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Edit: Sorry, I didn’t properly embed the file last night. The player/download tool on this page works now. Not sure how long it will take for the change to propagate to iTunes. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Our guest this week is … Read full post
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 long day on Wednesday, which is what I got … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s “What’s Your Play?”. You all asked some thought-provoking questions as well, and I’m sorry that I haven’t responded to all of them. Hopefully this post will address the ones I’ve missed.
Flop Action
This was probably a tough hand to analyze … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Telling a Story With Your Value Bets, is now appearing in the 2+2 Magazine. Drawing on examples from the WCOOP, it explores the corollary of that old saw about telling a story with your bluffs:
“if you wish to get maximum value from your … Read full post
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 lot for me at any point in my career but … Read full post
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 well but had for some reason decided to treat me … Read full post
This is the first match of the $700 Heads Up NLHE WCOOP event. Villain is Liv Boeree. This is one of the first hands of the match, so nothing significant has happened yet.
Liv and I have actually played together before, in last year’s WCOOP and in the 2008 WSOP. … Read full post
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 chronicle of the WCOOP.
The only WCOOP that I … Read full post
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 these posts dealt with Wednesday September 12, so we’ll … Read full post
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I’m very excited to announce this new podcast hosted by myself and my friend Nate Meyvis. Our objective is to provide insight into the strange and fascinating world of poker, its culture, and its people. We’re going to talk about strategy, current … Read full post
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). After an early run, I ended … Read full post
After a frustrating Sunday on which I didn’t always play my best, I seriously considered taking Monday off. I had, after all, played poker, often a lot of it, every day for the past 12 days. But the weather was less than ideal and I didn’t have that much else … Read full post
This week’s “What’s Your Play?” was a little light on comments – have I been giving you too much to read lately?
Most people have advocated calling pot odds, but seeing that you’re getting a good price is only half the work. You still have to be able to put … Read full post
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:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 5/5 Blinds 30 Ante … Read full post
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 route, which was a far sight better than the … Read full post
The only WCOOP I played on Monday was the 4-max, which is always a wild and crazy time. I stayed out of the fray for a bit, but sooner or later a draw comes along that simply bets to be played aggressively. I don’t hate my line, but I think … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on Part 1 of the WCOOP “What’s Your Play?” After my own thoughts on the hand, I’ll post flop results and the next decision point.
BB’s Range
We must begin our analysis of this hand by recognizing that BB is all-in and we are playing … Read full post
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 and took a walk.
Though it was nearly 8:00, the … Read full post
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 the $109 NLHE WCOOP starting at 11, I had time … Read full post
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% 3-bet and 29% Attempt to Steal. Strictly speaking he’s not … Read full post
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 whim, I also late registered the Big $150 that started … Read full post
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 computer with coffee in hand. I didn’t even realize it … Read full post
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 it woke up. My street is lined with trees through … Read full post
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 people in line at passport control. This was … Read full post
The second and, unfortunately, final installment of my 2012 WSOP trip report is now appearing in the September issue of 2+2 Magazine. As you might guess from the fact that this is the final installment, frustration is the guest star of this report:
… Read full post“The frustrations with which I still struggle
The next seminar in the Thinking Poker Tournament Seminars series will be Big Bluffs: Recognizing, Creating, and Taking Advantage of Good Spots. The seminar will be conducted over Skype from 10AM – Noon Eastern (New York) time on Saturday, September 1.
These seminars are pre-scheduled, small-group discussions focused on … Read full post
On behalf of myself and TaddisvonBaddis, the Hero in this week’s hand, thanks to everyone who commented on this week’s What’s Your Play?. I really wasn’t sure what to tell him about the hand, and the comments here were a big help.
On the face of it, this is … Read full post
This hand was submitted to me as a Mailbag question, but after wrestling with it for a while I couldn’t come up with a great answer, so I’m going to crowdsource it. Here’s all the info I have, as provided by the Hero:
Event 1 of a WPT series at … Read full post
Q: While reading Sylvain’s discussion of his hands with Bonomo, I wondered how best to handle such an aggressive player. Sylvain described his style of pushing back against the aggro. I wondered if you can ever counter aggression with passive play, such as calling multiple streets. Then, near the … Read full post
Sylvain is a friend and occasional student of mine whose praises I’ve sung on these pages before. At my request, he wrote up a trip report from his time in Las Vegas during the WSOP prelims, in which I was staking him. Asshole that I am, I’m just now … Read full post
The full report from my first day of play at the 2012 WSOP main event is now appearing in Two Plus Two Magazine. It contains both strategic insights and a few anecdotes about the crazy stuff you’re pretty much guaranteed to see in that tournament. Here’s a little teaser:… Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s What’s Your Play?
I consider the nut flush draw one of the most interesting hands in no-limit hold ’em. Not only is it almost always an excellent semi-bluffing hand, but under the right circumstances it can be quite good at bluff-catching … Read full post
This is from one of the early $2000 SCOOP events. Villain is new to the table, but I don’t recognize him, which says something in a $2000 online tournament (though not a lot, since I’m hardly a regular these days).
PokerStars – $2000+$100|700/1400 NL (6 max) – Holdem – 6 … Read full post
I take responsibility for the dearth of comments on this week’s What’s Your Plan?. Not only did I initially fail to include Hero’s hole cards in the post, but I also left off the actual action from the list of possibilities for which I requested your plans. I do … Read full post
Edit: I’m such a spazz! Sorry I had JJ. Don’t know why I can never get the details right on these on the first try.
It’s the last hand before dinner break on Day 1 of the $5K main event of the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza. Here’s our cast of … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Defending Your Button, is now appearing on CardPlayer.com. If you struggle with deep-stacked play in cash games or in the early stages of a tournament, then this article may help you to gain an understanding of where value comes from in such situations and … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on the river action of this street-by-street What’s Your Play?
This spot demonstrates the dangers of wistful thinking at the poker table. You must be rigorous in thinking about your opponents are actually likely to have and do rather than what you would like … Read full post
Edit: Changed flop so that I have the nuts on the turn. Thanks to goldhawk for pointing out the error. I quadruple-checked that I would have the nuts if I hit my hand, so I think it’s a lot more likely that I misremembered the flop now than that I … Read full post
I’m just going to give the turn action and skip straight to the river. It’s not entirely unworthy of debate, but I do think it’s almost always correct to bet the turn.
Villain (UTG+1, 45K stack) is probably mid-30s, part native Hawaiian and part mountain – he’s a big guy, … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on the flop discussion. And here’s a link to the pre-flop discussion as well, for those who are curious.
Gareth gets a lot right in his comment, but we disagree that, “this is a spot where one could in fact go for three streets … Read full post
Edit: Top card on flop is Ad, not Kd. The latter is in my hand. Thanks to Lacroix for pointing that out, and sorry for the significant error.
The most important information is repeated here, but here’s a link to the pre-flop thread if anyone wants to see it.
Villain … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on the original post.
I can understand the desire to check here, but I do think it’s a mistake. WPS22 puts it well:
… Read full postI don’t see how you can check. It’s obviously profitable to make marginal hands put more money in against your AK
Today was ultimately a very good day – I finished with 83,900, nearly 3x the starting stack and more than 2x the average at day’s end – but it was much more stressful than I’d prefer Day 1 of the WSOP to be. I lost both pre-flop all-ins I played, … Read full post
The next event in the Thinking Poker Tournament Seminar series will take place on Tuesday July 3 from 9 – 11 PM eastern (New York) time. Designed for players planning to enter the World Series of Poker main event, it will cover subjects such as:
I’ve just published two new poker strategy articles, both of which are available to read for free! Beginning and immediate players should check out “Calling is Not a Compromise” in the pages of Cardplayer magazine. This article addresses one of the most common errors in thinking that I see among … Read full post
I would argue that an Ace is the worst possible turn card. In addition to giving Villain the lead if he held AA, it’s a scare card to some portion of his range and also a card he expects to be scary to some portion of Hero’s range. In other … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments regarding the flop check-raise, and sorry again for the delay in getting this next post up.
This is another close decision. Holding the nuts, our goal is of course to get as much money into the pot as possible. Villain’s kind check-raise leaves us … Read full post
Thanks as always for your comments on the flop action. I think just about everyone was on the right track in terms of how they were thinking about Villain’s range. So let’s discuss our options.
Checking
As is generally the case in deep-stacked situations, the answer isn’t real clear … Read full post
PokerStars – $2000+$100|30/60 NL – Holdem – 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com
BB: 9,290.00
UTG: 9,903.00
UTG+1: 11,228.00
Hero (UTG+2): 10,517.00
MP: 7,131.00
MP+1: 11,411.00
CO: 14,790.00
BTN: 6,490.00
SB: 9,240.00
SB posts SB 30.00, BB posts BB 60.00
Pre Flop: (pot: 90.00) Hero has Qh Qs… Read full post
Thanks for all the great comments on the first post in this series of street-by-street What’s Your Play? posts. I think the discussion of whether to 3-bet and why was one of the best discussions we’ve had. Not coincidentally, I also think it’s very close. When deep you generally have … Read full post
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 a flip and lost.
Medium
Kind of interesting bustout hand … Read full post
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 fact that I felt I could represent a flush draw … Read full post
Well, I’m late and doing a half-assed job on top of it. Guess I’m really adapting to life in Europe! But seriously, sorry I’m so late in posting results for the EPT Berlin Wha’ts Your Play? There are just so many better things to do here in Berlin besides blogging! … Read full post
Sorry I’ve been slow to report on this, but sadly it’s because I didn’t have much to report. After a relatively uneventful Day 1, I busted on the last before the end of level 8 (with two still to go before finishing for the day).
I busted after 5-bet shoving … Read full post
Edit: Villain 1 has me covered – think he had like 50K. Sorry I forgot to mention that important detail.
It’s Day 1 of the 5000 euro Main Event of EPT Berlin. Hero (me) has recently moved to a new table and been quiet in his first few orbits. Only … Read full post
This week’s question is in response to the recent “What’s Your Play? Street-by-Street at the WSOP Main Event” feature. In the river results post, I compared calling with a low full house on the river versus shoving with it. Because it was the WSOP Main Event, I argued, “I’d … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Surviving a Multi-Day Tournament, is now appearing in the April 2012 edition of Two Plus Two Magazine. The intention of this article is to get beyond cliches about “valuing your tournament life” to some in-depth advice about how, when, and why survival should factor … Read full post
This week’s Mailbag is a follow-up question to an earlier Mailbag about stack sizes. I gave a short answer to the question in the comments section of that post, but now I want to elaborate a bit:
Q: Thank you for your response, I agree now that setting goals … Read full post
We slowplayed the flop, we raised an arguably scary turn card, and now it’s time to talk about what to do on the river in this third and final installment of “What’s Your Play? Street-by-Street at the WSOP Main Event”.
It’s early on Day 5 of the WSOP … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on Part Two of this special street-by-street “What’s Your Play?” Like it or not, Hero checked the flop, and now we’re faced with a small bet on a turn card that makes a lot of straights and flushes possible. Because of that, JeanNoel asks, “I … Read full post
Q: I have seen a french poker video in which 2 players discuss about a hand played by one of these player on a french online tournament (6max, buy in 100€).
This is the hand :
Blinds 250/500 ante 60.
Hero is the CO with AcTs.
utg folds.
utg +1 … Read full post
I just published a review of Bennett Onika’s “Unleash Your Hidden Poker Memory”. Here’s the short version:
… Read full postThis is why Onika’s lack of poker expertise is such a problem: it’s the only thing he’s really bringing to the table. You’d probably be better off learning memorization tricks from one
This week’s “What’s Your Play?” is a little different, in that it’s the second in a series of three posts about the same hand. Rather than asking you to discuss a plan for the entire hand, I’m going to give you the action through the turn and then ask for … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on Part One of this street-by-street “What’s Your Play?” series. Even if you didn’t, please check out the results of the flop action and feel free to chime in with your opinion on how to play the turn.
To my surprise, responses to this … Read full post
This week’s What’s Your Play? is a little different, in that it’s the first in a series of three posts about the same hand. Rather than asking you to discuss a plan for the entire hand, I’m going to start the discussion with a flop decision. Of course you may … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on What’s Your Plan? Boated Up in a Blind Battle. The most recent comment is also the one that most closely resembles my own opinions, so I’m going to start with what Rant2112 said:
… Read full post“Most of Villain’s range on the turn consists of bluff