Poker News and Gossip
Elements of Poker
I just finished reading “The Elements of Poker” by Tommy Angelo. “Wow!” is one of the few words I can say.
The book gives very few strategic comments. In fact, most of the book can be described as Zen-like mumbo jumbo, with Tommy spending many pages on breathing techniques and Yoga. But guess what? It WORKS. Not because I have tried the breathing or other stuff he says in his “elements”. It works, because Tommy is a professional, who knows how to talk about poker. He’s been there, playing his C-game, chasing losses, lamenting bad beats. Every single one of us has been there…
R.I.P. Brandi?
If you have never heard the name Brandi Hawbaker you probably haven’t spent much time at the various poker forums over the last couple of years. Mike and Adam have also frequently mentioned her on the pokercast as well. She broke onto the scene in 2006 at the WPT Festa Al Lago where she finished in 35th place.
Since that time she has been the center of several poker dramas and has been linked to several well known poker pros including Gus Hansen, Mark Newhouse, Dustin Woolf, “Captain” Tom Franklin, and even David Sklansky to name a few. Some of the threads on 2+2 have reached over 100 pages.
E-pass is passe
Just 2 days ago I used e-passporte for transferring money between sites to get 600$ to Poker Stars to get that new bonus they had. I guess I was lucky. E-passporte will no longer accept and transfer money to and from poker sites. They pulled out. I find their motivation understandable, but their timing is weird. Is something to come in the world of online poker / UIGEA? Or is this just a random event in an online poker players career?
A Nemeth Rebuttal
The good Dr. Pauly recently had a guest post from poker reporter BJ Nemeth in regards to the WSOP 90-day delay. If you haven’t read it do so now and then come back.
I admit I agree with some of the things Mr. Nemeth has to say so I’ll limit myself to only the items that I don’t agree with.
The Sun Setting on an Old Pro
I was playing at the Wynn’s 1/3 No Limit game last Thursday night when an interesting player came into our game.
“Is this seat taken?” A gentleman asked in a Forrest Gump-esque Southern drawl. Curly grey hair, a boyish grin, and a slightly receding hairline, the man peeled off a couple of hundreds from a stack in his pocket. The face looked familiar, but where had I seen it?
Vegas Summer in the Cards
Super busy week for your short-stacked friend. Spent the better part of it in windy San Francisco, where I managed not only to play a little live poker but also blogged all week (thanks to a sweet wireless connection in the hotel). Got involved a bit in some interesting PPA-related dialogue as well (see below). The big news, though, was that I found out I am heading to Vegas for the 2008 WSOP to help out with the PokerNews coverage. Will be there for pretty much the whole sucker.
More details on that to come. Meanwhile, here’s what all happened at Hard-Boiled Poker this week:
