Online Poker Tournament Rankings

Well, I'm off to the races in the Lock Poker Bluff Magazine Challenge.  Anyone that hasn't signed up for Lock Poker...I'm of the opinion that it's on the up and up, a dynamic new site on the Cake network...

I'll be competing in the challenge all month and I'm very happy to be participating!  The field of players is literally second to none.  It will be interesting to see how it develops. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgJr8Le5etk

I'll include a quote from Donald Trump's book Think Big and Kick Ass:

People always ask me, "How did you get so rich?"  The way I do things has allowed me to succeed financially far beyond what I had expected.  I have known many celebrities, billionaire businesspeople, and superstar sports figures.  It is not easy to explain in a couple of words, but I have noticed that all these successful people have traits that set them apart from the pack: their attitudes, actions, persistence, and passion, plus a whole slew of other qualities that separate the winners from the losers.

To be successful you have to separate yourself from 98 percent of the rest of the world.  Sure, you can get into that special 2 percent at the top, and it is not just by being smart, working hard, and investing wisely.  There is a formula, a recipe for success that the top 2 percent live by and that you too can follow to be successful...

Well, skiing in Utah was great…until I crashed and broke my ankle!  I’m now forced to gimp limp around in my temporary cast.  This should sideline me from fighting for the next month (I was planning on taking some hardcore Japanese Ju Jitzu classes in Costa Rica per my usual), but I’ll welcome the break none the less.  I was going really fast (full of too much confidence, what else is new?) and crashed on the very last run of my second day skiing.  I ended up gathering myself and though it was painful…ended up skiing down the mountain with a broken ankle (not fun).  I went with a couple of poker buddies, Bevos_Nuts (who really is semi-nuts) and Graytambar (the nicest guy I’ve ever met and a great raw poker talent).  All and all the trip was great and I would do it all over again if I had to.  Bevo of course didn’t believe I was actually hurt and was ragging me, “Come on Maven, hurry up rock!”  At least I have the x-rays to now back me up…


A very memorable moment came the night after I crashed and burned.  We had intentions of going to eat at a nice steakhouse at the ski lodge we were staying at…only problem was, I couldn’t walk!  So, I bribed Graytambar into letting me piggy-back ride him for about a half of a mile all the way to the steakhouse in exchange for his meal (and wine, lots of it!).  This was after he’d already split a half gallon of Maker’s Mark with Bevo.  All and all a great trip and I’m looking forward to many more in the future.


I’ve spent the past couple of days in D/FW with my family.  I have a private training session lined up with a poker player in Dallas in a couple of days which I look forward to.  After that I’m off to Costa Rica for a week to pick up my girlfriend and take her back to Vegas with me.  Starting March 1st I’ll be competing in a Bluff Magazine challenge where they put $200 in my Lock Poker account and I’ll compete for one month with 20 other players to see who can run up the most amount of profits.  Winner of the contest gets the front cover of the magazine.  As usual, I plan on putting out 1000% effort and will do my best to win the contest and grace the magazine’s front cover (wouldn’t it be great if pocketfives had a monthly hardcopy magazine?).


Below is a quote from Chuck Liddell’s New York Times best-selling book Iceman which translates well to the field of poker:


“Being mentally tough is not a sometimes thing.  You don’t turn it on and off.  If you’re not mentally tough in the gym while you are training, then when you’re challenged in a fight, you will fold.  It doesn’t mean you have to be balls-out every time you work out.  But, when you are being pushed in training, you can’t just fold a couple of times because you feel that you’ve done enough that day.  Before you know it, when you get in a fight and are tired and beat-up and in a bad position, you will give up, too.  That was the point of the beatings.  If you were going to fight, you’d better be prepared—for anything.”

Next week, I'm going skiing in Utah with my Kung Fu master and a few friends. I'm definitely looking forward to stepping away from the online felt and relaxing. The past couple of months have been very interesting, to say the least! I've been insanely busy training new students at Ari's training center, went crazy in December playing 15 plus hours a day to insure I won Bluff Magazine's 2008 Online Player of the Year Award, and I've only played maybe 9 or 10 days since the new year, but have already had a couple of big licks. My plan going forward is to play less volume and higher stakes mtt's a couple days a week.

I've looked at the 2009 WSOP schedule and am planning on playing somewhere around 20 events (double what I played last year). My confidence level has skyrocketed at games other than no limit since I've trained with some of the best PLO and PLO H/L players in the world. I've recently won a PLO rebuy on Pokerstars and got second in Absolute's Saturday PLO H/L...keep in mind that I was an inexperienced beginner a couple of months ago. I plan on playing the vast majority of the low to mid staked no limit, PLO, PLO H/L, limit, pot limit holdem, and mixed games...I'm setting aside six-figures for the 2009 WSOP.

I'm very thankful that I moved to Vegas, as it's opened up so many doors for me in such a short amount of time. Out of the blue I received a phone call and invite to play in a live cash game that was filmed and is to be featured on PokerVT in the very near future. The game featured myself, Daniel Negreanu, Josh Arieh, Jason “JCarver” Somerville, and Nick Rainey (Patrik Antonius' former manager and definitely a world-class talent). It'll make for interesting watching...I get it all in bad and suck out for a gazillion chips against the most aggro player at the table, JCarver. Negreanu and his team at PokerVT are top-notch and I'm extremely happy and honored to say that I've signed on as one of their featured pros. Already comprising some of the top online players in the world such as Annette_15 and Adam Junglen, it's great to see that they recently signed Moorman1 (I've offered to trade him all of the tricks I've used in my success in live poker for a glimpse at his unreal online game...I hope he takes me up on the offer). Unfortunately, Daniel's mom is very sick as of late and I know that is a heavy burden for him to carry...hopefully, she'll recover very soon. Our thoughts are with Daniel and his family. Thanks for reading my blog and as always, comments are much appreciated.

 

Just took down my first $100 rebuy on stars today. It was a short-fielded Saturday tournament, surprisingly drawing only 81 players. My game feels very sharp as of late and I can't wait to wake up to play Sunday morning.

Final two tabled the $1k Monday on FTP...it seems I'm getting deeper and deeper in bigger and bigger tournaments. I've completely lost my respect for the buy-ins and am simply looking to make the most positive-ev moves at all times.

I had several p5'ers contact me regarding the negativity expressed at the end of my last blog. It's important to treat people with respect and decency in everyday life, but in poker it's kill or be killed. I've called security and had them walk me out of casinos several times. I'm not going to be pressed at the table, I'm going to be doing the pressing. It's important to stick up for yourself, give it your all, and do everything you can to fight to earn the most amount of profit possible when you sit down to play poker. Life's too short to be mediocre and unmotivated. If I came across as a bit crass in my last blog, I assure you,...it's only to let you in on the killer poker mentality that is present in many top players. Put up or shut up!!!! Give it your all or get out of the arena. If you're not going to take your life seriously, nobody will.

Over the past 6 months, I've seen many instances of what I would describe as "A-player-itus." This is a term I made up to describe B and C level players who truly believe they are A players. Whether it's a student that comes through Ari's training center, a "pro" that comes into Vegas to try their hand at a few live tournaments or friends I know from back-home that also play poker...unless you are making well into the six-figures every year...you're probably not an A player. If you can't be self-honest with yourself, the odds of you drastically improving is unlikely. My humblest students, the ones most eager to listen to what I have to say (and ask questions) almost always do the best.

Happiness is infectious (like winning). The buddhist monks cross their arms in front of themselves as a "ward off" if someone with negative energy tries to touch them or give them a hug. People with negative attitudes give off different energies/vibrations than those who are positive. Always try and remain positive in support of yourself and to set a good example for others around you.

Every time I walk into my bank I notice this teller behind the counter who is always smiling, happy, and conversive. The last time I was in the bank it was my turn after waiting in line and what do you know...Mr. Happy says, "I can help the next customer." I had a friend with me and as I was in line I was pointing out to him just how happy this guy always seems. While I was taking care of my banking needs I asked the guy, straight up, "I know this might sound odd...but, what's your trick? Every time I come in here you seem so damn happy. What's the deal?" He laughed and said, "It's the drugs. No, just kidding. Really, I just want others to treat me the same way and I feel like I have a better day if I treat others with respect and friendliness."

It's unfortunate to have others treat me differently than the way I treat them. So often throughout my life I've seen others cut corners for short-term gains and end up burning bridges...costing themselves greatly long-term. I'll do everything in my power to keep people who are negative out of my playing and living environment. To a large extent, we program others to treat us in the manner we're treated. Go out of your way to help others, but don't be so short-sighted as to allow any form of negativity in your life in return for short-term gain.