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September 2008 |
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Welcome to another edition of the Lizzard Gazzette!
We would like everyone to know that this isn't just a newsletter for the members of The League of Lizzards, but for all of Railbirds.com. It contains information about what the League is up to as well as jokes, interesting articles, poker tips, tournament information, book reviews, and much more!
Last month we were well over a month later than we had planned publishing the Gazzette. Getting it organized was tough. This edition went together much more smoothly. We had planned for this to be out last weekend but we waited to add the Accomplishments section since the RB admins needed to update the rankings.
We hope you enjoy what we have put together for you in this edition and if you have any suggestions, ideas, or feedback don't hesitate to let the Lizzard Editors know!
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Bodog_Seizure
Aug 3, 2008
By Ozone
From the Weekly Shuffle
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Last week, the U.S. government seized $24 million from a unlicensed payment processor known as ZipPayments. The company's bank accounts have been linked to internet gaming company Bodog. Calvin Ayre, founder of Bodog, has long been a target of the Department of Justice (DOJ) for his outspoken and defiant violation of the U.S. Wire Act. Although Mr. Ayre has recently distanced himself from the company by announcing his retirement from daily operations, the company's actions are still being targeted.
In the affidavit for the case, the DOJ mentions sports gambling as an illegal activity. There is no mention of poker, but that should not be taken to mean other U.S.-facing online poker rooms and their clients have no reason to be concerned.
To seize this money, the DOJ relied on US Code Title 18,1960 which prohibits the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business. This code does not require the underlying activity that is generating the funds to be illegal. In other words, the Department of Justice found a loophole through which to seize funds from an online gaming firm without having to address the legal nature of online gambling. Basically, they were able to take $24 million from Bodog simply by demonstrating the money was being transmitted by an unlicensed firm (ZipPayments).
This could spell trouble for online poker outfits like PokerStars or Full Tilt who previously thought of themselves as less exposed to DOJ activity than Bodog since they do not book sports wagers. However, it is possible that these companies use licensed payment processors. After all, why hasn't the DOJ made a seizure like this a long time ago? Perhaps ZipPayments was a rogue processor whose funds could be easily seized.
Bodog operations are unlikely to be dramatically affected by this incident. As far as online gambling sites go, Bodog has a good reputation for paying their players. Their sportsbetting operation is among the largest on the internet. Since the company likely profits in excess of $100 million a year, an isolated loss of $24 million isn't in and of itself a reason to cease operations. A lot of online poker players have displayed signs of panic by stating they are cashing out all of their money from Bodog. That is probably an overreaction.
What this incident really speaks to is that the DOJ still has online gambling in their sights. Things have been mostly quiet since they arrested Neteller's founders in January of last year. The DOJ's approach in seizing this money was to make a quick and successful jab at an online gaming operator to send ripples of worry through the industry. Since the legal nature of online gaming (specifically online poker) is so murky in the U.S., this terrorism-style approach is their best shot at taking down online gaming outfits.
Consider a group of radical Muslim extremists like Al-Qaeda. It is simply too insurmountable for them to think they can decimate all of America. However, if they can deal one isolated, yet effective blow, as they did in 2001, the ripple-effect can lead to compounding and large damages. This is clearly the approach the DOJ is taking against online gambling.
Moving into the foreseeable future, it is unlikely we will see any significant changes to the legality of online poker in the United States. There will not be any legislation passed that legalizes or criminalizes the activity. Party Poker won't be "coming back soon" as some players foolishly believe. And Barack Obama is not going to overturn the UIGEA, as some players even more foolishly believe.
Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but legal issues the online gaming industry faces in the U.S. will remain infrequent and boring for years to come. Occasionally, a plane will hit a building and everyone will get excited, but after a while, things will return to business as... unusual. |
| If you're a resident and citizen of the United States and a poker player and are not yet a member of the Poker Players Alliance you are doing a disservice to the game we all love - Click on the banner .....Join Now!
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The RBLC Season 1 came to an end past this month and while the Lizzards finished with a record of 5-5, scoring 1875 points, we narrowly missed the playoffs. It was a great season and we certainly look forward to the upcoming season starting in October. Our Congrats to TheSharks who won the
1st RBCL Championship.
Last month we also had our Clan Battle against the King Cartel. They certainly were some fierce opponents but in the end our very own Konawajim brought it home for the Lizzards. Well done, Konawajim!
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New inductees into
the Blog of Fame for the winners of Lizzards_League Tournaments:
RITJ August Winners
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9-A AlanChiras
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9-B SilentbobAK47
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9-C Sweets aka Sun
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9-D Dillwhack
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9-E Lizasback
- 9-F A55A55IN
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9-G dadogg2903
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9-H Bullishwwd
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9-I xxxxxx
Lizzards Lounge #4 Winner
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Playing the Odds In Tournaments
by Lou Krieger
I received a lot of favorable feedback about my recent column, 'Playing the Odds'. This piece expands on it by discussing the impact of odds in tournaments. Next issue we’ll look at implied odds.
Tournament players have additional factors to consider when deciding whether to fold or continue drawing. Even when the pot will offset the odds against making a hand, the risk of elimination sometimes overshadows any potential rewards.
Because of this, folding is often advisable even when the relationship between pot odds and the odds against making your hand are favorable.
If you are faced with a bet that puts you all-in if you call, your entire tournament life is at stake if you lose, while winning an all-in confrontation seldom comes with any guarantees. You might not even make it to the money. Tournament decisions must often be made with an eye to your relative position against the entire field. That’s never an issue in a cash game, when all that's at stake is winning or losing the money wagered on a given hand.
Tournament players also have to consider the relationship between their chip count and the cost to play one complete orbit of poker.
Early in a tournament every player usually has a very large amount of chips relative to the blinds. In a tournament where players begin with $1,500 in chips and face blinds of $10-20, it costs only $30 to play one full orbit of poker, and each player has 50 times that in chips. Because each player has lots of chips compared to the blinds, the early stages of tournaments can be played much like cash games.
Draws to straights and flushes can be played now although they will become unplayable later on in the event, when the blinds have escalated and a player may only have four, five, or ten times the cost of a round of poker.
Playing a drawing hand in those circumstances is probably going to involve going all-in and risking your entire tournament life. It’s usually a lot better to play a made hand than a draw when tournament survival is at stake.
Nevertheless, there are situations where you have to risk your entire tournament life on marginal hands. If you have a relatively small stack of chips, you can’t afford to sit and wait for a big pocket pair. They don’t come around often enough. That means going all-in with as little as a lone ace, especially when no one else has voluntarily entered the pot yet, and you still have enough chips to make someone think twice about calling your all-in bet.
In these situations, calculating outs is not terribly important. What matters most is deciding whether you believe your all-in bet stands a good chance of winning the pot right there, coupled with your chances of winning if you pair your ace.
Pot odds do become important in tournaments when you have a hand with a draw attached to it. You might flop a pair with a draw, giving you two ways to win. When that happens, you can’t ignore those additional outs that your draw offers. You might pick up a draw while holding two cards bigger than the board. If you pair one of your overcards, you can win without ever having to make your draw.
If you take one thing away from this column, it’s this: Recognize that the relationship between the size of the pot and the odds against making your hand isn’t always as significant in tournament poker as it is in a cash game.
In a cash game, each hand is a world unto itself, played in a vacuum of sorts. In tournament poker, each hand must be analyzed and assessed in terms of chip counts, relative stack size compared to the cost of playing another orbit of hands, where you stand in relationship to your opponent’s chip count, and whether playing and winning will move you up the pay ladder.
You’ve got to take a different look at things when making a play or fold decision in a tournament, and that look is much broader than it is in a cash game.
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SEPTEMBER
Lizzards_League
Tournaments
Open To All
Railbirds
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Tournaments For
Lizzards_League
Members Only
Mark Your Calenders
NOW!
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Day, Date
& Time |
Game Type |
| Mon 9/1 18:00 |
NL HE |
| Sat 9/6 12:30 |
PL Omaha H/L |
| Mon 9/8 18:00 |
FL Razz |
| Sat 9/13 12:30 |
PL HA |
| Mon 9/15 18:00 |
Stud H/L |
| Sat 9/20 12:30 |
NL HE HU |
| Mon 9/22 18:00 |
PL HA |
| Sat 9/27 12:30 |
FL Razz |
| Mon 9/29 18:00 |
FL HORSE |
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Saturday September 20 @ 2300
No Limit Holdem KO
1.25+.50 Rake, 25c per KO |
For a detailed description and
passwords, please see the main
tourney blogs here:
RITJ September
Lizzards' Lounge #5
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**Updated** Saturday Sept. 28 18:00est FTP
SheLizzards vs HeLizzards
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THE RAILBIRDS CLAN LEAGUE
The RBCL Returns in October!
Keep your eyes open for the details!
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Be sure to watch for private messages from the Lizzards_League with the detailed information and passwords for these and other Lizzard or League member sponsored tournaments!
Good Luck and see everyone there!!
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You can also visit the
for complete details for these and
other upcoming private tournaments.
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The League of Lizzards is always looking for new members ...
If you are interested in joining one of the friendliest families on this site Go Green and contact us today!
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Joined in August
Icecoldkiller, HempHog2, Bullishwwd, Fanch, Houndawg37, Langone, Corey16, Dang78, Knette9, MeTim2, Tony17,
and our first ever Honorary Lizzard MartyJr2
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August 2008
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Daily
Quiz |
Freeroll
Top 100 |
Real Money
Top 100 |
| langone |
astrogini |
A55A55IN |
MartyJr2 |
| Quasipro |
cj28000 |
astrogini |
Quasipro |
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JStrong84 |
bullishwwd |
SilentBobAK47 |
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mol2003 |
Cheekysmom |
unicat01 |
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A55A55IN
David is 37 years old and lives in Massachusetts. He plays on Full Tilt and PokerStars using the name A55A55IN. He has been playing poker for many years, playing online for the past seven. His favorite games are NLHE and Omaha H/L. He found out about Railbirds from a friend, initially joined to play the freerolls, but after reading advice blogs and posting poker quotes the response to what he did was so awesome, he became a very active Railbird.
ant1595
Anthony was born on June 23rd and lives in New York State. He plays on Full Tilt and PokerStars and his names are ant1595 or Afroman1595. He has been playing for about four years and his favorite game is NL Omaha H/L.
JWSlink
Justin is 26 years old and lives in Missouri. He plays on Full Tilt, PokerStars, UltimateBet, Carbon and Bodog and uses JWSlink on most sites. He has been playing poker from a very young age, learning to count by watching his father play cards. His favorite game is NLHE. He heard about Railbirds, signed up and stayed.
seabass69
Seba was born on August 3 and lives in Illinois. He plays on Full Tilt, PokerStars and uses the names Seabass5 or Seba69. He has been play poker for about a year and his favorite games are NLHE and Razz. He came to Railbirds.com after noticing the freerolls on FTP and PS. He liked the site and decided to stay.
theallinkid989
Justin was born in the month of September and lives in Pennsylvania. He plays on Full Tilt and PokerStars. He has been playing for about five years. His favorite game is NLHE. He found Railbirds and after taking a break from poker for awhile, he is now back after realizing he missed playing. He came to Railbirds.com after seeing an icon on PS and asked what it was about.
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| If you are a Lizzards_League member and have not yet completed our short member questionnaire please contact Cheekysmom. |
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Full_Tilt Poker_Strategy Guide
by The Full_Tilt Pros
Edited by Michael Craig
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Reviewed by SilentBobAK47
Any poker book on the market can give you world class advice on limit and no limit texas hold 'em from the mind of one, maybe two, world champion poker players. But there is one book out there that lets you get into the mind of twelve different poker players. I am talking about the Full Tilt Poker_Strategy Guide, a collaboration of Poker_Strategy edited by Michael Craig. He has put together a strategy guide that features chapters from twelve different Tilt pros who combine for 22 WSOP bracelets, 5 WPT titles and well over $30 million in tournament earnings so you know that these people know what they're doing at the tables. Most of the poker books on the market today mainly focus on the most popular game in the world which is of course Texas Hold 'em. This book does have a large section on both no limit and limit hold 'em but you can also find chapters on other games such as Omaha, Omaha h/l, Stud and Stud h/l, Razz, and even Roshambo!
In the no limit section Andy Bloch gives you advice on how to play pre-flop and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson gives you advice on post-flop play. Ted Forrest has a chapter on mixing up your play and how to use your own table image to your advantage. Phil Gordon tells you how to play the short stack and Gavin Smith talks about dominating your table with the big stack. And one useful chapter for us average Railbirds is Richard Brodie's chapter on how to win online multi table and sit and go tournaments.
But like I mentioned it's not all about Hold 'em. Chris Ferguson also has a chapter on Pot Limit Omaha strategy. Mike Matusow teaches us the strategy that he used to win a bracelet playing Omaha high/low. And there is a great section on tournament Seven Card Stud where Keith Sexton teaches you what starting hands you should play and David Grey tells us how we can win at Stud. Ted Forrest has a chapter on Stud high/low. Ted also co-wrote a chapter with Huck Seed on one of the most frustrating poker games around, razz. And Rafe Furst tells us how the game of roshambo (rock paper scissors) offers insights into the mental aspect of poker.
This book has helped me to become a better player especially in online tournaments and I am sure that it can help you too. I give this book my top rating, four aces, and I would recommend that any beginning poker player who wants to take their play to the next level and succeed in poker tournaments in the long run go out and buy this book and add it to their collection. |
We need your help!
Submit reviews of your favorite poker books
to place here in our future newsletters. |
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Poker Wisdom from:
Lou Krieger
"You have it in your power to turn a bad beat around simply by realizing this simple truth: The more bad beats you encounter, the luckier you are. It's a sign that you are playing against opponents who continually take the worst of it, and if you can't beat someone who always takes the worst of it, you can't beat anyone. "
"There's opportunity in poker.... If Horace Greeley were alive today, his advice wouldn't be "Go west young man, and grow up with the country". Instead he'd point to that deck of cards on the table and say, "Shuffle up and deal."
"If the shoe fits, steal it."
"Most of the money you'll win at poker comes not from the brilliance of your own play, but from the ineptitude of your opponents."
"Hold'em - like life itself - has it's defining moment. It's the flop. When you see the flop, you're looking at 71 percent of your hand, and the cost is only a single round of betting."
"Poker is a microcosm of all that we admire and disdain about capitalism and democracy. It can be rough-hewn or polished, warm or cold, charitable and caring, or hard and impersonal, fickle and elusive; but ultimately, it is fair, and right, and just."
"I believe in poker the way I believe in the American dream. Poker is good for you. It enriches the soul, sharpens the intellect, heals the spirit, and - when played well, nourishes the wallet."
Next Month: Mike Caro
Please submit any Mike Caro quotes to A55A55IN .
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Little Johnnie Talks
Poker
Little Johnnie had just turned six and much to his parents' chagrin, had never spoken. Johnnie's Grandpa, a well-known local poker player, was sympathetic to Johnnie's plight, and would take Johnnie with him whenever possible. One regular bonding session between grandpa and grandson was at the Elks Club's Saturday night 10-20 hold'em game. Johnnie would sit on grandpa's lap and faithfully watch as grandpa regularly cleaned out town council members, local attorneys and judges.
Alas, one Saturday night, grandpa seemed to be missing every flop, and was on the verge of tilt for the first time ever. Near the end of the evening in a capped pot, with grandpa on the button, he looked at his cards only to see 2-7 off. Furious at his run of bad luck, grandpa splashed the pot with a call.
Johnnie looked up at his grandpa and said, "You shouldn't have called that bet, papa."
Grandpa was stunned. "Johnnie, you're six years old, and those are the first words you've ever spoken!"
Johnnie looked at grandpa and said, "Well, up until now, you've been playing just fine."
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EDITORS NOTE
Be apart of The Lizzard Gazzette!
We'd LOVE to hear from you!
Please send submissions to:
We ask that your submissions be Poker or Lizzard related, please
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September
Bruheimo; bullishwwd; Cajun_Fryer; DaringDaria; EchelonXN; Frifrou; MclovinMcMuffin; mtminer; POKERVIPER; theallinkid989
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READER'S FEEDBACK
"Hi David! TY for the Blog of Fame, things like these make it fun and worthwhile to participate in such a series as the RITJ. The 18:00 starts at midnight over here, that's way too late for me, especially on a working day, but I soooooo love to participate in the one starting at 12:30. I almost don't dare to ask you - but would you mind correcting my ID either in the 4-G or in both the 5-E and the 8-C? My Railbird ID is Dr.Mik, but on Fulltilt I am CptnMik.
I hope that doesn't bother you too much - I'd love to show that list to my online friends, and I feel it will look better with a standardized ID.
Thank you David and I hope I can participate tomorrow!"
Dr.Mik
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© Copyright 2009
21 comments
TWEET!
WHAT an OUTSTANDING JOB!!!
Thanks to everyone who contributed. I hope everyone enjoys.
I truly enjoy the Meet the League section, as I like to learn more about my clan mates.
It was just a couple weeks ago that I looked for some good poker quotes and I found Lou Kreiger. Pretty cool that you chose to feature him too.
Thanks so much for putting this together!
I will write another book review for you guys for the next Gazzette.
-LRTF-
I'm very interested in that book now too. I might have to check into that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Bob.
Congrats to all members involved in the making of this newsletter......
An interesting read from start to finish,and a great look as well......
wow just awesome !!!!!!!!!!! Nice work by all that contributed. Sorry haven't very active lately but that is soon to change I hope. Don't ya just hate it when life interferes with RB's and poker.
tc all Kath