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♣ With the poker community still evaluating the fallout of the Absolute Poker superuser scandal, it has likely discovered another one: UltimateBet accounts, including “NioNio,” appear to have been able to see their opponents’ hole cards during play. These accounts, which largely operated in $25/$50 NLHE and PLO games, used extremely loose styles, and made decisions on the turn and river that were accurate beyond reasonable statistical possibility. One such account stopped playing right when the Absolute scandal hit. There is also strong evidence that some of the other accounts were in fact the same ones on which the name had been switched. Phil Hellmuth has affirmed that the relevant hand histories are highly suspicious and that UltimateBet is vigorously investigating.
♣ Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf recently won the heads-up “Battleship” tournament at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, but not without attracting some controversy. A small disagreement with runner-up Vanessa Selbst led him to suggest a cash game heads-up match, and Selbst to say she’d play Woolf at stakes up to $50/$100. Some in the community also charged that Woolf is in debt and involved in shady borrowing arrangements, and Woolf recently made a public statement. In it he admitted to owing money and having been “misleading” about his finances, but he claims that he is currently close to having paid everyone back.
♣ Last summer’s $500/$1000 NLHE/PLO mixed game in Bobby’s Room caused a sensation, but recently the action has been even bigger. In December, Sammy Farha and Patrik Antonius started playing heads-up $1000/$2000 PLO. David Benyamine, Gus Hansen, and Phil Ivey later sat in the game, which occasionally included PLO 8/B. Most of the results were kept quiet but, according to rumors, Benyamine was a big winner and Farha a big loser in a game that featured a ton of action.
♣ Isaac Haxton and Joe Sebok are at the center of the most recent controversy about the role of math in poker. In a radio interview, Haxton and Sebok disagreed on whether certain all-in reraises were correct in tournaments; Haxton claimed that the math showed them to be indisputably correct, and Sebok disagreed. Barry Greenstein, who is Sebok’s father, soon came on the record to note that he is a math expert, having written a dissertation in combinatorial number
theory, and said that young players generally “don’t know how to use math for poker.”
♣ Phil Ivey continues to get action in his namesake tables on Full Tilt Poker. Recently Ziigmund challenged him in $500/$1000 PLO; Ivey won $160,000 in an aggressive match highlighted by a $200,000 pot Ivey won with a straight fl ush. He also briefl y played $500/$1000 NLHE against unknown newcomer Guaranteed376, who won a fraction of a buy-in.
♣ Of all the recent heads-up matches, the most entertaining might have been Phil Hellmuth’s against Tom “Durrrr” Dwan. The two played $25/$50 NLHE on Ultimate Bet, where Durrrr won over $12,000. Hellmuth then complained about his luck, and Dwan later issued a set of challenges: Dwan is willing to play Hellmuth heads-up, live or online, at stakes up $500/$1000, and he is also willing to crossbook 10% in any tournaments both of them play.
♣ Dario Minieri recently recorded one of the most impressive nights in the history of online tournament poker. On December 30, he won the weekly $10,000 heads-up “High Stakes Showdown,” the new $5,000 weekly freezeout, and the 200 rebuy tournament, all on PokerStars. Some say these are the three toughest tournaments currently running on the internet. Minieri has also recently been seen playing high-stakes freezeouts online against Brian Stinger” Hastings and Cole “CTS” South.
♣ Patrik Antonius, an expert in many forms of poker and a feared high-stakes opponent both online and live, has recently gone on the record with lists of top five players in LHE, NLHE, PLO, and live tournaments. Among the unsurprising entries — such as Phil Ivey, Brian Townsend, and David Benyamine — are some less obvious choices: Marcus Golser in PLO, Michael Mizrachi in live tournaments, and Bryce Paradis in LHE.
♣ The online poker world is again talking about Josh “JJProdigy” Field, who in 2006 was the first big-name player caught and punished for playing multiple accounts in online tournaments. He recently posted an apology on a poker forum, in the wake of which PokerStars barred him from playing in the recent PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Field
just turned 18 and has been accused of multi-accounting online as recently as last month.
CR SPOTLIGHT…with SirNeb
SirNeb is a longtime member on CardRunners. As most, he started out grinding small stakes No Limit and has moved up the ranks with his well-known limitless passion to improve. A beneficiary of the CardRunners Pay it Forward program with Hookem148, he is one of our most respected members and forum posters.
What is your CardRunners/poker story?
Just for a brief background, I was once a pretty hardcore gamer. I love popular competitive games like Starcraft and Counterstrike. I’m always looking to challenge myself against a large field of competition. And apparently, many of the Starcraft ex-gamers became very successful poker players. This is where I found poker; I felt that I could take that as a challenge and be successful. Of course, unlike the other games, you can make a pretty good living from it also. That makes poker very attractive. \
I first found CardRunners when I was learning the game from 2+2. In one of “the Well” posts, a known player (don’t remember who anymore) mentioned how much CR had helped his game and he said how big of a winner Green Plastic was in 25/50 games. I really wanted to improve my game; therefore I decided to subscribe. I was skeptical at first. But honestly, even for micro to low stakers, it’s a bargain for what CR is charging. Given the material on the site and some dedication, it should not be a huge problem to beat up games at low/ med stakes.
Talk a bit about you. What are you going to school for; what are your career aspirations?
Currently, I’m studying to get my degree in Computer Science. I’ve been in love with computers since I was young.
I’m generally not looking to go pro. I mean the money is really attractive, and I probably can’t get a job that pays better. The truth is that I believe there is much more in life that one can do than just earn a lot of money. But I think having the luxury of money can help one open up more opportunities, and that’s what I’m hoping for myself. Eventually I would love to open my own business and try to challenge that.
Tell us about Pay it Forward (PIF).
Pay it Forward was a program started by Brian Rue (Hookem148). He was one of the two former students of Taylor. I think to explain the program, it’s best to use Brian’s own words:
“A little over five months ago, I applied for Taylor’s “Protégé” program, and on November 7th, I was announced as one of the two lucky winners. At the time, my regular games were $100NL and $200NL and, with Taylor’s help, I have been able to comfortably move up to $1000NL. I am very fortunate to work with Taylor; he has been incredibly instrumental in developing my game and making me a better player. I feel the time has come for me to pay it forward.” At the time when we began the program, I was still grinding 50NL. And now, I’m playing 400NL pretty regularly. Brian helped my game tremendously in more ways than I can ever describe. The program itself lasted over six months with two 2-3 hour sessions a week. That’s a lot of hours! I’m extremely grateful for the time he put in to help our games.
Why are the forums so important to becoming a better player?
You know, there are so many ways to make use of the forums. I don’t think there is one way to go about maximizing its usefulness. I feel the most primitive gain is for players to meet other players. Having support, as a poker player, is very important. Before the PIF program, I did not realize the usefulness of having sweat sessions and having IM chat sessions to discuss hands. It’s pretty much a must if you are really thinking of moving up the ranks.
Apart from that, the more obvious is seeing the thought processes of other players. Poker is a thinking game — if you can understand why someone thinks in a certain manner, you can profit from it. Many times during a hand, you see this villain make a horrendous play and you just go, “Wow, that was just horrible.” Then you move on to the next hand. But I feel it’s important to understand the villain’s drive to make such a bad play. Does he really think his middle pair is good? Why does he think that? What in my play made him think this? If you can dig into the villain’s head and understand his motivation, you will profit from him.
High Stakes Report:
The legend of Patrik Antonius has recently grown even bigger. In December he won $910,000 at Full Tilt Poker’s No Limit Hold’em tables, far outpacing all his competition. Two other experts won a quarter million each: Urindanger, who also won $240,000 at Pot Limit Omaha; and Brian “LucLongley” Hastings, better known as “Stinger,” who is known both for his tough play and for his instructional videos at CardRunners. Right behind them was “traheho,” who pushed his 2007 NLHE winnings on the site over $1 million. Rounding out the top ten was not only Phil Ivey but relative unknowns “mad00house” and “Cacambo.”
PLO is a game known for its swings, and the big tables on Full Tilt were no exception last month. Young American Hold’em specialists Tom “durrr” Dwan and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond each won over half a million, but neither could match Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, who took $834,000 out of the games. Those wins were fueled in part by Gus Hansen and Guy “noataima” Laliberte. Also, mystery man “trex313,” a solid winner during the second half of 2007, gave back not only $145,000 in NLHE but also $437,000 in PLO.
1. FinddaGrind $910,000
2. Urindanger $366,000
3. LucLongley $250,000
4. traheho $245,000
5. pokerkid585 $208,000
6. Phil Ivey $181,000
7. mad00house $133,100
8. Cacambo $124,000
9. PeachyK33N $133,000
10. Pokerface McGee $103,000
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