Live and Let Die Trivia Quiz

Answer: Super System

Doyle Brunson won the ME in 1976 and 1977. He also finished second in 1980 to three time winner Stu Ungar. Brunson published "Super System" in 1979, taking advantage of his poker celebrity. But Brunson did not write the book alone. Mike Caro wrote the chapter on draw poker, Chip Reese wrote the chapter on Seven Card Stud, Joey Hawthorn wrote the chapter on Lowball, David Sklansky wrote the chapter on 7 Card Stud High-Low Split, and Bobby Baldwin wrote the chapter on Limit Texas Hold'em.

But the most important chapter was the chapter written by Brunson himself on No Limit Texas Hold'em.

The chapter revolutionized the game because it gave amateurs a strategy they could follow and they now knew how the pros thought.

Answer: Rounders

"Rounders" came out in 1998. Many of the new generation of poker players cite it as a motivating factor in their interest in poker. The movie tells the story of Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) as he plays in underground poker games throughout New York and the surrounding area. Mike also has a fascination with Johnny Chan and his defeat of Erik Seidel in the 1988 ME.

A video of the event figures prominently in the movie and Chan makes a cameo as himself. Chan's 1988 win was his second consecutive ME win and he almost won his third in 1989 but ended up finishing second to Phil Hellmuth.

Answer: A senator

Pat McCarran was a US Senator from Nevada for 21 years (1933-1954); he died while still serving in that capacity. Although he was a Democrat, he opposed FDR's New Deal policies and was a staunch anticommunist during the McCarthy era. His most important work though, as far as the poker community is concerned, was his behind the scenes maneuvering to stop a tax on all gambling bets, not just on gambling profits.

The legislation would have killed Nevada's casino industry and poker along with it.

Answer: The Rio

The Rio, or more accurately The Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, has hosted the WSOP since Harrah's Entertainment, now Caesars Entertainment Inc, purchased the rights to it in 2004. It hosted the WSOP for the first time in 2005. The tournaments are hosted in the Rio Pavilion convention center during June and July with the final table of the ME being held in the Penn and Teller Theater in November.

The Rio is themed after the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro and features a Carnival atmosphere.

Answer: False

When the ME first began it was a straight up exchange between chips and dollars. With the poker boom, organizers wanted to make sure players had enough chips to play for a while so the number of chips was increased, first to 20,000 then 30,000 chips. This 3 to 1 ratio holds true in all WSOP tournaments, not just the ME. With a starting blind structure of 50-100 this means a players starts with an effective stack of 300 big blinds (BB). As the tournament goes on and the blind structure increases the BB ratio decreases. In the ME all levels are two hours long. In most preliminary events the levels are only one hour. For the 2012 ME the blind structure was as follows:

LEVEL ANTE BLINDS
1 - 50-100
2 - 100-200
3 - 150-300
4 25 150-300
5 50 200-400
END OF DAYS 1A, 1B, and 1C
6 50 250-500
7 75 300-600
Remove 25 Chips
8 100 400-800
9 100 500-1,000
10 200 600-1,200
11 200 800-1,600
12 300 1,000-2,000
13 300 1,200-2,400
14 400 1,500-3,000
Remove 100 Chips
15 500 2,000-4,000
16 500 2,500-5,000
Remove 500 Chips
17 1,000 3,000-6,000
18 1,000 4,000-8,000
19 1,000 5,000-10,000
20 2,000 6,000-12,000
21 2,000 8,000-16,000
22 3,000 10,000-20,000
23 3,000 12,000-24,000
24 4,000 15,000-30,000
Remove 1,000 Chips
25 5,000 20,000-40,000
26 5,000 25,000-50,000
27 10,000 30,000-60,000
28 10,000 40,000-80,000
29 10,000 50,000-100,000
30 15,000 60,000-120,000
31 20,000 80,000-160,000
32 30,000 100,000-200,000
33 30,000 120,000-240,000
34 40,000 150,000-300,000
Remove 5,000 Chips
35 50,000 200,000-400,000
36 50,000 250,000-500,000
37 75,000 300,000-600,000
38 100,000 400,000-800,000
39 150,000 500,000-1,000,000
Remove 25,000 Chips
40 200,000 600,000-1,200,000
41 200,000 800,000-1,600,000
42 300,000 1,000,000-2,000,000
43 300,000 1,200,000-2,400,000
44 400,000 1,500,000-3,000,000
45 500,000 2,000,000-4,000,000
46 500,000 2,500,000-5,000,000
47 1,000,000 3,000,000-6,000,000

Answer: Nine

The WSOP features more Texas Hold'em tournaments than any other type of poker and most of these feature nine handed play, including the ME. In many casinos around the country you will find tournaments featuring ten handed play but this seldom happens at the WSOP. The most notable exception is when the tournament gets down to ten players left. At that point they are all moved to one table and play resumes until the final nine are determined.

Tournaments where less than nine players are seated at a table include the Stud games, Razz, Deuce to Seven, the mixed games, Omaha, and the short handed Hold'em games.

Answer: Players who have no real shot at winning the tournament.

Dead money originally referred to money that was put in the pot by players no longer in the hand. From there the term was applied to players still in the hand but who did not have the skills or cards to have a realistic chance of winning the hand. From these uses it came to be applied to players with little real chance of winning or making the money in tournaments because they lack either the skill or the experience to survive.

The ME features two hour blind levels with 20 minute breaks in between levels and a 90 minute dinner break around 7 pm or so. Play starts at noon each day and continues until around midnight. All ME Day 1s and Day 2s feature the same number of levels so that when the tournament combines on Day 3, everyone is on the same blind level.

Answer: Switch

Dealers rotate throughout the tournament. When a new dealer comes in he/she opens a new deck of cards. There are several practical reasons for this. First, poker players can be a superstitious bunch and like to blame dealers when things aren't going their way. Rotating dealers evens out any 'luck' involved with dealers. Second, directors structure it so that they rotate from table to table and then have one or two or more out of rotation so the dealers can go on break.

While players are on break dealers stay at the table to make sure nothing happens with the chips or the cards.

They need breaks themselves at different times. Third, decks are changed so that the cards do not wear out and so that the 'luck' aspect of a deck is taken out of the equation.

In the same way players will blame dealers, they will also blame decks.

Answer: Request a table change from a tournament director.

You cannot request to change tables during a tournament. From a purely practical perspective, allowing players to request table changes would be a logistical nightmare. Also, part of the challenge of a tournament is table draw. Clearly if players could change tables they would seek out the most advantageous table.

There is a random redraw of table assignments at the beginning of each new day. Also, as players get knocked out, the outer tables are broken up and those players are moved to fill in empty seats at the inner tables. Finally, you may be randomly selected to go to another table to balance it out but this usually does not happen until late in a tournament when there are very few tables left.

Answer: Jennifer Tilly

Jennifer Tilly won the 2005 bracelet by defeating 600 other female poker players in the $1,000 buy-in tournament. She said after the win, "You get jewelry - stuff you can wear. Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy, you can't hang that around your neck. But everywhere you go, you've got your poker gold and diamond bracelet on; everyone knows you won."

She and Phil Laak, aka the Unabomber, have been together since before this win and still travel and play together. Tilly recently competed in the 2013 NBC "Heads Up Poker Championship" at Caesar's in Las Vegas where she was knocked out in the first round by good friend Antonio Esfandiari.

Answer: The poker boom that came after Chris Moneymaker won the ME in 2003.

The ME had already been on an upward trend as far as participants but Moneymaker's win in 2003 kicked it up another level. The number of entrants had grown steadily from 1999 to 2003. The numbers were as follows:
1999 - 393
2000 - 512
2001 - 613
2002 - 631
2003 - 839
Moneymaker was an amateur who won his seat in an online satellite. His win convinced many that they had a shot at the ultimate prize. The ME used to belong to the professional poker players, but, since 2003, it has belonged to the amateurs. In 2004, the number of entrants more than tripled. Here are the attendance numbers for the years after 2003 during the poker boom:
2004 - 2,576
2005 - 5,619
2006 - 8,773
2007 - 6,358
2008 - 6,844
2009 - 6,494
2010 - 7,319
2011 - 6,865
2012 - 6,598

Answer: Yes

You have the nuts because you have four kings and no hand with this board can beat four kings. Your opponent could easily have a flush, even an ace high flush but four kings dominates that. Your opponent could have a full house with queens full of kings, tens full of kings, or deuces full of kings but four kings beat all of these. Your opponent might even have Broadway, an ace high straight, but four kings beats Broadway. Here are the top five possible hands and their rankings:
Four kings - KKKKQ
Queens full - QQQKK
Tens full - TTTKK
Deuces full - 222KK
Broadway - AKQJT unsuited

Answer: Ray Romano and Brad Garrett

Ray Romano and Brad Garrett starred on "Everybody Loves Raymond" for nine seasons and have played for years in the ME. They are featured almost every year on the ESPN ME coverage. They have a Hollywood home poker game and many of those who play in that game also play the ME. A June 2011 "Bluff" magazine article chronicled Garrett's poker playing and spoke of the last longer bet he and Ray have each year to benefit their charities. The article also appeared on the magazine's website.

Many other athletes, musicians, producers, and others play in the ME each year. "The Simpsons" co-developer, and Jennifer Tilly ex, Sam Simon has played the ME for years. Simon has finished in the money twice in the ME and four other times in other WSOP events. Over the years athletes have played the ME. These include Robert Luongo, Shane Warne, Petter Northug, Orel Hershiser, and Teddy Sheringham. Musicians Nelly, Scott Ian, and Sully Erna have played. In 2009, Ian made the money finishing 637th. Erna has even more impressive poker credentials. He placed 713th in the 2006 ME and followed that up the next year by finishing 237th. He also finished second in a Bellagio Five Diamond event winning $307,325. Actors Shannon Elizabeth, David Alan Grier, and Hank Azaria have played.

Answer: 15%

In most WSOP tournaments, the top 15% win money, but it used to be only the top 10%, the majority of the prize pool being distributed among the top 9. Of the top 9, the top 3 make the most with the winner winning the lion's share. This is true for the ME also.

The payout structure is not determined until the number of entrants is set and the prize pool established. In 2012, there were 6,598 players and 669 players made the money. The least amount won was $19,227. In reality the tournament only paid 666 places but since four people got knocked out on the money bubble, they split the money for 666th place and each won $4,806.

The overall prize pool was $62,021,197, of which Greg Merson won $8,527,982 or 13.75% of the prize money available. The top 9 split $27,247,840 of the $62,021,197 in play or 44% of the prize pool.

Answer: 14

Although a flush draw gives you nine outs and a straight draw gives you eight outs, the two draws share two cards which must be subtracted from the number of outs (9+8=17-2=15). But you must also subtract one out for the 7h which gives your opponent a full house even though it gives you a flush because a full hosue beats a flush (15-1=14).

This happens quite often with multiple draws where different draws share the same card. At this point in the hand you would have about a 40% chance to hit one of your draws and win the hand. If a blank, a card that helps neither player, comes on the turn your odds would drop to about 30%. If the board pairs on the turn you would be drawing dead.

Answer: Loose aggressive

Maniacs play a wildly variable game with huge swings up and down in chip stack because of their loose aggressive style. They are hard to play against because the philosophy is to play many hands and to always be aggressive when in a pot. This certainly puts pressure on the other players but it also can drain your resources very quickly. Most players who play this style vary it somewhat because flat out loose aggression does not usually work over time. The opposite of a maniac is a rock, a player who plays a tight passive style.

Historically, the loose aggressive style was popularized by Doyle Brunson in his book "Super System". His philosophy was if in doubt bet and if your opponent hesitates bet. Brunson has remarked that he wished he never wrote the book because once his secret was out, he had to change his style and adapt. The original was published in 1979. Taking advantage of the poker boom, in 2004 Brunson released the follow up "Super System 2".

Answer: It means the button is on the seat where that player was for the next hand and therefore 'dead'.

A dead button happens when the button moves to a seat formerly occupied by a player who is no longer in the game. In this case the maniac would have been in the small blind when he was knocked out of the tournament so the next hand the button would be on his seat.

It does not skip his seat even though he is not in it because that would throw the blinds off. If a player was in the big blind and he gets knocked out then the next hand there would be no small blind. The only time that the blinds or button are not affected by a player being knocked out is when the rotation is not near them. Effectively a dead button merely means the player who had the button the prior turn will be last to act again, which is the benefit of the button.

Answer: It means he has no way to win the hand.

Drawing dead means he has no way to win the hand. In poker, life is determined by whether or not you still have chips or you still have a chance to win because you still have outs. If you have no chips or not outs you are dead, either in the tournament or in the hand respectively.

In this hand you hold a royal flush (AhKhQhJhTh), the highest possible hand a player can get. Even if the case ace (As) came, his four of a kind cannot beat your hand. A case card is the last remaining card of a certain rank or suit left in the deck, the ace of spades in this instance.

Answer: Kevin Pollak

For an amateur player, Kevin Pollak had the run of a lifetime in 2012. His 134th finish earned him $52,718. During the tournament he even had the chance to knock his poker idol, Daniel Negreanu aka Kid Poker, out and he did just that. Pollak's AQ dominated Daniel's KQ. The board ran out clean and Daniel was gone in 160th place.

Pollak's elimination came in a brutal fashion. Pollak held QQ and pushed all-in. A player called him also holding QQ. But his opponent held the Qh and four hearts came on the board. Pollak only had a 2% chance to lose the hand before the flop was dealt. That is like hitting a one outer on the river but in this case it was hitting a one outer to lose not win.

Answer: True

A double belly buster straight draw and an open ended straight draw have the same outs just in different ways. Open ended means you have four cards to the straight and can catch either end to win (8 outs). A double belly buster means you have two chances to hit an inside straight draw to win the hand (4 outs twice = 8 outs).

This hand actually took place during the 2012 ME between Greg Merson and Wilfried Harig. Although they held the same amount of outs on the flop, Harig was ahead because he held the ace but not by much. The odds were 55/45. The jack of spades came on the turn giving Merson his straight. This card should have worried Harig and Merson's bet should have driven him out of the pot because he was drawing dead to a win but he pursued his draw. Unlucky for him he hit it on the river when the five of hearts came. His hand had improved but was second best. Harig ended up losing 78% of his stack on this hand and was knocked out a little while later in 15th place.

Answer: 7d7h

Of these four hands, the 7d7h gives you the best hand with trips. The AdKc and the AsQs both give you two pair but trips beat two pair. The Js9s gives you four to a flush but that is meaningless. Here are the hand rankings:
7d7h - trips (7s7d7hAhKs)
AdKc - two pair (AhAdKsKcQc)
AsQs - two pair (AsAhQsQc7s)
Js9s - ace high (AhKsQcJs9s)
Both of the ace hands would be strong hands because they are two pair which would lend to your ability to extract chips since your hand's strength is well camouflaged. There is also little danger faced by your hand vs. flushes or straights since the board is not coordinated for these hands. Your biggest threat would be a higher set of either aces, kings or queens. In this scenario none of those are present.

Answer: Mike Sexton

Mike Sexton is a commentator for the WPT on the Fox Sports Network not the WSOP. Lon has been covering poker for EPSN since the late 1990s. He teamed Norman in 2003 and the two have been hosting ESPN's coverage of the WSOP ever since. Antonio was added to the roster when ESPN started having live coverage of the tournament.

It is not actually live but is on a short delay as dictated by the Nevada Gaming Commission's rules. When Antonio is not available Olivier Busquet covers as happened when Antonio played in and won the WSOP $1 million buy in One Drop tournament.

Answer: Two

In this scenario you led preflop with a 65% chance to win the hand but the flop dramatically reversed that so that you now have a less than 8% chance to win the hand. You would have two outs, either of the remaining sixes.

This hand actually happened in the 2008 ME between Peter Eastgate and Scott Montgomery. There were only five players left at the final table and Eastgate had raised preflop. Montgomery was short stacked so he moved all-in. Eastgate called only to see a terrible flop. The turn made things worse when Montgomery caught another ace but the card really changed nothing. Dennis Phillips revealed he had folded a 6 so Eastgate was down to only one out, not two, he needed the case 6. Eastgate hit the miracle card and knocked Montgomery out in fifth place.

Answer: No

At this point in the hand you do not have the nuts. Either of the remaining aces would give your opponent the lead back but your odds are very good at this point with about a 78% chance to win the hand.

This hand actually happened in the 2009 ME between Kevin Schaffel and Eric Buchman. Preflop Buchman was in a world of hurt because not only was his hand dominated by the only hand that could beat him at that point, but his suits were also dominated so he could not catch a flush to win the hand. Not only did Buchman catch the king on the flop but the case king came on the turn ending the hand. This devastating hand knocked Schaffel out of the ME in 8th place.

Answer: Ten

Since your opponent needs to make a full house or four of a kind to beat you, he has 10 outs - the case ten (1), any remaining nine (3), any remaining eight (3), or any remaining seven (3) [1+3+3+3=10]. At this point you are a little over a 61% favorite to win the tournament.

This hand actually happened in the 2010 ME between Duy Le and John Racener. Racener had made a position play preflop to try to steal the pot from Le but Le called him. The flop was good for Le but also scary with its straight draw possibilities. On the flop, Le check called Racener's second attempt to steal the pot. The turn gave Racener the bottom end of the straight and the lead in the hand. Because Racener had the low end of the straight he checked behind Le on the turn. On the river the 4c came and Le made a defensive bet that Racener called but could not raise because any jack would have him beat. Racener won the hand and went on to finish second in the ME that year.