Last night, as I was sleep-deprived and caffeine-jittery and getting deep in the $300 SCOOP 4-Max, I was also on the phone with Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz, hosts of the 2+2 Pokercast on which I am this week’s feature … Read more…
Isn’t it pretty? Plus, now that my avatar is no longer the black guy with the Afro, I expect to see 17% less racist vitriol directed at me in the chatbox!
Wow. Thanks to everyone who was watching and following along. For those who weren’t, here’s the quick version: With 10 left I was in 8th, which was a tough spot because Bakes was swinging his big stack extremely well. I … Read more…
A third of the year is officially behind us. Am I 1/3 of the way to achieving my Yearly Resolutions? Goal 1: Average 15 Hours/Week Playing My “Regular” Games I’ve found that 15 hours/week enables me to earn a pretty … Read more…
Another month, another monthly review of progress towards my Yearly Resolutions. Goal 1: Average 15 Hours/Week Playing My “Regular” Games I’ve found that 15 hours/week enables me to earn a pretty healthy income, far more than I could make at … Read more…
The vast majority of people who contact me about “advertising” are actually looking for some shady shit like this, though some of them express it more subtly: “I work for XXX and we are looking for you to publish some … Read more…
We’re starting a new series on Poker Savvy Plus called Ask the Pros where members submit hands they’ve played for review by myself or one of the other PSP instructors. If you’re a member and have any hands that you … Read more…
Just as a quick follow-up to yesterday’s review of GoGo Wireless on AirTran, I thought I’d let everyone know that the free wireless internet at Boston’s Logan Airport is also quite suitable for poker playing: Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $80.00 … Read more…
I’ll tell you up front that I hate flying AirTran. The flights are late, the seats are cramped, and the snacks suck. However, they offer wicked cheap flights even at the last minute, so I find myself flying with them … Read more…
With another month behind us, it’s time to review my progress towards my Yearly Resolutions. Goal 1: Average 15 Hours/Week Playing My “Regular” Games I’ve found that 15 hours/week enables me to earn a pretty healthy income, far more than … Read more…
My starting table had not a lot of chips but a couple of notable players, including Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, Andrew Chen, Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo, and Lauren Kling. We broke after less than an hour, but I still managed to play … Read more…
I’m playing the 5k Venetian Deep Stakes/ NAPT tournament today, headed down right now to get started, there will be updates on Twitter, you can view them here.
I’d noticed but not paid much attention to the fact that Poker Stars is approaching its 40 billionth hand dealt and having a promotion where they award cash prizes to all players dealt into certain “milestone hands” along the way. … Read more…
Yeah, a little sad that we have to ask directly, but Thinking Poker currently has a grand total of 19 friends on facebook, making us look bad in front of our close friends and family, who coincidentally, make up a … Read more…
One month into 2010, it’s time to review my progress towards my Yearly Resolutions. Goal 1: Average 15 Hours/Week Playing My “Regular” Games I’ve found that 15 hours/week enables me to earn a pretty healthy income, far more than I … Read more…
First hand of the day, I raise to 2500 UTG+2 with AKs. Older guy in the CO takes a minute to eye up my stack and think, then shoves some ridiculous amount like 35K. I’m pretty sure he has AQ, … Read more…
Phil Fucking Ivey Paul Carrillo Stephen Baines Lars Graf Alan Complainsaw Kessler Aaron Szerencses Daniel Walter Nam Le Andrew Brokos That’s right, I’ve got Phil Ivey on my immediate left. To be honest, I’m pretty excited to play with the … Read more…
We started with 30K, I was up around 50K at my peak, had 30K with two hands left to go in the day. Got into a three-way all in holding 66 on a 5h6c8c vs. 74 and AcJc. The straight … Read more…
I’ve always been impressed with the customer service at Poker Stars: the seed with which they respond to issues, the frequency with which they solicit and act upon player input from sites like 2+2, and their general willingness and creativity … Read more…
I’ve got myself a nice little room at the Atlantis Resort and Casino. I’m only on the third floor, so the view sucks, but I’ve got a little patio that’s large enough for a table and chairs, whichis kinda cool. The … Read more…
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all enjoyed yourselves responsibly last night (and last year, for that matter), and that you are striding confidently forward into a new year. Yesterday, I revisited my 2009 poker resolutions. Now, it’s time … Read more…
Nearly a year ago, I set some poker goals and resolutions for myself for 2009. It’s time now to review those goals and my progress towards them: Resolution One: Keep Grinding NLHE Cash Games This is my bread and butter … Read more…
Unfortunately, they were both in PLO8 events with fewer than 200 runners. But I was 5/135 in the $100 and 2/180 in the $200, so not too shabby, and it was fun. The heads up was interesting in the $200, … Read more…
I’ve been spending most of my time these last few weeks camping, most recently at an amazing site in Arches National Park, and emerging only occasionally to play poker and catch up with the outside world. Annoyingly, this means I’m … Read more…
“Super Satellite Buy-In: $665.00/$35.00 USD 585 players Total Prize Pool: $389025.00 USD Target Tournament #201001051 Buy-In: $14130.00 USD 25 tickets to the target tournament Tournament started 2009/11/01 18:00:00 ET Dear foucault82, Congratulations – You have won a package for the … Read more…
You may have seen David “Viffer” Peat on High Stakes Poker. He just sat down at one of my tables tonight and wrote this in the chat: richreich: checks Viffer said, “omg” joe E scar: bets $120 Viffer said, “just … Read more…
…and it’s not even that close: Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $80.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com BB ($19098.50) Hero (UTG) ($16000) MP ($16538.30) Button ($16485) SB ($15277) Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K Hero bets $280, … Read more…
Edit: On further reflection, I actually think his call is OK. He needs barely 33% equity, as he probably isn’t behind the SB caller, and my range is likely weighted towards the strong draws, against which he is a slight … Read more…
Maryland-based freelance reporter Bill Ordine recently penned an article for the LA Times entitled “Poker Professionals Ante Up for Charity“. While it’s primarily about high-profile projects like Ante Up for Africa and Bad Beat on Cancer, he uses yours truly … Read more…
My girlfriend’s been working tremendously hard on a redesign of the Thinking Poker blog/website, and it’s going to be going live tomorrow. By the time many of you read this post, it may be live already, in which case, don’t … Read more…
So apparently Vegas isn’t quite as dead as I thought and waiting until the day before my arrival to make hotel arrangements was not wise. The Rio is booked solid until Tuesday, so I’m spending my first three nights at … Read more…
Sorry for the recent lack of updates, but I haven’t been playing all that much. Since I’ll be in Vegas soon and devoting myself to poker nearly 24/7, I’m trying to get some other stuff done right now. Speaking of … Read more…
As a first step towards a larger blog/website revamping, I’m finally moving away from the awful Ipower company that’s been hosting the blog. This should be a smooth transition that doesn’t result in any downtime, but nothing with them has … Read more…
May was a solid month, though a bit bittersweet because it started off phenomenally and then took a pretty sour turn. I can’t complain about the bottom line, but let’s see what kind of progress I’m making on my yearly … Read more…
Big congratulations to my friend and former student Todd, who just won a $12K WSOP package in a Poker Stars $10 rebuy satellite. Just days after completing my inaugural group seminar, he effectively quadrupled his bankroll. Naturally I take full … Read more…
That’s right! My thousands of Finnish readers will be thrilled to learn that select articles from my archive will now be available in Finnish at Pokerisvut. Currently appearing: Tuottoisia virheitä (Profitable Mistakes). I don’t speak a word of Finnish, but … Read more…
I won and lost a lot of money in April. I finished the month with a decent though not spectacular bottom line, but given what I spent on tournament buy-ins (thank you very much, SCOOP), I’m impressed that I was … Read more…
God I hate fucking tournaments. Been playing since 4:30, made it deep in yet another Sunday tournament, and out to another bad beat. Granted, it was a pretty thin spot, but that makes it only moderately less annoying. I had … Read more…
Part Time Poker just published a short interview with yours truly. I’ve generally shied away from doing a lot of self-promotion, but this was a fun and original set of questions. They also persuaded me with liberal doses of flattery: … Read more…
March came in like a lion but went out like a lamb. I was within a few hundred dollars of even, then dropped 10K on the Bay 101 WPT. I don’t regret it, though. It was a fun experience (the … Read more…
For the second time this year, I’ve dug myself out of a big old hole. Let’s hope it’s the last (that I need to). Here’s the hand that did it: PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter … Read more…
For those who didn’t see Calmer’s comment yesterday, I didn’t last long at all on Day 2 of the WPT. My table was fairly tough, not that it mattered. There were a few, young internet players who seemed pretty tough, … Read more…
February felt like (and was) a pretty awful month, but I did actually win some money. Just not nearly enough to make up for January. After the first week, I was in black and then some, pretty much right where … Read more…
This afternoon I got an e-mail from Ultimate Bet reminding me that I still have a $.26 in my account and suggesting some things I could do with it, like a $.02 tournament. They only let you cash out whole … Read more…
What a month. It started out well enough, and after about a week and a half I was well on my way to a very solid January. Then all hell broke loose, and I lost heavily for the rest of … Read more…
Resolution One: Keep Grinding NLHE Cash Games This is my bread and butter game, and even if I don’t do anything to improve, just maintaining my current winrate and putting in hours will be very valuable to me. Of course … Read more…
Having already posted an analysis of last year’s resolutions (One, Two, and Three), I’ll turn now to some year-end miscellany: Largest Pot Won Though I played as high as 50/100 last year, my biggest win was in a recent 10/20 … Read more…
At the beginning of last year, I set some poker resolutions and goals for myself. It’s time now to see how I’ve fared during the course of 2008. I’ve already posted about my resolutions to Focus on Short-Handed No-Limit Hold … Read more…
At the beginning of last year, I set some poker resolutions and goals for myself. It’s time now to see how I’ve fared during the course of 2008. Yesterday, I posted about my resolution to Focus on Short-Handed No-Limit Hold … Read more…
At the beginning of last year, I set some poker resolutions and goals for myself. It’s time now to see how I’ve fared during the course of 2008. Resolution 1: Focus on Short-Handed NLHE Cash Games I pretty well kicked … Read more…
I hope all the Americans and anyone else who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday had a nice time. I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone who reads and/or comments here at thinkingpoker. It’s enormously gratifying to know that there are people … Read more…
I thought this new layout would kill two birds with one stone, both giving the blog a fresh look and fixing the font issue I’ve had for the last few days. Apparently only the former was successful. Sorry, I’m still … Read more…
Poker buddy, former student, and regular reader Diego (rvrmonkey ronfezbuddy for those who have been owned by him at the tables) welcomed his second child, Dahlia, into the world yesterday. She’s cute and all, but this pretty much dooms any … Read more…
Sorry for the lack of updates, I was at a BDL tournament on Friday then a wedding reception in New York yesterday. The good news I’m staying in New York with a friend from the old Harvard Law School game … Read more…
I put in a ton of hours today, and it was a real roller coaster ride. Mostly I was playing 25/50 cap, for some reason there were six fish-filled tables running today. A couple hours into the session, I was … Read more…
Despite a pretty rough WCOOP (or maybe because of- it did compel me to put in a lot of hours), September was a solid month. Even after some of those long sessions, though, I barely averaged twenty hours a week. … Read more…
ESPN tells me that I’m scheduled to be on one of tonight’s broadcasts, though they’ve been wrong about that before. My best guess is that it will be the 8PM eastern one, which focuses on Day 3, as that was … Read more…
I did a little interview with Cardplayer Online’s Shawn Green Friday night. Shawn actually contacted me initially to see if I had Tony “Bond18” Dunst’s phone number, because they were trying to do an interview with him. But I didn’t … Read more…
Didn’t get many NLHE cash games in this month. The month started with FTOPS, so I was playing more tournaments than usual. It wasn’t a good series for me, but I was doing alright on the side. Then I spent … Read more…
I had the best year of my poker career last month :-). Obviously that was thanks to cashing for $193,000 at the WSOP. It’s pretty freaky to think that there were several spots in the tournament, most notably when I … Read more…
I was looking through my Stat Counter log today for a glimpse of how people were finding my blog, what links and search terms they were using, etc. I came across two funny ones. Well, the first is really more … Read more…
I’ll lead off with the big one. My girlfriend pointed out to me that although a few people posted it as a comment, I hadn’t actually made a post that included my finish at the World Series of Poker. Out … Read more…
Frankly, I didn’t do a very good job of courting/attracting media attention despite my deep run in the WSOP. But here are a few links to coverage of my play: Interview with Poker Stars O By the Way Blog 1 … Read more…
Seat 1: Craig Stein – 440,000Seat 2: Niklas Flisberg – 1,264,000Seat 3: Mark Wilds – 485,000Seat 4: Andrew Brokos – 4,444,000Seat 6: Lisa Parsons – 581,000Seat 7: Peter Neff – 1,275,000Seat 8: Darus Suharto – 1,057,000Seat 9: Owen Crowe – … Read more…
Seat 1: Garrett Beckman – 515,000Seat 2: Allen Carter – 413,000Seat 3: Brad Johnson – 237,000Seat 4: Reagan Silber – 671,000Seat 5: Brent Sheirbon – 919,000Seat 6: Pontus Khosravi – 629,000Seat 7: Alexander Kostritsyn – 1,137,000Seat 8: Andrew Brokos – … Read more…
Here’s my Day 3 lineup. I’ve never played with Brandon Adams, but from what I’ve heard, he’s very good. I played with Liv last night, she tells me she’s a professional, but I didn’t think she was especially tough. Very … Read more…