Random Thoughts to Bring in the New Year

As 2009 comes to a close we at CPL Poker Blog and Podcast want to wish you a very happy and prosperous 2010.  Happy New Year!!

We also thought it would be a great time for some random thoughts and reflections on 2009.

The Good - This has to be the blog and podcast.  Readership and listenership is up - a trend, we hope, that continues into 2010 and beyond.  Thank you all for stopping by and listening to the show(s). With that increase came our first unsolicited advertiser (777.com)  - check them out.  It's a nice aggregate site of various poker rooms and casinos with reviews, bonuses, etc.

The Bad - In order of how much they irk me (least to most).  What's with the Bellagio's Five-Star World Poker Classic schedule??  Okay, the tourney takes place in 2010, but they released the schedule today.  ALL of the tournaments are rebuys!!  Seventeen prelim events leading up to the main event and all of them are rebuy events??  Huh? 

"FAIL" - apparently the trend for the kid's these days on the interweb seems to be the use of the word "FAIL" to mean some variation of "didn't go well".  As in, "tried to get in to the midnight showing of Avatar - long lines - FAIL".   If things go really bad you can call it "epic fail" - as in, "I flopped a four flush on an A high board, played it like I had the A. Moved all-in on the river with a massive Q-high only bluff.  Epic Fail - guy snapped called me with his pair of 3s".  Hey, here's some advice - using any variation of the term FAIL in 2010?  Epic Fail.

Pronouncing Tolkien - A Swedish online poker phenom by the name of Isildur1 stormed onto the scene in October.  This has led to innumerable mispronunciations of his name by such folks as Ante Up Podcast, Raw Vegas TV/Wicked Chops, and Mike Matusow (BTW- clean up that foul mouth, Mike, damn).  Each tending to butcher the name by pronouncing it along the lines of:  IZ-ill-der.  My God - do you even watch movies?  Over three years (2001 to 2003) the Lord of the Rings Trilogy racked up 17 Academy Awards and each film ranks between 2nd to 15th in All-Time Worldwide Gross Receipts.  Okay, I can live with some regional dialectic variations in the pronunciation - give me ih-SEAL-door or ee-SILL-dur, or some mash of the two, but NOT -  IZ-ill-der, that's just....Epic Fail.  Now go read Silmarillion as punishment.

The Ugly - Only one thing can go here (and I won't go into too much detail).  At the end of 2008, I set a couple of simple poker goals for 2009 - results-type stuff.  I didn't hit a single one - not one.  Let's hope 2010 is much better - for us all.

2009 CPL Best of Music Podcast Released!

Check out the podcast by clicking on the players on the left!

Episode 68 is the CPL Best of Music 2009 broadcast! 
Mark and Phil count down the top 10 songs played on the CPL Poker Podcasts in 2009! Bumper Music by Stew, Tunnel Music, and IKKI. Follow us on Twitter at CPLPOKERPODCAST! Enjoy!!

MN Poker Game Turns Violent

The Mankato Free Press is reporting today about a weekend home game that didn't go well.

Apparently, J.L. Turner, 47, decided he'd had enough of a polish-named bloke (D. Wojciechowski, 32 years old) and "used a baseball bat to assault" him. Wojciechowski was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital.  No other details are available at this time.


Our only guess here at the CPL is that they decided to try RAZZ for the first time to "mix it up some".  We all know what can happen when the cards start flying in RAZZ.

BREAKING NEWS - 2010 WSOP Schedule Set , No $50K HORSE Event

The WSOP has announced next year's (2010) WSOP schedule.  There are several changes from previous years.

The biggest change may be the elimination of the $50K HORSE event.  It will be replaced with a $50K 8-Game Mixed Event called:  "The Player's Championship".  This will be Event #2 - a 5-day event beginning on May 28.  The game will consist of: Limit Hold'em, OH8, Razz,  Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud H/L, No-Limit Hold'em,  Pot-Limit Omaha, and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.  The final table will be solely No-Limit Hold'em - and, likely, televised by ESPN. For HORSE purists there will be the usual $1,500 and $3K events along with a new $10K Championship event.

The "stimulus" $1000 tournament idea is back and expanded. Does that mean the economy is in even worse shape???  There will be 4 - $1000 bracelet events in 2010 (and the Ladies and Seniors tournies are also at that level).  A little more opportunity for those of us who don't have the really big bucks to put down on a tournament.

One other tweak is the "big" NL Hold'em event.  Last year they ran a $40K event for the 40th Anniversary of the WSOP and noted that it wouldn't be a recurring event.  Well, Harrah's stuck to their word - 2010's WSOP Event #52 will be a $25K NL Hold'em (six handed) affair.

The full series of tournaments will consist of 57 events again (plus the Ante Up for Africa Charity event) and run from May 28 to July 17 (the final table - with that played out sometime in November).  You can see the full schedule of events here.

Deadline Extended - 2009 Best of Music Survey/Contest - final round

You're in luck if you haven't yet participated in the survey and contest.  We won't be recording the 2009 Best of Music Podcast until this weekend.  So, we've extended the deadline to Friday at 4 pm.

All the details are explained in our 12/10/09 post.

And, don't forget - we're looking to give away up to $40 in our prize pool (you will need to have a FullTilt poker account as it'll be a transfer) - so, that's just one more reason to participate.

Minnesota State Poker Tour - John Dragich wins Inaugural Event

St. Cloud resident John Dragich, 20, beat a field of 130+ Monday night to win the inaugural event of the Minnesota State Poker tour held at Canterbury Park in Skakopee, MN.

According to MN Poker Magazine, heads up lasted all of one hand. Dragich picked up pocket As to Chase Wood's K/2.  Chase, also 20 years old, who was 3rd in chip count with 18 remaining hit a K high flop.  All the money got into the center and Dragich's aces held on to win. Dragich wins $34,765 and a custom diamond bracelet for his efforts.  Woods picks up $19,866.

Tour co-founder Bryan Mileski, who was chip leader with 18 remaining, busted out in 7th.  The tour picks up again at Grand Casino Mille Lacs in February with a Running Aces stop in April.

Congratulations to Dragich and all the final tablists.