COURTNEY FRIEL ON NEXT PODCAST

Fresh off our interview of Kenna James, we've lined up another rising star in the poker world. Courtney Friel, who takes over for Shana Hiatt as host of the World Poker Tour on Season IV, will spend some time with us on Wednesday's podcast. Season IV kicks off on Wednesday, March 8, so it's great timing. The WPT asked us to submit questions in advance, but if any of you have any questions you'd like us to ask her, post 'em here and we'll see if we can sneak 'em in. And don't worry - we'll spend lots of time Wednesday talking about last weekend's great Ante Up Tournament. In short, a podcast you're not going to want to miss. Spread the word ...

J_CHITOWN wins Ante Up Tournament

Congrats to J_CHITOWN who outlasted a determined SMALLSTACK Saturday night to claim the first Ante Up! Tournament title at PokerRoom.com. CHITOWN had a massive chip lead at the final table, at the final four and heads up, but SMALLSTACK made 'em earn it. SMALLSTACK took the lead a couple of times, before finally losing when CHITOWN flopped a straight and SMALLSTACK couldn't complete his flush.

And congrats to MJ_CHICAGO for knocking me out in 15th place (QQ vs. AK) and to PAAVOXX for booting Chris in, ahem, 51st place (99 vs. KK). CHITOWN, CHICAGO and PAAVOXX, remember to email us your address so we can send you that swag.

And thanks to all 63 of you who showed up. It was a lot of fun playing against you and chatting with you before, during and after the tournament. Stay tuned, as we'll surely do it again soon.

Now Chris can get a table!

Hey guys, thought I'd pass this along for those of you who live near or plan to visit Foxwoods in Connecticut. It's from a story in the The Day newspaper of New London, Conn. Now maybe Chris can start out 86th on the wait list! :)

On March 23, the enlarged poker room (one acre! of total space on the first floor) will open with 38 more tables - 114 total. Carmen Electra and Mike Sexton will be on hand. (And appreciate the picture of Carmen, folks. You know how hard it is to find one of her with clothes ON?) Some of the room's highlights:
KIOSKS: You'll be able to add your name to the wait list by swiping your Wampum card.
NEW EATS: A 100-seat restaurant will have plasma screens with the wait lists. No word on whether they'll put the "au jus" next to the syrup.
PAGERS: They'll beep you when your seat is available.
RATING: They'll have those cool new screens at the table that dealers use to punch in your info so you earn comps.
SHUFFLERS: Built into the tables to speed up play. I know, I know, some of you purists out there want your dealers to prove their skills, but me, I want as many hands as I can get.
DEALERS: They're hiring 200 more, bringing the poker room staff to an eye-popping 900. (Chris will whine about 800 of them, I'm sure).
WPT: It'll be known as the Foxwoods "WPT World Poker Room," with the show's logo everywhere. Other casinos will soon become "WPT" rooms, too.

What do you think about this hand?

So, I generally think that all of you who read this blog listen to Ante Up! If you don't, then give it a listen if you're curious about how my trip to Foxwoods went. The short version: I flew 1,300 miles, drove an hour to the casino, waited 5 hours to sit at a table, basically played four hands (two in $2-$4 O8B and two in $1-2 NLHE) and won $25 total. Nuff said!

So this afternoon I went to Derby Lane to play double flop, and after winning the first hand with a nut flush, I gradually got sucked out on and my stack dwindled until I was forced to raise all-in with AKo for basically $9. I flopped top pair on both boards (Ace on top, King on bottom) but someone had called an $8 capped-first-round bet with 4♥7♥ and made a flush on the river on one board. Another old-timer held a pair of queens and made trips on the river. He stayed in despite the King and Ace on each board. So I busted out, oh well. If you add up all the winnings I have in double flop this was hardly a setback and I only bought in for 20 bets.

But I'm on vacation this week, and I want to play more poker. So I went home and signed on to PokerRoom. After doing today's show I thought about my bankroll, and thought about how much I have in it. Then I thought, why not play at a larger table today? So I bought in to the $2-$2 NL Hold 'Em table. There were some big stacks in there already, some with $350+ and most with $250ish. Some were in there with $20 (?!?) so you get the idea. I won a $10 pot early and then the blinds (and a loose call or two) had eaten that up already. So here's the hand, and I want you to be brutally honest with me, because I know this was a ballsy move, but at the end I felt like I had no choice.

OK, I'm second to act and I get dealt A♠K♠. This is a very powerful hand and my first instinct is to raise to $6, but before I can do that, UTG (who had about $250) raised to $10. At this point I contemplate re-raising to $20-$25, but since the blinds are only $1-$2, I felt the raise was sufficient to get heads-up with UTG. Everyone folded except the guy in the BB. He waited awhile and then called. BTW, he had $240. The pot = $33. In my mind I put the UTG with a medium pair, like 8-8 through even J-J. I just got the impression from such a big raise that he didn't want us to see a flop. As for the caller, I'm really not sure what to put him on. I mean, UTG raised a bunch and I smooth-called. What the hell kind of hand could he have to just call with? So I decided he might have the same hand as me, AK, or even AQ. If he had a monster like AA or KK I think he would've re-raised to get heads-up, or at least try to find out where we were.

Anyway, here's the flop: J♦10♦4♥. The initial raiser made the standard continuation bet, and it was for $10, a third of the pot. I took this as weakness and as an "obligation" not as strength. If he was serious about taking down this pot I thought he should've at least bet half the pot, and considering the flush and straight draws out there, he probably should've bet something like the size of the pot or more to discourage pot odds. Since he didn't do that I figured he was putting out a tester bet, and I came over the top for $25. So now there's $68 in the pot, and I think that raise might've been a mistake on my part because I gave the BB almost 3-to-1 on a call. If he had something like A♦Q♦ then he had 12 outs to make the winning hand. So he'd be getting the right money to call. Then the UTG called! What the hell does he have? A-A? Trips?

The turn was a 3♥. With two flush draws and two straight draws out there they both checked, and I fired another $20 bet, hoping it looked like a PLEASE CALL ME bet. I also realized now that $20 into a $108 pot probably wasn't enough because of drawing pot odds, but I was on a semibluff here and I wanted it to look like I was confident I was going to win. Two calls made the pot $148ish (not accounting for the rake).

The river: Q♦. I made Broadway, but now the diamond draw would've gotten there. I got two checks. I think to myself, if they had the nut flush, would they really miss an opportunity here to value bet? I've been showing strength the whole way and at this point I have $43 left. If they have the nuts and put me all-in they know I'm most likely going to make a crying call. But they checked, and that's when I decided I needed to put in my last dime, in case they had the second or third nut flush and may fold (though I knew it was unlikely). The BB called me and the UTG folded. I turned over my straight and he actually showed me his cards: Q♥J♥.

So if we recap his hand from the beginning, he played it out of position, hit top pair (just jacks with a mediocre kicker), and picked up a flush draw on the turn. Despite a huge preflop raise UTG and a caller in Seat 2, he elected to stupidly defend his BB buy forking over another $8. It ultimately cost him about $90. How does he think his pair of jacks is good there to warrant calling a $25 re-raise? Does he really bank on backdoor straight and flush possibilities? So the turn gave him a flush draw, but even then, does he really have confidence that I don't have A♥K♥? Or even A♥10♥? That queen was such a BAD CARD for him. If he only has jacks at the end he folds. Instead he has to call because there's so much out there and I take down a $250 pot.

OK, so let the berating begin. Tell me if I played this wrong. It was a huge pot, one of the biggest I've ever one, if not THE biggest. I always get so tired of missing the flop and folding like a cheap suit. I decided early on that if I had outs I was going to play this hand from beginning to end very strongly. I did nothing to indicate weakness and they continued to not believe me. Also, what do you think UTG had? My guess is what I guessed originally. Maybe he had trip 10s and folded to the possible flush/straight? Because if he had 8s or 9s he has to let the hand go to my re-raise and my subsequent bet on the turn. He didn't, and he didn't reraise, he just called. I think he had trips and was hoping to fill up, but I really can't tell what he had. Maybe he had pocket rockets and knew they were beat. I don't know. Anyway, I'm happy with the outcome and got lucky, but did I make a mistake?

I'll let you decide.

Ding! It's your deal

Hey, I'm going to start trying to post more on the blog about the things we mention on the podcast, in case you don't have a pencil around when you're jamming to the show. Today, we mentioned the DB Dealer button, which scrunches a cool little timer into a normal size white dealer button. For more information, visit dbdealer.com

Dude, where's my $40,000?

One of the nice things about FullTilt is watching, and even chatting with, the pros. This weekend I observed a $25-$50 NL game featuring Layne Flack and another player, call him Bob. Layne had about $14,000 to Bob's $24,000 when I looked in. The big hand came when Layne picked up 77 against the other guy's AA. After a flop of 7-4-2, Bob quickly went all-in and Layne called to take down about a $30,000 pot. Bob proceeded to go on tilt, buying in twice for the capped $5,000 and donking it off rapidly. The running commentary from the peanut gallery was brutal. Isn't the Internet great?

Headed to Foxwoods

Hey all,

Well, I'm headed to Foxwoods tomorrow and I'll be on vacation until Feb. 27. I'm going to return to the office to tape Episode 37 of Ante Up! but other than that I'll pretty much be out of reach. I might check my email on that day, but that's about it. I'll try to blog while I'm away, but I can't promise anything. Maybe I'll blog about Foxwoods, but I'm also planning on giving a mini report about the casino on our next show.

Just a couple of things: I thought our show with Kenna James was top notch. He's such a classy, non-egotistical guy and he was a joy to have on the show. His generosity really came out and you know Scott and I will be having a "braht" with him someday. I'd like to thank Dave from Ohio for hooking us up with Kenna and I'd like to thank Tommy Boy and WILD 98.7 for letting us use their studios. I'm hoping this show will garner Kenna some more fans because he really does deserve it. Look for him to be on TV a LOT in the coming weeks/months. The Legends of Poker event will be on the Travel Channel on March 15 so watch for that.

I guess you can all see why I think a forum might not do so well here. I put an open topic up for analyzation and discussion and it has THREE comments, and one of them is mine. I'd like to think my advice was all-encompassing but even I don't have an ego THAT big. I'll still put posts like that up, but I think a forum might have crashed and burned at this rate.

OK, that's about it. I hope the river is kind to you, and I REALLY hope it's kind to me this weekend!

Movie news

One to watch for: Lucky You, starring Eric Bana and Robert Duvall. Judging by the director (Curtis Hanson: 8 Mile, L.A. Confidential) and screenwriter (Eric Roth: The Insider, Forrest Gump), we can be fairly sure this one will be better than Shade (see Chris's takeout, below). Bana is a card player who tries to beat his demons (isn't it always the way?) and win the World Series of Poker. Duvall plays his father. Includes appearances by Doyle Brunson, Sam Farha, Jason Lester, John Juanda, and others. No word on the release date, but I'll keep everyone posted. Let's hope it doesn't have a lame set-vs.-top-two finish like Tilt.

Our maiden forum entry

OK, so we talked about having a forum and I eventually came to the conclusion that it would be too difficult for me and the gang to keep up. But, I did however offer to start a thread here that warranted it. In a topic below WVAPoker had asked about how to put people on hands. I will post his original question here and my response, removing them from the aforementioned topic. Now, feel free to expound on this for his and all of our benefit.

Here's his question: I want to take my game to the next level by working on putting my opponents on a hand or a range of hands. I can play my cards, I know my outs and odds. How do I make that next step? Thanks.

Here's my response: I find it funny you should ask this because the other night I talked to my wife about this very subject. I have been doing something lately that has helped my game when it comes to putting players on hands. But before I reveal this secret, send me $199 ... oh wait, that's what crooks do. But really, before I tell you what I've been doing to get better, I think you have to be very good at reading a story. It's tough online to do this with any real consistency because that ticker just keeps going down and down, and to analyze properly you really need some time to go over how the person opened the hand, how he reacted to the flop, turn, etc. But, if you think you can go back and remember how he bet on each round, then you can take it to the next step. The problem again is time. If you're talking about online play you are limited, but always start with a range of four hands and see if those hands measure up, and then see if you can beat them. It's all about information. If you are at a casino or in a homegame, take your time and see if those hands you conjured up make sense. If the betting patterns fit a particular hand that beats you, fold. If the story doesn't add up and you're convinced he has AK and missed, then raise, etc. It's all about the information.

Now, here's what I've been doing. Instead of playing and risking your bankroll, just go to a table of players who are on the same level or one level better than you and just watch. Maybe start with one or two players, just to break the ice. Then take a pad and write down what they bet, when, in what position, etc. and make a game of it. Phil Hellmuth is always telling his students to study the players at the table when you aren't in a hand. And if you're a decent player that would mean you aren't in a hand most of the time. Take this time to evaluate what they do in situations, and when they show down a hand write it down or committ it to memory. Then committ his behavior/betting pattern to memory. I've been watching online tables for a few nights now, and when they show the hand I have been fairly successful with what I put them on. It's a good exercise, and saves you money, both immediately and down the road.

And finally, here was his response to my advice: Thanks...watching a table and not playing is good advice. Do find that I can predict people's play pretty well when I am out of a hand. I react too quickly when I am in a hand thinking that taking too much time is a tell of weakness. That does not seem to be true.

Now it's your turn: Let WVAPoker know what you think.

Coupla things

Hey all,

Haven't played much lately, as per my promise to take it easy for a bit online. But I do have a few things I'd like to mention.

One is a reminder that Kenna James is going to be on the show this week, and I'm sure at this point you're sick of me saying it, but it's a pretty big deal so amuse me. His new Web site is up and running and what's cool is our blog/show is linked off of it, so that's rocking. It's a cool site and will only get better. Also, Kenna won an undercard event at the LA Poker Classic this week, raking in a decent hunk of change, so his roll is continuing and he couldn't have better timing. That's him after winning over there on the right!

This note is for Gabriel: Hey man, are you in St. Pete? If so, are the one who emailed Lord Admiral this week? I was listening to the show and they started reading emails regarding the Omaha/Columbo discussion and they said the guy's name was Gabriel from St. Petersburg, then they mentioned our show, etc. That's three shows in a row they've mentioned us. Anyway, I thought it might be you, and then if it was, I'd accuse you of cheating on us and and I'd storm out of the building!!! LOL!

So, I'm going to Foxwoods on Saturday, and will report back as often as I can. Any of you going to be there? Just curious if we have any listeners in the CT/RI,MA area making the trip. Bill? I'll fly in to CT on Friday night and more than likely will be headed to Foxwoods on Saturday afternoon to play some $1-2 NL.

FARK: The people at Fark and PartyPoker are having a freeroll on Feb. 23. Here are the details.

OK, that's about it. Looks like our Ante Up! tournament is a MTT now, and we're hoping it'll grow as it gets nearer. Keep the entries coming!!!

Later.

Just call me Bubble Boy

I've always wondered what it felt like. Being that last one booted from a tournament before the cash starts flowing. Yep, it sucks.

I've been the bubble boy countless times in SNGs, and while that stings, it's nothing compared to the lingering pain that comes from the same position in a multitable.

It's been a tough week for me. My mom, who has suffered from MS for several years, was hospitalized for a bladder infection. A bad combination of drugs put her into a delusion state on Monday that lasted all week. On Saturday, I finally got some sleep (12 hours!) and headed to Tampa Bay Downs only to drop off my entry in the thoroughbred handicapping contest. But on the way to the track, my cell rang - and it was my mom. The doctors had finally figured out what caused her state, and the new drugs had snapped her out of it. I was so happy, I said, "Screw it. I'm playing some poker."

So I entered the morning tournament - as did 166 others. The field continues to grow, especially on weekends, while Derby Lane sits on the sidelines. Played my normal game - cautious in the early going (no cards, so my stack was down a bit) and friskier once the antes started (incredible roll - 99/QQ/AA/AJ all held up in all-in situations). But once we got down to the final 30, I made my big blunder. Was chip leader at the table, so I moved in from early position with AJ. Big blind contemplated forever before saying, "Let's gamble" and calling with AQ. I was crippled, and just tried to hold on to cash. My last mistake was mucking KQ off in early position when I only had enough chips for once more time around the table. Everyone folded to the blinds, who ended up getting in a postflop battle when a 10 hit (SB had 10-5 off and BB had J10 off). I wouldn't have won had either called me, but I'm guessing both fold to a preflop all-in bet, as meek as mine would have been. That would have given me enough in antes and blinds to survive to the cutoff. Instead, I was forced to go in blind. My Q4 off was no match for trip 10s, and I sulked out of the door in 19th place, one out of the money. Grrrrrrrr....

But I went to visit my mom in the hospital as soon as I was booted, and that was the only victory I was hoping for this weekend.

Position in Razz

There is no button in razz, but you can still use position to win pots. Here's an example: In an eight-handed game, I am first to act after the high card bring-in and have a 4 door card, with 89 in the bucket. Not a great hand, but playable under the right conditions. As I look around the table I see an ace, deuce, and 3 behind me. Out of position, I fold. But what if I have that same hand and am last to act after the bring-in bet? And let's say two of the three other low cards folded and the other one only called the bring-in and didn't complete? Then, and say there's a medium caller too, maybe an 8, I would complete here, forcing out the bring-in and possibly the 8, and isolating the low card. My guess is he has one bust card in the pocket, so I'm already ahead. One position, fold; the same cards, different position, raise. Position is a crap shoot in razz, but always take an extra few seconds to examine your options when the bring-in is directly to your left and no one completes; you could have a better hand than you think. I'm fairly new to the game, so would welcome any comments/objections on this play.

Starting slowly again

I've decided to ease back into playing SNGs, since our tournament is coming up and I haven't really played in a tournament since our home game a few weeks ago. Last night I played at PokerRoom.com and won one and finished third in the other, so two cashes in two tries, not bad.

Our Ante Up! entries are around 20 right now so a SNG is good practice for such a small tourney, though I do expect the number of entrants to zoom skyward as the day gets closer and people find out if they have a date or not. We should have a contest, seeing who guesses the right amount of entrants for the Feb. 25th event.

Anyone care to venture a guess as to what the final number will be? We have about 2,000 listeners to the show, and we have about 20 people signed up already. I'd say we are going to get 48 entries. Good luck. Winner gets a 2-for-1 coupon to a special screening of the movie Shade, starring Sylvester Stallone.

Forum vs. Blog

OK,

I've given it a lot of thought about whether or not I should start a forum for us rather than just this blog, and I have come to this conclusion: I just don't have the time. From my regular job to our podcast to this blog I have a lot of things in the air here at tbt.com. To start a forum would take a mammoth effort and I really don't think I have enough energy or time to pull it off. I understand how frustrating it might be to be limited to discussing whatever it is Scott, Mike or I put up here, but again, that's the point of a blog, really, it's just a diary on the web about our poker ramblings and life. Now, that doesn't mean that I am opposed to you hijacking one of these threads and starting a conversation about a particular hand or topic or whatever. You might even email me or Scott and ask one of us to start a topic on this blog that you want to contribute to or whatever. It won't be as effective as a full-fledged forum obviously, but if you have something you want to get off your chest or if there's something you need an answer to then maybe this is the best way for our little community to discuss it. But, as for creating and maintaining a forum, I just don't see it in the budget that is my life right now. Sorry to let you guys down, and I may revisit in the future, but that's just way too much poker and work to deal with for what I'm getting paid.

Bad beats and a nice trap

I dropped a bundle last night on FTP. The first loss came on a bad beat. I had pocket nines and I raise 3x preflop. Got one caller and the flop came three undercards. He bet into me and I reraised. He pushed and I had to call. He turned over A-5 for top pair on the board. I had him dead to a 5 or an Ace and a 5 came on the river. From there things spun out of control.

I had AKs once and raised, got a call then a reraise then another reraise all-in. I folded and the guy took down a massive pot. I couldn't see calling all of my stack (nearly $200) behind a called raise, reraise and re-reraise. He had King-Kong. I assume at least one of the other guys had an ace, and I put the re-raiser on pocket rockets or kokomo so I had to lay that down because I probably was dead to two outs. But I did lose a chunk there from my initial raise.

Later I had AKs again and someone raised preflop in EP. I called the reraise and hit my king with two 5s on the flop. He checked, I bet out, he reraised and I pushed (on tilt here I think, or just tired of getting pushed out of pots). He called with 5-6. I needed another ace to fall but alas no bullet.

So, I think I got schooled enough online for a bit. Gonna take a break from the Internet for a while, but will still be there to host our pokerroom tourney.

Countdown to Kenna

Only a week to go before Cowboy Kenna James is going to grace our podcast with his presence! Got some good questions from y'all but if you have more let me know by posting it here. By the way, how do you like that photo? That's Kenna listening to our podcast. Not too shabby, huh? He's just a great guy, very gracious, and I can't wait to have him on the show. Not sure if I've mentioned this on the blog or not, but we're headed to the studios of WILD 98.7 to tape the Kenna James show on the 15th. We didn't want to leave anything to chance so it should be cool.

More poker thoughts: I came to the conclusion today that when I have a losing session, I'm not exactly upset that I lost money (though I guess it's easier to swallow since I've built up a sizeable bankroll now) but rather that I lost period. I'm disappointed in myself for not sensing the trap or misplaying a hand. I used to have the same feelings when I bowled as a semipro. If I bowled poorly and didn't cash, I was sick for a week. Not because I lost the entry fee, but because I performed badly. Maybe I'm too tough on myself, or maybe it's these feelings that keep me competitive and successful when I do compete? Not sure, but I have come to the conclusion that it's definitely not the money I lose that makes me get that pit in my stomach.

We're No. 2!!!!!

Hey all,

The Chicago Poker Club named our show runner-up to Lord Admiral for best poker podcast of 2005. We're honored and look to improve on that standing this year. Appreciate the accolade, and everyone should check out that blog.

As for my weekend poker exploits, I was down a bit early on Sunday (won a little Saturday) then had a huge hand in Hold Em that put me up for the session, only to lose it all early this morning, so I'm back to even. Oh well. No specifics today as I am swamped with work.

Seems like the tournament is growing but I'm not sure how many we'll get. More later.

Now THAT'S a bad movie!

What happens when you take a classic poker movie, add a modern-day twist of cheating, violence and the mob, and combine that with a handful of washed-up (or at the time B-list) actors? You get Shade, made in 2004. I can only assume this went directly to video. My father got it in one of those multipack DVD sets and gave it to me. When I saw the cast I thought "With this many decent actors (Gabriel Byrne, a pre-Oscar Jamie Foxx, Sylvester Stallone, Stuart Townsend, Melanie Griffith and Thandie Newton) in one movie, it can't be all bad can it?" Oh, how I was wrong!

Now, I'm no movie critic, I'll leave that up to our good friend the Cineaste, but I don't need to be a proctologist to know crap when I see it either. It had all the standard clueless poker mistakes -- I see your $50 (throws money in) and I'll raise you $100 -- and impossible hands -- pocket nines makes trips, pushes all-in, guy with King Kong calls and then gets trips on the turn, but just before the dealer burns and turns Foxx grabs her hand and says, "Come on baby be good to me." and she deals him the 1-in-44 shot, case 9!

So what's the movie they essentially ripped off? The Cincinnati Kid. I'll be the first to admit I didn't think the Cincy Kid was a very good movie; it's just way before my time and centered around a game (5-card stud) that they don't play anymore, etc. So, as I'm watching Shade, it didn't really hit me until they had the BIG game at the end that they were setting this all up just to rip off the Cincy Kid. Stallone is the Dean, the best card mechanic out there, but he's thinking about retiring. Townsend is "the kid" who is convinced he can beat the Dean if they come up against each other. In the final hand they play 5-card stud (homage to Cincy Kid? No, blantant rip-off!). The kid deals himself trip jacks in the end, but Stallone pulls off a move for trip queens. And that's when Stallone utters the EXACT words that were made famous by Edward G. Robinson in Cincy: "You're good kid, but as long as I'm around you're second best, and you might as well learn to live with it."

They added a little twist at the end, and if you don't see this twist coming then you can't be a good poker player either and I'd love to sit across from you at a table someday. I won't tell you what the twist is, just in case you're sadistic enough to rent (or God forbid buy) this "movie." But it's as telegraphed as a Tim Wakefield knuckleball.

There are some bonus features that I haven't watched yet that might give me a peek into why they ripped off Cincy Kid etc. But I'll spare you the details.

As for my poker exploits, I had another winning session in Razz, but nothing too stellar, and broke even in Omaha Hi after about an hour. Been doing the hit-and-run thing online for a bit and it's proving profitable. Watched some guys play $25-$50 NL Hold Em on FTP and saw a guy lose $8K on a flush draw. Unreal. He was actually playing at two tables and rebought for another $5K after he lost that hand. I wish I had money to burn like that.

Thought of the week (delayed)

Here's why I think ESPN will NEVER show the H.O.R.S.E. WSOP tournament: You know how whenever they show poker on tv now they always have to give you that annoying primer at the start of the show to explain how to play the game? Can you imagine Lon McEachern or Mike Sexton or Chad Brown having to explain every single game in that little segment? It would take five minutes alone just to list the games, never mind explaining how to play each! "HORSE is a game that tests the mettle of a true poker player. It's a collection of poker games that rotate, starting with Hold Em. Texas Hold Em is played with two down cards ... blah, blah, blah." Good luck! And again the hard core poler fans are slighted!

Need your help

So, some people are having trouble with getting the show this week for some reason. The show is on tbt.com and it's on iTunes. If you were unable to get the show for some reason, please comment here so we can have our IT people look into it. If you follow the advice I mentioned in the post below you should be fine. But if that still isn't working I'd like to know. Thanks.