Ireland!!!

Feel like its definitely necessary to provide a brief update regarding the recent trip to Ireland! First, gotta thank the crew that came with/did me a favor in coming - Nick (Frenzuh), Brandon (Mazurite), and Gabe ($indabank111).

The trip got off to a somewhat rough start with Brandon being really sick, like walking dead/crack head sick - We all pulled an all night'er the night before heading out because Nick and I kind of suck at sleeping proper schedules in general, which didn't help Brandon's case at all so by the time we got to security he got insta-separated and searched for resin/other drug paraphernalia.. He checked out (he's just sick damnit!) and we shuffled off toward the plane to catch a few hours of sleep... The first flight checked out fine, no problems/nothing exciting/etc..

Once we got into Toronto, we went in search of flight number 2 and Gabriel, aka $indabank111. None of us had met him, so there was some concern about whether or not he would be weird/serial killer/etc.. but he checked out/lived up to the Skype hype and everything went smoothly - Then we got onto plane number 2... Now nothing bad is about to happen on plane number two, but it was much more entertaining than flight number 1.

So despite being 4 degenerate poker players who fail at real life on the regular, we managed to have tickets/etc and get on the plane without a hitch. We took the standard line of boarding/putting away our bags and sitting down waiting for take off and crossing our fingers hoping that the person on our left/right wouldn't weigh 300 pounds or be crazy, psychotic, 55 year old drunk bitches who end up puking everywhere - Unfortunately, Brandon got stiffed with the latter.

So everything was going as planned, when an older woman staggers on as the last passenger to find her seat and manages to land to Brandon's direct left - (She's got position on him so clearly she's gonna cause problems) She throws her purse down on her seat and opens the overhead bin to find a bag in "her" luggage compartment.. Now, as the last person to board the plane you should probably expect compartment space to be worse for wear, and to have to shop around a bit trying to find space. This woman seemed to have missed the memo, and seemed to be publicly accusing/asking the entire plane, "Whose black bag is in my bin". As you can imagine, no one said anything for about 30 seconds. It wasn't until she asked that same question several times that some guy stepped up and asked what difference it made, she was the last person on the plane and she'd have to find baggage space elsewhere... He was clearly outing himself as the perpetrator of her baggage space, but seemed more interested in confronting her about it than giving in. I personally began to find this whole thing entertaining, at which point we tried to engage in a prop bet about how long it would take her to tool out about Brandon's illness/etc - All the while doing our very best not to blink and miss the verbal brawl that was taking place over overhead bag space between two people 40+.. Eventually the peer mediator (flight attendant) had to come and sit the kids down/handle the guys bag (the woman wouldn't let her bags go somewhere she couldn't quickly reach them) and the fight was settled. Now back to the prop bet, Nick and Gabe are nits - Well maybe not Nick, but Gabe managed to convince Nick that I should somehow be laying odds that a woman is gonna tool out on the plane about Brandon, which I thought was absurd - So just as the words left my mouth that I had to pass on their nitty approach to life, we heard something to the effect of "Oh my God, whats wrong with you - are you taking medication or something.. excuse me flight attendant..." I should've laid some odds, but w.e. - She starts tooling a little bit, nothing major - and to be honest nothing too exciting to keep me from falling asleep, so that's what I do..

Now I'm asleep for some length of time that can only be deemed as not long enough - Because I woke up before the flight was over, and its to an extremely loud crash.. Now when you're on a plane, this isn't what you wanna hear when you wake up, so like any normal person I leaped out of my seat (should probably have fastened seat belt but whatever) and migrated to where I heard the noise. I poke my head around the corner, (we have the emergency exit seat so there's an aisle with a wall right where we are sitting) and I hear "Fuck, fuck, fuck.. Oh my fuck.." Now being a nice guy and not knowing what the fuck is going on, as well as discerning that there's a 50 year old woman sprawled across the floor, I offer to help.. My offer is met only with a blank gaze of bewilderment, and she looked a little pissed off so I just went back to my seat thinking she's crazy and I'm probably better off just avoiding her as much as possible.. It wasn't until I reached my seat that Brandon was mouthing, "Dude she's been having double double's of Vodka the whole trip, she's toast!!!!"

This post is long enough - but the next one goes more in depth about how crazy she is as well as how sick Ireland was once we got there..

SCOOP May 12th and 13th!

Hey guys - Gonna be selling some action for this weekend's SCOOP events but can't post on 2+2 - If you're interested get in touch via the comments or skype!

I don't plan on stoppin at all...!!!

It's been awhile since my last update, and in general that is always due to my luck on the tables being about as negative as can be... Whenever I'm losing, I allow all my motivation to get sapped... I'll stop going to the gym, I'll stop going for walks, I'll stop eating (this one sounds ridiculous but its probably my biggest problem as it's really easy for me to wake up, skip breakfast, start grinding, and not stop until I'm 6-8 hours in) I try to keep some sort of snack, peanuts/almonds/etc on the desk because this habit is very difficult for me to break if I know someone owes me 10k and are supposed to be sending it in the morning... (This happens more than you think, and after it happens 5 days in a row BOOM! Its starting to become a habit again...) Sooooooooo in order to combat this absurd negative life ev trend, I've decided to block my stats.. Some people think I give a shit about the fact that I lost some money this year, and that the reason I'm blocking my stats is to dodge or hide, I know people think this because if this is you reading, your'e an asshole for telling me that :) Beyond that I have no problem letting people know that this year hasn't gone well in terms of my own action, and that I was stuck between 5 and 25k for just about the entire year :). I recently binked the Big 162 for 18.5k, which definitely helped curb the swing I was on, but I'm still way behind my own expectations monetarily... Being 100% honest, I'm not sure if I'm still stuck money for the year, (pre-rakeback) and I'm not sure if I'm up, and to be honest it doesn't matter. I have more than enough money in the bank to pay my bills for the rest of the year if I don't win a nickle, and I have more than enough in my Stars account to pay my bills for the rest of next year as long as I don't completely bust it.... Soooo there really isn't a reason to let what happens on the tables affect my mood, at all.. And the easiest way to do that is to simply not know whether or not I win or lose... I'm not sure if this is an option for everyone, as most players need to know if they're winning or losing as it will ultimately dictate a good portion of their game selection, but I'm fortunate to be in a position where that isn't the case for me and I can simply play... In addition to all this I'm positive I'm running below expectation, and it doesn't help that I lost about 15k playing 1k and 2k 6m SNG's this year. Now that that part is out of the way and you guys know my stats are blocked, I'd like to update a bit on what the near future plans are... May 15th I'm going to be headed to Ireland, I won't be back until the 25th which happens to actually be more inconvenient than I originally thought, as I'll be missing a live series here in Vancouver which seems to have a ton of value - But on a side note, I don't how soft it will be with this city teeming with grinders who have relocated. Before Ireland, and perhaps even while I'm there SCOOP will be going on, and I intend to play a relatively demanding schedule with lots of NLHE/PLO/Razz events occupying my time, and aside from those grinding other MTT's and SNG's. I stake a lot of players who will be attending the UKIPT Dublin event, and I'm looking forward to meeting all those guys in addition to $indabank111 - One of my horses who will be coming with me/Frenzuh/Mazurite (aka Nick/Brandon). After Ireland, it will depend on my bankroll/life roll - If I'm doing well and SCOOP doesn't break me (Including the stable and myself it will be possible for me to have a 6 figure swing in either direction) then I'm pretty confident I'll attend the WSOP Main event in Vegas for 10 days or so and catch up with some friends and meet some guys I've spent a lot of time talking with. If it does hammer me the way it definitely could, then I'm fairly confident I'll sit Vegas out... SNE seems to be almost out of the question, (250k VPPs) but stranger things have happened, and I may wind up putting in the volume I need to get it done. Other than that I'm just gonna keep doing what I've been doing, grind a ton and make more money than I deserve :) Good luck to everyone, hope you're doing well and table selecting!!!!

2+2 Has Been HACKED!!!!

Hey guys this will be a pretty brief post, not going to post an instruction manual on what to do but 2+2 has been hacked and the information there compromised - Recommendation is if you use the same password for other things change it, and don't worry about messing with 2+2 atm, their forums are down and as far as I know changing the password there wouldn't solve anything as the information may still be compromised. I'll update with a post on how I've been doing in a day or two...

BINKING THE MILLION!!!!

SOMEONE BINKED THE MILLION!! Ok well the post may be a little bit misleading, as I didn't bink the Sunday Million that took place on April 8th - And tbh I don't know who did, BUT one of my horses did 6 way equity chop it up for 130k. Conor had been going through a rough stretch in terms of variance up until that point, but it only takes one tournament to fix everything :).



Staking has been getting better and better, obviously because I'm running a little bit hot, but its a good break given how bad my year has gone with the buyins I play above $300.



Another of my horses who puts a lot of effort/work into his game is Underdogggg@ who recently binked his largest score in the Big 109 for 22k. Effort/study/grind are such important parts of the game, and its really nice to see things come together for guys who put together all three pretty consistently.

On a side note, I've been getting very distracted from some of my personal goals regarding my health/diet/exercise - It's no surprise, as I work very hard and seem to very easily fall back into a bad routine regarding this aspect of my life, but for the rest of the month I plan to really focus on my conditioning and getting into very good shape. At the end of the month I have every intention of picking up a sport for recreation and dedicating at least a few days/month to it.

I hope everyone is doing well and achieving what they want for 2012, good luck at the tables and keep your head up, it just takes one tournament!

Keep going.....

Well, I've continued to put in decent volume but things just haven't been going my way. Sometimes variance gets the best of us and causes us to make some negative adjustments, and to some extent I'm sure that has happened for my results to be lagging for so long, but I also know I've been running a little poorly. Just gonna keep grinding and putting in volume, good luck everyone....

How things have been going!!

2012 hasn't nearly gone as planned, not to say its been bad, because I'm having a blast with the people I keep around me and that's more or less all I can ask for as long my bills are paid... I'll preface the entire blog post with an epic night out that included Matty, Nick, my brother Peter, Mazurite (aka Brandon) and my buddy Alan that started with Korean BBQ and ended with a brawl in the street with a group of guys who "thought" it would be entertaining to bait me into a fight.. I wanted none of it but they ended up enticing my brother a little too much - Needless to say in the grand scheme of what matters and what doesn't, we won..



On to real life (Poker player summary). Matty (MrPaintball) has been doing very well in low-mid stakes games (winning the 5r this past Saturday) and crushing 180's as per his expectation - His thought processes in general are probably the most developed of the three of us, he's been playing since 2007 (I think) and has some close associations with top players who have helped him grow as a player. He's allowing players to invest in his high stakes action on 2+2 here. He rounds it out with a lot of his very reliable/+ev action and I think its a pretty no brainer decision to invest. (He won't let me back this action myself because he's a nit)
Nick (Frenzuh) has also been doing very well. He went on a tear winning streak where he won 15 or 16 days in a row including a $215 turbo FT where we got unlucky to take 5th for 5k. He's had several other final tables and been grinding it out playing SNG's, Matty and I have been yelling at him to put some packages up on 2+2 to no avail, but I think something will be in the works shortly and I'll update with that action as Nick cashes in 80% of the high buyin tournaments he plays due to the focus he allocates to the table - (His game is most suitable to tougher buyins/fields because of all of us he's most comfortable with less tables and making stronger decisions based on timing/reads from previous hands we weren't involved in/etc...) Oh and he's underrated, both of these guys are....
The last addition is my brother, whose made the climb mostly on his own and come over/studied/played with us a bit and I think will become a medium stakes regular before long. (Kids smarter than I am when it comes down to it, so if he tries it won't be a problem, the problem has always been just getting him to try!!!)

My own results suck, I think that is how to best sum up 2012 in terms of my own play. My game is good though, definitely the best its been, just running a little below expectation in some clutch spots - whatever.. My stable is killing it! Most notably Mully_85 winning the UKIPT main event, his screen name is a link to the score where he won just about 100k euro's. He's a very solid player and am definitely happy to be working with him and the group of guys he and Jay have introduced me to, so even if I'm not winning, everyone I know is and fortunately for me that means I'm not doing to badly! I hope everyone's year is going well, good luck!!

*Quick edit, I'm selling some action to a few tournaments I'm gonna play this week, if you're interested skype me!!!*

Bricking everything..

I wish I had some positive post to deliver, as that would mean things in general/on average were going well... But unfortunately I'm still not even in the black for 2012 and variance has a funny way of trumping some other things that would otherwise cause my day to finish on a high note... Matty (MrPaintball) and Nick (Frenzuh) moved in during January, and its been nice having solid players to discuss hands/spots with who have a deep understanding of the game and the swings we can go on. We've all had more final two table finishes during MTT's with no close than we care to count and in general the IP address is running pretty cold. I've been getting concerned with my $300+ SNG results pre rakeback - As I've been getting murdered for what feels like my entire sample.. I ran the hand histories through HEM to take a better look with the adjusted EV as well as take a better look at just how many of these games I've played.. (For those that don't know, green is winnings and red is expected value)



As you can see I'm not a super huge winner in these games according to my adjusted EV, but even breaking even playing $1k 6m and $500 6m with the rakeback I have (these results are filtered without rakeback) should produce a higher hourly than replacing the tables with $60 18m where I likely make around $6 a game after rakeback. (Maybe not that's a guess) By now I'm aware that adjusted ev isn't everything - But I am also aware that it is a reasonable indicator and I'm only stuck about 50 buyins (which I've lost in a day playing games I crush) , so for now I'll keep plugging and hope it turns around :) Good luck to everyone else!!!

Quick edit** This is for all games $300+, I'm positive in terms of buyins before and after ev for 6m at this buyin level... So 9m are apparently going really badly..**

When it rains it pours...

The variance to start the year has been pretty brutal.. I've had several final tables/final two tables with no close.. I ran awful in the 1k's/2k I played and am as of now very happy to be break even for the month :( Hopefully some of the high buyin variance turns around so I can get back to winning... Other than that my stable's struggling as well, so when it rains it pours...

bigbluffzinc 8 -$962.4 $1,162 -75% -$7,699 Tilt N/A PokerStars S600-111111

Sick sample size :)

Already failing miserably...

I set some aggressive goals for 2012, and I can confidently say there aren't many I feel I'm doing an adequate job with! It has been an epic lazy fail start to the year... I've played 500 games, which is like 3 days worth of games in 15, I've played a decent amount of PLO but the lack of play in general sort of means I'm hitting the goal but only barely.. MTT's I have been on target with playing them on Sundays and keeping it just to that day, the gym was going really well prior to trying to help set Matty/Nick up with Pokerstars but as of now is a fail.. The same can be said about my diet and my spending as can be said about the gym... Fortunately I'm playing/running well when I do decide to play, and I am up a solid 10k before rakeback which could definitely be worse given my absent volume.... Shit's gonna pick up soon though, can't keep this pace going for long or SNE will just be suicide at the end of the year...

Super busy... no volume!

So far 2012 hasn't seen me hit SNG's very hard at all, so tomorrow I'm going to be looking to put in a big day and make up for some of the missing ground - I have no intention of starting this year slow and being forced into a mad push at the end of it like last year.. I've started a few new horses and have been doing quite a bit of coaching, so the time has been well spent it just hasn't been spent playing SNG's. PLO is off to a nice start, I intend to move up at the end of every month as long as I had a winning month, and move down/stay at the same limit if a month is breakeven/losing or I don't put in many hands depending on how I feel... I won't be moving up any faster than one jump per month because I feel my bankroll may take me into games where I really don't have an edge if I'm not very controlled with the limits.. That being said I'm up close to 15 buyins or so over the last week (obv sample size), so hopefully my run good continues there... MTT's also went well this past Sunday, had a deep run in both the mill and the Sunday 500.. The Sunday 500 saw me reship 20bb's from the SB vs a hj open from a reasonably laggy player with J9s - I thought the spot was good because I hadn't really been active at all, he looked me up with AT which was w.e. and he held.. Oh well better luck next time, good luck to all of you!

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