Awesomeness!

Let’s just say that guys like Russ Hamilton would appose such a ban. I heard Durr say it on High Stakes Poker last week and he is absolutely right. You should always be uncomfortable playing high stakes poker against someone wearing sunglasses. I’m not making this up, it’s just a fact. Banning sunglasses helps to protect the integrity of the game against cheating. For that reason alone, they should be completely outlawed from poker. No other sport or organization would allow competitors a device that makes it easier for them to get away with cheating. **************************************************************** I won’t be tweeting any results from the show. I’ll be playing on the 5th, 8th, and 9th of May. On the 6th I’ll be doing 36 holes, then on the 7th I’ll be on a really fun golf reality show that I actually watch and enjoy. The 10th is another golf day, commercial shoot on the 11th, then it’s the $25k heads up SCOOP event and the $10k main event. I may golf WHILE playing the SCOOP. I have a wireless card, I can make it work! ]]>

I’m in Monte Carlo, and conveniently woke up at 3:00am local time so I could watch the San Jose Sharks play the Colorado Avalanche in game 6. As you might remember from my last blog, I bet on San Jose to win the series in 6 games. If I had to do it over again… I wouldn’t have bet on them. I ended up winning the bet, also cashing in on my biggest bet in game 6 where I bet San Jose -1.5 goals plus money and got lucky late to pull that off. After watching the Sharks struggle with Colorado, though, I don’t think I’ll be making another bet on them for the duration of the playoffs. I don’t think they’ll get past the next round, unless somehow that top line learns to adapt to playoff hockey. Going into the series I didn’t buy into the idea that the Sharks weren’t a good playoff team, but after watching Joe Thorton, Patrik Marleau, and Dan Heatley in this series, I fully understand why Barry Melrose doesn’t like their chances. They are soft man. For real, they looked invisible out there, and if it wasn’t for guys like Dan Boyle, Joe Pavelski, and for the most part goalie Evgeny Nabakov, Colorado would have pulled off the upset.
In the next round, it looks as though San Jose will draw Detroit. So you are talking about two teams at the other end of the spectrum. One team hasn’t had any success in the playoffs, the other, the Detroit Red Wings, have more playoff experience than any other NHL team. Chalk full of veterans and grinders, along with maybe their best goalie in some time, Jimmy Howard, I think the Wings (provided they get past Phoenix) are going to be too much to handle for the Sharks.
I was also surprised with some of the lazy, defensive breakdowns by the Sharks. Do that against Detroit… and you are dead. The New Jersey/Philadelphia series was a nightmare for me. Watched every game, and every game it looked like New Jersey was outplaying the Flyers, except in one key area: special teams. Philly looked just awesome on the penalty kill, in large part thanks to the behemoth Chris Pronger. Philly was fast, and very aggressive against the puck carrier.
Aside from that, the series saw Brian Boucher outplay Martin Brodeur! In fairness, Boucher and the Flyers got the lucky bounces, and NJ certainly didn’t.
The biggest surprise for me in this series was that I thought NJ should have an edge in terms of speed, but Philly played excellent defensively and were very quick to grab loose pucks… although, Boucher really didn’t give up many rebounds.
Philly likely will face Washington if they take care of the Habs, and if it’s a Washington/Philly series I’ll be looking to bet the overs consistently. Washington is obviously very skilled offensively, and I don’t know if Boucher can muster up that magic for another series. As for Philly, they have real issues at forward. Two of their best forwards are gone for the series, Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne both suffering injuries. Vancouver blew out LA 7-2 in game 5 and really started to look like a cup contender. Luongo has NOT looked sharp in this series, but they’ll need him to be at his best. The Canucks penalty kill could learn a thing or two from the Flyers, but the main issue their is size. Defense is the one weak spot for this Canucks team.
Offensively, adding Martin Samuelsson to the Sedin line has been magic as he’s potted 7 goals in 5 games. The is the best offensive Canucks team they’ve probably ever had, but with some of the chances they take, they need Luongo to be in top form to win the cup. Their next round match up appears to be the Blackhawks, but I wouldn’t count the Nashville Predators out yet. Nashville has played them tough this series and have home ice in game 6. There is a very good chance this thing goes the full seven games.
If Chicago does win that will set up a doozy of a match up with Chicago having home ice against Vancouver. If that’s the case, I think both teams match up pretty evenly offensively. Chicago has a much better defense, but in goal, Luongo vs Niemi is a mismatch. As far as the totals, that series would vary depending on fatigue. I’ll likely be going over and under throughout the series depending how it’s looking. You’ll see some 2-1 finals, but there will also be one or two games that end up 5-4. The last potential series looks like it will be Pittsburgh against either Boston or Buffalo. Pittsburgh should be rooting for Boston for a couple reasons, #1 they’ll have home ice versus Boston, and #2 Boston lacks any real firepower offensively. Both Boston and Buffalo have superb goalies in Ryan Miller and Tukka Rask respectively. I’m tellin’ ya, this Rask kid is the next Dominik Hasek. I’ve been saying that since he was drafted as a teenager by the Leafs until they were anally raped by Boston in a trade that saw the Leafs end up wiith Andrew Raycroft. Yeah, I’m bitter, so what. Ottawa played better than expected and gave Pittsburgh a run for their money, but it seems like Pittsburgh is just rounding into form and the Ovechkin-Crosy conference final is inevitable. That’s music to Gary Bettman’s ears, and it’s great for hockey when those two teams meet. So, while it’s early to speculate, here is how I see the final four shaping up at this point: Vancouver over Detroit
Pittsburgh over Washington Vancouver over Pittsburgh ***************************************************************** I’m in Monte Carlo suffering from jet lag a bit, but luckily I’m not playing until day 1B so hopefully by then I’ll be well rested and ready to play. Recently I was involved in an e-mail chain with Crandell Addington, with Doyle Brunson chiming in as well. Crandell and Doyle both helped me realize a few truths about poker that I may have underestimated. I’ve always been quick to praise the fundamental knowledge of the online players, but in doing so, may have been underestimating the value of live experience and the major differences between the two. At the WPT championship on day two, I had that epiphany for myself. I watched a hand between James Mackey and Phil Ivey, and when Mackey bet the river, I studied him and sensed that it was a bluff. Not based on the way he played the hand, but something else. Ivey made the call, very weak I might add, and sure enough, Mackey was indeed bluffing.
About 20 minutes later I found myself in a pot against Mackey. I checked the river and he went all in. My first instinct was that he had it this time. Not based on the way he played the hand, but something else. I ended up ignoring my read. I put him on a “range of hands” and I was ahead of that range and the call made sense on paper.
So instead of relying on my strengths as a poker player, I was thinking about the hand differently and it caused me to make a big mistake. He had me beat, and it crippled me. In playing more online poker recently, the hardest thing I’ve found about it all is applying what I’ve learned at PokerStars to real live poker. It’s confused me more than anything, and caused me to second guess what I’m doing. It’s sometimes difficult to completely separate the two trains of thoughts, at least for me it is since I’m pretty new to the online game. There were actually 3 or 4 key hands I played on day two of the tournament that went badly due to my confusion in meshing the two worlds. Now, I’ve made it through day one 100% of the time this year, but day two has been a struggle either because of back luck or bad reads. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it, and there are a few changes I’m going to make to help me be “in the moment” a little bit more than I have been. I promised NAPT/EPT Live commentator extraordinaire James Hartigan I’d make the final table in Monte Carlo, so I’d better play good 🙂 ***************************************************************** This is my last road trip until the WSOP. The long grind awaits and I’m excited as always to get to battle. My plan until then is to play PokerStars.net- The Big Game in early may, play one or two of the SCOOP events on Stars, and then literally play at least 36 holes a day of golf until the first WSOP event, the $50,000 8-game mix. I have not decided if I’m going to make a bunch of bets this year with Erick Lindgren as we did last year. It was a real grind. I think I might be better served to take on a less exhausting schedule and focus on the $10k and higher buy in events in the various disciplines. I do have a couple bracelet bets. One, a standing bet with Phil Ivey in every tournament we play, and also this year, I laid Tom Dwan 2-1 on a bracelet bet for 2010 with the stipulation that if we both win one, it’s a wash. It’s almost 8:00am here now, so I guess I better try and sleep for a few hours. I have an interview day scheduled all day today, so I’ll need to be up by about noon.
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Washington -5.15/Montreal +4.35 Not touching this one. Washington should obviously win this series, but I’m not sold on this Washington team being able to keep the puck out of it’s own net in the playoffs. Playoff hockey is just different, and a hot goalie will take you a long way. Montreal isn’t too scary, but their goalie is the #1 reason they are even in the post season. New Jersey -2.33 vs Philadelphia Speaking of goalies, we have Martin Brodeur against… Brian Boucher? Really, that about says it all hear, but there is more. This is not the old New Jersey team, these guys are deep at forward and can actually score goals. Philly may be tough and physical, also boasting immense depth at forward, but their problem has been the same for years: time to draft a goalie!!!
New Jersey -2.33 Buffalo -1.57/Boston +1.42 I’m not touching this either. You are “supposed” to bet Boston here, but that team is just really bad. Without Marc Savard they just can’t score. Sure, Zdeno Chara is the best defenseman in the game, but he can’t do it all. Many point to Buffalo’s Ryan Miller as the difference here, and that’s why Buffalo is a lock, but I think they are insane! Boston goalie Tukka Rask is the reason I stopped being a Leaf fan. Rask was traded to Boston for Andrew Raycroft in one of the worst trades in history, and while Rask is still very young, he’s already proven to be an outstanding NHL goalie. The only thing you might catch me betting in this series is the UNDER. Pittsburgh -2.86/Ottawa +2.53 I had Pittsburgh written down on my original list, but dropped this bet after a bit more research. Ottawa played them tough all year, and Pittsburgh hasn’t been playing well down the stretch. Fleury looks shaky. I still like Crosby and Malkin to win the series, but not enough to warrant laying 2.86
WEST San Jose -3.72/Colorado +3.23 Money seems to be coming in on Colorado and I think that’s a mistake. I don’t put too much stock into the idea that San Jose isn’t a playoff team, or that they’ll choke in the playoffs. Maybe they’ll struggle against the elite in the West, but Colorado is an excellent match up for them and they should overpower. I don’t think Colorado is going to win a game. Since I don’t see this series going 7 games, and if it does then my analysis is way off anyway, I decided to play this as an exotic laying 1.68 on San Jose but betting they’ll win in 6 games or less. San Jose 1.5 games -1.667 Chicago -3.89/Nashville +3.37 As a team I think the Blackhawks are awesome, but I’m not sold on their goaltending situation being ready to dominate in the playoffs. They’ve slumped defensively down the stretch and are going with Niemi (for now) against the Preds. Preds are underrated for sure. Solid defensively, solid in goal, and decent depth at forward. This could be trouble for the favored Blackhawks and I’m tempted to take a flier on Nashville, but decided to pass. Vancouver -2.39 vs Los Angeles Luongo hasn’t had the playoff success most would expect from arguably the games best goalie, but this is a very different Canucks team compared to past teams. This version can score, in bunches! Henrik Sedin won the scoring title this year and the Canucks ranked second only to Washington in goals scored. They key reason is that the Sedins have been given some support and they are no longer the only focus for the opposing defense.
The Kings are a young team on the rise, and they’ll have their day, it just won’t be this year with Jonathan Quick between the pipes. They have Bernier waiting in the wings, a solid defense and a developing offense, but they just aren’t a match with Vancouver’s depth. Well, aside from defense, the one weakness for the Canucks that is a strength for LA.
Vancouver -2.39 Phoenix +1.65/Detroit -1.83 When was the last time you saw a 5 seed be close to a 2-1 favorite over a 4 seed? Well, there is good reason for it if you followed the regular season at all. Detroit is a perennial powerhouse that was decimated by injuries during the early part of the season. Since the Olympic break they’ve been healthy, and on fire. You feel like you are supposed to take the hefty price on the young Coyotes who’d have game 7 on home ice, but I can’t bring myself to bet against the Wings, and there is no way I’m laying 2-1 on the road team! So I’m betting 3 of the 8 series, but I also found a few, fun, exotic bets I’m taking a shot at: New Jersey +12.30
This is a must win bet, but I think it’s enough wiggle room where I could also potentially hedge if I change my mind. Now, I don’t necessarily think New Jersey would win, but the 9-1 on Detroit and the 12-1 on NJ intrigued me enough, and I chose NJ because I think they’ll have the easier path with home ice in every series except if they face Washington. I also think this is one of the most well rounded, and best Devils teams they’ve ever had. They don’t have the powerful defense they once had, but they add the element of scoring depth, and they still have that Brodeur guy who seems timeless. New Jersey in 5 games exactly +3.054
I see NJ winning in 5 or 6, but in then end I see Philly getting their fans excited with a game 3 win and nothing more. Philly can score, but so can NJ now. The big difference: Martin Brodeur. San Jose to sweep Colorado +5.785
The Sharks have something to prove and despite the jeers from the naysayers, this is a VERY different team this year. They are healthy with Marleau playing great, Dan Boyle has a ring and adds stability to the blueline, and Nabakov is still a high end goalie. San Jose has made mistakes in the past taking games lightly, but I think they’ll play with purpose in round one and crush the young Avalanche. So that’s that. I’m finally going home tomorrow!!! I’m so excited to get back for a few days. I’ll be catching up on Tivo and watching the NHL playoffs at night, and by day I’ll be resuming Operation 80 on the golf course. On the 18th it’s time for the WPT Championship and I plan on focusing harder on certain aspects of the game that I may have been neglecting, and may have cost me in the Bounty Shootout. I just need to maintain focus harder and longer. After that, it’s off the EPT Monte Carlo for the Grand Final, then back to Vegas to shoot the PokerStars.net The Big Game. Oh, and I plan on sitting in the $100-$200 games again, likely the deeper ante games that are new at PokerStars. I went from up $200k or so to almost even, then back up $200k, to then hitting another rough patch and after close to 8000 hands I’m back to even again.]]>

PCA main event I bubbled finishing around 235th and it paid about 225 players. The $25k high roller at PCA I ended day one in good shape, only to have a disaster start to day two and busting pretty quickly. WPT Biloxi me saw me make another deep run just missing the money. NAPT Venetian I was cruising for a while, but yet again ran out of gas before we hit the money. I was able to cash at the WPT event at the LAPC, but was disappointed in my finish because I had a good stack at one point and could have played it better. WPT Bay 101 saw me get to day two, but once again, I busted early. Same thing for EPT Snowfest in Austria. That brings us up to date. 7 events and 7 day two

Baseball is a joke. The game is great, awesome actually, but the way major league baseball is structured is just awful. It is the only major sports league in North America without a salary cap and makes it extremely difficult for teams to stay competitive with the big spenders who stack their teams with all-stars. As a fan, I’d personally find it extremely boring to essentially get a bye into the playoffs each season just because you are able to buy the best players available every year. Just doesn’t seem fun at all to me. I honestly don’t know how a Yankees fan, or even a Red Sox fan can get remotely excited about the regular season anymore. This is a sick stat, but the Yankees have qualified for the post-season 14 out of the last 15 years! Boston, with the second highest payroll, has made the post-season 6 out of the last 7 seasons. Boston and New York have finished in the top two in the AL East for 10 of the past 12 seasons. Yankees spend over $200 million on their team and finished first overall, while Boston spends $120 million and finished 3rd overall. The Angels have the 4th highest payroll in the league and finished with 97 wins. It annoys me to no end when people say, “Well the other teams could just spend more to make their teams better.” Baloney! All that would do is mean payrolls across the board would escalate, because New York would just spend $230 million and Boston would spend close to $200 million to stay in front. Teams like Tampa Bay occasionally have a miracle year with a cast of young players, but guess what happens when their contracts are up? They end up in Boston or New York. I can’t bring myself to care about a league that is going to have such rare turnover, not because the team is genius at drafting, but simply because they can just buy a better team with money. Boring. Totally, and insanely boring to me. TV networks love it, obviously, and wouldn’t change the status quo because it’s in their best interest to have NY and Boston vying for the World Series each year, but I think they are shortsighted as well and eventually it will come back to bite them in the butt. There is no end in sight to this madness, so I gave up caring. The league will never implement a salary cap, and because of that, I’ll never be a baseball fan every again. It’s so beyond stupid to me that I’d feel dirty watching it.
***************************************************************** I just landed in Hartford and am on my way to play in the NAPT at Mohegan Sun. It’s been a long trip and I’m a bit relieved this is my last stop before heading home to Vegas. I want to get out there and golf! Speaking of golf, I can’t wait to watch the Masters this week and see how Tiger performs. Exciting time for sports right now with NBA and NHL playoffs around the corner also. On the notion of sports, and sports heroes, the whole Tiger Woods thing is a bit of madness. Yes, he cheated on his wife repeatedly and got caught. Yes, he lied about it and tarnished his reputation… but it’s Tiger Woods man! That guy is awesome at GOLF and that’s what I admire him for. I really don’t care much at all what he does with his personal life, I’m a fan of his golf game and am amazed by what he’s capable of. I don’t blame people for deciding they are no longer fans of Mr. Woods, but I would warn them quite strongly: if your choices in terms of who you root for or admire, in whatever area, whether it be Golf, Basketball, or even poker, are based on that persons ability to be faithful to their spouse, you’d be sorely disappointed to know that people cheating on their spouses is quite common. It’s not an anomaly by any stretch of the imagination. Lots of these guys (and gals) cheat on their spouses. They are just people, so why would we assume that our sports heroes would be any more faithful to their wives than an average guy? Let’s make this clear: I don’t think what he did to his wife is admiral or acceptable in the least, but that’s between the two of them. It’s none of my business at all and his fidelity has absolutely no bearing on how I view him as an athlete. The dude rocks at the golfs, and I love watching him play. ]]>

The month of March has seen me on the road a lot, with few of the distractions I often have at home in Vegas. That’s given me an opportunity to finally get around to doing something I could have done years ago, but never really had the interest to do. I have spent the month of March on a mission to learn how to play no limit hold’em cash games online. As most of you know, high stakes no limit hold’em action has been relatively quiet now for quite some time. Well, with me playing regularly, the games are obviously full with a waiting list. I mean if you have a computer, then you probably have a TV, and if you play poker, and have a TV, you’ve probably watched a few episodes of High Stakes Poker. If you’ve watched a few episodes of High Stakes Poker, and you have money on PokerStars, then you jump on the waiting list. If you don’t have money on PokerStars, then you get deposit some money on PokerStars, and jump on the waiting list. It’s that simple really. Then if you watch me play online in those games, you see all the fundamental mistakes, you see all the misplayed hands and all the weird lines, and then you feel great about your decision to jump in these games as your dreams have been answered. The donkey from that GSN show has fallen into your lap and is prepared to pad your bankroll. I don’t blame you. I played more hours online this month than I’d ever played before. I played over 60 hours of $100-$200 and I also tried my luck 4-tabling the $5-$10 NLH games to get in some practice mutli-tabling. It has always been intimidating to me, an old school grinder who relies on feel and game flow, but after I got through the first 15 minutes I found the pace to be reasonable. I wasn’t timing out, and I could kind of keep up with what was going on. Since being in London, I had about 4 days before my commercial shoot and I locked myself up in the room and slept, ordered room service, played online, and when I wasn’t doing that, I was working on my game.
The only human contact I had was when the room service lady would bring me food and take the last tray away. I never saw the maids. I never left the room. I didn’t shave. What was the point? Well, I’m in the midst of the commercial shoot now and have one more day in London before heading to Toronto for a few days to spend time with my brother Mike and my sister-in-law Ornella. We are going to take in a hockey game, and I plan on visiting Michael Landsberg on Off The Record on April 5th before heading to Connecticut for the NAPT main event, as well as the $25k bounty shootout event. In the meantime, I feel 22 again. I feel like I’m learning how to play the game all over again, and I’m very proud of the effort I’ve put in. It’s not about the money. It never has been. I love the game of poker and I will always challenge myself to reach new heights, which brings me to the point of this blog: Outside interests have definitely taken a toll on my poker game, but I am now officially ready to throw my hat in the ring against the world’s best players.
My plan is to challenge “The Big Three” to a one million dollar heads up no limit hold’em match. I will play one at a time, and guarantee that I will play each of them for a million, even if I lose the first two.
First on the list is Patrik Antonius. Next up, the wonder kid Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, and finally, the king of poker. Do I really need to even say his name? Phil Ivey obviously.
I’ve already secured a private room at the Aria casino at the City Center to house these matches, and I’ve already talked to all three guys and they all agreed to play (surprise, surprise.)
The first match will take place on April 15th-17th at noon and we’ve agreed to play an 8 hour session and then play it by ear from there, provided it’s not over by then.
I should also add, that every year when I write a blog around this time of year I seem to forget to take part in an American custom. So this year, I’ve decided to join the bandwagon and say a hearty “April Fools” to you all.
Are you nuts??? I ain’t playing any of those three guys heads up at no limit hold’em! As for the rest of the blog, about me working on my game, not shaving, etc. Well that’s all true.
My first month of learning went very well and I felt marked improvement in my fundamentals as I got more hands under my belt. I started out getting super lucky, jumping out to a $200k head start, and then proceeded to lose back about $180k of it. Since then, things made a turn for the better, and my final tally in March looked like this:
Hands Played: 5684
Profit: $204,734
Big Blinds (per 100 hands): 18.01 I also four tabled the $5-$10 games briefly and came out ahead:
Hands Played: 1177
Profit: $4068.95
Big Blinds (per 100 hands): 34.57 Most of my $100-$200 play has been one tabling, but the last 3-4 sessions have been two tables and I’m comfortable sticking to two tables at those stakes… for now. If I continue to hold my own and feel comfortable, I may be willing to add a third table. So, if you are a high stakes no limit hold’em player, and you are looking for action, you’ll find it at PokerStars.com when “KidPoker” is playing. Look out for my tweets (RealKidPoker) because the games fill up very quickly when I sit and the the list often gets 20 deep. I’m hoping to get in 20,000 hands by the WSOP at which point my focus shifts, and then the goal is to be at 50,000 hands by the end of 2010. My sample size is far too small to give my results any meaning at all, but I hope to have a better idea where I stand after putting in 50,000+ hands. I’m really enjoying the process. It really is just amazing how much better poker players are today than they were 10 years ago. Fundamentally, all the guys I play with in that game are so damn good. For so many years I didn’t need to bother worrying too much about the fundamentals because the average player played so poorly post-flop that I could turn almost any hand into a profit after the flop. Pre-flop decisions just weren’t all that important to me. It’s what everyone ELSE focused on, but I was more concerned with what they did after the flop where they’d often be lost. Well, players today are no longer “lost” post-flop so in order to compete I needed to finally start caring about what I do pre-flop. It’s nowhere near as fun, but it’s a necessary evil against the advanced players of today. Not sure when I’ll blog again, but I’m thinking it will be a while. You probably won’t hear from me until the NAPT where I’ll write a recap of my day one from the Mohegan Sun. ]]>

My view from London: The hotel I’m at is a nice one, and crazy expensive as all London rooms are, but yeah, the view? Well, not so much 🙂 ***************************************************************** PokerStars.net The Big Game We’ve been working on this concept for quite some time now and I will bet big money you guys are going to freaking love this show! Absolutely love it. It’s clear that die hard poker players are a bit bored with watching crap shoot hands on TV and are more interested in seeing deep stack play. People new to poker absolutely loved the Million Dollar Challenge, it was fast, exciting, and gave everyday people a shot at really big money.
Well now we are bringing you something a little different. Here are some of the details: Buy in: $100,000 minimum $500,000 maximum
Blinds: $200-$400 with a $100 ante (the button will ante for the table)
Format: 6 handed (occasionally that may change) pot limit betting before the flop, no limit hold’em after the flop. So why pot limit before the flop? Well, there is a very good reason for that which I’ll get to in just a second when I tell you about the other sick twist to our show. With the antes in place, a raiser can still come in for 5x ($2000) so the fact that it’s pot limit before the flop really won’t affect the game much at all. If you’ve watched cash game poker, you rarely see raises or re-raises that exceed the pot. The Twist: One of the six players at the table will be an online qualifier, “The Loose Cannon,” who’ll get a chance to sit in the game with $100,000… and it’s a freeroll! Well, not entirely. The Loose Cannon must play the full session, and he can keep anything that he wins. If he loses, say $500 or $50,000, he gets nada.
Can you imagine what that will do to the game if in the late stages the Loose Cannon has, say, $60,000 in front of him? He has no incentive to keep it, so he’s going to start shipping it in! That’s going to create a crazy dynamic where the other pros at the table will all be licking their lips trying to get at that free money.
As you can now understand, THIS is the reason it’s going to be played pot limit before the flop. That way, the Loose Cannon can only make a pot sized raise pre-flop, which allows the pros to see some flops with him. Otherwise, he would just be going all in every hand and that would be silly. There is a lot more to tell you about in terms of twists, but I can’t go into too much detail until it’s all approved and finalized. Let’s just say that aside from being on the show as a Loose Cannon, you high limit online grinders might also get your chance to get some exposure on FOX. Those details will come soon enough. Interest in the show has once again been overwhelming, and we are going to have some sick lineups that you are going to love. Over the years I’ve come across a lot of interesting poker players that the public hasn’t really had an opportunity to see, but they are engaging, and sometimes hilarious. You’ll see some new faces, as well as a lot of the familiar faces you’ve grown accustomed to. More on the show as more details are released… ***************************************************************** I’ve played over 60 hours online at PokerStars.com this month the most I’ve ever put in in a month, and the month isn’t quite over yet. I’ve been playing almost exclusively in the $100-$200 no limit hold’em 6max games against some of the top online poker players in the world. It’s been really tough making the adjustment, but I’m very pleased with my progress and my learning curve as I mentioned in my last blog.
I started off on fire, winning $200,000, but since then I’ve been on a losing streak and lost back about $180,000 of it. I’m still barely ahead, but these swings are pretty typical at these limits I guess. The interesting thing is that I think I’ve learned a lot more during the downswing than I did while I was running good and winning.
There are specific things about playing a 100 BB stack that I just flat out didn’t know. I’m learning as I go, and talking to some online players that I respect about plugging some of my leaks. It’s as simple as spotting the leaks and then plugging them. It doesn’t require a major overhaul at all.
Playing 100 BB’s deep is a little frustrating because you are still a bit handcuffed in terms of your options pre-flop. The deeper the stacks, the more creativity is rewarded and that suits me better. I haven’t unpacked my bag here in London, and I haven’t left the room. The room service lady is the only contact with a human I’ve had outside of BBMing with my friend. Sprint is weird, as I can’t text, but I can use BBM and she is the only person I really use that for. So I’ve woken up at about 3:30am local time and I plan on getting some exercise today at the gym. Other than that, it will be another day of grinding/learning from some of the best. People always have an opinion, and may believe I’m going about this the wrong way and should instead be multi-tabling the $5-$10 games. While they are entitled to their opinion, I couldn’t disagree more. If you can afford to play against the best players on the site, then you can learn the fundamentals from them. I want to play against the best and while there are certainly great lower limit players online, I’m not interested in beating those games. My goal is to compete at the higher levels. I don’t think playing smaller would hurt, but I just don’t think it’s necessary at all since the stakes I’m currently playing at are very comfortable for me. I’m in London for a week, but have absolutely nothing to do until Tuesday. I’m here to work on some commercials and that’s about it. That, and grinding in this game. I’m really looking forward to playing on our cash game show. The one time I played cash on TV outside of HSP I won. HSP historically has been a disaster for me, but I’ve been working really hard on my fundamentals and stuff and am excited to see how I do in the future. I think I’ve already gotten a lot better after just this week…
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My day 1 at EPT Snowfest was a struggle man, but I played ridiculously good for real. I swear I felt like Russ Hamilton, a pure criminal. I felt like I was cheating with some of the reads that I made. There is no question about it, I should have gone broke on day 1 with the way the hands came out, but instead, I upped my 30k starting stack and finished middle of the pack with 65,700 in chips. This is my 7th tournament of the year, and I’m 7 for 7 on making day 2. Time to run good deep yo!!! Speaking of running good, oh boy have I been running sick good online. I’ve put in loads of hours (at least for me) on PokerStars in the $100-$200 game and I haven’t had a losing day yet. I’ve been thirsty for knowledge and think my online game has come a long way. I love the 6max, it suits my style sooo much better than a ring game. I play too many hands as is, so the 6 handed aspect protects me a little bit I think. I played before day one, and then on my off day, for the first time in my life, I played poker. Normally during a tournament I don’t play a hand of poker outside of the tournament, but I am so jonesing to play that I put in a session and I ran super good. I won 5.5 buy ins and hit loads of hands. I’m learning so much stuff, some of which is a bit of a stretch for me in terms of accepting, but I’m going with it anyway even though I don’t fully understand why it’s correct. Mostly I’m talking about bet sizing. A guy sent me a message explaining to me why the 4-bet bet sizing is so small among the top players, and it finally clicked for me. He worded it so well. Thanks for that dude, much appreciated. None of this is about ego. I want to be really good at everything! It’s pretty obvious that my NLH cash game results and approach hasn’t been good, but I’m working on it and it’s so fun to see results. It’s like if you work out, when you notice that you are building muscle you just want to do more and more. That’s kind of how I feel right now. I’m learning fast and closing the gap faster than expected. My confidence is high in an area where I’ve struggled. I’ve NEVER been concerned with my tournament game. I know I “got it” when it comes to tournaments. Playing mixed games, I ain’t scurred of nobody really (but I wouldn’t play Ivey heads up, just sayin’), but online poker has always been something I kind of sucked at. I don’t feel that way right now. I think I can win in the big games, but only time will tell. I’ve been crushing the $100-$200 game lately, but it’s such a small sample size that it holds little meaning. After play I even found time to run for an hour. Felt great. Working on trimming a bit of the belly fat that has been around my waste from years of drinking beers, etc. It’s coming along nicely. Not at Beckham body status yet, but I’m workin’ on it, lol. I had to nap, jetlag is still killing me, but when I woke up 2eazy, a guy I played heads up 25-50 with asked if I wanted to continue our match. That guy just owns me! I either bluff in the wrong spots or I miss everything against him. We are almost at the end of our 5000 hand match and he is ahead $30k so it’s almost impossible for me to come back in less than 1000 hands. It has been fun, though, and after this 5000 hands I’d like to try him again, and might even try 2-tabling with him to make it quicker. Eventually I need to learn how to multi-table, but it’s one step at a time. It’s 5:00am now here in Austria and the tournament resumes at 2:00pm. I guess I better get some zzzz’s.
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So lately I’ve been playing lots of hours on PokerStars.com in the $100-$200 NLH game. I’ve been having so much fun with it! In those games I’m regularly playing with only winning players. From what I hear from a buddy who knows how to figure that stuff out, he tells me they are all big winners at NLH.
I’ve been trying hard and paying attention while I play, and while normally I get tired after like an hour, with my new glasses and interest in the game I’ve been putting in 6+ hour sessions… and I’ve been winning which makes it even more enjoyable. Man, poker has changed so much, but I think it only takes a bit of learning and adjusting to the different fundamentals of today’s more advanced players.
My fundamentals, and the way I learned how to play the game was designed for very different kind of opponents and that approach is flawed against the players of today. I grew up playing limit hold’em, a game where flop aggression is rewarded and thin value betting is a must. It’s not much of a bluffing game at all.
I’ve been working hard on my no limit hold’em game and I’m happy with the results. I feel I’ve become a lot more difficult to play against and have incorporated some things I’ve learned from watching some of the better online players. I’ve learned a lot this week.
Now, unfortunately none of this work is going to do too much to help my tournament game, as that’s a completely different animal, but that hasn’t been a concern of mine. I’ve been deep in every single event I’ve played this year and just need to get luckier in the late stages and that will translate into some wins. ***************************************************************** I spent only two days golfing due to my obsession with playing online of late. I did find time to exercise and eat right, and I weighed myself before leaving for LA and was 153.6 lbs. That’s 6 pounds less than I was when I got back from LA about three weeks ago. I’ve been running, but also hadn’t had a sip of alcohol in three weeks. The last two times I drank anything it was at the exact same restaurant and it wasn’t much, just two glasses of Pinot Grigio. I hung out in LA yesterday since my flight overseas leaves out of LA. I love flying Luftansa but desperately wished they had internet access on the planes. They used to, and I know this because one of my Swedish friends took that flight overseas and played online poker on the way in the hopes of paying for his flight. Instead, he went off for 250k lol… now that’s an expensive flight! This is going to be long trip. Austria for a week to play EPT Snowfest. I hope to get some skiing in, haven’t done that since high school. Then it’s off to London for a commercial shoot. From there I’ll have a bit of time and plan on visiting my brother Mike and Ornella in Toronto for a few days before flying out to Mohegan Sun for the NAPT main event as well as the $25k Bounty Shootout. The shootout will have a cap of 81 players, but unlike the inaugural event, it will not be an invitational. So lots of poker coming up, and then right after that we have the WPT Championship and the EPT Grand Final, two events I had on my “top ten list” of toughest tournaments (to fluke). In the meantime, I still plan on playing regularly in the $100-$200 NLH games at PokerStars.com… so come and get it! 🙂
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2) My edge in the limit events is bigger than in the no limit events On days when there is a no limit event I’m playing at noon, I’ll potentially play in the 5:00pm event since you can buy in up to 7:00pm which would give me 7 hours of play time in the noon event. If an event is NOT on my list, then I ain’t playing it. That means I will be playing exactly zero of the $1000 NLH events and I “may” play in exactly one of the $1500 NLH events on May 31st. That event runs on day 4 of the 50K 8-Game Mixed event and I’m probably going to win that, so I won’t be playing any NLH events under $2500. If I don’t happen to win that event, I’m playing in the $1500 Omaha 8 or better event at 5:00pm the night before, so it’s unlikely I’ll play the $1500 NLH, but I put it on the list because if I am available to play it then it doesn’t conflict with any other event I’d want to play. There are also a few “double dipping” days with two events scheduled, but it’s not overwhelming. I can handle it yo.
May
28th 5:00pm $50,000 8-Game Mixed Championship
29th DAY TWO
30th 5:00pm $1500 Omaha 8 or better
31st 12:00pm $1500 No Limit Hold’em June
1st 12:00pm $5000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout
1st 5:00pm $2500 2-7 Triple Draw
2nd DAY OFF
3rd 5:00pm $10,000 7 Card Stud Championship
4th 5:00pm $1500 Limit Hold’em
5th 5:00pm $1500 2-7 Draw Lowball
6th 5:00pm $10,000 7 Card Stud 8 or better Championship
7th DAY TWO
8th 12:00pm $5000 No Limit Hold’em
9th 12:00pm $2000 Limit Hold’em
9th 5:00pm $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship
10th 12:00pm $1500 Pot Limit Omaha
10th 5:00pm $1500 7 Card Stud
11th 5:00pm $2500 Limit Hold’em Six Handed
12th 5:00pm $10,000 Omaha 8 or better Championship
13th DAY TWO
14th 12:00pm $2500 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed
14th 5:00pm $1500 7 Card Stud 8 or better
15th 5:00pm $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship
16th 5:00pm $1500 Limit H.O.R.S.E.
17th 12:00pm $5000 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed
17th 5:00pm $2500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha
18th 5:00pm $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Heads Up Championship
19th 5:00pm $3000 H.O.R.S.E.
20th 5:00pm $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Championship
21st 12:00pm $1500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout
21st 5:00pm $2500 Razz
22nd 12:00pm $1500 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or better
23rd 5:00pm $10,000 H.O.R.S.E.
24th DAY TWO
25th 5:00pm $5000 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or better
26th 5:00pm $2500 8-Game Mixed
27th DAY OFF
28th 5:00pm $5000 Pot Limit Omaha
29th DAY OFF
30th 12:00pm $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed Championship July
1st 5:00pm $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship
2nd 5:00pm $2500 No Limit Hold’em
3rd DAY OFF
4th DAY OFF
5th DAY OFF
6th DAY OFF
7th 12:00pm $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship Main Event
8th DAY OFF
9th DAY OFF
10th DAY TWO
11th DAY OFF
12th DAY THREE
13th DAY FOUR
14th DAY FIVE
16th DAY SIX
17th DAY SEVEN (play down to 27)
18th DAY EIGHT (play down to 9)
No Limit Hold’em: 10
Mixed Events: 6
Omaha 8 or better: 4
Limit Hold’em: 4
Pot Limit Omaha: 3
2-7 Lowball: 3
7 Card Stud: 2
7 Card Stud 8 or better: 2
Pot Limit Hold’em: 1
Razz: 1
My guess based on passed years is that of the 36 events I’ll actually end up playing in about 26 of them.
I want to win some bracelets man. Probably not going to do any distracting side bets either. I remember one specific hand in the $2000 limit hold’em event down to like 4 tables where I folded A-10 and in the back of my mind I knew that if one more player busted I’d get 5 more points. It was a marginal fold anyway, but the fact that I even thought of that is bad. The guy had 99, I KNEW he was strong before the flop, but I’m still probably supposed to re-raise him on the button and I folded. Flop was 8-8-7, turn an Ace. I would have close to doubled up that hand for sure. Weird spot. My read was right, but it doesn’t matter, I don’t need to be playing for 27th place for 5 points, that’s just dumb. My record at the WSOP is just really weird to me and so unlike how I do in other events. I’ve got 10 top 3 finishes but just 4 wins, losing 4 times heads up, and once when I came 3rd I had 2/3rds of the chips against two relatively weak players and came 3rd. I’ve lost to Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Brock Parker, and Barry Shulman at the WSOPE. It seems the losses are always so much easier to remember. Of my four wins, I rememeber who I beat in just the first one in 1998: Dominic Bourke. In 2003 the HOSE bracelet I won was against Jim Pechac or something like that, not exactly sure. In 2004, the limit hold’em event, it was Chris Hinchcliffe, and in 2008 I have absolutely no idea what the guys name was who came second, but I do remember David Baker coming 3rd. I’m frustrated with my bracelet count and feel like I should be at 6 or 7 at my age. I’ll be focusing on winning bracelets this year and looking at the player of the year award as a secondary goal to that. The points bet I made last year with E-DOG as my partner was exhausting and taxing on the body, but realistically, a break wasn’t an option. If I feel the need to take a day off this year, I can do that. I also hope to get “some” fresh air and golf sometimes. Not a ton, but I want to golf and work out so I don’t burn out. It’s such a grind. I’m also going to get one of those baller trailers that Ivey had last year. I don’t like hanging out with people on breaks and it seems more and more people infiltrated the Poker Royalty lounge last year. We got rid of the phantom crapper, he won’t be dropping his load in those bathrooms anymore, but the room is still kind of crowded on breaks and there is only one couch. My trailer will have a bed, a kitchen, Direct TV, DVD player, etc. There won’t be ANY money in my trailer so if you are thinking about robbing me you’ll be very disappointed. All you’ll likely get are some vegan snacks and some Figi waters. I don’t carry any money to and from the WSOP at all. I don’t wear any ‘bling” either. I don’t own a credit card, so seriously, go rob someone else, I’m worthless to you.
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