PokerNews article #115

Mind control in poker--it's totally possible!

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/mind-control-in-poker-24954.htm

Just for fun, here's some screen captures from that "Jessica Jones" scene described in the article:

PokerNews article #114

Tips for playing in seniors' tournaments:

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/seniors-events-strategy-24830.htm

When non-poker-players pick license plates

PokerNews article #113

This is the second half of the article started last week, on using a combinations calculator to solve poker probability problems.

Thanks once again to the readers who sniffed out several goofs in this before it went online.


http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/how-to-take-your-poker-math-beyond-counting-outs-2-24776.htm

PokerNews article #112

This is the first half of a two-part article on how to do poker probability problems using combinations of cards, with the difficult math done by something called a combinations calculator.

I spent far longer writing this one than most of my PN contributions, and I'm really pleased with the result. If you follow along and do the work with me, rather than just blast through it as fast as your eyeballs can scan the words, you'll go from knowing nothing about this kind of calculation to being able to pose and answer complex poker-math problems on your own.

I owe a giant thanks to five blog readers who responded to my plea in the previous post, and took considerable time and effort to proofread my first draft. Between them, they found six mistakes, ranging from trivial to huge. Without their help in advance, I would now have to spend the next few days being embarrassed and submitting corrections as PokerNews readers pointed out my mistakes. But due to their careful scrutiny, I'm now pretty confident that everything is right.

And thanks also to "TBC" Tony, whose report of the unusual poker-room promotion in Shreveport is what got me thinking about tackling this subject for PokerNews. The calculation of how often that promotion is expected to hit is the last and most complex example I work through in the article, at the end of Part Two, next week.

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/how-to-take-your-poker-math-beyond-counting-outs-1-24726.htm

Math double-check

I've written a thing for an upcoming PokerNews article that involves a lot of math--not highly advanced, but moderately complex poker probability stuff that can't be looked up online. I'd like to have any embarrassing errors discovered before it gets published, rather than after.

If you're reasonably good at figuring out probabilities using the formula for card combinations, and you're willing to spend what I think would be 30 minutes or so looking over my work, please let me know: submit a comment below with "do not publish" or words to that effect, and your name and email, and I'll send it to you for a look-over.

Thanks.

PokerNews article #111

Have you ever lamented that you finally pick up a big hand, and everybody folds to your raise? Here's how to fix that.

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/everybody-folds-when-you-finally-have-a-big-hand-how-to-fix--24664.htm

PokerNews article #110

Autism, Star Trek, and Kenny Rogers:

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/reading-emotions-and-poker-24610.htm

Full day of poker

Yesterday Nina and I went to Harrah's Cherokee to play in the second WSOP-C seniors event. (The first was April 17.) I did decently well in it, going out with about 150 left out of 568 entrants, but not well enough to make the money (last 63). As is often the case in such things, winning instead of losing one 50/50 race would have made all the difference.

Next I played in a cash game for a while. It's actually been three years since I played a $1-2 NLHE cash game with chips and a dealer instead of PokerPro machines. I kept forgetting to tip the dealer when I won pots. I started well, but eventually made a bad all-in move and lost my buy-in. The game was already breaking up, so I decided not to start over.

But they were assembling a 10-player, $125 sit-and-go for $1100 cash, winner take all. I don't think I've ever done a tournament format like that. The closest I've come has been some WSOP single-table satellites. I figured I had a couple of hours of good poker left in me, so I signed up. Nina came by when there was just one seat left, and I persuaded her to take it.

I picked a seat card at random and ended up sitting next to a blog reader, who lives in Durham. He recognized me and introduced himself. (Hi, Matt!) It wasn't too uncommon to run into readers at the poker tables in Las Vegas, but this is the first time it's happened since I moved to North Carolina.

I started the tournament epically card-dead. Just could not pick up a real hand to save my life. And every time I thought a good steal opportunity was coming my way, Matt, on my right, beat me to it.

The structure was fast. 2000 in starting chips, blinds going up every 15 minutes, starting at 25/25, then 25/50, 50/100, etc. The whole thing took less than two hours. So after losing some chips to blinds and speculative hands that went nowhere, I had to do something. When there were a few limpers but no raise, I decided to shove with A-3 offsuit and hope for the best. It worked. Matt thought a long time about calling, but finally folded with the rest of them, and I was back to my original stack.

Then card-dead again, until I finally made a stand with pocket 8s, flopped a set, and tripled up. Then I finally had enough chips to start really playing.

We had four women starting this event, and three of them, along with me, were the final four. That's right--I was the last man standing.

One got knocked out and it was down to me, Nina, and an odd older woman. She looked rather like a caricature of everybody's grandmother, including a hat that looked like it was meant for gardening. She was impossible to figure out--not because she was particularly skilled, but because she was so random. She would show up with hands that made no sense to have been playing in the spots she was playing them, and she made bad calls that somehow worked out almost every time.

Nina went out in third place, and I was left heads-up with Grandma. She wanted to chop the prize money. I gather that chopping the last two, three, or four places is pretty much de rigueur in these events, but I politely declined her repeated offers to do so. I wanted the whole $1100, I started heads-up play with more chips than she had (1200 to 800), and I was absolutely certain I was the better player. Besides, the tavern poker league I've been meddling in for the last year or so has given me a decent amount of experience heads-up with weaker players at the end of fast-structured tournaments. As long as I didn't do anything too stupid and didn't get too unlucky, I should be able to win.

And I did. The final blow came when I had pocket queens on the button. She called my raise. The flop was all low, uncoordinated, perfectly safe-looking. She checked, I shoved, and she insta-called with king-high, no pair. That was all she wrote.

Grandma shook hands politely, but walked away muttering something about my unwillingness to chop.

I liked the format. Not a huge time commitment, not too much of a financial investment, but a handsome payoff. It felt good to win.

PokerNews article #109

This installment is about anger--how it costs you money, and how it can make you money.

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/three-ways-anger-costs-you-profit-from-others-anger-24563.htm

PokerNews article #108

This week's column is all about, well, this:






For the explanation, see:

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/lyin-truthin-nancy-sinatra-rule-of-poker-24511.htm

PokerNews article #107

This is about dealing with freeroll-entry poker room promotions.

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/three-strategies-for-approaching-freeroll-tournaments-24459.htm

WSOP photos

My friend Elizabeth Wolynski has compiled some of her fine WSOP photographs into a video. I especially like many of the black & white portraits in the first couple of minutes.

PokerNews article #106

A new study of the psychology of Rock Paper Scissors can teach you something about poker, too.

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/make-your-poker-game-less-exploitable-rock-paper-scissors-24419.htm

PokerNews article #105

In this one, I categorize the different ways that players observe the flop.


http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/six-kinds-of-players-are-taking-in-the-flop-which-are-you-24363.htm

PokerNews article #104

The pros and cons of having a lucky hand.

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/four-reasons-lucky-poker-hand-24295.htm

Strategy quiz

This is a good one. I got 8/8, but I had to really stop and think hard about some of them.

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/the-weekly-pokernews-strategy-quiz-everything-is-not-even-mo-24291.htm

PokerNews article #103

Three ways to avoid repeating your mistakes in poker.

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/three-ways-to-avoid-repeating-your-poker-mistakes-24247.htm

PokerNews article #102

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/book-the-win-advice-on-breaking-a-losing-streak-24184.htm

PokerNews article #101

This is part two of my introduction to Bayes' theorem for poker players.

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/call-or-fold-bayes-theorem-poker-uncertainty-2-24133.htm