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
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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 … Read full post
Sorry for the lack of posts here. As you’ll see, I’ve had a busy few weeks.
It started nicely, with a trip to visit some old friends. As much as Emily and I have enjoyed living in San Francisco, there are some downsides, most notably the fact that most of … 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
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
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 perfect place to unwind from the stresses of poker:
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On April 10, 2001, Danielle “dmoongirl” Andersen was a professional poker player living happily in a small town in Minnesota with her husband and young son. The film Bet Raise Fold (which also featured former podcast guest Tony Dunst) shows how … Read full post
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Edoardo Riario Sforza has moved up through the ranks to become a contender in some of the biggest MTTs on the Italian sites. The same ambition that helped him succeed at poker is now taking him on a 10-month backpacking trip around … 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
Brian Rast may not have the knack for self-promotion that some of the biggest names in the industry do, but he’s been quietly winning at the highest stakes, in a variety of formats, for years. In this interview, he talks about discovering Macau, the social dynamic of nosebleed live games, … Read full post
As much as I love the SCOOP, I skipped it last year to play more of the WSOP instead (not that they overlap, but I can only afford to spend so much time focused more-or-less single-mindedly on poker), and it was looking dicey for this year as well. Then, a … Read full post
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Gareth Chantler calls in from a hostel in Phuket, Thailand to discuss his latest travels, his second-place finish in a $215 TCOOP tournament, and the plight of the Rohingya people.
You can follow @GarethChantler on Twitter, read his final table … Read full post
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Andrew, Carlos, and Sean share stories from their recent trip to Atlantic City. There’s plenty of strategy, from small-stakes cash game hands to big decisions in a six-handed bounty tournament and the $2700 Fall Poker Open Main Event. Plus the Nitcast … Read full post
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 ever winner of the PCA main event, now 23) … Read full post
Hopefully a lot of you follow me on Twitter, because I know I’ve been bad about keeping the blog up-to-date. The short version is that I’m still in the Main Event going into day 3. I’ve got about 20K chips, and blinds are 800/1600/200 when we return, so if I’m … Read full post
On Wednesday morning we drove down the mesa and set off into the Arizona desert bound for Flagstaff. The way this road switchbacks through the canyons is really something and makes for some extraordinary views:
Though long, hot, and largely devoid of human settlement, the drive through the desert was … Read full post
My original plan for this point in the trip was to catch a flight to Vegas while Emily continued on alone, stopping at several national parks before reaching Austin. This would have put me in Las Vegas in time for the opening events.
I decided, however, to skip the first … Read full post
With the luxury of a house and a driveway, we took some time Sunday morning to rearrange the car a bit make sure things were packed up right. We don’t exactly travel light on these road trips, and keeping the car organized is essential to minimizing the annoyance of more-or-less … Read full post
Sorry, despite my valiant efforts to keep up, this blog is a few days behind my actual progress. I arrived in Las Vegas last night and am playing my first WSOP event, the $1500 6-max, today at Noon. Now back to our story…
Lathrop State Park seemed to come out … Read full post
Thursday began with the Truman Presidential Library and Museum. Though head and shoulders above the Lincoln one, it still wasn’t as good as some others we’ve visited, especially the Johnson and Eisenhower Museums. It was more broad historical information about the era than a unique perspective on the man … Read full post
With a lot to see on Wednesday, we got an early start. The Illinois statehouse was the first stop. Of all the statehouses we’ve visited, which is well over half of them, we found Illinois’ to be among the most beautiful both inside and out.
Our tour guide was a … Read full post
Tuesday morning came on bright and sunny, with barely a cloud in sight. Even the ground wasn’t as wet as we expected – it was almost as though the storm had simply been a bad dream. Drying off the tent required a little extra time, but still we packed up … Read full post
We woke to a foggy, humid Monday. Columbus, Ohio was our first stop. Emily is into government and politics, and she used to work at the Massachusetts state house, so we try to visit state capitols when we travel. With a lot of ground to cover, there wasn’t time to … Read full post
I’m getting pretty pumped for a full summer in Las Vegas! My girlfriend will be working in Austin, Texas, so we’re driving across the country together. She and I are both from the same suburb of Baltimore, and our journey began there, giving us a chance to visit with … Read full post
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As a moderator in 2+2’s News, Views, and Gossip forum, Nicole “SGTRJ” Rejiester probably has one of the hardest jobs in poker. Thankfully her background in law enforcement and the US Army has prepared her to thrive in environments characterized by … Read full post
For the first time ever, I’m doing pretty much the whole Las Vegas/WSOP thing this summer. In past years I always had other places I wanted to be in the summer, plus I thought my hourly rate would be just or nearly as good playing online without all of … Read full post
Sorry I’ve been so self-promotional these last few days, it’s just that I’ve had a lot to promote and not much time to write about anything else. First I was showing Miklos, my Hungarian PCA roommate, around DC and Baltimore. Although he’s a few years older than I and grew … Read full post
Gareth Chantler is back in South America, and he’s chronicled the start of his journey, in Cartagena, Colombia, for the PokerStars blog. I can’t recommend it highly enough, it’s literally the best poker narrative I’ve read in years. In a few hundred words, the author tells you a lot … Read full post
Nate and my recent conversation with Gareth Chantler inspired me to continue chronicling here my travels in Europe earlier this year. When last we left off, Emily and I were in Paris. Our next destination was Munich, but I think we both liked that the least of all the … Read full post
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Gareth Chantler will be a familiar name if you’re a regular “What’s Your Play?” participant. He’s the guy whose comments always knock it out of the ballpark and make you feel like an ass for posting anything different. If that’s … Read full post
If you’ve been following my WCOOP posts, then you know that there were definitely times when I got impatient and tried to force things: questionable bluffs, ambitious value bets, spazzy shoves, excessively heroic calls, I made every mistake in the book at some point in the … Read full post
The last Friday of WCOOP was also my birthday. For the second year in a row, I spend it in a foreign country playing a card game online. Specifically, this was my 30th birthday, and while I don’t generally put much stock in such things, it would’ve been nice if … Read full post
Unfortunately there’s been a delay with the next episode of the Thinking Poker Podcast, which was scheduled to be the subject of today’s blog post. I’m not sure when that will be available, so until it is, I’ll continue my chronicle of the WCOOP.
The only WCOOP that I … Read full post
The only WCOOP I played on Monday was the 4-max, which is always a wild and crazy time. I stayed out of the fray for a bit, but sooner or later a draw comes along that simply bets to be played aggressively. I don’t hate my line, but I think … Read full post
Saturday’s storm brought on a precipitous drop in temperature that was immediately noticeable on Sunday morning. I like mornings, especially Sunday mornings, and I like Autumn, especially when the air is crisp and just a little chilly. I made coffee and took a walk.
Though it was nearly 8:00, the … Read full post
The PLO8 WCOOP event began at 6AM my time on Thursday. I tend to wake early anyway, so I didn’t set an alarm but expected to be up in time to late register it. By 7:30 I was at my computer with coffee in hand. I didn’t even realize it … 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
After nearly a month in the Netherlands, much of which I spent grinding the SCOOP, Emily and I had a “vacation” in Paris. Neither of us had ever been to Paris, so we weren’t sure what to expect. In the US there are so many stereotypes about snooty … Read full post
Sorry (or you’re welcome) that it’s been so long since my last Eurotrip photo dump. By now these photos are like two months old, but I don’t imagine that matters to anyone but me. This will be the last batch from the Netherlands, and I’m going to be more … Read full post
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 few people have asked why I’m not not in Las … Read full post
Liesse
We took a bus to the Keukenhoff with the intention of visiting the world-famous tulip garden. Before going in, however, we rented bikes intending to spend an hour or two riding around the nearby tulip fields, but we ended up enjoying the ride so much that we never got … Read full post
I enjoyed meeting all of the other Team Online members at the PCA this year, but Richard “Tzen1” Veenman was one of my favorites. As you might imagine, these grinders were not the most extroverted bunch. It generally fell either to Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome, the only woman among us, … Read full post
This is another photo dump/trip report from my travels in Europe. If you didn’t like the last one, you’ll probably want to skip this one too.
Emily and I were already planning to be in Amsterdam for the entirety of the SCOOP because of the sweet apartment we were … Read full post
This is going to be a blockbuster photo dump without too much commentary and with zero (well, almost zero) poker content. If you don’t give two shits what some guy you don’t know is doing on his vacation, then you can go ahead and skip this post now.
Alkmaar
Our … Read full post
Part of the impetus for Emily’s and my Europe trip is a friend’s wedding, to be held this June in a small town in Germany called Diez. Since we needed to bring formal wear for that anyway, we decided to dress up for the opera in Prague as well (there’s … Read full post
Despite my previous rant about the tourist’s dilemma, Emily and I did do a few more classically tourist things in Prague, like the castle,
the Charles Bridge, and the St. Vitus Cathedral. Even at the opera, the audience seemed to consist mostly of tourists. Neither of us had ever … Read full post
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 Gray Friday, “This catastrophe is forcing me to confront … Read full post
Easter is a beautiful time to be in Prague, except for the weather. On Easter Sunday, temperatures dipped below freezing, but the atmosphere was otherwise festive. In public squares around the city, vendors set up stalls for weeks-long Easter markets where they sell painted and carved eggs, hot wine, various … Read full post
My girlfriend and I have been without a permanent residence since September 2009. First we were drifting around the continental United States. More recently, we were in Canada. Now, we’re going to Europe.
I’ll be playing some poker, both live and online, but that’s really not the primary … Read full post
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 kids and booming speakers, but right now it’s oddly serene.… Read full post
Cheers to Jason at the Bluebird Microcreamery
in Seattle’s Capitol Hill district! He saw my tweet about how I had a few hours to kill in Seattle and invited me out to the shop where he hooked me up with coffee, ice cream, and a Wifi password. So this is … Read full post
After a low-key Friday night, Nico and I resolved to live it up on my last night in Madrid. We started off having dinner and watching the Barcelona-Seville game at a restaurant/bar across the street from his apartment. It was a bit of a dive but had surprisingly good food … Read full post
The rest of the trip report will have to wait until the next 2+2 Magazine, but here’s a little write-up from the WSOPE party, which proved pretty amusing:
The night before the start of the main event, the WSOP hosted what they called a beach party that actually took place … Read full post
A
fter all the hassle, the money did successfully make it to Cannes, so I am all bought in and ready to go! Play starts in a little over two hours, but I´m already having a great trip and have the beginnings of a trip report to share with you. … Read full post
We woke up early on Thursday morning with plans for an all-day hike in a nearby alpine meadow, but we were looking at the worst weather we’d seen since we’d been in Canmore. Massive gray clouds were hanging over the mountains in all directions, so much so that at their … Read full post
I know I never finished my Montreal story but it just feels like really old news now so I’ll just give you the short version. Emily and I were in Montreal for about two weeks, and while it was a nice city in a lot of ways, it wasn’t what … Read full post
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.
My only regret is with regard to the last question … Read full post
I was in Dallas recently and rode their light rail, which is one of those “honor system” arrangements where there is no one taking your ticket but you are supposed to have one anyway. Fare patrol officers will randomly board cars and ask for tickets, and if you caught without … Read full post
I am totally addicted to this 2+2 thread “Stingiest Thing You’ve Seen Someone Do“. In between some stupid arguments about tipping and such, there are some truly jaw-dropping stories:
… Read full postmy ex gf’s mother finds overripe fruit at the store, takes it home and removes all the good parts,
As I recently mentioned, some old friends came out to Seattle to visit us over the weekend. We had a great time camping on Orcas Island, hiking, kayaking, drinking beer and making S’mores (the secret ingredient is Hershey’s Special Dark instead of milk chocolate bars), and then to top it … Read full post
It was one year ago today that my girlfriend and I left our apartment in Boston and became officially homeless. For the past year we’ve been without permanent residence, living out of a Subaru Forester, camping, renting garages and spare rooms when we can, and staying in hotels when there’s … Read full post
Emily and I left Missoula, Montana this morning, passed through Idaho, and crossed the border into Washington, bound for Spokane. With that, I can now say that I’ve been to every state in the continental United States. No immediate plans for Alaska or Hawaii, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get … Read full post
It’s hard to keep track of the proper procedures for encountering various potentially dangerous animals in the wild. With someone you are supposed to wave your arms and appear threatening, with others you are supposed to back away slowly, etc. While hiking in Yellowstone National Park we came across this … Read full post
Before leaving Leipzig this morning we visited an excellent museum dealing with the Stasi, the secret police of the East German government. The museum was located in their old headquarters and preserved the look and feel of the place complete with the equipment the Stasi used to bug telephones, detain … Read full post
Sorry for the lack of posting this week, I’m currently traveling around Germany with sporadic internet and frankly better things to do. I spent my first few days in Berlin and Potsdam, then two days in Dresden, and am now in Leipzig. Tomorrow it’s onto Weimar, then back for a … Read full post