When watching High Stakes Poker, I really enjoyed these last few episodes that have Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius playing.  Dwan seems to rattle the others a bit, he does get lucky but he also seems to intimidate them.  He plays aggressive yet controlled poker, but you just never know with him, because some of the time he turns up the cards.  Sometimes you watch his play and think how can he get away with that?  And, yet somehow he does – not always, but most times.

Then there is Antonius who just sits there solid as a rock not giving anything away, actually this is probably the most I have ever seen him smile and talk!  Only he could pull off that huge bluff against Dwan right at the end (whoops sorry giving it away…).  Notice how he decides early on that he is going to bluff his way through and his aggressive style bullies his opponents.

Interesting to hear that Antonius has never read a poker strategy book and has just learnt the game by playing and learning from his mistakes.

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One good thing is that it looks like the old boys in Congress might be getting closer to reversing the legislation.  Barney Frank and Jim McDermot Inc…. say that online poker players could expect to see some changes in the near future… sounds like a safe politician’s statement… non-committal and just enough to get everyone’s hopes up… but staying positive lets hope there will be change to the legislation, enforced soon.

I guess what I like the most is the quality of the articles in CardPlayer.  From the poker strategy through to all the listings of poker tournaments and how the players performed – its got it all.  Most magazines I just flip thru, read a few lines here and there, look at the pictures… but not CardPlayer… just cant put it down.

Episode 7 of High Stakes Poker came out a few days ago.  They have a new crew and although all of them are good poker actors, this time they have thrown in a couple of writer/producers to liven things up – do you know them?

Did you know that The Simpsons has run for 20 seasons?  Thats amazing!

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Mind you Antonius doesn’t act, he just doesn’t show any emotion at all what so ever… but then you would struggle to get a word in at this table – no-one shuts up, there’s talking all the time.

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The Magician, Antonio Esfandiari, or kid as they keep calling him, wins a part in a Nick Cassavetes movie and does ok for himself at the poker table, in this clip at least.  Would you feel comfortable playing against a magician?

And suddenly Antonius starts to talk… wow… maybe the producer of the show told him to speak up.  They start a side bet on Cassavetes rating of Pulp Fiction, the poker must be boring them…

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Some more High Stakes Poker for you… its split into four clips, have you seen this poker game?

Its the best way to learn poker or improve your poker game.  Watching the poker pros and what they do in the various situations teaches you poker strategy.

Daniel Negreanu doesn’t have a lot of luck trying to get his flush.  When he does flop the nuts, no-one wants to play… Barry Greenstein challenges Elezra but he wont take the bait… and Tom Dwan continues to get some cards even though Sahamies doesn’t believe him…

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There’s a nice mix of some new faces on these latest episodes, together with some of the old favorite poker pros.  Brian Townsend and Paul Wasicka join them.  Its got some great bluffs, they split a pot before even seeing a flop and the comments flow as normal…

Look carefully at how the poker pros bet after the flop, they make strong statements about what they have, or what they want to bluff.  The other players read these bets and then decide whether its worth staying in the game or getting out whilst they can.

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Sure enough I got a few phone calls along the way, mostly about how to play online poker, but Ted figured it out and got the hang of things pretty quickly.  He was playing Freeroll, because I tell all new poker players to get as much experience as possible, before playing for real money.

Then last week he phones me and says, “I’m ready to win real money, I’ve had enough of pretend money and Freeroll, I now want to play for real money!”.  Ok I say, if you think you are ready, go for it then.

And today I get a call… he has lost over $500 in a week… so I say well thats not too bad… which didn’t go down too well.

The thing is that the transition to playing for real money is a huge psychological step that you have to be ready for.  You have to think very carefully before you bet, “What am I doing here?  What are my chances?”.  Its easy when its not real money and just numbers you are bold with your decisions.

It takes time and sure you are going to lose a bit when you are still learning poker, but give it a chance, give it some time and you will get the hang of it and start winning some money back.

Play at the low tables first to minimise your losses and work your way up.  We all got to learn poker somehow!