Whether you’re playing online poker or at a live table in your local card room, a focus on constantly improving your game is the best way to get ahead. Luckily, PokerStars School is here to help you with that goal. Here’s a look at some of the latest content for improving your game from PS School.

Daniel Negreanu’s ability to formulate live reads on his opponents leads to lots of moments like this.

Learning to read players in a live setting

“The live player is a more interesting specimen to study than his online counterpart,” writes Pete “Carroters” Clarke, “because we can make reads based on more human demographics such as age, behaviours, poker chat, emotional control, and more.”

This week Pete looks at some of the main personality archetypes you’ll come across in live poker, how you can expect them to play, and how you use live tells such as personality and appearance to make reads.

Read all about the Types of Live Poker Players and see the results in your next session.

New Twitch stream: 6-Max Turbo NLHE

If you’re looking to get the most action whenever you sit down, 6-max no-limit Hold’em tables are a great place to be. For a first-hand look at just what the action in 6-max NLHE cash games look like, and the strategies you’ll need to beat the competition, check out this new Twitch session from Pete “Carroters” Clarke.

Learn more from live streams on the PS School Twitch channel.

Cash games: to auto-rebuy or not to auto-rebuy?

You’d better believe Randy Lew keeps the auto-rebuy option checked when he’s playing on PokerStars.

PokerStars cash games offer players the option to automatically rebuy up to the table maximum. Pete Clarke says that as long as you’re using proper bankroll management, you should be using this option every time you sit down to play. Not only do you maximize your winnings against weaker players, but it also allows you to see more hands and, in the process, develop your game.

Learn all the reasons you should be Auto-Rebuying in Cash Games and start making the most of your stack.

Other new PokerStars School content you might enjoy

• Win 25$T and Community Tournament Tickets in the Question of the Week
• Prizepool Madness: Complete PS School challenges and win tickets to the big tournament!
• Video: Deep Stack Post Flop Play, Part 2 and Part 3
• Winners Wall: Sunday Million Anniversary

Open a PokerStars account today and start learning from PokerStars School. Click here to get started, and then click here to register for PokerStars School.

All eyes in the poker world will be on the PokerStars tables next month as we celebrate the 13th anniversary of the most revered online tournament of them all: the PokerStars Sunday Million. As you may have read, there’s a $10 million guarantee and a guaranteed $1 million first prize. But how can you give a boost to your chances of winning it?

That’s where our friends over at PokerStars School come in. As you should be aware by now, PokerStars School is bursting with information for poker players of all abilities, offering easy-to-follow tutorials and video coaching for all poker enthusiasts.

In addition to their absolutely enormous archive of material, including a multi-table tournament course, they have recently launched three articles specifically tackling Sunday Million strategy. There has never been a better time to get acquainted with the superlative work PokerStars School does, nor to have a crack at the Sunday Million.

IN ON THE CHEAP

The regular Sunday Million buy-in is $109 these days, but it has returned to $215 for the anniversary edition. That means you’re going to want to find out how to get in on the cheap, and the first PokerStars School article focuses on satellite strategy. It’s called: “Tips For Winning a Seat to the Sunday Million” and contains exactly what it says in the title.

After helping you find the right satellite to suit your bankroll, there’s plenty of nitty-gritty advice for how to approach the tournament in the early, middle and late stages. So if you’re interested in hunting out overlay, learning when to play cautious and when to be the bully, and even when you should fold aces pre-flop, this is the article for you.

Satellites start at a mere 90 cents — yes, $0.90 — so it’s probably time to download PokerStars to get involved.

CHECK THE STRUCTURE, AND STRUCTURE YOUR STRATEGY

The Sunday Million has been online poker’s most popular regular tournament pretty much since the day it launched, and much of the reason for that lies with its structure. Players get a 10,000-chip starting stack, which is 200 big blinds in Level 1, and the rate at which the blinds escalate hits the sweet spot for both the elite and the recreational players. In the second article in the Sunday Million series, PokerStars School offers tips for how to make the most of this format. It’s called: Attacking the Sunday Million Structure.

Dealers are prepared for the Anniversary Sunday Million

Tutor Dave Roemer splits the tournament into early, middle and late stages, and suggest ways to help you to target the weaker players at the table, while avoiding the pitfalls that might make you one of them. For instance, it’s just plain common sense — but so often forgotten — that getting a 200-big blind stack in the middle early on is just foolish with one pair. However people will do it, so this is the time to get to a flop with your suited connectors and hope to find someone overvaluing their top pair.

Stack sizes are all important during the middle stages, as you play towards and through the bubble. And then when you’re in the money, it’s worth keeping an eye on the money jumps and calculate how the ICM pressures impacting your opponents can help you move towards the highest payday. Read the full article.

WHAT TO DO, AND WHAT NOT TO DO

As with all major tournaments, players in the Sunday Million are hostage to fortune. There’s only so much you can control. But in the third article from the series, PokerStars School gets direct. It’s called Advice on How to Play the Sunday Million and offers some hard and fast rules for how to make the most of the cards you’re dealt.

This includes the importance of three-betting more aggressively, especially when in position, and also analyses when it’s smart not to continuation bet alongside the importance of value betting winners. And, whatever you do, keep an eye on opponents’ stack sizes and don’t put yourself in the position of having to risk half your chips calling an 11 BB shove with J9s.

This. Article. Can. Save. You. Chips.

Pop artist Andy Warhol said everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Warhol never anticipated a powerful platform like Twitch, otherwise he’d have said that everyone will have their own Twitch channel.

Twitch transformed laptops and tablets into mobile television studios. Twitch combines all the coolest elements of television, social media, gaming, entertainment, and creativity all in one singular platform that anyone on the planet can access at any given time. Twitch instantly connects content creators with a global audience and as a result, top streamers have become superstars and highly-coveted influencers.

Team Pros Ben Spragg and Lex Veldhuis are among the most popular poker Twitch streamers

Twitch is not just for video game geeks anymore. In the last year alone, Twitch expanded their categories to include talk shows, podcasts, travel and outdoors, art, music, comedy, sports and fitness, crafts, cooking, beauty products, or simply… just chatting. The faster the platform grows, the more diverse people start using it to broadcast their own niche areas. In turn, those micro-communities germinate into blossoming subcultures.

According to Twitch Tracker, Twitch has 1.2 million concurrent viewers with 55,600 average concurrent live channels. It boasts 4.5 million monthly streamers and viewers are on pace to watch 600 billion minutes of content in 2019. That isn’t limited to English-language streamers. Streams in German, Russian, and Korean have seen exponential growth in the past 12 months.

Streamers have become the masters of their own brands. The best streamers have similar qualities in that they are engaging, reliable, and interesting. Most importantly, especially in the gaming world, it helps immensely if they are good at what they do.

Learning to fly on the fly

The best Twitch streamers combine two important aspects: watching the best compete, and learning rules or how to improve their own strategy.

“The simple things are the hardest to explain,” Steve Winwood from Traffic once sang. Sometimes it’s impossible to describe the simple things. It’s often easier to just show you how something works. This is the exact reason why gaming streams are so popular.

Students and newcomers can immerse themselves into streams and grok everything in an organic process. Of course, the best streamers have the uncanny ability to break down complex situations in simple terms.

The online poker realm on Twitch is rapidly growing in popularity because players are always seeking out new ways to improve. The more you watch the best of the best play, the better you will play.

Fifteen years ago, poker enthusiasts did not have numerous avenues for poker content. Fans were reliant on DVDs or poker television shows. The World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker, High Stakes Poker, and Poker After Dark were a valuable part of every poker player’s diet. They devoured the shows and watched their favorite episodes multiple times.

In the Twitch era, you do not have to wait for Wednesday nights to catch a WPT final table. Pick up the PokerStars Twitch feed or hop on to Spraggy’s channel for a wild ride.

New Rock Stars

Who would want to watch people play video games? There’s at least one million people doing that right now. The activity might be a lo-fi form of entertainment, but in a way it feels natural.

When you were a kid, you would sit down and watch your siblings, friends, and neighbors play video games while you patiently waited your turn. It doesn’t matter if you were born into an era that ushered in Atari, Sega, Nintendo, Gameboy, Xbox, mobile gaming, or online poker, everyone had a similar experience with the building anticipation and excitement of having the “next game up”.

It’s human nature to be curious, especially about things we don’t know much about. It’s also natural to seek out others with similar interests, especially if those things are not mainstream pursuits. Twitch brings together like-minded people, which is why streamers playing Fortnite, Overwatch, and online poker have become popular daily activities.

YouTube vloggers, Twitch streamers, and Instagram influencers are the new rock stars. The most popular content creators on those platforms are the ones shaping youth culture. Twitch went from a quirky streaming service for video game nerds to a bona fide entertainment platform in only a couple of years. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins went from an average esports pro to the most-popular Fortnite player in the world virtually overnight thanks to his Twitch feed.

24/7 Product Placement

From a marketing perspective, the best commercials are the ones you don’t realize are commercials. Twitch is an amazing platform because if you have a popular brand, you will have a presence 24/7. There will always be someone streaming their latest session of Fortnite, Hearthstone, Counterstrike, or PokerStars.

Whenever PokerStars introduces a new game or format, you can hop onto Twitch and get a live demonstration from an authority you trust. Watching 6+ Hold’em on Spraggy or Lex Veldhuis’ stream is good way to learn the rules and basic strategy of short-deck hold’em, while hearing pros talk through the nuances of play. Short-deck is quickly becoming a popular game on the global circuit. Twitch is a new way to accelerate the learning curve on new games.

If you do not have a VR headset, then Twitch is also the perfect platform for you to experience what you’re missing. The other day, Spraggy played heads-up poker while Chris Moneymaker provided commentary. For followers without VR headsets, or those had never seen PokerStars VR before, the stream was a perfect product review because you got to experience it in real time.

Where are your friend tonight?

Kurt Cobain said it best, “Here we are now, entertain us.”

After a long day, you simply want to kick back and relax. If you are not a football fan or have watched everything in your Netflix queue, you might seek out alternative forms of entertainment.

Firing up your favorite Twitch stream is like hanging out with an old friend. You seek out something soothing and familiar, but not something too intense that requires your undivided attention. Background streams are optimal content to play while you eat dinner or play a couple of SNGs.

This is the very reason Ninja has so many followers. It’s also why poker fans love to sweat Spraggy or Lex Veldhuis. They are excellent at what they do, but maintain a level of professionalism while providing entertaining content and simultaneously engaging with the audience. It is a difficult task to do just one of those well. Yet these Twitch maestros pull off all three with ease.

With Lex Live kicking off today in Namur, Belgium, let us introduce you some of the online qualifiers currently heading to Lex Veldhuis’s Twitch poker extravaganza.

Meet some of the Lex Live qualifiers

For Lex Veldhuis and his Twitch community, today is a special day.

Not only does Day 1A of the €100K guaranteed €225 Lex Live Main Event get going tonight at 6pm, but a bunch of qualifiers are on their way to the Grand Casino de Namur right now, courtesy of winning packages in online satellites.

We thought we’d let them tell you their stories before we follow their progress throughout the week.

SANNE “Antim00n” BOMBEEK (BELGIUM)

Sanne Bombeek is a 29-year-old Emergency Room Nurse from Belgium, who lives close to Aalst.

Sanne “Antim00n” Bombeek

PokerStars Blog: Hi Sanne. What can you tell us about yourself?

Sanne Bombeek: “I go by “Antim00n” on PokerStars and Twitch. I would consider my work as my greatest passion. People say all the time that when you go into healthcare, it has to be a calling. In my case, it really is. I love my job and strive to get better at it every day. It does, however, leave me with little time to spend on hobbies. I currently spend most of my free time together with my husband, renovating our house and watching Twitch.”

PSB: How did you get into poker?

SB: “Through my husband. He played quite a lot during what he calls the “golden years of online poker” (10-15 years ago). After meeting me about 10 years ago, he scaled back on playing. He now casually plays low stakes PLO. He tried to explain the basics to me when we met but didn’t really have a lot of success! I consider myself a very casual player. I must admit that when I watch Lex’s stream most of my attention goes to the chat and I don’t really pay that much attention to the hands he’s playing! But apparently, I picked up some skills while doing that, as I managed to qualify for the main event.”

PSB: What made you take a shot in the satellite?

SB: “I got my buy-in for the satellite from winning a $100 giveaway on Lex’s stream some time ago. I think I put it to good use. If you’re looking for an accomplished poker player with some nice cashes and tournaments next to her name, I’m not your girl.

“I’m going to Lex Live to meet the community that Lex built and that I have grown to love. Playing a couple of hands of poker while there is just a nice bonus. Twitch is where Lex and poker came together for me.”

PSB: What makes Lex’s stream special to you?

SB: “I still remember the first couple of times when I got home from work and found my husband watching Lex on Twitch. I reacted as many others who are new to Twitch: What was entertaining about that? Why was he watching someone else play poker when he could play himself? But, I was willing to give it a chance.

“It didn’t take long before I made my own Twitch account and started being active in the chat and the community. I remember actually being upset with my husband when I came home from work one day, only to find out he had subbed to Lex without me knowing. So, of course, I had no other choice than to instantly sub too. That was 20 months ago. I recently asked Lex if he remembers which of us subbed first and he knew it was Rizn00. Something so small and trivial, but he knew. I think that tells a lot about Lex and the community he built. He really knows his longtime subs and truly cares about them.

“When I get home after a crazy shift, or when I have had a bad day and lost a patient, the community is there for me on Discord or in the Twitch chat. Lex sometimes says something small on stream like: ‘It sucks you had a bad day Antim00n, give our TwitchNurse a veldLUV wall chat’. For him, it might not seem much, but for me, it means a lot.

“I watch Lex to unwind, to relax with chat, to troll him about moppie buying his sweaters, to ‘f**k’ Croaks, to play golfing with your friends on ‘Blow Up Fridays’ (that did not end well for me by the way), and to have fun.”

PSB: We hear you’ve become a meme in the chat?

SB: “Yeah, the #modAntim00n campaign has become a meme in Lex’s chat. Every time I ask when he’ll finally make me a mod, he blatantly ignores it. Others picked up on it and will spam the chat and donations with #modAntim00n. We recently had a small breakthrough when Lex made me ‘Director of Shopping’ in his Discord channel after I found him some shelves to put in his office. One could say that’s the biggest achievement of my life. My husband wouldn’t like that though, nor would the people whose lives I’ve saved.

“I think the biggest achievement of my life is still to come: winning the Lex Live Main Event! That will give Lex no choice but to make me a mod! (I’m just kidding).”

IOSIF SPULBER (ROMANIA)

Iosif Spulber is a 29-year-old from Romania who currently lives in London where he works as a Software Engineer.

PokerStars Blog: How did you get into poker?

Iosif Spulber: “I’ve been playing poker since it was legal for me to do so, going so far as getting nice monthly cashes to help me through college. I stopped when I decided that it required a bit too much work, which I could just put into studying.

I then started watching Twitch poker about two years ago, which I find almost as exciting as playing. This, in turn, got me back to playing recreationally. It turns out that poker got a lot harder in the meantime!”

PSB: Have you ever attended a live poker event before?

IS: “No. Lex Live will be my first time playing poker in a casino!”

PSB: You must be excited?

IS: “I think it’s amazing, even if I bust out on day one. The prospect of meeting the poker community, hanging out with people I know online, it all sounds really fun!

“It’s also quite a surprise that I’m going. Without the qualifier, there’s no way I would have gone. Lex kept reminding us about the last qualifier on Sunday, but I wasn’t that keen on it as I’ve just been to Belgium, it’s a bit too sudden, and the event is way higher than what I usually play. It’s not about the money itself—I could afford it— but everything I’ve learnt about bankroll management from streamers such as Lex would make it a questionable decision, and to me, poker is all about making the right decisions. In fact, the qualifier itself was outside my regular buy-ins. But the satellite into the qualifier was €3.30 and I thought: ‘Hey, you know what? If I get to go to Lex live for that, I’m okay with it.’ I then won those two and here we are!”

PSB: What is it about Lex and his stream that has had such a big impact on you?

IS: “I simply love Twitch poker. I think it’s got a lot of elements that make it perfect for streaming. It’s so entertaining, the entire audience ‘invests’ into deep runs, and the hype when something massive is about to go down is insane. It’s more engaging than other games since the streamer can answer questions about the plays, offer advice, etc. And most importantly, you truly get better just by watching. You see what works and why, and if you take it seriously by always checking you’d do the same thing as the streamer, it works as good as actual training sessions!

“When it comes to Lex in particular, it’s the only Twitch community I’m actually part of. I think it’s a mix of unique things he brings to the table: diving deeper into strategy when he needs to, investing a lot in developing his platform, and most importantly not shying away from speaking out on any topic.”

MORE ABOUT LEX VELDHUIS: INTERVIEW INTRODUCING LEX LIVE | LEX WINS THE WARM-UP | BATTLE ROYALE: LIFE AT THE TOP OF TWITCH

JONOTHON BUTTERS (ENGLAND)

Jonothon Butters is a 52-year-old retired software entrepreneur from Stafford, England.

Jonothon Butters

PokerStars Blog: Hi Jonothon. Congratulations on winning a package to Lex Live! Are you forward to it?

Jonothon Butters: “The vibe from smaller buy-in, community-focused events make them very different from standard tournaments, and more fun. Plus, I’m taking the opportunity to attend the Darts in Rotterdam and bringing my son along for company. It’s perfect.”

PSB: How did you discover poker?

JB: “I started in 2006 after I retired, right at the beginning of the poker boom. Lots of money was being thrown around, and there was lots of excitement as it was all new, what with the TV coverage and great live events.”

PSB: What do you think of Lex and his stream?

JB: “I found Lex’s stream by accident and liked the open way he talks about the game and interacts with the audience. I slowly started watching more and got my appetite back for playing the game. I jumped into the €3 qualifier and laddered up to win the package whilst watching the stream. Incredible!”

PSB: Do you have much live poker experience?

JB: “Yes, I’ve played many events including WSOP, EPT, UKIPT and APPT events between 2006 and 2010. My largest cash was third for £36K at the GUKPT Luton in 2007. You can still find it on YouTube I think!”

PSB: What do you like to do outside of poker?

JB: “I’m a keeper of Marine Fish and Corals, and I love football and darts. My biggest achievements are 30 years of marriage and raising my two children. My son Harvey (27) will be coming along with me.”

GAETAN MACALUSO (BELGIUM)

Gaetan Macaluso is a 22-year-old from Liège, Belgium, currently studying for a masters degree.

Gaetan Macaluso

PokerStars Blog: Hi Gaetan. What can you tell us about yourself?

Gaetan Macaluso: “My main hobbies are the financial market, videos games and sports (running and football), at an amateur level.”

PSB: How did you first discover poker?

GM: “I started to play poker when I was a kid. I used to play 5-card draw with my grandparents, then moved to Texas Hold’em (for play money). I continued to play with my friends for fun until I turned 21, then I started to play for real money online.”

PSB: Do you have much live poker experience?

GM: “I’ve played three live events. The first was a €165 MegaStack which I also qualified for online, but busted at the end of Day 1. The second was a €30 event where I busted close to the money on Day 2. And the last one was a €100 tournament, which I won!”

PSB: What would you say are your biggest achievements?

GM: “I’m very proud to be a masters student, but when it comes to poker, I am proud to have won a $7 online tournament for $1,900,  and the live tournament in Valkenburg for €1,800. But honestly, I think my biggest achievement is yet to come.”

PSB: Are you looking forward to going to Lex Live?

GM: “I’ve been to Namur before so the place is not a great discovery for me, but I am very excited to go there this time. I think Lex has built a great community and has a very good philosophy. I enjoy watching his stream because you can learn lots of things but you also just chill with him and have a good time. I often see his viewers with his avatar at the tables on PokerStars, so they are proud to be in his community. He had a big impact on my mental game because he is very calm even when he loses, and also very organised. This is so important in poker.”

HASAN SEN (BULGARIA)

Hasan Sen

PokerStars Blog: Hi Hasan, what can you tell us about yourself?

Hasan Sen: “I was born in Bulgaria but I was raised in Turkey. I graduated with a degree in Management Engineering in Turkey, before moving to Portsmouth in England for my master study. Then I moved to live in Vienna.”

PSB: How did you get into poker?

HS: “I love playing and watching all sports. I was playing poker for play money when I was young, then started to play with real money when I moved to England. That was about nine years ago. I attended lots of low and medium stakes tournaments in Vienna. My biggest cash in a live tournament was about €1,200.”

PSB: How did it feel to win a package to Lex Live?

HS: “There are no words that could describe it. It was an incredible moment for me. I deserved that. The most important thing for me is that I’ll meet Lex, but it will also be a good holiday for me!”

Good luck to everyone playing at Lex Live. Stick with PokerStars Blog all week for all the latest features.

Opening a PokerStars account is easy. Click here to get an account in minutes.

With more than $7.9 million in cashes across a career spanning more than a decade, Charlie “JIZOINT” Combes is undoubtedly one of the UK’s most successful online players.

A couple of years ago Combes opted to take a break from poker in order to travel the world with his fiancée, Nicola. By his own admission, the game had passed him by upon his return, and things didn’t get any easier when the couple had twin babies seven months ago.

Now Combes is balancing fatherhood with working hard to get back to the top of his game. The results are speaking for themselves, as two weeks ago he chopped the Sunday Million for $83,813.

In a rare break from changing nappies, we were able to catch up with Combes. Check out that conversation below.

PokerStars Blog: When you first started playing, could you have imagined you’d still be at it some 13 years later?

Charlie “JIZOINT” Combes: “No, and I wouldn’t have chosen the name JIZOINT if I knew I was going to be a professional!”

PSB: Congratulations on the Sunday Million chop. Was this the first time you’d final tabled it?

Combes: “I’ve final tabled it twice before. I think it was in my first or second year when I was really bad at poker, and then I never got anywhere close.”

PSB: You’ve had great results in just about all the big online tournaments (Combes has three SCOOP titles and a Super Tuesday title, to name a couple). It must be nice to tick the Milly off the list?

Combes: “It was really nice, and the field is double the size than it used to be now the buy-in is $109. So that feels even better when you beat 10,000 people.”

PSB: How do you feel about the buy-in change?

Combes: “It’s much softer. It was quite soft before for a $215, but it’s definitely much softer now. You can noticeably feel a difference, even deep in it. I think there were only two or three players who seemed to know what they were doing properly.”

Grinding by Lake Atitlán in Guatemala

PSB: Were there any key hands that you remember en route to the chop?

Combes: “There was one hand that I sent to my backer on BOOM (check out that hand here). That was a massive bluff three-handed.”

PSB: What does your weekly schedule look like these days?

Combes: “On a Sunday I start at roughly 4pm. Before I was with my backer I was playing almost everything on my own money. Me and Nicola went travelling around the world for a year and my previous backer left me just before, so when I came back I started playing on my own money.

“I think I’d fallen behind the game a fair bit because I took a year off and I got lazy when I got back. I just started to lose lots of my own money. So I found a backer again who has made me do some study which brought my game back to a good level, I hope. His name is Michael Copley from Poker Winners. He’s really helped point me in the right direction in the last few months along with his stable analyst.

“He requires me to play four nights a week. He requires a certain volume a month, but he’s quite lenient about it all. To be honest, when I’m not playing I’m changing nappies.”

PSB: Did you and Nicola celebrate the score?

Combes: “Yeah, we went out for dinner the next night with the kids, but we had to leave early because they were screaming.”

PSB: What drives you at the moment?

Combes: “At the moment I’m working with a coach. I used to be really highly ranked in the world on PocketFives.com, and when I went away for a year I fell behind the game. I wasn’t using a HUD (heads-up display), and I wasn’t familiar with pioSOLVER, and all this stuff that all the whizz kids are using now. So I’m just getting familiar with all of this at the moment, and I’m studying to get to the top of my game again.

“My main aim is just to move up the rankings. I don’t have a specific tournament I want to win, I just want to show a consistent profit.”

Combes is currently ranked 12th in the UK, according to PocketFives.com

You can play poker for free on PokerStars. Simply click here to open an account.

In The Canary Murder Case, Philo Vance sits down with a group of murder suspects for a game of five-card draw. When the game is done, he knows which among them is the killer.

Anthony Holden once famously wrote that a person’s “character is stripped bare at the poker table.” It’s a truth well understood by anyone who has played the game at all seriously. You necessarily expose something about yourself at the poker table. Indeed, a big part of the game is trying to keep your cards “close to the vest,” both literally and figuratively.

The 1929 film The Canary Murder Case tests this idea to an extreme, you could say. The film features a poker game expressly set up in order to get someone to expose himself sufficiently to reveal he could have committed a murder. And it works!

Catching the Canary’s Killer

The Canary Murder Case loosely adapts one of a dozen popular novels written by Willard Huntington Wright, who used the pen name S. S. Van Dine to author his series of “Philo Vance” mysteries. The film’s plot doesn’t quite match that of the novel, but it does begin with a similar murder of a showgirl known for her stage performances as “The Canary.”

This early sound film is remembered for a few reasons. It features the first starring role of William Powell, the debonair leading man who went on to appear in several films as the suave sleuth Vance. He later also starred in the “Thin Man” series of films where he portrayed Dashiell Hammett’s crime-solving character Nick Charles.

The movie is also known for starring flapper icon Louise Brooks as the Canary. Already a sex symbol, Brooks’ notoriety grew further when she refused producers’ demands for her to re-record some of her lines for the film. That got her blacklisted by American studios. She would go on to star in some groundbreaking (and, for the era, sexually provocative) European films, becoming identified with a character she portrayed in a couple of them — Lulu.

It only takes 20 minutes for us to learn the Canary is not only romantically linked to several men, but is scheming to blackmail some of them, too. Thus when she is found murdered a number of suspects soon emerge, each having possible motives. A second murder occurs as well, clearly committed by the same killer to cover up the first, adding extra urgency to finding out “whodunit.”

I’ll gloss over further details of the plot in order for us to skip ahead to the poker game. In the novel, Vance explains more thoroughly how he thinks he knows what kind of person committed the murder, but he isn’t “sufficiently acquainted with the suspects to point out the guilty one.” Nor does he have enough concrete evidence yet to pin it on any of the men who have been identified as having possibly killed the Canary.

Prefiguring Holden’s pronouncement, Vance insists that “a man’s true nature always comes out in a game poker.” He therefore believes if he can get the suspects to play poker with him, he’ll be able to figure out which among them is capable of being the killer.

Vance Begins Discarding Suspects

A game of five-card draw is arranged. In the first hand one of the men, Cleaver, draws himself a strong hand but plays it timidly:

As Vance explains later, Cleaver only calling a small bet with three aces proves he is “much too cautious, and entirely lacking in the necessary boldness” to have been the murderer.

Next Vance gets heads-up against an opponent named Mannix, and after drawing two cards watches Mannix stand pat. Then comes a big overbet from Mannix, with Vance calling. It turns out Mannix had something worth betting:

A Bluffer Reveals Himself

Finally we get to Spotswoode, someone whose alibi was in fact apparently playing in another poker at the time the Canary was murdered. Again, Vance gets heads-up, and after Vance draws three and Spotswoode stands pat, a huge pot develops after both players put in big raises back and forth.

Finally Vance calls, and the showdown surprises everyone:

You could say Vance has called Spotswoode’s bluff in a couple of different ways, the most important being the way he now knows Spotswoode to be the only player at the table clever and cunning enough to be the murderer.

Here’s the analysis Vance provides after the game in which he explains why Spotswoode has to be the killer:

The novel features the poker game as well, albeit with some altered details both of the hands and the circumstances. In fact, Vance brings another player to the game who cheats by setting up certain hands to ensure Vance is able to test out each suspect’s psychological mettle.

In fact, the hand between Spotswoode and Vance is handled better in the movie than in the book — in the latter, Vance folds four aces face up to Spotswoode’s bluff with jack-high.

Talk About Circumstantial Evidence

In his famous Stud Poker Blue Book first published in 1931, George Henry Fisher thought so much of the poker game in The Canary Murder Case he devoted a chapter to sharing it — despite the fact that his book was about stud poker, not draw. For Fisher, the hand didn’t necessarily provide a lesson in how to solve a murder, but a lesson in how to bluff (i.e., “when appearances are entirely in one’s favor”).

It has been 90 years since this movie premiered, so I don’t feel bad about delivering spoilers. Vance was right — Spotswoode is the killer. You’ll be glad to know other, more concrete evidence helps confirm Vance’s suspicion, which means it wasn’t just a bluff that determined Spotswoode to be guilty.

That is to say, if you happen to be capable of such bold deception at the poker table, legally speaking that probably cannot be held against you. Pulling off a killer bluff doesn’t make you a bluffing killer.

More “5-Card Fiction”

• Paul Newman surprisingly turns over four jacks in “The Sting”
• Three hands in “Rounders” screenplay draft that didn’t make it to the screen
• Evoking Stu Ungar with a 10-high call on “Billions

“5-Card Fiction” is an ongoing series examining fictional poker hands from film, television, and elsewhere. Have a favorite fictional poker hand you’d like to see discussed? Tweet your suggestions @PokerStarsBlog.

Turn €35 into a PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT Main Event package

If you like your poker opulent, with a backdrop of millionaire tower blocks and the spring sunshine in your eyes, there is no better destination than Monte Carlo on the French Riviera.

The view of Monaco from high up in the surrounding cliffs. Win your seat in new Spin & Gos for as little as €35

And now you can win a trip there to see it for yourself.

With new limited edition Spin & Gos you can win a full package to the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT Main Event next month for as little as €35.

Packages include your main event seat worth €5,300 and seven nights at the five-star Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort Monaco for you and a guest.

They run from now until April 14, with other prizes including satellite tickets worth €70 and €140.

How Spin & Gos work

If you’re not familiar with the unique format of Spin & Gos, it’s simple.

They’re fast-paced, three-player turbo tournaments with the prize pool determined by a random spinner before play begins.

They take just a few minutes to play, and you could win a prize far greater than expected.

You can even brush up on strategy beforeplaying thanks to PokerStars School , and see how it’s done.

Be in Monaco for the Main Event next month

The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT Main Event runs from April 29 to May 4, 2019 and is a highlight of the poker calendar.

The reasons are obvious.

Casino Square. One of the many familiar sights to see while staying in Monaco

It takes place in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, tucked into the Riviera coastline.

It’s also one of the most luxurious poker venues anywhere. Monaco is home the rich and famous, and the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort Monaco grants you the same lifestyle during your stay.

And let’s not forget the event itself, which promises some of the bigger payouts of the year. Last year Frenchman Nicolas Dumont took home the title, and a first prize of €712,000.

Get started now to win your seat

The first step is to win your seat. You can start playing the new Spin & Gos today on PokerStars, through to April 14. You’ll find them in the PokerStars lobby.

You can also check out the Spin & Go homepage for more details about how to play, what to win, and more about the festival itself.

We’ll see you there.

With the Grand National just around the corner, you might be preparing to have a bet on one of the oldest sporting events in the world.

The famous horse race took place for the first time in 1839. The 2019 version will be the 172^nd time the famous fences of Aintree have captured the racing world’s attention.

Plenty of people will have a flutter, even if they don’t normally bet on sports.

However, if you know how to play poker, you probably already have some of the skills required to make intelligent Grand National bets.

Use bankroll management

If you’re a smart poker player, you’ll know the importance of bankroll management. The Grand National meeting at Aintree will have multiple races, not just the big one on the Saturday, so if you’re planning on spreading your money across a few races – or even just making a few bets on one race – you should treat your bankroll in the same way you would look at your poker finances.

The Grand National attracts seasoned sports bettors to first time punters hoping to get lucky. But you can use your poker skills to increase your chances of success

You’ll want to figure out how much you’re prepared to lose – and you may end up losing at certain horse racing meets – and set yourself limits so as to not gamble beyond your means. There is variance in horse racing, just as in poker: you won’t win money betting on the favourite every time, just as you won’t win every poker game, even if you feel you’re better than the other players at the table.

Just as importantly, though, smart bankroll management in horse racing ensures you won’t lose more than you can afford. If you set yourself an upper limit before the start of each meet, you’ll still need to be disciplined. Don’t just throw in an extra bet above and beyond your limits because of a hunch.

Field size matters

It is also worth considering the size of the field when preparing to bet on a horse race. The Grand National tends to have 40 runners (though the record for the race is 66), and 100/1 shots Foinavon and Mon Mome have both upset the odds to win the race.

It’s the same with poker. A player might be the hot favourite for a tournament, but the sheer number of runners reduce their chances of victory. We had to wait several years for the first two-time European Poker Tour champion because even the best players struggled to conquer huge fields. The Grand National is the same. Only a handful of horses win multiple titles and the favourite is rarely if ever a sure thing.

With everything else being equal, a smaller field means a better chance of winning. This is something worth bearing in mind before placing a bet, and is part of the reason why betting on a horse to place (also known as an each-way bet) is popular in big-field events like the Grand National.

You can treat the Grand National like a big-field main event: your odds of winning might be smaller than in a softer or smaller field, but there can still be money to be made if you make adjustments with that in mind.

Adjust to the conditions

Speaking of adjustments, smart bettors will be aware the conditions play their part, and change their betting patterns with this in mind. Certain horses will have a track record of performing better depending on whether the going is soft or firm. Difficult conditions can level the playing field to the point that a sure thing in better conditions is now just one of the pack.

You might be wondering how poker can help you here. But it’s all about making adjustments based on new information. It’s basic poker strategy, but applied just as easily to the horse racing world.

For example, you might sit down at the poker table and start bullying your passive opponents, increasing your stack in the process. But if you’re moved to a different table, leaving you sitting to the right of an aggressive opponent with twice as many chips, things will need to change. You might need to begin playing a little more conservatively, because your circumstances have changed.

Similarly, you might have identified a horse you’re ready to back for victory, only for heavy rain to hit unexpectedly a day or two before the race. The conditions in which your horse normally excels will no longer exist, which means it might be time to revise your plans and think twice about the big bet you were planning to place.

Think long term

Whether the Grand National is your first time betting on the horses, or whether it’s something you’ve been doing for years, a smart approach akin to how you treat poker can serve you well.

Similarly, just as poker players will look at making the right strategic play rather than being results-oriented, short-term success or failure shouldn’t be the be all and end all.

If it’s something you’re planning on doing regularly, horse racing betting shouldn’t just be about individual wins and losses – it should be about walking away knowing you have made the right wager in the circumstance. Oftentimes, when you do that, the wins will come hand in hand.

The first ever Lex Live event kicked off last night in Namur, Belgium, with plenty of recognisable faces from the world of poker and Twitch taking part.

The man of the hour—or should we say the man of the week, as we’re here until Sunday—was, of course, Lex Veldhuis. His name and face (both real and in Beaker form) adorn the Grand Casino de Namur, and it’s his Twitch community who have made the journey to play in this event.

Yesterday we told you about some of the online qualifiers who would be in attendance, but before play even started at 6pm it was clear that this was to be no small get together.

Packed house for Day 1A of Lex Live

“I’m really happy with the turnout,” Veldhuis told PokerNews when the day was done. “I was happy when there were only 80 players registered, so to get 168 runners on Day 1A is amazing. I expect Day 1B and 1C to be even bigger. If we cross the 800 player mark I would be extremely happy but everything above the 500 is amazing.”

Of those 168 entrants, just 56 would survive, led by France’s Moise Alloun who managed to almost 10x his 50,000 starting stack to bag up a massive 490,000.

The field was an interesting mix of Veldhuis’s Twitch community (including active members Ben Martin and Ivo Shoofs), professional poker players (PokerStars Championship Prague winner Kalidou Sow played but didn’t survive), and the Namur locals.

All in all, it was a fun night and a huge success.

Check out the video below, then keep reading to find out how both Veldhuis and Spraggy fared.

LEX VS SPRAGGY

Before he sat down to play Veldhuis hung out at the bar; a chance to meet and greet everyone and put faces to the Twitch names he knows so well. When he would eventually take his seat, however, he was faced with a fellow Twitch poker superstar and PokerStars Team Online member that he already knows pretty well.

Lex and Spraggy hang out with fellow Twitchers

Yep, you guessed it. It was Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg, who had arrived in Namur not long before buying in to Day 1A.

Arrived here at Namur, Belgium. Registered the main event. Get this clown at my table. He's already confused and losing chips quickly! Sad. pic.twitter.com/CfItH3rEKR

— Benj Spragg (@spraggy) March 27, 2019

The two were at the same table from the off, and the battle commenced. Veldhuis was quick to tell PokerNews about a bluff he got through during the 300/600/600 blind level.

“Spraggy opened to 1,500 and another player called,” Veldhuis explained from the table. “I three-bet to 6,000 and Spraggy called me. The other guy folded. The flop came queen-eight-five with one heart and I fired a bet of 5,500. He called again and the turn was another queen. This time I bet 17,000 and he folded, so I showed him jack-four.”

Spraggy then added: “I played king-jack of hearts by the way, and I played that hand 200% more reasonable than he did”.

Things went from bad (getting bluffed by your friend) to worse (busting with pocket aces versus pocket tens) for Spraggy, who then fired a second bullet. Veldhuis’s stack continued to swell until the final level of the day when a huge three-way all-in saw his chips diminish substantially.

Veldhuis had K♦Q♣ and was up against Patrick Prijot’s A♠A♣ and Thierry Penders’ Q♠Q♦. The aces held up, and Veldhuis would end the day with just 23,000 (the shortest stack of the night). He’ll need a spin on Saturday’s Day 2, when the blinds will begin at 2,000/4,000/4,000.

Spraggy fared slightly better, bagging up 49,500 for just under starting stack.

Spraggy with Morten ‘Zeeth’ Ottosen

Another notable player to make it through was Veldhuis’s famous Twitch moderator, Germany’s “Croaks”, who ended the night with 44,500. Click here for the full Day 1A chip counts.

A Day 1A turbo flight (with 15-minute levels instead of 30 minutes) also ran from 10pm, attracting 12 players, four of whom made it through, led by Daniel Dinulescu with 240,000.

Here’s a look at some of your tweets:

I’m really, really bummed I can’t be at Lex Live this week, but unbelievably proud of @RaSZi. A whole event with your name on it! Man, my chest* would swell all the way from Rotterdam to Namur.

*not my chest

— Joe Stapleton (@Stapes) March 27, 2019

And we're off to #LexLive! No streams until 2nd of April but we will be vlogging so expect some vlogs up on our YouTube channel next week! pic.twitter.com/nm895HFIDO

— OP-Poker (@OfficialOPPoker) March 27, 2019

On my way to Namur for the Lex Live Spring Festival! Can’t wait to see tons of people from @RaSZi his community. See you in a bit guys! @croakspkr @MPADAM666 pic.twitter.com/3J7d0uymhg

— Milko @ Lex Live (@DegenOnTour) March 27, 2019

Played Day 1A here at #LexLive unfortunately i busted with 3 hands to go in a What would have been a 30 Big blinds pot on the start of Day 2! Nothing to do when you literally get 6 playable hands on a entire Day! Playing again later pic.twitter.com/pkFG4YzCxU

— Morten Ottosen (@zeeth__) March 28, 2019

TONIGHT, TONIGHT

For those arriving tonight, there will be a welcome party in the Grand Casino de Namur bar, where you’ll have a chance to meet Veldhuis, Spraggy, and everyone from the community.

Of course, there’s also some poker to be played, with Day 1B kicking off at 6pm, followed by another turbo flight at 10pm.

PokerStars Blog will be in attendance. We’ll see you there.

Have events at Lex Live inspired you to start playing poker? Click here to open a PokerStars account.

The biggest PokerStars tournaments every week are part of the High Roller Club. With buy-ins between $530 and $2,100 these events are already flush with cash. Starting in April they’ll become even more valuable with the debut of the new monthly High Roller Club leaderboard.

The High Roller Club is worth even more now that there’s a monthly leaderboard.

Earning points for the High Roller Club leaderboard is simple. Just play in any regularly scheduled HRC tournament with a buy-in between $530 and $2,100, giving you seven opportunities to earn points every Sunday and six opportunities every other day during the week. Everyone who cashes in a tournament earns at least 10 points. Those who appear at a final table earn 15 points, and winners earns 50 points per tournament.

At the end of every month prizes will be distributed to the top 40 point earners. In April those prizes will be SCOOP 2019 tickets. The top High Roller Club performer this coming month will earn free entry into the $10,300 SCOOP Main Event, while the others will split a total of $38,000 worth of SCOOP entries.

You can begin earning points for the High Roller Club leaderboard on April 1st. Check out the full High Roller Club schedule to start planning. For more details – including structures, payouts, and satellite details – login to your PokerStars software and head to the ‘High Roller Club‘ tab on your device.

The Grand Casino de Namur was jam-packed last night for another starting flight of the €225 Lex Live Main Event.

If you saw inside the casino and poker room last night, you’d never have guessed it was a Thursday. It definitely had a Friday night feeling.

With more players continuing to arrive in Namur for Lex Live, the sense of community from Lex Veldhuis’s Twitch channel grows stronger. That was evident last night at the Lex Live welcome party, which we’ll bring you some video footage of later today.

But first, there was some poker we need to cover. Let’s fill you in on what went down on Day 1B of the €225 Main Event.

Following on from Day 1A’s 180 total entries, Thursday’s Day 1B saw an additional 305 entries split over the two starting flights (one at 6pm, and the turbo at 10pm). That means the €100K guarantee is guaranteed to be smashed later on tonight when Day 1C plays out. If previous Day 1Cs have taught us anything, it’s that people like to come out on a Friday night and play some cards. Expect this one to be very popular.

MORE FROM LEX LIVE: MEET THE QUALIFIERS | WATCH VIDEO FROM DAY 1A

WHO MADE IT THROUGH?

After 12 levels of play it was Belgium’s Soufiane Gherbi who bagged the chip lead, having spun his 50,000 starting stack up to 514,000. That also makes him the overall chip leader right now, as he pipped Day 1A’s leader Moise Alloun by 24,000. You can read through all of the blow-by-blow action here.

Overall chip leader Soufiane Gherbi

The next biggest stacks after Gherbi belonged to Randee Clybouw (420,000), Damase Verlinde (365,000), Marc Hansens (326,000), and France’s Samy Barka (324,500).

As for the turbo flight, it was Raphael Housni who bagged biggest. He’ll return on Day 2 with 309,500.

Click here to check out full chip counts.

Raphael Housni topped the Day 1B turbo flight

H1Z1 superstar Morten “Zeeth” Ottosen busted just before the end of Day 1A on Wednesday, but he fared better last night on his second bullet. “Zeeth” will return on Saturday with a stack of 58,500, in part thanks to a double up when he made quads holding pocket kings versus Constantin Smintanca’s pocket queens.

Made Day 2 of #LexLive with 58.5k = 14.5 bbs overall satisfied i had the Solomans as @KevinRobMartin knows and made Daily quads! So Thanks Kevin! Hopefully Day 2 Will make me more! Now 🍺🍺🍺🍺

— Morten Ottosen (@zeeth__) March 29, 2019

Other members of the Twitch community to advance include Tjenno “TjennoE” Eskes (79,500), Markus “l4zy_pigeon” Borel (42,000), and Ger “eyesolater” Kamerling (25,500).

Kalidou Sow, who took down the PokerStars Championship Prague Main Event and PokerStars Festival London Main Event in back-to-back months (December 2017 and January 2018), fired his second bullet into the Main. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, he couldn’t find a bag and will need to return tonight if he wants a final shot at advancing.

In total there were 103 survivors joining the 60 who advanced from Day 1A. 

Join us back here on the PokerStars Blog later today for more features from Lex Live in Namur.

No luck for Kalidou Sow

Have events at Lex Live inspired you to start playing poker? Click here to open a PokerStars account.

All poker players want to improve their skills and thus their chance of success. But what is the most effective way to go about such study? Reading the forthcoming Purposeful Practice for Poker is a good place to start.

Appearing this July, Purposeful Practice for Poker: The Modern Approach to Studying Poker by Dr. Tricia Cardner and Gareth James provides readers advice about the “right sort of practice” to start improving their games.

In Purposeful Practice for Poker, Cardner builds on her work in her earlier books Peak Poker Performance and Positive Poker. As in those books, this new one similarly finds Cardner sharing her expertise in psychology (in which she holds one of her two doctorates), as well as what she’s learned from her work as a licensed professional counselor and her experience at the poker tables where she’s collected six figures’ worth of tournament cashes.

This time Cardner has collaborated with tournament poker coach Gareth “Gazellig” James to provide players concrete advice for how to make the most out of their study in order to improve their games. In the book, the pair present and explain the concept of “purposeful practice” and how it can apply to poker, including outlining numerous techniques and exercises to help poker players build their own plans for improvement.

Here’s an excerpt from the book describing what psychological assets help poker players to develop the necessary “grit” to achieve long-term goals in poker.

The Four Psychological Assets of Gritty Poker Players

It is possible to learn and develop our grit and according to [psychologist Angela] Duckworth, there are four psychological assets that will help you do that. They are: Interest, Practice, Purpose, and Hope.

In order to follow your passion, you first have to start off with an interest in something. Having an interest is what encourages you to go deep with something and passion grows in relation to nuance. When you look at poker on the surface, it might only mildly interest you or you may just be enthralled with the money. But if you cultivate your interest and dig a little deeper, you’ll find that there are many subtleties and exhilarations to study. There are so many facets to a game as complex as poker and the only way to start understanding and appreciating the nuances is to go deep and stick around for awhile!

Once you’ve found your interest, the next psychological asset is practice. One of Duckworth’s earliest studies on grit was with National Spelling Bee champions. She found that the winners practiced more than their less gritty competitors. Extra hours of practice ended up explaining most of the variance in their superior performances. If you want to enhance your grittiness for poker, think about how much you are currently practicing and studying. Could you be doing more? Are you interested in excelling beyond your current level? Do you have a persistent desire to be better?

The research is unequivocal on one point. The proper type of gritty practice to use is purposeful practice. Remember that to undertake gritty practice you want to set a stretch goal where you zero in on one aspect of your overall performance that you want to improve. You are looking for your Achilles heel and when you purposefully practice you give your full undivided attention and great focus to fixing and improving your leaks. Get feedback on what you are doing wrong and continue working to improve. This type of practice is effortful and not particularly enjoyable, but it is necessary. Purposeful practice is about going into problem solving mode, analyzing everything that you do in an attempt to bring it closer to your ideal outcome.

Purposeful practice needs to become a habit if you want to get the full value out of it. All experts are creatures of habit. Developing a routine for practice will make it easier to complete — especially when your practice tasks are difficult to do. Learn to embrace the challenge of purposeful practice. It can take years and years to become a fully optimized poker player, so you might as well enjoy the journey!

The third psychological asset of gritty people is purpose. Gritty people tend to talk about their passions in terms of purpose. The long days of toil and struggle need something to undergird them. Most research shows that gritty people view their pursuits as a calling. They are engaging in the long slog to expertise for some reason outside of themselves. Whether it is to contribute to their families, a special cause, or even to advance their sport, gritty people perceive some higher calling. How about you? What is your purpose? How can you becoming a better player benefit society (or your family or community)?

The fourth psychological asset to grit is one we have already talked about earlier and that is hope. Duckworth says that grit depends on a certain type of hope. The hopeful gritty person believes that tomorrow will be better because of their efforts. She says suffering does not lead to hopelessness. It is suffering that we think we can’t control that leads to hopelessness. The best way to keep a hopeful mindset is to think about what you can learn from setbacks and disappointments. When you keep searching for ways to improve your situation, you are likely to find them. It is also infinitely easier to be hopeful when you have a growth mindset. It is possible to get smarter if you have the right opportunities, teachers, and a belief that you can do it.

So as you can see, if you want to become a grittier poker player, you need to develop your four psychological assets: interest, practice, purpose and hope. If you are not as gritty as you’d like to be think about what you can do to increase one or more of the four assets and that should get you started in the right direction.

Purposeful Practice for Poker is available for pre-order in paperback and as an e-book at D&B Poker.

D&B Publishing (using the imprint D&B Poker) was created by Dan Addelman and Byron Jacobs 15 years ago. Since then it has become one of the leading publishers of poker books with titles by Phil Hellmuth, Jonathan Little, Mike Sexton, Chris Moorman, Dr. Patricia Cardner, Lance Bradley, Martin Harris and more, all of which are available at D&B Poker.

Ryan Riess first came to prominence in the poker world in 2013 when he won the tournament every player dreams about: the WSOP Main Event.

Ryan Riess (front, between Mark Newhouse and J.C. Tran) with the rest  of the 2013 WSOP Main Event November Nine.

Since that victory altered his life’s trajectory, Riess has added cashes worth nearly $6 million to his résumé, bringing his total live tournament earnings to $14.1 million.

Riess is also known as a formidable opponent online, where he plays as “MrMaximize.” He showed his prowess most recently in the High Roller Club $1,050 Sunday Supersonic, topping a field of 207 players and chopping heads-up with Kristen “krissyb24” Bicknell, then going on to eliminate her to take the title and a $36K prize.

We caught up with Riess earlier this week for a chat about life since the WSOP, the world of high roller tournaments, and how he’s feeling about his alma mater’s chances during March Madness.

PokerStars Blog: How has your life evolved since winning the WSOP Main Event, both in broad strokes and specifically with regard to poker?

Ryan Riess: My life has evolved in many ways since I won the WSOP Main Event in 2013. At the time I was 23 years old, and didn’t really know what I was doing in poker. I actually lost money the following year in 2014 playing poker, followed by two years of essentially breaking even. 2017 is when I really stepped my game up and started to get better and play higher stakes.

Ryan Riess and family.

The last few years have been great. I have been able to consistently compete and put up good results at the highest level. I still have a lot of improving to do, and am always striving to get better. I really am looking forward to the rest of 2019 and beyond.

Outside of poker, I have also changed a lot. I have an amazing girlfriend and two beautiful daughters who constantly empower me to be the best version of myself.

In the year leading up to your Main Event win in 2013 you collected cashes pretty regularly on the WSOP Circuit. Did those small-to-mid-stakes tourneys serve as building blocks that allowed you to refine your game to where you were ready to take on the WSOP Main Event?

When I was playing low stakes tournaments, it was essentially a learning experience. I tried a lot of different lines, some worked, others not so much. I didn’t know too many people in the poker industry at the time, so the way I learned was through trial and error. That can be an expensive way to learn at times, but losing money can often times be the best way to learn from your mistakes and get better. Nobody likes to lose money.

Ryan Riess at the 2014 PCA Super High Roller.

You play a lot of poker, both live and online. What is your routine these days as far as scheduling/mixing the two?

I mainly focus on live poker tournaments. The stakes are higher and the games are softer in my opinion. The only time I play online poker is on Sundays or during big series (SCOOP, WCOOP, etc.). Playing online poker is a great way to practice, though. You are able to see way more hands, against tougher competition, and really work on improving from a technical and fundamental standpoint.

The Sunday Supersonic that you won this past week is a hyper-turbo tournament. How many hypers do you include in your regular playing mix?

I enjoy turbo tournaments the most, both live and online. Hyper turbos are great, too. Players’ ROIs are smaller the faster the structure is, but you are able to win a lot of money in a short time span. I would much rather play a $2K turbo online than play a $2K that lasts 12 hours.

Even after winning the 2013 WSOP Main Event, it took until 2017 for Riess to find his best game and begin winning consistently. “I still have a lot of improving to do,” he says, “and I am always striving to get better.”

You play high roller tourneys fairly regularly, both live and online. Do you vary your approach to the high rollers at all compared to lower buy-in tournaments, or is your game plan pretty much the same regardless?

My game plan for high stakes and low stakes tournaments varies a lot. At the highest stakes, the players are much better. I generally choose to run lower variance lines, control the size of the pot, and play unexploitably. In lower stakes tournaments, you don’t have to worry about being exploited as much and can instead be unbalanced and exploit others.

What’s your perception of the PokerStars High Roller Club these days?

The High Roller Club is basically just all of the best online players in the world battling. It’s fun, I enjoy it.

Finally, speaking of advancing deep in tournaments… the Michigan State Spartans have made the round of 16 in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament once again. You attended MSU. Have you ever been to a March Madness MSU game? What do you think of the Spartans’ chances to go all the way this year, and what needs to go right for them to make that happen?

Yes, I have been to a few Final Fours that Michigan State participated in. The atmosphere is incredible. I am planning on going back this year if we can get through LSU and Duke. We have a tough draw and we have a few injuries. But we also have one of the best players in the country in Cassius Winston, so don’t count us out just yet.

Lex Live is now in full swing here in Namur, Belgium, and last night saw the official welcome party take place in the Grand Casino bar.

The evening kicked off with a friendly €25 sit and go featuring Lex Veldhuis, Ben “Spraggy” Spragg, and members of Lex’s Twitch community including online satellite winner Sanne “Antim00n” Bombeek, Ben “TheBenMartin98” Martin, “TjennoE”, and the infamous moderator “Croaks”. Check back for our interview with “Croaks” later today.

It was “Zjoeri” who emerged victorious in the 18-player tournament though, banking €162 for his efforts and becoming the first winner at Lex Live.

When hundreds of players flooded in at 6pm for the start of Day 1B of the €225 Main Event (find out how that played out here) everyone headed to the bar for some on-the-house drinks, conversation, and a few laughs.

Name tags were worn (“PokerStars Blog” for us, Twitch handles for them), beers were drunk, and a lot of fun was had by all.

Inside the Lex Live party

There might be some sore heads today, but there’s no rest for the wicked here at Lex Live. Tonight will not only see big numbers for the final two Day 1C flights but at 8pm there’s the €60 FU Friday Flip event; a turbo with 10-minute levels and a five big blind flip for every player once per level. It should provide some great entertainment.

That’s followed by the €225 Fast and Furious turbo at 9pm, a freezeout hyper turbo with 10-minute levels.

Yep. We’re really in full swing.

Have events at Lex Live inspired you to start playing poker? Click here to open a PokerStars account.

Catch up on all of this week’s PokerStars Blog content…

• Select Sunday Major tourneys go PKO this week
• Lex Live festival kicks off in Belgium
• EPT takes over Sochi
• Charlie “JIZOINT” Combes gets back in the game
• Catching up with Ryan Riess

Plus:

• 5-Card Fiction: Poker Solves a Murder
• Book Excerpt: “Purposeful Practice in Poker” by Dr. Tricia Cardner and Gareth James

KNOCKOUT SUNDAY BOOSTS GUARANTEES, CONVERTS SUNDAY MAJORS TO PKO

There’s lots of money to be won on Knockout Sunday.

This Sunday, March 31st, PokerStars is mixing things up with a little something we’re calling Knockout Sunday.

For this weekend only, 10 of our regular Sunday tournaments are being converted into Progressive KO events. On top of that we’re adding a bundle of money to the guarantees. The best part is that players of all bankrolls can get involved. Buy-ins for these tournaments start as low as $11, plus you can always win your way in through a more affordable satellite.

Remember, this is for one weekend only. Next week the guarantees for these tournaments will be back to their regular levels and the Progressive KO structures will no longer be in play, so don’t miss out!

LEX LIVE LIGHTS UP NAMUR

This week Namur belongs to Lex Veldhuis and his Twitch community.

Lex Veldhuis and hundreds of members of his vibrant Twitch community have gathered in Namur, Belgium, this week for the first Lex Live festival. PokerStars Blog got to know some online qualifiers this week and was there for the first day of the festivities to catch up with Lex, Spraggy, and friends.

Our own intrepid reporter Jack Stanton is on the scene for the duration of the festival. Check out our Lex Live hub for coverage throughout the weekend.

EPT TAKES OVER SOCHI

The EPT is back in Sochi, Russia, and we’ve had our eyes on the action all week.

The first big event on tap was the EPT Sochi National. Yury Masliankou from Belarus entered the final table with the chip lead and held on against tough competition to walk away with $139,755, the biggest score of his career.

TV table at EPT Sochi

Next up was the EPT Sochi Main Event. After four days of play just six players remain in contention for the Israel’s Zakhar Babaev holds nearly three times as many chips as anybody else at the table. The final table will play out today and you can watch it here.

Finally there was the EPT Sochi High Roller. Just nine players, including PokerStars Ambassador Ramon Colillas and Taiwanese pro Pete Chen, return today for the third and final day of play. Leading the way is Alvin Sarkarov of Azerbaijan, who had begun Day 2 with one of the shortest stacks.

Check out our EPT Sochi hub for access to full coverage of all the events.

CHARLIE “JIZOINT” COMBES GETS BACK IN THE GAME

Charlie Combes and his fiancée, Nicola.

With more than $7.9 million in cashes over a decade, Charlie “JIZOINT” Combes is undoubtedly one of the UK’s most successful online players. A couple of years ago Combes opted to take a break from poker in order to travel the world with his fiancée, and by his own admission, the game had passed him by upon his return.

Things didn’t get any easier when the couple had twin babies seven months ago. Now Combes is balancing fatherhood with working hard to get back to the top of his game. The results are speaking for themselves, as two weeks ago he chopped the Sunday Million for $83,813.

Check out the full interview here.

CATCHING UP WITH RYAN RIESS

2013 WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess.

Ryan Riess first came to prominence in the poker world in 2013 when he won the tournament every player dreams about: the WSOP Main Event.

“At the time I didn’t really know what I was doing in poker,” he told us in an interview this week. “I actually lost money the following year, followed by two years of essentially breaking even. 2017 is when I really stepped my game up and started to get better and play higher stakes.” Since then he’s worked to tirelessly to improve, inspired by his girlfriend and their two daughters, who he says “constantly empower me to be the best version of myself.”

Riess is now a regular competitor in the High Roller Club and in high roller tournaments worldwide. We chatted him up about how he prepares for the toughest competition around, and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Read the full Ryan Riess interview right here.

5-CARD FICTION: POKER SOLVES A MURDER

Poker solves a murder in 1929’s The Canary Murder Case.

Anthony Holden once famously wrote that a person’s “character is stripped bare at the poker table.” It’s a truth well understood by anyone who has played the game at all seriously. The 1929 film The Canary Murder Case tests this idea to an extreme, you could say. The film features a poker game expressly set up in order to get someone to expose himself sufficiently to reveal he could have committed a murder. And it works!

In this week’s 5-Card Fiction, Martin Harris walks us through detective Philo Vance’s use of deduction at a poker game to eliminate suspects from suspicion for the murder of a showgirl — complete with video clips from this early sound film.

Play along and solve the case of 5-Card Fiction, the Canary Murder Case edition.

BOOK EXCERPT: PURPOSEFUL PRACTICE FOR POKER

“Purposeful Practice for Poker” comes out this July.

All poker players want to improve their skills and thus their chance of success. But what is the most effective way to go about such study? Reading the forthcoming Purposeful Practice for Poker: The Modern Approach to Studying Poker is a good place to start.

Appearing this July, Purposeful Practice for Poker by Dr. Tricia Cardner and Gareth James provides readers advice about the “right sort of practice” to start improving their games.

Read the excerpt here.

Other pieces you might be interested in:

• How Twitch has changed the poker experience
• Can you use poker skills to win the Grand National?
• PokerStars School: Reading players in a live setting, and auto-rebuying in online cash games
• EPT Open Sochi packages to be won every week
• High Roller Club monthly leaderboard debuts in April

Have a great weekend!

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