Page 13 - March 2009 • Southern California Gaming Guide

March 2009 Gaming News Continued
WJorld Series of Poker Boot Camp at Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort
oin in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Boot and beverage credit; and your choice of room Camp on March 15th at Harrah’s Rincon Casino & accommodations. All starting at $399.99 Resort. Learn how to play like the pros. Let Harrah’s plus tax. Visit www.harrahs.com for
Rincon and their poker experts show you the secrets of the game. is exclusive, very limited package includes poker lessons; entry into two daily tournaments on Sunday, March 15th at 7 p.m. and Monday, March 16th at 12 p.m.; one seat in the WSOP satellite tournament; $50 in food
booking. Eric Lynch, author of the book
Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time, will be at the Sports Pit at Harrah’s Rincon on March 27th for a book signing.
World Series of Poker Circuit Events and Seat
FGiveaways at Harrah’s Rincon
or 39 consecutive years the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has been the biggest and most prestigious event in the world. This year’s WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Rincon runs from March 19th
to April 1st, and includes a variety of events. All noon events start with $10,000 in chips and are two-day events. All 4 p.m. events start with $6,000 in chips and are one-day events. Nightly tournaments begin at 7 p.m., No-Limit Hold’em, $100+$25 buy-in, $3,000 chips. First place winners of all main events (starting at noon) will receive WSOP commemorative rings except Last Chance No Limit on March 31st. Winner of the ladies event on Saturday, March 28th
Jim Mercurio: Poker
WHowdy, Partner!
will receive a commemorative WSOP bracelet. See the full schedule on page 11, Poker Plays. And check out www.harrahs.com or visit the Poker Room at Harrah’s Rincon for more information.
Every Wednesday through March 18th, there will be two $100 circuit event seats given away—one each at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. To qualify, every hour between 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., drawing tickets will be handed out to every guest playing on a live game and one to each of the players in the S-I-N Tournament.
hen I played in home games in Maryland and in Virginia, I was introduced to a phenomenon that the locals called “ bucketing.” Basically, it was a form of scooting or Pushka where two players chose beforehand (and made it public to the table) that
they were “bucket partners.” Every time one of the two players would win a pot, they would take 20% of the pot and put it into the bucket and keep it o the table. And then eventually they would split the money and use it to play or to cash out. is was for limit games and probably isn’t as common in no-limit games.
...Gaming News Continues on page 16
active. So if someone begs you to be his partner, it’s not because he thinks your play is great. It’s because he thinks your play is loose.
Jim Mercurio is a lm director and producer. You can buy Jim’s lm Hard Scrambled at www.hardscrambled.com or if you like his column, contact him at jim@jamespmercurio.com.
Let’s say you get invited to a new home game, and after a while a player asks you to partner with him or her. Should you beam with joy that a stranger recognized your amazing poker prowess and proactively chose you to be his partner? Well, uh, no. Before you start healing that childhood pain of being picked last in every sport except Red Rover, think about it a little more.
When does a player bene t most from this situation? When the most money goes into his bucket with the
least amount of risk, right?
So for example, imagine the second best player at
the table is tight-aggressive. He is involved in ten pots where he put in $50 on average and then he wins three of them, which average $250 each. He is up $250 for the night and $150 of it went into the bucket.
Now, think about the best player who happens to be looser but wins more. He is involved in 20 pots putting in $50 per pot but wins ve of them, which
average $300 each. He is actually up $500 but $300 goes into the bucket.
Now think about the loosest player almost imaginable. He is in almost every pot. He puts $50 into 40 pots but wins eight of them at an average of $200 a pot. He is down $400 and he has put $320 into the bucket.
So who do you want as your bucket partner? e tight aggressive guy who will only contribute $150 into the bucket, the loose shark who contributes $300 or the calling station sh who contributes $320?
e obvious answer is the atm sh. You see, the loosest players will be involved in the most pots and will probably win the highest gross amount. Ideally, you would want your bucket partner to be in every single hand. You have a chance to make money from every single hand without risking a cent.
If you are looking for a partner, don’t look for the guy with the most chips, look for the guy who is most
March 2009
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Page 13
Gaming News (Continued) Poker: Wired Aces and River Rats