The 3rd Annual White Elephant Game

The White Elephant game is the home game that I really look forward to over the course of the year. Its the annual Christmas Gift exchange between our home game group, and consists of more laughs than any other.

This years game featured 9 of us, and we began with 50 starting chips, with 1/2 blinds, and the buy in was a Wrapped Present, in which you were not allowed to spend more than $5 on the gift. The basic rules were, the first person to bust out opens a wrapped gift. The second person to bust out has the option to either steal an open gift, or open another unwrapped gift. This continues until all of the presents are unwrapped.

A few rules implemented from our home game are, there are no direct steal backs, meaning if I bust and steal your gift, you can't steal it back from me on that turn. However, if another player busts later and steal your gift, then you're free to steal from anyone, even if that person had taken yours before. Just no direct steal-backs.

Also, an item cannot be stolen more than 3 times. After the third steal, it becomes frozen with that person.

Next, if the gift is edible, then it cannot be consumed (even partially) until after the game is complete.

Finally, the individual who wins the night, has the option of opening his/her gift, and then deciding if they want to keep that gift, or trade it with any other gift regardless of the number of previous steals. Basically, the winner has the option of any gift throughout the night.

And so, 9 of us brought our wrapped presents to the game, and the first person to unveil contents was Janeth. She called the rest of her chips after Jordan moved all in showing AKos, and Janeth showed 9s-2s. The board ran clean for the AK, and Janeth came back in with a large box. After unwrapping she pulled out a controller for an X-Box, then a second one, and finally, an X-Box system. It was said that there was no way that she was ending up with that gift, and it was true.

The second player eliminated was Chris, and he came back with a gift bag, that upon opening revealed a classic set of Hotel "Freebies" from Las Vegas. Included was a bucket to place quarters in, A Pad and a Pen, Soap, Hand Lotion, A "Do Not Disturb" door hanger, and a $.10 Ticket Voucher from New York New York Casino. Last but not least, a set of sun glasses with a pink trim. Classic.

Amber would be the next person to go out, and her gift was another gift bag where the tag read "To Snuggle with your honey." She unveiled a Soft blanket, which she wouldn't be able to hang onto for the evening.

Andrew would go out next, opening the other of the Vegas and Swag gifts, which included A Black hat from Stack restaurant and the Commerce Casino, A Bottle of Chocolate Liquor, Tickets to A few Las Vegas shows, and everything was kept in a commemorative Ka Cup.

The next elimination produced the gift of the night, as Robert decided to open the biggest box of the evening. It was easily a 2x2x2 foot box, that wasn't terribly heavy. He set it upon the table and asked for Tim's help with his knife to cut open the tape that kept it shut, and opened the large package. It was full of crumpled newspaper, and he began digging through it. Anticipation grew as it took him quite a while to get to the actual present which lay at the bottom of the large box, and when he finally reached it, we all new exactly what it was without even seeing the gift. Simply by the look of awe from Robert's face, we new that the White Fur Coat of White Elephant games past had made its reappearance. Andrew had contacted Amy (who'd received it last year, but couldn't make it to this year's game) and picked it up from her, and re-gifted it. It was the moment of the evening producing unparalleled laughs, sending most of us into tears from laughing so hard. Truly an epic moment.

After the emotional outburst, the game continued, with Tim busting next, and he promptly stole the X-Box from Janeth. Janeth surveyed the opened gifts, before deciding to open a new one. Her gift was a classic piece of American Literature, so profound, that I didn't catch the title of the book. But she was happy with her new find.

I was the next to go out with KhQh, busted by Jordan's 8-9os when a 9 hit the flop and Jordan called my bets on every street to take the big pot. After busting, I promptly stole the X-Box from Tim, and he went to open a new gift. He unveiled a few items, most notably a Holiday CD that included songs such as "Hanukkah is da Bomb" and the like. It was a good laugh at that one.

Traci would get her money all in against Jordan on the second hand they played, and Jordan ended up winning the pot and the night. Traci decided to steal the blanket from Amber, and Amber opened another gift which ended up being a Sesame Street Oscar the Grouch garbage can, which I think was a piggy bank.

Finally, Jordan opened the final gift which was a large box containing a hammer and some zip ties. He was really pleased with the gift, and elected to hang onto it, and the night was done. We all hugged and said good nights to Robert, Janeth, Amber and Chris, and the 5 remaining players stayed for a quick $5 winner take all game. I ended up on top to finish the evening. It was a truly remarkable night.

Many thanks to everyone who came and participated. It was, as it always is, a night of fantastic laughs, and a wonderfully good time with great friends. Its a great capper to the end of the year.

Catching up

Its been more than two weeks since my last blog entry, largely due to motivation....or my lack there of.

I just haven't really been motivated to do much of anything lately. Perhaps its depression. Perhaps its just being overwhelmed with a large amount of other responsibility. But really, I think it's just that I haven't really had that many opportunities to just sit down and actually write. Which is somewhat unfortunate given that it has proven to be a somewhat successful and profitable venture in the recent past.

But I've played some pretty good online poker lately, placing 12th in the BBoC Tournament, 2nd in a $3 KO MTT for my largest personal score on Full Tilt (just shy of $300), and today I took 2nd in a $3 90 person S&G on Full Tilt again for another $48. My good play has carried over to live play as well where I've taken first place in each of the last two weeks at the home game. Its been a pretty good ride actually.

But for now, I'd like to focus less on playing poker, and more on my writing and the TPT Live show that Geoff and I are running on Thursday nights. I'm really enjoying putting together these shows, and tonight, we're going to be joined by Jay Rosenkrantz of DeucesCracked. He's one of the Two Months-2 Million guys, and a solid poker pro. We may even be joined by Pocket 5's Jennifear, but if not this week, probably next.

But between preparing for Thanksgiving (we hosted), the Post Turkey Day "Bring Your Leftovers" game, and this week with the kids getting early out days all this week and attending their Parent/Teacher conferences, as well as tending to Traci's never ending medical needs, it's just been overwhelming.

In a couple weeks, Traci and I are going to Las Vegas for 2 nights to see some timeshare presentation that we were invited to by a friend. It'll be nice to get away from all the responsibilities here for a little while.

I also want to congratulate my best friend, and Team7Deuce Member Jordan. On Tuesday, we made a last second trip down to the Bike for their Daily Nooner. It's my favorite local live poker tournament. There were 148 entries, and I hit the rail in 40th place. I got short when I 3-bet shoved 15k with pocket 9's, and the open limper called all in for 9k with Pocket Tens. He spiked a Ten on the river, and I was pretty much toast. I moved my last 4k from UTG when blinds had just been bumped up to 500/1000 ante 200, and found 2 callers. The flop came out T-8-8, and I knew I was in trouble when the guy on my left led out for another 3500. The BB folded, and my opponent showed AA, and I was sent to the rail.

But Jordan made a great run, and when I busted, he was still sitting on the same 30k that he was at when we met up after the 2nd break. And when the blinds went to 800/1600, people really began falling out quick. The bubble burst at 19 players, and with Jordan sitting on 28k. He open shoved 2 times in a row with the blinds now at 1500/3000 ante 500, and scooped two decent pots with just the blinds and antes, to give him some cushion. Those two steals really catapulted him to the final table.

There at the final table, he waited patiently until there were 7 players left, and he finally got active. The player UTG +1 and directly to Jordan's right was short and moved all in. Jordan re-shoved on top of him, and then found another Caller in the BB. The original raiser sheepishly showed KQos, and Jordan trumped with with Pocket Q's. But the Big Blind showed "King Kong" with a monster of 2 kings, and Jordan was down to basically 1 out. But lady luck was on his side as the flop came out AQ5, and Jordan's set took the lead. The turn and river bricked out, and Jordan chipped up to around 70k. He was able to shove and pick up the blinds and antes 2 more times, when with 5 players left, he found himself in another showdown. This time, he opened shoved with QTos, and found a caller on the button with AJ. The two blinds got out of the way, and the two players saw a flop of J-8-5. The turn 6c was no help, but a Q on the river gave Jordan a better pair, and eliminated his opponent in 5th place.

With 4 player left, the remaining players agreed to look at a chop. Without the chop, 1st place was guaranteed about $1200, and when they came back with the numbers, Jordan agreed to the proposed $810 that was for his stack, and walked away a big winner. It was a lot of fun, and my hat is off to Jordan, who played very well, and was very deserving (if not very lucky).

But that's about it from the major news. Tomorrow looks good to go for the home game, and we should have the usual crowd. I'll try and get a little more diligent about writing here, and giving some of the updates on what's happening with the home game. For instance, we're aiming for the White Elephant night to be on December 18th, which is one of my favorite nights of the year. I need to find a quality gift this year. But thats it till next time. Cheers, P

Joe Cada Does Letterman

In case you missed it, World Series of Poker Champion Joe Cada is attempting to make an outreach to the non-poker public as an ambassador of the game. He recently appeared on the David Letterman show and showed off his newly won bracelet. Here's the piece:



I find it funny that it was obvious that Cada was FAR more nervous in this type of venue than he was at the poker table, but when you think about it, he's only 21 years old. This was his first shot on a major television program and he was sitting with a television icon in Letterman.

I hope that Joe continues to do more things like this in an effort to bring more truth and recognition to the game of poker. He really has a shot of being a positive influence for the game.

Bad Beat on Cancer Charity Part 2 - an even Bigger Success

In August, we threw together the Beat on Cancer Tournament as a way to raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. It was kind of last minute in some ways, and I'll be honest in that I had no clue what I was really doing. But with the help of too many people to name, we drew 103 people to the event and raised $515 for Bad Beat on Cancer.

The goal this time was to get to 500, and while we didn't reach that number, it was still a tremendous success in several ways. First of all, we had 314 total particpants generating $1,540 for Bad Beat on Cancer. That's a figure to be extremely proud of. Secondly, the Twitter Poker Tour announced a BBoC Registration Challenge, and for exceeding the 300 participant barrier, pledged another $100 to the BBoC. And our eventual Champion pledged 30% of his winnings to the cause, for an additional $100.

I finished the tournament in 12th place, winning $19, and will be making that donation today. So in all, we raised $1,759 for BBoC, basically tripling the total from just 3 months ago. I am thrilled to give this money away to this charity.

On the technical side of things, I think that the Live Stream Broadcast was mostly a success, minus the technical glitches towards the end of the Cast. We were joined at first by Jan Mahrer, the President of the Prevent Cancer Foundation, who shared the background of the Company, its mission, and how BBoC was formed and came to be. We also discussed the Gala Poker Events coming this February in Los Angeles, and the Gala events that took place in Washington DC. It was tremendous to have Jan on the Broadcast, and I look forward to meeting her in person in February.

Then about an hour later, we had back to back interviews with Andrew Feldman and Andy Bloch. During the interview with Andrew Feldman, we covered a wide array of topics from the TPT to the WSOP, and had extensive talks about the latter. Our conversations about Moon and Cada I thought were perhaps the most exceptional of the cast.

When Andy Bloch joined us, we had some connection problems, but we got him back midway through the conversation and completed another fun interview. Andy shared his thoughts on hand analysis of the Darvin Moon laydown against Steve Begleiter, some thoughts on Ivey coming so close to winning it all, and his $2 million save. And we chatted about celebrity apprentice and Joan Rivers. Finally, we closed with the story of Fleapowder, and how Andy basically started the whole thing by crushing my QQ with his KK. It was a really funny moment where I asked Andy, "So, will I ever win a hand with QQ again?" And Andy replied, "No, probably not. You're fated to hit the 'Doom Switch' forever on that hand." It was tons of fun.

We closed out broadcast with Jay Rosenkrantz of DeucesCracked who joined us from his dying cell phone for about 10 minutes to describe DC and the 2 Months-2 Million promotion. It was great time.

Congratulations to all of the winners, including the 9 players who made the Final table and received a copy of Tommy Angelo's Elements of Poker, and to the final 2 finishers who got some cool swag from the gang of DeucesCracked. It was a great night indeed.

The TPT Charity Tournament for Bad Beat on Cancer Tomorrow

Join me tomorrow for the Twitter Poker Tour Charity event to
benefit Bad Beat on Cancer on Full Tilt Poker. We've already succeded
the number of participants that we had last year and are slightly 20%
ahead of our goal. Any help that you can lend in promotion of the
event would be MUCH appreciated.

E-mails, Blogs, Forum posts, and anything else that you can think of
would be ideal. Here is the key information:

Tournament Details
Place: Full Tilt Poker
Date: November 15th, 2009
Time: 6:15PM EST
Cost: $10 ($5 entry plus $5 donation to BBoC)
Tourney ID#: 113220604
Tourney PW: TPTFORBBOC

Additionally, there will be a live stream broadcast along with the
event, featuring Jan Mahrer, Andy Bloch, Andrew Feldman, and the Pro's
of DeucesCracked, who will be giving away prizes to everyone who makes
the final table.

The event runs simultaneously with the FTOPS Main Event, so most of
the Pro's will be playing online at that time. I just need help
getting them the message about the event. So if you know ANY Full
Tilt Pro's, please e-mail them and let them know. 11 Red Pro's are
already signed up.

Lets raise some money for BBoC!!!

Youth served at the World Series of Poker

So another poker World Champion has been crowned, as the 40th World Series of Poker sees its youngest Main Event Champion in the history of the event. Eclipsing Peter Eastgate, who last year became the World Champion, young online phenom Joe Cada, overcame a chip stack at the final table where with 7 players remaining, young Cada held just $2 million chips after firing a bluff at the man who would finish runner up, Darvin Moon.


It took me a few days to reflect on this event before I wanted to write about it. I was taken in by the broadcast by BluffMagazine, and listened anxiously as the events unfolded in real time. One by one the players would get their chips all in the middle, and the stories would produce incredible results. But it was with 7 players left that the real action took place. It was where the best poker was played, and it was the 7th place elimination that really had the poker world take a collective gasp. Short stack James Akenhead had already fallen by the wayside, as had Kevin Schaffel, who got his money in with AA, only to find Eric Buchman call his all in bet with KK, and flop a K, and turn another.

Joe Cada began 7 handed play short on chips. Not the shortest stack mind you, but short. And he made a colossal misstep on a busted flush draw, where Cada fired out a re-raise of 5.5 million on the river holding only 6 high, and Moon called easily holding the best hand. The misstep cost Joe nearly all of his chips, and left him with about 1% of the chips in play.

On the next hand however, in a hand that didn’t make the ESPN 2 ½ hour long final table episode, Cada found a miracle double up with a flat tire. Eric Buchman was on the button and raised to $3 million with 5c-4c and Antoine Saout folded to Cada in the Big Blind. Cada shrugged his shoulders, and called all in, flipping the J-4os. But because of Buchman’s weak bet with a small suited connecter, Cada got new life when his Jack high held, and he doubled to more than $5 million.

He would find another double up moments later through the stack of legendary Phil Ivey. Ivey opened the pot with a standard 2.5x raise, and action folded to Cada who squeezed pocket 4’s and announced all in. Ivey took his time as he contemplated the shove, and made the reluctant call, finding himself in a race with Cada with his A-8. The board offered no improvement to either player, and Cada found himself a lot more breathing room as he was now sitting on more than $12 million chips.

Ivey however was left the short stack, and put his money in good shortly after the dinner break. From under the gun, Ivey announced all in with AKos, and action folded to Darvin Moon who was in the Big Blind. Moon had run ‘White-Hot’ in the days leading to the final table and he wouldn’t cool down here. He called with the inferior hand, and AQos, which was about a 3 to 1 underdog, but it didn’t matter. The flop came out Q-6-6, and Ivey chomped his apple, stoic as he watched the turn and river cards offer no help, and he was eliminated in 7th place.

Moon would continue to run good making a misstep by 3-betting Steve Beglieter’s open raise. Moon shoved with AQ again, and this time found himself just as far behind as Begs tossed over QQ. The flop and the turn came out clean, improving neither hand, but the Ace of diamonds on the river eliminated Begs in 6th place. He had played a magnificent final table after having made some questionable plays leading into the final table, but it was obvious that the time off between July and November offered Begs enough time to really work on his game. It showed, and he was a most unfortunate exit in 6th.

Cada continued his miracle rise to the top of the board when he found another double up with yet another small pair. Jeff Shulman, who had been playing fairly tight the entire final table, and only really opening the pots for 5x, opened this pot as he usually did, and Cada announced all in with his pocket 3’s. Shulman calmly asked for a count of Cada’s remaining chips and made the call tossing over two Jacks. But the flop delivered some more love to Cada as a 3 appeared on the flop, giving Cada a set and a huge advantage. Shulman was left to watch the turn and river draw blanks, and he would become the shortest stack. Cada would then get his money in good when Darvin Moon shoved over the top of Cada with K9 and Cada made the quick call with AA. This put Cada on around $45 million.

Shulman would eventually get his money in with a pair of 7’s and would find a caller in Antoine Saout with A9, and when a 9 struck the flop Saout took the lead, and eventually the pot as Shulman would exit the main event in 5th place.

With 4 players left, it was Antoine Saout that would vault to the top of the leader board, getting involved in a massive pot with Eric Buchman. Eric had moved all in pre-flop with AQ, and Saout calmly deliberated before making the eventual call with AK. This time, the favorite held up, and Saout flopped a K to basically end the hand, and giving the Frenchman a massive chip lead. Buchman was left with under $10 million, but wouldn’t give it up. He doubled once through Darvin Moon, but his second go around wasn’t as fortunate. Shoving all in with a weak Ace, Moon made the call with Kd-Jd and turned a K to eliminate Buchman in 4th.

It took little time for Cada to spring into action as on the very next hand, with 3 players left, Saout opened the pot and Cada 3-bet all in. Saout wasted little time making the call and putting young Cada’s tournament life in peril as the Frenchman showed QQ and the young gun sheepishly tossed over a lowly pair of 2’s. But this was Cada’s night, as the flop produced another 2 out card for Cada, and the Deuce appeared giving Cada another set over a dominating pair.

Still reeling from that loss, Saout would again shove all in with a pocket pair, this time 7’s, and Cada would again find himself in a large pot with the Frenchman. Saout’s hand looked to hold up through the flop and the turn as no help was given to either player. But the river card drew a deafening roar when a K hit the board, eliminating Saout in 3rd place. In my opinion, and I believe the opinion of most poker players that watched this final table, Saout was the player that most deserved to win based on play alone. He navigated his way through this table brilliantly and just got unlucky, and at 6 AM, the Frenchman was the 7th victim of the November 9.

Two days later, the heads up matchup reconvened at the Penn and Teller Theater in the Rio at Las Vegas for the heads up matchup between Cada and Moon. Action got going right away as Moon picked up a giant pot with QQ vs. Cada’s 99. The chip lead would sway back and forth with these two fighting it out much longer than most people predicted. But in the end, it was Cada who got his money in good, and Moon finally ran his tank empty. Cada raised all in with 99 pre-flop and Moon made the call with Qd-Jd. There is much irony in these hands as the 99 is the same hand that Phil Hellmuth Jr. won his main event title with to become the youngest Main Event Champion some years ago. And for Moon, Qd-Jd was the exact hand he held in the monster pot with Billy Kopp just before the Final Table which really vaulted him to such a massive chip lead in this tournament. But history would love the young man from Michigan as the board offered no Q and no J, and Joe Cada became the youngest man to win the gold bracelet from the WSOP Main Event. He’ll see his name on the banner in the Rio this year, and for years to come.

It was an unreal ride from the pits of despair, overcoming improbable odds time and time again, but Joe Cada did end up with all of the chips, and congratulations go out to him. My hope is that Cada will become a true ambassador for the game and help bring more awareness and growth to a sport that so richly deserves it.

Again, congratulations to Joe Cada, 2009 World Champion of Poker.

The Bad Beat on Cancer Charity Tournament

In August this year, I helped arrange a charity tournament to benefit Bad Beat on Cancer. Poker pro and BBoC Co-Founder Rafe Furst helped me get the tournament underway on Full Tilt Poker. The tournament met my expectations by exceeding my expectations of 100 particpants, when 103 players paid the $10 entry fee, with $5 going to the BBoC Cause. The turnout was easily the largest field that the Twitter Poker Tour has had since its inception.

On November 15th, I'm hoping to dwarf the amount that we raised the first time around. I have lofty goals for the BBoC Event that we're running on November 15th. I really want to have a huge turnout, simply because with every individual that particpates in the event, another $5 is raised to benefit Cancer Research through the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Along with the members of the Twitter Poker Tour, join me online on Full Tilt Poker and help us put a Bad Beat on Cancer. Play in the tournament with the pro's, and help us make a difference.

This is a cause that everyone can easily stand behind. As human beings, we are all touched by cancer, either personally, or by someone that we know and love. It has been such a wide spreading disease that its virtually impossible to go your life without knowing someone who has been affected by it.

The opportunites for this particular tournament are limitless. My only goal, is to raise as much money as possible for this charity. Please help me spread the word to everyone that you can, by whatever media you have accessable to you (twitter, facebook, lynked in, smoke signals, and airplane banners). Whatever you can do to let people know about the tournament, and get people to play in the event. Every little bit helps.

So far, the list of Pro's joining the BBoC Event include: Andy Bloch, Rafe Furst, Lee Childs, Joe Beevers, Ross Boatman, Lee Watkinson, Dave Colclough, Richard Ashby, Amanda 'Mandy B' Baker, and author Michael Craig. I also have spoken with at least a dozen other professional players that have made the commitment to play in the event. Thanks in advance for joining us and helping to contribute to this cause.

Tournament Details
Place: Full Tilt Poker
Date: November 15th, 2009
Time: 6:15PM EST
Cost: $10 ($5 entry plus $5 donation to BBoC)
Tourney ID#: 113220604
Tourney PW: TPTFORBBOC