Friday, January 1, 2016

Battle of the Planets: Four-way deal gives marky_crash the November title

Sometimes our final nine come from very meager bankrolls that could only dream of four-digits next to their name in the cashier's window. At those times, the players are quick to make a deal after reaching the final table of the monthly Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout freeroll. Tonight after little more than an hour of play, our final four: marky_crash, chv89, ded1983, Kajzer Sose all decided to cash in their good fortunes of winning two SnGs and outlasting five other final tablist to claim the lion share of the final table cash. The winner by means of collecting the final table's chips was marky_crash earning $6,802.37 but the largest cut of the chop was claimed by Russia's ded1983 who took home $8,025.83.

Team Online's George "Jorj95" Lind sporting the Supernova Elite colors around his avatar took a seat with six others (one sitting out) at Table 36 in search for another final table of this monthly triple shootout freeroll. In less than an hour Lind would find himself heads-up against besar_cz who last year almost took down the Sunday Million in July after being defeated heads-up against bmky88 but still taking away $147,774.79 as the runner-up. Today besar_cz's heads-up match would turn out a little more positive, with blinds at 75/150 and holding a 5,971 to 3,029 chip lead over Lind, besar_cz raised to 307 from the button as George shoved all-in. Holding [8s][As] besar_cz made the call and dominated the 2010 SCOOP Player of the Series smaller ace [Ah][3c]. The board missed Lind's flopped flush draw and gave besar_cz a straight [9h] [6h] [7h] [Td] [3s] thus knocking out the Red Spader in 160th place.

After 90 minutes of first round play our 81 table winners locking up $195.00 each, gathered at nine new tables with the $12,000.00 first place prize just one SnG win away. Among the players who fell short of the final table were Chocoyote who put in a strong top ten Player of the Series performance during the MicroMillions III tournament series ($1,000,000 guarantee Main Event already smashing the guarantee running currently) would bow out tonight in 38th place.

Not succumbing to competition were Kajzer Sose and doitdoitdo1 who quickly picked up their seats while Table 5 still had seven players in! And yes, Table 5 would be the last table to name their champion to compete in the brand new arena. With the blinds up to 125/250 ante 25, p€troceli would min-raise from the button as Vishera took the bait and shoved all-in for 9,133 chips holding [Ah][6s]. Concealing strength p€troceli quickly called for 3,817 more with big slick [Kh][Ac]. Strength preflop is different than strength postflop as a six peeled off [8d] [6d] [9h] [5c] [Ts] and handed Vishera a ticket to the final table and locking up at least $775.00 in the process:


BOTP_112512.jpg


Seat 1: chv89 (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: corto12 (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: andyafc#1 (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: marky_crash (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: Vishera (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: ded1983 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Kajzer Sose (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: doitdoitdo1 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: dsnka (1500 in chips)


Not a peep

Most, if not all of the chat was coming from outside the table as the railbirds rooted on their champions as the usual nine-way split talks ceased to even start.


Late to the party, early to the exit

The last player to jump into the final table was Vishera after a long stay at Table 5 but ultimately coming away with the victory. But, during the end of the 15/30 blind level Vishera would run into two unfortunate hands. First, ded1983 would pull a 2,413 chip pot off Vishera after getting maximum value off a flopped set of sevens, then three hands later marky_crash would raise to 90 chips as Vishera sat on the button with pocket nines [9h][9c] and shoved 389 chips into the middle. The blinds folded but marky_crash made the easy call with kings [Ks][Kc]. Thanks to three tens on the board [4s] [Tc] [Td] [8h] [Ts] both players made boats, but Vishera's small vessel sailed off in ninth place ($775.00). Chocoyote was not the only player to boast MicroMillions III riches as Vishera claimed sixth place cash ($9,447.41) in Event #4.


Cor-ed out

With the blinds up to 50/100 corto12 was clinging to 633 chips and raising it up from early position to 205 as Kajzer Sose decided to give action with a shove to 2,135 chips from the small blind holing big slick [Ah][Kc]. About as dominate as one can get preflop, corto12 showed two aces [Ad][Ac] and watched in horror as two kings joined two queens on the [Kh] [Qh] [4d] [Ks] [Qd] board to end corto12's night in nasty fashion earning $1,200.00 for eighth place.


andyafc#7

Still in the 50/100 level, another pair of aces would help trim our population from seven to six. Watch below as ded1983 and andyafc#1 both slowplay preflop only to find disaster for one of them after shoving the [9c][6d][3s] flop.



RSS readers please click through to view video

andyafc#1 showed pocket queens [Qd][Qh] as ded1983 calmly rolled over the better pair [Ah][As]. This time the dominating aces had no problems on the [7s] turn and [5c] river collecting the 3,900 chips and taking out andyafc#1 in seventh place ($1,700.00).


Donedonedone

Despite the action packed name, doitdoitdo1, would not make a lot of noise at tonight's final table. With the blinds moving up to 75/150 and holding a meager 714 chips, doitdoitdo1 would open shove from the button as chv89 made a spirited call from the big blind holding [Ks][8c]. Call it a soul read if you wish as doitdoitdo1 rolled over a worse kicker [7c][Kh]. An eight on the door [8s] [5d] [Qc] [2h] [As] sealed doitdoitdo1's fate in sixth place ($2,200.00).


No more dsnka

Still in the 75/150 blind level dsnka, who has a 2012 WCOOP final table on the tournament mantel (7th place in Event 46 earning $21,735) would open shove from the hijack seat for 1,382 chips as it folded to Kajzer Sose looking smug in the big blind with pocket kings [Kc][Kh] eager to make the call. dsnka would need help for the pocket treys [3c][3s] and failed to get the assistance on the [As] [2s] [Td] [Qd] [Js] board. Slightly less than the WCOOP payday, dsnka still hauled away $2,735.00 in fifth place.


Four-way deal

The hand between dsnka and Kajzer Sose would be the last meaningful one for the 2012 November Battle of the Planets $50,000.00 freeroll as our remaining four quickly worked together to take the chip chop numbers offered by the PokerStars host shown below:

ded1983: $8,025.83
marky_crash: $6,802.87
Kajzer Sose: $6,760.00
chv89: $5,761.80

With the money locked up our players want into shoveski mode as marky_crash would take the official title after the hand shown below:


RSS readers please click through to view video


[Ks][7s] for marky_crash would survive the [2d] [5s] [Th] [8c] [Ts] board over chv89's [3h][9s] as the UK's marky_crash claim this month's title!


November $50,000 Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout results (11-25-12):

Players entered: 510
Places paid: 81
Buy-in: Freeroll/Ticket earned
First place prize: *$6,802.37

(* denotes part of four-way chop)

1. marky_crash (United Kingdom) *$6,802.37
2. chv89 (Russia) *$5,761.80
3. ded1983 (Russia) *$8,025.83
4. Kajzer Sose (Serbia) *$6,760.00
5. dsnka (Czech Republic) $2,735.00
6. doitdoitdo1 (Australia) $2,200.00
7. andyafc#1 (United Kingdom) $1,700.00
8. corto12 (Croatia) $1,200.00
9. Vishera (Russia) $775.00

David Aydt is a freelance contributor







































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Top 10 Stories of 2015, #1: Online Poker Changes at PokerStars and Full Tilt

The PokerNews Top 10 Stories of 2015 is presented by PLO QuickPro, the fastest way to learn PLO.

As far as the poker world is concerned, the 2015 calendar year has come to a close. In PokerNews tradition, our staff has scrolled through the archives and gone over the most compelling stories of the year to determine what we feel are the top 10 of the year. Our list was generated based upon a vote from staff members and audience feedback. Over the next 10 days, we'll count down what we believe are the biggest and most interesting stories from 2015.

If 2015 was a transitional year for the poker industry, then it is probably safe to assume that 2016 will mark the beginning of an era for online poker, as rooms like PokerStars and Full Tilt changed their skin to adjust to the new strategies set by Amaya Inc., and gambling groups like bwin.party were object of bidding wars between companies adamant to increase their footprint in the gambling industry.

Following a path already tested — with mixed results — by poker rooms like Unibet Poker, partypoker, and 888poker, PokerStars and Full Tilt decided to focus more on recreational players and modify their offer in a way they believe to be more enticing for first-time and casual players. Starting today, if you play at PokerStars or Full Tilt, you are going to notice a significant series of considerable changes that are supposed to lead to an all-new offer. Here, we offer you a rundown of all the most important changes and some useful explanations to understand the reasoning behind them. All of which was the No. 1 story of the year at PokerNews.

What Changes at PokerStars: VIP Steps and StarsCoin

As from Jan. 1, 2016, PokerStars offers an all-new VIP Club that the room believes to be "an improvement for recreational and occasional poker players." According to PokerStars, the new VIP Club will lead to a "more balanced longterm poker economy and will return the game back to one that rewards skill via winning at the tables rather than playing primarily for volume."

As Vice President of Corporate Communications for Amaya Inc. and PokerStars Eric Hollreiser explained in November, the changes have been adopted "to enhance the playing experience and re-emphasize the fun and social aspects of online poker while attracting and retaining more players to the game."

One of the most visible changes in the poker room's VIP program is the introduction of a multi-step system that the site believes will provide "a clear, easy way to see your progress towards VIP statuses." Starting today, the VIP Steps program replaces the traditional VIP program that PokerStars players have become accustomed to over the years.

The new program utilizes the current VIP levels (BronzeStar, ChromeStar, SilverStar, GoldStar, PlatinumStar, and Supernova), with each VIP level being broken into a number of different steps rather than of VPPs, and with each step earning players a predefined amount of StarsCoin (more on that later) — you can click on this link for a compelte overview of the steps included in every VIP level.

To give you a concrete example, let's say that the players that currently start the year off on the lowest VIP level, the BronzeStar, typically needed to earn 100 VPPs to move up the ladder and become ChromeStar. Under the new VIP Steps program, however, the players need to complete 20 different steps, each requiring them to earn five VPPs.

Players with a VIP status from BronzeStar to PlatinumStar have until the end of the month to complete their current step; should they not be able to complete all the steps needed to reach the next VIP level, StarsCoin for incomplete Steps will be released at 50 percent of the prorated value of the progress earned.

To continue with our example, let's imagine that the BronzeStar player has earned only three VPPs of the five VPPs required to complete their current Step, which offers a reward of 5 StarsCoin. In this case they would get 50 percent of the prorated value, or (3/5 x 5 SCs)/2 = 1.5 StarsCoin.

As you may have noticed from the example above, another important change is the replacement of the variable FPP currency with a new one called StarsCoin which is set to have a fixed value of $0.01. Starting Jan. 1, PokerStars players receive all their rewards in this new currency, while all the FPPs that they had in their accounts have already been converted into StarsCoin at a rate of 1.2 StarsCoin for every FPP.

With the introduction of the StarsCoin currency, PokerStars aims to simplify their VIP programme and make it more accessible to recreational players and beginners. Early this morning, all the prices in the VIP Store, including tournament tickets and cash rewards have been updated to reflect the StarsCoin value of $0.01.

A New Rewards System Launches in January

The Steps Program and the StarsCoin currency are not the only two elements changing at PokerStars, as the room's goal of making the games more enticing for recreational and casual players included also a significant modification of their rewards program.

From today onwards, the VIP Club rewards will be capped at 30 percent, with this new implication mainly affecting those at the higher tiers of the VIP program such as Supernova and Supernova Elite players. "While the impact is significant for the highest level VIP tiers, it will affect a small percentage of our entire base," Hollreiser explained.

With the new reward system, the players from BronzeStar to GoldStar are set to continue earning rewards similar to the ones they were earning before, while players at the highest tiers will suffer for a sometimes significant reduction in overall rewards. Here's an overview of the changes between the new and the old system:

Status2016 Average Rewards
BronzeStarNo change
ChromeStarUp to 10% increase
SilverStarNo change
GoldStarNo change
PlatinumStar10% decrease
Supernova0-27% decrease
200K+ VPPs27-60% decrease

PokerStars will allow more rewards for players who have already achieved Supernova Elite status in 2015, as the room decided that their rewards will be capped at 45 percent for 2016. Also, by Jan. 1, 2017, the Supernova Elite VIP status will be discontinued.

"We have always believed that poker should primarily be played for the fun and competitive aspects of the game," PokerStars explained. "In recent years, our VIP Club rewards have become so enticing that we have inadvertently altered why some people play and how they play." According to the poker room, these changes needed to be introduced "to move towards a more balanced poker economy and to return the game back to one that rewards skills via winning at the tables rather than playing primarily for volume."

These aren't the only changes, as PokerStars will no longer be offering the quarterly $1 million freeroll for players that achieved Supernova status and above. In lieu of those freerolls, the poker room has already announced that it will run to four $1 million freeroll tournaments in 2016, as part of "an already exciting — though not yet announced — series of promotions, events, and new products" to be released throughout 2016.

Another important change that happened today is that the players will no longer earn any VPPs at pot-limit and no-limit games with blinds of $5/$10 or higher, 8-game with limits of $10/$20 or higher, and other limit games with blinds of $10/$15 or higher. This, according to PokerStars, was decided "to help offset some of the significant costs incurred in offering high stakes cash games."

When the decision to modify the rewards and to no longer grant VPPs in high stakes games became public, players almost unanimously spoke out against the new rewards program, especially the high-volume players who will feel a pinch in their wallets starting next year. However, there is a minority of players that understand why PokerStars is making the change, and some low-stakes players are pleased with the additional rewards and higher-value freerolls.

Hoping to push the poker room to reconsider the changes, a part of the poker community promoted a boycott that took place from Dec. 1-3, 2015, with Dani "Ansky" Stern asking "everyone who values the game of poker at all, recreational or pro, to show their support." Although the list of participants included top names like Ben "Ben86" Tollerene, Phil "MrSweets28" Galfond, Ola "Odd_Oddsen" Amundsgaard, Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo, and Jack "jackziyang" Salter, a look at the traffic figures showed that the boycott was not overly effective, thanks to the poker room running a series of special promotions right during the same days.

Talking about the boycott and the new policy adopted by PokerStars, the Director of Poker Communications at PokerStars Lee Jones explained that while the poker room understands the position of the players and the sometimes poor communication between the room and an important part of their player base, the changes are "absolutely necessary."

"We care a lot about what players think; we know they have expectations and we work very hard to meet those expectations," Jones told PokerNews. "The fact that matters is that the VIP program is broken and the ecosystem is broken and we have to do something about it."

January 2016 marks also the beginning of the end for third-party software at PokerStars, as the room is now determined to limit the use of technological advantages as much as possible.

"[Poker] should be about combining logic and an ability to steel your nerves to make that big call or bluff; it shouldn't be about clicking a button because harvested stats tell you to," Hollreiser went on to say.

"We want to make clear rear the line will be drawn to preserve poker as a battle of wits and a test of heart," Hollreiser explained as he announced that the poker room will keep tightening their policies against the use of third-party software as it already happened in 2015. "Technology can aid, but it shouldn't take over."

What's New At Full Tilt

PokerStars is not the only poker site to start 2016 with a focus on recreational players and with the hope this will help to bring new players (and liquidity) into the ecosystem. Months ago, also the room's sister site Full Tilt announced a number of significant changes that included the removal of table selection, of all heads-up tables, of the nosebleed stakes, and a complete overhaul of their rewards Program.

"Full Tilt is making some big changes (…) to not only bring the fun back to online poker, but also to make the site more exciting," the room's Managing Director Dominic Mansour said back in July. "Unless you are the leader, the poker economy in 2015 is broken — and that affects everything."

To fix that, since late 2015, all the players at Full Tilt can choose between a revamped version of their Edge loyalty scheme or the Players Club, a new rewards program "where good things come to those who play."

Aimed at recreational players, The Players Club offers its members a number of freerolls, a special Weekly Windfall flip freeroll and a special mini-game known as The Deal where players can win cash prizes of up to $200 in addition to the Full Tilt Points, ring game tickets, freeroll entry and a shot at the progressive jackpot.

As for the new Edge program, it now has three status levels: Edge, Edge Plus, and Edge Prime. Players receive $1, $1.50, or $2 per 100 Full Tilt Points earned, with Edge Prime members being able to convert their collected Full Tilt Points to cash at a rate of $1 per 250 Full Tilt Points.

Players can also receive a cashback boost of up to 200 percent by playing in games that are experiencing low traffic. An Edge Bonus Cashback symbol will appear next to these games and anyone playing in them receives an additional cash back boost of up to 200 percent, with additional month-long cashback boosts being available to winners of Edge leaderboards.

When the changes to Edge come into force, players still achieve the different levels based on a 30-day or 100-day rolling average. However, these averages have been altered and will now be:

  • Edge: earn a 30-day average of 80 FTPs or a 100-day average of 70 FTPs
  • Edge Plus: earn a 30-day average of 250 FTPs or a 100-day average of 150 FTPs
  • Edge Prime: earn a 30-day average of 500 FTPs or a 100-day average of 400 FTPs

"We're reinventing our rewards programme so that it's genuinely attractive to all players, not just those that play the most," Mansour explained. "It's been a huge team effort and we really believe that the changes we've crafted are going to make online poker a better place. We are excited about returning Full Tilt to its natural place as the innovative leader of the online poker industry."

PokerNews Top 10 Stories of 2015:

Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as we continue to count down the top stories from 2015.

Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!

Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!


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Setting your New Year goals

January is the month of resolutions. New year, new mood, new you. It feels like a chapter in your life has ended and a new one is beginning. Which means you can start anew! For some people that means quitting smoking, for others losing some weight or working harder... The list is endless!

Even though most of us come up with some sort of goal at the beginning of the year, the truth is that those goals are often forgotten shortly after. We kind of give up and before we know it, another year has gone by and we haven't achieved what we set out to. I don't think that all those who don't reach their goals are necessarily lazy or didn't work hard enough. The problem often lies within the goal itself: sometimes it is unattainable.


Set your own poker goals for 2016 at PokerSchoolOnline

Especially in poker, people ask me frequently how to set goals. I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'll share with you some tips that I picked up along the way (mostly through trial and error).

1. Be true to yourself

This may appear to be obvious, but trust me it's not. In the poker world we see a lot of people being driven by the will to take down big tourneys, make as much money as possible, beat the competition or grind a lot of VPPs on PokerStars. Just because those are the most common poker aspirations doesn't mean that this is necessarily what you want. Maybe what you really want to get from poker is to have fun. Or maybe it's to learn as much as you can about the strategy of the game. Whatever your motivation, it will be way easier for you to achieve your goals if they fall within the correct mindset - your mindset, not someone else's.

2. Have a plan

Saying that you want to achieve something does not automatically make it a goal. In fact, making a statement like "I want to go for Supernova this year" isn't anything more than dreaming out loud. In order for your dream to become a goal, you need to form a plan. When you have a well-thought plan of how to get what you want, that's when you have a goal. For example saying "I'll work 20 days per month and earn 420 VPPs per day in order to get to Supernova by the end of the year", is a goal.

goals_pic_1jan16.jpg

3. Depend only on yourself

Now don't get this the wrong way. I'm not saying that poker is a lonely journey and you should do it all by yourself. Nor am I saying that you should not get the help of other, more experience players. Of course you should and if there's anyone willing to help you in achieving your goals (whether it is a friend that also plays the game, a poker coach or a forum community) it would be silly to turn them down.

However, the goals you set should depend on you and your efforts rather than outside factors that you don't control. Saying for example "I'll make $1000 this month" is not really a poker goal. You may even have a plan on how to do it, but the truth is that it's out of your hands. You may be the best player at the games you're playing and still run bad. You could make those $1000, you could make $300 or even lose money because of variance. The point is, money is an excellent motivator but it is not an outcome that you can control so there is no point aiming for it. Go for concrete things that depend entirely on you such as reviewing X hands per day or playing Y hours per week.

4. Keep it realistic

All throughout the goal-setting process you need to be realistic. Everyone has limitations, be sure that you are aware what yours are. Sure, you wanna go for Supernova Elite and have carved a plan to do it, but can you realistically only take one day off per month if that's what it takes? Or, can you put in 12-hour days when you work so that you can take some extra days off? Maybe your goal is to play 4 hours of poker per day which doesn't sound excessive, but can you do that on top of your full-time job and your 3 kids? No matter what your goals are, they need to be realistic (same goes for your plan).

I feel like #4 is actually where most people fail. Carried away by the enthusiasm of a new year and the new possibilities, we often overestimate our capabilities and what we are willing to do or sacrifice. As the original enthusiasm gradually fades, we fall back into our previous patterns and realize that our goals seem impossibly far away. But as long as our goals are realistic and take into consideration the points I made above, I think it will be more likely for us to achieve them.

Lastly, even if at some point we feel like we want to re-evaluate our goals or our plan of action that's perfectly fine. It's better to make adjustments than to give up entirely. And if at the end of the year we find that we didn't manage to do everything we wanted... Well, that doesn't mean we failed. Our effort was not lost because we learnt something new and gained experiences that we can use to try and reach the same or different goals next year. Personally, I don't see my yearly goals as a list that I need to check off. I see them as a way of pushing myself forward and I feel satisfied as long as I improved during the year that went by. After all, it's the journey that counts and not the destination!

If you're looking to make your own poker goals go to PokerSchoolOnline to find out how your poker goals can be realised in 2016. You might even win a few prizes along the way.


Katerina 'Katerina289' Malasidou is a member of PokerStars Team Online.



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Which spot bets are the wiseguys looking to wager this week?

This is a very different situation compared to, say, Baylor’s issues with QB injuries.  Art Briles knew his starter was out and had three weeks of practices to get his QB pecking order in place.  Gary Patterson, on the other hand, has to deal with the loss of a senior leader who snuck out after curfew, without a backup plan in place!

Recommendation: 1* Take Oregon

Oregon just lost offensive coordinator Scott Frost, who took the Central Florida coaching job.  But the transition to new coordinator Matt Lubick should be relatively smooth.  Frost was expected to get a head coaching gig; Lubick was the heir apparent, and he, too, has already attracted attention as a rising young assistant.  Some pre-bowl assistant coaching changes are very meaningful, but this isn’t one of those situations.

It’s a very different story when we start to talk about the key losses that TCU has suffered.  Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs ranked among the best teams in the country with Trevone Boykin at quarterback and Josh Doctson at wide receiver.  But Doctson’s arm is in a sling; he’s not going to suit up for the Alamo Bowl.  Doctson is absolutely worth something to the pointspread, a playmaker with 14 TD’s and a 17.0 yard per catch average on his 78 receptions this year; arguably the single most dynamic receiver in the country this year.

With Doctson out, Boykin was going to have to spread the ball around and rely on his legs to move the football against the Ducks.  But Boykin has been suspended following a barroom brawl in the early morning hours on New Year’s Eve; an unforeseen event for the TCU coaching staff.  Between the Doctson injury and the unexpected Boykin suspension, this line has moved a full touchdown in Oregon’s direction.  Frankly, I’m not convinced that’s enough!

Boykin missed two game in November, against Oklahoma and Kansas.  TCU was a 45 point favorite at home against the Jayhawks.  They won the game by six points, falling short of market expectations by nearly six touchdowns.  They played better against Oklahoma the following week, covering the spread in defeat, but four interceptions doomed their chances.

Backup QB’s senior Bram Kohlhausen and redshirt frosh Forrest Sawyer are not dual threats; neither possessing the speed or rushing acumen to gain consistent yardage on the ground.  And given their interception woes against Oklahoma, the lack of big game experience for both guys is clearly problematic, regardless of which backup gets the lion’s share of playing time here.

This is a very different situation compared to, say, Baylor’s issues with QB injuries.  Art Briles knew his starter was out and had three weeks of practices to get his QB pecking order in place.  Gary Patterson, on the other hand, has to deal with the loss of a senior leader who snuck out after curfew and got into an ugly fight, without any sort of backup plan in place.  He doesn’t have three weeks to install an appropriate gameplan and get his QB’s ready.  Instead, he’s got less than 48 hours to do it.  I’m not expecting it to go well….

The Ducks averaged 42 points per game when QB Vernon Adams was healthy; a completely different looking offense than when Adams was hurt and head coach Mike Helfrich was forced to rely on ineffective backup Jeff Lockie.  Oregon’s offense came on like a freight train down the stretch, hanging 52, 48, 38 (on Stanford’s elite D), 44 and 61 points in their last five games.  And the Ducks senior laden offensive line is poised to blow holes open for their backs against TCU’s injury depleted defensive line.

The bigger question for the Ducks comes on the defensive side of the football.  They finished the regular season with the fifth worst scoring defense and total defense among the Power-5 conference teams.  They allowed six yards per play against FBS foes, unable to consistently stop the run or the pass.  Lowly Oregon State hung 42 on them in their regular season finale.

But Ducks defensive coordinator Don Pellum put together an impressive gameplan against Florida State with a month to prepare for their BCS Bowl last year.  And TCU’s offense has the potential to be a shell of what we saw during the regular season.  This is a game where Oregon should be able to run the football, and Mark Helfrich has gone 25-2 SU as Oregon’s head coach when his team runs for 200 or more yards. Meanwhile, TCU closed out the season with the #80 ranked rushing defense; #66 in yards per carry allowed.  Lay the points!  Recommendation: Take Oregon.

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Thursday, December 31, 2015

PokerNews Podcast Episode #344: The IRS Binks and Pennsylvania Moves Closer to Online Poker

November 19th, 2015

Donnie and Rich discussed the big winners from the 2015 WSOP Main Event on last week's podcast, but neglected to mention the biggest winner, the U.S. Government. They break down some of the massive tax payments the IRS will receive from the November Niners, and discuss the online gaming bill moving swiftly through the Pennsylvania State Legislature. 

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