Chapter 4 Ep. 6 Big Adventures

Summary

Ante Up Poker Magazine Podcast

Chapter 4, Episode 6: "Big Adventures"

Host: Joe Scales
Date: February 21, 2026

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Overview

This engaging episode of Ante Up Poker Magazine, hosted by Joe Scales (with co-host Elle and recurring regulars Elliot and Patrick), skillfully blends humor, strategy, and community updates. The “Big Adventures” theme centers on the excitement of upcoming poker trips—highlighting the Arizona stop and an Alaskan cruise—alongside reflections on the latest WSOP schedule changes. Regular segments “Table Talk,” “Call the Floor,” “Hand of the Week,” and “Joe’s One Outer” offer a mix of fresh tournament stories, game breakdowns, poker rules, and thoughtful advice for handling poker’s mental game.

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Table Talk: Tournament Triumphs & Community Updates

[03:56–08:38]

• Elle celebrates a third-place finish at a recent final table, earning leaderboard points and setting up friendly rivalry and banter:
  • “You see that, Ben Mitch? Coming for you.” (Elle, 04:55)
• Joe jokes about falling behind on the leaderboard, playing the “long game,” and the fun in friendly competition.
• Discussion of last night’s Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw tournament:
  • Elle admits to mistakenly playing Ace-high and commiserates with others who’ve made the same error.
• Shout-outs to top finishers and special recognition for “USC 1991,” who won from the “good karma seat” and took home extra swag.
  • “He was the karma seat...and he turned that into nothing but good karma.” (Joe, 07:14)
  • The “good karma seat” tradition continues in future Patreon events slated for the 12th and 26th—an inclusive, fun-focused online tournament series.
• Teasers for upcoming mixed games: more variety, more action, all skill levels encouraged.

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WSOP Schedule Reveal: Hot Takes & Speculation

[08:38–16:01]

• Elle and Joe dig into the newly released WSOP schedule:

  • Joe has a “controversial” take—this year’s schedule seems to focus more on mid-stakes and less on “everyday player” events.

• Key Changes:

  • Omission of “Battle of the Ages” (seniors vs. young players) and “Lucky Sevens” ($777 buy-in) events—both were crowd favorites for branding and inclusiveness.
  • Addition of a Mini Mystery Millions ($550 buy-in) and more PLO/high-roller events.

• Major News: WSOP will now live-stream the series for free on their YouTube channel.

  • “What’s that going to do to the subscriptions of Poker Go?” (Elle, 11:03)
  • Speculation about a strategic transition from PokerGo to in-house streaming and thoughts on business implications, player value, and the potential impact.

• Hints dropped about possible format changes for the Main Event’s final table (echoes of the old “November Nine”), prompting colorful debates and side-bet opportunities.

  • Notable Quote:
    “If you don’t give people the details, they fill in the blanks... our minds and bodies want to fill in the blanks.” (Elle, 13:43)

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Arizona Tour Stop & Poker Cruise Preview

[16:01–24:23]

• Excitement around upcoming Gila River, Lone Butte, Arizona stop—main event satellites are ongoing ($130), and the event offers an accessible structure for all bankrolls.
  • “We’re not gonna fly in, grind, get out. We’re gonna explore the area.” (Elle, 16:05)
• Diverse tournament schedule: triple draw, high-roller PLO, four Day 1 flights, with added value for both newcomers and seasoned players.
• Announcing the Alaskan Poker Cruise partnership with Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS) and Poker Player Cruises:
  • 10-day cruise aboard the Ruby Princess, August 11–21.
  • Four full days (maybe five) of onboard poker (tag team, ladies’ event, Ante Up main event, constant cash games).
  • “If you want to play poker for many, many days or many, many hours, you need to take a longer cruise.” (Elle, 18:46)
• Highlights of the Alaska itinerary: stops in Alaska and British Columbia, sightseeing opportunities, and the unique natural beauty of Alaska in August (northern lights, salmon runs, changing foliage).

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Poker as Adventure & Personal Growth

[22:13–25:03]

• Elle shares an inspiring anecdote from Reese Witherspoon about pursuing talents:

  • “A talent of yours is poker and a talent of mine is travel... Bam. Bam. We’re pursuing our talents this year.” (Elle, 23:15)

• Reflections on gratitude for the supportive Ante Up community, the excitement of combining poker and travel, and recent features in the magazine (notably poker photographer Jess Beck and his humanizing stories).

  • Notable Quote:
    “Poker gets kind of a bad rap because all they see is the scandals... but the people we have met through Ante Up, just a great group of people.” (Joe, 24:24)

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Call the Floor: Dirty Stack Incident

[25:59–41:47]

Segment led by floor expert Elliot Schechter, analyzing a listener question from Rachel Fulton.

The Situation

• During a live cash game, Rachel accidentally bets a dirty stack—meant to bet $100 but accidentally included two green ($25) chips making it $140.
• Opponent objects after the dealer pulls in chips, insists he only called $100.
• The floor is called, asks Rachel her intent (she admits it was $100), and the bet is reduced to $100. Rachel wonders if she could have claimed $140 instead, especially after being accused of cheating.

Elliot’s Ruling and Insights

• In no-limit games, clean stacks are mandatory:

  • “To that end, clean stacks are not merely a necessity, but basically the rule. This way there is no deception, unintentional or intentional.” (Elliot, 30:01)

• Dealer should intervene to clarify dirty stacks before action proceeds.

• The main rule: Largest-denomination chips must be separated or on top; otherwise, all chips in the stack count as the declared color.

• Asking about player intent is poor form: it opens the door to angle-shooting and inconsistent rulings.

  • “Once you ask somebody their intent, you’re just opening up a can of worms…” (Elliot, 34:24)

• The correct ruling: The bet should be $100—intent is irrelevant under the rules unless the large-denomination chips are clearly separate or visible.

• All players bear some responsibility: Announce bet amounts, build clean stacks, and pay attention to action.

  • Notable Quote:
    “The bet is supposed to speak for itself.” (Elliot, 35:57)

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Hand of the Week: Ace-King vs. Ace-Jack Deep Dive

[41:55–64:38]

Hosts: Joe & Patrick

The Hand (Submitted by John Tanner)

• Game: $1/$3 live, nine-handed, loose-passive table.
• Spot: John (hijack, AK offsuit, $385), faces a limp from a nitty player (UTG, $250). Raises to $15.
• Action: Button (loose-aggressive) calls, as does loose-passive BB and original limper. Pot: $61.
• Flop: A♦ J♣ 7♥ checks to John; bets $35 (somewhat small). Only Button calls.
• Turn: 3♠ (brick). John continues for $65. Button raises to $200. John calls, feeling uneasy but trusting Button's LAG image.
• River: 2♦ (brick). John checks, Villain shoves $70. John snap-calls. Button reveals A♣ J♦ for top two pair; John loses with top pair/top kicker.

Analysis & Learnings

• Preflop: Slightly too small a raise; going to $20–$25 puts more pressure on the field, especially with LAGs behind.
• Flop: Bet slightly larger ($45–$50) for maximum value and to deny equity.
• Turn: Facing a huge raise from a LAG, calling is fine—against this type, he only needs to be good about 25% of the time to be profitable. However, with the actual hands, the LAG just had it this time.
• River: Once committed, John can’t fold to a small shove.
• Postmortem: Not a clear mistake at any point, but “death by a million paper cuts”—bet sizing was too small at each stage, making it harder to define ranges and take control of the pot flow.
  • “If you make a little bit bigger bet preflop and a little bit bigger bet on the flop, then things start to look a little less bluffy as the hand progresses.” (Joe, 64:17)
• Main takeaway: Trust your reads, but don’t forget good technical fundamentals; missed value and slightly too-cautious bets cost more in the long run against aggressive opponents.

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Joe's One Outer: Mastering Your Inner Critic

[65:16–69:34]

Joe closes the show with insightful, motivational commentary about poker’s mental side:

• The “inner critic” in every poker player becomes particularly loud after mistakes, often turning to shame instead of constructive self-coaching.
• Be your own coach, not your own villain:
  • “You’re not your last hand, you’re not your worst decision. You’re just a player—that’s learning. And that’s it.” (Joe, 66:47)
• Top pros succeed not just technically, but emotionally: review hands with curiosity, not shame.
• Practical advice—when you make a mistake, break down the hand, seek the lesson, and move on:
  • “You can grow without hating yourself in the process...The game is hard enough already. You don’t need to be your own villain on top of it.” (Joe, 68:45)

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Episode Highlights & Memorable Quotes

• “He was the karma seat...and he turned that into nothing but good karma.” (Joe, 07:14)
• “If you don’t give people the details, they fill in the blanks.” (Elle, 13:43)
• “To that end, clean stacks are not merely a necessity, but basically the rule.” (Elliot, 30:01)
• “The bet is supposed to speak for itself.” (Elliot, 35:57)
• “If you make a little bit bigger bet preflop...things start to look a little less bluffy as the hand progresses.” (Joe, 64:17)
• “You’re not your last hand...you’re just a player—that’s learning. And that’s it.” (Joe, 66:47)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Time | |-----------------------------|-------------| | Table Talk / Leaderboard | 03:56–08:38 | | WSOP Schedule Analysis | 08:38–16:01 | | Arizona & Alaska Poker Trips| 16:01–25:03 | | Call the Floor (Dirty Stack Situation)| 25:59–41:47 | | Hand of the Week (AK vs. AJ)| 41:55–64:38 | | Joe’s One Outer | 65:16–69:34 |

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Summary:
Episode 6 is a lively blend of poker strategy, rules, trip planning, and communal spirit—with plenty of laughs, candid confessions, and practical wisdom for poker grinders of every skill level. Joe and crew keep it fun, informative, and real, exemplifying why Ante Up is the podcast “for the everyday player.”

Transcript

[A]

Take your seat, the cards are flying high. Shuffle up and deal at the Aces Lie Longest Running show. Yeah, we've seen it all. From the river to the rail, we answer the call.

[B]

Hello, a team, and welcome back to another episode of the Ante Up Poker podcast, where every hand is an opportunity, every player is a friend, every and every episode is a winning experience. I'm your host, Joe Scales, and before we get rolling today, I just want to say this. I get a lot of emails from you guys and I love that. So keep it up. If something we say on the show hits home, tell us if you think we're spot on. Tell us if you think we're completely wrong about something. Definitely tell us. That's what this community is all about. We're not just talking at you, we're building this thing together. If you've got an opinion, a hand you want reviewed, a rule you want clarified, or just a take on something we said, we want to hear it. So reach out to us on Discord, hit us up on social media, or email [e-mail] Speaking of things you don't want to miss, the latest issue of any up magazine is out. If you're not already getting this delivered to your inbox, let's go ahead and fix that too. Just email me again, it's podcastyupmagazine.com email me and I'll personally make sure you're added. You can also head to the [e-mail], sign up right there. There's a sign up spot on the right hand side of the page, and even inside the magazine itself, there's a place to enter your email so you never miss one. And remember, it's completely free. No subscription fee, no paywall, so signing up doesn't cost you anything. The focus this month is on the guy who makes the players look good. We featured Jess Beck and what a great job he did. We spend so much time talking about the players, but this time we actually turn the lens around and highlight the artist behind the camera. And I think it's a fantastic piece. Of course, we still got the tried and true strategy segments, plus poker beats with news and notes from around the country. It's all there. It's all waiting for you. So head over to antiop magazine.com, click on magazine and you'll have access to the latest issue and all the previous ones too. And of course, while you're there, check out the Anti up poker merch. We've added a ton of new items in the shop. You can grab bags, hats, phone cases, all kinds of shirts, more hats. Because you can never have too many of those coffee mugs. Those can fuel your early morning tournament sessions. Whether you're at the table or railing from the sidelines, you can rep the brand of the everyday poker player. So go to antiop magazine.com, click on shop at the top of the page, or if you're on your phone, hit the hamburger menu and you'll find it right there. We've got another great show for you this week, and that's all I've got for now, so let's get on with the show.

[A]

Welcome to the show. You're on the A team. Stack your chips and chase the dream. Joe's got the booth, his mic's on fire. Elle's got the laugh. She's taking it higher.

[B]

Elle and I are back around the

[C]

poker table, and I'm snacking again.

[B]

I was wondering, you came in here with, like, a hunk of meat, big

[C]

piece of ham steak.

[D]

Yeah,

[C]

I'm, like, super snacky the last couple weeks. It's a term out on the Instagram

[B]

world, But what is snacky?

[C]

Yeah, if you feel snacky, there's even, there's even this woman who's like, get yourself a snack. I like her.

[B]

Yeah. Do you know, I thought maybe you were just coming in with this, like, as you said, hunk of meat because you were celebrating somehow for the, for your.

[C]

Oh, I made it to a final table. No, I made it to another final table. Yeah, you did.

[B]

But you, you, that was your best finish yet, the third place finish.

[C]

Look at that.

[B]

Big points. Jump in that leaderboard, too. You got that bet going.

[C]

Yeah. You see that, Ben Mitch coming for you.

[B]

I also received this video of the leaderboard showing that I am outside of the top 10.

[C]

Boom. I am not inside.

[B]

So I'm not just, I'm not just behind on the leaderboard. I'm in another zip code at this point. I'm all right with it, but I'm, I, I, I'm just. Look, I'm, I'm playing, I'm playing the long game.

[C]

You convince yourself of anything you want to convince yourself of.

[B]

I, I got everybody right where I want him now. He'll be moving up the leader, where everybody's gonna be like, where did he even come from?

[C]

I hope you can feel my eye roll. You're listening.

[B]

No, but it was, it was a great game last night. It was Ducey 7 Triple Draw, which is confusing.

[C]

And, yes, I now Know that the ace is high. Thank you. Thank you to all of the people who texted me after I played an ace and thought I was gonna win the hand.

[B]

Yeah, well, you weren't alone in that. I got other people that were telling me that they played the ace high numerous times. I did it on the very first hand.

[C]

It's an easy mistake to make.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

And then also my cousin was here while we were playing.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So he's watching and he's like, wait, how do we lose that? It was a straight. Yeah, you can't. You want 2 to 7, but you don't want 2 to 6 or 3 to 7.

[B]

Right. You don't want a straight.

[C]

It's annoying.

[B]

2, 3, 4, 5, 7.

[C]

Got it. Which is here. Here's my little argument now.

[B]

Oh, boy.

[C]

Why is it deuce to seven?

[B]

Because you go two, three, four, five, six. That's a straight. Two, three, four, five, seven is not.

[C]

Anyhow, yes, I did get third place. Really? Really. The people we need to be chatt. Our. Our LA ambassador who hung in. I'm telling you, when it gets down to the final two, it's a battle. So way more poker. Well done. Second place finish. Heads up. Battle really was back and forth fight. But congratulations to USC 1991.

[B]

He. Okay, look, he. He was the karma seat.

[C]

Good karma seat.

[B]

Yeah, he was the good karma seat. And I mean, he turned that into nothing but good karma.

[C]

He had that run. Good. Kept running.

[B]

Yeah, it did. It was magical.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And so he not only gets, you know, the $50 for first place, but he gets a little extra swag from. From Ben mentions. Donated.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He said that if somebody from the good karma seat won the whole thing.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Then he would buy them some swag. So that was well earned at usc.

[C]

I would say so. So also you're going to be the bounty in the mixed game next month, which, if you are a Patreon member. Stay tuned to the Patreon page and invitations from poker stars, because those should be coming out. I believe we said it's going to be the 12th and the 26th.

[B]

12th and 26th.

[C]

So we're going to bookend before we leave for Arizona and then when we get home from Arizona.

[B]

And an eight game mix will be the mix game. So a lot of games.

[C]

Confusing. Confusing. All right, if you haven't got in on this action, get in on it. I mean, you can join for free on patreon.com if you look up Annie up. If you join the Patreon page, you can be in on the spin for the good karma seat. And you Too could be USC 1991.

[B]

That's right.

[C]

So it's a really great tournament series that we like doing twice a month and it's fun. However, there's been a lot of talking grumbling about the WSOP schedule that just got released.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So let's chat.

[B]

Okay. I. A lot of people, obviously, like you said, a lot of people have been talking about, but I think I might have a more controversial take than, Than what a lot of them are having because for me, it was just kind of. Yeah.

[C]

So why is that controversial?

[B]

Well, everybody gets excited when this thing comes out when the schedule is released, and they analyze every bit of it. I read something where they were complaining because the ladies event, it will be running at the same time as the tag team event, and so many women play the tag team event.

[C]

Well, that is frustrating if that's something you're looking forward to.

[B]

Yeah. But, you know, that's the case with a lot of events. You know, oh, I want to play this one, but I can't, so. Because I got to play this one. And whatever. I felt like we, the everyday poker player lost events and I felt like the focus was a little bit more on those mid stakes.

[C]

All right, so what's missing? What did they take out of the schedule?

[B]

The battle of the ages. They took out. So that was the one where they had the seniors and the young guys playing on different days and then they would combine and see who they took that out. Yeah, that's gone.

[C]

Oh, wow.

[B]

It was, it was fun, but it was very niche, so. Okay, I, I can see that going. But Lucky Sevens, they pulled out the Lucky Sevens, which was a 777 buy in and.

[C]

Oh, for the.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. That had such big fields and it was, I mean, it was fun branding, so it was a little surprised that one was gone.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

But they added a Mini Mystery Millions.

[C]

They always have Mystery Millions.

[B]

Yeah, they always have the Mystery Millions. Now they have a mini one. So this one's $550.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

They added some PLO events, a high High roller event, and a circuit championship. The biggest news.

[C]

Oh, yeah, this is huge.

[B]

Is that they're going to be live streaming for free on WSOP's YouTube channel.

[C]

Yeah. Well, what's that going to do to the subscriptions of Poker Go?

[B]

I don't know. Because so many people join Poker Go for this specifically.

[C]

Well, here's, here's what I'll say as a business owner maybe, and here's my hope Again, full speculation. Do not hold me accountable. I'm just, in my opinion. My opinion.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

If I were someone trying to learn the streaming industry, I may say to poker, go, come teach me. Okay, you can have the platform this year. We want to learn from you. So your payment is sort of like revenue. This is all speculation, but, like, wouldn't it be great if you could learn from somebody who does it really well already? And they watched and they learned and they watched and they learned and they watched and they learned. And then now they're like, okay, we're going to do it on our own. And maybe PokerGo knew the whole time. That's my hope is like, there was an understanding of like, you get it this time. We want to learn from you. We want to watch, we want to observe. Let's work together, and then maybe we go forward and do it.

[B]

Sure. I.

[C]

Speculation.

[B]

Yeah, but it's not to say I

[C]

hope it's not going to be a hit to them, is what I'm saying.

[B]

I think it'll be a hit. That's also not to say that the WSOP is all that there is on Poker Go. They have so many different shows and, you know, Poker After Dark is there, the, the Heads Up Challenge.

[C]

So maybe they'll stay.

[B]

Yeah, I think people will stay there. I just think it's still going to be somewhat of a, of a negative, you know, But I think it's a great thing.

[C]

And, and I'll say what's tricky is that now it's free. Once it's free, it's free. Yeah, once it's free, it's free. So don't be surprised, you know?

[B]

Yeah. And people have been complaining about the fact that, that the WSOP has been behind a paywall for a while, so.

[C]

Sure, I understand.

[B]

It's. It's a good thing from that aspect.

[C]

What else? So they're, they're going to do live streaming. It's going to be free. And then there's some mystery thing that is now everybody's going to start speculating. So what's that?

[B]

The, the main event, it plays down to the final table.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

And then the broadcast details and, and dates are to be released later. So everybody's kind of speculating, is there? Does this mean they're bringing back like a November 9th kind of thing?

[C]

Oh, boy. This is the, this is, this is where you get the rumor mill and the water cooler.

[B]

Well, it's like you always say, right. If you don't, if you don't give people the details, they Fill in the blanks. Yeah, they do.

[C]

And they. Because we want to. Just like, we've been talking about these popular news stories recently, and you're like, why is everybody paying so close attention to this one news story? I'm like, because there's blanks and everybody wants to fill in the blanks because our minds and bodies want to fill in the blanks. And when we don't, we're curious. So it just. Maybe it's to generate excitement. We'll see.

[B]

Well, I. My two cents is I don't think that they're bringing back the November 9th now. It wasn't.

[C]

Oh, is this a betting possibility?

[B]

Oh, you want to bet on this?

[D]

No.

[C]

Give me a week.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Let me just think about this. But now I'm kind of going,

[B]

okay. I mean, you did. You did win the prop bets, so

[C]

maybe, but I didn't put anything on the line. I didn't get anything out of that.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Other than Nana, Nana, boo, boo.

[B]

Learn. Learn from your mistakes and move.

[C]

I rolled my eyes a lot already in this session. Okay, so why do you think it just November 9th?

[B]

The November 9th was not really that popular. People didn't like it. It broke up the momentum because you finished in July and then you had to wait until November. All of the players that made the final table, then they were getting coaching as they were going, so.

[C]

Oh, I think they're going to be more creative than that.

[B]

I hope so.

[C]

I think there's going to be, like, a different location in Vegas they play. I think it's going to be like, I don't know.

[B]

You could.

[C]

You could have a lot of fun with that. Yeah, like a lot of fun.

[B]

It's going to be interesting to see once they release that. And people will attack it for sure.

[C]

Yeah. Well, I want to talk about, most importantly, the schedule that I'm excited about. We're excited about. Everybody's excited about the Arizona schedule that we have. We're being a little selfish right now. We know most of the poker community is excited to hear the WSOP this week, but there's still time to join us in Arizona. We are T minus, like 3:20 some days. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To Gila River, Lone Butte, Arizona.

[B]

Yeah. It'll be our first time there, but it'll be a first time in Arizona as a whole.

[C]

We're not gonna. We're not gonna fly in, grind, get out. We're gonna explore the area. We're gonna do some fun stuff. But we want you to know, just in case you haven't Heard already main event satellites are happening right now. They're $130 buy in, like super affordable. There's a megastat coming up as part of the series. It's going to kick the series off, right?

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

And then the triple draw is also going to kick the series off. There's going to be a high roller plo. There's the main event and there's satellites obviously now going into the main event. But there's multiple days as well. So we've got A, B, C and

[B]

D flights, four flights.

[C]

And I know you love this. Multiple day ones gives you lots of opportunity.

[B]

And then with the satellites on top of that, so much opportunity for so many different people. Right, right. Of all bankrolls. So I love it and I love that that they have the PLO because there's so much action in a PLO game. I love that there's a triple draw, you know, deuce to seven, ace to five and badoogie.

[C]

I'm just gonna say badoogie and people are gonna get really aggravated with me.

[B]

But, but then we get back from that and, and the, the beautiful countryside of, of Arizona and then we get to get on a big ship.

[C]

Wait, I gotta in the world. I'm ready. I am so ready.

[B]

Yeah, obviously. I love this. I love the patch on the hat too. This is great.

[C]

Well, truth be told, if you can't see me, I've got on my aviators and a captain's hat with our Annie up patch. It's kind of a little bulky right now. I'm actually going to get it properly attached. I'm ready. I'm so ready. And I'm, I'm like nervous, Rick, about being gone from our animals for 14, almost 14 days. Because by the time we get out there, get on the boat, come back, whatever. However we hinted at this last week, we are now officially allowed to release all details. We have partnered with Ladies International Poker Series, also known as lips and poker player cruises to bring you a 10 day Alaskan adventure. August 11th through 21st, we are going to be on the Ruby Princess cruise ship with Princess Cruise Lines. And let me just tell you, I know that the website says four days at sea.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Which means four full on days of poker available. Because if you've not done a poker cruise or played poker or gambled on a cruise ship, just FYI, you get in the water, the money and the chips can fly. As soon as that boat pulls up and the rope is tied, no mas, they cut that off. So if you want to play poker for many, many days or many, many hours, you need to take a longer cruise. Which is why we chose this, our, our cruise this year.

[B]

Right.

[C]

It says four days at sea. It's actually five if you pay close attention to the itinerary. One of the days is sightseeing from the ship of the glacier and the like fjord area.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

You don't actually get off the boat. So I think we might actually have a fifth day in there to be able to play but also

[B]

get out and see the glaciers and the stuff too.

[C]

Yeah. But you're going to be moving like. Yeah. You get to the glacier. We'll work around it. We're not going to have anybody missing anything. Right. But I'm hoping we can build that in a schedule. Schedule we're still building. However, we're going to have a tag team event. We're going to have a ladies event. They're not going to be at the same time at all. Okay.

[B]

And.

[C]

And we're going to have an ante up main event.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Not to mention there's going to be cash, cash, cash, cash, cash games available, which is exciting. I think it's like 1-323-36. I got to go look at that again. But that's out on poker player cruises.com has all of your information. If you're interested and you have questions, you can email us. But really, cokerplayercruises.com is where it's at. When you call to sign up with Don, make sure you tell him that you're with ante up.

[B]

Right.

[C]

We want to be sure. We know if you're a listener and you joined us that that's how you found out about the cruise. We'd love to know.

[B]

Want to be able to come see you too.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So.

[C]

So I'm just saying, I mean it's gonna be exciting. And there's four stops. Three in Canada, three in Canada, three in Alaska and one in British Columbia.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So lots and lots. And Alaska. Our advertisement out on social media says Alaska is calling.

[E]

Right.

[C]

Why did we choose that? August is the month to see Alaska.

[B]

That's what they keep telling us.

[C]

It is the end of summer, beginning of fall for them. Yes. It's rainy. If you research this. Yes, it's a possibility of rain. This is not a Caribbean cruise. This is an Alaskan cruise. Okay. So you may experience some weather. However, northern lights shine bright at this time. The salmon run, which means the bear are coming out if you want to see bear.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And the foliage is already changing because it's moving from summer to fall, and so you may even get to see season change.

[B]

Yeah. So we've got a lot going on. I mean, from desert sunsets to glaciers in Alaska. Like.

[C]

Yeah, I want to go on what? Go on a dog sled.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Sorry, what were you saying? What do you.

[B]

What a year we're putting together. Like, it's one to remember. Right.

[C]

Poker adventures is what we're doing.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. This is. It's shaping up to be exactly that.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

For sure.

[C]

I saw a video this week of Reese Witherspoon, who encouraged. She was trying to mentor someone. I promise. This relates to the poker adventure.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

She's trying to mentor somebody or have a conversation with another woman who is like, I'm miserable. I don't enjoy my job. I'm bored out of my mind or whatever. Right. And she said, well, what are your talents? And the woman couldn't answer her no. And Reese is like, we all chase dreams, but what are your talents? What have you been given that you do really, really well and go chase that? And I honestly believe that a talent of yours is poker and a talent of mine is get. Is travel.

[B]

Yeah. So we're putting them together.

[C]

Bam. Bam. We're pursuing our talents this year and things are shaping up. And I just am beyond grateful for all of you all listening for the support that you provide during our tour stops. We would love to see you at sea, but we also just love that you guys write in hand of the week and oh, 100 keep us entertained with relationship questions. And not just entertain, but like, we are honored that we get questions like that. But honestly, I. I really.

[B]

And reading the magazine, appreciative for them taking the time to read the magazine, which we put out every month.

[C]

That just came out this week, too. It's been a busy week. If you can't tell. I'm a ping pong ball right now. I'm all over the place. But yeah. Jess Beck. If you have not heard of Jess Beck, he is a phenomenal poker photographer. Please check out the magazine and go take a look at his work. He's very talented. He's moving poker photography in a whole new realm and letting. Letting people see, create where creativity and the felt meet. And just a really cool dude. The people we were able to meet in this community is just knocking my socks off too.

[B]

It's true. That is true. You know, I've said all along, poker gets kind of a bad rap because all they see is the scandals that happen if they're not in the game, but the people that we have met threw Andy up. Just a great group of people.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Well.

[C]

And Jess will tell you one of his favorite things is the people.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That he's photographing and the stories that he gets to capture and document and. And share with the rest of the world. It's just a heart. It's a heartwarming thing to. To see an artist meet poker.

[B]

Yeah. And one of the stories that he tells in there is his first meeting with Ari Engel, and, oh, my gosh, you have to go.

[C]

Hilarious. Yeah. We are not even going to get spoiler alert. No. Like, go listen to how he met Ari Ingle.

[B]

Yeah. So all of that is to say, you know, we're just getting started.

[C]

Yeah. But it's only February.

[B]

Yeah. But we've got a lot coming up, and we hope to see you guys out there with us.

[C]

So as we go into the weekend, planning to play poker ourselves.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Joe, it's always a pleasure being around this table with you.

[B]

Likewise.

[A]

Elliot's wisdom cuts like a blade. Big blinds, big stakes. Raise it up. Let's make no mistake.

[B]

Elliot Schechter joins us each week to say how he would roll on situations that come up in your games. And he's with us again this week. Elliot, how's it going?

[D]

Things are going pretty nicely, thanks. How are you doing, Joe?

[B]

Good. We've. We've climbed out of hibernation. The. The weather has turned warmer. The snow, although not completely gone, has. Has significantly melted away. And so I'm. I'm feeling more myself.

[D]

Winter finally hit us. It didn't make it above 60 yesterday.

[B]

Oh, no.

[D]

It was so chilly.

[B]

Well, I am still looking forward to this trip out to Arizona. This time of year is going to be phenomenal out there. Hoping to go for a hike while we're out there. So I'm looking forward to, even though it has warmed up here, seeing a little bit warmer weather out there, even.

[D]

Always nice. Absolutely.

[B]

And we have a call the floor this week that's sent in by Rachel Fulton. This is an interesting one. She says she's three players to the turn in a 13 game. The pot's right around $100, and it checks to her. She announces bet, but doesn't say an amount. Slides out what she believes is a stack of red chips. She says, in my head, I'm betting $100 into $100. Except earlier, she had won a big hand, and apparently two green chips from that hand found their way into her red stack. The stack was in front of her other chips, so she didn't notice. So instead of $100, she says she actually pushed out a stack of 140. The player to my left immediately says, call and puts out $100. As the dealer is pulling the chips in, he stops and says, that's 140. The other player looks stunned. She says and says, what? I called a hundred dollars. Dealer says, It's 140. You need $40 more now. He objects. He says he insists he called $100 and the chips have to be in easily identifiable stacks and even accuses me of doing it on purpose. The floor gets called. He explains his side, saying the bet was unclear, saying the stacks weren't properly maintained and that he was calling $100. The floor asks me what my intention was, and I tell them straight up that my intention was to bet a hundred dollars. I didn't realize I had two greens in there. It was a dirty stack. The floor rules that we reduce it to $100, we change the greens for reds, clean up the stack, and we move on. But here's where Rachel's question is. Let's say when the floor asked me my intention, I had said my intention was to bet 140. Would that bet have stood? And she says, because even though I knew my intention, when he accused me of cheating, I kind of wanted to punish him for a little more. But on the inside, the problem with that is if you. If you try to punish them for a little bit more, even though your intention is 100%, then something ends up happening. You get sucked out on in the river, and then it's a mess.

[D]

So karma can rear its ugly head. Sure.

[B]

Karma's a. Yeah, so she did the right thing, Told her what the intention was, but then has that question, well,

[D]

this is a really good one. I like this one. And I'm surprised it doesn't come up a little more often. And let's go to the technical rules first, and then we'll move on to how the floor handled it. And then what should have happened? With the proliferation of no limit hold', em, the variety of chips in play on a particular table has now increased dramatically. So in the in the limit days, you generally had the chip in play to make up the blinds and bets. And if somebody was either buying in for a lot or won a lot, they would color up to a much higher chip just to save space, leaving themselves enough of the chip in play to resume playing properly. So, yeah, say you're playing 20, 40. It's generally a $5 chip game, somebody needs to color up the hundreds or five hundreds because they have some 7,000 in red chips in front of them. That would be fine, but mostly they wouldn't be betting any of those hundreds or five hundreds out of necessity. It doesn't help the game and it doesn't constitute a bet in no limit. Of course, you can bet any amount you want as long as you're not betting odd amounts below the value of a big blind. And to make the game easier, we put chips in play as opposed to not. So a typical 2 and 5 blind or 5 and 10 blind, no limit game will have $25 chips, $100 chips, and $500 chips in play, simply to speed up the game and make it easier, right? To that end, clean stacks are not merely a necessity, but basically the rule. This way there is no deception, unintentional or intentional. So the dealer should have spoken up when they saw the dirty stack get better. Not waiting for a player to announce, sir, this stack should only be 100. And then at that point call the floor to make sure the rule is clarified so that the dealer is not taking the blame for merely enforcing policy and etiquette. So the floor was called too late here. The dealer just took the bet at face value, which, hey, I mean, pretty laissez faire. And it's a way to keep the dealers out of the game. But at some point they've got to enforce some rules. I mean, shoot, and this is one of them. There was no need for the other player to accuse our hero of cheating, especially for such a small amount, although that's almost 50% of the bet. So, yeah, I mean, I guess there's a small potential angle there. The more typical shot is to, is to hide $100, $500, $1,000 chips inside of a stack of fives or 25s, so as to increase the liability of the caller by leaps and bounds as opposed to in real terms, $40, which while a significant part of a 1:3 buy in, is really not much more than a hill of beans. So I agree that the outcome was correct, the ruling was correct, the bet should have been 100. The rule in tournaments, especially through the TDA and generally in in cash games of no limit or pot limit, largest denomination chips must be separated, must be on top or to the side in plain view. This was not that case. Therefore, it renders them equivalent of the smaller chip in play or the the chip in that stack. So obviously that was a stack of $5 chips. Those two chips, obviously not on top, should be regarded as chips of the same color as long as they were larger. So if they were dollar chips, that becomes a slight issue in some rooms. It's still being recognized as a chip of the same color as the rest of this. It's the most logical and reasonable way to handle things. It's easy to understand, it's easy to digest, it's easy to justify. Most rooms should have a policy like this for their no limit games. If you don't, please consider it. So, so far so good.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Here's where we can head off the rails. And this is what brought up the extra questions from our hero. Why it occurred to the floorman to ask your intent is beyond me. There's too many outcomes that can happen and most of them are not good. They allow for the, the changing of the bet after the decision has been made. They allow for the pulling of an angle. Oh, if you're going to call 100, maybe I can get an extra 40. Or if I'm bluffing. Yeah, no, no, I'm at the bet 100. I don't want the extra money in the pot. So again, you're letting somebody make a declaration after action has been offered and either contested or accepted, which we shouldn't be doing. We're supposed to use the information available. What we observe, uh, obviously the, the facts we get from the dealer and the players involved. Once you ask somebody their intent, you're, you're just opening up a can of worms for which the outcomes can become rather bad and create a lot of disharmony and acrimony at the table to the point where you may lose a player or two or even the game if you, if there's not enough information available to make the decision. Yeah, then you should seek out more information. But asking their intent, the bet is supposed to speak for itself.

[B]

True.

[D]

And obviously in this case, it didn't quite do that. But asking intent after the fact is just not a way to get there.

[B]

I, I understand what, what you're saying with the bet should speak for itself, but also I, I don't understand why if you said bet, why you wouldn't say a hundred dollars or something to that effect. I also don't know.

[D]

You got the nuts and your opponent was willing to call 100. They're probably willing to call 140, so why wouldn't you try to get the extra 40 out of them if the floor person is going to give you that opportunity, which is why the opportunity should not be offered.

[B]

The other side did that. The opponent in this hand never assume a bet amount. I think there's so many pieces to this that I'm like, why would.

[D]

No, it's very clear. The player assumed a bet of a hundred and put 100 out. So we know that part.

[B]

Yeah, but I, from the dealer standpoint, looking at the stack should have been like, hey, this is dirty stack. From the person who made the bet, I feel like it's not hard to say a hundred as you slide the stack out there. And from the standpoint of the person making the call, I don't think you should be assuming that it's a hundred

[D]

dollars 95, which again, is quite reasonable. So, yes, Rachel, our hero probably should have announced the amount they were betting. As anybody should. In a no limit game, you should announce specific amounts unless you're moving all in and you don't have an exact count of your chips. If anything, to make your intentions clear and to make the game more enjoyable and easier to digest for everybody at the table. Yeah, that's. That's a pretty common courtesy that should be adhered to. And of course it's not. Yes, that's a very good point. I've always announced my bets and games in which I'm playing. But yeah, again, the rule that dictates the use of standardized 20 high, clean stacks of chips negates the need to ask about intent. Because unless the two green chips were on the top of the stack, the intent is merely the stack of chips that should be all one color.

[B]

So it sounds like, to answer Rachel's question, it sounds like this should be ruled as a hundred dollar bet, no matter what her intent is. Is that what you're saying?

[D]

Very much so, yes.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

I mean, if the chips are very clearly on the top of the stack. So of the 20 chips, if the two green chips are the top two chips, well, then the bet is 140, because that does follow the rule. Separated by either being on top or to the side. Well, on top is good enough. And again, there is no possible deception, inadvertent or intentional.

[B]

Right.

[D]

They're on top. They're there to see they're being pushed out. It's not just the better or the first person to act that has responsible responsibility for their own actions. The other players are responsible for their own actions too, and for accepting the action that they're being offered. So, yeah, they have a responsibility to pay attention and to speak up when they can't understand.

[B]

Right. Well, and Rachel, I'm glad that you did the right thing and told what your actual intention was.

[D]

Absolutely.

[B]

I feel like it kind of bailed out this floor person from asking the question. Because if. If you would have said my intention was to bet140, then he would have been in a weird situation and probably would have made an incorrect ruling here. It sounds like.

[D]

Yeah, the floor person seemed to have wanted a little more justification for what they thought was a judgment call and really should have been a rather technical call here and not an unreasonable call in any way, but obviously not being sure of themselves from what we can gather based on the narrative that, yeah, they wanted further validation for their decision.

[B]

Yeah, this is a good one. And it attacks things from a whole bunch of different directions. Like I said, everybody had a little bit of wrongdoing in this one.

[D]

Yes. Our hero with the least amount. I mean, they just failed to clean up their stacks properly after winning a pot, which is about the. The mildest thing we'll ever see in a card room.

[B]

True. I think more of what was. I think her downfall was more about not announcing the hundred dollars.

[D]

Would agree.

[B]

She is not alone in that. That is a very rare thing to get people to announce. So I get it. But yeah, this was a good one. I like this one.

[D]

This was really good.

[B]

Yeah. And keep those guys. Keep those coming, guys. If you have a call the floor that you would like to know how Elliot would rule, send it to Podcasty magazine dot com. Elliot appreciates you doing this again.

[D]

You're very welcome. Glad to do it.

[A]

This hand might be his last.

[B]

Welcome to hand of the week, where Patrick, our resident fish, and I dive into listener submitted hands each week. We tackle everything from questionable bluffs to hero calls and the hands that make you scratch your head. Whether you're looking for strategy tips or just want to see if you would have played it any better, we've got you covered. Patrick, how's it going?

[E]

We're back, my friend. I'm pretty good. How are you?

[B]

Well, I'm going to start with giving you a hard time because you said you were going to make it to the mix game this week. No sign of Patrick anywhere. No sign of Patrick in the discord. No sign of Patrick at the tables. People are going to start talking about whether you're just scared.

[E]

Joe, there's an old saying. Well, first off, let me address that. I'm absolutely scared, but I have never backed down from a fight. There's an old saying that kids ruin everything. Yeah, that's. I'm chalking it up to that. You know, Basketball and soccer and. Yeah, so, but yeah, I'm absolutely scared. I mean, listen, that's okay. I, I can, the, the, the goal is to not play scared, which I do sometimes, you know. But anyway, my apologies for everybody.

[B]

I'm counting on you bringing your money to the home game.

[E]

At the very least, how much money would you like me to bring? And if you say all of it, I'm not coming.

[B]

Well, how much, how much is, is enough for you to bring but yet not scare you away. That's, that's. I feel like I'm breaking down a hand here. I have, how about bringing a hump?

[E]

I have plenty of buy ins after I, you know, get put on tilts multiple times and I calm myself down and you know, frustration wise and then I'm ready to go and then I, you know, get my money back and others, so.

[B]

All right, well, here's some practice for you. Let's break down a hand of the week this week. It is sent in by John Tanner and hey, I'm so glad to see a hand come in from John. John is one of the first ones that had reached out to me when we took over the podcast and welcomed me and you know, we've talked back and forth about different hands. I keep trying to get him to send one in. So I'm so glad that to see that he sent one in. He says he's a long time listener, which is true. This is the first time I have submitted anything to the show. He says you guys have saved me a ton of money and headaches with the hand breakdowns. So I figured it was time to give back with one that's had me replaying it in my head for days.

[E]

I love it. All right, what do we got?

[B]

He says he is playing 13 live at his local casino. It's last Saturday night, so we're playing on a Saturday. The table was nine handed. It's pretty loose passive overall with one clear, loose, aggressive tourist on the button said he's been splashing around and showing bluffs. Earlier in the session. John says, I have $385 in my stack and am in the hijack with ace of spades, king of hearts, pre flop. Well, we have that throughout the hand. Not just pre flop but under the gun is an nitty older guy and he has about $250 in his stack. He limps and it folds to us.

[E]

Nitty older guy. I like that. I'm raising.

[B]

Okay, what would you like your, your raise to be?

[E]

I'm going to go 10

[B]

that is way not enough.

[E]

But why not?

[B]

Okay.

[E]

Because it's. Because it's not handy. That's a good question.

[B]

I mean, typically. Typically we would say at least 3x, right?

[E]

Right.

[B]

I would probably go 4x and. But between 3 and 4x and then you've got that limper, so you have to account for him. So you should be going.

[E]

You're at around another one on there.

[B]

Okay. Then you know, you've got that. That nitty limper in there, which sounds. That sounds like that. What was that, that gum commercial. That commercial with the gum where they were like, dirty mouth. You nitty limper. Dirty mouth. Clean it up with. I think it was Orbit, something like that.

[E]

Oh, yeah, I think it was Orbits. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. It was.

[B]

Anyway, we also have the loose aggressive player to act after us. And if we raise on the smaller side, then we're gonna have him to deal with too. So I want to go at least 20, maybe even 25 and hope that.

[E]

Gosh, we were way off.

[B]

Yeah, you and John are on the same. Well, no, John went higher than you two.

[E]

He went 15.

[B]

John. John went to 15. So he was in that. That range that I would have gone. But adding on for that limper and adding on for the loose aggressive after us, which the button that loose aggressive tourist does call. And the small blindfolds. The big blind, he says, is a loose passive reg, who has about $400 in his stack. And he calls. And the original limper, the under the gun, calls as well. So the pot is $61. And the flop is the ace of diamonds, jack of clubs, seven of hearts. It checks to us.

[E]

See, now I'm going big.

[B]

Okay. So I was. I was gonna say this is a mandatory bet almost, but.

[E]

Oh, it is a hundred percent. A mandatory.

[B]

Yeah, but sizing is key. So what. What are you gonna do here?

[E]

I'm going 50.

[B]

That's. That's not bad.

[A]

I.

[B]

So I was gonna go more like 45. So just a. Just right in that realm, though. Yeah. The reason I say that, that sizing is key, though, is because if we go too small, then we. We start to lose some value from people. Right. If we go too big, then we fold out hands that we could get value from hands that we beat. Right. So I think right in that 45 to 50 range is our sweet spot.

[E]

Yep.

[B]

We've got. The effective stack is about 250. That. That's the under the gun player that limped. So we could be setting up a good sized Turn bet, and then a river shove. With that $45 bet, John says, I bet $35. So he's a little bit lower than us. And he says, I almost checked back to pot control, but figured I'm ahead of so much of their ranges. Only the button calls, everyone else folds.

[E]

Wow.

[B]

So now the pot is 131, and the turn is the three of spades. He says, complete brick. So the board is the ace of diamonds, jack of clubs, seven of hearts, three of spades.

[E]

I'm thinking value.

[B]

Okay.

[E]

Because we're more than likely, I would imagine. I mean, we're ahead of a lot. There's not a whole lot out there that gets us, but I'm going to balance that value. And confident, you know, you know, hand that we have. I'm going somewhere that, like, 85 to 90 range.

[B]

$90 is exactly what I was thinking. But let's. Let's back up. Let's think about this. Think about the hands that that beat us, the hands that they. That make sense that they could have that beat us. Because I don't think like Ace 3 or Ace 7 really make a lot of sense. No, but ace jack does. Jacks, pocket seven are in that realm. Jacks. Yeah.

[E]

Y. Yep.

[B]

I'm not gonna go for any kind of pot control here. He mentioned trying to do that on the last street. I'm. I don't want to do that here either. I don't want king, Queen or King 10 or Queen 10. I don't want any of them to get there. I don't want to give them a free card to realize their draws. If they do have a set or two pair, then I feel like we may hear from them on this street. Once we bet, if we put enough in there, I'm going to like $90. And then we may. We may get some pushback at that point. John bets $65, so I feel like that. That's a tough one. He says he's continuing for value because I thought Button could have some weaker ace X gut shots like King 10, Queen 10, or missed flush draws. Well, there's not any kind of flush draw, really. I don't like the sizing in that bet because it looks like we have a scared ace or something like that. And to that point, button raises to $200.

[E]

So interesting.

[B]

Another 135 over his bet.

[E]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's either saying two, one of two things. It's, hey, we've got a scared ace or a scared Jack, you know, five, you know, the terrible kicker. And he's trying to get rid of us now, whether he's on a draw or not or he actually does have jack's sevens or ace jack. Either way, I'm calling.

[B]

Yeah, I think the thing that gets me is he said that he was loose, aggressive. He's a loose, aggressive player. So maybe he feels like this is a point where he can steal it from us because of that bet sizing.

[E]

Right.

[B]

He says if I call, I have 170 left. Villain is the exact type who raised with ace, jack, sets or bluffs, slash draws. Yeah, that's, it's a tough spot because I'm, I'm, I'm thinking about it this way there. If you, if, if he has sets, right, there's, there's like three different combos of sets versus sets of seven. There's three different combos to have sets of jacks. There's ace jack combos, but then there's a whole lot more different combinations that are bluffing or semi bluffing. And because he's a loose, aggressive player, I think those are a big possibility. Right? Yeah. And we really only need, like, I don't know, 25%. We only have to be right, like 25% of the time or less to be profitable. So we only have to ask the question, is he going to make this move? Is he going to bluff like one out of four times? And I, I think the answer is yes.

[E]

But, yeah, I think you're right.

[B]

Then the next question is if we're

[E]

going to call,

[B]

if we're going to call, that's not going to leave us much. We're really committing ourselves. So do we want to shove it all in right now?

[E]

Yeah, I think, I think that's, that's definitely a very valid thought. I think that that forces his, you know, this loose, aggressive potential bluff draw, you know, waiting for that to get there. He's got to question it. You know, if you catch a snap call and he flips over Jackson, you know, hey, good, good hand.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

But if he is bluffing and we shove it in, that gives him an opportunity to fold and we don't get any more value. So maybe calling is the better way to go and then just get it in on the river. I think that's probably what I'll do is I'll call here and then plan on getting all the chips in on the river. And are you still going to get

[E]

all your chips in on the river if the, you know, 10 of hearts comes out and king queen got there.

[B]

I mean, we've committed so much of our stack that I think we have to. But I do have the option to fold at least, right?

[E]

Yeah, that is true. Fair enough.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Cam, what's Our friend says I tanked for about 90 seconds. Told myself he's loose, aggressive, he can have air and called. But he says it felt gross the whole time. River is another brick with the two of diamonds. So the board is ace of diamonds, jack of clubs, seven of hearts, three of spades, two of diamonds. I mean the money's getting in here. It doesn't matter if we do it or they do it. We might as well be the ones so that they don't. Well, again, they could check. Yeah, if they whiff the river, then they could, they could go check, check. And they saved that little bit that they have left. So yeah, go ahead and put it in. John says, I check. Villain shoves for his last $70. I snap call. And then he says in parentheses pot odds were stupid. And I figured if I was good on the turn, I'm still good. He tables ace of clubs, jack of diamonds for top two, ship the pot the other way. So here's where my brain won't shut up. He says,

[E]

hey, when the brains do that.

[B]

He's got three questions. Was the turn call a punt against this player? Type in sizing even though he's loose, should I have folded and saved the 170 flops bet sizing too small, Should I have bet bigger or checked to induce? And then the preflop raise, is it fine or should I have made it 18 to 20 to thin the field more? He says I keep flipping between ace king is way ahead of his raising range. And dude just showed up with ace jack after raising huge. I got owned and should have gotten away. Would love to hear your thoughts on on the turn decision especially. Thanks for everything you do keep crushing it best. Okay. You want to take it first?

[E]

Sure. I mean I think I. I think John Monday morning quarterback that one perfectly. Except for I don't think you're going to make any change to walk away from here unless like you said, he punt on the. On the turn there. I think that's the only case that you're going to do it because I don't think bet sizing. I mean top two pair on the flop. I don't think bet sizing is going to thin the crowd of this guy. I mean, the button's still calling.

[B]

No, but yeah, you're right, he's still calling. But maybe it gives us an indication. Maybe it gives us more information with a fair.

[D]

Fair.

[E]

I think again, you know, we get to sit back on this perch, which is great. I love this perch. I would be really, really, really good if I could, you know, play a hand and look back on a regular basis. Maybe I should start taking some of my own very calm advice that we do on the show. But anyway, see, I'm now talking to my brain. Remember, John, the brain can't shut up. All right, I think, I think you've got to read on this guy, and you got to run with your read and, and live and die by it. I think if. If your read on this guy was loose, passive, and he fires back, you know, on, you know, makes it 200, then maybe you sit back and tank for those 90 seconds and go, you know what? I'm good. Nice bluff. Or you got me beat. But I think you roll with it. I mean, a loose, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, Joe, and this is not calling you old, although you are older than me. You've been playing poker a long time. You can have a read on a guy and he still, you know, take you down. I mean, it's, you know, especially a loose, aggressive. I mean, that's especially a loose, aggressive player. He's going to have a hand every once in a while.

[B]

Right? Right. You can have a read on somebody and they still get there. So it's a thing. I think, I think a couple of things. The first thing, the turn decision. No, I don't think it was a punt. Like I said, you only have to be right like 25% of the time. So if you're gonna be good at least one out of four times, then you have to make this call. And against a loose, aggressive player who's been three betting light and showing bluffs. Yeah, it's very plausible that he's bluffing here. You asked about the flop bet sizing. Was it too small? I do like a bigger. We said, I like a bigger flop bet. I want to get value from worse hands. Want to deny equity to drawing hands. I want to reduce the free card problem. I don't want to give anybody free cards, and I think we learn a little bit more information from them with a little bit bigger bet. I don't think $35 is a disaster, but it is on the small side. But checking to induce is not an option. It lets them realize equity for free. It invites the turn cards that are going to absolutely kill our value. So. So I. I I definitely don't want to do that. What was his other question? Should I have made it more pre flop again? Yeah, I probably would have went 20, 25, but I don't think it's a terrible spot. I don't think what you put out there is. Is terrible. You went more than Patrick did

[E]

significantly. You know, I don't think that. That, you know, and again, everything, you know, kind of leads into, you know, where we're at at the end, so. And I get that. I think. I think he was within range on all of it leading up to it. I, Again, I. I think there wasn't anything glaring. There wasn't any, you know, kind of crazy outlier. Again, I. I think that. I think the. The turn is where you can possibly take a step back and go, okay, well, you know, snapping through and making it 200 right out the gate, you know, right on top of me.

[A]

I mean, maybe.

[E]

But again, that fits the mold of a loose, aggressive player. It just does.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I think that

[B]

this is where people, I think, get themselves in trouble a lot of times, because I. You can't look at one spot in this and go, oh, that was the mistake. But I think it's a bunch of.

[E]

You're right.

[B]

It's a bunch of little pieces. Right. So the hand gets out of control because it was a little bit too small of a bet here and then a little bit too small of a bet here, and then those mistakes compound into. When you get to the end, you're going, is he just trying to. To. To bluff me, or am I getting value owned here? I don't. You don't know. But if you make a little bit bigger bet pre flop and a little bit bigger bet on the flop, then things start to look a little less bluffy as the hand progresses. Yeah, true. So it's not really one mistake. It's. It's a combination of a little. What is it? A death by a million paper cuts?

[E]

Yeah, that sounds terrible, but. Yes, that's exactly what it is. Yes.

[B]

So. So I. I don't think you played it terrible, but it's those little tweaks that make the difference between winning this hand. So.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

John, I love that you finally sent a hand in. I appreciate that. Send us some more. And if anyone has a hand of the week that they would like to know how Patrick and I would play it, send it to podcastneupmagazine.com Patrick, have a good one.

[A]

From the flop to the turn, we play it. Oh, Changing hearts and diamonds never fold in the boots. We're dealing stories that.

[B]

You know, I. I've been thinking about something lately. It's not about bet sizing. It's not about whether I should have three bet light from the cutoff. It's not even about where I am on the Patreon leaderboard. Trust me, I have seen the video. But it's about that voice. You know, the one that shows up the second you misplay a hand. How do you not fold there? You always do this. You're never going to get better. That voice. And here's the thing. We all have it. But I think poker players might have it worse than most people, because this game, it gives us constant feedback. Every decision has an outcome, every mistake costs money, and every misread gets exposed. And if you're competitive, forget it. The voice gets loud. But here's what hit me this week. That inner critic. It's a terrible coach. Think about it this way. If you were railing a friend and they misplayed a hand, would you lean over and say, wow, that was really stupid. You're just not cut out for this? No, you. You wouldn't. You'd probably say, all right, talk me through what you were thinking. You'd break it down. You'd look at ranges, you'd encourage them, you would coach them. But when it's us, somewhere along the way, we bought into this idea that if we're hard on ourselves, we'll improve faster. That somehow that equals discipline. But that's not true. Improvement comes from honesty. It comes from analysis. It comes from curiosity at times, but it definitely doesn't come from shame. And. And I see this all the time in poker. A player makes one mistake, and suddenly it's not about, I misplayed this spot. It becomes, I'm bad at this. And that's dangerous, because when your identity gets tangled up in your results, every lost pot feels personal. Every downswing, every. Feels like proof that you're just not good enough. But you're not your last hand, you're not your last session. You're not your worst decision. You're just a player. A player that's learning. And that's it. Even the best players in the world review hands. They have to make adjustments. They find leaks in their own game. But they don't spiral every time they get coolered or make a thin call that doesn't work out. They detach. They learn. They move on. And maybe, just maybe, the edge some of them have isn't technical. Maybe it's emotional. So I'll leave you with this for the week. When you make a mistake at the table and you will pause instead of saying, I'm terrible, ask what can I learn? Instead of beating yourself up, break the hand down. Instead of attacking your identity, evaluate your decision. You can grow without hating yourself in the process. And honestly, the game is hard enough already. You don't need to be your own villain on top of it. Be your own coach. Because the inner critic doesn't make you stronger, it just makes you smaller. And honestly, that's not who you are. That's today's one outer and that's today's show. I'll see you next week, a team. And until then, I'll see you at the tables.

[F]

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