BROOKTOWN WSOP

Finding The Right Game And The Right Mindset

2009-05-19T08:49:00.000-04:00

Ben Roberts

For me, poker is a game that is meant to be played joyfully, and the path to playing the game joyfully begins with finding the game that’s right for you and entering it in the right frame of mind.

If you’re going to be an emotional prisoner when it comes to your wins and losses, you won’t play at your best. You need to play with patience, joy and a certain amount of indifference towards winning and losing. You need to be cool, calm, collected and happy. It’s not about your skill level – that’s something you can improve on continuously. It’s about how you feel, as this affects the moves you make more than your skill or playing style.

Once you’ve attained the right mindset, you can proceed to finding the right game. I believe in watching a game for a while before you enter it. This gives you an advantage over your opponents because you can pick up on their tendencies. If you observe the way they play, you can adjust accordingly before they’ve had a chance to adjust to you.

This ties in directly to the concept of playing with joy, because experiencing different games and different opponents is what I think makes the game of poker so wonderful. Every time I wake up in my hotel room, ready to start a new day at the World Series of Poker, I’m excited. I know it is going to be different from the game I had yesterday—and different from every game I’ve ever had, really.

Another beautiful element of the game that I really appreciate is the way it provides me with fresh stimulation. Many people are under the mistaken impression that once you get used to playing the game, it becomes monotonous. This kind of attitude comes from people who are not true poker players. True poker players appreciate the diversity, the changes and the differences from day to day.

Ultimately, finding the right game comes down to finding the highest stakes at which you will be consistently successful. If you’re a beginning player who’s becoming a winning player, you’ll want to step outside your comfort zone and move up in stakes since that’s the only way to increase your earnings. It’s fairly self-explanatory that the higher the games you play, the more you will win; but that’s only if the players you are up against are worse than you. Remember, there’s not much point in being the 9th best player in the world if you only play against the top eight.

Once you’ve found your game, just remember that whenever you’re feeling good, you should go with the flow and play on, and whenever you’re not, you should stop. Either way, you must keep an even temper. When things go right for you, it’s great. When things don’t go right for you, as long as you did your best and you made your best decisions, you can still feel happy about your game. Take your losses gracefully. When you can take your losses well – when your losses and wins have the same meaning to you – then you have the chance to become a great player as opposed to just a good one. Poker is supposed to be a journey of joy, and anything that is a departure from that, is off your path.

Hand Coordination

2009-05-15T08:47:00.000-04:00

Hand coordination is the relative strength of your hand compared to your opponents’ hand, and it’s probably the single biggest factor determining whether you have a good or bad session playing poker. If it’s working in your favor, whenever you flop a monster, one of your opponents will also make a big hand, just not quite as big as yours. In this situation, playing your hand as fast as possible usually gives you the best chance to make the most money.

Say you’re playing Hold ‘em and you’re in a four-way pot, the board comes 9-9-4, and you have pocket fours. You want to play this hand fast for two reasons. The first is that you’re hoping one of your opponents has a 9. If so, he might raise you, allowing you to reraise him. Ideally, he’ll call, then call you again on the turn and the river, and you’ll make a lot of money.

The other reason you want to play this hand fast is that, if you check, it’s quite possible your opponents will also check. Then, if the turn brings a 6 and one of your opponents has pocket sixes and makes a bigger full house, you’re going to lose a huge amount of money. Giving a free card and losing an enormous pot when you could have won a small pot (if only you’d bet) is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in poker.

Now let’s say the flop comes K-J-J, and you have pocket kings. You’re not as likely to cost yourself your entire stack by slowplaying in this situation. It’s extremely unlikely that your opponent is going to be behind on the flop and yet make a hand on the turn that beats you, but I still think you should play it fast. You’ll win more money by betting the whole way because any player holding a jack is, at the very least, going to call you down, and he might even raise you. On the flop you just have to put out the line and hope that one of your opponents has a jack, or better yet, K-J.

If you play it slow in this situation, you’re giving away the strength of your hand. If you check on the flop with the idea of check-raising, then when you do put in the raise you’re telling your opponent you’ve made a huge hand and are giving him the opportunity to lay down a jack. You’ll make far more money by simply betting the whole way.

However, slowplaying a monster is occasionally the better play. Suppose you raise from middle position with A-Q of hearts, the button and the big blind both call, and the flop comes 6-7-2, all hearts. If the big blind checks, you should check too. If the button bets, you can then raise because he’s either buffing, in which case you’re not going to win any more money from him, or he’s also flopped a flush, in which case you want to get your money into the pot as quickly as possible in hopes of winning his entire stack, or he’s flopped a set, in which case he’ll call your check-raise on the flop and he’ll call a big bet on the turn and he might even call a big bet on the river.

If the board pairs on the turn, you should still bet. It’s such a draw heavy board that your opponent might think you only have the ace of hearts in your hand, or the ace of hearts and a pair, or the ace of hearts and another ace. There are a lot of hands he could put you on in this spot besides the nut flush so, even if the board pairs, you should keep betting for value, hoping to get called by a worse hand.

If you bet the turn and your opponent puts in a stiff raise, then you should reevaluate. If you bet the turn and he calls and you bet the river and he raises, then you should fold because you can credibly put him on a full house.

Because hand coordination plays such an important role in determining your long-term success, you need to make as much money as you possibly can when it’s working in your favor, and one of the best ways of doing that is playing fast after you flop a big hand.

Playing Fifth Street In Seven-Card Stud

2009-05-13T08:34:00.000-04:00

by Keith Sexton

Fifth Street is the big decision point in Seven-Card Stud because that’s the critical juncture in the hand when you have to put in your first big bet. While it’s nice to have a made hand at this point, you don’t always need one to put in a raise on Fifth Street. If you have a big draw, that can be enough to warrant raising your opponent. Some players don’t think like this, and I believe that’s a costly mistake.

Here’s an example of a situation where I believe raising with a draw is the correct play. Let’s say your opponent is showing an Ace, and you have a 7 of diamonds up and a 6 and 7 of spades in the hole, giving you a pair of 7s. You and your opponent are the only players involved in the hand, and he opens with a raise. You call.

On the turn your opponent catches an offsuit Jack and bets. You catch the 9 of spades. You have a pretty nice hand at this point. Not only do you have a pair of 7s, but you also have three cards to a flush and three cards to a straight so there are a lot of cards you can catch that will give you a big draw. You definitely want to call in this spot.

On Fifth Street your opponent catches a 6 so now he has an Ace, Jack, and 6 showing. You catch the deuce of spades, which is a very interesting card. You now have a pair of 7s and four spades to a flush, but your opponent is unaware of how strong you are because one of your 7s and two of your spades are hidden.

Your opponent leads out with a bet once again. Now here’s the question. Should you simply call or should you raise? Even if your opponent has two Aces, I would prefer to have two 7s and four spades in this situation so you should be aggressive and put in a raise. You should do this for a couple of reasons. First, even if he does have a pair of Aces, you’re still the favorite. You are about a 58 percent favorite to win the hand so you’re getting the best of it right now.

The other reason you should raise is that it will get you a free card if you fail to hit your draw. Let’s say you go ahead and raise on Fifth Street, and your opponent calls. Since he called your raise, you can be pretty certain he has a pair that can beat your 7s. Then on Sixth Street he catches a 4 and you catch the 3 of diamonds, a card that doesn’t help your hand at all.

If your opponent is a weak player, he is probably going to check it to you because he’s going to be scared of that raise you put in on Fifth Street. If he does in fact check, then you succeeded in accomplishing exactly what you set out to do. You got extra money into the pot on Fifth Street when you had the best of it, and now that you missed your draw and don’t have the best of it anymore you’re happy to get a free card. Now you have one more shot at drawing out on him.

This is a clear example of why it pays to be aggressive on Fifth Street in Seven-Card Stud. Some players would just call in this situation, but I think that’s a big mistake. Being aggressive and sticking in a raise has two clear advantages over simply calling. It will get more money into the pot those times you do make your hand, and it will get you a free card those times you don’t. The bottom line is that you need to be aggressive when playing Seven-Card Stud because it’s the aggressive player who usually wins.

Adjusting Strategy Mid-Hand

2009-05-11T08:46:00.000-04:00

Most of the time when you’re engaged in a poker hand, you’ll be thinking about what decisions you will make before you have to make them. For example, if you call a raise with K-Q, you’ll think to yourself: Okay, if I hit top pair, I’m going to play this hand. If I have a gut-shot and two over-cards, I’m going to play this hand. If I have an open-ender and two over-cards, I’m going to play this hand. Otherwise, I’m going to let it go.

However, there will often be times when something happens that causes you to change your strategy mid-hand. Maybe your opponent makes a weak bet that gives you information worth using to your advantage. Or maybe he makes a bet on the river that looks like a value bet and convinces you to fold a hand you were planning on calling with.

It’s always good to enter a hand with a plan, but it’s essential that you be willing to deviate from the plan if the situation calls for it. Every hand requires that you react to your cards and the cards on the board, but it’s equally important that you factor in your opponent and his tendencies.

Here’s a hand that I played recently at the 2009 EPT German Open in Dortmund, where I went on to finish in fourth place. It was late in Day Two, I had been fairly short-stacked for a while and occasionally shoving with decent hands, but I hadn’t yet made a serious bluff in the tournament. We were eight-handed, the player in second position made a very small raise to 8,500 with blinds at 2,000/4,000 and a 500-chip ante, and it folded around to me in the small blind with pocket fives. I had about 70,000 in chips, and all I knew for sure was that I wasn’t going to fold a pocket pair in this situation.

I decided to call rather than raise, knowing the big blind would certainly be priced in to call as well, and he did. The flop came A-8-3. I was obviously looking to flop a set, or maybe something like 2-3-4 or 3-4-6, and this flop was not at all good for my hand, so I checked. The big blind also checked. And the initial raiser made what looked to me like a very weak bet, 12,000 into a 29,500 pot.

I was quite sure from the bet that he didn’t have an Ace, and probably he didn’t have a pair of any kind. It seemed to me that he had a hand like K-J, something in that range. So when he bet 12,000, I considered all of the factors – my read on him, my tight image, and my stack size. I decided to raise 21,000 more, representing that I had perhaps a weak Ace and had committed myself to the pot (even though, in reality, I wasn’t committed and would be willing to fold to a re-raise, leaving myself with about 30,000 in chips).

The big blind folded, and after thinking for a long time, the initial raiser folded also. He simply had to give me credit for a real hand that I wasn’t going to lay down to a re-raise.

This was a situation where I didn’t really intend to commit many chips if I didn’t hit a favorable flop, but I adjusted my decision making based on my opponent’s post-flop action, believing the stage had been set for me to make a move. Always be willing to adjust your plan, and every once in a while you’ll find yourself winning chips that otherwise would have been pushed toward someone else.

Establishing A Tight Table Image

2009-05-07T08:45:00.000-04:00

by Allen Cunningham

2007
In poker, image matters.

Throughout a tournament, your table image will help determine how much action you'll get and, ultimately, how you can manipulate your opponents into making big calls or big laydowns at the wrong times.

While establishing a loose, aggressive image early on can help build your initial chip stack, I believe it's important to develop a tight table image in the later stages of a tournament because it gives you the ability to maneuver at the times when the chips matter most.

When the action is folded around, some players will always raise from the cutoff and the button. The problem with this play is that's its predictable and can be easily exploited. If you always raise from the button, the players in the blinds catch on sooner or later and will put in a big re-raise with any two cards. You will also find players just calling you with a much wider range of hands from the blinds before putting in a big check-raise on the flop.

Why do they do this? Because you have been presenting a loose table image by raising any time the action is passed to you. During late-stage play, this image hampers your ability to maneuver because any time you try to make a move, it's likely that someone will play back at you.

It doesn't take long before your loose table image will make you a target for the experienced players at the table (or even the inexperienced players who get tired of being pushed around). The amount of chips you risk by being loose in these situations is usually not worth the reward of just picking up the blinds. Be careful, though, because when you play too tight you end up missing many opportunities to slowly accumulate chips or even just stay afloat. Ideally, you want to project a very tight image while actually being somewhere in between the standard perceptions of "loose" and "tight."

I have one very simple piece of advice to help you with this part of your game. It may sound so simple you would wonder why I bother mentioning it but, in fact, this is one of my most important rules: Always fold junk.

By always folding junk hands, you accomplish a number of goals:

You resist the temptation to attempt a blind-steal just because action was passed to you. With the level of aggressiveness that characterizes today's play, it's better to pass on bad hands even in position.
You avoid pot-committing yourself with a hand that will usually be dominated in a race with a short-stack. For example, if you raise from the cutoff for 3x the big blind with J-3 attempting to steal the blinds and a stack with 8x the big blind moves in behind you, you are in a bad spot. It's better to just avoid these situations altogether.
Most importantly, you further cement your image as a tight player. Now when you raise with a hand like A-8, you can feel confident that your tight image will allow you to steal the blinds although you're actually playing a bit looser.
Another temptation players face is to pick on someone's blind just because they view that player as "weak." I rarely pick on someone's blinds without a decent opening hand. Opening from the cut-off with a hand like K-9 suited is about as low as I'm willing to go in attempt to just pick up the blinds.

Using my tight table image enabled me to maneuver through a very tough field in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold 'em event at the 2007 WSOP*. After I doubled up early in Day 2, I used my table image in the late stages to steal blinds and to pick up a number of pots in key situations. I was able to carry this momentum to the final table, where I was fortunate enough to win the bracelet.

Remember, it takes more than good cards to be a winning player. By creating a solid table image in the late stages of a tournament, you may actually be able to play a wider variety of hands than your opponents expect and take down key pots at critical times.

David Wright

2009-04-19T14:22:00.000-04:00

The Mets have failed the last 2 years in September, and I'm starting to think its time to tell David Wright good bye.

He is the face of this team, and the face has been a series of failures and disappointments. Last year we had the Willie watch, this year we may have to bring up the Wright Watch.

David Wright for Ryan Braun anyone?

The Pros And Cons Of Being Active Early

2009-01-14T22:49:00.000-05:00

by Aaron Bartley

Deciding how active you want to be at the beginning of a tournament depends heavily on what type of tournament you’re playing in. If it’s a standard Sit & Go, I always recommend playing tight and conserving chips early. If it’s a Multi-Table Tournament or a Shootout Tournament then you should consider a more active style in the early phase.

Part of the goal in doing this is to accumulate chips. But another part of the goal is to establish an image that will help get you chips later. It can be a rewarding way to play, but you need to understand that there’s also a downside to the image this type of play will create.

When you put constant pressure on other players, it’s eventually going to make them fight back. You don’t have to raise large amounts and you don’t have to get involved in huge pots, but by raising with a lot of hands, your opponents are going to play back at you with a wider and wider range of hands. They’re going to start calling and three-betting with more marginal hands, and that’s going to open them up and make them susceptible to giving you their chips more often.

If you’re looking to accumulate chips, you don’t want your table locked down in super-tight mode. You don’t want to have to grind out a few chips every orbit – you want to get into your opponents’ heads and provoke them into spewing chips. You’ll find that once one player at the table does it, it tends to have a domino effect and lead other people to start making mistakes.

The downside, however, is that your bluffs won’t work very often, and that’s something you have to be aware of. For example, let’s say I’ve been playing a lot of pots and developed a loose image in a six-handed table, and I’m dealt A-Q suited under the gun. That’s a good hand at a full table, and it’s even better six-handed. So I make a pot-sized raise, and the big blind calls. The flop is J-10-6, which isn’t exactly a hit for me, but it isn’t a total miss; I have a straight draw and two over cards. I’m going to make a normal continuation bet and I figure my opponent can’t call me without a decent hand. In this case, I bet, he calls and the turn is a three, so I decide to give it one more shot and raise my bet a little bit because I want him to fold. Instead, he calls.

A four now falls on the river. I didn’t hit anything and he’s clearly shown that he’s ready to call anything; I can’t expect to bet him off the hand. In my mind, I’m putting him on a hand possibly as weak as 10-2, but I don’t think I can get him to lay that down, so I check, give up the pot and he wins with 6-7.

Of course I’m going to be a little frustrated to learn that he called twice with third pair. He had to have put me on A-K or A-Q or thought I was raising under the gun with rags and, the truth is, people will begin to think that way because I’ve raised a lot of pots. Because of this, people are going to start calling me extremely light.

In the short-term, that can be a bad thing; but in the long-term, it should be good. If the same hand happens later but I have A-J or Aces or Kings, or even some trash hand that connects, I’m going to get paid off.

This is why the positives of playing an active style early ultimately outweigh the negatives. Even if you lose a pot because your image keeps people hanging around, it can set you up to win an even bigger pot later on.

One Order of Confidence, Please!

2009-01-12T09:55:00.000-05:00

by —Alicia Kachmar

Craving Confidence (www.cravingconfidence.com) is the blog brainchild of Patricia Stark, one of those strong people who seems to have done it all and is now going to tell us what she’s learned! Not only did she work in the media in a plethora of roles, she now heads Media Image Coach, which aims to help business professionals get over that dreaded act of speaking in public.

Even if you’re not part of the bustling corporate world, Stark has a lot to offer through her blog and accompanying videos—don’t we all crave confidence day to day?!? Having confidence in our professional and personal lives will affect our success with being happier. Think about it: if you’re scared of a variety of situations, from meeting new people to organizing your home, or even “simple” behaviors like leaving a voicemail, you will be building up some serious stress and anxiety.

If you don’t think you have time for tackling such big issues, think again. Stark makes easy-to-digest videos in “Confidence Quickbite” versions, which run for just over a minute. Her blog posts stay on point and are written in a casual yet informative way, like her New Year’s entry that begins, “Forget resolutions. Forget about fad diets,” and instead urges us to dig deep into the past and think about childhood dreams that sadly got lost in adult responsibilities—how can they help us face a new year full of possibilities?

Hop on over to Craving Confidence and take a look around. If you have a confidence topic you’d like addressed, you can email Stark about it. Share with us here what you think! What are the situations in everyday life that test your ability to be confident? Going on a job interview for a job I really want is high up there for me! What about you?

—Alicia Kachmar

THE OLD NEIGHBOROOD

2008-12-30T21:20:00.001-05:00

APPARENTLY THE NEW SEASON OF 24 IS GOING TO BE GOOD

2008-12-30T08:18:00.002-05:00

According to Kristen De LosSantos (who keep in mind is a chick so it doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy that she has her finger on the pulse of good TV) this is going to be an excellent season. Her reasons,

1. The "Good Old" 24 Is Back! Any of you who were disappointed in season six (and yes, we are with you) will be pleased to know that the high-stakes, high-drama and fully engrossing storylines and action of the earlier seasons of 24 have most assuredly returned for season seven.
In the first four hours alone, there are enough twists to turn your stomach into a pretzel (who's working for whom, where Jack is heading, etc.), and yet the plotlines are handled smartly and delicately enough to avoid Heroes syndrome (way too much happening way too fast to too many people). These guys know what they're doing.

2. Tony Almeda Is Freaking Back! No, it's not a dream, a shower sequence or a Francinator-like clone. Tony Almeda (Carlos Bernard) is among the living. And where he's been and what he's been up to will most assuredly leave your jaw hanging—as well as Jack's.

3. The New Cast Does Not Suck: You Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) devotees might be turned off by the idea of what appears very much to be a new Chloe—Janine Garafalo as an FBI computer whiz helping out Team Jack. But rest assured, there's a reason they've brought in a Chloe clone: The two geekalicious girls will be going head-to-head in no time, and the smackdown is thoroughly entertaining.
Also worth noting: The new femme fatale in Jack's life, Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) is instantly respectable, likeable and ultimately more badass than she might first appear.

4. Jack Is Sorta, Um, Bad: Forget CTU. Forget glossy, glamorous offices, big budgets and endless high-tech help of yesterseason. Ultimately this season of 24 will show Jack (who begins his day in a Senate hearing as a wanted man) in a much more rebellious and renegade light than we've seen him before. And that's because he'll be working with...

WAIT IS SHE KIDDING, THAT'S IT, THAT'S HER REVIEW...SEE, I TOLD YOU, NO SENSE OF, WELL SENSE.

Jizz In My Pants

2008-12-29T08:28:00.000-05:00

The latest from Adam Sandberg (and I can swear that is Justin Timberlake in the grocery store).

Funny Stuff

JETS MAKE OR BREAK ON FINAL SUNDAY (AGAIN)

2008-12-28T08:44:00.002-05:00

Chad Pennington, Chad Pennington.

For the past 2 baseball seasons i have come down to the last Sunday in September needing my Mets to win 1 game to get in, and they failed both times, and it was miserable to sit and watch.

Today, my football team comes up against the same fate, and although I haven't watched it yet, I'm already preparing for the misery. And to make matters worse, they go against my favorite all time Jet. For months I've know it would come down to this, we were on a crash course to make this Sunday "special" and now it is here.

The Jets need some help today, a Patriot or a Raven lose, is critical but more importantly the Jets need to win. A team of mine needs to win on a Sunday in the last day of the season. I'm 0-2 the last couple of seasons, so if nothing else I'm used to the feeling.

Bret Favre has been a nightmare, but unfortunately he is the best shot we have. I'm tron in my love for Chad and my hatred of Bret, but I have to hope that if the Pats or Ravens lose, my team, for once can come up big and actually do something when it counts.

I'll be there at 4:15, giving Chad a standing O when he walks out on that field, I just haven't decided if I'll be wearing my green #10 jersey or my #25 jersey and hope to get 2 picks and not 2 TDs for Mia.

Why couldn't he have just signed with Minn???

Chad Pennington, Chad Pennington

I THINK JAY COX MOHR IS A FUNNY GUY

2008-12-28T08:24:00.000-05:00

Jay is unwittingly looking to add Mohr laughs to his life.

Following in the footsteps of John Ono Lennon, the Gary Unmarried star filed a petition a week ago to legally add his wife's surname to his own, thereby making his new name Jon (his birth name) Ferguson Cox Mohr.

Well, better than the other way around, isn't it?

REPRINTED FROM SEPT 4, 2008

2008-12-27T08:32:00.001-05:00

THE GREATEST QB IN JET'S HISTORY

The Packers are not the only team starting their first season without the greatest QB in team history. The Jets are in the same boat. Yea yea yea..Namath, I know, but actually compare the two:

Won-Lost Record: Namath: 61-61-4 Chad: 32-29
Playoff Berths: Joe: 2 Chad: 3
Playoff W/L: Joe: 2-1 Chad: 2-3
Completion %: Joe: 50.2 Chad: 65.6
Yards: Joe: 27,057 Chad: 13,738
TD’s/TD%: Joe: 170/4.7 Chad:82/4.3
INTs/INT %: Joe: 215/5.9 Chad: 55/2.9
Yds per Attempt: Joe: 7.4 Chad: 7.2
QB Rating: J: 65.8 C: 88.9

All statistics per Pro-Football-Reference.com.

Now I get that numbers don't tell the whole story, and I never saw Joe play, but I saw every game Chad played, and before he was hurt he was as good as anyone, yea Joe has that Super Bowl, and he was a leader in it, but he wasn't the reason the won that game, and if Chad was the QB of that team he'd have won it as well. Pennington was responsible for two of the more impressive playoff wins in team history - the 41-0 beating of the Colts (and Peyton) in 2002, and the overtime victory in San Diego in 2004, and he was robbed of another in Pittsburgh by Herm Edwards’ poor coaching and our kicker's failure to make 1 of 2 game winning field gaols.

Not to disparage Joe, Namath’s impact went beyond statistics. He won the most important game in the history of the New York Jets, and they say the most important game in the history of the NFL. He was the first to throw for 4,000 yards in a season. He was a TV and media giant, and is obviously the most important player in the history of the franchise. But he was not the best quarterback the team has ever had, that was Chad Pennington.

It will be strange to see him in the ugly fish uniform, and I’ll always love him and thank him for all the good things he did for my team.

With all that said, I'd really like to see him throw 5 picks and get sacked 11 times Sunday..

SUCK FACE OR FACEBOOK?

2008-12-26T06:43:00.000-05:00

A new study has come out quizzing women about whether they’d prefer to not have the Internet for two weeks or sex for two weeks. And the results, especially for women, are kind of sad.

An online survey commissioned by Intel has found, among other things, that 46% of women would rather go without sex for two weeks than give up the Internet for that long. The numbers get bigger for certain age groups; 49% of women aged 18-34 would make that choice, and 52% of women aged 35-44.

Some 30% of all men would swap sex for the Internet for two weeks, if they had to, with 39% of men aged 18-34 willing to make that sacrifice, according to the survey. Only 23% of men aged 35-44 said they would do so.

2008-12-22T06:49:00.000-05:00

Am I going to get 3 of these for X-mas??? I mean look at that little fella, a pooing robot toilet-paper holder it makes you appreciate his multi-tasking. But most importantly his deep commitment to bowel evacuation, reading, and of course my love for all things gadget, all in one simple package.

Interpreting Three-Bets

2008-12-21T08:56:00.001-05:00

by Jordan 'IMsoLucky0' Morgan

We all know that a three-bet is supposed to mean strength. When a player three-bets before the flop, he’s saying that he believes he has the best hand. One of the keys to making money at the poker table, however, is being able to interpret when the three-bet means what it’s supposed to mean, and when a player is only representing a big hand and making a move.

The fact of the matter is that you’re not getting the right odds in most situations to call a three-bet with a small pocket pair. When there’s been a raise and a re-raise in front of you and you look down at a hand like pocket 6s, you normally want to fold it and move on. You can sometimes get away with making the call with a very deep stack, but you really have to have a strong read that you’re going to get paid if you make your hand. I might call with pocket 9s or 10s in the right spot against the right opponent, but hands like 8s or 7s just don’t play well enough, especially out of position.

One exception, of course, is if a particular player three-bets repeatedly. This suggests he isn’t always doing it with strong hands and it might be worth playing back at him. However, when I say “repeatedly,” I don’t just mean a couple of times early in a session. If a guy three-bets you twice early on, you might be inclined to think that he’s picking on you and doesn’t have a hand. But it could also be that the guy got dealt big hands twice. Until he has three-bet you relentlessly or shown down a weak holding after three-betting, you don’t want to try to make a play at him. Once he has done it several times, then it’s worth making a play at the pot if he puts in another three-bet, because he’s not going to have the premium hand that he’s representing that often.

Another thing to watch out for is the tiny three-bet. Say it’s a $1/$2 game, I raise to $6, and another player raises to $10 or $12 instead of something more standard like $15 or $18. When people make a tiny three-bet, I’ll usually call that. I don’t give a lot of respect to those plays. Sometimes they will be huge hands, but more often they’ll be very weak hands that you can take the pot from out of position.

A very small three-bet is not a tactic that I’ll use very often – there isn’t much reason for it. If you’re trying to steal a pot, you want to make it more difficult for your opponent to call. If you actually have a big hand, you want to get value for it when your opponent calls, so a bigger three-bet is a better idea.

Facing a three-bet can be a daunting prospect at times – be certain you have a good read on your opponent before making your next move.

Katy Perry fills music's quirky girl void

2008-12-20T06:39:00.002-05:00

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer

get Katy Perry twisted: She absolutely loves being pop's quirky poster girl, the wild child who doesn't censor herself and causes raised eyebrows with songs like "Ur So Gay" and "I Kissed a Girl."

But for all her success over the last year, Perry is hoping that songs like her most recent No. 1, "Hot n Cold," show she has more to offer than kitsch and controversy.
"It's my personality, which is up and down and sassy and cheeky," says Perry, who recently became a Grammy nominee. "You're gonna see me with all kinds of different things. Maybe you won't expect it, but that's what I like to do — keep people on their toes."

Offering the unexpected was a key factor in Perry becoming one of pop's breakout stars this year. While "Ur So Gay" — a taunting song to an ex-lover more enamored with flatirons and skinny jeans than his ex-girlfriend — became an underground talker, it was her equally ear-catching song "I Kissed a Girl," about girl-on-girl experimentation, that resonated with mainstream music fans, becoming a No. 1 summer smash.
"She's not scared to rattle some people's cages lyrically, and say some risque stuff," says singer-songwriter Butch Walker, who collaborated with Perry on some of the tracks on her debut album, "One of the Boys." "She brings a little bit of the underground, a little bit of the hipster and underground culture to the mainstream, and that's what sells her ... as different."

And that's what Perry hoped her role in pop music would be. The 24-year-old, who was raised by ministers and dabbled in Christian music before heading to Los Angeles as a 17-year-old aspiring artist, found most of pop's princesses to be manufactured and boring.

"I was a bit let down by maybe their personality or their delivery or their consistency," says Perry during an interview at her Capitol Records label offices. "They were so like careful with everything."
"Well, what's the point of being in pop or rock 'n' roll music if you're going to be a windup doll?" Perry says. "Use your own wheels and bolts, even if they break, do it yourself."
But Perry found that a colorful personality, strong voice and well-crafted songs didn't guarantee her pop stardom, or even an album. Though she worked with top producers such as Glen Ballard and The Matrix, she bounced from label to label. (Blender magazine profiled her as one to watch in 2004.)

"She was signed and dropped like twice before the record came out," says Walker. "I was afraid that her career and those songs were never gonna see the light of day."
Even Perry wondered whether she should just give up. But her competition gave her hope.
"Every time I thought maybe there was a girl that would take my place, I would watch her and I would kind of sit back and say, 'Almost! No no no, there's still a void!'" she recalls.

Now that she's come along to fill it, Perry looks back on her struggles as a badge of honor. "It's like training," she says.

And she has this advice for those hoping to be the next Katy Perry: Find your own identity.

"When I first started at 17 in Los Angeles, the hit song was 'Complicated,' and everyone wanted me to write a 'Complicated,'" she says of Avril Lavigne's early hit. "I'm like, 'Look that's her, this is me. Everybody loves that song — hopefully everyone will love my song.'"

2008 Brooktown WSOP Champion

2008-12-13T08:01:00.000-05:00

2008-12-12T07:29:00.001-05:00

TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT

Below please find the rules for the final event. As you should know by now the final event is No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em and will be held at Jay’s house in Jackson, NJ TONIGHT.

The entry fee is $50 (Ed, Rich, Scott have free entry) and we would like to start no later than 8pm. Please plan on being there in plenty of time to eat, do all the appropriate paperwork and begin the final event ceremonies.

Rich – please do not forget to bring the trophy you have had for the 3 past years, as I will need to bring it in to have Scott’s name and probably yours engraved for 2008.

I wanted to go over the final prize breakdown as well.

14 original entries $100 = $1400
7 Satellite entries $50 = 350
5 final entries $50 = 250

Total Prize pool =$2000

Scott has already won $100 for the point title, and the interest from the original $1,400 will go toward food for this evening.

1st place $1,000

2nd place $ 600

3rd place $ 300

THE GAME – 2008 BROOKTOWN WSOP CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT

The game is No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Chip Value:

White 50
Red 100
Green 250
Blue 500
Black 1000

BUYIN/REBUY/ADD-ON

The initial buy-in is $50. This will purchase 10,000 in tournament chips. These chips have no monetary value.
There are no add-on’s or re-buys. Once a player has lost all his chips he is eliminated.
Scott Davis (the 2008 point champion), Ed Pascocello and Rich Southard (satellite event winners) will have no buy-in.

SEATING

Table assignment and seating is determined a random draw 30 minutes prior to the start of the event. Scott Davis will be the first to have the button.

BLINDS

The two players to the left of the dealer are required to post “blind” bets before seeing their cards. The 1st is the SB and the 2nd is the BB.
If the SB is knocked out, the button essentially goes into his empty seat.
If the BB is knocked out, then the BB moves on to the player who would have had it next and there isn’t a SB on this hand (SB moves into the empty seat). On the following hand, the button would wind up in the empty seat. The player who just had the BB would have SB, and the BB moves on normally to the next player.
When play is down to two players, figure out who would get the BB next if nothing had happened. He will be the BB on the next hand. The SB is always on the button and the other player is the BB.

TIMER USE AND BREAKS

A timer will be used to time the blind progression. When the timer expires, it should be immediately restarted. The next hand will be dealt at the new blind level. For the purposes of this rule, a hand is considered currently in play once the all blinds are posted AND the dealer has begun shuffling (riffles the deck).

The timer is stopped during breaks. No additional hands at any table should be started during such a break although hands already in progress should be completed.

THE DEAL

The player to the right of the dealer may cut the deck before the cards are dealt.

The dealer is responsible for making sure that all bets have been called before dealing each round of card(s).

Order of the deal:

Dealer deals two cards (one at a time) face down to each player.
Betting round 1 occurs.
Dealer burns one card and deals 3 cards (flop) in the middle of the table face up.
Betting round 2 occurs.
Dealer burns one card and deals one card (turn/4th Street) in the middle.
Betting round 3 occurs.
Dealer burns one card and deals the final card (river/5th Street).
Betting round 4 occurs.

DEALER ERRORS

dealer fails to burn a card before the flop, turn or river and instead turns the top card immediately face up; the card will be shown to all players and then discarded; the next card will take its place.
player's hole card is exposed due to a dealer error; he may not keep the exposed card. After completing the deal, the dealer will exchange the exposed card with the top card on the deck and place the exposed card face up on top of the deck. The exposed card will be used as the first burn card. If two or more cards are exposed on the deal, it is a misdeal.
player is dealt more or less cards than two, and it is discovered before two players act on their hands; it is a misdeal. If it is discovered after two players have acted; that player forfeits all bets and blinds.
flop has too many cards or cards are flopped before all betting is complete; the entire flop is taken back and reshuffled. The burn card will remain burned and no new burn card will be used.
fourth or fifth card is turned up before betting is complete; the card is not in play. After completion of betting, the next card is burned and the following card is turned up. After betting, the dealer will reshuffle the deck, including the card that was taken out of play, but not the burn card or discards.

BETTING

Check and raise is allowed.
The minimum bet is equal to the size of the BB.
The raise must always be at least the size of the previous bet or raise.
Any player can bet all of their chips at anytime (ALL-IN).
Betting round 1 begins with the player to the left of the BB.
Betting rounds 2-4 begin with the player to the left of the button.
When only two players are left sitting at the table, the BB is dealt to first, the button acts first before the flop, and the BB acts first after the flop.
Do not splash the pot. Stack your bets in front of you the dealer will rake the bets into the pot after the betting round is complete.
Do not bet, check, call, fold, or raise out of turn.

WINNING THE TOURNAMENT

The final player remaining, in the championship round, with all the chips will be the first prize winner. The last player eliminated will be the second prize winner; the second last player eliminated will be the third prize winner, etc... If two players get eliminated in the same hand, the person who started the hand with the most chips gets the higher finish and awarded the corresponding prize pool for that placement.

Caylee Anthony Update

2008-12-12T07:27:00.000-05:00

According to Orange County sheriff's spokesman Angelo Nieves, investigators have obtained the search warrant that they were seeking for the house of George and Cindy Anthony. The house has been taped off with crime scene tape and investigators are examining it for evidence.

It is believed the search is related to the discovery of a small child's remains that were discovered not far from the house earlier today. While a positive identification is still pending, they are believed to be the remains of Casey Anthony's missing two-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony.

According to Tim Miller, founder and director of Texas EquuSearch, he was at the scene where the remains were found earlier today. During an interview with Nancy Graze, Miller said that there was an indentation in the ground, suggesting that they had been there for several months.

The child's remains have since been sent to the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Virginia, where experts are conducting expedited testing to identify the remains.

Investigators plan on conducting another search of the area where the remains were found again tomorrow. They plan on examining the soil and collecting any potential evidence that remains in the area.

Meanwhile, sources at the Orange County Jail are saying that Casey Anthony was "visibly shaken" when she received news of today's discovery. A mental health professional was sent to the jail to meet with her, at which time she was allegedly given a sedative to calm her nerves. Anthony is currently under psychological observation.

Really, Van Horn???

2008-12-10T18:28:00.001-05:00

Seriously Another Steve Francis jersey!?

2008-12-10T18:01:00.000-05:00

Damn hiccups

2008-12-04T02:18:00.000-05:00

The 10 Most Beautiful Places in America - Must visit #2

2008-12-03T11:36:00.000-05:00

2. Nighttime view from Mount Washington in Pittsburgh

In a nation with a wealth of stunning cities full of compelling stories, ranking Pittsburgh as the No. 2 beauty spot is perhaps our most surprising choice. But the Steel City's aesthetic appeal is undeniable, as is its very American capacity for renewal. Standing atop Mount Washington, the steep hill that rises giddily on the city's south side, sightseers enjoy the unforgettable panorama of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers flowing together to create the mighty Ohio, that waterway so essential in the nation's settlement. The rivers cup downtown's lustrous Golden Triangle, where landmark skyscrapers thrust upward like rockets. At night, lights twinkle on no fewer than 15 bridges. Almost as breathtaking as the vista itself is the urban renewal that made it possible. A century ago, a pall of smoke lay so thick over town that streetlights burned all day. As Pittsburgh continues an evolutionary course that has taken it from trading post to transportation hub to industrial goliath, we salute its reinvention into one of America's most scenic and livable communities. In the life of a city, there's nothing more beautiful, or inspiring, than a renaissance. For more, go to pittsburgh.net.