seymour:cards

Interested in social media?

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:08:00 +0000

If you are then check out four/sixty. [ mutterings and musings on social media ]

http://www.foursixty.com

all change!

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:03:00 +0000

poker is going well at the moment, but one of the things i like to do periodically is change the room i'm using. i usually find it helps keep me fresh, interested and allows me to hunt new fish! with online poker being a largely solo pursuit, a visual change can often refocus the mind and give your game a little kick up the backside. there is nothing worse than getting lazy, lazy costs money!

since poker is the same everywhere its a pretty easy thing to do, just my roll, neteller and away we go! i've decided to download the poker software over at 888 and give it a go. its been a room i've been meaning to try for a while now and it seems like a good time to kick it up a gear.

i'll let you know how it goes, probably post a review once i've put in some hands there.

high stakes report

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:49:00 +0000

the last 7 days on full tilts nose bleed tables has been intense to say the least! if you have been following any of the action you will have seen the same familiar faces as well as quite a few new ones.

it seems that since the highest action has moved from the $500/$1000 tables down to the $200/$400 and $300/$600 with ante tables a couple of the almost there players decided to step up to the mark.

now don't get me wrong, the players stepping up are at the top of their game, players like aejones or cole south, however in the past these players have had a pretty tough time at the very highest stakes. so the fact the action droped down maybe made it all the more compelling for them to take a shot. and what a shot they have taken. in the last 7 days some of these players have been on sick heaters, just ripping through the likes of ivey, antonius and durrrr.

taking a quick look at highstakes db you can see that the big winners in the last 7 days are

> martonas, up a staggering $1.6m
> richard ashby, up over $1m as well
> aejones, clocking in at just shy of $900k

but when there are big winners there has to be big losers, and there are

> durrrr, down $1.5m in 7 days. after pulling himself out of the $4m hole he found himself in he is now stuck again!
> patrik antonius, down $1.4 million although he is still very much in the green for the year
> din_fru, running bad and down $1.2m

the action has been mad and the play has been unreal. not mentioned above is cole south, but he has been tearing the plo tables in recent weeks, so do not be surprised to see the red pro book some big wins in the coming days.

also worth a quick mention is the return of matusow to the high stakes online tables. maybe matusow felt the new blood sitting would be easy pickings. sorry mike, i'm sure they were happy with the $140k you donated yesterday!

poker copilot review

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:02:00 +0000

i've spent enough time with poker copilot 2 now to review the product, so here we go :)

synopsis

a stand alone poker tracking and analysis program that runs on the native mac os. its currently prices at $59.99.

highlights

> hud display

> hand and opponent analysis

> hand re-player

> performance tracking

> supports cash and tournament play

> works with pokerstars and full tilt poker

software

solid software with a simple and user friendly interface. i haven't experienced any problems since downloading and installing the program and have never had any issues with hand tracking or hud performance. from my experience poker copilot is stable and effective, in other words it just works :)

features

all the basics are there and if you only use the top-line features of any hand analysis and tracking program then you won't even notice. however if you like to play around with your and others stats then you'll start to notice some omissions, some big, some small. here are a few examples;

> there is no a date range option meaning you can't analyze how you performed over the course of the month

> you cannot break out table performance both in hud and in general. its therefore hard to see how you and other players are performing on a table by table basis.

> there's no $/bb toggle against the hands that you have played, ie. i have currently lost 9054 bb playing a/k suited. what's that in $?

having said that, the features that are missing are few and far between. there is more then enough functionality in poker copilot to add value to your game.

future

here's the thing, poker tracker 3 is meant to be released on mac in the early fall of 2009. that's only a few months away. pt3 is a great program, has been used by a lot of players in the past, and will certainly set the benchmark for mac poker tracking and analysis software. what happens to poker copilot? well they have a few months to prepare and if they can up their feature set sufficiently (which i know is possible) then they will have a chance.

overall

poker copilot is a decent program for the mac and does provide us mac users with a native option. as i said previously, its a solid and effective program that undoubtedly stable. its easy to use and does the foundation work very well. if you are desperate for some mac hand analysis and tracking then you can do no wrong by purchasing this product.

seymour:cards gives poker copilot 7/10

will obama free online poker?

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:06:00 +0000

while there were many regrets american citizens had about the policies of the bush administration, one of the toughest blows came to online poker players in the form of the uigea, the unlawful internet gambling enforcement act. this act made it illegal for banks in the united states to do business with online gambling sites, which spelled the end of online poker in the united states for a number of sites.

uigea and poker

online poker players were outraged, specifically feeling that it was unfair for online poker, which can be proven to have a vital skill element, to be lumped in with video poker and other online casino games that are entirely luck. this was especially grating to online poker fans when considering the fact that forms of gambling that benefit the government, such as horse racing and state lotteries, were still considered completely safe and legal.

obama’s response

many poker players whooped that obama would ride in to the rescue. as a democrat, it was hoped that he would be less morally conservative and as a poker player, it was hoped that he would recognize the merits and distinctive character of the game.

the future of online poker

it remains to be seen what will happen. it seems likely that the current question now is not “will obama free online poker?” but “when?” when the white house posted a website asking citizens to post their most important issues for consideration and for people to vote on these issues, legalizing online poker was voted the number one technology issue and the number eleven issue overall.

when will obama free online poker?

this is a new administration with much to do in the wake of the last administration’s failures with respect to the economy and other issues. obama needs to choose and time his battles carefully. however, when the time is right and the right bill is introduced into congress to restore the legality of online poker, it is almost certain that president obama will sign it. when he does, online poker players will be free to come out into the light once more, playing on their favourites sites with no fear of persecution, hopefully ever again.

pokerstars offers $600 sign up bonus!

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:41:00 +0000

anyone else notice the 1200% increase in the new player bonus at pokerstars? i first spotted something strange last week on pokerstars italia where they were offering a 600 euro bonus. interested to see if that was the norm i jumped over to pokerstars.com but alas, the sign up offer still sat at a paltry $50.

then, on wednesday i noticed that my banner execution , see below right, had refreshed and was promoting a $600 offer. again i jumped over to pokerstars.com and yes, there is was in big bold letters! interestingly enough though, the banner creative switched back to the wcoop less than 24 hours later! strange!

so what does this deal signify? from my point of view its a very aggressive message to the market. pokerstars have seen huge growth without offering the same level of sign up bonus as full tilt, party and other poker rooms yet now they have entered into the financial incentive space. was new player growth slowing at pokerstars? is this a big push by them to really turn the screw on their closest competitor, namely full tilt, as their bonuses are now exactly the same?

either way it great for new players, not so great for me as i already have an account, although hopefully an influx of fish will be my return on investment.

it will also be interesting to see if and when pokerstars promote the new bonus. the banner creative changing to the bonus and then back to the wcoop could suggest two things, one that they don't want to take any attention away from a big marketing property, the wcoop. or this is only a soft offer, in which only those consumers affected by pokerstars other marketing activity will be exposed to the bonus message rather then pushing it out with heavy investment for everyone to see.

either way people, the offer is there, its good and if you don't already have a pokerstars account it is definitely worth exploring.

top 5 poker players of all time

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:31:00 +0000

a question that is often asked but almost impossible to answer. regardless of that i thought i would give it a go, here are my thoughts on the who the best poker players of all time are.

---

>phil ivey
after the 2009 wsop finished, all bar the returning final table of the main event, it has become clear just how good ivey really is. with 7 wsop bracelets and a chance to take down an 8th come november, plus an astounding record playing in the highest cash games around, ivey is the pinnacle of the poker illuminati. if ivey can keep his hunger alive then who knows where this man can go.

>phil hellmuth
love him or hate him, hellmuth, the most polarizing player in poker is also the most awarded player in wsop history with 11 bracelets to his name. each of his 11 bracelet wins may have been in hold'em but you cannot deny that that he is an incredibly astute player. his self awarness proabably exceed that of any other player and hellmuth, who has cultivated his poker brat image over the years knows exactly how to exploit it to his advantage.

>doyle brunson
one of the patriarchs of poker, brunson has defined the modern game. with skills honed on the dangerous and cut throat texas poker circuit brunson has seen it all. with back to back wsop main event wins in '76 and '77, 10 bracelets in total and the defining poker text to his name (super system) brunson has done more for the game than any other poker player alive today. he may be 76 years old but doyle is ever present at the big games in bobby's room and still teaching the young guns a thing or too about the game he loves.

>stu ungar
equally talented and troubled. stu ungar had a unnatural ability for all card games. winner of the wsop 3 times in 1980, 1981 and most impressively in 1997 after a 16 year absence filled with alcohol and substance abuse. ungar was a widely feared and highly aggressive player constantly putting his opponents to tough decisions. we will always be left wondering what he could have achieved if it wasn't for his self destruction. stu ungar, poker legend.

>tom 'durrrr' dwan
potentially a controversial inclusion but its hard to ignore the young internet juggernaut that are steamrolling the highest games online. durrrr has emerged at the forefront of the internet generation and his rise to the top has been both rapid and a roller-coaster. with daily 7 figure wins and loses a regular occurrence for the young poker star, its his ability to deal with his high variance style and maintain his a game when many others would have imploded. whether or not dwan will still be playing poker in 20, 10 or even 5 years time remains to be seen but right now its hard to ignore this raw talent.

---

i realize many of you will have your own opinion on who the top 5 poker players of all time are and i invite you to share your thoughts in the comments. as i said, its a nigh on impossible question to answer but given enough feedback we can get a better idea of what the overall feeling is.

can this be played slower?

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 06:53:00 +0000

villain is laggy and has been three betting a lot. we have a history, getting stacks in pre-flop previously where i held ace king suited to his sevens.

i fully expected my three bet to be called but whats the correct play after he called the flop cb? checking seems bad on this board since i wold have to call any bet with my over pair. thoughts?

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 214658
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $25.25
SB: $25.00
BB: $20.00
UTG: $24.65
Hero (MP): $31.05
CO: $47.80

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP with Q Q
1 fold, Hero raises to $1, CO raises to $2, 3 folds, Hero raises to $6, CO calls $4

Flop: ($12.35) J 3 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $11, CO calls $11

Turn: ($34.35) T (2 players)
Hero bets $14.05 all in, CO calls $14.05

River: ($62.45) 8 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $62.45
Hero shows Q Q (two pair, Queens and Threes)
CO shows J J (a full house, Jacks full of Threes)

CO wins $59.45
(Rake: $3.00)

rounders to rounders 2

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:12:00 +0000

with rumours that a sequel to the seminal rounders is being thrown about in hollywood i thought it would be worth remembering what made the original the stand-out poker movie of our time.

> a great cast, norton, damon, malkovich, janssen, turturro, landau etc. a selection of a listers and legends coming together and delivering a believable and interesting dynamic on screen.

> it wasn't set in vegas. new york added emotion, grit and realism to the movie where as the neon lights of vegas would have blinded the audience to the real struggle portrait in the movie.

> actually watching people play poker took a back seat with the tension and bravery of the game coming to the fore.

> there was no ridiculous quad aces getting rivered by a royal flush moment

> its was about the grind, the emotional roller coaster, about trying to make it playing poker. something that all players can relate to on one level or another.

at the end of the movie damon went off to chase his wsop dream in vegas. i would hate to think the sequel would continue exactly where the last left off, i feel it would be an anticlimax to the power of the originals script. the story in vegas may make a nice intro or even form itself through flashbacks, but for me, the grind in new york is far more compelling than any bright vegas has to offer. here's hoping that rounders 2 doesn't become a traditional hollywood over the top sequel.

mac poker: your options

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:24:00 +0000

how many people play poker on their macs? how many of those players only use native mac software? what are you left with? probably not a lot in all honesty. online poker is predominately a pc orientated pastime, and even those brave enough to use a mac likely run windows via bootcamp or parallels.

however it doesn’t need to be this way. ss a new mac user and one that was absolutely against running anything not built for mac osx i went in search of options, and what follows is what i found. i hope that my research can help guide others that are in the same predicament or are tempted by a mac but find playing poker on the platform daunting.

hardware
i’ll keep this brief as i’m not here to sell the benefits of an apple mac as a system, needless to say if you are thinking of buying a mac you have the same opportunities available too you as you would buying a pc namely a desktop or a laptop. i’m a laptop fan myself as it gives me the flexibility to play poker wherever i please, plus I always have the option of buying a separate screen if I want to take advantage of a bigger viewable area. apple do a great 24inch screen, it may be a little more expensive then adding a standard pc monitor but if you are really that price sensitive then you probably won’t be buying a mac in the first place.

card rooms
of the hundreds of card rooms out there these days there are only 2 that offer native mac support through downloadable software. the alternative to downloadable software is insta play, which is essentially playing within your internet browser. i for one prefer the piece of mind that comes with running the card room off local machine software, meaning you have a choice of pokerstars or full tilt poker.

pokerstars
pokerstars is my favourite cardroom for tons of reasons which i won't go into here, however if you would like to read a full and impartial review of pokerstars then click here.

full tilt poker
full tilt is the second of the two cardrooms offereing native mac support and was actually the first in market to offer it. again, a full review is available if you click here.

hand analysis software
this is where life becomes a little tricky on a mac as the major programs do not currently support native mac osx. there are a number of strands appearing on the major poker forums that poker tracker 3 for mac is well under development and being a big fan of the software i very much hope that this is true.

while waiting for pt3 though, there are 2 alternatives that you can try. both offer 30 day free trials and are resonably proced if you decide to go ahead and purchase the full version.

poker copilot
poker copilot is the software i have mentioned previously in relation to mac poker. they are about to poker copilot 2 with a number of upgrades direct from consumer feedback. things are looking promising for this mac native hand analysis package and i will be putting together an indepth review over the next few weeks which will be available here.

flopzoom
flopzoom is the second piece of mac native software i have found. check out their website here. i currently have no experience with this piece of software but have recently seen some improvements that make me want to test it. if i do take the plunge then a review will appear here. in the meantime any comments or experiences with flopzoom are welcome.

summary
in conclusion, at first glance the opportunity to play and analyse your poker on a mac seems fairly limited. however once the surface has been scratched it becomes clear that there are a variety of options available to the mac owner. so don't sit around fretting mac owners, fire up some of the quality software available to you and get playing poker.

music to watch the cards go by

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:14:00 +0000

poker can be a lonely game. you’re a lone warrior battling in solitude with only enemies for company. many a poker player therefore finds solice in music. a constant companion that can lift spirits or deepen despair.

but can music alter the way you play? can upbeat, high tempo music make you play more positively? and conversely can slow beat, angst esq music make you play more passively? recently i’ve been experimenting to test just this.

this morning i fired up some tables and chose some head candy to be my soundtrack of the session. i found myself tapping my foot to the beat and feeling high spirited. generally the poker session went well. there were no notable bad beats and i ended about half a buy-in up. good result.

this afternoon i continued my musical experiment and spun some placebo, one of the most teen angsty bands i have ever listened to. this time there was no foot tapping to be seen. instead i found myself screaming along to teenage dirtbag et al, and having a good time with it. the poker session again went well and i finished up about 15 bb.

this evening i thought i would try one more time and again the tables came up and i the needle went down on some matchbox twenty. being one of my favorite bands there was a fair amount of air guitar going on which was a little distracting. again the session went well. i played solid poker and finished up about 60 bb.

so what did i learn? well in regards to the genre of music affecting my play, very little. but i did realize the importance of poker to me as a solitary warrior on the felt covered battleground. good music can interrupt the monotony of playing poker, it can provide moments of escapism and distraction without you ever really losing concentration. it adds to the enjoyment of poker and is an undemanding companion to the grind. so fire up some tables, spin some tunes and let you and your music take on all comers!

mac poker

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:31:00 +0000

i've always been a pc guy. ever since i convinced my parents to buy a pc back in the mid 90's, a gateway pentium 75. it ran windows 95 and i loved it! since then i've gone through one other desktop and 3 laptops. my last being a dell xps m1330 which was only purchased in 2007. in fact read my review of that purchase here.

unfortunately my lovely dell had a problem. deep inside its bowels the graphics chip, which was mounted on the motherboard, generated too much heat which eventually shorted its host. dell were kind enough to replace it the first time it happened but it has since happened again and although i'm sure dell would replace it once more i can't live with an erratic pc.

near where i work there is a big glass store with an enticing fruit mounted above the door. that store is the apple store. i popped in a couple of times during my lunch hour to play around with their machines and ended up falling in love! not only do macs look gorgeous but the operating system is so smooth and user friendly. applications open quickly and easily and nothing crashed or blue screened.

so guess what, i bought one! well i actually bought two as i bought my wife one as well so she wouldn't try and steal mine! i bought myself a 13 inch mac book pro and it is one slick piece of kit.

problem is with a mac is that there isn't a great deal of choice when it comes to poker software. only full tilt and pokerstars offer native support and none of the big hand analysis packages run on mac osx. i know you can run windows on your mac via bootcamp but to be honest, why would i slow down my system and eat up all its available resources to run windows.

luckily i'm a big fan of pokerstars so i have no problem placing my entire roll there, the hand analysis software however is something that i miss, even if its just for analyzing my own play as opposed to tracking others. poker tracker have mooted releasing a mac osx version of pt3 but no dates have been set. after a few searches however i came across a piece of software called poker copilot. it built for mac, and although it is fairly basic vs pt3 or holdem manager it does go someway to filling the void. i've only been using it for 24 hours but i have to say that i had zero problems setting it up, it hasn't missed any hands, hasn't frozen or had any other compatibility tantrums. something that neither poker tracker or holdem manager can claim, at least in my experience.

so all well so far then. i put in a couple of good sessions today and am up 2 buy-ins, nothing to do with the mac but at least i'm playing again. i'll definitely post a review of both my new mac and poker copilot as i log a few more hours with both, but in the meantime if anyone was considering a mac but was worried about their poker suffering, i wouldn't! poker lives, and it lives on the mac!

the top 5 things all new poker players should consider

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:05:00 +0000

new to poker, still learning the ropes, confused by it all? If you find yourself nodding your head and you want a little advice about what to think and where to start, then I hope the following five handy insights will set you on your way to a long and successful poker career.

---

>bankroll
the bankroll or roll as its affectionately known. a subject that has been heavily debated by many. what is under-rolled or playing outside your roll? whats good bankroll management? questions that, in my opinion are best answered on a personal level rather than trying to broad brush stroke everyone. the key for any new player really, is not to gamble anything they can’t afford to lose. once you have determined that then if you follow my advice the rest of the decisions that you will need to make initially will almost be made for you. do remember though that your bankroll is your means to play poker. don’t make the mistake of calling your life money (ie. the money you need for food, rent, baby essentials) your bankroll, because its not. your bankroll should sit outside of all other financial obligations and just be there for poker. once its big enough and you are winning on a regular basis then you’ll be able to take money from your bankroll to add to your life money. in other words, poker will be a source of income, now that’s a good thing.

>poker room
so you have your bankroll and you are ready to gamble, but where do you play. there has been an absolute explosion of poker rooms in recent years, with skins such as ipoker and microgaming seemingly adding new rooms almost everyday. beyond just the room itself there are other factors to consider, such as rakeback, traffic, security, customer service and ease and convenience of depositing and withdrawing money. rake back is probably one of the biggest influencers in a small stakes players choice of card room, mainly because it helps offset the rake, which is the house take on each hand that is played. there are varying rake deals available ranging from 20-60% depending on the volume you play, and in part, the desperation of the room to attract new players. if you are interested in looking at the rake back deals that are available then I would recommend looking at those offered by rake the rake. i’ve had nothing but an excellent experience with the team there and they will offer you the same level of service. personally though, after trying room after room, shifting my roll around, there is only one place that I play at these days and that’s pokerstars. pokerstars doesn’t offer rakeback and to be honest there new player sign up deal is pretty lame but if you can see past those factors for a moment you will see that they have 1) the highest average traffic of any card room, over double that of its closest rival. 2) lots of fishy players to cash in on. 3) they have the best customer service I have experienced anywhere, always helpful, prompt and effective. 4) they are secure and safe, you won’t have any problems depositing or withdrawing money, they don’t slow down processing to hang on to your money a little longer and there aren’t any ridiculous security requirements to withdraw either like some rooms. pokerstars just offers the best product in the marketplace by a long way and that is why they are number 1. if you want my advice then play there, at least to begin with while you are finding your feet, and then experiment with other rooms once you are comfortable with the whole online poker process.

>tournaments or cash
the next big decision is whether to play cash or tournaments. new players often ask what the difference is, after all you are playing the same game in both. however the dynamics of cash vs tourneys, as they are affectionately known, are vastly different. the biggest difference is that you can’t reload in a tournament if you lose all your chips. if a player sucks out on you then that’s it, your chance at the money is gone, however in cash you can simply buy back in and wait for the fish who sucked out on you to make the same mistake again and give you your chips back. there have been many occasions where i have seen a particularly bad player get lucky time and time again, building up a huge stack of mine and others money only for me to play patiently and eventually take all his chips off him making a very tidy profit in the process. that obviously isn’t possible in a tournament. however single table tournaments, called sit and go’s (sng’s) are a good place to learn the ropes in poker. your loses are limited to the buy-in and it gives you a chance to play with the safety net of always knowing where you stand financially. my advice is to experiment though, find your groove, develop your style and see where you are most profitable.

>stakes
the question of stakes has more to do with your bankroll then anything else. you would have seen me mention bankroll management above and deciding what stakes to play is a big part of this. the general rule when playing cash is that you have no less than 20 full buy-ins for whatever stake you are playing. so for example if you are playing nl20, or no limit holdem with a max buy-in of $20 then you should have at least twenty times that in your bankroll. so $400 minimum. the max buy in is usually 100 times the big blind, so for nl20 you would have blinds of 10/20c. the small blind being 10c and the big blind being 20c. there is variation to the 20 buy-in rule for example there is less swing in limit holdem then there is in no limit holdem and more swing in heads-up then in ring games but personally i always like 20-25 buy-ins in my account to absorb any bad runs i go on.

>style
lastly, there is the question of style, or how exactly you are going to play poker. so are you a loose or tight player, are you passive or aggressive. generally being aggressive is always better than being passive. all of the top pro’s are aggressive players and they put their opponents under a huge amount of pressure because of it. the difference between loose and tight is more personal in my opinion. loose players get more action but get themselves in many more difficult spots. if you are a great reader of the game then you’ll have the skills to find the right play in those tough positions, if you aren’t then you’ll see yourself making a lot of mistakes. tight players generally see less swing in their game but are easier to read and therefore don’t always get paid off on their big hands. i suggest finding whatever you feel most comfortable with and practicing as much as you can to develop the instincts and experience you need to succeed.

---

so that concludes the 5 key elements to consider when starting out in the world of online poker. i won’t lie, there is a lot to learn, but it will be a hell of a lot of fun. i still remember firing up my first real money sng and busting early on. i didn’t really know what was going on but it was fun, and i fired up another one straight away with pretty much the same result! But after about 4 or 5 goes i took down my first sng and the buzz was great! not long after that i moved to cash games and that has been where I have stayed ever since.

however your journey begins though, just have fun and remember, we all started in the same place!

high stakes report

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:14:00 +0000

for those of you that read my high society post yesterday, you would have seen the not to difficult to predict prediction that when tom ‘durrrr’ dwan returned to the online tables the action would pick up. it seems it has already come true! as the $200/400 games raged yesterday turning a little crazy as they went on, it was nothing compared to what was to come. as the games turned down right insane once durrrr and david benyamine sat down. durrrr proceeded to go on a crushing marathon taking down any and everyone that got in his way. what made the action even sicker was the number of deep multiway pots taking place, which naturally durrrr seemed to take down. if the gamble continues then we could see a new biggest pot even at these stakes.

once the carnage had subsided and the dust had settled there were a number of victors with brian townsend, richard ashby, rafi ‘howsitfeellike’ amit all posting a profit but it was durrrr that sat proudly at the top of the pile banking in excess of $800k for the session. hopefully this is the beginning of some sustained high stakes action, as the railbirds have been feeling a little neglected over the past 6 weeks.

high stakes report

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:20:00 +0000

In the last month di dang aka urindanger has been seen playing at far lower stakes than his usual $500/1000 game. the action right at the top was pretty insane prior to the wsop with tom ‘durrrr’ dwan and gus hansen driving much of the gambling. however since pokers biggest event began back in june the action has all but dried up.

recently though, even with the return of gus to the tables, it’s the $200/400 stakes that have seen the most action. a combination of the old guard and new challengers looking to make the leap to the nose bleed stakes has resulted in some high octane games running. it also seems that di’s break from the sick and swingy upper echelons of high stakes online poker has done him a world of good. in fact urindanger is up over $800k in the last 5 days alone. this smoking hot run has helped di erase his previous loses (as recorded by highstaksdb) which topped $1.9m and he is now up by over $650k for the year.

hopefully we’ll see the action continue over the coming weeks and with durrrr still to return, maybe the biggest games will start running once again.

watch out seymour is about!

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:45:00 +0000

i'm coming back! after a prolonged absence, over a year really, i'm on the road home! and when i return i aim to bring seymour:cards back to the top of the blog pile, lol!

i'm currently looking at freshening things up a little, dusting off the cobwebs, adding some more functionality and things. you may, depending on how often you visit, see a couple template changes, although i think that i am close to deciding on the new look.

so whats gonna happen once i'm back, well firstly and most obviously i'll be sharing my poker exploits! again i'm not gonna be setting the world on fire but i hope my passion for the game comes across and for once there won't be any mentions of bad beats!

secondly i want to help new players navigate the online poker world and find the love for the game that i have. i'll be writing a series of posts on my poker journey and the things that i know now which i wish someone had told me when i set off.

thirdly i'll be sharing my view on the latest poker news and also posting some interesting insights into the world of online high stakes poker as the action has been pretty frickin insane so far this year and its likely to get better and better.

so make sure you come back soon, post you comments and enjoy the content.

all the best out there!

poker glossary: the letter a

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:38:00 +0000

ace-to-five, ace-to-six
methods of evaluating low hands.

act
to make a play (bet, call, raise, or fold) at the required time. it is seymour's turn to act.

action
> a player's turn to act. the action is on you.
> a willingness to gamble. i'll give you action or, there's plenty of action in this game.
> a bet, along with all the calls of that bet. for example, if one player makes a $5 bet and three other players call, he is said to have $5 "in action", and to have received $15 worth of action on his bet. usually this term comes into play when figuring side pots when one or more players is all in.

action button
a marker similar to a kill button, on which a player places an extra forced bet. in a seven-card stud high-low game, the action button is awarded to the winner of a scoop pot above a certain size, signifying that in the next pot, that player will be required to post an amount representing a completion of the bring-in to a full bet. for example, in a stud game with $2 and $4 betting limits and a $1 bring-in, a player with the action button must post $2; after the cards are dealt, the player with the low card must still pay the $1 bring-in, then when the betting reaches the player who posted the $2, he is required to leave it in as a raise of the bring-in (and has the option to raise further). Players in between the bring-in and the action button can just call the bring-in, but they know ahead of time that they will be raised by the action button.

action card
in texas hold 'em or other community card games, a card appearing on the board that causes significant betting action because it helps two or more players. for example, an ace on the flop when two players each hold an ace.

action only
in many cardrooms, with respect to an all-in bet, only a full (or half) bet can be reraised. anything less than a full (or half) bet is considered to be action only, that is, other players can call the bet but not raise it. for example, seymour bets $100. bob calls. harvey goes all in for $119. when the action returns to seymour and bob, they may only call the extra $19; they cannot raise it. harvey's raise is called action only.

active player
a player still involved in the pot. if there are side pots, an all-in player may be active in some pots, but not in others.

add-on
in a live game, to buy more chips before you have busted. in tournament play, a single rebuy for which all players are eligible regardless of their stack size. this is usually allowed only once, at the end of the rebuy period. the add-on often offers more chips per dollar invested than the buyin and rebuys.

advertising
to make an obvious play or expose cards in such a way as to deliberately convey an impression to your opponents about your style of play. for example, to make a bad play or bluff to give the impression that you bluff frequently (hoping opponents will then call your legitimate bets) or to show only good hands to give the impression that you rarely bluff (hoping opponents will then fold when you do).

aggressive, aggression
leading or raising rather than calling or checking.

air
> in lowball, "giving air" is letting an opponent who might otherwise fold know that you intend to draw one or more cards to induce him to call.
> nothing, as in, that last bluff was with total air, or I caught air on the river.

all in
having bet all of your chips in the current hand.

angle
a technically legal, but borderline unethical, play. for example, deliberately miscalling one's own hand to induce a fold, or placing odd amounts of chips in the pot to confuse opponents about whether you mean to call or raise. a player employing such tactics is called an "angle shooter".

ante
an ante is a forced bet in which all players put an equal amount of money or chips into the pot before the deal begins.

ante off
in tournament play, to force an absent player to continue paying antes, blinds, bring-ins, or other forced bets so that the contest remains fair to the other players. go ahead and take that phone call. we'll ante you off until you get back.

courtesy of, in part, wikipedia. click here for more poker information.

pokerstars review

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:37:00 +0000

pokerstars is the largest poker site in the world, offering massive volume in cash games and tournaments and action at almost any game and limit 24 hours a day.

it really sets the standard in the industry as far as tournaments go, with an unmatched selection and sit-and-gos at all stakes starting up virtually every second.

pokerstars also offers good promotions and an exceptional loyalty program, with a huge selection of merchandise, special events and qualifiers to all major poker tournaments.

the software is also top-notch and offers fast play, high reliability, great multi-table options and a high level of customization - it pretty much sets the bar for the industry there as well.

if you're looking for a downside, though, it's probably the inconsistent competition. because of the huge player base, the opposition can range from super soft at one table to unbelievably aggressive just the next table over.

lower limits and tournaments are still flush with bad players, say up to the $6 and $11 SNG level, but there are literally thousands of strong players trolling pokerstars daily looking to make a living, so expect some tough competition scattered throughout your games.

if you like more obscure poker variations, pokerstars is for you, with a wide spread of games offered - texas hold'em, omaha and seven-card Stud in all versions, h.o.r.s.e., h.o.s.e., 2-7 triple draw, five-card draw, razz, 2-7 single draw lowball, badugi, 8-game, mixed hold’em and mixed omaha hi/lo. by the time you read this, they've probably added more.

overall, pokerstars keeps its spot at the top of the industry for traffic by offering a real "feel for poker" and responding rapidly to player feedback.

bottom line, it does what it does very well, and if the competition wasn't so tough at the higher stakes and there wasn't the occasional inconvenience that comes with such a huge site, it would be tough not to rank pokerstars higher.

real-money player statistics as of july 2009 show 22,500 ring-game players at peak hours and 155,000 tournament players at peak hours.

hits
> offers a $1.5 million weekly guaranteed, largest in the world
> massive satellite, ring game and tournament spread
> large and well-known pro team to rail, chat and play against
> great software
> very responsive to player feedback, adding new features, games and tournaments often

misses
> only offers e-mail support
> tough opposition in high-stakes tournaments and cash games

review courtesy of poker listings, for more inforamtion visit their great site here

full tilt poker review

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:36:00 +0000

launched in 2004, full tilt poker is now by far one of the biggest and most famous poker sites online, growing daily and always pushing to build its reputation as a market leader.

adding to its visibility and prestige is of course "team full tilt," the site's main sponsored pros and the bulk of its ownership group, including poker legends howard lederer, chris ferguson, allen cunningham, phil ivey, mike matusow and andy bloch.

The site's famous catchphrase is "learn, chat and play with the pros," and they definitely live up to it, with the main sponsored team plus with a growing list of full tilt "red pros" found playing regularly at a variety of limits.

for the regular player there's action at virtually any game and limit 24/7, with games offered including texas hold'em, omaha, omaha hi-lo, seven-card stud, seven-card stud hi-lo, five-card draw and razz.

full tilt poker is also one of few sites with mixed games like h.o.r.s.e., h.a. and h.o.s.e. in both cash games and tournaments, making the game variation one of the most extensive and impressive online.

full tilt poker's software has some very innovative functions, is very stable and features excellent graphics - definitely measuring up as one of the best in the industry. The cartoon avatars are a bit tiresome to look at after a while, but not a huge obstacle to overcome.

same goes for the perpetual spamming and $5 transfer requests in the chat wherever the pros are, but that can also easily be turned off.

for those that want to look like the pros, the points shop is excellent, offering players all sorts of ftp merch that can be bought with their full tilt poker points.

overall, full tilt delivers what you expect - plenty of tables and games to pick from, a strong pro presence to give you the cool "poker experience" and a chance to watch some super sick games at the marquee $500/$1,000 no-limit hold'em tables.

the hard work and huge advertising budget has definitely paid off, as real-money player statistics as of July 2009 show 10,500 ring-game players at peak hours, and 70,000 tournament players at peak hours.

hits
> $8 million in guaranteed prize money each week
> accepts u.s. players
> great points store with full tilt poker merchandise
> chance to play with famous full tilt pros
> great mini-view functions for multi-tabling
> supports completely automated import of tournament and ring-game data to poker tracker

misses
> very tough competition at higher levels
> no-download software isn't available

review courtesy og poker listings, for more inforamtion visit their great site here

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noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:08:00 +0000

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update, whoop!

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:11:00 +0000

been finding my poker feet again lately on titan. so far so good although things could have gone a little better, my aces full of fours was obv going down to quad 4's, sigh!

will share some more once i sort out a few things like poker tracker 3, anyone used it? any good?

also found the following blog which has been making me laugh over the last couple of weeks, one/angry/kid

worth a gander if you're feeling a little angry!

less than a week until vegas!

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:08:00 +0000

getting myself set for vegas now, i leave early next week for my whirlwind 3 day business + pleasure trip.

i'll be staying at mandalay bay which i'm quite happy about as it looks pretty cool from what i've seen. no idea if they have a poker room, i'll suss that out on the ground otherwise i'll head to the bellagio.

also organising a table at tao as well. a friend has a fair few contacts in vegas so is sorting that stuff out.

other then that its going to be a mad dash between meetings and the felt.,,or the slots if i'm really time pressed.

it will be a good first taster regardless and since my total expenditure for the trip will equal what i lose, if i lose, you can't really beat that!

lets hope i hit a lucky streak while i'm there

challenge seymour

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:18:00 +0000

still travelling and haven't had the time to really bust out a serious session but have been dabbling. finding it really hard to motivate myself however when i only have 30 mins here or 45 mins there. just not enough time to get into the game, get some reads and make moves.

i think i may have a solution though. today mansion sent me a software cd containing a mighty $15 worth of free moolah! now its not a lot but i quite fancy playing with this little roll and seeing where i get too. i'll start at the micros and work my way up and hopefully take over the world without spending a penny.

hopefully i'll kick that off shortly and fill you all in on the progress.

now back to travel...boring....except i have to go to vegas at the end of the month for a meeting....vegas baby!! can't wait, its gonna be a blast. i won't have a ton of free time but i'm gonna make the most of it. i'll probably try and only sleep on the plane ride out and then back again! not sure where i'm gonna be staying, organised by the corporation, but i probably won't be the bellagio...if its not then i'd like it to be here!

on a final note, it seems wombol has reinvented himself, or is in the process of doing so. he's started a new blog called social supremacy check it out if you have a minute. its not quite poker but its interesting none the less.

anyhoo folks, good luck at the tables

bank roll boost?

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:33:00 +0000

was wondering the other night how i was gonna boost my roll rapidly, and then, as if by the power of god the answer arrived, by email via burkina-faso...

"Dear Comrade,

How are you today? Hope all is well. Please be informed that I have decided to contact you for a fund transfer transaction worth the sum of US$10,500,000.00 into your reliable bank account as the sole NEXT-OF-KIN to the foreign deceased customer of our bank (an International Billionaire French Businessman) who was killed with his entire family by PLANE-CRASH in Central England atmost 3 years ago. Since his death occured, no body have show up as his next of kin for the claim because the account is untraceable.

Upon the investigation I carried out from his records, I found out that his foreign business consultant whowould have trace the account died earlier before the deceased. Therefore, this is a confidential and sealed deal.

For thesuccess of this transaction, you should apply and act as the onlyexisting NEXT-OF-KIN to the deceased which our bank will replace the deceased account information through proper documentation in position ofyour own account.

This transaction is risk-free, it will never harm your good reputation in your society because no one can trace the account, and on the instant of the transfer of the fund into your account, the chapter of this transaction will be closed entirely.

Note that in a business of this nature, the bank dont want to know yourdifference between the deceased country, religion or believe because our bank inheritance law is against that. So, it is a preference for us achieve this success without any problem.

Please note down that once the fund get transferred into your account, you will take 39% of the total sum while the rest will be for me as I will arrange myself down to your country to take my share.

I need your urgent response and include your private telephone/mobile numbers for easy communication.Please reply if you can be trusted in this deal.

Thanks,

Mr.ADAMA KADIOGO"

how can i possibly turn this man down, he seems very nice and even wants to protect my good reputation in society. i'm going to contact him right now!

euro 2008 sports betting

noreply@blogger.com (seymour:cards) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:58:00 +0000

anyone else get that tingle of disappointment as the czech republic vs swizzleland game kicked off on saturday? i certainly did, if only england were there, but then after 20 mins of the game i actually felt a little relieved i wouldn't be subjected to the stress and disappointment of england crashing out to a ronaldo penalty or some other dismal result.

with renewed enthusiasm i've decided to step back into the long forgotten waters of sports betting. i've steered clear of sports betting since the world cup because quite frankly i'm shite at it!! but nows the time to give it a little go me thinks.

i've deposited £25 into blue sq and i'm gonna see where that gets me. i'm not going to set the world on fire but it makes the games a little more interesting. my plan is to place a £5 bet on the results of each days games to improve my odds a little.

yesterday i put £5 on germany and croatia to win and tripled my dosh so good start. not sure about todays games yet but already looking forward to it.