Sunday, November 1, 2009 - P0ker H0
Getting back to the grind after Aruba sure isn’t EZ . The parties were non-stop and the best! The Dan Band was so much fun! The poker was non-stop, and Matt Savage and his staff /dealers ran the best tourneys I have ever played in. All the UB staff need a really BIG thank you for all they did…Melissa, Jo, Gustavo, and Ernesto just to name a few. You and all the other hard working UB employees that came from Costa Rica and all over the world make Aruba the #1 destination in poker.
The best way I know to get rid of the Aruba hang-over is VEGAS BABY !! I leave for Vegas next Thursday to teach at the WSOP Academy, http://www.wsopacademy.com, Nov. 6-8 with Phil ,Greg Raymer, Shawn Rice and a lot of other great pros. Attending one of these camps will surely help take your game to the next level . If you would like to attend our cash academy, coming up Dec. 5-6th, for FREE and get $1000.00 for travel, listen to my radio show every Sunday night at 9pm EST, “The Ultimate Poker Show,” on http://www.roundersradio.com. I will be giving out the passwords for the Sunday night $5.00 and free roll tourneys that can get you eligible for Vegas.
UB is also running steps for a 12k package for Foxwoods and a 17.5k for the Bellagio. I love playing these steps while I’m playing MTTs. The main reason is that when you play steps remember “tight is right”. I find if I am playing these with other MTTs it helps me play a little tighter, and anybody that has played with me knows that I need that. J A couple of nights ago I bought into 3 step 7s for 97.15 each. I lost one and built the other two up to a step 9 and 10. Last night I played the step 10 and chopped the Foxwoods seat with a very good player, “maximilian71”. I was ahead in chips so I got 8,500 he got 7k . My 291.45 investment in the step 7s paid off nicely, plus I still have my 750.00 step 9.
Hope to cya all in the steps soon or better yet loose your hang-over and join me in Vegas Baby…
H0
Tags: Aruba, Bellagio, Costa Rica, greg raymer, Matt Savage, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, rounders radio, ShawnRice, The Dan Band, The Ultimate Poker Show, ub, Vegas, WSOP Academy
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Monday, October 5, 2009 - Annie Duke
A couple of weekends ago I taught a cash game WSOP Academy at the Bicycle Club in LA. During the academies, students get a combination of seminars and hand labs. The seminars are lectures that include some video hand examples. The hand labs give the students a chance to actually play poker in front of the instructors so that the hands they play can get deconstructed. At the end of each hand, the students turn their cards over and the instructors then talk about the good things they did and the mistakes they made. During one of the hand labs at the Bike, I got to experience one of those wonderful moments as a teacher when a student has that Aha! moment.
I was explaining a mistake a student had made. The person in cutoff had raised to 150 (blinds were 25/50). The player in the small blind had then made it 600 and the player in the big blind then made it 1275. The cut off then folded. The small blind now went into the tank for quite a while. While she was in the tank, I was thinking, “I really hope she doesn’t fold since the player in the big blind only min-raised.” At which point, she folded. The small blind now showed AJ and the big blind showed AK. Good fold right? Nope!
Obviously, I first explained what was wrong with the AK only making it 1275. The problem is that really any two cards that reraised in the first place should be calling that bet because of pricing issues so the raise doesn’t really accomplish much. It doesn’t serve to further define the hand of the original raiser and shouldn’t trigger a fold. Now, of course, in this case it did trigger a fold and that was bizarre which is what the discussion was about. I explained that the player holding AJ had to call 675 to win 2025 giving her 3 to 1. And that is why the fold was so bad.
At 3 to 1, if the player in the big blind had turned KK face up, the call would still be mathematically correct since AJ is better than 3 to 1 against KK. Against a hand like TT, the fold is a complete disaster because AJ is even money against that hand getting 3 to 1 from the pot. Even against AK, AJ is about a 3 to 1 dog so the call would be break even against that hand. The problem is that against the kinds of hands that the big blind could be playing, it is true that AJ rates to be the worst hand but it is also true that it doesn’t matter because there was enough money in the pot for the amount of the call to make it mathematically worthwhile to put the 675 in the pot.
I could see that the table was having a lot of trouble with the concept. I was having difficulty getting them to understand that it is okay to call even when you are 100% sure you have the worst hand if there is enough money in the pot to justify it. If you are going to win a hand 1 out of every three times but the pot is paying you as if you will only win 1 out of 4 times then you will make money on the call. Simple as that. But the students definitely were not getting it.
Then I had a thought. I realized I could show them that they all call on a regular basis when they know they don’t have the best hand. I pulled out the QJh and said, “What if that were your hand?” Then I pulled a board of Ah8h2s. I asked them how many of them would call a bet in this spot. They all said they would. Then I asked how many of them thought they had the best hand right now. Then the light bulbs started going on. They started getting it. Obviously, no one thought they had the best hand with the QJh on that board but they all would call because they figure they would make a flush enough of the time to make the call profitable. Their opponent could show them AK there and they would still all call. Somehow the flush draw makes it an obvious call even though you definitely don’t have the best hand right then.
But flush draws aren’t the only drawing hands. In fact, all hands are drawing at something. In the case of AJ vs AK, you are drawing at a J (or KQT). AJ vs KK is drawing for an A. Now if you are drawing for a flush there are more cards in the deck that help but it is no different in the sense that either way you are drawing. It is just about how many cards you are drawing for. The more cards you are drawing for, the more liberally you can call. The fewer cards you are drawing for the better your pot odds need to be.
Seeing the students’ faces light up as they got it was really cool. In fact, it is why I teach.
Tags: Bicycle Club, Poker Poker Poker, WSOP Academy
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Monday, September 28, 2009 - P0ker H0
Six days and counting. Every day we get closer, I get more and more excited. A few nights ago UltimateBet gave away a free Aruba package to one of my Rounders Radio listeners. Congrats to ” _MARTY_”, you’re coming to Aruba. On top of that, you’re coming to Aruba for FREE BABY. Marty won his seat through a free-roll promotion. He listened to the Ultimate Poker Show 9pm Sunday nights on http://roundersradio.com/ And now is on his way to Aruba to hang out with Phil, Annie and the rest of us for what I guarantee will be the best week of his life. Not only will Marty get his 3k for travel and a $5500 main event seat to the Aruba Poker Classic, but also a weeks worth of parties, beaches, great food, non-stop poker/drinking…and the best part of all, the people he will meet. Friends for life…now that’s priceless 
Congrats again Marty cya there.
Last weekend I was in Vegas teaching at the http://www.wsopacademy.com/ with Mark Seif, Paul Wasicka and Joe Navarro. I love to teach along side of these instructors. I get to learn so much at each Academy and it’s so good for my game. Don’t tell these guys but I would do it for free. We are going to be running a new free-roll promotion on Rounders where one of our listeners will win a free trip to attend one of these camps. Do yourself and your game a favor and win this trip. It is the best way to take your game to the next level
A few days later we had our annual poker bash at my bar here in Madison. It was a blast. Susie Q and Scott brought up their crew from Chicago and Evil Crusher came up from Atlanta, along with 50 more from the area .I want to thank all who came and my bar manager Wendy for making it a great weekend. And congrats to “Momma H0″ for winning the tourney, good job mom!
Tags: Annie Duke, Aruba, Aruba Poker Classic, Joe Navarro, Mark Seif, P0ker H0, Paul Wasicka, Phil Hellmuth, rounders radio, ultimate poker show, ultimatebet, Vegas, WSOP Academy
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Sunday, September 20, 2009 - Annie Duke
I am so excited for this weekend. I do about 7 or so WSOP Academies per year (some with UB’s own P0ker H0, Shawn Rice and Matt Graham and even Mr. Hellmuth will sometimes make an appearance). But whenever I can do one in my hometown it is pretty special. Special mainly because it means I don’t have to fly to Vegas and stay in a hotel and be away from my house. When you travel as much as I do believe me that is a special treat. Any extra time I get to sleep in my own bed is pretty special to me.
This weekend I will be at The Bicycle Club teaching my first ever cash game academy. The WSOP Academy has done a few cash game academies but never one where I am the instructor so I am really excited to branch out from the normal tournament play instruction I do. Joining me at this camp will be Ali Nejad and Shawn Rice so it should be really fun since both of those guys are really great. I spent this afternoon watching video clips from High Stakes Poker to analyze during the academy. Those are a really great learning tool since showing concepts in action is about the best way to really reinforce points.
It is also really valuable to show students that the top pros sometimes screw up :) I know I screw up all the time and I think players often make too many decisions based on fear of making a mistake. That kind of decision making process always leads to more mistakes rather than fewer since your decisions are driven by fear of screwing up rather than finding the actually correct line of play in a hand. Fear of failure rarely creates good decisions or successful outcomes so seeing that even the top players in the world make mistakes I think is a really good lesson to learn. I think it frees people up to realize that screwing up is okay as long as you see the screw up as an opportunity to learn. I know when I screw up I use it as a way to improve my game and I rarely get upset about it. This kind of attitude where you see opportunity in your mistakes also really helps stop tilt.
The video analysis is a new piece of the camp for me and I am really looking forward to analyzing the hands for the students. I am also going to be doing a full on pot odds section which I will no doubt really enjoy since unlocking the magic of math is always fun for me. Considering the tweet I got the other day, others may not feel the same though:
DivePoker@RealAnnieDuke looking forward to the impossible math this weekend…apparently the WSOP accademy is 100x harder when you’re around lol!
I, of course, consider that tweet a compliment
Tags: high stakes poker, Matt Graham, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, ShawnRice, ub, Vegas, WSOP Academy
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Sunday, September 6, 2009 - Annie Duke
Last week I was in Chicago to teach a WSOP Academy in Hammond, Indiana right across the border. I generally make it a rule that I don’t teach camps outside of California or Vegas because I don’t like traveling away from my kids but I made an exception for this because I really like Chicago and thought it might be a nice weekend getaway for me and Joe. Now, I don’t think many people know that I am a huge cooking show fanatic. My two favorite cooking shows are Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Top Chef. I am pretty sure that Joe is completely jealous of Guy Fieri’s job which is just doing around to dives around the country and trying the food. We both watch that show together and, in fact, are planning a trip to Memphis in the next couple of weeks which is built just on BBQ places we have seen on Triple D (as Guy Fieri calls his show).
As for Top Chef, I just finished watching Top Chef Masters which was a version of Top Chef where the best chefs in the country were competing for charity. Like a celebrity chef version of the show. So two of the finalists have restaurants in Chicago, Art Smith who has Table 52 and Rick Bayless who has Frontera Grill. Bayless won the whole competition and his food look incredible. He does authentic Mexican and man I really wanted to try it. But, alas, as hard as we tried and as many strings as we pulled we could not get a reservation. I was so sad. We did manage a reservation at Table 52 and what was hilarious is that two of the other couples sitting next to us in the restaurant were there because they has seen Top Chef Masters, too! I thought that was pretty funny.
People in Chicago are much friendlier than in LA and the people sitting near us were striking up conversations with us which was a really nice change. I particularly enjoyed the older couple who were fascinated that Joe ordered every side dish on the menu. That’s right. Every single one! Corn pudding, fries, candied yams, mac and cheese and greens. He figured we were probably never coming back so he wanted to try everything. In case you are wondering, his order from best to worst was greens, corn pudding, mac and cheese, yams and fries. The sides were awesome but Joe’s favorite was the ridiculous desserts, particularly the root beer float which was actually a sandwich made from homemade sugar cookies with homemade root beer ice cream in between them.
I wish we had time to go to some of the Diners in the Chicago area that are on Guy Fieri’s show. That will have to wait till next trip. BTW, the camp went great. But I gained like 5 pounds!D
Tags: Annie Duke, Chicago, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Food, Guy Fieri, Top Chef, WSOP Academy
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Sunday, June 7, 2009 - P0ker H0
It’s finally arrived. The 2009 WSOP, and what a great start I’ve had to it. I haven’t even played an event yet either ! Last Friday, I flew out to Vegas with my good friend Wiscomurray. We got in late Friday, and checked into our room. It wasn’t going to be that big of a night, because the rest of the week was busy. I was gonna be teaching at the WSOP Academy, while Wisco was going to play the 1k WSOP Stimulus event. All Saturday, I was busy teaching the Academy, and It never gets old. Each time I get to teach along side someone who has an extremely intelligent poker mind. This time it was Mark Seif. We taught a cash game academy, and being that I focus mainly on tournaments, it was a great thing for not only the campers, but me too. I added some of the innuendos of online poker that aren’t apparent in the live game.
After we were done with the camp on Saturday, I headed back to my room, and when I got there, Wisco was playing online. I was really hungry so I went to go grab a bite to eat, and when I came back 2 hours later, and 10 cocktails deeper, Wisco was out. I was feeling really good at this time, so I looked at him and asked him if he wanted to be a part of history. With a confused look he said, “Sure”. “Give me $400″ was my reply, and to make a long story short, we went down stairs and turned our $800 into $12,000 playing blackjack. Did I forget to mention it was my birthday? Well, if you can, imagine the 2 of us in Vegas, on my birthday, both 4.0 BAC, betting 800 a hand, 11 hands in a row, and winning every one! I want to personally thank Hollywood Dave for turning me into the blackjack phenom that I am today! Crab Cakes and Blackjack. It’s what we do.
For the rest of the trip, all I did was teach at the academy, and relax. It was kind of nice. I did play a few Single Table Satellites for Lamers. Lamers are chips you can use to register for any WSOP event you wish. I highly recommend playing these, as most of the time, deals are made, and its easy to grind a profit. I will be back out there this Wednesday on the 10th, and I will be staying for the rest of the series. Best of Luck to everyone, and hope to see you all at the ‘09 WSOP! Don’t forget the grrrreat UltimateBet WSOP party at the MGM Studio 54, June 29th. Be there or be square!
P0ker H0
Tags: Hollywood Dave, Mark Seif, MGM, Poker H0, Poker Poker Poker, Satellites, ub, Vegas, WSOP, WSOP Academy
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Thursday, May 28, 2009 - P0ker H0
I can’t even try to tell you all the great things poker has brought me. Friendship has to be #1; from Aruba to Vegas, Canada to Costa Rica I have been able to meet some of the nicest people from all over the world. 6 years ago I went to my first Aruba trip and to this day i consider the people i met there some of my closest friends in the world. People like the GREAT Legggggggggggy, knucklehead, Brsavage, Fatcats, Cunningham, Krazykanuck and Westtexasman. These are players that when I first started out i looked up to and watched play for hours on end.Then when I got to Aruba and got to meet them, it was one of the best experiences of my life. But after that, it really started to snowball with every Aruba after. Every time I go to Aruba the list keeps getting longer and longer. I can’t even come close to telling you what these friendships have meant to me. In poker the money will come and go ” for me it go’s faster than it comes” but the real prize pool for me, are the friends. Last week I had 40 players fly/drive into Madison to play in a couple of small tournaments at my bar. To have players come from Oregon, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Illinois to play in a 10 dollar re buy meant a lot to me. I want to thank the Rounder’s guys Ace, Lake and Nikki, Susie Q and her Crew, my good buddies Debo, his buds Curt and Steve, Wisco, Low__chicago, Big Sh00ter. I can’t wait till September when we do it all over again. Maybe I can get Debo and Victor to pay their 2k bar tab then . I also want to say hi to all my friends that work behind the scenes at UB; the hard working people in Costa Rica without them there would be no UB. Thank you guys hope to cay all soon. And to the hardest working lady in poker Joanne she is the glue that holds it all together. Thank you Jo Jo!!!
With the WSOP starting up this week. Things are starting to get a little nuts. I start with the WSOP Academy this weekend where I will be teaching at Caesars, Saturday and Sunday with Mark Seif. Then on June 5-6 I’ll be teaching at the Lady’s Camp with Annie Duke and FBI profiler Joe Navaro. And then on June 29 – July 1st the WSOP Pimer with Annie, Greg Raymer, Phil Gordon and the GREAT Phil Hellmuth. If you’re gonna be in Vegas I highly recommend attending one of these. They really are life changing weekends for anybody who wants to take their game to the next level. Then in between camps there in a little thing called the WSOP. I can’t wait!!! To be around these great players all month and then be able to play poker at the WSOP on top of it. This is gonna be a really good month for P0ker H0.
Tags: Annie Duke, Aruba, Ceasar's, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, poker players, Poker Poker Poker, Vegas, WSOP, WSOP Academy
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Monday, May 4, 2009 - P0ker H0
I just took a week off from poker, after a few weeks of running bad. But know I am back at it, I really like to take breaks from poker a couple times a year especially around spring . Getting outside golfing, fishing, softball or relaxing with friends I wish I would do it more often. But it is so hard to get on my computer and not log on to UB, I just love to play. But when your running bad taking a break is a must.
On May 15-16 SusieQ and her E-crew come up from Chicago, Atlanta , Arizona ,Michigan poker players from all over the country will be coming to to hang out at my bar “Players Sports Bar”in Madison Wi. We are running tourneys Friday night and Saturday this is a must attend if your in the Madison area. Please contact me if you would like to come, space is limited but ALL UB players are welcome .There will be a ton of poker, food and beer and a couple of surprise guest are scheduled to show.
I have been having a blast doing a local radio show with the great Wiscomurray the last 3 weeks.It is call” ManUp with Mark and Mike” it is on every Saturday afternoon at 2pm cnt.It sick show about everything guys like poker, girls ,food and really about the lifestyle of being a professional poker player .If you would like to listen to the show go to our web page click on listen now or pod cast one of our past shows.We have had a lot of cool guest, but none as good as last week when we had Annie on, talking about that bitch Joan Rivers and Celebrity Apprentice. And if that’s not enough P0ker H0 for you, Annie and I also do a radio show called the Ultimate Poker Show Sunday nights 9 p.m. est. on Rounders Radio This show is a great way for players to learn and talk poker.Not only do we give away a ton of poker info but we give away alot of money and cool prizes like trips to Vegas to attend WSOP Academys in our free rolls and 5 dollar tourney. Feel free to call into ether show and talk some smack with Annie ,Wisco or me ..good luck at the tables H0
Tags: Annie Duke, Celebrity Apprentice, ManUP with Mark and Mike, ultimate poker show, WSOP Academy
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Sunday, March 15, 2009 - P0ker H0
I’m really excited for a lot of reasons. One being the WSOP academy that I am teaching this weekend in Vegas. Two being the start of the greatest 2 weeks in sport ever. MARCH MADNESS!!!! I just love how I will “coincidentally” be in vegas for the start of the NCAA tournament. If you’ve ever wondered where the best place to watch the games are, it’s hands down Las Vegas. There is so much tension in the air in every sportsbook. Every basket that goes through the net is either crushing someone’s dreams, or building someone’s dream up. I get goosebumps thinking about it.
The camp is this weekend at Caesars Palace and the tournament I believe begins the 17th. At the camp, there will be a lot of accomplished pros ranging from Annie Duke to Andy Bloch. Joe Navarro who is the FBI’s top guy when it comes to reading body tells in interrogations, will give seminars on body language and what it means in both men and women. Its fascinating stuff.
Look for me at Ceasars if you’re in Vegas, as I will be there for the camp, and conveniently their sportsbook:)
GL Everyone
P0ker H0
Tags: Joe Navarro, March Madness, NCAA, sportsbook, WSOP Academy
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Sunday, February 15, 2009 - P0ker H0
This last week, on the Ultimate Poker Show on Rounders Radio, we had one of the most interesting guests, retired FBI Agent Joe Navarro. He has been involved in some of the most secret and confidential interrogations, dealing with both terrorists and criminals. He is the world’s top expert when it comes to non-verbal communication. Basically he is able to do what every poker player strives to – read people like a book. Man I would hate to be this guys kids
He went in to detail about the subconscious things both men and women do when they are stressed, nervous, excited or any other emotion you can think of. I’ve had the ability to teach alongside him at the WSOP academies offered every year. Every time his is my favorite part of the program. It’s amazing how obvious some of these tells are when he explains them. When people feel pressured or cornered, often times their hands will twitch back toward their body. This is a natural retreat instinct in humans when they are in a situation they don’t want to be in. It was like a whole new game, when I would listen to him and then practice on the felt.
If anyone is interested in learning more about non-verbal tells, be sure to attend one of the WSOP Academies this year. Not only is he a very intelligent person, he’s also very personable and I would recommend meeting him. If the academy is too much, look for one of his many books on the subject. “Read em and Reap” is a book he just did with Phil Hellmuth. One of my favorites is “What EveryBODY is Saying”. Both of these books go into detail, and also have some really cool interrogation stories from Joe from his FBI days. Anyone looking to improve their game should read these. I would highly recommend them.
p0ker h0
Tags: Joe Navarro, non-verbal communication, The Ultimate Poker Show, WSOP Academy
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