by Mike Caro - The Mad Genius of Poker
 
We hear it in sports frequently—an announcer telling us which team has the momentum. Momentum can apply in poker, too. But does the concept really make sense? Let’s use today’s self-interview to investigate.

 Question 1: Is momentum as important in poker as it is in sports? Wait! Stop assuming things with your questions. Sometimes momentum isn’t even important in sports.

 Often it’s an illusion. A sequence of coin flips can seem to show momentum. But there is no momentum whatsoever. There’s only the observation that, recently, either heads or tails landed at a pace considerably greater than the expected 50 percent. You can call that momentum, so go ahead. But actually it isn’t. That’s simply because the previous series of outcomes has no bearing whatsoever on whether the next coin flip will be heads or tails. Assuming a perfectly balanced coin and a fair toss, it’s exactly 50 percent likely that the next toss will bring tails. Same for heads.

by Barbara Rogers

The poker room boss at Connecticut’s famed Mohegan Sun must love it because he has devoted his entire career to the Mohegan Sun organization. Although not quite a year into his new position as poker room manager, Ricky Landry brings a wealth of knowledge and more than twenty years experience to our game.

by John "The Scientist" Hayes

There is no better way to learn about poker than by listening to the advice of those who teach it professionally. So this column begins a new series: interviews with successful poker mentors/instructors. Our first interviewee is the former Dean at Poker School Online, Al Spath, who has been teaching poker for 20-plus years, both online and in live sessions in Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, California, and Nevada (the latter two only by specially arranged contract). Al Spath is one of the first to create a poker curriculum course for Harford Community College in 2008.

By Lou Krieger and Shari Geller
 
In this second part of our interview with Phil Hellmuth (read the first part here), we discussed what else Phil was working on (the answer: two new books—one a biography titled “Poker Brat, “the other a book on “how to achieve great things.” We also discussed his three narrow misses in his effort to win his twelfth WSOP bracelet, and a few random thoughts on the future.

By Lou Krieger and Shari Geller

 We had a chance to talk recently with Phil Hellmuth. In Part 1, we discuss his new venture, an iPhone app. In Part 2 we discuss Hellmuth’s amazing three near-misses at this year’s World Series of Poker, what else he’s working on, and his predictions for the future of online poker’s legalization.

 PPN: Why don’t you start with what the Phil Hellmuth Poker Odds Calculator is, how it works, and when you’d use it.

 Hellmuth: Well, it’s a really cool app. Any time you’re in a poker hand, you can pull it out and you can see exactly what the odds are. The unique thing about this—and of course you can run it on fourth street and you can run it on the flop—is that you can run your hand against a range of hands.

by Mike 'the Mad Genius of Poker' Caro
 

Review by Shari Geller

Decide to Play Great Poker by Annie Duke and John Vorhaus - Huntingon Press (2011), 450 pp. ISBN: 978-1935396321, $34.95 When the book “Decide to Play Great Poker” came across my desk, my first question was “Do we really need another poker strategy book?” It was a question I posed to the book’s coauthor John Vorhaus when he was interviewed on the Keep Flopping Aces podcast by Lou Krieger and me. But after reading the book, I can safely say the answer is yes.

As we continue our series of self-interviews, I’d like to deal with a special request. The persona who usually interviews me has taken today off. His replacement has asked if he can ask questions seeking poker advice that applies strictly to him.

I said yes. I’m gambling that any advice applying to him will also help others. So let’s see. Here’s the interview…

Question 1: I have a $500 bankroll, which I’ve gradually built from $20 playing at 50-cent and $1 blinds, no-limit hold’em. Last night there was a game with $1 and $3 blinds that had very loose and weak players. Should I have sat in that game, instead?

DeepStacks Live and the Grand Sierra Join Forces. The DeepStacks Poker Tour Grand Sierra Resort World Poker Challenge is the crown jewel event in a four-stop series of tournaments taking place throughout 2011. It is a pro-participated tournament event where players from Northern California and Reno/Tahoe can come test their skills against some of the top pros in the world, including: Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Mike Matusow, Tom McEvoy, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade, Karina Jett, Randall Flowers, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, and Jason “JSpudUF” Lee.

Success in the game of poker can mean both on and off the felt and Kansas resident Brent Christy has defined how to do just that. He is not only a sponsored player but a winning live player, winning online player and professional poker coach. From learning the game with a group of friends playing sit-n-go's to becoming a successful poker professional, Christy's drive has made him a valuable proponent for the poker industry.