High Stakes Poker

There's a few things I want to mention before heading out for another night in the card room. Have you guys seen the show High Stakes Poker on Game Show Network? If not, you should check it out. Episodes can be found on YouTube of course.

This is the sickest pot you and I've ever seen. Keep in mind they are playing with their own money.



Other interesting High Stakes Poker moments include Esfandiari threatening to quit poker (and looking sincere) after losing over 100K in a big pot. He mentions selling furniture several times through the episode.

Mike Matusow is always fun to watch. In his best episode, he decides to get up and leave until players at the table offer him 4,000 just to stay. He does so saying they'll all regret that after he breaks them. A short time later Mike busts out, leaving 100k at the table.

In other news, I really hate playing online. There's just something about it I don't like. When I actively played another card game, I always hated playing that online. It's unfortunate, but that's just how it is. I love playing live poker and dislike the online stuff. However, after a hiatus from the online game, I've had to get back on. I have to get in practice during the week and it's about the only way. I signed up to Full Tilt (which is ok, but not great) and on the first day back watched Phil Ivey win 40k in a limit heads up game. 40k in 15 minutes. Over the last 30, it was something like 90k total. That's great for Phil, 90,000 for 30 minutes of work and unfortunate for the millionaire he was playing who started with 150K and was left with 40K. Odd and yet not so odd thing was, Phil didn't even seem interested. He kept taking breaks every 5 or so minutes. I could imagine him getting up to talk to someone, taking a break, checking out what was on tv, going to the fridge for some food, answering the phone etc. This wouldn't be strange for the average person killing time, but he was playing for over 100K....and it's nothing special.

The truth is, it isn't anything special. If you haven't heard about it, check out the story of Andy Beal, the billionaire that almost broke the Vegas pros. They played as high as 100,000/200,000 limit. What Ivey was playing with total was just the blinds in that game.