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Curtis III

I made the Final Table again last night. I hung in with a field of 426 players until my AKos got busted by A4os. Disappointing but that’s how it goes sometimes. There were only four entries being given away to the WSOP Super Satellite and I was just playing to earn the FPP’s.

My game has been on point and my cards are holding up. Online poker can be so agonizing at times but I love the game and we all have to deal with the highs and lows. I have a major feature coming up on the World Poker Crown Championship tournament. That article should be published sometime this week. I will let you guys know as soon as it’s available.

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I just watched Phil Ivey take down his second Poker After Dark championship. This guy is every bit as good as advertised. Ivey literally called out Howard Lederes hands on 3 different occassions, and you thought Dan Negreanu was the only one with these kinds of powers, frustrating Lederer to the point that he started telling him what he had after each hand.

Absolutely incredible. The thing that is compelling about watching Phil Ivey play is that he simply has some of the best poker instincts of anyone playing today. It’s like he can tell when he is beat and will simply fold his hand as if he can see through the cards. Now I know those kinds of instincts also come from years of experience and practice but some of these lay downs are just ridiculous. The average guy and even a lot of pro’s would go broke on the same hands yet Ivey seems to sense when his opponent has the best of it.

Here is a prime example of why Phil Ivey is considered the best poker player in the world. Lederer and Ivey are heads-up for the championship. Lederer picks up Kd8d and raises it up. Ivey calls with 84os.

The flop comes down XX4 with two diamonds.

Lederer goes all-in. Ivey begins to process the hand and possibilities and suspects his opponent is on a complete draw and therefor behind. He goes back and forth for five minutes trying to make the correct decision. Finally, he determines there is too much money in the pot to fold and calls.

The turn is another 4 giving Ivey a set and negating Lederes 8.

The river is a blank and Ivey is the champion. Absolutely unreal. You can’t teach talent. Either you have it or you don’t. But when you blend both talent and great instincts along with good fundamentals you have an extremely dangerous player in Phil Ivey.

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Jack Hinchey took down the $1 Million Dollar first prize to win the World Poker Crown Championship. Jack bested the field of 8 final table players and continued to build his massive chip lead ’til the end.

Congratulations Jack!

We all watch poker on TV. Some of us more than others. There is one player, Dan Negreanu, that really seems to instigate a lot of situations at the table. I was watching High Stakes Poker and when Freddy Deeb was accused of “going south” Negreanu was the instigator of the entire melee. Yet, Negreanu swore up and down that he was just joking.

Dan was also involved in another scenario at the tables the next season but the player he was involved with escapes me. Don’t get me wrong. Dan Negreanu is a fantastic player both cash and tournament. However, he is a bit too chatty at times and doesn’t know when to simply keep his mouth shut. It really makes him look bad sometimes when his timing is off. Otherwise, I understand that he uses his chatter as a tool to extract information.

Every now and then silence is golden.

Right Dan?

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I am extremely excited about playing in Las Vegas again. We go every year and I always have to visit the Venetian to play a little poker. The room is so well put together and they treat the average guy like gold. I still cannot figure out why the other rooms don’t take the hint. How difficult is it to treat someone with a little respect?

I have been over to the Bellagio and Caesars and they have the same air of arrogance in their poker rooms. It’s all about the money. We get that but it doesn’t mean that you can’t treat your guests well. What the casinos don’t seem to understand is that the poker community talks. If I have a bad experience somewhere I am going to tell my friends. More importantly I am going to blog about it and hit the forums.

Caesars has developed a really poor reputation for mediocrity in their poker room. You would think the manager would take a little time to read the forums and a few blogs to really get an idea of where they stand but they just keep marching with indifference. Same with the Bellagio.

You get none of that at the Venetian. The place is great and there is no tolerance for BS. If you get unorderly you will be asked to leave. I love that in this day of the “me first and I don’t care” generation. I am really stoked about playing the noon tournament with 40 min levels and $7500 in starting chips for a $130 buy-in. That’s awfully hard to beat. They have so many really good tournaments that are extremely well run.

Whatever happened to the time when competitors learned from each other?

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The World Poker Crown Championship event is being broadcast this week. You can also catch it via internet streaming media.

This event has a $1 Million dollar First Place prize!

Also, they will be having give aways during the broadcast to various WSOP qualifiers. This is definitely a tournament worth checking out.

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It’s official! I am on my way to Las Vegas in July. I am sooooo excited about this trip and look forward to having a lot of fun. We are having our High School reunion at the Luxor. I will be staying with a friend of mine. He has a time share almost next door to the Luxor. He is an excellent cash game player and we only have 2 reunion events that we have to attend. The rest of the time we have open to play poker all day and night for 4 nights.

What a wonderful thing.

I plan on playing most of my tournaments at the Venetian. I made the 8p.m. Final Table there last year and took down a very nice cash. Also, for the buy-in amount you cannot beat the Venetian for structure. They promote lot’s of play as all of there tournaments have at least $30 min levels. I am going to play the 12 noon tournament this time around. It has a $130 buy-in with $7500 in starting chips and 30 minute levels.

Of course I will let you guys know exactly what went down as soon as I get back. In the mean time I am still on break from playing PokerStars tournaments but return very soon.

Talk to ya,

Curtis III