“It could have been Gay Poker…”

Hendon Mob readers can get 20% off Swimming with the Devil Fish until 30 June (standard price: £7.99, discount price: £6.39). Click here to buy the book, and enter the code ‘MOB’ in the discount code box when you get to the shopping basket. If you have any questions about this offer, please email [email protected].

(Extract from Des Wilson’s “Swimming with the Devilfish” – now on sale)

Its the first televised World Poker Tour event of the year, and its taking place on a grassy bank under palm trees beside the beach. Instead of being hunched, bleary-eyed, over the final table in a crowded card room, the survivors of the 450-player field are relaxing in the sunshine. There’s never been a final table like this. They’re playing for $3.4 million of prize money and a first prize of $865,000 dollars – plus a $25,000 buy-in to the WPT Championship, yet it’s all hugs and handshakes as the game ebbs and flows. Not for these finalists the unflinching stare across the table, the drawing in of the winner’s chips without so much as a sympathetic glance at the loser in the hand. When there’s an all-in they’re putting their arms round each other while they await the Flop, they’re hugging each other at the Turn, they’re virtually rolling in the surf together at the River. As I said later to John Gale, if I didn’t know better I would have assumed this was the final of Gay Poker.

It is John who is the cause of all this. The truth is he doesn’t know how to behave. This is only his second live tournament. No-one has told him you’re supposed to sit tight, emotion-less expression-less, as you drive your luckless opponents into bankruptcy. No-one has told him this is a game without sentimentality, where the strong flourish and the weak go to the wall, and who cares ? The fact is John is a good guy. He likes his fellow competitors. He plays poker for fun. He’s only in the Bahamas because he won his entry in a qualifying event on the internet.

Of course he wants to win. He hasn’t slept all night, he’s so excited. Oh he definitely wants to win, but the thing about John, the thing that makes him special, is that he doesn’t want the others to lose. And so, as each goes out, he’s on his feet, arms round shoulders, hugs… my God if you have to lose at poker, you want to lose to this man. By the time he’s done with you, you’re glad you’ve lost.

And lose they do. Because John may be a kindly winner, but he’s a ruthlessly aggressive player. You would expect someone catapulted into a World Poker Tour event to be a bit cautious. Forget it. He’s decisive. He’s dominating the table. Above all, he’s not afraid…

…but the other players are having a little less fun than John. One by one they’re eliminated until its heads-up with a New Yorker called Alex Balandin (a relative unknown who apparently makes his living trading in shares and has also been a member of a blackjack counting team). Although their stacks are about even, it takes only 10 hands for John to knock him out. In the second last hand, John raises and re-raises the Big Blind four times with King-Queen to Alex’s Ace-7. John flops a Queen and the pair holds up. Then a now-desperate Alex goes all-in with 8-7 only to find John has pocket Jack’s. The pair holds up and it’s all over.

More arms round shoulders. More hugs. And then John, in tears, tells the world how he feels. Humble.

There isn’t a dry eye in the house.

Mike Sexton on “the poker jungle”

Hendon Mob readers can get 20% off Swimming with the Devil Fish until 30 June (standard price: £7.99, discount price: £6.39). Click here to buy the book, and enter the code ‘MOB’ in the discount code box when you get to the shopping basket. If you have any questions about this offer, please email [email protected].

(Extracted from Des Wilson’s “Swimming with the Devilfish” – now on sale)

“With the old school, the game’s the thing… I mean, back when we were playing the road in poker games, you had the thugs, the robbers, the thieves, the cheats and you had to play all those guys all the time …a lot of the older guys started playing poker in the backs of pool halls and they were in shady places with gangsters and all this kind of stuff. When the Brunson’s of this world started playing you fought fire with fire and you did what you had to do to survive. And guys were cheating and robberies were taking place and you did what you could to get the money and get out alive."

Do you think poker players are predators ?

“Poker is a jungle and it works just like a jungle. The strong feast on the weak and that’s the way the poker world is. It seems cruel to outsiders that literally you look for weak prey, and you attack them like a shark would and just gobble them up when you sense blood, but that’s what happens in the poker world. When you get ‘live one’s’ in the poker world, guys that have a big bankroll and want to play and don’t have the crucial extra ability the pros have, these are guys that you want to play with. I’ve often said you can go to the Bellagio, probably the best poker room in the world, lavish settings and all that and they have all these big games, but I could set a trailer up across the street and if we have the ‘live’ poker players and they’re going to play in the trailer rather than play in the Bellagio, that’s where we’ll play. You don’t want to sit down at a table everyday looking at all world champions because it’s going to be very tough to beat them.

“My favourite story in the poker world is about this guy called Eric Drache who used to run the WSOP. Eric was a good poker player himself, played seven card stud, and this reporter had been interviewing him, and after he did that he went to Doyle Brunson and said ‘ I understand Eric is a pretty good seven card stud player’, and Doyle says to him, ‘boy, he sure is, in fact he might be the seventh best seven card stud player in the world’, and the reporter said, “really? Wow! I didn’t have any idea he was that good.’ And Doyle says ‘the problem is, he keeps playing the top six.’”

Des Wilson and I hit it off right away. We were introduced in The Vic, where I revealed to him that I’d read a slightly obscure book that he’d written 20 years ago. He was very pleased. He revealed to me that as part of his research towards writing a biography of Dave “The Devilfish” Ulliott he would be gambling his advance in the hold ‘em game at the Vic. I was very pleased.

Over the course of a year Des and I met up in various casinos around the world while we chatted about the book and the game. Des had found while uncovering the Devilfish story that the British poker scene had so many interesting and colourful characters and they all had a story to tell. He decided to broaden the book out and tell the story of poker in Britain for the first time.

I must admit that I thought I might not enjoy the first part of the book. I already knew how Dave had grown up in Hull, his criminal background and how he’d changed his life and gone from building up a successful pawn broking business to becoming one of the most well known and successful poker players in the world. I had thought that maybe the early stories might be a bit grim, with Dave going through a spiral of gambling, losing and then committing crimes to fund more gambling, followed by periods of imprisonment.

In the end I enjoyed the early bits very much. I have heard one or two of the stories from Dave and some are very funny. Des does them justice and paints a vivid picture of those early days. You might think that Dave might want to cover up some of his more “colourful” past but Des has been allowed to write a “no holds barred” account, which makes for a good read.

Having decided to broaden the scope of the book Des takes us on to describe how the poker scene in London originated. He takes us from the En Passant, via a selection of spielers to The Vic. Here he stops to describe the workings of the club and the relationships within it. As someone who is there more than the furniture, I obviously loved this bit and found some of the insights spot on.

From the Vic, Des takes us on to the Midlands and a part of the book I was really looking forward to. Players like Dave Colclough and John Shipley have always been interesting to me as they are proper professionals. Neither have had much written about them, despite their enormous success, and I particularly enjoyed reading about John and his reaction to THAT WSOP Final Table.

I think it must have been hard for Des to decide which players to leave out and which to include, but he obviously couldn’t cover too many as he wanted a thorough examination of each one. I thought from that point of view he got about the right number people as well as managing to cover most of the really interesting stories. Having said that I can now think of at least a dozen players I’d have liked to see included.

The Hendon Mob get a good mention and Des manages to talk a lot about the highs and lows of traveling the tournament circuit while discussing Simon Trumper. Carlo is also very honest when discussing his recent past.

The frankest interview of the lot may be the one with my good pal Willie Tann. I think having read it that Willie is slightly regretting opening up so much to Des. It is testament to Des’ skills as a journalist that he got people to speak so openly to him and that is one of the book’s main strengths.

Overall, I think Des has done an excellent job in describing the lives of several very interesting characters. His observations show that while he was sitting there quietly, not playing too many hands and watching, he was noticing and understanding precisely how this funny world of ours works.

June 16 sees the publication of the first-ever book on Europe’s poker professionals. “Swimming with the Devilfish – under the surface of professional poker” profiles over 30 top players and is the work of Des Wilson, who describes here his experiences researching and writing the book.

We will be running some great excerpts from the book over the next few days and we will also have a great competition where you can win your very own signed copy.

June 16 sees the publication of the first-ever book on Europe’s poker professionals. “Swimming with the Devilfish – under the surface of professional poker” profiles over 30 top players and is the work of Des Wilson, who describes here his experiences researching and writing the book.

Hendon Mob readers can get 20% off Swimming with the Devil Fish until 30 June (standard price: £7.99, discount price: £6.39). Click here to buy the book, and enter the code ‘MOB’ in the discount code box when you get to the shopping basket. If you have any questions about this offer, please email [email protected].

“It all began because I couldn’t sleep…”

Des Wilson introduces his sensational new book “Swimming with the Devilfish – under the surface of professional poker”

It all began because I couldn’t sleep. So at three o’clock one morning I found myself watching an old edition of Late Night Poker (so old that Simon Trumper had hair) and meeting the Mob and all the other pro’s, notably the Devilfish.

I already loved poker, and I loved the programme, but who were these guys ? Where had they been all my life ? What were they like ?

I felt compelled to find out, and wasted no time. The following day I took off for London in search of them. Fortunately they were all playing in a festival at the Vic. And so began an extraordinary year. I followed them from the big London events to Barcelona and Paris and Las Vegas, met them in their homes, tape-recorded hours of their extraordinary revelations, and even ended up playing them.

This is the background to “Swimming with the Devilfish”. Dave Ulliott was the obvious man to front the book and it has an exclusive insight into his life and career, more than 20,000 words following him from a life of crime to a career in poker that begins in the backstreets of Hull and ends up at the highest levels of the game.

I also found out more about the Hendon Mob than I guess any of you know; if you’re reading this site you’ll like them already, but after you read the book you’ll like them even more – and be surprised. Did you know that Joe Beevers was once banned from every casino in London for counting cards at blackjack ? That Ross Boatman turned down a role in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels because he didn’t want to be in “yet another gangster film” ?

And I tell the story of an amazing speiler in Birmingham where some of the top names in British poker honed their skills while playing for frightening sums of money.

What I found particularly fascinating was the struggle for the new and huge rewards from poker between the old hands and the new young guns emerging from the internet…I chart this struggle through the European tour.

In between the individual stories and the accounts of the big tournaments are a lot of invaluable insights into how to win at the game.

The book uncovers a world few knew existed and a remarkable group of people.

I know I’m biased, but I think you’ll love it.

If you buy it – or do I mean “when” ? – let me know what you think.

Des

We will be publishing some great excerpts from the book starting June 16th and we will also be running some great competitions where you can win a signed copy of Swimming With The Devilfish.

I realize that there is an obsession in the poker world with looking cool at the table. You see it at every table you sit down at. Nine players = at least five I-pods and seven or eight pairs of sunglasses. The TV cameras and the audiences at home are very impressed I have no doubt. What is not as is impressive is when those little luxury items start costing you chips. Follow me with this one, believe me my story is pretty good…

It was last year’s Ultimate Bet WPT stop in Aruba.; One of my absolute favorite tournaments to deal and some of the best beaches in the world by the way. The people that put that tournament on from top to bottom are fantastic. From Ultimate Bet to Suzie Weiss it is a fantastic tourney. One of the only complaints I have heard about that tourney is the fact that some of the chips (especially the $100 and $500) look very similar to each other.

We were in the early rounds of a tourney and the blinds were at $100 – $200. I sit down, shuffle up and get to dealing. Please remember the $100 (black) and $500 (dark purple) are very difficult to distinguish. About three hands in to my dealing the player under the gun raises to $600. He verbally announces raise and I also say raise and he tosses in a $100 and a $500 (to save time just assume that is the case in all these examples). The player on the button (wearing an I-pod) then says I call and tosses in $200. I explained to the player that there was a raise and that the bet is $600. He says “Oh, I didn’t hear that, then I fold” and starts to pull his chips back. I informed him that since he had said “Call” he is verbally bound to call the $600. He disagreed and we called a floor and the floor made him put in the $600 as I and many of the other players stated that he did say call.

Now this happens a lot at tourneys and I am sure you are saying why on earth is he writing about this….stick with me though…I think you’ll be chuckling at the end…

So we move on and about six hands later a player in early position makes it $600 again. Sure enough three players down the table someone (wearing sunglasses this time) tosses in $200 to call. I say there has been a raise to $600 and he says “Oh sorry, these damn chips look the same, I didn’t see it” and tries to pull his chips back as well. I inform him that once the chips are in they don’t come back out. He disagreed and we called the floor again and the floor made him put the $200 back in the pot. Then as you all know he has the option to fold or complete the call of $600. He called and we moved on.

Four hands later, we repeat example one with another I-pod player. Two hands after that we repeat example two with another sunglasses player. The only advantage is I didn’t have to call floor because we had already gone through it.

And now the one that caused the biggest headache. Please keep in mind this all happened in less than thirty minutes of dealing. We get an under the gun raise to $600 again and a player wearing an I-pod says “Call” and tosses in $200. At this point we are all kind of laughing and shaking our heads. I say “Sir it has been raised to $600”. He laughs says “Oh, sorry, missed that” and mucks his cards. I take his cards, put them in the muck, and then ask him to please put $600 in the pot as he has announced call. I’m sure you can imagine his reaction. I call the floor over for the third time and explain the situation and he has the player put in $600 because he announced call.

Now, for all you tournament players out there I hope you agree that when any cards are pushed forward the dealer should kill them as the players’ intention is to fold. I know it’s a harsh rule sometimes but if I don’t kill that hand and that guy goes on to win the pot, now the pre flop raiser is mad because that player’s hand should have been folded.

I deal one more hand and then get pushed out and most of the players are laughing as I say thank you and good luck. So over the course of thirty minutes of dealing there were five I-pod / Sunglasses related miscues that cost $2200 in chips. And that was just on my table. I may get five of these in a day or maybe over the course of an entire tournament, but on one table in thirty minutes??? I think that must be some kind of record.

So I’m asking you please, enjoy your I-pod and enjoy the tourney, but keep your eyes and ears on the action. Whether you believe me or not, most dealers don’t want to be involved in the hand at all and we hate (at least I do) having to make players put chips into the pot when they didn’t want to.

Well, the push is here and I have to go to the next table. So thank you very much Ladies and Gentlemen and good luck. See you next time I’m back in the box.

It’s nearly two weeks now since we made the announcement about us joining Full Tilt Poker. We have had a huge amount of positive feedback and the news has appeared in several newspapers and websites around the world.

Many of you will already have seen and chatted with us online. Two subjects keep coming up in conversation and in e-mails. The first is the Full Tilt Store. Currently the FTS only ships in the USA. We are pleased to say that this is going to change very soon and all of you, wherever you are, will be able to get some great Full Tilt merchandise sent to you.

The second is the situation regarding Rake Back. We are pleased to be able to tell you that every player that signs up to Full Tilt via the Mob will get 27% rake back paid direct into their account every month. This is the maximum rake back you can get at FTP anywhere. And don’t worry if you have already signed up via this site – The hundreds of you that have already done so will get the 27% rake back and this will be back dated for all of you that have already played.

There is still time to qualify for our Soccer World Cup Final giveaway on June 17th and win two tickets to the biggest sporting event in the world. There are also the much sought after personalised FTP soccer shirts to be won. Qualifying ends on Thursday June 15th and it only takes about one hour of play to earn the 100 FTP points that you need to qualify.

Full World Cup Freeroll Details Here.

For Details about the 27% Rakeback click here.

There is also a 100% Sign Up Bonus up to $600 and 100 FREE WSOP Seats to be won at FTP.

Two Of The Most Formidable, International Names In Poker
Take On The World

Los Angeles, CA (May 2, 2006) – Full Tilt Poker and the UK’s notorious Hendon Mob have joined forces creating an international behemoth in the poker world and an unprecedented global alliance.

The Hendon Mob will now become representatives of www.fulltiltpoker.com, joining the stellar group of Full Tilt Poker’s world-renowned poker pros and Team Full Tilt. Full Tilt Poker has become synonymous with the best that poker has to offer and now with the Hendon Mob partnership, the online site’s international reach and pedigree reaches new heights.

As international ambassadors to the poker world, the Hendon Mob, including superstars, Barny Boatman, Joe ‘The Elegance’ Beevers, Ram ‘Crazy Horse’ Vaswani and ‘Rocky’ Ross Boatman have not only raised the stakes in the world of poker, but have also helped raise global awareness of poker as a sport.

The Hendon Mob are well known on the European poker circuit and household names all over Europe and beyond. Between them, the members have earned 37 tournament titles and countless final table appearances. Their combined career earnings total more than $5.3 million.

“Having the Hendon Mob join the Full Tilt Poker family is very exciting for Team Full Tilt and will afford players on the site a unique chance to play and chat with some of the best players and ambassadors in the poker world. We are very pleased!” said Team Full Tilt member Howard Lederer.

www.fulltiltpoker.com is the only place where you can learn, chat and play with the Hendon Mob, the crown jewels of the European poker world. To learn more about the Hendon Mob go to www.thehendonmob.com.

"We are excited and honored to have been chosen by Full Tilt Poker to represent them on the European tournament circuit and beyond. We are long time admirers of the software, the style, and of course the incomparable team of top flight pros who make up Team Full Tilt,” said Barny Boatman of the Hendon Mob.

To celebrate their new partnership, www.fulltiltpoker.com is kicking off their new affiliation with the Hendon Mob by giving players the chance to score two free tickets to the biggest sporting event in the world – The 2006 World Cup Finals. For free! In addition, players will receive $2,000 in spending money and a custom Full Tilt Poker football jersey to wear at the game.

Full Tilt Poker will be giving away 12 more jerseys to lucky players in their Hendon Mob World Cup Freeroll. Players who make the final table in this tournament or knock out a member of the Hendon Mob, will receive a custom Full Tilt Poker football jersey with the player’s name and chosen number on the back.

The World Cup Freeroll tournament begins on www.fulltiltpoker.com at 12PM ET (8PM GMT) on Saturday, June 17th. Go to www.fulltiltpoker.com/proWorldCup.php to find out how you can win a free entry.

“Team Full Tilt,” is a select group of the world’s finest professional poker players, including Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Phil Gordon, Clonie Gowen, John Juanda, and Mike Matusow. Full Tilt Poker offers players the unique opportunity to Learn, Chat and Play poker with the best poker pros in the game.

About Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt Poker™ software was developed by TiltWare LLC, a software development and licensing company based in Los Angeles, California and licensed to Kolyma Corporation, A.V.V. which is regulated and licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada. “Team Full Tilt,” is a select group of the world’s finest professional poker players, including Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Phil Gordon, Clonie Gowen, John Juanda, and Mike Matusow. With innovative graphics, superior customer service and a safe, secure interface, the software is geared to enhance and personalize the online poker experience. Users of all skill levels can download the software at www.fulltiltpoker.com and can play for fun or for real money where online games of skill are permitted by law.

For more information contact:
Michele Clayborne
EMC PR (on behalf of Full Tilt Poker)
310-451-1152
[email protected]

Situations in which it is profitable in the long run to raise with big draws

I read a lot of hand examples and answer a lot of questions in the forum at my website, and there are some common errors that I consistently see. Beginning players, and even some players with a decent amount of experience, have misconceptions on when they should raise and when they should call. In general, a player should raise when he has the best hand. Most players understand this. What they don’t understand is how to define the best hand. The best hand is simply the hand that has the highest chance of winning by the river; this can be either a made hand or a big draw on the flop. A common error by many players in limit hold’em games is not getting enough value for their big draws. Sometimes it is more profitable to raise your strong draws on the flop rather than call. Let’s look at this concept in more detail.

The player with the best made hand on the flop doesn’t always have the best chance of winning by the river. For example, your opponent holds the A 10 and you hold the Q J with a flop of 10 9 3 . The Q J is about a 2-to-1 favorite to win this hand. When the chance that you will win is higher than the percentage of bets you are contributing to the pot, you should often choose the strategy that will get as many bets in the pot as possible.

Let’s look at a simple example: You hold the K 9 with a flop of A J 6 . You have the nut-flush draw, which is about 2-to-1 against improving by the river. Four opponents call on the flop and it is your turn to act. It is obvious that you should at least call with this big draw. A better question is whether it would be better to raise. In this particular hand, you are contributing just 20 percent of the bets going into the pot, yet you have a 33 percent chance of winning the pot by the river. This is a very profitable situation in the long run, and an excellent spot to raise to build as big a pot as possible.

Now let’s look at another example: The same flop comes, but this time you are against a lone opponent. Your opponent is a rock who never bets unless he has at least top pair. In this case, you still have about a 33 percent chance of winning the hand, but you’ll be contributing 50 percent of the bets in the pot. Each bet that goes into the pot now is in your opponent’s favour. Realize that you will still draw, since the amount of money already in the pot gives you good pot odds, but raising the flop would only help your opponent, unless you are trying to buy a free card.

We can make some generalizations about raising draws for value. With 14 outs, you are about even money to improve your hand with two cards to come. Therefore, each bet that goes into the pot against a lone opponent is a break-even proposition. You would be indifferent as to how many bets go into the pot. Against two or more opponents while having 14 outs, you usually should choose the strategy that will maximize the number of bets that go into the pot.

When you have eight or nine outs, such as open-end straight draws or flush draws, you are about 2-to-1 against improving by the river. Therefore, you are indifferent against two opponents. Against one opponent, you would prefer to minimize the number of bets. Against three or more opponents, you would prefer to maximize the number of bets. It should be apparent that it is to your advantage to add more bets to the pot when you have a 33 percent chance of winning but are contributing only 20 percent to 25 percent of the bets.

With 11 or 12 outs, such as a flush or straight draw with an overcard, you would show a profit against two or more opponents and would have a small negative expectation against a lone opponent.

Once we decide that it is to our advantage to maximize the number of bets, the question becomes how we should do this. With big draws, it is usually to your benefit to keep as many opponents in the pot as possible (one exception to this is when the pot is so big that you want to drive out opponents to give yourself some other outs, such as making your overcards good). Therefore, if you want to keep opponents in the hand, you need to be careful when you raise. For example, if the small blind bets and you are in early position with several players left to act behind you, simply calling would be the best strategy, as you do not want to force the remaining opponents out of the pot. You also might be careful betting into a preflop raiser with several opponents yet to act behind him, since you risk him raising and driving out the remaining players.

However, if several opponents have already called, you can consider raising to get them to add another bet to the pot. When you act early, a smart play is to try for a check-raise. This is especially true when the preflop raiser acts right behind you. By checking, you allow an opponent to bet and other opponents to call. Once you get your opponents committed to the pot, you can raise. If someone reraises, you now have the opportunity to cap it. Remember, each additional bet that goes into the pot is to your advantage when the probability that you will win the hand is greater than the percentage of bets you are putting into the pot.

Raising draws for value is discussed further in my forthcoming book, Texas Hold’em Odds and Probabilities: Limit, No-Limit, and Tournament Strategies.

It is always a challenge for a poker floor person to recognize that collusion is taking place. However, once the determination is made comes the really tough part – how to properly handle it, while taking into consideration the spirit of the rule, as well as the rule itself.

The quoted rules used for this article are taken from the published “Tournament Directors Association Rules,” revised in 2004, which, according to one of the original members of the Tournament Directors Association (TDA), is the latest revision and the one currently in use.

Does “The TDA” think there are no more revisions needed? Well that’s a subject for another discussion.

Rule # 7 “ Penalties: A penalty MAY be invoked if a player exposes any card with action pending, if a card(s) goes off the table, if soft-play occurs, or similar incidents take place. Penalties WILL be invoked in cases of abuse, disruptive behavior, or similar incidents.”*
This topic has been, in part, the subject of an article recently written by a friend and colleague of mine, Neil Johnson, as well as an issue at just about every late-stage satellite or tournament table in which I have been involved. Whether as a player, dealer, Satellite Director, or Tournament Supervisor/Acting Director, the subject of collusion almost always comes up.

As previously stated, this situation comes up in single table satellites or when approaching the money in a multi- table tournament. A typical situation might look like this: there are three or even four players in a hand, and one goes all in. The rest of the players check it down to increase the odds of knocking the all in player out of the event. This could result in either advancing the other players in the hand closer to or in the money, or actually ending the satellite in many cases. Some satellites have two winners, and even if not, many times once they knock out the short stack, there is a deal made, which achieves the same result, ending the satellite.

The question is this: is this just tournament strategy or is it collusion/cheating? Prior to being the dayshift Satellite Director of three WSOP Circuit Events in 2005, and then running satellites, tournaments, and sit-n-goes at one of the newer premier poker rooms in Las Vegas, as a player or a dealer, I would often be involved in these types of situations. Of course, human nature takes over and says, “If you are on the positive end of this strategy, it is just that, good strategy. If you are on the negative side of the same situation, it seems more like collusion, and unfair.” So which is it? Let’s go back to the rules to find out. Well unfortunately, there are flaws in to the rule, leaving it open to interpretation of the floor person, which makes it a very subjective rule.

Rule # 7 “ Penalties: A penalty MAY be invoked if a player exposes any card with action pending, if a card(s) goes off the table, if soft-play occurs, or similar incidents take place. Penalties WILL be invoked in cases of abuse, disruptive behavior, or similar incidents.”*
In examining the rule, immediately, the word, ‘MAY’ jumps out, which already makes it subjective. Next, who is to determine what ‘soft play’ is? That’s easy; just refer to rules number 1 and 31, which are identical.

Rule #1 “Floor people are to consider the best interest of the game and fairness as the top priority in the decision-making process. Unusual circumstances can, on occasion, dictate that the technical interpretation of the rules be ignored in the interest of fairness. The floorperson’s [sic] decision is final. (Note, this rule used to be rule #31, but TDA members voted to move it to rule #1.)” *
So once again, we are left with a very subjective rule, and until the, “TDA” rules are revised, in most cases, the house rules will take precedence.

I have been called to make a ruling on this type of situation more than once. Admittedly, depending on the house and –when I was green — the Tournament Director’s decision, the outcomes were not always the same. Of course, the situations were not always the same, either.

Currently, I work at one of the newer premier poker rooms in Las Vegas, and during my duties running satellites, tournaments, and sit-n-goes, of course the issue has come up. I will give you the situation, my ruling, and my feelings on the ruling.

During a satellite, when we used to run them, the dealer called me over for a decision. He told me that two players were soft-playing, and he had explained to the players that soft-play was not allowed. I asked the dealer to describe the situation, and by now I’m sure you can guess what it was — one player was all in and the other two players in the hand checked it down quickly, obviously trying to eliminate the all in player. I asked the dealer if anything was said during the course of the hand. His reply was, "no, but they looked at each other, and knew what was going on.”

My decision was to warn the players that they would be penalized for “soft-playing” if it happened again, since in our poker room we adhere to TDA rules for satellites, tournaments, and sit-n-goes.

I was not 100% comfortable with my decision even though I was confident it was the correct one for the circumstances. I checked with our Tournament Director, who is very experienced, well–known, and respected in the business, and he agreed with my decision. 
In conclusion, I put it to you, was it “Smart Play, or Collusion?”

Footnote: * The following footnotes were taken from TDA rules published at: www.onlinepokerlog.com/pages/tda.html.

With my form in big events being quite disappointing recently I had a word with Joe about my approach to this tournament. As a past Irish Open winner he was able to speak from experience when he said

“I would recommend keeping the pots small early as some of the inexperienced players won’t hesitate to commit."

Apart from Mickey Wernick, who seems to have a rough idea how the game works, Joe was quite right. We had a couple of people who seemed very inexperienced in tournament play. When a player got knocked out one guy asked if he could move to that seat: (he preferred the end of the table).

I can’t really explain why I ignored Joe’s advice quite so much. All I can say is that ten minutes into the tournament I fired three times at QQ10 7 7 because I thought the guy didn’t have a queen and he’d pass. When he thought for three minutes on the river I started to think he might call with jacks. He didn’t. He called with AQ.

The only thing I’m wondering now is whether I’d have escaped with my KK on a flop of 8,5,4 if I’d have still had all of my starting chips: Probably not.

After a reasonable period of sulking I was treated to a very nice Thai meal by Des Wilson. His trip to Ireland to promote "Swimming with the Devilfish" is going very well and after two good meals I’m definitely thinking seriously about buying a copy.

After dinner I settled into a cash game at the hotel. These are running most of the day and night and are organised by The Merrion with their dealers and chips.

The rake is quite high at 18 Euro per person per hour for a 100 game (taken from each pot), but I manage to find a lively PLO game and soon have everyone gambling enough that the rake is the least of our worries. Jim Reid is my neighbour for a profitable eight hour session in amiable company.

I was very fresh going into Sunday night’s E300 freeze out after a busy day of sleeping and horseracing that needed watching. I was just settling into the tournament when they announced a dinner break and a free buffet. During my profiteroles I decided that this tournament was soon to become a crapshoot, and I better try and get some chips before anyone else noticed.

First hand back from the break I made my first move of the tournament. A guy with 7,000 chips raised my blind from the button to 1100. I had 6,000 and moved in with 8d9d putting him on a rag ace. I was right and his Ah9h stood up, as did I.

When I told Scott Gray about this hand I told him I’d put him on a rag ace. He looked at me as if I was a small child and said

"You’ve never been to Dublin before have you? Nobody here passes a rag ace".

He asked me what the rag ace was and I told him A9. He was quick to point out that in Ireland A9 is a BIG ace.

The cash game was going quite well when I broke two of the golden rules of PLO in the same hand. The first is always get up when Shah sits down, the second never get into a pot with Shah. As he scraped in most of my profits from the session I skulked off to bed.

Monday was my last chance to strike a blow in the tournaments and I was determined to play EVERY hand in the E150 re-buy comp even if it cost me a few quid.

The plan wasn’t going perfectly as I missed two of the first 30 hands and had only re-bought once to get from 2,000 to 8,000. Luckily I soon did those and then managed to invest an extra 900 into the prize pool. On at least two of those re-buys I’d played quite well.

During the freeze out I managed to pull myself together and was cruising along quite nicely when I (delete as applicable) a) horribly overplayed an AQ or b) was a little unlucky to run into AK.

Again I found myself pretty disappointed to come away from the tournaments with nothing so I decided not to play any more poker for the trip. Instead I had fun in the bar chatting with a few people and watching the final on Sky. I certainly recommend Easter in Dublin, I just wish I wasn’t the egg.

Neil Channing is sponsored by BetUK.com and BetUSA.com.