87th

This year’s WSOP journey ended for me about an hour ago. Out of more than 7000 players, I finished 87th and won just shy of $80,000. There was nothing dramatic about it. I lost two very standard pre-flop hands to Eric Baldwin, once with A4s < KJs for a 700K … Read full post

Day 6 Table

Thanks to piefarmer for finding and posting this.

Seat 1: David Baker (951000) NOT Bakes of FTOPS final table fame, I’m told
Seat 2: Andrew Brokos (1223000) table chipleader
Seat 3: Eric Baldwin (292000) Basebaldy online, 2009 Cardplayer player of the year, WSOP bracelet, UB sponsored player
Seat 4: Russell … Read full post

1.2 Million Going Into Day 6

The starting table was about what I was expecting. There were a couple of good players, one of whom quickly lost a flip to me with AK to my JJ to get busted, and then a few quite weak players. Even more to my good fortune, a few of the … Read full post

Day 5 Table

I woke up this morning convinced that I would be assigned to the table of tournament chipleader Tony Dunst- the first time we met in real life was just moments before learning we’d be seated next to each other in a 5K 6-max- but I was spared that fate at … Read full post

Day 4 Table

Couldn’t find much on most of these guys, which is probably a good thing:

Vincent Lodato 134,700 AMAZON/322/1
Andrew Brokos 503,300 AMAZON/322/2
Andrew Jeter 124,300 AMAZON/322/3
Simon Ravnsbaek 233,200 AMAZON/322/4 (couple of shallow cases on the circuit: WSOP, WPT, EPT, Aussie Millions)
Daan Slutter 172,900 AMAZON/322/5 (sponsored by Everest Poker, … Read full post

Day 3 Recap

What a run. In the last two days I’ve 20x’ed my chips without ever seeing TT, QQ, KK, or AA. I did have AK quite a few times today, though, and I connected with a few flops when it counted.

I stole more than my share of pots for a … Read full post

Day 3 is here!

For those that didn’t see PieFarmer’s comment, here’s his summary of my Day 3 table draw with my parenthetical additions:

Danny Dam 198,000 AMAZON / 264 / 1 No info
Vincent Van Patten 174,200 AMAZON / 264 / 2 Celeb/Pro [wpt color commentator]
Thong Tran 57,100 AMAZON / 264 / … Read full post

WSOP Day 2: Fun and Profitable

Today was everything that Wednesday was not, namely fun and profitable. I had a very enjoyable table and showed a handsome profit to boot.

Early on I doubled up with Q’s vs. 9’s on a 4h 4s 3h 2h board. We both had a heart, so he was in real … Read full post

Day 2A Table Draw

Thanks for all your comments and encouragement. They mean a lot to me. Thanks especially to Todd and Emily, who both found and posted or sent me my table draw for today. Google didn’t turn up much, but here’s what I’ve got on them so far:

Ralph Blanco 47,175 AMAZON … Read full post

Survived Day 1

Gross table, gross day. Can’t recall the last time I was so miserable playing poker. Pretty much never got above my starting 30K all day. Had some crap luck especially last hour and was down around 12K. Table was crazy aggro, maybe one or two pots all day went unopened … Read full post

WSOP Main Event Today, Fire Up the Twitter

Well, today’s the day! I’ll be playing Day 1C, beginning in about 3 hours. I know I don’t tweet much outside of poker tournaments, but I will be sending updates from my phone about chip counts and big pots. You can follow me at www.twitter.com/thinkingpoker. Of course I’ll post some … Read full post

Squeeze Min-Check-Raising For Information

This is one of the most complex (some might say FPS-y) plays I’ve ever made. Just to give you the situation, the Button, with whom I’m 200 BB’s deep, is an extremely good player. In my opinion he’s one of the best regulars at 2000NL and 5000NL, and I have … Read full post

Jack-High Call Down

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

A Bluff I Don’t Want to Call

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

WSOP Plans

Thanks to everyone who’s asked how the series is going for me or what my WSOP plans are- I’m flattered by your interest. As you’ve probably figured out, I’m not in Las Vegas now. I will be playing the main event, hopefully Day 1C (July 7), but nothing else. I … Read full post

I Was Bluffing the River Anyway

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

I Slowrolled Myself

This is a very thin river shove to begin with. It’s not that Villain is all that likely to hold better, but it’s also hard to see him paying off with worse. My hand looks very strong here and could easily be a full house. Still, people do talk themselves … Read full post

Call That Down

Villain is a high-stakes MTT and SNG player who’s recently been sitting in the shallow high-stakes cash games as well. Despite his success, my opinion of him is that he makes a lot of borderline-bad calls and shoves. Probably I just think that because historically he’s run well vs. me … Read full post

Best Hand Won

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($3733)
Hero (BB) ($2918)
UTG ($2394)
MP ($2100)
CO ($2000)
Button ($5294)

Preflop: Hero is BB with J, 8
1 fold, MP bets $60, CO calls $60, 2 folds, Hero raises … Read full post

Urban Debate League Wins National Championships

It wasn’t the Boston Debate League, but a team from our sister league in Chicago recently won the National Forensics League Grand Tournament in Kansas City, making them the first Urban Debate League team ever to win a national championship (there are several- the NFL’s are the largest, though arguably … Read full post

Resucked

Granted my flop call isn’t the greatest, but I think most of his bluffing range is just giving up pretty much any turn, so I’m not too worried about getting bluffed out when I’m ahead.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 600/1200 Blinds 150 Ante (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool … Read full post

River Decision

Villain is a pretty good regular. He also plays higher and is well above average for the stakes. We’ve tangled a fair bit in the recent past and have some aggressive history. I believe his turn raising range to be disproportionately semi-bluffs, possibly with as little as a gutshot but … Read full post

River Overbet Bluff

I usually overbet in situations where my opponent’s range consists primarily of hands that are strong but not too strong. Particularly if this is obvious to both of you, the overbet turns even the stronger part of his range into a bluff-catcher by representing either an extremely strong hand or … Read full post

It’s Quickly Becoming Non-Ironic

While I was in Germany, my girlfriend was hanging out in Northern Minnesota (long story). One night, she ironically attended a monster truck rally where she ironically purchased this camouflage hat for me. We’ve been camping in the Badlands of South Dakota, and between the hat and the scraggly beard, … Read full post

Slowplaying When Shallow

In short, you should do it more often and with weaker hands. The two biggest drawbacks to slowplaying are missing out on the opportunity to build a big pot against second-best hands and the reverse implied odds of letting longshots draw for free. When you’re shallow, neither of those are … Read full post

David “Bakes” Baker Wins 2-7 NL WSOP Bracelet

Huge congratulations to David Baker, 2+2’s own “Bakes”, who took down the WSOP 2-7 NL event last night. For those who don’t know, this is a 5-card draw game where the objective is to make the low hand. Aces are high and straights and flushes count against you, meaning that … Read full post

Overbet -> Spaz Out

This is one of my favorite spots for an overbet, either with a very strong hand like this or with a draw, because Villain’s hand is so clearly defined as marginal showdown value. To be honest, given what he shows up with, I don’t understand why he raised the turn:… Read full post

Underbet -> Spaz Out

I get a lot of questions/comments about my underbetting, which is understandable since it’s one of the more non-standard plays in my arsenal. I think this hand illustrates one of the many advantages of such a play, which is inducing spazziness from hands that otherwise wouldn’t give you action.

Villain … Read full post

Praz Bansi Wins Second WSOP Bracelet

I’mPraz Bansi embarrassed to say that I’d never heard of Praz before I played with him during this year’s PCA, but I could tell immediately that he was a great player. He has this intense table presence that you rarely see, where you can tell he is studying everything that … Read full post

Book Review: Cowboys Full by James McManus

When I first heard that James McManus was working on a book about the history of poker, I was surprised that such a book had not yet been written and glad that McManus was the one writing it. His first poker book, Positively Fifth Street, is a personal favorite … Read full post

Stasi Museum

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

Update From Germany

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

Least I Lost the Minimum

It freaking sucks to river the second nuts and have to make a crying call with it. I’m pretty surprised the guy wasn’t more aggressive with it when I showed so much weakness on the turn, but I can’t see what else he plays like this on the river, let … Read full post

I’ll Take That

I know this isn’t the first “river semi-bluff” I’ve posted, but it never ceases to amaze me how few players do this. It’s sooooooooo unlikely anyone is checked a flush on the river, betting is a virtual freeroll.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter … Read full post

Stupid Call

CO in this hand was unknown to me. He’d only been at the table for a few hands, but he seemed to be involved in every pot, and indeed had played 40% of his hands.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1148)… Read full post

Gettin’ Tricksy Wit’ It

These are both from the Poker Stars weekly $500.

Hand 1, I think re-raising at either opportunity pre-flop makes me look really strong, and pretty much any hand that can stack off to that pre-flop is going to lose a lot on most flops anyway:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, … Read full post

I Hate Good Players

I should probably just fold pre-flop. I ran my time bank down all the way before finally deciding I’d pretty much never have a hand stronger than this and so needed to call here. When I saw his hand, I felt totally owned:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (4 handed) … Read full post

SCOOP Event 35: Heads Up NLHE

I played both the 250 and the 2500 but not the 25K. Go ahead, call me a nit.

My first opponent in the 250 was absolutely awful. He played 63/1 over the course of the match (he open limped his button when he didn’t fold it) and played pretty badly … Read full post

SCOOP Event 30-H: $1000 PLO8

I like PLO8 and know a bit about it, but I’m far from an expert. I also played the $100, in which I was surely a favorite, but the 1K had a surprisingly competent field (or maybe not so surprising- I mean it was a 1K). Not that there wasn’t … Read full post

Visiting Germany

An old friend of mine is currently living in Berlin, and I’m going to be visiting him there from May 25-June 5. I tell you this for three reasons:

1. Bragging.

2. If you’re a Thinking Poker reader who happens to live in or around that area, drop me a … Read full post

SCOOP Event #22-M: $300 NLHE 4-Max

I ended up doing quite well in this one, finishing 5th out of more than 1400 runners. On the whole it was a lot of fun to play so short-handed and I felt I played well, but a monumental error in my final hand left a bad taste in my … Read full post

Check Me Out on the 2+2 Pokercast

Last night, as I was sleep-deprived and caffeine-jittery and getting deep in the $300 SCOOP 4-Max, I was also on the phone with Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz, hosts of the 2+2 Pokercast on which I am this week’s feature guest! You can search for it on iTunes or listen … Read full post

SCOOP Event #22-H: $3000 NLHE 4-Max

Between the deep stacks and the very short-handed tables, I was really looking forward to this event. I’ve actually missed both Sundays of the SCOOP, but I made sure I was around for this one.

Needless to say, it was a tough field. My first few tables actually weren’t bad, … Read full post

They Call That Pwned

This guy sat down across from me at one of my HU tables with an 80BB stack and lost it on the second hand of the match. In retrospect my shove might not be great. I thought he would have raised all his strong hands on the flop, but I’m … Read full post

I Am the Champion, My Friends

Full Tilt Poker hosted a Tournament of Champions today for everyone who won an FTOPS event in any of the last four series. The only prize was a $10,000 WSOP seat (no details whatsoever on how/whether it can be cashed out) to the winner, and guess who that was?

To … Read full post

Large Ante Poker is Fun

I played the SCOOP Large Ante $150 and $1500 events yesterday, not even realizing what they were until the tournament started. What a lot of fun! I think formats like this are awesome because they separate the people who understand poker from those who have a robotic, if successful, strategy. … Read full post

A Rational Shark-Bite Victim


Have you read Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner? I never wrote a review of it, and I doubt I’ll re-read it just for that purpose, but it’s got a lot of appeal for the poker player who’s interested in more than just poker. Though the book itself doesn’t … Read full post

FTOPS Jersey

Isn’t it pretty? Plus, now that my avatar is no longer the black guy with the Afro, I expect to see 17% less racist vitriol directed at me in the chatbox!

… Read full post

FTOPS 25 Final Table Hands

Don’t Try to Bluff a Guy Named Psycho

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 … Read full post

Winner!

Wow. Thanks to everyone who was watching and following along.

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 … Read full post

FTOPS Event 25 $2000 NLHE 2-Day

Woke up at 6AM this morning, drove from Boston to Baltimore, got in just in time to fire this bitch up, and 10 hours later I am through Day 1 ranked 22/106, with 946 runners starting. I actually burst the bubble myself, busting the lovely Lauren Kling when she shoved … Read full post