WSOP tournament will start on May 27th (wsop.com) and with anticipation I decided to watch one of my favorite movies, Rounders. Rounders is a film that came out in the late 90's that focused on Texas Hold' em and underground high stakes gambling. This film really helped launch the game into the phenomena it is today. In the 90's the player field, tournaments, and opportunity was limited.


Today players can focus online or live tournaments and play throughout the world having an interesting career opportunity while traveling. Unfortunately, there has not been many movies focused on poker (or at least worth mentioning) and I personally would be interested in another film like this. There have been documentaries over the past few years which have been relatively good and some are worth a watch.

Last year at the WSOP Las Vegas events alone there were 65 winners taking home large sums of money(wsop.com) The main event had an enormous turnout which continues to grow year after year, last year 6,352 players showed up for the 10k buy in. The main event winner Ryan Riess took home a whopping $8.3mil with multiple other individuals becoming new or expanding on their millions. In the 90's a main even winner would take home around $2million dollars with maybe a 1/10 of the player field.

Any player that would like to win a trip can do so on various other online websites but can also play through Facebook sponsored games or wsop.com online poker.




http://www.wsop.com/2013/
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/

Updates on recent winners with anticipation of the WSOP tournaments starting, Michigan tournament that takes place at the Firekeepers casino located in Battle Creek MI. First place winner took home just over 101k with 10th place taking home just over 5k. In comparison to several other tournaments that prize pool is lower but still a great tournament with good structure. Firekeepers had a rather large turn out with 411 entries (pokernews.com) which will continue to expand as this tournament develops.

Live events for the WSOP start on May 27th (wsop.com) which these will be the main focus in the weeks to come. However, the online WSOP tournaments are increasing in popularity along with the SCOOP events that take place solely online. These offer players the ability to experience large events with a very skilled player field online. Some players will participate in both live and online events which gives the large amount of non U.S. players the ability to participate without having to commute all the way to Las Vegas taking time off work and normal day to day life activities.

With the Olympics taking place in Japan in 2020 (www.pokernews.com) they are in process of passing a casino bill to start the building process. They would need to start the process soon in order to meet the required time frame to complete the project. If this bill can be passed it will bring a large amount of revenue and will be used as one of the main attraction for toruism during the 2020 Olympics,

High roller tournaments and how an investment oriented mind along with personal statistical data is the key. Texas Hold Em tournament structure has developed drastically over time. There are now several tournaments with buy ins ranging from 100k-1mil dollars with multiple entries allowed. As a poker player it is imperative to understand one how much you can lose, your winning ratio, the pay out structure, player field, and opportunity available. For example if you play in 1 100k tournament in a single day with unlimited reentry, your total cost is 500k and you cash out 550k in winnings (50k profit) there is virtually no difference then spending 100k (multiple tournaments) over 5 different venues. This is because the majority of the high roller tournaments have a lot of "dead" money and offer various unique structures that can give a skillful player a significant edge. So the fact that you had to re enter into a tournament multiple times causing your investment to be larger is almost irrelevant (of course if you lose is another topic) if you feel you have an edge and will be able to place in a payout position

The same goes with investing in stocks, you can invest in a couple large securities or several smaller ones. If you anticipate the same outcome the only factor is time and the amount you are willing to lose if things do not go as planned. These tournaments have been the topic of much debate because the poker world has tried to restrict entry and limit the higher tournament buy ins from taking place. A large portion of the player field consists of business men or other wealthy individuals with a few elite poker players. As an elite player having a clear understanding of how many hands, tournaments, hours, and buy ins you need to sit at and play in to statistically make money is extremely important. Also knowledge of the player field (amount of players) and who that field consists of can drastically change the likely hood of you placing in one of these events.

So should larger events be restricted to specific people or not be allowed? If 10 wealthy individuals wanted to get together and play for large sums of money why should they not be allowed to do this? In my opinion, professional circuit events should allow virtually any tournament if players are willing to sit in the game. Twenty years ago the largest buy in was for 10k which was the WSOP main event now 10k tournament are offered throughout the year at various events. Overtime the game will continue to develop and these tournament structures will only get larger allowing players to risk more, gain more, and be a game changer for some.

http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/

With anticipation of the WSOP tournaments starting May 27th we will be discussing up coming tournaments. The Midwest’s dedication to poker is growing with the most recent addition of tournaments taking place this month at the FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek, MI. This Mid-States Poker Tour will have multiple satellite events May 10th-15th ($260 entry) with the main event taking place on the 15th-18th. The main event has a $1,100 buy in with a guaranteed price pool of 200k minimum (pokeratlas.com). In my opinion, this is an awesome addition to the annual tournaments that already take place in the Midwest. Soaring Eagle which is another MI based casino located by Central Michigan University also holds an annual tournament known as the Heartland Event which generally has a decent player field and prize pool. As a resident of MI, having access to these smaller but good local tournaments is something I look forward to every year. Michigan has more relaxed views on casinos and gambling then many other states. Detroit has consistently placed in the top 20 of the most profitable casinos in the U.S. over the past few years which only takes in account Greek Town, MGM, and Motor City casino. Unfortunately, like many states online poker is still banned and does not look promising anytime soon. 

World Series of Poker has events taking place from Late May to early July leading up to the main event which will begin on July 5th (wsop.com). This will attract players to take up temporary residence in Las Vegas for the entire time frame, weekend warriors or individuals taking time off to play in these events, cash game players, local players, fans, and tourist. During this timeframe there is always great action at the tables, higher stakes, and the opportunity to win/lose a substantial amount of money. Through events that the WSOP, WPT, and EPT tours host allows players to earn a substantial portion of their income for the year. Cash game players who do not play in tournaments will also spend a large portion of this time in Las Vegas. The WSOP gives them the earning potential available from the large amount of players, bankrolls, and tourist who will be vacationing for these events.

For more information check out these websites

http://www.cardschat.com/



http://www.pokernews.com/
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/
http://www.pokeratlas.com/poker-tournament-series/mid-states-poker-tour-mspt-battle-creek-firekeepers-battle-creek-2014