Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenger IV Main Event Results

I've been promising these, but have neglected to get them up here. Here are the numbers from the$5K main event of the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV at the Cherokee Casino Resort in Tulsa.

Total number of entries: 124
Prize Pool: $620K

Final Table and Payouts:

9. Bill Edler Las Vegas, NV $12,028
8. Scotty Nguyen Henderson, NV $15,035
7. Gil George Dallas, TX $21,049
6. Danny Robertson Ft. Smith, AR $27,063
5. Noah Nodine Norman, OK $33,077
4. Gavin Smith Guelph, Ontario $42,098
3. Brant Hale Norman, OK $72,168
2. Raymond Henson Spring, TX $138,322
1. T.J. Cloutier Richardson, TX $240,560

Another successful event for the Cherokee. Best poker room and tournaments in Oklahoma.

Scotty Nguyen IV Main Event Final Table Tonight!

The main event final table for the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV is underway. I should have the final results posted here sometime tonight or in the morning. Lots of big name pros in town at the Cherokee Casino and Resort in Catoosa for this tournament. Complete report coming soon!

My 1st Big Brick and MortarTournament

I thought I'd just write up the days events from here. They have an excellent wireless connection in the casino and I have my laptop, so we should be good.

I spent $330.00 to enter in this tournament. The last count I heard there were 434 entries, which created a total prize pool of $130,200.

The day started out slow for me. I wasn't getting good cards, but did manage to steal a few pots to keep myself alive. The only major pot I won in the first four hours is when my pocket sixes made trips on the flop. There were four players who saw the flop and I led out with a bet and all but one guy folded to me. I checked the turn and he checked back. After the river card fell, I bet out and the other guy folded A-6, face up. I mucked my hand and grinned at him, like I had stolen the pot. I took him out after the break when my pocket Aces went up against his A-K. He got a king on the turn, but no other help and he was gone.

At the first meal break, I was in 43rd place out of 96 people left. Two hours later, at the rest room break, I had moved up to 7th. By the time the money bubble broke and we got another short meal break; I had fallen to 29th out of 39 remaining players.

After the last meal break, I went card dead again. Nothing was going my way. I managed to win a couple of small pots without having to show down and a few people were knocked out and I found myself 17th in chips with 21 players left. The average stack was around 57K in chips. I had just over 12K and the leader had over 300K (about 25% of the chips in play). Then came the end.

A few hands after a restroom break, I was dealt pocket kings in the big blind. Blinds were at 1K/2K with a 200 ante. The chip leader raised from the one off of the button. I had 9100 in chips left and it was going to cost me 6K of that to call, so I pushed all-in. He calls and the cards are turned up. I am semi-relieved to see he has A-K off-suit. I just need to avoid one of the two remaining Aces in the deck to move up to around 25K in chips.

It took less than a minute, but seemed like an eternity. The flop was 6 - 10 - Q. He had picked up additional outs. Now any of 4 Jacks or the two Aces would beat me. The turn card was a 3; another bullet dodged. Then as the dealer was turning the river card face up, I knew my night was over. He hit an ace and I left the table finishing 21st. $1050.00 for my efforts.

All-in-all, I think I played good poker on the day for not having many quality starting hands. I'm probably lucky to have finished where I did. I'm exhausted, but am going to hang out here for a while longer to see if a friend makes the final table. He's currently in 4th place with about 125K in chips. The chip leader now has over 400K and there are 17 players left. The first four players control around 75% of the chips in play at this point in the event, so he should be in good shape

The tournament finally ended at 4:15am. Patrick, my buddy who was also in the tournament, just finished in 2nd place, winning slightly more than $19K. Not too bad for a guy who had never made a final table at a live tournament before. It's now 4:45am and I'm heading home.

Sober Enemies; Drunken Buddies

Sober Enemies; Drunken Buddies


I really don't have any enemies that I am aware of. I could go back and tell a war story or two here, but I never really tried to get along with those enemies. (Die, commie, die!) Ahh, I know where I'll start.

Slightly less than six years ago, I sold my share of a lucrative computer business in Tulsa to my business partner (who still owes me $85K [No. He's not the enemy in this story]) and began working from home. I had spent so much time building this company that it left me little time for my family and almost no time for friends and fun. After selling the business, I started to visit my favorite watering hole, Marty's on a regular basis, again.

One night while sitting on my usual perch and speaking with the bartender, Sheila; a guy pulls up a stool next to me and sits down. Sheila leaves and I introduce myself to Joe. We talk for a bit and I realize that he is Sheila's ex-husband when he asks:
"What are you doing flirting with my wife?"
I explained that we were just talking and besides; she had said she was divorced.
"Well, that's not final, yet" he said.

At this time, my goatee was better than a foot long. The longer Joe and I talked, the more irritated he became with me. (Imagine that?)
"How about I grab you by that beard and drag you out into the parking lot?" he screamed.
I just grinned, stood up, put one hand on his shoulder and calmly told him to try whatever he liked, but he might not enjoy the end result.

He sat back down, thought for a moment (I'm six inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than this guy), and bought me a beer. By the end of the night we both were drunk and laughing at everyone else in the bar. He still was not my friend.

The next time our paths crossed, Sheila and I had become great friends. To make matters worse she was dating one of my best friends, Mark. Joe sat across the bar and stared at Mark and I; daring me to come over and try something.

I normally take the short cut to the restroom between a cooler and the open end of the bar. This night, I took the long way around so that I would have to pass by Joe.
"Hey, Joe! How's it going tonight" I said as I slapped him on the back.
He sat there, motionless.
"Sheila!" I called to the bartender. "Get this man a beer! Hell, get everyone a beer! We all need to loosen up a bit!"
A chorus of "thanks for the beer," echoed around the bar. Joe looked up at me and mumbled; "Thanks, Mother fucka." under his breath.
After he had a few more beers, he came to the other side of the bar and joined us in a few games of darts (won by me, of course).


As time went on, Joe found himself a girlfriend and had a child with her. Sheila quit the bar. She and Mark moved in together and later were married. Joe and I threw darts against one another several times but never became friends.

Occasionally, Joe would make a threat to me. These were always met with a stone cold gaze; or a subtle word of warning back to him. Eventually, beer would be bought and we would be drunk and making fun of the other dumb SOBs in the place.

A year or so ago, before a Sooners football game, Joe and I (both very much sober at the time) sat down and had a talk.
"You know Gary," he began, "I throw better darts against you than anyone here because you're the best here and it makes me want to beat you more."
I laughed and told him that I was aware of that (him throwing better against me than others) and that I kicked my game up a notch against him, as well.
"And you're such an ass about it." he continued.
"You're an asshole, at times, yourself, Joe" I shot back. "But that's why we try so hard against each other; neither of us wants our face rubbed in the others shit."
Joe smiled and ordered us both a beer.

"You know, Gary, if we teamed up in here no one would ever have a chance." he said, after a couple more beers. " Against a couple of two-fisted, dart-slingin', beer-drinkin' Irishmen like ourselves: no one could beat us."

"You're probably right, Joe; you friggin' asshole! Here. Let me buy you another beer."



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Scotty Ngyuen Challenge Update

Sorry, folks. Just when I was starting to get this thing moving in the right direction, I get sick. I'll be back to give you more coverage of the poker scene here in Oklahoma tomorrow.

I plan on being at the Scotty Ngyuen Challenge IV for a couple of events, including the final table of the main event. According to my sources at the Cherokee Casino Resort, there are definitely some big-name pro players coming once again for this years events. Should be a great series whether you are going to play or just go and railbird your friends or favorite pro.

More from the Cherokee next week, plus many more exciting poker events coming up in the state of Oklahoma.

If you know of any big events coming up leave me a comment or hit me up on my gmail and I'll be sure and check it out.

Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV

The schedule is out for the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV at the Cherokee Casino Resort in Tulsa. The dates are November 1-20, 2007. I know this is a bit of a short notice, but I have been neglecting my blog here for sometime. No more. I'll try to post something new everyday.

Buy-ins for the preliminary events range from $120 to $2080 with most being less than a grand. The main event entry is $5000 + $150. Click here for a complete schedule of events. Total payout for all events is expected to exceed two million dollars! You can even pre-register on-line by clicking here.

Kido Pham, who won $176,359 last year, is the defending main event champion and is expected to return. Some of the others who have played in past challenges include: Mike "the Mouth" Matusow, Bob "the Coach" Ciaffone, Todd Brunson, Kathy Leibert, Mike Sexton, David Levi, Morgan Machina, Tom Franklin and Mike "the Grinder" Mizrachi. Past WSOP main event champs T.J. Cloutier, Barry "Numbers" Johnston and, of course, Scotty Nguyen have also played in the event.

The main event winner, in addition to the cash prize, also receives a gold bracelet encrusted with diamonds and rubies valued at over $30.000 and designed by Scotty, himself. Everyone at the main event final table receives a Cherokee Casino varsity style leather jacket.

There are also several seven-day Mexican Riviera cruises being given away to the winners of some of the lower buy-in tournaments. These packages include airfare and accommodations for two and are valued at more than $3000.

If you don't want to pony up $5K, there are several single table satellites and super-satellites running from now until November 17th for entry into the main event. Buy-ins range from $230 to $550 for these events.

Check the Cherokee-Tulsa poker room for more information on all of the upcoming events there.

Comin' To Getcha

The government is not only trying to get on-line poker players and casinos; now they are passing new rules for brick and mortar casino poker tournaments, as well. The IRS will start requiring casinos and poker tournament sponsors to report the winner's earnings.

Beginning March 4, 2008 casinos and other tournament sponsors must report the earnings of any winner who's prize is more than $5000. Sponsors are not required to withhold any of the earnings; just to report them at the conclusion of the tourney.

If they do not report the earnings they can be held liable for up to 25% of the total earnings. All winners must provide their taxpayer ID or social security number to the sponsor. If a player fails to provide the number, the sponsor is required to withhold 28% of their winnings and send it to the IRS.

By law, you must already report your gambling profits on your taxes. Seems the IRS believes we have been under-reporting our earnings and wants to make sure that they get their share. Another way the government is trying to discourage us from playing poker.

Screw the UIGEA and the IRS. If I want to play poker; I'll find a place to play. At least its out in the open now and not in a back-room of a bar somewhere, like it was in my younger days.

This is Supposed to Be a Poker Blog

This is supposed to be a poker blog, but since I haven't been playing much poker lately, there haven't been too many recent posts. I have been posting regularly to my blog on Yuwie. I also recently started another non-poker blog at this link, HERE. I occasionally will still post to my Myspace blog and will try to post more regularly here.

Some topics for future discussion include the Scotty Ngyuen Open at the Cherokee Casino Resort in Tulsa this spring, the expansion of said Cherokee Casino, and other upcoming poker events here in the Sooner State.

I'm trying to get a list of weekly tournaments throughout the state to post here so that you can always find a game in your area. If you know of any or have links to their web page give me a shout and I'll be sure to include it and give you credit for the info in an upcoming post.

-Hammer

Productive Night

Played again at Sportsbook last night. I first played in a free roll for the WSOP main event qualifier and was busted out in 12th place (1402 total entries) when my AJh went up against pocket 3's. Flop was As Jd 2c and all of my money went in. When I was called and saw pocket 3's, I was estatic. Turn was 6h. And was rivered with a 3d to make my opponent the set. Needed to be top 5 to qualify for the main tourney but thought I played well.
I then played four consecutive sit-n-go's winning three of them. The only one I lost was when pocket 8's sucked out on my pocket A's and I finished fourth. The best tournament I played, I was down almost 3 to 1 in chips when heads up play started and won the whole thing 3 hands later. The person I beat was steaming. Saw them later in another tournament and they were still on tilt.
I finished up the night with a little low limit (1/2 NL) cash game and made $160 in about an hour before shutting down the computer and calling it a night.
If you are not playing online, you should be. There are still a few places that take US players. Check one of them out. You can usually try them out in play money games without having to make a deposit. See how you like the software and the action at the tables. Decide on one or more. Put your money up and play like hell!

Now Playing at Sportsbook.com

There's a great place for American players to play at online.
Sportsbook.com welcomes American players, when so many others have locked us out. And if poker is not your game,
you can play other casino games or bet on sports. Go ahead and follow the link. No, I am not getting paid for this
promo. I used to play at Full Tilt, but have enjoyed sportsbook much
more since joining. They have tournaments each Sunday for a seat at the World Series of Poker main event and you
can even qualify for the Sunday tournament through daily free rolls. What a place. Been having fun there. Hope to
see you soon. E-mail me when you sign up and we'll exchange user names to look for each other.

The Three B's of Poker Threatened

Some of the BS put up by the directors of poker tournaments is getting out of hand. They are trying to take
the "three B's" (banter, bluffing and bullshit) out of poker tournaments.

Daniel Negreanu went off in his blog on the rules brokers and I don't blame him. The crap that these guys
are putting out as rules takes alot of the fun and strategy out of the game.

I just finished reviewing the rules for an area tournament with WSOP implications that had the rule that you
could not talk to any spectators during the hand. Who hasn't been in a situation where you want to talk to a
friend, supporter or heckler during the hand that is sitting on the rail. Maybe instead of talking, someone
could pull a Griffey and throw the spectator his jock strap. The rule makes no sense and takes the entertainment
value down for the spectators. What's next, You cannot stare directly at your opponent?

The crap rules have to be stopped. Boycott tournaments that have dumb-ass rules made by some dumb-ass who
gets frustrated at the table by the three b's. Tournament directors are just poker players who can not stand
up under the pressures of normal poker playing so they become directors to try and fix the things they think are
wrong with poker. Tournament directors have to allow the game to be poker, with all of the
banter, bluffing and bullshit that goes along it and stop trying to turn it into tiddly winks.

Poker Players in Peril

The government is cracking down on online poker sites. Neteller executives have been arrested and forced to shut down their US operations; meanwhile, around ninety million dollars of US users funds are frozen and cannot be returned to their rightful owners. Linking online poker to an outdated law on placing wagers over phone lines is crazy. The law was instituted to curtail the activities of bookies who were taking bets on sporting events. Alot of these bookies were unscrupulous and ran off with their clients winnings. The bigger fish, who had mob ties, were very harsh in their collection methods. These people still exist out there today and you very rarely here of one of them being punished for their illeagal activities that the law was intended for in the first place. Now that law has been applied to online poker sites and expanded to include people who facilitate the fund transfers from the players to the poker sites and back (money laundering?....lol). What's next, a total prohibition on gambling, like we had on liquor in the '20s? There are more than 20 million poker players in the US and they need to join together to fight the injustice that is being carried out by the government. Regulate online poker sites, yes. Prohibit them, NO!

Luckily there is a group fighting for your rights as poker players. They are lobbying congress and working to get legislation passed that will favor the poker player. You can join them and add your name to the list of poker players who are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

Visit Poker Players Alliance and fight for your right to play!

Gobboboy Does It....Almost

The final table started like this: Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke, 5.175M; Gus Hansen, 4.845M; Andrew Black, 2.1M; Kristy Gazes, 1.05M; Julius Colman, 785K; Marc Karam, 535K; and Hans Martin Vogl, 455K; in chips. First out was Kristy Gazes when her A-Qh ran into Gus Hansen's pocket 9's. No help from the cards and Gazes finishes 7th.
Marc Karam was the next to go when he moved all in with K-Jo only to be called by Hansen with A-9o. The flop was 10-8-5 rainbow the turn a 9 and the river a 4 and Karam ends his day in 6th place collecting 300K Aussie dollars.
Finishing fifth was Hans Martin Vogl. He moves all-in with A-9o and is called by Gobboboy with K-Jo. Vogl gets a 9 on the flop but Fricke sucks out a J on the river to send Hans home with 400K Australian.
Just a couple of hands later Julius Colman was taken out when his A-6o went head to head with Andy Black's pocket Q's. The flop was A-A-Q, the turn a K and the river a 9 and the last Aussie was out of the field in fourth place.
Heading into the 47th hand we were down to three players with the chip count Jimmy Fricke-6,305,000;Gus Hansen-4,800,000;Andrew Black-4,145,000. The chip lead stayed with Fricke but the big hands were few and far between until hand 121 when Fricke raised from the small blind and Black re-raised all-in from the big. When the cards were revealed Black found himself dominated holding K-Qo while Fricke had A-Qh. The community cards did neither any favors and Black ends up in third place winning 700K.
The heads up action was more fast and furious with several all-in bets and lead changes. Fricke starts heads up play with 11.175M in chips to just 3.77M for Hansen. After just a few hands the stacks were almost even with Fricke holding a 300K advantage after Hansen doubled up with A-2s against Gobboboy's K-Qh on a board of A-K-7-8-5. Hansen takes a commanding chip lead, 10.465M to 4.48M only to lose it back on a river suckout by Fricke.
On a flop of J-10-10 Hansen bet 500K and Fricke goes all-in with Hansen calling. They roll their cards to reveal Hansen with A-Kh and Fricke with K-Qo. The turn was another ten and it looked as if this might be over as Gobboboy was down to only 7 outs to win and 2 to split. The river brought the miracle 9 and Jimmy regained the lead.
A few hands later Fricke tried a suckout again on a flop of K-J-6 and Hansen all in He calls with Q-9o. Hansen shows K-10o. The turn and the river provide no help and Hansen is back in control. At this point the chip count was 8.79M for Gus Hansen and 6.15M for Jimmy Fricke.
On hand #168 it all came to and end. Fricke has 3.595M and calls from the small blind. Hansen, with 11.35M raises 470K from the big blind and Jimmy calls. On a flop of Qd-8d-6c Hansen bets out 400K only to be re-raised all-in by Fricke. Hansen quickly calls and shows pocket rockets and Fricke holds 7-9c. Gus has him dominated but Fricke has an opened end straight draw and that is where most of his river suckouts have come from. The turn is a 2c giving Gobboboy a few outs with a four flush but the turn is a 9s ending the run of the 19 year old from Illinois.
Gobboboy collects 1 million Australian bucks for second place while Gus is all smiles with 1.5 million. Fricke had predicted before the event that he would win and almost did. He was lucky on several hands, but in a tournament this size sometimes you have to be.
From the link above you can see a sim of the final hand and read the almost play by play reporting from Pokernews. Later!

Who the Hell is Gobboboy?

Keeping up with the Aussie Millions and the chip leader of the main event 
heading to the final table is a 19 year old internet wiz from Illinois, who looks more like 13, named Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke. This kid has been the king of suckouts, hitting flushes and gut-shots on the river, and along the way taking down some big name pros. Pokernews has live coverage of the events as they unfold, usually til late in the evening (early in the morning).
The seven at the final table are Jimmy Fricke, Gus Hansen, Andrew Black, Mark Karam, Kristy Gazes, Julius Colman, and Hans Martin Vogl. Fricke and Hansen are pretty close in chips with Gobboboy having a slight advantage.
Looks like Negreanu's trip to the land down under was a waste of money. Don't believe he cashed on any of the events he entered. He's headed back to the states to Tunica, maybe his luck will change.

Posting should become regular now that some issues have been straightened out and I have tons of time on the internet again. Will be visiting and writing about a couple of new casinos that recently opened nearby. Supposed to be huge and super nice. All for today.