Casino Square in Monaco
The main event of the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final begins in Monaco today. It’s the flagship final event of the tour’s eighth season, staged in the Salle d’Etoiles at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel which features a retractable roof which, for a few minutes each day, reveals the Mediterranean blue sky, bright sunshine and horizon of one of the world’s most exclusive, not to mention expensive, coastlines.
The place suits opulence and the celebration of, well anything, which lends credence to the idea of Monaco being European poker’s spiritual home, and the ideal venue for the continent’s biggest live poker event.
Or is it?
Perhaps Monaco is too exclusive, what with astronomical rents and preference for baccarat in Casino square rather than Mind Sport. Is London’s Victoria Casino poker’s real home or maybe even Cannes, along the coast, home to the World Series of Poker Europe?
Who really knows?
Regardless, events in Monaco usually end memorably, as this week’s events should demonstrate. We’ll leave you to decide which destination you would call poker’s spiritual home.
For anyone thinking poker players adhere to a particular stereotype, a glance through recent results should demonstrate the game’s eclectic collection of recent winners.
On the other side of the Atlantic the World Series of Poker Circuit event proved a happy hunting ground for eventual winner Joe Kuether, from Wisconsin.
Kuether earned $111,104 for his efforts at the latest circuit event in Rincon, San Diego, coming on the back of a terrific March (winning two events at the Wynn in the week before the Circuit event) for the regional player, who, with the exception of a handful of WSOP scores, is usually found playing more modest buy-in events across the United States. Kuether epitomises the hard working (and successful) poker player.
Gordon Huntly
On the other side of the Pacific, Gordon Huntly was having his picture taken as the winner of the first leg of the new Australia New Zealand Poker Tour season, with a cheque for $238,832. Huntly, an ex-pat living in Asia, is a latecomer to the game, who business acumen into profit at the poker table, with cashes dotted around Asia and Europe, and winnings of half a million in less than three years.
Back in Europe an 18-year-old woman from France dominated the French Poker Series event in Evian. Veronika Pavlikova, playing her first major event, was pushing aside everyone on her way to her first title, and €70,000.
An internet pro, a tournament grinder, a former business man and an 18-year-old French girl; proof, if it were needed, that the key to poker success is not found in a standardised entry system, but in the quality of the individual. This most democratic of games is open to all.
Roberto Romanello
Being a successful poker player is not just about taking your seat and playing well in a tournament. It’s also out preparation.
Like athletes in any sport, the best poker players put the time between events to best use, with the aim of maximising their performance. For some this can mean keeping healthy so you start in the best possible shape mentally and physically. For others it’s simply a matter of staying focused, keeping mistakes and distractions to a minimum.
Two players exemplified that mentality on the European Poker Tour in Campione this week.
Patrik Antonius had his first taste of poker success in 2005, winning EPT Baden. A former tennis player, Antonius, from Finland, quickly displayed a unique will to succeed, first mastering hold’em and then studying other variations of the game with help of other pros, in order to broaden his skill base.
The result has been a record almost unrivalled in poker, of big wins in tournaments and a career built on high stakes cash games in Las Vegas. Those playing against Antonius they know they’re up against one of the most talented and best prepared players in the game.
Roberto Romanello may have more humble origins, coming from Swansea in South Wales, but the Welshman is another pro who demonstrates a knack for making every advantage for himself.
Ironically the former EPT winner has cashed only once in EPT main events this season, but he has cashed 11 times in side events, winning two and coming second in another. It’s a performance that puts him second in the Player of the Year rankings with two events left to play.
Romanello’s approach is simple, relying on complete focus for the week long trips, during which he has been known to turn his back on nights out to maintain his intense focus that has resulted in him reaching back to back finals in three separate festivals this season.
Combined with extraordinary talent, Antonius and Romanello are also humble. Both share another thing in common, a life beyond the walls of the tournament room. Antonius has two young children and rarely travels far away from his family. Romanello helps run the family business back in Swansea where a large extended family provide him with support while keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
Poker is not always predictable and can sometimes turn to bite you. It’s how you cope with that, and how you conquer it, that separates the good players from the truly great.
Last month we asked our Facebook Fans to answer the following question. From worst to best, what is the ranking of hands in 3-card poker?
- 3 of a kind – straight – flush
- Flush – straight – 3 of a kind
- Straight – 3 of a kind – flush
- 3 of a kind – flush – straight
The correct answer to this is “Flush – straight – 3 of a kind”, and of the 68 of you that answered, just 11 were correct, as can be seen here.
The vast majority (52 of those who responded) answered : Three of a Kind, Straight, Flush. This is hardly surprising as it follows typical hand rankings you’d find in any game of poker, such as Texas hold’em.
Alas, this is wrong, and at least one member of staff in the IFP office took some convincing, with all kinds of algebra, then simple pictures, scribbled on the back on an envelope to explain why.
The reason these rankings change is because the ranking of a hand is based on its probability.
For example, in five-card poker there are 10 possible straights, (A-5, 2-6, 2-7 etc…) with a possibility of four suits for each card making 10 x 45 – 40 = 10,200 possible straights. For a Flush there are four possible suits with five cards of that suit to be chosen from a total of 13. So, there are 4 x 1287 – 40 = 5,108 possible flushes.
It is therefore more than twice as likely that you will be dealt a straight as a flush – the straight is thus a less valuable hand when ranked.
This system gets interesting when looking at Texas Hold’em and other seven card games (two hole cards and five community cards). Here there is a 43.8% chance of getting a pair, while not hitting at all and making your hand a “high card” only is 17.4%. So strictly speaking, following the rules, high card should beat a pair.