My mom used to tell me, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.” This is such a profound and righteous philosophy. And I’ve stuck to it. For example, when I eat popcorn, I think it’s worth doing, so I do it well. With the fingertips of one hand, I can pick up a surprisingly
I played poker for ten years before I discovered folding in 1984. That’s when I met Bobby. He had a big belly, a big beard, and a big laugh. Bobby was like Santa Claus, minus the giving. He just kept throwing his hand away, and he didn’t seem to mind. Then he would carry the
What is tightness? And where did it come from? To find the answers, we have to travel back in time, to the birth of poker. I wasn’t actually there, but I can imagine how it happened… Fred and Barney were playing cards for the very first time. “Let’s make up a game,” Fred said. “I’ll
Dear reader: Alfonzo and Charlie are characters in my book, Painless Poker. This story is not from the book. It comes after. Alfonzo Calibri threw an aggressive question at Charlie. “What, precisely, is a bad beat?” Charlie replied in his usual non-combative tone. “A bad beat is when you lose with a hand that
(Dear reader: These are the last two pages of Elements of Poker.) During bad times, we get unhappy. Let’s say we wanted to be less unhappy during bad times. We could train ourselves to do it, if we were to use our bad times as opportunities to practice getting better at getting over bad times.
Before anything flows, there must be a difference. Between different elevations, water flows. Between different pressures, air flows. Between different poker players, money flows. What is Reciprocality? What is Reciprocality? In the world of reciprocality, it’s not what you do that matters most, and it’s not what they do. It’s both. Reciprocality is any
This article dissects four hands I played in the cash-game area at the 2017 WSOP in Vegas. The lens of analysis is focused not on my betting, but rather, on my timing. My strategy is pretty simple. I play fast. And I use my speed to create meta-game advantages. Perhaps you could do the same.
Dear reader, This is an excerpt from Elements of Poker. (Now available in audiobook) Tilt has many causes and kinds, but it has only one effect. It makes us play bad. It makes us do things we wouldn’t do if we were at our very best. And that’s how I want to define it,
Mechanics Rule #1: Do not move the button. Rule #2: Post your blinds when you should. Rule #3: When you have a live hand, place your phone face-down on the table or rail. Rule #4: Your cards should be visible to everyone always. Rule #5: Do not impede the dealer with your chip stack.
