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I might be wrong
Published 26 december 2011 14:34Is the title of Radiohead’s song on #140 of my top 200 best songs of all time list. But I was certainly not wrong when playing some poker online this week. I’ll show you some remarkable hands from cashgames as well as tournaments again and then the next 50 songs on the list.
The first hand was played in a multi-table tournament, the one with 180 players and a $4,40 buy-in which run all day on Pokerstars. I showed my opponent why minraising with Aces is seldomly a good plan:
To minraise is this players’ first mistake but he makes a second one postflop. He commits his complete stack with only one pair on a board that isn’t dry at all against a hand which only had to call a minraise. I say thank you very much. The next hand, played in a micro stakes cash game, is a hand which I just played good by myself:
A standard play by me with a raise in late position holding an Ace. The button calls but then I make an important play which makes me some more chips. I check my Ace so my opponent won’t believe that I’m holding toppair and he will commit more chips than he’d normally have done. It works out perfectly: he pays a good price thinking his King is good.
In the list of best songs of all time there are new songs from Songs:Ohia (Captain Badass), George Harrison (Apple Scruffs) and Tindersticks (Rented Rooms), three artists we’ll see again among the top ranked songs. This second part of the list is topped by Schism from Tool, which has another song in the top ten. See you next time for more poker and music!
Patience is the key to success
Published 6 oktober 2011 14:02So you’re at a birthday party and you hear somebody telling his stories about buying that new flatscreen TV with his online poker earnings. The other day you’re at work and a colleague tells you that he’s taking his wife on a trip to Paris with the money he won at the online poker tables the past 3 months. Personally, I’m hearing more and more of such stories. I always have some double feelings at those moments. I know out of experience that these stories don’t have to be fairy tales, it’s certainly possible to become a winning player. But it isn’t that easy as some people like to picture it. That’s why I want to make a small nuancing here.
Basically, the concept is indeed quiete simple: you pick an online casino, where you can register and start playing immediately, alltogether not costing you more than about three minutes of your time. Thousands of players gather over there to play their favorite cardgame: poker. And indeed, my personal experience tells me that about 70% of all the players isn’t really skilled in the game, but is playing just for the thrill of the game. The other 30% has learned the game by experience, has maybe read some books and above all knows how to play this marvellous game. Those people can afford themselves some sweet presents with their profits now and then. Also true: everybody can become one of those.
So maybe you ended up on this site because you want to learn how to play this game. Well, I can’t blame you, reading all the poker literature out there, including amateurs’ blogs, will certainly improve your game. Just like watching the other pros play their game on TV. But in the end, the most important way to become a decent poker player is to play the game, against real opponents. There’s no better way to learn something than by observing what you’re doing right and especially, what you’re doing wrong.
However, always keep one thing in mind: be patient. Nobody becomes a skilled player and wins a gazillion dollar in one month. It takes months, sometimes even years, to become really good in this game and as a consequence a long term structural winner. Another aspect that correlates with patience is not playing beyond your bankroll. Make a small deposit and start at marginal micro stakes and move up to another level when you’re totally ruling those tables. Experience tells me that only the ones with true patience will survive, and they will profit from their patience for the rest of their lifes. Maybe we’ll see you on TV in a few years on a famous poker show, maybe not, it’s up to you.
Quads and the Jack of Hearts
Published 19 augustus 2011 17:47I’m playing all sorts of poker at the moment at Pokerstars. The enormous traffic in that room still is a great advantage compared to smaller poker rooms. I’m playing some micro stakes cashgames and small (multi-table) sit ‘n gos. And meanwhile I’m updating my top 200 list of best songs of all time.
In my cashgame as well as in a tournament I catched quads the past few days. Let’s watch the first one, the one from the cashgame:
I’m playing the .10/.25 game, with a maximum buy-in of 50 big blinds. This is actually the second hand I play at the table, after getting a walk on my first big blind. I call the button raise with T9 suited and flop the absolute nuts. My shortstacked opponent decides to make a continuation bet and I just call: I know all his money goes in when I slowplay this hand the right way. I fill up to quads on the river and win my first pot at this table. Then I played this single table sit ‘n go (9 players) and we were down to four of us:
Of course I’m lucky here: I’m down to ten big blinds and I’m obliged to push with T4 here. Bummer my opponent has a premium hand, but hey, I can beat that with quads 
.
Like I said, I made another update (the second one) to my top 200 songs. Which song will be the best song of all time? Previous number ones were Neil Young’s ‘Like A Hurricane’ and ‘God Only Knows’ from the Beach Boys. Today I show you #200-151, which you can of course find here . New songs from among others the Beatles (One after 909 from the album Let it Be) and the Velvet Underground (Venus in Furs), a warning for what’s about to come later. There’s Dylans song about poker at #181 and Nirvana tops the first part of the list with Dumb (1993).
Punishing the floaters
Published 9 juni 2011 17:32Another series of tournaments on Stars, another couple of interesting hands to show. They are from the same tournament this time, a sit ‘n go with 90 players in which I succeeded to cash in 11th place. Pity though I missed the final table.
The first hand of intrest is a hand where my opponent, who was playing very loose passive and was calling a lot of hands down to the river, decided to float again on the flop:
I see him calling again in early position and with this kinda hand (JQ suited) I decide to put in a little raise, knowing I can at least against this guy build a big pot if I hit the right flop. Flop is huge, as I flop a flushdraw with two overcards. He calls my continuation bet, he could hold everything. I don’t worry about that fact anymore after I turn the flush and I check behind. Of course there’s the risk of him holding a higher diamond and getting there with a four card flush on the board, or the risk of pairing the board, but I take this risk to let him catch up with something that doesn’t beat my hand and getting paid maximally. That’s exactly what happens and I get the maximum value out of it.
One blind level later, I win another important pot:
A standard raise and call in front of me and I decide I don’t want to play this hand out of position on the flop. I maybe expected one caller with a hand like AQ but both players call. I have to dodge a lot of cards after the flop, but luckily my hand holds up. Again I get the maximum value out of it: AQ would never have called another bet on the flop. I’m planning to play some more tournaments on Stars the next few days (the traffic is so awesome!), see you next time!
Slowplay of the century
Published 20 april 2011 16:55Poor ‘hikog’ on Pokerstars the other day. This guy was unlucky to face the slowplay of the century by yours truly when playing a tournament. Imagine this: on the river there’s a pot of 75 chips in the middle and after the action I end up winning a 2 505 chips pot. I’ll show you how this happened and another tounament phenomenon: getting a ‘shortie’ off a hand.
So first things first. I’m playing all kind of tournaments the past few days and for some reason I tend to be lucky with T9, so why not play it another time in early position and with the blinds still being low?
Oh yeah, I flop top two AGAIN with my new favorite hand. Problem is: my opponent doesn’t show much interest in this hand at the first sight. I check behind two times till he hits the straight and THEN: chips explosion! If I would have betted the flop and/or turn he would prolly have folded with the paired board but he obviously gave me no credit for a full house.
The second hand then: a typical thing in tournament poker is bullying the shortstacks. That’s exactly what my opponent tries to do in the next hand:
This is of course a reasonable play: he just wants to rob my blind and knows he’s not dead with J3 if I call. I know he’s doing this, so I call with my Ace and luckily for me the Ace comes on the river. So remember: being a short stack is certainly not always a disadvantage in tournament poker, it gives you a lot of opportunities to double up when other players try to bully you. Till next time!
Shut the f*** up Will Davis, gogo Daniel!
Published 20 februari 2011 17:58Hi poker players of the world. It’s been a long time since I showed you a poker fragment so I guess this is the perfect timing for it. Certainly since I found a new favorite poker show on TV to watch: PokerStars the BIG Game!
Positive aspect of the episodes I saw till now is that one my favorite players, Daniel Negreanu, is playing in every episode. The concept is simple: five poker pro’s playing against an amateur, the so called ‘loose cannon’, who can qualify for the show by playing poker online. He’s stacked with 100.000 $ and gets to keep whatever he wins above that amount. In this episode, the loose cannon is Will Davis, an ‘aspiring poker pro’. But I’m already looking forward to the next episodes because this guy is VERY annoying. First of all he looks like an improved version of Bill Gates and he lacks all social capabilities to raise the level of the show. He’s not an aggressive person or something, he just tries too much to become popular with guys like Brunson and Negreanu by saying all this bollocks and poker clichés. Not everybody who can download poker should be allowed to play it on tv.
But what I want to talk about here is a hand of Negreanu against David Williams. It’s a very special hand because Daniel is again facing a lot of bad beats in this show (why is this guy ALWAYS so unlucky on TV???). For example, he flopped a flush earlier against the nut flush of Williams. But then, things finally seem to succeed for him:
The perfect card for Daniel on the turn! This of course sucks for Williams (who played some awesome poker earlier on in the episode) but it feels like kinda justice after everything Daniel had to face. Would have been nicer if he would have crushed the Kings of Will Davis…
Poker songs for the mind and body (2)
Published 19 januari 2011 11:23Here we go for part two of the poker songs for the mind and body! From five to one:
5. Bob Seger & Silver Bullet Band – Fire Lake
Perhaps my favorite Seger song. But on the poker table, this song is only for the REAL gamblers. With nerves of steel. Because this song is all about taking risks, big risks. Risks that can lead to your death, as perfectly stated in the following lyric: ‘Who wants to play those eights and aces – Who wants a raise – Who needs a stake – Who wants to take that long shot gamble.’
4. Eagles – Desperado
Well, of course this song had to be somewhere in this list ^^. ‘Don’t you draw the queen of diamonds, boy – She’ll beat you if she’s able – You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet.’ You’ll better not draw the queen of diamonds. I’ll beat you.
3. Steve Miller Band -The Joker
You all know this song. Some people call me the spacecowboy, right? Great song for poker with wild cards.
2. Pink Floyd – Money
Probably one of the most famous bass loops in the history of rock music: ‘Money, get back. I’m alright, Jack, keep your hands off my stack’. I always love this song when I’m the chipleader. From Dark Side of the Moon of course.
1. Motörhead – Ace of Spades
Not very surprising. No further explanation needed. I mean:
Pushing up the ante
I know you’ve got to see me
Read ‘em and weep
The dead man’s hand again
I see it in your eyes
Take one look and die
The only thing you see
You know it’s gonna be
The ace of spades
Posted in Poker Music | 
ace of spades, desperado, eights and aces, fire lake, motörhead, poker songs, queen of diamonds | Leave a commentPoker songs for the mind and body
Published 23 november 2010 17:56I discussed my favorite music a lot of times already on this blog. Now I’ve chosen ten songs that particularly (well, sometimes^^) have something to do with poker. So get ready organising your homegame and add this songs to your playlist. Ten to five today!
10. 16 Horsepower – Sinnerman
This song isn’t dealing with poker in particular, but it just takes me back to the early days of poker. It creates this whole atmosphere of Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Chip Reese and Wild Bill Hickok sitting around a small table. Cards in their hand, whiskey to the left, gun to the right. Original song from Nina Simone of course.
9. Electric Light Orchestra – Poker
Also Jeff Lynne and his band made a song about poker and the similarities with love. Hear all about high cards calling the tune, losing everything you have, aces up the sleeves and gamblers ruling the night.
8. Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
What does this song have to do with poker? Not that much, but I so LOVE this song! And there are all the hidden messages in it that can relate to the game of poker. ‘Chasing rabbits’, for example, can refer to chasing your draw AND to the rabbit cam. The fact that your mind is moving low when you had some kind of mushroom makes clear that you can’t play your A-game when doing drugs. And when logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead, the Red Queen’s “off with her head”: you will get killed by your opponent hitting that queen on the river.
7. ZZ Top – Viva Las Vegas
This of course HAS to be your favorite song when you’re a professional Vegas rounder. ‘There’s a whole lot of money that’s ready to burn – So get those stakes up higher!’ And what about this one: ‘Oh, there’s blackjack and poker and a roulette wheel. A fortune won and lost on every deal. All you need’s a strong heart and a nerve of steel.’ Original song from Elvis Presley of course.
6. Bon Iver – RE: Stacks
If you see the title, it looks pretty obvious where this song’s about. But the song doesn’t really sound as a poker song at all. But as the singer stated himself : “This song is for anyone who’s been at a poker table and sort of seen their soul. Good or bad”.
See you next time!
Posted in Poker Music | amarillo slim, doyle brunson, poker songs, red queen, sinnerman, stacks, viva las vegas, wild bill hickok | Leave a commentSMiLE when you get A4
Published 6 oktober 2010 11:56Last time I showed you the concept of pot control when I played A4 in late position during a tournament in the online casino of Pokerstars (casino.org for more information on internet casinos). I played another such tournament the other day and as a matter of coïncedence I won another nice pot… with A4. However, this time it was suited and I had to play it in early position. So instead of pot control, it’s all about ‘raising on a draw’ today. In the end, I’ll show you what are the best albums of all time in my humble opinion.
Now what happened at the online tables? It was again during those early blind levels and like I said, I get A4 suited under the gun (UTG). A standard move is to limp there, but if you feel you’re on fire, you can as well raise there. I limp and flop a very cheap nut flushdraw. Let’s watch the rest:
The BB leads out with a minimum bet. I raise of course, not only because this bet was a sign of weakness, but also because I hope this guy will slow down on the turn if I don’t catch my diamond. So as a matter of fact, I try again to get the pot control in this hand. Everybody calls, so I know it’s gonna be sweetness when I catch my card. The BB leads out again with a slightly bigger bet and on that moment I hope this guy was also on a diamond draw so I just call so this guy would bet on the river again. As a matter of fact, he made two pair on the turn, but I think I made more chips this way instead of raising him immediately on the turn. You can read more tips on this matter at www.casino.org .
I completed my list of 50 greatest albums of all time meanwhile, and you can check out the list here . As you can see, George Harrison is in there four times, three times with the Fab Four and with the solo album. Animal Collective and Tool are responsible for the albums from the past 10 years and at the top you can find the legendary epic Tull album, right behind ‘DSOTM’ and Brian Wilson’s masterpiece ‘SMiLE’. Discover and enjoy!
Back to Hold’em: pot control
Published 17 september 2010 14:08I hope you enjoyed all the Pot Limit Omaha tips I gave you the past few months. But recently I returned to the mother of all pokergames: No Limit Hold’em. I started to play some tournaments on Pokerstars, just for fun. Great thing is I have the opportunity to listen to all the great music out there meanwhile and that’s why I was also able to update my top 50 of greatest albums of all time.
So I’m completely in tournament mode again and I always love the first blind levels in these tournaments. You can play a lot of hands, trying to get a lot of chips in the beginning of the tournament. Certainly when you’re in late position, your range of hands that can be played is enormous and what’s important in these cases is the fact you’ll have ‘pot control’ after the flop is dealt. I picked out an example for you from the tournament I played yesterday:
So with only one middle postion limper in front of me and me sitting in late position, I like to raise in that spot with an Ace. I get called by the BB and the limper and the flop is perfect for me, as it’s paired. However, the BB calls my continuation bet and another small card comes on the turn. Now, most of the times when you’re called in those spots (with a paired board) it’s likely that your opponent holds a (small or medium) pocket pair and is not very likely to fold. But I have complete control on this pot which makes that he checks the turn towards me, which gives me a free card. I make a wheel with that river and notice the fact you can still extract a nice amount of chips against such hands with a good value bet.
The 50 greatest albums of all time then. I published number 50-25 today and as always you can find them right here . There’s some beautiful psychedelic sixties music of course with Big Brother and the Holding Company and 13th Floor Elevators, two progressive Yes albums from the seventies, the beautiful sitar of Ananda Shankar and on top the amazing White Light/White Heat from the Velvet Underground. Enjoy!