This and That

By Mick McCloskey

Two lucky lads from Belfast recently won trips to Paris, courtesy of Ladbrokes Poker, to play in The European Hall of Fame Tournament. This is an invitation only event held during the Euro Finals of Poker in the prestigious Aviation Club de France, situated in the heart of Paris on the famous Champs Elysees.The $10,000 event gives internet qualifiers the chance to meet and play live against hall of famers in the grand surrounds of the ACF.Although not all the advertised players made it to Paris the two tables sat down to pit their poker skills against former World Heads Up Champion, Bruno Fitoussi,Hall of Fame founder, Bruce “Elvis Senior” Atkinson and Dave “Devilfish”Ulliot. For a $22 investment, Martin McCabe took home 3,415 euro and, for an outlay of $10 Desi Graham pocketed 1,700 euro. The two will, no doubt, also take away some nice memories of their experience. I’m not sure, but I would be surprised if they didn’t get a song or two, and maybe a duet, from Elvis and the Devilfish. Surprise, surprise, Devilfish ended up winning the tournament. No problem for Dave then, playing internet players.

A word of caution for anyone playing E.P.T.and perhaps some other events. The new Tournament Directors rulebook brings in a couple of rules which could trip some players up. On tables with action lines drawn on them, any chips that cross that line have to remain in the pot. So, if a player lifts a stack of chips to call a bet, puts them across the line and drops off the required chips to call, this action is ruled to be a raise for the whole stack, unless he has verbally announced a call before the chips crossed the line. Quite a few players were caught out by this strictly enforced rule in Deauville and Vienna recently. There is, therefore, no such thing as a string bet once chips cross that line.So, beware, you have been warned. Some of the more astute angle shooters have already misused this rule by pretending to be caught out by the rule, when they are in fact holding a monster hand. This is something which I think, the organisers need to look at. Also beware making any hand or finger movements when it is your turn to act. Such movements may be ruled to be a check.

The Belfast player, formerly known as “Madmax”but who now wishes to be known as “Sanemax”recently had an unfortunate experience online. He was playing cash NLH on Betfair when he picked up AQ hearts on the big blind. Everyone folded except the small blind. The flop comes K,J,10,all hearts! Small blind checks,Max checks. Then the unthinkable happens. The software freezes and the hand is folded.Max immediately contacted Betfair,who to their credit, paid out the Royal Flush bonus of £300.Whether he would have got any action from the other player we will never know. As for the new name? Frankly I am not convinced there has been any change!