January 2010

  • January 2010
  • 42 Cover – Phil Laak Gets Real: The Unabomber has his own site!
    24 Who the f$$k is Isildur1? Poker’s mysterious new phenom
    32 Jeff Sarwer: Meet the man who made Shaun Deeb quit
    Thrills
    10 Snapshot: The Durrrr Live Challenge
    12 The Beat: With Neil “Bad Beat” Channing
    14 Bluff Newswire: Rolling poker news from around the globe
    18 Nick Wealthall: Wealthall goes all Zen on us
    20 Dr Tom’s Poker Infirmary: Is your game sick?
    22 Wicked Chops: And the Player of the Decade is…
    24 Agit-Props: Poker’s nuttiest bets
    36 Road Gambler: Curly Cavitt
    48 Mel Judah: Cashout poker, the all-new tournament concept
    50 Tales from the Celt: Wise words from Derek Kelly
    52 Bluff Labs: A look at poker academies
    60 Grassroots: Supporting poker in the community
    66 Pickleman: The Unibet Open Warsaw
    68 PKR Live III: More fun with the PKR community
    Virtual Felt

    54 Online Report: Snoopy meets Tom Dwan
    56 LarsLuzak: Know your opponent
    58 Deuces Cracked: Why winners learn more heads-up
    Wisdom:
    70 Caro: Revision with a Mad Genius
    72 Bonomo: Justin challenges tilt
    74 Sam Chauhan: Knowing when to stop
    76 Action Jackson: Paul gets licked in Latvia
    78 Jesper Hougaard: Balanced ranges in PLO
    82 Heads up with Paul Zimbler: Strategy from the heads up world record holder
    84 Doctor’s Orders: Testing game theory
    86 Blackjack strategy: Camouflaging your play
    88 MIT Blackjack: The truth about casino comping
    90 Table Games: Top secret roulette theory from Dr Les
    92 Full Tilt Tips: With Jennifer Harman
    94 Slutsky: Some words of inspiration
    96 Card Gang: Win a seat to the UKIPT

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Dear Tom,
What does “balancing your range” mean? Is it the same as mixing up your play or is there something more complex involved?
Luke, Plymouth

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Towards the end of October, a mysterious entity known as “Isildur1” ambushed the Full Tilt tables and sent shockwaves through the online poker community. Within the space of a few days, he was playing some of the biggest names at the highest stakes available, often seated with the max and playing up to eight tables simultaneously.

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About six months ago I wrote an article about the Unibet Open, London. I talked about wild parties, rock stars, and a feel to proceedings that was somewhere between the Olympics and the Oscars. This weekend I had my second drink from the cup, and I loved it. But whereas my first taste of the Unibet Open left me feeling hedonistic and carefree, my second has left me with a serious conviction: this is how a poker tour should be.

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“I used to think I was just a character in a comic strip drawn by some guy in Utah. It’s not my choice – the guy who draws the comics makes the choices.”

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After winning a package on Betsafe Poker, I was off to Latvia for my first ever tournament in that part of the world, and I have to say the organisation of the event was superb, as was the hotel and the tournament venue, Casino Royale.

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Dear Dr Tom,


I always sucked at maths at school, but I’ve think I’ve got good “card sense” and have pretty much taught myself all the maths necessary for solid tournament play. The problem I have is, if I make it to the top three or four in a tournament and someone suggests a chop, I’m not smart enough to figure out if I’m getting a good deal or not. Is there a simple formula I can learn so I don’t get ripped off?