I finally picked up my copy of Mike Matusow’s Check Raising the Devil. For sure I have not been this excited about reading a poker book in quite some time. This is Mike’s own account of his life straight from the players mouth (no pun intended). This has been one of the most anticipated books to come along in quite some time and I will be immersed in reading this book until I have laid eyes on each and every page.

As usual I will post a review of the book as soon as I am done.

I had to step away from the tables for a while. Too many successive beats for me to withstand anymore. No big deal. It’s part of the game and when things do not go your way when you have the best hand it is best to step away from the game and find something else to do. I will return to the tables for the WCOOP.

See ya then!

I picked up the latest edition of BluffMagazine to find a featured article about another new poker show called Two Months Two Million. Basically it is a reality show based upon four online poker players that move to Las Vegas and attempt to fulfill the title of the show. The objective is fairly obvious. These guys are trying to win $2 Million dollars in a window of 60 days give or take a day or two. Before I go any further I gotta tell you that this is a rather tall order considering that you have to play at high stakes just about 24/7 to achieve this goal. The problem is that these guys are already known entities in the online poker world and they admit that it will indeed be a tall task. It is going to be tough for them to get action above the $50 / $25 limits because of their previous success.

If you thought these guys were just internet poker players think again. They also have fared well in live poker tournaments too with one of the players taking down $583k so far in 2009  thanks to a WSOP 4th place finish. Honestly, I do not expect any of them to achieve the goal they set at all. However, I do believe that they can do something even more important and that is they can help dispel the myth that online poker and poker in general is simply a game of luck with no strategic value. If the show can convey that message to the audience over the long run it will be another small step in the right direction.

The show is set in a gorgeous Las Vegas spread with the obligatory monster wide screen HD display on the main wall that projects their PC’s screens in quadrants for all to see. The war room is setup so that each of the players can sit side-by-side while going at it online with their opponents. They also do interviews and their is plenty of footage of their every day life as well to balance out the poker playing and poker talk. The show has got a shot and I believe the non-poker playing viewers will genuinely be interested in it. It’s worth a look.

The World Poker Tour has been purchased by Party Gaming for $12 Million bucks. I had a written a post a while back about the WPT being in dire straights having lost most of it’s value due to the recession. Only a few years ago WPT stock was at an all time high of $30 per share. Recently it has made somewhat of a comeback as it is now listed at $1.05 cents. At one point it was as low as fifteen cents. We can only hope that the WPT continues to be successful. As much as Chris Moneymaker was responsible for peaking the interest of the common man it was the WPT, Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patton that really bring the broadcast to life. Poker tournament broadcasts would not be the same without those two.

I was able to jump back into playing mode again this weekend after a lackluster effort in a live tournament last week. I played a tournament a few days ago that had the structure changed at the last minute from 20 min levels to 15 min levels. I should have immediately decided to stay home when I found out. Instead I decided to play because it was only 5 minutes from my home. I did well but I knew it was going to be a shove fest and I tend to stay away from structures that do not allow a lot of play unless it is online.

Anyhow, I busted out in level 2 of the tournament and was kicking myself all the way home at how disgusted I was with my lack of will power. If you don’t feel the structure is suitable for you to perform at your best then don’t play the tournament. Now if I can just follow my own advise I will be just fine.

I had to sit down and watch the latest offering from our friends at Full Tilt. Admittedly I was skeptical about this show from the get go. Unfortunately, after the first five minutes it turned out to be exactly as I suspected. Basically the show is an on-going commercial for Full Tilt. Don’t get me wrong I happen to play on Full Tilt and enjoy it. However, poker in a “game show” format simply does not work and that is how it is presented.

First, the average schmoe (me) has to win a Turbo Satellite on Full Tilt. The good part is that these satellites are absolutely free and require no deposit. Second, if you should be lucky enough to win your way into the Super Satellite for the trip to Las Vegas you will play a normal Full Tilt tournament against others that have done the same. The winner gets a 5 day package and $500 spending money at the Golden Nugget in down town Las Vegas.

I have been to the Golden Nugget several times and it is a very nice hotel indeed. Once you arrive you will be interviewed by the shows producers and then if you are picked for the show you will air on prime time.

The game goes like this:

You are introduced and asked to pick a Full Tilt Pro that is hidden behind doors with an Spade, Diamond, Heart or Club on the front. Lo and behold the guy picked Phil Ivey. Damn! He then proceeds to sit down and gets deal Pocket Aces the first hand and wins a small pot. Then he is dealt Pocket Queens the second hand. Ivey picks up [A][8] and pushes and the schmoe insta-calls. Game over and $40k in hand.

The next match is worth $200k but if you lose you got home with nothing. The last match is worth $1 Million with the same consequences. Ali Nejad does a decent job as the host but the other guy is simply fluff with really bad jokes. Of course there is the obligatory eye candy to escort the Full Tilt players from their doors to the table.

Overall, I give the show a life span of three weeks max. It’s pretty lame to me.

Judge Laura Swain of the Southern District of New York recently questioned US attorneys regarding the indictment of Douglas Rennick who works for Account Services. The warrant was used to seize the funds for twenty-four thousand poker players who’s accounts totaled over $30 Million dollars. Douglas Rennick has a long history in the online payment industry and has worked for several vendors over the years. He is also from Canada where he would be able to operate in that capacity as it relates to online poker.

I gotta tell you that this has gone beyond foolishness and someone needs to put an end to all of the frivolous law suites being filed. The Feds need to sit down with knowledgeable people and really understand what poker is all about. There is absolutely no risk to allowing people to play poker online. It is a win win scenario and creates a revenue stream that is badly needed here in the U.S. Let’s hope that they can pull this thing together.

I played a tournament last Thursday night. I figured why not enjoy an evening at the tables with the wife. No big deal. I get my seat and my wife and I are chit chatting and finally the table comes together as the tourney begins. We all speak lightly and get acquainted with one another while making and taking jokes back and forth. Normal stuff to most of us that play live. Now here comes the doo doo. We have one guy at the table in seat number 8 that seemed to know everything about everything. In particular he knew everything about poker.

The problem with this guy is that as he would prophesies about the hand you played and speculate on what you were holding he was losing hand after hand after hand. He couldn’t have been any more than forty-five or so. After about 15 minutes of listening to his mouth one of the older gentlemen asked for some duct tape and the table roared with laughter. Finally, the guy got the message that he wasn’t that good and he really needed to stop embarrassing himself.

You gotta love it though!

Trusting your read on another player at the table will increase your profit in almost every situation. Why? Because you will lose fewer chips or win more chips because of your understanding of your opponents situation. Most importantly you are willing to ACT on that understanding.  Where as many times we will know we have the best hand but because there is an over card on the board and our opponent has a tendency to call large raises with small pairs we fold.

These are the kinds of plays that take you from being an average to good player to a very good player. Most people can work hard and easily become very good fundamentally sound poker players. But how many of us are truly working to improve your overall game to the point of really understanding where your opponent is at in the hand? Are you willing to act when you know you are correct? That is when you know you have taken your game to the next level when you can make that kind of play and be correct most of the time.

This is just one of many scenarios I believe advanced players make the correct play in most situations. They are not perfect but they know their opponents tendencies and act on their reads a lot more often than us amatuers do.

We can all learn from that.

HR2267 has finally been rolled out as of last week. Personally, I am extremely happy with the work that Frank and the PPA have done to get the correct information out to the people that can affect some change. I think we can all agree that there is clearly a way that we can get this done where both sides benefit greatly from this alliance. It would certainly be a boon for the U.S.A. and an additional revenue stream. It would also bring several would be online poker players to the fore as they would know it is OK to play without penalty.

Basically HR2267 establishes the framework for the government to regulate the various online operators for tax purposes. It will also authorize the sites to accept bets and wagers as legitimate vendors. Additional legislation will be coming soon from Franks. So stay tuned.

Today just happens to be my birthday. I have had a great weekend and we are simply enjoying family and friends. I have cashed twice in my last three tournaments but nothing major. I have taken a few beats that are frustrating because they occurred so late in the tournament. Otherwise, I am just biding my time and staying sharp in anticipation of the WCOOP coming up in September.

Stay thirsty my friends!

This is the first time I have ever hit a Royal Flush in a large MTT. I was just as shocked when the guy started betting into me. He had no intentions of folding. Anyhow, it was nice to play out a hand knowing that you could never be Bad Beat out of.
SWEET!!!!!

Check it out!

I am still grinding away day to day. Nothing has changed since the last time I chimed in. I have been doing a lot of writing in preparation for my vacation next week. I plan on playing a lot of live poker and look forward to doing well in the up coming local tournaments. The Horseshoe Poker Classic is also coming to Indiana next week. Maybe I will check that out.

Who knows?

What I do know is that my birthday is going to be a lot of fun. Family, BBQ, and Poker. That’s hard to beat!

I am sure we have all discussed with our poker friends just how much you need in order to be bankrolled properly for tournament play. It doesn’t matter whether you play mid stakes, high stakes, or low stakes. If you play tournament poker you need a bankroll that can withstand bad runs. Most everyone that I know has gone broke several times. Some learn from their mistakes and go on to do very well. Others, never learn how to properly manage their bankroll and they are no longer playing the game anymore.

One of the things I see most professional players preaching is that you never spend more than 10 percent of your bankroll on any one tournament. You can scale this to your particular stakes easily and it is a great rule of thumb to follow. If your bankroll is $500 dollars then you should play tournaments that are no larger than $50 dollars. Your average tournament buy-in should be around $10 bucks. For a good to above average player they will typically be in the money around 10 to 20 percent of the time and have a first, second, or third around 5 percent of the times they cash. As with anything your results will vary depending how well or poorly you are running at the moment.

Your tournament bankroll should be around 100 times your average buy-in. If you want to play $100 dollar tournaments then you need $10k. If you want to play $1000 buy-ins then you need $100,000 and so on. If you can consistently play well and endure a little bad luck every now and then you will continue to be successful and keep your bankroll intact.

I just got done reading Poker Wizards by Warwick Dunnett.  This book is not your typical poker book and I welcome Warwicks approach to bringing you useful information in a very easy to read manner. You will not find a whole lot of number crunching algorithms or anything of that nature in Poker Wizards. However, what you do find is a wealth of knowledge from some of the best No Limit poker professionals in the world.

Yes, Warwick Dunnett sat down with the likes of Dan Negreanu, Mike Sexton, Kathy Liebert, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and many others and asked them to share their thoughts at length on how they approach the game of poker. Just the idea that you get that kind of in site is extremely appealing and informative. Warwick chimes in at the beginning of each chapter introducing each of the “Poker Wizards”  with a brief bio and how they started on their journey.

Lastly, Warwick himself chimes in with his own take on playing in poker tournaments and cash games and the various facets of play such as:

• Discipline
• Strategy
• Money Management
• Online Poker

Again, this book is an extremely easy read and one that has plenty of meaningful content with no fluff. I particularly enjoyed the sections on Mike Sexton and Kathy Liebert as they explored various levels of thinking and the “why?” in how they approach No Limit poker tournaments. I recommend this book for intermediate and advanced players as the reader should have a good understanding of poker concepts and fundamental strategy and play.