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Nate got barely 72 hours in Las Vegas this summer, but he was kind enough to spend a few of them recording with Andrew and Carlos in his Gold Coast hotel room. The three talk about their summer plans, the dealer’s choice … Read full post
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Christian Holden is a professional musician and poker player who lives in an anarchist collective in Worcester, Massachusetts. In this in-person interview, he and Andrew discuss his music, his poker, his politics, and the staking deal he almost had with Martin Shkreli. … Read full post
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Zach Elwood is the author of Reading Poker Tells, Verbal Poker Tells, and Exploiting Poker Tells. Our first interview with him was on Episode 14. He’s quoted in this New York Times article (Edit: and this Washington Post article) … Read full post
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Sameer Singh grew up playing chess and teen patti, and he quickly became one of the sharpest rounders at the National Law School of India. This wide-ranging conversation covers everything from cuisine and literature to the Irish Open to overlimping the button … Read full post
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Nate and Andrew talk strategy for BB Ante tournaments, play a round of “Underrated or Overrated”, and discuss two hands where players flop sets and end up facing tough decisions later.
Timestamps
0:30 – hello
8:08 – strategy
Strategy Hand 1
Effective … Read full post
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Berk Brown has spent decades in the world of poker and seen it from the perspective of a floorperson, a dealer, and a professional player. He’s full of great anecdotes and insights about staking, longevity (of games, rooms, and professional careers), game … Read full post
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Bryan is a long-time professional poker player who, like many, has expanded into daily fantasy sports and cryptocurrencies, but unlike many, has also expanded into river guiding. He works for AVA Colorado Rafting, and he recommends Dam Nation, Cadillac Desert, and … Read full post
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Josh Nixon was a student in the Boston Debate League when Andrew was the director. In the years since then, he’s been a serious Magic: The Gathering player is now taking an interest in poker. In this interview, he talks about the … Read full post
Do your eyes glaze over when the subject of game theory comes up? Are you confused and intimidated by solvers? Do you not even see the relevance of game theory to your own play, given how exploitable your opponents seem to be? I’ve got just the thing for you!
My … Read full post
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Helen Ellis is a proud housewise and poker player and the author of the novels Eating the Cheshire Cat and The Turning Book, the short fiction collection American Housewife, and the What I Do All Day Twitter account. Her poker … Read full post
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This is the conclusion of our epic three-hour interview with living legend Dick Carson (Part 1, Part 2), featuring stories from his pool hustling days and memories of Frank Rosenthal.
Timestamps
0:30 Hello
4:07 Strategy
29:45 Dick pt iii… Read full post
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Dick Carson is an old-school gambler, pool hustler, bookie, and poker player. He’s also a hulluva storyteller and a helluva nice guy. Nate, Andrew, and John the Lawyer sit down with him to talk about the best poker players you never heard … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Complicated Indifference, is now appearing the March 2018 issue of Two Plus Two Magazine. It aims to explain the value of acquiring at least a low level understanding of game theory, even if you know that your opponents will make plenty of exploitable mistakes:… Read full post
My latest series of poker strategy videos is a review of key hands from the $3500 World Poker Tour Main Event at Maryland Live. This is the event that I discussed with Christian Soto on one of my all-time favorite podcast episodes.
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It’s one strategy segment… followed by another strategy segment, after an interview needs to be rescheduled. Nate and Andrew discuss playing from the Small Blind and playing tricky hands like top pair with a bad kicker.
Timestamps
0:30 hello
9:35 strat
51:43 … Read full post
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Carlos Welch is back to talk about his decision to get coaching from Ryan “Protential” LaPlante and the new, looser style of play with which he’s been experimenting as a result.
Timestamps
0:30 – hello
34:19 – strat
Strategy
Hand … Read full post
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Jamal Hanson introduces us to a high-stakes poker game we knew nothing about… because it’s played behind bars. Jamal, who graduated college at 16 but ultimately landed him in prison for selling crack cocaine, talks about learning to play, landing a whale, … Read full post
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Nate and Andrew enjoy some “alone time” and answer listeners’ strategy questions (and a programming question) from the mailbag. Here’s the online MIT Computer Science Course that Nate recommended.
Strategy
Hand 1
100 BB effective stacks
Dealt to Hero: Ks Ts
UTG … Read full post
I’m glad – blown away, really – that so many of you enjoy listening to the Thinking Poker Podcast. Ultimately, though, it’s a selfish endeavor (for me anyway, don’t want to speak for Nate here). I do it because it’s good for me. Poker is a stressful pursuit, and often … Read full post
Counting down my favorite Thinking Poker Podcast episodes of 2017. Details/retrospective here. In third place is Episode 199.5: Mississippi Grinding.
Getting to enjoy the Thinking Poker Podcast as a listener, without have been involved in its creation, is a rare treat for me. So it’s possible that I’m biased, … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who’s contributed so far to my Bay Area Urban Debate League campaign. Here’s the first of your free videos. It’s a one-hour look at river bet sizing in PioSolver. Not only will you learn the basics of under- and over-betting, but you’ll also get a glimpse … Read full post
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Jordan Young has been a professional poker player for well over a decade, but only somewhat recently has he hit a stride that seems attainable. We talk about bankroll management, painkiller addiction, the Solve for Why Academy, and how to get under … Read full post
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Cory Mikesell is a professional poker player, a chess master, a writer, and the author of 3Bet Pots Game Theory and Practice. We talk about his struggles, his successes, and how thoroughly he’s thrown himself into everything he’s done.
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“Tapi” was born in Zimbabwe and lived in Scotland and Canada for several years before ultimately coming to the United States. Professional poker player may not have been the career that his parents envisioned for him, but after a few false starts, … Read full post
Between now and the end of the year, I’m offering a 25% discount when you purchase two or more hours of custom strategy videos. That’s two hours for just $150!
Get the most out of your poker study time with a poker strategy videos custom-tailored to your needs. If … Read full post
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Carlos Welch has a new home (hotel), a new (used) van, and a new three-barreling range. We talk to him about living in Laughlin and driving across the country, and in our strategy segment, we get some insight into his “Carloose” style … Read full post
The first installment of latest poker strategy videos series just went up at Tournament Poker Edge. It’s one I’m especially excited about because it’s the first time I’ve ever done a member hand history review (well, excepting the time that Carlos and I looked over his big Bovada win … Read full post
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Andrew Therriault is the Chief Data Officer for the City of Boston. He’s also an enthusiastic poker player and the former Director of Data Science for the Democratic National Committee. We talk to him about how big data and artificial intelligence are … Read full post
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Carlos Chadha has been a professional poker player for nearly 15 years, and in that time he’s mastered everything from Seven Card Stud to Heads Up No Limit Hold ‘Em to Multi-Table Tournaments. He’s also had to master his own ego as … Read full post
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Peter Chi is an Assistant Professor of Statistics at Ursinus College teaching an undergraduate statistics course revolving around poker. He’s using this textbook and documenting the experience on his blog. You can also follow him on Twitter @PeterBChi.
Timestamps
0:30 … Read full post
Although I didn’t play any poker on Thursday either, Saturday actually felt more like a proper birthday celebration. I’ve got this friend Luis who lives in Montreal, with whom I’ve always met up once or twice whenever I was in town. Not getting to see him was one of the … Read full post
My birthday always falls during WCOOP, so it’s been a long time since I took it as a vacation day. But this year’s events felt more skippable than usual (the only thing I was really tempted to play was the $2100 PKO, and even then, the mid-week $2K events just … Read full post
I know it’s been a while, but I’m so close to finishing this review I figure I might as well go the distance. The only WCOOP event I played on this particular Wednesday was the $500 6-Max Progressive Knock-Out. I scored some early bounties, including with flush over flush and … Read full post
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Christian Soto and Andrew meet in-person in Baltimore, hours after playing together in the World Poker Tour main event at Maryland Live!, to commiserate and talk about some key hands. This interview was tremendous fun to record and hopefully will be tremendous … Read full post
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Phil Galfond needs as little introduction as any guest we’ve ever had. He’s crushed at virtually all forms of poker at the highest stakes, he’s crushed in the poker training market, and now he’s preparing to crush in the real money poker … Read full post
There was a $2100 Super Tuesday WCOOP, but I ended up not playing because I began my session at 7AM with the $215 6-Max Rebuy, and because other things were going well, I’d been playing straight through from then until the start of the $2100 and didn’t think I would … Read full post
Monday was going to be a day off, but since I was going to be playing Day 2 of the $109 anyway, I decided to reg a few other tournaments, including the $530 NLHE WCOOP. That one got off to a good start, but I soon ended up in a … Read full post
I planned my schedule around the $2K (naturally), so I registered the warm-up quite late. That gave me time to go for a bike ride and a pastry in town before starting work for the day.
I got off to a good start in it but then lost AK to … Read full post
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Jose Pachon is a professional poker player based out of Providence, Rhode Island, but his story begins in the 1970s in Pablo Escobar’s Colombia. We discuss his childhood in the turbulent country, how he came to America, and how he ended up … Read full post
I slept poorly on Thursday night, probably a combination of adrenaline from making a significant final table with drinking caffeine later than usual (because of the final table) and replaying (ok, beating myself up over) some key hands in my head. I hadn’t planned to take Friday off, but the … Read full post
I was excited for the $215 6-max that started at 10AM. Most of the short-handed events so far in the series had been higher buy-ins, and I was looking forward to the opportunity to play short with some weaker players. I lasted all of 15 minutes:
PokerStars – 100/200 Ante … Read full post
I took Tuesday as a proper vacation day. Emily and I drove to Mont Tremblant, a ski resort about 45 minutes north of where we’re staying, to hike and get dinner. It was a nice drive deeper into the mountains, with the leaves already beginning to turn. Resorts aren’t really … Read full post
I’d considered taking Monday off, but I was in the mood to play and I planned to take Tuesday off, so I went ahead and played. Nothing too eventful – this was probably the most interesting pot. Don’t think I could have won more than I did. Villain probably ought … Read full post
This was the second Sunday of WCOOP. There was actually a $1050 6-max that I ended up skipping. It started several hours earlier than everything else I wanted to play, and it didn’t seem quite good enough to build my entire schedule around. Sundays are (hopefully) long days already, and … Read full post
Friday the 8th was an off day for me. I ran some errands and also went for another ride on the P’tit Train du Nord bike path. The weather was gray and intermittently rainy, as it had been since our arrival. It seemed like I had timed my ride for … Read full post
Yes, I’m behind. And there’s no Day 4 because I took Wednesday off. So here we are.
The day off (it wasn’t a proper day off, as I did do some studying, but no playing) was nice. Emily and I had brunch at a cafe in the nearby town of … Read full post
The $215 rebuy started with a bang, as I got all in on the flop on the very first hand holding KJ vs QJ on JJT, only to get rivered for a stack. Not really a big deal, it was a $215 bad beat, but it set that “every damn … Read full post
Emily and I did some extensive grocery shopping in the morning, returning in just enough time for me to squeeze in a quick workout before the start of the $1050 Progressive Knock-Out. I late registered the $215 PLO around the same time. I’m barely competent at PLO, but I do … Read full post
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Talal Shakerchi just might be the best amateur poker player in the world. Playing as “raidalot” on PokerStars, he’s won, among other things, the $10,000 Spring Championship of Online Poker Main Event. The hedge fund manager discusses what may be driving PokerStars’ … Read full post
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Nipun Java made history when, along with Aditya Sushant, he won India’s first ever WSOP bracelet, in the $1500 NLHE Tag Team event. He capped off his summer with a second bracelet in the $1000 Online event. Nipun and Andrew talk about … Read full post
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Michael Bowling and Dustin Morrill of the University of Alberta Computer Poker Research Group return to the show to discuss the results of DeepStackAI‘s heads up matches against human players including Nate and Andrew! They also introduce AIVAT, their tool for … Read full post
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KL Cleeton was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, but that hasn’t kept him from playing poker both live and online. In 2017, he won a contest sponsored by Daniel Negreanu and lived his dream of playing in the WSOP Main Event, ultimately … Read full post
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Esther Taylor, better known as E-Tay, is a mixed game player who also knows how to kick ass in no-limit hold ’em tournaments. Andrew talks to her about learning new games, being a poker-playing mom, and more. Plus Carlos Welch and … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Head Hunting, is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine. It’s an attempt to, not solve, but build some intuition around how to value bounties in knock-out tournaments.
… Read full postThe trickiest problem of all is that you can only collect bounties if you have more chips than
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Andrew tackles the mailbox alone this week, reviewing three no-limit hands played in small stakes games.
Strategy
Hand 1
I’m in MP with 9c9d, a stack of $5.56 and raise to 15c, it folds around to the SB with a stack of … Read full post
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Benny Glaser is a mixed games specialist from the United Kingdom. With three WSOP bracelets to his name, he is finally getting some recognition as a world-class mixed games expert. We talk to him about why he chose to focus on games … Read full post
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Carlos Welch and Andrew are rooming together in Las Vegas, and Nate joins by Skype to discuss the WSOP and Carlos’ $600 phone bill.
Timestamps
0:30 – hello and welcome
34:43 – strategy… Read full post
Edit: Sold out.
I’m selling action in the WSOP Main Event, in increments of 1% or 5%. Mark-up is 2.0 for increments of 1% ($200 each), or 1.8 for increments of 5% ($900 each). These prices are based on what my action sold at in last year’s auction. My goal … Read full post
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Andrew and Dara O’Kearney are roommates for the WSOP this summer. They talk with Nate about the start of their series, their plans for the summer, and Andrew’s hopes for Day 2 of the Colossus and the Tag Team event with Carlos … Read full post
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Matt Glassman and Nate Meyvis discuss spectating the World Series of Poker, executive privilege, the political consequences of impeachment, and how to exploit recreational players. Andrew makes a brief cameo to discuss his WSOP so far and how to have fun while … Read full post
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Clayton Fletcher fills in for Nate Meyvis this week, and he and Andrew discuss plans and preparation for the World Series of Poker.
Clayton previously discussed his deep run in the WSOP Main Event on this show. Follow Clayton on Twitter@claytoncomic… Read full post
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Don’t bet the under! Nate and Andrew manage to review three hand histories in barely an hour. There’s a four-barrel bluff from a NLHE tournament, a turn donk bet from a NLHE cash game, and even a spread-limit Omaha 8-or-better hand!
Timestamps… Read full post
To stay competitive in poker, you must constantly be learning and improving. Of all the things I’ve learned about poker in the last few years, I don’t think any has made me as much money as learning to pay attention to and exploit live tells, the things that people say … Read full post
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Matt Bodnar is an investor, the host of The Science of Success podcast, and an avid poker player. We talk to him about his experiences in poker inform his work in investing and vice versa, and how what he’s learned from “The … Read full post
There’s a World Poker Tour Deep Stacks series running at Maryland Live right now, and last night I managed to take second in one of the prelim events, a $570 multi-flight NLHE tournament. This was despite a shaky start where a questionable (Who am I kidding? There’s no question about … Read full post