Freedom on the Internet

The future of online poker hangs in the balance. Within the next few months it may be all but impossible to play this game that we enjoy in the comfort of our own homes in the U.S. We as responsible adults make the choice to engage in this activity without harming anyone. Yet there are people in our government that want to act as parents to the citizens of the United States and tell us what we can and can't do in the privacy of our own homes on the internet.

This issue isn't just about poker, it reaches into everyone's home and everything you do online. Poker is just the stepping stone to censoring the internet. This is not what our country is about, yet we have "leaders" in Washington that think it is okay to impose their so called "morality" on the rest of us. That is not the purpose for which our government was formed. It was formed to protect our freedoms and rights as individuals. Our freedom gives us the right to make our own choices, so long as we are not harming anyone.

The future is unwritten and you can be a part of the change that we all want in this country. This is a link to send a letter to President Obama and also to your Congress person: http://pokerplayersalliance.org . The letters are already written and you can edit them if you like. It only takes a minute of your time to protect your freedom.

Here is a link to a blog written by a poker player's rights activist. He posts on pocketfives.com as TheEngineer and has been a driving force in getting poker players to take action: http://poker.blogtownhall.com/default.aspx. We are lucky to have him on our side.

Here is a link to two opposing articles about the legalization and regulation of online poker. http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2009/06/01/online-gambling-debate-barney-frank-vs-spencer-bachus.html One article is written by Congressman Barney Frank in support of legalizing and regulating online poker. The other is written by Congressman Spencer Bachus who favors prohibition of online gambling of every kind. You can show your opinion by voting and see what other readers think.

Now is the time that we let our voice be heard as free citizens in this country. Get involved! Take action! Protect your freedom!

Just Play

I have a friend who plays the bass for various local bands where he lives. When we met he noticed that I was struggling with a tendency to over analyze situations and hesitating in my decisions. He told me about when he was learning to play bass that he did the same thing. He knew all the chords, notes, and rhythms but he was struggling to put it all together. He kept messing up in performances because he was just plain thinking too much. His band mate caught on to this and told him "Forget everything you know, and just play". He took it in, and just let go of all the anxiety and analytical thought process. He trusted himself to just play, and instantly he was much smoother, making no mistakes and having a damn good time. When he told me this story, I applied to my life as well, and it made a huge difference.

I think everyone has gone through something similar. I've recently learned a lot of new concepts and information in poker and have been analyzing every hand to the smallest detail trying to get an edge. The problem is with all this thinking and analyzing I forgot to "just play". I realized this right before I started on the Midnight Madness MTT last night. It was a revelation. I decided that I knew enough and that I just needed to let go of it all and feel in the moment. I decided to trust my gut and just play.

I'm sure the timing was good, because I happened to run well too. Part of that running good is knowing when to ship your stack on a bluff, or shove 2nd pair knowing you're getting called by a flush draw. This isn't something you can analyze or think about, it's something you feel. And when you feel it you just have to trust it and go with it. Sure sometimes you will be wrong and that's when the doubt will creep in. But over time, if you trust yourself and just play you will be right more often than not. I know that's how I did so well in Midnight Madness, and I will continue to do well as long as I remember this. Forget everything and just play.

I want to gamble

I'm fighting the urge at this very moment to play some games outside of my bankroll.

I miss the days when poker was just fun, and I played just for the thrill.

But now I grind, I play within my bankroll, and I look at the bigger tables to watch and learn, not to sit with half my roll and see if I can beat the big boys. I feel like Knish in Rounders, minus the delivery truck, and playing it safe. But I want to be the hero, not the sidekick. I want to feel the rush of the big pot!

When I look at 6 tables hand after hand, without 1 pot seeming to have much significance, I just want to get 3 stacks of High Society and put it on the line. I know when I add up all the emotionless pots they will propel me to my destination. And that is the thought that will put me back in line. Because I'm not the gambler, I'm the steady winner, I'll just sit at the play money tables and gamble it up so maybe some day I can afford to take Barbie on a date. I'll dream about the good life of the high stakes rounders, and know that I will eventually get there. Just not today.

Busted Jacks Review: The Poker Mindset

I think there are many poker players out there who, even if blessed with great talent, just don't have the tools they need to improve how they deal with the roller coaster ride that is variance. At least I know I was one of them, until I read this book.

"The Poker Mindset" by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger, is written from the perspective of poker players that have overcome the psychological challenges that are holding back many other players. The book is intended for players of every skill level. It does not propose to teach proper technical play but rather to provide a psychological tool box to help players master the mental and emotional aspects of the game.

"If you are looking to make money from poker, you need to play for the long term and accept the short-term risks." -The Poker Mindset. It is written in an organized and easy to read format that thoroughly outlines each concept with tips on how to incorporate them into your game, and mind. The book covers a full scope of topics such as, how to cope with bad beats, tilt, bankroll management, evaluating your opponents, balancing poker with your life, as well as many advanced topics including a section about what it takes to become a professional.

While reading this book I was able to apply the concepts within to my own poker game with excellent results. I read through the introduction, which gives a general outline for the intent and purpose of the book, then on to the second chapter which outlines exactly what The Poker Mindset is. "The Poker Mindset consists of seven attitudes that you need to adopt in order to succeed at poker over the long term, giving you a psychological toolbox to compliment your technical one." Basically it can help you get your perspective, emotions, and motivation in tune so that you can bring your A-game to the table more often.

If it isn't obvious already, I am very impressed with this book. I've been able to change my perspective on the game in such a way that variance doesn't have nearly the impact on my decision making that it used to. Both of the writers are professional poker players who are also well educated with degrees in subjects ranging from finance to risk management and business. As a poker player I can clearly see that they have a very good grasp on the poker concepts they write about and have presented them in a way that let's the reader see The Poker Mindset from the ground up.

Clearly I would recommend this book to any player, from novice to advanced who wants to improve their profits and play their A-game more consistently.

Play well and have fun!

A Sense of Arrival

I've been thinking about some of my ups and downs in poker. If you've followed my story at all then you probably realize I have had some good upswings, and some trying downswings much like many average to decent poker players. A few big tourney wins, and a nice stretch of "run good" in cash games has made me feel like I am pretty good at poker. Yet I still am not at the level that I sometimes think I should be.

I want to talk about something that other poker players might struggle with as well as myself. That is the "Sense of Arrival" that some people feel when they've achieved a goal, or overcome a challenge. My challenge has been that of becoming a long term winner at poker. I am a long term profitable player, but I seem to have a block that has kept me from moving up the ranks into the higher limits and buy-ins that I feel I should be playing by now. So after reflecting on the last 3 or 4 years of my poker playing life I have come upon some thoughts that may help me close that gap.

In the past when I've hit a nice score in a tournament or made a big run in the cash games I've congratulated myself and basically told myself "I am now a good poker player. I've accomplished my goal and reached my destination. I'm here so now I can relax and enjoy."...

WRONG! Do not pass Go! Do not collect two hundred dollars!

What experience has taught me about these accomplishments, is that after I've achieved them, I have become complacent and less motivated to continue improving and pushing myself to take every hand and every situation seriously. I guess in a way, I let my wins go to my head and make me think I'm better than I am. So when I get into a tough situation I will sometimes underestimate my opponent and overestimate my skill. I'll make some stupid calls and untimely bluffs into the nuts. This in turn leads to the inevitable downswing where, yes the cards get bad, but I get even worse.

I know what it feels like to tilt off a bankroll that I've worked hard to build. It is NOT pleasant. And when I do it over a long period of time, like a month it doesn't really seem like I'm tilting. I'm not playing outside my bankroll or just going crazy at the tables, I'm just making more mistakes than my opponents because of the reasons mentioned above. That's really what separates the good players from the bad, is the frequency and size of mistakes being made. If you are overestimating yourself then you will most likely make some big mistakes.

To play this game well you have to be patient. You have to be able to fold a seemingly strong hand in a situation where your read tells you it's probably no good. You have to be diligent and analyze each hand properly. You have to put yourself in the mind of your opponent to get him to do what you want. When you think your just too damn good, your actions will become canned and your reads will become stale. Your opponents will outfox you and you will wonder why you are running so bad. You really have to be hungry to prove yourself and driven to play every hand to the utmost of your ability. If you're like me after winning a good amount of money, that drive tends to subside a bit and the situations seem automatic. That's where the downfall begins.

I can start to see a glimpse into the mindset of the top poker players. Take Phil Ivey for instance. He says the money doesn't really matter to him, what matters is playing the game well. This has to be true when he is winning huge amounts just as when he is losing big. If he is winning but playing bad he has to be able to separate the two in his mind and chastise himself for playing horribly. When he is losing big he has to take his satisfaction from the fact that he is playing his best and getting his money in good. The worst thing that can happen to a results oriented player is to win while playing bad. If I didn't care about the money or the results I would focus more on how I play my hands than whether I win or lose money.

I will never reach my destination in poker, or in life for that matter. When I win I will look to the next horizon, and seek out the next challenge. When I think of the player next to me I won't think about how good or bad he is, I will think about how much I want to be better than him. When he rivers trips and I know my aces are no good, I will be happy when I make the right laydown. When he gets desperate and shoves 3 7 suited, I will be so in tune with him that I will know my top pair is good. It's time that I play for the purity and challenge of the game itself and forget about how much I've won or lost that day.

Poker is a game that is constantly evolving and hungry players are looking for every edge they can get. If you or I ever feel like we have this game mastered, well we need to think again, because there is a player to our left who hasn't arrived yet and wants it more than we do.

Boku's Amazing Challenge: An Interview with Boku87

Countless people have gone online or to a casino and have miraculously turned a $100 (or less) gamble into a small fortune. Rarely if ever have any of them called their shot like Boku did. Not only did he say he would turn $100 into $10,000 but he made a side bet with over $11k of his own money that he would do so in 15 days or less, playing poker online.

In late February, 2009 Boku87, as he is known on twoplustwo.com and PokerStars.com, made a challenge to the world in the form of a prop bet (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/54/poker-beats-brags-variance/propbet-turning-100-into-10000-15-days-lowlimit-only-417722). He bet that he could start with a bankroll of $100 and turn it into $10k playing only low stakes sit-and-go tournaments. Everyone thought he was crazy and that there was no way someone could do this without getting extremely lucky. Little did they know, Boku is an amazing multitabler who could stay level headed for hours on end while playing up to 50 sit-and-goes simultaneously. On March 3, 2009 Boku began the daunting task he had set out for himself. After some ups and downs and day after day of "mind crushing" grinding, Boku arose victorious on March 16th and proved to everyone that he could do the "impossible".

I am honored to have this opportunity to ask him a few questions about his awesome test of poker endurance.

Great job Boku. Thanks for taking some time to answer these questions.

If you don't mind everyone knowing, what is your real name?

Since the EPT Monte Carlo everyone knows it anyway, so my real name is Thomas Boekhoff.

What part of Germany are you from?

A small region in North-West Germany which for some reason is called Eastfrisia...Maybe thats why everyone thinks in Germany that Eastfrisian people are not very clever. There are countless jokes about Eastfrisian people being stupid.

How long have you been playing online poker and do you play professionally?

I started playing in March 2006 and left school 4 months later to have more time for playing and earning money with poker.

What was your purpose for making this challenge to yourself and the poker world? Was it just for the money, or did you have something to prove?

A friend asked me to show him how I 40 table. He 30 tables himself and wanted to see me play to see what I am doing different to improve his game. Because I did not want to take ages to load up games at my normal stakes I decided to register for some 3$ and 6$ sngs etc. and I just totally crushed them. I made like 500 bucks in this short session and my friend and I thought if there is a way to make more profit doing this. Like making a challenge that I could make X amount of money at these stakes and so I developed the 100$ --> 10K challenge.

There seems to be some confusion on the forums about how much action you got on this bet. Would you care to clear up the details?

I am not sure about the exact amount but I have about $4K on Fulltilt and a little over $30K on Pokerstars. I know that it was over $30K before I started so I think I won around $35K in bets. Maybe +- a few hundred bucks.

Playing 50 tables at one time is absolutely mind boggling for most people. How did you work your way up to 50 tabling without completely frying your brain? Do you have certain personality traits or characteristics that allow you to play so many tables at once?

Well I started with just 4 tables and stayed at 4 for a few months. One day I saw the rhainkhan video and thought "Wow so many tables I think I should try more than 4", and I started to slowly add some till I got to the maximum of 12 tables (in 2006)
I started playing SnGs on Full Tilt but they denied me rakeback so I switched to Pokerstars in November 06 and just loaded up my tables as usual and expected to get the "you can't open more than 12 tables" message at one point but it never happened and I opened like 15 tables. I was surprised that it was possible to play more than 12 tables and I had no problem with handling more than 12 so I just opened up as many as I could handle which was about 25 at that time. Since then I slowly added a few more and also switched from 9man to 18/45man which are easier to multitable because they have less shorthanded situations.

I think I am mathmatically gifted, I learned counting to a thousand and stuff basically by accident when I was four so I think being good and quick at math is useful.

What would you say is the most important characteristic for anyone trying to play so many tables?

You have to be able to make decisions very fast and standardize your game. So no sick moves or bluffs and you should avoid tough situations as you do not have time to think 10 seconds for one hand.

I read on twoplustwo.com that before posting your challenge to the poker world, you made a bet with a friend that you could get people to give you 3 to 1 odds on this challenge. Is this true?

We did not really bet on it but we were thinking about how much I could demand. I did not think I was a 3:1 underdog but I thought people would think I am a 3:1 underdog so I chose those odds.

While playing nearly 7000 sit-and-goes in less than 15 days you had two long stretches of 1500 games each, where you only broke even. Have you ever experienced this before? How did these breakeven stretches effect your confidence?

I have had long breakeven stretches before but certainly not at this level. I expected to be done at 5000 SnGs at the most and only if I ran really bad. I thought it might take about 4000 SnGs but that downswing that caused me to breakeven for 1500 SnGs was just brutal. It just destroyed all my plans and I actually had to switch to a daily 13-14 hours grind.


Was there ever a point where you felt like throwing in the towel, and giving up, and if so, what got you through it?

At one point after a session I had around $4K and I thought about quitting as I had to play another 7 days or so and I was totally exhausted and not in the mood to play any more poker. But I just couldn't face myself anymore if I quit at that point. I only needed to make like $1.50 per sng in 500 Sngs per day which is not that hard so I just had to do it, if I like it or not. It was hard to force myself to keep playing but I knew I would win if I ran ok and played good.

How many hours would you say you spent actually playing poker during this challenge?

I would guess about 150 hours.

Since you are most likely the only person ever to attempt this endeavor, you must have quite a different perspective about volume than the average player in online poker. I don't think anyone has ever played this much in this short a period of time. What are your thoughts on this experience? Have you had any revelations or enlightenments about poker arising from playing this much volume?

It was just brutal. No one should ever play this much. I could not sleep at night, I could not eat and I could not drink. Basically I was a total mess during this bet.

Has this experience brought you to love poker, hate poker, or are you indifferent?

During the 1500 SnGs breakeven stretch I have sworn to myself I would never ever play poker again. But now that it is over I don't feel like that at all anymore. I just like poker the way I did before the bet.

Did you accomplish what you set out to do with this challenge?

My goal was to win some money with prop bets and I did that so I accomplished my goal.

Will you be getting back to grinding any time soon, or are you taking a vacation?

I will take at least one week or probably up to a month or so. I really need a break from poker.

Do you have any big plans for your winnings?

Not really, but I will think of something nice.

Will you be playing any live events this year?

I always wanted to play some live tournaments so I am probably going to play some smaller ones in the APPT or LAPT. I might play some WSOP events, too.

You were probably hoping I wouldn't go there, but a lot of guys saw your sister in the live video stream and just went nuts about seeing her. What would you say to all the guys out there who have a crush on her? Is she available?

She has a boyfriend for about 3 years. So no chance ;)

Who do you look up to/admire in the poker community? Do you have any mentors that you would like to share some credit with?

My thanks goes to Joey Micheal, Jonathan Little and Chip Ferguson. They are instructors for SnG Icons.
Before I watched their videos I just broke even but their videos really improved my game and are the reason why I am winning.

Thanks Thomas for doing this interview. I think you inspired a lot of people out there by doing something we all thought was nearly impossible. Congratulations on your success, and good luck to you in all your future challenges.

Boku has a blog at http://10kpropbet.blogspot.com with summaries of his daily struggles.

© WK Cook 2009