It has been an exceptionally long time in the making, but starting Monday April 11, 2011, I will be playing poker full time. While I am still working out the logistics of a time schedule and what exactly I will be playing, I can't begin to explain my excitment for being able to put in 2,000+ games per month (pretty much what my lifetime volume is atm)
I am currently debating what exactly I will be playing, but will likely be a mix of 18s-180s on stars. I will also be own diming some of my own action for the first time ever on Full Tilt. The 45s on there are just too soft to pass up.
I am also making a bit of a transition into adding MTTs to my play. After having a few HHs reviewed by an MTT grinder, I have been strongly encouraged to do so. (Getting 136/57,000 in mftops, and having a few other deep runs recently has been a pretty good reason to do it as well)
I'm not really sure what my professional career holds as a poker player, but with almost all of my expenses covered, and some free time, I couldn't think of a better time for it.
Will be checking back in more regularly soon, just need to start play for the year.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Inches away from leaving to FT'ing a mFTOPS Event
The title says it all.
I was so fed up with poker after a brutal week and a half stretch. I understand the variance and everything involved with swings but this just was brutal and made me not want to open up the clients on a daily basis. I was seriously down and out mentally. I left most of my skype groups and really stopped communicating with a lot of players from PTP. A few days later a couple of the guys from the mixed games chat reached out to talk to me and really let me get things off my chest and gave their thoughts on everything. Basically what I got out of them was that I should slowly get back to it, 1 tournament at a time.
So thats what I did...starting 1 at a time in a few mixed/other games mFTOPS events. Went 3 for 3 in cashing the next 3 events I played.....7 game, Stud8 and Razz events. Feeling pretty good going into the $55 9 game event, I had a decision to make. The 9 game event was multi entry. My original plan was to jump in with 2 entries right away and go from there. By now I had been added back to my mixed games group and I was openly debating it with a couple of the guys. Tim flat out predicted I was going to ship the event, telling me I might as well start with 4 from the beginning and Chris agreed with the thought of using 4 entries.
So thats what I did, jumped in with all 4 entries to start. The BAP being down about $700 prior to this. It was a grind, to say the least. Relying a lot on my patience, I was able to cash 2 of the 4 entries. Entry 1 made just a min cash, with Entry 4 poised for a deepish run. Once the field trimmed down from over 2500 to 100-150ish it seemed to become an extremely tough field. Every table I got moved to had 2, 3 or 4 guys with over $200K in profit on FTP. Grinded a pretty short stack for awhile until catching a mini heater in a round of NLHE that saw my stack go from about 20K to 100K. Pretty standard stuff for awhile and the next thing I know there are 30 players left. Looking at over 25K for first, this is the tourney I want to bink. I go a little card dead and watch my stack waiver between 100k and 300k.
We get down to 21 left and I take a look and Im sitting in 19th. Obviously not ideal but I didnt start to panic. I just kept picking my spots and grinding it out, realizing I had a huge advantage on my tables in the Stud games. Before I know it im sitting 9 of 10 and then 7 of 7 (6 handed tables). Couple big hands happen and im able to hit the FT with the short stack on life support. But I havent panic'd the entire tourney, no need to do so now. I grind it out, pick up a few chips here and there and watch a couple players bust. Im now sitting 3 of 4. Get involved in a Razz hand and Im still lost on if things went down correctly or not. But Im not gonna agonize over it. I ended up busting in 4th for about $8.4K. So close to a jersey, but atleast I get a jacket to remember the run by, right? haha
I havent done much coaching lately, as I felt like my mixed games were a bit off. I am now feeling very strong overall and its been a great year....OPR has me up about 12.5K so far this year. Its a solid start but im hungry for more.
Poker camp coming up in a week and a half, Im stoked. I cant wait to hit up Vegas and meet some great PTP'ers.
Best of luck everybody and keep up the grind. Hardwork pays off
Raz
I was so fed up with poker after a brutal week and a half stretch. I understand the variance and everything involved with swings but this just was brutal and made me not want to open up the clients on a daily basis. I was seriously down and out mentally. I left most of my skype groups and really stopped communicating with a lot of players from PTP. A few days later a couple of the guys from the mixed games chat reached out to talk to me and really let me get things off my chest and gave their thoughts on everything. Basically what I got out of them was that I should slowly get back to it, 1 tournament at a time.
So thats what I did...starting 1 at a time in a few mixed/other games mFTOPS events. Went 3 for 3 in cashing the next 3 events I played.....7 game, Stud8 and Razz events. Feeling pretty good going into the $55 9 game event, I had a decision to make. The 9 game event was multi entry. My original plan was to jump in with 2 entries right away and go from there. By now I had been added back to my mixed games group and I was openly debating it with a couple of the guys. Tim flat out predicted I was going to ship the event, telling me I might as well start with 4 from the beginning and Chris agreed with the thought of using 4 entries.
So thats what I did, jumped in with all 4 entries to start. The BAP being down about $700 prior to this. It was a grind, to say the least. Relying a lot on my patience, I was able to cash 2 of the 4 entries. Entry 1 made just a min cash, with Entry 4 poised for a deepish run. Once the field trimmed down from over 2500 to 100-150ish it seemed to become an extremely tough field. Every table I got moved to had 2, 3 or 4 guys with over $200K in profit on FTP. Grinded a pretty short stack for awhile until catching a mini heater in a round of NLHE that saw my stack go from about 20K to 100K. Pretty standard stuff for awhile and the next thing I know there are 30 players left. Looking at over 25K for first, this is the tourney I want to bink. I go a little card dead and watch my stack waiver between 100k and 300k.
We get down to 21 left and I take a look and Im sitting in 19th. Obviously not ideal but I didnt start to panic. I just kept picking my spots and grinding it out, realizing I had a huge advantage on my tables in the Stud games. Before I know it im sitting 9 of 10 and then 7 of 7 (6 handed tables). Couple big hands happen and im able to hit the FT with the short stack on life support. But I havent panic'd the entire tourney, no need to do so now. I grind it out, pick up a few chips here and there and watch a couple players bust. Im now sitting 3 of 4. Get involved in a Razz hand and Im still lost on if things went down correctly or not. But Im not gonna agonize over it. I ended up busting in 4th for about $8.4K. So close to a jersey, but atleast I get a jacket to remember the run by, right? haha
I havent done much coaching lately, as I felt like my mixed games were a bit off. I am now feeling very strong overall and its been a great year....OPR has me up about 12.5K so far this year. Its a solid start but im hungry for more.
Poker camp coming up in a week and a half, Im stoked. I cant wait to hit up Vegas and meet some great PTP'ers.
Best of luck everybody and keep up the grind. Hardwork pays off
Raz
Thursday, February 24, 2011
February slows down
Hey guys,
Sorry its been awhile. Havent had a ton to talk about. Been continuing my solid cash rate but wasnt getting extremely deep in anything. Was able to final table the $20 35K gtd cubed on Stars and get myself just over 1.1k
Have been doing some work setting up ghosting sessions for possible students. My first one wasnt a great success as a couple guys had to back out and a couple had to leave early....couple that with a terrible night of cards and it had train wreck stamped all over it.
On a GREAT note, I have officially thrown my name into the ring of Rounder's Retreat Poker Camp participants April 4-10. Very very much looking forward to a week in Vegas at a poker house, learning from the likes of scaphism, zenman and mossified. Ill get to meet a couple of my students as well, so all in all it should be an excellent week.
Well, thats it for now...Time to get registering for the day. Keep on Keepin on Yo
Sorry its been awhile. Havent had a ton to talk about. Been continuing my solid cash rate but wasnt getting extremely deep in anything. Was able to final table the $20 35K gtd cubed on Stars and get myself just over 1.1k
Have been doing some work setting up ghosting sessions for possible students. My first one wasnt a great success as a couple guys had to back out and a couple had to leave early....couple that with a terrible night of cards and it had train wreck stamped all over it.
On a GREAT note, I have officially thrown my name into the ring of Rounder's Retreat Poker Camp participants April 4-10. Very very much looking forward to a week in Vegas at a poker house, learning from the likes of scaphism, zenman and mossified. Ill get to meet a couple of my students as well, so all in all it should be an excellent week.
Well, thats it for now...Time to get registering for the day. Keep on Keepin on Yo
Friday, January 28, 2011
Double Guarantee Week, I love
Double Guarantee week is happening on Full Tilt right now and I have to say, S**ts been great so far. After a rough -$600 start to my new month long BAP, Ive hit the tables playing extremely well this week and its shown. Im going deep in a ton of stuff and playing very strongly and have even started using HEM for the first time.
Tuesday night I decided to hit up the Midnight Madness with 4 Entries (they made a ton of MTTs multi entry for the week). I was able to cash 3 of those 4. One being a min cash, another making it in the top 50 and then finally finishing with a 2nd place in the field of around 4300 for approx $4.6K. I got to heads up against an MTT beast/regular on FTP and his $1 Million in tourney prizes definitely shows he knows what he is doing. At the start of HU play, he had me outchipped about 5 to 1. I was able to grind myself to even, then take a slight 300k chip lead. Then over the next dozen hands or so managed to increase my chip lead to around 2.4 to 1. Thats when it all went downhill...a couple unlucky rivers for me and he had a huge chiplead again and then I lost a flip to take 2nd. If I hold those two rivers, we are looking at a $7.6K score.
It was a long tuesday night/wednesday morning but I wasnt just going to take the day off so I hit it hard again Wednesday night as Wednesday's are the best day for my Stud play on FTP. I hit up all of my usual tournaments with a couple entries or more and with the double guarantees, the fields were oh so soft. I managed a few random cashes throughout the night and then took my 2 entries in the $26 Stud and was able to double cash them. 1 being a min cash for $40, and then along the way with my other stack I was able to KO Alan Boston to earn the Tshirt and a $24 bonus. Grinded my way to the final table, to come in sitting 7 of 8. Managed to get 3 handed with first being worth $1.1K. I look down to see QQ with a K up...I raise it up, the aggro newb with an A up repopped me and I capped it...4th street brought a brick for both of us and it was 3 bet til i was all in...and what does she show, A A A x...she starts out rolled up, 3 handed. I bink a Q on 5th street giving me outs, but to no prevail as I dont boat and Im out in 3rd for $500.
I followed that up with a top 60 run in the $66K Guaranteed $26 KO on FTP. The night ended with some rough runs but Im still playing very well and happy to be making my investors a nice chunk of change.
Over the weekend Ill be looking to close out my BAP and reset. Have turned the $2500 initial Bankroll into just under $7K so far.
Along with my play, I have a student that is doing great things in mixed games. macduge has been a beast lately and I appreciate the kind words he is giving towards me. Its great to work with somebody who has such a strong poker mind already.
Keep grinding guys, hard work DOES pay off!
Eric
Tuesday night I decided to hit up the Midnight Madness with 4 Entries (they made a ton of MTTs multi entry for the week). I was able to cash 3 of those 4. One being a min cash, another making it in the top 50 and then finally finishing with a 2nd place in the field of around 4300 for approx $4.6K. I got to heads up against an MTT beast/regular on FTP and his $1 Million in tourney prizes definitely shows he knows what he is doing. At the start of HU play, he had me outchipped about 5 to 1. I was able to grind myself to even, then take a slight 300k chip lead. Then over the next dozen hands or so managed to increase my chip lead to around 2.4 to 1. Thats when it all went downhill...a couple unlucky rivers for me and he had a huge chiplead again and then I lost a flip to take 2nd. If I hold those two rivers, we are looking at a $7.6K score.
It was a long tuesday night/wednesday morning but I wasnt just going to take the day off so I hit it hard again Wednesday night as Wednesday's are the best day for my Stud play on FTP. I hit up all of my usual tournaments with a couple entries or more and with the double guarantees, the fields were oh so soft. I managed a few random cashes throughout the night and then took my 2 entries in the $26 Stud and was able to double cash them. 1 being a min cash for $40, and then along the way with my other stack I was able to KO Alan Boston to earn the Tshirt and a $24 bonus. Grinded my way to the final table, to come in sitting 7 of 8. Managed to get 3 handed with first being worth $1.1K. I look down to see QQ with a K up...I raise it up, the aggro newb with an A up repopped me and I capped it...4th street brought a brick for both of us and it was 3 bet til i was all in...and what does she show, A A A x...she starts out rolled up, 3 handed. I bink a Q on 5th street giving me outs, but to no prevail as I dont boat and Im out in 3rd for $500.
I followed that up with a top 60 run in the $66K Guaranteed $26 KO on FTP. The night ended with some rough runs but Im still playing very well and happy to be making my investors a nice chunk of change.
Over the weekend Ill be looking to close out my BAP and reset. Have turned the $2500 initial Bankroll into just under $7K so far.
Along with my play, I have a student that is doing great things in mixed games. macduge has been a beast lately and I appreciate the kind words he is giving towards me. Its great to work with somebody who has such a strong poker mind already.
Keep grinding guys, hard work DOES pay off!
Eric
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Ending January/Hitting February
Wow, have I been slacking. I apologize, but on that note.....
I have just started my Back to Public Action BAP. Have been focusing on playing somewhat larger MTT sessions. And by larger, I mean about 12-16 MTTs. Feel as tho I am playing quite confidently in all aspects, but I just seem to run into unlucky times late in a lot of these MTTs. Im cashing at a very respectable clip so I know things are there, just need to use my one time up soon. Going on record right now to predict a hold em tourney bink in February.
My Supernova chase is really fading, but Im not giving up on the goal. I may be decently behind this month, but all things can change in just a matter of weeks and I can suddenly be ahead of the game. If you see me just sitting around and not putting in any hands, jump on me for being lazy.
Coaching has been going great. I have had sessions with 3 different students and have 3 others waiting to find a time to get something going. Feel as tho the 3 that I have worked with are definitely getting better. Each of the 3 is obviously at different points in their playing "careers". macduge is definitely picking up the mixed games well as it helps to have had his success in hold em events. I have been able to ghost/coach him to a couple deep runs in some HORSE and HOSE MTTs.
Just been trying to get over being sick and I feel once this is behind me, I can really get my focus back on putting in up to 100 games a day on certain days.
Good Luck
3two1
I have just started my Back to Public Action BAP. Have been focusing on playing somewhat larger MTT sessions. And by larger, I mean about 12-16 MTTs. Feel as tho I am playing quite confidently in all aspects, but I just seem to run into unlucky times late in a lot of these MTTs. Im cashing at a very respectable clip so I know things are there, just need to use my one time up soon. Going on record right now to predict a hold em tourney bink in February.
My Supernova chase is really fading, but Im not giving up on the goal. I may be decently behind this month, but all things can change in just a matter of weeks and I can suddenly be ahead of the game. If you see me just sitting around and not putting in any hands, jump on me for being lazy.
Coaching has been going great. I have had sessions with 3 different students and have 3 others waiting to find a time to get something going. Feel as tho the 3 that I have worked with are definitely getting better. Each of the 3 is obviously at different points in their playing "careers". macduge is definitely picking up the mixed games well as it helps to have had his success in hold em events. I have been able to ghost/coach him to a couple deep runs in some HORSE and HOSE MTTs.
Just been trying to get over being sick and I feel once this is behind me, I can really get my focus back on putting in up to 100 games a day on certain days.
Good Luck
3two1
Monday, January 10, 2011
Off the Table and back on the Tables
2011 started with me spending a large amount of time on a table without cards. On January 7th I underwent heart surgery to correct what they thought was Supra-Ventricular-Tachycardia; to save a lengthy discussion, it turns out that I have Atrial Fibrillation and will have to undergo another surgery some time in the near future. While I think it would be applicable to go on life tilt, I'm doing my best to chalk it up as a karma credit and hit the poker tables full force.
I am a very big fan of setting goals, whether it be school, work, or poker. It gives me a path to where I would like to be rather than sporadically shooting at my dreams. If you haven't been following my other blog, Poker's Baka, I will be taking the leap into playing full time in April of this year. I plan to diversify and specialize in my games more than ever, and to apply the multitude of knowledge which I hold.
Official Goals for 2011:
Life:
Have my heart finally fixed (whether it be through surgery or medication)
Travel to at least 2 foreign countries
Get back to school in the fall to keep working on my Physics degree
Get back into regularly trading on the stock market
Poker:
Achieve SN status on Pokerstars
$30k total profit from all games in 2011
SNG--
Venture into 18 & 180 man SNGs
Study and warm up before each session
Work my way into the $38-$60 games (18s and 45s)
25k in profit from 2011
MTT--
Play more non turbo type games, especially on UB/AP
Get some hourly coaching for MTTs
Ship a 5k+ score
Cash--
Play more rush 6max on FTP during down times.
Keep a reasonable BR for this.
2k+ profit
I've already got a jump on a few of these items, and I can't wait to check each one of these off this year.
GL in 2011 everyone.
I am a very big fan of setting goals, whether it be school, work, or poker. It gives me a path to where I would like to be rather than sporadically shooting at my dreams. If you haven't been following my other blog, Poker's Baka, I will be taking the leap into playing full time in April of this year. I plan to diversify and specialize in my games more than ever, and to apply the multitude of knowledge which I hold.
Official Goals for 2011:
Life:
Have my heart finally fixed (whether it be through surgery or medication)
Travel to at least 2 foreign countries
Get back to school in the fall to keep working on my Physics degree
Get back into regularly trading on the stock market
Poker:
Achieve SN status on Pokerstars
$30k total profit from all games in 2011
SNG--
Venture into 18 & 180 man SNGs
Study and warm up before each session
Work my way into the $38-$60 games (18s and 45s)
25k in profit from 2011
MTT--
Play more non turbo type games, especially on UB/AP
Get some hourly coaching for MTTs
Ship a 5k+ score
Cash--
Play more rush 6max on FTP during down times.
Keep a reasonable BR for this.
2k+ profit
I've already got a jump on a few of these items, and I can't wait to check each one of these off this year.
GL in 2011 everyone.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Lets go 2011
Well, Im a little behind schedule but I am finally getting my thoughts for 2011 out there.
I have basically closed out 90% of my backing and am going into the new year with a clean slate. I can kind of pick and choose what Im going to do for the next few weeks. I was able to 3 way chop the $75 Stud on FTP 2 days before the end of the year, so that gave me the ability to close out my Stud/HORSE backing in a decent profit.
As far as 2011 goes, I do have a very real goal of hitting Supernova on Stars, but along with that 100K VPP mark, it would be very beneficial to me to get myself to the 200K mark by the end of 2011 as that is more than triple the RB for me, by just doubling the SN VPP mark. Ultimately I need to hit Platinum star on a monthly basis. Its not going to be easy, thats for sure and Im already quite a bit behind schedule but part of that is the lack of dedication to a particular game right now. As I am just bouncing around a few different cash games, trying to find where I want to spend a lot of 2011 at. I will also include mtts and sngs throughout the year.
I entered 2011 coaching 1 student in mixed games and have recently had another purchase a package of hours and 2 others contact me about setting something up as well in the near future. So things are looking up in that regard. Ive also really tried to adjust my investment strategy for the PF that I run and am hoping for a decent January to start that out.
If you guys see me around at the tables, on PTP or on skype...feel free to kick me around to get me motivated and make sure Im not sitting idle.
Best of Luck
I have basically closed out 90% of my backing and am going into the new year with a clean slate. I can kind of pick and choose what Im going to do for the next few weeks. I was able to 3 way chop the $75 Stud on FTP 2 days before the end of the year, so that gave me the ability to close out my Stud/HORSE backing in a decent profit.
As far as 2011 goes, I do have a very real goal of hitting Supernova on Stars, but along with that 100K VPP mark, it would be very beneficial to me to get myself to the 200K mark by the end of 2011 as that is more than triple the RB for me, by just doubling the SN VPP mark. Ultimately I need to hit Platinum star on a monthly basis. Its not going to be easy, thats for sure and Im already quite a bit behind schedule but part of that is the lack of dedication to a particular game right now. As I am just bouncing around a few different cash games, trying to find where I want to spend a lot of 2011 at. I will also include mtts and sngs throughout the year.
I entered 2011 coaching 1 student in mixed games and have recently had another purchase a package of hours and 2 others contact me about setting something up as well in the near future. So things are looking up in that regard. Ive also really tried to adjust my investment strategy for the PF that I run and am hoping for a decent January to start that out.
If you guys see me around at the tables, on PTP or on skype...feel free to kick me around to get me motivated and make sure Im not sitting idle.
Best of Luck
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