Tao of Poker

The You Can't Win Friends with Salad Sunday Link Dump

By Pauly
Hollyweird, CA

The written word is dying. But some brave souls continue on with the literary tradition. They inspire me.


The April issue of Truckin' is available. This month's contributors to the literary rag includes Johnny Hughes, May B. Yesno, Betty Underground, Milton T. Burton, and yours truly.

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Sadly, Twitter is slowly strangling the written word. Or making us less verbose. If you know what Twitter is, then check out Jay Newnum's article How Twitter is changing the face of poker. Thanks for the mention, bro!

And if you don't know, I'm taopauly on Twitter. (Quick warning... I update frequently, so don't opt in to get my feed to your cell phones. And if you do, make sure you have unlimited messaging.)



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Shaniac posted several gems over the last few weeks...

Sitting On The Dock of Bay 101 included a glimpse into the life of a pro.

We play our tournaments, many of us on a backer's money. Everyone who enters the tournament, except for one person, busts. A few of the bustouts are satisfied with the amount of money they made or the way they played, but it's hard to quantify. Everyone has different priorities and concepts of success. Sometimes, we bust on a bad beat, or as the result of a series of standard poker situations. Sometimes we misjudge a situation, and sometimes we self-destruct...More

Sunday Poker and a Plea for Decorum Among PPPs is where Shaniac sounded off on the chatter in the chat box.

One thing that has amazed and annoyed me for a long time, and seems to be getting worse, is the amount of inappropriate discussion that takes place in the chat box, particularly among professional poker players (PPPs)... More

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The Camel is a legendary pro from the UK. He posted something five years ago titled Playing Poker For a Living (or at least very seriously) that addressed the influx of players due to the TV/online poker boom of the early 21st century. These days, the Camel's ruminations continue to hold water today since so many people are suddenly unemployed or seeking a second job. A lot of those desperate souls are turning to poker.

Try to keep some form of emotional stability. You are certainly not as good as your best result suggests you are. There is always someone significantly better than you. Ego is the most expensive failing in poker… try not to have one. On the other hand, you are almost certainly not as bad as you worst run tells you... More

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WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack gave RawVegas the lowdown about changes at the 2009 WSOP...

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Nolan Dalla landed an exclusive interview with Amarillo Slim who had been shunned from the poker community (including Hollywood dropping a bio-pic of Slim starring Nicholas Cage) when accusations of pedophilia arose a couple of years ago. Check out the two part interview over at Poker Listings...

Legend lost: Amarillo Slim breaks his silence Pt. 1

Legend lost: Amarillo Slim breaks his silence Pt. 2

Here's a bit...Gambler, poker ambassador and living legend are the more endearing names. Less flattering terms include hustler, outlaw and cheat - mostly from his early "rounder" days.

But nothing is as ruinous as being branded a pedophile - an accusation which has contaminated the poker world's appreciation for Slim.

In March 2003, Thomas Austin Preston, Jr., a.k.a. "Amarillo Slim," was accused of child molestation. Thereafter, the poker legend endured an embarrassing legal ordeal, saw his family ripped apart and watched helplessly as a whirlwind media circus blew his reputation away like West Texas prairie dust.


I took this shot of Slim at the 2006 Main Event

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Thanks to Bill for pointing out the recent post by Nat Arem called What's Your Poker Potential?

While occasional intelligent shots are actually a necessary part of being a professional poker player in today’s environment, a habitual shot-taker is going to go down in flames of variance. But most of these clues are there in everyday life for non-poker players. Everyone has been tempted by various material items that they could technically buy — but they can’t really afford. How easy is it for you to say no? That’s a good indicator as to whether you’ll be good at poker.

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For you music fans out there, we usually try to hook up readers and share our favorite bits of free music with you over at Coventry. My buddy BTreotch throws together a groovy eclectic mix of tunes ranging from funk, hip hop, country, jazz, whiny indie rock and just plain weird shit that I had never heard of until he played it for me. Sadly, we only get four BTreotch mixes per year. Why four? I never asked. But, they are well worth the wait. His latest batch of musical mayhem was released to the airwaves to rave reviews. BTreotch is a humble human being and simply refers to his mix as "good shit"... and good shit it is... indeed. I shall be savory every single song for the next three months. Check out... 1st Quarter Results 2009 Mix by BTreotch.


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Oh and some T&A before you hit the road...

Flipchip finished up four galleries of photos from the 2009 Adult Entertainment Expo.


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