Tommy Angelo
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Breathing in, I am aware I am breathing in. Breathing out, I am aware I am breathing out.
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Articles by Tommy Angelo
Tommy Angelo: The stillness hypothesis
The stillness hypothesis goes like this: During poker, each moment of stillness is a moment of less unhappiness, and less tilt, which is pretty much the same thing. By 'tilt' I mean 'any non-A-game performance or mindset'. A scientific hypothesis should be falsifiable, meaning that the hypothesist provides an experiment that could disprove the hypothesis. I will do that. It’s not ideal that the experiment will rely on your subjective reporting for data, but we’ll get to that. Why bother?
Tommy Angelo: The poker mantra that has saved me a thousand buy-ins
Poker mantras are plentiful and awesome, such as ‘All you need is a chip and a chair,' and 'It’s never wrong to not play.' But the best poker mantra of all — the only one with explicit universal instructions that can improve your win rate at any moment — the only mantra that has saved me a thousand buy-ins, is this: Wait for a better spot. Let’s do a thought survey.
Tommy Angelo: Symptoms of poker nirvana
Tommy Angelo is a poker player, writer, and coach who's been shaping the game for decades. Tommy practices and coaches painless poker, and his books, articles and videos have helped serious poker players around the world. Was it the killer kale salad? Or maybe it was the nap. Why was tonight’s poker session extra awesome? Three times I found myself basking in the bliss of poker nirvana. The third event was so profound that I rushed home to type about it.
Tommy Angelo: Project Phone Fruit
Tommy Angelo is a poker player, writer, and coach who's been shaping the game for decades. Tommy practices and coaches painless poker, and his books, articles and videos have helped serious poker players around the world. What I’m about to say is hard to fathom, even though we all know it’s true: Your phone is an inanimate object. It just sits there, dead like a stone, until you decide to bring it to life.
Tommy Angelo: Painless preferences
Tommy Angelo is a poker player, writer, and coach who's been shaping the game for decades. Tommy practices and coaches painless poker, and his books, articles and videos have helped serious poker players around the world. If you prefer your coffee with cream, and that doesn’t happen, you don’t have to be unhappy about it. If you prefer to win with pocket aces, and that doesn’t happen, you don’t have to be unhappy about that either. Do you believe what I just said?
How to Meditate While You Play Poker
Downloadable audio: Print: Streamable audio: Let’s talk about secretly supercharging yourself right in the middle of your poker sessions so that you’ll feel better, and therefore play better, and therefore feel even better. It’s simple to do, but hard, and that’s a recipe for frustration because even though you’ll probably want to try this stuff, you probably won’t. Was that a dare? A throw-down? An unprovoked act of aggressive from a mission-driven pen-wielder?
Kay Says to Raise My Fee
Dear reader: I wrote this in 2009. I’m in Vegas right now doing a four-day coaching program with a new client. At the end of day one, after doing coaching stuff all day in my hotel room, we went downstairs to the poker room to play some poker in the same game, for mutual observation. The plan is that I watch him and take notes so that the next day, up in the room, we can talk about changes he could make that would make him more money.
QQ vs 53 Hand (me vs Mick Stanley) from Painless Poker
Dear reader, In this excerpt from the last chapter of Painless Poker, I am playing at my old romping grounds, Lucky Chances, for the first time in years. In between folds, my thoughts kept drifting back to seat seven. I’d get an urge to say something across the table to Mick, and just as fast, the impulse vanished, and all I wanted was to play poker. A dozen oscillations later, I hit a peaceful patch.
Betcha Can't
Betcha can’t turn your computer off. See. Told you. Oh, you weren’t ready? You didn’t know there was a challenge coming? Okay. Take your time. Time’s up. So, what’d you decide? You don’t want to take the dare? You just want to keep your computer on and have me go away? I’ll be gone, soon enough. But first, let me tell you the prize, so that you will know what it is you are saying no too. Turn your computer off, right now, and you will increase your poker strength. On three: One…
Two…
Three You still here?
Ignition HUD Card Catcher - Online Poker Software
Ignition Poker Card Catcher Overview Neither Holdem Manager, Hand2Note, or Poker Tracker supports HUDs for Ignition Poker rooms. Without a HUD it can be difficult to track passive or tricky players effectively and maximize your EV per hand. The Ignition Card Catcher solves this problem and allows you to run a customizable HUD with your Holdem Manager, H2N or Poker Tracker database.
So Close But Yet So What?
I’m not saying I’m unsympathetic or anything, like when we went double or nothing on the last hole and it came down to where all you had to do was make a three-foot putt to get even. I was rooting for you to make it, but then again I wasn’t. If you make it, I’ll feel good because you feel good, because that’s the kind of friend I am. And if you miss it, I’ll feel good because, well, your money would become mine, and I’m that kind of friend too. So I’m freerolling, financially and emotionally.
Range Wars
“What do you do for a living?” It was a polite question, in the setting I was in, at a neighbor’s annual soup party. I had no reason to be rude to the person I had just met named Julia. But I’d been working on this poker article all day, so my thoughts kept drifting back to it. Plus, I’d recently hit the vape for a while. In that condition it’s best if I avoid speaking because my words might not have a discernable connection to whatever came before. “I’m a range shrinker,” I said.
Mucka Hi
It was 1997. I had just moved from Ohio, where 98% of my opponents were white, to Northern California, where 80% of my opponents were Asian. Right away I made buddies with a few Chinese guys, let’s call them Moe, Joe, and Larry. One night all four of us are playing in the same 9-handed limit hold’em game. We’re all sitting at the same end of the table. I get in a headsup pot against a Chinese guy from the other end of the table who I’d never seen before. I make my hand on the river and I bet it.
STUCK!
1 day ago Tommy Angelo poker loss I was sitting there at the poker table like I had a million times before. I was tired. I was frustrated. I was anxious. I wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else, doing anything else. But I could not leave. I was stuck. I was stuck to my chair. I was stuck to my suffering. I was stuck to being stuck. Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. FUCK!! How the fuck can these idiot fucking moron piece-of-shit assholes be beating me?
The Compassion Reflex
You’re walking in a park and a kid on a bike passes you at high speed. Then he attempts a sharp and sudden turn but there is cut grass on the pavement and his tires slide… And down he goes. Hard. What do you do? Was there thought involved? In that first instant? No. You acted on reflex. And you would do it every time. You’d rush to help, while you efficiently assess the child’s injuries and plot the best course of action, based on… Based on what’s best for the kid.
Dealer Mystery Solved at the 2010 WSOP
June 16, 2010 Tommy Angelo dealer school, las vegas poker, Las Vegas School of Dealing, poker coaching, poker training, Rio convention center, World Series of Poker, WSOP This is a photograph of the biggest room at the 2010 World Series of Poker, minus the people. You know how we’ve been trained to think of a “football field” as a standard unit of area? Like a hectare or acre, except that we actually know how big it is? I paced off this room. It’s 120 yards long and 50 yards wide.
The World Series of Pain
June 17, 2020 Tommy Angelo busting out, poker bust out, World Series of Poker, WSOP, WSOP pain “How could you forget your swimsuit?” said the big-bellied bald guy to his portly wife. The three of us, and a mob of others, were queued up to board Southwest Airlines flight 1691, bound for Las Vegas, Nevada, the true center of the known universe, despite what Neil Degrasse Tyson says. The husband’s question made the wife tilt, and then she said something back that made the husband tilt.
Please Don't Feed the Grinders
If you are going to Vegas for the WSOP, and you’re super stoked, and you want some advice on what to do and not do, here’s mine: Check out Hoover Dam. And if that’s too ambitious, then drive out to Red Rock Canyon and walk around. As to food, my favorite restaurant in Vegas this time of year is the transient Poker Kitchen at the Rio because it’s approximately 30 paces and one hallway-width away from the cash game area in the cavernous Pavilion room, where I do all my poker playing.
Stubbornness
You have to be stubborn to maintain a daily meditation practice, the way athletes are stubborn, where sheer determination is what powers you through. You have to be stubborn as hell to sit still. And you have to be stubborn as hell to do it every day. Stopping and starting your practice is okay. For most people it’s part of the natural path, just like with pro poker. It doesn’t always take on the first attempt, and those experiences combine to build the player, or the meditator.
What If You Could Fast-Forward Through the Folding?
What if you could think of a range, and then fast-forward to your next naturally occurring hand in that range? Take me to my next pocket pair or ace-king or suited connector. And ZOOP! You’re there. The hands you folded while waiting for your chosen hands would take up zero time because you have a superpower that allows you to skip them. Playing Omaha hi-low, you could set your range to: hands with ace-deuce.
How I Stay Steady by Playing Three Stakes at Once
February 10, 2020 Tommy Angelo Elements of Poker, painless poker, PokerSimple Like all of my stabilizers, this one was born from necessity. My problem at no-limit was big pots. They were too important. Pumped up pots gave me a thumped up heart, which somehow blurred my vision. If I got coolered a couple times and I booked a losing session, I could always blame my poor results on the cards, no matter how bad I played. My session results are often determined by just a few big pots. True, but delusional.
PokerSimple: Episode 19 - Combo Magic
January 30, 2020 Tommy AngeloLee Jones Whether you are a combo expert or a newbie, this episode is for you. We start with an overview on how to work with combos, and then we give a specific usage that will save you a ton of money. 1:31 A Combos Primer 3:52 The Blakeman Bluffing Discount Theorem 8:36 Math Incoming 10:12 They Always Have It 11:41 Do Try This at Home Through their books and coaching, poker lifers Lee Jones and Tommy Angelo make the world a better place for cash-game fanatics.
PokerSimple: Episode 18 - Squeeze Plays
January 23, 2020 Tommy AngeloLee Jones How's your squeezing? Do you do it enough? Do you get squeezed too often? Don't you hate that? This video is about cashing in both sides of the squeezing coin: Doing it to others, and not having it done to you.
PokerSimple: Episode 17 - Are You an Ethical Poker Player?
January 16, 2020 Tommy AngeloLee Jones Can you be your best self at a poker table? It is okay to take the sucker's money? If you see something wrong, should you say something? These are among the tough questions we ask and answer in this week's episode. We expect this episode to generate some stories and strong feelings. Please share them below. 1:26 Can I be an ethical poker player? 5:37 The Noble Warrior 8:48 Tactical Pain Infliction 11:44 Angles 13:37 When should I speak up?
PokerSimple: Episode 16 - The Field Guide to Villains
January 09, 2020 Tommy AngeloLee Jones How do you win the most from the worst? How do you lose the least to the best? Once you have correctly placed a player in one of the four boxes, how do you extract the max? Join us in this detailed discussion of villain types, and how to slay them. 1:21 Loose-Passive 5:15 Tight-Passive 8:19 Loose-Aggressive 12:04 Tight-Aggressive Through their books and coaching, poker lifers Lee Jones and Tommy Angelo make the world a better place for cash-game fanatics.
PokerSimple: Episode 15 - Letting Go of Results
December 19, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones We agree with Yoda. And all the other great sages who advise us to let go of the past. Now let's aim their wisdom at your poker. 0:53 Stay in Your Universe 4:10 One Forgotten Card 5:26 Confirmation Bias 7:34 The Greatest Skill There Is 13:06 Bad Beat Stories Through their books and coaching, poker lifers Lee Jones and Tommy Angelo make the world a better place for cash-game fanatics. Learn more here: tommyangelo.com and leejones.com.
When and Why to Fold the Small Blind in Limped Pots
December 17, 2019 Tommy Angelo "The small blind is where money goes to die." ~me A slew of players limp and now it's your turn in the small blind. You look left. The big blind has a chip on his cards and he's sitting back, ready to see a flop. The pot is $11 and it costs you $1 to call. Have you ever folded in this situation? Have you ever considered it? I learned this play from two sources. First, by copying winning players.
PokerSimple: Episode 14 - Tells
December 12, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones Winning the information war is simple, but not easy. In this week's episode, we break it down. How to gain more info, and send less. Without getting all serious about it. 3:32 Trust Evolution 7:57 Narrowing Ranges on Sixth Street 9:38 Polarized Tell Ranges 10:58 The Greatest Tell of All 16:53 You Have the Right to Remain Silent Through their books and coaching, poker lifers Lee Jones and Tommy Angelo make the world a better place for cash-game fanatics.
PokerSimple: Episode 13 - Should You Three-Bet With Ace-King?
December 06, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones It is tempting to reraise with A-K before the flop no matter what. But is that always the best strategy? The PokerSimple duo doesn’t think so. Check out this week’s video to find out why. 1:20 Definitely 3-bet A-K on the button 2:03 But what if you're on the big blind?
PokerSimple: Episode 12 - Pot Commitment
December 03, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones You've crossed the threshold. You're showdown bound. You're pot committed. But are they? Join Lee and Tommy for a look at the moment-of-truth that makes no-limit hold’em the great game that it is. 0:52 This is the Question to Ask 2:40 This Means They Have It 4:44 Know Your Future 5:08 Last Money in Pot 6:58 Take This to the Casino Through their books and coaching, poker lifers Lee Jones and Tommy Angelo make the world a better place for cash-game fanatics.
I Freeze My Opponents By Playing POOP
My image at the poker table, so I’m told, is that of an old tight-ass. Maybe because of hands like this: Playing no-limit holdem, I had AK in the big blind. Everyone folded to the button who opened to 4x. The small blind folded. I called in the big blind, which is my standard play with AK in this spot. I used to 3-bet in this situation during my first 10 years grinding no-limit. Then I stopped 10 years ago because I think I make more money and have more fun with a passive approach. The flop was A-x-x.
PokerSimple: Episode 11 - Going Pro
November 21, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones The freedom. The despair. The soaring. The plunging. It's all in your future when you quit your job and go pro. That's what the PokerSimple duo dives into this week. Or rather, off of. The cliff. 2:25 Upsides of Being a Pro 7:34 Funding Your Startup 9:09 Where to Live 13:10 The Game Does Not Remain the Same 15:09 To Jump or Not to Jump Through their books and coaching, poker lifers Lee Jones and Tommy Angelo make the world a better place for cash-game fanatics.
PokerSimple: Episode 10 - This Means They Have It
November 14, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones It's hard to fold a good hand on the river. But it's damn profitable if you get it right. This week's PokerSimple video will help you make this crucial laydown when you should. 0:37 Passive + Passive + Aggressive = Big Hand 6:47 Winning the Reciprocality Battle 7:16 Bet until they bet out of nowhere. Then fold. 9:03 The Tom Hand Rule Through their books and coaching, poker lifers Lee Jones and Tommy Angelo make the world a better place for cash-game fanatics.
What If You Could Fast-Forward Through the Folding?
November 12, 2019 Tommy Angelo What if you could think of a range of hands, and then fast-forward to your next naturally occurring hand in that range? Take me to my next pocket pair or ace-king or suited connector. And ZOOP! You’re there. The hands you folded while waiting for your chosen hands would take up zero time because you have a superpower that allows you to skip them. Playing Omaha hi-lo, you could set your range to: hands with ace-deuce.
When and Why to Fold the Small Blind in Limped Pots
The small blind is where money goes to die. – me A slew of players limp and now it’s your turn in the small blind. You look left. The big blind has a chip on his cards and he’s sitting back, ready to see a flop. The pot is $11 and it costs you $1 to call. Have you ever folded in this situation? Have you ever considered it? I learned this play from two sources. First, by copying winning players.
PokerSimple: Episode 8 - Move Your Butt and Make More Money
PokerSimple: Episode 8 - Move Your Butt and Make More Money It's easy to have the best seat in the house, but only if you know where it is. This week on PokerSimple, Lee and Tommy will escort you to the poker equivalent of fifth row center.
PokerSimple: Episode 7 - I Flopped a Set. Now What?
October 24, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones Sets. They win big. They lose big. They thrill big. This week, the PokerSimple duo talk about strategies and mindsets for winning the maximum when you flop a set. 1:27 Maximum extraction 2:47 Bet the wets 5:56 Bet to get stack-saving info 9:48 Bet into big fields 11:30 Take this to the casino: Bet sets. Through their books and coaching, poker lifers Lee Jones and Tommy Angelo make the world a better place for cash-game fanatics.
Three Poker Experiments
I’ve been conducting dangerous scientific experiments since I was a kid. How long does a pop bottle have to sit on a fire before it will explode when I throw cold water on it? How much air do I need to leave in a water balloon so I can throw it at Jennifer without having it detonate in my hand? This is how I have always tested the world, to see what works, and what blows up. Last week I found a rusted harmonica in an old box. I put my mouth on it and blew. This produced woeful sounds and dust.
PokerSimple: Episode 6 - Is Tight Still Right?
October 17, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones Is the mantra of the elders still true? Is tight still right? Join Lee and Tommy for an enthusiastic and insightful examination of that question. "How loose can you play and still beat the game?" That question is answered in this video, with a survey. "Are nits pathetic? Or are they worthy of honor?" That’s in here, too. Check it out. 0:15 We're all smarter now 3:43 Feeling comfortable and leakless 7:50 How tight are the loosest pros?
PokerSimple: Episode 5 - Folding Pocket Jacks Before the Flop
October 10, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones A solid player opens for $20. You make it $80 with pocket jacks. You know that he knows that you have a narrow three-betting range. And now he four-bets you. He makes it $250. The stacks are $1,000. What should you do? And why? Even deeper: Upon what parameters should your decision be based? In this week's installment of PokerSimple, the hosts take a deep dive into the murky waters of when and why to lay down those jacks.
Tommy Angelo Presents: How I Stay Steady By Playing Three Stakes at Once
October 07, 2019 Tommy Angelo Like all of my stabilizers, this one was born from necessity. My problem at no-limit was big pots. They were too important. Pumped up pots gave me a thumped up heart, which somehow blurred my vision. If I got coolered a couple times and I booked a losing session, I could always blame my poor results on the cards, no matter how bad I played. My session results are often determined by just a few big pots. True, but delusional.
LMIP means Last Money In Pot
Less tanking. More certainty. Less second-guessing. More confidence. Less regretting. More badass. When you know you’ve put your last money into a pot unless you improve, you carry a valuable secret. Knowing the future makes you feel safe. And your sense of security will rattle your tablemates, adding even more fun and profit to your game.
PokerSimple: Episode 4 - Straddle Battles
October 03, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones Straddles matter. To optimize the situation, adjustments must be made. Stack sizes re-evaluated. This week, Lee and Tommy pick the low-hanging fruit of profitable straddle management. And there's a short story from Tommy's nittiest past. If you give these guys a hand, they'll give you a hat.
Tommy Angelo Presents: I Freeze My Opponents By Playing POOP
September 30, 2019 Tommy Angelo My image at the poker table, so I'm told, is that of an old tight-ass. Maybe because of hands like the following. Playing no-limit holdem, I had A-K in the big blind. Everyone folded to the button who opened to 4x. The small blind folded. I called in the big blind, which is my standard play with A-K in this spot. I used to three-bet in this situation during my first 10 years grinding no-limit.
How to Handle Bad Beats
Dear Reader: This post is transcribed from episode 8 of The Eightfold Path to Poker Enlightenment. (Which happens to be the free gift you will receive when you sign up for my newsletter below. 🙂 ) When it comes to handling bad beats, this is why we practice non-resistance. This is why we practice seeing reality in the moment and looking it right in the face. We train ourselves to come to terms with the fact that we just lost money.
PokerSimple: Episode 3 - Limp-Reraising
September 26, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones Do you ever limp-reraise with pocket aces? How about pocket deuces? These plays and more go under the PokerSimple microscope in this week’s episode. Lee and Tommy delve into the ups and downs of limp-reraising — a play we see at the table, but not in the poker books. Lee explains how to pick the right spots. Tommy says to commit to the story you are selling. Check out the video to get the rest.
How to Make Yourself Less Squeezable
September 24, 2019 Tommy Angelo poker coaching, poker squeeze, poker squeeze play, poker training, squeeze play Squeeze is a great poker word. It’s right up there alongside flop-lag and string-bet and bust-out. Words that depict the meaning, and capture the feeling. Joe bets, Moe calls, and Curly raises. In this story, Moe just got squeezed. He’s caught between two players applying pressure.
PokerSimple: Episode 2 - No Calling Allowed
September 23, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones What if you weren't allowed to call a raise before the flop with 7-6 suited? Or a small pair? Or K-Q? What if your only options were to three-bet or fold? That’s our topic today, inspired by Andrew Neeme. We look at the idea of "No Calling Allowed" from every which way. And we both make plans to do it.
PokerSimple: Episode 1 - Value Betting the Turn
September 18, 2019 Tommy AngeloLee Jones A "value bet" is a bet made "for value," meaning the person doing the betting wants the opponent to call the bet, unlike in the case of a bluff when the player betting desires a fold. This first episode of PokerSimple is about value betting on the turn, which gets dicey when you have only one pair, but it's the best hand, meaning there's value to be had, if you know when and why to pull the trigger. That's the opening topic.
Forecasting Tilt
I remember when LED guitar tuners came out. Life became so much better for musicians, especially on stage. The readout was three little lights in a row. The middle light was green and that was the target. Green meant “in tune.” The other two LEDs were red. They let you know if you were flat or sharp. To tune a string, you’d pluck it, and adjust to green. Nothing to it. To be a tilt forecaster, you’re going to need a tilt meter. A tilt meter works just like a guitar tuner.
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