I just read a beautiful piece about being “rivered” or like poker players like to call it “sucked out on the river”. Mike Caro talks about the reason for it and why it happens (or seems to happen) more to good players – because they just play more selective and enter (big) pots holding the best hand…true, so it’s basically an easy equation: if you enter pots while holding the best hand almost all the time, it’s natural that you will get sucked out more than a bad player who enters more pots while holding (possible) junk…

So does this mean I’m a good player? I guess it could be true as I rarely get eliminated from tournaments without suckouts and I’ve been very successfull in (private) live play (10 out of 12 times I’ve been in the money and/or heads up for the overall win taking down 1/4th of all money involved), but I’m not here to praise myself, as a student of the game I know that there’s always room for improvement, especially due to the fact that I’m pretty new in the poker circuit (I started playing regularly in the most played games (Hold’em, Omaha, 7Stud) in November 2005, before that the only poker I played was a simple 5 card draw poker every now and then…so I’m really a newbie to all of this, especially the online poker which speeds up everything and takes away stuff I use in live play (checking out the other players while they’re looking at their cards, evaluating their playing patterns in this particular session, a little trash-talk here and there, etc))!

Hat tip to Derek over at CardSquad for the link to the article.

Just ordered myself two poker books, hopefully they’ll arrive in time for the holidays…first of I ordered Phil Hellmuth’s “Play Poker Like the Pros” – the reviews weren’t all that great but I thought it can’t be that bad and I’m sure that Mr. Whinebox has got some interesting stuff to say:

The second book is “Tales from the Tiltboys” by Phil Gordon. After finding out about this book from his own homepage I just ordered it, after all all the praise can’t be wrong:

This book goes to show you how one group of guys that play poker together can go on to rule the world!
Phil Hellmuth Jr.�Poker legend and author of Play Poker Like the Pros

Getting near the Tiltboys is like falling into the orbit of a very bright, unstable star. Their cheerful message: quit your job, ignore the advice of your loved ones and go live forever on the Island of the Lost Boys. Read this book at your own peril.
Ira Glass�Host of public radio’s award-winning This American Life

Thank you, Tiltboys! You’ve changed my life! It drives my girlfriend wild when I spank her with your new book Tales from the Tiltboys.
Chris “Jesus” Fergusonâ€â€?2000 World Series of Poker Champion and Honorary Tiltboy

If enough people buy this book, maybe I won’t have to pay Perry to be quiet during tournaments anymore.
Erik Seidel�Six-time WSOP bracelet winner
 
Source: Sportspublishing LLC

How could I miss this so far: Chris “Jesus” Ferguson bluffs with the Hammer 7-2o and let’s his opponent know about it…

…see here

Excellent!