PokerLizard The Blog

WSOP Finally Here!

2010-05-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

The World Series of Poker is finally here! It's like Christmas eve for every poker player. It will be interesting to see if the Euros can keep their increasing presence. It will be also interesting to see how much more advertising can be squeezed into the amazon room and onto the poker pros. It's starting to look like NASCAR at the tables with head to toe advertisements. Good Luck to All at

Home Poker Tourneys = Hell

2010-02-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

I played in a very low limit poker tourney the other day for "fun", the buyin was only $5 with rebuys if you busted. Everyone was drinking and having fun. However, there was one player who took a couple minutes with each decision...nothing is worse for an online player than a slow meaningless tournament.talk about a buzz kill...

Am I the greatest Sit N Go player in the world?

2010-01-14T12:43:00.000-08:00

According to my SharkScope graph....Yes, ok not really, I only play about 100 SNGs a year.Maybe I should start playing more often.I could grind out SNGs like Jhub3000 and basically live off of rakeback.But I already have a good job and playing SNGs all day seems pretty dull.Not only that, I can just play the stock market for another 5-6 figures a year.So I think I'll just keep playing as a hobby.

DJ AM found dead

2009-08-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

DJ AM aka Adam Goldstein was found dead yesterday. Now I know what you're thinking, "Texter wtf does DJ AM have to do with Poker?" Oddly enough, a decent amount. Back in 2005 when PokerLizard could actually get a Press pass from Harrah's to cover the WSOP; I played in the Celebrity/Press charity tournament. This tournament has the worst structure of all time (except compared to the Gold Coast's

Top 10 Worst Poker Shows

2009-08-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, in the poker boom years many many many shows were rushed into production. And to be honest most of them really sucked. From Celebrity Poker Showdown to the current turd Face the Ace there has been no shortage of awful production values and terrible poker play. Checking in at Number 10 is:Celebrity Poker Showdown. This show was hosted by the somewhat obnoxious Phil Gordon and the

WSOP: I miss the cash

2009-07-02T13:49:00.001-07:00

Back in the old days (2005) when someone won a bracelet they'd get their picture taken with a giant stack of cash. These days they get their pic taken with a fake bracelet. I can understand the WSOP trying to make the perception that the bracelet is more important than the money, but give me a break. No one really cares about the actual bracelet, just the win. I think the cash pics are more

Dream Team Poker a flop?

2009-06-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

It looks like the dream team poker event at this years WSOP is going to be a dud which is a shame because it's a pretty cool idea and has been well received in the past. Basically, teams of 3 players compete against each other in a single tournament. However, they keep extending the registration deadline for teams, first it was, "the first 300 teams that register get free custom Jersey's", then

Guy from my homegame busts Negreanu (almost)

2009-06-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

From his facebook updates during the WSOP $1k Donkulus (stimulus), names changed to protect the guilty. How'd you like to be on Negreanu's left all day.XXX does not like having Daniel Negreanu sitting directly on his right. He and another Canadian one seat over stole my blinds mercilessly for 4 hours.XXX got tired of Negreanu stealing his blinds and reraised in the SB with K-T suited. Negreanu

Congrats to Phil Ivey, condolences to Eli Elezra.

2009-06-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

So Phil Ivey won a bracelet in the 2-7 single draw lowball, but the real story is that with that braclelet Phil supposedly won $3 million, the lion share of which was bet with Eli Elezra who offered Phil 2.7 to 1 on his money. This is Ivey's 6th bracelet, so by the time he's as old as Phil Hellmuth he should have about 25.I watched a little bit of the final table broadcast over at

WSOP Tournament of Champions..haha..

2009-06-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

So ESPN decided to only air 4 tournaments on TV this year (they are showing tables on ESPN 360 this year). They picked the main event, the $40k Hold'em, the Ante Up for Africa charity event, and the Tournament of Champions which featured only former main event champs.ESPN figured that they would guarantee big names at the final tables which would be "better" for TV. For the $40k, they got Ted

World Series of Poker!

2009-06-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I'm pumped about this year's World Series of Poker. No more rebuy tourneys and a sweet $40k buyin to start it off. Rebuys suck because I'm poor and basically rich players can just buy a bracelet. Personally I think it's a mistake to have the $40k so early, not that many people will buyin since they can get better overall value out of smaller tournaments. Plus some of

Definitely happy to be a part of this

2009-05-29T02:44:00.000-07:00

What's up, everyone? My name is the DarkDragon, and I'm happy to be a part of the Poker Lizard Team Once again. It's been a long time since I made a post and started writing. But now, I'm back, refreshed, and have some new insights into the game. I'm team captain of a local poker group called The Underground Poker Crew, based out of Omaha, NE. Also, I'm in the process of starting another team of

PokerLizard Poker Now Open

2009-04-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

You can now play poker with PokerLizard! We are now part of the National League of Of Poker a 100% free poker site, other than the opportunity cost of looking at annoying advertisements. They give away cash and prizes every day, some of the prizes are surprisingly good like $2500 trips to Vegas or $1000 cash. Some prized kind of suck like points, but you can redeem the points for tourney

PokerStars Blogger Tourney

2008-12-16T15:03:00.000-08:00

Denied by these clowns...they let some awful bloggers in, but quality doesn't matter. I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.Registration code: 099869

Taking a step back and reflecting

2008-06-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not one of the most active posters on the Poker Lizard Blog, but I've been doing a lot of reflecting on this beautiful game of poker. In the bar leagues that I play at, I'm considered one of the most respected and dangerous poker players out there. In fact, I overheard someone tell me that if they had to pick a top 10, I would be in the last. Very humbling to hear since I haven't played

Freerolling to the WSOP take 2

2008-05-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

So in the last blog I talked about trying to satellite into the World Series of Poker main event by entering free rolls and low buyin events. If you read this blog, you will know that I played in about 200 hundred of the freerolls on Full Tilt Poker and gave up trying the freerolls and qualified for a satellite by using points.This year it took about 10 of these things for me to win, turns out

Freerollin' to the World Series of Poker

2008-05-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

So I'm trying to satellite into the main event, played a few Full Tilt freerolls where you go all in the first hand no matter what since only 1 person goes on to the next qualifier. Some people actually play these things tight..silly.Also, played an $8 shootout style where I got JJ and went all in on the first hand and lost to KJ when one guy got a straight on the river.Then I played a $14

Slot-Boom-Bam! by SmoothCaller

2007-12-23T19:10:00.000-08:00

I'm reading Rolf Slotboom's "Secret of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha". If you've never heard of Rolf, you probably should have. He's one of the best long-time contributors to Cardplayer magazine and editor of Cardplayer Europe. He's also one hell of a strong PLO player and has built quite a legacy among the biggest games in Vienna and Austria.He starts by outlining the system that made him a

Sit n Go Ramblings!

2007-11-17T13:01:00.000-08:00

So last night I am stayed home with the kids and decided to play some poker on-line. I play on UB. I like the interface, can always get a game pretty quick and I have not had problems depositing or withdrawing money from the site. All pluses in my book.I try to play two sit and gos and one cash game. Occasionally, I will play 4 tables at a time. But once my tourneys get down to three people

Story of my SNG life

2007-11-04T12:38:00.000-08:00

so I got $75 in my Pokerstars account due to someone signing up with pokerstars through one of our affiliate deal...so I decided to play only Single table Sit N Goes with the money to see if I could work it up and to test some SNG strategies. Since I only started with $75 I decided on the $5.50 non turbo NLHE SNGs.I'm beginning to think it may be impossible to beat these things...even if you

Low Limit Poker and Chad Brown....by Texter

2007-07-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

Well I'm covering the WSOP for Pokerlizard.com again this year from my cushy digs at the Gold Coast. I brought the wife with me this year but she is 6 months pregnant so we don't do a whole lot of sight seeing...but we do do a lot of playing very low limit poker.All the Gold Coast spreads is $1/$2 NLHE and $2/$4, $4/$8 Limit Hold'em with half-kill...big time baby! The first night I took the first

WSOP with two of online's biggest names

2007-07-06T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'll bet the WSOP this year is won by a european, due to the US legislation, the Rio is overflowing with Euros. I won't say that Europeans are outnumbering the US contingent this year but it's pretty close.Yesterday I did two interviews with a couple of the biggest names in online poker, Taylor "Green Plastic" Caby and Brian "sbrugby" Townsend. They are both here promoting the online training

Freerollin my way to the World Series....by Texter

2007-06-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

Full Tilt Poker is putting on about 1 million freerolls to satellite into the Main Event of the WSOP...ok really a satellite to a satellite. In the first freeroll you have to beat from 314 to 629; if you win that one you have to finish in the top 9 of some gigantic freeroll...usually about 3000 players. So basically, you have a snowballs chance in hell of qualifying this way....but it's free and

WSOP Live! by Texter

2007-06-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

So I read on some forums that worldseriesofpoker.com was going to show the webcast Final Table of the Ladies only event for free; normally you pay a $49.95 to get access to watch all of the final tables they are showing. They must not be doing particulary well since they offered this up as a free sample. I can't see too many people coughing up the cash after last night's table.That final table

The art of looking bad....?

2007-04-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

As I grow as an individual, my poker playing has grown as well. I went from what some called me as a super tight player to having an image if I'm bluffing or not. To me, that's one of the best images to have.A couple of my poker buddies and I were having a discussion on our own unique playing styles, and they all came up with the conclusion that, "Man, I make some of the dumbest and gutsy plays

Erick Lindgren Owns Phil Gordon on Poker After Dark...by Texter

2007-03-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

On this weeks Poker After Dark featuring E-Dog (Erick Lindgren) and Phil Gordon (along with Phil Ivey, Jennifer Tilly, Patrick Antonius and Jennifer Harman); Erick Lindgren basically calls Phil Gordon an idiot who can only analyze a poker hand when he has a hole card camera to use. Probably the funniest exchange I've seen on the show so far.Basically, Phil comments that he thought Erick was on a

Death by Short Stack by Texter

2007-02-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

Two times in the last two days I've made the same boneheaded play. Since I can't get money into poker sites due to the Neteller situation my funds are severely limited, so instead of dropping down to a lower level I decided to buy in at the minimum.So I actually win a few small pots, when I get dealt JJ in the middle position. No one has come into the pot yet and I raise it 3.5x the Big Blind.

Worst Poker Players in the World...by Texter

2006-11-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I read a book called Hunting Fish - A Cross-Country Search for America's Worst Poker Players by Jay Greenspan. In the book Jay basically goes on a 3 month journey across the country to raise a large enough bankroll to play in one of the bigger games out in California. He is trying to figure out if he has the poker "chops" to become a poker pro, he even makes a stop in my

WSOP Final Day...for me by Texter

2006-11-01T20:28:00.000-08:00

Well it's the final day of the WSOP for me, but the first day of the main event (Notice how I'm pretending that I'm not a lazy slob and took a long time to write this post). The main event starts at noon so I head down from my luxury suite at the Gold Coast for breakfast..which I may have mentioned is the only meal worth eating there. There is a $50+$5 tourney at the Palms at 10 am which I decide

The "professionalism" in the poker world: reflections with regard to a cash game

2006-10-21T02:28:00.000-07:00

Before I go on towards discussing professionalism is in poker, I want to shed some light on what happened in our Sunday cash game after the Underground Battles.This is the scenario that happened.Character X moves in with K,7 and I call with 10's after much deliberation.He gets up from his chair and drops the f bomb, because he knows he is "f***ed".After the flop comes dry, the turn comes a king,

Introducing myself to Team Poker Lizard

2006-09-14T23:39:00.000-07:00

Before I begin this introduction, I would like to thank PokerLizard for giving me this opportunity to be a part of this blog. It means a lot to me, and I hope that I help give light to other players on how to handle situations through my own learning and my mistakes. I want to give back to the poker community as much as poker itself has given me. So this is my opportunity to do so.My name is Neal

WSOP Day 3...No Mercy by Texter

2006-08-31T20:05:00.000-07:00

When you last heard from me at the WSOP...I had just stumbled to bed after winning a few hundred bucks in the craziest game of $1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em.So last night I was a winner...but this morning I don't feel like a winner, after drinking all night trying to keep up with those college guys, I can really start feeling my age. I finally get out of bed at around 3:30 PM to get ready for our

Cold Calling in NL Ring

2006-08-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

When people ask me about becoming a good NLHE player as a begginner I tell them learn to not call. I believe that one could win playing NL without ever calling.I was looking through my Poker Tracker stats over the last two months, which have been good to me. I noticed a stat for cold calling preflop. I have cold called 1% of the time in 14,000 hands. Of these, about 90% were in the last three

8 day's of Vegas poker...by 412Main

2006-08-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

Well good evening poker players. It's 9:43 on Friday night, Im sitting down for a small brake from my 3 day poker extravaganza. I started playing Tuesday night around midnight on a cash game, by the end of the second day I was suffering from 2 very very bad beats and down about $2,000. The first B/B started with me having pocket AA's and another player having pocket

WSOP Final Table Live by Texter

2006-08-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

This coverage is pretty nice, I'm watching it on my computer here at home and the coverage looks almost as good as TV; I have to hand it to ESPN..I thought the idea was terrible but they've really pulled it off. Phil Gordon is doing a fantastic job but his co-host keeps making small mistakes about who has entered the pot and who has what hand. It's definitely a minor complaint.I like the fact

WSOP Day 2: Mercier, Moneymaker and Me...by Texter

2006-08-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

I got woken up at 6 am Vegas time by Smoothcallers Text message to my cell phone; his plane is delayed in Houston due to thunderstorms and he'll be in later. Great so now I'm awake, and as you all know, once you wake up in Vegas it's almost impossible to go back to sleep due to the visions of money to be won dancing through your head.I take a shower (did I mention how huge the bathrooms at the

SmoothCaller Plays a Big One at the Rio

2006-08-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

So here we are - my first blog since last week's WSOP trip. I'm a little behind, and have no great excuses - just been swamped with the ol' 9-5 work and getting back into the swing of being home again.My "big one at the Rio" is the $225 daily cash tourney they run each night at 11:00 pm during the Series. I got into it last year on a single-table $50 satellite and had so much fun that I had

WSOP day 1; battle of the babes by Texter

2006-07-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

So far I've had two good beats, the airport didn't lose my luggage and the line for taxis was real short. Unfortunately, we've had two bad beats...our interview with Isabelle Mercier got postponed; PokerStars had to move their courtesy suite due to some dental convention plus our interview with Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith got postponed as well!On my way to the Rio from the incredibly crappy Gold

My WSOP Venture Final Blog by Discopimp

2006-07-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

Well alright we left off at break....When i got back to my table, this is where things began to get interesting.....I was semi shortstack, but not too far down, but definetly not up....Now remeber how i told you the guy to my right, we would have many battles....Well everytime he was on the button, he would raise me out of my small bilnd....Whenever i was big blind, he would raise me out since he

My WSOP Venture Part 2 by Discopimp

2006-07-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

Ok we left off at first break....Field was sooooo huge we had to take break in two different sets, half the field first, then the other half....Naturally, I get the second half break....So we play for 20 minutes while the other half is on break...During then i received only one decent hand....I look down at JJ, i raise...And here is where decisions are made...A man directly across from me kinda

MY WSOP Venture by Discopimp

2006-07-21T00:39:00.000-07:00

Well its the big day....The day of my tourney....We woke up in da mornin for all of us to get ready....And if anyone you know my poker superstition, you know damn well I CANNOT go anywhere unless I'm wearing my rings! We jumped in a cab on our way to the big show....We told our driver "To the Rio please.." He replies " Are you guys going to watch the WSOP?".....I, of course, reply sarcastically

Don't tap the glass by Texter

2006-07-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

Had an interesting chat session after my two pair heldup against a guy's allin bet with an open ended straight flush draw. It went something like this:GuyWhoLost: nhPokerLizard: Thanks, would've played it the same as you.GuyWhoLost: Yeah, I'm happy with how I played it :)FishyGuy: What! You just lost $50 and you're happy....PokerLizard: Poker is about decisions...not money.GuyWhoLost: Liz...

Controlling pot size based on position by ORAG

2006-07-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

I've been running well lately and one change I made is to adjust my opening raise size based on my position in NLHE. Here is what I've been doing for a 10 handed game, then I'll discuss my reasoning.Position 1-3: Raise to 3xBBPosition 4-6: Raise to 3.5xBBButton, Cuttoff: Raise to 4xBBSmall Blinds: Raise to 3xBBBig Blinds: Raise to 4xBBThat is the case if I am the first in the pot (big blind

Top 10 Things from the 2005 WSOP by Texter

2006-07-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

Heading out to the WSOP in a few weeks, has me reflecting on last years WSOP, so here are the top 10 things I saw last year:10. James Woods - this guy oozes charisma, I can definitely see why he is a movie star. Most of the "stars" at the media tourney showed up looking like they just rolled out of bed and slapped on some sweats. This guy shows up in a nice suit and just took over the room.9.

Know Your Opponents and Profit by Skrangeo

2006-07-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

In this day and age, a poker game of your choice is at your fingertips. Point, double-click, log in, and away you go. It's a low key evening, and you find what you are looking for...several open $.50/$1.00 no-limit ring games. You log into three tables, switching back and forth. You are a tight player, so if you don't like what you see, you simply fold and switch tables. You win a few pots, lose

Slowplay the Pros at the WSOP by texter

2006-07-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about the World Series of Poker lately and reading a bunch of pro players blogs including but not limited to Joe Sebok, Tony G, Daniel's video blog which you should all check out.They all pretty much say the same thing, "in these smaller events, I want to double up fast or go home (or to play golf in Daniel's case)." As a matter of fact, Joe's latest blog says, "I started this

Sometimes nuthin' can be a real cool hand...by Corndog

2006-07-02T02:17:00.000-07:00

First post here. Figured I would talk about a nice heads-up hand I just had in a Bodog 10-person SNG.I came into the match with a large chip lead over the villain. This is probably 15 hands into the HU when this hand came up. Although I had such a huge lead, I consider this hand the real turning point.I have 6955, he has 3045. Blinds 100/200. I am SB (dealer) and get Ks8d and raise it to 400.

Poker on TV

2006-06-29T15:07:00.000-07:00

If I were trying to become a great poker player, I wouldn't watch any poker on TV whatsoever; except for maybe the live tournaments they show on FSN once in awhile. If you want to get better you should really check out Live at the Bike, a great webcast that shows all the hands in a live high limit cash game from The Bike in Los Angeles.The Webcast is Free but if you want to check out the archives

GSN Finally gets something right!

2006-01-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

After sitting through fast structured "Made for TV" tournaments like Comedians vs Pros, Battle of the Sexes, Battle of the Ages et al, GSN finally put on a decent show! High Stakes Poker shown on Monday nights features a No-Limit Hold'em game where the buyin is a minimum $100k and the max is $1 million. The players are getting paid an hourly rate (similar to scale if you're an actor) but they

Poker On the Go - Podcasts, Eh!

2005-11-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

I've recently jumped into the world of podcasts, and if you haven't already, and have an MP3 player, I highly recommend it. Subscribing to shows, automatically updating your iPod or other player each day, and then having the luxury to listen whenever you want, is just too sweet. There are literally thousands of home-made and professional shows out there on pretty much any topic you can dream up

Las Vegas...Exciting and New!

2005-11-13T12:42:00.000-08:00

Anyone ever notice how the TV show Las Vegas is a blatant rip off of the old show the Love Boat. The shows are almost identical, except one took place on a cruise ship and the other takes place in a casino.Think about it, the characters are almost the same:Vanessa Marcil caters to high limit gamblers (whales) = Julie McCoy, cruise directorNikki Cox, plot lines revolve around sex = Doc, oversexed

Online Poker Blogger Championships..are you in?

2005-10-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

I have registered to play in theOnline Poker Blogger Championship! This event is powered by PokerStars. Registration code: 2185029

Poker Craps?

2005-10-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

I was watching the Poker Royale comedians vs Pros finale the other day (yes I will watch just about any poker show no matter how lousy it is) and they showed a casino game that was played like craps but instead of dice being thrown, cards were dealt out of two card shoes like in blackjack.It looked like some goofy game you would make up when you were a kid and didn't have all the pieces to any

Worst Play I have ever seen

2005-08-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

I was playing $0.50/$1.00 No-Limit Hold'em on Noble the other night when this hand occurred, I won't get into all of the specifics, but it has to be the worst play I've ever seen. The hand was headsup between players I will call "Dumbass" and Player 2. The pot has about $30 in it when the river card is dealt. Dumbass who has about $240 in his stack bets $53, Player 2 who has $53.30 in his stack

Celebrity Poker Showdown Sucks

2005-08-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

Last night's episode of CPS was the worst yet, the play was extremely poor and the "stars" were from Reality TV. None of the players was any good and the only good looking one was eliminated before I started watching. These people were boring as hell nobodies...who the heck is Trishelle anyhow? At least in the past the stars banter would somewhat make up for the crappy play, this episode was just

Wow...worst WSOP laydown ever.

2005-08-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

If you watched tonight's WSOP circuit event from Lake Tahoe, you know the hand I'm talking about. The shortest stack in the hand gets a set of Tens on the turn, checks them and then fold's to a $30k bet when the pot was over $200k...even Norman Chad was saying "What the....?" There was a possible straight and a couple flush draws, but you gotta be kidding me.The guy even turned to Phil Ivey after

How big of a gambling addict do you have to be?

2005-08-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

To actually need more access to gambling at a casino? There is a new portable device that will allow people to gamble in a casino...now if you can order free drinks from it, they may be on to something.http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050803/D8BO13G00.htmlDo I really need to be playing roulette while stuffing my face with $0.99 shrimp cocktail?

Vegas Poker Rooms

2005-07-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

I visited 5 poker rooms over the week we were checking out the WSOP and here they are ranked from worst to first.5. Gold Coast - everything here is pretty run down, the chips look old, the cards are kinda faded. The same could be said for the players, but since the WSOP was going on just across the street there was plenty of games and almost no wait whatsoever. Unfortunately, the highest game

Vegas Trip - Day 1 at the WSOP

2005-07-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

OK, I've tried to post this 3 times now, so hopefully this'll take... Sometimes you have to get away from something to see it more clearly. Over the past four days, I was entrenched in the circus of the WSOP, never really able to stop and focus to put together a write-up on the experience. Now that I’m 20K feet in the air above Lake Mead, heading back to the real world in Texas, I can finally

A Lizard's Adventures at the WSOP - Day 1

2005-07-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

Has Televised Poker Really come to this?

2005-06-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I stumbled across the worst televised poker tournament I have ever seen. I know what you're thinking, worse than "Celebrity Poker Showdown" or "Poker Royale - Battle of the Sexes"?Ultimatebet.net's World Poker Challenge is totally devoid of anything interesting. It basically pits 6 amateurs, who qualified on Ultimatebet.net, trying to win $10k and advance to a final table worth $200k.

Grinding it out...no thanks.

2005-06-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

So I signed up with Noble Poker to get their $700 - 100% deposit bonus, yes I am a sucker for the signup bonuses, and decided to play $1/$2 limit hold'em to grind out the bonus. You basically get 3 points per hand at $1/$2 and higher and once you have 500 points you get $10 of your bonus. So to get the full $700 would take approximately 11,620 raked hands...ouch.I played for about 20 minutes and

Player Nicknames that really suck

2005-06-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was watching the WPT last night and one guy had actually given himself a nickname. You don't give yourself a nickname, your buddies give you a nickname, preferably a somewhat derogatory one (Please see the story of why Doyle is called "Texas Dolly"). He called himself "Hurricane" Cain. His real nickname is probably Skidmark or something...So this got me to thinking about how these poker players

WPT last night...wtf?

2005-06-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

Last night's WPT featuring Men "the Master", Gus Hansen, and a cast of other guys was truly bizarre. First off, Danny Nguyen (no relation to "the Master") played like a PartyPoker.com player who just realized he accidentally entered a limit sit-n-go when he meant to join a no-limit one. He played just about any two cards and called all-in bets with total crap (3-4). This guy played more cards

PokerLizard Descending on Vegas

2005-06-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

That's right - in less than a month, the PokerLizard crew will make its appearance at the WSOP. Starting July 5, our site will (should) be filled with daily updates, pics, and podcasts directly from the tables (if I can figure those out in time). Having press passes will make it even sweeter, so get ready for tons more interviews and probably a brush-off or two as we make our way in front of

JJ goes down in a blaze of glory...a cautionary tale.

2005-05-28T05:35:00.000-07:00

My biggest leak in No Limit is not realizing that my hand is crap. For example, I was playing $0.50/$1 No Limit on Ultimatebet yesterday night, I had worked my buyin up from $50 to $86 when this hand came up.I get JJ in the big blind and raise it to $3.25 and get one caller. The flop comes down 10-7-3, I bet out the pot and the other player raises the pot. I call. A 4 comes on the turn so I

I want a divorce!

2005-05-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

No not from my wife, from AJ offsuit, I end up married to this hand all the frickin' way to the river on too many an occasion only to get my ass kicked. That saucy little minx of a hand is going to ruin me. I now hate it even more than QQ and JJ.During Tuesday night's Lizard League game there are 3 of us left each with pretty much equal stacks and I get the dreaded AJ. I raise to 3x the big blind

TiVO'n the WPT and Click's

2005-05-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

Afternoon fellow Lizards. Well, Texter has had all the blog fun up until now, so I figured it was time to jump in...I recently got TiVO and DirecTV this weekend. Having wanted to get away from the pile of blank video tapes, I've been eyeing a DVR (digital video recorder) for some time. However, when I called my current provider, Dish Network, they said that as a current customer I was not

Never Bluff a rich guy & The Tale of the Cashout Requests

2005-05-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

The other night I was playing at both Bodog and Full Tilt. I was playing $3/$6 NLHE at Bodog (the Josh Arieh table) and $0.50/$1.00 NLHE at Full Tilt. I ended up winning a decent amount (for the limits) at each site and decided to cashout the majority the next day as a test.I'd never cashed out of either site before and was curious to see which site was faster, I used neteller to deposit so the

Thanks and Lizard League

2005-05-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

Turns out that CNBC is re-broadcasting the National Headsup Championships, so thanks to the people that emailed and gave me the news.Hopefully, I'll get the real program this time.Well, I won the Lizard League tourney last night after being down to my last 5 outs, I caught a miracle Jack on the river to take the chip lead instead of finishing in 3rd.Wildmde and I had a pretty long headsup battle

National Headsup Championships on NBC

2005-05-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

So I check out the TV listings on the Dish Network and it turns out my local affiliate would rather show Arena Football instead of the National Headsup Championships. How clueless are these people, don't they know how huge poker is these days? I do some searching and find out they are going to air it at 1 AM, so I Tivo it. Lo and behold, I go to watch the show yesterday and it turns out my

Hand of the day...How bad was my play here?

2005-05-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

I think I played this hand like crap. I think a raise on the flop or turn is a much better play, what do you think?Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (10 handed) converterUTG+2 ($15.25)MP1 ($103.10)MP2 ($54.25)Hero ($84.05)CO ($130.90)Button ($280.60)SB ($98)BB ($75.50)UTG ($76.40)UTG+1 ($117.40)Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 8h, 7h.1 fold, UTG+2 calls $1, 1 fold, MP2 raises to $2, Hero calls $2, 4

Interview with Richard Sparks and some WPT action

2005-05-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we interviewed Richard Sparks about his new book, Diary of a Mad Poker Player. The book is about his quest to become the next Chris Moneymaker or Greg Raymer and qualify for the "Big One" at the World Series of Poker.His book is an entertaining read, especially if you play online poker. A full review and the interview should be coming out soon. He also gave us some great advice on how