10. April 2007

Over the past 30 years, I have been involved in all facets of the poker industry, ranging from playing professionally, hosting tournaments, and presenting seminars, to publishing Card Player. Although it has all been thrilling and fulfilling, I think my favorite poker activity is teaching WPT Boot Camp. Spending an entire weekend teaching important poker concepts is fun, and I really enjoy getting to know each student personally. Students and instructors are together literally from 8 a.m. until about midnight on day one, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on day two. We eat together, share "war" stories from the green felt, and cheer on great plays or criticize poor decisions observed during the student tournament, live labs, and sit-and-gos. The only thing I don't like about Boot Camp is the hours; breakfast starts at 8 a.m. and the first session is at 9 a.m. Anyway, I guess that's why they call it Boot Camp.

10. April 2007

The crowd chanted, “Augie, Augie, Augie, oy, oy oy,” after the final card of the final hand was dealt, reminiscent of Joseph Hachem’s 2005 World Series of Poker win, as Augie Foxx won the final pot at the WPT Boot Camp Tournament—The Battle for the Season Pass. The 62-year-old from Idabel, Oklahoma, is the man to keep an eye out for on the World Poker Tour.

Foxx outflopped, outbluffed, and outlasted a field of 196 entrants, as well as some of the most recognizable poker professionals, including Todd Brunson, T.J. Cloutier, Clonie Gowen, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Tom McEvoy, Mark Seif, Antonio Esfandiari, Gavin Smith, Chip Jett, Karina Jett, Jules Leyser, and Crispin Leyser, winning 15 buy-ins to any WPT tournaments—a package worth over $150,000 and much, much more depending on Foxx’s future tournament success.

15. January 2007 Crispin Leyser warned everyone as they sat down at the poker table that he wasn't going to be afraid to slap some wrists. He wasn't kidding. Leyser, one of four instructors at the WPT Boot Camp at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn., had just finished a 90-minute lecture that focused on two key No Limit Hold'em Tournament lessons:

1. If you are the first person to enter a pot, always raise.
2. Never play weak hands in early position.

On the first hand of the following "lab," a player in first position just called...

10. April 2007

From there I walked over to the workshop “Advanced Online Strategy,” led by the husband-and-wife team of Jules and Crispin Leyser, a British couple who relocated to Los Angeles and have become superb Internet players — and they were particularly accomplished speakers and teachers. (Both come from a TV/film background. Crispin is a producer, and his lovely wife is an actress/writer, and their communication skills are excellent.) Like Seif, they were particularly keen on gathering data, which is obviously much easier to do online than in a live event (using paper or the note-taking capabilities provided by most poker sites), like hands you’ve seen shown down, weak raises, and big overbets. They also counseled patience. “Online tournaments really start to get serious around level four in a sit-and-go, or after 50 percent of the field is gone in a multitable,” Jules said. “Stick to basic starting hands and position requirements early, but be prepared to change gears.”

10. April 2007

On the first night of the extravaganza, Jan Fisher and I participated in Ladies Night at the Mall of America, the biggest mall in the country. Full House Entertainment, a local company that sponsors poker nights and poker leagues, supplied five poker tables and very enthusiastic dealers so that we could actually give some basic lessons and instruction to the women who showed up to play. In a very short time, they were practicing live play, and some were even playing minitournaments to qualify for a seat in the actual Go All In! to Cure Diabetes poker tournament. Over the next two days, WPT Boot Camp, represented by Steve Berman and Jules Leyser, manned the tables in the rotunda at the Mall and gave poker lessons to hundreds of poker enthusiasts