Lasted a little over three hours in the $500 HORSE, then made an illustrative Stud mistake:
FullTiltPoker Game #5166723748: FTOPS Event #3 (35825861), Table 26 – 500/1000 Ante 100 – Limit Stud Hi – 0:35:56 ET – 2008/02/08
Seat 1: zartarious (10,468)
Seat 2: WCJOKER (16,873)
Seat 3: Rambo no5 … Read full post
Grrrrrrrr I missed the PLO Bounty event, I didn’t realize it was an afternoon tournament. The $500 HORSE is tonight, so that’s what I’ll be playing instead.… Read full post
This was just a standard $200 NLHE event, but it attracted 5000 runners, more than FTP’s Sunday tournament. I got off to a slow start but eventually built up a big stack and was 55th with 2000 remaining. Then I lost 40% of it when KK< AK, stole some blinds, lost a third of my stack when 22< AQ, then got AK on my big blind, shoved over a button raise, and lost to KK. Tempting to rant about how stupid tournaments are, except that I lost to a lot of dumb crap at cash, too. Just idiots hitting every draw, random gut shots and crap. Also just getting cold decked. Sorry for the whine, but got some life tilt going on at the moment as well. Oh well, tomorrow’s a PLO tournament with bounties, that should be fun. … Read full post
Ultimate Bet sent me some gear today for making the final table of one of their UBOC events back in December. Specifically, I got a t-shirt, a hat, and a backpack. It’s all kind of low-quality (the hat size is adjustable with velcro), but the hat and shirt were made … Read full post
At that start of the year, I set some year-long poker goals for myself. One month into 2008, I’m pretty much on track, though it’s close and there’s plenty of room for improvement. I averaged only about 16 hours of playing per week, well short of my goal of 25. … Read full post
In his Closing Thoughts, Jeff Hwang comments on what motivated him to write Pot Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy:
… Read full post“…nowhere in poker literature was truly useful instructions on where to start. Everybody says the same thing: Play four cards that work together, A-A-J-T and A-A-K-K are the
My latest poker article, Your Opponent’s Arsenal Part 1: The Flop, has just been published in the February issue of Two Plus Two Internet Magazine. This is the first of two articles that will examine how knowledge of your opponent’s post-flop strengths and weaknesses should influence your play on … Read full post
Urban debate got some national attention yesterday thanks to an op-ed piece authored by former debater Erwin Chemerinsky for USA Today:
… Read full post“Research shows that participation in organized debate leagues improves literacy scores by 25% and grade point averages by 8%-10%. And while many urban debaters come from schools where most
These were all against a strong but possibly over-aggressive opponent:
Full Tilt Poker, $4/$8 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
UTG: $1,325.80
Hero (BTN): $1,910.90
SB: $1,626
BB: $1,600
Pre-Flop: 3
3
dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $28, SB folds, … Read full post
Gary Wise has a great column for ESPN about the whole JJ Prodigy incident and the consequences of his being allowed to play at the Aussie Millions (my summary, for those not familiar with the situation):
“Cheating, unfortunately, is inherently human. We as a species are never wholly … Read full post
Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
Hero (SB): $2,330
BB: $1,770
UTG: $1,854
UTG+1: $2,227
MP: $2,000
CO: $2,018.25
BTN: $2,000
Pre-Flop: A
K dealt to Hero (SB)
5 folds, Hero raises to $80, BB raises to $240, Hero … Read full post
Until this year, I’d taken two shots at 25/50 NL games when I saw a fish sitting. It didn’t go well, as this post from last month documents. Anyway, Matusow was at three full ring tables tonight, so I had a seat and things went a bit better. I think … Read full post
I think I might be trying a little too hard to make thin value bets, especially when I’ve already shown a lot of strength. People are generally pretty reluctant to make big river calls in tournaments, which means they either fold or call with a better hand and crush me. … Read full post
PokerNews has a review today of the new poker tables at Mohegan Sun. As they point out, it isn’t a technically a poker room, as they are just electronic tables on the casino floor:
… Read full post“They have PokerPro™ poker machines. No dealers, no chips, no cash at the table, and no
Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 3 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BTN: $2,573.50
SB: $2,737.70
Hero (BB): $3,441.50
Pre-Flop: T T
dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN raises to $70, SB raises to $260, Hero raises to $591, 2 folds
Results: $590 Pot
Hero … Read full post
It’s got nothing to do with poker. But WJMN, a Boston hip hop station, recently interviewed me and a few students from the Boston Debate League. I’m only going to post my portion of it here, which is about 10 minutes long. I was very happy with how it … Read full post
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 0: VaMtnGal ($647.90) – 
– 
Seat 3: urbandb888 ($3836.55) – 
PRE-FLOP:
VaMtnGal posts small blind $10
urbandb888 posts BIG blind $25
Dealt To: urbandb888
CALL VaMtnGal ($25)
CHECK urbandb888
FLOP:
Pot: $60
CHECK urbandb888
CHECK VaMtnGal
TURN:
Pot: $60 
CHECK urbandb888… Read full post
I just saw him a few days ago and he didn’t say a word about this to me. Pretty sweet though!
More good press for the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society, with PokerNews running a piece on them today:
“The Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society already has chapters established or planned at Harvard, UCLA, Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts, Indiana–South Bend, and George Washington, and is looking to establish … Read full post
This guy wasn’t great, but he was better than I gave him credit for sometimes. In particular, he did a reasonable job of adapting to my thin calls and not bluffing in some obvious spots, which should have made me a little more reluctant to call him down in some … Read full post
There are probably better poker books out there, but I have never enjoyed reading one as much as I enjoyed Tommy Angelo’s Elements of Poker. It’s a delightful read, alternately light and weighty, funny and stern, but a lot of my enjoyment came from the realization that I was … Read full post
Too Thin
Full Tilt Poker Pot-Limit , $6 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
BB ($386.55)
UTG ($428.05)
Hero ($986.50)
CO ($618.45)
Button ($249.30)
SB ($538.15)
Preflop: Hero is MP with 5d, 6d, As, Ah.
1 fold, Hero raises to $21, CO calls $21, 1 … Read full post
2+2 Internet Magazine recently cut a deal with a German poker website called PokerOlymp that allows them to publish German translations of articles initially written for 2+2. This is great for us authors because whenever they choose one of our articles, we get an extra $100 for no additional work! … Read full post
While reading a relatively unrelated opinion piece in today’s New York Times, I was reminded of a comment left by Jen on one of my recent Savage Inequalities posts. She asked whether Kozol addressed the question of inequality between states and pointed me to the condition of schools in … Read full post
It has been 25 years since Savage Inequalities was first published, and there have been some changes. Schools are still funded primarily by local property taxes, guaranteeing that wealthier school districts will produce better educated children. However, the federal role in education has greatly … Read full post
This is why I’ve always taken my WSOP winnings as a check rather than cash or chips. From the Sydney Morning Herald:
“A professional poker player who was robbed of about $30,000 in winnings in Melbourne’s CBD this morning believes he was targeted by his assailant.
American Jason Potter, … Read full post
The Boston Herald ran an article today that was (half) about the Boston Debate League and an event we had yesterday in honor of MLK Day. This time they ran a nice photo of one our debaters; the lack of a picture was one of my disappointments from the last … Read full post
Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
SB: $2,054
BB: $710
UTG: $412
Hero (BTN): $2,020
Pre-Flop: 8 9 dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $50, SB folds, BB calls $30
Flop: ($110) T 7 2 (2 Players)… Read full post
Full Tilt Poker Pot-Limit , $6 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP ($425.65)
Button ($588)
Hero ($620.55)
BB ($388.55)
UTG ($978.80)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 7c, 5h, 8s, 9h.
3 folds, Hero raises to $18, BB calls $12.
Flop: ($36) Ac, Js, 2h … Read full post
Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BB: $470
UTG: $2,067
Hero (CO): $4,166
BTN: $2,117.50
SB: $2,080
Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $66, BTN raises to $228, 2 folds, Hero raises to … Read full post
Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
Hero (BTN): $1,000
SB: $1,083
BB: $1,300
UTG: $230.20
CO: $866.90
Pre-Flop: Q A dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, CO calls $10, Hero raises to $50, SB folds, CO calls $40
Flop: ($110) … Read full post
Full Tilt Poker Pot-Limit , $6 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($819.45)
SB ($1382.40)
BB ($604.65)
Hero ($837)
MP ($813)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with Kh, Ac, Ah, 7d.
Hero raises to $21, MP calls $21, Button calls $21, 2 folds.
Flop: ($72) … Read full post
Writing a book about poker strategy that will be both correct and useful to inexperienced players is a big challenge. Beginners need straight-forward, practical, concrete advice that they can apply at the table. But poker, and especially no limit hold ’em, is a game of “sometimes”, “unless”, and “it depends”. … Read full post
Some time ago, I posted a letter that I sent to my elected officials in Massachusetts concerning pending legislation that would simultaneously legalize casino gambling and prohibit internet gambling. I received a response from Governor Patrick, but it was so vacuous that I didn’t even bother posting it. It stated … Read full post
One thing I admire about Kozol is that he is much more upfront about his agenda and the sacrifices required than are many other advocates of reform. He admits that, “Attorneys in school-equalization suits have done their best to understate the notion of ‘redistribution’ of resources. … Read full post
Since I’m trying to improve my Pot Limit Omaha game right now, I found this to be one of the more useful Full Tilt Tips from the Pros. Brandon Adams argues that,
“
One of the best bluffing opportunities in Omaha comes on paired boards, but to pull this … Read full post
The argument can be made, sometimes convincingly, that many forms of inequality in the US result at least in part from poor choices on the part of those who hold the short end of the stick. That argument absolutely disintegrates in the context of education. Not only is it patently … Read full post
I posted my recent review of Two Plus Two’s new book Tournament Poker for Advanced Players Expanded Edition on the 2+2 Books and Publications Forum. Both author David Sklansky and publisher Mason Malmuth have responded to portions of my review.
In response this section,
“The expanded edition does revisit … Read full post
I’m a voracious reader, and it’s not my intention to write a review of every book I read. Having just completed Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools, however, I am moved to record some thoughts here. It turns out I have a lot of thoughts, so I’m … Read full post
Here’s a series of hands I played with a pretty big fish in a recent 3/6 NL game on UB. By the end, we were both 500 BB’s deep, and I ran a huge bluff on him that culminated in a 250 BB river shove with 9-high. Enjoy!
It Begins… Read full post
It’s pretty rare that I’m folding 99 pre-flop when I have 15 BB’s, but here, there were a lot of danger signs:
1. The UTG Limper
It’s far from a guarantee, but at this stage of the game, there’s not a lot of open limping, especially not UTG. So I’m … Read full post
The schedule for the Full Tilt Online Poker Series VII has been released. I don’t know what my schedule is going to look like in February, but I’ll play as many as these as I’m able. The FTOPS usually have great structures and big, weak fields. The Stud and Limit … Read full post
Though many books have been published on the subject since, David Sklansky’s Tournament Poker for Advanced Players (TPFAP) has been the definitive text on tournament poker theory since its publication. Two Plus Two Publishing seems to have had two goals in mind for the new material included in the just-released … Read full post
Jimmy Fricke, 2+2’s Gobboboy, finished second to Gus Hansen in the main event of last year’s Aussie Millions. And now he’s finally got a championship under his belt. There’s something about winning, even when it’s not worth nearly as much. According to Poker News, Jimmy defeated Graeme Putt heads … Read full post
This was from the $200 FTP Sunday Mulligan:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
SB: 6,320
BB: 4,715
UTG: 3,110
UTG+1: 5,250
UTG+2: 2,755
Hero (MP1): 8,290
MP2: 3,250
CO: 6,340
BTN: 3,555
Pre-Flop: (150) A K dealt to Hero (MP1)… Read full post
I lasted about 6 hours in the most recent Stars Sunday Million, mostly with a big stack, though I didn’t even end up making the money. But here was a key hand that came up a few hours in. Pay attention to the CO’s stack:
Poker Stars, $200 + $15 … Read full post
Since I was without blog for the last few days, I finally got around to giving the website a face lift and updating it with a lot of new material. It’s all stuff that’s been published in the blog already, but much nicer looking and accessible than it was. I’ve … Read full post
Sorry for the recent downtime, apparently my domain name expired on January 2nd and despite the assurances of three different tech support people from Ipower, it was not actually renewed. I’ve renewed it this morning and was warned it would be 24-48 hours before the site was back up, but … Read full post
Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $676.15
UTG+1: $598.20
Hero: $658.70
Button: $535.30
SB: $110.95
BB: $251.10
Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with :td :as :qs :qd
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $21, Hero calls, Button … Read full post
When I’m not tilting, I tend to give these turn min-check-raises a lot of credit, maybe too much. Here, it just didn’t seem that plausible for him to have a set. TT is possible I guess, but he’s probably 3-betting QQ pre-flop, and 44 just got way less likely. Maybe … Read full post
My latest article, Profitable ‘Mistakes‘, has just been published in the January issue of 2+2 Internet Magazine. Please let me know what you think!… Read full post
I signed up today with a new instructional site called Poker Savvy. They seem to have some kind of affiliate program, a forum, some strategy articles, and links to humorous poker videos, but I haven’t investigated any of that yet. I really just wanted to see videos from 2+2 … Read full post
From the outset, Andy Bloch’s chapter on pre-flop play for the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition suffers from a mistaken objective. Bloch proposes to study pre-flop strategy like chess openings, which I take to mean that he is going to develop a coherent set of balanced raising, re-raising, … Read full post
Happy New Year!
Yesterday, I reviewed my 2007 goals and whether I’d achieved them in the last year. Today, I’m going to set some new poker-related goals for 2008. If you’re a serious poker player, I think that you ought to do the same.
Last year, I set a monetary … Read full post
Apparently this is their 3rd appearance, but I just happened to come across my friend Tony (Bond18 to the online poker world, George Dunst to the federalis) and his girlfriend Celina Lin in a new feature called “He Said, She Said” on Poker News. In today’s edition, they … Read full post
This time last year, I set four major poker goals for myself. It’s time now to review and evaluate the year in light of those goals:
Goal 1: Make $X Playing Poker Failed
Sorry, but as usual, I don’t want to specify my exact goal or my exact income. I … Read full post
This was my bust-out hand from yesterday’s $300 weekly on Poker Stars. This is a minor point, but there’s almost no downside to doing it, so it’s worth considering:
Poker Stars, $300 + $20 NL Hold’em Tournament, 300/600 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BTN: 9,634
SB: 30,900… Read full post
The Razz chapter of the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition is presented in a unique way, with Michael Craig summarizing, narrating, and quoting a conversation between Ted Forrest and Huck Seed. Given my extensive involvement with competitive debate, it’s probably no surprise that I find this a very … Read full post
Poker Stars has recently decided to extend its ban of Josh Fields, known to the online poker community as JJProdigy, from their online poker site to the annual live tournament they run at a Caribbean casino/resort called Atlantis. I’ve got a few thoughts on this that I’ll offer after a … Read full post
I just found an old note to myself to blog about this old Salon article called Requiem for a Poker Game. The author’s point is an interesting one: the current poker boom, fueled largely by the game’s presence on television and the internet, have also changed fundamentally the nature … Read full post
Stud/8 is one of my favorite poker games, and Ted Forrest’s Stud Eight-or-Better chapter in the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition highlights many of the game’s most interesting, and potentially profitable, facets. Stud/8 is a complex game, with a huge variety of situations that can arise, which makes … Read full post
Yesterday’s Boston Herald, prompted by today’s opening of The Great Debaters, included a short feature about the Boston Debate League. Frankly, I was a little disappointed by the article’s length. The reporter spoke with myself and several of the coaches in the BDL, but the article mentioned only … Read full post
That guy who I quit abruptly yesterday came back today and dropped another three stacks or so to me. We played for a good three hours, and he was definitely playing a little better than yesterday, though he was still far from tough. Ironically, he was at his most challenging … Read full post
I saw The Mouth sitting with a full stack at a 25/50 NLHE table along with a guy from my buddy list. The waiting list was 7 deep, but I hopped on anyway. I’ve never played with Mike Matusow myself, but I know people who will join games they don’t … Read full post
Poker has been getting some largely positive publicity in the mainstream media lately thanks to Professor Nesson and the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society. First came a New York Times article entitled “High Stakes Poker as a Learning Tool.” Then came the Economist with its article, “… Read full post
To his credit, David Gray’s Seven Card Stud chapter in the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition is actually about tournament strategy. Even when introducing basic concepts such as starting hand selection, which he is wise to do given that most of his audience will likely come from a … Read full post