Slavoj Never Disappoints

Slovenian film critic Slavoj Zizek is pretty much the hippest academic out there today (taking over the title from Jean Baudrillard, of course). I first discovered him through college debate, where his work is among the most cited no matter the topic. Unfortunately, his books can be tough to read, … Read full post

Deep!

Yesterday was a great day. My routine these days is usually to play for an hour or two most afternoons, and then if the games are good and I’m in a good mindset, I’ll keep playing for as long as I can. I put in about 8 hours yesterday, because … Read full post

Stud/8 WCOOP Report Part 2

When last we left him, our hero had gotten off to a great start in the $300 WCOOP Second Chance Stud/8 event, only to blow most of his chips on an ill-conceived bluff. When we pick up with him again, he is down to 2000 chips, and the stakes have … Read full post

I’m back

Sorry for the long silence, I was out of town for a wedding and didn’t have much time to update. Quick funny story from the wedding: I caught the garter when the groom threw it, which apparently meant I had to put it onto the leg of the woman who … Read full post

October: So Far, So Good

Two days in, and I’ve recovered about 1/3 of what was lost in September. I have a bunch of stuff on a list to post, but I got wrapped up in a really good heads up match that kept me up later than I planned, so I don’t have time … Read full post

Yesterday Was Not a Good Day to Bluff Me

Although it still ended in frustration, yesterday I was very happy, in general, with my play. I felt I was more focused than usual and making some good reads in situations where I often just give up. Here’s one tough call down from the $500 WCOOP 2nd Chance:

PokerStars No-Limit … Read full post

Worst Week Ever, Worst Month Ever

Yesterday concluded both the worst week and the worst month of my poker career. I’m not going to post dollar figures, but I lost about 15% of my bankroll and slashed my hourly rate for the year by nearly 1/3.

I initially put this graph together to garner pity, but … Read full post

FTP 750K

I finished 38th out of more than 3700 in the weekly $215 on Full Tilt, which was good but not good enough. I was 11th with 77 to go, then I raised 33 on the button, called a shove from the BB, and lost the flip with QTo for half … Read full post

WCOOP Main Event Results

Out in 1189th. I was on a roller coaster the whole time, doubled up with set versus top pair that turned a flush draw, then lost half my stack when I raise AQ from middle position and BB calls. Flop was KhQh9d, we both check. Turn 7d, he checks, I … Read full post

WCOOP Main Event

Today is the third annual World Championship of Online Poker on Poker Stars. We’re just shy of 3000 runners, and the $7.5 million prize pool makes it the largest internet tournament history.

The first hour was a roller coaster for me. I lost 2/3 of my stack 20 minutes in … Read full post

Bubble Boy

I made a nice run in the FTP $322 6-max yesterday only to have my dreams crushed on the bubble. With 25 players left, I was in 5th place. Everyone at my table was shorter than I and had been playing pretty straight-forward except for Imperium, who was sitting directly … Read full post

Stud/8 WCOOP 2nd Chance Part 1

As many of you know already, I final tabled the WCOOP Stud/8 Second Chance event. This isn’t really that impressive, since there were only 64 entrants, but I haven’t made a final table in a while and was really looking forward to this event. I’m going to post as many … Read full post

Font Problems

Very sorry for the current, hideous appearance of the blog. I’m not sure how it happened but I’m trying to fix it.… Read full post

WCOOP SCOOP

From the $530 WCOOP:

7 Card Stud High-Low ($40/$80), Ante $8

50outs (Seat 1): $2,650
sunrise100 (Seat 2): $2,395
foucault82 (Seat 3): $3,426
BabyGrand (Seat 4): $3,605
lock (Seat 5): $1,333
Siren (Seat 6): $3,538
bjbwc (Seat 7): $3,972
Islandrob1 (Seat 8): $2,991

3rd Street – (1.60 SB)

50outs: xx … Read full post

Big Pairs in Stud/8

From the $530 WCOOP event:

7 Card Stud High-Low ($20/$40), Ante $4

50outs (Seat 1): $2,782
sunrise100 (Seat 2): $2,611
foucault82 (Seat 3): $3,260
BabyGrand (Seat 4): $3,078
lock (Seat 5): $2,624
Siren (Seat 6): $2,884
bjbwc (Seat 7): $4,041
Islandrob1 (Seat 8): $2,630

3rd Street – (1.60 SB)
50outs: … Read full post

I wanted to punch this tool in his face

This is from the $200 6-max WCOOP second chance event. The Villain is a moron, he’s shown up with stuff like KJ after making calls like this out of his SB. I had a feeling he was going to bluff off with whatever, and I’m pretty sure I was right, … Read full post

WCOOP 18

That was quick. Today was the $320 6-max, not the $500 Stud/8, which is actually tomorrow. Mkind was the only named I recognized at the table. Hand 1 I flopped a set of 7’s on 678 flop, raised some dude’s c-bet, bet the turn, and he folded. Then I called … Read full post

WCOOP 16

I played the $320 PLO8 today and finished like 180 out of about 1200, good enough for a shallow cash, less than double my money. I was pretty happy with how i played, towards the end it was maybe a little questionable, but with just 10 BB I think you … Read full post

Folding the Nuts

Turns out today’s WCOOP was regular 7-Stud, not Hi/Lo, so I sat it out. But tomorrow is PLO8, which is a game I enjoy a lot, so I’m probably going to play. In anticipation, I played a few tables of 1/2 and 2/4 PLO8 and NLO8, just to practice and … Read full post

WCOOP 9

I played yesterday’s $200 rebuy with disappointing results. It was a sweet structure, with blinds starting at 10/20 and 3000 chips available for $200. Unfortunately, towards the end of the rebuy period, I took a bad beat that left me with like 3800, so I had barely more than one … Read full post

You Know It’s Going to Be a Good Day When….

Like most people, I get a ton of junk mail. My girlfriend managed to get her name on a ton of catalogue mailing lists, so I get like two of those on an average day, and she doesn’t even live here now! Plus, we are both fairly recent college graduates, … Read full post

WCOOP #7

Meh. Played the $215 Fixed Limit Hold ‘Em WCOOP event today. Full ring limit hold ’em is a boring and stupid game. I was running pretty well the first few hours, which in limit hold ’em just means your AK or QJ or whatever connects and some other guy has … Read full post

WCOOP #5

Unfortunately, Poker Stars’ World Championship of Online Poker is timing out badly relative to my travel schedule: I was in Chicago much of this past weekend, missing the first few events, and I’ll be in New York this coming weekend and therefore missing the juicier weekend events then as well … Read full post

Worst Play Ever?

I’m not exaggerating, I really can not think of another hand that I’ve seen played as badly as this guy played his JJ. The only other contender is when people in tournaments post like half their stack in the BB and then fold getting a bazillion to one because they … Read full post

Bluffing With an Overpair

This was from a full ring table, where the game plays very differently than at a 6-max table. There are more fish, in general, but you get fewer opportunities to play hands with them. There are also some real nits who would get killed at a short-handed table but can … Read full post

Thanks, Logan

My friend Logan happened to look in on me yesterday while I was playing and sent me this e-mail: “I have a note on xxxx at your 5-10 table. Heads up he will min check raise as a bluff or semi bluff.”

So today I was playing with the same … Read full post

Big Laydown

Full Tilt Poker – No Limit Hold’em Cash Game – $5/$10 Blinds – 3 Players – (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $1,223.00
BB: $1,220.50
Hero (BTN): $995.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt 9 T (3 Players)
Hero raises to $35.00, SB calls $30.00, BB folds

Flop: ($80) Q

… Read full post

Bah

Full Tilt Poker – No Limit Hold’em Cash Game – $3/$6 Blinds – 5 Players – (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $603.00
BB: $630.00
UTG: $685.00
CO: $887.00
Hero (BTN): $600.00

Preflop: Hero is dealt Q Q (5 Players)
2 folds, Hero raises to $21.00, SB … Read full post

Yeti Theorem!

Some of you may have heard of the Yeti Theorem, named for the 2+2 poster who first postulated it. The theorem states that when the pre-flop raiser 3-bets a check-raise on a paired flop, he can very rarely stand a 4-bet. Consider if you raise pre-flop and bet a 993 … Read full post

August

…was my third losing month of 2007. I was only out about $1500, and I made almost $1000 in rakeback, so it was really more of a breakeven month than a losing month. Still, there was a negative sign in front of the total on my spreadsheet, and that makes … Read full post

It’s Sunday, but I can’t complain

I was really happy with the way I was playing yesterday. The aggressive style that wins money at shorthanded 5/10 NL has been getting me into trouble in tournament play lately, but yesterday I didn’t do anything dumb: no hopeless calls, no big bluffs, and no desperation plays. I was … Read full post

Yes I still play poker

This is from a $100 freezeout on Poker Stars. Villain in this hand is Lilholdem, one of the most successful tournament players around. From what I’ve seen, he’s loose and aggressive, sometimes to a fault.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of … Read full post

CDSI Update

Sorry for the lack of updates, but as predicted, I haven’t spent a lot of time on the computer in Chicago. I’m out here for a week volunteering for the Chicago Debate Summer Institute, a two-week camp very similar to the institute I ran in Boston last week. Unlike my … Read full post

Headed to Chicago

Sorry things have been slow recently, but I haven’t played much, with Boston’s summer institute last week, and now I’m headed out to Chicago to volunteer for a week at their institute. I won’t be playing much if any poker, and probably won’t have a lot of opportunity to update … Read full post

John McCain on the Daily Show

Not that we’re in agreement politically, but I’ve got a lot of respect for McCain, more than I have for pretty much any other politician. He seems genuine, humble, funny, intelligent, thoughtful, etc. Nothing like a few years in a Vietnamese prison camp to give you some perspective, I guess.… Read full post

BDL Institute Finale

Today was the last day of the BDL’s week-long summer institute, and it really went better than I could have hoped. There were some snags, particularly when the post office lost three weeks worth of my mail including all of the applications, but we rallied and managed to bring together … Read full post

FTOPS Event 9

I skipped Tuesday’s $200 O/8 event, but played the $300 rebuy 6-max last night. I started to the left of kwob20, who was playing like a complete monkey during the rebuy period, just shipping his stack in really bad spots. In one hand, he limped behind a limper, I potted … Read full post

FTOPS Event 7

I literally felt physically ill after busting out of this tournament. That was probably in no small part due to the fact that I’d slept badly the night before, spent the whole day teaching and running around doing other things to keep the BDL summer institute going, and then played … Read full post

BDL Summer Institute

I’ll start by telling you that the BDL camp got off to a good start. We had twelve students on our first day, which was about as many as I’d expected when we first thought about having an institute, but not as many as I’d hoped after the flood of … Read full post

FTOPS Event 6

Once again, got off to a good start. Eventually, this happened:

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $100/$200
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $13505
UTG+1: $15869
MP1: $1845
MP2: $7740
MP3: $10452
Foucault: $7435
Button: $2686
SB: $10085
BB: $6027

Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault … Read full post

FTOPS Event 5

aklghdghahd;jafjdashfklashgldasjgasjlgkdhasfafjasf

Skipped Event 4, which was the $500 PLO 6-max. Chief (for those of you who know him) IM’ed me for a quick primer in the game cuz he satellited in. My first piece of advice was not to play satellites for tournaments you shouldn’t be playing. I told him … Read full post

FTOPS Event 3

$200 Pot Limit Hold ‘Em. I built up from 3000 to 5000 early on when my KK flopped KJJ and the clown who called me out of position with Q9o bluffed his gutshot into me. That should have taught me something: don’t try to bluff random tournament donkeys. At 25/50, … Read full post

FTOPS Event 2

Last night was the $200 HORSE event. I made it about three hours in, ran well in the first couple levels against some clueless donks, then got nothing playable for like an hour, got outdrawn by another donkey at Razz, rebuilt thanks to some stubborn Stud donkeys, made a baby … Read full post

Harry Potter a L’Ecole Des Sorciers

I took seven semesters of French in college, and though I’ve never been to a French-speaking country, my knowledge of the language, particularly the written languate, was pretty strong when I graduated. In the past three years, though, I’ve barely used it. I’ve been wanting to read the Harry Potter … Read full post

30 rebuy bustout hand

Since I was already planning on playing the Stars $300 and FTP $200 last night, and I’m going to be playing more tournaments because of FTOPS, I decided just to play all tournaments last night and no cash. That’s probably wise anyway, because the mentality required for tournaments versus is … Read full post

FTOPS Event 1

The fifth Full Tilt Online Poker Series started with a $200+9 NLHE tournament last night. It got a huge field, well over 4000 players, and featured the usual generous FTOPS structure. There were no antes, for example, until two hours into the tournament. A little over 500 places paid, and … Read full post

Jerry Yang

Sorry, I know this is old news, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to comment on for a while. In my opinion, Jerry Yang’s victory at the 2007 World Series of Poker is great for the game’s image. There are those who claim that a win by a largely inexperienced … Read full post

Balancing Your Range

The last hand that I posted involved me shoving pocket Tens on a KQxx board against a guy who had reraised me pre-flop and then bet the flop and turn. Part of my reasoning was that when the K turned, he was actually less likely to have because he bet … Read full post

Defending Against a Squeeze

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $5/$10
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $1000
Foucault: $1711
CO: $1514
Button: $551
SB: $1850.75
BB: $1163

Pre-flop: (6 players) Foucault is UTG+1 with :th :td
UTG folds, Foucault raises to $35, CO calls, 2 folds, … Read full post

PLO: That’s Not a Good Turn

PLO has long been my worst game, but it’s also the second most popular form of poker after NLHE, especially for higher stakes games, so I’d really like to learn it. I’ve been playing 1/2 from time to time, just trying to get a hang of it. Here’s a spot … Read full post

My New Addiction

They are called TED Talks, and they are like intellectual crack. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and basically TED conferences bring together some of the smartest and most fascinating people from these fields. Each gives an 18-minute talk about the work that he or she does, and to … Read full post

Some Big Bold Tournament Bluffs

I’d never played the $1000 FTP Money Monday until last night, but at the time, it just felt right. I’m an early-to-bed, early-to-rise kind of guy, and I often start getting tired around 9PM. Last night, however, I felt awake and alert, so I decided to give this tournament a … Read full post

Crucial Hand From Deep in the UB 200K

Ugh, yesterday was not a good day. I spent most of the day playing 6-8 tables of big Sunday tournaments and 5-10 NL. I wasn’t playing particularly well in either, and combined with some moderately bad luck, this led to a pretty rough day. The only redeeming point was a … Read full post

Neteller Withdrawals

After much delay, anticipation, and worry, the day has finally arrived. US customers can now withdraw their long-locked-up funds from Neteller. The only catch is that Neteller asks you to sign a release that indemnifies both you and them from being sued. I’m not a lawyer or in any way … Read full post