Party Poker Blog

"A woman's total instinct for gambling is satisfied by marriage"
Gloria Steinem

TGIF!

Allrighty then, I'm back & posting every day. Prepare for an uber-long, Guinness-fueled poker post. I may not be top ten, but I'm drunk verbose, damnit.

I absolutely love reading about the new (and not so new) players beating the hell out of Party Poker right now. Has there ever been a better time in history to be a poker player? Party is the main vein in this gold rush of poker popularity and it's great to see other bloggers enjoying it as much as I am. Scroll down or dig through the archives for specifics.

Honestly, poker isn't even gambling right now. There were less than 3,000 players on Party a year ago. Now there are 36,000 freaking players! I'm still pinching myself. Players are giving their money away.

I've known a few degenerate gamblers in my day. Hell, I remember living in Las Vegas (barely) and watching co-workers spend entire paychecks on video poker machines. It was stunning to observe, like a car wreck. I couldn't even conceive of the mindset, the insanity, the compulsion.

So I recalled this anecdote of a casino in Las Vegas receiving a bomb threat one evening. Over the loudspeaker, management advised everyone to leave the casino floor ASAP. So who were the stubborn gamblers?

The poker players were the first to leave, followed by the blackjack players, then the crapshooters, then the baccarat players; finally the roulette players left. But the damn slot machine and video poker addicts refused to leave.

I don't know if this a true story or not, but I sure as hell believe it.

I'm not sure how to tie this into poker except to say, where are all these fish on Party Poker coming from? I mean, I'm sitting here playing 3.6 as I type this out and am stunned - my table is seven handed to the flop nearly _every_ hand.

Oh the humanity.

I'll say it one last time: if you are playing on any site besides Party Poker, you are doing a disservice to your bankroll. BTW, for my new readers, I forgot to mention you get a $100 signup bonus by using the signup code IGGY and/or download the software with the link on the right. Or download it on your own. Seriously, Party Poker has 36,000 players tonight - how money does your site have? And thank God, Party doesn't show the "players seeing flop" percentage like every other damn site out there. Showing a stat like that, drawing attention to those things, is BAD for tight players. Is it any surprise that Party has the loosest games? Grab PokerTracker. Tag the fish. You won't be sorry.

I'm loathe to even mention this, because it's certainly NOT why I'm writing this rambling poker blog, day after day. This is just for fun, after all, and I absolutely love thinking and discussing poker strategy - this blog is only an extension of that, and I hope my ten, err, eleven readers enjoy reading my soliloquies. If someone actually signs up because of this blog, it's a tangible thing, which I appreciate and drives me to write more often.

Maybe I should repost Fuzz's post on how he won $1000 on PartyPoker playing 50.1 in a few months. If he can do it, anyone can. Just see about 18% of the flops.

K, enough crappy shilling, let's get to why you're here. POKER CONTENT! And I've got a ton of it, per usual.

Where to start...where to start?

Can't go wrong with a new article from Pokersavvy, this one relating to changing tables. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I'm digging the fact that they (and others) are using quotes to begin articles. He quotes Oscar Wilde in his intro, which is ironic, since I have a placard hanging above my monitor that says, "Life is too important to be taken seriously," one of my fave Wilde quotes.

But I digress. Solid article, per usual, by the fine folks at PokerSavvy although I'd prefer one that addresses online play, something I've blogged about many times.
Changing Tables
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Not all tables are equally profitable. And if you stick at a bad table you could be costing yourself a lot of money. In this article, Ephraim describes the tables you want to avoid and those you should to seek out.
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My regular readers know that table selection is extremely important to me. Per online play: there is NO excuse for playing on a tight table. Table hop. Take the time to find a +EV game. The tables are plentiful and the trash talk, constant. It's up to you to be disciplined and seek it out.

David Ross, the online professional poker player, updated during my hiatus:
Playing online for a living week 41

I highly recommend that you read Hdouble's take on David's play.

Speaking of online poker pro's, I am very happy to report that Jason has returned. He even talks about filing his IRS return, so for you winning poker players, go check it out. I'm just happy he's back, so I won't complain about the God-awful framed site.
A Poker Odyssey

Addendum, per Poker Odyssey - thanks a ton to Jason for the tip on Bob Ciaffone's 'Middle Limit' book. I already own 'Improve Your Poker' and 'Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker' by Stewart Reuben & Bob Ciaffone. Both are excellent books. I completed the trifecta via Amazon upon reading his endorsement.

Someday I'll post my entire poker library on here.

Reading > TV

What kind of post would this be without some Phil Helmuth content?
That's right, a crappy one.

From RGP:

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If you want some help getting into Phil Helmuth's head:

I also have a great Phil Helmuth story (too long to insert here) about bluffing him out of a pot on a CALL.

And then there was the prank I pulled on him at BARGE in 2001 where I hacked his presentation.
Hacking Phil Helmuth
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Wow, need more proof that poker is ubiquitous?
BBS Poker
We provide the adult webmaster community with the latest news and information regarding all webmaster poker events.

Oh the humanity.

Another nugget from the "I can't make this shit up department:"

Italian poker players are reading our poker blogs - check this out.
Poker Diary
or hit the root of his poker site at
Italian poker player

My favorite quote?

"Un'altra interessante strategia preflop, che corregge quella famosa di Sklansky."

Let's shift gears and post some mainstream poker news from around the web, shall we?

Johnny Fucking Chan - Interview clips with the winner of the 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker champion.

World Series of Poker: A Retrospective - contains an assortment of historically relevant materials taken directly from the Binion's Horseshoe Archives.

Speaking of poker history, a poker dinosaur gets off easy. Sad.
Poker's Amarillo Slim Pleads Guilty to Assault
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The celebrated poker player known as "Amarillo Slim" has pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor assault charges for inappropriate physical contact with a 12-year-old girl, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
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The chips are down
Poker's popularity is a sure bet.
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Carter bought a few books, like Phil Helmuth's "Play Poker Like a Pro," and started to practice at home with friends and at the casinos. He also checked out a few Web sites. "It took about six or seven months of really paying attention before I really knew the game," he says.
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Yikes, after running my poker tournament, this article caught my eye.
Poker game skirts law
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An apparently illegal poker tournament at the Blackhawk Country Club has shuffled up residents in this exclusive community and has prompted police to refresh the club and game participants on the laws of gambling.
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I keep bumping into the PokerBabe. She's endorsed by Steve Badger. Nuff said.
Poker Babes
Adventures of a Babe in a "Man's World"

Damnit, I have way too much poker content to post. I'm not even close to being done. So much for the Fatguys advice on small posts. I'm starting to get ripped to the tits tired, so I better wrap this up and save the remainder for my next post. Thanks a ton for reading and please come back for more poker goodness.

But wait! I have a few new poker blogs to pimp. Would you expect anything less? Let's just do one tonight and the rest at a later date.

Please welcome Poker for the Masses to the poker blogging scene. Anyone who takes my advice MUST be intelligent.

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This blog coincides with a $100 deposit to PartyPoker.com. Thank you Iggy for the 20% bonus. Since I can't email you, I'll thank you here for diverting me to Party Poker. So far I have seen a huge difference, and you know what I mean.
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Yet another convert. And you're very welcome, I'm happy to help.
Bonus code IGGY damnit - thank me later.

A local poker buddy, Dann, sent me a humorous email today as he played low-limit poker on Party Poker last nite.

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I played 100 hands of $1/$2 6-max limit last night. Final tally: +$122.07

What terrible, terrible, terrible players.

In fairness, though, I won nearly all 17 of my showdowns and had some unbelievable flops. It was amazing, though, what these people would call and raise with.
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It truly _is_ amazing. Short-handed poker brings out the worst in the fish. Truism.

And what if they are reading Phil Helmuth and not Sklansky? LOL.

David Sklansky estimates that of those players who try without studying to become solid winners (making good money in middle limit games, for example), no more than one percent succeed. Of those who do study diligently, he believes about ten percent succeed. If we accept Sklansky's numbers, which seem reasonable, books make a big relative difference. Still, they clearly don't guarantee success, by any stretch.

I found this snippet by pro Ray Zee on said topic:

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Many new players start getting into these games and some actually play quite well. You see, after studying the best books, you can become fairly accomplished with just a small amount of real experience. (At least a lot less experience than it use to take.) So those players that improve themselves move up and take advantage of their new skills and keep pace with the world. This group improves their win rate due to the new faces and wider choice of games. Those that stay stagnant and don't study, fall back in the pack and either go broke or just slow down their winning ways. The players trying to make a living in this group really need to work on keeping their game in top shape.
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Ray also lamented that literature and books may have made the games more difficult for him. Well, before the World Poker Tour, anyway. :)

On that note, many losing (and loose players) don't realize that money you don't lose is exactly the same as money you win. Yet another Poker truism.

It's etched in stone: the date and place of the second Poker Bloggers World Poker Tour. I'll announce tomorrow.

Per poker blogger hippies:

RSS dies a slow death. Sorry, Chris & Scott.
Google spurns RSS for rising blog format
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Google's Blogger service is bypassing Really Simple Syndication in favor of an alternative technology, a move that has sparked more discord in a bitter dispute over Web log syndication formats.
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Again, thanks a ton to anyone who actually read this entire post. I'm having a blast documenting poker's meteoric rise in popularity and I'm happy to help anyone who needs it. This blog is my way of giving back.

Tidbit: I found two new Party Poker skins. Bonus whoring, anyone? Tune in tomorrow.

Link of the Day:
Roll, Roll, Roll in the Hay
Jesse Ray's plan didn't work out, but you have to applaud the guy for trying: "I figured there's a lot of horny, hot chicks without dates themselves out there looking for something different this weekend!"