The Heartland Poker Tour is back again at the Majestic Star casino in Indiana. Once again I will be playing satellites into the Main Event starting July 3rd. Having had some time to reflect on the previous satellites a few months ago I am ready to rock and roll.

I will make a few adjustments in my play and hopefully it will pay off by winning the seat this time and advancing deep into the tournament. I am definitely looking forward to the challenge. The Main Event does start until late July and runs into August so I have plenty of time.

I happened to be browsing the web and ran into a really cool site. It’s called the Poker Atlas. If you are looking for a poker game or tournament near you then this is a great site to visit. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and click on your state and all of your local poker rooms pop up along with a map for directions. Each room has a brief description that pops up on the side bar.

Each listing also gives you the spread at each casino along with the tournament schedule if there is one available. It’s certainly worth exploring if you have the time.

Visit the Poker Atlas

Over the past 6 months there has been a noticeable change in how online tournament poker is being played. No longer is the standard raise 3 – 4x’s the big blind. Those days are now gone forever. In some ways this is a good thing but in other ways it is very bad. The standard online tournament raise is now simply a minimum raise from any position. Maybe this is because I rarely play above the $30 tournament level but it is a tactic that is extremely annoying despite my being able to take advantage of it time after time again.

I know I have written about this phenomenon previously and how to defend against it but it still shocks me why anyone would want to raise the minimum in a full ring with pocket Aces from under the gun. I just do not understand that kind of thinking. Over and over again I saw hand after hand get cracked and then the player that minimum raise ask the question, “How could you call me with that crap?”, not realizing that a minimum raise prices in almost any hand you can be dealt.

Another strange change to online poker is the advent of the minimum raise after having made your hand on the flop. Probe bets are now being met with minimum raises and causing the min raiser to be sent to the rail more often due to the fact that the min raise, once again, prices in your opponent to make the call to see fourth street.

Bam!!!!

Another min raiser throws a fit wondering how his Ace King could get cracked by a set of Two’s when the board showed [A][K][X][2]. The idea of players not folding is fine with me. I understand in low stakes tournaments players are not going to fold and the variance can get pretty crazy because of this fact. However, when I got called pre-flop for 5k by [7][6]os and my Ace King goes up in flames because the flop came down [3][4][5] it really makes me wonder if I am playing poker or bingo. The concepts of playing poker no longer hold true in the online tournament world. It is a very difficult adjustment to make if you can call it an adjustment at all.

Yes, I ran good for a while and I continue to play good poker and cash but the game has changed again and not for the better. Players no longer use logic or even math in their thinking. It’s all about the excitement of getting your chips in the middle even with the worst hand.

That’s a scary thought indeed.

November 9th is finally here. After a three month break from the 2008 WSOP Championship No Limit event the tournament will begin playing to its conclusion this afternoon. Nine players have waded their way through 6,844 other players to make the final table in this poker tournament. Each player has already pocketed $1 million dollars and will be playing for a first prize of over $9 million dollars.

Either way it goes this has been a heck of a ride for everyone involved.

The chip leader is 53 year old trucking account manager Dennis Phillips from St. Louis. Phillips is sitting on a hefty $26 million in chips and he certainly won’t be in any rush to get involved early. Next in line is Ivan Demidov who plays poker semi-professionally and hales from Moscow. Demidov is sitting on a cool $24 million in chips and is armed and dangerous.

Next in line is Scott Montgomery, 26, of Perth, Ont., with about 19.7 million chips,

After Scott there is Peter Eastgate, a 22-year-old professional poker player from Odense, Denmark, who holding 18.4 million chips. Eastgate also happens to be the youngest player at this final table.

Next is Ylon Schwartz, 38, of New York sitting on $12 million in chips.

Next up is David “Chino” Rheem, a 28-year-old professional poker player from Los Angeles, in seventh place holding 10.2 million chips

In last place is 31 year old Kelly Kim. Kelly is a professional player and is short stacked coming into this final table with only $2.6 million in chips. He will need to double up early and then once again to get back in the tournament. Otherwise, he won’t be long for the final table.

The tournament will be broadcast live on ESPN at 10a.m.

Yes, you heard that correctly. Phil Ivey took down a whopping $508K playing heads-up Pot Limit Omaha yesterday on Full Tilt. He did this while Multi-Tabling over 23 sessions. Not a bad days work.

Ya think?