Editorial

With the 2010 World Series of Poker upon us, Nolan Dalla appeared May 13 on my Internet radio show, Keep Flopping Aces. The show airs live every Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, 6 p.m. Pacific Time, and corresponding times worldwide, on Rounder’s Radio—located at www.roundersradio. com. It can also be downloaded for on-demand listening anytime, so if you missed the show when it originated, you can still hear it whenever you’d like.
 

Poker and etiquette don’t often go together. A game with rich traditions of shootouts, boozing, and drugs seems beyond polite protocol. And yet there are rules of decorum generally followed at the table. I know. I broke one recently.

I’ve written before about my pet peeves while trying to enjoy our wonderful game of poker. Today, I’m calling out the offenders of my favorite peeves and calling them pinheads. In no particular order allow me to offer up what I believe to be the five most egregious, teeth grinding rituals of rudeness and boorish behavior that are regularly perpetrated by the pinheads of poker upon all of us who aren’t pinheads. See if you agree with my list. Caution, if you do not agree, you may be a pinhead.

I have a math problem for you. If you can do simple multiplying and division in your head then you don’t need a pencil and paper. Otherwise go grab them.

When might it make sense for you to quit your job and play poker full time for a living? I'm asked that from time to time by players who have won some money and think that they might be ready make the switch from playing poker as a hobby to playing poker for a living.

I'll share with you a typical example of that, from someone I met at Foxwoods who was thinking of quitting his day job. I've found it's typical of many who ask me about turning pro.

Texas hold' em is more popular than 7-card stud-although luck plays more of a role in hold' em. Regardless of which game you prefer, there are certain similarities to keep in mind when deciding to play or fold. The First Cards dealt-play with an edge: You can't play any three cards in 7-card stud. Small pairs are playable in both games. But don't fall in love with them-particularly in stud-if you see your card in someone else's hand. That the advantage in 7-card stud-you can see some of your opponents' hands.

Texas hold' em is more popular than 7-card stud-although luck plays more of a role in hold' em. Regardless of which game you prefer, there are certain similarities to keep in mind when deciding to play or fold. The First Cards dealt-play with an edge: You can't play any three cards in 7-card stud. Small pairs are playable in both games. But don't fall in love with them-particularly in stud-if you see your card in someone else's hand. That the advantage in 7-card stud-you can see some of your opponents' hands.

We've all done it at the cash game tables-dug ourselves into a hole so deep that it might as well be our grave. You can blame variance, the fickle poker gods, or that idiot from Helsinki who chased a gutshot and cracked your set of aces. But freaking out and placing the blame on your horrendous opponents won't solve your problem. Rather, you must remain as calm as possible in order to focus on getting unstuck, otherwise you might as well start picking out coffins and making funeral arrangements.

I received an email from a friend of mine who saw the draft of my recent article, A Short-Stack Story. John (not his real name) asked me, "How can you glorify short-stackers? "They're brainless sycophants. They're the dirty underbelly of poker winners. They should be sent to Hell." Now, John, don't hold back with your opinion.

The year 2009 started off with a bang in the Bahamas. During the tail end of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at Atlantis on Paradise Island, a confident Tom "durrrr" Dwan issued a challenge to any opponent-if you can beat him over 50,000 hands, then he will pay you $500,000 on 3-to-1 odds. Patrik Antonius was the first pro to accept the "durrrr Challenge" in a highly anticipated match up on Full Tilt Poker. The result was an over-hyped and disappointing event where Antonius and durrrr failed to reach 50,000 hands as they played sporadically over the last ten months.