The Tom Dwan Challenge is underway. Dwan and his first challenger, Patrik Antonius, are almost 4,000 hands into their 50,000-hand match. Dwan has drawn first blood, taking a lead of $150,000. (This could be looked at as an edge of 1.5% for Tom, as the total amount of all the pots has been $22 million.) Full Tilt is offering some incredible coverage of the match on its durrrr v. Antonius page.
ZERO TO 3,498,000 – WORLD RECORD PERFORMANCE EXPLAINED
Insanity Plea in the Midnight Madness
From Coroner to Coronation
I regularly play the Midnight Madness on Full Tilt, the $10 + $1 NLHE $15,000 Guarantee tournament that, because it starts at 12 AM ET starts at 10 PM local time. I’ve now won the Madness, which regularly draws more than 2,000 players a night, twice: the first time I played it and on Tuesday night.
It’s just after 4 AM here and I just finished playing the Midnight Madness. OK, I won it, but that’s not even why I’m rushing to post this before I fall asleep.
Remember last December when I offered to set a world record for the longest time playing poker for Full Tilt, as counterprogramming to PokerStars running the largest-ever online tournament? Full Tilt never met my conditions (or even got back to me) so it didn’t go anywhere.
Well folks, in winning the Midnight Madness on February 18, I set a world record:
Read the second chapter in Anthony Holden’s BIG DEAL about how he segregated his poker bankroll from his other money to keep financially responsible, and how the Moll understood. In fact, the Moll was, like Jo Anne, an extremely understanding person, which naturally makes the task easier. But at the same time, it’s easy to abuse the people in our lives who are the MOST understanding, because we expect them to understand, which is just a short distance from taking them for granted. What Holden did – and what I’ve always tried to do – is reward that understanding by being conscious of what someone without that understanding would think, and provide explanations/procedures/limits/protections in advance of Jo Anne getting worried or suspicious or angry. (Incidentally, for years before I knew Tony Holden, I just assumed the character of the Moll was some kind of composite for the ideal quantities in a woman. I’m pleased to report that not only is the Moll flesh-and-blood, but I was smitten with her the instant we met.)
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Last week, a friend of the blog named Josh sent me an e-mail congratulating me on a recent score and updating me on his play. He asked this question, which I receive pretty often:
How does your wife perceive you playing poker? Ever have any fights because of you playing too much? My girlfriend is not very accommodating. After ten years of dating different people, I’ve finally found someone that I want to marry. But if I even take one night of the week to play a full nightly schedule, she gets offended; we’ve never had an outward fight about it, she just gets passive aggressive. She thinks it’s just gambling, even though I’ve shown her my results. While I’m not a superstar, my ROI is between 20-50% depending on the type of game. Suggestions?
By the time the first break ended at about 8:10 PM, I was getting deep into the $65,000 Guarantee. I figured I wouldn’t be able to watch as closely, but Mike Matusow helped me out by not playing very many hands.
7:01 PM – On the first hand, Matusow raises the 15-30 blinds to 90. All fold.
7:03 PM – Third hand. Mike calls a raise from the big blind and folds to a bet on the flop.
7:04 PM – He rebuys, going from 1,485 to 2,885. [This is the only time he rebuys.]
I understand how some players might construe “learn, chat, and play with the pros” as nothing more than a slick sales pitch. Watching a pro play online is very different from reading a strategy manual or watching an instructional DVD or a commentated televised tournament.
As you may have noted from this Blog or the World Series web site, the 2009 WSOP schedule is out and Harrah’s has eliminated rebuy events. This includes the No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven and Pot-Limit Omaha events, which have both run annually since 1986.
Today, February 14, Valentine’s Day, marks the third anniversary of The Greatest Poker Game. I call it that without reservation. I was there.
