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Benjamin Reason began playing the violin at the age of 4. It wasn’t so long after that that he discovered poker, and although the latter eventually subsumed the former, he remains a music aficionado (“a recovering music snob”, as he puts it). We talk poker, coaching, staking, traveling, Buddhism, literature, teaching music, and listening to music.
You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @Reasons14 and watch his instructional videos at Tournament Poker Edge. He recommends reading Sapiens and The Four Hour Work Week and listening to Sigur Rós, Denali, Portishead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Radiohead.
Timestamps
0:30 – hello and welcome
4:33 – PLO8 strategy
28:12 – benjamin reason
Strategy
Three-handed $10/$25/$50 PLO8.
Villain raises from the SB to $175 announcing that he “almost never does this”. I pause, question him, and he states that he raised blind. I don’t know him well enough to know if this is always the truth.
I raise to 550 with A2QQshhd. Button folds and villain makes it 1650.
I called and the flop was K85 rainbow. He quickly bets the pot of $3350 leaving $7000 effective behind.
About using a bookcase with impressive paper-based books as an interior design element to advertise the intelligence of the homeowner … I agree in general but I think if you have or are planning to have kids its good to do this because you are not advertising yourself to them but you are advertising “books” and intelligent reading to them in a way that doesn’t really happen when everyone is looking at a tablet. When they get to teen age, then they can also pick up your old books.
I lurk more than I post, especially in the podcast articles, but I just wanted to commend this episode. One, I enjoy the PLO8 strategy talk since that’s my best game and I think you both did a great job discussing the hand. I agree with Pinky that at the end of the day, it’s a very close fold but it feels gross doing so.
I thought the interview was outstanding. Ben was very good at answering all of Andrew’s questions, which were on all topics and on point. Not that anybody needs my opinion after listening to Ben’s (with his music background deeper than mine) but Sigur Ros is absolutely amazing, everybody should give them a shot. It’s definitely different than anything mainstream but in a pure music sense, they’re remarkable. They were the best concert I’ve ever seen and can’t wait to see them again in the fall. Jonsi’s (the singer’s) voice is terrific and if you’re looking for somewhere to start, I’d start with either their debut album, Agaetus Byrjun, or my personal favorite, ( ) .
This was one of my favorite podcasts in a while and I just wanted that to be known (sorry Nate!). It was a nice change of pace in the strategy department and Ben was a unique guy to get on. Thank you Ben for doing the podcast and well done guys.
This was one of my favorite podcasts as well. I enjoyed Ben’s description of the silent meditation retreat as well as his pursuit of happiness. I’m glad to hear that he likes books and the experience of reading books in spite of the prevalence of tablets. His music recommendations sound great too! Sorry Nate missed it but happy about his puppy, and his dissertation!
Namaste
Yup, Benjamin was a great guest and it was a nice change up to get some music recommendations as well as books.
Sitting here writing this and looking across at a large set of bookshelves, I’m sure it serves some greater purpose beyond advertising my intelligence, but listening to the conversation and then trying to articulate what they’re there for did make me think. The books I’ll reread or refer back to and the ones I’ll lend to others are a fairly small subset of the whole, I think, so it’s not a utilitarian purpose like that, but I think of my reading habits as, to put it pretentiously, an intellectual journey of discovery. As such the books on the shelves are a record of that – they’re personal history, in a way, like photos only different. That and some godawful crime fiction. And 50 shades of grey.
Am I correct to infer from the opening chat that there’s another upcoming interview that Nate missed, this time because of a screw up?