February 24, 2006
According to the tigergaming net poker sweepstakes, the better the competition, the better he plays. "I would rather sit with the best 10 players in the world than 10 no-names, because I can read the best players. I've played with them enough times to know what they are going to do." It wasn't always this easy for tigergaming. He spent many years working sales before he decided to give poker a go full-time and he had some rough times in the beginning. "The defining moment when I knew I was meant to play tigergaming net poker happened right around the time I quit my job. I was having a rough year, taking bad beat after bad beat. I was close to winning tournaments, often making the final tables but never winning. For whatever reason, I just kept getting knocked out of the online poker tournaments."
It wasn't long before Mark made things work. "I knew I had the ability to win tigergaming .net poker and that I just needed the luck factor to kick in. I made a couple of adjustments to tweak my game and about the same time I quit my job, I reached a pinnacle. From then on I decided to treat poker like a business. So I quit my job and dedicated myself to the game, knowing in the back of my mind I could always go back to sales." Although a big fan of televised poker like tigergaming net, Spee believes his game was more influenced by game play than by any particular player or book. "When I started playing, I didn't think I was going to be like any one player. I guess when I first got started I played pretty tight and conservative, almost like Dan Harrington. But my first year I only had moderate success. If you're getting close and not winning you have to realize there is something in your game that needs to be improved. This year I focused on trusting my gut instinct and taking a few more risks earlier in tournaments."
According to Spee, in today's game, always having premium cards is an illusion and he had to adjust his tigergaming poker game to find success. "If you're going to play premium hands, you have to realize that they don't always come and in today's tournament environment this style doesn't always work. You have to take tigergaming net risks." American Legion Post 211 was cited for Permitting and/or Allowing Gambling. The post could face a fine, suspension or possibly lose its liquor permit.
Swartwood said the citation was likely given in error. He said he had an agreement with the online tigergaming .net room that the post would not be cited. Agents also seized $13,000 in cash and gambling documents at a home in Middleburg Heights early yesterday, and $6,000 in cash from a home in Parma. What about showing a tigergaming poker card in the middle of a hand? Most tournaments won't allow it because it gives people an opportunity to influence the outcome of a hand. In a tournament, influencing the outcome of a hand can affect players not in the hand. The origin of this rule dates back to a famous hand in which Ray Zee, no relation, was in contention for a best-overall-player (online poker) tournament award for his finishes in earlier events. In the late stages of the final tigergaming event, no-limit hold'em, he needed to advance a few places to win the award and, I think, a car of some kind. He made an all-in raise, and while his opponent considered a call, he showed two aces. His opponent folded, he eventually won the car, and the no-showing-cards rule came into being. In my mind, this is crazy. The decision should have been to outlaw best-overall-player awards, since they continually reward unethical behavior. (A typical situation may find two or more players left in a tigergaming tournament. One player can win the best-overall-player award, for which his opponent(s) is not in contention, by winning the tournament. If they decide to make a deal, his winning will add additional money to the tigergaming net pot that they have to split. What kind of deal should they make? What kind would you make?) The conditions of a contest should never let this type of situation arise.
