Robots playing at Poker Stars

Last week there was a big commotion at PokerStars, when they had to freeze at least 10 player accounts. They found evidence that the screen names were bots. These machines operated at the NL50 and NL200 6-max game and usually played around 8 million hands, making a huge amount of rake and more than $57,000 in game profit.

The ten nicknames that were given are: 7emenov, mvra, demidou, fiedmanis, bakabar, nakseon, koldan, crazier, kozzin, and daergy. With a very similar game and win rates. All the stats displayed by these screen names were the same and they had the same betting patterns.

Below we got the screen cap courtesy of Pokertableraitings where you can see the stats.

It’s good to See Pokerstars acting quickly and efficiently to remove these accounts from the site.

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Gus Hansen Poker Pro Profile!

Gus Hansen is one of the best and more popular players on the Online Poker, with thousands of followers and a great name in the industry he enjoys playing poker and teaching.

He was born in 1974 outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. Hansen was always fascinated by numbers and math (this is why he is so good at playing poker). He was a starting backgammon and gin rummy player, and he used to hang out with Huckleberry Seed and Phil Laak. While he was playing backgammon and gin rummy, he was introducing to many poker games, including his favorite game – Stud -.

He played his first WSOP in 1996 when he had no experience on playing No-Limit Hold’em. He was out during the first day, but he didn’t give up and he decided he was going to keep on playing and experimenting with styles.

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In 2002 he went to another WSOP, but this time he had another playing style, he developed a loose, aggressive play that helped him win some money. He had other winnings like, the WPT’s inaugural event, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

In 2006 he made his first television appearance in the second season of High Stakes Poker after taking down the biggest pot in that show ever ($575,700). In that opportunity he defeated Daniel Negreanu and won the tournament. That same year he took the first place at the Full TiltPoker.com London All Star Challenge.

Next year he won the Aussie Millions Main Event and got over $1.2 million.

Hansen is not only a great poker player but he enjoys being part of many aspects of the poker industry. In 2008 Lyle Stuart published Hansen’s book – Every Hand revealed. He also launched GusHansenTV which is branded as a free poker channel in the internet.

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PATRIK ANTONIUS Poker Pro Profile!

His looks and his poker skills have given him a good name between the poker pro players. Patrik was born in December 13^th of 1980 in Helsinki, Finland. Hansen was a former model and tennis player. He currently resides in Monte Carlo.

His first poker experiences were in the European Poker Tour and World Poker tour, where he finished near the final table. In 2005 he made it through the European Poker tour Main Event final table, finishing 3^rd in Barcelona. That same year by December he finished in 2^nd place at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Vegas where he won $1,046, 470.

In July 2006 he placed 9^th in the World Series of Poker H.O.R.S.E event, making the biggest cash of that year. He was part of the NBC’s Poker After Dark. The first time he participated he finished as runner up losing to Jennifer Harman. His second appearance he defeat Brad Booth and saw the victory.

He couldn’t get into the 2009 WSOP Main Event, because he turned away when attempting to register along with hundreds of other due to a capacity field. His total live tournament winnings in 2010 exceed $2,800.000.

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Another great thing to mention about Antonius is that he is a heads-up specialist. He usually plays regular high stakes and he is successful having won millions of dollars. When he started on FullTilt Poker he used many nicknames like, Luigi66369, CryMeRiver9 and Finddagrind, but he became a member of the Full Tilt Team under his real name.

Antonius is the first player to go up against Tom Dwan in his “Million Dollar Challenge” on Full Tilt Poker. Dwan challenged players to high-stakes no-limit hold’em or pot-limit Omaha at Full Tilt, playing four tables at a time with a total of 50,000 hands.

Let’s not forget that in 2009, Patrik won the biggest pot in online poker history taking $1,356,946 away from Isildur1.

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WSOP Main Event News

Only 205 players remain at the WSOP Main Event. 5 players have the best chance to win it with over 3 millions, but Canadian Evan Lamprea is leading the event with 3,564k chips.

Some of the top ten names are Theo Jorgensen, Bryn Kenney, Alexander “postflopaction” Kostritsyn and Johnny Chan. Some others are still hanging and we hope they keep on bringing the good game. Players like Michael Mizrachi and Phil Galfond have fewer chips but are still hanging.

Players finishing in the top 747 have been getting paid out, and the participants now guarant3eed at least $48,847. Scotty Nguyen is one of the players that is out and going home with the 209^th place. Unfortunately he was eliminated right near the end of the day’s action.

WSOP tournament continues on Thursday noon.

Here are the top 10 players of day 5:

1. Evan Lamprea 3564k
2. Michael Skender 3527k
3. Joseph Cheong 3357k
4. Duy Le 3186k
5. Theo Jörgensen 3088k
6. Bryn Kenney 2902k
7. Matt Affleck 2896
8. Alexander Kostritsyn 2564k
9. Johnny Chan 2559k
10. Sebastian Panny 2442k

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Psychology of a Poker Pro

Professional Poker Players, a breed of its kind, very hard to describe and comprehend unless you are in their shoes. While some look at them as poker machines with no emotions, very much like a poker Terminator; others look at them as hi life, club partying animals, enjoying their time 24/7 put on the spot light and do nothing but enjoy life. Many of these interpretations might be true, but they are complex creatures, that need to be understood from a different perspective. So we went ahead and looked for some of them and ask them to explain us many of the day to day situations they live and here are some of those stories. For their own protection we have decided to keep their identities undisclosed, what is important is to show the poker pro as they really are:

Morning Live:

Been a poker player is definitely not easy. An office person can spend hours in front of a desk but still have some times to spare where then can relax and enjoy, even if it’s a coffee for a while. A poker player’s job if preparing for a big live tournament consists believe it or not on training! But not poker: physically. We normally undergo a heavy training for our backs and knees, for us the non so young ones any more, been seated in a position for 16 hours a day is not easy and consequences show if you don’t prepare properly. Diet is an important factor, as a serious player you have to watch what you eat and how often, you don’t want to turn into a non seater every 5 minutes to excuse yourself to the bathroom because you couldn’t resist one of those nice all you can eat buffets at a nearby hotel. And of course there is the alcohol factor, if you have been in this business as long as many of us have been you will see this frequently and it will be part of your life. For some players it is this particular area where the fail, but that is another story.

Our morning routine on a way to a big event is waking up early, and having a good healthy meal, that is light but nutritious. Some still do the typical Rocky scene with the eggs and all, I even know a guy who does that and runs up the hill and does some little air punching after he gets to the top. For a 50 year old, with fat on the front and years passed by, it is not a good image.

Exercises come into place once that is done, from weights to cardio, yoga or Pilates, you need whatever you can do for 2 or 3 hours during the morning. Once you are tired and soared back home for lunch and relaxation, we have to try to rest as much as possible as well, once in a tournament life is gone.

During night time, we train our minds, look at odds, old games, hands, as much information as we can.

Tournament Live:

Being in a tournament, especially in Las Vegas is not easy, Sin City, this is a place where you will find something to do at any moment of the day, no matter what time it is. When you are in the poker city capital and you are professional player, you are considered a celebrity; so you can be sure there will be someone with a camera taking pictures, asking for an interview for their online or TV show and of course the autographs. Some fans will even invite you to a have a drink with them or go party. These can be very harmless, real problem is other Pros, specially the younger ones, they have much more stamina and their training consists in partying every night with gorgeous women. If you are married things get complicated here. At the end of the day, not counting poker you spend hours awake in social events with other pros, fans and if you are committed sponsorships, you can really get tired.

Every day playing start at noon the earliest, spend most of the day playing and then doing social events, your back hurts, your head hurts, and you have to do this for a month at the WSOP. Add that up to the tournaments you most play as well like EPT, WPT and other events around the world. And there is always the money factor: everything comes down to money.

Being a professional poker player is not easy life and it is not meant for everyone. All I can suggest to players out there is, enjoy poker as your escape not as your career.

This is just a small fragments of many situations explained to us by the pro’s themselves. Keep on reading us for more inside thoughts of the ones we admire and follow in this amazing world we all love.

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PR and Advertising: The Other Side of Poker

It is no secret that when it comes to marketing, having your brand exposed and viewable for millions of people at once at an affordable price is what all companies seek. We see big enterprises like Coca Cola, McDonald’s and others spend hundreds of millions of dollars for their brand to show. In sports it has been the same story, shoes and clothing brands paying millions of dollars to have their goods used by renamed famous celebrities in the different sports: from Kobe Bryant to Payton Manning and Tiger Woods. But, how exactly this works in our whole poker universe?

Well, you guys know it is no secret it works very alike; hence, the significant amount of professional players that, for a few hundred thousand dollars will have their name imprinted in a website and represent them at all the mayor poker events. Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, “Jesus” Fergusson and his majesty Doyle Brunson himself, are the face and main shield of their respective brands.

One might think, how in this world can a site pay that much money for just one player? The answer is in the type of deals they do. An insider source and expert in the industry stated recently that most poker pro deals benefit the site more than the player and the player is just a vessel to get bigger and bigger. Then why would so many pro’s look for sponsorship deals? Easy: tournament entries.

Being a professional poker player is no easy life. Of course, we would all want to stay hours in a casino, partying around and have luxuries and amenities to our delight. But the cost is high, very high; not only they lack of spare time, they lack of money. So, what should you do if you don’t have the money? Ask for it, in most cases from poker sites. In return the poker site will use the pro as their own mannequin, wear them with all the gear they can get, and of course they get a big chunk of the winnings at the tournaments. So what is a couple hundred thousand up front when you can potentially win millions from a single event and get more players (meaning more revenue) at the same time?

And if this wasn’t enough, we see poker sites expanding to new and emerging markets with great acquisition power that have not been explored yet. For instance Latin America: celebrities, sportsmen and women, even public figures are been bought by poker sites for a significant lower cost than pro players with better results attracting players. Just picture the following: it is not the same to say “I played with Phil Ivey” to a poker outsider than “I played with Matt Damon” or “Shannon Elizabeth”. They fill these sponsored employees Twitter and Facebook accounts with site propaganda and drive us into their nets.

Nice move from the poker industry showing it is not only a hell of a ride and business, but that they play hard, serious and are here to stay regardless of the bumps in the road and detours they have to take. So if you watch the WSOP or assist Las Vegas whereabouts, look at the pro’s, look at the celebrities and imagine all the money that it required for a brand to be there.

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Seven Card Stud: Intermediate Strategy (Continued)

We have already covered the basics as far as seven card stud, and as you know this is not an easy game, especially if you are playing for money or at a big tournament, even more if it’s H.O.R.S.E one. When it comes to strategy, seven card stud is highly complicated, because of 2 factors:

- Most of the times you are going to be called

- Most people don’t really know how to play the game

This can be beneficial as well as harmful for your play; while it can dramatically increase your winnings, it can also give your opponents chances to get and catch a good hand.

You must watch your opponents open cards, and act depending on this. If you have a possible flush count the cards that could help you complete the hand, let’s say you have 3 spades. This means you will need 2 out of the pending 11 cards in the deck that are a spade. However, if your opponents’ show 4 of those spades in their hands on their open cards, this is not a good bet, most likely you are not going to be able to catch the flush. The same happens with high cards or cards you need for straights or better.

Another important factor for you to consider is the bankroll you will have to bring in into a table, when you play at ring games that is. Most experts suggest at least 10 to 20 times, but for these games we suggest at least 40 to 60 times the stakes, as you will be tempted to call more bets and raises as the hand goes.

When playing a tournament however, it is important you don’t over pay, if by the 5^th street you don’t have good chances of catching a good hand, fold it, don’t risk more chips. These small chips can cost you at the end of the day and can decide whether you are kept in or out.

It is important to maintain a constant in all poker games: practice. The more you play, the more you will know how to react towards the different scenarios that show up at a table. You will not only know how to play your cards, but how your opponents will play, even if it is the first time you play against them, they will match the gaming style of a player you previously faced.

All we can suggest is play very smartly; do not try to steal pots like in other games as it is very likely you will get caught. Bring enough funds into the table to pay the raises and bets from other players. And always, always look at the cards you hold and the open ones from your opponents. Good luck at the tables and just remember it’s not worth risking it all in one hand you could get than in a hand you already have!

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