Tables ripe for the picking

Leila Navidi

Kenny Tran, right, contemplates his decision to call after Jonathan Jaffe went all in as dealer Tyler Mock, center, looks on during a World Series of Poker heads-up no-limit match at the Rio on June 15.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Tournament action, with its intrinsic drama, its flashy prize pools and its championship jewelry, commands the bulk of the public’s attention at the World Series of Poker.

Yet professional gambler Fezzik has made a compelling case that attacking “side games” — cash poker games that run around the clock concurrently with tournament play at the Rio — could be the more profitable route for skilled poker players.

The World Series draws legions of casual poker enthusiasts who want to feel they’re part of the big event, Fezzik said, a situation that yields some of the juiciest poker games of the year in Las Vegas — particularly at the “entry level” of no-limit Texas hold ’em with blinds of $2 and $5.

This game, the most popular of the cash offerings at the Rio during the World Series, carries a maximum buy-in of $500 and attracts some “players who have the rough competency of the people who are out there playing slot machines and keno in the casino,” according to Fezzik.

Fezzik (one name only, please) likened the midweek cash games at the Rio to the type of action normally found on the Strip only on big fight nights, with World Series cash games on the weekend softer yet.

“I was at the table today and there were four players who you could argue weren’t terrible, me being one of them, and there were four players who were terrible,” Fezzik said on a gamblers’ conference call. “It was comical how ... they were giving the people with a clue all their chips. Like every fifth hand a big stack would come on over.

“These guys were the easiest guys to play against. They didn’t play many hands, they played very tight, they never bluffed, they bet proportional to their hand sizes ... just really easy people, not to clobber, because they’re not going to give big (amounts of) chips away in big pots, but to beat.”

A longtime high-stakes sports bettor, Fezzik said concentrating on poker during the summer months fits neatly into a gambler’s schedule, with no NFL or NBA grind to worry about.

“It’s awfully difficult not to be focused on poker during the down time when there is no basketball or football,” Fezzik said.

“In poker, I’m still light-years away from being a really good player. But having said that, I might add that for anyone who’s betting moderately, you’ve got to be crazy to be betting sports instead of playing poker ...

“There are so many opportunities for somebody who has their eyes open.”

Basic strategy for playing cash games at the World Series of Poker entails grabbing a seat at a newly opened table with fresh players whenever possible, Fezzik said.

“When you go to the World Series and you hear ‘starting a new game,’ there’s not a massive rush for people to come to that new table,” Fezzik said. “But there should be, because whenever you sit in on an (established) table, you’re probably playing against people who have been playing for three or four hours. Guess what? They’re probably pretty good.

“Whenever you start a new table, you’ve got the biggest collection of misfits, oddballs and an occasional couple of good players thrown in, because you’re just getting the random population. The bad players play for 45 minutes and then they lose all their money, and the good players play for six hours, and yet I’ve never read a book or seen anything advocating that (strategy).”

Indeed, in a couple of extended sessions playing $2-$5 no-limit hold ’em at the Rio, I noticed the crowd skewed heavily toward the demographic of fans saturated by TV poker.

For example:

• One discussion involved ranking the world’s best poker players. Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Patrik Antonius rated well with the experts at the $2-$5 no-limit table, but Jamie Gold and Jerry Yang did not.

• Another spirited conversation centered on post-mortems of recently aired final tables from the World Poker Tour.

• Spotting professional poker players in the room was an ever-popular pastime. For what it’s worth, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott enjoyed a much higher Q Score than Mickey Appleman when both were playing at nearby tables.

• Side bets on who would win the pot among players not involved in the hand were common. Is this acceptable poker etiquette? Who cares? It contributes to the fun atmosphere you want in a good cash game.

But my favorite instance of goofy table talk was an earnest dissertation on how to beat the house at baccarat. It was delivered, no less, by a guy who was literally a card-carrying member of the Total Rewards Seven Stars club. (Essentially, that means he probably lost a heck of a lot of money gambling at the Rio or one of its affiliated casinos.)

Discounting the off chance he was employing an elaborate ruse that involved making himself look like a nitwit, he was precisely the kind of opponent you want in a no-limit cash game ... and a perfect example of the kind who might be inspired to try his luck at the World Series of Poker.

As Fezzik put it: “No question, it’s Christmastime.”