“If there weren’t luck involved, I guess I’d win every one.” – top pro Phil Hellmuth Jr after losing in the 2004 World Series of Poker

I think this statement is entertaining, makes a great quote (that’s why I’ve put it in my first manager’s blog) but utterly stupid. Let me tell you why. If you take the luck factor out of poker, you’d be left with a game similar to chess, bridge or gin rummy, a game where the best player always wins and the not-so-good players continue to play against other not-so-good players. That is if they continue to play at all…

By the same token, I like golf and tennis but I couldn’t dream of playing British Open or Wimbledon. Poker is different, I can dream of playing and winning the WSOP main event. And honestly, I think I could do it on a good day –with a little bit of luck. Or maybe a lot of luck…

This is because luck is such a big part of the game and is actually what makes Hellmuth and many other top pro’s the millionaires they are. In short; luck is what makes less good players able to take money from the good players in the short term, making them believe they are better than they are. Myself included.

“If I played 2003 WSOP with the improved poker skills I have today, there is no way I would have won it.”

I met 2003 WSOP champion Chris Moneymaker here in London a few months ago. We had quite an interesting discussion about luck in poker and his sensational win in 2003. He said; “If I played 2003 WSOP with the improved poker skills I have today, there is no way I would have won it.” That’s a sobering observation that I found quite interesting. Long term, pro’s should be happy that they get outdrawn against less experienced opponents once in a while, otherwise they would simply run out of games.

This thought reminded me of Stu Ungar, in my option the best no limit player that ever lived. The reason he took up poker was that he ran out of gin rummy games because due to his superiority. In the end he began offering potential gin opponents a handicap. He was known to let his opponent look at the last card in the deck, offer rebates to defeated opponents and always play each hand in the dealer position, all of which put him at a decisive disadvantage. He still won.

Enough about the late Stu, this is the first manager’s blog here at InterPoker and I hope you will continue to read it in the future. Your’s truly is a 35 year old Swede with 9 years professional experience of the online gaming industry, living in London, soon to move in with my Australian girlfriend, no kids, Head of InterPoker since this summer and the only Swede in this company making me both special and odd at the same time.

When my English and Australian colleagues where getting excited about cricket, I thought they where talking about some weird insect. When I try to explain the amazing achievement of Sweden winning both the Ice Hockey World Championships and the Ice Hockey Olympic Gold – the first country ever to win both in a year – I might as well have talked about gender issues during the dark ages! And don’t get me started on the glorious statistic of Sweden not losing to England at football since May 1968, despite 11 attempts. O well, I will most likely get some stick for writing this and will probably eat my words when England actually will win. For once, this week the two nations share a common interest with super Swede Henrik Larsson making an amazing debut for Man U. – one goal and an great overall performance against Aston Villa. At the same time it hurts on a personal level because I’m a Liverpool fan and Man U. is the arch enemy.

Back to poker. The intention of this blog is to give you the InterPoker player, some insight into what’s going on behind the scenes at InterPoker from my personal perspective. This forum is not intended to be an advertising area for whatever promotion we’re offering you. You can find all that out under our promotion page here .By the way don’t miss our latest promotion Reload Revolution with a bonus match all the way up to $1000 (I had to say that otherwise my boss will give me a slap). Plus it was my idea.

The ever ongoing discussion about RNG’s being rigged

The first subject I would like to bring up is the ongoing discussion about potentially rigged games in online poker. I play a lot of online poker with InterPoker’s competitors and when the cards are not with me I’m biting the table, cursing the random number generator and feel that sometimes the games have got to be rigged or fixed in the other players favour. Especially when I do well on one page and loose out on another.

However, when I calm down and think about all the years I’ve been on the inside of the industry and the endless discussions I have had with poker industry professionals (we all play on our competitors sites) it’s just doesn’t make any sense to rig the games. I have never encountered any company that’s done it and I ask myself why a company would do it. What some players tend to forget is that the company behind the site doesn’t really have any financial interest in who is winning and losing. All poker companies make their money out of rake which basically translates to player rent for using the tables.

If we going down the most paranoid train of thought the most financially rewarding model for the company would be if the games were rigged so all the players were winning an equal amount of money and just bouncing the money back and forth between each other. And not even the worst beaten player has encounter a site setting up their operation like that. No, the only way that makes business sense long term is to set up the random number generator, just as is should be, random.

Bad Beats

When we are on the subject of luck and randomness. I would like to discuss another subject that ties into the above; the ever ongoing discussion about bad beats. I know a lot of you guys hate to hear about bad beats but I think they do deserve some space in the public sphere. I would like to encourage each one of you to send through your bad beat stories and I will publish them if I think they are especially bad. To save all of you that dislike the whining I will publish them last in each blog so you don’t have to read them if you don’t want to.

Before I give you my bad beat from my home game this weekend I would like to give you the reason for why I think they deserve some blog space.

Bad beats stories are just like a blog itself a form of therapy. The fluffy concept of a bad beat means you have unfairly been beaten and therefore have the moral right to whine about it. A little bit like getting an unfair parking ticket when following the rules. Some players even blame their opponent for playing badly enough to find themselves in the situation in the first place. All that bad beat emotional distress could have been spared if only the opponent had enough balls to fold his mediocre hand. I’m no exception, even if I think I have got better at it, because it is a pathetic way to behave.

Anyway let me whine a little before I have to go back to work.

The setting is a home game in my living room this Saturday. I’m up against a very fresh player that is acting calling station in a S&G game. My cards are running cold and I have tried twice to bluff this player with mediocre hands. Both times I’ve been called and lost. Finally I pick up AA on the button. One player in mid position flat calls, I raise it up to a total of 200 making it an extra 100 to go (SB 50 BB 100). SB folds and fresh player who is on BB calls and original caller from mid position is folding, knowing I’m up to something (yes we have played each other many times before). Flop comes down Q94 rainbow. Ain’t too bad given my hand. Fresh player checks and wise from outdraws I fire off a bet of 500 (pot). After thinking for about 5 seconds she calls. Next card 10 and I just got a feeling it hurt me. She checks and I will not give her the chance to get another free card so I shuffle in my last 500 and she calls. What did she have? 10-9 suited and she knocks me out of the tourney and I immediately start to whine and ask her how the heck she could play it like that. She says; “I won didn’t I? Stop being such a bad looser.” And you know what, she is right.

No Flash in the Pan for Aussie Joe

Finally a big congratulations to 2005 WSOP champ Joe Hachem winning the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship, main event in Five Diamond World Poker Classic (why keep the name simple when you can make it complicated). This victory proves Joe to be one of the best tournament players right now and gives him some extra pocket money to the tune of $2,182,070. I have met him too and whish him the best of luck for the reason that he’s not only a great player, but he’s also one of the nicest guys in the industry making him a perfect ambassador for poker.

Next week it’s EPT in Copenhagen and I will be there. If you read this and are going don’t hesitate to get in touch with me for some gossip or a chat.

Until then good luck at the tables and don’t forget to send your bad beat stories or just general poker thoughts through.

/Henrik