I’ve obviously been running this over in my head a lot, so I might as well post it here. It’s the last hand before break, blinds are 250/500/25. I have a little shy of 20K, Villain has 30 or 35K. He seems to be the only other pro at the … Read full post
After a cross-country drive, Andrew has finally reunited with Nate in Las Vegas for the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event! The two are joined by Carlos to talk about a few hands Nate played in a preliminary 10-game event, low-stakes tournaments in Vegas, and much, much more.
Needless to say, I’m looking forward to it. Nate ended up switching from Day 1C to 1B, and I was tempted to do the same, but last-minute changes tend to throw me off, as I’d already mentally planned some things I wanted to do yesterday. The only downside to this … Read full post
Alex “Assassinato” Fitzgerald joins Nate and Andrew on the Thinking Poker Podcast to talk about his childhood in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, winning and losing a fortune, abusing drugs and getting clean, and his new life in Costa Rica.
Sorry for the delay on this episode. I’ll get a … Read full post
On this episode of the Thinking Poker Podcast, Nate and Andrew set the location for the meet up in Las Vegas, break down a cash game hand that listener Jason played at Maryland Live! Casino, and talk withAri Engel about how to travel the circuit profitably, the … Read full post
Act One: They Meet
One of the first hands I saw when I sat down at the 5/10 game was this guy (“Villain”, hereafter) 4-bet-jamming 54 (no draw) on a 9h 7h 4s flop. He actually won a “flip” against 8h 5h, and his opponent was pissed. Other than that … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Bluff Target? A few people disagreed with my premise that a bluff of some sort is mandatory here. I think that Samael sums up the argument for betting something quite well: “we have absolutely no sd equity, and the villain has lots … Read full post
I’ve been busy of late. Actually I was busy a while ago, and people were slow to publish stuff.
Anyway, first up is Where Do the Weak Hands Go?, a Two Plus Two article that should help you think through situations where your opponent begins with a wide range:… Read full post
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Nate and Andrew discuss strategies for the World Series of Poker that will assist you both on and off of the felt, and they also break down a hand from Nitcast favorite Gareth Chantler and another from the PokerStars Sunday Million.
This … Read full post
In this instance I think that bluffing is clearly correct, and the most interesting question is what to target and thus how much to bet.
First a little history. Villain is a nitty regular, so much so that it’s at least a running joke that he isn’t allowed to participate … Read full post
This week’s mailbag is special because the question was submitted to the podcast, and both Nate and I answered it.
Q: I started out as one of those players you often refer to who says “I don’t really need to balance my ranges in the games I play – … Read full post
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On this week’s episode of the Thinking Poker Podcast, Nate and Andrew discuss the gap concept in poker, break down an interesting hand from a charity tournament, and talk with battle rapper and poker player Peter “The Saurus” Morris about the similarities … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Ace on the River, and sorry that it’s taken so long to post the results.
Bet or Check?
An Ace on the river will generally be a better card for the aggressor in a heads up pot. Generally he’ll raise … Read full post
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On Episode #79 of the Thinking Poker Podcast, Nate and Andrew offer a warm welcome to newcomers of both the podcast and the iBus Media Network, Andrew gets leveled by an eight-year-old, and the pair breaks down a hand from … Read full post
This is from a $5/$10 game at Maryland Live. Villain is an older guy, nitty mostly with regard to his pre-flop hand selection. Post-flop he isn’t just absurdly tight-passive, he’s capable of bluffing, value betting, etc. at least reasonably well. Probably he views me as a bit “wild”, as in … Read full post
The WSOP is right around the corner, so bone up on your live tournament skills with my new Tournament Poker Edge series, LOL Liveaments. It’s a review of key hands from a $1000 tournament that I final tabled at my local casino. Although I’m not the world’s biggest expert … Read full post
Sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve just been playing all day every day, but I’ve decided to take today off so here’s the rundown:
Monday
I played all three of the Action Hour tournaments. For those who don’t know, these are tournaments where the blinds go up very quickly … Read full post
I’ve got about 23K coming back to a 1200 BB, and it’s going to be my turn to pay the blind, so it’s going to be touch-and-go from the beginning. It’s nice just to make a Day 2 though!
It restarts at 5, though I’ve already begun playing because the … Read full post
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Daryl Jace dropped out of school in the seventh grade but that didn’t stop him from becoming a successful MTT pro, a Tournament Poker Edge instructor, and a lover of learning. We discuss his unconventional route to the top, his decision to … Read full post
There were a lot of interesting hands from this, more than I have time to post here (keep an eye out, though, TPE members!). This was probably the most critical. Thanks to more than a bit of good luck, I’d run up quite a stack, good at my high point … Read full post
My latest for Two Plus Two Magazine is entitled “Hero Folding” and is about learning to feel good about folding:
… Read full postWhereas big bluffs and hero calls offer the dual rewards of feeling like you made a great play and seeing a mountain of chips shipped your way, plus sometimes the
I’ve got something a little different for this week’s mailbag. It’s a follow-up email from Yagasmurf, whose hand was featured on Thinking Poker Podcast Episode 77. You’ll have to listen to the show to hear everything I had to say about the hand the first time around, but here’s … Read full post
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Kristy Arnett recently announced that she is stepping down from her long-time role as a producer, host, and writer for PokerNews. We talk to her about her career as well as her goals for the future, which include playing more poker, … Read full post
To supplement yesterday’s So Tilting moment, another sort of “bad beat” that irks me is when you make a good play that’s going to work against your primary target and then it turns out someone who will generally be a non-factor in the hand caught some unlikely hand and jacks … Read full post
The thing that tilts me the most these days is when terrible-for-the-game sour-faced nits get way more action than they “deserve” with their monster hands. I posted a few weeks ago a hand where I stacked off with QQ against the KK of a guy I suspected of being a … Read full post
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You might know Pauly Maguire from his Tao of Poker blog. Or his Tao of Pauly blog. Or the Dope Stories podcast that he co-hosts with Shane Schleger (our interviews with Shane here and here). Or from his book Lost … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s What’s Your Play?, and sorry for the lack of response on my end; it proved to be an unexpectedly hectic week.
Important Points About Multiway Pots
I want to start by making two observations about multi-way pots:
1. It is not … Read full post
This hand is from a $5/$10 game at Maryland Live, currently playing 7-handed. Both Villains seem pretty competent with regard to sizing, bluffing, value betting, etc and have no blatantly exploitable tendencies. My best guess is that they have a similar view of Hero.
UTG opens for $35. I call … Read full post
I’ve got a new series now going live at Tournament Poker Edge. It’s called Evaluating Bluffs, and it’s a hand history review with an emphasis on considering whether and with what range I should have bluffed in various situations. More than that, it’s a case study in how … Read full post
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Clayton Fletcher, professional poker player and comedian, talks about growing up in a poker playing family (his mother is also a professional poker player!), how his two careers complement each other, and what he’s learned from each. Then, we talk about the … Read full post
I was pleasantly surprised by the great discussion of this week’s What’s Your Play? I nearly didn’t post it because it was “just a pre-flop spot”.
How Likely Are Better Hands?
Everyone was rightfully quick to recognize that it’s rare to see people overlimping the biggest pairs in late … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Dealing With Aggression in Tournaments, is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine. The title is pretty self-explanatory, but here’s an excerpt that gives you a better idea of how exactly I address the subject:
… Read full postThe key to minimizing these headaches is to anticipate and prepare
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Matthew “theginger45” Hunt is one of the newest video producers at Tournament Poker Edge. After several years of traveling and living abroad, he’s returned to his native England to focus on poker and writing. He talks to us about why he … Read full post
Sitting in a nitty, ten-handed $2/$5 game that isn’t even really worth playing but I’m out of the tournament and waiting for the $5/$10 to start so what else is there to do but collect hands to discuss with the good people of Thinking Poker Nation?
Villain ($725) is a … Read full post
Q: We are in a .25/.50 NLholdem home game, 5 players are left. Hero and villain are the two big stacks at the table.
Preflop 5 handed:
Hero ($77.75 from a $50 buy in) (KK) Raise $1.75
Villain ($58.25 from a $25 buy in) Call
Dealer Fold
SB call (after … Read full post
In case you didn’t hear the announcement on the latest podcast, Nate and I have just released more than five hours of tournament strategy podcasts that are available for $19 at www.nitcast.com. Though similar to the strategy discussions we have on the weekly podcasts, the content in these premiums … Read full post
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After last week’s interruption, Nate and Andrew are back with an all-strategy episode plus exciting news about how to get even more strategy from us! You’ll hear our thoughts on Ed Miller’s new book (more from Nate on his blog), folding … Read full post
If you’ve seen my Bluffing series on Tournament Poker Edge, then you know that I’ve got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about people who claim they can’t bluff because their opponents “never fold”. It’s just not true, and yesterday I had the chance to demonstrate this … Read full post
Q: I am an active live player who plays in local games in NYC. This hand was from a $1/$3 NLHE game 9 player table with mostly fairly loose players but they are quite competent for this level. Most hands are played with 3+ players although hands are rarely limped … Read full post
I just realized I never plugged my latest poker strategy article, which went up at the beginning of the month. It’s called “Can Your Opponents Change Their Stripes?“, and it’s now appearing in 2+2 Magazine:
… Read full postAny adjective or category used to describe how someone plays should be thought
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Ed Miller, whose first first appearance on the show set a new bar for Thinking Poker Podcast strategy content, is back to talk about his new book, Poker’s 1%. Ed and the guys talk about why so many players struggle … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Ran Out a Straight. I don’t have anything else to say up front, so let’s get down to it.
Hero’s Range is More Capped Than Villain’s
A lot of commenters started by zeroing in on the likelihood of running into … Read full post
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Jennifer Shahade is a two-time American Women’s Chess Champion, an author, and a professional poker player. She joins the show to discuss the world of chess, her transition to poker, Open Face Chinese, the Grindettes, and her recent TED talk. … Read full post
Game is $5/$10 no-limit hold ’em. Villain begins the hand with $1570, Hero covers as does the rest of the table. He’s a very good player, reads hands well, and is capable of pretty much anything. He’s maybe at times a little overly loose and aggressive but all in all … Read full post
Q: I was BB ($600) and held KhKc. UTG+1 LAG ($500) limps CO limps Button (<$100) limps SB limps and I raise to $10. Perhaps on the small side since the table was loosening up with the end near but I can typically play post flop well.
UTG+1 calls
CO … Read full post
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Carlos Welch fills in for Nate this week and is remarkably open about his recent setbacks, including the challenges of playing underrolled, finding a good backing deal, and balancing live vs online play. In an extra-long strategy segment, he and Andrew discuss … Read full post
Thanks for all the well wishes yesterday and especially to those who were following along on Twitter. That always makes a live run more fun. Despite starting the day with a below average stack, I made the final table and finished 7th for $6417. It was a bit of a … Read full post
Made Day 2 of a local $900 + $100 (with another $27 of that $900 withheld for staff – I’m not winning nitcast awards for this one) event. Couple of funny stories from Day 1:
1. I was better than I usually am about looking left but still not nearly … Read full post
Q: I have a recurring situation that is driving me crazy. You speak to it around the edges quite a bit in the blog, I’d be interested in hearing your direct take. I win many small pots in a session then lose a big pot that I should have been … Read full post
I’ve revamped my most popular coaching programs to be better than ever for 2014! (Yes, I realize we’re pretty well into 2014, but I had a bit of a backlog to clear before taking on new students.) Both the Crushing Live Cash Games and Dominate Donkaments programs are designed to … Read full post
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Mike freakin’ McDonald is on the show this week, talking about his meteoric rise to the top of the poker world, his unconventional views on the desirability of online gambling, his “retirement”, reg-filled rake fests, the Bank of Timex, the influence … Read full post
I posted this a few weeks ago but accidentally backdated it to appear as though it were posted on January 1. I think that as a result a lot of people never saw it. Apologies to those for whom it is old hat, and thanks to Matt Glassman for bringing … Read full post
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Gareth Chantler calls in from a hostel in Phuket, Thailand to discuss his latest travels, his second-place finish in a $215 TCOOP tournament, and the plight of the Rohingya people.
You can follow @GarethChantler on Twitter, read his final table … Read full post
I received this question in response to my latest strategy article, Trying New Things, which is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine.
Q: I read your article on 2p2’s magazine and I wanted to try something new. I determined what is the skill I want to improve in my game … Read full post
If one podcast a week isn’t enough to make you sick of me, you can get an extra two hours this week. I joined RonFezBuddy and Killingbird on the Tournament Poker Edge Strategy Podcast. We talked about my background in poker plus a ton of strategy topics, from hand … Read full post
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Andre Coimbra returns to the show to reflect on his year as a full-time multi-table tournament professional. He shares what he learned from the experience, his poker plans for the new year, the charity to which he ended up donating his 2013 … Read full post
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Ryan van Sanford (@RyanTYFL on Twitter) is an active member of both the Tournament Poker Edge and the Thinking Poker Podcast communities. At 20 years old, he’s new to the live tournament scene and just had his first big win in … Read full post
Huge congratulations to Gareth Chantler for chopping last nights $215 Knockout tournament in the Turbo Championship of Online Poker. He locked up $97,000 plus another $1000 in bounties, and the best part is that the only reason he played the tournament is that he was assigned to cover it for … Read full post
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John the Lawyer left a profitable legal practice to play poker professionally. He cut his teeth in the big game at Foxwoods playing against, among others, a young Vanessa Selbst. In this interview, he shares his thoughts on live poker, home games, … Read full post
Q:I love the podcast. I especially like the strategy segments that look at situations that recur fairly frequently, and have you guys discuss to death the various possibilities, and what factors can push the decision one way or another.
I have a hand that I played last night that … Read full post
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Richard Veenman is a Dutch fixed limit hold ’em player with a lot of charisma and a big personality. At the start of 2014, he retired from both professional poker and PokerStars Team Online. In addition to the difficulties of balancing a … Read full post
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Andrew and Nate ring in the new year with a discussion of goal-setting and their own resolutions, both in poker and in life. Plus how to take notes in live poker, first impressions of the (relatively) new poker room at the Maryland … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Semi-Bluffing the River, is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine. It deals with trying to bluff people off of chops:
… Read full post“I was far from confident that I could move either of them off of the second nuts, but it didn’t matter, as I was guaranteed
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Keone Young, prolific actor and poker player, was our guest on Episode 50. Due to some technical difficulties, part of our first interview with him was unusable, and we ended up recording a new interview that differed in many ways from … Read full post
One of my students sent me a fun little brag hand and gave me permission to share it here. I should say that he’s relatively new to poker but seems preternaturally talented at reading people’s physical behavior. As you’ll see, he references it often here, and it’s not something we’ve … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Miracle Turn. Ironically, Gareth, in his excellent comment, takes my oft-referenced Value Targeting concept to task for its lack of nuance when I made this post specifically to demonstrate a more nuanced use of it! “Normally I think the Brokosism … Read full post