September 12, 2011

by Lou Krieger

In my last column we talked about how Dan Harrington made a play contrary to his image at the 2004 WSOP final table to win a big pot. Josh Arieh and Greg Raymer were playing very aggressively at the final table—but each folded when facing a reraise by “Action” Dan Harrington. With a very tight image, Harrington entered very few pots. But when he did, he came in raising, and he only showed down high-quality hands. Although Arieh and Raymer had significant money in the pot, they folded when Harrington made a play at the pot. This was so totally out of character for Harrington’s image that Arieh and Raymer each bought the story, and never realized that “Action” Dan had stolen a big pot right out from under their noses until seeing it on TV months later.

By Lou Krieger and Shari Geller

 We had a chance to talk recently with Phil Hellmuth. In Part 1, we discuss his new venture, an iPhone app. In Part 2 we discuss Hellmuth’s amazing three near-misses at this year’s World Series of Poker, what else he’s working on, and his predictions for the future of online poker’s legalization.

 PPN: Why don’t you start with what the Phil Hellmuth Poker Odds Calculator is, how it works, and when you’d use it.

 Hellmuth: Well, it’s a really cool app. Any time you’re in a poker hand, you can pull it out and you can see exactly what the odds are. The unique thing about this—and of course you can run it on fourth street and you can run it on the flop—is that you can run your hand against a range of hands.

by Ashley Adams
 
I had a wonderful poker playing odyssey, combining a visit to my poker-playing brother in Minnesota, with some stops in poker rooms to and fro. I was pleased to learn that poker is thriving in our nation’s midsection. In my last column I expounded on my delicious trip to Pittsburgh where I played at the relatively new rooms in the Pittsburgh area, the Meadows and the Rivers. In this article I’ll give you a taste of four other rooms I played in during the rest of my trip: Running Aces in Columbus, Minnesota; The Horseshoe in Hammond, Indiana, The Four Winds Casino, right over the Michigan border in New Buffalo, and Firekeepers Casino, 100 miles east in Battle Creek, Michigan.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather during Poker Player’s Alaskan cruise. I spent three days prior to the cruise in Seattle and it was in the mid 60’s and sunny every day. I believe the residents of Seattle don’t want outsiders to know how nice it is so they say it rains all the time. We set sail on August 5 for Juneau, from there to Skagway, then to the Sawyer Glacier, and last was my favorite, Victoria, BC. What a beautiful city!