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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.… 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
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
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
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
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
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
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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
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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 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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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
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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
On Friday nights, when there’s generally a bigger-than-usual hold ’em game at my local casino, they also get some PLO action going, which is nice because sitting in a $1/$3 PLO game while I wait for a seat is a lot more interesting than sitting at $1/$3 NLHE and it … 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
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
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Joe LaPinta is a professional poker player who won the recent WSOP circuit event at Harrah’s Atlantic City. Of course it takes more than just a tournament victory to score an appearance on the Thinking Poker Podcast, but Joe is also an … Read full post
Game is $5/$10/$20 no-limit hold ’em, effective stacks are at least $10,000. Villain is extremely nitty, but it’s paying off for him because he keeps coolering people who can’t bring themselves to fold when they’re obviously crushed. He doesn’t seem intimidated by the stakes exactly – he bought in for … Read full post
I’m really impressed by the comments on What’s Your Play? Bad Runout for an Overpair. I was actually reluctant to post it so soon after begging for more comments, because it seems like the biggest reason people have for not commenting is a concern that they don’t have … Read full post
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Andrew, Carlos, and Sean share stories from their recent trip to Atlantic City. There’s plenty of strategy, from small-stakes cash game hands to big decisions in a six-handed bounty tournament and the $2700 Fall Poker Open Main Event. Plus the Nitcast … Read full post
The game is $5/$10/$20 no-limit hold ’em, and it’s playing pretty deep. Villain 1 has $8K, Villain 2 has $5K, and I cover both.
Villain 1 is a professional and the toughest of my opponents in this game. He’s far more situationally aware than most and reads hands pretty well. … Read full post
I haven’t posted one of these in a while because participation in the last few was kind of lackluster. If you enjoy these sorts of posts, please comment on this one, even if you don’t have anything to say about the hand, just so that I can gauge the level … Read full post
Nate and I were flattered to be nominated for Best Podcast in the 2014 Bluff Reader’s Choice Awards. Hopefully this will prompt some new listeners to come check out the show, and with nearly 100 hours of content out there, it might be hard to know where to start.
In … Read full post
My latest poker strategy, Analyzing Heads-Up Play From the 2013 WSOP Main Event Final Table, is now appearing in the December edition of 2+2 Magazine. It specifically focuses on the perils of what I call a “weak pot control” strategy where the pre-flop raiser attempts to check back all … Read full post
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Andrew’s friend Miklos is on the show this week to talk about the Hungarian poker scene, his recent deep run in a Super Knock Out tournament, and strategy adjustments more generally for tournaments with large bounties. This episode is extra-heavy on strategy, … Read full post
I’m skipping ahead a bit in time here in my chronicling of Carlos’ and my trip to AC, but there are a few of you with a financial interest in this, so I figured you’d want to know how it’s going right away. Also, Carlos and I recorded a … Read full post
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Nate’s away this week, but Leo Wolpert and Andrew take advantage of the opportunity to answer some listener questions that have been lingering for too long in the mailbag queue.
0:30 – Hello and welcome; impressions of WSOP final table
18:23 – … Read full post
I just published a review of the first volume of Jonathan Little’s Secrets of Tournament Poker:
… Read full postSecrets of Professional Tournament Poker Volume 1 is a dangerous book because it has the potential to lull inexperienced readers into a false sense of understanding. Only the simplest of concepts are explained in
Just wanted to let you know about some recently published stuff you might be interested in:
WSOP 2013 Trip Report, Part 4: The Main Event – Unfortunately this is a lot shorter than it’s been in past years, but I did get to play a pretty famous player: “Usually, tough … Read full post
In retrospect, I think that What’s Your Play? Turned an Underfull was a poor choice for this feature. The things I have to say about it are much too specific to a certain type of player, and to make matters worse I didn’t establish very well in the original … Read full post
This is another $1/$2 Zoom hand. Villain has TAGgish stats over a small sample, 21/18 with a 3-bet of 11, with all of his 3-bets so far have come from the button or the blinds. Hero’s own stats are actually even tighter than that, though I don’t have any insight … Read full post
I had a note that Villain will fight back in position in a 3-bet pot, which explains at least some of this hand. And if his range on the river is all combos of AK, 77, 99, 86s, and T8s, then this is actually a good call. In practice, I … Read full post
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Carlos Welch was one of our most popular guests, and he’s back to talk about his new life as a professional poker player. Find out why he didn’t move to Jamaica, what he’s doing instead, and how he’s dealing with a downswing. … Read full post
Get a leg-up in this year’s WCOOP by watching me face off against four very different opponent’s in last year’s $700 heads-up no-limit hold ’em tournament. Part 1 of the new series is up now at Tournament Poker Edge, and Part 2 will go up tomorrow, with the rest … Read full post
Part 3 of my trip report from the 2013 WSOP is now appearing in the Two Plus Two Magazine. It deals with the only two preliminary events in which I made Day 2: the $3000 Mixed Max and the $1500 PLO8:
… Read full post“By the end of Day 1, I was playing
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Jennifer Newell, @WriterJen on Twitter, is a freelance writer who frequently covers the world of poker for Poker Scout, PokerStars Women, and others. Though she doesn’t play much herself, she loves the many colorful personalities and fascinating stories of the … Read full post
I’ve been toying around with this situation for a while, and although I want to retain some measure of caution simply because I have a history of making mistakes with this sort of thing, I’m pretty sure I’ve determined that the optimal bluffing frequency for Hero doesn’t change even if … Read full post
I know I promised earlier this week that I’d follow-up with more on optimal multi-street bluffing frequency. It proved to be a more thorny problem than I anticipated, and while I still don’t have a definitive answer, you’ll get a chance to hear me discuss the problem with two very … Read full post
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Leo Wolpert, who’s been both an interviewee and guest host on the show before, returns in the latter capacity. We talk cold war politics, getting value from maniacs, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? strategy, and the difference between good and great … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Worst Card to Bluff, and sorry that I’ve been slow in getting this results post up. It’s possibly a result of the fact that I’ve been driving back across the country this week and not online much, and possibly a matter … Read full post
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It’s our first Pot Limit Omaha-centric episode, with guest John “KasinoKrime” Beauprez. John is a professional poker player who specialized in PLO and the author of the PLO QuickPro Manual. He won his first WSOP bracelet in the 2013 $1500 six-handed … Read full post
I’ve finally finished reviewing John Beauprez’s PLO QuickPro Manual, though I feel I’ve only begun reading it. It’s an extremely dense and thorough book, which is what you deserve for shelling out $297 though not always what the authors of expensive poker books deliver. If you’re willing to invest … Read full post
Pardon the spammy title, but I’ve got some seriously good material to share with you. First and foremost is the second installment in a series of free coaching videos I’m making with Andre Coimbra. Together we review his deep run in a Big $16.50 on PokerStars. This video, nearly … Read full post
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Faraz Jaka is one of the most consistent tournament players in the game. He was the 2009 – 2010 World Poker Tour Player of the Year and continues to appear at major final tables around the world.
He’s also one of the … Read full post
The second installment of my WSOP trip report is now appearing in Two Plus Two Magazine. After a disappointing start to the series, my next few tournaments offer me some opportunities to regain confidence:
… Read full post“Phil probably forgot about this hand seconds after it happened, but although it was in some
Edit: I awarded John a bracelet in the wrong event.
John “KasinoKrime” Beauprez, winner of the 2013 $5000 pot-limit omaha $1500 no-limt hold ’em 6-max WSOP event, will be our guest on Episode 43 of the podcast. In addition to talking to him about his poker career and the excitement … Read full post
I’ve got a new video series going up on Tournament Poker Edge which deals with strategy for playing the final table bubble. It will be a three-part series, with one part dedicated to each of big-, medium-, and short-stacked play. Check it out, and if you’re not already a … Read full post
Thanks for all the great comments on this week’s What’s Your Play? As I’d hoped, your suggestions have helped me to think more about both the river decision and my play on earlier streets.
One point I want to emphasize up front about playing against tough/tricky opponents is that I’m … Read full post
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Gareth Chantler talks about Norwegian family politics and covering tournaments for the PokerStars Blog. He also joins in discussions of the ethics of accepting an unsolicited chip dump, playing second pair in a limped pot, and playing Kings when an Ace flops, … Read full post