poker culture

Tells

2010-08-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

The harder they try to convince you of something, the more likely it's not true. That's often the case in poker, in love, and in the world at large.The Economist points to a very interesting study by Stanford’s David Larcker and Anastasia Zakolyukina on the use of deception in the business environment (HT: Brian McCann). The article’s title, “How to Tell When Your Boss is Lying,” gets at the

An old RGP post

2010-08-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a snip of an old RGP post and a comment from Badger that I found on Badger's site:Gary Carson wrote...> I've played in games (20/40 games and 3/6 games) where the right> thing to do with KQo in second position after an under the gun raise> was to 1) fold 2) call 3) raise. It's not a function of the KQo, it's a> function of who those other guys are, the kinds of hands that> under the gun

outplay

2010-03-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

Danny Boy gives us some examples of being outdrawn, outplayed, and coolered. His cooler example:oolered: I limped with 6-8 and he raised to isolate me and I decided to call. The flop was K-9-7 with one heart. Check check. Turn is the 10h, I bet 6000, he raises 15,000 more, I move all in with the straight, he quickly calls me with... QJ. Ugly turn card yuk.You've been coolered when you raise with

I did it

2010-02-27T07:35:00.000-08:00

If you close your eyes real tight and wish really, really hard (and, I guess, click your heels together), your wishes will come true.I've kept half of my streak alive.That's a quote from Danny Boy's blog. I think he really believes that a lucky streak is the result of his concentrating really hard on being lucky.I think he's so funny.

Review of Complete Book of Casino Poker

2010-02-23T06:09:00.000-08:00

Let's Play Casino has a review of The Complete Book of Casino Poker.The book's unique contribution to poker literature is Carson's 5-dimensional model of poker players. Just about everyone who plays poker is aware of Alan Schoonmaker's tight-loose and passive-aggressive dimensions. Carson finds these two dimensions insufficient, and he adds three more of his own: weak-tenacious,

Counter-factual thinking

2010-02-18T08:46:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting short video on the value of counter-factual thinking.Although they talk about it in terms of a life narrative it's also a valuable way to approach a self-evaluation of your poker game.

Marriage tips

2010-02-11T18:34:00.001-08:00

Doyle and his wife give some tips on a long-lasting marriage in the Wall Street Journal• Keep (some) secrets. When poker legend Doyle Brunson met his wife Louise at a country-and-western club in Texas in 1961, he told her he gambled for a living. And she accepted him for who he is. "Love is the most important thing," says Louise Brunson, 78. "You have to love your spouse more than life itself."

Risk Tolerance for Poker Players

2010-02-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

Decision analysis is bundle of procedures and concepts used in the analysis of the decision making process. I’m going to describe some of those procedures and concepts as they might apply to the analysis of decision making situations in poker.Outcome is the result of either your decision or of the unrolling of a previously unrevealed state of nature. The value of the next card to be turned is

A couple of book reviews

2010-01-18T08:03:00.000-08:00

BaddBeatBobb reviews The Complete Book Of Hold 'Em Poker: A Comprehensive Guide to Playing and Winningand The Complete Book Of Casino Poker

Shooting an angle

2010-01-15T06:31:00.000-08:00

Danny boy gives us an example of angle shooting but then follows up with a plea that it can't be angle shooting if he does it, because he doesn't shoot angles.clearly an infraction of the rules took place when my opponent tabled his hand with action remaining. The video doesn't show it, but the players at my table all saw his hand, I saw the Ad and only half of the other card, which looked like

Freeroll

2010-01-14T07:57:00.001-08:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.Registration code: 592953

Asian Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T17:29:00.000-08:00

According to a NYT article, the Connecticut casinos cater to an Asian crowd on Thanksgiving.Thanksgiving doesn’t mean a lot to us; it’s a vacation,” said Chan Juan Zhou, a 21-year-old college student who lives in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and studies civil engineering. Ms. Zhou arrived at the casino with 13 friends around midnight on a jammed bus from Chinatown.... On any other day, 50 buses might

What does it mean to get lucky

2009-10-08T05:14:00.000-07:00

I used to read a lot of poker blogs but I don't so much anymore. I still read a few regularly, Danny Boy's blog is one that I read regularly. I actually like his blog.One of the things I like about it is that it keeps me in touch with different ways of thinking about things. There really aren't many topics that Danny thinks about in the same way that I do. If you're going to play poker at all

A book review

2009-09-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

A review of The Complete Book of Casino Poker

National Identity

2009-09-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

There are so few American poker players that we have to travel to Canada to find players to play on an American team.

Harrah's Debt

2009-09-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

Harrah's goes deeper and deeper in debt.Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. (“Harrah's”) announced today that Harrah’s Operating Escrow LLC and Harrah's Escrow Corporation (the “Escrow Issuers”), wholly-owned unrestricted subsidiaries of Harrah’s Operating Company, Inc. (“HOC”), are proposing to issue $1 billion aggregate principal amount of senior secured notes due 2017 Harrah’s intends to use the net

Don't bet on a snooker match

2009-08-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

At least not without inside information.

Professional Poker Player?

2009-08-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

I guess George Will thinksHoward Lederer, a.k.a. "the Professor," is a professional poker player, not a gambler. If Congress will acknowledge this distinction, it will rectify one of its recent mistakes. Howard used to be a professional poker player. He was also a bookie for a time. And was a gambler, gambling on poker, sports, chess, and probably other games as well.More recently he's an owner

The Complete Book of Casino Poker

2009-08-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

I'm suprised (and pleased) to see that it's still getting reviewed.

Living in a hospital

2009-08-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

I wonder if Danny (or his brother) have ever been a hospital patient?So I'm in Toronto visiting my mother. She's still in ICU, in fact, she has been in ICU longer than any other patient at the hospital. The real problem is her breathing- she can't do it on her own. Doctors gave us the bad news a little while ago that because she can't breathe on her own... she'll never leave the hospital. They

Bank accounts, poker sites, and player's money

2009-06-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

n an apparent crackdown on Internet gambling, federal authorities in New York have frozen or seized bank accounts worth $34 million belonging to 27,000 online poker players, according to representatives for the players and account holders.That's the lead paragraph in a Wall Street Journal article the other day. And it's wrong.It's correct that Poker Player's Association said that, but it's not

Celebrity Apprentice

2009-05-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Joan Rivers beat Annie Duke on Celebrity Apprentice. I didn't watch the final episode, although I did watch most of them during the season. I watched Breaking Bad last night and switched over in the final moments to see who Trump was going to pick as the winner.2+2 has a long discussion on the show, most of which focuses on personalities and conspiracy theories. The best analysis of the show

Annie Duke

2009-05-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, but this woman really does remind me of Annie.

Andy Beal

2009-04-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

Andy Beal is the Texas banker who played a series of headsup matches against members of a Las Vegas "poker corporation". Micheal Craig wrote The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time about the series of matches.It seems that Beal plays poker with his bank assets also. And he plays pretty well.A banker who resisted the urge to invest in toxic

Have a drink

2009-04-30T01:50:00.000-07:00

No, Danny-Boy doesn't have a drinking problemI broke pretty much all of my rules going into this tournament, some of which just aren't my fault. My rules are simple:1. Unpack immediately (did that)2. No socializing the night before3. Dinner alone in the room4. No drinking5. 8 hours of sleepI broke 4 out of the 5 rules. I played in the Ante Up for Africa Celebrity event and came in 5th place. It

A weak/tight President?

2009-04-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

Bostick wonders whether Obama is weak/tight.Is he right?

Total Woman

2009-04-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

I hope Annie homeschools her kids, because if they have to go to school tomorrow they aren't going to like it. What do you think Annie was thinking?DiscussionsGambling911You know Annie, I loved you as a poker player, but as a person? Your 'I'm so great' attitude is grating. You constantly brag while putting everyone else down, this speaks volumes about you and less about your targets. I went into

Mistakes They Make

2009-03-14T18:08:00.001-07:00

This is an old article I did a while back and published on a now defunct website. I'm reprinting it as isMistakes They Makeby Gary CarsonSeptember 20, 2000In the last few essays we explored the conflict between the theory of poker that poker is a struggle among the players for the ante and the theory that money simply flows from the bad players to the good players. We saw how blending those

Segmenting the international poker market

2009-03-11T07:51:00.001-07:00

I got a news release from Poker Stars about online poker in Italy.We have recently obtained a licence from the Italian government to allowplayers in Italy to play for real money on PokerStars.it.Italian players can now play real money tournaments on the PokerStars.itclient, but not ring games. The PokerStars.it client will only beavailable for players within Italy, and the tournaments will only

Championship of online poker

2009-03-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

A news release from Poker StarsThe PokerStars.com Spring Championship of Online Poker takes place fromApril 2 -12. This is THE biggest online poker tournament series anywhereonline this year so far. Even better, the tournament series runs for low,medium and high-stakes players, so everyone can have the chance to winbig. With $30,000,000 guaranteed, even the low-stakes can win big!Satellites are

Theories of poker

2009-02-10T18:15:00.000-08:00

This is a reprint of Chapter 10 in The Complete Book Of Hold 'Em Poker: A Comprehensive Guide to Playing and WinningChapter 10Theories of Poker Poker theory is a topic that takes much more than a chapter in a book to cover completely. At least two books devoted almost entirely to poker theory have been written, and neither of those books even attempts to fully cover the topic. The point of this

Delusions

2008-12-26T15:47:00.000-08:00

Danny is just being delusional when he saysIn a nutshell- I'm cutting back... big time. Cutting back on all of the extra "stuff" that I do and also going to lighten my load in terms of travel. PokerVT is something I'll continue to put my efforts into and teach those that sign up, but aside from that I'll be doing a lot less teaching. People are already getting better and just giving away my

Happiness

2008-12-24T07:15:00.001-08:00

Probably the most interesting thing about this post is that's actually an academic journal called Journal of Happiness Studies. There's nho subject so trivial that an academic can't devote a career to it."Achieving sustainable gains in happiness: Change your actions, not your circumstances" is a research article in that journal which actually has implications for poker players.The idea of the

Raise

2008-12-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

Embedded in this little story about the poker playing television celebrity, Elix Powers is an example of a mistake that's very common among dealers (and even floormen in some places). In the story he doesn't say what the blinds are but I'm guessing 2/5. So the relevant bets are Player B (Big blind) puts up a $5 blind, Player O (Opener) makes it $20, Player R (Raiser) makes it $50 and player A (

Chill out

2008-12-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

Tilt isn't really about a natural reaction to stress or even an over-reaction to stress. It's about a failure to calm down after a naturally stressful event. This short video doesn't offer an answer, but it does illustrate the problem.

Pajama gamblers

2008-12-02T10:45:00.000-08:00

A press release from the U. of ChicagoPajama Gamblers Could Lose Their Shirts: Online Gambling Can Be Dangerously ComfortablePeople who gamble from the comfort of their home tend to think they’re more in control of their gambling than people who gamble in casinos, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.Authors June Cotte (University of Western Ontario) and Kathryn A. Latour

Controlling the Internet

2008-12-01T14:05:00.000-08:00

Now Italy has joined the ranks of the US and the Netherlands in trying to control the internet. It isn't likely to work for them either.

Today's Gambling Music

2008-11-30T12:07:00.000-08:00

Gambling Blues

Policing the internet

2008-11-29T11:57:00.000-08:00

It appears that the United States isn't the only country having a problem getting banks to control the internet for them.Dutch banks don't like the idea much either.Of course with what's going on with that Lori Drew prosecution it may be that they won't need the banks to do their policing for them, they can just put us all in jail for violation of the TOS from random websites.

Today's Gambling Music

2008-11-28T01:06:00.001-08:00

Blues for Gamblers

Characteristics of a good game

2008-11-27T19:55:00.000-08:00

Will in New Haven started a thread on rec.gambling.poker talking about what he calls a paradox of game conditions.If two games are available the game with the better conditions willattract the thinking players, making the game with inferior conditionsthe better game. The paradox arises when you think of structural characteristics of a game (such as rake structure, ante structure, or house

Today's Gambling Music

2008-11-26T06:22:00.000-08:00

Kentucky Gambler, Merle Haggard

Regulation of the internet

2008-11-24T21:18:00.000-08:00

It appears that the US Treasury finally realized that trying to control the internet with silly banking regulation is just more than their little pea-brains can deal with.After receiving a flood of objections from financial institutions, the Treasury Department will not require them to figure out the difference between legal and illegal online gambling, a distinction Congress deliberately left

Showdown at FullTilt

2008-11-20T10:37:00.001-08:00

With lawsuits come depositions. Depositions mean a lot of questions. Lederer and Ferguson have shown a lack of interest in giving straightforward explanations about ownership of FullTilt in the past (they claim to own the software that's being leased to FullTilt). It will be interesting to see how they handle the deposition questions from Clonie's lawyer.

Fixed Limit Texas Holdem Strategy Tips

2008-09-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

When players start out in fixed limit Texas holdem, they often focus on the strength of their own hands.If they like their two cards, they bet, if not, they check or fold. While limit Texas Holdem strategy does rely in large part on playingpremium hands, more advanced players can add other strategies to theirrepertoires to improve their chances of success. We’ll mention two important

Poker Books

2008-09-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

There's a thread on 2+2 suggesting that Sklansky should write a book on mathematics of poker.He did. A long time ago.It's called Getting the Best of ItTo those kids at 2+2 it didn't happen if they haven't seen it on TV.

Dormant accounts

2008-09-04T15:51:00.001-07:00

Poker Magazine has a story on online poker rooms that charge huge fees against dormant accounts. Read the story and beware.

Palin on gambling

2008-09-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

From hereNo expansion of gambling in Alaska Q: Do you support the expansion of gambling in Alaska? A: No, in so many cases, gambling has shown ill effects on families and as Governor I would not propose expansion legislation.Q: Would you sign any bills that expand gaming in our state?A: No. Source: Eagle Forum 2006 Gubernatorial Candidate Questionnaire Jul 31, 2006

What a joke

2008-08-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite pastimes has been making fun of stupid things about poker that Brother Ed Miller says on his blog. Sometimes I comment on it here, sometimes at playingnolimitpoker.But Brother Ed has taken away one of my favorite pastimes by making his blog a pay site. What a twit. The guy's just an unfriendly neighbor.

The Complete Book of Casino Poker

2008-08-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure but I think the book is out of print. That doesn't stop somebody from doing a review of The Complete Book Of Casino Poker though.

Don't try this at home

2008-07-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Another reason to not cold call with KQo.

Doyle Brunson's Secretsw

2008-07-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

Random Shuffle Quotes David Benyamine:Great cash-game players know when to play good games and when to leave bad games.It calls to mind Doyle Brunson’s top two secrets for getting rich playing poker.Major RiddleJimmy Chagra

Ghosts at the table

2008-07-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned elsewhere, I've spent the last few days laying around in a hospital getting some heart bypass surgery.One of the byproducts of that is that I got a chance to read a couple of books I've been meaning to read. Ghosts at the Table: Riverboat Gamblers, Texas Rounders, Roadside Hucksters, and the Living Legends Who Made Poker What It Is Today is one of them I've been meaning to read.In

Collecting chips

2008-06-22T18:17:00.001-07:00

If you're going to collect casino chips stick to casinos fixing to go busted or close up shop.

Criminals and gambling

2008-06-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

Lou doesn't think actual criminals could possibly be involved in running an internet gambling operation.

The TV culture

2008-06-19T09:52:00.001-07:00

It didn't happen if it's not on TV but they all look alike on TV.

Catfish Bend Casino

2008-06-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

A few months ago Catfish Bend Casino, run by a bunch of dead raccoons in Iowa, fired a security supervisor for putting a Dilbert cartoon on a bulletin board in the employee break room.I'm happy to report that he has a new job.If you've been to Catfish Bend in the last few months you should be ashamed of yourself. It's run by truly worthless slime.

Bill-O and poker

2008-06-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Bill O'Reilly discovers poker blogging.Effective yesterday, all articles on the site (Brother Ed's blog) older than 30 days are unavailable. We’re going to develop a system to allow the content to be accessed for a fee, and when it’s ready the archive articles will be available again at some cost per article. What an ultimate weenie.He's happy with providing free content.My original vision for

Value of a gambling operation

2008-06-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

Whenever you see some TV report of a bust of a large drug or gambling operation you often hear some big number quoted as "street value" of the drugs or the "revenue" of the gambling operation. It's almost always some really big, really bogus number.Some bookie who does a million dollars of business over a weekend isn't likely to seeing anything close to a million dollars. Almost all the bets he

Full Tilt Scam

2008-05-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

Full Tilt isn't paying people their money.They'd like to pay, but they aren't sure they will.Check back with them in a couple of weeks and they'll let you know whether or not they decided to actually pay people their money.All I can say is Wow.

From the chatline

2008-04-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

Say in a chatline at a table todaycan't seem to beat the river todayWhy do we treat the elements of the game as opponents to fight?Don't try to beat the river, cooperate with the river. Don't fight the game, play the game.

World Series Live

2008-04-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

Back in the days when the newest technological advancement in communications was television broadcast in color, the World Series of Poker was a gambling event run by gamblers. Today it's run by hotel people at Harrahs and reality TV experts at ESPN.I think they're fixing to get bit on the ass by the gamblers who still play in the World Series of Poker.WickedChopsPoker reports the plans under

Research on skill and poker

2008-03-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to comment on this paper. But Random Shuffle said pretty much everything I intended to say about it. Not quite everything, but close enough.

Removing thorns from UIGEA

2008-03-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

I wonder why the PPA hasn't been trying to support this legal effort rather than trying to have online poker declared illegal?Online poker isn't currently illegal. If PPA has it's way then online poker offered by companies not approved by the US government would be illegal.Update:Here's some more on it.

Absolute Poker update

2008-03-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

Although most poker players have ignored the cheats running Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, it seems that it hasn't been totally ignored by network news.

This is a better story than one about David Sklansky's sex life

2008-03-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Elliot Spitzer, the Governer of New York, the guy who caused PayPal to retreat from the gambling site payment services business back when he was Attorney General of New York, got caught with a hooker.A $4,300 hooker, which is more than even Sklansky has to pay to get layed.Although four people have been indicted for Mann Act and money laundering violations, he hasn't yet been charged with anthing

Getting banned at 2+2

2008-03-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

I'm probably the only person around who got banned at 2+2 for not posting there.I used to post there. It was long ago, back when Mason didn't ban people but did delete posts he found offensive. Offensive pretty much was defined as a post that pointed out some error that Mason had made. Mason made a lot of errors and I often ponted it out. So he'd delete my posts often.So I quit posting.A few

If you say it often enough it becomes true

2008-03-08T08:51:00.001-08:00

Neverwin tells some stories about various encounters with Sklansky. One of the stories is a good illustration of the truth of the title of this post. Then the game gets shorthanded like 4 or 5 handed, and he says, I'm done too unless anyone is interested in some Omaha hi low with no restrictions, or maybe it was Stud hi lo with no restrictions. The other players pretty much said no fuckin way I'd

Tax and destroy

2008-03-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

I don't understand why so many people seem to think it's a good idea for the government to view online poke as a potential cash cow for government tax collections.Some in Congress are beginning to recognize the potential financial windfall of legalized online gaming.Back when the mob ran the numbers game the payouts averaged 60% of the take, now that the state runs it a Pick 3 pays $500, 50% of

Brandi Hawbaker causes two plus two upheavel

2008-03-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

There's enough other blogs out there that will tell me about what's going on at twoplustwo.com that I don't need to read it anymore. It's like all you have to do to follow the soap opera storylines is go to the beauty parlor. I learned about the most recent storyline development from Wicked Chops Poker.David Sklansky has been banned from posting on twoplustwo.com. It's a temporary ban, but

Slow Play

2008-03-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

Slow play is really overrated. Here's a slowplay that probably cost the guy a bet.It's a razz game. $2/$4 with 25c ante.I'm dealt a (A 2) with an 8 up.Relevant cards showing are a couple of 4's, a 7, a 2, and an A.A Q brings it in for $1 from my immediate left (which makes me last on 3rd street).The 2 raises to $2, the A calls. I call. The Q folds.My hand's not so hot since my weakest link (

Theory of Poker and mistakes

2008-02-29T23:21:00.000-08:00

Somebody asked about the two mistakes in Theory of Poker.First is the Fundemental Theorem of Poker. It's not fundemental, it's not a theorem, and it's not about poker.It basically says that if I have KK and you raise for all the chips and I know you have AA, KK, QQ, JJ and each of those possibilities is equally likely then I've made a mistake if I call and it turns out you have AA.It's results

Who to trust?

2008-02-29T08:08:00.000-08:00

Poker Girl in Vegas asksI never know who to trustIt's not difficult. Just never trust anyone you meet in a poker room or an NA meeting.

David Sklansky is an idiot.

2008-02-29T07:47:00.000-08:00

An idiot. A total idiot. He has the brains of a dead armadillo.He not only carries a vibrator in the glove compartment of his car, he thinks incest causes blindness.I'm not the only one who thinks he's an idiot.And Theory of Poker has at least 2 major errors.

Closing doors

2008-02-28T06:35:00.000-08:00

The NYT has an article about research on the human tendency to want to leave themselves options, even when we know the options have no value. I was going to write about this and relate it to poker and getting yourself pot committed but decided to just point you the article and let you think about how it relates to poker.

Does Gambling Regulation Lead to Crooked Cops?

2008-02-27T00:58:00.000-08:00

Maybe if we had fewer gambling laws we'd have more honest cops? Just a thought.

State regulation and internet poker

2008-02-26T18:51:00.000-08:00

A commenter to my recent PPA post asked about the form of state regulation I might like to see.I don't see any reason to change what is. Every state already regulates gambling to some extent (except for Hawaii and Utah, which just ban it outright). Regulation of the internet should be done by international treaty, not by the Federal government, not by individual states. Whether it's internet

More PPA thoughts

2008-02-25T23:04:00.000-08:00

They actually have "talking points" on their website. I think that's creepy. But I have some thoughts about them.Technology has progressed to effectively combat problem gambling and ensure that players are of legal age.What does this even mean? What technology effectively combats problem gambling? I read a recent Newsweek story about advances in drug treatments for some addictions, but they talk

The culture of specialization

2008-02-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

FemaleScienceProfessor has a post up about specialization among academic science researchers. I like her blog, she expresses her thoughts and observation in clear, simple language. I've found that talent somewhat unusual among both academics and feminists and she falls into both those categories. Mostly she writes as an academic observer with just a very slight feminist slant. The post about

Reviewing books

2008-02-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

I got an email from somebody asking me about Sklansky on Poker He asked if I'd read it.I haven't read it. But I read Sklansky on Razz long ago in its original edition. I think it's the best Sklansky ever. Sklansky on Poker is a collection of short works of Sklansky and includes a reprint of Slansky on RazzMy correspondent has wondered about the book because he'd read a bad review of it on 2+2 by

Danny goes on the wagon for a day

2008-02-23T08:11:00.000-08:00

Danny Boy is going to try playing sober at the tournament at the Commerce just to see if it improves his performance any over his recent play in some European events. Never can tell.He also tells us he isn't going to tell us.

Take off the hat, you bum

2008-02-22T10:34:00.000-08:00

Phil Hellmuth probably will never visit the Alamo either. When he tried to go out to eat in London this is what happened to himPhil was asked to remove his trademark baseball cap with a gold 'PH' logo in order to sit down in the Grill (at the Dorchester Hotel). The Poker Brat decided to stand his ground and refused to take it off. The management then asked the ex world champion to leave, which

Just one little mistake

2008-02-21T16:50:00.000-08:00

It's not how many mistakes you make that matters, it's whether the mistakes you make matter that matters.I was reading Danny Boy's recent blog post and came across this gem of a short paragraph.I've had a really strange year in that regard. Moments of great play overshadowed by a sloppy play here and a bad call there. Thing is, I'm not discouraged in the least! You'd think I should be, but I'm

Fear and confusion in no limit poker

2008-02-21T10:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's hard coming up with topics to write on. It's so much easier to find a topic somebody else wrote on then pick on what they write. Original thought makes my head hurt.I don't get a lot of work done, but I wouldn't get nearly as much written if I didn't have brother Ed feeding me straight lines.He has a recent post on betting patterns that indicate weakness in opponents. The post

Proving his theorem and checking it twice

2008-02-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a guy who thinks he's disproved a claim that William Chen made about the EV of doubling up early in a large tournament. He wants Sklansky to check his work to verify that he's disproved Chen's work.Chen has a Phd in math. Skalnsky flunked out of college as a sophomore business major.Where do these people come from?

Ethics and online poker sites

2008-02-18T01:55:00.001-08:00

I really have more and more serious doubts about Full Tilt poker. I didn't blog about it when Clonie Gowen got caught committing plagerism, although I did put some comments on a website. But she's one of the Full Tilt "pros". Plagerism is theft. Full Tilt doesn't seem to think that's a problem. Theft is okay with them. I really don't know what kind of ethical compass they have over there.

Another view of gambling addictions and compulsive gambling

2008-02-14T19:11:00.000-08:00

Lou Krieger has a post about a recent psychiatrict study on gambling addiction. the investigators found no evidence to support the commonly held assumptions that individuals cannot recover from (gambling addiction). I don't think gambling addiction is a problem and I think the tendency to treat it as a mental disorder is a trip down the wrong path.I think there are a lot of people who are

Be Careful on New Poker Sites

2008-02-14T15:06:00.000-08:00

PokerScout suggests that there might be some problems on the new poker site, DoingPoker.A routine observation of the traffic at DoingPoker revealed some unusual activity. After further investigation, it seems likely that the site uses robotic players, or bots, to fill up the games and create the illusion of an active player base....The first remarkable thing about DoingPoker is the number of

Making fun of Danny Boy

2008-02-13T22:30:00.001-08:00

I just love Danny Boy. He's such an easy target, I just don't know what I'd do for intertainment without him.In his recent blog post he leads withI almost never, ever, ever, go outThe lead for the second paragraph is If I go to a club it's usually PureHe's the only guy I know who almost never, ever, ever goes out and has a favorite club.

A tax on poker

2008-02-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

The feds tax marijuana without it being legal, maybe they should do the same thing with poker.The people who keep saying they should legalize it so they can tax it just don't understand government.

For horseplayers

2008-02-10T22:17:00.001-08:00

This is an old post about overlays and late money coming into the win pool. It's a good one thoug.

Roger Clemens

2008-02-10T21:47:00.000-08:00

For you baseball fans out there, Freakonomics Blog looks at Roger Clemens career statsWe conclude that “the available data on Clemens’s career strongly hint that some unusual factors may have been at play in producing his excellent late-career statistics.”To be clear, we don’t know whether Roger Clemens took steroids or not. But to argue that somehow the statistical record proves that he didn’t

Going it alone

2008-02-10T20:58:00.000-08:00

Continuation of my review of The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why.I'm not sure what this has to do with poker or Crazy Asian Gamblers, but I still think it's interesting.This was an experiment that compared Japanese to Americans. The experiment had two conditions -- an alone condition and a group condition.Participants in the alone condition were told

Aggression

2008-02-10T13:09:00.000-08:00

Here's the lead on a recent post from Brother Ed.Playing aggressively isn’t natural. Huh?Not Natural?Maybe not for vegetarian yankees.

A holistic view of poker

2008-02-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

Continuation of my review of The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why.Nesbitt describes a study that compared Koreans to Americans. Holistic thinking is defined (in the study) as a tendency to agree with statements such as1. Everything in the universe is somehow related to everything else. and2. It's not possible to understand the pieces without considering

Tilt control and attitudes about change

2008-02-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before, I've been reading The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why.Think about this passage from page 103Ancient Greek philosphers were powerfully inclined to believe that things don't change much or, if they really are changing, future change will continue in the same direction, and at the same rate, as current change. And the same is true

Dead spreads

2008-02-09T08:20:00.000-08:00

A dead spread is a table with a dealer sitting in front of an open tray of chips at a table with no players. It never made any sense to me to have a dead spread in a poker room. You aren't going to start a game unless 4 or 5 players happen to walk up together and even if that happens by the time you get them all in a chair you can have a dealer come in from the break room and get the tray

Divorce and poker

2008-02-08T09:55:00.000-08:00

The only person that you can be sure will benefit from a divorce is the divorce attorney. They almost always make out pretty well. Men and women not so much.But the effects of divorce on men and women are typically different. Typically women suffer financial hardship from divorce and men suffer emotional hardship. Women usually are the ones that initiate a divorce, so their unhappiness is in

More on the crazy asian gambler

2008-02-07T23:48:00.000-08:00

The other day I made some comments about a book I've been reading. Among other things, I said that the Chinese tendency to look at the world as tending towards change (versus the Western tendency to look at the world as tending towards staying static) has some implications for how the different cultures looked at poker strategy.Anything But Hold'em commented on that and saidThe Crazy Asian

Bodog and bloggers

2008-02-07T23:02:00.000-08:00

Bodog is a strong supporter of poker bloggers. They advertise heavily on blog sites, paying monthly ad rates to even very low volume blogs (not high rates, but anything is appreciated by a blogger).For a while they were running weekly small buyin tournaments for bloggers with a little added money. I played in a couple of them, they tended to have a tough field, but I always enjoyed them. I