High Stakes Poker: Sickest pot ever

The biggest pot in TV show High Stakes Poker history was played in the latest episode. Over $700K was on the table when Jamie Gold and Patrik Antonius clashed. With the minimum buy-in recently raised to $500,000, the High Stakes Poker action has been ultra-crazy in the last few episodes. In this particular hand, Patrik Antonius picked up As-Jd and raised to $4,000. Jamie Gold looked down on pocket kings, and re-raised to $14,000. Only Antonius called. The flop came 3s-Qd-Th. Antonius checked and Gold bet $15,000 with his over pair. The Finnish player called with one over card and a gut-shot straight draw. Amazingly, the turn brought the Kh. Gold now had top set, while Antonius had the nuts, an ace-high straight. Antonius bet $45,000, and Gold moved all-in for $341,500. Antonius immediately called, and thus created the biggest pot in the history of High Stakes Poker: $743,800 was on the table. “Unbelievable, but what am I going to do, right?” Gold said. Since it’s a cash game, the players are allowed to make deals in situations like these. Gold and Antonius decided to play the river three times, with almost $250,000 at stake on each card. Being a 3-to-1 underdog, Gold was hoping to catch at least one lucky card, and when the dealer placed the Qh on the table, giving Gold a full house, he shouted “Yes!” The 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event champion’s luck continued when the second river card was dealt. The 3d gave Gold another full house. “Haha! Wow!” was all Gold said this time, while Antonius hardly reacted at all. Gold was hoping for the case king to come the third time, but instead it was the 8s. Antonius’ hand finally held up, and he calmly collected a third of the gigantic pot. High Stakes Poker host AJ Benza summarized the craziest pot ever in the following way: “I tell you one thing: Patrik can take a punch. Imagine if that was Phil Hellmuth.” Note: High Stakes Poker airs on Mondays at 9 p.m. on the GSN network

Warning issued on lead in poker chips

Unbelievable We have to watch what we eat and drink and now watch what poker chips we play with!!Lead in poker chips Arizona health regulators issued a warning Thursday, saying Paulson brand poker chips could contain high levels of lead. The warning about the chips — used in many casinos and sold at retail to gamblers — came a day after a Phoenix TV station broadcast a story about the potential contamination. The station had 200 of the chips tested by a private lab and said all of them exceeded the EPA limit for surface lead. Paulson’s CEO issued a statement saying the company objected to any implication that the chips, when used as intended, posed a health hazard. He also said the chips had been reformulated to contain far less lead. The Associated Press

Chopping !!

Deal making is an important skill in poker tournaments. The reason for this is the prize structure of modern day tournaments. The prize pool ends up being extremely favorable to the winner, as well as the top three players in the tournament. The winner and second place often get up to sixty percent of the entire prize pool. First gets double second place, and often 4 times what the third place finisher receives. Because of this, at the late stages of a tournament deal making is be a very important skill.Many players don’t see the advantage to deal making. They figure, “Well, why should I give up a chance at first place money?” The reason is, you play poker to win money. You must accept that you will rarely final table tournaments, and win them even less. When you get to the final table you need to maximize your profit, and deal making can do that.One factor to take into account is if there are any player points involved. For example, Poker Stars has a weekly and yearly Tournament Leader Board. Players at Poker Stars are often very interested in winning a week of the entire year. You can use this to your advantage in deal making. For example:You have a short stack, and players are trying to arrange a deal. You can barter with the player points. Explain that the top players are going to get the player points, so you want more money.Also, always try to arrange a deal right before you are in the blinds. The opposite is also true. If another player proposes a deal just before his big blind, point out that he’s about to invest a ton of chips into the pot, so he should get less money.Usually, deals are created just by divvying up the prize pool by chip percentages. If you are a large stack, you should agree to this method. If you are a short stack, you should reject it. The reason being, if you only have 10% of the chips, and your opponents have 40% and 50%, you are going to get a very small portion of the prize pool. But, in all reality, you have a much better chance of coming in second or first place then your small share of the prize pool would reflect.The best deal making strategy you can use is to “play hard to get.” When deals are being proposed, make sure that it is known that you don’t really want to make a deal. If you show that you are unsure about the deal, players will offer you more money to persuade you to accept it.Deal making is especially important in one table sit and go satellites. Many players often just play these to make the final three players then chop the pot up.Deal making is an important skill in poker, and crucial to your final table strategy. By using the tips above you’ll be able to extract more money when you make the final table, and be able to negotiate excellent deals.