I recently started a new blog to focus on what I really do for living, building/investing/consulting on web-oriented businesses. The site is at newofferings.com. From time-to-time, I will be writing posts on newofferings which have some relevancy to tworags and will cross-post them here. Of course, I'll still continue to write poker-related posts on TwoRags.com. So without further adieu:

During a family vacation a few weeks ago a good friend was telling me about some of the seminars he has attended. This friend is a successful real estate agent and often attends seminars by people like Tony Robbins, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, etc. He was mentioning that he had walked on hot coals, broke multiple wood boards without any martial arts training and was able to bend a spoon. His spoon exploits piqued my curiosity when he explained that he didn’t simply bend the spoon, he was actually able to corkscrew it — twist it like it was a piece of paper. He explained that his ability had nothing to so with strength, but involved believing it was possible and harnessing the power of the mind. He likened this to the stories we have all read about when mothers are able to lift a car to free their children.

I was skeptical of this and assumed, if he was able to do it at all, that the spoon must have been made of extremely thin metal. My friend is in good shape, but his build is very average and he would never be confused with an NFL linebacker. That night we had the friend and his family over for dinner at the condo we were staying at and after a great meal and a few drinks I brought out a spoon. The spoons at the condo were far from thin. In fact, they were extremely thick and heavy. I could not even budge the metal when I tried to bend it the long-way. My friend had claimed not to only be able to bend it, but to corkscrew it like it was paper! The friend looked it over and appeared to want no part of it. He hadn’t attempted his mind-bending on a spoon this thick and it had been a few years since he had bent any spoon.

There were quite a few of us in the room and he didn’t want to disappoint. He took it in his hands and stared at the spoon for 20 seconds or so and then started to breath really loud. Something was clearly happening, because what transpired next was unlike anything I had ever seen. He began to make grunting sounds and his face locked into an incredibly intense position. Out of the blue, his hands and arms started moving at a furious pace as his breathing and grunting became more pronounced. It was over in just a few seconds.



As you can see from the picture above, my friend did indeed corkscrew the spoon. For a few minutes after he was done the metal of the spoon was extremely hot. It was difficult to hold and burned to the touch. He explained that he physically changed the properties of the metal, which was how we was able to accomplish the corkscrew effect. For good measure, he repeated the feat two more times that night.

Sounds pretty incredible and I’m sure some of you don’t believe this is possible and I would have been one of you if I hadn’t seen it for myself.

After this experience I have a new appreciation for the power of the mind and what is possible. Here’s an article I found that explains the process in detail. Please let me know if you have ever seen this done or can do it yourself.

I just received an email from Pokerstars to let me know that I was cheated out of money. They told me to login to my account to find out the credit. Of course I was hoping for thousands of dollars, but it turns out that the credit was only for $38. I guess it's better than nothing. Here is the email. Does anyone know more about this?

** FROM POKERSTARS on April 10, 2025

Hello,

PokerStars has become aware of two players who were working together in our Sit & Go tournaments to the detriment of other players. You were involved in at least one tournament with these players and as a result you may have been adversely affected.

The players' accounts were closed and their funds frozen pending a thorough investigation, which is now complete. Fortunately the problem was identified quickly and they had only played in a few tournaments before the accounts were closed.

In a case such as this it is our policy to confiscate the colluders' winnings or balances and to distribute them to the players affected by their actions in as fair a way as possible. To confirm your credit, log onto your PokerStars account, go to the 'Cashier' screen and click the 'History' button. Your share will be shown "ADMIN CREDIT", followed by the amount of the credit.

I regret that we will be unable to answer questions as to how your specific credit amount was calculated. Likewise, we are not at liberty to identify the specific games or players in question. Suffice to say that they have been barred from the site and you will not encounter them again.

The integrity of the games at PokerStars is of paramount importance to us and we will not abide cheating or collusion in our games. We work hard to police our games and prevent such instances. In the rare cases where collusion has actually occurred, we make sure that any players affected are compensated appropriately.

Thank you for your continued play here on PokerStars. Please do not hesitate to let us know any time we can be of help.

Best Regards,

Dan M
PokerStars Game Security

I ended up playing 4 NL tournaments -- two full table normal tournaments, one shootout and one short-handed. I didn't go very deep in any of them. I think I played fairly solid, but ran really bad. Two ended with big suckouts against me and two were tough situations that I'm not sure I could get away from. The good news is that I won two sats -- one for a $1k score and the other for a $2k score so I was a bit up in total. Here are a few hands that I would like some feedback on.

Hand 1: I'm a few hours into a $550 NL tournament. I find myself with 15 BB and am in the CO. David Phan is to my left with a huge stack and the SB/BB also have big stacks. It's folded to me. I have two red Tens. Do I push or raise? Not a huge decision but I'm curious what most of you would do because my decision proved fatal whereby another decision might have resulted in a different outcome.

Hand 2: Early in a $1k tournament. I'm UTG+1 with 4k and see JJ. UTG also has 4k. Blinds 50/100.

UTG mini-raises to 200. I just call for various reasons -- mostly to play a small pot and I'm suspicious of UTG mini-raises. One blind calls. Flop comes TJQ rainbow. Check to me. I bet $500, only UTG calls. Pot now $1700.

Turn 5 also brings back-door flush draw. UTG bets 600. Do I call, raise, push? If I don't push, what's the plan for the river?

Hand 3: $130 10-handed sat. Three players left, blinds are 400/800. We're in the BB with AJo and 6500 chips. The SB has 2k and the button has 6500. No mention of chop, but let's assume for argument sake that if we knock out the SB that we would likely do a chop with the button.

The button pushes and the SB folds. Do we call or fold?

I had planned on playing the 6-handed $545 tournament. Matt Savage and I exchanged emails and I wanted to stop by to see him and get in some poker. Unfortunately, I'm an idiot and didn't check the starting time. Don't know why I assumed it was a 7pm start. I did get there at 2:50pm thinking I would spend the afternoon playing some satellites. It turns out that there was 10 more minutes to get in as an alternate. I would get the full starting stack of 4k and the next two 40 min levels were 100/200 and 100/200 25. Hmmm, not great, but with an avg stack still at 5.5k it wouldn't be horrible. Okay, I decided to give it a shot. I didn't have my players card with me and the guy who dealt with them had already closed shop but the staff was very helpful and got me my seat in minutes.

I managed to stay out of trouble for the first few orbits and won most small pots I played.

Hand 1:

My first major hand was with the blinds still at 100/200. Me on button with A8. Folds to me and I raise to 500 with a 4k starting stack. SB who has 1800 or so pushes. I insta-call. He has K9. Flop comes with a K and 8. River is 8 and I'm in business.

For a fairly major 6-handed tournament loaded with aggressive pros my table turned out to be great. There was a young pro two seats to my left who was somewhat aggressive. Actually he talked a lot and represented through his words that he was the real deal and very aggressive. In reality he was fairly predictable and not very aggressive at all. Most pots were heads-up and there wasn't much post-flop aggression or pf 3-betting. About an hour in Makisim Karandeyev sits to my left. He's young, friendly guy who tells us all that he just won the NL event #11, but is actually a limit specialist.

Hand 2:

I'm in the BB with KT at 100/200 25 and around 5.5k. UTG makes it 600, button calls, SB calls, I call.

Flop T84 with two clubs. SB makes it 1500, I push. Folds to SB who calls with JT. He has me covered by a bit. My hand holds and I'm in business with a great stack.

Hand 3:

Still 100/200 25 and I'm at 11k. I make it 700 with AJs. BB who has about 10k takes a while to decide. It seems to me that he is seriously thinking about raising. I put him on a hand like 99/TT/JJ/AQ. He calls.

Flop comes K rag/rag. He immediately leads out for 1200. I have no part of the flop, but the timing of his bet really raises alarms to me. I really feel he has a hand like JJ and is testing the waters. A raise here or a call and then bet or raise on the turn will very likely get me the pot. However, I'm torn because I would have to risk about half of my stack and I have a very healthy stack right now and don't want to bluff it away. I decide to just let it go, but do regret the wimpy play. Any thoughts?

Hand 4:

Pretty standard. My stack and blinds are about the same as above. I raise with TT. Aggressive young guy (AYG) across the table calls as does a short stack to my right. Flop comes KT9. AYG checks, shortie puts his last 300 in and we both call. AYG checks in the dark which sucks. Turn comes an 8 so I really can't slowplay any more. I fire about 2/3rds of pot and he folds. Pretty standard.

3-bet City

I lose about 3-4k of my stack through blinds/antes and PF raises with hands like AT, AJ, KQs, etc., and either missing/continuation bet/fold to raises or more often then not, having my buddy to the left, Makisim, 3 betting me. This happens 3 times and while I do want to look him up at some point, I decide that I'll wait for a better opportunity so am forced to fold each time, until:

Hand 5:

150/300 25, stack: 9k. I limp with KTs from UTG+1 (is it possible to be in early position 6 handed?). This is my first limp of the day when first in. Everyone comes along except the UTG who already folded. Flop comes T92 rainbow. SB makes it 500 into a 1600ish pot. Checked to me and I make it 2k. Makisim asks me my stack size and takes quite a bit of time deciding what to do. He eventually makes it 4k. Hmmm. Very weird bet. He either got a bit worried and thinks that this weird bet will screw with me or he really has a strong hand and wants me to come along. I think quite a bit about it and decide that he doesn't have much, but what a stupid bet. Why do it? Very tough spot. Given our history I just can't lay it down and really am convinced I have him and he's just making another move, given that I've shown no resistance to his other raises. He probably pegs me as weak (is it right?) given what he's seen, so I push my last 6.5k. When he doesn't immediately call I'm pretty sure I'm good.

After about a minute he calls with... QT. What the f*&^&ck? I RR the original raiser, then push over the top of him. He still has over 20-25 BB with about 7-8k left. What could I possibly have given the way I've been playing? I haven't shown down one hand that was out of line. Of course he rivered the Q and sent me packing. No hard feelings. I hope you add to your trophy case with my chips. Here's the proud event #11 winner:



Time to do my own sucking!

It's too early to leave so I put down my $120 and play a one-table satellite. We get 1500 in chips and the blinds move up very 15 mins. Pretty standard group of players, a few guys who think they know how to play BUT... very few really understand hand values in these things. It amazes me the hands that people fold or consider folding in this tournament.

I win a small pot on the first hand with AQs and then go card dead for a while. I stay at around 1800 as blinds move up to 150/300 -- I'm just getting no opportunities to make a move. I keep my stack steady by simply pushing blind from the SB and button when folded to me. Then I go on a crazy run.

I'm UTG with the blinds about to eat me alive so will play a very wide range of hands. Still 6 people left. My first card is an A and I push without looking at the 2nd. The SB open folds 88 without hesitating. Pretty weird if you ask me given how broad my range is in this situation. I guess if he thinks I play like everyone else it makes some sense. Unfortunately my second card was also an A, but I probably would have done the same thing if I knew. I proceed to get KK, JJ, AK, 88 over the next bunch of hands and knock out two players to take a large lead. I do suck out on a guy when I called his short-stack all-in with 88 when he had JJ and I flopped trips. However, that hand wouldn't have killed me, but this hand...

PAY-BACK HAND

We're now 3-handed. An attractive Asian female who is fairly good has about the exact same stack as me. We are both at 6.5k or so and one guy between us had 3k. Nobody mentions a deal and I'm in no mood to offer one. Blinds are now 400-800. I have Ah7h and auto push. The SB folds and the Asian female goes into the tank. She says she loves her two cards and is having a hard time folding them. I assume she has KQs and don't really feel like flipping right now so I hope she folds. She is seriously thinking about folding and I'm pretty sure she will. She has done this routine countless times before.

To my surprise she calls. To my SURPRISE she show AJs. What just happened? She almost didn't call me? With 3 handed action and blinds at 400-800? You gotta be kidding me. Of course, the flop comes with 3 hearts and I suck out.

A few people make mention that I was caught stealing. A7s in that situation is like trip A's. So now I have 12k or so vs. 3k for my opponent. If he asked for a deal I would have probably given him 200-300, but he doesn't. He makes some mention of catching up with me and then chopping. I take him out in about 3 hands and take the entire 1060. Boy, I sure earned that one! I feel bad because I started to talk to some of the other players and completely forgot to tip the dealer. They must think I'm a complete schmuck. When I come back next week I'll try to make up for it.

I must close by mentioning how impressed I was with the tournament. It really felt like I was in the Amazon Room of the WSOP. The tables were packed between the featured tournament, a variety of one-table satellites, the daily multi-table satellites and the final table from the previous day. The staff was extremely efficient, the dealers were great and the food, as always, was first rate. I'll be back for a few more tournament and will be sure to report back.

I was browsing through 2plus2 today and came across the following hand post by Bond. I'm sure he won't mind me sharing this on the site. It is funny in so many ways. It reminded me of the classic scene from Annie Hall. Here's a link to the video of the scene. If you haven't seen it, be sure to watch the full video through to the end.

Was playing a 109 FO today and made a standard play which resulted in my getting heavily berated. Here's the HH:
Poker Stars $100+$9 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t175/t350 Blinds + t45 - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

jc0880 (BB): t6890
revheat969 (UTG): t9272
dannygreen1 (UTG+1): t8220
Hero (UTG+2): t5680
Pti4ka_Tucan (MP1): t2710
brettsky678 (MP2): t15120
mike121112 (CO): t11338
BaldGuy (BTN): t15755
Stoweski (SB): t10553

Pre Flop: (t930) Hero is UTG+2 with K A
2 folds, Hero raises to t950, Pti4ka_Tucan raises to t2665 all in, 1 fold, mike121112 raises to t11293 all in, 3 folds, Hero calls t4685 all in

Flop: (t14865) 2 9 Q (3 players - 3 are all in)

Turn: (t14865) 9 (3 players - 3 are all in)

River: (t14865) K (3 players - 3 are all in)

Final Pot: t14865
Hero shows K A (two pair, Kings and Nines)
Pti4ka_Tucan shows Q A (two pair, Queens and Nines)
mike121112 shows J J (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
Hero wins t5940
Hero wins t8925


And the ensuing chat:
STM70 [observer]: nh bond
mike121112: FKING JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mike121112: why
mike121112: wot u think i had bond
STM70 [observer]: dirty river ther
mike121112: fking spastic

Bond18: i think i haz AK
STM70 [observer]: dude that's a standard play by bond
Bond18: it be the nizzles
Dealer: Stoweski, it's your turn. You have 15 seconds to act
mike121112: so u called for a split nice 1 idiot

mike121112: no its not
mike121112: its a moron play
dannygreen1: these bloody aussies...lol

mike121112: bond wot hand u actually think i had? looks like i have aa
Bond18: on behalf of morons everywhere, i am offended
dan89 x [observer]: lol

STM70 [observer]: Dude he has AK with 15 BB, THAT is standard to get it in

mike121112: not after a re raise and a re re raise idiot
Bond18: is that you hellmuth?

mike121112: bond ur a ****** clearly
Bond18: given entertainment value
mike121112: re t ard

STM70 [observer]: maybe you should start one

FossilMan [Commentator]: Greetings players. Please give me a moment to review the chat log

Bond18: i'll only start a video if mike promises to keep berating me after standard play
STM70 [observer]: lol
mike121112: check the HH

STM70 [observer]: i really enjoy watching your videos bond
STM70 [observer]: keep up the good work

Bond18: oooo you've pissed off the fossilman, you are so ****ed

Bond18: thanks dude

FossilMan [Commentator]: PokerStars requires that people act with respect, and insulting comments are not allowed at the table. Please refrain from such comments in the future

mike121112: FOSSIL MAN CHECK THE HH THEN U SEE WHY IM MAD

FossilMan [Commentator]: Also, having reviewed the HH, I have to agree that bond played the hand 100% correctly.

dannygreen1: lol
dan89 x [observer]: LOL
Bond18: lol
STM70 [observer]: ship it bond
FossilMan [Commentator]: Just an ordinary bad beat.

mike121112: o dear fossil man


mike121112: think about it then talk to me

FossilMan [Commentator]: Have a good night all, and thanks again for playing at PokerStars.com.


STM70 [observer]: and he will still say it's the standard play
mike121112: why is fossil man even here?

mike121112: at least get moderator or sumthing
FossilMan [Commentator]: If any future issues arise, you will have the services of a real Moderator. I'm just filling in for a moment.

Bond18: much like Obi Wan Kinobi, Fossilman can feel a disturbance in the force
FossilMan [Commentator]: Good night all.

FossilMan [Commentator]: Have fun.
mike121112: raymer sucks anways