Just Poker Talk

Well, the Warriors are one win away from upsetting the Mavericks and moving on to the second round to face either Houston or Utah. I’m rooting for Houston in that series, because Yao Ming is just too slow to keep up with the Warriors, and the only way they’d win is if Luther Head, Shane Battier and Rafer Alston hit their threes, which is very possible considering that they will be wide open a lot. Anyway I’m more excited about the Warriors right now than poker to be honest. But I guess that’s what happens during a losing streak. I just can’t bring myself to play at the moment, because I’ll donk it away for sure.

So yeah, I promised not to mention the Warriors again, since this is a poker blog, and not a Warriors or basketball blog. But I just read the latest entry on Phil Hellmuth’s blog over at Cardplayer.com. He talks about going to the Warriors’ games over the weekend, Friday and Sunday, and he talks about his experiences with Don Nelson, how Nellie used to ride tractors all over Wisconsin to raise money for Farmers.

It’s a pretty interesting blog entry, and it makes me like Hellmuth a lot more, with the exception that he’s also a Laker fan, which is just traitorous in my opinion. You just can’t be both. There’s no way around it. There’s no excuse for that bullshit. Anyway Hellmuth may be called the Poker Brat, and it’s fun to watch him blow up after a bad beat, but he sounds like a nice guy. I’ve said that a few times about a few other poker players, and I think that’s true of most. I’d like to think that all people are good people.

Here’s a small excerpt from Hellmuth’s blog entry:

The Warriors are just plain fun to watch, with Baron Davis, J-Rich, Biedrens, Stephen Davis, and Monte Ellis running the court like madmen, dunking, alley-ooping, fast breaking, and firing threes. Biedrens and Ellis are only like 21 years old, so the Warriors may be great for a long while. Don Nelson is one heck of a coach. I first went up to Nellie over 10 years ago in Hawaii (when I was at Lakers training camp, and he was just hanging out) to tell him, “Thanks for all of the great work with Farm Aid in Wisconsin� (I’m sure that he didn’t know me from Adam.) Back in the 1980s, Nellie used to ride tractors around the state of Wisconsin helping to raise money for the farmers, and that impressed me. Then about two-and-a-half years ago I did a charity event in Dallas for the Dallas Children’s Hospital through the Texas Stampede organization, and Nellie showed up to play. Of course, I had the microphone all night, and I was teasing him!

You can read the rest at Cardplayer.com.

Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, NBA, Phil Hellmuth

Our regularly scheduled poker-related posts will be back Monday. I apologize for this, but I’ve been rooting for the Golden State Warriors for the last ten years and they’ve finally made the playoffs, so I feel that they deserved a post in anticipation of Sunday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.

I’m at a loss for words to express how excited I am about the playoffs. But here’s a video that expresses my excitement and anticipation. Here is a playoff preview video and another video of Jason Richardson and Baron Davis highlights. Both were made by Five Ten Entertainment.

The videos are awesome and after watching them, I just feel more pumped up about Sunday.

Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, NBA, Playoffs, Five Ten Entertainment

This is an excerpt from a UK show called The Real Hustle. The premise is to reveal secrets of how to perform a variety of different hustles, and there’s one specifically about poker, where they beat three members of the Hendon Mob at a game of no-limit hold’em, which I found fitting to this blog.

(more…)

So I had the option of choosing a Burt Reynolds picture or a Shannon Elizabeth picture to begin my post. I was going to flip a coin, but then figured it’d be too much work and went with the Shannon Elizabeth picture.

Anyway I was browsing IMDB and I stumbled upon a movie called Deal. I never heard of this movie before. Right now it’s in post-production. I’m not sure what that means, but I think that it’s a good thing. I figure the movie will be released later this year in the US. Shannon Elizabeth and Burt Reynolds are in the movie. That probably explains why Shannon Elizabeth has been playing in all these poker events lately, or maybe not.

Here is the plot summary according to IMDB:

As an ex-gambler teaches a hot-shot college kid some things about playing cards, he finds himself pulled into the world series of poker, where his protégé is his toughest competition.

I assume the hot-shot college kid will be played Shannon Elizabeth and that the ex-gambler will be played by Burt Reynolds. One would assume that the hot-shot college kid would be male. I wonder what motivated this choice, if that’s the case of course. I’m not positive about this. More and more, actually, I’m getting this feeling that I’m completely wrong and just being an idiot.

The only remotely interesting thing about the movie is the where the poker action is set. It’s different than Rounders which depicted poker as a pretty gritty and deviant game. In Deal the poker seems to be portrayed in a more controlled and commercialized setting, which really reflects the world of poker now, even after the passage of the UIGEA.

Overall the movie sounds like your typical Hollywood movie. I’m not sure if I’ll watch this in theaters, but I’ll probably rent it.

Deal, movie, Shannon Elizabeth, poker, Burt Reynolds, Rounders

Shana Hiatt, bloopers

On the front page of Doyle’s Room, there is a video of Mike Caro and Doyle Brunson playing a heads up match. There are two videos, one for each match. I won’t spoil how the two matches play out, except to say that it is funny in an unintentional way and that Mike Caro goes all-in with 6-4 suited in the second match. The latter alone made the videos worth watching. I could even ignore the fact that the videos were made for advertising purposes, as both players are playing online using Doyle’s Room software.

The advertising element of the video is part of why I found the match more funny than competitive and intense like real poker. But how can they take the game seriously if they only have money to gain? One things for sure, Mike Caro reminds me of those actors on infomercials, especially the one that wears the question mark suit and screams exuberantly.

Click here to watch: Doyle Brunson versus Mike Caro

Doyle’s Room, poker, Mike Caro, Doyle Brunson, heads up

I don’t have anything interesting to write about today. No news. No nothing. Plus it’s a Friday. Most of the time I don’t agree with the mantra that Friday’s are for relaxing and fun, but today I agree.

The Donkey Test was posted on Pokerdog a few days ago but I didn’t have time to take it. I got through five questions before I scrolled down and realized it was 52 questions long. Needless to say I hurriedly clicked the back button and attended to more pressing matters.

Today I read Poker Penguin’s post on the Donkey Test and decided right then and there that I would take the test no matter what. I was not curious about whether I was a donkey or not. I already knew that I wasn’t. I didn’t need to take a mind numbing test to confirm that I was a poker genius. My main reason for taking the test was to gain bragging rights over my fellow poker bloggers at Pokerdog and Poker Penguin.

Before I reveal my score, I want to say that the Donkey Test is a poor evaluator of poker skill, and should not be taken seriously. After taking the test, it became clear to me that I would be ranked as a poker genius if I chose only the aggressive answers. The problem for a poker genius like me is that I tend to out think my opponent, and end up choosing fold for half the answers.

Anyway I scored a 96. I’m proud to say that I got the worse score.

For those that are unfamiliar with my dry humor, I wrote this post in jest. Although I wouldn’t take the results of the Donkey Test too seriously, it’s still a worthwhile way to spend 20-30 minutes of your day. Plus you get bragging rights amongst your friends. Everyone knows that the Donkey Test is the ultimate truth.

I encourage everyone to take the Donkey Test. Post your scores here so I can feel more depressed about my poker IQ.

Donkey Test, poker IQ, poker skills, poker odds

Earlier today I was reading a paper called Game Theory and Poker by Jason Swanson. The paper focuses on optimal bluffing strategies in a simplified game of poker. The author calls it One Card Poker. By taking the game to its barest form, the author is able to explain game theory without having to worry about the complications and nuances associated with normal poker games. His ideas on bluffing strategy apply to any form of poker. Of course the the player must take into consideration the different complexities of each game.

The author concludes that game theory is a paradox since the “optimal strategy” leads to neutral EV. In his game of One Card Poker using the “optimal strategy” neutralized the opponent. Therefore, to achieve a positive EV, the player must make plays that go against the “optimal strategy”.

It should be noted that the “optimal strategy” can lead to positive EV. This applies when the opponent is making what the author calls “stupid mistakes”. The simplicity of One Card Poker does a good job illustrating the concept of “stupid mistakes”, which are plays that are always negative EV. If this concept is applied to more complicated games of poker, it becomes easy to see why an “optimal strategy” can be effective against the average player.

After reading the article I programmed my own game of One Card Poker. The AI, however, is not programmed using the “optimal strategy”. I planned to do so, but forgot the link to the paper when I was creating the game. Also aces are low in this game.

One Card Poker, poker theory, flash poker game, game theory