Some Personal News

It has been a very interesting couple of weeks. For those of you that have not yet heard, I was offered and have accepted a position with Pokernews to help cover this years World Series of Poker. My main job will be blogging on the different events at the Series. Chances are that with my background, I will be covering mixed events. I’m really looking forward to covering the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. After playing on the circuit for the last couple of years, it will be nice to be at the series without having to go through the pressure of performing. Continue reading

Find a Mentor

I started playing inside of a casino in January 2006. I had played online mostly to this point and primarily tournaments. The WSOP Circuit was in Tunica, MS and I wanted to try my hand at live tournaments. There were 3 stud events in this set and I decided that I was a decent enough player to make a run. I arrived in Tunica and played in some satellites with a decent level of success. Two of my buy-in were paid for and I had made about $1000 in cash. Then reality hit in the form of my first live tournament. Continue reading

Staying Safe at the Casino

I just read an article on Pokernews.com about a stabbing that took place at the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Anyone that knows me that when I play live in AC, I consider the Taj my home. They always have a great spread of games and have a very solid staff. I always enjoy myself. The Taj is also the place where I broke a 6 month live tournament drought last year with 2 final tables in some daily events. I was really disappointed that something like this happened at one of my favorite places to play, but it also reminded me of the dangers associated with the playing of poker. Continue reading

So you think your a poker player?

Today I want you to take a quiz about poker. Try out the questions below and see how you score. Don’t cheat and use other resources to help yourself. Try and answer the questions based on your poker knowledge. I will submit answers in a future posting.

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Can you REALLY turn pro?

“Why don’t you turn pro?”  That is a question I am asked a lot from my friends when I tell them about some of my poker accomplishments.  They listen to my reasoning and some agree with me and others tell me I should turn pro anyway.  I have other friends that are thinking about going pro and they ask me my opinion about their chances.  When I talk to someone about their chances about going pro, I am straightforward with them about the lifestyle, both good and bad.  Then I proceed to ask them a few questions.  Below are some questions that you should sit and ask yourself if you are thinking about turning pro.  First, let’s start with some simple ones: Continue reading

Your playing the hand blind??

I am a tight player. For most people in holdem, I am the type of player they love to see because they think they can always steal my blinds, play back at me when they think I am weak, and even chase with bad hands to try and outdraw me. One move that I like to do that REALLY messes with peoples heads is playing a hand blind, or at least acting like I am.

I normally don’t look at my cards until it is my turn to act in Texas Holdem. It gives away less information, and it allows me to look at the other players. After a while, people learn your tendencies and many players will just assume you always do the same thing. Well, one thing people should learn is there is never an always in poker. The first example of how I play a hand blind usually occurs when I am getting short on chips. I take a very quick peak as each card is dealt to me. I try to make sure that people are not looking at me when this is happening. If I use this tactic, there is only one move, “Blind All In.” Continue reading

Jerry Yang is the current World Champion of No Limit Holdem. Freddy Deeb is the current World Champion of Poker.

The “Main Event” when broken down to its basic elements, is still a NO LIMIT HOLDEM event. That’s 1 game. The winner is considered a World champion and a great poker player. However, if you take these same players and put them in another event, what have they done? (Chris Moneymaker and Robert Varkonyi are both great examples. After winning the main event Varkonyi only has 1 other WSOP cash.) Winning the main event is great, but what does it prove. It proves you can win a No Limit Holdem event. Great. What about a Stud event? How about a PL Omaha event? I personally cannot see how they claim that the main event is the World Champion of poker when all they did was excel at ONE GAME. Continue reading