Pokerblog – Week in Review

Check out the Poker Prof’s 2006 World Series of Poker Blog sponsor, Paradise Poker. The world’s first online poker room and still you’re best bet, Paradise Poker.

…Sez it all.

We’re on the downward slope toward the WSOP Main Event and yours truly will be on the rail again this year.

Greetings, pokernuts! Ol’ Mickey Zee is back from the land of the lost after a bad bout of gout and a couple of hugely disappointing attempts at a Main Event entry. I could have avoided the gout by sidestepping Vera’s ham and those extra Buds, but I couldn’t avoid a long bout of dead cards and the bad beat that took me out of the running for my stab at the Big One this year. I’m keeping my dollar and sparing you the sad tale.

Continue reading “Mickey Zee’s Poker Week in Review
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WSOP Photos From FlipChip” »

Posted by Mickey Zee at 12:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Editor Note–

We welcome Mickeyzee’s Week in Review from writer Mickeyzee (personally selected by the Poker Prof from a list complied by Dr. Pauly and approved by FlipChip) that will be a regular weekly feature on the poker blog. We present the first installment.

photos by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Two red Vipers from the Skip Barber driving school at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Mickeyzee’s Week in Review

It was at a stop-light on the LV Blvd. That I caught the gaze of a pair of eyes sunk deep in what can only be described as the mug of a dude that looked liked he’d just been set free from decades of captivity in some secret location buried deep in the desert. Little did I know then how close to bullseye that would turn out to be.

We stared at each other for a moment and then he shuffled toward my ride. Maybe it was coincidence or maybe it was the inevitable pull of destiny that caused our paths to cross on that typically sweat laden Las Vegas night. Or maybe it was sheen of my snappy new threads. Whatever it was, I knew as soon as he said, “I need a pimp” I’d be turning a corner in my nefarious career.

Pause while the needle skates across the vinyl…

Ok, so maybe that’s not how it really went down…

Allow me to introduce my fine self – Mickey Zee’s the name, blog pimp’s the game. The good Poker Prof asked me to take the helm of Week in Review and comb the poker blogiverse for new poker-blogging stars along with highlighting worthy posts from our elder blogging orbiters which circle that broiling sphere we call Poker.

I agreed to take a stab at it and so here I am. And I’m gonna ask for your help, too – especially you blog addicts out there that are stealing time from you employers surfing from blog to blog day in and day out… don’t lie to me – you know who you are… Anyway – I want to know about interesting posts or fantastic new poker blogs you stumble across in your travels. Email me at [mickeyzee at gmail dot you-know-what], point me to your beauties and I’ll check ’em out. Remember – emPHAsis on “interesting” and “fantastic” And pimping yourself is, well… pathetic. ‘Nuff sed.

I’m getting a bit of a late start – had to adjust the schedule and break a few hearts – so while I’m working on next week’s entree – let me offer you a few snacks from a lil’ over a week ago.

The debate was ignited with The Luck Conundrum, hopped over to this treatise, sparked an observation from the Up for Poker franchise, smouldered in the comments, took a ride on the F-Train then got sucked in at Sound of a Suckout.

Much to ponder, guys and gals – and so I’ll leave you to it. I’m off to check out the list of newbies discovered by the uber-dwarf and suburban housewife I hope to shake hands with one day.

Remember to tip your dealer – see you in seven.

Posted by Mickey Zee at 12:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, so I might be a bit rusty. For some readers who haven’t seen my Week in Review before it’s a glance at some of the more interesting posts and other happenings from the world of Poker Blogs.

First, pimping Clark and Grubby on the Las Vegas Blog. Clark has the lowdown on the Poker Art Exhibition and Grubby has some rumors on Pauly’s favourite card room (well one of them from his Vegas Poker Rooms Post) the Excalibur which may be downsizing.

HDouble has an excellent post up on the online poker pros playing at the 30/60 level and how they fare. The information is astounding and in classic HDouble fashion, very well written.

Felicia has been putting up some excellent posts of late, her psychology series and analysis of the personalities that win at poker are thought provoking, a worthwhile read for all poker players and skill levels.

Check out the series of short stories over at Truckin, an excellent read from Dr Pauly’s blog collection.

Bill has a post on the Phil Gordon Charity event from the other day, and he is helping to put a much deserved Bad Beat on Cancer.

Now, I ran into something really rare over at TillerMaN’s blog, a video of Stu ‘the Kid’ Ungar. He was the undisputed card master and it’s almost impossible to find any footage (or even stills) of him in action, so it was a real treat to run into this 1981 Final Hand footage.

From our “Online Poker is Rigged” department…

In some cases this is apparently true… check out RBCalc.exe poker rootkit alert so don’t be surpised when more of these pop up. The same personalities that are so sucessful at online poker also make up a majority of the hacker population. If you think something fishy is going on… it just might be.

On a final note, TripJax ran 21 questions for poker bloggers a couple of weeks ago, so be sure and stop by to check out the questions and info. That’s the quick tour for today it for this week.

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Excellence just keeps coming out of the poker blogosphere…from Pauly’s beautiful application of the life of a great writer to poker, to Felicia’s series on the Psychology of Poker, poker bloggers continue to set new standards for analysis of the game. Quest of a Closet Poker Player continues the serial blogging trend by taking a look at Relationships and Poker – currently a four-part series.

Bill Rini continues to explore the poker wisdom of Paula Abdul – who knew she was so deep? Felicia revists narcissism and poker and considers the future of tournament poker, while ScurvyDog analyzes the chances of online poker being outlawed.

Don’t forget to check out the new WPBT site, along with the WPBT Wiki.

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Starting March off with a bang…

• Mean Gene comments on a recent piece from ESPN’s “poker guy” Bill Simmons.
• Felicia continues to educate with Part Two of her Stud Theories series.
• TripJax ponders the possible future of casino poker – electronic poker tables.
• Chilly gets his Mac back and puts it to work on some Vegas memories.

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The online poker world is abuzz with the news of top players found cheating, and another Congressional attempt to outlaw one of our favorite pastimes. Scuvydog takes a look at some common hand situations, and breaks down the math involved. Pauly and Spaceman completed another round of excellent tournament coverage, and Wil turned out a solid performance in the WPT Invitational.

Caesars Palace will host the NBC Heads Up National Championship.

Posted by at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hiatuses are the new cool.

Many apologies for the prolonged absence. Life is slowly returning back to normal, and along with it, time to read and write is returning too. Several items managed to catch even the easily-distracted eye these past weeks. The Big Pirate posts about his own Big Game, Grubby continues to share tales of life in Las Vegas, Gene looks at luck, and Wicked Chops Poker reports on poker and crime.

Several excellent strategy posts from bloggers – Felicia on Seven Card Stud, Pauly on Pot-Limit Omaha, Ros on blocking bets, Betting for Value looks at SnG strategy, and ScurvyDog continues his analysis of limit play.

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A final look at the now dark Boardwalk.

Bloggers started 2006 off in full force, turning out strategy posts along with channelling Jeff Foxworthy. Visit Pathetic Poker Play for a few tips on tackling the Stars 180-person SnGs. (Although techincally not from the week ending 1/08, JoeSpeaker fills in for our own Dr.Pauly with his own must-read tourney strategy). Sound of a Suckout wrote an open letter to poker sites, advising them on what the players want to see. PokerStars appears to be well on the way to surpassing PartyPoker as the most popular online poker site. Counting My Outs and Poker Sweet Home both consider the reasons why. Jason Kirk shares family poker memories with us, and Linda from Table Tango writes about the honor of sharing her home with a friend. Finally, I know you were all glued to the PokerStars blog for updates on our blogger friends playing in the PCA, but make sure you caught the button post – classic Otis.

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The Fremont Street Experience was packed with thousands of happy party goers a only couple of days ago.

2005 was the Year of the Poker Blogger – from the varied professional successes of many in the WPBT community to sending bloggers to the WSOP, bloggers continued to make their mark and bring recognition to the community.

The strategy masters in our group continued to share their wisdom in 2005. DoubleAs spoke of pressure points, weakness, and getting the most from a NL hand. HDouble found poker wisdom in unlikely places, charted the path to poker mastery, explored information asymmetry, and mixing up play. ScurvyDog taught us how to protect our limit hold’em hands and to play agressively when we’re drawing.

Felicia gave us tips for Omaha 8, Pauly wrote of risk,-EV prepared us for the split-limit games in Vegas, JoeSpeaker entertained us, BadBlood waxed philosophical, on_thg drew us pictures, Bill made us laugh and defended the integrity of online poker while looking for ways to make it better, and PokerGeek showed us emotion.

We had highs and we had lows. We said good-bye to some familar faces and hello to many more. We’ve hit the ground running in 2006 and it looks to be an even better year. As CJ so eloquently said, “Here’s hoping your 2006 is filled with everything you desire but full of the welcome surprises that make life worth living”.

Personally I’d like to extend a big thank you to the Poker Princess for the Year in Review suggestion, and be sure to check out Pauly’s recap of the year as well.

Posted by at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out Dr. Pauly’s Bloggers in Las Vegas: The Short Film.-Flipchip

The six story tree with more than 200,000 lights at Caesar’s Palace.

Hope everyone had a great poker-filled Thanksgiving. While you’re feasting off of leftover turkey for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, check out these quality posts from the past week –

• Absinthe’s Troubles – The Joy of Sets
• Up for Poker – The Luckbox Speaks
• The Poker Life – The Fundamental Theorem Of Losing As It Relates To Poker
• Poker Cats – Robbery
• Infant Days Sleepless Nights – Guide To Tilting The Field (v 1.01) [BTW Chilly, if you really want to tilt me, tell me Phil Gordon was just there but you didn’t mention it because you didn’t think I’d be interested}
• Pokerati – Meanwhile, in Florida…

Hey, anyone want to hit Vegas next week? Maybe we could get a little group together…

Posted by at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)