“Coffee is for Closers”
That’s a famous line from the brilliant play, Glengarry Glen Ross for which David Mamet won a Pulitzer. Mamet’s great insights into human nature come across in the characters he creates and in his sharp dialogue. Apparently Mamet also played (and quite likely still...
What Can You Learn From 25 Cent Poker?
Since my last blog post was about playing in the $10k WSOP main event, I thought today we'd take a look at the other end of the spectrum. Is there anything you can learn from 25 cent poker? The answer may surprise you. Low stakes "fast fold" online poker is very...
Some Hands Stick With You (WSOP Main Event 2017)
Bobbed and weaved but they finally got me in the last level of day 2c. I had a great experience overall during the main event and played lots of interesting hands. One hand really stuck with me. You know the one that leaves you wondering? It was early in day 2. Blinds...
Climbing the Ladder: ICM Pressure in Poker Tournaments
A fun thing happens as you get near the money in a poker tournament. You become keenly aware of the payout ladder and you are faced with a tough dilemma. When should you risk elimination (and a much lower payout or even worse missing out completely i.e. bubbling) for...
Vomit at the Poker Table
These two situations are the closest I've come to puking at the poker table. This first one still stands as my most bizarre experience at a poker table. It was the tail end of a long session. The guy to my immediate right was a semi-regular older white guy who...
Poker “maestro” Phil Galfond, Can a Poker Hand be a Masterpiece?
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...
The 2017 WSOP is just around the corner. Making Phil Hellmuth throw one of his famous tantrums was my favorite hand from last WSOP.
Playing with Hellmuth was a mixed experience. Its cool to play with someone so famous, but he didn't exactly charm the table. He bought in after the dinner break as he usually likes to be fashionably late but when facing his first tough decision at the table he...
April Fools, classic hand where Tom Marchese pulls one over on Anthony Zinno
On this April Fools day I wanted to revisit a classic hand. Is there a poker player out there trickier than Tom "BigCheese" Marchese? He really does a number on Anthony Zinno in this hand from the original Global Poker League. Enjoy. ...
WPT Bellagio shot clock event, a multi-layered hand vs Tom “hitthehole” Middleton
Wanted to share with you guys one of the more interesting hands I played in the wpt shot clock event against a very tough opponent, Tom "hitthehole" Middleton. It was still relatively early in the tourney. I didn't know yet exactly who Tom was but I could tell he was...
Can you fold top pair with an open ender here?
In a raised pot that goes 4 ways with Walter Treccarichi defending his BB with KTos a really interesting situation comes up. Brian Rast flops a set and bets into 3 players while Walter flops top pair and calls. They see the turn heads up and Walter picks up an open...
Poker Weird: Getting the finger
I sat in a game once with a guy who had an unusual card protector. On his cards was resting a small glass-like ball reminiscent of a snow globe. From a distance you couldn’t really make out what was inside but it looked odd and any curious person would ask....
Poker Weird: Surgery at the poker table
I've witness some odd things at the poker table. File this one under "Poker Weird". I'm in an action packed 5/5 Pot Limit Omaha game and this lady is playing every hand to the river and has been for over an hour. She did a few rebuys and now has built up a massive...
Maximizing your hourly rate vs the overall expected session win
The mindset instilled in serious poker players from the early days of the poker boom was to work on improving your hourly rate. This could be done by simply trying to play better at your current stakes, or by beating a higher stakes game. In addition, you would work...
Hero call gone right
Another interesting hero call situation from early in day 1 of WSOP#29. I had opened for a raise to 250 at the 50/100 blind level holding 8s8c in middle position. I got two callers behind me and one caller in the blinds. The four of us saw a flop of Kc-7d-5d. I only...
Hero call gone wrong
During day 1 of WSOP event#6 I played the following interesting hand against Justin Young. He had already 3-bet several of my late position opens establishing a dynamic between us. This time I opened from the cutoff position with Ac3d and he opted to call my raise....
H’s Top 10 un-Vegas Vegas
10 Red Rock Mountains, I'm not a hiker by nature but it's beautiful out here and not much of a drive to get a much needed break from the craziness. Pretty easy to just drive the loop and take in the scenery. 9 Springs Preserve another unvegas experience that is hard...
Global Poker League is back
By far the best new learning tool out there is watching episodes from the new Global Poker League. They archive their past episodes and its free. If you haven't heard about this league its a new poker league with some of the top players in the game right now. There's...