March 18, 2005
After Playboy, it’s Hustler’s turn to have a feature article about poker. In the March 2005 issue, Hustler tells
the story of some of the most popular women of poker. Jennifer Harman, Evelyn Ng, Mimi Tran, Marsha
Wagonner, all answered few questions. There are also few nice words about Jill Ann Spaulding, familiar to
many poker players because she will show at many tournaments as the Playboy Playmate. In the pictures
there is also featured Annie Duke, Kathy Liebert and Clonie Gowen. All of them with clothes on.
Evelyn said in the article :“I know people try to label me as an Anna Kournikova type,” Ng acknowledges,
“but I’m not trying to whore myself out. I don’t care about fame. I want to win at poker and make money.”
That is real funny stuff.
The real question is: when is she going to be featured on the cover of Playboy? It would the best seller
issue in the history of nude magazines. How many poker players would buy that? Very close to all of us.
C’mon Evelyn there is nothing wrong of selling yourself and it seems you are doing a great job at it. I do not
blame you either. Life is short and you need to grab every opportunity that you can. If Playboy or Hustler
offers you 100k or more, go for it you may become the new Paris Hilton.
On a sad note, in the last few days I found out that three of my friends are seriously sick. I hope all of you
recover and live a long life full of joy. I do not would like to name you but when you read this blog, you should
know that I'll be sad until every one of you feel better. If you see me in a tournament smiling and enjoying
myself, it does not mean that a part of me is forgetting your troubles. Keep Fighting, Don't Ever Give Up.
March 14, 2005
Congratulations to Tom McEvoy. He finally won his second major Championship (WSOP and now PPT)
and I’m sure he was ecstatic. It’s very difficult to win something so important after many years of trying but
that probably makes it even sweeter. Great job also for Marsha that came very close to an improbable
comeback. She started the day as the short stack and took the lead head up until she lost to 4 times
bracelet winner Tom.
In the WPT final it was the festival of the unknown with the victory of Danny Nguyen. Congratulations to
Danny and all the other novice players at the table. Gus Hensen was a nice third.
On Saturday Rio started the WSOP Circuit third phase, and for the first event (NL $1000) they had over 300
players. I did not play the event opting to see the show “Celin Dion”. Poker is not everything and at times I
need to do something different even if the value at Rio was incredible. Celin was great and it was worth the
$100 admission price. The choreography was just as good if not better then any Cirque de Soleil shows. If
you come to Vegas and you need to pick a show, Celin is an excellent choice.
On Sunday I did play the limit event. Only 117 players but its good that Harrah’s does want to reward players
that like limit hold’em. I finished a sad 15th and played around 11 hours and cashed zero dollars, how
painful.
I’ll try again tomorrow, its NL $1000. I’m not sure however that I can stand again all the noise and recurrent
music that Rio plays every 10 minutes. If you decide to play I recommend bringing your own ear caps.
March 11, 2005
I have been handicapping horses and sports for many years with excellent results. Several sports book are now
starting to post odds for poker tournaments. Look at current open poker bets Bodog including betting for Player of the
Year.
I will try to handicap events as a betting guide. Stats are thanks to the best database on the web. The Hendon Mob. You
can follow live coverage at Cardplayer or Pokerwire.
WPT: poker odds for Bay 101
Chip count going into the final table:
Jay Martens $ 1,165,000
Gus Hansen $ 1,007,000
Danny Nguyen $ 881,000
Corey Cheresnick $ 769,000
Men Nguyen $ 310,000
Sandar Szentkuti $ 250,000
Gus Hansen + 150 (3/2) Ooops he did it again. But the final six is not his objective. Gus will have a
big edge on the table especially if Men Master, short, is eliminated quickly. It will be very interesting to see if
the novices players under the tv lights will let him dictate the pace of the table. I think this will happened and
will give Gus the clear advantage to win another one. He has 24% of the chips in play.
The only one with 3 WPT titles, can he make it 4? Big favorite.
Jay Martens + 300 (3-1) Apparently a qualifier trough small online satellites. He will be put to the
test of beeing the chip leader going into the final table. I do not think he will get any sleep; he may play it
safe and try to climb his way through the top three spot by beeing conservative. That may be his best
strategy to win: wait, wait, wait and then fire. Danny Nguyen had him all in with 11 players left drawing really
slim, but Jay got lucky and survived. Of course to get this far soon or later you need to get lucky.
Danny Nguyen + 300 (3-1) I have to give a little respect to Danny. He had several people betting on
him after Day 3. He also had the chip lead and managed to pick his spots in a nice way. Of the unknown he
probably is the best player.
Corey Cheresnick + 500 (5-1) Another small satellite qualifyer. It has the problem of beeing the
middle stack. He can sit and wait but that will compromise his chances of winning. He can be aggressive
and risk to make a mistake that can cost quite a bit of money. As a novice I would think he will pick the
conservative approach witch is the smart way to go when you have Gus on the table.
Men “Master” Nguyen + 700 (7-1) Here is one player that I have experience playing against (the
closest I got to Gus as a opponent was in table tennis, and he beat me in a close match). Men is not afraid
to gamble and he’s also use to play under the lights. I truly believe Men plays much better under pressure
and if he can double up and then steal few blinds he’ll have a good shot to win.
Sandar Szentkuti + 1500 (15-1) Another final table novice. Less pressure beeing the short stack
he has no choice other then gamble. Big Longshot.
March 9, 2005
I have been handicapping horses and sports for many years with excellent results. Several sports book are now
starting to post odds for poker tournaments. Look at current open poker bets Bodog including betting for Player of the
Year.
I will try to handicap events as a betting guide. Stats are thanks to the best database on the web. The Hendon Mob. You
can follow live coverage at Cardplayer or Pokerwire.
PPT: poker odds for Bay 101
Chip count going into the final table:
Toto Leonidis ($486,000)
Paul "X-22" Magriel ($360,000)
Hoyt Corkins ($262,000)
Tom McEvoy ($207,000)
Casey Kastle ($158,000)
Marsha Wagoneer ($158,000)
Toto Leonidas + 120 (6/5)
Toto was the surprise of 2003. During that year he cashed around 600$ with one WSOP bracelet and a
United States Championship title at Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. In that last event Eric Sidel was second and
Phil Hellmuth third. He can do it and should be consider the big favorite.
Toto is the best player at the table and his very effective style will put pressure on all of his opponents.
Paul “X-22” Magriel + 250 (5-2)
Probably he’s the most famous writer and player in backgammon history. I’ve played with Paul many times
as low as 15/30 and as high as in main events. Paul should have no pressure under the lights thanks to
his experience. He at times plays excellent poker and other times looses concentration and makes
mistakes. Could this be the day? Paul is a great and very funny guy, I’ll be cheering for him.
Hoyt Corkins + 300 (3-1)
Hoyt won a WPT event in 2003 cashing over 1 million and a 2nd place in 2004 for another 300k . I never
played with him but I suspect he’s an excellent player judging from his experience and results. He also has
a bracelet in the WSOP dated 1992 in Omaha Pot Limit (34 players, 5K buy in)
Tom McEvoy + 800 (8-1)
Tom McEvoy is the 1983 WSOP Main Event Champion. Hard to believe that during those days 108 were the
participant and in 2005 the projected number is around 5,000. He has 4 bracelets, the last one in 1992. It is
nice to see him making an important final table but he should be consider an underdog in the final table.
Casey Kastle + 900 (9-1)
Casey makes it often to the money but not often in final tables. It’s impressive he cashed already 8 times in
WPT events but his best result is only 9th. Is he just getting unlucky at crunch time?
Marsha Wagoneer +1500 (15-1)
Wife of Kenna James, Marsha biggest cash day was in 1992 when she finished 2nd in a WSOP Seven
Card Stud Split event. She is considered a solid player. Marsha needs someone at the final table to make
an early mistake and she needs to take advantage to have a chance. The pick for all women poker fans,
WPT management and Travel channel. She’ll have the most cheering every time she’ll win a pot.
February 20, 2005
My dream is over in L.A.
Day two at the WPT in Los Angeles. I just had my dream of winning my first million snapped by one of the
best players in the Tournament Circuit: Eric Lindgren.
Eric was at my table for about 40 minutes. I asked him, just few minutes earlier, if we ever faced each other,
I did not remember. Of course with his elephant memory he remembered not only that we did play once, but
also where it was, the game and the buy-in in that event. And I'm facing him: scary.
I opened the betting by making a standard raise in middle position 4,500 (bb 1,800). He looked at his hand
from the small blind and started thinking to raise. I did not have a considerable amount of chips about
33,000 (average was about 65,000). I raised several times before and I did notice that last time I took a stab
at the pot, he was preparing himself to at least call me but opted for a fold. This time he decided to come
over the top. The problem was that because my chip stack once he raised me he was committed. He had
more then 150k so was not thretenned by my small stack. Eric went for it, he called and raised another
15,000. No Hollywood needed it here, I quickly counted my chips and told him he needed another 13,000 to
see my cards. Correctly, he called. In retrospect I wish I had another 25 or 30k so he had a chance to fold. I
had AA. Eric said "I read you all wrong" and turned over Q10. Flop was AK3 turn J giving him the nut straight,
river was no help and I was out. I looked up and 66 were the player left. The Devil's number (not that I
believe anyway). It was a great ride that came up short. I did get lucky earlier against Lyle Berman catching
a river that kept me in the tournament, so at the end things did even out. It still sucks going out that way but I
really hope Eric will win the tournament, he's a great player and a great guy.
What a table I had Alan Goehring, very impressive with around 400,000 in chips. Eric, around 250,000. Juha
Helppi short at 15,000. David Chew short at 10,000. One of the Martins team, good young player at around
80,000 and a couple of other pros that I do not know their names but they are regulars. There are numbers
with about one level to go in the second day.
Barry Shulman was doing well at the table to my left with around 250,000. Note: Phil Hellmuth never was at
85k as reported on many sites at the end of the first day. He had just 8,500. He was out early the second
day.
One bright note. In the best player of the tournament award, with my 4th place finish in the $2,500 NL, (the
last qualifying event) I moved to 3rd place and got awarded $7,500.
Best player of the LA Classic was declared Paul Darden cashing $22,500
February 4, 2005
One week gone at Commerce
Professional Poker Player, Max "Italian Pirate" Pescatori, is in Los Angeles playing in the 2005 LA Poker Classic at the
Commerce Casino. We are pleased to offer his latest report from the field.
-Poker Prof (lasvegasvegas)
After spending one week at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, California, I consider my trip fair. I did
finish 4th in the $500 buy-in Stud tournament and I also won almost every time I've played cash games.
However, my plans to win 'Player of the Tournament' were slowed down by one of the Lavassani "Twins",
Fred. He grabbed second place in the Pot Limit Hold'em won by the "Great Kid," John Murphy. Fred now has
100 points, followed by Paul Darden with 60 points and about 20 other players plus myself, Max Pescatori,
with 50 points. At stake, the prestigious Best Player Award and $22,500 to make the effort even more sweet.
The big players are starting to show up and the field will now be tougher then the first week. Congratulations
to Amir Vahedi, who after a long drought, won the $500 Shootout
NL Hold'em.
-Italian Pirate
Poker Blog
by Max Pescatori
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