Tao of Poker

St. Valentine's Day


"Choo choo choose me!"
So do you know the origins of Valentine's Day? Any good McCatholic will tell you it was originally a church holiday and not invented by Russell Stover and Hallmark, two fuckers that I'd like to drop kick into next month for brainwashing all the women in America into thinking that their men are cheap bastards if they don't fork over candy, flowers, a $3 greeting card, and their testicles for a 24 hour grace period. I'm spending most of today with my inamorata, the Princess of the Upper East Side. I got to get as much poker in this morning as possible, before I get a lot of "poke her" going on this afternoon.

Q. So how did the weekend treat you, Pauly?

I learned a valuable lesson: Beware of pot-sized bets on the turn in NL.

I had my AA cracked by 10-10 last night in an SNG. When someone checks on the flop from early position, and then I check in late position to see a free card (or I bet and he just smooth calls) and on the turn a rag falls that guy comes out firing... he is almost always slowplaying his big flop, most likely a set if he's in early position or two pair if he is in the blinds (the infamous Big Blind Special). I should know this, yet, I walked into two big hands this weekend when folding both times would have been the correct play. When he pushed all in on the turn with a flopped set, I should have mucked my AA. I would have folded KK or the Hilton Sisters. Alas, I cannot let go of pocket aces and called. It's like falling in love with that ex-girlfriend of yours after she's already moved on... and you should too, to preserve your sanity and dignity before you look like a scorned fool digging into your pockets for a rebuy while you are trying every combination possible to hack into her email account. Tips for the ladies: Do not use your new boyfriend's name as your password.

Q. Bad beats and stupid calls aside, what else happened this weekend, Pauly?

I read the first 200 pages of Super System 2. Yeah, I know, I should have read more, but I was swamped with work. I enjoyed the tips from Mike Caro University, particularly MCU Tip #29:

Opponents find it inspirational... when you complain about your bad beats.

Well, I hope the Party Fish don't read poker blogs. Moving along, I thought it was funny that Doyle listed only two reasons why B&M play was better than online play... and over 22 reasons why online play was better than B&M. It seems that he's trying to get people to play on his online site. I will try to read Jen Harmon's chapter on Limit in the next few days.

Q. OK, so what exactly were you working on this weekend Pauly? We didn't think you had a real job.

I submitted a book review on Internet Texas Hold'em by Matthew Hilger and it was accepted and published. The webmaster at Professional-poker.com might be one of the best bosses I ever had. He's cool, gives me plenty of artistic freedom, and most importantly... he pays me right away.

For the first time in years, I have finally caught up on all of my email. I read everything (I had over 250 at one point to sort through earlier this month) and as of now, I only have four messages in all of my inboxes. Two of them are saved information on future flights for me on Jet Blue. I read every article and visited every website that every one thought could be blogworthy. Thanks to everyone who sends stuff, that's very kind of you all. I can't blog everything but I appreciate the gesture. I completed all the edits for the February issue of Truckin'. I'll be posting the new issue in the next 50 hours. This one looks great. And I'm particularly pleased that I'm no longer waiting until the last day of the month to publish each issue. I woke up early on Sunday and gutted out the third draft of Gumbo. It is finally complete. I am looking forward to blocking out a few hours and sitting down to read it from cover to cover. And then I'll never have to look at it again!


Freelance articles, email, my literary blogzine, and correcting the last draft of a novel... not a bad weekend. I also penned a Valentine's Day poem, which I'm sure will get me bonus points later today. This week, I expect to crank out two more pieces before I take off to Miami on Thursday.

That's it. Good luck to everyone today, both at the tables and with the ladies or guys or farm animals or whatever gets your rocks off.