Poker News @ ICUFISH

As the online poker community turns the page to 2010, several posters have weighed in on their 2010 predictions. Who will rise up during the forthcoming 365 days? What shenanigans will players remember the 2010 calendar year for? Will a brand new player like Isildur1 emerge on the scene? PocketFives.com member Burying_Luck started off the discussion by asking, “Who do you think will break through in 2010? Whether it's unknown to known, known to elite status, or even bring the haterade stating who you think will drop off.”

Burying_Luck called out icudonk, Brett ManchVegasPwn Boucher, and Metsfan512 as several players who could likely turn on the jets in 2010. On icudonk, Burying_Luck succinctly explained, “Very solid player, even better person. Works hard on his game and has big things coming. I really can't think of anyone more deserving. 2010 is year of the icu IMO.” He also singled out Dave doubledave22 D'Alesandro of Wenonah, New Jersey, whose recent tournament victories include the $150,000 Guaranteed Deep Stack, $50,000 Guaranteed, and $100,000 Guaranteed, all on UB.com. The three wins combined for over $80,000.

The first responder in the thread was Rafael elgordo420 Rovira, who forecast that he would win his first Sunday major in the new stanza. Frank Frank1The1Tank Calo was one of many responders who rallied behind Mike Gags30 Gagliano (pictured at left), saying, “I vote Gags30 to finally hit a big score. His biggest score lifetime is pretty tiny.” Poster rivverkiller agreed, lending support to Gagliano: “Gags30 gonna have a huuuuuuge 2010… BBOY3110 gonna have a big year too.”

PocketFives.com Mod Jason jdpc27 Wheeler was confident in his abilities in the new decade: “I'm putting my money on myself for 2010. Been way too close way too many times… Look for me to absolutely beast it up.” He won the Full Tilt Poker $50,000 Guaranteed this year for $38,000 and finished as the runner-up in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $418,000.

Jordan scraface_79 Smith (pictured at right) boldly predicted, “If i start hitting the treadmill, exercising, and doing the right things after the pca, i think it will be gg all who stand in my path if i want it.” Smith, who recently celebrated his four-year anniversary as a member of PocketFives.com, final tabled a PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) event for $84,000 and was the Final Table Bubble Boy in the 2009 WSOP Main Event. Despite not being a part of the November Nine, Smith earned nearly $900,000.

PocketFives.com member JesseWJames endorsed himself for a monumental 2010 run: “I just graduated college and got back from a three month trip to Europe during which I played almost no poker. I am going to be playing full time in 2010 and this is going to be my breakout year.” The California poker player is a former winner of the Full Tilt Poker $65,000 Guaranteed.

Albert Chuns was ecstatic for 2010 to kick off, explaining, “Well boys Im not a hsmtt but You will see me on my rise for 2010! LOOK OUT FOR ALBERT CHUNS BABY! Ill be up there in no time!” Chuns finished third in the Full Tilt Poker $21,000 KO Guaranteed in early September, earning $4,600, his largest online poker cash to date.

Phillip pbutchgolf Butcher gave a scouting report on one online poker player to look for as the industry rings in the new year: “There are tales about this young fella who lives in Huntington, WV that is supposed to take the world by storm this year. He goes by the name PnutSpry and he talks non stop about how he will be ranked in the top 100 by the WSOP. Watch out world!” In 2009, PnutSpry won the $35,000 Guaranteed on Full Tilt Poker for $8,600.

What does 2010 hold for you? Check out the thread in Poker Discussion and lend your insight.

In 2009, Devin TranquilChaos Porter welcomed a new member of the family. Now eight months old, Mason Porter has turned his daddy’s world upside down. The new addition to the family watched as his father final tabled the PokerStars Sunday Million in October for $82,000. In 2010, Porter plans to become more of a fixture on the live poker circuit, which he largely vacated this year. So what does the New Year hold for the longtime staple of the online poker community? How was Mason’s very first Christmas? PocketFives.com virtually traveled to Utah to find out.

Porter has had a parade of success in the poker industry throughout the course of his career. He final tabled the first two World Poker Tour (WPT) events he played, a fourth place finish in the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic and a third place effort in the Mirage Poker Showdown; they combined for $533,000. In 2007, Porter landed in fourth in a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during the World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $139,000. In 2008, Porter grabbed third in a $1,500 buy-in WSOP No Limit Hold’em Short-Handed event for $151,000.

PocketFives.com: Thanks for joining us. Tell us where your live and online poker schedules sit as we enter 2010.

Devin Porter: After that Sunday Million final table in October, I had a lackluster finish to the year. There were a few close calls, but I was basically just donating back. I took a lot of time off with the holidays and celebrated that Sunday Million final table, so I'm sure I wasn’t as sharp as I could be. I'll be going to the Commerce Casino for the L.A. Poker Classic prelims at the end of January. There will be a short hiatus as I fly cross-country to Miami for the Super Bowl and then I’ll likely go back to L.A. for the $10,000 Main Event.

PocketFives.com: Are you ready to get back out on the poker tournament trail? Do you miss it at all?

Devin Porter: I definitely miss it. There’s something to be said for the feel of the cards, the shuffling of the chips, controlling your breathing when making a big bluff, stacking a huge pile of chips, the inane chatter of amateurs, and telling the same stupid stories over and over.

PocketFives.com: How often do you plan on playing in 2010 given you’ll have a son at home that will miss you?

Devin Porter: He’s amazing. I’ll get some awful bad beat, be angry, look over at him, and he’ll just be smiling away. He is the ultimate tilt control. I'll probably still not be back to playing as often as I was pre-baby, but I know I’m going to the L.A. Poker Classic. I'd like to go to Bay 101 and maybe a random Las Vegas series like the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza or Wynn Championship. Then, I'll be in Las Vegas for a full schedule of WSOP events.

PocketFives.com: One of your largest online poker scores to date came by virtue of final tabling the Sunday Million in October for $82,000. Tell us how important that cash was given your well-known success in the live arena on the WPT and WSOP.

Devin Porter: It's always nice to bink a five-figure amount, but this was a little sweeter, as I've been running pretty badly throughout the year. I was actually a little disappointed that I didn’t break the six-figure mark because coming into 2009, I'd had a six-figure score in each of the last four years going back to 2005. I was hoping that I'd have another big result before the year was out, but it wasn’t meant to be.

PocketFives.com: Tell us about Mason’s (pictured at right) first Christmas.

Devin Porter: It was excellent. Just like most babies, he enjoyed the paper and boxes much more than the actual gifts he received. He usually naps every couple of hours, but I'm not sure I remember a nap that day with all of the moving around and going to visit relatives. Next year, it will be good too, as he might understand the whole Santa thing.

One of my oldest friends (25 years and counting) is a vice-principal at the same high school he attended in times gone by.  He was a standout teacher, then became music department head, then was promoted again a couple years back.  He is a dedicated and passionate educator who cares about providing the best possible environment for his students and fellow faculty and staff.

His position as a school figurehead brings with it notoriety both positive and negative.  He has helped teach thousands of students about music, conduct and life over the years, hopefully molding today’s young minds into tomorrow’s leaders.  He also has, as I recently learned, a “hate group” on Facebook, where some previously aggrieved students can gather and talk shit about him.

He wasn’t happy.  It can be tough not to take this stuff personally, even if we take Vito Corleone’s “it’s not personal…it’s business” advice to heart.  In a detached way, the hate group is just business.  None of these students really know him personally.  They just know he caught them pulling a smoke alarm or shooting spitwads, and busted them for it.  But the thought that someone would say mean-spirited things about him was quite hurtful, just the same.

The vast majority of people are social creatures.  We want to be around others, to like them, and have them like us.  If someone does something nice for us, we thank him or her.  If we do something mean to another, we apologize.  If they express a positive opinion of us, we are flattered and pleased.

And, as it relates to just about every poker session we play…if they tell us we did something stupid, we react emotionally, negatively.  Constructive criticism is one thing; I’m talking about the guy you just sucked out on calling you a donkey, an idiot, Chris Hansen’s favorite “Dateline NBC” subject, etc.  The railbird who finds you at subsequent tables, even different tournaments, with the sole aim to harass and belittle you. 

Only the bad guys in professional wrestling truly want to be hated…being the bad guy puts money in their pocket.  In poker, having someone distracted from what they’re supposed to be doing by vitriolic hatred can also be very profitable.  Most people, myself included, have tilted off a stack due to, in some part, an E-fight.  And it’s fairly obvious some folks come to the table looking for a fight to put their opponents in that state – or at the very least, don’t shy away when the opportunity presents itself.  Matusow and Hellmuth didn’t get called “The Mouth” and “Poker Brat” by accident.

I’m not recommending being the guy trying to get under everyone’s skin by being abrasive or confrontational.  I think it’s bad for the game.  Most people aren’t as good at it as they think they are.  And, most importantly, I think the majority of agitators distract and tilt themselves, hurting them more any edge to be gained putting their opponents off-stride.  If you’re constantly thinking of the next smart remark or insult, the less focus you have on the game itself.

In a similar vein, if someone is going after you, it’s probably not worth your effort to return fire and launch of volley of insults back.  Good sport, maybe, but distracting from the end result.  You want every chip on the table, not to put your enemy in his place.  If you win the verbal battle, but lose the card war…you’re still out of the game.

I can’t go to my bank and deposit a chat log showing how soundly I thrashed this douchebag who insulted my 3-bet shove with 97 suited.

Don’t get into a defense of your play either.  If your opponent can’t understand fold equity, and why you 3-bet shoved with 97 suited…that’s his problem, not yours.  If he doesn’t know why calling with KJ offsuit was a bad play, even though he may have been ahead this one time…that’s his problem, not yours.  Part of wanting to be liked includes nobody wanting for others to think they’re stupid.  In poker, if everyone else thinks you’re stupid, that’s awesome!  Why dispel the myth, and give out free lessons in the process?

So, you want to keep the tilted player on tilt for as long as possible, without sinking to his level?  Well, think back to The Godfather.  This is just business…or, at the very least, gamesmanship.  He or she probably wouldn’t be saying these terrible things about your mother or the size of your junk if you hadn’t beaten him in a pot.  So it’s not actually about you, personally, is it?  If you act like it is, and sink to their level, very little good can come of it.

Try to say as little as possible – just enough to keep the conversation (and his tilt) going, but nothing more.  The more you say, the quicker you will use up whatever you have to say, and the quicker his rant will finish.  Not good.  Respond just enough to prompt the next round of epithets. You want the rant to keep going, even if he’s on the rail.  The longer our new friend continues to go nuts, the more likely it is he will remember who we are, and make the same assumptions about our heritage or personal hygiene habits the next time we see them.

The best way for you to keep a level head during this is to be exceedingly polite.  Don’t curse back…that’s what he wants.  There is a noble art form to killing with kindness.  The old adage “you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” is often true, and definitely worth pursuing even if it doesn’t hold every time.

Look, I know staying above the fray isn’t always easy.  But it’s something we should all aspire to.  There’s no need for hate.  As John Lennon said, “All you need is love”…and he was The Walrus, after all.

PartyGaming’s decision to acquire the World Poker Tour has positioned the company with a vehicle that will help to re-embed the company in the U.S.-facing market once the UIGEA is repealed. Considered one of the top stories of the year by many…

Triple Crown winner Jeff “jshark4″ Sharkey and WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel are our feature guests.