Oskar Silow

This week it’s Swedish Open at CC in Stockholm. Last year my team m8 Andreas Berggren took down the main event there All of team 5050 will be there to participate in different events. I’ll be playing the omaha event on Thursday, and I’m excited!! I think it’s about time that tournament directors start scheduling more omaha events, maybe create an omaha series even. I was very tempted going to Cannes since they had 2 omaha events there, but decided to stay at home.

On thursday I’m playing omaha in Sthlm, until then you’ll find me online as usual

Pic from here

Recently one could read about the latest nominations to the Poker Hall of Fame. Among the nominated were Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, John Juanda and Scotty “baby” Nguyen. Even if it feels great that some of the legends of the game are rewarded for their contribution to the game it still feels like nominations for the Poker Hall of Shame would be more appropriate at the moment. There pokers scum and lowlifes can gather and forever be condemned for their sins.

Criteria to be elected are as follows:
1st Has behaved fraudulently
2nd Have with their actions or behavior damaged an individual poker player or poker as a game
3rd Contributed to poker haven taken a step back toward the illegal clubs and the Wild Wild West.

My suggestions for nominees are * drum role *:

1st Russ Hamilton (Super User cheater on UB)

2nd Jose “Girah“ Macedo and Daniel Cates (tricked their students by creating secret accounts)

3rd Ali Tekintamgac (Sent live-reporters to peek at opponents’ hole cards)

4th Eurolinx / BetonBet owners (ran a campaign with deposit bonuses and then shut down the side and disappeared with players’ money)

5th The Santa Workshop on Full Tilt (“Stole“ their players’ bankrolls slowly but surely)

Pic from here

Now some fun stuff Right now there is a huge Swedish party going on in London called the EPT. At the final table of the main event is Mattias Bergström. In the highroller event are no less than 3 swedes, Joel Nordkvist, Michael Tureniec and Adrian Bussman. All three are very skilled poker players and I’d be surprised if the winner is not a swede!

King of London, Mattias Bergström

Pic from here

Finally a short word about my blog at Expressen. They have made a weird decision to move my blog off their poker site. I guess they don’t like free content. I wonder who is REALLY behind that decision…? Anyways, bookmark my blog now so you’ll find it later: http://bloggar.expressen.se/silow/
For their decision expressen are awarded with the follwing rating:

Pokers 10 commandments part 10: Remember the Sabbath

The day can be used to worship our dear poker god to assure us of a prosperous future, or to analyze the game. My suggestion is that the day is devoted to both. For those of you who may just play poker and never think about what you do, I have a few suggestions.

• Discuss hands you play with other poker players you know. Soon you will notice that there are more ways to think about and more ways to win more / lose less.
• Use a tracker program. Maybe it depends a bit on what side you play on and what kind of games to play, but if you want to play 6-max Texas NL higher than $0.5-1, you will need it if you do not want to give your money away. Hold Em Manager or Poker Tracker will increase your winrate significantly.
• Coaching is a great alternative to analyze their game. Whether you are coaching or being coached, the poker brain is working and leaks will be plugged.
• Watch instructional videos. There are many sites with lots of videos. At most of them, you can usually get a sneak preview of the videos to get an idea of ​​what you get before you buy a membership. Try it, you always learn something!
• For the beginner also poker books and some TV might help, but for the slightly more advanced player, most are redundant.

For those of you who can not count (or read the headlines), it was 10! If you miss a commandment, the comment field is open to suggestions? :)

God’s own words about the Commandments:

I the Lord your poker god, am a nitloving god, that haunt your family’s poker success in the third and fourth generation when you hate me, but who will show mercy with the suck-outs, of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Pic from here

Pokers 10 commandments part 9: Thou shalt bear false witness against your neighbor

It is not just about wait for a spot which statistically is very advantageous, but also to gain an advantage by making others believe that a certain situation exists. If bluffing is not part of your game, you are not a winning player. Please be sure to choose profitable situations when you are bluffing. You can not represent a winning hand and win every pot by bluffing, right?

Pic from here