CPL Poker Podcast

Last night I interviewed Mark Cardenas and Phil Fuehrer the CPL Poker Podcast for Ante Up Magazine.  The CPL Poker Podcast is the longest running poker podcast in the upper mid-west.  Mark and Phil have been pumping out the podcast since 2007.  They are poker pros, but instead just a couple of really nice regular guys.  Their podcast regularly features local Minnesota music and humorous banter reminiscent of Ante Up's own podcast.

This podcast is a must listen for any fans of Minnesota Poker and podcasts.  Look for the article in the May 2012 of Ante Up Magazine.

Confidence Back

Although the numbers haven't come back, I'm feeling good at the tables again. There's no way I dig my way out of the hole by the end of March, but I hope I can make a dent in the losses.  In any case it's good to be playing with confidence again.

Jason Senti Reacts to Black Friday

I recently interviewed Jason Senti for the April issue of Ante Up Magazine.  We discussed how his life has changed since Black Friday.

Jason is best known for being a member of the 2010 November Nine.  He ended up finishing 7th, much to the dismay of his fellow Minnesotans.  After making the final table he began traveling to lots of final live tournaments and didn't play much online all the way through March 2011.

As of March, 2011 I hadn’t played nearly as much online since the world series because of all the traveling I’d been doing.  I wanted to get back to it.  I really missed playing lots of hands with regulars in deep stack [online] cash games,” said Senti.  He planned on grinding lots of online poker from March until the beginning of the 2011 WSOP where he planned to play about 30 tournaments.  He played 5-10 hours a day five days week for the month leading up to April 15^th.

“Then (Black Friday) hit and I didn’t know what to do,” said Senti.  With so much uncertainty in the future of a reliable poker income he decided to change his plans and only play a handful of tournaments and instead concentrate on playing the lucrative cash games that pop up during the WSOP.  He also has maintained his position as a pro for the online training site Blue Fire Poker, as well as taking on the role of being a poker ambassador for the Canterbury Park card room located in Shakopee, MN. 

Senti has also set up a second residence in Vancouver, British Columbia where he has spent several months playing online poker.  He is optimistic that poker will be regulated in the U.S. soon.  “If poker was reasonably regulated within the U.S., I would probably have to plan on playing far more poker than I [ever have] in the first couple of years following [regulation],” Senti said. 

For now he will continue to commute to Canada to play poker and hope for regulation in the U.S.  If regulation doesn’t come, he will eventually need to decide to move somewhere else to play professionally, or perhaps make a career change.  But for now he’s hopeful that online poker regulation is on the horizon. 

Let's hope that we can all get back to playing the great game of poker online as well as live.

MSPT: Recipe for Success

The Mid-States Poker Tour held the first event of season three at Running Aces Harness Park in February.  the MSPT events have been steadily gaining popularity and resulting in ever growing prize pools.  This season's events will have both a Day 1A and a Day 1B, and allow people to re-enter into day 1B if the played and busted from day 1A.

February's event attracted 311 entrants.  This was an record number for both the MSPT and Running Aces for $1,000 events.  I believe this is the record for all of Minnesota.  When standing next to Gregg Barktu, Running Aces poker room manager,watching the final table, he mentioned they may consider multiple day ones for some of their other events.

I also watch some of the live stream for the final table.  It more compelling than I would have guessed.  Maybe I was more interested than the average person because I had to cover it for the magazine, but I thought it was very entertaining.  Seeing the hole cards made it much more interesting, and Bryan Mileski gave audio commentary to fill in information about stack sizes, blinds and antes.

Running Aces also put the stream on their big screen in the card room.  I heard many people in the card room talking about the the final table.  Many people assumed that repeat powerhouse Erick Wright would take down the final table, but in the end Rodger Johnson won the RF Moeller Diamond Championship Bracelet and $79,185.

Mileski deserves a big congratulations for the continued success of the MSPT.

Click here for more information about February's event.

March 2012 Ante Up Magazine Article

This month I cover the Running Aces Harness Park freerolls that are drawing huge fields.  Note Manessah Kunkel is a woman even though my editor changed the article to refer to her as "he" once.

http://www.anteupmagazine.com/featured-column/freerolls-gaining-popularity-at-running-aces.htm