Deck the halls with poker-related gifts

With the holiday season upon us, here are my annual suggestions for poker gifts.

WEB SITE: www.cardrunners.com. This site, led by several online pros such as Brian Townsend, is a premier learning community for all poker players. Cardrunners provides instructive video content and forums to help improve your poker game at all levels of play. Ryan Daut credits the Web site for his victory at the 2007 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure, where he won more than $1.5 million.

STOCKING STUFFERS: www.pokerfaces.tv. These card protectors are the perfect gift for every poker player and even everyone at your home game. Pokerfaces has developed 15 unique faces, ranging from the Shark (made famous worldwide by Humberto Brenes) to the Rock and even the Donkey. Currently, one of the most popular items is the Screaming Eagle. For every Eagle that is sold, Pokerfaces will donate $2 to Screaming Eagle Poker (www.screamingeaglepoker.com) and the Wounded Warrior (www.woundedwarriorproject.org) projects.

BOOK: “The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide,” edited by Michael Craig. Poker professionals from Team Full Tilt, led by Howard Lederer, provide championship tournament instruction on not only hold’ em, but also Omaha and stud. Craig notes that the book’s 12 contributors have won more than $30 million in career tournament earnings.

Additionally, these dozen players have won more than 20 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, including two Main Event championships: Huck Seed in 1996 and Chris Ferguson in 2000. Ferguson’s victory came in dramatic fashion against one of the most successful players in tournament history, T.J. Cloutier.

Going into the final hand, their chip counts were almost identical with Ferguson holding the slightest lead (2.6 million to 2.5 million). After the cards were dealt, Cloutier raised to 175,000 from the button. After Ferguson re-raised to 600,000, Cloutier instantly pushed all-in.

Now, Ferguson went deep into the think tank, not just for his tournament life, but for the WSOP Main Event Championship. Ferguson methodically thought through all the possibilities. After several moments, he finally called as the crowd erupted with excitement. Flipping over As-9c, Ferguson realized he was dominated by Cloutier’s Ad-Qc.

On the flop, the dealer flipped over Kc-4h-2h, which kept Cloutier soundly in the lead. The turn produced the Kh, which provided additional outs since a 4 or 2 would split the pot. Only a 9 would provide him with a win, but Ferguson would have gladly taken a chop at this point.

Finally, the dealer revealed one of the perfect cards - 9h - which launched Ferguson out of his chair, his fists thrust upward in victory. This miracle river card allowed Ferguson to capture the 2000 WSOP Main Event title and $1.5 million, while Cloutier graciously took home the consolation prize once again.

News Added: 09 December, 2007

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