Category Archives: Poker

Last week I had the privilege of speaking to Penn State students about the business of sports betting. Some were aspiring to become sports agents, others were data scientists wanting to create their own betting models, and others were unsure what they wanted to do but knew they wanted to work in the sports industry.

Before betting, I was in poker. I played poker, was in poker media, and, at one point, even dealt poker at the Bellagio. In telling my story, one student reached out to me afterward and had one question, How do you stay disciplined when you are running badly?

This was interesting because poker very much parallels betting. In order to be successful in either field, you need discipline and bankroll management. The remark that caught my attention, however, was on luck. Ive been getting incredibly unlucky, the student said

Heres the advice I shared with him, including things I learned in poker that are relevant and useful in sports betting today.

In poker, keeping track of hand histories is key. Hands you're winning, hands you're losing, its important to jot down the action of a hand that youre unsure you played correctly. Then, you can review it later to see if you would have played the same or perhaps taken a new action.

The betting equivalent is keeping track of all your bets. If something you wagered worked out, analyze afterward why it was a winning wager. Did your reasoning align with the outcome? If your wager didnt work out, analyze why it was a losing wager. Did you overvalue an injury? Did you undervalue a travel spot?

If you ask 10 bettors why they lost a bet, nine will say its because they got unlucky. They will put the blame on the referees, cite the weather or a million other reasons. Be the one person that will be honest by saying, My reasoning was incorrect.

Keeping a record of your wins and losses is definitely beneficial, but analyzing why a bet did or did not work out will make you that much better.

Story continues

Like stocks, both poker and betting are about risk analysis. You are weighing the probability of a team or player winning or losing. Through a wager, you break down the risk-to-reward ratio. Because money is involved, you need both emotional and financial intelligence.

Heres what I mean. In poker, you typically are a $1/$3 cash-game player. You lose two $300 buy-ins. In turn, you jump stakes to either the $2/$5 or maybe even jump to $5/$10 in an effort to quickly win your losses back. This is definitely one way to go broke.

Similar things can happen in betting. There is a 10-game slate and you made the decision to wager on one thing. Your bet lost but theres still four games remaining that night. In an effort to get back your losses, or to heal your bruised ego, you place a wager on something you never had an intention of betting in the first place. This is forcing a bet. Perhaps you double-down to win and now youre worse off.

A major rule of betting: dont chase. Having both emotional and financial intelligence means knowing that tomorrow is a new day.

Gambling Twitter is cluttered but there are things you can look out for to protect yourself. I do my own research, I handicap my own games and provide the analysis. Not everyone does, and thats OK. You may have a list of people you follow/tail. Make sure that those you follow are staying in line.

If they lose a bet, are they tweeting that they got unlucky?

If they lose a three-unit play, are they posting a six-unit play after?

Follow those who post their losses as loudly as they post their wins. In poker, players talk to other players to review analysis together. In betting, why not do the same? Send a direct message to the person posting a play. Reply to their tweets and see if you can bounce ideas off one another. The more insight you can get about their actions, the more comfortable you can feel about following or fading them.

As far as handling the swings, staying disciplined is a practice like anything else. When I played poker, I would literally sit on my hands, placing them underneath my thighs while sitting, forcing myself to take time to think of my next move. I also stopped shuffling chips because I found it easier to just toss them into the pot without hesitation.

For betting, if you need to separate yourself from your phone/laptop in order to not chase or click buttons you dont want to be clicking. Get into a habit of staying composed and not feeling the urge to chase, which could lead to a compounding mistake.

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Betting 101: Poker and sports betting how one is like the other - Yahoo Sports

The New Ulm Area Chamber of Commerce and Ameriprise Financial, with promotional support from the Heart of New Ulm, are once again teaming up to promote health and wellness in sponsoring the Poker Walk event this spring and are inviting local businesses to participate.

Organizers are seeking 20 New Ulm businesses five each week to participate in the Poker Walk during June, when a business will be included on a walking route for a single slot on each Friday.

There is no charge for businesses to participate, and the slots will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis.

During the walk, participants stop at each business on the weeks one-mile route to pick up a playing card, assemble their poker hand, and then stop at the chambers office to drop off and register their hand.

On the week a business is selected to participate, walkers will visit the business between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday to pick up a playing card. Playing cards will be delivered to each business one week prior to the week they are participating.

Businesses interested in participating should contact Becca Sorenson with Ameriprise Financial at Rebecca.Sorenson@ampf.com.

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Businesses invited to participate in Poker Walk | News, Sports, Jobs - NUjournal

India's most notable Poker series - National Poker Series (NPS) witnessed a fitting finale between March 23 & March 25 at the Majestic Pride Casino located in the waters of the famous Mandovi River. The competition witnessed a staggering 96,000 entries with a chunk of the entries coming from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana.

With the conclusion of the tournament, it was Shagun Jain from Jaipur, Rajasthan who claimed the top spot on the NPS podium (Medal leaderboard) with four gold medals and two silver (50 Points) and won a package worth INR 10 Lac, while Rohit Begwani from Churu, Rajasthan ended in second with four gold medals (40 Points) and a package worth INR 7.5 Lac. The third spot on the podium was taken by Dhaval Doshi from Mumbai with 1 gold & 3 silver (25 points) and has received a package worth INR 2.5 Lac. All the three podium finishers will be heading to Las Vegas to represent India on the largest stage of Poker in the world.

The final tables on the other hand, saw top Indian players battling it out for glory. The first final table was "NPS Super High Roller". The table was won by Kartik Ved from Goa who clinched gold, Vipin Pantola from Haldwani, Uttarakhand clinched silver while the third place and bronze medal went to Gokul Raj from Goa. They took home INR 22.09 Lac, INR 15.50 Lac and INR 9.97 Lac, respectively as prize money.

The second final table was the "NPS Main Event" which again saw Goa claiming top spot with Chirag Sodha (INR 44.84 Lac) clinching gold, the surprise came in the second spot with Riteish Kumar (INR 39.34 Lac) from the small town of Gumla in Jharkhand clinching silver while the third spot and the bronze medal went to Ashutosh Balodhi (INR 20.90 Lac) from Delhi.

On the final day of the event, it was time for the most loved event of the National Poker Series i.e., "NPS Golden Rush". The event which had an INR 550 buy-in and saw nearly 15,000 entries was won by Sankesh Kumar A Jain from Chennai (INR 9 Lac) taking home the gold medal, the silver medal was won by Arbaaz Ahmed (INR 7.01 Lac) from Bengaluru, Karnataka followed by the bronze medal to Dilip Kumar (INR 4.38 Lac) from Jalore, Rajasthan.

The game has witnessed tremendous growth in the country, thanks to the arrival of PokerBaazi.com which has helped establish a growing community of professional and amateur Poker players in the country. With minimal buy-in tournaments, PokerBaazi.com has found it's way to the remotest corners of the country, giving Poker the much needed boost it had been craving for years.

The Bridge had the privilege of speaking to some of the most established Poker players who helped us understand the scope and future of the game in India.

Apparently, the million dollar question that is on everyone's mind and lips in India is - "Is Poker a game of skill or chance?"

Various research papers mentions Poker as a game of skill. It is a game where experience, education, and basic mathematical analysis predominates the factor of luck. As every sport ever introduced to mankind, a certain element of luck always exists but players around the world try to mitigate this factor by constantly making superior mathematical decisions. The players are known to constantly educate themselves around the latest strategies introduced in the sport while constantly using their experience to gain an advantage over their competitor.

Winning at Poker comes down to simple application of the following rule - Put more money in the pool when you find yourself having a statistical advantage and put less money in the pool when you find yourself in a statistical disadvantage.

NPS Main Event Gold Medallist Chirag Sodha says - "If you look at it over a large sample size, Poker is definitely a game of skill. For example, if you know how to play Poker, just the basics, and then both of us sit and play - if we play ten hands, you might even win nine or ten. But if you play a thousand hands, I'll win 80% of them because of the sample size. With time, experience, and the company (of experienced Poker players), I have gathered that skill."

The top players of the country have a background in mathematics and strategy and come from Tier 1 colleges like the IITs and IIMs. Their education background helps them to adapt and make effective decisions on the table, allowing them to win big.

Riteish Kumar, NPS Main Event Silver medallist believes that having a background in Mathematics increases one's chance of excelling in Poker. He adds - "Yes, it (having a background in Science and Maths) definitely helps. Most of the players I have played with are from engineering background. In fact, most of the IITians have left their traditional jobs to play Poker."

Baazi Games' Co-Founder and Marketing Director Varun Ganjoo adds - "You can watch Poker, you can play Poker, you can come to Platforms like these and watch Poker and idolize Poker players because the game of Poker also keeps evolving. Like in cricket, there were Test matches and then came the 60-over ODI format got to 55 overs which became the 50-over format in the next few years. And we have T20 and T10 cricket. So, similarly, in the game of Poker there are different and aggressive strategies coming in every few months. So if you talk to some pro players they will confidently say that if we don't catch up with that trend, we will fall behind. So poker has all those ingredients to be a category of its own."

At the National Poker Series, the tables were dominated by men. But the data suggests that Poker is being taken up as a profession and means of living by more and more women pan-India. There's a growing belief within the women's community that they have the required skill and education to topple this male-dominated game. There are operators worldwide that have special women-only events that enables the growth of women's participation.

While speaking with Chirag Sodha on this subject, he said - "I have a lot of friends who are girls who are telling me that "no, it's not disadvantageous for me". In fact, I personally think you can even make it into an advantage if you play the cards right. But honestly, there should not be a reason why a woman would be hesitant to play Poker because there's no edge that a guy has over a girl in this sport."

Pratibha Arya, an ambassador of the game in India says - "We need to have more and more women's only events in India. As more and more women start playing and winning, this will help motivate more women to take up Poker at a younger age."

Poker is a game that will require you to invest only 5-7 minutes to learn the basics, however, it takes a lifetime to master. PokerBaazi.com has bridged the gap by providing learning modules that can help pave the path for an individual's career in Poker. Almost anyone and everyone can learn Poker and you'll ever need is an electronic device and a stable internet connection!

Since Poker is a game of knowledge, education, and basic numbers, it has the potential to be added in the education curriculum.

Rohit Begwani, an NPS Podium finisher this year adds - "I have poker chips at home and my children use them to play catch. No matter what you do in life, you need to know its pros and cons. As long as you know your limit, no matter what you do, it's all ok. All of it is changing now. 5 years ago things were completely different. Parents have problems when children lose money they've borrowed from parents or others."

The online Poker community is projected to have a national and global fanbase on the back of unprecedented growth the sector has seen in the last few years.

With more and more players coming out of the Indian subcontinent, it is fair to assume that it's only a matter of time till India is recognised as a giant in the game of Poker.

The views expressed in the article are those of the author's.

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The rise and rise of Poker in India - The Bridge

When Usman Siddique lifted the UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) London Main Event trophy aloft and got his hands on 84,100 ($119,526) in prize money in April 2016, little did he know that he would hold onto the title for six years. PokerStars wound down the UKIPT as we knew it at the end of its sixth season, but the online poker giant is reviving the tour in 2022.

April 1 sees the 2022 UKIPT season kick off in London; at The Hippodrome Casino, to be exact. The British home of PokerStars LIVE is gearing up to welcome former UKIPT regulars and newcomers alike to its recently refurbished poker room for the UKIPT London festival.

Eighteen tournaments, including satellites, adorn the bustling UKIPT London schedule, which runs in the heart of London from April 1 through April 10. The series kicks off with the 275 buy-in PokerStars London Series and concludes with the crowning of the 1,100 UKIPT London Main Event champion.

The world-famous PokerNews live reporting team is heading to The Hippodrome Casino from April 4 to bring you all the action, as it happens, from the UKIPT London Main Event.

The first two times the UKIPT dropped anchor in the British capital, it was the tour's Grand Final and doubled as the European Poker Tour (EPT) London Main Event. David Vamplew and Benny Spindler won those two tournaments.

Spain's Sergio Aido, then an up-and-coming player and not the global superstar he is today, won the Season 3 UKIPT London Main Event and scooped 144,555. Brett Angell triumphed in the tournament the following year (115,083). Rapinder Cheema took down the Main Event in Season 6 for 78,825; Angell finished seventh that year, narrowly missing out on becoming a back-to-back champion.

The aforementioned Usman Siddique won during Season 6, making him the reigning champion going into the new-look UKIPT London Main Event. Siddique banked 84,100 after besting a final table with the likes of Jack Salter and recent 888 London and GUKPT Coventry champion Joe Hindry seated at it.

Team PokerStars' Sam Grafton is one of many players looking forward to the UKIPT's return. Grafton said, in a recent interview with PokerNews, "That's a tour that made a big difference in my life, not only in terms of improvement in my game but the friendships I made. The fact that it's coming back, that there's going to be a UKIPT in my hometown of London, nothing's going to stop me from being there."

*The EPT London Main Event doubled as the UKIPT Grand Final during Season 1 & 2

PokerStars is the only place you can win your UKIPT London Main Event seat online. Satellites are running in the PokerStars lobby right now and start at a very affordable 1.10.

Download PokerStars via PokerNews, create your free account, and make a deposit to have that deposit matched 100% up to a maximum of $600. In fact, your first three deposits in the first 60 days after making your first deposit are matched up to a combined maximum of $600.

Originally posted here:

The UKIPT Makes Long-Awaited Return to London From April 1 - PokerNews.com

Poker games in Texas were a lot harder to come by in the mid-1900s than they are today. At the time, most of the action in the country could be found on the Texas Circuit, which consisted of thirty or forty towns around Texas and the South where poker games were held regularly, according to poker legend and Texas native Doyle Brunson.

Brunson is one of many now-Poker Hall of Famers who got their start on the Texas Circuit, grinding out games in small towns throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama and other southern states.

But these poker games weren't like most games today. Players on the Texas Circuit didnt only have to worry about taking a bad beat or losing a buy-in, but also getting cheated, robbed, arrested or killed.

Learn more about poker in texas

Anytime there was a lot of money involved, somebody was going to try to get it, Brunson recalled in his autobiography Godfather of Poker. Killers, con artists, cheats and thieves were a fixture of the gambling landscape (in) Texas and the South. The foremost threat was getting hijacked, which usually meant getting robbed at gunpoint.

The nucleus of players who grinded the dangerous Texas Circuit in the late 1950s and early 1960s were known as road gamblers, the earliest of poker pros who, as Brunson put it, traveled to wherever the action could be found.

In honor of PokerNews Texas Week, here is a look at seven most legendary Texas road gamblers, from the proposition bet-obsessed Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston to the sharp-dressed Crandell Addington.

The first player on this list needs no introduction and supplied much of the source material for this article. The Godfather of Poker, Doyle Brunson emerged on the Texas Circuit in 1958 after retiring from the infamous mafia-linked poker games on Exchange Avenue and Jacksboro Highway in Fort Worth.

Brunson left the games in Fort Worth and headed for a fresh start in the Midland and Odessa area in West Texas and the good poker games there.

But life on the road was equally challenging, and the poker godfather has no shortage of stories about his road gambling days about getting cheated, held at gunpoint or taking down massive pots. In his autobiography, Brunson tells the story of a game at a farmhouse in Austin that was interrupted by the sounds of windows shattering and doors bursting open.

Seven guys with ski masks and shotguns rushed in. Nobody had a chance to escape," Brunson said. "The robbers herded us up against a wall and ordered us to drop our lower garments all of them.

Not your everyday home game experience, right?

Brunson also recounts a hand played against Johnny Moss that he called the most important hand in my early poker career that took place during a three-day poker marathon in Brenham.

I was holding (jack-ten) offsuit on a board of ," recalled Brunson. "I had none of that board, but when Moss bet $4,000, a monstrous wager in that game, I called him with just a jack high! I was sure he was drawing to some kind of straight, and since I was drawing to the highest one possible, I felt I had to have him beat There was a lot of money in the pot, but I had a read on Johnny.

Moss showed a busted straight draw with six-five and Brunson took down the pot in the breakthrough hand.

That one hand defined the moment where I knew I was a top player, and from that point on, I was considered a world-class player by many of my peers, reflects Brunson.

And those are just a few of Texas Dollys stories from his iconic years as a Texas road gambler.

Fellow Poker Hall of Famer Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston was one of Brunsons right-hand men during Brunsons road gambling days after the two met around 1960, along with Bryan Sailor Roberts, another Poker Hall of Fame Inductee.

The trio formed a partnership based out of Odessa, playing off of the same bankroll and sharing the same wins and losses, and protecting one another as they traveled across the treacherous Texas Circuit.

We watched out after each other, said Brunson. There was a lot of danger on the road; and with the three of us, we were more protected than if we went solo.

By all accounts, Slim was a prolific prop bettor who never passed up an opportunity to wager on something, such as betting that he could beat tennis champion Bobby Riggs in table tennis using frying pans instead of paddles; or that he could beat billiards pro Minnesota Fats in pool using a broomstick.

Many of Slims hustles are docmented in his memoir Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People. His victims included country musician Willie Nelson, who he beat out of $300,000 in dominoes, and Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, who he took for $2 million in poker.

If theres anything worth arguing about, Ill either bet on it or shut up, wrote Slim. And since its not very becoming for a cowboy to be arguing, Ive made a few wagers in my day.

Slims reputation as a poker player, pool player prop bettor and overall hustler make him one of the most legendary road gamblers of all time.

Bryan Sailor Roberts of San Angelo made up the final piece of Brunsons road gambling crew that tore up games throughout the south.

With guys like Sailor and Slim, dull moments didnt exist, wrote Brunson. They were two of the most colorful guys Ive ever met.

Roberts in particular had his share of colorful moments. Brunson told the tale of a poker game on Fort Worths Exchange Avenue that got held up by hijackers pretending to be police officers. Roberts was in a pot and politely asked the intruders to let him finish the hand which they did.

An avid gambler and partier, it didnt take a robbery to separate Roberts from his winnings. After a sports betting heater that left him with $90,000, he took his money and went partying with the girls.

When he wasnt losing his money, he was giving it away, according to Brunson. Naturally, all his money was soon gone, which bothered him not at all.

Brunson also acknowledged Roberts was an excellent poker player on par with himself: Sailor was maybe as good as I was when he set his mind to it, but he was more interested in girls than gambling.

Nine-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Moss was already an established name on the Texas Circuit when Brunson, Slim and Roberts entered the scene.

Moss, who was born in Marshall in 1906, got his start in poker as a cheat catcher employed to watch players at the table, a skill that undoubtedly became useful when he took up the game and began a career as a road gambler.

After I got money I started to carry a gun The road was real rough in them days goin from town to town, Moss told the writer Jon Bradshaw for the book Fast Company. You always had to worry about hijackers and the Rangers. All those road gamblers and thieves and cheaters. You have to know them cheaters in advance. I got me a rundown on most of em. They never slipped up on the blind side of me.

The Grand Old Man of Poker is also the subject of various poker legends and myths, including a high stakes heads-up match between himself and Nick the Greek Dandolos in Las Vegas.

Moss passed away in 1995 and is laid to rest in Odessa, where PokerNews recently visited as a part of our weeklong Texas Road Trip.

Before taking down the 1982 WSOP Main Event or getting inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1988, Jack Treetop Straus was a road gambler who traveled across the south playing in whatever poker games he could find.

Straus, a six-foot-six Texan who is credited with spawning the phrase All you need is a chip and a chair after climbing back from a single chip to win the 1982 Main Event, was described by Brunson as not only the most entertaining person Ive ever been around, but an uncommonly creative soul, especially when it came to dodging debts.

Jack compulsively bet on everything, with or without a pulse everything he could lay a bet on which was the reason he was broke all his life even though he won a lot of money," said Brunson.

Like the stuff of poker legend, Straus died in 1988 after suffering an aortic aneurysm while playing a high stakes poker game at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. He was laid to rest in Austin, Texas.

The snazzy Crandell Addington was another character on the Texas Circuit, known both for his no-limit Holdem prowess and always being the best-dressed player at the table.

Crandell stood out from the crowd because he was always dressed in fancy clothing, like he was some movie star, according to Brunson. He liked to wear expensive cowboy boots, immaculate Western outfits, and a top-line Stetson (cowboy hat).

Addington, of San Antonio, essentially retired from poker in the 1980s but reflects fondly on his memories with the game, including his years as a road gambler in the south.

From a historical standpoint, I guess probably Doyle (Brunson) and I are the last of the Texas road gamblers still around to give you a bit of history, Addington told PokerNews in 2020.

In 1969, Addington was declared Mr. Outside for being the best road gambler in a poker tournament, earning him a clear spot on this list.

A lesser-known player on this list is Bob Hooks, a Texas road gambler who later worked as the poker room manager at Binions Horseshoe during the first WSOP.

Hooks became a road gambler during his early 20s and developed a reputation as a solid player, and before long some of the games best took notice, as PokerNews reported in 2013.

After his road gambling days in Texas, Hooks finished second in the 1975 WSOP Main Event to none other than roommate and fellow road gambler Roberts, who won the title and $210,000.

While he didnt get the glory that comes with being a Main Event champion, he did strike a deal with Roberts that left him with half of the prize money.

Other legendary Texas road gamblers who are worth mentioning include Doc Ramsey, Felton "Corky" McCorquodale, Aubrey Day and Bill Smith.

Follow the PokerNews Texas Road trip here!

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The Wild West: 7 of the Most Legendary Texas Road Gamblers - PokerNews.com

A new way of playing

For many people, learning game theory optimal (GTO) and using solvers is a mind-blowing experience. They have played poker one way for a long time then are suddenly presented with a new, counterintuitive way of playing. This can result in resistance, especially if the player in question has had success with an exploitative style previously.

the lessons eventually became heuristic about how to play

For me, discovering solver technology was more a case of confirming the suspicions I had developed over several years as a professional poker player. I learned poker the way everyone did back in the day, which was trial and error. I would see what worked and what didnt, and the lessons eventually became heuristic about how to play.

The first inkling I had that game theory could be applied to poker was after I read Harrington On Holdem. There was a sentence that really jumped out to me where Dan Harrington talked about shoving as a bluff. He said that if you add 33% to your stack when the shove gets through, and if you have 33% equity on average when called, you only need the shove to work 33% of the time to be profitable. I looked at that sentence and realized that you can work out which hands are profitable to shove.

I worked with an equity calculator and a spreadsheet, and created push/fold ranges using trial and error. It took six months and was rendered completely useless when ICMIZER came out.

the regulars started to notice I was pushing wider than I used to

I studied this sheet when I was a Sit and Go grinder and it worked out really well for a while, but then the regulars started to notice I was pushing wider than I used to, so they adjusted by widening their calling ranges against me. I returned to the spreadsheet, fiddled with the ranges, and created a tighter, adjusted shoving range based on their new calling ranges. They adjusted again by tightening up against me, so I adjusted by widening my ranges again.

A few more iterations followed and I had the eureka moment where I realized we were coming to an equilibrium, which meant that we were going to arrive at a place where neither of us would deviate from our own strategy despite knowing each others ranges. Soon it would be a case of if I shoved wider I would lose money, if they called wider they would lose money, and so on.

This sent me down a rabbit hole where I started to learn about game theory and how it applied to poker.

Around this time I was crushing the live poker scene in Ireland alongside Dermot Blain and Jason Tompkins. For a few years, there wasnt a decent final table one or more of us wasnt present. In some cases, a couple of us were at the same final table. The three of us had such an edge, we estimate we all had a live return on investment of 300%.

It was only when I started playing abroad at European Poker Tour (EPT) events that I came up against players I had no idea how to play against. They were so much better than me. I could not get any reads on them at all or work out how to exploit them. I thought I could not compete against them, but I remembered the basic precept of game theory was to develop an unexploitable style. It doesnt matter what they do, if you are unexploitable they cannot beat you.

the first time I faced an overbet in my career

I think the most important hand Ive ever played in terms of my career happened during this period at EPT Berlin against online legend Randy Nanonoko Lew. It folded around to me in the cutoff and I open with A8o. Nanonoko calls the Big Blind; he covers me. The flop came 8-3-2 and he led really small, I thought this is easy and just called. The turn was a 6 and he led small, so I called again. The river was a Q and he then bet three times the pot. I thought what the f**k? This wasnt supposed to happen, he was supposed to check and then I would think about betting, or he would bet small and I would call again. Where did this come from? This might have been the first time I faced an overbet in my career.

In my mind I thought he was at it. He knows I have a weak hand and he is betting to take me off it, so I have to call because he is full of s**t. But then I thought he was looking at some old guy he had never seen before and we cant fold anything. He knows I have a pair and he bet big to get max value. These two conflicting thoughts were going through my mind. He knows my hand and he is trying to take me off it, or he knows my hand and he is trying to get max value. I ended up folding.

I asked all the top players I knew what they would have done in the face of Nanonokos overbet, half of them said its Nanonoko, he is full of s**t, you have to call, and the other half said you cant even think about calling;its three times the pot. It came down to what people thought of Nano, not the hand.

That started me thinking; what do we do in this scenario? I knew we cant always call and we cant always fold, because we would be exploited either way. So that got me thinking about game theory and I started going back to first principles. He bet three times the pot, so if we fold four-fifths of the time he is going to win one unit four times and lose three units one time if hes bluffing. Therefore I have to call 25% of the time (otherwise he can profitably shove as a bluff always), so I had to decide what hands I call with, as well as whether blockers came into play.

From that point on, I realized that elite poker was all about game theory. I continued with exploits against weak players, but for the other guys, I fixated on studying how to be unexploitable. I had to learn concepts like the types of ranges, board coverage, minimum defense frequency, blockers, and much more.

When the solvers arrived, I was already there. I was a very early adopter of solver technology. When Holdem Resources Calculator came out, I didnt need my spreadsheet anymore. When PIOSolver came out, it just confirmed everything I had suspected from studying GTO.

This is not to say I didnt learn from solvers. They have revolutionized my game and I continue to be amazed at some of the things I learn on a daily basis with them. They even gave me a framework for why my exploits worked, in particular when thinking about ranges and blockers.

With no reads and no stats, poker is all about game theory

It is no coincidence that the efforts by a lot of online poker rooms to ban heads-up displays (HUDs) have coincided with the growth of solver technology. HUDs are all about exploitative poker as they show you the tendencies of your opponents. With no reads and no stats, poker is all about game theory. A good regular has to play a lot of tables to be profitable and you cannot pay attention to 12 tables at a time without a HUD, so the correct approach is to play as close to a GTO style as possible.

GTO is the starting point for all good training content these days, even if that content then goes on to be mostly about exploits. GTO should be your starting point for playing against unknown players and very good players.

Link:

Dara O'Kearney: How I Found GTO and Adapted It to Poker - VegasSlotsOnline

If you paid attention to tournament poker in 2021 youve no doubt heard the name of Jesse Lonis. After experiencing a career year with $864,486 in tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob, he certainly caught the attention of PokerNews. So, who was this breakout player that hit six figures on the World Poker Tour (WPT), flirted with a gold bracelet, and made a deep run in the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event?

Lonis recently participated in his first-ever live interview by appearing on the PokerNews Podcast, which you can listen to here.

Theres also a video of the interview at the bottom of this article. Below are some highlights from our chat with Lonis, who we predict is going to continue to climb the ranks and could very well become one of the best in the business.

Lonis grew up in Utica, New York, and was first introduced to poker by his grandmother, who was a Full Tilt Poker micro-stakes crushed.

My earliest memories of playing poker were with my grandmother, Lonis shared. She raised me when I was young and when I was like 10 or 11 years old, she used to play on Full Tilt Poker. Im sure it was for pennies back then, but shed take a lot of bathroom breaks and let me sit and play while she would use the bathroom. When shed come back shed usually have more than when she left.

Lonis uncle was also fond of the game and occasionally hosted a home game tournament. Lonis recalled his first big win being in one of those $50 buy-in tournaments.

"I realized, wow, theres a lot of money that can be made playing cash games in poker.

From there on I would randomly play with family and friends, he said. When I was young I never thought Id do this for a living, it was just more of a hobby.

When he turned 18, Lonis would pay the occasional visit to Turning Stone Casino, and then played some in college. Nothing serious though as he didnt have much money at the time.

I didnt really get to progress my game until Rivers Casino in Schenectady, New York opened. They started getting a lot of traffic from New York City and the $2-$5 games played like $5-$10 games. I realized, wow, theres a lot of money that can be made playing cash games in poker.

It was then that Lonis sunk his teeth into cash games, which he successfully grinded for six or seven years before giving tournament poker a try just two years ago.

It was in 2020 when I really started taking tournaments more seriously and put in a little more volume, and then obviously in 2021 I really started going after it, he said. I had a nice score at the beginning of the year and it propelled me to be able to put more volume in. Good things happened from there, it kind of rolled in and now Im in a groove.

Listen to Jesse Lonis on the PokerNews Podcast here!

Around 2019, Lonis had relocated to Oregon to take advantage of games on the West Coast.

I had a bankroll I built up playing cash, like $60,000-$70,000, that I didnt want to take straight to Vegas. I was a little nervous I could go broke quick, Ive heard too many stories, Lonis explained. Let me move close so I can travel for tournaments and stuff. On the west coast theres just more of a variety of tournaments outside of Vegas it was more exposure to the tournament scene. That was my first taste. After I started to have a few hits I thought I was ready to make the move [to Vegas], and then I had a newborn daughter. That was the final nail in the coffin, I couldnt be away every weekend in Vegas, I have to be home with her, so in August I bought a house here.

Indeed, in August of last year, he officially became a Las Vegas resident. A month later on September 30, he turned 26 years old as a new father, homeowner, and one of the hottest poker players on the circuit.

Lonis breakout score came in the 2021 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open $3,500 Championship when he finished fifth out of a 1,573-entry field for $223,895.

Right around then is when I found out I was having a baby, so that was extra motivation there where I knew I really needed to lock in, take it serious, and make a deep run, Lonis recalled. I actually satellited into that tournament for $400 That just gave me the bankroll comfortability to play my style and be able to play other tournaments. It made every other spot a little easier moving forward.

From there, Lonis notched several other scores including third in the Wynn Signature Series $1,100 NLH for $89,486, winning the Venetian $1,600 PLO Championship for $81,485, and second in the Wynn Summer Classic $1,600 PLO Bounty for $28,159.

That gave him some momentum going into the 2021 WSOP, and it didnt take him long to make a run at a bracelet. In Event #3: $1,000 NLH Covid-19 Relief Charity Event he finished runner-up to Jeremy Ausmus for $30,086.

It gave me a nice little confidence boost going into the series," he said. "That was just a fun little tournament. It was quick, very turbo structure. To lose that one heads-up was not too bad because it was a small difference [in prize money]. It was cool to be at the final table and feel the aura of the lights on. Get the experience out of the way early. I wasnt mad to lose to Jeremy, hes such a good guy.

At the end of the series, Lonis made a splash in the WSOP Main Event finishing in 25th place for a career-high $241,800.

It was everything you dream of as a poker player. Making a Day 7 is unreal," he shared. "On Day 4, I had JC Tran to my right and Kenny Tran to my left. Theyre OG, just great players. People know JC but Kenny Tran is one of the best too. He was very tough. I thought if I could make it through this day I can make it through any day. I needed up battling those guys and building a stack."

Eventually, Lonis ran out of steam and was eventually eliminated at the hands of Koray Aldemir.

I got knocked out by the champions so I guess it cant be too bad when you get knocked out by the guy who won.

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While 2021 proved to be a career year for Lonis, hes already primed to have a better one this year with more than $278K in tournament earnings in less than two months.

His scores include winning the Venetian DeepStack New Year's Extravaganza Event #43: $600 NLH for $58,301, second in the PokerGO Stairway to Millions Event #4: $8,200 NLH for $89,600, and sixth in the PokerGO Cup Event #4: $15,000 NLH for $58,500.

Its also likely to be the year Lonis not only takes his game to the next level but expands upon it.

Im learning mixed games right now, he revealed. My goal for next year is to learn all the mixed games well enough to play in the $50K Poker Players Championship, its just a pinnacle tournament. Ive always wanted to play in that one.

In addition to learning new games, Lonis has set his sights on the high roller scene.

This year I plan on definitely getting into it and playing the PokerGO events and all that, he said.

To help in that regard, Lonis is the latest pro to sell action on the relatively new PocketFives staking platform.

Usually $10K and below Ill do on my own, Lonis told PokerNews. If its $15K or higher Im definitely going to sell action for them. If its a small-field $10K I dont mind selling little pieces too youre going to see me hopefully battling with the big boys.

Mark our words, its only a matter of time before Lonis ships something big, be it either a WSOP bracelet, WPT title, or a big high roller score.

For more on Lonis and to share in his poker journey, follow him on Twitter @jesselonis.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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Lo and Behold, Jesse Lonis is One of Poker's Newest Breakout Stars - PokerNews.com

For Elden Ring players, or the Tarnished, who were affected by the most recent patch to the game (Patch 1.03), there is still hope to find more weapons to use to cheese enemies and bosses alike. Though the Sword of Night and Flame can no longer beam enemies into oblivion, there are still plenty of weapons out there to vanquish your enemies in the fastest ways imaginable. One of those cheesy weapons, the Deaths Poker, destroys enemies even faster than pre-patch Sword of Night and Flame. Do you want to know where to get the Deaths Poker in Elden Ring? We have got you covered.

To get the Deaths Poker, you will need to travel to Caelid, which is available right at the start of the game. You will need to head to this marker on the map far to the east of the border between Limgrave and Caelid. However, it is advised to get Torrent first to make the journey faster.

The marker on the map will lead you to a ledge next to a giant. Go to the ledge by riding through the town of Sellia, lighting the torches to go past the blue blockade, and going atop the hill and riding past the Church of the Plague. At the Church of the Plague Site of Grace, rest there until nightfall. The enemy you need to kill only appears at night.

Going further south, pass the bat-like enemies and the screeching howler enemies. Once you see the giant at the ledge, go a little left to get on top of white boils that take up the left side of the ridge. Looking down, you will see a winged giant enemy.

This is the Death Rite Bird and going atop the mountain and looking down at it means you will never need to actually engage with the enemy. Just make sure to have enough arrows to take it down. Two-handing your bow will allow you to aim at the bird and allow you to take power shots at it.

Even if you run out of FP, power shots still do more damage than regular shots. Be sure to have enough arrows. You can buy as many arrows as you want at the Church of Elleh. After you have defeated the Death Rite Bird, you will get the Deaths Poker Greatsword.

This Deaths Poker shows what the weapon will be like after nine upgrades, which can be found throughout your playthrough of Elden Ring. The weapon requires 17 Dexterity, 15 Strength, and 11 Intelligence to use.

Elden Ring is out now for the PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series S/X, and PC.

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Elden Ring: Where to Get the Death's Poker - Attack of the Fanboy

Live poker in Texas booming right now, but that's nothing new to the Lone Star State. From the road gambling days in the 1960s to the online era in the early 2000s and beyond, Texas has produced many of the greatest and most accomplished players in poker history.

As the PokerNews team ventures through the south during Texas Week, here is a look at the state's biggest winners by live tournament earnings, as compiled by The Hendon Mob, an epic group of names that includes Poker Hall of Famers like Doyle Brunson and TJ Cloutier, as well as other household names like David Williams, Bill Perkins and Ben Tollerene.

Before we get into our player-by-player breakdown, here's a look at the Top 10 list:

Follow the PokerNews Texas Road trip here!

Poker Hall of Famer and six-time bracelet winner Thomas John TJ Cloutier sits atop Texas all-time money list as the only player so far to reach eight figures with $10.4 million in live tournament earnings, putting him 95th on the overall all-time money list.

Cloutier, of Richardson, got his start in poker after moving to Texas following a short career in the Canadian Football League and a stint owning a food company.

Cloutier's biggest score came before the poker boom when he took second in the 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event for $896,000 after being defeated by Chris Ferguson, who earned the World Champion bracelet and $1.5 million. A few years later, Cloutier earned his second-biggest career cash when he shipped $5,000 No-Limit Holdem at the 2005 WSOP for $657,100.

But Cloutier, who has had an incredible four top-five finishes in the WSOP Main Event, had tournament wins long before that, including taking down a $10,000 No-Limit Holdem event at Amarillo Slims Superbowl of Poker in 1990, or another $10,000 event at the 7th Annual Diamond Jim Brady in Los Angeles the following year.

While he never won the WSOP Main Event, Cloutier's poker legacy was cemented in 2006 when he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Forth Worths Ben Tollerene has racked up $9.5 million in live earnings to put him in second place on Texas all-time live money list and 109th on the overall money list. If thats not impressive enough, Tollerene holds an additional $3.4 million in online earnings.

Although he is an Omaha specialist, Tollerene earned his biggest scores in No-Limit Holdem events, including at the 2019 British Poker Open when he took down 100,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $1,037,159.

Other big scores by Tollerne, who played as Ben86 on PokerStars and Bttech86 on Full Tilt Poker, include a third-place finish in a 2017 Aria Super High Roller for just over one million, as well as a second-place finish in the 2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship $100,000 No-Limit Holdem Challenge for $646,962.

Dallas David Williams is best known for his runner-up finish in the 2004 WSOP Main Event to Greg Raymer, which earned Williams a career-high score of $3.5 million, as well as his appearances on High Stakes Poker.

Williams has racked up $8.9 million in live earnings which, in addition to his Main Event run, includes a victory in the $25,000 Championship Event at the 2010 Five Star World Poker Classic worth $1.5 million, as well as a runner-up finish in a $10,000 No-Limit Holdem event 2004 WPT Borgata Poker Open for $573,800.

Williams remains active on the tournament scene and recently earned a ninth-place finish at the 2021 WSOP in Event #32: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. for $13,989.

High-stakes crusher Keith Tilston has earned $7 million in live earnings to put him fourth on Texas all-time money list.

Tilstons biggest score came at the 2019 WSOP when he took down Event #83: $100,000 High Roller for a cool $2.8 million and his first and only bracelet, while his second biggest score of $660,000 came a year earlier at the US Poker Open in the $50,000 Main Event.

The Austin pro got his first recorded score in 2005 and continues to tear up live tournaments. Tilstons most recent live score, his third-largest, was at the 2021 WSOP, where he finished fifth in Event #82: $250,000 Super High Roller for $632,124.

Poker godfather Doyle Brunson sits fifth on Texas money list with $6.1 million in earnings, though that number a likely just a sliver of what "Texas Dolly" has earned at the poker table over his poker career that has spanned more than a half-century.

Brunson, who began his poker career in the 1950s in games on Forth Worths Jacksboro Highway and later traveled the Texas Circuit as a road gambler, got his first live cash during the third WSOP Main Event in 1972, where he finished in third for $32,500.

That third-place finish ignited a spark in Brunson who went on to finish first in the next five WSOP events he played, including the 1976 Main Event for $220,000 and 1977 Main Event for $340,000.

In total, Brunson has 10 bracelets to his name to put him second on the all-time list, tied with Phil Ivey and Johnny Chan.

The Poker Hall of Famer's biggest live cash came in 2004 when he shipped the WSOP Legends of Poker Championship for $1.2 million.

Hedge fund manager Bill Perkins made a name for himself in the poker community on High Stakes Poker, where he memorably tilted and needled Phil Hellmuth on multiple occasions.

In addition to playing high-stakes cash games, Houstons Perkins has also had success in live tournaments to earn him $5.4 million in live earnings. Nearly half of that came from a sixth-place finish in the 2019 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series 1,050,000 charity event that earned him $2.7 million.

Much of the rest came from a third-place finish in the 2013 WSOP $111,111 One Drop High Roller that earned Perkins just shy of two million.

Perkins remains active in the poker community today and recently took part in a short-lived heads-up challenge against the up-and-coming Landon Tice.

Michael Dyer, another Houston native, has racked up $4.7 million in live tournament earnings to earn a seventh- place spot on the Texas all-time money list.

A massive chunk of that came from a third-place finish in the 2018 WSOP Main Event that earned him $3.6 million, finishing behind Tony Miles (2nd - $5 million) and John Cynn (1st - $8.8 million).

Other big scores by Dyer include a runner-up finish in the 2019 Wynn Winter Classic Champion Event that earned him $353,242, as well as a victory earlier in the year at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that brought him $336,670.

Sugarlands Ray Qartomy is next on the list with $4.5 million in live tournament earnings.

Qartomy, who had his first recorded cash in 2005, had a career-high score in the 2013 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship Event, in which he finished fourth for $639,925. Three years later, Qartomy earned his second-biggest score by finishing third in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $25,000 High Roller for $291,375.

Most recently, the Sugarland pro finished second in a $25,000 High Roller at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $283,500, going on to finish 24th in the $10,000 Main Event the next day for $45,735.

High-stakes grinder David Benefield, of Arlington, has racked up $4.5 million in live tournament earnings since his first cash in 2007 to put him ninth on the Texas all-time money list.

Benefields biggest career score came from an eighth-place finish in the 2013 WSOP Main Event for $944,650. His second biggest score came in 2019 at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, where he won a 25,000 Short Deck event for $789,707.

Benefield proved himself to be quite a short deck specialist that series as he also finished second in a 50,000 Short Deck tournament for $681,989 and eighth in the 100,000 Short Deck Main Event for $447,886.

Benefield, who is also known as an online high-stakes cash game crusher, has not recorded a live tournament cash since the 2019 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series.

Dallas Aaron Van Blarcum had his first live score in 2008 but didnt earn a second until 2017. In the time since then, he has racked up $4.3 million in live tournament earnings to put him tenth on the Texas all-time list.

Van Blarcum's largest live score came in 2019 when he finished runner-up at the partypoker Millions World Bahamas $10,000 Main Event for $970,000. It was clearly a breakout year for Van Blarcum as months earlier he went deep in the 2019 WSOP Main Event, finishing in 212th place for $50,855.

The Dallas native earned his second-biggest score at the 2020 Australian Poker Open with another second-place finish worth $524,885.

Learn more about poker in Texas here!

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Here's a look at Texas' all-time money list, which includes Doyle Brunson, TJ Cloutier & Ben Tollerene.

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Bigger in Texas: A Look at the Lone Star State's All-Time Money List - PokerNews.com

Its been nearly 13 years since Lady Gaga made a play for the top of the Billboard charts with her second #1 hit, Poker Face, but if renewed success at iTunes is to judge by the RedOne-produced tune may be given another hand for chart glory.

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Peruse of the updated iTunes Pop chart sees the Lady leaning at #2 just a few sales away from dethroning Elton John and Dua Lipas Cold Heart from the tallys throne.

Released in late 2008, Face (found aboard Gagas debut album The Fame) is no stranger to digital success.

Not only is the high octane tune considered one of her best offerings yet, but it is also one of the best-selling songs of the digital age. Her second Diamond-certified single (for sales of 10 million+ in the United States), Face is an undying favorite of the Gagas thats recently been shown increased love by a fan campaign designed to help ring in the GRAMMY winners birthday (March 28).

Coupled with a push on streaming outlets as well, the #Monsters push may be just enough to help the EDM banger revisit the Hot 100.

Until we find out next week, keep it locked to That Grape Juice for updates on this story!

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Lady Gagas Poker Face Powers to Top of iTunes Nearly 14 Years After Release - ThatGrapeJuice