Party Poker Blog

Evelyn Ng Online Poker Diary

Nicole Sullivan
Nicole Sullivan poker online poker
Nicole Sullivan Bravo Celebrity Poker
Nicole Sullivan" "poker" "poker"
"Nicole Sullivan" poker

"There are few things that are so unpardonably neglected in our country as poker. The upper class knows very little about it. Now and then you find ambassadors who have sort of a general knowledge of the game, but the ignorance of the people is fearful. Why, I have known clergymen, good men, kind-hearted, liberal, sincere, and all that, who did not know the meaning of a "flush". It is enough to make one ashamed of the species."
Mark Twain

My humble apologies for my prior Party Poker rant/shilling. I feel so unclean. Again, blame it on the Guinness. This is my first blog, after all, and I'm simply making this up as I go along. I just *despise* those damn "online poker review" web sites. Mebbe I should post my own damn reviews. God knows I've played on enough online poker sites. Please use BONUS CODE IGGY for your bonus!

I'm stoked to play - haven't been on since Thursday. To that end, I cashed out +$230 after a week of Empire. Not bad for a low limit grinder. Took advantage of the 15% holiday Party Poker bonus and am raring to go. I love Saturday nights!

Thanks to Mister Decker for tipping me off to the WPT satellite tourneys on PokerStars - interesting that they have gone to a rebuy format. Is that unlimited rebuys for the first hour, or what? Can anyone give me the skinny, cause I still have money sitting there. I'm praying that Stars will allow FPP (frequent players points, for the newbies) to be used for WSOP sats again. I wish they'd make an announcement one way or the other.

Woohoo, fresh content at PokerSavvy, Part Two at that. Go check it out.
PokerSavvy.com To Peel or Not to Peel, Part II
Derek examines the psychological syndromes that can override sound judgement in limit poker. Read and find out if you're suffering from Polyograph Syndrome or Libertarian Syndrome.

My Phil Ivey detective work paid off; here's a nugget of background info:
Phil Ivey used to sell policeman's ball tickets over the phone.

Good Lord, I was shaking my head after reading this column by Daniel Negreanu entitled The Biggest Pot I've Ever Lost about a pot limit Omaha eight-or-better hand with Doyle Brunson.

So much worthy poker blog content. Let's do the roll call, shall we?

HDouble continues to crank out some great poker posts, including his latest about overcoming adversity and hidden value in PokerTracker. A snippet:
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Click it, and you get to the hand replayer function. You can replay the entire tournament, or just a single hand. The cool thing is, if someone wants you to analyze their play, they can just send you the hand history file, and you can replay it in the Pokertracker playback feature.
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Ditto for BoyGenius posting about poker - fun reading. Thanks for the tip on da fishie, BG, I appreciate it. I had 25 hands with the guy and he was an $8 winner with only AA & JJ as his known starting hands.

The Fat Guy popped his cherry on SNG's and came in second with his first attempt. Great blog, I hope he continues to post about poker.

I'm especially psyched that the Tao of Poker is making the plunge into online play. There's nothing to fear except the schooling fishies! On that note, go read Abdul and the post, Start Enjoying Loose Games.

-
Optimal hold'em strategy is a defensive one.
-

Fuzz would agree with that.

Poker Perspectives is still chugging along. Tell this guy to update, damnit!

Saving my favorite blog post of the day for last, Mean Gene. Pop culture commentary, Phil Gordon bashing and SNG's. Everything you want in a poker blog post.

BTW, while digging through Party tables five minutes ago, I saw a player named TeamRuss from Spokane, Washington. Hrm, weird.

Bad news on the poker bloggers SNG - no dice. Appears as if we'll be forced to play a ring game. Any ideas on limits? I imagine we'll just play low-limits to make it fun? That would seem to be prudent, imho. Mebbe shoot for the first week in January? With apologies to the PokerPenguin, I'm not giving TGC any of my money after they froze player accounts. Please see prior posts for details.

Ready for more keywords?

Nicole Sullivan
Nicole Sullivan poker online poker
Nicole Sullivan Bravo Celebrity Poker
Nicole Sullivan" "poker" "poker"
"Nicole Sullivan" poker

Gene said she's hot, so I thought I'd beat Paul to the punch. :)

Say a prayer for PokerGrub, out in Vegas. Hope his hotel is close to a Wendy's. His poker-playing sister, Grubette, blogged yet another funny post. PokerGrub rules.

Alrighty, back to Party. Wish me luck!

Link of the Day:
Digging for Gold?
"I just want you to be like my dog," writes RichGuy4UGolddigger, a divorced 48-year-old businessman looking for love on the JDate Jewish dating site. His dream date? "An excellent investment with minimal risk."

Party Poker Blog

If you're no longer a novice, but not a professional player, game selection may be the key to winning money. Without using any selection, you'll probably lose dramatically. By using selection moderately, you'll probably lose a little or break even. But by using game selection prudently and consistently, you probably will be a winner from now on.
Mike Caro

/PartyPoker rant

Can you guess what poker site offers the greatest table selection? Of course, you can. Lord, I've been reading tonight about players playing on True Poker, on PokerStars and am shocked. Hell, there's one "respectable" shill site out there currently ranking poker sites and they ranked Paradise Poker #1. WTF - are you kidding me? I feel sorry for any poker newbies that hit those sites and actually believe them.

That being said, if Mike Caro were objective, I'm quite certain he would recommend Party Poker, if only for the sheer number of players. 24,000, as of this moment. 24,000. Does Paradise or Planet Poker even have 1/5 of that number?

Oh the humanity.

Thanks to anyone who wisely took my advice and signed up for Party with the bonus code 'Iggy'. I'm not doing this to get referrals - it's easy enough to sign up with any of the hundreds of bonus codes being spammed on RGP, but seriously, please don't play on a site where game selection is made for you, rather than vice-versa. Do the math.

Sorry for the shilling above but it seemed to match up with the Caro quote and what I saw on the web tonite. I mean, read this:

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#1
Paradise Poker

Billed accurately as the "World's Premier Online Cardroom", Paradise offers the standard variety of games, including tournaments 24 hours a day. The action is always found at this site, 24 hours a day. Pleasing interface. Most importantly, if you are concerned about security and credibility; Paradise is the only poker site to have been reviewed by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (the world's largest professional services firm). Highly recommended.
--

Holy shit - it has a pleasing interface? 24 hours a day? Damn, sign me up. It was reviewed by PWC? Wow, I'm shure glad they finally stopped packs of players from playing on shared bankrolls and colluding in games!

Cripes, shouldn't game selection be part of the criteria in reviewing an online poker site? Why not talk about that, eh? That's all I've *ever* cared about, frankly. That, and the sites' ability to allow tracking of hands through software like Poker Tracker or StatKing (I used the latter in the old days). For example, I always liked the passive players at True Poker but hated the fact that I couldn't track hand histories. Especially when you are playing against the same guys, night after night, and you can only play one table at a time. It's paramount to compile a book on players in that situation and arguably less so at Party Poker, with 24,000 freaking players to choose from.

/end rant

Blame the Guinness. Plus I'm up $82. :)

Shifting gears, I wanted to thank anyone reading this humble blog right now, and also, thanks for the kickass emails. Poker players are brighter than your average bear so I'm lucky in that regards.

On that note, I'm looking forward to our inaugural tournament, if it can be done. I've emailed Party asking about a private SNG, which I've never seen on PartyPoker. We may need a backup plan.
-
Right now we do not offer private tables for No Limits games. We will sure forward this to our Management who will take your inputs and decide the best course for action.
-

K, time for poker linkage:

Tiltboys. I completely forgot about this site - I love it. Phil Gordon and great trip reports, what more could you possibly want?
Highly recommended.
--
"For a few good belly laughs, read these true tales by a bunch of poker-loving Stanford graduates, the 'tiltboys.' Amidst their PG-13-rated stories of ribaldry in Las Vegas, there is a surprising amount of intelligent discussion of poker. One of the tiltboys even won a World Series of Poker event last year."
New York Times
--

Enjoyed this column in the Fort Worth Star Telegram about poker on TV, especially when they bashed Vince Van Patten. This is also the first time I've heard about Mark Burnett's new show on Fox.
'WORLD Poker Tour' hits the jackpot
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What's missing here? Oh yes, Fox. It'll step to the table this summer with Mark Burnett's latest reality show, The Casino, which probably won't follow poker exclusively, but we'll give it points for the theme.
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How can it keep growing? Will Party ever hit 30,000? I giggle just thinking about it.
World Poker Tour Events Continue Dramatic Growth
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The Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio in Las Vegas, NV, which is currently in progress (PokerWorks is dealing there), is the latest event on the WORLD POKER TOUR to demonstrate the domino effect of the television show's huge popularity. Tour records have been set in each of the stops and the Five Diamond World Poker Classic is no exception with a huge increase in players, prize money and first place payout over the previous year's tournament.

Lou Krieger offers a fine column on attitude and willpower in poker.
Preparing to Win
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How can I keep applying the winning strategies I've learned? What can I do to continue to prepare to win? How can I increase my winnings by recognizing and eliminating the "leaks" in my game?
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Take five minutes and read this 20-something Iraqi dentist blogger's post on the events of this past weekend.

On the other side of the linking spectrum:
Link of the Day:
The Rugs of War
WarRug.Com offers the finest select of Afghan rugs woven in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. One review: "There are no people falling out of this one, and the drawing is not as graphic as most 9/11 war rugs."

Phil Helmuth Poker Diary

Life can only be understood backward but it must be lived forward.
Kierkegaard

Won big early last night in 3.6 on the strength of limp-reraising twice with KK and hitting a set once and having them stand up in the other. God knows it's easy to win when the deck hits you in the face, especially on a loose, aggressive Party Poker table.

Let's crank through some poker links, shall we?

RUSSIAN poker gang 'easy meat'
Joe "The Judge" Meissner thinks five Russian poker players who want to play in Australia's richest tournament are suckers.

Virgin Islands Daily News, U.S. Virgin Islands
Divi Carina Bay Casino is hoping to cash in on the country's newest spectator sport by bringing two poker tournaments to St. Croix next year.

A TV blogger for About.com had to comment about Poker on Bravo.
CELEBRITY Poker Showdown Schedule
This show isn't half bad and I'm not even a poker-on-TV fan. Imagine if
you enjoyed both watching poker and watching celebrities?

TV poker is jackpot for Canterbury Park
"It has just been phenomenal," Sampson said of the card club, where business is up 30 percent over last year. "A year ago, you'd ask someone about [the card game] Texas hold 'em, and there was no awareness. TV really changed that. They see it and want to try it."

Good to see poker back in the limelight. The fifteen minutes continues.

My man Pauly is terrorizing Vegas right now. I truly wish I was there, except I'd probably get arrested. How long is the statute of limitations anyway? Read about his latest adventures, including meeting Phil Helmuth, at the Tao of Poker.

My two local readers and NFL fans will get a kick out of this snippet from Pauly:

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The entire crowd at the Manadaly Bay was rooting for Cincy. Every time Rudi Johnson scored the crowd chanted "Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!!!"
--

Regarding the now infamous poker blogger SNG, I think we have ten. Grubby and Pauly both want in so methinks we have a full table. Woohoo! Shall we shoot for an early-mid January tourney after the holidays? If there is a certain evening someone *can't* play, please leave a message in the comments - let's start whittling down a date.

The smart money is obviously on Mr. Decker although the PokerPenguin is specializing in SNG's right now.

OK, I'm heading to 50.1. Got my email from Party Poker offering another $100 bonus. I LOVE PARTY POKER!

On the other hand, I hate Pass the Pigs. Thanks a lot, Fat Guy. I forgot how much I hate "oinkers."

Link of the Day:
Your Friend Until the End
Irvin Baxter Jr. is the Matt Drudge of end-time prophecy, ferreting out news stories that indicate the end is near. But not too near -- a four-year subscription to his magazine sells for $60.

Evelyn Ng Poker Diary

Raising to Thin the Field:

There is a popular misconception that a primary purpose of raising before the flop is to drive other players out of the pot - to limit the field. It's an idea that keeps getting repeated over and over again in poker books - a mantra to soothe the soul. It's an idea that's just wrong.

So far I haven't found a single texas hold em book that doesn't suggest someplace in the book that you should raise with a hand like AA if your raise will cause others to fold. The idea they all express is that if you can reduce the number of opponents, you'll increase your chances of winning the pot.

Well, the idea is right. Fewer opponents do mean you have a greater chance of winning the pot. That's true whether your hand is AA or 72o. Poker isn't about winning pots, though - it's about winning money. With a very strong hand such as AA, you'll win the most money when you have as many callers as you can get.
-

The above is from Gary Carson. Yup, he's a jerk on RGP, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know poker. The tactics he writes about for the very loose, aggressive games in Louisiana aren't the same ones used at the tight Las Vegas tables. I'm still a Sklansky disciple, I'm just saying that Carson gave me a deeper understanding of hold em. I bought his book when it first came out and thought it was worthless (I was playing $50 pot-limit on PokerStars back then). To be truthful, I never got very far in the book, which isn't the norm for me.

Then came the World Poker Tour and the Moneymaker win and the insanity of Party Poker. And people started referencing Gary's book on message boards so I dusted it off and gave it another spin. The second half of the book set off lightbulbs which spurred on even more studying, especially Abdul and the theorem below.

His thoughts on Morton's theorem and the value of draws was beneficial for a rock like me. It opened up my game - still, you may not get the same benefits. But it taught me to think about how best to beat the white-hot schooling fish at Party. It ain't Sklansky and it ain't SuperSystem, but it's still solid brain food.

I feel silly being a Carson apologist, so go ahead and read the Amazon reviews of the book. Or search RGP.
Review snippet:
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Secondly, he gives more new perspectives in the chapter on the theory of flop play. Again, not just directives but insight into defining your hand. His ideas on adjusting your thinking about poker hands from their poker ranking to their money-winning potential gave me a new way to evaluate my holdings.
--

I lost a half hour of my life reading the RGP archives on "gary carson jerk." Suffice to say, very entertaining threads, especially back when Sklansky, Abdul and Caro were all posting regularly.

Anyway, no more Carson.

2+2 regular, Lori, predicted that Paradise Poker would be the most popular poker room again by next March if their multi-table tourneys get straightened out. WTF? Did I miss something?

Whoops, forgot to link to my favorite Canadian poker player: Playing online for a living Week 33. David Ross is still kicking ass.

Damnit, another half an hour gone. The Fat Guy got me hooked on Pass the Pigs again. Got creamed by the computer - I'm going to blame it on "action pigs."

For all two of my local readers, I discovered a trip report to Caesers in Indiana, the closest place to play legal poker in this area. $6 rake!

The idea of a poker blogger sit and go is making headway. Thus far, I think we have BoyGenius, HDouble, Mr Decker and Halverson, Liquid Swords, TheFatGuy and London Froggy. That's eight, including me. We need two more, so if yer interested, please leave a comment. We'll do something cheap, like ten bucks or something? If we play NL, I'm going allin the first hand.

I enjoyed the PokerPenguin's post on tourney play. I've been so deeply entrenched on grinding that I haven't given much thought to multi-table tournament play. That will need to change once they begin offering satellites to the WSOP.

Here's some keywords for the search engines in honor of Daniel Negreanu:
evelyn ng pics
evelyn ng poker
"evelyn ng" poker
evelyn ng world poker tour
Clonie Gowen

Finally, I'll leave you with a link to one of my favorite poker content sites, Poker Savvy.
Two Views of Celebrity Poker Showdown
Does Bravo's series showcase decent poker? If not, is it at least entertaining? To answer these questions, Pokersavvy offers two reviews, one from a non-player looking to be entertained by the spectacle, and another from an avid player hoping to see some competent play.

Phil Ivey Poker Journal

"Is it a reasonable thing, I ask you, for a grown man to run about and hit a ball? Poker's the only game fit for a grown man. Then, your hand is against every man's, and every man's is against yours. Teamwork? Who ever made a fortune by teamwork? There's only one way to make a fortune, and that's to down the fellow who's up against you."
Somerset Maugham

Great news - Gary Carson is writing a new poker book. I imagine that he wants to cash in on the current poker explosion and I don't blame him. If you play at Party or Empire and haven't read his book, you really need to check it out. He is the antithesis of David Sklansky - he writes primarily for the loose, crazy games, not the tight ones, and his book brought me plenty of profit. Hell, at $15, the book will pay for itself in one session.

Here's an odd factoid. Of the 57 fishies I've tagged on Party Poker and added to my buddy list, only TWO were online last evening. What on earth is going on? I suppose it's not too much of a stretch to think they mostly all went broke. With 12,000 players in my database, I generally only tag the worst of the worst players.

So that tells me I need to get under the hood of Pokertracker and do some hard-core analysis. Time to refresh that buddy list.

Good question on 2+2:
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Quick question. If I were to play 3 tables of 2-4 limit on Party Poker, would I need 300 big bets for all 3 tables, or 900 big bets for 3 tables. Thanks!
-

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You need the same bankroll as for one table, assuming you play exactly the same when you're playing three tables at a time as you do when you're playing only one. It's just like playing 3 times as fast at a single table.

p.s. - In reality you will need a larger bankroll because your win rate per table won't be as high, but that's not the question you're asking here.
-

Not much poker news today but make sure to read Tao of Poker's Las Vegas trip reports.

I'll be posting more later - for now, enjoy the new comment widget.

Link of the Day:
William Bennett Playing Cards
Dan Savage wants us all to help Bill Bennett keep his pledge to stop gambling: The next time he sneaks into a casino to drop a million or two on video poker, call his wife at (202) 452-8200. "What a fucking pussy!" he writes.

Poker Journal

"Money effects emotions, and emotions control most players. Poker involves the winning and losing of money. Common emotions of anger, excitement, greed, masochism, sadism and self-pity will often take control of players during the action. Most players fail to recognize or are unable to suppress these emotional influences that decrease their objectivity and poker ability. The good player recognizes his own emotions and prevents them from influencing his actions . . . He avoids acting on whims and feelings."
Frank R. Wallace
Poker - A Guaranteed Income for Life by Using the Advanced Concepts of Poker.

A banner day, Saddam captured and the Bengals won. Maybe I'll get lucky with the wife tonight and hit the trifecta.

Ready for a Guinness-fueled, rambling poker post? Good.

I lost nearly $60 last evening but it coulda been much worse. I was down $125 at one point but the game was outrageously crazy, loose and I was playing fine so I hung in there and got half back. It makes me sad to lose on Saturday nights.

Speaking of Party - Empire Poker craziness, the $200 no limit tournament is down to 150 players right now. First prize = $59,520. This week I'm (seriously) going to play some satellites for that sucker. It's only $9 for the multi's - what the hell. That's some serious overlay.

OK, let's share some links and posts, shall we? First off, let me explain what a SNG or "sit and go" is to any of my uninitiated readers. It's a one table, ten-handed shoot-out where everyone pays a fee (from $5 - $200 on Party Poker) and plays until only one remains. These are called freeze-outs. Party pays out 50%, 30% and 20% of the prize money to 1st, 2nd & 3rd, respectively. These are ten-handed tables so in a $30 SNG (+$3 entry fee to the house), first gets $150, second $90 and third $60. If you can win, place or show 40% of the time, it's profitable. Until the WPT, it's how I spent my time on Party Poker.

Here's a real post from veteran poker blogger, Alan Bostick. I can only admire the quality of his posts from a far-off distance. Go read Roshambo and Luck right now. Trust me, it mentions Phil Helmuth.

Hrm, I lost the link (sorry!) but I read a poker blog post referencing Russ Gorgiev and his opinion that seven card stud is the best poker game to improve your overall poker. I must respectfully disagree and only say that Russ's arch nemesis, Mike Caro, has always stated that texas hold em and draw poker are the best games for teaching high powered poker concepts. In my own experiences, I must concur with Mr. Caro. Your mileage may vary.

But allow me to quote David Sklansky from SuperSystem. This is about Stud 8, one of my very favorite games that I tackled with earnest after reading these passages.

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"Throughout my experiences, I've discovered that most poker players are continually looking for an excuse to get in the pot. And High-Low split offers the average player more opportunities to get in the pot and play than any other form of poker. They want to play . . . and they'll do almost anything to justify playing. They'll play hands that have almost no chance of winning - because they don't know any better. High-Low Split is that kind of game - it's full of traps. I'd rather play against weak players at Stud 8 than Hold em, even though Hold em is my best game. This is because your chances of losing playing High-Low Split against bad players . . . well, you're just hardly ever going to lose."
--

Who am I to question David? I went out and learned that damn game ASAP. In a twist of irony, Russ's post on Stud Hi-Lo on RGP was one of the very few I found worth a shit.

David Sklansky > Russ Gorgeiv

RE: my asking for a Phil Ivey bio in a prior post. BoyGenius hit the nail on the head with this comment:

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You wrote: "I've never been able to find a complete bio on Phil Ivey. Anyone know of one?"

This statement totally backs up the point I was trying to make in regards to manufactured personalities in televised poker events. A player like Phil Ivey has the potential to be one of the posterboys for the new poker movement (trust me, they want frat boy/young male professional money if they had their preference), but the fact that you only really know the Phil who's being dealt cards is purposeful on his part, I'm sure.

Would you treat a player dressed in sloppy clothes with three days of stubble differently if you knew he had a PhD in Mathematics from MIT? Would you figure Annie Duke, if she were an anonymous player in a medium limit game, for a dangerous player? Does it make a difference that you know she's Lederer's sis? Abso-friggin-lutely.

I respect Ivey for his table image as much as his play, and I'm betting we never get a good chance to know a whole lot about his background. And I bet that's how he prefers it.
--

Amen, BG. You confirmed what I've always thought.

In a RGP thread about Chris Moneymaker getting lucky in the WSOP I enjoyed this response:

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All you poker regulars should be grateful that Moneymaker won (Varkoni
too) as they have brought a flood of amateurs to the game who are loosing
money left and right... If you haven't got a piece of this "dead money"
cash over the last six months, it is time for you to give real thoughts
about giving up on poker... MONEYMAKER is a POKER GOD for what he has done to bring all the fresh cash to solid poker playing regulars...
-

Yes. Yes, he is. I should tithe him.

So here's a doozy of a thread, from the fine shitty software at 2+2.

Prima Poker, owner of the Gaming Club and twenty other card rooms, froze several player accounts, ultimately confiscating $25,000 from one poker player. The post is long, outlining why they did so. Ultimately, this raises many ugly issues that I'm not prepared to get into here. But for a site to take twenty-five large from a player and refuse to give one shred of evidence seems dubious to me.
Gaming Club responds to dako et al (LONG)

To view the entire thread, just head to the Internet forum and you'll see it, trust me. Chip dumping with stolen or illegal credit cards, legal foreign jurisdiction, netteller, consumer confidence & integrity, fraud. So much murky water to navigate through. Yet another reason I don't play high limits, online.

Snippets:
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This group has been caught multiple times attempting (and sometimes succeeding) to chip dump to their friends / co-conspirators, using funds that were brought into the system through fraudulent means (for example, using stolen credit cards and the like).
-

from dako:
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Talked to my attorney...can't sue them, no jurisdiction, and even if there was they're covered (as all sites) by their TOS.

Any time you deposit money to a site, it's at your own risk. You have no recourse.
-

Party Poker > Prima Poker

God, after reading a thread like that, I'd never play there. Ever.

Let's shift gears and post a Gary Carson response to a newbie's question on RGP about what to read after reading the basics (Sklansky, Kreiger and such):

--
Read Gary Carson's book, and Abdul Jalib's web site (www.posev.com).
-

Yes, those are good suggestions. Also maybe something by Caiffone for a different perspective in the other direction. Also, the Frank Wallace book available online has a fresh prespective. If you can find a copy of Sherer's NoFold'em Hold'em, that's also a different view.

Gary Carson
--

Solid advice, all around. I like the way Gary always focuses on 'thinking' about poker, rather than telling you 'specific ways' you should play. If you haven't read Frank Wallace's book, you should give it a whirl. It's over 30 years old but still worthy. I bought it for a dollar at a used book store. Best of all, as Gary Carson said, you can read it all online at Neo-Tech: Poker.

Continuing in this 'newbie' vein, I'll close out with this atypical post on 2+2 about losing in low-limit and how it can't be beat because . . .
Full thread entitled:

Honestly, can ANYBODY beat these $0.50 games? .... (on the Internet forums)

--
Somebody tell me honestly, is it really possible to beat these stupid micro-limit games on Party Poker, or am I just kidding myself?

I started studying hold'em a few months ago because I can beat blackjack but can't get to the casino on a regular basis and wanted to develop some other card game skills. I did well my first week on Party Poker but have hemmoraged funds ever since, mostly via bad beats by nitwits who call to the river with junk.

Tonight is a prime example. I have played 180 hands and have raised preflop with AA, AKs, AJs, and KK once each, QQ twice, and with AKo three times. ALL of these hands save one AKo have gotten cracked, and all but one of the losses have come at the hands of some dolt who entered the pot with a trash hand but caught a miracle card on the turn or river.

This has been the story for several weeks now. I am seriously thinking of quitting, as I have begun to believe that until I can afford to play at a higher limit with players who actually FOLD their pocket threes on occasion, my time would be better spent honing my blackjack game.

This message is mostly me venting...but somebody tell me: is it REALLY possible to beat these micro-limit games or should I just wait until I can afford to play at a higher level?
--

Perfect response amongst the many flames to this post:

--
"I have played 180 hands and have ..."

Groan.

Yes, the micro-limits can be beat, if YOU are ready to beat the micros is a completely different question.

"I started studying hold'em a few months ago because I can beat blackjack but can't get to the casino on a regular basis and wanted to develop some other card game skills. I did well my first week on Party Poker but have hemmoraged funds ever since, mostly via bad beats by nitwits who call to the river with junk."

I know you are new to poker, so don't take this harshly, but blaming your loses on nitwits that play junk to the river is like wearing a T-shirt with the words "Poker Idiot" on it.

MS Sunshine

p.s. I meant that in the nicest way possible.
--

Go read the thread for more perspective.

Good God, this has been a three Guinness post. Nothing like a combination of being thirsty AND long-winded.

I bought a damn domain name. Finally.

Also spent some time today reading Iraqi blogs. Interesting perspectives. Is it too much to hope for to find Bin Laden next?

Link of the Day:
Paintball Equals Tragedy Plus Time
Columbine Paintball offers a chance for individuals and groups to re-enact the school massacre with paint in place of precious life-giving fluids. "Come and shoot your friends and family members in remembrance."