According to the 2006 WSOP bracelet winner, Jamie Gold, he would be pleased to be celebrated as the all time best bluffer in the world of poker. But if his last tournament is any clue, his wish may not be granted any time soon.

The location is the 2007 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic held at the Vegas Bellagio in 2007. Featuring $50 - $100 blinds and a $15,000 buy-in, Darrell Dicken is just barely holding on. The seat 4 player has just raised his wager to $300, a pretty small raise with only one player taking the bait. “I put him as being weak,” Jamie said, “I was thinking about raising, but instead I just called with a 10-3 of hearts to see what would happen.”

Jamie was thinking that Brad Booth would make a move, which he did. He re-raised to $1600 from the big blind. Gold had the idea that Booth had a passable hand, but he was in a great position to make a move taking into account the quantity of dead money in the pot. Dicken ended up folding, and the unknown in Seat 4 called Booth’s raise.

Now there was more than $4000 in the pot, so Jamie raised the wager by $4000. His thought was, only if someone else had aces or kings there would be no way they would make that call. Jamie’s strategy was to make a sizeable move on the flop, as long as no ace was dealt. The second part of his plan was to get Booth to fold, which he did. Booth folded with pocket queens.

On the flop there was an ace of ace-6-5, two clubs. The player in seat 4 checked and Jamie bet $2000. Jamie’s initial thought was to make him think that he had clubs. Seat 4 threw out a $10,000 chip, but didn’t say anything thus changing his raise into a call. Jamie’s thought was that seat 4 definitely had an ace, but you have to shield it in case he hits his set on the upcoming card.

A 2 of hearts came out on the turn, and Jamie quickly folded to what he thought was a top pair kicker. Seat 4 showed a king-jack off suit. Seat 4 fooled Gold by bluffing with a better hand, he forced a terrific poker play and kept the bluff going to the end of the Texas Holdem’ tournament.

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Shortly after the opening of last week’s charity celebrity poker event to help the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Ben Affleck goes all-in with a flop of Ace-Nine-King and two diamonds. He winces when two of his opponents call the bet. He yells “Re-buy”, but the turn is a seven of hearts. Affleck is upset when a jack of diamonds is dealt on the river. He took the hand seriously even though there was no real cash at stake. This is just the kind of thing that Affleck and several other internet poker enthusiasts are petitioning for.

Over $100,000 was raised for the paralyzed victims, but this was not the only function of the poker game held in Coors Field. Members of the Poker Players Alliance are working very hard to legalize online poker in the United States. As part of their agenda, they are pushing to repeal the 2006 legislation Congress passed which prohibits U.S. Banks and credit card companies from processing transactions related to internet gaming websites.

John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, is optimistic about the direction that the new congress will lead this decision. Pappas says that the alliance is pushing for a licensed industry, just for online poker, and not for all online gambling. Pappas is interested in having a safe, regulated industry that all Americans can enjoy. The group is fighting for the rights of people and the privacy they deserve in their own home.

“There are misconceptions about poker and about online poker,” poker pro Andy Bloch said in between hands during the charity celebrity poker tournament. “Some people think that internet gaming is gambling like a slot machine, and it’s not.”

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A new group of Poker Stars players are inducted into the Supernova group, 82 of them having made the deadline on December 31st. Supernova players are the elite players at PokerStars.com, the only membership card offered by PokerStars more valuable than the Supernova Card is the SuperNova Elite Card.
Less than 10% of Poker Stars players have achieved the very exclusive Supernova status. After being accepted into the Stars supernova club a player must also keep certain numbers and statistics to retain his or her status. The next Supernova qualification period began on January 1st 2008 and to join the exclusive poker club players must collect 100,000 VIP points within the calendar year, ending of course on December 31st 2008.
Once inside, supernova players that achieve their status next year, in 2008 will be guaranteed their membership through February of 2009.
Amongst other benefits, and membership status Supernova Poker Players receive the following honors and prizes:

• Trade 100,000 points for $1,500 VIP Reward
• Earn 250% more FPP Points
• Access the PokerStars Supernova Store.
• Exclusive $20,000 Freeroll Invitation - 100 FPP Buy-in
• $50.000 Weekly Freeroll Invitation
• $100,000 Monthly Freeroll Invitation
• Use FPP Points to buy into WSOP main event, Caribbean Adventure, EPT and other LIVE tournaments.

After Supernova status has been achieved, PokerStars players can aim for an even more exclusive piece of plastic, a membership card entitling them to all the benefits of Supernova Elite.

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