A Second Interview with Daniel Jones



I spoke with Daniel Jones about mindfulness, Super Mario Kart, Dostoevsky, and why you probably shouldn't go to law school: http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/i...niel-jones.php. Compared to the first interview, which focuses on the importance of the mental game (posted earlier itt), this piece touches more broadly on DJ's poker story.

When you return to Nola (see what I did there? WHEN), you should definitely check it out. Fantastic local bar.

Epic .gif to go along with the link! Thanks again for the opportunity.

Great Nola update, Ben. Glad you were able to experience the stories of the locals. Great experience, I'm sure.

Thanks again! Hope the East Coast is treating you well.

I'll dust off my SNES any time, just say the word.

Thanks, Jay, it was def great. Looking forward to your return to Nola. It's looking like I'll be in Biloxi Sept. 16th and then at some point the following week. I'll keep you updated.

September 1-6

I logged just over 20 hours in my first week back at the tables. Aside from mini-challenges where I crank out volume, 20 hrs/week is the high end of what I want to play, since that doesn't factor in study time or online practice (I recently put $ on Bovada). So far playing has gone well and I'm enjoying the room and the games, which are good as ever.

It's been fun trying to decipher the different classes of regs in these games.
There's a lot of noise and distraction in live poker, obviously, and it can be tough to separate a reg-fish from a winning grinder, or a winning grinder from a crusher.

For instance, I had pegged one guy as a potential crusher until he 6bet-shipped AK pre for 300BBs vs. a guy who 5bets light 0% of the time (5bettor snapped with AA obv). Now I'm thinking he's more of a button-clicker who watches too many Tom Dwan highlights.

Sometimes these difference appear in more subtle ways. I had the chance to play with roaming PGC hero Duke, who stopped in Nola on his way back west. He outclassed the local winning grinders not b/c of huge bluffs or polarized 3bets, but b/c of solid workmanlike play, esp thin value-betting.


Tricky Turn Spot

I iso a limper to 15 with 66 on the button. The SB, a forties guy who seems like a reg-fish, quickly 3-bets to 40. We've played for 4+ hours together, this is his first 3-bet, he has a premium here always, I flat with a little over 300 behind.

flop 672 (85), he bets 60, I flat.

turn K (205), he checks, I have 230 behind, WTF do you do here?

Hey Bob, how is life in your part of the world? Just purchased Double Down, Shut Up and Deal and The Rogue's Game for my winter reading, thx to your blog Cheers man.


Why did you decide to slow play if you put him on a premium holding? I think it is the perfect low flop to raise-GII, as a reg-fish will most likely convince himself that you have a fd or a lower over-pair (if we put him on JJ+, AK right...) and AK would take 1 stab and give up anyways (terrible flop to cbet on with AK regardless...).

As played, I shove turn, hopefully polarizing your perceived range to made hands and a high card.

Things are great! Good to hear from you. Let me know what you think of those books, esp Rogue's Game b/c I don't think I've heard of that one.

Congrats too on a successful challenge. I found your thread late and am really impressed with how you're able to balance travel with crushing both live and online play.

Having position was a big factor in flatting flop, which I'll do roughly half the time (OOP I c/r pretty much always). Letting villain retain the betting lead is valuable, I think, b/c he'll barrel most turns with an overpair and may spazz with AK or something on certain turns. We had no dynamic and I thought that flatting flop looked weaker than raising.

On the other hand, you give good reasons for raising flop and I'll do so often. This specific turn (only the A is worse imo) is a good example of why raising flop may be better.

Thanks for input on turn, in-game I was struggling with turn shove vs. smaller bet and which line would look stronger.

The Fight to Save AC and Going All-in on "All-in"

Two good articles in the New Yorker on the fall of AC and the profusion of "all-in" in political discourse:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...-atlantic-city

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cul...l-in-on-all-in

I've always had a soft spot for AC--as ridiculous as that sounds--maybe because it represents all that's wrong and right about Jerzee, and because it's the first place I played poker (at the Taj, obviously)

Interview with the Author of Cards, Jonathan Maxwell



Awhile back itt I reviewed the little-known poker novel Cards. Despite some flaws, I think it offers a gritty, authentic portrait of the grind and, for that reason, ranks near the top of poker fiction. I caught up with Jonathan Maxwell and we discussed his novel--now ten years old--the richness of pre-internet poker culture, and his chow/lab mix Kitkat: http://cardplayerlifestyle.com/cards...athan-maxwell/

September 7-14

I logged 18 hours this week and felt good at the tables despite poor results. Volume is slowly getting easier.

I'll be joining a poker-playing basketball team so watch out unless you want me dunking on your head. This reminds me: a friend and I were debating whether poker players are, in general, better or worse athletes than other parts of the population (lawyers, engineers, teachers etc). What do you guys think?

I'm heading to Milledgeville to nerd out with some literary folks and do some camping, should be fun. Will stop in Biloxi on the way back. If anyone's in town for the tournament series let me know!

Results:

I would say worse athletes at least based on current fitness.

Peak shape- poker may be higher than other professions since it attracts people that have a drive to win, which is key in athletics.

ship the nickels

Seems like there would be more extremes among poker players--the Jason Koon-types whose work ethic carries over into lifting/eating well, and the lazier folks who sit around all day and waddle over to the Lucky Dog stand in the casino.

As for basketball, I'm playing on my second team of poker players. Now that I'm approaching a meaningful sample size, I'll be sure to report my findings.

September 15-20, Ebro Greyhound Park and Flannery O'Connorville

Last weekend I drove to Georgia for a Flannery O'Connor conference, where I read an essay about my bike accident last summer. It was great to connect with some old friends and the weather allowed for some camping and exploring.

A few of us returned to Central State Hospital, a dilapidated collection of buildings that, not long ago, was the second-largest asylum in the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centra...ville,_Georgia. It would be a perfect spot to shoot a horror flick, I promise you.

views from the third floor


On the way back I stopped at Ebro Greyhound Park, which hosts 1/3 action about an hour or so east of Pensacola. I've been there four or five times and the games are always good. This time I tangled with a guy who sported a handwritten list of hand strengths, which he used to tank-call my turn shove with ace-high. He did not win.

Sunset on Santa Rosa Beach

Cool pics of the asylum. I've seen some interesting urban decay photo series from Detroit and Pripyat (city nearest Chernobyl) fascinating.

One of my neighbors had one of those hand strength charts, I go "let me see that for a sec I can never remember what beats what a straight or a flush."

If only we could transport back in time to 03 I'm sure the majority of players at the table would be on that level

We had a player in our home game for a while who would, every time he played, ask me to write out a list of the hand rankings for him. His biggest tell was that whenever he started consulting the list we knew he had better than two pair.

He quit our game around the same time he quit his writing job and became a high school teacher. I still miss him.

glad you liked em. The two Central State buildings I've explored were extremely eerie and interesting. What gets me are the traces of humanity left inside. Like the bathroom that had a row of toothbrushes with "Riley" and "Bains" and "Mathis" and other names above each brush.

I love me some hand charts. When I stumble across a really good game in Montana or Idaho or wherever, I always feel like I've stepped inside a time warp.

you may have just described my fate a few years down the road!

I dare you to go there at night

The logic of this mini-biography is hard for me to ignore: RussellinToronto's chart-reliant, ex home-game buddy experiences an epiphany about his simultaneous lack of poker and writing talent and responds by becoming a teacher. Not only do I feel like I've been the subject of identity theft here, but also feel as though I've entered a state of mourning over the loss of a character from my potentially great novel.

Hail no!

You just made me wonder how much I'd need to be paid to spend a night there alone. I don't think I'd do it for under a grand.

Not sure about you, TJ, but I plan to impart my extensive knowledge of the pokerz to my students:

September 21-27: Bumbling Back to Biloxi
22 hours logged

I spent Friday-Sunday grinding cash at the Beau Rivage, which hosted the Gulf Coast Poker Championship. I caught up with many Nola locals and roomed with a good friend who drove over from Baton Rouge. He pwned me in multiple hands

Playing 22 hours in three days was a lot for me, and I was ready to be done by Sunday afternoon. Overall, though, the weekend was a good one and the games in Biloxi seem good as ever.

Writing continues to go well. I'm doing a better job at finishing short poker pieces faster (which is still very slow by most standards) and chipping away at a few longer pieces. Excited to share an interesting "Poker Faces in the Crowd" interview with you guys in a few days.

I'll be spending this weekend in Baton Rouge, where I'll probably play on Friday and possibly Saturday, and will be traveling a good bit in October. I'm still mapping out my trip, but one week will be spent in Wilmington, NC and I may head east along the Florida panhandle for poker/beach. Or maybe Atlanta--> NC for hiking, we'll see

Interview with Walt "squid face"

My interview with squid face came out this month. For those who don't know him, the guy has been around gambling for a long time and has a super-interesting backstory. He's been in Vegas for a while and recently announced that he'll be returning to life on the road. We discussed blackjack, life as a road gambler, bobsledding, and playing poker professionally: http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/i...squid-face.php

Much of squid's poker advice is important to up-and-coming grinders, so the mods over in LLSNL have allowed me to start a discussion thread. Come check it out!
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...hread-1563436/

Nice interview with squid

ty cleveland. nice to see the discussion thread getting love from the llsnl folks, squid is a wise dude and I'm interested to see where he lands post-Vegas.

September 28-4th
14 hrs

I've been playing in some very good deep loose passive games lately. Here's a fun "double one-outer" that I played with a friend.

straddled pot, I bet 20 into 30 on 959 with 66, only Bobby calls otb. Turn 6, I 60, he calls. River T, I 80, he shoves. He has exactly two hands here, good news is we were one card away from the BBJ!

Hand two, I limp A5 utg, bunch of us see A85, BB leads 15 I raise to 50 utg+1 shoves for 110, BB flats I reshove for 300 more he folds A8 faceup I lose to A7

I agree it's a fold, but unless your friend is the nittiest of nits he can surely have more than two hands (I assume you mean 7d8d and 99?). Aren't 9-T, TT, even 96s possible? Or did he show?

So where was this, Baton Rouge? And when will you be passing through Tucson again?

You've done some very good interviews with a wide array of players, but the latest with squid has to be the most interesting and unique. Really enjoyed it, and I'm enjoying the thread in LLSNL. Thanks for bringing his story to us!

Bad luck running a boat into quads/straight flush. I managed to accomplish the same thing a few weeks ago /eyeroll