Vegas Poker Skills

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It offers several features to find a Poker game when you are in Vegas:

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The World Series of Poker Circuit schedule has nearly wrapped up for 2007. Its last couple of days saw three more preliminary events play out before the start of the $5,000 Championship Event today.

Brooklyn resident Jeffrey Vanchiro took down Event 6 on Friday while Frank Vizza from Coal Springs Harbor, N.Y., won Event 7, and Anisha Shrestha of Philadelphia, Pa., was the top lady in Event 8.
Event 6

In Event 6 on Friday, the first of two consecutive $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournaments, 213 runners came to line. The $213,000 prize pool would be split up among the top 27 finishers in the event, but the lion’s share of $68,160 would go to the winner.

There were some veterans of the WSOPC who decided to take a shot at this event. At the final table was Sal Giambrone, who has played in five Circuit events and cashed in two of them. Another player on a roll was Hung Truong, who had been playing in events at the Trump Classic in Atlantic City this year and made three final tables, with one victory.

Leading the nine men to the final table was Michael Kelly, who held a slim 90,000 chip lead over Mike Somma. In the first eight hands of the tournament, three players would head to the rail, including the aforementioned Truong.

There were several hands that spelled doom for those who remained, including a stunning one between Mike Somma and Charles Minter. After Somma opened the betting for $20,000 and was called by Giambrone, Minter popped the two of them for a $60,000 bet.

Somma contemplated for a minute, then made the call, and Giambrone stepped aside. A T-T-3 flop greeted the twosome, and Minter made a strong $150,000 stab, only to see Somma come all-in over the top. Minter called and tabled his A-K, to no avail: he was crushed by Somma’s pocket tens for quads.

The elimination of Minter in fifth put Somma into the chip lead by a wide margin, holding almost $850,000 of the $1.3 million chips in play. The table would catch up with Somma, however.

Jeffrey Vanchiro doubled-up to stay in the event and former chip leader Kelly left the table in fourth after Vanchiro eliminated him. Somma took care of Giambrone in third by out-flopping Giambrone’s A-J with a J-8 and two eights on the flop. When heads-up action began, Somma held an 8-5 lead over Vanchiro.

The turning point came after 40 hands when, on a J-8-2 board, Vanchiro faced an all-in move from Somma. He deliberately reconstructed the play pre- and post-flop before calling with his pocket aces.

Somma could only muster a straight draw and, after the board finished with Vanchiro making a flush, he could see the title beginning to slip away. Somma would continue the fight, however, for another dozen hands before he made his move on a king-high turn (K-4-2-8).

Vanchiro instantly called him and tabled an unbeatable pocket fours for the set and the victory.

Vanchiro had been one step away from a final table at this year’s World Series (he finished in 11th in a Shootout event that eventually would feature Erick Lindgren and Daniel Negreanu) and had considered giving up the game.

He’s probably glad that he didn’t now that he came out on top of this final table:
Place Name Hometown Prize
1st Jeffrey Vanchiro Brooklyn, N.Y. $68,160
2nd Mike Somma Middle Village, N.Y. $37,488
3rd Sal Giambrone Staten Island, N.Y. $19,170
4th Michael Kelly Verona, N.J. $14,910
5th Charles Minter Yardsley, Pa. $12,780
6th Larry Nelson Harleysville, Pa. $10,650
7th Hung Truong Brooklyn, N.Y. $8,750
8th Bobby Wisiak Queens, N.Y. $6,390
9th Terry Quinn Powell, Ohio $4,260
Event 7

Saturday saw some veteran names begin to slip into Harrah’s to get ready for play in the $5,000 event on Sunday. With 258 of these early arrivals deciding to warm up by getting in the final open event on the schedule, a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event, the first-place winner would walk off with the largest prize of this Circuit event so far, $82,580.

Several names in the field were familiar to tournament circuit followers. David Fox, who had already made a final table during the run of this Circuit event, was not so fortunate this time around, finishing 20th.

A stalwart on the New Jersey poker scene, Eugene Fouksman, fared a little better but was short of the final table in 12th place. Two other veterans of the tournament wars, WSOPC ring holder Douglas Carli and Frank Vizza, did make the final table, with Vizza in the chip lead.

The first woman at the final table during this schedule of Circuit events was Marlis Sawicki, who was eliminated in sixth place by a pocket pair of aces from Joseph Brattole.

Carli hung on for a while after coming to the final table in eighth place, but he would eventually succumb to a suck-re-suck to Mark Roland.

After Roland opened the action for $36,000, Carli pushed in with K-Q. Roland called, whereupon Carli found himself significantly behind Roland’s pocket aces. The miracle nearly came for Carli as he flopped one king, then turned another.

However, a third ace cruelly came on the river for Roland and eliminated Carli in fifth place. After Jason Quintana’s elimination in fourth place and some chip shuttling between the final three (Vizza, Roland and Brattole, in that chip order), the three finalists ended up deciding on a deal for the tournament.

While they did come back and officially dispatch Roland in third, Vizza and Brattole only played one heads-up hand before calling the tournament and Frank Vizza the victor. The final-table results were thus:
Place Name Hometown Prize
1st Frank Vizza Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. $82,580*
2nd Joseph Brattole II Parsippany, N.J. $45,408*
3rd Mark Roland Atlantic City $23,220*
4th Jason Quintana Bayside, N.Y. $18,060
5th Douglas Carli Alliance, Ohio $15,480
6th Marlis Sawicki Toronto, Ontario $12,900
7th Thanh Phong Trieu Montreal, Quebec $10,320
8th Robert Jackson Cheltenham, Pa. $7,740
9th Yakov Radutman Cliffside, N.J. $5,160

* Prizes do not reflect final-table deal.
Event 8

The final preliminary event was the $200 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em event that saw 328 women shuffle up and deal for a shot at a $65,600 prize pool. Anisha Shrestha, a 21-year-old student from Pennsylvania, topped the field to take home the largest share of the prize.

The ladies event was a one-day event on the schedule and once play got down to the final nine, it didn’t take long to see a player head to the rail. Three hands in, Yorika Hama pushed all-in with pocket jacks and got a call from Shrestha.

Holding pocket aces, Shrestha had the lead when the flop came K-K-3. The turn brought an ace, giving her a full house and Hama the ninth-place spot.

Five hands later Shrestha made another kill at the table when Ebony Kennedy pushed in with A-Q. Shrestha called with pocket tens. The board came K-6-4-8-J, giving Shrestha another pot.

On the very next hand, Christine Mizerak went all-in with T-9 and got a call from Gina Saladino holding K-J. The board came J-T-5-6-5 to give Saladino the hand.

Yet another elimination came four hands later. Jennifer Goad put it all-in from the cut-off seat holding pocket fours. Shrestha stepped up to call from the small blind with K-T. A ten came on the turn to give Shrestha the hand and send Goad to the rail in sixth place.

The next elimination came after the blinds went up. Denise Ronca was sitting in the small blind with barely enough to make a big blind payment. She made a go of it with K-T, and Shrestha stayed in the action with pocket aces. An ace on the flop finished off Ronca and left her cashing out in fifth place.

By the time the level ended, Shrestha had amassed a tremendous chip lead over the three other remaining players. On the very first hand in the next level, she added to that lead by taking out another player.

Candy Vecere moved her last $32,000 in with a hand of A-6. Shrestha called from the small blind with 9-8. Vecere got some hope with a six on the turn, but the river brought a nine for Shrestha.

With play down to three, the ladies stopped to talk deals. They split the remaining prize pool according to chip counts, which left Gina Saladino in third, Judith Urban in second and Shrestha with the win.

The final-table results were:
Place Name Hometown Prize
1st Anisha Shrestha Philadelphia, Pa. $20,336*
2nd Judith Urban Philadelphia, Pa. $10,496*
3rd Gina Saladino Norristown, Pa. $5,248*
4th Candy Vecere Margate, N.J. $4,592
5th Denise Ronca Brigantine, N.J. $3,936
6th Jennifer Goad Bedford, Va. $3,280
7th Christine Mizerak Hamilton, N.J. $2,624
8th Ebony Kennedy Ft. Myers, Fla. $1,968
9th Yoriko Hama Lawrenceville, N.J. $1,312

*Prize amounts do not reflect deal made between players.

With all the preliminary events out of the way, the $5,000 Championship Event will take to the felt today. PokerListings.com will be there for all the action, so be sure to check the Live Tournaments Section for all the latest action out of Harrah’s in Atlantic City.

On Sunday, 701 players had started in a $300 No-Limit Hold’em event, building a $210,300 prize pool. Monday’s final table was remarkable for the stunning chip swings and bad beats that occurred.

Aaron Kidder started the final table with a comfortable 150k chip lead over his nearest opponent but it was clear from the first hand that it was anyone’s tournament to win.

Perhaps one of the sickest beats of the tournament happened with eight players to go. A seriously short-stacked Bruce Bartfeld moved all-in from the small blind with only a J-5 and was instantly called by the pocket aces of Mark Hoke.

The domination was quickly reversed when Bartfeld flopped two jacks for trips, leading the fortunate Bartfeld to quip, “And this isn’t being televised?” as he scooped up the chips.

Hoke suffered two beats like this (early on in action his pocket kings were run down by A-Q) and departed the final table in eighth place. Bartfeld continued to climb the ladder after his Lazarus-like resurrection and assumed the chip lead once he’d eliminated Jeffrey Perzan in fourth place. There would still be a battle to earn the WSOPC ring, however.

Edward Sabat nailed two pair on the flop against Kidder’s flush draw and, once two blanks came off, crippled Kidder to 7,000 chips. Kidder was able to double-up once, but Sabat finished him off a couple hands later to assume the chip lead going into heads-up action.

Play was cautious for about a dozen hands as Sabat slowly chipped further into the lead. He took a tremendous hit when, on a 7-6-4 flop, Bartfeld fired 200k at the pot and Sabat moved all-in.

Bartfeld called with his 8c-6c against Sabat’s open-ended draw (J-5) and captured the hand when he caught an unnecessary five on the river to make a straight. A few hands later, Bartfeld sealed his tremendous comeback by flopping a set of kings against Sabat’s Q-10 and captured the championship, the WSOPC ring and the $56,781 first-place prize.

The final table played out thusly:

Event 3Tuesday afternoon saw the final table of the first of a series of $500 No-Limit Hold’em events at Harrah’s. A prize pool of $188,000 accumulated from the 376 runners, and the final nine would battle it out for the top prize of $58,280.

One of the notable names at this final table was Caywood “Woody” Vanstratum, who has earned four cashes in WSOPC events in 2007 (most recently at the Circuit stop in New Orleans). He was going to have his work cut out for him, though, as he entered the final table in eighth place.

Over the six-hour final table, the chip lead was held by five different players. Vanstratum wasn’t one of those who held the lead, though, as he departed in the same spot he’d entered at. Jonathan Gosnell, Robert Jackowski, Dimitri Haskaris and Pete Damato all held the chip lead at one time or another before Jeffrey Neuman was able to assume command of the table.

Behind Damato as heads-up action started, Neuman went on the offensive almost immediately. Over the span of 26 heads-up hands, Neuman was able to first take the lead over Damato and then extend it.

His aggressiveness almost cost him on the final hand of the tournament, though, when, after Damato pushed all-in with an A-2, Neuman made the call with a suited K-10. Damato led to the river and was crushed when the saving king came, giving Jeffrey Neuman the championship.

Neuman and his final-tablemates fared this way:

There are still six events left on the schedule before the start of the $5,000 Championship Event this Sunday. If the rest of the events on the schedule attract as many players as the first three, the WSOPC stop at Harrah’s in Atlantic City will have been one of the best-attended of the year.

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. said today the 2008 World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light and televised exclusively on ESPN will — for the first time ever — begin and end with $10,000 buy-in World Championship events and feature a total of eight $10,000 championships. In addition, the 55-event schedule for 2008 includes a total of eight $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournaments, which traditionally draw the largest fields except for the Main Event. The WSOP has also added a second start day for the first of the $1,500 no-limit competitions to accommodate the expected number of entrants.

“This is our most exciting schedule yet,” said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the WSOP. “Both amateur and professional poker players will have new opportunities to compete for a WSOP bracelet and can choose from the widest variety of games and buy-ins ever offered in one poker tournament and certainly at the WSOP.

“We’re holding steady at 55 events this year,” said Pollack. “But, we’ve mixed it up a bit to keep it interesting for our players and fans.”

The 2008 WSOP starts May 30 with the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot-Limit Hold’Em and ends July 16 with the Final Table of the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em — best known as the WSOP Main Event.

The six other $10,000 buy-in events — all World Championship competitions — include: Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’Em; Seven-Card Stud; Limit Hold’Em; Omaha Hi-Low Split Eight or Better; Pot-Limit Omaha; and a new Mixed Event. The Mixed Event will feature eight variations of poker: Limit and No-Limit Hold’Em; Omaha Hi-Low and Pot-Limit Omaha; Seven Card Stud; Razz; Seven Card Hi-Low Split; and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.

The second event of the 2008 WSOP is a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament with two starting days — May 31 and June 1.

Pre-registration for the 2008 WSOP can be made beginning in February on-site at the Main Cage of the Rio(R) All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas or at http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

In addition to the largest cash prizes in poker, winners of each of the 55 events will receive an exclusive World Series of Poker gold bracelet crafted by the luxury Swiss watchmaker CORUM. Last year, 54,288 entrants who ranged in age from 21 (bracelet winner Steve Billirakis) to 94 (Main Event contestant Jack Ury) competed for the poker world’s largest total prize pool of nearly $160 million.

The 2008 WSOP will be staged inside the Rio Convention Center from May 30 through July 16. WSOP officials plan a “soft opening” of the tournament room on May 28 and 29 for players to register early and play in satellite tournaments and cash games.

“The poker tent is gone,” said Pollack. “We heard folks loud and clear last year, and there will be no tents used for tournament play at the 2008 WSOP.”

On July 2, and in conjunction with the WSOP, Oscar nominee Don Cheadle and poker professional Annie Duke will host the second annual Ante Up For Africa charity tournament at the Rio.

Last year’s AUFA event featured dozens of Hollywood celebrities and poker professionals and raised more than $700,000 for charity. Ante Up For Africa is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 by Cheadle, Duke and Norman Epstein and is dedicated to raising money and awareness for Africans in need.

July 3 is the first of four start days for the 2008 Main Event. Last year, a total of 6,358 entrants competed for a Main Event prize pool of $59.8 million. Players may choose their Main Event start dates as long as seats are available on the selected dates.

More information about the World Series of Poker is available at the Web site http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. is the world’s largest provider of branded casino entertainment. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, nearly 70 years ago, Harrah’s has grown through development of new properties, expansions and acquisitions, and now owns or manages casinos on four continents. The Company’s properties operate primarily under the Harrah’s, Caesars and Horseshoe brand names; Harrah’s also owns the London Clubs International family of casinos. Harrah’s Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. For more information, please visit http://www.harrahs.com.

The T.J. Martell Foundation will host its first Celebrity Poker Tournament to raise money for the foundation Dec. 11 at the Las Vegas Hilton. Several celebrities have already confirmed their attendance, and Robin Leach will serve as Master of Ceremonies for the event.

The charity poker event will take place during National Finals Rodeo week in Las Vegas, bringing country music and rodeo stars to the felt to raise money together for leukemia, cancer and AIDS research.

Luke Bryan, Houston Hutto, Buddy Jewell and Charley Pride will also be competing for a share in the $50,000 cash and prizes at the event. Joining them will be Britt Bockius, Tracy Byrd, Rodney Carrington, Lee Greenwood, Justin McBride and Trent Willmon.

The buy-in for the tournament is $500 plus a $40 registration fee. There will be re-buys and add-ons offered as well.

All re-buys, add-ons and additional proceeds from the tournament will benefit the T.J. Martell Foundation, which raises funds to support research for leukemia, cancer and AIDS. The foundation helps support eight of the top research hospitals in the United States.

Seating for the tournament is limited to 150 players, and 120 of those will be paid out of a $50,000 prize pool.

Mark Fracalossi will serve as tournament director for the event.

The event will kick off with a media reception and charity auction at 11 a.m., Dec. 11, with the celebrity tournament starting at noon.

Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari is known as “The Magician” on the tournament circuit because prior to catching flush draws against his opponents at the tables he was pulling rabbits of his hat on stage.

Esfandiari, who was born in Tehran, Iran, came to the United States to attend college. A bartender with whom he became friends introduced him to the world of magic, and by the time he was 19 he was a professional magician who performed at private parties and other social events.

Soon after amazing audiences with card tricks, he was vexing his opponents at the poker table with amazing feats of poker skill. He became the youngest player to win over $1 million in a poker tournament with his victory in the 2004 L.A. Poker Classic Championship.

Just three months later he won a $2,000 Pot-Limit Texas Hold’em tournament at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and was awarded his first gold bracelet after claiming first prize of nearly $200,000. His tournament winnings now exceed $2.7 million.

You can watch Esfandiari work his magic at the poker tables every week on High Stakes Poker, the popular GSN “Get in the Game” cable network show now in its fourth season. It was produced at the South Point Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas.

Unlike tournaments in which players compete to advance to the final table using chips with no cash value, High Stakes Poker brings top professional poker stars and legends together for a private game in which they lay down their own cash.

The buy-in for each game at the start of the season was $100,000, but as of earlier this month it increased to $500,000 per player, which means that the final seven episodes of Season IV feature $5 million in cash and more on the table.

Busting out in this game means more than the loss of your entry fee and the opportunity to move on. Losing it all on High Stakes Poker means you’re out a bundle.

“The Magician” has anted up for all four seasons of High Stakes Poker. I caught up with him between tables in a Las Vegas poker tournament and asked him what he felt was the biggest difference between playing in a cash game like High Stakes Poker and a regular televised tournament.

“Comparing High Stakes Poker to tournaments is like comparing rugby to table tennis,” he said. “It’s not even close. The strategy and tools are so different. In a tournament you’re playing to advance to the final table. In High Stakes Poker you play to protect your stack without having to take unnecessary risks.”

Even for a high stakes pro like Esfandiari, a seasoned cash game player, High Stakes Poker is the biggest game he’s ever played in. He admits to enjoying competing against the greatest players in the world on the show, captivated by what he describes as the unique “pizzazz and energy” of each episode.

A risk-taker who puts huge sums of money on the line for each decision he makes, Esfandiari told me: “A poker session for me is just like a day at the office. You win some, you lose some, and at the end of the day you tally up the results.”

His after-hour conversations with “co-workers”, he says, are surprisingly cordial in spite of the fortunes that can be won or lost.

“You can lose $1 million, another guy can win $500,000, and you’ll meet at the bar an hour later and speak with one another like nothing happened,” he said.

You can read Antonio Esfandiari’s entertaining poker blog at www.alwaysbluff.com.

CASINO NEWS: Club Victoria player’s club members are invited to celebrate the holiday season with a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway at the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin every Monday through Thursday Dec. 3 - 20. Drawings will be held at 3 pm, 6 pm and 8 pm. Twelve winners will be selected each day to play a grand prize game for cash and prizes.

Luke Cahill from Manchester, England, captured first place and a $220,000 prize last week at Poker’s European Championship $1,000,000 GP Main Event (ECOOP).

Cahill defeated a field of 992 players competing in the $1000+$60 Texas Hold’em No Limit Freezeout tournament, which was the climax of the ten-day ECOOP series. The ECOOP tournaments awarded more than $2,500,000 in total prizes.

“I was awake all night,” Cahill said, shortly after he won the last hand at the twelve-hour-long online poker tournament. “I wasn’t as tired as I should have been towards the end.”

Amazingly, Cahill had never previously played a tournament, having only played cash games. “Recently I decided to try playing tournaments,” Cahill said. “I only heard about the ECOOP Main Event the day before,” he admitted. Cahill now promises to devote more time to Poker tournaments and possibly to win a satellite seat to represent his poker room at a major mainland poker event.

“I’ve played only one live tournament before, and busted out on the first day,” Cahill said. He says his success can be attributed to “knowing which cards to start with, waiting for the good hands, and playing those.”

“I play a few hours at a time,” Cahill says of his poker activity. “I play until bored, unless it’s a tournament, when I can play for twelve hours straight.”