2011

January: Began in Chicago with my quietest New Year’s in recent memory after nursing my body back to health from a brutal bachelor party. Take heed of my words and don’t go to Vegas for more than 3 days for a bachelor party. Two is probably ideal. Shortly after that I went to Bahamas for an unsuccessful poker trip, but discovered the drink known as the zombie, a combination of about every type of rum you could find. After winning a main event package for $350ish dollars, I could hardly complain to be in the sun and heading down water slides through shark tanks. Chicago winter was brutal upon my return and snowmageddon shortly followed. Before heading to Cleveland to celebrate my niece’s 1^st and 3^rd birthdays., I made a two day bachelor party stop in Las Vegas highlighted by two enjoyable craps rolls with the entire bachelor party. The first saw every person up handily while completely loading the board through the come line and with almost everyone at max odds and total points through the hot roll of the man known as Steele, the dice were passed from the floor man to Steele when an unnamed member of the bachelor party grabbed the dice out of turn. Immediate 7. I had a nice online poker month and everything seemed to be in line for a great start to the year.

February: Online poker turned completely the other way erasing almost all the profits from January. A package to Copenhagen for my first EPT event and visit to Denmark made the intolerable winter easier to bear. I only played one event in Copenhagen, but finished fourth place for 1,000,000 Danish Kroner. It was my biggest cash to date and one of the most exciting moments of my life. Competing on that stage was fun, challenging, stressful, and nothing I could have imagined without being in that situation. My own mistake unraveled my EPT title shot, but Copenhagen was beautiful and I look forward to revisiting. When I flew back to Chicago, I thought about how far I’d actually come from playing $5 buy in cash games with my friends in my buddy Dave’s house in high school. We loved to play and bluff and force another guy to go into his pocket to pull out another $5. I loved the challenge of figuring out people, finding a way to beat them, and of course, the rush in your blood every step of the way. Nothing has changed.

March: Online poker was up and down this month, but I had a great St Patrick’s day weekend in Chicago.

April: This is the month where I finally lost all hope with the US government. On tax day after sending in my tax estimate and starting my usual Friday routine of watching the markets and playing a few early Friday online poker tournaments, both major online sites that I played on had their domain names seized by the FBI. Online poker would never be the same. The debacle that ensued has seen one site, Pokerstars, returning all our money. On the other hand, Full Tilt Poker basically proved it was running as effective of a business as a kid selling .01 lemonade cups full of piss. I turned a lot of time into studying the financial markets and businesses, but was left with a huge void in my life. Being so close to family for the first time in a few years, I headed home to join family for Easter and had a great time in Ohio.

May: What wasn’t to love about May. The month before the World Series, I plotted what I would do to move out to Vegas for the summer while enjoying spring in Chicago, a Chicago area wedding, and watching Chicago come alive. Near the end of the month, I was part of a wonderful rapture weekend wedding in Columbus, Ohio celebrating a Miami Merger between the Brodas. We all had a great time yucking it up at world class facilities despite pending world apocalypse. The night before I drove out to Vegas, I attended a rooftop party in Chicago. I remember having a meditative moment looking out over the sky and imagining winning a World Series of Poker bracelet, but either way, I knew I loved my new city and was content even in the face of losing online poker. I left for Denver the next day and stopped to meet up with some bros. Denver cemented its place as somewhere I would love to live, but the two days there with the crew I was with was not what I needed before driving another day to Vegas. Luckily, I made it to my destination safely after a reflective drive.

June & July: THE WORLD SERIES OF POKER. Best finish 11^th. Second best finish 17^th. 5 cashes, and basically a wash in terms of profit. There is nothing not to love about the World Series of Poker except for the walk out of the Rio after busting a tournament, especially the main event. In between some of the events, it was fun to celebrate the marriage of one of my best and longest friends in my hometown Mentor, OH. Three days of the main event and not cashing again was frustrating. I think I’ve played close to 13 days without cashing in the main event. I’ve bagged chips every day 1 and 3 times on day 2, yet have never cashed. It remains a goal of mine. I know I’ll get there. After the main event, I decided to be a hero and drive 24 hours straight to Lake Geneva, WI to meet up with some Chicago friends and my love. Chicago summer was waiting for me. We golfed, tubed, drank, and caught up. It was also around this time that I officially knew I’d be moving to London. One more Cincinnati area wedding at the end of July allowed me to see my college town of Oxford, Ohio and Skippers, walk through a lobby in Kentucky with a life sized championship belt over my shoulder, and celebrate with some great people.

August: LOLLAPALOOZA!! Foster the People, Eminem, Foo Fighters, Skrillex, Afrojack, Girl Talk, Kid Cudi, Deadmau, Nas and Ziggy Marley, Explosions in the Sky, and others I’m sure I’m missing made for a great time. The highlight being a torrential downpour just before the main Foo Fighters act creating a mess of a savagery and mud only true maniacs can enjoy. I spent the end of the month packing up and readying my move out of Chicago.

September: Spent time in Mentor, Ohio before heading over for a London/Cannes poker trip and flat hunting. After living in Vegas and Chicago and not spending day in and day out with family, it was great to spend some quality time with Mom and Dad and see my nieces, brothers, in-laws, and friends. Flying over to London and searching for a place was slightly stressful, but being away from poker made me extremely hungry and focused. With tons of luck on my side for 5 days, I final tabled the EPT London Main Event and cashed in 6^th place of 691. It was my biggest score to date and back-to-back EPT final tables for me in Europe. Getting so close to a win was again frustrating and satisfying. I know I’ll be back again and win the next time.

October: Cannes was a beautiful venue for WSOP Europe. My poker results allowed me to explore the beach more frequently than I would have preferred. I failed to cash in five events. I flew back to Cleveland and Toledo to see a friend who I first met at age 3 get married. When his wife walked down the isle, I thought about how rare it is to have friends for that long and how appreciative I am of our friendship and others I’ve hung on to for a long time.

November: Moving and all the annoyances you could imagine moving to a new continent. Tourist stops included the Tower of London, London Bridge,

December: I began the month with a trip to Prague where I played the WPT, EPT and GSOP main events in addition to one side event. 68^th with 63 paying in the WPT wasn’t very pleasant. My EPT streak ended at 2 final tables as I busted day 1 of EPT. It was a tough first table and a pitiful performance by me in many regards. I didn’t adapt quick enough to the optimal strategy of tightening up. I made a deep run in the GSOP, but fell short with a min cash. Prague is a fantastic city and a must see for all European trips. When I arrived home, my grandmother was in poor health and dying. My whole family, a family she loved and was so much her responsibility surrounded her and said their goodbyes. It was a tough time for my entire family, but when thinking about her, I can’t help think about her love and care and what it meant to me in life. I have nothing but appreciation and gratitude for everything. She will forever live on through me. Some of my youngest memories with her was of her sitting me on her lap and letting me bet her chips when the family played poker. I couldn’t help but give a wry smile when one of her best friends told me at her funeral, “Shirley was always trying to get us to play cards!” RIP Grandma.

Cheers to 2012. Let’s make it a big one.

First Eurotrip a Success

I arrived in my temporary new home in London with a bang finishing a strong 6th place in the EPT London main event. It was a great run and I spent 4 days getting my chips in good and holding and winning crucial 50/50 races. Almost every big race was JJ vs AQ coincidentally. The tough decisions came mostly on the second to last day as I was attempting to accumulate chips for the final table but was stuck in the card dead, flop dead portion and forcing things a little too much. After spending a lot of time folding, I won a miracle KK vs AA with a beautiful King of clubs on the river. It seemed like I was finally due for a title. The final table hardly went my way. 22 and A6 top out the high end of my range of hands and I whimpered out in 6th place after reraising A6 all from the small blind and having the big blind wake up with AQ. It was cool getting deep. I felt like I belonged there and I know I'll be back at some other stage. I remember calling somewhere that I was going to go 2/2 at EPT final tables when I came back. My main goal in poker is to win a big live tournament at this point.

I tried to carry that momentum to the WSOP Europe in Cannes. Cannes is gorgeous by the way and the weather hasn't failed to disappoint. I just busted my last of 5 tournaments here. Lost a giant pot 4h 7h vs 5d 3d on a 9h 6h 4s flop in the first tournament. In the second tournament, the 1k, I fought for a while from my 3k chip stack and then could not find a spot to get my chips in the middle after almost 5 levels (hours) of play. The third tournament was basically my main event, a 5k Pot Limit Omaha tournament. After doubling up early, things did not go my way and I was put to the test on a Th 9s 6s 9h board by a check raise all in. I eventually made the call with only a 78A5 no suits that mattered and was up against a KQJ5ss. The J sealed my fate, but I liked my decision at the point. I made it down to the final 3 in the shootout, but was short the entire tournament it seemed. I made one of my worst calls of the five days in that tournament early but fought back. The key hand for me was when my JJ finally had a chance to double against AQ, but the 98675 board saw a split pot and ultimately, an AT vs 77 race later, I was gone. The final PLO event was no different. I had a tough time getting anything going and made a bad pay off to a player who made quads, but could never seem to win an all in or racing situation when it would have got me going. 0 for 5 in Cannes, but I'm fairly pleased with how I played. I feel more and more comfortable live and especially playing in Europe.

As for my schedule from here on out, get back online soon from London and I'm certainly going to Prague in December for two events, one being the final EPT event of the calendar year. I'm looking to close out my best year as a professional with a BELT.

Post World Series & Some Words About Trading/Poker

Four Horseshoe Hammond poker sessions since my return to Chicago and my 1 winner out of 4 was for less than you can pay in tolls to get there. I got beat up in HORSE, PLO and Hold 'em on separate occasions. Live poker is slower and more boring and losing certainly doesn't change as quickly as it can online into winning over the short and long term. Truly, I miss playing tournaments and having the shot to throw up the belt every day whether it's something small online for a few thousand or a Sunday major or a WSOP 6 max tournament. Competition fills my blood, so I've been channeling that energy into trading lately, which is more rigged than any human should care to think about, but I have managed turbulent times in markets fairly well lately and can't complain.

Similarities in the lessons around the games of trading/investing are much more than just risking money. Bet sizing, bankroll management, mental flexibility, discipline and patience are all required to be successful in the brutal games being played in your respective financial markets. Knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em as Kenny Rogers would sing applies to trading as much as it does to a single hand. Decisions are constantly changing by many inputs and outputs. Buy here and sell here. What price do you want to get? How can you maximize value in any one situation by using both volatility and price? It's tough to explain, but I feel more and more comfortable finding situations and understanding what's going on. The true test though will always be protecting money and growing it in the lowest risk way for the maximum return. It doesn't mean you can't push a lot of your chips in the middle with a strong hand, but it does mean that you are prudent in times of market correction and when your trades just simply aren't working.

I may be adding more business and investing/trading things into this blog mainly because it's been keeping my mind sharp during the lull in poker. There is a ton to learn on the subject and if I could say the most important things I've learned so far about it they would be:

1. No one cares about your money more than you. No advisor, tweeter, blogger, person on CNBC, or even your parents can you tell you what you want to get out of investing/trading and what your actions are going to be when you lose money or win money. Winning money in poker or trading can easily go to your head. The money needs to be bound by a purpose, goal, and risk management.

2. Pigs get slaughtered. It only takes a few bloodbaths to learn this. Gains aren't gains until they are booked. Getting too greedy is one of the worst things you can do.

3. Much like in poker. When you bet, ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN. You must have a method because actions of the game will change and not always go according to your plan.

4. Nothing comes easy. Everything takes work. Poker/Investing/Trading/ LIFE!!!

5. Don't listen to anything I say. Mistakes are how I've learned my most important lessons in both poker and trading, but I'm not advising you. In fact, not once unless you are my close friend have you even talked or heard my theory behind investing/trading.

There are tons of resources on the internet and the two things I use most are Stocktwits and Finviz.com. Stocktwits is a great idea generation site as their founder always says, but don't get caught up in the panic or try to trade based on some random tweeter's ideas. Finviz has tons of good research tools/charts/etc.

On Saturday, The Horseshoe Hammond is holding a $1500 tournament and it will be a nice going away present when I win it. The next few months will be hectic as I'll be traveling for poker/moving/getting back online (fingers crossed). London is my next destination for EPT London, and I will be in Europe (hint,hint) a lot in the next few years. I'm excited to get back to Europe. I am 1/1 at making final tables in that continent.

The 27th day.

I warn readers that I've played 26 days of poker straight, and I'll be playing my 21st event today. My mind is in a weird place, but relentless positivity and thoughts of being a champion still pervade. I have been battling a cough for the last three days or so, but if Dirk Nowitzki can play like a sick champion while spanking Lebron James in the NBA Finals, then a little bug isn't going to affect me. It's pretty easy to catch something in that giant Rio petri dish passing around chips that each person has coughed all over.

I arrived about an hour late to the $1k NL Hold 'em today. After losing a key pot early QQ vs AK and KJ, I rallied from just 1400 chips (starting 3k) all the way up to 11k. The key hand of the day came as I held AQ out of the small blind with blinds at 100/200 25 ante. An aggressive player raises the cutoff position and I call out of the small blind. Flop comes A95 two of the same suit. I decide to check raise his 800 bet to 1900. He calls. Turn card is a 4 second suit of spades. Two flush draws are now out. He was the type of player that was literally raising any two cards at this point. I decided to ship in 9075 into the 5200 pot b/c I sort of put him on a draw or a weaker ace and really thought he might call me off. I wanted to push this for value and protect my hand. I thought he'd be more likely to call a shove then two bets in a row. I was pretty confident I had the best hand. If I bet into a better hand then fine, but I just didn't care about controlling the pot. When I pushed my 9075 in I still had a 25 chip on my cards. The dealer incorrectly announced that I was all in and I pointed to my chip a few times but didn't want to say much as the player hadn't acted yet. The player thinks for a while and calls immediately flipping his A4 over for two pair. The dealer says "ok we are all in flip them over." Then they call the floor because I point out that I'm not all in. First floor guy somehow rules it's an assumed all in and I say there is no way I'm going to put that chip in the pot when there is one card to come and I know his hand. Now typically they penalize someone for exposing a hand before the action is over, but I'm glad to see the 2nd floor man decided not to penalize my opponent and ruled I didn't have to bet that chip. The bad news is the river was a 6 and I check folded my cards face down. I'm really fine with the play. My 25 chips and my 28 of diamonds failed to beat AK on the next hand.

The 5k NL Hold 'em event concluded for me on Saturday with a teasing day 3 11th place finish. It was the 3rd biggest event so far this series in terms of prize pool out of the first 40 events. My day 3 began with me pushing A8 of diamonds at 5k/10k blinds 1k ante into the short stack big blind and losing 85k from my 866k. I then immediately raised KK and everyone folded and that about sums up the day. I made a bluff that eventual champion Matt Jarvis made a nice call with J9 on a K Jd Td 9d 2s board. I missed my straight flush draw with A7d and almost moved all in there. Who knows if he calls? The deck put me in a few less than lukewarm situations as well. My AA had the board run out Kh4h4sThJh. I bet on the flop and the turn because I felt like he could still be drawing with a KQ, KJ hand or even have something like nines with a heart. I folded to his river bet. I believe I was right on both decisions, but I'll never know for sure. After the bluff, I won a KQ vs AT all in by hitting a K on the last card. Shortly after, I 3 bet Jarvis again with TT only to see him call in position and flop come out AJ4. After my bet on the flop, the K on the turn made me just give up with my 19 bb stack. He could have been bluffing, I think he probably had me beat at that point. If he didn't, then he just owned my soul. I then moved all in over a raise 5 handed with AQ and the small blind called with 99. The 9 on the flop sealed my fate. It didn't occur to me until later that I shook everyone's hand because I was kind of in a daze at the time. 3 days of poker and all the excitement of achieving my one goal this summer was on hold. Props to my opponents as they deserved to be there getting through that tough field.

Overall, I'm happy with that tournament, I'll learn from it and move on. I made a couple bad plays in the event, but also made some good ones and rallying from just 16,000 chips with blinds at 800/1600 all the way to 11th makes it hard to complain about luck. It was probably the best competition in a tournament I've played to date. Some extremely talented tables played throughout that tournament. At the same time, it's extremely painful to be so close to a huge score and a bracelet again and come up short. The swings in emotions are just mind boggling. I slept extremely well the night before day 3 despite it being the biggest tournament I would ever win if I beat the 20 remaining players. I feel much more mature as a poker player in terms of how I manage my emotions. At the end of the day, it's just a game and you have to have confidence in your ability and reads and play great poker.

I've been having a lot of fun this summer and wouldn't want to be any place in the world but in the biggest poker tournaments in the world. I do miss my girlfriend and family/friends. 27 straight days of poker probably isn't helping my relations to any other human, but I get to take a break and head to Cleveland for July 1-5 where I'll see a lot of great people in my life. I'm super excited for that. Then I'll return for maybe one more event and the Main Event. I'm feeling ready for that after immersing myself in poker this month.

It's 2:21am and somehow I haven't gone to bed yet, but I'll decide how I feel tomorrow and play either the 10k six max NL Hold 'em tournament or the 2500 Omaha Hi/Lo and Stud Hi/Lo 8 or better Limit tournament.

Time for Reflection

Post online poker in the US has let me reflect. Let me make the first statement more accurate. The post US online poker world where US players could actually compete in a large enough player pool to matter and create enough value to make it worth it has disappeared. Online poker still goes on in the USA if someone wants to go through the avenues to play. Prohibition never works.

As for my reflection, there has always been a battle in my mind and spirit about what poker has meant to me. Sometimes I think about it more, on long plane and car rides, sometimes I think about it less. I've been consumed by the game at many points in the past 4 years to the point of playing 14-20 day series nearly every day and regularly playing 12-16 hours on a Sunday. That doesn't leave much time to reflect on the big picture. To be away now for almost 3 weeks without a chance to compete is tough. I can say without a doubt that I loved what I was doing. Online poker is a training grounds. It's the best value place to hone skills in many games. I believe the only way to be great is to practice. Online poker lets someone like me who deposited under $1k of my own money initially to work my way up. Along the way, I made enough that I could focus on it full time. Less than 2 months off my largest cash win (not online), my training grounds are gone. The repetition that online poker gives me is no more. I now must travel away from the comfort of my home, live in and around casinos, risk more of my money for less value, and most importantly, put a shirt on to go to work.

Practice is essential for the World Series of Poker coming up from June 1-July 20. Of the over 50 events, there are many different games and buy in levels not just the most popular No Limit Hold 'em. You can't play these games regularly aside from a few venues and very rarely in a tournament of a size that matters. This hurts US players against our competition from non-US players that continue to improve at this very moment through experience.

At this point, most online player's careers earning a living doing something they loved online. While nothing changes the fact that online poker probably won't be available to us, we are all still going to Vegas to play in the most meaningful events for poker players. Events that allow us to win a coveted World Series of Poker bracelet. A brand that was built from the inside out of America that should be the biggest brand in poker now pales in comparison to other international poker growth because of a law that was not once discussed by our "representatives." Many players win their way into the main event for $1-$1000 online and can compete for upwards of $7 million. That is now impossible for the majority of US players and will hurt attendance.

After the World Series of Poker, some of us will win and some of us will lose. We will all have to make a decision. At that point, I will have to decide if I want to leave the country to be able to play online and evaluate what that means I'm giving up in the US. These are not light life decisions and require the maturity of years to probably make correctly. Since I already know that the government doesn't believe we are mature enough to handle our own money against other players in an online poker game, I'm sure they will offer us assistance in making our decision.

I've read other blogs where most players talk about a gaping 5 year hole in their resume, but I see this as hopeless talk. I'll list below a few of the things I've learned.

I've learned to able to ignore money to make a profitable mathematical decision.
I've learned to control unwanted negative emotions.
I've learned to manage money.
I've learned to understand and respect the results that come with luck.
I've learned I don't feel right if I don't give something back when people are in need.
I've learned inside of me, I have the ability to become a champion and compete at the highest level.
I've learned how to not live outside of my means.
I've learned about human nature in pressure situations.
I've learned a lot about different cultures and their players.
I've learned how to take a risk.
I've learned how to survive out of the comfort zone of a steady job and income.
I've learned how to objectively examine and review plays in poker.
I've learned the value of hard work (but I was actually taught this my entire life, nothing changed in poker)
I've learned there are always people in life cheering for you and always people rooting against you. The people rooting against you are louder than the people cheering for you.


"Stay far from timid, only make moves when your hearts in it, and live the phrase sky's the limit."

What are Goals Without Accountability?

Happy New Year! (half way through the month I know) While my blog entries have dwindled over the life of this blog, my focus on my goals for the year has not. Last year, I reviewed my goals through a blog. This year will be no exception. Without further ado,

After much thought and reflection, I've come up with some of my goals for 2009.

1. Win 1 major online tournament series event including the UBOC, FTOPS, WCOOP, SCOOP.

Ship it!!!!!!! I won a WCOOP in September in the $215 Limit Hold 'em. I actually just returned from the Bahamas where they gave me my official WCOOP bracelet. I hope it's the first of many....
I know I got a 3rd in the UBOC Limit Hold 'em tournament as well....hmmm. Maybe I should play more limit tournaments even though that UBOC should barely count as a major online tournament series for a small limit tournament.

2. Final table 2 major online tournament series tourneys including the UBOC, FTOPS, WCOOP, SCOOP

See number 1. Mission accomplished..kind of. The FTOPS has eluded me this year.

3. Win a World Series of Poker Bracelet
3rd place in Pot Limit Omaha...very close but no cigar and this will from now on be listed as the number 1 goal.

4. Win a live tournament
3rd place in the WSOP and no cashed in any live tournament outside of the WSOP. I don't know exactly what's going on in the live arena. I haven't played that many and maybe just volume is where I'll find that win.

5. Win 10 online tournaments
I think this needs to be more specific, but what I meant was online multi-table tournaments with probably over 100 players.
I won 10 on Full Tilt including those small $75 other game tourneys (3 wins in Pot Limit Omaha, HORSE, and Omaha Hi/Lo), a $26 7-game mix and $26 heads up, so not as impressive as NL Hold 'em wins.
I won 2 on Pokerstars, the WCOOP and a PLO8 $215.
I won 2 on Ultimate Bet.
Total wins of 14 and I don't feel satisfied at all. I had a total lack of no limit wins. (Foreshadowing my goals 2010 post of course...)

6. Play a satellite to every live tournament main event where I enter a preliminary event
I'm pretty sure I did this except for when it was not +EV for me to do so. I did not win any of these satellites, so while I accomplished this goal, it did not achieve the desired results of putting me in a big tournament.

7. Reach 80 final tables including all events with over 50 entrants (not including sit and gos)
45 final tables on Full Tilt
16 final tables on Pokerstars
7 final tables on Ultimate Bet.
Total of 68 final tables online + 1 final table at the WSOP= 69 final tables.

8. Win an entry to a European Poker Tour event and go play it.
Fail

9. Play at least 5 events in every live tournament series I enter where there are at least 20 events.

I did not complete this goal because the Bellagio had bad numbers for tournaments. That being said, it shouldn't be considered a failure because I had specific reasons for not playing at least 5 events. I played more than 5 at the LAPC and WSOP because they had great turnouts and soft fields. The Bellagio was a different story at certain points of the year.

10. Win 1 Sunday major from the following list of tournaments: Sunday Brawl, Sunday Million, Sunday 500, Sunday Warmup, Full Tilt 750k or 1 mill, UB 200K, Full Tilt Mulligan, Stars 200 Rebuy

None of my wins included one of these.



Overall, I had an exciting year when it came to poker, but it was much different than 2008. In 2009, I had two larger cashes in games that weren't even No Limit Hold 'em that basically gave me what I needed for the year compared to 2008 where I won several more mid-range prizes. All in all, I'm still playing poker and have goals ready in the next blog....

Reflection

There must be something that biochemically changes in my brain when enduring a long car or plane ride (more so on car rides because I'm not worried about any time sound change likely signaling a plane crash in my mind). I just got back from visiting a few of my long time best friends in Arizona. In the midst of my ride home, I asked myself some of the following questions:

What happens if my car breaks down and a violent dust storm erupts for 3 days?
Why do we think that other intelligent civilizations in the universe would even be able to build spaceships?
If aliens came from a barren, desert planet, wouldn't Las Vegas or an Arizona type climate be the first place they would try to land?
If the Twitter generation takes over, are people ever going to talk to each other again?
Will text messages eventually become obsolete just like so many other forms of communication have in the past?
and most importantly as related to the blog,
Why did I not win another huge tournament this month?

The answers flooded my mind with all sorts of words popping into my mind; fatigue, focus, skill, luck, real estate, stocks, money, pressure, competition, rigged, etc. Those floods of words were enough to answer the question in and of themselves. My mind just needs more breaks.

Truth be told, I had a unbelievable month in poker in June, took most of July off with a few tiny tournament and cash game sessions, and have come back to Vegas in August to probably my worst month in my poker career. I've engulfed myself in trying to better understand the real estate market here for my first home purchase while simultaneously studying options trading strategies and attempting to put them into practice. All in the meantime, I still have to focus and worry about my actual primary source of income, poker HELLO!!!

I've talked in the past about meditation and how a book titled The Joy of Living has driven me to practice meditation. I practiced several of the exercises in this book throughout April-May-June and made a point to meditate during the World Series of Poker on breaks, after tournaments, etc. My meditation has since been non-existent, while in the meantime, all I'm doing from 6:30am-roughly 9-10PM is immersing my mind with new data points, information, numbers, and strategies involving all 3 of the tasks I'm trying to accomplish. These all add up to a poor month.

I'd like to also throw in a little disclaimer as well in that it's almost impossible in the short run of poker to determine how much luck is playing a role in the results, so 20 days of a month doesn't tell much. When it comes down to it though, there have been days where I knew I was simply too inundated with information and not putting my mind in poker 100%. You can't win online nowadays doing that.

So going forward, the WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) starts Sept 2nd-Sept 20th. Historically in this event (2 years), I have 0 final tables. I do have two final two table finishes and a 30 something place in the 7200 person event last year. I won't be playing every event in this series, but plan on playing as many as possible.

Focus and success coincide with a mind that is clear from distraction and free to innovate on its own.

Best of the WSOP blog

I know it's been quite a while coming, but I wanted to take a look back at my favorite moments and hands from the WSOP.

I played 16 events at the WSOP including the main event. I recorded 3 cashes and one final table. The 3 cashes came in the 5000 NL Hold 'em 6 max, 2500 8 game mixed event, and 1500 Pot Limit Omaha. 3 cashes in 3 different games in 3 different buy in levels is kind of cool looking back at it. My best finish was 3rd place in the Pot Limit Omaha event where I recorded my biggest live cash and second biggest ever cash of a little over 96,000.

Best bad beat I gave:

This one is too easy. In the 6 max tournament near the end of day 1, I was at a tough table with several primarily online guys. A very good online player "Bill Ivey" flat called an early position raise and I looked down at 88 with 16 big blinds and shoved it in. The raiser folded and "Bill Ivey" called and showed QQ. Crap. Flop 8Q8. Easy game.


Toughest Table at any one moment in a tournament:

This one also comes from the 6 max tournament. Seat 1 was an older European who I wasn't terribly familiar with but had a ton of chips and wasn't afraid to play pots. Seat 2 was me. Seat 3 was Rory "mafews" Mathews from Scotland. This guy wasn't afraid to mix it up with anyone and basically made a soul read on Shannon Shorr that left the entire table stunned. I consistently had to worry about being 3 bet if I came into a pot with this guy as he was right to my left. Seat 4 was "apestyles." I've played with him in so many online tournaments that it was nice to finally meet him and I actually won a coin flip 33 vs A4 to stay alive against him on day 1. I got knocked out shortly after he moved to the table, so we didn't get to play many hands. Seat 5 was Shannon Shorr. I've probably read his blog for the last 3 years or so, but I still didn't quite know where I was at in many hands against him. He mixes up his game so well and isn't afraid to do anything at the table. That makes him a very a dangerous opponent, especially when he has more experience than all the opponents at the table. Seat 6 is Online Player of the Year for the last 2 years on Pokerstars, Shaun Deeb. Although he sort of went nuts with a straight draw for against me, I know he's a very good player He is another player who goes out there and plays poker. If he gets chips, he's not afraid to do anything.

Most heartbreaking beat:

This comes from the toughest table. Let me set up the scenario a bit. We are playing for 1 million dollars in probably the toughest tournament field in any event aside from Event #1-40,000 NL Hold 'em, which I didn't play. I fought all day to build my chips and played solidly throughout day 2. While I don't know the exact details, I have a pretty good idea in the hand. Shaun Deeb raises in early position to some 10k at 2k/4k. I look down at KK and reraise to 29500 after seat 1 calls. This is a small reraise, and I did this on purpose. First off, I was in position, and I want value from my hand. I don't want to flat call here because we were deep enough at the time. I believe I had roughly 250k at 2k/4k, and he had me covered. Flop comes down JT5. Deeb checks to me and I bet something close to half the pot or a little over it. He check raises me and I thought for about 30 seconds about the situation. Clearly, I gave him odds to hit a set with JJ, TT, or 55, but a check raise with these hands didn't seem as likely as other ways he would play the hand. I actually just think I caught him in a situation where I got a perfect flop for him to do something that isn't profitable when playing as deep as we were. I moved all in and he called and showed KQ. The 9 was the first card off on the turn and I lose. 550k would have put me in 3rd with 55 to go and 1 million to first. No big deal.

Hand I've talked about the most:

This hand came in the 8 game mixed tournament in limit hold 'em. I was just beginning to rush at my new table when I raised 6 9 of spades on the cutoff and was 3 bet by Bryan "badbeatninja" Devonshire. I called. Flop 7s8s2h. Uh-Oh. We put 5 bets in on the flop. Turn card 3 of not spades. He bets and I just call. River T of diamonds. Bingo! He bets with headphones on I might add. I take a second and decide not to be an idiot and look back at my cards like I do too much when I have the nuts. I go to put in a raise and announce raise, but put out probably 1.2x the bet instead of 2x because I simply didn't have any more big denomination chips. In order to make the full bet, I had to grab a stack of 40 100's chips at the time, which is not easy to maneuver without two hands. He thinks I just called because he had his headphones on and tables 88 for a flopped set. The dealer instantly grabs his hand and puts it into the muck. He rightfully flips a switch and gets the floor over demanding his hand back. When he gets the correct ruling that they can retrieve his hand, the floor guy asks him "Do you want to call the bet?" At that point, in a weird way, he said "well yeah." I table the straight, and he blurts out a priceless "F*%& my life!"

Best Celebration in a Loss

In a 2k NL Hold 'em event, I went from the 6k chips early up to around 35k without much trouble. After dinner break, I went completely cold. I couldn't hit a flop or get a hand or do anything until I was slowly down to around 6k. Blinds were 300/600 and I was under the gun with KJ off suit. I decided to push in as 2 players had left early for break. I'm in Seat 1 to the left of the dealer, but my stack is clearly out there. The SB says call and lobs 300 more chips in the middle. The dealer says his verbal declaration is binding and makes him call 6000 total or so. The player in the big blind (BB) sees that the player in the small blind (SB) is so angry at this point that he shoves in his stack with AQ. The SB folds another 5k or so with 9 4 off suit face up. The BB shows AQ with the Ace of spades. Flop comes KhJs and some low spade. The turn card is another low spade giving him any T or spade except for the K of spades to win the hand. The K of spades comes on the river and he screams "YEAHHHHH" while clapping his hands as I laugh on the inside knowing I won. The dealer points out to him that he actually lost. I triple up. (Unfortunately, this was one of the tournaments where I missed the money by about 2-3 tables when I had KK vs AA)

AA vs KK count

I had KK twice run into AA and lost both times. One was in the shootout where you have to play to win your table. I'm never folding, and neither is probably anyone good. The other time was the 2k near the bubble and I'm never folding and neither is anyone good.

I had AA vs KK one time in the 8 game mix to double up in a nice pot in NL Hold 'em.

Bad Tournaments

The one tournament I regret was the 2500 NL Hold 'em right after I had final tabled the Pot Limit Omaha. I made a couple of wretched plays and got most of my chips in with 89 suited on a 8 6 6 board against AA. I simply wasn't locked in this tournament. This was a lesson that is so valuable to learn in poker. After a big win, there is no guarantee the next tournament will be an easy ride to the final table. I didn't respect the concentration needed every single moment for this one tournament. When looking back, I think this was my only egregiously bad play in a WSOP tournament.

The hand that won me 90,000

The stage is set. 18 players left. I'm in the middle of the pack with around 200k in chips, and my first final table painfully close. The small blind raises 24k on my 8k big blind. I looked down at AKsTs2 and decided to defend my blind. Flop comes down AhKh5c. The raiser checks. I bet 28k. He calls. Turn card is a 7h. He immediately fires out a pot sized bet. At this point, it's a decision for all my chips. My mind starts racing like Phil Ivey's in the commercial. This is one hand where every single thought that matters crossed my mind. Of course, the pressure is completely amped up being so close to a World Series Final Table. In the end, I eventually shoved the rest of my chips in and stared at the board in silence as the player took about 4 full minutes to fold. From there, I was able to take control of the situation and give myself a chip lead going into the final table.

It was really a great World Series for me and I can't wait until next year.

Goal Update for 2008

Here are the goals from 2008 with the explanations of what I accomplished.

1. Win 15 multi table tournaments online.

Actual Result: 8 wins. The biggest was the Ultimate Bet Sunday Major for 45,000 followed by the Absolute Poker Saturday Major for 37,500. What is nice here is that my wins were all over 10k except for 1 tourney.

2. Win a 100 Rebuy on Pokerstars.

Actual Result: I didn't make a 100 rebuy final table on Pokerstars and largely quit playing the 100 rebuy throughout the year. I did win the 100 rebuy on Full Tilt which is a little bit easier field because it is a 6 handed tournament, but it pays more than a typical 100 rebuy on Pokerstars. So I'll call this one a wash.

3. 100 Final tables in multi table tournaments.

Actual Result: I'll count everything that I did throughout the year. 54 final tables is what it came down to online. I made 2 live final tables throughout the year not including satellites. 56 total for the year.

4. Live tournament win.
5. WPT prelim event win

Actual Result: Best finish was for 6th at the WPT Bellagio prelim 2k event for both above goals.

6. WSOP event final table

Actual Result: Best finish was for 53rd in the $2500 no limit.

7. 10 Live final tables.

Actual Result: 2 for 6th and 9th and not nearly enough money.

8. Final table Sunday Million on Pokerstars.

Best Finish: 274th

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

CHAMPION!!!!! Take that Diego!!!


All in all, I had a solid year monetarily and in the goal department. I think my goals were quite lofty, and I'm going to get making them lofty. I think that I could attain all the goals above in a year with a little more hard work. On the live tournament side, I didn't really make these that realistic in the sense that I didn't know how much I would be playing live tournaments. I played maybe around 40-45 tournaments all year and to final table 10 of these would be an astonishing rate. I think a more realistic goal would be maybe 4 or 5. Even then, the talent of live fields has drastically increased in the smaller buy in events and even the WSOP. As always though, I'll look to get better and find a niche in the live tournaments I enter. Part of the problem that I've always said with someone not being staked in live tournaments is maintaining a proper bankroll. Since a lot of the buy ins are drastically bigger and putting in one tournament for 2,000 is equivalent to maybe 2-4 days of online buy ins, the variance is so much higher.

In the online arena, I had a blazing first half of the year from January to June followed by a little lull in the action until a big 2nd place finish in the Wednesday $300 on Stars. My only second half outright 1st place came as part of the HORSE tournament for a little over $10k although that wasn't my biggest cash of the second half.

In retrospect, I think my best results came at the times of the year when I was focused and locked in to poker without any external distractions. Distractions started to include a number of things that I wouldn't want to be distractions. Playing when I was visiting back in Cleveland didn't turn out as well as I would want. The focus wasn't there. I think I changed that by really only playing a small amount and sit n gos when I was home this time so I wouldn't be committed to playing. I think on a larger scale I can accurately comprehend where I need to improve in my game for next year as well as the scale of variance that a professional player has to go through. Some months or stretches of the year, it's going to be great. One win for $30k plus can really carry the focus and momentum. Other times, it feels like nothing will ever go right.

Stay tuned for goals for 2009.

Some WSOP Thoughts

After getting away from it for a week and from poker in general, I thought it might be a good idea to give some final World Series of Poker thoughts.

I came into the WSOP with a specific bankroll planned that was essentially out of my yearly winnings. It was a number that I basically decided was going to keep me comfortable at all times. I wanted to play around 8 events including the main event, but if I did well early and made a big score, go for player of the year. While I know I'm not deeply experienced in every single game, I don't think the average player is either. With my online experience in every game, I felt pretty confident with this plan.

What began was a 1500 PL Hold 'em event where I immediately realized our chip stacks aren't going to allow much play, and with a couple of set up hands I was out. This kind of left me flustered as I didn't really know what to do. Should I keep taking small shots at these or play the bigger buy ins/rebuys? I decided against rebuys because I don't feel comfortable without 8k in the 1k rebuy to go. I don't even feel comfortable in the 100 rebuy half the time because I'm not ready to go off for 800 on any night in one tournament against a field of tough players.

After that, I played the 2000 No Limit Hold 'em and played considerably well. An AA vs 99 vs 88 all in hand crippled me when an 8 appeared on the flop.

Still after two events, I felt I played considerably well and did my best.

Then came event 3. It was a shorthanded event, 1500. 3000 chips in a shorthanded event can go awfully quick especially when you don't have the correct mentality. In retrospect, this was my worst tournament by far. I made several untimely plays. I wasn't patient when short stacked, and I just kind of failed at concentrating.

I came back later that night to try my hand at the 2500 Omaha Hi/Lo /Stud Hi/Lo mixed event. I got off to a great start. I cracked 10k fairly early from the 5k starting chip stack. The deck ran so super cold after level 4 that I had to kind of think through my hands again to see if I played bad or not. I think I played fine, but really ran extremely unlucky in Omaha Hi/Lo. This is a game where when dealt certain starting hands and hitting certain flops, you just won't be able to fold until the river if at any time. I had similar situations here and am happy with how I played.

So a quick poor start had my spirits dampened. If not for a 21k score online followed by a second place in the heads up championship on Pokerstars, I would have been phased just a little.

Another 2k event where I again played great poker up until a critical mistake before dinner. I got moved to a new table. Getting moved is sometimes a curse and sometimes a blessing as any player knows. Moving from my previous tables were both curses. I had a good understanding of several online players from playing against them online. I don't think they knew who I was giving me a significant edge. The other players weren't all that tough. I had a good image and everything was fine. When I got moved, I immediately caught in a bluff for some chips killing my image. Then I made probably the biggest mistake of my entire WSOP. I raised it up with 8 9 suited and was called behind. The BB moved all in for what was 4600 total I think after I put in a 1600 raise. I just called where I should be pushing all in all day to isolate. If I'm going to call, I might as well just take a shot. I think this was the only point where I made a critical mistake. If I shove here, I win the pot outright with all the dead money increasing my stack to an above average pretty close to the money. This situation can give me some good bubble opportunities. Either way, aside from that big mistake, I played well. In the end, it came down to me not winning a race 66 vs AQ.

The biggest disappointment of the whole series was the 3000 HORSE for me. I played both the 1500 and 3000. In both tournaments, I ran so incredibly bad that I left demoralized and shaking my head. In the 1500 event, it's tough to recover from running bad. The 3k HORSE though is an event that I should be able to find good spots. It's just frustrating when nothing go rights in games that I typically do very well at online.

Two more 1500 tournaments and losing races along with losing the 5 6 vs QQ after the 6 5 2 flop with the Q hitting the turn card were both crushing.

Then came my first cash ever. 53rd in the 2k event following a crushing beat of A10 vs A8. This tournament was a lot of fun in retrospect. It was really what it was all about. I felt great throughout. I made a couple of aggressive plays and thinks just went my way. I hit a couple of big river flushes on big draws that propelled me. Other than that though, I tended to get my money in very well. What hurt me in the end was the KQdd vs AA after the two diamond flop and I missed. I couldn't have felt worse about winning 11k. While this would guarantee a main event seat within my bankroll, I really felt that if that A10 holds against A8, I'm a lot richer right now.

The Main Event is an unbelievable experience. This was my second main event. I was not half the player I was 2 years ago when I played. I'll probably think the same thing in 2 more years about how I played now, but the gap is just so much farther. My ability to control the situations at my table this year was what I was most proud of. Even after getting short stacked early, I fought back with a nice 44 vs AK after a 4 10 K flop. The end of Day 1 saw me make an outstanding fold. Go read about it if you haven't yet.

Day 2 was a great experience. I had two tough internet players, an absolutely wild table, and I fought hard all day. I was up and down and up and down. I really and truly grinded through this day. I went into Day 3 feeling strong. I also had the possibility of being on TV with a 2 hour featured table stint. That's still to be determined even though I hope I don't end up on the cutting room floor.

Day 3 couldn't have gone worse. I couldn't get any hands. I couldn't steal a single pot preflop. I patiently waited and waited and eventually made a move that I think was fine with A9 suited, but was overcalled by a player with little experience with AQ off (even though I saw he finished pretty deep). I was really devastated after losing. All my goals and dreams for the entire year were shattered. I felt that I lacked a sense of validation and still do today. After all, my live cashes have no been impressive. I've made far more money online than I have in live tournaments. To be completely honest with my live play, I think it's been just a matter of not catching the right breaks at the right times. Every deep appearance usually ends by something out of my control. What a lot of people don't understand about poker is that many of the people they see on TV as the big time money winners and big time players wouldn't last over thousands of tournaments. Several of them don't have a dollar to their name. Some of them have tons of talent, but no money. Some of them have very little talent and lots of money. There are tons of ranges of skill levels and success stories. Where a player falls along the spectrum relies on both talent and luck. If you have the best luck though in your 10 dollar online tournaments, you won't be on TV, you won't be made of millions. If you have your best luck in one 10k event, you win a million and are instantly respected. When going to play with players that are considered big time, you can't go in thinking they are fabolous players. I've made this mistake before. You need to go in and evaluate exactly how they are playing and make your decisions accordingly. Sometimes it's just easier playing against players you don't recognize because your blueprint of their play is drawn in from scratch.

One final thought. To win any poker tournament where several good players are entered in the field, you need a few things. You need to get free chips. Free chips occur when the deck sets you up with them. You need to have good table draws. You need to have a thorough understanding of every stage of the tournament. You can only control one of those things. There are expanses of concepts in the thing you can control and learning more and always striving to learn is the best way to succeed in this game. The luck will even out in the end and I have no doubt that with the proper amount of tournaments played at the World Series or in live play, I'll have my victories.

Again, thanks for the support from everyone throughout. The next few months are big online months. An FTOPS and WCOOP are in August and September. These are just like live events like the WSOP with various games and such, but usually a better structure. I'll be playing lots of events in both. I think I'm due for a big victory in one of these. Let's hope it's soon.

Out of Main Event

I was reraised non stop, card dead all day, and out of the main event around 950th place. Again, I'm about 300 short of the money and in some pain. I played as well as I can, but just wasn't allowed to win big pots or get chips easily. You have to get lucky to win this tournament. With the great structure, skill can only take you so far. If you miss every single flop, you can't win.

The bust out hand came when I was down to 30k with 15 big blinds. An aggressive player opened two from the button for 5200. I was on the button with A9 of hearts and reshoved. The big blind called 30k of his 70k stack with AQ off. The other guy folded. The board bricked out and I was eliminated. Would have been nice for a little bit of justice from the 2k event with a river 9 or something, but it wasn't meant to be. It is just one tournament and when you have to battle as the short stack for pretty much 18 out of 24 hours, the tourney can get boring. Today, I hung around and tried to find a good spot. I thought my play was completely standard and normal even though I was behind. The guy was opening plenty of pots and I wouldn't play it any other way. For AQ to overcall takes a real strong read. I wasn't given any respect from this player all day though and he will likely muppet off all his chips to the other good players at the table.

Thanks for all the support along the way. Who knows if I'll be back next year. No need to think about poker for a while. I'll probably be updating less in the next month or so as I'm going to be in San Diego, Chicago, Cleveland and playing very little poker. I might make a trip somewhere in there to another casino possibly Atlantic City or something.

Through Day 2

I thought I would give a quick update for everyone interested. I ended the day with 61,600 after starting with 37,525. I was quickly down to 22k after losing blinds, antes, and one small pot against an all in player. Then I rallied back to 50k. Then I crumbled down to 16k at one point. There were tons of hands none of which I really want to detail right now. The day was long and I fought hard the whole way. Entering the 500/1000 level with 17000 chips and fighting to eventually win a big pot to double up felt great. The last two hours were also part of the ESPN feature table even though I spent most of the time folding. Maybe I'll get some TV time or something.

One hand before I go to bed. The biggest pot of the tournament for me.

Early position limps for 1000. I complete the bet from the small blind and the big blind checks. I have K9 of diamonds. Flop comes Qh 8d 3s. Everyone checks. The turn is a Jd giving me a flush and gut shot straight draw. I decide to take a stab at it and bet 2500. The BB folds and the original limper raises to 5500. This raise size felt real strong to me, so I called hoping to hit one of my outs and get paid off. The river was a beautiful 2d. At this point, I had 27k left and I had seen this guy make one big call earlier in the day, so I thought that if he really was strong like I suspected when he made the raise that he would pay me off. He did with 9 10 of spades for a turned straight. I was on the lucky draw for a big pot. Nothing exciting happened after that except for a nice round of shots at the ESPN featured table. I doubt there will be much brought in for TV from our 2 hour session there.

I am Nostradamus, almost...

From an earlier blog

"The WSOP is basically over. One more event remains. Of course, it's the main event, 10,000 buy in NL Texas Hold 'em. My guess for the number of players is 6865."

The total number of players this year is 6844. That's a pretty good guess. Let's hope my playing ability tomorrow is as good as my guessing ability. Day 2A tomorrow. I hope I'm updating the blog at around 2:30am.

Day 1 Complete

I just got back from Day 1 of the WSOP. I'm at 37,725 chips from the starting stack of 20,000. I was as low as 9,700 and as high as about 49,000. It was really a strange day as I felt aggression and pressure against me almost all day. I can't count on two hands even how many times I was three bet preflop. The caliber of play is different to say the least. While I sit with some players that are incredibly tough to play against at times, there are others that shouldn't be in a ten dollar rebuy tournament. All in all, I think I played pretty well today, and I had a strategy going in that I was going to play careful and solid. I doubled up when I was at 17,500 when I called a late position raiser from my UTG limp with 44. Flop came 4 10 K. I checked dark and he bet 2600. I just sensed a lot of strength so I went ahead and raised hoping to get it in. He put me in and showed AK and the turn card 3 sealed the deal. I was up to 35,000. Then, I just played a bunch of small pots until the last level. I raised to 1100 with 200/400 blinds 25 ante with AA in late position to be called by an old man out of the big blind. Flop was a scary Q 9s 10s. He checked and I checked behind. Turn was a 6. He bet 2,000 and I called. River was a 9. He bet 6,000 and I called. He showed A7 and I won. That was the only other real big pot I played in. I had a couple of smaller all ins when I had 20k. One I lost to AQ with 55 and the other I won with AK vs J7. I can't complain though as surviving day 1 is the first step towards winning the tournament. I'm happy with how I played and can't wait to start again on Monday Day 2A.

It's Main Event time baby

The WSOP is basically over. One more event remains. Of course, it's the main event, 10,000 buy in NL Texas Hold 'em. My guess for the number of players is 6865. I've had millions of questions from people about whether I'm buying in or not. I've alloted a certain percentage of my bankroll for the WSOP and early on, it wasn't looking so good. After that 11k cash though, I'm basically parlaying that into the main event. Aside from that, I really believe that I can play with anyone in the field. I really believe that I am fully capable of winning the event should luck fall my way. I also believe that to be as talented as I am and not be in the biggest poker tournament in the entire world is just not acting as if. I've just closed out an online month that is probably my 2nd best month ever (my best month is of course when I won the 100k tournament on Full Tilt). I'm playing with tons of confidence. I've had big wins on every site, and it's only proper if I go play a deep stacked no limit tournament for all the marbles. I probably wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't play in this event. It would be a complete waste. While 10,000 for one tournament is absolutely a ton of money, I can just as easily say I won 22k on Full Tilt and a WSOP seat in that main event. I can say I won a main event seat and 1700 in the 2k. I can say I won a main event seat in the Stars tourney. The only thing I haven't done is been on a list that says I won a seat. I'm planning on playing the Day 1A because I want to just relax for 3 days if I am going on, and I want to get over it quickly if I'm not moving on. All in all, I tried to always keep telling myself that the WSOP this year would define my career. When it was going bad, I was basically considering myself a failure. At the same time though, I was just winning big tournaments online where I started as a poker player. I've basically just learned to define my success by what shows up on the spreadsheet at the end of the day/month/year. I expected to have good shot at a bracelet and maybe that will have to wait, or maybe it's just a couple weeks away.......

No WSOP Success, Little Break

I've continued to have no WSOP success, and it's becoming more frustrating by the hour. Every time I check an update on one of the WSOP reporting sites and don't see my name I'm angry. I've had a few poor days online to top that all off. I've had a lot of bubbles and have made some mistakes that may be telling me it's time to refocus and get back on track. The next few days are probably a good time to take a break, play less or maybe something other than tournaments. I have had problems controlling my emotions late in these tournaments online lately. This is really something that comes and goes for me in the game of poker. When you are playing online, there really isn't anyone to hold anyone accountable for their actions or emotions. When playing a live event, I easily keep to myself because I don't want to be perceived as a loose cannon asshole that is inconsiderate of everyone around him. At home, only the dog really can see how I act aside from my roommate. My emotions can get to me at times. Emotions cloud judgment and lead to poor decisions.

One thing I think happens to me is after being successful online for consistent periods of time, I begin to lose focus. I forget everything that went into my success in previous weeks and months. To be successful in this game, you have to be a hard worker. It' s just like any other job. You have to study the game, study the players, study your mistakes, study your successes, study your crucial hands, study, study, study, and learn. You can't just rest on your laurels at any point because the game is always changing. There is always a new strategy to learn. Because the game is based on other human counterparts, there are infinite different strategies that must be employed at different times. Those that adapt and succeed will win. Adaptation must come both before and after success.

R.I.P. Tim Russert

Back in Action

Last week was another tough week at the WSOP, but I did get 2nd the Pokerstars Heads Up Matches Tournament. This tournament is one that I would have loved to win and I lost an AK vs K9 all in pre flop on the 3rd hand to cripple me after a J 10 x x 9 board. Yeah, it was an easy $11k river card to handle as that was the difference between first and second. Either way, I have just been crushing online and can keep playing some of these events at the WSOP. I think I'm playing the 1500 tomorrow or today, whenever you read this. I'll also be checking out the Venetian for the first time this week. Sorry I haven't been updating the blog, but I really want to report some good WSOP news rather than the WSOP blues.

WSOP hates me

I should seriously not play any more events or satellites. I'm 0/5.

And my satellites today were great.

Here is Stars

PokerStars Game #18011068415: Tournament #90909090, $615+$35 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (200/400) - 2008/06/08 - 21:10:04 (ET)
Table '90909090 16' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: RZombie (10150 in chips)
Seat 2: iacog4 (16505 in chips)
Seat 3: INDACO (20228 in chips)
Seat 4: jateekell (27402 in chips)
Seat 5: cosx*(ln5) (19985 in chips)
Seat 6: lotran (14695 in chips)
Seat 7: KBMoney (24372 in chips)
Seat 8: Javy28 (21710 in chips)
Seat 9: mrAndreeew (12482 in chips)
RZombie: posts the ante 50
iacog4: posts the ante 50
INDACO: posts the ante 50
jateekell: posts the ante 50
cosx*(ln5): posts the ante 50
lotran: posts the ante 50
KBMoney: posts the ante 50
Javy28: posts the ante 50
mrAndreeew: posts the ante 50
Javy28: posts small blind 200
mrAndreeew: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iacog4 [4c 4s]
RZombie: folds
iacog4: raises 650 to 1050
INDACO: folds
jateekell: raises 1750 to 2800
cosx*(ln5): folds
lotran: folds
KBMoney: folds
Javy28: folds
mrAndreeew: folds
iacog4: calls 1750
*** FLOP *** [4d Kd Kc]
iacog4: checks
jateekell: bets 4800
iacog4: raises 8855 to 13655 and is all-in
jateekell: calls 8855
*** TURN *** [4d Kd Kc] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [4d Kd Kc Ah] [Qh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
iacog4: shows [4c 4s] (a full house, Fours full of Kings)
jateekell: shows [Qd Qs] (a full house, Queens full of Kings)
jateekell collected 33960 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 33960 | Rake 0
Board [4d Kd Kc Ah Qh]
Seat 1: RZombie folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: iacog4 showed [4c 4s] and lost with a full house, Fours full of Kings
Seat 3: INDACO folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: jateekell showed [Qd Qs] and won (33960) with a full house, Queens full of Kings
Seat 5: cosx*(ln5) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: lotran folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: KBMoney (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Javy28 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: mrAndreeew (big blind) folded before Flop


Full Tilt:

Main Event Qualifier (49644708), Table 22 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:42:52 ET - 2008/06/08
Seat 1: CrazyZachary (13,926)
Seat 2: thugmoneymkr (54,980)
Seat 3: califorication- (7,485)
Seat 5: eisenhower1 (13,622)
Seat 6: jaywks (12,062)
Seat 7: kice32 (21,335)
Seat 8: ScoopAndStack (12,223)
Seat 9: Bonzo9876 (28,514)
CrazyZachary antes 75
thugmoneymkr antes 75
califorication- antes 75
eisenhower1 antes 75
jaywks antes 75
kice32 antes 75
ScoopAndStack antes 75
Bonzo9876 antes 75
kice32 posts the small blind of 300
ScoopAndStack posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kice32 [As Ks]
Bonzo9876 folds
CrazyZachary folds
thugmoneymkr folds
califorication- folds
eisenhower1 folds
jaywks folds
kice32 raises to 1,800
ScoopAndStack has 15 seconds left to act
ScoopAndStack raises to 12,148, and is all in
kice32 calls 10,348
ScoopAndStack shows [Qc Ad]
kice32 shows [As Ks]
*** FLOP *** [3d Ts Jd]
*** TURN *** [3d Ts Jd] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [3d Ts Jd 7c] [Kc]
ScoopAndStack shows a straight, Ace high
kice32 shows a pair of Kings
ScoopAndStack wins the pot (24,896) with a straight, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 24,896 | Rake 0
Board: [3d Ts Jd 7c Kc]
Seat 1: CrazyZachary folded before the Flop
Seat 2: thugmoneymkr folded before the Flop
Seat 3: califorication- folded before the Flop
Seat 5: eisenhower1 folded before the Flop
Seat 6: jaywks (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: kice32 (small blind) showed [As Ks] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 8: ScoopAndStack (big blind) showed [Qc Ad] and won (24,896) with a straight, Ace high
Seat 9: Bonzo9876 folded before the Flop

Full Tilt Poker Game #6748882185: Sunday Main Event Qualifier (49644708), Table 6 - 500/1000 Ante 125 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:10:26 ET - 2008/06/08
Seat 1: silverstarcap (69,990)
Seat 2: kice32 (12,062)
Seat 3: Kid31 (13,078)
Seat 4: MISSKATIE (31,142)
Seat 5: acewipe3 (29,104)
Seat 6: CrazyZachary (18,663)
Seat 7: Davidsky (12,195)
Seat 9: ElsjeM (14,260)
silverstarcap antes 125
kice32 antes 125
Kid31 antes 125
MISSKATIE antes 125
acewipe3 antes 125
CrazyZachary antes 125
Davidsky antes 125
ElsjeM antes 125
kice32 posts the small blind of 500
Kid31 posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kice32 [Qh Qc]
MISSKATIE folds
acewipe3 folds
CrazyZachary folds
acewipe3: nh
Davidsky raises to 12,070, and is all in
ElsjeM has 15 seconds left to act
ElsjeM folds
silverstarcap folds
kice32 calls 11,437, and is all in
Kid31 folds
Davidsky shows [Kd 8d]
kice32 shows [Qh Qc]
Uncalled bet of 133 returned to Davidsky
*** FLOP *** [8c 7c Jh]
*** TURN *** [8c 7c Jh] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [8c 7c Jh Td] [Kh]
Davidsky shows two pair, Kings and Eights
kice32 shows a pair of Queens
Davidsky wins the pot (25,874) with two pair, Kings and Eights
kice32 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 25,874 | Rake 0
Board: [8c 7c Jh Td Kh]
Seat 1: silverstarcap (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: kice32 (small blind) showed [Qh Qc] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 3: Kid31 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: MISSKATIE folded before the Flop
Seat 5: acewipe3 folded before the Flop
Seat 6: CrazyZachary folded before the Flop
Seat 7: Davidsky showed [Kd 8d] and won (25,874) with two pair, Kings and Eights
Seat 9: ElsjeM folded before the Flop

0/4

1500 shorthanded no limit went terrible. I went in with the mentality that I needed to win every pot and that was a bad idea.

I played the 2500 Stud Hi/Lo/Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or better mixed event and busted in the middle of level 6. I took a 10500 chip stack from the starting chip stack of 5000 into Level 5. My talbe draw kept getting worse all day long. Early on, I didn't recognize anyone but Bryan Devonshire and Shannon Elizabeth. By the time I left, seat 1 was an aggressive player, seat 2 Hoyt Corkins, seat 3 another pretty good player, seat 4 Bryan Devonshire, seat 5 David Sklansky, seat 6 tighter can't take a chip away from him guy seat 8 Nick Schulman. Easy to say that there aren't many slouches in our group. Then I have never been so cold in my entire life. It was scary. I don't think I played a hand of Stud Hi/Lo past 4th street and rarely up to that point. I had three low cards A63 together one time over the course of an hour and 40 minutes. In Omaha, I had AAK3 with spades against Hoyt Corkins AAQ3 after the 4 5 10s Qs and missed my big freeroll of the day. I really think I made one 800 mistake the whole tournament. Other than that, seeing flops for 800 with AAQ2 double suited and having the flop come 5 8 9 all spades (not my suit) 5 8 gets expensive. The WSOP has just gone terribly so far. The structures are all pretty much a joke for the buy in because so many people are playing events. I'm in a disappointed mood right now because nothing has gone right in 4 events. I don't know my next event. It might be No Limit 2500 on Saturday. If not, I probably won't be playing until Tuesday or Wednesday because there are no events I want to play Sunday or Monday.

Some thoughts on what's ahead

I’m on a plane back from Chicago to Las Vegas as I write this, and I can’t help but feel a whirlwind of emotions. While my sad emotions of leaving my girlfriend for another period of time are swarming in my heart, the excitement of the biggest stage for poker and the biggest events of the year for every poker player await me in Las Vegas. I remember blogging a few months back about how it truly was crunch time for me in my poker career. After a truly disheartening, stressful, frustrating start to my professional poker experiment, I made a declaration that I had to start getting it done. Since then I’ve won two major weekend online tournaments for my 2^nd and 3^rd largest wins along with beating out a field of 2800+ players on a Sunday and making my second WPT final table at the biggest buy in final table of my career. While a 6^th place finish was disappointing, it made me hungry. It made me see that I can play with anyone, adapt my strategy as such and that my mental prowess applied just like it has my entire life. Now I’m on the brink of a two month period with a comfortable bankroll that I can play a schedule of events giving me plenty of opportunities to win a World Series of Poker bracelet, the most prestigious prize of all in poker. It’s really a difficult feeling to explain to anyone family or friends unless you are in the same situation. I took a huge risk very early after college that most people in this world would never take. I believed in myself and despite challenges along the way, I have succeeded thus far.

One of the hardest parts about being in my situation is wondering what I’m going to do next, something that is both destructive to my morale and drive to succeed. Instead of thinking how I will succeed, I’ve felt I’ve almost put a burden on loved ones, family and friends for my unconventional path to wealth. I’ve almost always thought about what I do next. Do I go back to school? Won’t it be hard to get a job? What will potential employers think about poker? Who would hire me? How can I prove that I’ve always had what it takes, the work ethic, brain power, and drive to become the cream of the crop? Should I just go teach, so I can play poker at the WSOP in the summer? When am I going to start my business? I’ve had countless unsettling dreams about what my future will hold, and this uncertainty is both exciting and tough to deal with. I remember telling some of my friends that the worst part about making the decision to play poker professionally was having to spend probably 14 days a year of my life explaining to friends, family and people I meet how I am successful, how what I do is legitimate, and how I am still deep in my heart of all hearts trying to be a great person along the way. Living in Las Vegas has been interesting and it’s probably apparent to me by now that it won’t be my lifelong residence, but I do love the idea of being out here for all the big tournaments for those months of the year.

I really feel in a lot of ways like a professional athlete competing every day and trying to always improve and get better. Maybe that is why poker is a spectacle on ESPN because people learn personalities and players develop fans, there is trash talk and excitement around big final tables. You obviously can’t be 400 pounds and grossly unhealthy and succeed in sports like you can in poker, but competition is fierce and the stakes are high.

It’s been a random tangent of emotions, but something that is really honest and from the heart. As far as my schedule for the WSOP, I’ll be sticking to the smaller buy in events early on and expect to play the 1500 and 2000 NL Hold em events. I’m thinking about the PL Hold em 1500 event tomorrow as my first event because I’m just that excited to play some live poker and be at the Rio around all the excitement. I want to play 1 or 2 HORSE events and probably 1 Pot Limit Omaha event. I won’t be playing any Omaha Hi/Lo events because I don’t like playing that game that much or Limit Hold ‘em as I’d rather watch the grass I don’t have grow than play those games. I may play 1 Stud Hi event and 1 Stud Hi/Lo event, but a lot of my schedule will depend on the bankroll I am planning to allot to the Series. On top of that, I know there are some great structured events at Bellagio, Caesar’s and Venetian and getting away from the Rio might be a good idea. I’ll keep the blog updated as I go through here and hope to have exciting news along the way. Wish me luck!