Due to a major computer blowup, which is still not 100% solved…I wasn’t able to play a single hand of poker. The good news is that I could save basically all my poker related data…although I’m not totally sure how I will get all the tourneys into tourneymanager again. Hmm…I’m sure I’ll find a way…until then, it’s no poker playing…just poker watching. I can only repeat my recommendation: If you have missed this week’s poker after dark so far…go to nbcsports and watch it online…it’s an instant-classic! Alrighty…I’m outta here…gl at the tables everyone…

So…after a long wait, it’s finally here….PokerTechReviews launched today. The official press release can be found here. Check it out.

Side note: Poker-Tastic.com’s feed is one of the feeds featured on the main-page…so if you’re one of the users coming in from PokerTechReviews – welcome to my humble place on the interweb!

Played another DS to the sunday million tonight…patience at the first table is key, the donks are more than willing to hand you their chips, just gotta have the patience to wait for the right spot and you’ve got a good shot. I took out 4 out of 5 at the first table, even after being down to 500 chips early (losing a coinflip against a pushmonkey). The final table was brutal then. I was playing tight tight tight…just like everyone else, I for one didn’t do it on purpose though. Usually I would try to run over such a tight table in that spot, but it’s hard to do if you’re looking at 53o etc all the time. So I sat back and relaxed a little…once the blinds got bigger I finally had to resort to some all-in steals etc. The worked…but I couldn’t get anything going, not a single decent hand…once we were down to three I pushed…ran into a crap-flip 40/60 shot and lost…out in third…oh well…can’t complain here.

After that I donked around a little in the HU SnGs…and the game was brutal…I won my first match within 5 hands when my KJ on a KJx board was more than enough against my opponent calling a re-reraise-shove on that flop with K4o…well played sir….TPNK totally gold there…lol. In the next three matches it was cooler time. Flush into bigger flush…boat into bigger boat…nut flush into small boat…two pair into bigger two pair…you name it, I ran into it. Oh well, that’s how it goes sometimes…so I finish the session down, but down less than the rake…so I can live with that…

On another note: I finished reading Johnny Hughes’ book “Texas Poker Wisdom” yesterday…I gotta say a really good read, it made me smile a lot of times along the way with all the gamblers’ / poker players’ references by Old Cardslinger Matt…I can really recommend it…and I wonder if there’s going to be a sequel…

I have to check my shelf now as the poker reading material is starting to get slim…after all I have read a lot of stuff so far…I guess my next must read will be Doyle’s new book (autobiography?!)…if it is only nearly as entertaining as Amarillo Slim’s I will be a happy customer…alrighty…enough babbling…I’m outta here…gl at the tables everyone…

I was pretty satisfied with my play tonight…especially amusing was the last HU match though. I play against a pretty aggressive player. So I limp on the button with KK awaiting his pop…he obliges and I repop him….he repops me…hmm…I repop him…he shoves…no way I can fold…I commited myself after the repop….sure enough he shows Aces….as I say “nice cooler…gg”…he laughs….the laughing stops when the king hits the river. I say sorry and he goes ahead and berates me how he would have folded my hand preflop. Yeeeeeeah, right. If I ever meet a person that will fold Kings headsup in a 6$ tourney, I’ll let you know.

Moving on…I did a little catching up tonight…it’s been over a week that I had listenen to my favourite poker podcast (anteup)…to my surprise episode 159 was the last one…at least in the current setting. Chris and Scott are moving on…leaving the St. Petersburg Times to start their own poker magazine “Ante Up Magazine“…they said they’ll continue the podcast over there…I sure hope they do…but we’ll see if the “startup” is leaving them enough time to do it…we’ll see…I’m outta here…gl at the tables everyone….

…as I’m still on the mini-hiatus, calming down a little, regrouping…don’t worry though, I’ll be back soon enough, once I get “the itch” again.

Not playing doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about the game or in this case reading about the game. I just finished Tom Schneider’s book “Oops I won too much money…”. I gotta say it’s one of the few books that I read cover to cover in less than two days. I did that not because it doesn’t contain much – well it’s not strategy book like the book I read before this one (NL Hold’em Theory & Practice) – it does contain a lot, but not strictly poker strategy…the book is made up of 60+ little chapters covering various aspects of poker/business/life…and every chapter has a lesson….really entertaining, at times funny, too and overall a really enjoyable book. I can recommend it…

Next up on my reading list is Johnny Hughes’ “Texas Poker Wisdom – A novel”…you see, my poker library is growing and growing…that’s all for today, I’m off to sweat the (german) Luckbox at the Stud8 WC final table…Poker-News.com-coverage making that possible….double thumbs up…gl at the tables and stand by for “real poker content” – it shouldn’t be long 🙄 😉

…followed this year’s “unrestricted”, no-holds-barred, kick-ass WSOP-reporting from the Good Doctor…Dr. Pauly over at Tao of Poker…

Because Pauly and Shamus said so…so here it goes…

If you play online poker (especially if you are one of the blind fools still playing on UB), it’s in everyone’s best interest to spread the word on this important thread…

Superusers and Silence: How UltimateBet let players get cheated for millions by Steven Ware & Cornell Fiji (2+2)

Here’s a sample:

“I believe that it is important for online poker players to know about the unethical business practices of UltimateBet and Absolute Poker. It is also imperative to understand that these unscrupulous activities are not an indictment on the entire online poker industry. As you read this thread please keep in mind that UltimateBet and Absolute Poker are owned by the same company. They are also regulated by the same puppet regulatory commission. Most poker sites are run with the utmost integrity and security. UltimateBet and Absolute Poker are the exception and not the rule.

I urge the concerned reader to pass word of this summary on to other interested parties. The spread of this information will ultimately protect poker players from unknowingly exposing themselves to the corruption detailed below…

The players on UltimateBet were victims of a serious crime: grand larceny facilitated by a company that operates virtually outside the law. I hope that the efforts spent investigating and publicizing this story will help the victims of these crimes find restitution. I hope that this story will also highlight the need for independent regulation in the online poker industry.

Please use this thread to discuss the the best way to convince UltimateBet to come clean about their involvement in this theft and to provide restitution for these crimes. Please also use this thread to discuss the best ways to ensure that a scandal such as this one does not taint the game of poker occur ever again…. More“

As I don’t feel like playing long sessions these days, I only played to quick ones yesterday and today. Four nine handed turbo SnGs each. Finished first twice yesterday, one third and one first today. Two winning session, although small, in a row. Not bad considering the way I was approaching the game recently…and they way I ran…the way I played due to that…etc…

On the Poker Wear front I was pleased to see the mailman drop off a packet by PokerStars this morning. Finally, after a two month wait he delivered my PokerStars Sports Jacket…wheeee….

On the spam front I’m finally fed up with all the donkbags spamming me like crazy with ridonkulous trackback-spam…so I had to add two more measures to my already overkill antispam-arsenal. From now on track- and pingbacks are disallowed on all posts and comments are closed on posts older than 30 days. I hope that finally cuts out the crap as I’m fed up looking at the spam count (see footer) and seeing the number of blocked spams reaching ridonkulous heights (100+k are you kidding me?)…

Alrighty…I’m outta here…enjoy the random pic dump…and gl at the tables…

Inspired by ShoeMoney‘s Free Shirt Friday I would like to introduce the Poker-Tastic.com Free Stuff Day. How I envision this thing to take off is:

1. You’ve got a site you want to promote?
2. You’ve got some swag* promoting your site?
3. Send it to us and we will post a pic of the swag and provide at least one link back to your site.
4. Both sides win 😉

If you’re interested in sending us your swag, feel free to send it to:
Ingo Hildebrandt
ATTN: Poker-tastic Free Stuff Day
Neckargasse 7
71726 Benningen
Germany

If you’ve got questions and suggestions feel free to contact us at swag@poker-tastic.com! Oh, and if it’s a T-Shirt you’re sending, please make it XL and include a note with the address of the site/blog on it (only necessary if it’s not on the T-Shirt). Thank you.

* Promotional merchandise for a band, record label, or other entity in the music business, usually distributed at concerts.

May include t-shirts, stickers, promo CDs, posters, etc. Often free, but not necessarily; a t-shirt or record purchased at a concert might still be considered swag, especially if it is a design or release that is not readily available in the mass market.

Many independent record labels throw in a handful of free swag when they ship out mail-order packages (stickers, sampler CDs, etc).

The chief difference between swag and regular merchandise is that its purpose is not to make a profit, but to promote the band/label, and reward its supporters by giving them something cool and unique.
Source: Urban Dictionary

As I’m filling in for a colleague of mine I’m pretty much too tired to play at night. So, I didn’t play, at all, since my last post. What I did was my usual reading some stuff routine. I had ordered a good load of books over the last few months and I’ve been reading them, thoroughly, for the last few weeks.

Here’s a list of my newest additions:

1. Alan Schoonmaker – Your Best Poker Friend: Increase Your Mental Edge and Maximize Your Profits: Increase Your Mental Edge (read)
2. Alan Schoonmaker – Your Worst Poker Enemy: Master the Mental Game (I’m currently reading this one)
3. Gus Hansen – Every Hand Revealed (ToDo)
4. Tom Schneider – OOPS! I Won Too Much Money: Winning Wisdom from the Boardroom to the Poker Table (ToDo)
5. David Sklansky – No Limit Hold’em: Theory and practice ( ToDo )

Some good stuff there, I’m almost done with YWPE…so I’ll get to Gus’ book next…should be fun I guess…on another note: if I feel like it, I guess I’ll play a little over the weekend, we’ll see…if not…you’ll read about my newest adventures come next thursday (bank holiday…so looooong weekend thursday to sunday….wheeeeeeeeeee )