My Last Day in Europe

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

Second Pair = Nuts

I didn’t expect Villain to much Kx in his flatting range. Then again, I wouldn’t have expected him to flat the hand he showed up with, either, so maybe that’s a bad read. In any event, I felt I was in very good shape versus his betting range but a … Read full post

One Night in Paris

My flight from Madrid back to North America includes an overnight layover in Paris. I get in at 11:10 PM and don’t leave until 10:30 AM. Obviously it’s an awkward time to see the city, but ideally I’d like to get out a bit rather than sitting around the airport … Read full post

The Universal Language

We left Cannes yesterday and drove to Barcelona where we saw an FC Barcelona game and spent the night with a friend of Nico’s. She’s at work and Nico’s in the shower now, so it’s just me hanging out with her boyfriend and his friend. They speak no English and … Read full post

PokerStars Launches Time Tourneys

Edit: Apparently I misunderstood how these tournies work. Unfortunately a lot of what I wrote here is irrelevant in that format, so I’ve deleted it. Sorry for the confusion.

Here’s more from PokerStars about how Time Tourneys work:

Tournaments last for a set amount of time (min: 15 minutes, max: … Read full post

WSOPE Party

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

Busto

Edit: Fixed the flop in the Vanessa Rousso hand, I didn´t river a full house obviously.

Busted third to last hand of the night, been going back and forth a lot for the last half hour about whether I like my call, but we´ll get to that in a second. … Read full post

WSOP Europe Trip Report Part 1

After 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

Aller a Cannes

Sorry I haven’t posted much this week, it’s been busy with moving from Canmore to Vancouver and sorting out logistics for the WSOP Europe. The good news is that I got to spend the night at the mansion occupied by fellow PokerStars Team Online member Kevin “Wizard of Ahhs” Thurman … Read full post

Larch Madness

We’ve left Canmore and are now en route to Vancouver, but before departing we snuck in one more hike that proved to be one of the best we’ve done. There are these trees up here called “larches” that are like pine trees except that they turn yellow in the autumn, … Read full post

Selling WSOP Europe Action

Edit: Corrected the prices below, forgot to update them when copy/pasting.

Almost immediately after moving to Vancouver, I’ll be heading to Cannes for the World Series of Poker Europe, most likely just the main event. Although I never considered this event worth traveling for in the past, I expect that … Read full post

Ode to the WCOOP

Three weeks gone by and thousands spent,

I fled my homeland for this event,

matched wits with the pros and the keyboard droolers,

but fell to a series of beats and coolers.

Pay attention, friends! Don’t let those eyelids droop,

as I sing to you of my WCOOP.

 

On … Read full post

WCOOP Main Event

I suppose my main event was a fitting end to the series and a paradigmatic WCOOP experience. In the early stages I plundered the satellite qualifiers, going on an early rush that made me chipleader with 1400 players remaining. Over time the table got tougher and tougher, with 3-bet pots … Read full post

WCOOP $500 1R1A

This was one of the more frustrating events I played, probably because it came on the tail end of so many other frustrations. I played for nearly 7.5 hours and finished in something like 140th place with 108 paying. This is the hand that I went out on:

PokerStars No-Limit … Read full post

WCOOP Omnibus Post

Sorry for the lack of posts on here. It’s just that I’ve been playing so much poker that when I’m finished I don’t feel like spending another half-hour at the computer putting together a blog post.

Also I haven’t done anything of great interest in any of the recent WCOOPs. … Read full post

WCOOP Event 38: $530 Heads Up NLHE

Round 1

My first opponent was a guy I didn’t recognize from China. Before cards were even dealt, he typed “lololol pro so cool”. Based on that alone, I predicted that he was going to give me no credit and try to outplay me.

Picking up JJ on the first … Read full post

WCOOP Excitement

The biggest news is that fellow PokerStars Team Online member and old-school MTT forum member Shane “Shaniac” Schleger won the 2-7 Triple Draw WCOOP yesterday! My excitement for him was tempered only slightly when I double-checked the terms of our staking arrangement and confirmed that I had 20% of him … Read full post

WCOOP 8-Game

I don’t have much of interest to report from the other WCOOPs I’ve played recently, which were the $1K NLHE and the $500 NLHE Triple Shootout. I registered 2.5 hours late for the 8-Game but ended up running up a big stack almost immediately but running well in PLO, Triple … Read full post

WCOOP 4-Max

I’m really upset at myself for spewing off my stack in the 4-max. It’s such a fun tournament, especially in the early stages when everyone is really deep and trying to play loose aggressive. Many otherwise good tournament players are just clueless about playing wide ranges super-deep and seem to … Read full post

Two Tragic Anniversaries

I deliberately didn’t write any kind of 9/11 retrospective yesterday because I don’t have anything interesting or original to say on the subject. I felt it should be a day for those affected by the attacks (not the aftermath, which of course affected the entire world, but the attacks themselves), … Read full post

WCOOP Event 22: $500 NLHE

I was really kicking ass in this thing, had twice-average stack of 150 BBs approaching the bubble, and then it all went to shit in about 25 hands. This was the first one that took a big chunk out of me:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 500/1000 Blinds 125 Ante … Read full post

WCOOP Event 19: $109 NLHE

I didn’t last too long in this one but ran one kind of interesting bluff that I ended up bailing on (which I think is the most interesting part):

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 109 Tournament, 30/60 Blinds (9 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (MP3) (t9760)
CO (t9500)
Button … Read full post

WCOOP 6-Max KO 2nd Chance

I played so badly in the $265 that there weren’t even hands worth posting. Here are some interesting ones from the Second Chance, though.

The Villains in Hand 1 both have nitty pre-flop stats, so I think 7’s are extremely unlikely for either of them (not to mention that I’m … Read full post

WCOOP Event 15: $215 Razz

I’m not a great Razz player, but you really don’t need to be to do well in a large-field Razz tournament. I like to break the players down into two categories: those who understand the basic strategy of the game (how to evaluate starting hands, when to continue past 4th, … Read full post

WCOOP Event 11: Antes Up

I love this game. For those who don’t, the blinds are always 5 and 5, but the antes get progressively larger every level. So what you end up with is a large pre-flop pot but no one player any more committed to it than any other. The rules are otherwise … Read full post

WCOOP 8 and 9

Edit: Oh snap! I just saw that Villain in this hand went on to win the tournament! And it was his second WCOOP bracelet. Congratulations 2FLY2TILT!

I skipped the PL Draw event because I don’t know how to play that game, and I registered three hours into the Triple Stud … Read full post

WCOOP Events 4-6

I played all of today’s WCOOPs but only did anything notable in the $320 6-handed shootout. My starting table feature PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis, thankfully on my right, and four players I didn’t recognize. I’d been playing aggressively against Lex, generally with the best hand, and finally he’d had enough. … Read full post

WCOOP Events 1 and 3

It’s a clear and lovely evening here in Canmore, great for unwinding after a long day of poker.

I played both of the $200 WCOOP events today but didn’t last long in either. Honestly I consider that a fine result. The one thing I dread every time WCOOP rolls around … Read full post

Mailbag Follow-Up

In a recent mailbag, I discussed the potential for exploiting players who size bets one way when they want to induce a raise and another when they don’t. I had the opportunity to take advantage of such a player last Sunday.

I’d already folded to re-raises twice  this orbit, … Read full post

Card Player Interview

Card Player magazine just published an interview with me for their “Capture the Flag” series. It was actually conducted soon after the WSOP, which is why there’s so much talk about that and the comparison between tournaments and cash games.

For example:

BP: Can you give our readers a sense

… Read full post

More Than One Way to Skin a Fish

I expected my American coaching business to dry up after Black Friday. Of course I did lose some US online players, but I also got some new students who were mostly live players. Interestingly, these haven’t generally been online players “making the switch” but people who have always played live … Read full post

Key Hands From the Sunday Six Max

I had a very frustrating 11th place finish in the $150 6-max today. Lost a huge coin flip. It’s a good thing that’s the last thing I was playing because it was the most frustrated I’ve let myself get in months. Anyway, here are two key hands.

CO was a … Read full post

Mixing It Up

Been playing some 8-game mix lately. I’m pretty sure the games are good but I am not so it all evens out! Here are two of the best hands I played yesterday (sorry for the lack of conversion):

PokerStars Game #66507871933: 8-Game (Hold’em Limit, $10/$20 USD) – 2011/08/24 22:27:27 MT … Read full post

Immaturity

I was glued to the recent Girah/Jungleman/DogisHead scandal(there are a few threads on the subject but this is the most recent). I read every interview and every statement from the “suspects” within minutes of its release. I’ll admit that I do enjoy a good scandal, but what was really … Read full post

That Condor Owes Me Some Money

Some of you may have seen on Twitter that about two weeks ago, my building lost power and consequently internet while I was still in two tournaments. If I’d been playing exclusively cash games, I would have just quit for a while, but I had a couple hundred dollars in … Read full post

Sunday Nittaments

Pretty sure I’ve used that title before, but that just goes to show you what a nit I can be in these silly tournaments. Check out this one, where I 3-bet-fold AKo with a 21BB stack. UTG+1 is very active but seems good. I previously 3-bet him from the button … Read full post

What’s Your Play? Rivered a One-Card Flush

Hero and Villain are heads up on four tables at Villain’s request. Villain bought in short at all four but promised not to quit no matter how big his stack got, and he’s been true to his word. He’s not a professional but has proven surprisingly capable. He is playing … Read full post

Fun Police

Another great song by SrslySirius

With regard to all the controversy about the WSOP prioritizing ESPN’s interests over those of the players, I do want to ask, “Why shouldn’t they?” I certainly don’t like it and think it is pretty bastardly, but the truth is that they have a monopoly … Read full post

Queen-High Call

Unfortunately I was the victim of this one. Honestly I don’t think his river call is too good. If diamonds miss, he can snap-call, but a huge chunk of my range just got there. It’s possible he didn’t think I would value bet a flush, but I absolutely would. The … Read full post

Wow, Eh?

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

Mailbag: The Last Bet

Q: I have a question about your article “The Last Bet“.

It is a very interesting article and I want to thank you for that and for your website. I read a lot of books about poker and learned a lot, but since I read your articles and … Read full post

The Road to Canmore

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

Sunday Decompression

I played five tournaments yesterday and whiffed them all, nothing remarkable about that. And it wasn't a particularly frustrating day or anything, cash games went well so I was up despite the tournament losses. What was remarkable was that after a long day of playing, I had a ton of awesome hiking opportunities to choose from just a few minutes' drive from my home. What's more, the new Euro-friendly schedule on Stars suits my preferred playtimes perfectly. I can start playing between like 11:00-14:00, play for several hours, and have time for an hour or two of hiking in the evening. Right now it's staying light out until ridiculously late, like 22:00, so there's plenty of hours in the day. After yesterday's session Emily and I hit the trail. We bootlegged it a bit to get on top of the canyon wall for a vista of Grotto Lake with the Canadian Rockies in the background. Then we hiked through a canyon (the creek was running extremely low) to a small waterfall, which seemed a good turning around a point. It was a very fine way to decompress from a long three days of poker!

First Day at the Office

I got to my new home in Canada about a week ago (more on that soon) but just this morning got a legit bankroll onto PokerStars, so while I’d donked around a bit in small stakes games, I was thinking of today as my first real day “back to work”. … Read full post

Congratulations!

Just received this e-mail, which made my day:
Hey Andrew,
I just placed 2nd in the Florida State Poker Championship last night. It was my first 5K-live event (played a bunch in the 1K-2K range at the WSOP / Borgata earlier this year) .
As I was reflecting on my
… Read full post

Mailbag: Making Live Reads

Q: When playing live what sort of mental notes do you keep on people? Do you give them labels and those labels are associated to hand ranges, raising tendencies, calling tendencies, etc, etc?

I remember my first couple of live tourneys I was trying to keep track of what people … Read full post

WCOOP is Right Around the Corner

I’m just a few days from being back in Canada and back on PokerStars and am starting to get pretty excited about the prospect, moreso now that the WCOOP tournaments are in the lobby and open for registration! Granted I had a few days to play in Montreal, but that … Read full post

Railbirds Interview

This is an interview that I did with Railbirds.com a few hours after my elimination on Day 7. No beautiful women in this one but it is much less rushed than the others so I’m able to answer questions in more depth:

 … Read full post

WSOP Day 6 Miracle

I owe you guys an apology. After sending a mysterious tweet from the table claiming that it was “literally a miracle” that I didn’t bust on a particular Day 6 hand, I took my merry time in providing any explanation and actually posted the hand in BBV before posting it … Read full post

Classic Story: Can’t Put Him on a Hand

Whenever we get a lot of new visitors at Thinking Poker, and probably a lot of people who haven’t read my more monolithic trip reports (understandable), I reprint select stories that are buried in much longer narratives but that I consider among my best. This article is part of that … Read full post

I Just Won $160,000

I started to title this blog something about getting eliminated or finishing in 53rd place but that’s an awfully pessimistic way of looking at it. I just won $160,000. I cashed in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker for the fifth time in six years, a feat … Read full post

WSOP Day 5

Just a quick update to say that I survived the day with a little shy of 1.6 million chips. I think that’s a touch above average. In some ways it wasn’t a real significant day. I won a sizable pot early on with a set vs. an overpair, but other … Read full post

Day 3 Table Draw

Thanks to Dana Rossi for posting this in the comments.

Deepak Bhatti	77,510	Pavilion / 42 / 1
Paul Farmer	77,700	Pavilion / 42 / 2
Ryan Hall	94,300	Pavilion / 42 / 3
Vladislav Varlashin	111,000	Pavilion / 42 / 4
Lonnie Heimowitz	90,000	Pavilion / 42 / 5
… Read full post