Gossip & Lifestyle
Chris “Jesus” Ferguson is the newest winner of the NBC Heads-Up Championship; he defeated Andy Bloch in a fi nal match between old-school tournament experts. Ferguson had beaten Phil Ivey in the semifi nal match, and had overcome a huge chip defi cit against online pro Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little in the quarterfi nals. Little wasn’t the only online player to make a strong showing: Brian “aba20” Townsend beat David Pham before losing a tough match to eventual semifi nalist Huck Seed, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan won his opening-round match against Phil Hellmuth.
The Dwan-Hellmuth match might be remembered longer than the one between Ferguson and Bloch. After Hellmuth criticized one of Tom’s plays in the NBC tournament, Dwan said that he would be willing to play Phil heads up in a cash game. After the tournament, Hellmuth wrote on his blog that he would accept the challenge if the matches were scheduled during the daytime, in the Bay Area, and at Phil’s convenience. Matt Savage, the tournament director of the Bay 101 tournament series, has taken steps to organize heads-up matches during the series that would meet Phil’s requirements and be acceptable to Dwan.
Phil Ivey recently played an epic set of heads-up matches against “Seda1” at his $500/$1000 NLHE table on Full Tilt. Ivey won at least $600,000 in the last session the two played, highlighted by a $385,000 pot that Ivey won with unimproved aces. It is also rumored that Ivey and Seda1 know each other in real life and had agreed to crossbook the match in order to effectively play $1,000/$2,000. Seda1’s identity is still unknown, but it is widely agreed that no professional would have played his hands the way Seda1 did; some observers believe he is rapper Jay-Z.
UltimateBet recently released a statement regarding the superuser scandal, in which some accounts were able to see their opponents’ hole cards and won almost $3 million in high stakes games. Despite overwhelming statistical evidence, the statement characterizes the “full and ongoing investigation” as incomplete. Players have begun sending letters to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in an attempt to keep the issue and the investigation from dying.
At the Scandinavian Poker Awards, online Player-of-the-Year Jonas “Nebuchad” Danielsson claimed that his name derives from the ancient king Nebuchadnezzar, who was “like a prehistoric Hitler; he was the fi rst king, in Babylon, who really dealt with the Jew problem.” Host Daniel Negreanu stopped him and changed the subject immediately later stating that “it was obvious to [him] that [Nebuchad] has no problem with Jews… and used a poor choice of words.” Danielsson has drawn widespread criticism for the comment. He has since apologized and blamed the incident on his nerves, and explained that he was trying to appear clever by sharing “curious historical facts” which “came out wrong.”
Outright disqualifi cations are rare in tournament poker, but at the recent World Series of Poker Circuit event in Atlantic City, chip leader Lesley Thornburg was disquali- fi ed and his chips were taken out of play with five players remaining. Many observers have confi rmed that Thornburg was drunk, highly obnoxious, and in frequent violation of rules and etiquette. The disqualifi cation came after tournament offi cials had issued multiple warnings to Thornburg.
CR SPOTLIGHT ... ‘DODGEYKEN’
How did you fi nd poker and what was your start?
I used to watch Late Night Poker on TV in the UK with my dad. That got me interested in the game and I learned the rules from there. I didn’t really play online until my second year at university when I saw one of my housemates playing online. From there I played around at Limit poker for a few years, then I moved onto Pot Limit Omaha for a few years. I only recently started playing No Limit after leaving my teaching job.
At what point did you fi nd CardRunners?
I started playing No Limit around March 2007, and I joined CardRunners almost immediately. I had read about them on a poker forum I frequented, so I decided to check out what they had on offer. I was very enthusiastic about improving quickly, so I wanted to expose myself to the best instructional advice around.
You started to move up quickly after fi nding a great coach: Nutedawg. What’s so important about a personal coach?
With a personal coach you get the chance to ask really specific questions about your own game and particular ways you play hands because you have an accomplished player watching you play. For me personally, Nute was able to identify main areas for me to focus on as well as giving me a lot of confidence in my game. I like to go into coaching sessions with specifi c questions and hands to look at, and I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve gotten so much out of my sessions.
What points did he emphasize about your game? Clearly they worked!
One of the biggest problems I had was betting in spots where I would fold out worse hands and only get called by better. I also used to get pushed around in pots quite a lot by aggressive players. Nute gave me different lines to take with certain hands to reduce the chances of these things happening. We also discussed the mental side of poker and how to react to what my opponents are doing. As well as the poker things, he also increased my confi dence a lot and got me believing in myself. This helps a lot when the results aren’t quite there.
What are your long-term poker goals? Any interest in returning to teaching high school?
For now I’m looking keep improving at $5/$10 and $10/$20 with a view to trying out $25/$50 sometimes around the later summer. Beyond that I hope to do well enough to make sure I’m fi nancially secure in the future. I don’t think I want to play full time for that long – I’d really like to have a part-time job and play some poker on the side a few years from now. I won’t ever return to teaching, but I might work with children again at some point as it’s something I enjoy. I’m looking forward to having the freedom to pick and choose what I do, and I hope never to have to work a job I dislike again.
HIGH STAKES REPORT
Guaranteed376 was the biggest NLHE winner on Full Tilt last month, booking $490,000 in just 12 hours of play. Guaranteed376 is still rumored to be Lars Luzak, though this is unconfi rmed. In second place was Tom “durrrr” Dwan, whose $396,000 month adds even more credence to his reputation as one of the toughest Hold’em players in the world. Trex313’s $343,000 put him in third place. He is now widely believed to be Hac Dang, who used to play as “jinsokkp” and is one of the “Urindanger” brothers. Behind them was “I Eats Fig,” who has also been seen playing at $200/$400 Limit H.O.R.S.E games.
The month’s big loser was heads-up expert “Genius28,” who lost $342,000. Other notable losers included“seda1,” who lost in headsup matches against Phil Ivey, and the popular young pro Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, who ended the month down $190,000 on Full Tilt.
