In this volume, you’ll find essays covering the following topics:

Navigating the Early Stages of a Tournament
Balance
Playing Your Image
Catching Bluffs
(Not) Talking at the Table
The Tournament Mindset

You can buy The Thinking Poker Diaries Volume 5 at www.nitcast.com (you’ll get Kindle, PDF, or EPUB versions) or in Kindle form on Amazon.

You certainly don’t need to have read the earlier volumes to make sense of this one, but if you need to get caught up, the first four books are available as a bundle at a discounted rate!

10. Sharron Angle- Thanks for being so goddamn crazy that you couldn’t even get elected as a Republican in Nevada during the 2010 midterms. If anyone remotely competent had gotten your party’s nomination, poker players would be without our friend Harry Reid in the Senate.

9. The 2+2 Pokercast– Fantastic free entertainment! They have consistently great guests and keep me in the loop about both important developments in the poker world and the best photoshop threads in BBV4L. The Pokercast is a regular companion when I’m grinding the Sunday Majors.

8. Barney Frank- If we see fully legalized and regulated online poker in the US anytime soon, it will be because of Barney Frank. So here’s to you, you beautiful curmudgeonly bastard!

7. Rush Poker– I buy the hype; this is a major development that will change the face of online poker. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s bringing in new recreational players. Now let’s see some heads up Rush in 2011!

6. My $25,000 Suckout– It was the single biggest pot of my career, and I needed a miracle to win it.

5. Five of Clubs– A lot of cards would have done it, but this river won me a huge flip against David Baker on Day 6 of the WSOP and kept me alive for several hours’ worth of pay jumps. And I got some solid TV time out of it!

4. FTOPS Jersey- Obviously it took a lot of luck to win this, including QQ > AK on the final table bubble and AA > KK at the final table to win a huge pot from Bakes. People named David Baker did not have a good year vs. me.

3. Chris Moneymaker- For making it all happen in the first place. He was the right guy, with the right name, to win the WSOP at exactly the right time. Seven years later, we’re still profiting from the boom he jump-started.

2. 2+2 Forums– The content of the strategy forums has gone downhill in recent years, but even so they continue to serve an incredibly valuable role as a community forum where the industry is kept at least a little bit in check. Keeping sites, and players, honest is difficult work, and these forums are the single best tool that we as a community have to combat cheating.

1. You- I’m sure I would have given blogging long ago if weren’t for all of you frequent readers and commenters. Thanks for keeping it fun and interesting!

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 cameras are on, I always feel like I need to say something. They refer to Baker and me as “two savvy pros”- depending on how closely they read the bio that I sent them, that may or may not be an intentional pun.

Oh and I like how they refer to Baker’s Queens as “the best hand” while he’s got a 36% next to his name, and I’ve got 49% (before Sallas folds, that is).

There is always a modest amount of disappointment when it’s all over, but of course all in all I’m quite pleased with the result. I’m also very happy that for the first time ever I feel like I played through this whole tournament without making any big mistakes and with only a few small ones. That doesn’t mean that everything always went my way, but as they say you play the cards you’re dealt, and I believe that I would play most of them the same way if I had it to do all over again.

I was on the secondary feature table for the first few hours today, meaning both that I managed to secure an endorsement deal that brought me a little extra money and also that I’ll likely make an appearance on the ESPN broadcast of this tournament. One hand in particular is quite likely to be on there:

Gualtar Sallas raised in early position, David Baker called, I called with Ac Jc on the button, and the BB called. The flop brought Js 8c 6c, giving me top pair and the nut flush draw. The pre-flop raiser bet, Baker raised, and I moved all-in. Sallas folded after some thought, and it was about 600K more to Baker. It was also a very large pot, and he made a tough but probably correct call with QQ.

As the cameras swarmed, Sallas announced that he’d folded Kc Qc. Awesome. The turn was no help, but I binked the 5c on the river to win a 2.7 million chip pot.

This hand was actually misreported on the ESPN blog, where they write that, “Baker was able to get his opponent’s chips in the middle holding Q-Q to his opponent’s A-J on a jack-high board” but that “the turn and river would give Andrew Brokos the lucky runner-runner flush”. As I said, I actually had top pair and the nut flush draw on the flop, and absent the information that Sallas had folded the Kc Qc, I was in fact the (very slight) favorite.

I understand that there are a lot of hands to report and that mistakes will be made, but there have been complaints before that such mistakes are almost always made in favor of the more well-known player. In this example, the hand is reported in a way that makes it seem as though David Baker had somehow outplayed me (he “managed” to get my chips in) and that I got much luckier than I did to win the pot. This is a hand that was played at an ESPN feature table, was recorded by their cameras, and was witnessed by 9 players, several floorpeople, and multiple ESPN employees. It was a huge pot that took several minutes to play out on camera, and I have difficulty believing that any of them, if asked, would have misremembered such an important detail as whether I had a flush draw on the flop.

To be clear, I am not suggesting a deliberate misrepresentation of facts. I am suggesting sloppy reporting and an unconscious bias towards reconstructing details in favor of a more well-known player.

But never mind all that; I don’t want to end on a sour note. Today was an extremely difficult day at a table absolutely packed with very very strong players: Adam Levy, Eric Baldwin, David Baker, Peter Brian Jensen, Scott Clements, and a few others who I didn’t know by name but who weren’t making a lot of mistakes. To a man they were all consummate professionals, and no matter which way the pots went there was never any belly-aching, berating, cheering, or jeering. We all recognized how tough the table was, but we were always polite and friendly. I did have the good fortune to get moved away from that table eventually (leaving behind 2 million chips that had once been mine), and I meant what I said as I departed: “I am very glad not to be playing with any of you any more, and I wish you all the best.” I am certain that at least one if not more of the gentlemen I played with today will be among the November 9.

I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I’m both very flattered and very grateful for the number of people, some of whom have no idea who I am, who have followed along and offered encouragement. Even when the other players at the table are friendly, it’s ultimately very lonely out there on the felt, and it’s great getting e-mails, comments, and text messages and just knowing that so many people are thinking of me. So thanks to all of you, and here’s to more stories to tell next year!

Sincerely,
Andrew

PS Also, here’s to Tony Dunst, who started the day with less than 400K and just finished with roughly 1.6 million. He actually inherited my seat at the Table of Death, and I’m glad to see that he survived it. Best of luck tomorrow, buddy!

I’ve never played the game myself, and apparently Bakes has only been playing it for six months!

I’m particularly happy for the guy since I brutally cold-decked him, AA>KK, at the final table of the FTOPS 2K event that I went on to win. Of course, I felt only so bad because Bakes final tables major events like once a week.

They may not look like much, but this is millions of dollars of top poker talent helping him celebrate:

This one’s a little embarrassing. I shoved turn here hoping to get him off a mid-pair, but here’s what happened instead:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 6000/12000 Blinds 1500 Ante (8 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (CO) (t497480)
Button (t227662)
SB (t634145)
BB (t816177)
UTG (t1063367)
UTG+1 (t302032)
MP1 (t1684089)
MP2 (t451048)

Hero’s M: 16.58

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, K
2 folds, MP1 bets t24000, MP2 calls t24000, Hero raises to t88888, 3 folds, MP1 calls t64888, MP2 calls t64888

Flop: (t296664) 10, 10, 2 (3 players)
MP1 bets t43210, 1 fold, Hero calls t43210

Turn: (t383084) 4 (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets t363882 (All-In), MP1 calls t363882

River: (t1110848) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t1110848

Results:
MP1 had Q, A (one pair, tens).
Hero had A, K (one pair, tens).
Outcome: Hero won t1110848

Truthfully, AQ might actually be a better call than like 66 there, though I’m not sure he realizes that.

Cold-Decking Bakes

I know I look like a giant luckbox for this, and of course I am, but I can also point to two occasions where I lost huge pots on the final table bubble of big FTP tournaments with AA vs. KK.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 10000/20000 Blinds 2500 Ante (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (UTG) (t1445058)
MP (t745644)
Button (t891965)
SB (t1483692)
BB (t1109641)

Hero’s M: 34.00

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A
Hero bets t48888, 2 folds, SB raises to t112450, BB calls t92450, Hero raises to t288888, SB raises to t1481192 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero calls t1153670 (All-In)

Flop: (t3010066) J, J, J (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t3010066) Q (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t3010066) 3 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t3010066

Results:
SB had K, K (full house, Jacks over Kings).
Hero had A, A (full house, Jacks over Aces).
Outcome: Hero won t3010066

Pushing Psycho Around 3-Handed

The third player was clearly far weaker than Psycho and I, so Psycho had to avoid playing big pots with me for fear of busting in 3rd. He kept trying to play small pots with me, but I made very clear that he wasn’t getting anything from me cheaply. Here I don’t think he’s ever slowplaying the flop against me, in part because I hadn’t been folding flops and in part because he just can’t afford to take risks against me. So with a ton of outs and him probably not having anything too good, it’s an easy shove:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 14000/28000 Blinds 3500 Ante (3 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t3402015)
BB (t1313313)
Button (t960672)

Hero’s M: 64.80

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, Q
Button bets t56000, Hero calls t42000, 1 fold

Flop: (t150500) 10, A, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: (t150500) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets t77777, Button raises to t176543, Hero raises to t3342515 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t503586

Results:
Hero didn’t show K, Q.
Outcome: Hero won t503586

Bluffing Him Off a Chop

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 17000/34000 Blinds 4000 Ante (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t3942502)
BB (t1733498)

Hero’s M: 66.82

Preflop: Hero is SB with 5, 3
Hero bets t68000, BB calls t34000

Flop: (t144000) 10, 10, 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t66666, BB raises to t173000, Hero calls t106334

Turn: (t490000) 10 (2 players)
BB bets t90000, Hero calls t90000

River: (t670000) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t555555, 1 fold

Total pot: t670000

Results:
Hero didn’t show 5, 3 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t670000

I guess he probably had the case 5 or 22-44? He’s never checking river if he beats the board, so betting is a freeroll.

The One That Won It

I’d actually been folding my bottom 10% of hands preflop only because I didn’t want him to realize that he should be raising more than the minimum. At this point he was so short that I figured I’d have no trouble showing down the best hand any time I made it, so I decided to call.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 20000/40000 Blinds 5000 Ante (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t5055614)
SB (t620386)

Hero’s M: 72.22

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, 3
SB bets t80000, Hero calls t40000

Flop: (t170000) 3, 3, 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets t55000, Hero calls t55000

Turn: (t280000) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

River: (t280000) J (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets t480386 (All-In), Hero calls t480386

Total pot: t1240772

Results:
SB had J, A (two pair, Jacks and threes).
Hero had 9, 3 (three of a kind, threes).
Outcome: Hero won t1240772

His flop range is mostly bluffs, and he hadn’t been playing back at my check-raises (though he may have here out of frustration, and I did consider it). I decided to let him either make a hand or bluff later, though. I was planning to check-shove river, I dunno why he tried to overbet AJ. I don’t think I would have called with KJ.

For those who weren’t, here’s the quick version:

With 10 left I was in 8th, which was a tough spot because Bakes was swinging his big stack extremely well. I pretty much couldn’t move. Finally picked up AK and ended up getting all in against QQ, thank god it held.

Got into some confrontations early at the final table but mostly waited for shorties to bust.

Five-handed it was me, Bakes, Psychobenny, moi_rhums, and some random satellite qualifier. I ended up getting AA vs. Bakes’ KK for a massive pot that virtually busted him and gave me a commanding chiplead.

From there I took full advantage of having Psychobenny, the next biggest stack, on my right. I kept the pressure on him and ground him down while he was still hamstrung by the presence of the shortstacks. We got 3-handed with Psycho, me, and the satellite qualifier. I ended up doubling the satty guy twice, then he got TT all in against Psycho’s AK and held to make it HU.

I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. I came into HU with 2:1 lead on a player who was literally clueless about HU. I offered him a ridiculously one-sided chop and was relieved when he declined. Went on to own him HU.

Jersey isn’t available as an avatar yet, but I’ll post a screenshot when I get it. I’ll post some hands as well when I’m not so tired/distracted.

Thanks again to everyone, and good night!