Just an all around struggle man. I don’t have any quit in me when it comes to the big tournaments and I am certainly not out of it, but I’m going to need to get on a rush sooner rather than later. The last six months or so I’m consistently deep in basically every tournament I play, but I’m just not getting lucky in the right spots that would propel me to a big stack. The rush is there, I just have to hope it comes before time runs out.
Can’t blame the structure, that’s for sure. I only have 35,200 of my original 100,000 stack but the blinds are just going to be 1200-2400 which means I have some time before panic mode. I was down to 22,000 at one point and pressed the panic button, moving all in with A-7 off and getting called by Eric Liu in the BB with KQ. Won that race and have hovered around 40k for the last few hours.
I was impressed with two players at my table. Number one, Boris Becker. I remember when he first started playing about a year ago at the EPT Grand Final he had a long way to go. Played with him all day, and while he doesn’t exactly strike fear into your heart, he played solid, and didn’t do anything stupid the whole day long. He was creative and had people fooled in a few spots for sure.
The other guy who I thought played well was Eric Liu. I used to play online with him on PokerStars in the limit hold’em game and some NL also, but this was the first time I’d ever played live with him. He has a great table presence, good flow, good timing, and just all around I think he played very well. Not sure how many chips he ended the day with, but that’s hardly relevant anyway. He has more than me, lol, that’s for sure.
I had one decision that took me a long time to make and I ended up confusing myself: Blinds at 800-1600 I raise on the button to 3600. Barney Boatman re-raises me to 10,000 for about the fourth time in that exact same spot. I have A-10 off and call. I could easily have went all in for my last 38,000 but I thought he may feel priced in and call. I didn’t want to race like that.
The flop came K-10-7 rainbow. I’m committed to this call the whole time in my head. My instincts tell me, “It’s Barney, he plays a bit nutty and doesn’t have to have anything at all.” Then I eventually talked myself out of it. Or better yet, I should say HE talked me out of it with his comments pre-flop and on the flop. I’m not going to repeat what he said, but ultimately I worried that I was up against JJ or QQ. Either that or AJ or AQ, but the raise size made me feel like it wasn’t either AJ or AQ. I ended up folding… and he showed me a 5! I would have been at 100,000, he probably had A-5, maybe 5-5 at best. He out talked me on that hand for sure. Well played Barney.
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I got home, chipped for about 10 minutes, did a three song Rockband duel against Patty who dropped off Mushu for me, and then I did my workout that I was supposed to do in the morning.
Tonight I’ll probably watch some TV and talk some trash with the kids in the forums. I’m really having fun with the smack talk! It reminds me of that scene in Jay and Silent Bob where they read all the bad things people say about their movies online. They freak out, and in the end of the movie, they go door to door and beat the crap out of every 14 year old who was smack talking them. Classic scene.
I’m going to keep talking the smack and playing these guys online at PokerStars after the WPT event is over. It’s not about the money, I just enjoy and really love the challenge. Some of these guys come up with some serious smack so winning is all the more fun if I can do that. If not, I’ll bow my head, say gg, and try again.
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This kid, “2easy” just isn’t quite as sophisticated, and that’s likely because he avoids the top competition for the most part. That’s smart game selection on his part for sure. I told him I’d play him 5000 hands in the thread, but I honestly don’t think he’ll make it that far. I predict that within like 2000-2500 hands he’ll realize that it’s a bad spot for him and quit.
Only reason I’m doing it is because I thoroughly enjoy it! It was pretty fun. Young kid challenges you, you man up and give him a game as long as he can play at decent sized stakes. Why not?
I finished the night with 89,325 and the blinds are going to be 400-800 tomorrow. That’s a ton of chips really and I am happy with my play at the moment. 2easy will have to wait for a rematch when my tournament is over.
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The SCOOP is over. It was a successful event for PokerStars and I think people thoroughly enjoyed the fact that there were three separate buy in levels. It was hard work for me. I’m just not that used to playing so many hours straight online and because the structures were so deep that meant long days on a consistent basis. Wore my eyes out, I wasn’t playing on an ideal screen due to internet issues, but I got them worked out now it seems.
So today was the first day I could enjoy the great weather, and it was truly gorgeous out today. I worked out at 10:30am, been doing that three days a week with a trainer and it’s really paying off. The key difference, aside from actual physical strength, is my level of fatigue. I don’t get tired as easily, and most importantly, I can recover much quicker from a short night of sleep. That’s exactly where I need to be for the WSOP this year. I need that extra push of strength to be at my best on those late nights.
David Benyamine called me and invited me to join him over at Shadow Creek. So I met him there along with my man Christian, and E-DOG joined us also. I’d never played with David, but I’d heard how good he was after just playing for a little over a year, so I had a decent idea what a fair game would look like. E-DOG and I play all the time so matching up is easy.
To make a long story short, David missed exactly zero greens on the front 9 for a smooth 35! His best 9 ever (I bring out the best in my opponents sometimes, lol). I staked Christian against him also, and Christian and I both shot better than expected but lost on the front.
He didn’t shoot quite as well on the back 9 and luckily I did. First time back out I was pleased with my play. I made no doubles on the back and was close to hitting the ball well. I chipped and putted well which is encouraging because without that I’m a dead duck.
I get probably the biggest tee spot you can get. There are four tee boxes, and they play the front of the back tee box, while I play the front of the front tee box. David ended up shooting 77, two shots off his career best. I shot much better than expected also. I expected to shoot about 99, but ended up shooting 91. Not a spectacular score, but my swing is a mess right now and I could have easily shot 110!
We played a Nassau and David beat me 6-4-2 on the front, and I came back strong winning 5-3-1 on the back. E-DOG was off and I ended up beating him. After the 18 Mr.Ivey dropped by and we played a quick 3 hole match. His swing still looks really funny to me, but hey, it seems to work for him. We broke even. I’ll be golfing everyday this week until the WPT Championship.
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The absolute best and most exciting stretch on the poker calendar begins next week in terms of prestige. The WPT $25,000 Championship is an event you just want to win. Followed closely by the Pokerstars EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Back-to-back deep stacked events with loads of play that suits my style incredibly well. I’m really looking forward to a deep run in both events. I’ll be ready.
Then May rolls around and it’s prep time for the WSOP. I’ll be playing lots of golf, also playing the World Series of Golf again. After that I’m going to Colorado for Christian’s wedding (he is golfing on his wedding day! Gotta love his choice I must say). Then after that it’s another monster event, the $40,000 NL Hold’em event at the WSOP. I mean, wow, just an amazing stretch of tournaments to lead into the WSOP. E-DOG and I have been talking about the WSOP a lot, and are considering offering a prop bet: Me and E-DOG versus any two players you can name, whoever gets the most player of the year points wins. A great way to motivate us both. You could take anyone from Barry Greenstien and Chris Ferguson to Erik Seidel and John Juanda.
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NHL Playoffs start this week and there are some great match-ups. I am likely going to bet 5 of the 8 series:
NY RANGERS +1.96 vs WASHINGTON: This is mostly a price play as I think it’s a much closer series than this. The Rangers have a better goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist and when they are “right” they play better team defense too.
PHILADELPHIA +1.37 vs PITTSBURGH: Philly is pretty deep at forward and can score in many ways, while Pittsburgh is a bit more “two-dimensional” with Crosby and Malkin. They made some key improvements at the deadline acquiring Chris Kunitz, but if Philly can get any goaltending at all, I think they can grind the Pens down in 6 or 7.
NEW JERSEY -1.34 vs CAROLINA: Martin Brodeur. The guy is just sick and they are playing well right now. The key difference between these Devlis and past Devils teams is that they can really put the puck in the net. Carolina probably would not have even made the playoffs if they weren’t in a division with Atlanta and Tampa Bay. Carolina has holes, and I think New Jersey should be more like 1.70 favorite in this series.
VANCOUVER -2.15 vs ST.LOUIS: Roberto Luongo is playing like the best goaltender in the world right now and this Vancouver team got a major boost with the addition of Mats Sundin. They no longer have to depend on the Sedin twins to put the puck in the net. The Blues are a great story, and have a young core of players including T.J. Oshie that will make some noise in the future, but this is a horrible match-up for them. Vancouver is my sleeper pick to go all the way. They have all the tools now if they can stay healthy and ride Luongo.
MONTREAL +2.87 vs BOSTON: Boston just ain’t that good and Montreal can easily surprise them. The Canadiens underachieved all season long, but this is the playoffs now, and they DO have the firepower necessary for the upset. Missing Markov is a problem, but expect to see guys like Kovalev and the Kostitsyns’ turn it around. This team is too talented to be a 2.87-1 dog against the Bruins.
Not betting the following, but here is who I would go with if I had to:
DETROIT -4.57 vs COLUMBUS: I’m not laying that much, especially with the goalie woes the Wings have struggled with this season.
CHICAGO -1.48 vs CALGARY: I really do like Chicago here, but the price is a bit too steep for my liking. Calgary has totally stumbled through the gate, but they have some fire power if Iginla and Jokinen can get hot. I’m staying away.
ANAHEIM +2.59 vs SAN JOSE: This is a dangerous match-up for SJ, I can guarantee you that they aren’t happy about it. The Ducks are just two years removed from winning it all, and while there are some missing and aging parts, they can still surprise the Sharks. Strangely, I think the Sharks ARE the favorites to win it all at this point, but I’m not laying 3-1 that they beat the Ducks.
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I played all three of the HORSE events and came 37th in the $1000 buy in. Then I played the $3000 NL Hold’em event. I can hardly see right now so this blog is going to be quick and sloppy.
I had my chips up to 330,000 when the following hand came up (I was 4th in chips at the time):
Guy raises to 6600 under the gun. I call from the button with 3s 4s. The small blind goes all in for 40,000 then the first raiser makes a huge re-raise all iin. I’m obviously folding, I get up from the couch for a second sloppily, it had already beeen 12 hours straight of play. Before I know it, I see all my chips in the pot too. The parlay for all this to happen is a long shot. Firs, the guy who first raise had the second most at the table, then I have to have the cursor over the raise or call button, then my leg has to hit my hand precisely when it’s on me to act. It all happened so fast.
The first raiser had Ad Kd and the flop came 3d 5d 7d. I was left with about 100k. That’s mentally tough to come back from, but what can you do. I’m still in the tournament, but not in great shape anymore. Right before the night ended I took my laptop to the bathroom and back. When i got back it froze. Great. That took me through the blinds sitting out. Now I’m 32nd of 34 remaining players with about 66,000.
I can’t even see what I’m writing right now. This laptop is too small but the wireless connection in my house is terrible so I’m using my Sprint card that’s built into this one. Flew in from Toronto and have been on couch all day. Texting on the blackberry, people texting me, watching the screen, watching TV. I’m going blind.
We start back at 1:30pm PST tomorrow and I’ll probably be playing the 2-7 triple draw at 11:30am also. I want to do well in these things, but my eyes, my laptop, and my crappy wireless connection in this house is going to make it tough on me.
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Before I get to the poker stuff, I thought I’d let you guys all know that I decided to join twitter since my facebook account got disabled. Literally five minutes after I opened my twitter account, my facebook page was reinstated! Sweet. Anyway, my twitter name is REALKidPoker and I’ll be updating from tournaments and on all sorts of randomness as well.
So yesterday was a long day. I was at home playing some $400-$800 8-game mixed on PokerStars and I have to say, having the ability to play a different game every six hands thoroughly increases my enjoyment in terms of poker. I just love playing all the games and can sit longer because of it. I ended up winning about $30,000 online and then just felt like getting out of the house.
So I headed down to the Bellagio to play in a $3000-$6000 mixed game:
Limit Hold’em
Omaha H/L
Stud H/L
2-7 Triple Draw
Pot Limit Omaha with a $75,000 cap
That’s what Sammy agreed to play so I guess that’s how they came up with the mix. At most during the session I was up about $100,000 and stuck close to $70,000. I lost back to back hands in limit hold’em when the game was down to just three players, me, Benyamine, and Sammy so I decided to quit and take a win. I had KK on the first hand and Ac Qc on the last hand on a flop of Q-7-8.
I hadn’t played meaningful live poker in quite a while so it was kind of fun for me and I thought I played really, really well. I stole some sick pots in both PLO and in Stud 8 or better that just aren’t easy to execute. In the PLO it was all about bet sizing properly and really understanding what I could represent. In the Stud 8, it was more about really knowing exactly what my opponent HAD to have and following through with a line that made sense for me to have him beat. Both players worked perfectly.
I ended up winning $40,000 in the game and had one really kind of crazy/interesting hand I wanted to share:
The game was just three handed at that point with me, David and Sammy. It was Stud 8 and Sammy raised with the Qc, I called with the 9 up and 8-8 in the hole and David re-raised with a 6s bring in- we both called.
On forth street:
Me: (8-8) 9-10
Sammy: Qc-3s
David 6s Jd
Sammy bet on fourth street and we both called. Fifth street:
Me: (8-8) 9c 10h Jc
Sammy: Qc 3s Kc
David: 6s Jd 6d
David checked and Sammy bet. I decided that since I had the low board against Sammy, and I didn’t want David in there anymore, that I would raise on fifth street with the intention of taking a free card on sixth street if I didn’t improve. It’s a “stud thing” where you can do that in position, and if position happened to change with me pairing, I wouldn’t mind betting two pair anyway. David totally surprised me when he called two bets cold and Sammy also called:
Me: (8-8) 9c 10h Jc 7h
Sammy: Qc 3s Kc As
David: 6s Jd 6d Ad
I absolutely hated the card that David caught, as I worried that he could have two baby diamonds in the hole making a flush, which would have me dead. David checked, and Sammy bet out. Well, I wanted to find out how strong David was, and decided to raise it once again with the intention of folding if David re-raised. he can NEVER re-raise me on sixth street without a flush or a full house there. Again I was surprised when David called.
Now it gets crazy. Sammy re-raised! I’m like, “huh?” This is where a game like Stud 8 gets fun for me. I have to figure out if Sammy can have the J-10 here. So, I go back a couple streets. I have the Jc so he couldn’t have had Jc 10c in the hole for the royal flush draw. He could possibly have the J-10 of spades, but would he really go nuts on fifth street against me? As I thought about that, then I realized, “Ok, never mind, he can’t have J-10 because he bet fourth street and wouldn’t do that with 10-J-Q-3 against two opponents.
I love Stud 8, such a beautiful game. Soooo much information available to you each hand to be able to make pin point, accurate reads. Sammy’s hand was a set, absolute guarantee.
So now with David just calling on sixth street, I ruled out him having me beat so I figured he must have made a loosey goosey call on fifth street with a hand like 5-7 in the hole with one diamond. That would give him a low draw and a flush draw, and Sammy sitting on the set. I had the pot scooped at this point, and knew it, so I re-raised to 4 bets.
Strange hand right? Because if David three bets six street I would have folded, but instead, I am putting in FOUR bets against Sammy! What a beautiful game.
So on the end David bets out into this monster pot and I know he can never be bluffing. My heart sunk a little bit as I know was certain I’d only be in the running for half of the pot at most. Sammy smartly folded his set, and I paid off David. David turned over 5d 7h… 3. I had his hand read perfectly and we chopped up a sweet pot.
So my night didn’t end there. My buddies were at Bellagio so we went to my favorite little bar in the Bellagio and had some Fushions, a fruity vodka drink that is uber tasty. We laughed, had fun, and then it got pretty late. Most people went home… I went to go play $30-$60 limit hold’em with Sam. I started out playing normal and trying, then noticed that Sammy and David were still playing. I’d be drinking, though, so that wasn’t really an option. Sam asked me what I was doing and told me I needed to start gambling!
So I did. I started playing in the dark, still drinking at like 9am and having a great time with the people at the table. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rail like the one that developed at 9am that morning… around a $30-$60 table! I was stuck about $5000 at one point, but then went on a monster rush and got close to even I think.
Then Patty and Lisa came to pick me up. I’ve been a really, really good boy about drinking. If I drink, I have Patty drive me home. Anyway, I was chit chatting with everyone, and decided to let Lisa play my chips for a while. She normally doesn’t ever play limit, and when she plays no limit, it’s not higher than $2-$5. I don’t think she likes limit as much, but I think she got a kick out of playing with $10 chips. I let her play for over an hour. In the meantime I noticed a girl at a $2-$5 table getting crushed. So, when she stood up, I just sat in her chair and took over trying my butt off to win back her money. I think I won back about $10, lol, oh well.
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I woke up about 7:00pm and watched High Stakes Poker on GSN. Yup, some great memories I got from that show, I’ll tell you what! I counted the number of hands I won in the last two episodes. The grand total is two: one where I flopped trip queens and the other in a limped pot where I flop the nut flush, bet the flop, and get NO action! Brutal.
There is one hand I played where I went broke and many people just don’t seem to “get it.” I raised to $3000 with 9c 10c, Durrr called with 7-8 and Eli raised from the blind to $11,000 and we both called. The flop came Q-2-4 with two clubs and Eli bet $17,100 and I decided to raise it to $44,100. Now, no matter what Eli has, he just knows I don’t ever have one pair of Queens there. It’s just not really a hand I’d play that way. With a Queen I’d probably call. So, he has to know he is either facing a draw… or a set, or maybe even two pair. There is just no other hand I could have, maybe a pair and a flush draw too.
In any case, that’s not a good spot for him to be in. Against the draws he may only be a small favorite, but against the made hands he’s basically dead. So he re-raised me again, and I shoved him all in hoping that maybe he’d fold for his last $100,000. He called and showed AA.
Now here is what a lot of viewers don’t get. Most people on the show run it twice in all in pots. Knowing that, when you do have a drawing hand you can be a bit more aggressive with it since even if you are called, you will usually have a decent chance to chop the pot. It makes aggressive plays with draws easier to make, and allows you to semi-bluff more pots away from an opponent. Essentially it makes semi-bluffing slightly less risky.
So I missed, not one of the four cards was a club and I never picked up any backdoor outs on either hand which is hard to do. Any 8, 9, 10, J, or K would give me additional outs in that hand.
I enjoy playing on HSP and will play again in season six if they’ll have me. When you play poker for a living you have to understand that sometimes you are just going to run bad, and you just have to try and focus on how you are playing rather than the back luck. I’ve been uber likely in lots of scenarios, HSP just doesn’t happen to be one of them.
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In the morning I’m flying to Toronto to spend some time with my mother. She is still in the hospital and will likely remain there for at least a year it looks like. Just this week she started breathing on her own and is out of ICU in a step down facility. Her vitals seem to be improving, she is also less swollen, but the main objective, getting her brain to kick in, is simply not happening right now. No one is giving up hope, but at the same time, we also realize that she may never regain the ability to speak or even be responsive. I’m hoping and praying that she can talk to us again some day.
While in Toronto, I’ll be visiting the hospital and then playing in the SCOOP series on PokerStars. I’m looking forward to the high buy in events and hope to do well.
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Ok, I’ve got lots of random tidbits to share so here goes:
Working Out: is going pretty well and I’m happy with my progress. My weight is going up, but my belly is going down. I started working out in late January and have gained close to 15 lbs, at about 158 right now. I’m also trying to trim my belly, but that’s not all that easy for me for a couple reasons. I’m a vegan who loves carbs, beer, and wine. I’ve cutout the carbs, no more bread really, easy on the pasta, and no rice, but the beer and wine is something I drink about twice a week. As for food I’m eating tons of Tofu, Seitan, and Tempeh, all excellent sources of protein.
I’m definitely getting stronger, but want to get even more fit by the time the WSOP rolls around. I have never, even when I won player of the year, been able to put in an intense 110% physical and mental effort into the grind. Maybe it’s not possible, but I know I can do better.
$400-$800 8 game mix: has quickly become one of the most popular games on the internet and I am happy about that. PokerStars.com is the only place you’ll find a game like that, and I thoroughly enjoy playing that rotation. Helps to win too!
$10 Personal Challenge: I am still at the grind and my bankroll has finally hit the $100 mark. I’m still playing $0.050$0.10 on PokerStars, but am close to moving up to the final rung of micro limit play, the $0.10-$0.25 game. I’ve also been shooting every session I play for PokerVT, both in these small games, as well as the $400-$800 mixed game.
Fantasy Hockey: The “Cheap Thieves” won their division, and then beat the “Rug Rats” in the quarter-finals. I also won my first game of the conference final tonight over “Shoot Loose.” This pool is my passion, I absolutely love it.
Poker After Dark: I have been watching PAD this week and it brings back great memories. It’s the most fun I’ve had playing poker in as long as I can remember. I get along well with everyone at the table, and really enjoyed talking to Jennifer Tilly during the show. She has a great personality and is a lot of fun. She gets that people give her a hard time about her poker game, but she seems to be trying harder than most people and I think she’s getting better for real. Laak is always kind of fun to play with, he is a real bizarre cat, a space cadet of sorts, but a good dude all around. Good people and good conversation.
Golf swing woes: My golf swing is a real mess right now. It’s been a real struggle to get my swing back on plane and hit it like I was just a month or so ago. I can’t seem to get it right, but we’ve been working hard at it the last couple days. My swing thought normally is “out to the right” which helps me to come from the inside and hit a draw. It’s just not happening right now. So, I have a new swing thought, “back to the ball” which helps make sure that I get behind the ball better and also helps me get on plane a bit better. Problem is I’m hitting a fade now and I hate that. Tomorrow I’m going to work on getting the ball to start out right and draw back.
I’m practicing for a fun tournament, the TPC Summerlin Match Play Championship. My round 1 match is Saturday at 11:30am and unless I can get things right by then I’ll likely get killed. My opponent, Seamus McGiill (sounds more like a video game character to me) is a 9 handicap and will be giving me shots- but I’ll need them!
All-Star Week at PokerStars: after two days Team PokerStars is getting beat down, 7-3 for the challengers. I play my match on the 27th and hope we can turn it around. The full schedule of who plays when is up on the site.
Toronto Trip: My mother is still in the ICU, still breathing on a machine, still non-responsive, and worsening mostly. Ever since she got to Toronto the flickers of hope we’d seen in the Vegas hospital are few and far between. She sleeps 99% of the time, and when she opens her eyes, not match is happening there in terms of brain activity.
I’m going to stay with my brother for a week in Toronto and spend time with him and Ornella while visiting my mother during the day. I’m going to bring pictures and video of Mushu and Foxy in the hopes that it helps trigger something… can’t hurt.
While in Toronto I have no major plans. The HUGE tourneys on Stars will keep me busy. It’s a fun slate of tournaments and it offers buy ins at levels for literally everyone. Should be fun, and I plan on trying my best. I will NOT be attending the WPT event in Foxwoods. I won’t play another live tournament until the WPT Championship followed closely by the EPT grand final in Monte Carlo.
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Ok, so aside from me hanging on to a new pipe dream of being a drummer in a rock band, I am back in Vegas and haven’t slept for a while. If you read my last blog you might have guessed that I’m absolutely clueless as to what I’m really doing right now. I went broke almost identically in San Jose as I did in LA, getting to about 60 remaining players, than smooth calling a button raise from the small blind with a big pair. In this tourney, I actually got crushed back to back hands, on button as well, with QQ both times.
In hindsight I should have re-raised the player on the button. Not because I think it was the optimal play in most situations, but the button was a special kind of player. Before I get in trouble here, I want to say that I really like the kid and think he is a super nice guy. I just don’t like his approach to deep stacked tournaments. I think he has a shot to be GREAT eventually, but right now there is just stuff he just doesn’t get (he’s probably played less than a handful of live tournaments). Anyway, point being, against him I SHOULD have re-raised because if he had a decent hand, with his limited chip stack, he would have gone all in with several hands that were weaker than QQ. He actually had a legit hand, AK, but got away cheap on the flop and I lost chips to the big blind.
The next hand I got QQ again and ran into the one player at the table most likely to overplay a mid pair. He ended up showing me aces which left me short stacked. I finally went all in with AK and couldn’t outrun 10-10 and J-J.
I could have played A LOT better in this tournament. I made it as far as I did because of sound fundamentals and not because of great reading ability. I made it deep strictly using the same strategy I teach at PokerVT.com. As far as fundamentals go in deep stacked events, I have no doubt in my mind that the small ball approach, when applied properly is by far the best way to get consistent results in high buy in events with loads of play.
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So I’m up over 24 hours now. I ended up in a random bar with the most unlikely of people. Old school grinders most of you would never have heard of, one of which was feared at one point in his career. Today he can’t get into action, but I learned a lot from him, both good stuff and bad.
I was a degen tonight. Just kind of looking for trouble. Luckily I didn’t find it and I’m home now playing Rock Band with Patty and playing with Mushu and Foxy.]]>
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http://hoss-tbf.livejournal.com/18125.html
One of the toughest thing for any athlete or poker player to ever admit, is that things get tougher. That the game they once were able to dominate simply doesn’t exist anymore. You see it with boxers who get pummeled well past their prime, and you see it with basketball players riding the pine, with their best days behind them.
Poker should be totally different. I stress the word “should.” Poker is a game where wisdom is king and experience should trump youthful exuberance. It can, BUT, that is only possible if you can be realistic about what is going on. It can happen only if you are willing to learn, improve, and always question what it is you think you know. Doyle Brunson is past 70 years old. He’s played the game for ages and has seen the game change and has always been able to survive the next challenges. The reason Doyle can do that, is because he understands that if you don’t learn each day, and your game doesn’t get better each time you play, there will always be someone on your heels that IS learning everyday and improving. Doyle has almost made it a lifetime mission to never let anyone catch up. When they do, he gets better. Pretty amazing actually.
I thoroughly enjoy listening to some of the young online pros discuss poker. They think about the game in a very different way. Some of it is very advanced, while with other things, I often spot holes in their thinking. Holes they might fill with experience, or it just might be that I’m wrong. That they aren’t holes at all, and what I’m actually spotting are holes in my own game. I’m sure it probably goes both ways.
I’ll just never get to a point in my life when I think I’ve got it all figured out and that nothing more can be learned. With every new generation comes a new style of play and a new array of weapons. That’s never going to change.
I have a ton of confidence in my ability. More so in mixed games than straight hold’em as I think the young players have yet to fully grasp all the games like me, Ivey, Cunningham, and Juanda did in our 20’s, but I’m not foolish enough to think I can be the best without practice.
I plan on getting loads of practice before this years WSOP and have spent almost a year planning for the WSOP 2009. I’m physically stronger than I’ve ever been, and it’s really not even close. I’m playing online a little bit in the $400-$800 8-game mix on PokerStars and I enjoy playing in that game more than any game online I’ve ever played. It’s like the mix in the big game and the game changes every six hands. It’s so much fon.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention! StefanProdan won the Sunday Million two weeks ago. I’m telling you this, because he did it after signing up for www.pokervt.com. He followed my instructions in terms of bet sizing, hand selection, and how to play in marginal spots, and in just a month, he turned that into a big score in the Sunday Million. Congrats kiddo! I love hearing stories like that. He credited my teachings as well as Jason “JCarver” Somerville’s teachings mostly. I am very proud of PokerVT as a product and we’ve been getting incredible feedback in the PokerVT forum from subscribers. We have a deep list of online pros now and loads of new weekly content. It’s been straight no limit hold’em until now, but I just put up my first non-hold’em video from the 8-game mix at PokerStars. Expect more mixed game stuff from me as well as the micro limits I’ve been playing in my little challenge.
Time to get to my Tivo… I’m behind on Heroes.
My favorite line:
PH: I should have 50k right now.
HossTBF: maybe if you started with 200k…]]>
Normally if you play someone heads up you have time to adapt to things you learn and you can make the adjustments you need to make in order to win. If I could have a mulligan, and play the match over, I’d approach most of it exactly the same way with one minor adjustment.
I had the lead on the match, up 3-1 in chips, and then lost the match, both times calling Vanessa when she had a full house. I had no reads before the match, but picked up some things as we played. The hard part, is that in order to gain information, and confirm it’s accuracy, the only way to do that is to call! You have to actually see the hand. The last call I made, it was pretty stupid. I was quite sure that she had a strong hand. I was quite sure it wasn’t a total bluff. Based on that alone I should have folded, but then my brain got in the way of my instincts and I started to find hands I could beat.
I played pretty well during the entires series of matches, except for losing my patience on two key hands against Vanessa. I was in a hurry to end the match, and that cost me.
Oh well… there is always next year!
So now I’m home on the couch, a little bit tired, but something inside me wants to go out and have some fun. I feel like going out, but not sure if I have the energy to. I feel like doing something different, not the same old party at my house gambling on pool and Golden Tee. In the past, when I felt like this I’d just go somewhere random by myself and do some people watching. I can’t really do that anymore. If I go to a bar someone will usually recognize me which makes being alone, and people watching kinda tough!
I’ll probably end up staying home. Maybe hit some balls tomorrow and then get ready for some work this week. I am doing a cameo in a music video on the 10th, and then have three days of commentary work to do. After that I’ll be heading to San Jose for the WPT shooting stars event. After that I’ll probably go back to Toronto for a while to be with my mother…
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