CPL Poker Podcast and Blog: March 2010

Monday, March 29, 2010

Bill Comeback Kid Wins Second Victory During Week 10!

In a dramatic back and forth match, Bill Comeback Kid Lanoux took it all down in the end with pocket nines!
Congrats to Bill on his second victory of this CPL session.

Congrats to Jerry and Mark El Nino Wittig for clinching a seat at the TOC!

Only one week remaining and we have 2 spots open for the four remaining folks (yours truly included) who have not mathematically made it to the TOC yet!

CPL Leaderboard Adjusted

CPL Points Awarded During Week 10

Unabomber Scores Again During Week 9!

Unabomber Mike Bowman took another week down during Week 9 of the CPL. Having trouble in the middle sections of the tournament did not stop Unabomber from finishing strong and by taking out NewLife Durand in 3rd place left easy pickings over Jerry to finish out the night.

Congrats to Mike for another impressive win!

Congrats to Mike and Bill for securing a spot at the coveted TOC on April 3rd!

CPL Leaderboard Week 9 Adjusted

CPL Points Awarded During Week 9

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Karaoke Phil Scores Back to Back Wins during 2010 Spring Week 8!

Setting himself up to set a new CPL record, Karaoke Phil Fuehrer has won his second straight CPL week during week 8. Can Karaoke Phil be the first ever CPL member in CPL history to 3-Peat in 3 straight weeks?

Karaoke had a great week during week 8 at the Wittig Poker Mansion gaining chips throughout the night and although he was short chipped going into heads up versus The Rookie, Karaoke ended up with all of the chips in the end.

This not only captures a very rare (for Karaoke) second victory during a Spring Session, but has set him up to create a new CPL record during the next CPL match!

Congrats to NewLife Durand and Voni "The Rookie" Khang for clinching a seat at the TOC during this week!

Leaderboard.Week 8 (Adjusted)
Please note that this leaderboard has been adjusted to drop each players lowest 3 scores.

Points Awarded During Week 8

Karaoke Phil Wins 2010 Spring Week 7!

In a very rare Spring Session occurance....Karaoke Phil Fuehrer found his way to the top spot besting the field of 7 during Week 7 of the 2010 Spring Session!

Congrats Phil!

Greg NewLife Durand finished in 2nd place to keep himself on top of the CPL Leaderboard!

Leaderboard Week 7 (Unadjusted)

Points Awarded During Week 7

Unabomber Scores Win During 2010 Spring Week 6!

Back to his winning ways Mike Unabomber Bowman cleared the field of 7 during week 6 to finish with all of the chips. This puts him back into 2nd place on the leaderboard!

Voni took 2nd and Jerry rounded off the trifecta to take 3rd place!
Congrats to all!

Leaderboard Week 6 (Unadjusted)

Points Awarded During Week 6

Comeback Kid Wins 2010 Spring Week 5!

Bill Comeback Kid Lanoux took down the top spot during Week 5! Ending the possibility of a 3-Peat from NewLife Durand. In Comeback Kid style Bill was behind going into heads up play and ended up winning the night! Great Week Bill!

Leaderboard (Unadjusted)

Points Awarded Week 5

Listen to the CPL Poker Podcast!

Click the player below to listen to Minnesota's ONLY (and longest running) poker Podcast (latest release 12/20/2010).
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Find more than 90 episodes & listen to our evolution at: Blubrry

Classic Episodes ready for download (as mp3's):

2009 Best of Music Episode: Top 10 Songs
65th Edition: Incl. Part II w/Phil Mackey
64th Edition: Incl. Part I of an interview w/Phil Mackey
61st Edition: Incl. Part II of an interview w/Andy Bloch
60th Edition: Incl. Part I of an interview w/ Andy Bloch
Best of Music 2008: Top 10 songs from 2008 on the CPL Poker Podcast (w/guest Casey Kasem??)

Your Home Poker League Resource Center

Got a home poker league (or looking to start one) and have questions? Here are some resources for you. And, feel free to drop us a line with any other questions/thoughts you may have.

Chip Counts

Generally, we recommend a 2000 or 3000 starting stack. Use denominations of 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000. We started with 2000 and now use 3000.

Blind Levels and Lengths

This is really where the tweaking comes in. How long do you want to play? This is where you can make that happen. We start with 10/20 blinds levels and did try to "deep stack" it for for 20 minutes. But, we continually make adjustments. In order to finish around the 3 hr mark (usually a little earlier than that), the blind level times need to "shrink" at some point - or, the level amounts need to really move up. As noted, we make adjustments about each session - click the "Home Game Resources" label below to see some of the structural changes we've made over time.

Mostly, experiment with your own structure to find what works best for your game. As long as everyone know what's going on prior to the start - then "them's the rules" as my Grandpa used to say.

Poker Tournament Clocks

Sure, you can use an electronic egg timer or your buddy's Casio wrist watch to keep time, but where's the fun in that?

Some of our league members that host like to use Dr. Neau's Tourney clock: http://www.drneau.com/download.htm Largely free (some cost if you want all the bells and whistles).

The CPL Directors however prefer the free poker tourney clock from old Holdempoker.com. They were bought out by Pokerroom.com (who tweaked the clock to now say Pokerroom), but you should be able to get the original at:
http://www.holdempoker.com/poker-tournaments/poker-clock . Otherwise, find the same clock on Pokerroom.

Additional Tips and Fun Things

Missouri Chip
The Missouri Chip gives you an opportunity, once per match, to force an opponent to show his/her cards. For leagues that have player improvement as a goal this is an innovative way to add an educational element to the game. Read more about the Missouri Chip in this blog entry from us.

We hope this gets your home game off to a good start!!

CPL Poker Podcast and Blog

Monday, March 29, 2010