We Can’t Stop Talking About Phil Hellmuth
I'm no exception, I can't stop talking about Phil Hellmuth. That, in a nutshell, is his superpower. I'll tell you the thing that infuriates me about Phil Hellmuth. It's not the whole poker brat shtick, though I am particular about good behavior at the table. The thing...
We Can’t Stop Talking About Phil Hellmuth, Part 2
Maybe Phil Hellmuth crushing is just what we didn't realize we needed right now. I was as skeptical as everyone else when he beat Negreanu heads up in the first challenge. When he won the second and the third I still assumed it had to be a fluke somehow. Phil pretty...
Poker in 2021: Time to Choose the Red Pill or the Blue Pill
This post contains affiliate links to products I use and recommend. If you use these links to buy something it supports the blog. Thanks. "This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends; you wake up in...
Reflections on the 2021 WSOP schedule
As you probably are aware the full schedule is now available. If you recall I had sent out a link to Kenny Hallaert's spreadsheet, you can find it here and he has already filled in all the WSOP details. As I explained before this is a live document and he updates it...
Poker in the Time of Cholera
Imagine you were part of a management team charged with planning for live poker in the coming year. Imagine your range of possibilities is on a scale of "shut it down till a vaccine" to "lets go ahead with the super seniors event". What would you do?...
Elasticity in Poker
My dad was an economics professor and I have the happy memory of taking a microeconomics class with him probably about thirty years ago. He taught me classic micro concepts like supply and demand, and diminishing marginal utility. But I also remember a concept called...
How to Win a WSOP Bracelet (a book review)
That grandiose title is going to need some quick clarifications for an understandably skeptical reader. First and foremost, this blog post is a book review of poker pro Dylan Linde’s new book, 'Mastering Mixed Games: Winning Strategies for Draw, Stud and...
Do You Smell Something Burning? Someone just busted a tournament and sat down in a cash game
You know what I'm talking about right? Players coming to a cash game straight from a recent bust out of a tournament often don't have their head in the right place. Even if they aren't tilted it is hard to make the adjustments necessary. Here's a few things...
Where to Play Poker in the Seattle Area
The Seattle area has seen a lot of changes in the poker scene in the last year or so. The trend has been the increased dominance of the smaller, non-tribal rooms at the expense of the tribal poker rooms. A few factors have conspired to make it this way. The...
GTO Like a Six Year Old
Not to brag but I crush my wife at rock paper scissors. Somehow I pick up on her patterns and can employ an exploitative strategy that is +EV. So when my six year old wanted to play I imagined I would have similar success. I mean he's six, wtf does he know? To...
Poker Satellite Strategy
Dara O'Kearney's strategy book devoted to poker satellites is a great bang for the buck. The kindle version is only $9.99. If you are someone who plays satellites, particularly the larger super satellites to bigger events like the WSOP it is not unreasonable to...
You Belong at the WSOP
The 50th World Series of Poker is around the corner so it's time to start planning. I know some of you are regular attendees but some of you may think it's not for you. You are wrong. If you love poker then you should go, it's as simple as that. I think the...
“That Pot is Worth a Nice House”, A Tale of Two Flush Draws at the WSOP Main Event
This is going to be the most surreal blog post I've ever written (even more than the one about the guy who stuck his finger in my mouth). The two biggest pots of my life both involved getting it in with a flush draw deep into the WSOP main event. Bizarrely,...
At the WSOP, tricks to save a couple bucks while playing for a million
It might seem contradictory to some but poker players are often quite frugal. We understand that you can flip for a $2000 pot but still get aggravated by $10 parking fees. If this sounds like you, here are a few of the ways I've nitted it up at the WSOP in the...
At the Poker Table You Don’t Need to Outrun the Bear
You know the old joke about the two campers who come across a scary looking bear. One guy starts putting on his sneakers. The other guy says, "What are you doing? You can't outrun a bear". To which the first guy replies, "I don't need to outrun the bear. I just...
Are You a Poker Pro in 2018?
We all play poker right? So who gets to decide who is a poker pro and what that even means? In my first few years of making my living exclusively from poker I was a bit embarrassed to tell people I was a poker pro but I made a point of being open about my...
Poker in Paradise During the Boom Years
Exactly ten years ago (the height of the poker boom) I decided to participate in the poker dream by flying to the Caribbean island of St Kitts for a series of poker tournaments. I'd won entry online, all expenses paid. Those opportunities were a dime a dozen...
Happy Halloween: Phil Galfond is so good these poker hands are just scary
If you love poker you have to watch these two hands. This is a heads up match between Phil Galfond and Jonathan Little in week 12 of the Global Poker League. Let me just say that I have personal experience playing against and getting coaching from Jonathan Little. The...