Sorry for the lack of updates, I was at a BDL tournament on Friday then a wedding reception in New York yesterday. The good news I’m staying in New York with a friend from the old Harvard Law School game … Read more…
I put in a ton of hours today, and it was a real roller coaster ride. Mostly I was playing 25/50 cap, for some reason there were six fish-filled tables running today. A couple hours into the session, I was … Read more…
Despite a pretty rough WCOOP (or maybe because of- it did compel me to put in a lot of hours), September was a solid month. Even after some of those long sessions, though, I barely averaged twenty hours a week. … Read more…
ESPN tells me that I’m scheduled to be on one of tonight’s broadcasts, though they’ve been wrong about that before. My best guess is that it will be the 8PM eastern one, which focuses on Day 3, as that was … Read more…
I did a little interview with Cardplayer Online’s Shawn Green Friday night. Shawn actually contacted me initially to see if I had Tony “Bond18” Dunst’s phone number, because they were trying to do an interview with him. But I didn’t … Read more…
Didn’t get many NLHE cash games in this month. The month started with FTOPS, so I was playing more tournaments than usual. It wasn’t a good series for me, but I was doing alright on the side. Then I spent … Read more…
I’m not sure who this company is that they produced an ad of this length and production quality, but I thought it was awesome!
2+2 forums mainstay and Poker Savvy Plus Guest Pro Shaundeeb (no relation to Freddy) won yesterday’s $500 heads up FTOPS tournament. He dusted his opponent in the Final Four in a single hand (sorry converter can’t seem to handle a … Read more…
I had the best year of my poker career last month :-). Obviously that was thanks to cashing for $193,000 at the WSOP. It’s pretty freaky to think that there were several spots in the tournament, most notably when I … Read more…
This incident occurred a while ago, but I just came across this first-hand account from a hired chef who was not playing in the game posted on The Agitator: The raid occurred around 7:40 p.m. I was in the kitchen … Read more…
I was reading an autobiography of a guy whom I’d never known to be a poker player when I came across this rather detailed account of a big 5-card stud pot he once won. I’d be very surprised if anyone … Read more…
I was looking through my Stat Counter log today for a glimpse of how people were finding my blog, what links and search terms they were using, etc. I came across two funny ones. Well, the first is really more … Read more…
The $15K World Poker Tour Bellagio event always attracts a star-studded field of pros fresh off competing in the World Series of Poker. The six-handed final table this year was no exception: Seat 1: Ralph Perry – 1,635,000Seat 2: Luke … Read more…
I’ll lead off with the big one. My girlfriend pointed out to me that although a few people posted it as a comment, I hadn’t actually made a post that included my finish at the World Series of Poker. Out … Read more…
Frankly, I didn’t do a very good job of courting/attracting media attention despite my deep run in the WSOP. But here are a few links to coverage of my play: Interview with Poker Stars O By the Way Blog 1 … Read more…
Seat 1: Craig Stein – 440,000Seat 2: Niklas Flisberg – 1,264,000Seat 3: Mark Wilds – 485,000Seat 4: Andrew Brokos – 4,444,000Seat 6: Lisa Parsons – 581,000Seat 7: Peter Neff – 1,275,000Seat 8: Darus Suharto – 1,057,000Seat 9: Owen Crowe – … Read more…
Seat 1: Garrett Beckman – 515,000Seat 2: Allen Carter – 413,000Seat 3: Brad Johnson – 237,000Seat 4: Reagan Silber – 671,000Seat 5: Brent Sheirbon – 919,000Seat 6: Pontus Khosravi – 629,000Seat 7: Alexander Kostritsyn – 1,137,000Seat 8: Andrew Brokos – … Read more…
Here’s my Day 3 lineup. I’ve never played with Brandon Adams, but from what I’ve heard, he’s very good. I played with Liv last night, she tells me she’s a professional, but I didn’t think she was especially tough. Very … Read more…
Wow crazy today. Climbed steadily to 145K by dinner, got 100K in drawing dead, pulled out AK > JJ for a 90K coin flip, sucked out 6c 3c > AQ on a Qc 4c 4x flop (running straight, baby!), won … Read more…
The numbers are in, and 6,844 players entered the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. Fewer than half survived Day 1, and only about 1/3 of those will survive Day 2. Hopefully I will be among them. I’ve done … Read more…
Even though I eventually won a WSOP seat through Stars, they were out of hotel rooms at the Palms, so my only option was to take $1000 in exchange for their sponsorship. Cheapskate that I am, I spent my first … Read more…
There’s a free sample from one of my Poker Savvy videos up on Cardplayer this week: Some of the scenarios that Brokos goes over include how to play a strong hand like A-Q after missing the flop or hitting a … Read more…
Some of the other Poker Savvy Pros and I are doing a round table discussion with Card Player magazine today. They’re accepting questions and awarding one-year Poker Savvy Plus memberships if yours is chosen. Simply e-mail a question or two … Read more…
Not that it’s really any of my business, but I knew Eric a bit a few years ago and was very surprised/worried, in light of the recent cheating at Ultimate Bet, when I heard that he was joining up with … Read more…
Hey, a winning month! Maybe I am not so bad at this game after all. There are still a few days to go, but I probably won’t be playing much if at all. As you may have noticed, I haven’t … Read more…
I was having trouble getting the ESPN360 feed to work. I finally got it streaming just in time to hear, “There are eight players left, Tom Chambers has busted out.” Whoops. I don’t know the full story, but apparently he … Read more…
My buddy Tom (LearnedFromTV), who’s already been tearing up the 2008 WSOP with a second place finish for $140K in the $2500 Stud/8-O/8 Mixed event and a shallow cash in the $1000 Razz, has made his second final table of … Read more…
George Carlin, one of my favorite stand-up comedians, died yesterday at the age of 71. I was fortunate enough to see him live at the Orleans in December, and of course now I’m doubly glad that I took advantage of … Read more…
After spending more than enough money to buy in directly, I finally won a freaking main event seat in one of the last $650 satellites Stars will be running. Counting the spending money and sponsorship deal that comes with the … Read more…
BryanS, the awesome guy who represents Poker Stars on the 2+2 Forums, just posted a nearly final draft of the schedule for their annual World Championship of Online Poker. As usual, it looks like it’s going to be a ground-breaking … Read more…
Man I was around Vegas for most of the WSOP last summer and nothing spectacular happened. Then I sit it out this summer and all of my best poker buddies start kicking ass. Guess I am a jinx. Payouts 1 … Read more…
I’ve never even heard of this magazine, but their ad is clever and pretty funny. It took me a minute to get it. If you can’t read it, the text at the bottom says, “Become the King of Bluff.”
Sweet run, bro, congratulations. Rouhani wins it, but Chambers down 140K for 2nd. Not too freaking shabby.
Tom Chambers, 2+2’s LearnedFromTV, has just made the final table of WSOP Event 10! It’s a $2500 tournament that alternates between Omaha 8-or-better split and Stud 8-or-better split. Tom is a former math teacher and a mixed games expert (he’s … Read more…
Mike and Adam managed to get a 35-minute interview with Chief Operating Officer of the heretofore tight-lipped Tokwiro Enterprises, Paul Leggett, on this week’s 2+2 Pokercast. The subject, of course, was the recent cheating scandal at Ultimate Bet. I imagine … Read more…
Cardplayer just posted a great interview with the always entertaining Tony “Bond18” Dunst. On why he enjoys being a professional poker player: “I get to play a game all day, every day, and take any day off I want. What … Read more…
15K hands at -2.5 BB/100 is the short version of the story. And despite a final table appearance in an FTP $100 rebuy, I lost money on tournaments as well, thought I didn’t play that many. I very nearly rallied … Read more…
The Ultimate Bet cheating scandal made the front page of Canada’s National Press today. Citing the investigative work of 2+2’ers such as Cornell Fiji (Steven Ware), the article does a very nice job of explaining simply and concisely what happened … Read more…
Ultimate Bet released a press release today admitting that employees of “the previous ownership of UltimateBet” were responsible for cheating high limit players out of an unspecified amount of money, largely believed to run into the millions, thanks to “unauthorized … Read more…
Yesterday was the first day of the 2008 World Series of Poker, at least for satellites and cash games. I won’t be out there until July, as I’m only playing the main event, but I was excited to read on … Read more…
I just came across a hilarious photoshop thread on 2+2 called “If They Never Played Poker…” Here are a few of my favorite pictures; they should give you a pretty good idea of what you’ll find in the thread:
Finally got good runs going in the Stars $300 and Tilt $100 rebuy Wednesday tournaments. At one time, I was chipleader in the Tilt and 2nd on Stars with like 3-4 tables left at each. Unfortunately, I ended up busting … Read more…
Apparently this guy is a super aggressive regular in the big Fixed Limit Hold ‘Em games at Commerce and occasionally Borgata: Sources confirmed the suspect, Kang Hyuk Choi, 32, was arrested in Los Angeles at about 3 a.m. PST, police … Read more…
I’d forgotten about this, but apparently I knocked an FTP pro out of some long ago tournament. Recently I got this t-shirt in the mail: And here it is displayed along with my other trophies, an autographed picture of the … Read more…
Tony Dunst, my friend and fellow Poker Savvy guest pro, has just departed for his own world poker tour. Better yet, Full Tilt Poker has hired him to chronicle the journey for their blog. As Bond explains it: I go … Read more…
I’ve done a pretty good job of cutting back on my tournament play, but with FTOPS VIII starting on Wednesday, that will probably change, at least for this week. I’m leaving town on the 11th and probably won’t be back … Read more…
I complained recently that I felt Harrah’s was improperly prioritizing ESPN and other sponsors over the players in its decision to delay the final table of the WSOP main event. At the risk of boring everyone to death on this … Read more…
I’ve been reading some good comments here, on other blogs, and in the 2+2 thread about the final table delay that I mentioned yesterday. I want to clear up a few things, clarify my own opinion a bit, and share … Read more…
The main event of the World Series of Poker starts on July 3, with the second-to-last day scheduled for July 15. Thanks to a recent decision by Harrah’s and the WSOP, the final table will be played on… November 11th! … Read more…
I’m taking tomorrow off, so I guess I just played my last hand for April. I put in about 20K hands over 50 hours this month. That’s about half of my monthly goal, but this was a particularly busy month … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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, … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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: A few weeks … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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. … Read more…
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, … Read more…
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: One … Read more…
The Gainesville Sun reports that Jerome 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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…