After a rocky start, yesterday was a lot of fun. During the first two levels, I felt kind of overwhelmed. Although I have a fair bit of PLO8 experience, including final tables in UBOC and PCA events, I haven’t played … Read more…
The $2500 six-handed event got off to a good start for me. It seemed like a pretty tough field overall, so I was pleased with my starting table at which there was only one truly tough player, seated across from … Read more…
Someone flopped a set against my Aces in a four-bet pot. Stack-to-ratio was less than three when we saw the flop. If I put it to you like that, it sounds like a cooler plain and simple, like I was … Read more…
I went grocery shopping on the night I arrived in Las Vegas, but more chores remained for the next morning. I packed myself a lunch, a task that took me back to my grade school days as I tucked two … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
If you’ve been following my WCOOP posts, then you know that there were definitely times when I got impatient and tried to force things: questionable bluffs, ambitious value bets, spazzy shoves, excessively heroic calls, I made every mistake in the … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
After bubbling the final table of the $300 2x Chance, I took the rest of Tuesday off, choosing Boardwalk Empire and the last of my Quebecois microbrews over the $1K NLHE. So, I woke up refreshed and ready for a … Read more…
This was actually the third Sunday of the WCOOP, but since I didn’t get to Montreal until Tuesday of the first week, it was my second. It was also my thirteenth day without a break, which would have been a … Read more…
Round 1 vs. Liv Boeree I wish I had a specific example of this to give – perhaps the hand below will serve – but I got the distinct impression during our match that Liv was capable of playing extremely … Read more…
Unfortunately there’s been a delay with the next episode of the Thinking Poker Podcast, which was scheduled to be the subject of today’s blog post. I’m not sure when that will be available, so until it is, I’ll continue my … Read more…
I’ve gotten pretty far behind on my daily WCOOP/Montreal reports, but now that the series is over, I’ve got more time (and not so much else to blog about!), so let’s pick up where we left off. My last of … Read more…
I began Day 2 of the $300 2x Chance WCOOP as 3/22 and was pretty pumped about the idea of making the second WCOOP final table of my career (the first was a 4th 3rd place finish in the 2010 $500 1R1A event). … Read more…
Wednesday started with the $200 Ante Up. My first cooler was similar to the A2 hand I posted yesterday, in that it may actually have been possible to get away more cheaply if I’d hero-folded to an awfully suspicious check-raise: … Read more…
With no poker to play until the 5PM $1000 NLHE WCOOP, I made a second trip to the Jean-Talon Market. Perhaps I burned up all of my run-good, because I found a bike at the second Bixi station on my … Read more…
Saturday’s storm brought on a precipitous drop in temperature that was immediately noticeable on Sunday morning. I like mornings, especially Sunday mornings, and I like Autumn, especially when the air is crisp and just a little chilly. I made coffee … Read more…
My first few days in Montreal felt like summer. They were hot, sunny, and sticky. Autumn came suddenly over the weekend, though, and it feels like it is here to stay. I woke to grey skies on Saturday morning. With … Read more…
This hand is from Sunday’s $530 WCOOP Second Chance tournament. We’re not particularly close to the money. Table isn’t great but the structure is and there is one big soft spot to Hero’s immediate left. Villain is 17/15 with 10% … Read more…
Friday was to be not quite a day off from poker but a light day. I planned to play only one WCOOP event, the $320 NLHE with 10-minute levels that started at 5 in the afternoon Montreal time. On a … Read more…
The PLO8 WCOOP event began at 6AM my time on Thursday. I tend to wake early anyway, so I didn’t set an alarm but expected to be up in time to late register it. By 7:30 I was at my … Read more…
With my first tournament, the $320 Ante Up, not starting until 11, I had a leisurely Wednesday morning. It was a beautiful day, bright and crisp, and The Plateau, the neighborhood where my Montreal apartment is located, looked lovely as … Read more…
I arrived in Montreal just before 1PM yesterday, eager, despite last year’s frustrations, to get started on my WCOOP grind. This was my first time flying into Canada, having previously driven across the border. No exaggeration, there were easily 2000 … Read more…
This isn’t my proudest hand ever, but I do think it’s interesting. I never had much of a plan beyond the current street, which is why I say it isn’t my proudest moment, but I do think that each street … Read more…
I haven’t played poker since the end of the SCOOP. This morning I had a little time and played about an hour of Rush. The hotel internet left something to be desired, so I just played two tables. The combination … Read more…
High Never really got anything going in the $2K. Played one interesting hand that you’ll see in a “What’s Your Play?” feature, but other than that pretty much just grinded down to half starting stack then got it in on … Read more…
High I busted the $2K turning top pair into a bluff in a blind battle. I thought he was probably light on the turn, so I called planning to call blank rivers. His sizing on the river, combined with the … Read more…
Finally took a break from gallivanting around Prague to try out the new Zoom poker. It’s a lot of fun, pretty much identical to Rush though if anything a touch slower, but still pretty great. Unfortunately I didn’t adapt well … Read more…
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 320 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (5 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com SB (t3023) Hero (BB) (t3978) UTG (t4344) MP (t2230) Button (t1910) Hero’s M: 53.04 Preflop: Hero is BB with Q♥, K♠ 1 fold, MP bets t100, … Read more…
Villain had high Attempt to Steal and post-flop aggression. I debated 3-betting, since I’m well ahead of his pre-flop range, but I didn’t want to fold to a 4-bet, and I think getting it in pre is kinda light. It’s … Read more…
I tanked for a bit before calling this pre-flop, because it is a little light given our positions, but the dynamic was right. It wasn’t what I was going for, but when he checked the flop I realized that the … Read more…
Sorry for the recent lack of posts; it’s been a busy week. I don’t have a lot to say about this one, it’s just a fun hand that I played today: PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – PokerStars … Read more…
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com BB ($819.50) Hero (SB) ($1000) Preflop: Hero is SB with 6♥, J♣ Hero bets $9.60, BB calls $5.60 Flop: ($20.80) 2♠, 5♣, 5♦ (2 players) BB checks, Hero checks Turn: ($20.80) K♦ … Read more…
We had an interesting discussion in last week’s Extracting Value seminar about slowplaying on wet boards (i.e. when there are a fair number of draws possible). It’s overall not a great idea, but I do advocate doing it with often … Read more…
I’m confident putting Villain on a very tight range pre-flop, maybe even just AA and KK but possibly AK and QQ as well. Obviously this is a good flop for many of those hands but not for KK. Once he … Read more…
This week’s WYP is inspired by a hand I played on Day 2 of the British Columbia Poker Championship. The table is probably the toughest one in the room, but thankfully there’s only about an hour left in the day. … Read more…
This is from the PokerStars $150 6-max Sunday tournament. People are often surprised by calls that I make out of the big blind when I’m getting very good odds. I don’t know how helpful it is when I say things … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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, … Read more…
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. … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
One of the cooler hands from my time splashing around in the small stakes: PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $1.00 BB (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com Hero (SB) ($100.50) BB ($51) Preflop: Hero is SB with K♦, Q♠ Hero bets … Read more…
Ethics for Sale Some of you may have heard that Phil Hellmuth overslept yesterday morning and was getting blinded off in the tournament. Apparently Mike Matusow called security at Phil’s hotel and got them to enter his room and wake … Read more…
Here’s an archived hand that illustrates a key point from my Betting for Protection article. The idea is that you don’t have to worry about protecting against a draw if you expect your opponent to bluff very often when he … Read more…
Here’s an interesting hand that one of my students shared with me. We’d been working on bet-sizing, and his assignment for the week was to find spots to under- and over-bet the pot. His reads here were that the BTN … Read more…
Found this sort of interesting hand while randomly perusing the database. I don’t know for sure that I would have folded to a turn barrel, but I think Villain definitely ought to bet, and if I know that he isn’t … Read more…
There’s a full trip report in the works, but for now, here’s my favorite hand that I played in the EPT Madrid main event: Blinds are 150/300/25. The UTG is a very aggressive young Scandinavian with a huge stack. He … Read more…
Dipping into the archives to bring you some poker content… Villain and I were starting a game. He’s pretty solid and not someone I’d ordinarily go out of my way to play heads up, especially not at 2/4 where there’s … Read more…