Yorky Pud

Jonathan Duhamel has been crowed the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion after he defeated John Racener in just 43 hands of their heads-up encounter.

The vast majority of the poker community thought that this match was a forgone conclusion as Duhamel started with a massive 188,950,000 to 30,650,000 chip lead, more than six-to-one ratio, but the old romantics were hoping for an epic comeback by Racener. They were sadly let down.

Although he trailed his opponent on a massive scale, Racener's stack was still 28 big blinds deep, more than enough to play with but he got his strategy completely wrong. Instead of taking the fight to Duhamel, he seemed content with limping and basically folding to any aggression shown, most certainly not a winning heads-up poker style. In fact Racener was so passive in his play that it took him 42 hands until he made a preflop raise and he was eliminated the very next hand.

Racener did give his fans something to smile about on the eleventh hand, but through no creativity on his part. With the blinds at 600,000/1,200,000 and a running ante of 200,000, Racener found himself down to 18,450,000 chips and Duhamel decided to make a move for them all by shoving from the button with Kh4c. However, Racener had been dealt QdQs as instantly called and by the river the board read Jh-8d-6c-2h-7h, doubling Racener up to 36,900,000.

Racener allowed his stack to dwindle once again and by the 43rd hand he was back down to just 13,150,000 chips. Duhamel had been relentless in his constant battering of Racener and this continued as he bet enough to put his opponent all in, Racener made the call with Kd8d only to find Duhamel had made the move with AsJh. The 4c-4d-9s flop stretched Duhamel's lead, and the 6c on the turn further still. Racener needed to catch a king or an eight on the river to stay alive in the tournament but it was the five of clubs that came down, completing the hand and awarding the title to Duhamel.

Duhamel was lost for words, though he managed to say, "It's a dream come true right now" when asked how winning $8,944,310 felt. Racener, who picked up $5,545,955 for his runner-up finish, congratulated his opponent on his Twitter account, tweeting, "Congratulation to Johnathan Duhamel. Still very happy with 2nd place.. Would have loved to win it tho.. I'll be back to get it next year."

The final table of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event will go down in history as one of the, if not the, most entertaining and drama-packed final table in the history of poker. It literally had everything and should make amazing viewing when it is shown around the world in the coming months.

All eyes were originally on Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and his quest to become WSOP Player of the Year and overtake Phil Ivey at the top of the all-time money listings but I will be very surprised if this finale is not remembered as the Joseph Cheong show. Cheong built his stack to over 100,000,000 at one point but quite literally imploded during hand 213 against Jonathan Duhamel who now has over 188 million chips going into heads up!

It took almost 90 minutes and 28 hands for the first elimination to take place and when it dud happen it was Soi Nguyen who was heading to the rail in ninth place knowing he would not be picking up any extra money on top of the $811,823 already awarded. The action folded around to him on the button and finding himself with just 7,600,000 chips he moved all-in with AdKc but was ever so unlucky to run into the pocket queens of Jason Senti. The Qh-3s-Tc gave Senti a set of queens but also gave Nguyen some outs to the nut Broadway straight. The 9s was not one of them and neither was the Ks on the river and with it Nguyen left the stage to rapturous applause.

Hand 43 will go down as one of the most exciting hands in poker history but Matthew Jarvis will beg to differ as it cost him his stack, though he did pick up $1,045,743 in the process. In the hand, Duhamel made it 1,400,000 to play, Mizrachi looked like he was thinking about raising but eventually just called, then Jarvis decided that his pocket nines were good enough to squeeze all-in with for around 14,300,000 chips! Duhamel quickly folded but Mizrachi, probably knowing Jarvos would be shoving wide, made the call with AdQd. He was instantly rewarded as the flop came down Qs-8d-Qc giving him trip queens but that was not the end of the hand. The dealer burned a card and dealt the turn, the 9s, giving Jarvis a full house and the lead in the hand. Jarvis's rail were understandably going wild at this point as their hero looked like he was going to rake in a huge pot but a cruel, cruel ace of spades showed up on the river to give Mizrachi a higher full house and a 42,150,000 stack! You could not make this stuff up!

It's going to be a long day

Thanks in part to the dinner breaks, it took almost five more hours until the table lost another player and when it happened it was Senti who busted out and again in spectacular circumstances. Despite starting with the lowest number of chips, Senti had fought back valiantly but his luck ran out during hand 116. Everyone folded to Senti, who mad it 1,850,000 to play from the cutoff, but Cheong, who had been hoovering chips up all night, was not going to let him steal the pot and three-bet to 4,950,000. Senti was determined to win this pot and moved all-in and was snap-called by Cheong, which is never a good sign. Cheong flipped over a pair of black tens, in front, but only just, of the AdKs of his opponent. The tens looked to have been smashed when the flop came down Kd-Kh-Qc but the Poker Gods were certainly having some fun as they put out the Jd on the turn followed by the 9d on the river to give Cheong a winning straight! A disappointed Senti joined his friends, family and fans on the rail, knowing he had managed to jump up an extra couple of levels in pay and would be picking up $1,356,720.

It simply was not John Dolan's day and despite starting the day with over 46,000,000 in chips, his tournament came to an end just 13 hands after Senti was eliminated. Finding himself short-stacked, Dolan open shoved from the small blinds with the lowly Qd5d and looked very surprised, and rather pleased, to be in a race situation against Duhamel, who had made the call with pocket fours. By the turn the board read Jh-7h-6h-9h and the possibility of a split pot was very real but a black three, of clubs, fell on the river to send Dolan home with $1,772,959 for his efforts.

As play become more and more short handed, the players had to look for ways to extract extra value from their hands, which Duhamel certainly managed to do with his pair of aces. The action folded to him in the small blind and he decided to simply complete the blind despite having been dealt the bullets! Mizrachi tapped the felt to announce there would be no raise and the dealer put out the 5d-4s-Qc flop. Duhamel checked, Mizrachi bet 2,000,000, then in what seemed instantaneous Duhamel check-raised then called Mizrachi's all-in bet! The Grinder turned over Qd8h for top pair but we know Duhamel had him crushed as he was dealt AdAc. The Jd on the turn was not what Mizrachi needed and neither was the Kd on the river, a card that completed the hand and meant Mizrachi's amazing run was over and he will have to settle for fifth place and $2,332,992 in prize money.

Next to go, just three hands later, was the first Italian to ever reach the WSOP Main Event final table, Filippo Candio. King-queen suited is a very powerful hand when playing four-handed Hold'em but it is not as strong a hand with an ace in it, as Candio found out to his peril. He open-shoved from the small blind with KdQd, Cheong made the call with Ac3c, which made an unnecessary wheel by the river on a board reading Ah-7d-2s-5h-4s, to bust Candio in fourth place, from 7,319 entrants, worth a cool $3,092,545.

OMG! What just happened?

Twenty-five hands later and the 2,000 strong crown in the Penn & Teller Arena witnessed the biggest pot in World Series of Poker history take place. Cheong raised preflop to 2,900,000, John Racener got out of the way but Duhamel liked his hand and three-bet to 6,750,000. Usually this would be enough to win the hand but Cheong put in a fourth bet to 14,250,000. Duhamel paused briefly before five-betting to 22,750,000, sending Cheong into the tank in the process. After a couple of minute he came out of the tank with a 90,050,000 all-in bet, a bet that Duhamel quickly called before turning over QcQd. Cheong turned his cards over, first the As and everyone expected another ace to back it up but alas, his second card was the seven of hearts! A final board reading 9h-3d-2c-6s-8s and Cheong had gone from over 100 million chips to less than ten million in under five minutes! Amazing blow up by the online pro.

Despite building his stack to 17,500,000, Cheong was the next player out. Finding QsTc in the hole, Cheong moved all-in and was called by the now massively stacked Duhamel holding As2c. Neither player improved on a Ks-9c-6c-6h-7c board but Duhamel's ace-kicker gave him the best hand and with it Cheong headed to the rail to pick up a very welcome $4,130,049, though surely he must have thought this tournament was his to win. That is poker for you, just one mistake can make or break you.

With Cheong's elimination the tournament was paused for the final time this year and both players will return on Monday 8 November at 2000 Las Vegas time (0400 UK time) and Duhamel will take a monster 188,950,000 to 30,750,000 chips lead to the heads up battle but it is far from a done deal, though it would be an epic comeback if Racener could turn around the 5-to-1 deficit. There are around 14 minutes of level 40 to play, meaning the blinds will be 600,000/1,200,000 with a 200,000 running ante.

Thomas Marchese is looking to cap off an outstanding breakthrough year by winning the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals later today. The New jersey based pro will go into the six-handed final table as an overwhelming chip leader, with more than 1,000,000 chips than his nearest rival.

Over the past five days, 238 players have taken part in the $10,000 Main Event but only 12 of them made it through to Day 5, which concluded last night when all but six of them were eliminated. First to go was Hoyt Corkins who made a move with As6s only to run into Mohsin Charania's AhTc. It looked like he had sucked out when the flop came down Qd-6d-5c but running tens on the turn and river saw him head for the cashier's cage to pick up his $46,678 winnings.

He was joined soon after by Jason Mercier who was unfortunate to push his pocket nines straight into the next highest pair of Keven Stammen. By the turn the board read 7c-6c-5c-3c and Mercier had a real chance of chopping the pot but the jack of hearts showed up on the river, meaning Stammen's pair of ten was the best hand and a disappointed Mercier headed for the rail.

At this point the remaining players we put together on a ten-handed unofficial final table and just 16 hands later they lost a player. Ben Krier found himself moving all in on the button with Ac9d but knew he was in big trouble when Charania re-shoved from the blinds, before turning over a dominating AcJc. Both players paired their ace on a Ad-Tc-8c-Ts-3d board but Charania's jack kicker came into play and Krier will go down in the record books as finishing tenth.

Another 39 hands took place before nine became eight, as Christopher Bonta lost all of his chips in a cooler of a hand. Marchese opened from under the gun to 55,000 with blinds at 12,000/24,000/4,000a and only Bonta, on the button, called. The flop of As-9h-2d saw Marchese lead out for 62,000, Bonta move all-in for around 400,000 and Marchese call. Bonta showed AdQs but it was no match for Marchese's AcKd. The 6h on the turn helped neither player but the Jd on the river locked up the hand for Marchese and resigned Bonta to the $61,480 ninth place prize.

Another 40 minutes past before another player fell victim of the run-good of Marchese. This time Besnik Ziba decided that his Ad5d was good enough to move all-in for a total of 266,000 chips after Marchese made his standard UTG raise to 55,000. Indeed it was as Marchese held Kd9d and it looked like the move had paid off as the board read Qh-8s-4c-6d but a cruel 9c on the river sent Ziba home with $72,863 to console himself with.

Just four hands later and the final table bubble burst and it was former Betfair Poker pro, Sorel Mizzi who was the man unfortunate enough to pop it. Decided AcQc was good enough to play for his entire stack, Mizzi moved all in and found a caller in the shape of Charania, who had pocket tens. The gamble initially paid off for Mizzi as the first card out was an ace, followed by and eight and a two. The five of hearts on the turn kept him way in front but sometimes the Poker Gods, and karma, get their own back and they put out the Td on the river to send him to the rail in seventh place, worth $88,802.

When play resumes in the Connecticut casino later this afternoon it will be Marchese who is pole position and a huge favourite to claim his first WPT title and the $548,752 first prize. Incidentally, just reaching this final table should be enough to claim the top spot of the CardPlayer Player of the Year standings from Dwyte Pilgrim.

Seating assignment when play resumes

Seat1: Nikoli Yakovenko: 624,000 (26 big blinds)
Seat 2: Jeff Forrest: 1,949,000 (81 big blinds)
Seat 3: Thomas Marchese: 3,022,000 (125 big blinds)
Seat 4: Dave Inselberg: 344,000 (14 big blinds)
Seat 5: Keven Stammen: 341,000 (14 big blinds)
Seat 6: Moshin Charania: 1,024,000 (42 big blinds)

Thank God that October is now behind us and I can look forward to November and hopefully get back to winning ways. Last month I played the most poker since I learned the game and it also coincided with me having the most frustrating time at the tables ever!

Net result of around 47 hours worth of playing time was 22,355 hands and a 1.7 buy-in loss, sucks to be me I guess. Adjusted EV says I should have actually won around half a buy-in but that only tells half the story anyway and doesn't really show the times I was way ahead in the hand and the last pittance went in as my retarded opponents sucked out on me time after time! I actually lost six stacks playing short-handed No Limit Hold'em but won a full stack at PLO25 and also 1.8 buy-ins at full ring, otherwise it could have been pretty disastrous!

Last night was the worst, after I managed to lose a 400 big blind pot with QQ vs AA, I ran KK into AA twice, both as a result of me stealing and the small blind waking up with bullets and then some complete donkey moving all in with black tens on a board reading 2h-7d-7h-9h whilst I held AhKh and the river comes a frigging seven. SMD! GFY! Etc etc

Before going through some of the hand histories I was pretty disappointed not to have finished October in profit (though with bonus etc I did come out in front) but upon reflection I am pretty happy that I didn't lose more and that I stuck to my guns and carried on playing despite variance trying its best to get me to quit every time I sat down. It would have been nice to have booked a substantial win for my efforts but I guess the experience of running bad, continuing to play whilst running bad and learning how to deal with this is worth more than what I should have won at these stakes.

I am hoping to play at least 30,000 hands in November, though I am secretly aiming for closer to 40,000! I am playing six table now and getting around 500 hands per hour so it is doable. The only thing that will really throw a spanner in the works is working at EPT Barcelona between November 21-28 but I'm hardly going to moan about that now am I? Mrs P is full of some sort of cold/flu bug at the minute so it is likely she'll be off to the land of nod pretty early for the next couple of days, leaving me to get a head start on my target!

As always, thanks for reading and best of luck at the tables!

One of the most common questions put to forum members and magazine columnists is from players asking how to beat the micro-stakes cash games online. The majority of the questions mention the fact that the weak players often found in these games do not respect preflop raises, call too much post flop and are impossible to get off a hand.

Whilst this above description of a typical micro-stakes player is completely true, to think the games are unbeatable is absurd. In fact quite the opposite is true, the games are an absolute goldmine and if you cannot beat the players at the micro-stakes then you do not stand a chance higher up the food chain.

Most of the advice given suggests playing a straightforward tight-aggressive style, do not bluff and then viola, winning is guaranteed. Well it is not as simple as that but that is actually the main gist of how to beat micro-stakes cash games! The most important ingredients in our recipe for success are position, aggression and simplicity in that order. Why? You will find out below.

Although there are some solid micro-stakes players out there, you should assume that more than 90% of them are complete fish. The majority of them will play too many hands, play them regardless of their position at the table and far too passively so you should use this to your advantage. Utilise your position by combining aggression and raise limpers and isolate the weak players. Many micro-stakes players will limp into a pot with a huge array of hands, call a raise and then check/fold to your continuation bet, only playing back at you if they have a piece of the board. You will be amazed how many times you can raise a limper preflop and then get them to fold with a c-bet, the small amounts soon add up.

Constant, controlled aggression is also needed on later streets as even the fishiest of players are now aware that people make continuation bets lightly. What they fail to realise is that some of us can and do make turn continuation bets too. Again, you will be surprised at the amount of times you get a caller on the flop only for them to check/fold the turn. Obviously, firing a second barrel is dependant, at these stakes, on the board texture but well timed second barrel will almost always result in you scooping the pot and if they have called two streets you can almost guarantee they have you beaten or at least have part of the board.

Simplicity also ties in with aggression in the respect that you should be value betting your hands to maximum. There is little point, against the vast majority of players at the micro-stakes, in getting tricky and trying to induce bluffs by betting small or by checking, instead just bet, bet, bet and let them call you all the way to Value Town. The reason simple is best is that weak players are not observant or skilful enough to deduce what you are trying to do. All they are worried about is pairing their ace by the river. They do not care that you are representing a set, in fact they probably do not care at all about your betting patterns, they have an ace in their hand and it is the nuts!

Value bet all of your hands as much as possible, even hands as weak as top-pair decent kicker because these guys will turn up with second and third pair so often it is laughable. But try not to throw in too many bluffs, mainly because of the reasons stated in the above paragraph, and also because the hands you would probably be bluffing on such as when a possible flush or unlikely straight comes in they will have it there in their hands!

Finally, prepare yourself for some crazy swings and ensure you have an adequate bankroll to sustain them. Yes you should be crushing the games and winning at an alarming rate but there are certainly going to be times when your opponents seem to be catching miracle second pairs and flopping the nuts with all sorts of weird and wonderful hands. I would definitely recommend 30 full buy-ins, even though I have never been more than ten buy-ins down, as having a good cushion behind you helps take some of the mental side of losing away. Happy fishing!

The title of this post says Glaring Holes, not Glory Holes as the likes of Amatay and Joppa Road would immediately be thinking and it refers not to my little man and holes in public conveniences, but the the massive leaks I found in my game last night.

For once in my sad little poker career, I have stuck to playing one game throughout the month of October and it had been a real rollercoaster affair. I started off by losing almost ten buy-ins within the first 2.5k hands, spent the next 10k hands getting out of that hole and then went on a mini-heater where I was around seven buy-ins to the good. The on Sunday it all went tits up and I lost the lot to send me to 36 big blinds down over 20k or so hands!

It has been a complete contrast to the back end of September when I was basically raping the games I was in, three-betting, continuation betting and raising donk bets like they it was going out of fashion and my win rate was huge. I thought that is what was happening this month but alas, after some digging in my Holdem Manager database I found a couple of small leaks and one that was gargantuan, look at that for a word!

Holdem Manager has some great reports you can run to see if your stats are converging towards those of a database of winning players. Almost all of my own stats were within the ranges of the top winning players though a couple were way off. The first one to be abnormal was my steal percentage which was way higher than anything listed, but this is simply because the donkey's I am playing day in day out let me do what I like in late position so why not take lots of blinds if they simply roll over and let you?

Two stats that were worryingly low were my post flop aggression after the flop, particularly on the river, and my continuation betting. The betting the river stat was something I have been trying to work on but I thought I was c-betting fine. The stat was not massively off but it looked like I am playing fit or fold poker, which certainly isn't the case, but more due to the fact the fishes simply call all c-bets and turn c-bets anyway so I have been more selective, plus more of my pots are multiway as the fish think I'm at it all the time!

With that in mind I played a quick session last night, before I hit the hay for an early night, where I concentrated properly for what felt the first time in a while. I was almost two buy-ins to the good at one stage but a few hands late on cost me dearly and I finished around 70 big blinds in front. More importantly I managed to play a 30/27/3.25 style pretty well, c-betting over 70% of the time and three-betting almost 10% of the time too. It felt good to play a pretty LAG style, one that was pissing off villains left, right and centre and a style that I am going to try and play again tonight and for the remainder of the month.

The huge leak I was talking about at the start of the entry (phwoar entry) is my play in three-bet pots. I am haemorrhaging money in pots where I have raised preflop and then call a three-bet, really blowing cash all over the place. It looks like I really need to tighten up my three-bet calling range at these stakes so I will be working on that over the next few sessions.

Overall I am happy with my volume and my progress this past month. I'm at 22,743 hands and winning at 5.95bb/100, though I believe I should be winning at double that amount. A few tweaks here and there and I think I will be ready to crush these fish and the next level up. Wish me luck.

As always, thanks for reading and best of luck at the tables!