Speaking of learning as you play, do you think it’s important to discuss your play or specific hands after tournaments?

Well, it all depends on who you’re discussing it with and why you’re discussing it. If you’re doing this to get sympathy, to tell a bad beat story, it’s just not worth it. If you’re talking with good poker players, you can get a lot of good information and a lot of insight. I don’t discuss hands as much as I used to, but when I was getting started, I’d talk with the people that I hung out with about key hands all the time, because you can get so much information and learn from the experience. Whatever the case is, sometimes you think you know a lot and after a conversation, you wake up.

That said, I don’t like doing this during the breaks – you should be taking these to relax and clear your mind, to get some fresh air or do whatever it is that you need to do. But after the tournament is over, it can be extremely valuable to remember and discuss key hands.

What do you think about the folks that come here with just enough for one tournament buy-in, and are here to take “that one shot?”

Again, it depends on that person’s financial situation, what he does for a living. If someone has a lot of money and he’s playing for entertainment, that’s fine. What’s the difference between that and going to a Lakers game with his wife, having a good time and dropping a grand? Or maybe he goes to the Blackjack table, or goes to a Vegas show? To some people, it’s just a different level of entertainment and that’s totally fine. The key is to just be in your comfort zone financially. I mean, I’d never put up $1.5K for a tournament if that’s all that I had to my name.

Along those lines, do you think that there’s a specific point you should be at as far as your bankroll is concerned when you decide to play in the series?

Of course; It’s really important to only play in tournaments where, if you lose your buy-in, you’re not totally bummed out. It’s difficult to put a point on exactly how much money that is, because everyone’s so different. Someone might have a million dollars and lose $1.5K and be really bummed out; while someone who has only $3K and loses that same $1.5K isn’t really that bothered. As long as the buy-in for the tournament isn’t an overriding factor that takes away from your ability to play poker, you should be fine. You don’t want to be continually stressed out and just holding on for the money. You don’t want to be tense and constantly pressuring yourself – you need to be able to focus just on playing poker.

How would you advise handling a bad run – should you jump back in or take a break?

It depends; if you’re playing good, and you’re well rested, and you can afford to play, don’t take any of the tournaments that you’ve planned off – play in them. If you’re playing bad and you’re tired or burned out, take a couple of days off. For myself, I map out the tournaments that I want to play in and after a week straight, if I’m barely missing the money or barely making the money, I’m just going to give it a break; take a day off, go to the pool, maybe play some cash games, maybe just get some rest, whatever. I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep my head in the game and avoid getting burned out. If you’re doing the right things, you probably don’t need to take a day off. But if you’re struggling and you’re mentally down, which does happen in tournaments, take a couple of days off. Get away from it and do what you need to do to be rejuvenated. The key is to maintain your focus, and if you’re burned out and just going through the motions, then you’re just wasting your time – and money.

What do you think is the best way to avoid burn out?

Stay as physically fit as possible and get lots of rest. It’s also really important to balance playing poker with other activities. Don’t stay at the Rio or the Bellagio; rent a condo for the summer if you’re going to be out here that long. I do all of these things – go for jogs and workouts; try to stay away from the casinos when I’m not in a tournament. Go to the movies or do whatever works for you. The point is this: do other things.

Do you have any final words of advice?

It goes back to what I said earlier: play within your bankroll. This is definitely the key to playing in the World Series and poker in general. I’ve done this for a long time, and I still battle with it on occasion. I’ve had big losses that really hurt specifically because I played too big. When you play too big, you run bad; you’ll play timid and afraid. One of the most important keys to playing poker successfully is staying within your limit. If you’ve got a bankroll that allows you to play in $300 or $500 events, then play in them. Don’t play in the $50K HORSE event if you’ve only got $55K to your name. Play with what you’re comfortable with and you won’t worry about cashing, you won’t worry about having to make the money, about going to the pit to get even – you can just come in, sit down, and play. And if you lose, you join the long list of others and you get on with it – it’s very tough to win tournaments. If the money means too much, you’re going to do crazy things and everything will go completely wrong.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Greg Mueller – Part Two

Related posts:

1. The Pros Speak: Greg Mueller
2. The Pros Speak: Gavin Smith
3. Heads Up: Lee Watkinson Versus Greg Mueller

To get a professional opinion on actually making it happen, our cohort in Vegas was able to get a few minutes of Greg Mueller’s time. Here’s his take, in his own words:

What advice would you offer to someone making their first foray into the WSOP?

It’s been a long time since I was there, and I probably play a lot different from someone sitting down for the first time. For example, I’m looking to pick up a lot of chips early in a $1.5K event, and if not, I’ll enjoy the rest of the day. Whereas if it was my first or only event, I’d be playing super tight and looking to survive early on and make the most of it.

For someone that’s here for the first time, I’d advise them to stay away from the pit – it’s a money burner. If you’re here for the tournaments, stay away from the cash games, because the last thing that you want to do is stay up all night until 6AM before a tournament and possibly lose a lot of money, because then you you’re not going to be focused on your $1.5K tournament. Map out your schedule, choose the events that you want to play and can afford, get a good night’s sleep and come in realizing that it’s the World Series. Take it seriously. It’s like anything else – you don’t want to be up partying and drinking the night before. If you’re doing it seriously and want to do well, then you’ve got to treat it seriously.

I know that this sounds like standard advice, but it gets overlooked or blown off all of the time. People are miserable because they weren’t prepared and got knocked out of a tournament, so they fly over to the pit thinking that they’re going to win their $1.5K back. The next thing you know, they’re down $10K. All of a sudden, a $1.5K buy-in that was affordable has now become almost a $12K loss. The key is to stick to the game plan early on – that’s key.

I’ve seen so many people come to the WSOP with a list of things that they plan on doing, like eating good, getting exercise, going for a massage, getting plenty of rest, and staying away from the pit and live action. After two days, they’ve been drunk, lost over half of their bankroll, haven’t done the other things that they wanted to do, and they haven’t even left the casino. They’ve done everything completely wrong in the first two days. Getting off to a good start is crucial, because it’s easier to keep doing things right than it is to try and get out of trouble. On the other hand, when you get off to a bad start, everything is a lot more likely to go wrong. The discipline is sticking to your own rules.

Is there anything that you’d say to players coming specifically from an online background?

I’d advise them to stay completely focused on the game at first, like not wearing headphones for example, because you’re going to miss out on things that are really important. You don’t want to miss out on blind structures, conversations at the table – there’s too much to pick up when you’re new to this type or level of tournament play. You need to stay focussed and try to pick up as much information as you can and not be distracted; watch the play, watch the action, and listen to the conversation.

This is especially true when you’re seated with good players. Back when I first started, I remember being seated with guys like Howard Lederer and I’d listen to everything that they said and watch how they played. You can learn a lot from good players just by watching them. I specifically remember watching him and another really good player, and really paying attention to how they played every hand. If you’ve got your earphones on and you’re just staring out into space, you’re not going to learn nearly as much. It’s a totally different world from online play.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Greg Mueller

Related posts:

1. The Pros Speak: Greg Mueller – Part Two
2. The Pros Speak: Jennifer Harman
3. Heads Up: Lee Watkinson Versus Greg Mueller

Hand for hand play lasted an eternity Thursday at the Rio. I’m sure it seemed that way for the short-stacked participants, at least. The most amazing story was that of Argentinean Fernando Gordo, or more accurately his stack. Gordo did not show up Thursday to play his 140,000 stack and was blinded off as the day progressed. When the money bubble burst his stack was still alive, but down to 1,500. That stack earned him $21,230.

The three guys I was tracking had mixed results. My Toronto pal Stephen Ladowsky nursed a short stack most of the day and finally went out around 480^th when he pushed with A-Q and ran into aces. Iggy managed to maintain and build his stack with some blind steals and re-steals and finished Day 3 with 177,000. Hoyt Corkins fared even better, using his aggressive style to build his stack up to nearly 480,000. It was funny watching him pace the aisles before play began this afternoon. Hoyt seemed more nervous today than he did before the final table of the World Poker Open in Tunica in January (he finished second there). I guess that shows you the importance of the World Series of Poker to people.

Iggy seemed very relaxed and drew fellow poker writer Jeremiah Smith two seats to his right. I talked with Jeremiah (who enters the day second in chip count with about $1.3 million) quite a bit last year, so it’s good to see the former PokerWire reporter doing so well in this event. Plus, Jeremiah was dressed in Full Tilt Poker gear so of course we love him here on Poker From The Rail.

Phil Hellmuth and Jean Robert-Bellande are at the ESPN featured table today. There’s a dynamic duo for you – that should make for good television.

I probably won’t stick around the Rio long here on Day 4 because if I want to make my fortune before I leave Vegas, I need to try to satellite into the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza Main Event on Sunday. If I can win a mint, it will give me a good bankroll for the upcoming FTOPS events.

The World Series of Poker is winding down to a conclusion. I always have mixed feelings on the event’s conclusion. Most of the tables no longer in use have been cleared from the Amazon room. No cash games are running here anymore. You can sense the excitement of the WSOP when it begins, when bankrolls are still fat and hope abounds. By the time the lights are turned off, most dreams have been dashed and a lucky few have earned a king’s ransom.

It’s nearly time to turn out the lights.

As I write this, we have reached double digits in main event participants. Long gone are Iggy, who busted in 403^rd on Day 4 to earn $28,950, and Hoyt Corkins, who was gone in 162^nd place for $41,816. That hiking trip may be on, after all, if he’s up for it. I know how disappointed poker players can be after busting in a major event; and after all, this is the biggest event in poker.

Play will continue here through Tuesday night, when the November Nine prepare for their place in history in, er, November. I can only imagine the feeling those nine players will have after receiving their checks for $900,000 and having the opportunity to return to Vegas four months later to play for more than $8 million more. I don’t believe we’ll see them on The Late Show with David Letterman reading a Top 10 list, but I think the move by Harrah’s to delay the final table until November will create a lot of additional interest and coverage for the WSOP among the mainstream media. Even though I think Harrah’s tries a little too hard to make a buck sometimes ($2.50 for a 12-ounce can of soda in the WSOP Poker Kitchen, really?), I do believe they have the best interest of poker at heart.

I have no grand illusions of personally making a mint during my last few days in Vegas. I have, however, reached the second round of a major blackjack tournament at the Golden Nugget where the winner will received $25,000. Hey, I never said I wasn’t a degenerate! I’ll be taking my remaining bankroll back home to Tuscaloosa with an eye on the upcoming FTOPS events. For now, I’m off to the Bellagio for some cash games. 

Nearly driven mad in the land of poker, I had the opportunity to get out of town on Sunday. Since Hoyt Corkins busted out of the main event on Saturday, he had time to go for a hike.

I went to his house and we hopped in his jeep, fully equipped with four-wheel drive, roll bars, and a five-ton winch that would surely get us out of any sticky situations. Starting too late to tackle Mt. Charleston, we headed to Red Rock Canyon to take the jeep trails into the Rainbow Wilderness area.

It wasn’t easy going up the rocky trails and I was surprised to see a few Grand Cherokee drivers try the climb. Although it was a relatively short distance, it took nearly an hour to reach the North Peak trail from the point where we exited the main scenic drive.

The hike was 1.3 miles from the jeep and I lugged a backpack full of bottled water and trail mix. As the young one of the duo, I got to be the mule. Although the trail was labeled as difficult on the guide sign, we found the going fairly easy at first. Still, those uphill trails can get an out of shape fellow winded pretty quickly, so we took frequent breaks.

The view from the top was worth the hour hike. From the North Peak we could see all of Vegas below, as well as Lake Mead, which was 50 or 60 miles in the distance. I’ve done a lot of hiking in my day, from the Appalachians to the Rockies, but this was the best view from the top with the absence of trees blocking the panoramic view. We stayed for a while to enjoy the view, but departed when we saw rain clouds coming up on us.

“You don’t mess with those flash floods,” Hoyt said. “If it starts raining very hard, we’ll be stuck here for the night.”

I certainly perished that thought so we hustled back, although we had to take it easy in spots due to the loose shale along the trail. It started sprinkling on the way down, and with a cool breeze in our faces it sure beat the heat of walking down the Strip. By the time we made it back to the jeep, the rain had stopped and we headed back down.

Meanwhile, the WSOP Main Event had played on. They’re down to 34 as I write this and will play to 27 tonight. On Monday, they’ll play down to 9 and then everyone will go home for four months. I sense that Tiffany Michelle will be the star of ESPN’s coverage. As an attractive young woman who is currently in the top 10 in chips you can expect to see a lot of her during Main Event television coverage. If she plays here cards right, she could make a mint from the exposure. 

A bleary-eyed and yawning press still awaits the November Nine. As I write this, it’s 12:45 AM in Las Vegas and 10 players remain in the World Series of Poker Main Event.

They’ve finally condensed to one table, after playing on two tables for much of the evening. The bigger names have fallen – first, former World Poker Tour winner Brandon Cantu, then Tiffany Michelle, the last woman standing. Michelle’s 17^th place finish is the best in this event by a woman since Annie Duke went out in 10^th back in 2000.

I think most of us are ready to get the heck out of Sin City. Many have been here for at least six weeks covering the 54 events. After less than four, I’m done with this place. It’s been a frustrating trip for me as I could never get anything going at the tables. Hopefully, the trip will pay off for me in the form of the time I’ve spent networking for more writing opportunities.

Tenth place will get just under $600,000 while the other nine will come back to the Rio Tuesday afternoon for a few hours to get their checks for $900,670 and receive details on what exactly is going to happen over the next four months. ESPN will document how their lives change for a special to air before the plausibly live final table. It will be interesting to see what becomes of these nine.

My favorite at this point is Dennis Phillips, a 53-year-old from St. Louis who wears many hats (including his favorite Cardinals hat). He sells various vehicles and equipment, and is a commercial account manager for a trucking company. He’s played well toward the end, with aggressive raises and re-raises that have caused many opponents to lay down hands. At present, he’s the chip leader with almost 22 million. I had a chance to meet him during the break and he gave me his card so I can call him for a profile for Rounder magazine in the coming months.

Another potential winner is Scott Montgomery, a 26-year-old professional player from Canada, who has a WPT final table from this year on his poker resumé.

It’s now 2 AM and I have to get some sleep before my flights tomorr….er, later today. I’m off to my hotel.  

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Tuscaloosa John – WSOP Blogger On The Rail – Post 2

Related posts:

1. Tuscaloosa John – WSOP Blogger On The Rail – Post 1
2. Bloggers On The Rail – Guest Post: Tuscaloosa Johnny
3. Bloggers On The Rail – Guest Post: Tuscaloosa Johnny

There’s a lot going on when you sit down to a cash game, and obviously you’ve got to be aware of all of it if you have any intention of being successful. 

When you’re going to play – before you even sit down – you’ve got to decide how much you’re going to buy in for. It might seem like it goes without saying, but you’ve got to be aware of everyone’s chip stack when you decide where to start. For me, I generally like to start out at least equal with – or buy in for more – than the biggest stack at the table.

Another part of this is recognizing who’s properly bankrolled at the table. If there’s somebody that’s playing on case money, then he’s generally a good opponent to pick on: they’re the one’s taking a shot at the game. If they don’t succeed, they’re going to drop down or they’re done for a while. Recognizing this lets you manipulate certain situations and take full advantage of them.

As far as recognizing opponents goes, one of the most important things that you have to do whenever you sit down is develop an accurate profile of each person at the table. Profiling is a matter of getting exactly who all of the other players at the table are and how they’re playing. This is critical and you need to learn to do it quickly.

For example, if you sit down with an older guy that’s retired and just there to have fun, you know that you can probably get away (with) a lot. Of course, you could be sitting with a guy who looks exactly the same, but has been around the block more than a few times and has been playing poker for years. You need to be able to figure out the difference between the two real fast. A lot of this is intuitive, but it’s all about recognizing experience in a player; figuring out who’s strong and who’s weak. Also keep in mind that just because someone is an unknown doesn’t mean that they aren’t good – you’ve always got to watch how they act, what they do at the table and listen to what they say.

This is a little different with players coming from an online background. If you’ve got an opponent with a reputation as a really strong online player, it’s probably a good idea to sit back and take a more passive approach until you figure out how they play live. I think that this is definitely a case where live players have an edge over online players. For myself, I’m accurate about 90% of the time when I put someone on being a particular type of player: solid, an amateur, a seasoned pro.

Of course, the flip-side of this is how they perceive you as a player. For me, if I’ve got any notoriety at a game, people recognize or greet me by name, maybe even comment on my play, I can use it to establish an image as an aggressive player that might check/raise with nothing. If I pick up on that, I can make moves like betting 4K into a 2K pot and get paid off with middle pair because this person thinks that I’m playing with nothing. On the other hand, if someone doesn’t think that about me or doesn’t know how I play, I have to adjust accordingly – it all depends on how I see their read on me.

Once you know how people view you, then it’s just a reverse psychology game. You can adapt to that in so many ways – this is one of the strongest parts of my game. It really lets me manipulate the table to my advantage.

If you can keep all of this in mind, you should be able to figure out what and who you’re dealing with right off the bat. Take full advantage of it, and you’ll be the one getting paid off.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Brad Booth

Related posts:

1. Heads Up: Erik Seidel Versus Brad Booth
2. The Pros Speak (Again): Chris Ferguson
3. The Pros Speak: Taylor Caby

As of the beginning of the Main Event, he’s been keeping tabs on the action as he’s experienced it first-hand – and here it is:

Greetings from the World Series.

I’ve been here for more than two weeks now, but am just now officially posting as the Blogger on the Rail. (Doesn’t it sound like a title of such importance?) If any of you reading this have never been to the WSOP or even Las Vegas, you need to plan a trip. If you love poker you have to come experience it.

This is actually my fifth year at poker’s grandest event. The first time, in 2004, the tournament was still held at Binion’s Horseshoe. It’s really hard to think of the size of the WSOP then with the size of it now. Today, for Day 2B of the Main Event, they’ve got players spread all over the Rio, from the main play area of the Amazon ballroom to the Rio poker room, which is a good third of a mile away. I hear it’s in the neighborhood of 2,700 players playing today. Insane. I remember in 2004 when they were trying to find space for the nearly 2,600 players at Binion’s. Here in 2006, before the UIGEA was passed, there were nearly 9,000 runners. There were still nearly 7,000 this year. I think this poker fad has legs.

Let me share a quick history of my WSOP play. During that first trip in 2004, I took a shot at an event. It was the $1,000 with rebuys and I was attempting it on one buy in (Dumb move, I know. But as a novice what did I know?) At my table at various times were players with names like Vahedi, Tomko, Plastik, Longson, Rodman, Shoten and this guy they call Hellmuth. You may not be surprised to learn I didn’t fare so well.

I played one $1,500 NLHE event in 2005 with no luck and another in 2006 with similar fortunes. I won a Main Event seat in 2006 through another online poker site and was a card rack on Day 1, catching Aces five times and flopping quad deuces against Patrik Antonius. I managed to take half his stack in another hand in which I turned a set of nines. My good fortune continued until I ran Kings into Aces shortly after making the money in Day 3. The 770^th-place finish was good enough for $16,500.

Last year I played no WSOP events, but thanks to Full Tilt Poker and its Battle of the Bloggers tournaments, I was able to play the $1,500 HORSE event. I sat with Mike Matusow, himself a FTP pro. As seems to be usual in the $1,500 events I play here, I didn’t last long. In fact, Matusow and another player busted me in the third level during Stud/8 when I missed both my low and flush draws.

I’ve used my Vegas bankroll I earned through the blogger tournaments to play other tournaments around town, but haven’t had much luck. I finally cashed last night in a $340 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza event, but only got $740 for the effort.

I’ll be bringing you more from the Rio in the coming days. Thanks for your patronage.

I have to admit I’ve watched the Main Event the last two years with great envy. After taking part in 2006 and experiencing the highs and lows of playing in poker’s biggest tournament, I am jealous every year I have to watch and not participate.

I felt a little thrill in railing Iggy, one of our most famous poker bloggers. He has been called the “Blogfather” because he was one of the first and best. This year, he won his first Main Event seat and I could sense the joy he had in getting to play the thing. It was like when a little kid opens his presents on Christmas. I remember that feeling. Well, then I asked him how it felt to play in it on Day 2 and he looked uninterested. “It beats work,” he said as he continued to fold his rag hands.

Players were eliminated briskly on Day 2. More than 63 percent of the field survived Day 1, but many hit the door quickly as the blinds and antes grew. At the end of the day, less than 1,300 survived and prop bets were made among poker writers on whether or not enough players will be eliminated on Day 3 to reach the money line of 666.

By the end of the day you could sense palpable excitement in Iggy as he held nearly 87,000 chips (close to the average) entering Thursday’s Day 3 play. As we walked from the Rio to the Palms in search of beer, he threatened to let out a primordial scream. Finally, as the afternoon had grown long he caught some hands.

Day 3 is the most treacherous day of the Series. It provides great disappointment for half the remaining field and great joy for most of the rest who survive into the cash. After all, $20,000+ is big money for most people, especially since many of them got into the Main Event for much less than $10,000.

I personally have a rooting interest in a few people today. There is Iggy, of course. There’s also Stephen L. from Toronto, a guy I met in Reno a couple of years ago and have been friends with since. And there’s Hoyt Corkins, my fellow Alabamian who I’ve gotten to know over the last few years, especially since I’ve been working with Rounder magazine where we feature a monthly Q & A segment with him. Hoyt and I are supposed to go hiking on Mt. Charleston when he busts out of the Main Event, but honestly I hope the trip can wait until next year. I’d be just as happy to see him make the final table.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Tuscaloosa John – WSOP Blogger On The Rail – Post 1

Related posts:

1. Tuscaloosa John – WSOP Blogger On The Rail – Post 2
2. Bloggers On The Rail – Guest Post: Tuscaloosa Johnny
3. Bloggers On The Rail – Guest Post: Tuscaloosa Johnny

If you’ve watched any recent interviews, then you know what I’m talking about. Not only is Mike keeping his head and wits about him, he’s legitimately relaxed and positive. Recently, we had the chance to discuss his newly found calm and find out what it is that’s “levelled him out as a person and a poker player.” Here’s what he had to say about luck, staying calm, and the true power of positive thinking:

Do you believe that you create your own luck in poker?

It used to be that I didn’t believe that, but I do now. I know that if you believe that you’re going to be unlucky, then you’re never going to win. If you always believe that you’re going to win – even if you don’t – you’ll always bring a real positivity to the situation. That will make a big difference. So yes, I do believe that you make your own luck.

How important do you think that positive thinking is?

Speaking as someone who people probably considered the most negative person in poker two years ago, to a person who is now one of the most positive people in poker, I believe that it’s everything. I mean, I’m working out and running every day, and always thinking – telling myself – that I’m going to win, no matter how much I’m down. I no longer think that the card on the river is going to beat me; the card is inconsequential. If you don’t even think about being beat, it makes a huge difference. If that card does beat you, you just recognize it and take it as a part of the game and come back the next day with a positive attitude. That’s what I’ve learned to do over the past three months.

Along those lines, how do you handle the swings and keep them from getting to you?

Recently, I’ve read a lot and listened to tapes on the power of positive thinking, and I’ve learned how to take the negativity and turn it back into a positive. Then your frame of mind is clear and things don’t bother you. It’s taken some work, but I’m level as a person and as a poker player now. I think that’s helped me more than anything in playing at the level that I’m at now and have been throughout the series.

What kind of advice would you give to someone to make sure that they’re in the right mindset to play?

My best advice is that, first of all, you have to be on the right sleep schedule. That’s one of the reasons that I’ve taken the last three or four days off. After I won the tournament, I was up until seven in the morning with interviews and everything. This meant that I was sleeping until 9 o’clock at night, and that’s just not good. It’s taken me that long to get back on a schedule where I am waking up at 9 or so in the morning, getting ready, running for 30 minutes, and so on. I’m also trying to eat well – it’s tough to eat well during these tournaments. But at least I’m keeping up with the exercise and doing the right, positive things. That’s the most important thing: keeping perspective and a solid positive attitude.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Mike Matusow

Related posts:

1. The Pros Speak (For a fourth time!): Howard Lederer
2. The Pros Speak (For a third time): Howard Lederer
3. The Pros Speak: Jennifer Harman

Of all the skills that it takes to be a winner – which I’ve read about extensively and don’t possess – being able to deal with winning and losing huge amounts of money/chips one hand at a time over the course of a tournament (and career) is critical. It’s tempting to look at the wealth that a top professional possesses and dismiss it by saying that a $10K buy-in is nothing to them. But if you look into it a bit deeper, there’s a lot more to it than that. Take Mike Matusow for example: the guy’s accumulated over $6.5 million in carer tournament earnings, but what’s he spent to get there? What is that a return on? The point is, to get to that level, the pros have won and lost a lot of money – and dealt with it.

Clearly, having the money and being able to effectively use it are two entirely different animals. While you don’t necessarily have to have an abject disregard for money that some pros appear to exhibit, you can’t be hung up on it. I think Doyle best summed this up in Super System:

“You must have respect for your money and know its value…but if you want to be a strong No-Limit player you can’t think you’re betting a Lincoln Continental every time that you bet $10K or $15K. If you do think that way, you’ll never make it playing No-Limit.”

In a nutshell, if you’re completely freaked out about the money that’s on the line, you’re not going to be focused and your game will reflect it. While a $10K buy-in is a bit rich for my blood, I like to think that for the majority of the folks who are still playing in the Main Event are well within their personal limits and likely to be playing serious poker. Either way, following what they do on the way to the money and the final table will definitely be entertaining. 

Post from: Poker From The Rail

In and Out of the Money

Related posts:

1. Big Money Sunday – February 1st

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Big Time Boxing – Full Tilt Poker Sponsor

Related posts:

1. 2009 World Series of Poker Day 13 – Full Tilt gets a 3rd bracelet?
2. 2008 World Series of Poker Europe – Two Full Tilt pros make the final table
3. The New Full Tilt Poker!

But what’s it really like to be there, in front of the cameras, knowing that every move you make is going to be put out there for everyone else to watch? Recently, Ali Nejad was good enough to share his recollections of his first appearance as a player on Poker After Dark and what it was like for him. While he’s got years of experience giving professional commentary on the game, that experience at the table didn’t play out the way he hoped. Here’s what happened – in his own words:

Even though it didn’t end up the way I planned, my first appearance on Poker After Dark was quite an experience. Just to set things up, it was pretty early in the second level with blinds at 150 and 300. All six players were left and Gabe Kaplan was the chip leader – I was behind him in second place.

Gabe had been raising a lot of pots and playing aggressively. I’ve played a lot with him, and I know that he plays a lot of the deck and is very capable of gambling. In this hand, he made it 800 to go – just a bit over big blinds – which was pretty standard. At that point, I looked down and saw pocket 4s. I had chips to play with and he was the chip leader, so I figured that since it was early I’d peel off 800 and see if I could spike a set. So I called and everyone else mucked.

With the blinds and 800 from each of us, there was a little over 2,000 in the pot. The flop came Qc-10c-4; I’d flopped bottom set and was heads up with Gabe. He led out with 1,600 – about ¾ of the pot. I took my time and thought about how I wanted to play it. With some big draws on the board, I decided that it wasn’t a hand that I was going to slow play. I announced a raise and an interesting thing happened: before I could say how much the raise was, Gabe just chimed in and said “Okay—how much, how much, how much?” in a really nonchalant fashion.

In hindsight, especially the more that I think back, it was a pretty good indication that he had a big hand. I really didn’t think that was the kind of thing that would come out of his mouth if he was weak because it was too relaxed and – apparently – intended to get me to put money into the pot. And that’s exactly what I ended up doing.

After he’d just bet 1,600 – that made 3,650 in the pot – I raised it 4,500 more. This was well over the size of the pot and I figured it was enough to push him off of a naked club draw and gave him less than 2:1 to call. After I made the raise, the pot was almost 10K, and I had about 15K or 16K in front of me. Really calmly, he asked me if I had a Queen. Again, in hindsight, that was another indicator that his hand was pretty strong. After asking that, he took a few minutes and asked me how much I had in front of me – and moved all-in.

I was really shocked to see this, especially this early in the tournament. Of course there were a handful of hands I started to think about him having – Ac-Kc, Ac-Jc, Q-10, Q-Q, pocket 10s, etc. The more I started thinking back about how he’d played in the past, the more I thought that this wasn’t the type of play that he’d make at this juncture. At the same time, Poker After Dark is unique in that it’s a winner-take-all format and you’ve got to take chances.

So I was sitting there staring at a set of 4s for at least four or five minutes (even though they edited it to look like only a minute or so), for what seemed like a lifetime, thinking to myself “I am so beat here.” I can’t explain specifically why it was that I decided that my pocket 4s were no good. I knew that set over set was unlikely and I also knew that if I laid down a set here that it was going to be a question of “what am I going to wait for to get my money in?”

I also thought that in a winner-take-all format, this was a way to double up through the chip leader, send him into sixth place, and put pressure on the blinds for the next four or five rounds. In the end I didn’t love it, but I called. He rolled over 10s and I showed my under-set.

Every player at the table was shocked. They all know me as an announcer and they didn’t think that I was capable of not snap-calling with a set. Of course the only reason that I didn’t was because I started thinking that my set was no good. At the same time, I was compelled to call in that spot. Even though I was sick to my stomach about it, I knew that in that format I couldn’t wait on a hand much better than that. In any case, that sent me to the rail in a most humbling fashion and ended my first Poker After Dark appearance.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Ali Nejad

Related posts:

1. The Pros Speak: Paul Wasicka
2. The Pros Speak: Roland de Wolfe
3. The Pros Speak: Nenad Medic

Rather than trying to put a fine point on it ourselves, we recently had the chance to listen to Gavin Smith’s thoughts on the subject. While his antics might lead folks to believe that he’s a reckless madman at the table, that’s far from the case. In fact, people’s perception of him is just another edge that he’s able to capitalize on. Here’s what he had to say about image and how it fits into the picture for him:

How important do you think it is to have an established table image?

I don’t necessarily think that it’s the most important thing to have going for you, but it’s certainly very helpful. When you have a certain image going into tournament, you can exploit it. Switching things up a bit throws your opponents off guard – that’s pretty important.

In general, do you think that one particular image works more effectively than another?

As far as things go, I definitely think that playing looser will help you win more often. A loose image doesn’t have as much to do with your game as it does with what you’re trying to get people to perceive. So even though I’ve got a very, very loose image, I’m really not as loose as people think. I’m very loose pre-flop, but after the flop I’m quite a bit better than they think. That’s where the concept of your image comes into it. You don’t want your image to directly reflect exactly what your game is like.

I guess it also depends on how you play. Regardless of this, it’s important that you’re always aware of how people perceive you. You’re better off going with an image that suits your personality rather than trying to act like something you’re not.

People have seen you play on TV, and a lot of them probably think that they know how you play – how do you deal with that?

It actually works out pretty well because I’m generally aware of what people think of me, so I bluff a lot less than people think I do – and I get paid off for it. I also get people trying to throw crazy bluffs at me when it’s not going to be very effective for them. I definitely think that the image I’ve portrayed on television has helped me in poker.

How could someone best play against an opponent with your table image?

The best way to play against someone like me is to call frequently from position. That’s where I’m going to have the most trouble – it’s going to force me to tighten up pre-flop.

As far as all of this goes, you can’t easily change your image, but you can change the way you play – that’s an important distinction. People are going to believe what they’ve seen or think about my game for years. I can’t change that very quickly, but I can definitely change the way I play and throw people for a little bit of a loop when I want to.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Gavin Smith

Related posts:

1. The Pros Speak (For a third time): Howard Lederer
2. The Pros Speak: Roland de Wolfe
3. The Pros Speak: Karina Jett