https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/2012/12/ Betfair Poker's talented team of poker enthusiasts bring you the very latest poker news from around the globe. Covering both online poker and the live poker scene, the Betfair Poker blog is your one-stop site for the very best in poker related news, views and gossip. Along with select poker news stories, visitors will also find detailed reports and results of major online and live poker tournaments, interviews with some of poker's key figures and players and bespoke poker articles and editorials. Join Betfair Poker Now en Copyright 2026 Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:12:00 +0000 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification It's that time again. We've reached the last row of the last page of the calendar, having survived the year despite those predictions of an apocalypse scheduled for last week. And since we're still here, we might as well take a look back on the last 12 months to consider the top stories from yet another wild, eventful year in poker. A year ago, the business of compiling a list of the top poker stories of 2011 was a simple enough matter. One began with "Black Friday" -- i.e., the date in mid-April when the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed its indictment and civil complaint targeting the world's top online poker sites -- and continued from there, as just about every other major story of the year was affected in one way or another by that event and its aftermath. One can't say the same of the last 12 months in poker, when the majority of the year's headlines stemmed from events taking place on the felt. Sure there were some notable legal developments that once again made courtrooms the context for poker-related stories (including still more Black Friday fallout). But more often than not the news of the day concerned the game itself, with tournament poker continuing its dominance as the most talked-about, attention-getting variety of our favorite card game. So here's another attempt at highlighting the year that was, starting with (an obviously subjective) list of 2012's top 10 stories, followed by 10 more stories of note.   10. Epic Poker League's Epic Fail Last year's list also saw a story about the Epic Poker League sneaking into the 10th spot, only then the news concerned the debut of the new professional poker league. Launched by Federated Sports + Gaming, the EPL had announced an ambitious schedule of tournaments with added prize money, plus the promise of a $1 million freeroll to culminate the league's first season. But after staging three events in the latter half of 2011, the new year began with FS+G filing for bankruptcy in late February, after which point no further tournaments were staged. At the time, the EPL's chief spokespersons Jeffrey Pollack (FS+G Executive Chairman) and Annie Duke (EPL Commissioner) suggested the filing was a measure to help the league continue to operate, with future tournaments postponed but not canceled. But by April it was reported the EPL had nearly $8 million in liabilities with next-to-nothing in terms of assets, and it was clear the experiment had proven an expensive failure disappointing to many. 9. "KingDan" Collects Half-Dozen Crowns Stories about Dan Smith winning poker tournaments seemed to pop up constantly throughout 2012, with the remarkable run of "KingDan" earning him runner-up finishes in player of the year races for both BLUFF and Card Player magazines, while the Global Poker Index rated Smith's performances highly enough to make him the top performer of the year in their rankings. Smith kicked off the year by winning the $100,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions in January for a $1 million-plus score. Then came an incredible three first-place finishes in preliminary events at EPT Monte Carlo in April, five more cashes at the WSOP in May-June, plus another Super High Roller win at EPT Barcelona in August (again worth more than $1 million). Smith gathered still more cashes in Europe as the year concluded, including a sixth victory two weeks ago at one more side event at EPT Prague, to boost his 2012 total over $3.7 million in tourney winnings.  8. WPT Double for "Mad Marvin" Providing a consistent challenge to the dominion of "KingDan" in 2012 was Germany's Marvin Rettenmaier who likewise dominated headlines with major victories throughout the year, the most remarkable achievement being his back-to-back World Poker Tour titles. In May, Rettenmaier closed out the WPT's Season X with a win in the $25,000 World Championship for a $1,196,858 first prize. Then in August he kicked off Season XI with a win at WPT Cyprus for $287,784 more. Meanwhile came other cashes, final tables, and wins for Rettenmaier, including closing out the year with a victory in the $10K High Roller eight-handed NLHE event at EPT Prague. In the end "Mad Marvin" barely exceeded Smith's 2012 by earning just over $3.8 million in tourney winnings, landing him the top spot in BLUFF's Player of the Year race. 7. Ivey, Ivey, Ivey  Amid the chaos of "Black Friday" and subsequent revelations regarding Full Tilt Poker's mismanagement, former Team Full Tilter Phil Ivey remained scarce throughout 2011, with Ivey steering clear of the WSOP and other events.  His return to the tables in 2012 began at the Aussie Millions in January where he finished 12th in the Main Event, then won the $250,000 Super High Roller.  He'd turn up again at EPT Monte Carlo in the spring, then came back to Las Vegas to participate in the 2012 WSOP. As it happened, the first half of the summer was dominated by stories regarding Ivey's World Series return, as the eight-time bracelet winner made no less than five final tables within a two-week span.  His best finish was a second-place in the $10,000 pot-limit hold'em event (No. 17) won by Andy Frankenberger.  Ultimately Ivey would earn nearly $3.7 million in tourney winnings in 2012, pushing him into second place on the All-Time Money List. 6. The States of Online Poker During a year in which online poker was all but unavailable to players in the U.S. (aside from a few small, uncertain "rogue" sites and networks), there was much activity on the legislative front potentially paving the way for Americans to return to the virtual tables in 2013. While no federal bills were passed, several states took up the matter themselves, with Nevada in particular moving forward with legislation and the state's gaming commission granting licenses to numerous entities to begin offering online poker. Nevada passed its legislation earlier in the year following a revised opinion from the U.S. DOJ regarding the Wire Act only applying to sports betting. That bill became law in June, and just a couple of weeks later Delaware followed suit by passing similar legislation. And earlier this month New Jersey likewise passed its own bill to begin licensing businesses to offer online gambling, with only Governor Chris Christie's signature needed for the bill to become law. 5. Ladies' WSOP Main Event Near-Miss When the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event field had been trimmed from 6,598 to less than 100, many noted how five women remained alive, each with a shot to become the first woman to make a WSOP Main Event final table since Barbara Enright finished fifth in 1995. And heading into the final day of play in July, there were still two left among the final 27 -- Gaelle Baumann of France and Elisabeth Hille of Norway. Both women found themselves nursing short stacks as play wound down that day, with Hille ultimately falling in 11th and Baumann going out in 10th, both knocked out by the Hungarian Andras Koroknai. While many were disappointed at the outcome, the finishes of Baumann and Hille provided much excitement and a memorable conclusion to the last day of play during the summer.  4. #12 and #13 for Hellmuth Following up a summer full of close calls at the 2011 WSOP -- including three second-place finishes plus ending runner-up to Ben Lamb in the WSOP POY race -- Phil Hellmuth broke through to grab bracelets at both the WSOP in Las Vegas and WSOP Europe in Cannes, France this year, including grabbing the WSOPE Main Event title to land his record-extending 13th career WSOP bracelet overall. In Vegas, Hellmuth won his first-ever non-hold'em bracelet by taking down the $2,500 Razz event (No. 18).  He'd add another final table -- and $2.6 million-plus score -- with his fourth-place finish in the $1 million "Big One for One Drop" as well. Then in September the "Poker Brat" would overcome a tough field of 420 to win the WSOPE Main Event, thus becoming the first player ever to win collect WSOP and WSOPE Main Event titles.  However there was one title Hellmuth didn't win in 2012, as he'd take runner-up again in the WSOP Player of the Year race (behind Greg Merson). 3. The PokerStars-DOJ-FTP Deal It was a somewhat surprising development, even if rumors regarding the possibility that PokerStars might actually acquire its one-time rival Full Tilt Poker as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice had been swirling for several months. But in late July came official word that such a deal had in fact been struck, with PokerStars forfeiting $547 million to the U.S. government while also taking responsibility for paying back non-U.S. FTP players the $184 million they were owed. Having acquired Full Tilt Poker's assets, PokerStars then relaunched the long dormant site in early November. Meanwhile, U.S. players continue to await the return of their FTP funds, with the U.S. DOJ now handling that matter. While Americans have already waited more than 20 months for the return of their FTP balances, indications are it will still be some time before the approximately $159 million will be made available to U.S. players. 2. The Magician Wins More Than $18 Milly The $1 million buy-in "Big One for One Drop" at the 2012 WSOP broke all sorts of records for tournament poker. A total of 48 players bought into the event, a group including many poker pros (most of whom were backed considerably) and businessmen from around the world (most of whom covered the buy-ins themselves). $111,111 of each entry went to the One Drop Foundation charity founded by Guy Laliberté, who himself managed to finish fifth in the tournament.   Ultimately Antonio Esfandiari outlasted Sam Trickett to win the bracelet and eye-popping $18,346,673 first prize. Trickett earned a handsome $10,112,001 himself for finishing runner-up, with David Einhorn picking up $4,352,000 for taking third. Even if Esfandiari didn't take away the entire first prize for himself (having divided it with his backers), the win still helped catapult "The Magician" to the top of the All-Time Money List as he ends 2012 with more than $23.7 million in career earnings. 1. Merson Binks the Main Like Hellmuth, Ivey, Esfandiari, and others, Greg Merson had a remarkable 2012 WSOP himself, punctuated by his win in the Main Event in late October to claim the coveted ME bracelet and $8,531,853 first prize. The Maryland native entered the final table third in chips, and had claimed the lead to start three-handed play with Jesse Sylvia and Jacob Balsiger. That trio would play a remarkable 264 more hands before Merson emerged the winner, with Sylvia taking second and Balsiger third. Merson's win marked his second bracelet of the year, as he'd earlier captured a victory in one of the last events of the summer, the $10,000 no-limit hold'em six-max event (No. 57). There Merson had earned $1,136,197 for besting a field of 474, which along with three other WSOP cashes (including one more final table), was enough to make him the 2012 WSOP Player of the Year and Card Player's POY. Finally, here are ten other stories of note from 2012, presented in no particular order: Poker Hall of Famer and 1972 WSOP Main Event champion "Amarillo Slim" Preston passed away in April. This year the poker world also mourned the untimely losses of popular players Nikolay Evdakov (in February) and Ryan Young (in July) and noted poker author Lou Krieger who passed away in early December. 2012 was a breakout year of sorts for online wunderkind Viktor "Isildur1" Blom when it came to live tournaments, highlighted by a win in the $100,000 Super High Roller at the PCA in January, good for a $1,254,400 payday. There was another "Super High Roller" event in Macau in August featuring a $2 million (HKD) buy-in (with re-entries!), the equivalent of about $258,000 USD. There were 73 entries all told, with Stanley Choi winning the event and claiming a first prize worth more than $6.46 million USD. While attendance at this year's WSOP remained steady when compared to 2011, fields for the WSOPE in Cannes were significantly down, with some events seeing dips of 30-40% in turnouts. The WSOPE moves to Paris in 2013, while the new WSOP Asia Pacific series will debut in Australia in April. Amid ongoing negotiations surrounding the "Black Friday" indictment and civil compaint, Howard Lederer gained considerable notice after doing a mini-publicity tour in which he granted interviews to PokerNews and the Two Plus Two Pokercast in September. Lederer's subsequent participation in cash games and tournaments provoked considerable ire in the poker community. Earlier this month Lederer settled his civil case with the U.S. DOJ, admitting no wrongdoing while forfeiting cash, real estate, and a luxury automobile. Shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice brokered deal involving PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker was finalized in late July, another deal was announced between the DOJ and Absolute Poker/UltimateBet in which the sites and associated companies forfeited their assets to the DOJ in return for the dropping of money laundering and fraud charges. Meanwhile, players with balances on AP and UB continue to await news regarding the possibility of recovering their funds. In September, controversy erupted at the Partouche Poker Tour when it appeared a €5 million guarantee for the Main Event would not be honored. Eventually the guarantee was met, but not until after much argument and an announcement by PPT CEO Patrick Partouche that the 2012 PPT Main Event in Cannes would be the tour's last.  Belgian player Davidi Kitai won the EPT Berlin Main Event in April, making him one of poker's few "Triple Crown" winners following his WSOP bracelet win in 2008 and World Poker Tour victory in 2011. 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer spent the latter part of 2012 tearing up the Heartland Poker Tour, winning no less than four Main Event titles between July and November. In October, the Poker Hall of Fame announced its newest two inductees. Brian "Sailor" Roberts, co-hort of Preston and Doyle Brunson as one of the original "Texas Road Gamblers," was inducted, as was tourney director and player Eric Drache. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/top-poker-stories-of-2012-281212-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/top-poker-stories-of-2012-281212-77.html News WSOP Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:12:00 +0000 The end of the year is upon us, a time when the poker world turns its attention to the various "player of the year" rankings to see who managed to come out on top. With just a few days left in 2012, a look at three of the POY races (BLUFF, Card Player, and the Global Poker Index) shows three different players currently positioned to finish first in the respective rankings -- Marvin Rettenmaier, Greg Merson, and Dan Smith. Rettenmaier tops BLUFF rankings Over the years the BLUFF Magazine Poker Player of the Year rankings have emerged as the most frequently cited among the various player ranking systems, with competition among players to position themselves atop the list genuinely providing an extra layer of interest to end-of-year tournaments. The BLUFF POY formula takes into account buy-in amounts, field sizes, tourney formats, finishing positions, and other factors to assign points for cashing in qualifying events. Last year Eugene Katchalov earned the title of BLUFF Poker Player of the Year, following Sorel Mizzi (2010), Jason Mercier (2009), and John Phan (2008).  This year's BLUFF POY race came down to the final weeks with Dan Smith having occupied the top spot for much of the latter part of the year thanks to an amazing 2012 that began with his winning the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge in January, earning three more victories in events at EPT Monte Carlo in April, and picking up yet another High Roller win at EPT Barcelona in August. But a victory in the €10,000 buy-in EPT Prague High Roller event this week that drew 113 entrants enabled Marvin Rettenmaier to surge past Smith and into first position in the rankings. "Mad Marvin" has more than 20 significant scores in 2012, including winning the $25K WPT World Championship in April. As it happened, Smith was busy winning an EPT Prague side event as well (the €5,000 6-max. NLHE event), but that event drew too few entries (42) to qualify for BLUFF POY points. According to BLUFF's Tim Fiorvanti, even though there are still a few small tourneys left to be played in 2012, the magazine is "all but ready to declare Rettenmaier as this year's winner." Here's how their top 10 appears through 12/17/12: 1.  Marvin Rettenmaier 2.  Dan Smith 3.  Greg Merson 4.  Joseph Cheong 5.  Phil Hellmuth 6.  Phil Ivey 7.  Michael Mizrachi 8.  Ole Schemion 9.  Antonio Esfandiari 10.  Jonathan Duhamel Merson current leader for Card Player POY Card Player magazine has been ranking players and awarding Player of the Year honors since the late 1990s, although in recent years its POY title has perhaps slipped behind BLUFF's in the ranking of POY rankings. Still, it is a coveted honor, won last year by Ben Lamb who followed previous recent winners Tom Marchese (2010), Eric Baldwin (2009), and John Phan (2008). Like BLUFF, Card Player's ranking system considers buy-ins, field sizes, and finishing positions, although measures each differently. As Erik Fast reported this week for Card Player, 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Greg Merson continues to hang on to the top spot in their POY race despite the end-of-year successes of Rettenmaier and Smith.   Merson, of course, earned the title of WSOP Player of the Year this year thanks to his Main Event win, another bracelet victory in the $10,000 buy-in six-handed NLHE event (No. 57), and two other WSOP cashes including a third final table. In fact, those four cashes alone have been enough to put Merson ahead of everyone in the Card Player rankings, although Smith is just barely behind. Here's a look at the top of the Card Player standings as it currently appears: 1.  Greg Merson 2.  Dan Smith 3.  Marvin Rettenmaier 4.  Kyle Julius 5.  Ole Schemion 6.  Joseph Cheong 7.  Antonio Esfandiari 8.  Phil Hellmuth 9.  John Dibella 10.  Oliver Speidel Smith Ahead in GPI Meanwhile, the relatively new Global Poker Index has Dan Smith currently leading the way in its POY 2012 Top 100, followed by Rettenmaier in second position and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier in third. Grospellier is having a remarkable 2012 with numerous cashes and final tables totaling nearly $1.7 million in tourney winnings. The GPI ranking system was originally developed in concert with the ill-fated Epic Poker League for which it was employed to determine player eligibility for EPL events. While the EPL was no more, the GPI lives on and provides numerous rankings of players according to various categories. For the 2012 Player of the Year race, the GPI also applies its complicated rubric to tourney finishes, though ultimately isolates a player's top 11 cashes during the calendar year (six during Jan.-June and five during July-Dec.). While only the most successful players even have that many 2012 cashes, that does affect the rankings in some cases. The GPI formula also differently considers buy-ins, finishes, field sizes, and other factors to create its ranking system. Interestingly, Greg Merson is only rated 73rd in the GPI 2012 rankings. Meanwhile, Grospellier, third in the GPI list, is currently ranked 42nd by BLUFF and 47th by Card Player. 1.  Dan Smith 2.  Marvin Rettenmaier 3.  Bertrand Grospellier 4.  Kyle Julius 5.  Andrew Lichtenberger 6.  Joseph Cheong 7.  Phil Hellmuth 8.  Jonathan Duhamel 9.  Jason Mercier 10.  Stephen O'Dwyer Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/rettenmaier-merson-smith-top-2012-player-of-the-year-races-211212-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/rettenmaier-merson-smith-top-2012-player-of-the-year-races-211212-77.html News Fri, 21 Dec 2012 16:43:00 +0000 There has been lots of action on the professional poker circuit this week, with two more champions crowned and three other events playing out.  Of the winners, the World Poker Tour crowned a new champion in Ravi Raghavan in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.  And Adam Teasdale won the latest WSOP Circuit Main Event at Harrah's Resort Atlantic City. Raghavan Rules WPT Five Diamond Earlier this week at the Bellagio in Las Vegas the final table of the World Poker Tour's Five Diamond World Poker Classic played out, with Ravi Raghavan emerging as the winner of the $1,268,571 first prize after coming from behind at an especially tough final table. The $10K event (with unlimited reentries) attracted a total of 368 players.  Many reentered twice and a handful fired as many as six bullets, with there being 503 total entries and a prize pool of $4,879,100. The top 54 finishers cashed and there were many notables among those who did, including former WPT champions Lee Markholt (52nd, $19,516), Chino Rheem (40th, $21,956), Will Failla (32nd, $26,835), John Hennigan (25th, $31,714), Noah Schwartz (17th, $36,593), Scott Clements (15th, $40,250), Freddy Deeb (12th, $56,110), and Yevgeniy Timoshinko (11th, $56,110). There were two more players with WPT titles at the six-handed final table, including Buchanan and Antonio Esfandiari, the latter of whom actually won this same event in 2010 and final tabled it last year. Esfandiari led early on at the six-handed final table while Raghavan began as the short stack.  Raghavan managed to double up twice early on, however, and hung around as Jeremy Kottler and Andrew Lichtenberger fell.   Esfandiari met his end in fourth shortly thereafter after suffering a big double-through by Thomas Winters, then running Ac-Kh into Raghavan's Ah-As to be eliminated. That hand put Raghavan well in front, then Buchanan knocked out Winters when his 10h-10s held versus Winters's As-7d.   Raghavan had a little less than a 2-to-1 chip lead versus Buchanan to start heads-up play, and while the battle took some time (69 hands), Raghavan never lost the lead, finally finishing off Buchanan in a hand that saw Buchanan shove a short stack with Kd-7s, Raghavan call with 7h-7c, and the board run out 9d-Js-9h-8s-4d. While Raghavan has had several deep runs and numerous cashes over the last five years, his triumph at the Bellagio this week marks his biggest career score by far, bringing his overall career tourney earnings up near the $2 million mark. 2012 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic final table payouts: 1st:  Ravi Raghavan -- $1,268,571 
2nd:  Shawn Buchanan -- $746,502
 3rd:  Thomas Winters -- $483,031
 4th:  Antonio Esfandiari -- $329,339
 5th:  Andrew Lichtenberger -- $234,197 6th:  Jeremy Kottler -- $187,845 Teasdale Triumphs at WSOP Circuit Harrah's Atlantic City The World Series of Poker Circuit continued its nonstop tour around North America this week, finding a new Main Event champion at Harrah's Resort Atlantic City in Adam Teasdale who survived a tough heads-up opponent in Wade Woelfel to win the ring and $194,040 first prize. This $1,675 buy-in event allowed re-entries as well, and in the end a total of 616 entries were bought, with the prize pool ultimately totaling $924,000. The top 63 finishers cashed, and among them were Stan Jablonski (32nd, $4,509) and Will Failla (31st, $4,509), both of whom had flown across the country after having just cashed in the WPT Five Diamond event.  (Back at the Bellagio, Jablonski had taken 47th for a $19,516 score.) After two days of play, 26 players came back for the final Day 3 with Teasdale the leader.  He'd enter the nine-handed final table fifth in chips, and for a time Terry Grimes enjoyed a big lead at that final table as players began to fall. Teasdale ultimately took the lead back, however, as Grimes fell in fifth, Sung Kim went out in fourth, and Pedro "Pete" Rios was eliminated in third place. Heads-up play then began with Woelfel enjoying a slight lead over Teasdale and hoping to complete an amazing final day that saw him start out just 24th of 26 in chips.  But Teasdale soon took the advantage once again, and after about an hour-and-a-half held a 2-to-1 lead in chips when an exciting final hand took place. After Woelfel had called a Teasdale three-bet before the flop, Woelfel again bet on the Qd-Qh-6h flop and Teasdale called.  The turn then brought the 4s, and this time Woelfel checked and Teasdale took a shot, betting 460,000 into the 1.12 million pot. Woelfel responded with a check-raise shove totaling 3.64 million, and Teasdale went deep into the tank before finding a call.  Teasdale had 9s-4h for queens and fours, while Woelfel had but As-5h, and after the Qc river Teasdale had won. 2012-13 WSOP-C Harrah's Resort Atlantic City final table payouts: 1st:  Adam Teasdale -- $194,040 2nd:  Wade Woelfel -- $120,018 3rd:  Pedro "Pete" Rios -- $87,762 4th:  Sung Kim -- $65,124 5th:  Terry Grimes -- $49,000 6th:  Aaron Overton -- $37,376 7th:  Barry Leventhal -- $28,903 8th:  Ed Modlin -- $22,656 9th:  Trevor Deeter -- $18,000 EPT Prague playing out; WSOP-C Rincon and DeepStack Extravaganza starting up A couple of other noteworthy tournaments are also being staged this week, the most notable being the European Poker Tour's current stop at Prague in the Czech Republic. Day 5 of the €5,300 buy-in Main Event begins today with just 21 players left from the original starting field of 864.  With a total prize pool of €4,190,000, a first prize of €835,000 awaits the winner. Heading into Friday it was Ben Warrington leading the way with 2.618 million chips, putting him slightly ahead of David Boyaciyan's 2.469 million.  Also still with chips are Jeff Sarwer, Johnny Lodden, and Roberto Romanello. And today will see two more events kick off on opposite sides of the U.S. The WSOP Circuit begins another $1,675 buy-in Main Event at Harrah's Rincon today in San Diego.  Meanwhile, the $2,500 buy-in Sands Bethlehem DeepStack Extravaganza also gets underway in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-week-in-poker-raghavan-teasdale-latest-winners-141212-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-week-in-poker-raghavan-teasdale-latest-winners-141212-77.html News Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:46:00 +0000 The poker world lost a great friend this week when writer, editor, podcaster, and player Lou Krieger passed away. Besides authoring or co-authoring 11 poker books and hundreds of columns for a variety of publications and sites, Krieger helped bring together and support countless poker players and writers as a true ambassador both for the game and for those who loved to play and study it. Krieger's family posted a notice late Monday evening to announce he had succumbed in his battle against cancer, having "fought courageously to the end with the same pride and dignity that carried him through his life." Born and raised in Brooklyn, Krieger often told the story of having learned about poker as a child when he was allowed to watch his father's weekly game conducted at the kitchen table. Thus began a lifelong fascination with the game, with the adult Krieger eventually relocating to the west coast and becoming a player specializing in fixed limit hold'em.   Krieger began contributing columns to Card Player not long after that publication first began to be published and placed in card rooms, and thereafter would author strategy columns for numerous print and online outlets. He also recently served as the editor of Poker Player Newspaper for five years where he also wrote a regular column. Krieger's first book, Hold'em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner, appeared in 1995, and was followed two years later by More Hold'em Excellence: A Winner for Life. Krieger was then recruited to co-author Poker for Dummies with Richard D. Harroch the first edition of which appeared in 2000. For many players these titles became their first poker books, initiating them into greater study of the game, with Poker for Dummies eventually becoming one of the best-selling poker strategy books ever published. I interviewed Krieger for Betfair Poker a couple of years ago, and among the topics we discussed was his having positioned himself somewhat fortuitously as a poker writer when the poker "boom" hit in 2003. Suddenly "every publisher and his brother wanted a poker book written," Krieger explained, and since he was "a known quantity" he was called upon to author several more titles over the next few years.   It was during this period Krieger began hosting what would become one of the longest-running poker podcasts, "Keep Flopping Aces," a weekly show that began on Hold'em Radio, moved over to the Rounders Radio site for a while, and then eventually resurfaced on Hold'em Radio where he continued to produce shows right up until last week. There Krieger and his co-hosts -- first Amy Calistri, then Shari Geller -- interviewed players, industry figures, members of the poker media, and others. Krieger's friend WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla was a frequent guest on "Keep Flopping Aces," and this week on his personal blog Dalla wrote a remembrance of Krieger in which Dalla discussed one of the reasons why Krieger was so well suited to host such a show. "He was able to converse with just about anyone, on virtually any subject, and was able to make those around him feel as though they were both heard and respected -- sadly characteristics increasingly rare in society," writes Dalla. "If listening is an art form, then Lou was our Michelangelo.  He was the best listener I have ever met."  Last night came a special episode of "Keep Flopping Aces" featuring numerous guests and contributors sharing their thoughts and memories of Krieger. On the show Greg Raymer, Rich Muny, Earl Burton, Paul McGuire, Haley Hintze, Nolan Dalla, Mike Caro, Amy Calistri, and others discussed Krieger's important contributions to poker strategy, his love of the game, and his energizing influence on others also interested in poker and the culture surrounding the game. One theme that emerged on that show was Krieger's tremendous and consistent support of other poker writers. Not only did he often provide encouragement to other strategy authors and members of the poker media, but in many cases he would help writers find outlets for their work, too, even offering assignments when possible (such as in his role as editor of Poker Player Newspaper). And for those of us fortunate enough to have collaborated with Krieger, his feedback and advice was unfailingly insightful and inspiring. Though a limit hold'em specialist, Krieger was well-versed in all of poker variants and wrote at length about many different games. Among his later books was Mastering Omaha/8 Poker, co-authored with Mark Tenner, a new edition of which appeared in 2011.  Reviewed here, the book remains a core strategic text for Omaha/8 players. But Krieger also well understood poker's place in the larger scheme of things, often remarking on the connection between succeeding in poker and succeeding away from the tables, too.  "Every poker writer worth his salt has made the observation that the lessons of poker are the lessons of life," Krieger maintained. "The reverse is true too. The very skills that make some people so successful in life can be applied to poker just as easily. After all, the vast majority of players have a life away form the poker table, and if better poker skills make you a better performer in the real world, so much the better." With Krieger's passing, the poker world has lost a true supporter and important contributor. I'm just one of many grateful to have known him and benefited from his instruction, advice, and generosity. Those wishing to send condolences to the family can do so by mailing them to P.O. Box 1441, Palm Springs, CA, 92263-1441, USA. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/poker-world-mourns-loss-of-lou-krieger-author-friend-071212-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/poker-world-mourns-loss-of-lou-krieger-author-friend-071212-77.html News Fri, 07 Dec 2012 12:01:00 +0000