WCOOP Day 14 ($530 Progressive Knockout and $215 6-Max Rebuy)

I slept poorly on Thursday night, probably a combination of adrenaline from making a significant final table with drinking caffeine later than usual (because of the final table) and replaying (ok, beating myself up over) some key hands in my head. I hadn’t planned to take Friday off, but the … Read full post

WCOOP Day 10 ($530 NLHE and $215 6-Max Zoom)

Mont Tremblant

I took Tuesday as a proper vacation day. Emily and I drove to Mont Tremblant, a ski resort about 45 minutes north of where we’re staying, to hike and get dinner. It was a nice drive deeper into the mountains, with the leaves already beginning to turn. Resorts aren’t really … Read full post

WCOOP Day 9 ($215 Progressive KO)

I’d considered taking Monday off, but I was in the mood to play and I planned to take Tuesday off, so I went ahead and played. Nothing too eventful – this was probably the most interesting pot. Don’t think I could have won more than I did. Villain probably ought … Read full post

WCOOP Day 8 ($215 rebuy, $530 NLHE)

This was the second Sunday of WCOOP. There was actually a $1050 6-max that I ended up skipping. It started several hours earlier than everything else I wanted to play, and it didn’t seem quite good enough to build my entire schedule around. Sundays are (hopefully) long days already, and … Read full post

WCOOP Day 7 ($500 Win the Button and $215 NLHE)

Friday the 8th was an off day for me. I ran some errands and also went for another ride on the P’tit Train du Nord bike path. The weather was gray and intermittently rainy, as it had been since our arrival. It seemed like I had timed my ride for … Read full post

WCOOP Day 5 ($500 Progressive Knockout)

C'est La Vie cafe

Yes, I’m behind. And there’s no Day 4 because I took Wednesday off. So here we are.

The day off (it wasn’t a proper day off, as I did do some studying, but no playing) was nice. Emily and I had brunch at a cafe in the nearby town of … Read full post

WCOOP Day 2 ($215 PLO 6-Max, $1050 PKO, $530 8-max NLHE)

Emily and I did some extensive grocery shopping in the morning, returning in just enough time for me to squeeze in a quick workout before the start of the $1050 Progressive Knock-Out. I late registered the $215 PLO around the same time. I’m barely competent at PLO, but I do … Read full post

WCOOP Day 1 ($200 NLHE, $1000 NLHE, $500 6max PKO)

I’m once again in Quebec for the World Championship of Online Poker. This year, though, Emily is with me, and instead of Montreal, we’re in the Mont-Tremblant region, which is a sort of resort area in the mountains west of Quebec. We took a few days to drive up from … Read full post

Head Hunting

My latest poker strategy article, Head Hunting, is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine. It’s an attempt to, not solve, but build some intuition around how to value bounties in knock-out tournaments.

The trickiest problem of all is that you can only collect bounties if you have more chips than

… Read full post

Selling WSOP Main Event Shares

Edit: Sold out.

I’m selling action in the WSOP Main Event, in increments of 1% or 5%. Mark-up is 2.0 for increments of 1% ($200 each), or 1.8 for increments of 5% ($900 each). These prices are based on what my action sold at in last year’s auction. My goal … Read full post

WSOP Anxiety Dream

This is my twelfth World Series of Poker, and the first for which I will be in Las Vegas for the duration of the Series (actually, I was a day late due to illness, but I’m going to count it!).

For the first time in a while, my girlfriend is … Read full post

Nitcast Meet-Up! With T-Shirts!

I Heart Carlos... but not enough to pay for two colors!

This year’s WSOP Nitcast Meet-Up will be at the Gold Coast bowling alley from 10AM until at least Noon on Saturday, July 8 (Day 1A of the Main Event). You’re welcome to hang out for two hours or just stop in and say hello to Andrew, some past guests, and … Read full post

Games With Kids

My latest poker strategy article, Games With Kids, is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine. It’s on a subject I’ve discussed before on the podcast, playing games with my cousin’s three young sons. This article recounts a few specific stories and reflects on some of the things I’ve learned from … Read full post

Learning to Spot and Use Poker Tells

Exploiting Poker Tells

To stay competitive in poker, you must constantly be learning and improving. Of all the things I’ve learned about poker in the last few years, I don’t think any has made me as much money as learning to pay attention to and exploit live tells, the things that people say … Read full post

Second in the WPTDS $570

There’s a World Poker Tour Deep Stacks series running at Maryland Live right now, and last night I managed to take second in one of the prelim events, a $570 multi-flight NLHE tournament. This was despite a shaky start where a questionable (Who am I kidding? There’s no question about … Read full post

A Thin Shove

My latest poker strategy article, A Thin Shove, is now appearing in Two Plus Two Magazine. It covers in great detail a large pot that I briefly mentioned on Twitter, in which I won a big pot by three-betting TT and then going bet-bet-shove with an overpair after the … Read full post

Battling DeepStack

Nate and I had the great privilege of participating in the premiere broadcast of a series of matches between DeepStack, a state-of-the-art heads up no-limit hold ’em Artificial Intelligence, and human professionals. We found DeepStack to be a really tough competitor that left us questioning our play in both large … Read full post

Suicide Shove

This is the “absurd” hand I referenced on Twitter yesterday. I want to be clear that I’m not posting this as an example of a hand that seems bad but I think is actually good. It was a badly played hand, I don’t have any delusions about that. I do … Read full post

Shove River?

I never just post hands any more! I am curious in your feedback, but I don’t have a lot more to say about the hand myself, so I’m not going to construct it as a What’s Your Play? But here’s the situation:

Playing $2/$5 NL. Effective stack $600. Villain is … Read full post

What’s Your Play? Facing an Overbet on River

Playing a 9-handed 5/10 game last week at Bellagio, effective stacks $1500. Decent recreational player opens to $40 UTG+2, mediocre pro calls MP, good pro calls HJ, I call with 9s 8d (Edit: added suited to clarify that I don’t have a heart) on Button (a little questionable, but can’t … Read full post

Meet and Learn From Us in NYC!

Nate Meyvis and I will be co-hosting, along with the guys from Just Hands Poker, an event in the New York City area March 25th and 26th. Admission will include a meet-and-greet, a meal, a four-hour deep-stacked $1/$2 cash game session, and a video of us commenting on the … Read full post

Free Poker Strategy Video With Jamie Kerstetter

Below you’ll find nearly a full hour of high-quality tournament poker strategy, a combination of hand review and general strategy talk. Best of all, one of the participants is the always-delightful Jamie Kerstetter, so you’re bound to get a few laughs as you learn. If you enjoy listening to her, … Read full post

We Need YOU – For Episode 200!

The 200th episode of the Thinking Poker Podcast is fast approaching! As part of the celebration, we’d love to get some thoughts or anecdotes from listeners like you. Which was your favorite episode and why? Do you remember being surprised by something you learned about one of our guests? Has … Read full post