Archive for August, 2007.
August 31, 2007
Besting one of the most star studded final tables we’ve seen in a long time, Dan Harrington joins an elite group as a player who has won a WPT title alongside a WSOP title. Harrington earns over $1.6 million dollars for his win.
Rounding out the final table were:
1) Dan Harrington - $1,600,035
2) David Pham - $800,185
3) Thu Nguyen - $388,660
4) Tom Schneider - $228,625
5) Michael McClain - $182,900
6) Shi Jia Liu - $137,175
EPT Barcelona is in progress right now, and WSOP Europe in London is set to begin in a few days.
August 28, 2007
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson has never been one to shy away from a bet, and on Aug. 28 he unveiled his biggest gamble yet: the Venetian Macao, a giant casino, hotel, and convention complex that cost $2.4 billion.
And that’s just for starters. By the end of 2009, the group expects to spend as much as $12 billion on 14 more hotels with casinos offering a total of 20,000 rooms on a strip of reclaimed land called Cotai in the former Portuguese colony of Macao, an hour’s ferry ride from Hong Kong. “Never before has such an entertainment center occurred in the history of Asia,” Adelson told a press conference at the Venetian a few hours before it opened its doors to thousands of gamblers waiting outside. “The opening is the beginning of what has been my dream, to reproduce the capital of entertainment [of Las Vegas] in Asia for Asians.”
Big doesn’t even begin to describe the sprawling complex, which the group claims is the second-largest building constructed in one phase in the world; only a flower warehouse in Holland is larger. (The Boeing (BA) factory outside Seattle is bigger, but was built in several phases.) The Venetian boasts 3,000 rooms, 51 gondolas for its Venice-style canals, a 15,000-seat indoor arena, and 1.2 million square feet of convention space. With 870 gaming tables and 3,400 slot machines, its 550,000-square-foot casino is the world’s largest. The employee canteen, which serves a staff of about 10,000, has more than 20,000 pairs of reusable chopsticks.
In Development: The Macao Strip
Originally, Las Vegas Sands had hoped to entice major hotel chains to build their own properties in Cotai, but when there were no takers, the group revised its strategy and now is building them itself, while international chains will manage them. The collection of hotels will include properties run by the Four Seasons, Sheraton and St. Regis (HOT), and Hilton (HLT).
Plunking down so much cash in bricks and mortar in Macao may sound like a risky strategy, but not to Sands President and Chief Operating Officer William Weidner. “It’s equivalent to asking if you could own 20,000 rooms on the Las Vegas Strip,” he says. “If you could own the entire center of the Las Vegas Strip with $12 billion, you would do it today in a heartbeat.”
Filling all those hotel beds is still going to be a major challenge. While Macao, a city of just 450,000, attracted more than 22 million tourists last year, they stayed on average only about 1.25 days. Weidner is expecting that convention-related guests at the Venetian will stay four to five days, and regular tourists two to three, with a strong weekend crowd visiting from Hong Kong and southern China. By October, he predicts a 90% occupancy at the Venetian, where suites go for about $200 per night.
Revenue Sharing Hurts Earnings
There’s no doubt that many Chinese are already flocking to Macao. The city trumped Las Vegas last year as the world’s biggest gambling destination, earning more than $7 billion in bets compared with $6.6 billion for Vegas. That lead looks to widen. Growth in the first half was up an explosive 46% year-over-year, to $4.75 billion, fueled in part by money from people who have made a killing on mainland stocks. The benchmark CSI 300 index is up more than 150% this year. “Macao is an indirect equity play for the region,” says Gabriel Chan, gaming analyst at Credit Suisse (CS) in Hong Kong. The market for high rollers “is totally driven by the wealth effect [from the stock market].”
August 27, 2007
A movie should be made about the golf, poker, and gambling exploits of Dewey Tomko. He has had an amazing life so far, and is still going stronger than ever! Let’s go back in time between 1970 and 1975. After graduating from Salem College in Salem, West Virginia, Dewey taught kindergarten for those six years at Hanes Elementary School in Hanes, Florida. During this period, he began to play in bigger and bigger poker games at night, finding himself winning $5,000 to $10,000 on many occasions. This was amazing to him, as his top annual pay teaching in 1975 was $6,700!! It got to be tough, as much as Dewey loved the kids, to get to the homeroom with 1-2 hours rest after an all-night poker game. Imagine
Duplicate Poker
emptying your pockets with wads of cash on the bed, before going to school to earn $35 per day!
Dewey will tell you the reason he quit his teaching job wasn’t poker, though, it was golf. He had lost $18,000 in a golf match, and all the guys were gathering the next day to play some more. Dewey looked at the phone early the next morning, and said to himself, “I’ve got to go back to the golf course and get my money back.” So, he picked the phone up and called the principal. Dewey began to tell him, “I’m sorry, but you are going to have to find a substitute teacher for me today, as I’m going to have to quit. I can’t afford to keep this job. I’ll be glad to pay you for the substitute… just tell me how much.”
Imagine the principals reaction to hear his teacher lost $18,000 the day before, and needed to return to the course and get his money back!
Thus one of the true legends in the world of poker and golf was born. Today, Dewey’s home is still in Hanes City, Florida, and the world will gain a sense of his iconic, legendary reputation on the golf course come Oct 21st between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM, followed by Oct. 28th from 3:00 to 5:00 PM on ESPN. Dewey will have a starring role in the first episode of “High Stakes Entertainment” in the Doyle Brunson & Dewey Tomko Golf Invitational. Dewey and eight other high rollers will be playing for $1,000,000 per hole in a nine-hole match that will wow the world!! The next telecast you will see him and his good friend, Doyle Brunson, teamed up for playing for $200,000 as one of nine teams, with an extra $200,000 added to make a $2,000,000 prize pool. Just another day at the office for Dewey and Doyle!
Dewey feels lucky today with three sons in Derrick, 32, David, 28, and Drew, 25. Dewey met his beautiful wife, Marianella, about 3 years ago, in Costa Rica, where he owns a casino. Dewey is quick to point out, “She is my inspiration!” He gives her a lot of credit for allowing him to do what he does well, while keeping him and his priorities on the right track. They are so close, and do everything together, as they are still seen holding hands, as they experience living to the fullest every day, either at home or traveling the world. Dewey and Marianella have never been happier.
Dewey holds a couple of records at the WSOP, including competing in the Main Event for 33 straight years, longer than anyone in history. Even Doyle dropped out of the WSOP for a few years, out of loyalty to his best friend, Jack Binion, during the Becky Binion Behnen era at the Horseshoe. Another record of Dewey’s (that he shares with T.J. Cloutier) is that both are the only two poker players to be two-time runner-ups in the main event.
In 1982, the WSOP Main Event final table came down to Tomko and Hall-of-Famer Jack Strauss. On the last hand, Dewey had A-4 vs. Jack’s A-10. The flop was 4-5-6. They were pretty even in chips, with Jack holding a slight, 4,000-chip lead. With all the money in on the flop in this, the first $1,000,000-plus pot, a blank card hit the turn, making Dewey a big favorite to win the title. In fact, Dewey’s friends and the TV announcers were circling around Dewey with their congratulations, when the 13-to-1 shot hit the river… the 10! Jack Strauss won, but dropped dead a year later in a card club in California. Dewey picked up $250,000 for second and went on to even greater heights, motivated to become successful in life.
In 2001, Dewey found himself heads up again for the world title in the WSOP. This time it was against Carlos Mortensen. Amazingly, Dewey looked at his hole cards on the last hand to find pocket aces! Carlos had the K-Q of clubs. With all the money in the pot, the flop was dramatic with the J-10-3, with two clubs. The turn paired the board with another three, then the nine hit the river to give Carlos the title. I was there as Binion’s official photographer between 1999 and 2002, and one of my most memorable moments was watching the composure and class Dewey Tomko exhibited with that tough loss. I never forgot what a class act he was.
Dewey picked up $1,100,000 for second place, and over the next six years made a fortune in the business world and playing high-stakes golf. With advice from his dear friend Jack Binion, Dewey’s investments in land, orange groves, restaurants, and many other businesses, including owning his own Casino in Costa Rica and his own golf course (Southern Dunes in Florida), Dewey feels he has had a perfect life. He is eternally grateful to Jack Binion and his advice about life and success. Dewey feels it was a blessing to be runner-up twice, as he stayed focused on becoming a success in life. Many past winners of the WSOP Main Event, such as Stu Ungar, went down in oblivion. Dewey’s positive outlook on everything, is inspirational to listen to, and an example for all of us to learn from.
Dewey Tomko marvels how his path in life led him to Costa Rica to own his own Casino, where his fate was to meet his love, Marianella, to complete his life. Finding success in life, with personal happiness is as good as it gets. Stay tuned for Part 2.
August 25, 2007
The First Online Poker Site Players Own
LONDON–Behind every groundbreaking new idea is a bright entrepreneurial management team, and PokerShare.com (www.pokershare.com) is no exception. Playit Ownit Limited, the company behind the next generation poker site PokerShare.com, creates the world’s first poker site that players own. In the next 12 months, this revolutionary concept is expected to propel PokerShare into the top 10 list of online poker sites.
Playit Ownit Limited was founded earlier this year with the launch of PokerShare.com. The group has set up a software agreement and license with a third party and has servers located in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory.
PokerShare.com is led by CEO Lucan Toh and Director Max Wright and backed by Mr. Stephen Forsyth and his associates. Lucan Toh left Procter & Gamble in 2004 to join ICC PLC and he currently sits on the board of Library of Life PLC and TFK Investments Ltd. Max Wright, an ex-City Trader from UBS Warburg and Van Der Moolen, brings his wealth of poker knowledge with his solid mathematics and financial background.
Mr. Stephen Forsyth, Chairman of Playit Ownit Limited is the driving force behind an extensive repertoire of companies that spans over 30 countries, including several ventures in gaming. Forsyth believes this is the future of online poker: “Our concept is clear-cut and built for the players with their needs in mind. PokerShare fills a gap that no other serious poker site has and is going above and beyond standard loyalty schemes.”
PokerShare.com will operate as a normal poker website - with a significant twist. It will release 40 percent of its company’s overall profits back to the players. When you play on PokerShare.com you earn SharePoints from the length of time you play, the number of pots you play and from playing in tournaments. SharePoints then relate to the total percentage of the profit share you receive.
“Dividends paid to players will be divided quarterly depending on each player’s participation on the site, rewarding players that play most regularly with the largest share of the profits. To ensure fairness, the Gibraltar-based Poker Share Trust has been established to administer payments to players. It’s a concept expected to hold strong appeal with high end users looking to be rewarded for their loyalty,” explains PokerShare Trust Chairman Stefan Taylor.
The PokerShare Trustees are:
Stefan Allesch Taylor is the Chairman of PokerShare Trust. Stefan has served as a director of several public companies both in the UK and US. Throughout his career he has gained broad commercial experience in the property, industrial, medical technology, real estate and financial sectors and is regulated by the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority.
British-born Alan Gravett progressed through the ranks of Barclays Bank Trust Company Ltd to become Managing Director in 1985. By 1993 Alan had joined Prime Trust where he has remained Director responsible for the administration of international companies and trusts.
Howard Moss has served as a trustee to several family trusts. He has served as director of numerous companies representing investor’s interests in the chemical, property and technology sectors.
August 25, 2007
Texas Holdem (or Texas Hold’em) is far and away the most popular poker game out there today. Featured in the televised WPT events, and canonized in the poker
film classic Rounders, to many Holdem is the only game to play.
, to many Holdem is the only game to play.
- The game concept itself is pretty simple.
- Each player is dealt two cards face down (called pocket cards).
- The dealer then deals five community cards face up; these are available to all the players to help make their hand.
- Players may use any combination of their pocket cards and the community cards to make their hand.
- The best 5-card hand takes the pot.
Of course, the game is a little more complicated than that, and as usual, the complications revolve around money. In our poker lobby, you may have noticed three different options under the limit column (Fixed, PL, NL). These options represent the three different Holdem games we offer: Fixed Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit. The game type you select will dictate the bet minimums and maximums for that game.
Game Types
In a Fixed Limit game, both the bet and raise amounts for each round are a preset amount. For example, in a $5/$10 Fixed game, both the bets and raises for the first two rounds of betting must be $5, no more, no less. The last 2 rounds have a bet/raise amount of $10.
In a Pot Limit Game, the maximum bet/raise can’t be more than the current pot amount. So, if the pot is $30, you can’t bet more than $30. One thing to note: If you are raising on a player’s bet, your call is already included in the pot. So, for example, let us say the pot is $100. Player X opens the betting with $100. Your maximum bet is now $300 (Pot = Initial $100 + Player X’s $100 + your $100)
Still with us? OK, the final game type is No Limit. The name says it all; there are no maximum bet limits. You can bet as much as you like during any round of betting. The minimum bet is the big blind amount. No Limit Holdem makes for big pots, fast action, and great watching.
Now that you have chosen a game type, it is time to talk about 2 other betting concepts….
The Stakes, The Cap and The Blinds.
The Stakes: The stakes are tied directly to the game type you select. For a Fixed Limit game, the stakes dictate the bet and raise amount for each round. Let us use our $5/$10 stakes example again. In the first two rounds of betting, both the bet and the raise must be $5, no more, no less. The last 2 rounds have a bet/raise amount of $10.
The Cap: In Fixed limit games, each round of betting can consist of one bet and has a maximum number of three of allowable raises, known as the cap. So, if a bet is made, that bet can only be raised three times, after which all players must call, or fold. However, if only two players remain in the hand the cap is increased, to a maximum of five raises.
In both the Pot Limit and No Limit games, the stakes represent the amounts posted as the blinds.
The Blinds:
The Blinds are mandatory bets posted by two players at the start of each hand, before any cards are dealt. The player directly to the left of the dealer posts the small blind, which in a fixed limit game is half the small stake, rounded down to the nearest dollar, and in pot limit/no limit games is equal to the small stake. The player to the left of him posts the big blind, which in a fixed game is equal to the small stake, and in pot limit/no limit games the big stake.Sound complicated? It really isn’t. Let us use our trusty $5/$10 stakes again. In a fixed limit game, the small blind posts $2 (half of $5 rounded down). The big blind posts $5. In a $5/$10 pot limit/no limit game, the small blind posts $5, and the big blind posts $10.
In poker we use blinds as an incentive for players to play a hand, and build the pot. Consider the blinds like a mandatory bet and raise; any players that want to play the hand must match the big blind to stay in. The blinds are considered live bets, so when the action goes around the table and returns to them, they have the option of checking, calling, raising or folding as they see fit.
Some other notes about blinds: Any player has the option of sitting out and waiting for the big blind to reach them. However, if a player sits out and misses posting the big blind, then that player will be required to post a big blind and a small “dead” blind before returning. This rule is in place to prevent potential abuse from players who join a table and then leave before having to post the blinds.
One thing we haven’t talked much about is the dealer. In poker each player in turn plays as the dealer. At the table we represent the dealer position with…
The Dealer Button: The Button is a graphic symbol that represents the theoretical dealer. After each hand, the button moves clockwise to the next active player, who becomes the dealer for that hand. This player is considered to be “on the button,” and is the last person to act in the betting round. The first player to the left of the button is the first player to be dealt cards, and is the first player to act in each betting round.