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Hands of the Week WPT Voyage Prime Championship Robin Poker’s Boat on a Boat – PokerNews.com

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The $1,100 buy-in WPT Prime Voyage Championship attracted 968 runners over three starting flights before surviving players returned for Day 2 to compete for a share of a $968,000 prize pool. When the dust settled, Brazils Gregory De Faria finished as the last player standing to claim the title and $155,400 first-place prize.

Throughout the event, which took place on the Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady, the World Poker Tour (WPT) live reporting team of Liam Gannon, Mike Patrick, BJ Nemeth and Mickey Doft were on-hand to capture all the action.

During that time, they caught some either interesting or game-changing hands. Check out five of them below.

On Day 1a in Level 14 (2,500/5,000/5,000), a player opened for 12,000 and Trent Boudreau called from the hijack. The small blind called and then Jeff Platt moved all in for 98,000 from the big blind. The original raiser jammed over the top, Boudreau called to put both players at risk, and the small blind got out of the way.

Jeff Platt: KJ Original Raiser: JJ Trent Boudreau: AK

This is a disaster, Platt said upon discovering between his two opponents he was drawing thin. Indeed, the poker commentator watched helplessly as the board ran out 410877 to give Boudreau the double elimination.

Fortunately for Platt, he reentered a different flight and went on to finish the tournament in 108th place for $2,000.

On Day 1b in Level 12 (1,500/3,000/3,000), PokerNews Podcast host Chad Holloway got his stack of 103,000 all in preflop and was racing against Michael Wang.

Chad Holloway: AK Michael Wang: QQ

It was a classic flip, and Holloway took a big lead when the AJ2 flop delivered him a pair of aces. Neither the J turn nor 4 river changed a thing and Holloway shipped a big double.

In the very next hand, a middle-position player raised to 10,000 and Holloway just called from the big blind with the 99. He then checked top set on the 972 flop and smooth called when his opponent bet 14,000.

On the A turn, Holloway checked for a second time and then snap-called when the middle-position player moved all in for 43,000. The middle-position player was drawing dead with the K10 and Holloway pulled in another nice pot when the 8 completed the board on the river.

Unfortunately, Holloways stack dwindled and in Level 17 (5,000/10,000/10,000) he shoved his last 90,000 from the button with the K4 and was called by the KQ of Jeff Farnes in the big blind.

Holloway was dominated and left drawing thin when the QQ6 flop gave Farnes trip queens. The 3 turn left Holloway drawing dead and he was eliminated short of the money after the meaningless 7 was put out on the river.

5 Big Hands from the WPT Voyage Cracked Aces Leads to Andrew Neemes Demise

On Day 1c in Level 2 (200/300/300), PokerNews Ambassador Lukas Robin Poker Robinson and two other players were on the turn with around 8,000 in the pot and a board reading KKQ6. Two checks saw Robinson bet 3,000 from the hijack and only Bartley Dowling called from the small blind.

When the 10 appeared on the river, Dowling checked and Robinson bet 10,000. Dowling called only to muck when Robinson rolled over the KQ for a full house.

Robinson went deep but in Level 16 (4,000/8,000/8,000) he moved all in for 65,000 holding the K10 on the button and Darrell Floyd called from the small blind with the AQ. The board ran out QQ2310 and that was all she wrote for the Game of Gold star.

Speaking of Game of Gold stars, Olga Iermolcheva was on the WPT Voyage and made Day 2 of the Prime tournament. In Level 18 (6,000/12,000/12,000), she found herself all in for approximately 200,000 and up against WPT Prime World Championship winner Calvin Anderson.

Olga Iermolcheva: A5 Calvin Anderson: A7

Both players held an ace but Iermolcheva had a kicker problem. Unfortunately for her, it didnt get resolved as the board ran out 86263 to send her out in 19th place for $2,000.

With 44 players remaining on Day 2 in Level 22 (15,000/30,000/30,000), Zoltan Lanszki raised to 60,000 from middle position and then called off for 640,000 after Gregory De Faria moved all in for 690,000 from the button.

Zoltan Lanszki: AK Gregory De Faria: AQ

Lanszki got it in as a heavy favorite and maintained the lead on the J43 flop. Unfortunately for him, the running 7 turn and 9 river gave De Faria a runner-runner flush. Lanszki finished in 44th place for $4,500 while that hand helped De Faria on his way to winning the whole thing!

*Images courtesy of WPT.

PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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Hands of the Week WPT Voyage Prime Championship Robin Poker's Boat on a Boat - PokerNews.com

Three Easy Poker Tactics That Will Make You Money in 2024 – Tight Poker

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In this article, well be detailing three proven tactics to improve your chances at the poker felt in 2024. From bluffing like a champ to using position like a boss and reading your opponents, were here to help you conquer your poker opponents in the next 12 months.

Pocket Aces can be tricky to play. There are ace crackers out there in the form of suited connectors, your opponents could always fold to you if you go too big too soon and if youve already won big with premium hands like kings or queens, then your opponents will find it easier to read your style with monster hands unless you mix it up.

Playing pocket aces slowly in order to trap your opponent is, therefore, fraught with danger. Play them correctly, though, and you can scoop the big pots, whether its playing tournament poker or crushing at cash. For now, lets assume that youre playing $2/$5 cash and your stack is $500.

Here are some quick rules to playing aces slowly:

Many times with pocket aces, if you get a call pre-flop, a flop such as 8-5-3 with two cards in the same suit can lead to a check from your opponent. Now your strategy here could easily be to bet in order to protect your hand from flushes or straights. Thats understandable. If someone has called your pockets rockets with ace crackers like seven-six suited, you could be in trouble.

But if you know your opponents ranges and put them on a bigger hand like king-queen offsuit, then youre going to scare them off. Instead, you want to check and give your opponent a chance to a) bluff or b) catch one of their cards later on, such as a queen on the turn. If they do this, the letting them take the betting lead will disguise your aces brilliantly.

In the 2006 movie Casino Royale, James Bond, played by Daniel Craig, demonstrates the art of slow playing pocket aces during a high-stakes poker game. With a calm demeanor and strategic finesse, Bond opts to underplay his hand, allowing his opponents to underestimate his strength. This tactical maneuver not only maximizes his potential winnings but also adds a touch of sophistication to Bonds already legendary poker prowess.

You dont always want to check pocket aces on the flop. But if youve got good reasons to do so and youre playing against your regular intentions, then it can be an extremely smart way of winning big pots against certain opponents.

Continuation betting, or c-betting, is one of the most crucial phases of play at the poker table. Back in the 1970s, players simply didnt c-bet unless they caught some of the flop. If they did, then those c-bets were frequently too low and risked too many players coming along for the ride to the turn and, often, the river.

In 2024, betting post-flop when the flop is really good for you is often the right play. Lets look at a common example of you raising pre-flop with a premium hand and the flop lands A-Q-4 with three different suits. This is now a great flop for you and has hit your hand. In the past, a small c-bet designed to tease players into seeing another street might have been preferred. Today, advice is very different.

In 2024, betting big on this flop works better and for several good reasons. Firstly, youre bumping the pot when youre likely to have the best hand and bigger bets are being called more often these days in this position.

If your opponent has queen-ten or ace-eight, for example, they are already in a really horrible spot despite having hit their hand. While you can make this move with ace-jack or king-queen and might be dominating them, you can just as easily make this move with low pairs or suite connectors that didnt and get a fold by bluffing, as long as your opponents range is such that you know theyre unlikely to call if faced with the situation above.

The secondary benefit of playing really strong holdings like ace-king or ace-queen strongly in this position is that some opponents will be reluctant to fold weaker paired hands, such as ace-jack or ace-ten when the flop lands like this. When there are two high cards and one low card, if youre holding the goods then betting big is far more likely to pay you off bigger in 2024.

Weve spoken about trapping with aces and betting big with a top pair on a double high-card flop, but our third money-making quick tip is to check. When you think of the action of checking, who do you think of? Perhaps its the local rock at your casino who never bets big even if hes got it. Maybe its Mike McDermott in the 1998 poker movie Rounders, who famously got the better of Teddy KGB After check, check, checking in the late stages of their heads-up battle.

Checking when youre out of position is often the right move, even if you were the pre-flop aggressor. In 2024, plenty of players will be more than happy to try to take betting control of the pot away from you post-flop, and if you have strong hole cards, this can play right into your hands.

On a low flop of 5-3-2 with two suits, you might often make money with an overpair of pocket queens against drawing hands or weaker pairs such as pocket sevens through tens. In this situation, many players simply bet with the queens, get a fold or a call and have less idea where they are in the hand. By checking, you can often get your opponent to bet, where many GTO solvers recommend that you check-raise over 20% of the time.

On flops such as 9-9-8 or A-5-3, solvers suggest that you should check over 90% of the time rather than betting if you have an overpair. This is despite the natural tendency to want to protect against drawing hands in this situation. In 2024, looking for value often means checking in these spots rather than revealing the strength of your hand or simply following standard c-betting strategy.

While this tactic actively applies to heads-up tournament poker, it is worth remembering that checking with a stronger hand in pots against multiple opponents is going to benefit you too. In cash games, youll often see players chasing draws to turn or river, so checking your cards with a protected range gives you even more chance of winning big and can often lead to you taking down inflated pots on the flop after youve check-raised on later on in the board when you represent your strength and push weaker holdings off the pot.

These three tips, working alongside a study path and practiced proven strategy, could help make you more money in 2024.

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Three Easy Poker Tactics That Will Make You Money in 2024 - Tight Poker

Millions of Dollars on the Table in This Week’s High Stakes Poker Episode – PokerNews.com

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Nikhil "Nik Airball" Arcot and Andrew Robl went to battle, Santhosh Suvarna played some monster pots, and there was over $4.7 million on the table on the newest High Stakes Poker episode, which aired Monday on PokerGO.

Season 12 is heating up, and Episode 7 is must-see. Multiple pots over $500,000 were played, and the $1,000/$2,000 blinds made for some juicy action. Here's a look at the full list of players when the game began, and the chips they each had in front of them.

The show began with Robl, holding QJ, flopping top pair on a board of 510Q77 and betting $4,000 into a pot of $23,000. Airball, perhaps fooled by the undersized wager, went for a raise to $18,000 with king-high, but it wasnt enough to force a fold.

On the next hand, with a $4,000 straddle on, the same two players would tangle again. Robl raised to $10,000 with K9 from an early position. Airball called on the button with A6.

The flop came out A9A, and Robl led for $10,000 with his nearly-drawing-dead two pair. A call was made, and then both players checked the 4 turn. When the 5 appeared on the river, Robl checked, but would call off a $15,000 bet only to find out his hand was no good.

After Robl pushed Suvarna around in a couple of pots, he went back to war against the Hustler Casino Live regular hed already faced at the beginning of the show. In this next pot, Airball would get a fortunate run-out.

Action began with Robl raising to $6,000 with Q10 and then, in position, Airball made the call with A2. The flop of 987 gave both players something to draw to, and after a check, Airball bet $10,000, to which his opponent called.

Following the K on the turn, which completed the nut flush, Airball would fire out a bet of $21,000 and receive a call. The river was the 3, giving Robl a flush, but one that was inferior. Despite that, instead of checking it back, he fired out a bet of $85,000, just over the size of the pot. Knowing his hand couldnt possibly be beat, Airball raised to $175,000, and he earned a call before scooping a $429,000 pot.

When your pocket aces get cracked but youre still drawing live, thats not an awful position. For Suvarana, who has been getting destroyed in the few High Stakes Poker episodes hes appeared on, he found himself in such a situation against a Harvard professor.

Preflop action started with Tang raising to $5,000 with A5, and then Suvarna deciding to slowplay his AA by just calling in position. Adams, in the big blind with 64, called to see a flop of 5J7, and Tang made a continuation bet of $7,000 with bottom pair.

Suvarna and Adams, who had a straight draw, would both make the call to see the 8 on the turn complete the straight. But with a heart in his hand, Suvarna wasnt drawing dead, and he would bet out $25,000.

Adams had a decision to make with a straight knowing theres a chance he was up against a flush. But he wasnt about to fold, so he made the call just before Tang mucked his cards. The 5 on the river bricked the flush, and Adams checked. Instead of checking behind, Santhosh made a sizable bet of $62,000 for value. But he wouldnt get that value because Adams called with a superior hand.

Moments later in the show, Adams was the one who picked up pocket aces, and he would get paid off on the river by Airballs ten-high when a straight draw failed to come through in a $140,000 pot. Suvarna would then go on a heater, winning large pots against Airball and Tang over the following few hands.

Things would get even better for Santhosh in a hand against Tang. With the board showing 5369, both players were all in for a $524,000 pot. Tang held 107 for a monster draw, and was up against 65 for two pair. They agreed to run it twice, and both rivers were of no help to the drawing hand.

Charles Yu would enter the game late, and it took him no time to lose a big pot, which he often has done on shows such as Hustler Casino Live.

The hand began with Adams raising to $5,000 with 77, while Suvarna called behind him with 42. Yu, on the button with QQ, three-bet to $29,000 and both players called.

When the flop showed 1097, Yu was in deep trouble, and he checked it over to Adams, who bet $45,000 with bottom set. That was enough to get Suvarna out of the way, but pocket queens wasnt going anywhere.

The turn was the 5, no help to either player. Yu checked and then called a $90,000 wager before the 5 on the river paired the board. Following another check back to him, Adams downsized his bet a tad to $85,000, just enough to keep his opponent interested. Yu made the call and lost a $530,000 pot to close out Episode 7.

You can catch the full episode on PokerGO and future episodes, which air each Monday at 5 p.m. PT.

To watch new episodes of High Stakes Poker, visit PokerGO.

*Images courtesy of PokerGO/Antonio Abrego

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Millions of Dollars on the Table in This Week's High Stakes Poker Episode - PokerNews.com

WPT Voyage No Limit Championship Won by Aram Oganyan on the High Seas – Tight Poker

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Once upon a time, poker was brought to America and developed as a card game on riverboats as players in its formative era played poker on the Mississippi River. In 2024, the game is still growing, as players on board the Valiant Lady cruise ship discovered as they took part in the $4,600+$400 WPT Voyage NLHE Championship. Four days of action produced a thrilling finale and gave Aram Oganyan the title for $214,245.

* denotes three-way deal

** includes $10,400 buy-in into the season-concluding 2024 WPT World Championship at The Wynn Las Vegas.

Since it was announced, the World Poker Tours foray into the high seas has captured the imagination of everyone in the poker industry. From players to organisers, everyone has been ready for the Valiant Lady to set sail with expectations high. It is right to say that the WPT have exceeded those expectations as the poker publics desire for drama, fun and excitement have all been met in spades!

From Andrew Neeme being at the pajama-uniformed Meet Up Game and a pool party that saw the great and good celebrate on the red neon lit deck, the WPT Voyage has had it all. Even industry legend Robbie Strazynski of CardPlayer Lifestyle wrote a brilliant blog about exactly what being on board the Valiant Lady was like. Padel players have even had the chance to take on former tennis pro Vince Van Patten on the courts.

With wall-to-wall player parties, excursions to glamourous locations such as the Cayman Islands and activities all being enjoyed, you could almost forget about the poker! With a million-dollar guarantee on the line, the WPT Voyage No Limit Holdem Championship was always going to grab the attention of players across the board or rather. Ending with a prizepool of $1,347,800 on the line, it was fun from start to finish in the $5,000 by-in event with Aram Oganyan getting name on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.

With a total of 293 entries, just 37 made the money places on board the Valiant Lady as the $4,600+$400 buy-in promoted top-quality poker at the felt. The top 37 players got paid, with the 2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess (33rd for $9,600), former WPT World Championship winner Eliot Hudon (22nd for $14,000), WPT Ambassdor Andrew Neeme (19th for $17,000), WPT presenter Tony Dunst (17th for $17,000) and Masato Yokosawa (10th for $28,000) all making money but falling short of the final table.

It was the Colombian professional Farrid Jattin who had the chip lead with 91 big blinds when the final nine convened at the last table in the tournament. Soon after the action got underway, one of two Brazilians at the final table felt, Marcelo Giordano, was the first player to bust, cashing for $28,000 in ninth place. One on the rail became two when Iman Dans pocket fours couldnt hold against the ace-seven offsuit of Daniel Sepiol, the latter making a diamond flush on the turn despite only having one diamond in his hole cards. Sepiol chipped up but Dan stepped out, cashing for $34,000 in eighth place.

In seventh place, Poker Mommaa herself, a.k.a. Kasey Mills, cashed for $42,000 when her pocket fives were shot down by Carlo Busartos pocket kings which made a full house by the turn. And a rollercoaster period was complete when Giordanos fellow Brazilian Romula Dorea missed out on the really big money in sixth for $55,000.

The Championship event of WPT Voyage did not disappoint.

Daniel Sepiol had led the final table at a couple of points but whiffed the podium places in fifth for $75,000. All-in with pocket queens on a board of 7-6-5-T, Sepiol was ahead of Jattins pocket eights but a four on the river completed the straight for the Colombian and the field was down to four.

Despite scoring that scalp, Jattin was the next one to bite the dust as he cashed for $100,000 in fourth place. All-in with pocket aces, Jattins luck in the previous hand was levelled out as Basurtos king-queen of spades hit not one but two kings on the flop to send play three-handed and into an immediate discussion about doing a three-way deal.

One hand ended the drama as after an ICM-based deal was agreed. All-in with six-three, Basurto came second as Austin Srurs pair of queens with the lowest stack saw him bust in third. Both men lost out to the winner, Aram Oganyan, courtesy of his pocket deuces hitting a set on the flop and that was enough to give the American the top prize of $214,245.

The Championship event of WPT Voyage did not disappoint, said WPT CEO Adam Pliska as the seaweed. What a sight it was to see such a prominent group of players battle on board a world-class Virgin Voyages ship. In the end, we congratulated Aram for his achievement in joining the WPT Champions Club.

Oganyan himself was beside himself to have gotten his name on the WPT Mike Sexton Champions Cup.

I feel amazing. This is so fun unbelievable, he said. I won some flips at the end, got some bluffs through, and here we are. I thought poker on a cruise would be an amazing thing, and it is so amazing everyone should do it.

Following Oganyans superb trophy lift, others will be desperate to take part in the next WPT Voyage event.

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Ranching of tomorrow: Smooth Ag bringing robotics to ranchers with autonomous Ranch Rover – Graham Leader

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By automating the cattle feeding process the Graham-based company Smooth Ag is looking to bring the innovation of robotics to ranchers through its autonomous Ranch Rover vehicle.

The Ranch Rover was the creation of fourth-generation rancher River McTasney who had the agricultural lifestyle ingrained in his bones at a young age growing up on a 3,000-acre ranch while tending 120 head of cattle.

I went to school at Paint Creek High School, an agriculture community. Most of us kids there grew up working on our own stuff. We have a mechanical skill set from that lifestyle that really equips us with the problem solving skills that I think a lot of people from outside of the rural community may not quite get, McTasney said. ...So that problem solving skill set really helped with this later on down the road.

Following high school, McTasney attended Texas A&M University and graduated in 2018 with a degree in construction management. He worked for a year in College Station in sales for an HVAC company before deciding he wanted a break and moved back to his family ranch.

I was feeding cows and I was like, Theres got to be a better way to do this. ...Being one of the only able-bodied people on the ranch to do other stuff, there was other stuff I needed to get done instead of spending three hours a day in the feed pickup, he said. I started tinkering with different ideas and finally decided that a mobile platform, just like a feed pickup without the driver, was the best way to do it.

McTasney learned to code with the intention of making the dream of the Ranch Rover a reality. Over the next two years he built a conceptual machine on an old pickup truck frame and eventually moved up to the current prototype.

It has a 4,000-pound payload. Its GPS waypoint navigation fused with machine vision, so its completely autonomous. They have the ability to set routes and then with those routes set individual feed missions... and those are on a timer, he said. You can schedule them however you like, you can pick your feed locations (and) pick how much youre going to feed at each of those feed locations.

The rover has data-driven decision making which McTasney said can provide owners information for planning.

Theres a lot of data collection involved as well thats going to be extremely valuable. With computer vision its one of those things that is hard to see, but the way technological advancements are working out right now computer vision is getting amazing, he said. The type of data that were going to be able to directly feed back to the customer based off of that is actually going to be really insane. Its going to be very valuable. So thats just one of the perks of solving a problem directly is we get to put up those various sensors and cameras on this thing and kind of knock out two birds with one stone.

Around a year-and-half ago McTasney connected with representatives from Graham to see if they wanted to be involved with making the city a home base for the project. The site was also something McTasney wanted due to having land close.

We have land in Caddo as well... just East of Breckenridge. I wanted to stay around home because we do have obligations to the ranch. ...Graham is just a great community, too, he said. ...Whenever youre doing something like this, youre really grabbing everything you can to stay motivated and keep doing it and so you really want to be surrounded and supported by a community that believes in success, beliefs in new things. I think Graham did a really good job of displaying that and really got me roped in.

The company has a 4,000 square foot shop located on Rocky Mound Road in Graham and has expanded to a three-man team internally.

The company has $400,000 in the sales pipeline for orders and will be delivering its first vehicle to Oklahoma State University next week. The team has been busy showcasing the rover, most recently at the Texas and Southwestern Association Convention at the end of March.

The response has been incredible. We picked up three more customers there in one day. Thats without having any inventory, which is a really neat thing, he said. These guys know... its going to be a while there. They got about a six month lead time. So that in itself, getting people to sign a letter of intent saying that theyre going to buy one as we produce, thats... a very validated customer and a very convicted customer. So they believe in us, they really like what were doing. This is something they feel can be very useful and beneficial in their operation.

McTasney said the rover is tailoring to the actual needs of cattle ranches which is assisting with the labor shortage. While the company is focused on the Ranch Rover for pasture land for open range cow/calf operations, they plan to address another need with a feedlot machine within the next 18 months.

(Theres) a huge demand in feedlots. Thats a much bigger machine mechanically... so well focus on Ranch Rover, this pasture land model, to grow those sales numbers to continue to prove validation for investors, he said. Well move sometime in the next one-to-two years to building out a much larger machine built specifically for feedlots, which is going to be a real enterprise as this is new technology for them as well. And thats a huge labor burden, compared to the pasture land.

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Ranching of tomorrow: Smooth Ag bringing robotics to ranchers with autonomous Ranch Rover - Graham Leader