The Bill Rini Poker Blog
From the category archives:
I love the Google Suggest feature that offers suggestions on searches you might want to run based on searches other people have run in the past. Here’s what happens when you ask “Phil Ivey is ” and “Phil Hellmuth is ”
Phil Hellmuth is a douche
Phil Ivey is the stone cold nuts
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Last week I said the Razz poker article that was coming up included one of my favorite all time poker stories. Instead of writing your standard how to play Razz article which you’ll be able to find in about 5 seconds on Google I’m just going to dive straight in and try to write something that’s exciting and more importantly interesting!
If you didn’t catch my first article then you can find it here: Introduction to Low Ball poker
Some of you might have heard of Archie ‘The Greek’ Karas but most of you probably haven’t. His story is one of true greatness. Archie is a man who is considered to be the greatest gambler of all time and when he arrived in Las Vegas to shoot pool in 1992 no one could have guessed what was about to go down.
Archie was in town to shoot pool but his love of gambling and natural talent for poker was where his story really stars. With just $50 in his poker Archie rocked up to Binions Horseshoe and started playing in the Razz poker games. In no time at all Archie had ran his $50 into a massive $30,000. During this heater Archie player only Razz and by the end of it he was sat in one of the biggest games in town a $200/$400 fixed limit Razz cash game.
With $30,000 in his pocket Archie then began shooting pool and after some truly epic battles with a player who to this day remains nameless Archie had turned his $30,000 in to a staggering $7,000,000!
It was at this point that Archie entered Binions Horseshoe sat at a heads up table with $5,000,000 in front of him and presented an open challenge to anyone with the bottle to come and play him. Of course the game was Razz and the first challenger was the legendary Stu Ungar. The two greats of the game battled for 3 straight days until finally Archie broke Stu Ungar taking a total of $500,000 from him. At the time it was the biggest game the poker world had ever seen. After Stu Ungar challengers came and went but no one ever got the best of Archie.
In fact the only person to ever get the best of Archie was Archie himself. He got bored with playing poker, the action wasn’t fast enough and the stakes weren’t high enough. Archie moved to the craps tables where his Vegas heater would finally end. At his highest point it’s said Archie was up over $50,000,000 but slowly and surely he went broke shooting craps for over $200,000 a point.
The years Archie spent gambling in Vegas will always be remembered and his reputation as the worlds greatest ever gambler is firmly set in Las Vegas history.
If this story has sparked an interest in Razz poker for you then you should check my new Razz poker website. It covers everything you’ll need to learn the game and play online.
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Bluff Magazine recently announced their Power 20 of poker and I’ve seen several people comment here and there about who should or should not have been on the list. Before I give my views, here’s the list:
1. PokerStars
2. Full Tilt Poker
3. Mitch Garber
4. Howard Lederer
5. Ty Stewart
6. Doyle Brunson
7. Joe Cada
8. Barney Frank
9. Tony G
10. Daniel Negreanu
11. Phil Ivey
12. John Pappas
13. Mike Sexton
14. Mori Eskandani
15. Brian Balsbaugh
16. Lance Bradley
17. Joe Sebok
18. Barry Shulman
19. Matt Savage
20. Per Hagen
I think if Bluff is going to recognize entities like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker then I’m not really sure on some of the other logic. Is Mitch Garber #3 because he’s Mitch Garber or is he #3 because he is essentially in charge of the WSOP at the moment? If it’s the later then shouldn’t the WSOP be #3 instead of the man?
Now, don’t get me wrong, I used to work for Mitch and he’s a very bright and intelligent guy and very capable of leading the WSOP but my question goes more to whether he would be on the list if he would have taken another job. If he was running another poker room would he be #3? Personally, I don’t think he would be. I don’t find that to be a reflection on Mitch but more on how these rating things tend to skew results towards organizations than individuals even though they honor the individual who is at the top of the organization.
Which makes it equally confusing as to why they left off Ray Bitar (CEO Full Tilt Poker) or Isai Scheinberg (founder PokerStars). If you’re going to name Full Tilt and PokerStars as the top two in your Power 20 then how do the driving forces behind them not even get a mention?
And what about Bluff’s Editor in Chief, Lance Bradley, being on the list? Is Lance Bradley that influential or is Bluff? I’m not taking a stab at Lance as I don’t even know the guy. I’m simply asking why name a person in one instance and an entire company in another?
I’m also not really a fan of picking the current WSOP ME winner as a shoe-in for the list. Joe Cada is probably a really cool guy but this time next year will he make the list after a new WSOP champion has been crowned? If not, what is he doing on the list? Why not just list it as “Current WSOP ME Champion”? Shouldn’t the list reflect lifetime contribution to the industry rather than who’s the flavor of the week? I mean that in no disrespect to Cada but let’s face it, the press is fickle and the spot on the Power 20 goes to the current WSOP ME champion and not to the actual individual human being.
Overall putting together these types of lists is difficult. Mostly because it’s subjective. On top of that Bluff claims “Each year BLUFF Magazine seeks the opinion and input of the poker industry in hopes of putting together a comprehensive list for our readers of the most influential and powerful people in the poker industry” which sounds good on paper but if you ask a group of people who all have a certain view on the industry your list is going to be biased towards that view.
For instance, the list seems to be somewhat over-represented with agents and media people. Considering the billions of dollars made throughout the industry do they really represent that much influence? Or is it that a magazine publisher would need to deal with agents in order to get exclusive interviews so these people seem much more influential than they might be to the industry as a whole.
I really don’t know and I’m not accusing anyone of anything other than being subjective which leaves room for others to question how the list was put together. You can’t really argue with lists like Fortune 500 or Forbes Richest lists because they’re objective. Forbes may love me but that still doesn’t mean I can get a spot on their rich list.
Anyway, enough with that malarky, on with the week(s) that was . . .
Play Money Players Are Free to Officially Hate Me
Valentine’s Day in Thailand
Phil Gordon, Chris Hanel, The Wampler, and Me Roshambo for Cash
Bill’s Poker Blog Exclusive Freeroll on Chili Poker
Using a Stop Loss Strategy
Punishing Passive Players
Playing Marginal Hands
Micro Stakes Poker Strategy
Down Swings With Rakeback
Clearing Poker Bonuses
PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.com Moving to Merge Gaming
Recognizing Tilt
Poker Education
6 Max No Limit Hold’em Cash Games
Creating a Table Image
Playing Aggressive Poker
Race for your share of €60,000 at Paradise Poker
Cake Poker $60,000 Rake Race
Taking Shots
Senior Financial Controller – Poker
Media Analyst – Poker
Regional Customer Relationship Marketing Manager – Poker
Night Operations Manager – Poker
Marketing Manager, UK & Ireland – Poker
Poker Executive
Business Analyst – Poker Experience
Poker Affiliate Manager
Remember, if your company has a job opening and you want to list it on Poker Job Search, just give us a shout and we’ll get your job posted for you. And if you’re a in-house recruiter or agency and have a tough spot to fill please contact me about sponsoring Poker Job Search. Your jobs will get priority placement and a specific mention on this site as part of your sponsorship package.
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About Bill Rini
Hi, my name is Bill Rini and this is my poker blog. I've been blogging about poker and the poker industry since around 2003-ish. Like most people I started out playing poker as entertainment in home games whenever we wanted to sit around and smoke cigars, drink beer, and eat pizza, and needed a good excuse. I started playing online shortly after the first online card rooms opened and it wasn't long before I was playing 20, 30, or even 40 hours a week or more. One day I received a phone call about a program manager position at Tiltware which was the company that consulted to Full Tilt Poker on software development and marketing. After Tiltware I spent about 2.5 years working at Party Poker where I was the poker room manager.
Most recently I've decided to spend some time working on the blog, some personal projects, consulting work for poker rooms and affiliates, and continuing to work on my poker game.
I currently reside in Bangkok, Thailand where in my free time I enjoy photography, going down to the islands for some scuba diving, and learning the Thai language.
If you have any projects that need a fresh set of ideas and some outside of the box thinking that you feel we could collaborate on please feel free to contact me.
