In London for a bit of R&R – but can’t get poker outta my head!

Monday, February 16, 2009 - Scott Ian

Hey hey my friends how are ya? It’s Friday the 13th and I’m on my way to London for a few days of  R & R. And by R & R I mean drinking and drinking and maybe a little poker as well. I’ve never played in a London casino before. Do I have to wear a tux like James Bond? Is it all posh and formal and they frown upon such uncivilized plays like the check-raise or squeeze play? I kid the Brits. My friend Liv Boeree plays anything but a civil game. She’ll take all your chips so fast that you’ll still be reaching for them after she’s taken your hand as well.

The poker’s been good of late. Had a deep run in the 200K two weeks ago and finished 14th. Last week I was sitting at around 12K over 3 hours in. Blinds were 3-600 I think. Anyway long story short, I get it all in pre with AK vs 67. 67. Flop comes 67A blank, blank and I’m out. I double there and I’m top 30 for sure if not final tabling. 67.  Had another genius call my raises every street with AK in a SnG with 58os. I was raising more than enough to get him out and he hung around and caught an 8 on the river. I love when people say the site is rigged for the pro’s.

Ok last one…. In a SnG yesterday blinds are 10-20, I have KK middle position. 2nd to act bets 3X, I raise to 200.he calls. Flop comes J 10 4 I think. He checks, I bet 3/4 pot. He calls. Turn is like a 7, rainbow board and I know my KK is good. He checks again, I bet 3/4 again, he calls. River is a 4, he checks, I bet 1/2 pot and he calls and shows 74. He calls me all the way down with 74 and makes his set on the river. I wasn’t mad because I knew this guy was going to give all these chips away and I wanted to be the guy that got them. The table erupted in the chat box tearing this guy up and he defended his play by saying “look at my stack.” Well I did look and I kept looking as it bled out until he was out. I got some of those chips back but didn’t have the pleasure of knocking him out. Somehow I took 3rd and cashed. Maybe I’m crazy but I don’t get mad at those bad beats. Now I know what kind of player I’m facing and with a little patience I will eat all his chips like a fat kid with Halloween candy, no offense. And I’m just a positive guy!

Next month, March 11 to be precise I’ve got something really cool happening on the site. It’s going to be HUGE and it’s gonna be open to every level of play. I can’t name names or give specifics as I’ve been sworn to secrecy (not an easy task with my big mouth) until we officially announce which I believe will be this week. Keep 8PM EST on March 11 open. You’re gonna want to be on UB.

Cheers,
Scott

Tags: Bad Beat, james bond, Liv Boeree

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From The Felt: At The Movies, Sort Of.

Monday, January 12, 2009 - John Greene

The other day, a friend of mine popped Rounders into my DVD player for me. I’d actually never seen the movie, instead choosing to watch things that have nothing to do with what I consider “work,” and I knew that there’d be a few things in there that would drive me up the wall. I was right, of course.

John Malkovich plays Tony KGB, a supposedly amazing poker player who had a fatal tell. Now, I get that Hollywood has to play things up a bit, but really, would anybody who dramatically split open and ate an Oreo every time he had a strong hand versus just playing with it when he was bluffing even make it past Round Two of the local VFW’s Wednesday Night Poker Tournament? It’s so obvious, it’s laughable. If you actually ever see someone doing something that melodramatic at the tables, I guarantee they’re just messing with you.

Look to the (excellent) Casino Royale and how Le Chiffre plays Bond’s knowledge of his tells against him. While not everyone will have a Felix Leiter handy to feed bad information to the person playing opposite them, a player can set up their opponents for failure by creating a smokescreen of false tells. The mercurial table behavior of our own Phil Hellmuth is a fantastic example of how to do this: you literally never know what he’s thinking and while his flamboyance plays against my own table philosophy, I can see why it works so well for him.

Tags: james bond, john malkovich, Phil Hellmuth, poker tells, rounders

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