16 Nov 08 Bookshelf: Zen and the Art of Poker
It’s been said that the true poker player is by nature intuitive, compulsive, aggressive, calculating, relentless, and one-dimensional. However, in my experience the one-dimensional, single-minded sort of gambler crashes and burns sooner or later, usually sooner. In Zen and the Art of Poker
A key aspect of the game of poker is patience: folding hand after hand while remaining calm and cool. Zen masters practice the art of sitting quietly in a temple, focusing on their breath. Poker players practice the art of sitting quietly at a table, focusing on their cards. Breath in, breath out, look at the cards, muck the cards. It’s easy to see the continuum in accepting and releasing each breath or hand.
But what happens when it’s time to play? The zen concept of non-attachment means de-coupling our emotions from the outcome we desire. It’s great to win a hand, but investing your emotions in every pot is a recipe for a very unhappy poker player. You’re going to win some and lose some, and learning to accept either outcome with equanimity is one of of life’s more important lessons. My advice to any aspiring poker player is to begin by reading Phillip’s book.
11 Nov 08 Eastgate Wins World Series of Poker
Peter Eastgate won the World Series of Poker main event early this morning, pulling down a cool $9.1 million. Eastgate, a 22 year-old professional poker player from Denmark, became the youngest player ever to win the WSOP, beating Phil Hellmuth’s record by two years. Hellmuth, poker’s bad boy, called to wish him luck yesterday afternoon.
It became clear that second-place finisher Ivan Demidov had no read on Eastgate last night, he was much too aggressive when Eastgate held very strong hands. Demidov, who took home $5.8 million, ended the tournament by going all-in when Eastgate was sitting with a wheel straight. None of the final table players had been able to read Eastgate over the past two days. The night before Dennis Phillips wound up in third place by attempting a bluff when Eastgate was holding a set of threes.
The final table action will be shown tonight on ESPN.
09 Nov 08 World Series of Poker Final Table - 9 Nov 2008
The first part of the final table of the World Series of Poker main event is being played today in Las Vegas. They’ll suspend play for the day when they’re down to the final two, and pick the action up tomorrow evening. ESPN will be showing play from both days on Tuesday night in a two hour special, they paid big bucks to delay the final table until November and get exclusive broadcast rights. Today we’re getting an online audio broadcast sponsored by Bluff Magazine, which is not nearly as good as the pay-per-view broadcast last year but still better than nothing. I’ll be updating these results as play continues this evening.
Craig Marquis finished 9th winning $900K.
Kelly Kim finished 8th winning $1.2 million.
Chino Rheem finished 7th winning $1.7 million.
Darus Suharto finished 6th winning $2.4 million.
Scott Montgomery finished 5th winning $3.0 million.
Ylon Schwartz finished 4th winning $3.7 million.
Dennis Phillips finished 3rd winning $4.5 million.
2nd - $5.8 million
1st - $9.1 million.
Chip Stacks:
1) Peter Eastgate - 82,585,000
2) Ivan Demidov - 54,000,000
