Poker Retreat issue 7

What every player over 50 needs (apparently); we can't measure the game's greats in brownies; unblessed are the dealmakers; and politicians do to gamblers what they never do to tax havens...

Jul 05, 2025

No. 7 – July 4, 2025

First timer? You’ll find Poker Retreat’s mission statement here. Kindred spirits always welcome and my thanks to those of you who subscribed this week.

COMMENT

Hey Hellmuth — where’s your mobility scooter?

You know what would have made the perfect lead photo in an article devoted to the WSOP seniors’ events?

Find someone who’s well south of seventy and has the face to go with it. Leather skin creased by a hundred wrinkles.

A face that speaks to a life well-lived. Staring solemnly at the lens across a pile of chips; a face that would prompt the same thought from countless readers.

Now there’s a guy who’s seen some stuff…

Such imagination was sadly beyond Poker.org’s photographer this week. He or she opted for an easy amble down Stereotype Boulevard instead. Thus, an otherwise commendable read on seniors’ poker kicked off with this image.

Now, had these events been restricted to those genuinely drinking in life’s Last Chance Saloon; with a high-absorbency rug beneath each chair and a Responsible Adult name card alongside every chip stack, just in case someone forgets who he is, I’d have no problem with a picture of mobility buggies lined up in a cardroom.

But the minimum age limits for these events were 50 and 60, for crying out loud. Big difference between ‘seniors’ and ‘geriatrics’.

Had the WSOP media team had time to answer my formal request for clarification, I fancy they would have confirmed my suspicion that most people arriving for the tournaments did so on their own two feet and with a spring in their step for good measure. Just as I still could at 63.

If only the photographer had run his lead-image idea past 60-year-old Phil Hellmuth or 50-year-old Daniel Negreanu. We’d have enjoyed the rare spectacle of a Hellmuth rant with a measure of public sympathy behind it and a WSOP headline for the ages…

Zoom lens removed from photographer’s anus after two-hour op.

Come on, Poker.org. If you’re going to feature a certain demographic, at least weigh it up properly beforehand.

Could Shiina Okamoto’s destiny still lie ahead of her?

So, should anyone else want to tell us how poker is all a matter of luck, we now have the game’s latest poster ggirl to wave in their faces by way of rebuttal.

You might fluke your way to one WSOP Ladies Championship. At a pinch.

You don’t fluke your way to a three-year record in that event that reads 2nd, 1st, 1st. Against an average field size of 1,301.

I applaud her achievement and in a world full of yappers and emoters, her two-word celebratory Tweet — “I defended” — feels like a breath of fresh air.

Now tell me I’m not the only person who’s thinking that, should the poker ever stop working out for her, Shiina Okamoto would make a superb leading lady in a Bond movie.

Picture the immortal words “I’ve been expecting you, Mr. Bond” coming from this face. A small shiver of trepidation just went down your spine, yes?

I rest my case.

Women’s poker. Created by men, if we’re honest

Continuing the female theme, it’s an apt moment to announce that the Tournament Calendar found toward the end of each issue of Poker Retreat will now include a Women’s Poker Calendar link.

Were this 2020, that wouldn’t have happened, on principle. For a long time, I couldn’t understand why a game supposedly ideal for mixed-gender competition would continue to spurn the chance to drive that marketing advantage home by ending women-only events.

One of the unexpected side effects of writing a poker newsletter, however, is that you begin to pick up on the garbage women still have to contend with when all they want is a game of poker.

And that’s turned me 180 degrees on this issue. Women-only tournaments, I now realise, are made necessary by men. As long as they last, they are poker’s equivalent of taking a knee. An occasional, important reminder that things still aren’t right.

Mizrachi’s triumph missing a proper paymaster

Maybe this is what they mean when they talk about poker’s image crisis. Michael Mizrachi rises victorious from the table after winning his fourth WSOP Poker Players Championship.

It’s seen as the most prestigious title in poker after the Main Event; it may well be the most difficult, calling for mastery of no fewer than nine types of poker, and Mizrachi’s unprecedented fourth title leaves him knocking at the doors of the Hall of Fame.

How fitting it would have been for this newly appointed demi-god of the felt to turn to the camera with his arms aloft, in a T-shirt bearing the name of Louis Vuitton, Rolex, or a Ferrari dealership.

Sadly not. Try ‘www.allinbrownie.com.’

“It’s a coaching site,” I consoled myself.

Nope. It’s a brownie site.

The man who arguably stands alone as the greatest of poker’s hard-core all-rounders is either promoting or is sponsored by a brownie company.

When I say I was a little underwhelmed, it’s no reflection on the product. Just reading All-in Brownie’s website made me hungry and Jeff Boski Poker’s review (“If it’s horrible, I’m gonna let you know”) gives it nine out of ten; the reviewer sated almost into silence.

I do believe Mizrachi has gifted us a metric, however, for gauging poker’s place in wider society from now on.

Next time someone wins big on the WSOP, WPT or EPT, and there’s talk of the Hall of Fame or Player of the Year award, check the victor’s shirt.

If it’s adorned with something like this, our game is going places. Something like this, however, and we may have a problem.

Collusion scandal should stiffen WSOP’s no-deals resolve, not weaken it

It’s been done to death, so I offer only two perspectives on the Million Maker brouhaha, both of them spinning off from Sam Greenwood’s Punt of the Day article, ClubWPT Adds A Million For First, with which I agree and disagree.

Where I think Sam was right — to go all Colin Cowherd for a moment — “Poker players are edge seekers; when you design a game, they will find loopholes and exploit them.”

No finer example exists than in the inaugural WSOP Main Event of 1970, which organisers quaintly decided would be settled by a vote among the seven contestants. All seven promptly voted for themselves.

That’s why what’s being talked about as the WSOP’s biggest scandal will, I think, be largely forgotten about within a few weeks. Even if the collusion charge were to stick (and I believe both players involved deny the allegation) this is not poker’s ‘Black Sox’ moment. It would simply be gamblers doin’ what they do.

Where I think Sam was wrong (and I say that timidly: I’m not a high-stakes tourney player and there could be nuances of which I’m unaware) — “Every serious tournament poker operator in the world allows deals. Why doesn’t the WSOP?”

Because, I would suggest, deals turn a card table into an office and a game into a business, just like ‘Laptopgate’ threatened to do.

Because ‘It matters more when there’s money on it’ is gambling’s biggest truism (whatever The Guardian’s pearl-clutchers might say).

Because any sport’s marquee event should revolve around a contest, not a stitch-up.

And why must the herd always be followed? Once a year, the French Open is contested on a clay surface many tennis pros hate. Once a year, a golf course is turned into an assault course of knee-high rough and glassy greens and called the US Open. Once a year, racing cars head to Monaco for two hours of zero overtaking.

Poker players having to earn all their money for just one-and-a-bit months of the year seems pretty mild in comparison.

Daniel Negreanu’s take on the Million Maker controversy

Lee Jones’s verdict

Life lesson

‘'It’s always so important to take action and physically place yourself in spaces where opportunities can arise. Whether that’s by sitting down in poker games and making new connections or just sharing stories with like-minded people who love this game as much as I do, there’s always a ton of value in "just showing up."’ — From Robbie Strazynski’s Cardplayer Lifestyle newsletter

I couldn’t agree more with this and it goes way beyond poker. Whatever you do in life, “Eighty percent of success is showing up”, as Woody Allen put it. Become a frequently seen ‘face’ in your niche and opportunities start flowing towards you.

When I was younger, I became aware of a slightly bemused expression that would cross the face of people at their retirement parties, as they heard younger colleagues hail them as office ‘legends’ or ‘irreplaceable’.

Only now that I’m getting close to that time myself do I realise where their bemusement came from. It’s because all they’d really done, in their own eyes, was ‘just show up’. Do their job and grind out the weeks.

Forty years of that and you’re a legend, apparently; your failings and off-days blithely forgotten. What a delightful con trick we all get to play, if we just show up.

This week’s poker news follows. Poker Retreat returns next Friday…

This Week’s Headlines

Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Could Kill Professional Gambling

Not my country, so none of my business, but that’s not to say I don’t feel for my American counterparts. The previous status quo was so fair,co so obvious. The new one, so unfair, so illogical. And talk of the damning provision being “snuck into the bill” and “Tucked into the bill…” raises echoes of another day of shame for the political class, when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 2006 — precursor of the events that led to Black Friday — was cynically tacked onto a bill concerning port security that was guaranteed to pass. Proof that while some American politicians might hate poker, they can angle shoot with the best of them.

A debate on their latest wretched stunt starts at the 2:50 mark here.

Missing Icelandic poker player Jon Jonsson lost €4,000 within hours of his arrival in Dublin, gardaí say

Not a new story but a grimly fascinating one that has just resurfaced.

Shiina Okamoto and A (Brief) History of Back-to-Back WSOP Title Wins

Bit of recency bias here, although I appreciate it’s warranted, as bigger fields make a successful defence so much harder nowadays. For completeness, read it in conjunction with this 2022 PokerNews article on Poker Players Who Have Defended Their WSOP Bracelet.

The Genuine Leather Cash Wrap Wallet

For those lucky enough to actually own a bankroll, there’s now more than just rubber bands to wrap it in.

What Type Of Monitor Is Best For Poker Players?

Women just don’t have as much money as men…” — Xuan Liu

KISS tuition

Yes, Poker Retreat will occasionally look at ways to improve your game but I’m keeping it light. When it comes to the tuition that needs a slide rule and a clear head, I wouldn’t dream of trying to compete with the likes of Jonathan Little and Advanced Poker Training.

7 Poker Mistakes That EXPOSE You As a Total Fish!

Poker Tournament Tips & Advice: How to play longer & smarter

Dealing with tilt - Daniel Negreanu dispenses some great advice on the hoof.

This Week in Heartbreak

Depending on how hot or cold you’re running, you’ll side with either the winner or loser in this week’s hand to make you wince…

Quads on the River Cracks Set of Aces for Gross Bad Beat at WSOP

Terms of endearment

Doing my bit to keep poker slang alive…

‘Z game’ — the lowest-stakes game in the joint.

Where rage meets democracy

God bless poker forums, covering all the stuff that Harrington on Hold ’Em never got round to. This week’s choicest cuts…

If Martin Kabrhel Ships the WSOP $10k Main I'll Propose to My GF

Is there anything wrong with playing poker for a living? (Dave Mars’ response alone worth hitting the link for.)

Is there any "mafia" in poker world?

Do you think 'fun players' are vanishing from online poker?

Vote: Most Profitable Game(s) These Days.

Does poker ever feel cruel to you?

Quote of the week

An old saying in poker is a beginner is curious about his cards, a bit later he focuses more on what the other players hold, and he becomes a poker player when he concentrates on what the other players think he holds. — Bloomberg columnist Aaron Brown

Tools of the Trade

Some people like a souvenir chip but cards are my collectibles. At least you can use the damn things.

x2 Deck LOT Golden Lights Cigarette Playing Cards Menthol Lorillard Bicycle E3

When my card collecting starts in earnest, I will major in tobacco-themed decks like these. I’m not a ciggie man myself but to see the bright livery of cigarette packets lost behind pictures of tumours and fatty deposits oozing from veins at the behest of the nanny state these last few years, cries out for a small act of rebellion.

There are still plenty of card sets out there that pre-date such meddling. Let us brandish them with pride.

More money than sense

A look at the high end of poker retail.

Lord Pocket poker deck case by Hermes

“Made in Evercolor calfskin and Chagrin goatskin in three colors (vert moyen, caramel and terre battue)”. Green, yellow and orange to thee and me.

Image of the week

Amid all the fallout of the Million Maker affair, Barry Carter spots the corporate angle everyone else missed. If you’re not following him on X, you’re missing out on some of the best poker-themed levity around.