that could have on poker as a full-timer is, well, likely immeasurable.Still we aren't really that disappointed one of the world's great athletes is returning to his arena of choice, competitive swimming, as his coach Bob Bowman told the Associated Press today.

If we were that good at anything, we'd keep doing it too.

 

Phelps will compete at a swim meet for the first time since the 2012 London Games in Mesa, Arizona, late this month, Bowman says, with an eye for a possible run at the Rio Olympics in 2016:

"I think he's just going to test the waters a little bit and see how it goes," Bowman said. "I wouldn't say it's a full-fledged comeback ...

"I think he's just really enjoying it. He enjoys the training and being physically fit. He just kind of wants to see where he's at."

Where he's at is probably back to being one of the greatest athletes ever. Poker's loss is the world's gain, we guess, so we won't feel too bad about it. We know who our money's on for the Olympics, too. Read more here.

3) Gene Drubetskoy Gets Shot of a Lifetime, Coolered on Poker Night

Hometown hero Greg Merson liked what he saw in Dubretskoy's game.

 

We've shared our excitement for the in-development Poker Night in America before but one aspect we haven't really explored is the awesome aspect of a local amatuer getting a crack to play in the big game.

On its latest stop last month in Baltimore the lucky amateur to get his big moment under the lights was Gene Drubetskoy, a 33-year-old mortgage consultant.

Picked via audtion to play in the game with pros Greg Merson, Gavin Smith, Matt Glantz and more Drubetskoy really got his money's worth, a new article on the Washington Post reveals.

From plopping down a $10k brick of $20s (it was all the bank had) to trading barbs with Ole G. Smith to finally, unfortunately, getting felted with KK it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience Drubetskoy says:

"It’s my dream to have an opportunity to play with these guys and sit with the best. I mean, it’s like if you play a sport, you always wonder if you are good enough to be one of the best and play with the pros.”

Even better his wife was super cool with it and encouraged him to buy-in for the full $10k. Read about his moment in the poker sun here.

On April 17 Party Poker is set to run the Last Chance Tournament for $500. Winners receive a $15,400 seat into the WPT Championship, which will be held April 21-26th in New Jersey.

The eventual winner of the WPT Championship will likely walk away with more than a million in cash.

This year marks the first time the WPT Championship has ever been held outside of Las Vegas.

Anyone on Party Poker who wants to play the Last Chance tournament on Party Poker can buy in directly or compete in the WPT Steps program to grab a seat.

Party Poker Preparing NJCOP, $500k-GTD Sunday Major

Party Poker's Kara Scott

 

If you miss out on the WPT Last Chance event there’s still plenty of action be had on the site.

The first-ever New Jersey Championship of Online Poker is scheduled to finally debut this weekend with 15 events and $600,000 in guaranteed prize money.

It’s safe to say that games have been escalating for awhile on Party Poker and on May 11 the site also plans on running a one-off $500k-GTD Sunday Major with at least $100k for first place.

If the tournament is successful it wouldn’t be a complete surprise to see a permanent boost in the Sunday Major's regular guarantee.

Regardless someone will walk away with potentially life-changing money.

Victor Ramdin was born in Guyana and came to the US as a child. The high school dropout made a living as a taxi driver and real estate agent before he was introduced to poker.

At that time he was 35 years old so he started playing at an extraordinarily late stage.

At the EPT Sanremo, he told PokerListings how he almost fell out of poker and who picked him up.

By Dirk Oetzmann and Christian Henkel

Phil Ivey to the Rescue

Phil Ivey

 

“I started playing in 2002”, says Ramdin. “I had some quick success early on, but then I hit a wall, and 2005 turned into a very bad year for me.

“Everything I did at the table went wrong. You know how it is sometimes. I got very frustrated, and I ran out of money. I was very close to quitting poker.”

In life and in poker, however, things can take unexpected turns, and they certainly did here.

“I had met Phil Ivey but I didn’t really know him. He was already at the top of the world in 2005. When I was most devastated, he walked up to me and said, ‘I saw you play, Victor, and I want to back you’.”

“I was amazed, as I wasn’t really doing well. I asked Phil what I had to do differently and he said ‘nothing’. A couple of months later I won WPT Foxwoods for 1.3 million dollar. You can say that Phil Ivey saved my career.”

From then on Ramdin never had to look back. He was offered a pro contract from market leader PokerStars, and he’s been on the team ever since.

Ivey doesn’t back him anymore, but it seems there wouldn’t be any need for it anyway.

Living in New York, Las Vegas and Toronto

Victor Ramdin loves the buzz of Las Vegas.

 

Today, Victor Ramdin spends his life partly in New York, partly in Las Vegas, and in Toronto, where he owns some property, respectively.

On Sundays he likes to fly over to Toronto to play the Sunday majors. There are actually a handful of well-known players on his flight almost every time, among them Joe Cada.

In summer, Victor obviously spends three months in Las Vegas, a place which he’s deeply in love with: “the buzz, the heat, the WSOP, it’s great”.

Not too bad of a life, you think? But it isn’t always easy for Victor Ramdin. He has a son who suffers from a chronic disease called cluster headaches.

“His headaches start some time in the morning and can last for several hours. After that, he is so exhausted that he can’t do anything. In fact, it became so bad that he missed two years of high school.”

The last couple of months, Victor took a break from poker to support his son, but now he seems to have recovered.

“He said, you did your share, now head off and do what you really like. So I feel like I am allowed to go,” smiles Victor.

“I like to go to Europe for three reasons: the food, the weather here in the South, and the fact that there are just not so many players in Europe that are terribly well-known.”

Players with a Heart

Another charitable poker player.

 

Recently there have been more and more stories about poker players engaging in charity work. It seems like players are looking for a meaning in life that poker can’t give them.

“I wish everybody would do that. I want to make an impact on someone’s life that is in danger.”

For many years, Ramdin has engaged in charity work for children with heart disease.

And he is not alone: “Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Michael Binger, Nick Binger, and especially Barry Greenstein have been with me on this for years. There are also some others who don’t want to be mentioned.

“We collect the invoices for a series of necessary surgeries. Then we show these to potential donators and tell them that this is exactly where your money goes.”

This direct connection seems to make it easier for people to give, as they can monitor exactly what’s happening with their money.

We have a motto, say Ramdin: “The hands that serve are as blessed as the lips that pray.”

The Genius of Phil Hellmuth

At the felt, there is still room for ambition and admiration, even if you have achieved as much as Ramdin has.

“My idol is Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth can get inside your head like nobody else. He can make bad players play worse. He convinces you to do stupid things.

And whatever the size of a field is, be it 50 players or a thousand, Hellmuth finds a way to come out on top.

I like the styles of other players like Negreanu, too, but the sheer number of bracelets tells you that he is a genius.”

And who is the favourite here in Sanremo?

“I wouldn’t want to pick a name, but my guess is the winner will be a Frenchman. The French are hot right now, they are taking over.”

You can always make suggestions for future 3-Bet pieces in the comments section below.

In today’s 3-Bet we’ll take a look at that whole Absolute Poker disaster, WSOP canvassing Twitter and Vanessa Selbt’s heads-up performance against Rafael Nadal.

1) Look Back at Absolute Poker Disaster

Remember them?

 

Brent Beckley helped build Absolute Poker into a multi-million dollar company but at what cost to his future?

That’s the crux of an article on Montana Kaimin that was published late last month but still well worth a read, especially considering today is the three-year anniversary of online poker's Black Friday.

The long feature titled “Almost Billionaires” chronicles the journey of Absolute Poker from inception in the early 2000s to its eventual downfall in 2011.

The story provides an in-depth look at founders Scott Tom and Shane Barovich. Beckley was initially resistant to joining the company but eventually moved down to Costa Rica.

Tom called every day until he made one last offer — Director of Customer Service — and they would pay Beckley $1,200 to $1,800 dollars a month. Beckley had two weeks to get to Costa Rica. He sold his couch, TV, coffee table, clothes and everything else he wasn’t taking with him. He dropped his ‘88 Jeep Cherokee off at Missoula Federal Credit Union because he couldn’t finish making payments, and applied for an expedited passport.

While compelling the article has one glaring omission with no reference to the hole card scandal on Absolute Poker that rocked the poker world in 2007.

Seems pretty important.

2) WSOP Taking Requests Now

It’s hard to believe the the 2014 World Series of Poker is little more than a month away.

In fact Caesars is still fine-tuning a few of the tournaments on the schedule and tournament director turned to Twitter today to gauge interest in a few things.

Twitter Items for @wsop today: - 7 or 8 handed in 8 game/PPC - smoking area outside Pavilion - redraws in Megas close to $ Share opinion

It’s great to see the WSOP interacting directly with their players. Be sure to get your opinion in early if you want to see changes.

We have only one request, however. Bring back the WSOP Mixed Doubles. That event was the best.

3) Selbst Spikes Rafa in Heads-Up Showdown

Rafa Nadal may be the best tennis player in the world but he’s still a rookie in the poker world compared to uber-crusher Vanessa Selbst.

This weekend Selbst prevailed over Rafa Nadal in a special heads-up match that was set up PokerStars in Monte Carlo. Selbst is already off to Sanremo for the EPT event there while Nadal stays in Monaco to play the Monte Carlo Masters.

PokerStars just posted a little clip of the action, which you’ll find below:

Mukul Pahuja, who already has two WPT final tables in the last 12 months, holds the chip lead with 18.8 million but WSOP bracelet winner James Mackey isn’t that far behind with 11.6 million.

Consummate grinder Matt Stout, who’s still chasing that illusive first major title, will enter the final table as the short stack with 3.6 million.

The final table is rounded out by noted pros Jacob Bazeley, Eric Afriat and Chance Kornuth.

Kornuth has a WSOP bracelet while Afriat and Bazeley are both still chasing their first big live win.

$1 Million First-Place Prize Up for Grabs at FT

Mig.com in position

 

Whoever wins the tournament will receive one of the biggest WPT prizes in recent years.

A record-breaking 1,795 players paid $3,500 to buy into the 2014 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown creating a massive prize pool of over $5 million.

First place will net the eventual winner $1.08 million.

Action begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT today and you can follow along via the WPT live updates.

Here’s a look at the chip counts at the start of the final table:

Borgata filed the lawsuit last week but we now know even more about how he was able to pull off the almost eight-figure score.

According to the lawsuit Ivey and an Asian woman named Sun (named in the lawsuit as Cheng Yin Sun) contacted the Borgata in April of 2012 asking for special accommodations to play high-stakes baccarat.

It's common for casinos to give big spenders special treatment but in this case it cost the Borgata nearly $10 million.

The special requests included a private area in which to play, a dealer who spoke Mandarin, allowing a guest to sit with Ivey at the table and that they would play with one 8-deck show of purple Gemaco playing cards for the entirety of each session.

Ivey also requested that an automatic card-shuffling machine would be used to shuffle each shoe after it was dealt.

Ivey proceeded to visit the Borgata on four separate occasions over the remainder of 2012:

What Is Edge-Sorting and How Did Ivey Use it to Win $9.6m?

Edge-sorting refers to a technique of using imperfections in the pattern printed on the back of playing cards to gain an advantage in games like blackjack and baccarat.

When playing cards are printed with a pattern that extends to the edge of the card there's often a difference between opposite edges of the card.

Here you can see a subtle difference between opposite sides of every playing card in a deck.

 

If a player is able to orient certain cards they can differentiate between two groups of cards even when they're face down. So in blackjack, for example, a player might try to turn all the aces and face cards one way, while leaving all other cards facing the other direction.

Using edge-sorting when playing baccarat in American casinos is especially difficult because players are not allowed to touch the cards. They must convince the dealers to orient the cards for them.

In the lawsuit Borgata alleges that Ivey and Sun convinced the dealers to turn special cards 180 degrees based on superstition, as well as making sure the decks were handled and shuffled without disturbing the sort.

Ivey was most likely turning sixes, sevens, eights and nines since these are the most significant cards in baccarat.

The lawsuit explains that if the player can identify the first card on the deck they will gain an overall advantage of 6.765%.

Suggest a topic for a future 3-Bet piece in the comments section below and we just might publish it.

In today’s 3-Bet we’ll take a look at Antonio Esfandiari owning up to a failed prop bet, PokerStars going SCOOP crazy and a new PL video on the advantages of playing from position in poker.

1) Antonio Esfandiari Admits to Buying Out of No Sex Bet

Bill Perkins gets richer

 

Sometimes prop bets are just too much, even for the pros.

Yesterday Antonio Esfandari related to PokerStrategy that he bought out of his infamous no sex for a year prop bet with Bill Perkins in just nine days.

Here’s Esfandiari’s reasoning:

It wasn’t that I couldn't do it, but it was because I all of a sudden didn’t want to do. After nine days, I wrote a very heartfelt letter to Bill, and I said, "Look, I'm going to do this bet. There's no part of me that’s going to lose the half a million; but it's something that I don't want to do." I offered a buyout for X amount, and he took it. If he wanted more than that, I probably wouldn't have paid him; but I just paid it, got it out of the way, and broke out of the bet. So yes, it's true, and I did buy out, and I'm happy to have paid the money and be done with it.

The bet was for $500,000 so it’s anyone’s guess how much Esfandiari paid to buy his way out. Our guess is $69,999. Giggity.

2) PokerStars Goes All-In on SCOOP with $40m GTD

George Danzer

 

It’s Spring Champion of Online Poker time and PokerStars is going all-out in this year’s edition.

We’re talking more tournaments, bigger overall guarantee and more days.

In total the 2014 SCOOP will offer an astounding 135 tournaments spread across low, medium and high stakes with $40 million guaranteed for the entire series.

For the first time ever there will be three events every day of the series with re-entry tournaments and popular progressive super knockouts on the schedule.

The SCOOP Main Event will offer guarantees of $1m, $2m and $3m for the $109 (low), $1,050 (medium) and $10,300 (high) buy-ins respectively.

Last year’s SCOOP was actually the richest ever online series with $75,585,385 awarded to players.

Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer, who won last year’s SCOOP leaderboard, had this to say about the series:

“SCOOP is such a great series because the three-tier buy-in championship gives players of all levels the chance to take part in such a prestigious series. This year I’ll be aiming to go one better and finish top of the Overall Leader Board and add to my collection of three SCOOP bracelets.”

Well said, George.

3) How Not to Suck at Poker: Position

Do you still suck at poker?

Here’s a tip, check out our ongoing video series on that exact subject and how to fix it. Yesterday we released a new one on just how valuable position is in poker (spoiler: it’s important).

Click play on the video below to see how you can use position to your advantage.

Afriat entered the final table as one of the middle stacks but quickly started building a massive stack and by the time heads-up play against Mukul Pahuja rolled around he had a massive 38-15 chip advantage.

Despite finishing second Pahuja took a commanding lead in WPT POY standings thanks to already two previous final tables this year.

One you add in the $691,965 he won last night for coming second Pahuja has over $1.5 million in profit on the WPT this year.

Kornuth Busts First, Mackey Holds on for Third

James Mackey

 

Chance Kornuth was the first player to be eliminated from the decidedly star-studded final table.

Kornuth shoved with K-Q and James Mackey called with A-T. There was a king on the flop but an ace on the turn and that was it for Kornuth.

Matt Stout was the next player to go when he Q-T into Pahuja’s A-8. An experienced vet, Stout is still chasing that elusive first major title but got a decent consolation prize of $308,501 for coming in fifth.

James Mackey, who was the youngest WSOP bracelet winner when he won in 2007 didn’t get to add a WPT title to his illustrious career.

Mackey ended up finishing third when he busted to Pahuja, which set up the Pahuja vs. Afriat heads-up final.

Here are the complete final-table results:

The death of wrestling legend The Ultimate Warrior was a wake up call for me. Our laptop screens are laden with death of every manner of celebrity, but this one stuck in my craw.

On April 1st 1990, 67,678 people crammed into the Skydome in Toronto, Ontario to watch the first-ever Wrestlemania held outside of the US. Over in the UK I was a 15-year-old kid sat in front of my TV watching it all unfold.

It was Wrestlemania VI and the main event was billed as Champion versus Champion: The WWF Champion Hulk Hogan going up against the Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior.

This was well before the days of pay-per-view screwed things up for everyone and my house was full of my mates all waiting to see who would come out on top.

“It’s bloody fixed,” said my Dad.

He pulled out that line every time I watched wrestling. Only this time it was different. I knew the match was fixed, but for the first time in my memory I couldn’t work out who was going to win.

Every instinct in my body said that it was going to be Hulk Hogan. Hulkamania was still running wild. He was still tearing t-shirts all over the world and threatening to take your head off with his pythons.

Then the Warrior kicked out of his leg drop. Even my Dad sat up in his chair and started to pay attention.

Who wrote this script? This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Anything's Possible in Wrestling or Poker

When the Warrior won I was ecstatic. Not because I was a Warrior fan, but because the face of wrestling had been changed forever. Good guys could square off against good guys, bad guys could square off against bad guys, and it suddenly became a lot tougher to predict the winner.

It also appealed to my love of the underdog.

Poker is unique because sometimes you can beat the best.

 

If the Warrior can kick out from under the weight of Hulk’s leg drop, anything was possible.

That's why I fell in love with poker.

I can beat Phil Ivey heads-up. I know I can and he knows I can. In what other sport, or game in the world, can that truth exist?

It’s also a game that allows people like me to sit alongside big celebrities like Don Cheadle, Shannon Elizabeth and Michael Phelps.

It’s the biggest ice breaker and human being leveler of all time. It creates room for everyone’s dreams, and crushes and delivers in equal measure.

Wrestling and Poker Fans All Respond to Compelling Characters.

When replying to my Dad’s woodpecking opinion that wrestling was fixed, I always try to explain to him that watching wrestling was like watching a soap opera. It didn’t matter to me that the story lines were already scripted. What mattered to me were the characters. I tuned in because I found these genetic freaks absorbing.

This is another reason I fell in love with poker.

Poker fans love compelling characters.

 

I could write a bloody good sitcom about my local poker game. Once again there is no other event on earth that could gather so many different characters together. All seated around a single table, chewing the fat and playing cards. None.

If it wasn’t for poker, I would never have met half of my friends. I am not ashamed to admit that some of the friends I have today, I would never have seen dead with in the past. Poker pushed past my snobbery. It kicked my prejudice and tainted views of people into the gutter.

I learned to see the best in people. Poker helped me do that.

“Live strong, act bold, be brave. Nothing’s too hard to do, ALWAYS BELIEVE.”

Those are the words of The Ultimate Warriors wife Dana. Wise words. Inspirational words. Words that give me hope, and words that remind me of the answer to the question.

So why do you play poker?

Be sure to fire suggestions for future 3-Bet pieces in the comments section below.

In today’s 3-Bet we’ll take a look at Niki Jedlicki putting in another massive day on Full Tilt, getting a piece of Timex and an NHL charity tournament.

1) Kaibuxxe Unstoppable: Wins Another $677k

Austrian Niki “KaiBuxxe” Jedlicka is a bit of a throwback in the high-stakes scene as he hasn’t been dominant in the scene for several years.

Well he’s certainly made an emphatic return over the last two weeks.

In two weeks Jedlicka has waged an all-out assault on the toughest games available on Full Tilt Poker.

Jedlicka hasn’t just won, he’s completely and utterly crushed the competition.

According to highstakesDB he picked up another $677k in the huge $1500/$3000 Mixed Game that was running last night.

Prior to the evening Jedlicka was already up $1.6 million since returning to the high-stakes games on Full Tilt Poker. At this point his graph looks like a rocket blasting off after years of inactivity.

This kind of heater isn’t completely unheard of for Jedlicka. In fact, way back in 2007 he managed to win a staggering $4 million in five months on Full Tilt while using his KaiBuxxe name.

Hopefully for Jedlicka the ending will be different this time around, however. In 2007 he became a FTP Red Pro and switched his name to the current “Niki Jedlicka.” That prompted a massive downswing where he lost $4.4 million.

2) Get a Piece of Mike “Timex” McDonald

The Timex is right.

 

Mike “Timex” McDonald is currently on the heater of the lifetime so wouldn’t it be great have a piece of his action?

It turns out you can as McDonald is selling pieces of himself in the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final $100k Super High Roller.

An investment of $1,500 gets you 1% of the Canadian poker star’s action in the $100k High Roller.

While poker tournaments involved variance (just a little) but it’s hard to argue with McDonald in this event.

He’s arguably the hottest player right now in Super High Rollers with:

It’s ridiculous and that’s all within the last 12 months. McDonald has won over $4 million just from high rollers in that time-span (he also placed second in the PCA Main Event for over a million).

Edit: McDonald just sold out so anyone reading this is unfortunately out of the running. Who are we kidding, you don’t have $1,500.

3) PokerStars Reloads NHL Alumni Charity Game

Do you like hockey? Do you play poker?

If so you might be interested that PokerStars is once again running qualifiers for it’s special NHL alumni charity game in Toronto.

You can currently qualify in special free rolls on PokerStars with winners receiving airfare, accommodations and spending money in Toronto.

Last year hockey players Phil Kessel, Theo Fleury, Matthew Barnaby and Jeremy Roenick, took part in addition to Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Jonathan Duhamel and Vanessa Rouss. Celeb Gerry Dee also took part in the tournament.

Here’s the new promo for this year’s event:

There were numerous players who grinded out serious cash playing online tournaments but Lodden was one of the first players to truly elevate online cash games into the stratosphere.

The Norwegian played under the famous screen name bad_ip and, for a period of time, was the biggest online winner in the world.

Then he went on a downswing that saw him eventually abandon the bad_ip handle and start from scratch.

These days Lodden is a Team PokerStars Pro and while he doesn’t play the biggest games available he does have a unique perspective on how the online poker industry has changed.

By Dirk Oetzmann and Christian Henkel.

PokerListings: Tell us a little bit about how your online career started.

Johnny Lodden knows how to build a stack

 

Johnny Lodden: I started playing when I was about 16. At that time, it was a dream. Easy and fast money. Now it’s just hard work and it’s often impossible to win.

It feels like there’s just robots sitting there, machines winning. I don’t mean real machines, of course, but a lot of the players play like machines.

PL: Back in the days, how high did you actually play?

JL: I played the highest there was. 200/400 for most of the time.

PL: You were an immediate threat for the established players when you started out. You faced some of the big names without showing any respect.

JL: That’s because I wasn’t that much into poker that I would even know who these guys were. I just wanted to play poker and make a lot of money.

I started travelling with a group of five or six players. We were also winning a lot online, and our style was new for the older guys.

PL: Would you say you were one of the inventors of the Scandinavian power poker?

One player Johnny Lodden avoided playing.

 

JL: Ha, I guess you can say that. Ten years ago, nobody had heard about aggressive poker. Everybody was playing old style, you weren’t allowed to 3-bet with anything less than kings, you know.

It was super fun. I remember how I won my first live tournament. It was in St. Maarten, and I also had a couple of drinks.

I made it to the heads-up, and I was playing an old school guy. My friends had gone out, so I wanted to finish quickly. I raised every hand, and my opponent kept on folding like he was sitting at a full ring table.

When I was in the small blind, I said “raise” while the dealer was still shuffling, when I was in the big blind, he limped in and I raised. Eventually he sat there with just one big blind left.

My friends and I won like four out of seven tournaments in St. Maarten. Serious money. Everyone else just hated us. It was great.

Then, in 2005/2006, online poker exploded, and guys like me and my buddies made a bunch of money.

A couple of years later, there were videos and books around and everything, so people got better and better. Now it’s almost impossible to win.

PL: When did you first think that the heydays are over, and you might never earn the money again that you did in the old days?

JL: Not sure, maybe in 2008. That’s when the games started becoming very professional.

Before that I was one of the few to play the higher stakes with the new style, along with Patrik Antonius and durrrr.

There was a kind of agreement between us that we wouldn’t play each other.

So each of us would sit at a separate table and wait, and if there was some fish sitting down, whichever of us he chose got to play him.

PL: However, you’re also known for some huge crashes. Did you ever come to a point where you thought you wouldn’t survive?

JL: I never seriously thought about quitting then. I went broke in 2009, I think, but there were always some friends who would back me up.

Everybody knew that I was good enough to win, so the community never let me down. Someone close to me would be winning and help me out until I came back.

PL: So there was never a plan B? A “what do I do if I can’t play anymore?”

Johnny Lodden has survived several falls.

 

JL: No, there wasn’t. Actually, I have been thinking about this a lot more in the recent past than I used to at that time.

I’ve been playing so long, and I’d like to try something new. At the moment I have the passion again, but two years ago I was very close to quitting.

I was thinking of maybe getting a teacher’s job, some form of real job, just to test it out. I wanted to see if I had the passion for it.

I was thinking that maybe if I worked outside the poker industry for half a year or a year, it would ignite my passion for poker again, because then I would have seen … you know (laughs) … that’s how it is to work.

I guess it’s pretty normal that if you do the same thing for ten years, you get bored or worn out a little.

Also, I had a kid, and that changes a lot, too.

PL: How has being a team pro changed over the years?

JL: Well, at the time I signed, it was something special to be a team pro. There were only thirty in the world.

Then suddenly there were 200, at least over a 150. Sometimes we had meetings, and I didn’t know half of the people.

That didn’t feel very good, but it changed again after they kicked out a bunch of them.

I’m one of the more experienced guys now, so I might have a stronger position than others who came and went after me.

PL: It’s kind of funny to look at your career, regarding you come from a country where poker is almost completely forbidden.

Norway's poker laws are changing.

 

JL: Norway is really ridiculous for its legislation. But actually, we have a new governor now, who is a little bit into poker.

It is possible that from next year, we might at least be able to hold the Norwegian championship in Norway.

However, it’ll still not feel the same as before to play in our championship, because you’ll probably not be allowed to drink alcohol, you won’t be allowed to play cash games, you won’t be allowed to play more than three tournaments a year, stuff like that.

It’s funny that the Norwegian championship is still this very secret thing, although it’s been running in different countries like Ireland, England, Sweden, and Estonia for about 14 years now.

I was there this year, in Dublin. They had 1300 players, and it’s been the biggest tournament in Europe two years in a row. It’s ridiculous.

PL: There have been signs that there could be changes in the Norwegian legislation though.

JL: Yes. One of our most important politicians really tries to legalize it. He actually came to Dublin and played in the tournament.

There was a lot of hassle about this, but he’s one of the few who doesn’t give a shit about what other people think.

He looks at poker as a game of skill, whereas Norway looks at it as if it was like playing slots.

It’s the first time a major online series has been held in New Jersey and Party Poker has gone all out on the schedule.

Playable on both the Party Poker and Borgata Poker sites there will be a total of 15 events from April 19-27 with $600,000 guaranteed in prizes.

“It’s going to be an absolutely historic week for poker in New Jersey,” said Team Party Poker captain Mike Sexton in a statement.

“Never before has there been so much money on the line, so many tournaments to play and so many ways to win online and off.  If you love poker and aren’t in New Jersey April 19-27 you need to get on your horse and get to the Garden State.”

Championship Begins with $50k Freeroll

Mike Sexton

 

NJCOP begins with a $50k freeroll on Saturday, April 18, at 4 p.m. ET. Anyone who makes the final table will qualify for all NJCOP events.

Later in the day there will be a $100 buy in tournament with a $20,000 GTD.

The 2014 NJCOP will include a wide variety of tournaments including bounty, 6-Max and a special Player’s Choice event that has yet to be decided.

Head over the Party Poker website to see the complete schedule.

NJCOP actually runs parallel to the biggest live poker tournament event in NJ this year - the WPT World Championship at the Borgata.

“Day 1A of the WPT Championship, sponsored by partypoker, is on Monday. This is significant for New Jersey and Atlantic City as it is the first time the end of season WPT showpiece event has been held  anywhere outside of Las Vegas,” he added.

Check our Party Poker review for more information about the software, latest promos and bonuses.

Chip in your own 3-Bet ideas in the comments section below.

In today’s 3-Bet we’ll take a look at Phil Hellmuth starring in a Carls Jr. ad, Jean-Robert Bellande’s new ride and one of the all-time greatest WSOP characters.

1) Hellmuth Snags National Carls Jr. Spot

Phil Hellmuth

 

Say what you will about Phil Hellmuth but he’s still able to grab mainstream attention better than almost any other poker player.

According to a recent Tweet Hellmuth will appear in a national advertisement for burger joint Carls Jr.

Numerous celebs have shilled for Carls Jr. in the past including Paris Hilton, Terell Owens and Kate Upton.

While Hellmuth remains a part of poker’s unofficial big three (along with Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu) it’s somewhat surprising he keeps getting these types of opportunities with very little exposure on the poker circuit and no online poker room sponsor.

On the other hand the “Poker Brat” persona is something the mainstream audience still associates with poker pros. Hellmuth has certainly cultivated a unique look and apparently it’s good enough to get that sweet burger money.

Speaking of which, how would you market a Phil Hellmuth-themed burger? Brat Burger? Bacon Hellmuth Jr.? The Big Phil?

The possibilities are endless.

2) Jean-Robert Bellande Drives a Bentley?

Now on to that other poker player who has worked wonders with the media.

Jean-Robert Bellande, affectionately referred to as BrokeLivingJRB, posted a picture of a Bentley with the vanity license plate “JRBROKE”.

We’re not exactly sure what to make of it, maybe he takes that license plate with him and sticks it to expensive cars, or maybe you can get a great deal on Bentley leases these days.

For a guy that claims to be broke, Jean-Robert Bellande has done alright for himself.

Check the picture below and come to your conclusions:

3) Hevad Khan Goes Full Bulldozer at 2007 WSOP

It’s true the 2014 WSOP is barely six weeks away.

That means it’s time to start getting amped for the biggest poker event in the world. What better to get you started than possibly the most excited player in the history of the WSOP.

We’re talking about the Red Bull chugging, bulldozer shouting, Lambeau-leaping Hevad Khan.

While Khan hasn’t been seen in the poker industry for a few years he won’t be forgotten any time soon.

Poker tells are considered one of the most misunderstood elements of live poker and Reading Poker Tells provided an in-depth and practical way to use them in real-life situations.

Mason Malmuth, Jon Aguiar and Amir Lehavot are amongst the many poker personalities who have heaped praise on Elwood’s debut book.

That’s why it’s exciting that Elwood will soon release another book on the topic, except with a focus on verbal tells.

We talked to Elwood about the response to Reading Poker Tells and what he wanted to accomplish with his next book.

PokerListings: Can you talk a bit about reaction to your first book and why you decided to write a book about verbal tells?

Rough cover art for Verbal Poker Tells.

 

Zach Elwood: A lot of people really liked the book. I even got a lot of good quotes on it from experienced, professional players, which was great. I was confident in the book’s content but still wasn’t sure if anyone would care about it.

The positive reception to Reading Poker Tells definitely made me consider writing another book. But I knew I wasn’t going to write another book unless I had something really new and interesting to say. I got the idea for a book on verbal tells about a year ago.

It was something that I realized hadn’t been talked much about in detail; just a few people would occasionally mention some obvious pattern or another. But nobody had ever really focused on it.

PL: What can people expect from the new book?

The new book basically breaks down the major patterns of how people talk; what their motivations are, how they might try to deceive, why they might tell the truth, things like that.

In researching the book I studied and took notes on a lot of televised poker hands, hands I played, and hands some poker acquaintances would send me. So the book has a lot of hand histories featuring verbal behavior, which I think people will like reading, apart from my analysis.

PL: Do you have a favourite verbal tell?

I don’t know about favorite, but I do like when I can figure out the intent behind a purposefully deceptive statement and make a good call or fold. A lot of this has to do with determining what a player is saying about his own hand strength when he talks; this could be very subtle. A lot of it has to do with what direction they seem to be subtly leading you toward.

For example, in a $1-2 NLHE game recently I bet the turn and river with 7♠ 5♠ on a board of 5♥ 5♦ 6♥ 8♠ T♦. On the river, my opponent raised me. From how the hand went down, I couldn’t put him on a hand that made sense and I was leaning towards a call. Then I asked, “Do you have a five?” He said, “No.” The fact that he’s willing to remove a strong hand from his range makes it very unlikely he’s bluffing. If he were bluffing, or was vulnerable in any way, he’d want to avoid making what I call a weak-hand statement. I’m very confident in this pattern, so I folded.

He showed 74o, which was a very unlikely hand for him to have considering he’d called under-the-gun.

PL: What's the most basic thing that people get wrong about verbal tells?

Zach Elwood's original Reading Poker Tells.

 

I think there’s mostly a lot of just simple ideas about verbal behaviors that most people have. Ideas like “if he’s talking when he bets, he has it” or “if a player’s usually talkative and then silent when he bets, he’s probably bluffing.”

I don’t think there’s a wide knowledge of how subtle a lot of information can be, or all the factors that can influence verbal behavior. For example, some factors affecting verbal behavior can be board texture, what street it is, how much money is behind, and whether or not the player was prompted to speak by an opponent. I think my book will, at the very least, clue people in to how complex behavior is, and prevent people from drawing faulty conclusions about opponent speech.

PL: Has anything surprised you about verbal tells while doing research for the book?

Yeah, for sure. I actually started out thinking I knew most of what I would put in the book, that it was just a matter of collecting it and looking for known patterns. Not that I think I’m super experienced or the best person for the job, but I just thought there wasn’t a whole lot to say.

But as I kept taking more notes and logging more similar verbal behavior, I started noticing more patterns that weren’t obvious. Some of them seem obvious in hindsight but they were far from obvious at the start. For example: it’s very unlikely for a bluffer to make a weak-hand statement—a statement that weakens his hand range in any way.

When you really think about what that means, it can clue you in to a lot of statements, some of them very subtle, and give you great information. The example earlier is one example but there are many others.

PL: The new book isn't out yet but has the process been easier considering what you learned from Reading Poker Tells?

Oh, a lot easier. I learned so much writing and self-publishing the first book. I learned a lot about how to structure the project to save time and prevent headaches later.

PL: Reading Poker Tells seems pretty universally liked. Was it weird getting praise from really well-known poker players? Was it nice to get that validation? 

It was weird, considering I didn’t know what to expect. It definitely made me feel good hearing that players I respected liked it. I was confident in the book but wasn’t sure if really experienced players would find it useful. I’ve had several experienced players tell me they really liked the organization of the book and that the organization and categorizations I used helped them to better understand behavior.

I think a lot of people just liked my writing style, too. I think that was a big part of it. I think I’m pretty good at writing and expressing ideas that might be hard for some people to put into words. I know I’m not the most experienced poker player and also know there are players who are much better instinctually at reading people. So my writing style I think was a big part of the success.

PL: When does the new book drop and how can people get it?

My goal is to have it available for sale by, at the latest, June 1st, 2014. It will probably be available earlier than that but that’s the deadline I’ve set myself.

To keep tabs on Zach Elwood's new book be sure to check the Reading Poker Tells website.

Later today the massive online series will begin with a $50,000 freeroll (4 p.m. ET to be exact) and it’s safe to say the New Jersey online poker community is fairly excited.

This inaugural NJCOP will take place April 19-27 with 15 events and a staggering $600,000 in guaranteed prize money. The series could be landmark moment for regulated online poker in the United States.

It’s not too late to start an account on Party Poker NJ if you head over to the site now.

Here’s what the Twitter world has to say about NJCOP just as it’s set to kick off:

NJCOP series starts Saturday @partypokerUS with a $50K freeroll at 4pm! I'm around Borgata today if anyone needs help setting up an account

Everything You Need to Know about #NJCOP pic.twitter.com/kSAQRXRU91

Can NJCOP stop New Jersey downslide? http://t.co/84QbmOoFqp

Quiz: What NJCOP Event Should You Play? http://t.co/2TDf6XRotZ via @PartyPokerUS

Excited for the main events of NJCOP to kick off online tomorrow at http://t.co/2ftua07nCH! http://t.co/W7HqriZxAI pic.twitter.com/PhFuQIU74n

Whose excited for the #NJCOP on @PartyPoker? $600K Guaranteed over 15 events for New Jersey players: http://t.co/y3pkxJAr50

What grade does @Gags30poker give @partypokerUS' NJCOP? http://t.co/txyOZC6i7n

The former President of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Hank Roberts, is pushing for chess to be introduced in state primary schools in the UK.

Roberts believes that playing chess, from as young as six or seven-years of age, increases children's concentration levels, reading comprehension, boosts problem-solving skills, develops thought processes and increases numeracy skills.

It’s believed that only 1 in 10 pupils in state schools currently get access to the game of chess, whereas it is actively encouraged in the privately run schools.

One school that has hopped on board the chess express is Heycroft Primary School in Essex and their head teacher, Andrew Palmer, told the BBC News that his pupil’s levels of performance in Math had improved as a result of the introduction of one hour of chess per week.

Some of the parents of the school children also chimed in with good news stories about improvements in their kids' levels of concentration.

But if chess is good for children I believe poker would be even better.

Luck Element Makes Poker Better than Chess for Kids

Chess introduces a competitive element based on skill. Poker also does this, but the difference with poker is the element of luck that exists in the game.

This evens the competitive playing field and allows children who may not be as intelligent as others to still continue to do well enough to retain an interest in the game.

Imagine if Vanessa Selbst had started playing poker when she was six years old.

 

I used to play chess with my son, but he soon got bored when I kept handing him is arse on a plate.

Yet when we play poker the element of luck means he is going to win more often than he would in chess games against me, and this keeps him interested.

It’s not the taking part that gets people interested. That’s the biggest lie ever told. It’s all about the winning. We're just wired that way.

If chess improves your numeracy skills, imagine what poker could do for you. Probability, variance, pot odds, ICM and all the other complicated stuff that I still don't fully understand.

Finally, it is another great way for introducing females into the game at a very young age.

During a recent radio interview with a chess expert, he said that there was relatively very little difference between the male and female brain; and that only psychological issues prevented females for being any better, or worse, than men when it comes to playing chess.

The same holds true in poker.

It's the first time anyone has won multiple EPT Main Event titles. Coren Mitchell snagged her first PokerStars EPT title way in 2006 at the London stop, before marrying actor David Mitchell.

“I’m a natural pessimist. I never expect to win,” said Coren Mitchell after EPT San Remo.

“My policy has always been to be happy with a profit and – most importantly - to enjoy myself. It hasn’t really sunk in yet but I’m incredibly grateful that so many people have got behind this.”

Coren Mitchell was the first female poker player to win an EPT title in 2006 and now she’s the only player, man or woman, to own two of them.

First Two-Time EPT Winner Took 10 Years

Ole Schemion

 

It’s taken a decade for the EPT to crown its first multiple title winner although there have been plenty of close calls.

Most recently Canadian pro Mike “Timex” McDonald nearly clinched his second title at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas but eventually finished runner-up.

Coren Mitchell entered the final table as the short stack but kept chipping away at her opponents and eventually seized control after busting former chip leader Jordan Westmorland in third place.

She mopped the floor with Italian pro Giacomo Fundaro and beat him heads-up in less than 15 minutes.

Coren Mitchell’s husband David Mitchell rushed the stage and embraced Victoria after she won.

Interestingly Coren Mitchell wasn’t the only notable poker pro to win a title this weekend. German MTT crusher Ole Schemion won the €10,300 high-roller event for €265,000 and all but locked up EPT 10 Player of the Year in the process.

Here are the complete final-table results for the 2014 EPT San Remo final table:

Make your own suggestions for future 3-Bet articles in the comments section below.

In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’re all about New Jersey with a mainstream article about online poker, the start of the WPT Championship in Atlantic City and Daniel Negreanu ripping the Borgata.

1) New Jersey’s Newest Tourism Draw? Poker!

Here for the poker.

 

It’s an exciting time for online poker in New Jersey.

With NJCOP underway and the Party Poker-backed WPT World Championship starting today (more on that in a second) it feels as if there is a non-stop poker festival in the Garden State.

Perhaps what’s most exciting is the way that mainstream media has been attaching itself to the online renaissance.

Yesterday NorthJersey.com published a feature about online poker becoming New Jersey’s latest tourism draw.

The article had photos of poker players hunkered down in hotels grinding out profit on their laptops alongside interviews with poker pro Jamie Kerstretter and Caesars' Seth Palansky.

This is positive for U.S. online poker on a few different levels:

More of this please.

2) WPT World Championship Begins

The Scott Seiver defense begins.

 

Also in the middle of the New Jersey poker explosion is the WPT World Championship, which began today, at the Borgata in Atlantic City.

It’s the first time the WPT World Championship has ever been held anywhere other than Bellagio in Las Vegas and it might be just the shot in the arm needed for a tournament that has seen dwindling numbers for the last few years.

Through the first few levels of play there are nearly 100 players who have paid the $15,000 entry including world champion Ryan Riess, last year’s WPT World Championship winner Scott Seiver and Eric Baldwin.

The WPT World Championship is generally a pretty pro-heavy event and this year’s edition seems like no exception.

The bonafide early Table of Death featured Brynn Kenney, John Racener, Chris Moorman, Joe Serock, Chris Moorman and Jared Jaffee. Good luck with that.

The tournament has two starting days so there’s still plenty of time for everyone to get in the action.

Follow along via the WPT live updates.

3) Negreanu Blasts Borgata Over Ivey Case

One player not at the WPT World Championship? Daniel Negreanu.

Negreanu took the Borgata to task on Twitter this weekend for its case against high-roller Phil Ivey.

Basically Negreanu makes an argument that Borgata was basically freerolling and had Ivey lost, the casino certainly wouldn’t have refunded his money due to defective cards. Good point.

Check out the complete, fairly extensive, rant below:

Been reading up on poker news lately and the people running the Borgata high limit pit have to be incredibly stupid overall.

All high limit gamblers should be watching the Borgata case closely. How it's ruled will affect gamblers rights in the future.

My hat's off to any man who can get an edge on a big time casino. It's just straight baller and I have zero empathy for the big fish.

Big fish sets all the rules, oks all the rules, they need to eat it when they get beat and not be whiny biatches about it.

It's appalling to freeroll customers. Take their money if they lose but don't pay when they win? Are you for real Borgata? That's dirty.

If I agree to give a guy a shot a hole on the golf course and agree to allow him a caddie, and I lose, I'm the only person I can blame.

I've been hustled before, but the idea of not paying was never even a consideration! Borgata- you got hustled bad. Get over it already.

Suing customers who crushed your souls is a bad look. You got bent over. Might as well smile and enjoy it. #Borgata

Borgata, you thought Ivey was stupid and you tried to bury him. He hustled you, smoked you, and left you feeling silly. Stand responsible!

No one in the world has empathy for Borgata in this. Stop playing victim because YOUR hustle wasn't as good as Ivey's

Landed in Toronto. Here a couple days then off to Monte Carlo to play with the big boys in the EPT Grand Final. Will NOT be in WPT Borgata.