May 10, 2013 7 Comments
This is one of the most beneficial videos I have ever watched on YouTube. While Sam discusses poker specifically, the overall lesson learned here is valuable to anyone seeking to improve in any area of life.
Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Read more of this post
April 27, 2013 5 Comments
The word Zen is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, meaning “meditation” or “meditative state.”
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. Zen emphasizes experiential wisdom in the path to attaining enlightenment. It favors direct self-realization through meditation and dharma. Meditation is the core aspect of Zen practice. Zen meditation is formally described as a sitting meditation with awareness being directed towards counting or watching the breath. Experienced practitioners of Zen meditation strive to be aware of the stream of thoughts in their minds, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference. Read more of this post
January 16, 2013 Leave a Comment
65% of Americans gamble – I’m not sure what percentage are degenerate gamblers or occasional gamblers, but at least we know that over half of America feels comfortable enough to gamble their money away during this “recession”.
How we gamble and how long we gamble all depends on how our brain is working. When we are having fun and enjoying gambling, dopamine is being release into our brain telling us that we want more. This is what makes gambling so exciting. When we are losing..well, that feeling is terrible.
Check out this info graph showing how our brains work and react during gambling.
November 16, 2012 Leave a Comment
Greg Merson, 2012 WSOP Main Event Champion and 2012 WSOP Player of the Year, talks about his World Series of Poker Main Event win at the Ivey Poker studio:
October 25, 2012 Leave a Comment
This is article written by David Sklansky & Alan N. Schoonmaker, Ph.D.
Many people have argued that poker should be considered differently from gambling in general. This argument has been made in discussions of legalization and related topics. Their argument is usually that poker is a skill game, while other gambling games are much less dependent upon skill.
We agree, but believe that they have not gone far enough in explaining many of poker’s unique attributes. Poker does not just require skill. It demands and develops many skills and personal qualities which are essential for making all types of decisions, such as choosing a career, investing money, performing a job, and buying a house. Read more of this post
October 25, 2012 Leave a Comment
Every poker player has flaws in their poker game whether they want to admit it or not.
Most players will never discover these flaws in their game, and will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again until they consciously choose to fix them. Fixing a flaw is known in the poker community as “plugging a leak.” Much like a plumber must plug a leak in a pipe for the system to work correctly, every aspiring poker player must plug leaks in their poker game in order for their poker business to be as profitable as possible. Read more of this post
October 23, 2012 Leave a Comment
Being the chip leader in a big multi-table tournament is a wonderful thing if you know how to play your massive pile of chips correctly, and ultimately win the entire tournament.
In tournament poker, my only goal is to win the entire tournament. Even though the second place prize money is right up there with first, I still get disappointed if I can’t seal the deal. Even with the nice bankroll boost, second place just isn’t as fun as winning the entire tournament. By the time all is said and done, I want to have every single chip in play, everything else is secondary. Plan A is to win the entire tournament. I don’t have a plan B because it distracts from Plan A. Read more of this post
October 23, 2012 Leave a Comment
No matter how good at poker you may think you are, you simply have to lose sometimes. Sometimes those losing streaks last longer than you could ever imagine, even if you are playing “perfect” poker. The fact is, no matter your skill level in poker, the bad side of variance will bite you in the ass sometimes. You can get all your chips in the middle with the best hand, and end up losing, it is just something that happens sometimes. This luck element of poker is what keeps the fish coming, and what enables profitable players to win in the long-run. Read more of this post
October 20, 2012 Leave a Comment
My life has been quite busy as of late, and I haven’t had a chance to sit down and get all of my new ideas and theories out into blog entries. I am still sorting everything out to present it as best as possible so bear with me. I have a lot of ideas I want to share with everyone but I need to present them in a way that everyone can understand and formulate an opinion on. It might be impossibly hard to do that with some of the subject matters I will touch on. A lot of these topics will be discussed on our podcast which should be live by the end of the year if all goes according to plan.
Having said that, this past month I have gotten back into online poker after a short hiatus from the game, which has enabled me to learn a lot more about myself, and also the game of poker. Read more of this post
October 17, 2012 Leave a Comment
“The Final Table” is a series that focuses on professional poker player Russell Thomas. The biggest tournament on the poker calendar, the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event featured 6600 players paid $10,000 each to enter the event. After 8 days of intense competition, only nine players remained – including Russell. With the final table set, the tournament paused for 3 months, and Russell contacted fellow professional Jason Somerville to help prepare him for the final table on October 28th.
With the final table looming ever closer, Jason invited some of his professional poker player friends to come to Stony Brook, New York, for an intense two weeks of training. The goal is very simple: ensure Russell is in peak poker shape before taking his shot at the $8.5 million first-place prize. Read more of this post
October 3, 2012 Leave a Comment
If your intention is to become a long-term winning poker player, you will need to develop an extensive list of personality traits to succeed. One of the most crucial aspects of a winning poker player’s mindset is their intuition. Developing and trusting your intuition in the heat of battle is essential if you want to take your game to the next level.
This article will outline how to use your intuition to help you win in No-Limit Texas Hold’em, and allow you to make better decisions in your life outside of the poker arena.
July 31, 2012 Leave a Comment
After rumors spread of PokerStars acquiring Full Tilt, a deal has finally been reached that will see all Full Tilt players get their bankrolls back. The new deal will have Full Tilt Poker voluntarily forfeit all of their assets to the United States government. According to a press release from PokerStars, the U.S. government will then transfer all those assets to PokerStars, which will in turn pay out $547 million to the U.S. government over the next three years. Read more of this post
July 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
Today marks the beginning of the single biggest tournament in poker history, and it is going to benefit a great cause. 48 players will pony up $1,000,000 to buy into The Big One For One Drop, and 11.111% of all of the buy-ins go to charity. Read more of this post
June 21, 2012 3 Comments
Phil Ivey has been on an incredible run in the 2012 World Series of Poker and there is no sign of him slowing down yet. Ivey has already made 5 different final tables already at this year’s WSOP, but has been unable to add another bracelet to his collection so far. Ivey is 0-5 in the hunt for his 9th bracelet, and the numerous 7-figure bracelet bets that comes along with it.
