Ship It!

Acing Racing

2012-01-02T06:50:00.002-05:00

My old running buddy from ESPN 97.5 Fred Faour has finally finished his long anticipated book about horse racing entitled "Acing Racing". The book should appeal to poker players especially those jonesing for some action after Black Friday. Here is an excerpt...

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

If you are reading this, chances are you are one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who got stung by the government’s crackdown on online poker.

You like to gamble. You enjoy the action. You loved the convenience of logging on and finding a game right away.

Yes, you like playing live, too, but it’s not always easy to get to the casino or poker room. You need to replace that rush that came with multi-tabling and constant action.

Or maybe you are a sports gambler, but you have problems finding ways to wager legally.

You might also be a horseplayer looking for some new strategies and ways to increase your action. You like sitting at home watching TVG or HRTV and playing along with the hosts, getting bets on as many races as possible.

Maybe you are just a gambling degenerate who likes to get his/her wager on in a variety of ways.

This book is for all of you.

Let’s face it; most people gamble for the action. Poker exploded in the mid-2000s, going from a backroom, shady collection of gamblers to a mainstream game played by everyone. ESPN made it into a national phenomenon, and sites like Pokerstars and Full Tilt made it cool to play cards.

It is a game that in many ways is a metaphor for life; it’s you against the world. Sometimes you do everything right and lose. Sometimes you can do the wrong thing and come out ahead. In the end, if you do the right thing more often than not, it all evens out, and you come out ahead. It is skill with an element of luck thrown in, just like life.

Other casino games don’t provide the same rush. In craps, blackjack, roulette -- it’s you against the house, and the house always has an edge on every game. Sure, you get lucky every now and then, but long-term, you can’t win. If you did, you would be the one owning the giant, lavish casino instead of visiting it.

There is one other form of gambling that is similar to poker. Like poker, the players place their wagers, the house takes its cut, and the players play each other for the rest.

Like poker, there are a variety of wagering opportunities. Like poker, it involves skill with an element of luck.

It is also perfectly legal to play online in the United States. There are some restrictions, and some states do not allow it, but chances are you can open an account today and begin legally wagering immediately.

Are you a tournament poker player? Many of these legal sites offer tournaments as well, and the skill it takes to win a poker tournament translates very well to winning the tournaments for this form of gambling.

Yes, horse racing offers almost everything poker does.

Unfortunately, it has much the same identity poker did before the online boom; shady old men wearing derbies and hanging in dark rooms. It is seen as a sport for the rich; beautiful ladies in big hats sipping on expensive drinks. Gamblers tend to find it too confusing to try to understand all the elements and nuances. The research seems difficult to figure out in order to have an edge over other players.

All of those are myths.

In truth, the live racing experience is a blast. But thanks to the online sites and cable channels that show you almost every race, you can do what you always did playing poker, too – stay at home, get all the action you want on your laptop and use all the same skills you’ve developed playing poker to make money.

What did you always hear about Hold ‘Em? “A minute to learn, a lifetime to master?”

Horse racing isn’t all that different. Once you understand the basics, you can apply your own poker and wagering skills and develop a strategy that works for you. Isn’t that what you did with poker? Learn as much theory as possible and apply it to your own games?

You will learn that horse racing is the same thing. Each race is like a different hand in poker. How you play it will depend on your bankroll, position, and what the other players are doing.

The concept of this book is not to give you one strategy for playing. The idea here is to give you all the tools you need to get started, provide some high action strategy and theory, and do it in terminology you will understand from your poker life.

We’ll also tell you where you can bet online, where you can watch the races, and provide strategies for action junkies as well as those who simply want to grind out a profit.

And don’t worry; if you are a sports gambler, we’ve got strategies for you, too. Longtime horseplayers who are looking for ways to adjust to the online gambling world will find everything they are looking for here as well.

The idea is not to overload you. Many horse racing books delve so deeply into minutia they lose readers who are just trying to get started. The idea here is to give you a quick overview and basic understanding of the game. The idea is to have fun, not overwhelm you with thousands of wagering angles.

Once you are in, where you go from there will be up to you.

Simply put, this book should be your first step into a new gambling world, one that should satisfy all your needs.

If all that sounds appealing, read on. This book is for you.

Once again, you can get it here

Jersey Shore and More...

2010-02-07T12:05:00.003-05:00

I have finally joined the fray and started watching Jersey Shore. It's like a train wreck but I can't turn away. Is this what happens in real life these days?

* I guess the higher-ups at Domino's check out my blog because they apparently are trying to turn it around

* I'm predicting a Colts win today. 31-21.

* I really think once upon a time I was one of the top 100 no limit hold em tournament players in the world. Today I'm not even in the top half of the field in a 500-person $10 online tournament. It's really pathetic how bad I play. I can't fold a hand to save my life. Rant over.

* Speaking of trips down memory lane...I used to be able to drink all night every night but now I have 4 or 5 drinks and seriously pay for it the next day. I am in the middle of three straight weekends of drinking and I feel absolutely awful right now. On the bright side we got a sack of crawfish for today which is awesome because I love eating crawfish on SuperBowl Sunday. It's a tradition with my friends that's been going on six years now.

* Serioulsy?

* Freddy and I got an extra hour and we now are on air from 1 until 4 Monday through Friday.

* I'm not exactly a slim dude but I am technically the strongest I've ever been in my life at age 30. It's not anything to get super excited about but I bench pressed 205 pounds the other day. That may be the only semi-athletic thing in the world I do better than Kevin Durant.

Michael Phelps is Overrated

2010-01-23T11:45:00.007-05:00

After ballooning up to an unacceptable weight I decided a few months back to start working out. I began with some light jogging and then slowly worked my way up to running 30-45 minutes a day. I lost about 15 pounds but before long I began to feel pain in my right knee. I had injured my left knee a few years ago so I decided not to tempt fate and started using the elliptical machine. Two weeks later the same knee began to hurt. So, I took some time off and tried out the stationary bicycle. Again, no luck there. This week was so bad I could barely walk around the house. So, out of desperation for at least some kind of cardio workout, I decided that I would start swimming. I've heard it's easier on the joints but that it's not as great of a workout. Oh well, an easy workout isn't so bad every once in a while.

(Side bar...sorry to all 2 of my loyal blog readers for taking a long break from blogging. This is not a comeback but I needed to get this out)

So, I woke up this morning and headed off to the pool. I had read online that high school swimmers usually swam 60-90 minutes a day (uh...no thanks) but that 30 minutes in the pool would be a good workout. That sounded very manageable. Here is how things worked out:

9:24 am .... 4 swimming lanes and I take the only open one. I jump in the water. DAMMIT THAT IS COLD! Compose myself. 30 minutes probably means 35-45 laps. Hell, I don't know how many laps it is. I just need to start.

9:24:06 .... My wedding ring nearly falls off. I can just see explaining that to the wife: Sorry honey, I got up early in the morning to workout and my ring fell out at the local pool. Followed by a slap in the face and her leaving me. Better put the ring back in my locker.

9:25 .... Son of a bitch! Someone stole my lane - didn't you see me complete 1/10th of a lap earlier? Whatever loser. I'll just sit here freezing my ass off like a moron hoping for a lane to open up.

9:28 .... Bingo. A lane opens up next to an old lady. I mean prehistoric old. She's not even swimming. I guess you could call it waddling like a duck. I take off in my lane and about halfway to the other side I catch up to her. See ya grandma! I touch the wall. Is that one lap or half of a lap? Easy call. One lap. I'm juicing up my numbers without steroids.

Time to swim back. This is actually very nice. The water isn't as cold as I originally thought and swimming IS easier on my joints. 2 laps down.

During the 3rd lap something strange happens. I feel like an angry team of dwarfs are continually pissing in my eyes. I have to close my eyes for half of the lap due to the stinging. 3 laps down.

Short 3 second rest. Lap 4 begins. I only bang my head twice on the side of the pool due to swimming blind for most of the lap. On the bright side, I've gotten used to the persistent stinging in my eyes.

Lap 5 starts the shoulder fatigue. No worries. To combat my burning shoulders I just kick my legs more wildly as if I'm having a panic attack. 30 second rest after lap 5.

If I ever doubted that I had a heart I don't anymore. It's pumping out blood like never before. I'd guess a heart rate of 180 at this point. 1 minute break after lap 6.

Lap 7 starts off nice because of the 1 minute break but by the halfway point I'm about to throw up. My breathing has completely broken down. Instead of taking a breath every fourth stroke I'm gasping for air any chance I get. I actually use the side of the pool 3/4ths of the way down to get me to the wall.

Lap 8: Grandma is smirking at me as she blazes past me. Bitch. I touch the bottom of the pool several times before reaching the wall. At this point my head is literally bleeding from scraping the wall multiple times.

I glance up at the clock before Lap 9 except I can't see the clock because my eyes are full of mace. I half-heartedly try to breaststroke before I feel as if my chest is about to explode. I'm forced to stop in the middle of the lane which is 5 and a half feet deep. I nearly drown despite being 5 foot 7. I'm taking large gulps of disgusting pool water as I cling to the wall.

I decide that 10 laps is the extent of today's journey. I'd call it quits at 9 except my towel is at the other end of the pool and there is no way in hell I can pull myself out of the water without stairs. At this point I believe a crowd has gathered either to mock me or to save me from drowning. Let's not discount both. I waddle to the other end of the pool only half as fast as Grandma from Hell in the lane next to me. She's purposely kicking water in my face. When I finally get to the wall I get out of the pool as calmly as I can for a guy who is taking in oxygen as if it's life or death (it is). Get one inch from the clock with my fire eyes and barely make out the time. 5:39:24. 11 minutes - 10 laps. Suck it Phelps.

New Show Monday

2009-08-28T12:54:00.003-04:00

It's Friday! I am going to take it easy this weekend and enjoy not having to get up early on Sunday anymore. Starting Monday, Fred Faour and I will start our new show The Blitz which will air weekdays from 1-3 pm. This show has been off and on about 10 times since early this year so I'm cautiously optimistic that the plug won't get pulled at the last minute.

I used to watch 80 to 100 movies a year but ever since I got a job I can't do that anymore. Now it's a treat when I get to go see a movie. Here are my quick movie reviews for the month of August...

The Hammer - Taped this movie on my Tivo and I wasn't expecting much. Let me just say that I was blown away. Adam Corolla plays a loser carpenter who used to be a boxer. After getting fired from his job he decides to try to qualify for the Olympics. Surprisingly funny. A-

500 Days of Summer - Spoiler Alert: I'm a sucker for a good romantic comedy. Not a crappy romantic comedy like the next movie. Anyway, this movie tells the story of a dude's relationship with the love of his life over 500 days. It's an old concept but it's done with a fresh take. A+

The Ugly Truth - Wow. Not much to say about this piece of crap clunker. There were some funny moments but you know exactly how the movie is going to end from day 1. Katherine Heigl is hot though. C

Gran Torino - Clint Eastwood is a complete badass. In this movie he plays an old racist dude who is coping with the loss of his wife. He reluctantly begins a relationship with the Hmong family next door. Eastwood is great but I didn't know whether to laugh or cringe at the 1,000 racial epithets. Plus, the young boy next door was an awful actor. B

Bonus: It's not a movie but I read the book The Art of Learning the other night. It's written by Josh Waitzkin who was the inspiration for the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer. It's an incredible book - go grab it right now. A+

Football Thoughts...

* I love the idea of a punter trying to hit the Cowboys video board as many times as possible after today's strange do over/dead ball rule. I'm putting the over/under at 19 hits for the regular season. Weigh in with your guesses.

* I heard an announcer the other day call Matt Cassel a veteran. Really???!!! The biggest game this guy played in prior to 2008 was a Little League Game. Dude didn't start a game at QB in the last 7 years. I'm slightly reluctant to call him a veteran.

My Poker Trip

2009-08-20T18:22:00.006-04:00

We're winding up our Vegas trip and I can't wait to get home. At the same time, I want to stay and gamble until I fall asleep at the tables. That's how you know it was a great trip.

My little brother Drew is headed to Nashville to help open up a Chuy's so my Dad hatched up a plan to head to Vegas. To be honest you don't ever need a reason to go to Vegas but it helps to have one.

The flight up was only 4 days ago but I remember almost nothing. 4 days ago feels like 1997 at this point. I only remember that my Dad and I couldn't find the rental car for 10 minutes and once we did we missed the turn to Caesar's Palace 4 times. We checked into the room and got a nice night of sleep for the first and only time of the trip.

BREAK (This is where it took me another 4 days to finish the blog)

I wrote a long post about what happened during the poker tournaments but it was a little long. Really all you need to know is that we all cashed. My brother got 2nd the first night, my dad finished 3rd the second night and had another cash at the Venetian the 3rd night, and I finished 7th the 3rd night for the smallest cash of the trip.

What's more interesting is who we met...let's just say there were a bunch of losers and a few nice guys. If I had a nickel for every bullshit poker story I heard and a dime for every lame-ass poker joke I'd have come home with an extra $15 in my pocket. Poker trips are great but in all honesty there is nothing better than playing online poker in your boxer shorts while eating a pizza pocket. I seriously considered throwing most everyone I met under the bus but I don't have that killer instinct. But I digress...

Anyway, here are some other random things from the trip...

* Sushi Roku was the nuts.

* We passed by the Peter Lik Gallery. Great name for a gallery. I wonder if anyone told him, "You can Peter Lik my balls, capi-tan."

* One of the rare cool poker players I met was the CEO of Who's Your Daddy energy drinks. His name is Dan Fleyshman and he was a pretty damn good poker player also.

* I came up with another great idea. How about a sports bar with over/under prices? For instance a burger costs $6.50 or $8:50. You have to spin the wheel to see how much your meal costs. Or maybe you just spin the wheel after your meal to see how much of a discount you get? You know this is a good idea.

* This week's version of Life's Great Unsolved Mysteries....my wife asked me the other day, "Why are CDs so hard to open while lightbulbs are so easy to open?"

Okay, hopefuly I'll get back to more regular blogging soon.

Complete Randomness

2009-08-15T18:56:00.001-04:00

* I had to go to Kinko's today to use their scanner. I ended up sitting there for 15 minutes while Adobe Acrobat updated. Of course, I was only paying $.21 per minute but its the principle of the matter. Finally, I look up and the freaking update didn't work. I had to pay almost $3 and got nothing done. When I told the people at Kinko's they just looked at me with a blank stare and barely apologized. Punks. I should have just gone to PopCopy.

* My wife and I went to Lowe's today to get some nails and some other stuff. One thing we really needed was a welcome mat for our backdoor. I wanted a welcome mat that said "Sneak in the Back Door". That was quickly shot down. We ended up with the slightly less funny "Got Dirt?" mat.

* If you want a really bad synopsis of the first 3 Star Wars movies you have to check this out.

* Corey Hart isn't just an outfielder for the Brewers. He's also the singer of one of the sweetest 80's songs ever written. (not that Cory Heart - sicko) I estimate that I've heard the song "I Wear My Sunglasses at Night" at least 1,000 times in my life. It's a great line to use whenever you see a douchebag with his sunglasses on at the bar around midnight. Guaranteed to get a laugh. Or get your ass kicked.

What is even funnier than that you ask? How about the lyrics?! Corey Hart is definitely the winner of the "Best use of the word 'Masquerade' in a song Award". For the full effect please watch the video with the slightly incorrect lyrics in the background (best I could do).

Great Drinking Game...and more

2009-08-14T14:42:00.007-04:00

I had to sit through a powerpoint presentation yesterday for the first time in a long time. I had literally just finished reading about the powerpoint drinking game and as a result I was in the corner of the room with my head down trying not to laugh. Sadly, this wasn't a laughing presentation. Also, since I didn't know there was going to be a powerpoint presentation I didn't have anything alcoholic to drink. That's why you should always have a secret cell phone flask at work.

More...

* I've heard of the tramp stamp but this is taking it to a different level

* I'll be watching every NY Giants game this season just hoping to catch a glimpse of David Carr wearing his handerpants. You just know he has a pair.

* The Rockets signed Chase Budinger to a multi-year deal yesterday. He will most likely fight for a roster spot with the Rockets but I'll go out on a limb and guess that he makes the team. He's very athletic (40-inch vertical), he's smooth, and he can shoot the basketball. Budinger led the Rockets in scoring during summer league play which is somewhat similar to being the world's tallest midget. Still, this in going to be a long season and I view Budinger as one of the few bright spots.

* I'm heading to Vegas in 2 days with my brother and pops to play some poker. I played a warm-up tournament today on FullTilt and finished 14th out of about 200 players. That's probably the first multi-table tournament I've cashed in since the beginning of the year. That shows how little I've played. Very sad.

I lost about 40% of my chips late in the tournament. I was in the BB with A6 offsuit when the button moved all in. I was getting 3 to 1 and the button was pretty desperate so I called. He had A4 and after a 977 flop it looked like we were heading for a chop. I got excited when the turn came 5 giving me 15 outs for the outright win. Of course, the river was a 4 and I came within an inch of breaking my monitor. Man I miss poker.

* BTW, Freddy and I are filling in for Dukes today from 3-5. Probably lots of Vick talk. Stream us here.

* I also miss the times when this blog used to get 50,000 page views a week. Now I'm lucky if I get 500 page views a week. But, I predict this blog will make a triumphant return! To do so please subscribe to the blog and click the links. Also, pass the blog along to friends.

Will Vick Fly Like An Eagle?

2009-08-13T22:19:00.004-04:00

I predicted that the team that signed Michael Vick would come as a surprise but I have to admit that the Eagles caught me off-guard. I've never been the biggest Donavan McNabb fan but he's taken the Eagles to 5 NFC Championship games in 9 years! Vick is certainly not going to battle McNabb for playing time. What the hell is he doing in Philadelphia then?

Vick doesn't seem likely to see time at wide receiver or running back. With Kevin Curtis, Desean Jackson, and first round pick (#19 overall) Jeremy Maclin on the roster there won't be enough balls to go around at wideout. The Eagles also spend a high pick on running back LeSean McCoy (2nd Rd., #53 overall) who figures to back-up Brian Westbrook. What the hell is he doing in Philadelphia again?

The answer is boring. He's a back-up. A back-up quarterback. Vick may be used in the wildcat formation but at this point it appears that he's an expensive back-up. The Eagles are paying him $1.6 million in 2009 with a club option for $5.2 million in 2010. This tells me that not only is it HIGHLY unlikely that Vick remains an Eagle in 2010 but that Vick may not last all of 2009.

You see, none of that $1.6 million is guaranteed. With 16 games in the season Vick will make $100K a game. The team must be really concerned about Kevin Kolb's knee injury for this deal to have even happened. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Eagles release Vick during the season if he doesn't provide a spark out of the wildcat - assuming of course that Kevin Kolb returns healthy. While McNabb isn't a spring chicken at age 32, Vick isn't far behind at age 28. The average age of NFL quarterbacks from 1995 to 2005 is somewhere in the neighborhood of 29 years old. Kevin Kolb (age 24) has a strained MCL but is listed as day-to-day. He should return in plenty of time for the regular season opener.

Simply put, Michael Vick is a longshot to make an impact with the Eagles this year. The team has too much high-priced talent (McNabb $9.2M, Westbrook $4M) and too much young talent (McCoy, Jackson, Maclin) at the skill positions to find room for Vick. But, this isn't a completely useless opportunity. For one, injuries occur fairly often in the NFL - especially to the Eagles. More importantly, even if Vick doesn't make an impact with the Eagles, a good progress report could get him a starting shot sometime in 2010.

The Storm is Coming

2009-08-13T13:21:00.005-04:00

Von Wafer signed a 2-year, $10 million contract with the Greek basketball team Olympikos yesterday. That contract is probably double the amount he was likely to receive from any NBA team. Besides the money, Wafer has plenty to be excited about. Olympikos' roster already includes former NBA players Josh Childress and Linas Kleiza.

Sure, a lineup of Wafer, Childress, and Kleiza would fail to scare even the Los Angeles Clippers. But, what if Kobe Bryant was added to the mix? He's previously expressed interest in testing the global market. Lebron James you ask? Yup, him too - in fact Olympikos has contacted him. As more and more American players consider heading overseas the NBA is slowly losing it's stranglehold on the world's best players.

Is it a longshot that an elite NBA player heads overseas? Absolutely. The NBA is easily the best and most recognizable league in the world. But, the league no longer has a monopoly on the game's best players. I could argue that 10 years ago the NBA had perhaps 95 percent of the best basketball players in the world. Now the league may not even have 95 percent of the top American players in the world.

There are two main reasons why players are considering fleeing the US. First, a lot of young talent can get paid early because, unlike the NBA, foreign leagues can offer contracts to 17-year old kids. Young players who don't want to attend college for a year can go overseas and start their career early.

Second, many foreign leagues and teams don't have a salary cap. Many teams in Europe can offer Von Wafer a $10 million contract while most NBA teams don't have that luxury because of the cap. (It's also been rumored that foreign teams/countries are offering up American players dual-citizenship.)

This isn't an indictment on the NBA. The salary cap keeps the league competitive but perhaps it can be tweaked. David Stern has made it his mission to expand the game of basketball globally and he's accoplished his mission. Perhaps too well.

Maybe there is no reason for concern. Competition from overseas should make the NBA stronger in the long-run. But with young players such as Brandon Jennings and Jeremy Tyler heading overseas in droves and foreign teams offering huge contracts to mediocre NBA players it seems as if the NBA is staring right into the perfect storm.

The good news for the NBA is that Kobe Bryant and LeBron James will most likely sign an NBA contract. The elite players aren't heading overseas and the NBA is the still the most dominant basketball league in the world. As an NBA fan I hope it stays that way.

40-Love at First Sight

2009-08-11T17:09:00.006-04:00

I've stooped to a new level. I never thought I'd use an online relationship site. I always thought those people were lonely desperate losers who were one step away from giving up on life. That may still be true but add me to the list of lonely desperate losers. Let me explain.

I moved to Houston a little over a year ago and I immediately knew something was missing. I had lived most of my life surrounded by friends and now I was in a big city all alone. Eventually I got tired of watching other people find their perfect partner while I sat at home alone. There were some potential companions at work but I knew better than to mix work and play. How was I going to meet somebody?

Last week I finally caved. I woke up one morning and just decided it was time. That's when I went to Craigslist.com and posted my plea:

I am looking for someone to play tennis perhaps 3-4 times a week in the mornings. I'm male/29 - used to be a decent enough player (5.0) and played in college at a DIII school but I tore my labrum maybe 2 years ago so I'm probably a crappy 4.5 or a very solid 4.0 now. I just moved to the Memorial area but wouldn't mind driving 10 minutes to play. I would need to hit before 10am.

I checked my e-mail every 10 minutes just waiting for my tennis soul-mate. Finally, I got the response I was looking for:

Hello, I am Kiran and moved to Houston a week ago. I am a 4.5 to 5 player and looking for some one who is really good. I also had a terrific USTA league season this year in NJ. If you are interested please get back to me ASAP.

Soon, I had my very first blind date. We were to meet at a local high school early one morning to play some tennis. As the big day approached I grew more nervous. On the eve of our rendezvous I bought brand new tennis balls and two huge bottles of water. I made sure to get plenty of sleep and set my alarm for early in the morning. I drove to the courts and I waited...and waited...and waited. Finally, I could wait no more, I was disappointed and hurt. I fired off an e-mail to Kiran on my Blackberry. Did he show up, see me, and then leave? I later heard from Kiran. He gave me some BS about how he was there and didn't see me. We haven't talked since.

I was about ready to give up on my search for an online relationship. But, sometimes you get surprised when you expect it the least. Another player e-mailed me last week and wants to play on Friday. I don't want to get hurt again but if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Wish me luck.

Save it for the playoffs

2009-08-10T15:17:00.009-04:00

Boise State did it right. A 50-yard hook and ladder to tie the game in regulation and then a statue of liberty 2-pt. conversion to win the game in overtime. I loved every minute of that game. I remember calling every one I knew late that night to talk about it. But, the best part about those trick plays is that they were used at such a big moment. The 2006 Boise State Broncos went undefeated and on January 1st, 2007 they won arguably the best college football game of all-time. With 2 trick plays.

If any NFL team should know about saving trick plays for the right time it would be the Tennessee Titans. Their Music City Miracle propelled them to the Super Bowl where they came a foot from taking out the mighty Rams.

Why then, did Tennessee pull out the coolest fake punt play in recent memory in a freaking pre-season game? Sunday night was the Hall of Fame Game between the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills. It was the first preseason game of the NFL season - really it was a pre-pre-season game. Everyone was watching. Fans, players, and, of course, coaches. That play may well still work in the regular season or the playoffs but the element of surprise is now completely gone. As a Texans fan I guess that's a good thing. As a fan of seeing the improbable happen at the perfect time it's definitely a bad thing.

* I just got done checking out about 50 'Rock the Mic' videos on our website. It's weird watching the videos because these people could conceivably take my job one day. Still, it's pretty damn entertaining. If you don't mind pissing away 30 minutes of your day check it out.

Big Poker Show Tonight...

2009-08-09T18:24:00.008-04:00

We have a really good show tonight. 2 of the World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table participants will come on for about 10 minutes. We will interview Eric Buchman and Steven Begleiter. I'm amazed at how experienced most of the players at this final table are. Steven is one of the rare exceptions but he's 3rd in chips and definitely has a chance. We got the chance to interview Kevin Schaffel last week so that means after tonight we will have interviewed 3 of the final 9. We want to get at least 5. Our show, The Main Event, airs tonight from 7-9pm CST on 97.5 fm in Houston. You can also stream the show at 975theticket.com. Feel free to leave questions in the comments.

More good stuff...

* I think one of the dumbest things about baseball is that the managers wear uniforms in the dugout. Of all the major sports baseball is the one in which managing matters the least and yet these d-bags get all dressed up in full gear as if they are going to pinch-run at some point. Still, you gotta hand it to Braves' manager Bobby Cox. If you are going to look like a fool at least go all the way (#4)!

* Speaking of baseball how about them Washington Nationals! About a week ago I looked at the standings and they were 32 and 72. In other words if they won their final 58 games they would be 90 and 72 - in one guy's estimation not enough to make the playoffs. But, after a nice little run the Nats have won 8 in a row. Just 50 more in a row and Jimmy Rollins and the Phillies will be sweating a little bit.

* I'm getting pumped for fantasy football season. I'm not sure if I'm more excited about the draft or coming up with different team names. In one league, inappropriately named Big Dick Circus, I've decided to name my team The Jonah Falcons. I will be taking ideas for my other upcoming team names.

Worst Video Ever

2009-08-09T13:49:00.008-04:00

People rarely ask me what the worst video of all-time is. But when they do I usually think it's a weird question. With that being said, I'd like to come up with a great answer. After years of soul-searching I think I've decided on the worst video of all-time. You really have to watch the entire video to see how horrible it really is. Worst...Video...Ever

* Some more useless information about 'Cars':
- It was released in the UK just one month before I was born.
- The singer, Gary Numan, married a member of his fan club
- Numan thinks he has a mild form of Asperger's Syndrome - he may just be an ass

* I heard another ITT Technical Institute commercial the other day while riding in the car. Not this one. I always assumed that ITT stood for Institute of Technology but I never really figured out the 2nd 'T'. I also got really confused about why they needed to tack on 'Technical Institute' to the end. It reminded me of when people say they need to go to the ATM machine. So, I brought this up to my wife and she immediately tracked down the answer for me.....

ITT stands for International Telephone and Telegraph. That means the school is called the International Telephone and Telegraph Technical Institute. Or ITTTI.

* I headed to Minute Maid Park today to catch the Stros/Brewers game. I called in ESPN's Sportscenter Sunday show twice with updates from the game. I thought it was pretty cool to give updates on national radio to over 400 affiliates. The Astros even won the game - a rare feat these days.

* The wife and I are cooking dinner tonight for some guests. Okay, the wife is cooking dinner and I'm trying to stay out of the way. I got my hands in some raw chicken and I think I washed them. I'm now typing on my computer so I really, really hope I washed them. Can computers get salmonella?

A Bold Prediction...and more

2009-08-08T14:46:00.004-04:00

Don't you think 'A Bold Prediction' sounds like one of those crappy Sci-Fi Channel shows where they go back in time and see if old predictions come true? When I own my own station I'm going to pitch this show and then give a passionate speech about why we need it. I'll then put it up to a vote and fire anyone that raises their hand. Anyways, on to the bold prediction......

Miley Cyrus will end up in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. It may not be this year, it may not even be next year but I guarantee that at some point in her life she will end up in one. Sure, I'm not exactly going out on a limb here but I never said I was Nostradamus. Miley's creepy, gravy-training father should be ashamed of himself.

More....

* I'm just discovering that I'm not a big fan of snow cones. Or...is it sno cones? This website has it spelled both ways?! That's not the point. The point is that I just don't like them. You just get a bunch of ice, crush it up, scoop it in a cup, and then pour a shitload of syrup on it. People are supposed to pay $2.75 for that? BTW, my wife absolutely LOVES sno(w) cones. She made me take her to this place Mam's in Houston and says it's the best.

* Also, I find it strange that the spell-check caught 'sno cones' but let 'shitload' slide. I feel like I don't even know you spell-check.

* Yes, I used to be totally obsessed with Saved By The Bell. So did you. Maybe you didn't watch those crappy spinoffs but whatever. I'm super pumped for this alleged reunion. First off, let me say that it...would...be...awesome! Tiffani may be super-busy but I'm fairly certain we can work this out. Apparently everyone is pissed off at Dustin Diamond. We definitely need Screetch in the club though. Can't we all just get along?

Bracket of Hate

2009-08-07T14:15:00.003-04:00

Ever since I can remember I have loved brackets. As far as I was concerned, everything in life should be bracketed off. I was obsessed with tennis because there were so many different brackets or 'draws' that you could use. There was single elimination, double elimination, and compass draws. You could seed players, give players byes, and introduce play-in games. Tennis was great but brackets were even better. In fact, my only coffee table book is focused solely on brackets.

I was the guy to go to for brackets. I passed out the brackets for March Madness, I came up with the draw for our ping pong tournaments, and I even took 3 months drawing a 'Super-Bracket' with 1024 places. In my super-bracket I filled each slot with a friend, relative, actor, athlete, superhero, movie character, or historical figure. Once all the 1024 slots were filled I flipped a coin and if it was heads the person on top would advance, if it was tails the person on bottom would advance. It took Rosie O'Donnell 10 coin flips to eventually win my super-bracket. I would have preferred a different winner but the coin doesn't lie. No, there was no purpose for my super-bracket.

I reason I tell you about my obsession for brackets is because I am coming up with a bracket of hate right now. Basically, the draw has 32 spots for 32 people in my past that I hate. I am not the sole voter - a bunch of my college friends are involved in the voting process but I am responsible for coming up with the bracket. Do I feel like an immature punk? YES. Will I discontinue the bracket making process? NO. There are consequences for being a douchebag. Deal with it.

* My little brother Drew is moving to Nashville, TN in less than a month. He's gonna help open up a new Chuy's restaurant out there. This will be the first time anyone in my family has lived outside of Texas for an extended period of time. It will be kind of weird not having my bro around but when you want to spread the word about great Tex-Mex food there are sacrifices that have to be made. I am currently working on a going away party. Kind of like a California gangster-style - you know what I mean? Kick ass party.

* There are some big changes on the horizon for the radio show. I can't elaborate but it's going to be great news for the station and myself. I'll add more details in the coming weeks.

* Lisa Lampenelli is about to come in studio and record an interview with Carl Dukes. This chick is absolutely nuts! She'll be at the Verizon Wireless Theater tonight.

* Update: Lampenelli dropped a 'colored' bomb in the first 30 seconds of the interview. I don't envy Carl's producer Julie. She is gonna have to spend about an hour cutting up this interview.

...until next time

Baseball Musings and Random Thoughts

2009-07-29T13:19:00.009-04:00

While I don't agree with most of the moves the Stros have made over the past 5 or so years it sure seems like letting Carlos Beltran walk was a great decision. In the past five seasons with the Mets Beltran has hit an average of .280 with 25 homers and 19 steals per season. That's nothing to sneeze at but 7 years, $119M was way too much money.

And, of course Beltran is on the DL right now for the Mets. With New York being out of the race I would have expected Beltran to shut it down for the season. According to him that's not going to happen. After taking outfield practice yesterday Beltran said that his knee bothered him twice, but with much less pain than before....

“I think it’s progress because I didn’t feel it all the time,” he said “and I ran in the pool today, like six miles per hour, and I didn’t feel anything. It’s getting better little by little.”

Beltran ran 6 mph in a pool? Was the pool f*#@ing empty? I'm going to have to blow the whistle and throw out my bullshit flag on that one. I may not be as fast as I once was but I would have trouble running 6 miles an hour on flat ground for an extended period of time. On a side note, wouldn't this be a sweet reality show? Out of shape radio hosts vs. elite athletes in different competitions. The only catch is that we give the athletes major handicaps. I think this could work. When I'm the head of my own studio I'm going to have lots of sweet shows to work on....and one kick-ass movie.

* The Astros called up Bud Norris last week and he made his first start over the weekend. The kid was an absolute beast as he took a no-hitter into the 6th and finished with a line of 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 Ks, 4 BBs. It's an outstanding debut but let's temper our expectations for this guy. The walks were a problem in the minors and you can't continue to walk a batter every other inning in the majors and get away with it. Unless, of course, you are 2008 Daisuke Matsuzaka....I wrote 5 cheesy Budweiser lines but then thought the better of it and erased them. You can thank me later.

* I sat for the GMAT over the weekend - nice to get that out of the way. Now I have to fill out applications which is even less fun then taking a standardized test.

* The other day I found this website startalie.com. It's not as cool as it seems - you just make up lies about the bottled water industry. I think we need to start websites like this for everyone though. Startalie.com/BillBrasky - did you know Bill Brasky once shared a bath with Bruce Jenner?

The Astros Screw Me Again

2009-07-28T15:32:00.009-04:00

I went out to Minute Maid Park this Sunday to catch a little of the Astros/Mets game. I had talked to the producers of SportsCenter Sunday on ESPN Radio and they wanted me to give live 30 second updates from the game. They guessed that I would probably give an update every 20-30 minutes. I was pretty pumped about doing updates on over 400 ESPN Radio affiliates across the country. Well, the Astros got down early and suddenly the game wasn't that important anymore. I ended up getting bumped completely. After 1986 and 2005 I promised myself I'd never be taken in by the Astros again. I guess I was wrong.

Other Random Thoughts:

* When I was a kid I always wanted to have designer clothes like all the cool kids. I was a spoiled punk and I would bitch and moan if my mom ever tried to buy me clothes from a discount store. Well, my last 4 pairs of jeans have come from Target. I am equally proud and ashamed of myself.

* The World Series of Poker starts airing tonight on ESPN starting at 7 CST. I'm pretty excited to watch some new episodes. I can only watch poor Jean-Robert Bellande get beat on the river so many times.

* Roger Goodell conditionally reinstated Michael Vick yesterday. Amazingly, no one seems to know exactly what that means. Vick could play as early as week one but Goodell could also choose to rescind his reinstatement. Personally, I think Goodell is just trying to screw with everyone. I think he's sitting at home laughing his ass while everyone tries to figure out what the hell is going on. For the record, I seriously doubt Vick plays any meaningful snaps at QB this season.

* Texans' wideout David Anderson stopped by the Dukes show yesterday. He is an extremely funny dude. Anderson relayed a story where he was out with some of his teammates when an attractive young lady came by. Upon learning the guys were members of the Houston Texans she asked everyone what position they played. When she got to DA she asked him what he did. I guess she didn't believe that a relatively short white guy could play professional football. Anderson responded that he plays the piano at Nordstroms. That's funny for so many reasons. If that was me I would be telling everyone within earshot that I was a pro football player but I guess those guys get so much action that they need a challenge.

* BTW, Anderson called her while on the radio show and asked her out. When she questioned why he sounded weird he said he was on speaker phone. She later said she would go out with him.

* My friend has one of those Garmin Nuvi things. There are so many possibilities for this device. I imagine an advanced edition sometime in the future that actually imparts advice to the driver. This can be a good thing but there is also a possibility for disaster. Here's an example:

You decide to take your family to a water park one weekend. On your way past a gentleman's club your Garmin Nuvi 9000 chimes in, "Mr. Dean, I think you missed your turn. 87% of the time you turn left. Crystal shows up for her set in 20 minutes."

To Win or To Survive...

2009-07-23T13:36:00.004-04:00

You can't win the tournament on the first day but you sure can lose it
- Every Poker Player

You've no doubt heard that phrase or something similar if you play big time tournament poker. It's a popular phrase mainly because it's true. In a big tournament like the WSOP Main Event it can take up to 100 hours if you are lucky enough to win the tournament. On the flip side you could be knocked out on the very first hand.

So, the question then becomes - when do you quit trying to just survive and when do you go for the win? It's an odd question with no real answer but I think it's worth discussing now as the November Nine may be asking themselves the same thing.

Many of you may be thinking, "I always play to win." To an extent that's probably true. No one plays the World Series Main Event without dreaming of winning the first place prize money and bracelet (not to mention the fame). But, the fact remains that survival is vital in tournaments with huge fields like the Main Event.

From personal experience I'd say that usually once I made the final table of a tournament my mind set changed. This isn't always the case - I've played to win with 15-25 players left and in one tournament I waited until we were heads up before going for the kill. There are a lot of factors to take into account when deciding whether to lay back or to pounce.

* Prize Money - Some would argue that strategically this shouldn't matter. Those people are wrong. Players should always be aware of pay increases especially in tournaments like the Main Event where the money can potentially change your life. Even if you don't pay attention to the prize money you should know that your opponents likely will. As a general rule, players probably play tighter when the prize money gets larger. But, as we saw at this year's Main Event, when amateur players get to a certain pay level they often play with 'nothing to lose' and loosen up a bit.

* Stucture - The blinds and antes will obviously influence everything you do at the poker table. The structures of WSOP Final Tables are usually slower than those of WPT Final Tables. Players usually play faster and with more gamble when the structure is faster. Again, this isn't a hard and fast rule but it helps to think of extreme conditions. If you have 10,000 BBs at a final table you would be dumb to get all in without the nuts. Conversly, if you only have one round before you go broke you should look to get your chips in the middle quickly before blinding out.

* Your Opponents - You're fooling yourself if you think all eyes won't be on Phil Ivey when the Main Event resumes in November despite the fact that he's only 7th in chips. Again, thinking of extreme examples, if you are at a final table with 8 chimps you should probably wait until you have an absolute lock hand before committing your chips. If you are at a final table with 8 pros you may figure that they are waiting for you to go broke. Gambling it up could prove to be your best option in that scenario. The fact that pros would rather not gamble with unpredictable players was encapsulated in David Sklansky's fabulous book Tournament Poker for Advanced Players.

There are many factors to consider when deciding whether to just survive or to go for the kill. Of course, this may be a gradual progression. Rarely does a specific event cause a player to immediately flip the switch. Also, there are some players who probably disagree with most of what I just said. Michael Mizrachi is one player who plays to win from the first hand of a tournament. He likes to attack the big stacks hoping they will make big mistakes.

I am intrigued by this subject because I've had my fair share of disappointing final tables. I often wonder if it's my decision to flip the switch which has doomed me at final tables. Truth be told if I never showed up at my 7 final tables I'd almost certainly have more career prize money than I do right now. Sometimes you see the light at the end of the tunnel and it temporarily blinds you.

The Dream

2009-07-22T13:20:00.005-04:00

Man did I have a weird dream the other night. I know that I shouldn't share information this embarrassing but what else is a blog for. Here goes...

Okay, so in my dream my friend Joel pops up - I haven't seen this guy in 10 years in real life but apparently in my dream I really want to be his friend. How bad do I want to be his friend? Bad enough to go on a game show where Joel is going to choose someone out of 20 contestants to be his best friend.

A couple of things: 1) I realize that if Joel reads this he could/should file a restraining order against me just based on this dream and 2) This dream game show sounds shockingly similar to that crappy Paris Hilton show.

Anyways, on the show there's this kid named Corbin. I don't know anyone named Corbin nor do I know whose face it was in the dream. Corbin's mom apparently has cancer and his one wish was that pictures of her didn't get out in the public. It's never revealed why.

Anyways, everyone has to tell Joel why they should be his best friend and in the dream I spend a painstakingly long amount of time trying to convince him. I take so long in fact that he rolls his eyes and walks off. I'm not even cool in my own dreams. This is a new low.

At the end of the dream everyone stands on a diving board. 19 of us get to jump in the pool but one person gets kicked off the show (this was actually kind of cool - a reality show should adopt this concept). Luckily I survive the cut and get to jump in the pool.

Corbin was not so lucky. He had to pack his bags and didn't get to jump off the diving board. Guess what? Pictures of his mom got put on the internet also. We all felt bad and consoled him. Then I woke up. Dreams are stupid.

Other Random Thoughts

* My wife called me up today to tell me she's signed up for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I was skeptical and after some prodding she told me she's going to walk instead of 'race'. I quipped that by walking she's sending a bad message. Sure, she wants to find a cure for breast cancer but she's not exactly in a hurry to do it. To ensure that I don't go directly to hell I also signed up. The Houston event is October 3rd - do your good deed for the year and sign up here.

* TMZ is going to release the Lebron Dunk video tonight. Can I just say that TMZ is the absolute BALLS. I used to think this site was for chicks but they've been on fire over the last few months. They dominated the Jon & Kate + 8 stuff, broke Michael Jackson's death, and now this?!

* I'm taking the GMAT in 10 days. I really thought my days of taking standardized tests were over. I'm absolutely fascinated with the GMAT. You take this test on a computer and the computer adapts to your ability. If you are doing well the questions get harder and vice versa. It's very humbling. I'll be applying to business schools in the fall but wouldn't attend until fall of 2010 at the earliest.

* I went to Chick-fil-a the other day and the lady at the counter called me 'Buffalo Sauce Guy'. I guess she knew my order down cold since I go there so often. I wasn't even remotely offended. Chick-fil-a rocks. Just think what she'd know about me if they were open on Sundays.

* I went to Austin last weekend for a buddy's wedding (not Joel). I got lots of great recommendations for places to eat. I ended up dining at Trudy's and Mellow Mushroom but thanks to all my Twitter peeps for recommending great places. Sorry to my Austin friends - I didn't get much time to hang out.

Random Thoughts

2009-07-14T14:28:00.013-04:00

UFC 100 was a great card but I'm not sure if it is going to convert as many new fans as they had hoped. I thought the fights were for the most part excellent (the Fitch fight notwithstanding) but the UFC and MMA will most likely to continue to grow at a steady rate. Any thoughts of MMA quickly becoming the 4th most popular sport in this country should probably be put on the back burner at this point.

* With that being said, I do have an idea to spice up the action. Why don't we have those useless ring girls actually do something? I think having ring girls ride a mini zamboni-type machine that cleans up the blood between fights is a genius idea. I can't think of any downside to this.

* Sports betting in Delaware is almost a done deal. The NFL is none too pleased and they are trying to stop it in the Delaware Supreme Court but by all accounts it's probably going to happen. 3 other states currently have sports betting. Give yourself 1 bonus point each if you guessed Montana, Oregon, and Nevada. Subtract 5 bonus points if you thought Las Vegas was a state.

* Wayne's World isn't often brought up when talking about the classic comedies of the 90's but it still holds a place in my heart. All this Delaware talk made me nostalgic.

* Tony Romo allegedly broke up with Jessica Simpson. Reports placed Romo at a club just days later surrounded by a bunch of dudes. Don't get too excited Cowboys fans - I still think Romo will be in a relationship within 2 months. Romo is just like Vince's sensitive manager Eric ('E') on Entourage. The guy can't enjoy being single - he has to be in a relationship. Someone needs to shake Romo and let him know he's an NFL quarterback!!!!! I vote for Matt Leinart.

* While we're on the subject - who's next on Romo's Hit List? First Carrie Underwood, then Jessica Simpson. I'm taking Kristen Bell from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I'm going away from the music theme but she's small and blond and way too good for him. I'll be taking suggestions in the comments.

* The MLB All-Star Game is tonight. Count me in the minority of those who think playing for home-field advantage in the World Series is a good idea. Did you know that before 2002 the way they determined home-field in the World Series was by whether the year was odd or even? Seriously, in odd-numbered years (1991, 93, 95...) the American League got home-field and the National League got it in even-numbered years (1990, 92, 94...). Give yourself a bonus point if you knew that.

* A quick point on Albert Pujols. I'm not so irresponsible to say he's on steroids. But...the dude has legs the size of tree trunks. He was the 402nd overall pick in the major leagues in 1999. That means major league teams thought there were 400 better baseball players. Not overall. But THAT YEAR!!! That would put him as somewhere around the 3,000th ranked baseball player in 1999. By 2001 he was the Rookie of the Year and now he's by far the best player in the game. We're supposed to believe he went from the 3000th best baseball player in the world to the 1st without any help? Count me skeptical.

* My wife suggested that we order Domino's pizza the other night. I can't understand why you'd want that cardboard trash when there are so many better pizzas out there. I thought maybe that it's because Domino's Pizza is cheap. Nope, Pizza Hut is almost the exact same price for a 14 inch cheese pizza. My argument isn't that Domino's is bad. Pizza is rarely bad. But, why wouldn't you want to order pizza that is actually good? While we're on the subject I want to throw a random shout-out to Steel City Pizza and Greek Tony's Pizza in Spring - both are amazing.

* Almost 6,500 players began the WSOP Main Event and just 64 remain. There are plenty of pros left but I'm rooting hardest for Phil Ivey who already has racked up 2 bracelets so far in the WSOP. I think it would be great for poker if a 'brand-name' professional won the tournament. As for me, I haven't played a major tournament in over a year but that may change in August. Stay tuned, more details to follow.

* I won a $30 gift certificate to Glennz Shirts the other day. I know the days of the 'funny' t-shirt have come to a close but the creator (Glenn Jones) is really talented. My favorite shirt is Prize Catch but it's out of stock in my size. Bad Luck.

* My Streak For the Cash is at 3 and I got a lucky break today when I picked the wrong women's tennis match. The Streakmaster didn't 'lock' the game so you could have changed your pick all the way until the match was over. I picked the wrong player AND I wasn't smart enough to change my pick but ESPN stepped in an canceled the pick for everybody. I'm going with President Obama getting the ball to Pujols tonight at the All-Star Game. Don't let me down Obama!

How to turn down $5 Million

2009-07-07T13:23:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, World Series of Poker Commisioner Jeffery Pollack and the rest of the WSOP powers that be managed to turn down five million dollars. An estimated 500 poker players were turned away from the World Series of Poker Main Event yesterday as the tournament reached its capacity. About 500 amateurs and pros alike (Patrick Antonius and Ted Forrest to name a couple) weren't allowed to pay $10,000 to be a part of the largest poker tournament in the world.

To be fair, most of those 500 players had an opportunity to sign up early and chose not to. 2,500 players got seats yesterday compared to only 873 players on Saturday. Still, that's not the point. To turn away 500 potential players is another black mark on a game (sport?) that has had enough black marks over a past few years.

Maybe it's the nature of the beast but poker is disorganized. No other sport or game would allow this to happen. At the very minimum you could set up an entry deadline for players who don't satellite into the tournament. Even most local marathons have an entry deadline.

Make no mistake, the World Series of Poker Main Event is a marathon in it's own right. It's a tournament that lasts 2 weeks - then breaks - then 9 players return 4 months later. It's a tournament that requires a lot of coordination and I commend those who work to pull it off. With that being said, any tournament that pays out $8.5M to its winner should care more about organization than pleasing its players.

The bottom line is that by allowing players to choose what day they play the tournament prize pool is now short about $5 million dollars. I can think of about 10 solutions to this problem off the top of my head. No doubt, some of these solutions would cause more problems than they solve and its always easy to play Monday Morning Quarterback but it doesn't take a genius to have foreseen a rush of players on Day 1D. Turning away 500 poker players has to be the absolute last option.

Without going through what Jeffery Pollack and company could have done months in advance I want to talk about what they could have done in the last few days. For starters, why not call up another casino? Logistically this would have been a disaster but I can't see it being any worse than turning away $5 million. The Rio, Harrah's, and Ceasar's are all owned and operated by Harrah's Entertainment. I would think that by Sunday tournament officials could have predicted an overflow of participants and could have made some calls.

A second solution would be to add a fifth day to the Main Event. Are there some problems with putting players at a competitive disadvantage? Absolutely. But by letting players pick their playing day the WSOP Main Event obvioulsy has pushed aside those concerns anyways. I would think the backlash from a Day 1E would be a lot more palatable than the backlash from turning away T.J. Cloutier, Brandon Adams, Mickey Appleman (who had played in 30 main events), and about 497 other poker players.

Poker needs leadership. In my opinion poker needs a pro tour. I know the PPT failed but without a professional tour I think the game will stagnate. There needs to be official rules, official tournaments, official cards, official start times, official tour dealers, etc. To be honest, I'm surprised something like this hasn't happened before. Poker grew exponentially in the mid-2000s and the game has been slow to react. Perhaps this snafu is just what the game needs to right the ship.

The Workout Curse

2009-07-01T20:37:00.006-04:00

If you are a guy somewhere in the vicinity of 30 years old then this post may be all too familiar for you. When I was a kid I was in great shape. Even in the era of Nintendo I was outside most days after school and nearly every day in the summer. I was always playing some kind of sport and I even remember thinking that there was no way I'd ever get fat. Well, if that day hasn't come yet it's getting pretty close. At the minimum, I am way out of shape. I went to the gym today and jogged for 20 minutes and my body is currently revolting. Just 3 months ago I was hitting the gym 6 times a week and jogging for an hour. One day it all stopped and now here I am typing a blog while I gasp for air. Right now my goddamn fingers are cramping up. Where did things go wrong for me? I trace everything back to the workout curse.

You've all known someone who has bitched and moaned about how hard it is to workout. That person may have even been you. The response usually given goes something like this, "It gets easier the more you do it!". And, while I can do without the cheerful exclamation point, that is generally correct. The more you workout, the easier your workout gets. The problem, what I like to call the workout curse, is that the exact opposite is also true. The less you workout the harder it gets. And therein lies the rub.

If you are confused right now you are forgiven. I haven't even gotten rolling yet. To explain the workout curse let's use a hypothetical gentleman to help explain things. Let's say Mark is a 30 year old guy who used to be in decent physical shape until he quit sports in college and learned to drink (damn you vodka redbull!). Mark gets married and finds a job and before he knows it working out gets thrown to the wayside a bit. At some point our hero decides, "Enough with this! I'm going to start working out."

At first, the workouts are predictably tough. Mark's body aches in places he didn't know existed. 20 minutes feels like a lifetime. Mark does some rough calculations and sees that he burned about 250 calories. Sure, it doesn't seem like a lot but that's 2 beers! As time goes on the prognosticators were right, working out does get easier! Mark builds his workouts to 30 and then 40 minutes per day. He begins to get into a routine and even starts to hit the gym 3-4 times per week. One strange side effect is that he starts to eat healthier despite himself. Every time he goes to grab for a beer or a slice of pizza he calculates how many minutes it would take to burn that off and often decides against it. 3 months after his initial foray into working out Mark has lost 10 pounds and feels great. He's going to the gym 5-6 times per week and burning at least 800 calories each time he's there. Where's the problem?

The problem comes the first time Mark gets sick, or misses a day, or has an appointment, or goes out of town. Not working out probably is a shock to his system but a part of him likes it. Whether Mark wants to admit it or not, this little break from working out is nice. I mean, he's been busting his ass for 3 months! The dude could use a break, hell, he deserves a break! Mark thinks, if I'm not going to workout then why not eat some decent food. Watching all those calories means he hasn't had fast food in over a month! That needs to be remedied quickly. Bring on the sausage croissanwich!

Only after this little 'workout break' is over comes the dreaded realization that a much tougher workout awaits. Sure, when Mark first started working out 20 minutes and burning 250 calories was acceptable, but now? That almost seems pathetic. So what does Mark do? Does he suck it up and start back at the beginning or even somewhere in the middle? No! He thinks to himself, I'll wait until Monday and then I'll get back into my routine. Yes! That's perfect, I'll start the week refreshed and rededicate myself.

Of course, we know what happens. The expectations Mark set of going to gym 5-6 times per week for an hour at a time seem like a distant memory. It's just too hard now that he's taken some time off. He should step down a level but pride gets in the way and time moves on. The less you workout the harder it gets. It's the workout curse.

3 months later and those 10 pounds are back and they may have even brought some friends. Mark eventually gets back to that point he was in way back when 20 minutes at the gym and 250 calories burned sounds like a lot of work. But, he decides to suck it up and start all over again. Now he's gasping for air while his fingers cramp up.

Obsession

2009-06-24T11:21:00.006-04:00

It's that time of the year. My thoughts are consumed by fantasy baseball. I sit up all day dreaming of trades. Most of the time I've sent out the max trade offers allowed by Yahoo. Nearly every day I spend about 2 hours looking at stats, scouring the waiver wire, and add/dropping the 30th player on my roster. I am in the top 2 in transactions in all 4 leagues I'm playing in. As of right now I am in 3rd, 2nd, 1st, and 1st in the standing - still I'm not satisfied. When I stare off into space I'm thinking about how to get more steals. In my mind it's fantasy baseball all the time.

But this isn't a fantasy baseball blog. No, this blog is about obsession. Check the title. Sure, right now I'm add/dropping Jack Cust but next month it may be something else. Some people may ask if you can be obsessed with more than one thing at a time. No, no you can't. Some of your likes can later turn into obsessions but what is it that keeps you awake at night? That, my friend, is your true obsession.

When I examine my past I come up with a long list of obsessions. I've been obsessed with baseball cards, tennis, handball, poker, brickbreaker, hsx, video games, monopoly, free cell, streak for the cash, and disc golf just to name a few. That literally took me about 10 seconds. I can become obsessed rather easily.

So, what will be my next obsession? What should be my next obsession? Could it be fantasy football? Sure, it's just around the corner and I've definitely been obsessed with that in the past. Could it be twitter? I like it but I doubt it could consume my thoughts. Could it be this blog? Anything is possible - I was obsessed with my blog once upon a time. All I know is that one day I'm going to wake up and not check my fantasy baseball teams. I'll hold conversations without daydreaming about steals. I'll go to sleep and not see fastballs in my dreams. It'll happen - I just don't know when.

2009-06-18T11:43:00.004-04:00

I'm contemplating putting in $100 on a sports betting site. I play poker to win money but I bet sports to have fun. I realize that it's gambling but I somehow always get swept away and begin to believe I'm a professional sports bettor. This is usually how things go when I start to bet on sports:

1/1/xx: Original deposit - $100

1/2/xx: Make $5 wager on a bowl game...and WIN (20-3)! Now at $104 + change

Rest of January: Mostly $5 and $10 bets with some modest success - now at $130

Early February: Bet on silly Super Bowl prop bets and make $2.20. Vow never to take crazy chances again - now at $132.20

2/9/xx: Lose $20 at blackjack before I figure out the perfect system!... - now at $110

2/10/xx: Decide to bet $1 on blackjack. If I win - I quit - if I lose double up until I win! Win first hand - now at $111

2/11/xx: Do same thing. Win first hand. Decide to do this 5 times. Have one close call but win my $32 hand - account at $116
End of February: Despite many close calls I run my account up to $400

3/15/xx: Bet $25 on all #12 seeds in March Madness and win 2 of the games - combine this with a nice run at blackjack and I'm at $675

4/8/xx: Bet $100 on Nashville Predators and lose...in overtime - what bullshit - fucking hockey is a joke - account $584.30

4/9/xx: Slightly peeved about pissing away $100 the night before I bet $50 on a hand of blackjack. Before long I'm down to around $300. I bet it all on one hand and get blackjack! Play a couple more small hands and get up to $800. Lose a couple of hands for $20 when the computer/dealer hits 16 gets a 5 for 21 and beats my 20. I reluctantly shut off computer and bemoan my bad luck. Account - $740.12

4/25/xx: Decide to get back on the horse and find an amazing game called Caribbean Stud! This is the easiest game ever invented and I can't believe no one has figured this out. I can win with 7-high if the dealer doesn't qualify!!!!! Account - $905.84

5/2/xx: Starting to lose a little on Caribbean stud. I once lost 7 hands in a row but I just tripled my bets and got most of it back. I find a Caribbean stud strategy sheet online! I can't believe how smart I am! How dumb is everyone who plays without a strategy sheet? Morons! - account - $804.24

DAY OF RECKONING:

5/15/xx:

7:30 pm - I lose a first half over/under on a WNBA preseason game that was supposed to be a fucking lock - minus $100

8:00pm - It's Caribbean Stud time! I start betting $100 a hand and run it up to $1213 after hitting a straight! Time to quit for the night.

8:02pm - Screw it - I decide to play just one more hand and I lose $100. This really pisses me off.

8:03pm - To get my money back I start betting $200 a hand. I lose 2 in a row.

8:04:48pm - Now I'm desperate - I bet my last $700 on blackjack. I have 19 and the dealer is showing a 4!!!! GODDAMN COMPUTER DRAWS TO A 21. WTF???!!! This shit is rigged. My account is empty. I turn off the computer. I can't pull myself away though as I stare at the blank screen. Why couldn't I have taken out $1500? What a moron. That is it for me - seriously - no more betting.

8/29/xx - Deposit $100 - Start of college football season!!!

Farenheit 51

2009-06-17T14:26:00.004-04:00

I don't have an office at work. I sit in a radio studio all day. When I'm not on the air I write sports updates. Basically, I spend at least 6 consecutive hours of my day in the studio.

I tell you this because it's so freaking cold in the studio that I can barely think. In fact, everyone that enters the studio comments on the cold. Ironically we have a thermostat in the studio! Unfortunately, the thermostat is always turned up to the top (90 degrees - yeah right) and it doesn't seem to work.

Really, the only thing anyone talks about in the studio is the cold. Maybe there is some small chit-chat about life but then back to the temperature. Our daily conversations usually include many if not all of the following 10 questions:

1) Is this a legal work environment?

2) If so, can we sue?

3) Who can we contact to fix the A/C?

4) How hard is it to fix the f*#@ing A/C? (We've been bitching about this for almost a year)

5) What reason is there for keeping the studio this cold (Sometimes we hear it's because of the equipment - I say that's bullshit)

6) What do you think the actual temperature is? (The guesses range from 30 to 60)

7) Did you press the button? (See #8)

8) What does the button do? (There is a button on the thermostat that 'allegedly' doesn't do anything - the urban legend is that by pressing it repeatedly you can make the studio warmer)

9) Can we open the door? (We assume that the warm air from outside will come in)

10) Can we close the door? (Anything to change our luck)

I'm tired of wearing a jacket to work in June. Other people stare at me. I welcome all suggestions on how to warm up the studio. It gets so cold that I will often go to the restroom where it's 75 degrees but smells like stale urine. Please help me.

The Hangover = Old School 2

2009-06-10T14:31:00.004-04:00

This has been an interesting week. For the first time in a long time I've been given a week off of work. This used to be my life. I would just play online poker all day or head to Louisiana or Vegas or AC and play some live poker. Now I don't know what to do with myself. Today I woke up at 9:50. That's the latest I've woken up in 6 months. I used to average getting up at 1 pm.

On Monday I decided to drag my ass out of bed and check out 'The Hangover'. I'd heard mostly good things and after it's mildly surprising box office domination I knew I had to see it for myself.

Minor spoiler alerts ahead

Plot: A regular old dude heads to Vegas with his 2 best friends and his soon-to-be wife's brother for a bachelor party. Things just get a little crazy.

Sounds simple enough. I don't want to ruin too much of the movie but basically it plays out like a watered-down version of Old School. This is not entirely a bad thing. Old School was the best comedy of 2003 and you could make a case that it's the best comedy of the decade. Sure that's a large statement but when you come home drunk from another night getting shot down at the bar what movie do you pop in? I usually go with Superbad, Grandma's Boy, Wedding Crashers, Old School, Made, Supertroopers, or Old School. There are other films that are solid such as 40-year Old Virgin, Harold & Kumar, Van Wilder, and, of course, Zoolander but I would say that Old School is at least in the discussion for most rewatchable comedy of the decade. But I digress...

The Hangover is so obviously written for the original characters of Old School that, for me at least, it was distracting. The acting was good and the movie was very funny but I couldn't help but wonder how much better it would be with Vaughn, Ferrell, and Wilson.

Now time for the major spoiler alerts.

Bradley Cooper/Phil: This was obviously Vince Vaughn's character Beanie from Old School. Phil is a complete dick who is always pushing the envelope and getting the group into precarious situations. Bradley Cooper plays Phil as more of a ladies man but much like Beanie in Old School, both characters are married with kids and, despite ample opportunities both characters don't cheat on their wives.

Ed Helms/Stu: The parallels are obvious here as well. Stu was molded after Will Ferrell's character Frank from Old School. Stu is stuck in a relationship that isn't right for him. He's a mild mannered guy around his wife and even his friends. But once Stu gets some drinks in him he does a complete 180. Stu loses a tooth, Frank goes streaking.

Justin Bartha/Doug: This is Luke Wilson's character Mitch from Old School. The boring/nice guy of the group. Bartha adds nothing to this character and is the weak point of the movie for me. Fortunately, he's not in the film very much. Doug is about to get married and live the suburban life with his new family which is freaking loaded. Much like Mitch, Doug still has some friends from earlier in his life that he's obviously outgrown. But, for some reason both Doug and Mitch stay loyal and let their friends attempt to ruin their lives.

The best parts of the movie were courtesy of the character Alan played by Zach Galifianakis. Alan is probably mentally disabled and also a little bit crazy. This would have been the perfect addition to the Old School crew and he works perfectly in this movie. I could see Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, or Jack Black playing this part with the original Old School crew. That isn't to say Galifianakis isn't great - he is - part of me just wishes this movie was called Old School 2 with the original cast back.

Overall I give the movie a B+

www.CardRunners.com

2005-09-02T01:52:00.000-04:00

I'd like to let you all know I am going to be teaching/writing for this website. Anyone interested in improving their game should stop by.

Taylor

Rant on Ultimatebet

2005-07-22T16:47:00.000-04:00

First let me say that I have been a loyal UB patron for almost 3 years. I love their graphics, customer service, and atmosphere. If fact, no other site comes close.

However if UB doesn't implement Heads Up NL cash game tables above .25/.50 soon, or at least give me a knowledgable explanation why they don't exist, I am walking away. Even after numerous emails demanding these tables, UB has done nothing. In fact they almost play dumb. Here is a recent reply I got back from Antonio.

"Dear Mr. McGuire,
Thank you for contacting us. When looking at our games, I have seen several NLheads up that are higher than .25-/.50. We have SitnGos' with NL heads up of 20+1,10+0.50., 200+8. In the games sectionour no limits do appear to be of 0.25+.50. If you would like, I can forward your e-mail and suggest that the NL heads up atGames, not only the SNG's, should go beyond .50+.25. Please do confirm and Iwill gladly go ahead.
Best Regards,"
-AntonioCustomer Service

No offense Antonio but WTF is that? Am I supposed to be satisfied? Its gonna take more than a little magic to get me off your ass(only applies if you are Antonio the magician).

I can't tell you how much time I spend a week playing heads up at the Ten & Six seat NL cash game tables pleading with a 3rd player to leave after his interuption. There is no worse feeling in poker than getting stuck playing some terrible player heads up only to have 4 more people sit down in 5 seconds thus ending any chance to get it back.

If anyone out there can shed any light on this subject please post a comment. Also, if anyone knows of another site that does have these tables, please post a comment. Finally if anyone else is tired of this same shit, please post a comment.

As far as the tilt series, probably not gonna be too insightful in that area right now but stay tuned.

Book Review: Tales from the Tiltboys

2005-07-20T03:25:00.000-04:00

So, in the past I haven't been particularly kind towards Phil Gordon. I gave his book (Poker: The Real Deal) a terrible review. Then, I told about how he cried like a little bitch when we played together at a preliminary event during the WSOP. Well, I'm going to make up for it a little bit by giving his newest book, Tales from the Tiltboys, a glowing review. The book is actually credited as being written by all of the 'tiltboys', which includes Phil and 12 others. This is an extremely funny book which tells about the tiltboys' trips to Vegas, betting on roshambo, and setting each other on tilt playing the circle game. Oh yeah, there is a little bit of poker in the book also. If you've never read a trip report from the tiltboys I would recommend looking that up first. If you don't find that funny don't spend your money on the book. If you were crying out loud laughing like I was than you will find this book equally hilarious. Phil, your other book sucked and you were a big crybaby when we played together. All is forgiven.

Poker: A Game of Controlling the Mind (Setting Your Gameplan)

2005-07-16T09:36:00.000-04:00

This post will officially start my second serious poker writing undertaking; the journey to control the angry ghost that is tilt. Before you read on, please make sure you have read my last post entitled “Your Next Great Poker Education,” as it explains what I want this series to be and why.

“Your Next Great Poker Education” will be composed of 4 parts: 1) Setting Your Gameplan 2) Getting in the Zone, 3) Dealing with Traumatic Hands & 4) Knowing When to Quit. I believe that each of these parts demands certain skills. I also believe that anyone can master them and that once they do, world-class poker is within reach. While different, all four parts do require one similar mentality: a cool, detached, analytical stream of thought (see Zen and the Art of Poker by Larry Phillips). This Zen-like state is the base of your mental house; which if missing, crumbles like the Yankees in the ALCS. There is NO reason to bring emotion into poker; this is not college football, college tennis, or even sex. Now, hopefully you are mentally ready, so let’s talk about your gameplan!

When people ask me if poker is gambling, I say not for me. Now hear me out before you call me a cocky asshole. The reason I say this is that my definition of gambling is playing casino games where you know you SHOULD lose but you COULD win huge! Gambling is earmarked by this invincible, Christmas-time feeling. Unfortunately, for many poker players, they play cards with this same feeling. They might even think they SHOULD win as they carry this lottery type mentality with them to every table they encounter. Setting a gameplan can keep you from this unenviable fate. Everything from your bankroll to the games you choose should be thought out ahead of time. Don’t let yourself play under-funded because you decide to move up limits while you are in the middle of a session. Decide ahead of time what games you will be playing as well as what happens if you get up or down. Be practical about what limits you play, realistic about how much you expect to win, and analytical about reviewing your hands. Poker should not be treated like blackjack.

Make yourself answer these questions before every session, review your answers afterwards, and be ready to adjust.

1) What games will you play?
-Keeps you from playing under-funded and going broke
2) How much do you expect to win?
-Keeps you from getting down on yourself for not meeting unrealistic expectations
3) When will you stop playing?
-Prepares you to recognize warning signs as well as to always put your “A game” forward
4) What is your long-term poker goal and how does this session fit in?
-Prevents frustration and promotes purpose and accountability within every session

You wouldn’t go to war without a strategy, the same goes for poker. A winning poker player approaches the game with the preparation of a trial lawyer: hungry to win but ready for anything. Know yourself, your game, and your limits. When the shit hits the fan, walk out of the room instead of opening your mouth. Finally, the next time some girl says that she doesn’t agree with gambling, tell her that you don’t either which is why you play poker. Don’t forget to say ‘Ship It’ later that night when she.....

I busted out but Drew is still alive!

2005-07-13T06:12:00.000-04:00

I had a hell of a run and in some ways it was more satisfying than last year's. The money just wasn't quite as good. I started day 3 with 57,000 in chips and I really felt that I had put myself in a great position if I could start to get some cards. But, right away things went dramatically wrong. On the third hand of the day I was on the button with AK off. Everyone folded to a player 2 off the button who moved all in for 15,200. I called on the button and then Garry Bush, former Euro player of the year, moved in from the SB. He had me covered and I folded without hesitation. I've played with Garry before and I was surprised that he only had KK. Of course, an ace hit on the river and I would have won a monster pot against KK and JJ. I played it right though and I don't think there is any other play I can make there. You could make a case that I could fold AK but I don't think I can with blinds at 1000 and 2000 and 2700 in the pot from the antes. I am getting pot odds against any hand but KK or AA. I called 15,200 into a 36,100 pot. I only have to be 42% to make this call. It was unfortunate that Garry picked up KK but I only had to risk about 25% of my stack to try to take a player out. I flat-called incase Garry or the BB picked up a big hand. After I made the money I raised to 7000 in the cut-off with 99. The SB moved all-in for 55,000. I mucked my 9's feeling that there was just no way he could do that without a monster hand. He showed me KK and I again felt like I was making good plays that were costing me money. Finally, a round later, I raised to 10,000 on the button with AJ. The SB called and I only had 12,000 left. The SB moved in on a flop of 6 7 8 rainbow and I automatically called. I wasn't about to fold for 12,000 into a pot of around 47,000. As it turned out I had the best hand anyways when he showed me AT. Of course, a ten hit the turn and I was out in 501st place. I missed making another $1,635 but a measly 10 seconds by finishing 501 instead of 500. But, 5 minutes later they called me over the loud speaker to tell me someone got knocked out before me but left the Rio. So, they gave him 501 and switched me to 476. I wasn't complaining and I got an extra $1,635! I really am proud of how I played. I hung in there and gave myself a chance. I just couldn't get the cards to absorb a bad beat. But, the most exciting part of the trip is that my younger brother is still alive in the $1,000 no-limit hold 'em event #44 at the WSOP. This is his first WSOP event ever and he is in around 14th place out of 27 with an average chip stack. 971 people started so he has outlasted about 97% of the field already. He's guarenteed $4,300 or something like that so he's already making some nice dough for a kid without a paying job. I'll be there watching him kick some ass tomorrow (today - damn I'm tired).

Still alive

2005-07-11T05:26:00.000-04:00

I made it past day 2. It's time to get some rest so I'm not going to write too much but maybe I'll come back later and finish. I started the day with 26,775 and almost immediately got involved in a hand with Clonie Gowan. I played it about as bad as possible and I'm not going to go over it right now. I was down to 10,000 after that hand though. I doubled up about an hour later when everyone folded to the SB and he raised with 99 - I pushed with QQ and he called. I then proceeded to move my stack up to 44,000 before going card dead. How card dead? I haven't had aces all tournament and only got kings once but this was unreal. I couldn't find anything playable and moved under 25,000. After my table broke I had abou 22,000 with 45 minutes left in the day. I raised with 99 and the button moved me all in. I called and won a coin flip when I turned a flush vs. his AK. I then knocked out a short stack and stole some blinds to end the day with 57,000. The average is 98,750 and there are 569 players left. 560 make the money. I'll post more another day.

Through Day 1 - Ship It!

2005-07-08T08:32:00.000-04:00

Well, if I am only going to make one freaking dinner break the whole WSOP I guess the Main Event is the one to do it in. I'm through to day 2 with 26,775 in chips. This will be about average on Sunday when play resumes for me. I want to get some sleep so I'll get to some key hands. My first table was pretty tight. Nobody busted out for 5 hours. I didn't recognize anyone but then about 3 hours in Layne Flack showed up and he looked sick as a dog. Immediately he went from 9,000 down to 3,000 and just as quickly moved up to 28,000. He then left to take a nap and didn't return for 3 hours! Apparently he is doing very well still. I stole lots of hands early and took advantage of the fact that my opponents were playing very tight. I had my stack up to 11,500 early in level 3 when I looked down at 99. One player in middle position raised, another called in the cut-off, and I called on the button. The BB called and we had 4-way action. The flop came T 8 2, all clubs. All checked to me and I bet 1200 into a 2100 pot. The BB called and the other 2 folded. I was pretty sure he was on a flush draw but he only had 2500 left. The turn came jack of hearts and he checked. I could have moved him all-in but I checked behind him. The river came 3 of clubs and he led out for 3oo! I had to call 300 into a 5100 pot and he showed me the ace of clubs for the nuts. Oh well. Later that same player was down to 3500. I raised in early position to 900 with JJ and he moved in for his last 3500. I of course called because I never lay down JJ in the main event (kidding). He showed me QQ and I got incredibly lucky when a J hit the flop. Instead of being down to 7000, I was slightly above the average at 14300. One interesting hand came about 7 hours into the tournament at my first table. I raised in middle position to 1100 with J T suited. Blinds were 200 and 400 with a 25 ante. The player on the button tossed in 700 in chips. When told that I made it 1100 he tried to take back his money. The ruling was pretty obvious; he could either call the extra 400 or fold but leave in the 700. He then proceeded to fold! I love this guy. Everyone else folded and I was at my all-time high for the day at 18,000. Just before our table broke a short stack moved all-in for 1500. I called with QQ in late position and he had A T. A ten hit the flop and a ten hit on the river and just like that I lost all the momentum I had. I went card dead for about 30 minutes waiting for our table to break and lost a couple hands when Layne Flack re-raised me. Each time I had no better than KJ so they were easy folds. Still, I was at only 12,000 when our table finally broke. At my next table I was seated 2 to the left of David Grey who finished 8th in the WSOP main event in 2003. For about two hours I did nothing but fold as there were two aggressive players dominating the action. One of them was directly on my right and the other was 2 to my left. Finally, I got to play a hand when the aggressive player on my right just limped in from the SB. I checked in the BB with A 5 off and just the 2 of us saw a flop of A 4 7 rainbow. I checked behind him looking to trap. I know I had a weak kicker but I had a gut feeling he would fire on the turn. A jack hit the turn and he fired 1500 out and I just called. He checked when a 4 hit the river and I bet out 4000. The 4 was a great card for me because it gave me two pair and a jack kicker. He folded quickly and after falling below 10,000 for the first time in a while I was now at 12,000. 2 hands later everyone folded to David Grey who made it 2500 to go. Blinds at that point were 250 and 500 with a 50 ante I think. I just called on the button with my favorite main event hand, JJ. David only had 7000 left and had been playing very aggressive. He was up and down a lot and I just knew I had the best hand. I didn’t raise because I could fold if the SB or BB raised. To my surprise the SB called. He was an inexperienced player I think. The flop came down T 5 3 with two spades and the SB checked. David moved all in and I moved in behind him fairly quickly. I was pretty sure I had the best hand and when the SB folded I immediately showed JJ. David said, “I have that crushed….when I hit my hand”, and showed 7 5 of spades. Not exactly what I wanted to see, but I was ahead in the hand for a monster pot. The turn came 8 of clubs and the river came 9 of clubs. All of the sudden I had 23,000 in chips and I knocked out David Grey. I felt pretty good. The table really tightened up as we got close to our goal of 650 players left. I used that to my advantage and built up my stack by playing aggressively. I seemed to be winning about 1 out of every 7 hands and we were 10-handed. Every trip around the table I seemed to have more than the trip before. I was pretty happy with where I ended up with 26,775. I played for about 12 hours, got KK once and never got AA but I managed to stay alive and keep my stack near the average. Can’t wait for Sunday. Ship it.

Still Strugglin

2005-06-30T04:08:00.000-04:00

I feel like making this blog into an entertainment blog since poker has been pissing me off lately. So on that note, I'll start with some short thoughts about some movies I saw. Batman Begins was great. It is probably one of my top 5 favorite movies of the year (Crash, Sin City, Mr. And Mrs. Smith, and Cinderella Man being the other 4). I'm usually not that into big-budget films but I thought director Christopher Nolan (Memento) was perfect on this one. Unfortunately, last night I watched The Longest Yard. Wow, what a disaster. I was embarrassed for everyone involved. I probably laughed at most 6 times. I am also a huge Adam Sandler fan. I have seen every one of his movies. That's right, every one. Even that stupid Going Overboard piece of crap. On Thursday, some of my friends came up to visit, which was fun. Chris Power, who posts about those amazing reload bonuses, came down and a couple girls from home, Ashley and Christie, came to Vegas and cheered me on. Ashley and Christie met Luke Walton and Richard Jefferson on Thursday and hung out with them all weekend, which was kind of cool. One funny moment came when Ashley told me she had talked to Greg Raymer when she was extremely intoxicated. She then proceeded to tell me that she told Greg we were married while not wearing a wedding ring (obviously). Greg went from first out of 7 people to out in 6th at his final table shortly after. I can only hope his weird conversation with my intoxicated 'wife' didn't throw him off. Fine, I'll talk about poker. I am currently 0 for 5. I haven't even made a dinner break. The limit event was a complete disaster. I was close to being the first out of the tournament, which is hard to do. But, then I made a miraculous comeback to my original chip count. At that time, the blinds were getting higher and I got committed in a pot with A T. I raised on the button after one person had limped. The flop came T 6 2 rainbow. The BB tried to check-raise me and I three-bet to see where I was. The turn came 3 and he check-raised me again!!!! I lost another bet on the river and he showed me trip 3s. He then told me he was gone on the turn if he didn't hit his 3. I freaking hope so!!! I was out soon. In my next event, the $1500 no-limit event I got off to a great start. I doubled up with a set early and then got sent to Phil Gordon's table. There was one hilarious moment when I raised with AQ of spades. Phil called. The flop came 9 8 2 rainbow and I led out for 3/4 of the pot. I used my best reverse tell which I won't reveal. I only use it against tough players and I obviously considered Phil and tough player. He folded and then a couple hands later someone commented that Phil was playing tight. He then said rather bitterly, "I would have had all that kid's chips if I hit my set." He was looking at me! It kind of caught me off-guard so I asked him to repeat what he said. He said he had pocket sevens and that if it came 9 7 2 instead of 9 8 2 I would have lost all my chips. He told me that he was sure I had pocket jacks. I couldn't help but laugh in his face. I mean, I didn’t even have a pair and I’d like to think I wouldn’t lose all my chips with JJ on that flop in the second level of the tournament. Phil Gordon was talking shit to me! He then repeated, "I'm sure you had jacks...or queens." At that point I was almost crying laughing. Is Phil Gordon a little girl? He later glared at the dealer when his A9 could only garner a split against A8 when the board came A K 3 7 3. Maybe he was just having a bad day, maybe he just wanted to find out information about my hand for later. He looked like a baby though. Unfortunately, I went card dead at the worst possible time and ended up getting all my money in with AKs against 99. The flop came with a 9 and that was all she wrote. I had a rough time in the $2500 no-limit tourney where I doubled up early again and then lost a huge pot with AQ vs. KQ in level 6. Two people at my table commented that they folded a king. Shocker, king on the turn crushed me. I was up against a short-stack and was committed after a pre-flop raise so that only took half of my chips. Later I re-raised a short stack with only the A T of hearts but I thought he was weak. He finally called the rest of his chips off with 6's. Of course I didn't win that one either. Later, when I was extremely short-stacked my JJ lost to AA and that was it. In the $2000 no-limit event I had a premonition that I would play well. In fact, my mom had a dream that I would win a bracelet. Within an hour I was down to 375 chips and was playing the worst poker of my life. I then re-raised the rest of my chips off with 22 and somehow doubled up. What a truly awful play, I know. I then doubled up with KK vs. QJ and then doubled up when I flopped an open-ended straight draw and rivered the straight. All of the sudden I was slightly above the average with 4000. I re-raised a player with 2700 chips when I was on the button with 99. He decided to make a stand with AJ even though he was just below the average in the 5th level. Of course, a jack on the river took most of my chips. One round later I raised half of my chips with 99. Only the chip leader called in the SB and we took a J J J flop. He checked and I moved all in. He didn't think about it much with AJ. I hate AJ. Oh well. 2 events to go. I'll post again later. If you made it to the end of this entry you win the right to knock me out of my next event. Good luck with my chips.

My First Event

2005-06-23T03:57:00.000-04:00

Howdy gang. I know I haven't posted in a while, but there is a very good reason. I just didn't feel like it. But, since I'm in Vegas for the WSOP I thought I'd ramble on about some of the events I've been playing in case anyone cares. My first event was the $1500 No-limit Shootout which took place on Friday June 17th. For those of you who don't know, a shootout is a sit-n-go/single table satellite format tourney where to advance you must win your table. The only player I recognized at my table was Mickey Appleman who has a number of WSOP bracelets. We all started with 1500 worth of chips and when play began 3 people at our table had not shown up. Blinds started at 25 and 25. My first hand was 4d 6d on the button and I raised to 75 after one person had limped from middle position. The BB and the limper called. Both players checked a flop of Q J 7 so I threw out a bet of 150. The BB called and the other player folded. When another Q hit the turn the BB bet 250 into me. I didn't feel he was very strong but I didn't feel like going broke on the first hand of the WSOP for me so I folded. The next hand I limped in with Qd Td from the cut-off and 6 of us took a flop of Q T 2. One player in middle position bet 100 chips and I raised to 300. I think there were 2 clubs on board so I wasn't thrilled about letting too many players see the turn cheaply. Only the original better called. When a 4 of hearts hit the turn he checked to me and I bet 500. He folded and I was now second in chips at the table. Of course I get QQ the very next hand and I decided to just limp because I was a little wary of the UTG player who limped also. The flop of A A K didn't really help my hand much so I check-folded. The next hand I got QQ again and decided to raise to 100. At this point I was wondering if I was ever going to sit out a hand. The cut-off raised it to 350 and I just called. My thinking was that I was so aggresive that my man would call an all-in with AK which is what I put him on. I decided to let him bluff at me if he missed the flop. Of course the flop came K 8 6 so I went ahead and checked. He bet 200 into a 750 pot which seemed awfully small. Please call Matt! I decided to wait for a better spot and folded. I was down to about 1300 in chips after the first 4 hands of the tournament. I really slowed down after that and picked my spots. Mickey Appleman was directly to my left so I didn't get too out of line. I managed to get my stack up to about 1900 with 6 players remaining at the table when I got involved in a big hand. The blinds were 50-100 and I had As 8s in the cut-off. I made it 300 to go and the BB called. The BB had by far the most chips at the table. He probably had 6000 while the next closest player had maybe 2800. The flop came 9s 7s 3d. The BB checked to me. I decided that I wanted to take the pot there so I made it 500 to go. The BB then moved all-in like a shot. I counted out that I only had 1100 chips left which would go into a pot of 3850. I only needed to win the hand 29% of the time to make this a profitable call. More importantly, this is a winner take all table. I knew (obviously) that I was behind with just an over and the nut flush draw but if I fold here I have 1100 chips and just as important - the chip leader has 7000! I didn't think too much before I threw the rest of my chips in. The BB turned over pocket 9's and I was in worse shape than I could have ever thought possible. The turn and river brought no help so I went to the rail (translation: strip club). If I had to do it all over again the only thing I'd do different is that I'd get my final chips in a little bit faster. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose - that's poker. I'll post about the $2,500 limit event when I feel like it.

False Tells

2005-05-04T12:51:00.000-04:00

This comes from a question I received about using false tells. Here is one example of a false online tell I will use.

yes - i do use false tells.

generally they only work against really good opponents who would actually notice online tells (online tells are harder to notice as there is less information to convey to your opponent. ie: they cant actually see you, just your betting pace and amount).

it really depends on the game. i try to just think about what i have done earlier in the game, or against that player at another time.

for example: lets say on the turn in a heads up game against a really aggressive opponent i have top pair, weak kicker (or some fairly marginal hand) he may make a large bet on the turn and i may just decide that i think my hand is the best and i am going to call him here (i WONT raise here because he will only call if he has me beat).

now, lets say it takes me awhile on the turn to decide what i want to do. i may use up almost all of my alloted time to decide. assume the player is bluffing, and he fears i have a monster hand so he checks on the river. he sees that i have top pair with a weak kicker, and thinks to himself - "i probably could have bluffed him off that hand." (which he probably could have)

later on in the match, or sometime against that player, i may use this false tell. if i have a MONSTER that i want to slowplay, i will play it the same way. I will not only slowplay it, i will use a lot of time to 'think' about if i want to call on the turn (or flop or whenever). this player will be very likely to think i have that same marginal hand again, and continue to bluff.

this is just an example of using natural tendencies the other way around to trick players. i would be interested to see if anyone else has some examples that they use.

taylor

Answer to Zac's Question

2005-04-27T19:54:00.000-04:00

Zac Wrote:

Hey Taylor, I'm currently playing $5/$10 HU SnG's at UB looking to improve. Eventually, I want to play higher cash games. What's the most important things you learned from HU SnG's that helped make you a great cash game player? Also, what do you think helped improve your HU the most? Thanks in advance.

This question hits home for me as this is just how i started to play poker online.

The are a TON of things to learn from HU SNG's. I would recommend anyone that has a basic knowledge of NLHE to start playing these before they dive into the cash games.

First, you get to play a TON of hands. Playing one on one you should be playing maybe 8o% of hte hands you are dealt. However, along with playing a lot of hands, you should be noticing some things. Simply put, higher cards win more pots than lower cards. Same thing goes with pairs. You will start to see that hands with just one face card and a 2 or 3 just dont win too many hands. You basically have to hit your big card to win.

You should also concentrate on how opponents play their hands. When an opponent shows down a huge hand like a full house or something, go over the hand history and look at how he played it. Most poker players tend to check their big hands trying to trap the other player. Look at peoples tendencies. You can get a feel for how 'the average' player plays his big hands. Also, when you see a monster hand, think back to any pauses or inconsistencies in the way the player was playing. Did he make the bet really fast? Did he pause? Most times a player with a HUGE hand will change his pace a little bit because he will either A) bet really fast because he knows what he wants to do (bet) or B) wait a little longer because he is unsure of how to play it. If a player is usually chatting, or never chatting, changes in this might also tell you something about his hand.

You can go through the same rundowns of players when you catch someone in a bluff. Basically you just want to make a mental profile of what the average guy tends to do in different situations. You also want to make sure YOU are never doing these things either.

You should focus on playing hands in position as well. it cant be stressed enough in poker to play a hand in position as you have a lot more information with which to act on. When you raise a hand preflop and you are in position, you should make a bet near pot sized about 3/4 of the time. Sometimes if you flop middle pair or if you have two overcards you might check just to keep your opponent off balance. BUt you need to get in the habit of following up a preflop bet with a bet on the flop in order to try to win the pot there.

Once you start to do well at these games, you can start to move up in stakes. See my bankroll management posts for information on that. Once you start to master the higher stakes games, you are probably ready to try to apply this knowledge at the cash games. Along with playing these HU SNG's, you should be playing some full table SNG's too to get experience in full games.

Hope that helps, keep the questions coming.

Taylor

I'm Back....Sort Of

2005-04-25T18:37:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the big delay in posts...I've had a crazy spring so far. I am going to be taking a lot of time off of poker this summer (maybe an hour or two a day at night) because I landed an internship in New York. I figured the opportunity was too much to pass up even though it will cut into my short-term bottom line.

I would however like to talk some poker with you all still. Right now I don't have anything in particular I want to talk about, but I'd like to leave this page open for any questions anyone might like me to answer. Anything about no-limit cash games, situations, or poker in general I'd be glad to (try) to answer your questions!

And yes - I did make the "wall of shame" for that website that lists online poker players results! I had a terrible ferbruary/early march where I probably lost close to 40K. The 25-50nl game has brutal swings. If anyone has been watching lately though, things have definitely picked up as I actually had two amazing sessions a week or two ago where i made well over what i lost in the previous month or so in 48 hours. Unreal! Poker is so weird sometimes.

Anyway, throw some questions my way. I'd be glad to help!

Taylor

Party Poker Bonus Codes

2005-04-16T19:41:00.000-04:00

Here are a few lesser known Party Poker bonus codes:

$100 Igmpay Bonus: This bonus is a 20% deposit bonus up to $100. It is open to all accounts, old or new. The bonus code can be used one time for each Party Skin (Party, Empire, Intertops, Multi, Pokernow except eurobet).

Igmpay is Party’s version of neteller. Like neteller you register a bank account with Igmpay and they withdraw and deposit directly from your bank account. If you play on the party network I would suggest setting this up. It is free to sign up and usually takes 3 to 4 business days to verify your account. Igmpay will make two small deposits to your bank account to verify that it is valid. You will need to keep track of these numbers because you will need them to re-verify your account at each skin. You can use the same bank account for each skin.

Once you have your account verified you are going to want to make a $500 deposit and enter the code “IGMPAY”. Then send an email to support stating you made a deposit with Igmpay and would like your 20% bonus. They should put it in your account within an hour or so. You will have to play 5 raked hands for every dollar of bonus (Intertops X 7). Some of the smaller skins like Intertops and Multi might be reluctant to give you this bonus. Just keep sending emails till you find a CSR that will credit you with the bonus. I would send a new email each time I was turned down. Do not attach the old reply with the denial. I think it took me 4 emails before I received the bonus from Intertops. Here are the email addresses to support for each site. If you would like more info on signing up for each skin read this post.

Party: info@partypoker.com
Empire: info@empirepoker.com
Intertops: info@intertopspoker.com
PokerNow: Info@pokernow.com
Multi: info@multipoker.com

$100 Compbonus: This is a deposit bonus open to accounts exclusively on party poker. It does not work at the other skins. This code is valid for both old and new accounts. The bonus is 20% up to $100 Type the code “COMPBONUS” when making your deposit. You will need to make a $500 deposit to get the full bonus. This code is not a published code. It is party’s code for support when they screw something up. If you do not get this bonus automatically credit to your account then you may have unknowingly already used the code. Unfortunately since this isn’t a code you are supposed to know about you can not email support to complain that you were not credited with the bonus. If the bonus does not appear in your account after you deposit you are one of the unlucky few. This code should work for about 90% of accounts.

Your Next Great Poker Education

2005-04-08T11:00:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, I’m back after a long break from posting. Reading other blogs, I constantly see posters apologize for a lack of posts. Unfortunately you will not see many apologies from me. I always have many things going on in my life and since posting is the least profitable thing I do, it gets the back seat when things get hectic. However, I really do enjoy posting and once law school finals are over as well as a much needed vacation, I will get back to posting three times a week. So please stick with us here at ‘ShipIt!’ And remember that while we have busy lives and do not get paid for posting, good things are on the horizon for this site.

I post today because of this comment I saw attached to one of Chris’s posts.

My comment has nothing to do with this post. I have a problem with leaving when the game goes bad. Often I'll stay in the game until I really can't play anymore. I guess I like to play too much and my competitiveness makes me stay in the game even if I sense other players are stronger than me. Perhaps you guys could make a post on a poker players discipline. Thanks.Phillip Liou 04.06.05 - 1:13 am

Phillip,

Lately I have not been spending much time at all at the poker tables. However the break has given me an opportunity to see poker in a way that is impossible when completely immersed in it. Poker can completely chaotic at times. Bad beats, tough beats, cold cards, bad bluffs, bad play, and a thousand other variables can make poker seem uncontrollable. When things are running good, poker can seem like the easiest thing in the world. Just a few hands later when things are bad, poker can seem unbeatable. I have posted about the following mentality before, but I will now put a slightly different twist on it. The following is how I believe that all good poker players have to start seeing the game to become long term winners and avoid tilt and frustration.

In the beginning, a new poker player must master odds, hand rankings, position, tells, and overall strategy. This is consuming and takes a very long time. However, once it is mastered, only small tweaks are necessary. The player’s next big education is learning to control their mind and emotions. Millions of poker players have reached a sound level of proficiency and grasp of the game. However, as long as any player plays poker, the following situations will occur.

1) KK v. AA
2) Getting sucked out on with AA
3) Boat over boat
4) Set over set
5) Flush over flush
6) Suck-outs

Simply put, a player can play ten hands in a row perfectly and lose their stack on each one. However, remember the following sentence each time you are the victim one of pokers most frustrating hands. In the long run tough beats are a push, and you will be on both sides the same amount. You must understand this because these hands will come up the rest of your poker career. There is good news; these hands do not determine a winning poker player. What does determine long-term success is preventing mistakes that come from some type of tilt. Once a player has a certain grasp of the game, roughly 90% of mistakes come from being emotional or tired.

If you know the ins and outs of the game, change your focus. Work on the next great challenge, always putting your ‘A’ game forward and controlling tilt. If before, when you were studying poker you worked on strategy 90% of the time and mental aspects of the game 10%, REVERSE IT. Put everything you have into making yourself the best possible mental player you can. Please re-read this paragraph before I give you the good news and the bad news. I’ll give the bad news first: Becoming a mentally tough poker player on a world class level is easily twenty times harder than learning poker strategy. However the good news is that mastering the mind is the true secret to poker and anyone can do it. If you use sound strategy at the table and are mentally tough you will be a winning poker player.

Now you know your next great education and journey in your poker experience, but how do you do it? When I return to posting I will first finish The Heads Up Doctrine. However, after that my next great poker undertaking will be entitled…Poker: A Game of Controlling the Mind, which will be a series of posts that break down how to be mentally tough at the table. In the meantime, next time your quads get beat by the runner-runner straight flush remember that those hands even out in the long run. What does not even out in the long run is the amount of time a player makes mistakes while on tilt. Work hard on controlling your mind at the table. ShipIt!

Empire Reload for April

2005-04-05T23:06:00.000-04:00

Empire is currently offering a 25% reload bonus up to $150. Just deposit between Wed. April 6, 2005 at 00:00 EST and Sunday April 10, at 23:59 EST. Enter Bonus Code "EPmania" with out the quotes when depositing. You will need to make a $600 deposit to get the full bonus. For every dollar in bonus you will have to play 7 raked hands. To clear the full bonus you will have to play 1050 raked hands. You will have 7 days from the time of your deposit to play the required hands. For some people this is a lot of hands to play in a week. Playing full ring limit holdem I average roughly 35-40 raked hands an hour per table. Playing 3 tables at a time I usually clear a bonus like this in 10 hours.

You can combine this reload bonus with the new player sign up bonus. They are currently offering new players a 20% bonus up to $100.Click Here to get this Bonus. You will need to make a $500 deposit to get the full bonus. You will have to play 5 raked hands for every bonus dollar. To clear the full bonus you would need to play 500 raked hands. If you already have an account on the party network and are having problems signing up for an empire account read this post.

If you are considering playing both bonuses I would suggest not doing the deposits on the same day. I would make the initial deposit for the new player bonus then try to clear that one before the reload bonus expires then making the second deposit for the reload bonus. That way you won’t have to play 1550 hands in 7 days. If you are a new player you will have to claim the new player bonus before the deposit bonus. Any hands played will go to the sign up bonus until it is cleared and then hands after that will count toward the reload bonus.

Lil' Dean Goes Down

2005-04-01T00:57:00.000-05:00

I've talked about how my brother, Drew, is a pretty good poker player. Pretty good meaning he's taken me out of the biggest tourament in the world, The World Series of Pikes, in which I finished an impressive third. Last week my brother called me with a horrible bad beat story during a qualifying tournament online when I was throwing down a few drinks. He was in 11th place with 19 people to go and gets KK in the big blind. Blinds were at 1000/2000 so Drew made it 4000 to go. He had about 45,000 in chips. Under the gun, who had limped, called immediatly. Everyone else folded. Flop came 8 9 3 rainbow. Drew went all in. In one millisecond, UTG called with 10 7 suited. As you can probably guess...yeah, 6 on the river. Tonight my brother calls me again. Same type of tournament, I'm still drinking. He's the short stack at his table with 4,000. Blinds at 300/600. Drew gets AA in the big blind. Three callers so Drew pushes all-in. Table leader calles with 9 6 suited. Flop comes 676. Drew now has to buy a new computer, or at least that's what I think cause he was throwing stuff all over his room. Let me say this: to win a tournament, you have to get lucky. You have to win with your draws, win with your big hands, win on the river and swim like a shark. So keep your head up little brother, you'll be at the Series this year. Of course, you'll probably be watching me win it. Ship it!

The Party Skins

2005-03-28T17:22:00.000-05:00

Well I just finished playing off Party’s March reload bonus. 1400 raked hands is a lot of hands. It took me about 15 hours of playing 3 tables of .50/1 limit holdem to clear the $200 bonus. Now that this out of the way it is time to find the next juicy bonus. I think I am headed over to Intertops Poker a new Party skin I just found. Don’t know what I am talking about? I will try to explain.

The party network is actually a network of 5 poker sites all playing on the same servers. Each site is called a party skin. The party skins are Party, Empire, Intertops, PokerNow, and Eurobet. If you are playing on Party you might be sitting at a table with someone playing on Empire or any of the other party skins. The software for each site is almost exactly identical. The only difference is the look of the table. Each site offers their own bonuses and other promotions. Each bonus code is specific to a particular site. If you enjoy playing on party poker then you have no excuse for not having accounts at all 5 sites.

Party has designed their software to make it difficult for players to create accounts at multiple sites. They do not state that you cannot have accounts at all sites. They just don’t make it easy for you to do so. Once you have user accounts set up on each of the skins you will not have problems. You have 2 options when creating a new account on a party skin.

Option 1: For most this will be the easiest option. First find a computer that has never had a Party skin previously installed on it. This should not be very hard to do. Any PC with an Internet connection should work. Once you have found a clean computer follow one of the links below and download the skin you want to create a new account on. Install the software and set up a new account. You will have to create a new username because your old name is already taken by yourself. You are going to want to use all the same information as you did for the previous accounts. (I.E. same Name, Address, Neteller, etc). I wouldn’t use fake information because sometimes party will make you verify the information you have provided. Every once in a while party will call and ask you why you are setting up a new account. Just give them some BS answer. “ I like the freerolls offered at such and such.” They will say OK and leave you alone. I have never gotten one of these calls. Once you have setup your new account you are done with this computer. You can now head back to your main computer and play on the new site as much as you want. Just download and install the software on you main computer and login with you new account information.

Option 2: This option is for those that are comfortable messing with the windows registry. I would only use this option as a last resort. Any time you mess with the windows registry you are taking a chance of messing up your computer. First you need to disconnect from the Internet. If you have dial up make sure you are not connected. If you use broadband or access the Internet through a network unplug the network cable from the back of your computer. To make sure you are disconnect from the Internet try and visit a web page. If you can’t pull up a web page then you are not connected to the Internet. If you can still pull up web pages then you are still connected. Once you are disconnected from the Internet you will have to uninstall all of the Party skins Installed on your computer. You may want to back your notes and hand histories before uninstalling. Once you have deleted all the Party skins. Go to start then run and type in regedit. I would suggest backing up your registry before making any changes. Go to hhkey local machine then software then calculator. You are going to want to delete this entry. Save your registry and restart your computer.

If you are using windows xp do the following otherwise skip to the next paragraph. Xp users are going to want to create a new user account on your computer. Go to control panel then User accounts then create new user. Make them an administrator. Now log off and switch to the new user you created.

Connect to the Internet and follow one of the links below to install the new party skin. Make sure to reconnect any connections that were unplugged. Install the software and set up the new account just as you would have in option 1. Once you have set up your new account you can go back and reinstall the other skins you just deleted. You will have to follow one of these steps for each new skin you want to create an account on.

This is the order that I would sign up for the different skins. If your bankroll is not large enough to get the max bonus then I would suggest waiting till it is. Some of these bonuses are one time deals and you don’t want to leave money on the table. Just because you make a large deposit at a site does not mean that you have to play with all that money. Make the big deposit then wait 24 to 48 hours and cash out the majority of your initial deposit. The money can be back in your bank account within under a week.

Empire: Empire is the largest skin after Party. They are currently offering new players a 20% bonus up to $100. Click Here to get this Bonus. You will need to make a $500 deposit to get the full bonus. You will have to play 5 raked hands for every bonus dollar. To clear the full bonus you would need to play 500 raked hands. I would start with empire because they are one of the few skins that offer monthly reloads like Party. Cash outs from Empire are very quick. The average cash out to neteller takes 3 hours.

Intertops: is the next skin I would sign up for. Folow This Link and use bonus code "HAPPY2005" to get the bonus. You will need to make a $500 deposit to get the full bonus. You will have to play 5 raked hands for every bonus dollar. To clear the full bonus you would need to play 500 raked hands. Intertops occasionally offers reload bonuses but not monthly like party or empire. To cash out at intertops you first have to transfer your money from the poker room to the sports book. Once you have transferred your money login to the sports book and transfer your money to neteller. Transfers are slow and takes 4 to 5 days for the money to hit your neteller account. Remember your poker screen name and your sports book login name are different.

Poker Now: They are currently offering new players a 20% bonus up to $100. Click Here for the bonus.You will need to make a $500 deposit to get the full bonus. You will have to play 10 raked hands for every bonus dollar. To clear the full bonus you would need to play 1000 raked hands. This is not as good as the other sites but still doable.

Eurobet:. They are currently offering new players 25% up to $50. . Folow This Link and use bonus code "LOY25" to get the bonus.You will need to make a $200 deposit to receive the full bonus. You will have to play 5 raked hands for every dollar in bonus. You will have to play 250 hands to clear the full $50. You will have to transfer money from the sports book to your poker account and vis versa for withdrawals. Make you sure to write down any sign up information you are given. I have yet to receive a confirmation email from Eurobet even though I have deposited, played off the bonus and cashed out.

So this should get you another $350 not including any reloads these sites will be offering in the future.

Check your Party Account.

2005-03-22T20:11:00.000-05:00

Party offered certain players special bonus offers today. Login to you party account to see if you are one of the lucky bastards that got one of these bonuses. If are one of these lucky fucks then the bonus will appear in a pop up saying you get a bonus or it will appear under your bonus account. I apparently wasn’t cool enough to be blessed with one of these account specific bonuses. I mean I sell out this site and put up Party affiliate codes and you guys can’t even throw me a bone. What are you going to do next, take away my birthday? Hey my parents died when I was ten why don’t you write me an email reminding me of that! Thanks for nothing party.

Ok, now that that is off my chest. There appear to be 2 different bonuses party has decided to give to people other than myself. It seems if your account was empty then you had a better chance of picking up one of these bonuses. So I would suggest not keeping any money in your party account unless you are actively clearing a bonus. I would keep the money in Neteller or another skin/ site. (You like that party? I just told everyone to cash out their party accounts. Maybe next time you will think before you pass me over on a special bonus.) The first bonus is called MAR05RELEASE. This is a 15% bonus upto $100. You would have to deposit $666 to get the full bonus. If you did get this bonus you are going to hell for sure. The other is called MAR05CASHOUT2. This is $50 bonus for 500 raked hands. I am not sure if you can get both of these bonuses but if you did then I have a little secret to tell you. You are adopted and your parents don’t love you.

P.S. Anyone who posts in the comment section about how great it is to get these bonuses will be ridiculed off the internet. So don’t even think about it.

UB Reload Extended

2005-03-19T13:47:00.000-05:00

If you thought you missed the reload bonus at Ultimate Bet then you were sadly mistaken. Ultimate Bet has extended its current reload offer until Wed. March 23, 2005 11pm ET. For further details see the post below entitled Help Out the OL Bank Roll.

Party Reload for March

2005-03-18T19:35:00.000-05:00

Well I was hoping to have a little more time between post, but I had to let you guys know about the latest offer from Party. Party is the largest site on the Net and has more players at any given time than any other online poker site. Being the largest allows them to throw more money around than the smaller sites. I would say at least half of my bonus money comes from Party and the different Party Skins. Some people hate party and just refuse to play there. I used to be one of those players. I don’t particularly like the software and the players there are so fishy that they can put some of the most horrendous beats on you. That being said party is a gold mine. If you can avoid the tilt factor on the suckouts then you will soon fall in love with this site. After you clear a few of their bonuses you will soon forget about the less than stellar software and become immune to tilt on the suckouts.(Ok the suckouts are still going to be a bitch but they sting less and less each time) If you haven’t signed up for Party then I suggest you do so right now.

Party is currently offering a 20% sign up bonus up to $100 for new players. Just click here , Download the software and make your first deposit. You will need to make a deposit of $500 to get the full $100 bonus. You earn the bonus by playing raked hands. For every 5 raked hands you receive $1 in bonus. A raked hand is any hand you were dealt cards and party took a percentage of the pot. Not all hands are raked but most are. To check how many hands you have played go to cashier then click bonus account and it will show you exactly how many hands you have counted toward the bonus. To get the full bonus you will have to play 500 raked hands. The bonus expires if it isn’t cleared in 30 days. The bonus will be released all at one time once the raked hand requirements have been met. If you don’t play 500 hands in a month then I suggest depositing less than the full amount so that you can get some bonus. It takes me roughly 5 hours playing 3 tables of .5/$1 to clear a bonus like this one. So roughly 15 hours of single table play should clear the bonus.

Already have a Party account? They are currently offering a 20% reload bonus up to $200. Just deposit between now and Wed. March 23, 2005 at 23:59 EST. Enter Bonus Code "BONUSMAR" with out the quotes when depositing. You will need to make a $1,000 deposit to get the full bonus. For every dollar in bonus you will have to play 7 raked hands. To clear the full bonus you will have to play 1400 hands. You will have 7 days from the time of your deposit to play the required hands. For some people this is a lot of hands to play in a week. Playing full ring limit holdem I average roughly 40-45 raked hands an hour per table. Playing 3 tables at a time I usually clear a bonus like this in 15 hours. $13 an hour is pretty hard to beat when playing .50/$1.

You can combine this reload bonus with the new player sign up bonus. You will have to make 2 separate deposits to get both bonuses. Any cashouts prior to the reload bonus will void the bonus so you can’t pull your money out then put it back in just to get the bonus. If you are considering playing both bonuses I would suggest not doing the deposits on the same day. I would make the initial deposit for the new player bonus then try to clear it before the reload bonus expires and then make the second deposit for the reload bonus. That way you won’t have to play 1900 hands in 7 days. If you are a new player you will have to claim the new player bonus before the deposit bonus. Any hands played will go to the sign up bonus until it is cleared and then hands after that will count toward the reload bonus.

Well that should keep you busy for a little while. Two post and you have already picked up an extra $625. If you were fast enough to pick up the reload bonus at UB and don’t have enough funds in Neteller to do the Party reload I would suggest withdrawing your funds out of UB to Neteller and then depositing into Party. Cashouts from UB to Neteller usually take 2 to 3 hours. The bonus from UB never expires and it will be there once you are done with the Party Reload. Besides the Party reload clears at a much faster rate than the bonus at UB. I have a few other bonus codes for Party that not a lot of people know about but I will save those for a later post.

The One The Only

2005-03-18T18:57:00.000-05:00

Well I probably should have introduced myself before making my first post but I wanted to make sure that some of you were able to pick up the reload bonus offered by UB before it expired. Now that we have that out of the way I’ll give you a little background information on myself and how I hope to contribute to this BLOG.

My name is Chris and I have been playing poker for about 2 -3 years now. Matt, Lloyd and I all went to Southwestern University together. We all started playing poker about the same time, right around the time the first season of the WPT started airing. Matt and Lloyd seem to have progressed a little faster than I have but I can still hold my own at the table. I have never met Taylor but he is the resident badass at UB so hopefully I can learn a thing or two from him. Most of my post won’t be about strategy and will be more of a heads up about the hottest bonuses and promotional offers from the different poker sites.

I have been bonus hopping (I called it whoring in my first post but obviously that was too much for some of you railbirds to handle so I will call it bonus hopping from here on out) for about 2 months now and have setup a rather good system to take full advantage of all this free money poker sites are giving away just to play at their site. In the first two months I made $1400 in bonuses alone. I now know how to get even more bang for my buck and will most likely earn $1,000 this month and don’t see that slowing down anytime soon. When I am clearing a bonus I like to play 3 tables of full ring .50/$1 limit holdem or 2 tables of $1/2 depending on the site and the bonus. Multi-tabling does effect your BB/hour/ table rate but clearing the bonus at a faster rate more than makes up for the 1 or 2 bets lost due to multi-table play. I will say this if you are new to multi table play then start slow and work your way up. Don’t just jump in and start playing 4 tables at once, it can get a little hectic at times and takes a little time getting used to.

I usually play 2 to 3 hours of poker a day. The income I generate from bonuses is about triple what I make from players at the table. Unless you are playing $2/ $4 or higher you will probably be able to make more from bonus hopping than you will from table profit. This doesn’t mean if you are playing the higher limits that you can’t collect the bonuses, it just means the higher the limits you play the less the total income these bonuses represent. .50/$1 may seem like low limits to some but I just made the switch to limit holdem and am taking my time making sure I am a winning player at a certain limit before moving up. Prior to this I played 10 person $20 SNGs exclusively but made the switch to limit because I saw the kind of money I could be making by switching over. I plan to move up limits as soon as I am satisfied that I have mastered the limit I am playing. The eventual plan is to be playing 2 to 3 tables of $2/$4 or $3/$6. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

I’d like to take this moment to give a shout out to Little Kiki and Lee Dawg in A-town. With out them none of this would be possible. OK that last part was a lie. On a side note my birthday is Thursday and my favorite beer is Fat Tire. HINT HINT HINT.

What to do When Things go Wrong

2005-03-17T13:15:00.000-05:00

Many times during the normal course of a poker players career, things aren't going that well. This is inevitable. It can be the result of bad beats, bad cards, or other factors in life causing you to not play your best game. I wanted to talk today about what to focus on when you are going through a time like this. I feel it is very important to consider these things as sometimes to be a winning player its more important to minimize your losses than to just try to maximize your wins.

The first thing to focus on is pretty obvious, but it still should be mentioned. Tighten up the cards you are playing. When I am playing poorly, it is usuall a result of a combination of two things. Usually I am playing too loose, and also not catching any flops with these cards. Because of this, my table image suffers as I am in a ton of pots and am not showing down great cards. The only way to remedy this situation is to start showing down some big hands. However, since my table image is not good, I will not be able to pick up many pots unless I have a good hand. This takes away a lot of the value of playing these cards because I have to hit my hand in order to win a pot. Because of these reasons, playing tighter is necessary when things aren't going well at the table. Once you start winning a few hands, you can start to loosen up again. I would recommend throwing away any hands except for pairs, AK, AQ and maybe something like JTs.

You should also focus on playing in position more. This is something you should always do, but you should focus on it more when you are having a bad stretch of cards. Don't be afraid to fold a hand like AQ or AJ even if its unraised to you and you are in middle position. If you have a loose image, someone is liable to call from the button with anything and try to 'take the pot away' from you. However, if you have this hand on the button or cutoff, you should still be agressive with it.

Finally, I think it is important to take some time away from the game. Lloyd mentioned this the other day, and I agree with it. If you are having a terrible session, just quit for the day. I've talked about this before but I think some people lose sight of it. If you find yourself unwilling or unable to quit, it's probably a sign you have a gambling problem and poker probably isn't the best thing for you to be doing. Next time you are having a terrible session, make yourself stop before you really want to. If you can't stop, you should seriously consider if you have might have a gambling problem.

Help out the OL Bank Roll

2005-03-16T19:34:00.000-05:00

If you are just starting out, building your bankroll is going to be key in becoming a successful poker player. I will be giving you a few tips on establishing a solid bankroll through bonus whoring. If you already have an established bankroll then I will explain how to pick up an extra $500 to $1,000 a month just for doing what you are already doing, Playing winning poker. If you are currently playing at a poker site and not receiving some kind of bonus from the site then you are just throwing money away. If you aren’t interested in becoming a bonus whore then you don’t have to read my posts and can read the other great posts on this blog, otherwise let the whoring begin.

The first thing you will need is a Neteller account. I assume most of you have one of these already but if you don’t just go to www.neteller.com and sign up. It takes about a week to get your bank account verified but it is pretty painless and is the best way to move money between poker sites. Once you have your Neteller account set up you are ready to start bonus whoring. I would suggest putting at least $1,000 into your Neteller account. I like to have at least $3,000 floating between poker sites and Neteller at any given time. I know some of you don’t have or don’t want to invest this much in your bankroll at this time. If you can’t put $1,000 in I would suggest putting as much money as you can possibly spare into your account at this time. The more money you have in your bankroll the more money you will receive in bonuses. Don’t worry though, if you follow these posts your bankroll will explode with free money and by the end of the first or second month you should have a very healthy bankroll.

The first site I will discus is Ultimate Bet. This is by far my favorite site. Everyone that posts here plays almost exclusively on UB. The software is the fastest I have seen of any site and I have accounts at over 20 sites. If you haven’t signed up at UB yet this is the perfect time to do it. They are currently offering new members a 40% sign up bonus up to $200. If you want this offer just click here or on the banner to the left. Download the software make a deposit and you are all set. You will need to make a deposit of $500 to get the full $200 bonus. Yeah we get a few bucks for you signing up but you get $200 plus a great post later on how we blew through all the money we made from the site in Vegas on Hookers and Blow. Seems like a fair trade to me.

To clear the bonus you have to earn Ultimate Points by playing in cash ring games. For every 10 UB points you earn you clear $1 in bonus cash. At this time points earned in tournaments or SNGs don’t count toward the bonus. The best part about this bonus is it never expires and you receive the bonus money you earned as soon as you leave the table. You don’t have to wait around a week or a month to get your bonus. You get it in small increments every time you play. The higher the limits you play the faster the bonus clears. Another trick is to be one of the first people to sit at a table. UB will give you double points if you start up a new table. This means you clear the bonus twice as fast. The official rules for the bonus can be found at the site.

Already have an account at UB? They are currently offering a 25% reload up to $125. (The site says up to $100 but as erci pointed out it is actually up to $125) Just deposit between now and 11PM ET Thursday March 23th.(this was extended from March 17th recently) You will need to make a deposit of $500 to get the max bonus. You can do both the sign up bonus and the reload bonus. You will have to make 2 separate deposits but you can do them back to back. You will not be able to make 1 deposit and then cash out and make the 2nd deposit. The first cashout will void the reload bonus. If you don’t have the funds in you Neteller account but do have the funds in your bank account then you can do an instant Neteller transfer and UB will pick up the charges at no cost to you. Just be sure you do this through the UB software.

Once a bonus from UB hits your account it never expires. You can work through this bonus as fast or a slow as you like. Don’t want to play at UB right now? Just wait 48 hours from your last deposit and cash your money out. Neteller cashouts usually take around 3 hours tops. Your bonus money will stay in your account until you come back.

This is the first of many sites I will explain how to whore out. I will periodically be posting the best sign up and reload bonus so check back often. If you follow these posts then you will easily add an additional $500 to $1000 a month just by simply hopping from site to site picking up bonuses. Hell this is only your first site and you have already picked up $325 bucks. See how simple this stuff is.

New Poster

2005-03-16T19:22:00.000-05:00

A lot of our posts have referenced bankroll management and in fact have stressed the importance of it. Tonight, a new poster will give a different take on the subject than Taylor, Lloyd, or I. He actually generates most of his income from bonuses. He will show that even if you are a break-even player how to make money online. Chris Power is a good poker player that I've known for five years. He graduated Southwestern University with Lloyd and I and is a regular drinking buddy of mine in Houston. I expect, no I demand you give him shit in the comments section.

Be a Well Rounded Poker Player

2005-03-15T14:53:00.000-05:00

My laptop has now been broken for almost two weeks. I’m in the process of getting it fixed but things are going about as slow as Maurice Clarett. In the mean time I can’t play any poker and my only access to a computer is the computer lab at my school. Because I feel a little distant from poker strategy right now I would like to talk about the importance of being a well-rounded poker player.

I have read some articles about the common cycle that beginning poker players go through. Generally, in the very beginning the new player has a blast playing poker and sees it mostly as entertainment, with an unknown chance of winning money. Then the new player realizes how much skill is involved and he begins to study the game not unlike he would a subject in school. After the ‘student’ phase ends, the new player uses what he has learned, adds a personal touch, and comes into his own. Although this is a basic run down, I think this is about the transition I went through.

However, a concept that I have only seen written about once is the importance of being a well-rounded poker player. When I say well rounded I don’t mean throwing in triple draw and pineapple instead of just hold em, I mean well rounded in life.

Once you are in the final phase of the typical ‘poker education’ poker becomes less like a game and more like a job. However with a job, you only work for a set number of hours while poker can start taking up your life. Personally, I have had a lot of trouble with this in the past year. Poker can become very addictive when you win, however like in ‘Rounders,’ if you are not careful, you whole life can become one big grind.

I encourage all of you to look at how much time poker takes up in your life. If you constantly play poker instead of doing other meaningful things such as hanging out with friends or getting exercise, I firmly believe you will be benefited by addressing it now. As far as determining the correct balance, that is up to you.

I’m sorry if this comes across as depressing and don’t think for a second this post means I’m quitting poker. I’ll be back in Texas next week and Matt and I are heading down to Lake Charles on Friday for a nice little session. Any of you are welcome to join us; we will be the ones yelling “Ship It!”

Alive/Sorry

2005-03-13T01:30:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm alive. I apologize i havent been able to post because it is the week of midterms at U of I and for some reason I really care about them. I have three exams Monday, which is why I am sitting here saturday night studying. Expect me to start posting Tuesday or Wednesday, when I wake up from my sleep after the hell that will be Monday.

Aruba, Jamaica....ok well just Aruba

2005-03-11T23:04:00.000-05:00

Over the Christmas break I went to Aruba with my brother and my folks for a vacation. Was the fact that there were three casinos with texas hold'em mearly a coincidence? I don't think so. Aruba was sweet. I won one small tournament and made about $1500 even though I only played 3 or 4 days. My dad won a tournament also but the real star of the trip was my little brother, Drew (not that little - 22), who won 2 tournaments and finished 3rd and 4th in two others. He only played in 6 total tournaments also. He's turning into quite a player and won't let me forget it. Of course we had a deal before two of his big tournaments so I made a lot of money off of him. Thanks bro. Let's just say that most of the players in Aruba are terrible. "I had KJ - I had to go for it right?" I heard that phrase or one like it over 100 times. Anyways, sorry for not posting that much. It's been a rough week as I've been sick and Lloyd has been out of town. We think that Taylor is still alive but it hasn't been confirmed.

It was down in ole Virginny

2005-03-06T20:02:00.000-05:00

I traveled to the always exciting Georgetown, TX this weekend to hang out with some fellow alumnus of Southwestern University. It was 'Founder's Weekend' for our fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike), which was founded on March 1st a long time ago. While I admit, poker was not the main reason I drove 6 hours roundtrip, there was a poker tournament that I intended on winning. I first played hold'em because of the fraternity and we take the game very seriously. The tournament during Founder's Weekend and the one at the University's Homecoming are kind of a big deal in our fraternity. Admittedly, the Founder's tournament isn't as big as the Homecoming tournament but there is still a lot of pride at stake. I have never won a big Pike tournament and to my knowledge neither has Lloyd which is a fact that has not escaped the members of the fraternity. And, I'm sorry to say the losing streak continued for me. Lloyd was in South Carolina so it was up to me to take home the trophy and I came in 10th out of 16. Oh well, there's always next year. There were only 16 players at 2 tables and the prevailing thought was to hurry the tournament up so we would have more time to drin......hang out. We started with 1000 chips and blinds of 10 and 20. The blinds went up every 10 minutes so you had to catch some cards. My disaster hand was when I raised with AK of diamonds and got 2 callers. The board came 3 4 8 with two diamonds. There was about 350 in the pot and I had 1000 chips left but I only bet 250 and got one caller. The turn was the 3 of clubs and it went check-check. The river didn't help and we checked it down. I lost to 55. I played it terribly and it cost me. The blinds killed me as I didn't catch any cards. I ended up moving all-in with A9o and getting called by AK. See ya. My brother, who got 2nd out of 35 last time, is a very good player and got knocked out before me. That was about the only saving grace. Congrats to Josh Nowak who won after making a deal. Also, congrats to James Lundquist who was the defending champ and took 2nd place.

Adapting to Others: Mr. Tilt

2005-03-04T12:03:00.000-05:00

Heads up play, with the one on one format, constant action, and the ever-present possibility of being bluffed, is a very emotional game. Therefore, it is not surprising that another regular opponent that must be discussed is the player on tilt. This player can come to you from a few different places. First, this player can be a heads up player type already discussed that has simply lost his head and gone on tilt. Second, this player can be a regular full ring game player who has suffered an unfortunate hand or hands and now wants to get it all back quickly playing heads up. Third, this player can be a higher limit heads up player who has recently lost a significant portion of his bankroll and is now playing in a lower limit game with total disregard to the money before him. I think that while each of these players has some different nuances in their game, tilt is tilt and they play mostly the same.

Name: Mr. Tilt

Playing Style: This player bets and raises like South Carolina’s football players break the law. Pre-flop, this player will raise pot close to 100% on the button. Out of position this player will either raise pot pre-flop close to 100% of the time, or regain some sense and remember how important position is. Either way, a pot bet on the flop is almost a certainty if this player raised pre-flop. If he is simply called on the flop, this player will fire out as many bullets as he can when holding just about any hand. If raised, this player might re-raise if he has a decent hand, call if he has a weak hand, or fold if he has absolutely nothing. However, this player might also call with nothing for a chance to bluff on a later street. When facing a pre-flop raise, Mr. Tilt will call with or without position when holding almost anything. After the flop this player might bet pot when first to act, check raise, check call, or rarely check fold.

Strength: The thing about a player on tilt that too many card players forget is that they get the same amount of monster hands as you do. Yes it is easy to write off this player’s bets and raises as bluffs, but you just might be facing the stone cold nuts. Accordingly one of this player’s main strengths is his ability to make his opponents forget that sometimes this player is NOT bluffing. Mr. Tilt will bet the same amount whether he has trash or a royal flush, and the truth is, you never know what you are up against until the showdown. Another strength this player has is his fearlessness. With total disregard for money, this player will not think twice about jumping all over any sign of weakness in his opponent. Most sensible players are of course capable of picking up a huge pot with nothing when weakness is sensed, but with this player, it is the rule instead of the exception. This player’s final strength is his ability to get his opponent on tilt or just to play poorly. An example being that because Mr. Tilt raises 100% of the hands on the button, his opponent might get frustrated knowing Mr. Tilt is raising with trash. The player will then start calling pot raises out of position with hands like J7 suited.

Weakness: Well for one, this player has no respect for three slightly important things in poker: his cards, and his chips, and thinking. Because this player will constantly fire bullets, he will walk right into many slow played hands and shed many chips making dumb bluffs. Mr. Tilt’s opponent simply has to wait for a strong hand and let Mr. Tilt bet for him the whole way. Another weakness of Mr. Tilt is that he is a sucker for falling for his opponent’s induced bluff. This player falls for an induced bluff like Michael Jackson falls for…well that is just disgusting. Finally, Mr. Tilt does not think in a poker game and therefore does not really notice what his opponent is doing. If Mr. Tilt is facing an opponent who IS thinking about what is going on (you), Mr. Tilt is at another disadvantage.

Plan of Attack: Don’t forget to be selective in what you call raises with out of position. Yes it is frustrating constantly folding to inferior hands pre-flop. However in reality, you are going to get bluffed out of the hand later if you don’t hit your J7 on the flop. Even if the flop comes like 765, you might be put to a decision for all your chips. Be very selective out of position and only call with hands that you are prepared to go to war with when you hit. Also, don’t re-raise pot out of position unless you hold something like the top 5 starting hands. For one you will definitely get called, and secondly you know you are going to be put to a decision, as Mr. Tilt will make at least one stab at this pot. On the button you want to again be selective with starting hands but be aggressive when you get a good one. There is no point in raising with junk on the button because you know you will be called and probably bluffed out. Simply wait for a good hand and make him pay. When you do hit a monster either in position or out of position do one of two things. If out of position just let him bet for you. Raise here only if you are scared of him hitting an obvious draw on the board. If you have position, induce the bluff by under-betting or betting on the flop, then checking the turn. You will be surprised how well inducing the bluff works against this guy. Inducing the bluff against a player on tilt is one of my greatest joys in poker.

Notes: Tilt is a finite resource and you should always remember that a player’s mentality and style will change. Be prepared for this player to stop tilting and start playing well. However, you want to keep this player on tilt. Another one of my great joys in poker is showing a well-timed bluff to a tilting player. Showing a bluff to Mr. Tilt is like hitting a huge hornets nest with a stick. Sit back and wait for the explosion of fury. Two things should be remembered about this play. One is that it is tricky to bluff Mr. Tilt because he is crazy and might call or raise with 9 high. Two, there is no reason not to show a bluff to Mr. Tilt because he is already not thinking and probably won’t put to good use the information you give away. The last thing I will talk about when playing Mr. Tilt is that the swings are capable of being very high. Don’t play this guy under funded! Hey, you shouldn’t be playing under funded anyway but especially not against this guy. You are going to be forced to make many long calls with mediocre hands against this guy and the last thing you need to be worried about is losing your bankroll. Good luck!

On a personal note, my laptop mysteriously broke this week after my opponenet hit perfect perfect when we were all in on the flop. I'm kidding, my labtop broke but it had nothing to do with poker so it has been hard to write. I am also going on vacation for spring break next week and will be unable to post. However, thanks to all of you who regularly read us! We are currently thinking about some new ideas for the site and would love your input. Ship It!

Poker Tracker

2005-03-01T19:38:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know much about this software, I'd like to give a little recommendation on one of the best ways to improve your game. Poker Tracker is a program you can purchase that will keep track of all of the stats you can imagine at the poker table. I'd like to start by saying that I have no financial interest in this program whatsoever, I just love the program and think it is a great tool for anyone looking to improve their poker game.

Why use poker tracker you ask? I'll tell you why I like it so much. Poker Tracker uses hand history information to keep track of every player at the table's stats. You can figure out your hourly rate, BB/100, how often you saw the flop, how often you raised, how much each of the 169 possible hands has won/lost you, and much much more. You can also keep track of who the big winners and losers are, which is important when you are playing with the same players everyday (this happens at the higher stakes games more often than the lower stakes games). You can also use it to figure out what type of game best suits you. I have found that I have the best BB/100 in NL games where there are between 2-5 players. I still am a winning player at the full tables, but not by nearly as much. I have made a decided effort to improve my ring game play (full table) because of poker tracker, and I feel I am becoming a better player because of it. Next, it works great with UB with the hand history grabber program that you can download with it. This program grabs every hand history that you tell it to, just by running the program as well as opening the hand history box. All you have to do is import these hand histories, and you can see all of your stats.

I seriously recommend you check out pokertracker, at www.pokertracker.com. You can download a free trial version, and it will let you store up to 1000 hands for free. After that I think the software costs about 50 bucks. If you are playing .5-1nl, or 3-6 limit or above, buying this software is a no brainer in my opinion. The stats you see about your game, and your opponents will win you back your investment in a few weeks, tops.

Should you fold the best possible hand?

2005-02-27T21:39:00.000-05:00

The title of this post is slightly misleading and I'll get to that but stick with me. There are times in hold'em when it is correct to fold the best possible hand at the time. In Omaha there are plenty of possiblities where you can have the best possible hand after the flop and still be an underdog but it's fairly rare in hold'em for this to occur. One example I have comes from a hand I played a couple of months ago on PokerStars. I was playing in the $5/$10 no-limit game when I decided to limp in from the cut-off with A4 of hearts. 4 of us took the flop which came K J T with two hearts. This was a pretty big flop for me. I had 9 outs for the nut flush (maybe the J and T were hearts making a straight-flush possible I don't remember) and 3 queens for the nuts straight (not double-counting the Q of hearts). It was unlikely but not impossible that an ace may get the trick done for me also. I called a $25 bet from the big blind which put about $90 in the pot. My opponent and I both had begun the hand with about $1000. The turn brought an offsuit queen which gave me the nut straight and the nut flush draw. In other words, I was free-rolling my flush if I was up against another ace. My opponent bet out $70 at me and at this point I couldn't wait to get as much money as possible into the pot. I was praying that my opponent had an ace also. How much should I bet here? I didn't know much about my opponent but I hoped that he wouldn't fold an ace so I moved all in for about $895 more. Technically, my opponent can fold an ace here. It's a very close call though. If my opponent somehow knew I had an ace and a flush drawa than it is definitly the correct fold. You see, my opponent will lose the hand about 20% of the time and split the pot the other 80%. He will never win the whole pot. His expected value is therefore approximately 40%. The calculation is (20%*0 (you lose) + 80*.5 (you get half). He's being asked, though, to put $895 into what will be a $2020 pot. $895/$2020 is 44.3%. He should have an expected value of at least 44.3% if he's going to risk putting $895 into only a $2020 pot. The obvious argument against folding is that you can't be sure your opponent does have a flush draw here. Possibly your opponent has only the ace of hearts. Or, your opponent doesn't have a heart at all but doesn't think beyond the fact that he has 'the nuts!'. Oh yeah, in the actual hand my opponent called in a nanosecond. The river was the harmless 3c. I was a little confused but not at all disapointed when my opponent showed trip tens and I got the whole pot. Ship it!

Adapting to Others: The Maniac

2005-02-25T23:27:00.000-05:00

So far, four heads up opponents have been laid out.

1) Loose Passive
2) Loose Aggressive
3) Tight Passive
4) Tight Aggressive

Know these players and be able to recognize them at the table but also realize that most of the opponents that you play will probably combine many charateristics of these four player types. Some also might have new tendancies unlike any discussed.

My next few posts will examine some of these player types that don't really fall into any of the main four catagories. Today's player profile, entitled "The Maniac" was actually written by Taylor Caby last summer.

Name: The Maniac

Playing Style: This Player raises on the button at least 80% of the hands. This player could raise any hand, ranging from low suited cards, to big pocket pairs. After the flop, this player will continue to bet out and probably on the turn if they have any sort of hand. If "The Maniac" has any sort of hand he will call your reraise, sometimes rightfully so because his opponent may start to play back with nothing. This type of player offers a huge money making opportunity for the great heads up player, but comes with an extremely high variance in profit/loss.

Strength: This player’s strength is the fact that he is constantly putting pressure on the other player. If the other player folds too much, the aggressive player will win pot after pot, accumulating tons of chips. This player can also hit many ‘unseen’ hands that the other player just cannot put him on. For example, if he raises the pot with 36 suited, and the flop comes A36, if the other player holds an ace he could be in serious trouble. This player forces the opponent to make borderline decisions, which often results in long calls at the end of the hand. The aggressive player has a tendency to frustrate the other player, which can easily put him on tilt.

Weakness: If the maniac is not careful, he will run into a slowplayed monster by the other player. If the maniac is doing all of the betting, the other player just has to sit back and get paid off, before making a re-raise near the end of the hand. The maniac may also over value hands such as top pair or middle pair, due to the fact that it looks like such a strong hand because he is betting with nothing most of the time. He may run into kicker problems in some of the large pots, or may flop top pair but be beaten by a high pocket pair.

Plan of Attack: The maniac must realize that he cannot have his way raising every pot. If you want to beat this player, you must be willing to ‘mix it up’ with him. Remember, his cards are probably just about as bad as the ones you want to continually fold. The best thing to do is show aggression and don’t let up. If you have an ace, a pocket pair, or even suited connectors, don’t be afraid to re-raise him preflop. The proper re-raise here is usually the size of the pot, sometimes even more. If he is folding to your re-raises, start doing it with more frequency. He will start to realize what you are doing, but this is not bad. Remember, the key to heads up is to make the other player react to you. By using the re-raise, you are forcing him to react to you. If he starts calling your re-raises with marginal hands, you have basically turned the tables on him. What HE wants to do is make you call his raises with marginal hands, but now you are making HIM do this. This is the key to beating this type of player. Once you see the flop, you need to bet out at least ¾ of the pot no matter what the cards are. Put the pressure on him. You can reevaluate after the turn if he is still in the hand, but remember by this point he knows you would do this with any hand, so he may be calling these raises and bets without much of a hand. One thing you need to remember about this strategy of playing back at him is the fact that you are going to be the aggressor, but he will have position on you in the hand. Having the button for the rest of the hand is a huge advantage, so you must become proficient at playing a marginal hand well, out of position. There will be times that you just want to take a flop against this player. These situations can be tricky and involve much thinking. When you take the flop, check your hand, and he bets, you have a few decisions to make. If you have nothing whatsoever, fold. If you flop a monster, you should probably just call (such as holding KdKs on a Kc 4h 8d board). The tough hands to play are the ones where you flop bottom or middle pair. After this player bets, you should probably raise with middle pair and top pair almost every time. If he bets the pot, sometimes a min raise is all you need to get him to fold. If he calls these raises often, you should probably lead out on the turn with a ½ of the pot sized bet. The important thing is that YOU are making HIM react to your play, which can’t be stressed enough. Another example of a play you can make is raising on the draw. If you flop a good flush draw, straight draw, or both, check raise him on the flop. Lead out with a pot sized bet on the turn, and you will probably take the pot down. If not, you still have a chance to make your hand. Another thing you need to make sure you are doing to play this type of player is being almost as aggressive as he is when it is your button. You now will have the advantage of being the aggressor, as well as being in the best position on the hand. Although you won’t be limping in too often, there are players who will raise every time you limp in. Get a feel for if he is one of these players, and then react accordingly. Limp with anything, let him reraise you, and then raise him huge. He will give you credit for a monster, and will only call with something big himself. If he does call, you can give him credit for some sort of hand, but remember, you are the aggressor and he probably is giving you credit for a top 5 hand. Bet out on the flop regardless, and you should take it down unless he has a set or AK and hits an A or K.

Notes: If this is the type of player that raises over 80% of their hands preflop, and usually folds the rest, be VERY careful if he just limps in. Do not proceed if he starts betting with out 2 pair, a good draw, or better. Its just not worth it due to the fact that there is so little in the pot, and he has played the hand so differently than the way he normally plays. If you see him start to limp a lot, then you can start to make some looser calls as he probably does not have a big pocket pair. There are some advanced plays you can make against this type of player. You know he is going to be betting with anything on the flop, so you can effectively ‘take the pot away’ from him, without even making a raise. If there is a flop including an Ace, a pair, or other ‘scare’ cards, think about doing the following. He will probably make a bet out at the flop. Pause for a moment, and just smooth call. When the turn comes, if he bets again, check-raise him with whatever you have. He will only call here with a huge hand. If he checks the turn, you need to get gutsy. When the river card hits, bet 2/3 the size of the pot minimum, and try to ‘take this pot away.’ This looks like you have an enormous hand due to the fact that you were just smooth calling, making him think you were TRYING to look weak. To give this play its best effect, you should play one of your real hands this way, and then a few minutes later try this bluff.

The most important thing to remember is that you can’t let this person run you over. You need to make him know that you aren’t going to lay down and play passive. If you flop top pair, you cant give them a chance to hit an over card, you need to raise them and make them pay more to see the next card. The same should be done with middle pair, and big draws, in order to add deception.

I've gotten some feedback from some of you who are implementing The Heads Up Doctrine as well as heads up play into your poker aresenal. I have 100% confidence in these methods but at the same time realize it is a huge transition from full nl ring games. I also realize that I do not explain things as thoroughly as I could. If you are having success or trouble with any of the information I have covered, please post a comment or shoot me an email. I'd love to hear from you.

As always, thanks for reading.

Mailbag!

2005-02-24T20:47:00.000-05:00

This post is a little update on what you, the readers, have been saying. We have gotten many e-mails from you and I’m going to share some of them right here in my post. Without further ado I bring you our first mailbag.

hey guys, i want to thank you guys for maintaining your blog, the "your game" posts have really helped me fix some leaks headsup. it seems you concentrate your posts on ring games and headsup, do you think you could write about some strategy in small tourneys and sngs? thanks again, drew

Drew, I’m happy we could help you with your leaks. I hope your high school English teacher doesn’t read your e-mail though. It may kill her. Mix in the shift bar every once in a while. Oh yeah, definitely expect future posts on strategy in tournaments and sit-n-go’s.

Guys, I read your site and really enjoy it. I also publish a strategy blog focused on NLHE cash games and I am going to link to your site. if you like what you read at mine, please do the same. http://bettingforvalue.blogspot.com Tyler

Only because you asked nicely. Throw in some more posts though so that we don't boot you.

Hi guys,

Found your site via DoubleAs. I have to say, it’s the best Poker blog I have read (up there with The Poker Chronicles) and by far the most useful. I have read your advice on heads up play over and over and then I put it to the test last night. Now Im a winning player and a healthy one at that, but I am amazed at how I have won at all in the past after reading what you wrote. The bit about playing with the button seems to have somehow escaped me over the last 9 months. It is the greatest single bit of advice I have ever been given.

I hit 10/20 last night (above my usual stakes) and launched into heads up with a known good player who sits there waiting for his prey. An hour later, I was $400 up and he actually said ‘well played’. No-one who was worth anything has ever said that to me before and I was buzzing. I have NEVER been so aggressive. Thanks guys. You have improved my game no end and I will never miss another post.

Flintoff,
Pokerchamps player
England.

Flintoff, I’m glad we could help you. Hopefully you can continue your newfound success. I’ll e-mail you our physical address where you can send us 25% of all winnings. I think that’s the least you could do.

Fellas -Great info in your posts, I really appreciate it. One suggestion I have, as I am reading the 'player type' and other posts, you frequently refrerence previous posts. It would be very helpful to hyperlink them back, so readers can quickly jump back and get a refresher on that info. Keep up the great work. Thanks, Andy

Thanks genius. Now Lloyd links every other word of his posts. Do me a favor and never e-mail us again. Just kidding. Thanks for the support.

Matt,
I am looking for a relative named Matt Dean. Just wondered if it was you. Can't find out much about you on the internet. If you are the correct Matt...your relatives would live in Arkansas. Either way, will ya let me know? Thanks,Val

Val, that’s not me. Sorry. You wouldn’t happen to be 20-27 years old, single, and attractive would you? Remember, we aren’t related!

There were some negative e-mails too but I found those people and let’s just say they won’t be bothering us anymore. I was sorely disappointed with the fact that not one of you sent us pictures of attractive females. How are we supposed to churn out good poker advice if we aren’t inspired? Keep e-mailing us and we’ll try to do a mailbag like this once every couple weeks. We linked some other poker blogs this week also for you to check out.

Playing a Hand Fast for Deception

2005-02-23T22:07:00.000-05:00

Today I'd like to talk about a strategy that many good cash game players use. This situation comes up when you are in the blinds, and you flop a very good hand. Lets say in this case you hold K6 in the big blind, and it is an unraised pot. The flop comes out Q66. You know are holding just about as close to a cinch hand as it gets at this point. You reaslly are only worried about 6A, as QQ is highly unlikely given the betting preflop. Most weak players will check this hand in the big blind, wanting to look weak. I am going to tell you why sometimes this is not the correct play.
There are times when I am in this situation when I will bet out with this hand. Usually i will make a pot sized bet, or close to it. The reason i do this is because i want to trap anyone who is holding a queen, or may have slowplayed AA or KK. Most people rationalize, "why would the blind bet so strongly if he had a 6, he would rather check and try to slowplay it to get more value." This is the correct way to sometimes, but how much action do you expect to get if you check then call his bet, then check on the turn? Any good player will realize that you could very well have a 6. This is why betting pot works well here. Most opponents will think you have either a Q or a small pair, and are trying to protect your hand. If they hold a Q, they are probably going to go along for the ride. An opponent may take this strong bet as a sign of weakness, and try to re-raise you on the spot. If this happens, you have to decide if you think he will call a reraise, or if you think you should just call him here. If he doesnt raise, and just calls your bet, you should continue to bet hard on the turn. You could also check the turn if you are almost certain he will keep up with his "weak" read and make a bet himself.
The point here is that sometimes you need to make plays that other people think you wouldnt want to make. Playing a hand a strong hand very fast is something that many players just dont think you would do. Once you do this one time and win a big pot off someone, you can do it a few other times when you hold a draw or nothing as an attempt to bluff. You should continue to switch up your play and possibly slowplay a monster like this the next time you get one.

Adapting to Others: Tight Aggressive

2005-02-22T18:16:00.000-05:00

First things first, I would like to send a huge thanks out to these four gentlemen for pimping us on their websites. All four have personally endorsed us on their fabulous blogs and because of it we had over 400 visits yesterday and already 300 today!

CJ at Up For Poker
Mourn at Bad Beat Blog
Pokerprof at Las Vegas and Poker Blog
Alcanthang at Dead Money = AlCantHang

Thanks guys!

On another note I would like to thank Andy M. for his email pointing out how I need links in my posts so referenced prior posts can be easily accessed. I totally agree and hope this makes my posts more efficient to read.

As far as the Heads up Doctrine, this is the fourth player profile and the eighth overall post. I will also try to link all the prior posts in one place later, possibly after the "Adapting to Others" portion. Here is the "Tight Aggressive" player profile, not the most profitable heads up opponent you will find, but one that is beatable.

Name: Tight Aggressive

Playing Style: The “Tight Aggressive” player is one that is just beginning the transition from a full ring game to heads up. His sound ring game strategy is so ingrained that he will only raise on the button pre-flop with solid starting hands. Accordingly, his raises are similar to what a normal player would raise with in late position playing in a full ring game. His button raises are also proportional to what type of hand he has. A pot raise will probably be with hands like 99-AA and AK, AQ ,AJ ,AT ,KQ , & KJ. A min raise will be with suited connectors, low pairs, or two big cards like QJ or KT. Out of position, this player plays very tight and will usually fold to a pre-flop raise. However he will re-raise pot with many of the same hands he would bet pot with on the button and just call a raise with many of the same hands he would raise the minimum with on the button. From the flop on, this player will pretty much bet his hand. This player loves to bet hard when he has a monster.
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Strength: This “Tight Aggressive” profile is the first winning heads up player type that I have covered. That is because this player doesn’t get caught up chasing out of position, knows when to fold marginal hands, and knows how to get his money in the middle with the best of it. All heads up players should do these three things well. This player will eat alive a “Loose Passive” player, soundly beat a “Tight Passive” player, and probably beat a “Loose Aggressive” player more times than not.

Weakness: This player’s biggest weakness is his predictability. I was very specific as far as what type of hand this player raises with and re-raises with pre-flop but you would be surprised how accurate it is. A player that uses the Heads Up Doctrine, will pick up on this player’s tendencies and systematically pick up small pots while avoiding the big ones. However, most heads up players don’t critically analyze their opponent and that is why this player wins. He counts on his opponent not to realize that he only bets the nuts or close to it.

Plan of Attack: First of all, I like to raise min on the button about 80 percent of the time. There is no reason to raise pot because this player will fold all but good starting hands. Therefore you want to raise the least amount possible. On the flop you should almost always bet as this player will probably fold if he didn’t hit. This simple game plan on the button should start a steady stream of chips flowing your way. Out of position, if he did not raise it pre-flop and instead just limped, you should bet pot if you hit any pair. However if your bet is called, be prepared to give up on the hand. If he does raise pre-flop, fold unless you have a strong starting hand. If you have a great starting hand you can either re-raise pot or try to trap him as he might be scared away by a raise.

Notes: I feel a certain amount of respect for this player because I used to be him. Then I realized how important the button was and how if you are constantly aggressive, people will be far more likely to pay off your monsters. Maybe I realized this after I only won the blinds every time I had AA for four months. As far as beating this player remember two things: 1) Don’t pay off his monsters, his bets are pretty straight up and 2) Stay aggressive as this player does not like to call bets with nothing. Another tip I recommend is trying to be super aggressive at first and show some bluffs. If you can get this player on tilt you are in business. However, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t fall for it and definitely don’t expect him to tilt. If you are a manic on the button and he re-raises you pot one hand pre-flop after you showed a big bluff, DON’T THINK HE IS ONE TILT! If you do, you will almost certainly hear a “Ship it!,” it just won’t be coming from your mouth.

Read 'em and Weep - Part Deux

2005-02-21T15:05:00.000-05:00

Here is part two of my review on some popular poker books. I’m sure you’ve read most of the books I recommended from Thursday. Well, you’re in luck. I have some more here including my all-time favorite poker book. Check it out.

Hold em Poker - David Sklansky: This book is one of the first books a new poker player will pick up and for good reason. It begins with the basics such as which hand is the best and then moves to starting hand requirements. Hold em Poker for Advanced Players (which I’m not reviewing) by the same author is an extension of this book and goes into more subtleties. Both of these books are painfully boring though. The beginning poker player will sometimes quit halfway through the book or not bother to reread important sections. Perhaps Sklansky is too smart for his own good sometimes. Still, Hold em Poker is definitely a must for the beginning poker player. My rating: 8

Tournament Poker for Advanced Players - David Sklansky: This is actually one of my favorite books. I got a lot out of it. If you want to know when to throw away aces pre-flop or haven’t heard of the gap concept pick this book up. Of course, this book isn’t directed at cash games but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some very valuable information in the book. There is also a very interesting chapter about ‘The System’ which is a very interesting read. This isn’t as boring as Sklansky’s other efforts. My rating: 9

Caro’s Book of Tells - Mike Caro: If it’s good enough for Mike McDermott it’s good enough for you. I think Mike McD had the tape but you get the picture. This book covers what seems like one million tells that your opponent may have and is a must if you are looking to play at a casino. The tells involving five-card draw won’t help usually but this is packed full of valuable information. My rating: 7

Poker Nation: A High-Stakes, Low-Life Adventure into the Heart of a Gambling Country - Andy Bellin: Long title; short read. This book reads more like a novel with enough poker to keep you more than entertained. You won’t get much in terms of strategy (there is a little) but you need some variety in your life. The anecdotes are humorous and there is an interesting chapter or two about a couple who cheated at poker Gotta love that kind of stuff. My rating: 6

Moneymaker : How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker - Chris Moneymaker: I think the folks at Barnes & Noble caught on to my little game. A couple of them stared me down the other day and guilted me into buying this book. I didn’t mind though because I was hooked by the first chapter. This is a story about a rookie who plays in his first big live tournament and makes a lot of money. I obviously may be a little biased here. Moneymaker talks about what he was feeling throughout the tournament and on key hands. He also gives his background into poker and gambling which I’m guessing most people don’t know (I didn’t). Overall, this is a very good book. My rating: 8

Poker Wisdom of a champion - Doyle Brunson: This book was a collection of stories in the life of Doyle Brunson, each of which used to illustrate an important lesson regarding poker, life, or both. You also get a lot of the background on how Doyle got started in poker. I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though I knew a lot of the background. Some of the stories had me laughing out loud. One of my favorite stories was about gambling on a football game and didn’t have much at all to do with poker. It’s a quick read that will keep you entertained. My rating: 6

Championship no-limit and pot-limit hold'em: On the road to the World Series of Poker - Tom McEvoy & T.J. Cloutier: Most of my friends have heard me tell people this is my favorite poker book. Well, it still is. I read this book the week before I went to the World Series and it’s influence on me in that tournament can’t be overstated. The format is great, T.J. and Tom look at certain situations differently and explain the pros and cons of each side. It’s great for tournaments or cash games. I can’t say enough about this book. My rating: 10

Championship Tournament Poker - Tom McEvoy: I was pretty disappointed in this book. Maybe I missed T.J. chiming in or maybe it was that I read this after Championship no-limit and pot-limit hold’em. Either way I didn’t get much from this book. My rating: 2

It took about as much time to write these damn things as to read a new book. I hope this has been entertaining at the very least. Again, our site continues to get hooked up. This time it was the boys over at http://www.upforanything.net/poker/. Apparently we stole their three person format. Ship it! In all honesty though, they have a quality site that you should check out if you haven’t already. I’ll be commenting on some e-mails we have received in my next post and we’ll be adding some new links on Thursday so be sure to watch for that. That’s my equivalent of a cliff-hanger on a day-time soap opera.

Cash Game/Tourney Play

2005-02-20T15:55:00.000-05:00

Many players don't really know the differences between cash game play and tournament play. Today I'm going to talk about some observations I have made that may help a player deciding on which to focus on.

The obvious difference is that in a tournament you cannot rebuy. You must always be aware that on any hand (in NL) you can lose all of your chips. This will cause you to play very cautious at certain points, as sometimes it is simply not worth taking a risk on losing your chips, even if you think you are a favorite. An example of this is early in the tournament when you are holding AK. There are certain players that will push all in with a wide variety of hands just because they have watched the WPT and think this is how you should play (this IS how you should play at some points, but only late in a tournament and if you are short stacked). You know that when this player pushes in for a huge reraise, he probably has a pocket pair, and maybe has AK, AQ, or even AJ. Your call is most likely +EV due to the fact that there is probably a 15-20% chance he has Ax, and the other hands are just about 50/50. However, this is not a call you can make. It's just not worth risking going broke as you can pick a better spot to take advantage of this player later (IE when you have AK and see a flop, and he goes all in when you flop an Ace..here you are most likely at least 75% to win). This is an obvious point to many players, but it illustrates the fact that in tournaments you have to play much more cautiously. In a cash game, you would probably make this call depending on the other player. First of all, if a player goes all in like this for a huge reraise, he probably doesn't have AA or KK because he would usually try to milk it for more money. Second, a player willing to make an enormous raise in relation to the pot usually doesn't grasp the way to play in a cash game (aka has watched the WPT like the previous tourney player). We can deduce that if they are this type of player, there is a wide variety of hands they could be reraising with.. a few of which AK totally dominates (Ax), some which AK is a pretty large favorite over (JsTs, etc), and some in which AK is almost a coinflip (pocket pairs), add this all up and we can see that this call is +EV in this situation. Let me reiterate that this is against a weak player....if a known tough player makes this move i would think very hard about calling with AK, and most likely fold. These examples show just how different you can play the same hand in a tourney/cash game. It should also be noted that if you are playing with a short bankroll in a cash game, this call with AK would not be recommended. Although it is a +EV play, the variance that comes along with it is very high. You might lose 8 or 9/10 of these, before winning a bunch in a row. If you are on a short bankroll, you would need to pick a better spot (note: see how important a large bankroll is?).

The big difference in the way i play in cash games and tourneys is the type of pots i like to play. In cash games, i'm usually trying to build the pot as big as possible, because i feel i can make the best decisions and want to get as much money into a pot (that is, when i WANT a lot of money in the pot) as i can. In a tournament, I'm much more cautious. Even though i still have total confidence in my abilities of outplaying the other player, I don't like to play unreasonably big pots because of the fact that one bad card and i can get broke.

Here is an example of how i would play a big hand differently in cash game and a tourney. Lets say i have 77 and i rasied preflop. If the flop came down 723 and i was playing a cash game, there is a VERY high probability that i will make a pot sized bet on the flop. I want them to think I am trying to buy this pot (as i often do). There are many players who will call with ace high here, because often times it is the best hand. And on the turn, i will usually fire out with a pot sized bet too (sometimes i will slow down, or even check, just to stay deceptive). The point is i don't care if i scare the people out of the pot, my style of play is very aggressive and i know that eventaully a player is going to catch a small piece of the flop and decide that i am probably bluffing. They may even raise me with nothing, in which case i will probably slowplay the rest of the way inducing a bluff. The point is, it is very rare i will slowplay in this situation even with the nuts, as it just is too hard to build a big pot and it gives them chances to beat you.

In a tourney, i would play this hand diferently probably. Since I am playing tighter in a tourney, i will see less flops and have less chances to make big hands. When i get a hand, i need to maximize the value of it. Even though i could win the biggest pot possible if i bet pot and get called, i will either bet less than the pot or check with this hand, so that i can almost always get something out of the other player. The reason for this is because of the nature of tournaments themselves. If the player has a mediocre hand after the flop, he would probably fold to a large bet because he is worried about losing his chips. If i make a bet that is half the pot, or check, he will probably be sucked in because he thinks he has the best hand. I can continue to bet bigger and bigger as the hand progresses, in order to get the best value for my hand. Now, if i am playing against a tough player, i may be more apt to bet larger because he may view this as a bluff or may want to make a play on me.

To summarize, when you are playing cash games there is rarely a reason to slowplay even a monster. You shouldn't be afraid of going broke, so you should be aggressive most of the time. This should carry over to your monster hands as well. In a tournament, you are afraid of going broke, and you won't have as many chances to get monster hands so you should try to maximize their value, even if it might cost you a little bit in EV.

Adapting to Others: Loose Aggressive

2005-02-18T17:38:00.000-05:00

Wow, I continue to be amazed by the support we have gotten for this site. The first time I ever played poker, it was for entertainment. When I first started to play ‘serious’ poker about three years ago, I did it to have a positive expected value. Financially, I guess I was right. Poker could not become a big part of my life if I was continually losing money. However, like the rich man with no friends or family, a poker player that approaches the game with only money in mind is not complete. The reason I am apart of this blog is to add to the poker discussion as well as to meet new people and hear new ideas. So far my expectations have been exceeded and I am very excited about the future. Thanks for everyone’s support, comments, and emails.

This is the third player profile in the Heads up Doctrine. The loose aggressive player is the toughest player examined so far. However, one that is very beatable. Possibly more than the other profiles, the Loose Aggressive profile is more a theory than an actual player type. This is because most players can be loose but on different streets or with different hands. However, I firmly believe that if you understand the concepts in this post you can adjust to the nuances of any semi-Loose Aggressive player that you come across.

Name: Loose Aggressive

Playing Style: The Loose Aggressive player is probably the most fun player type on the heads up scene. This is the because of the amount of action he creates. On the button, this player loves to raise pre-flop up to 80 percent of the hands. He will then fire bullet after bullet if not bet into or raised. Sometimes this player will mix it up and check on the flop or turn but then make a huge bet on the river. Either way, playing against this player out of position is very hard because many times it is just a guess to see if your hand is good as this player could have anything at any time. Out of position, this player will call pre-flop raises with reckless abandon. He will also bet at any time, like first to act on the flop, or he will re-raise to put you to the test. Either way, with his raises and your raises, the average pot is usually larger than usual increasing pot odds, the temptation to bluff, and the temptation to call down a huge bet.
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Strength: This player can quickly accumulate chips because of his aggression. This works for three reasons. One, his opponent might start to always think he is bluffing and then start to push marginal hands. Two, continually calling and firing bets can become very frustrating in heads up. Most players are not use to such an aggressive style and are not exactly sure the value of their hand when playing against him. All it takes is one unseen hand or a bad beat to go on tilt. Third, the variance when playing this type of player is much larger than with any other opponent. This can also make a good player go on tilt because while the Loose Aggressive player is probably comfortable with this variance, many other players are not.

Weakness: It requires great skill to continually call raises out of position with mediocre hands and expect to be a winning player. The loose aggressive player thinks nothing of calling a pre flop raise out of position with a hand like A3o. From previous posts I hope you know why this is a bad situation to be in. Therefore, this player will leak a lot of chips out of position. When he is on the button, he will continue to fire bullets. (A quick note: I realize I constantly use ‘he’ instead of ‘she’ or even ‘they.’ I also realize that many of the great heads up players out there are women. However, I’m simply too lazy or not smart enough to change it. If this offends you, please email the site and we will discuss it.) Continually firing bullets is a style that is very easy to trap. Most players realize pick up on this pattern and simply let this guy do their betting for them. Another weakness that this player might have is to slow play his monsters. Let us say this player raises with 44 on the button and hits a 4 on the flop. This player might check and try to induce the bluff. What this player doesn’t realize is that his prior aggression is what sets him up to rake in a big pot here and the correct move is to bet!

Plan of Attack: The “Your Game” posts are a solid way to beat this player, with a couple of adjustments. One the button, like the Loose Tight player, you want to narrow your pre-flop raising hands a little bit. The reason for this is that since this player calls too much, you want to make sure that when the money does go in pre-flop, you have the best hand. Also, you have to raise the pot pre-flop, min is simply not enough. On the flop, I recommend the strategies discussed in “Your Game.” Yes this player is aggressive but no one takes away your control on the button! When you are the button, you are the master of the hand. Of course if something is not working and he continually re-raises you on the flop, you can bet less often, but still you want to be the aggressor on the button. This is how you set up the knockout blow. Out of position you want to fold trash hands. There is absolutely no reason to call with junk here because you know you will probably be bluffed you out anyway. I recommend re-raising pot with TT-AA or AQ & AK. You can even do it with connected suitors but be prepared to bet pot on the flop regardless. If you hit on the flop with a lesser hand that you didn’t re-raise with, I recommend check raising with two exceptions. If you hit a hand like 2nd or third pair, I like to bet out. Don’t be predictable about it but it is just tough to know when your hand is good here and putting him to the test right off the bat is smart. Also, if you hit a monster hand like trips, I like to slow play. This is of course because he will probably do your betting for you.

Notes: The single most important thing about playing this type of player is having an adequate bankroll. You will be put in many hands where the only thing that gets you through is guts. If you are also worried about losing your small bankroll, you are playing against two opponents. Also, watch going on tilt. If you do lose a buy in or two, be prepared to walk away if you think you aren’t playing your ‘A’ game. Know this in advance and don’t be scared of losing. Other than that, have fun. This is a classic player to play against and one that you should beat most of the time. Be prepared to make adjustments and try not to be predictable.

Read 'em and Weep

2005-02-17T16:09:00.000-05:00

So you haven't read a book since 8th grade and your reading skills are on par with those of an NBA player. But, you want to start fresh and need a good poker book to pick up. Well, you've come to the right place. I'll be reviewing some poker books in my next two posts. Here are my first 9 reviews. My rating is based on how much I liked the book and how much I got out of it for my poker game.

Doyle Brunson’s Super System I: I only read the no-limit portion of this book 18 months ago. There, of course, is some great information in is book. But, for me, the style that Doyle recommends didn’t fit my game. And, at the lower levels his aggressive approach rarely works, especially online. My rating: 4

Doyle Brunson's Super System II: I loved this book. The limit section by Jennifer Harmon is incredible - I've read it 4 times. I also enjoyed the triple-draw lowball section written by Daniel Negreanu. I didn't read the omaha sections or the seven-card stud section but there is some great stuff in this book. Again, I was dissapointed wih the no-limit section. Perhaps my hopes are too high for a true legend of poker. For some reason I got more out of this than the original Super System. My rating: 8

Winning Low-Limit Hold’em – Lee Jones: I enjoyed this book and found some valuable advice in here. I’ve only read it once and I admit that I didn’t absorb all that much of it. This book is probably best for someone looking to go to a casino to play low-limit hold’em for the first time. My rating: 3

Play Poker Like the Pros – Phil Hellmuth: I’ve heard many people bash this book but it holds a special place in my heart. I probably read this book 8 times cover to cover in the summer of 2003, mostly because that was one of the only poker books that Lloyd and I owned in South Carolina. I enjoyed the stories more than the strategy but still this book is great for the beginning player. My rating: 7

Poker: The Real Deal – Phil Gordon: This is a short read and not a bad one. Ultimately, I felt like it didn’t help my game much if at all. Granted, this was the millionth poker book I had read so it’s tough to cover new ground at that point. Phil Gordon’s story is pretty interesting but I knew a lot of that before even opening up the book. Phil is a very funny guy so I would have liked to see more humor in this book. My rating: 2

Zen and the Art of Poker – Larry Phillips: This is my favorite poker book. Ever feel like your going on tilt? You think you are better than your opponents but you lose money online? Please read this book. You won’t learn how to play KQ from middle position with an early limper in the pot and two people to act behind you. This isn’t that type of book. Just read the damn book. My rating: 10

Phil Hellmuth - Bad Beats and Lucky Draws: This book was decent but not great. I mean, most of these stories you can get off of cardplayer.com. Just go to Phil's archives and you'll get at least 50% of these stroies. I promise. My rating: 2

Positively Fifth Street - James McManus: This is a really good book. Half of the book centers around the murder of Ted Binion. I found it a little boring but still loved the book. The poker stuff is great. For those that don't know I won't ruin it but James McManus wins a seat into the World Series of Poker in 2000 and chronicles his tournament. My rating: 6

Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People : The Memoirs of the Greatest Gambler Who Ever Lived: This book is so great. It's not much of a poker book but go out and get it right now. You will be amazed the stuff Amarillo Slim does. Great stories. The lack of poker brings down my rating a bit though. My rating: 6

Wow, that was fun. Go head to your local bookstore and check out some of these bad boys. Or, better yet, do what I do and read these at Barnes & Noble without paying for them. On a side note, as our site continues to draw more people we want to continue to get better. We have included a link to our e-mail address so please e-mail us with comments, complaints, pictures of girls, etc.

And.......another long distance shout out goes to DoubleAs. This guy has a terrific blog that we have now linked. Him mentioning us at http://doubleas.blogspot.com/ has helped an incredible amount of budding poker players find our site. Hopefully the information they find here will help them get better and not worse. Thanks DoubleAs, we really appreciate it.

How Quickly a No-Limit Hand can Change

2005-02-16T13:56:00.000-05:00

For those of you that asked, I am going to talk more about Sit n Goes, tourneys, and cash games, and the differences and what I recommend doing. That will take an in depth analysis and I dont have time this afternoon. I should get to that this weekend. Today I just want to go over a hand that happened to me recently, and explain a concept.
This hand came up at the 25-50nl game on UB. I will post the hand history, then talk through my thoughts. Names of players have been changed.

Tight Aggresive Player is at seat 1 with $3288.
Green Plastic is at seat 2 with $4950.
A is at seat 3 with $9605 (sitting out).
Loose Aggressive Player is at seat 4 with $5000.
B is at seat 5 with $9593.
C is at seat 6 with $4922.
D is at seat 7 with $8300.
E is at seat 8 with $1987.
F is at seat 9 with $6597 (sitting out).
The button is at seat 1.
Green Plastic posts the small blind of $25.
Loose Aggressive Player posts the big blind of $50.Pre-flop: B folds. C calls. D calls. E folds. Tight Aggressive Player raises to $200. Green Plastic calls. Loose Aggressive Player re-raises to $900. C folds. D folds. Tight Aggressive Player calls. Green Plastic goes all-in for $4950. Loose Aggressive Player folds. Tight Aggressive Player goes all-in for $3288. Green Plastic is returned $1662 (uncalled). Flop (board: Td 7s Jd): (no action in this round) Turn (board: Td 7s Jd Ad): (no action in this round) River (board: Td 7s Jd Ad Th): (no action in this round) Showdown: Green Plastic shows Kd Kc.
Green Plastic has Kd Kc Td Ad Th: two pair, kings and tens.
T.E.P shows Qs Qd.
T.E.P has Qs Qd Td Ad Th: two pair, queens and tens.
$3 is raked from a pot of $7576.
Green Plastic wins $7573 with two pair, kings and tens.

note: I organized this the best I could, its not easy with the format they give you.

Basically, with two early position limpers, a tight aggressive player on the button making it 200 to go, and me in the SB with KK, i had two options. Raise, or Call. At this point I'm 90% sure my kings are the best hand out there, as in a cash game you can't be afraid of AA when you have KK, unless you have an amazing read on a guy. I normally raise with my Kings. But a few thoughts went through my head. First of all, I knew the Tight Aggressive Player (T.A.P, who I had coincidentally played with for a day at a WPT event and knew he wasn't messing around here) had a good hand. The odds are he had AK, or a PP between TT-QQ (again, if he had AA, so be it, i was going to lose). I knew that if I reraised with my kings, he would fold TT, JJ, possibly QQ, and probably AK. Doing this would eliminate two of hands for sure (TT, JJ) that I really wanted to play a big pot with my KK. I would get called by AA, and MAYBE QQ, and probably not by AK (which i would also want to play against). I decided to just call the 200, and hope the flop came with low cards. I was aware I took the risk of letting one of the EP limpers catch something, but I figured one or both would fold, and sometimes you have to risk someone sucking out on you in order to stay deceptive.
An interesting thing happened in the BB. This player thought and reraised to 900. Now, this guy plays extremely loose, and had alrady lost about 5-10k on the night. He was bluffing a lot and in a normal case I would be really worried about AA here (raising into 2 limpers, a reraise, and a call). The two limpers folded (if one of them pushed in I would fold my kings as they would probably be beat and I only had 200 invested). The T.A.P thought and thought, and finally just called. This pretty much made a light bulb go off in my head. I knew that this guy knew that I was a good player. At this point I would NOT call without QQ at the minimum, and he knew that. There would be little reason for him to slowplay AA at this point, as he might as well get his money in against the loose player who had been making some pretty bad calls previously (he wouldn't want to risk the loose player missing his hand totally and folding the flop...even this loose player would have a hard time bluffing if he missed, or risk the loose player catching a great flop relatively cheap). So basically, I ruled out AA for the T.A.P. I decided already that I had the L.A.P beat. At this point, I saw no reason to second guess myself and decided to push all in. The L.A.P. thought for a long time and folded, then the T.A.P thought for a long time and finally called. Turns out he had QQ (as I expected) and I took down the pot. What is interesting here is if I hadn't pushed in, this hand could have been a lot more tricky to play with T J X flop (TT, JJ being 2 of the 3 hands i thought he had...also being hands L.A.P could've had)
The moral of this story is that there are times you want to slowplay a big pair in NL cash games. You must do this sometimes in order to stay deceptive. However, things can quickly change with one raise behind you, and you shouldn't fall in love with your first decision. I would like to point out that most of these players playing were excellent players, and this is the reason I need to stay deceptive. If you are playing low stakes no limit, you should almost ALWAYS raise with KK in this spot, not slowplay at first. Players at low stakes will not fold QQ on the button, no matter what the situation is. Ok this got long, and I haven't proof read it so my apologies if I messed something up.

Adapting to Others: Loose Passive

2005-02-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

Hi. Come on in. We got turkey taquitoes and orange juice. I’m kidding, just thought I’d throw a shout out to Roy West on Card Player. I’m always interested to see what that guy is cooking. Anyway, we are now onto the “Adapting to Others” segment of the Heads Up Doctrine. Hopefully you have read the three posts in “Your Style,” so you know how this fits in. Actually this is the second heads up profile. The first was on a player type named “Tight Passive” and was one of the first posts I made on this site. I hope you read that one along with this one as we start the journey into the styles of heads up players you might come across.

Name: Loose Passive

Playing Style: This player can be quickly identified by his tendency to call instead of bet or raise. When this player does bet, it is usually the minimum or close to it. Most loose passive players rarely bluff so when they do bet pot, run as fast as you can. This player reacts to aggression on the button by constantly calling the whole way and making you beat him with your cards. Needless to say, this player is not scared to call when you raise on the button, even if he is holding junk hands like J7o or k2o. Furthermore, this player will call a bet on the flop if he hits ANY piece of it and maybe even with only 1 or 2 over cards. Finally this player has evidently never heard of pot odds, deception, or kicker trouble

Strength: This player’s strength is his refusal to be run over. If an aggressive player tries to be aggressive on the button, he will get called. If an aggressive player tries to bluff on the river, he will probably also get called. Furthermore, by constantly calling instead of betting or raising, this player can be infuriating to play, often putting the aggressive player on tilt. When on tilt, the aggressive player might become more aggressive, make bigger bluffs, and raise more pre flop. In a situation like this, if the loose passive player gets slightly better cards than the aggressive player, he can win a lot of money in a hurry.

Weakness: This player is punished for his style when he faces someone who bets huge when he has a big hand and rarely bluffs. What this player gives up by playing the sheriff all day and calling everything down is that he does not know when to fold. This player will pay off your monster. Another weakness is this players’ love of trapping. If this player does have a big hand and God forbid does decide to bet, it will most likely be a small enough amount to give you the proper pot odds to call. Then when the draw is made, a pot bet will almost always be paid off by the loose passive player making implied odds correct if pot odds are not.

Plan of Attack: Two things should immediately be changed from your regular style. First, severely narrow the starting hands you raise with on the button. Good starting hands to raise with are any pairs, QJ or higher, and maybe even connected suitors like 67h. However, since deception and pot size are not important to this kind of player, connected suitors and low pairs might be better to limp with. After all, if you hit your hand this player will probably call you if he has anything. The second thing that should be changed is the amount you raise pre flop, now it has to be pot. You want to absolutely punish this player when you have a great starting hand. Throughout the hand the plan is to bluff less and bet huge when you hit. Don’t be scared to shut down a bluff or bet pot if holding quads. Another thing, loose passive players rarely bet. Therefore, trying to trap a loose passive player is like drunk-dialing the girl you have a crush on, in both cases you are seriously jeopardizing a chance to say Ship it!

Notes: The hardest thing to do against a player like this is to quickly recognize him and change your game plan. If you can adjust, this type of player is one of the easiest to win money off of that you will ever play. In basketball, you think you are money dribbling the ball down the court like Jason Kidd until the prick guarding you decides to full court press. Since no one has done that to you since middle school you get flustered and turn the ball over. The only reason the loose passive player catches people off guard is that it takes cards to beat him and he won’t fold a bad hand like most players. If an aggressive player refuses to change his game plan or catches a bad beat and goes on tilt, things have the potential to get ugly for him. Instead, recognize and adjust to crush this weak player.

Like Matt, I’d also like to send a huge thanks out to Iggy for mentioning us on Guinness and Poker. This has given a large number of poker players out there a chance to check us out. Iggy, you did not have to hook us up but we are very grateful that you did. Guiness and Poker is now the only blog under our links, an honor not easily bestowed but one you deserve. Thank you Iggy.

Lake Charles Baby, Lake Charles

2005-02-14T15:11:00.000-05:00

I came to the realization the other day that my posts will probably get more boring as time goes on. I can only talk about the past so much. Once upon a time I got 7th in the WSOP and went to Ireland, all expenses paid. Now about the most exciting poker stories I have come from my online play and an occasional trip to Louisiana. For those that don't know, I'm a Texas boy, and poker is illegal here. So, for my live poker fix I have to travel three hours to Lake Charles. Let’s just say Lake Charles isn’t Vegas and leave it at that. So, me and four of my highly intoxicated friends decided on Saturday night to drive down and check the place out. We went to Harrah’s first. It would also turn out to be our last stop at a casino. It’s kind of tough telling four drunks to get back in the car because you want to find better games. Anyway, the only two games they had were $3/$6/$12 limit hold ‘em and $5/$5 no limit. I played $3/$6/$12 while waiting for a no limit seat and proceeded to immediately lose $120. Come to think of it, maybe I had had a little too much to drink also. I have a rule that I never, ever drink when I play. But I never said anything about just before I play. I finally got to sit at the no limit table and I was ready to play a little cards when the dealer told me I had too many chips?! The crappy thing about this game was that you could only sit with $300 maximum. I relented, turned in my ‘extra’ chips and ended up getting some good cards and making some money. I had QQ vs. AJ on one hand. I raised to $40 pre-flop, got re-raised to $100 by the SB, and just called. When the SB bet out $100 at the 7 7 6 flop I just pushed all-in for not much more. No help for that guy and I doubled up. Later I had 10 9 on the button and limped in. 8 people took the flop and I got it all-in against the same guy when the flop came 10 9 3. He had AA and my hand held up. I ended up making $398 for the trip which was pretty sweet. We didn’t get there until midnight and at 5 a.m. we took off back to Houston, but not before a little Waffle House action. Ship it! All in all it was a bunch of fun. Lloyd, Taylor, and I are lazy people who would never take the time to find a bunch of cool poker blogs. But we know one guy who actually did all the work for you. Check out his blog at http://guinnessandpoker.blogspot.com/. Sure, his blog makes us look amateurish but don’t stop checking us out.

Building a Bankroll

2005-02-13T13:23:00.000-05:00

Many people have asked me how I am able to play in some pretty high stakes games when I am so young. Most assume that my parents gave me a large sum of money to play with, and I turned that into an even larger amount of money. The opposite is actually true. Today I'd like to talk about how I built up my money playing online poker, and some advice I have to anyone trying to do the same.

I started with 35 dollars on UB in Summer '03. I had been playing poker for about 5 years at this point, all througout high school and my freshman year of college. I didn't really know what games to play, I just knew i liked NLHE. I decided to play the 1 on 1 $5 dollar sit n goes. I played these for about 2 months and built up my 35 dollars to a whopping 150 or so. I was making about 5 dollars an hour! After this I moved up to playing 10 dollar 1 on 1 games, as well as some 6 seated and 10 seated sit n goes. I really recommend playing sit n goes to start out, because you have a limited amount of risk and you can get a lot of experience. About two months later I had made almost 1000 dollars, and I started to cash out about 50 bucks a week to pay for my living expenses at school. I was now playing 20 and 30 dollar sit n goes. Eventually I started playing the 50 and 100 dollar heads up sit n goes, with a bankroll of around 1500. It was at this time I really decided I wanted to play in the cash games. I saw that there were some huge pots at the 1-2nl and 2-4nl, and I wanted in on the action. The problem was, I wasn't at all ready for the cash games. I would build up my account to 1500 or so. Then immediately lose 2 or 3 buy ins at the cash games over the course of the day, and be down to 800. I was very frustrated so I stuck to the sit n goes to build back up. Eventually, I improved as a player and was able to hang at the 1-2nl game, making a small amount of money over the course of a month. I finally broke through and had a huge day, and moved up to 2-4nl. With a lot of practice and moving up and down, I eventually had a bankroll to play 5-10...10-25...25-50, and so on.

The reoccuring theme in my efforts to build up money was that I would work hard to make a few hundred bucks a week in the sit n goes, and then lose it very quickly in the cash games. This happens to so many people. I'm not exactly sure why, other than it takes more skill to win at the NL cash games because you can play for all of your chips (chips=money) on any given hand. One bad decision (or suckout) and you can lose a hefty amount of money. Things brings me to my first tip:

Always have an adequate bankroll for whatever you are playing. People complain that they can't handle the bad beats of the cash games, because you can lose a ton on a 2 outer or something. This is inevitable, but if you have a big enough BR you can make up for this with good play. I recommend a bankroll that is bigger than you might even think. For sit n goes, i think you should have 30-40 buy ins. This is probably a bit extreme, but it's not unheard of to have a stretch where you might lose 10-15 in a row. Now you probably would still have a bankroll left, but what I found happening to me is that when I went through a bad streak I started playing timidly. If you have an excessive bankroll, you will realize that you have more than enough money left to play through it. For no limit cash games, I recommend having at least 15 buy ins for whatever game you are playing, more if you are playing short handed. If you want to play 5-10nl, you should have 15k, at the minimum. I know very many people that don't stick to this, and most of them lose in the long run.

Next, you must be able to control going on tilt. Tilt to me is the single biggest BR ruiner. In the last 4 days, I've lost 17k in 'bad beat' pots at 25-50nl. These were all in pots after the flop or turn where my opponent had at most 3 outs. I could have tilted and lost a heck of a lot more, but everytime i just decided to leave the game. I was pretty upset and I thought, there are better things I could be doing right now than playing poker, if I cant play my A game. I recommend having a backup plan if you decide you can't play your best anymore and must quit. I signed up for a gym that's one block from my apartment, so I usually head there to work out. Otherwise I bought a few video games that I can play if I feel like doing something like that. People ask me, how do you not tilt? The truth is, I do tilt. I just know when I am on tilt and I leave the game. I cannot stress how important that is.

Finally, I recommend having some sort of cashout plan. Use something like pokertracker to figure out how much you make/hr. Then figure out how much you plan on playing a week, and calculate your average weekly profit. Make a cashout once or twice a week and take out about 25% of this average profit. I withdraw almost every day because frankly it feels good to take money out of my account and put it into the bank. If I have a bad week, I still take out money. If I have a great week, sometimes I will take out a little more. This is a great way to keep your BR growing, but also put some $ in your pocket. Nothing helps me feel better about playing poker than having money to spend as a result of playing.

Your Game: Taking Control

2005-02-12T17:32:00.000-05:00

If you have read the first two posts on “Your Game,” you should understand both the importance of position as well as how to use it to your advantage. However, there are still a couple of things to clear up before shifting to the “Adapting to Others” segment of the Heads up Doctrine.
Every time you sit down to play heads up, you should go through the same process. A pro tennis player doesn’t just jump into a match and swing away; he will warm up, create a game plan, and maybe even review some film. Like tennis, the first few hands in heads up are useful to do three things: 1) establish your game, 2) adjust to the other player, 3) and combine the two to set up a huge hand. Make no mistake about it, no limit heads up is a thinking man’s game. The money is won or lost in a few big hands. That is not to say that the small hands aren’t important, they are. However, not for the reasons you might think. They are important not for the amount you win in them, but for setting up the big hand or the knockout blow.
Establishing you game
You want your opponent to think you are crazy, an idiot, and maybe even drunk. In short you want to piss him off. Do this by being aggressive on the button. If you have read “Your Game: Aggression on the Button,” you know how much and with what to raise with on the button. However, sometimes it might be smart to raise with even more trash early in a heads up match. After all, everyone knows how important first impressions are. As far as showing your hand when you don’t have to, I like to show the occasional bluff. Most pros never show hands, however heads up is often a very emotional game. When you show a bluff, you are giving away part of your game plan. However, if you know this in advance and can adjust, the chance to get your opponent on tilt early might outweigh any knowledge your opponent gets from seeing your cards. Raising with junk, winning the pot, and showing your cards early in a heads up match, might agitate your opponent into making a key mistake. (I’ve seen great heads up players be shown one bluff and tilt off thousands.)
You want to take control early in a match regardless of your cards but we aware of two things. First, don’t risk too many chips in an attempt at a bluff. Second, while you try to promote chaos, continually practice on being calm and detached. NEVER get emotional. Yea, easier said than done, but if you lose your cool at the table, you are also going to lose your stack. In short, make him tilt while you stay calm. The ultimate goal is to get your opponent to start playing back at you out of position.
Adjusting to the other player
From the very start of the heads up match you want to start noticing everything about your opponent. Some key questions to ask are: What does he raise on the button with? What does he raise out of position with? What does he re-raise with? How does he play draws? How does he play weak hands? How does he play monsters? How does he bluff? The “Adapting to Others” section will help you put names on players but the bottom line is every hand you play, there is something to learn about your opponent. As you establish your game, see how your opponent reacts.
Setting up a huge hand
When you know your opponent, you can set up a huge hand. Let me explain with a hand history.
I knew this opponent pretty well as I had played him a fair amount. From this experience, I had picked up on a key weakness. This player would call an over bet (a bet far above the amount in the pot), with a mediocre hand. Evidently this player believed an over bet was always a bluff because it looked like a bet that doesn’t want to be called. This player had also seen me use an over bet bluff before.

Player B: -- --
Polynikes: Ac 4h (Button)
Pre-flop:
Polynikes raises to $14.
Player B calls.
Flop (board: Qc 4d 2h):
Player B checks. Polynikes
bets $16. Player B calls.
Turn (board: Qc 4d 2h 8s):
Player B checks. Polynikes checks.
River (board: Qc 4d 2h 8s 4c):
Player B checks. Polynikes bets $325. Player B
calls.
Showdown:
Polynikes shows Ac 4h.
Polynikes has Ac 4h Qc 4d 4c: three fours.
Player B mucks cards.
(Player B has 7h Qh.)
$.50 is raked from a pot of $724.
Polynikes wins $723.50 with three fours.

First off all, I had been using aggression on the button. Here I raised pre-flop with a mediocre hand, partially hit the flop, and bet 2/3 of the pot. When he just called on the flop I was pretty certain I was beat and fully prepared to shut down. However, this player had been re-raising with monsters so I thought I had outs. I then checked on the turn. When I hit another 4 on the river, I could have value bet. However, because I had established my game and picked up on his weakness, this was a chance to use that knowledge to win a huge hand. I then made a ridiculous over bet, roughly 5 times the pot!
Every time you sit down to play heads up, do the same three things. First take control with your game. Second see how your opponent plays and reacts to your aggression. Finally combine to two to deliver a knockout blow. Don’t forget to say “Ship It!” when you do!

My Hand vs. Harrington

2005-02-09T11:50:00.000-05:00

My favorite hand of the WSOP this year is a hand I played with Dan Harrington. I actually lost this pot but I am lucky I didn't lose a lot more. With about 25 people to go I found myself in about average chip position. Dan Harrington had roughly the same number of chips as myself and raised in the cut-off seat. I looked down in the big blind and saw K8 suited and called. I had been playing pretty tight and thought Dan may have been trying to take my blinds. I had let him do this a couple times already and thought this would be a good time to defend. I considered a reraise hoping to win the hand right there but instead just called. The flop came 2 4 K rainbow and I checked thinking I probably had the best hand. Harrington checked behind me and I didn't like his body language. Something told me to be careful. This is where things got interesting. The turn came 8. With about 800,000 in chips each and around 40,000 in the pot I bet 35,000. Harrington thought about it and just flat called my bet. Immediately I felt like something was wrong even with top 2 pair. The river came Q for a final board of 2 4 K 8 Q, and I immediately checked. Harrington thought about it and bet 80,000. I ended up deciding that I had to call even though I felt I was most likely beat. I was getting great pot odds and I didn't want to get run over. Harrington did turn over pocket 4's and when I showed him my K8 he was in disbelief. The hand would have been much different had he raised me on the turn but he didn't and I had more than enough chips to continue on in good shape. He told me the next day that he couldn't believe I didn't lose more on that hand. When he told me that it made my year... well that and the final table appearence and the money. Harrington was quiet at the table as you would expect but was funny and very respectful of all the players. I just wish I would have filled up on the river.

Playing AK on the "Button" Multi-way

2005-02-06T10:48:00.000-05:00

Today I am taking a break from the Heads Up Doctrine to share a way to play AK in late position along with an example hand I recently played. First let me say that while I love to look down at AK, the reality is when you face a raise or many raises, you are only going to hit an A or a K about 33 % of the time on the flop. Second, this logic does NOT apply to heads up.

If you face a bet on the flop after you did not hit an A or a K, you are can get yourself in big trouble if you call. Therefore I don’t usually like to re-raise pre-flop with AK unless 1) it looks like many players will call the raise and I want to narrow the field, 2) the raiser has been raising too much and could have anything 3) or I re-raise all in so I have at least a 50 % chance to win unless I’m up against KK or AA. Other than that, if the raiser has already appeared to narrow the field, I will simply cold call on the button with AK. Also, sometimes if there is big raise and a big re-raise, I might even fold AK pre-flop because I sense that someone has a big pair. Let me tell you it is not fun to be heavily committed in a pot with AK and be up against AA.

OK, one of the reasons not to re-raise pre-flop with AK is because you still only have ace high, the other reason is to set up hands like AQ or AJ. Not re-raising here disguises your hand and can lead to a huge Ship It! if an ace flops. Ok here is the hand.

Player A: ?? BB
Player B: AdQc Cutoff
Polynikes: Kh As Button
Player C: ?? SB
Pre-flop:
Player B raises to $14. Polynikes calls. Player C
folds. Player A calls.
Flop (board: 6c Ac 2s):
Player A checks. Player B checks. Polynikes bets
$20. Player A calls. Player B raises to $124.
Polynikes re-raises to $436. Player A folds.
Player B goes all-in for $167.60. Polynikes is returned
$268.40 (uncalled).
Turn (board: 6c Ac 2s Js):
(no action in this round)
River (board: 6c Ac 2s Js Ah):
(no action in this round)
Showdown:
Polynikes shows Kh As.
Polynikes has Kh As Ac Js Ah: three aces.
Player B shows Qc Ad.
Player B has Qc Ad Ac Js Ah: three aces, queen kicker.

$2 is raked from a pot of $399.20.
Polynikes wins $397.20 with three aces.

Facing the pre-flop pot raise on the button with AK, I felt good but not totally sure what I was up against. This player had been playing pretty tight and was undoubtedly holding a strong starting hand. Since I thought Player B’s raise would get the blinds out of the hand, I just called. The BB decided to call but wasn’t really a factor in the hand.

When the ace flopped I was hoping someone would bet out pot. This would tell me that I at least had the bettor beat. However, it was checked to me. At this point there was about $44 in the pot and I bet about half that. First I wanted hands like TT, JJ, QQ, & KK to think they might still have the best hand. Secondly, I wanted hands like AJ and AQ to put me to the test. I never considered checking, I hate slow playing one pair multi-way. When the BB called I figured him for a flush draw, weak ace, or low set. Then the original raiser re-raised pot. Does he make this raise with aces? I didn’t think so, so I re-raised all in hoping to see AQ or AJ. I also wanted to make sure the BB didn’t call with his flush draw. If the BB did spike a set on the flop, that’s a risk I’m willing to take. ;)

For me everything turned out rosy as the BB folded and the original raiser felt committed to call the rest. Let me say that AQ is a very tricky hand to play but I would almost always bet pot out instead of checking on the flop. Regardless, I’m glad this gentleman played the hand the way he did. ;)

This is one way to play AK in late position. I hope you found it useful. I will return to the Heads Up Doctrine later this week. Have a safe Super bowl Sunday.

Charity/Celebrity Tournament

2005-02-05T16:01:00.000-05:00

I just got back today from Dallas where I participated in a charity poker tournament put on by 102.1 'The Edge' and The Knights of Malta charity. Commander Sir Kent Farquhar of the Knights of Malta had invited me to play in the event as they were trying to raise funds for a new hospital. The main tournament was a freeroll and consisted of 600 people with the winner getting a free seat to the WSOP main event. I was to play in the 'celebrity' event in which the winner donated $2,500 to the charity they were playing for. In the main tournament I got to deal one table of six people. We were down to 60 at that point and the format was that there were 10 6-person tables and the winner of each table went to the final table. Well, I am happy to say that the winner of my table, Amber Thorton, went on to the final table and won her way into the WSOP. In the celebrity event I got to play with Gavin Griffen (WSOP pot-limit champ), Stevie Benton and Mike Luce of the band Drowning Pool, Jackson and Monica from Fear Factor who won a million dollars, Ralph Strangis (the voice of the Dallas Stars), and some other cool people to bring the total to 10. We all started with 1,000 chips and blinds of 50-100. Gavin and I just looked at each other and had to laugh. On the first hand I had the small blind and got pot odds to call with T 2 since everyone called but Gavin. I flopped a 2 and turned a ten and won the pot when no one called my bet. I was the chip leader after one hand. Mike Luce of Drowning Pool ordered everyone shots of Jager and the tournament was rolling. We lost someone on the 3rd hand and on the 4th hand I knocked out two people when my QQ held up vs. TT and AQ. The blinds then went up to 100-200. Gavin got knocked out a little later with KT because he was short on chips and all the sudden we were down to 4 after 9 hands. This tournament was hilarious. Blinds were going up every 10 minutes and each hand took about 3 minutes. I ended up getting heads up with a rock guy whose name I don't even remember. We were about even in chips. The first hand I got T4 of clubs and just called from the SB. The flop came T76 and I checked. Frankly, I wanted to check-raise because I figured he would bet with anything. He checked. The turn came ten for a board of TT76 and I checked again. Again he checked. Well, this isn't working I thought. When the river was an ace I moved all-in hoping he hit his ace. He called and showed me K9. Gotta love celebrity poker. He was forced to move all in next hand with 2 6 and I had 33 and it held up. Ship it! 14 hands into the tournament and it was all over. If only the WPT had been that easy. Well, I was happy for my charity and it was all in good fun.

Never Do This!!

2005-02-04T16:39:00.000-05:00

I don't have much time to post today, but I'd just like to talk about something that I have seen happen a few times in poker in my life. You should NEVER fold the river if all you are last to act and it is checked to you. This might seem obvious, but some players when caught in a bluff will just fold their cards assuming they are beat. You have nothing to lose by showing down your hand at this point, it doesn't cost you anything. Some players might say that they don't want the other player to know how they played their bluff. I argue that if you are a capable player you should mix up your play enough that it doesn't matter if he knew how you played that bluff, as you should have many many different types of bluffs in your arsenal. Here is an example of a hand that came up between me and a great player (I edited out his name).

Green Plastic is at seat 1 with $8524.
Player X is at seat 7 with $15811.
Player X posts the small blind of $25.
Green Plastic posts the big blind of $50.
Green Plastic: 9c 7c
Pre-flop: Player X calls. Green Plastic raises to $150. Player X calls.
Flop (board: 4d Th 6c):Green Plastic bets $300. Player X calls.
Turn (board: 4d Th 6c Ac):Green Plastic checks. Player X bets $900. Green Plastic calls.
River (board: 4d Th 6c Ac 5h):Green Plastic checks. Player X folds.
$.50 is raked from a pot of $2700. Green Plastic wins $2699.50.

Now, about this hand. I won the 2700 pot with 97, no pair. I usually would either fold or raise this turn here because all i had was a flush draw and gutshot straight draw, but this player had been firing out big bets on the river all day on me (when he was pretty sure I couldn't call) and i wanted to have a chance to make a big hand and checkraise him once. I had a lot of chips on the table so I figured if i got lucky and hit one of my 12 outs, I could possibly get all in for a huge pot. Also, even if I missed (and he checked) I wanted him to know that I am willing to "gamble" and could hold and/or check any two cards at the end. This would make him less likely to keep stealing pots on the river against me, as I suspected he was doing. In the end he was probably bluffing with no pair, or a small pair, and decided he didn't want me to see his hand. The truth is, a good player (me, I think) is smart enough to know why a person would fold a hand when it is checked to them. So he didn't get a chance to win the pot with whatever he had, AND i know that he was bluffing there. Interesting hand, comments?

Your Game: Aggression on the Button

2005-02-03T19:16:00.000-05:00

Please read “Your Game: Position” before you read this post. The tactics explained below are a product how crucial position is in heads up play. This post is divided up into two parts: “On the Button” and “Out of Position.” (Disclaimer: The only heads up blind structure I will discuss is like that found on Ultimatebet. This is where the button is the small-blind as well as first to act pre-flop. The out of position player starts the hand as the big blind and acts after the button pre-flop, but then must act first the rest of the hand.) These two parts will describe a solid heads up procedural game plan. However it is important to realize that changes should be made according to your opponent.

On the Button
Forget everything you learned about being tight in ring games. If you don’t get aggressive on the button, and I mean AGGRESSIVE, you won’t be a successful heads up player. What do I mean by aggressive? I mean you should be raising pre-flop with any pairs (ex. AA-22), any two big cards (AK-JT), any connected cards (AK-23), and even with any two gap suited cards (ex. Jh8h). How much should you raise? It depends both on your opponent and what you feel comfortable doing. However it should either be pot or min. Also, once you decide on an amount you should keep it consistent. Don’t raise pot with AA but min with 23 as most players will pick up on it.
If your opponent calls you should bet anywhere from 50 to 100 percent of the pot on the flop more than half the time. If you are unsure when to bet, do it 1) anytime you hit the flop 2) anytime you have a draw including a gut-shot straight draw, 3) anytime you have 2 over cards, 4) or anytime you think your opponent didn’t hit (ex. flop comes AJK and your opponent usually re-raises you pre-flop with big cards). While this is a general rule, don’t bet if you think your opponent likely hit or if you if you have a bad feeling (a lot of the moves I make at the table come from feel, don’t be afraid to trust your gut.)
You will probably pick up most pots after your bet on the flop but if you get called, play the rest of the hand out according to your hand strength (ex. call re-raises only if you are getting pot odds or think you have the best hand). If you pick up a read on your opponent, bluffs are also very effective since you have position. However, if you bluff, bet pot. You want to make your opponent think twice about calling your river bet with second pair.
A quick note about hand strength in heads up compared to a ten person ring game. Obviously everything goes up in value when you are playing heads up but not in big pots! Make sure if you go all in you put your opponent on a hand just like in a full ring game. For example, if you hold QJ and the flop comes TTJ do you really think your opponent would call an all in with something that couldn’t beat QJ? Don’t overvalue two low pairs and especially don’t overvalue one pair!

Out of Position
Be careful! If you break even on the hands you are out of position, consider it a win. If the rule when on the button pre-flop is raise instead of call, out of position the rule is call or fold instead of raise. Immediately start noting what type of hands your opponent is raising with on the button and adjust accordingly. For example, if your opponent only raises pre-flop one out of thirty hands on the button, you can safely fold JT. Now while you should call instead of raise with hands like low pairs, Ax, and KJ or worse, you should consider re-raising with anything stronger. While there is discretion in the amount of your pre-flop raise on the button, if you raise pre-flop out of position it must always be pot! You are hoping this bet doesn’t get called but if it does try to play a small pot the rest of the way unless your hand is huge.
As far as playing a monster in a raised pot on the flop, there are two ways to go about it. One if you think your opponent has an over pair you can safely bet out. This way you will disguise your strength and hope your opponent re-raises you pot committing himself. The other is of course to check raise. Either way I advise trying to get your money in on the flop out of position.
The last point I will talk about is hitting a big hand in an un-raised pot. For example let’s say you flop a set or two pair. Again I recommend playing this hand fast. I love to check raise pot here. Put your opponent to the test early. Let me tell you from experience that there is nothing worse than slow-playing a big hand out of position only to have your opponent suck you out on the river. Get your money in when you have the best of it!

New Way to Comment on Posts

2005-02-03T16:29:00.000-05:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog. This will allow you to comment without having to sign up with blogger.com. SHIP IT!

Memories of Ireland

2005-02-02T01:27:00.000-05:00

Back in June Poker Stars was kind enough to invite me to play in the World Poker Championship in Ireland. They paid my airfare, hotel room, and entry fee - ship it! I had a wonderful time and since I'm too lazy to come up with anything new I am reposting a thread I made back in June after the tournament. Here it is.

After a fun 20 hours of traveling I got to Dublin very early on Tuesday morning (tourney started on Wed.). At the airport I ran into Chris Moneymaker and talked to him a bit. It's a huge thrill to get to talk to the big names - just another added bonus.

On Tuesday evening there was a players reception at the casino and the heats were announced. Once I found out that I wasn't playing until Friday it was off to the pubs. I was really surprised how small the casino was though. I guess it's different in Europe but the casino was basically a 4-story townhouse. I originally was kind of disappointed but it turned out to be one of the cool parts of the tournament. The smaller casino almost forced everyone to talk to one another and it was neat to strike up relationships with the other players, the dealers, and the staff running the tournament. I had a friend from Ireland who took the train to Dublin so we went drinking along with a young player from London, Adam Matusiak ('Twos') and ran into Blair Rodman - a big tournament player from LV. For the next few days I didn't go to the casino much but did do a lot of drinking. Kilkenney is a nice freaking beer. Guinness ain't bad either.

Finally on Friday I played my first hand of poker on the trip. If you don't know who was in my heat (or are curious about the format) you can go back and look it up at www.worldpokerchampionship.com. Everyone started with 100,000 in chips.

I got down to 74,000 early but started to get some cards and was at around 96,000 when a huge hand came up. Playing 8-handed still I raised on the button with KT. Gary Bush, who was on Late Night Poker and also finished second to Gavin Griffen at the WSOP's pot-limit hold 'em event, reraised from the BB. This was about the 4th hand I had played out of 6 and Gary had been watching me. I had a read that he had a hand but it wasn't big enough to call an all-in so I pushed. It would've crippled me to lose. He had 24,000 invested and 60,000 left but folded AJ. I told him I had QQ - sorry Gary.

It may not seem like much but I was now the chip leader at the table and I played like it. Most of the players at my table knew who I was so I hoped they had heard I played tight (I played scary tight at the WSOP). In fact 2 players at my table had played with me at some point at the WSOP. I think they must have gotten word because with the exception of one guy (Jerry) I picked up lots of pots without a fight.

An hour later a woman raised my big blind but I woke up with KK and popped her back. I checked a KQ8 flop and she moved all in. She showed AT which was about the worst thing I could hope for. I'm not whining but visions of a bad beat were running through my head. No jack though and I was the chip leader at my table.

When we got down to 6 players from 16 they conducted interviews with all of us. We were miked at the tables and the TV cameras were on. I was much more relaxed than in LV and thought to myself, 'This is the life'. The final 6 consisted of some very good players, Jeff Shulman, Paul Phillips, Joe Beevers, a guy they call Nick the Greek, that Jerry guy, and little old me.

Joe and I had a lot of chips though - about 2/3 of the total number of chips on the table.

On one hand Shulman and Phillips went all-in with AK against Beevers QQ. Just like that we were down to 4. When the two short stacks butted heads Nick the Greek was out and Jerry had a little more to work with. He was super-aggresive though and he got into trouble a couple times with Joe.

His last gasp was when he raised me from the SB and I just called in the BB with QT. QT was a freaking monster against this guy. When I say I just called it should tell you how aggresive he was. The flop came 2 3 10 and Jerry bet pot from the SB leaving him with about 20,000. I put him all-in and he went into the tank. There was over 250,000 in the pot and he considered folding for 20,000 more so I wasn't too worried. He had to call and showed me 2 8 giving him five outs twice. The turn was a 10 meaning I was in the money again and I couldn't believe it.

Joe Beevers is tough.

He also picked up JJ, QQ, KK, and AA against me in about 30 hands. I didn't last too long.

The final hand I raised with A3 of diamonds and he called with KK. The flop came 3 9 10 with 2 diamonds and I bet out. When he put me all-in it was an easy call with so few chips left and two blanks put me into the semi-finals.

When we got down to 6 I mentioned to one of the dealers that I liked his watch. He let me wear it but when we got down to 2 he had to leave so I gave it back.

I think that did me in.

Anyways, the semi-final heat was two days later. There were some great players there including Carlos Mortenson and Erick Lindgren.

During the interviews before the semi-final the interviewer asked me if I thought I was the favorite coming off my WSOP performance. Are you kidding me? Haha - one of many highlights.
Long story short I played great according to me. It's hard to be objective but I think I do an okay job and I played pretty damn perfect. I got my stack from 100,000 to 160,000 without playing one hand past the turn and I was thinking I might win the thing when I found KK in the hot-spot.

I raised and got called on my immediate left. I checked the 5 7 9 flop and check-raised all in (blinds were enormous and thus the pots were too). When my man turned up 7 9 I still had outs but they didn't turn up. I tried to second-guess myself on that one but it was a 'had to be there' play and the guy on my left could have bet that flop with a lot of different hands including trash.

Overall, I was extremely happy. I proved that the WSOP wasn't a fluke, if only to myself.

I know this is long so I'll try to wrap it up but I want to express how much fun it was. I had never been outside of North America so it was cool just to go to Ireland. I had no pressure on me also so the tournament was almost like an added bonus. I really liked the format and I was so relaxed. The staff, dealers, and players were so friendly. What great people!

I guess I was expecting people in Europe might not necessarily like Americans but that was not even close to the truth. I actually enjoyed myself more at this tourney than the WSOP. Admittedly, it was hard to enjoy myself at the WSOP with it being my first tournament and playing for freaking 60 hours but the Ireland experience is one I'll always cherish.

I also got to go out to dinner with 'Miami' John Cernuto and his daughter, Jade after the tournament and that was a thrill. It was neat to pick his brain and talk poker.

It turns out that we played the WSOP completely different in terms of stategy. His ranking in the world is 7 so it's hard to argue but I guess it just proves that there isn't just one way to win in this game. I'm so sick of writing I'm not going to check this for errors.

By the way, I ended up getting the watch from the dealer in a trade for my lucky sunglasses. Bartering is kind of cool.

Sorry this is so freaking long.

Your Game: Position

2005-01-31T18:15:00.000-05:00

In full ring games position is very important, in heads up it is almost as important as your cards. For some reason, people have a hard time truly understanding this concept, don’t be that guy.
Let me give you an example of the importance of position. Let’s say you are on the button, you raise, and your opponent calls. The flop comes and your opponent checks, which he will usually do if he is raised pre-flop. You then bet half to seventy five percent of the pot. Now what options does your out of position opponent have?
1) Check-fold
Many times your opponent won’t hit and will you have him beat. Depending on your opponent this is the move that a lot of players will make since a player will only hit the flop around 33% of the time. This means that on roughly 2/3 of the hands you raise, you have a good shot of picking up the pot on the flop since your opponent does not have a good enough hand to play.
2) Check-calling hoping for the best hand
Your opponent will also call and pray for the winning hand. This is a situation like Taylor wrote about in “Playing the blinds in NLHE,” where the out of position player hits something like an ace with a weak kicker and doesn’t want to build a big pot by raising. A lot of players will even start calling with bottom pair out of position if they feel like the button is playing very aggressive. However a call here usually means the player will check on the turn. This give the button 2 free cards to hit a hand or 2 scare cards to bluff on the river. Both of these are profitable options for the button.
3) Check-calling to bluff later
If your opponent knows you often bluff, he might call here and see what you do later. This is an advanced risky play that some players will use. However you need to see your opponent make this play before you start calling his big or river bet holding only second pair.
4) Check-raising min
If your opponent is not sure what you have or has you beat, sometimes he will check-raise you min. This gives the button pot odds to call with almost any draw. It also turns the out of position player into the aggressor so if the button does have a strong hand, he can expect to be bet into on the turn. This is a good option for the button because being the aggressor out of position is tricky to do. If your opponent check raises min out of position and then checks on the turn, this can be a pretty huge tell if you know your opponent. Also check raising min if done too often smells of a weak hand which of course can be bluffed out on a later street.
5) Check-raising pot
If a player hits a hand he might check-raise you pot. Now we are talking. If you can get your opponent to consistently check raise pot out of position when he hits top pair, you are setting yourself up for a big hand. After you have been check raised pot, you can obviously get away from bad hands or a bluff. However, if you do have that monster you are in a DOMINATING situation. There are so many ways to extract money here. You can call knowing there will be a huge bet on the turn, re-raise min which will either pot commit your opponent or get him to slide all-in, or go all-in yourself. Finally you can even call to bluff later if obvious the flush or straight comes. So many options when your opponent has put that money in the middle. This situation is what a heads up player lives for.

This is the first post in the Heads Up Doctrine under “Your Game.” Next time I will discuss how you procedurally use position to set up a big hand. I chose to talk about position first because if you don’t know why you are doing something, you won’t know when or how to adjust your game.

Playing the blinds in NLHE

2005-01-30T13:02:00.000-05:00

One of the most important keys to success in no-limit holdem is knowing how to play when you are in the blinds. The primary reason that this spot is tricky is that the small blind and the big blind are the two worst positions at the table. You need to be able to make decisions about the strength of your hand, and how to play your hand, when you are the first person to act after the flop. This is not easy to do. Today I just wanted to go over a few things that I have learned in my experience of playing the blinds. These ideas will be particularly useful short-handed cash games, as you are constantly involved in playing the blinds.

The first type of situation comes when you are in the small blind. You hold something like A3 or A4. The guy on the button raises, and there is no one else in the hand. He has been raising every un-opened pot and you know he could hold any two cards. Every part of you believes that A4 is truly the best hand here. However, in my experience this just isn't the type of hand you want to call a raise with. When you call a raise with this hand, you basically need the Ace to come on the flop for you to have any type of hand. Thats 3 cards that help you on the flop. If this players is aggressive, you know he will bet on the flop regardless of what he has. If you don't flop an Ace, you really can't call him unless the flop was like 422 and you had the A4. Ok, say you get 'lucky' and the ace flops. Now you probably have the best hand, right? Well, you check the flop and as expected he bets. You like your hand so you call. Now the turn brings another card that doesn't hit your hand. You check again, and he bets even bigger. Well, what do you do now? You still 'probably' have the best hand. But it is very possible he could have an Ace and a higher kicker, made 2 pair, made a set, or could be bluffing. You want to call him here but it is very tough to continue with 1 pair, no kicker. This is why calling with a 'weak ace' preflop here is not a good play (if you think he is stealing, you are better off re-raising, and then betting big regardless of the flop). When you are playing the small blind/big blind to a late position raiser who is probably stealing, you want to call with hands that when you make your hand, you will be quite certain that it is the best hand. An example would be: any pocket pair, suited connectors (if you make a straight or flush it's pretty easy to know it's the best hand), Ace/Face card, or other hands like this. I would even rather play something like 9T or 9J than A2. Ax and Kx (when x is a small card) are just not good hands to be defending your blinds to late position raises.

The next situation I'd like to talk about is playing the big blind when it is just you and the small blind in the pot. This doesn't happen too often in a full ring game, but it happens in shorthand a lot. When everyone else folds and the small blind simply calls, you have to feel almost like 'you have the button now.' You get to act last on every street in this hand, including preflop. This is a HUGE advantage. You do not need a big hand to make the following play. If the SB just limps in, try raising 3x the blind. There is probably a 75% chance he will fold to this bet. On the flop he will probably check, and you should make a pot sized bet regardless. Unless this flop hit him hard, he will fold now. This play works great, and it also sets him up for when you pick up a monster on the BB. If you never made this play, what do you think he would do the first time you picked up AA in this situation? He would fold to your big raise. This would force you to limp in with AA here which would most likely just get you in trouble. So again, this play works well to steal a pot here and there, but also sets your opponent up for when you have a big hand. You should note that you should only do this about 1/3 of the time this situation comes up, as your opponents will start to realize it. But if you have a pocket pair, two high cards, two medium suited cards, or once in awhile two connected low cards, go ahead and make this play. You will be surprised at how well it works.

Flame out in Tunica

2005-01-28T18:49:00.000-05:00

Wow. Disaster. I busted out of the main event in less than three hours in Tunica. It's been so painful that only now can I write about it. The worst part is that there is no one to blame but myself. The month leading up to this event all I did was play limit hold 'em. What the hell was I thinking? Do you play ping pong or racquetball before Wimbledon? This is not to insinuate that I think limit hold 'em is inferior to no limit but rather to point out that my preperation for this trip was lackluster at best. Of course, I ran into a road block no more than 5 hands into the tournament. At my first table were Josh Arieh, Hans 'Tuna' Lund, and Terrance Chan of RPG fame (super nice guy by the way). I haven't been too shy in the past about how I felt about Josh Arieh. At the WSOP the TV cameras picked up him giving me a hard time and he made some comments directed at me that the cameras didn't pick up. I've been the first to say on different forums that I thought Arieh was the best player at the final table (it would've been interesting if he would've won some coin flips towards the end). But, I wasn't planning on becoming buddies with him to say the least. Josh, though, was very nice as we exchanged pleasantries before the tournament. As far as I'm concerned the way he acted at the WSOP is water under the bridge. Oh yeah, back to the tournament. Somewhere around hand 5 Arieh raised my big blind of $50 to $125. I looked down at 3d 4d and decided to call. Arieh pretty much bullied me around at the WSOP so I decided to show him a new Matt Dean. The flop came out K 3 4 rainbow. Ship it! I checked, Arieh bet ($300?), and I raised him to $800. He called. The river was a 9 which I think put two clubs on the board (I should know this but I don't). I led out this time for $1000 which now seems smallish with only bottom two pair. Arieh calls. Of course, the river puts a king on the board and I can only imagine what my face looked like. I wasn't wearing my sunglasses so I'm sure I looked white as a ghost. I check-folded to a $1500 bet by Arieh. As I went to turn my cards over Arieh said, "3, 4?". Well...yeah, Josh....3 4. I wonder if Arieh was up to his old tricks calling for a miracle gutshot with A2 or A5? Oh well, we'll never know. Especially, since I looked as though I saw a ghost and it never, ever crossed my mind to bet the river. I must have gone on tilt because I didn't play very well from there on. I got involved in one pot about an hour into the tournament with 77. The board of JJJ45 was nice but JQ liked it better taking another chunk out of my stack. With blinds so low I shouldn't have been desparate with $4500 in chips but when you are on tilt you want to chase your losses. That's probably why I thought TT was the nuts and ran it straight into AA to end my tournament in about 460th place out of 512. I'm not very proud of my effort. But, I am going to work even harder to improve my game. Results don't just come to you because you think you deserve them.

Heads Up Doctrine

2005-01-28T13:22:00.000-05:00

Heads up no limit hold em might be the most profitable type of game found in online poker rooms today. Heads up is also arguably the most exciting form of poker played today. If you have played heads up once, you know what I mean. The reason for this is that you play every single hand, and if you don’t, new cards are immediately dealt. Going from a ten person table in a casino to heads up online, a player can see as much as 20 times as many hands. Traversing from the live ring game where the strategy is to fold and wait for premium hands, to heads up where the play is almost opposite, can be like going from jumping on a trampoline to base jumping off an 80 story building. The games require two different plans of attack and most players do not truly realize this difference. This is why the most important aspect of heads up, the long term expected value, is a reality. If you have a sound game plan and are open to adjusting your play based on your opponent, you can consistently have an edge against most heads up players you come across.
My posts on this site will break down heads up in a logical way thus teaching solid hold em players to be winning heads up players. First I will write posts about “Your Game,” which will be an in-depth model of the tendencies and thought process of a successful heads up player. These posts will cover pre-flop, post flop, turn, and river action. This segment will also talk about overall goals and present a philosophy behind every move and decision made at the table. After mastering this information, you should be able to critically analyze every decision you make playing heads up as well as relate that decision to your overall strategy.
My next series of posts, “Adapting to Others” is the counterpart to the first section. An example of which can be found by reading my “Heads up Profile: Tight Passive” post. In heads up, almost as important as how you play, is the image you have of your opponent and how you change your game accordingly. This section dissects some of the most common heads up player types and gives you a strategy to beat them as well as reasoning behind this strategy. Never will you be able to learn a player’s tendencies so quickly as in heads up, and this section gives you a name to put behind those tendencies and then a way to beat them. At the conclusion of this topic, there will even be examples that will quiz you by giving game situations using everything presented by they posts thus far. After this segment you should be able to put players in categories based on the player profiles and adapt “Your Game” according to those profiles.
The third segment entitled “Logistics” is the most underrated topic in poker because it discusses many of the unseen parts of poker that have a huge impact at the table. These parts include the amount of your bankroll, the game you choose, what tables to sit at and when to leave, as well as how to handle tilt or the emotional swings of heads up. While this topic will be posted after the substantive part of heads up, it should be taken just as seriously. Many great poker players have lost bankrolls because of problems with logistics.
The final posts on heads up will wrap up the previous three segments in a conclusion that will help you remember the important themes and give you final instructions for implementing them in your game.
If you can understand and master these topics on heads up, as well as handle all the intangibles such as handling bad beats, managing a bankroll, and knowing your limits; you can easily beat heads up games of almost all levels found online today. The information in these posts was forged from hard earned lessons and countless hours of study and debate. However they also come from great success. I hope you will join me in the study of heads up no limit hold em and please don’t hesitate to ask questions.

$2000 Tourney in Tunica

2005-01-20T23:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I just recently got knocked out in 70th place at the $2000 no-limit event at the WPO in Tunica, MS. I'm now 0 for 4 in tournaments on the trip with only the $3000 no-limit event and the $10,000 main event to go. Everyone started the tournament with $2000 in chips and blinds started at $25-$25. 369 people entered and 36 got paid. I didn't play a pot for a while and was blinded down to $1850 when I got a free look at a flop from the BB with 10 3 offsuit. The flop came 10 5 3 rainbow and I slowplayed it enough to extract about $500 from one player. He said a couple hours later that he had KK so possibly I could have gotten more out of the hand but my stack was at $2300 about a half-hour into the tournament and I was feeling good. Later I got TT, raised in middle position to $125 (blinds still $25-$25) and got one caller on the button. I led out for $225 on a flop of 9 5 3 rainbow and was quickly called. I figured the guy would raise with a hand that could beat me like JJ, QQ, KK, or AA and that if he had flopped a set he would have taken a little more time calling me if he was going to slowplay. I put him on a hand like 66, 77, 88, or maybe A9. I checked when a 7 came on the turn to see what he would do. He led out of $400 and I decided then and there that I had the best hand. Sometimes you can't put a finger on it exactly but it didn't feel like he had a set right there so I raised to $1000 total. He called the extra $600 fairly quickly and I started to second guess myself. When a 2 hit the river I couldn't believe it. Not a bad board for a guy holding TT huh? This is where I made a huge mistake though! I was totally committed to the hand (my opponent had only $800 left) but I only bet $500 on the river into a huge pot. My opponent again called quickly and tapped the table when I showed my tens. He turned a 9 face up and tossed his cards in the muck. But, I left him with $300 in chips and that would come back to haunt! Why not just push him all-in? Well, to be honest I wasn't paying close enough attention to how much he had left. I definitely wanted him to call me on the river but if he was going to call $500 he almost certainly would have put his last $800 in also. Nevermind that for now, I had doubled up and was feeling pretty good. I played very tight for the next hour or two and didn't make a move at one pot, of course, I wasn't getting any cards. A very aggresive kid at my table on my right who had been raising a lot of pots came in for another raise midway throught the third round and I looked down to see Ah 10h. Since I hadn't done a thing for a long time I figured the table would let me have a hand so I reraised to $1000. Oops, the table folded to the kid on my left who moved all-in for another $925. So, I had to put $925 into a pot that would contain $4000 ($100 BB, $50 SB, my $1000, his $1000, his $925 more, and my $925 more if I called). $925/$4000 is 23.125% (which I literally calculated while making my decision). So I would have to win the hand 23.125% of the time to make this a profitable call. It seems like an easy call when I put it that way but I wasn't so sure. There was a great chance that the kid had an Ace with a better kicker which would put me in bad shape. But, I'm still going to win 30% of the time vs. AK offsuit whether or not he has the King of hearts. He could easily have a hand like JJ, QQ, or KK, but even then I still have about a 30% change of winning. Of course, if he has AA then it's time to cry. But, the thing that caused me the most torment is the fact that in a tournament every chip is precious. Did I want to throw away another $925 when I knew I was behind (he re-re-raises one of the tightest players at the table!)? I finally decided that although it was almost certain I was behind that I just had to call with that much in the pot. I wasn't surprised when he showed me JJ, just a little sad. But, low and behold a beautiful Ace appeared on the turn and I was up to $6000! Ship it! I lost about half of my stack later, though, when I pushed my JJ up against QQ on a flop of 752 with two diamonds. Shock of all shocks it was the guy who I could have eliminated who had come back from the dead to cripple me! Well, I wasn't exactly crippled but I didn't see many hands after that and was forced to play a short stack the rest of the tournament. The end finally came when I moved all-in from the cut-off for my last $2600 with A9 offsuit. The button thought and thought and then called with KJ of spades (leaving him with about $500 chips left). I couldn't believe he called off almost his whole stack off with only King high but just as I was patting myself on the back for my good fortune a King hit the flop and sent me packing. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

A Hand at the Mirage

2005-01-19T18:56:00.000-05:00

Recently I played a hand at the Mirage in Las Vegas that I want to share. I was playing in the $2/$5 no-limit game and had approximately $600 in front of me. Under the gun I was dealt As Kd and raised to $40. The game had been pretty loose and pre-flop raises had ranged anywhere from $25-$50 usually. A very tight player across the table from me called the raise as did the BB who was a calling station. The flop came Qd Jd Td which was a pretty good flop for me but also very dangerous. The calling station led out for $75 from the BB and I decided it was best to just call with my straight and see what the tight player across from me did. The tight player thought for a moment, called time, and then raised it to $225 ($150 more). The calling station disgustedly folded while muttering to himself and that left me with a huge decision. Whenever anyone calls time there is usually big trouble. The raiser only had $75 left in front of him and I had him covered. The raiser was obviously going to put in his last $75 unless it was a complete bluff so I was going to have to invest another $225 if I wanted any chance of winning the pot. If we both got our money in there would be $800 in the pot ($40 preflop + $40 preflop + $40 proflop + $5 SB + $75 on the flop + $75 on the flop + $225 on the flop + $75 the raiser's remaining chips + $225 I would have to invest to stay in the hand). So I had to put $225 into a $800 pot. I'd need an expected value of at least 28% to stay in the hand. Most people at the table thought I should fold the hand since the player was very tight and unlikely to raise without a flush. I approached the hand from a slightly different angle though. The player across from me was very tight. So, what hands could he be calling me with preflop that would give him a flush? The Kd was in my hand and the Qd, Jd, and Td were on the board. For him to have the nut flush he would have to have Ad xd. This guy seemed too tight to be calling $40 raises with Ad xd. 9d 8d was a possibility also but I had put this guy on a bigger hand. The hand that came to my head was Ad with a K offsuit. With that hand he knew I couldn't have the nut flush because he held the Ad and he knew I was a solid player who raised under the gun. He knew I wouldn't raise UTG with Kd xd. Now that I put him on Ad Ko what do I do? The best I could do is split the pot unless I caught my miracle 9d. I quickly figured that he had 7 outs to win the hand, while I had 1 out to win the hand. 7 outs twice is approximately 28%. I figured 28% of the time I'd win nothing. About 68% of the time I'd win $400 (half the pot) and 4% of the time I'd win $800. Without doing the math I knew the expected value was much more than what I needed to call (It's actually $304 when I only have to put in $225). I then pushed him all-in for his last $75 because I figured that money was going to get in the middle anyways. He actually laughed at me as he flipped up Ad 2d. My read was dead wrong! I was dead to one out. For me the story ends happily as the turn brought the beautiful 9d. Ship it! The other player kicked a chair on his way out of the poker room saying that the game must be rigged. I really did feel a little sorry for him but not enough to give him his money back. I mean who calls my raise with Ad 2d? Just kidding. Some would say the lesson is not to overthink the hand (I mean the guy did raise into a very dangerous board after calling 'Time') but I'm happy with my decisions. What do you think?

Heads Up Player Profile

2005-01-19T18:45:00.000-05:00

The following post deals with heads up play. While every heads up player in nl hold em is different, most fall into some type of general category. While it is important to realize that players can change gears for various reasons, knowing a player's style and category will lead to a strong feel of a players tendencies and capabilities. Beating a player heads up is all about minimizing strengths and attacking weaknesses. After all, everyone gets the same cards in the long run.

Name: Tight Passive

Playing Style: This player only raises with strong starting hands. Even though all good hands are even more powerful heads up, this player will only raise pot preflop with AA-TT or AK-AJ(s). This player does not like to be raised and usually won’t call raises preflop unless you start raising consistently and he feels run over. If this player had it his way, he would play an opponent where 50 percent of the hands were checked to the river and high card won.

Strength: This player’s strength is in his patience and hand selectivity. This player can get into the habit of folding but makes his money back and more on one big pot. His bread and butter is the big pots where he has a monster and the aggressor has a decent/good hand.

Weakness: This player gets run over by an aggressive player. He is constantly leaking money from stolen blinds. He will not call a bet unless he has a hand either pairs or drawing. He is also poor at deception. If he raises a raise or even bets, he has a hand. This player also typically gets tired of being run over and starts playing poorly by calling raises out of position. Then he might start to believe that everything is a bluff and overplay pairs. However, still be very wary of a re-raise or large bet.

Plan of Attack: Although overstated, this player can be beat by raising preflop on the button 60-80% of the time and then betting the amount of the preflop raise on the flop. Do not call re-raises without a monster. Beat him without showing down. If you feel like he is starting to get rattled and starts calling more hands preflop out of position, start under-betting when you have a huge hand to induce the bluff. In this case he might raise with a middle pair or drawing hand. However, bottom line, patiently raise and steal small pots and don’t call his bets to win. This is a great player to consistently win money off of.

Notes: When you identify this type of player notice what he does with his monsters. Most of these players like to raise with them but some like to check/call and induce your bluff. If you see him doing this, only fire one bullet in a hand when it is called. That is of course unless you have a hand.

Welcome

2005-01-19T01:19:00.000-05:00

Hi, my name is Lloyd McGuire and thanks for checking us out. This site has three posters: Matt Dean(7th WSOP), Taylor Caby(highly successful online cash player), and myself(funding law school from online poker). We will be posting about many aspects about texas hold em from heads up play to WSOP final table stories. Not much has been written about heads up play in nl texas hold em but it can be very profitable. Not only are most hands heads up after the flop but tournaments always come down to heads up. So whether you are playing .10/.25 nl heads up at Ultimate Bet or trying to win the WSOP, the info you learn here will give you an edge.