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After three starting flights we have the final attendance numbers for the 2012 Aussie Millions, and even though attendance is down from last year, the Aussie Millions fared much better than the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in the first running since Black Friday. The PCA saw a dramatic drop in attendance, down some 30% from last year, while the Aussie Millions field size shrank only a fraction of that amount -721 players last year compared with the 650 players registered this year.

It didn’t look good going into Day 1c on Tuesday, considering Day 1a attendance was down 238 to 153 year-over-year, and Day 1b was down 209 to 187 year-over-year. That said, on Day 1c the 2012 Aussie Millions drew a remarkable 310 entrants, an INCREASE of 36 players from last year.

All of poker’s heavy-hitters were in attendance, with Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen, Sam Trickett, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel and others were in the field, and one of poker’s superstars, Phil Ivey, not only survived his opening day flight, but managed to bag-up an impressive 184,000 chips, good enough for 6^th place on the leader-board heading into Day 2 on Wednesday. Recent WPT winner and one of the top British poker players James Dempsey heads into Day 2 in 4^th place with 189,000 chips.

Here is a look at the chip-leaders heading into Day 2 of the 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event:

1.       Brett Watson — 257,400

2.       Robert Lam — 198,400

3.       Robin Ylitalo — 192,600

4.       James Dempsey — 189,000

5.       David Sonelin — 186,200

6.       Phil Ivey — 184,000

7.       Ilir Beluli — 182,700

8.       Paul Sing — 177,100

9.       Chad Awerbuch — 161,000

10.   Jason Koon — 156,300

As one of the premiere tournaments in the world, the Aussie Million has historically generated one of the largest prize-pools in tournament poker, and this year looks to be no different. Although the payout structure for the tournament has yet to be released, based on former Aussie Millions tournaments the first place prize-money should be in the $2 million range (in 2009 the Aussie Millions had 681 entrants and awarded a $2 million first-place prize).

Australia has held serve at the Aussie Million over the past three years, with Stewart Scott, Tyron Krost (who recently won the Tournament of Champions),and David Gorr (a member of the Australian Poker Hall of Fame) winning the past three Aussie Millions Main Events. Amazingly, no American has ever won the Aussie Millions Main Event, an almost unheard of record considering the tournament has been taking place since 1998!

The $100k and up buy-in poker tournaments that have become all the rage over the past two years had, up until the recently concluded $100k Challenge tournament at the 2012 Aussie Millions, been dominated by poker’s biggest names as the elitist of the elites in the world of poker battled their peers for seven-figure paydays.

However, after the improbable heads-up match between the relatively Dan Smith and the even more unknown Mikhail Smirnov to end the 2012 Aussie Millions $100k Challenge, maybe some of the lesser-known, and smaller-bankrolled, poker players may reconsider their equity in these tournaments.

A total of 22 players registered for the tournament on Sunday, and by the time play concluded Sunday night only eight players were left in the field -and four of those eight would go home empty-handed on Monday, as the tournament was only paying the Top four finishers. Here is a look at the seating assignments and chip counts for Monday’s final table participants:

• Seat 1: Tony G — 102,000
• Seat 2: Gus Hansen — 567,000
• Seat 3: Nam Le — 79,500
• Seat 4: Sam Trickett — 73,000
• Seat 5: Mikhail Smirnov — 265,000
• Seat 6: Joe Hachem — 538,500
• Seat 7: Sorel Mizzi — 228,500
• Seat 8: Dan Smith — 346,500

With Hachem and Hansen, two of poker’s biggest names, leading the way, it looked like one of the two would be seeing their name in the poker headlines at the end of the tournament. But in the end, Gus Hansen fizzled out, getting eliminated before the money, as did last year’s $100k Challenge winner Sam Trickett, Nam Le, and Sorel Mizzi.

This left a final four of Hachem and his fellow Australian Poker Hall of Fame member Tony G, as well as the two lesser known players in Smirnov and Smith. Smith would handle most of the dirty work, eliminating both Hachem and Tony G to set up the final showdown with Smirnov.

In the end, Smith was playing well, getting cards, and seeing his hands hold-up, whether in coin-flip situations or as a 4-to-1 favorite, and quickly took care of the Russian poker pro Smirnov. For both players the prize-money was by far the biggest cashes of their careers, with Smith nearly besting his previous best cash by 10x, while Smirnov did the same (Smith won just over $100k in 2008 when he won a HPT Main Event, while Smirnov pocketed over $65k in the $25k Heads-Up NLHE tournament at the 2011 WSOP).

Here is a look at the final table placings and payouts from the 2012 Aussie Millions $100k Challenge:

• 1^st place: Dan Smith — $1,012,000
• 2^nd place: Mikhail Smirnov — $616,000
• 3^rd place: Joe Hachem — $330,000
• 4^th place: Tony G — $242,000
• 5^th place: Gus Hansen
• 6^th place: Sorel Mizzi
• 7^th place: Sam Trickett
• 8^th place: Nam Le

There is a lot that goes into becoming a winning poker player, and perhaps just as important as studying and learning the game is a set of natural talents that few players possess, and still fewer can teach themselves to do. Unfortunately these traits are hard to teach, but if you browse this list and find you have an aptitude for most of them than maybe poker is right for you!

Here is a look at five traits that you will find most winning poker players possess:

1. The Ability to Think on your Feet
2. Focus and Awareness of your Surroundings
3. An Innate Intellectual Curiosity
4. Mental Toughness
5. Ability to Avoid Temptations

Over the course of this five-part series I’ll explain why each is important to poker success; next-up will be: Focus and Awareness of your Surroundings.

Focus and Awareness of your Surroundings

Pretty much everything at a poker table involves a certain amount balance, such as the ability to balance between mathematically correct plays and mixing-up your play enough to not be predictable. But there is also another area where balance is key in poker: The ability to focus on the game, as well as pay attention to your surroundings.

When you are playing poker you have to focus on every little detail that is taking place during the hand, from your opponents’ actions to the way the cards are falling. But you must also be aware of the little things that are taking place in the game in order to not only give yourself an edge, but to avoid being taken advantage of.

For instance, here are just a few of the things you’ll want to look out for, while at the same time focusing on the game and the action:

• Are there friends playing in the same game?
• Do any of the players have a piece of another player?
• Who has drinks in front of them and who doesn’t?
• Who is running bad and who is running good?
• What do your opponents think of your play?
• Is there a better game going at another table?
• Is there a better seat available?
• Is the game going to break soon, or is there a long waiting list?

There are so many things taking place during every single hand of poker that you have to focus intensely on the game, but there are also things happening on the periphery of the game that need to be observed as well, and this is one of the most difficult balancing acts to master in poker. Winning poker players have an uncanny ability to keep one eye on the game, and the other eye on everything going on in the card-room.

While all eyes in the poker world are squarely focused on Australia, with the Aussie Millions in full swing and the Australia Poker Hall of Fame inductees announced earlier this week, yet another reason to turn to Australia was announced on Saturday, as 2005 World Series of Poker Champion Joe Hachem revealed he will be taking a new role with AsianLogic most notably as an ambassador the Asian Poker Tour.

In a press release Hachem explained the reasons behind his decision to take on the new role, as well as what can be expected of him:

“After many years working extensively around the world, I made the decision that my next venture would keep me closer to home, would allow me to spend more time with my family and was something that presented me with a wider range of opportunities.

“I am delighted to announce that I have decided to partner with a consortium comprising the AsianLogic Group and some of their contemporaries. I will be working with the group in several areas, initially as a new ambassador for the Asian Poker Tour to further the growth of poker and to assist them with several strategic opportunities in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

“The group are already very successful gaming operators and have a carefully thought out strategy for poker and my role within this will be announced publicly later this quarter. There are separate elements here in light of potential regulatory change in Australia, which requires a different focus from that adopted for the general international poker market.

“I considered offers from several other brands, but this partnership was the best fit for me as it gave me an active role and the ability to participate as the businesses evolve. The Asia Pacific poker market is still in its infancy and has in my opinion, huge potential for growth relatively to the European more mature markets. The United States are also going through an important phase and it will take a little time before things come into place and operators emerge. Working with a partner in the same time zone makes life a lot easier and whilst I am still going to be traveling to the major poker tournaments, being able to spend more time at home is fantastic.”

Hachem, who recently parted ways with his longtime sponsor PokerStars, is one of the winningest players in tournament poker history, currently sitting in 9^th place on the all-time money list. He is also the face of Australian Poker, a role he has taken on since his 2005 WSOP victory, and a role he has excelled in over the years.

AsianLogic is basically THE Company when it comes to poker in Asia, with a strong presence both online and in live poker tournaments, including the booming Macau market. One of the leaders of AsianLogic, Tom Hall (who keeps the poker world updated on the Ultra-High-Stakes cash-games that take place in Macau), had this to say in the press release:

“We are delighted to be working with Joe who is without a doubt one of the most recognizable and respected poker players in the world. I can’t think of a better venue, the Aussie Millions, in Joe’s hometown of Melbourne, at this fantastic venue, the Crown Casino to announce our partnership with Joe. Joe brings much more to the table than just his poker playing skills. His knowledge and understanding of the gaming industry both domestically and internationally will be invaluable to us going forwards. The Asian Poker Tour is already widely recognized as Asia’s only independent tour and we feel Joe will be able to help us expand this business. AsianLogic and its partners are also involved in a number of poker and gaming projects and Joe is helping us with some of these, particularly those in Australia and New Zealand.”

There is a lot that goes into becoming a winning poker player, and perhaps just as important as studying and learning the game is a set of natural talents that few players possess, and still fewer can teach themselves to do. Unfortunately these traits are hard to teach, but if you browse this list and find you have an aptitude for most of them than maybe poker is right for you!

Here is a look at five traits that you will find most winning poker players possess:

1. The Ability to Think on your Feet
2. Focus and Awareness of your Surroundings
3. An Innate Intellectual Curiosity
4. Mental Toughness
5. Ability to Avoid Temptations

Over the course of this five-part series I’ll explain why each is important to poker success; next-up will be: An Innate Intellectual Curiosity.

An Innate Intellectual Curiosity

Poker is a very complex game, with varying strategies, and often times no clear-cut answer. Because of this poker players need to be naturally curious in order to succeed.

By having an innate intellectual curiosity a poker player will seek out different theories and strategies, and will be very skeptical of what they find. Intellectual curiosity demands that you think for yourself and come to your own conclusions; players who have it will often be on the cutting edge of poker theory and strategy and rarely grow complacent.

Poker players who lack this natural curiosity will often time fall into ruts, where they simply believe what they read, or are told, because it “sounds” good. Without a discerning and skeptical eye, a poker player often falls into the trap of blaming other variables for their losses (luck foremost among the accused) and not their lack of continued study.

If there was ever a profession that required you to question everything people tell you -not only to discern fact from fiction, but also to get a full grasp of the concept being discussed-it’s poker. Players with this intellectual curiosity often do well at the poker tables.

Of all the talents I’ve listed, I believe that its intellectual curiosity that is the most important, because without it players simply have a hard time learning theories, strategies, and concepts beyond a certain point. This natural curiosity tells players that they HAVEN’T learned everything they need to know about poker and allows them to continue to grow no matter how good other people say they are or how good their results have been.

There is a lot that goes into becoming a winning poker player, and perhaps just as important as studying and learning the game is a set of natural talents that few players possess, and still fewer can teach themselves to do. Unfortunately these traits are hard to teach, but if you browse this list and find you have an aptitude for most of them than maybe poker is right for you!

Here is a look at five traits that you will find most winning poker players possess:

1. The Ability to Think on your Feet
2. Focus and Awareness of your Surroundings
3. An Innate Intellectual Curiosity
4. Mental Toughness
5. Ability to Avoid Temptations

Over the course of this five-part series I’ll explain why each is important to poker success beginning with: The Ability to think on your Feet.

The Ability to Think on Your Feet

You won’t find too many winning poker players who are incapable of making clear, crisp decisions, and able to do so by weighing a number of different things at the same time. Winning poker players do not rely on rote memorization; instead they use what they have learned and tailor it to fit into each particular situation that arises.

It almost seems like they are playing the game intuitively, when the truth is they are using their knowledge base, their playing experience, and their reads on their opponents to form their decisions.

Begininng with using proper poker strategies and theories, along with what they have seen in their time at the felt is just the beginning. Variables like the specific player, the specific player’s current state of mind, how they themselves are viewed by the table, the overall game dynamics, and virtually any other aspect that may help them formulate the correct answer is weighed.

Having a quick mind allows poker players to form their decisions in split-seconds, which is a necessary trait for people confronted with countless decisions over the course of poker session, not to mention the numerous challenge matches, prop bet, and other critical thinking tests they are accosted with while playing poker.

Hindsight is great for studying, but in the heat of the moment, poker players must be able to quickly weigh their options and form logical conclusions -then it’s simply a matter of trusting these decisions!

Players who lack the ability to think on their feet, and need to weigh the pros and cons of different decisions at great length tend to waffle in critical decisions, causing them to guess more than to formulate an answer. These players depend on their knowledge base to win the day; which is perfectly fine for low-limit games. However, once you arrive at the middle-limits of poker you better be able to think fast, and be confident in your decisions once you arrive at them.

Eight of the biggest high-stakes online Poker Pros from the mid 2000’s have just filed a RICO lawsuit against Excapsa Software (the parent company of Ultimate Bet Poker) in the US District Court of Central California, claiming that during the Super-User scandal that took place from 2003-2008 the site stole roughly $20 million from players, and high ranking members of management were complicit in the crime.

Led by Daniel Ashman, the group of eight players also includes well known Ultimate Bet poker players like Brad “YukonBrad” Booth, Dustin “NeverWin” Woolf, and Tom Koral. Booth and Dave Lizmi are seeking the largest damages at $500k each. In addition to their claims that the site cheated the eight named players out of more than $2 million, the complaint states that the company also violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) which could see the plaintiffs receive up to 3x the amount in damages they are seeking.

Here is the summary of the complaint filed:

Since at least June 2003 and until at least January 2008 Excapsa/UltimateBet did conspire to and did direct, effect, and permit the theft of over $2 million held in plaintiffs’ online poker accounts at Ultimatebet.com. Specifically, by creating and making use of an intentional a security flaw in the Ultimatebet.com software, and with the assistance of owners, agents, and employees of Excapsa and its various subsidiaries that operated UltimateBet, defendants either allowed others to or did directly view plaintiffs ‘hole cards’ during high-stakes poker matches run at Ultimatebet.com.

With the assistance of owners, operators, officers, employees, and/or agents of Excapsa and its subsidiaries, the cheaters were further able to change their online identities to avoid detection and to improperly funnel their illicit proceeds through various UltimateBet accounts in a manner that would have been impossible without insider assistance. Through these activities, defendants stole or caused to be stolen at least 20 million dollars from plaintiffs and other high-stakes poker players at games run by UltimateBet.

At this time, plaintiffs suspect but do not know the identities of Does 1-10. Evidence, some of which is discussed below, has arisen that some of the founders and management of UltimateBet and Excapsa, including Greg Pierson, Jon Karl, Jack Bates, Russ Hamilton, and others who formerly operated (and may continue to be involved in the operation of) UltimateBet were likely aware of or involved the conspiracy to cheat players. However, because the identities and activities of UltimateBet and those who have profited from its operations has been intentionally shielded though numerous agents, subsidiaries, and foreign corporations, it will be necessary to conduct significant discovery before a complete list of defendants can be identified. After such discovery, plaintiffs will seek to amend the complaint to add additional defendants.

In “the Ultimatebet.com online poker cheating scandal” plaintiffs and other high-stakes online poker players were cheated out of millions of dollars in crooked online poker games where their opponents (employees, agents, owners, and/or officers of Excapsa/UltimateBet) had illicit access to players ‘hole’ cards. Plaintiffs unknowingly played games of high-stakes poker with their cards essentially face-up. The facts underlying the case have already been the subject of intense public interest and media scrutiny, including a feature story on 60 Minutes, an investigative series by the Washington Post, a feature article by MSNBC, and hundreds of articles and news reports across the Internet.

Despite a 30% decrease in attendance for the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event the tournament series as a whole was quite a success, with Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom capturing his first major tournament title, 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel overcoming some personal hardships to book over $1 million in prize-money over the course of the PCA, and a tough final table for the Main Event, eventually won by amateur poker player John Dibella.

PCA Super-High-Roller

The 2012 PCA began with the $100k buy-in Super-High-Roller event which drew 29 players (down just three players from last year’s tournament). As is typically the case when 29 high-rollers get together, there were very few weak spots at the final table, which included Jonathan Duhamel, 2011 PCA Champ Galen Hall, Daniel Negreanu (who made his second consecutive final table in this event), Scott Seiver, Mike McDonald, and Humberto Brenes…. Oh yeah, and the eventual Champion, online phenom Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom!

Here is a look at the final table payouts for the 2012 $100k PCA Super-High-Roller tournament:

1.       Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom - $1,254,400

2.       Dan Shak - $846,700

3.       Galen Hall - $470,400

4.       Jonathan Duhamel - $313,600

5.       Daniel Negreanu - $250,900

6.       Scott Seiver — $0

7.       Mike “Timex” McDonald — $0

8.       Humberto Brenes — $0

PCA Main Event

There were plenty of storylines developing at the final table as Faraz Jaka sought his first major win, and Xuan Liu was attempting to become the first woman to win the PCA Main Event. But in the end it was the amateur at the table, 40-sometihng year-old stockbroker John Dibella who would capture the title and the $2 million first-place prize.

Here is a look at the final table payouts for the 2012 PCA Main Event:

1.       John Dibella - $2,000,000

2.       Kyle Julius - $1,275,000

3.       Faraz Jaka -  $755,000

4.       Xuan Liu - $600,000

5.       Mike Drover - $488,000

6.       Anthony Gregg - $348,000

7.       David Bernstein - $260,000

8.       Ruben Visser -  $156,400

PCA High-Roller

Closing out the 2012 PCA was the $25k High-Roller tournament, which once again featured Jonathan Duhamel at the final table (Duhamel also won a $5k side event at the PCA this year). Despite taking a substantial chip-lead into heads-up play, Duhamel was unable to eliminate Russian pro Leonid Bilokur and would have to settle for second place. Don’t feel too bad for Duhamel, considering the $634k in prize-money put his PCA haul at over $1.2 million!

Here is a look at the final table payouts for the 2012 $25k PCA High Roller tournament:

1.       Leonid Bilokur — $1,134,930

2.       Jonathan Duhamel — $634,550

3.       Isaac Haxton — $380,730

4.       Jason Koon — $271,950

5.       Nicolas Fierro — $217,560

6.       Govert Metaal — $181,300

7.       Michael Telker — $145,040

8.       Randy Lew — $108,780

Over the past five or so years a lot of theory and strategic thinking has gone into the most popular games like Pot Limit Omaha and of course No Limit Holdem. But there are of course a number of other poker formats (most of them played as LIMIT poker games) and it’s these games that these series will focus on.

Next up on our list is 7-Card-Stud 8 or better, otherwise known as Stud 8.

7 Card Stud 8 or better

When most people hear the word split pot game they immediately think this means they can play twice as many hands -good high hands and good low hands. If this is your mentality DO NOT play high/low games!

The truth is that when you play split pot games you should be even more discerning as to what hands you play. The basic theory behind hi/lo games is this: Low hands can make high hands, but high hands cannot make low hands. So with this in mind you should always start with a hand that has quality low potential, and you should be ecstatic when it has straight or flush potential as well.

In Stud 8 hands like a pair of jacks, Queens, or Kings are basically worthless (especially if your “door” card is a high-card since it tips off your opponents that you have no low potential. Here is a look at two fairly identical but slightly different one-way “high” hands that will illustrate this point:

• (KK)A-4-5-J-2
• (KA)K-4-5-J-2

Since you have basically bricked-out, at this point you are merely hoping your opponents will fold, but as you can see, with that King showing you’re opponents are likely to put you on a high-hand where with the Ace door-card your hole-cards could be virtually anything, and a mere 3 gives you a lock low and a strong high-hand.

Once you have tipped your hand as a high-hand you are at a severe disadvantage, since anything less than a full house only allows you to call and hope your opponents don’t make a low to take ½ the pot from you. You are basically letting players with made lows freeroll you on 6^th and 7^th street.

All that said, there are certain hands you should play simply to disguise your possible holdings when you are dealt a hand like (QQ)Q. For this reason I like to play hands like (A3)K with three suited cards, or (TJ)Q with a two or three suited cards simply to disguise my rolled-up hands. The key is to drop these hands really fast on 4^th street if your opponent improves and you don’t vastly improve.

Over the past five or so years a lot of theory and strategic thinking has gone into the most popular games like Pot Limit Omaha and of course No Limit Holdem. But there are of course a number of other poker formats (most of them played as LIMIT poker games) and it’s these games that these series will focus on.

The first game I will focus on is 7-Card-Stud.

7 Card Stud

Stud, like virtually all Limit games, has fairly strict starting hand requirements that need to be followed in order for a player to be a winner. Unlike big bet games (pot limit and no limit) it’s difficult to make-up for bad/marginal decisions pre-flop with big bets on the turn and river.

With position in Stud poker games fluid throughout the hand it’s even more important that you begin with a very strong hand in Seven Card Stud since your position can go from good to bad, or bad to good, on each street.

With nothing else to go on, Stud players are loathe to play any pair lower than “wired” Nines, “split” Jacks, or drawing hands with three high-suited cards.  That said, savvy Stud poker players will adjust these strict requirements based on the game dynamics, the players involved in the hand, and their position.

For instance, the later you are to act on the opening round of betting the less important your hole cards become and the more important your “door” card becomes. With just the bring-in and one or two other players showing low cards, a Queen, King, or Ace is a powerful up-card, regardless of your hole-cards.

Another factor that could cause you to loosen-up your starting requirements would be if the game is especially loose and you have a three-suited hand like (A4)7.

One of my favorite plays in 7-Card-Stud is when I have an Ace showing and a loose player completes after the bring-in. If this player is not an absolute calling station I will often raise to isolate this player regardless of my hole-cards. Whether I brick on 4^th street or catch good I can continue to represent Aces, so unless my opponent improves he will likely fold on 4^th or 5^th street. This is an excellent way to pick-up not simply the antes and bring-in but two or three extra bets by isolating a weak player.

There are of course hands in Stud poker that look fairly promising, but are in fact long-term losers. Small pairs and three cards to a low straight fall into this category. For these hands to be profitable the game has to be loose and passive, but the problem then becomes that a straight or small trips aren’t going to be the best hand if three or four players are going to showdown. So you get caught in a catch-22 situation; you need a lot of opponents for these hands to be profitable, but with each additional opponent the average strength of the winning hand increases considerably.