Bid or bluff as the EU plays climate-change poker?

Luxembourg - If you want poker players to show you their cards, you have to put your own hand on the table first. That was the philosophy which led the European Union on Wednesday to publish a near-complete set of demands for United Nations climate-change talks in Copenhagen in December, in a bid to make superpowers such as China and the United States follow suit.

But ministers were not able to solve the most difficult questions on the table - leaving open the question of whether their move is anything more than a high-profile bluff.

"There is a tactical argument to say, 'Maybe we should just wait a little more to show our cards,' but there is also a very urgent need for someone to say, 'Yes, we are going to do this,' and also to indicate how exactly are we going to do it," Denmark's climate minister Connie Hedegaard told the German Press Agency dpa.

Poker Strategy -- Raymond Wu on EPT London

Team PokerStars pro Raymond Wu represented his site well at the PokerStars EPT London main event. Wu navigated his way through a field of 730 before busting out in seventh place, netting himself a final-table finish and earning £87,000.

A total of 24 players returned to battle to the final table on day five, including the likes of Annette Obrestad, Theo Tran, Vivek Rajkumar, Marty Smyth, Andrew Lichtenberger, and Kevin Schaffel. During the play-down, Wu got involved in an interesting hand with Germany’s Benny Spindler that had many onlookers scratching their heads.

The pot catapulted Wu up the leader board, putting him in prime position to make the final table. Here, Wu explains his thought process and what he thinks of not only his line, but Spindler’s, as well.

Event — Blinds/Ante	EPT London	12,000-24,000 with a 2,000 ante
Player	Raymond Wu	Benny Spindler
Chip Count	1.2 million	1.2 million
Hand	K J	A A

The Hand

Raymond Wu raised to 62,000 under the gun, and Benny Spindler called from the button. Both players saw a flop of J 4 3, and Wu continued with a bet of 75,000.

Spindler made the call, and the turn was the Q. Wu checked, and Spindler fired in a bet of 112,000. Wu called, and the river was the J.

Wu checked once again, and Spindler thought for a bit before betting 250,000. Wu went into the tank for several minutes before finding a call, and Spindler showed A A. A surprised Wu revealed K J for the winning trips.

After the hand, Spindler took a hit down to about 700,000, and Wu chipped up to about 1,700,000.

The Analysis

I raised K-J under the gun and was called by Benny. I was thinking at the time that when he calls my preflop raise, it can be pretty much any two cards except for aces, kings, or queens. I just thought his range was that wide.

He’s a pretty aggressive player, so if he did have a premium hand like aces, he should have three-bet me, knowing I wouldn’t give him much credit. Or at least that’s what I thought he would do, take advantage of his image with a big hand.

The flop came jack high, so at this point I’m pretty happy. Betting the flop is a must for me, since I can be continuation-betting with a wide variety of hands, and he knows that. I’m not the type of player who just checks when they hit and bets when they miss. People pick up on that, and I’m not about to give too much away.

After I bet and he calls, I’m in a tough situation, since I still don’t know very much about his hand. A normal player, you’d start to narrow it down. Maybe he has a medium pocket pair, maybe a jack, or some kind of straight draw. But with Benny, he could just as easily be trapping me or be floating me with complete air.

The turn is a queen, which is not a very good card for me. The reason for that is because it is only a good card for me if I want to continue to bet as a bluff, since hands like pocket fives will probably fold. But betting for value is now tough because many of the hands that call me have me beat, and I could easily get raised off my hand by making the pot bigger. You don’t want to inflate the pot in a hand where you are not super comfortable.

He bet one-third of the pot pretty quickly, and I don’t know enough to know where I’m at, so I decided to call and re-evaluate on the river.

The river was another jack, giving me trips, but it was also the third spade, putting a backdoor flush on board. This is where it gets really interesting. To a good hand-reader, my hand is pretty much screaming a jack or a very unlikely queen. Honestly, he should know that I’m not check-calling the turn with a hand like pocket eights or nines, because that is just extremely thin.

Once I call that turn bet, my hand is pretty much face up, in my opinion. With that in mind, you can see why I took so long to call his river bet. It was for about half the pot, which at that stage of the tournament was very significant.

I was very, very surprised that he would bet the river with pocket aces. I think his line was very weird, to be honest, in that he didn’t reraise preflop, didn’t bet the flop, bet small on the turn, and then tried to get value on an extremely dangerous board on the river. I can’t see how he would ever get called there by anything other than a hand that beats him, other than possibly K-Q or A-Q, but those are only two hands out of many.

His hand was very disguised, and I obviously got lucky to win the pot, but I think he ultimately misplayed it by not checking behind on the river, otherwise he’s just turning his aces into a bluff.

World Poker Finals Tournament Series Preview

The 2009 World Poker Finals began today at Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The tournament series will feature 20 poker tournaments between now and the conclusion of the World Poker Tour $15,000 no-limit hold’em championship on Nov. 10. Games spread will include no-limit hold’em, limit hold’em, seven-card stud, seven-card stud eight-or-better, pot-limit Omaha, Omaha eight-or-better, and H.O.S.E. There will be a ladies $400 no-limit hold’em event held on Saturday, Oct. 31, and a seniors $500 no-limit hold’em hosted on Friday, Oct. 23. The WPT championship event begins on Thursday, Nov. 5.

Here is a look at the full schedule for the tournament series:

Monday, Oct. 19: Event No. 1 ($300 no-limit hold’em shootout)

Tuesday, Oct. 20: Event No. 2 ($400 seven-card stud)

Wednesday, Oct. 21: Event No. 3 ($400 no-limit hold’em)

Thursday, Oct. 22: Event No. 4 ($400 Omaha eight-or-better)

Friday, Oct. 23: Event No. 5 ($500 seniors no-limit hold’em)

Saturday, Oct. 24: Event No. 6 ($500 H.O.S.E.)

Sunday, Oct. 25: Event No. 7 ($1,500 no-limit hold’em)

Monday, Oct. 26: Event No. 8 ($500 no-limit hold’em)

Tuesday, Oct. 27: Event No. 9 ($400 seven-card stud eight-or-better)

Wednesday, Oct. 28: Event No. 10 ($600 no-limit hold’em)

Thursday, Oct. 29: Event No. 11 ($400 limit hold’em)

Friday, Oct. 30: Event No. 12 ($1,000 no-limit hold’em)

Saturday, Oct. 31: Event No. 13 ($400 ladies no-limit hold’em)

Sunday, Nov. 1: Event No. 14 ($2,500 no-limit hold’em)

Monday, Nov. 2: Event No. 15 ($400 pot-limit Omaha)

Tuesday, Nov. 3: Event No. 16 ($5,000 no-limit hold’em)

Thursday, Nov. 5: Event No. 17 ($15,000 WPT no-limit hold’em championship)

Friday, Nov. 6: Event No. 18 ($1,000 no-limit hold’em survivor)

Saturday, Nov. 7: Event No. 19 ($1,000 no-limit hold’em)

Sunday, Nov. 8: Event No. 20 ($400 no-limit hold’em)

Hall of Fame Welcomes The “Ambassador Of Poker” Mike Sexton

Mike Sexton, the man described by WSOP officials as “a true gentleman who has constantly enhanced the game of poker both with his play at the tables and his promotion of the game off of it,” is the 38th person to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame but will have to wait until November 7th before the official ceremony.

This year marked the 30th year for the Poker Hall of Fame and a finalist was to be chosen by a panel comprised of 15 Hall of Fame members and 15 media representatives with a 75% approval rating sealing the deal. A shortlist of nine finalists were chosen for possible induction which included Barry Greenstein, Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, Dan Harrington, Men “The Master” Nguyen, and Tom McEvoy.

Following his nomination Sexton said: “I am deeply honored to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame and it is particularly special because for the first time it was a process that involved the fans, the media, and the living members of the Hall of Fame. To me, the most meaningful aspect of this process was the acceptance by the living Hall of Famers, who welcomed me into their exclusive club.”

Sexton took up poker in 1977 after leaving the US army and throughout his career has earned over $3,700,000 in tournament winnings including a WSOP bracelet in 1989 at the $1,500 Seven card stud split event. However, it is probably for his promotional work that Sexton has been acknowledged with Poker Hall of Fame immortality, and his hosting of the World Poker Tour has been instrumental in producing a generations of enthusiastic and loyal fans of the game and earned him his title the “ambassador of poker”.

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