The Millionaire Maker is like the PokerStars Sunday Million on crack, drawing a field of thousands with a relatively affordable buyin and the distant prospect of a life-changing score. It ended up drawing a field of 6343, making it roughly the size of the Main Event for about 1/7 the … Read full post
I went grocery shopping on the night I arrived in Las Vegas, but more chores remained for the next morning. I packed myself a lunch, a task that took me back to my grade school days as I tucked two halves of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (I didn’t … 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
This hand comes from level 3 of the $1500 “Millionaire Maker” WSOP event, a two-day affair expected to draw a field of 5000+. With just 4500 starting chips, preflop shoves were commonplace. They’ll be commonplace in lots of the low buy-in tournaments in Las Vegas this summer, so if you … 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
Followers of this blog probably couldn’t help noticing that I’ve been on a cross-country road trip for the past week and a half. We made a valiant effort, but I simply wasn’t able to find enough downtime to get this week’s episode recorded, so there’s not going to be a … 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
My cousin‘s oldest son was the first person awake on Sunday morning, and when he accepted that his parents weren’t ready to get out of bed yet, he came out to wake my girlfriend and me. We played with him for a couple of minutes and then I convinced … Read full post
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Taylor Caby, playing as “Green Plastic”, was one of the first superstars of online poker. He’s also one of the only self-described entrepreneurs in the poker world who has actually founded several successful businesses. The first was Cardrunners, which launched the … 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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Jared Tendler, author of May book club book The Mental Game of Poker 2, talks about his transition from aspiring pro golfer to psychology student to mental game coach. Then talk turns to his new book and your questions!
Timestamps
0:39 … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s What’s Your Play?, and sorry that I’m late in getting up the results. My girlfriend and I are about to embark on a cross-country roadtrip, ending (for me) in Las Vegas, so we’ve been busy getting ready for that.
I want … Read full post
Our interview with Jared Tendler is scheduled for Monday night, so please get us your questions for him. You can post them as comments here, send them to podcast@thinkingpoker.net, or tweet them @ThinkingPoker. If you’re buying Mental Game of Poker 2, please support the show by using our … Read full post
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Apparently certain browsers/apps had trouble with the original version of Episode 31, so here’s a new file that I think will work better. Please let me know whether this fixes your issue. Thanks!… 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
The World Series of Poker is unique among poker events. In no other tournaments will you encounter such a wide variety of opponents, from those who barely know the rules to the very best in the world. This seminar will discuss a number of strategic adaptations for dealing with various … Read full post
Villain is in his early 20s. I’ve never seen before, but he gives off a distinct air of “I used to play on the internet and I wasn’t too bad at it.” He just joined the table 10 hands ago, and when he sat down he asked what was the … Read full post
My latest article, which is something like half tournament poker strategy and half navel-gazing in the tradition of Gray Friday and Three Days in Madrid, is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine:
… Read full postA lot of people, in the wake of the Boston bombing, seem deeply troubled by the question
Podcast listeners may remember that, when Andre was a guest on the show, I suggested that he and I record some coaching sessions to post online. Well, the first one is up! In this hand-by-hand review of a deep run he made in a $50 MTT, we talk … Read full post
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Jussi Palomäki is a cognitive scientist who’s published several studies on the subject of tilt. He discusses his findings, opines on Angelo’s and Tendler’s treatments of the subject, and even proves capable of discoursing on ancient philosophy. He also shares the … Read full post
I thought about posting this one as a “What’s Your Play?”, but I think it’s too weird and the flop check would be too much of a distraction from the turn decision, so I’m just going to post it and write about it like I don’t do often enough anymore. … Read full post
Tommy sent me this amazing screenshot, and I forgot to use it as an image to go along with his recent podcast appearance, so here it is in all its glory:
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Listener (and host) favorite Tommy Angelo returns to the podcast to discuss Elements of Poker. If you enjoy this one, be sure to check out his previous appearance as well. And if you like the mailbag segment, there’s more discussion about … Read full post
Jared Tendler’s The Mental Game of Poker 2 is the Thinking Poker Bookclub selection for May. It’s available in paperback for $34.95 or in a variety of e-book formats. The following is a tentative reading schedule. There are some scheduling complications that may result in Jared coming on the … Read full post
I received this email as a mailbag question, but I think the author makes a good point well and I don’t really have anything to add to it, so I’m just going to post it here for everyone to read. Thanks for writing, Kev from Australia!
… Read full postI’m curious of your
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Kings on an Ace River.
Needless to say, a lot depends on how you interpret Villain’s actions up to this point. If you believe he has a polarized range for raising flop and betting turn – meaning probably two pair … Read full post
This question was posted in response to my analysis of a hand in which the Hero had to make a decision, for most if not all of his stack, with pocket Jacks facing an early position raise, a call, and a re-raise all-in in front of him. I wanted to … Read full post
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Olivier Busquet is back for more (actually he never left, we just chopped up our interview with him). This time around, we talk about televised poker commentary, the quality of political discourse in America, Olivier’s Toronto poker pad, and the possibility of
Whether you enjoyed my theory videos on Tournament Poker Edge, or if theory videos aren’t your thing, you might be interested to know that I’ve now got a new series going up there that is in the form of a full hand history review. You can follow me … Read full post
“To live well, the right things have to go wrong. I don’t know in what proportion. But in Buenos Aires, I seemed determined to find out.” So begins the latest installment in Gareth Chantler’s chronicle of his continent-spanning nomadic poker life. In the latest installment, Gareth earns the ire … Read full post
Edit: Hey look, a mistake in a WYP post! Been a while since that happened… At least this was a minor one. My preflop raise was to 150, and I’ve adjusted pot size to reflect that. Sorry for any confusion.
It’s early in the $2500 Borgata Spring Poker Open Main … Read full post
Edit: As usual, my attempts to perform a complicated equity calculation in under an hour resulted in a mistake. I don’t have time to fix it at the moment – the Borgata Main Event starts shortly – but any calc involving UTG+2 is wrong because his actual calling range is … Read full post
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Olivier Busquet, AKA high-stakes heads up sit-and-go boss livb112, joins us from his poker refugee pad in Toronto. With remarkable candor, he talks about his frustrations and his strategy for staying on top of his chosen format. You can follow @OlivierBusquet on … Read full post
This one comes to us via Andre Coimbra. Hero is new to the table but has the PokerStars Team Online red spade that sometimes affects how people play. He has only 25 hands worth of data on all the Villains in this hand, so keep that in mind when considering … Read full post
Card Player just published one of my articles about a challenge that I gave myself at the casino one night when it became clear that the game I wanted to play wasn’t going to go off:
… Read full postRather than leave immediately, though, I gave myself a challenge. I had to pay
In the results post for What’s Your Play? Overpair on Dry Flop, I cited a quote from Zach Ellwood, author of Reading Poker Tells, about opponents who comment on the texture of the board: “players who actually connect with the board will not want to draw attention to … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Rivered Top Pair. This was an interesting one for me because although there were quite a few different opinions, no one suggested what I consider to be the best play. I do think many options are close, but that doesn’t … Read full post
Perhaps you remember Andre Coimbra, the Portuguese player seeking to turn $100 into $100K this year through multi-table tournaments, from his recent podcast interview? He’s well on his way after beating a field of more than 15,000 players to win a $1 rebuy tournament for nearly $14,000. He’s got … Read full post
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No guest this week, just thorough strategy talk. Andrew brags about a deep run in a free poker tournament, we break down a hand from a 6-handed WSOP prelim event, and we discuss the first third of Tommy Angelo’s Elements of … Read full post
Whether or not you’re participating in the April Bookclub, I hope you’ll find my latest poker strategy article, “Idealistic Extremes“, to be of interest. It extrapolates on the meaning of a key phrase from Tommy Angelo’s introduction to Elements of Poker and talks about its implications for … Read full post
This is the fourth hand of a six-max tournament on a .FR site. Hero (who is not me) and Villain are both readless on each other. Blinds are 50/100, both players have roughly 20K to start the hand.
Villain opens to 205 from the HJ, Hero calls with As Th … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on What’s Your Play? Overpair on Dry Flop. I realize that in some sense this isn’t a very interesting spot, because nothing out of the ordinary has happened and I’m not going to advocate some bizarre play like betting 4x pot. In another sense, … Read full post
Nate and I will be discussing Tommy Angelo’s Elements of Poker for the Thinking Poker Bookclub during the month of April. I figured I’d make a separate post about here since not everyone reads the shownotes. If you’ve never read Elements of Poker, you’re in for a treat. It’s … Read full post
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Poker author Ed Miller, the brains behind March book club selection Playing the Player among other great titles, gives generously of his time for both a regular interview and a thorough discussion of his book. We talk about the unconventional beginning to … Read full post
Playing 10-handed $1/$3 no-limit hold ’em. Villain has roughly $300, Hero covers.
Villain is relatively new to the table, but he’s already complaining, good-naturedly but often, about how he’s getting nothing but bad cards. Before looking at his cards this hand, he said, “I just want to see one card … Read full post
… Read full postYou pay off too much. You have trouble letting go of big hands. Bad calls on early streets get you into trouble later. You call when you know you’re beat, saying things like, “I had to,” or “I was priced in.”
Does this sound like you? I’ve got good news.
Often, when I’m in a smaller stakes game waiting for a seat in the bigger game to open up, I use it as an opportunity to practice my discipline. Generally it’s easier to pick up physical tells, betting tendencies, etc. in smaller stakes games, and rather than acting like it’s … 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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Leo Wolpert, whom you may remember from Episode 10, is back as a co-host this week. He shares a hand from a recent WSOP circuit event and a story from his friend Jason Somerville’s blog.
Strategy Segment
Leo starts the … Read full post
Our editor checked his laptop on a recent flight; he arrived at his destination, but his bag did not, so no editing got done today. We hope to get the podcast up tomorrow – I may even edit it my damn self if he doesn’t get his laptop back tomorrow. … Read full post
This WYP should be of particular interest to fans of my Getting Paid series on Tournament Poker Edge. We’re heads up at the first table of a $500 NLHE Shootout WCOOP event. (In a shootout, they don’t break tables. Instead each starting table plays until one player remains, then … Read full post
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André Coimbra is a member of PokerStars Team Online and the 2009 Magic: The Gathering World Champion. In 2013, he withdrew all but $100 from his PokerStars account, asked support to reset his VIP status to Bronze Star, and set about trying … Read full post
This week’s What’s Your Play? highlights an important point about how to integrate an opponent’s physical tells into your decision-making process. Contrary to what Hollywood would have you believe, it’s not something that you can do in a vacuum: TeddyKGB didn’t eat the Oreo, he’s bluffing, call him with Ace-high!… Read full post
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Something different today: Andrew interviews his grandmother about her brother, a 400-pound cross-dressing stand-up comedian with a love for all things gambling. The result is a moving, inspiring portrait of a life well-, if strangely, lived. Plus, some exciting announcements!
Tubby Boots … Read full post
I’ve always done well in live cash games, but prior to Black Friday I didn’t play them all that often, and I do think you encounter a somewhat different player base in live games than you do online. As you may have noticed from the hands I’ve been posting, I’ve … Read full post
Edit: Just realized the first paragraph of this post disappeared for some reason. Rewriting it now.
In his opinion, Hero hasn’t been that aggressive, but that isn’t how this loose and passive $1/$3 no-limit hold ’em table sees it. I’ve mostly been doing pretty simple stuff, bombing it preflop against … Read full post
My new video series at Tournament Poker Edge is called Getting Paid, and it’s about getting money into the pot when you have the best hand. The first video in this five-part series, which was just released, is about identifying specific hands in your opponent’s range from which you’ll … Read full post
Thanks for the comments on this week’s WYP, everyone. You all seem to agree with my thinking during the hand, which was that Villain’s line just doesn’t make sense. People often use that as an excuse to call, since they can’t put their opponent on a value hand, but … Read full post
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Steve Day, better known in some circles as “SteveD” and in others as “ackbleh”, is Manager of VIP, Team Online, Ring Games, and Sit-and-Go tournaments at PokerStars. He takes us behind the scenes at PokerStars to talk about how major decisions, from … Read full post
