I’m at the card room sitting in a $1/$3 game while I wait for a seat in the $1/$3/$6 when the player on my left mutters, “What the fuck?” and turns to stare at the entrance to the poker room, … Read more…
I’m playing the Main Event Day 1B on Monday, getting into Atlantic City Sunday evening. If any readers are going to be in AC for the tournament or any other reason, drop me a line and maybe we can get … Read more…
Last weekend I played at the Aria poker room for the first time. I used to enjoy playing at the Venetian, but for a variety of reasons, not least Sheldon Adelson’s opposition to online poker, I was looking for a … Read more…
Sorry I’ve been slow in updating here. For those who didn’t see on Twitter, I busted out of the WSOP main event shortly before the dinner break on Day 2A. It was a quite uninteresting day except for the two … Read more…
I arrived in Las Vegas last night. The descent and landing were rough thanks to currents of hot air rising up from the scorching city. It was also a clear flight, though, with spectacular views of Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, … Read more…
Sorry for the long silence. It’s the same old story: too much fun in Europe, not enough time, and too many cheap vacation rentals without internet access. Hopefully I’ll have oodles of juicy WSOP content to bring you soon. A … Read more…
One year ago today, the Department of Justice unsealed its indictments against PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Ultimate Bet/Absolute Poker. It’s been a tumultuous year for me, but not necessarily a bad one. As I predicted in an article entitled … Read more…
I’m sad to say that I won’t be staying on as a member of PokerStars Team Online in 2012. It was a great honor and a great experience to be a member of the team, but so much has changed … Read more…
47 1 Rudi Vanheeswijck 34.100 47 2 Sam Greenwood 90.100 47 3 Eric Mizrachi 58.000 47 4 Andrew Brokos 38.500 47 5 Greg Gokey 31.200 47 6 Corey Burbick 50.000 47 7 Micah Smith 141.100 47 8 Maria Panyak 39.700 47 … Read more…
I took plenty of notes for a full write-up, but for now I’ll just say that we started with 30K and I finished with 38.5K. I think the average is between 50 and 60, and blinds will be 500/1000/100 on … Read more…
It’s a beautiful morning in the Bahamas. Walking around in the morning is a totally different experience, because they are empty except for some grounds crew and a few early risers such as myself. Later today there will be screaming … Read more…
Ballin’: I’m current on my way to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, where I’ll be staying for eight nights and playing in the $10,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. Anti-Ballin’: I’m bringing a small pantry with … Read more…
Today is Sunday, but I won’t be playing the Sunday Million, because I’m currently in the United States. For as long as I’ve had this blog, I’ve started every year with a series of posts about my poker-related goals and … Read more…
Awesome day today, most fun I’ve had playing poker in a while. For most of the day I shared the table with three really entertaining guys. I’m not ready to post the full trip report yet, but I told one … Read more…
I don’t have time to write a full TR this morning, but I made it through Day 2 with 128K, average is about 105K. There are like 63 players remaining with 47 paid. The field started off soft but these … Read more…
Edit: Corrected the prices below, forgot to update them when copy/pasting. Almost immediately after moving to Vancouver, I’ll be heading to Cannes for the World Series of Poker Europe, most likely just the main event. Although I never considered this … Read more…
Card Player magazine just published an interview with me for their “Capture the Flag” series. It was actually conducted soon after the WSOP, which is why there’s so much talk about that and the comparison between tournaments and cash games. … Read more…
…since moving to Canada. All because of this hand: PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (6 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com Button ($468.50) SB ($584.05) BB ($400) Hero (UTG) ($487) MP ($400) CO ($420) Preflop: Hero is UTG with … Read more…
I got to my new home in Canada about a week ago (more on that soon) but just this morning got a legit bankroll onto PokerStars, so while I’d donked around a bit in small stakes games, I was thinking … Read more…
I’m just a few days from being back in Canada and back on PokerStars and am starting to get pretty excited about the prospect, moreso now that the WCOOP tournaments are in the lobby and open for registration! Granted I … Read more…
This is an interview that I did with Railbirds.com a few hours after my elimination on Day 7. No beautiful women in this one but it is much less rushed than the others so I’m able to answer questions in … Read more…
I owe you guys an apology. After sending a mysterious tweet from the table claiming that it was “literally a miracle” that I didn’t bust on a particular Day 6 hand, I took my merry time in providing any explanation … Read more…
I started to title this blog something about getting eliminated or finishing in 53rd place but that’s an awfully pessimistic way of looking at it. I just won $160,000. I cashed in the Main Event of the World Series of … Read more…
Just a quick update to say that I survived the day with a little shy of 1.6 million chips. I think that’s a touch above average. In some ways it wasn’t a real significant day. I won a sizable pot … Read more…
Thanks to Dana Rossi for posting this in the comments. Deepak Bhatti 77,510 Pavilion / 42 / 1 Paul Farmer 77,700 Pavilion / 42 / 2 Ryan Hall 94,300 Pavilion / 42 / 3 Vladislav Varlashin 111,000 Pavilion / 42 … Read more…
Just published, thanks to Kevmath for getting this out in the Twittersphere so quickly! Sorel Mizzi 47900 – ie imperium ie famous multi-accounter and also frontrunner for last year’s player of the year Andres Rodrigues 24125 Lauchlin McKinnon 35100 Claudio … Read more…
I’m about to leave for the airport, and it occurs to me that I haven’t actually posted about my Main Event plans! I’ll be at the 2+2 party tonight and then playing my first day on July 9th, Day 1C. … Read more…
Sorry I’ve been so slow in posting this. I didn’t want to talk about this at all before everything was squared away, and then as you’ll see it ended up taking me a long time to tell the story of … Read more…
More details to follow when I finish playing, but check it:
Last week, I posted plans to play a few of the early WSOP preliminary events. I was scheduled to leave for that trip this morning. I woke up feeling miserable this morning, so much so that I didn’t feel up … Read more…
Surprise, surprise, I’m just now making plans for where I’m going to be and what I’ll be doing a few weeks from now! I’m going to the Rio for the first week of June to hit a few of the … Read more…
My father was generally the parent more interested in playing board and card games, including poker, with my brother and me, but this particular story involves my mother. I meant to post this on Mother’s Day but didn’t get around … Read more…
Andrew busted at EPT Madrid shortly after the dinner break Day 1A. I expect he’ll post a more thorough recounting tomorrow, but he did have a Spanish friend relay the busto hand info for me to share – It was … Read more…
My current 2+2 Magazine article, Gray Friday, is one of the most personal I’ve published. It’s about what was going through my head around the time of the online poker indictments and by extension a reflection on my relationship to … Read more…
I’ve made a last-minute decision to play the EPT Grand Final in Madrid. I’ll be starting Day 1A on May 7th. A friend who used to play in my old high school home game way back when is going to … Read more…
Didn’t get the table draw until the very last minute, but here it is: 1 Richard Woodall 81,000 2 Andrew Brokos 30,800 3 Mario Nagel 18,600 4 Douglas Johnson 33,000 5 George Kalaitzis 37,000 6 Mike Beasley 34,300 7 Cliff … Read more…
Day got off to a good start: I made some big hands and won some big pots during levels 1 and 2 to go on break with about 50K. I’ll post more details after the event is over but basically … Read more…
Today marks my first public appearance sporting the PokerStars Team Online patch (assuming I successfully meet up with fellow PSTO’er Kevin “WizardofAhhhs” Thurman, who is supposed to have some for me). I hopefully won’t be able to post a blog … Read more…
This is an update concerning a post I made a few weeks ago about some strange goings on in my old UB account. I requested a security audit as several people on 2+2 suggested. To their credit, UB support was … Read more…
Edit: The buy-in for the tournament will be $5+$.50. Second edit: The invite code is “foucault”, I’m told you need that join. Sorry for the confusion. Third edit: Invite code is all lowercase. I’m pleased to announce that I’m starting … Read more…
A Hungarian poker site picked up on my recent post about money disappearing from my old UB account. Curious to see what they said, our Esteemed Webmistress ran it through Google Translate. Playing around with GT is always fun, and … Read more…
I recently had an experience with Ultimate Bet that can best be described as “shady”. I don’t feel that the evidence warrants accusing them of outright theft, so I’m just going to post a factual account of what happened and … Read more…
I’m going to be hosting (and hopefully playing! fingers crossed…) the final table of the $215 Poker Stars Sunday Warm-Up today. They tell me the final table should start somewhere around 20:00 server time (which is also US Eastern Standard … Read more…
My girlfriend was kind enough to let me plan our Valentine’s Day around an interview with Mike and Adam. We spoke for a little over half an hour about all kinds of stuff: blogging, coaching, traveling, and of course strategy. … Read more…
Hi all sorry for the short notice but I’m going to be recording an interview for the 2+2 Pokercast tonight and I’d really appreciate any suggestions you have for topics we ought to discuss. Obviously we’ve got a lot of … Read more…
I’ve had an account at PokerStars for more than five years now, and though I don’t remember exactly when I created my avatar, Mr. Bananagrabber has been with me almost since the very beginning. Sadly, Arrested Development has been off … Read more…
A few weeks ago, I hinted at a big announcement. It got delayed by a few weeks, but today I am proud to announce that I will be a member of Poker Stars Team Online this year. I can honestly … Read more…
This is the fifth and final part of my Setting Effective New Year’s Resolutions for Poker Success series. If you haven’t already, please check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Today’s goals are smarter and not … Read more…
This is the third part of my Setting Effective New Year’s Resolutions for Poker Success series. If you haven’t already, please check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Goal 4: Create the Conditions for Success When I Play … Read more…
This is the third part of my Setting Effective New Year’s Resolutions for Poker Success series. If you haven’t already, please check out Part 1 and Part 2. Goal 3: Make a Name For Myself I feel like I am … Read more…
This is the second part of my Setting Effective New Year’s Resolutions for Poker Success series. You can see Part 1 here. Goal 2: Publish the Book I have a solid draft and some very good feedback. Now it’s time … Read more…
I recently posted about Setting Effective New Year’s Resolutions for Poker Success. Today, I’m going to start sharing my poker-related resolutions. Goal 1: Make Some Money Dolla dolla bills, y’all. Average At Least 20 Hours of Poker Each Week This … Read more…
Tournament Statistics Certainly an above average year in tournaments, with an FTOPS win, a WCOOP final table, a SCOOP final table bubble, and a top 100 finish in the WSOP Main Event. No room to complain about anything here. My … Read more…
Thanks to everyone who submitted their favorite organizations for the Cheque-Raising for Charity project. If you haven’t already, please consider making a charitable donation before the end of the year. You may choose to give to one of these organizations … Read more…
It’s been a while, but with only one month left in the year, it’s time to assess my progress on my goals for the year and consider how I should allocate my remaining time. Goal 1: Average 15 Hours/Week Playing … Read more…
…and it isn’t me. Or you. Unless Jonathan Duhamel is reading this, in which case, congratulations, bro! In honor of the event’s conclusion, we’ve now got up a page with links to my 2010 WSOP trip report plus interviews and … Read more…
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 … Read more…
Sorry I’ve been slow in getting the link up, but I was actually on the ESPN WSOP broadcast again the week after the clip I already posted. The hand is around the 12:00 mark in this clip. It’s Eric Baldwin … Read more…
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 … Read more…
As I predicted, my huge post-flop coin flip against David Baker made Tuesday’s ESPN broadcast. I’m pretty happy with how I came off, though I wish I hadn’t been calling for cards. I don’t ordinarily do that, but when the … Read more…
Boston-based poker radio show House of Cards recently aired an interview with me that was recorded not long after my exit from the WSOP Main Event. The host of the show, Ashley Adams, is actually a union negotiator who works … Read more…
Here’s a sad but humorous exchange I had with FTP support today. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure I would have folded the river anyway, though that’s hardly the point: I just played a hand in the $1000 NLHE … Read more…
I don’t know how many of you will find this relevant, but for what it’s worth, several of my articles are now available in Russian at a site called Poker Moscow. Even if you don’t speak Russian, it’s worth a … Read more…
Thanks to everyone who’s asked how the series is going for me or what my WSOP plans are- I’m flattered by your interest. As you’ve probably figured out, I’m not in Las Vegas now. I will be playing the main … Read more…
The first in a series of four videos reviewing my play at the final table of the FTOPS $2K event that I won has just been posted on Poker Savvy Plus. The video contains a lot of insight into managing … Read more…
This is a very thin river shove to begin with. It’s not that Villain is all that likely to hold better, but it’s also hard to see him paying off with worse. My hand looks very strong here and could … Read more…