John Juanda Crosspost

[Andy B]

I didn't see this event, but I was out with Most Favored Drinking Partner and Noted Trombone Authority John T. and his trusty sidekick Kevin when another WSOP stud event was on at our favorite watering hole. Seems to me that there was a hand there when they were down to three or four players where Men Nguyen and someone else went back and forth enough that Men figured his Queens were beaten and laid them down. Thing was, by that point, the pot was more than big enough for him to chase the other guy's Kings. I don't know if there was anyone on a very short stack who Men was hoping would bust out before he did or what, but the play of the hand seemed odd to me.

[Andy B]

In all poker games, unless players are completely oblivious, which probably isn't the case at the final table of a WSOP event, what happened on past hands influences what happens in future hands. Since there are more showdowns in stud than there are in NLHE, I would submit that past hands have at least as much potential to influence future hands in a stud tournament as in a NLHE tournament.

[Andy B]

The current poker boom is fueled largely by people who have seen this poker on TV, and they want to play hold'em. Of course, they want to play no-limit, which most card rooms have the good sense not to offer, but they want to play hold'em. I don't know about other places, but Canterbury Park goes out of its way to make sure that as much of the action is hold'em:

1) Apart from the Monday morning stud tournament, all regular tournaments are now hold'em. This year's Fall Classic will include one stud tournament, two Omaha/8 tournaments, and eleven hold'em touranments.

2) They do what they can to make sure that the hold'em jackpot is big. The hold'em jackpot is hit when Aces full of Tens or better is beaten by quads or better. Both hole cards from both hands must play, and Aces-full must have at least one Ace in the hole. The requirement for stud is Aces full of Tens getting beaten by anything, which is a lot easier to do. The hold'em jackpot is frequently over $50k, and has gotten over $100k several times. The stud jackpot is rarely over $10k, and only got as high as $20k once, three and a half years ago. Sometimes when the hold'em jackpot goes off several times in succession, they'll add money to it. They have never added money to the stud or Omaha jackpots.

3) Two years ago, the higher limit players decided that they wanted to play $30/60 stud/8. There was a shift manager at Canterbury, no longer there, who pushed his superiors to advertise the game. How many places in the country have $30/60 stud/8? It went every day for quite a while, and people would (and did) travel for a game like that. They wouldn't promote it, because they drop more per hour from a hold'em game.

Last night the joint was full. There was a $2/4 stud game, a $4/8 O/8 game, and 29 hold'em games. Maybe I should move back to Connecticut.

[turnipmonster]

it seems like high stakes stud is an east coast thing. they have 400-800 at the taj and several places in nyc spreading 70-150 and 100-200

[Ray Zee]

you have to pay attention more in stud so i suppose many people like holdem, so they can look away and have a conversation while playing. i like that also.

[berya]

Maybe not old school but Nick Frangos is a high limit stud pro from the Taj.

[FeliciaLee]

I thought Nick was very nice. We were at the same Razz table together for several hours and he was unfailingly polite to everyone. There was a bit of a problem with John Bonetti, but he handled it well, as did we all (I think, lol). He even tried to help Bonetti open a vial of Tylenol which was obviously more than childproof (no one could get it open).

He did seem to try to play Razz more like NLHE, ramming and jamming, even with paint on board, but he got a ton of action when he had a premium hand, so what do I know.

After a few hours of really going nowhere, he seemed kind of frustrated and blew off chips. Maybe he just isn't that interested in Razz, and didn't try overly hard to make the 2nd day (final table).

I was very impressed by Nick. My husband and I talked about his play and his personality after that tournament (this was the first time I'd been at a table with him).

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
www.felicialee.net