Archive for June 1st, 2009

Congratulations to Poker Savvy’s Dani “Ansky” Stern, who finished fourth for better than half a million dollars in the special $40K NLHE WSOP anniversary event. I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t even realize he was at the final table. I’d looked at an article about the final table that didn’t mention him and never looked into it any further.

The field featured 201 players, including most of the best in the world, and the final table definitely represented that. Dani had to tangle with the likes of Ted Forrest, Greg Raymer, Justin Bonomo, Alec Torelli, and former Poker Savvy pro Isaac Haxton, who finished second to eventual winner Vitaly Lunkin.

Congratulations Dani!

My latest poker strategy articles, Debunking Myths About Implied Odds, has just been published in the June 2009 issue of 2+2 Magazine. The article explores one of the most important and misunderstood concepts in big bet poker:

“Calling a late position raise with a suited connector when you have the button is a good example [of implied odds that don't depend on making a strong hand]. Since the pre-flop raiser probably has a wide and not particularly strong range, you can’t count on winning a big pot on the rare occasions that you make two pair or better. Because his range is so wide, though, you will often be able to steal the pot when you flop a weak draw or even a scary board texture. Whether you want to call it implied odds, bluff equity, or something else, this is as much a justification for taking slightly the worst of it on an early street as is drawing at a monster hand.”

Read more about this and other misunderstood aspects of implied odds in the 2+2 Magazine!