Category: Poker

This is one of those posts about linking to someone else’s blog, which is kinda silly when it comes to Poker Perspectives, since it’s not as though it’s not a known site. Anyway, what I like about what I’ve read so far on Maudie’s blog is that it’s all about her poker experiences, written from a personal point of view. It’s not just hand histories or PT stats–you know, the boring stuff I put on this blog to gloat or groan about my insignificant wins and losses. By contrast, her recaps are more narrative in style, and she throws in a dose of “Here’s what I thought” or “I felt like this.”

Anyway, just thought I’d throw that out there for that one person who may be coming here to read about poker–there’s really better stuff out there. Which is why it surprises me when I find the occasional link to this blog in a list of poker blogs. I guess what I can say about StudioGlyphic, however, is that we’ll cover a fair number of topics in proportions you may not find elsewhere. And nothing beats a well-mixed cocktail.

Hamlet has just accepted a challenge to face Laertes in a heads up no limit match:

Horatio doesn’t think much of Hamlet’s chances in the match; he’s the kind of poker player who believes in luck, gut feelings, and all of that crap. Hamlet, on the other hand, understands that over the long run he has +EV against Laertes. All he has to do is be ready when everything–the cards, the relative stack sizes, and the twitch above Laertes left temple–says now is the time to re-raise over the top.

“All in.”

Inspiration from The Cards Speak; text from Project Gutenberg.

If you’ve been following my progress, you’ll know that a week ago I had managed to get 13.50 BB / 100 hands for my first 705 hands. That’s about $95.

I now have 1635 hands in PT, showing a win rate of 14.57 BB / 100 hands, adding up to $238. I tell you, it’s fantastic out there. I can’t recommend it enough.

So what’s next? I guess I’ll build up the bankroll to cover 300BB and then either move up to the $50 tables or start multi-tabling. Playing more than one table will be difficult, since my notebook screen is only wide enough for 1.3 tables, and it’ll take a bit longer to be able to learn my opponents. Even while playing just one table in today’s 20BB winning session, I managed to fuck up one hand completely. I had a gutshot draw on the flop and the pot was paying something like 7:1. Instead of calling, I folded like a tard. I think I was distracted by my poker blog browsing. The turn would have given me a flush draw, and the pot would have been paying 5:1 for my 12 outs (this is a perfect example of players making the mistake of betting too little when they have the dominating hand). Anyway, the river would have given me the nut flush and I had odds to call the entire way. So will I make costly mistakes like this while playing more than one table? You bet. Better learn to focus.

I’ll admit it: I’m confounded by the gamboolers who bet, raise, and call large amounts of money on silly flush draws. I saw one guy raise 1.5 bets pre-flop with 23 suited, then bet the pot with his 5-high straight draw on the flop. Another person raised the pot with flush and open-ended straight draws on the flop. Sure, she had something like 15 outs, but I had the dominant hand when I opened betting. I folded because I only had top pair, and I’ve taken down a lot of pots from people who only had top pair.

Pot limit continues to be profitable for me every single day I’ve played; but I’ve seen some questionable moves by other people that have made me think twice about playing against these crazy people.

I think The Cards Speak is one of the most consistently good poker blogs out there (ok, within the small sample of poker blogs I read regularly), but this latest entry stands head and shoulders above a lot of the posts, if only because it contains the Greatest Poker Monologue Ever. Henry’s an LA-based poker blogger who regularly hits the Park for medium/high stakes live action. One of these days I’ll join him.