http://www.pocketfives.com/blog.php PocketFives - Online poker discussion board en Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:39:02 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.pocketfives.com/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.pocketfives.com/blog.php http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/assassinato/eager-4-blade-d-586871/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:20:58 GMT There's two programmed languages in my head. First one I call affectionately "incapable loser." I hate this guy. I would like to write a long list of everyone who helped contribute to this voice in my head, but that seems boring and whiny. I've tried for years to bury this person I can be. It seems lame to obsess over what creates the negative mindset.

When things go wrong, I often blame myself. I only blame myself. I see everything as stupidly unfair. People are assholes who only want to use me for their own gain. My mind is not my friend, it only dilutes me with needless thoughts every day that stress me and make me unable to relax. My mind makes me obsessive and impossible to be around. Success is not meant for me. The other guys that are succeeding? These so-called players are luckboxing untalented pricks who probably couldn't undress a girl without an intense 2p2 strategy discussion. Good fortune doesn't want me. I come up with excuses for why I didn't perform my best, or why I'm struggling. I hide from it, but I'm not feeling good enough for the task at hand. Failure seems imminent. I better act arrogant and like I don't feel any of these things in order to hide the fact that I really think I suck.

Then there's winner programming. I see everything as possible. People are just people, and most aren't that bad. Success is achievable if I wake up early and go after it. Previous failures were just lessons, and they're helping me doing everything right today. Every day is an opportunity. No, I'm not saying that because I saw the slogan on a poster in my high school math class, I can really move forward every day. My mind is my friend, the constant thinking helps me see all the angles. The other players are generally likeminded people with the same interests as me, and many share my aspirations. Their varying approaches keep me on my game. Good things are happening for me, and that's nice, because I'm open to that. I'm ready for that.

I've tried to work on feeling good and worrying only about what I can control every day since I went broke a few years ago. It's helped immensely for enjoying my job and learning more. More than that I can accept when a player got the upper hand on me. I don't feel mad or anything when I get outdrawn or bluffed out.

I feel good almost all the time now. I never felt anything but persistent anxiety before my meds, along with jealousy and hatred for the people who could sleep or see the world in its actual hue. Now, thank you God, I feel normal. The world is just fine. People are dandy. Sleep is excellent. Food tastes good. Poker is fun.

Still, I had a hand that made me go into "f this" programming the other day.



[6:13:51 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: I raised sb with K-4 and an awful image

[6:13:53 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: why idk

[6:13:56 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: I could've just folded

[6:13:58 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: but whatever

[6:13:59 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: guy flats

[6:14:07 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: board comes 8s-4-2s

[6:14:12 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: I c-bet

[6:14:22 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: guy takes 30 seconds on his timebank

[6:14:27 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: which to me doesnt scream flush draw

[6:14:45 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: its either I have a really good 8/two pair and don't know what to do with it

[6:14:48 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: or I have complete air

[6:14:56 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: flush draws generally raise here pretty fast

[6:15:00 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: we're the two chip leaders five handed

[6:15:05 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: guy has been pretty tight

[6:15:07 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: anyways he raises

[6:15:17 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: and I'm positive its a great 8

[6:15:24 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: set/two pairs

[6:15:25 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: or crap

[6:15:27 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: and mostly crap...I don't think he has a flush draw, he needed to tank it so long

[6:15:37 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: so I'm using my 4 as a blocker/I'm turning my hand into a bluff

[6:15:42 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: cuz call down here is insanely difficult

[6:15:48 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: im going to 3bet fold

[6:15:57 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: im pretty sure he has nothing 70% of the time

[6:16:04 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: and if he shoves im sure he has it

[6:16:08 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: anyways I click it back

[6:16:09 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: he tanks 5 seconds

[6:16:12 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: and shoves

[6:16:15 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: and I know he should have it here

[6:16:22 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: he didnt take long to make the decision

[6:16:26 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: its an ICM disaster

[6:16:28 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: a bluff here

[6:16:34 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: but something was going in my head CALL CALL CALL CALL

[6:16:45 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: I took a second to think about it

[6:16:51 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: cuz it was so different than my initial read

[6:16:56 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: and then i timed out

[6:16:57 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: and he showed me q-9

[6:17:06 PM] Alexander Fitzgerald: and I went from chip lead to out in 5th, 15k difference

And yeah, that was at The Big 162 final table. I didn't really get down on myself. Most of me was just going "wow did I get outplayed there." But then I thought of the payouts. 22k for first, I'm chip lead five handed, I got handed every cooler and flip on the way to that final table, and I finished fifth. I played such a messy hand and didn't go with my gut...

I thought about all the times recently, hell over my whole career, where I couldn't separate a gambling impulse with a good instinct. I thought about how many times I've blown up, and then I got kind of pissed at myself. Most of the chips in play were handed to me, I induced it, and I just had to click the call button. Do what I do every day, go with what I thought. Change my course mid-flight. Or hell, just quit pushing when everybody is shutting you down, fold the damn K-4o OOP versus a tough player if you're not prepared to go with your gut. But I got into a mess and chickened out. I usually handle everything real well, or I think I do, so it pissed me off to get flustered and make the wrong decision.

I talked to some friends. I kept going off on myself. Then I remember, actually got told, about something Faraz Jaka said in an interview...that you can't be afraid to look stupid. That there's so many players who never look bad, but never give themselves the chance to make that far out play...because they care more about looking cool than making money.

I've looked like a horse's ass more times than I can count at a table. But I think putting myself in those hairy spots over and over teaches you how to handle things better. That's really what's most fun about poker.

So yeah...I had disdain for the guy for a moment...but then - respect. The dude ripped it. He didn't care. I never feel out of my element, and it rocked my head open. I didn't see it coming, I didn't think he had it in him.

This is what's fun about poker...getting that bet in they didn't prepare for. Leaving blisters on people's brains. It sucks when it happens to you, but that's the game. You can't always be the victor. Even when you fail that particular hand should go into a Rolodex of 7 million other situations. You'll be better prepared next time.

Most successful people have to have a little defeatist in them. You need to burn after your mistakes, or how will you remember? It's okay to feel like the loser in that five minutes, because that should push you to be more of a winner in every moment after that. The way you talk to your fam, the work you put in after the game, the review sessions, the way you handle your money...you should remember that moment you felt like a total dipshit, because your every action after that should keep you far from that moment.

Then when you realize how hard you work, how much time you put into your mental game, and you can STILL feel rocked...well, how do you think your opponents feel when they get ripped open? When they call off their tournament and their wrong, and they just find a chemical to dull the pain. You need that voice that goes "that wasn't enough, you can do better."

***
I wrote everything above in a caffeine-fueled rant. I'm out of gas now.

So yeah, just having that voice for a day or so, telling me I can do better, and it worked...I cashed the next session. I got back to a final table the next day at the $320 and also a $109, a 3rd and 4th, about 9K all together. I had a bunch of final tables over the last week. I was really grateful to make the money. I spent most of today budgeting some things, doing P5s training vids, doing personal lessons, and also reading this crazy book Aztec.

I'm also rewatching Boardwalk Empire with my girlfriend, waiting till I get to the episodes I haven't seen. It's funny to read what I can understand of the Spanish translations. They can't even touch what ridiculous things Americans said back then.

Tomorrow I'm going to eat some sushi, watch more Boardwalk Empire, sleep in, lay around some more, see my girl, and actually have a day off for once.

Saturday and Sunday I'm ready to go hard. So psyched for the double vision. Probably waking up early for that.

My Plugs: Check out my vids at Pocketfives Training, hit me up for lessons at assassinatocoaching@gmail.com, see other stuff I write with my friends at www.pokerheadrush.com, and follow my Twitter at TheAssassinato ]]> Assassinato http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/assassinato/eager-4-blade-d-586871/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/moneytaker9/online-poker-vs-live-poker-586870/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:46:46 GMT which is better to play online are live? which is easier?most profit?more hands?good and bad hard and easy.. which is better to play online are live? which is easier?most profit?more hands?good and bad hard and easy.. ]]> moneytaker9 http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/moneytaker9/online-poker-vs-live-poker-586870/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/silverscull/san-diego-poker-log-586869/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:10:14 GMT 7 FEB: Viejas Casino, Alpine, CA. $20 Buy-In with $10 RB/AO.

It's rainy season in Paradise. The weather must have scared off people as only 30 players show up. Starting Stack is 4000 chips with my Re-Buy.

I am at a short table with 5 players. I elect to lively it up with a lot of first-in vigorish type steal attempts with relative junk like Q3, K5, and J4s. It doesn't pan out too well as I get callers and 3-betters (with AA), but I don't incur too much damage. We get moved to a full table and I finally get pocket Aces. I get one caller and spike a set, but even with slow play, I don't get paid off. Near the end of the re-buy period, I limp in with 66 and call a 4X raise (Blinds 200/400). I hit another set and mined an All-In with Top Pair. That put me up to 10,000 chips going into the break.

I run good getting Pocket Queens and Kings in succession. My stack is around 40,000 chips with 17 players left. I am kinda sorta Table Captain right now. Eight get paid. Then a table breaks and we get some new players to the table. I despise table changes. One of the players who moves to our table is a scraggly-looking dude wearing a Full Tilt T-shirt (like why give those crooks any promotion). Full-Tilt Dude is doing a lot of raising. With Bilnds (1000/2000), FT Dude makes it 5000 pre and I call at the with KhQd; the small blind is short-stacked and makes the call too. The Flop comes 8h9hTh. FT Dude bets out 5,000. While I considered shoving, I couldn't be certain that I was drawing dead so I just called. The short stack calls the rest of the chips. The turn is 8c. FT Dude make it 10,000 to go. I bail out. FT Dude shows 76 and the short stack got the nut flush.

A couple of hands later, I open raise to 8000 with 77 (Blinds 2000/4000). I look directly at FT Dude inviting him to make a play. He thinks, smiles, and mucks. I am at 31,000 chips and get AdQd in the Big Blind. Another of the new players is a dude who had gotten some lucky rivers and he goes All-In. I make the academic call. Shover had Pocket Deuces. Give me a break! Risk your tournament life on the equivalent of a "Don't Come" bet.

In 2012, I've been winning the races I have lost so often in years past. I flop 2 diamonds, so I'm felling pretty good with my 17 outs. But a crappy deuce makes the turn. No diamond on the river (just to twist the knife, a Queen makes the river; so I would have won the hand if he didn't make his Gay Set). I am left with 2,000 chips which I lose on the next hand. My 5-tournament cash streak is snapped.

Looking at my hand stats, I have played 22 606 times, won just 38% of the pots I entered with them and have an estimated equity of $75 for every $100 bet. I don't even play them much anymore. But it worked for dude. I am cool with it as I got to play an active tournament. Sometimes, the data you collect in a tournament is almost as good as the cash. ]]> silverscull http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/silverscull/san-diego-poker-log-586869/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/irishinc/change-direction-586868/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:04:23 GMT This weekend changed some things for me. I decided to load a small amount onto Intertops (Cake) and Carbon (Merge) and give it a run.I was mildly... This weekend changed some things for me. I decided to load a small amount onto Intertops (Cake) and Carbon (Merge) and give it a run.I was mildly successful,playing in a few Guarantee tournaments, final tabling 4 times, winning one. But I am way more a cash game player, so I decided to go a different direction. So as of now what I'm gonna do is build a bankroll by playing micro stakes. I plan to build up to 3000 big blinds ($750) on each site, playing .10-.25, then move up to .25-.50 and so on. I started with about $30 on each site and in 4 sessions I've got it up to around $160. Or I've won about 400 big blinds. One hundred dollars isn't much, but when you look at it by big blinds it looks a little better. So it's been an interesting few days as I've been snowed in here in Denver. Man I hate the cold......but this has been a fun way to stay warm. ]]> IrishInc http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/irishinc/change-direction-586868/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/assassinato/25k-sunday-586867/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:30:52 GMT Wow, that was a trip.

I felt really slow on Sunday. I don't know why but I just hit a wall. I didn't sleep well or something. I was getting more frustrated with myself by the minute. I couldn't...put my thoughts together. My feel was just off. My girlfriend saw me getting pissed and said "stop registering" so I did. I unregged everything for the last four hours of my session, except the high roller on Merge because I've decided I love that tournament.

She cooked for me something delicious and cheered me up a bit. With less tables I was able to focus more. I talked with her, laughed a bit, felt better. She watched 21 Grams in the other room. Normally I'd have my headphones on but I listened to the dialogue for a little while. Listening to an ex-con zealously try to get on the right track reminded me poker life is pretty sweet, even on the days you lose what you used to make in five months.

Eventually I could focus on my last few tables...and I had fun again. I ran really well too. I had a bunch of my friends railing...and I want to be on when they watch, because they keep me on my game. They dissect every decision. They look over my HHs. They make me explain every action. They teach me. It's really good to have my circle of friends in poker, because alone in my office...I can blow off a decision. I've worn down every pleasure center. I've killed every cell involved in risk aversion. I don't...get it. I don't worry. I don't feel it. I don't get it. I like to solve puzzles, that's all.

Naza114 and I were talking the other day, and we were talking about how you can't take a hand off anymore. People play really well. If you don't take every pot that you can, if you don't empty the clip when you know the barrel will work...these guys will get you know. These kids play good.

For a long time I just showed up, and figured if I played well the money would come. That worked for years. It doesn't anymore. I have to challenge myself to play better every session.

I'm glad I have Pocketfives Training because there's no kidding myself. I posted my WCOOP 5k HH, a tournament I played antsy because I hadn't played in months, and boom the decisions are there for everyone to see. A retarded call down, an anxious call out of position, an overly loose play, I can't hide it. But when I pull off some of the other maneuvers I get to think aloud about why it worked. In my head, in my office, with only my voice - I can kid myself. Most humans are word class bullshitters. We do things half assed and say it's our best, and then wonder why that other guy's got it. It's because he doesn't perceive that he has anything. There's always that voice telling him to study some film, put in those hours.

I just feel blessed things are really coming together now. Cashings checks, sending money to my family and my friends who helped me out before, putting money in savings, upgrading the office, putting food in the fridge...I don't know it just feels good. I lost so damn much between all my horses accounts and mine with Full Tilt, I struggled in the wake of Black Friday...I was just winded, devastated, not feeling my best, feeling like a year of my life had been knocked out in one night, and nobody cared. It's not like I felt the pain consciously but there's something hard about going "a year of 80 hour weeks is gone." I love my work, and I learned from that time, but...damn you feel like you reach this mountaintop, and you got there clear headed for once, and you just get your ass knocked back on down to base camp in one day. What are you going to do?

But yeah it's just been good. I hope this blog doesn't come off as gloating. I just try to write to have a record of what's going on, and to have a mental line check. I really appreciate how people check out my lessons, my P5s Training videos, hopefully Kingdom Of Poker, and my articles. It's hard to make money in this economy. So many of my friends with real degrees are having a hard time finding a job that pays well. Even though work in this business can oftentimes be on spec, I just feel really lucky to be working and healthy, doing something I like.

Anyways, I should probably get grinding this 1k Tuesday. I farted around already most of Monday. Well, I got some lessons done. I'm having a harder time fitting in a bunch of lessons with a full MTT schedule, so I think I'm going to have to take two days to do a ton here soon. I also gotta bang out more P5s vids, finish the WCOOP series. But yeah I got a bunch of lessons done. I took my dog to get his first hair cut. The assholes shaved him up to look like a chick poodle. He didn't look anything like the cool dog I'd had for seven months.

Anyways, while they were wrecking my perro's chances of getting laid I went to this park near the place, got a smoothie, and read a high high level poker player's e-book on my tablet . A lot of it was repetitive or stuff I didn't think would work in the games anymore. There were other sections where the guy was clearly holding back, because anyone with proficiency with HEM would know how to work some of the things he was talking about, and he claimed total ignorance, or "try this three times on your opponent." But yeah, there were some really interesting line ideas. Just stuff that got me really thinking. I guess it wasn't much of a day off, but it feels like a huge opportunity to learn some real ideas as far as No Limit Hold'em.

It makes me feel better about my decision to stay in tournaments. I think I can make more money here. There's no way in hell the regs see some ideas ahead of time. They play really well, but finite stacks mean your learning will be stunted in certain areas. I'd get eaten alive at higher stakes cash games, but except for when NeverscaredB owns me, I really feel like I'm handling myself well in MTTs, and I'm happy to still be hanging in there when so many of my old friends have given up or been grinded out.


My Plugs: Check out my vids at Pocketfives Training, hit me up for lessons at assassinatocoaching@gmail.com, see other stuff I write with my friends at www.pokerheadrush.com, and follow my Twitter at TheAssassinato ]]> Assassinato http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/assassinato/25k-sunday-586867/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/dtools22/jv-circuit-586866/ Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:29:49 GMT The poker world as it turns out is a very big place. Most of us got interested in this industry from one of a few tent poles. We saw Chris... The poker world as it turns out is a very big place. Most of us got interested in this industry from one of a few tent poles. We saw Chris Moneymaker win the WSOP ME on a $40 online qualifier or we watched Rounders and got very interested in the prospect of playing cards for a living. Whatever the case may be, the poker world has a lot more going on in it than people think of at first glance. I’ve been keeping my ear to the ground to find some events to travel to and play in that would be within my buy in range (for MTTs $200-$600) and still generate enough buzz to really build some cash game action. This is to build what I am calling the “JV Circuit.” Events that are well worth my time being a smaller stakes grinder at this point in my career, but nothing so big that the poker media will suddenly be covering my every move if I win.

The easiest place for me to start is Foxwoods. Essentially my hometown casino, they run a series roughly every 8 weeks. This week is one of their Mega Stack Series, which features 4 two day events ranging in buy ins from $300-$1200 as well as some one day events that will generate quite a buzz. I’ll be there Wednesday through Friday this week using some of my comp rooms. Unless things go well that first day I probably won’t play in any of the 2 day events, but I’ve got my eyes on the $230 bounty event on Wednesday. Each bounty is worth $100, $20K guaranteed prize pool, and 25 minute levels. It’s not a hugely serious event and there will definitely be some gambling going on, but with such a huge price on each head I don’t know how I could pass it up.

Thumbing through Poker Player Magazine I stumbled upon an article for the Delaware Poker Classic. This year’s event will be from March 14 through April 2 and will actually be hosted by Greg Raymer. More importantly, the event features a very ambitious schedule with some very fun looking events. There is a $230 head’s up championship event that I would love to head down for as well as some other really solid value events for under $400 buy ins. If I can swing taking $1500 down there and grinding in some of these smaller events I’d love to take that shot. I’ve actually never been to Delaware Park so it could be a whole new experience in and of itself.

I also have some connections out in LA that are interesting. There are friends of mine that I could go out and visit, stay with them on the cheap, and catch a ride from them to the Commerce Casino. The LAPC is actually going on right now, though I doubt I’d be able to get out there for any of the prelim events. There are however some more low key series going on out there. The California State Championship has the majority of their events under $400 buy ins in the spring, just before the WSOP really gets underway in Vegas. I also have some friends in Florida that are interested in flying me down to play in some of the smaller dailies down there.

I’ll probably be able to travel to some of these events at the end of the month. I know Turning Stone and Atlantic City will eventually be destinations I’ll look to go to as well. The idea is simple, the more poker I play the better my chances are to win money and if this is the career I want to have I have to spend the time competing at these different locations. ]]> dtools22 http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/dtools22/jv-circuit-586866/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/assassinato/ill-tin-foil-your-microwave-586864/ Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:40:16 GMT I took a refrigerator box out of my storage and put it in front of the windows in my office. Normally I liked the view of the nature but lately the... I took a refrigerator box out of my storage and put it in front of the windows in my office. Normally I liked the view of the nature but lately the sun has been shining right in my eyes. I don't know if my neighbor cut down a tree or what, but it was driving me insane. My office looks more like a geek hang out now but it seemed to be conducive to productive play.

I took Monday off because I played a 17 hour Sunday and I was completely wrecked. Tuesday I just didn't have it. I don't know what was with me but I made a lot of subpar decisions. That really pissed me off because every day you play bad in this game you're going to have to make up with another day, so in effect you've lost two days, since you're going to have to grind those losses back.

A little annoyed with myself I went hard on Wednesday, and ended up making three final tables in the late 100r, the 30 quad, and the $50 6-max turbo. I ended up winning the 30 Quad for $4.6K, so that was really fun. It's always nice to get that all-powerful feeling when you're running amazing, all your bluffs are working, and you get three streets when you finally have it. I just like winning too, the process of working down from hundreds if not thousands of players to just a couple, to taking their stack little by little. I guess it appeases the competitor in me. I like busting people, or the threat of me being busted. Cash games are great and all, but I like there to be that threat of, "if you're wrong there's no coming back to this table. You'll have to fight for hours again to get another shot at me."

I was a little pissed off about the other final tables. I just lost flips, but in pretty horrific fashion. I got it in with 33 against AK for the chip lead at the $50 6-max final table, flopped the set, then got runner runnered. I also had A-6o to a guy's KQ on the 100r bubble, the board came A-6-3, turn J, river 10. That same guy ended up coolering me a bit later, so instead of coming into the biggest final table with a chip lead stack I limped in with 20 BBs, ran it up to 35, then ran TT into JJ.

It's one of the maddening things about tournament poker. You play hours and hours and the difference between a 20K profit week and nothing is a couple of hands. You feel fortunate to even get in those spots.

I'm in a similar position this week. Pretty much break even heading into the weekend. I'm happy to be keeping out of makeup but I'm focused now. I have no distractions. I have a girlfriend whose supported me from private beaches to flop houses, and I want to make her proud. My whole family believes in me, I know what game I have, but I've never been a professional. I've never been sober, on my shit, and saving my dollars. I've been a clown, only making money to further my partying habits. Now it's time for the real deal, to be a real professional, and...this last year has been a variance concussion. Making six figures over 80 hour weeks for nine months, and watching it all swept away in a day on Black Friday, struggling to make a profit live and on Pokerstars, spinning so many plates with my other businesses.

Now there's no makeup, there's money coming in, and no project I'm working on needs a cash injection. It's that little headway I've been hauling ass for.

And my game, I feel my game on point right now. I still can mess up, but its happening less and less. I'm building up and having a good time every time I play. I love the sweats, I love working on the problems, and now I just want to flesh everything out.

I took today off to do some budgets, pay some bills, work on some other business stuff, clean my house a bit (OCD FTW), pick up my meds, talk to the academy I'm hoping to attend, maybe shoot a video for p5s, and...yeah, there's a lot of things I need to take care of. I don't like taking days off right now but I got a lot of things to figure out, and I don't like that being on my mind while I work.

Also was nice to kick back and read a book. I finished this one called Ready Player One. Essentially, in a post-apocalyptic future (which is sadly really easy to imagine) people are unable to travel due to the high price of gas and its difficult to walk around the real world because most people are starving and poor, ravenously stealing from others. So people exist in this kind of Matrix, this MMORPG, this perfect simulated world, called the OASIS.

The game's creator, a multibillionaire reclusive mental patient with a penchant for old school video games and movies, announces that after he dies he will be leaving his entire fortune to one lucky person, who...if they can discover the Easter Egg he hid in his game...will be given his entire fortune and control of the world's favorite simulated existence.

A subculture opens up with people studying all the art this man was interested in before he died, since he tells the world that knowledge of his interests will give you hints on where the egg is located, and will also get you past the challenges he has set up. The OASIS's competitor corporation obviously takes a huge interest in the contest, seeing as they could gain majority control and billions of dollars of their competition should they win it. The world becomes infatuated with this race.

There's some parts of the book that are decidedly heavy, but the majority of it was like drinking a Coke with real sugar...just sweet. I had a lot of fun reading the book. The dude writing it gets really preachy at a couple different points, and that bugged me, but it was just really creative and well written, and a treat for anyone who is as big of a geek as me. There's so many references for kids who grew up as a gamers, anime-lovers, hackers, movie hounds, etc.

I feel real lucky just to chill and read books, have my peaceful little abode here in the mountains. Probably the wealthiest I've ever felt in my life, even though compared to where I was...I'm broke as hell right now. It's just so chill to kick back with my dog laying on my belly, reading a book on my tablet. My girlfriend's the greatest, getting me a tablet to read books on (so helpful in a country where books in English are hard to find), and a dog to hang out with while I'm reading. It's definitely really helpful when taking a break can help you recharge for the next game.

My Plugs: Check out my vids at Pocketfives Training, hit me up for lessons at assassinatocoaching@gmail.com, see other stuff I write with my friends at www.pokerheadrush.com, and follow my Twitter at TheAssassinato ]]> Assassinato http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/assassinato/ill-tin-foil-your-microwave-586864/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/irishinc/day-one-586863/ Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:02:05 GMT As I said in my previous post, it's gonna be a daunting task trying to build a $100 bankroll purely from freeroll cashes. For Day One I cleared $1.50. I played in 5 tournaments and here are the results:

Bet On Line $50 Freeroll 6/1352 = $1.50 Bust Out w/ Kd6d all in pre-flop on the button short stacked whiff on board
Bet On Line $10 Turbo FR 510/861 = 0 Bust Out w/ AcJh Called all in on flop with 292 board.....10 10 to finish....all in 9 10 for full house
Bet On Line $25 Freeroll 548/1344 = 0 Bust Out w/ 4c4h flopped set, push all in w/ dry board.....lose to flopped set of 7's
Bet On Line $25 Freeroll 203/1652 = 0 Bust Out w/ Kc8c Call all in with top pair and 4 flush....whiff to spiked Ace
Bet On Line $75 Freeroll 283/1968 = 0 Bust Out w/ Jc7d on button, flop top pair bet, called, turn second pair, push....called by better 2 pair J10

I feel like I played ok, did get hit with several 4 outters or less...but thats poker. I definitely can play better.....on to Day Two. ]]> IrishInc http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/irishinc/day-one-586863/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/pokerh4cks/first-month-2012-586862/ Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:54:17 GMT Moving up ranks :) 329th for Belgium, goal is top 100th Moving up ranks :)
329th for Belgium, goal is top 100th ]]> POKERH4CKS http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/pokerh4cks/first-month-2012-586862/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/irishinc/starting-scratch-586861/ Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:07:08 GMT A couple of years ago Chris Ferguson ran an experiment that was based on the idea that you could start off playing freerolls to build a bankroll.... A couple of years ago Chris Ferguson ran an experiment that was based on the idea that you could start off playing freerolls to build a bankroll. He's a fantastic player and rolled up a substantial bankroll that way. Since this is my first foray back to the online scene since Black Friday I intend to conduct a similar experiment. My goal is to build a bankroll to $100 simply by cashing in freeroll tournaments. I intend to do this on a couple of sites....Carbon and Bet On Line. To be honest I feel like this could be a very daunting task....I feel like freerolls are harder to beat because of the quality ( or lack there of) of play in them. When you play in a decent buy in tournament you know that you are going up against some usually good players,,,,in a freeroll not so much. Navigating the landmines can be much harder because of what is at risk....nothing! If a player loses they lose nothing,,,,so the natural fear of playing like crap is negated. Tonight I took 6th place for $1.50 out of 1352 players. Yes, I know, it was alot of work for $1.50.....but in todays online poker world it seems safer than depositing and not ever knowing when I might be able to cash out. And it's a challenge. So today is February 1st.....lets see how long it takes to reach $100.....and how many tournaments it will take to get there. I'll post a daily blog to keep up with it....and I know most players will think this is dumb because of the lack of real money, so this is mainly for me, but I definitely would appreciate readers comments or suggestions....at least the positive ones. Good luck to all and I hope everyone does something that they love and that challenges them. ]]> IrishInc http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/irishinc/starting-scratch-586861/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/irishinc/playin-da-quarter-beyond-586856/ Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:33:25 GMT I've been playing live cash games and tournaments for the last 15 years and of course like most it has serious ups and downs. I love it and it is a huge part of me. I just moved from the French Quarter of New Orleans to the Denver, CO area and as usual I find it crazy how much the way the game is played changes so much from region to region. I went from playing every night @ Harrah's New Orleans to the Isle in BlackHawk. It almost feels like when I learned to play 7 card stud 15 years ago @ the Emerald Queen in Seattle....kinda slow and mechanical....especially for a no limit game. And especially after years of playing drunken hooligans til 8 am every day. But I digress.....I have played on line sparingly over the years as you can plainly see by my stats on my profile, a little success here and there but nothing I was huge into because a live game was always so close. So now here I am trying to play as much as possible because I want to ramp up for the WPT when it comes to Black Hawk in the fall....live games aren't so close now.....so I guess this is the beginning of me trying to find a decent on line site almost a year after Black Friday.....Cake, Bet On Line, Carbon....Is on line poker really this pathetic now? Makes me wonder when the government is gonna wise up and decide to back legalizing the game we all love, or hate, or both.... ]]> IrishInc http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/irishinc/playin-da-quarter-beyond-586856/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/ou_dlanger610/how-positivity-can-elevate-your-mtt-game-part-1-586855/ Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:20:23 GMT Tournament poker is demoralizing. Countless times we play great poker for hours, even days, only to have it blow up in our face over the course of a... Tournament poker is demoralizing. Countless times we play great poker for hours, even days, only to have it blow up in our face over the course of a few hands. It gets to a point where we wonder if there is some type of hex over our cards, or maybe the site we’re playing on is “rigged”. The consistent misfortunes deep in tournaments often weighs heavily on our attitude and makes us expect bad results. However, there is a great equalizer, which if harnessed correctly can make tournament poker much more enjoyable in the long-run: Positivity.

“I Run so Bad” Vs. “I Run so Good”

Think back through your conversations with poker players and ask yourself how many times you’ve heard each of these statements said. It would be very hard to imagine that there are people who have heard the run-good proclamation more. There is a simple explanation for that: Tournament poker is cruel. People naturally focus on the big hands that they lose over the big hands they win. This often leads to a high level of frustration which can quickly translate over to poor play. If so many people are unlucky, are they really running bad, or just about the same as everybody else?

One of the biggest developments in my tournament game was when I started telling myself and others how good I run. Although it may have been far from the truth, it made the game a lot more fun and led to more consistent results. For whatever reason, when you tell yourself you’re going to win a big hand, it just feels like they fall in your favor more often. If they don’t, then who cares? We are just going to win the next one.

Positivity Fosters Results

When a solid player is displaying optimism and confidence they are extremely dangerous. They trust plays with little to no fear of failure, their reads are generally spot-on, and they play the game to their full potential. When players are negative and worried about running bad, the reverse is true. They tend to be gun-shy and avoid spots that they know are profitable. They feel they are destined to lose. It’s clear to see why being positive is so important if we expect profitable results in the long-run.

The Best Players are Forward-Looking

The best thing any tournament player can do when they lose a big pot is do everything in their power to realize it as a sunk cost. We can’t let past misfortunes plague our current mentality. Whatever happened in the past is now out of our control. We have to readjust and make the best plays going forward.

The same goes for recent results. It is not ideal whatsoever to let how poorly the past session, week, month, etc. affect how we are playing now. Every time we start a tournament, the only part of the past that should play a role in our game is the information we have gathered over time. If we maintain a level of positivity, then we have a huge edge over our competition that is letting bad luck bring down their level of play.

You Can Lead a Horse to Water…

No matter how much you stress the importance of positivity with tournament poker; most will never be able to grasp it. That or they refuse to accept it. I’ll admit that it’s very hard to stay optimistic during the roughest downswings, especially when it is a main source of income. However, this is when you need that positivity the most.

At the end of the day, there is a massive difference between fundamentally solid players who are positive people versus those who are negative. In many instances, this will be the determining factor whether they are able to continue to develop and grow as a player. If we fuse positivity into our everyday grind, not only will the game become more enjoyable, but we’ll be able to focus on what is in our control in any particular tournament rather than the luck factor.

In part 2 of this topic I'll be going into more specific stories about how attitude has positively/negatively affected myself and those close to me both in poker and life.

Special thanks to Howie Shen (http://www.pocketfives.com/profiles/no-name-fame) for his input on this matter. ]]> OU_dlanger610 http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/ou_dlanger610/how-positivity-can-elevate-your-mtt-game-part-1-586855/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/assassinato/harvesting-586854/ Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:00:43 GMT Normally my life is pretty sweet but lately I feel like things have been really clicking.

I'm going on $100,000 in cashes for this year so far. I don't have much of that money because of what a crap year last year was, and the hundreds of thousands I lost on Black Friday, and live makeup, and other fun things...but I got enough money to take care of my responsibilities and also be secure. I was really grinding there for a while. Hard to support different start-up businesses, yourself, your family, and some tour expenses when your best site gets cut out, and you suck on the other major site, but I found a way for the last year and now things are really taken care of, so I feel good about that.

Last week I wasn't super successful...I made only a few grand in profit, after all the TCOOPs (Main Event and High Roller), and the fact I can't boot up a session without playing everything, but I was proud of how hard I played. I know a lot of people got destroyed last week, but I played a 17 hour session on Sunday to catch up with all the high-variance TCOOP buy-ins. More than just the hours I put in I was proud of how fresh I stayed throughout the whole process, and how much more positive I was then last year...after losing the fortune, getting into makeup, etc.

My biggest final table yesterday was the $50K Guaranteed High Roller tournament on Lock. It was also one of the last tournaments I played on my session. Going into the final table I had been playing for sixteen hours. I felt good though, and felt I played a great game. Once I finish up the WCOOP videos for P5s Training I think this will be the next HH I review, since it's a US-facing site.

I loved the payout structure on Lock, how it actually meant something. On Stars I'm always playing for 18.2% of the prize pool for first, and oh noes, $500 less for second. Here first was actually the lion's share of $16K. Third was $6.8k. Third would get me even on the monster session, first would make it a great Sunday.

Three-handed we were all basically even in chips. The other two guys could play for sure. I still got one of them to fivebet A-8o into my A-10 offsuit for pretty much all the chips three handed...and he rivered a chop. Then I lost a coinflip to him. I went out 3rd. Of course, in any tournament you can think back to a handful of coinflips that you were fortunate enough to win, but still...you want that money. A $10,000+ profit Sunday would have been pretty sweet, and the money always helps. I guess in tournaments you gotta take what you can get.

Playing a lot now I wonder how much of an edge I have on a lot of people. 50+ BBs deep...I've done more study than 99% of MTT regs. I get value where other people do not, I know this. But 40 BBs deep, people can play alright now. I feel like I still get people to make mistakes, but I was really impressed with a lot of the play at this Lock final table. Getting there I saw a lot of stuff that made me glad to play there, but...sometimes I wonder if I should be focusing on cash. Tournaments have a lot of dead money in them still, and cash has far more talented players, but its frustrating when a whole Sunday...hell a whole week, comes down to A-10 holding. At the same time I love tournaments and I really wouldn't know where to start in cash. I think good things are coming for me in the tournament world if I keep my head on straight, keep working out, stay healthy, keep putting in the hours.

This final table made me really want to get my huge monitor and start the grind on every site. Unfortunately...I've been going back and forth with four different sites, and nobody seems to understand my situation here. I rent a house I love but it's in the middle of no where Costa Rica. Changing the name on my utility bill will take some time. The government doesn't work that fast here. There's a lot of paperwork, and people don't really understand. It's the owner's house, why should the utility bill be in your name? That's how they look at it. I can show four different documents that put me as a resident here, hell I was on the cover of the largest Spanish language poker magazine in the world...and the cover feature had all sorts of pics of my house, but no they just won't do it. Stars only put me back on because I talked to someone personally.

I'm going to look at a house here in about twenty minutes. I've been wanting to get another place for a while. I love my house I have right now but one of my goals is to study Spanish this year and I'm a ways away from the schools. Transportation would eat an hour plus of each day, an hour I don't have. My internet is pretty stable right here, actually ridiculously stable, but the place has gotten a little small for me as I've gotten more settled down in Costa Rica. I don't know if I'm going to move, and that poses another problem. I can't go switching the names on utility bills with the government here than leave a month later, then I'll be responsible for the bill till I go through the arduous process of getting my name off it again. So I have to make a decision whether I'm staying here or not.

Other than poker life has also been pretty sweet. Amazing I have another life when I put in 80 hours of work last week. My girlfriend and I got some quality time together, which was good...we both work a lot and it can be hard to just turn off your brain when you finally get an hour off, but we're doing it. We took her grandmother out to see a movie last week, The Descendants, really good flick. We hung out at my place last night, ate some real Costa Rican food, watched 50/50, good flick. We see a lot of movies.

She might be going out for a huge audition real soon. She's an opera singer. She was playing me some of her favorite works on Youtube last night. Late at night in the mountains of Costa Rica, some of the stuff was really haunting. I dig checking out music I didn't really grow up with. I like that vibe. Hearing how powerful her voice is sometimes gives me the chills. She's had opportunities to perform professionally for a while, she's just been really focused on growing as a physical therapist. It's inspiring to have a girlfriend who is working hard too. It makes me want to stay on my game.

***

Just went to see the house and the woman didn't even show up to let us inside. All the best, place looked like crap today. I went and picked up some Aasics for running and checked out some other houses. Time to get my grind on.

My Plugs: Check out my vids at Pocketfives Training, hit me up for lessons at assassinatocoaching@gmail.com, see other stuff I write with my friends at www.pokerheadrush.com, and follow my Twitter at TheAssassinato ]]> Assassinato http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/assassinato/harvesting-586854/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/masakik86/poker-life-very-lonely-586852/ Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:58:24 GMT I've been feeling pretty disconnected from the "real world". I find it hard to make good friends. I've been finding it hard to relate to non-poker players and even some poker players I can't really relate to. I'm not really the type of person that likes to spew in clubs and show off. I'm a pretty boring, nerdy type of person. I love Starcraft 2 and DotA 2 I'm not going to lie...Maybe, my problem is I can only relate to nerdy people like me and they are hard to find (at least where I live).

Poker sucks for meeting new people in your area. Sure I've made a few poker friends in other countries but how does that help me have a birthday party or going out for sushi etc? I'd like to make friends with a nice group of people that enjoy doing half interesting nerdy stuff, but I've been running dry. When I worked, I made friends with the people I worked with, or when I went to school... Playing poker online you are not forced into those social interactions...

What should I do? I was thinking moving to a big city?

Any suggestions? ]]> Masakik86 http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/masakik86/poker-life-very-lonely-586852/ http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/silverscull/scottsdale-live-tournament-quicklook-586851/ Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:28:52 GMT After my recent score, I played two more tournaments. I'll just present some key highlights here:

Date: 24 JAN, 2012

Casino: Fort McDowell, Fountain Hills, Az

Tournament structure: $5 Buy-in for 2,000 chips, $5 rebuys and $20 Add-on for 20,000 chips. (75 Entrants)

Summary: The first thing I want to discuss is my tournament selection. Though fully aware that you "get what you pay for" when you play micro-stakes live rebuy tournaments with a fast blind structure, while a juicy $160 deep stack tournament was happening at the same time down the road at Casino Arizona. My decision process for playing the Donk-Fest had absolutely nothing to do with the delta in the buy-in, but more to do with the following:

1. Though I am an out-of-towner, I know nearly everyone who plays the tournaments at Fort McDowell after 6 years of play. I know nobody at the other place. This knowledge of players is a valuable commodity.
2. It's just like why change your seat when you are at a hot table. I have cashed the last two nights. At Casino Arizona, I have zero success and was knocked out before the first break the last time I played there (and it was a deep stack tourney, too).
3. Main reason: Casino Arizona is resplendent with dooshbags. Rude shitheels. The closest I ever came to wanting to clock someone at a poker table was here. Yes, CA is far nicer than "The Fort," but you can't polish a turd.

So I play the Re-buy rounds, endure cracked Aces (Big Slick made a straight on the turn) and had to rebuy when my pair of Queens got set-mined by a trey of tens. But I double up shortly before the end of the rebuy period (A4 beats KQ when the board gave me a Boat).

In the Freeze-Out rounds, I am playing good and am sitting nice with 150,000 chips with 2 tables to go. I had a chance to become chipleader with I went All-In holding Pocket jacks, but I lost a 3-way race against AQ (Ace on the Flop) and Pocket 8s to drop half my stack. Fortunately, I push my last 60,000 with KQ and get called by an Ozzie Dude with K9. We each hit our kickers, so I am back to 130K in chips as I get moved to another table to even them out at 7 + 7. Blinds are 20,000/40,000 with 1000 Antes

My objective is to make the Final Table, but after blowing a great opportunity to pick up blinds and Antes when I folded K9 at the cut-off (blinds both checked down 5-2 ofsuit), I am angry at myself for accepting a "coward's cash." We get down to 12 and the young dude to my right just took it on the chin to drop down to like 4,000 chips. I'm Big Blind and he's small and the rest of table looks to me to do mop up duty. But Dude gets A3 against my J2. We both make full houses, but his is bigger. And he gets up to 14,000 chips.

I am now the small blind and get 74s. The Dude to my right opens with a button shove for his last 14,000. Now I could have just folded and stay above 100,000 chips, but thought I would help the big blind "flyswat" the mini-stack. The big blind, a dude in his mid-50s pauses and announces "All-In." I m about ready to have a seizure as I muck. Button has Pocket 4's and Big Blind has A-T. Of course, the fours held up and I would have spiked a 7 on the turn to bust him out. As the Big Blind was cursing out his luck, I gave him a brief lecture in a calm tone on the strategic advantage of just checking the hand down to take out the small stack. He considered my instruction and replied, "Yeah, you're right. I don't know what I'm doing?"

I kind of see how this Greek tragedy is going to play out. Young Dude doubles up again and now he has like 70,000 chips. Now I'm the posting the 40K Big Blind with around 50,000 behind me. I have J6s. It's folded to Young Dude in the small blind. Of course, the MOFO shoves. I am faced with a horrible decision. I could just fold here and just pray that someone busts out (we are at the bubble now and the numbnuts to my left is pretty short too). But while J6s is no powerhouse by any stretch of the imagination, it might be good enough to race with. So I call. Dude has Pocket 3s. The Crabs hold up.

I am forced to play for all my chips with T2-off. The chipleader raises and we go heads up. He has J9-off. While T2 works wonders for Dolly Brunson, it does nothing for me. And I am the Bubble Boy. I would be totally despondent, but Fort McDowell players do a classy thing each pays the bubble 5 bucks. So I invested $35, walked out with $40 (two dudes stiffed me). So at least I can say I now have 4 straight tournament cashes.

Date: 25 JAN, 2012

Casino: Fort McDowell, Fountain Hills, Az

Tournament structure: $30 Buy-in for 10,000 chips, $20 Add-on for 10,000 chips. (32 Entrants)

In the first hour of the tournament, I made it up with the chipleaders when I called a raise with 55 and hit a set. The Dudess went All-In when she made trip Queens on the turn. But my Boat torpedoed her. I more or less played a fairly active tournament and was trending upwards. There was a lot of drama going on around me as one one of the guys I chopped with a couple of nights ago went ballistic when a guy who looked like a biker called his pocket Jacks with 87 and hit a straight to bust him out. The guy called Biker Dude "stupid" which was probably not a smart thing to do. Then the friend of the guy who busted out did not take well to Biker Dude's playful banter and launched a fusillade of F-Bombs at him and pretty much called him out right there (and I'm between the two). Biker Dude calmly replied, "Before, I was scared of you. Now, I'm doubly scared of you." I liked Biker Dude.

Unlike the other tournaments I played this week, this one would only pay 5. I was fortunate enough to win three flips (TT vs AJ, AKs vs TT, and 66 vs AJ) to make it to the Final 5. F-Bomb Dude went out in fifth and Biker Dude followed suit. Down to 3, I had less than 1 Big Blind and went All-In from the Small Blind with 6-3. Big Blind had AQ and flopped a Queen to put me out of my misery. I collected $200.

With 5 straight cashes, including a technical win, I am happy with 2012 so far. My simple ingredient to success has been to get out of the mentality of "Level I, I'll just play Pocket Aces. Level II, I'll play AA, KK, QQ, AK. And I'll never play 7-2-off." and just have the intuition when it is right to play, regardless of cards, when 6 years of experience dictates it is warranted. ]]> silverscull http://www.pocketfives.com/blogs/silverscull/scottsdale-live-tournament-quicklook-586851/