troutsmart

I'm not sure you played it badly. Top pair w/ second nut flush draw is pretty strong on the flop. The mistake was probably the stab at the river; it looks like a "bluff out of nowhere," even though you had top two pair. I think you got trapped by your cards. and I think he had you beat.As for the flop and turn, I'm fine with my plays. However, the very reason I choose to not to reraise on the flop, was to keep the pot at a level I could call down a bet on the river, and then I made the boneheaded bet on the river. I absolutely detest this bet, though I see many players make it. There is vir

I don't think it really matters what he had, He knew what you DIDN'T have, and thats all that mattered. I tihnk he sensed weakness in you and might have stole the pot. Granted, he could have had a killer hand, but I think he sensed you didn't have much. Of course, it would be tough to put you on that K on the river. But I assume he played your cards, not his I like that analysis. If he was a good player, he very well was playing me.

I'm playing a small .10 pot limit game on Absolute. My friend is EDPUNK, and I'm there mainly to pass some time with him, as he has to wait up all night due to a sick and pregnant wife. I usually play .50/$1 limit, but spent quite a bit of time back in December on these small pot limit tables. This hand comes up. I'm not particularly impressed with my play on the hand, and am open to criticism, but would particularly like to know what hand everybody puts him on. I had no prior knowledge of this player, so I have no idea what kind of player he was, which makes up a lot of my decisions usu

I loved the Hoyt, Gus, and Daniel final. Doesn't get much more exciting than those 3. I'd like to watch that table again with Daniel having more chips.I also enjoyed the Daniel, Lindgren, and Hinchcliffe (I can't spell) final. Enjoyed watching these guys play limit vs. no limit.However, I have to say my favorite final table would be the 5 Diamond durning the second season. Gus, Juanda, Freddy Deeb, John Hennigan, Chris Bigler, and Scotty Nguyen. That is a heck of a final table. This was the event that really made me feel Gus was a seriously talented player.

1. hmmm... Smasharoo...you're my hero2. Daniel Negreanu....content/posts...quite a good ratio vs. my very shabby ratio.3. Danged if I know... this spot goes to those fellow insomniacs who I find up at extraordinarly odd hours and make me feel normal.4. Brain freeze... the kid who won the seat to Monte Carlo and wondered if he could actually go... his enthusiasm was contaigious and I'm jealous of him or I'd give him the 2 spot.5. Snore... to Smash's future contender, who has yet to join this forum. I'm etching you in this spot as motivation. You have 4 spots to go to dethrone the king. B

$250 is good for .25/.50 limit holdem or try out a .10 pot limit or no limit game. Learn limit. If you want to keep the $250 and slowly build it into much more, play that limit game. When you get up to $300 or perhaps $350, you can start playing .50/$1. I know it sounds boring, but if you follow that advice, you'll not only hold on to your $250 and build it up, but will become an even better player than you currently are. Probably not what you want to hear, but I promise, it is what you need to hear.

Might consider dropping down one level, work through any kinks. Probably just regular variance though if you're playing what you feel is a good game.

5 tables left and the chip lead can be a difficult thing if you go card dead. Remember though that those same blinds that are chewing up your stack are even more damaging to your opponents. I like to start raising most pots about this time with about any hand, unless I have a player I need to worry about in the hand already. You will pick up lots of blinds, and odds are good you'll make a big hand or two and bust some players. The idea here is that you aren't taking large risks. Most players with big stacks that don't make final table have taken larger risks than they needed to.

I've watched his play quite a bit and yes, he has been lucky at times. However, he doesn't win based on luck. For every lucky hand he makes, he'll play hundreds of pot, slowly grinding away at his opponents, and then the big pots where I'd say he has the best hand the majority of the time. He does stumble on occasion, but who doesn't? I posted a hand, which described him winning a hand against Phil Ivey, where he had about a 2% chance of winning after the flop. That was lucky, but I couldn't blame him based on the situations, though the first hand was questionable. Here's a link to a t

The genius of Phil Hellmuth is said to be his ability to exploit small edges. He puts people on hands and then uses it against them. Top pros don't seem to give him the highest respect as of late, feeling his game is a little off, being that he has become more passive of a player. Phil might have the distinction of being one of the most overrated players and underrated players, if that makes sense. He is one of the few faces of poker, a name and face most any poker player can identify. It's common knowledge that his cash play isn't on the top level, but many believe he could be a winner

I have a question about the structure that you're using. You might be getting beat simply because the game isn't set up right. Do you do a mini tourney where each player starts with a certain amount of chips and blinds increase? Do you simply play cash, and if so, what amount of chips and blinds do you use? I play in a weekly game that has a horrible structure if you ask me. I play simply because I enjoy the social activity, and if I do get chips, it can be fun when we do get shorthanded. We buy-in for just $10 and get 40 chips valued at .25 each. Blinds are .25/.50. This means that st

Just thought I'd say that I too thought this was a great post. Thank you.I'm personally really trying to work on my river play as I feel that I often miss bets there. Good lessons to be learned. Every point you've made is something that a regular player can relate to and learn from.

I say getting the most money in the pot on this hand is a +EV. You didn't say what limits you were playing, but based on the fact that the player limped with AQ, am I mistaking in assuming he might be fishy? If you felt you're against a loose fish, cap it without question as usually they have a weak ace that they feel just can't be beat. If it is a smarter player, slowing down on 4th and 5th street might be a more prudent play. To me, it all comes down to who you're playing. Overall though, getting money in the pot on these hands is a good thing.Hands that beat you.AA, AQ, A5, A3 Hands a

Dance like nobody is watching

Maybe I'll become an assistant, being that I've always wanted to have a fan club.

I believe the post was recalling the previous two days and doesn't mention Valentines at all. Thus, if he does something with Lori, we'll hear about it in Daniel's next post, if he chooses to share this with us. I can''t blame him if he doesn't. We'd likely all be analyzing whether he should've held one hand or two when he gave her the rose.

He didn't just calculate his odds of winning that particular hand, he calculated the odds of him winning the tournament if he had won that hand, and in the end the former gave way to the latter.Good players are playing to win. I like your analysis of the play and agree completly. The way the tourney was set up, Gus saw this hand as his best opportunity to put himself in a dominate position and win. I believe in cardplayer, Gus put Antonio on a mid pocket and liked the coinflip situation. He's a math guy and a gambler, making a very dangerous player.

I believe the hand with Brunson was very telling of why Gus succeeds. He simply makes players make mistakes against him. Brunson is dealt QQ and Hansen was dealt AA. Was Hansen lucky to be dealt the rockets vs. the other big stack on the table? Sure. What happens though? Brunson sees a safe flop and reraises All-in on Hansen. I believe the pot was under 100,000 at the time and Brunson puts 600,000 out there. Afterwards, Doyle said something to the effect that he wouldn't have played the hand as he had against anybody, but Gus. Great players make the other players make mistakes. Gus i

IF you can't take an $800 downswing playing that casino game, then it is best to stay far away from it. Sounds like you should play a .50/1 or 1/2 game on line. If you log enough hours and beat these games, you could build a bankroll that would allow you to play that game in fairly short time. Good luck to you.

You're definitely better off sticking with Limit overall. However, the micro NL games are very soft and very profitable for small bankrolls. Wait around for the nuts and get your money in, chances are you will be called. Limit is much more of a long-term thing. There can be somewhat large swings in your bankroll, but overall it is a numbers game. You play the odds, so to speak, you can beat it.

Sorry, all this occured on FullTilt. I guess I assumed most knew this. Sorry to mess up this thread, but seeing as you're talking about Ivey, thought I'd share a couple bad beats he took.

Second handIvey buys back in for $5000SpiritRock has $9999.50Dealt to Ivey 9 T Dealt to SpiritRock J K SpiritRock is on the buttonI don't remember who raised preflopFlop J 8 4 Ivey checkraised SpiritRock all-in and SpiritRock callsTurn 6 River J Final Board J 8 4 6 J SpiritRock wins with King High FlushTotal Pot: $9999.50OddsPre-Flop9 T 38.5%K J 61.5$Flop9 T 77%K J 23%Turn9 T 4.5%K J 95.5%Ouch again for Ivey, though this wasn't quite as rough.

Was just watching a headsup between Phil Ivey and the infamous SpiritRock. Two interest hands came up back to back after the two were about even in chips after going back and forth for a while. 25/ 50 NLFirst handDealt to SpiritRock 8 7 Dealt to Phil Ivey J 8 SpiritRock raised preflop and Ivey calledFlop 8 2 J I believe there was $3000 in the pot after the flopTurn 7 Ivey goes all in for $3000 and after a bit, SpiritRock calls.River 7 Final Board 8 2 J 7 7 SpiritRock rivers the Full HouseTotal Pot: $9999.50Calculated some odds on thisPreflopJ 8 70.4%8 7

Pros do lose. It happens. On the flipside, if Ivey believes he will be playing against this opponent more in the future, dumping 8 grand isn't significant. It might actually help him win much more in the future as it creates the illusion to the player that he can beat Ivey. Maybe I'm wrong.I disagree with the idea that 8 grand is insignificant to Ivey or Daniel. Ivey plays to win, and not give away money, regardless if it is just one big bet in his regular game. Maybe I'm wrong.Pros do lose. It happens. That just might be it.

T 7 I know, I'm ripping off Daniel's favorite hand. Allow me to defend myself. When I started playing poker, I played very much by the book. I learned the odds and percentages very early in my poker learning curve, and had never been a typical loose player. This is due to the fact that I actually read a couple poker theory books before I ever played. I was taught to play tight. I won early, but soon anybody who played regularly with me would simply fold and the pots that I happened to win were getting smaller each time I played. It was then that I read an article by Daniel in which he