Unofficial World Poker Tour blog

2005-12-24T18:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a year:

That's a long, long time. I may try to start updating this again.

2004-12-26T01:53:00.000-08:00

Want to be on the World Poker Tour?
The next tournament is the Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica, Miss. The tourney starts January 24 and ends January 27th.

And Shana Hiatt should be there.

2004-10-10T01:45:00.000-07:00

October 13th show:
Right before the WPT Poker corner show (see immediately below) will be the reairing of the WPT Championship at the Bellagio. It features:

Martin de Knijff $4,375,000
Hasan Habib $2,605,000
Matt Matros $3,860,000
Richard Grijalva $2,995,000
Russell Rosenblum $1,780,000
Steve Brecher $1,460,000

To the right of each player is their starting chip count.

2004-10-09T01:38:00.000-07:00

New World Poker Tour show:
October 13 will see the debut of a new show by the World Poker Tour -- the WPT Poker Corner. It will be a strategy show with 3 respected pros and Phil Hellmuth. Immediately after the show, they will analyze the WPT tournament that just aired.

The pros will be Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke, WPT commentator Mike Sexton, and Phil Hellmuth. Sexton is an excellent poker player, and was a touring pro for years before trying to help the WPT get off the ground. Negreanu is known as one of the best in the game. Annie Duke recently won ESPN's made-for-tv WSOP Tournament of Champions, and is one of the best female players. And Phil Hellmuth -- well, he's best self-promoter in the game of poker.

2004-09-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

Buy a piece of the World Poker Tour:
You can now buy stock in the WPT, under ticker symbol WPTE.

2004-09-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

test

2004-07-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

This week's WPT: It is a replay of what was shown back in early March. See post on the Borgata tournament here.

Here's what I wrote at the time:

Tonight is the first episode of the second season of the World Poker Tour. It's not exactly an all star lineup, but I'm sure they are all solid poker players in their own right. After all, they made the final table

Carlos Mortensen $799,000
David Oppenheim $419,000
Randy Burger $219,000
Charlie Shoten $427,000
Noli Francisco $391,000
Mickey Seagle $98,000

The event is the Borgata Poker Open. Borgata is a new casino in Atlantic City, with a big poker room. The Borgata has done very well, and the addition of the Borgata has been a very welcome addition to the East Coast poker scene. Perhaps because this event is on the East Coast may explain the lack of the famous poker players at the final table. Burger won a $12 internet satellite tournament to be here.

And there'll be some Shana Hiatt tonight too.

2004-07-20T02:46:00.000-07:00

Posting: posting should resume. I moved and got out of the habit of watching the WPT...and hence, I also stopped posting about it.

2004-04-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

This week's WPT:
Fred Bonyadi $150,500
Phil Laak $176,000
T.J. Cloutier $323,500
Chip Jett $84,500
Paul Phillips $657,000
Mel Judah $143,500

This is a rerun. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it already.

2004-04-01T00:14:00.000-08:00

Phil Gordon:
I watched the UltimateBet Aruba World Poker Tour on TV tonight. Juha Helppi, the winner, played some pretty good poker.

Helppi absolutely owned Phil Gordon. Owned him. And Gordon had just beat Scotty Nguyen, Hellmuth, and Harman.

Why did Gordon ("tallphil" on ultimatebet) lose so badly? HE WAS DRUNK!

If Gordon wasn't drunk, then I don't know what drug he was taking. Must be nice to be so rich that you can get drunk during a highstakes poker game because money doesn't matter to you.

2004-03-29T11:18:00.000-08:00

This week on the World Poker Tour:
This is actually a replay of last year's UB Aruba tournament. Wednesday at 9pm EST on the Travel Channel.

Here's the final table:

Phil Hellmuth $30,000
Phil Gordon $20,000
Scotty Nguyen $15,000
Jennifer Harman $14,000
Juha Helppi $274,000
Woody Moore $43,000
Kathy Liebert $253,000
Anssi Tuulivirda $181,000

2004-03-23T19:53:00.000-08:00

This week's WPT:
This week is the Grand Prix de Paris, and as usual is on Wednesday at 9pm EST on the Travel Channel.

Lee Salem $39,900
Erick Lindgren $123,700
David Benyamine $366,600
Jamie Posner $123,600
Jan Boubli $233,100
George Paravoliasakis $77,500

2004-03-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

This week's WPT:
Bellagio's Five Diamond World Poker Classic at 9pm EST Wednesday on the Travel Channel.

Here's the final table lineup:
Tino Lechich $811,000
Gustav Hansen $1,484,000
Paul Phillips $1,220,000
Mel Judah $655,000
Abraham Mosseri $1,347,000
Dewey Tomko $767,000

Two Australians are playing: Lechich and Judah. Lechich is a former backgammon player who learned the game from Judah.

Mosseri is apparently another backgammon pro, but this is his first tournament ever. And he's survived to the final table against the best in the world.

Paul Phillips (here is his blog) was CFO of a company that hit it big in the dot com boom. He apparently made a ton of money, so now he plays poker as a way to kill time. Apparently, this is what people do when they are rich enough. Unlike your average rich guy playing poker, Phillips actually knows enough to win. At least when he isn't making a stupid call against Mel Judah to give away a tournament title -- though, in his defense, Phillips claims to have made a deal to chop up the money with Judah, and thus wasn't so concerned about his play.

Judah has won before on the WPT, when he beat Phillips. In that event, he was allin several times at the final table as a big underdog but managed to come away with the win. He gave new meaning to the phrase "a chip and a chair."

Tomko is a pretty well known tournament player who's been at it for decades. Before being a poker pro, he taught kindergarten. He's come in second in the WSOP twice.

Hansen won several times in the WPT's first season. He's already back at the final table, hungry for more. Right now, he's on top of his game, and is tough to beat.

2004-03-10T21:49:00.000-08:00

Profile of Hoyt Corkins:
The winner of tonight's WPT episode is profiled by the Birmingham News.

2004-03-10T21:45:00.000-08:00

Tonight's WPT episode at Foxwoods:
(Written while I play the 15/30 at Empire)

Hoyt Corkins, "Mr. All in", won tonight's episode to win over 1 million dollars.

Haveson went out in 6th place, taking a bad beat from Ibrahim on the river after being a 93% favorite before the last card.

Kumar went out next when he got all in pre-flop with KK. But he lost to Ibrahim when an ace spiked the river.

Ackerman went out next to Hellmuth, when he got KT in preflop against Hellmuth's AQ.

Hellmuth went out next when he went all in preflop with A6 to Ibrhaim's JT. In my opinion, based on payouts and chip stacks, this was an incredibly stupid call for Hellmuth. Even though he got his money in as a favorite, it was a bad call.

So it was just Ibrahim vs Corkins. Corkins -- a big chip leader over Ibrahim -- kept going all in preflop, with everything. Perhaps he only went all in a few times with rags, but the WPT showed us every one of those times.

This was a very unwise move, in my opinion. For such a big chip lead, the last thing he wants to do is give Ibrahim a chance to double up and make a game of it.

Hellmuth was an ass, as is his wont. Yes, he got some bad cards...but that's poker. And if you want to be a great poker player, you have to be able to extract yourself from situations when you get bad cards. Hellmuth didn't, but he whined about his bad luck alot.

If Hellmuth were as good as he thinks he is, then he wouldn't have to worry about bad cards. Instead, he said something incredibly rude to each remaining player when he was eliminated. He was exposed as the jerk that he is.

Congrats to Hoyt Corkins though. He made some good reads and caught a few breaks, but had the skill to turn those breaks into a million dollars.

2004-03-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

This week's WPT episode:
As usual, it's on the Travel Channel at 9pm EST.

Here's the lineup:
Hoyt Corkins $1,207,500
Mohamed Ibrahim $376,500
Brian Haveson $135,000
Christopher Ackerman $333,000
Senthil Kumar $245,000
Phil Hellmuth Jr. $840,000

Haveson is the former CEO of Nutrisystem. Ibrahim, Corkins are pros, while Ackerman is a college student at Quinnipiac. Kumar is a software programmer, and Hellmuth is the biggest self-promoter in the game of poker.

Top prize is over a million, while the total prize pool is over 3 million. The event is at Foxwoods, and the entry fee was $10,000.

2004-03-04T15:50:00.000-08:00

Pictures of Shana Hiatt:
There are new pictures of Shana Hiatt up. One is a topless nude picture of Shana on the beach. She's hot!

2004-03-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

The Borgata:
Here's an article about the Borgata, where last night's televised WPT epsiode was held.

2004-03-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

Binion's Horseshoe to reopen next month:
Binion's will reopen in time for the World Series of Poker.

As a reminder, you can win a seat to the World Series of Poker for as little as $10 at EmpirePoker. Chris Moneymaker turned $40 into $2.5 million last year at the World Series by winning his seat online. Will you be next?

2004-03-03T17:37:00.000-08:00

Lineup for tonight:
Tonight is the first episode of the second season of the World Poker Tour.

It's not exactly an all star lineup, but I'm sure they are all solid poker players in their own right. After all, they made the final table of a

Carlos Mortensen $799,000
David Oppenheim $419,000
Randy Burger $219,000
Charlie Shoten $427,000
Noli Francisco $391,000
Mickey Seagle $98,000

The event is the Borgata Poker Open. Borgata is a new casino in Atlantic City, with a big poker room. The Borgata has done very well, and the addition of the Borgata has been a very welcome addition to the East Coast poker scene. Perhaps because this event is on the East Coast may explain the lack of the famous poker players at the final table.

Burger won a $12 internet satellite tournament to be here.

And there'll be some Shana Hiatt tonight too.

2004-03-02T11:36:00.000-08:00

NIPR.mil:
Someone from the domain nipr.mil and the domain disa.mil visited this blog last night via Cardplayer's Journal. After a little bit of google research, it appears there is a certain paranoia in the online community about being visited by the nipr.mil. Some think that nipr.mil is just the domain under which much of the Defense Department websurfs at the office. Others think that the nipr.mil is the secret (though not top secret, as that is a different domain) surveillance domain by which the Defense Department keeps tabs on people.

I don't know, frankly. It freaked me out a little last night. If I am under surveillance, I'd be more than willing to cease and desist if the Department of Defense thinks I am breaking the law. Please contact me if this is so.

Other poker bloggers ought to be aware of this possibility as well. There seems to be some possibility that the poker blogger community is under surveillance.

Anyone with info on nipr.mil or disa.mil is encouraged to email me. If I receive any interesting information, I will post it on this blog -- unless you ask me not to.

UPDATE: This seems to indicate that perhaps it really is just bored government employees surfing the web. And in fact, most of the people who seemed to think that the nipr.mil visits were part of a government surveillance conspiracy...well, let's just say they are the sort of people who think the government tracks our every move via the PATRIOT Act (and have never read the PATRIOT Act because they like their conspiracy idea).

2004-03-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

Paul Phillips and Shana Hiatt:
Many people have visited this blog via a Google search for "paul phillips blog."

World Poker Tour player Paul Phillips' blog is here.

Also, many visit looking for Shana Hiatt, "Shanna Hiatt", "Shana Hyatt", or something of the sort. There are pictures of Shana Hiatt on the link.

2004-02-26T10:15:00.000-08:00

My favorite moment of last night's broadcast:
"One of the reasons I started playing poker is because I thought it would help with my job." -- Alan Goehring

Goehring is a former junk bond analyst, but his quote is relevant regardless of his specific occupation.

Becoming a better poker player sharpens skills likely to help anyone in business, relationships, and life.

2004-02-25T16:51:00.000-08:00

Tonight's episode:
The WPT is on tonight on the Travel Channel at 8pm Eastern.

The table tonight:
Alan Goehring $2,597,000
Kirill Gerasimov $784,000
Phil Ivey $637,000
James Hoeppner $568,000
Doyle Brunson $522,000
Ted Forrest $445,000

These are all solid and aggressive players. This should be a good episode. Doyle is a legend. Goehring has has incredible results the past few years. Ivey is one of the best right now. Gerasimov is a hyperaggressive, tough-to-read player. And Forrest is possibly the best poker player you've never heard of.

And of course, we're sure to get some Shana Hiatt.

2004-02-22T00:18:00.000-08:00

Now YOU can be part owner of the World Poker Tour:
Here's the press release:

Lakes Entertainment, Inc. (Lakes) (Nasdaq:LACO) World Poker Tour, LLC announced today that it will seek to raise approximately $20 million through a newly formed corporation pursuant to an underwritten initial public offering of common stock at a price to be determined. It is expected that proceeds from the offering will be used to expand World Poker Tour's entertainment production business and for its working capital. There will be no selling shareholders participating in the offering.
This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities. No registration statement relating to the securities proposed to be issued has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and any offer to sell such securities will be made only by the prospectus to be included in the registration statement. This press release is being issued pursuant to and in accordance with Rule 135 under the Securities Act of 1933.

2004-02-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

World Poker Tour Walk of Fame:
The WPT POKER WALK OF FAME inducted its first members at the Commerce Casino in a ceremony before top pros and celebrities in town for the L.A. Poker Classic tournament. It honors the men and women who have played the game at its highest level; contributed to its evolution and popularity; celebrated poker in film, television and literature; and who are making the game appealing for a new generation of poker fans.

The first honorees are:

* Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson -- A holder of nine world championship titles, Brunson, in his 70s, is one of the most respected players in the game. He authored "Super/System: How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker," a book which serves as the bible for aspiring pros and amateurs alike. For more than five decades Brunson has been a feared competitor and consummate gentleman, establishing the standard of excellence to which many aspired and few achieved. His latest achievement was appearing at the final table in last year's WPT Championship.

* Gus "The Great Dane" Hansen -- The handsome young Danish-born Hansen is widely regarded to be the best poker player in the world. He burst onto the poker tour last year winning two major WPT tournaments and over $1 million in the WPT's inaugural year. Steely and hard-to-read, he is known for his unpredictable play and willingness to take huge risks. He represents the future of the game of poker.

* James Garner -- From 1957-60, Garner charmed the nation as the unflappable Brett Maverick, the skilled poker-player, who used his wits to get him out of scrapes -- with the law and with outlaws. Cool, good-natured and likeable, he was one of television's first engaging Western heroes. Maverick became synonymous with poker and certainly helped to popularize the game.

The induction ceremony was staged on the doorstep of Commerce Casino, the Los Angeles region's most prestigious gaming establishment and full service entertainment/hotel complex. Commerce Casino is the world's largest poker room with more than 200 poker tables, featuring all variations of poker at all limits. Poker room to the stars of Hollywood, Commerce Casino has a rich history of poker in Southern California dating back to 1983.

The WPT POKER WALK OF FAME is embedded in the forecourt entrance to Commerce Casino. The inductees put their hands in concrete, surrounding a large depiction of a stylized poker chip. In addition, there for each there is a unique depiction of the player's most famous poker hand. The company responsible for the Mann's Chinese Theatre forecourt, Sabor Construction, also made the gold-embossed designations for the WPT POKER WALK OF FAME.

2004-02-14T12:42:00.000-08:00

WPT on tonight:
An episode will air tonight at 6pm EST on the Travel Channel.

2004-02-13T19:42:00.000-08:00

The business side of how well the WPT is doing:
The Las Vegas Business Press has a long and interesting article on the WSOP and the WPT. Here are some excerpts relating to WPT:

The reason for Harrah's quick action is that poker has become one of the hottest commodities on television, even drawing attention from network giants. When NBC recently aired the Travel Channel World Poker Tour's (WPT) Battle of Champions opposite the Super Bowl pre-game show, the poker tournament drew the second highest ratings in the time slot behind the quintessential football event itself.

In fact, the WPT has become the major driver behind the resurgence in poker, an even more astounding feat considering that the phenomenon was virtually non-existent one year ago. While the exposure and promotional possibilities were the real bait for Harrah's purchase of WSOP rights, the WPT has proven that poker tournaments could become lucrative themselves, with the company expected to show profits this year.

Launched on the Travel Channel last March and airing regularly on Wednesday nights, the WPT has consistently been the cable network's number one rated series. While televised poker games weren't new at the time, the WPT revolutionized the production values by using 13 different camera angles, allowing viewers to see the hold, and highlighting the drama of the competition, using commentators and concentrating on the players instead of the play alone.

While Harrah's is looking to generate interest in its properties [through the WSOP], the WPT is showing that poker itself can generate revenues. Last month, the company entered into an agreement with New York-based Brandgenuity LLC to license products ranging from T-shirts and card decks to video games and poker self-help kits with the WPT brand.

The WPT has already been approached by numerous manufacturers and vendors seeking to apply the company brand to their product. With clients including Snapple, Sports Illustrated, TV's This Old House and Meow Mix, Brandgenuity will be the agent sorting out the lucrative potential for an undisclosed percentage.

Poker players getting big endorsement deals...the wave of the future? I know I'd love to see Phil Ivey in a Nike commercial.

2004-02-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

The WPT Action Clock:
On the World Poker Tour webpage, there is a poll that asks, "Would you like to see the WPT Action Clock in more World Poker Tour events?"

There are three choices: "Yes, in every event," "No, never again," and "Yes, only in specials."

As of right now 57% have answered "No, never again." 31% want to see it more, and 12% want to see the Action Clock only in specials.

This is interesting. My guess is that it is because poker afficianados are more likely to disapprove of any change in the game, and disproportionately comprise the audience that visits the WPT website.

So the poll probably doesn't tell us much about whether poker novices like the Action Clock or not. I personally don't like the Action Clock, but if novices like it, then I'm okay with it staying. If the Action Clock makes it more exciting for non-players, and thus more likely to start playing poker, then the Action Clock is a good thing.

2004-02-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

Tonight's WPT broadcast:
The WPT will be on the Travel Channel tonight with a 9pm EST rebroadcast of last year's tournament at the Bicycle. Here's the lineup:

Seat 1: Kathy Liebert $141,000
Seat 2: Chris Karagulleyan $157,500
Seat 3: Stan Goldstein $47,500
Seat 4: Can Kim Hua $66,000
Seat 5: Mark Seif $157,500
Seat 6: Hon Le $103,000

Kathy Liebert is one of the best women in poker, while Le is known as the "Kamikaze Kid." It promises to be exciting, so tune in tonight!

2004-02-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

Competitor to the WPT?
From Scripps Howard News Service:

Card playing has suddenly become a spectator sport - what with shows like "World Poker Tour," "Late Night Poker" and "Celebrity Poker" shuffling on cable TV. Now the GSN, the network for games, is elaborating on its "World Series of Blackjack" with two new shows: "Celebrity Blackjack" and "World Blackjack Tour." Both will air this summer. "Celebrity Blackjack" promises to feature the entertainment industry's "top 25 blackjack players." They've yet to put their money where their mouths are and say just who they are.

I doubt this will do nearly as well as the WPT.

Blackjack is an inherently boring game. To play well, it's just sheer math.

Poker is different. A significant amount of the game is math, but even more important is the human factor. That's what makes it exciting. It's why the WPT is doing so well on TV. People can relate to the human factor, and think they can do it just as well.

2004-02-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

WPT is the highest rated program on the Travel Channel: so says a press release from AngelCiti Entertainment.

Also, there are an estimated 50 million poker enthusiasts.

2004-02-10T09:58:00.000-08:00

More Shana Hiatt:
Shana's cover from Playboy is here.

Also, a picture of Shana from Esquire where it says she wants to be "the next Jenny McCarthy."

2004-02-09T15:26:00.000-08:00

No hits yet:
I have to say that I'm surprised that I haven't gotten any hits for Shana Hiatt yet.

By the way, I hear that Shana Hiatt is married, but haven't been able to confirm this yet.

2004-02-09T10:58:00.000-08:00

The WPT helps out a charity poker tournament:
The World Poker Tour and PokerRoom.com helped sponsor a frat charity poker tourney at University of California -- Santa Barbara:

More than 100 amateur card sharks paid $15 each to play in the tournament, which began at noon in Corwin Pavilion and lasted until about 6 p.m. All the proceeds from the tournament will go to the Rewarding Our Youth and Future Leaders (R.O.Y.A.L.) scholarship fund. The fund was created by Zeta Phi Rho alumnus Romeo Garcia, and awards a scholarship every year to a child that grew up in Isla Vista.

PokerRoom.com provided chips and decks of cards for players to use, and prizes for the winners, which included an Apple iPod, a 20'' flat screen TV, a DVD player, a poker table and sets of poker chips. The World Poker Tour, ConJelCo and Banner City USA also contributed to the event.

2004-02-08T18:06:00.000-08:00

Paul Phillips' Laydown on the WPT Legends of Poker episode:
Design by Fire analyzes Phillips' QQ laydown to TJ Cloutier.

2004-02-08T11:38:00.000-08:00

Profile of WPT player Barry Greenstein:
Barry Greenstein just won $1.2 million in the World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi. His win will be shown on the Travel Channel in late April.

You might have heard of Barry: he plays regularly on the WPT and gives away ALL his winnings to charity. Here's a Chicago Sun-Times profile that explains why.

2004-02-07T11:51:00.000-08:00

Headline: World Poker Tour on NBC Scores . . .
Here's the full headline: World Poker Tour on NBC Scores Opposite Super Bowl Pregame Show; Network Debut of WPT Racks Up 3.0 Rating.

Oops. On second look, this is a WPT press release. Still, it is interesting.

2004-02-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

Interview with the founder of the World Poker Tour:
CardPlayer.com has an interview by Allyn Jaffrey with Steve Lipscomb, the founder of the World Poker Tour. Go read it -- including the possibilities that the World Series of Poker may join the WPT.

However, the WPT is still losing money. That's not abnormal: it takes awhile for most businesses to turn profitable. Let's hope the WPT takes off soon.

2004-02-06T13:26:00.000-08:00

Pocket jacks are one of the toughest hands to play in NL poker:
And if you don't believe me, maybe you'll believe Daniel Negreanu:

Actually, this column was supposed to be about the World Poker Tour event at Foxwoods, but that tournament was too uneventful for me to dedicate an entire column to it. Sure, there were a few hands of interest, but overall, I just never really had many good things happen for me. I could sum up that tournament in one simple paragraph: I played pretty well most of the way and had my table all set up perfectly. I picked up J-J and moved all in on a flop of 10-7-4. My opponent called with A-10 and spiked an ace on the river. Big surprise, I got knocked out with jacks once again; it’s clearly a hand that is becoming a big problem for me in these WPT events.

Jacks are so tough to play because they are so vulnerable to overcards. Jacks are much more powerful in limit hold'em than they are in NL hold'em.

2004-02-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

The World Poker Tour is big:
If you don't believe me, then maybe you'll believe Mike Sexton:

Three of them came over (which was pretty amazing in itself, as the restaurant was packed) and told me how much they enjoyed the World Poker Tour. Then, they asked, "If we got a deck of cards, would you mind signing a few autographs for us?" I smiled and said, "I don’t mind at all." One of them went across the street and bought a deck of cards at a drugstore. They came back to the table for autographs, and I signed the aces and thanked them for watching the World Poker Tour.

When the waitress came back with the check, she said, "I'm amazed. Those guys never want anyone’s autograph. Thanks for doing that. You know, we have celebrities come in here all the time. Just last week, Tiger Woods sat right at that table (pointing to the table next to ours). None of the guys wanted his autograph, but they all wanted yours."

It's amazing how much the World Poker Tour has caught on. People are always asking my advice on how to play, and what I would have done. Almost all my friends watch it, and I didn't even suggest it to most of them.

Mike Sexton is an excellent ambassador for the game. Much better than Phil Hellmuth would be.

2004-02-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

Shulman on the WPT's shot clock:
Here are some excerpts from Jeff Shuman's Cardplayer column:

Let me start this column by saying, I love the World Poker Tour and what it has done for the game of poker. Having said that, I am very opposed to its one-minute shot clock in certain situations.

Those who like the shot clock will say that it speeds up the game and takes away the "human factor" of calling for a clock. I agree completely that it speeds up the game. There are plenty of times that certain players take too long on every hand. When that happens, it may cause that table to get in fewer hands per hour, which puts everyone at that table at a disadvantage. I do not, however, agree with the concept of taking away the human element of calling for a clock. If you want a clock to be called on a player, you should be able to call for it. In fact, I think it should be announced as to who calls a clock on a player. However, this column is about having an appropriate amount of time when making important decisions.

Let’s take a look at a real situation. There are many times when it is down to a few tables in a tournament and you raise with a hand like J-J or Q-Q and someone moves in on you. You may have 25 percent of your stack in the pot at the time. There is a chance your opponent has A-A or K-K, in which case you are in deep trouble. He may have a smaller pair, in which case you have him dominated. He may have A-K, which is a coin toss. Or, he may be making a stone-cold bluff. In these situations, I first like to do the math to see if it makes sense to call if I think I am an underdog in the hand, or if I have pot odds to call. Pot odds may take me a minute alone to calculate. I then consider what this player has been doing for the past few hours, or in previous hands against me, and think about his betting patterns. This takes me a few minutes to figure out. Finally, I look for a tell. I am of the opinion that it takes a few minutes to get a tell from someone. At that point, I think I have all of the information that is needed to make a good decision. Then, I must decide whether it is worth it to commit all of my chips. Thus, I see many circumstances in which a decision could take five minutes for a full and proper analysis.

So, what am I proposing? I propose that players who stall should be warned and penalized, because the game does need to speed up a little. I think there should be a five-minute clock if most of your chips are at stake. I also like the option of a time bank, like the online poker sites have.

2004-02-06T02:40:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been slow:
I'll have posts tomorrow on the Wednesday WPT episode.

2004-02-04T16:51:00.000-08:00

Not the pre-SuperBowl episode:
Right now on the Travel Channel, they are showing the Hollywood Home Game. It is not the pre-Super Bowl episode.

At 9 eastern is the regularly scheduled Legends of Poker tournament.

2004-02-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

Richard Brodie:
Long post by Richard Brodie over at Lion Tales about the World Poker Open Championship.

2004-02-04T12:36:00.000-08:00

Shana Hiatt:
From what I hear, many people want information on Shana Hiatt. First, don't spell her name Shanna or Hyatt or anything like that.

Shana Hiatt was the cover girl for the April 1995 edition of Playboy. She has some pictures up at Stuff. Her pictorial is here.

Shana was also in the 1994 video of Playboy's "The Girls of the Hawaiian Tropic," subtitled "Naked In Paradise."

I'd rather focus on more than her career as a nude model. Unfortunately, I was unable to find much in the way of biography. She has apparently had small roles in several movies: Bill the Intern, Cupids, and the 4th Tenor. She was also the host of Wild on E! for awhile, before becoming the spokeswoman for PartyPoker and, of course, a host of the World Poker Tour.

2004-02-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

Don't forget: World Poker Tour is on tonight!
At 7pm (eastern), they show the NBC SuperBowl Show at the Bellagio. At least, I think it's the pre-Super Bowl show. It is a show entitled "Bellagio."

At 9pm, they show the Legends of Poker tournament at the Bicycle. The final table features TJ Cloutier, 2003 Champion of the Year Chip Jett, and Paul Phillips.

2004-02-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

Win a free entry into a WPT tournament:
Just go to the World Poker Tour official site right now, and register on the popup window.

2004-02-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

Test first post.