How many times have you been so happy with your play that you could jump through the roof? How many times have you been so disappointed with your play or a bad beat that you wanted to jump off a building? The game of poker, especially No Limit Hold’em, is one of the best roller coaster rides any of us can ever experience. True, the ride can be bumpy and throw you out of the car but it can also magically build tracks when it seems like you are about to run into a dead end to keep you on course. How can anyone not enjoy the carnival of the senses that is the game of poker?

The sad part is that we actually enjoy the drama of the game just as much as we enjoy seeing players play skillfully. If a little pain were not part of the game of poker I am not so sure it would be nearly as popular. Poker takes “the agony of defeat” to an entirely new level. So when you are running good and the cards are falling for you feel the joy as much as you can. Because sooner or later the pain is coming. You can count on it.

After 25 intermittent sessions Tom Durrr Dwan has managed to turn the tables on Antonious who once had the lead. No less than a few days ago Patrick Antonious was up more than 300k. Dwan finally started to hit his draws and chipped away at the lead from session to session.

Neither player has ever had a lead this large at any point in the challenge. This should be very interesting and could be very dangerous for Antonious if he is not careful. If he were to quit now he would be out of $1.2 million dollars. Not good. Something tells me that Tom Dwan is not about to relinquish his lead. Antonious could be cooked at this point.

Lately, there has been a bit of a battle cry regarding bad beats on PokerStars and Full Tilt. Player after player seems to want to complain about getting bad beat as if it never happens. That still amazes me to this day that online players have not grasped the concept of what a Bad Beat really is. A good player gets his chips in with the best hand. Bad players do not get their chips in with the best hand.

It seems clear that you cannot be Bad Beat unless you are a reasonably good poker player. In other words, bad players do not get Bad Beat because they never get their chips in with the best hand.This brings me to my next point. How is online poker site somehow responsible for the Bad Beats? How come players never blame PokerStars or Full Tilt when they hit their card on the river? How come they never call the site “rigged” then? The bottom line is that the sites are only bad when your hand doesn’t hold up. Right?

Wrong!

Understanding the concept of variance can go a long way in understanding Bad Beats and also “running good”. The fact of the matter is that variance can and will swing both ways and in some cases for extended periods of time for anyone that plays poker. So when things are not going your way and it seems like you are losing to one outers at every turn remember that the pendulum swings both ways. It’s only a matter of time before things turn around again. The real question is are you disciplined enough to recognize when to slow down until it does? If you are then your bankroll with thank you for it. If not, the deposit button is to your right.

I know this concept my sound very contrary to some but there are times when laying down the best hand is the correct play to make. Over and over again we all have been told to get your chips in with the best hand. I happen to agree with that and I am sure most of you do too. However, there are circumstances that will turn up at the poker table that will put you in awkward positions that almost force you to call with the best hand.

What are they?

Well, I am speaking of poker tournaments to be exact. Early on in a poker tournament I simply do not want to call all of my stack when someone is drawing at a flush after the flop. I can always out play the flush chasers and pick a better spot in the early levels. This means that laying down top pair or even top two pair in the first couple of levels when faced with an all-in tournament decision is not necessarily that bad of a play. Why allow them to get lucky on you when you can wait it out, continue to accumulate chips, and nail them later on with a better board?

That doesn’t mean that you do this every single time you are confronted. On the contrary, you need to really understand whom you are playing against AND your own ability before you consider this kind of move. Remember, most of the time your opponent is going to miss their draws. However, late in tournaments when the weaker players are pretty much gone you may still lay down the best hand when faced with aggression from an opponent that has a stack as large as yours if you are near the Final Table.

For me once I am at the Final Table there is no folding the best hand but early on there are exceptions to this rule. That doesn’t make it right or wrong but simply a conscious choice I make as the situations unfold. Again, this is not an all of the time type of play but one that should be a small part of your poker strategy and approch to the game.

I love the fact that I can change my PokerStars theme any time I please. Just the fact that I do not have to settle with the standard themes gives me peace of mind. Peoples moods change and when your mood changes you want a theme that fits the mood you are in. Nothing strange about that. Is it?

lol

Anyhow, PSThemes is the place to go to get high quality PokerStars themes. This guy has been doing it for a number of years and the quality of his product speaks for itself. The average price for one of his themes is around $10 bucks. They accept PayPal payments ONLY!

If you are looking for a theme that is already done there are entire galleries from the category of your choice. You will have more than your share to choose from. Professional Themes, Sexy Themes, Sports Themes and the rest. PSThemes has it all. If you are interested in a Custom theme you can inquire about your design or they can make one for you. Stop by and take a look around.

PSThemes.com

The Heartland Poker Tour is back again at the Majestic Star casino in Indiana. Once again I will be playing satellites into the Main Event starting July 3rd. Having had some time to reflect on the previous satellites a few months ago I am ready to rock and roll.

I will make a few adjustments in my play and hopefully it will pay off by winning the seat this time and advancing deep into the tournament. I am definitely looking forward to the challenge. The Main Event does start until late July and runs into August so I have plenty of time.

My hot streak continues as I made another Final Table yesterday. My play has been great and my hands are holding up and that is the key. No new changes to my game or anything but the tweaks I made a while back remain in place and very effective.

This tourney started with me doubling up on a flush. After that it was pretty much every time I got my chips in I was doubling up. One guy re-raised me pre-flop while I was holding [A][A] and he had [7][7] and was not about to fold. You gotta love that. These might have been the easiest chips I have ever won to get to a Final Table.

lol

Seriously, the last eighteen players were tough and one in particular was very frustrating because he was both aggressive and sitting to my left. He finally got busted a little later on by the eventual winner. Other than him I pretty much had everyone at my Final Table pegged and they responded accordingly. I kept my stack up by stealing a lot of blinds and abandoned pots.

The last three players were very good. We all had a very good read on each other so no one got too out of line. Finally, with about $110k left I picked up [9][9] in the Big Blind. The button raised me three times. I re-raised all in. I had him covered and he is holding [A][Q].

The flop comes [A][Q][x] [x] [x]

That was the end of me or so I thought. I still had 17k left and mounted a come back up to $120k and back into second place. A few more hands transpired and I pick up [6][6] on the button and raise when the action folds to me. I get re-raised all in by [K][Q] and I insta-called.

I know I gotta win a big race at some point so why not now? If this hand holds I am in excellent chip shape against the chip leader heads-up. I played it to win it!

The flop came [X][X][Q] [X][X]

Off to the rail I go. Overall, I played the tourney well and was rewarded for it. One more race would have helped but that’s how it goes. No regrets.

I happened to be browsing the web and ran into a really cool site. It’s called the Poker Atlas. If you are looking for a poker game or tournament near you then this is a great site to visit. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and click on your state and all of your local poker rooms pop up along with a map for directions. Each room has a brief description that pops up on the side bar.

Each listing also gives you the spread at each casino along with the tournament schedule if there is one available. It’s certainly worth exploring if you have the time.

Visit the Poker Atlas

It looks like when the US government seized the banks operations they also seized the entries into the 2009 WSOP for many of the online qualifiers. Players from both Full Tilt and Pokerstars have complained about difficulty entering the tournaments they won entry into via satellites.

Although not surprising it is disappointing that things have gone this far. The trickery and energy spent devising ways to prevent people from spending their time playing poker is amazing.

Don’t we have bigger fish to fry in Washington? I’m just say’in…

You can now follow me on Twitter! Just click the link below:

Follow Curtom on Twitter NOW!

Thanks to all of you that read Do or Die Poker. Our readership continues to grow and we have also eclipsed the 100+ follower mark on Twitter! This was a nice milestone to pass and shows that we are part of something significant in the online poker world. Congratulations and thank you for making Do or Die Poker what it is today!

Curtis III AKA “Curtom”

Once again the US government is acting foolishly alleging that playing online poker is somehow illegal. What a joke. These numb skulls have told the banks to stop doing transactions on the accounts “because they constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses.”

Now how absurd is that? Let me get this straight. Because I play online poker I am somehow money laundering? Are you kidding me? This is becoming an exercise in stupidity for all involved. How can you begin executing your authority over something that isn’t legally defined? The UIGEA does not say you cannot play online poker. The problem with the UIGEA is that it is a very poorly written piece of crap that no ones seems to know where the boundaries begin or end and we are all suffering for it.

You would think the feds would hold off until the UIGEA gets clarified. Now they look just plain stupid. What a shame.

OK folks, this is getting down right scary. I make yet another Final Table last night in a 401 player re-buy tournament and take down 7th place. That makes 10 Final Tables in my last 33 tournaments. That is outrageous. Sure, I expect to play well most of the time and I get rewarded for that by cashing more often than most. The thing is that I was already cashing around 18 – 20% BEFORE I tweaked my game. Now I am cashing in at a steady 23% clip.

The most intriguing thing is that half of these tournaments I am cashing in have fields larger than 850+ players. I do realize that I am on one hell of a rush at the moment and I certainly don’t expect it to last forever. My dilemma is this: Just how much has my game improved over the past two months versus am I just getting more lucky than normal?

Honestly, I don’t think I am getting lucky’er than normal but my hands are all holding up in crucial situations and that alone makes a big difference in succeeding or failing.

I never want to under or over estimate my ability. That could be an extremely dangerous habit that could result in a rapid loss of ones bankroll.  I suppose over the next six months or so there will be more than enough tournaments to balance out any rushes one way or the other. I am very curious to see just how long I can maintain this level of play.

Time will tell.