Chicago Poker Classic

Wrapped Sunday up early today because my flight leaves in a few hours for Chicago. Kyle is picking me up and we are both going to be playing the 350$ 6max at noon. This is great news because I originally thought the Head up tournament I am playing was on tuesday but its really on wednesday! So I can final table this event and be able to play it without missing the HU!

Had a few non significant cashes today like 20th in the 150r on tilt and 4th in the 15$ super turbo on tilt for 2500$. Everything else was a super min cash, and I dont think I cashed in anything on stars. I played a lot tighter today as I had 15 tables going for awhile and I seemed to do really well. The only thing I can say is I was not able to focus on my individual opponents as much and not find good 3b or blind steal spots. Other than that I am still trying to find that fine line between aggressive and reckless. Should be in Chicago until the end of the week and looking to play the 3k ME on friday if I get a chance.

Back in Ohio

Want to post a full trip report in a few days when I'm not as tired and lazy as I have been today. I got back into Ohio late last night and went over a bunch of tax stuff today. Going to grind it hard saturday and sunday online and then leave for the Chicago poker open on Monday. I am not sure what events I will be playing other than tuesdays 1k HU event. First place is an added Porsche Cayman to the prize pool. Should be some softer competition because most poker players will still be in LA for the lapc. I should be moving in the next few weeks, but I have been saying that since December so we will see. I also want to get as many live events in as possible now, so I will be making a schedule of all of the upcoming live tournaments I would like to play before the wsop. I simply cannot wait to finally play my first wsop this year. It has been my dream since 2003 and I am confident I have the ability to crush it.

NAPT Day 3 Today

Been very busy and live poker really does take a lot out of you. I have wanted to update but have been so tired at night that I just really needed to sleep. I had a nice run up to 180k before bluffing off some huge pot to charder30. I also lost a few other big pots but those were just standard imo. Oral Hershiser came to my table and I tried to squeeze him with 72o from the bb after the co open and he flatted on the button. He re-popped me with what he later told me was aces so I made a good fold. I have lots of stories and stuff to catch up on, but you'll have to wait until I am done with the tournament. Going into Day 3 with 15bb and less than 20 from the money. If I double up I'm going for the gold.

Leaving for Vegas and FTOPS recap

Hey guys, just wanted to do a quick followup of my ftops series as I won't be able to play anymore of the events due to the NAPT. I cashed in quite a few of the ones that I ended up playing. The 200cube I ended up taking 22nd in, Ftops #8, (sunday brawl) I finished 92nd and mondays 1k I took 63rd. Monday I also took 2nd in the turbo hundo for 5k. (2nd time getting 2nd booo). Overall I think I played pretty well, except for deep in the 1k. I always end up out thinking myself in crucial spots that usually cost me a lot of chips. I have been doing better with this lately by simply just not giving anyone credit for anything, ever. It has been working out but sometimes I get the better of myself by thinking that this player knows this and that, when in fact they don't know shit. Very few people think about the game on the level I do, and I think that it ends up hurting me sometimes. Not to say that all this thinking is unnecessary, it's just not applicable against 99% people I play against. So when in doubt, follow the golden rule - nobody has shit and nobody knows shit about poker.

Leaving in about 6hours for my flight to Vegas. I finally got smart and signed up for frequent flyer miles so that I can get a free flight with all the traveling I will be doing. I have always used priceline to book my trips but I found a first class seat on continentals website that was not even listed on priceline for only 40$ more, so I took that. The only first class seats available on priceline where not nonstop (which is what I have) and where at a minimum 600$ more than what I paid. Needless to say I probably won't be using that site anymore.

The tournament doesn't actually start until saturday at noon, but I wanted to get there a few days early and practice some of my live play and reads. Playing live is so much different and this is going to be my first very good deep structure tournament. I hope I don't get too bored waiting for hands at the table because I'll have plenty of time to mix it up with the donks. I am meeting up with my buddy Jason who is a live cash grinder and we are staying at Aria for the first two nights. Friday night pokerstars is throwing a vip party at Tao nightclub with free food and drinks, and a live performance by T-Pain! I will try to do a nightly recap each day I'm out there so check back soon for more updates!

FTOPS and NAPT

Won a seat into the NAPT last sunday so Ill be heading out next wednesday for a week. In the meantime I plan on grinding FTOPS. I had a close call today finishing 24th in the 200$ cube but my TT was no match for AJ. Mtt have so much variance its disgusting, and it's so frustrating to work on having 1 or 2 go real deep and then just bust. Anyway hoping to play a few live events before Saturday's 5k main event. Stars is having a VIP party at Tao nightclub at the venetian before the event so hopefully I can meet some well known poker players. Ill try and update as much as possible while im out in vegas, so until then later!

January is in the Books!

It was about a year ago today when I final tabled my first mtt, the midnight madness and won 900$. What a crazy thought it was back then to think I would ever make it this far...

So we wrap things up in January with over 64k in profits. Was very fortunate to have a huge week and to have some motivation to grind it out over the last week. As you can see I either lost or broke even for the first 200 games on both sites before I had anything big happen. Losing for 400 tournaments straight is never easy, especially when your average buy in is ~60$ a pop. Losing money like that every single day is very difficult to deal with day in and out. The hardest part for most people to understand is that this in fact very normal. Two blogs ago I wrote a little about this so go read it.

From a goal standpoint, I said that I wanted to make 500k this year. I am officially over 1/10th of the way there so I am ahead of schedule. There will be many challenges along the way still and It wont be uncommon to go a whole month as a loser. I am definitely ready to take on anything and anyone who gets in my way. The one thing I do better than most is that I study poker every single day. I am watching videos and constantly reviewing hands and thinking about how I can do things better. My mind is in overdrive all the time. Its actually to the point where I am having dreams about playing hands in my head. I haven't had dreams like this since I really first started grinding, and I really haven't been getting proficient sleep because of them but, It just shows you how in tune I am with my game. I am working my way to becoming the best in the world, and I am getting pretty damn close. That and my friends are too. Bfizz11 wins the monthly tlb and 50k in profit and Mi_turtle took two weeks off in hawaii and crushes it for 25k. We are the best in the world, and the future of online poker. So haters and nonbelievers, expect big things or ill have to sadly rub it in your face and tell you, I told you so.