WSOP and Paul Darden

I played in the $1500 Razz event on Saturday the 22th. I had the good fortune/misfortune to have Paul Darden at my table. IMHO he is one of the best players in all forms of Stud. By chance I have been at tables with him in my last 4 stud tournaments. This one and 3 previous hi/lo tournaments(1 at Foxwoods and 2 at the Taj.) He is a very aggressive player to say the least! Early on I called his bluffs down twice on the river. These 2 hands would lead to my downfall against him later in the tournament. Being he had tried to bluff me twice he used it to his advantage to value bet me and the table whenever he had a made hand on the river. To his credit he changed gears later in the tournament and it confused the whole table. One hand I had against him really took the wind at of my sails! On fifth street I had a draw to a 7-6 low.(Had a made 10 with it showing.) Paul's high card on the board was a queen his other 2 cards were a 2 and a 4. On sixth I made my 7 and he caught another queen. Visions of making the money were flashing in my head. This pot was large being 5 people saw 3rd street for my raise. On the river I caught an inconsequential card and bet out. Paul raised me and I felt sick. Over 2/3s of my chips were in the pot. If I won this one I would be chip leader at the table. I thought about raising him but with 2 queens showing I knew he caught good. I made a crying call and waiting for the bad news. He caught a 5 on the river to complete is 6 low. I was in shock, this hand basically was the end of my tournament. I fought hard, short-stacked for the next 30 mins. but couldn't recover. I finished in the middle of the pack around 200th out of 409. (By the way I was told this was the biggest Razz field ever!) On a good note this was my wife's first live Razz tournament. I taught her how to play 3 weeks before this. She practiced on Fulltilt for a few days. She has a real talent for this game. She finished in the money 3 out of 5 tournaments on Fulltilt.(Finishing 2 of them in first!) She outlasted me by 2 hours. Ok that's it for now. Look for more WSOP posts in the next few days. Good luck at the tables. Tony

WSOP / Vegas Trip.

My wife and I just got back from our WSOP trip. We had a great time. I did very well but she had very bad luck. She took bad beat after bad beat all week. In the next few days I will write all about our trip. We played at multiple poker rooms. I will review which ones are worth playing in. I played in 2 WSOP events, Razz and Hi/Lo Stud. Also played in 2 satellites, won both of them, thank you very much :-). Felt I played well in my 2 events but ran into some bad luck at the worst times. I had the good fortune to get some experience playing with a few pros. Over the next few days I will post some interesting hands that I was involved in. That's all for now. I need to go play in the $215 Limit tournament on PokerStars. (Earlier I won a $39 satellite for a seat in it.) Good night and good luck at the tables. Tony

In the Zone.

Playing online poker last night was a thrill. I love nights like that. I was playing in the "Zone" all night. Sometimes my focus and reads are right on and I can do no wrong. This is what makes poker such a great game. When everything goes your way you feel like you are on top of the world. Currently I am practicing my Razz and Hi/Lo stud skills in preparation for the WSOP in a week. I feel I am playing at the top of my game right now. I have won 2 razz tournaments in the last week. I have monied in a few Hi/Lo stud tourns. also. My live Razz and Hi/Lo results have been excellent too. I feel I am ready to go play now! Hopefully when I get back there will be some good news for me to report to you all. I will write up a trip report with some hands of interest when I get back. I will write some posts before then. That's all for now. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Good Jen Harman Article

Should I Stay Or Should I Go Jennifer Harman


Being a winning player isn't only about playing good cards - it's also about making good decisions. And there is one important decision you face every time you sit down in a cash game: Should I quit, or should I keep playing?
When should you keep playing?
I see so many players playing short hours when they're winning, and long hours when they're losing. It should be the other way around.
When you are winning in the game, at least a few of the other players must be losing. And when your opponents are losing, they often aren't playing their best. But you are.
When you're winning, other players fear you; you have a good table image. And when you have a good table image, you can get away with things that you can't seem to when you're losing. For one thing, you can bluff more. Usually a losing player is scared to get involved with a winning player, so it's easier for you to pick up pots. You can represent more hands than you actually have because your opponents believe you're hitting every flop.
The only time to quit when you're winning is when you are tired, or when you start playing badly.
When should you call it a day?
Many players can't seem to quit when they are losing. You have to remember that there will always be another poker game -- if not tomorrow, then the day after, or the week after. I like to think of poker as one continuous game going on for my whole career. So, if I'm losing more than 30 big bets in the game, I usually quit.
There are a couple of reasons I do this: For one, if I lose a ton of money in one day, I don't feel so hot the next day. That means if I go in to play the next day, I might not be able to play my best game. I might actually have to take a few days off to get my head straight. Another reason is that when I'm losing more than 30 bets, I might not be playing that well. I might think I'm playing my "A" game, but in reality, I'm probably not. You can't be as objective about your play when you're losing. After all, we are not robots; we're just human beings.

Limit Holdem Tournaments

Limit tournaments can be so brutal. My wife is currently playing in a $26 "Race for the braclets" limit tournament on Fulltilt.(By the way she won one of these 2 months ago. $1500 in WSOP chips and $500 cash.) What a card catching contest it is! No one folds hands that any normal thinking player should. She has 3-5 of diamonds in the big blind and sees a
"free flop". The flop comes with 2 diamonds and an Ace. She bets all the way to the river and he calls with q-10 off, his a ten on the river to win a nice pot. Another hand she has A-J and the flop comes rags. She check raises the flop from the big blind. Trying to represent having a piece on the flop. He didn't raise pre-flop and it looked like a good move to me. He calls all the way to the river. He turns over A-K for a nice pot! You just can't bluff against people that can' t put you on a hand. Do yourself a favor DO NOT TRY TO BLUFF at low limit online poker. Good luck at the tables. Tony

Cardplayer at the WSOP.

Cardplayer's coverage of the WSOP is fair to good IMHO. I like all the video interviews. I think the tournament stats. leave a lot to be desired. Getting a simple thing like the number of players in an event should be easy to do. My wife and I are very interested in the growth of the each event compared to last year. It's not easy to get being you have to click too many places to find out what it is. We both can't wait to go to Vegas this year. Only 12 more work days until nirvana :-). I am hoping for a good showing this year! If I can finish in the money in 1 event I will be totally happy. Cash games should be good also. We love to play the $4-8 HE with a half kill at the Mandaley Bay. They have the nicest little room in Vegas, eventhough they are anal about not reading at the table. (They also strictly enforce their no electronic devices rule in their room.) As for Downtown I love the room at the Golden Nugget. They had some wild $4-8 games their on our last trip in Febuary. I will write about all the events I play in and the cash games once we get back. I can't wait to go to the WSOP! Good Luck at the tables. Tony