Rec Poker

John Somsky is the Home Games Director for RecPoker and the Minnesota Ambassador for AnteUp Magazine. John is a true historian of the game, having played many variants and listened to about every poker podcast during his entire life in poker. Not only is he deeply knowledgeable in the game, history, personalities and industry, John is widely considered, "The Nicest Guy in Poker", a label initially given him by WSOP Bracelet winner Chris "Fox" Wallace. In this episode we hear more about John's story and his passion for the game. John is active on Twitter as @pokergeekMN We also go over this week's home game results and discuss these topics: WPT/RecPoker Tourney - rec.poker/wpt WSOP roadtrip - rec.poker/roadtrips/ RecPoker Staking -rec.poker/staking/

This week, Jim Reid leads the panel through a forum post by the one and only Taylor Maas about a chance to turn a marginal hand into a bluff. While battling it out against each other in the nightly home game, the panel discusses hand ranging, bluff targeting, bet sizing, and more! Come sign up for a free account at rec.poker today to see all the great comments and replies – and you can post a question of your own in the forum for the panel to review! Link: https://rec.poker/forums/discussion/big-blind-defense-very-favorable-runout-for-our-range/

Matt Savage is the Executive Tournament Director for the World Poker Tour (WPT) among other industry leadership positions. Matt co-founded the Tournament Directors Association (TDA) in an attempt to bring greater consistency to tournament players' experiences across the country. Matt has been at the forefront of building poker into a global business for the past three decades after his start as a chip runner and dealer at his local casino. Matt will be playing as a celebrity bounty in the September 25th RecPoker tournament on ClubWPT. This free entry tournament is available to all RecPoker community (free) members with the winner getting a $2,500 entry into a WPTDeepStacks event at Thunder Valley in December. More information is available at rec.poker/wpt Matt is a great follow on Twitter at @savagepoker.

This week, Jim Reid leads the panel through another forum post by Troy Chapman (Chappo) about a drawing hand facing some unusual action. While battling it out against each other in the nightly home game, the panel discusses passive play, hand ranges, pot odds, equity, and more! Come sign up for a free account at rec.poker today to see all the great comments and replies – and you can post a question of your own in the forum for the panel to review! Link: https://rec.poker/forums/discussion/calling-with-implied-odds-and-pre-flop-and-things-get-weird-post-flop/

Jamie Kerstetter joins the panel to share about her poker industry journey and why she transitioned away from being a lawyer; we also talk about one of her true passions: rescuing dogs. One of the many things Jamie is involved with is Poker King, a great new show that features a lot of great poker action while staying entertaining. Follow @pokerkingmedia on Twitter as well as @JamieKerstetter

This week, Jim Reid leads the panel through a forum post by Keith "MonkieSystem" Brandt that was so good we had to come back for more, so we dive back into a hand from a previous episode to get a more detailed perspective on the action. While battling it out against each other in the nightly home game, the panel discusses stack sizes, ICM, blocker bets, value-targeting and more! Come sign up for a free account at rec.poker today to see all the great comments and replies – and you can post a question of your own in the forum for the panel to review! Link: https://rec.poker/forums/discussion/when-to-tighten-up-on-final-tables/

You already know who Kevin Mathers is - the king of poker information and an essential follow on twitter @kevmath - but now you can get to know him even better through his substack newsletter and his new RECing Crew page at www.rec.poker/kevmath - listen along as the panel chats with Kevin about the WSOP and what to expect for the series in 2021!

This week, Jim Reid leads the panel through a forum post by Eric A about how to use tools like PokerTracker4 to study. While battling it out against each other in the nightly home game, the panel discusses HUDs, filters, reports, frequencies, and more! Come sign up for a free account at rec.poker today to see all the great comments and replies – and you can post a question of your own in the forum for the panel to review! Link: https://rec.poker/groups/jims-pokertracker-review-group/forum/discussion/session-idea/

Ben Yu joins the panel to share about his life in and out of poker, how to study, the value of learning with friends, and more!

This week, Jim Reid leads the panel through a forum post by Troy Chapman (Chappo) about a hand from a recent final table. While battling it out against each other in the nightly home game, the panel discusses ICM factors, hand ranging, stack sizes, and more! Come sign up for a free account at rec.poker today to see all the great comments and replies – and you can post a question of your own in the forum for the panel to review! Link: https://rec.poker/forums/discussion/final-table-hand-every-part-of-this-made-me-uncomfortable-on-so-many-levels/

Barry Carter is a poker player, author and editor who has worked on great books with Jared Tendler (Mental Game of Poker) and more recently Dara O'Kearney (Poker Satellite STrategy , PKO Poker Strategy). Barry also writes for PokerStrategy.com and Poker Media Pro. After an auspicious start with an insurance company call center, Barry got his start in poker media and the rest is history. He is active on Twitter at @Barry_Carter

This week, Jim Reid leads the panel through a forum post by Keith Brandt (MonkieSystem) about responding to 3-bets. While battling it out against each other in the nightly home game, the panel discusses how to exploit people's 3-bet ranges with sizing, frequencies, and what they look for when facing raises in and out of position! Come sign up for a free account at rec.poker today to see all the great comments and replies – and you can post a question of your own in the forum for the panel to review! Link: https://rec.poker/forums/discussion/exploiting-a-faulty-3-betting-range-at-40bb/

Joe Stapleton is a poker player, commentator and television personality whose work includes just about every poker organization including PokerStars, European Poker Tour, Poker Night in America and WSOP. Most recently Joe was hired as a consultant for a movie, "The Card Counter" and is working on a comic book to be released soon. Joe is a great combination of confidence and humility with a vision for success in his life, keeping a great perspective on where he has been and where he is going.

This week, Jim Reid leads the panel through a forum post by Keith B about when to start considering ICM at teh final table. While battling it out against each other in the nightly home game, the panel discusses tournament stages, stack sizes, ICM principles, and more! Come sign up for a free account at rec.poker today to see all the great comments and replies – and you can post a question of your own in the forum for the panel to review! Link: https://rec.poker/forums/discussion/when-to-tighten-up-on-final-tables/

Our new website at rec.poker launched in July 2020 and we wanted to celebrate by reviewing the past year in the RecPoker community. So much has happened in the past 12 months beyond the website and it is time to reflect! We are so often focused on looking forward and evaluating what is next, so it is important to look back and acknowledge that path that has been traveled. Everything we do is focused on community, which is evident as the team talks about our journey so far! The regular panel is joined by Mark Praschan, who many of you know as @websitemark in the home games; Mark is the owner of WebsiteAMP, a sponsor of the RecPoker podcast and a huge part of the development and growth of RecPoker. You can reach Mark through WebsiteAMP.com or just reach out to steve@rec.poker to make the connection.

This week, Jim Reid leads the panel through a forum post by MaxChaos about when and how to vary your raise and bet sizing. While battling it out in the nightly home game, we discuss stack sizes, position, hand strength, and more! Come sign up for a free account at rec.poker today to see all the great comments and replies – and you can post a question of your own in the forum for the panel to review! Link: https://rec.poker/forums/discussion/altering-bet-sizes-based-on-villian-stack-sizes/

Carlos Welch is a player, writer, and coach spending much of his time living out of Prius. Carlos recently won his first WSOP Bracelet, besting a field of 782 entries in the Crazy Eights ONLINE event for $1124,369. He plans on using part of the money to buy a house for his mom in George to serve as the central location for when the Welch family gathers. Carlos shares some tips on being frugal in Vegas during the WSOP and just brings a general positivity to the poker world. Connect with Carlos on Twitter @hiphop101trivia.

This week, Jim Reid leads the panel through a forum post by Jacob Kieke about a live tournament getting close to the money. While battling it out against each other in the nightly home game, the panel discusses blockers, hand ranges, table dynamics, tournament stages, and more! Come sign up for a free account at rec.poker today to see all the great comments and replies – and you can post a question of your own in the forum for the panel to review! Link: https://rec.poker/forums/discussion/canterbury-150-deep-stack-nearing-the-money/

Mike Patrick is a mixed game specialist who is also a contributing writer for Cardplayer Lifestyle as well as other poker media outlets. Mike will be taking his talents to PokerNews this fall, covering the WSOP for the entire series. Mike has a background in sports television and would love to combine his TV production skills with his passion for poker. Through our conversation, we find out that Mike refers to PLO as the "gateway to mixed game." One of the good guys in poker, you can give Mike a follow on Twitter at @MikePatrick98

This week, Jim Reid leads the panel through a forum post by ARW about a hand played out of the blinds. While battling it out against each other in the nightly home game, the panel discusses preflop ranges from both positions perspectives, combos, postflop action, and more! Come sign up for a free account at rec.poker today to see all the great comments and replies – and you can post a question of your own in the forum for the panel to review! https://rec.poker/forums/discussion/blind-vs-blind/