During the first half of my friend Greg’s letter asking for advice, he asked variations on the question of how many hands to play. I addressed those in yesterday’s post. The second part of his email raised questions about “where to start” so this post will address those.
I’m currently drowning in Las Vegas and unable to post, either about Phil Ivey, the Main Event final table, or what’s pulling me under the surface. I will explain in detail upon my return and will faithfully post my “Looking For Ivey” series on Sunday, October 25, November 1, and November 8.
Before I found myself in this current jam, I received an email from a fan of the blog that raised some interesting issues. Because I had written a detailed response, I’m posting that in two parts, while I make sense of the tangled mess I’ve made of my life here in Vegas. Please keep in mind that when I wrote the material that follows, I was in a sane, stable environment and frame of mind.
I had hoped to post the first of my four-part series “Looking For Ivey” today but I got sidetracked by the Million Dollar Guarantee on Full Tilt. I finished 52nd, which is just good enough to eat up an entire day, but not good enough to make me the kind of money to blow off the blog. In fact, I’d normally just work late into the night … except I have to drive 5 hours to Las Vegas now. I’ll be in Vegas the next few days doing some work for the blog and prep work for the final table coverage. Part I of Looking For Ivey is part-written. I hope to finish it on Monday and post it ASAP.
Thanks for understanding.
For Christsakes, Phil Ivey, will you please call me on the phone? Or text me. Or email. Or facebook. (Are these even verbs?) Or have one of our hundred common acquaintances get us together. Shauna and I are putting together the four-part “Looking for Ivey” series that will appear in this blog the next four Sundays and it’s a real chore when I have no recent input from The Man.
It’s like I’m chasing a ghost, and that’s dangerous. By dangerous, I’m talking about the danger that I’ll look like a jackass if I don’t get it right.
Congratulations to Mike Sexton on the announcement of his induction to into the Poker Hall of Fame. Sexton is a worthy choice to become the thirty eighth member of the Hall of Fame. He was one of the top performers in the “early days” of tournament poker (late 1980s and early 1990s), he has a World Series bracelet, he has won the Tournament of Champions, and he has cashed a zillion times in the World Series going back to time immemorial.
Just like last year, Jo Anne and I will be closely involved in the Scottsdale Relay for Life, a charity of the American Cancer Society. The Scottsdale Relay will be April 10, 2010 at Saguaro High School. We will meet from 6pm until 6am the next morning and walk around the Saguaro track, raising money to stop cancer and to remind people that cancer never sleeps.
During the past few weeks, I’ve told you two of my favorite Phil Ivey stories. In “Kings and Queens of Europe,” I described the effect Phil Ivey’s intensity could have on people, even in a crowded tapas bar. And in “You Own Ivey,” I shared with you the time I owned 10% of Ivey in the Main Event. All it cost me was a AAA battery. Unfortunately, even though Phil has had four Main Event finishes in the top thirty, 2006 was not one of them.
The final video question presented to me by the guys at ThePotKings.com concerned a hand at the final table when I was dealt pocket deuces. I thought I’d reprint my answer here, in hopes it will spur some creative thinking about the issue of how to play small pairs.
This is what I posted on ThePotKings.com’s forum in response to a fifth hand they chose for a video from my hand history of the private tournament I won. It raises a great and rarely considered tactical question: When you raise and get called by one of the blinds, what do you do when they lead out with a bet after the flop?
