It is not enough to be a good player - you must also play well (Siegbert Tarrasch)

 

Hi there at Coinflip! I am one of the new bloggers, and I have been looking forward to this for some time - Coinflip looks just like the future nuts to me, and I am delighted to join the community.

 

Formal Presentation

My name is Sune Berg Hansen. I live in Copenhagen with my girlfriend Christin and my cat Raul (named after a striker from Real Madrid). I have been a chess grandmaster for 12 years and I am still quite active in chess. The last five years my main income has come from playing poker (midstakes 2-4 - 5-10, mostly 6-max NL Hold'em). I have written articles for a now extinct European poker magazine and I've been blogging about poker for the Danish newspaper Politiken the last 3 years. Danish speaking readers can see it here!

 

Why poker?

Show me the money! Show me the money! Says Cuba Gooding Jr. to Tom Cruise in the movie Jerry Maguire, and he has a point: Money is important. Very important. And isn't poker all about money for nothing and chicks for free? Getting stinking rich just playing a game - what could be sweeter? That was the plan, when I decided to give online poker a serious shot more than five years ago. Unfortunately the new plan (I have had a lot of those plans in my life) of getting rich without working turned out to be another mirage. It isn't that you can't make money in poker - you can, and I have done pretty well so far, but the not working part turned out to be an illusion. Acquiring the necessary set of skills is a long and enduring process, but - and here is the good part - it is fun!

 

Philosophy

I don't believe in doing anything that isn't fun! Luckily I think it is fun to play poker, think about poker and study poker. You can't become good at things you don't enjoy, and you really have to love the game to make to it to the higher stakes. I also think talent is overrated! Any normal intelligent person can become good at poker if he or she puts in enough deliberate practice. I have done it and hopefully some of my advice will help a lot of coinflippers just rigging that coinflip slightly in his or hers favor.

 

Difference from chess

Poker is in some ways similar to chess and in some ways very different. The mental aspect is a much bigger issue in poker (kinda hard to tilt in chess), but overall the goal is the same: When it is your turn take the best possible action. Poker has a very nice feature, that we have all learned to hate: Variance! It is this feature that makes the game so profitable. The biggest difference between poker and chess? In poker the bad players don't know they are bad :)

 

What to expect from this blog:

Entertaining stories, instructive hands, important poker concepts, analysis and tips on how to use stats etc. There will be a quote every time (sort of my trademark). Today's quote is something I try to keep in my mind all the time, and I think all you coinflippers should too.

 

What not to expect:

The usual I won 3k and then lost 2k, but at least the sun was shining, stories. I find these kind of blogs rather boring.

 

Team Double Edge

Together with my good friend and backgammon world champion, Peter Hallberg, we have formed Team Double Edge. We will be active on the forum and you can ask us about anything you like, but your most likely to get an answer if it is about Poker, Backgammon or Chess.

We hope to get a lot of questions so don't be shy.

PS: First tip: If Peter offers you a propbet - don't take it.