Andy Frankenberger’s Big Bullets

WPT & WSOP Champ talks about sustainability of high buy-in MTTs.

If we haven’t said it on F5 yet, Thomas Keeling (aka SrslySirius) is doing a great job of his short and sweet video interviews for Bluff Magazine. Here he talks to one time World Poker Tour Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger about the start of his trip to the 2014 PCA.

The conversation is dominated by the fact that while Frankenberger may be good at the pokerz, he pays a little less attention to his own packing needs. You see, he admits to wearing the same pair of underwear every single day.

On a more serious note, Frankenberger is one of the few pros who publicly sweats firing off a $25k bullet into a tournament like the PCA High Roller, which kicks off today. He spends a minute or two discussing and doubting the long term sustainability of the big buy-in trend.

Finally, lest we give you the wrong idea, while Andy is wearing the same pair of boxer-briefs (we don’t know, just a guess) every day, he’s no monster. He’s washing them on the daily. Here’s a photo of him hanging them up on the fence to dry.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink



Theo Jorgensen Battles The Penguin

Team PokerStars Pro dragged into prop bet deep waters.

Jennifer Robles of PokerNews brings us a clip of the latest PokerStars Q&A session where Johnny Lodden, Ville Wahlbeck and Theo Jorgensen open up about past prop bets.

In this clip from the session Theo describes a very real prop bet, initiated at a baby shower, involving him having to discover ways to out run a penguin.

Wonder what Lodden thinks about that.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Phil Ivey Is Going Down Under

The People's Champ confirms his Aussie Millions plans.

Today the Poker’s Choice Award (™) Winner for Favorite Poker Player, Phil Ivey, announced that he’s leaving whatever hideaway he’s been grinding in – most likely his digs in Macau – and taking the trip to Australia to participate in the 2014 Aussie Millions. The seemingly nostalgic Ivey put this message out for all to see:

After all these years, I still love playing poker. Looking forward to kicking off the new year with the 2014 Aussie Millions later this month.

Prelims start on January 24th and the first flight of the $10k Main Event gets underway on February 2. Players can register for most events online and pay via credit card...including the $100k Super High Roller and the $250,000 Challenge.

They really do have the following message on their website.

I hereby authorise Crown to debit my card $250,000.00 AUD representing tournament entries.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Vanessa Selbst, David Williams and Ike Haxton Swap Staking Stories

PokerStars panel at the PCA talks money matters.

PokerNews' Kristy Arnett was on hand at one of the player panels at the 2014 PCA where Team PokerStars Pros David Williams, Vanessa Selbst and Issac Haxton were on hand to talk a little about their experience with staking.

Sharing some personal, and second hand stories, the trio entertained the crowd with their memorable anecdotes and even include a classic urban legend. Check it out.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

partypoker Scores A Slam Dunk Slap Shot With Sports And Stuff

Online poker and professional sports go hand in hand.

As reported by the hand that feeds us, pokerfuse, newly legalized and regulated online poker site in New Jersey, partypoker, looks to score big through a new partnership with two professional U.S. sports teams.

The New Jersey Devils (NHL) and the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), both owned by one Joshua Harris, will be announcing a union with partypoker that will have the online site ponying up sponsorship cash in exchange for a barrage of promotions for you, the fan. Of course there’s going to be signage and TV spots, but there could also be a whole host of other goodies: tickets, signed merch, sitting in suites, meet and greets…who knows?!

Well, actually, they probably know and they’ll be making a formal announcement about what they know at 4pm EST.

Harris is also throwing in the Prudential Center as well, so let’s say an artist that poker players would be interested in seeing comes to town, like say Justin Bieber or Melissa Ethridge, you might be able to score non-sports related prizes as well.

So, keep an eye out New Jersey, partypoker is looking to claim more than it’s fair share of the market and is getting aggressive about it.

Now watch this:

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink


Jesse Sylvia Talks Multi Tabling on “Runner Runner” Featurette

2012 WSOP Runner-up explains the experience value of online poker.

Just in case you haven’t heard enough about the story of online poker in the past year, the DVD/Blu-ray of box-office bomb “Runner Runner” will contain a featurette entitled “House of Cards: The Inside Story of Online Poker.”

Featuring 2012 World Series of Poker runner-up (see what they did there?) Jesse Sylvia, the short hopes to bring some clarity to the masses about just what the hell online poker is.

I could get up to 5 or 6 thousand hands a day, 10 or 12 thousand if I really wanted to but that would have been, like, a big day.

“Runner Runner” is available now.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

World Series Of Poker Hangs The “Help Wanted” Sign

Dealers wanted for the 2014 WSOP at the Rio in Las Vegas.

It time for the most prestigious live poker series of the year to stock up on dealers for the 2014 World Series of Poker. The posting, which has been up since last month, details out all the requirements necessary to be berated by players from all over the world in one location. Interested in pitching cards in the biggest poker show on Earth? Check out the listing and sharpen your flop, draw and 7-card game dealing skills. Applications must be submitted by 1/31/14.

Go to the Caesars Entertainment Careers Post for the 2014 World Series of Poker.

Credit where credit is due: all hail Kevmath for pointing this out.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Daniel Negreanu Looking For More Hardware In 2014

"I believe I'm going to win 3 World Series Bracelets this year."

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu may have fired 3 bullets at the $100k Super High Roller without getting a return but that’s not keeping him down in 2014. He’s got a plan, that he discussed with Bluff Magazine, and it includes winning 3, count them 3, World Series of Poker bracelets.

The #1 poker player of the decade took time to stop and talk with Thomas about setting his goals “scary” high and making his every movement in pursuit of them. He also addresses the rumor, set forth by Dan Bilzerian in a recent interview for Cardplayer Magazine with Brian Pempus that Phil Ivey is broke.

Negreanu states that Ivey is in fact, not broke and is in “beastmode.”

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Busto! Cop Caught Playing Online Poker While On Duty

Internal investigation of this poker patrol is underway.

A Bolingbrook, IL police officer is under investigation for playing online poker while driving in the middle of a snowstorm. The concerned citizens captured the cop on their camera and described the situation to the Bolingbrook Patch.

This video was taken 01/04/2014 in Bolingbrook, IL at rush hour while the roads weren’t plowed and it was snowing. I was the one to capture this video in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle. He was driving and trying to play video poker at the same time while road conditions were already treacherous.

The officer has been identified from the video and according to Police Lt. Mike Rompa the situation is currently being looked in to.

The officer in this video has been identified. Due to the seriousness of this incident, the Bolingbrook Police Department has placed this under an internal investigation.

The video is pretty rough. We have our guess of which site it is, but we can’t tell for sure…can you?

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Bluff Media App Wants To Control Your Vibrator

List of permissions needed for app rivals the privacy policy of Facebook.

All you android users looking to get a little poker content on the go from Bluff Magazine will have to allow Bluff to be the Master of Your Domain. That’s right, in order to install the app, Bluff insists you let it control the vibrator on your mobile device along with accessing your text messages, your geolocation, read all your contacts info and take pictures (presumably of you enjoying the vibrations),

Bluff is either following in the footsteps of the NSA or it employed the ol’ tick-every-box strategy when rolling out their Android app, much to the chagrin of their fans that value their privacy.

Shout out to @propoker for the heads up. If you see something fun that you think is F5 material, tweet to us @F5Poker.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel’s Hairy Situation

Health conscious TD looks to drop to 5% body fat.

Fact: poker players, in general, are an unhealthy lot.

To that end we applaud one of poker’s nice guys, World Series of Poker Tournament Director Jack Effel, in his quest to drop to 5% body fat.

That said, we know a way he can drop his first 10 lbs. easy – but we’ll let Matt Salsberg say it:

Posting his “before” pics to Twitter, it’s clear Effel is in full Wookie mode for this workout. But when it comes to dropping to 5% body fat, back and body hair isn’t the worst of his problems, as highlighted by Ultimate Poker's Terrence Chan.

Chan, who is both an accomplished poker player as well as an actual MMA badass, put 5% body fat into some context:

Click that link to see what 5% body fat looks like. We wish Jack all the best in his quest, but even more we cheer on his good health and look forward to hearing him on the mic this summer.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink


Loni Harwood Addresses Account “Borrowing” Scandal

Bluff Reader's Choice Award winner opens up about sharing online accounts.

One of the great stories to emerge from the 2013 World Series of Poker was that of WSOP Circuit grinder Loni Harwood. In fact, it made such an impression that, with 27% of the votes, she captured the Bluff Magazine Reader’s Choice selection for Breakout Performer. But last month she made headlines of a more controversial nature when it was revealed that she was performing one of the biggest no-no’s of online poker: borrowing accounts/multi-accounting.

Read: Loni Harwood 'Borrowing’ Online Accounts?

From the PCA, the newly healthy Harwood talks with Bluff’s Thomas Keeling about her WSOP plans as well as addresses the online poker situation that took place in Canada. Harwood says she didn’t realize the seriousness of the infraction and admitted, “I made a mistake.”

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

World Poker Tour Signs Monster Deal So Listen Up

Former Beats By Dre partner now teaming with Bad Beats by Marc Andre Ladouceur.

Back in the day Monster Headphones used to roll with Dre, helping launch the popular personal audio line Beats By Dre. Now though, Monster hangs with a new crew: Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten (V.V.P) and the entire World Poker Tour posse. That’s right, the World Poker Tour picked up a new sponsor and now Monster Headphones are the official headphone of the WPT.

Before you go rushing out to pick up a pair so you can look “officially” awesome at at WPT Final Table…

So what does this mean for players? Not much. You can check out a pair at each of the stops to see if you want to purchase a set and everyone who makes a WPT final table gets a pair to wear when not on the air. While not necessarily a top 10 brand of headphones yet, Monster has a ton to choose from – in-ear and puffy over-ear styles running up to $250 or so.

There will also be plenty of product placement and the Monster Hand of the Day on the televised episodes, so get ready for that. Finally, here’s “Head Monster” Noel Lee as to why Monster thinks that they are a good fit for poker players in general:

At Monster, we understand poker players enjoy listening to their favorite tunes at the table since it keeps them focused. In many situations, from bad beats to tough decisions, listening to music keeps them from tilting, and we’re confident the WPT players will appreciate the quality and comfort of Monster headphones.

Here’s what your boy Gavin has to say:

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Fabian Quoss Victorious In 2014 PCA $100k Super High Roller

German phenom takes home over $1.6 million.

German high roller Fabian Quoss bested a small but extremely talented field of 56 runners (45 unique entries) to capture the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100k High Roller Championship.

The over $1.6 million first place prize puts Quoss’ lifetime earnings just shy of $5 million and, according to the PokerStars Blog, the win marks Quoss’ 4th major title which includes a victory in the WPT $15k High Roller in Sept 2012.

To earn the right to hoist the trophy would not be an easy task as the final table was stacked with some of the world’s top talent including Ole Schemion (7th), Tony Gregg (6th), Matt Glantz (5th) and more.

Antonio Esfandiari, no stranger to playing for the absolute highest stakes, bowed out in 4th place when he lost a race to 2013 PCA High Roller Champion Vanessa Selbst. Selbst, arguably the favorite at the start of the final table, would have to settle for third this year, taking home north of $760k.

The last person Quoss would have to take down would be Team Ivey pro, and self-described poker hobbyist, Dan Shak. Shak had found himself in this position before, having made the final table of the PCA Super High Roller in each of the past three years. Much like 2012 when he came runner-up to Victor “Isildur1” Blom, Shak would again have to settle for second as the charitable hedge fund manager walked away with nearly $1.2 million for his efforts.

Quoss would have little time to celebrate his first 7-figure victory as he’s slated to play Day 1B of the 2014 PCA Main Event which kicks off at 12:00pm EST.

Here’s the 2014 PCA SHR Paydays:

1 – Fabian Quoss – $1,629,940
2 – Dan Shak – $1,178,980
3 – Vanessa Selbst – $760,640
4 – Antonio Esfandiari – $575,920
5 – Matt Glantz – $445,520
6 – Anthony Gregg – $347,720
7 – Ole Schemion – $277,080
8 – Mike McDonald – $217,320

Check out James Hartigan’s breakdown of all the highlights of the $100k SHR:

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink


Dan Shak On Making Moves At The SHR Final Table

Shak looks to finish strong in his 3rd consecutive PCA SHR final table.

After a big bubble clash, “amateur” poker hobbyist Dan Shak recounts to Bluff Magazine his wrong read turned chip lead in the 2014 PCA $100k Super High Roller. The live streaming final table, on delay, with hole cards is set to begin at 2:00pm EST.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Vanessa Selbst Takes Aim At Bad Cops

She hopes video technology brings power to the people.

She’s got the chip lead at the dinner break in the $100k Super High Roller at the 2014 PCA, but in this short video she talks with Bluff Magazine about how she’s putting her winnings to work.

A law school grad and an outspoken advocate of citizens rights, Selbst talks about a new venture where she plans on turning the camera lens on those who patrol the streets in hopes to curb any cases of abuse of power.

Guest appearance by Dan Shak and a lost guy in a blue shirt.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Poker In NJ: While It’s Cold Outside, Online Poker’s On A Heater

Legalized online gaming sees a surge in accounts created.

As reported by the bros over at Online Poker Report, it looks like the talk of slow growth in the legalized New Jersey market didn’t account for just how cold it was going to get outside! During the week of December 30- January 5 over 22k new accounts (not necessarily new users) were created so people could check raise from the comfort of their own space heater.

In fact, the total number of current accounts are in striking distance of 150k and, as reported by our lord and master over at pokerfuse (PRO version), New Jersey even found itself with 500 simultaneous cash game players. Of course, that’s spread over the top 4 networks, but it’s still a good start for the fledgling market.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Issac Haxton 100k Is The New 10k

Having fun risking 6-figures.

Team PokerStars Online Pro Issac Haxton has an semi-awkward conversation with PokerNews’ Kristy Arnett while on break during the $100k SHR at the 2014 PCA. An uncomfortable looking Haxton answers a series of simple questions in short bursts in a video that looks like it might be going nowhere.

The video then picks up when Kristy and Haxton break down a hand between Ike and the “hyper aggro” Ole Schemion. Clearly, when it comes to poker strategy, Haxton is in his element. Funny up front, informative at the end – check this one out.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

SrslySirius Stalks Durrrr and Jungleman in new video: “Dan”

It’s been about a year since Bluff Magazine's Thomas Keeling's alter ego SrslySirius released a new poker parody video. Today, he dropped his latest and it looks to be another instant classic. Here’s “Dan.”

Out of retirement, SrslySirius raps about the rivalry between Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and Dan “Jungleman” Cates to the tune of Eminem's classic track “Stan.” Complete with references to the Durrrr Challenge, Black Friday, Full Tilt sponsorships, Viffer sidebets and the “Girah” ghosting scandal, SrslySirius doesn’t take a line off in sending up the duo.

While he normally prefers to use infectious pop songs where it’s not necessary to know the original in order to get maximum enjoyment, if you are familiar with the original Slim Shady track this one is going to hit a little harder. Either way, it’s another fun video in the SrslySirius discography.

New to SrslySirius or just can’t get enough? Here’s another classic:

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink


James Hartigan Gets You All Caught Up – PCA 2014 Day 1

Heroes and highlights from of the $100k SHR

Spent your Sunday on the couch watching football (American or otherwise)? No problem! PokerStars’ James Hartigan is happy to recap all the highlights from Day 1 of the 2014 PCA Super High Roller.

Play resumes today (Monday) at 12:00pm EST – so hurry up and watch this video before you settle in to your cubicle for 8+ hours of live streaming poker action and pretending to care about work!

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Justin Bonomo Addresses $300k Taxi Cab Rumors

Bonomo just maxin' and relaxin' at the PCA.

Bluff Magazine's Thomas Keeling caught up with 28 year old poker phenom Justin Bonomo on break from Day 1 of the PokerStars PCA $100k Super High Roller. In the short video Bonomo talks about what he’s been up to since his runner-up finish at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $10 Million Guarantee (for which he made over $1.1 million) and what it takes to stack someone when you start with 250,000 in chips.

Bonomo also talks about speculation that he was the as-of-yet unidentified poker pro who left $300k in the back of a Las Vegas taxicab. Spoiler after the jump.

He wasn’t.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Jason Mercier Delivers Direct To Your Door

Booze not included.

Back from his poker break, Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier takes time to talk with PokerNews’ Kristy Arnett while on break from the PokerStars PCA $100k Super High Roller.

The pair cover a whole host of topics including having Mercier clarify the status of his recent search for a taker in a potential $100k “no drinking bet.”

Mercier also pimps his blog post laying out his goals for 2014, which include winning three poker tournaments and capturing a major title. Most interesting, Mercier opens up about his new business venture in Florida where he’s invested in a food delivery service where you can, like, get Cheesecake Factory and stuff.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink

Two Plus Two Magazine Helps You Keep Your Self-Respect

Check out 10 reasons why you should learn to play poker better.

Whether you are new to the game of poker or a grizzled veteran grinder, sometimes it’s easy to lose focus on the reasons “why” we play the game of poker. Veteran poker author Ray Zee pens another column for the Two Plus Two Magazine on his top ten reasons why he thinks one should put in the hours and get good at the game.

A few choice wise words from Zee:

Being able to use poker as a stepping stone to better things in the future is a great attribute of having the ability to win and last in the poker community for a long period of time.

On living a life full of personal free time:

Almost everyone I have ever met has wished for more free time or the luxury to take time off from work at their own pleasure. Poker players are spoiled by the fact that taking time off at will is so easy and costs no direct loss as it does to a worker or business person.

To be your own boss and never have to kiss anyone’s ass:

This job, which is certainly not a job, allows you to never have to kiss anyone’s you-know-what, or say “yes sir” to someone unless you wanted to. You get to keep your self-respect in life and can hold you head up high.

For all 10 of Ray Zee’s reasons, check out the full article on 2+2.

published 10 years, 11 months ago • by permalink