ESPN Poker Blog

Posted by Andrew Feldman

The final table is set in Atlantic City and Sirous Jamshidi will hold a slight lead over Al Grimes when play begins on Friday. Everyone at the final table of the $3,500 event will be looking for the $625,006 payday, but despite the tremendous talent in every seat, all eyes will be on Jeff Madsen who is looking to win his first title since last February at the L.A. Poker Classic.

Madsen will enter the final table fourth in chips behind Jamshidi, Grimes and Nicholas Kamen. Jamshidi has eight WSOP cashes and $1.2 million in career earnings. His last outright victory came in 2006 in a $1,500 event at Binions for only $35,215, but even if he wins, he still won't surpass his biggest cash of his career which took place in the 2006 WSOP main event where he finished 16th for $659,730. Grimes and Kamen don't boast any major scores on their résumé according to the Hendon Mob poker database which should create for an interesting dynamic as the field shrinks during play.

Despite the lack of results, Grimes seems extremely confident.

"I came in expecting to win," said Grimes to the Borgata Poker Blog. "I'm just going to keep playing my game, slow and steady, old school."

After Madsen the field doesn't get much easier. Tournament circuit regular David Fox is in fifth place and boasts seven WSOP cashes … all last year! He made back to back WSOP Circuit final tables in 2007 and has a lot of experience which could make him very dangerous during final table play. Tom 'Kingsofcards' Marchese is in sixth place and is a high-stakes online poker player. Despite his struggles in cash games (according to highstakesdb.com), Marchese has had some success in tournaments.

In seventh is Warwick, NY native Jonathan Hamilton who has three live cashes in his career, all at the Borgata and none for over $3,039. This will be the biggest score of his career. Professional poker player, author and coach Matt Matros is in eighth place with 20 big blinds.

"It's only half the average stack, but there are six players with 30 blinds or less, and the chip lead is only at 80 blinds, so I'm envisioning several entirely plausible ways I can get right back into the hunt for the title," Matros said on his blog. "I'll give it my best shot."

Matros has over $1.2 million in career earnings including 14 WSOP cashes and two WPT final tables (third and seventh). Behind Matros is New York native and online champion Ross "tysonduke23" Mallor who has $237,053 in live earnings and a more than double that online. Mallor won the Sunday Million in August of 2009 and is one of PocketFives.com's players to watch in 2010.

The short stack is Chan Pelton who has already made $15,534 from two live cashes this year. With just over 10 big blinds, Pelton will look to double up very early on in play if he wants to contend for the title.

The entire final table is extremely talented and it should make for a great final table.

Here are the chip counts:

1) Sirous Jamshidi ($4.7 million)
2) Al Grimes ($4.1 million)
3) Nicholas Kamen ($3.3 million)
4) Jeff Madsen ($3.1 million)
5) David Fox ($1.6 million)
6) Thomas Marchese ($1.6 million)
7) Jonathan Hamilton ($1.5 million)
8) Matt Matros ($1.1 million)
9) Ross Mallor ($880,000)
10) Chan Pelton ($650,000)

Small blinds: Don't forget to watch the first three episodes of the WSOP Europe main event this Sunday night on ESPN2. … Cake Poker awarded a pot to the wrong player. They claimed to have now fixed the problem. … Bluff's Power 20 is out and not one ESPN representative. Pretty surprising and as I posted on Twitter, it's not my name I was looking for. … According to PokerNews.com Juan Carlos Mortensen has resigned with Full Tilt. … PokerStars has added a bounty shootout tournament to the schedule at the Venetian NAPT. Quite cool. … ESPN.com's "The Nuts" for February will come out next week.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

Finally! We have something to talk about regarding Jeff Madsen besides his rapping! Actually, if you've been paying attention to the circuit lately, Madsen has been back on top of his game notching two final tables and four cashes during the past two months.

Madsen entered Day 3 of the $3,500 main event at the Borgata with $880,700 in chips, holding nearly a $300,000 lead over his closest competitor. Many of his chips came from a couple of big pots including the one I mentioned yesterday where there was a four-bet before the action even made it to him and his aces in the big blind! His good fortune continued later in the night when he eliminated 2009 Bluff magazine Player of the Year Jason Mercier holding J-10 against Mercier's J-J.

His good run continued on to Day 3 where during the first hour he cracked pocket jacks with 4-4 by hitting a four on the flop. With his stack approaching $1 million and fewer than 130 players remaining in contention, Madsen holds nearly 5 percent of the chips in play and will most definitely be a factor for the next two days.

Seventy-two players will get paid when the money bubble bursts on Wednesday. Notable players still in contention include Kathy Liebert, Lee Childs, Dan Shak (does the year of Dan Shak continue?), Matt Matros, Steve Brecher and Dale Pinchot. Day 2's chip leader Cornel Cimpan is one of the short stacks to start play on Wednesday, while Soheil Shamseddin, who entered Day 2 in second place, failed to make it through the day.

Here's the payout schedule:

1: $625,006
2: $367,794
3: $190,027
4: $165,508
5: $140,988
6: $116,468
7: $91,949
8: $67,429
9: $49,039
10-12: $31,876
13-15: $23,294
16-18: $14,712
19-27: $11,034
28-36: $9,317
37-45: $7,846
46-54: $6,866
55-63: $6,375
64-72: $6,130

The Bet

Gavin Smith was also eliminated Tuesday, but it looks like his new focus is paying off not only financially, but mentally as well. Despite not cashing in this event, Smith has earned $224,562 so far in 2010, but there is something much more on the line in the coming weeks.

The trio of Madsen, Smith and Joe Sebok will always be remembered for their prop-betting madness during the WSOP a few years ago when Sebok and Smith needed to be in costume while they played. This year, the stakes will be much higher than just the regular $10,000 buy-in at the L.A. Poker Classic for these three. The event starts Feb. 26 and the first of these three to be eliminated from the tournament will have the faces of the other two players tattooed somewhere on his body.

That's bad.

It doesn't get much better for the second player who will only have to get a tattoo of the remaining player's face.

After previous prop bets, Smith already has Sebok's initials tattooed on his body, so why not just add the face? It's going to be a stressful tournament for the three who will have a lot more to think about than just the money involved. If I were Sebok, I'd be really worried since the other two are on quite a run right now.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

Two million? No problem.

The $3,500 buy-in Borgata Winter Poker Open main event guaranteed a $2 million dollar prize pool. Players from around the world came out in full force to ensure that the guarantee would not only be met, but surpassed in a big way. A final prize pool of $2,527,800 (766 entries) will be split up amongst the 72 players who will make the money with the winner taking home a nice pay day of $625,006.

Although no longer televised as a World Poker Tour event, many professionals still attended the tournament series and have enjoyed their time in New Jersey. Gavin Smith, Jeff Madsen, Jason Mercier, Cornel Cimpan, Soheil Shamseddin, Kathy Liebert and Dan Shak (just to name a few) made it through to Day 2 with Cimpan and Shamseddin at the top of the chip counts. Five hours into play and over 200 of the 465-player starting field on Tuesday had already been eliminated, but most of the big names still remained in contention.

Moving up in the chip counts during early play on Tuesday was Jeff Madsen who it would seem, loves the action in Atlantic City. From his Twitter account, he mentioned he was involved in a hand where a player raised to $2,500 and was called by two players. The next player to act reraised to $10,000 and the next player re-reraised to $23,000. Madsen was in the big blind and woke up with aces, moved all-in and the initial reraiser called with Q-Q. His aces held and Madsen was among the leaders in the room at the time.

Our friends at the Borgata Poker Blog shared a great story about a player named James Romoser who seems to be a quad magnet. During Tuesday's play, Romoser hit quads three times! The first two came within a span of three hands where Romoser flopped quads both times with Q-Q. The third time came at a critical moment when he was all-in against aces with 8-8.

James, please teach us how it is possible to run this good and best of luck to you throughout the rest of the tournament … if you need it.

Remember to enunciate:

No, this isn't a memo regarding my performance on ESPN Inside Deal … although I do need to speak slower.

I received an email a few weeks ago from a reader named Judd F. who shared an interesting story regarding a recent situation at the Bellagio. Playing $1/$2, his opponent moved all-in on the river. I'll let him take it from here:

"I had nothing but high cards so without much hesitation at all I said: fold. I didn't even bother asking for a count. The dealer and a couple other players heard me say call. Everyone, including me, was perfectly honest. How could that be?"

It seems that Judd has an Israeli accent and his "fold" was misinterpreted and heard by many at the table as "call". This is a tough situation because people always recommend that you verbally declare your accent instead of just moving chips into the pot to avoid confusion. In this case, mucking his cards could've been enough, but for example, if you want to raise to $500, you simply say, "$500" and not just throw one chip in the pot (which could be interpreted as a call). Judd was at a major disadvantage here with the table against him, but thankfully the floor staff worked through the situation before making a decision.

"The dealer called the floor manager who asked the other players. He also asked me to say the word "fold" again. I insisted all along I had nothing so there is no way I could have called. So someone asked what I had and I almost forgot. I paused for a second and said I had Q-10. Were they suited? No. Q-10 off suit. I convinced the floor director to turn over the cards that were on the edge of the muck and sure enough, Q-10 they were. That convinced the floor manager that indeed it was an honest misunderstanding. One could possibly try to push with high cards as a bluff but insta-calling a $200 all-in on a $50 pot with queen-high with that board was just unfathomable."

I thought this was a very interesting story to share and honestly, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. There really isn't a solution available here, but be careful when you're at the table to make sure that the action you're intending to take is voiced or displayed perfectly.

Small blinds: Tom Dwan is now up over $1 million in the "Durrrr challenge". Still a long way to go. … Bowler Mike Fagan recently signed an endorsement deal with Full Tilt Poker. First MMA then bowling. What untapped sports market is next?

Posted by Andrew Feldman

Well, I was wrong. It wasn't Annette's Obrestad, Sorel Mizzi or even Peter Jetten taking down the Aussie Millions main event. Instead it was Tyron Krost, a 23-year old Party Poker qualifier from Australia. Krost defeated Frederik Jensen to win the title and notch his first major victory.

"This is totally unbelievable - it is beyond my wildest dreams," said Krost in a press release. "If it is a dream, I don't want to wake up! In total I spent $700 trying to qualify for a package and I have managed to turn that into 2,000,000 AU$! I got some really good spots on the final table. When I needed a hand I seemed to get it."

Krost's final table should seem like a dream as he eliminated all but two players at the final table. First to go was Stephen Shelley when Krost's J-J held against Shelley's 7-7. Obrestad was out in seventh when she lost a race to Krost (A-J lost to 7-7). Six handed, Kosta Varoxis eliminated Steven Friedlander when his A-K defeated Friedlander's 7-7 and Jetten went out in fifth when he couldn't catch with K-5 against Krost's 10-10.

Varoxis was eliminated by Jensen (2-2 held against A-6) next and the overwhelming chip leader entering the tournament, Mizzi, lost a race to Krost holding … yes, you guessed it, 7-7, to Krost's A-K, to be eliminated in third.

Krost would enter heads up play with more than a 2:1 chip lead and finish the job after all the chips were moved in postflop on a board of Kc-3h-2d. Krost held K-9 while Jetten had K-6. The final two cards failed to help Jetten and Krost became the newest millionaire.

"It just hasn't sunk in at all how much money I have just won," said Krost. "I have no idea what I am going to with it. I cashed at the World Series in 2008, but nothing like this."

Here are the final standings and payouts:
Tyron Krost (2 million AU$)
Frederik Jensen (1.1 million AU$)
Sorel Mizzi (715,000 AU$)
Kosta Varoxis (450,000 AU$)
Peter Jetten (350,000 AU$)
Steve Friedlander (250,000 AU$)
Annette Obrestad (175,000 AU$)
Stephen Shelly (125,000 AU$)

Small blinds: Michael Binger finished in fifth in the UBOC $1 million championship. He pocketed $69,924.50 while champion Dave D'Alesandro took home $279,044.50. … 19,377 players participated in PokerStars' Sunday Million. Wow. … 2009's $50,000 HORSE champion David Bach won the $10,500 HORSE Event 18 in the Aussie Millions. He beat Jeffrey Lisandro heads-up for the title. … After the 275-player first starting day at the Borgata Winter Open main event, Gavin Smith is in third place trailing Al Grimes and Jena Delk. … Weekend Borgata preliminary event winners include Chris Reslock ($350 pot-limit Omaha), Allen Kessler ($350 Omaha high-low/stud high-low split) and Farzad Najafabadi ($2,000 heads-up) and Daniel Garon ($1,500 no-limit hold 'em). … Isildur1 was back on Full Tilt playing $25/$50 pot-limit Omaha over the weekend and according to Bluff magazine, he only played 14 hands and lost $1,000.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

I mentioned this yesterday on the Poker Edge , but I guess I'll put it in writing here. This will be the "Year of Annette". The now 21-year old Annette Obrestad already owns a WSOP bracelet, numerous online titles and live successes and in 2010, she will become an even bigger star.

It's the end of January and as I've mentioned repeatedly in this space, Obrestad has already taken down one preliminary event at the Aussie Millions. When the final table begins Friday night (ET), Obrestad will take a fifth-place stack into the eight-handed final table. She's already locked up another 125,000 AU$ and will be gunning for the 2 million AU$ first-place prize, but even if she doesn't win, her continued exposure will place her once again in the poker spotlight. Making this final table is huge, and she knows it.

She posted the following on Twitter:

"Made the final table YAY, but I'm kinda short on chips after losing a flip at the end of the day, but who cares, Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Besides the European exposure, Obrestad will also be featured domestically on ESPN numerous times this year starting with an appearance Sunday night on ESPN2 during the Caesars Cup. Come May, there's no doubt in my mind that Obrestad will be ready to play in her first WSOP, but first, she'll need to focus on Friday's final table.

The final table will be anything but an easy ride for the trailing seven as Sorel Mizzi brings in a commanding chip lead. Actually, commanding might not be the best word for it. How about dominating, crushing, owning, etc. Mizzi's stack is three times greater than his closest competitor and the dominant online (and live) superstar will be comfortable under the lights having already proved himself with $1.6 million in career live tournament earnings.

Entering the final table in fourth place, Peter "Apathy123" Jetten is also ready to earn his first Aussie Millions title. Jetten boasts nine WSOP cashes including a runner-up finish in a $10,000 pot-limit Omaha event in 2008, but has yet to win a major live tournament.

Here's a look at the chip counts:

Sorel Mizzi ($6.0 million)
Tyron Krost ($1.8 million)
Frederik Jensen ($1.7 million)
Peter Jetten ($1.7 million)
Annette Obrestad ($1.3 million)
Stephen Shelley ($991,000)
Steven Friedlander ($694,000)
Kosta Varoxis ($635,000)

Phelps makes run, but doesn't cash in A.C.

Gold medals or poker titles? I guess Michael Phelps wants both.

The Olympic champion took his seat in the $2,000 heads-up event at the Borgata and managed to make it into the sixth round of the double-elimination tournament. Although he fell just short of the money when he was eliminated by Basilios Diakokomninos, Phelps proved that he can hold his own on the felt by defeating 2007 National Heads-Up Poker champion Paul Wasicka and professional Adam Gerber. Jeff Madsen handed Phelps his first loss in the tournament, but would bubble the tournament after he lost to Greg Brooks.

The remaining matches take place Friday night with Bob Lauria, Greg Brooks, Jason Lufkin, Olivier Busquet, Thomas Fuller and Freddie Najafabadi still in contention.

Small blinds: For the first time in over a month, Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius played a session for the "Durrr challenge". Dwan currently holds an $878,490 over Antonius. … April's Five Diamond Classic at the Bellagio has 17 rebuy-events on the schedule and many players were unhappy, but despite a petition signed by potential participants being submitted to the Bellagio, the schedule remains the same. … Shawn Rice and Phil Hellmuth made the final table at UBOC Event 15. Rice ended up finishing in third while Hellmuth busted in seventh. … Erik Seidel won the 10,500 AU$ pot-limit Omaha event at the Aussie Millions for his first victory in Melbourne.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

Six years ago, Hoyt Corkins found himself holding the championship trophy in the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, claiming his first World Poker Tour victory. After three more final tables and 11 more cashes, Corkins was back at the final table at the Southern Poker Championship on Wednesday night with the chip lead, focused on winning his second WPT title. Besides the money and fame, Corkins had something else on his mind.

"I want to get first or second because that will get me 4,000 WPT points and there's only three people in that club: Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen," Corkins told the World Poker Tour before play began. After his A-7 held against Jonathan Kantor's K-10, Corkins became part of the elite group of WPT champions and pocketed $739,486 in first-place prize money.

"To try and play with those guys and to be in the same company with those guys is a big thrill," Corkins said to the WPT. "The money is great, but the trophies and the achievements, that is a big thrill to me."

Corkins now has $3.3 million in earnings on the World Poker Tour and more than $5 million in his career. One of poker's most recognizable faces, Corkins has earned at least six figures in each of the past seven years of his professional career on the circuit.

Runner-up Jonathan Kantor is riding his run-good as long as he can. Kantor won the $2,000 no-limit hold 'em event at the Southern Poker Championship for $68,443 on Jan. 20 and was ready to play the main event. That decision paid off for Kantor as he took home $366,643 for second place. According to the Hendon Mob Web site, Kantor didn't have a notable cash in his career until Jan. 18. Talk about a great 10 days …

Jerry Vanstrydonck finished in third for $196,829 and the biggest cash of his career. His best previous finish was a 19th-place result at the Bellagio Cup last year. He was eliminated by Corkins in a huge pot after Vanstrydonck had lost the chip lead. Corkins raised from the button to $200,000 with Kc-Qs and Vanstrydonck moved all-in for $1.61 million. Corkins made the call, and his hand held, giving him the chip lead going into heads-up play.

Playing in his first WPT main event and first $10,000 event, Jared Jaffee had won the $500 no-limit hold 'em preliminary event in Biloxi on Jan. 15 for $49,904. He followed that up with a third-place finish in the $300 no-limit event on Jan. 21 and now a fourth-place finish in the main event.

James Reed finished in fifth place in his first $10,000 main event and earned $106,134. With his family following him on the rail throughout the tournament, he entered the final table as the short stack and busted when he moved all-in with 7-5 on Jaffee, who held 8-8. Finishing in sixth, Tyler Smith remains a big fan of Biloxi. Last year he finished second in the $5,000 Gulf Coast Poker Championship main event for $124,406, and on Wednesday, he finished in sixth and took home $86,837. Smith, known online as "tydean," has had his share of success on the virtual felt as well. He's only 23, so we'll probably be hearing a lot more about him in the future.

Aussie Millions Update

It's hard to believe that through the first few weeks of January, I've already said to numerous people that it might be the year of Annette. Winning a preliminary event at the Aussie Millions last week for 40,000 Australian dollars (about $35,852) was just a start for the 21-year-old, as she now finds herself in second place in the Aussie Millions main event and has already guaranteed herself 75,000 AU$. There's still a long way to go in the tournament, and some very tough competitors remain in contention.

It also might be the year of Dan Shak. Over the weekend, Shak defeated Phil Ivey to win the 100,000 AU$ buy-in to take home 1.2 million AU$. Shak has also continued his run in the main event, finding himself in sixth place heading into Day 4. Shak has very quietly amassed more than $2 million in career earnings and is looking to add 2 million AU$ more with a victory in the main event.

Kosmas Dratsas leads the way at the end of play on Day 3, but is trailed very closely by Obrestad and Sorel Mizzi.

The Aussie Millions tournament series also offers tournaments during the main event and after it's finished. Among those events are a 5,300 AU$ heads-up tournament (won by Kyle McMurphy), a 1,100 AU$ no-limit hold 'em team event (won by Mel Judah and Mick Guttman) and a 10,500 AU$ pot-limit Omaha event that currently has four players remaining. Michael Guttman leads the final four, followed by Mike Watson, Erik Seidel and Florian Langmann. The series offers 20 events in total ,with 16 either completed or in progress, and I'm excited for the high-rollers HORSE Event 18 that begins late Thursday ET.

Borgata Poker Open

In New Jersey, Thursday meant the start of the $2,000 64-player double-elimination heads-up tournament. Professionals Gavin Smith, Paul Wasicka, Jeff Madsen, Mike Leah, Olivier Busquet, Nick Binger, Michael Binger and Chris Bell made appearances along with Olympic champion Michael Phelps. While play is currently under way and the results aren't known at this time (3 p.m. ET), Phelps has advanced to the second round as his opponent failed to show.

The main event of the Borgata Poker Open, a $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold 'em event, will have two starting days, Sunday and Monday. With a $2 million guarantee, expect a huge field for this event.

Small blinds: Victory Poker will launch Feb. 1 with a solid roster of professionals, including Antonio Esfandiari, Alec Torelli, Paul Wasicka, Lee Markholt, Danny Wong, Andrew Robl, David Chicotsky, Brian Rast and more. The site will be part of the Cake Poker network. … Speaking of Cake Poker, the site apparently had bought T.J. Cloutier's WSOP bracelet and, according to Poker Royalty's Brian Balsbaugh, will eventually return it to Cloutier. … The L.A. Poker Classic is eight events into the 51-event schedule. Tournament Director Matt Savage has just about every type of tournament on the schedule. I'm looking forward to Event 43: the Iron Man no-limit hold 'em event. No breaks, no deals and 50 percent for first place. The winner that day will be Red Bull. … Congrats to "The Poker Beat," which won Bluff magazine's Reader's Choice awards for best poker podcast. Poker Edge in 2011? … Full Tilt and its players donated $580,000 for Haiti relief efforts. PokerStars donated more than $1 million. Well done, poker world.

Posted by Eric Siegel, Marketing and Player Development Leader for PPI

Let me start by saying that I am not a professional poker player. However, I do feel qualified through my vast experience as both a player and an industry leader to engage in a conversation or debate if you will, as to what makes someone a poker pro.

Before we get deep into this often puzzling area of what is considered a professional poker player, let me tell you a little about myself and my poker background. I have been playing poker for over 25 years. I have evolved with the game from the backroom clubs in NYC and Long Island, to poker's highest level of competition as a profitable player on the tournament circuit throughout the country. I am also the owner of a successful pool and spa retail and custom design company in New York.

My experiences in the poker world have led me in the direction to do more than "just play." Over the past seven years since poker has become a cultural phenomenon, I have often been considered to be a representative for the poker community on many levels. I have concentrated my efforts on the betterment of the sport, while garnering the respect of players, tournament directors and poker industry leaders in an effort to improve poker player's lifestyle and experiences both on and off the felt. As founder of Tri-State Poker News, I came to realize there was much more to my interest in poker than being a player. This upstart company led me to meet my partners at Poker Players International (PPI), where I currently serve as Director of Marketing and Player Development Leader.

By definition, a professional is someone who engages in an activity as a source of livelihood or as a career. Of course anyone reading this article knows that when it comes to poker this often self-appointed title of poker pro, takes on a whole other meaning than any standard definition. Too often poker players are either labeled or label themselves as "professionals". This moniker in most fields suggests advanced ability and a skill set to succeed. The truth is the title of "pro" is nothing more than a description, one which no one should make an assumption as to the players playing ability.

To many poker players and fans of the sport, the term "pro" simply means top player in the field. Depending on the level of competition in any event I am playing at, I have experienced both sides of this example of the definition: where I am looked upon as the pro at the table and where I am sitting amongst pros. I recall watching the broadcast of the 2009 WSOP when Norman Chad referred to someone that I know personally as a young poker pro. This person definitely does not consider himself a professional poker player, it was his first ever main event, and he has a 9 to 5 job in Manhattan. Does his appearance at a TV featured table with a logo on his shirt make him a pro? He might be considered a pro for that moment because he is making money playing poker for that moment, but surely playing poker is not his career choice simply by the title he was given on TV.

A poker player on the tournament circuit is always under constant scrutiny from other players, family or the media. Our results are made public record on thousands of websites literally before we collect our winnings. If someone claims to be a professional poker player, anyone can simply go to a poker site and look up that person's entire poker stats and earnings. There aren't many other professions with those characteristics. Therefore anyone claiming or considered to be a professional better have the goods to back up the title or they are failing at their career if we look back at the true definition of a professional. I know many stock brokers, lawyers, and business owners who struggle to make money year after year, but who are still looked upon as professionals in their field of work. Their status is never in question nor is their expertise in their chosen profession. It may be said that they are "going through a tough time" or "it's the economy" if anything may happen, but a professional poker player going through a similar downward spiral has to question his choice of livelihood and is often judged by others.

I have heard many people say that players who are able to make income outside of just their play, whether it is through sponsorship or endorsement opportunities are also considered professional players. Although these are alternative revenue streams from actually playing the game of poker, there is a direct correlation between players corporate and media income and their success at the table. These opportunities are few and far between the small percentage of players capitalizing on such deals and the millions of people participating in the sport.

So what is my definition of a professional poker player? It's simple, but it must be broken down into two different groups of pros. The first group contains someone who leaves their current career in pursuit of a career in poker. This group of pros by my standards would be someone that can sustain the same or better financial and social lifestyle as they did prior to being a pro. The second group pertains to those who choose a career as a pro player as their first job with no prior income source. For these generally young pros, the ability to sustain a viable income while establishing a lifestyle that gives them the opportunity to evolve into a successful career as a poker player. Another component to being a professional that is often over looked and taken for granted: how one conducts themselves within their chosen career. Achieving the respect of others in your line of work is just as important as your financial success and often leads to reaching ones goals. You don't have to be a professional poker player to garner this respect, but it is an important element if you choose poker as a career.

I am off to the Borgata Winter Open, where the fields are huge and filled with pros, semi- pros, amateurs and people just looking for a few hours of recreation. At the end of the two week series, there will be pros re-evaluating their career choice and amateurs handing in their resignation papers to their current employers.

PPI PICKS … Poker Charity Pledge Programs are an important part of the way players give back to those in need. PPI supports the following organizations and their efforts.

The Nephcure Foundation - PPI has initiated the "All In For a Cure" poker pledge program. Nephcure is the only organization solely committed to finding a cause and a cure for two kidney diseases FSGS and Nephrotic Syndrome. The pledge program was set up to give poker players from around the world, the opportunity to pledge a percentage of their tournament winnings to help raise awareness and funds for these devastating diseases. Jennifer Harman has recently joined the cause in an effort to bring more attention to the program and the Nephcure foundation.

The Bad Beat On Cancer Initiative -- Both Founders of PPI are on the advisory council of this organization and since its inception over six years ago the BBoC has raised over $2 million for cancer prevention research. The initiative has inspired amateurs and pros alike to donate one percent of their winnings for life to the organization.

Poker Players International (PPI) is the world's largest poker agency, with scores of clients ranging from Hall of Famers to tomorrow's up-and-coming stars. For more information about PPI or to suggest topics for this blog, please contact Randy Kasper at randy@pokerplayersinternational.com

Posted by Gary Wise

When I fully immersed myself in the poker world six years ago, T.J. Cloutier loomed larger than life. A man whose former football-playing frame perfectly suited his reputation to the eyes of those on the other side of the TV screen, Cloutier was constantly referred to in those days as the greatest tournament player to have never won the WSOP main event.

Cloutier's resume runs deep. In the WSOP alone, he's finished second twice in the main event, won six bracelets, cashed 56 times and won over $4.3 million in winnings (over $9.7 million for his total career). He's also survived the tough Texan cash game circuit as one of the last true "Rounders" standing.

All of the above made the posting on e-bay last week of a bracelet reportedly won by Cloutier all the more distressing. The seller was named 'planopawnshop', a reputable seller whose name contains that of Cloutier's Plano, Texas hometown. It's not the first time one of T.J.'s bracelets has been rumored to be on the market.

I don't pretend to know for certain the circumstances that would surround any potential Cloutier bracelet sales. It's entirely feasible that in his late sixties he's come to some understanding that baubles aren't important in the greater scheme and just didn't want the things any more. The view from the inside however has always suggested that T.J. has a very tough time staying away from the craps table, and just as tough a time keeping his bets minimal once he gets there. If the whispers are to be believed, his craps losses exceed his impressive poker winnings.

This isn't about poker. It's about the poker lifestyle and how important it is that one who lives it maintains discipline both on and off the table. "Letting off steam" after days on end of maintaining discipline at the tournament table is a time-honored tradition.

Over and again I hear stories of other TV poker pros who have taken down seven-digit victories with curvy numbers at the head going broke in the pits.

Poker may seem like a nice way to make a living without working, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Most successful pros put intensive care into their craft and as with any other industry, in poker only the strong survive. That strength can't turn off when you fold your final hand of the session.

Small blinds: Dan Shak defeated Phil Ivey to win the 100,000 Australian Dollar-tournament held at the Aussie Millions. Shak earned 1.2 million Australian dollars for the victory while Ivey took home only 600,000 Australian dollars. With his second-place finish, Ivey has once again jumped ahead of Daniel Negreanu on the all-time tournament earnings list. … Jake Cody became the latest EPT champion with a victory at Deauville. Cody earned 847,000 Euros for the win and a seat into the EPT final at Monte Carlo this spring. … Juan Antonio "vietcong01" Barros won the Sunday Million for the second time. His first victory came in 2007. … The Aussie Millions main event is underway. … Darrell Cain outlasted the huge field of 5,847 in the $300 event at the L.A. Poker Classic. … 27 players remain in the WPT Southern Poker Championship. Jared Jaffee is the current chip leader. … From January 9 to January 16, Dwyte Pilgrim was the hottest player on the felt notching two wins and a second-place finish during preliminary events at the 2010 Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

The beauty of poker is that 10 players could play the same hand 10 different ways. Granted, most of us would raise with aces preflop, but the amounts might be different. Or maybe the way we would play them against different opponents would change our respective strategies.

The Debate makes a triumphant return with an interesting situation and this week, Brian Kornfeld joins me to analyze a situation from a recent online tournament. While some might believe this situation is a clear move one way or another, neither of us was sold on the action that would take place.

Don't forget to leave your feedback in the conversation section. You can also suggest a hand and be featured in a future article by e-mailing insidedeal@espn.com.

Situation: Hero is sitting on the button with a slight chip lead over his opponents in a single-table sit and go turbo tournament. The action is now five-handed and the blinds are $80/$160. Even holding the chip lead, hero has only 23 big blinds with $3,700. The action begins with a very aggressive player moving all-in from under the gun for $2,600. The next player to act folds and hero looks down to see As-Js. Everyone at the table has at least $2,200 and all have proved to be solid players.

Let the debate begin …

Feldman: What we know about this player is that he's an aggressive player which means he could be shoving with a wide range of hands here. I'm just confused about why he moved all-in here. He has plenty of chips to make a standard raise to $375-$400, something he'd probably do if he wanted action. Shoving for 17 big blinds just makes me wonder if he's trying to induce someone to call light or get everyone out of the way.

Kornfeld: Although he has the stack to raise to 400 or even the standard opening bet of 480, an aggressive player does not want to be reshoved on or allow an opponent to catch up. It seems to me that he is trying to protect a hand he does not want to play postflop, or even play at all. I'd say his range includes any pocket pair up to jacks, any ace, and king-queen or king-jack. Being that he is an aggressive player, I would take his raise lightly and think that ace-jack is beating his range, but it is still a gamble to call, especially with two solid players still to act.

Feldman: I agree with you there and in fact, my estimates for hand ranges were approximately the same. I feel like he's more likely to have a middle pocket pair than something like K-J and if that's the case, we can assume we're in a race situation. The real question is if we want to race for a good amount of our chips. If we lose, we're down to $1,100, which is still nine big blinds, but in these fast-moving sit and go tournaments, the blinds go up extremely fast and we'd have to make another decision soon. When is it appropriate to race in a sit and go?

Kornfeld: Assuming this is a race situation, I think I would pass. I trust my own game enough to pick up small pots and not have to gamble over half of my stack in one hand where I may or may not be ahead. In a sit and go, you can't afford to give up any chips unnecessarily and you haven't put a dime into this pot. I think the best course of action is to sit back and let him take the 240 chips. There are a lot of spots you can use your power as the chip leader, especially approaching the bubble. Gambling here means you could be giving yourself a 50 percent shot at giving up the power of the chip lead. There are better spots you can find at picking up chips, even with a little over 20 big blinds.

Feldman: You raise a good point, and while I'm assuming it's a race, it also might not be. He could make this move with any ace as well and in those situations, we're way ahead (except for A-K and A-Q). Don't we always look for spots against weaker opponents to take advantage? This could be a mistake on his behalf and I think we need to take that into consideration before we just throw our hand away.

Of course I also like folding and keeping our chip lead. With the blinds increasing and the bubble approaching, we will be able to use our aggression and pad our stack. I'm always talking about picking better spots and while this might not be the best spot, these turbo tournaments offer us different and more limited opportunities to take advantage.

Kornfeld: I couldn't agree more. He may have a weaker hand here, but when all the potential hands are looked at, we basically overall have only a slight edge mathematically. I advocate a fold and finding a better spot to pick up chips.

Feldman: Now that we're both in the same spot, what do you think the percentages are that we're in a race versus we're dominating versus we're dominated?

Kornfeld: I would say it's about 40 percent racing, 35 percent ahead and 25 percent behind. Now, I know that means we have a slight advantage (10 percent) over his range, but I would not want to gamble with just a 55-45 advantage. It's just not worth it with the chip lead and nothing invested in the pot as you will lose almost half of the times you put yourself in this position.

Feldman: But in a turbo tournament, how can you avoid a spot where you believe you may have the advantage? If we really bring the speed of the tournament in as a factor, I think it's very hard for you to throw this hand away since you know he's looking at any ace as a spot to push.

Kornfeld: I know that's possible, but also remember you have the chip lead approaching the bubble. That can be worth a lot more and you have a much higher chance of pushing opponents off marginal hands than your 55 percent chance to win here. If you trust your game, you can pass this spot up for a better one.

What happened: Hero made the call and the blinds folded. The under-the-gun player showed Q-Q and hero was in a 30-70 situation. The board ran out dry and hero's stack was knocked down to $1,100.

Feldman: I'm really shocked he had queens here. Obviously with a premium hand you're trying to maximize value and perhaps he felt that someone would be more likely to call his shove than get enough from the action postflop. I still don't hate the call. Even though hero was wrong this time around, I'd say seven out of 10 times we're going to be in better shape.

Kornfeld: Although I'm surprised at just how strong he was, I think the hero is gambling way too much with a call. I wouldn't say you're in better shape as much as 70 percent or even 60 percent of the time, and way too often you are risking your stack and your position as chip leader on a 50-50 shot. I'd say trust your game and find a better spot.

How would you have played the hand? What would you do if you were in this situation? Leave your comments below, and we'll take a look at your thoughts next time.

Posted by Gary Wise

Norman Chad falls in love with alarming regularity, so it shouldn't have been a shock when he was suddenly infatuated with Kara Scott during the 2008 World Series of Poker main event. Scott, the beautiful Canadian television personality, combined looks, table-side grace and enough expertise to last to 104th place in that tournament. What's not to love?

After that success, Scott intensified her focus on the table, a decision that netted her a $400,000-plua score in April's Irish Open and another money finish in the 2009 WSOP main event. Off the table, it was announced a few months ago that she was joining GSN's High Stakes Poker as a hostess/presenter and she'll also be part of the on-air team for ESPN's WSOP Europe broadcasts that debut on January 31. In all, we're talking a lot of attention for a young woman who is obviously going places. It all makes the January 14th Party Poker announcement that she'd signed a sponsorship agreement make a whole lot of sense.

In the wake of all this, there are few lingering questions about Scott that I'm sure we'll see answered in coming months. HSP is the recipient right now of PokerStars' advertising dollars and Scott, at one time a presenter for the heavily 'Stars-branded European Poker Tour, is now a former employee of theirs. Scott's signing seems to symbolically represent the recent wave of attempts by Party to reclaim some of their territory lost to 'Stars in the wake of the UIGEA. It will be interesting to see if both 'Stars and Kara stay affiliated with HSP, since 'Stars isn't exactly in the business of promoting competing brands. What business is? Along those lines, this will also be the first year on HSP that players will be allowed to wear a logo at the table. That said, Scott will not be sporting any logo during the broadcasts.

If the end result is that we don't end up seeing as much of Scott on GSN as previously thought, that sure seems to suggest that she got one heck of a deal to sign with Party. To make a deal of that significance worthwhile, Party would need to get her maximum exposure themselves. Fortunately, they just happen to be the proud owners of a property that can offer that kind of exposure: the World Poker Tour. I think we're going to be seeing more guaranteed air time for Kara Scott on those broadcasts than the hope of final-table finishes can provide. I wonder if Norman would still hold those feelings for a fellow presenter if she were on the opposite side of the TV ratings war. Who knows, maybe it could intensify them.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

Poker players and online sites are stepping up in major ways to help the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. Led by Full Tilt and PokerStars, poker players are able to donate any amount of money by simply transferring funds in the game client or playing in a charity tournament.

"Anyone watching the news knows how important it is to get help to the Haitians as quickly as possible," said professional poker player and host of the Poker Edge podcast Phil Gordon. "Poker players can effectively double their donations through the mechanisms set up by Full Tilt and the generous matching program. This is a great chance to show the world how poker players can step up and help in a true humanitarian crisis."

Full Tilt is offering three different ways to donate. The first option is starting on Thursday and running through Sunday, there will be a number of "Aid For Haiti" tournaments at a range of buyins for players to participate in. Second, players can register to play for a "fake" tournament that won't run. Basically you can enter any of these 10 different tournaments at different buy-in levels and the tournament won't run, but the money will be donated. The third option is for anyone who wants to donate their own specific amount of money at any time. Full Tilt has created an "Aid for Haiti" account and can accept any amount over $5 as a donation.

Full Tilt will have more on their Web site about this on Friday including the charities that will receive the money. The site has encouraged their pros to play along and host these tournaments. Gordon's initial $5,000 donation to this account has already been matched by the site and that is hopefully just the start of what will be sent to relief funds over the next two weeks.

PokerStars has taken a similar approach by offering charity "dummy" tournaments that range from $1 to $1,000. They plan to match the donations and all money generated will be donated to the Red Cross. On PokerStars, players can either donate to the account "Haiti Fund" or enter the "Haiti Earthquake Relief" mentioned above. PokerStars has said that thousands have already donated, but hopes to do all it can to help to the people of Haiti.

Both sites are offering these dummy/fake tournaments as a way for users to share with the public that they have donated and both sites are matching user donations 100 percent.

Also making their voices heard were professional poker players Joe Sebok, Annie Duke and Maria Ho who used their widely-followed Twitter accounts to promote donations. The Twitter Poker Tour is also holding numerous charity tournaments of its own. One of them will be held Thursday night where $1 from every player will be donated to the Red Cross.

If there ever was a time for the poker community to truly show its passion for charity, these next few days would be the perfect opportunity.