HIGH ROLLER BILL PERKINS TALKS ABOUT HIS PLAN TO ...to win, getting 4:1 on his money. “Well, I did it! I bet $10k of my $20k bankroll on Daniel Negreanu getting 4:1 vs. Doug Polk,”

www.CardPlayer.com Vol. 33/No. 25December 2, 2020

Longtime Grinder Andrew Kelsall

Talks About First Bracelet Win

WSOP Champ Jonathan Duhamel

Forced To Argue Poker Is Luck

Jonathan Little: Extracting Value

From A Junky Hand

HIGH ROLLER BILL PERKINS TALKS ABOUT HIS PLAN TO DIE WITH ZEROHEDGE FUND MANAGER AND HIGH-STAKES POKER PLAYER EXPLAINS

HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR LIFE

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Table of Contents - Card Player Vol. 33/No. 25

CARDPLAYER.COM VOLUME 33 / ISSUE 25

Features20

High Roller Bill Perkins Talks About His Plan To Die With ZeroBy Julio Rodriguez

24Longtime Grinder Andrew Kelsall:

“I’m A Jack Of All Trades, Master Of None” By Steve Schult

The Inside Straight10

Poker News Recap

15Player Of The Year Update

By Erik Fast

16Poker Stories Podcast With Barry Shulman

By Card Player News Team

18This Week’s Big Winner: Brian Cox Wins 2020 bestbet Jacksonville Fall Frenzy

Main EventBy Erik Fast

Strategies, Analysis & Commentary

28Heads-Up For ROFLs

By Gavin Griffin

29Extracting Value From A Junky Hand

By Jonathan Little

30Re-Entry And Rebuy Tournaments: Part 4 – Strategy Considerations

By Greg Raymer

31Deuce-To-Seven Triple Draw Lowball:

‘Flop’ FundamentalsBy Kevin Haney

33Contracts and Poker: “Miscellaneous”

Boilerplate TermsBy Scott J. Burnham

Also In this Issue6

About Us

36Tournament Schedules

38Poker Leaderboards

Tournament Hand Matchups

31Stoyan Madanzhiev vs. Tyler Rueger

33Stoyan Madanzhiev vs. Satoshi Isomae

34Stoyan Madanzhiev vs. Wenling Gao

35Wenling Gao vs. Stoyan Madanzhiev

20 24

16

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Poker Stories Podcast

Poker Stories is a long-form audio podcast series that features casual interviews with some of the game’s best players and personalities. Each episode highlights a well-known member of the poker world and dives deep into their favorite tales both on and off the felt.

Download it directly to your device from any number of mobile apps, such as Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify. Catch up on past episodes featuring notables such as Doyle Brunson, Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Justin Bonomo, Nick Schulman, Barry Greenstein, Michael Mizrachi, Bryn Kenney, Mike Sexton, Maria Ho, and many more.

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CARDPLAYER.COM 10 VOLUME 33 / ISSUE 25

THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

INSIDE STRAIGHTNews, Reviews, and Interviews From Around the Poker World

the

Sign Up For Card Player’s Free Poker School.

Review Hundreds of Articles and Videos On Winning Poker Strategy.

www.CardPlayerPokerSchool.com

Jonathan Duhamel racked up $18.2 million in live tournament earnings over the course of his poker career thanks to his exceptional poker skill. He just can’t say that to the Canadian government.

A report from � e Canadian states that tax authorities are pursuing $1.2 million in back taxes from the Quebec native who won the World Series of Poker main event in 2010 for $8.9 million. � e case is scheduled to be heard in court in March 2021.

Most Canadian poker play-ers have the luxury of keeping the entirety of their winnings because according to Canadian tax laws, earnings from games of chance are not taxable.

While poker is generally classifi ed as a game of chance in the coun-try, the Canada Revenue Agency claims Duhamel owes the govern-ment on money won from poker tournaments between 2010-2012 because Duhamel was operating as a business. If the CRA wins the case, it could be doubly painful for the three-time WSOP bracelet winner as Revenu Quebec could then pursue a case and force Duhamel to cough up another $2.4 million.

� e CRA cited Duhamel’s former sponsorship with PokerStars, which was worth $1 million consisting of

$480,000 in cash and $520,000 in tournament buy-ins, the fact he has had an agent since 2010, his “hedging operation” more commonly referred to in the poker world as “swapping action” with other poker players, and the fact that poker was his sole source of income aside from his investments, as to why he should be considered a business.

� e CRA also used a few less-than-stellar arguments to make their case. � e agency pointed to the fact that he “behaves like a serious busi-nessman” when he is at the table, that he “considers himself ” a profes-

sional poker player, and that he is “constantly on the lookout for new strategies.”

To combat those charges, Duhamel must downplay his own skill advantage and claim it was all thanks to Lady Luck. According to the report, Duhamel is arguing that his “substantial” $8.9 million score “is only the result of chance.” Sure, his skill level may have been above the average player in the fi eld, but the cards still needed to fall his way to win that specifi c event. In other words, without a little good fortune, he wouldn’t have won the money.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER MAIN EVENT CHAMP ARGUES POKER IS A GAME OF CHANCE TO AVOID TAX PAYMENT

By Steve Schult

010_News.indd 10 11/10/20 1:30 PM

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THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

Mike Matusow Bets Half His Bankroll On Daniel Negreanu To Defeat Doug Polk By Steve Schult

He also claims that he never received any formal poker training, never used a specific system that would tilt the odds in his favor, and that his PokerStars sponsorship only came as a result of his main event vic-tory, another circumstance of chance.

Duhamel isn’t the first poker pro to have a negative encounter with the tax man. In 2010, now-five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner

Michael Mizrachi got a bill from the IRS for $340,000. Mizrachi was forced to sell real estate to pay Uncle Sam, according to a 2010 report from the Sun Sentinel.

German poker pros have similar problems with their country’s tax laws. Germany taxes professional players on their winnings, as the government classifies it as commer-cial income, but doesn’t allow play-

ers to offset losses. �e situation causes a problem for tournament players living in the country as get-ting taxed on gross earnings makes the game unprofitable to play pro-fessionally. As a result, many of the game’s best German pros move to other European countries, most notably England or Austria, which have some of the friendliest tax poli-cies for poker players. �

Mike Matusow bet a large per-centage of his bankroll that fel-low poker pro Daniel Negreanu will defeat Doug Polk in their upcoming heads-up grudge match. Half of it to be exact.

Matusow said that he bet $10,000 of his $20,000 bankroll on Negreanu to win, getting 4:1 on his money.

“Well, I did it! I bet $10k of my $20k bankroll on Daniel Negreanu getting 4:1 vs. Doug Polk,” tweeted Matusow in late October. “I would [have] bet it all but needed $6k for bills on Nov. 1. Plus the $5k I bet on Trump to win in March that could be in jeopardy. Let’s go @RealKidPoker don’t let me go bust

again!”�e aggressive bankroll manage-

ment displayed by Matusow was a little concerning to the two players involved in the match.

“Please don’t do this,” Polk responded to Matusow.

Negreanu also acknowledged the insane risk and simply responded with a gif from the hit TV series �e Office that displayed Steve Carrell’s character clenching his teeth with the word “Yikes” displayed across the bottom.

Given the odds offered, the four-time World Series of Poker brace-let winner wasn’t the only one looking to bet on Negreanu.

15-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth tweeted that he was look-ing to bet on Negreanu as well. Hellmuth cited the price as the main reason he was looking for action.

“I think Doug is an amazing heads-up player!” tweeted Hellmuth. “Especially in no-limit hold’em, especially online, especially over 25,000 hands. But I’m hearing Doug is a 4:1 favorite over Daniel. �is seems high and I’ll bet on Daniel at 4:1. Reach out to me if you’re cred-ible.”

Hellmuth got the action instan-taneously as Polk responded offering to take the bet himself. Hellmuth agreed and booked the bet, risking $20,000 to win $80,000.

�roughout October, there were very public negotiations on Twitter regarding the rules surrounding the match, especially when it came to the use of preflop charts.

�e match will start live at the Aria in Las Vegas in early November, but will mostly be played out on WSOP.com. �ere will be two tables of $200-$400 heads-up no-limit hold’em, with the match set to last for 25,000 hands with 100-big blind stacks. As soon as either player drops below that threshold, they will automatically top up to the max. �ere is an option for the losing player to quit after 12,500 hands, but if both players agree, they can also decide to raise the stakes. �

010_News.indd 11 11/10/20 1:30 PM

CARDPLAYER.COM 12

THE INSIDE STRAIGHT - News, reviews, and interviews from around the poker world

VOLUME 33 / ISSUE 25

One of poker’s most infamous high-stakes poker players returned to Las Vegas while teasing the resurrec-tion of one of the game’s most popular television shows.

Just a few days before Halloween, Tom Dwan, who is known to many poker fans by his old online poker screen name “durrrr,” tweeted a pair of videos that featured a star-studded cash game lineup with six-figure stacks in play.

“High Stakes Poker coming back guys,” tweeted Dwan. “Hope I run as good as last time.”

Attached was a video that showed Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Jason Koon, Brandon Adams, Ben Lamb, and John Andress.

“What’s it been? Like seven years since High Stakes Poker was on or something?” asked Dwan to the table in the attached video.

Just a few minutes later, Dwan tweeted a video that showed him play-ing pocket sevens, proving that cards were in the air and action was under-way.

High Stakes Poker was a poker

television show that had seven sea-sons and 98 episodes and aired on GSN between 2006-2011. It was hosted by Gabe Kaplan and A.J. Benza for the majority of the show’s lifespan before Norm Macdonald took over for the final season.

�e show centered around airing nosebleed-stakes cash games with some of the best players in the game. It ended up as the backdrop for some of poker’s most memorable hands, as some of the biggest pots ever seen were played on the show.

In September, Nick Schulman tweeted that PokerGO had commit-ted to reboot the show. Since then, PokerGO has dropped hints that new episodes of High Stakes Poker could air as soon as mid-December.

Dwan was the centerpiece in sev-eral of the most iconic hands from the show’s original run. With just top pair, he bluffed Barry Greenstein off pocket aces and 2008 World Series of Poker main event champion Peter Eastgate off trips in season 5. He also pulled the trigger on a triple barrel bluff against Phil Ivey that included a

$268,200 river bet with just nine high in season 6.

He also played one of the biggest pots in televised poker history when he cracked Greenstein’s aces in sea-son 5. �e pot was worth more than $919,000. �

TOM DWAN RETURNS AND GIVES SNEAK PEEK INTO HIGH STAKES POKER REBOOT By Card Player News Team

LAS VEGAS SANDS REPORTEDLY IN TALKS TO SELL SIN CITY CASINOSBy Steve Schult

If talks continue to progress into a deal, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation may not have any casinos in the city from which its name is derived.

According to a report from Bloomberg, the Sheldon Adelson-owned company is in talks to sell its Las Vegas casinos, Venetian and Palazzo, as well as the Sands Expo Convention Center. If sold, the price tag is expected to be in excess of $6 billion.

Las Vegas Sands is working with an advisor to generate interest for the properties. A representative from the company confirmed that Las Vegas Sands was exploring a sale, but that

nothing was even remotely close to finalized.

If a sale were to go through, it means that Las Vegas Sands would no longer be exposed to the U.S. gambling market and would focus its resources entirely on its Asian business ventures. Outside of Las Vegas, the company has casinos in Singapore and Macau. Sands sold its Pennsylvania casino, Sands Bethlehem, in May 2019 to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

In 2019, the U.S. market made up just 15 percent of the company’s revenue. It’s likely to be even less than that in 2020 as it’s the first full year without revenue coming from

Pennsylvania, and as the Las Vegas Strip was shut down for nearly three months and is struggling to return to pre-coronavirus levels of revenue.

By comparison, Macau alone made up 63 percent of the company’s rev-enue in 2019. In the second quarter of 2020, the company reported a nearly $1 billion loss.

Bloomberg speculates that the money generated from a Las Vegas sale could allow the company to build casinos elsewhere, citing Adelson’s desire to construct a New York City casino, as well as bailing on his plans to build a casino in Japan earlier this year. �

010_News.indd 12 11/10/20 1:30 PM


THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

POKER PRO SAM GRIZZLE PASSES AWAY By Steve Schult

One of poker’s most unique per-sonalities, Sam Grizzle, passed away in October. He was 67, less than a week shy of his 68th birthday.

Grizzle suffered a “massive stroke and brain aneurysm,” and reportedly slipped into a coma and was placed on life support with no chance of recov-ery. He was taken off life support the next day.

When poker went mainstream in the early 2000s, Grizzle had already established himself as a high-stakes gambler who was willing to do what-ever it took to get under someone’s skin.

He was arguably most known for his rivalry both on and off the felt with 15-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. �e two were allegedly involved in a fist fight in the years prior to poker’s boom.

When the news broke, several other players began sharing their Grizzle

stories with the world. One poster said that he was at a table with Grizzle and Shannon Shorr. After Shorr three-bet Grizzle three hands in a row, Grizzle quipped, “What is this? Revenge of the nerds?”

A slew of stories was shared about Grizzle’s legendary needles and angles. But according to Mike Matusow, Grizzle died doing what he loved, playing poker.

“Here’s Sam Grizzle with the chip lead in his last tourney just one minute before his massive stroke!” tweeted Matusow. “At least he went out on top! Prayers to his family in these tough times!”

�e tweet was accompanied by a screenshot of the lobby of an online tournament with Grizzle’s screen name, “texasmolly,” at the top of the chip counts.

Grizzle earned $1.35 million in live

tournaments over the course of his career, with wins at the Diamond Jim Brady, World Poker Open, L.A. Poker Classic, Four Queens Poker Classic, and World Poker Finals, along with five WSOP final-table appearances. After the poker boom, Grizzle strug-gled to stay on top, but enjoyed a solid online WSOP this past summer. Grizzle cashed seven times, including a third-place finish in the $600 no-limit hold’em monster stack for $77,725. �

POST-GAME STAT CORRECTION COSTS MAN DAILY FANTASY SPORTS VICTORY AND $997,000By Card Player News Team

A post-game stat correction in a Monday Night Football game between the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams cost one fantasy football enthusiast a nearly seven-figure score.

According to an ESPN Chalk report, a 41-year-old insur-ance agent from St. Louis thought he won $1 million after winning a DraftKings tournament. When the clock struck zero on the Rams’ 24-10 victory, one of Rob Huntze’s line-ups scored 92.79, more than any other lineup out of the 176,470 entries in the contest.

But 30 minutes after the elation of victory came the agonizing feeling of defeat.

In the fourth quarter, the Bears’ defense was credited with a sack of Rams quarterback Jared Goff. After the game was over, the official scorers decided that the play should be switched from a passing play to a running play, and the tackle was no longer deemed a sack.

�e scoring change subtracted points from the Bears’ defense and knocked Huntze off the top of the leaderboard and all the way down into an 18-way tie for sixth. Instead of

walking away with nearly $1 million, Huntze’s payout was only worth $3,078.94.

DraftKings’ bread and butter is its daily fantasy sports product, but as sports betting has been legalized by an ever-growing number of states, the Boston-based company has also began running online sportsbooks in legal markets.

Earlier in the season, its sportsbook also issued refunds to bettors who were affected by a blown call by officials on the game-winning play of a college football game. �

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VOLUME 33 / ISSUE 25CARDPLAYER.COM 14


ONLINE POKER SITES FLEE GERMANY IN RESPONSE TO NEW REGULATIONSBy Steve Schult

New legislation in Germany has caused its online poker market to be thrown into a state of upheaval as the govern-ment implements a completely new regulatory system. As a result, several major operators are temporarily leaving the market. Some are leaving for good.

Before the new framework, most online poker sites were functioning as unlicensed operators that were tolerated by the government. Gambling winnings were taxed heavily, causing many high-profile German poker pros to leave the country, but there was nothing illegal about gambling online.

German authorities have since decided to move from a hands-off approach to a much stricter one with more compli-ance needed from the country’s operators.

A “tolerance policy” was agreed upon by the German gov-ernment on Sept. 10, but it wasn’t until the end of the month that the policy laid out specific guidelines for sites to follow. Operators were given until Oct. 15 to comply with the new regulation, giving them just over two weeks.

�ere are several new regulations, but only a few that apply to poker. Sites will need to implement rigorous know-your-customer [KYC] requirements that will require players to fulfill additional verification requirements to confirm their identities. Typically, KYC requirements are imposed by governments on industries where money laundering could theoretically take place.

According to multiple gambling outlets, players will only be allowed to play a maximum of four tables at once,

they will not be allowed to choose their table or seat, the deposit limit will be capped at €1,000 per month, and there will be a “panic button” that will instantly self-ban a player for 24 hours.

�e seating restrictions and table limits are in line with what some American-facing poker sites have done to sustain the overall health of the ecosystem. It seems unlikely that the German government is worried about that, however.

�e deposit limit makes the country even more unfriend-ly to online poker pros and any high-stakes pro still residing there will likely need to move in order to continue relying on poker as their livelihood.

Ladbrokes, Redbet, and Betfair have opted to leave the market entirely and it’s anticipated that Winamax will exit as well. PokerStars and Phil Galfond’s Run It Once are tem-porarily exiting the space until the companies have finished complying with the new rules. According to a tweet from the Run It Once account, the company plans on being out of the market for one-to-two months.

Unibet, 888poker, and GGPoker are making changes to their platform to comply but did not make any statements about leaving the market. 888 is building out an entire new platform for German customers that was scheduled to launch in early November. �

the

Odds of becoming President of the U.S.A.

10,000,000 to 1

Define your own odds.www.CardPlayer.com/poker-tools/

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THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

Place Player Points Final Tables POY Earnings

1 Vincent Wan 2,280 1 $909,420

2 Farid Jattin 2,177 6 $1,205,493

3 Anton Suarez 2,100 1 $1,000,000

4 Cary Katz 2,095 8 $2,420,543

5 Kahle Burns 1,956 6 $2,923,988

6 Ngoc Hoang 1,900 1 $909,420

7 Aaron Van Blarcum 1,896 8 $1,854,522

8 Sam Greenwood 1,881 6 $1,357,807

9 Tim Adams 1,857 6 $5,904,777

10 Brian Altman 1,848 3 $542,866

11 Michael Addamo 1,806 5 $2,143,310

12 Pablo Silva 1,800 1 $1,000,000

13 Christian Rudolph 1,750 1 $620,000

14 James Romero 1,736 2 $745,000

15 Erik Seidel 1,686 5 $669,649

16 Eric Afriat 1,680 1 $394,120

17 Benjamin Winsor 1,636 4 $295,054

18 Alex Foxen 1,597 6 $1,603,559

19 Nino Ullmann 1,540 2 $370,609

20 Stephen Chidwick 1,537 6 $1,043,973

Aaron Massey Wins Venetian DeepStack Showdown Poker Series $150,000 GTD Event�e DeepStack Showdown featured 18 events spread from Oct. 5-18 at �e Venetian®

Resort Las Vegas. �e centerpiece of the whole affair was a $400 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘Monster Stack’ event that featured a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool. �e tournament ran from Oct. 13-18, with five starting flights to choose from. A total of 1,653 entries were made in the event, easily surpassing the guarantee to create a final prize pool of $552,102.

In the end, it was Las Vegas-based poker pro Aaron Massey who emerged victorious with the title and the top prize of $58,742. �is was Massey’s 15th recorded tournament title, and it brought his career earnings to just shy of $4.2 million.

As the champion, he was also awarded 432 Card Player Player of the Year points. �is was his first POY-qualified score of 2020, but it alone was enough to see him climb into a ten-way tie for 399th place in the POY race standings.

Ricardo Eyzaguirre Wins Seminole Hard Rock October Anniversary Special�e October Anniversary Special $100,000 guaranteed $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em

event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood attracted a total of 259 entries, blowing away the guarantee to build a final prize pool of $251,230. Ricardo Eyzaguirre took home $46,000 as the eventual champion, securing the title after striking a three-way deal at the final table.

�is was Eyzaguirre’s fourth POY-qualified score of 2020, with his biggest payday being a runner-up finish in a $600 buy-in event at the Borgata Winter Poker Open for $290,000 and 550 POY points. �e 408 points that Eyzaguirre earned for his win in this latest event was enough to see him climb into 31st place in the overall rankings, with 1,255 total points and $360,643 in year-to-date earnings. �

As of 11-3-2020

015_POY.indd 15 11/12/20 9:18 AM


POKER STORIES PODCAST

Card Player Podcast

With Barry ShulmanPoker Stories is a long-form audio podcast series that features casual interviews with some of the game’s best

players and personalities. Each episode highlights a well-known member of the poker world and dives deep into their favorite tales both on and off the felt.

To listen, visit www.cardplayer.com/poker-podcasts or download it directly to your device from any number of mobile apps, such as Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify. Catch up on past episodes featuring notables such as Doyle Brunson, Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Justin Bonomo, Nick

Schulman, Barry Greenstein, Michael Mizrachi, Bryn Kenney, Mike Sexton, Maria Ho, and many more.

Age: 74From: Seattle, WashingtonLive Tournament Earnings: $5.6 Million

Top Live Tournament ScoresDate Tournament Place Winnings

Jan. 2010 $10,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 3rd Place $1,350,000

Oct. 2009 £10,000 WSOP Europe Main Event 1st Place $1,321,534

July 2019 $1,500 WSOP Double Stack 3rd Place $239,187

Dec. 2003 $1,500 Five Diamond World Poker Classic 1st Place $234,798

June 2019 $1,000 WSOP Super Seniors 2nd Place $222,295

Sept. 2001 $5,000 Four Queens Classic 1st Place $145,500

April 2001 $1,500 WSOP Stud Eight-Or-Better 1st place $123,820

Oct. 2003 $5,000 WPT Aruba Poker Classic 4th Place $112,780

April 2005 Professional Poker Tour Bellagio 2nd Place $100,000

June 2012 $1,500 WSOP NLHE 8th Place $53,669

Barry Shulman found poker while studying at UC Berkeley and the University of Washington. He received his degree in accounting, but opted to forgo the family liquor business in order to build an empire of his own in real estate. His expertise in the field meant that he was often quoted by publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Forbes, among others.

After retiring, Shulman moved to Las Vegas and continued to play cards. While he enjoyed the game as a player, he could also sense that poker was about to go mainstream. Shulman decided that he didn’t like being retired after all, and purchased Card Player Magazine from Linda Johnson, transforming it into the industry leader it is today.

In 2001, Shulman won his first World Series of Poker bracelet, taking down $222,295 in the $1,500 stud eight-or-better event. His second bracelet came in 2009, when he defeated Daniel Negreanu heads-up for the World Series of Poker Europe main event title and a prize of $1,321,534. �e next year, he finished third at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event, banking another $1,350,000. In 2019, Shulman narrowly missed out on adding a third bracelet, taking second place in the $1,000 Super Seniors event and third in the $1,500 Double Stack. He now has more than $5.6 million in career live tournament earnings.

Highlights from this interview include abandoning ship, the free speech movement at Berkeley, $20 five-card draw games at the Oaks Club, a knack for numbers, one-hand Luke, “retiring” in Las Vegas, calling him at the Mirage, “muscling” his way into Card Player, forecasting the poker boom, winning his first bracelet in a game he didn’t play, a seven-figure score in London, playing like a “piece of furniture,” sweating family at final tables, Costco regrets, poker in Cambodia, trying to beat David Williams, and what cow balls taste like.

016_Podcast_BarryShulman.indd 16 11/12/20 9:20 AM


THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

The Transcript Highlights

One-Hand LukeBarry Shulman: We took a weekend down in Reno with several couples. We

were playing in a game… I forget the casino, it’s probably not there anymore. It was up on the mezzanine, with two or three tables, but it was the game in Reno.

We were playing all day, and they had a rule that you could straddle. I had never heard of a straddle before. �e guy to the left of the $5 big blind could put in $10, and then it becomes a $10-$20. All of a sudden, we were all putting in $10 straddles, and then eventually $20 straddles. �is was back when a $100 buy-in was a bunch, and now we were playing $20-$40.

Anyway, this guy Luke had been dealing all day long, and he couldn’t wait to get into the game. �e second he got off of his shift, he pulled off his tie and he sat down in the game. �at was something that dealers would do often in those days.

On the very first hand, he was all-in with the best of it, and his hand got cracked. And when I say he was all-in, I mean that was all the money that he had, double what he had earned for the day. He [was so angry] that he picked up the cards and threw the entire deck over the rail. So the boss came over and fired him. �e guy played one hand, lost all of his money and his job.

Winning His First Of Two BraceletsJulio Rodriguez: What was it like winning your first bracelet back in 2001? ($1,500 Stud Eight-Or-Better)BS: �at was very interesting because I had zero experience in stud eight-or-better. In fact, I had zero experience in

stud. But I played Omaha, and I was convinced then, as I am now, that the skills of the eight-or-better high-low play are far more important that the stud skills. I didn’t feel like I was out of my element even though it was a game I didn’t normally play. Dan Heimiller finished second.

JR: And Vince Burgio, who was a writer on the Card Player staff, finished third. Was winning a bracelet a bucket list thing for you?

BS: Winning a bracelet is still very special, but it was so special back then. It got me thinking that I could play with anybody in any environment.

JR: What were your thoughts when the WSOP moved from Binion’s to the Rio?BS: Well I sure like the set up better, and I still like it. �e Rio is not exactly luxurious, but it sure can accommodate

the people, and it sure is much easier to get in and out of than if they had it on the Strip some place. I’m assuming there will be a WSOP next year. I’ll be devastated if there isn’t. But I don’t think it will be until Spring, and who knows how international it will be?

JR: Where do you keep your bracelets?BS: I keep my bracelets at home, and I really only wear them during the WSOP. Some people might think that’s gauche

or that it’s showing off, but the WSOP is really special. �ere are so many out of towners, and they come in and they want to take pictures and stuff like that. If you are a golfer, you can’t just go and play in �e Masters with the best players in the world, but if you are a poker player, you can come and play with the best in the world. And they are happy to have you.

On How He Came To Buy Card Player MagazineJR: What was the opportunity to buy Card Player like? I spoke to Linda

Johnson on the podcast about how she bought the magazine from the Fields. I heard that you came in and made an [unsolicited] offer for it, and that they had no initial interest in selling.

BS: All of that is true. �e Fields had this rag, pretty much. But it was a rag that I liked to read because I read everything I could find on poker. Linda and her partners came in and they took it and really upgraded it and increased the viability of that business. It was the time when Indian reservations came on and started to have poker rooms, which dramatically increased revenue.

But it wasn’t for sale. I just muscled my way in there. I loved poker, and I wanted to get back into business. It was clear to me that poker was going to boom. Crystal clear. I had someone introduce me to them. I asked them if they were looking to borrow money, or looking for investors, and they said no. But I made them an offer anyway. I think it took from November to March to put the deal together. �

016_Podcast_BarryShulman.indd 17 11/12/20 9:20 AM

CARDPLAYER.COM 18

THE INSIDE STRAIGHT - This Week's Big Winner


Prefl op Cooler Eliminates Derek Bowers In Sixth Place

THIS WEEK’S BIG WINNER

Blinds –10,000-20,000 with a big blind ante of 20,000

Q

Q

Q

Q

K

K

K

K

Brian Cox 1,522,000

Derek Bowers 471,000

A

A

K

K

3

3

A

A

6

6

Blinds –10,000-20,000 with a big blind ante of 20,000

Q

Q

J

J

7

7

7

7

Brian Cox 766,000

Brian Dumaplin 788,000

7

7

6

6

K

K

Q

Q

2

2

Brian Cox Wins 2020 bestbet Jacksonville Fall Frenzy Main Event

By Card Player News Team

The 2020 bestbet Jacksonville Fall Frenzy $1,500 no-limit hold’em main event attracted a total of 213 entries, creating a $285,420 prize pool. That money was paid out among the top 27 finishers, with the largest share going to eventual champion Brian Cox. The Jacksonville, Florida resident took home $69,349 and the championship trophy for the win after coming out on top of the final table that was broadcast on bestbetLIVE.

This was Cox’s first-ever live tournament title run, with his largest previous score being the $4,092 he earned as the 18th-place finisher in the 2014 Heartland Poker Tour Iowa main event.

The tournament kicked off on Saturday, Oct. 24. The field was narrowed down to a final table of eight players during the course of the first day with Joseph Crosby bagging up the chip lead. Nikhil Sunku started the final table in second chip position, while Cox sat in fifth place when cards got back in the air.

Here are five key hands from the final table.

Tournament: 2020 bestbet Jacksonville Fall Frenzy Main EventBuy-In: $1,500 • No. of Entries: 213 • Prize Pool: $285,420 • First Place Prize: $69,349

Cox Doubles Into The Chip Lead

The ActionWith seven players remaining, Brian Cox raised to 60,000

from early position with pocket sevens and Brian Dumaplin called from the hijack with Q-J suited. Christopher Alen defended his big blind with pocket tens and the fl op hit both of the Brians hard. Alen checked to Cox, who bet 75,000 with middle set. Dumaplin raised to 175,000 with top pair and a queen-high fl ush draw. Alen quickly folded his pair of tens and Cox moved all-in for 706,000. Dumaplin made the call and the turn brought a black deuce. � e K� on the river locked up the pot for Cox, who doubled up to overtake the chip lead. Dumaplin was left with just over a big blind and was eliminated in seventh place ($9,704) just moments later.

The ActionCox secured the chip lead in the early action at the fi nal

table, and then extended his advantage by knocking the most accomplished player at the table in Derek Bowers. � e Ohio-native has more than $600,000 in prior live tournament earnings to his name, including a fourth-place fi nish in the 2019 Wynn Las Vegas Summer Classic $2 million guaranteed $1,600 buy-in event for $177,013. Bowers had started the day in third chip position but fell towards the lower half of the leaderboard during the fi rst few levels. In this hand, Cox picked up pocket kings under the gun and raised to 60,000. Bowers looked down at pocket queens in the cutoff

018_TWBW.indd 18 11/10/20 2:22 PM


THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

and moved all-in for 471,000 total. Cox made the call and fl opped kings full of aces to extend his already sizable lead in the hand. � e 6� on the turn meant that Bowers was drawing dead, and he hit the rail in sixth place ($11,388).

Three-Way All-in Sees Joseph Crosby Knocked Out In Fi� h Place

The ActionDuring fi ve-handed action, a wild hand arose that resulted

in a three-way all-in. Short-stack Christina Read picked up pocket aces under the gun and raised to 110,000. Cox was dealt pocket kings to her direct left and three-bet to 300,000. Joseph Crosby looked down at A� K� in the small blind and moved all-in for 1,126,000. Read called all-in for 300,000 total and Cox came along with his pocket kings, having both of his opponents covered. � e runout kept the pocket pairs ahead, which meant that Read took down the main pot to more than triple up. Cox’s kings held up in the massive side pot to send Crosby home in fi fth place ($13,743). Cox increased his stack by roughly 25 percent despite losing the main pot in this hand.

Cox Wins A Clash Between Two Draws To Send Alen Home In Third

Blinds –15,000-25,000, with a big blind ante of 25,000

K

K

A

A

K

K

K

K

A

A

A

A

Christina Read300,000

Brian Cox 2,003,000

Joseph Crosby1,111,000

J

J

9

9

8

8

J

J

8

8

Blinds – 20,000-40,000, with a big blind ante of 40,000

10

10

9

9

Q

Q

6

6

Christopher Alen 1,040,000

Brian Cox 3,720,000

8

8

2

2

10

10

J

J

A

A

Blinds – 25,000-50,000, with a big blind ante of 50,000

A

A

7

7

K

K

10

10

Nikhil Sunku 655,000

Brian Cox 4,670,000

4

4

2

2

4

4

5

5

6

6

to go with Q-6 suited. Cox called from the big blind with 10-9 off suit. Both players picked up a draw on the fl op. Alen bet out with his queen-high fl ush draw and an overcard, fi ring 130,000 into the pot of 280,000. Cox decided to put maximum pressure on Alen by raising all-in with his open-ender. Alen went into the tank before calling off for 790,000. � e A� on the turn kept Alen’s queen-high in the lead, but the 10� on the river gave Cox a winning pair of tens to send Alen packing in third place ($29,256).

Sunku Finishes Second, Cox Secures The Title

The ActionHeads-up play began with Cox holding nearly a 9:1 chip

lead over Nikhil Sunku, who entered the fi nal showdown with just over 13 big blinds. Sunku chipped up slightly dur-ing the fi rst few hands, but a blind level increase meant he was still sitting with around a similar eff ective stack when the fi nal hand of the tournament was dealt. Sunku was dealt K-10 off suit on the button. He open-shoved for 655,000 and Cox called with A-7 off suit from the big blind. Cox’s ace-high was the best hand at the moment, but Sunku still had a 43 percent chance to end up with the winner. � e board brought all low cards, which meant that Cox’s ace high remained best to secure him the pot and the title. Sunku earned $48,130 as the runner-up fi nisher, while Cox pocketed $69,349 as the champion.

Final Table Results

Place Name Earnings POY Points

1 Brian Cox $69,349 360

2 Nikhil Sunku $48,130 300

3 Christopher Alen $29,256 240

4 Christina Read $17,796 180

5 Joseph Crosby $13,743 150

6 Derek Bowers $11,388 120

7 Brian Dumaplin $9,704 90

8 Ben Asaf $8,306 60

The ActionCox was running away with things during three-handed

play, having more than 3.5 times as many chips as Alen in second place. Alen still had a decent amount of play, with his stack representing more than 26 big blinds when this hand was dealt. He raised from the small blind, making it 120,000

018_TWBW.indd 19 11/10/20 2:22 PM


HIGH ROLLER BILL PERKINS TALKS ABOUT HIS PLAN TO DIE WITH ZEROHedge Fund Manager And High-Stakes Poker Player Explains How To Optimize Your Life

By Julio Rodriguez

If you are an especially envious person, I wouldn’t recommend check-ing out Bill Perkins’ Instagram page. �e 51-year-old just looks like he is having too much fun. But there’s a reason why the jet-setting Perkins is usually spotted with a smile on his face, even when he’s battling it out on the felt with some of the best players on the high roller cash game and tournament circuit. �e Jersey City, New Jersey native is on a mis-sion to Die With Zero, using all of his resources to make the most out of his time on earth.

Perkins has put together a wildly successful business career, working his way up from a part-time limo driver and screen clerk on the New York Mercantile Exchange, to being

a broker and then running his own options desk. He currently manag-es the Houston-based energy hedge fund Skylar Capital, and specializes in managing risk with an empha-sis on natural gas and other related markets.

He’s also a part-time film pro-ducer, and has worked with stars such as Samuel L. Jackson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Liam Neeson, Justin Long, Rene Russo, Oliver Platt, Billy Bob �ornton, Eva Longoria, Christina Ricci, and Michael Sheen.

Perkins is known to the poker world, however, mostly for his time on the high roller circuit. He has $5.5 million in career live tournament earnings, with his biggest score com-ing last year when he final tabled the

£1 million buy-in Triton Super High Roller in London. In 2013, he nar-rowly missed out on a World Series of Poker bracelet, finishing third in the $111,111 buy-in Big One For One Drop high roller for a $1,965,163 payday.

He has also been the catalyst for some of the more outlandish prop bets in the poker world in recent memory. He once paid Jeff Gross $500,000 to get a specific tattoo that he has to keep for life. He’s had sev-eral high-profile bets with Antonio Esfandiari, including a must-lunge-to-move bet that got Esfandiari dis-qualified from a tournament, and a chastity bet that featured a quick buy out. He even paid out the Staples brothers when they were able to trade

020_CoverStory.indd 20 11/10/20 2:24 PM


body weight. Perkins lost nearly $1 million to

Dan Bilzerian and later Brian Rast when the social media star and poker pro were both able to bike 300 miles from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. �ere was even talk about an insane rowing bet from New York to England.

Now, Perkins is hoping that his fast-living and fun-loving lifestyle catches on with others, sharing his philosophy in the new book Die With Zero: Getting All You Can With From Your Money And Your Life. �e book focuses on optimizing choices to allow people to thrive, rather than just survive.

Card Player caught up with Perkins for an episode of the Poker Stories podcast, where he talked about his start on Wall Street, getting nervous playing high-stakes poker, and his new book. Here are some of the highlights. You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or any podcast app.

Julio Rodriguez: Your father (who later became a politician in the New Jersey General Assembly) and great uncle played in the NFL, and you played football at the University of Iowa. I’m assuming football was a big part of your life growing up?

Bill Perkins: �is was the leather helmet days, right before the NFL was the NFL. My father ended up going to law school, so it wasn’t until my Pop Warner days that I really got into football. I didn’t really watch that much TV as a kid, definitely not much football.

JR: Other than football, what was your plan in school? You graduated with a degree in electrical engineer-ing.

BP: �e plan was to be the biggest slacker I possibly could and chase women across campus. (laughing) My mom told me that I was in college to learn, not to get a job. If I wanted a job, I could just go to trade school. I thought that was some of the better advice my mother gave me, because it allowed me to take classes I wouldn’t have otherwise taken.

JR: After college, you went to work on the New York Mercantile Exchange, starting as a screen clerk and driving a limousine at night to pay the bills, before eventually becoming a broker and then run-ning your own options desk. I read that you were inspired by the 1987 Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen

“You can put a rat in a wheel with some cheese, and after a while, you don’t even need the cheese. You just show the rat the wheel and they’ll start running. This happens to a lot of people. They go to work, and they put off the reward, convincing themselves that they actually love running in the wheel, when it’s actually just the habit.”

film Wall Street.BP: It’s kind of cartoonish, right?

It was this character (Gordon Gekko) that had just came out. �e movie was really about the downside of unbridled greed, but that wasn’t the message I was getting. (laughing) �e message I was getting was, ‘Holy shit, these equity guys make a f**k ton of

money and are able to do whatever they want.’

JR: In the book, you talk about how you were fired from one of your jobs, and that it made you hungrier.

BP: It was a time when I was mov-ing out of my slacker stage and into my integrity and driven stage. I think it kind of reignited me. You know,



‘Get your shit together!’I was brokering over the counter.

One of my clients had me come down and visit them, but it ended up being a job interview. You never know when you are being inter-viewed! �ey offered me the job to run their options desk in Houston, and I snap took it.

Prior to that, I was one of those northeast guys, New York City. You could never pay me to move to Texas. But I would have went to Siberia to trade. �ey could have told me they had a little trading station in the middle of a war zone and I would’ve gone for it.

JR: �roughout your career, you’ve seemingly never been afraid of risk. Is that an accurate assessment?

BP: I’m not afraid of failing. [Especially early on,] I had very little fear of getting egg on my face, crash-ing and burning, looking like an idiot, or being broke. When you’ve been broke, and you’ve gone through it and survived it, you kind of tell yourself that you’d be okay going back. You don’t want to go back, but you know it’s doable. You’re okay taking a prudent risk in order to get to what you really want. Having navigated being busted, and know-ing that I could always hustle and get a job here or there, I was willing to shoot for the moon. �at was my attitude back then.

JR: �ese days, the message you

are preaching with your book Die With Zero is more about maximizing life experiences, using resources more effectively to enrich yourself.

BP: When I was younger, I had this idea that it was okay to be rich, but that you didn’t want to be old and rich. When you are 21 or 22 and trying to make it, you see these old rich guys and you think to yourself, ‘So what if you [have money], what are you going to do with it?’ At a certain point, the money is useless. So, I started exploring that concept, about the utility of money and how it changes with age.

JR: You bring up examples in the book of people who spend their whole lives working and saving for retire-ment, only to pass away before being able to enjoy the money. Or perhaps they live long enough, but don’t have the health or energy to do what they wanted to when they were younger. �ey suddenly look back at their life and don’t have any experiences to show for it.

BP: �ey wasted no money, but they certainly wasted their lives. We focused on the book on [the concept of ] converting money into experi-ences, but also converting health into experiences at the right time. You might not be able to hike later in life, so those experiences are meant to be done earlier. If you want to stay home and watch Jeopardy!, you can do that when you are 80. You might want to

go hike that mountain now instead.What makes you, you? What con-

stitutes you? It literally comes back to your memories and experiences. You are loaded with these memories and experiences, and they give you fulfill-ment. Why do I smile when I see my daughter? Well, I made her, I’ve spent time with her, and I have experiences with her.

From this point now, until the grave, you have to think about mod-eling your life. You have got to think about life cycle modeling. What is your life experience going to be from now until the day you die?

JR: Of course, not everyone has your financial resources, so it’s easier said than done for many who are paycheck to paycheck and have to work long hours to survive. But your book points out that this concept of maximizing your resources isn’t just for those who are wealthy.

BP: Get off autopilot and be delib-erate about your life. Plan it out. �at’s resource agnostic. �ere’s time, health, and money, and those vari-ables will change over the course of your life. How am I going to allocate those resources to get the maximum fulfillment, the maximum experi-ence? I use the word ‘experience’ very broadly. It’s not just about traveling the world. It could be going to a club, giving money to charity, or just spending some time playing cards with your daughter.

Get off autopilot and be deliberate about your life. Plan it out. That's resource agnostic. There’s time, health, and money, and those variables will change over the course of your life. How am I going to allocate those resources to get the maximum fulfillment, the maximum experience? I use the word ‘experience’ very broadly. It's not just about traveling the world. It could be going to a club, giving money to charity, or just spending some time playing cards with your daughter.



THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

When people ask me how I [became successful], I tell them I don’t watch TV. I don’t get that much value out of television, because it sucks a lot of hours. If there’s a great show and you love it, and it gives you enjoyment, then go ahead and watch it. I’m not here to tell you what to do. You have a finite number of hours on earth, and TV sucks a lot of them. In the amount of time you are watching TV, you can be creating all of these experiences or enriching your life in some way. If you have an extra two hours a day back, it’s amazing what you can do.

JR: Time is a very important resource to you, and the book men-tions a few examples of how you let time guide you in your decision making.

BP: If I eat 600 calories of cookies, that’s an hour on the treadmill at a 15 incline at 3.1 miles per hour. I’m not one of those guys that loves being on the treadmill. In fact, I hate it. Is the cookie worth an hour of my time? A lot of time, the answer is yes. �ere are some damn good chocolate chip cookies out there. Sometimes it’s no. �e cookie isn’t worth it.

I’m on the area of the curve where I’m now converting money to time. I buy things to save me time. �ings like cleaning services, private travel, food delivery, etc. I’m just into soak-ing up and enjoying life as much as possible. I’m trying to get this one right.

I’m going to die. �at is going to happen in no uncertain terms, and it’s not that far away. I’ve been alive [longer] than I will most likely live. I don’t get a second chance. It’s not like I’m going to hit the grave and get a do-over like Mario Brothers. �e

moment passes and then it’s gone for-ever, so I want to soak it up and savor it. I’m all about net fulfillment over net worth.

JR: Is that why you don’t work as much as you used to, and spend a lot of your time on a yacht in the Caribbean?

BP: I mix the work into my vaca-tions, these trips that I take through-out the year. It’s not like I just set aside two weeks every year for Disney World. I’m fortunate that I’ve gotten to the point where I can make my office wherever I want, wherever is most enjoyable.

JR: Why aren’t more successful businessmen living life like you do? Why do they continue to keep their foot on the gas even after making more than enough money to live out a lavish life?

BP: Habits have a way of making you believe that the habit is the goal. In order to get good at something, you have to spend a lot of time on it, obsess over it, and spend many hours honing that craft. You became habituated into doing things.

A lot of people when they drive home, they don’t remember anything from the drive. �ey are on autopilot, just making the right turns when they need to, not thinking about their actions. It’s the same with careers. People put in 10,000 hours working at something, it becomes a habit, and they become disconnected from the reason why they went to work in the first place. �ey lose sight of the other important things in their life.

You can put a rat in a wheel with some cheese, and after a while, you don’t even need the cheese. You just show the rat the wheel and they’ll

start running. �is happens to a lot of people. �ey go to work, and they put off the reward, convincing them-selves that they actually love running in the wheel, when it’s actually just the habit.

JR: You started playing poker in high school with games like acey deucey, and then started taking the game more seriously after moving to Houston. Given the vast amount of money you work with on a daily basis trading, do you have to play the high rollers to feel any sort of a rush?

BP: I like playing poker, and I real-ly like the social aspects of it. But it’s not my day job, I have no delusions that I’m there to make a bunch of money and be a professional. I want to win and I do compete, but I flip for rolls in natural gas trading. �at’s where you’ll see me splashing around.

I do get the rush, however, even at the lower buy-ins. �ere’s a certain number where it needs to aggravate me if I lose. It’s not going to change my life, but it is aggravating. I remem-ber playing $500-$1,000 online, and I shipped kings. I could feel my heart pounding. �en I realized, this was nothing. �e amount of money that I had shipped was nowhere near my P&L (profit and loss attribution) trad-ing that day, but the fact that it was in poker, my heart was beating [like crazy].

It’s a great feeling. I’m not as stoic with poker as I am with natural gas trading. With gas, it can be 50x that number, and it is what it is. I’ve done my research, I think it’s the right trade, and if I lose, I lose. �ere’s real-ly no big sweat on anything. But in poker, I’m not as stoic. I’m way more nervous in poker than in trading. �



Andrew Kelsall has been playing poker since before the boom and has quietly made himself a comfortable living from the felt. Over the course of his career, which has tournament cashes dating all the way back to limit hold’em events in 2001, he has earned $2.048 million, while grinding mid- and high-stakes cash games as well.

Before September, Kelsall’s largest career tournament cash was $124,731. He more than doubled that score with a World Series of Poker bracelet win in the 2020 Global Casino Championship, which was played online on WSOP.com.

�e Pennsylvania-native splits his time between Las Vegas and Tampa, and earned a spot in the $10,000 buy-in as an at-large qualifier thanks to a solid season on

the WSOP Circuit, where he won his second and third Circuit rings. He ultimately defeated a 130-entry field, and Michael Trivett heads-up, to turn a free entry into his first WSOP title and $275,632.

Kelsall has also proven himself to be proficient in any poker game. During the 2018 WSOP, Kelsall cashed 12 times in eight different poker variants at stake levels ranging from $365 to $10,000. Card Player sat down with Kelsall to discuss the culmination of his poker career, his love for mixed games, and his desire to win a “real bracelet.”

Steve Schult: You’ve been successful at this game for quite some time with cashes dating back to 2001. You were clearly around before the Moneymaker boom, so

LONGTIME GRINDER ANDREW KELSALL: “I’M A JACK OF ALL TRADES, MASTER OF NONE”

WSOP Global Casino Championship Winner Discusses Winning His First BraceletBy Steve Schult

024_Feature.indd 24 11/10/20 2:39 PM


how did you find poker? Andrew Kelsall: In 2000, when I was about 30 years

old, I went out on a gambling cruise out of Clearwater, Florida with some friends just to play blackjack and have some drinks. We stumbled into a $2-$10 stud high poker game. I had never played. I literally didn’t know that a flush beat a straight.

I didn’t play quarter games in college and stuff like that. �at was honestly the first time I played. I bought a few books and we went back out on the cruise maybe a week later. �at happened about four or five times and I bought another book or two. �at’s really how I learned.

But by the fourth time I went out, there was no stud game and the guy running the boat said, “We’re playing $6-$12 hold’em.” Now I’m out on the boat and I’m stuck. I didn’t even know what hold’em was. I had only played stud to that point. He kind of helped me learn how to play limit hold’em that night and I got invited to some private games a couple times after that. It just kind of steamrolled from there.

SS: What books did you read? AK: �e first couple I got were Super System and the

[David] Sklansky and [Mason] Malmuth books. Maybe a few years later I picked up Harrington on Hold’em. I know the stuff is kind of outdated now, but that’s all people read.

I had a friend that used to go out on that cruise with me. Every week, he would bring me a different book and I would return it to him the next week. He was a little bit of a poker mentor for me. It was really nice of him to do that and it really helped me learn a little bit.

SS: You started out playing limit games, but you’ve proven yourself very proficient in no-limit hold’em. What was that transition like for you and when did it happen?

AK: I don’t even remember exactly when that occurred. I guess it was right around when Moneymaker won the WSOP main event. Everything kind of transitioned to no-limit so you really didn’t have much choice but to learn it.

I was in Florida at that point and we had the $100 max buy-in games. �at’s really where I started playing it. �en I started to travel a little bit more and started playing some $2-$5 and $5-$10 no-limit games while I was playing some mid-stakes tournaments.

I really didn’t play a lot of tournaments until about 2016 or so. I would play some here or there, maybe take two or three one-week trips a year and play three or four tournaments at each place. Maybe [I would] play a couple tournaments in Florida. But I really never played a full WSOP schedule until a few years ago.

SS: I remember during one of your deep runs in a World Poker Tour Borgata main event, you said that as soon as you busted, you were heading to Arizona to play a $30-$60 mixed game. How do cash games fit into your life? Are they your main source of income?

AK: I’ve gone back and forth on that. I would say about 10 years ago if you were to ask me that question, I probably played 80-90 percent of my poker hours in cash games and only 10-20 percent in tournaments. Now, it’s probably much closer to 50-50 and maybe even more trending towards tournaments.

It’s not like I’m a rich guy or anything, but I’ve gotten comfortable now to where I don’t have to play on a daily basis and treat it like a 50 hour-per-week job like I had to do when I first started. I’m a lazy personality at heart, so when I don’t have to be somewhere or have to play, I tend to make excuses not to go.

Obviously with cash games, you can go whenever you

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want. And when I used to really need the money, I used to play 40-50 hours per week for sure. And now, [before COVID-19], I would usually play only about 20 hours each week of live poker. When I’m traveling somewhere, then obviously I’m going to put a lot of hours into tour-naments.

SS: Do you think all professional poker players should be playing cash games? Does it help offset the variance of tournaments?

AK: I don’t know if offset is the right word. It really depends on your situation. For me, I’m a single guy with no family and no kids. I’ve kind of designed my life in a way to not have any bosses. It could be wives or kids or real bosses, but I can essentially do what I want.

When people ask me questions on how to become a poker player, I always tell them that it’s really hard to be a tournament poker player and have a family. Not only do you travel so much, but you never know when you’re going to be home. You leave at noon and you can’t even tell your wife and kids if you’ll be home for dinner or not every night. �at’s a really difficult lifestyle.

Obviously in cash games, you can kind of make your own schedule. You can treat it like an 8 to 5 job or a 4 to 12 job or whatever you want to do. It’s not that poker players have to balance things out [to lower variance], it’s just a little bit easier to be a cash game player.

I think the difference between cash games and tour-naments has been really overstated. Obviously, some of the theories are different, but really, in a cash game or tournament, you are starting with a pile of chips and your goal is to get more chips. People make it too com-plicated. I’m not saying they are exactly the same, but when someone says to me, “I’m amazing at tournaments, but I stink at cash,” I just think that’s ridiculous. How can you be that great at one and that awful at the other?

SS: What about all the other games you play? You started out playing limit hold’em and seven card stud,

then you transitioned into no-limit hold’em. But just a few years ago, you were playing all the games, at all of the stakes. How did you get introduced to them and how did you stay ahead of the curve?

AK: It basically came from just playing so many hours of no-limit hold’em over the years. I just got bored with it. I was looking for something to get the juices flowing again and enjoy going to play. I still don’t really enjoy going to play no-limit hold’em, but I love these other games.

It’s a little bit of a challenge. I’m a math guy and a lot of those limit mixed games are math-based, so I picked them up pretty easily. I always say that I don’t really con-sider myself great at any of the games, but I think I’m a jack of all trades, master of none.

Obviously, every game is a little bit different, but I feel that I’m like a B or B+ player in every game. Perhaps I’m a C in some games, or an A in others, depending on who you talk to, but as a general rule, I’m a B player in everything. And that makes it fun… just to be able to play all the games and be able to go into any room at any time. I can pretty much play everything.

[Playing hold’em everyday] is like playing the same golf course every day. It gets boring.

To take that one little step further, at this point in my poker career I’ll definitely give up equity in some situ-ations to do things in poker that I think are more fun. Let’s say there is a good $500 no-limit tournament that I should probably play and have a good expectation in, but there is also a good $30-$60 2-7 triple draw game in the same room. I’m going to go play the triple draw because that is more fun. I might not do as well, but it’s more fun and I’m still going to do okay.

SS: In one summer, you cashed in events with buy-ins as low as $365 and as high as $10,000. Do the stakes affect your mindset at all?

AK: I’d say the rest of the year, that dramatic change

A Look At Andrew Kelsall’s Best Tournament ScoresDate Event Buy-In Finish Payout

Sept. 2020 WSOP Global Casino Championship

N/A 1st Place $275,632

Dec. 2014 Seminole Hard Rock Winter Poker Open

$1,650 1st Place $124,731

June 2017 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. $1,500 3rd Place $88,221

Aug. 2018 WSOP Global Casino Championship

$1,700 5th Place $77,736

Aug. 2019 WSOP Circuit North Carolina

$1,125 1st Place $72,618

Dec. 2019 WPT Rock ‘N’ Rock Poker Open

$2,200 1st Place $60,910

Jan. 2018 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open

$1,100 5th Place $56,239

Feb. 2020 WSOP Circuit Hard Rock Tampa

$2,200 2nd Place $54,831

June 2017 WSOP Stud Eight-Or-Better

$10,000 6th Place $54,748

July 2017 WSOP Mixed Big Bet $2,500 3rd Place $47,239

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THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

in stakes defi nitely aff ects me. You wouldn’t really see that kind of a jump if you were to look at my record from, let’s say, January-May. But part of the reason I was so excited to fi nally win this bracelet was because I had made it a goal to win a bracelet since I started playing a full schedule of events over the last four or fi ve years.

To me, it didn’t matter if it was a $100 tournament or a $10,000 tournament. I was just going to play and try to win a bracelet. Each summer, I sell about half of my action and keep about half for myself, so that made it easier to play some of the $10K’s.

It’s sort of like what I said about the other example about prioritizing fun over profi t. In the $10,000 seven card stud tournament, for example, I might not have any equity. I might even be 50-50 against the fi eld, not plus or minus EV. But even if there was something up the road that I could be playing where I could have a little bit more of an edge, money-wise, I would play the WSOPevent. I just made it kind of a personal goal to win a bracelet. � at’s why this is so exciting for me.

I still want to win a live bracelet though. A few of my friends have said, “Now that you’ve won a fake bracelet, are you going to go win a real one next summer?”

SS: Can you elaborate on that a little bit? Everyone imagines what it’s like to win a bracelet, but you won one during one of weirdest years in poker history. What was it like to ship the gold online?

AK: It’s defi nitely not as cool, but it’s still a pretty good feeling. � e Global [Casino Championship] is still a pretty prestigious tournament with lots of good players. From that point of view, it’s cool to win something that

Daniel Negreanu and Mike Matusow fi nished ninth and tenth in.

But on the other hand, it would be one notch cooler to win it in person. I was just sitting on my recliner really. I’m not really an online player. I’m not a guy that’s grinding six or eight tables on a Sunday. I actually sat at the Westgate sportsbook for the fi rst four hours of the tournament watching football while I played the tourna-ment on my iPad in my lap.

SS: You said you hadn’t played live poker since February. How did the pandemic aff ect your outlook on poker and where you thought you would be playing?

AK: I have a site where I played $30-$60 mixed games online. I play maybe 10-20 hours a week on there. I haven’t played any tournaments except for the WSOP Circuit or the WSOP bracelet events online. Other than that, I really haven’t played any poker.

I’m really lucky that the pandemic didn’t happen 10 years ago. � at would’ve really hurt me because I “needed to be playing.” I will need to be playing at some point, but I can go a year or two without playing a hand of poker and I will be fi ne fi nancially. I feel pretty lucky about that. I couldn’t have said that 10 years ago, and that was even before this win.

SS: Where do you see your career going in the future? Do you think you’ll play professionally for the rest of your life?

AK: I don’t see myself doing anything else. I’ve done nothing but this for 20 years. I joke with people that my résumé would look pretty poor right now if I tried to put it together. �

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Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary


Stakes Poker Duel, beating him out of a total of $350,000.

�ose matches were all well and good, but they’re bloodless. �ey lack the style and machismo of an old fash-ioned, internet forum, anger-induced, heads-up for rolls challenge. Galfond offered odds on a side bet and decided to take on all comers. Hellmuth and Esfandiari were brought in for a TV show. �ere was no conflict in either of those, no hatred.

�e match I’m really looking for-ward to is between Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk.

Ever since Negreanu said the fol-lowing in a video, Polk has been all over him.

“If the rake is ‘too high’ [Negreanu uses air quotes] for good players, what you’re left with is bad players who are going to lose. But they’re losing less per 100 hands than they would be if the pros were playing with them. �ere’s a lot of games where that’s true, where the rake is really high and it keeps pros away because they’re like, ‘Well, we can’t beat this.’ But over-

all for the game, it’s actually better because the pros aren’t playing.”

Polk shot back at Negreanu’s take on his popular YouTube channel, mocking the six-time WSOP bracelet winner by pushing the now-infamous tagline of “more rake is better.” In fact, he went so far as to sell shirts on his site with the slogan printed on them. He eventually wore the shirt at the same table as Negreanu in the Super High Roller Bowl, and even plastered it on a billboard outside of �e Rio in Las Vegas during the 2018 summer series.

Negreanu took issue with Polk’s trolling and repeatedly clarified that he doesn’t think more rake is better for the game, temporarily allowing the beef to fade away for a while. But of course, 2020 has been a special year. Negreanu himself had a few brushes with internet infamy while stream-ing his play during the online WSOP, going viral for a handful of profanity-laced tirades.

Although Polk claimed he had been retired from poker for almost

HEADS-UP FOR ROFLSBy Gavin Griffin

I have to admit, I’m not much of a prop bettor. Not only do I not do it that often, I’m also probably a lifetime loser in the few times I’ve done it.

�e most prolific time for my prop bets was during my World Series of Poker summers when sharing a house with friends. We would keep a spread-sheet tracking who owed money to whom, and what it was for. I won money playing pool and answering Jeopardy! questions, but lost it all back on a bet that one of my roommates could do 100 burpees in a set amount of time.

I guess, to be honest, I’ve never been much of a gambler either. I don’t try and beat the house, and I don’t like losing money on things that I don’t have direct control over. I tried one time to get into sports betting, but despite my projected win probability models, I had a losing summer betting baseball and packed it in.

I’ve also never really been a fan of playing heads-up poker (unless it’s at the end of a tournament!) I’ll do it in good situations at the end of the night when someone is just begging to give their money away, but those opportu-nities don’t come up that often. I can even remember playing one person heads up that I knew was better than me, but that’s only because he offered me 10 percent back if I lost and a 10 percent bonus if I won the freezeout. �at was a hard offer to pass up.

I’m sharing all this as background because even though I’ve personal-ly avoided these heads-up prop bet matches, I am actually interested in the series of heads-up matches that have been taking place in the poker world lately.

I cheered along with Phil Galfond as he came back from a roughly seven-figure deficit in his pot-limit Omaha match to beat online phenom VeniVidi1993 who, unfortunately for him, did not Vici. He’s now in the middle of a match with Chance Kornuth, and has more scheduled later this year and next.

I was also amazed, along with Galfond himself, when Phil Hellmuth defeated Antonio Esfandiari three straight times on PokerGo’s High-

“Polk shot back at Negreanu’s take on his popular YouTube channel, mocking the six-time WSOP bracelet winner by pushing the now-infamous tagline of “more rake is better.” In fact, he went so far as to sell shirts on his site with the slogan printed on them. He eventually wore the shirt at the same table as Negreanu in the Super High Roller Bowl, and even plastered it on a billboard outside of The Rio in Las Vegas during the 2018 summer series.”

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One of my students recently played a hand at a $550 buy-in live tournament that illustrates an exploitative play you can make against many players in small-stakes poker games.

With a 55,000 eff ective stack and blinds at 500-1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante, our Hero raised with J� J�from fi rst position to 2,500. Everyone folded to the cutoff , a loose, passive player, who three-bet to 8,500.

At this point, Hero can be fairly certain his opponent has a premium hand, probably 10-10+ and A-Q+, because most passive players tend to three-bet with only their best hands and call with their non-premium hands. Given the opponent’s range is quite strong, Hero should not four-bet with J-J, because he will only get action when he is crushed by a better pair or fl ipping against A-K. Calling from out of position will lead to some diffi cult post-fl op situations, but it is the best course of action given the opponent’s strong range.

Hero called and the fl op came 10� 8� 2�. Hero checked and his opponent bet 7,000 into the 19,500 pot.

Although Hero now loses to all of the opponent’s likely pocket pairs, he still beats A-K and A-Q. Given most play-ers will continuation bet this fl op with their entire range, Hero should call and see what develops on the turn.

� e turn was the 4�. Hero checked and the opponent checked behind, likely indicating an unpaired hand, prob-ably A-K or A-Q. � e river was the 3�.

If the opponent’s range is mostly A-K and A-Q, he will usually check behind on the river, awarding Hero the small pot. Instead of happily collecting the small pot though, Hero should make a bet that can realistically get called by

ace high. In this situation, a small bet makes a lot of sense, assuming the opponent will rarely (or never) raise as a bluff , which will usually be the case in most small-stakes games. Betting small also has the added benefi t of saving money when the opponent happens to have a cautiously-played overpair because Hero would have otherwise check-called a larger river bet.

Hero bet 4,500 into the 33,500 pot. � e opponent thought for a while and eventually called with A� K�, giv-ing Hero a nice pot.

While Hero’s 4,500 river bet worked out well, he per-haps left a few chips on the table. Since the pot was 33,500 chips, Hero probably could have bet 6,500, extracting an additional 2,000 chips.

While winning an extra two big blinds may not sound like a big deal, if you miss out on two big blinds every time you are in situations like this, it will add up to a small fortune over your lifetime as a poker player. � at said, many players leave the entire river bet in their opponent’s stack, so it was a nice job by my student to extract it. �

Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion with more than $6 million in tournament win-nings. Each week, he posts an educational blog and podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com, where you can get a FREE poker training video that details five things you must master if you want

to win at tournament poker. You can also sign up for his FREE Excel-ling at No Limit Hold’em webinars at HoldemBook.com/signup

Extracting Value From A Junky HandBy Jonathan Little

Blinds – 500-1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante

A

A

K

K

J

J

J

J

Hero 55,000

Villain 80,000

8

8

2

2

3

3

10

10

4

4

“While winning an extra two big blinds may not sound like a big deal, if you miss out on two big blinds every time you are in situations like this, it will add up to a small fortune over your lifetime as a poker player.”

a year, the online heads-up specialist couldn’t resist throwing fuel on the fi re, issuing a challenge to Negreanu. After some back-and-forth haranguing and tense negotiations, they’re getting set to play this thing. � ey’ll be play-ing $200-$400 no-limit for 12,500 hands at which time, the person who is losing can choose to extend the match for another 12,500 hands.

Since I have three kids who are home 100 percent of the time, I won’t be able to watch every hand of this challenge, but I will defi nitely be checking in because of the backstory and history between these two. I’m looking forward to seeing some excel-lent trolling, hopefully some good poker, and of course the pain experi-enced by whomever winds up losing. �

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and

has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG

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RE-ENTRY AND REBUY TOURNAMENTS: PART 4 – STRATEGY CONSIDERATIONSBy Greg Raymer

In my last three columns, I have described what defines a re-entry, a rebuy, and an add-on, as well as the attitudes, misconceptions, and concerns about these formats. If you missed any of those articles you can find them, as well as all of my previ-ous articles, at my author page on CardPlayer.com.

As discussed in the first article, rebuy/add-on tournaments come in many variations when it comes to how many chips you are given for the original buy-in, the rebuys, and the add-on. It is quite common for the buy-in and the rebuys to offer the same or close to the same number of chips for the same amount of money.

It is also common for the add-on to offer you many more chips for the same amount of money, or the same amount of chips for less money. �at is, the add-on frequently lets you buy chips at a significant dis-count. It is important that you pay close attention to the cost per chip for each of these pur-chases, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Consider a typical online nightly rebuy tournament with an add-on on a site like Big Dog Poker. It has a cheap buy-in and a high guarantee. �ere is plenty of loose action, and play-ers make lots of rebuys that juice up the prize pool.

�e initial buy-in is $10+$1 for 15,000 in chips. Rebuys may be purchased any time you have 15,000 chips or below, and give you 15,000 chips for another $10. �is means you can rebuy before the first hand is even dealt, and can take a double rebuy if you happen to lose all your chips. At the end of the rebuy period, you also have a one-time opportunity to take an add-on, paying $10 for 50,000 chips. You can take the add-on regardless of your stack size.

In these formats where the add-

on chips are such a great value, you should be buying the add-on no matter how large your stack might be. Even if you’ve built your origi-nal 15,000 into a stack of 150,000, it is still profitable to purchase the add-on.

If everybody who enters follows this advice, they are all going to put $20 into the prize pool ($10 for the buy-in and $10 for the add-on) and

receive 65,000 in chips. �is equals 32,500 chips per $10 paid. �at means taking a rebuy, at a price of $10 for 15,000 chips is not ideal. You are paying more than double the price per chip than you pay for the buy-in and the add-on chips.

�e correct strategy in this struc-ture is to always take the add-on, and never rebuy unless you must. Even then, the only reason you are tak-ing a rebuy is so you will still be in the tournament when the add-on becomes available.

Of course, there are other rebuy

tournament structures. Many of these events charge a buy-in fee (which I will call $2X) plus rake for a single stack of chips. �e charge for a rebuy is half the buy-in fee ($1X), and you get a single stack of chips in return. �e add-on also costs half the buy-in fee ($1X), but gives you a double stack of chips.

Because it is far cheaper on a cost-per-chip basis, you should again buy

the add-on regardless of your stack size. And you should always stay in the tournament, rebuying as much as needed, until this cheap add-on pur-chase is available. �e cost for a buy-in plus the add-on is $3X, and you will get a triple stack of chips for those two purchases. �e cost for a rebuy is $1X for a single stack.

Notice that in this struc-ture, the rebuy chips are a neutral deal. As such, if you wish, you can choose to take a rebuy every time you qualify, as you will not be overpaying when you do so. Or you can take a rebuy only when you get felted, as you will not be foregoing any extra value by skipping extra rebuys.

For almost all re-entry tournaments, you pay the same amount of money (usually plus rake) for each re-entry as you did for the original buy-in. In return, you are given the same

number of chips for your new start-ing stack. As such, there is no dif-ferent strategy you need to consider when choosing to re-enter or not.

If you believe it would be a smart decision to enter the tournament as a new player, then re-entering is exactly the same. Do pay attention to your frame of mind, however. It is not uncommon for a player to be on tilt, or at least in a negative mood, after they bust. If you have this poor frame of mind, maybe now is not the best time to play poker. Most of us can’t play our best game without a

The correct strategy in this structure is to always take the add-on, and never rebuy unless you

must. Even then, the only reason you are taking a rebuy is so

you will still be in the tournament when

the add-on becomes available.

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positive mindset. If that’s the case, take a break, go home, and play again tomorrow.

For every tournament you play, it is important you look closely at the cost per chip of each buy-in, re-entry, rebuy, and add-on before the start. � is will allow you to deter-mine in advance the smartest rebuy and add-on strategy and maximize your profi tability in each structure.

Poker should always be played for fun, but if you utilize a strategy that helps you win more money, it is going to be that much more fun.

So have fun, and Play Smart! �

Greg Raymer is the 2004 WSOP world champion, winner of numerous major titles, and has more than $7 million in earnings.

He recently authored “FossilMan’s Winning Tournament Strategies,” available from D&B Publishing, Amazon, and other retailers. He is sponsored by Blue Shark Optics, YouStake, and ShareMyPair. To contact Greg please tweet at him using @FossilMan or go to www.FossilManPoker.com.

DEUCE-TO-SEVEN TRIPLE DRAW LOWBALL: ‘FLOP’ FUNDAMENTALSBy Kevin Haney

In Deuce-To-Seven Triple Draw Lowball (27TD), the betting round after the fi rst draw is at the smaller limit and is often referred to as the “fl op.”

For example, in a $20-$40 limit game, bets and raises after the fi rst draw are in $20 increments. After the second draw, the betting limit increases to $40 and this street is called the “turn.” As one would guess, the last betting round after the third and fi nal draw is referred to as the “river.” � ese borrowed terms from fl op games simply roll off the tongue much easier and are very useful when describing the play of a hand after the fact.

For the most part, fl op play in 27TD is relatively straightforward, especially in heads-up pots. Unlike hold’em, we should not play according to a ‘check-to-the-raiser mentality.’ If one player is drawing fewer cards than their opponent on the fi rst draw, they have the lead and should almost always bet the fl op regardless if they improved or not.

If we are pat and another player is drawing any number of cards, we have an automatic bet. Similarly, if we are drawing one (D1) and our opponent is either drawing two (D2) or three (D3) we also have an automatic bet regardless of the outcome of our fi rst draw.

� e only possible exception to automatically betting the fl op when we were ahead in the draws is when we were a D2 and our opponent was a D3. In this situation, checking is the correct play if we started out with a mediocre or steal holding and failed to improve on the draw.

For example, suppose we open from the button with 3-7-8 (without any blocking pairs) and the big blind calls and takes three. If we do not improve,

NOTE: WINNING PERCENTAGES DO NOT INCLUDE TIES. ODDS PROVIDED BY CARDPLAYER.COM/POKER-TOOLS/ODDS-CALCULATOR/TEXAS-HOLDEM

AnalysisTOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP � ere was an interesting chip dynamic early during eight-handed action at the fi nal table of the 2020 World Series of Poker Online $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. Stoyan Madanzhiev and Wenling Gao found themselves in a fantastic chip position, with each of them sitting on over 100 big blinds while three of the short stacks hung on for dear life with 15 big blinds or less. Tyler Cornell was the shortest of all, with slightly more than nine blinds. � is dynamic opened the doors for Madanzhiev and Gao to really ramp up the aggression, especially against the three medium-stacked players at the table. Madanzhiev seemed to be the player to be most keen to wield this advantage. In this hand he opted for a sizable lead with K-4 off suit when it folded to him in the small blind. Tyler Rueger had a much more attractive holding with K-J off suit in the big blind, but the chip dis-tribution strongly incentivized him to control the size of the pots he entered, especially when facing the only two players who out chipped him in Madanzhiev and Gao. Rueger called and the fl op brought a pair of aces and a queen with two hearts. Madanzhiev kept his foot on the gas, taking a stab of 1,890,000 into the pot of 5,720,000. Rueger’s king high, gutshot straight draw, and backdoor fl ush possibilities were enough for him to make the call in position when facing what was likely an automatic continuation bet from the chip leader after a prefl op raise. � e turn brought the 9� and Madanzhiev opted to make a pot-sized bet of 9,500,000 as a bluff . Ruerger was likely suspicious of Madanzhiev, but it would be incredibly hard for him to take a stand with his current hand strength given that there were multiple players on incredibly short stacks and massive pay jumps on the line. � e remaining players were all guaranteed at least $328,305. Outlasting even just one of the short stacks would see Rueger boost his earnings to $467,825, an increase of $139,520. Rueger made the fold and Madanzhiev took down the healthy pot with his bluff . Within 10 minutes of the end of this hand, two of the short stacks had hit the rail.

K

K

4

4

K

K

J

J

A

A

A

A

Q

Q

9

9

Madanzhiev bet 1,890,000, and Rueger called.

Madanzhiev bet 9,500,000, and Rueger folded.

With eight players remaining and blinds of 350,000-700,000 and an ante of 85,000, Stoyan Madanzhiev raised to 2,520,000 from the small blind.

Tyler Rueger called from the big blind.

ANALYSIS

Stoyan Madanzhiev82,343,113 Chips

Tyler Rueger53,548,190 Chips

Winning PercentageBefore Flop: 23.0%

After Flop: 9.0%After Turn: 7.0%

Winning PercentageBefore Flop: 69.0%After Flop: 61.0%After Turn: 73.0%

FLOP

PREFLOP

TURN

2020 World Series of Poker Online $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event

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betting would be wrong against a player who most likely has a deuce and is a favorite to improve when drawing three. Betting won’t help us win the pot and more than likely we are simply betting the villain’s hand for him.

However, if we had instead opened the button with a pre-mium D2 such as 2-3-7 we can make a thin value bet unim-proved against a single D3, especially if we have paired along the way. � ese low blockers add value to your hand mostly because they may be cards your opponent needs to improve. We should also bet if we have a bad hand that we intend to turn into a pat bluff (snow), such as when we start with 3-7-8 and catch something like trip threes on the fi rst draw.

When two players are drawing two cards on the fi rst draw, whoever improves should tend to bet. What would we generally consider to be improvement? Usually it means improving to a one-card draw to an eight low or better,

In a heads-up pot, no matter what happens on the draws we are almost always going to at least call the flop because we usually only require around 15 percent equity to continue. There are other factors to consider such as reverse implied odds and the frequency at which you will realize your equity, however, the vast majority of the time you need to continue as there will be enough overlay.

however, in some situations a draw to a nine is also valuable enough to keep. (Nine draws are a tricky topic and will be the topic of an entire article in the near future.)

If we are out-of-position with both us and our opponent drawing two on the fi rst draw, there are few situations where we shouldn’t automatically lead out after having improved. For example, if we are fortunate enough to go from drawing two to a pat hand, it’s often best to go for a check-raise.

Another situation where we can check is when we improve to a weak draw and were initially up against a strong starting D2 range. For example, suppose we defend the big blind against an early position open, both players draw two, and we improve to a very marginal draw such as a 3-6-7-8. If our opponent improved upon his D2, his result-ing D1 or pat holding will tend to be very strong and we will often get raised having much the worst of it. However, the downside to checking is that we potentially expose our draw to be quite weak and/or give our opponent a free street when did not improve and decides to check behind.

In a heads-up pot, no matter what happened on the draws we are almost always going to at least call the fl op because we usually only require around 15 percent equity to continue. � ere are other factors to consider such as reverse implied odds and the frequency at which you will realize your equity, however, the vast majority of the time you need to continue as there will be enough overlay.

For example, suppose you open the button with 3-4-6 (10-Q), get called by the big blind, and you both draw two. Your opponent leads out, indicating he improved, and you received no help on the fi rst draw. � is is not a great situa-tion, but we should not fold as our equity is approximately 30 percent against a D1 range so there is adequate overlay and we do have position.

However, now let’s assume we have the same 3-4-6 (10-Q) hand, but instead we get re-raised by the small blind who is a D1 on the fi rst draw. Once the small blind makes the automatic fl op bet we are getting 8:1, meaning we only require around 11 percent equity to profi tably continue. However, if we catch an ace and a king on the fi rst draw our best play may be to fold even though we are getting greater pot odds than in the prior example.

While we are getting a better price, our equity is much less against an opponent that is either drawing one or is now pat as opposed to a D2 that leads out and most likely is just a D1. Against this stronger range we may only have around 20 percent equity as the high cards we have caught make it more likely our opponent is pat. In addition, our draw is very weak with reverse implied odds and we will often have

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CARDPLAYER.COM 3333

to fold the turn, thus relinquishing our equity.Situations such as this do not come up that often so we

are going to at least call the fl op around 95 percent of the time or more. Another situation where a fl op fold is proba-bly best is when we were drawing three, we do not improve, and our opponent was pat on the fi rst draw.

Now let’s consider a situation where two players were both drawing two on the fi rst draw and the fi rst player to act leads out on the fl op, representing improvement. If the second player also improved should he consider putting in a raise?

Certainly, with a pat hand he should, but he can also raise with a premium D1 to a seven low (i.e. not a straight draw) and perhaps also with a smooth eight when he has seen several blockers along the way. � ere is value in this raise especially if an opponent tends to check-raise his pat hands meaning when he leads out he most often has a D1. In a battle of one-card draws the superior draw is a solid equity favorite and having the positional advantage makes the raise even more fundamentally sound.

While it’s true that raising here will make our calling range weaker, we can make still make the nuts with hands that have would have called the fl op (e.g. 2-3-4-5 and 3-4-5-7) and overall it’s not easy for our opponent to use this information to any great advantage. Simply calling is usually fi ne, but it would probably be a mistake to do so against a player who had defended the big blind and may be leading out with one-card draws such as 3-6-7-8 or 9-8-7-4. In 27TD, as in any limit game it’s important to press any advantage that you may have.

It’s important to realize that this raise is only correct

because our opponent was initially drawing two, so the majority of the time he leads he’s not yet pat. A somewhat common beginner mistake is raising when improving to a strong draw such as 2-4-5-7 versus an opponent who was initially a D1. � is raise is incorrect because we don’t know the result of our opponent’s initial one-card draw and we are a big underdog (approximately 30 percent equity) against a range of eight or better made lows.

While we may have slightly greater than 50 percent equity over our opponent’s pat and D1 range, a raise will often be a money loser as it re-opens the betting and allows him to re-raise when he is pat. When we raise the fl op we are doing so as either a small favorite or a sizeable underdog in addition to divulging the strength of our draw and this is not good.

It is very rare that an opponent will fold the fl op thus we should only tend to bet and raise when we feel we have an overall range advantage over our opponent. Multi-way pots present other issues to consider and these will be discussed in the next issue. �

Kevin Haney is a former actuary of MetLife but left the corporate job to focus on his passions for poker and fitness. He is co-owner of Elite Fitness Club in Oceanport, NJ and is a certified personal trainer. With regards to poker he got his start way back in 2003 and particularly enjoys taking

new players interested in mixed games under his wing and quickly making them proficient in all variants. If interested in learning more, playing mixed games online, or just saying hello he can be reached at [email protected].


AnalysisTOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP Satoshi Isomae showed himself to be a fearless player in this hand, pulling the trigger with a bluff for all of his chips with fi ve players remaining in the largest online poker tournament ever held (by prize pool). � e hand began with chip leader Stoyan Madanzhiev raising from the cutoff with J-9 suited. Isomae looked down at A-Q off suit in the small blind and three-bet 4,483,500. Short stack � omas Ward had just shy of 15 big blinds and folded from the big blind. Madanzhiev made the call and fl opped top two pair. Isomae’s A-Q was unim-proved, but he elected to fi re an overbet of 11,605,800 into the pot of 10,092,000. Madanzhiev made the call to grow the pot to over 33 million. � e 7� on the turn saw Isomae slow down with a check. Madanzhiev checked behind with his two pair and the 6� complet-ed the board. A possible spade fl ush draw from the fl op came in on the end, along with four cards to a straight. Isomae seized on the scare card as an opportunity to bluff , having made it to the river with just ace-high. He moved all-in for 23,411,295, a bet of about 70 percent the size of the pot. � e bet certainly put Madanzhiev to the test, as he would need to risk just less than a third of his remaining chips in order to make the call. While Isomae could certainly have a fl ush with a hand like A� X�, Madanzhiev might have been able to dis-count the likelihood of his opponent having an eight to complete a straight given the action on prior streets. � ere was also the possibility that Isomae had arrived at the river with just the type of holding he actually had in this instance and felt compelled to bluff with so much in the pot and insuffi cient showdown value. Madanzhiev ultimately made the call with top two pair and found out that his opponent had indeed been bluffi ng. Isomae earned $949,937 as the fi fth-place fi nisher, while Madanzhiev became the fi rst player to surpass the 100 million chip mark in the event.

J

J

9

9

A

A

Q

Q

J

J

9

9

5

5

6

6

7

7

Isomae bet 11,605,800, and Madanzhiev called.

Isomae checked, and Madanzhiev checked.

Isomae moved all-in for 23,411,295. Madanzhiev called.

With fi ve players remaining and blinds of 350,000-700,000 and an ante of 85,000, Stoyan Madanzhiev raised to 1,540,000 from the cutoff . Satoshi

Isomae three-bet to 4,483,500 from the small blind, and Madanzhiev called.

ANALYSIS


Satoshi Isomae39,585,595 Chips



Winning PercentageBefore Flop: 61.0%After Flop: 7.0%After Turn: 0%

FLOP

PREFLOP

TURN

RIVE

R


028_S&A.indd 33 11/11/20 1:12 PM



In recent columns, I have been analyzing the Release that Caesars requires players to sign before entering World Series of Poker events. �is column looks at the group of terms that appears under the appropriate heading of “Miscellaneous.” �ese terms are not unique to this agreement, but can be found at the end of most agreements. Because of this, they are often referred to as the “Boilerplate” terms. Let’s examine them.

CIE may assign, transfer, or license its rights under this Agreement, in whole or in part, at any time to any third party.

Contract rights are like property that can be bought and sold. Unless those rights are personal, contract law has no problem with the transfer. �is provision simply states that default rule. It would kick in, for example, if Caesars sold all its assets – including the rights they obtained from you – to another company.

Player acknowledges that he/she has relied on his/her own judg-ment or has been advised by an attorney of his/her choice prior to entering into this Agreement.

�e general rule in contract law is that an agreement is binding on a party if the party freely assented to it. Saying you never read it or didn’t understand it is not a defense. �is provision tries to hammer that point home, emphasizing that you knew what you were doing when you agreed to it.

�is Agreement sets forth the entire understanding and agree-

ment of the parties, and there are no other warranties, agreements or understandings between the parties, express or implied, as pertains to the subject matter herein.

Most oral agreements are enforceable, as are agreements that are partly written and partly oral. �e exception is when the parties intend that all the terms be found in a writing; then any oral agreements or promises are excluded. �is provision, often called a “merger clause,” attempts to indicate that that was the parties’ intention. Between sophisticated parties, such a clause usually has great weight. But many courts are skeptical that it represents the intent of a less sophisticated party who likely did not read the agreement. Also, it may not prevent you from prov-ing a defense to the formation of an agreement; for example, that a fraudulent representation induced you to sign it.

�is Agreement may not be modified or amended in any manner except by a writing executed by Player and an authorized officer of CIE.

�e merger clause is intended to exclude from the agree-ment anything you might have been told or agreed to before you entered the agreement. �is provision, often called a “no oral modification” or “NOM” clause has a similar intent for anything you might have agreed to after you entered the agree-ment. It requires that the modification be in a signed writing in order to be effective. Frequently parties make oral modifica-tions in spite of the NOM clause, and a court may honor such

CONTRACTS AND POKER: “MISCELLANEOUS”BOILERPLATE TERMSBy Scott J. Burnham


AnalysisTOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP Stoyan Madanzhiev and Wenling Gao sat atop the chip counts for essentially the entire duration of fi nal table action, but the two players made it down to heads-up utilizing diff erent approaches to big-stack play. Madanzhiev was relentlessly aggressive, applying pressure as often as he could. Gao, who had more than half of a million in recorded tournament earnings to her name prior to making this fi nal table, added to her lead down the stretch by winning key pots with premium holdings. � e four knockouts she made at the fi nal table were made with the following hole cards: pocket aces, A-K, pocket sevens, and pocket kings. In this hand Gao demonstrated that she was more than willing to try to capitalize on her solid table image by running a bluff when the opportunity presented itself. Gao defended her big blind with A-7 after Madanzhiev raised the button holding 10-4. Gao checked after the fl op came down ten-high. Madanzhiev opted to check behind with his top pair and low kicker. � e turn brought the 3�, which gave Gao a gutshot straight draw to go along with her ace high. She made a bet of 1,122,00 into the pot of 3,400,000. Madanzhiev had picked up an open-ended straight draw to accom-pany his top pair. He raised to 5,355,000 in position. Gao elected to three-bet to 15,937,500 as a semi bluff . Madanzhiev made the call and the pot grew to 35,275,000. � e K� on the river improved neither player. Gao backed up her aggression on the turn with another bullet on the end, fi ring 20,000,000 with just ace-high. Madanzhiev no longer had top pair on the board, but his hand was still a good bluff -catching can-didate. He made the call to take down the huge pot, and in the process took more than a 2:1 chip lead over Gao in their heads-up battle for the bracelet.

10

10

4

4

A

A

7

7

10

10

6

6

5

5

K

K

3

3

Gao checked, and Madanzhiev checked.

Gao bet 1,122,000, and Madanzhiev raised to 5,355,000. Gao three-bet to 15,937,500. Madanzhiev called.

Gao bet 20,000,000, and Madanzhiev called.

With two players remaining and blinds of 400,000-800,000 and an ante of 100,000, Stoyan Madanzhiev raised to 1,600,000 from the button.

Wenling Gao called from the big blind.

ANALYSIS


Wenling Gao131,310,963 Chips




FLOP

PREFLOP

TURN

RIVE

R


028_S&A.indd 34 11/11/20 1:12 PM



CARDPLAYER.COM 3535

a modifi cation, especially if a party has acted in reliance on it.Headings preceding the text, articles and sections of this

Agreement have been used solely for reference and shall not be construed to aff ect the meaning, construction or eff ect of this Agreement.

You remember that I mentioned this term in an ear-lier column. Recall that paragraph four has the heading “FCC Regulations.” If a player tried to argue that the only restrictions permitted under that paragraph were the ones created by the FCC, Caesars could raise this provision in its defense and point out that the parties agreed that the heading should not be read to restrict the otherwise clear language of a provision. It is not found in most agreements and represents very cautions drafting.

� is Agreement shall be deemed executed and delivered within the State of Nevada, is made in contemplation of its interpretation and eff ect being construed in accordance with the laws of said State applicable to agreements fully executed and performed in said State, and it is expressly agreed that it shall be construed in accordance with the law of the State of Nevada without giving eff ect to the principles of the confl icts of laws.

� is is a “choice of law” clause. It doesn’t restrict where you can sue, but asks the court you bring suit in to apply the law of Nevada to the case. Most courts will honor such a provision as long as 1) the transaction has some connection with Nevada, and 2) the applicable law of Nevada does not violate a funda-mental policy of the jurisdiction whose law would apply if the parties had not chosen Nevada law.

All litigation arising out of or relating to this Agreement shall be brought in the federal or state courts located in Clark County, Nevada and the parties irrevocably consent to the exercise of per-sonal jurisdiction over them in Clark County, Nevada.

� is one does restrict where you can sue – you have to sue in Clark County, Nevada. Although this may cause incon-venience, most courts have found the clause enforceable. It was enforced by the US Supreme Court in the case of Shute v. Carnival Cruise Lines. When she was injured on a cruise to Mexico, Mrs. Shute, a resident of Washington State, was required to sue in Florida. While this decision has been infl uen-tial, states courts do not have to follow it because it arose under the Court’s admiralty jurisdiction, since the injury occurred on the high seas.

If Player fi les a lawsuit against CIE or any other individual or entity, involving this Agreement or related to Player’s removal from one or more WSOP Events, but Player does not prevail against each defendant, Player shall pay each prevailing defendant the costs, expenses, and reasonable attorneys fees, it/he/she incurred in defending Player’s lawsuit.

� e rule in American law (as opposed to English law) is that each side has to pay its own attorneys fees whether they win or they lose. However, this is a default rule that the par-ties are free to change in their agreement. Here, Caesars has changed it – but notice they have made it one-sided. If you sue, you have to pay if the defendant wins, but the defendant does not have to pay if you win. In many jurisdictions, the attorneys fee clause has to be mutual. However, recall that the

agreement states that Nevada law applies, and Nevada may permit the one-sided clause. �

Scott J. Burnham is Professor Emeritus at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington. He can be reached at [email protected].


AnalysisTOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP � e fi nal hand of the largest poker tournament ever held online was fi ttingly exciting, with the best start-ing hand in no-limit hold’em running into a fl opped monster. Wenling Gao picked up pocket aces on the button and min-raised to 1,600,000. Chip leader Stoyan Madanzhiev defended his big blind with 7-6 off suit and fl opped the nuts, hitting the top end of a straight on a 5-4-3 rainbow board. Madanzhiev decided to bet right out with his huge hand. A board texture like this might be more likely to have hit the big blind’s defending range than the button’s rais-ing range. As a result, Madanzhiev’s lead could be interpreted as a stab at the pot with a perceived range advantage. Given that he might make just such a stab without much of a hand, Madanzhiev opted to do so with the top end of his range as well. He made a bet of half the size of the pot and Gao raised in position with her overpair. Madanzhiev fl at called and the 8� hit the turn, which meant that his 7-6 was still the best possible hand. He checked and Gao made a half-pot bet. Madanzhiev unleashed a check-raise to 15,040,000 with his eight-high straight. Gao three-bet all-in for 80,953,463 with her overpair, likely hoping to deny equity to hands like a lower pair with a straight draw or perhaps fl ush draws. Instead her shove was quickly called by Madanzhiev, and she was drawing dead heading into the river. Gao earned $2,748,605 as the runner-up fi nisher, the largest tour-nament payout ever awarded to a female player.

A

A

A

A

7

7

6

6

5

5

4

4

3

3

8

8

8

8

Madanzhiev bet 1,700,000, and Gao raised to 3,944,000. Madanzhiev called.

Madanzhiev checked, and Gao bet 5,644,000. Madanzhiev check-raised to 15,040,000. Gao moved all-in for 80,953,463, and Madanzhiev called.

With two players remaining and blinds of 400,000-800,000 and an ante of 100,000, Wenling Gao raised to 1,600,000 from the button. Stoyan

Madanzhiev called from the big blind.


ANALYSIS

Wenling Gao86,597,463 Chips



After Flop: 3.0%After Turn: 0%


FLOP

PREFLOP

TURN

RIVE

R

028_S&A.indd 35 11/11/20 1:12 PM

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Poker Leaderboards


THE BEST ‘BUSINESSMEN’ CAREER TOURNAMENT EARNINGS FOR NON-PROFESSIONAL POKER PLAYERS

Rank Player Tournament Earnings

1 Cary Katz $28,440,064

2 Paul Phua $19,470,098

3 Aaron Zang $17,640,234

4 Richard Yong $14,280,612

5 Elton Tsang $12,826,059

6 Dan Shak $11,380,918

7 Rick Salomon $9,886,853

8 Talal Shakerchi $7,775,448

9 Jean-Noel Thorel $7,190,273

10 Anatoly Gurtovoy $6,531,502

Despite the fact that all of the players included on this leaderboard have cashed for multiple millions of dollars in poker tournaments, they are all widely considered non-professional players due to their success in other arenas.

The gold standard for businessmen poker players is Cary Katz, the founder of the College Loan Corporation. Katz has cashed for more than $28.4 million in poker tournaments since his first recorded score back in 2004. He has six seven-figure scores under his belt among a total of 206 in-the-money finishes, with 23 titles won along the way. Katz is currently in 15th place on poker’s all-time money list, even though the game is not his main profession.

Of all the players found in the top ten on this leaderboard, Aaron Zang holds the record for the single largest tournament score. Zang took home an astounding $16,810,979 USD as the champion of the highest buy-in poker tour-nament ever held, the £1,050,00 buy-in Triton Million charity invitational no-limit hold’em event that took place in London in 2019. Zang was one of 27 recreational players invited to the tournament, and he defeated poker’s all-time money leader Bryn Kenney heads-up for the title. The two struck a deal following the elimination of Dan Smith in third place that saw Kenney walk away with the larger payday in the end ($20,606,421 USD).

Elton Tsang, Rick Salomon, and Anatoly Gurtovoy’s spots on this leaderboard are also largely due to their success-es in seven-figure buy-in tournaments. Bill Perkins, the subject of this issue’s cover story, fell just short of making the top ten. His $5,449,661 in recorded tournament scores puts him in 11th place in the standings.

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Documents

HIGH ROLLER BILL PERKINS TALKS ABOUT HIS PLAN TO ...to win, getting 4:1 on his money. “Well, I did it! I bet $10k of my $20k bankroll on Daniel Negreanu getting 4:1 vs. Doug Polk,”