Although I didn’t play any poker on Thursday either, Saturday actually felt more like a proper birthday celebration. I’ve got this friend Luis who lives in Montreal, with whom I’ve always met up once or twice whenever I was in … Read more…
My birthday always falls during WCOOP, so it’s been a long time since I took it as a vacation day. But this year’s events felt more skippable than usual (the only thing I was really tempted to play was the … Read more…
I know it’s been a while, but I’m so close to finishing this review I figure I might as well go the distance. The only WCOOP event I played on this particular Wednesday was the $500 6-Max Progressive Knock-Out. I … Read more…
There was a $2100 Super Tuesday WCOOP, but I ended up not playing because I began my session at 7AM with the $215 6-Max Rebuy, and because other things were going well, I’d been playing straight through from then until … Read more…
Monday was going to be a day off, but since I was going to be playing Day 2 of the $109 anyway, I decided to reg a few other tournaments, including the $530 NLHE WCOOP. That one got off to … Read more…
I planned my schedule around the $2K (naturally), so I registered the warm-up quite late. That gave me time to go for a bike ride and a pastry in town before starting work for the day. I got off to … Read more…
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 … Read more…
I was excited for the $215 6-max that started at 10AM. Most of the short-handed events so far in the series had been higher buy-ins, and I was looking forward to the opportunity to play short with some weaker players. … Read more…
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, … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
The $215 rebuy started with a bang, as I got all in on the flop on the very first hand holding KJ vs QJ on JJT, only to get rivered for a stack. Not really a big deal, it was … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
Sorry but we don’t have a new podcast episode this week. That’s mostly due to my being busy with WCOOP stuff, so we should be able to get a show ready for next week. I wanted to share a hand … Read more…
I was hoping to post more hands during WCOOP, but detailed write-ups just aren’t what I’m in the mood for after a long day of playing. So, I’m going to start posting some hands without a lot of commentary. I … Read more…
This was a fun tournament and a great value. My starting table was amazing, and I managed to nearly double up with a set in the first few orbits. I was particularly proud of myself for not making a mistake … Read more…
I got off to a good start in this tournament, doubling through (but not quite stacking, and therefore not winning a bounty from, a tough player on my right). I tanked a bit on the river decision, even though I … Read more…
My second event of the 2016 World Series of Poker was the $1000 No-Limit Hold ‘Em. With just 100 big blinds to start, this tournament goes quick, which makes it great for the hourly rate but not particularly interesting, poker-wise … Read more…
I’m in Las Vegas! I arrived Thursday night and played my first event, the Monster Stack, on Friday morning. It was great starting with 300BBs and the value was clear to see, but unfortunately I took a big hit early … Read more…
Sorry I haven’t posted any Main Event updates. First I was competing, then I was apoplectic. I’ll start with the good news: Carlos Welch, Nate Meyvis, and Leo Wolpert all squeaked into the money but did not survive Day 3. … Read more…
The most exciting news of the day comes to us from Carlos, who reports: So I bust the PH 200K and at the last minute, a friend from back home hits me up to late reg the Monster. I rush … Read more…
Sorry gang, but will all the poker I’ve been playing, I haven’t been around at our usual recording times, and we don’t have a show for you this week. I will, however, present a few hands from yesterday’s $1500 NLHE … Read more…
Delightful little tournament. As in the Millionaire Maker the day before, I found plenty of good spots in a short amount of time and finished with time left over to play cash. The table was, perhaps not quite as good … Read more…
Today went pretty much perfectly. I had an amazing table draw in the Millionaire Maker, put my money in good several times, busted in just a few hours, got a seat in 10/25 game, won back my MM entry and … Read more…
Man ten-handed, short-stacked poker is the nut low, but at the same time it’s plain to see how much value there is in this tournament. Our discussion on the latest podcast makes me tempted to just go play something I’ll … Read more…
I just finished 120th in this, out of 1600 or so. It was a fun and interesting tournament, and I want to share a few hands here while they’re still on my mind: Facing a Donk Bet I opened 2.5x … Read more…
The first High event I played was the $2K 8-max. I once again found myself bet-folding a strong hand on the river to a strange raise that represented only an improbable value hand or even more improbable bluff: PokerStars – … Read more…
As much as I like Zoom tournaments, I needed a day off, and Friday was it. I spent a good chunk of the day at the Chun-Yet Sen Classical Garden. It proved not only interesting and beautiful but also the … Read more…
The High event I planned to play on Wednesday was the $2K re-entry. As with several of the other mid-week $2Ks, though, it was shaping up to be a small and tough field. The re-entries really compound that, because the … Read more…
I got off to a bad start in this tournament and didn’t recover in time to survive a lost coin flip, but there was at least one interesting pot. My river bet here is about 1.5x pot. This is a somewhat … Read more…
The Day 2 restart for the $2000 Sunday Million (you can find Day 1 hands here) started at 11:30, so my plan was to sleep in, make breakfast, take a walk, pick up something for lunch, and then late register … Read more…
The day started off not much differently from the last. I busted the $2K Warm-Up with Queens on the big blind versus Aces on the button, though with 100 BBs there was once again some question as to whether I … Read more…
Today was the most frustrating day I’ve had so far, though I suppose that’s in part because it comes on the backs of several other frustrating days. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, because I know I’ve … Read more…
I intended to play the $1K Big Antes event as well, but I didn’t realize (or more precisely, had forgotten) that it was a rebuy. Initially I thought that I hadn’t presented it as such to my investors, and consequently … Read more…
I’ve made a few attempts to study this game and talked it over with some intelligent people (most notably on Episode 58 of the podcast), but I’ll admit that I’m still not as certain as I’d like to be about … Read more…
I didn’t post yesterday because nothing much of interest happened in the Super Tuesday, and I didn’t want to bump the new podcast off of the top slot on the blog. Speaking of which, if you skipped it because you … Read more…
I decided to unregister the Low buy-in heads up event, because heads up really isn’t a game I can autopilot in the corner of my screen the way I’ve generally been doing with the Low events, and I didn’t want … Read more…
As I now live on the west coast, I decided to do Vancouver instead of Montreal for my online pokering. I’ve barely been here 24 hours, and the weather has been beautiful, but I do miss the familiarity I have … Read more…
I made a pretty bad fold last night. I’m more than a bit embarrassed to post it, and I’ll just ask that those of you not familiar with the sort of game/player described here hold your judgment. I promise you … Read more…
$5/$10/$20 game with $2500 stacks. UTG2 opens to $60, gets four calls, I call with 85s in the BB. Flop A85r (no backdoor for me), checks to the second caller, who bets $170. I call, everyone else folds. Turn A. … Read more…
Villain joined the game around 5PM and immediately ordered a beer and a double shot of Petron, which made me happy to have him on my immediate right. He was a typical splashy recreational player, limping into a lot of … Read more…
A few people asked about this pot after I bragged about it on Twitter, so here it is, pretty sure it’s the largest pot I’ve won at $5/$10 (not counting straddled pots). I’ll talk about some of the more unconventional … Read more…
After a great series, the Main Event was a real disappointment. I cashed in 14 of the 40 preliminary WCOOP events that I played, and although I didn’t have any especially deep runs, I felt good about putting myself in … Read more…
Disclaimer: Just a reminder that I am a decidedly non-expert Razz player, so take this post as my attempting to muddle through a somewhat unfamiliar game with my general poker knowledge rather than a confident statement of sound Razz strategy. … Read more…
I made Day 2 of the $200 Sunday Warm-Up WCOOP, which, with only 109 of 8000+ entrants making it even that far, was an achievement in its own right. My hopes weren’t especially up, as I was one of the … Read more…
I’m often asked about donk betting or when to take the initiative away from an opponent who’s been betting or raising. My usual answer is that you should bet when you have reason to think your opponent is unlikely to … Read more…
This was from the $215 rebuy WCOOP. Villain is a Zoom regular, we’ve played a few hundred hands together there and I think he’s pretty good. I imagine he has some respect for me as well. PokerStars – $200+$15|60/120 Ante … Read more…
I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve called with a bluff-catcher and lost to a hand my opponent thought he was bluffing with. I’ve been on the good end of such situations a bit more often, … Read more…
This is from the $215 4-max WCOOP event. Villain is Chris Moorman. In my experience, this sort of “blatant” continuation betting tends to provoke LAGs, because they want to be the ones picking up all of the pots where no … Read more…
This is probably the dumbest thing I’ve done all WCOOP. Villain is Pascal Lefrancois. I don’t know much about him except that he’s very good. This is just a classic example of what not to do when you have a … Read more…
I’m too tired to try to pick out the most interesting hand of the tournament, so here’s the one I busted on. I’d be curious to hear from those who know more about this game whether I might be better … Read more…
The Stud/8 situations I find most interesting are often those where you have what looks like a low hand but is actually a high hand or vice versa. I’ll post the hand first then say a few things about it: … Read more…
This is something I do sometimes. There are often exploitive reasons for it, but I do also think it’s good to be capable of making a flush on the turn when you check back the flop. This hand from the … Read more…
I got the WCOOP off to a decent start today, ultimately busting Event 1 ($109 full ring NLHE) and Event 3 ($215 Sunday Million replacement) on coin flips and min-cashing Event 2 ($215 6-handed). Early in Event 2 I made … Read more…
Act One: They Meet One of the first hands I saw when I sat down at the 5/10 game was this guy (“Villain”, hereafter) 4-bet-jamming 54 (no draw) on a 9h 7h 4s flop. He actually won a “flip” against … Read more…
Sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve just been playing all day every day, but I’ve decided to take today off so here’s the rundown: Monday I played all three of the Action Hour tournaments. For those who don’t know, … Read more…
There were a lot of interesting hands from this, more than I have time to post here (keep an eye out, though, TPE members!). This was probably the most critical. Thanks to more than a bit of good luck, I’d … Read more…
On Friday nights, when there’s generally a bigger-than-usual hold ’em game at my local casino, they also get some PLO action going, which is nice because sitting in a $1/$3 PLO game while I wait for a seat is a … Read more…
Sorry I’ve been so long in getting this up. A lot of people expressed interest in it after I posted about Day 1, which I appreciate. My Day 2 starting table was probably above average. It featured Harrison Gimbel (youngest … Read more…
I’m skipping ahead a bit in time here in my chronicling of Carlos’ and my trip to AC, but there are a few of you with a financial interest in this, so I figured you’d want to know how it’s … Read more…
Notice that I begin this hand with about 21 BBs. I’d often 3-bet larger than this from out of position, but here I’m not that worried about pricing something in. There aren’t many hands that can take advantage of those … Read more…
Thanks to everyone who commented on my first WCOOP review hand. Among other things, it helps me realize how the hand looks to people who don’t already know the results (though some of you probably assumed them from the way, … Read more…
I’m reviewing my play in the WCOOP and figured I’d bring you all into the conversation for a few of these spots. This one was from a $200 6-max, I’d been at the table less than an orbit so no … Read more…
I left Vegas a week ago, but that week has been even more hectic than the weeks I was in Vegas, so I’m just now getting back to my tournament write-ups: I arrived at the Venetian DSE area, which is … Read more…