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• What Your Poker Bust Out Hands Might Mean Part II

  Continued from Part I…

  Sometimes one of the easiest ways to self reflect is to focus on a few key hands from your tournaments. Luckily enough they are likely easy to remember. As we stated you want to look at the hands that set-up or influenced your knock-out hands and to track the specifics of those knock out hands because you can glean a lot from just a little information tracked over time. Just put a notepad next to your computer the next time you decided to play Texas Hold’em poker online or throw one into your pocket when you head into the casino and track a few important details.

  It’s so little, it won’t even feel like work, and we know poker players hate to work. If only homework in high-school was tracking three or four pieces of information–everybody would have gotten straight As. So don’t be shy we aren’t sending you to bwin poker school yet.

  You want to determine if your playing strategy is correct by comparing a wide range of knockout hands and the hands that set up those knock-out hands. Are you playing too loose, too tight, too passive, or too aggressive? You’d be surprised that just by tracking one or two hands from a tournament but from every tournament you play how much you can learn.

  Mapping out you hands let your chip stack be your guide. How many big blinds did you have in it? If you are in the critical zone less than 10 big blinds (meaning can your stack can buy less than 10 big blinds)ask how did you get there? Did you suffer a brutal beat a few hands before? Did you blind down to 10 big blinds just waiting for a big hand that never came?

  If you have a history of getting into big pots with a big stack and then getting it in when you are short, that’s entirely different than just waiting for hands. The first could be a sign of playing too loose the second means you are too tight. You need to also track at what stage of the tournament you are busting out. If it keeps happening early you are definitely playing too loose. If you are mixing it up in the middle to late stages of the tournament than perhaps you are just taking your licks. Somebody has to win the tournament and unfortunately that means everybody else has to get clobbered some way or another.

  Next, you want to take into account the hand strengths of all the hands you hit busto with. There are a lot of players who think they play better than all their opponents simply because they always get it in with the best hand. And while, it’s good to know when you are ahead it’s also bad to only take risks and bet when you are sure you are best. Of course, the best hand doesn’t always win, and even if you are holding it you better be prepared to absorb some blows. If you haven’t accumulated enough chips to do so, shame on you.

  The converse is also true and a learning opportunity if you notice a consistent pattern of getting sent to the rail with the second best hand, you are playing too loose. You want to be aggressive and win hands when you don’t have the goods, but don’t think you have to win every hand. Bluffs and bold plays are part of poker but not the only part of poker. Sure poker is often times about courage and bravery but never forget sometimes the better part of valour is discretion.

  Anyway, that’s a quick and easy guide to track your success or lack of it in tournament poker. How many chips did you have right before you had none, how did you get to that size stack, and what’s the quality of your bust-out hands (and/or hands that contributed to your bust out hands).

  Good luck on the felt.

• What Your Poker Bust-Out Hands Might Mean Part I

  Want a quick way to evaluate your poker skills in multi-table Texas Holdem poker tournament play?  The surefire way to draw some conclusions is to analyze two things.  What’s your chip total when you busted out and why was your chip stack that size?   Here’s the good thing about this little bit of data tracking, the last hand you played is the first hand you analyse–so it should be fresh in your mind.  If you are playing online poker and multiple tournaments at once it’s not as easy as after busting out of a casino tournament and walking back to your hotel or worse driving home, but you should still reflect on those hands and take notes even if you are still alive in other tournaments.

  Rack your short term memory, and if it was a good (but obviously not great) tournament, delve into your long term memory too, to come up with some crucial hands.  You are trying to figure out your subconscious online poker strategy because even if you consciously think you are doing one thing, in reality you may be doing something else entirely.

  The purpose of the exercise, for now, isn’t to berate yourself because of a slip-up that sent you home or to whine to the poker gods about the bad beat you absorbed it’s to get some critical information for future tournaments.  In reality, you should never indulge in those exercises. In poker you have to accept you’ll make mistakes and work to limit them, and you have to understand luck is twofold you are going to get some bad luck whether you want it or not. In case you have noticed, the alleged poker gods don’t do much listening to the whiners out there. Make your own luck.

  Besides, who cares if your opponent made a terrible play or if you suffered another dose from your unlimited bad luck medicine. You want your opponent to make a terrible play and even if it ends your day it merely means there are still players you can exploit and dominate in the long run. Better to ask yourself did you play the hand right, because after that what else it there that you want to consider? Well, you are also trying to track some raw data that on its own may not mean much. However, when plugged into a longer run of tournaments you can track and trace where your subconscious mind is guiding you in places you may not think you are at.

  Every poker player knows that aggression is part of the game, so is hand selection, and picking your fights astutely. With each hand you still want to mull over what could you have done differently and would it have changed the outcome?  You don’t want to monitor which opponents you mixed it up–if you had a choice in the matter. If you were short and looked at AK probably not a consideration same with Aces at any point, but sometimes there might be a choice there. When there is a choice there could be a pattern of leaks.

  Lets say you think you could have bet different, acted different, or approach the hand from a different stance, it’s possible it wouldn’t have changed the outcome on that hand but ask yourself would it positively change the outcome in future hands.  Did you find yourself falling further and further into a trap? Do you consistently double and triple barrel when you opponents are simply not the guys you can bluff? Or worse, does their first call indicate they have a hand you’ll neither be able to get them off of and one you won’t be able to catch up too. So why are you betting into them?

  To be continued…

• Early Betting Odds for the November 9: 2010 World ...

  There are only nine men who can win the World Series of Poker.  While they won’t be the only people to sit down at the final table this November under the bright glare of television lights they will feel that glare most heatedly.  Before we move on, if you don’t know who else will be sitting at the table you can’t forget about the dealers.  Anyway, because this is a gambling event it only makes sense to gamble on it, so what are the odds? 

  As a result early lines have come out with the top nine listed from most likely to win to least likely to win.  As it stands chipleader Jonathan Duhamel is offering the worst odds.  Perhaps, oddsmakers forget that he had some great luck to get his stack, or maybe they remember and know that luck can carry the day.  Not that we’d diminish the skills of anybody capable of making the final table, even Darvin Moon was more than the “Aw-shucks” lumberjack he portrayed himself as last year, but still in terms of skill with chip stacks ignored for the moment, probably Duhamel is not the favorite but we aren’t giving betting tips.

  Second favorite is John Dolan, who we recently profiled.  His play at the final table bubble showed the courage it takes to win an event such as this and he is probably right in line with where he should be.  If we were betting men we might consider betting Dolan and expect his odds to get closer to Duhamel as the event nears.  Dolan has experience winning events which is important at a final table because a lot of people know how to get there but not too many know how to walk away with the prize. 

  Third favorite to win but certainly not third in chips, and the first player to diverge from chipstack ranking is Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.  Yes, he’d likely be number one by all the punters if all chips were even.  Even though he has to beat eight other players he’d still offer shocking odds.  When you consider the Grinder has overcome incredible odds just in this year, overcoming a short-stack should be short work for him.

  Recently, it was splashed in mainstream American media the multi-tournament winner was bankrupt and having trouble paying his debts.  Things looked doom and gloom for the Grinder then he started off the World Series of Poker exorcising his demons (a lack of a World Series of Poker bracelet)  and eliminating his debt by taking down the Players Championship.  Suddenly, the Grinder was back.  At his worst moment he played his best poker.

  He continued that strong redemptive play throughout the month and it was a shock to few to see him advance day after day.  Still, as the final table neared the Grinder went from one-time chip leader to a short stack and he did what he does best and grinded.  Before he knew it he was in the final nine with a fighting chance.  While Phil Ivey in his moment of glory last year couldn’t overcome a bad beat many will expect the Grinder to dodge his just like he did his financial trouble.

  Next up is Joeseph Cheong who many tip to be a dark horse.  John Racener, who we also profiled, is offering pretty decent odds squarely in the pack.  He is followed by Matthew Jarvis and Filippo Candio.  The longest odds are Soi Nguyen who has gone on record saying he barely plays poker and embraces his naivete to the game.  Maybe a good story but doesn’t make for a good bet(though Nguyen is usually a good bet at the Main Event of the World Series) and lastly, Jason Senti.

• Meet the World Series of Poker November Nine 2010 ...

  In the second part of our series focusing on this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event November Nine, John Racener (one of three Florida natives) has proved he has more than just the look of a budding online superstar transitioning to live poker he has also has the game.   A guy with spiky hair like Racener stands out in a crowd, but at the same time he looks a bit like just another young online poker player. So it’s no surprise that he got his start when he’d play online poker usually under the name $JMONEY$. We can tell he likes dollar signs and money.

  Raceener also goes by the screen names “$30k”, “POCKET FIVE”, and “5JMONEY5″. In case you are curious you hit shift + 4 to get the dollar sign, you hit 5+ shift and you get the percentage sign: %. Speaking of percentages, a lot of these players already have backers and are giving up a percentage of themselves just to play in this years Main Event, wonder if Racener is one of those too. We do know a few things about Racener. The first is that his poker strategy is second to nobody at the final table.

  Racener, since becoming a live pro, has gone deep in several tournaments. In particular Atlantic City is his second home. Racener, not a New Jersey native, but perhaps a fan of the Jersey Shore hairstyle, is certainly a fan of Jersey Shore casinos. In December 2006, Racener made his mark on the live poker scene by finishing third in the World Series of Poker Circuit Championship good for a bankroll strengthening 100k. Things would get better for Racener as he bubbled the final table of the WPT’S (World Poker Tour) Borgota’s Winter Open pocketing 166k. That was just one moth after the third place finish.

  Atlantic City is a playground for many East Coasters and for Racener it was a personal poker haven. The very next year, in 2007, Racener took down the World Series of Poker Circuit Championship ring and 379k to go with it.

  While the November Nine won’t be played in New Jersey any time soon, and certainly not the November Racener remains one of the favorites. His healthy fourth place chip stack means he has space to operate and the Florida native (John Dolan and Michael Mizrachi the other two) isn’t going to back to down to anybody.

  Racener had a decent World Series of Poker in 2009. He had four in the money finishes and one final table. He followed that up this year with an even more impressive performance. Racener had three cashes before the World Series Main Event even started. The 40k he pocketed was enough to stave off the buy-in creep that happens to any poker players bankroll, but coming back in November with a guarantee of over 800k should do wonders for Racener’s long term poker success.

  Racener had the potential to be the biggest stack if certain hands had just gone a little bit different. Most players in any poker tournament can make that claim but as Racener’s bad luck bit him at just the tail end of the last day, he’d have a little more credibility that an early exiter.

  Running Ace King into pocket rockets can hurt your stack especially if you get it all in preflop. Filippo Candio, whose name rolls off your tongue like a professional wrestlers, shove on Racener. This was after Racener opened, he raised, and Racener reraised. The best starting hand finished that way and despite a king on the flop Racener could only watch helplessly as the turn and river bounced dry.

  Still even with the hit, fourth in chips is nothing to sneeze at.  Racener experience despite his youth, which is a parallel contrast to his quiet demeanor despite his loud hairdo, means he’ll be one to watch for in November and what you see with Racener is not quite what you’ll always get.

• Meet the World Series of Poker November Nine 2010 ...

  This years version of the World Series of Poker is on intermission or hiatus or halftime or whichever term you prefer that quite frankly doesn’t exactly work.  In no other sport or hobby championship does such a huge part of the competition take place over a series of grueling consecutive days only to be put on pause for a few months.  The World Series and its November Nine is like no other event in the world in many respects, and the most recent alteration is no different.  Players that got off the airplane never having played more than their home game, or Texas Hold’em poker online all contended to be the next poker superstar and now only 9 will get off a flight in November to feel that excitement again.

  It really doesn’t matter where they first played to learn poker they all seem to know how to play now. After besting over 7,000 players in the second largest World Series of Poker Main Event ever the November Nine is set.  They are also ready. But what’s that mean? In reality it’s ready, set…  wait.  While we all wait to see who runs best like Joe Cada, plays best like Jaime Gold (give the man his due though Paul Wasicka and Allen Cunningham were close seconds in the play the best category), or bluffs best like Chris Moneymaker, let’s take a glance at who will be in contention in a couple of months.

  Here’s our first look at the profiles at the combatants that have outlasted and outwitted the rest of the field to vie for the World Championship in the biggest spectacle in poker (yes, bigger even than a Phil Helmuth entrance).

  Our favorite going into the event is John Dolan.  The kid from Florida has been burning up the Gulf Coast games for some time now and was on nobody’s radar that is until he turned his short stack of two million in chips into one of the biggest stacks at the final table.  The kid showed a willingness to mix it up, perhaps some might even say a recklessness, on the bubble with everything to lose but keeping in mind he had everything to win, he went for it.  Dolan played every facet of tournament poker to a tee in the Main Event.  With the two days left in the field he basically grinded his way until the bubble.

  Dolan’s effort in just making it to the bubble, might entitle him more to Michael Mizrachi’s nickname than anybody else.  The rest of the field mostly enjoyed a see-saw day or two of wide swing with the chipleader lasting for barely a level at a time, while Dolan was constantly looking up at the field.  That would change because as players tightened up, perhaps mindful of gaffes like Billy Kopp’s last year on the Novemeber Nine bubble, Dolan hit the accelerator.  Time will tell if he finally got another dose of run-good or if he just out-ran his opponents.  ESPN’s hole cams should have most of the answers.  Dolan has a little under 225k in live poker winnings (though he is guaranteed almost 900k for making the November Nine).

  The oddsmakers have made Dolan the second favorite to win the Main Event behind the chipleader.  However, Dolan who has two World Series of Poker cashes this year probably made his case for player most likely to do what needed to be done by terrorizing the final table bubble.  “JRD312″ has over one million dollars in online cashes.  John Dolan also won a live tournament at the tail end of 2009 at the Winter Bayou Poker Classic.

• Phil Ivey Does Not Win Second WPT Title

  What does it take to steal some of the poker world’s attention away from the World Series of Poker’s Main Event?  Put simply Phil Ivey at a final table battling for his second WPT title.  Sure the concept was the same afterall it was just another group of guys who had sat down to play pokerbut the stakes were quite different. First place was one tenth the win of the World Series Main Event in cash value and no telling how much less in prestige.  With a pay out of 875k to first, Phil Ivey would have made less than all of the November Nine even if he had won the event, and whoever wins the almost $9 million in November certainly won’t rue not be able to play the Bellagio Cup WPT event because of his prior engagement.

  None of that mattered to the six men at the final table in the Bellagio though it was all about Holdem poker.  Five of them were thinking what do I need to do to beat Phil Ivey and Phil Ivey was wondering if his superior talent would win out.   When they got to three handed Ivey was able to extend his lead over Daniel Negreanu in the all time tournament poker money list by more than $360k and padding his lead to just short of 1 million (800k).   That is a pretty healthy and substantial number when you consider Ivey has only won a little over 13.5 million in his lifetime.  That’s 17% of his total and an even bigger piece of Negreanu’s lifetime winnings.

  Moritz Kranich, incidentally was the winner and while the man name Moritz has the look of a bohemian it was no easy rhapsody for the player.  Facing Phil Ivey would never be described that way.  Kranich may have had his eyes exclusively on first place and the money that went with it, but what we can all be sure of he was not under-estimating Phil Ivey. 

  The Bellagio Cup VI would have had a dream final two matchup if Justin “BoostedJ” Smith a recent up and comer, but more ably described as a player who has arrived, vs. Phil Ivey.  The less known Kranich would throw a wrench in the works of that dream.  Kranich has won before but not on American soil.  Moritz won the EPT Deauville main event in 2009.  That win was good for a bankroll boosting 1.13 million dollars (American).   Justin Smith meanwhile felt like he had unfinished business in the Bellagio.

  Was that because he left money on the table in the cash games?  Owed a room service bill?  No, to both.  Smith in this same event last year (that would be the WPT Bellagio Cup III for those keeping track at home) finished third and just missed out on winning his first and only WPT title.  The two of them with very different chips on their shoulders were able to go head to head after they dispatched of Phil Ivey.

  Kranich drove the blade into Ivey and Smith finished him off.  The big pot that crippled Ivey’s stack came in three handed play.  Between Kranich and Ivey sat a board with two Aces, two clubs, two diamonds, a Jack, a four and a three.  Also, the pot was a heavy 2.2 million.  With just the river to go Ivey pushed out a stack of 700k.  Kranich went into deep contemplation.  After a spell, Moritz called.  What a call it was.

  Ivey revealed two pair Aces and Jacks with a nine kicker.  Kranich did him one better with two pair Aces and Jacks but a queen kicker.  Ivey’s stack was mostly gone and it didn’t take long for Justin Smith to deliver the deathblow.  With Smith and Kranich staring down each other it was almost anticlimatic yet they had to settle who was going to win a little over 500k and who would win a little over 880k.  Kranich came out on top and Smith who was two away from the title last year got one step closer to it this year.

• World Series of Poker Changes Circuit Tour–W...

  In many ways the changes outlined in the last Bet & Win blog post are a long time coming.  The World Series has been seeing diminishing returns on the junior circuit that serves as a lead up to the month long extravaganza in Las Vegas by jumping around casino to casino.  First the Ring, then the Bling, is somewhat catchy but they have always lacked a synergy between the two.  It’s always looked like what it was, them branding a national poker tour with the World Series of Poker and hoping its cache would sell it.  For a time it did and then the Circuit event fell to the wayside like any other independent tournament. 

  Nowadays those tournaments pop up everywhere and it looks like anybody can slap on a World Series of Poker logo and hope for a turnout.  The circuit, per se, also suffered because there was no incentive to travel the circuit except for the poker tournament pros.  It’s basically a local or regional tournament and each locale has mostly the same old faces with few traveling to different destinations.  Trying to tie the events together is a good idea.

  Ty Stewart the Vice-President of the World Series of Poker said as much, “We recognized the WSOP Circuit Events needed a shot in the arm, and we believe we’ve responded with steroids.  The new model is exactly what the WSOP is all about, giving poker players of all bankrolls the chance to compete for the kind of fame, fortune, and respect that comes only with a WSOP bracelet and a national television audience.”

  We might argue with Stewart’s choice of words.  In fact, the Circuit needed steroids and they gave it something less.  Lets talk about incentives.  The way the field is laid out this may be true for Midwesterners.  The can hop from Iowa to Indiana to Chicago in the span of three months.  If a player churns out some early results he can chase his dream quite easily.  If a few have sustained their success, they might continue to track it, but the following events skip around the country like a pinball.  Biloxi to Tahoe to Atlantic City to Tunica back to Atlantic City to San Diego to St. Louis back out to Vegas and finally way back to New Orleans.

  Granted you get the concept you can’t mine one area to soon and other events are going on in these places that have to be taken into account, but surely more of an effort could have made to make it a truer circuit.  Not only would it help the employees and staff there, it would be a huge boon for anybody who might like to make a six month road trip out of the thing.

  More importantly, it’s obvious the Regionals will be weighted more than the other main events, and that’s fair, but Harrahs should refrain from the suggestion that the opportunities are equal no matter the bankroll.  And while they didn’t explicitly state that in their PR release they kind of hint to it.  To better accomplish that goal, and we realize it’s unrealistic, would be to pair the smaller events with the local championship and precede them.  That way they can give away 10k seats to the Regionals and build those events.

  So, Biloxi and St. Louis feed to New Orleans (and both should precede it).  Atlantic City and Tunica feed to Atlantic City.  Casears Palace and Lake Tahoe feed to San Diego.  Each of those feeders should precede the event for obvious reasons.  Or even better have the events feed the player to the Regional of their choice especially in locales like Tunica and St. Louis that aren’t really close to anything.

• World Series of Poker Changes Circuit Tour

  First the ring, then the bracelet.  The World Series promoted its secondary tour with that mantra.  First the ring, then the bling (wouldn’t have been bad either).  This year they are change things up, the most important points:  Television coverage will back, the structures will be standardized, they will institute a cumulative points system, and have Super Regionals with bigger buy-in Main Events and a season ending National Championship.  What’s that got for an armchair Texas Holdem poker game specialist?

  Well, plenty. As usual there will be a ton of Online Sit and go poker tournaments and satellites for players to qualify into bigger events and the circuit has stepped up the prestige (and price) of some of their main events. Four locations now packaged as Super Regionals will host 10k buy-in events.

  The four super regionals appear to start in the Midwest with Horseshoe Hammond event in October. That’s Chicago Area. Then the Northeast gets a 10k event in early December at Harrahs Atlantic City. In early March the West Coast gets their turn in the San Diego area at Harrahs Rincon. Finally, the last stop on the circuit is the Harrah’s New Orleans event. These four stops also will get two hour national television coverage.

  The price of poker isn’t going up everywhere. The circuit is wisely LOWERING the Main Events of the other stops that aren’t Regional Championships. Every one of those stops will have Main Events for $1500. The goal is to encourage more players to play more events to accummulate more points. Point system?

  Every tournament, throughout a “season” will award points for each official World Series of Poker Circuit “Ring” open event (sorry ladies and seniors no points for those tournaments). The points will enable a player to qualify for a season ending National Championship will 100 players will be invited to Caesers Palace in Las Vegas just before the start of the World Series. The event will be televised as well, feature a 1 million dollar prize pool and award a World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet.

  Every event will have the same standardized structures and pay-outs. The rake will be the same, the staffs will be mostly the same, and the hotel rates will be widely variable. Interestingly enough the Circuit this year will also include an event in South Africa (overlapping a stop at the IP Casino Resort & Spa in Biloxi) but even though it is part of the schedule and the suggest every event is equal, that one is not. No idea if it will be held to the same standardized structure or not either.

  So… besides the Emerald Casino in South Africa, there are the four regional championships and eight other stops. The other stops consist of Horsehoe Council Bluffs in Iowa (to start the Circuit), the Horseshoe Souther Indiana, followed by Horseshoe Hammond regional event. Then it’s Biloxi at the IP, followed by Harveys Lake Tahoe, and Harrahs Atlantic City for the next regional. Harrahs Tunica buts up against Caesers back in Atlantic City followed by the Western Regional at Harrahs Rincon. Harrahs St. Louis and Caesers Palace lead into the final regional and final event at Harrahs New Orleans.

  That’s not quite all, despite the smooth symmetry of 8 regular stops and four big boys with two leading up to one and following the same two-one-two-one-two-one progression, Harrahs promises a handful other stops to possibly be announced in the months ahead. They better get annoucing because the first event shuffles up and deals August 19th, with no less than four events in October (counting the one in South Africa… that isn’t really one). There really isn’t too much space in between.

• Probable World Series of Poker Player of the Year ...

  Continued from previous post…

  The Grinder’s path to glory is even more unlikely. Mizrachi wins if he wins the Main Event and Kassela does not cash. He ties Kassela if he wins the Main Event and Kassela finishes 28th through 747 (which means in the money but not 27th or better). For Mizrachi that means he has to win the Main Event and the rest is up to Kassela. Not to discount the Grinder’s chances because Mizrachi this year alone has shown he can overcome A LOT. Mizrachiwas in tax trouble and kind of holding the unofficial title best player to never win a bracelet and came into this World Series with a lot of doubters and he proved every one of them wrong.

  Like Ivey did before him in bracelet bets Mizrachi showed what great poker players can do when boxed into a corner. Mike Matusow says he plays his best when he has to win usually after chasing losses incurred when he has decided to play online poker and many players say they play their best when they are broke. Mizrachi isn’t broke any more and this title is just a status thing but if the Grinder really wants it you have to believe that motivation alone might enough to get him to the title.

  James Dempsey has been a bit of a phenomenon in a year the British have really left their mark on the World Series of Poker. Dempsey, from Brighton England can only tie Kassela fro the bracelet. If Dempsey wins the Main Event and Kassela does not cash AND Schemelev finishes no higher than second the Brit can win the Player of the Year. Can you imagine if Schelemev and he made the final table what a Sit’n go of gigantic proportions. Should Dempsey win it would make it the first time a non-America has won the honor.

  Schmelev, being a Russian, can also accomplish the same thing. Dan Heimiller makes his home in Las Vegas so obviously he won’t change history. Unless you read Wicked Chops and their love for all things ginger, and they’d would be quick to point out Heimiller would be the first ginger to win the honor. Kassela, like a recent player of the year, Tom “Donkeybomber” Schneider, would be the second recent awardee who has earned all the respect of his peers before making a name for himself. Kassela, a likable but vanilla guy, might not be able to translate the award into sponsorship monies.

  Certainly some of the past champions like Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham and Erik Lindgren have used the recognition to solidify their resumes and maintain their sponsorships. Jeff Madsen got a deal briefly after his break-out series (four years ago during the previous World Cup where his run-good had people pointing to him as the second coming of Ivey) but he hasn’t been able to sustain the same level of success. In fact, the Player of the Year is a bit of curse to even those stellar names that have won it.

  None of the players have come close to duplicating their triumphs since then. They’ve put together some pretty good years but most have struggled under the weight of past success. Lindgren, for one, found plenty of cameras to document how badly the worm turned from 2008 to 2009. He seemed at best rusty and at worst simply flummoxed. Which shows even at the highest level just how hard it is to recover emotionally and mentally from running so good to running so bad.

  Last years player of the year Jeffrey Lisandro won three bracelets last year. This year zero. The big Aussie has barely been a blip on the poker news for any of the tournaments in the month long event. Good luck to Kassela, or less probably, one of the other guys next year because they’ll need it.

• Likely World Series of Poker Player of The Year Fr...

  In the money Old School, a character named Frank “the Tank” rediscovered his youth, his joy of living, and got shot in the net with a dart designed to tranqulize horses, Frank Kassela has enjoyed a similar rejuvenation minus the dart, of course.  The 42 year old part time pro from Memphis Tennessee has been on the fringe of a lot of successes and never quite gotten over the hump.  This year things panned out a little differently.  When he hit the World Series this year he dominated it.  And despite, the World Series of Poker in itself becoming a bit of a summer frat party for 21 year olds, he wasn’t out of his element in fact he thrived.

  Granted poker has changed a lot in a short amount of time but at its core it’s still the same game and a guy like Kassela understands that, so while his succes may be as much a surprise to the Internet generation who play poker online as Will Ferrell’s character in Old School trying to lead a nonexistant group streaking on the quad was to the teens at the party, to the rest of poker’s pros it was simply Kassela’s time just as it was simply Frank the Tank being Frank the Tank.

  Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, Frank has the inside track to the trophy but it’s not quite officially his yet. Like the movie Old School there are still time for some twists and turns.  As of the July 9th the World Series of Poker’s Nolan Dalla is reporting Kassela holds a commanding lead in the points race which is almost impossible for his rivals to overcome.  But it’s not quite IMPOSSIBLE in the Texas Holdem Main Event.  We’ll examine who needs to do what to catch him, but its is almost a lock that Kassela will be recognized as the best player  for this entire world series for his performance in the 54 open bracelet events (excludes seniors, ladies, and tournament of champions events which aren’t quite open to everybody).

  Kassela’s epic World Series includes two titles, a third final table finish, and five in the money finishes.  He’s won more than 1.2 million in just this years series.  He’s not done yet with a ton of chips in the World Series of Poker’s Main Event, as the field is getting closer to the In-The-Money bubble.

  The players still sniffing around with a chance to win include a pair of guys that set off on fire during this series and have barely cooled off since.  Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi and Vladimir Schmelev battled it out on two final tables.  Their first time clashing resulted in “The Grinder” winning his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the 40k Poker Players Championship.  Schmelev, the high stakes rounder from Mother Russia was just getting started.  He had a number of deep finishes and was an early favorite for the Player of the Year.  Later he and the Grinder battled it out on a final table neither player was able to win.  Dan Heimiller and James Dempsey are also in the race with thin hopes and taking the overall player of the year title.

  Kassela will win the POY trophy if he finishes 9th or higher, and any of the other guys finishes 2nd or lower.  There are some tie possibilities too.  Vladimir Schmelev wins the player of the year trophy if wins the Main Event (no small task) and Kassela finishes 10th or lower.  He could tie Kassela if he finishes 2nd and Kassela does not cash.  Yeah, you can tell just how unlikely these events are to happen.  Dan Heimiller wins if Heimiller wins the Main Event and Kassela finishes 19th through 27th.  He ties Kassela if Heimiller wins 1st and Kassela finishes 10th through 18th.

  We’ll get to the rest of the permutations in our next post, to be continued…
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