mookie99

Texas Hold em is the most popular card game in casinos and online poker rooms. Due to a blast of recent media exposure Texas Hold em has enjoyed great popularity for gamblers at all levels. Still, the game shares a few key differences with that of traditional poker that can be mystifying to Texas Hold em novices. As opposed to other poker variations where individuals carry their own hand, Texas Hold em is a community card game where players may use the five “community cards” as well as their own two “hole cards” in combination to make a winning hand. Because Texas Hold em is relatively simple with a little experience, and five cards are shared among all players, it is the perfect game to apply mathematical strategy. Texas Hold em is the game publicized in televised poker tournaments, like the World Series of Poker.

Texas Hold em play requires a minimum foundation of knowledge of the poker game and involves a few tidbits of technical knowledge and jargon. There are several modes of betting, including small blind bets, big blind bets, and Antes, which are defined as forced contributions by all players at the table. Blind bets are placed by players to the left of the dealer button. In Texas Hold em the dealer button is used to designate the player acting as dealer. The number of blind bets can vary. The small blind bet is posted by the player directly to the left of the dealer and usually equals half of the big bet, posted by the player to the left of the small blind player. Betting structures of Texas Hold em include limit, no limit, and pot limit Hold em.

Each hand in Texas Hold em begins when each player is dealt two cards face down, with the small blind player receiving the first card. The dealer receives the last card. Betting begins with the small blind player and continues until all players fold. This is the pre-flop round. Following the pre-flop round the dealer produces three face up community cards and another round of betting commences. After this flop round another community card is dealt followed by another round of betting. Next, the final community card is dealt, referred to as the river. The next phase is referred to as the showdown. If all players fold and one betting player is left, that player is awarded the pot without having to reveal his hole cards.

Common Texas Hold em poker strategy recommends playing “tight,” meaning restricting the amount of times one bets while raising on few chosen hands. Raising later in the game is recommended as well, since players who bet later have more information about cards than those who bet early.

Congratulations to Smokkee for winning his third Mookie title.  Be sure to read his previous profiles.  Here is his latest profile…

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Champion: Smokkee

Blog: Adventures on the Poker Felt

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Q: Do you have any pre-poker rituals?

$: None.

Q: Do you have a special place, room, or setup that you prefer to play online? Describe?

$: The “POC” is in our spare bedroom.

Q: What variation of poker do you consider to be your strongest game?

$: NLHE full ring

Q: What variation of poker do you feel needs more work?

$: Every other most def

Q: Why do YOU play The Mookie?

$: I enjoy ten dollar tilt.

Q: Are you a winning player and if so how long did it take you to become a winning player?

$: I haven’t made any new deposits to my poker accounts since 2006 except to take advantage of reload bonus offers from time to time, I started playing in 2004.

Q: What bankroll standards have you setup for yourself?

$: Minimum 20 buy-ins for cash and 50 for MTT’s.

Q: Cash or MTT?

$: I bounce between both.

Q: What was your worst reaction to a bad beat?

$: A few years ago I broke my laptop screen slamming the lid down.

Q: Do you believe ‘Trash Talking’ is a legitimate strategy to be used while playing poker and why?

$: I don’t consider it a legit strategy although it may work against some players who can’t tune it out.  I think its ok in a private game as long as it’s friendly jabber.  Smack talking a stranger in a live game is no bueno unless he’s ruining the game.

Smokkee’s question for the next champ…

Q: What is the biggest purchase you’ve made from your poker winnings?

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Congrats again to Smokkee and thanks for participating in this profile.

Congratulations to 1Queens Up1 for winning his first Mookie title.  Here is his profile…

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Champion: 1Queens Up1

Blog: Green Fish!

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Q: How did you get into poker?

1QU1: Very slowly actually. The first game I remember playing was 5 card draw for quarters before and after Biology class in 10th grade (1996) which led to some kids setting up a card night where we played this awesome game called “Anaconda”, a 7 card stud variant. I also saw Rounders in the theatre without really knowing/understanding what Texas Holdem was. But I would have to say the biggest influence on me playing poker has to be Magic: The Gathering. Magic and poker are similar in that while there is luck involved (more luck in Magic than Poker) you also need skill to be able to play at a competitive level.

Q: Do you have any poker related goals and if so what are they?

1QU1: At first it was simply “make money”. Then I wanted to at least play in the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. Then I really wanted to attempt the WSOP (which I am doing this year thanks to Al & the BBT!).   I guess right now my only poker goal is to continually improve to a point where even Chad might consider me an equal. Really is there any higher goal than that?

Q: What are key improvements that you’ve seen in your game over the last six months, and what is one priority you have for improving? (Submitted by CC)

1QU1: Patience, patience, patience. A lot of players panic or give up when they lose a lot of chips early on in a tourney. Pick your spots and go with your reads.
2 areas I’d like to improve upon is my blinds play, and getting away from Phil Gordon’s theory of never being the first to enter the pot without a raise. I need to learn to limp a little more as odd as that sounds.

Q: How would you describe your poker style?

1QU1: I feel about 99% of players classify me as a rock-type player but that’s great, please continue to play me that way. I just try to feel for spots where I may get folds if I raise or paid off when I have a hand.

Q: What would be your first piece of advice for someone wanting to learn to play poker? (Submitted by Maudie)

1QU1:Read and Play. I’m more of a “learn by doing” type of person so I read a brief introductory of Texas Hold’em in Poker For Dummies then I went out to Foxwoods and tried it out.

Q: What level of static do you get over your poker habit? (Submitted by Drewspop)

1QU1: My gf is awesome about it, she has supported me through good and bad times. She’s stayed up late when I’ve gone deep in tourneys online and watched me live when I am going for 10k seats into the Foxwoods World Poker Finals, she’s absolutely the best with regards to me playing. My mom and her parents are all supportive of me and playing, while my dad basically calls it “your silly poker thing”.

Q: What was the first poker blog you read?

1QU1: Its a toss up between my buddy Unimpressed “Live By The River-Die By the River” blog or Hoy. I initially started my blog because the first blogger tournament I played back in June 07 was also my first blogger win at Hoy’s MATH and I felt like I should have a blog to be playing with you guys!

Q: Who would be at your 6-handed SNG?

1QU1: I’m going to take the route as a friendly SNG because I love to hear stories. I’d take Doyle to listen to all his Texas Road stories, Jennifer Harmon to hear about her experiences as an up and coming female player surviving in a “man’s” game, Scotty for his drunken stories, Mike Sexton for his Stuey stories, and Moneymaker because I really am curious to see what kind of stories he has since winning the 03 Main Event, I wouldn’t be surprised if he writes a pretty honest book in the future about it.

Q: Between Nihilism and Masochism, which do you think better describes why you play poker? (Submitted by Iakaris)

1QU1: I’m going to say Masochism, just because when you finally win, all the pain and mental anguish you put yourself through makes the win that much more satisfying and rewarding. A little known fact is that poker was a form of self-flagellation for the Opus Dei secret society. I read that on Wikipedia, so it must be true.

Q: What’s the last book you have read?

1QU1:I’ve been on a Poker book non-strategy kick lately, the last book I finished was Mike Matusow’s autobiography Check-Raising the Devil. Excellent book and it really does give me a new perspective on “The Mouth”.

Q: Tell us a little known fact about yourself.

1QU1: I went to Catholic school as a kid and to receive the sacrament of Confirmation you must choose a name to be anointed with and prepare an essay on who the person is, what works he did, and why you chose him. So I got this really cool idea to make up a saint to use as my Confirmation name, this is how “Saint Hector, Protector of the Burros” came to be.

I did my essay and as you would expect I was called into the principal’s office (a nun) and was bombarded with questions regarding who this person is. I stuck to my story of him being a little-known Mexican saint who happened upon a pack of burros that were being viciously beaten by a mean farmer. Hector, spoke to the farmer in a calm voice asking him to think about what he was doing and remember “do unto others as you would do unto them” and he realized he was in the wrong and changed his mean ways.

The principal still protested my choice but eventually allowed it. So officially my name is Brian Thomas-Hector S.  It must have been destiny that I chose someone who protected burros, as clearly he could also be the Patron Saint of poker players everywhere.

1Queens Up1’s question for the next champ…

Q: What was the single best poker moment you have ever experienced?

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Congrats again to DrPauly and thanks for participating in this profile.

I’m WAY behind on posting anything here and in checking/replying to emails. I apologize to all the Mookie winners over the last few weeks, I finally emailed the profile questions today.  Here are the winners for the last few Mookie tourneys…

5/20/09 - Smokkee

5/27/09 - 1Queens Up1

6/3/09 - VBPro7

I’ll be posting their profiles over the next few days and hope to be posting on a more regular basis as well.  One of these days I’ll carve out some time to explain what’s been going on in my life.  Lots of changes but all good stuff.

Click HERE to the see the full list of players.

Top 25 (5/27/09)

Provided by WillWonka.

Congratulations to ShipFaced12 for winning his first Mookie title while securing his 2nd BBT4 TOC seat (due to a chop FAIL).  Two seats is pretty impressive especially considering he’s only played 8 events.

1. ShipFaced12
2. sellthekids
3. Cmitch
4. Irongirl01
5. Joanne1111
6. APOSEC72
7. BamBamCan
8. Lightning36
9. blaargh86

The Mookie kick off at 9:00PM CT on Full Tilt tonight and TuscaloosaJohn is your defending champ.  Everyone is welcome and the password is vegas1.  Be sure to tune into BuddyDank Radio for tourney coverage.

Tournament: The Mookie
When: Wednesday at 22:00ET
Game: NLHE
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1

Click HERE to the see the full list of players.

Provided by WillWonka.

Congratulations to TuscaloosaJohn for taking down his 2nd Mookie title last night while winning his 3rd BBT4 event.  No surprise he is sitting atop the overall leaderboard and 2nd in the May standings.  This after winning the April mini-series.  Very impressive.

Congratulations to BBT founder AlCantHang for winning his 2nd Mookie title along with snatching a seat into the BBT4 TOC.  Be sure to read Al’s first profile.

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Champion: AlCantHang

Blog: Dead Money=SirAlCantHang

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Q: Name your Top Ten list of poker blogs.

ACH: Asking me to pick my Top 10 blogs is just terrible.  It’s impossible for me to get done fairly since I have 1000’s in my bloglines feed that I read on a regular basis.  But I won’t pussy out and name a bunch of different bloggers in different categories.  I’m just going to pick 10 and leave it at that.  No need to feel offended if not listed.

Tao of Poker - Seriously, I need to explain this one?  Everyone already reads Pauly except for that last few pygmies on the lost continent who haven’t an internet connection yet.  First blogger I ever tipped a drink with and will probably be the last before I hit the big happy hour in the sky.

Rapid Eye Reality - I should really put the Up for Poker site but I’m not a big fan of frisbee anything.  Otis has always been at the top of the writing heap about all things, not just poker.

Guinness and Poker - the blogfather hasn’t been getting much out there in the way of uber-posts but he’s responsible for a huge number of bloggers cramming the internet these days with tales of bad beats and sweating poker players.  I hope he gets his mojo back.

Mean Gene - Another old time favorite who never disappoints.  Another in a long line of people making their nut sucking off the teat of online poker.  Hoping he makes another run at the White House in 2012 and picks me as his Secretary of Booze.

Nickel and Dimes - He’s just funny and he appreciates a good nudie pic on occasion.  It’s worth the read just on the off chance he gets carried out of another casino in a wheelchair.

Pokerati - Actual poker content from Dan Michalski and the gang.

Wicked Chops - Actual poker content from the WCP gang PLUS boobs.  It’s like Pokerati on silicon.

Poker Nation - TuscaloosaJohnny provides some great reading and always one of my first stops on my daily trek through the blogs.  Tops among the blogger poker players AND writers.

The Goat Speaks - Dude writes some serioulsy funny shit!  Stupid/System alone is worth the read.  Now if he can just get over his Lost fix.

Poker in the Weeds - The other Brother McGrupp doesn’t post very often, but holy shit when he does it’s among the best of the year every damned time.

Honorable mention:  Change100, Amy Callistri and Michele Lewis.  If you don’t know why, you need to get from out behind the keyboard a little more often.

Q: Which Simpsons character best describes your poker play? (Submitted by DrPauly)

ACH: I’m so glad I got this question because this is the easiest one to answer.  Simple, Ralph Wiggum best describes my poker play.

“Me fail English? That’s unpossible.”
“I bent my wookie.”
“The doctor said I wouldn’t have so many nose bleeds if I kept my finger outta there.” “Oh boy! Sleep! That’s when I’m a Viking!”

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Congrats again to AlCantHang and thanks for participating in this profile.