One of my students asked me about this hand today, and I thought it was pretty interesting. My first instinct was that the check-raise was thin but good. Q8 is pretty much the top of Hero’s range here, and this looks like such a weird line that I doubt Villain … Read full post
Wicked Chops Poker is reporting that, with 2400 players left in the main event, Phil Ivey accepted a $20K wager from Andy Bloch at 99:1 that he would win the main event. Now that he’s made the final table, Bloch’s got to be sweating the $2 million loss.
My first … Read full post
Given the difficulty I’ve had recently getting heads up action, I’ve put some thought into how the risk of provoking a quit ought to factor into my decisions. It seems there are certain situations, usually winning or losing a big pot, that greatly increase the chances of an opponent quitting. … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on my recent post “You Tell Me: How’d We Do?“. I’ll address a couple of the great questions and comments here and share my own thoughts.
1. The pre-flop 3-bet. I’m certainly not doing this everytime I have J9s, but my 3-betting range … Read full post
By now, you’ve probably all heard about the arrest of prominent black academic Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in his home by a Cambridge police officer. If you haven’t, or even if you have, I suggest reading the police report. The short version is that a neighbor called the police … Read full post
Here’s a change of pace. Instead of telling you my reasoning and take on the hand (yet), I want to hear yours. What do you think of my play? What do you think of Villain’s? Obviously some streets will be more controversial than others, but I’m interested in anything and … Read full post
The tournament cold-deckings continue, with me busting the Sunday million set under set after accumulating an above average stack three hours in, losing a huge pot with set under set in the $500 WCOOP satellite (which had a remarkably small and tough field, hopefully that will change with time), and … Read full post
Villain is Matt “Mattg1983” Graham. He’s got a bracelet from the 2008 WSOP PLO $10K, but I don’t know how his PLO8 game is.
PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB (t5430)
BB (t4450)
UTG (t2960)
UTG+1 (t2520)
MP1 (t5635)
Hero … Read full post
The last two months have been pretty brutal. Certainly part of that was due to whiffing the WSOP and a few failed shots at 40/80, but even my regular games have not been going well. Unlike in past downswings, I don’t feel that I’ve experienced extraordinarily brutal luck. There were … Read full post
Maryland-based freelance reporter Bill Ordine recently penned an article for the LA Times entitled “Poker Professionals Ante Up for Charity“. While it’s primarily about high-profile projects like Ante Up for Africa and Bad Beat on Cancer, he uses yours truly as an example of smaller scale philanthropy enabled … Read full post
When I made it through to Day 3 of the WSOP, my girlfriend came out to Las Vegas to be with me. Sadly, there didn’t turn out to be much more poker to watch, so we took the next few days to travel in the area. We were in Bryce … Read full post
Ironically, after surviving two days at three tough tables playing in some cases less-than-stellar poker, I busted at a great table after a few hours where I think I was playing quite well.
The day got off to a nice start. Blinds were 600/1200/200 On the third hand, I overcalled … Read full post
Just finished up the first break of the day, Andrew is down to 26k after a couple hands didn’t get there. Table is much less intense than days 1 and 2 though, so we’ll see.
Updates on twitter fairly regularly, you can view the feed at www.twitter.com/thinkingpoker
Thanks to everyone … Read full post
First off, I want to say thanks to everyone who’s commented to wish me luck or to share intelligence. What an amazing thing that one of you is a Russian from Prague able to offer some insight into both a Czech opponent and a Russian one! I’m not going to … Read full post
Don’t recognize any names, which is a nice change of pace:
Toriani, Keith 110,200 BR224 1
Lezcano, Ed 23,900 BR224 2
Hai, Le 113,100 BR224 3
Brokos, Andrew 92,200 BR224 4
Phung, Steve 26,500 BR224 5
Bykov, Andrey 27,500 BR224 6
Pages, Fernando 87,100 BR224 7
Fiala, Miroslav 103,500 BR224 … Read full post
I did a “Turning Point” segment today with Cardplayer’s Kristy Arnett about a key hand from Day 2A of the WSOP.
Just to provide a little more detail about the hand: blinds were 300/600/75. I opened to 1500 with KJo, Luca Pagano called, Grant Levy made it 4500 on the … Read full post
It was a grueling day at what even PokerNews called the “Table of Death.” Except for the guy on my right, I probably had the worst seat at the table, too, with Luca Pagano on my immediate left and Isaac Baron to his left. There were a few other … Read full post
Andrew is actively twittering away, view notes at www.twitter.com/thinkingpoker.
He’s in decent shape, but at a tough table. The pros beat him to the dead money early on and then the 2 fish that busted were replaced by more pros.… Read full post
Ahlberg, Tom Vasa Sweden 5,200 B29 2
Boyette, Robert Archer FL 38,950 B29 7
Brokos, Andrew Catonsville MD 16,350 B29 5
De Bon, Cedric Suisse Switzerland 22,725 B29 9
Levy, Grant Sydney Australia 52,225 B29 8
Ludovic, Lacay Paris France 53,425 B29 3
Pagano, Luca Treviso Italy 40,125 B29 6… Read full post
One of my original poker buddies and his wife welcomed their first child into the world today. Picture forthcoming if I can convince his parents that it’s safe for his picture to appear on a poker blog. It’s safe to say that depending on which side he favors, he will … Read full post
Forgot to mention this with all the excitement of the WSOP, but my latest poker strategy article, Capped Ranges, is now appearing in the 2+2 Magazine. Here’s a tantalizing excerpt:
“On the turn or river, it is often possible to determine, based on how he has played on … Read full post
Andrew ended the night with 16k, I’m sure he’ll add much more detail here in the morning…
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Andrew’s at 26k at the break, one more level to go tonight, updates on twitter, general updates available on the WSOP site …
… Read full post
Andrew moved to a softer table and is up to a comfortable 45k at the dinner break.
They are only playing four 2-hour levels today, instead of the scheduled 5, so they’ll come back from dinner at a little after 6pm PST and then play until about 10:30pm with a … Read full post
Andrew is at a meh starting table with a good player on his left. For those not following the twitter, here are the updates so far:
3:35pm Fish wins huge pot off of best opponent. this is a very very good thing.
First Break- 2:15pm Just over 30K starting stack … Read full post
My girlfriend’s been working tremendously hard on a redesign of the Thinking Poker blog/website, and it’s going to be going live tomorrow. By the time many of you read this post, it may be live already, in which case, don’t panic- you’re still in the right place!
If you happen … Read full post