Third Man Walking

Your correspondent explains why he chose not to go to Las Vegas to play tournaments last month, and relays how his experience playing the WSOP Main Event in 2019 shaped his skepticism about playing t…

Your correspondent reviews a recent 5/10/20 session, then discusses "Game of Gold" and Alex O'Brien's new book "The Truth Detective."

0:21 5/10/20 NLHE session
1:22 AKcc on KT7r3x
2:36 KQo on KK2rTdd6x
4…

Your correspondent reviews a recent break-even stretch. He then considers recent rumors of cheating in high-stakes private games and offers a simple solution: Stop playing private games, and come pla…

Your correspondent asks whether, in the next ten years, poker will get tougher at the same rate it has in the last ten. Then, he reviews a recent $10/$20/$40 session.

2:37 Vanessa Selbst (44) vs. Kevi…

Your correspondent rereads Blockhead's gritty gambling memoir "Seat Open," then reviews a 5/5/10 session that blossomed into a bigger game.

11:36 5/5/10 session
11:47 A7cc on 553xccAxKccc
14:41 KQo on A…

Your correspondent recovers from a minor illness, then plays a pair of cash sessions, one at 5/10 and another at 5/5.

0:22 Going to Las Vegas and getting COVID

2:45 5/10 NLHE session
2:51 AsAc on J53hxh…

Your correspondent ties off some loose ends from the last episode about private games, sharing his own limited experience playing in them. He also reviews a session where he made a disastrous call.

0:…

Your correspondent contemplates cash-game poker's identity crisis as more and more games go private. What do the increasing number of private games tell us about what players want poker to be? And ho…

Your correspondent struggles with bad luck and bad vibes in a recent cash session and in a big tournament.

0:20 Why this episode is what it is

1:15 5/10 NLHE cash session
3:33 AQo (no spade) on AJ7sxsAx…

Your correspondent looks back at the late Doyle Brunson's 1984 book "Poker Wisdom of a Champion" to see what it has to teach us about poker in 2023. He then reviews hands from a recent $1400 buyin to…

Your correspondent discusses a recent score of $16,000 in a bad-beat jackpot, then reviews an annoying day of 5/5 and 5/5/10/20.

0:15 Jackpot hand! JJ on A65AA
4:53 Session review (starting at 5/5)
8:3…

Your correspondent reports back from a recent week-long trip to play tournaments in Las Vegas. Along the way, he compares tournaments to the cash games he usually plays and wonders if it's time to tr…

Your correspondent reviews Aaron Sorkin's movie "Molly's Game" and the Molly Bloom memoir upon which it's based, finding one of the two narratives to be much, much more compelling than the other.

0:55…

Your correspondent argues that the poker dream is still alive, and that poker should still market itself to players who want to win.

0:22 The Jonathan Little / Matt Berkey Twitter thread
13:38 Phil Gal…

A no-hand-history episode! Your correspondent shares some speculative thoughts about the future of RTA in live poker. He argues that casinos and floor staff need to be proactive about learning what s…

Your correspondent shares his thoughts on a recent downswing, then reviews a difficult 5/5/10 session.

0:17 Your correspondent returns from Europe and reflects on taking a break
4:52 Annual thoughts on…

Your correspondent, still on vacation, reviews two recent 5/5/10 sessions.

1:05 Session 1
1:26 QQ no spade on T64ssx5x
4:12 TT on T42r3ss
8:27 KdKx on T75ddx3ddd
11:04 AKo all-in preflop
13:03 3s3x on J96s…

Your correspondent discusses the role of ego in poker as it relates to the game's recent surge of heads-up challenges, and then to the state of games in LA. He then reviews a session that began with …

Your correspondent reviews a portion of Nik Airball's recent interview with Doug Polk, in which Nik describes what it means to be "good for the game." Your correspondent discusses what being "good fo…

Your correspondent discusses running it twice -- what it does, whether it changes anything, and why it can lead to conflict in poker. He also reviews two recent 5/5/10 sessions.

0:19 On running it twi…