Shaun Deeb Owes Chris Cosenza $50
Do we have a scandal brewing?!
On January 27, 2011 Chicago Poker Club and Windy City Poker Championship cast and crew headed down to Orange Park, FL to the Orange Park Kennel Club, home to the JAX Poker Room, for the 2nd Annual Chad Brown No Limit Texas Hold 'em Championship.
In the coming days and weeks, we'd like to share stories, pictures and videos of the adventure. In the meantime, I'd like to corroborate a story I heard on the February 3rd Ante Up Poker Podcast, for the purposes of getting a friend $50 (at the expense of another new friend). ;)
Our good friends Scott Long and Chris Cosenza, from Ante Up Magazine came to the event as spectators, journalists, and hosts of the upcoming television production. They are also doing some guest hosting on Windy City Poker Championship, so Kirk set them down in front of the camera to record some on-camera introductions, transitions, and so on.
I'm not saying our buddies at Ante Up are camera shy, but... well... they needed a few minutes to warm up after being away from the critical camera eye for so many months. After a few failed attempts at landing a drop, Shaun Deeb bet Chris $50 that he wouldn't nail the spot on the next take. Let my video tell the rest of the story:
{m4v width="528" height="352"}CosenzaLongDeeb-1{/m4v}
Announcing Chicago Poker Club Home Games
ChicagoPokerClub.net has just launched their own "Home Game" League on PokerStars. We will have one or more semi-permanent cash game tables available to you at all times, to test your meddle against our fellow poker enthusiasts. As we begin to promote this a bit, you will see games getting off more frequently - it may be a bit sparse at first, but don't stop trying! Remember, we don't give legal advice, so check your local laws before playing online!
In the coming weeks we will begin to announce online "home game" tournaments, and may move to a tournament series in the not so distant future.
To join the ChicagoPokerClub.net Home Game Club (League), you should:
- Sign-up for a new PokerStars account, if you don't have one already.
- Download the most recent version of the software.
- Proceed to the Home Games tab within PokerStars, and search for club ID 75069 (soon to be searchable as chicagopokerclub.net, but NOT Chicago Poker Club).
- You need to provide the invitation code: chicagojoeistheman
That's it. You will be approved within 24-48 hours and can begin looking for other Chicago Poker Club players right away!
Chip Stacks, Televised Events, and You (Part 2)
There’s no doubt that ESPN’s coverage of “World Series of Poker” is fast-paced and exciting. The series punctuates big pots, big hands, and big money. Some of the best players in the world sit flanked by monster stacks of hard-earned chips.
Players looking to up their skills may not realize that a highlights-based show set to the soundtrack of thousands of chips is a dangerous place to look for poker advice.
A more in-depth show is usually the better bet (and certainly easier on the wallet).
NBC’s “Poker After Dark” focuses on a single table tournament. The tournament is broken down into a week-long series of one-hour episodes. Most importantly, the show rolls on every single hand in the tournament. It doesn’t matter if a big pot rests on the river card or if everyone folds around to the big blind.
To a reckless, action-hungry player with unrealistic expectations, it sounds pretty boring – but those are the kinds of players that don’t stick around very long!
To a player that understands patience and discipline are two of the most important attributes of a good poker player, watching a table surrounded by pros mixing it up in big brother style coverage is a great learning tool.
The single table tournament allows you to watch every hand develop throughout the tournament. You’re offered the opportunity to analyze the tournament as a whole, not just the hand.
Why did Daniel Negreanu fold pocket kings? How did Chris “Jesus” Ferguson take down a huge pot with garbage hole cards? What sent “Poker Brat” Phil Helmuth Jr. into another of his infamous tirades?
Poker strategy is a lot easier to figure out when you’ve been watching the tournament hand after hand after hand.
As in “World Series of Poker” coverage, viewers have the advantage of seeing each player’s hole cards. However, they’ve also got the added ability to use previous hand outcomes to help them decipher what happens in hands that follow.
Take enough mental notes (or use the rewind button often on your DVR) and it becomes easier to see why a player decided on one course of action over another.