You’ve heard it all before, but how true it is.  So no matter how bad things are going or how bad your cards are, you have to hang in there, because it will turn.  Psychologically it is very tough to hang in there, whilst everyone else is getting the cards or whilst you are trying to play with marginal hands… but you have to do it!

And, it can also go the over way, when you are riding a rich run of luck, use it to your full advantage because it wont last forever.

Patience is one of the toughest things to learn at the poker table.  You cant push your luck, or force your luck too much… wait for it to come!

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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Spent some time surfing the net for poker sites, poker articles and information on poker strategy.

The bad news is I had a disastrous poker night on friday.  I shouldn’t really write about it, but I think it may be therapeutic if I just get it off my chest and get it out of my system, then maybe I can put it away and forget about it!  The sooner the better!!

All was going well at the poker table, I was enjoying my evening and I should have quit at midnight.  I would have finished off a couple of thousand dollars up and could have started my weekend on a high… but instead…

I kept going, I got a dose of poker greed and wanted to keep winning hands.  I was really tired from the week and should have stopped.  I started making mistakes which cost me, ended up three grand down… oh well I suppose I made a poker blunder, not knowing when to stop playing – quit while you are ahead the poker pros say!

As I lost more, I tried to prove that I could win and raised more than I should have – it became a vicious circle, until eventually I gave in and went home with my pride bruised and battered!!!

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!

Today I want to talk about keeping it cool at the poker table.  Temperament is very important when playing poker.  So often you see poker players feeling the pressure and then start to lose their cool.  That’s not going to get you anywhere.

And, its really hard sometimes with the characters that play poker!  Lets face it you get all types of character traits playing poker.  Sometimes you get someone who just manages to get under your skin… try as you might you just can’t control yourself… but you have to!

Fortunately when you are playing online poker then you can ignore them a lot easier, just ignore the comments on the side.  And when you play video poker then you just have the machine to deal with – mostly they don’t give you too many problems!

Jimmy Fricke, otherwise known as “Gobboboy” to the online poker community, rose to poker fame when he became the runner up in the 2007 Aussie Millions poker tournament and won $800,000 – not bad earnings for his second year as a poker pro and for a 19 year old.

At the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe, he held the record for the youngest player to ever cash at a WSOP event, until Annette Obrestad came along and broke the record a few days later.

So you can call him what you like, he won’t mind because he already has a healthy bankroll and a name for himself in the world of poker.  Respect!

He is from Mahomet, Illinois and he dropped out of college to become a professional poker player in 2005.  Bluff Magazine ranks him currently at 179th and his earnings at $ 1.4 Million.

His latest biggest win was at the Bellagio Cup IV in July 2008, where he took home $443,000.  Like so many players he learnt his strategy whilst playing poker online and then had to adapt to playing live tournament poker.

Its interesting that he lists the most important thing that online poker players have to adapt to in live tournaments, is being patient.  When you play online you normally play many hands of poker at once or you do something else whilst playing.

But when you play live at the poker table then you play approximately 10% or less of the poker that you would play online.  So you have to adapt and be patient.  It took “Gobboboy” a few live tournaments before he got used to the slower play.

Alex, one lesson in this, is to never underestimate a player – despite what they look like, how old they are or what they say.  Jimmy is clearly a good poker player and has the credentials to prove that he is no fool.  Some poker players may like you to believe they are not so bright or so clever – before you know it they have cleaned the table and taken your chips – don’t be fooled by appearance!