Another Boat on Board

Following hot on the heels of last week’s “What’s Your Play?”, here’s another hand where there’s a full house on the board and I beat it. This time I did go for the overbet just because in this case my range looks a lot stronger and my opponent … Read full post

Tournament Overbet Bluff

Second hand of the Stars $300. I figured I was going to take it easily on the turn because there just aren’t strong hands in BB’s range. I figure randoms raise 2-pair on the flop like 80% of the time at least, and he’s not checking AA/JJ preflop. By the … Read full post

Droid X

I finally got around to buying a new phone today, after having run out my contract with Sprint months ago. I’d been wavering between a Droid and an Iphone for a while, and then Full Tilt went and made the decision for me by releasing a Beta version of Rush … Read full post

Another Tight Fold

You guys put me in my place earlier this week, so let’s see what you think of this one. All of the Villains, but especially the big blind, are among the tighter and more straight-forward regulars who play in this game.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (7 handed) – … Read full post

Big Game Theory

A friend recently sent me a link to an article entitled “Big Game Theory” in Discover magazine. It’s about the phenomenon of physicists getting interested in, and having success at, poker. Author Jennifer Oullette cites Michael Binger, Michael Piper, Liv Boeree, and Marcel Vonk as examples and offers … Read full post

Visualizing An Opponent’s Range

A lot of you probably get these “pro tip” e-mails from Full Tilt from time to time. I’ve glanced at a few and they were always very rudimentary and sometimes wrong. The title of this one caught my eye, though, and while it’s not a very sophisticated concept, it’s well-executed:… Read full post

Bluffs vs. Value Bets

Someone e-mailed me this question recently, and as I began to compose an answer, it occurred to me that it could make for an interesting blog post:

Recently a friend of mine and I were batting around a question about the pros.

Essentially it came down to this:
“Do pros

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Big Laydown?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1703)
BB ($743.05)
UTG ($600)
MP ($201.05)
Hero (Button) ($609)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 7, 7
UTG bets $18, 1 fold, Hero calls $18, 1 fold, BB calls $12

FlopRead full post

Overbet Bluff

I tried to play some small stakes games while taking Amtrak from Boston to New York yesterday. There were too many tunnels for the aircard to be reliable, but I played this hand before giving up on it.

I was going to check-shove the turn. When Villain didn’t bet turn, … Read full post

The R4v3n

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Life’s been hectic in both good and bad ways. Some friends from college were visiting us in Portland over the weekend, which kept us busy but was a blast. I’m about to fly to Boston for a funeral this weekend, though. A long-standing … Read full post

Book Review: Harrington on Online Cash Games

I’ve just finished reading and reviewing Harrington on Online Cash Games, certainly one of the most anticipated poker books of the year. Here’s the two-minute version:

HOCG is the single best resource I’ve seen for anyone just starting out online or still learning to beat the microstakes games (i.e. stakes

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Focus

In theory, you ought to be wholly focused on the table(s) when you are playing poker. Even online, there are so many little things to pay attention to that can help you make better decisions in future hands. Who hasn’t raised from late position in a while? Who makes thin … Read full post

Attachment

Following my 3rd place WCOOP finish, someone commented, “Congratulations on the win. Seems a little weird though that you have your best day ever and your just kind of meh. You should look into that.”

In fact, I was mostly proud of myself for the even-keeled way in which … Read full post