Blog Tournament 4

Thursday, March 19, 2009 - smokin_aces

Last month DENERODAY won the blog tournament, giving him a buy in at the Sunday 200K.  Pretty nice incentive to join the next Ultimate Bet Blog Tournament Freeroll happening on Ultimate Bet next Wednesday, March 25 2009.  The Blog Tournaments are a welcomed monthly event and each month we get more and more demand for seats from our players.  So much so in fact that last month we had to increase the amount of available seats!  That said, your odds are still pretty good all things considered.

First Prize is a seat at the Sunday 200K, with other cash prizes for top finalists.

All you need to do to enter is use this code. UBBLOGaep33nb43n

So get your shot at poker glory for FREE!

GL

Aces

Tags: Bloggers Tournament, freeroll tournaments, Poker Strategy

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Start Up Capital Anyone?

Saturday, December 20, 2008 - smokin_aces

I’m a gadget lover. Like most gadget lovers I sometimes get enamored with an inanimate piece of gear (or ‘kit’ as they say across the pond) before I can even figure out how I can benefit from it. A pair of sneakers that syncs with my ipod and plays music to the beat of my footsteps? I need it…..then i’ll start jogging, etc. Other times I can see even further potential in a gadget and have an idea on how to improve it. That’s the case today. Earlier this year Engadget did a piece on a ten player automated poker table.

It comes loaded with both Texas Hold Em and Blackjack and the computerized dealer takes care of everything. Great right! Well not really. I want more. Since I’m a complete online poker fanatic I want full integration to Ultimate Bet. Imagine that! Then you could have it all. I love the bimonthly poker night in the basement with a few friends, but the pace is always slow, our dealing techniques are weak, awkward and unorganized, people are always forgetting the details such as posting blinds etc. If you could hook this table into Ultimate Bet’s phenomenal poker platform via USB to your home computer, you could play live poker with your friends while being treated to the full Ultimate Bet experience. As well, playing with your Ultimate Bet bankroll would be much more convenient than having to shuffle chips around the table and then try to cash everyone out after the evenings festivities. This would bring the casino experience right into my basement, complete with professional, accurate and flawless dealing in a tournament setting. Sure this is probably a pipe dream for now, but along with Ultimate Bet on my iPhone, this table is on my gadget wish list.

Tags: Online Poker, Ultimate Gadgetry

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In The Mail

Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - smokin_aces

To write a blog post I enjoy getting into the right headspace and physical surroundings.  For example, I know from experience that I don’t have much to say in the early mornings. Throughout the afternoon I’m firing on all cylinders and my mind is moving too fast while dealing with the ‘important stuff’ to slow down and reflect.  Once in a while I pound out a very aggressive reaction piece in the aft, but nothing calm and introspective. After work it seems there is always some tedious task around the house that needs attending to, and after dinner I always prefer to just ‘be’. (and by that I mean get a few tables going while relaxing on the porch)  It’s in the hour before sleep that I find myself most inclined to look back on the day’s events and comb my mind for inspiration.  Since I sneak in at least two hours of online poker during the day (sometimes more once my wife falls asleep and I pull my laptop onto my stomach in bed)(don’t worry she doesn’t read this), I prefer writing about poker.  So tonight I cleared my mind and just encouraged the flow of creativity.  Instead I got blood curdling anxiety.

Why?  Because the holidays irk me to no end with the huge amount of planning, spending, planning, spending etc.  Tonight the grim realization has hit me that yet again, i’ve left my gift shopping till the last damned weekend before hell day.  I despise shopping for gifts for many reasons but the biggest is that I really don’t think people want half the crap they get and why should they?  Do I really claim to know the people around me well enough to choose the one or two items to give them each year.  We’re odds people and we know that is just not likely.  Sure you can ‘ask’ them what they want but then you’re not really surprising them with anything.  And then you have the budgeting!  That’s the toughest part.  I have actually put things back on the store shelf after realizing that although it’s $129.99, it could come across as $69.99 if you didn’t know any better. Why spend that much for some brother in law’s mother if she won’t even realize it’s worth?  Plus I believe wholeheartedly that with all the pressures facing us, the real value of the holidays is the time spent together.  The time we take to slow down, look at each other, appraise the wonder of our lives and celebrate the fact that we can even celebrate.  The gift giving is secondary and relatively unimportant.  So, in order to put my mind at ease, I had an epiphany.  I’m not going shopping at all. I’m not desperately trying to figure out who would like what and where I can get them.  Gone are the days when I draw my shopping course on a map of the city in order to minimize the agony of the holiday traffic rat race.  Instead I’m going to turn to the thing that makes poker work.  The poker machine also does many other wondrous tricks and one of them is online shopping. It’s gift cards for everyone this year. Simple, elegant, universal and practical.  You know what else?  It’s actually VERY thoughtful!  Instead of forcing something on someone they have to fake liking until they can regift it or bury it in a closet, you’re providing them with the joy of selecting something they actually want.

This didn’t have a whole lot to do with poker and damn it if that was not my original intention.  Oh well, as usual the writing process has been cathartic.  I no longer have that deep, nagging holiday anxiety.  Now I can join some tables for an hour and sleep in peace, knowing the gifts are in the mail.

Tags: Online Poker, Smokin Aces

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Math in Poker vs Intuition

Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - smokin_aces

In last weeks ‘Ask a Pro’, Scott Ian was featured answering a question.  The nature of the question was basically an inquiry into speeding up the poker learning curve. As most likely know, Scott is a relative newcomer to the world of poker, but has quickly made a name for himself in an arena other than rock.  I want to focus on one part of his answer.  It concerns learning the math that should be the basis for important game decisions.

“So to answer your question I would say that learning the math that backs up your decisions is key. It will really help you make the correct decisions and in the long run you will profit. As you play longer and you start to develop your own game, a lot of these decisions will be second nature, but at the beginning knowing the math behind the decision will make this game of so little information a bit more transparent and hopefully you’ll always get your money in good!”

This is a technique that has consumed a large part of my spare time thinking. So much of what we do and what happens in our immediate surroundings can be broken down into a series of odds. Since i’ve gotten deeper into the game of poker, i find the mindset permeating into my daily routine. I look for my ‘outs’ in a given situation.  I survey the potential outcomes that are in my favour and make a logic and gut based estimate on my best course of action.  Just this morning while driving to work (late) I came to the familiar crossroads where each day i ponder taking a different route. Each route with the potential of being faster, or not, depending on a variety of factors including traffic, light pattern, construction etc. My mind is now becoming trained at making split second, calculated decisions.  I’m not always right, in fact i’m mostly NOT right for what seems like forever, and then once in a while i’ll have a few days in a row where I seemingly catch a few breaks.

In addition to odds calculation, I often draw loose analogies to ‘pot size’ in my daily life.  In business, I tend to break down decisions by looking at the ‘pot size’ of a given situation.  This does not have to be a financial equation at all, in fact more often than not this doesn’t relate directly to money. How much time have certain parties invested, what do they stand to gain or lose versus what they put in, how committed is someone, how much can I trust the signs they’re showing me, how much do I stand to gain versus how much I have to put in?  etc.

It gets interesting when you must make a judgement based on little more than insufficient information, a general knowledge of odds, intuition and discipline. For example, if the value of investment in a situation is ‘x’ and the potential payoff is ‘5x’, but the odds it will payoff are 1 in 4, my discipline tells me to go for it every time. In the long run I ’should’ end up on top.  Run that scenario 4 times and I lose ‘3x’ but gain ‘5x’ for a profit of ‘2x’.   We all know it doesn’t work out quite like that though does it?  Just like Scott Ian said, we can only make the game a “bit more transparent”.  Scott, if you’re reading this, next time let us know how to train your intuition. This is the question everyone wants the answer to. Can it be learned? Can it be measured? To my knowledge no evidence exists of legitimate scientific testing resulting in proof of intuition in humans.  If it does, wouldn’t you love to see it?

Tags: Poker Poker Poker

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Ask a Pro – Week 3 – Scott Ian Answers

Thursday, December 11, 2008 - smokin_aces

The question selected for Scott Ian to answer was again submitted by paulodiablo.  Paulodiablo is now becoming a prominent contributor to this blog and we thank him for it!

Here’s the question.

“Scott… you’re a bit unusual in the pro sense, in that you’re kind of a newcomer to the poker scene, so you might have a fresher perspective than some of the long time pros on what it’s like to start out and try to develop some competitive chops quickly. If you had to recommend ONE learning resource only to a beginning player to get them up to speed, what would it be and why? And if you’re up for a second question: in addition to playing, what kind of things are you working on now to keep your poker learning going strong?”

And here’s Scott’s answer!

“Thanks for the question. Yes, I agree that my perspective is certainly different than that of the other pro’s on the site, yet at the same time, my poker education so far has been like a crash course in brain surgery. I’ve been exposed to so much knowledge in such a short amount of time from Annie and Phil and all the UB pro’s that I liken it to learning in dog years! Of course absorbing and applying that knowledge and learning what works for my game is an endless road that I intend to stay on as long as I can.

OK, enough babbling. If I had to recommend one learning resource to a beginning player it would be private lessons with Annie Duke. Yeah and you should also get swimming lessons from Michael Phelps and maybe AC/DC will play your birthday party.

So to answer your question I would say that learning the math that backs up your decisions is key. It will really help you make the correct decisions and in the long run you will profit. As you play longer and you start to develop your own game, a lot of these decisions will be second nature, but at the beginning knowing the math behind the decision will make this game of so little information a bit more transparent and hopefully you’ll always get your money in good!

I am constantly working on my game and besides playing as much as I can (and taking lessons with Annie) I joined a site called  Pro Play Live and I watch the videos of the pro’s playing online and explaining in real time what they are doing and why they are doing it. Knowledge is power.

Cheers,

Scott”

Be sure to check back tomorrow when we announce the pro that will answer the next question!

GL
Aces

Tags: Ask A Pro, Scott Ian

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