I am near Syracuse, NY for the weekend. I am posting this with the new wordpress app for iPhone.

Nice to get some rest. I have been playing a lot of NL recently with wildly different results. I started off on UB with the idea that a lot of the good players are gone, which for the most part is true. The one thing about being super aggro at lower limits is that people call you very light. I have lost some pots being too aggressive hoping people were on draws that were not. I ran about $700 into about 10k in 3 days and then hit a dead spot. That is when I moved to Cake to give that a run. Currently I am on an uptick there but I have not been playing there long. My experience on Cake is that people call you real light. If they call the flop they are likely in for the river but when you hit your hand you can stack them. My game is mostly geared to stacking people because they think I am bluffing all the time. This strategy works better below 5-10 but there is a fair amount of fish at those limits too at both sites.

I did have a weird experience the other night when I went out to dinner. Having dinner next to me was a mother and son. As it turns out he plays online poker for a living. I almost did not believe him when he said it, I thought my wife was playing a joke on me. So we had some interesting conversation. Always nice to have another poker friend in the Twin Cities.

One of my buddies playing in the main event was at the table with one of the Hinkle’s and it was hilarious listening to him berate them.  In case you missed Tuesday nights airing of the WSOP Grant Hinkle wins, with his mom and brother in tow (his brother later goes on to win a WSOP bracelet).  The Hinkle’s are like Care Bears, Canadians or the color violet, you are not supposed to hate them, yet you do! When Chris Moneymaker played the bumbling idiot it was cool because a lot of people saw themselves in him and that brought a lot of people into poker.  The Hinkle’s are one of this years big stories, and by all account Blair Hinkle is a prolific pokerer.  Grant comes off as a lucksack (whether rightly or wrongly the TV does not lie, wink wink), it does not matter that he stole a lot of blinds or played one or two hands masterfully, in 3 or 4 of the biggest hands he got really lucky.  Which used to play well because people thought “hey, I can play like that guy and get lucky and win a million dollars”, forget the fact that you have to be willing to make a silly play with 10 4 which most people are not willing to do.  But that was so 2004, this is 2008, even though Chris Moneymaker qualified on a $50 satellite many people have chased that same dream only to be slapped in the face with a big can of variance. 

None of this is my reality, poker has treated me well but I do not look at Grant Hinkle and think, “maybe this will be the thing that brings more people from middle America to poker”.  If you need proof that packaging a similar idea is a bad move does anyone remember New Coke ?

On a side note, while some of us may indeed like the Hinkle’s (or canadians for that matter) I think we can all agree on 2 points:

1.  Theo Tran is a douche

2.  Mike Ngo’s antics would only work at about $1-$2 typically, which further points to Theo Tran being a douche since he could not see through that.

3.  When celebrity poker players are sweating you they are not your friends.  They are owed money.  Though I thought everyone knew this at this point.  Someone tell Norman Chad.

Now I totally get it that Paul Pierce owns the world at the moment and has every right to gloat.  And also there are so many celebrity types at the Bellagio and around Vegas that this would warrant no consideration.  Except that when you are walking with no shirt on early in the morning it has a "look at me" factor.  Now I am sure Paul is still celebrating and he will get a pass from me but for a lot of people that is exactly the type of stuff that makes them think that athletes do not deserve the adulation they deserve.  I do not think I have ever seen anyone walking with no shirt on in a casino before, so when it is someone that is well known it certainly stands out.

There is an air of pithiness around the WSOP that really takes away from the fun you are supposed to be having.  I suppose you can argue that poker has always been like that and you see a few old timers that are grumpy and mumbling to themselves and wonder if that is what a lot of poker players are going to end up like in the future.  By its nature poker, and especially tournament poker, can be a bit negative whether it is taking a bad beat or just running card dead for a while it wears on you.  I doubt that I have the need and want to be exceptional at poker mostly because of the fact that I would have to operate around so much negativity.  I am speaking mainly of live poker.  With online poker I just close chat.  I ran across a couple of young guys that seem excited to be here I just wonder how long that lasts with a collective toll of bad beats, bad beat stories and the ups and downs that wear on you.

It sucks getting close to a final table and whiffing.  I came in 49th in the $1500 NL, I was going to play the $1500 today but I do not feel up to it, so I am likely going to just relax by the pool side, meet up with friends and have an overall chill day.  It is tough playing live poker only once or twice a year, while the skills are there, I am sure I missed a few spots and I know I was awkward with the chips occasionally.  At one point I made a minimum raise because I did not adjust to the blind levels, when someone went all in for 96k I folded my 88 but the result might have been different if I had made a standard raise.  Overall though I think I have a lot of good elements to do well in tournaments and I am fairly confident going into the main event.  I play on the 3rd.

By in large the news about the WSOP delaying the final table until November has been received poorly, which shocks me on multiple levels.

1. I realize people are averse to change but it should not take a brain surgeon to realize that ESPN has some clue of what they are doing.
2. Start of football and end of baseball, or WSOP. Pass the potato chips I will be watching football and the real World Series.
3. One of the biggest complaints I am hearing is the coaching factor “some idiot could make the final table and suddenly get better”. Guess what that idiot could have also gotten lucky and won, you do not need me to give you examples I would assume.
4. The sponsorship money could be huge for these final 9, I believe Jerry Yang was 8th in chips when he won last year. The deals these people will be able to negotiate will be unreal and it does not stop there. If I were a betting man (and I am) I will bet that card rooms will be jockeying for position, if you make the top 50 you may just find yourself sponsored on the off chance you hit the final table.
5. If ESPN is making this dramatic of a change you can best believe they are working on the brand. Which likely also means that they are going to be able to market it differently. Different does not always mean better but once again I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I often talk about the fact that I think there should be less poker on television. The simple fact is most of it is bad. Taking some time to raise the quality of the broadcast is going to be a good thing.

Now if it has not occurred to you already it should have, you are going to see more slice of life segments about Johnny’s dad dying or whatever but guess what casual poker players like those. If they did not ESPN would not make them. So expect more chip tricks, more fruit cut with the dealer button but most importantly more viewers excited about poker.

And that my friends is a good thing.

This is a summary of a typical conversation that I have often, it is not verbatim but it is close. Yesterday a friend Instant Messaged me and said “I am done with XYZ poker”.  Now I knew that this guy used to play fairly small but once they won a tournament everything changed.  All of a sudden $20 sit and go’s did not cut it.  He was up over 10k after the tournament win.  So my next question was never really asked because I knew the answer.  He did not cash out and now he was done.  He went broke.

That really showed them.