3-Bet: Run It Once Poker Site to Ban HUD, Moneymaker Wins 2 NJSCOOP Titles & Rob Wazwaz Wins MSPT Canterbury Park Main Event

In this edition of our PokerGuru 3-Bet, our first report covers Phil Galfond`s latest blog where he revealed Run It Once poker site’s plans to ban HUD’s and instead have an in-house HUD with a difference. In our second report, we have news of Chris Moneymaker winning not one but two titles at the New Jersey SCOOP 2018!

Finally, we have a tournament report from the MSPT Season 9 $1,100 Main Event at Canterbury Park which was won by 40-year-old Rob Wazwaz who made his ninth MSPT final table and finally got his hands on the title.

Run It Once Poker Site to Ban Use of HUD Tools & Have an In-House HUD

With a focal shift by online sites to ‘recreational players’ the debate on the use of HUD- ‘Heads Up Display’ tool has left the poker community polarized. In a first, an online poker site is about to ban it altogether.

The ‘Run It Once’ online poker room backed by poker champion Phil Galfond and three poker pros is launching this summer and when it does, Run It Once will not allow HUDs to be used for analyzing opponent behavior.

While the site has not laid down penalty conditions for attempted HUD use, it will have a sound HUD-detection system in place and is bringing in features that it promises, will together reduce HUD use by 90%.

In his blog on RunitOnce.eu site dated May 2, Galfond explained what the prime features are, and how they will effectively reduce HUD use.

On anonymous tables, the Table Aliasesfeature will forego the usual identification of players on anonymous tables as player 1, player 2, etc. Rather players will be given a random first name and a last-name initial that will be displayed to opponents on the table.

“Table aliases are more like temporary IDs than a collection of faceless numbers”, stated Galfond, in his blog. This system eliminates the possibility of player results ever being made public, thus reducing the practice of ‘bumhunting’.

Players will instead get hints on opponent behavior with each player portrayed through an animated ‘dynamic avatar’ that will display his/ her mood or possible game strategy. The site’s in-house HUD will collect, group stats and info into 8 different play style categories, and display through the changing emotions of dynamic avatars, giving definite hint to players. The feature will consider hands played against an individual opponent and use 3bet, PFR, VP$IP.

All players whose hole cards are revealed will be sent their hand histories 24 hours after they have played, albeit keeping it anonymous with random first name-last initial format.

“HUDs increase a pro’s edge by giving the pro a larger informational advantage. They also help pros target recreational players and more quickly identify their leaks, which can be exploited for far more than the leaks of a slightly weaker pro.” Galfond said, defending the move.

He added that the Run it Up Once team has created software around non-HUD use, employing principles of prevention, enforcement and de-incentivizing and subsequent blogs will give a detailed run-down of Run It Once poker’s policies.

Chris Moneymaker Wins 2 Main Events at New Jersey SCOOP 2018

Largely accredited with kick starting the online poker boom after he historically rose from an anonymous online entity to win the WSOP Main Event in 2003, Chris Moneymaker as he calls himself has now another dazzling poker feat under his belt. Last weekend, Moneymaker won now one but two New Jersey SCOOP (NJSCOOP) titles!

The 2-weeks long New Jersey version of the globally played SCOOP hosted its biggest-ever series featuring $1.3 million guaranteed prize pools and Moneymaker participated online in the festival. In addition, he finished runners-up in the third and ranked fourth in the fourth event, bringing his NJSCOOP score to four outstanding performances in four back-to-back events!

Moneymaker has been humble about it. “Over the first couple of days I bubbled a few tournaments but then on Saturday I played three tournaments and won two of them! The Main Event didn’t go as planned, but overall I can’t complain.” Moneymaker stated, in an interview after the event.

He played $0.01/0.02 No-Limit Hold’em and also the $0.05/0.10 Pot-Limit Omaha in additional to several Spin & Go games.

Moneymaker’s scores at NJSCOOP –

• WON: Event 33-H ($200 NLHE Final Weekend Kickoff) for $5,445.55
• WON: Event 34-H ($200 Stud Hi/Lo) for $2,631.98
• Runner-up: Event 35-H ($50+R NLHE 3-Max) for $2,485.27
• 4th Place: Event 36-H ($200 Mixed NLHE/PLO, Progressive KO) for $1,113.86 + $947.44 in bounties

Moneymaker’s rise to fame in poker has been well documented. A professional accountant earlier, he entered the WSOP championship in 2003 after qualifying online. No one knew his poker skills much then and when he famously clinched the Main Event title he was labeled ‘dark horse’ by professional sports handicapper Lou Diamond for his performance.

Today, his story has been made into a graphic novel and he even has a biography published in his name. The American of German descent believes that New York will soon start on regulated online poker (the same has since started) and hopes this will kick off a return to old times when international player pools were permitted.

Rob Wazwaz Wins MSPT Canterbury Park Season 9 Main Event

40-year-old Rob Wazwaz was making his record ninth final table without a title under his name and the streak broke when he shipped the second MSPT Season 9 $1,100 Main Event at Canterbury Park. Wazwaz bested a record 526-entry field that made it both the largest MSPT ever held at the venue in 16 stops and largest major poker tournament ($1K+ buy-in) in State history. The event paid put the top 54 places.

Fittingly, the title came down to the two legends in the Minnesota poker community – Wazwaz and two-time MSPT champ Blake Bohn.

“He’s the best,” Wazwaz said of Bohn. “It was akin to defeating a great athlete. In all fairness, I caught way better cards than Blake … obviously I ran really hot.”

Beginning the final table as the chip leader was 18-year-old state chess and hockey champion Peyton Smith. Smith showed great promise but ultimately was downed by Wazwaz in third place. Wazwaz finished off Smith with against . The board ran and the short heads-up between chip leader Wazwaz and Bohn began.

In the final hand of the tournament, Wazwaz shoved with and Bohn called off with . The board ran the and Bohn settled for a runner up finish.

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Rob Wazwaz – $109,375

2. Blake Bohn – $67,203

3. Peyton Smith – $48,430

4. Brian Zupancich – $36,628

5. Tom Stambaugh – $27,471

6. Robert Mitchell – $20,858

7. Ryan Hartmann – $16,279

8. Barbara Sargent – $12,718

9. Vlad Tkachuk – $9,666

10. Rob Maier – $7,631