Daily Rewind: Octo-Nine Odds, Party Poker Lower Limits & Galfond's New Blog
In today's Daily Rewind we check out the betting market for the Main Event, see why Party Poker have removed their high stakes games and digest some of Phil Galfond's wisdom.
The Daily Rewind is your one-stop-shop for a sharp review of the day in poker. Join us here for a mix of the latest news and a more irreverent insight into the poker world. Today we discovered the following topics for you:
October Nine Betting
| Final Table Odds | |
| Player | Odds |
| Jesse Sylvia | 3/1 |
| Andras Koroknai | 5/1 |
| Greg Mason | 5/1 |
| Russell Thomas | 6/1 |
| Steven Gee | 8/1 |
| Michael Esposito | 8/1 |
| Robert Salaburu | 9/1 |
| Jacob Balsiger | 12/1 |
| Jeremy Ausmus | 16/1 |
When the final two women in the Main Event fell away there was a collective sigh amongst those in the poker media as their potential headline stories disappeared.
Indeed, with some of the games more recognisable faces hitting the rail just short of the final table, this year’s “Octo-Nine” will be drawing the bulk of their support from friends and family.
However, despite the group’s lack of notoriety, a range of betting markets have emerged with Ladbrokes leading the way by offering odds on the outright winner.
Unsurprisingly, the favourite for the title at 3/1 is chip leader Jesse Sylvia, closely followed by Andras Koroknai and current Player of the Year and 2012 bracelet winner Greg Merson, both at 5/1.
If previous experience was to dictate the betting then Koroknai would be the favourite, thanks to his success at the 2010 WPT LA Classic.
However, Ladbrokes seem to have taken the obvious route and based their odds on the current chip counts.
If you fancy placing a bet and want to make a more informed decision then check out our recent guide to the “Octo-Nine”.
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| Who will win? |
Party Cut High Stakes Games
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| Changes at Party |
In a bid to improve their overall poker environment Party Poker has decided to remove their high stakes cash games.
Like many poker sites, Party Poker has felt the downturn in the poker economy which has prompted them to realign their focus away from the elite games and towards the bulk of their poker population.
Players logging onto the site will now only be able to access No Limit and Pot Limit games from $5/$10 and below, and Limit games from $30/$60 and below.
While this move will likely anger some factions of the community, it will allow Party Poker to invest more time and resources into a greater portion of their player pool.
Moreover, it should provide a more stable economy for the most active players on the site by limiting the amount of money being filtered up to a small group of high stakes players.
Additionally, in a bid to keep pace with their rivals, Party Poker is expected to launch their own fast-fold poker variant by the end of the year, as well as increasing their traffic by migrating bwin players over to their network.
Galfond on Life and Happiness
Rarely does a poker blog ever stray into the confines of a doctoral thesis, but if there’s anyone who can make that leap it’s Phil Galfond.
Known for his logical and measured approach to poker, Phil’s blogs have become must-read entries for anyone wanting to expand their horizons.
In his latest post he tackles the issue of poker and life by discussing various factors such as happiness, goals as well as his own personal experiences and opinions.
Packed full of insightful and interesting observations such as: “Don’t trust your own judgements of what will make you happy 20 years from now”, this blog is a must read for anyone wanting to re-evaluate their position in poker.
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| Galfond's gift of happiness |
High Stakes Corner
With the WSOP on hold until October and the world’s best players slowly returning to their computers, there’s been a slight upswing in the online world’s action recently.
In the past 24 hours two players breached the six-figure profit mark thanks to a short $200/$400 PLO session.
Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies and “patpatman” were the successful players and banked $156,900 and $141,599 respectively.
At the other end of the spectrum, Sander “Berndsen12” Berndsen suffered a $168,859 loss, while “0Human0” dropped $145,568.
Daily Signoff
She’s been by Sam Trickett's side throughout his ups and downs in Vegas and thanks to some handy camera work, Natasha Sandhu has created a compilation of their time at the WSOP.
