Gambling Thrills

With the WSOP quickly approaching us, I thought it would be fun to post some interesting historical facts and put a little perpective on the time when WSOP was introduced.

When the first annual WSOP was held in 1970:

• The cost of gasoline was 36 cents
• The average value of a single-family home in the United States was $65K
• The average cost of a domestic car was $3,708
• The average income household income in the US was $8,734
• Federal minimum wage was $1.60
• “Midnight Cowboy” won an Academy Award for Best Picture
• “Bridge Over Trouble Water” by Simon & Garfunkel topped Billboard Hot 100
• Richard Nixon was President of the United States

The WSOP has been in existence longer than:

• The right of 18-year-olds to vote in federal elections (1971)
• The Hacky Sack (1972)
• Legos (1973)
• Roe vs. Wade (1973)
• The Rubik’s Cube (1974)
• The VCR (1975)
• The Post-It-Note (1977)

By the Number (WSOP 1970 - 2008)

• $867,253,377 - Total prize money awarded to date
• 286,993 - Total number of participants who have competed in WSOP
• 27,685 - Number of entrants that have cashed in a WSOP event
• 36,979 - Total entrants to complete in the WSOP Main Event
• 731 - Number of gold bracelets awarded (In 1974, The Main Event winner received a gold bracelet.  In 1975, became the first year all event winners received a gold bracelet. In 1982, gold watches were awarded instead of bracelets.)
• 11 - Number of bracelets won by Phil Hellmuth, the most of any player in history
• 53 - Number of multi-millionaire created by WSOP
• $0 - Amount Johnny Moss won for winning 1970 Main Event (He won a Silver Cup instead)
• 6,843 - Number of people Peter Eastgate beat to became champion in 2008 WSOP Main Event
• 6 - Number of people Johnny Moss beat in 1970 to become champion (by vote of his peers)
• 94 - Age of Jack Ury in 2007, the oldest person ever to complete in a WSOP event
• 22 - Age of Peter Eastgate, youngest Main Event champion in history
• 124 - Number of nations represented at the 2008 WSOP (80 nations were represented at the 2006 Winter Olympics)
• 1 - Number of countries represented at the 1970 WSOP
• 40 - Number of cameras ESPN uses to cover WSOP (NBC used 35 to cover Super Bowl XLIII)
• 1970 - Year the first WSOP was held at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas
• 2009 - Year that the 40th Annual WSOP will be held at the Rio in Las Vegas

Holdem Poker Radio

Holdem Poker Chat has pulled out the stops once again with their new Holdem Poker Radio.  The station will be offering music, game commentary, interviews and lots of poker talk.  As part of the Holdem Poker Chat Network, Holdem Poker Radio promises some of the best programming and even some one-of-a-kind features.

With the WSOP coming up, HPC will be there broadcasting live for a couple of the later events in June.  Several members of HPC, including myself, will be there for events 51 &/or 54.  Hopefully they can snag some poker pros for interviews.  Either way it will be a great broadcast and one you don’t want to miss.

Check them out today at Holdem Poker Radio

I have to admit, I am rather disappointed in myself over this past weekends marathon.  As a previous IronWoman for playing every game in the last marathon, my goal was to retain that title for this marathon and, once again, play each and every game over the 24 hour period.  Well, that didn’t happen.  :(  Why?  I guess I have good reasons, excuses, or whatever you want to call them.

This weekend was also my daughters birthday party with a bunch of her friends.  I can’t really use that as an excuse because she is 15 now and she did not need mommy holding her hand and giving directions during the sleep-over.  They didn’t want to play the kiddie games they did when she was younger.  They pretty much wanted to be left alone and do their own thing.  I was more than happy to oblige and resumed my playing.

The issue was with Sunday.  I was hosting yet another birthday gathering for my boyfriends son, Dillon.  He was turning 10 and we invited family over for the celebration and cook out.  What was I thinking??  The girls from my daughters sleep-over were leaving around noon.  The new group of visitors was arriving at 2:00pm.  That gave me time to clean-up after the party and prepare for the new one.  And I thought I would still be able to pull off playing the entire marathon.  I may be an IronWoman, but I am not Wonder Woman!  I just couldn’t do it.

I realized it about 4:00 am.  I had a couple cups of coffee to keep me awake, but then again coffee has never stopped me from going to sleep if I was tired enough, no matter how much I drank.  I checked my position in the rankings and saw I was in about 29th place or so.  I would have to pull off a miracle and win (or at least finish in the top 3) several of the remaining games.  I would have to do this in a zombie stage with everyone making crazy decisions because they were also tired, strung out on energry drinks, trashed from large amounts of alcohol, and grumpy for all the above.  I made a decision - to throw in the towel around 6:30.  I realized I had to get some sleep so I wasn’t a total bitch on wheels for the Sunday festivities.  Yes, I gave up and quit.

Regardless, I still had a great time as always during these events.  The chat room at HPC was booming, the radio was playing good music and great commentaries of the game play, and some great fun at the tables.

I will be back next time to reclaim my title as IronWoman, just you wait and see.

Well, I didn’t get to the Silk’s Room to play live poker last weekend (big sigh).  I’m not sure why I didn’t go.  I don’t recall having to do anything last weekend.  Oh yeah, I remember…..I had too much freaking homework.  Yep, this old lady of 41 is in college.  I’m trying to get that magical piece of paper that proves to my boss that I am capable of thinking, planning, managing, and whatever else it proves.  I am on the last leg of it, so I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I have about another year left before it is all over.  It has been a long stretch since beginning in 2006.  This semester I have two classes that require quite a bit of writing.  The classes I take are only 8 weeks, but it crams 16 weeks of normal classes into have the time, which means twice as much work in a shorter time.  UGGGGHHH.

Anyways…..This blog is not for me to complain about my school.  It is suppose to be about poker!  So allow me to resume…..

Okay, in addition to working on my poker skills both in Holdem and Omaha, I need to work on my disapline for keeping up on this page!  I need to stop letting so much time go by between posts.

Things have been pretty quiet in the the poker world for me lately.  I have played a few private forum games, but no big public games, sitngos or cash games.  Big mistake with Vegas coming up in a couple of months.  I need to be playing more, not less.  I was in a couple games tonight, but had my boyfriend play them because I had school.

That has been my challenge lately…..school.  I have classes twice a week, Wednesday and Thursday.  Then there is reading and homework to do during the week.  But regardless, if I am going to make a good showing in Vegas, I have got to play more, especially live.

Have I played live at all you ask?  No!  Shame on me!

I have a little over two months to prepare for Vegas.  It is time to get off my butt and start playing, especially live!  So this weekend my goal is to hit The Silks Room at the Tampa Bay Downs and play live!

Next report will be that play…….wish me luck!

I’m a big fan of HORSE.  I normally hate limit games, but I love a good game of HORSE.  Not too many forums run HORSE games, but when I hear about one, I’m there if at all possible.  Well tonight was one of those nights.

One of the private forums had a game going on Absolute Poker, so I decided to give it a go.  It was a small $3.30 buyin with no rebuys/addons.  There were 31 entries.  The top 9 got paid, with 1st place getting $39.90.  Not a bad return on your investment.

I played a pretty decent game.  I got sucked out on pretty bad early on, but managed to keep my cool and build my stack back up.  After the second break I was hovering around 3rd place for quite a while.  The cards began to turn to ice.  Thank goodness I had a decent stack to hold me over a few blinds.  There was probably a good 45 mins where the hands were just awful and that is bad in HORSE since there are so many different games.  You know the old story, high card in Razz, low cards in Stud, yada, yada, yada.

It finally got down to the final table and yes, I made it.  There were a couple low stacks, so it wasn’t long until they were knocked out.  Before I knew it, we were down to the last 5 and there I was sitting in 5th place.  I had to do something or else I would be eaten alive.

It was Stud H/L and I was dealt 463.  One person had a 2A showing and the other had a 57.  I figured I was good to go for the low, so I limped in.  Next card was 7.  One player bet and with him catching a 10, I figured I was good for the low,  so I called.  Next card for me was a 5. Boom - I hit the straight.  He caught a 5 as well.  I figured at best I won the high with the straight but was still possible I had the low as well.  He bet out and I called.  Last card was face down, but knew my straight had to still be good.  He bet, I called.  I won the high with the straight and the low with 34567.  Sweeeeeeeeeet!  That put me back up to 3nd place, but also crippled one of the players.

Back to the crappy cards…..down to 4th place with still 5 left.  The low stack keeps getting lucky and hanging in there.

Finally the low stack is allin on my big blind.  It is holdem and I have Jh8h.  I hit a pair of Jacks on the river, which is good enough to beat his AK and I take him out, as well as beat the other player that called the allin.  That also moved me up to 2rd place with 4 players left.

Blinds are now up to 1000/2000 and I am in 2nd with 9600.  I am dealt 44QQ in Omaha.  I raise and guy calls.  Flop is 9sKc6d. I bet out 2K and he calls, so I put him on a K. A 3d on the turn. I check and he checks.  River is a 7d. I bet 2K and he raises, so I call with my Jack high flush.  He turns over a King high flush.  This cripples me big time.

I am left with 1600 chips and in the SB for 500.  I push with practically nothing.  Sure enough, I am out in 4th place.  For 4th place I got $13.70.  Still a good ROI, so I won’t complain too much.

It was a great game with many great players.  It is a tough crowd to be able to make even the final table.  I’m happy with the results.  I never saw that higher flush coming.  When you down to that few, who would?

April Holdem Poker Chat Poker League Schedule

HPC has a great line-up of games for April.  There is a nice variety of sites for all players to choose from.  Be sure to stop by the forum, join up, and post your site names to qualify for the league prizes.

Here is the schedule:

Sunday

- Freerolls - Various Poker Sites

Monday
- No Games

Tuesday
- 8:30pm Raider Poker - League 1 - $5 with $50 added

Wednesday
- 3pm Carbon Poker - League 2 - $5 with $50 added

Thursday
- 8:30pm Raider Poker - League 1 - $5 with $50 added

Friday
- 9pm Players Only - League 1 - $5 with $25 added
- Midnight Cake Poker - No league points - Crazy Payout - $5 with $25 added

Saturday
- 3pm Reefer Poker - League 2 - $5 with $50 added
- 9pm betED - League 1 - $3 with $25 added

League Prizes:

Crazy Cash League 1
1st: $75
2nd: $50
3rd: $25

Crazy Cash League 2
1st: $75
2nd: $50
3rd: $25

All these games will be on the calendar on the forum. Most games will have final table broadcasts on OnTiltRadio.

And that world is poker and I am the Poker Byotch.  Don’t let that fool you, I’m truly a nice individual, but when it comes to poker, I would take out my own parents if I have to (sorry mom and dad).  I’m not a talker at the table, so I may come across as being a byotch.  However, if you find me at a private forum game, then I can chat up a storm.  That won’t stop me from going after the chips, but we’ll have a nice conversation during the process.

There is a lot to be offered on this blog. In addition to my poker playing and HPC forum, I will also blog about a few poker and casino promotions and some poker news.  This blog will be a nice variety of information in addition to my personal poker experiences.

The blog site is new, so I am just getting started on the post so bare with me while I get it started.

If you are visiting at the beginning of it all, I hope you come back when it is more put together and there is much more content to offer you.

Enjoy it!  All comments welcome!

Good luck at the table!  Beware of the chick with chips!

~The Poker Byotch