February 2008 Archives

It’s the most prestigious heads up tournament in the world outside of the World Series of Poker, held amidst the polished floors, statuettes and plush surroundings of Caesars Palace - the very heart of the Las Vegas strip.

It’s the ultimate test of one-on-one poker – a chess match where each player must outwit the other and it also happens to be one of the highest rated poker shows on television. Two players face each other – the winner goes forward into the next round, the loser goes home. It’s as simple as that. It’s the NBC National Heads-up Championship.


Alisha Kunze

64 of the best poker players the world has ever seen will face off across the baize surrounded by railbirds galore, the poker glitterati and television cameras ready to capture one of poker’s most eagerly anticipated events – there will be stories to tell.

One person who already has one of those stories is Alisha Kunze. Known on PokerStars as Ace-Race21$$ she will be among the exclusive list thanks to a certain freeroll on PokerStars earlier this month.

Alisha is now Vegas bound, or will be on Friday, from her home in Greensburg, Indiana, a town of 10,000 southwest of Indianapolis, where for a few days attention will turn from the local exports of brooms to the showcase world of Nevadan tournament poker, and naturally 23 year-old Alisha can’t wait.

"The experience is going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity and the excitement is overcoming the nervousness," said Alisha. "I am just pleased to have the chance."

With Alisha’s ambition on full blast it's not out of question that come final day she might not be far off the an even bigger reward, with the buy in of $20,000 making it a rich tournament as well as a popular one.

Not content to let life drift idly by Alisha started out as a Production Scheduler before realising it didn’t become everything she wanted it to be. Undeterred Alisha headed back to school to study nursing.

Whilst her professional life made a few turns one of her biggest interests remained unchanged – poker. And when she saw that PokerStars had begun running a series of freeroll tournaments to the Heads-up championship she entered. You probably don’t need me to tell you what happened next.

Alisha’s experience of a lifetime starts with a red carpet pre-tournament soiree at the much talked about night spot Pure where along with the drinks and canapés the draw will be made for the first round. From then it will be on to the first match on Saturday.

So who will it be against? Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu perhaps? Joe Hachem maybe? Maybe even Barry Greenstein? Well, Alisha will have to wait until Friday to find out.

All that’s left to do is wish the best of luck to Alisha. PokerStars, the town of Greensburg and the world will be watching.

I’ve played Omaha and Stud, Razz and Triple draw, Hi-lo and plain old fashioned draw. What do you get after playing all these? Well, a better understanding of what your grandparents were talking about when they spoke of ‘standing pat’, but also a better grasp of the ins and outs that each variety of the game entails. It also gives you the keys to the game H.O.R.S.E. Or should that be the saddle?

H.O.R.S.E. The combination of all things holy in poker, the ultimate all round test for those people who think they know the game – every game. The initials stand specifically for Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight or better. Had they added Draw to the mix they could have called it H.O.R.S.E.D.

That missed opportunity aside it has become the game that denotes the toughest challenge – and stands as the costliest, most prized event at the World Series of Poker beyond the main event. It takes $50,000 to play in the HORSE event at the World Series but the winner is widely considered to be the best player in the world –the true world champion.

Last year that was Freddy Deeb who won over $2.2million in a field packed with the world’s best. The year before, in the first event of its kind, the late Chip Reese took over $1.7million for first place.


Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein made the H.O.R.S.E. final table at the WSOP 2007

My experience was a few leagues below this, the 10/20 Chimaera table on PokerStars.net and the last stop on my tour of the PokerStars.net lobby. Incredibly, by tightening up, learning from mistakes and keeping careful look out I’d got to this point with a slight profit, just a few hundred, but enough to prove that anyone, with the right dedication can be a winning poker player.

Maybe. There was still plenty of time to ruin that with a donkey display on the H.O.R.S.E. table. Played for an hour was just over one tour of the five games, and all played with limit stakes. So when I jumped in on Limit Stud Hi/Lo I knew there were just a few minutes to wait for a different game – which was good, because for the moment at least, I’d forgotten how to play Limit Stud hi/lo.

Thinking it best to fold (my signature move) I quickly got the idea back. Stud – two cards face down one up, a bring in, four more cards, all but the last dealt face up and some more betting on the end. Several rounds of betting bump up pots; I remembered that, particularly on the loose tables, adding value everywhere.

So what did I learn before I got here? That as your hand develops you need to keep track of everyone else’s hands – they might be showing the cards you need or looking for the same ones. You also have to remember what cards are folded. We were onto limit hold’em before I’d remembered all this.

One thing about H.O.R.S.E. is that when you’re up to your neck in it Hold’em seems a bit, well, familiar, and compared to the possibilities of Omaha hi/lo or stud, it seems a little pedestrian and slow.

The flip side of this if you’re not careful is a total disregard for safe play – so I lost a few. My bad. But then I won a few. After fifteen minutes and a ridiculous play with 8-2 my morale picked up during the limit Omaha hi/lo round where a raising war – which I usually feel better fighting blindfolded – was good for the low and a pot worth over 500. Normally playing for just the high or low pot can spark trouble, but it was good enough to get me back on track.

Then I walked into a full house followed a few minutes later in Razz when I made six-low for a pot worth close to a thousand. A similar thing happened during limit stud, up some more to over 3,300 total.

It sounds a little theatrical but it comes from what I suspect many players on PokerStars.net have already discovered for themselves. Practice – and by that I mean regular play involving a conscious effort to improve your game – will give you the ability to come to your own rescue. Patience can take the fear from a losing spell and playing according to your new skills will make you a winning player on the tables of PokerStars.

I finished the hour back where I’d started on Stud hi/lo. At least over the course of these last few weeks I’d managed on average to add to my stack even if with only modest amounts. You should try the same – dip into games you’re not familiar with –improve your poker repertoire and perhaps discover a talent for games you never knew you had.

Good luck. Who knows where it could lead?

Do you live in the United States? Excellent – that’s the only qualification you need to play in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship! You’ll need a PokerStars account of course, but otherwise that’s it, and it takes just a few minutes to download the free software.

Billed as the ultimate test of one-on-one poker skills, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship is an exclusive 64-seat tournament where each round you play heads-up against one other opponent - the winner advances to the next round, the loser, well, they face the long walk home.

It also happens to be one of TV’s highest rated poker shows thanks to its strict invitation only playing cast and Las Vegas location, the perfect place to play poker and you can secure a seat there yourself on PokerStars.

So, think this is your kind of tournament? Do you want to look down at your cards then across to the table at the likes of Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Joe Hachem, Vanessa Rousso and Greg Raymer? Then check the PokerStars.net lobby for free to enter qualifying tournaments held each day until Saturday, February 22.

Daily Round 1 Events:

Round 1A – Every day at 7:00 PM ET
Round 1B – Every day at 10:00 PM ET

If you’re new to PokerStars or have been playing for some time, you can enter one Round 1A and one Round 1B event for your chance to play in Vegas. It’s all free and stands as a pretty good prize...

Grand Prize:
• $20,000 buy-in to the exclusive 64-player Heads-Up Championship
• 4 nights’ accommodation in Las Vegas (February 28 – March 2)
• $1,000 cash for travel

All that’s left to say is good luck and to remind you that should you win you might have to clear it with the boss for some time off between February 28 and March 2. Hopefully they’ll understand...

For more information on how to play and what you could win, click here

Free tournaments run every day at 7:00 and 10:00 PM ET and can be located in the PokerStars game lobby by clicking the "Tourney" and then "Freeroll" tabs and scrolling to find the next tournament named "Heads-Up Qualifying – Round 1A (U.S. players)" or "Heads-Up Qualifying – Round 1B (U.S. players)".