That's exactly what has happened to me for the last two months. I'm dedicating more and more time to coaching, with an average of 20 hours a week doing hand history reviews. The quality of the sessions, be it private or group ones, is really good, and the reviews I receive from students are fantastic... as well as their results.
Last Sunday, the guy I always said was destined to poker greatness, chopped 5 ways the PS Sunday Million for $120K. When I started my coaching project, I sent him a private message on P5's telling him I wanted to work with him. I knew nothing about him, other than the many posts he had on the forum. He would ask the simplest questions, he would get harrassed by many "regulars", told to stop posting, or be plain ignored...but I knew he wanted to be really good at poker, and had one quality that many lack: He was willing to listen.
After 1-2 weeks of messaging each other, we started to work together on Sept 1st, 2,010. Prior to our deal, his average buy-in was $4, and he had very good stats at the three major poker sites, with close to $15K in profits. 7 months after, he has won the FullTilt $75 24K and 40K guaranteed, the PokerStars 10r, the 10 1r1a, made top 3 finishes in several more MTT's, won most of the UB guaranteed MTT's, etc, etc... and he topped it all last Sunday with that $120K score.
When I heard about it, my first reaction was not related with the amount of money won; I felt proud of him, proud of his consistency, hard work, willingness to learn, humility to accept criticism, to change his mind when he was wrong...he is not a one timer, he will continue to improve, to get better, to accumulate victories and final tables. Take note of his name: Joe "Shipthisplz". You'll hear a lot more from him soon enough.
We will make a video for the Pokertfives training site analyzing his play during that tournament, so stay tuned, it should turn into a very interesting discussion.
Besides Joe, in the last weeks the guys in the group have made consistent money, including a $25K and a $15K scores, along with many smaller wins and final tables. Other than the players I work with every week, many of my private students, those who hired me for 1-2 sessions, have improved their results and in some cases have experienced impressive success. It feels wonderful when, a few days or a week after a session, you receive an email saying "hey, I just won xxx on FTP-PS , my biggest cash ever, thank you"... and I am fortunate to receive that type of message very often.
Overall, coaching makes me feel better than playing. My wife, who is a school teacher, says that I was born to teach; that teaching is something you have to have in you, otherwise you won't be able to transmit to your students, no matter how much you know about something. And she thinks I have it in me, to which I won't argue, because I truly love what I'm doing right now, and will continue to do so for as long as people thinks they want to hear what I have to say.
This Saturday I will be giving an hour long seminar about basic tournament strategies in front of a 200 people crow. If the experience s good, we will repeat it in the future. I am nervous about it, mostly because my old self-consciousness regarding my poor English, but you can only regret what you don't try. I will talk about the experience next week, and let you guys know if they threw rotten tomatoes to the stage :)
In the playing department there will be no news unless I happen to do something interesting next Sunday, which will be my first day playing poker in a month. Besides that, I won't be playing much until next FTOPS and SCOOP series.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
FTOPS is over, time to re-evaluate
It's been well over two weeks since the last update, and I think is time to punish readers again with my incredible bad English grammar and endless rants. After all, those of you reading these lines have already shown a likelihood for pain, so I won't feel any guilt if your head hurts after reading.
What happened in my poker life since we last spoke? There is a very easy answer to that question: I lost. I lost when I was ahead, I lost when I was behind, I lost when I was flipping, I lost whenever I had a chance to lose.
FTOPS was a particularly painful experience for me. I had some semi-deep runs, some bubbles, and one hand to add to my own "will haunt me forever" list: Lost AA vs AK all in preflop, for the chip lead, in event #20, a $216 Rush event, with 12 players left. Short after I ran 55 into 66 blind-vs-blind, and finished in 11th place. End of the "bad beat stories" section.
One of the first consequences of my recent run is that the quest for SNE has been put on hold. I am not willing to dig a deep make-up hole for the sole purpose of achieving certain status. My playing schedule for the next weeks will be focused on small-mid buy in MTT's with the addition of Sunday Majors. There will be no 24-30 tabling sessions until I figure out what I've done wrong lately...and there HAS to be something wrong.
Today I had a 2 hours HH review session with "Herschelw", and we found a couple details that needed some work, although those details alone don't justify my recent results, so I will go through many more hands until the criminal is spotted, detained, and put under custody. I am of the idea that if there is smoke, there's a fire somewhere, and I can not let this one grow anymore than what it already has. Besides reviewing my own play, I will be watching videos and reading good strategy articles in days to come.
Meantime, my group sessions have been getting better and better, with more guys joining us every week (I have opened the sessions to guests who can join us for I consider a great price), and the guys seem to be thinking and approaching the game in a more effective way. We had our biggest score to date for $25K when one of the guys finished 3rd in the FTP 150K two Sundays ago.
A week ago I sent an article to Card Player Magazine that will appear in their "Hand for hand combat" section. I believe is a decent one, but everybody will have a chance to judge once it gets published. I was nervous about it, because many good players will read it and maybe think is bad.
In the next 2-3 days I plan on sending my new series of videos to Pokerpwnage. I received feedback pointing out the mistakes made in the first videos, and expect to do a much better job with the new ones.
So far this is all, good luck everybody
Andres
What happened in my poker life since we last spoke? There is a very easy answer to that question: I lost. I lost when I was ahead, I lost when I was behind, I lost when I was flipping, I lost whenever I had a chance to lose.
FTOPS was a particularly painful experience for me. I had some semi-deep runs, some bubbles, and one hand to add to my own "will haunt me forever" list: Lost AA vs AK all in preflop, for the chip lead, in event #20, a $216 Rush event, with 12 players left. Short after I ran 55 into 66 blind-vs-blind, and finished in 11th place. End of the "bad beat stories" section.
One of the first consequences of my recent run is that the quest for SNE has been put on hold. I am not willing to dig a deep make-up hole for the sole purpose of achieving certain status. My playing schedule for the next weeks will be focused on small-mid buy in MTT's with the addition of Sunday Majors. There will be no 24-30 tabling sessions until I figure out what I've done wrong lately...and there HAS to be something wrong.
Today I had a 2 hours HH review session with "Herschelw", and we found a couple details that needed some work, although those details alone don't justify my recent results, so I will go through many more hands until the criminal is spotted, detained, and put under custody. I am of the idea that if there is smoke, there's a fire somewhere, and I can not let this one grow anymore than what it already has. Besides reviewing my own play, I will be watching videos and reading good strategy articles in days to come.
Meantime, my group sessions have been getting better and better, with more guys joining us every week (I have opened the sessions to guests who can join us for I consider a great price), and the guys seem to be thinking and approaching the game in a more effective way. We had our biggest score to date for $25K when one of the guys finished 3rd in the FTP 150K two Sundays ago.
A week ago I sent an article to Card Player Magazine that will appear in their "Hand for hand combat" section. I believe is a decent one, but everybody will have a chance to judge once it gets published. I was nervous about it, because many good players will read it and maybe think is bad.
In the next 2-3 days I plan on sending my new series of videos to Pokerpwnage. I received feedback pointing out the mistakes made in the first videos, and expect to do a much better job with the new ones.
So far this is all, good luck everybody
Andres
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Very busy weeks...
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
2 UBOC final table bubbles the same day...
Really looking forward to the 2K High Roller event this coming Sunday. I will not play a full schedule that day, so I can focus on that table.
Other than that, it was a very slow day in the SnG department, and my VPP count is at 42.5K.
Can I say I'm tired?
Friday, January 14, 2011
Slow day...
My wife had a small surgery procedure this morning, which kept me away from the tables until late at night. There is really not much to tell about the small session I played, other then I am not making any money, sigh...
Wednesday I had a frustrating MTT session, during which I managed to cash in only one event, the PS WQM; everything else was a perfect example of what a bad day is, including an unfortunate incident with David "Sheets" Haber that really upset me at the time. I'm not going to make a big deal about it, but let's just say that he made some tasteless comments about me and the possibility that I could possible be attending a live chat just to peak at his cards in the WQM.
We talked about it and he said he was "possible joking about it", but the tone of his voice and a few more things he said made for an unpleasant conversation. I would appreciate an apology, but I'd be surprised it such thing happens.
The weekend is going to be a huge grind, and I'm very excited about the upcoming UBOC series. I am selling action at 75/25% cut, and it's selling quick. I will play all the events, including the 2K high roller, the 1K championship, every single Hold'em event, and the two PLO ones. I have been doing really good on UB, their structures are great, and fields are softer than they are on FTP and PS. If their software was just a little bit better UB would be my favorite site.
I'm gonna fire a last round of SnG's, hit the bed, take care of my wife in the morning, and play until 10PM ET, which is when I have the group session with my students (let's see if one of them ships the Million and makes me happy ).
Take care everybody
Andres
Wednesday I had a frustrating MTT session, during which I managed to cash in only one event, the PS WQM; everything else was a perfect example of what a bad day is, including an unfortunate incident with David "Sheets" Haber that really upset me at the time. I'm not going to make a big deal about it, but let's just say that he made some tasteless comments about me and the possibility that I could possible be attending a live chat just to peak at his cards in the WQM.
We talked about it and he said he was "possible joking about it", but the tone of his voice and a few more things he said made for an unpleasant conversation. I would appreciate an apology, but I'd be surprised it such thing happens.
The weekend is going to be a huge grind, and I'm very excited about the upcoming UBOC series. I am selling action at 75/25% cut, and it's selling quick. I will play all the events, including the 2K high roller, the 1K championship, every single Hold'em event, and the two PLO ones. I have been doing really good on UB, their structures are great, and fields are softer than they are on FTP and PS. If their software was just a little bit better UB would be my favorite site.
I'm gonna fire a last round of SnG's, hit the bed, take care of my wife in the morning, and play until 10PM ET, which is when I have the group session with my students (let's see if one of them ships the Million and makes me happy ).
Take care everybody
Andres
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
and I am exhausted. Played since 8AM AK time until 10:15PM. The results were not very good, but the expectations are really high. I had forgotten how bad the play is in SnG's, and I have witnessed things I thought I would never see. The players in the Double or Nothing tourneys are hard to describe without inventing creepy words; they have absolutely no idea, and that includes some regs.
I started the day by winning one of the $82 Hyper Turbo MTT's for about $4K, which gave me a very nice kick, but after that I lost close to 25 buy ins in SnG's, running extremely poor for the most part. At one point I was down $2.3K in them, but the last round was very good and closed the day "only" $750 down.
The MTT grind didn't go well at all, with the exception made of that early win. I didn't cash in anything important, and for the most part I couldn't build a stack anywhere. The only shot I had at the end was in the UB 30r, but I ran AJ into QQ BvB at the final table bubble. I flopped a J, turned an A, but he 4 flushed on the river.
All in all, an interesting day where I tested myself by playing 14 hours with just a small break in the middle. I am positive I will pull this off; there is no way my body gives up, and mentally I am as tough as they make it.
VPP count at beginning of the day was 7,200.
VPP at the end of the session : 13,298.
I expect to make over 10K VPP's the days with no MTT's on FTP. Playing 20-25 tables for hours is something I can handle with no problem, but if I mix up different sites I have to cut down the Sng's.
Tomorrow more, take care everybody
Andres
I started the day by winning one of the $82 Hyper Turbo MTT's for about $4K, which gave me a very nice kick, but after that I lost close to 25 buy ins in SnG's, running extremely poor for the most part. At one point I was down $2.3K in them, but the last round was very good and closed the day "only" $750 down.
The MTT grind didn't go well at all, with the exception made of that early win. I didn't cash in anything important, and for the most part I couldn't build a stack anywhere. The only shot I had at the end was in the UB 30r, but I ran AJ into QQ BvB at the final table bubble. I flopped a J, turned an A, but he 4 flushed on the river.
All in all, an interesting day where I tested myself by playing 14 hours with just a small break in the middle. I am positive I will pull this off; there is no way my body gives up, and mentally I am as tough as they make it.
VPP count at beginning of the day was 7,200.
VPP at the end of the session : 13,298.
I expect to make over 10K VPP's the days with no MTT's on FTP. Playing 20-25 tables for hours is something I can handle with no problem, but if I mix up different sites I have to cut down the Sng's.
Tomorrow more, take care everybody
Andres
Monday, January 10, 2011
The quest for SuperNova Elite begins
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Feeling good
Don't know where or how to start. I have so many things in my mind right now, that if I write them all down this can turn into the longest blog post ever. I'll try to keep it short and have some order.
1: Jerry "Herschelw" Watterson.
For those of you who don't know him, he is my current backer.
Past February he read that I was playing micro and low stakes SNGs, and sent me a PM in a poker forum offering me a deal. At that point I was done with anything related with backing-staking, or however you wanna call it. I have had enough of it, and had already say "no" to no less than 6 offers. So I answered him exclusively to avoid been rude, but saying that I preferred to stay the way I was. He told me he'd like to have a phone conversation, and we agreed to a call for the next day.
What he told me on that convo was what I always wanted to hear from a backer, and even more. I just couldn't believe that right when I was getting mentally ready to give up on my poker career, this opportunity would arise.
A week after, I was playing under this new deal, and all I can say is that if every professional poker player out there was treated by his backer the way I am treated by jerry, they would be happier, play better, and make more money. Mental relief is so important when you do this for a living, that having someone looking after you, calling you every time he feels you need support, listening to you when you had a bad day, etc, is at least as important as your poker skills. I have found all this and more in Jerry, and I will never forget what he's done for me.
2: The aftermath.
After 3 days, the real feelings that my 6 figures score generated are starting to sink in.
I have been smiling non stop, I don't look at next month bills with fear, I don't register for a session thinking that if I don't win today my wife's fear level will rise again. We have gone through so much stress, that it's hard to describe. I've got to the point of selling my action to play a $100 tourney here in Anchorage, just so I could make a few bucks. I am not repeating the experiences we had in the past 12-15 months.
3: Poker friends
I have received so many emails, text messages, PM's in poker forums...and the 3 threads that ran about my score had above average traffic in the 3 forums where they were posted. I enjoyed reading every single email, phone text, PM, or post. Some were funny, some were sent by persons that really know what that score meant for me, some were from people who only had contact with me through the forums, but all of them gave me a minute of happiness.
There were also a few notable absences, mostly from people I know personally. They know who they are, and I know exactly why every single one of them haven't said a word. Karma is a bitch my friends...
4: Going to the WSOP and Venetian series.
I will finally be able to get the monkey off my back, and play some WSOP events. The last 2 years I had people willing to buy me in some tourneys, but I just couldn't afford the expenses of living in Vegas for a month, and not be able to keep grinding online. This time I'm going, already have my plane tickets and hotel reservations. I don't dream about doing anything impressive, I just want to have fun, live the experience, and met a lot of people.
5: Buying a new computer:
I'm out of here, running to the computer store and having the guy build me a kick ass CPU, that I hope I can use this Sunday to play the SCOOP ME, weeeee.
Later guys, good luck.
1: Jerry "Herschelw" Watterson.
For those of you who don't know him, he is my current backer.
Past February he read that I was playing micro and low stakes SNGs, and sent me a PM in a poker forum offering me a deal. At that point I was done with anything related with backing-staking, or however you wanna call it. I have had enough of it, and had already say "no" to no less than 6 offers. So I answered him exclusively to avoid been rude, but saying that I preferred to stay the way I was. He told me he'd like to have a phone conversation, and we agreed to a call for the next day.
What he told me on that convo was what I always wanted to hear from a backer, and even more. I just couldn't believe that right when I was getting mentally ready to give up on my poker career, this opportunity would arise.
A week after, I was playing under this new deal, and all I can say is that if every professional poker player out there was treated by his backer the way I am treated by jerry, they would be happier, play better, and make more money. Mental relief is so important when you do this for a living, that having someone looking after you, calling you every time he feels you need support, listening to you when you had a bad day, etc, is at least as important as your poker skills. I have found all this and more in Jerry, and I will never forget what he's done for me.
2: The aftermath.
After 3 days, the real feelings that my 6 figures score generated are starting to sink in.
I have been smiling non stop, I don't look at next month bills with fear, I don't register for a session thinking that if I don't win today my wife's fear level will rise again. We have gone through so much stress, that it's hard to describe. I've got to the point of selling my action to play a $100 tourney here in Anchorage, just so I could make a few bucks. I am not repeating the experiences we had in the past 12-15 months.
3: Poker friends
I have received so many emails, text messages, PM's in poker forums...and the 3 threads that ran about my score had above average traffic in the 3 forums where they were posted. I enjoyed reading every single email, phone text, PM, or post. Some were funny, some were sent by persons that really know what that score meant for me, some were from people who only had contact with me through the forums, but all of them gave me a minute of happiness.
There were also a few notable absences, mostly from people I know personally. They know who they are, and I know exactly why every single one of them haven't said a word. Karma is a bitch my friends...
4: Going to the WSOP and Venetian series.
I will finally be able to get the monkey off my back, and play some WSOP events. The last 2 years I had people willing to buy me in some tourneys, but I just couldn't afford the expenses of living in Vegas for a month, and not be able to keep grinding online. This time I'm going, already have my plane tickets and hotel reservations. I don't dream about doing anything impressive, I just want to have fun, live the experience, and met a lot of people.
5: Buying a new computer:
I'm out of here, running to the computer store and having the guy build me a kick ass CPU, that I hope I can use this Sunday to play the SCOOP ME, weeeee.
Later guys, good luck.
Monday, May 10, 2010
This is a crazy job that I have...
On February 28th I had a $1,500 bankroll, was playing $6 and $12 SNG's on PokerStars; absolutely broke, and waiting for a call to go back to my old job as a carpenter, because poker had been not so good for the last 15 months, and my financial situation was absolutely desperate.
Tonight, I can't sleep after chopping the FTP 750K for my first 6 figures score: $105,528. I am very happy, but the feeling that stands up the most is relief. The journey was so long, and the difficulties were so many, that all my thoughts are focused on how to pay the most bills, and how not to go back to the previous situation ever again.
Playing poker is my biggest passion, I think about the game at all times; I try to find new solutions to old problems while I walk, I think about difficult hands when I go to bed, and I have developed what I believe is a deep understanding of the game...but playing high stakes tournaments while you can't pay your mortgage, your credit cards are maxed out, your wife goes to work every day while you stay at home not knowing if it's even worth the time...I'm not going through that stress again, it's just not an option.
Today is time to celebrate, maybe go out for a nice dinner, and start looking for plane tickets to visit my family in Spain. But tomorrow I'll make a plan, and I will follow it, because playing tournaments with a buy in larger than what you have in your bank account can not be good for your sanity.
Later this week I will update this blog, and talk about the tournament, but right now I needed to talk about how I feel.
Tonight, I can't sleep after chopping the FTP 750K for my first 6 figures score: $105,528. I am very happy, but the feeling that stands up the most is relief. The journey was so long, and the difficulties were so many, that all my thoughts are focused on how to pay the most bills, and how not to go back to the previous situation ever again.
Playing poker is my biggest passion, I think about the game at all times; I try to find new solutions to old problems while I walk, I think about difficult hands when I go to bed, and I have developed what I believe is a deep understanding of the game...but playing high stakes tournaments while you can't pay your mortgage, your credit cards are maxed out, your wife goes to work every day while you stay at home not knowing if it's even worth the time...I'm not going through that stress again, it's just not an option.
Today is time to celebrate, maybe go out for a nice dinner, and start looking for plane tickets to visit my family in Spain. But tomorrow I'll make a plan, and I will follow it, because playing tournaments with a buy in larger than what you have in your bank account can not be good for your sanity.
Later this week I will update this blog, and talk about the tournament, but right now I needed to talk about how I feel.
Monday, May 3, 2010
A Sunday win, the process of picking up students, and the dumbest MTT I've ever played
I won a tournament on Sunday! Yes sir, as amazing as it sounds, there was a tournament played on Sunday, with more than 2 players in it, that had my name at the top of the prize pool.
Now you might be thinking if it was the Sunday Million, or the FTP 750K, or the FTOPS Main Event. The answer, my friend, is no. Who cares about those donk festivals when you can win the $26 15K guaranteed Rush Turbo? Now, that is a dreamed event. 1,800 runners, $7,600 for first, over in 2 hours, and the rest of the day at your disposal so you can dump your winnings around.
I won't lie, having a first place finish felt so good, I had forgotten what it was like. My last MTT win was on March, in the PS $109 40K. Ever since, I had accumulated around 25 final tables with no victories, and it was getting old.
Other than that, it was an OK Sunday for me, I felt like my game was really good, and I could have made at least two more final tables, both on UB. I played the FTOPS ME, and after 4-5 hours of play I busted whit 77 against A3os all in pre flop for a 50BBs pot at 800-400-100. In the rest of majors nothing happened either, and the only one where I went semi deep was the UB 200K, but I lost a 4 way all in pot with KK vs AJ, AQ, and 44, when a 4 fell on the turn, sigh.
Changing the subject, this week I will pick 5 students. It is a new and exciting venture, to which I will dedicate myself for the next 6 months. I have a friend whom I've been helping in daily basis for the last 8 months, and there are quite a few persons who ask me for advice regularly, but this is going to be different. We will set weekly coaching sessions, we will review HH's, I will rail them, and hopefully I will help them to become better players.
One last note:
Playing $20 tournaments with 27,000 runners, 2 day events, is the single most stupid thing a human being can ever do, period. And if you don't agree with me, it's because you didn't single table the SCOOP L event for 5 hours, after all your others tournaments were over, and for a total of 12 hours of play, just to bust 200th for not even $300. If I'm ever found playing one of those again, you are welcome to remind me how stupid I can be.
This is gonna be a big tourneys packed week, may the luck be on your side.
Now you might be thinking if it was the Sunday Million, or the FTP 750K, or the FTOPS Main Event. The answer, my friend, is no. Who cares about those donk festivals when you can win the $26 15K guaranteed Rush Turbo? Now, that is a dreamed event. 1,800 runners, $7,600 for first, over in 2 hours, and the rest of the day at your disposal so you can dump your winnings around.
I won't lie, having a first place finish felt so good, I had forgotten what it was like. My last MTT win was on March, in the PS $109 40K. Ever since, I had accumulated around 25 final tables with no victories, and it was getting old.
Other than that, it was an OK Sunday for me, I felt like my game was really good, and I could have made at least two more final tables, both on UB. I played the FTOPS ME, and after 4-5 hours of play I busted whit 77 against A3os all in pre flop for a 50BBs pot at 800-400-100. In the rest of majors nothing happened either, and the only one where I went semi deep was the UB 200K, but I lost a 4 way all in pot with KK vs AJ, AQ, and 44, when a 4 fell on the turn, sigh.
Changing the subject, this week I will pick 5 students. It is a new and exciting venture, to which I will dedicate myself for the next 6 months. I have a friend whom I've been helping in daily basis for the last 8 months, and there are quite a few persons who ask me for advice regularly, but this is going to be different. We will set weekly coaching sessions, we will review HH's, I will rail them, and hopefully I will help them to become better players.
One last note:
Playing $20 tournaments with 27,000 runners, 2 day events, is the single most stupid thing a human being can ever do, period. And if you don't agree with me, it's because you didn't single table the SCOOP L event for 5 hours, after all your others tournaments were over, and for a total of 12 hours of play, just to bust 200th for not even $300. If I'm ever found playing one of those again, you are welcome to remind me how stupid I can be.
This is gonna be a big tourneys packed week, may the luck be on your side.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Mixing up
I just got done with today's session. Played a handful of mid-stakes MTT's, cashing in most of them, and making the final table in the UB $20R, where I finished 4th. I'm pretty sure I have made a FT on UB every day I played there for the last 2 weeks, but I have not won a tournament yet.
I also played satellites for FTOPS events #11 and #12. I won 2 seats for each one of them, and bubbled two more, which was very unfortunate because I was planning on playing the 1K event had I won those extra seats. I could have played it anyways, but last week was a verybad one, and I want to lower my average buy ins until I recover from it.
I added 18 and 180 players SNG's on the mix, and I did pretty good in them, which made me feel good because I had not played them in over a month. Only 2 $38 180's filled up while I was registering, and I got 2nd in one ( lost AQ to JQ AIPF with even stacks), and bubbled the another one, KK to 66 for the CL, sigh.
Those tournaments remain as soft as ever, and despite what most people say, I am of the opinion that the massive amount of regulars make them even easier. Most of the SNG grinders are as bad as it takes, the only difference between them and the fish is that they stop limping when antes kick in. Their obsession for being "un-exploitable" turns most of them into the most exploitable players around. There are a handfull of them that make my day when they are at my table.
Yesterday I was going to post my summary for the day, but I was so angry and frustrated at the end of it, tht the post would have easily turned into a bad beat one. Basically, the day can be explained like this:
UB $20R, 15 left, AQ lost to 88 AIPF.
UB $50 1R1A, 4 left, AQ lost to KK AIPF.
FTP $30R, 42 left, AQ lost to 88 AIPF for a top 3 stack.
FTP $26, 42K, over 2,000 runners, 48 left, AQ lost to 99 AIPF for a top 3 stack.
PS $109, 125K, 20 left, AQ lost to 88 AIPF for a top 3 stack.
Right now I am looking at a note on my laptop that says: "Don't you ever fucking play AQ ever again".
Overall it was another losing Sunday; not a strange thing considering I have only had 4 winning ones since Nov. 2008.
I'll play some FTOPS events this week, but other than that I do not plan on changing what I did today. My quest for the rankings will have to wait one more week at least, lol.
Good luck, and may the force be with you.
I also played satellites for FTOPS events #11 and #12. I won 2 seats for each one of them, and bubbled two more, which was very unfortunate because I was planning on playing the 1K event had I won those extra seats. I could have played it anyways, but last week was a verybad one, and I want to lower my average buy ins until I recover from it.
I added 18 and 180 players SNG's on the mix, and I did pretty good in them, which made me feel good because I had not played them in over a month. Only 2 $38 180's filled up while I was registering, and I got 2nd in one ( lost AQ to JQ AIPF with even stacks), and bubbled the another one, KK to 66 for the CL, sigh.
Those tournaments remain as soft as ever, and despite what most people say, I am of the opinion that the massive amount of regulars make them even easier. Most of the SNG grinders are as bad as it takes, the only difference between them and the fish is that they stop limping when antes kick in. Their obsession for being "un-exploitable" turns most of them into the most exploitable players around. There are a handfull of them that make my day when they are at my table.
Yesterday I was going to post my summary for the day, but I was so angry and frustrated at the end of it, tht the post would have easily turned into a bad beat one. Basically, the day can be explained like this:
UB $20R, 15 left, AQ lost to 88 AIPF.
UB $50 1R1A, 4 left, AQ lost to KK AIPF.
FTP $30R, 42 left, AQ lost to 88 AIPF for a top 3 stack.
FTP $26, 42K, over 2,000 runners, 48 left, AQ lost to 99 AIPF for a top 3 stack.
PS $109, 125K, 20 left, AQ lost to 88 AIPF for a top 3 stack.
Right now I am looking at a note on my laptop that says: "Don't you ever fucking play AQ ever again".
Overall it was another losing Sunday; not a strange thing considering I have only had 4 winning ones since Nov. 2008.
I'll play some FTOPS events this week, but other than that I do not plan on changing what I did today. My quest for the rankings will have to wait one more week at least, lol.
Good luck, and may the force be with you.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Who are your favorite players?
The above question is present in every single poker forum I've ever visited. We love making lists, rankings, inventories, of everything; movies, cars, rock bands, TV shows, radio shows, tennis shoes, airports, dog breeds, cities, beaches, and of course poker players.
Most people could make an educated list of their favorites TV shows, rock bands, movies... You can strongly dislike their taste, but they have enough elements to give an opinion. They have seen "The Soprano's", "Band of brothers", "The Simpson's", "South Park"; or heard "Metallica", "Motley Crue", "KISS", and they decide whether they like them or not.
But when you ask "who is your favorite poker player"?, an overwhelming amount of people will name players who are either mainstream figures (Negreanu, Brunson, Antonious...), or online players who have experienced success (Gboro, Lil Hold'em, AJKHoosier1, Doc Sands...) in different degrees; and in many cases those are very capable and skilled players...but how do you know that? Have you actually talk with any of them about the game? Do you know enough about their thought process during a hand? Or, most likely, you just assume that because they made money they are good?
In the examples I mentioned above, there is very little room for mistake, and we can assume that, in fact, Steve "Gboro" Gross possesses a brilliant poker mind. We've seen him play; we've suffered his presence at the tables; and we've sweat every single chip ever extracted from his stack (I think the chip count of the pots I've played against Steve rounds the -1,000,000 chips mark). There is no doubt he is an incredible poker player.
But what's about other successful players? People that happened to win everything on sight for a couple of months, put their names out there...and vanished. Or high volume players who make enough final tables and PLB points to put them in the rankings, or even allow them to win titles like the "Bluff Magazine POY". All of a sudden their names are everywhere, and every donkey with a Pocketfives account mentions them in their "favorite online player" list without having the slightest idea of the way those new found idols play the game.
It is not strange to read a post from someone claiming "I hate those push/folding donks, they don't play poker, they play lotto", and when you visit his profile, his favorite players are "The Maven, DJK123, and Daisyxoxo". Educated opinion, as you can see...
All this thoughts came to my mind during yesterday's session, after I played a hand against one of these raising stars (his name has not been mentioned in this article at any point, save yourself the speculation). He is someone against whom I've played many, many times. In fact I seem to find him at my tables almost every day. He also has a legion of followers on the rail, and although I do not think he chats at all, they are tireless, and every time he steals the blinds they celebrate it as if he had just won the Sunday Million.
During the hand in question, blinds are at 125-250-25. I am the SB with 10,700 chips, and "raising star" is the BB with 12,300. An early position player open shoves for 1,400, and it's folded to the button, who ISO shoves for 3,500. I have AKcc, and I make it close to 7,000, not really giving much thought to the exact amount, because it's clear on my mind that once I enter the hand with a re-re-raise, it is obvious I'm commited to it. When it's "raising star's" turn, he insta-shoves, in what seemed to be like the fastest shove I've ever witnessed. It felt like he could not have push the "all in" button any faster; for a moment I even felt sorry for him, thinking he might had broken one of his fingers against the mouse...
I was sure I had run into AA-KK, and with disgusted assumption of my fate, and cursing myself for running like shit, I proceed to make the call...just to find out that "rising star" had a more powerfull hand than what I could have ever imagined; he had an unbeatable monster, the stone cold nuts, a hand so indestructible that even the abysmal creatures of the sea would fear. He had the one and only... 2c-2d...
The rail went nuts with his fearless move, flags with his face on were cutting the air, an army of hungry masses yelled, the Air Force 1 tipped it's wings to salute the champ, the Universe itself collapsed again into a sole point of infinite density...which exploded with unparallel power when the board ran 2-4-5-5-A and our new found Messiah won the hand, collected the pot, and became the new chip leader.
And what do you think about his game Andres? Well, in my experience, and with the analysis tools I have, I think this new super star is a God awful player; one of the biggest flaws in the poker world, and every time I see him at my table I thank the Lord for his infinite wisdom; because by making an idol out of him, he is increasing my long term expectation, since monkeys tend to mimic what they see, and plenty of them are seeing what he does.
Most people could make an educated list of their favorites TV shows, rock bands, movies... You can strongly dislike their taste, but they have enough elements to give an opinion. They have seen "The Soprano's", "Band of brothers", "The Simpson's", "South Park"; or heard "Metallica", "Motley Crue", "KISS", and they decide whether they like them or not.
But when you ask "who is your favorite poker player"?, an overwhelming amount of people will name players who are either mainstream figures (Negreanu, Brunson, Antonious...), or online players who have experienced success (Gboro, Lil Hold'em, AJKHoosier1, Doc Sands...) in different degrees; and in many cases those are very capable and skilled players...but how do you know that? Have you actually talk with any of them about the game? Do you know enough about their thought process during a hand? Or, most likely, you just assume that because they made money they are good?
In the examples I mentioned above, there is very little room for mistake, and we can assume that, in fact, Steve "Gboro" Gross possesses a brilliant poker mind. We've seen him play; we've suffered his presence at the tables; and we've sweat every single chip ever extracted from his stack (I think the chip count of the pots I've played against Steve rounds the -1,000,000 chips mark). There is no doubt he is an incredible poker player.
But what's about other successful players? People that happened to win everything on sight for a couple of months, put their names out there...and vanished. Or high volume players who make enough final tables and PLB points to put them in the rankings, or even allow them to win titles like the "Bluff Magazine POY". All of a sudden their names are everywhere, and every donkey with a Pocketfives account mentions them in their "favorite online player" list without having the slightest idea of the way those new found idols play the game.
It is not strange to read a post from someone claiming "I hate those push/folding donks, they don't play poker, they play lotto", and when you visit his profile, his favorite players are "The Maven, DJK123, and Daisyxoxo". Educated opinion, as you can see...
All this thoughts came to my mind during yesterday's session, after I played a hand against one of these raising stars (his name has not been mentioned in this article at any point, save yourself the speculation). He is someone against whom I've played many, many times. In fact I seem to find him at my tables almost every day. He also has a legion of followers on the rail, and although I do not think he chats at all, they are tireless, and every time he steals the blinds they celebrate it as if he had just won the Sunday Million.
During the hand in question, blinds are at 125-250-25. I am the SB with 10,700 chips, and "raising star" is the BB with 12,300. An early position player open shoves for 1,400, and it's folded to the button, who ISO shoves for 3,500. I have AKcc, and I make it close to 7,000, not really giving much thought to the exact amount, because it's clear on my mind that once I enter the hand with a re-re-raise, it is obvious I'm commited to it. When it's "raising star's" turn, he insta-shoves, in what seemed to be like the fastest shove I've ever witnessed. It felt like he could not have push the "all in" button any faster; for a moment I even felt sorry for him, thinking he might had broken one of his fingers against the mouse...
I was sure I had run into AA-KK, and with disgusted assumption of my fate, and cursing myself for running like shit, I proceed to make the call...just to find out that "rising star" had a more powerfull hand than what I could have ever imagined; he had an unbeatable monster, the stone cold nuts, a hand so indestructible that even the abysmal creatures of the sea would fear. He had the one and only... 2c-2d...
The rail went nuts with his fearless move, flags with his face on were cutting the air, an army of hungry masses yelled, the Air Force 1 tipped it's wings to salute the champ, the Universe itself collapsed again into a sole point of infinite density...which exploded with unparallel power when the board ran 2-4-5-5-A and our new found Messiah won the hand, collected the pot, and became the new chip leader.
And what do you think about his game Andres? Well, in my experience, and with the analysis tools I have, I think this new super star is a God awful player; one of the biggest flaws in the poker world, and every time I see him at my table I thank the Lord for his infinite wisdom; because by making an idol out of him, he is increasing my long term expectation, since monkeys tend to mimic what they see, and plenty of them are seeing what he does.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Poker players are dangerous people...
I just received this email from my very good friend, and president of the Alaska Poker Association, Wayne Mc Gregor:
More pressingly, tonight, the Department of Revenue entered our premises while we were having a $30 RB tournament. It felt like a bust, they had troopers with automatic weapons, etc, but what they wanted was APA documentation and records. No arrests were made, probably scared a few of my friends but that was it, they just wanted to get whatever they could on me...they did the same at my house and retail store, unfortunately scaring the crap out of my son and grandchildren. So, they have taken any records they could find, my money, the tournament money, our phones and computers and our bank account stuff. Nobody was cuffed, arrested.
The person who greeted me at the door was none other than our favorite guy at DoR, Scott Stairs, plus I finally got to meet the person who questioned Guido's at their fundraiser back when all this against us started back in September. Well, I knew eventually they would come after me and the APA because we were willing to stand up for what we believed was clearly legal. Records I saw, made it clear they had people buy tickets to various fundraisers but they never acted at the venues. They have been trying to take out me and their problem would be over but I'm willing to keep on fighting.
I guess they would rather push poker more and more underground and put us players at risk.
The thought process leading to the decision of calling poker "an illegal activity" has to be worth a scientific study: Sir, you just raised AJ from the button, you are a felon, and your future is full of JAIL, JAIL, JAIL".
In the state of Alaska you can carry an arsenal in your truck, but you can't play poker in public; you have to hide like a rat. The reason behind must be the likelihood of you slicing somebodies throat with the Ace of Spades; we all know it's more dangerous to walk around with a deck of cards in your pocket than it is to do it with a fucking AK-47.
Good luck Wayne.
More pressingly, tonight, the Department of Revenue entered our premises while we were having a $30 RB tournament. It felt like a bust, they had troopers with automatic weapons, etc, but what they wanted was APA documentation and records. No arrests were made, probably scared a few of my friends but that was it, they just wanted to get whatever they could on me...they did the same at my house and retail store, unfortunately scaring the crap out of my son and grandchildren. So, they have taken any records they could find, my money, the tournament money, our phones and computers and our bank account stuff. Nobody was cuffed, arrested.
The person who greeted me at the door was none other than our favorite guy at DoR, Scott Stairs, plus I finally got to meet the person who questioned Guido's at their fundraiser back when all this against us started back in September. Well, I knew eventually they would come after me and the APA because we were willing to stand up for what we believed was clearly legal. Records I saw, made it clear they had people buy tickets to various fundraisers but they never acted at the venues. They have been trying to take out me and their problem would be over but I'm willing to keep on fighting.
I guess they would rather push poker more and more underground and put us players at risk.
The thought process leading to the decision of calling poker "an illegal activity" has to be worth a scientific study: Sir, you just raised AJ from the button, you are a felon, and your future is full of JAIL, JAIL, JAIL".
In the state of Alaska you can carry an arsenal in your truck, but you can't play poker in public; you have to hide like a rat. The reason behind must be the likelihood of you slicing somebodies throat with the Ace of Spades; we all know it's more dangerous to walk around with a deck of cards in your pocket than it is to do it with a fucking AK-47.
Good luck Wayne.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Hello everybody
My wife and I have a private joke that has saved us from quite a few fights. It is called "random thoughts", and I give my survival instinct all the credit for it development.
It happens that we love to talk; we talk in the car; we talk while we shop; we talk while having dinner; we talk when we go to bed. In fact, we won't shut up. You must think we have amazing and meaningful conversations; that we are capable of following the subject and pay close attention to whatever the matter of our conversation is; that we extract all the juice to our endless talks, and that, my friend, is not the reality...
Truth is: more often than what you would think is humanly possible, if we're in the middle of discussing our financial situation, she would say "don't forget to buy bananas tomorrow". Or if the subject of our conversation is how good or bad her daughter is doing in soccer, she would surprise me with an absolutely unexpected "thank God I have a massage tomorrow". When we go to bed she asks how my day was; if I made money or lost, if I had some deep runs, etc. When I start to summarize my day, she can turn around, grab skin lotion, and absolutely unaware of the fact that I am speaking, she will ask me to put some lotion on her back...
I am not 100% innocent, and every once and then I have my own share of random thoughts (although, I must say the ratio is close to 9:1 on her favor), and I can try to tell her who won the 1K Monday... while she's getting ready to work in the morning, yelling to her daughter to hurry up, and trying to remember where she left the class room keys. Is important to let you know that she is an avid poker player, and knows who is who in the poker world; so I guess is not that weird if I try to engage in a conversation about how good Apestyles ran yesterday night, or that my friend Ross missed the same final table for 57th time... despite being 8:45AM, when she is supposed to be at school at 8:30.
One day I started to call those derailments "random thoughts", and instead of getting upset realizing that your couple is not paying as much attention to your words as you wish she were, you can just have your good laughs calling her out on it, and that's exactly what we do now. I don't get upset anymore thinking that "my wife doesn't listen to me", I just take a break from my seriousness, and love her for being so spontaneous and not giving a shit about what I was saying...
After 3 years of getting involved in as many disputes as I possible could in poker forums, I find myself not interested in keep doing it anymore. And it is not because I have lost my love for the game, which is greater than ever...it is because I don't feel like digging for gold anymore, trying to find 1-2 worthy posts in the sea of worthlessness that flows the forums nowadays. I don't want to read about folding KK preflop to a min-re-raise; or how to find a backer; or if it is normal to lose 20 buy ins playing STT's; or how good Moorman runs (hey, we all know that, thanks for the news); or how rigged online poker is; or why did AJKHoosier made this HORRIBLE CALL FOR 3BB's in the Sunday Million; or what should I play with my 125$ roll. People repeats subjects ad nauseam, there are few to none interesting topics to follow, and to top it all, places like P5's have a nazi mod squad dying for banning any voice that sounds different. I want to say what I want, when I want, and how I want. I want my random thoughts not to be banned, punished, moderated, tamed, violated.
I am guilty of having posted important amounts of worthless lines on the net, and I'm pretty sure I have not finished doing so... but from now on I'll do my best to keep said lines in the limits of my own space (this blog), and to don't feed other people's unworthiness with my reactions. This is part of the new me as a poker player as well, but we'll go over that in future editions.
Welcome all, let's have some fun, make money and pick up the cuttest girl (I already got mine).
Andres
It happens that we love to talk; we talk in the car; we talk while we shop; we talk while having dinner; we talk when we go to bed. In fact, we won't shut up. You must think we have amazing and meaningful conversations; that we are capable of following the subject and pay close attention to whatever the matter of our conversation is; that we extract all the juice to our endless talks, and that, my friend, is not the reality...
Truth is: more often than what you would think is humanly possible, if we're in the middle of discussing our financial situation, she would say "don't forget to buy bananas tomorrow". Or if the subject of our conversation is how good or bad her daughter is doing in soccer, she would surprise me with an absolutely unexpected "thank God I have a massage tomorrow". When we go to bed she asks how my day was; if I made money or lost, if I had some deep runs, etc. When I start to summarize my day, she can turn around, grab skin lotion, and absolutely unaware of the fact that I am speaking, she will ask me to put some lotion on her back...
I am not 100% innocent, and every once and then I have my own share of random thoughts (although, I must say the ratio is close to 9:1 on her favor), and I can try to tell her who won the 1K Monday... while she's getting ready to work in the morning, yelling to her daughter to hurry up, and trying to remember where she left the class room keys. Is important to let you know that she is an avid poker player, and knows who is who in the poker world; so I guess is not that weird if I try to engage in a conversation about how good Apestyles ran yesterday night, or that my friend Ross missed the same final table for 57th time... despite being 8:45AM, when she is supposed to be at school at 8:30.
One day I started to call those derailments "random thoughts", and instead of getting upset realizing that your couple is not paying as much attention to your words as you wish she were, you can just have your good laughs calling her out on it, and that's exactly what we do now. I don't get upset anymore thinking that "my wife doesn't listen to me", I just take a break from my seriousness, and love her for being so spontaneous and not giving a shit about what I was saying...
After 3 years of getting involved in as many disputes as I possible could in poker forums, I find myself not interested in keep doing it anymore. And it is not because I have lost my love for the game, which is greater than ever...it is because I don't feel like digging for gold anymore, trying to find 1-2 worthy posts in the sea of worthlessness that flows the forums nowadays. I don't want to read about folding KK preflop to a min-re-raise; or how to find a backer; or if it is normal to lose 20 buy ins playing STT's; or how good Moorman runs (hey, we all know that, thanks for the news); or how rigged online poker is; or why did AJKHoosier made this HORRIBLE CALL FOR 3BB's in the Sunday Million; or what should I play with my 125$ roll. People repeats subjects ad nauseam, there are few to none interesting topics to follow, and to top it all, places like P5's have a nazi mod squad dying for banning any voice that sounds different. I want to say what I want, when I want, and how I want. I want my random thoughts not to be banned, punished, moderated, tamed, violated.
I am guilty of having posted important amounts of worthless lines on the net, and I'm pretty sure I have not finished doing so... but from now on I'll do my best to keep said lines in the limits of my own space (this blog), and to don't feed other people's unworthiness with my reactions. This is part of the new me as a poker player as well, but we'll go over that in future editions.
Welcome all, let's have some fun, make money and pick up the cuttest girl (I already got mine).
Andres
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