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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 $X Playing Poker Failed Sorry, but as usual, I don’t want … Read more…
As you’ve probably noticed, I haven’t put much effort into promoting my blog as a money-making vehicle. I’ve browsed some of the literature on search engine optimization and such, and while I find it interesting/impressive that some people are essentially … Read more…
My UBOC final table earned me a quick mention (by screenname only) in the official Ultimate Bet blog: “Speaking of winning the Sunday Guaranteed…didn’t “urbandb888″ win that back on November 4th? Why, so he did!”
Harrah’s has released the schedule for the 2008 World Series of Poker. There’s not a lot of information about the structures of the preliminary tournaments, but since they are almost all listed as 4-day events, it’s hopefully more generous in … Read more…
After more than a year of playing all of the big Sunday internet poker tournaments, I finally won one of the @#$% things. There were 815 entrants in Ultimate Bet’s weekly $215 tournament, but they guarantee a $200K prizepool, so … Read more…
October was a solid month for me. Unfortunately, I’m still not putting in enough hours. I’m only playing about 25 hours/week. Overall this year, I’ve only played about 2/3 as much as I was hoping to play. Combined with some … Read more…
As most of you probably know by now, there have been very credible allegations of cheating on a site called Absolute Poker. Many of the most reliable players in the highest stakes games online are taking these accusations seriously, and … Read more…
Word on the street is that TheVOid, winner of over $2 million in the WCOOP main event, has been disqualified for entering more than one account in the event in violation of Poker Stars’ Terms and Conditions. The prize money … Read more…
Two days in, and I’ve recovered about 1/3 of what was lost in September. I have a bunch of stuff on a list to post, but I got wrapped up in a really good heads up match that kept me … Read more…
Yesterday concluded both the worst week and the worst month of my poker career. I’m not going to post dollar figures, but I lost about 15% of my bankroll and slashed my hourly rate for the year by nearly 1/3. … Read more…
Like most people, I get a ton of junk mail. My girlfriend managed to get her name on a ton of catalogue mailing lists, so I get like two of those on an average day, and she doesn’t even live … Read more…
…was my third losing month of 2007. I was only out about $1500, and I made almost $1000 in rakeback, so it was really more of a breakeven month than a losing month. Still, there was a negative sign in … Read more…
Sorry, I know this is old news, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to comment on for a while. In my opinion, Jerry Yang’s victory at the 2007 World Series of Poker is great for the game’s image. There are … Read more…
After much delay, anticipation, and worry, the day has finally arrived. US customers can now withdraw their long-locked-up funds from Neteller. The only catch is that Neteller asks you to sign a release that indemnifies both you and them from … Read more…
Money should be available around the end of the month. From today’s press release: “The Company is using its best efforts to allow withdrawal requests as soon as possible and US customers will be able to sign in to their … Read more…
I got a mention on the Baltimore Sun sports page today from a blogger named Bill Ordine. He didn’t know much about me at the time, but here’s what he had to say: “The only other Maryland player who appeared … Read more…
I’m at Table 26, Seat 6. Here’s the full lineup: 1. Olav Prinz von Sachsew (101,700)2. Justin “Jurollo/WPTHero” Rollo (238,500) Justin’s blog3. Dale Michael (123,500)4. Matt “Matt24/Mattster24” Sterling (137,000) Matt’s website5. Andy Stocker (261,500)6. Me (344,100)7. David Lee (74,700)8. Randall … Read more…
I’m at Table 26, Seat 6. Here’s the full lineup: 1. Olav Prinz von Sachsew (101,700)2. Justin “Jurollo/WPTHero” Rollo (238,500) Justin’s blog3. Dale Michael (123,500)4. Matt “Matt24/Mattster24” Sterling (137,000) Matt’s website5. Andy Stocker (261,500)6. Me (344,100)7. David Lee (74,700)8. Randall … Read more…
I had a huge day today, up from 30K to 344,100. I’m not sure when I’ll get around to posting the write up, so please be patient. Hopefully I’ll be tied up for a few more days :-). Thanks to … Read more…
Looks like a tough lineup, and I’m not thrilled with where I’m sitting relative to the big stacks and specifically Barry G:1- Me 31K2- Barry Greenstein 93K3- Scott Yeates 163K4- Miles Dooly 57K5- couldn’t find a listing, maybe empty?6- Conor … Read more…
I’m working on a longer write-up, but I don’t know when that will be done, so just to let you all know, I did survive Day 1 of the main event. It was a real roller coaster, as evidenced by … Read more…
Jonas Flug-Entin, 2+2’s Riverboatking, is at the final table of the $10,000 World Series of Poker Pot Limit Omaha Championship event. It’s a pretty sick line-up: Seat 1 – Doyle Brunson – 510,000Seat 2 – Patrik Antonius – 650,000Seat 3 … Read more…
I heard this story from Bond, who heard it from someone else, so I have no idea how true it is, but I think it’s hilarious, regardless. Some NLHE tournament or something, guy raises pre-flop, Chan calls out of the … Read more…
I’d been going back and forth on whether to play this. I’ve been frustrated with how few prelim events I’ve played and how little playing time I ended up with in the two that I did play. However, my bankroll … Read more…
Ray “ExitOnly” Coburn busted from the WSOP $2000 PLHE tournament in 8th place when his 44 lost to AK all in pre-flop. That’s worth $22,000 and change. Congratulations, Ray!
Just read a good post from Taylor Caby (Green Plastic) over at Cardrunners that captures very well my sentiments towards at least one segment of the WSOP scene: “I’m already really tired of the whole live poker scene. I don’t … Read more…
Ray Coburn, 2+2’s ExitOnly, has final tabled the $2000 PLHE event at the WSOP (yeah, the one I scrubbed out of in like 2 hours). He’s coming in as the short stack, but this kid is so good, he’s probably … Read more…
Justin ended up chopping the $2000 NLHE with three players remaining. Rumor is that he got like $370K, but that’s not confirmed. I’m sure it was a sick score regardless. Way to go, J! In other news, 2+2’er T_Mac has … Read more…
I invited Justin to a lunch with Andy Bloch and Howard Lederer (more on this later) like two weeks ago. Here was his response: “Andrew, I should be available that day. I am in Vegas on June 12th. I can … Read more…
Thayer finished up 4/228 in the WPT Mandalay Bay event, winning $131,170. Nice job, kid. Meanwhile, Steve Paul-Ambrose has final tabled the $5000 mixed hold ’em event at the WSOP. Good luck today, Steve!
As some of you may already know, my girlfriend Emily has accepted a job doing public relations and marketing work for an adventure tours company based out of Las Vegas. Believe it or not, Vegas was in no way my … Read more…
I won another WSOP seat tonight in a $650 satellite. Man, these things are soft. I mean, there are some good players, but you don’t even have to get first. Plus you get half hour levels, so nice deep stacks … Read more…
I’ll explain why soon, but it looks like I’m going to be in Las Vegas for most of the preliminary WSOP events. After reviewing the schedule, I’ve identified these tournaments as the ones I’m most likely to play: Friday, June … Read more…
PokerStars Tournament #49464655, No Limit Hold’emSuper SatelliteBuy-In: $615.00/$35.00551 playersTotal Prize Pool: $338865.00Target Tournament #43905792 Buy-In: $10000.0030 tickets to the target tournament Tournament started – 2007/05/13 – 18:00:00 (ET) Dear foucault82, You finished the tournament in 1st place. This qualifies you … Read more…
I ran like ass in everything I played yesterday except the Stars $300, but I ran very well in that and finished 3rd for just under $9000, so it was still a quite good day. I’ve uploaded the entire hand … Read more…
I found a kind of interesting article on Card Runners recently by one of their guest pros named Zimba. The piece, entitled “The Myth of the Socially Non Redeeming Activity“, disputes not only the claim that poker is actively harmful … Read more…
Poker Stars has recently implemented some very welcome changes to the structure of some of their most popular tournaments, including the weekly Million Dollar Guarantee and many of their daily guaranteed prize pool tournaments. For those who don’t know, the … Read more…
I’ve got another article in this month’s 2+2 internet magazine, entitled The Last Bet. Please take a look at it and let me know what you think either by leaving a comment here or by posting in my thread in … Read more…
Gavin Griffin wins EPT Barcelona, good for 1,850,000 euros, or nearly $2.5 million. Wowowowowow.
European Poker Tour Monte Carlo, with a 10,000 euro buy-in, boasts the largest prize pool ever in a tournament outside of the USA. Gavin Griffin used to post on the 2+2 forums years ago but largely stopped posting by the … Read more…
You may have noticed that I’ve updated the links section in the left sidebar. In particular, I’ve added some good blogs that I’ve started reading and deleted a few that hadn’t been updated in ages. This isn’t in any way … Read more…
Full Tilt has had a Beta version of its software available with resizable tables for some time, but it’s now been officially released. This might seem like good news for someone who plays up to eight tables of poker at … Read more…
Since I’m going to be getting up early tomorrow and hopefully spending the entire day playing the $2K at Foxwoods, I decided to pass on playing the big Sunday tournaments today. Another consideration was that the Sunday Million on Poker … Read more…
I usually have poker night with friends on Wednesday, but as they left for Vegas yesterday (I’m leaving tonight to meet them out there), it was cancelled, giving me a rare opportunity to play the Stars Wednesday $150K guarantee. Since … Read more…
Wooooooooooooooooooo. Double you ess oh pee baby! Picked my way through a ridiculous field today to come first in a double shootout and win my seat to the main event. Now that I’ve got this one under the belt, I … Read more…
I dropped a bunch of money on tournament buyins yesterday, and today I’ve got nothing to show for it but one shallow cash. If I recall correctly, I played: Bodog 100KStars $1.5 MillionUB whatever their guarantee isFTP 400KStars WSOP satelliteStars … Read more…
I won the Poker Stars $100 deep stack last night for about $7000. The structure on these is phenomenal: I had over 100 BB’s for more than half the tournament, including much of the final table. Playing a deep stacked … Read more…
A piece that I wrote, entitled “Attacking and Defending Dead Money in Tournament Poker“, appears in this month’s issue of Two Plus Two Internet Magazine. Although getting published in an internet magazine isn’t quite as prestigious as appearing in print, … Read more…
In the wake of last year’s legislation, there was some concern that Harrah’s would not accept internet qualifiers into the World Series of Poker this year. Then again, this has apparently technically been their policy for a long time, and … Read more…
First, it sounds like Full Tilt will once again be able to offer withdrawal by check to its US customers. According to FTPSean, their rep on the 2+2 message boards, “Starting this week, our check service will be upgraded in … Read more…
I know I said I wasn’t going to use the blog to whine about stuff, but I’m making an exception, you’ll see why. The last few Saturdays I’ve either been out of town or had Boston Debate League obligations, so … Read more…
My friend Logan is a third-year law student at Harvard and hosts a poker game most Wednesday nights. This is the third year he’s had it, and it’s evolution has been interesting. Three years ago, it was a $.25/$.50 Pot … Read more…
Learning the rules of poker is actually one of my clearest early memories, and I have no idea why, because I don’t think I was especially interested at the time, and I know I promptly forgot them. But I distinctly … Read more…
One of my major goals for 2007 is to get my life in order. I’ve been a semi-professional poker player for about two years now, and the game has been very good to me, but it’s not what I want … Read more…