Archive for March 2007

$10,000 Shooting Star Main Event

March 12, 2007

The Bay 101 Shooting Star is my favorite tournament and I am not just saying that because I am employed there. I believe this is the most unique event on the World Poker Tour for the following reasons.

1. Bounties- There is one Shooting Star bounty placed at each table and if you eliminate that player you win $5,000 cash on the spot. If the bounty player wins the tournament he wins the $5,000. Shooting Star players include Pros such as Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, Phil Chip Reese, Scotty Nguyen and Jennifer Tilly (See www.Bay101.com for the complete list). This tournament was created by Bay 101 owner Marko Trapani and has been around for over 10 years.

2. $10,000 for Chip Leaders- The chip leader at the end of each starting day 1a and 1b receive $10,000 in cash. How many times I have seen the chip leader at the end of day one not even cash.......Many.

3. Shuffle Machines- The Shooting Star event was the first major tournament to use automatic shuffle machines on all tables which improves the structure vastly.

4. 6 handed play- At 36 players remaining we play 6 handed and it is fun to watch. I feel that this gives players a chance to show a different style of play.

5. $20,000 in Chips- I finally caved and gave the players what they have been asking for $20,000 in starting chips. I know that you can make a structure with $1,000 in chips great but for some reason many players do not seem to agree with me so $20,000 it is. The blinds still start at $25-$50.

6. Best poker fans in the world! I have been all over the world and have never seen fans like we have in San Jose. Unfortunately a 15 minute break almost is not long enough because of the autograph seekers and photos taken. The final table is always rockin' and it is deafening when a big hand goes down.

Day 1A started with 209 players and ended the day with 70. Chip Leader was David Williams with $188,900 and he won $10,000 for that honor.

Shooting Star $2,000 Event

March 11, 2007

The 2 day $2,000 no-limit event started with 246 players and reached the final table of nine at 2am. The chip leader is Todd Brunson with $544,000 in chips. Other notable players include Jason Stern ($341,000) and Miami John Cernuto ($171,000). The 2k final table will resume at 4pm on Monday.

Poker Dome Show 42

March 10, 2007

The last million dollar qualifier was won by professional Dennis Waterman and it completed the table of six. The six to play for the million are Dennis Waterman, Rob Sherwood, Rodel Tuazon, Ben Ludwig, Jerry Shraeder, and Andrew Rogers. I think Dennis will be the favorite, followed by Rogers and Sherwood. After show 42 I am boarding a midnight flight to San Jose for the Shooting Star event.

Bay 101 Shooting Star/ WPT Celebrity Event

March 04, 2007

Spent the last couple of days at the Commerce both promoting the Bay 101 Shooting Star and Playing in the WPT Celebrity Invitational. I was invited to play because Bay 101 is on the tour and it was a great opportunity to spread the word about the upcoming WPT Shooting Star event (March 12-16) in San Jose. There were many "celebrities" in attendance and the field was about 350 players which is way up from last year. My tournament lasted about 5 hours when my AK went down in flames to Ron Livingston's A5 sooooted. I was not happy about going out that way but at least it was to a guy that starred in a couple classic movies like "Swingers" and "Office Space".

Poker Dome Show 41- Abusive Language/ New Penalty Rule

Another first in my career happened during the taping of show 41. Before each taping I warn the payers that due to the fact that this is a televised event swearing is not permitted. So the current procedure is to give a 10 minute penalty during the first three rounds and 5 after that. When the tournament reached heads up player Mark Thevis blurted out those four little letters that start with F and I was forced to give him a 5 minute penalty. At that point the blinds were 8,000-16,000 and despite him being the current chip leader I knew that he was going to get hurt really bad. This is not a situation that I like even though I do get more camera time when this happens. Unfortunately this is speed poker and the other player decided to speed up on top of it. By the time he returned he was down to 30,000 of the total 300,000 in play. I found myself almost pulling for him to get back in the match and when he double up he was one more double up from being almost even and then it happened, he said it again. I could not believe it and asked both dealers if it was true and when the other player chimed in that he did say it all I could do was let him be blinded out. He denied saying it and I even had to go to the tape but when I got to the production truck the producer said it was a fact. As I stated before this was a first for me and I think it was a first for televised poker. He did apologize at the time but all of the sudden I got the feeling I was the bad guy in the situation. As he walked out into the audience he received a round of applause. I on the other hand met with production and others that said I did the right thing and thanked me for standing my ground. Mark also sent me an email later in the week and apologized which was a really classy thing to do.
I generally do not use the “F-word” penalty in most of my events because it is way too subjective of when it gets reported and additionally there are far more offensive words in my opinion that do not make the list. My rule about abusive language is simple, if it is offensive to or aimed at any other player, dealer, or tournament personnel that a penalty will be assessed. Due to the recent rule change that took place at the TDA meeting, time penalties will no longer be assessed. There was far too much inconsistency going on with the current way penalties were timed. If a player or players felt that a penalty was not deserved or worse if their friend was on a penalty they could stall and negate the effect of the penalty or worse still speed up and decimate the player on the penalty. The rule now reads that penalties will be in stages 1-2-3-4 and at a stage one penalty a player will miss one hand for every player that is currently at the table. This will now make it more equitable for final table situations as well. Please send any comments or questions about the news rules to Asktheboard@pokertda.com. The complete list of new TDA rules can be found at www.pokertda.com .