tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52436137289239813882024-03-19T10:43:21.953+00:00Doking around in cyberspacedokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.comBlogger530125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-88134847058547581002024-01-30T00:45:00.004+00:002024-01-30T00:48:15.123+00:00Beyond GTO<p><span style="background-color: white;">M</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">y 6th poker book with Barry Carter is out! </span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://mybook.to/beyondgto&source=gmail&ust=1706661553465000&usg=AOvVaw2Wj4Wm6fHSKXIN_KNo0tFm" href="https://mybook.to/beyondgto" style="color: #007c89; font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">Beyond GTO: Poker Exploits Simplified </a></strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">is a modern take on exploitative poker. We use modern solver technology to break down some of the biggest leaks you see at the tables today. </span><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFO4Sv7HKYi8o5fj_PioQowWL2OOWBTPmgDfbBU-a70_EfE6CpfNh9dpMhJE7U4btSln8jdhUZZWprpNG8lN-j2VNJVoQXVxlX2foaQCNTDoVyYq2z74os2PopudIdE0so8s_cwPKe08jiKRXlQAB4ttw0Hj1-U8pyvXuWHxyOaHiueu_J-EswK7Kyag/s795/BeFunky-design-96-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="795" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFO4Sv7HKYi8o5fj_PioQowWL2OOWBTPmgDfbBU-a70_EfE6CpfNh9dpMhJE7U4btSln8jdhUZZWprpNG8lN-j2VNJVoQXVxlX2foaQCNTDoVyYq2z74os2PopudIdE0so8s_cwPKe08jiKRXlQAB4ttw0Hj1-U8pyvXuWHxyOaHiueu_J-EswK7Kyag/s320/BeFunky-design-96-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The book is a natural companion to our 2022 book GTO Poker Simplified. In addition to the exploits, we also show the GTO solution for every spot we cover and explain the thinking behind both strategies. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">There is no guesswork or anecdotal evidence, this book shows you how a perfect GTO player would make the most from a flawed human opponent. It provides actionable heuristics for you to crush soft games, including:</span><ul style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;"><li style="margin-left: 15px;">How to exploit nits, calling stations, and maniacs</li><li style="margin-left: 15px;">Why balance is important, even at low stakes</li><li style="margin-left: 15px;">What old school players got wrong about exploitative poker</li><li style="margin-left: 15px;">How to get into the mind of a professional player playing against weak opponents</li><li style="margin-left: 15px;">Specific preflop and postflop leaks, as well as flop, turn and river mistakes</li><li style="margin-left: 15px;">How to avoid making the biggest errors yourself</li></ul><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">For those of you with GTO Poker Simplified, we have also fixed a long-standing issue a few customers had with a poker charts. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">As always we self publish our books so your feedback is vital. If you buy the book it would mean the world to us if you told your friends and left a review for us on Amazon (it will be available on the other formats by the start of next week). </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;" /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://mybook.to/beyondgto&source=gmail&ust=1706661553465000&usg=AOvVaw2Wj4Wm6fHSKXIN_KNo0tFm" href="https://mybook.to/beyondgto" style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank"><strong>Buy Beyond GTO: Poker Exploits Simplified</strong></a><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">A big thank you to those who have already bought the book sending it to number one on the Amazon chart in the US, UK and most other countries!</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">You can read more about the new book (including the brilliant foreword by Andy Black) <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2024/01/24/dara-okearney-the-new-poker-book-that-goes-beyond-gto/" target="_blank">here</a></span></div></div>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-8782350248496407472023-12-25T17:01:00.001+00:002023-12-25T17:01:31.658+00:00 The waiting room for death <p>I come from a long line of strong women. My paternal grandmother grew up dreaming of being a schoolteacher. A combination of family circumstance and the conservative Ireland she grew up in made that dream impossible, but she resolved to make it possible for her two eldest daughters. My father grew up in a house of strong females, an only son with three sisters. This made him almost uniquely unchauvinistic for a man of his times: if anything he saw women as better than men, an attitude he imparted to me. His sisters and mother all doted on him and supported him in his eccentricity, which people outside his immediate family were often less understanding of and charitable towards. </p><p>His youngest sister Ann, the only one not to become a teacher, was a kindred free spirit. The fierce independence and clarity of thought that characterised all the females in her family combined with a rebelliousness that took her all over the world as a musician and writer with her Beloved (as she calls him in one of her books), Irish traditional music legend Bobby Gardiner. In Bobby she found a traditional musician but non traditional male who saw his wife not as a supporting player but as an equal collaborator. They had three daughters who grew up with the same strong independent streak. </p><p>I remember Ann from my youth as the smiling playful aunt with a wicked mischievous sense of humour that did nothing to disguise her kind generous worldly wise heart. Maybe the fact she had no sons of her own made her have more time for me when I visited, or maybe that’s just how she was with everyone. Whatever the case she was, along with her own mother (my grandmother), one of the most positive female influences on my childhood. One thing she said when I was ten or eleven shifted my view of the world instantly and positively. I was at the time a morose painfully shy and unhappy child who felt out of place in the world and thought I always would. On a visit to Tipperary, Ann said these words that I think are probably the most important anyone has ever said to me:</p><p><i>“Everyone says that your childhood years are the best of your life. That’s rubbish. They can be the worst. You have to go along with what you’re told, you can’t be your own person. That all changes who you become an adult. You just have to get through your childhood to that point, and that’s when your life really starts”</i></p><p>Those were the words that got me through my difficult teenage years, and those are the words I have lived by since I turned 18. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXnHBMlzXSd7uRtun_Unz59jApHuSK32j9r18ind6eOJaIXOWZW1YDLRhSIFONu58XblDjn_y_0STbCP4ZEiV0EdpQrtM43vGZH187etjb4v3PKjcsa0KihjtwuP1dzvDoHiPu0HgpudZ_l6-PyffjAvGHIQTXrBwC5PC-8mqMVk04TMnYemVulBeUpw/s1280/20230911_105834__77182.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="881" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXnHBMlzXSd7uRtun_Unz59jApHuSK32j9r18ind6eOJaIXOWZW1YDLRhSIFONu58XblDjn_y_0STbCP4ZEiV0EdpQrtM43vGZH187etjb4v3PKjcsa0KihjtwuP1dzvDoHiPu0HgpudZ_l6-PyffjAvGHIQTXrBwC5PC-8mqMVk04TMnYemVulBeUpw/s320/20230911_105834__77182.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>My aunt, now in her eighties, remains a force of nature. Still writing, still looking after herself and her Beloved in the house they built together, still looking and moving like a woman half her age, still as mentally sharp and positive as ever. It only occurred to me recently how much she shaped my entire life with those words of wisdom that cut through the bullshit to the heart of what I needed to hear. </p><p>When we visited them recently, the discussion turned to how people live their lives. Ann said she thinks we should live as if we expect to live to be 200. This seems, on the surface, to be the polar opposite of the “live every day like it might be your last” advice that is more usually dispensed. Yet when I thought about it, I realised I much prefer Ann’s philosophy. We live in a time when ageing is portrayed as a drift to irrelevance, old age reduced to a pointless coda, a waiting room for death. I know people my age who have basically taken this to heart and essentially given up. They stop doing the things they love, they won’t take up any long term projects or pursue new interests, they aren’t looking to meet new people and make new friends. They seem to be waiting for death. In a sense, they’re dead already. </p><p>We are so bombarded with the message that the world belongs to the young that I have found myself succumbing to this way of thinking, and wondering whether I should just retire rather than become a fading version of my former self. I had more or less decided to announce my retirement from poker in the near future, but Ann’s philosophy has caused me to reconsider. Why should I stop doing something I love just because societal norms suggest I’m almost too old to continue doing it? Ann has continued writing and performing along with Bobby into their 80s, and they are the most contented people that age I have ever met. So I’m going to follow her lead and live like I expect to make it to 200. Of course none of us actually will, but I like to think we will enjoy and make more of whatever years we have left than the ones who have already given up in the waiting room for death.</p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-57541751921182564722023-06-06T04:59:00.001+01:002023-06-06T04:59:20.998+01:00Catch up!<p> With more and more of my writing appearing elsewhere I’ve been neglecting this blog a bit of late but I don’t want to let it go completely so I’ll be mainly using it for personal updates going forward. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Mystery Bounty book</h3><p>When we published our fourth book <a href="https://amzn.to/45KmECx" target="_blank">“GTO Poker Simplified”</a> six months ago Barry told me he wanted to take a bit of a break from books. Which of course meant we were always destined to crank out book five faster than any of the others. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDAeYSTGcNOPBZaWxMsiYNWbm1NAVD7IUK24C9FyoRoXRbf7sjlMN9I2S2fG3w1_tQP9zB3lmnKVYdFc0hchlN588Xygqmm6qUeqAgSOzKP-SdwxpTHo9CKbcyBMABigsrNL744Ev4sfK-l59fqHxuT3pLdoj1kc1WNWOHtJpL5k-ffYP2wwLKhrE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDAeYSTGcNOPBZaWxMsiYNWbm1NAVD7IUK24C9FyoRoXRbf7sjlMN9I2S2fG3w1_tQP9zB3lmnKVYdFc0hchlN588Xygqmm6qUeqAgSOzKP-SdwxpTHo9CKbcyBMABigsrNL744Ev4sfK-l59fqHxuT3pLdoj1kc1WNWOHtJpL5k-ffYP2wwLKhrE" width="160" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>We have been working on three different books simultaneously, one on postflop ICM (a follow up to “Endgame Poker Strategy”), another on Exploitative poker, and one on mystery bounties. We originally thought the last one would just be a short ebook, but as we got into it and ran more sims it grew into a fully fledged book, available now on <a href="https://amzn.to/3OWl8qU" target="_blank">Amazon </a>and everywhere else that sells our books. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">SCOOP</h3><p>The last month has been dominated by me playing a full SCOOP schedule, 6 days a week. SCOOP itself was a frustrating experience for me as I failed to get the sustained concentrated run good in one event that you need. However I did well in non SCOOP events so overall it was a profitable few weeks, thanks mainly to two 10k binks. </p><p>One came in a mystery bounty. After whining on Instagram I’d pulled nothing but 54 dollar bounties, I missed hitting the jackpot, or at least seeing the box open with it. I was checking my account balance to see if I needed to reload when it suddenly jumped by 10k, a very pleasant surprise. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiD0J-cZr9pncbOaQ8cqp6ZJwcSt724Qof3GxQ6KIKS0esKVcqRWlz0vDrAAOXN9qMQfBgoj-FKkQCLkfn9y5zezu6k7rDp5ID1GkCJbxYwAgL4-L1r2nCaK-TB__1Bjrh8qWK3FGMM9UHanjHAkSn0zbIqhg1dgA_CzeUVJcqYnPmjOFL25WbQCYs" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="383" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiD0J-cZr9pncbOaQ8cqp6ZJwcSt724Qof3GxQ6KIKS0esKVcqRWlz0vDrAAOXN9qMQfBgoj-FKkQCLkfn9y5zezu6k7rDp5ID1GkCJbxYwAgL4-L1r2nCaK-TB__1Bjrh8qWK3FGMM9UHanjHAkSn0zbIqhg1dgA_CzeUVJcqYnPmjOFL25WbQCYs" width="135" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkAXdVh1S1zKOCD77g98kV7AuED6uq88500IuBBKvMIR-DA9o3VWRxDRkYhIrQGVpYzlst5B7y-oFhMlZsy5Hhf4BblkU8J6Zknyif-9cy526yzjZuqSE3eBAVelNoVYrnsabE_nMK4dvkaX1KhzAWDwg88q5m42trQ0nmQJLFLeMydx8099Q9LRY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="383" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkAXdVh1S1zKOCD77g98kV7AuED6uq88500IuBBKvMIR-DA9o3VWRxDRkYhIrQGVpYzlst5B7y-oFhMlZsy5Hhf4BblkU8J6Zknyif-9cy526yzjZuqSE3eBAVelNoVYrnsabE_nMK4dvkaX1KhzAWDwg88q5m42trQ0nmQJLFLeMydx8099Q9LRY" width="135" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><p>The other bink was equally fortuitous. Mid Sunday grind I noticed that a WSOP Main event satellite was overlaying heavily as max late Reg closed, so I hopped on last minute. 21 minutes and 31 hands later I shipped a 12k package. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdPWKZAdQAyGePjwJixguDdM1WXm1FFv6fYaioi_9VeY-ft3Ek0nqxCMooeiIb90mHEkgeEhM46YA92ijne8Sj1-D05TuiIoRx_FpHybBhhil7i73Bs03jmgNLZtFxs93WROTKLBHwjDEkKpqS7gVq6ROcdCfNs659af04tZPcugseYxaXtDkYVRg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="675" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdPWKZAdQAyGePjwJixguDdM1WXm1FFv6fYaioi_9VeY-ft3Ek0nqxCMooeiIb90mHEkgeEhM46YA92ijne8Sj1-D05TuiIoRx_FpHybBhhil7i73Bs03jmgNLZtFxs93WROTKLBHwjDEkKpqS7gVq6ROcdCfNs659af04tZPcugseYxaXtDkYVRg" width="135" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Training content</h3><p>A few days ago I did a hand history review of that bink for JakaCoaching. I was surprised at how many close interesting and in many cases counter intuitive spots I could find in the 31 spots and it made for probably my most instructive content so far for JakaCoaching.</p><p>If you aren’t yet a member of JakaCoaching but would like to sign up to watch replays if all my webinars and the other coaches including Faraz himself, as well as watch my live Play and Explain sessions (the closest I’ll ever get to Twitching), you can do so here </p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://Jaka.Poker/Dara " target="_blank">https://Jaka.Poker/Dara </a></p><p>Enter the code Dara15 to get a 15% discount when you sign up.</p><p>I have also made some free videos recently with my co-author Barry Carter, some of which can be found on our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@BarryDara" target="_blank">own video channel</a>, and others on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@CardsChat" target="_blank">Cardschat channel</a>. </p><p>I’m also doing a free webinar on mystery bounties this Wednesday for Pocket Queens and Poker Mix.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Unibet</h3><p>My and David’s contract with Unibet ran out at the end of May and we were both delighted to sign with them for another year ensuring the continuance of The Chip Race and Lock in. We originally signed with Unibet back in early 2017 and I think this extension makes us among the longest serving ambassadors for a poker site in the industry. With my earlier stints as an ambassador for Bruce and Irish Eyes, that means I’ll have been a poker site ambassador for 11 years in total. Not bad for an old guy who entered the game in my forties and was told by Stars employees and other industry insiders that I’d never be an ambassador for a poker site because I was too old already. </p><p>Both David and I are genuinely thrilled and proud to represent Unibet, a company with a reputation for integrity and focus on player experience unmatched in the industry. I recently tuned into Twitch to see the ambassador of another site complaining at the here he and other ambassadors had taken for the decision of their sponsors. With Unibet David and I never have to worry about doing anything to enrage almost their entire customer base. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Team Exploit</h3><p>I announced earlier this week I'm proud to have joined eXploit as a coach. Are you a winning online player who wants to move up stakes? One of the questions I get asked most is "will you stake me?"</p><p>🃏💪 I don't personally stake players any more but I am proud to announce I've signed as a coach of the eXploit Poker Team, one of the world's leading poker teams, I invite you to join our winning journey.</p><p>🔥Unleash your full potential and master the art of poker with our exceptional team that has more than 300 students and more than 80 coaches around the world.</p><p>Part of eXploit's success is due to intelligent choice of tournaments and buy-ins for its players, not exposing them to high variance.</p><p>📉 If you're struggling with your game, if you can't consistently win, if you don't have a community that gives you everything you need to become a successful player, eXploit is what you need!</p><p>✍️Apply now via the link in the BIO of instagram @teamexploitpoker and @teamexploitpokerworld</p><p>EXPLOIT ♦️📈</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEvcKKB7-JzLjLmP719D7xTDGdpbBynRYZPGSZ0GwIVd1DPSqshA_VkGsSFWi0jpD4trEfvcG1qUy5o0pUTXYLdeBGMGJQRwUm3tzeJJeapswyaG-M_5ssqRDGnenzvDeVlquNrqafhLSgwF0fATCrUldR7fz8_xiDzAz18KznkLKSQMpYt3d33P8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEvcKKB7-JzLjLmP719D7xTDGdpbBynRYZPGSZ0GwIVd1DPSqshA_VkGsSFWi0jpD4trEfvcG1qUy5o0pUTXYLdeBGMGJQRwUm3tzeJJeapswyaG-M_5ssqRDGnenzvDeVlquNrqafhLSgwF0fATCrUldR7fz8_xiDzAz18KznkLKSQMpYt3d33P8" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Coaching</h3><p>My coaching took a bit of a back seat during SCOOP and will again during the WSOP so if you’re one of my students and want a session or two before I head to Vegas, hit me up. </p><p>It was a much better SCOOP for my students than me, and they’ve also been crushing live recently too, including at Triton in Cyprus. I recently achieved a unique “triple crown” when I woke up to messages from three different students saying they’d just shipped tournaments. This gave me almost as much satisfaction as my own triple crowns. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Writing</h4><p>In addition to the books, I’ve continued to write strategy articles for Poker Strategy, including recent pieces on why <a href="https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/content/Suited-Connectors-are-overrated_127115/" target="_blank">suited connectors are overrated and suited kings underrated</a>, and how most players are <a href="https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/content/Stop-bleeding-money-in-preflop-multiway-spots_127203/" target="_blank">way too loose preflop in multi-way situations</a>. </p><p>I also write regularly for VegasSlotsOnline, including some recent articles on the <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2023/05/23/the-irish-poker-tour-when-passion-leads-to-success/" target="_blank">Monster</a>, the <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2023/04/12/dara-okearney-the-best-and-worst-of-the-irish-open-2023/" target="_blank">Irish Open</a>, a <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2023/04/24/what-you-need-to-know-when-preparing-for-the-world-series-of-poker/" target="_blank">guide to surviving the WSOP</a>, and my <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2023/05/15/dara-okearney-top-tips-for-success-in-mystery-bounty-poker-tournaments/" target="_blank">top tips for mystery bounties</a>.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">WSOP </h3><p>Speaking of the WSOP, it’s already started. I’m flying there on the 20th and staying til the end. Between now and then I want to focus on preparing for it both mentally and physically. While I’ve been in excellent health since I shook off (what I assume was) long COVID two years ago (I haven’t had as much as a sniffle since and my energy levels are high again), I have let my physical fitness slide a little recently. Although I managed to get out for a run most days during SCOOP my long runs have slipped too often so I want to focus on getting as good a shape as I can for Vegas. </p><p>I’ll work out my WSOP schedule in the next few days and will be selling some action, mostly to people who have bought in the past, but also some small pieces on StakeKings as part if a new hookup between the Chip Race and the platform. </p><p>If you’d like to buy a piece from me directly, message me and I’ll send you a link to the package once I’ve worked it out. </p><p>I’m very much looking forward to heading to Vegas and hoping this will be the year I finally get a bracelet!</p><p><br /></p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-57025449839334423002023-03-18T02:47:00.002+00:002023-03-18T02:47:49.368+00:00BLU BLU ‘Lectric BLU<div>Back when I started this blog almost 15 years ago I thought of it as a Dear Diary which I assumed nobody else would ever read. Over time I learned the hard way that was an incorrect assumption, and I had to start thinking about what other people might like to read (probably not me moaning about bad beats) and might not like to read (me naming and shaming them for inflicting a bad beat on me). </div><div><br /></div><div>In recent years more and more of my writing has migrated to other sites: strategy to <a href="https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/content/Blockers-are-for-tie-breaks_126191/">PokerStrategy.com</a> and <a href="https://www.cardschat.com/">Cardschat</a>, and op Ed’s and trip reports to <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2023/03/06/dara-okearney-will-the-live-poker-boom-last/" target="_blank">VSO</a>. That’s led to long periods of neglect for this blog, as all it leaves is personal Dear Diary "here’s what I’ve been up to lately" entries. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinqxeUwvceZkWFFTWBvbp5DzwxlXiJXQ8aAvDsSbgPS9j2C6KatMW-2PSiFzeA-nimk8Rmi4gJTS1yTW6580WYhSs7bFjJVbOH-RoM0Av0_6BFbj1vEzbkBe3SdGXlUf3BQQEqKd5wd0yuqqrgQSKy_5jmdXX2NPCoc88e68A_pdMH2oKZR9AYCuk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="526" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinqxeUwvceZkWFFTWBvbp5DzwxlXiJXQ8aAvDsSbgPS9j2C6KatMW-2PSiFzeA-nimk8Rmi4gJTS1yTW6580WYhSs7bFjJVbOH-RoM0Av0_6BFbj1vEzbkBe3SdGXlUf3BQQEqKd5wd0yuqqrgQSKy_5jmdXX2NPCoc88e68A_pdMH2oKZR9AYCuk" width="135" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTBuG2nmqvQvmkre1Lscf0yGAkyyMGKrSMOAE8e9qwU-4SqtiAKMsVXPdCCtCEgu4F8y7St2k2Vtnkvd9-oj5hR4mi2wrhu6n9S2wOKz8SdXrjkjHSXExBTp3nNysCEBuMn_8qdV40WpnyFEckFVLY5AsmBYWIk5KzGCg0H5eqwzTye_vwxr4gLhQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="526" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTBuG2nmqvQvmkre1Lscf0yGAkyyMGKrSMOAE8e9qwU-4SqtiAKMsVXPdCCtCEgu4F8y7St2k2Vtnkvd9-oj5hR4mi2wrhu6n9S2wOKz8SdXrjkjHSXExBTp3nNysCEBuMn_8qdV40WpnyFEckFVLY5AsmBYWIk5KzGCg0H5eqwzTye_vwxr4gLhQ" width="135" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>So I finished a 15 day intensive study and play period built around the Unibet Spring Poker Championship Tournament on Monday where I studied and played online every day. I ended with a very profitable sessions: highlights were another Irish Open seat on Paddy Power (my eighth) and two thirds in bounty builders on Stars and GG, and a fourth in Title Fight on Unibet (congratulations to my good friend Daragh Davey who took that one down). </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUWM_5Utgn8UBeV2TaPvaDrrXXaWAWeUVeB3ZVH-snxW4JI2G-N0MHuPIRj4RACeI-lgF30wt1Bq2o5D70rK84W8TBmRDyUI-RX0wBF18CQwgEKwxYbI29bNpn7oucoIQlQ7IxKaiR6J1csAqnuJRgvU6ENkqgCw_78F2lg2QXTROHi1Ru11wbl1o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="526" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUWM_5Utgn8UBeV2TaPvaDrrXXaWAWeUVeB3ZVH-snxW4JI2G-N0MHuPIRj4RACeI-lgF30wt1Bq2o5D70rK84W8TBmRDyUI-RX0wBF18CQwgEKwxYbI29bNpn7oucoIQlQ7IxKaiR6J1csAqnuJRgvU6ENkqgCw_78F2lg2QXTROHi1Ru11wbl1o" width="135" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjUm4hQn-RmAuV07Vj_Nlkaix4aua-YKcB5FSZJFpuibvA2UoNp6wI-JDGXMcjFz7mJU2kQzsjbBmj2zTehWdMNlMlvB2dSVgj-1mtkrSwkQ21e3HumXHjuHjaRBabo-gofkQtgMDQgqWD28-T5Vsy8kA-h-UNgGHxjkToaN_s_xzvLbmswPc_1Cg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="526" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjUm4hQn-RmAuV07Vj_Nlkaix4aua-YKcB5FSZJFpuibvA2UoNp6wI-JDGXMcjFz7mJU2kQzsjbBmj2zTehWdMNlMlvB2dSVgj-1mtkrSwkQ21e3HumXHjuHjaRBabo-gofkQtgMDQgqWD28-T5Vsy8kA-h-UNgGHxjkToaN_s_xzvLbmswPc_1Cg" width="135" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Overall a very profitable couple of weeks and I think my game improved quite a bit so I’m looking forward to taking the improvements into live poker. I did return on Wednesday for an even better session taking third in the Big 109 on Stars and the WSOP Circuit Bounty Builder on GG. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixBxSUzSTm64TfePQVSkv09mhliprXxIUQVXCkcaySmBFSWAa5KPMwyO4ILrxfTWbhV1u43F4qhX8J9pOTZ-l-x6lrrru4vJof0k_XgkWU-AP5QXTQYtz_w3me1ZVUjrfByvcpS5qhp0fihh28BwpW9Vy_QHYe5CGwMVk6DigSgxUBgGIHkjKT0jA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="526" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixBxSUzSTm64TfePQVSkv09mhliprXxIUQVXCkcaySmBFSWAa5KPMwyO4ILrxfTWbhV1u43F4qhX8J9pOTZ-l-x6lrrru4vJof0k_XgkWU-AP5QXTQYtz_w3me1ZVUjrfByvcpS5qhp0fihh28BwpW9Vy_QHYe5CGwMVk6DigSgxUBgGIHkjKT0jA" width="135" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgK5_boa4HfI05l96rZ6ZTJEY6Nspw30SapyYpyDJ0AaXYqDzdRTuPWr0BcTOz9dVO_SZBC_n52jHlsA4GcHJyXPSlDTKBV4ZbpMR13s3Dh12WVs8ek8y7MLPgseqNuuaZY7vBMisQSpeyl9PzZqReyQoshrjV39k78QuYymJdb7kPozEoGBZH-bk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="526" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgK5_boa4HfI05l96rZ6ZTJEY6Nspw30SapyYpyDJ0AaXYqDzdRTuPWr0BcTOz9dVO_SZBC_n52jHlsA4GcHJyXPSlDTKBV4ZbpMR13s3Dh12WVs8ek8y7MLPgseqNuuaZY7vBMisQSpeyl9PzZqReyQoshrjV39k78QuYymJdb7kPozEoGBZH-bk" width="135" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I’m shifting my focus for next few weeks to health and fitness, content creation, coaching (apologies to my students who I’ve been neglecting: hit me up if you want to book in another session), working on the next books, some live poker (the next Irish Poker Tour stop, the <a href="https://www.actionpokertour.com/blank-1" target="_blank">Action Poker Tour launch game</a> and of course the Irish Open), and a live Play and Explain session for <a href="https://Jaka.poker/Dara15" target="_blank">JakaCoaching </a>on March 28th</div><div><br /></div><div>And yes, get a damn haircut!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFluvYVEH8RKEDPrEsLcwYP-sC9ytedBpQIzazC6b1eCRZjWCjcSt-MHsIKKmT7WuO2eXS8imLnvvjEBWQZeWm-oU6p0mF-ZzRM2B_EsCJ4t0HMDWLk0UEICCIa6dK1BSLiMFteQQvyEY_j9Xy0ZpJ73_F3kVT02c2lfbr8omSkfyw-LVHMunaKZs/s3794/haircut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1668" data-original-width="3794" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFluvYVEH8RKEDPrEsLcwYP-sC9ytedBpQIzazC6b1eCRZjWCjcSt-MHsIKKmT7WuO2eXS8imLnvvjEBWQZeWm-oU6p0mF-ZzRM2B_EsCJ4t0HMDWLk0UEICCIa6dK1BSLiMFteQQvyEY_j9Xy0ZpJ73_F3kVT02c2lfbr8omSkfyw-LVHMunaKZs/s320/haircut.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>David and I have kept busy on the Chip Race front. We have a big Irish Open special coming up soon but in the mean time check out our latest Lock In with Lon McEachern. Among other topics, the thorny subject of RTA came up, and I gave my full frank and honest views.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ci4G-QlaD7s" width="320" youtube-src-id="Ci4G-QlaD7s"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-16934607223614943052023-02-03T05:30:00.002+00:002023-02-03T05:30:26.669+00:00 On the occasion of my son’s wedding<p><i>(The following blog is an expanded slightly polished version of an off the cuff speech I recently gave at my oldest son’s wedding)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>I first met Paddy 33 years ago. Those of you who know Paddy’s age (38) are probably thinking </p><p><i>“What a terrible father, not bothering to see his son til he turned 5”</i></p><p>The reason though is when I met the woman of my life, his mother Mireille, Paddy (or Aurelien as he was called at the time) came as an outgoing hyper friendly bonus. I anticipated some difficulties getting him to accept a weird 25 year old Irishman he had nothing in common with, not even a language, but Paddy gave me the benefit of the doubt. Even at that age, he was the most forgiving person I know alongside his mother. When I fucked up, as I often did in my role as new father or nouveau pere, he’d simply shrug, smile, and suggest we play a computer game together. I won him over with many hours of Accolade golf and GP racing on my first PC, as he sat on my lap cheering me on in German. He spoke French and German but no English at the time, and when Mireille heard how bad my French was she forbade me from butchering it in front of him, so German it was. My German was terrible, much worse than my French, and he was 5, so we didn’t have enough words between us for many long deep conversations. Those came later once his English improved. </p><p>Paddy made new fatherhood easier than it could ever possibly be, but I still fucked up constantly, so his ability to forgive and forget was vital. Shortly after his arrival, we went for a walk along the Dun Laoire sea front where we lived at the time. Paddy was always an adventurous boy, and he therefore thought climbing down some steep slippy rocks to take a closer look at the sea was a great idea. As a clueless nouveau pere, I saw no possible problems here. That changed when the tide started to come in and he came to the conclusion he couldn’t climb back up the steep slippy rocks. As I gazed down helplessly at him mentally preparing my “honey our boy drowned” speech, a young girl of 9 or 10 passing by offered to help. In my cluelessness, I decided that I was pot committed here and one drowned kid wasn’t much better than two, and told her to go for it, now adding a “and another kid who went to help also drowned” addendum to the speech I was mentally rehearing for my beloved and, I anticipated, the authorities. The girl turned out to be quite the little acrobat and motivational speaker, and she got the job done. As Paddy and I trudged home to play computer games, we had our first shared life lesson: men are the weaker sex and when in doubt its best to turn to a female to bail us out rather than muddle on in our stupid masculine bull headed way. </p><p>At the time, we moved every few months for my work. This made it challenging for Paddy (or Aurelien as he still was at this point) to make friends. The name didn’t help either, apparently unpronounceable to Irish kids, and a visible stamp of foreignness. When he expressed frustration at both these points, I suggested they could both be resolved by a simple name change. </p><p><i>“Next time we move, just tell them all your name is some Irish name”</i></p><p><i>“Can I choose it?”</i></p><p><i>“Of course. More fun for you, less hassle for me”</i></p><p><i>“Ok. I choose Paddy”</i></p><p>I bit my lip and suppressed the impulse to tell him to pick a less stereotypically Irish name for the love of God. From that day forth, he was Paddy O’Kearney. </p><p>His ability to connect with anyone and everyone was evident from the start. Apart from getting dragged around due to my work, I was still in my chess phase so he found himself dragged to tournaments most weekends in the early days. His restlessness and adventurous nature meant he tended to wander off given half a chance. On one trip to London, we thought we left him sleeping soundly for the night, only to arrive back to find him perched on the front reception desk explaining to the utterly charmed receptionists in broken English that his parents had disappeared. He’d drawn surprisingly accurate pictures of us on hotel stationery for search party purposes. </p><p>On another trip to Tipperary, he forced us to go room to room in the hotel searching for him. We eventually found him literally in bed with the reigning Miss Ireland, Siobhan McClafferty, showing her how colouring worked, in German. She seemed very disappointed when we took him away. </p><p>Other than his wanderlust, he was such an easy child to be a father to I took up bragging. When I poo poohed friends complaining of their own parental difficulties they invariably said</p><p><i>“Wait til his sister is born”</i></p><p><i>“WaIt til he’s a teenager”</i></p><p><i>“Wait til he turns 16/18/21”</i></p><p>All those milestones came and went without any transformation other than a gradual positive one into the kindest most emotionally intelligent man I’ve ever known. In a family of prickly quirky individuals Paddy has always been the emotional centre through which we can all relate and have our differences explained and tolerated. The calm empathetic glue binding us. The happy carefree forgiving boy turned into the man who cares deeply about everything and everyone, but forgives us all our prickles and flaws. His ability to relate to everyone has always extended way past family. </p><p>On one trip to Vegas he shared a car to the grand canyon with me, and two poker friends older than me. The age difference didn’t faze him in the slightest. The fact that the other two were a committed nationalist from Northern Ireland whose brother had been a hunger striker and an English Maggie Thatcher loving football hooligan who had run guns to the loyalists in Northern Ireland made for an explosive car cocktail. I’ve often thought since that Paddy’s presence alone averted disaster. </p><p>Paddy and I started with almost nothing in common and even now we couldn’t be more different. He lacks the competitive drive completely, still very much the kid who prefers to cheer on others and be happy for their success. He lacks any trace of materialism or drive for personal conventional success, yet despite this he’s done more for the good of humanity than anyone else I’ve ever known, at least in my extremely biased opinion. He’s incredibly good with his hands, able to build, fix, fashion or make anything. In a post nuclear apocalypse he would be the most important man on the planet. He has marched to his own recycled drum through an eco warrior phase, an urban farm phase, and many other worthy projects where the motivation is never money but making the world a better place. I’m intensely proud of the man he is. It annoys me beyond words when others criticise him, thankfully an infrequent occurrence. When he drew criticism for his environmental protests I went on national radio to argue with his critics. When one of them conceded “well, at least he’s proper Irish, not like all those new age German hippies” I chuckled inwardly at the thought that the name on his passport is still Aurelien Schmeltz, born in Germany. </p><p>In my negligible, um….I mean extensive research for his wedding speech, I discovered there are only 72 O’Kearney’s in the world. It is with great pleasure I welcome the 73rd, Niamh. In her Paddy has finally found the strong active type we both realised was our type that day he had to be rescued in Dun Laoire. She is wonderful in every way but one: the wretched siren has lured our son to San Francisco. He leaves today. We will miss him terribly, but visit him often.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQSFzq6Ao4b4g74ulnpHpfpLFYklDc2G8dUJoB24LJXmTxwr2iTw9RkDueuLA9QC02WkVqv4L86Tm6IATswbzz80gGLpFY5krbF7BpdCK9OLaz8xrDiz2MJPmQ7vhygIA3nC6O5WUkLgOXS7h5s3OkQtvxGSPweUjDcDy4axpEoWp7H-cRWY0zVO0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="900" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQSFzq6Ao4b4g74ulnpHpfpLFYklDc2G8dUJoB24LJXmTxwr2iTw9RkDueuLA9QC02WkVqv4L86Tm6IATswbzz80gGLpFY5krbF7BpdCK9OLaz8xrDiz2MJPmQ7vhygIA3nC6O5WUkLgOXS7h5s3OkQtvxGSPweUjDcDy4axpEoWp7H-cRWY0zVO0" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-376028775096059202023-01-18T05:40:00.003+00:002023-01-18T09:48:36.841+00:00Review of 2022<p> It’s been my custom in recent years to start every year with a blog reviewing the previous year and I see no reason to break with tradition this year. So here goes, a totally personal account of my year that was.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Live</h4><p>This came back in force this year. I got back to playing my usual volume, including EPTs Prague, Barcelona and London, a Unibet Open in Malta (followed by Battle of Malta), the WSOP and the WPT World Championship in the Wynn, as well as all the normal stuff in Ireland. From an experience point of view the highlights were Malta, London and the Wynn. </p><p>I also greatly enjoyed the return of the Irish Poker Tour, particularly the Cork stop in the Macau, and the one at the start of the year in Limerick (my first time ever playing there). </p><p>From a results point of view, I cashed with my usual consistency, but the really big one eluded me, and I had a pretty miserable WSOP which all added up to one of the most lacklustre years of my career on the live felt. I recorded 25 cashes on the Hendon mob, a new personal best and in the process became the first Irish player to pass 200 cashes lifetime. Highlights were the last cash of the year, a 4th in the team event with David Lappin in the Wynn, and a four way chop in the EPT London Seniors event. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Online</h4><p>In the first half of my career almost all my income and most of my time came from and went to playing online. It was incredibly lucrative and enjoyable. Over the second half of my career, the trend has been to play less and less volume online every year. There’s a number of reasons for this. The banishment of HUDs from most sites means I’ve had to scale down to the number of tables I play. The gradual growth of my coaching and content creation has also reduced the amount of time I can devote to online. The financial incentives are not the same: in addition to more of my income coming from other sources, the hourly achievable playing online has dropped considerably. </p><p>I also think I just can’t grind 100 hours a week like I did at the start of my career. I can do it in bursts for online series or whatever but when I tried to go back to doing it full time at the start of the pandemic I quickly found myself burning out. </p><p>My focus with online has switched away from being something I do purely as my primary source of income to something I do primarily to keep my game sharp. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Sponsorship</h4><p>I’m very happy and proud to continue my role as ambassador for Unibet and Cardschat, two companies I strongly believe are positive forces in poker. I am also happy to have joined the Irish Poker Tour as their strategy expert, writing an ongoing series aimed at teaching beginners and improvers the most important foundational concepts. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Chip Race and other content</h4><p>The Chip Race and it’s YouTube sister show continued to flourish in 2022. It’s a real pleasure working with David.</p><p>I also wrote a considerable number of strategy articles for various sites, and started writing regular articles and logs for VegasSlotsOnline. I also produced videos for Cardschat and Barry’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@BarryDara" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Staking</h4><p>Every year I say I’m getting out of staking, and every year I report that I didn’t manage to. The death of my latest staking partner Jan Suchanek late in 2022 might provide the impetus to finally exit the arena. The sheer joy of working with Jan and talking to him every day was a big reason I got pulled back in. I miss Jan and our daily interactions terribly. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhUWaPYBE7uRHpWHKSLs7FIxzhbeSdMeUdWOiSWwjzbNrDrUM0W6fsroZDMKgC71V7svtXZzemnym3cucqgQXFYGOoUBqbrGpwFGZjFY0qrZdACCcVD9YqqjBRVUKFP55eYOJjzybY969mjMEd08vHMmaSTbLHcISjtrzumScYSIGKfyniYMEhQfA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="1200" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhUWaPYBE7uRHpWHKSLs7FIxzhbeSdMeUdWOiSWwjzbNrDrUM0W6fsroZDMKgC71V7svtXZzemnym3cucqgQXFYGOoUBqbrGpwFGZjFY0qrZdACCcVD9YqqjBRVUKFP55eYOJjzybY969mjMEd08vHMmaSTbLHcISjtrzumScYSIGKfyniYMEhQfA" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>2022 was my biggest ever losing year overall on the staking front, something else which might encourage me to finally quit. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Coaching</h4><p>2022 was my busiest year ever on the coaching front, and the most successful for my students on the felt. On the coaching my approach has changed a bit down the years. Initially I thought my only job was to teach people how to run the sims but I’ve come to the realisation that most people don’t have the time or inclination to spend 100s of hours doing that. So these days I largely just take relevant solver output and explain it conceptually (the why) so students can implement it. I also have analysis software that can be used to identify leaks you might not even be aware of. I use Zoom to record the sessions so students can watch them back afterwards.</p><p>Like all the other things I do I enjoy coaching there’s a happy balance as far as how much of it I do. It’s not something I could do full time 8 hours a day, or even 4 hours, so I’m forced to limit the number of students I can take on (I only take on those I think I can help enough for it to be worth both our whiles).</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Training</h4><p>This year I joined Faraz Jaka’s training site, initially as a guest coach to deliver webinars on satellites and ICM, but have now joined to produce one webinar a month. To sign up, use the link <a href="https://Jaka.Poker/Dara">https://Jaka.Poker/Dara</a> and enter the code DARA15 for a 15% discount. I recently did my first ever live play and explain session where I played online and explained my thought process in real time to students, and will be doing another one of those every few months. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Study</h4><p>Studying is an ever increasingly important part of the routine of any poker pro who wants to stay profitable online. In recent years my own study has mostly revolved around specific topics for content I’m making, the books or webinars, and work with students, but I definitely want to put more time into my own independent study and training in 2023.</p><p>For training I still predominantly use DTO, and for study 2022 was the year <a href="https://gtowizard.com/p/slowdoke">GTOWizard </a>replaced PIO as my main study tool.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Commentary</h4><p>In 2022, I did commentary at the Patrik Antonius challenge in Tallinn, the Irish Open, the Battle of Malta, different Unibet events, different events in Rozvadov, and a GG Millions final table (with Kevin Martin).</p><p>Kicking off 2023 I’m joining my Chip Race cohost David Lappin to do commentary on a Merit event in Cyprus. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Books </h4><p>November saw the release of my fourth collaboration with Barry Carter, GTO Poker Simplified. I was genuinely concerned there might not be an audience for this book so have been blown away by the response. Not just the sales figures (it became our fourth #1 best seller in poker on Amazon and at this stage looks like it could potentially eventually become our biggest seller yet), but also the reaction and reviews like this one.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHhgu3UscBEJRTxD5tbC0JbmIkwG0gRwCM0_N5PmYkxsncgRv1-CMGmHYHeCZU3fhRtI0Kd_gzoos3eoxdtJCZqmNOYvr1KDebVSkeNLSgeS2VZyxqgWjyL_P9xLtRbRxcJIbSP_h_OGnM5WCyUUYIAT_OTc60rP7hnoQct2mMGV5M0V2Gn_AY3D0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="618" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHhgu3UscBEJRTxD5tbC0JbmIkwG0gRwCM0_N5PmYkxsncgRv1-CMGmHYHeCZU3fhRtI0Kd_gzoos3eoxdtJCZqmNOYvr1KDebVSkeNLSgeS2VZyxqgWjyL_P9xLtRbRxcJIbSP_h_OGnM5WCyUUYIAT_OTc60rP7hnoQct2mMGV5M0V2Gn_AY3D0" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>Barry and I both greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to write a review for us. As self publishers we don’t have a big publishing company to push our books for us so we rely almost entirely on word of mouth and reviews. </p><p>The list of languages the books have been translated into continues to grow:</p><p>Poker Satellite Strategy - French, German, Spanish, and coming soon Japanese </p><p>PKO Poker Strategy - Italian, Spanish, Czech </p><p>Endgame Poker Strategy - Italian, Spanish, Japanese (by end of year)</p><p>GTO Poker Simplified - Spanish soon</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Onwards and upwards </h4><p>Finally, I’d like to thank everyone for their continued support and interest, and wish you all a happy new year. Hope to see you all at some point at a live table in 2023!</p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-53776021051568456242022-12-28T19:03:00.006+00:002022-12-28T19:25:38.485+00:00Eating and drinking in a Wynnter Wonderland<p> I already wrote a blog covering the poker aspects of my recent trip to Vegas for the WPT World Championship for <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2022/12/24/dara-okearney-of-poker-travel-snafus-and-wpt-world-champions/" target="_blank">Vegas Slots Online</a> so I won’t repeat myself here. Instead a few people asked me to write about where we (David Lappin and I) ate and drank and went.</p><p>First I have to say we were pretty lazy on that front. We were staying in the Wynn Encore. We ate the vast majority of our meals there, and rarely left the hotel. The farthest south we got was the Venetian (across the road) and the farthest North was Circus Circus a couple of blocks up the strip (where we went to film some content for the latest Lock In). Part laziness, part because Lappin moaned about his bad back every time I as much hinted about heading for an exit, part being very busy, but big part there’s so much choice in the Wynn there’s no real imperative to leave it. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Siegel’s Bagelmania</h3><p>This was where I had my first breakfast in Vegas this trip. Marc Brody picked us up from the Encore and brought us there for breakfast (after which we headed back to the Wynn sportsbook to watch Argentina versus Croatia).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhNMvCLu3fcHyqo_39npXjJroAXPHeeK5AXNXM2vEzsRPzpgq_rt6k3074rd2554ZYrDsXbYUqWfuoxgEytH1uQ5xPIo7MPyalaon2Z-r_l8vbJCdmSWir8TT7Enk8undjdKPdgD8RF637Ib8iFxYbrA80rxjjko7BLtZf5VQNFzcDpkOYH6wNovKI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="900" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhNMvCLu3fcHyqo_39npXjJroAXPHeeK5AXNXM2vEzsRPzpgq_rt6k3074rd2554ZYrDsXbYUqWfuoxgEytH1uQ5xPIo7MPyalaon2Z-r_l8vbJCdmSWir8TT7Enk8undjdKPdgD8RF637Ib8iFxYbrA80rxjjko7BLtZf5VQNFzcDpkOYH6wNovKI" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The food is as good as American breakfast gets, and the portions are also very American (which is to say huge enough to feed a village in Europe). Marc ordered French toast and they killed an entire loaf for his breakfast.</p><p>Coffee is very good (a key consideration if you don’t want to be dealing with a sniffy grumpy Lappin), so much so that the second time we went there and there was a queue Lappin ordered the coffee immediately and got started on it before they sat us. </p><p>I’d say first meal except that technically that was…</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Walgreens </h3><p>Vegas used to be a 24 hour town but no more. I got there so late the first day we couldn’t find anywhere in the Wynn that was open. We set off for the Venetian to the sound of Lappin complaining about his back. The only place we found open was Walgreens. There’s another about the same distance from the Wynn in the opposite direction we went a few times. Both are very good options if you just want a quick sandwich or a gallon of water for less than a small bottle costs in the hotels. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Urth</h3><p>This quickly became a favourite, probably because Lappin declared it the finest coffee he’d ever consumed in Vegas. An excellent breakfast menu meant we arranged to meet quite a few friends there. First up was new Irish Open ambassador Chris Dowling, at what Lappin dubbed the ambassadors breakfast. It almost didn’t happen because when we got there there was a longer queue (or line in American parlance) than normal. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3X4CljJiSRqLQvP5yucOQm8TtldM9Izmb0mTGj4TIieBU5I0hFtcTRUwhRHvZTcymMHAbPZn4mCdRjes9Z5klYS-RZIrMTo9Yg6MvahGcQqmv_R4ojtHpB1Drwwfo3XxAT_LtG0_RfrvUfuQ2iQrTaG-SdqQEZzHjexK9kwkGIIyN6QiQXJ5iP5s" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="900" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3X4CljJiSRqLQvP5yucOQm8TtldM9Izmb0mTGj4TIieBU5I0hFtcTRUwhRHvZTcymMHAbPZn4mCdRjes9Z5klYS-RZIrMTo9Yg6MvahGcQqmv_R4ojtHpB1Drwwfo3XxAT_LtG0_RfrvUfuQ2iQrTaG-SdqQEZzHjexK9kwkGIIyN6QiQXJ5iP5s" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>It’s something of a mystery to both of us how there seems to be a line for everything in America, and Americans just accept this. Lines in Ireland tend to be self limiting because if people see more than a couple of people ahead of them they just give up and go elsewhere, which we almost did after Lappin declared this was at least an hour long line. </p><p>As he did so an American lady made the major mistake of stopping to ask if we had been told how long the line was, and choosing grumpy Lappin to direct the question to. Looking at her like she either had two heads, or zero heads, he waved at the line. </p><p><i>“It’s that long”</i></p><p><i>“But in minutes…”</i></p><p><i>“Lines are not measured in minutes. Are you familiar with the differences between time, space and matter?”</i></p><p>Feeling sorry for how sorry she now looked to have asked the question I interjected we had been given no estimated time, and she wandered off to ponder the differences between time space and matter some more. </p><p>We also brought Aidan Quinlan and Sam Dobbins there one dinner break, and Lappin brought along a table mate who wrote for South Park and Mike and Molly’s. Jamie Kerstetter also dropped by to tell us how she was going in the Ladies. </p><p>We also spent our last afternoon in Vegas there with Vanessa Kade who is always good company and seems better equipped to deal with our Irish eccentricities than most North Americans. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Allegro’s </h3><p>The Italian in the Wynn was another place I went more than once. The first occasion was a rushed dinner break catch up with Pokerbunny (Paulina Loeliger) and her boyfriend. The food was decent and more importantly prompt. Paulina is always enjoyable and thought provoking to spend time with: genuinely one of a kind. </p><p>Second time was a more leisurely affair with Lappin and my buddy Kevin O’Donnell on our last night there. Lappin was less than impressed by the gluten free options declaring <i>“no cooking was needed for my dinner: they just had to take stuff out of packaging”</i> but Kevin and I were a lot happier. Lappin was less than impressed by the table on the edge of the restaurant, saying he felt like he was eating on the casino floor. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">SW Steakhouse </h3><p>This was probably the best meal we had in Vegas. The occasion was the WPT media dinner and I got a good seat draw beside the always charming and interesting Jennifer Newell. Team Chip Race loves steak, particularly free steak, and Lappin was in great form when the waiter didn’t blink at the request to make his blue. His mood darkened when they brought it and it was clear there was a gulf between what he and the chef thought blue was.</p><p>His mood darkened further when a “guess my age?” game broke out and Jen went very high for Lappin. Things soured further when several Americans made inflated claims for the quality of their steaks in comparison to other countries, something a gourmand as snobby as Lappin couldn’t let pass at the best of times, much less when his youthful looks and demeanour have just been impugned. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTB2kB1Pg4ozBInmOymybCPfg4eg6VuBBK5WKH6slIhyYtKetUluob3fq6-zWv0ZvimPozvitLSSjr0GLKlO_s9fcLl2GOSfBlXD_Eyoardq4n4YXaH7Kp2tN4Vi5f8Eqa-SNwjbeSax-Ud2z8QzaK2L5Fl720QfYHLnh59EEwz5IDhD0Z9K-hC5o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="473" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTB2kB1Pg4ozBInmOymybCPfg4eg6VuBBK5WKH6slIhyYtKetUluob3fq6-zWv0ZvimPozvitLSSjr0GLKlO_s9fcLl2GOSfBlXD_Eyoardq4n4YXaH7Kp2tN4Vi5f8Eqa-SNwjbeSax-Ud2z8QzaK2L5Fl720QfYHLnh59EEwz5IDhD0Z9K-hC5o" width="282" /></a></div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Wynn Buffet</h3><p>We had very fond memories of this from the Unibet Open there a few years ago so we went to breakfast one morning. The food was decent but not quite as good as I remembered, and we were less than impressed by the line we had to wait in. We were offered the opportunity to join a shorter line for 5 bucks, but we decided we’d prefer to keep the 5 bucks. Once we hit inside it was difficult to see why there was even a line, let alone two. There were enough empty seats inside to accommodate everyone in both lines several times over. Americans, please explain. </p><p>We came for the food and didn’t come back because of the lines. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">VIP room</h3><p>In truth this was probably the second best place we ate. WPT really know how to treat their qualifiers and you were guaranteed great company every time you went in. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Lobby bar (Encore)</h3><p>Only went there once, with our friend Soheb “payjump” Porbanderwala after he bust the main. Has a nice friendly feel to it and the waitress was very funny. Some random dudes tried to buy Lappin’s pants so they could get into a nightclub but ended up staying for a drink, and Robbie Strazynski and Dankness made cameo appearances. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi2OwLz0Mmt6IEsLMB3K6li1afVu6QSEokTqsLppLgllJutduH6o4LeWVKPVkyrP966t9ltrzv5tVIFGHvltDr_IJCURfvif4mqPCMWQr-4NsBRJxq5FNbeNOPlrAkQd8wXr9f4rw08lSWekBOsu3bpauTtFvGsZxOX29MiaXUtIcEunV_As_XXX5o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="802" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi2OwLz0Mmt6IEsLMB3K6li1afVu6QSEokTqsLppLgllJutduH6o4LeWVKPVkyrP966t9ltrzv5tVIFGHvltDr_IJCURfvif4mqPCMWQr-4NsBRJxq5FNbeNOPlrAkQd8wXr9f4rw08lSWekBOsu3bpauTtFvGsZxOX29MiaXUtIcEunV_As_XXX5o" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Deli at reception (Encore)</h3><p>Don’t know the actual name of this place and was only there once for coffee with Smidge after we both bust the main. Lappin joined us when he busted shortly thereafter for a communal sulk as we glared angrily and enviously at people still in the tournament enjoying their break. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Peppermill</h3><p>I’d been here once before. Poker tourist Asif brought me there at the start of my WSOP 2015 campaign which he never fails to point out was my most successful. I brought Lappin there hoping for similar run good this time. He wasn’t that impressed but I was (a lot of things are easier and better when you can tolerate gluten). We’d definitely have gone back there had Urth not been a lot nearer. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Wazumu </h3><p>I have many fond memories of this Chinese beside the poker room in Encore. I was less impressed this time, and Lappin even less so. He was ok when we ate there on our last full day there, but he was in a lot worse mood the next day when we returned because it was one of the few places we could use our poker points for comps. Yes we may have won 5k between us the previous night in the team event but goddammit we're poker players and spending our comps is always a priority. His verdict this time: <i>“I wouldn’t feed this to my dog”</i>. All the more damning given the fact he doesn’t even have a dog, and never has as far as I know. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">PGA Grill House (airport)</h3><p>By the time we got to the airport Lappin was in as bad a mood as I’ve ever seen. It didn’t improve when he was told he’d have to join a slow moving British Airways bag drop line which he was pointing out to BA staff is an oxymoron as I abandoned him to go with the already checked in Jack Hardcastle. </p><p>Jack and I ended up here mostly due to a bewildering lack of alternatives in Terminal 3. No idea what the food is like as we stuck to the beer, regaled by Lappin telling us about the revolution he had fostered in the bag drop line when he eventually showed up.</p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-72712741248509432262022-11-29T18:15:00.006+00:002022-11-29T18:16:17.093+00:00Tools of the trade<p> One of the most frequent questions I get asked is how to get better at poker and what tools I use to study/would recommend. Here they are in order of how much I use them myself and recommend them to my students:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. <a href="https://gtowizard.com/p/slowdoke">GTOWizard</a></p><p>This is a one stop shop for preflop ranges (both normal and ICM) and post flop solves of thousands of different spots. It’s constantly being added to and comes with its own trainer. Barry and I made <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFNjnKJfP9A">this video</a> on the particularly powerful Aggregate Reports feature. I wasn’t that impressed with this tool when I first saw it over a year ago and used the more expensive Odin instead. However it’s come on in leaps and bounds and is now the main tool I recommend to students (and use myself). </p><p>If you do want to give it a try if you sign up using <a href="https://gtowizard.com/p/slowdoke" target="_blank">this link</a> you get a 10% discount. </p><p>2. <a href=" https://www.dto.poker " target="_blank">DTO</a></p><p>The original and still the GOAT training app, DTO is perfect for drilling yourself in any spot that gives you trouble on your phone, iPad or computer when you have a few minutes to spare. If you want to purchase, go to <a href="https://www.dto.poker">https://www.dto.poker</a> and use code CHIPRACE for 20% off.</p><p>3. <a href="https://www.holdemresources.net/" target="_blank">Holdem Resources Calculator </a></p><p>Perfect for analysing preflop spots particularly when ICM and/or bounties are a factor. You can enter any stack sizes, payouts etc and it does the rest to answer the question “what hands should I play/shove/call a shove with in this specific spot?”</p><p>ICMiser has the same functionality and is also very good I’m reliably informed (I’ve only ever used HRC and go on doing so primarily because of habit/familiarity). </p><p>4. <a href="https://www.pokersnowie.com/" target="_blank">PokerSnowie</a></p><p>An AI tool rather than a solver, this means it has suffered a little from the scoffs of GTO snobs that “it’s not GTO” (strictly speaking, neither are any of the other solvers perfect GTO). It also means it’s gotten stronger and closer to GTO over time, and it can give you a reasonable answer to any poker spot, no matter how weird or multi-way. It also has a very useful mass import function which can be used to quickly identify leaks in your game. It has its own trainer function. This list is aimed at the type of person who has an hour or two to devote to study, but if you only have a few minutes a day I’d move this one to the top of the list (along with DTO). <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good">Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good</a>, as the old Italian proverb says. </p><p>5. <a href="https://www.piosolver.com/">PIOSolver</a></p><p>If I was writing this list even a year ago this would have been on top. I still love PIO, it’s still the gold standard when it comes to running your own solves but the reality is with the newer tools out there there’s a lot less reason to run your own bespoke solves. What takes 20 minutes to set up and a few hours to run in PIO can often be located in a few seconds in something like GTOWizard. If you want to delve deeper and run your own node locked solves though you still need PIO. Or if you think you’re up against very different ranges from GTO ones. </p><br /><p></p><p>6. <a href="https://www.pokertracker.com/" target="_blank">PokerTracker </a></p><p>If I was writing this a decade ago this would have not only been top of the list, it might have been the entire list. Back then most of my edge came from being to quickly analyse statistical data in real time to identify likely leaks specific opponents had, and work out how best to exploit them. That was online poker back then: most of the weaker player had massive egregious leaks that could be quickly identified if you watched them for a while, or with the help of PokerTracker or other HUDs if you were playing too many tables to pay attention to specific opponents. </p><p>Since then a couple of things happened. Firstly, a misguided belief that HUDs were cheating took hold in enough recreational minds that sites started to ban them. In reality the only thing they did was allow pros to more tables simultaneously, which believe it or not was actually a good thing not just for the sites collecting rake on each one but also for recreationals as it meant they were competing against pros only able to give their table 1/24th of their attention (or whatever number of tables they were playing). The disappearance of the HUDs (or more precisely them being driven underground) on most sites had some unintended consequences. Not only did it reduce the number of tables pros could play simultaneously (with a knock on effect on prize pools and the overall online ecosystem, something the industry tried to compensate for by allowing reentries, another thing which is way worse for the recreational bottom line and deposit lifecycle than HUDs ever were) but it accelerated the drive to GTO and solver learning. Recreationals with egregious leaks lost their money faster than ever unless they hit the lab themselves. Those that did stuck around, those that didn’t drifted away, and overall standards rose to where they are now. Of course the better players still have an edge over the weaker ones, but there’s been a general convergence in playing styles and you just don’t see as many total outlier playing styles any more. These days the talk of the town is less specific opponent tendencies and exploits and more “population reads”. </p><p>All that said, HUDs have not disappeared completely. Some sites like Stars and ACR still allow them, and even if they are less useful as playing aids these days because of the ecosystem changes outlined above, they can play a vital role in the general improve your game drive we are all on. These days they’re used more to try to identify and fix our own leaks than to exploit specific opponents, and also to help identify population tendencies. </p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The book</h4><p>If you follow me at all you can’t help but have noticed that my fourth book with Barry Carter, <a href="https://amzn.to/3ihMPwd" target="_blank">“GTO Poker Simplified”</a>, is finally out. I gave the full pitch in my <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2022/11/16/vso-news-dara-okearney-launches-new-book-gto-poker-simplified/" target="_blank">VegasSlotsOnline </a>piece so I don’t repeat it here. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzuc2HHwSVWC-k6ul523fOMXMe4f4K9eScDbI97AynlN00P9VQtyDxOoz-_F4VEBMJKR_MVyXyd6X9tSRd1J0VyIZ0MTI6_YRzGDtdOHDx1GKuqDdj2JZwbCS-28uoHID56pDe2EzYPDvRL1BwLkxpWZGtupcbuMWdlBsGdGfRNlG_lxol-pi0ePw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzuc2HHwSVWC-k6ul523fOMXMe4f4K9eScDbI97AynlN00P9VQtyDxOoz-_F4VEBMJKR_MVyXyd6X9tSRd1J0VyIZ0MTI6_YRzGDtdOHDx1GKuqDdj2JZwbCS-28uoHID56pDe2EzYPDvRL1BwLkxpWZGtupcbuMWdlBsGdGfRNlG_lxol-pi0ePw" width="160" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Instead I’ll just say that I have four books out people have started asking me what’s the best order to read them in. It’s an interesting question and here’s my suggested order:<p></p><p>(1) <a href="https://amzn.to/3ihMPwd" target="_blank">“GTO Poker Simplified”</a>. This is the most general of the four books and the only one that applies across the board to whatever type of poker you play. Most of the examples are from NLH tournaments but the principles apply across the board to any form of poker</p><p>(2) <a href="https://amzn.to/3EKH0Pn" target="_blank">“Endgame Poker Strategy: The ICM Book”</a>. Only if you’re a tournament player. If you are then everything in this book not only applies to you but learning ICM is the single biggest thing you can learn to improve your profitability </p><p>(3) <a href="https://amzn.to/3VzYi8B" target="_blank">“Poker Satellite Strategy”</a>. I would say only if you play satellites but a few players have told me that the general ICM principles in this book helped them enormously even in normal MTTs. This is the only one of our books available as an audiobook (currently free at <a href="https://amzn.to/3GQVu2Z" target="_blank">Amazon.co.uk</a> at time of writing)</p><p>(4) <a href="https://amzn.to/3FbzMW1" target="_blank">“PKO Poker Strategy”</a> but only if you play knockout tournaments. <br /></p><p>The latest book is off to a quick start both in terms of sales and reception from readers. The early reviews are all amazing and if you do enjoy the book enough to want to help myself and Barry out, the best thing you can do for us is to leave a review of why you liked it at Amazon or wherever you bought it. As self publishers we rely entirely on reviews like this and word of mouth in general to sell enough copies to make it worth our time writing books. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Faraz Jaka coaching</h4><p>I'm pleased to announce I've joined<a href="https://Jaka.Poker/Dara" target="_blank"> Fara Jaka's training site</a> as a guest coach. I've already done some webinars on ICM and mystery bounties which you can access replays if you sign up. I'm often asked if I'll ever join the Twitch streets and I always answer no as it seems too time consuming, but for those who really want to watch me play a session in real time and explain my thought process I'll be doing one of these every few months on the site, the first of which is scheduled for December 7th.</p><p>If you sign up through <a href="https://Jaka.Poker/Dara">this link</a> and use the code <a href="https://Jaka.Poker/Dara15" target="_blank">Dara15</a>, you get a 15% discount!</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The rest of the year</h4><p>I have quite a bit of live poker scheduled in December including a couple of Irish poker tour stops, a trip to the Macau in Cork at the end of the week, and biggest of all the massive $15 million guaranteed WPT in the Wynn in Vegas. David and I fly over the 11th and arrive back the 22nd. Quite a few Irish have already satellited in online so it should be a great event.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBnP0UmRkHSZPbWalbkpIvxyu5ud8sk_Xertv91OCQs-4kJr3LwNQV5PXUehGklKLv6AjlvkNVkt4O7L7K4xBS-y7_QnEZcP_TcMMXqHCk_0cCgDYZk5EklRwga7zZdo1scOosaiyM6DBORRTOmQIC1miuT_SLeiQY_slyMIUqlGMYPWjTeo3MwXA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="1078" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBnP0UmRkHSZPbWalbkpIvxyu5ud8sk_Xertv91OCQs-4kJr3LwNQV5PXUehGklKLv6AjlvkNVkt4O7L7K4xBS-y7_QnEZcP_TcMMXqHCk_0cCgDYZk5EklRwga7zZdo1scOosaiyM6DBORRTOmQIC1miuT_SLeiQY_slyMIUqlGMYPWjTeo3MwXA" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><div><br /></div>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-4201819259114702152022-09-19T03:20:00.002+01:002022-09-19T05:54:13.673+01:00Life is good: the Jan Suchanek story<h4 style="text-align: left;">Perpetual Czech </h4><p>I first heard or rather saw the name Jan Suchanek when I was in Melbourne at the Aussie Millions. It was at the peak of the "blog wars" which had started when Lappin and I had written answer blogs to a blog by a prominent pro who was castigating certain types of players as a cancer on the game. Our blogs went viral which meant I woke up every day to hundreds of Twitter notifications from people weighing in on the subject. In this sea of opinions, one name started to emerge as the most articulate and well informed. I imagined him as a fiery young online kid from eastern Europe who had no time for the old guard's insistence that their cartoon book personality type was the only one acceptable in modern poker.</p><p>When he slipped into my DMs I agreed happily to meet him at a break. I got there first, and eyed the crowds milling out for this guy who called himself PerpetualCzech on Twitter. When a tall guy about my age in a sports top appeared, I dismissed him as a candidate. He must have similarly dismissed me too, because he circled the area a few times before tentatively asking "You're not Dara, are you?"</p><p>Introductions out of the way, he launched into a tirade against the pro whose blog we had responded to, based on several encounters at tables in Vegas where he quickly formed the impression said pro was an entitled narcissistic bully hiding behind a facade of bonhomie. I quickly discovered that Jan was none of the things the leading pro was castigating: he was certainly no introvert, and he was most certainly no nit. What he was was someone who appreciated diversity and personalities of all sorts, who realised that the best thing about poker is that people are different, and any attempt to bully them into conforming to your own norms of personality is not only doomed to fail but fundamentally wrongheaded. Above all, he detested bullies and liars.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpkb1JFN6C1CmBFOzes-uabXPQDdl-2HkhPbxlvUubvUgq9Dwt8mkZAc6wnoQo8pfvQadyQuCAEjgN7_NC6w1yF0Ah4S0lk0-MRQPRp7miFa7ZyRvb2dn1qAaoIunHNL8KlBAQTyo1VUlhV6AxneXjwgdoYcy9vM8xqrci_Aa5Wc7u3jA8QK2Iu3o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpkb1JFN6C1CmBFOzes-uabXPQDdl-2HkhPbxlvUubvUgq9Dwt8mkZAc6wnoQo8pfvQadyQuCAEjgN7_NC6w1yF0Ah4S0lk0-MRQPRp7miFa7ZyRvb2dn1qAaoIunHNL8KlBAQTyo1VUlhV6AxneXjwgdoYcy9vM8xqrci_Aa5Wc7u3jA8QK2Iu3o" width="271" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>We bonded instantly and that day started an online friendship that meant that for the next three and a half years, we exchanged dozens, sometimes hundreds, of Whatsapp and Twitter messages every single day. Most of my days since then have started and ended with me reading and responding to a message from him. He lived in New Zealand so his morning was my night and vice versa, which added an interesting dynamic to the ebb and flow of our conversations and our tendency to take opposite sides on almost everything. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The background story</h4><p>Jan was born in Prague in the mid 60s. By his own account, he wasn't much more than a babe in arms when the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring" target="_blank">Prague Spring</a> happened. As the rest of Prague celebrated the liberal reforms, Jan's shrewd cookie of a mother looked eastward to Russia and decided "They won't let this stand". So she looked westward to Canada, decamping the family to Toronto (where Jan grew up) just in time before the tanks rolled into Prague. He described himself as a lanky awkward outsider who didn't feel he fitted in anywhere.</p><p>After high school, Jan studied economics in university and joined the workforce. He quickly realised the 9 to 5 answering to a boss life wasn't for him. He returned to Prague and drifted into sports betting. An intelligent out of the box thinker, he quickly found some specific exploits he could use in the early days of sports betting there. A master networker, he assembled what he called "brighter minds than mine" around him as he built his empire.</p><p>After meeting the love of his life Tatjana he relocated to New Zealand. In Melbourne, he invited me and Mrs Doke to his superbowl party in his hotel suite. Mrs Doke wasn't keen on the idea, having little interest in poker or poker players and even less in NFL, but grudgingly agreed to 15 minutes. When we got to the penthouse suite, she started to bristle a little, expecting some baller show off poker player determined to demonstrate how successful he was. Jan was more than ready though: he instantly charmed her with his self effacing manner, and wooed her with the finest wines known to humanity. As he fussed and fawned making sure everything was to her satisfaction, she whispered to me </p><p><i><br />"Is this really the rich betting guy, or is it his servant?" </i></p><p>When I told her the 15 minutes were up, she looked down at her Veuve Cliquot and caviar before scowling at me insistently</p><p><i>"We are staying!"</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzq0SyIYVPGK112zdJNGr296ZxcagMtfHdg5Ed-TjF4oGRREK3sdh9NGE4bJli7R4LsZtwiaAbJ0JVdh35KJA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I gather Jan had more money riding on that game than most people make in a lifetime, and I gather it wasn't going well, but it didn't seem to bother him. His main concern was that all his guests were kept topped up and happy as he buzzed around, the consummate host. He endeared himself to Mrs Doke to the point that her first response to every proposed meal or drink thereafter was </p><p><i>"Is Jan coming?"</i></p><p>Jan was so unassuming in both his attire and manner that most people would never have guessed how successful he was. At the first dinner he came along to, he insisted on picking up the bill. After he'd left, my brother in law castigated us for letting him pay.</p><p><i>"The poor man doesn't look like he could afford to pay for his own dinner let alone all of ours"</i></p><p>Meanwhile, Jan was on his way back to the highest stakes cash game he could find. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The player</h4><p>Always modest by nature, Jan described himself as a whale who splashed around with the proceeds of his sports betting. When I said to a pro I knew in the high stakes games I knew one of the whales, he asked me which one. When I identified Jan, he quickly informed me</p><p><i>"That man is no whale. He's winning in those games"</i></p><p>He expressed similar "I'm a donk" sentiments when it came to tournaments. He took great delight in bragging about hands he'd punted, or tournaments he'd busted before the first break. What he never mentioned was the fact he had cashed for more on his <a href="https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=50612" target="_blank">Hendon Mob</a> than me. He also never mentioned his 8 game Aussie Millions ring, or the fact that he'd been headsup for a bracelet against Bryn Kenney in a 10 game mix event, or that he'd once won three tournaments in a row, or that he chiplead the WSOP main event with 100 players left once before taking a horrendous beat with 50 left for all the chips. He took that beat like a champ and when I asked him about it he described the moment:</p><p><i>"I remember it vividly. It was surreal. I went to my rail as we waited for the river card, and everything slowed down, and I thought whatever happens I'm ok with it, it doesn't really matter. I almost wanted to get one outered, just to see what that would be like"</i></p><p>He had a high variance high pressure style that yes, made for a lot of early bustouts, but also yielded many top three finishes and victories. He played all the games, and he was equally at home in a 10k in Vegas and a 100 home game in New Zealand, where he loved to play.</p><h4>Fast friends</h4><p>After Melbourne we were friends for life. A natural contrarian, he loved to argue, and in me he found someone willing to indulge that side of him. We argued both sides of practically everything, not so much because we genuinely disagreed all that often but just to hold our views to the fire and see what stood up.</p><p>He became an instant fan of my blogs and the Chip Race. He was maybe our biggest fan, something which didn't stop him from criticising every single show we put out rigorously. He wanted his friends to shoot for the stars, aspire to the highest standards, but when they failed to meet them he was instantly forgiving.</p><p><i>"It'll be better next time"</i></p><p>He relished his Twitter spats and feuds, and that year we Chip Race boys gave him much to work with. When Jonathan Little branded us and our entire listenership as "low lifes", Jan insisted we lean into it, dubbing us "team low life".</p><p>I saw him next that summer in Vegas. He wandered around the WSOP looking like a homeless person scoffing hot dogs, the most unassuming high roller in the place. He introduced me to his friend Rob (just Rob) at the hot dog stand like he was just some guy he knew from home. After Rob left, he informed me that Rob (Campbell) was a crusher who was in the running for Player of the Year (he ended up winning, pipping the pro Jan loved to hate). Jan had that very male characteristic of insulting and criticising you to your face, then telling everyone how great you were behind your back.</p><p>One night he tagged along with us as we walked Jen Shahade back to the Palms after she bagged in the main. That night we saw a different side of him, as he was clearly a little starstruck and shy when we stayed for a drink with her. It turned out the reason for this was he was a much bigger chess fan. He loved intelligence in all its forms.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwEswnVfZ2GDD5MIYnpqZx1uvW_etoA48TKHTLaH8B0CzjOU93IdE7WQMj018sXMd3fb50LOK8HgHvM7jmMrw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p><br /></p><p>As we walked back to the Gold Coast, Jan who had decided he'd walked enough for one night ordered a limo. We insisted on walking, and as his limo passed us he opened the window, leaned out and screamed "low lifes" at us as the limo screeched by.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The pandemic</h4><p>After Vegas, he told me he wanted us to room together at WSOP Europe. He ended up having to cancel, and the planned reunion shifted to EPT Prague. He didn't make it to there either but assured me he'd be over for the Irish Open. And then the pandemic happened, and the Irish Open was the first casualty.</p><p>Above everything else, Jan hated being told what he could and couldn't do. Unsurprisingly given his back story, he had a lifetime distrust of institutions and government. His inner politics was conflicted between libertarianism and a belief that we should look after everyone in society. He was the most generous tipper I ever met. He self identified as a libertarian capitalist, but all his natural instincts trended socialist. </p><p>He was very perturbed by lock down. His distrust of authority led him into vax hesitancy, which became the main focus of our arguments. In this I had a very selfish agenda for once: I wanted to see Jan again at the WSOP, and knew he wouldn't be able to make the trip unless he got vaccinated. Ultimately though, I respected his decision as his body his choice.</p><p>Although it was frustrating not to see him in person, we facetimed and Zoomed constantly, a development accelerated by the fact that we became business partners in staking and some other stuff. We made plans to go visit him next January. When the restrictions in New Zealand were finally lifted, he was on almost the first plane out of there, embarking on a grand European tour that was supposed to culminate with a grand reunion at Unibet Malta in ten days. I was so giddy at the prospect of seeing him again I could barely contain myself on a recent <a href="https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxEFScaMsrDTfoqKBJjCO5rHjq_GVCWi5A" target="_blank">Lock In</a>.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The end</h4><p>At the start of this month I committed to a 7 day a week online grind for all the series going on. That didn't leave much time for much else, and when I went a whole 24 hours without messaging him he sent an enquiring message if everything was all right, pointing out this was our longest silence. A few days later he told me he was ill in bed with stomach problems. 16 tabling at the time, I told him to be careful, reminding him we were not young men any more. We chatted a bit about the forthcoming Polish translation of my books (he was keen we translate into Czech) and then he went silent again, save for one message on a group chat saying he was in hospital. I messaged asking for an update every day, but there was no reply.</p><p>By now, I was very concerned and managed to contact one of his friends back home in New Zealand. The response devastated me: Jan had passed away two days earlier in Belgrade. An obviously devastated Tatjana confirmed all the details when I managed to contact her. I was in shock: the thought that I'd never speak to him again left a giant Jan sized hole in my world.</p><p>There are optimists and there are pessimists, and then there was Jan who seemed to fuse both together into a very personal stoicism that no matter what happened, it was fine. His most repeated phrase was "Life is good". He used it as an affirmation when something good happened, a counterpoint when something bad happened, a general philosophy, and an admonishment against self pity. His favourite song was Monty Python's "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life". He sent me videos of him singing it gleefully with his son.</p><p>Once in the furnace of our arguments on COVID and lockdowns, he attempted to explain what he saw as the root cause of our differences. He said that public policy viewed death as the worst thing that can happen, but he did not. He went on to explain </p><p><i>"I've already lived longer than the average person born 100 years ago. I've outlived my father and his father. I view each birthday as a victory. </i></p><p><i>I love life too! But I don't view death as a negative. I just view it as neutral".</i></p><p>This seemed to encapsulate Jan's philosophy. He lived and loved to the full, but whatever happened, that was fine by him too. Whether that was getting one outered for the chiplead with 50 left in the WSOP main, or death, it didn't matter. Life is good.</p><p>Given that he didn't fear death or even see it as a negative, we shouldn't feel sorry for him. He lived his life on his own terms, admired and beloved by all who knew him well. He enriched the lives of everyone he cared for, and they were many. But even if I don't feel sorry for Jan (and his passing was mercifully quick and painless), I do feel sorry for myself, and everyone who knew him, because I and we have to spend the rest of our lives missing him. </p><p><br /></p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-10195846777771472132022-09-11T04:13:00.002+01:002022-09-11T04:13:30.113+01:00Overdue catchup<p> This blog started out as a Dear Diary I assumed nobody was reading. These days it seems to be going back to that, as the vast majority of my written content appears elsewhere at sites like <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/" target="_blank">VegasSlotsOnline</a>, <a href="https://www.pokerstrategy.com/" target="_blank">PokerStrategy </a>or <a href="https://www.cardschat.com/" target="_blank">Cardschat</a>. However, I'm not giving up completely on my own blog, so for now I'll use it for stuff like life updates that don't belong elsewhere.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">No rest for the wacked</h4><p>I've been extremely busy since Vegas and Barcelona. September is peak time online with all the series going on so I'm trying to get in as much volume before I head to Malta on the September 26 for the first live <a href="https://www.unibetopen.com/event/unibet-open-announces-return-to-malta/" target="_blank">Unibet Open</a> in over 2 years, after which I'll stay on for the Battle of Malta. After a week at home I head to London for the UKIPT, then it's back to Dublin for the <a href="https://internationalpokeropen.ie/" target="_blank">IPO</a>.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The fourth book</h4><p>Barry and I have been working flat out to complete our fourth strategy book together. We have settled on a title that miraculously doesn't include the words "poker strategy", "GTO Poker Simplified". It's aimed primarily at recreational players who want GTO poker explained in concrete terms to them. There are already some excellent book out there on game theory and poker, most notably <a href="https://amzn.to/3RTKIv7" target="_blank">"Modern Poker Theory"</a> by Michael Acevedo, and <a href="https://amzn.to/3RFazXV">"Play Optimal Poker"</a> (parts 1 <a href="https://amzn.to/3L8cHFk">and 2</a>) by Andrew Brokos, so you might very well ask why we felt another one was needed.</p><p>The answer is that I have frequently recommended both books to students of mine who want to get a good grounding in GTO principles, but more often than not recreationals have come back with lots of questions, The goal of our book therefore is to answer those questions and more so as to provide readers with a good enough understanding of the topic that they'll then benefit greatly from reading Acevedo and Brokos.</p><p>Anyway, the book has now gone out to selected alpha readers for final feedback, and Saron is designing the cover. Once we get the feedback and decide what changes to make, the book will go for final edit. We are hoping to have it available on <a href="https://amzn.to/3BxgIzZ" target="_blank">Amazon </a>and the other usual places by November (December at the latest).</p><p>Barry tweeted looking for suggestions for the cover image and we got some interesting ones and some "interesting" ones. In the latter category, we definitely won't be using this one from MoreTBC.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjB6iQA0MeLUlfIr7iUyh3b1cuEV_iL_JYls2Qz-rBk2A6QwTTrb6Zc00qaWga242e4q6D2pYUYnw7QiS4gZFYQJcJrH17Zys9leHfGA8x1S12K5h36dSCfQ0ZpNrdETGbUJHlfDH7xc6TiLSJDGWOy0PbtKpjjQUP6de4TOAoEa0I1teubAA8NpMY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjB6iQA0MeLUlfIr7iUyh3b1cuEV_iL_JYls2Qz-rBk2A6QwTTrb6Zc00qaWga242e4q6D2pYUYnw7QiS4gZFYQJcJrH17Zys9leHfGA8x1S12K5h36dSCfQ0ZpNrdETGbUJHlfDH7xc6TiLSJDGWOy0PbtKpjjQUP6de4TOAoEa0I1teubAA8NpMY" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Irish Poker Tour</h4><p>I was greatly flattered and honoured recently to be appointed Live Strategy Coach for the hottest new grassroots tour, the <a href="https://irishpokertour.com/" target="_blank">Irish Poker Tour</a>. I had already attended a number of stops and been impressed by the turnout, the atmosphere and the new faces the tour is attracting.</p><p>My role there involves writing strategy pieces aimed primarily at beginners (the first one on <a href="https://irishpokertour.com/importance-of-position/" target="_blank">Position </a>is up already) and producing some video content.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Cardschat</h4><p>I am also delighted to announce I have signed a one year extension to my contract as an ambassador for Cardschat, the world's friendliest online poker forum. For those of you who don't know already, I regularly update my <a href="https://www.cardschat.com/forum/tournament-poker-59/dara-okearney-satellite-specialist-ask-me-425223/" target="_blank">Ask Me Anything thread</a> there.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Faraz Jaka coaching</h4><p>I've started doing strategy webinars for <a href="https://jakacoaching.com/" target="_blank">Faraz Jaka's training site</a>. So far I've done webinars on ICM, satellites, mystery bounties and multi-way pots. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Other apparitions</h4><p>Lappin and I are interviewed on the most recent episode of the excellent "Stealing The Blinds" <a href="https://anchor.fm/theblindstealingtheblinds/episodes/The-Chip-Racers-e1njgom?fbclid=IwAR1QbW72Y8CCK1OypIwslIMLQjQu47Uzq08DLRNFE2o4GnV5HBHnB6r55X4" target="_blank">podcast</a>. I also did a couple of recent interviews which aren't out yet, including one for the BBC World Service morning show.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">My own website!</h4><p>Finally shelled out for my own domain. To keep up to date with all my content and other stuff, visit <a href="http://www.daraokearney.com">www.daraokearney.com</a></p><p><br /></p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-72584069494638121592022-03-21T05:43:00.008+00:002022-03-21T05:47:11.199+00:00 EPT Prague<h4 style="text-align: left;">Bless me Father for I have shingles</h4><p>It’s been a while since my last blog. There’s a couple of reasons for that: first I had shingles, a disease I knew nothing about until I caught it. I started to feel poorly after a night out celebrating my oldest son’s birthday. Initially I shrugged it off as the after effects of too much alcohol. Then the following day I felt some pain in my back and shoulder so I did what I used to do as a runner when I felt twinges: I iced. After I finished my session I noticed my back where I’d iced was bright red. Thinking I must have iced for too long I shrugged it off as an ice burn until a couple of days later I noticed it had spread to parts I hadn’t iced. </p><p>Well let me tell you shingles is no fun at all. For the next two weeks I was pretty much good for nothing with zero energy, and the best way to describe the pain is it feels like ground up glass pushed into your skin. Pain doesn’t bother me much but with shingles there can be long term nerve pain which doesn’t sound fun at all, but thankfully mine cleared up completely. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Vegas Slots Online</h4><p>The second reason I haven’t blogged much in a while is I’ve started writing for Vegas Slots Online, following in Lappin’s footsteps. However, my focus is a bit different, as I’m happy to leave the new stories and opinion pieces to him. My initial vision for VSO articles is tales from the road and a general portrayal of what it’s actually like to be a poker pro these days.</p><p>That said I’m not giving up on this blog completely, so I’ll be updating it with more personal catch-up pieces like this one. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">It’s coming back, it’s coming back, live is coming back </h4><p>I opened my live campaign with a cash in the Irish Poker Tour Dublin stop. I followed that with a fun trip to Limerick for the Irish Poker Tour grand final. Next up was the trip to Prague for the EPT. The one sentence summary of my trip is 2 cashes, one mystery bounty, a Lock In, and the chance to catch up with a lot of great people I hadn’t seen in two years. </p><p>The Lock In we did in Prague was our third live one. So far they’ve been very well received so we are definitely doing another at the Irish Open, and maybe one in Tallinn.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="394" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gb76h54hWTM" width="474" youtube-src-id="gb76h54hWTM"></iframe></div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">To be or not to be: that is the question</h4><p>I wrote a largely positive review of <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2022/03/17/dara-okearney-ept-prague-my-verdict/" target="_blank">the event for VegasSlotsOnline</a> with a few minor constructive criticisms about things that could be done better next time. Or so I thought: until a Stars employee unexpectedly went to the trouble of setting up a new Twitter account to have an incognito pop. The drama didn’t last long: an official response from Stars made it clear the feedback was gratefully received and the “anonymous” account disappeared back when it came from.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg47aBifRfwqIYHesMC4fGEewQChe9rPS3rg6uR6F9INb4dldv0wGlQnVsII0rPBSknVAxc-yW0NChtv7yefVsW09Hdu1BVTdGk-ixfprJNKl8czPlWr9qSMfamyG4T7SXbGRij7tk_Oh4j8zWfCiWJgBGL7SGcqY72bRAIYS5HTGsmaxDb8LzD_6c" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="302" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg47aBifRfwqIYHesMC4fGEewQChe9rPS3rg6uR6F9INb4dldv0wGlQnVsII0rPBSknVAxc-yW0NChtv7yefVsW09Hdu1BVTdGk-ixfprJNKl8czPlWr9qSMfamyG4T7SXbGRij7tk_Oh4j8zWfCiWJgBGL7SGcqY72bRAIYS5HTGsmaxDb8LzD_6c=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSE8R9cJUFv8wij3x5C9zLdokPcRy3I9PhYVzcg0kHKATcE-l6mfuvEej9_HQS7hTMVUIbnxQb_zxXnJxlmOzilZ8TXiR01e1_b-lfU8X0WCX7uGklO_o8U7DmulhNlSmL1V1lVHAFqFmjgqzDtX_EsCXEnP26ZiagsgBK1H3YIZ6sHi0iBgRsCXw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="302" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSE8R9cJUFv8wij3x5C9zLdokPcRy3I9PhYVzcg0kHKATcE-l6mfuvEej9_HQS7hTMVUIbnxQb_zxXnJxlmOzilZ8TXiR01e1_b-lfU8X0WCX7uGklO_o8U7DmulhNlSmL1V1lVHAFqFmjgqzDtX_EsCXEnP26ZiagsgBK1H3YIZ6sHi0iBgRsCXw=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhG1_Np69g7MezZ6_Aol_oqYtEMVC_mccoQyNwaIAFlcnutdCW0AFsFWTqrpdFULeIknnrTGiGiZ6_CtHDhBPabrCJYnmSgKOeEfMsKB86y9muQq53FO2m29Y_Vc7UrKtF62Zx41R0Gpj89hkqzGQ63cHrEuzlBVW2kZqZJDFZXv5DQpx7dL2UxklU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="302" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhG1_Np69g7MezZ6_Aol_oqYtEMVC_mccoQyNwaIAFlcnutdCW0AFsFWTqrpdFULeIknnrTGiGiZ6_CtHDhBPabrCJYnmSgKOeEfMsKB86y9muQq53FO2m29Y_Vc7UrKtF62Zx41R0Gpj89hkqzGQ63cHrEuzlBVW2kZqZJDFZXv5DQpx7dL2UxklU=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><p></p><p>Next up for me is another Stars event, the Mammoth, here in Dublin next weekend. After that I’ll be commentating on the final day of the French Poker Championships in Rozvadov, before the Norwegians and Irish Open in Citywest. As I mentioned above David and I may be making a short trip to Tallinn for the Patrik Antonius Poker Challenge. Then it’s straight into APAT and the Dublin Poker Festival, maybe a rumoured UKIPT Dublin, and then it’s time to head to the WSOP, so the next few months are mostly going to be about live poker. </p><p>It definitely felt good to be back in the groove in Prague. But not as good as it felt to be back in peak physical shape after my illness. During that I felt every day of my age and wondered if I’d be able to handle the travel, long days and stress of live trips, but in Prague I was the one suggesting to David and Daragh that we go for long walks, and laughing as David almost respired up a lung on the climb up to Prague castle. When I reminded him I’m 15 years older he snapped </p><p><i>“You need to stop comparing us to you on this stuff: we are always going to be a disappointment to you”.</i></p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-63239263983455077002022-01-19T04:37:00.006+00:002022-01-19T04:41:11.862+00:00 What’s another year?<p>On a recent <a href="https://youtu.be/HuIP4F3dBGc" target="_blank">Lock In</a>, Lappin and I joked that this isn’t a new year, it’s the 25th month of 2020. The pandemic has warped all our senses of time, but let’s pretend years are still a thing and kick this one one off in the manner I have every year since I started playing poker: with a review of the year that’s just finished.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Live poker</h4><p>This was barely a thing in 2021, but I did manage to squeeze some in right at the end. I basically played just two festivals, the <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2021/11/an-eternity-of-blink.html" target="_blank">IPO </a>(where I came 27th in the main event that got 974 runners), and the WSOP. I had a good two weeks at the <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2022/01/my-2021-wsop-campaign.html" target="_blank">WSOP</a>, cashing four events and final tabling my last event, so I have reasons to be optimistic that my live game has come through the pandemic not just intact but perhaps stronger than ever. Tiny sample size obviously, but I do feel that those who continued to work hard on their games during lock down and put in volume online have opened up a skill gap on those who didn’t (and I obviously consider myself as one of those who kept working and grinding).</p><p>Which brings me to...</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Online</h4><p>As I noted in <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-year-everything-changed-and-nothing.html" target="_blank">last year’s roundup</a>, the start of the pandemic felt like a return to the glory days of online, as live players were forced back online for their poker fix. It was never going to last but it was glorious while it did. Over time many of the returning players drifted away again, until the sites realised that while it might not be possible to get them to play the Big 55 every night but they could be persuaded back for a big series. </p><p>Pros like myself also adjusted to this, going hard during series and catching up on other stuff in between. The glory days will probably never fully return. Ten years ago when my average nightly expectation was low four figures and playing poker was pretty much my only income generating gig, and it was possible to continue beating the game comfortably without having to really study, I was heavily incentivised to just play as much as possible. These days, my nightly expectation online is mid three figures, and I have many other income streams, and it’s necessary to study pretty hard to keep ahead of the game. I can’t just get away with playing every night, so I’ve moved to playing 4-5 days a week when I’m at home, and spending the other 2-3 days doing the other stuff I do, and studying. </p><p>Other stuff such as....</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Writing</h4><p>This year I published my third strategy book with Barry Carter, <a href="https://amzn.to/3GJeHkj" target="_blank">“Endgame Poker Strategy: the ICM book”</a>. Like the first two it topped the Amazon poker charts on both sides of the pond, which is very heartening, and so far has been very well received. Although not exactly a massive money spinner, I do enjoy writing with Barry a lot, and we are already well advanced on our fourth book. Additionally I’m working on two other books that might come out this year, one alone (non strategy), and one with Lappin (strategy). </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNTAH6XBiA5cQL66O-JV8p2Yzk_UVSo729YZ9k2e2FVkxbolRhAntGpjAI2PH9PrkjjDARMmcOY-cv1XGpClBr8_A8WMKqKuXJPE3TsuY6rNVRjor_vtyamLKIwi5mlgSoXQJIroaLLE/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="366" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNTAH6XBiA5cQL66O-JV8p2Yzk_UVSo729YZ9k2e2FVkxbolRhAntGpjAI2PH9PrkjjDARMmcOY-cv1XGpClBr8_A8WMKqKuXJPE3TsuY6rNVRjor_vtyamLKIwi5mlgSoXQJIroaLLE/" width="293" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>I also wrote quite a few strategy articles this year for sites like PokerStrategy and PokerNews, as well as for my own <a href="https://blogspot.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=bee319dc619266261ab667e86&id=69219cf7ba" target="_blank">free strategy newsletter</a>. I was less active on the blog front although I did write a few for GambleOnline in addition to those I published here. One of the reasons for this was no live poker: as it returns more fully I expect to have more to blog about. </p><p>With writing taking up more and more of my time it’s meant having to cut back in some areas, such as...</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Coaching</h4><p>I think I’ve always been something of a reluctant coach. I only started it because as part of the staking group I founded (The Firm) I was expected to do some, but I always felt the other lads were just better at it. However, the advent of the solvers changed that to some extent, as I was an early adapter and felt I was better at using and interpreting them than most. Nevertheless I’ve never gone out of the way to attract students: I don’t really advertise my coaching services. I don’t take on everyone who comes to me for coaching. When I do, I try to get my students self sufficient as quickly as possible (unless they really don’t want to). However, over time I have started to enjoy coaching a lot more, and 2021 was a particularly satisfying year with big results for several of my students that I felt I contributed to. I’m really not sure how much I’ll do in 2022: there’s no real plan on the front.</p><p>Unlike...</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Podcasts </h4><p>Something I (and David) do put a lot of time and planning into is our podcasts, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/thechiprace" target="_blank">The Chip Race</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmCSXyQx1K2kaVfUPujESQ" target="_blank">The Lock In</a>. At time of writing, we have just been nominated for another GPI award, which is very heartening. Thank you to everyone who voted for us.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzQ-igpkQzFRqFVKZWH8vShSIidcbsHCGTwaTy-jFaHNELZ7E2T864IQhWBt3Tb-z37nVKKdqhxdA8YDVUBCwl6S1jr4POkX9TljZduuH4auEw-yKeotM4331AWOFAy3Wi3YIGfjs4l2s/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1500" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzQ-igpkQzFRqFVKZWH8vShSIidcbsHCGTwaTy-jFaHNELZ7E2T864IQhWBt3Tb-z37nVKKdqhxdA8YDVUBCwl6S1jr4POkX9TljZduuH4auEw-yKeotM4331AWOFAy3Wi3YIGfjs4l2s/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>Last year our audience continued to grow and globalise, and we hope to continue that this year. I also appeared as a guest on a lot of other pods: I particularly enjoyed my appearances on Thinking Poker, The Grid, Cardschat, RecPoker, People Who Read People and Chasing Poker Greatness.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Other content</h4><p>Barry and I produced a <a href="https://www.learnpropoker.com/dara-okearney-satellite-masterclass" target="_blank">Satellite Masterclass</a> for LearnProPoker ($20 off if you use the code DOKE) and are collaborating with Ryan on an ICM series. </p><p>I appeared in the GPI nominated Finnish documentary series <a href="https://youtu.be/5mYfOUv4f3E" target="_blank">“Last Call”</a>. I absolutely love this series and am very flattered and proud to have been involved. </p><p>I also did a couple of Twitch streams with my buddy Kevin Martin, and Unibet streamers Ian Simpson and Emily Glancy, and one with Conor O’Driscoll. Additionally Barry, Lappin and I did some strategy videos together that appeared on either the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmCSXyQx1K2kaVfUPujESQ" target="_blank">Chip Race channel</a> on YouTube or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/BarryRichardCarter" target="_blank">Barry’s own channel</a>. </p><p>I also did some commentary at the IPO this year, and have been hired to commentate alongside Fintan Gavin at the forthcoming WSOP Circuit main event in Rozvadov. Commentary is something I do enjoy a lot and hopefully I’ll get to do some more in 2022. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Plans for 2022</h4><p>Hopefully I’m not jinxing it, but I expect to play a lot more live poker this year as things hopefully start to return to normal. I generally plan in six months chunks, and the plan for the first part of the year include the IPT Grand Final in Limerick in February, EPT Prague in March, the Norwegians and Irish Open in April, and the WSOP in May. </p><p>One thing I want to prioritise much more next year is my own study. I did better on this front last year than in previous years. And I feel it really improved my game, so I’m keen to redouble my efforts on that front in 2022.</p><p>Finally, to sum up, I’m very excited at the prospect of the year ahead, and hope you all are too! Hope to see each and every one of you at some point in 2022.</p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-36878925724488417672022-01-05T04:37:00.003+00:002022-01-05T04:37:53.737+00:00My 2021 WSOP campaign<h4 style="text-align: left;">Vegas blogs</h4><p>I realise I didn't write a blog covering my Vegas career here, for the simple reason that I wrote three from GambleOnline and also covered mot of the stories of my Vegas this year in various podcasts.</p><p>For posterity though, I'm going to do an umbrella blog bringing them all under one roof:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>My <a href="https://www.gambleonline.co/blog/fading-las-vegas-dara-okearney/" target="_blank">first GambleOnline blog</a> on Vegas covered my latest WSOP final table and some general WSOP thoughts</li><li>My <a href="https://www.gambleonline.co/blog/okearney-on-wsop-rulings-2021/" target="_blank">second one</a> went into details on the two most surprising rulings I was on the receiving end of in Vegas</li><li>My <a href="https://www.gambleonline.co/blog/ghosts-of-the-rio-dara-okearney/" target="_blank">third and final blog </a>covered my latest WSOP final table and some final thoughts on the Rio as the WSOP moves on from there to Bally's and Paris next year.</li></ul><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Lock In episodes</h4><p>We recorded a couple of Lock In Vegas special episodes:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://youtu.be/9986j_ABQw8" target="_blank">The first</a> was recorded both just before and just after our trip over to Vegas</li><li><a href="https://youtu.be/grXZbW7aX6M" target="_blank">The second</a> was recorded at the end of the series and covered the biggest stories and we broke down the two biggest hands from the main event final table</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho0zmoAX4efZ9mbYpf9KeT4oYWdk1DfsDG8zUchHlLawjyiiPYZr-MYssso_KmbkhtQ1GWSOxUVdbGTJvuTCbzw1LYxAkXN2iiYib-Khbd5Xoo5WnxvoTRhAVi1t7CbR3KBIwPNiWVi7s/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="480" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho0zmoAX4efZ9mbYpf9KeT4oYWdk1DfsDG8zUchHlLawjyiiPYZr-MYssso_KmbkhtQ1GWSOxUVdbGTJvuTCbzw1LYxAkXN2iiYib-Khbd5Xoo5WnxvoTRhAVi1t7CbR3KBIwPNiWVi7s/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Other podcasts</h4><p></p><p>I also recorded a couple of other podcasts:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/bz/podcast/november-12-2021-endgame-poker-strategy-with-doke/id398635015?i=1000541613995" target="_blank">Tournament Poker Edge</a> with Clayton Fletcher</li><li><a href="https://thepokergrid.com/2021/11/10/the-grid-059-ft-dara-o-kearney-king-six-suited/" target="_blank">The Grid</a> with Jennifer Shahade (recorded before Vegas but came out during)</li></ul><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Finnish Poker documentary</h4><p>I was honoured to be included in the wonderful Finnish poker documentary series "Last Call". <a href="https://youtu.be/5mYfOUv4f3E" target="_blank">My episode</a> has just been released (it was recorded just before Vegas) and in it I give my general advice and approach for tournaments.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-20934578324479216862021-11-03T03:31:00.010+00:002021-12-10T01:16:12.793+00:00 An eternity of a blink<p>As I walked into the Bonnington for my first live tournament in 20 months, my mind flashed back to February of last year when the <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2020/03/corona-streets.html" target="_blank">Unibet Open</a> followed the European Deepstack. The pandemic has messed the very fabric of time for all of us, and it simultaneously felt like the blink of an eye and a lifetime separated me from that event where we talked about the looming threat of COVID-19 and what it would mean. Looking back it’s clearly there was a lot of COVID in the room (lead commentator Henry Kilbane went down with it, but he was clearly the top of an iceberg that took a couple of weeks to reveal itself). It’s also fair to say most people including myself greatly underestimated what the effect would be. Most people scoffed when it was suggested the WSOP might not go ahead that summer. I’m pretty sure nobody in the room could have imagined that not only would that come to pass, but that it also wouldn’t happen the following summer, and that it would be 20 months before the next live event in Ireland. </p><p>When we did all meet up again, we were wearing masks and sanitising our hands frequently (kudos to the organisers for the ingenious idea of using sanitizer bottles as buttons, encouraging us all to sanitize once an orbit). Nevertheless everyone seemed to be thrilled to be back, and the general atmosphere was one of the friendliest I’ve ever witnessed. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Online day 1</h3><p>I’d played the online day 1 and made it through as the shortest stack (2.5x starting stack). I was surprised by the number of people who asked if I’d fire again because I was “short”, or didn’t ask but just assumed I would. I’ll never see the “logic” of forking out another buyin when I’ve already got over 2.5 in equity. Best case scenario I bust the second bullet. That’s not a typo or a brain fart. If I bust the second bullet I’ve only blown a buyin in equity, whereas if I get through with more and have to surrender my first stack, I’ve lit over 2.5 buyins in equity on fire. Not to mention the negative hourly on the time wasted on the second bullet.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Super High Roller</h3><p>Having made day 2 that freed me up to play side events until day 2 on Sunday. First up was the 1k “Super High Roller” which attracted 63 runners. I had a good day one getting up to 2.5x starting stack at a tough table that featured Max Silver, Seamus Cahill and Johnny McCullagh. I lost a few standard all ins against shorties to end the day back at starting stack, and bust early on day 2. My bust out came on the feature table: Craig Burke opened in the hijack, a shortie shoved for 5 bigs in the cutoff, and I find black aces in the small blind with 18 bbs. I decided to flat for a couple of reasons: I wanted the full double from Craig, and I have some hands that want to flat the shorty shove but will fold if Craig shoves. He didn’t, electing instead to flat. </p><p>The flop wasn’t exactly what my black aces were hoping for: KQ4 all hearts. With an SPR of one though I’m never folding so the only decision is how to get the rest in. I elected to bet another 5 bbs to give Craig room to get worse hands in. He shoved a not worse hand: a set of 4s. A queen on the turn gave me a couple of additional outs but it wasn’t to be.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Recovery runs</h3><p>I recently coached Daniel Dvoress to his first ultra race, a 50 mile adventure race in the wilds of Canada. When David asked him on <a href="https://soundcloud.com/thechiprace/season-16-episode-2-david-peters-sven-mcdermott-daniel-dvoress" target="_blank">the Chip Race</a> what surprised him most about the training, he replied the amount of filler recovery runs. Most people’s intuition on how to train for a long distance race is to just try to run hard and long every day. It turns out that not only is this not good, it’s very very bad. The proper way to train is to focus on either speed or distance in your hard runs, and to recover from them with an easy run the following day. You should either be training at high intensity, or recovering at low intensity. The in between zone, where you’ll invariably end up if you just try to run hard every day, achieves nothing in practise. It’s not hard enough to improve you, or easy enough to help your body recover from a hard run. It’s a bit like only ever betting 10% of pot. What’s the point?</p><p>I also advised Espen “Shawshank” Sorlie who was training for a 10 km prop bet (he won). Training poker players is fun so if you are training for something athletic feel free to hit me up for advice. </p><p>Since I started balancing poker and running almost a decade and a half ago, I’ve tried different ways of combining them. After much trial and error I’ve decided :</p><p>(1) Long runs are a good way to basically reset and shrug off a major disappointment </p><p>(2) Short recovery runs are a good way to recover from minor disappointments like a live bust out </p><p>(3) High intensity speed training is a great way to get your body and mind hyper focused before a big tournament or session </p><p>So I went for a short recovery run around the pitches across the road from the hotel to clear my mind.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Commentary</h3><p>After a quick shower and change of clothes, I headed down to do some commentary with The Tower on the Super High Roller final table. It was one of the more fascinating FTs I’ve commentated on. Mark Buckley came in as chip leader, and anyone who knows Mark knows he’s guaranteed to drive the action in those circumstances. He didn’t have it all his own way with Martin Olali and the talented Gary T in particular fighting fire with fire and giving as good as they got. Ivan Tononi, probably the most technically adept and ICM aware player at the table, played a patient waiting game and eventually claimed the win in a style reminiscent of Martin Jacobson’s WSOP FT.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Book Signing</h3><p>Barry and I found time to do a book signing for qualifiers claiming a free copy of <a href="https://amzn.to/3jZaWh8" target="_blank">the book</a> as a bonus for qualifying for the main event on Unibet (and anyone else who wanted to buy a copy). I also took great pleasure watching Barry scurrying around to bring me books to sign while I was playing, and delivering them to other players.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="k4urcfbm bixrwtb6 datstx6m q9uorilb" src="https://scontent-dub4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/s403x403/251046867_413856877042777_7685241341183548533_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=aee45a&_nc_ohc=q78epRqcTXgAX9Y5pZq&_nc_ht=scontent-dub4-1.xx&oh=d3e5214932b4f13aae3f977ff982e4af&oe=61A734B6" /></p><p>Barry’s main role in the books has always been to act as a proxy for the readers: to ask the questions they would ask and to make me keep explaining my answers until they make sense to him (and by extension them). In recent times I’ve become concerned his skill level might be getting too high to fill this role. I needn’t have worried, based on what people who played with him reported to me. For example, Luckymo:</p><p><i>“Who is the English lad with The Chip Race patch, Doke?”</i></p><p><i>“That must be Barry, the guy I write the books with, Mo”</i></p><p><i>“Lovely guy. Really lovely”</i></p><p><i>“He’s not bad”</i></p><p><i>“Yeah. Really lovely guy. But....shite at poker!”</i></p><p><i>“Well...”</i></p><p><i>“Really really shite. Like</i><i> I thought he’d be good because of the patch. But he’s absolutely shite”</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfwMLXtuUHUnGeJcvsw0zPuC8YfpbHydBnHEsYmHmZ_Iv-9GI3GwfbKc0KhFT_wY3zTmNeoGjovlj6jvy_xee2T5J4SXXopjky9GLyPnFDSPE6WYJB5kfHswIFhGD0Giz6TJMh5mrowwxGvn0zGrVneRh4VcC5J5pjkscGwVecb-2A6LqisuG57HY=s1191" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="1191" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfwMLXtuUHUnGeJcvsw0zPuC8YfpbHydBnHEsYmHmZ_Iv-9GI3GwfbKc0KhFT_wY3zTmNeoGjovlj6jvy_xee2T5J4SXXopjky9GLyPnFDSPE6WYJB5kfHswIFhGD0Giz6TJMh5mrowwxGvn0zGrVneRh4VcC5J5pjkscGwVecb-2A6LqisuG57HY=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Day 2</h3><p>I started day 2 roughly half average, but not for long when my aces coolered queens and held. I kicked on from there through the bubble to be well above average with 50 left, but then I barely won another hand, ultimately busting in 27th. No particularly interesting hands. Overall I was happy that I still remembered how to play live poker.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">High Roller</h3><p>I max late regged this the following day. After an inauspicious start where I lost a third of my stack very first hand (and to add insult to injury the table immediately broke), I recovered to be well above average and looking good for another cash. A couple of lost all ins later I was short nearing the bubble, and my AJ losing to A8 finished me off. That just left the....</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Mini Main</h3><p>Another late reg saw me on a pretty sick table with Paul “uwannaloan” Delaney, Paul Carr, Keith Tuohy and Paddy Power streamer Tom Parsons. Paul Carr had been given a ticket for the seat Keith was in, so they had to switch. Keith was then immediately coolered, much to the amusement of Paul who realised he’d have been gone first hand but for the switch. Keith took it in good sport: he’s good craic to talk to.</p><p>One table move later I found myself at a new table featuring another man with an Irish Open final table, Dixie Dean, and a French lady with a glare almost as piercing as my own French lady. She made a good fold with aces when I turned a straight and she gave me the full glare down. </p><p>I played my most interesting hand of the weekend against Dixie. After a good young English guy raised under the gun, Dixie flatted in mid position (he was playing almost every hand) and I called in the big blind with 65 suited in clubs. The flop was J73 with two clubs, so I have a flush draw and gutter. After I checked, the opener cbet third pot, Dixie raised big, and it’s back to me. I had just over three times Dixie’s raise behind, so it seemed like a good spot to shove with lots of fold equity and equity when called. </p><p>The opener folded quickly, while Dixie went into the tank. He asked me if I had a set of threes (no comment), saying he was dead if I had. He went on probing, then switched tack saying he had a flush draw and I could have a worse one. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, so I just sat there while he ruminated. After counting out the call from his stack to see what he’d have left, and looking at the clock to determine he’d still be average if he did call and lose, he eventually called with AQ suited in clubs. He started celebrating the call when I sheepishly turned over my hand. His celebration was dampened when the turn was an eight making me open ended, and when I missed it on the river he took a while to realise the innocuous looking five made me a pair which beat his ace high.</p><p>I continued to chip up until the legend that is Mick McCloskey moved to the table to my immediate left. When he opened under the gun and it folded around to him, I joked that he never could resist the temptation to raise my blind before I looked at my cards. Black aces again, the hand of the weekend. I threebet, Mick shoved and groaned when he saw the aces. He tabled kings muttering to himself how unlucky he was. Cue the king high flop to general groans at the table, cut short by Mick’s “It’s not over yet”.</p><p>As the dealer counted down the stacks to ascertain I had fumes left, I thought back to a similar spot deep in the European Deepstack in 2008 that Mick brought up several thousand times over the next decade. Maybe Mick’s did too, as he looked at me and said “Look, nobody did anything wrong”, as if to pre-empt a decade of retaliatory moaning. Truth is that’s poker though, sometimes we dish out the beats, sometimes they are dished out to us, and if someone in that seat is destined to suck out on me, I’d prefer it to be a friend like Mick rather than a foe.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Final thoughts</h3><p>One thing was very clear: after 20 months without live poker, the Irish poker public are gagging for it again. People you wouldn’t expect to see at the IPO like Max Silver and Eoin O’Dea played the 1k, and Steve O’Dwyer fired two bullets at the 500. When someone at my table remarked it was amazing someone who was 12th in the all time money list was playing it, I pointed out that if he won he’d.....still be 12th.</p><p>A big thank you and congratulations are in order for Nick O’Hara, his team and all the dealers who made the event a huge success. David and I are off to the WSOP on the 8th if we can fade getting COVID. Wish us luck!</p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-70949331073384817322021-10-07T05:40:00.000+01:002021-10-07T05:40:55.466+01:00The ICM book<p> There’s a saying in sports that it’s much harder to stay at the top than to get there, to retain a title than to win it for the first time. I certainly found that to be true in my running career. I never successfully defended a title, and if I’m honest, I have to admit that the motivation to repeat a former success was never as strong.</p><p>When I wrote my first poker strategy book with Barry Carter, <a href="https://amzn.to/2ZSOuPx" target="_blank">“Poker Satellite Strategy”</a> I hoped it would sell well (mostly for Barry: I’m a professional poker player for whom this was a side venture, but his livelihood is writing so I wanted it to sell well enough to make it worth his while) and be well received. I felt absolutely no pressure though: had it flopped miserably I’d have shrugged and just moved on to the next thing. I think one of my strengths is that I don’t mind failing so long as I’ve given something my best effort, and I don’t dwell on failures. Folding is an underrated skill in poker and life: knowing when to accept you’re just not destined to win a hand or a pursuit, and just cut your losses, fold and move on to the next one. </p><p>However, the first book was a success beyond my mildest dreams, and I did feel a certain pressure with the follow up <a href="https://amzn.to/3DnmuSP" target="_blank">“PKO Poker Strategy”</a>. Mostly I didn’t want to disappoint the thousands of readers who had messaged me to say that the first poker book was one of or even the best poker book they’d read, and one that had made a massive difference in their poker lives. </p><p>The success of the second book rolled the pressure on to book number three, <a href="https://amzn.to/3uMKTOm" target="_blank">“Endgame Poker Strategy: the ICM book”</a>. A ton of work went into this book running thousands of sims and trying to distil them down into communicable concepts. Barry thinks this is our best book yet, and the early feedback has been very positive. It’s certainly the least niche: ICM is (I believe) the most important concept in tournaments and the one that’ll make the biggest difference to your bottom line. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZDcixmzX33gte7OZYa6hxyzlDCf7CtyKrjtHM4GPbyKL_E0xCrJY7-X3pDp_bj1hW2SG8ku6TSrTk5SEZWqCkglOPhwkO3QPYafBXS6iYjoVq8uxXPy1uC2w4r1rXox_pu2stp3itrg/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="182" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZDcixmzX33gte7OZYa6hxyzlDCf7CtyKrjtHM4GPbyKL_E0xCrJY7-X3pDp_bj1hW2SG8ku6TSrTk5SEZWqCkglOPhwkO3QPYafBXS6iYjoVq8uxXPy1uC2w4r1rXox_pu2stp3itrg/" width="158" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">It takes a village</h4><p>Barry and I have always gone the self publish route, figuring a traditional publisher wouldn’t generate sufficient additional sales to compensate for taking most of the profit. That’s worked out well for us, but it does place the onus on us to do everything ourselves. However, we have been incredibly fortunate at the number of people who stepped forward willing to help, whether it be content review, proofreading, promotion or whatever. These are all thanked in the acknowledgements section of the book (although I’m quite certain I forgot a few) but I’d like to pay further tribute to some of them here. It takes a village to help two village idiots write a book.</p><p>I would really like to thank all of our advance readers for their feedback and suggestions, including Sameer Singh, Daniel Dvoress, Conal Prendergast, Danny Sprung, Kevin Snelgrove, Katie Swift, Paul Romain, and Jennifer Shahade. Sameer, Daniel and Danny deserve special mention for going above and beyond in the thoroughness of their review and the excellence of their suggestions. Danny did the first and final proofreads on the book, turning it around in under 24 hours in both cases!</p><p>I would also like to thank some of the people that helped us get this book over the line, including Kat Arnsby and Saron Harford. Thank you also to everyone at Unibet Poker, ShareMyPair, Cardschat, RecPoker, GambleOnline and PokerStrategy.com for their support over the years. Thanks kindly to K L Cleeton whose excellent app Range Trainer Pro helped us produce some of the hand grids in this book.</p><p>A special thank you to my friend and Twitch phenom Kevin Martin, who invited me on his stream to talk about the last two books. Several of the “gorilla maths” methods in the newbook arose from in depth discussion I had with Kevin who always asks the best questions.</p><div>Thanks also to thank David Lappin for being our unofficial hype man and ‘5th Beatle’ for the last three books. David also gave us feedback on the first draft, although this looked suspiciously like an exact copy of his feedback on the last two books, “include more anecdotes”. However, we took this advice to heart and if you liked the anecdotes to illustrate and break up the heavier strategy sections, you can thank David. If on the other hand you think rambling anecdotes have no place in a strategy book, please direct your abuse towards him. </div><p>Finally I dedicated this book to <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2020/10/sean-ua-cearnaigh-1933-2020.html" target="_blank">Sean Ua Cearnaigh</a>, my father who passed away last year. He instilled his love of learning and words and cards in me from an early age. Starting even later than me, he ended up publishing over twenty books in his lifetime, so I have a long way to go to catch up!</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">A special message for the Irish</h4><p>Unfortunately we discovered Amazon are struggling to send paper books to Irish customers. We are working on the issue but until then, you can get it from the <a href="https://www.amazon.fr/Endgame-Poker-Strategy-ICM-Book/dp/1399905007/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">French Amazon</a> almost as quickly as you used to be able to from the UK. We will have some copies at the IPO this month in Dublin if you are going.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Promotion</h4><p>The timing of the release ended up being somewhat fortuitous in that it came out just as I came out of a period of playing online almost every waking hour for six weeks because of the various online series that were happening. While the grind went very well (I had one of my biggest upswings ever, which I only partially ascribe to positive variance. I think the hundreds of hours I spent studying sims in the final push to get the book out bore fruit by considerably improving my game), a period of playing less was just what the doctor ordered. Promoting the book has been the main priority as well as catching up on other fronts that got neglected like coaching and content creation, so I’ve done a bunch of podcasts and a Twitch appearance (I’m open to doing more in the next few weeks so hit me up if you want me on your pod or stream) and interviews. I won’t bore you with a list of them all (that’s what my Twitter is for) but I will say <a href="https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2021/10/01/qa-with-dara-okearney-and-barry-carter-authors-of-endgame-poker-strategy-the-icm-book/" target="_blank">this one</a> conducted by Lappin was a lot of fun. </p><p>As I said above, when you self publish, you have to drive the promotion yourself. This has been my main focus since the book came out, and will be for the next few weeks. So far it’s going very well, with the book climbing to the top of the Amazon charts following in the footsteps of the last two books. </p><p>One thing that helps massively on this front is earlier reviews so a big thank you to those of you who took the time to do this, and keep them coming!</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXQPct8jxzOOHSjYGuaDpqZW6p-dF40MixJQllyYlj8l01YgPpmAQWvcyyaRUsvjjG8Mqp0Yot-6SVPOqVb8R4RlDqgJjOIfI1WmDusjzpUz8xs9P0vuziiEroV3D8EIHjUJY3n1FOlU/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1945" data-original-width="1035" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXQPct8jxzOOHSjYGuaDpqZW6p-dF40MixJQllyYlj8l01YgPpmAQWvcyyaRUsvjjG8Mqp0Yot-6SVPOqVb8R4RlDqgJjOIfI1WmDusjzpUz8xs9P0vuziiEroV3D8EIHjUJY3n1FOlU/w341-h640/244470085_390880925835522_2642942993926849278_n.jpg" width="341" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>On that front Barry and I will be doing a book signing at the.....</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">IPO</h4><p>Live poker returns to Ireland on the 22nd of October, the first event since March of last year. That was the <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2020/03/corona-streets.html" target="_blank">Unibet Open</a> in the Bonnington, so it’s fitting the first event back is another Unibet sponsored event, <a href="https://internationalpokeropen.ie/" target="_blank">the IPO</a>. Lappin will be making the trip from Malta, while Barry is coming from Sheffield, and I’m looking forward to catching up with scores of others I haven’t seen in 18 months. Satellites and feeders are now running on Unibet. Hope to see you all there at some point in the weekend!</p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-33451742431185872232021-09-02T06:11:00.003+01:002021-09-02T06:11:36.907+01:00I’m not a doctor<p>I’m not a doctor. I think most kids go through a phase where they think they want to be one, but I’m pretty sure I never did. The thought of only seeing people when they’re sick held no appeal for me, and I’m squeamish about blood and a lot of other body stuff doctors need to be able to take in their stride.</p><p>When it came to choosing a career, my only real criterion was what would get me a well paying job. My careers guidance teacher looked at my results and noted I was very good at maths and science, so he suggested accountant, actuary or engineer. Accountant sounded like a very boring thing to 18 year old me, so that got ruled out. There’s a saying the actuaries are people who can’t handle the excitement of chartered accountancy, so I ruled that out too. I wasn’t entirely sure what an engineer did, but it sounded vaguely exciting and futuristic, so off I went to university to become an engineer. At the end of first year we had to commit to a specific type of engineering. The options were (in reverse order of my preference)</p><p>(1) Agricultural. I ruled that out straight away as it sounded like it involved tractors and being on farms, two things I hated. Also it was widely known that almost nobody chose this one, so it became the preserve of the unfortunate bottom ten per cent in the first year exams</p><p>(2) Civil. This wasn’t a popular choice either, it was seen as old school. To me it sounded like it involved being on construction sites in a hard hat, a situation I never had any desire to find myself in, so I put that down as my second least preferred, and hoped my exam results wouldn’t consign me to a career on building sites </p><p>(3) Chemical. This was a little sexier, but also summoned up images of chemical spills and fume filled factories. When my lab partner almost blew one of her hands off in the lab, that sealed it for me as third choice </p><p>(4) Mechanical. This was initially third choice because it sounded like it might involve designing tractors, or at least other machinery, which held zero appeal. On the other hand, you seemed more likely to remain two handed than chemical engineers, so it went down as the reluctant second preference</p><p>(5) Electrical/electronic. I wasn’t thrilled about the electrical option, it sounded like it might involve getting electrocuted a lot, or having to work for the ESB, and I wasn’t sure which sounded worse. Electronic on the other hand sounded sexy and futuristic as fuck, so that was the first choice (at the time, you didn’t need to decide which exact type of elec engineering you wanted to be until the end of second year)</p><p>My first choice was most people’s first choice too, so to make the grade I had to get into the top 20%, no mean feat because engineering at the time seemed to attract the smart kids from every school in Ireland, or at least the ones who didn’t want to be doctors or accountants or actuaries. I think I just about scraped it, and when the time came scraped into the better side of the electrical electronic fork.</p><p>Ironically, by the time I got through the course and knew what electronic engineering actually was (designing circuit boards mostly), I hated it, and didn’t want to be one any more. Instead I blagged my way into computers when I got out of college, starting as a programmer (that’s what we called coders back then) and eventually ending up as a freelance consultant. This paid insanely well by the standards of the time, so well that I basically couldn’t say no to anything I was offered. </p><p>The late 90s were a boom time for people like me as corporations started to panic about the millennium bug, and saw me effectively triple jobbing on three different projects. One of them was for an American bank in the city of London and I had to commute three days a week (from Dublin!). The other four days were spent at home, every waking hour going to working on the other two projects. Needless to say, this was a pretty stressful schedule, and I quickly got run down. A permanent cold became a permanent cough, and then I started coughing up blood. This was an alarming development, but who had time to go see a doctor who would presumably just tell you to take some time off? Not me, that’s who not. So I struggled on. Now not only was blood coming up, but also weird sticky gunk that lodged in my airways cutting off my breath. On one occasion this caused me to pass out at 3 am in the bathroom of the flat my brother shared with his girlfriend in London. But for her quick thinking and knowledge of first aid it could have been a very ignominious end. Suitably chastened, I went straight to the doctor.......section of the nearest book store where there were “self diagnose what might be wrong with you” type books with flowcharts where you followed your symptoms down the chart to some horrible disease like lung cancer or brucellosis you could potentially have. </p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YWsJgQdI6GmB4Z6-D8H_nadG3g7kLbgXA3l1g9_eIVLWqAd6o3HnU0cbCQBj59g3p98t1dIa5kJgvpQ0J8vyF2Z18CjC75yHU7sn7-Dv7nyQTcc_TJjXh6Uui9DB9nyhpK6-gw98gKI/s500/51Gx4RHx2pL._SY498_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YWsJgQdI6GmB4Z6-D8H_nadG3g7kLbgXA3l1g9_eIVLWqAd6o3HnU0cbCQBj59g3p98t1dIa5kJgvpQ0J8vyF2Z18CjC75yHU7sn7-Dv7nyQTcc_TJjXh6Uui9DB9nyhpK6-gw98gKI/s320/51Gx4RHx2pL._SY498_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>One of my work colleagues helpfully told me the bank hired a top UK doctor one afternoon a week for their non NHS covered American employees, and got me an appointment. The doctor told me to go to his private practise in Harley Street where he did an X-ray and decided that while coughing up blood and gunk wasn’t good there didn’t seem to be anything seriously wrong with my lungs apart from my asthma. He was at a loss to explain what was causing the symptoms, so he referred me to a hospital. After months of further tests and other specialists, several more doctors were at a loss and nobody was able to shed light on what my problem was beyond working too hard. My symptoms gradually subsided, but I started getting others like heart palpitations and fasciculations. I still had the self diagnosing book, and had started scouring the early medical web sites like WebMD, trying to figure out which horrible neurological disorder I was now developing. In the absence of prescribed medication, I started gobbling all sorts of herbal medicines various web sites recommended, and upped my dosage of ones I’d been using for years like garlic and echinacea. The latter in particular was touted as a near miraculous panacea on all the herbal medicine sites so I was taking the maximum recommended dose. </p><p>My wife eventually suggested I return to our old doctor in the place we used to live, as he always seemed to have a good handle on me. So I took the train and paid him a visit. He spent almost an hour listening to my tale of woe and many theories as to what I might have, and after a quick physical inspection he said</p><p><i>“I think the problem is you’ve seen too many doctors in the last year and read too many medical websites. I don’t think there’s actually anything wrong with you at this point”.</i></p><p>A cloud lifted, and I immediately felt better. It was all I really needed, to hear that it was all in my head at this point. To this day, I’m not sure what caused the initial problems with the coughed up blood and gunk, but I did find <a href="https://www.webmd.com/allergies/news/20020122/echinacea-linked-to-allergies">one article</a> that suggested that all the symptoms I experienced could be an allergic reaction to echinacea, something that apparently is reasonably common in asthmatics. So it’s possible that all the time I was gobbling down echinacea to “treat” my problem I was actually exacerbating it.</p><p>Over time that part of my life faded in my memory. It returned recently when I saw the debates raging on social media between the vaccers and anti vaccers. I see a lot of my earlier self in those who did a “deep dive” into the topic with the help of a search engine and came out of the experience thinking they now know more than people who, unlike me, didn’t mind the idea of only seeing sick people and weren’t squeamish about blood and went off to college and got a real medical education.</p><p>A few of these have tried to draw me into a debate. I always politely demur on the basis that I’m not a doctor. When it comes to medical stuff, I’m the guy who kinda knows the hand rankings, and nothing else, and not even. I’m not a doctor, and neither are the people who want to debate it out with me, because actual experts don’t try to engage noobs like me in medical debates, in the same way that high rollers don’t go looking for people who barely know the hand rankings to debate poker strategy. </p><p>Did I mention that I’m not a doctor?</p><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-25132200041936989782021-08-20T03:17:00.009+01:002021-08-24T16:21:57.018+01:00 Chatting cards and implicit collusion<p>It’s been a funny old summer. Since I took to poker at the young age of 42 in 2007, I’ve spent most of my summers in the desert chasing jewellery. I first showed up in Vegas bracelet hunting in 2008 and until the pandemic went every year (except 2012 when a desire to watch the Olympics conspired with a lack of desire to lose the 25k that I’d lost at the series pretty much every year until then to convince me to sit that one out). </p><p>This summer has been largely similar to last summer, except we remained in lock down through the start of it. After a period of solid grinding the various series that were on, I was feeling a little burned out with online poker, and a lot of other stuff on my To Do list had piled up still undone, so I decided to scale back my play to a couple of days a week to allow me to catch up on the coaching, writing and content creation while enjoying the Euros and the Olympics. </p><p><br /></p><h4>Satellite Master Class</h4><p>In addition to the third book, Barry and I have been working on a satellite master class course for <a href="https://www.learnpropoker.com/dara-okearney-satellite-masterclass" target="_blank">LearnProPoker.</a> </p><p>This is the course for you if you prefer video content to books, or if you enjoyed the satellite book and want to take your satellite game even further.</p><p>If you have previously read the book we cover a lot of the same foundational material, but we go way beyond it. It features 30 videos and includes a lot of content we simply could not put in the satellite book because of the format. This includes post flop strategy, live sessions and hand reviews. We didn’t leave anything on the table with this, everything is covered. We also have way more hand examples in general than in the satellite book. </p><p>If you bought the satellite book just to brush up on your satellite skills and you learn well from reading, you probably don’t need this course. The book more than covers the fundamentals of satellites. If, however, you want to make satellites a regular format you crush or if you learn better with videos, I highly recommend this course.</p><p>If you use the signup code DOKE you get $20 off.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhYnXzKlms5ec4ZPcQPg9rB50WDM0xxJ-dMwKbQZdLpuxv3FIGy8d0jZVr-Mb7Z0kDsJX7u8U9BstEyaL16fiSZk5MrFRXpx-TWYSEkvbIoT-6gzrSsA5Jku0dLBDND25ZQVswQReHE-M/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="680" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhYnXzKlms5ec4ZPcQPg9rB50WDM0xxJ-dMwKbQZdLpuxv3FIGy8d0jZVr-Mb7Z0kDsJX7u8U9BstEyaL16fiSZk5MrFRXpx-TWYSEkvbIoT-6gzrSsA5Jku0dLBDND25ZQVswQReHE-M/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The third book</h4><p>My third poker strategy book with Barry Carter is now basically finished, subject to final revisions and edits. This one is on ICM, and should be out in the next few weeks.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Cardschat</h4><p>When my first book came out, one of the things I did at Barry’s behest to promote it was start an <a href="https://www.cardschat.com/forum/tournament-poker-59/dara-okearney-satellite-specialist-ask-me-425223/" target="_blank">AMA thread</a> on Cardschat, the world’s friendliest poker forum. I quickly realised that wasn’t just a tagline, and it was the start of a beautiful friendship. I was still answering questions there when the second book came out so we just kept going, and I was both honoured and thrilled when they asked me to become a full ambassador for the site this summer. In addition to the usual ambassador duties, I’ll be creating some exclusive video and written strategy content for them, so if there’s anything you’d like me to tackle on this front, let me know. </p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7htALkugTf9a9Cju5h7AnGEwQ2SJMP03lFftB-bZ1CiR-pzmPEpVuuf-qJlHS6V9WTXhj_J9bxxnLUP_37u_rmkYZZMJ4gVhwL0_jabaNxcYvkfdlGgeiSoDk3d5KXMRhr9bqY4h9tA/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7htALkugTf9a9Cju5h7AnGEwQ2SJMP03lFftB-bZ1CiR-pzmPEpVuuf-qJlHS6V9WTXhj_J9bxxnLUP_37u_rmkYZZMJ4gVhwL0_jabaNxcYvkfdlGgeiSoDk3d5KXMRhr9bqY4h9tA/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Poker concepts I understood before poker</h4><p>On my recent appearance on the People Who Read People podcast, Zachary asked me what things I took from running into poker that proved useful. That got me thinking about concepts I learned purely from poker. I could think of surprisingly few. It’s maybe a function of how late I started playing, but I think I’d learned most of the important concepts like equity, Ev, bluffing and balance elsewhere. In fact, even something as specific as implicit collusion.</p><p>Implicit collusion in poker is where a number of players realise that’s it in all their interests to cooperate in a hand rather than simply maximise their individual chances. For example, when the shortest stack moves all in on the bubble of a satellite, a group of players may decide to check the hand down to maximise the chances the shorty busts. </p><p>One non poker example comes from my refereeing days. I don’t talk about these very much, largely because of all the things I’ve tried and done in my life, refereeing gave me the least pleasure and most unpleasant experiences. It really is a thankless task that requires levels of masochism beyond any I possess. That’s another story though, and not my point here. One of the few pleasant memories I have from the two years I reffed is the Special Olympics. The last match I refereed there (which turned out to be the last match I ever refereed) was a semi final between Israel and Saudi Arabia. </p><p>I doubt you need me to tell you this particular pairing caused considerable trepidation among the organisers to the point they considered splitting the teams and putting them in different semis. I was called to a meeting the day before and asked if I thought this was a good idea. I didn’t. Apart from the inherent unfairness to the other teams of manipulating the draw in this way, I advised them that if they did, both teams were likely to win their semis, as they appeared to be a class above the opposition. If that happened, splitting them now was just kicking the can down the road, and a final that had to be canned would be a much bigger deal than a semi. So the draw stood. I asked what the situation was if one or both teams refused to take to the field. </p><p><i>“Immediate disqualification”</i></p><p>So it was with considerable trepidation I approached the manager of both teams before the match. They were socially distancing before it was in fashion, eyeing each other warily. The Saudi manager was first to break the silence.</p><p><i>“My team cannot take the field”</i></p><p><i>“Why not?”</i></p><p><i>“Political reasons”</i></p><p>At this point the Israeli chimed in</p><p><i>“The same goes for my team”</i></p><p>Both men seemed hesitant, even sad, about the words coming from their mouths. I looked at the two sets of players eagerly warming up, apparently unaware of the storm brewing.</p><p><i>“What happens if we both withdraw? Do our players get bronze medals?” </i>the Israeli asked hopefully.</p><p>I shook my head. </p><p><i>“I’m afraid the rules state any team not taking to the field is disqualified”</i></p><p>Both men looked at their sets of players, then at each other, their shared sadness obvious. An awkward silence followed.</p><p><i>“The match is scheduled to start in five minutes. Are both your decisions final or is there someone you can consult with?”</i></p><p>They looked at each other.</p><p><i>“I can try to phone my association. But I’m not optimistic”</i></p><p>The Israeli mulled this over.</p><p><i>“I can try also but it’ll take a while to get to a phone”</i></p><p>He glanced at the Saudi who concurred.</p><p><i>“Yes, it would take me a while too”</i></p><p><i>“Ok, well, see what you can do”</i></p><p>Both men pulled me to one side. Both said exactly the same thing.</p><p><i>“If I’m not back in time, start the match. If I’m told to pull my team, I’ll do it during the match”</i></p><p>Then both men left, and returned shortly after I’d blown the final whistle. If I didn’t know better I’d say they both watched from a discreet distance, waiting for the final whistle. </p><p>Both lodged an official objection to the match having gone ahead, but thanked me privately for having done so. </p><p>Implicit collusion, clearly.</p><div><br /></div>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-22883859690621172632021-06-24T04:50:00.002+01:002021-07-14T04:46:12.730+01:00FAQ: Vegas and WSOP tips<p> Normally at this time of year I’d be in Vegas, in the midst of my WSOP campaign, hoping this is the year I bink a bracelet. I’m still optimistic of doing so later in the year, as I know are many others. Many of these are going for the first time, the pandemic has reminded people that you can’t take bucket list items for granted. I know because many have contacted me with specific questions or looking for tips, so I decided I’d write this blog summing up my advice.</p><p>Istvan writes:</p><p><i>“Good evening Dara, I need your advice. As u may know Wsop is coming back at the end of September, and if travel would be allowed, I decided with another 2 friends to head over to play few events, and some satellite for the main event... I would really appreciate if you could give us much more information about best way for accommodation, what part is better to fly and stay in Vegas, minimum bankroll requirement, for a 3 weeks stay, and ruffli cost of the transport, what is better uber are taxis? And food wise as well, and any other important things what we should know, like the visa requirement, what is the procedure and the cost of it, we have to declare the money what u travelling with? Thank you very much.”</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Accommodation </h4><p>This is one where there are lots of different approaches, all with different pluses and minuses, which means it’s kinda personal which one works best for you. House, condo or hotel? Strip, adjacent to WSOP, or out in the burbs? Alone or sharing? </p><p>I’ve pretty much tried them all so here are my thoughts.</p><p>I personally enjoyed the house experience more than the hotel one, you feel more like a normal person. However, the flip side is a house usually means commuting, and any saving in cost quickly disappears in Uber or cab fares. Being able to cook for yourself is both cheaper and more pleasurable than eating every meal in a restaurant (or god help us, a buffet). The commute can be a pain, or a welcome slice of down time depending how you look at it. </p><p>One year I combined the best of both worlds sharing a condo across the road from the Rio with Mrs Doke and some other Irish lads. Overall my thinking is that hotel is fine and more convenient for anything up to 2 weeks (3 weeks tops) but if you are there for longer you’re better in a house or a condo. As far as hotels go, the Gold Coast right beside the Rio is the best and cheapest option with very good (and reasonably priced by Vegas standards) restaurant options. The Rio itself is a depressing place to be with very poor restaurant options. When I told Lappin recently my friend Carlos is living there at the moment, Lappin’s response was “I think I’d rather be homeless”. </p><p>Where you want to stay is largely a matter of personal taste. Preferably I prefer being near to avoid commuting, but some people find it oppressive being in the same spot all the time. </p><p>Sharing with someone is less costly and lonely, but you need to make sure it’s someone you won’t want to kill if you’re spending 24/7 in their company. Vegas and the WSOP are high stress experiences that end in disappointment most of the time, a recipe for disaster if you’re sharing with someone who gets on your nerves. I’ve seen many close friendships disappear faster than a puddle in the Vegas heat. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Budget</h4><p>It’s possible to live relatively cheaply in Vegas. I generally budget to spend $100 a day (excluding accommodation). It’s definitely possible to do it cheaper (and a lot more expensive if you’re more baller than me). </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Transport</h4><p>Do not get in a taxi unless forced to at gunpoint. Before Uber, pretty much the most unpleasant part of all my Vegas trips was having to deal with Vegas cab drivers. Not only is Uber an order of magnitude cheaper, the drivers are way friendlier and more interesting (to the point I’ve written <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2017/11/uber-drivers-of-vegas.html">several </a><a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2018/08/sunglasses-smidge-and-uber.html">blogs </a><a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2018/01/more-adventures-in-uber-in-vegas.html">on my Uber</a> <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2018/04/uber-and-out.html">trips</a>). Average Uber trip comes in around ten bucks, about three times less than comparable taxi rides. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Food</h4><p>Vegas has great food options at a variety of price points. Even without doing your own grocery shopping, it’s possible to eat well (and healthily) for about 50 bucks a day. In terms of cost and health, most of the best options are Asian. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Visa</h4><p>No visa required from Ireland (or most European countries) but you do need an ESTA which you can apply for online at <a href="https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov">https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov</a> and lasts two years. Last time I got one it cost 50 bucks.</p><p>At time of writing it’s not possible to fly direct from the EU to the US, you have to spend 2 weeks outside the EU before they’ll let you in. Some of my friends have done two weeks in Mexico, but hopefully that restriction will be lifted by the time of the WSOP (if not, I’m not going).</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Declaring money</h4><p>If you’re bringing in less than $10,000 you don’t have to declare it. I generally bring just under the limit in cash to avoid hassle at the airport, but this doesn’t always work out. Sometimes they get suspicious if you’re just below the limit and insist on counting it to be sure. I almost missed my last flight because of this. I used my card for most tourney buyins last time. There’s a fee (4% I think) but it saves hassle and queueing time</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Dublin airport</h4><p></p><p>If you fly from Dublin to the US, you clear security in Dublin, which is great once you get to Vegas and can just sail thru customs, but you need to allow 3 hours to be safe in Dublin. Usually you’ll get thru quicker, but routine inspections can get lengthy. Be aware they have the right to go through all your mobile devices and look at everything on them: I know one girl who was refused entry when they found messages on her phone suggesting she intended to stay in the US with her boyfriend, and an Irish poker player was refused entry after they read a WhatsApp conversation between him and his weed dealer!</p><p></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></p><p></p><h4 style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Tax matters</h4><p>At one of my tables last year, hearing I was from Ireland, one of the American players said</p><p><i>"So if you win this you'll have to pay it all in tax, right?"</i></p><p><i>"Um no"</i></p><p><i>"But most of it?"</i></p><p><i>"No"</i></p><p><i>"How much?"</i></p><p><i>"Zero"</i></p><p><i>"That can't be right. You have taxes, right?"</i></p><p><i>"Yes but not on poker winnings"</i></p><p>Looking dubious my interrogator asked</p><p><i>"So who am I thinking of?"</i></p><p>At which point one of the others at the table, who it turned out was an actual taxation consultant</p><p><i>"America, buddy. We are the ones that pay"</i></p><p>There then followed a lengthy discussion of federal, state and city taxes which made it abundantly clear that Americans pay a lot of tax on their poker winnings. So, of course, do many European countries, but not the UK or Ireland, something the WSOP knows but many of the other casinos in Vegas don't. This is deducted at source on all cashes over the threshold (10k last time I checked, although someone recently told me it's actually 5k profit which apparently is why the WSOP main min cash is exactly 15k). To avoid it, you need an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_Taxpayer_Identification_Number">ITIN number </a></p><p>The wonderful people at the WSOP will handle this all automatically for you if you're lucky enough to have your first cash in the US with them. They'll need your passport and proof of residence (so bring a bank statement or utility bill), but they'll do all the necessary paperwork to get you an ITIN. More importantly, they won't withhold 40% of your cash as tax, and as an added bonus they'll keep it on file so you don't need to go through the same procedure every time.</p><p>Other casinos and series are not as helpful. Some of them won't even know you're exempt from tax. Even if they are, they will withhold tax anyway unless you provide them with an ITIN. A few years ago, one Irish player who cashed big in the Venetian cornered me in the Rio saying they'd withheld 40% as he had no ITIN. He was flying out in a few hours so couldn't get one in time, but we were reliably informed he could claim the money back from Ireland. I'm not sure how cumbersome this process is, but it's one you'll want to avoid if at all possible. </p><p>The one upside to all this is that American taxation law has inadvertently led to many a favourable chop for those of us from less taxed countries. On one of my first trips to Vegas, I heard about an Irish player who despite being the shortie by a long way secured the lion's share in a five way chop with four Americans all motivated to keep their payout below 10k. So if you find yourself in such a situation, it's worth educating the American players you'd like to chop with on taxation matters. Similarly, if you're one of the Americans reading this, be aware that chops in which the Euro nominally takes first prize (and possibly disburses some of it to his more taxed American buddies in the parking lot, something which I'd obviously never condone but know for sure happens) can have very beneficial effects on your bottom line.</p><h4 style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Mental preparation</h4><p>I've often said that if you want to see the biggest change in a group of people in a short period of time, go to the Rio in the first week of the WSOP, then come back for the last week. At the start everyone is buzzing and bouncing around, happy to see all their poker friends from all over the world, and convinced that this is their year. By the end, most are so stuck that only a very deep run in the main can get them out, as they shuffle like zombies through the corridors of the Rio, desperately waiting for their flight home.</p><p>A WSOP/Vegas campaign is essentially the equivalent of a Sunday online, stretched out over six weeks. Online players wake up every Sunday feeling great and ready to go, hoping this is the Sunday they bink a major. Usually, they end the day wanting to cry into their keyboard, having bust their last shot at 4 AM or whatever. In Vegas, you can very easily bust 6 tournaments in a day without making dinner break. Obviously that's not the aspiration, but you have to be prepared for it, because losing trips are far more common than winning ones if you're a tournament player. It might seem defeatist to anticipate failure, but it's a far more useful approach than just assuming everything will be great. The problem with positivity is it doesn't prepare you for setbacks when they come, as they almost inevitably will. I've written before in this blog on the <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2017/05/could-be-stress-fracture.html">Stockdale Paradox</a>, which states that pessimists respond to adversity better than optimists. So be pessimistic, and if it turns out great, be pleasantly surprised.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcjMqYWjJ3Q0iD2yB54XFYhxxbG55w1YUWOJdsoXb95ocV6lhc4F5Rk0JmjNR1RsvEQG8iyXRljzKFcfQWOMyFaOOxSWl5ggWAn3LuV1lul9kwin43P5phmegYE_nvfodDSG_NQASMFBw/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcjMqYWjJ3Q0iD2yB54XFYhxxbG55w1YUWOJdsoXb95ocV6lhc4F5Rk0JmjNR1RsvEQG8iyXRljzKFcfQWOMyFaOOxSWl5ggWAn3LuV1lul9kwin43P5phmegYE_nvfodDSG_NQASMFBw/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-68286623628587671262021-02-24T21:09:00.006+00:002021-02-24T23:43:05.504+00:00 So you want to be a sponsored pro...<p>I get roughly 50 unsolicited messages a day about poker from people I don’t know, or just barely know through social media. The vast majority of these fall into one of three categories starting with S.</p><p>The first category is strategy: generally hands where people want an opinion, which I’m always happy to give, sometimes after some solver work. The second category is staking: usually after some polite pleasantries, my correspondent wants to know if I still stake people, and specifically will I stake them. I’m hoping people thinking of doing this will read this blog because I can say here the answer these days is always no. </p><p>The final category is sponsorship. Whether they admit it or not, most professional and many recreational players crave to be a sponsored player. Some because they see it as free money, and others because they see it as some sort of validation or recognition from the industry. In reality it’s neither, but that’s a topic for another day. In this blog I want to give whatever practical advice I can to players interested in being sponsored one day.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">How do you get a deal?</h4><p>Unibet is my third deal. I basically won the first one in a special promotion. An Irish skin of the Cake poker was sponsoring the Irish live rankings at the time, and they decided to have a special tournament for the top ranked players, with the winner getting a 6 month sponsorship deal. When we got down to three in what was winner take all, chop talks broke out. We all thought chopping the equity was best, but couldn’t agree who would officially take the deal. Now you might be thinking yeah that makes sense, everyone wants to be the sponsored pro. In reality none of us did, for two reasons which probably only make sense to that most rational and least romantic of creatures, the poker pro. While recreational players dream of glory and trophies and acclaim, the poker pro mindset reduces everything to pure Ev. Therefore we saw two problems with being the one to officially take the deal. First, it was basically a negative freeroll to pay the other two guys off before a penny was received. Back then, poker sites went out of business even more frequently than they do now. Second, it presumably involved additional effort and duties for no extra compensation. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUQSaUQl-9-6aaccncf1qQTZ1LjG4d5H51FC2J1y0g1Z0Wbbkiq2E4fJi5xHfnYGBFNqGk0fvyYWDzom2MXAf36-O7LAffjcJImW_RqZ3nusoXEaj5rXw85-F_oaJGQGfelTToigZ9JNQ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="500" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUQSaUQl-9-6aaccncf1qQTZ1LjG4d5H51FC2J1y0g1Z0Wbbkiq2E4fJi5xHfnYGBFNqGk0fvyYWDzom2MXAf36-O7LAffjcJImW_RqZ3nusoXEaj5rXw85-F_oaJGQGfelTToigZ9JNQ/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>I ended up being the one to agree to pay the other two off. I did this partly because a deal was unlikely if I didn’t agree to be that guy, but mostly because I thought the risk and additional effort could be made up for by the possibility however slim that at the end of the 6 months I’d have persuaded the sponsors it was worth their while extending the deal.</p><p>My line was looking very sub optimal after my first meeting with the sponsors in which they made it clear they had zero intention of extending the deal and they saw it purely as a one off prize with some one time PR upside for them over just giving me the cash up front. However I’ve never been anything other than stubborn, so I did everything I could over the next 6 months to deliver value, and was rewarded by a couple of extensions until they were forced out of business by problems on the Cake network.</p><p>My next deal was acquired a little more typically: an Irish-facing skin on another network (Entraction) decided they wanted a pro with a high profile in Ireland. By now I had established myself as one of Ireland’s most profitable players both online and live, was contributing strategy to a number of poker magazines, had the most read Irish blog, was the first Irish pro on social media, all of which combined to a high national profile, so they decided I was the man for the job.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCnrMNBFkwhe3mLl0KAzfDT7NACFTrV01KXm_xIf-o_2D1STSzPfU0l4Yu7ZZnjdWYjPheCVlM2b3Uy2j2IAiuE__yuTLAk-h-ahKXRwZo0o0lLVrQm8tGrryvS9QRMVCyg3J6bN5aMqw/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="278" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCnrMNBFkwhe3mLl0KAzfDT7NACFTrV01KXm_xIf-o_2D1STSzPfU0l4Yu7ZZnjdWYjPheCVlM2b3Uy2j2IAiuE__yuTLAk-h-ahKXRwZo0o0lLVrQm8tGrryvS9QRMVCyg3J6bN5aMqw/" width="209" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>Once again, I set demonstrating value as one of my main priorities, and was rewarded by having my contract renewed a few times until the site was forced out of business when Entraction shut down. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The wilderness years</h4><p>Over the next couple of years my international profile continued to grow slowly. I was touted for a couple of different deals with major sites, but in each case lost out to an Irish rival. My age was generally seen as a major strike against me. I remember being asked at the time by Stars to recommend an Irish pro:</p><p><i>“We need someone who wins online but plays live too. There can’t be any whiff of scandal around them. He has to be able to talk and engage with people. And he has to be under the age of 30, preferably good looking”</i></p><p>This seemed to be the consensus by now among the sites as to what a sponsored pro should look like. They’d moved past hiring someone on the basis of one big bink, having been burned too often hiring someone who turned out to be a surly one hit wonder with no social skills. </p><p>I remember these years as a time when my hopes of ever being sponsored again not only receded, but also became less important to me. I’m nothing if not a realist, and if I was swimming against the tide of my age, so be it. I’d also reached a point in my career where any supplemental income would necessarily be a smaller percentage of what I earned from poker. Staking and other interests were flourishing. I also remember this as a period where rightly or wrongly I felt some sites were stringing me along to a certain degree, wanting to keep me happy and uncritical. On the <a href="https://soundcloud.com/thechiprace/season-14-episode-5-vanessa-kade-landon-tice-sam-bevington">most recent Chip Race</a>, Vanessa Kade talked about how leading female players are very incentivised to avoid criticising anyone in the industry if they ever hold out hopes of being sponsored. This is undoubtedly true, but also for men, albeit to a much lesser degree and with some qualifications. It’s much easier for a man to carve out a role and a brand as a squeaky wheel. But that has to be your image from the get go. Lappin and I have often remarked that he can get away with saying almost anything about anyone because that’s just Lappin being Lappin, but people seem to get deeply upset if I say anything even mildly critical. There has never been a time when I said something positive about a site or an event that I didn’t believe because I was hoping to curry future favour, but there have certainly been times when I’ve bit my lip and adhered to the maxim that if you have nothing positive to say, say nothing. </p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeGUOgp9NYpeLizMXTlYhZcqGLOvWFeZ6oBeCCyj66EvQByZw45OlpB36zJRxxUwp77YDZTyLEtcWUhCJM280rfK9W8v6_gkYB9PcHAK5gmgYzqKgQO5bVsinHj6pYwgiGqpmBw_bv_bU/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="344" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeGUOgp9NYpeLizMXTlYhZcqGLOvWFeZ6oBeCCyj66EvQByZw45OlpB36zJRxxUwp77YDZTyLEtcWUhCJM280rfK9W8v6_gkYB9PcHAK5gmgYzqKgQO5bVsinHj6pYwgiGqpmBw_bv_bU/" width="205" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>2015 was a pivotal year. My <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2015/07/what-happened-in-vegas-part-2event-45.html">biggest live score </a>moved me to a point financially where chasing sponsorship didn’t seem like a productive use of my time. I maintained a high profile by starting the Chip Race with Lappin, and I stayed active on social media, but the goal wasn’t to get another sponsor. The following year’s Barcelona EPT was another turning point. As I <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-tale-of-two-tours.html">wrote at the time</a>, the festival was a new low in recreational player experience, and I despaired for the future of live poker if this was the new normal. A Stars insider told me that it was: that owners Amaya were pushing a paradigm that insisted profit in all things, to the detriment of customer experience and acquisition. At the end of the festival, over late night tapas and wine with Lappin, I told him I’d decided to go into full attack mode, sacrificing any chance I might have of ever being sponsored by them. I had in any case come to the conclusion that I was being strung along with promises of a deal “next year for sure” to encourage me not to say anything overtly critical of Stars. I therefore told my cohost I’d made the decision to write a full and frank criticism of what I saw as the problems with Stars live events, and warned him to be ready for some crossfire. Lappin not only agreed with my vision, but said he was planning to pen his own critical piece, so we were burning bridges together. </p><p>After the blogs went viral, some unexpected things happened, as well as some expected things. People we were genuinely friendly with who worked for Stars felt betrayed. Some industry figures who may or may not have been in the pay of Stars came after us on social media. Recreational players and pros alike were overwhelmingly in agreement with our view. And we attracted the attention of Unibet, who shared our view of how the recreational player experience should be, an alternative vision of the future. To our surprise, a pair of blogs that we anticipated would torch any prospects of future sponsorship ended up leading to a deal with Unibet, which was recently extended into its fifth year. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXtmuZg9WSQai41o4_hxGYog806WHqIM0FREtzAdQgLaNDpbAu_urvQHiD7tZ5Z_jNIVxqregd54AIF2lReOrUZvud19Y1iIGPBfW8G-pOq8Q5-Wd1JpS7WPFE-A43Epr67Sf_OX-rlwM/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="320" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXtmuZg9WSQai41o4_hxGYog806WHqIM0FREtzAdQgLaNDpbAu_urvQHiD7tZ5Z_jNIVxqregd54AIF2lReOrUZvud19Y1iIGPBfW8G-pOq8Q5-Wd1JpS7WPFE-A43Epr67Sf_OX-rlwM/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Shifting paradigms </h4><p>When I started in poker, the way you got a deal was you won something big and got a patch and a deal as a bonus. But as I said above, sites quickly found that wasn’t a good approach (strangely this idea that deals should be bonus “rewards” for performances on the felt has lingered among a lot of players: the most common wail I hear from players is <i>“why am I not sponsored already? I won tourney X/win more online than sponsored pro Y”</i>). New cars lose a lot of their value the moment they’re driven out of the showroom, and new sponsored pros suffer a similar fate the moment the novelty of their signing has passed and all the “Pro X signs for site Y” articles have been published. A Full Tilt employee told me that once the sites realised this, the model switched to one off deals: sticking a patch on someone who made a big televised final table and giving them a once off payment. Over time the sites realised that wasn’t particularly cost effective either, and after Black Friday big televised tables were few and far between. </p><p>The numbers of sponsored pros dwindled dramatically until the paradigm shifted again with the rise of content. Content creators were suddenly in demand, be they Twitchers, bloggers, vloggers, podcasters or whatever. Around this time I was asked by Stars to recommend an Irish Twitcher and I told them they should hop on Fintan Hand, a superstar in the making. When Unibet came knocking, this shift suited us: both David and I had very widely read blogs, produced other written content, and had a podcast we could revive. As in my previous deals, I was determined to demonstrate value, as was David, and we set about being what Pads very kindly described on Twitter recently as two of the hardest working ambassadors in poker. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">But enough about me....how do you get sponsored?</h4><p>When you ask footballers what they’ll do after retirement, they nearly all give one of two answers: management, or punditry. The problem is that for every 100 retired footballers, there’s less than one manager, and less than one pundit. Poker has a similar dichotomy: almost every successful (and many unsuccessful) player wants to be sponsored, whether they openly admit it or not. </p><p>I’ve written this history of my own sponsorships to give you an idea of what I’ve done to improve my chances in this particular lottery, and also to convey that it’s far from a free lunch these days. So what else can you do to maximise your chances?</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Create content</h4><p>We are still in the era of content. A creator that reaches an audience through Twitch, a blog, a vlog, a podcast, social media or a Facebook group offers far more value to a sponsor than a loud spoken opinion pro or a genuine crusher. Even if it doesn’t ultimately lead to full sponsorship, sites often offer other rewards and incentives to creators on a more informal basis. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Know your demographic</h4><p>There are very few genuine superstars in poker who reach and appeal to almost everyone. But that’s ok. Someone who reaches a small but loyal niche audience is more useful from a marketing perspective for a site than someone everyone knows about but nobody cares much about. Players are generally signed to appeal to a specific demographic. Here, some players have a natural advantage. It’s better to be from Brazil than Latvia. It’s better to be female than male. It’s an advantage to be younger. Tournament players are much more likely to be signed than cash game players. Holdem players have a wider reach than mixed game players. It’s a big advantage to speak English if you come from a non English speaking country. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Don’t be shy</h4><p>It never ceases to amaze me when players express a desire to be signed or dismay at not having been already so I ask them for their social media and they reply “Oh I don’t do that”. That’s their prerogative , but if you want to be sponsored you don’t don’t do social media. You not only do it, you do it full heartedly, and you genuinely interact with people. There’s a handful of players who are big enough to not have to talk to people they don’t know, but the rest of us don’t really have that luxury. Here we are back to the small but loyal beats large but fickle idea. Players who are seen as relatable and approachable are more valuable. There’s no easy hack for this: it really helps if you enjoy engaging with people, as I do. I get about 50 random messages from people I only know from social media a day and try to answer them all (if I don’t it means I probably missed it so feel free to ping me). I enjoy talking to people at live events. I also enjoy sitting there silently focusing on the game, but that’s a luxury that largely disappears when you’re sponsored. If you don’t think you’d enjoy that sort of attention, or don’t think you can find the time to answer a guy who wants your opinion on a hand he just played, the life of the sponsored pro may not be for you. </p><p>Which brings me to...</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Think about who you are representing</h4><p>I personally would never represent a brand I found reprehensible. Not everyone feels the same and think they’d happily shill for anyone if the price was right. But this isn’t a purely ethical question. If you represent a brand that is unpopular, or does unpopular things that piss players off, they will tell you. They will associate you with the actions of your sponsor. They may berate you about them on social media or at the table. Several of my friends signed up to join brands they believed in, but lived to regret it when an unpopular change of direction brought the condemnation of their peers. Others signed up to brands they didn’t really believe in and instantly regretted it. So at the very least ask a few more questions than just <i>“How much?”</i> and <i>“Where do I sign?”</i></p><p>Now, if you excuse me, I have about 50 messages I have to answer....</p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-89329931225489139432021-01-04T07:45:00.000+00:002021-01-04T07:45:52.979+00:00 The year everything changed and nothing happened<p>The further I get into my poker career, the more difficult I find it to match events to the year they happened. Was 2008 my first WSOP, or was it 2009? Did I sign my first sponsorship deal in 2009, or was it 2008 or 2010? Did Lappin enter the picture in 2012, 2011, or 2013? Did we start the Chip Race in 2015 or 2016? You get the picture even if I don’t. </p><p>When it comes to 2020, I don’t see myself having that problem. It’s a year that stands alone like no other. The year both nothing and everything happened. The problem with 2020 looking back I think will be trying to find any significant memorable events. One Irish writer used to refer to a particular year as <i>“the year I had a bath”</i>. I think I’ll look back on 2020 mainly as the year I stayed at home and met nobody. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Live poker</h4><p>I actually started the year on a run of form live. I followed up a cash in the Dublin Grand Prix main event with another cash and deep run in the UK Millions main event at Dusk Til Dawn, where I played the hand against Krissy Bicknell that is the subject of the latest<a href="https://youtu.be/ZsmsvKrnBOM" target="_blank"> Chip Race strategy video</a>, and also maybe got COVID-19 (more on that later). After I added two more final tables and three cashes at the Unibet sponsored European Deepstack festival, and then another final table at the Unibet Open, I remember Lappin predicting I’d break the record for most live cashes in a single year by an Irish player that I set a few years ago. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOQiUVPPMXvPK1hf2BiZ3C0UYp16IHJEU0t3TrgU6_QTJxzZFcTJrfMVrV6qXk4YfZenlZdp_tQK_yChxiLK6jcUEvGEHbmOo6K6tmCqdluqbdfGyE9BW-4a_PA5_T2riTZ5xiODo6PE/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1269" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOQiUVPPMXvPK1hf2BiZ3C0UYp16IHJEU0t3TrgU6_QTJxzZFcTJrfMVrV6qXk4YfZenlZdp_tQK_yChxiLK6jcUEvGEHbmOo6K6tmCqdluqbdfGyE9BW-4a_PA5_T2riTZ5xiODo6PE/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>And then the world changed....</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">COVID or not COVID, that is the question...</h4><p>There’s a very strong likelihood I had Covid-19 before we even knew it was a thing. I came back from Nottingham feeling poorly. I told Mrs Doke it was the strangest flu ever: no sore throat or runny nose, just a bad cough, extreme fatigue and I’d lost the senses of smell and taste. One day I went out to do a long run and ended up walking back to the house less than an hour later. A few days later Mrs Doke went down with the same symptoms and was unable to get out of bed for a week. My co-author Barry who I hung out with in Nottingham told me a similar tale from the Carter household. </p><p>For most of the year I felt weirdly fatigued and somewhat fuzzy and uncertain in my thought processes. At different points in the year I ascribed it to age starting to creep up on me, or pandemic blues, until suddenly in early December I felt a new bounce in my step on my runs, a return to previous clarity of thought, and the ability to put in 16 hour online grinds returned. So now I think it’s likely I was struggling with the after effects of COVID-19, so called long COVID, for most of the year. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Online</h4><p>If you look at my Hendon mob for this year, you’ll see seven more cashes I didn’t mention above, all from the WSOP. That of course was after live poker moved online, starting with the Irish Open (which I also cashed), and like everyone The Hendon Mob shrugged and accepted the new reality. </p><p>As long time readers of the blog (I like to pretend such exotic creatures might exist) may recall, I started out as an exclusively online player. As my career developed I added more and more live poker to the mix, but I’ve continued to see myself as a predominantly online player who uses live poker to break up the monotony. At least that’s the live positive view: at other times I’ve seen live as an annoying disruption distracting me from achieving my full potential as an online player. At different times I’ve definitely wondered what might be possible if I didn’t have that distraction and disruption to my routines every few weeks. So I went into lock down thinking this was the opportunity to find out. </p><p>The short term answer was “like gang busters”. I crushed the start of lock down as I game slipped back into a routine of playing online every evening, and results were so good that I joked to my in group one night that it was a bad night because I was “only 1k up”. </p><p>That comment came back to haunt and jinx me as I immediately seemed to enter into the biggest downswing of my online career. I came through that though to finish the year very strongly, and though there were no standout six figure scores to report, I ended having my best year online in several. </p><p>More importantly, I feel my game reached new heights and is stronger than ever. I put this down mainly to a much more regular study routine that has seen me putting into 30-60 minutes most of the days of this year, with some longer study sessions thrown in. I think I’ve also streamlined and focused my study much more effectively on the things likely to have the most impact. In particular in the second half of the year I drilled down on ICM. This is an area that was historically my strongest, but I probably took for granted in reasons years. It’s also the area I think that makes by far the biggest impact in the bottom line of any tournament player. I’ve always preferred solvers to humans when it comes to strategy guidance, I was often frustrated and unmotivated in the era before solvers where the done thing was to ask the five strongest players you had access to what they’d do in a spot, and then made a judgement call on which of the five different opinions you received to believe. With post flop solvers like PIO and Monker now ICM aware, that’s given me fresh motivation to run more sims and study the results. </p><p>The other big factor in my success online this year even in the absence of any one big year changing scores was my switch over to PKOs as my main game. Having put tons of study and run thousands of sims for my second book on them, it was good to be able to put the knowledge I gained not just into the book but also into practise.</p><p>Which brings me on to....</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The difficult second book</h4><p>After the success of our first book, “Poker Satellite Strategy”, Barry and I knocked a few ideas around on what to tackle next. We initially started with another idea, before settling on PKOs, because of the absence of existing books and other content on them, and the fact that they’re becoming increasingly prevalent online (to the point of dominance). </p><p>The process took a lot longer than we thought. With satellites, the challenge was condensing everything I knew inside out into something useful to general readers. PKOs on the other hand I was still very much learning myself, so the process was more about running the right sims, drawing the correct conclusions, and arranging it all into a useful framework. </p><p>"PKO Poker Strategy" was released in late June and I'm very happy with how it was received.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OuSEZEuwiIgn0NKAsVZDnywALq4FiZm_oAmCso2xEsIw_MM7hPJifMjHp-4_mrq9uL_78C8diupu_zqQt5Rdu_ZY3qnGYNjGKWUTzOwvwsbMpYxNcRSZevbSZe3VeZdE7xjaxDkeGjk/s1582/PKO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1582" data-original-width="1016" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OuSEZEuwiIgn0NKAsVZDnywALq4FiZm_oAmCso2xEsIw_MM7hPJifMjHp-4_mrq9uL_78C8diupu_zqQt5Rdu_ZY3qnGYNjGKWUTzOwvwsbMpYxNcRSZevbSZe3VeZdE7xjaxDkeGjk/s320/PKO.jpg" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>We are already well into the process of writing the third book, which should appear at some point around the middle of 2021. Barry and I also have another non literary collaboration in the works, and I’m kicking around a few autobiographical ideas for a book, so watch this space. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Coaching</h4><p>2020 was also the year that everyone found themselves with more time at home to fill, and a significant number of those decided <i>“I know what I’ll do, I’ll get some coaching from Doke”</i>. My coaching has changed over the years from tentative efforts to improve the guys I staked as part of the Firm through focusing on guys trying to go pro or climb the stakes to what it is now, a mix of wannabe pros, a healthy dose of recreationals who want to improve but never want to go pro, and some real ballers.</p><p>I did a lot more coaching this year and finally figured out how I can add most value to recreationals who come to me. Many of the players I coach ended up having better years than me online: between them there was a SCOOP Main event chopper, two WCOOP champions, and 5 Sunday majors.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Writing</h4><p>I was a bit lazy or rather uninspired this year on the blogging front, writing only nine new ones all year, two of which were a review of 2019. The sameness of my schedule once live poker stopped made it difficult to think of anything worth writing about. In previous years I’ve tended to use my downtime on planes and in hotels abroad to write.</p><p>I did write a number of strategy pieces for PokerStrategy.com, and kept up my free strategy newsletter, which you can subscribe to if you haven’t already using the link in the header to this blog. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Podcasts</h4><p>Every year David and I think we have peaked with <a href="https://soundcloud.com/thechiprace" target="_blank">The Chip Race</a>, yet every year it gets bigger. We recorded 39 shows in total, with The Chip Race episodes consistently hitting over 20,000 downloads. We made the ITunes Charts in 26 different countries around the world, and in most of those we are the only poker podcast on the charts. </p><p>At the start of lock down we launched a new YouTube show called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-BMA-Cr22eSNd2qIDeSYOwna_ZHJnO61" target="_blank">The Lock In</a>. The original concept was a looser longer version of the topical chat between David and myself that kicks off every Chip Race episode. After a couple of episodes we realised that we were going to need guests to keep it fresh, and the show steadily gained an audience to the point where most of the episodes now attract about 2000 viewers on YouTube and a further 6000 downloads on ITunes. </p><p>Speaking of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmCSXyQx1K2kaVfUPujESQ" target="_blank">YouTube</a>, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-BMA-Cr22eS826Aj-kMOf3l6Ywu3W2Vw" target="_blank">strategy clips</a> continue to be our most popular content there. We put out 12 new strategy clips this year, and they notched up about 35k views collectively. The strategy clips as a whole continue getting views, and accounted for 70% of the 100k views the channel got in 2020. </p><p>In addition to the Chip Race, I also appeared on a number of other podcasts, including Thinking Poker, Chasing Poker Greatness, Chasing Passion, Talking Global Poker, The Poker Mindset, Fish To Final Table, RecPoker and Cardschat (not released yet). </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Hopes for 2021</h4><p>Being at home for most of the year, I’ve been able to maintain a much more consistent study routine, doing at least an hour a day and 3-4 hours once or twice a year. I genuinely believe this has resulted in greater improvements to my game than in any other year in recent history, and even though I’ve had a great year online I honestly think it could have been a lot better given some run good at the vital times. So I’m very optimistic going into 2021. I don’t have any specific ambitions other than to keep doing what I’m doing, and I’m definitely looking forward to the return of live poker at some point.</p><p>I hope to see you all at some point in 2021!</p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-8934807292554666912020-12-03T15:12:00.000+00:002020-12-03T15:12:51.675+00:00Why I bet bigly on Biden<h4 style="text-align: left;">Sports betting and me</h4><p>I was seven when I placed my first sports bet, or rather had my Dad place it for me. He told me to pick three horses in the 1973 Grand National to back each way (meaning I got paid if they finished in the top 4). I don’t think my selection algorithm extended much past randomness but clearly I ran well, or my selections did. Spanish Steps came in fourth behind L’Escargot in third, but best of all Red Rum won. Over the year I’ve dabbled to varying degrees. I’ve written in the past about a <a href="http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2014/03/hometown-hero-and-his-proud-irish-mammy.html" target="_blank">specific exploit I used to fund in part my college year</a>s, and a spell in Hong Kong exploiting some holes in the pari mutuel on horse racing there. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">McGregor - Mayweather</h4><p>In recent years however I’ve restricted my gamble exclusively to the poker tables. A few years ago when McGregor fought Mayweather, I knew the odds on McGregor were way too short and those on Mayweather correspondingly too long. But while most of my friends got in Mayweather for varying amounts from a little flutter to almost allin, I didn’t have a single penny riding on the fight. Afterwards I did experience a tinge of regret at having missed out, and this came back to me recently when considering whether to bet on the outcome of the American Presidential election. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Enter Biden</h4><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ47HvOSNJxgNnUuWQ7_YnuYPLm47OnqN64AryaPKyuaVHrmxV_AP0p151aJuMmzxIOmO5YWTFt_ORgNU3A0cE9cO5ZgteVykVDtfxCZH0yN5soEknbsU7wAxQa3JARsGfCy2cUCN-YRM/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="445" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ47HvOSNJxgNnUuWQ7_YnuYPLm47OnqN64AryaPKyuaVHrmxV_AP0p151aJuMmzxIOmO5YWTFt_ORgNU3A0cE9cO5ZgteVykVDtfxCZH0yN5soEknbsU7wAxQa3JARsGfCy2cUCN-YRM/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>All of the data seemed to suggest that it was highly unlikely Trump could win re-election. He was running 6 points behind in the polls, more than the margin by which they underestimated his support last time, and he was well behind in several key marginal states. The fact that a lot of people had voted early by mail meant a late swing similar to 2016 was unlikely. The fact that Biden was urging his supporters to vote early and Trump was telling his to wait til polling day also conferred a clear advantage to Biden. Additionally there was no <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Comey" target="_blank">Comey moment</a>, and attempts to scandalize Biden didn’t seem to be as effective as they were against Clinton. <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/" target="_blank">Nate Silver’s</a> modelling data put the likelihood of a Trump victory in the 10% region, yet on the day the betting markets were making it more like 40%. All the anecdotal data I had also seemed to point to a likely comfortable Biden win. Two of the three Americans known to me personally who had told me they voted for Trump last time told me they had already voted by mail for Biden. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">My biggest ever sports bet</h4><p>All of this led me to placing my biggest ever sports bet on the day of the election across a number of different sites. I wasn’t feeling all that great about that about 12 hours later when Florida came in for Trump and he moved to a clear favourite on the betting markets. Not that I thought Biden was necessarily going to lose, but had I waited I could have got on at a much better price now. </p><p>I would never claim anything approaching expertise these days as a sports bettor. But there were two things I have picked up from friends who are that seemed relevant in this spot:</p><p>(1) who is betting on each side is vital information. As a kid I was told by a professional gambler that one should never bet on a horse owned by the Queen, because whatever it’s prospects it always went off at far too short a price because of the weight of patriotic money on it’s back from people betting it purely because it’s owned by the Queen. Some events attract a lot of mug money where people bet with their heart, and elections are often such events. A quick gander at social media was enough to convince me that most of the mug money was being wagered on Trump, and most of what I suspected to be the smart money on Biden. One notable exception to this was Bryan Paris, who not only won bigly on Trump in 2016 but came on the Lock-In this time to explain why he thought Trump would win again. <br /><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lSGRhfk4vwQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="lSGRhfk4vwQ"></iframe></div><br /><p>(2) Markets tend to overreact to early data points. An example of this is when one team scores early in a match their price often drops too much. This certainly seemed to be the case here, and indeed there seemed to be a bit of recency bias built into Trump’s price at every point in this election cycle, with a lot of “look what happened last time”. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Cognitive biases</h4><p>It has been pointed out that while closer than a lot of people (me included) expected, it wasn’t as close as many seen to think, and this would have been a lot clearer if the results had come in in a different order, with for example the marginals that Biden ended up winning all coming in at the start rather than the end. </p><p>At the end of the day (or days), I was rather relieved to not only have won my bet, but to have resisted pressing the panic button after Florida. One thing that did occur to me afterwards though is that I may have placed too much value on the anecdotal data at my disposal. Yes, 2 of the 3 Trump voters I knew switched sides, but</p><p>(1) Three people is a rather meaningless sample size</p><p>(2) Most of us realize we create our own social network, populated for the most part with people who share our views on most things. Given this bias which I know I am also prone to, I obviously don’t regard as in any way significant that almost nobody I knew was voting for Trump. I may however have assigned too much significance to the fact that two of the three Trump supporters I knew were switching sides. My thinking here was since they were Trump supporters they were exempt from any friend selection biases I might have, but on closer reflection this doesn’t really hold up. It’s highly probable that I’d find it much easier to find enough common ground with a mild Trump supporter than a rabidly committed one to maintain a friendship, and therefore the Trump supporters I knew were far more likely to switch sides than average. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Retirement....not just yet</h4><p>Despite the favourable outcome, winning my biggest ever sports bet did not encourage me to repeat the experiment often in the future. Despite winning, it felt a lot closer than I imagined it would be. This led me to conclude that I am too prone to all the usual biases to have a very clear edge, at least ahead of time. As I consumed the data as it came in on election night, I did feel I interpreted it very well in real time. Several times I was convinced the market had overreacted to the latest significant data, and in every case I was proven correct with an almost immediate market correction. It was also clear to me that the markets were often internally inconsistent: for example Trump’s overall price tended to be shorter than the cumulative prices of all the states he needed to win, and Biden’s overall price was conversely often longer than it should have been, so it felt like there were lots of opportunities to make plus Ev in running bets. This is something I might experiment with in future, but otherwise it’s very much a case of don’t give up the night job.</p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-35846540734298023482020-11-10T16:14:00.003+00:002020-12-23T17:51:08.223+00:00Real Time Assistance (RTA) - A confession<p>Real time assistance is the current hot topic in poker. I’ve debated whether to write this blog or not but in the end decided it’s time to finally come clean. In this blog I’ll explain explain what RTA is and why it’s cheating, but first let me rewind almost 50 years to my schooldays.</p><p>Back then, computers weren’t a thing. Calculators were, but as is often the case when it comes to education, the educational system lagged technology with teachers continuing to teach certain skills well past the point they were rendered obsolescent. This is why young school kids were still taught multiplication tables. They came in a small self contained book, each page a different number between 2 and 10, with a list of the ten digits multiplied by that number. 2 times 1 is 2, 2 times 2 is 4, 3 times 2 is 6....you get the idea. </p><p>We were expected to learn these by heart at home, to be quizzed on them in class. We got the book at the start of the year, and before we were ever assigned a table as homework, I had devoured it cover to cover. Numbers fascinated me from an early age. I was not interested in learning a few dozen calculations by rote: what interested me were patterns. Doubling was so easy I had no need to learn the 2 times table as I knew it already. That meant I didn’t need to learn the 4 times table either (just double twice) or the 8 times table (three doubles). The 3 times table seemed trivial too, being just a double and an addition. The 6 times table was just that doubled. Ten was the simplest of all, just add a zero. 5 times table was just 10 times halved. The first method I used for the 9 times table was to add a zero then subtract the number, but then I noticed another pattern: when you multiply a number by 9, the digits of the result always sum to 9, and the first digit is just one less. That left just the 7 times table to be learned, but then I realised since I knew all the others, and 8 times 7 is the same as 7 times 8, the only one I actually needed to learn by heart was 7 times 7.</p><p>Every Friday, our teacher ran a contest where we all stood up, he presented us with a random multiplication, and the first to raise their hand and answer won a chocolate bar. It turned out my pattern method was faster than the memory retrieval method all my classmates were using, so for ten or eleven weeks I went home every Friday with a chocolate bar in my bag. This did nothing for my popularity, and even the teacher started getting frustrated that the same kid kept winning. He took the reasonable decision of pretending not to see my hand when it shot into the air. It took me a few weeks to realize I’d effectively been banned for being too good in the interests of class morale. Once I realized this, I came up with a new strategy. I enlisted the help of the kids around me. The plan was simple, as soon as the question was posed, their arms would shoot into the air, and I would signal the answer with the digits on my unraised hands. Teacher would pick one of the kids, and we’d split the chocolate bar later. </p><p>At the time I saw nothing wrong with what I was doing. Looking back I realize it was cheating. I effectively provided real time assistance to other kids allowing them to win, and benefited from so doing. I also realize I’m disappointed that 8 year old Doke wasn’t sufficiently au fait with game theory to have worked out that always being the first with the answer wasn’t GTO. Had I held back some percentage of time and let another kid win, my long term expectation could have remained above the half a chocolate bar it became after I was effectively banned for winning too much.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Flashing forward to GG poker</h4><p>GG are very much the new kid on the online poker block. They have a bad boy swagger to them that suggests they might not fully play by the rules, and deep down what poker player doesn’t appreciate a little rule bending (especially dumb ones like you can’t play online if you live in a repressive country)? They recently sent Pads (Patrick Leonard) into a tizzy when they responded to some criticisms he leveled at them with the tactic you often see used in the schoolyard (“No, you’re stupid!”). It also needs to be said they’re doing a lot of things very well, in particular one the poker industry has struggled with in recent years: player acquisition. Recreationals love the software, and many of the features. The staking feature is particularly genius. It’s been an unspoken (although Lappin broke ranks and spoke it on his recent appearance on The Orbit) dirty industry secret for years that while Twitch is very good at attracting people who like to watch (poker or any other game), this doesn’t really translate to new player acquisition. The vast majority of watchers stay that way, and don’t contribute anything to the online ecosystem. That’s fine for other games that monetize their audience, and it’s even fine for poker twitchers making their living from donations and subs, but doesn’t translate into bums on seats or online sites.</p><p>GG have found a way to monetize people who like to watch rather than play. They can now buy a piece of any player (who is offering shares through the client) at the click of a button, without having to even contact the player in question. The client automates the entire process: there’s no having to chase players if they cash. As ever, there are rumblings that people are charging too much markup, but this is entirely missing the point. Traditionally, players have sold to other players, and there’s been a sort of gentleman’s agreement that the markup will effectively share perceived edge between the player and the stakers. Whenever I’ve sold in the past, I’ve estimated my edge and translated it to an expected ROI, then halved it, so if I think my long term ROI in a particular tournament I’m playing is, say, 60%, then I sell at 1.3. </p><p>Of course nobody ever knows their exact edge, and most of us are possibly guilty of over rather than underestimating, which tended to lead to one of the most tedious debates in poker between self appointed markup police (usually people with no actual interest in buying action) and sellers. In recent times we have seen much less of this as most people are happy to let the market decide. I think there’s also a growing acceptance that there’s an entertainment aspect to this, particularly with the Twitchers. Most people make minus Ev sports bets to make their viewing of sports more enjoyable. Similarly, rail birds will happily buy a % of their favourite Twitcher to make sweating them more fun. They’re not too bothered whether the long term Ev of that percent that costs $4 is $4.24 or $3.76. Conversely if the Twitcher can quickly sell out at $4 why should they sell lower?</p><p>This is great for the overall ecosystem as it brings fresh money into it and allows streamers to play higher (which is inherently more entertaining for their audience) than on their own dime. The idea is such a winner, I’m surprised other sites haven’t scrambled to copy it as fast as they copied PKOs from Winamax. </p><p>Other GG innovations haven’t been met with universal approval. RTA (real time assistance) is the current hot topic in poker. It’s obviously not just a problem for GG, but the exposure of Fedor Kruse as using it to rise the stakes rapidly there moved it centre stage. As a former runner I have a particular reason to feel that it’s a little unfair to point fingers exclusively at GG because of Kruse and some other players there who have had their accounts suspended over allegations of RTA use. The fact that people are being caught (assuming they are guilty) is a good thing, not a bad thing. Running is one of the best if not the best sport at catching and punishing drug cheats: yet the public perception of this often translates to “they’re all juicing”. Meanwhile other sports which take a much more low-key approach to testing sail under the radar successfully presenting the image that they don’t have a big “drug problem”. We may have a similar problem in poker. The sites making the biggest efforts to catch cheats are the big regulated sites because they correctly recognize cheats as an existential threat to their business. That means they will catch more cheats than smaller unregulated sites or apps, but if the message recreationals take from this is they are safer on an app, they are very much mistaken. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">What is RTA?</h4><p>The most hard line definition of RTA is it’s anything outside your own brain or memory that helps you make a poker decision in game. This would mean preflop charts like the ones in “PKO Poker Strategy” or “Poker Satellite Strategy” or apps like Snapshove. In theory, even sticking a post-it on your computer saying “Don’t call threebets with AJo” would be crossing the line. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB40RMnfFziEYbbaLLvWy9-BAEZrkOisCygPdgLM8XILf9FkGKBTpYmWL6OTtVrGnh60OPqxYY-nxVe0ufd7O6i1I3UAJg14-YBneV6VPvMojUjaVC4sakHMNiRhFEQG8p88_J-svO4_w/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="750" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB40RMnfFziEYbbaLLvWy9-BAEZrkOisCygPdgLM8XILf9FkGKBTpYmWL6OTtVrGnh60OPqxYY-nxVe0ufd7O6i1I3UAJg14-YBneV6VPvMojUjaVC4sakHMNiRhFEQG8p88_J-svO4_w/" width="264" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><br /><p></p><p>Most people and some sites don’t take this hard a line. Stars explicitly allow you preflop charts if it’s folded around to you. Most people would accept this is not cheating: the question is how much above and beyond that you can go. If a chart is ok, what about a spreadsheet where you type in stacks and blinds and it works out which chart you should use? Most people think we are getting very close to cheating now, and most would agree we cross the line for sure if we write a programme to scrape the screen for this information, retrieve the correct chart and tell us exactly what to do. </p><p>Postflop is even more problematic. You might argue that it’s ok if you just happened to run a sim looking at AK4 flop to look back at the results if it arises in game, but it’s becoming easier every day to build (or even buy) libraries of solves. The real doomsday scenario is full blown RTA software that scrapes the screen for all the relevant data, and then consults a comprehensive list of charts or solves to tell you exactly what to do in every spot. And if you think that’s far fetched and futuristic I have bad news for you: the technology is not only here but has already been demonstrated on Twitch.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The solution </h4><p>So what can we do, Daddy?</p><p>The first thing to say here is the sites haven’t given up. Nor are they powerless to catch people using RTA. The easiest way to start protecting yourself from cheats is by sticking to sites that have displayed a will and ability to catch them. I regularly get small refunds from Stars and GG with a note saying they caught some cheater I played against, confiscates his funds and are redistributing to those of us who were directly affected by the cheating.</p><p>The next thing to think about is that different forms of the game are less susceptible to RTA cheats. Cash with its fixed stack sizes, predictable parameters and pure chipEv is the easiest to cheat. Spin and gos, headsup sit n goes, and any other winner takes all format are similar, given their lack of ICM. Tournaments introduce ICM and another level of strategy that RTA tools will struggle to adjust for accurately if at all. Best of all are PKOs which introduce another level of strategy in the form of bounties, which will probably never be fully solved for. </p><p>For my own part, I’ve shifted the vast majority of my online volume to PKOs on legit fully regulated sites. PKOs actually address not just RTAs but a lot of the downsides of the online poker experience. They disincentivize stalling, they encourage looser more fun play, they create more multi-way pots which can’t be solved in PIO, and they make the action meaningful right from the start. And I’m not just saying that because I just wrote <a href="http://amzn.to/3eAdDB0" target="_blank">the book</a> on them.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyYrceLPmQDcJQ1OE91XDnDHsOkjtHwPCoR8uqBALsgHoheCpedkjjHAZ4Tq3S5oBlgD9lkv-DGuZ-DqU5IbTZJ7Ax-nYGFfmijyTjxAFKVFpqGGCM0Mer1faCNW4Adz1pMhafvKVSBQ/s1582/PKO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1582" data-original-width="1016" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyYrceLPmQDcJQ1OE91XDnDHsOkjtHwPCoR8uqBALsgHoheCpedkjjHAZ4Tq3S5oBlgD9lkv-DGuZ-DqU5IbTZJ7Ax-nYGFfmijyTjxAFKVFpqGGCM0Mer1faCNW4Adz1pMhafvKVSBQ/s320/PKO.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-32848916619175270482020-10-30T15:15:00.005+00:002020-12-21T17:24:54.262+00:00Seán Ua Cearnaigh (1933-2020)<h3 style="text-align: left;"> The road to nowhere</h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">When I was a small child it seemed to me that my father came from the literal middle of nowhere. When we drove from our small house in Enniscorthy to the even smaller thatched cottage in Tipperary where he was born and raised, we’d drive on main roads and through big towns like New Ross, Waterford and Clonmel until we got near. Then we’d turn down a tiny side road which he sometimes struggled to find in its unsignposted insignificance. After what seemed like an eternity when you’re five we would take a sharp right on to a more winding tiny road, so tiny you constantly feared you’d round a corner into another car coming in the opposite direction. If you were unlucky enough to run into another car on this road, well, one of you was backing up. Thankfully that almost never happened. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizhMXZPehmVQS6BEp5Nm4i-wI3Poq4bmpdZ9oiR5RAQMcUogJeCAXzBXzoeGAcaQCLmrXKephCKFN4YjoqSq5S9eKw-b6uHS40t4M1HAw5Eg5kg2qa8sQYZqhd9JIBCWCz8pKLewMwKoU/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1104" data-original-width="1200" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizhMXZPehmVQS6BEp5Nm4i-wI3Poq4bmpdZ9oiR5RAQMcUogJeCAXzBXzoeGAcaQCLmrXKephCKFN4YjoqSq5S9eKw-b6uHS40t4M1HAw5Eg5kg2qa8sQYZqhd9JIBCWCz8pKLewMwKoU/w400-h368/ElRMfzFXIAUprjk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">In actual fact, it’s not really the middle of nowhere. There are two nearby villages, Burncourt and Ballyporeen (later made famous by a rather tenuous Ronald Reagan connection) and on the final tiny road not far from the farm and the cottage, you pass <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchelstown_Cave" target="_blank">Mitchelstown Caves</a>. That meant that as a child growing up my Dad’s address was John Joe Kearney, Mitchelstown Caves, Co. Tipperary. He told me once that when the bullies in the school he went to learnt this they responded by giving him the nickname “fear na pluaise” (Irish for cave man). Another boy whose most distinguishing feature was his very large ears was dubbed “fear na cluaise” (ears man). It seems that the schoolyard bullies in rural 1940s Ireland were at least bilingual and vaguely poetic. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-align: left;">My first resteal</h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">If you’re wondering about the Kearney thing, I can confirm he was born a Kearney. As a committed Irish language activist he Gaelicized his name to Seán Ua Cearnaigh, although his mother and most of his family went on calling him John Joe. He reanglicised it to Sean O’Kearney, thereby reclaiming the O he felt the English had stolen from us, without bothering with the legal formalities of a name change. I grew up thinking the name on my birth certificate was Dara O’Kearney until I first applied for a passport and found there was no O’. To this day there’s a note on my passport on the discrepancy. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><img alt="" class="_52mr _1byr _5pf5 img" src="https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-0/p480x480/123027830_369780427672177_5408517026148496776_n.png?_nc_cat=101&ccb=2&_nc_sid=ae9488&_nc_ohc=1v2xmcbhhE0AX_ZdpLD&_nc_ad=z-m&_nc_cid=0&_nc_ht=scontent.xx&oh=f1b8c44b574e6f326978f67d170d1457&oe=5FC17171" style="max-width: 100%; width: 100%;" /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-align: left;">Never a farmer to be</h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">By all accounts, or at least by his, it seemed his childhood was far from perfect. He never said it directly, or even complained about anything, but I inferred from the stories he told that he struggled to relate to kids outside his immediate family, was seen as a bit odd and did not enjoy school. He had a lifelong love of learning and knowledge, but I think he struggled to see the point of a long bicycle ride to school to learn what all the other kids learned when he could just stop off at a barn up the road from the cottage and read the books of his own choosing. At that early age he had already learned one of the most important lessons of his life, that if the physical world left you unsatisfied and unfulfilled you could always withdraw to the world of the mind. Mitching as it was called in the Ireland of his day was very commonplace at the time, but my Dad might have been the only one in the whole county if not country skipping school so he could read more. He apparently got away with this for a year or so until his mother encountered the headmaster in the local village who asked her why her son didn’t come to school any more.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">His relationships with his parents were apparently loving in their own way but not without difficulties. He described his father as a practical man who often despaired of the impractical son he was given. He never attempted to hide the fact that he hated farming and that could never be the life for him, even if as both the eldest child and only son he would have been expected to take it over. Most of the stories he told me about his own father involved him being charged with some practical task and failing comically, like the time he hitched the horse to the cart facing the cart, apparently believing that horses either pushed carts, or worked best in reverse gear. His mother was one of the many fiercely intelligent and independent women who take no prisoners and suffer no fools gladly that are peppered through that side of my family. As a small child I remember being struck that they greeted each other not with a kiss but a handshake. She both loved and despaired of her eccentric only son who wasn’t even any good at cards. She was the original card shark of the family and it pained her to see any game played sub optimally. My Dad loved playing cards everywhere except in her cottage, because it always ended the same way with her berating his substandard play in front of his mildly amused son. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">The three sisters</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">By contrast, his relationships with his three sisters seemed idyllic. He had different relationships with each of the three reflecting their very different (from each other) personalities, and with all three he had a closer bond than any other I’ve ever seen between brother and sister. With eldest Kathleen he shared a love of Irish history and culture, and he respected her fierce intelligence and directness that meant she always called it as she saw it. In Eileen he found a soul even gentler and kinder than his own, a true kindred spirit who seemed to understand and appreciate his eccentricities and qualities better than anyone else. And with youngest sister Ann, the rebel of the family, he thrilled to her sense of playfulness, humour and mischief while appreciating her insistence on living her own life on her own terms. All three relationships lasted a lifetime, and the most excited and happy I ever saw him was getting into the car to drive to visit one of them. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Games</span></h3><div><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">My Dad loved games, something he passed on to both his sons. He taught me most of the games I know, including poker, but it started with chess. A friend would come once a week to play him, and I’d sit and watch the incomprehensible battle of wits that ensued. I did understand that the games they played were intense for both men, and my Dad seemed to always lose. Over the course of the game I’d see him go from boyish optimism to puzzlement, frustration, and eventually resignation and the disappointment of defeat. His disappointment never lasted very long: he was a very good loser, something he didn’t manage to pass on to me. He enjoyed the game for the game itself, the result didn’t seem to matter much to him. This was true of almost everything he did: he read voraciously and learned for the pure joy of knowledge. He was not an ambitious man, something he was often berated for, but for him knowledge was it’s own reward. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">After a few weeks of observation, I asked him to teach me. I quickly learned the moves, we played a few games, and he got to experience the joy of victory. At least for a few weeks until I won my first game. He took it well even if it can’t have been nice to lose to your 7 year old smartass braggadocio son, who was not a gracious winner. We played a few more games during which the gulf in skill rose to obvious and embarrassing proportions. The novelty of beating my old man had been replaced by something somewhere between sympathy and mortification so I stopped badgering him to play, and started badgering him to let me join the local chess club. He gratefully accepted the switch. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">He taught me dozens of card games, almost all of which he played enthusiastically but badly. As I got older we settled into a familiar pattern: he’d teach me a new game, we’d play until I got better than him, I’d teach my brother and we’d play until one of us emerged dominant. My brother won chess, I won checkers. He won monopoly, I won most but not all of the card games. When we ran out of games my father taught us, we started inventing our own. I remember one game in particular that grew in complexity and strategic richness over time: US President. We played as competing candidates vying for states and electoral votes. There was both strategy in where you chose to employ limited resources, and chance in the form of rolling a dice. Once we’d exhausted all the competitive games my Dad settled into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience_(game)" target="_blank">patience </a>(known as solitaire in the US), a game he would play for hours and hours on end for the rest of his life. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">As I was growing up I saw myself as very different from my Dad, but looking back I see we were far more similar than either of us perhaps imagined. We shared a lot of passions and our political outlooks aligned perfectly. He was a man who was driven by the things and people he loved and tried to waste as little time as possible on the things and people that annoyed and bothered him. I grew to see the wisdom in that. He loved games and knowledge for what they taught him not what they brought him. While I remain a more outwardly ambitious man than he ever was and take pride in trophies and other accolades, the primary attraction of things like running and poker for me remains the joy of discovery more than the joy of victory. My Dad could immerse himself in a book or a game or a piece he was writing so the rest of the world faded away, something my own kids will attest he definitely passed on to me. He had natural endurance both physically and in life. He could walk all day, and one of the stories he told me involved him going to Dublin as a teenager to see his beloved Tipperary hurling team play in Croke Park, spend the money that was intended for return train fare on drink, which meant he had to walk home. For those of you not familiar with Irish geography, that’s a long walk. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><img alt="" class="_52mr _1byr _5pf5 img" src="https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-0/p480x480/123244761_783840945514210_3422599694821590395_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=2&_nc_sid=ae9488&_nc_ohc=ZEVg-UpccN8AX8CS5fN&_nc_ad=z-m&_nc_cid=0&_nc_ht=scontent.xx&tp=6&oh=f111c97638187192295dd3075530dda0&oe=5FC2EADE" style="max-width: 100%; width: 100%;" /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Wisey</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">The biggest thing I think I learned from him is just because someone is very different from you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t respect and try to get along with them. Having had a tricky relationship with his mother growing up, he found himself with an oldest son who seemed to have inherited all her most difficult traits (obstinacy, stubbornness, impatience with imperfection and a sharp tongue that didn’t hold back if it thought you were wrong). To his eternal credit he adjusted to this and never insisted “my house my rules” or that I behave the way he would have liked me to behave, or that I be like him. His nickname for me, “wisey” was a gentle jibing response to a smartass son who would never let him win a game or an argument, or let any perceived lapse of logic go unremarked on. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">I remember him as having spent much of my childhood alone in the smallest room in the house, his office, hammering on an old typewriter. He wrote poetry, stories and articles, mostly in Irish, which he submitted to various publications like Ireland’s Own. His biggest ambition was to get a book published, and the most deflated I remember seeing him was when he would open a parcel containing a returned manuscript and a rejection letter. But he was a dogged resourceful man who never dwell on disappointment or setback but simply got on with writing the next one. He taught me by example that failure is final only when you give up. I sometimes feel very old in poker and in life, but when I think of everything he achieved past my age with failing health, it’s inspirational. At the age of 65 he finally achieved his ambition, and over the final two decades of his life published <a href="https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se%C3%A1n_Ua_Cearnaigh" target="_blank">approximately 20 historical fiction books</a> with Irish book publishers such as ‘An Gúm’ and ‘Coiscéim’ and received a number of awards for his writing. His particular strength was books aimed at kids: he had a natural affinity with kids and an ability to communicate with them directly. At his funeral one of my cousins who teaches on the Aran Islands told me his books were the favourites of the kid in her school, and he came there to give them a talk once. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTPXUYvy4N2TKRpwFmahpz63zLjpu4lofaphk_AtswcJQjSQNJmfp7zWvV40QD4M16kFXgDhzIbbAEA8kcqXm8KUOIOwFfbTQzNkXH6mVXPtDRWv5QAEpvKpaLYjG4lB3x-zrQjfMEFA8/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTPXUYvy4N2TKRpwFmahpz63zLjpu4lofaphk_AtswcJQjSQNJmfp7zWvV40QD4M16kFXgDhzIbbAEA8kcqXm8KUOIOwFfbTQzNkXH6mVXPtDRWv5QAEpvKpaLYjG4lB3x-zrQjfMEFA8/w360-h640/ElRMfzKW0AAuFx5.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Sports</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">My Dad was not good at any sport, but that didn’t stop him from loving them all. He grew up in a time when soccer and cricket were hated in Ireland as foreign imperialist sports, but he welcomed them into his heart. He confided in me on one of our drives to Tipperary that when he was growing up he’d never seen either game played, and that he had surreptitiously learned about soccer purely from listening to radio commentaries of matches. He laughingly admitted that he imagined the act of heading rather differently from the reality: in his mind’s eye it involved players getting down on the ground to hit the ball with their head for some reason. To this day I have no idea what he could have imagined as the reason they’d want to do that rather than just kick the ball, but my Dad was a romantic rather than a logician, and like many romantics the world he imagined was a much more entertaining place than the one he found himself in. This made him an entertaining if somewhat unreliable narrator at this times, he very much subscribed to the Spike Milligan view that you shouldn’t let the facts get in the way of a good story, and to this day I can’t be sure if all the bridges in Tipperary he proudly told me his father had blown up during the war of independence were ever actually blown up by my grandad. It wasn’t that he lied: he was actually the worst liar I’ve ever known in the sense that when he attempted subterfuge it was comically transparent, but he had a way of reimagining the world to make it more interesting. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">The eternal optimist</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">My Dad’s path through life was not an easy one. He was a natural optimist and romantic who always believed that no matter how bad things got, better times were ahead, just round the corner. I’m not entirely sure why he decided to become a forester, but I think it may simply have been that he loved trees. Unfortunately for him he quickly discovered that the reality of the job was very different from the romantic ideal in his head. He definitely didn’t enjoy “thinning”, the process of going through the forests in his care marking the trees that were to be felled. To watch his face as a workman started up the chainsaw, you’d think it was going to be taken to him rather than the tree. He did enjoy bringing me to forests, and walking around them with me, something he never managed to pass on to me. To this day I find them desolate somewhat sinister slightly unnerving places where bad things can be expected to happen. But my Dad was an old fashioned tree lover. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">He was diagnosed with serious health problems in his 30s and contracted diabetes in his 50s. The fact that he lived to be 87 is testament to his resilience and ability to make the best of whatever life dealt him. He was less “when life gives you a lemon make lemonade” and more “get it over with and eat that lemon without complaint, then tell everyone that was the last of the lemons and it’s nothing but oranges from here on out”. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Mrs Doke</span></h3><div><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">When I pulled off the coup of a lifetime and persuaded Mireille to uproot her life in Germany to join me in what she initially assumed was a “priest-ridden backward country”, nobody welcomed her into the family with the amount of enthusiasm my Dad had for her. They took to each other instantly. He was thrilled by her intelligence, directness, culture and sense of humour. As proud as he was of being Irish, and as much as he loved local history, he was never parochial or insular and was genuinely the least xenophobic person I’ve ever met. He was living proof that you don’t have to be racist to be nationalist, and you can both a proud Irishman and a proud European. He loved the fact that our family was now properly cosmopolitan and European. He brushed up on his basic French to talk to the in laws. He was a little disappointed they didn’t quite share his enthusiasm and knowledge for all things Napoleon Bonaparte, but he consoled himself with a genuine relish for French cooking that he instantly recognized as a different level from bacon and cabbage.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">The funeral</span></h3><div><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Pandemic or not, his funeral was a very well attended affair, with his sisters, both his sons, different generations of both sides of the family, and friends he had shared his different passions with showing up to say goodbye at St Aidan’s Cathedral. His sister Ann delivered a moving tribute to the brother she had known and loved all her life, and her husband <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Gardiner" target="_blank">Bobby Gardiner</a> and children provided the kind of beautiful haunting Irish music soundtrack my Dad always loved. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">In the graveyard afterwards, it was great to see cousins, aunts and uncles I hadn’t seen in decades. It was both sad and fitting that even in death my father was able to do one of the things he did best: bring very different people from all walks of life together on common ground. As we prepared to leave, one of my uncles pointed out something else that was very fitting: if you look straight across from his grave on the hill you see another more famous hill, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vinegar_Hill" target="_blank">Vinegar Hill</a>, which was the place in Wexford that featured most prominently in his heart and in his stories. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiejcDabIbt__KSq8uMs5w4ANjibZS76XhIJxyjhX9sJbBYk2vVXYNe7pqOTXamJfNETOOiGkvntBpO9XumhAVfpuo9kTVeNtVwFJfYdO5sbSc6_nyY3nwrHdkhGPL6-apo76jJBJXywPs/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="242" data-original-width="784" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiejcDabIbt__KSq8uMs5w4ANjibZS76XhIJxyjhX9sJbBYk2vVXYNe7pqOTXamJfNETOOiGkvntBpO9XumhAVfpuo9kTVeNtVwFJfYdO5sbSc6_nyY3nwrHdkhGPL6-apo76jJBJXywPs/w640-h198/Vinegarhill_eastview.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Brother Hanley</span></h3><div><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">By the time I was in secondary school, I no longer felt at home in my parent’s home, and was counting down the days til I got to leave. It wasn’t really anybody’s fault: it was simply as time passed I grew further away from them in mind and outlook, and the differences between us outnumbered outweighed and overwhelmed any lingering similarities. My Dad seemed to accept this and make the best of it, my mother not so much. She seemed to take my rejection of almost all of her views on life and beliefs as a personal slight, and something that could be righted through extreme punishments and endless hectoring. It particularly hurt her that I was by now a confirmed atheist, and her main concern seemed to be that I keep this to myself. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">My secondary school was a Christian Brothers one. I’m sure you’ve all heard the horror stories, but in truth I have nothing but good memories. By Christian Brothers standards it was very modern in outlook. My favourite teacher was a Christian Brother from Tipperary, Brother Hanley. A philosopher and poet by nature (he was published in Irish), his life took a sharp turn in middle age when a shortage of physics teachers in the country led him to volunteer to go back to college and earn a science degree from scratch. By the time I met him he was nearing retirement, a wonderfully clear and passionate teacher who could convey the wonders of the universe in a physics class. I was therefore relieved that he was assigned to be my personal spiritual counsellor. Once a fortnight I’d go over to the Christian Brother residence for an hour with him in the dusty room assigned. He would answer any questions I had on points of doctrine factually but with none of the enthusiasm he had for quantum mechanics. He didn’t seem too interested in arguing with what I saw as logical inconsistencies in the religion I was born into, replying mostly with the phrase “it’s a matter of doctrine”. Sensing he could see through my sham pretence at faith I eventually came clean and told him I had lost all belief in a Christian God, and awaited his response. After his initial shock at the sudden blurted and I’m pretty sure incoherent nature of the confession had subsided, he smiled conspiratorially and said </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><i>“Most of us do in the end. Let’s go for a walk”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Thereafter, our fortnightly spiritual counselling sessions took the form of walks in the garden and down by the river enjoying the marvels of nature while we talked philosophy, history and life in general. A physicist and mathematician by training and a poet and philosopher by nature, he combined them all into a wonderfully clear and concise method of expression that resonated with my similarly mathematical mind. When he told me that time as viewed through the prism of a single human life is not linear but elliptical, I understood intellectually he was saying that the further we get into our lives the closer we seem to get back to the beginning. As I get older I understand how true his statement was in a much more meaningful sense. The adult of 30 is a very different person from the child of 10, an entirely different person, and the adult of 50 will look back on the 30 year old as a different person again. But the child remains the original, and even as we go through life discarding and acquiring identities, beliefs, companions and experiences we never forget the child we were and how that child saw the world. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Back to beginning</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Even now, I read ten year old blogs written by 45 year old Doke and struggle to remember the person he was and the things he thought. My memories of 25 year old me are often so remote it’s like watching a movie about another person’s life for the most part, a movie where I’m struggling to grasp the hero’s motivations. But even now I can close my eyes and I’m back in the back of a Volkswagen Beetle on the way to the middle of nowhere. My Dad is driving, and as we pass through every town and village between Enniscorthy and the thatched cottage in the middle of nowhere he’s telling me story after story about each place, who used to live there, and what happened to them. Sometimes he’s the hero, sometimes he’s just a fringe character, and sometimes he’s just the one telling the story. But he’s happy, the happiest I will ever see him in his life, because he’s leaving the worries and stress of work and marriage behind for now, heading back to the place and people he loves the most, where he feels truly at home. And I’m happy too because he’s happy, because I love the place and people too, my Granny, aunts, uncles and cousins, with the easy uncomplicated love of people you only ever see on holiday. And I’m happy because we are talking and listening and telling each other stories and our differences no longer matter because of my Dad’s amazing ability to simply put them all to one side and focus purely on our similarities and shared passions. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">These are memories that are fresher in my mind than stuff that happened in January, these are memories that didn’t die with him but will remain alive and fresh to me for the rest of my life. Gone but not forgotten, ní fheicimid a leithéid arís.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDABLVrfvURcJTrKcwkwGZM3wGx2gUflS67rD3TZEEn-3JY_9qtbT5pKab-1iiBwOJ_Pr52nMd_29RYz2Vca-e3sHV5dp9A59EBpM8STc7Rcvro7sG-zXII-RFhbpAgBfgiViybYlqSUc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="158" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDABLVrfvURcJTrKcwkwGZM3wGx2gUflS67rD3TZEEn-3JY_9qtbT5pKab-1iiBwOJ_Pr52nMd_29RYz2Vca-e3sHV5dp9A59EBpM8STc7Rcvro7sG-zXII-RFhbpAgBfgiViybYlqSUc/w211-h640/fam.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span></p>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-60268815020980523982020-08-14T16:13:00.018+01:002020-10-17T04:58:29.121+01:00Learning From Solvers: KK on 987 flop<h2 style="text-align: left;">Studying with solvers</h2><p>Solvers have revolutionised poker, and the way we study it. Most pros accept the necessary to study with them nowadays, but not all of them use them optimally in my view. Often they focus too much on specific hands they played, looking to answer the question <i>“Did I play the hand properly?”</i> This is the wrong question in my opinion. While looking at specific hands and spots is a good way to investigate optimal strategy in a concrete way, you really should be focusing on two things:</p><p>(1) how should I play my overall range (every hand I could possibly have in this situation) rather than just the specific hand I happened to have on this occasion?</p><p>(2) what are the underlying factors and strategic concepts that can be extrapolated from this exact spot to other situations?</p><p>To illustrate this I’m going to do something I haven’t before here on the blog, a hand breakdown with a difference. Rather than go through the hand in one go, I’m going to stop at each decision point and give you a chance to think about the spot and what you would do.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">A cash game hand</h3><p>One of my students writes:</p><p><i>“This hand is from a 2/5 live cash game in Vegas. LoJack opens to 15 and I threebet to 45 with black Kings in the hijack. It folds back to him and he calls. Pot is 97 and I have 480 behind.</i></p><p><i>The flop came 987 two spades one diamond. He checks. My thinking in game was that while I would check this board at a very high frequency, this is one of the hands I want to bet, both for protection and value. On this very wet board, it benefits strongly from folds so I sized up to two thirds pot. </i></p><p><i>After my opponent folded however, I thought this bet size might be a mistake, as it strengthens my opponents continuing range too much to hands I’m not in great shape against with my kings. What do you think?”</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlA9nmB5WyOEWS3lZh6nmfS2oCilNAdEzHPdLYECitk9tr2qTzsYOrqn44jzYsMVthJXV9bxm8ToQfcnTlfhfpDZiUKJhwTSUvHmf3f-fmjDfpYh-waR77Fqge_3FPYSLukKTNS8LMx94/s1182/KKhand.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="1182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlA9nmB5WyOEWS3lZh6nmfS2oCilNAdEzHPdLYECitk9tr2qTzsYOrqn44jzYsMVthJXV9bxm8ToQfcnTlfhfpDZiUKJhwTSUvHmf3f-fmjDfpYh-waR77Fqge_3FPYSLukKTNS8LMx94/s640/KKhand.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><br /></i><p></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>I’ll be back in a few days to give my response, but before I do, ask yourself what you’d do in this situation, and why.</p><p>Would you:</p><p>(1) Check</p><p>(2) Bet small (quarter to third pot)</p><p>(3) Bet big (two thirds pot or more)</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Assigning ranges</h4><p>Before considering what we should do on the flop, we should do the following:</p><p>(1) Assign ranges to both players based on the preflop action</p><p>(2) Evaluate how those ranges interact with the board to see which player (if any) has a range advantage</p><p>(3) Based on that evaluation, work out what our strategy should be with our entire range (not just our actual hand) </p><p>OK, let's consider the preflop ranges. In these spots, we always know our own range (or at least we should) but we have to guess and make assumptions on our opponent's range. We may know what their range should look like from a game theory perspective, but their actual range may be a lot different in practise.</p><p>In this case, my student's range looks like this:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGl09dadALcxAr7G1LYe7C113IInJkq1KWiEH38gDOI03-ZodVcjSrd0niue2uVXHOTcu-lMn3UHfCYtjumUlA1NLxTR9Fl-81HXdrAS_Ebl3m23TifzoYIg4quzdnlcou_SzB4hMLJ9E/s1280/3brange.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGl09dadALcxAr7G1LYe7C113IInJkq1KWiEH38gDOI03-ZodVcjSrd0niue2uVXHOTcu-lMn3UHfCYtjumUlA1NLxTR9Fl-81HXdrAS_Ebl3m23TifzoYIg4quzdnlcou_SzB4hMLJ9E/s640/3brange.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>This is a well-constructed balanced polar range consisting of all the strongest hands we want to three bet for value (and don't mind getting 4 bet) mixed in with some suited broadways that flop very well (but can be released if they face a 4 bet), some middling pairs that can flop sets and give us board coverage on boards with no high cards, and a couple of bluffs with blockers that can also flop very well (A5s and A4s). Some of these hands are a mix: the hands with a "1" are always threebet but the others only some of the time. For example 99 is 0.4 meaning we threebet it 40% of the time and flat the other 60%.</p><p>OK, now let's look at villain's range. Obviously we can't be sure exactly what the range is, but since villain is a competent reg we can make some assumptions about their range:</p><p>(1) It probably doesn't include very strong hands that always 4 bet, likes aces (so to a certain extent the range is capped)</p><p>(2) It probably includes other strong hands like KK, AKo and AQo some but not all of the time, as villain will split between sometimes 4 betting these hands and sometimes flatting</p><p>(3) It mostly consists of medium strength hands, as well as some suited connectors like 65s that flop very well for board coverage (so it's largely what we refer to as a condensed range: one consisting mainly of medium strength hands)</p><p>(4) There are no unsuited weak hands like AJo and down that always get folded to the threebet (as they should) or occasionally gets turned into a light 4 bet if villain thinks we are 3 betting too much, or they're feeling frisky</p><p>With that in mind, we get a range that will look something like this:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh077IUuo-X9kBynMzEIl6Cp-5LkoFXedDWv0bnphRiHJin10UCo3ZRYVvb4LX_osznwD-2BMnchQ9_L_DZKqeb_3UvbZeMs0N-K9CNL3YFaVy6aCoT4zzgVvrMotjuiQ_75MokVUf70a8/s1280/3bpeelrange.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh077IUuo-X9kBynMzEIl6Cp-5LkoFXedDWv0bnphRiHJin10UCo3ZRYVvb4LX_osznwD-2BMnchQ9_L_DZKqeb_3UvbZeMs0N-K9CNL3YFaVy6aCoT4zzgVvrMotjuiQ_75MokVUf70a8/s640/3bpeelrange.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Evaluating the flop</h4><p>Now that we have assigned ranges to both players, we can move on to consider whose range hits this flop best. A cursory glance suggests that while the in position 3 bettor has more overpairs, they have less hands that connect with this board than villain, which suggests villain has a range advantage here.</p><p>To work out how much of a range advantage, we would need to look at every single hand in both players ranges and work out how often it's likely to be the best hand on this flop, and to stay ahead on every possible turn and river. Luckily, solvers can do this at the click of a button. Loading these ranges into PIO and letting it do the work for us, we learn that in pure equity terms the out of position player has a clear advantage, almost 55/45.</p><p>Looking at the equity of both ranges is a good place to start when considering range advantage, but EV is more important. EV represents how much a particular hand will win on average (averaged across every possible run out and opponent holding). Luckily, the solver is also very good at evaluating this for us. In this case, PIO tells us that out of position's overall EV is just over $60, and hero's just under $45. Note that these always sum to $105 (the current size of the pot) but it's actually possible for an individual hand to have an EV greater than the current pot! For example, if we are lucky enough to have threebet 99 and got this flop, our EV is now almost $200, because not only can we expect to almost always win the current pot but sometimes our opponent will put more money into the pot which we can also win. By contrast, while KK is a very strong hand on this board, it's EV is only a little over $75, because not only is it vulnerable but if a lot more money goes into the pot it won't be the best hand as often, and even when it is it's vulnerable to being outdrawn. Note that tens actually has higher EV (over $85) because if it's currently behind it has a better chance to make a really strong hand like a straight, so it plays better in big pots.</p><p>Now let's look at it from villain's perspective. Firstly they have slightly more sets on this board. When they do flop a set though, they'll make slightly less on average by virtue of being out of position, We said above that if the 3 bettor flops a set of nines they can expect to make almost $200 on average, but if out of position does, their EV is just over $185. Despite positional disadvantage though, some hands are worth more out of position. For example, we saw if in position player has KK it's worth about $75, but if villain has KK it's worth over $85, by virtue of the fact it's the best hand more often and less likely to be outdrawn. The nuts on this board is JT, and if we look back to the ranges we assigned, we can see in position player never has this hand, but out of position can have JTs. These are the highest EV hands possible on this board, JTs spades (nut straight and flush draw) is worth over $233, JTs diamonds (nut straight and backdoor flush draw) is worth a little over $210, while the other two JTs combos (nut straight but no flush draw) are worth about $208.</p><p>We can summarise all this as follows:</p><p>(1) Out of position has a clear equity advantage and an even bigger EV advantage on this flop</p><p>(2) Out of position also has more really strong hands like straights, sets and two pairs (this is referred to as the nutted advantage)</p><p>Because of this, out of position can play this flop very aggressively, and in position has to be a lot more cautious. The first thing the villain (out of position player) should be asking themselves is given how good a flop this is for their range, should they be donking some hands, or should they always check to the raiser?</p><p>That's the question I want you to ask yourself now. Imagine you're the villain this case and you have the range illustrated above, what hands if any would you donk, and what sizing would you use?</p><p>I'll be back again in a few days to look at what the solvers says the villain's strategy should be, and to explain why. </p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Donking strategy</h4><p>To donk or not to donk, that is the question. After I posted part 2, there was some discussion about this on Twitter and Facebook. Many felt they'd check their entire range to the raiser, intending to check raise all their strong hands. That was a very viable strategy a few years ago when preflop aggressors cbet far too often (sometimes 100%), but the problem with that strategy nowadays as Andy Hills pointed out on Facebook is that any competent villain will recognise this is a much better board for out of position, and will just check behind a lot. Because of this, as out of position, we want to go ahead and lead many of our strong hands. This has two advantages: we get more money into the pot when we have a strong hand (not allowing opponent to check behind), and because we have a lot of hands we are leading for value, we get to do a lot of semi-bluffing.If we lead a hand like AT, opponent may fold a stronger hand like AQ, which is obviously great for us.As a general rule the more value bets you have the more other hands you can also lead. I say other hands rather than "bluffs" for a couple of reasons. First we have a lot of strong semi-bluffs (like ATs) that would like opponent to fold but don't hate if he calls either because they can make a very strong hand on a later street. Second, we have some weaker hands (like underpairs to the board) that aren't exactly value bets or bluffs but still benefit when opponent folds. If we donk a hand like 22, we can be pretty happy if opponent folds AQ which is behind but has lots of equity, and betting and forcing him to put more money into the pot to continue is a better result for us than checking and letting him check behind and get a free card.</p><p>Now that we have established this is a board out of position should donk (lead) a lot, the next question is bet sizing. When choosing a sizing on flops, there are a number of factors to take into account:</p><p>(1) The bigger our range advantage the bigger we go as far as sizing is concerned. In this case out of position has a significant but not massive range advantage: in position has some sets, all the overpairs and therefore has a few hands that can face a lot of heat and a lot more that can call at least one bet. In these circumstances, you generally don't want to bet too big, which has the further disadvantage of being easy to play against (opponent can just continue with strong hands and fold weaker ones)</p><p>(2) The bigger we bet, the more we get to bluff. In situations where we have a relatively small number of very strong hands and lots of hands we'd like to bluff, we generally size up (thereby polarizing ourselves). Conversely, in situations where we want to bet a lot of hands not just very strong ones for value (to prevent opponent checking behind) we generally choose a smaller sizing, with less bluffs. The more equity our bluffs have as semibluffs the more of them we can bet at the smaller sizing. This is clearly such a situation, so it's no surprise that even though I set the solver up so that it could bet third pot, half pot, two thirds pot and 1.2x pot (overbet) it only ever really uses the smallest sizing, third pot.</p><p>So without further ado, let's look at the solver recommended donking range:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aeGAVR0U8ZFA4Gj40FQ7b_u42c4-jvyabMrQNMfh6gpaJNkvzaE5d-R8fwxMxTW4TmI8qBF_5a5DkTCGXJX-nKSRdBNP3E636rAsFIe_cW2R9oZWaU4UjSdPiq5wjBiY1mc7eXGT6q4/s1280/donkrange.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aeGAVR0U8ZFA4Gj40FQ7b_u42c4-jvyabMrQNMfh6gpaJNkvzaE5d-R8fwxMxTW4TmI8qBF_5a5DkTCGXJX-nKSRdBNP3E636rAsFIe_cW2R9oZWaU4UjSdPiq5wjBiY1mc7eXGT6q4/s640/donkrange.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>The first thing to note here is just how often the solver advocates donking: roughly 60% of the time.</p><p>The next thing to note is that every single hand in its range is what is called a mix, meaning we sometimes check sometimes bet. The reasons for this are as follows:</p><p>(1) We don't want to bet all our strong hands all the time. If we do this, what does that it mean when we check? It means our checking range becomes a check fold range. To avoid this, we have to hold some strong hands back that we can check raise (and check call).</p><p>(2) If we take the same action every time with a certain type of hand (for example Tx that is openended), then we are exposed on some turn cards when we have taken the other action. For example, if we always bet our open enders, and our opponent picks up on this, then when we check and the turn is a Jack, we can't have the straight.</p><p>In the above image, the red bar for each hand on the grid represents how often we bet at equilibrium, and the green bar how often we check. You probably won't be too surprised to see that our strongest hands like straights and top set are bet the most frequently (but not always: as noted earlier we need to be able to check call or check raise them sometimes). Our strong draws are also bet very frequently, because they like when opponent folds (and we win without needing to get there) but don't mind getting called (they can still get there) or even raised (they can call a raise). By contrast, our least frequent leads are hands that don't have much going for them (but may have some showdown) like A3s or KQs.</p><p>Ok, now let's flip seats again and asks ourselves how in position should play versus a donk lead. This is something many players struggle with (which is a strong reason to implement don leads into your game). Look back at the preflop range in position has and ask yourself which hands they should fold to a donk lead, which hands they should call, and which hands (if any) should be raised.</p><p>I'll be back in a few days with solver results.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Defending against donks</h4><p>Here's how PIO responds as the in position player facing a donk lead foe half pot:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtH4AWp0jjJWp1K7Jtav8LXjXuPAtRtx9Jg-wSXF_M24U0oEcAwzkepUBL8HnxalAHriL_NYWgOABJVVDkx4eh1AyNc0-rBof-rVHLnGq-pnA9UIOMgv0cS8nsvI6vTVQklvbzmOmcEc/s1280/Facingdonk.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtH4AWp0jjJWp1K7Jtav8LXjXuPAtRtx9Jg-wSXF_M24U0oEcAwzkepUBL8HnxalAHriL_NYWgOABJVVDkx4eh1AyNc0-rBof-rVHLnGq-pnA9UIOMgv0cS8nsvI6vTVQklvbzmOmcEc/s640/Facingdonk.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Overall, PIO advocates folding about 25% of our range, calling 62%, and raising 13%. The first thing to notice is that this is a lot of folding. Because the out of position player is betting half pot, if we fold more than a third of the time, they're making money on the lead even if they never win the pot when we don't fold. Folding 25% is getting up there towards that, so once you add in the times we continue but out of position wins the pot you can see just how profitable the lead is.</p><p>Looking at the grid, you can see that most hands are a mix, meaning the solver advocates mixing two or sometimes all three of the possible responses (raise, call or fold). The only hands that have a pure response are 88 (middle set) and 66 (underpair with an open ender) which are only ever called (on a practical note, any time you see a low frequency play of under 5% like the raises for both these hands in the image above, you can ignore them as they usually tend towards zero when we let the solve run for longer, and even if they don't you sacrifice little or no EV by not implementing these low frequency plays and make your strategy much easier to implement).</p><p>Some hands mix calling and folding, for example A4s. This is slightly deceptive as it's a pure call when we have a flush draw (A4 spades) and a pure fold otherwise. Note that a backdoor flush is not enough to call in this case (this is a mistake a lot of players make thinking any nut backdoor can't be folded)</p><p>By contrast, AQs and KQs are always called when it has a flush draw, but we don't fold the diamond versions that have backdoor flushdraws. So what do they have over A4s that makes them strong enough to continue? The answer is twofold: the queen is an additional overcard to the board that will pull us ahead more often if we hit it, and it also gives us an additional backdoor straight draw. PIO advocates mostly calling (80%) and raising the rest of the time with these hands.</p><p>AKs is folded without a backdoor, which is another mistake I see a lot of players make thinking the hand is strong enough to call flop and see what develops on turn. AKs in diamonds are mostly called and occasionally raised, whereas AKs spades doesn't want to fold or reopen the betting so is always just a call.</p><p>AKo, AQo and KQo are generally just folded unless they have a spade to give them a backdoor flush draw. When they have a spade they're essentially very similar to AQs diamonds, so it's not surprising the strategy is identical: mostly call, sometimes bluff raise.</p><p>AJs, KJs and QJs are stronger hands again since they have a gutshot to ho with their overs (and in some cases a flush draw or a backdoor flush draw). This added equity means we no longer want to raise diamonds as much and risk facing a reraise so we just call, and now the hands with no backdoor flush draws are the ones that are occasionally called but sometimes bluff raised. The spade version of these hands are now strong enough to be played aggressively, and the solver raises AJs 60%, KJs 16% and QJs 9%.</p><p>ATs and KTs are open ended. With a flush draw they are strong enough to be played aggressively (ATs spades raises 60% and KTs 30%). Without one they are just called.</p><p>The overpairs are all mixes between calling and raising, and the presence or not of a spade in our hand is pretty crucial.We are more inclined to raise aces with a spade (40%) than without (15%). Kings with a spade also raise 40%, but without a spade are raised only 10% of the time. Queens is interesting because it's almost never raised, which is often the case with strong but not super strong made hands with weak backdoors. Jacks on the other hand is a stronger hand on this board with its gutshot. With a spade it's raised 40% and without 15% (the exact same strategy as aces). Tens also raises more frequently with a spade (40%) than without (5%).</p><p>That leaves us with the sets. As stated earlier, 88 is a pure call. 99 on the other hand is normally raised: with a diamond (blocking backdoor flush draws and pairs) it's raised 92%, without the diamond only 57%.77 with a spade is raised two thirds of the time, but without one it's never raised.</p><p>OK, so that's how we respond if the villain donk leads into us. But to return to the question posed in part one, what do we do with kings (and the rest of our range) if checked to?</p><p>Would you:</p><p>(1) Check</p><p>(2) Bet small (quarter to third pot)</p><p>(3) Bet big (two thirds pot or more)</p><p>I'll be back in a few days with answers.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Continuation betting and sizing considerations</h4><p>We have already said that this isn’t a great flop for us so one we need to check behind a lot. Assuming both players are playing GTO ranges our range consists of:</p><p>(1) Some sets. We can have all the sets but we would also call 99 88 and 77 some of the time so actually we don’t have many sets. We have no straights so sets are our strongest hands</p><p>(2) We have no two pair but all the overpairs which are strong but vulnerable on this flop.</p><p>(3) We have no other one pair hands so all that remains are overcards and hands like A5s. With not much Tx and no 6x apart from 66, we don’t have many open ended straight draws. We have some Jx type hands that give us two overs and a gutshot, some flush draws and back door flush draws, plus a lot of hands that have only two overcards </p><p>Our opponent on the other hand has:</p><p>(1) Made straights (JTs and 65s), all the sets, and some two pairs (98s and 87s)</p><p>(2) Not as many overpairs as we have but some pair and a draw hands (T9s, 76s) and more underpairs</p><p>(3) A lot less high card only hands </p><p>It’s easy to see when we break it down like this that our opponent’s range is stronger. PIO indicates that overall they have a 55/45 equity advantage on this board and because of the nutted advantage an even bigger EV edge (60/45). </p><p>This means as discussed in the previous section that the opponent can donk a very high frequency on this board having a lot of strong hands that don’t want to let us check behind, and a lot of good bluff candidates that would like us to fold but can improve to winning hands if we call. PIO donks 60% here and checks only 40% as the out of position player. I was interested to see what it wanted to do in position when checked to. As we both expected, it checks a lot (58% of its range). The interesting thing is that when it does bet, it always uses the small sizing of one third pot. I gave it the options to bet half pot, two thirds pot and 1.2x pot but it never uses this size.</p><p>This might seem a little counterintuitive at first when we think about just our value range and how much a lot of it wants to “protect” or deny equity to our opponent. However, when we expand our considerations to our opponent’s range (which contains a lot of very strong hands that can call no matter how much we bet) and our own bluffs, it suddenly becomes clear why the solver prefers the smaller size. We struggle to find a lot of good bluffs on this flop, and the bigger we bet the more of them we need to find. Even when we choose the smaller size of third pot, to get up to the required number of bluffs, PIO ends up having to use some hands that don’t seem like great bluffs. For example, a hand like KQs that has no flush draw front or back door is still bluffed almost three quarters of the time. </p><p>That combination of factors makes this a spot where even if we think our big hands want to bet big for protection, a better way to play our overall range is to use a smaller sizing of one third pot.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">But does anyone actually donk?</h4><p>Recent Chip Race guest Callum made the excellent point that while the above analysis is predicated on out of position having an aggressive donking strategy advocated by the solvers, in practise most players don't have a donking strategy, and always "check to the raiser". Callum went on to look what happens if we node lock (fix) the out of position player's strategy to checking entire range, and the result unsurprisingly is that we now check behind a lot more.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnOMfaAotUY0CXRWNCba5JQHBCCDvIT8wEXOh4UJnGW0JIjEe4uu_99zgSMmXX-0cLw77UNLKfOBdNeoy4n6TqV-tfa7YhEFMYebHXQFAxjZifvC3c61Pq-Of7CSImU9z-TG_j9FeT-cs/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="498" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnOMfaAotUY0CXRWNCba5JQHBCCDvIT8wEXOh4UJnGW0JIjEe4uu_99zgSMmXX-0cLw77UNLKfOBdNeoy4n6TqV-tfa7YhEFMYebHXQFAxjZifvC3c61Pq-Of7CSImU9z-TG_j9FeT-cs/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>As you can see, the only hand in our range that really wants to bet now is 99 (top set), and it balances this with some low frequency betting of other hands. Given that 99 loses less than a dollar in EV by checking rather than betting, we can simplify our strategy to simply checking our entire range behind. This is a very common exploit in position versus opponents who don't donk on boards that clearly favour them: simply check behind, take a street out, and see what they do on the turn.</p><p>Callum also points out that even when players do have a donking strategy, it's very hard to be balanced. In practise, most players will lead their strong hands (the ones that really don't want to allow a check behind) but won't find enough bluffs, making the donk leading range too strong, and by extension their checking range too weak. Faced with this strategy, the solver now flips to betting 100% of the time when checked to. This is a point I always try to hammer home to my students: if you bet all your strong hands out of position, that's all well and good when you have a strong hand, but means when you check your range is too weak to take any heat, and makes you very easy to exploit. Conversely, if you're playing against someone who always bets their strong hands, then always pounce on their checks.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">On to the turn</h4><div>I asked on Twitter for suggestions for interesting turn cards if we bet the flop and get called, so there's going to be one last instalment to the blog looking at what we do on certain turn. Before I reveal solver results, I want you to consider what you would do on the following turn cards if checked to:</div><div>(1) 3s</div><div>(2) 3c</div><div>(3) Qd </div><div>(4) Jc</div><div>(5) 8c </div><div>(6) 9c</div><p>Before we look at specific turns. let's ask ourselves whose range is stronger after the flop goes check bet call. As noted before, this is a very good flop for out of position, and when it comes down they have an equity advantage of almost 55/45. Now let's consider what happened on flop, and also what didn't happen, and how this affects the ranges:</p><p>(a) Out of position chose to check rather than bet (donk). Given that he will be donking many of his stronger hands (with some weaker ones for balance), this weakens his range somewhat to 52/48</p><p>(b) In position elects to bet rather than check. This removes weak hands he's giving up with from his range so he now has a slight equity edge</p><p>(c) Out of position elected to call the bet rather than raise or fold. This removes some strong hands that would check raise, and all the weaker hands that just give up, so overall out of position's range is strengthened (to 52/48 again)</p><p>OK now let's have a look at the specific turn cards.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">3s</h4><p>This is a scare card but not one that hits either player that much better than the other. Ii's slightly better for in position who has more flushes (11% of the range compared to 9%) so the overall equity advantage for out of position is reduced to a smidgen over 50%. Given that this isn't a good card for out of position and it introduces more nutty hands into in position's range, out of position has no leads on this card, checking 100%. In position conversely gets to do a lot of betting now, and uses a hefty two thirds pot sizing with 62% of its range (comprised mainly of flushes, sets and overpair, balanced with a lot of ace high, king high and air both with and without a spade).It also bets some weaker hands (11% of the range) at a smaller one third pot, and checks the rest of the time. With black kings specifically, the solver always bets again, usually (over 85%) at the bigger sizing.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">3c</h4><p>This bricky looking card is actually very favourable for out of position, as it does nothing to improve in position. Out of position's range advantage swings back up over 56%, and as a result can lead some hands (12% of the range bets one third pot).This is mostly overpairs and better mixed in with some air. Facing a lead, in position mixes raising and calling with kings, mostly raising with the spade and calling without. Facing a check, in position bets less frequently than on 3s. The bigger sizing of two thirds pot is now only used 37% of the time, the smaller sizing 18% and the rest of the time we check behind. With black kings we actually start throwing in some checks (15%), we bet third pot 28% and two thirds the rest of the time.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Qd </h4><div>This is one of the worst cards for out of position, whose equity drops to 43%. In position has a lot more Qx. As a result out of position has no leads, and when he checks, in position can just bet practically everything for one third pot, including kings.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Jc</h4><div>This card doesn't favour either range particularly, with equities remaining 52/48 in favour of out of position. Because of this, there's no leading by out of position, but in position can't autobet when checked to. The GTO response is to check behind 49%, bet small (third pot) 23% and big (two thirds pot) the rest of the time. On this card, black kings is mostly checked (57%) and when bet can go small (20%) or big (23%).</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">8c</h4><div>Another card which barely changes the equities, so out of position always checks, but in position response is interesting. The solver wants to bet most of the time (65%) and only uses one sizing, two thirds pot. The reason for this is the nuts advantage shifts dramatically. On the flop out of position had JTs, in position did not. With the board pairing the value of that hand is degraded, but the value of the flopped sets in in positions range (which have now boated or quadded up) shoots up. With such a strong nuts advantage now, in position can bet big for value and as a bluff with a lot of hands. With kings specifically, we also bet this size.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">9c</h4><div>This is essentially the same as the 8c and strategy is almost identical.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5243613728923981388.post-78053043183876736272020-07-14T17:11:00.000+01:002020-07-15T17:08:40.559+01:00Interesting times<i>“May you live in interesting times” </i>is perhaps the most famous Chinese proverb. But there’s a twist: it’s not actually Chinese. The first literary reference to it as Chinese is ascribed to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austen_Chamberlain" target="_blank">Sir Austen Chamberlain</a>. The most plausible theory is that the phrase was coined by Austen’s father, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Chamberlain" target="_blank">Joseph</a>, a politician who used it in a speech in 1898. Somehow, the theory goes, his son was unable to believe his old man was capable of such a clever turn of phrase, and determined that he must be plagiarising the Chinese. Joseph had another son, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain" target="_blank">Neville</a>, who knew only too well the curse of living in interesting times, but that’s another story.<br />
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We now live in interesting times.<br />
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Be careful what you wish for</h4>
At the start of lock down, I was almost happy. I’ve long harboured the suspicion that I’d be a lot happier and a lot richer if I never left the house. Lock down seemed the perfect time to test that theory.<br />
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You see, at the start of my career, before social media, before podcasts, before anyone in poker knew who I was, I pretty much just played online. 10-12 hours a day every day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. I loved it and lived for it.<br />
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Over the years the other stuff gradually crept in. Live poker, this blog, social media, coaching, the Chip Race, the books and all the other stuff I do...all rewarding in themselves, but part of me always saw them as a distraction from my one true love: online poker.<br />
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So lock down seemed almost like an opportunity to go back to what I loved doing the most. I decided I’d go back to playing online every day.<br />
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And how did that work out?</h4>
For two weeks it was nothing short of amazing. I had the two most profitable weeks I’ve had in several years. The games were amazing as hordes of live poker players with nowhere else to go logged on to poker sites for the first time in years. It felt like printing money. In my inner circle’s chat group I joked one night that I’d had a bad evening because<br />
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<i>“Only made 1k tonight”</i><br />
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This encouraged me to shut down everything else I do, even my own study, and devote myself exclusively to the online grind. The prevailing wisdom among online pros was that this boom couldn’t and wouldn’t last long, so it seemed prudent to prioritize the grind above everything else.<br />
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But......<br />
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Pride comes before a fall</h4>
As we went through Unibet Online Series, SCOOP and Powerfest, turbulence was encountered in the form of my worst ever downswing online. Suddenly playing every day wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be, and I was relieved when the series ended.<br />
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It was time to rethink and regroup. One thing that was crystal clear was I can no longer grind every day like I did at the start of my career. I need breaks and the other stuff I do to mix things up.<br />
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PKO Poker Strategy</h4>
A couple of weeks ago, Barry Carter and I published our second book on poker strategy. This time we looked specifically at the strategy of PKOs, which are slowly taking over online poker. Most sites now have more PKOs than any other type of tournament, and those that don’t have them yet are all apparently introducing them soon. So even if you don’t currently play many, now is a good time to get in on the ground floor as far as learning the strategy goes.<br />
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If you have bought the book and enjoyed it we would be very grateful if you could rate and review at <a href="http://amzn.to/3eAdDB0" target="_blank">Amazon</a>: your reviews really helped us with Poker Satellite Strategy.<br />
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If you haven’t bought the book yet, maybe this excellent <a href="https://www.pokernews.com/news/2020/07/pokernews-book-review-dara-o-kearney-s-pko-poker-strategy-37573.htm" target="_blank">PokerNews review</a> by Lyle Bateman will persuade you to do so.<br />
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I did a couple of podcasts to promote the book, Talking Global Poker and Thinking Poker, both of which should be out soon. I may do a few more in the next few weeks. Speaking of podcasts I did a long one with Domantas Sniezka which he broke into two episodes of his <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/41-dara-okearney-part-1-poker-professional-ultra-running/id1468675083?i=1000472829461" target="_blank">Chasing Passion podcast</a>, covering both my poker and running careers pretty comprehensively. As I’ve said it’s long, but a few people told me it’s their favourite of the ones I’ve done.<br />
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I'm also scheduled to do a live AMA on top UK poker Facebook group UK POKER ROOM on Wednesday July 22nd at 7 PM. I did one of these last time for Poker Satellite Strategy and it was a lot of fun so please come along to it with any questions you might have on PKOs (or poker in general).<br />
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Other content</h4>
In addition to keeping the Chip Race going throughout, David and I decided to launch a fortnightly YouTube spin off called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-BMA-Cr22eSNd2qIDeSYOwna_ZHJnO61" target="_blank">The LockIn</a>. It’s basically an unedited chat similar to the topical segment that kicks off every show, but with a guest. One thing poker teaches you is to know when to fold when something doesn’t work, so we set targets for viewer numbers and agreed as soon as we slipped below we’d stop. We haven’t reached that point yet so the show goes on.<br />
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I’ve kept busy churning out strategy articles for PokerNews, PokerStrategy and CardPlayerLife. The best way to keep up with stuff like this is to subscribe to my <a href="https://blogspot.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=bee319dc619266261ab667e86&id=69219cf7ba" target="_blank">free strategy newsletter</a>.<br />
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I also produced a new video with Jason Tompkins specifically on how to go about building a stack in the early stages of a live tournament. This is available for $100 from <a href="mailto:dokepokercoaching@gmail.com">dokepokercoaching@gmail.com.</a> I have a few more videos in the pipeline and one new major project so watch this space.<br />
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That’s all for now folks</h4>
This is my first blog in almost four months, the longest I’ve let go between blogs since I started. The honest truth is I’ve felt a little uninspired on the blog front, but I’ll try not to let as long go until the next one.<br />
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In the mean time I just want to say I hope you all are getting through these interesting times and lockdown with your health and sanity intact. Be careful out there!dokearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592202751564682226noreply@blogger.com0