Poker may be just a game, but there were important and very memorable events that took place last year. Some grabbed the attention of many and earned snide remarks, especially from those who have participated in major poker events, while some grabbed the respect and admiration of not only poker players but most especially poker fans all over the world. So, here is a recap of these memorable events that took place last poker 2009.

Julius Caesar

Always an attention grabber, Phil Helmuth walked into the WSOP 2009 wearing a Julius Caesar costume, complete with soldiers, dancing ladies, and horse-drawn chariot. Those who do not know Helmuth raised their eyebrows in disgust at his show, and those who do know him knew that he was going to pull such a stunt like this when he walks into the WSOP venue, especially since he is known to always set up elaborate stunts when he makes a WSOP entrance. Of course, many poker pros also raised their eyebrows at Helmuth’s antics.

Nude Poker Pros

Again, the attention-grabber Phil Helmuth was once again a participant of this event wherein Helmuth together with four other poker pros posed nude for the “The Body Issue” of ESPN’s Magazine. The other three players included Jennifer Harman and Daniealk Negreanu as well as Scotty Nguyen. The photograph showed the four players playing at a poker table, dressed in their birthday suits. Of course, the poker table hid their private parts appropriately.

The Poker Playing Priest

The poker playing priest was another incident that sparked the interest of many, and it even became a bit controversial. Father Trapp joined in a major poker tournament and won himself a fat hundred thousand dollars, which he has promised to put into the renovation of his church. He might not have won the million dollar first prize, but his accomplishment did show that there is a quirky side to priests, not just serious preaching.

New Member in Full Tilt Poker

It is not a common occurrence that Full Tilt Poker invites poker pros to become a member of their team, but last year saw the addition of  into the Full Tilt Poker elite team. Dwan, already recognized in the online poker world, has also gathered the attention of the poker world when he issued the million dollar challenge.

This is just some of the major events that took place last 2009 in the poker world.

Last year, the man who got into the Poker Hall of Fame is Mike Sexton, and he is the 38th man to be introduced as a member of this prestigious association. It is not surprising though that Sexton made it into the Poker Hall of Fame, especially since the fifteen living members of this prestigious body all had a vote that Sexton make it into their coveted group, proof that Sexton is indeed a man worthy of the title.

So, what are the reasons why Sexton was chosen to be included in the Poker Hall of Fame, and let us take a look at how he came to be in included in this very prominent body?

The Poker Player

Sexton has proven to himself and has shown to the poker world that he can be a very formidable opponent when it comes to the felt table. For one, he has earned a WSOP bracelet in 1989 when he participated at the seven card stud event. Sexton also earned a whopping 3.18 million dollars in poker winnings when he participated at the 2009 WSOP Main Event. All in all, Sexton has gathered 47 WSOP cashes, coming in at the 11th place when it comes to the all-time list.

Sexton is not only a formidable poker player and a fair opponent but he has also created a big name for himself in the poker world because of the contributions that he has given to the game of poker. He worked as an anchor for the famous World Poker Tour, and, at the same time, he also writes articles for the Card Player.

With all the income and the poker winnings that he has gathered throughout his poker career, he has the time to share his blessings. He donates to many charities as well as a variety of organizations. In fact, he extended a huge helping hand to a start-up organization called the pokergives.org, which is an organization that lends a hand to poker players who want to donate to commendable charities.

Sexton’s contributions to the game do not stop there as he has also become a supporter with an impressive say when it comes to poker laws and its legal rights. In fact, he became an expert witness for the five poker players from South Carolina who were convicted with illegal gambling for having played at an illegal $20 Texas Holdem tournament.

There are more that Mike Sexton has done for the game of poker, and all his efforts have been recognized by many. He is indeed worthy to be included in the Poker Hall of Fame.

Despite the recession, the 2009 WSOP still enjoyed a fairly good run as the said event had attracted not only some of the world’s famous poker pros but also a number of celebrities. Last year’s WSOP was held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino. All in all, 57 WSOP bracelets were given out as well as the huge first prize of the final table, the $10,000 NLH Main Event.

The Events

The 2009 WSOP had 57 events all in all, and the games included Texas and Omaha Holdem games, and they both have no limit and pot limit games. Aside from these two, the 2009 WSOP had also offered seven card stud as well as mixed events, and as expected, the H.O.R.S.E. and Razz events were also offered. The Main Event though, which is the most anticipated event of all, was, of course, the World Championship No Limit Holdem tournament which had a buy-in fee of $10,000 where Joe Cada took home the grand prize worth more than 8 million bucks.

The November Nine of the 2009 WSOP

Nine lucky players got into the Final table of the Main Event, some of them big names in the poker world while others newcomers to the scene like Darwin Moon. Although much hope has been placed on Moon winning the grand prize, especially since he has one of the biggest stacks of chips, the first prize and the championship title went to Joe Cada, as stated above, but Moon got to take home the second prize worth five million dollars though.

Other players in the November Nine include Antoine Saout who landed the third place and took home the prize of more than three million dollars. Eric Buchman won the fourth place, earning him 2.5 million dollars, while Jeff Shulman bagged the fifth place and almost two million dollars in cash prize. Sixth place went to Steven Begleiter and seventh place goes to Phil Ivey, and they took home 1.5 and 1.4 million dollars respectively. Kevin Schaffel got the eighth place and won 1.3 million dollars, and lastly, James Akenhead, at ninth place, won 1.2 million dollars.

The Main Event’s Final Table started last November 7, 2009, and it saw one of the poker circuit’s biggest prize pools. Last year’s Final Table had seen a total of 364 hands, 88 hands of which came from heads up plays.

Steven Lipscomb, the television producer, started the World Poker Tour in the United States of America. It is a series of international poker tournaments that feature many of the world’s renowned poker players.

In 2002, people saw the first series of the WPT on the television. It was aired in the spring of 2003 on the Travel Channel on American cable TV. The World Poker Tour series have led to a visible boom in the table game.

The most attractive part of the World Poker Tour is that anybody who can afford the “buy-in” or has been a winner of a “satellite” tournament” is eligible to compete against the professional poker players.

Poker has become such a religious game that people have forgotten its fun part. Here are some interesting facts about poker.

Playing cards was introduced in the 1300s in Europe. The first Texas Hold’em was played in 1900s in Texas. A group of Texas gamblers brought the game to Las Vegas. Doyle Brunson is the first poker player who won $1 million after winning the 1976 and 1977 World Championships.

The famous poker player Groucho Marx got this name because he carried his money in a “grouch bag”. Due to the French influence on the game, Hearts represent the clergy, Clubs represent the peasants, Diamonds represent the merchants and Spades represent the Royalty.

Maybe not a poker player, but yet an important figure in the poker scene. Norman Chad is a well known sportswriter who was born in 1958. Chad is a Cuban from his maternal side. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1976.

Norman Chad is also known as one of the best commentator of the World Series of Poker on ESPN. He is also a syndicated columnist whose each column has something for the reader. Recently, he has published his own book that talks about his views on the ESPN as a sports network. It also has his criticism on different sports program.

Chad has been making NFL predictions for the last 11 years. When asked he simply shrugs off by saying that he just tossed the coin to know the winner!

Just remebered I haven’t made a biography of Daniel Negreanu! A couple of months back I wrote a blogpost about his WPT/WSOP performmances, but no real biography.

Well here it is: Like many people, Daniel Negreanu’s passion was conceived at a young age. His parents had both left Romania and made a permanent stop in Toronto, where Daniel’s father became an electrician. Daniel Negreanu, however, didn’t want to follow in his father’s electric footsteps, and decided to venture out into the world of poker. He taught himself how to play poker at the meager age of 15, and at 16, turned his passion into a financially pleasing hobby, playing at pool halls and betting with other gamblers. The pleasantry ended when he found himself incapable of graduating high school, which is why Negreanu, at 17, dropped out. When he was 21, he made the decision to move to Las Vegas in order to pursue a career in poker. Unfortunately, luck abandoned him, and with his financial state awry, he moved back to Toronto.

Fortunately, luck, along with talent, re-entered Daniel Negreanu’s life when he won a couple events at the World Poker Finals. Since then he’s started his own poker-friendly website, signed with PokerStars, the largest online poker cardroom, and has racked in thousands of dollars by participating in various Tournaments.

Many films involve a game of poker in one context or another, but the number of films that deserve to be called poker films are not so many. There are a few really good ones, though. Below are the top three poker films. All were done before the first poker sites opened their business on the internet. But one of them is modern, while the other two show a more traditional picture of poker.

Cincinnati Kid (1965)
A young poker gun called Cincinnati Kid (played by Steve McQueen) comes down to New Orleans to take on the undefeated champion and card-sharp Lancey Howard. The battle of the giants is played out as a game of five card stud with very high stakes. On doubtful grounds the Kid trusts that he can defeat “The Man” straight up in an honest game without cheating. It’s just that other people at the table are actually cheating, and the Kid is losing to the Man.
The Kid finds out about the cheating and manages to have the dealer replaced. With a clean deal, the game turns and the Kid starts winning back his money. But in the final hand he loses a huge pot with a full house against the Man’s royal flush. The film contains a lot of pretty darn realistic poker footage. Of course it’s the old school kind of poker played with cash on the table and players bringing more money to the table in the middle of a hand.

Rounders (1998)
In the cult film of the poker boom in the early twentieth century, five card stud has been replaced by no-limit holdem, the Cadillac of Poker.

Again we meet a young and brilliant card player (Mike McDermott, played by Matt Damon). In the beginning of the film he loses everything to a man with “connections all the way to the top of the Russian mob” (played by John Malkovich). After losing his tuition money, Mike McDermott is forced to sustain his laws studies by delivering groceries in the graveyard shift. Then his best pal, (Worm played by Edward Norton) comes out of prison and a crazy hunt for fast cash begins, the old friends using all the tricks in the poker book as well as some not so honest tricks from the book of card magic. Much against his will, Mike returns to the game he loves, and while his pal makes one final mistake and is forced to leave town and the film, Mike uses all his poker talent to pay back his friend’s debts and save his own life. Then he packs a bag and goes to Vegas for the big bucks, in the realization that the card table is where he’s supposed to be.

The Sting (1973)
As a poker aficionado you’ll be alarmed of learning that in this film too, the story revolves around the prospect of making money in poker by cheating. Maybe straight up, honest poker games are not exciting enough for the film industry. In any case, in this film we follow two petty gangsters as they try to set up an elaborated scam against a big gangster, Doyle Lonnegan, without him even noticing the scam. After losing a lot of money in a high stakes poker game where the cheating mobster is being outwitted by a better cheater, he jumps on the opportunity to con his foe, Lonnegan is lured into an even bigger scam set up against him. In the end he loses an enormous amount of money in a scene where everybody from betting clerks to FBI agents are part of the scam. It’s often been said that watching poker is as fun as watching paint dry. There’s probably some truth to this if you’re not a true poker fanatic, and film makers dealing must handle this problem. These three film classics manage to balance realistic poker scenes and exciting stories.

Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu was one of the first celebrities borne out of the WPT/WSOP poker era. Negreanu’s boyish good looks, charm and talent made him a natural to represent the new, more clean cut, more acceptable face of poker. While by 2004, long before he had his Poker Stars, Negreanu had WSOP bracelets, tournament wins and plenty of poker earned cash to his credit, he still didn’t have one of the things he coveted most: A World Poker Tour victory.

Negreanu’s WPT Chase

Negreanu was determined to nail down that WPT crown, playing in every event he could to give himself his best shot at a title. Finally, in September in Atlantic City, Daniel got his chance. He made it to the final table of the Borgata Poker Open as the chip leader.

No Easy Road

As good as his position seemed, it would be no easy road to victory. Far from being packed with amateurs, this final table was a murderers’ row, containing WSOP main event runner up David

Williams, main event final tablist Josh Arieh, talented pro Chris Tsiprailidis and feared top pro Phil Ivey. In the end, it came down to Negreanu and David Williams, and Negreanu’s well-timed pocket aces were enough to give him the victory.

Keeping the Momentum Going

Not one to let any momentum go to waste, Negreanu was back at the finaltable a few months later for the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas. With the winning experience under his belt, Negreanu went all the way again, defeating the colorful Humberto Brenes for his second WPT title.

Negreanu rounded out the WPT season with a third place finish at the World Poker Open in Tunica, earning him WPT Player of the Year Honors, the respect of his poker peers and a much-deserved sense of poker satisfaction.

No one’s a huge fan of reading, but if you’re a fan of poker and haven’t yet mastered the art, you may think about picking up a poker book and going over what the authors have to offer. If you don’t know where to start, I’ll provide a few popular titles that will hopefully inspire you enough to read on your downtime. Some of the books listed may not come cheap, but neither does the content within.

First off, if you want to know the game, visit a website to gather the gist of what you’re going into. Then check out a book. I first suggest buying–or borrowing–No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em, written by Tom McEvoy and Brad Daugherty. Since these guys are both WSOP winners, they know what they’re talking about. Another highly recommended book is, Telling Lies and Getting Paid, written by Michael Konik. It’ll leave you pleasantly pleased, highly entertained, and by the end, you’ll pick up a few strategic pointers. The last book I recommend is The Professor, The Banker, and the Suicide King. You’ll learn almost all you need to about the world of poker.

Another quite long post from Jepepoker. I really don’t like those small posts . How to prepare for the head’s-up ring game? That’s the question am asking myself.

Almost everything inside the head’s-up tables, in every games form, is fixed-limit. Pot-limit and no-limit head’s-up ring poker games are rare compared to their fixed-limit cousin. Although many head’s-up ring poker game actions you come across is the $0.02/$0.04 variant, you may find $10/$20 fixed-limit Omaha and Hold ’Em and $8/$16 Stud head’s-up games if you really look for them.

One main reason poker sites don’t support plenty of larger limits, nor no-limit variants, of head’s-up ring poker game is that those games don’t get too much action; but even more importantly, laws where the host sites are located geographically put a great deal of legal pressure on poker site owners to not tolerate money laundering practices (the passing of capital from one person to another – commonly for illicit reasons), so the bet size is capped on head’s-up ring tables to keep large amount of money from changing hands easily and quickly. More money change hands during head’s-up tourney play, but not in the ring-game (five thousands dollars buy-in tournament on demand is possible). Site staffs watch big-dollar traffic in head’s-up tourneys extremely carefully for possible money laundering activities.

The first few head’s up games can be the most nerve-wracking moments of your poker career. It is not just for the low-limit rule of most of the games; the stress is also completely unnerving.  Luckily, having less money at stake, takes off some of your headaches.  Since you deal with just one other player, you may take your losses personally. But you shouldn’t. As a matter of fact, the first Zen-like rule you should grasp about head’s-up games is to not take it too seriously and personally.  View this self-control attitude as just another facet of your primary poker skills.

Head’s up, in some ways, is known as the purest poker type. Given enough time, head’s-up games determine who owns the better poker skill.  It can be hard to swallow when you lose, and you can feel bad or defeated.  Just shake it off and dig a bit more into yourself and identify the person who beats you over a long game session or beats you continuously over many poker sessions, you may have an invisible crack in your poker skill. Determine the exact problem by researching your playing style, going over your daily journal, and practice diligently on the micro-limits. If you finally find the crack, immediately shore it up, even if you will never face that particular player again. Any crack in playing skill that one player discovers can certainly be found by other players.  Head’s-up ring poker games generally fall into two main categories: playing for just a couple of hands before a player leaves (generally because he gets scared, bored, or has some emergencies) or moving back and forth for a while (say, 30 minutes or more — which in head’s-up games can be over 50 hands). Some game sessions may last for “medium” time duration, like 15 minutes.

Run is a poker movie made in 1990. Although a few critics have called it as one of the best movies, some of them do not consider it anything great.

In this movie some rare scenes of the game are depicted such as tipping the dealer and waving off a second hand smoke. Patrick Dempsey is shown as player who loves to kill his time on the poker table. The climax of the movie is when out hero is forced by a violent player to draw one card rather than a standing pat.

Recommended, watchable movie.

It’s been awhile since I published my article “Mistakes commonly made in Poker“. Here’s some more thoughts, as it’s vital to remend yourself of what often goes wrong. Texas hold ‘em is vastly considered the most popular form of poker, where winning comes from wit, plus strategic and mathematical observation. So it’s no wonder mistakes will occur–here are a few to try and avoid.

First, a huge mistake is playing too many hands. Think before you play a hand, and ask yourself ‘Is this going to help me in the long run?’ if your answer is Yes, go for it, but don’t go unless you can explain why it will be good. If your answer is No, well…then don’t play. This goes the same for playing too few hands. If you spend more time waiting and less time actually playing, you might miss on some good opportunities. Never bet more than you have to, because betting a lot is a common mistake. This may seem like common sense–you bet only what you have–but you’ll be surprised how many times people find themselves with high numbers, but with a negative in front. Poker games could take a while, and patience is a virtue you need to possess. Spacing out is a huge mistake, seeing as, with hold ‘em, you’re playing a non stop game that requires non stop strategies. Focus, focus, focus. Don’t let your mind drift onto something else, because you’ll find your money drifting into someone else’s wallet

In the 39th Annual World Series of Poker, Peter Eastgate won $9,152,416 in the World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold’em event.  Who will be the next Peter Eastgate?

The 40th Annual World Series of Poker is set to happen from May 27, 2009 up to July 15, 2009, although the results of the final event will be known only on November 10, 2009.  All WSOP events will take place at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

WSOP 2009 Events

This year, there will be 57 bracelet events and 1 non-bracelet special event.  There are to be no rebuys and add-ons for all events.

The tournament will open on May 27 with the Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em.  This will be followed by the 40th Annual No-Limit Hold’em and by the Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better.  All three are single-day events.

From May 30th to June 4th, 9 multiple-day events will take place.  Event 4 is a 4-day No-Limit Hold’em.  Events 5 to 12 are all 3-day events and they include:
•    Three No-Limit Hold’em events: events 7, 9 (6-handed), and 11;
•    Two Pot-Limit events:  Omaha (event 5) and Hold’em/Omaha (Event 10);
•    One 2-7 Draw Lowball event (event 8); and
•    Two World Championship events:  Seven Card Stud (event 6) and Mixed (event 12).

From June 5 to June 30, there will be 44 3-day events.  Many poker variants will be played during this period.  There will be Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Low, H.O.R.S.E., 7-Card Stud, 2-7 Draw Lowball, 7-Card Razz, Triple Chance, and Mixed events.  Some events will be of the No-Limit type while some will be of the Limit and Pot-Limit type.

The special, single-day, Ante Up for Africa Charity event is scheduled on July 2.  The following day, the 13-day final event – the World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold’em will commence.  By July 15th, the players will have been whittled down to the final 9 who will play at the Final Table from November 8 to 10, 2009.

How to Join

If you wish to play at the 40th WSOP, choose your event/events and pre-register at the WSOP website until 2 weeks before the start of your event/events then complete your registration beginning on May 26.

You must pay the full event/events buy-in with pre-registration.  The buy-in for the Final Event is $10,000.  You can also participate in WSOP satellite games to win a seat in the WSOP for only a minimal investment.

It is a dream closely nurtured by many aspiring poker players: To ditch the dreary 9-5 job to make a living from a game that thrives on infinite skill, knowledge and, above all, wit. What freedom!
Across the world, millions have tried and failed their hands at earning a crust from the infamous game. Ever since the internet revolution a new evolution of online players have spawned across the globe.
But is a run of Big Slicks enough to give up the day job?
Winning $140,000 (£100,000) might be enough to take a long, well earned sabbatical – but will not put bread on the table for a lifetime.

The good news for wannabe poker entrepreneurs is that the payouts from many casinos are uncapped, claims Richard Prew, media director of poker association, APAT. He says there are ‘no winning limits’ in licenced UK venues. APAT also advises there is no substitute to vast pots of money and playing experience when it comes to bringing home the bacon from poker.

Having the right psychological makeup and personality is also a trump card when playing for small fortunes. Players must also have the mettle and money to ride out the bad times when suffering streaks of bad luck, he stresses.
So who actually makes a living from poker? Prew believes the ‘majority’ of poker players play the game for fun and/or to supplement their income, with a small nucleus of professionals doing so to make a living. Traditionally, casinos don’t offer much value for money for recreational players, he says. But for high stake players, wanting to gamble on high stake tours, there are enticing yet risky opportunities to make fast and furious bucks.
The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, launched in 2007, is a series of poker festivals that take place across venues and online. Each festival features several warm up events with buy ins ranging from $140 (£100) to $1400 (£1000) for the four-day main event. The stakes are raised to $4199 (£3000) at the end of the year for the tour’s Grand Final. As with the scale of poker played across the world, its winnings are far from loose change: Prize money for the televised main events in the tour’s first year topped $4.9n (£3.5m).
Professionals, amateurs and internet qualifiers number those who have pitted their wits for a place in history and life changing amounts of money.

With one player winning $105,000 (£75,000) for the first event this year, livelihoods can clearly be made – but for how long? Surely the odds of winning such sums over a lifetime are slim? Maybe, maybe not. Whatever the chances, it is vital the player knows the game inside out before he or she endeavours to pay off the mortgage. Again, having a king’s ransom in cash reserves goes without saying!
For online poker players, Prew advises there is no best global region in which to play poker, provided the site is international and properly licensed and governed. Legally above boards sites, he says, are carefully regulated, and display terms and conditions for banking, fraud prevention and account protection.
Those who play online or at casinos every Friday night will not need a maths lesson to realise that poker can be a slippery science to make a living. Likewise. APAT advises that cheap ‘Rebuy’ poker tournaments, which enable players to buy more chips when they lose them, are not recommended as poker gold mines.
Organisations such as APAT, Sky Poker, Virgin and PKR aim to provide recreational players with professional online and poker tours with ‘many starting chips’ and buy ins for under $140 (£100). Such events sell out within minutes of going on sale.

Inevitably, these sums are not enough to live on for a year; the art of poker playing demands a seasoned rounder not only to make a living, but to cover losses.
Unlike other games, practice makes viable, but not perfect poker. This, of course, is the substance of dreams. Few of us will be lucky enough to take home $8.5m (£5.8m) as won by Peter Eastgate, at last year’s World Series of Poker final. But there’s no harm in dreaming is there?