Here is the artwork of him promoting an upcoming MiniFTOPS event:

Okay … fine.  Only problem is here’s a picture of the good old chap from the UK:

It’s as if the artist at Full Tilt Poker decided to do a drawing of Roland’s much cooler Fonz-edition older brother instead of the actual FTP Pro.

Anyways, my 2 cents. Obviously Roland will just say “GG let me squash you with my wallet” since he’s living large.  GG indeed Roland.

I wish I could say I have been incredibly productive but I haven’t been.  Usually I get my writing assignments done early in the week to free up time later in the week when the tables are juicier.  This week that hasn’t been the case but I am definitely on target to hit all my deadlines, which keeps the people that pay me quite happy.  I sent off an interview to Randy “nanonoko” Lew of Team PokerStars Online fame for PokerSoftware.com and I am hoping that gets back to me soon.  It’ll be a real good read if you are into online poker and getting into the mind of a self-made millionaire grinder.

At the tables I haven’t been doing much of anything serious.  I actually put in my first 100nl FR session in about a week and it went well.  I felt comfortable and when a whammy hit me a couple of times I didn’t freak out I just kept playing and finally put in my first winning session of the month (1 for 5).  I’ve been screwing around playing micro and small stakes Sit & Gos which has been fun because I do it with friends.  It’s been going pretty well I must say with an ITM of 50% and an ROI of 149.2% playing a range of games from $3.50 to $26 games on Full Tilt.  I have to say that the $26 and under tournaments and SNGs are just filled with fish and landmines.  It reminds me of when I watch reruns of the WSOP ME from 2003.  The players are just SOOOOO bad.  Seriously tournament players out there, I don’t respect you at all, especially the microstakes and small stakes guys.  You are lol in every sense of the way possible.  Your HU skills stink.  Basically any competent cash game player just plays their game, plays push/fold well and don’t run like monkey-ass and you’ll be well off in these games.

Tonight I played in 4 tournaments; I know a huge sample but hey it’s all I had time for tonight considering there was American Idol and a kickass episode of LOST.

$3.50 Super Turbo Satty to MiniFTOPS Event 1 = busto
$6.50 Satty to MiniFTOPS Event 1 = ITM (ticket punched to the event tomorrow)
$13 KO 90-man SNG = busto
$11 SNG (1 table) = 1st place +$45

So the $34 investment was returned with $67 in cash awards/tournament buy-ins.  Not a bad way to spend time half asleep.  See you guys tomorrow!

First, I am really happy to hear everyone is okay.  I know some of the media members on hand and they’ve all tweeted or reported back that everything is okay.

If you did not hear the news, the EPT Berlin event sponsored by PokerStars was the target of a German heist operation.  Guys armed with knives and machetes came in and robbed the casino and from early reports got away with 800k in Euros.  The events were disrupted and many people on hand are emotionally shaken.

In today’s global climate it’s somewhat surprising that something like this had not happened sooner. With lax security measures taken in European casinos, they seemed like a huge target with websites advertising millions of dollars flowing in for high stakes poker tournaments and cash games.  It’s a little surprising this happened in Berlin and not a more economically challenged nation on the EPT tour, but it might be a taste of things to come.  We can’t rule out something like this happening here in the United States, but certainly such an endeavor would be quite bloody with both security and robbers armed with guns.

Unfortunately I do not think this is a single isolated incident and the more desperate people become to survive, the more things like this are likely to happen.

Anyways mate, this post is for you….

I’m on and I got nothing really to do and my mind is kinda out of it so I decide to play some MTTs:

$26 $18k Guarantee
$26 90-man KO Turbo SNG
$13 90-man KO Turbo SNG
$5.50 9-man SNG
$5.50 9-man SNG

So the two one table SNGs … on one I shoved something and lost while shortstacked, standard, lost $5.50.  The other one I finished in 2nd place, so that won me $13.50.

The $18k Guar …did not last long.  Every pot I got into I got outflopped and they showed up one better.  Then I got involved with this hand …

Full Tilt Poker $18,000 Guarantee No Limit Hold’em Tournament – t15/t30 Blinds – 9 players -

whitefishing1 (MP2): t6100 M = 135.56
Hero (CO): t2215 M = 49.22
skburke14 (BTN): t2490 M = 55.33
1GSUDrunk1 (SB): t6174 M = 137.20
jimbopolis (BB): t3000 M = 66.67
rymell (UTG): t4066 M = 90.36
valleyhater12 (UTG+1): t3245 M = 72.11
Rainfalls24 (UTG+2): t4435 M = 98.56
cowboys082288 (MP1): t4070 M = 90.44

Pre Flop: (t45) Hero is CO with J K

4 folds, whitefishing1 calls t30, Hero raises to t135, 2 folds, jimbopolis calls t105, whitefishing1 calls t105

Flop: (t420) 6 4 9 (3 players)

jimbopolis checks, whitefishing1 bets t150, Hero raises to t450, jimbopolis folds, whitefishing1 raises to t5965 all in, Hero calls t1630 all in

Turn: (t4580) 3 (2 players – 2 are all in)
River: (t4580) A (2 players – 2 are all in)
Final Pot: t4580

whitefishing1 shows T 9 (a pair of Nines)
Hero shows J K (Ace King high)
whitefishing1 wins t4580

So that ended that tournament.  I got it in on a flip and lost, seemed super standard to me.

In the $13 90-man SNG KO I made 2 bounties for $4 which was nice and busted …. UGH … in 12th.  Top 9 is in the money.  I was so low on chips and to be honest should have busted before that.  Nothing major to report, so $13 spent in order to make $4 so a loss there.

However it was in the $26 90-man SNG that I was running well.  REALLY well.  People kept handing chips to me.  Two times I got KK AIPF against two opponents who both had smaller pocket pairs and didn’t hit sets.  I made 6 bounties ($4 each) total.   Zachvac was also playing and at one point we were 1-2 in chips with me having a 2-1 chip lead over him!  I took a tough beat and dropped to second, then went card dead.  With 12 left, Zach shoved KK AIPF and got snapcalled by … AA.  Sucked.  So I made the final table 5th in chips and managed to survive.

Finally the action was down to four!!  I had 80,000 in chips, blinds were $2k-$4k with a $500 ante.  The shortstack of 45,000 in chips in in the CO.  I was very excited and saw him go AIPF I looked him up with AK … and he showed A8o.  I’m a 76-24% favorite.  He spikes his 8 on the flop!!! Ugh.  This would have sent me to the soaring chip lead and eliminated him in 4th.  Instead, I become the shortstack. Here’s the HH:

Full Tilt Poker $24 + $2 KO No Limit Hold’em Tournament – t2000/t4000 Blinds + t500 – 4 players –
roninwarlord (BB): t92710 M = 11.59
chinnyQ (CO): t46076 M = 5.76
stvnlee (BTN): t47404 M = 5.93
Hero (SB): t83810 M = 10.48

Pre Flop: (t8000) Hero is SB with A K
chinnyQ raises to t45576 all in, 1 fold, Hero raises to t83310 all in, 1 fold

Flop: (t97152) 6 A 8

Turn: (t97152) 3

River: (t97152) 8

Final Pot: t97152
chinnyQ shows 8 A (a full house, Eights full of Aces)
Hero shows A K (two pair, Aces and Eights)
chinnyQ wins t97152

After a few hands, I pick up 99 on the button with 30,000 left in chips, same blinds.  24/19 player raises and I shove over the top, he shows AJ.  FLOP = 5J8. Turn – ACE.  River – 7. Bleh!

So just like that, a great epic run is cut short by a bad beat and a lost coinflip.  On one side if I win both I’m heads-up with a massive lead.  As it is, I bust out in 4th.

It’s not a sad story as I did profit nicely from the bounties and the 4th place finish!  I did not settle for finishing ITM at the final table though, I went for it all which was a heck of a lot of fun.

So there you go Nick, that’s me playing tournaments, I hope you are happy

Sarah died in a car accident and the news still really hasn’t sunk in.  I am definitely in shock and I can’t believe that someone so full of life and so fun to be around is not with us anymore.  I distinctly remember so many times hanging out with her and all the fun memories.  It just seems so tragic that she is gone at the young age of 31.

I am going back home to San Diego today to go to the services and will be seeing a lot of old friends.  It will be good to be there and I know she will be there in spirit.  There’s so many things you are reminded of when something like this happens … how fragile life can be, how you never know what might happen and to always cherish what you have while you have it.

So there it is, finally.

The ultimatum I am issuing is of course unofficial and in no way something to reflect my professional standing as a writer in the industry.  But as a player and consumer, I do get to choose where I play online.  If PokerStars does not address the shortstacker issue as they say they will make an announcement about (either way) in mid-April, I will move my entire roll to Full Tilt Poker and play there for the foreseeable future.

Here’s some of the criteria that have made me think about this decision:

1. The RakeBack at FTP and the VIP System (at Platinum) at Stars is about a wash
2. Cash game players are perceived by many to be slightly worse at Full Tilt
3. There are no shortstackers at Full Tilt
4. Full Tilt plans to revamp their VIP system to something kind of awesome (allegedly)

Those are just the first four thing off the top of my head.  It’s not to say that PokerStars doesn’t have a lot of attractive things going for it.  Such as:

1. Best table software / more reliable software
2. Biggest pool of players
3. SuperNova > rakeback at Full Tilt
4. SCOOP & WCOOP > FTOPS (in my opinion)
5. Better customer service

But the shortstacker issue really seems to be the kicker in this situation, so it’s really what is going to sway me to one side or the other.

As a little preview, check out the table below, it’s using the “Raven No Images” theme which is a little dark but kinda cool.  The deck is “3D Stars John” and the chipset is the Paulson Chips.

A few people snort at the notions of mods, but I think they are great.  If they work with TableNinja (they do!) and they help the HUD layout, then I am all for it.

Here is the screenshot of the setup I am testing out (click to enlarge):

You might notice my stack size at this table.  I had insomnia so I put in another session which went well!! Yay!

I have to admit I felt the pangs of tilt creeping in at the end of that fateful 1,000 hand session.  It started to feel like no matter what I do, it would come out all wrong.  Sound familiar?  Ya, sounds like every other 10-15k hand bad-run I’ve gone through.  Keeping in mind I’ve put in a grand total of 2,700 hands at 100nl, the number of bad beats and coolers is disproportionate to their expected level, thus I am well below All-in EV and other indicators.

So, this is a good reason why I set aside 60 buy-ins for moving up, I’m still doing fine bankroll wise to hang here and I am 1000% positive I can play here.  I can’t run into coolers and lose every flip and get outflopped and hit only 5.6% of sets over the long haul.  The real issue is just making it through another rough stretch.  Here are the major hands from the session I put in, if you care to look.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 9 players -
MP2: $98.50
CO: $147.85
BTN: $139.85
SB: $76.85
BB: $100.00
UTG: $100.00
UTG+1: $101.50
UTG+2: $49.90
Hero (MP1): $100.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is MP1 with K K

3 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, MP2 calls $3.50, CO calls $3.50, BTN raises to $16, 2 folds, Hero raises to $50, 2 folds, BTN raises to $139.85 all in, Hero calls $50 all in

Flop: ($208.50) Q 5 A (2 players – 2 are all in)
Turn: ($208.50) 6 (2 players – 2 are all in)
River: ($208.50) 9 (2 players – 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $208.50

BTN shows A A (three of a kind, Aces)
Hero shows K K (a pair of Kings)
BTN wins $205.50

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 8 players -
BB: $101.50
UTG: $122.60
UTG+1: $46.50
MP1: $118.70
MP2: $70.65
Hero (CO): $100.00
BTN: $105.50
SB: $44.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with Q Q
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $3, MP1 calls $3, 1 fold, Hero raises to $12, 3 folds, UTG+1 raises to $46.50 all in, 1 fold, Hero calls $34.50

Flop: ($97.50) 6 3 5 (2 players – 1 is all in)
Turn: ($97.50) 7 (2 players – 1 is all in)
River: ($97.50) 3 (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $97.50
UTG+1 shows A A (two pair, Aces and Threes)
Hero shows Q Q (two pair, Queens and Threes)
UTG+1 wins $95.50

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 9 players -
UTG+1: $109.65
UTG+2: $100.00
MP1: $87.15
MP2: $100.00
CO: $100.90
BTN: $174.45
SB: $39.75
Hero (BB): $100.00
UTG: $103.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with A K
6 folds, BTN raises to $3, SB raises to $39.75 all in, Hero calls $38.75, 1 fold
Flop: ($82.50) 6 6 3 (2 players – 1 is all in)
Turn: ($82.50) T (2 players – 1 is all in)
River: ($82.50) J (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $82.50

SB shows 4 4 (two pair, Sixes and Fours)
Hero shows A K (a pair of Sixes)
SB wins $79.50

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 8 players -
MP1: $52.70
MP2: $50.00
CO: $215.60
Hero (BTN): $101.50
SB: $127.00
BB: $117.75
UTG: $101.50
UTG+1: $140.20
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with J A
4 folds, CO raises to $3, Hero calls $3, 1 fold, BB calls $2

Flop: ($9.50) J 7 2 (3 players)
BB checks, CO bets $7, Hero calls $7, BB folds

Turn: ($23.50) 9 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $14, CO calls $14

River: ($51.50) 5 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: $51.50

CO shows K K (a pair of Kings)
Hero mucks J A
CO wins $49.00

Sound familiar?  It should.  Whenever we move up in stakes, be it for Sit & Gos, Tournaments or Ring Games, we’ve all been the groundhog.  As many people believe, as soon as you move up in stakes, the doomswitch is activated and you will immediately go through a rough 10k-ish stretch of terrible hands.  It happens everytime and to seemingly every player.  If you don’t believe me, ask your friends that play regularly, it’s as sure as the sunrise is in the morning.

This is where the importance of bankroll management comes into play.  Two years ago when I was first climbing the micro-stakes into the small stakes games, I thought 30-35 buy-ins was plenty to “take a shot” at the next level.  The only problem is that it really didn’t leave me much wriggle room for that inevitable run-bad.  Many players have never gotten over this hump and keep taking 3-5 buy-in shots at the next level, which in my mind is just always poised to fail.  I drop 3-5 buy-ins regularly in a session, but in the end, always come out a little bit ahead for my modest but consistent win-rate.

After reading Dusty Schmidt’s book I realized the issue without him totally going into what was exactly affecting me.  He advocated that 100 buy-ins is the way to go, which I don’t think works for me at all.  But the concept of having more than enough buy-ins to withstand a rough stretch was one I never ever really accounted for.

During my Phoenix-like rebuilding of my PokerStars bankroll, I moved from 25nl to 50nl and started a prop bet to get me to play a bunch of hands rather quickly.  Of course, I ran bad for a while then played through it and won at a decent enough rate.  But one thing I did was decide that 60 buy-ins was what it takes for me to move up.  There’s plenty in there to withstand a terrible swing and recover without freaking out too bad.  I thought about the number for some time and 60 was a little more than I thought was really necessary for me.  That’s when I knew I had the right number.

So, with 66 buy-ins I moved back to my old stomping grounds on PokerStars, playing 100nl Full Ring.  Some old names were still plodding through those stakes, playing their 10/8 nit game, 20-24 tabling and making 0.4BB/100.  Lots of fish are there too and the games really haven’t changed much at all, thankfully.

Of course, within the first session, I ran three buy-ins below EV.  In fact, here’s one of the first hands I played after moving up:

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 9 players -
MP1: $101.90
MP2: $166.05
Hero (CO): $100.00
BTN: $100.00
SB: $49.00
BB: $194.90
UTG: $110.60
UTG+1: $111.25
UTG+2: $161.80
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with A A
2 folds, UTG+2 raises to $3, 1 fold, MP2 calls $3, Hero raises to $12, 3 folds, UTG+2 raises to $24, 1 fold, Hero raises to $60, UTG+2 raises to $96, Hero raises to $100 all in, UTG+2 calls $4
Flop: ($204.50) 8 3 Q (2 players – 1 is all in)
Turn: ($204.50) 9 (2 players – 1 is all in)
River: ($204.50) K (2 players – 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $204.50
Hero mucks A A
UTG+2 shows K K (three of a kind, Kings)
UTG+2 wins $201.50
(Rake: $3.00)

Wow right? He didn’t show his cards right away but by the river, I figured my goose was cooked. Then there’s a marginal cooler in this hand where I lose with a boat:

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 8 players -
BB: $61.70
UTG: $103.00
UTG+1: $142.20
MP1: $120.65
MP2: $177.00
Hero (CO): $118.40
BTN: $102.50
SB: $100.00
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with J A

4 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.50) K 5 J (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5, BB raises to $10, Hero calls $5

Turn: ($27.50) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($27.50) J (2 players)
BB bets $16, Hero calls $16

Final Pot: $59.50
BB shows K A (a full house, Kings full of Jacks)
Hero mucks J A
BB wins $56.60
(Rake: $2.90)

Not terrible but hey, it always sucks to lose with a boat. Then there’s this that always seems to be the kicker:

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players -
Hero (BB): $100.00
UTG: $108.55
MP: $100.00
CO: $108.75
BTN: $100.00
SB: $49.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with A A
5 folds (A walk)

Final Pot: $1.50
Hero mucks A A
Hero wins $1.00
(Rake: $0.50)

Funny. I snorted actually when this happened but didn’t tilt like I usually do. I was rather proud of myself for just taking it in stride.  I didn’t panic and I didn’t freak out and yell and scream and just say “F THIS I ALWAYS RUN BAD!!!” after I lost a few other pots later in the session.  I just stuck with it, fought back, won some hands, and minimized the loss for the session and made sure I reached my target goal of hands played for the session.  ”This is why I set aside 60 buy-ins,” I would tell myself.  And thus, the groundhog became a Phoenix.

• 565 VPPs until I unlock another $50 Stellar Reward.
• 1248 VPPs to achieve Platinum Star.

At 50nl FR, that would mean I need 3,531 hands to get the stellar reward and 7,800 hands for Platinum Star.

At 100nl FR, that would mean that I need 1,822 hands for the reward and 4,025 hands for Platinum.

I have 6 days to achieve the goal!