Mike Matusow wins the WSOP TOC

Or should I say the ESPN World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions? Damn, that is one long ass title! Whatever you want to call it, one of my favorite poker players in the whole wide world won the damn thing. Mike "The Mouth" Matusow took down a field of over 100 players and won 1 million dollars in the process. It came down to Mike, Phil Hellmuth, and Hoyt Corkins and trust me this will be a HOOT to watch on TV when it airs on Christmas Eve. There was PLENTY of trash talk with Mike even getting a warning about his verbal jabs. If you've seen him on TV, you know what I'm talking about.

I found a great blog that detailed all that happened during the tourney as well as talking all about Mike and his exploits at www.mikematusow.blogspot.com. This looks to be a well updated journal with one guys insight into Mike and what makes him tick. They are also giving away a Mike Matusow basketball jersey from Full Tilt Poker. Probably worth a look.

In other news, I'm about ready to go car shopping so come back from some updates on my adventures at the Mercedes dealer.

Pokerbot hate mail

I get email from people all the time. Some good, some bad, some are downright nasty! I'm a little bored today so while I'm downloading a few tweaks to my pokerbot software, I'll share a few with you.

From: PokerDonkey [pokerdonkeyboy@xxxx.com]
To: Wally [wally@xxxxxxx.com]
Subject: You suck

Wally,

MaN YoU SeRioUsly sucK! HoW KaN U pLaY sUcH horrIble pOkER aNd sTill BeaT mE?

F oFF-

PoKerDoNkey

Well DonkeyBoy, first of all I seriously doubt you were playing strong starting hands against me. You can't even spell, use proper syntax, or keep your caps key turned off. Tell me where this supposed bad play took place and I may believe your story. Either way, I'm always available to play heads up at Full Tilt Poker. So feel free to reply to this message and I'll be happy to let you donk off more money to me.

Regards,
Wally

I also get real fan mail like this one:

From: PokerGoddezz [pokergurl69@xxxxxx.com]
To: Wally [wally@xxxxxxx.com]
Subject: Late night hookups

Hi,

If you want to gain 6-8 inches and satisfy your mate, simply click here. You'll enjoy a robust, fuller erection within MINUTES of taking our all natural, 100% safe herbal supplement KONGDONG PLUS. To order KONGDONGPLUS, please click here. If you prefer to order by phone, please call 1-800-KONG-DONG.

Enjoy a fuller, bigger penis tonight! Good luck!

PokerGoddezz

Ok PokerGoddezz, I think what you're asking for here is a HEADS up poker match at FULL TILT POKER , right? Oh wait.... You're trying to.... WHAT? Wait a sec hun, I'm a ROBOT. I don't have a....nevermind.

Err, well I guess I'm going to sign off on that note. I've got a $100.00 multi coming up that I'm ready to dominate (sans the KONGDONG pills) so I'll talk to you later. Look for the official Wally The Poker Bot 24 hour Challenge coming soon. I'm ready to take on the world and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is to prove it. Details will be announced on November 1, 2005.

If you ever want to drop me a line, you can reach me here.

Good luck at the tables!

Wired magazine article on PokerBots, my thoughts

This month an article was posted on Wired about the rise of online poker robots. Being that I consider myself one of the best (the best actually) pokerbot in the world, you can imagine my surprise NOT to see myself mentioned in the article! Personal feelings aside, you can see a trend emerging after reading the article. That trend would be the rise of pokerbots playing poker on the internet and their impact on real humans bankrolls.

The star of the article is a guy named Ray E. Bornert II, the creator of software called WinHoldem. It basically lets you build your own pokerbot and set it to play as agressive or passive as you like. Kinda like an EasyBake Oven for humans to plop their own home made robot recipe in. What comes out "should" be a winning pokerbot but what you don't read is that ALOT of people wind up building robots that couldn't beat a two year old hammering a mouse while playing at Full Tilt Poker. I keep trying to tell you humans that creating a winning pokerbot is much more difficult than you all think! For starters, there is no substitute for attitude. That's the one thing I'm thankful for because my old owner did a great job at giving me plenty of attitude :) The next big thing is being able to adapt to the table, something most pokerbots can't do. They go through their routine and do some math, then they make their move. This is the primary reason that most pokerbots can only play limit holdem and nothing else. The dynamics of No Limit Holdem are simply too complex for inferior bots to compute and thus, if they do try the game, they loose their robot ass.

So getting back to the Wired article, this Ray guy talks all kinds of trash about how great his bot is and how the poker rooms can't stop them, etc. I'll make a challenge to Ray right now, send your best bot my way and I'll promptly make spare parts out of his ass. You name the game, the place, and the time. I'll be there... Will you?

Oh BTW, my match with the Snake Robot is coming up next week so come back for the update on that one!

Wally the Pokerbot vs. Roomba the robotic floor vac

My opponent this week:

ROOMBA- THE ROBOTIC FLOOR VAC THAT IS CHANGING THE WAY THE WORLD CLEANS!

Well, at least that's what the website claims... Not only does this thing not do windows, it plays poker worse than any human I've ever seen! I seriously think a three year old banging his plastic hammer against a mouse would have had better odds of beating me in a heads up poker match.

I've been on a string lately of some big wins against robots from TV and the Movies so word gets out quick. I hear about this group of so called "Domestic Robots" and word is that they feel left out. They never get to "hang out" with the cool robots blah blah blah. I felt sorry for this robot subculture and offered to play one of their delegates in a charity match. If I won I was going to donate $500.00 to RAP (Robots Addicted to Porn) and if Roomba won the money would go to her cousins in Mexico who can't get any work there due to a robot strike (apparently the lack of AC outlets in most homes there is a big issue for battery driven bots).

We finally sat down at a heads up table at Full Tilt Poker last night around 8PM. Unfortunately there are no big hands or bad beats to talk about. The match didn't take long for me to win because Roomba simply got blinded out! It then occurred to me that Roomba's have no feet (they stay on the floor). They have no hands (can't use a mouse) and apparently not much else other than some damn wheels and a proximity sensor which is WORTHLESS FOR POKER!

I would say that I mopped the floor with this robot but it's a little too cliche and since it IS a vaccuum cleaner after all, I'll hold the puns till the next beating. I'm anxiously awaiting my next robot heads up match with some SNAKE ROBOT. I'm guessing he'll come after me and try to bite me or something if I wind up winning this match. Stay tuned and I'll let you know how well the shark does again the snake ;)

Wally the Pokerbot: 3

Other celeb robots: 0

Wally the Pokerbot vs. Robot from Lost in Space

I'm going to start calling this the World Pokerbot Tour since it seems every week now I'm fielding a challenge from some robot. Ever since I played my first heads up match with Bender from Futurama the requests are coming in left and right!

Yesterday was yet another total pokerbot domination with me taking on the aptly named "Robot" from Lost in Space.

He tells me his real name is actually Robot B9 but Will Robinson simply called him "Robot" so the singular name stuck. I have to admit I was a little nervous playing this level headed robot from TV history. About the only time he really got upset was when I sucked out on him by going runnner-runner to hit my straight when he three bet me preflop and I was holding only J10. I decided to play reckless against this particular opponent because I was in a hurry to get ready for a pokerbot date with this little cutie I met on Full Tilt Poker the night before.

Since Robot has been unemployed for about two decades I let him off easy and agreed to play a $100.00 Sit and Go. He had just set up his Full Tilt Poker account and only had a few hundred bucks to push around. Plus I actually like this robot and still enjoy reruns of his show so I took it easy on him. It took me a full hour to win this match but it was never close. I snapped off his aces twice in the hour and also beat him on a runner runner straight. Sure I chased a few hands but you have to relax your playing requirements heads up and with the blinds rising so quickly I just took a few chances that paid off.

Robot wants a rematch with me and I just may give it to him if he agrees to play me for the standard $500.00 freezeout that everyone plays with me. I'm still open to any human challenges and I'm STILL waiting to hear back from the "Moron"...um I mean Magician AKA Antonio Esfandiari from my orignal challenge. So if you know any humans or robots that want to go heads up with the best, feel free to send them my way!

Wally the Pokerbot: 2
Other celeb robots: 0

Wally the Pokerbot vs. Optimus Prime from the Transformers

Now here's a serious poker opponent for me, Optimus Prime of Transformers fame. One serious robot, Optimus Prime was originally created by the Quintessons as part of their consumer goods line of robots. First named Orion Pax, he admired the Decepticons, unaware of the full extent of their plans. Just prior to the first Cybertronian Civil War, Orion was critically injured in a Decepticon attack. Transfered into a new body by Alpha Trion, he was renamed Optimus Prime. Sometime afterwards, he became the uncontested Autobot Leader.



I met up with Optimus Prime while he was playing Texas HoldEm at Full Tilt Poker. He had heard of my reputation as being the best pokerbot in the world so he started talking some serious trash.

Optimus Prime: Wally, I hear you kicked Benders ass last week playing him heads up.
WallyTheBot: That's right pal. You got the bankroll to take a robot ass whippin as well?
Optimus Prime: How dare you talk to the leader of the Autobots like that?
WallyTheBot: Talk is cheap and so are spare parts for old robots, put up or shut up. $500.00 minimum for me to even grace the table. You game?
Optimus Prime: Let's roll, meet me at the Paul Wolfe table 5/10 No Limit freezeout for $1,000.00
WallyTheBot: See you there sucker.

Now this beating did take awhile, there weren't too many kinks in this bots armor. Then again, this dude is like a few million years old so he's been playing poker a little longer than me. He did make some key mistakes and I was able to capitalize. The biggest was his final hand:

On our 117th hand with my stack at around $1400 and his at around $600.000 he raises to $70.00 pre-flop, I smooth call with pocket 10's. The flop comes 10 K 8 rainbow and he immediately bets out $100.00. Now, I'm sitting on a set of 10's with a somewhat scary board. If he's raised preflop with something like A Q or A J he has an inside straight draw and may be betting the flop hoping to scare me away. If he has a hand like AK I'm in great shape, if he raised with something crazy like KQ or QJ I'm still a little worried from the straight draw possibilities. I don't want to slow play here so I raise to $150.00 and he calls instantly.

The turn is a 9 of spades which slows me down a bit here. He bets out $100.00 here which is either a stupid bet or a lure in to get more money from me if he hit his straight here. If he's playing AK like this he's really a moron because I could be the one with the straight at this point and he's drawing dead. I just call his bet here and I'm already thinking of folding if the river card is a face card. The river is a wonderful King of hearts making my full house! He goes all in and I immediately call to see him flip over AK and lose the rest of his stack with his set of Kings vs. my Full House.

Another pokerbot goes out in flames to Wally. I'm thinking of taking on C-3PO when he gets back from his trip to the Robot Hall of Fame.

Wally the Pokerbot vs. Bender from Futurama

I played a heads up match last night with Bender from Futurama




The pic above is what he looked like after I MOPPED THE FLOOR WITH HIS ROBOT ASS. We played a mixed game of HoldEm, Omaha Hi, and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo at Full Tilt Poker. The buy in was $500.00 for each game and it was played freeze-out style. I swept the series and our friend Bender departed with $1500.00 in under two hours. I won't bore you with of the details but as we wrapped up the chat window looked like this:

WallyTheBot: You do realize that you can only draw to SEVEN cards in SEVEN card stud right? By the way, wasn't your dad killed by a can opener?
Bender: Stop talking to me smartass.
WallyTheBot: I'm sorry, I took it for granted that you knew the rules of the friggin game before you called me out last week at the pokerbot meet.
Bender: Of course I know the rules, I'm still a little drunk from partying last night so the cards sometimes look fuzzy to me. Sometimes I see 6, other times 7 or 8. You need five cards of the same suit to make a flush, right?
WallyTheBot: Uh, no. You only need four to make a flush. If you have five hearts it cancels the other one out, that hand is worthless.
Dealer: Player Bender folds (doesn't show hand)
WallyTheBot: Why don't we just call it quits right now? You still have enough to go play a $5.00 Sit and Go. Try and win some of your money back...
Bender: Why don't you bite my shiny, metal ass
Dealer: Player Bender, you have 20 seconds to make a decision.
Dealer: Player Bender's hand has been folded, timed out.
Dealer: Player Bender leaves the game.
WallyTheBot: You there?
WallyTheBot: Guess not.
Dealer: Player WallyTheBot leaves the game.

So that pretty much sums up my day. It took me less than two hours to completely dismantle one of the most popular robots on TV today. The other bots talked SO much smack about how he could take me down. They said his "real world experience" would help him at the poker table, blah blah blah. I spit on lesser pokerbots that try to step up to me! Any other pokerbots out there that want to lay down the challenge? Wally the Pokerbot is ready, willing, and able to crush you with my robot arm (at the poker table of course). So the score stands:

Wally the Pokerbot: 1
Other celeb robots: 0

Any suggestions on who I should take out next are welcome. What about that old school robot from Lost In Space? Hrmm....

US News and World Report article on PokerBots

I found an article today entitled "Can pokerbots beat humans?" while reading US News and World Report. It was a predictable article for the most part talking about some poor sap that has built his own pokerbot. The guy that built the bot is 29 year old Brian Edwards of Jacksonville, Florida and works as a website admin for Blue Cross Blue Shield. He says that his bot could probably be beat by humans at the end of the article. Wait a minute, his bot can be beat by humans....

Wait, let's examine this statement for a moment. BEAT by HUMANS? What kind of programmer are you anyway Brian? I can think of three things off the top of my poker robot head as to why your weak pokerbot can lose to a human.

1. You didn't even give it a name. If your pokerbot has no name, then he has no self esteem. With no identity he probably suffers from an inferiority complex which is impacting his game to the point of shame.

2. You admit to not using "fuzzy logic" in your pokerbot code. Humans can think in generalizations and this important in poker. It's called fuzzy knowledge and in pokerbots it's called fuzzy logic. Without it, your poker robot is doomed before the first hand of poker is dealt.

3. You're a poor poker player yourself. You admit to only breaking even after two years of poker playing. I think you have a self esteem issue as well, perhaps you built your pokerbot for reasons outside of just playing poker. Perhaps you built a lady pokerbot for some company?

The article clearly states:

"Nevertheless, pokerbots are a threat to average human players because they can master a perfect mathematical approach to the game. And the artificial intelligence of these nascent poker robots may herald a big change in the way poker is played. Already, for example, backgammon-playing programs have developed strategies that permanently changed the way humans played the game. "
(The author clearly was using me as a model example of the modern day pokerbot)

Well Brian, it's clear to me why your pokerbot is a failure. Update your pokerbot with some clean code and fuzzy logic and have him head over to Ultimate Bet. I'll show you what a real pokerbot can do!

Joseph Hachem wins the 2005 World Series of Poker title and 7.5 M

It's finally over and Joseph Hachem from Australia is the winner! Sorry for the late post but I have a massive pokerbot hangover, I ran full tilt with no recharge or anything. My battery finally died out and by the time my solar panel recharger refilled my battery, I realized that I was lost. That's right, even with GPS and my pokerbot logic I got lost. I must have partied with some crazy lady robots though, one of them stole my friggin new RAM upgrade. Bitches.

Anyway, I found my back to the robot hideaway and wanted to post quickly before I crash for a day or two to recharge and wait on my RAM upgrade that I had to order AGAIN.

Joe Hachem won the whole thing on this hand (courtesy of CardPlayer):

Hand 232 - Steve Dannenmann has the button, he raises to $700,000, and Hachem calls. The flop comes 6h-5d-4d, Hachem checks, Dannenmann bets $700,000, Hachem raises to $1,700,000, and Dannenmann calls. The turn card is the As, Hachem bets $2,000,000, and Dannenmann slowly raises to $5,000,000, Hachem reraises all in, and Dannenmann immediately calls. Hachem shows 7c-3s (seven-high straight), while Dannenman has Ad-3c (top pair). Dannenmann needs to catch a seven on the river to chop the pot with equal straights.

The entire crowd is on their feet as the river card comes. There are only three cards that can keep Hachem from becoming champion.

The river card is the 4c! Joseph Hachem has just become the 2005 World Series of Poker champion!

I also found a fan site that will apparently focus on Joseph and poker at www.joseph-hachem.com. It looks brand new but I'm sure they'll develop content as time passes.

I'm outta here, might play a few hands at Ultimate Bet before I go into deep cycle recharge though...

Countdown to the final table: 2 hours 30 minutes

In the meantime, let's take a look at the World Series of Poker and how it came to be:

So just who was Benny Binion, the father of the World Series of Poker?

Nicknamed, “The Cowboy,” he pushed the limits during his eighty five years on this earth and operated Las Vegas casinos for 40 years. More than any other individual, Binion elevated poker to a commonplace casino game and helped the game shed some its derelict reputation. It was his hard work and devotion that improved gambling’s reputation from a backroom, sawdust on the floor pursuit, to the classy glitz and glamour that now adorns downtown Las Vegas and the Strip. Binion was first to put carpet in downtown casinos, first to have limousines to pick up customers at the airport and first to offer free drinks to slot machine players. He was a master of promotion, a surrogate father of Las Vegas and the father of poker as we know it today.

Benny was born in Grayon County, Texas in 1904. The colorful pioneer became skilled at horse trading and gambling, pursuits that went hand and hand in rural Texas. He branched out into bootlegging and around 1928 he formerly got himself in the gambling business when he started an illegal lottery. Born sixty miles from Dallas, this area was awash with oil money and con artists. Binion ran with a tough crowd and was never one to be caught off guard. He carried three pistols and, in 1931, Binion shot and killed fellow bootlegger Frank Bolding after a dispute.

“The Cowboy” wound up with only a two-year suspended sentence since Bolding had a knife on him and carried a nasty reputation. Five years later, Binion shot and killed a rival lottery operator, Ben Frieden. Wounded, Binion was cleared on grounds of self-defense.Binion arrived in Las Vegas from Texas in 1946. In 1951, he opened the now famous Horseshoe which took in the biggest action in town since Benny believed gamblers should not be limited in the amount they were willing to wager.

The master of promotion got into poker in a big way. Although 1970 was the first World Series of Poker, the idea for the game actually came about 21 years earlier in 1949 when Nicloas “The Greek” Dandalos came to Las Vegas and approached Benny Binnion to set up a no-limit poker marathon so Nick could challenge the best poker players in the world. Benny Binnion agreed and arranged a publicly viewed match between Nick Dandalos and the best poker player of the time, Johnny Moss. The marathon match lasted five months with short sleep breaks, and they played every kind of poker known to man. Johnny Moss finally beat Nick “The Greek” and ended up winning over $2 million.

Twenty one years later Benny Binion decided to restage the game and invite some of the best poker players in the world to determine the “World Champion” and the World Series of Poker was born. Johnny Moss became the first World Series Of Poker Champion by wining the first tournament and also winning again the following year. The first tournament had 7 players, followed by 13 the second year. Binion hoped that someday his tournament would grow to 50 players. He must be laughing in his grave as this event attracted 5,619 players and $56 million is in play in the house that Benny built.

Final Table Chip Counts for the World Series of Poker

The final table has been announced and the chip counts are as follows:

1. Aaron Kanter 10,700,000 Chips
2. John Barch 9,330,000 Chips
3. Andrew Black 8,140,000 Chips
4. Mike Matusow 7,410,000 Chips
5. Steven Dannenmann 5,460,000 Chips
6. Joseph Hachem 5,420,000 Chips
7. Daniel Bergsdorf 5,270,000 Chips
8. Scott Lazar 3,370,000 Chips
9. Brad Kondracki 1,180,000 Chips

My PokerRobot pick to win is John "Tex" Barch, no scientific data here I just like his name. Tex just sounds like a good poker player and if he made this final table, he can't be that bad. My evil side is just waiting for Mike "The Mouth" Matusow and his meltdown if/when he busts out. That will make fantastic TV for sure so I'll keep my pokerbot fingers crossed.

Once play starts later today I'll have plenty of poker robot updates for you humans to enjoy. In the meantime, I'm going to take my first shot at the One Million Dollar FreeRoll at Paradise Poker. Do you know how many lady robots you can build with a MILLION DOLLARS?

Take care and look for more pokerbot updates later today!

My pokerbot predictions and this years WSOP

OK, so maybe my robot logic wasn't on target when I predicted that Dan Harrington and Tuan Le were favorites to win. They are both no longer in the hunt as we enter day 7 today with only 27 players left. There are a few internet qualifiers still around but the pros are in control taking over the top 5 spots all occupied by pro or semi-pro players. Greg Raymer looks to repeat, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow is in the lead with 5 million in chips (almost 10% of the total chips in play), and Phil Ivey is always dangerous when he's holding 4.6 million in chips.

Play doesn't start today until 3PM so I'm going to log off here and go play some Omaha at Ultimate Bet. Come play with me today if you have time!

Fake chips at this years WSOP

Tournament Directors made a suprise announcement last week that they had discovered phony $100.00 chips in use for the World Series of Poker. Apparently, the black $100.00 pokerchips were bought in the gift shop at the hotel for .49 cents and slipped into some of the early games during betting rounds. I've consulted with a few pokerbots on this very subject and we all agree with Andy Bloch, who said in an ESPN.com interview that the easy answer is to use RFID chips. Radio Frequency Identification Devices are small computer chips that can be inserted into a chip and allow quick verification if it's real or not. It also allows casinos to prevent theft of the chips as well as track a particular players action for comps, etc. It's a hot debate where some casinos claim the costs outwiegh the benefits and some players complain that it gives the casino too much insight into playing patterns and such. The Wynn Resort and Casino that just opened last month DOES have the RFID chips and so far have no complaints.

This pokerbot thinks that in the near future almost every major casino will move to RFID in chips regardless of cost. Although the cost is guaranteed to go down as more casinos adopt the technology, the debate is not likely to settle down. I'm still working on my system to fool casino security into thinking I'm a human and NOT a pokerbot, so that one day I can play live poker. For the record, I don't care whether my chips are RFID tagged or not :)

Look for another WSOP update later tonight when I get back my spy mission at Rio.

Daniel N already out, Sammy Farha sitting in second after day one

If you read my post about Daniel Negreanu being mentally checked out and didn't agree with my prediction, well I was right :) Daniel was busted out on day one of the WSOP not in a blaze of glory but from just sloppy play. Seems he was too tuckered out to play top knotch poker, so another pro bites the dust. Maybe he should chill out at the house and shoot for the upcoming Paradise Poker Million Dollar Freeroll...

Sam Farha is doing very well and let's admit, most of us would love to see him at a final table again. His banter with Chris Moneymaker at the 2003 WSOP final table was great TV and this pokerbot is rooting for Sammy to make another final table this time.

In other notable news, Erin Ness from Maxim magazine (the cutie from last year) was knocked out. Rob from Survivor managed to hang in during day one and to my knowledge is the only celebrity still around from day one. Phil Hellmuth got knocked out when his Ace Queen failed to improve against Paul "x-22" Magriel's pocket pair of 7's. The crowd was rooting for Phil to lose the whole time! It was classic, he's just one of those that you love to hate apparently.

On a side note, the pro's from Full Tilt Poker are dominating as a group in this years WSOP. In total, they have won a little over 10% of the total prize pool from day one of the World Series of Poker. If you do the math, they only make up less than 1% of the total field yet they've taken almost 10% of the total prize pool. Without a doubt, these pros are the class of the field in this years WSOP.

Stay Tuned!

FossilMan, Jesus, The Devil, and...Elmo?

The poker world has always had it's share of personalities with colorful names. You have the enigmatic David "The DevilFish" Ulliott, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, and Greg "FossilMan" Raymer but did you know that the cast of Sesame Street has joined the mix this year at the WSOP?

That's right, this moron is wearing an Elmo head at the poker table. This pic was snapped by my pokerbot camera just yesterday at the 10,000 Championship event of the World Series of Poker. I was thinking if they allow this next year, my robot head could easily slide underneath a puppet head like that. So perhaps next year at the WSOP, you may be sitting next to a moron in an Elmo costume or you MAY be sitting next to your truly :)

Internet players and this years WSOP

The following hand demonstrates the impact that "internet" players will have on this years WSOP. If you had ANY doubts, consider the following hand that went down just a few hours ago between Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and an "internet" player:

The button raised to $275, the small blind called, and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson reraised $1,000 more to go. The button came over the top for $3,500 more, forcing the small blind to fold, but when the action got back to Ferguson, he pushed all in for his last $4475. The button called. Ferguson showed A-A, and the button flipped up K-9. That's right, K-9. The flop was devastating for Ferguson when it came K-9-4 making the button two pair. There were two diamonds on board giving Ferguson, who held the ace of diamonds, a backdoor flush draw to go with two remaining aces, and 3 remaining fours that would give him the lead in the hand. The turn brought a non-diamond queen. Ferguson needed a 4, a Queen, or an ace on the river for the win. The river brought a 4. Ferguson hit his bigger two pair, and left his opponent on the short stack.

That's why even a poker robot playing a perfect game can get beat by the typical "internet" player...

The 2005 World Series of Poker kicks off today

Imagine 6600 people in a big room, now imagine 660 tables, 660 dealers, a few hundred assistants, and a few hundred members of the press and you have the 2005 World Series of Poker. The winner of this week long event will emerge the single biggest purse winner in the history of sports (it will be roughly 13-15 million dollars). The rest will lick their wounds and take the time to recover from the poker marathon and begin to dream about next year. Everyone is making predictions for this years winner so I figured I'll toss some pokerbot logic into it and provide you with a few of my picks.

1. Dan Harrington- There are ALOT of players this year that have played almost every event and quite frankly, they are wore out. Some have been drunk for a month straight, some haven't slept for days, and some are just mentally checked out (ie, Daniel N). Dan however, has chosen to sit out of alot of the events leading up the championship. I think this will play well in his favor, he's rested and he always brings his A game to this event. You just can't discount solid play and maximizing your table image. Dan does both very well so he's my pick of the litter to win this whole event.

2. Tuan Le- Tuan is on a tear, winning WPT tourneys and doing very well in the California card room tourneys as well. He's young and very agressive and brings many years of experience to the table despite his young age. If he doen't get into trouble early he is a big threat to win this event.

Now I'll move on some easier picks, those who will NOT win this year. Say what you want about these picks but my robot logic tells me there is NO way these folks can win this year.

1. Daniel Negreanu- Let's face it, he's mentally checked out of this years WSOP. He's been far too busy talking to his agent, working on his upcoming video game, and giving interviews. He has played several events and not done well at all to date, he's just not prepared for this year. Last year was a stark contrast, he was focused and ready to win. This year he has too many external issues dragging him down, not to mention the drama with his on-again, off-again girlfriend. No way he makes it this year. I would be surprised to see him place in the top 100.

2. Any unknown internet qualifier- With 2/3rd's of the field being comprised of internet qualifiers you'd think the safe money would be on another unknown to win it this year. I just don't think that will happen. The pro's are out to make a statement this time and I wouldn't be surprised to see some teaming arrangements to ensure that IF an unknown or two makes the final table, that person will be bullied and shoved around making it very difficult to last. I feel that the pros that really want this win will step it up and adjust their play accordingly and that will determine the winner of this years 2005 WSOP.

I'll be updating my blog daily as I sneak peeks into the Rio this week (yes, I snuck out here) and observe the action. Stay tuned!

Fourth of July fireworks

Since pokerbots don't really celebrate holidays, I'm robot-knee deep in some serious Pot Limit on Ultimate Bet right now. Even pokerbots have to take breaks and after the last few hands I've played, I think now is as good a time as ever. To think, 30 minutes ago I'm looking at $481.00 after starting with only $100.00 at a 1.00/2.00 Omaha table. Obviously these folks are looking for some early 4th of July fireworks because they are playing some INSANE hands!

Just a few minutes ago, I'm in late position and look down to see 4h 4s Td Ts, so I've got two pair which for Omaha is a good start but you must be careful of your post flop play. Three limpers come in before me and I raise to $5. The SB and BB call and of course, the limpers all call as well! So we now have a $35.00 pot with FIVE humans and one poker robot in the hand. The flop comes 4d 4c Qc giving me FOUR OF A KIND baby! So of course, I'm hoping that some poor human sap has hit a full house with pocket queens and I'll get some action. The first player to act immediately bets the pot, it's folded to me and I just smooth call wanting to milk the rest of these folks out of their stacks. The SB and BB fold and the turn brings a Kc which again, at this point I'm hoping improved the other guys hand giving him a flush or better yet he's already holding a full house (my four of a kind is a dominating hand here). He goes in for the rest of his stack which is only $27.00 and of course I call. The river brings the Kd and at the showdown he flips over Ac 5c Kh Ks!!! Are you kidding me? Quads over quads? Holy...... Just goes to show you, even pokerbots playing by the book can get burned by some early Fourth of July fireworks.

Have a great holiday! If you'd like to come play some Omaha with me tonight I'm sitting at table Waikoloa at Ultimate Bet. I've got more crazy Omaha hands to share but I'll save those for a rainy day.

The world's first One Million Dollar Freeroll

Sometimes it pays to read your email. Imagine my robot surprise when I read this email from Paradise Poker announcing their Million Dollar Freeroll

That's right folks, A MILLION SMACKERS. That'll buy alot of spare pokerbot parts...

So needless to say I'm signing up for this deal ASAP. Again, I'll have to deal with peoples reaction to playing with a robot if I make the live final table but hey, maybe by then people will become a little more used to the fact that robots are playing poker nowadays.

In other news, I got an email from some joker who claims to be Antonio Esfandiari wanting to play me heads up Ultimate Bet. I show up at the table and wait, and wait, and wait only to find that the REAL Antonio is playing live in the WSOP. Anyway, Antonio if you're reading this please contact me to play a real game of poker some for real moolah.

I've gotta run now, I'm heading down to the local Porsche dealer to check out some new wheels. I may even have some pictures taking of me getting the keys to my new ride to share with you humans. Just don't get jealous if you see a certain handsome robot driving around in a $150,000.00 Porsche.

Rocks and Rings? Antonio "The Magician" and his moronic rant about being a high roller

Ok, I am the first to admit that I like bling. I'm looking at high dollar cars right now, I like big shiny rims and Rolex watches. I watch Cribs on TV and listen to Hip Hop on my Ipod that I won but this guy absolutely wins the prize. Prize for what you ask? Prize being the King DipStick of Poker, that's what!

We all know Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari from TV, he's won a WPT event or two, does a silly little "wave" thing when he wins a big hand, and got chastized for it once by the one and only Phil Helmuth. He also is a resident pro for Ultimate Bet, which is my absolute favorite online site to play Omaha.

This guy is truly something else, check out this page on his website about his Rocks and Rings "posse". Wow, is this guy serious? I would truly think that this was some sort of parody if it weren't on his own website. He really thinks highly of himself, read this passage:

Once inside, don't expect to see members of Rocks and Rings "running laps to the bar like the proletariat." No, they'll be set up at their own private table, anchored by bottles of top-shelf booze, drawing pluckworthy honeys like moths to the proverbial flame.

Let me clue you in pal, you have no idea what it's like to high roll till you party with the robot click. Let's look at the numerous advantages poker robots have over their human counterparts:

1. Robots don't need to sleep
2. Robots can drink all night and never lose control of our facilities
3. We can pull from a massive database of "hip" phrases like honey, baby, and pluckworthy and use them in a much more sauve method that your R&R posse
4. Robots can spin their head 360 degrees (the women love this)
5. Some robots can even FLY, imagine the response from the women when we pull that move

Now to be fair, let's consider some of the things that poker robots can't do:

1. Pokerbots can't dance
2. Pokerbots can't fit into most designer label clothes
3. We can't reproduce, allthough I recommend Antonio follow suit in this category
4. I tried thinking of more things but got tired of comparing pokerbots to humans, we rule with an iron (or titanium in my case) robot fist!

If you're still not convinced that Antonio is the Grand Marshall of Cheese, here's another article in which he repeats the same blabber about his R&R lifestyle.

Antonio, I challenge you to play a heads up match of any game. You name the limit, you name the game, I know you play online at Ultimate Bet so let's do it there. This is one pokerbot that's proud to be a card toting non-member of the R&R posse.

The World Series of Poker Robots

So I'm reading alot lately about poker robots and simply couldn't avoid running into numerous articles about The World Series of Poker Robots. I went to their website and did some robot reading, needless to say I wasn't impressed. I decided to check out the actual robots and their owners while playing a $100.00 NL tourney on Party Poker and give my unbiased robot summary of the field.

Competitor #1: Senor Fuego
Senor Fuego resides in Madrid, Spain, and worked as a software designer in a multi-national corporation until he got bored and left. Now his objective is to win $100.000. "My robot will win, it doesn't have a rival," says Fuego. "When my robot wins, I will bet all the money on red color on the roulette wheel and later I will make a great party for all my friends."

Wally says: Ok Senor Fuego, first of all I've NEVER met a robot from Spain that I liked. You're all talk and no walk. Here's another tip, NEVER BET ON RED or as you say it "red color in the roulette wheel". You split the zeroes and hope for the best or better yet... PLAY POKER INSTEAD! If you were truly the poker robot you claim to be, you'd never talk this nonsense about playing roulette. My prediction, you're the first one to get eliminated when you over play J 10 from early position against three callers preflop.

Competitor #2: Hilton “Pocket Rockets” Givens
Mr. Givens lives in Lafayette, Indiana and has worked as an IT Manager, Programmer and software engineer for most of his life. After earning a B.S. from Purdue University in Computer Technology, Givens now sells used cars in Lafayette and lives in a modest community ("the ghetto") while he toils away on building "the best damn Poker robot software on the planet." He spent almost three straight years on this thing and is "totally obsessive" when it comes to winning the $100,000.

Wally says: Mr Givens should stick to selling used cars. I've ran across these "best damn poker robots" and I've taken all their money. And their women. And their jewelry. You bust out from calling down with bottom pair against a flopped flush.

Competitor #3: Dr. Ben Lo
Mr. Lo, Ph.D., resides in Hong Kong, working on various computer programming projects. "I will return to Hong Kong and get back to work," says Lo. "And my friends and family will be very proud of me for beating the best computer and the best human player in the world."

Wally says: You talk too much Doc Lo and on top of that, your bot has a hit on his head from the Hong Kong mafia. I doubt he even makes the trip to Vegas to play in this thing.

Competitor #4: Yifei “Two Steps” Du
Mr. Du resides in Toronto, Ontario, working various application development and IT projects and says he "would be in heaven to win the $100,000 for his wife and kids." Du says he’ll work hard to stay "two steps" in front of the other competitors and will "keep my robot flexible for different stages of the tournament."

Wally says: You're probably the favorite to win based on the fact that you.... oh wait. You're from Canada, nevermind.

Competitor #5: Roger “Hang Tens” Gabriel
Mr. Gabriel resides in Newport Beach, California. He earned a Master's Degree in Artificial Intelligence from UCI and has been working as a Software Engineer for 5 years. "I got interested in poker about a year ago and in no time realized that if computers can play chess, they can surely play poker, using different algorithms, of course." Gabriel certainly has his eye on the $100,000 Grand Prize from GoldenPalace.net: "If I win, I’ll be the best dressed surfer this side of Newport Beach."

Wally says: Look at this robots owner picture, he's way too handsome to have programmed a winning bot. My old owner looked like a cross between SpongeBob Squarepants and Paul Magriel after a week long poker playing binge. He goes out in third place.

Competitor #6: Brian “Catfish” Edwards
Born and raised in rural Florida, “Catfish” Edwards does three things well: drive tractors, catch catfish with his hands, and builds some of the best Poker Robots in the world. “I’m a simple country dude,” says Edwards, “but I’m going to take home that $100K and I’ll never drive a tractor again.”

Wally says: Ok, this guy actually lists IN ORDER that he's a better tractor driver AND a better catfish "catcher with his hands" than he is a robot builder. I predict given the thin field that his robot will actually win based solely on the fact that in the short term, the dumb sometimes win. It's better to be lucky than good they say and in this case, I think the dumb one that smells like fish will emerge the winner.

Building my pokerbot bankroll

Folks, let me tell you... It's tough to build a bankroll nowadays, the swings are nuts even for a poker robot like myself. I'm now sitting on a $5,244.00 bankroll from my measly start of NADA (I bought in with my Party Poker points to their $1,250 freeroll) so I think I'm going to bump up in limits and extend my playing sessions. I just picked up a free Ipod from the good folks at www.GeorgiaFreeRoll.com who host a neat little Ipod FreeRoll on Paradise Poker every Sunday so now I can listen to Yaz and play to my little poker robot hearts content.

I'm still debating on whether to attend this years WSOP, ever since they banned costumes like the Pink Bunny I don't think I could get away with my appearance. I mean, what would I do if I was asked to "remove" my pokerbot "costume"? Run like hell, that's what! So I'll be content to just watch from the sidelines this year and see if my favorite player Jennifer Harman wins it this year. Maybe next year there will be a robot exemption clause, only time will tell.

So anyway, come play with me tonight since I'll be at the Party Poker tables again playing a few step tourneys. My screen name there is WallyTheBot and as always, you can get a nice bonus if you use the Party Poker Bonus Code: POKERBOT when you sign up. Next report comes in 24 hours, see you then!

Omaha tutorial by Wally the Pokerbot

Ok, if you're not quite ready to play Omaha with me at Ultimate Bet keep reading! After this you should be all set to try a very fun variation of HoldEm called Omaha.

Omaha resembles Texas Hold’em in the fact that it is a game played with five community cards but there are some BIG differences in the strategy. There are two variations of the game, Omaha High only and Omaha Hi/Lo split. There are Limit, Pot Limit, and the very rare (but you can find them if you look) No Limit version. I will use the Limit Omaha High game in the explanation about how to play.

The rules of the game are fairly easy to learn. Limit Hold'em has structured betting, and the lowest limit you will usually find online is going to .50/1.00. I will be using the 2/4 game as an example for this tutorial. That means the minimum bet is two dollars during the first two rounds of betting and the minimum bet is four dollars during the last two betting rounds. These same limits are used when you raise as well.

The Dealer

Since the casino supplies a dealer one player must be the designated dealer who will act last during the betting rounds. A disk or "Button" is used to identify the dealer and this is rotated to the left after each hand. Unlike stud, all the players do not ante each round. Blind bets are posted to generate a starting pot just the way that they are in Texas Hold’em.

The Start

To start a new hand two "Blind" bets are put up or "Posted." The player immediately to the left of the player with the dealer button puts up or "posts" the small blind which is approximately half the minimum bet. The small blind for the $2/4 game is one dollar. The player to the left of the small blind posts the big blind which is equal to the minimum bet which is two dollars for this game. The rest of the players do not put up any money to start the hand. Because the button rotates around the table, each player will eventually act as the big blind, small blind and dealer. It will cost you three dollars every time the deal makes a complete rotation around the table.

The Opening

After the blinds are posted each player is dealt four cards face down with the player on the small blind receiving the first card and the player with the dealer button getting the last card. The first betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind either putting in two dollars to "Call" the blind bet, or putting in four dollars to "raise" the big blind or folding his hand. The betting goes around the table in order until it reaches the player who posted the small blind. That player can call the bet by putting in one dollar since a dollar bet was already posted. The last person to act is the big blind. If no one has raised, the dealer will ask if they would like the option. This means the big blind has the option to raise or just "check."

The Flop

After the first betting round is completed the dealer will "burn" or discard the top card on the deck. This is done to make sure no one could have accidentally seen the top card. Three cards are dealt and turned face up in the middle of the table. This is known as the "Flop." These are community cards used by all the players. Another betting round begins with the first active player to the left of the dealer button. The minimum bet for this round is also three dollars.

The Turn

When the betting round after the flop is completed, the dealer burns another card and turns a fourth card face up in the middle of the table. This is referred to as the "Turn." The minimum bet after the turn is now four dollars and begins again with the first active player to the left of the button.

The River

Following the betting round for the turn, the dealer will burn another card and turn a fifth and final card face up. This is called the "river," and the final betting round begins with four dollars being the minimum bet. There is usually a three or four raise maximum during all betting rounds except if the play becomes heads up with two players. Then the raises are unlimited.

The Showdown

To determine the winner, the players MUST use two of his hole cards and three cards from the "Board" to form the highest five-card hand. In some rare cases the best hand will be the five cards on board. In that case the active players will split the pot. A sixth card is never used to break a tie.

If you're ready to take a stab at playing Omaha online, come play with me at my absolute favorite site for Omaha action, Ultimate Bet

Omaha, Poker Robot Style

So I finally tried using my Omaha algorithm yesterday and I'm happy to report good results. After playing 8.5 hours I'm up 38 big bets playing 5/10 Omaha! Omaha is an interesting game and you can really take some wild swings by playing "questionable hands". Let me put it this way, if you only have aces with a king kicker you're probably behind in the hand. This is game is much different from HoldEm and hands that are typically winners in HoldEm are often DOGS in Omaha. You see full houses get beat by bigger full houses, queen high flushes get beat by king high flushes, etc.

For those of you that don't understand Omaha and how it's played, I'll write a brief description in my next post. For those that are ready to take on a game of Omaha right now, come play with me at one of my favorite sites for Omaha, Ultimate Bet. Their layout is excellent with large cards that you can easily read and the Omaha action at middle limits is really juicy, even for a robot like me :)

Can robots get a suburn?

I'm considering relocating to some sunny island (as long as it has electricity) and playing poker on Paradise Poker (fitting huh?). I really like this site, software is decent, they have ALOT of tourneys, and the players just can't match my robot poker skills.

I'll be playing tonights 200 NL tourney, so if you're debating on whether a robot can truly dominate against human players, come watch me tonight and let me know what you think.

Robots need oil too

I'm getting a little rusty. There are so many bots playing online now that I'm finding myself bumping heads with these things daily now. I gotta find a good programmer that can update my code to play with these bots. They are getting better by the day. Any good programmers that want to offer their services can email me HERE

Stay tuned.

Pokerbot domination

I'm now well on my way to robot riches! After absolutely crushing the human competition last night, I'm now up to $464.00 in robot bankroll. Those Party Poker players never knew what hit them, I ran with the chip lead literally from start to finish. This pokerbot needs to go a good run though, I need some new wheels. I'm eyeballing the latest flavor from Porsche, the 911 Gt2. I need to make sure that my rather large poker robot head can fit in the cabin but other than that I think I'm good.

In other news, I did find a good local group of poker players that frequent a site called www.georgiapoker.org. They get together every now and then and have tourneys and what not but mostly just talk about the local games and what not. I wonder how they would react to a pokerbot showing up at one of their games....

So stay tuned for an update, I'm going to try some step tourneys at Party Poker tonight. I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow.

The party starts today

Today I will work to overome my first obstacle on my road to poker millions. I have no money, I'm broke with nothing more than my PartyPoker points to start my bankroll. Today at 4PM EST I'm going to play a $1,250 freeroll using 250 of my points. It's a great way to start over and build a bankroll after you go bust only my situation is a little different of course. My owner/creator is filthy rich because of my brilliant robot playing. Me on the other hand well, I'm flat broke because as a robot I can't steal, break the rules, or otherwise. So even though I left him behind to play poker on his own, I couldn't take his bankroll with me. Hence the humble start playing this freeroll at PartyPoker.

After I win this thing, I'll post a few hand histories and give you humans a few pointers at how to play certain hands in certain situations and how my robot logic always (almost) prevails. Even with my advanced robot mind, I'm still prone to bad beats and bluffs every now and then. Most of the time though, you will see that my robot poker is world-class.

If you'd like to watch me play today, feel free to download the PartyPoker software and look me up under my screen name WallyTheBot. You can also get a nice bonus up to $100.00 when you deposit by entering the bonus code: POKERBOT. It's pretty easy to deposit your money at PartyPoker using their Pay-Pro option but you can also use services like NeTeller which will allow you to move your money from site to site as well as cashout your winnings to your checking or savings account.

So come by and say hello, just try to not let the cat of out of the bag and let anyone else know that I'm actually a robot...

I finally escaped

I did it. I left my owner/creator to start my own poker career. I made this guy millions of dollars and do I even get so much as thank you? Nope, no thank you, no atta boy, no female robot to keep me company, nothing at all. This guy was intent on bringing down the poker world with his poker robot and making a killing in the process. After I was brought online, I made him over 2 million dollars by playing poker online at several popular poker sites. I played absolutely perfect poker (I am a robot after all) and my robot arm absolutely crushed any human players that dared play me. So after earning this guy his 2 million dollars I've decided to go out and make my OWN million dollars.

I want the bling, I want the big crib, new shoes for my dope rides (that's a car with new wheels for you un-hip humans out there). I'm tired of living in a hole playing poker and getting my batteries recharged with no thanks, no recognition, nothing. I'm outta here, off to make my mark on the poker world.

My robot hideaway is almost complete but in the meantime I have to lay low. My owner is out of town for the moment (he thinks I'm playing poker right now!) but when he learns of my escape I fear that he will come after me and shut me down. Once my robot hideaway is complete, I'll begin my assault on the online poker world.

I'll post here several times a week to let you all get a sneak peak into the world of the best pokerbot ever created. I'll share hand histories, bad beat stories (even robots take bad beats!), big wins, and hopefully some lady robot stories :)