Massive Coaching....

Considering doing a massive coaching session where tons of people are sweating my play for an hour or two.. something to that extent, I don't wanna do free (would rather do discounted reeeeeal low.. although it could happen, will depend on interest whether or not it runs at all) Post in the comments with suggestions/whether or not you're interested..

PLO Schedule...

Going to be playing PLO on each of these days: (and it will likely be full ring for January until their Happy Hour promo expires) in order to take full advantage of the Happy Hour promo Stars has... (which they neglected to do for SNG players)

January 2-8: 04:00 ET
January 9- 15: 10:00 ET
January 16-22: 16:00 ET
January 23-29: 22:00 ET

Good luck to those who have set their goals and those who still have to finish them up! I'm going to be updating the blog as I add/remove/hit new goals during 2012 - I'm really excited about my targets so far...

New Watch!!!

I'm making this post so I don't forget this new goal/reward I want... Nothing too interesting for readers..

Goal is to spend less than $50,000 in total next year on everything...

Reward is to get myself a new watch with whatever the difference is... Instead of focusing on making more money next year, which I intend to do regardless of some trivial reward, I'll reward myself for conserving what I have, which I think is a far more difficult to task...

Pokerstars could make some changes..

These are just some suggestions I came up with after talking with a few buddies/thinking some things over... They may not be feasible, if you have an opinion I'd love to hear it... I'll be the first to admit that a lot of the players I've had huge edges on I no longer have an edge on at all...

Changes that I believe need to be implemented soon relative to SNG's on Pokerstars:
1. The lobbies for 18 player and 45 player lobbies need to be shown with the player names, (may as well include 180s) similar to HU/6m/9m sngs - these games now need to be table selected, they're tougher

2. The filter system for SNG's and probably for cash needs improving - we need to be able to save filters to quickly move through lobbies as well as filter certain game types out more effectively that we don't play - certain players play all game types except 18s... or all game types except hu... and a better method of filtering game types out/saving filters would improve the ability to load/maintain tables which is crucial for sustaining something close to our hourly in light of how tough games are getting..

3. Note system could use another color tab - The more in depth we can go with the notes and the quicker we can read them, the more we can preserve our edge..

4. Rake needs to actually drop - I'm aware how this negatively affects your bottom line, but to advertise games on your site they need to be beatable for a sustainable win rate, if the top winning regulars on your site are making less money because of the deterioration/toughness of the games, it seems part of that needs to be absorbed by the poker site..

5. This isn't me complaining, I win and make money, this is me making an effort to preserve the integrity of the game, if mediocre players are just lighting their rolls on fire and strong players are only surviving, the game won't last long...

6. Regulars need to start table selecting... THIS IS FREE ADVICE... stop playing in games and stop ruining games that are/won't be beatable or will hardly be beatable, you hurt me, yourself, and all other regs in the game unnecessarily...

7. I may be completely discontinuing coaching soon in light of this.. And I may get flamed for posting this but w.e. lol

Rant over...

Time Off...

Going to be taking the 22nd (yesterday) to the 29th away from the tables to visit family in San Diego. This likely means studying my play a lot as well as some quality food and relaxation... I hope everyone is doing well - Here's a picture of the view...



Oh and it wasn't me that set this up - So thanks Mom/Dad and I hope everyone enjoys their holidays, Good luck :)

2011 Recap and 2012 Goals...

As the title may suggest - I've completed my goals with respect to 2011 and poker - Supernova Elite status, one of my goals since December of 2009, has finally been reached. It feels a little weird more than anything else to accomplish something I've been working toward for so long - I expected a feeling of relief, of satisfaction, of something good, but instead I'm left with this awkward feeling - like something I've pushed towards is now out of the way and I don't know whats on the other side... On the other hand I am happy that next year's chase will be an easier one - My bankroll can sustain the swings of just about any SNG I choose to play, and I have the confidence to jump into any of those games as long as I feel I have an edge and gamble it up!! I accomplished a good bit this year, even a little bit more than I would have guessed at the end of 2010...

2011 Poker Accomplishments -
-Supernova Elite Status
-2 Live NLHE Final Tables, resulting in 1 WSOP Circuit Ring from STL
-Significantly raising my Average Buy In (ABI for poker players)
-Adjusted/beat STT's both 6 and 9 max

That pretty much sums up 2011 with respect to poker, but looking toward 2012 is what I'm excited about and looking forward to! One of the primary things I look for in anything I do is development. I never want to be in the same place for long and I always want to be moving forward, that being said Supernova Elite is Pokerstars highest VIP status, and simply getting more VPP's next year, although it would mean more money, would leave me relatively empty if it were the sole feat for 2012. For this reason my VIP goals for 2012 will be simple - Maintain/achieve Supernova Elite status again. Once we step away from the VIP program - we can focus on what I'm excited about, balance...

2011 basically saw me neglect my health, my diet, and my exercise in the pursuit of VPP's. Now that my average buyin is much higher - and I have a much better understanding of what it takes to obtain Supernova Elite status, I feel much more prepared for the grind, and feel I will accomplish it with much more free time throughout the year. This time will not be spent watching television, playing video games, or sleeping, instead it will be spent focusing on those three very important aspects of my life. As a poker player, my typical routine (when I don't have my girlfriend over, or get hammered with my brother and co..) involves waking up at 9am, brushing my teeth, throwing on sweats, and stumbling to my grind station prior to eating... I will then sit there, sometimes until 3-9pm depending on how I feel before eating anything, and then (in pain) migrate to the fridge and consume everything I can.. Then, depending on the time, I migrate back to the grind station where I play until an hour or so before I go to sleep, when I eat for the second time and wind down with studying my play or watching half of a movie... Sooooooo, as you can see, I don't move around much, and hitting the gym daily doesn't exactly count as exercise, its more like catching up on the movement a normal person has that I just don't.. In addition to focusing on improving my health, 2012 will also see me shift one day a week to MTT's, as I believe that playing a variety of games not only will improve my play, but will also reduce the monotony that comes with grinding the same games with the same regulars day in and day out. The last adjustment to my grind schedule will be phasing an additional day out of SNG's and into PLO (Pot-Limit Omaha) cash games. The reason for this is the same as the ones above, but its also because I want to continue to develop and grow as a poker player, and I feel that learning the other poker games is a much better way for me to do that than earning an extra 1,000,000 VPP's. I feel the reward from learning and beating PLO will be much greater, and the demand on my time and monotony of the challenge will pale in comparison, making it (at least for me) a very superior option. This will be my primary focus for 2012 aside from the 1,000,000 VPP's for reaching Supernova Elite once.

2012 Poker Goals -
-Supernova Elite
-Dedicate Sundays to MTT's
-Dedicate Thursdays/Happy Hour days to PLO and Get better at it with Push
-Hit the Gym every day, to run or lift
-Play the WSOP Main Event
-Help Nick/Brandon (Frenzuh/Mazurite) achieve their poker goals in 2012 as I can
-Update my blog every Thursday
-Spend less than $50,000

That pretty much sums up my goals for poker during 2012 - My dedication to the game will remain the same, I'll still be playing seven days a week with very few days off (0 unless I'm puking and missing a Canucks game, something I managed to do in 2011..) unless I'm travelling somewhere... Going to try and spend more time with my brother and his fiance as well as focus on my relationship with my girlfriend... Beyond that I wish all of you the best with completing your goals in 2011, and good luck at the tables and with whatever you pursue in 2012!!!

VPP Update..

Well as the post described - not too much has happened... spent a couple of nights out with some friends, had some drinks and partied... Life has been good, and as a result I've been spending time away from grinding - Currently sitting at 942k VPP's - So definitely starting to taste the finish line....

Currently breakeven this month in terms of game profit -

VPP's - not enough...

Too much fun..

Well, as the title suggests I haven't exactly been pressing the grind too hard lately... After having a good night out with some poker buddies and the girl friend I decided to take the following day off... and then had my Grandfather and his wife in town tonight - which again led me to taking some time out of my schedule... I don't regret any of it, it just means that I'll have to work that much harder during December to close SNE out before the 22nd...

November recap -

110k VPP's

20k Game profit...

December Goals

80k VPP's (Reach SNE)

Breakeven... (I may be playing a few higher buyin games throughout the month in an attempt to close)

And Now Its a Sprint!!!!

Ok we just rounded the 900k marker - so we only have 100k to go!! Feels like I've been at this for forever, because the first time I actively went after this was in January of 2010 - Sooo it isn't really a one year goal that I am finally completing, its something I've had in mind/pursued for two years!! I'm not going to say its a lock - because some freak thing could happen where I brick - but if anyone wants to bet against me hitting it I'd lay some decent odds :)! I'm still running pretty well, and hopefully that continues throughout the rest of my chase... Beyond that I've been starting a few new horses/students, so if you fall into either category feel free to message me and we'll work something out!

Stats this month without rakeback...

bigbluffzinc 2,581$7 $81 7%$18,294 -N/APokerStars11/1/2011 11/23/2011x

Update...

Still running really well - Went through some $500 flips last night with another reg with the plan that it was game over when one of us is stuck 1k - I ran good after a series of PLO battles and managed to take down the thousand dollar prize after yelling at my computer like it made a difference.... It definitely spiced up my 2am compared to the norm...

The run good/playing well has continued since my last post - so the grind has been pretty easy relative to dealing with grinding long hours while tanking 4 figures day in and day out.... Hope everyone is doing well - As always hit me up for coaching/staking if you need it - Good luck!

Currently at 885,000 VPPS - Still a good bit to go!

Staying motivated....

Probably going to be updating fairly frequently while I finish Supernova Elite to stay motivated to get it done! Currently sitting at 871k VPP's - so 129k to go, and I'd like it completely finished before I leave BC and head back to the US for Christmas on the 22nd. In order to pull that off I think I need around 3500 VPP's per day no breaks, which shouldn't be too tough to of a target for me to hit.

Beyond that things have been going well on the tables, and I'm up a solid bit this month pre rakeback. I'm contemplating whether or not to attend PCA and atm it seems like its going to be a no, as I think I'd rather just hit Vegas with a bigger roll. (I also heard PCA was a pretty steep field in terms of how tough it gets relative to Vegas, if this isn't true please correct me) Beyond that if anyone reading this is in need of a stake, due to relocating or otherwise... hit me up and we'll see if we can work something out.. I've worked things out with a couple other guys with no problems so let me know :)

November Summary:

55,100 VPP's (Aka about 10k in rake paid with me getting back about 1/2 of it)

$14,782 Game Profit

Bonuses $680 from BOP leaderboards

Coaching - Horses gotta hit me up, but I've made myself available this month so all good!

Update..

As per usual I've been lazy with updating the blog, and in line with that is my obvious excuse that I've just been busy.. The combination of September and October were my two worst months ever playing SNG's... I won't get into exactly how bad it was pre rakeback - but I will say that the two months combined I broke even after rakeback.. it was frustrating/challenging and overall a complete piss off losing day in and day out - In addition to that, recent months have been my most challenging when dealing with tilt.

Tilt is something that throughout my poker career I have had an extremely strong handle on, so why is it that in recent months, where my game/mental game should be at their peak, I'm struggling more than ever? Well, I'm fairly confident that the culprit is the sliding buyin scale I have relative to other players... Its very frustrating to look at my results below $299 and see that I'm up a really hefty amount of money over the last month or two, and see that I'm running slightly above ev for a few bb's.... And then to look at the same results in 300-2k's and see that for every big blind I've won, I'm a BB below ev... Its just not the same thing as grinding nothing but $15 and $30 sng's when my lowest buyin can be $30 and my highest in the same day can be $2000.

With Christmas approaching, high stakes getting tougher with regs finishing their respective SNE quests, and my sanity being valuable - I think I'll be on hiatus in high stakes games until January...

VPP total - 858,000

Coaching - Right where I'm comfortable with it being given I still need about 140,000 VPP's

Staking - Going very well, a lot of my horses are killing it :)

Yeah its been forever...

I haven't updated in such a long time, not because I've been busy - more because I've just been lazy... The primary reason for updating now is Pokerstars having some issues with their software, which is temporarily causing me to be unable to login/play... As far as a recap is concerned - August went really well, and September is going really badly :) . I'm not complaining about September, August was too good - it just is what it is.

Regarding my pursuit of SNE, I should be able to pull it off without having to do anything stupid like 20 tabling + 1k's and below, I should be able to just hit it going at the pace I've been, currently sitting on just about 650k VPP's, which is still technically behind pace, but nothing to be concerned about.

Beyond that everything has just been pretty standard, so good luck at the tables... (Blog you should follow here..)

Coming back...

Been awhile since my last blog post, which is good and bad.. The reason I haven't been updating is because I've been Florida, and for 9 days have been unable to grind on Pokerstars, nothing compared to what a ton of players have gone through, but still a pain in the ass... Anyway, being away from the game has felt really good and spending time with my siblings/parents has been refreshing - I've been spending a lot of my nights studying, and feel like I've improved a lot more being forced to take a week off than I would had I remained where I was and continued grinding... Oftentimes its exceptionally difficult to objectively approach something while we are involved with it - I.e. studying effectively can be challenging when we're in the middle of running good or bad, because our emotions will either be hot or cold due to the result of the day, and we may or may not rationalize plays that should or shouldn't be rationalized... But when we really step away from what we're doing, to the point that we have almost no connection at all (Not playing) there is no result to distort our perception and we can truly and effectively study.

I'll be back to the tables on either the 24th or the 25th, depending on whether I take Sunday off after travelling all day.. Looking forward to grinding, although I'll definitely miss the family and the vacation....

Good luck to those grinding while I'm away!

A little discipline..

It's been awhile since I updated here, so should probably go ahead and do that :) As is usually the case with my absence of posts, I've been running bad and playing worse... I'm starting to get back on track now which feels awesome, but this only occurred after analyzing where I was blowing away my chips... The leak wasn't at 10/20, or 200/400 (for those who play SNG's and know what I mean), the leak was after I had been playing continuously for five hours... after playing 10-15 tables, and table selecting aggressively for about five hours, my play turns to shit. I noticed myself doing things that made no sense, I saw plays that were obviously bad and found that they were almost all taking place towards the middle/end of my day. The last few SnG's were fine, as when I'm 2-5 tabling my last couple games I'm able to regain focus and just try to end strong... But during my first 5 hours my play is much stronger, so it seems I'm going to HAVE to get up earlier, and break my play into 2 blocks. The first block will obviously last 5 hours, from 8am to 1pm - after which I intend to take a 75 minute break until 2 15 to do whatever I want, before loading again and ending the second session at about 5 30. In order to do this I think I'll probably have to make the latest time I go to sleep midnight, as I hate working all day on less than 8 hours of sleep, and I usually get 9. Supernova Elite is becoming more of a prospect, and I'm start to make some adjustments to my playing schedule to make it a more realistic possibility before November 1st. The first adjustment is cutting out MTT's for the rest of the year, this means missing WCOOP and Sunday MTT's.... Doing this could very well be -ev tbh, but it should probably be close enough that I don't really care that much.. I'm well into 400k VPP's now, and I've been playing MTT's every Sunday throughout the year and played a ton of MTT's during SCOOP - I am taking a vacation in July which will cut into grind time, but I went to STL so those two should balance out.... Anyway enough ranting, getting a little tired and wanna relax before getting back into it tomorrow...

Weeee...

Starting to climb back into profit, things have been going well for me the past week... Unfortunately it seems I won't be headed to Vegas at all this year, buuuut that just means I'll be grinding online a lot and putting up some decent numbers (hopefully) with some of the regs out for the WSOP :)

Vancouver...

Soooo the Canucks lost, and Vancouver rioted... I don't think the second in light of the first should surprise anyone, although its certainly obvious it "shouldn't" have happened... Vancouver woke up at 7 am the morning after the Canucks defeat (and shortly after the riot) to clean up downtown, not that the good comes close to outweighing the bad, but you gotta give credit where its due imo....

I run bad... horses run good...

As poorly as I'm doing, my horses are doing that much better... for every SNG I lose it seems Maz and BPP slam dunk, Push has nearly taken what I've lost playing MTT's and won the same amount... These guys both deserve it, because as far as I can tell they have sick work ethics... Beyond that I'm a touch drunk, some of my action is available for those able to invest/interested, thanks and gl at the tables!

MY ACTION HERE

Rough time of it again...

Been getting a little murdered lately - I've been putting in a ton of work with my game, and I'm exceptionally confident that I'm getting smacked by variance... I've made some mistakes, but no one plays perfectly - Hopefully the run bad ends sooner than later, but till then there's nothing to do but ship it in, cross my fingers.... aaaaaand pray :)

Crushed the SNG Leaderboards...

As per the title, I had a really solid week with respect to the SNG Leaderboards, finishing 1st and 4th in the Jupiter board, ($300 and above SNG's) and 3rd and 8th in the Saturn Leaderboards ($100-$300 SNG's). The result was a hefty $3050 in bonuses for the week, which is obviously a pretty nice pickup. I've been putting in a lot of volume lately, much more than is my standard, and I've been doing the same with studying. I've been managing my time much more efficiently and have also spent a good amount of time reading Outliers, a book suggested from one of my business partners. The book has really helped influence my work ethic, and is something I highly recommend to those who have not yet read it. Managing my time efficiently has also been something I've been improving - as well as hitting the gym a few times a week... Good luck at the tables :)

Finally back on track...

Things have been going my way for the month of May... I've been putting in a lot of volume with coaching/studying/playing - and its been paying off.. I'm really pleased with where things are at regarding the balance in my life - how much I go out with respect to how much I work and sleep, I'm normally terrible at one of those but at the moment I'm pretty happy with where everything's at. It's been a month or two since I really put a lot of work into improving my own game, and I like a lot of the doors that have been opened in my head with regards to my thought process in certain spots and identifying aspects of my opponents games. I'm looking to keep putting in work and *hopefully* putting up more big months in SNG's..

Username	Games Played	Av. Profit	Av. Stake	Av. ROI	Total Profit	Form	Ability /100	Network	Filter
bigbluffzinc	1,518	$9	$71	16%	$12,979	-	N/A	PokerStars	5/1/2011 5/27/2011 SNG Only	x

Momentum...

Finally started getting things going, I hate getting staked because of how much money it costs me.. but it really does spur my motivation when all i have to do is play.. if I pound the numbers I get paid in rakeback, whatever profit comes is a bonus. This mindset ultimately leads me to play infinitely better, because all I'm trying to do is play, I don't care about anything else at all.... That being said, once I gather some momentum I really need to discontinue the stakes as they are exceptionally expensive. I'm not trying to slow down my grind at all, so I have the daily VPP target set to something reasonable, 3500. This number isn't anywhere near SNE pace, but its enough VPP's that I can play a decent amount and then decide if I want to play MTT's the rest of the day, or take some time off.. For those that don't know, I play 7 days a week. I really don't take any full days off, so setting the daily goal to something I can manage while still being able to go out and do something else is pretty important. I also changed my avatar to the Juggernaut, which is a fictional character whose more or less unstoppable as long as he can move and gather momentum. Whatever small reminder I have to continue playing and not slow down is obviously +ev, and now that I'm winning again - I have no intention of slipping back, so its about time you started fuckin' game selecting again..

Results for the last week in SnG's...

bigbluffzinc

624

$11

$86

20%

$6,802

-

N/A

PokerStars

<1Wk SNG Only

x

Pokerstars continues to adjust the lobby...

Pokerstars has continued working on the SNG lobby with respect to buyins and rake, I'm really happy with the rounded buyins again... ($100 even instead of $107.65, etc) I have't done any calculations with respect to rake, I'm sure James will come up with a post addressing it, as he's done one with most of their changes to this point.

On a side note, I've been getting in a ton of volume again since getting staked... it just provides me with peace of mind and allows me to play a better game with more volume ... Its so much easier when winning and losing doesn't impact your bankroll, its expensive.. but the peace is worth it...

AHA!!!

I love these moments, there the ones that make everything seem so simple... They can challenge things that we previously accepted, but the most important thing about the "aha" moment, is that from then on things tend to get a little better... These moments take place in poker somewhat frequently because we spend so much of our time studying, (in some way or another) and lately a huge amount of my attention has been devoted to the mental game of poker. (See Jared Tendler)

First, let me identify what exactly took place to bring me to my inspiring revelation.. I was laying in bed at 4 in the morning, which is equivalent to most people's 3:00 in the afternoon for my sleep schedule (I woke up around 7 pm my time), and began sifting through blogs/articles/other random shit that was related to the concept of motivation. After rifling around for around an hour, (I was trying to take a nap but was failing miserably, I know I work too hard) I came across Nanonoko's blog... There was a video, (heres the link) which completely shattered a lot of useless habits I have with respect to poker. Most of the video is arbitrary commentary, but if you fast-forward it to 7:03, he described the most important quality necessary to obtain the success he has through the methods he has, his work ethic. As you can tell by mid afternoon nap, this is an area I'm lacking. It's not that I don't work more than most people my age, (or most people in general) its the timid nature that I can often approach my work with thats the problem. This is the annoying feeling a lot of grinders get that lead them to play stakes much lower than they are qualified to play (ultimately killing their hourly), that get them to quit their sessions early, (see killing hourly), or get them to get so frustrated with their play they take time off to regroup and focus on what's been going on (...see killing hourly...). "Believe in what you do, do it well, do it hard..." Those eleven words, (I may have miscounted because as most poker players, I'm terrible at math) led me to the King Kong feeling of revelation, aha!!! Having faith that you have the right answers, or at least enough right answers to make money at the level you really should be playing at... and that those right answers will be realized in the long run is crucial to maximizing our success as poker players or individuals in any industry. I'm not saying honest personal evaluation isn't useful or necessary, but I think a lot (especially mid-low stakes players) overdo it, and don't give themselves enough credit. Have faith that what you're doing has a positive expectation, do it well, and just keep doing it! (See aha...)

Grind On....

Push it, push it, push it.... When we lose, our motivation gets sapped, when we breakeven, our motivation slowly dissipates, and when we win huge.... we wanna take a break and enjoy the fruits of our labor, it makes for a lackadaisical lifestyle. Recognizing that I'm slowing down, and using that to propel me forwards is almost enough, when its not... It just means its time to put the grind music on 24/7 and get it done..

Pokerstars made a couple changes...

Aight so by now most grinders not living under a rock, and therefore not reading this... are aware of the changes Pokerstars has implemented with respect to SNG's and their tournament lobby. For those unaware of the changes, they can be found here . Now, first I'll go into what I think of the respective changes for the general population, and then how they affect me. First, there has been a ton of slamming going on with respect to how the changes affect low-medium staked grinders, and even further talk about the games being nearly unbeatable. This isn't the case, period. If someone does think the new rake structure has made a Multi-table SnG that was previously beatable for a modest living, (i.e. anywhere from $5 to $50) we can come up with a prop bet... I do not think all of the changes were good for all of the low-mid stakes games, but those games didn't need changes to begin with.... with the exception of the 16's and the ridiculous amount of EV they carried for having such low rake. Epitomised has a table which can be viewed here, summarizing the different changes to the games. If I remember correctly there are three levels which saw an increase to rake, and it was by a marginal enough amount that the games are still healthy and beatable. With respect to what they've done above low-mid stakes, I don't think anyone can complain, as the rake has dropped. It wasn't earth shattering, it wasn't mind blowing... It was what you should expect, a slight adjustment to help winning players maintain a win rate in games that were getting extremely tough. I may get flamed for this response, which is fine.. but no one like money being taken out of their pocket, so I expect most players who spend their time grinding the games that were affected to be in utter shock and totally pissed... Which given the earlier promise of "rake reduction", is probably warranted. For some grinders rake went up, but I genuinely believe that in the 16's it had to, and in the other games its understandable.

The new structure and how I think it will affect grinders. Well, this is simple.. for grinders like myself, my boy Push , or the super sicko doctor Immekus , life is good.. Why, because we play less tables and won't have any problem adjusting to changing blind levels... However, for those players playing more tables, this is obviouisly bad. More blind levels means a different basic set of decisions for each level.. which further complicates things for the 40 tabler, whether its favorable to fish due to the timebank issue or not remains to be seen, but I'll take the drop in rake for losing a blind level... Cheers and good luck!

Don't... stop.... moving....

Finally started to gather some momentum and get things going in the right direction, its so crucial to just hammer away at times like this and not get comfortable and slow down... When its easy to find the motivation we need to pursue whatever goals we may have, its imperative to capitalize. Opportunities to succeed are what we make of them, if we squander them away then we have only ourselves to blame, likewise when we succeed... gonna try to play a ton!!!

I am so lazy...

Well, my last post was trying to motivate myself.. and since then I think I've played an astounding 10 sngs... (Guesstimate) I had a slight problem with my sleeping pattern which I corrected, I was waking up somewhere between 5 and 6 pm, and when I went out was basically having beer and hamburgers for breakfast.. This caused me to stay up for around 30'ish hours without sleep (during this time I elected not to playing as without a supplement like adderall you're likely dead money) so excluding this stint I don't know exactly how lazy I've been... I spent a decent amount of time playing with wordpress and talking to Matt Geer about internet marketing and motivation, which may not be quantifiable but is certainly still +ev... I'm looking to put in some more volume now, but since I started writing this things haven't really been going my way.. Oh well, head up nose down...

Just keep pluggin...

It doesn't take much more than a person with sharkscope to know that I'm on a pretty awful downswing (something like 15k).. when variance kicks in hard like this playing is generally speaking one of the last things I want to do.. the first and second day I want to play more, because I'm trying to get to even or ahead of whatever I lost that day/the day prior.. But once we've gone beyond the first two days finding the motivation to continue gets a little tougher when every light call stares at the nuts, every 70-30 run's out bad, 80-20's seem like flips and when people look like their drawing dead to a flopped flush they back door a boat.. I could probably sit here and continue the rant for a week (This is the biggest downswing of my career so I could literally harp forever) But I think the best medicine is a little bit of

this..

with a bit of this

Time to quit bitchin' and get my head up... blame ME for the variance, review MY game, fix MY mistakes, take MY variance and minimize it.. take RESPONSIBILITY for where things are at, everyone knows I do it when I'm winning, so there's no reason to do anything else when I'm losing - Winning's a choice, sometimes it just takes a little time for the graph (and the bank account) to realize it...

Took a day off...

Took the day to hang out with my brother, visit downtown and enjoy a few drinks... Wound up sleeping at his place and waking up at my usual time, which is about 3 in the afternoon... Gotta work on fixing these sleeping habits as well, as it makes grinding Sunday MTT's impossible and tends to lead me to having beer, hamburgers, and french fries for breakfast at around 6pm...

Beyond all of this I fully intend to put in a decent session today (which I'm in the middle of while completing this...) As always, gl at the tables :)

Pokerstars to adjust SNG rake in May..

Title pretty much says it all, Pokerstars is doing a restructuring/rake review of the SNG's they provide. This has been a much needed and will be a much appreciated adjustment, described in detail here....

I've talked to several poker players regarding their goals post Black Friday, and as expected nearly everyone has shifted their position. The general consensus seems to be that the compromises required to attain Supernova Elite no longer justify the end result. The effort, be it adjusting game selection in order to reach volume, changing a schedule that works to play during new peak hours, and simply the amount of time it will take to attain Supernova Elite have all gone up, balancing these new hurdles against what was already a daunting task seems more and more difficult to justify... I personally haven't yet decided, but I'm certainly interested to see if any adjustment (similar to what they've done with rake when it no longer seemed logical) will come about :)

Daily Summary...

To keep myself motivated, I'm going to try to update at least once every day or two with whats happened at the tables since my previous update...

I played 62 SnG's/Donkaments and lost $562... not to bad, not great but its nothing to complain about, I wanted to play 100 but it actually is work to try and play 100 games, sometimes I was just 5 tabling for a really long time with table ninja running on auto pilot for 38+ 18s and 9 mans.. Updating my blog more/eating and exercising were all accomplished today, so I feel good about that :)

Black Friday...

Well I haven't updated this since FTP/PS removed themselves from the US market thanks to a "nudge" from the FBI, but now that things have settled a bit (from a Non - US perspective) and Stars has continued providing all the services it was prior (with the games running less frequently/less high, natural due to the volume drop) I've decided to pretty much pick up where I left off prior.. What this means in a nutshell is continuing everything and in fact more actively pursuing certain aspects of my career, slowing down just because I lost a considerable amount of money (those that know me know both how much and where the loss came from) isn't really an option. I've outlined several goals for myself in light of the game changes that have taken place and the new bankroll that I have to work with.

-Update my blog more regularly, to what extent I'm unsure but this shouldn't be difficult regardless
-Play a minimum of 100 tournaments per day, (3000/month) this should keep me within reach of SNE if high stakes action returns to the extent it was before
-Exercise once/day, I don't really care how I do it or what I'm doing, but something active once per day, I'm going to wither away if all I do is sit here...
-Eat 3 meals/day, this sounds terrible to some people, because you're supposed to eat 5-6 smaller meals.. but to be honest some days I eat once, its so easy for me to sit down and work/play (whatever you wanna call it) until I go to sleep, and when I get up I'm starving, eat a meal and pass out... It doesnt take a genius to know this is terrible for me, but I'm working on it lol..
-Continue staking with the adjustment that profit chops get pushed more, having my funds tied up in other players leads to me having more online than I need to

As always good luck, I won't advise table selecting this time, if you do its gonna be hard to get in volume :)

Playing a little live....

So after more or less being on the fence about heading to St. Louis, (really last minute decision) I opted to go and play in some of the live circuit events that were taking place... A lot of you know that I won my first circuit ring, and had a 3rd place finish in another event, but for those that don't those were the results. Live play goes a lot deeper than online play, and I was really disappointed with my play after winning the ring.. I got really sloppy in a lot of spots, played tired, played hungover, and in general made some decisions that likely won't be often repeated.. But it was a learning experience, and one that had a pretty sick monetary reward, so I'm 100% happy about the fact that I decided to go. (My Dad came out for the main event which was pretty clutch, as I haven't seen him since early January)

I haven't been online much at all and will begin pounding volume again tomorrow, the 14th. I'm taking today off, travelling for an eternity again only to arrive and party until I pass out... I met some interesting people during my exploits in St. Louis, Phil and Mizz (Caleb) stood out, and Kyle (winner of the main event) was obviously a sicko... Hopefully I'm able to meet up with some of these guys in June/Vegas, anyway I'm tired as hell, haven't slept and I'm stuck in an airport, so I doubt this was coherent but it was my best attempt at an update before I get back to work, good luck at the tables..

St. Louis luckbox...

Head up nose down...

Been busting my ass this month trying to hit my VPP goal of 120k VPP's... To be honest I thought it would be a lot easier than it is, because some days I earn as much as 8k VPP's... but the bottom line is that 1k's don't always run, and if they run with 8/9 regs, I ain't jumpin in... I'm still really motivated to grind, (made infinitely easier by the fact that there are a group of sicko workaholics who grind almost as much as me on call whenever I play) but I need to ramp it up a little at some point because I can tell I won't be able to keep this pace for the entire year... I've cut MTT's from my regular daily grind, the added variance just isn't what I need while I continue adjusting to a really high buyin grind schedule... Sunday will now be the only day I grind anything MTT related, and even that will be MTT light/SNG heavy....

Cash... starting to get into it more and more, I've been splashing around quite a bit and will likely begin to focus my efforts here as time goes on... The only other thing to add prior to drifting into sleep is that I'm hitting St. Louis with another online player, Frenzuh. Should be pretty sick as his MTT game is definitely stronger than mine, and undoubtedly I'll be able to glean some things that will improve my play... (Which happens to be pretty fuckin good in case you wanted coaching, sick plug I know...) peace

Grinding through the swings...

Swinging and variance are the most challenging aspects of poker, because its those two facets of the game that can lead players to grind games that may not have a positive expectation... All the while grinding away patiently expecting variance to carry them into the black, this same variance can also drive players with a positive expectation out of games they really should be playing, and into games with a lower return. After having a losing month in January, which was difficult... I started to question my game and the foundation I've built up to this point, and then there's an upswing in February leaving me feeling like a champ... only to be humbled once again as February closes and March begins with the biggest downswing of my career.... Honest personal evaluation is an integral part to our success in the real world, but in the poker world if you can't do that you'll be broke so quickly Stars wouldn't bother giving you a screen name...

Keep on pushing....

This is gonna be a short post, as I'm trying to minimize my computer time when I'm not grinding, but I'm transitioning into grinding the 100-1k SnG's nicely.... Looking back at the .10 cent games I was grinding in November 2009 this is a pretty epic change, and hopefully it continues to work out for the best :)

February Recap:
-Break into the 565's - Done, I've been grinding 1k's
-Volume of 2500 Games - Fail, I played just below 2000
-Coaching - I'm fine with this slacking a bit as long as I'm grinding instead

My goals for March include:

-2250 Tournaments (A compromise)
-Stick to a budget (sort of)
-110k VPP's
-Update the blog a little more
-Win the Sunday Million :)

Aight, so its been a minute....

Hey guys, haven't updated in forever, despite several requests to do so I've just been hitting volume pretty hard, moving around... and all in all trying to get life shit done. December wrapped up pretty well and I had no complaints business wise, although my personal life went through a pretty tumultuous time. January saw some challenging living conditions with respect to volume, sleeping on my brothers floor and having no real desk to play on made grinding uncomfortable, and I dug myself a nice 6k hole to the start of the year... I am now in a much more comfortable living/playing environment, and have since turned the -6k into slightly above break even (epic start to 2011)... Anyone with sharkscope or the search feature on Pokerstars can see that I've been breaking away from my standard $114 and below 18 man grind into the $225/$114/$109 9 and 10 Man turbos and non turbos. I think the change is great for my game, as the higher limits are slightly more engaging for the time being. I've been running pretty well and table selecting the hell out of them (also different for me but 9 man turbos are a low edge game) and have ripped out about 8k in profits from the higher buy in games this year.. Hopefully I keep running well and put up big numbers, no I'm not going for Supernova Elite... I'm just doing what I do, playing the games that make me the most money, good luck to everyone whose grinding out there.. shouldn't be as long before my next update...

Goals for February

Priority - Keep moving up in limits, break into the 565's by months end/mid March at the latest

Volume - At least 2500 games

Coaching - Do something lol, been slacking here

"Why would you be realistic, being realistic is the number one road traveled to mediocrity."

- Will Smith (I quoted that off memory, it may be a little off, but I prefer it my way)
- Good luck at the tables, and as always.. if you like your money,
they call it table selecting!