JR Ewing wrist watch

Larry Hagman's "Texas Timex."  It's a Rolex with a highly customized monogrammed "J.R." bracelet.

JR Ewing rules and his Texas Timex rocks!




http://mywristwatch.net/watches-in-the-news/check-out-j-r-ewing's-'texas-timex'/

MoneyMan Action Figure

I did know that there is several action figures, dolls, toys, Barbie on the market. But I didn't know that accountants had an "action" figure modelled after them or at least their profession.




MoneyMan's a financier and accountant action figure



MoneyMan began in mid-2002 with the idea that accountants, bankers, insurance agents and other financial folks deserved some recognition and fun!






http://www.happyworker.com/moneyman
http://www.happyworker.com/moneyman/makingof

Parasites

Perfect Heads-Up Limit Hold' Em Strategy part 1

STUDYING THE STRATEGIES OF THE FOUR ALL-TIME BEST HULHE PLAYERS, MAN OR MACHINE, TO CREATE YOUR OWN

The best way to find the Perfect Heads-Up Fixed Limit Hold' Em Strategy is to study the strategies used by the great ones.  For me the greats in HULHE are two humans plus two machines.  My two human players are Phil Ivey and Andy Beal.  My two poker bots are Polaris and Texas Hold ‘Em Heads Up Poker.  I will try to enter the brain of those four world-class experts to find and analyze their winning strategies.

Phil Ivey's HUHU FL HE strategy:

Step 1. Raise pre-flop in position
Raise pre-flop in the big blind with (1:1)
Ax, Kx, Q3s, Q6, J8, T7s, T9, 98s, 33+
Step 2. Continuation bet on the flop and turn 100% of the time
Step 3. Leaving after losing one buy-in
Keep playing when winning

Why is Phil Ivey so good?

a) hyper aggressive
b) incredible focus and concentration
c) uncanny ability to detect and exploit opponents's weaknesses and betting patterns
d) zero tilt factor
e) intimidating and fearsome reputation

f) unlimited bankroll

Andy Beal High Stakes Heads-Up Limit Hold' Em strategy

Step 1. Play nearly every hands
Raise (most of the time) every pot he enters
Step 2. Check-call all the way down to the river with any A-high hand
8-bets the turn with two pair
Step 3. Obsession with preventing tells

Why is Andy Beal so good?

a) Obsession

b) Specialization
c) Mathematical approach

d) High stakes

e) Ultra-aggressive
f) Impossible to read

Polaris's Strategies: 

Polaris have a total of 5 different strategies.

The Nash Equilibrium plus 4 other to use against different types of opponents. Polaris identifies which common poker strategy a human is using and switches its own strategy to counter.

1- The first approach is to approximate a Nash equilibrium strategy which is robust against any opponent.

2- The second approach is to find an exploitive counter-strategy to an opponent. We will show that these counter-strategies are brittle: they can lose to arbitrary other opponents.

3- The third approach is a compromise of the first two, to find robust counter-strategies.

4- The four approach is to combine several of these agents into a team, and learn during a game which to use.

Why is Polaris so good?

a) Adaptation. Polaris doesn't have a "best way" to play; it has a "best way" to adapt.
b) Specialization
c) No emotion
d) Aggression

Texas Hold ‘Em Heads Up Poker "The Brain" strategy

Pre-flop
Hyper-LAG / maniac
+ Raise almost every time from the Button
+ Raise called button from over 75% of the time from the BB.
... Sometime 3-bet weak hands like T5off (negligible)
... Occasionally fold on the Button or when raised in the BB (negligible)
- Fold more hands from the SB on most streets than from the BB

Flop
Very LAG
+ Routinely raise with middle pair and a weak kicker
+ Call most of the time a check-raise+ Rarely 3-bet the flop with weak overcard, no straight, flush or backdoor possibilities
+ Often fold to a bet if a high card comes on the flop
+ But he will bet the high card on the flop
+ Most likely to fold on the flop

Turn
Tightens up
+ Check-call with middle pair and weak kicker
+ Check the turn most of the time 

River
+ Call with a piece of the board
+ Call down with Ace high unless the board is scary
+ Likely to call with King high
+ Sometimes call down with weaker hands (J high) on a bimodal (monster or miss) board.  Like a pair on the board.

Overall
+ Reasonable adjustment to what the opponent might hold based on the board.
+ Seem to play top pair / top kicker more slowly on board with flushes and straights possible
+ Seem to play high card / no pair more aggressively on paired flops.  Check-raise bluff
+ More likely to check-raise if opponent put the last bet on the previous street.
+ Doesn't fold too often.

Why is "The Brain" so good?

a) Defense. The basic idea behind its play technique is to do everything it can "to prevent itself from being exploited".  "The theory behind it is almost paranoid," 

b) Unpredictable. The pokerbot use knowledge gained from billions of staged rounds of poker fed through neural networks, and the result is an unpredictable poker player that can win almost every time.  Three different banks of knowledge are used depending on the gameplay scenario, but the basic idea behind its play technique is, as I said above,  "to prevent itself from being exploited." "The theory behind it is almost paranoid." So "The Brain" unpredictibility and three different game plays are part of his perfectly defensive game. 
   
Here are his 3 tag-team fighters alternating against an opponent.
    * The first is a neural net with optimal number of bluffs and can do anything in anyone hand.
    *The second play a slightly different style.
    *The third come into play when the opponent has a reduced stack.

Aggression level might change at random moment

c) Aggression.  "The Brain" is the aggressor. Almost never check-calls or simply matches an opponent's bet without a raise. But give credit to your hand when you raise and reraise.  Far too aggressive and steals far too many pots to get beat on a regular basis.


Now that we have a complete overview of the strategies and strengths of our four Heads-Up Fixed Limit bosses.  We will compare their respective style to each other in the second part of this guide.

PYGOD

Perfect Heads-Up Limit Hold' Em Strategy part 2

HEADS-UP LIMIT HOLD' EM POKER

DO NOT COPY AND PASTE MY WORK INTO YOUR WEBSITE WITHOUT GIVING ME THE CREDIT

Andy Beal in Rounders 2

Billionaire banker Andy Beal in Rounders 2?

Speaking of Matt Damon.  He was excellent in Team America!  Seriously, if they were to make a rounders 2, I think the climactic scene would be Matt building up enough bankroll to sit in the big game with the likes of Doyle, Greenstein, Negreanu, Ivey, etc.  If he were to have a heads up battle for the finale, it would have to be against someone who can look the bad guy.  I mean Negreanu would be intimidating, but he's too likable.  Maybe, Ivey since he's quiet and stone cold.  Ohhh even better (just got so many ideas flying here). 

How about Andy Beal or an Andy beal type to play heads up.   They would have to change some facts though but I can hear Mike McDermont in the background saying something like this.  "Sure, I'm a winning Poker player.  I've won some big tournies and done well at the cash games, but there's one game and one man that I haven't beaten.  His name is Andy Beal, a billionare banker from Texas.  He came to vegas ten years ago to try to beat the pros.  His idea was to set the limits so high that he could intimidate the pros and win.  Unfortunately for Andy the pros or the corporation were not intimidated and took millions from him.  Andy, though stating several times he was done with poker, was relentless.  He read books, studied the game, set up a staff to run numbers, calculate odds, and help his play.  Andy is very analytical and dedicated. He built his fortune from nothing.  He was determined to be the best and after years of refining his skills at High Limit Texas Hold em' he became just that.  He came to Vegas a couple of years ago and cleaned the pros out. It's rumored that he took 50 million from the corporation. Some say a hundred million.  A few pros were completely broke after this.  People say Beal completely dominated anyone they sat in front of him.  His style was untouchable and his skill was overwhelming.  Andy will only play $150k/$300k Limit Holdem.  Needless to say, no pro will play him.  Well, no pro until now.  I'm lucky enough to have backers that believe in me.  I'm about to play in the richest poker game that's ever been played.  Where millions of dollars swing back and forth from one hand to the next.  Six days, sixty hours.  By Friday, I will have lost everything, completely broke or...  I will be the richest pro to ever play the game.  This man is said to be unbeatable, even by the best to ever play the game.  Am I committing financial suicide, or am I what I truly feel I am... the best" or something like that...heh


Very interesting story posted 26 February 2006 by Fanatikk on the fullcontactpoker forum.  With a scenario like that, Rounders 2 would be even better than the original Rounders.
http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-forum/index.php?showtopic=51657

Originally published in: http://www.heads-up-fixed-limit-texas-hold-em-poker.com/2013/10/andy-beal-in-rounders-2.html

Phil Ivey vs The Brain

In NVGtard fantasy land (12-01-2010) :

"The Brain" heads up poker machine proves to be remarkably resilient, beating the best minds in poker over a large sample. When the limits are raised to 200/400 Hoss tbf flys to vegas and enters the Bellagio and plays it days on end only to break even until he tires and begins to lose. And so the machine sits outside the poker room unplayed and unscathed save a few suckers from time to time. The stakes are raised to any that the tourist wishes to play, from .50/1 to 500000/1000000. A billionaire is reported to have lost 4 million on may 23, 2011 during a break from highstakes craps. One day at the poker table Ivey is asked if he would play heads up nl omaha by a young upcoming susperstar from norway and Ivey responds that he would play anybody. The kid says I bet you wouldn't play the brain smugly. "Who's that?" asks Ivey. The kid points to the machine. Ivey says sure and spends the next 45 minutes inserting a giant wad of hundreds and over the course of the next 28 hours he beats it for 300 million dollars infront of the ever growing massive crowd of spectators. Finally after being down 324 million dollars and 28 hours of poker, The Brain ask Phil Ivey if he would let him play on credit. A fat executive hobbles out of the crowd red faced and screams hell no! and pulls the plug.


That's exactly what could happen if Phil Ivey was met to play Texas Hold' Em Heads Up Poker machine "The Brain".  This funny story was written by spaceman Bryce on the twoplustwo poker forum.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/heads-up-poker-machines-raise-limits-929205/index2.html



It's nice to see that Phil Ivey's dominance made him a mythological figure just like Chuck Norris. 

Now you can say that Phil Ivey is the Chuck Norris of Poker.


Originally published in: http://www.heads-up-fixed-limit-texas-hold-em-poker.com/2013/10/phil-ivey-vs-brain.html 

Polaris

Polaris is the Deep Blue of poker.

The patience of a monk or the fierce aggression of a tiger, changing gears in a single heartbeat. Polaris can make a pro's head spin. Bluff, trap, check-raise bluff, big lay-down -- name your poison.


Polaris is a Texas hold 'em poker playing program developed by the computer poker research group at the University of Alberta, a project that has been under way for 16 years as of 2007. Polaris is a composite program consisting of a number of bots, including Hyperborean08, the winner of the limit equilibrium series in the 2008 Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Computer Poker Competition. Polaris also contains a number of other fixed strategies, and chooses between these strategies during a match. Polaris requires little computational power at match time, so it is run on an Apple MacBook Pro laptop during competitions. Polaris plays only heads-up (two player) Limit Texas hold'em.



Limit Hold'em (LH) Heads-up Duplicate poker


On July 23–24, 2007, Polaris played against poker professionals Phil Laak and Ali Eslami at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Vancouver, B.C.  The competition consisted of four duplicate matches, with 500 hands per match. In each duplicate match, the same cards were dealt to both pairs of players, human and bot, but with the seating reversed.  After roughly 16 hours of play over two days, Polaris tied the first round, won the second and lost the last two.

Final result -- Polaris record: 1-2-1


On July 3–6, 2008, Polaris competed against six human professional poker players in the Second Man-Machine Poker Championship, held in Las Vegas at the 2008 Gaming Life Expo. Polaris defeated the human players with three wins, two losses and one tie. Each of the six sessions was a duplicate match of 500 hands against two different players, resulting in six thousand hands played.

Across all six sessions, Polaris won 195 big blinds. The version of Polaris used in the 2008 match was much stronger than the 2007 version, both in the quality of the component strategies and in its ability to learn which component strategy to use.

Final result -- Polaris record: 3-2-1

Overall Polaris's record vs. humans: 4-4-2


Polaris and Deep Blue

Comparing Polaris results with IBM chess computer Deep Blue versus reigning world chess champion Garry Kasparov in two games under tournament regulations.

Result: Kasparov–Deep Blue (4–2)

Result: Deep Blue–Kasparov (3½–2½)

Overall Deep Blue record versus Kasparov (5½–6½)

Polaris (4-4-2 or 5-5) vs. Deep Blue (5½–6½)

So with that being said. We can see that Polaris had better results versus humans than Deep Blue.

Polaris's Strategies:

Polaris have a total of 5 different strategies. 
The Nash Equilibrium plus 4 other to use against different types of opponents.  Polaris identifies which common poker strategy a human is using and switches its own strategy to counter.

1- The first approach is to approximate a Nash equilibrium strategy which is robust against any opponent.
2- The second approach is to find an exploitive counter-strategy to an opponent. We will show that these counter-strategies are brittle: they can lose to arbitrary other opponents.
3- The third approach is a compromise of the first two, to find robust counter-strategies.
4- The four approach is to combine several of these agents into a team, and learn during a game which to use.

Why is Polaris so good?

a) Adaptation. Polaris doesn't have a "best way" to play; it has a "best way" to adapt.
b) Specialization
c) No emotion
d) Aggression

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaris_(poker_bot)

http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~games/poker/man-machine/

http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~games/poker/publications/johanson.msc.pdf


Originally published in: http://www.heads-up-fixed-limit-texas-hold-em-poker.com/p/polaris.html

Andy Beal

Andy Beal
Billionaire banker from Texas &
high stakes heads-up limit hold'em poker player

Net Worth: US$8.5 billion (March 2013)

• Born November 11, 1952 Lansing, Michigan, U.S
• Lives in Dallas, Texas.
• Father of six
• Divorced two times (spouse1, Simona Beal)
• A self-made billionaire
• Banker
• Founder and chairman of Beal Bank and the now-dissolved Beal Aerospace Technologies
• Graduate, Sexton High School, Lansing MI but dropped out after becoming bored with the classes.
• Attended Michigan State University and Baylor University
• At age 19 he bought a house for $6,500 and rented it for $119 a month which led to his first gain as a businessman.
• Played blackjack as a youth.
• 1981- He started buying property that no one else wanted and made it profitable.
• 1988 – Opened first bank in Dallas (later renamed Beal Financial)
• 1993 – Discovery of conjecture (mathematical number theory). Has offered $100,000 for its proof or disproof.
• 2000 – Bought over 1 billion commercial loans and collected on the debts.
• After September 11, 2001 – Began buying airline bonds. He makes about $70 million a year from those bonds.
• 2001 – Began visiting Bellagio to participate in high stakes poker games. Andy Beal was 48 years old in 2001
• BETWEEN 2001 AND 2006 – Began playing The Corporation
• His long series of ultra high-stakes heads-up battles were featured in the Michael Craig book The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King
  
  
  

High Stakes Heads-Up Limit Hold' Em

Greatest Feat:
During visits to Las Vegas between 2001 and 2004, Beal participated in high-stakes poker games against professional players. The games included USD$100,000 to $200,000 limit Texas Hold 'Em poker. On May 13, 2004, at the Las Vegas Bellagio, Beal won one of the largest single hands in poker history, $11.7 million.  The games have been chronicled in the Michael Craig book, “The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time.”

While the games outlined in Craig's book ended in 2004, Beal returned to Las Vegas from February 1–5, 2006 to again take on "The Corporation" in a $50,000/100,000 Limit Hold 'Em match at the Wynn Las Vegas Casino. Opponents included Todd Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Ted Forrest, and others.

Phil Ivey vs Andy Beal

On February 5, 2006, Beal was down $3.3 million (USD). He then returned to the Wynn Casino a week later, and won approximately $13.6 million from the Corporation during daily poker sessions from February 12–15. The games resumed February 21–23, with world champion poker player Phil Ivey representing the Corporation against Beal at limits of $30,000/60,000 and $50,000/100,000. During these three days, Beal lost $16.6 million to Ivey.

Andy Beal High Stakes Heads-Up Limit Hold' Em strategy:

Step 1. Play nearly every hands
            Raise (most of the time) every pot he enters
Step 2. Check-call all the way down to the river with any A-high hand
            8-bets the turn with two pair
Step 3. Obsession with preventing tells

Why is Andy Beal so good?

a) Obsession

b) Specialization
c) Mathematical approach

d) High stakes

e) Ultra-aggressive
f) Impossible to read



Carl Icahn once said of Beal, "I always thought of myself as a good player. But I'm not in his league."

Andy Beal - The Banker versus The Corporation

http://www.poker-soft.com/pages/Reviews/Craig.htm

http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-forum/index.php?showtopic=51657
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0446694975/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=strenfight-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0446694975&adid=0K8EF53ZGBZBMD417TPV&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fheads-up-limit-hold-em.blogspot.ca%2F
http://pokerworks.com/poker-news/2006/02/20/andy-beal-s-conundrum.html
http://www.pokernews.com/news/2006/02/beal-corporation-finished.htm


Originally published in: http://www.heads-up-fixed-limit-texas-hold-em-poker.com/p/andy-beal.html

"The Brain"

TEXAS HOLD'EM HEADS UP Poker

"Texas Hold ‘Em Heads Up Poker" machine play the limit version of the most popular poker game around.  The casino owners obviously think that no human opponent could be able to defeat "The Brain" on a regular basis.   However, the manufacturer estimated that only 100 around the world will be able to beat it on a regular basis.  But that remain to be seen.  Some accomplished world class poker players and poker theorists think otherwise. 

“I’ve seen about 10 different [heads-up] pros playing the bot, all with their own special strategy which they are convinced is the one that beats the bot. I feel less than 95 percent certain that they are all losing players against it, and at least one of their assumptions has always been wrong. I feel after 100 hours of play against it I can break even against it. I think I’d rather play craps, though.”  ---  Anthony Rivera, high-stakes limit pro and World Series of Poker bracelet winner

 

You vs "The Brain"

Non adapting strategy "artificial neural network" 

"Texas Hold ‘Em Heads Up Poker" machine was originally designed by Dahl to learn while playing and adjust his strategy to the opposition. If, for example, an opponent folded a lot, it played aggressively; if it faced aggressive play, it tried to trap.  However casino commissions mandate that a gaming machine cannot change its playing style in response to particular opponents. 

Playing a fixed strategy, "The Brain" isn't able to change its tactics to take advantage of the bad play of a novice player. A skilled human poker player or a computer algorithm with opponent modeling capability should expect to win at a higher rate than this game against especially weak opponents.  So the poker game must play a World Series of Poker champion the same way it does a neophyte.  Nonetheless an unskilled player will lose more against "The Brain" than a skilled player. 


Perfectly defensive game

What seem to be a disadvantage turned into a huge advantage. Due to the fact that in theory a non adapting strategy could be unbeatable.  If its play away from its approximation of game theoretic optimal strategy to take advantage of opponent mistakes, then it itself is playing less optimally and may be counter-exploited.
With that being said, since the machine bot needs to be stable and can't figure out weaknesses in the opponent and find ways to exploit those weaknesses.  So instead, the effort were put on defense. The basic idea behind its play technique is "to prevent itself from being exploited." "The theory behind it is almost paranoid."  So that it would teach itself to play a perfectly defensive game. Rather than steer it to study its opponent and try to capitalize on weaknesses, the net was directed to make itself as hard to beat as possible.

"If it "adapted" it would open itself up for explotation. In theory a non adapting strategy could be unbeatable. I played it for a few minutes and it was quite aggressive and tricky. It even check raised bluffed the river once. At first glance it appears to me that only very good players will beat it, they won't beat it for too much, and that the correct strategy to beat it is a bit different than against typical humans." -- David Sklansky, respected poker author and mathematician




Texas Hold ‘Em Heads Up Poker "The Brain" strategy

Pre-flop
Hyper-LAG / maniac
+ Raise almost every time from the Button
+ Raise called button from over 75% of the time from the BB.
... Sometime 3-bet weak hands like T5off (negligible)
... Occasionally fold on the Button or when raised in the BB (negligible)
- Fold more hands from the SB on most streets than from the BB

Flop
Very LAG
+ Routinely raise with middle pair and a weak kicker
+ Call most of the time a check-raise+ Rarely 3-bet the flop with weak overcard, no straight, flush or backdoor possibilities
+ Often fold to a bet if a high card comes on the flop
+ But he will bet the high card on the flop
+ Most likely to fold on the flop

Turn
Tightens up
+ Check-call with middle pair and weak kicker
+ Check the turn most of the time 

River
+ Call with a piece of the board
+ Call down with Ace high unless the board is scary
+ Likely to call with King high
+ Sometimes call down with weaker hands (J high) on a bimodal (monster or miss) board.  Like a pair on the board.

Overall
+ Reasonable adjustment to what the opponent might hold based on the board.
+ Seem to play top pair / top kicker more slowly on board with flushes and straights possible
+ Seem to play high card / no pair more aggressively on paired flops.  Check-raise bluff
+ More likely to check-raise if opponent put the last bet on the previous street.
+ Doesn't fold too often.



Why is "The Brain" so good?

a) Defense. The basic idea behind its play technique is to do everything it can "to prevent itself from being exploited".  "The theory behind it is almost paranoid," 

b) Unpredictable. The pokerbot use knowledge gained from billions of staged rounds of poker fed through neural networks, and the result is an unpredictable poker player that can win almost every time.  Three different banks of knowledge are used depending on the gameplay scenario, but the basic idea behind its play technique is, as I said above,  "to prevent itself from being exploited." "The theory behind it is almost paranoid." So "The Brain" unpredictibility and three different game plays are part of his perfectly defensive game. 
   
Here are his 3 tag-team fighters alternating against an opponent.
    * The first is a neural net with optimal number of bluffs and can do anything in anyone hand.
    *The second play a slightly different style.
    *The third come into play when the opponent has a reduced stack.

Aggression level might change at random moment

c) Aggression.  "The Brain" is the aggressor. Almost never check-calls or simply matches an opponent's bet without a raise. But give credit to your hand when you raise and reraise.  Far too aggressive and steals far too many pots to get beat on a regular basis.

http://www.lvrevealed.com/articles/research/investigating-texas-holdem-heads-up-poker.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/magazine/poker-computer.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/109/heads-up-limit/beating-heads-up-limit-poker-machine-1170564/


Originally published in: http://www.heads-up-fixed-limit-texas-hold-em-poker.com/p/blog-page.html

Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey is the best poker player in the world today.

Net Worth: $100 Million

• Source of Wealth: Poker
• Birthdate: February 1, 1976
• Birth Place: Riverside, California, USA
• Residence: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
• Marital Status: Married Luciaetta Ivey (m. 2002–2009)
• 9 World Series of Poker bracelets
• 1 World Poker Tour title

World Series of Poker bracelets

Year	Tournament	Prize (US$/A$)
2000	$2,500 Pot Limit Omaha	$195,000
2002	$2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo	$118,440
2002	$2,000 S.H.O.E.	$107,540
2002	$1,500 7 Card Stud	$132,000
2005	$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha	$635,603
2009	$2,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball	$96,367
2009	$2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo / 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo	$220,538
2010	$3,000 H.O.R.S.E.	$329,840
2013A	A$2,200 Mixed Event	A$51,840

World Poker Tour Titles

Year	Tournament	Prize (US$)
2008	$10,000 L.A. Poker Classic	$1,596,100

Greatest Feat:
In February 21-23, 2006, he played heads-up Limit Texas Hold'em versus Texas billionaire Andy Beal. With stakes at $30,000/$60,000 and $50,000/$100,000, Ivey won over $16,600,000 over the course of three days, during a heads up match at The Wynn Resort. Ivey was playing for "The Corporation", a group of poker professionals who pooled their money and took turns playing against Beal. Earlier in the month, Beal had beaten the Corporation out of over $13,000,000.  Phil Ivey was the only man able to defeat Andy Beal at his own game, high stakes heads-up limit hold'em.


Phil Ivey's HUHU FL HE strategy:

Step 1. Raise pre-flop in position
            Raise pre-flop in the big blind with (1:1)
            Ax, Kx, Q3s, Q6, J8, T7s, T9, 98s, 33+
Step 2. Continuation bet on the flop and turn 100% of the time
Step 3. Leaving after losing one buy-in
            Keep playing when winning

"I'm a firm believer in learning the game by playing the game."  

                                                               -- Phil Ivey

Why is Phil Ivey so good?

a) hyper aggressive maniac
b) 100% focus
c) Phil's reads
d) stop-loss
e) intimidating and fearsome reputation
f) unlimited bankroll

IHateJuice: "Phil Ivey is the final boss in Fixed Limit heads-up"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Ivey
http://www.thehendonmob.com/poker_tips/dont_read_this_tip
http://www.sitandgoplanet.com/multitable/mtt_strategy/Phil-Iveys-Tournament-Strategy.html

Originally published in: http://www.heads-up-fixed-limit-texas-hold-em-poker.com/p/phil-ivey.html

Jesse Livermore

Jesse Livermore

Stock Operator Extraordinaire

Born in 1877 and died in 1940, Jesse Livermore is the greatest trader / speculator who ever lived.  At his peak in 1929, Jesse Livermore was worth more than $100 millions.  He would have been richer than Bill Gates in today's money.  An unseen feat for a self-taugh / self-made stock and commodities trader who ONLY TRADED HIS OWN MONEY, not Other People Money like today investment's superstars who heads investment banks and hedge funds..  With Bernard Baruch, he was one of the original trend followers.

Loner, individualist, suffering from severe episodes of depression, probably bipolar disorders who eventually took his life, Jesse Livermore made and lost four colossal fortunes during his lifetime.  Make two of his fortunes during stock market crashes periods, in 1907 and 1929, short-selling stocks.  Which earned him $3 millions in 1907 and $100 millions in 1929.  While everyone was losing their shirt, the astute Jesse Livermore was on top of the world!

Unlike the miser Warren Buffett, Livermore was living the life.  At his peak, he owned a series of mansions in several countries, each fully staffed with about 20 or 25 servants year-round, a fleet of limousines and several Rolls Royce cars (my favorites), lot of chauffeurs, yatchs, and regularly threw lavish parties.

The second best book you can get! 

Jesse Livermore also had a ticker tape in every home that he owned, on his railway cars, on his yachts.

Jesse Livermore the womanizer

His affinity for hot gals cost him a lot of money.

The favorite book of Jesse Livermore 

and Bernard Baruch, another legendary trader.

Another one of Livermore's favorite book.

The 3 things that made him an extraordinary trader

- His love of numbers
- Determination to educate himself 
- Being a keen observer.

Now, here are some investment wisdoms from Jesse Livermore. 

- Emotional control (crucial and vital for any trader and gambler)

- Knowledge of economics and fondamentals
- Trade with the trends (Buy in a bull market and short in a bear market)
- Don't trade when there is no clear opportunities.
- Patience.  Let your profits run.
- Trade the leading stocks in each sector.
- Don't average down a losing position.
- Add to winning positions.
And in my view, the most important...
- CUT YOUR LOSSES SHORT (ALWAYS USE A STOP-LOSS POSITION losing no more than 10%.
- Experience.  Learn from your mistakes.

"Wall Street never changes, the pockets change, the suckers change, the stocks change, but Wall Street never changes, because human nature never changes."  - Jesse Livermore

"Successful traders always follow the line of least resistance. Follow the trend. The trend is your friend." - Jesse Livermore

"It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting." - Jesse Livermore