Bodog Beat » WSOP Academy

WSOP Academy Offering 2009 WSOP Main Event Primer

Ace Rothstein — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:34:55 +0000

With the 2009 WSOP Main Event creeping up on us, there will be thousands of players descending on Las Vegas to try and make history as the next WSOP Champions and walk home with the millions that the title comes with. However, are they ready? Do they have what it takes to navigate their way through a field of thousands of players over two weeks of play? Well, the answer to those questions may be made a little more affirmative thanks to the WSOP Academy comes in and their upcoming Main Event Primer.

Designed to prepare players both strategically and mentally for one of the toughest poker tournaments all year, the Main Event Primer will feature some of the bext instructors in the game teaching players how to increase their chances at surviving the mayhem. Poker pros Phil Hellmuth, Phil Gordon, Annie Duke, Greg Raymer and Mark Seif, along with poker tells expert Joe Navarro and mindset coach Sam Chauhan, will all be on hand to guide attendees through seminars, live hand demonstrations and Q&A sessions.

The Academy itself will take place at Caesars Palace Las Vegas from June 29 to July 1. The cost is $2,499, space is limited, and the event is expected sell out. Additional details for the Main Event Primer and all other Academy events are available at the WSOP Academy website.

WSOP Academy Launching Series of Cash Game Poker Academies

Ace Rothstein — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:01:19 +0000

Everyone knows that poker players don't make their living from cashing in tournaments, although a nice payday definitely helps, they pay their bills by spending hours grinding it out in cash games. The legendary Bobby's Room at the Bellagio isn't a tournament area, it is strictly reserved for high-stakes cash games because that's how the big boys do it.

So, in recognition of this the WSOP Academy is launching a new style of poker camp, the appropriately-named Cash Game Academy. These two-day events will provide intensive poker training dedicated exclusively to No Limit Hold’em cash game play, giving poker players of all skill levels the foundation and tools needed to become a consistent winning cash game player.

The first such event will take place at Harrah’s Atlantic City on Jan. 24 – 25. Then two weeks later, the WSOP Academy will head to Las Vegas to host a Cash Game Academy at Caesars Palace on Feb. 7 – 8. Both events will feature instruction from poker pros Mark Seif, Paul Wasicka and Alex Outhred among the instructors scheduled for the Atlantic City event and Seif, Outhred and Michael Gracz slated for the Las Vegas event.

The cash game teaching curriculum consists of two days of in-depth seminars, live play workshops, video analysis and a cash game competition. The topics being taught include the transition from tournament play to cash game play, development of reading ability and putting opponents on hand ranges, bankroll management and sophisticated plays and strategies specific to cash game play. Each event will also offer video analysis of cash game play, with instructors dissecting hands and situations and discuss alternative lines of play.

At the end of the Cash Game Academy, players will compete against their fellow WSOP Academy participants to determine who made the most correct decisions and managed their bankroll the best during a simulated cash game. The winner will receive an all-expense trip to Caesars Palace Las Vegas for the WSOP Academy Tournament of Champions, which will be held just prior to the Main Event of the 2009 World Series of Poker.

Tuition for each of the two Cash Game Academies is $1,899.00, with a payment of only $499.75 required to secure a spot. The additional tuition payment owed will be billed each month for the three following months.

Space is limited at all WSOP Academy events, and both events are expected to sell out in advance. Additional details for the upcoming events in Las Vegas and Atlantic City are available at the WSOP Academy website.

WSOP Academy Announces Las Vegas and Atlantic City Events

Ace Rothstein — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:01:04 +0000

The WSOP Academy has released details for its upcoming academies this November, including the introduction of a new “Play Now, Pay Later” program that allows participants to easily spread their tuition payments out over time, which is especially useful in this economy. You gotta spend money to make money, even in poker.

The first of the two WSOP Academy events will be a two-day Advanced Academy held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, on Nov. 7 – 8, just ahead of the WSOP Main Event final table. Then, at the end of November, the WSOP Academy will head to Atlantic City to host a two-day Academy at the Showboat Casino, on Nov. 22 – 23.

With the “Play Now, Pay Later” program, participants can secure a spot at either event by paying only 25% of the tuition cost, with the remaining amount due in three equal monthly payments.

“We’re making it easier than ever for poker players to invest in their poker game and become winning players with our Play Now, Pay Later program,” said Jeff Goldenberg of Post Oak Productions, the company that produces the WSOP Academy. “Our WSOP Academy events this November will feature some of the biggest names in poker sharing their secrets and strategies. I’m confident our Academy grads will walk away with the confidence and skills they need to be a threat at the table.”

The upcoming Advanced Academy in Las Vegas will feature instruction from poker pros Phil Gordon, Mark Seif, Paul Wasicka and Alex Outhred, poker tells expert Joe Navarro and making their first appearance at an Academy event, Prof. Charley Swayne, an expert in probability and statistics specifically as they relate to poker and Sam Chauhan, a motivational speaker who will be teaching a seminar on the optimal poker mindset.

The event will feature the WSOP Academy’s most advanced curriculum on No Limit Texas Hold’em theory and strategy, including the advanced math of poker, winning cash game strategy, advanced tournament stage strategy, heads-up strategy, advanced seminar on decoding poker tells and much more.

At the WSOP Academy event in Atlantic City, 2004 World Champion Greg Raymer, Outhred, Hevad Khan and Navarro will provide instruction that covers all aspects of No-Limit Texas Hold 'em strategy, from playing position and calculating pot odds to the importance of aggression and changing gears.

At both Academy events, private tournaments will be held with winners receiving a $5,000 WSOP Circuit Main Event seat at an event of their choice.

Tuition for the Advanced Academy is $1,999, with a payment of only $499 required to secure a spot. The cost of the Atlantic City event is $1,499 with a payment of only $375 needed to register. The additional tuition payments will be billed each month for the three following months.

Alex Outhred Among WSOP Chip Leaders

Ace Rothstein — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:07:52 +0000

So, it turns out that these WSOP Academy instructors may actually know a thing or two about poker. Imagine that. We already knew that Annie Duke and Greg Raymer had skills and that ex-FBI agent Joe Navarro can read minds, but as it turns out the WSOPA instructor who has lasted the longest at the 2008 WSOP Main Event is Alex Outhred. Oh, and he's smarter than a fifth grader.

You see, Outhred was a guest on the TV show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" and proved that he was, indeed, smarter than a 10-year-old by winning $500,000 on the popular game show. Now, he's proving that he's better than at least 5,300 other poker players here at the 2008 WSOP.

Outhred is currently sitting at about 330,000 and is in third in chips behind Raja Kattamuri and Peter Biebel. With one level remaining in play today, Outhred should finish the day strongly and head to Day 3. However, pretty much everyone will be trailing the monster stack of Brian Schaedlich, who finished atop Day 2A with an incredible 801,000 in chips.

Meanwhile both Bodog poker pros Evelyn Ng and Jean-Robert Bellande have moved up to 178,000 and 87,000, respectively. Stay tuned for more WSOP live updates from the Bodog Beat.