Podcast Episode 20 Delayed

Sorry all, I’m on vacation this week and thought I’d have time to get this up today but I haven’t. It will be up by Thursday night, apologies for the delay.… Read full post

Poker Writing Dream

It’s not unheard of for me to dream about poker, particularly if I go to bed shortly after ending a session or am still mulling over a hand when I go to sleep. This was the first time I’d ever dreamed about writing about poker, though.

In the dream, I … Read full post

What’s Your Play? Min-Raised on the River

What's Your Play?I haven’t posted in a while so I figured I’d go ahead and put up an early WYP.

Villain is a regular but for whatever reason we don’t have a lot of experience playing together. From what little I’ve seen he seems to be mostly loose-passive in small pots but … Read full post

The Button Tax

It occurs to me that, although my latest poker strategy article has been up since the beginning of the month, I haven’t actually mentioned it here yet. You can read The Button Tax in Two Plus Two Magazine to learn more about the value of position in multiway pots:

I

… Read full post

It Was a Crazy Game of Poker

I arrived at my local card room expecting to play the usual loose-passive $1/$3/$6 game. Instead, there were two full tables of $5/$5 running with a substantial waiting list. I sat for over an hour in a $1/$3 game before a seat in the must-move game opened up. When I … Read full post

What’s Your Plan? Flopped Straight, Board Pairs on Turn

What's Your Play?The Game: $1/$3/$6 no-limit hold ’em. Plays loose-passive pre-flop but gets progressively more tight-passive as pots get larger.

Villain 1 ($1800): Best of the regulars in this Hero’s opinion. He’s 30ish, seems comfortable playing 200+ BB pots when it’s warranted, capable of bluffing, calling down, and folding in … Read full post

The Wild Side

Just as I take my seat in the $1/$3/$6 game, I see a player curse, hurl his cards angrily into the muck, leap out of his chair, curse again, and kick the wall. Naturally curious, I look to the board to see what has happened and am surprised to find … Read full post

On Fish

I suppose the Atlantis resort is an appropriate place for a poker tournament, because the whole place is built on value betting the shit out of rich fish. Everywhere the trappings of luxury convince people to fork over absurd sums of money for silly baubles, bad food, and tacky experiences.… Read full post

PCA Main Event Day 1

I took my seat and immediately recognized Lee Markholt two seats to my left and Dani Stern two seats to his left. I never learned the names of the rest of my opponents, but they proved nearly as capable, and it was probably one of the toughest tournament tables I’ve … Read full post

Return to Paradise

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

Counting Cats

Sorry for the lack of updates – holidays and such, you know. It’s going to continue to be spotty through mid-January, as I’ve got a guest visiting for the next few days, then I’ll be visiting friends for a few days, then I’ll be at the PCA where internet may … Read full post

No Podcast This Week

Nate and I are both busy with family and travel this week, so there’s no new episode of the Thinking Poker Podcast. We’ll be back with a new episode next week. Merry Christmas!

 … Read full post

Mailbag: Implied Odds in a Multiway Pot

Thinking Poker MailbagQ:Game is 2/5 and involves three players:
A-$350(SB)
B-$500(hero, MP)T/T
C-$650(Button)

action is limped by1 player(B) to Button that raises to $25, folds to BB and he re pops it for $85 total… now here is the question, given a hero read of extremely strong ranges on at the … Read full post

Selling PCA Action (Closed)

Update: Thanks for the enthusiastic response! Everything I want to sell is spoken for, so if you haven’t contacted me about this already, sorry but there’s no more action for sale. Hope you’ll root for me anyway though!

 

I decided, at the last minute as usual, to play the … Read full post

What’s Your Plan? A LAG Picks Up a Hand

Edit: Villain is the BB (the $3 blind).What's Your Play?

Ten-handed live $1/$3/$6 game. Hero is the only player at the table with a pre-flop raise percent greater 5 (it’s close to 15). As such, I’m perceived as an insanely aggressive bully even though I’ve mostly shown big hands in big pots … Read full post

What’s Your Play? Straight on Three-Flush River

What's Your Play?Sorry for the delay, new podcast episode should be up tomorrow. Here’s something to keep you busy in the meantime.

Shortly after dinner break at the $2500 Borgata Poker Open, re-entry period is over. Table is reasonably tough for this event, we’re ten-handed with three opponents I consider competent and … Read full post

Flop 3-Bet Bluff

Edit: Wow somehow this was up for more than three days without anyone asking what my hand was? Sorry I forgot to include it, as I hinted in some of my responses to comments, it was kind of relevant. I had AJo, so two blockers to some hands I thought … Read full post

Borgata Poker Open

I’m playing the Main Event Day 1B on Monday, getting into Atlantic City Sunday evening. If any readers are going to be in AC for the tournament or any other reason, drop me a line and maybe we can get a beer or something.… Read full post

Mailbag: Going Crazy With a Low Flush

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: My son and I have different opinions on a hand I played this week and would love to here your take. The game is live 1-2 and I have been running crazy good and only showing down big hands. My stack is at $1200.

Villan is young aggressive and … Read full post

Happy Halloween!

I think my jack-o-lantern looks cool, but not quite like the image I was going for. I did a better job of that last year. Try to figure it out, but if you’re still uncertain, you can click here.

Emily’s jack-o-lantern is a tribute to our Europe trip:… Read full post

WCOOP Main Event, Day 2

In my essay Gray Friday, I talked about how online poker has contributed to my increasingly heavy reliance on the internet:

“The more time I spend on the internet, the more disdainful I become of the physical world. I work online, I play online, I shop online, and I

… Read full post

Mon Anniversaire

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

$300 NLHE and $500 1R1A

The $300 NLHE started at 6AM, so I let myself wake up whenever I woke up and then late registered it. I mentioned having a bit of a revelation on Sunday that I wasn’t adapting well to the amount of 3-betting I was encountering in these tournaments. I think I … Read full post