Henry Orenstein, won a bracelet in the 1996 WSOP and has had many finishes in the money.  He is probably one of the oldest poker players around, even into his eighties he is still going strong.  After the Second World War he became a toymaker and managed convince the toy company Hasbro to produce Transformers…

Orenstein is the producer of the High Stakes Poker television show, which is probably what he is better known for in the poker world.  Next time I should maybe be a litlle more careful about running things down, especially in public.  You just never know what people have done with their lives and where they have been before.

When watching High Stakes Poker, I really enjoyed these last few episodes that have Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius playing.  Dwan seems to rattle the others a bit, he does get lucky but he also seems to intimidate them.  He plays aggressive yet controlled poker, but you just never know with him, because some of the time he turns up the cards.  Sometimes you watch his play and think how can he get away with that?  And, yet somehow he does – not always, but most times.

Then there is Antonius who just sits there solid as a rock not giving anything away, actually this is probably the most I have ever seen him smile and talk!  Only he could pull off that huge bluff against Dwan right at the end (whoops sorry giving it away…).  Notice how he decides early on that he is going to bluff his way through and his aggressive style bullies his opponents.

Interesting to hear that Antonius has never read a poker strategy book and has just learnt the game by playing and learning from his mistakes.

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One good thing is that it looks like the old boys in Congress might be getting closer to reversing the legislation.  Barney Frank and Jim McDermot Inc…. say that online poker players could expect to see some changes in the near future… sounds like a safe politician’s statement… non-committal and just enough to get everyone’s hopes up… but staying positive lets hope there will be change to the legislation, enforced soon.

I guess what I like the most is the quality of the articles in CardPlayer.  From the poker strategy through to all the listings of poker tournaments and how the players performed – its got it all.  Most magazines I just flip thru, read a few lines here and there, look at the pictures… but not CardPlayer… just cant put it down.

Episode 7 of High Stakes Poker came out a few days ago.  They have a new crew and although all of them are good poker actors, this time they have thrown in a couple of writer/producers to liven things up – do you know them?

Did you know that The Simpsons has run for 20 seasons?  Thats amazing!

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Mind you Antonius doesn’t act, he just doesn’t show any emotion at all what so ever… but then you would struggle to get a word in at this table – no-one shuts up, there’s talking all the time.

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The Magician, Antonio Esfandiari, or kid as they keep calling him, wins a part in a Nick Cassavetes movie and does ok for himself at the poker table, in this clip at least.  Would you feel comfortable playing against a magician?

And suddenly Antonius starts to talk… wow… maybe the producer of the show told him to speak up.  They start a side bet on Cassavetes rating of Pulp Fiction, the poker must be boring them…

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Some more High Stakes Poker for you… its split into four clips, have you seen this poker game?

Its the best way to learn poker or improve your poker game.  Watching the poker pros and what they do in the various situations teaches you poker strategy.

Daniel Negreanu doesn’t have a lot of luck trying to get his flush.  When he does flop the nuts, no-one wants to play… Barry Greenstein challenges Elezra but he wont take the bait… and Tom Dwan continues to get some cards even though Sahamies doesn’t believe him…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

There’s a nice mix of some new faces on these latest episodes, together with some of the old favorite poker pros.  Brian Townsend and Paul Wasicka join them.  Its got some great bluffs, they split a pot before even seeing a flop and the comments flow as normal…

Look carefully at how the poker pros bet after the flop, they make strong statements about what they have, or what they want to bluff.  The other players read these bets and then decide whether its worth staying in the game or getting out whilst they can.

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For those of you that are not Australian… Australians are known to shout Aussie, Aussie, Aussie as a war cry at sports events or just in general support at any event really.

So… here goes… Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!!! to Stewart Scott for winning the tourny and collecting AUD $ 2 Million for his effort.

The final table of eight players ground it out on the final day for 12 hours.  681 poker players of all shapes and sizes started the competition and eventually it came down to Peter Rho and Scott in the final pairing.

You can only admire him and congratulate him having the stamina to beat all those strong competitors – Well done Stewart Scott!

For a long time the pressure has been on Joe Hachem to win the tourny for Australia, but now it has been done… a fellow countryman has stood up and beaten off the opposition from all over the world.

All the poker players only had good things to say about how the poker tournament was organised and run.  The Crown Plaza, Melbourne is definitely a must to check out and visit.  

Following the last blog post, we have seen Annica Ivert go out of the tournament in 11th place, followed by Tino Lechich in 10th and the last player forced out was the Canadian, Zac Fellows in 9th place.  At least Fellows collects $AUD 100,000 for his troubles!

Wow there are not many big names left apart from well known Barny Boatman of the Hendon Mob.  Boatman is happy with his tournament thus far and is very impressed with all the player’s composure and the skill of the other poker players.

Barney Boatman is well known for his poker commentary on various poker shows.  Together with his brother Ross, they are well known in the UK for the creation of their website “The Hendon Mob”.

Boatman is well respected as a poker player and his opposition are very wary of him.  He has been described as tricky and unreadable.  I wouldn’t like to have to face him in the final of a big poker tournament.  Annica Ivert picked a “Boatman Bluff” when he went all-in, unfortunately for Annica she had really bad luck from the board and Boatman won with a pair of sixes…. go figure….sending Annica home early…

That my friends is poker…  Annica was chip leader on day two, now she gets an early flight home…

Despite all the big name poker pros being knocked out, Boatman says, “There are no mugs here…”.  So it goes to show that the pressure is still on the last eight players who will battle it out for the big prize of $AUD 2 Million for the winner.

We’ll bring you more news of the final day at the Aussie Millions Poker Championships in Melbourne, Australia…

Grant Levy, the Australian favorite, has just been eliminated.  Levy will take the 13th place at this years Aussie Millions Poker Championship and will take home $AUD 65,000 for his effort – not bad at all!

Levy had nines, his opponent had ace-king, then the board did Levy in on the flop and the turn – ow that’s a brutal blow to wear it hurts the most!  So it played into his opponents hands – queen, queen, jack, jack on the flop and turn – its a tough call to be beaten by the board.  These things happen in poker, c’est la vie!

If you don’t want to take the heat in No limit Holdem, go play video poker!

Earlier Dixon Ruecker was head to head with Sam Capra in a big showdown that was for over a million dollars in chips.  Capra had a pair of sixes (6d-6s), a brave move indeed with this hand, not for the faint hearted.  Ruecker meanwhile had King-Jack (Kc-Jh), the board came down with Qc, 5s and 3c on the flop.

Could Ruecker get a stronger pair, a flush or a straight?  Or maybe Capra would get a trip?
5d and 9c came on the turn and river – giving Capra the win with his pair!  Who would have thought a pair of sixes could win so much?

This left Ruecker with very few chips in his stack – it would only be a matter of time…unless a miracle happened… and there’s always a chance of that in poker…

Later Ruecker, with his short stack, got blown out by Stewart Scott with a flush.  Ruecker got flushed by Scott and ends up in 12th place at this years Aussie Millions Poker Championship.  He collects $AUD 80,000 on his way out through the door.

You gotta love it!  This year all the big name poker pro’s seem to have been knocked out – That’s what brings new players to the game of poker – The chance to win big!

Keep track of the Aussie Millions Poker at your favorite online live tournament update.  Its all action!

Jimmy Fricke, otherwise known as “Gobboboy” to the online poker community, rose to poker fame when he became the runner up in the 2007 Aussie Millions poker tournament and won $800,000 – not bad earnings for his second year as a poker pro and for a 19 year old.

At the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe, he held the record for the youngest player to ever cash at a WSOP event, until Annette Obrestad came along and broke the record a few days later.

So you can call him what you like, he won’t mind because he already has a healthy bankroll and a name for himself in the world of poker.  Respect!

He is from Mahomet, Illinois and he dropped out of college to become a professional poker player in 2005.  Bluff Magazine ranks him currently at 179th and his earnings at $ 1.4 Million.

His latest biggest win was at the Bellagio Cup IV in July 2008, where he took home $443,000.  Like so many players he learnt his strategy whilst playing poker online and then had to adapt to playing live tournament poker.

Its interesting that he lists the most important thing that online poker players have to adapt to in live tournaments, is being patient.  When you play online you normally play many hands of poker at once or you do something else whilst playing.

But when you play live at the poker table then you play approximately 10% or less of the poker that you would play online.  So you have to adapt and be patient.  It took “Gobboboy” a few live tournaments before he got used to the slower play.

Alex, one lesson in this, is to never underestimate a player – despite what they look like, how old they are or what they say.  Jimmy is clearly a good poker player and has the credentials to prove that he is no fool.  Some poker players may like you to believe they are not so bright or so clever – before you know it they have cleaned the table and taken your chips – don’t be fooled by appearance!