Photo credit: Steve Quinn

When you’re trying to hide more than tells – Disabilities in Poker

Player Profile

-You may have not heard of Mike Wiseman but this local pro has been crushing the Vancouver cash game scene since 2008.  Until recently he has mainly been focusing on cash games all over Canada and Las Vegas. He has started to take his skills into the tournament world and has shown signs of success, he made a deep run and placed 21^st out 256 players at the Venetian Deep stacks last year in November. He has cashed in some local tournaments and is starting to develop his tournament skill. Another thing you may not know about Mike is that he has a speech impediment that he has been dealing with all of his life. He still has to fight little battles on the felt that any regular poker player would not think twice about. His Stutter has also made him a better player and a more cautious one, in poker patience pays off and when you’re dealing with a stutter; you need all the patience you can muster.

Q&A

How did you get into poker?  When did you first start playing?

“I got into poker in 2007 because I was looking for a hobby or activity where I could make a second income without having to talk a lot. What better activity then poker? When one of my close friends introduced me to the game, I instantly fell in love.  I try to become a better player after every session and learn from the mistakes I make.  You can always keep learning that is what makes this game so great.”

How has your speech impediment affected your poker game?

“Most of the betting in poker is verbal, so you have to be very careful about what you say when you are placing a bet. I have to tweak my betting routine so it is non-verbal.  Most players can verbalize their bet and move their chips across the line without worrying about string bets. I don’t have the luxury of doing that so I have to be very careful when I make my bets. Another situation most players don’t have to worry about is their chip denominations when they start a tournament.  When I played in a Venetian Deep Stack event last year in Las Vegas, I asked one of the tournament directors if I could get a good variety of chip denominations at the beginning of the tournament. The reason is because I would have a very difficult time verbalizing my bets when the action is on me. When most players throw in a 5000 chip and say “1750” they don’t even think about it, for me that would take forever. Not to mention all of the eyes on me and everyone would be mad I am stealing precious blind level time trying to speak.  My stutter could give really observant players a read on me, which could be crucial to make the money in a tournament.  If I have a wide variety of chips to begin with, I won’t run into that problem.  Instead of having just one $5000 chip, I split the chips into denominations of 2 $1000, 2 $500 and 20 $100 chips. By doing this it makes my tournament experience so much easier and stress free because I can just put the chips in and not say a word to place my bet.”

“Poker is a social activity, when I am sitting down at a cash game at a local casino I would like to have the freedom of making friendly conversation with the players sitting beside me.  My stutter sometimes hinders me in making “table buddies” which can cost me money.  The more liked you are at a poker table, the more money you make! That is a fact! Nobody wants to pay off the mute grinder in seat 10 with his headphones on who has not said one word to the table.”

“Even the simple things for your regular poker player can be difficult for me. When I want to order food or a drink when the server comes by, people stare at me if I have a hard time saying what I want. It can get embarrassing.”

Has your Stutter had any positive effects on your poker game?

“My stutter has made me a better player though, it is not all negative. I would say my game is more methodical and patient due to my speech. I have to take my time and think things through before I make a bet or a call. I never rush anything. I tend to analyze hands deeper than most people do”

Who do you credit for helping your development? Who are you favorite poker players?

Brad Booth helped me when I first started playing poker; he gave me a lot of advice and helped me improve my game.  I am saddened about the recent events in Brad’s life, I am happy that he came clean in that video he posted online. That is not enough though, he needs to do right and pay back what he owes to people. He owes it to himself and the poker community; his actions have to speak louder than his words.  I really hope he can turn his life around; we all need to learn from his mistakes and make sure we are making the right choices in life.  Another player who I respect is Daniel Negreanu.  I really love his recent video blog’s, he is being so honest and just speaking his mind.  Not only is he a talent but he such a great Canadian ambassador for poker and a world class player”

What do you think of the Vancouver Poker scene?

“I am proud to be from Vancouver, there is so much well-known local talent, players such as Brad Booth and Matt Jarvis are some of the elite players. Matt won his 1^st WSOP Bracelet last year and is just crushing tournaments.  Ashkan  Razavi just won his 1^st WSOP bracelet this year in event #9 at the 2012 WSOP, this is a guy that has put in so much work and deserves what he has accomplished. Not many people knew about him but now they will know what he is capable of. There are many other local players who are not as well-known that I respect like Jonas Mackoff, Chris Back, John Agelakis, Mark-Daniel Hughes, Jip Roc and Adam Young. These guys are grinding it out every day and just working hard to achieve their goals. Edgewater Casino is where I learned the ropes and I must say that room is probably one of the toughest rooms in the country.  Vancouver should be proud of the poker players that it produces; we are truly a force to be reckoned with!”

MMA Superstar, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre or simply known as GSP has signed on with 888Poker as part of a global endorsement deal.  Canada’s own Rush St-Pierre is one of the most recognizable faces in the sport of mixed martial arts, and has won several awards as Canada’s best athlete.

GSP will immediately become a member of Team 888poker.com and will play in the 2012 World Series of Poker main event.

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On December 24, a 20 year old female was arrested, along with 2 other men, and one other man was arrested on Dec 29.  The 20 year old female, Bianca Rojas-Latraverse, was in fact Duhamel’s ex-girlfriend!  Since everything was targeted, and the beating of Jonathan made it look personal, it makes absolute sense.  She must have been scorned with his recent wealth, and probably left her with what she deserves, nothing.

It is not known if Dumahel’s reward of up to $10,000 played a part in the arrests.  His Rolex watch was recovered, but the WSOP bracelet is still MIA.

Here is the final table payout of Epic Poker League Event #2

1. Mike McDonald $782,410
2. David Steicke $506,260
3. Fabrice Soulier $299,160
4. Erik Seidel $184,100
5. Nam Le $126,570
6. Isaac Baron $92,050
7. Sean Getzville $69,040
8. Dutch Boyd $57,530

The next event will take place on Dec 9 and will be a heads up tournament.  Congrats and way to represent Canada Mike!

Canadians will once again try to dominate the WSOP, headed last year by main event winner Jonathon Duhamel.

Tyler Bonkowski of Regina Saskatchewan has lead the charge becoming the first Canadian to win a WSOP bracelet in 2011.  By taking down event #14 the $3000 Limit Hold’em event, Tyler took home a hard earned $220,817, the largest cash of his career.

Mark Radoja of Guelph Ontario has won Canada’s second bracelet in Event #24, the $5000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout.  Mark bested 386 opponents to take home $436,538, also the biggest cash in his career, and his 9th career WSOP cash.

Daniel Idema from British Columbia has just made it back to back bracelet wins for Canadians by shipping Event #27, the $10,000 Limit Hold’em event for a $378,472 earning.  This is definately his marquee event as he narrowly missed winning a bracelet in the same event last year losing headsup.

Kirk Caldwell from Orangeville Ontario became the biggest Canadian winner so far taking home $668,276 for his win in event #32, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em. With 2,828 entries and an overall prizepool of $3,817,800 this was a huge event. Not too bad for a guy who won a private home game satellite in the Orangeville Poker Tour for $150. Event #32 was special for Canada Poker as 4 Canadians made the final table! Canadians came 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 10th.

Shawn Buchanan just missed out on Canada’s 5th bracelet, losing heads-up to Frenchman Fabrice Soulier in the $10k H.O.R.S.E Championship.

Matt Jarvis has gone from November Nine member to bracelet winner! Matt beat out a strong field to win Event #40 the $5,000 NLHE 6max event and becomes the first Canadian to win over a million dollars in the 2011 WSOP by shipping $1,045,743 and the bracelet.

A bracelet near miss for Simon Charette finishing 2nd in Event #48, the $1,500 NLHE event. No WSOP for Simon but $404,235 should cheer him up.

Another near bracelet miss, this time Michael Yee places 2nd in Event #51 $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better game. He took home $165,346 as a consolation prize.

Canadian Final Tables at the 2011 WSOP
Event #54 $1,000 NLHE: Ren Ho Zhang 4th for $213,539
Event #54 $1,000 NLHE: Sebastien Roy 9th for $53,333
Event #53 $1,000 Ladies NLHE Championship: Gloutnez Genevine 8th for $17,537
Event #51 $1,500 PLO 8B: Michael Yee 2nd for $165,346
Event #49 $2,500 2-7 Triple Lowball: Shawn Buchanan 9th for $13,897
Event #49 $2,500 2-7 Triple Lowball: Nicholas Verkaik 10th for $13,897
Event #48 $1,500 NLHE: Simon Charette 2nd for $404,235
Event #40 $5,000 NLHE 6 Max: Matthew Jarvis 1st for $1,045,743
Event #39 $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha: Jonas Mackoff 8th for $30,040
Event #37 $10,000 Horse Championship: Shawn Buchanan 2nd for $376,458
Event #35 $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha: Michael McDonald 5th for $73,965
Event #32 $1,500 NLHE: Kirk Caldwell 1st for $668,276
Event #32 $1,500 NLHE: Marc Mclaughlin 3rd for $292,634
Event #32 $1,500 NLHE: Gabriel Houle 4th for $211,353
Event #32 $1,500 NLHE: Michael Whitfield 10th for $38,445
Event #28 $1,500 NLHE: Owen Crowe 4th for $190,147
Event #27 $10,000 LHE: Daniel Idema 1st for $378,472
Event #24 $5,000 NLHE Shootout: Mark Radoja 1st for $436,568
Event #14 $3,000 LHE: Tyler Bonkowski 1st for $220,817
Event #13 $1,500 NLHE Shootout: Erik Cajelais 5th for $79,315
Event #11 $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8+: Guillaume Rivet 6th for $92,908
Event #8 $1,000 NLHE: Jonathan Driscoll 10th for $38,128
Event #7 $10,000 PLHE: Eric Cloutier 7th for $87,702
Event #4 $5,000 NLHE: Sean LeFort 3rd for $348,128
Event #1 Employees $500 NLHE: Jason Baker 2nd for $50,807

Congratulations go out to all Canadians who have cashed in the 2011 WSOP. Unfortunately there is too many to list here. For those who have cashed in the WSOP or any other poker tournament in Vegas and need help reclaiming the 30% withholding tax that has been stripped from your winnings, contact RMS it is the easiest and most painless way to get your money back.

The final hand came down to a draw and a dramatic finish.  Wilinofsky held 76o while Heinzelmann held 98o.  On a flop of 853 rainbow, Maximilian shoved to protect his top pair.  With an open ended straight draw, Ben had a tough decision to make, and ended up making the correct one as he decided to gamble it up.  The turn came a beautiful 9 and all he had to dodge were 4 outs on the river (8s or 9s).  The J river was even more stunning, and a new European Poker Tour Berlin champion was crowned.

This is the first major victory for the Vancouver native.  Ben has been a beast online with several good results and is a coach with the best online tournament poker training site Pocketfives Training or formerly known as Poker Pwnage.

Congrats Ben, you have made Canadian Poker proud.

The rest of the team is no slouch either, here are the following Team Canada members of the World Team Poker Championship 2011:

Shawn Buchanan – 2007 WPT Mandalay Bay Champion, 2010 WSOP $25k 6handed runner up

Erik Cajelais - 2006 WPT Five Diamond Classic champion.  $2.5k PLO/PLHE WSOPE bracelet winner

Terrence Chan – 2007 WSOP $2.5k NLHE 6handed runner up.  Won 2 PokerStars SCOOP events on the same day in 2009.

Eric Cloutier – Former NHL goalie.  2010 WSOP $10k 2-7 NL lowball runner up.

Owen Crowe – 2010 WSOP $1k NLHE runner up.  PokerStars RCOOP Canadian leaderboard winner.

Steven Goosen – 8 career WSOP cashes

Peter Jetten – 2008 WSOP $10k PLO runner up.  Various final tables of major events

Daniel Peter Idema – 2007 BC Poker Championship Champion

Nenad Medic – 2006 WPT Foxwoods Finals champion.  Various final tables of big events.

Gavin Smith – 2005 WPT Mirage Poker Showdown champion and WPT Player of the Year.  2010 Fallsview Poker Classic $2500 champion.

Kyle Wilson – 3 WPT cashes and 7 WSOP cashes

Support Canada Poker and cheer for Team Canada eh!

Live ($100k+ scores)

• 3rd Aussi Millions Event 9 – $638,004
• 1st Borgata Spring Open Event 4 – $170,313
• 6th EPT Grand Final Event 12 – $190,905
• 2nd Rendez-Vous a Paris Event 3 – $159,543

Online ($50k+ scores)

• 1st PokerStars SCOOP-32 – $118,500
• 1st PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up – $149,737
• 3rd PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up – $72,039

Pretty sick year.

Earlier this year Sorel Mizzi left Betfair Poker and signed on with Titan Poker.  At Titan Poker you can get a first time deposit bonus of 100% up to $500 by using the Titan Poker Bonus Code VIP1360

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John Racener finishes in 2nd place and earns $5,545,955

Heads up play took 43 hands before Duhamel polished off the short stacked John Racener facing a 6-1 chip deficit. He was only able to double up once off the chip stack with pocket Queens.  The final hand came down to Duhamel shoving allin preflop with AJo.  Racener was pretty much forced to call with K8s.  The flop came out 9d4d4c giving Racener a flush draw to go along with his live cards.  Turn came a 6c, and the exciting river came a dud in the form of a 5c.  Duhamel was swarmed by a sea fans wearing Montreal Canadians jerseys, throwing him up in the air while chanting the Bell Center favourite Ole Ole Ole Ole!

The new World Series of Poker Champion from Canada is a Poker Stars Pro, and PokerStars now has 6 of the last 8 wsop champions in their roster.  Moneymaker, Raymer, Hachem, Eastgate, Cada, and now Duhamel

Here is how the other final table participants were eliminated:

9) Soi Nguyen’s AK is not a good flip vs Jason Senti’s QQ.  Soi out in 9th for $881,823

8) Canadian Matt Jarvis suffers a river beat and finishes in 8th.  All in preflop with 99 vs Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi’s AQs.  Flop comes QQ8.  Turn is a magical 2outer 9.  But the devastating river A giver the Grinder a bigger fullhouse.  Jarvis out in 8th for $1,045,743

7) Another allin preflop race, this time between Jason Senti with AK and Joseph Cheong with TT.  KKQ flop looks great for Senti.  J on the turn is a sweat card.  Ugly 9 river knocks out PBJaxx.  Senti out in 7th for $1,356,720

6) Another preflop allin race produces the 4th casualty of the night.  John Dolan’s Q5s was no match for Duhamel’s 44.  By the turn Dolan had 16 outs but could not hit.  Dolan out in 6th for$1,772,959

5) Finally a non preflop elimination.  On a flop of Q54r, Mizrachi ends up getting his chips in with Q8.  After limping the sb, Duhamel suprises all by revealing pocket rockets AA!  AA holds and Mizrachi is out in 5th for $2,332,992.  With that elimination Frank Kassela is finally crowned the 2010 WSOP player of the year.

4) In a blind vs blind matchup, Filippo Candio shoves in the sb with KQs and Cheong quickly calls with A3s.  A on the flop and that is all she wrote for the Italian.  Candio out in 4th for $3,092,545

3) After the massive 95 million pot hand, Cheong shoves a few hands later with QT.  Massive Chip leader from Canada, Duhamel, makes the call with A2.  Flop K96 gives Cheong a gutshot along with his other 6 outs.  Turn 6, and river 7.  Cheong is out in 3rd for $4,130,049

Check back on monday to see if it is Canada Poker history as Poker Stars pro Johnathan Duhamel tries to become the first event Canadian World Series of Poker Champion.  Ole Ole Ole Ole..Ole Ole