I had a decent run in the monthly $500 on Stars today, though it ultimately ended in tragedy. As you’ll see, I had some lucky cooler situations early on, but there was usually at least an element of my opponent making a questionable slowplay and the money going in after … Read full post
This week I watched the second-to-last Sopranos, which I’d never seen, and re-watched the final episode. I recall going to considerable length to see the finale and being thoroughly disappointed, not just by the final seconds, but by the entire thing. Basically the whole season 6 (the part after the … Read full post
There’s not much similarity to these hands aside from the fact that they both involve playing KT in the Stars $300. This one might seem like kind of a crazy fold:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t250 (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
UTG+1 (t6077)
MP1 … Read full post
Cardplayer recently posted a very interesting and informative interview with Phil Galfond, who posts as JMan on the 2+2 Forums and plays as OMGClayAiken in the biggest NLHE games. There were a few points I found particularly noteworthy:
1. Phil was a student of the great Tommy Angelo, and … Read full post
I don’t know how he did it, but Bryan Clark (AKA Dynasty, the editor of 2+2 Magazine) managed to defuse Mason Malmuth’s temper. In both our public and private communications, he gave no ground whatsoever and continued to insist that I deliberately misrepresented the Harrington on Cash series in … Read full post
It’s funny but not really surprising that even many good players succumb to a certain fishiness. Virtually anyone’s natural inclination is against folding. You’re guaranteed to lose- how much fun is that? The first big step that any player has to take to go from losing to winning is acquiring … Read full post
Mason Malmuth, the owner of Two Plus Two Publishing, was none too happy with the reviews of the Harrington on Cash Series that I posted on the 2+2 Forums. His responses were split roughly 50/50 between substantive rebuttals of particular critiques I made and personal attacks regarding my motivations. … Read full post
According to PokerNews, the WPT has settled its dispute with several prominent players (Duke, Bloch, Ferguson, Lederer, and Gordon) regarding the terms of the release that players must sign to play in World Poker Tour events.:
“In their original lawsuit, the players claimed that the terms of the WPTE player … Read full post
For some reason, FTP has a $54321 guaranteed tournament today where everyone started with 4321 chips. I played this hand about three hours in. I got an unlucky flop, but I thought this was kind of an interesting play:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 200/400 Blinds, 50 Ante, 9 … Read full post
This is a pretty consistent problem for me:
Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $2/$4
6 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $302.70
UTG+1: $361.75
CO: $338
Foucault: $400
SB: $76
BB: $304
Pre-flop: (6 players) Foucault is Button with 
2 folds, CO raises to $12… Read full post
Apparently this is fake, pretty funny though.
… is that they reward monkey bullshit. And that’s the good and the bad thing about them. A skilled player has a smaller edge because the monkeys are rarely making that big of a mistake if they stick their whole stack in with anything pre-flop or with any kind of … Read full post
Been meaning to post this, it’s Bill’s response to my review of his e-book, How to Beat NLHE 6-Max Cash Games:
… Read full postThanks for reviewing the book.
I won’t comment on everything — you have some valid points although I do feel a beginner can use this book. It’s
The well-known 2+2’er and high-stakes no-limit player FoxwoodsFiend announced yesterday that he is quitting poker:
… Read full postThe truth is I want to do something important with my life, and I don’t think poker’s that important or meaningful. Given that I eventually need to quit, now’s as good a time as
Paul Smith AKA UCLABruinz, shown here with his daughter (yes his head really is that huge), just took down a $2000 Bellagio prelim event for $203,495.
I’ve known Paul for a while through the 2+2 forums, but I first met him in real life at the 2006 WSOP… Read full post
Last weekend, I accompanied several of my debaters to an urban debate league national championship in Chicago. As the director of the Boston Debate League, I rarely have the time (or inclination) to judge debates myself. However, I did judge a few rounds while in Chicago. In particular, I had … Read full post
My One Minute Recommendation: Smaller stakes players who want a big picture view of advanced concepts that they’ll need to understand to win at higher stakes will probably get their money’s worth. Beginners, however, should find another resource that’s written specifically for them and presented in a more tiered and … Read full post
Two of my students have recently started poker blogs that may prove worth following:
Neither has posted too much yet, but hey, they are learning from the master, so something insightful is bound to trickle down!… Read full post
Just found this sweet, kind of random video over on the GPSTS blog:
Here’s a tricky little play I made early in tonight’s session. I’m going to try using an embeddable replayer that one of my readers suggested to me, but if you have trouble watching it, please leave a comment to let me know. I won’t use it again if it causes … Read full post
Sorry for the recent silence. I was in Chicago with some of my debaters for the Chase Urban Debate National Championships. I thought I’d have internet access, but the new laptop is giving me trouble already. Anyhow, regular posting will resume tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.… Read full post
My One Minute Recommendation: Harrington on Cash Games Volume II covers turn and river play as well as playing loose and aggressive, dealing with others who play that way, bankroll management, and other topics. Harrington explains complex poker theory well, but when it comes to putting it into practice, his … Read full post
My latest article, Take Your Best Shot, has just been published in the April 2008 issue of Two Plus Two Internet Magazine. It’s about how to take a shot at a game that you would ordinarily consider outside of your bankroll.
If you enjoy this article, my older … Read full post
It was one of my goals for 2008 to make some videos for one of the major instructional sites, and it looks promising that I’ll soon do a series for a Poker Savvy Plus. After getting invited by Justin Rollo, who is one of their teachers and who’s known … Read full post
Oooph. Man I feel like I just got brutalized all month, but the truth is that I was nearly even until about 10 days ago, and then things really hit the skids. It was some combination of running bad, getting frustrated, and once finding myself in an expensive game with … Read full post
I’ve written before about the importance of thin value bets, but I think at least some of these are too thin:
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 0: Villain ($13917.50) – 
Seat 1: Hero ($5098.50) – 
– 
PRE-FLOP:
Hero posts small blind $25
Villain posts BIG … Read full post
Last month, my girlfriend and I spent a few days at the Grand Canyon. I know most of you probably don’t care, but for those of you who know me or who enjoy looking at pictures of other peoples’ vacations, here are some pictures:
Here I am standing on an … Read full post
My One Minute Recommendation: Harrington on Cash Games Volume One scores a 5/10. Players who are new to NLHE cash games will find it initially helpful, especially if they are interested in full ring play. Those who are already moderately successful at cash games will find little of use, especially … Read full post
Two exciting deliveries arrived yesterday. The first was my new laptop. My old machine was going on five years and pathetic at handling all my poker applications. Also the screen was so lame compared to my dual monitor wide-screen desktop set-up. The new computer has a 17″ screen, which will … Read full post
I was in Providence Wednesday night for the Rhode Island Urban Debate League‘s end of the year banquet. It was a powerful event marked by three highlights: speeches from Providence mayor David Cicilline, Great Debaters star Nate Parker, and the graduating seniors of the RIUDL. Perhaps the biggest story, … Read full post
I’ve mentioned from time to time how annoying it is when people “hit and run”, or win a big pot and quit immediately. Although it can occur at any table, it’s especially annoying when playing heads up because the game is more personal and because when they quit, there’s no … Read full post
On Tuesday, I posted about a rally I attended at the Massachusetts State House to protest a provision of Governor Patrick’s casino legislation that made playing poker online a felony punishable by up to $25,000 and/or two years in jail. I’m happy to report that the committee holding a hearing … Read full post
I’d been playing this short stacker heads up at 10/20 NL. He was pretty bad, but I was going to need to make a hand to bust him. Finally, I got AKo and made my standard $60 raise. He shoved all in for about $400, I snap-called, and he turned … Read full post
I dragged my ass out of bed this morning and got over to the State House around 8:30 AM for a rally, organized by the Poker Players’ Alliance and by Harvard Law School professor Charlie Nesson and his Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society.
Since they were going to have … Read full post
It was brought to my attention that updates haven’t appeared on the blog since Thursday, though I’d been making them. Apparently my terrible hosting company, Ipower (I’m not giving them a link here, and I urge you never to use them), ‘updated’ me to some new hosting platform or something. … Read full post
I got up big stacks in both the $200 UB and the $500 FTP tournaments today. The UB went south when I called a tiny raise from the CO with 64s in my BB. He had been active, we were both kinda deep stacked, and there were antes, so I … Read full post
We were down to the final five in last night’s $1000 WSOP satellite. We were all getting our entry fee back, but there was only one seat to be awarded (which was annoying as hell- just one or two more entrants, and there would have been two seats, which makes … Read full post
I wonder if this is a record- I got and hit and run five times by the same guy tonight over the course of about three hours. On several occasions, he bought back within the same amount of money he had when he quit the last time, but I was … Read full post
DJ Sensei had a good post a while back about advertising. The general idea is that early in a match, especially when heads up, you might make an extra aggressive play in the hopes of convincing your opponent you are a maniac for the rest of the match. These aren’t … Read full post
Nat Arem, who was instrumental in exposing and investigating the Absolute Poker cheating scandal, reports that he was contacted by a 60 Minutes producer and a Washington Post reporter interested in doing a story on the incident:
… Read full postA few weeks ago, I was contacted by 60 Minutes in
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 0: Villain ($5899) – –
Seat 1: Hero ($6298) –
PRE-FLOP:
Villain posts small blind $25
Hero posts BIG blind $50
Dealt To: Hero
RAISE Villain ($150)
CALL Hero ($150)
FLOP:
Pot: $350
CHECK Hero
BET Villain ($225)
RAISE Hero ($650)… Read full post
In general, I think it’s important, for meta-game reasons, to bet hands like this on the river (see my article Value Flows Downstream). If you aren’t betting the second nut full house here, then it will be very difficult for you to take advantage of your position on boards like … Read full post
I distinctly recall telling one of my students in our most recent session, “Don’t try to bluff a guy off of top pair or an overpair. People just don’t like to fold them.” So of course I go and try it in the donkfest that is the Sunday Million:
Poker … Read full post
A lot of weakish players will broadcast their hand strength with their bet sizing especially when in position on the river. Thus, I sometimes like to check to them without a specific plan. Instead, I want to see what they do and then decide whether to raise for value, raise … Read full post
Full Tilt Poker, $25/$50 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
Hero (BB): $5,498
SB: $5,674
Pre-Flop: 9
9
dealt to Hero (BB)
SB raises to $150, Hero raises to $498, SB calls $348
Flop: ($996) T
7
Q (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB … Read full post
Imagine that you are riding on the subway when a disheveled man wearing dirty clothes and a long, unkempt beard boards your car and begins to rant about how aliens got him and are coming for you too. He is crazy, you think to yourself, and probably you avoid … Read full post
I first read David Sklansky and Ed Miller’s No Limit Hold ‘Em: Theory and Practice over a year ago, when I was just starting to play cash games seriously. I recall thinking that it was good but not great and then reconciling it to my bookshelf as I spent the … Read full post
As I move into higher stakes games, I’m constantly reminded of a poker principle that’s been important all along: you make most of your money from playing with bad players. When I sit in a 25/50 game, it’s because there’s someone at the table (or more than one someone, if … Read full post
You know you’re in for a rough time when the Sunday Majors haven’t even started yet and you’re already ready to tear your hair out. I was just thinking yesterday how lucky I was to experience so much positive variance in my first shots at the big games. I was … Read full post
My latest article, entitled Your Opponent’s Arsenal Part 2: Turn and River Play, has just been published in the March 2008 edition of Two Plus Two Internet Magazine. This article is the sequel to last month’s Your Opponent’s Arsenal Part 1: Flop Play and my thirteenth for the … Read full post
Best month ever!
At that start of the year, I set some year-long poker goals for myself. So far I’ve played too many tournaments and not enough hours, but my hourly rate has been so good that I’m getting by anyhow.
I averaged 17 hours a week, only 2/3 of … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP ($1394)
CO ($1202.10)
Button ($2459.50)
Hero ($2030)
BB ($1224)
UTG ($3402.50)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 9s, 8s.
UTG raises to $60, MP calls $60, 2 folds, Hero calls $50, 1 fold.
Flop:… Read full post
This article slipped past me while I was on vacation, but thankfully I was able to catch it on Professor Nesson’s blog, eon. Apparently, the provision of Governor Patrick’s casino bill that would criminalize online poker, about which I wrote to him in opposition, is finding itself with … Read full post
Terrence Chan recently made the humorous observation that not only is the hand reporting from major poker tournaments largely inaccurate (this is well-known) but that the reporters tend to reconstruct the details in ways that make “name players” look good. He cites two recent examples from his own experience, one … Read full post
I’m just back from three wonderful days at the Grand Canyon with Emily. It really is an amazing place. I’d been once before, about fifteen years ago, but didn’t remember too much about it. We took a lot of pictures, some of which I’ll post here soon, but trite as … Read full post
I recently came across this pretty amusing collection of quotes about why work sucks. The one they ranked 10th was actually my favorite and comes from one of my favorite writers:
“It was true that I didn’t have much ambition, but there ought to be a place for people without … Read full post
An illustrative S/8 hand I played recently:
Hand #15452617704
7 Card Stud *High-Low* ($10/$20), Ante $1
*3rd Street* – (0.60 SB)
somebody: xx xx Ah___raises___calls
foucault82: 4d 4h 4s___raises
badabang: xx xx Jc___folds
luckymonkey9: xx xx 7c___folds
Jshorts7: xx xx 5d___calls
umhmm: xx xx 3h___folds
*4th Street* – (6.90 SB)… Read full post
In Pot Limit Omaha, hand values tend to run close, which means that people often do not fold to re-raises. Consequently, a lot of players will never reraise without Aces, and any time you do re-raise, your thinking opponents will put you on Aces. By occasionally re-raising with other hands, … Read full post
I flew into Las Vegas last night for a hastily scheduled vacation. I may be the only person in the world who comes here in order to take a break from gambling. This afternoon, Emily and I are leaving for three nights at the Grand Canyon. That means I likely … Read full post
On the night of the O/8 FTOPS, I decided to play some O/8 cash as well and came upon what seems to be a pretty common profitable spot in low limit O/8 ring games:
Poker Stars
Limit Omaha Ring game
Limit: $5/$10
9 players
Converter
Pre-flop: (9 players) … Read full post
This is a post from a few month’s ago from the blog of University of Chicago economist and author of Freakonomics Steven Levitt, but I just came across it and thought I would share. Levitt is a poker enthusiast currently working on the use of online poker statistics to resolve … Read full post
Poker Managers Hall of Famer Matt Savage, writing for Pokernews, reports that in a recent lunch with WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel, he learned of some of the rules changes that will be in effect at the 2008 WSOP:
… Read full postOne new rule that I like is Rule #36 which states:
Back in December, I made a post about sitting briefly with Mike Matusow in a 25/50 6-Max NLHE game. It was one of the first times I played that high, and it ended with Mike stacking me when he flopped trips against my KK in a re-raised pot.
Now that … Read full post
I was sitting in a 50/100 NL game on Ultimate Bet with a full-stacked player against whom I felt I had a pretty good edge when who should come and sit us than poker brat Phil Hellmuth. Unfortunately, he only sat with $3000. If it weren’t for the other guy … Read full post
Sklansky on Poker has not aged well. This isn’t to say that any of its content has been proven wrong, only that more recent publications and the resurgent popularity of big bet games have rendered much of the material irrelevant.
The section “Sklansky on Razz” is certainly the best material … Read full post
The Gainesville Sun reports that
… Read full postJerome Anthony Henry, 48, of Seville, and Richard David Smith and Robert Erwin Ford, both 50 and from Palatka, were killed inside the structure, a former bar that officers said people had been using as the location for a “high-stakes” poker game.
All four men