Big Laydown?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1703)
BB ($743.05)
UTG ($600)
MP ($201.05)
Hero (Button) ($609)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 7, 7
UTG bets $18, 1 fold, Hero calls $18, 1 fold, BB calls $12

Flop… Read full post

Overbet Bluff

I tried to play some small stakes games while taking Amtrak from Boston to New York yesterday. There were too many tunnels for the aircard to be reliable, but I played this hand before giving up on it.

I was going to check-shove the turn. When Villain didn’t bet turn, … Read full post

The R4v3n

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Life’s been hectic in both good and bad ways. Some friends from college were visiting us in Portland over the weekend, which kept us busy but was a blast. I’m about to fly to Boston for a funeral this weekend, though. A long-standing … Read full post

Book Review: Harrington on Online Cash Games

I’ve just finished reading and reviewing Harrington on Online Cash Games, certainly one of the most anticipated poker books of the year. Here’s the two-minute version:

HOCG is the single best resource I’ve seen for anyone just starting out online or still learning to beat the microstakes games (i.e. stakes

… Read full post

Focus

In theory, you ought to be wholly focused on the table(s) when you are playing poker. Even online, there are so many little things to pay attention to that can help you make better decisions in future hands. Who hasn’t raised from late position in a while? Who makes thin … Read full post

Attachment

Following my 3rd place WCOOP finish, someone commented, “Congratulations on the win. Seems a little weird though that you have your best day ever and your just kind of meh. You should look into that.”

In fact, I was mostly proud of myself for the even-keeled way in which … Read full post

ESPN Appearance

As I predicted, my huge post-flop coin flip against David Baker made Tuesday’s ESPN broadcast.

I’m pretty happy with how I came off, though I wish I hadn’t been calling for cards. I don’t ordinarily do that, but when the cameras are on, I always feel like I need to … Read full post

Seriously, Stop Min-Check-Raising Me

Different opponent from yesterday’s hand, but similar situation where a guy is simultaneously pissing me off and making it very obvious that he doesn’t have the nuts. I contemplated floating, but this is a really good hand to just ship on him:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) … Read full post

Cakewalk

Amidst all the excitement of the WCOOP Main Event yesterday, I also final tabled the $250 monthly tournament on Cake Poker. I wish I could say there were interesting hands, but honestly the structure is so bad that pretty much every pot I played consisted of me either min-raise-folding, min-raise-calling, … Read full post

WCOOP $5000 Main Event

It was a good table draw but a bad tournament for me. The only player I recognized from the start was Jason Strasser, who is of course very very good but was thankfully seated two to my right. Everyone else was solid enough but not spectacular.

The table was active … Read full post

WCOOP Hands

Believe it or not there weren’t too many interesting hands from yesterday’s WCOOP. I was always at really aggressive tables, so generally the best strategy for me was to hunker down and play good cards. Here was one sort of neat spot with one very short-stacked player all-in:

PokerStars No-Limit … Read full post

WCOOP Final Table!

After 14.5 hours, I managed to take 3rd out of 1066 runners in the $500 1 Rebuy 1 Add-on. It was a very very tough tournament from start to finish. I at least felt like I had a much more difficult time than in the FTOPS that I won. Of … Read full post

Money and the Monkey

Chris Moneymaker was on my immediate left for most of the $500 rebuy today. To my surprise, he mostly played pretty well. He was probably a little too loose-aggressive pre-flop, but that’s far from the worst leak to have and something that it’s very difficult for me to exploit from … Read full post

Leveraging an Information Disparity

UTG and I have been together for a few orbits now. This is the third time he’s raised from this position, and he once showed down A8s (for the nut flush vs. my second nut flush, which amazingly didn’t cost me my stack), so I’m assuming his range is relatively … Read full post

$300 2x Chance WCOOP

Despite nearly 2000 runners, there was actually $44,000 of overlay in this one. Perhaps fewer people used their rebuy than Stars expected? I made a bit of a run, finishing 90th. I liked the structure on this one a lot. It felt deep the whole way but at least after … Read full post

WCOOP $500 HU Day 2

Players were matched with our Round 5 opponents last night, so I had the chance to google my adversary. He looked to be a Pocket Fives guy who used to play some big MTT’s like the daily 100r and such but lately had been playing a lot $16 hyper-turbo sit … Read full post

$500 HU WCOOP: On to Day 2

We played four rounds today. The first one started at 13:00 and I finished a little before 20:00, though many tables were still playing for some time thereafter.

My first opponent was by far the toughest. He’s a regular with a in biggest NLHE games on Poker Stars, not as … Read full post

Book Review: Peak Performance Poker vs. Poker Mindfulness

Peak Performance Poker vs. Poker Mindfulness

My Two Minute Review: Given the choice between Travis Steffen’s Peak Performance Poker and Eric Beck’s Poker Mindfulness, Steffen’s is the better book by far. Whereas the latter consists mostly of uncontroversial platitudes and little practical advice, the former is a helpful book packed with practical, actionable advice for

… Read full post

Sunday WCOOPs

I wasn’t going to play the first $200 because it started so early in the day (10AM here on the West coast), and I knew today was already going to be a long day. But I happened to notice that it had over 8000 runners, making it essentially a Sunday … Read full post

House of Cards Interview

Boston-based poker radio show House of Cards recently aired an interview with me that was recorded not long after my exit from the WSOP Main Event. The host of the show, Ashley Adams, is actually a union negotiator who works with Boston Public Schools teachers, so while we talked a … Read full post

God People Suck at PLO8

(Sorry had trouble finding a converter for PLO8)

I mean I’m no expert but jeebus, guy cold calls a 3-bet out of position with AKT8 and then stacks off with top-pair, a gutshot, and a backdoor flush draw:

PokerStars Game #49366543208: Tournament #2010090013, $200+$15 USD Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit – … Read full post

Heads Up!

I finished around 163 out of 2300-some runners (it was an odd number, so I guess they did byes for Round 1) in the $200 heads up WCOOP, meaning I went out in my fifth match. My first opponent was easy, just way too tight and predictable. Here was one … Read full post

Antes Up!

Today was the $300 Antes Up WCOOP event, which I think is just a fantastic tournament structure. For those who don’t know, the blinds stay at 5/5 for the entire tournament, but the antes increase with each level. So like the stakes could be 5/5/120, with a pre-flop pot of … Read full post

No Results on This One

From yesterday’s $300 6-max shootout WCOOP:

I’m curious how you all would handle this river. The table generally had been pretty aggressive pre-flop, and believe it or not I’d been pretty well behaved. Villain was the most aggressive 3-better, with a 3B% of about 10.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 320 Tournament, … Read full post

Early Exit From the WCOOP 1K

Although we started with 325 BB’s, I managed to blow off my stack in just about an hour.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 1050 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t7525)
Hero (SB) (t7834)
BB (t7303)
UTG (t7333)
UTG+1 (t7315)
MP1 (t7530)
MP2 (t7720)
MP3 (t7470)… Read full post

Climbing the Mountain

As I recently mentioned, some old friends came out to Seattle to visit us over the weekend. We had a great time camping on Orcas Island, hiking, kayaking, drinking beer and making S’mores (the secret ingredient is Hershey’s Special Dark instead of milk chocolate bars), and then to top it … Read full post

When There Are No Bluffs to Catch…

I expect Villain’s flop raise to be his only barrel if he is bluffing. That is, he’s usually going to check down his air and bet only if the river improves his hand to one that beats mine.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (4 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from … Read full post

A Year on the Road, Part 1

It was one year ago today that my girlfriend and I left our apartment in Boston and became officially homeless. For the past year we’ve been without permanent residence, living out of a Subaru Forester, camping, renting garages and spare rooms when we can, and staying in hotels when there’s … Read full post

More Cereus Clownage

Their flawless software that is now the best and most secure in the industry apparently produced this little gem in the UBOC O/8 event the other day. The bet sizes were all screwed up, enabling people to limp in for 15 at the 50/100 level, and for the player in … Read full post

Thin Value Bet in Weird Spot

I really had no idea what to put UTG+1 on here, but I didn’t think he’d play anything better than 99 this way on the flop. Obviously the K is rather unlikely to hit him, and while his turn bet is weird, I also wasn’t sure he’d check Kings on … Read full post

Drop It Like It’s Hot

Honestly I can probably even fold the flop. Granted I have one of the best bluff-catching hands, but it’s just so unlikely Villain is bluffing here. Calling the flop to see what he does on the turn reduces the chance that I end up folding to trips with a worse … Read full post

Bluffing Out a Medium Pair

This first hand is an interesting juxtaposition to the failed bluff that I posted yesterday. On the one hand, this player was more of a known quantity than was yesterday’s Villain. On the other hand, my range is way wider in this situation, and I think calling with something like … Read full post

Double Float Gone Wrong

Well, I was right about everything except this player’s ability to read hands/make a remotely disciplined fold. Zeebo Theorem FTW:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t3000)
SB (t3000)
BB (t3000)
UTG (t3000)
UTG+1 (t3000)
Hero (MP1) (t3000)
MP2 (t3000)… Read full post

Good Vs. Great Coaching

I’ve never been a professional teacher, but I’ve done a lot of teaching, in a wide variety of settings, and I’ve observed and worked with a lot of professional educators. I’ve come to believe that there’s a lot more to teaching than being smart or even being able to explain … Read full post

Reasons For Betting

I’m trying to make as thorough of a list as I can of reasons for betting or raising, and I’d appreciate your help. Obviously this isn’t an exact science, but I’m very interested in your feedback regarding the following list:

1. Value– To get called or raised by worse … Read full post

What Makes a Good Poker Video?

Oddly, as much thought as I’ve put into the more than 100 instructional poker videos I’ve made and the many more I plan to make, I’ve never actually asked my audience what they like to see in a poker video.

So… I’m doing that now. In your opinion, what … Read full post

My Title is Up for Grabs

I won’t be a back-to-back champion in the $2000 2-day FTOPS. I actually had quite good luck with my table draws, recognizing no one at my starting table and only two players over the course of the three and a half hours I played: Eric Froehlich and Tmay. The two … Read full post

Book Review: The Poker Blueprint by Tri Nguyen and Aaron Davis

My One Minute Recommendation- The Poker Blueprint gets an 8.5/10 for content but a 5/10 for presentation. It contains plenty of great material for players who need help beating smaller stakes online short-handed games, but I fear the often terse, jargon-laden explanations will be too confusing or overwhelming for many … Read full post

Fun With Full Tilt Support

Here’s a sad but humorous exchange I had with FTP support today. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure I would have folded the river anyway, though that’s hardly the point:

I just played a hand in the $1000 NLHE FTOPS event in which I activated my time bank, for

… Read full post

Two Deep Runs

I had a solid Sunday today, no wins but made two deep runs. I took 2nd out of nearly 1000 runners in the Stars $150 6-max. The competition was surprisingly tough for a $150 tournament: I recognized three good players at my starting table, and the last few tables were … Read full post

FTOPS Event 2: $240 PLO8 Rush KO

This was the second rush tournament I’ve played, and while I miss having reads and establishing dynamics at the table, I will say that rush otherwise allows for great tournament structures. You get in a ton of hands at each blind level and the tournament still goes by pretty quickly. … Read full post

One Mistake

I’ve been taking a beating in heads up games recently. There were one or two cases of bad game selection, but for the most part I don’t think I’ve playing or running all that badly. I’m losing to people against whom I’m pretty confident I have an edge, not because … Read full post

Lower 48… Done

Emily and I left Missoula, Montana this morning, passed through Idaho, and crossed the border into Washington, bound for Spokane. With that, I can now say that I’ve been to every state in the continental United States. No immediate plans for Alaska or Hawaii, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get … Read full post