In the last three years, Thinking Poker listeners have raised more than $25,000 for the Bay Area Urban Debate League. I’d love to set a new record this year, and to make that happen, I’ve got a special reward exclusively … Read more…
Happy Thanksgiving! As those of you who follow me on Twitter know, I’m currently in Big Bend National Park, which is one of the more remote parts of the continental United States. Not a whole lot of internets down here. … Read more…
As I did last year, I’m once again raising money this holiday season for the Bay Area Urban Debate League, a non-profit organization I’m deeply involved with as a Board member, volunteer, and donor. Debating in high school and college changed … Read more…
I’ve mentioned my cousin’s family a few times, here and on the podcast. I believe their first blog appearance was at the start of my road trip to Las Vegas in 2013, with the most notable being the 2014 Las … Read more…
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” That’s something my girlfriend repeats often; a quick googling attributes it to Jim Rohn, a “motivational speaker and self help guru”. Human beings are social creatures, and we … Read more…
As reported on last week’s podcast, I’m part of an end-of-the-year fundraising drive for the Bay Area Urban Debate League, a non-profit organization I’m deeply involved with here in the Bay Area. Debating in high school and college changed my … Read more…
Hello dear readers! I’m writing today to ask for thoughts and advice. I want to go abroad next month to play the WCOOP, and I’m thinking of going somewhere other than Canada. Nico and his flatmate Soeren have actually invited … Read more…
This is a conclusion of a series of posts that starts here with an introduction to who these people are and why I’m driving to Las Vegas with them. Objective: Drop me off in Las Vegas. Optional: Continue on to … Read more…
Objectives: Spend the day in Zion National Park! Complete an appropriately challenging family-friendly hike, swim in the Virgin River, and get back to the campground before the gate closes at 9PM. The Emerald Pools After five days of heavy driving, … Read more…
Objective: Drive approximately 8 hours from our campground near Golden, CO to the vicinity of Zion National Park. Find a place to camp on near the park. Optional: Find a place to swim. I woke around 3:30AM. Despite the fact … Read more…
This is a continuation of a series of posts that starts here with an introduction to who these people are and why I’m driving to Las Vegas with them. Objective: Drive approximately five hours from Hays, Kansas to a campground … Read more…
Objective: Drive about seven hours and camp at Kanopolis State Park in Western Kansas. I woke around 6AM to find Jerica and Henry freshly showered and packing their things. A quick count confirmed that everyone was still alive and well, … Read more…
Objectives: Drive approximately seven hours from Pittsburgh to Hoosier National Forest, where we’d camp for the night. An Early Morning Upon telling people about this trip, Jerica and I were both bombarded with advice about long drives with kids. Much … Read more…
Objectives: Finish Packing. Retrieve Rental Car. Drive to Pittsburgh. Keep kids out of apartment during my walkthrough with landlord. “Camp” in my empty apartment. If you don’t know what I’m talking about or who these people are, see this post. … Read more…
It’s been a hectic few days. I wish I had more time to share some of the craziness with you, but the truth is that I’m not at all prepared for the Vegas road trip on which I’m about to … Read more…
I’ve driven from the east coast to Las Vegas several times, including in 2007 and 2013, but this year is going to be different. In the past, my girlfriend was my only companion. This year, I’ll have three children under the age … Read more…
Starring Thinking Poker Podcast guests and regular contributors Breyer, Carlos Welch, Keone Young, and Piefarmer:
The thing that tilts me the most these days is when terrible-for-the-game sour-faced nits get way more action than they “deserve” with their monster hands. I posted a few weeks ago a hand where I stacked off with QQ against … Read more…
In February of 2011, after a year and a half without a permanent residence, I began thinking of settling somewhere again. My girlfriend and I returned to Boston, where we’d lived for five years, where my poker career had blossomed, … Read more…
After the boys went to sleep, Carlos and I stayed up well into in the night talking with my cousin. As I suspected, he and Carlos hit it off well. Both share a desire to live frugally and thereby give … Read more…
If you’re in or around Atlantic City this weekend, don’t forget to join Carlos, Sean, and me in the Borgata cafeteria tomorrow. We’ll be there 10AM – Noon: https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2013/10/atlantic-city-nitcast-meet-up-november-23/ I picked Carlos up at the airport, and with a few hours … Read more…
Credit goes to my girlfriend for both the idea and the execution (and the photo, for that matter). You can’t really see it in this picture, but in dim lighting I looked pretty damn old. Edit: Shrunk picture to fit … Read more…
Last month, I visited the national memorial at the site where Flight 93, intended to fly into the US Capitol Building, crashed. There’s nothing to see, really, except for what has been built there. You have to know what you’re … Read more…
About three months ago, my girlfriend and I left Baltimore driving west. My destination was Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, hers Austin, Texas where she’d be working for the summer. I documented that trip here and was … Read more…
If you listened to Episode 34 of the Thinking Poker Podcast, then you know that Gareth Chantler was in Istanbul during the recent protests in Taksim Square. The following is a guest post by Gareth about the experience. He didn’t … Read more…
On Wednesday morning we drove down the mesa and set off into the Arizona desert bound for Flagstaff. The way this road switchbacks through the canyons is really something and makes for some extraordinary views: Though long, hot, and largely … Read more…
My original plan for this point in the trip was to catch a flight to Vegas while Emily continued on alone, stopping at several national parks before reaching Austin. This would have put me in Las Vegas in time for … Read more…
With the luxury of a house and a driveway, we took some time Sunday morning to rearrange the car a bit make sure things were packed up right. We don’t exactly travel light on these road trips, and keeping the … Read more…
Sorry, despite my valiant efforts to keep up, this blog is a few days behind my actual progress. I arrived in Las Vegas last night and am playing my first WSOP event, the $1500 6-max, today at Noon. Now back … Read more…
Thursday began with the Truman Presidential Library and Museum. Though head and shoulders above the Lincoln one, it still wasn’t as good as some others we’ve visited, especially the Johnson and Eisenhower Museums. It was more broad historical information about … Read more…
With a lot to see on Wednesday, we got an early start. The Illinois statehouse was the first stop. Of all the statehouses we’ve visited, which is well over half of them, we found Illinois’ to be among the most … Read more…
Tuesday morning came on bright and sunny, with barely a cloud in sight. Even the ground wasn’t as wet as we expected – it was almost as though the storm had simply been a bad dream. Drying off the tent … Read more…
We woke to a foggy, humid Monday. Columbus, Ohio was our first stop. Emily is into government and politics, and she used to work at the Massachusetts state house, so we try to visit state capitols when we travel. With … Read more…
My cousin‘s oldest son was the first person awake on Sunday morning, and when he accepted that his parents weren’t ready to get out of bed yet, he came out to wake my girlfriend and me. We played with him … Read more…
I’m getting pretty pumped for a full summer in Las Vegas! My girlfriend will be working in Austin, Texas, so we’re driving across the country together. She and I are both from the same suburb of Baltimore, and our journey … Read more…
It’s not unheard of for me to dream about poker, particularly if I go to bed shortly after ending a session or am still mulling over a hand when I go to sleep. This was the first time I’d ever … Read more…
I suppose the Atlantis resort is an appropriate place for a poker tournament, because the whole place is built on value betting the shit out of rich fish. Everywhere the trappings of luxury convince people to fork over absurd sums … Read more…
Sorry for the lack of updates – holidays and such, you know. It’s going to continue to be spotty through mid-January, as I’ve got a guest visiting for the next few days, then I’ll be visiting friends for a few … Read more…
Nate and my recent conversation with Gareth Chantler inspired me to continue chronicling here my travels in Europe earlier this year. When last we left off, Emily and I were in Paris. Our next destination was Munich, but I think we … Read more…
I think my jack-o-lantern looks cool, but not quite like the image I was going for. I did a better job of that last year. Try to figure it out, but if you’re still uncertain, you can click here. Emily’s … Read more…
Liesse We took a bus to the Keukenhoff with the intention of visiting the world-famous tulip garden. Before going in, however, we rented bikes intending to spend an hour or two riding around the nearby tulip fields, but we ended … Read more…
I enjoyed meeting all of the other Team Online members at the PCA this year, but Richard “Tzen1” Veenman was one of my favorites. As you might imagine, these grinders were not the most extroverted bunch. It generally fell either … Read more…
This is another photo dump/trip report from my travels in Europe. If you didn’t like the last one, you’ll probably want to skip this one too. Emily and I were already planning to be in Amsterdam for the entirety of … Read more…
This is going to be a blockbuster photo dump without too much commentary and with zero (well, almost zero) poker content. If you don’t give two shits what some guy you don’t know is doing on his vacation, then you … Read more…
The weather in Berlin looked iffy, but after nearly an hour on the train to Oranienburg, the sun was shining and the sky was a clear and beautiful blue. Foregoing the bus, we had a nice stroll of about 1.5 … Read more…
When I first posted our tentative Europe itinerary, a lot of people questioned why we were spending so much time in Amsterdam. Well, there are only so many countries from which one can easily play on PokerStars.com, and we found … Read more…
Part of the impetus for Emily’s and my Europe trip is a friend’s wedding, to be held this June in a small town in Germany called Diez. Since we needed to bring formal wear for that anyway, we decided to … Read more…
Despite my previous rant about the tourist’s dilemma, Emily and I did do a few more classically tourist things in Prague, like the castle, the Charles Bridge, and the St. Vitus Cathedral. Even at the opera, the audience seemed to … Read more…
Easter is a beautiful time to be in Prague, except for the weather. On Easter Sunday, temperatures dipped below freezing, but the atmosphere was otherwise festive. In public squares around the city, vendors set up stalls for weeks-long Easter markets … Read more…
…because I am lost! Actually I’m just trying to find a restaurant near the Frankfurt train station. We found it, but it was closed, so we ate cold sandwiches sitting on the floor of the train station. Yummy!
My girlfriend and I have been without a permanent residence since September 2009. First we were drifting around the continental United States. More recently, we were in Canada. Now, we’re going to Europe. I’ll be playing some poker, both live … Read more…
My girlfriend and I went to a farm today with our friend Sukaina and her two sons, Zain and Kyrus. Sukaina, as you might guess, is of South Asian ancestry, but her husband is a pasty white guy not unlike … Read more…
This is the conclusion of a trip report, the first part of which can be found here, from a high school debate tournament at which I recently volunteered. I founded the Boston Debate League in 2005 to bring competitive extracurricular … Read more…
Sorry for the recent silence – I was in Boston over the weekend running a debate tournament for the Boston Debate League. I don’t have a WYP for this week, so instead please enjoy this Trip Report which hopefully will … Read more…
I had a bit of a rude surprise when checking out of my room this morning. Apparently my hotel package did not actually include the $1000 non-refundable folio that I thought it did, and on which basis I purchased a … Read more…
My PCA package includes a $1000 folio for charging expenses to the room, and unlike the last time I was here, when I pocketed more than $500, it’s not refundable. Because I brought my own food, I found myself this … Read more…
As part of their 10th anniversary celebration, PokerStars asked their sponsored players for our early memories of playing on the site. You can find out how I got started on PokerStars in my recent piece for the PokerStars blog: PokerStars … Read more…
I don’t play pit games, I don’t go to strip clubs, and I don’t get table service at Las Vegas nightclubs. Whole Foods is my leak. Last night I was there for the second time in two days. My girlfriend … Read more…
Just carved this today and wanted to take a picture at night, so I guess most of you won’t see it until after Halloween, but it’s the post date that counts! Speaking of Halloweeny things that are worth doing well … Read more…
Cheers to Jason at the Bluebird Microcreamery in Seattle’s Capitol Hill district! He saw my tweet about how I had a few hours to kill in Seattle and invited me out to the shop where he hooked me up with … Read more…
After a low-key Friday night, Nico and I resolved to live it up on my last night in Madrid. We started off having dinner and watching the Barcelona-Seville game at a restaurant/bar across the street from his apartment. It was … Read more…
My flight from Madrid back to North America includes an overnight layover in Paris. I get in at 11:10 PM and don’t leave until 10:30 AM. Obviously it’s an awkward time to see the city, but ideally I’d like to … Read more…
We left Cannes yesterday and drove to Barcelona where we saw an FC Barcelona game and spent the night with a friend of Nico’s. She’s at work and Nico’s in the shower now, so it’s just me hanging out with … Read more…
The rest of the trip report will have to wait until the next 2+2 Magazine, but here’s a little write-up from the WSOPE party, which proved pretty amusing: The night before the start of the main event, the WSOP hosted … Read more…
After all the hassle, the money did successfully make it to Cannes, so I am all bought in and ready to go! Play starts in a little over two hours, but I´m already having a great trip and have the … Read more…
Sorry I haven’t posted much this week, it’s been busy with moving from Canmore to Vancouver and sorting out logistics for the WSOP Europe. The good news is that I got to spend the night at the mansion occupied by … Read more…