Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Marketing Manager of the World Poker Tour Matt Clark joins us to discuss the past and future of marketing poker to the masses.
The book Matt recommended is Strokes of Genius. You can follow him on Twitter.
You can
Now through the end of 2018, I’m offering 25% off custom strategy videos when you purchase two hours or more. That’s two hours for just $150!
Get the most out of your poker study time with a poker strategy videos custom-tailored to your needs. If you play online, I can
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Danny Sprung, whom you may recall from Episode 194, joins us from the World Bridge Federation Championships. We compare this event to the World Series of Poker and discuss some key hands from Danny’s very deep run in the Monster Stack … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Andrew and Nate share some book and podcast recommendations and, inspired by Dara O’Kearney, discuss the value of taking days off. In the strategy segment, Andrew takes an unconventional line vs Phil Galfond in a Progressive Knock-Out.
Timestamps
0:30 hello
24:19 … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Andy Bloch is a long-time professional poker player and computer programmer who was one of the pioneers at the intersection of these fields. He was also a member of the MIT Blackjack team that was the subject of Bringing Down the House… Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Comedian and professional poker player Clayton Fletcher earned himself a fourth podcast appearance with his 28th place finish in the 2018 WSOP Main Event! I think they gave him some cash for that as well. He and Andrew meet in his hotel … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Helen Ellis is a proud housewise and poker player and the author of the novels Eating the Cheshire Cat and The Turning Book, the short fiction collection American Housewife, and the What I Do All Day Twitter account. Her poker … Read full post
My latest series of poker strategy videos is a review of key hands from the $3500 World Poker Tour Main Event at Maryland Live. This is the event that I discussed with Christian Soto on one of my all-time favorite podcast episodes.
I’m glad – blown away, really – that so many of you enjoy listening to the Thinking Poker Podcast. Ultimately, though, it’s a selfish endeavor (for me anyway, don’t want to speak for Nate here). I do it because it’s good for me. Poker is a stressful pursuit, and often … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Cory Mikesell is a professional poker player, a chess master, a writer, and the author of 3Bet Pots Game Theory and Practice. We talk about his struggles, his successes, and how thoroughly he’s thrown himself into everything he’s done.
The first installment of latest poker strategy videos series just went up at Tournament Poker Edge. It’s one I’m especially excited about because it’s the first time I’ve ever done a member hand history review (well, excepting the time that Carlos and I looked over his big Bovada win … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Christian Soto and Andrew meet in-person in Baltimore, hours after playing together in the World Poker Tour main event at Maryland Live!, to commiserate and talk about some key hands. This interview was tremendous fun to record and hopefully will be tremendous … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Progressive Knockout Examples Part 1, is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine. It’s a follow-up to a previous article, using some real examples from progressive knockout tournaments to explore some theory about how to make decisions about chasing bounties.… Read full post
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 a good start in it but then lost AK to … Read full post
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
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
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
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.
… Read full postThe trickiest problem of all is that you can only collect bounties if you have more chips than
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Gareth Chantler, who first appeared on Episode 6, once again graces us with his presence. This time around, we discuss James Joyce, Syria, SCOOP, and, begrudgingly, a bit of Limit Hold ‘Em strategy.
Timestamps
0:30 Hello and welcome
52:44 Strategy
Links… Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Patrick McKenzie, known as “patio11” on Hacker News and elsewhere, is a blogger, consultant, and all-around public intellectual on subjects related to software and business. He’s also, as it happens, an avid if occasional poker player. We talk to him about … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Michael Bowling of the University of Alberta Computer Poker Research Group, who has previously appeared on Episode 79 and on Episode 110 after “essentially” solving Heads Up Limit Hold ‘Em, returns to discuss the group’s latest work creating an AI that … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Nikolai Yakovenko, poker player and computer scientist, returns to the podcast (he first appeared on Episode 155) to talk about recent advances in Artificial Intelligence, particularly with regard to poker.
Links
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ronnie Bardah has been a poker pro since before “The Boom”, and though he’s perhaps most famous for his five consecutive cashes in the WSOP Main Event, he’s a Fixed Limit Hold ‘Em player first and foremost. He shares his story growing … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Evaluating Three-Bet Opportunities, is now appearing in the March 2017 issue of Two Plus Two Magazine. It builds on last month’s article, What Are the Best Hands to Three-Bet?, demonstrating how to apply the theory that I laid out there to actual decisions … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Angela Bassa is the director of data science at iRobot and an occasional poker player with more than a passing interest in Libratus and its implications for artificial intelligence. In this interview, we talk about poker’s intersections with data science and artificial … Read full post
In December of 2016, the Thinking Poker community raised over $8000 for the Bay Area Urban Debate League, and I’m so grateful to everyone who contributed! This hour of free poker strategy, with very special guest Matt Berkey, is part of my thanks to everyone who contributed. If you … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, “What Are the Best Hands to Three-Bet?”, is now appearing in the February 2017 edition of Two Plus Two Magazine. If you know anything about me, you know that that’s not a question I’m going to answer in just a few words! In … Read full post
Nate Meyvis is my guest for the latest free strategy video, and in his honor, I found a PLO8 tournament for us to review. It’s fun and informative!
We created this video as part of a year-end fundraising campaign for the Bay Area Urban Debate League. To unlock more … Read full post
This is the second and final part of the published as part of the free strategy video that Carlos and I created as part of a year-end fundraising campaign for the Bay Area Urban Debate League. If you enjoy him here, be sure to check Carlos out on Twitch… Read full post
Here’s the first video published as part of my year-end fundraising campaign for the Bay Area Urban Debate League. I’m joined by the incomparable Carlos Welch, be sure to check him out on Twitch. To unlock more videos like this one and get a shot at some great prizes, … Read full post
Somehow it took me 12 years to get around to playing a World Poker Tour event, but I played my first one over the weekend at Maryland Live. Overall it was a well-run and well-attended event and I’m glad I played.
My Day 1A table draw was quite tough, I … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Andrew’s busy with WCOOP, so he and Nate get straight to strategy, with a discussion of several hands from the No-Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better event.
Timestamps
0:30 Hello & Welcome
10:42 NLO8 Strategy
Hand 1
PokerStars – $300+$20|400/800 Ante 100 NL Hi/Lo (6 … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Chris Moorman, with over $10 million in cashes, is widely regarded as the winningest player in online tournament poker. This wide-ranging interview covers his beginnings as a competitive bridge and pool player, his struggles with staking, his role as 888Poker Ambassador, and … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Andrew, Nate, and THE Carlos Welch gather in a hotel room at the Gold Coast to discuss their first day in the WSOP Main Event. There’s loads of strategy talk, as Nate bet-folds the river, Carlos gets full value from a set, … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Christian Soto is a professional poker player and a video producer at Red Chip Poker. He is the co-author, with Doug Hull and James Sweeney, of Late Position. Learn how, with the help of Matt Berkey, the “Big Papi … Read full post
This question first appeared on the Tournament Poker Edge forums, under the title “Looking for some insight in to effective stack sizes and 3-bet/4-bet decisions.”
Q: I’ve often wondered how best to consider stack size when confronted by 3 or 4 bets. I have a vague sense it … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Isn’t that what all of our shows about? Kind of, but this time around we’re more explicit than usual. It’s just Nate and Andrew, talking about some specific, concrete, active (not just reading books or watching videos) ways to study poker. Plus … Read full post
The eighth installment in my Thinking Poker Diaries series, which tells the story of my summers at the World Series of Poker, is now available. Unlike past volumes, this one covers many preliminary events as well as the 2013 Main Event. In particular, includes a report from the $1500 PLO8 … Read full post
Nate Meyvis’s latest book, Thinking Tournament Poker Volume Two, which covers his second day of play in the 2014 WSOP Main Event, has just hit the virtual shelves! It features Nate’s own analysis of virtually every pot he entered that day, plus additional commentary from myself, Leo Wolpert, and … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Benjamin Reason began playing the violin at the age of 4. It wasn’t so long after that that he discovered poker, and although the latter eventually subsumed the former, he remains a music aficionado (“a recovering music snob”, as he puts it). … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Collin Moshman is a widely respected sit-and-go player and coach and author, but he’s no one-trick pony. We talk to him about his background in Theoretical Mathematics, why he initially focused on sit-and-goes, how and why he branched out into other games, … Read full post
This week’s free strategy video comes to you courtesy of the lucky donor who was randomly selected to receive a free review of one of his tournament hand histories. He graciously gave me permission to post it online so that everyone could see and learn from it.
I primarily review … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
T.J. Jurkiewicz may have come from humble buildings, but it took the former security guard less than a year (and the help of Chad Power) to break into some of the biggest no-limit games on the east coast. Find out how … Read full post
Of course donations are always welcome, but the Bay Area Urban Debate League‘s end-of-the-year fundraising campaign ends at, well, the end of the year. Which means that you’ve got a little more than 24 hours to make your contribution, if you haven’t already. Remember, any donation of $10 or … Read full post
Just in time for Christmas, the latest volume in The Thinking Poker Diaries is here. Whether you’re looking for a last-minute gift or an escape from the family, this mix of trip reports and strategy essays from the 2012 WSOP Main Event is just the ticket! It’s an honest and … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Neil Blumenfield, who took 3rd place in the 2015 WSOP Main Event, talked to us about making the final table on Episode 139. Now he’s back to talk about how he prepared, what he learned, the experience of playing for (and … Read full post
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 life, and in the 15 years that I’ve been … Read full post
Based on how risk-averse everyone seemed to be during the latter half of Day 1, I expected the start of Day 2, with 43 people competing for 40 prizes, to go quite slowly. In fact, we saw four eliminations in three hands, and just like that, the bubble was over.… Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Clayton Fletcher, who first appeared on Episode 74, is back to discuss his 96th place finish in the 2015 WSOP Main Event. Hear how he celebrated, how he dealt with a sudden reversal of fortune, and how his other career in stand-up … Read full post
My sixth e-book tells the story of my 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, in which I finished 53rd. Like the other volumes, it features an entertaining trip report from the tournament interspersed with essays discussing strategic concepts that play an important role in each day’s success.
Pick up … Read full post
My latest poker article, Fancy Play Syndrome, is now appearing in the October 2015 issue of Two Plus Two Magazine. It might be a poor title, because the argument is that many supposedly “fancy” plays are actually a part of fundamentally sound poker strategy:
… Read full postIn a recent $5/$10/$20 session,
You all did a great job with the comments on the Hand of the Week so far. People have covered the major arguments for 3-betting and for calling, and in fact I think it’s likely that Hero should be indifferent between the two and probably employ a mixed strategy. The … Read full post
This is from the $700 NLHE 1R1A WCOOP event. Blinds are 350/700/85. It’s well after the rebuy period but not particularly close to the bubble. Table is on the tough side, featuring many regs/pros, most notably Eugene Katchalov on my immediate left.
UTG is a regular tournament player. I have … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on What’s Your Play? Big Draw, Short Stack. It got a lot more attention than I expected!
Folding is an Opportunity, Not a Cost
Props to those of you who mentioned the relevant toy game from Mathematics of Poker. That was the first … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Alex “Assassinato” Fitzgerald and “The” Carlos Welch join Nate and Andrew in a room at the Gold Coast to talk about Las Vegas, getting better at poker, creativity, poetry, pre-flop raise sizing, and more. Don’t miss this rare treat, with two hosts … Read full post
Depending on your definition of exciting, you might be interested to hear that my latest book has hit the digital shelves! The fifth volume of The Thinking Poker Diaries chronicles my 87th place finish the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Day by day, it introduces the situations and opponents I encountered … Read full post
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.
Nate folded to Queens to two shoves that turned … Read full post
The most exciting news of the day comes to us from Carlos, who reports:
… Read full postSo 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 over and get in with 15 mins left in the
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Carlos sits down in-person with Nate and Andrew to talk about putting happiness, rather than profit, front and center in his poker career (though of course winning tends to make one happier than losing!). Then the three discuss a hand from a … Read full post
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 – $2000+$100|200/400 Ante 50 NL (8 max) – Holdem – 8 … Read full post
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 best players are far more likely to re-enter than the … Read full post
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Andrew and Nate talk about Andrew’s recent friction entering Canada to play online poker, then review two hands from early Spring Championship of Online Poker events.
Strategy
Hand 1
PokerStars – $1000+$50|30/60 Ante 5 NL – Holdem – 9 players
Hand converted … Read full post
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 the correct adaptations for this game. I mean, … Read full post
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 to be distracted from a $700 heads up match by … Read full post
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 with Montreal, and the ease of getting around the city … Read full post
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 that this isn’t as bad as it looks.
I was … Read full post