My Poker Book Shelf

Click for bigger image. There might be a few out on loan. I wrote a post about what ones to get first here.

Under the Sea

Good luck New Orleans =)

and :- http://katrinacoptor.ytmnd.com/

World Series of Poker Event 4

Event #4 - $1500 Limit Hold 'Em

It is called Pot Limit in the torrent but it is Limit. This one features Dan Druff that posts regularly at Neverwinpoker.com. I was interested to see it because Paul Philips had built him up to be the "odds-on favorite to win WSOP lamer of the year" as he puts it.

He didn't come across well but I have seen a lot worse in these events. Dissapointed by the level of lameness, not severe enough and since thats my main source of entertainment from these things I am now slightly annoyed =)

Need new games!

Why when I upgrade my computer is there no new games due out real soon, sigh. Guess I have to wait 2-3 months to get my hands on what I want =)

Games I am looking forward to buying :-

Serious Sam 2 : The first one rocked ass especially the final level and the huge boss! The expansion pack that came out later wasn't as good and felt tired. Hope the sequel lives up to my expectations.

Civilization 4 : I never played the first Civ game but Civ 2 was the bomb and I played it for weeks and weeks. Civ 3 sucked however =( Which one is it going to be closer too? At least they are bringing back the wonder movies in #4. Please don't disappoint me.

Myst V: End of Ages : The original Myst is still one of my favorite games of all time, I completed this from start to finish with no cheating and got a great deal of satisfaction from it. I played Riven but didn't complete it (addicted to Warcraft 2). I also got #3 and #4 but only dipped my toe in the water with these. I will still buy #5 and check it out, it is the last one and is being made by the original team this time.

Age of Empires III : Whenever one of these has come out I have been deeply immersed in some Blizzard RTS which have always been a factor of 10 superior as far as multiplayer is concerned. However, this time there will be no Blizzard RTS out to distract me so maybe I will get a bit more immersed in this one if it happens to be good.

F.E.A.R. : Demo seems ok but I never really played it for more than 5 minutes. I will certainly buy the full release but it looks a little bit like more of the same based on first impressions alone.

Black & White 2 : The first Black and White was the most overrated game in the history of gaming. Magazines unanimously raved about it giving it 95%+ marks when in fact once you played it for longer than 30minutes you realized how shallow and boring it really was. I stopped buying PC Game review magazines after this =(. So why buy this? Because I am a sucker and who knows maybe it will be much improved and actually worthy of some serious game play.

X3: Reunion : Another open ended space trading game. Will they finally make one worthy of the classic Elite which is a decade old now? The last two I tried - Freelancer and X2 : The Threat had big flaws, the former being too simplistic but very polished and the latter being very complex but not polished! Maybe they can combine the good and throw out the bad in this.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion : The visuals look awesome in this, I just hope the gameplay and story are as good. I had some problems with the earlier games and expansions but maybe this will be much improved.

Half-Life 2: Aftermath : Half-Life 2 is the most polished and best looking FPS ever in my opinion so I will definitely buy the expansion pack when it comes out. However, Half-Life 2 was missing a certain x factor which I find hard to pin point regarding overall gameplay and immersion/satisfaction. For instance, it looks way better than Resident Evil 4 and is also way more polished but is far inferior as far as game play and immersion are concerned =(

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl : What is going on with this game? Please release it already. It is a game based after a second explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station which devastates the surrounding area. This turns your character into a scavenger trying to recover valuable items whilst at the same time blasting your way through radiation ridden mutants! What more do you want? It also looks fantastic visually but the longer the delay for release the more dated it will begin to look.

Duke Nukem Forever : The first Duke is still my favorite 3D game of all time as far as hours played is concerned. This sequel is a sick joke though, only been waiting 7 years or something now! It has been started and scrapped at least 3 times now originally being made on the Quake 2 engine then the Unreal engine and now I have no clue what engine. They are still hiring level designers and graphic artists constantly so one of these days I am sure they will announce a release date =)

So until any of these come out I am going to finish Doom 3 which I never completed followed closely by the expansion pack. If by then nothing has come out I will re-install Far Cry and complete that and if still nothing is out then I am really screwed =)

If you have any real cool Single player type games on PC to recommend let me know in comments please.

World Series of Poker Event 1

Event #1 - $1500 NL Hold 'Em

Features Alan Cunningham, Scott Fischman and Devilfish.

The 5% Rule

I was thinking quite a bit recently about expected hourly earn rates for playing No Limit Hold 'Em online. The following analysis is pretty tentative and is NOT based on any statistical or mathematical analysis. It is based on my experience alone cross referenced vs other top players experiences. It seems accurate enough to me, to warrant sharing it with you!

The 5% rule is based on full ring (6 Handed or More) cash games. The rule also applies to the "peak" earn rates at any level you may play. By peak play I mean close to perfect play (Haha) with little or no mistakes. Some people might actually make more than the figures listed as it is impossible to define perfect play in reality.

The 5% rule is based on the total investment committed to each session of poker and is the expected hourly earn rate you should expect in the long run. Some examples will make this clear :-

The 5% Rule : 5% of total investment = Expected peak hourly earn rate
Rules : 6 handed or more, 5-6 Multi tabling, above $600 buyin NL Level.

I play six $600 (3/6) NL Tables. Total investment in the current session is $3600. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $180 per hour.

I play three $600 (3/6) NL Tables and three $1000 (5/10) NL Tables. Total investment in the current session is $4800. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $240 per hour.

I play six $1000 (5/10) NL Tables. Total investment in the current session is $6000. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $300 per hour.

I play four $1000 (5/10) NL tables and two $2000 (10/20) NL Tables. Total investment in the current session is $8000. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $400 per hour.

I play four $2000 (10/20) NL tables and two $1000 (5/10) NL Tables. Total investment in the current session is $10000. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $500 per hour.

I play six $2000 (10/20) NL tables. Total investment in the current session is $12000. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $600 per hour.

I play four $2000 (10/20) NL tables and two $5000 (25/50) NL Tables. Total investment in the current session is $18000. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $900 per hour.

Every single example here is accurate in as much as it has been regularly achieved by the top players at these levels of play. Now some of you reading this won't be playing this high and in that case the 5% rule won't apply to you. A new rule comes into play, the 7% rule =)

The 7% Rule : 7% of total investment = Expected peak hourly earn rate
Rules : 6 handed or more, 5-6 Multi tabling, above $50 NL but below $600 NL.

I play four $50 (.25/.5) NL tables and two $100 (.5/1) NL Tables. Total investment in the current session is $400. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $28 per hour.

I play six $100 (.5/1) NL tables. Total investment in the current session is $600. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $42 per hour.

I play two $100 (.5/1) NL tables and four $200 (1/2) NL tables. Total investment in the current session is $1000. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $70 per hour.

I play six $200 (1/2) NL Tables. Total investment in the current session is $1200. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $84 per hour.

I play six $400 (2/4) NL Tables. Total investment in the current session is $2400. Expected peak earn rate is roughly $168 per hour.

Note : I realize there isn't a sudden drop from 7% to 5% when you move from 2/4 to 3/6, it is laid out like this for simplicity's sake.

These are not solid rules but very general and in my opinion and experience and the experience of many other top players they are reasonably sound and close to accurate.

If you play only 3 tables the 5% rule will not be correct any more and will probably grow to 7%. A similar change will be needed if you play 12 tables, your return will probably drop to 3%.

Of note: the 5% rule probably does not decrease as you play only 25/50 NL or above as you will mostly be forced to play short handed thus achieving a higher hourly rate anyway.

Sonic Porn

Uses original sound samples from the Sonic the Hedgehog games. Some funny!

Thanks Ice=)

To be or not to be...

a psycho.

Tom Cruise Was Happier In Previous Life
Tom Cruise revealed that he was much happier in previous existences and his current life is probably one of the least satisfying he has led.

Scientologist Tom Cruise revealed that he is much older than the forty three years he has spent in his present body. Tom Cruise noted that he is "old beyond reckoning." What's more, his current life is "probably one of the least satisfying" he has led.

"I was much happier in previous existences when I wrote plays, composed music, conquered nations, discovered continents, and developed cures for diseases," said Tom Cruise. Cruise said he became aware that he "had been here before," when he read the complete works of Shakespeare in a month, despite being dyslexic, not long after dropping out of high school.

"Shakespeare was deja vu for me," said Tom Cruise. "It was so cool. I felt as if I had seen his words already, knew them all by heart. Then, after I began studying scientology, I realized the words had come from my heart in a previous life. That's why I say that as glorious and enviable as my present life is, making "War of the Worlds" and all those other great movies can't compare to writing "Romeo and Juliet" or the sonnets.

In addition to recognizing his days of future passed in the works of Shakespeare and Bach—and in the achievements of Columbus and Napoleon—Cruise recognizes the continuing reappearance of "Anti-Thetanic forces," such as Matt Lauer and Brooke Shields, with whom he has clashed in former lives.

Source :- http://toronto.fashion-monitor.com/news.php/Celebrity_Style/2005082202tom_cruise

Now :- http://www.wtfhost.com/userfiles/Publius/shakespeare.jpg
And:- http://www.big-boys.com/articles/tomkills.html
More:- http://www.tomcruiseisnuts.com/

WSOP Circuit event 5

World Series of Poker Event 5

Five Amateurs and Antonio Esfandiari. I won't pretend it's not boring because it is =(

On another note, computer problems seem to be panning out. Not crashed for a day or two.

Fingers crossed!

Sigh...

We did at least another 20 hours solid work on my PC since my last post and walked into more problems which we eventually eliminated. The harddrive doesn't seem to be a problem anymore, it boots fast etc. The only problem I am now seeing is random Blue Screen of Death ONLY when I am playing poker. Not only that but it seems to be happening only when Interpoker(Cyrptologic - William Hill etc) clients are running. This has not been confirmed absolutely yet because the crashes are random and uncommon happening maybe once per day.

The computer has never crashed during any stress test.
The computer has never crashed during any 3D game including Doom3, Battlefield2, GTA: San Andreas, Warcraft 3 and Half Life 2.
The computer has passed all 3D Marks tests, 2001, 2003 and 2005 with flying colors.

The problem with the Interpoker client that is so lame is that if you happen to crash during a hand and for example, it is an $8000 pot with both of you heads up. At the river you both have a minimal amount left like $500 each, if you crash at this point, you won't get any protection to reconnect and not only that but when it is your turn to act your hand is automatically folded! It isn't even checked.

I haven't had such a serious occurence yet but I guess if it was proven to be Interpoker then it would only be a matter of time. I don't want to just quit this site because I like the games there. =(

I turned all the animations in Interpoker off last night and left my computer running overnight with 4 tables open just observing games but when I got up this morning it hadn't crashed out. Maybe the animations were doing it? Or maybe you need to actually be playing to give it a chance to crash you. Or perhaps it has nothing to do with Interpoker at all!

Either way this is some sucky =) But.........

Not as sucky as the movie The Final Cut starring Robin Williams. This movie is crazy bad. Half way through we figured out it was going to be bad but decided to continue to watch it to at least see the possibly "interesting" ending and/or twist. There isn't one, it ended so abruptly that we both sat there stunned. This movie does not deserve any deep analysis so don't bother, it is real trash.

Computer problems!

Computer wouldn't boot up again after crashing during poker last night. This led to another complete reinstall. So after everything was completely installed again and updated with the latest drivers etc, we ghosted an image so we can recover quicker next time. However, soon after that I rebooted again and it said it couldn't find the boot file...! I kept rebooting and eventually I got it to work once and am currently working on my computer. I am no hardware expert but my friend is pretty knowledgeable but even he can't quite figure out what is going on. We are pretty sure it has something to do with the Sata and/or hardrive but we seem to have exhausted most avenues up until now.

Hopefully he can figure out the glitches soon =(

Circuit event 4 out!

Wsop Circuit event 4.

There is a really bad laydown of a set in this episode, really hard to imagine what was going on in his head. Proxy shame!

The naming convention for the torrents is out of Sync with the actual Episode number. There has been 5 torrents because the first episode was released in two halfs. Thanks to Justin for pointing this out.

Poker Timeline

I thought it would be interesting for some of you to read about how I started Poker as well as how I progressed up until now. I have had a lot of emails about this so here is as much information as I am going to give you!

Dates are estimated but will be very close to accurate.

Mid September 2003: I have recently made a late switch from Undead to Humans in Warcraft 3 for the upcoming World Cyber Games in South Korea. Humans were very imbalanced at this time and were guaranteed a huge advantage in the event. NTT who had been talking to me about Poker for some time finally persuades me to try it out. Whilst training for WCG I can also be found playing the play money tables at Pokerstars for fun.

Early October 2003: Still training for WCG but also playing more and more poker for fun. NTT during this time gives me $50 to try the real money tables. I start at the $5 NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 1 and 2 cents, I manage to blow it all in one night. I then persuade Daishi to lend me $50 which I build up over a few days to a couple of hundred dollars. I stop all poker and concentrate on WCG which is only days away.

Mid October 2003: I fly out to Seoul to take part in the WCG. I get through my group stages winning 4-0. I then meet my fellow team mate 4K.Grubby in an unfortunate match-up in the very next round. He wins 2-1 and knocks me out ending my gaming career. 4K.Grubby is currently considered by many to be the best Warcraft 3 player in the world having won the World Cyber games in 2004. My predictions are confirmed about Human imbalance as Humans take Gold, Silver and Bronze in the solo event. I get a consolation Silver Medal in the Warcraft 3 team event partnering 4K.Bond to the finals where we lose to China.

October 31st 2003: With my gaming career now over in my head I take the plunge and borrow my mothers credit card to deposit $500 (Daishi's $50 is long gone) on Pokerstars. I have a decent amount of money saved from my Gaming Career so I am not freeloading here, I just had no access to Credit Cards at this time. In fact I was throwing away $2000-$3000 a month from Gaming (commentaries, training, prize money etc) to try and take up poker. A bit of a risk!

(Interesting anecdote about my Credit Card situation: I had a bad credit history and had been refused Credit Cards a couple of times in the past. Around Feburary 2005 with my new improved financial situation I again applied for two more credit cards. For fun I decided to apply for a Gold Visa and a Platinum Visa expecting to get refused. On the application forms for both of them I stated as my profession : Professional Poker Player and for expected yearly Salary I just made up a figure of $300,000. I sent the two applications off expecting to get refused. Two weeks later a brand new Gold Visa card with a $20,000 Credit line and a Platinum Visa card with a $30,000 Credit line arrived in the mail. Money talks =)

November 2003: I start at the $25NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 10 and 25 cents. I drop all the way to $270 over a week of play and start getting worried that things won't go to plan. However, it turns out to be a minor blip and I build past my starting $500 investment at ferocious speeds.

December 2003: I have moved up to $50NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 25 and 50 cents. By mid December I have already done a couple of cash outs of a few thousand dollars each. By the end of December I have moved up to $100NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 50 cents and 1 dollar. I always keep 20 buyins in my account at Pokerstars as a minimum during my first year.

January - Mid Febuary: I am playing crazy amounts of poker during my initial months, all 200+ hour months. So a combination of skill+brute force is winning me a lot of money for the limits I am playing. I am playing 5 tables on one CRT monitor at 1024*800 resolution with lots of overlapping windows. I have cashed out around $20,000 by the end of Febuary and am now playing $200NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of $1 and $2 dollars.

Mid Febuary to Late Febuary: Myself and NTT during this time visit Las Vegas for fun staying at the Circus Circus Hotel(oops). We stay in Vegas for about 1 week soaking up the experience and playing only "Limit" poker. No Limit cash games do not exist in Vegas yet, this explosion was to start some months later during and after WSOP 2004. NTT accidentally loses his wallet and decides to go home early. I then continue on by myself staying in Vegas for a couple more days and then going on to visit my friend IceGod who stays in Spokane, Washington.

Early March - Late April 2004: I stay in Spokane for all this period teaching IceGod poker and just generally having fun. I buy a cheap desktop computer whilst I'm there to play poker. This is a very successful period for me as I make the transition from $200NL and $400NL to the maximum NL games at the time on Pokerstars. Which was $600NL Hold 'em with $3 and $6 blinds. It is also during this time that I qualify for the WSOP 2004 main event via Pokerstars.

May 2004: Pokerstars opens up a new higher limit of $1000NL Hold 'em with $5 and $10 blinds. I make the transition quickly to this new limit quickly becoming one of the strongest players there. It is now by this time very clear that I can become a very successful poker player, having made around $100,000 during this early part of my career.

Late May 2004: I travel to Las Vegas to take part in the World Series of Poker main event ($10,000 buyin, which cost me around $27 via satellites on Pokerstars). I meet up with Icegod whilst I'm there and we have some fun in Vegas for the week I am there. In the main event itself I manage to survive the first day which thinking back now is quite impressive to me as it was the first time I had ever played live NL Hold 'em. Also my first live tournament! I get to sit at the same table as Johnny Chan for a while on the second day before I go bust losing with JJ all in pre vs AK.

June 2004 - March 2005: This period is all filled with $1000NL Hold 'em mainly played on Pokerstars, however it is during this time that I start depositing on other sites and giving myself access to other games. This period is very consistent averaging probably $30,000 a month. I have also upgraded my monitors during this time to the Dual Flat Screen set-up which makes me even more efficient.

April 2005 - May 2005: Experience a terrible run of cards during this period testing my sanity to new extremes. It makes me lose all interest in the World Series of Poker 2005 and I put nearly no effort into qualifying for it and certainly no intention to buy in direct. WSOP is cancelled.

June 2005 - Current: Things get back to normal and I am now frequently playing as high as $5000NL. My regular mix is 2 big tables, $4000+ and 4-5 $2000NL tables. I have also switched entirely to short-handed games, nearly always playing 6 handed or less with maybe one BIG NL ring game. It is during this period that I stop cashing out entirely and focus on building my online poker roll to new extremes. August 2005 to November 2005 is my most profitable time of poker so far.... may it continue!

Total Poker Career: 2 years and 1 month.

I am a particularly careful and diligent player as far as bankroll management is concerned erring on the side of extreme caution. This means I am progressing at a slower rate than other people of a similar skill level. However, this absolutely guarantees I will not go broke no matter how bad of a run I get on. I consider money banked not part of my poker roll anymore so don't include it in any bankroll calculations.

Example of my own bankroll calculations : I don't believe in having more than 10% of my total poker roll in play at any one time and usually stick to 5%. For example if I wanted to play one 25/50NL, two 10/20NL and three 5/10NL tables my roll would have to be at least $120,000. If I wanted to play four 25/50NL tables then my roll would need to be $200,000. And if you ever happen to see me playing four 100/200NL tables then you know my online poker roll is at least $800,000.

I am purposely vague about my finances and will not answer any questions regarding them =).

Go Conan!

Poker Book Recommendations!

I think I can give some decent advice on Poker Books that are good since I own over 50 of them and have read all of the ones I am recommending, some multiple times.

Lets be straight here, most are average to bad with a small minority that are worth going back to over and over again. Also, some are good as a beginner even though they contain questionable advice that you will have to dismiss as you get better.

Now, I am coming at this from an "Internet Multi Table(4 or more) No Limit Holdem" background so my opinions will be naturally skewed. However, I have decent experience at most of the games even though they aren't my main source of income. I'm not doing full reviews of the books, you will just have to trust my judgment and visit the links to read up on them. I need to point out one thing though, no book as of yet exists that adequately covers No Limit Hold 'em Cash Games in my opinion!

The must haves :-

The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth - Not for the beginner! However, once you get to intermediate and beyond this is a book you will reference again and again. Lots of important concepts not explained anywhere else.

Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth - Primarily useful to the Limit Hold 'em player covering every important concept. You will still gain useful information from this if you play No Limit but it is written for the Limit player and you must keep that in mind at all times.

Super System 2 by Doyle Brunson - Covers every popular game apart from Seven Card Stud (The original Super System has a Seven Card Stud chapter by Chip Reese). Doyle Brunsons chapter on No Limit Hold 'em is pretty much unchanged from the original Super System. It contains many important nuggets of information but unfortunately it is by no means an exhaustive analysis of No Limit Hold 'em.

Harrington on Hold 'em, Volumes 1 and 2 by Dan Harrington - Especially Volume 2 which explains important No Limit Hold 'em tournament concepts unexplained before.

Other books you should own :-

Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker by Stewart Reuben and Bob Ciaffone - As the title says, lot's of information on Big Bet poker covering Omaha, Hold 'em, Lowball and Seven Card Stud.

How Good Is Your Pot-Limit Omaha by Stewart Reuben - A book with 50 hand examples from Stewart's Omaha career with very thorough hand analysis, very interesting. He also has another book in exactly the same style on Pot Limit Hold 'em which has too much analysis I disagree with to wholeheartedly recommend.

Middle Limit Holdem Poker by Bob Ciaffone and Jim Brier - For the Limit Hold 'em player. Contains over 400 hand examples with thorough hand analysis throughout.

High-Low-Split Poker, Seven-Card Stud and Omaha Eight-or-better for Advanced players by Ray Zee - Not many books on the subject but this and the new chapter in Super System 2 will get you up to speed.

Tournament Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky - Was the most important book on Tournament play until Harringtons two volumes. Still worth having though!

Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players by David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth and Ray Zee - The definitive book on Seven Card Stud.

Poker Essays, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 by Mason Malmuth - Lot's of really interesting information that gets you thinking if nothing else on a whole horde of poker concepts and ideas.

Omaha Holdem Poker: The Action Game by Bob Ciaffone - Very short but still contains some good info.

Caro's Book of Poker Tells by Mike Caro - A must have if you plan on playing live poker.

Not necessary purchases but still interesting :-

Getting the Best of It by David Sklansky - Some of this stuff is out of date but I still found it interesting and informative.

Poker, Gaming, and Life by David Sklansky - A collection of articles that again I found very interesting.

Sklansky on Poker by David Sklansky - More essays on Poker with a chapter on Razz.

One of a Kind : The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, The World's Greatest Poker Player by Nolan Dalla, Peter Alson - A biography of Stu Ungar with some very interesting stories and anecdotes.

Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King, The : Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time by Michael Craig - A great insight into the Big Game at the Bellagio.

For the beginner :-

Winning Low-Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones - A beginners guide to Limit Hold 'em.

Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies from an Internet Pro by Matthew Hilger - Someone in comments recommended this book as a great start for the beginner in low limit hold 'em games. Even though I own this book I wasn't able to recommend it from my own point of view as I got it after I had already been playing for over a year. It was never read. However based on the users comments and comments in the review section of Amazon it does look like a good purchase for beginners!

Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play by Ed Miller - Again recommended in comments as a good beginners book on Limit poker! This is only book on the list I have never read or owned. Very good reviews on Amazon also.

Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em by Tom McEvoy and T.J. Cloutier - I remember buying this book right when I started and it was really useful for the first couple of months. It advocates a super tight approach with emphasis on tournament play however once you are experienced most of the information becomes superseded.

Play Poker Like the Pros by Phil Hellmuth - Came out after I was a beginner but I read it anyway, it's a very good book for the beginner as it advocates a super tight style of play. I started like this and I can assure you that a very slow evolution to looser play is the best way to go.

Asian Helicoptor

http//www.ytmdn.com keeps me entertained for hours!

Bought some games.

I bought the Resurrection of Evil expansion pack for Doom 3. Hope it improves on the first one as that got a little boring even though I nearly completed it. Couldn't kill the final boss and gave up, must have been some system I was missing with those dumb light dudes protecting the boss.

Then I bought Battlefield 2. I got the first one and got bored with that real quick, I hate random team games quite a bit but hell I'll give this a shot. See if it improves in any way on the first one.

I also bought the The Machinist starring Christian Bale on DVD. I like Christian Bale a lot especially in American Psycho and Equilibrium. He is also British so that makes him even better =) Hope it's good!

5 hours and 11 minutes of poker played today!

WSOP Circuit Event 3

The World Series of Poker Circuit event 3 has just been released on torrent. I'm downloading it now!

ESPN coverage has always been my favorite poker coverage preferred over even the World Poker Tour shows. I think it has a better atmosphere and for some reason which I should be embarrassed to admit, I actually laugh at Norman Chads commentary =)

The circuit events aren't as exciting to watch as the real series coverage but they are pretty good nonetheless.

Well, I watched it just there and thing of note I guess is that it features Phralad Friedman aka Spirit Rock/Mahatma considered the greatest No Limit Internet player in the world. They don't talk about that much though, just give him a little interview where he of all things starts to rap about poker.... no kidding!

Gamers who play Poker

In my first post I talked about how there must be hundreds and hundreds of gamers who will have switched to poker from gaming. This has to be true but obviously I don't know them all, instead I will list only "famous/well known" gamers who have switched to poker.

Dudey/ilnp/mockturtle - Ex Warcraft 2 and Broodwar player from the USA who has just started his own livejournal here. He himself says in his posts that he is playing only $100 Sit and Go's recently but in the past he played regular cash games around the 1/2NL and 2/4NL level.

Saft - Ex Broodwar player from Sweden. A little sketchy on him regarding poker as I haven't seen him around much and probably has various nicknames I am unaware of. However whenever I have played with him it has always been high levels and I have seen him playing as high as 50/100NL under the nicks I know.

Peon@Can/Bushman - Ex Warcraft 2 player from Canada who has been playing for at least 2 years. He plays at the 5/10NL and 10/20NL cash game level. He won a $150 buy in tourney at Partypoker yesterday winning $32,000. Congrats Peon =)

Slayer/Kirderf - Ex Broodwar player from Norway. Was generally accepted as the best Broodwar player in the world for a period of probably 6months. The only Non-Korean to have been seen in this light probably. Has been playing Poker for around 2 years and now regularly plays in the 10/20NL, 20/40NL and 25/50NL cash games.

IN-Bob/Ackbleh - Ex Warcraft 2 and Starcraft player from the USA who was actually a member of the TheINClan. Has been a full time poker player for the past 2-3 years. I believe he is concentrating mostly on tournament formats but also plays a good amount of cash as well.

Elky- Ex Broodwar player from France and currently residing in South Korea. I believe he has pretty much taken up Poker full time in which case he can't possibly be playing at the highest levels in Broodwar anymore. Correct me in comments if I am wrong. Has a wild approach to Poker, he can be seen switching from low limits to 10/20NL then to 100/200 Shorthanded Limit and even sometimes playing the $5000 heads up Sit and Go's at Pokerstars. Obviously will suffer huge variance but definitely will have the most fun out of us all =)

TheBusDriver - Ex Warcraft 2 and Broodwar player from Canada. Has played the 5/10NL and 10/20NL full ring cash games for the past 2 years at Pokerstars. He used to share a flat with another person on this list - Dudey. I saw photographs of their apartment when they lived together and there was dual monitor and tri monitor set-ups all over the place =) Sick!

NTT - Ex Broodwar player from the Netherlands(Holland). My close friend and the person who persuaded me to take up poker. Doesn't play as much as anyone on this list but still plays the minimum amount to be considered a Poker Pro =)

Lakerman - Ex Quake player from Sweden. The only full time Limit player on this list playing various limits from 20/40Limit all the way up to 100/200Limit.

Dared - Ex Broodwar player from Sweden. One of the first gamers to make the switch and also one of the most successful. I haven't seen him around lately but since people can change account names easily or share accounts that doesn't mean anything. When he plays, he plays anywhere between 15/30 NL all the way up to 100/200 NL. Short handed NL specialist and probably the most successful ex-gaming poker player in the world.

Rekrul - Ex Broodwar player from the USA currently residing in South Korea. Has been playing for the last 2 years, plays the 5/10NL and 10/20NL cash games over at Pokerstars.

INcinerate - Ex Warcraft 2 player from the USA - founder of TheINClan. He can be seen playing anywhere from 1/2NL all the way up to 10/20NL.

Maynard - Ex Warcraft 2 and Broodwar player from the USA. He has only started playing relatively recently. Still finishing up at College.

IceGod - Ex Quake and Broodwar player from the USA. My good buddy for past 3-4 years, he has been playing for the past 16 months. He is currently playing at the .5/1NL and 1/2NL cash games over at Pokerstars and Partypoker.

TillerMaN - Ex Warcraft 2, Broodwar and Warcraft 3 gamer from Scotland. I've been playing for the last 20 months. I play anywhere from 5/10NL up to 20/40NL cash games focusing on 6 handed or less. I will talk more in-depth about my poker career and progression in future posts.

Other ex well known gamers who I know play a lot but I don't see often enough to comment on :-

Sven - Ex Broodwar player from Norway.
Lovedom - Ex Broodwar player from South Korea.
Nitemare - Ex Warcraft 3 player from Sweden.
Kaj - Ex Warcraft 3 player from Denmark.
Grrrr... - Ex Broodwar player from Canada and currently residing in South Korea.
Everlast - Ex Broodwar player from Sweden.
Buko - Ex Warcraft 2 player from Canada.
Smuft - Ex Broodwar player from Canada.
IN-Python - Ex Broodwar player from the USA.
Axolotl - Ex Warcraft 2 player from Canada.
Kain-The-Feared - Ex Warcraft 3 player from Canada.
Nazgul - Ex Broodwar player from the Netherlands(Holland).
Daishi - Ex Columnist for major gaming site ESReality, from the UK.
Shaf - Ex Warcraft 2 plyer from the USA.
Willet - Ex Broodwar plyer from Sweden.
r3vbr - Ex Broodwar and CS player from Brazil.
Korn - Ex Broodwar player from Germany.
Lil Beast - Ex Warcraft 2 player from the USA.
Crexis - Ex Warcraft 2 and Broodwar player from USA.


The common trait amongst all these players is that they all multi-table a lot of tables, some as many as 8-10. None of these players will do less than 4. Gamer mentality in action =)

Add more players/corrections or other info in comments and I'll add anything of value to the main post. Players have to have been well known in the games they played, that is the only rule. You don't need an account to post comments.

New Computer

I bought a new computer very recently to get rid of some weird problems I was having with the hard drive and also my graphics card in some of the more recent games.

Components are :-

Cooler Master WaveMaster case and NeoPower(480 Watt) Power Supply.
3.73Ghz Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition CPU.
Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Motherboard.
Corsair XMS2 Twin2X1024 Memory, 1024MB.
300GB Maxtor DiamondMax 7200RPM Sata Harddrive.
Leadtek Winfast PX 7800 GTX Nvidia Graphics Card.
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Edition.

I will get a second grahpics card at some point in the future when games may actually benefit from the extra power of SLI.

It was pretty much all the latest components and my friend Steve helped me install it all. However after a few days of use I noticed that in some games I was experiencing weird slow down glitches in some games as well as problems with ITunes playing songs whilst multi-table pokering(it crashes after a while). We are still not sure what the hell is going on but we pretty much have it pinpointed to the initial install of Windows XP and the Sata drivers for my harddrive. We are going to completely rebuild it again in a couple of weeks and see if we can clear up the glitches.

So why do I need such a powerful computer? Truth is I don't, poker windows hardly require the latest graphics technology. It was more of a frivolous action in order to replace my old computer which had no sides and was covered in dust and had some minor glitches with a new improved super cool set-up =)

Doom3, Half-Life 2, Farcry and even World of Warcraft look extremely cool at 1600*1200 with maxed quality settings thats for sure.

Current game I'm trying to complete is GTA-San Andreas.

Poker Superstars Episode 20

The torrents for Episode 18 and 19 seem to be missing but Episode 20 was just uploaded. I have downloaded and watched all of them up until now and the show is not very good at all. The structure is too fast to be made interesting for TV, constant coin flipping with some commentator exclaiming - "and it's that classic confrontation, 2 overcards vs a pocket pair".

Once the preliminaries are out of the way (24 of them), maybe it will get more interesting, who knows. There have been a few classic bits in them like Todd Brunson losing it when a dealer tries to deal the turn before any action has taken place or David Sklansky's huge ego on display when he says in an interview if he hadn't turned to poker he would have "probably" won a Nobel prize in some field. Haha.

I only watch them for these fleeting moments of entertainment =)

Episode 20 Torrent Link.

Dual Screen Monitor Set Up

If you want to take the next step to hardcore internet poker then it really is worth investing in a couple of really good flat screen monitors. They need to be able to run at a native resolution of 1600*1200 to avoid any overlapping poker windows. I got mine about one year ago to replace a 21" CRT dual setup. They pretty much elminate eye strain altogether allowing you to sit for even longer playing poker!

These are Viewsonic VP211b (21.1 inch) monitors. There may be a whole lot of better ones out now so if you decide to upgrade then research it well. Samsung offer some nice alternatives too.