Poker Role Model

In life we have all had a role model at one time or another. It might have been a parent, teacher, friend, sibiling or neighbor. When I was growing up, I never really had a role model, someone that I tried to learn from and model myself with. In recent years if I had to pick someone I really respected totally and compared myself with in the closest sense of a role model I can think of, it would be my only brother, he is almost 2 years younger than me but that shouldn't affect anyone. A role models age, gender, race or background should never change their being a good choice.

Thinking about this I started to wonder if everyone has a Poker role model. A player who they really respect, someone they can really relate with, or someone they try and copy in some way.

So think about it for a minute or two. Who is your Poker role model? Your Poker idol? It might just be a few people. If I had the choice to mix and match my favorite parts of players into who I would be, a splice and clone kinda thing.

I would take Robert Williamson's look, he always dresses well, and just has the look about him that, inspires a since of class, and I will admit he is a handsome man, someone a goatee really does work for!

As far as at the table personality, I would like to be Daniel Negreanu. He always seems relaxed and having the time of this life, no matter the situation. I like the talkative player, someone who makes the act of sitting at a table and waiting for your next hand, a little more enjoyable.

If I had to pick just one player to learn from, someone who had the skills that would help me the most. I would say hands down Howard Lederer. He has such a tremendous intelligence and ability to learn and analyze on the spot, I think he could help me the most. I can relate to him the most of really any player because he played Chess. The mental tools and skills needed to be a success at that game, can never be forgotten or ignored. It will always be with you and so watching him play he will do things that strike me as a Chess way of doing something.

So if I had to name one person, who I consider my Poker role model, the award would goto Howard Lederer. The man is a genius in many ways, he seems like an amazing father and person away from the table. I always related to him the most on a personal way, away from just the thinking of Poker.

No matter who your role model might be, stick with it. If you can understand why you really are drawn to one player or couple of players, you can really understand something about who you are. Whether it is a person who is on TV weekly or just someone at your local cardroom or home game. To understand why we look up to a certain someone, we can learn something about who we are deep down. I know I did and I hope you are willing to share those experiences and thoughts with me. Feel free to email me at themrlegendary@yahoo.com or themrlegendary on AIM or feel free to post them here. Best of fortune this week at the tables.

Being honest with yourself

I have been doing a great deal of thinking this week about myself, Poker and life. I have also been reading a lot about Zen for those of you not familiar, it is an eastern philosophy. It is often confused as a religon but it has a great deal in common with Buddists. It talks about meditation, concentration and balancing ones inner being with the world. It is a great help so far, and I hope to get the chance at reading much more of it.

I have also beeing reading "You Cannot Be Serious" by John Patrick McEnroe, I haven't read an autobiography in a while and this one is really good. For the most part it is well written, it does jump around a bit and he doesn't always finish his thoughts or atleast it feels that way, but he has some very interesting and unique things to say, I highly recommend it.

During my reading of this book which at the time of this posting is about half way through. Listening to an intelligent person talk about their lives in retrospect and the fact that he was a top athlete really hit me. You can't really make many Tennis and Poker comparisons but listening about his competitive nature and his drive and courage, in many ways inspired me recently.

If I have been guilty of anything in my life it would be dreaming up these crazy goals and then not doing a damn thing about them. When I was a young young boy I wanted to become a virologist (for those of you unfamiliar rent Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman, Renee Russo, Kevin Spacy and Cuba Gooding Jr.) Though I made excuses why I didn't follow into that. I wanted to become a fighter pilot but found I was too tall, then I wanted to become Baseball player but injury prevented that. I wanted to play Chess for a living when I was in High School and my father really destroyed that dream. Though I always found an excuse deep down inside to crush my hopes all by myself. I almost joined the Army to get into the Army Rangers when I was 18.

I decided against that because I wasn't sure I could handle that lifestyle and I was a little bit scared. I just wanted so badly to prove myself to my family, friends and mostly to myself. That I could be something and be somebody. I wanted to be a rolemodel for my kids and friends.

So reading about John McEnroe really put some of the things in my life into a very clear perspective. I realize, that it takes a drive and determination. People have always accused him of being a brat, egotistical and self centered but really it was him being competitive and that drive that put him at the top. Hellmuth is so much the same way, we give them trouble for being who they are, but their personalities really get them where they want/need to be.

So I realize, that for me to be successful I have to find something I really want to do, for the rest of my life and then give everything I have. Poker is it without a doubt in my mind. With all those goals I mentioned above and with those I didn't mention, I always had a doubt, a dark cloud I knew would be a problem, whether it was my age, health or fear, there was a reason I couldn't take that first step and leap my goal full force.

Now I know what I want to do, and I will be giving all that I am into the goal. So thank you Mr. McEnroe, I only hope I can thank you for the new clarity.

The reason I post this, is to really get this new found spirit out in the open for everyone, so you can better understand me and more importantly understand yourself. I have several people I talk to that I see this same problem. They have a goal or dream that seems so fantastic, they are unable to claim it for whatever reason. It might be fears, limitations or responsibilities, I just want everyone to really understand, that you can do what you want in life. My grandmother always said you will get out of life what you put in, and I realize how true that statement is. I am going to stop holding back in my life and taking the safe road. I am going to hang it all out there, leave myself totally spent and vulnerable to opposition and take that final step to victory.

I hope that you find something I said inspirational or you find something else that is, and find what you want to do in life. I consider myself blessed to know in the deepest parts of my heart and soul, what I want to be doing. It is my duty to myself to strive for excellence in that dream. I hope you all will find what you want to do and then take the risks to achieve it. I am so lucky that I am just a young young man and I have the time and energy to do it. So don't waste anymore time my friends and readers. Look into the distance and see what you want to do, what will make you happy, and run/fly to it, with EVERYTHING you have.

I would love to hear what you have to say, and what you want out of life, I feel that the more one talks about it openly the easier it can be, so speak your piece now, I will listen and everyone else here will too. We are all friends, all partners on this planet and we should support one and other in the effort to achieve our dreams and desires.

It has been a while

Hello my friends, I hope all is well for you. I haven't posted in a while and I decided I should.

I have been playing mostly online but not nearly as much as I would like to. It has been so much hit and miss online recently it has frustrated me. So I decided to play a live game at my brother's house, where our newly built table still sits. A couple of friends from college stopped by so we played for micro stakes of .10/.20 so they could get by on $5-$10 buy-ins. The game was a good deal of fun and last about 8 hours. Nothing is better than a long live Poker session, as I don't get that often of a chance at it.

The play was fairly common low stakes No-Limit Hold'em, with the game 6 handed we had 4 or so people seeing most flops for a small raise. I had taken a hit early on against a player who bluffed me out of my wired 10s with his 7s, on a rather high board, it was early and I didn't have a good read on him in 10-15 minutes of play and decided it better to lay it down and wait for a spot down the road.

Of the 6 players we had 1 big loser, 1 small loser, 2 break evens, 1 small winner and finally 1 big winner. So it was a pretty fun evening had by all, well except for the big loser who I admit was rather unlucky in a few spots but that is Poker.

In the last 10 days, I have cashed in tournaments and nothing worth while to report, except I missed my chance at a final table. It was Pot-Limit Hold'em with some 550 players, we were down to 40 handed with 54 cashing and I loved my chip position with about 3rd best stack. Then BAAMMM the transformer for my block blew and we lost power for 30+ minutes, in which time my stack was widdled away at, I finally reconnected to see my 22K down to 450 chips and the big blind at 1200, lost with a lucky A8o against 86o, ohwell that is life.

3 of the cashes were with 2000+ players which was nice, but paid very little in return. I seem to have gotten a stack that could battle into the money spots but not do much damage on the quest for the final table, best finish was 70th.

The frustration really has been the limit bankroll of late. With the tourney stakes I have been playing through huge fields with little payout. You get a rather low level of average player skill in the events too, which cause some ugly results in hands. Just very frustrating. Looking on the bright side if I can find it.

Buying v.s. Building Your Own Poker Table!

For many months I looked all over the internet for a cheap home poker table. I wanted a full size casino style table, but I didn't want to fork over the $1,000 plus to get one.

My younger brother and I tossed the idea of building our own around for a while but had always dropped the subject eventually. He and I visited a local tournament that had its own tables. A fellow player had built them for the tournament and for many local games. We looked these tables over and really thought they were nice for being built by local player.

So one afternoon we started to get serious about the idea of building our own, and we decided to take the leap and do it! We drove to the local home improvement stores and priced out wood and to find some good folding legs. We decided on particle board as it is sturdy, heavy enough to make a solid table and was fairly cheap. Cost was a consideration right off the bat, as we wanted to make it as cost effective as possible. One because we wanted to avoid paying out the same money as custom built table and two we have aspirations of making them for side money.

The wood was really quite easy but finding legs that would be sturdy enough to hold the table and fold was the tricky part. We searched with zero success at 3 different big name home improvement and hardware stores. We were getting very frustrated and went to a office supply store that sold used tables we thought we might be able to steal legs off those. We found a table that would have good enough but the table was $110, we decided that was way too much for a pair of legs.

We drove all over the city and the suburbs looking for any kind of store that would have legs, even if it were fixed legs, which we really wanted to avoid. My brother hatched a brilliant idea, why not goto a thrift store for a cheapo table! We drove to the nearest store and found the exact same table we saw at the office supply store for a whopping $8, we bought it instantly. Unfortunately for us, we could never fit it in my car. So we just removed the legs with a drill and gave them back the table with no legs.

The fabric was not much of a problem compared to the legs but the biggest fabric store in the state didn't have wool felt wide enough to cover the table and we sure as heck didn't want two pieces. We hunted around and found a nice smooth piece of wool that wasn't felt but it would work great! We decided to get some padding underneath just to give it a better feel.

Now came the construction challenge, my brother measured out the table size and found the right curve at the ends. 30 minutes of cutting the table and 20 minutes sanding it we had ourselves a table. Another 40 minutes getting the legs measured out to balance the table and drilling them in. Some contact cement type glue and we had the padding secure on the top. We haven't secured the wool material on top yet, we are debating over a couple of methods and we might put velveteen on the table, as it seems to be popular amongst Poker table tops.

Two weeks ago we held our first live tournament and ring game. It went very well and the table was a total hit! So going over the money spent, 20 for the wood, 8 for the legs, 40 for all of the fabrics, 12 for all of the glue, the cutting and sanding cost us just the price of a sand paper refill about 1.50. We saved a great deal of cash and we have the pride of building our own table with our own two hands and that is something you can't put money on. So when you are looking into buying a table or anything in general, think about what the cost and effort is involved in building your own. There is a pride in a job well done and it is a fantastic table worthy of the greatest games of Poker.

I am now hosting tournaments on PokerStars.com

Hello everyone!

I finally got things worked out with Pokerstars.com to allow me hosting of private tournaments. The first tournament will be at 11pm EST. why so late? Because I live in Colorado and that is a nice 9pm for me. The tournament will be like none held before, it will be a No-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo game, 1500 chips, blinds start at 10/20 and go up every 15 mins, the buy in 10+1. You can find it under the tourney tab, then sub tab of private games, and sort them by date and find it. Sept. 28 2004, at 11pm EST. It should be a blast. I hopefully will have special prizes for first beyond the normal cash payout, something like t-shirts, hats, chips or something but that is still a ways down the road. So join me for the tournament and some good fun.

Who is the best?

An interesting question? Just answer it right now for yourself "Who Is The Best?" my answer, my wife. Now let us narrow the field "Who Is The Best In Poker?" answer that for yourself, I bet you, that you had a variety of names come to mind?

Now that the W.S.O.P. is finished with its broadcasts and the E.S.P.N.'s Tournament of Champions has been brought to the living rooms of America, it is a popular question and why shouldn't it be.

In America, we love to know who is the best. Cleaning products, toothpaste, bottled water, restaurants, sport teams and Poker etc. etc.

So how do we find this one out? Well let us take a look at a few examples. Baseball has 162 games in which a team can win its division or the wild card, play in playoffs which at very least is 2 series and then the World Series which is a best of 7 event. Football is a little different far fewer games, and their final event the Super Bowl is only 1 game to decide the winner. Chess takes 2 years to decide its World Champ and then they have 2 at the moment! So who is the best of the best in Poker? I believe it to be far more complex than anything above.

Poker is a variety of games, sometimes we forget that. We have Hold'em, Omaha, 7 card Stud, 5 card Stud, Pineapple, Hi/Lo Poker, we have draw Poker and what about your favorite home game? Finally Ring game or Tournament? THE INSANITY! To make it worst, who is the best against a certain group of players. Meaning, I might be much better beating my local home games than let's say a random professional from Vegas, because I have played with them far longer and know them much better than the Vegas player would. Brains hurt yet?

So let's try and tackle it? Start with No-Limit Texas Hold'em. Who is the best? Well some might say current World Champion Greg Raymer. Then you have to put into the mix anyone who has ever won that title. Some of those names do get special attention, Chan, Brunson, Ungar, Harrington, Hellmuth, Moss. Chan, Brunson both won it twice and both back to back years, amazing isn't it, so aren't they the best?, maybe. Ungar and Moss won it 3 times each, and both did it in back to back years when they won the first 2. Moss was actually was invited along with all the other players to the first Main Event and was actually voted by his peers the best player, rather than winning the whole thing in a tournament. Ungar had the biggest gap in winning 2 titles and won the most major tournaments in the shortest span of time of any player yet. Then you have Moss who everyone at the time said was the best in the world and defeated another top player in a dual that lasted several months.

So who is the best? You can't stop the decision there. You have include more names to the list. Phil Hellmuth has 1 Main Event braclet and 8 other No-Limit Texas Hold'em braclets and numerous other titles to his credit. You have Daniel Negreanu which has won more tournaments in the last 5 years than anyone else but has yet to win the Main Event. T.J. Cloutier has over 50 tournament wins with buy-ins over $10,000, which is the most for any one player ever. He took 2nd in the Main Event in 2000 placing behind Chris Ferguson, and Chris was very lucky to win the final hand AQ vs A9. Cloutier is considered by his peers the best player to never win the Main Event. Then you have Dan Harrington who has won it all once, and has made 4 Main Event final tables over 3 decades which has never been done before, to add on that he bested the 2 largest largest fields ever back to back. So he outlasted over 3,500 players which is more than any player has in the history of the Main Event.

The list could go on and on and we haven't even considered everyone or ring games yet. If you consider ring games you can add names like Greenstein, Forrest, Reese, Chang, Lederer, Harmen etc. etc.

Everyone has their opinion on who is the best, and on what should decide that person. Poker is a game where anyone can beat anyone on any given day. So being the best can change with the turn of a card. I could never pick who I thought was the best. I know who I like as a player and a person. Some players I can relate to and some players I can admire. Those are my Poker Heros. If someone asked me who I would most like to meet in the Poker World and spend a day with them doing anything but Poker. I might pick Williamson, Hellmuth, Lederer, Farha, Negreanu or Vahedi.

I think we should just enjoy the games of Poker and the people of Poker too. It is too much like all other sports where you cheer on your home team the loudest, not because they are the best though they might be, and they might even be the worst, but you cheer them all the same, because...they matter to you...the individual...the most. That is what counts in the end, you.

E.S.P.N.'s Tournament of Champions!!!

E.S.P.N.'s Tournament of Champions!

A fantastic idea! Take the top players in the world, put them on a table and tell them winner takes 2 million in cash and the loser gets bupkis! Now that is a reality show I want to watch. Shark vs Shark vs Shark in a fight to the death, and a 2 million payday! WOW!

To be honest I was more looking forward to this broadcast than anything in the W.S.O.P. this year. The line up was huge!

Reese, Cloutier, Negreanu, Duke, Hellmuth, Chan, Brunson, Lederer, Raymer and Ivey!

Reese and Cloutier made rather fast exits. Chip Reese one of the most successful players of all time turning 400 bucks in his pocket when he came to Vegas as a young man and now a multi millionaire and the youngest inductee into the Poker Hall Of Fame! T.J. Cloutier the man with the most major tourney wins (10K+ buy-ins) with over 50 is considered the best overall tournament player in the world. These two men are from the old guard of Poker players but should deserved to be there without a doubt.

Ivey played his normal aggressive style and found his short stacked all in, re-raised and called. A-8o for Ivey, A-Q spades for Duke and K-K for Lederer. The flop brough 8-7-6 with 2 spades, then turn 6 of spades and the river a brick. Duke wins the most critical hand up to this point with a triple up in chips.

Daniel Negreanu had a decent chip stack to start things off but found himself in pots with the second best hand and bleed off chips. Doyle Brunson went all in blind in the small blind against Lederer's big blind who had AQs. Brunson flips up 8-3 and loses to high card Ace.

2004 W.S.O.P. Champion, Greg Raymer found himself the next victim. After losing several coin flips and taking a big chunk of his stack in the process. He appeared a bit steamed and called yet another Duke all in with 9-8 clubs and flopping a flush and straight draw came up short and he lost a good deal of his remaining chips. Next hand he moved all in with 10-9o against Duke's big blind and was called by 8-8, Raymer pulled many draws but none materilized by the river.


4 players remained fighting for the 2 million winner take all prize. 3 W.S.O.P. Main Event Braclets on the table and a total of 21 braclets among the 4 players (Chan:9, Hellmuth:9, Lederer:2, Duke:1). It promised to be a fiery final table. Hellmuth who had been playing the most conservatively of the table, got into an all-in pot with Johnny Chan. Hellmuth with 10-10 vs. Chan's K-K, Chan was way ahead in the hand was until a miracle 10 on the river crushed the Cowboys. We were now down to 3 players.

Lederer was now the short stack with about 200K and found him in more than one uncomfortable pot with his sister and choose the safe road and folded. After losing a good size of his stack, Lederer reluctantly moved all in with 7-7 and was called instantly by Duke who held 6-6 with a Q-Q-6 flop Lederer found no help the rest of the way out and finished 3rd place.

The heads up battle began with Duke having about 56% of the chips in play. Heavy blows were exchanged with the chips, Hellmuth continued his trademark babble, trying to calm himself and get Duke off her game. The final hand came when Hellmuth called the blind with 10-8o and Duke checked her K-10o. The flop brough top pair for both players, Annie Duke check raised Hellmuth for the umpteenth time and Hellmuth moved all in with about 20% of the remaining chips in play. Duke checked her hole cards again and called shortly there after. The turn paired the board with 7's, Hellmuth's only hopes were a 10 or 7 on the river to split the pot or an 8 to win it outright, the river didn't bring any help.

Hellmuth quickly departed the table, walking around the the room which was closed to the public, talking to himself about how unfair it was, how lucky Duke had been and how unlucky Phil was. Duke was awarded the large Poker Chip trophy which she found to be far heavier than she had anticipated, and the 2 million dollars. She quickly called her brother Howard and told him the great news and apologized for the bad beats she delivered to him.

Annie Duke had already won her first braclet this year, and topped it off with a 2 million dollar pay day. Very nice job by Annie and all women in Poker his year, with 3 women winning Open Events! I can't wait to see next years Tournament Of Champions, this year was a blast!

Can't play it any better!

Poker is a funny game, it is unlike really any card or board game out there. Checkers, Chess, Spades, Bridge, Canasta, Backgammon, Monopoly. Take your pick they are games you can play very well and nearly flawless with the right strategy, tactics and with enough experience. It can become very routine but remain exciting.

Poker on the other hand such a different beast to subdue. I don't like to dwell on bad beats because you really can't change anything that comes on the river. Though when you play a hand differently than you usually do, and play it in a new and creative manner, atleast new and cunning to you. Tonight in a tourney on PokerStars the following situation came up, let us take a little look into the abyss.

Traditionally, I will play high pocket pairs the same way, and when I mean high pairs I mean AA and KK. QQ is a different thing for me, and if you play it the same as AA or KK you can have good success but there are times where playing the ladies like bullets is the wrong play.

We are 9 handed at the time with 10/20 blinds, and going broke that early is a mistake however you slice it, but I was there to win, which means you don't always get to pick the time and place where it is correct to go broke.

I am under the gun (first to act, just to the left of the big blind) with 2 black Kings. A great sight to see! I decide to flat call the big blind in hopes that someone will raise and I can re-raise. This has been a very agressive table and I am nearly certain 1 of about 3 players will raise the pot, they have been firing with any 2 cards and I think this is a great time to strike back. 2 players fold and then Mr. Loose-Aggressive raises to 120, 3 seats down someone calls the raise and then it is back to me.

There is where I have to make my second critical choice. I feel that these 2 players could have anything from 2 big cards, 2 unders or a lower pocket pair or any Ace. So I have to do my best to weed out the weaker hands, especially the Ace hands. So I decide to make a much larger than normal raise, to see where I am at. I think if I call and an Ace hits, I must through my hand away. I raise and make it 500 total to go which is 40% or so of my stack.

This move should really signal a great hand QQ atleast! A play like these where you flat call the blind from early position and then re-raise any raiser for a substantial amount, wreaks of AA or KK or at worst QQ. I have seen people do it with AKs and other various hands but when I have experienced this play it has been 85-90% of the time KK or AA.

The 2nd guy calls isntantly and the 3rd guy thinks for about 15 seconds and calls. I figure atleast 1 pocket pair and maybe another but if not he must have a bigger Ace like A-10 or better. So I cross my fingers to not see an Ace, and sure enough the flop is 10-6-4 rainbow! This is really the kind of flop you hope for with a large pocket pair. I decided to check after brief think. I believed that if someone had let us say JJ or QQ they would bet the pot and I would have them. If someone picked up A-10 which would be a very nice hand to be against, or something like A-J or A-Q they would try to bluff at the pot.

The original raiser bets 200 into a pot of 1600, this smells like a "Post Oak Bluff'' ( a small bet into a large pot in hopes of stealing it with minimal risk.) A bet like that signals something like A-Q or A-J, you can't think A-K because I hold 2 of the 4 Kings in the deck but even A-K is a great hand to go against, just because if that case king falls, they most likely go broke into such a large pot.

The late position caller moves all in for about 800 and change. This strikes me as either J-J, Q-Q or a bluff with an under pocket pair like 8-8 which would have been a horrid preflop call or something like a Big Ace. I think for a minute and decided I had the best hand and called myself all in. The original raiser calls instantly and I am really interested to see if my reads were correct.

The preflop raiser shows me J-J, and I am stunned to see the late position caller with 10-10 in the hole for top set!. The turn comes a blank, and the river a Jack. I close the window in disgust after making some player notes, and then walk around the room.

I can't really fault the raiser for calling that bet of mine preflop, for the sole reason that he raised first and had a hand only dominated by 3 other hands. Though personally I have folded J-J in his spot before after someone made a similiar play to mine, and was right everytime. Though you have a raiser, and a large check-raise and you call with 10-10. You have to know you are beat and the only consolation is that he has position. Best case scenario really he is in a coin flip if we both have over cards.

It just frustrates me when you are running a bit bad with the cards recently and you play a big hand, and you play it in such a way to maximize profits and face of a favorable situation and manage to lose. That is poker but I feel that I made a good play, even a great play, can't really say it was perfect as there really isn't that in poker. I know I would have done the same thing all over again. That is what matters to me.

The lesson here is, there will be times when I do everything right, and when my instincts are dead and on and still lose the hand and go broke. It is important to analyze such hands over and over in your head or with a good player or in a forum. You might realize you could have done something better or different that may have worked better. It is so impornant trust yourself right or wrong. Without faith in your reads and judgements, you won't succeed.

GOOD LUCK AT THE TABLES!

Welcome!!!

Hello Everyone!

I would like to welcome you to my BLOG. My name is Drew and I live in Denver, Colorado! My BLOG will be all about my quest through the world of poker and the poker world itself. So pull up a comfy chair and your favorite beverage and join me for some good times and to make some friends.

I would love to hear what anyone has to say, so speak loud and speak proud. This is a forum to have fun and express yourself! I want to hear what you have to say.