I write a column at Poker Player Newspaper -- one of those things your parents told you about, it's printed on paper, you can pick it up, feel it, turn the pages. It was in a way a career-highlight since, while not new and shiny, PPN rightly calls itself the players voice and it is an honor to be in it and in casinos around the country.
But we are in the 21st century, after all, so it was great to see PPN move into the digital age with a really cool launch of its new website. I am so excited about this that I have promised myself that I will submit new content to the site every day. I'm now two days into that promise and I'm ready for a nap.
In the event I manage to keep this up, I will link to the articles here, and offer a short teaser paragraph. Please head on over to the PPN website for not only the rest of my small contributions but also for the many great articles you can find there every day.
Here are the first two new ones I've written:
Twitter to the Rescue at WSOP-C Western Regional Championship
Today was Day 1 of the $10,000 WSOP Circuit Western Regional Championship at Harrah’s Rincon in Valley Center, California. It was already noteworthy for being the third nationally televised event of its kind, the last being the WSOP-C Championship in New Orleans this May, which will send players to the $1 million national championship at Caesars later this year. But tonight, as I was following the tweets from players at the event, I saw something quite unusual.
Wynn and PokerStars Announce Alliance
Last Thursday it was announced that PokerStars and Wynn Resorts were forming a strategic alliance joining the power of the brick and mortar casino with the largest online poker site in the world. One of the first goals of his merger is to seek passage of federal legislation that will regulate Internet gambling
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Poker's Most Influential Players
Tonight on Keep Flopping Aces on http://www.roundersradio.com/ at 6:00 PM PDT, Lou Krieger and I will be joined by my friend and former co-worker, poker blogger James Guill, aka Compncards. I first met James via Skype when I was the shadow editor for Poker News' daily tournament coverage of the World Series of Poker in 2008. James was one of many bloggers working on site, reporting on the tournaments, and was one of the few who did not mind having an editor or dealing with a woman which made him A-OK in my book.
Since then, James has written for dozens of poker sites on a variety of topics and has kept his finger on the pulse of what's going on in the poker world. One of his current gigs is writing for Poker Junkie and he has recently started a series on the top 20 most influential people in poker. It's an intriguing topic and one likely to provide as much disagreement as accord, because everyone has their own idea of who has influenced poker and who is merely famous for being famous.
I mentioned his series to Lou Krieger, my co-host on Keep Flopping Aces and my editor at Poker Player Newspaper, and he agreed that it is an interesting exercise trying to come up with a list of who has had the biggest influence on poker. Does someone qualify for merely winning the biggest WSOP Main Event ever (Jamie Gold), or is that confusing flash-in-the-pan with actual influence? And whose influence may have been for the worse (Russ Hamilton?) and not for the better.
Tonight, we will dissect each other's list and hopefully get some input from the listeners and the chat room. Come join us to weigh in with your own suggestions. I hope you join us!
Since then, James has written for dozens of poker sites on a variety of topics and has kept his finger on the pulse of what's going on in the poker world. One of his current gigs is writing for Poker Junkie and he has recently started a series on the top 20 most influential people in poker. It's an intriguing topic and one likely to provide as much disagreement as accord, because everyone has their own idea of who has influenced poker and who is merely famous for being famous.
I mentioned his series to Lou Krieger, my co-host on Keep Flopping Aces and my editor at Poker Player Newspaper, and he agreed that it is an interesting exercise trying to come up with a list of who has had the biggest influence on poker. Does someone qualify for merely winning the biggest WSOP Main Event ever (Jamie Gold), or is that confusing flash-in-the-pan with actual influence? And whose influence may have been for the worse (Russ Hamilton?) and not for the better.
Tonight, we will dissect each other's list and hopefully get some input from the listeners and the chat room. Come join us to weigh in with your own suggestions. I hope you join us!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
New Co-Host on Keep Flopping Aces -- Me!
I’ve been a guest on Lou Krieger’s show Keep Flopping Aces a bunch of times and I know that every time I go on I’ll be wracked with nerves the day before and will have one moment on the show where I forget how to end a sentence. That fear of public speaking is real, even if you can’t see the audience, even if they’re busy playing ten tables while listening to you. Still, I never say no to Lou and not just because he’s my editor at Poker Player Newspaper and can wield the red pen of doom. No, it’s also because I love talking about poker.
So when Lou asked me if I’d like to be a permanent co-host on the show, I think the “Yes!” came out before his sentence was finished. I’ve been infatuated with poker for as long as I can remember. Playing poker is frustrating and exhilarating and tiring and intoxicating. It’s never the same experience twice and even when your flopped set gets you runner-runnered out of a tournament, there’s nothing you want to do but get back in the game.
I started writing about poker three years ago at PokerNews.com, taking the place of Amy Calistri as she was focusing on her job and, later, her book with Mike Matusow. It is interesting that Lou’s last co-host was the same Amy Calistri. Perhaps this means Matusow will be tapping me for the sequel to Check-Raising the Devil – Folding to Bambi. Or am I the only person who worries about his poker playing now that he’s mellow Mike?
My poker writing covered everything except for strategy. I wrote recaps, fluff pieces, interviews, bios, personal interest stories, news and legislation updates. But as someone fairly timid about plunking down large sums of money to play poker, usually sitting with the grandmas and the 2-4 limit games, I didn’t feel I was in any position to give poker advice. About all I was in a position to say was don’t forget to tip the waitress and if you can’t afford to call a limp from the small blind, you probably shouldn’t be playing.
That’s changed. Last year I tried my hand at the Aria $125 buy-in daily tournament. It has an ideal structure for me. You start with a deep stack, and blinds go up slowly and at a steady rate. If you don’t do anything stupid or rash, you can have a decent run. Patience and discipline is rewarded, wild aggression is not as necessary. In other words, it is an ideal set up for a mother of two who lacks the killer ‘shove early and often’ mentality of my much younger, male counterparts.
I won the tournament, an experience I wrote about for Poker Player. For someone with limited tournament experience, my Jerry Yang moment (I was the short stack for much of the time before final table) was a huge achievement. I was as giddy as a Norman Chad watching Patrik Antonius go all in. Then a couple weeks ago, I went back, and over the weekend had one deep run (my opponent’s rivered full house knocking me and my puny ace high flush to the rail), one final table (the aforementioned runner-runner suck out over my set) and a win against the largest field in any of the Aria’s daily tournaments.
So now, of course, I’m a poker expert.
Please come and join me and Lou every Thursday night at 9:00 pm Eastern at Rounder’s Radio. We will talk about everything and anything poker with different guests each week. Come into the chat room or call or DM us your questions at our new Twitter page, KeepFlppingAces. I’ll give you some great tournament advice. Lou may have, literally, written the book on poker – but with my two wins, I’m ready to pen a chapter or two.
So when Lou asked me if I’d like to be a permanent co-host on the show, I think the “Yes!” came out before his sentence was finished. I’ve been infatuated with poker for as long as I can remember. Playing poker is frustrating and exhilarating and tiring and intoxicating. It’s never the same experience twice and even when your flopped set gets you runner-runnered out of a tournament, there’s nothing you want to do but get back in the game.
I started writing about poker three years ago at PokerNews.com, taking the place of Amy Calistri as she was focusing on her job and, later, her book with Mike Matusow. It is interesting that Lou’s last co-host was the same Amy Calistri. Perhaps this means Matusow will be tapping me for the sequel to Check-Raising the Devil – Folding to Bambi. Or am I the only person who worries about his poker playing now that he’s mellow Mike?
My poker writing covered everything except for strategy. I wrote recaps, fluff pieces, interviews, bios, personal interest stories, news and legislation updates. But as someone fairly timid about plunking down large sums of money to play poker, usually sitting with the grandmas and the 2-4 limit games, I didn’t feel I was in any position to give poker advice. About all I was in a position to say was don’t forget to tip the waitress and if you can’t afford to call a limp from the small blind, you probably shouldn’t be playing.
That’s changed. Last year I tried my hand at the Aria $125 buy-in daily tournament. It has an ideal structure for me. You start with a deep stack, and blinds go up slowly and at a steady rate. If you don’t do anything stupid or rash, you can have a decent run. Patience and discipline is rewarded, wild aggression is not as necessary. In other words, it is an ideal set up for a mother of two who lacks the killer ‘shove early and often’ mentality of my much younger, male counterparts.
I won the tournament, an experience I wrote about for Poker Player. For someone with limited tournament experience, my Jerry Yang moment (I was the short stack for much of the time before final table) was a huge achievement. I was as giddy as a Norman Chad watching Patrik Antonius go all in. Then a couple weeks ago, I went back, and over the weekend had one deep run (my opponent’s rivered full house knocking me and my puny ace high flush to the rail), one final table (the aforementioned runner-runner suck out over my set) and a win against the largest field in any of the Aria’s daily tournaments.
So now, of course, I’m a poker expert.
Please come and join me and Lou every Thursday night at 9:00 pm Eastern at Rounder’s Radio. We will talk about everything and anything poker with different guests each week. Come into the chat room or call or DM us your questions at our new Twitter page, KeepFlppingAces. I’ll give you some great tournament advice. Lou may have, literally, written the book on poker – but with my two wins, I’m ready to pen a chapter or two.
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