Jorge “Baalshin” Limon is a member of Team PokerStars Online, a regular in some of the biggest no-limit games on the site, a rally car driver, and one of the most prominent players on Mexico’s poker scene. In this interview he talks about his unconventional hobby, his unconventional profession, how … Read full post
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Assani Fisher is a poker pro turned Daily Fantasy Sports player. He talks about his career in poker, his transition to DFS, and some of the recent news and controversies surrounding that industry. He also discusses his unique comedic contributions to the … Read full post
For those of you who aren’t sick of this hand yet, here’s a video I made analyzing my river check-raise, discussed on Episodes 143 and 144 of the podcast, with GTO Range Builder. This is free because the production value is a little lacking. I was doing this analysis … Read full post
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Clayton Fletcher, who first appeared on Episode 74, is back to discuss his 96th place finish in the 2015 WSOP Main Event. Hear how he celebrated, how he dealt with a sudden reversal of fortune, and how his other career in stand-up … Read full post
My sixth e-book tells the story of my 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, in which I finished 53rd. Like the other volumes, it features an entertaining trip report from the tournament interspersed with essays discussing strategic concepts that play an important role in each day’s success.
Pick up … Read full post
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Sam Grafton, who previously joined us on Episode 75, is back to talk about the unique format of Shark Cage, why he skipped the WSOP, why he moved to Prague, and why he has trouble reading literature during WCOOP. We also … Read full post
Q: Is there anyway to quantify the difference in value between a 2-gapper (4-7) and connector (4-5)? I understand a 2-gapper can only make a straight two ways and a connector can make it four ways … do you just cut the various probabilities in half?
Personally I don’t … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Hand of the Week so far.
The comments from the pre-flop discussion that I found most interesting were from dullgeek and others who struggled with the problem of how to put money in good once there’s an Ace or King on the … Read full post
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Andrew is in Montreal for the second half of the WCOOP, and he and Nate discuss some hands.
Strategy
Hand 1
2-4 PLO8 on Bovada. 4-handed.
I open to $12 with (AT)J7–I’m using Bill Chen’s notation where suited cards go in parentheses.… Read full post
My latest poker article, Fancy Play Syndrome, is now appearing in the October 2015 issue of Two Plus Two Magazine. It might be a poor title, because the argument is that many supposedly “fancy” plays are actually a part of fundamentally sound poker strategy:
… Read full postIn a recent $5/$10/$20 session,
Thanks to everyone who’s participated in the Hand of the Week so far. Today’s post deals with the turn play.
This is from the $700 NLHE 1R1A WCOOP event. Blinds are 350/700/85. It’s well after the rebuy period but not particularly close to the bubble. Table is on the tough … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Hand of the Week so far.
It seems like everyone recognizes that this hand is too strong to fold. Several commenters assigned ranges to Villain that gave Hero 41% – 47% equity. Even recognizing that Villain may check some hands like AQ … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who’s participated in the Hand of the Week so far. Today’s post deals with the flop play.
This is from the $700 NLHE 1R1A WCOOP event. Blinds are 350/700/85. It’s well after the rebuy period but not particularly close to the bubble. Table is on the tough … Read full post
You all did a great job with the comments on the Hand of the Week so far. People have covered the major arguments for 3-betting and for calling, and in fact I think it’s likely that Hero should be indifferent between the two and probably employ a mixed strategy. The … Read full post
Technology permitting (I’m a very inexperienced Twitch user) I’m going to be guest streaming on Carlos’ Twitch stream tomorrow (Wednesday September 30). The stream will start at 4PM eastern, and I’ll be playing the Big $162 on PokerStars plus something fun like a PLO8 cash game. You really should be … Read full post
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Gareth Chantler joins us from the Dominican Republic to talk about his new life as a writer (a discussion that began during his last appearance on the show) and his WCOOP so far (as of the time of this recording, that … Read full post
This is from the $700 NLHE 1R1A WCOOP event. Blinds are 350/700/85. It’s well after the rebuy period but not particularly close to the bubble. Table is on the tough side, featuring many regs/pros, most notably Eugene Katchalov on my immediate left.
UTG is a regular tournament player. I have … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who’s participated in the Hand of the Week so far. Today’s post deals with value betting the river.
Hero is UTG+2 with a $2500 stack, and most of the table covers. Action folds to Hero, who opens to $30 with 8s 7s. The hijack, button, and … Read full post
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Nate and Andrew discuss a question of live card room ethics and procedure, then follow up a discussion of bluffing from Episode 140, then consider another bluff-turned-bluff-catcher!
Timestamps
0:30 Hello and welcome
14:24 Strategy… Read full post
Hero is UTG+2 with a $2500 stack, and most of the table covers. Action folds to Hero, who opens to $30 with 8s 7s. The hijack, button, and SB call. For discussion of the preflop action, see this post.
Flop ($118 in pot after rake) 7h 6d 3s. Action … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who’s participated in the Hand of the Week so far. Today’s post deals with playing top pair on the turn.
Hero is UTG+2 with a $2500 stack, and most of the table covers. Action folds to Hero, who opens to $30 with 8s 7s. The hijack, … Read full post
Hero is UTG+2 with a $2500 stack, and most of the table covers. Action folds to Hero, who opens to $30 with 8s 7s. The hijack, button, and SB call. For discussion of the preflop action, see this post.
Flop ($118 in pot after rake) 7h 6d 3s. Action … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who’s participated in the Hand of the Week so far. Today’s post deals with playing top pair on the flop.
Hero is UTG+2 with a $2500 stack, and most of the table covers. Action folds to Hero, who opens to $30 with 8s 7s. The hijack, … Read full post
Hero is UTG+2 with a $2500 stack, and most of the table covers. Action folds to Hero, who opens to $30 with 8s 7s. The hijack, button, and SB call. For discussion of the preflop action, see this post.
Flop ($118 in pot after rake) 7h 6d 3s. Action … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who participated in the first installment of this little experiment. The question I left you with, essentially, was about whether a suited connector like 87s should be raised in early position, and if so, why?
As I expected, a lot of the comments hinted at the … Read full post
We’re taking this week off from podcasting, but here’s something new I want to try out as an occasional feature on the blog. I’m going to post a hand today and then comment on various aspects of it throughout the week. Here’s the hand, from a recent $5/$10 no-limit game: … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who participated in What’s Your Play? Pair Plus Draw. I was glad to have the opportunity to reflect further on the hand myself and read some comments about it, because in the moment I basically just said “Pair plus draw, strap in, let’s go!”, and regardless … Read full post
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Chad Power just finished 26th in the WSOP Main Event, so if you haven’t seen him on ESPN yet, you probably will soon. His real claim to fame in the poker world, though, is as the manager of a large stable of … Read full post
Playing $5/$10 NLHE with $3000 effective stacks. Villain 1 is among the better regulars in the game, and, I believe, considers me tough and capable. I started to say that he doesn’t like to fold big hands to me, but he also knows how to avoid stacking off to strong … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, When to Chase, is now appearing in the September 2015 issue of Two Plus Two Magazine. Here’s a taste:
… Read full postThough popular, the strategy of checking and calling with a hand that can’t win unless it improves, in the hopes of getting paid off big
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Neil Blumenfield is third in chips at the final table of the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event. At 61, he is also the second-oldest player ever to final table this event (the oldest, Pierre Neuville, will be competing against him … Read full post
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Carlos Welch is on the show with his most aggressive cost-cutting idea yet: living in a van! Find out how he’s managing it and how his first few weeks have been, then be sure to watch him on Twitch and read his … Read full post
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Ron Upshaw hosts the Don and Ron Show on KIRO radio in Seattle, and is one of the people behind The Poker Academy. We talk to him about the radio game, the poker training game, and even the beekeeping game.… Read full post
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Jamie Kerstetter is a lawyer-turned-poker-pro with a long and colorful career. She talks about her decision to go pro, her first experiences playing live poker, moving to Mexico after Black Friday, the East Coast poker scene, the New Jersey online poker scene … Read full post
This is actually a question that was posed on the Tournament Poker Edge forums, so I’m paraphrasing it a bit here. It began with me arguing against checking KQ on a Q72r for “pot control” because there are plenty of run-outs where you can bet three streets for value (more … Read full post
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Alex Weldon is a game designer and a writer for Part Time Poker. In this interview, we discuss what makes poker unique among games, how to strategize for unfamiliar poker variants, the art and business of game design, and how computers … Read full post
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Before Julie Anna Cornelius became a professional poker player, she was a ballet dancer and a flight attendant working in the fleet of one of the poker world’s most notorious characters. In this interview, she shares her story and reflects on the … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on What’s Your Play? Big Draw, Short Stack. It got a lot more attention than I expected!
Folding is an Opportunity, Not a Cost
Props to those of you who mentioned the relevant toy game from Mathematics of Poker. That was the first … Read full post
Q: I’ve got a hand that came up at Event 3 of the $40k Guarantee $200 buyin Deepstack event at The Bike (no rebuys, no add ons).
This is level 2 (150 – 300) and I ran the starting stack of 15k up to 28k. A player from middle position … Read full post
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Alex “Assassinato” Fitzgerald and “The” Carlos Welch join Nate and Andrew in a room at the Gold Coast to talk about Las Vegas, getting better at poker, creativity, poetry, pre-flop raise sizing, and more. Don’t miss this rare treat, with two hosts … Read full post
I haven’t done one of these in a while, so here’s a simple little spot to get us thinking again. Playing $5/$10/$20 NLHE. UTG1 is a better-than-average player for the game but definitely on the nitty side. I’ve never played with BB before but he seems a little less straight-forward, … Read full post
Depending on your definition of exciting, you might be interested to hear that my latest book has hit the digital shelves! The fifth volume of The Thinking Poker Diaries chronicles my 87th place finish the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Day by day, it introduces the situations and opponents I encountered … Read full post
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John “The Lawyer” Larochelle is a consummate live cash game pro. He plays lots of games, he plays them well, and he plays them big. So why hasn’t he set foot in Las Vegas all summer? We talk about game selection, quality … Read full post
Sorry I haven’t posted any Main Event updates. First I was competing, then I was apoplectic. I’ll start with the good news: Carlos Welch, Nate Meyvis, and Leo Wolpert all squeaked into the money but did not survive Day 3.
Nate folded to Queens to two shoves that turned … Read full post
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Fresh off a second-place finish in WSOP Event #45 ($1500 NLHE), Dara O’Kearney, who first appeared on Episode 102, returns to the show to talk about the mixed emotions that result from a near-victory at the WSOP and why he chose … Read full post
Nate, Carlos, Andrew, and hopefully some special guests as well will be at the Gold Coast bowling alley from 10AM – Noon on July 6. If you suck at bowling, don’t worry – last year, no one actually played! It’s just a convenient spot near the Rio with plenty of … Read full post
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Nate and Andrew follow up on the strategy discussion of donk betting from Episode 128.1, then discuss protecting your hand and a dealer who miscalled the action.
Timestamps
:30 hello & welcome
15:43 strategy
Strategy
EP open limps. I raise from … Read full post
I’ve got 20% of myself available for sale in the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event. I’m looking to sell it in blocks of 5% at 1.4 mark-up, meaning that each block will cost $700. If you’re interested or have questions, please leave a comment here or write me … Read full post
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Gareth quits his job. Nate folds an overpair. Andrew agrees to let Gareth come back on the show.
Gareth’s last appearance on the show was Episode 123. For those who don’t know who he is, his first appearance was Episode 6… Read full post
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This isn’t a proper podcast episode, but it’s better than nothing! Andrew goes solo, with no co-host, no editor, and no bumper music (or, perhaps, worse than no bumper music). He talks about his World Series of Poker so far and discusses … Read full post
The most exciting news of the day comes to us from Carlos, who reports:
… Read full postSo I bust the PH 200K and at the last minute, a friend from back home hits me up to late reg the Monster. I rush over and get in with 15 mins left in the
Sorry gang, but will all the poker I’ve been playing, I haven’t been around at our usual recording times, and we don’t have a show for you this week. I will, however, present a few hands from yesterday’s $1500 NLHE event.
My original table was awesome, and I got off … Read full post
Delightful little tournament. As in the Millionaire Maker the day before, I found plenty of good spots in a short amount of time and finished with time left over to play cash.
The table was, perhaps not quite as good as the previous day’s, but pretty spectacular. I made good … Read full post
Today went pretty much perfectly. I had an amazing table draw in the Millionaire Maker, put my money in good several times, busted in just a few hours, got a seat in 10/25 game, won back my MM entry and then some, registered for tomorrow’s $1K turbo, and got home … Read full post
Man ten-handed, short-stacked poker is the nut low, but at the same time it’s plain to see how much value there is in this tournament. Our discussion on the latest podcast makes me tempted to just go play something I’ll enjoy more, and I’m still a little on the fence, … Read full post
I just finished 120th in this, out of 1600 or so. It was a fun and interesting tournament, and I want to share a few hands here while they’re still on my mind:
Facing a Donk Bet
I opened 2.5x from the CO with As Tc, a good player in … Read full post
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Carlos sits down in-person with Nate and Andrew to talk about putting happiness, rather than profit, front and center in his poker career (though of course winning tends to make one happier than losing!). Then the three discuss a hand from a … Read full post
The first High event I played was the $2K 8-max. I once again found myself bet-folding a strong hand on the river to a strange raise that represented only an improbable value hand or even more improbable bluff:
PokerStars – $2000+$100|200/400 Ante 50 NL (8 max) – Holdem – 8 … Read full post
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The SCOOP is underway, and so Andrew and Nate grab time to record when they can, with Andrew playing a $200 PLO8 event during the show! The two discuss the various ways to run bad, some hands that arise as Andrew plays, … Read full post
As much as I like Zoom tournaments, I needed a day off, and Friday was it. I spent a good chunk of the day at the Chun-Yet Sen Classical Garden. It proved not only interesting and beautiful but also the perfect place to unwind from the stresses of poker:
The High event I planned to play on Wednesday was the $2K re-entry. As with several of the other mid-week $2Ks, though, it was shaping up to be a small and tough field. The re-entries really compound that, because the best players are far more likely to re-enter than the … Read full post
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Andrew and Nate talk about Andrew’s recent friction entering Canada to play online poker, then review two hands from early Spring Championship of Online Poker events.
Strategy
Hand 1
PokerStars – $1000+$50|30/60 Ante 5 NL – Holdem – 9 players
Hand converted … Read full post
The Day 2 restart for the $2000 Sunday Million (you can find Day 1 hands here) started at 11:30, so my plan was to sleep in, make breakfast, take a walk, pick up something for lunch, and then late register the morning tournaments when I was ready to … Read full post
The day started off not much differently from the last. I busted the $2K Warm-Up with Queens on the big blind versus Aces on the button, though with 100 BBs there was once again some question as to whether I could have gotten away from it. The Villain was Randal … Read full post
Today was the most frustrating day I’ve had so far, though I suppose that’s in part because it comes on the backs of several other frustrating days. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, because I know I’ve said this here before, but I can swallow my share … Read full post