Have a look at the first hand for example:

I’d already played a couple of hands against this fella on my left and I discovered he always bet at the flop when the pre-flop raiser didn’t make a continuation bet. So I kinda slowplay my AK high on the flop by check-calling. When I hit toppair topkicker on the turn I’m convinced I’ll prolly have the best hand till the end here and decide to let him do all the betting, which works out excellent with him bluffing all his stack on the river. Next hand:

Here I flop a flushdraw, but I’m against a completely different opponent now. Each time this guy placed some bets, he showed us a hand, so I won’t raise him here on this suspicious paired board. Same scenario on the turn but on the river I make top two.  I just put him on either a Q or an 8, but I realize there’s no value in raising here: in any case he has a Q, I loose more money; in any case he has an 8, this rock is most likely not calling in all of them. Third hand is against my two previous opponents:

In this one I make top two again, runner runner this time. But this time I know my opponent will prolly not bluff another time at this river, because of our recent history. So I make a nice value bet in case he has some kinda hand, which works out fine!

In the second quarter of the all time music list you can meet a nice trio of songs by the three great progressive rock groups Jethro Tull (92, Mother Goose), Pink Floyd (93, Brain Damage) and Yes (94, I’ve seen all good people). There are also the sitar sounds of Ananda Shankar on 82 and this part of the list is topped by the great Jefferson Airplane with the fantastic sixties song Three Fifths of a Mile in 10 seconds. Next time a new number 1!

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!

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.

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).

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!

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!

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…

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

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!

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!