Hey, a winning month! Maybe I am not so bad at this game after all. There are still a few days to go, but I probably won’t be playing much if at all. As you may have noticed, I haven’t been playing the last few days either. I leave for … Read full post
I was having trouble getting the ESPN360 feed to work. I finally got it streaming just in time to hear, “There are eight players left, Tom Chambers has busted out.” Whoops. I don’t know the full story, but apparently he got all in with top set and lost to a … Read full post
My buddy Tom (LearnedFromTV), who’s already been tearing up the 2008 WSOP with a second place finish for $140K in the $2500 Stud/8-O/8 Mixed event and a shallow cash in the $1000 Razz, has made his second final table of the series, this time in the $1500 PLO/8. Once again, … Read full post
George Carlin, one of my favorite stand-up comedians, died yesterday at the age of 71. I was fortunate enough to see him live at the Orleans in December, and of course now I’m doubly glad that I took advantage of the opportunity to see him when I had it.
I
After spending more than enough money to buy in directly, I finally won a freaking main event seat in one of the last $650 satellites Stars will be running. Counting the spending money and sponsorship deal that comes with the package, I think that I ended up breaking even on … Read full post
The New York Times ran a neat article today about a convention of casino chip collectors this weekend in Las Vegas. In case you need another excuse not to play the slots, you can apparently hit the jackpot even if you don’t deposit your chip:
… Read full postLast year, Eric Rosenblum, a
Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BTN: $1,249.10
SB: $600
BB: $1,385.25
Hero (UTG): $1,542.65
Pre-Flop: Q
J dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $21, BTN calls $21, SB folds, BB calls $15
Flop: ($66) 9 3
K (3 … Read full post
BryanS, the awesome guy who represents Poker Stars on the 2+2 Forums, just posted a nearly final draft of the schedule for their annual World Championship of Online Poker. As usual, it looks like it’s going to be a ground-breaking event for internet poker, featuring some huge buy-ins, some … Read full post
More often than not I end up regretting big moves like this in tournaments, but I think this one is alright. It worked, anyway.
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds, 25 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
MP: 25,020
CO: 25,268
BTN: 3,120
SB: 6,095
Hero … Read full post
With deeper stacks (these hands are all from deep tables), you need to be, not necessarily more aggressive, but aggressive in more situations. With 100 BBs’s, a 4-bet squeeze will almost always commit your stack, which means there’s only a narrow range of hands with which you can make this … Read full post
Man I was around Vegas for most of the WSOP last summer and nothing spectacular happened. Then I sit it out this summer and all of my best poker buddies start kicking ass. Guess I am a jinx.
Payouts
1 $434,789
2 $277,452
3 $167,973
4 $137,343
5 $112,641
6 … Read full post
is that the bad beats are more expensive than ever! Here are some monsters I lost today:
Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
UTG: $1,006.70
MP: $448.30
CO: $870.20
Hero (BTN): $1,021.50
SB: $416
BB: $525
Pre-Flop: A A
dealt to … Read full post
My dad keeps up with the blog, so I figured I’d make a post to wish him a Happy Father’s Day. I didn’t see him today, since he’s in Maryland and I’m in Boston, but he’ll be coming out to Las Vegas for the WSOP as he has for the … Read full post
Ran down to Foxwoods for a few hours today to get back in the swing of live poker in preparation for the WSOP. Mostly I reminded myself how mind-numblingly boring the games are and how god damn stupid and annoying the players are. Jesus it’s bad enough they take two … Read full post
As some of you know, my poker playing for the last few years has supported not only myself but a debate league in the Boston Public Schools. It started as just a volunteer thing that I did with a few teachers, but we soon realized that it had potential … Read full post
I’ve never even heard of this magazine, but their ad is clever and pretty funny. It took me a minute to get it. If you can’t read it, the text at the bottom says, “Become the King of Bluff.”
Doyle Brunson’s Super/System was the first poker book I ever read, and one part that has always stuck out in my mind is a play that he suggests to bluff an opponent off of a chop when you both a one-card straight. Essentially, he suggests that if your opponent makes … Read full post
When you play a lot of tables at once, one thing you need to factor into the decision is that you will occasionally make mistakes. And I don’t just mean poker mistakes like missing a value bet, I mean actually “Oh crap I clicked call and meant to click fold” … Read full post
I was playing a bit lower than usual tonight, as I’m wont to do when on a downswing, and that means that I was up against a lot of players I’d never seen before. When trying to get a read on unknowns at a 6-max table, there are some really … Read full post
Ugh I can’t even tell you how gross the weather is in Boston right now. It is so humid, and my window fan is doing nothing. I really was in no mood to play poker today, and I think it showed. Here’s my bustout hand from the FTP 750K:
Full … Read full post
Before Greg Raymer was a World Series of Poker champion, he was 2+2 Forums poster Fossilman8. And even before his 2004 main event victory proved it to the world, his status as a world-class poker player and theorist was well-known to the 2+2 community. One of his most famous contributions … Read full post
Sweet run, bro, congratulations. Rouhani wins it, but Chambers down 140K for 2nd. Not too freaking shabby.… Read full post
Well, I final tabled the Stars $300 today, but I took 9th which was only good for under five buyins. I actually want to look at a hand from the FTP $50 1 rebuy/1 add-on (not sure why I played this, was just in the mood for tournaments today):
Full … Read full post
Tom Chambers, 2+2’s LearnedFromTV, has just made the final table of WSOP Event 10! It’s a $2500 tournament that alternates between Omaha 8-or-better split and Stud 8-or-better split. Tom is a former math teacher and a mixed games expert (he’s got a win in the Stars $200 Sunday HORSE under … Read full post
Mike and Adam managed to get a 35-minute interview with Chief Operating Officer of the heretofore tight-lipped Tokwiro Enterprises, Paul Leggett, on this week’s 2+2 Pokercast. The subject, of course, was the recent cheating scandal at Ultimate Bet. I imagine these kinds of interviews, where the interviewer needs … Read full post
Cardplayer just posted a great interview with the always entertaining Tony “Bond18” Dunst. On why he enjoys being a professional poker player:
“I get to play a game all day, every day, and take any day off I want. What could be better? Last time I got a little burnt … Read full post
15K hands at -2.5 BB/100 is the short version of the story. And despite a final table appearance in an FTP $100 rebuy, I lost money on tournaments as well, thought I didn’t play that many. I very nearly rallied on the last day of the month, only to get … Read full post
It’s one of the hallmarks of the Sunday Million that interesting hands just aren’t likely to come up. This is owing both to the remarkable weak players, against whom fancy play is largely a liability, and the shallow structure, which leaves little room to maneuver. But in thinking over my … Read full post
Had my deepest run ever in the Stars Million tonight, but it still wasn’t quite good enough. After 7.5 hours, I finished 69th out of nearly 7000 runners and earned less than $2000 for my trouble. I really don’t recall any especially interesting hands, I just picked up a lot … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Thinking About Ranges, has just been published in the June issue of 2+2 Internet Magazine. Here’s a little preview:
… Read full postYour perception of an opponent’s possible holdings should influence everything from whether you bluff to how you size your value bets, sometimes in rather
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