[daniel's bad habit at table]

My experience in life is that people's perception of you is clouded by their own prejudice. Daniel's loud over the top style is easily interpeted as conceited in light of his success. But I feel when I see him on TV he is a guy who loves life and is just being himself. The stories about how he acts when he gets together with old friends is proof that the guy just loves being a loud, fun loving attention getter. Further prove, to me, that he is grounded is his desire to have a relationship with his old girlfriend. Do you have any idea with his money and fame and position at Wynn's how easy it would be to go through a parade of beautiful women? Stu Unger?Another thing to realize is that when Dan shows up at a poker tournament everyone is checking him out. I am sure that can get a little uncomfortable that whenever you sit down everyone is giving you that little check out of the corner of their eye. When Dan is yelling over to the other table he probaly thinks he's showing everyone the regular, not stuck up, guy he is. Unfortunately for Dan, no matter what he does there will be a good percentage of people that think he is just full of himself. Personally I think Dan is a good guy who has the giddiness of a guy who just can't believe this is all happening to him.

[Dan & Lori problems with the big 3?]

I will try to be brief. You are obviously intelligent and respond in a civil manner.I believe trickle down economics works, evidence the 80's turn around and the 90's boom. There is obvious debate here, I side with supply siders.I know you dissent. There is not universal agreement.I have a censored accountant? AMT baby, no getting around it without committing capital to risk that I do not want to take. You are correct, the more taxes you pay, the better off you are! Good sage advice, I give it all the time to tax complainers.There are barriers to entry in many industries, mostly large capital outlays and monopolies are granted. But in capitalisim competition emerges, cable tv monopoly brings in satellite. Telephone monopoly brings in Voice over IP. Just two examples off the top of my head, but you are right, there is room for regulated monopolies in a capitalist system.Workers may have had bad conditions in the industrial revolution, but they were better than the alternative. More importantly because we have a capitalist system workers were allowed to bargain collectively and improve conditions.Job growth again posted a higher than expected number this month, things ain't bad especially if you throw in the undocumented economy.Your cogent argumnets have given me food for thought and I will reflect on them further, but there is one thing we agree on GOVERNMENT SPENDING IS OUT OF CONTROL. Because politicians buy votes with government money, a spending machine has been created that may not be able to be contained. Both sides are at fault here and may be our undoing.

[quiz question #9]

This is my first time to this section, wow what a learning experience! My knee jerk reaction was fold, but after studying and reading all the posts, my feeling is push all in. Hands that figure to beat you and that would call an all in would have raised, evidence suggests only marginal hands are in. It would also be nice to know everyone's stack size, but you are at 10X BB and entering the danger zone anyway. You might as well push, because soon your all in will not carry the weight it currently does. If someone calls, you are getting about 60 -40 from the pot and you don't figure to be a bigger dog than that.

[Dan & Lori problems with the big 3?]

Liberals villify the rich?  :roll:  Hey, i'm all for making lots of money and having lower taxes.  But you need to combine that with lower spending.  You cannot jack spending double digit percentages and then cut taxes 2 or 3 times and call yourself fiscally responsible.So you're against progressive taxation?  OK, well be prepared to dramatically increase the taxes of the middle and lower clases---or you could cut spending---which i think is against the belief of ANY politician--right or left.And Mark---if you studied economics, then you probably learned about the inherent inefficiences of the capitalist structure.  Every structure has them.  Without some regulation and some degree centralization, the entire economic system could very well fall apart.  A pure capitalistic environment w/o controls?  We tried that in the past--and it resulted in the broad exercise of monopolistic power and workers being taken advantage of.  Ironically, pure capitalism results in reduced competitiveness, increased prices and a lower standard of living for all but the property/business owners.The key is balance---not too much regulation, not completely free markets, not too far left, not too far right.  Neither side has it completely correct.  The solution lies somewhere in the middle.  Maybe some day our politicans will quit being so f-ing partisian and work together---but i assure you, i'm not holding my breath.  The only people who can stop this are the citizens of the US---and we can't do that unless we stop buying in to all of this BS partisian rhetoric.

Granted I studied economics long ago but the points you mentioned regarding monopolies are right out of the communist manifesto promoted by Lenin and Marx:http://www.oneparty.co.uk/html/marxism/Cl3.htmlAccording to my studies (University Economics - Allchin & Allen, UCLA) As long as there are not barriers to entry monopolies who make excess profits will attract competition which will take away their monopoly pricing power. Furthermore, monopolies are alot better at distributing goods and services than the Government - USSR? You think the industrial revoloution was a great disservice to the working class? I don't.In terms of fiscal responsibility, you are 100% correct. Poloticians get elected by making promises to constituants that involve government money. I blame Democrats for the vast social spending built in to our system, Republicans can share some of the blame as well. Our current deficts as a percent of GDP are not historically high however. Interest rates are low and the economy is strong.The rich should pay more in taxes than the lower and middle classes. Do you know that currently the top 20% pay about 80% of taxes? Do you think it should be more? http://www.allegromedia.com/sugi/taxes/Your comments indicate to me that you may not own a business, which is fine. But if you did, and knew the increasing heap of regulation, taxes and the like that were being heaped on business you would see how the trend must be stopped.

[Dan & Lori problems with the big 3?]

Since I studied economices I am a big believer in free markets. They have proven very effective in distributing a wide variety of goods and services throughout the marketplace. I therefore do not believe in any sort of central palnning or government manipulation to decide what is right for the market. While both sides are guilty of trying to excert their own set of values on the marketplace, it seems to me liberals are more in favor of excerting economic influence on others through taxes, government programs, trade restrictions, quotas and regulation. Conservatives spend too much time worrying about everyone's morals.

[Dan & Lori problems with the big 3?]

If liberals controlled poker at the end of the game chips would be taken from the winners and be given to the losers.

Daniel plays mostly tournaments and that is exactly what happens. Does this mean that tournament players should be liberals and cash game players should be conservatives?

If tournaments were run by liberals all those who busted out early would get half their money back. There would be a racial quota system for those in the money. Each player would have 20% of his winnings put into a retirement and health care system run by the government.

[Dan & Lori problems with the big 3?]

Dan said his favorite author was Michael Moore and he and his girlfriend have political differances. I thought the subject was on the table. But as your brilliant rebuttle indicates, Liberals are progressive and conservatives suck. You are open to other ways of thinking? Then why should I should stop listening to Rush, Ann, Sean etc? Does Michael Moore provide me with the full range of political thought? Isn't forming an opinion based on reading and trying to understand a wide range of political thouight? Or is your progressive mind ridgidly made up?

[anyone getting tired of this?]

Momemaker book is not about strategy, its about a guy with a gambling problem. After he split winnings with his backers, IRS, bills and ex-wife he wasn't left with that much. The top tournament players seem to be huge gamblers, and not calculated risk takers I think that is the point.

[Dan & Lori problems with the big 3?]

I have been married 24 years and let me tell you something you had better be on the same page as Lori when it comes to polotics, religon and raising kids! Or at least have a deep respect for your differances.Daniel I know you are a liberal and that is great, it means you care for people! You have a big heart, you are a big tipper and you are kind to people. But you play the most capitalist of games, poker, can't you consider the free market approach promoted by conservatives rather than the central planning concepts fostered by liberals?If liberals controlled poker at the end of the game chips would be taken from the winners and be given to the losers. We would have no incentive to become better players because we would get our money in the end no mater how we played. People respond to incentives and that is how our great country came to be. Central planning, no matter how well intentioned, has never worked in human history. Sit down with Lori with a bottle of wine and an open mind and let her try to show you her way of thinking.No matter what, you are great for Poker!A big fan

[cash game results 2005]

With all due respect Dan you have been playing limit and NL for years yet you post just a few months of limit play. Are these numbers representative of your overall results? Also, what is your standard deviation for limit and NL? It would be interesting to know what kind of bank roll swings you have been through. The impression one gets is that you win prety much all the time, you show a 70% win rate against the world's top players! If so, great!

[sklansky on game theory...]

I have been pondering the randomization of bluffs and calls as they apply to hold em. In Slansky's book he used a 5 card draw example where your cards are not exposed. In hold em it is easier to put people on flush draws and you can tell when they missed by looking at the board, so the Slansky draw example where unseen cards provide a random number generator would not apply to hold em. I am sure there is a way to apply the overall concept to hold em but I have not seen it yet.

[nl minimum bet?]

A lot of playhers will check the check / fold button and the minimum bet will cause those players to fold their hands. Its an online thang.

[large cash games at commerce]

I've often heard the top pros play for more money in cash games than in tournaments. I could hardly believe this given the large payouts in tournaments. However I went to the Commerce Club about 5 times over the week the LA Poker Classic was going on and I saw Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey every single time and towards the end I heard they were playing$4,000 and $8,000 blinds, No Limit Hold Em. All the big names were playing in this ongoing game including Brunson, Chan, Chip Reese, Greenstein and Negraneau. Negraneau posted he lost over $400,000 which he said was no big deal given the stakes.My question is does anyone know who were the big winners and losers in this game and how much? Do you think any of these pros has an edge over the others or are they all just junkies for the action?

[oh my god!!!]

I cedrtainly did not mean to mock TJ, I sincerely think he is a champ and a gentleman. Only afterwards did my son tell me TJ has not won the WSOP. The guy comes off so nice on TV and in person I would never give him anything but respect.Couldn't believe watching a cash game with Ivey, Brunson, Chan and Hansen! It would be like Tiger, Mickelson and Els all playing a side game for hundreds of thousands! The great golfers would not do that which shows you that poker players are a differant breed, all that matters is the action! You would wonder how guys who have made a living exploting an edge would get into large cash games where there is no edge!I do have a picture of Shauna Hiatt eating a hot dog. Even though you can't see her face I still rank it as my greatest athletic achievement! I'm thinking of selling the picture on EBay, unless Shauna personally begs me not to! In which case, that would become my greatest athletic achievment! Just kidding, she is R E A L F I N E!