Thanks for posting another column... I haven't read it yet, but I posted something in the WSOP section that might interest you:
Too bad we don't get ESPN. I was reading RGP, and it seems as though the WSOP broadcast has picked up sponsors. I'm only going by what I read, but there is:
The "Miller High Life Pocket Cam"
The "Miller High Life Rules of the Game" (one joker remarked that the Miller High Life Rules of Texas Hold'em sound a lot like those of the game he plays...)
The "Toyota Chip Count"
Too funny. Poker has come a long way.
Regards,
all_aces
ps: I should try to secure sponsorship for BIPC tournaments. We could have: "The Creemore Springs Digital Watch", "The DuMaurier Homemade Duct-Tape Dealer Button", and the "Big Fatty Superchips".
Don't forget the personal waitresses from The Brail Rail - Toronto's finest gentlemen's club. Now that would be a sponsor we could all agree we'd like to get our hands on....
"The Brail Rail"... I like that lol. Does this mean that they let you touch? I've been to the Brass Rail, but never tried to do more than anything but watch...
As for Jay's most recent article, the mailbag, my favourite comment that he received was this:
Although I cannot possibly be as hip as your hip friends, I feel compelled to make a couple of points regarding your Dave Foley comments. Mr. Foley was probably joking when he claimed to know nothing about poker. He is, by all accounts, a highly intelligent and well-prepared actor. I suspect that he did not go into a televised tournament unprepared. Second, Mr. Foley is Canadian, which means that he was: (A) probably being humble about his skills; and (B) couldn't care less about the effect his poker playing has on "America."
I particularly like point (A). He was Canadian, so he was probably being humble about his skills. (This letter came from an American reader, BTW). I find that to be the case more often than not with Canadians, and not just poker players. The same is true for musicians, actors, etc... I think it's part of what endears us to the rest of the world, as it seems like self-depricating modesty is something they put in the water up here.
As for Darren's article, how about this, eh?
Judah, who has a $5 commemorative chip at Binion's with his face on it, says he believes that within the next year and a half there will be a league, and professional players will be drafted "just like the NBA."
If this ever comes to fruition, ESPN executives would be smart to buy the rights to the round-by-round coverage, and tell Mel Kiper Jr. to start scouting tables across America.
Hmmm... we all better start getting our game on. Although I hear there's going to be a lockout in a couple of years...
There's an old joke about a guy sitting down at a strange game for the first time. He pulls a royal flush and, of course, begins raising. Some old guy keeps raising him back until, finally, the new guy, a bit suspicious, just calls. The new guy shows his hand, and the old-timer lays down an unrelated 2-5-7-9-Q, saying, "Sorry, I've got a frizzle, which beats anything, even a royal flush."
Sure enough, a few hours later, the new guy is dealt an unrelated 2-5-7-9-Q, bets and bets and bets, until he's finally called by another player with a full house. "I win!" screams the new guy. "I've got a frizzle."
"Too bad," says his opponent, pointing to a small sign on the wall that reads: FRIZZLES GOOD ONLY ONCE A NIGHT.
As if the guy said it only goes to an ace kicker in tournaments and not beyond. I sincerely hope that he lost that hand, but it doesn't say.
I didn't go anywhere, just took a week off work, tried to stay off-line, and did some fun things in and around the city. I went to the Elora Quarry for some cliff-jumping, man that place is insane. I saw some dudes do the 60-footers, which I was way to scared to try. I did do the 30 footer though - awesome! I went to Brantford and played for a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoon, nothing exciting. After playing so much tournament hold-em, ring games bore me to death. They seriously need some craps tables in that joint....
Here is Jay's latest piece - about the WPT event at Turning Stone. It was carried live on FSN, and took over 8 hours to finish.
Learning from the Professor
By Jay Lovinger
Page 2
Poker TV history was made Wednesday night with Fox Sports Net's live broadcast of the final table of a $10,000 buy-in hold 'em tournament from the Turning Stone Casino in upstate New York.
Conventional wisdom during the era of TV poker -- all two years of it -- has been that this would be a mistake, for the following valid reasons:
Too many boring and non-competitive hands, most of which are edited out in the ESPN broadcasts of the World Series of Poker and the Travel Channel's broadcasts of the World Poker Tour.
No control of the length of the show, unlike the ESPN broadcasts, which are edited to an hour, and the WPT shows, which are two hours long. This is a problem for two reasons: 1.) keeping an audience interested for as long as eight hours (or, possibly, even longer); and 2.) selling advertising for a show of unspecified length and dubious audience interest.
No chance to create interesting, audience-involving characters through mini-interviews and even the occasional mini-documentary, both staples of the ESPN and Travel Channel broadcasts.
Despite these barriers to good TV -- and there were, in fact, many boring and non-competitive hands ... the show went on for almost eight hours ... and there were no interviews with or documentaries about the combatants -- to this viewer, the show was a surprising and fascinating success.
First of all, it was much more like the actual experience of tournament players, which, if you last long enough, always includes many mind-numbing hours of fold ... fold ... fold. In that sense, the difference between the FSN broadcast and traditional poker shows is like the difference between an actual sporting event and a documentary about a sporting event.
Second of all, there was a lot more suspense. The winners had not already been revealed in various publications and on various websites. As one faithful reader -- Adam of State College, Pennsylvania -- wrote:
"When (Phil) Ivey went all-in and caught the 8, it was -- and I realize I am a poker-aholic when I say this -- just like watching an overtime field goal attempt in the NFL. That was true drama because it was 8:15 and live, so you didn't know if that was the end or not, as apposed to edited telecasts where when it is 9:58, you know it is the final hand."
Most important, thanks to the brilliant and insightful commentary by Howard "The Professor" Lederer, one of the best players in the world, the entire show was a master class in top-level professional poker. You couldn't have had more of a chance to upgrade your game if Lederer came to your house and tutored you for eight hours.
Until Lederer came along, the role of TV poker color man invariably went to a mythmaker, as best exemplified by Vince Van Patten on the WPT and Norman Chad on World Series of Poker broadcasts. Van Patten's style is strictly Hollywood Pom-Pom, where everybody who makes a final table at the WPT is "great" and every winning play is an act of pure poker genius. Chad is more of a post-modern ironist, given to myth-making metaphors like, "Dan Harrington is also a great backgammon player. So, basically, if he sits down at your table to play any game, you want to jump up and leave."
Lederer's "lessons" were both specific and general. An excellent example of the former:
In a key showdown hand between the last two players -- Phil Ivey, whom many observers believe is now the best in the world, and an unknown 21-year-old from the poker backwater of Seymour, Connecticut, named John D'Agostino -- Ivey was dealt an unsuited A-2 and D'Agostino an unsuited 9-6. Because Ivey played his hand cautiously, D'Agostino was able to see an inexpensive flop, which hit him almost perfectly -- 9-9-x.
As Lederer explained it, D'Agostino's task here was to milk whatever he could out of Ivey, which is easier said than done since Ivey possesses the instincts of a psychic. Before D'Agostino bet, Lederer suggested that a small but enticing bet of about half the pot would probably do the trick, since that size bet might intrigue Ivey instead of scaring him off. This, of course, was exactly what happened. And when a deuce came on the turn, Ivey was hooked for a couple more half-pot-sized bets -- enough money by the end of the hand to give D'Agostino the chip lead.
Throughout, Lederer provided a roadmap for how top pros like Ivey think about the game. During one hand, for example, D'Agostino bet a powerhouse a little too quickly, and Lederer pointed out how -- and why -- Ivey had picked up on that. Sure enough, after thinking about the hand for a few moments, Ivey laid down a pretty strong hand of his own and saved himself a lot of money.
Lederer also revealed many of the other subtle gifts that make Ivey the great player he is, like his ability to constantly change pace and confuse D'Agostino.
Still, despite Ivey's obvious advantages, D'Agostino kept the head-to-head showdown extremely close for almost two hours, on one occasion even putting Ivey all-in when Ivey was at a small statistical disadvantage. D'Agostino had 7-7 and Ivey A-8 unsuited before the flop, making D'Agostino something like a 54-percent-to-46 percent favorite. However, an 8 came on the flop -- as well as another 8 on the river -- and Ivey lived to win the title and the $500,000 top prize that went with it.
The result? An exciting and enlightening broadcast.
I'm not sure what the ratings were or whether Fox made money on this groundbreaking show, two factors which could affect whether that network or anybody else will try another live telecast in the future.
But if Howard Lederer is there to provide color, here's hoping.
Mystery solved ... perhaps
On Friday, I printed a "Letter of the Week," which wondered about the long white hairs that seemed to be dangling from Men the Master's ears in an ESPN broadcast from the 2004 World Series of Poker.
Several readers e-mailed explanations, including Bing of Edison, New Jersey, who wrote:
"I think those hairs are growing from a mole on the side of Men's face. I grew up in the U.S., but my Chinese mom tells me that Asians believe letting hairs grow from moles without trimming them gives you good luck. Strange but true?"
ATTENTION, IRS: HOW JAY IS DOING IN HIS NEW CAREER
Last week: DNP (did not play)
I used to go to Elora a lot... I went to school in Guelph. It's really nice out there. I didn't do any cliff-jumping, though, and the thought of a 30-foot jump terrifies me.
I liked this latest piece a lot. I *really* wish we were able to see that broadcast here in Canada... it sounds unique to say the least, and with Lederer at the helm, it would have been very imformative as well. Arg.
I sifted the following out of Jeff Merron's first column.
Ming, your reputation goes back to the early 70s!
...................................................................
In a misguided attempt to develop a strong "table image" early on -- hey, I was only 17 -- I cultivated two annoying habits:
1.) I'd eat donuts whenever I played, nibbling and nibbling with rabbit-like bites until the lower half of my face and most of the playing surface was covered with bits of sugar; and ...
2.) Whenever I had a sure winner -- or was representing a sure winner -- I'd scream out, "Ming the Merciless!" and slam the maximum raise into the pot, sending all those sugar-flecked quarters and dollar bills flying.
Alright - this is one of Jay's best pieces yet. He goes into some detail about actual poker games played at Foxwoods, including a memorable hand against two top pro's.
Another excellent article here - I didn't post a couple that were pretty dull (mainly mailbag responses to his readers).
BTW - Jay's roll is now almost 30k - although he is foolishly including 10k that is actually a won-seat for a WPT event at Foxwoods, and not cash money. Not too bad, although I think the columns would be more interesting if he was down 30k.
Comments
Thanks for posting another column... I haven't read it yet, but I posted something in the WSOP section that might interest you:
Too bad we don't get ESPN. I was reading RGP, and it seems as though the WSOP broadcast has picked up sponsors. I'm only going by what I read, but there is:
The "Miller High Life Pocket Cam"
The "Miller High Life Rules of the Game" (one joker remarked that the Miller High Life Rules of Texas Hold'em sound a lot like those of the game he plays...)
The "Toyota Chip Count"
Too funny. Poker has come a long way.
Regards,
all_aces
ps: I should try to secure sponsorship for BIPC tournaments. We could have: "The Creemore Springs Digital Watch", "The DuMaurier Homemade Duct-Tape Dealer Button", and the "Big Fatty Superchips".
Don't forget the personal waitresses from The Brail Rail - Toronto's finest gentlemen's club. Now that would be a sponsor we could all agree we'd like to get our hands on....
As for Jay's most recent article, the mailbag, my favourite comment that he received was this:
I particularly like point (A). He was Canadian, so he was probably being humble about his skills. (This letter came from an American reader, BTW). I find that to be the case more often than not with Canadians, and not just poker players. The same is true for musicians, actors, etc... I think it's part of what endears us to the rest of the world, as it seems like self-depricating modesty is something they put in the water up here.
As for Darren's article, how about this, eh?
Hmmm... we all better start getting our game on. Although I hear there's going to be a lockout in a couple of years...
Regards,
all_aces
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lovinger/040712
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lovinger/040716
As if the guy said it only goes to an ace kicker in tournaments and not beyond. I sincerely hope that he lost that hand, but it doesn't say.
Regards,
all_aces
ps: Welcome back. Where'd u go?
I didn't go anywhere, just took a week off work, tried to stay off-line, and did some fun things in and around the city. I went to the Elora Quarry for some cliff-jumping, man that place is insane. I saw some dudes do the 60-footers, which I was way to scared to try. I did do the 30 footer though - awesome! I went to Brantford and played for a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoon, nothing exciting. After playing so much tournament hold-em, ring games bore me to death. They seriously need some craps tables in that joint....
Learning from the Professor
By Jay Lovinger
Page 2
Poker TV history was made Wednesday night with Fox Sports Net's live broadcast of the final table of a $10,000 buy-in hold 'em tournament from the Turning Stone Casino in upstate New York.
Conventional wisdom during the era of TV poker -- all two years of it -- has been that this would be a mistake, for the following valid reasons:
Too many boring and non-competitive hands, most of which are edited out in the ESPN broadcasts of the World Series of Poker and the Travel Channel's broadcasts of the World Poker Tour.
No control of the length of the show, unlike the ESPN broadcasts, which are edited to an hour, and the WPT shows, which are two hours long. This is a problem for two reasons: 1.) keeping an audience interested for as long as eight hours (or, possibly, even longer); and 2.) selling advertising for a show of unspecified length and dubious audience interest.
No chance to create interesting, audience-involving characters through mini-interviews and even the occasional mini-documentary, both staples of the ESPN and Travel Channel broadcasts.
Despite these barriers to good TV -- and there were, in fact, many boring and non-competitive hands ... the show went on for almost eight hours ... and there were no interviews with or documentaries about the combatants -- to this viewer, the show was a surprising and fascinating success.
First of all, it was much more like the actual experience of tournament players, which, if you last long enough, always includes many mind-numbing hours of fold ... fold ... fold. In that sense, the difference between the FSN broadcast and traditional poker shows is like the difference between an actual sporting event and a documentary about a sporting event.
Second of all, there was a lot more suspense. The winners had not already been revealed in various publications and on various websites. As one faithful reader -- Adam of State College, Pennsylvania -- wrote:
"When (Phil) Ivey went all-in and caught the 8, it was -- and I realize I am a poker-aholic when I say this -- just like watching an overtime field goal attempt in the NFL. That was true drama because it was 8:15 and live, so you didn't know if that was the end or not, as apposed to edited telecasts where when it is 9:58, you know it is the final hand."
Most important, thanks to the brilliant and insightful commentary by Howard "The Professor" Lederer, one of the best players in the world, the entire show was a master class in top-level professional poker. You couldn't have had more of a chance to upgrade your game if Lederer came to your house and tutored you for eight hours.
Until Lederer came along, the role of TV poker color man invariably went to a mythmaker, as best exemplified by Vince Van Patten on the WPT and Norman Chad on World Series of Poker broadcasts. Van Patten's style is strictly Hollywood Pom-Pom, where everybody who makes a final table at the WPT is "great" and every winning play is an act of pure poker genius. Chad is more of a post-modern ironist, given to myth-making metaphors like, "Dan Harrington is also a great backgammon player. So, basically, if he sits down at your table to play any game, you want to jump up and leave."
Lederer's "lessons" were both specific and general. An excellent example of the former:
In a key showdown hand between the last two players -- Phil Ivey, whom many observers believe is now the best in the world, and an unknown 21-year-old from the poker backwater of Seymour, Connecticut, named John D'Agostino -- Ivey was dealt an unsuited A-2 and D'Agostino an unsuited 9-6. Because Ivey played his hand cautiously, D'Agostino was able to see an inexpensive flop, which hit him almost perfectly -- 9-9-x.
As Lederer explained it, D'Agostino's task here was to milk whatever he could out of Ivey, which is easier said than done since Ivey possesses the instincts of a psychic. Before D'Agostino bet, Lederer suggested that a small but enticing bet of about half the pot would probably do the trick, since that size bet might intrigue Ivey instead of scaring him off. This, of course, was exactly what happened. And when a deuce came on the turn, Ivey was hooked for a couple more half-pot-sized bets -- enough money by the end of the hand to give D'Agostino the chip lead.
Throughout, Lederer provided a roadmap for how top pros like Ivey think about the game. During one hand, for example, D'Agostino bet a powerhouse a little too quickly, and Lederer pointed out how -- and why -- Ivey had picked up on that. Sure enough, after thinking about the hand for a few moments, Ivey laid down a pretty strong hand of his own and saved himself a lot of money.
Lederer also revealed many of the other subtle gifts that make Ivey the great player he is, like his ability to constantly change pace and confuse D'Agostino.
Still, despite Ivey's obvious advantages, D'Agostino kept the head-to-head showdown extremely close for almost two hours, on one occasion even putting Ivey all-in when Ivey was at a small statistical disadvantage. D'Agostino had 7-7 and Ivey A-8 unsuited before the flop, making D'Agostino something like a 54-percent-to-46 percent favorite. However, an 8 came on the flop -- as well as another 8 on the river -- and Ivey lived to win the title and the $500,000 top prize that went with it.
The result? An exciting and enlightening broadcast.
I'm not sure what the ratings were or whether Fox made money on this groundbreaking show, two factors which could affect whether that network or anybody else will try another live telecast in the future.
But if Howard Lederer is there to provide color, here's hoping.
Mystery solved ... perhaps
On Friday, I printed a "Letter of the Week," which wondered about the long white hairs that seemed to be dangling from Men the Master's ears in an ESPN broadcast from the 2004 World Series of Poker.
Several readers e-mailed explanations, including Bing of Edison, New Jersey, who wrote:
"I think those hairs are growing from a mole on the side of Men's face. I grew up in the U.S., but my Chinese mom tells me that Asians believe letting hairs grow from moles without trimming them gives you good luck. Strange but true?"
ATTENTION, IRS: HOW JAY IS DOING IN HIS NEW CAREER
Last week: DNP (did not play)
CTD (career-to-date): plus $7,750
I liked this latest piece a lot. I *really* wish we were able to see that broadcast here in Canada... it sounds unique to say the least, and with Lederer at the helm, it would have been very imformative as well. Arg.
Cheers,
all_aces
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lovinger/040723
Ming, your reputation goes back to the early 70s!
...................................................................
In a misguided attempt to develop a strong "table image" early on -- hey, I was only 17 -- I cultivated two annoying habits:
1.) I'd eat donuts whenever I played, nibbling and nibbling with rabbit-like bites until the lower half of my face and most of the playing surface was covered with bits of sugar; and ...
2.) Whenever I had a sure winner -- or was representing a sure winner -- I'd scream out, "Ming the Merciless!" and slam the maximum raise into the pot, sending all those sugar-flecked quarters and dollar bills flying.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lovinger/040727
BTW - Jay's roll is now almost 30k - although he is foolishly including 10k that is actually a won-seat for a WPT event at Foxwoods, and not cash money. Not too bad, although I think the columns would be more interesting if he was down 30k.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lovinger/040809