This week, “The Showdown with Jon Friedberg” welcomes Benton Blakeman, a mid-stakes cash game grinder and sponsored pro of FeltStars. The episode is dedicated to improving your poker game, so buckle up. UB.com sponsors “The Showdown,” so show your love for the show by signing up for UB.com using the bonus code UBPND.
Check out Part 1 and Part 2.
Last week, Full Tilt Poker announced the formation of the Onyx Cup, a series of six live tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $100,000 to $300,000. Friedberg gave “The Showdown” viewers his take on the mega-series: “While I would say that there’s definitely a market for the high buy-in tournaments, as we’ve seen recently, I do feel like it’s just going to be the same 20 or 30 players playing in all of these, which is going to get a little boring.”
He added, “These are going to have big prize pools… First place prizes are going to be in the millions, but personally, I just think it’s more fun to watch people put up $10,000 to win a few million bucks, not to put up $250,000. It’s just not the same level of excitement when they win.” The Grand Finale of the Onyx Cup is a $250,000 buy-in tournament that will take place in December in Las Vegas.
Through his @jonfriedberg Twitter account last week, Friedberg asked for viewers’ input on poker on television. Curiously, Friedberg admitted that many viewers had the same response: “Most of you said you thought the ‘Big Game’ was the best poker on TV. Honestly, I had never seen the ‘Big Game’ until last week… My personal favorite is ‘High Stakes Poker.’ I especially like it now that Norm Macdonald is on. I hated Gabe Kaplan. I also am more of a cash game player now than a tournament player, so it’s a little more relevant to me.”
Blakeman then joined the set. He got his start in poker in a bar in Louisiana and discussed how he’s been able to grow over the course of his career: “Without a doubt, it’s talking to other players – talking to people who you feel are as good, if not better than, you. Of course, I watch videos. I’ve probably watched more videos than anyone out there. I’ve been a member at every training site, but the thing that helped me the most was finding people who understood what was going on with online poker today and sending them hand histories.”
What if you’re a profitable player? Why is conferring with a peer of the utmost importance? Blakeman contended, “You could be playing great. You could be winning a lot of money. You could be winning at 5 BB/100, but you could still be doing so many small things wrong that are costing you a little bit of money here, a little bit of money there. The great thing about partnering up with somebody after a session is they may spot those little leaks that you’re not spotting yourself.”
Blakeman has an array of tables open on the screen at any given time and explained that players might not be giving each window their full attention: “When you play as many hands as I do, you fall into a robotic-type mode… You need someone around you to say, ‘Hey, that might not be the best line every time’ and open your eyes to that.”
“The Showdown” is released every Tuesday exclusively on Poker News Daily. Remember to sign up for UB.com using the bonus code UBPND.