ESPN Poker Blog

Posted by Andrew Feldman

The last week of December is always an interesting time of the year. Many will get gifts, eat way too much and spend time with family, but it's also a time for reflection on what went right in the previous year and what, as individuals, we can improve looking ahead. I won't bore you with my 2009 resolutions, because, let's face it, many of them failed to come to fruition due to one excuse or another.

As I look forward to 2010, I've once again set personal resolutions, and just like I've said every year in the past, this will be the year I accomplish them. My most entertaining one will be centered around a weight-loss prop bet with ESPNRadio.com's Poker Edge producer Shaun Wyman. We're still trying to figure out what is on the line, so feel free to offer suggestions to poker@espnradio.com. Forget the personal stuff, moving on to poker in 2010.

On Tuesday, I outlined a schedule of events to watch for in 2010. Month by month, those with gigantic bankrolls will travel to the exciting locations and play the game that many of us love as a profession. Clearly, their poker New Year resolutions will be quite different than those of an employee of ESPN, so I decided to share my 2010 poker resolutions.

Just like ordinary resolutions, these are designed to keep focus and help me become a better person … or in this case, player. You could view the six below as a list of leaks in my game, and I guess for the most part, that's the case. However, these are the items I'll be working on in 2010.

(1) Stop trying to be the hero all the time

There's never a better feeling than being in a hand with bottom pair at the river and calling your opponent's bluff. OK, maybe cracking aces with 5-7 off suit, but still, making the hero call is one of the great moments at the felt. You feel confident about your reads, absolutely crush the mental game of your opponent and chip up. The hero call is one that you make to prove that you are right. It's the call that forces your opponent to respect you and screams to the table that you're on your game.

It would be great to say that every hero call you make works out, but it doesn't go your way all of the time.

I believe that I'm attempting to make the hero call too often. If it's a king-high board and he's been betting the entire way, don't call with queens, Andrew. This isn't a problem of getting attached to premium hands, it's an issue of putting my opponents on hands I can beat.

(2) Take more time to act and pay more attention

Throughout my life I've heard a similar message time and time again. It's been the same message for me since I was in elementary school when my teachers told me I rushed through my assignments and made careless mistakes.

All too often I rush my decisions, and I'm sure this is a consistent issue with many players. There will be times where I'm dealt a hand and I know I'm getting involved, regardless of the action in front of me. That mistake has cost me more chips than I can imagine. On top of that, there will be times where I put in a raise, only to know I'm getting reraised and that I can't call that bet.

This resolution will be centered on watching the action more carefully, thinking through the entire situation, and then making a move. Take your time, Andrew.

(3) Do hand history reviews

All major online sites allow you to store your hand histories to look back upon and learn from. I don't take advantage of this enough and in 2010, I will go through winning and losing hands and discover additional leaks.

(4) Stop getting involved from the blinds

I never thought of myself as a defender, but I started resolution No. 3 a little early and found out that I'm losing way too many chips due to defending my blinds with mediocre holdings. I wasn't even reraising and forcing my opponents to make the decision, but calling and check-folding. Drawing hands in the big blind get me in too much trouble and it's time to let this habit go.

(5) Satellite into the main event

This year is the year. Whether I'll play or not is a different discussion.

(6) Stop playing when it isn't fun

There are times almost every year that I find myself playing for no reason, but to play. Poker is a fun hobby for me. That's it. When the monotonous actions of folding and raising become frustrating, it's time to take a break. This falls into the idea that you should only play when you're in the right mindset.

So that's a list from a low-limit recreational player. As for the pros, here are their thoughts on 2010:

"My resolution is to be more sincere in my effort. This means less drinking, more sleep and exercise and breakfast before tournament days!" -- Gavin Smith

"2010 will see a more focused Antonio. Although most of my time and energy will (be) spent with the start of our own poker site (victorypoker.net) I will be very focused when it comes tournament time. Along with my life coach and my trainer/nutritionist, there will be no stopping me!" -- Antonio Esfandiari

"My ongoing poker resolution is to play each hand as perfectly as possible. I don't like resolutions like I'm going to win $X, I'm going to be in the top 5 POY, or any such. I just don't think poker is conducive to such goals, and that really sticking to such goals is more likely to be hurtful than helpful. Of course, if instead somebody were to make a resolution that they will quit any and every cash game they are in if they realize they're on tilt, or they resolve to spend at least so much time studying poker instead of just playing, then those types of resolutions can be very beneficial.

But no special resolutions for me. I've never been one for New Year's resolutions anyway. I just don't see anything special about a new year. If it's good for me to do on Jan. 1, why wait until then to start?" -- Greg Raymer

"I'm resolving to do more yoga." -- Rafe Furst

"There is only one New Year's resolution, every year. Win a bracelet. Sadly, I'm about as successful with my poker resolutions as I am with my exercise and diet resolutions." -- Howard Lederer

" My new years resolution is to keep learning and play my best all the time and if I'm not playing my best, stop playing. And to make the final table again of the WSOP. That was too much fun, lol." -- Kevin Schaffel

"My new rears resolution is to actually play more poker as right now I have very little time." -- Joe Navarro

"First and foremost, get back to my old, tight-aggressive, patient style. With regards to results, I want three-to-five final tables and ultimately one title. I'd like to reach tournament earnings of $225,000 or more as it would put me over $1.5 million in my career." -- Bernard Lee

I also reached out to my tweeps on Twitter (@ESPN_Poker) to get their thoughts. Here's what some of them said:

• "To go from a break-even SNG player to a winning SNG player. :)" -- scottsanchez
• "To see that I am better than risking 60% of my chips in a tourney when I know I'm in a race! Save them for better odds!" -- mcmcgurk
• "I'd love to stop calling raises on the river without the nuts. Or more generally: STOP PLAYING BADLY." - chancehusky
• "My 2010 poker resolution is to play in the WSOP senior event and not question why, now that I am 50, I am considered a senior" -- gutito21
• "My poker new years resolution is to play in my first main event this year." -- patrickwillyard
• "To work on not tilting after [my opponent] hits 1 outers twice in same orbit and to stop making stupid prop bets on WSOP. Never win those." -- pdcolemanjr

Best of luck to everyone on and off the felt in 2010. Happy New Year!

Posted by Andrew Feldman

In his last article of the year, Gary Wise wrote about what stories shaped the industry in 2009. Now, it's my turn, but instead of looking back on the last 12 months, I'm going to take a look ahead at what's in store for the industry in 2010.

January: The European Poker Tour's PokerStars Caribbean Adventure takes place down in the Bahamas Jan. 4-10. Joe Cada will take center stage among the rest of the PokerStars Pro team and we'll start to see the champ take his seat against thousands of onliners. In 2009, Poorya Nazari outlasted the field of 1,347 players to win the $3 million first prize. I'm expecting a larger field this year and given that the 2010 PCA will offer 47 events, there will be a lot of opportunities for players to start the year off on a high note. (Other tournaments to watch for: Aussie Millions, WPT's Southern Poker Championship)

February: New Jersey in February? Where else would you rather be? The 2010 Borgata Winter Poker Open is a $3,500 buy-in event with a $2 million guarantee. Not too shabby. The event will last from Jan. 31 until Feb. 5 and from there most players will head across the country to the L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino. If they decide to head south instead, they'll end up at the WSOP Circuit main event in Tunica, Miss. (Other tournaments: Wynn Classic, WSOP Circuit Council Bluffs)

March: The National Heads-Up Poker Championship returns to Las Vegas, as will defending champion Huck Seed. What I'm interested in is seeing if Darvin Moon takes his seat in the tournament as he gained an automatic entry by finishing as runner-up in the main event. Even though he has a seat with his name on it, he'll have to pony up the $20,000 entry fee and without a sponsor to help with that buy-in, I don't see Moon ready to buy into the event. Meanwhile, Seed will try to cash for the sixth consecutive year and extend his own record in doing so. (Other tournaments: World Poker Challenge in Reno, main events of Wynn Classic and WSOP Circuit Council Bluffs, Bay 101, WSOP Circuit Harrah's Rincon, WPT Hollywood Casino and the one million Euro guaranteed main event at EPT Berlin)

April: One of the most prestigious tournaments of the year will take place at the Bellagio in April. The $25,000 World Poker Tour Championship will feature an extremely tough field and the now 22-year-old Yevgeniy Timoshenko will be there to defend his title. Right after the WPT championship concludes, the biggest WSOP Circuit event of the year will take place next door at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Many pros will also take the next flight out of town to Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Final, the most prestigious stop of the European Poker Tour each season.

May: With the WSOP around the corner, players will be getting their bankrolls and bodies ready for the long 57-event grind that begins at the end of the month. Before the WSOP begins on May 27, players could either stay in the United States and play in the WSOP Circuit event in New Orleans or head to France to play in the WPT Grand Prix de Paris. Besides those two tournament stops, I'll be looking to see if PokerStars offers its Spring Championship of Online Poker once again. The SCOOP was a success in its debut in 2009, so I would assume that it will be back on the schedule for 2010.

June:In June the poker world truly reunites in Las Vegas. The World Series of Poker will be in full swing and players from around the world will attempt to prove they have what it takes by taking home a WSOP bracelet. Among the 57 events, I'm looking forward to the $50,000 eight-game mix tournament as well as the $25,000 short-handed event. Numbers will obviously be the question again as the time approaches, but I think the WSOP, with the eight $1,000 events, will have record-setting turnouts during the preliminaries. While the players will be at the table, the real action will be in Washington, D.C. The second "D-Day" for online poker will take place in early June after the six-month delay initiated in late November. This story is definitely one we'll be following and online poker players in the U.S. will be anxiously waiting for the outcome. What do I think? Not regulation, but a more permanent delay of UIGEA implementations.

July: Welcome to the main event! On July 5, the biggest event of the year will begin and during one of the starting days, Joe Cada will be at the feature table. Will Phil Ivey make the final table again? Will Annette Obrestad make her WSOP main event debut a success? Will the new November Nine have at least one big pro? I can't give you those answers, but I will predict a larger field than 2009, maybe around 7,100 if the political situations remain the same as they are today. Although the schedule for the event has not been released yet, the Bellagio Cup VI will most likely begin after the starting days of the main event. Also, WSOP broadcasts on ESPN will begin in July so don't forget that Tuesday night is poker night.

August: The media will start to introduce you to the November Nine and there is a slight downtime during the month as many try to recoup bankrolls lost during the WSOP. Those in action will be at the Legends of Poker while everyone else prepares for a trip to London for the World Series of Poker Europe in September.

September: I'm interested to see if the European Poker Tour stop in London will produce a bigger field than the WSOPE main event for the second consecutive year. The EPT has a huge following overseas and while a bracelet is supposed to mean everything, many players are more likely to show up for the EPT event than the WSOPE event. That said, at least four events will take place in London as part of the WSOPE. Can Daniel Negreanu make the final table of the main event three years in a row? Even if he doesn't, the caliber of talent at the WSOPE main event greatly exceeds that of the WSOP and it's one of my favorite tournaments to cover each year. September is also the month for online poker players to show their chops in PokerStars' WCOOP.

October: Time to head to Aruba. Seriously. Everything I've heard about the Aruba Poker Classic is that it's one of the top stops of the year purely due to its location. Festa Al Lago takes place at the Bellagio in October, but some of the bigger tournaments during the month occur overseas in Barcelona and Macau.

November: Insert November Nine storyline here. Follow up with how the champ is received after his win, what he buys immediately after and what his plans are for the following year. I also hope that Foxwoods finally decides not to run its World Poker Finals main event during the same week as the WSOP main event final table.

December: Daniel Alaei returns to the Bellagio after his $1.4 million win in 2009. Something tells me Alaei will be the owner of a couple more titles in 2010 and his return to the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic will heavily factor in the player of the year race.

Here are a couple of other "predictions" for 2010:

• One of the $1,000 events will have a larger field than the WSOP main event. There are two starting days for each of the open $1,000 events and it seems logical in these economic times that many would be willing to put up $1,000 instead of $10,000.

• Phil Hellmuth wins his 12th bracelet. He's been shut out for two years. I don't think it happens again in 2010.

• Antonio Esfandiari wins a major title. You'll read his 2010 resolution in tomorrow's column. I agree with him.

• Isildur1 moves out of Sweden and reveals his identity.

• Joe Cada will defend his title well throughout the year. He'll play a lot, make some money and be a great ambassador at the same time.

• Live tournament field sizes will decrease at most venues, but increase during the WSOP. At the same time, online poker will continue to grow.

• The WPT will make a comeback with the support of Party Poker, but still fail to break through again to the American mainstream due to its current TV situation.

• There will be two double-bracelet winners during the 2010 WSOP. One will be a player we've never heard of, the other will be Phil Ivey.

• The EPT/LAPT/APPT will continue to grow. Poker from an international perspective is still booming. While we may have seen a plateau in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America continue to bring new players to the game and their respective poker tours will gain momentum and attract more players. Also, the fact that Poker Stars gets behind these tours in such a big way in terms of promotion will guarantee success.

• ESPN Inside Deal will bring you all the news, strategy and poker coverage throughout the year. Yes, we'll be back in 2010.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

All the hype was building for the final Sunday of 2009 and for one site, it was a Sunday to cheer. For another site, a day of frustration.

PokerStars was boasting the opportunity to all of its players to be part of a record-setting tournament. For $1, you could buy-in and be part of the historic occasion where the site hoped to set a world record for the largest poker tournament in history. When registration closed, the Guinness Book of World Records had a new entry as 149,196 players participated in the event on Sunday, more than twice the previous record set in July.

PokerStars offered a $300,000 guaranteed prize pool for the tournament. Now, I'm not sure if they were hoping to attract 300,000 players or just promote the large guarantee, but in any case, "Oskar69" was more than happy to take down the $50,000 first-place prize. The tournament offered five-minute blinds levels and the massive field was whittled down to only one in six hours of play.

While PokerStars boasted just how capable their servers could be by running the record-setting tournament, Full Tilt suffered a network outage that resulted in disappointment for many online players. The site acted according to its policy and voided the tournaments that were in progress, including the $750,000 guaranteed, the Sunday Brawl and Sunday Mulligan.

Full Tilt is currently running promotions for their "Big Little" tournaments and many are wondering after Sunday's outage whether or not their servers will be able to handle the load. The four "Big Little" tournaments are offering $250,000 in guaranteed prize pools for only a $5 buy-in. The tournaments will take place on the next four Sundays and are sure to draw massive fields.

Small blinds: Cardplayer magazine's player of the year Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin has been signed by Ultimate Bet. Baldwin finished second in Bluff magazine's player of the year race to Jason Mercier. … Congrats to our friends at Poker2Nite who will be broadcasting on The Poker Channel in Europe in addition to their stint in the U.S. … Some notable finishes from Sunday include David Pham and Adam Levy's ninth and 12th place finishes in the PokerStars $215 rebuy tournament for $3,752 and $3,430 and Tony Gargano, one of Joe Cada's friends, finished fourth in the PokerStars Sunday 500 for $35,704. … More good news from Sunday! ESPN.com's Gary Wise got engaged to his girlfriend Heather. Congrats Gary! We wish you all the best!

Posted by Gary Wise

"What if poker was like football? Well luckily it's not. UB.net. No shoulder pads, no spandex, no benchwarmers. Thank goodness for poker."

Above is the dialogue of one of UB's new commercials, read with the backdrop of a poker table set up in the middle of a football field with competitors in both games going through their motions. I've seen accompanying baseball and hockey versions and I have to imagine there a basketball version out there somewhere.

Attentive members of the poker community are never going to forget the happenings on Ultimate Bet when it was discovered that one or more company insiders were siphoning money off the player base by playing with opponents' hole cards exposed. While those events remain unresolved in the eyes of many, UB's move last month away from ultimatebet.net to UB.net signaled an attempt to turn the page. These ads are doing more of the same and a new attempt at rebranding is being made.

Two things have really grabbed me in the viewing of these commercials, the first of those being a lack of star power. For years, two of the five biggest player brands in the industry -- Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke -- have been the face of the website. You couldn't find a UB ad without one of them featured. That we're finally seeing that now (seemingly replaced in part by the squeaky clean images of Poker2nite co-hosts Scott Huff and Joe Sebok) speaks volumes of the direction in which UB is steering itself.

The other note of note was what the message UB is shilling means in the marketplace. While the narrative separates poker from sport, the joint image reminds us of the similarities -- namely competition, gamesmanship and adrenaline. It's a code that bears a striking resemblance to that of advertisements aired by PokerStars in 2008 where Joe Hachem played basketball, Daniel Negreanu played hockey, etc. If I were working for Poker Stars and saw this going on, I'd be concerned about these new attempts to reach a new player base. It looks to me like UB has decided that the best demographic to take aim at is the one Stars previously had cornered.

Small blinds: Pokernews.com was able to secure an interview with the mysterious "Isildur1". If you've been following the high stakes action over the past few months, you're going to want to read what he has to say. … Cardplayer magazine's Player of the year Eric Baldwin has been signed by Ultimate Bet. Baldwin earned $1.5 million in tournaments in 2009. … The World Poker Tour is heading back to France. For the first time in a few years, the Grand Prix de Paris at the Aviation Club de France will be on the tournament schedule.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

If you're a member of the Alaei or Kessler households, chances are, your holiday gifts might have just gotten a little better.

In Las Vegas, Daniel Alaei won his first WPT title by defeating the field of 329 players in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic to earn $1.4 million and a $25,000 seat into the WPT championship in 2010. It's been quite a year for Alaei who picked up his second WSOP bracelet in June in the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha world championship. In total, Alaei earned over $2.1 million for the year and has now approaching the $4 million dollar mark for his career.

Alaei had quite a battle on his hands at the final table that included Josh Arieh, Shawn Buchanan, Faraz Jaka, Scotty Nguyen and Steve O'Dwyer. After coming into the final table as the short stack, O'Dwyer was knocked out by Nguyen on the 47th hand. Fifty-seven hands later, Nguyen would be next to go when his pocket nines ran into Jaka's pocket kings. Even though Nguyen only earned $249,976 for his finish, this was his fourth most profitable year throughout his career in terms of tournament winnings.

Buchanan would be eliminated just a few hands later by Alaei and would be followed quickly out the door by Jaka who fell to Alaei. This was Jaka's second WPT final table of the year after finishing second at the Bellagio Cup in July. He earned $571,314 for this finish to give him a total of $1.2 million for the year. Not bad for a 24-year old.

Despite knocking out the last two players, Alaei was at a major chip disadvantage against Arieh. When heads-up play began, Arieh had $12.9 million to Alaei's $6.7 million. The two then picked up a couple of big hands -- Q-Q for Alaei and A-K for Arieh. The queens held and Alaei took the lead, but it wouldn't last long. With the tournament on the line, Alaei held A-Q and was up against Arieh's A-7. Without fail a seven spiked the turn and Arieh took the lead once again, but not by much. Shortly after that last confrontation, Arieh raised and Alaei called. The flop came 10-5-2 and Arieh moved all-in. Alaei called holding 10-8 and was in the lead against Arieh's 7-7. Two innocuous cards later and Alaei had claimed the title, sending Arieh to the rail in second place.

Congrats to Alaei on his tournament win and I have a feeling we might see some votes for him in January's version of "The Nuts" on ESPN.com.

Chainsaw

For the last 10 years, Allen Kessler has been traveling the poker circuit wherever the tournament may be held. Last week, Kessler finished 13th in a $1,000 preliminary event at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic tournament series in Las Vegas which featured the main event discussed above. After his $2,465 pay day, he traveled to New Orleans to play in the Bayou Poker Challenge main event. The $3,000 buy-in event attracted only 80 players resulting with only the final table getting paid.

"I really like supporting these events," Kessler said. "These are great structures. It's one of the best tournament structures I've seen for this buy-in amount."

After 26 hours of play on the first two days of the tournament, Kessler held the chip lead at the nine-player final table with hopes to capture his first tournament victory of the year. That chip lead disappeared a couple hours into play and Kessler was forced to grind back after putting his tournament life on the line multiple times. He doubled up when he needed to and ended up outlasting the field to win the $70,796 first-place prize and a seat in the 2010 WSOP main event. Kessler now has $1.4 million in career tournament earnings.

Small blinds: Trish Marks, from Covington, LA, won the 2009 Bayou Ladies Poker Championship, held at Harrah's New Orleans for the second year in a row. … The Seniors championship at the 2009 Bayou Poker Challenge resulted in an eight-way chop. Ok then. … Wearing headphones may have caused Chad Bastista a shot at the WPT final table. Bastista didn't hear John Juanda move all-in before him and moved all-in thinking he was the first in the pot since Juanda didn't move any chips into the middle. Bastista had 2-2, Juanda had A-6, but unfortunately for both players Scotty Nguyen had A-A and eliminated them both. … Pokerstars managed to get branding in the latest Rihanna video. … From "Kevmath" over at 2+2: "The 2009 had 2 events with 10 percent rake. For 2010, it'll be over 20." Wow. … Nice week for Tom Dwan online netting nearly $650,000.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

With the release of the 2010 WSOP schedule, I am happy to see some major changes that should hopefully continue to allow the biggest poker event of the year to grow.

First off, the World Series of Poker is all about the number of players in attendance, and the fact that eight $1,000 events are on the schedule should attract many players who previously would be hesitant to sit down at the WSOP felt. Last year's "Stimulus Special" attracted more than 6,000 players, and more were turned away based on capacity. With multiple $1,000 events this year spread out over the weekends of the WSOP, I expect these tournaments to have huge fields that will rival or even overtake the main event for the biggest live tournament of the year. With the smaller price tag, these events will not attract the best players, but those ready to take a shot.

Each open event (not the Seniors or Ladies) will last four days and offer two starting days. Players will begin with $3,000 with the blinds starting at $25/$25. Each level will last an hour, which means that you'll have a good couple hours before truly feeling short-stacked. I think the early structure is great for amateurs just looking to get some playing time for their investment, but by Day 2 the blinds are high and increase rapidly, and will most likely thin the field out in a hurry. One thing that I'm sure many players won't be happy about is the 10 percent from every buy-in that the WSOP takes for house fees/dealer tokes.

Unfortunately, the $50,000 HORSE no longer exists in 2010, but I am more than pleased to see that its replacement is an eight-game mix. The Players Championship will now feature an even more elite field due to the added games in the rotation, and while the HORSE event attracted only 95 players last year, I doubt this tournament will exceed that number this year. Of course, since there is no $40,000 no-limit hold 'em event this year, maybe some players will take that money and put it toward this event. Also, the final table of this event will revert to no-limit hold 'em so that it can be televised on ESPN. That may also factor in attracting more players … and I have completely contradicted myself. Just for fun, the house takes 4 percent from this event, or $2,000 per player.

Nine $10,000 events are on the schedule, and so is the $25,000 six-handed no-limit hold 'em tournament. I think that this one will be one of the best events of the year and I'm hoping that ESPN360 will be able to broadcast the final table of this event. Kudos to the WSOP staff for being creative with this tournament, as well as for keeping the WSOP main event as the biggest full table no-limit hold 'em event of the year, as I wrote Thursday..

One thing that isn't noted very clearly on this WSOP schedule is that there are technically some rebuy events … but they aren't rebuys at all since you aren't paying for them at that time. In some pot-limit Omaha and pot-limit Omaha eight or better tournaments (Events 20, 28, 41, 46, 50 and 55), players can get up to three add-ons anytime during the first four levels. If you don't take them by the end of the fourth level, they are given to you automatically. This information isn't on the main WSOP schedule, but instead the individual structure sheets for each of the events. If you decide to play, make sure you read these structure sheets carefully.

Finally, pre-register! Tournament registration for all events is open! There's no excuse for anyone to complain about missing an event due to capacity if you have nearly six months to register early. There will be no Day 1D debacle this year. Any information you'll need can be found on the WSOP's Web site (WSOP.com). Avoid the lines at the Rio and take care of things in advance -- the WSOP has made it easy for you to do so.

I'm sure as I keep looking at the schedule there will be more for me to say, but for now, if you decide to play, I wish you the best of luck and hope that you leave Vegas with a new bracelet on your wrist.

Small blinds: There are 16 players remaining at the WPT's Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Sitting at the top is Curt Kohlberg, while Daniel Alaei, John Juanda and Josh Arieh are in the top 10 and looking to make a televised final table when only six remain at the end of Friday. … The newest poker room in Las Vegas opened Thursday night at ARIA. … Chris Klodnicki earned $215,915 by defeating the field at the WSOP Circuit main event in Atlantic City. Klodnicki also finished 12th in the 2008 WSOP main event and eighth in this event last year.

Posted by Gary Wise

In the wake of my article on the Brian Hastings and Brian Townsend, some questions were posed in the comments section regarding whether they were using data collecting software that's not allowed by Full Tilt Poker(PokerTracker or the like). Those questions were asked in a serious, well-articulated way and of course were greeted as everything seems to be in online forums, with pitchforks and torches calling for the hangings of the two Brians. I spoke to Townsend and he informed me all of his actions were within the rules of FTP, mentioning his use of the presently sanctioned Hold'Em Manager.

I understand why people wouldn't want to see the rules broken by anyone, let alone a pair of incredibly successful red pros. While I doubt in the end that they violated the rules, there's a great bit of hypocrisy at work here. Bear with me for a moment and forget about that specific case. I'm talking about a broader issue.

For the last three-plus years, the online poker industry has been besieged by the realities of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The big problem for poker is that UIGEA asks banks to not participate in transfers for the purpose of 'unlawful offshore gambling', a vague term that's left most of the banks declaring they'll just ban all offshore gambling transfers because they don't know where to start when it comes to defining 'unlawful'. The banks aren't in the business of enforcement.

Meanwhile, Full Tilt Poker -- a major supporter of the Poker Players Alliance -- does its best to keep online poker in a mode that somewhat resembles the live game (as do all other major sites). They tell their players in a number of ways "Don't do X!'" when X means any number of undetectable means of breaking the rules as they stand. Thing is, like the banks, the players aren't in the business of enforcement.

While we plead for the banks to consider the wants of individuals in the face of their own bottom line, the online sites do the same to the players. Isn't it unrealistic to expect all customers to stay up to date on those rules, let alone abide by them when the almighty dollar is at stake? There will always be players who see and take an edge, putting the rest at a disadvantage for abiding. Poker players have been doing that for 150 years.

I'm not saying cheating is ok. When we ignore the rules it leads to the kind of anarchy that could eventually render online poker an implausible place to find even footing. What I'm saying is that in a perfect world, we wouldn't care about approximating the live game. In a perfect world, we'd recognize the realities of what the advances in person-to-person communications mean to the online game and change the rules accordingly. That's not going to happen though. Admitting reality might scare the fish away. You can't touch the bottom line.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

I've been thinking about this column for a couple days, and the only thing I really was sure about was how to start it. I've read the first line numerous times in Gary Wise's pieces when we've discussed topics like this in the past, and it just seems fitting …

In a game in which every player is out for himself, it's great to see what happens when poker players come together to support a cause.

No, this wasn't another charity tournament or initiative to raise money for a cause, but a message of solidarity to one member of the poker community, Thuy Doan. Only 23 years old, Doan had taken the step toward becoming a full-time poker player in 2009. In August, she was diagnosed with a tumor behind her left knee (soft-tissue sarcoma), and her world was turned upside down.

"2009 was a year for me to become many things: college graduate, full-time poker player, California resident," Doan said in her blog on PokerRoad.com. "Never did I expect to become a cancer fighter."

As the weeks passed since her initial diagnosis, Doan has fought cancer through chemotherapy and has dealt with the enormous challenge facing her by trying to stay optimistic.

"It's been really tough," Doan said in an interview Wednesday morning. "I had no idea it would be as difficult as it was. It's physically grueling and mentally difficult. My mind wants to think negatively, but I try to keep the focus on the idea that things are going to get better and that this will pass."

After three months of chemo, Doan has been tested to an extent far beyond anything she'd experience on the felt. The tumor has gotten smaller, but as she said, "not to the point that I can begin to celebrate."

As 2009 comes to a close, the final major tournament of the year is taking place at the Bellagio. Barry Greenstein called Doan and persuaded her to come to Las Vegas. Many became aware of Doan's condition through a thread on popular poker forum "2+2," and as the word spread, so did the support.

"I got a phone call from Barry, and he told me that he wanted to put together a head-shaving event at the tournament in Las Vegas," she said. "I didn't know how many people or what to expect. I thought it would be a fun trip, and in all, it was remarkable to see."

With her hair falling out because of the treatment, Doan decided to shave her head, and never did she expect other poker professionals to follow suit. Greenstein wanted to shave his head as a sign of support of Doan's battle against cancer and recruited Phil Ivey to donate his "palace" (as Doan called it) for the event. With a barber ready with the clippers in hand, Greenstein, Eli Elezra and Doyle Brunson were the first to take the chair.

"Eli looked really good," Doan said. "He had a clean look."

One by one the players took the chair until finally it was Doan's turn to turn the clippers on the barber himself. Doan was emotionally moved by the actions of these players, especially from those whom she had never met before.

"It was remarkable how sweet and supporting [the players] were -- even if we never met! It's rare to see people get together and support someone else, and it shows that poker players are capable of having the biggest hearts ever."

At the end of the night, the Bellagio was filled with 17 head-shaved poker players and a reminder to everyone of how important it is to be there for a friend.

It's a constant battle for Doan, one that will continue as she travels to Oklahoma next week for another treatment alternative. While she is a week and a half out of her latest therapy cycle, she acknowledged that the effects are starting to wear off and that she's feeling better. Doan knows she still has a long ways to go, but no matter what, she'll have friends and family by her side at all times.

Small blinds: A total of 329 players ended up registering for the $15,000 Doyle Brunson Poker Classic. Players were able to register into Day 2. … Only 130 players remain and are led by Steven Landfish with notables Sorel Mizzi, Kenna James, Antonio Esfandiari and Doyle Brunson in the top 15. … CNBC will air a feature on illegal gambling Wednesday. … Padraig Parkinson won the first event of the PokerStars United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour. … A new ESPN Inside Deal featuring WSOP champion Joe Cada was released Wednesday! Check it out. … Darvin Moon is also hosting his own tournament series at the Wheeling Island Casino. The series champion will face Moon heads-up for $2,000.

Posted by Gary Wise

Last week, the nominations went out for Bluff magazine's Reader's Choice Awards. It's a nice little end of year tradition where Bluff gives the fans the outlet to voice appreciation for the biggest and brightest of the year in poker. Or so we hope.

Standard questions of omission and inclusion are going to be constantly applied to a mostly arbitrary nomination process and the list that comes with this year's nominations is a long one. Here's the category that really stood out to me:

Top Story of 2009:

• The Durrrr Challenge
• Phil Hellmuth Arrives at WSOP/WSOPE Dressed as Caesar
• Five Players Win Multiple Bracelets at 2009 WSOP
• Phil Ivey Makes WSOP Main Event Final Table

Really? Phil Hellmuth?

I mean, I get that Phil -- who I spend as much time writing about as anyone -- is as big of a star as we have in the game. I get that UB is one of Bluff's prime advertisers. I get that his behavior puts eyes on the television and gets tongues wagging in the aftermath, but in a year where:

• The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act got pushed back by six months as a signal of good things to come for the industry
• People were turned away for the first time ever from the World Series of Poker main event on Day 1D
• An allegedly 19-year old Swede named "Isildur1" came out of nowhere to almost double the record for largest online pot and take $5 million off of the previously indestructible-seeming Tom Dwan

… are we really going to give this kind of an event this kind of attention?

The thing is, it's the poker media's fault. For years now, online players have screamed bloody murder at the attention given to television professionals who, in less-than-humble forum-dwelling opinions, couldn't even approach the web's finest players. Charisma is rewarded before brilliance. That same group of professionals has become so entrenched in the consciousness that if you're a white American male, your chances of getting a sponsorship are somewhere between infinitesimal and naught. Meanwhile, the old guard basks in its 10-tournaments-a-year-or-less, camera-endearing glory.

We should know better. We should be better.

Ultimately, Hellmuth won't win the above award and if he does, it's quite a shame. I think we all know that Ivey's final table appearance drew the most attention throughout the year and I expect it will win in the end. Meaningless stories like the Hellmuth one being highlighted here is only bad for the bigger picture of the game. It paints poker as farce and I'd like to think we're bigger and brighter than that.

Small blinds: 313 players started out with $60,000 at the Doyle Brunson Poker Classic at the Bellagio on Monday. Darryll Fish leads the way with David Woo, Jon Turner, Billy Kopp, Carlos Mortensen, and Antonio Esfandiari rounding out the top six. WSOP Champ Joe Cada is still in contention while Jonathan Little, Jeff Madsen, Joe Hachem, Chad Brown, Daniel Negreanu and defending champion Chino Rheem were eliminated.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

I've read the comments from the recent blogs regarding "Isildur1" and have taken away a couple things. First, you guys want more strategy pieces. Deal. We'll get those going again and I'm sorry for the delay on that. Second, there seems to be a slight bitterness towards Tom Dwan and that caught me off guard a little bit. Many of you were happy to see him lose … and lose big.

Honestly, I'm not really sure what makes people like or dislike Dwan. It seems that some of you who have followed "durrrr" at the tables both online or on High Stakes Poker haven't liked what you've seen. I completely understand your thoughts on his past play and how he's reached this point, but the silver lining is that right now, at this very moment, Dwan is doing the right thing … which may make up for the fact that it took him 40,000 hands to realize that he couldn't beat Isildur1. I'm shocked he didn't step away from the matchup sooner.

I find it entertaining to see sites remark that Dwan is "slumming" (jokingly) because he isn't playing the highest stakes games available. His bankroll has taken a massive hit after numerous encounters with the potentially now broke Isildur1, but I am very happy to see him drop down in stakes and attempt to start over. Dwan has been seen anywhere from $25/50 no-limit hold 'em to $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha over the last two weeks. These aren't the same $500/$1,000 tables, but even at those stakes, players can win or lose a substantial amount of money in a session. For the moment, Dwan is rebuilding a bankroll that was once deemed infinite by railbirds everywhere. He had been online poker's golden boy for the last few years and now, in the face of potentially being felted, he's doing what is necessary to come back once again.

If we look into this a little bit more, we understand that there are many that would back Dwan in any game and there have been rumors that Dwan isn't playing on his own right now. If that is the case, is he being told what games he can and cannot play? Game selection aside, one thing that we know for sure is that Phil Galfond is not backing Dwan and confirmed that fact with Gary Wise during an interview last week.

Regardless of where his bankroll is coming from, I'm happy to see Dwan take a step back, rebuild his confidence and bankroll and then work his way back up to online poker's biggest stage. We often hear stories about players who take their chance, go broke and are never heard from again. It's good to see that Dwan is heading in the right direction once again.

Small blinds: The WPT's Doyle Brunson Poker Classic, a $15,000 buy-in, starts Monday at the Bellagio. Player of the year points are on the line and I'm sure many familiar faces will be out in Vegas playing in one of the more expensive events on the WPT. … Mark "Pegasus" Smith tied Men "The Master" Nguyen's record with his fourth WSOP Circuit win in Event 3 at Harrah's Atlantic City. … Mark Newhouse won $245,897.13 by taking down this week's Sunday Million on PokerStars. Hevad Khan also made the final table and earned $18,387. … You can win super bowl tickets for only $67 by playing in Dream Team Poker's event at the Bike Saturday, December 19.

Posted by Andrew Feldman

Umm, hello Brian Hastings.

"Isildur1" has had his hands full recently with all of the big guns online. However, Tuesday night's session wasn't with Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Tom Dwan or even Brian Townsend. Brian Hastings joined the flurry of high-stakes action against "Isildur1" and wrapped up a 2,861-hand session with a cool $4.2 million. The sad thing is that "Isildur1" wasn't even having a bad day until his encounter with Hastings. Playing against Brian Townsend and "Jungleman12," "Isildur1" was actually up more than $1 million. He peaked at over $2 million once the match with Hastings began, and then it was all downhill from there. The unknown online action junkie lost more than $3.4 million on Tuesday. Ouch.

So that brings us to the weekly "I can't believe what 'Isildur1' has done recently" portion of the blog. Over the past week "Isildur1" is down $2.9 million -- which finally brought him into the red after his hot start -- and is down a total of $1.59 million, according to highstakesdb.com. It also should be noted that there are some who still believe "Isildur1" is in fact Viktor Blom after pokerjunkie.com released the fact that there are two Bloms in Uddevalla, Sweden. Apparently the Blom that Bluff Europe contacted wasn't the right Blom.

As for Hastings, many of you might recognize the name as he is one of the educators at Cardrunners, an online poker training site. The 21-year old, yes, 21, is up around $5 million on the year. He was also seen playing the unknown "Martonas" late this summer.

Bluff's Readers Choice

For the fourth consecutive year Bluff magazine has offered readers and fans a chance to vote for their favorites in the poker industry. In addition to voting for Favorite Player of 2009 (including nominees Phil Ivey, Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu and Bertrand Grospellier), fans can also weigh in on their favorite poker blog, poker show, live poker room, online site, forum, poker Twitter (how is @ESPNPoker not nominated?), poker villain, online player, poker personality, poker resource, top story and, finally, poker podcast (blatant plug: vote for the Poker Edge podcast).

You can submit your vote by clicking here and making your opinion heard. And vote for the Poker Edge. OK, I'm done promoting. I feel like Matthew Berry on the Fantasy Focus.

Other tournament news

James Akenhead hasn't had a bad year at all. Although he may be disappointed with his twin ninth-place finishes at both the WSOP main event and the WSOP Europe main event, Akenhead added another $500,000 to his bankroll by winning the Poker Million VIII. To date in 2009, Akenhead has earned more than $1.9 million and made eight final tables.

Jan Skampa defeated a field of 586 players to win 682,000 Euros at the European Poker Tour stop in Prague. Also making the final table in that event was Stefan Matsson, who finished sixth in the pot-limit Omaha world championship this summer at the WSOP, and Team PokerStars pro Luca Pagano.

Australian Aaron Benton earned more than half a million Australian dollars by winning the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Grand Final main event in Sydney. The 32-year old outlasted the 11-hour final table to earn his first major title.

Small blinds: PokerStars began a weekly promotion in December where players who outlast all Team PokerStars Pro players in a weekly tournament will split $1,000. Could you name even half of Team PokerStars Pro these days? Without going to the Web site. … Gavin Smith is now videotaping his prop bets at yougotabet.com. Pure entertainment. … Our friends at abcnews.com investigated the similarities between Wall Street and poker. Check out the article. … Very cool Poker After Dark this week featuring Gus Hansen, Dwan, Ivey, Antonius, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth. … PokerStars decided to add a charity event to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament schedule. A $5,000 event benefiting AIDS research will be held on Jan. 8. … WSOP champion Joe Cada was lobbying in D.C. on behalf of the Poker Players Alliance on Tuesday. … The "Lie To Me" episode featuring poker was pretty entertaining. I wonder what Joe Navarro has to say. … Ultimate Bet announced its online poker series, which will feature $2 million-guaranteed tournaments from Jan. 20 until Jan. 31.