I landed in Las Vegas yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, two days earlier than I’d originally planned. I’ve got a house for the summer that I can move into on Friday, but Matt Berkey had an empty seat in his inaugural Solve4Why … Read more…
The eighth installment in my Thinking Poker Diaries series, which tells the story of my summers at the World Series of Poker, is now available. Unlike past volumes, this one covers many preliminary events as well as the 2013 Main … Read more…
Based on how risk-averse everyone seemed to be during the latter half of Day 1, I expected the start of Day 2, with 43 people competing for 40 prizes, to go quite slowly. In fact, we saw four eliminations in … Read more…
Depending on your definition of exciting, you might be interested to hear that my latest book has hit the digital shelves! The fifth volume of The Thinking Poker Diaries chronicles my 87th place finish the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Day … Read more…
The second installment of my WSOP trip report is now appearing in Two Plus Two Magazine. After a disappointing start to the series, my next few tournaments offer me some opportunities to regain confidence: “Phil probably forgot about this hand … Read more…
Hopefully a lot of you follow me on Twitter, because I know I’ve been bad about keeping the blog up-to-date. The short version is that I’m still in the Main Event going into day 3. I’ve got about 20K chips, … Read more…
My starting table was a thing of beauty, nine opponents who lay somewhere on the spectrum of weak to competent but none who seemed likely to give me tough decisions, a great example of why I wanted to play a … Read more…
The Millionaire Maker is like the PokerStars Sunday Million on crack, drawing a field of thousands with a relatively affordable buyin and the distant prospect of a life-changing score. It ended up drawing a field of 6343, making it roughly … Read more…
Just as I take my seat in the $1/$3/$6 game, I see a player curse, hurl his cards angrily into the muck, leap out of his chair, curse again, and kick the wall. Naturally curious, I look to the board … Read more…
I took my seat and immediately recognized Lee Markholt two seats to my left and Dani Stern two seats to his left. I never learned the names of the rest of my opponents, but they proved nearly as capable, and … Read more…
China Paul I played some $1/$3/$6 last night. China Paul was already in the game when I got my seat, sitting two to the left of the player who’d spearheaded last weekend’s sit-out. After half an hour, I was about … Read more…
Gareth Chantler is back in South America, and he’s chronicled the start of his journey, in Cartagena, Colombia, for the PokerStars blog. I can’t recommend it highly enough, it’s literally the best poker narrative I’ve read in years. In a … Read more…
The second and, unfortunately, final installment of my 2012 WSOP trip report is now appearing in the September issue of 2+2 Magazine. As you might guess from the fact that this is the final installment, frustration is the guest star … Read more…
After nearly a month in the Netherlands, much of which I spent grinding the SCOOP, Emily and I had a “vacation” in Paris. Neither of us had ever been to Paris, so we weren’t sure what to expect. In the … Read more…
Sylvain is a friend and occasional student of mine whose praises I’ve sung on these pages before. At my request, he wrote up a trip report from his time in Las Vegas during the WSOP prelims, in which I was … Read more…
The full report from my first day of play at the 2012 WSOP main event is now appearing in Two Plus Two Magazine. It contains both strategic insights and a few anecdotes about the crazy stuff you’re pretty much guaranteed … Read more…
When I was in Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to get breakfast with an old poker friend I hadn’t seen in a few years. We used to run into each other at Foxwoods from time to time and get … Read more…
Sorry (or you’re welcome) that it’s been so long since my last Eurotrip photo dump. By now these photos are like two months old, but I don’t imagine that matters to anyone but me. This will be the last batch … Read more…
Edit: Changed flop so that I have the nuts on the turn. Thanks to goldhawk for pointing out the error. I quadruple-checked that I would have the nuts if I hit my hand, so I think it’s a lot more … Read more…
Today was ultimately a very good day – I finished with 83,900, nearly 3x the starting stack and more than 2x the average at day’s end – but it was much more stressful than I’d prefer Day 1 of the … Read more…
Sorry I’ve been slow to report on this, but sadly it’s because I didn’t have much to report. After a relatively uneventful Day 1, I busted on the last before the end of level 8 (with two still to go … Read more…
This is a guest post from a friend of mine who just won his first live tournament last week. It was a $125 freezeout at Aria. He sent this to me in an e-mail and was gracious enough to permit … Read more…
The exciting (?) conclusion of my 2012 PCA Trip Report has just been published in the February issue of 2+2 Magazine. Regular readers of “What’s Your Play?” will recognize a few of the hands, but there’s plenty of new content … Read more…
The wait is over! I’m flattered by everyone who’s been asking about this. Part 1 of my PCA Trip Report is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine. Part 2 will be in next month’s magazine. Here’s a snippet from one of … Read more…
If you’ve been enjoying my BCPC trip reports, be sure to check out my write-up from the WSOP Europe, now appearing in 2+2 Magazine: Loose-aggressive play has become so common among the best players that many of them tend to … Read more…
I once final tabled a small-field, small buy-in PLO8 tournament at the PCA, but otherwise the final two tables was the closest I’d ever made it to a live final table. It was exciting to keep seeing (some of) the … Read more…
Such a great day! Where to begin? My day actually started around 9:30. Emily was sick and needed some things from the grocery store, so I biked over to the Whole Foods (I told you we’re in the yuppy district!) … Read more…
I was happy with my table, and the day got off to a great start. I was one of the two biggest stacks, the other one of whom was a young Asian kid in yellow hoodie and designer sunglasses who … Read more…
Emily and I arrived in Vancouver less than two days before my departure for Europe. I’ve been back for a little over a week now, so I’m just starting to get settled in. It seems like a very cool city: … Read more…
Edit: Fixed the flop in the Vanessa Rousso hand, I didn´t river a full house obviously. Busted third to last hand of the night, been going back and forth a lot for the last half hour about whether I like … Read more…
The conclusion of my 2011 WSOP main event trip report is now appearing in the October issue of 2+2 Magazine. We’re down to Day 6, and needless to say, things are starting to get tense: “The last hand before a … Read more…
The second installment of my trip report from the 2011 World Series of Poker main event is now appearing in the September edition of 2+2 Magazine. It covers my experiences on Days 3, 4, and 5: There are people who … Read more…
Part 1 of my trip report from the 2011 WSOP Main Event is now appearing in the August edition of 2+2 Magazine. This covers my first two days and includes everything you could want from the WSOP: big calls, big … Read more…
This is one of those stories that, though amusing, doesn’t have much of a point to it and so didn’t make the cut for “Three Days in Madrid“. I think you’ll get more out of reading this if you’ve already … Read more…
Part trip report, part sequel to “Gray Friday“, “Three Days in Madrid” is my latest article for the Two Plus Two Poker Magazine: My heart beat eagerly as my eyes scanned the waiting crowd at Madrid-Barajas Airport. It’s nice to … Read more…
I was in Dallas recently and rode their light rail, which is one of those “honor system” arrangements where there is no one taking your ticket but you are supposed to have one anyway. Fare patrol officers will randomly board … Read more…
The exciting conclusion of my 2010 WSOP Main Event trip report, covering Days 5 and 6, is now appearing in the October issue of 2+2 Magazine. Here’s an excerpt: My Day 6 felt like what the World Series of Poker … Read more…
It was one year ago today that my girlfriend and I left our apartment in Boston and became officially homeless. For the past year we’ve been without permanent residence, living out of a Subaru Forester, camping, renting garages and spare … Read more…
The first installment of my 2010 WSOP main event trip report, covering Days 1 and 2, is now appearing in the 2+2 Internet Magazine: “We began play with 30,000 chips each and blinds of just 50 and 100. On the … Read more…
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 … Read more…
Ever since reading Tommy Angelo’s excellent Elements of Poker, I’ve been working on keeping calm and focused while playing live poker. This is no mean feat: the pace is glacial and the company grating. There are a million reasons to … Read more…
The final part of my WSOP trip report is now appearing in the November issue of 2+2 Magazine. It perhaps goes without saying that one’s bust-out day from the WSOP main event is usually a frustrating one, and mine was … Read more…
My latest poker article, WSOP Trip Report Part 2: Jack Link’s and Beef Jerky, is now appearing in the September issue of 2+2 Magazine. Here’s an excerpt: “I was pretty sure I was going to fold. It was the toughest … Read more…
Andrew ended the night with 16k, I’m sure he’ll add much more detail here in the morning… —- Andrew’s at 26k at the break, one more level to go tonight, updates on twitter, general updates available on the WSOP site … Read more…
Edit: Important correction here. The non-bountied live pro I busted was not Bill Gazes but rather Bill Edler. I decided to play the Bay 101 because of the combination of a nice location, great structure/tournament director (thanks Matt Savage!), and … Read more…
Day started with something like 136 players and 20,000 chips each. I spend most of the day in good shape, never amassing a huge stack but maintaining near or above the average. Then I made a big move on Joe … Read more…
I’ve been alternately promising Emily a vacation and insisting that I haven’t had enough time for poker for months now. Finally, she offered the very appealing suggestion that we go to Northern California for the World Poker Tour event at … Read more…
The finale of my trip report from the 2008 WSOP is now appearing in the October issue of 2+2 Internet Magazine. I must say, getting down to the final tables of this huge tournament is a pretty thrilling experience, at … Read more…
Here’s my clip from last night’s broadcast on ESPN. I’m “Brokos”, appearing about 30 seconds in. That’s right, the lucksack who gets it in with two pair versus trips and rivers the miracle 8.
My latest poker article, a strategy-filled narrative from my third and fourth days at the World Series of Poker Main Event, is now appearing in the September Issue of 2+2 Internet Magazine. Here’s an excerpt from early on Day 4: … Read more…
I’m going to be publishing my trip report from my 35th place finish at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event in three installments in the Two Plus Two Internet Magazine. The first installment, covering Days 1 and 2, … Read more…
Thanks to everyone who’s asked about these, and especially to Nick from London who prompted me to make this post I’ve been meaning to make. I’m really flattered that you all are so eager to read a trip report from … Read more…
Thanks for all the support guys. Today was ridiculous, such a tough table for most of the day, fought tooth and nail to get up to 2 mil then got moved to softer table and picked up quick 2 mil. … Read more…
I came out to Vegas a few days early to get into the swing of things, to see some friends with whom I play and talk poker regularly online but rarely see in real life, and to take care of … Read more…
I finished my first day at the WSOP with 67,125. I think the average is like 40-50K, so I can’t complain. But I was up over 100K with 30 minutes to go and got myself in a really bad spot. … Read more…
After working most of the morning, I got to the Rio about 4:30 and wandered through the Gaming Life Expo. It was pretty disappointing, way fewer scantily clad women than in past years. There were long lines to meet Chris … Read more…
My first day in Vegas was a blast. I’ll get into more detail tomorrow, but basically I got to pretend I was a big shot for a day. I had an interview with a reporter doing a story on poker … Read more…
This was a $200 Stud/8. I got off to a great start and scooped like three reasonably sized pots in the first level. Unfortunately, the first level of a limit tournament is pretty irrelevent. After that I was getting run … Read more…
Man I hate live poker tournaments. Only the biggest buy-in events have a reasonable structure, such that even when you’re playing for thousands of dollars, you don’t get a lot of room to play poker. But every now and again … Read more…
I should be on my way to the Rio right now, preparing to nurse a sickly stack into a monster as I did on Tuesday. Instead, I am sitting in front of my computer trying to decide how to explain … Read more…
Barry and goleafsgoeh were the two players who most concerned me at the table, and with one gone and one crippled, I was ready for total table domination. Except that we didn’t get to play even a single hand after … Read more…
I ended my Day 1 report by bemoaning my measly 30,000 chips but predicting that, “A lot will depend on how things go in the first few hours. If I can get off to a good start, I could easily … Read more…
I left the house around 11AM on Friday bound for the Rio and the main event of the 2007 World Series of Poker. Vegas is experiencing record highs for the weak, with the thermometer topping out near 120 degrees. It’s … Read more…
I arrived at the Rio around 3:30 PM on July 4th. I had $4000 in tournament lammers in my left pocket and $3400 cash in my right. My objective was to play satellites (they were running a bunch of $500 … Read more…
I am both pretty good at poker and kind of arrogant, so it is rare for me not to be one of the best players at any poker table and even rarer for me to admit it. In yesterday’s $5K … Read more…
Today I played my second preliminary event in the 2007 World Series of Poker. The game was pot-limit, rather than no limit, Texas Hold ‘Em, with a $2000 buy-in. As the name implies, a player may not at any point … Read more…