Thanksgiving weekend is one of the best weekends for poker in Las Vegas. The poker room is humming with action. I am sitting there trying to get my little share.

Very little has been written in the literature about playing against people who refuse to look at their hands. OK, it doesn’t happen often, but it does happen, at least playing live (I once heard of a player who taped his monitor so he could play blind on-line, but who knows?) Yes, sometimes people figure out how to look, see two aces, then loudly proclaim they are going to play the hand blind. Watch out for those jackals.

But in live poker, sometimes a guy looking for fun, action, or attention plays a hand, or a series of them, without looking until the turn, or river, or until raised, or whatever criteria he sets for himself.

So how should you play these guys? In general, if a guy is going to play blind at you, don’t play hands that can’t win a showdown. There is nothing sillier looking than a guy calling the flop and turn and mucking on the river to another player who has not looked. At a minimum, if you have gone that far, bluff raise the river in case he is playing a hand that simply can’t call. After all, he might have 8 high or some such.

Be aggressive; if you have something, go ahead and raise. If he looks and finds a better something, so be it. Clearly these guys want to gamble, and you pretty much ought to gamble with them. Hand from yesterday: Everyone folds to me in the SB. BB is a player who will not look at his cards. I call with 54o. He raises blind. I call. Flop is K85 rainbow. I check, he bets blind, I call. Turn is 3 putting 2 diamonds out there. I check, he bets blind, I check raise. He looks, calls, and says “Come on dealer!” River is offsuit 6. I check. He checks. My five is good (he had Q9d). He criticizes me for check-raising with just a small pair! (Isn’t poker a wonderful game?).

I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a wonderful wife (the beautiful and talented Betty), great friends, terrific students, reasonable health and a swell job. I always remember what the late Cowboy Chuck told me at a poker table many years ago: “Any day you wake up, you are breathing and you have a buy-in, it’s a good day.” I have way more than that, and I am very grateful indeed.

Here’s hoping you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a winning holiday season.

Home at last…and staying for a while. I love Las Vegas, and I am very happy staying at home for long periods.

I want to do a brief summary of how to write to a poker writer. Let me start by saying I try to answer every e-mail I get. If you did not get a reply, it means I somehow missed it (typically when traveling). Please try again.

I try to answer the questions I am asked, providing I do not think you are sending me a broadcast message looking for many answers. I get a few of those, and I reply by saying I defer to the other people on the d-list.

If you are sending a message to a poker writer, mention something that identifies the writer. You do NOT need to lather on praise. In fact, nobody minds if you disagree. I sometimes get things wrong, or need to learn more, or did not write exactly what I meant. Or you may have misunderstood or we could simply hold different opinions. I don’t mind any of that.

If you are going to ask a question that is not related to a column or opinion I wrote, at least have the courtesy to mention something specific so I know you did not send this generic message to all CardPlayer authors. If you planning to ask many questions that require significant time or analysis, please purchase a lesson or just pick the one question you really need answered.

I don’t back people. I don’t send money. I am sorry you took a bad beat. I don’t endorse products I have never seen. I try not to endorse products for compensation, as I want to be able to tell my students what to read/download/study/post to without feeling like I am doing it for the money.

Overall, I am thrilled to get mail, and I will also be happy when I get the forum going soon, so we all can chime in on questions and answers, and everyone can learn from the answers I provide.

So thanks for visiting my website and for reading this. Please feel free to send me mail whether you like my stuff or not. I will reply to anything that is not personally abussive. (None so far have been like this.)

Here I am in Foxwoods. The 2005 World Poker Players Conference went very well. Mike Caro emceed, and was charming, funny and informative. Lee Jones presented a new strategy for playing heads up NL play with fairly large blinds, typical at the conclusion of Sit’nGoes. This is a mathematical game theoretical proven strategy which Lee (and co-copyright holder James Kittock) will be giving away. When they post it to a website, I will link to it from here.

I did an hour seminar called “Making One Big Bet per Hour” that was very well received. In the afternoon, Mark Gregorich, Kenna James and Clonie Gowan spoke. All got very good reviews. The conference concluded with a panel consisting of Mark Seif (double bracelet winner at the 2005 WSOP), Linda Johnson and Mike Caro answering questions posed by Jan Fisher. It was fun and informative. The DVD of the conference should be available in a couple of weeks.

I also met a wonderful bunch of very studious and dedicated up and coming players. They were serious about the game, and improving their own understanding and results. Our game is growing, and the fascination of learning to play at a high level really enthralls many players. Congratulations to them for coming, and for asking some excellent and challenging questions.

While here on the right coast, I also got to meet several students face-to-face. That was a very nice experience. Thanks to all of you for coming.

In my talk I pointed out that playing tight is the first way most people make money. Making the transition from that to more advanced strategic play becomes difficult for many, as they need to add aggression, which does not come naturally. Aggression increases their varience, which makes them uncomfortable so they slow down. But aggression (combined with selectivity) is what makes real money. It is tough, but winning is tough as well. Winners almost always have to move well beyond their comfort zone to see meaningful results.