Drop It Like It’s Hot

Honestly I can probably even fold the flop. Granted I have one of the best bluff-catching hands, but it’s just so unlikely Villain is bluffing here. Calling the flop to see what he does on the turn reduces the chance that I end up folding to trips with a worse … Read full post

Bluffing Out a Medium Pair

This first hand is an interesting juxtaposition to the failed bluff that I posted yesterday. On the one hand, this player was more of a known quantity than was yesterday’s Villain. On the other hand, my range is way wider in this situation, and I think calling with something like … Read full post

Double Float Gone Wrong

Well, I was right about everything except this player’s ability to read hands/make a remotely disciplined fold. Zeebo Theorem FTW:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t3000)
SB (t3000)
BB (t3000)
UTG (t3000)
UTG+1 (t3000)
Hero (MP1) (t3000)
MP2 (t3000)… Read full post

Good Vs. Great Coaching

I’ve never been a professional teacher, but I’ve done a lot of teaching, in a wide variety of settings, and I’ve observed and worked with a lot of professional educators. I’ve come to believe that there’s a lot more to teaching than being smart or even being able to explain … Read full post

Reasons For Betting

I’m trying to make as thorough of a list as I can of reasons for betting or raising, and I’d appreciate your help. Obviously this isn’t an exact science, but I’m very interested in your feedback regarding the following list:

1. Value– To get called or raised by worse … Read full post

What Makes a Good Poker Video?

Oddly, as much thought as I’ve put into the more than 100 instructional poker videos I’ve made and the many more I plan to make, I’ve never actually asked my audience what they like to see in a poker video.

So… I’m doing that now. In your opinion, what … Read full post

My Title is Up for Grabs

I won’t be a back-to-back champion in the $2000 2-day FTOPS. I actually had quite good luck with my table draws, recognizing no one at my starting table and only two players over the course of the three and a half hours I played: Eric Froehlich and Tmay. The two … Read full post

Book Review: The Poker Blueprint by Tri Nguyen and Aaron Davis

My One Minute Recommendation- The Poker Blueprint gets an 8.5/10 for content but a 5/10 for presentation. It contains plenty of great material for players who need help beating smaller stakes online short-handed games, but I fear the often terse, jargon-laden explanations will be too confusing or overwhelming for many … Read full post

Fun With Full Tilt Support

Here’s a sad but humorous exchange I had with FTP support today. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure I would have folded the river anyway, though that’s hardly the point:

I just played a hand in the $1000 NLHE FTOPS event in which I activated my time bank, for

… Read full post

Two Deep Runs

I had a solid Sunday today, no wins but made two deep runs. I took 2nd out of nearly 1000 runners in the Stars $150 6-max. The competition was surprisingly tough for a $150 tournament: I recognized three good players at my starting table, and the last few tables were … Read full post

FTOPS Event 2: $240 PLO8 Rush KO

This was the second rush tournament I’ve played, and while I miss having reads and establishing dynamics at the table, I will say that rush otherwise allows for great tournament structures. You get in a ton of hands at each blind level and the tournament still goes by pretty quickly. … Read full post

One Mistake

I’ve been taking a beating in heads up games recently. There were one or two cases of bad game selection, but for the most part I don’t think I’ve playing or running all that badly. I’m losing to people against whom I’m pretty confident I have an edge, not because … Read full post

Lower 48… Done

Emily and I left Missoula, Montana this morning, passed through Idaho, and crossed the border into Washington, bound for Spokane. With that, I can now say that I’ve been to every state in the continental United States. No immediate plans for Alaska or Hawaii, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get … Read full post

Another Deep Bluff

This time I’m on the receiving end. Villain is ordinarily a pretty big nit, but he doesn’t like me much and seems to enjoy putting moves on me. I was calling any river, though obviously this one makes it a lot easier.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – … Read full post

Deep Bluff

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($1000)
Hero (SB) ($1807.80)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, 6
Hero bets $12, BB calls $8

Flop: ($25.60) 3, 5, 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $19, … Read full post

87th

This year’s WSOP journey ended for me about an hour ago. Out of more than 7000 players, I finished 87th and won just shy of $80,000. There was nothing dramatic about it. I lost two very standard pre-flop hands to Eric Baldwin, once with A4s < KJs for a 700K … Read full post

Day 6 Table

Thanks to piefarmer for finding and posting this.

Seat 1: David Baker (951000) NOT Bakes of FTOPS final table fame, I’m told
Seat 2: Andrew Brokos (1223000) table chipleader
Seat 3: Eric Baldwin (292000) Basebaldy online, 2009 Cardplayer player of the year, WSOP bracelet, UB sponsored player
Seat 4: Russell … Read full post

1.2 Million Going Into Day 6

The starting table was about what I was expecting. There were a couple of good players, one of whom quickly lost a flip to me with AK to my JJ to get busted, and then a few quite weak players. Even more to my good fortune, a few of the … Read full post

Day 5 Table

I woke up this morning convinced that I would be assigned to the table of tournament chipleader Tony Dunst- the first time we met in real life was just moments before learning we’d be seated next to each other in a 5K 6-max- but I was spared that fate at … Read full post

Day 4 Table

Couldn’t find much on most of these guys, which is probably a good thing:

Vincent Lodato 134,700 AMAZON/322/1
Andrew Brokos 503,300 AMAZON/322/2
Andrew Jeter 124,300 AMAZON/322/3
Simon Ravnsbaek 233,200 AMAZON/322/4 (couple of shallow cases on the circuit: WSOP, WPT, EPT, Aussie Millions)
Daan Slutter 172,900 AMAZON/322/5 (sponsored by Everest Poker, … Read full post

Day 3 Recap

What a run. In the last two days I’ve 20x’ed my chips without ever seeing TT, QQ, KK, or AA. I did have AK quite a few times today, though, and I connected with a few flops when it counted.

I stole more than my share of pots for a … Read full post

Day 3 is here!

For those that didn’t see PieFarmer’s comment, here’s his summary of my Day 3 table draw with my parenthetical additions:

Danny Dam 198,000 AMAZON / 264 / 1 No info
Vincent Van Patten 174,200 AMAZON / 264 / 2 Celeb/Pro [wpt color commentator]
Thong Tran 57,100 AMAZON / 264 / … Read full post

WSOP Day 2: Fun and Profitable

Today was everything that Wednesday was not, namely fun and profitable. I had a very enjoyable table and showed a handsome profit to boot.

Early on I doubled up with Q’s vs. 9’s on a 4h 4s 3h 2h board. We both had a heart, so he was in real … Read full post

Day 2A Table Draw

Thanks for all your comments and encouragement. They mean a lot to me. Thanks especially to Todd and Emily, who both found and posted or sent me my table draw for today. Google didn’t turn up much, but here’s what I’ve got on them so far:

Ralph Blanco 47,175 AMAZON … Read full post

Survived Day 1

Gross table, gross day. Can’t recall the last time I was so miserable playing poker. Pretty much never got above my starting 30K all day. Had some crap luck especially last hour and was down around 12K. Table was crazy aggro, maybe one or two pots all day went unopened … Read full post

WSOP Main Event Today, Fire Up the Twitter

Well, today’s the day! I’ll be playing Day 1C, beginning in about 3 hours. I know I don’t tweet much outside of poker tournaments, but I will be sending updates from my phone about chip counts and big pots. You can follow me at www.twitter.com/thinkingpoker. Of course I’ll post some … Read full post

Squeeze Min-Check-Raising For Information

This is one of the most complex (some might say FPS-y) plays I’ve ever made. Just to give you the situation, the Button, with whom I’m 200 BB’s deep, is an extremely good player. In my opinion he’s one of the best regulars at 2000NL and 5000NL, and I have … Read full post

Jack-High Call Down

I know, I know, it’s not really that exciting. I believe this is the first time I’ve correctly called with J-high on the river, though!

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($17416.75)
Hero (BB) ($10049)

Preflop: Hero is BB with … Read full post

A Bluff I Don’t Want to Call

It’s hard to keep track of the proper procedures for encountering various potentially dangerous animals in the wild. With someone you are supposed to wave your arms and appear threatening, with others you are supposed to back away slowly, etc. While hiking in Yellowstone National Park we came across this … Read full post

WSOP Plans

Thanks to everyone who’s asked how the series is going for me or what my WSOP plans are- I’m flattered by your interest. As you’ve probably figured out, I’m not in Las Vegas now. I will be playing the main event, hopefully Day 1C (July 7), but nothing else. I … Read full post

I Was Bluffing the River Anyway

Villain and I had been heads up for a while, and based on how he’d been playing, I was pretty confident he had either a flush or a bluff on the turn but not a full house. My intention was to shove over a river bet and rep the full … Read full post

I Slowrolled Myself

This is a very thin river shove to begin with. It’s not that Villain is all that likely to hold better, but it’s also hard to see him paying off with worse. My hand looks very strong here and could easily be a full house. Still, people do talk themselves … Read full post

Call That Down

Villain is a high-stakes MTT and SNG player who’s recently been sitting in the shallow high-stakes cash games as well. Despite his success, my opinion of him is that he makes a lot of borderline-bad calls and shoves. Probably I just think that because historically he’s run well vs. me … Read full post

Best Hand Won

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($3733)
Hero (BB) ($2918)
UTG ($2394)
MP ($2100)
CO ($2000)
Button ($5294)

Preflop: Hero is BB with J, 8
1 fold, MP bets $60, CO calls $60, 2 folds, Hero raises … Read full post

Urban Debate League Wins National Championships

It wasn’t the Boston Debate League, but a team from our sister league in Chicago recently won the National Forensics League Grand Tournament in Kansas City, making them the first Urban Debate League team ever to win a national championship (there are several- the NFL’s are the largest, though arguably … Read full post

Resucked

Granted my flop call isn’t the greatest, but I think most of his bluffing range is just giving up pretty much any turn, so I’m not too worried about getting bluffed out when I’m ahead.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 600/1200 Blinds 150 Ante (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool … Read full post

River Decision

Villain is a pretty good regular. He also plays higher and is well above average for the stakes. We’ve tangled a fair bit in the recent past and have some aggressive history. I believe his turn raising range to be disproportionately semi-bluffs, possibly with as little as a gutshot but … Read full post

River Overbet Bluff

I usually overbet in situations where my opponent’s range consists primarily of hands that are strong but not too strong. Particularly if this is obvious to both of you, the overbet turns even the stronger part of his range into a bluff-catcher by representing either an extremely strong hand or … Read full post

It’s Quickly Becoming Non-Ironic

While I was in Germany, my girlfriend was hanging out in Northern Minnesota (long story). One night, she ironically attended a monster truck rally where she ironically purchased this camouflage hat for me. We’ve been camping in the Badlands of South Dakota, and between the hat and the scraggly beard, … Read full post

Slowplaying When Shallow

In short, you should do it more often and with weaker hands. The two biggest drawbacks to slowplaying are missing out on the opportunity to build a big pot against second-best hands and the reverse implied odds of letting longshots draw for free. When you’re shallow, neither of those are … Read full post

David “Bakes” Baker Wins 2-7 NL WSOP Bracelet

Huge congratulations to David Baker, 2+2’s own “Bakes”, who took down the WSOP 2-7 NL event last night. For those who don’t know, this is a 5-card draw game where the objective is to make the low hand. Aces are high and straights and flushes count against you, meaning that … Read full post

Overbet -> Spaz Out

This is one of my favorite spots for an overbet, either with a very strong hand like this or with a draw, because Villain’s hand is so clearly defined as marginal showdown value. To be honest, given what he shows up with, I don’t understand why he raised the turn:… Read full post

Underbet -> Spaz Out

I get a lot of questions/comments about my underbetting, which is understandable since it’s one of the more non-standard plays in my arsenal. I think this hand illustrates one of the many advantages of such a play, which is inducing spazziness from hands that otherwise wouldn’t give you action.

Villain … Read full post

Praz Bansi Wins Second WSOP Bracelet

I’mPraz Bansi embarrassed to say that I’d never heard of Praz before I played with him during this year’s PCA, but I could tell immediately that he was a great player. He has this intense table presence that you rarely see, where you can tell he is studying everything that … Read full post

Book Review: Cowboys Full by James McManus

When I first heard that James McManus was working on a book about the history of poker, I was surprised that such a book had not yet been written and glad that McManus was the one writing it. His first poker book, Positively Fifth Street, is a personal favorite … Read full post

Stasi Museum

Before leaving Leipzig this morning we visited an excellent museum dealing with the Stasi, the secret police of the East German government. The museum was located in their old headquarters and preserved the look and feel of the place complete with the equipment the Stasi used to bug telephones, detain … Read full post

Update From Germany

Sorry for the lack of posting this week, I’m currently traveling around Germany with sporadic internet and frankly better things to do. I spent my first few days in Berlin and Potsdam, then two days in Dresden, and am now in Leipzig. Tomorrow it’s onto Weimar, then back for a … Read full post