Winning

I pulled off a Sunday tournament win today and no it wasn't for hundreds of thousands of dollars but for a little over 15k, so I have to be happy with that. I have really stepped up and with some good fortune, concentration, understanding of the game, and skill have put together 3 good months in a row with a seemingly good win in each month. I actually managed a 4 way deal in this one where I ended up getting more money than 1st place after it was all said and done (ok $5 more, but still that's impressive).


Other than that, I had a new article out on Pocket Fives about satellite tournament strategy. Quite frankly, I know it wasn't my best work as it was not my idea to write it. I was requested by one of the staff to write it and obliged. Frankly, they wanted something basic about satellite tournament strategy, so that's what I gave them. I got a lot of negative feedback though probably because it was so basic. It's tough to keep coming up with solid articles every month, but some articles are better for certain people than others.

Thanks to all our veterans and military serving our country. Despite disagreeing with the war on several reasons and frankly being 100% right about it, I'm humbled by people that serve our country and risk their lives day in and day out. Now, my next goal is to get a President that uses you all correctly.

A poker article worth a read

http://www.reason.com/news/show/126022.html

I just read this entire article about the status of "online gambling" in the U.S. The article is fairly academic and a great summary of what has happened in the U.S. It's tough to see how trivial our rights really are when a few members of Congress promoting a Bible Christian Conservative agenda can be. I can't stand seeing how people sit back and let this happen without even a letter to Congress. I've been a member of the PPA (Poker Players Alliance) for a while now and see how hard they have been fighting to get online poker the respect it deserves. Furthermore, there are so many Ohioans that love playing poker, but have to go to Canada or New York or West Virginia to do it legally.

I can't vote for a single Republican until this issue is resolved, but at the same time, few Democrats have done much for the cause.

HORSE, Back in Vegas, PLO

I've been playing a lot more PLO since I've been in Ohio (Pot Limit Omaha) for those of you that don't know. I've actually noticed a huge disparity as well between my success at 3/6 PLO vs 2/4 PLO. I think this is simply a game of knowing when to put all your money in the middle and knowing when to shut it down. On top of that very simple statement, there are much more complicated bluffing scenarios because for the most part at these limits the play is straightforward. I've had some success and plan on playing a lot more in the cash games. If I do well over the next few weeks, I'm planning on playing at least one PLO event at the WSOP. I said I would never play an event like this again because the game is just too crazy and wild, but after considering my record in PLO events which includes a deep finish despite a nasty 5 outer in the WCOOP on Stars and a deep finish in the FTOPS shorthanded despite a nasty 2 outer, I can't imagine I'm that far behind the average player. On top of that, if you watch WSOP episodes of PLO, you see some outrageously bad plays that I know I would never ever make in a million years.

One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to win the HORSE tournament on Full Tilt. I ended up 5th last night, my second best finish of the year behind a 3rd place finish. I played as a short stack from 30 players to the final table and am quite proud I hung in there as long as I did. I always seem to lose in Hold Em. I need to rethink my strategy in this game because I think my experience playing in 6 max limit hold em ring games is ruining my tournament strategy. Also, I know I don't have a big edge in limit hold em, but still want to battle it out. Furthermore, sometimes it's better to be crazier in the split pot games because there is no definite one winner huge pot that will always happen like in Stud Hi and Hold em. Blind stealing is much less defended in other games. Hold 'em is almost always like that. Last night, I reraised with A5 off against the button raiser. Flop comes Kc3c3 and with my chip stack, it's 4 small bets and some change and we are in. So I have no way to get a lot of information about my opponent's hand. I think he's raising the button with the top 80% of hands from my previous encounters with him and I'm going to bet 100% of the time here. If he raises, he either has a K or club draw or maybe even a pocket pair, but I highly doubt that as I think 4 bets are in order for everything besides maybe 66 and down. He has K 7 off and I fail to improve. Do I bet and fold to a raise? I don't know maybe.


I'm back in Vegas for the next two months for sure aside from a Chicago trip right at the beginning of the WSOP because my girlfriend is more important than any tournament crapshoot. My first event will be the 2,000 event on the Thursday or Friday maybe June 4 or 5th. After that, I'm just going to base my play on how I feel and my overall success. I'll be trying hard to win a main event seat online and plan on doing that for sure.

CNN isn't fair to Hillary

Every time you see a picture of this lady, she looks crazy and in the weirdest positions. CNN wants Obama to win. I never believed in a media bias until I've seen this campaign and how she is portrayed. I am rooting for Obama obviously and just sent a message to his campaign before I donated money to see what his stance is on the UIGEA and the future of online poker. If I get an affirmative response, I might donate money.

Congratulations CBS

Dear CBS,

Thanks for producing the best Survivor series I've ever seen. I have been a fan for a long time and have recently gone on straight up Survivor binges where I watch every episode in a day or 2. Never have I seen a season quite like this one. It was always exciting and based on a great concept that fans of the show loved. It's great to watch people that we already know in the game of Survivor compete again. I hope to see some more of these novel concepts in the future. Take for example some of my favorite concepts.

1. A runner's up show. This is self-explanatory and also difficult since some runner's up have been given shots at the game again.

2. A first person voted off show where we take all the people voted off first. Obviously this is a group that is super diverse and would love to completely clash. On top of that, none of them were even remotely below average in their game playing ability to simply avoid being the first person off.

3. I know it's a similar deal to what just occurred, but do a fan vote for the show. Select your contestants much like this season and then give us a shot to vote for people to come back on to the show.

On a side note, stop giving so many rewards. Let's see some people starve.

Surprise Visit to Mentor

I'm in Mentor for everyone who lives here, so let's hang out or something. I'll be here for the 18th and plan on playing a very minimal amount of poker aside from fun cash games at Keith's and hopefully some sort of friend poker club. I also have a seat into the 530 HORSE tournament as part of the FTOPS sometime next week that I'm going to need to play.

So I have to comment on two of the shows I watch.

First off, Survivor is almost unbelievable as my favorite, Erik, just decided to quit and give up immunity. This is something I have never seen done since watching the show. Immunity is not to be given up. If you are this dumb, you don't deserve to win.


Now, LOST is seemingly out of control. Here is the problem with LOST. Because of the writer's strike so much is happening at once now that I think people are getting a little overwhelmed.

Locke's flashback was simply genius and finally gave us some insight into his childhood and interactions with individuals related to the island. It all seems very planned and conspiracy related now. With both Richard and Abbadon meeting Locke at different stages of his life (childhood and in wheelchair), it really opens up the question if somehow this plane crash was planned. Seeing Christian Shepherd and Claire in cahoots in the cabin also supports this claim. Although to me, Claire in the cabin is probably way more than it seems because none of her past would make sense. She was always just afraid and being taken away rather than being some sort of actress in a conspiracy of some sort. Also, the timeshift/moving island/wormhole whatever is starting to become a little too much. That being said, this show is still the best in television, but I don't even know how to explain it in a blog.


Cleveland Cavaliers are now done 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against Boston. Tonight's game is a must win. If we lose tonight at home, we are done. I think there is a 2% chance we lose the game tonight. Good teams win game 3 at home and I think we are still a good team. It's tough to get this far in the NBA without being some shade of a good team. I fully expect us to win the next two games at home and bring this thing back to Boston tied 2-2. If we don't, start watching baseball.

Goal Update

Accountability 101

1. Win 15 multi table tournaments online.

Update, I'm at 4 with two of them being big. I do have 5 wins if I count a 100 HORSE tourney on Absolute with 40 people.
2. Win a 100 Rebuy on Pokerstars.
I've maybe cashed once and have almost quit playing this tournament.

3. 100 Final tables in multi table tournaments.

I'm at 18 which is very disappointing to me. This is not counting about 6 final tables in 100 person or less tourneys in games like HORSE, Stud Hi/Lo, PLO Hi/Lo.

4. Live tournament win.

6th place in the WPT 2500 is my best attempt so far. So close, yet so far.

5. WPT prelim event win

Same as number 4.

6. WSOP event final table

We haven't been there yet, so I can't complete this goal.

7. 10 Live final tables.

I'm at 1.

8. Final table Sunday Million on Pokerstars.

I haven't even come close. I don't think I've even cashed in it this year.

9. Win the Sunday Night HORSE tournament on Full Tilt.

3rd place in this, so pretty close.


Overall, I'm not all that happy with my goal progress so far. Some of them are lofty after being at this for a while now.