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Coach and high stakes heads up pro turned MTT player Kevin Rabichow joins Carlos and Andrew to discuss the evolution of the heads up arena, efficient studying, and his new course The Game Plan.
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Carlos Chadha has been a professional poker player for nearly 15 years, and in that time he’s mastered everything from Seven Card Stud to Heads Up No Limit Hold ‘Em to Multi-Table Tournaments. He’s also had to master his own ego as … 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
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
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
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Your hosts talk about Nate’s new book as well as strategy from a limit hold ’em game and a heads up no-limit game.
Timestamps
0:30 – hello and welcome
15:08 – strategy
Strategy
Hand 1
30/60 Limit Hold ‘Em.
Hero opens K9o … Read full post
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Dr. Michael Bowling and PhD candidate Mike Johanson from the University of Alberta Computer Poker Research Group, who first appeared on Episode 79 of the podcast, return to discuss Cepheus, their “essentially” unexploitable heads up limit hold ’em AI and its … Read full post
Big congratulations to the University of Alberta Computer Poker Research Group and their collaborater Oskari Tammelin, who announced this week that their program Cepheus has essentially solved heads up limit hold ’em. Nate and I interviewed the CPRG team last year, and we hope to speak to them again … Read full post
Nate and I are grateful to those of you who have listened to The Thinking Poker Podcast this year, whether you’re a regular follower, a sporadic listener, or just now discovering the show. I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite episodes of the year, in case you missed … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, “Lessons From the WSOP Main Event: Marginal Hands in Heads-Up Play“, is now appearing in Two Plus Two Magazine. It’s an analysis of some key hands from the heads up portion of the 2014 WSOP Main Event:
… Read full post“The heads-up battle between Martin Jacobson
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 $300 Ante Up WCOOP illustrates why:
PokerStars – $300+$20|5/5 Ante … Read full post
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, these are tournaments where the blinds go up very quickly … Read full post
If one podcast a week isn’t enough to make you sick of me, you can get an extra two hours this week. I joined RonFezBuddy and Killingbird on the Tournament Poker Edge Strategy Podcast. We talked about my background in poker plus a ton of strategy topics, from hand … Read full post
Nate and I were flattered to be nominated for Best Podcast in the 2014 Bluff Reader’s Choice Awards. Hopefully this will prompt some new listeners to come check out the show, and with nearly 100 hours of content out there, it might be hard to know where to start.
In … Read full post
My latest poker strategy, Analyzing Heads-Up Play From the 2013 WSOP Main Event Final Table, is now appearing in the December edition of 2+2 Magazine. It specifically focuses on the perils of what I call a “weak pot control” strategy where the pre-flop raiser attempts to check back all … Read full post
Just wanted to let you know about some recently published stuff you might be interested in:
WSOP 2013 Trip Report, Part 4: The Main Event – Unfortunately this is a lot shorter than it’s been in past years, but I did get to play a pretty famous player: “Usually, tough … Read full post
Get a leg-up in this year’s WCOOP by watching me face off against four very different opponent’s in last year’s $700 heads-up no-limit hold ’em tournament. Part 1 of the new series is up now at Tournament Poker Edge, and Part 2 will go up tomorrow, with the rest … Read full post
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Nicolás “Nico” Amaya is a professional heads up hyper-turbo sit-and-go player. He’s also an industrial engineering student, an entrepeneur, and a former member of the Spanish national ski team, and we talk to him about all of those things. Nico has made … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s What’s Your Play? There was a lot of disagreement, which is understandable since multiple players are defensible. The important thing is your reasoning behind your choice.
Brief Comments on Earlier Streets
The nut flush draw is an extremely versatile hand, and there … Read full post
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Zachary Ellwood is a former professional poker player and author of “Reading Poker Tells“. We recorded this episode on the assumption that I would have already published a review of the book, which unfortunately I haven’t gotten around to doing … Read full post
I’ve just published a review of Jonathan Little’s Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker Volume 2. Here’s the synopsis:
… Read full postThe book is subtitled “Stages of the Tournament”, but fewer than half of the book’s 270 pages are dedicated to this topic. Ironically, much of the book addresses topics on which Little
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Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky is an MTT superstar with an EPT title and over $3 million in online tournament cashes, but that’s not why we asked him to come on the show (though it is why we asked him to stick around for … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s “What’s Your Play?”. You all asked some thought-provoking questions as well, and I’m sorry that I haven’t responded to all of them. Hopefully this post will address the ones I’ve missed.
Flop Action
This was probably a tough hand to analyze … Read full post
Round 1 vs. Liv Boeree
I wish I had a specific example of this to give – perhaps the hand below will serve – but I got the distinct impression during our match that Liv was capable of playing extremely well but had for some reason decided to treat me … Read full post
This is the first match of the $700 Heads Up NLHE WCOOP event. Villain is Liv Boeree. This is one of the first hands of the match, so nothing significant has happened yet.
Liv and I have actually played together before, in last year’s WCOOP and in the 2008 WSOP. … Read full post
Wednesday started with the $200 Ante Up. My first cooler was similar to the A2 hand I posted yesterday, in that it may actually have been possible to get away more cheaply if I’d hero-folded to an awfully suspicious check-raise:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 5/5 Blinds 30 Ante … Read full post
Friday was to be not quite a day off from poker but a light day. I planned to play only one WCOOP event, the $320 NLHE with 10-minute levels that started at 5 in the afternoon Montreal time. On a whim, I also late registered the Big $150 that started … Read full post
With my first tournament, the $320 Ante Up, not starting until 11, I had a leisurely Wednesday morning. It was a beautiful day, bright and crisp, and The Plateau, the neighborhood where my Montreal apartment is located, looked lovely as it woke up. My street is lined with trees through … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($819.50)
Hero (SB) ($1000)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 6♥, J♣
Hero bets $9.60, BB calls $5.60
Flop: ($20.80) 2♠, 5♣, 5♦ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
Turn: ($20.80) K♦ (2 … Read full post
Round 1
My first opponent was a guy I didn’t recognize from China. Before cards were even dealt, he typed “lololol pro so cool”. Based on that alone, I predicted that he was going to give me no credit and try to outplay me.
Picking up JJ on the first … Read full post
Edit: Oh snap! I just saw that Villain in this hand went on to win the tournament! And it was his second WCOOP bracelet. Congratulations 2FLY2TILT!
I skipped the PL Draw event because I don’t know how to play that game, and I registered three hours into the Triple Stud … Read full post
I played all of today’s WCOOPs but only did anything notable in the $320 6-handed shootout. My starting table feature PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis, thankfully on my right, and four players I didn’t recognize. I’d been playing aggressively against Lex, generally with the best hand, and finally he’d had enough. … Read full post
There were tons of comments on the most recent “What’s Your Play?” post, which is awesome. I’m going to go ahead and post the results, but especially after seeing the comments I think it’s very close and I don’t mean to hold my play up as the best possible … Read full post
Hero and Villain are heads up on four tables at Villain’s request. Villain bought in short at all four but promised not to quit no matter how big his stack got, and he’s been true to his word. He’s not a professional but has proven surprisingly capable. He is playing … Read full post
Unfortunately I was the victim of this one. Honestly I don’t think his river call is too good. If diamonds miss, he can snap-call, but a huge chunk of my range just got there. It’s possible he didn’t think I would value bet a flush, but I absolutely would. The … Read full post
Earlier this week I posted a new What’s Your Play, and now it’s time for the results and my analysis! First off thanks to everyone who commented, there were a lot of really interesting ideas and good questions, and I’m going to address a few of them here.
In … Read full post
One of the cooler hands from my time splashing around in the small stakes:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $1.00 BB (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($100.50)
BB ($51)
Preflop: Hero is SB with K♦, Q♠
Hero bets $2, BB calls $1
Flop: ($4) … Read full post
Dipping into the archives to bring you some poker content…
Villain and I were starting a game. He’s pretty solid and not someone I’d ordinarily go out of my way to play heads up, especially not at 2/4 where there’s easier competition available.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4 BB (2 handed) … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($1000)
BB ($3855.15)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 8s, Ts.
Hero raises to $30, BB calls $20.
Flop: ($60) 8c, 5d, Qd (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $44.6, BB calls $44.60.
Turn: ($149.20) … Read full post
First hand is a very relevant bit of recent history:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($1153.70)
Button ($752.10)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Th, Jh.
Button raises to $12, Hero raises to $42, Button calls $30.
Flop: ($84) Qc, … Read full post
This was the first and only hand I played with Villain, he just sat with a random amount that was probably all he had in his account:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($1000)
Button ($573.55)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Jh, … Read full post
I’m posting three hands tonight, all of them against the same Villain. I’d just stacked him for the second time, and after that he bought in for just 30 BB’s, won a sizable pot, and then started donking a lot of flops. In the first two, I made some biggish … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who played in the inaugural Thinking Poker cash game last night. We had our share of technical difficulties:
1. When I set the stakes at $.10/$.25 and 100-250BB buy-in, I somehow thought that would mean a $2.50-$6.25 buy-in range. Of course it’s actually 10x that, so we … Read full post
Villain was pretty disbelieving of me and wasn’t making a lot of what I call “disciplined folds”, meaning that in small- to medium-sized pots he usually called any time his hand was defined as medium-strength rather than trying to figure out my value bet vs. bluffing frequency. I also think … Read full post
I folded the second nuts to a raise like this a few days ago, because there was no chance he didn’t have it, and got me thinking how cool it would be to do that as a bluff. Based on sizing, it’s unlikely Villain has the nuts here, so it … Read full post
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 true ROI is probably in the … Read full post
Villain’s flop call out of position with a gutshot may look bad, but it actually illustrates an important point about deep-stacked NLHE: you must play in such a way that your opponent can never exclude nutted hands from your range. Otherwise, you are exploitable by bluffs such as the one … Read full post
I had a bit of a read on Villain that he bet big with his monster hands and small when going for thin value. In deciding to turn my hand into a bluff, I didn’t give sufficient consideration to the fact that he really can’t raise many thin hands for … Read full post
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 My “Regular” Games
My latest poker strategy article, Joseph Cheong WSOP Final Table “Blow Up“, has just been published in the December 2010 issue of 2+2 Magazine. It’s an in-depth analysis of the complex factors at play in the infamous A7 vs. QQ hand, many of which have been overlooked by … Read full post
I recently asked for reader opinions regarding a hand where I had top pair until the river, which brought an Ace but also missed a possible flush draw. Here I’m posting the results and my thoughts. If you haven’t already offered your own thoughts, please follow the link above … Read full post
Sometimes Villains just spaz out and throw crazy bluff raises at you:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) ($2289.50)
SB ($2098.50)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 4
, 4
SB bets $60, Hero calls $40
Flop: ($120) A… Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) ($3307.50)
SB ($2010)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 3, 3
SB bets $60, Hero calls $40
Flop: ($120) 5
, 4, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $100, … Read full post
We had some fun rivering quads, so let’s play this game again.
Villain views me as aggressive but not crazy. It is extremely unlikely that he is checking behind either a strong made hand or a strong draw on the flop, and he knows that I know that. Other … Read full post
Players were matched with our Round 5 opponents last night, so I had the chance to google my adversary. He looked to be a Pocket Fives guy who used to play some big MTT’s like the daily 100r and such but lately had been playing a lot $16 hyper-turbo sit … Read full post
We played four rounds today. The first one started at 13:00 and I finished a little before 20:00, though many tables were still playing for some time thereafter.
My first opponent was by far the toughest. He’s a regular with a in biggest NLHE games on Poker Stars, not as … Read full post
I finished around 163 out of 2300-some runners (it was an odd number, so I guess they did byes for Round 1) in the $200 heads up WCOOP, meaning I went out in my fifth match. My first opponent was easy, just way too tight and predictable. Here was one … Read full post
Thanks for all your help so far in generating this list. Now that I’ve got a revised version of it, let me try to explain a bit more about what I’m going for here.
I believe that a bet or raise should always have an objective (or objectives), and … Read full post
I had a solid Sunday today, no wins but made two deep runs. I took 2nd out of nearly 1000 runners in the Stars $150 6-max. The competition was surprisingly tough for a $150 tournament: I recognized three good players at my starting table, and the last few tables were … Read full post
I’ve been taking a beating in heads up games recently. There were one or two cases of bad game selection, but for the most part I don’t think I’ve playing or running all that badly. I’m losing to people against whom I’m pretty confident I have an edge, not because … Read full post
…and not necessarily a good one.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) ($5664)
SB ($8603)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 8, K
SB calls $25, Hero checks
Flop: ($100) K, 2, Q (2 players)
Hero … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($1000)
Hero (SB) ($1807.80)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, 6
Hero bets $12, BB calls $8
Flop: ($25.60) 3, 5, 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $19, … Read full post
I know, I know, it’s not really that exciting. I believe this is the first time I’ve correctly called with J-high on the river, though!
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($17416.75)
Hero (BB) ($10049)
Preflop: Hero is BB with … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Improving Your MTT Skills, is now appearing in the July edition of the 2+2 Magazine. It’s a little different in that it doesn’t discuss particular hands or strategy concepts. Rather, it recommends some non-traditional ways to hone MTT skills that MTT specialists rarely … Read full post
Villain and I had been heads up for a while, and based on how he’d been playing, I was pretty confident he had either a flush or a bluff on the turn but not a full house. My intention was to shove over a river bet and rep the full … Read full post
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 final table dynamics. Without giving too much away, I can … Read full post