Poker Podcasts: What’s Cookin’

Bounced back yesterday during a shorter session of PLO25. Quit after 60 hands this time, my board-reading abilities fully intact (see yesterday’s post). After that I joined a 45-player no-limit hold’em SNG ($5.50) and managed to end up seventh, thus earning a cool $2.37 for about an hour and 45 minutes’ work.

I have been mixing in the occasional MTT and SNG here lately. Have had some modest successes here and there, though nothing much to write about. A new goal here is to land a ticket to the Sunday Million via one of the many satellites on Stars. One variety that looks particularly promising is that 400-FPP rebuy tourney they run about six times a day. Played one of those last Friday in which the top seven got the $215 entries and just barely missed, finishing ninth. (Was down to a couple of big blinds and pushed with KQ-suited only to get called by Big Slick.)

Anyone have any other suggestions for good value, low buy-in satellites to the big MTTs?

A long while ago I happened to win one of those Sunday Million entries (and wrote about it here and here), but at the time was so unsure of my tourney chops I decided just to take the cash. Will definitely play the sucker if I happen to land another one, for sure.

I’ve mentioned before here how I have long preferred cash games over tourneys, mainly because I generally haven’t the time to commit to the long multi-table extravaganzas. Making it tougher is the fact that over the last few weeks I’ve taken on a number of extra writing tasks which have occupied a lot of those hours I might’ve spent playing. Not complaining, though. As anyone who stops by here with any regularity probably already suspects, I enjoy the writing as much or more than the playing.

Keeping so busy has also meant I’ve had little time for podcasts -- both making ’em and listening to ’em.

As far as listenin’ goes, I have been catching some now and then, but haven’t been following all of the 20 or so I have listed there on the right-hand column. (The “most recent episode” dates are all current, though, in case you were wonderin’.) I have about a 45-minute commute to work, meaning I’m in the car 7-8 hours every week. That’s the time when I often try to listen to these podcasts, although lately I’ve found it more relaxing putting on old Miles Davis Quintet sides. However, I have been following a few shows.

Bart Hanson’s Cash Plays provides consistently solid strategy discussions. The Two Plus Two Pokercast is also a good listen (although I’ll sometimes skip some segments when the show runs two-plus hours). The Ante Up! guys are still cranking ’em out, and their show remain just about the only one out there that focuses primarily on the amateur player. I also always catch Big Poker Sundays. Was sorry to hear that Haralabos Voulgaris is no longer co-hosting, but Scott Huff will certainly be able to carry on without him. Huff had Shane “Shaniac” Schleger as a guest co-host on the most recent show. Wouldn’t be bad at all if he decided to do the show on a regular basis, as Shaniac is (in my opinion) a thoughtful, funny commentator.

I can also currently recommend Wise Hand Poker and the Gamblers Book Club Podcast. I’ve opined before here about Gary Wise’s abilities as an interviewer. If you are at all interested in a guest of his, I’d definitely recommend checking him out. Howard Schwartz does a terrific job interviewing guests on the Gamblers Book Club show as well, and he brings in a lot of folks from both poker and other areas of gambling (mostly authors) whom you might not hear on other podcasts.

Finally, let me belatedly announce that the Beyond the Table guys have made a comeback with a new episode, titled “The Resurrection.” Funny as ever. Click here to read my write-up of the new episode over on Pokerati. I believe they do plan to revive BTT here going forward. I think I heard at least one more episode has been done, so keep an eye out for more from Karridy, Pokerati Dan, Tom Schneider, and Sit-N-Go Steve.

With regard to the Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show, it has been a while since the last episode, but I have intentions to create more episodes. Have already planned out the ninth show, but just haven’t had time to get to it. This delay gives all-a-youse who haven’t heard the show yet time to go back and listen to the previous eps. As I’ve mentioned before, these shows all feature stories and old radio shows devoted to poker and/or gambling, and none of them necessarily refer much to topics of the day -- hopefully meaning they don’t “date” they way other podcasts that deal more with current events do.

Here is a list of the eight episodes (linking to each):

Episode 1: Dead Man's Deal (4/1/08)
Episode 2: The Killer Cards (4/23/08)
Episode 3: Duffy's Tavern (5/15/08)
Episode 4: Hitchhike Poker (6/1/08)
Episode 5: The Queen of Spades (6/25/08)
Episode 6: The Ambassador of Poker (7/31/08)
Episode 7: Fibber McGee & Molly (8/21/08)
Episode 8: Aces and Eights (9/3/08)

You can read more about each over on the show’s blog.

Time for me to get back in the car, where I’ll probably dial up one of these here shows. Or perhaps Cookin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet.