The past five days I have put in a few big HU sessions against Isildur1. Overall it was a bad result for me losing 1.6 million dollars. Although I didn't play perfectly I played I thought I played my A- to A+ game throughout the entire sessions.

If you read my blog you know that I am very tough on myself when I lose. This time though I was very proud of myself for never tilting or letting the variance get to me. It was a very agressive match with huge swings. I ran 2.2 million dollars under all in expectation and felt like I was on the bad side of quite a few coolers. That said I kept my cool and never tilted and always came prepared to play. There were a few hands that caused me to take a 5 minute break to regroup and make sure I was playing well.

I notice some people posted on my last blog that I wasn't preaching what I was saying about stop losses and tilt control. This is the furthest thing from the case. I had stop losses set and when I was stuck 12 BI in one session I took a short break and made sure my mind was clear. I went on to recoup about 500k that day. I never once was on tilt the entire five days, nor did I ever not play when I was totally lucid and playing my best or near my best.

In total we played 8726 hands. Just adjusting just for allin EV over this time I would have been a 9 bb/100 winner vs him, instead I ended a -23bb/100 loser. This doesn't take into account coolers which I felt like I was often on the bad side of. Thats the variance of HU PLO between two very aggressive players. My variance numbers were higher vs him than any other opponents I have ever played. I spend off times analyzing all the hands we played and determining new strategies to exploit him. I thought he did a great job of quickly countering my strategies and adjusted very well. I think this is the sign of a great HU poker player.

To counter my run Brian Hastings played him and ran about 2 million above expectation winning 4.2 million dollars. I wish it had been me :), but life is not fair and I misplayed a few hands but overall I played amazing. I know a few years ago when we were moving up from 50/100 NLH games to 200/400 NLH games Hastings ran horribly while I ran incredibly hot and won a few million that year. He would grind for weeks at 50/100 and take shots at 200/400 and get crushed. I guess don't discount what Hastings did yesterday just because he ran hot, he had some very tough times in the past where he ran way below expectation. I railed Hastings and thought he played great and when you combine that with running well you win 42 BI in 3k hands. Nice job Hastings!!!

There have also been some accusations of Cole South, Brian Hastings and myself colluding against Isildur1. I guess colluding is not the correct word but more team play. First Cole and Hastings both live 2500 miles away from me. Sure we could have linked our computers and all be giving thoughts as play but I would imagine that would be nearly impossible while playing 4 or 6 tables vs someone.

I talk alot of poker with Brian Hastings and Cole South, but this has been going on for years. We have shared hands with each other when we were playing 25/50 together. I have never spoke to one of them while a hand is happening nor would I. After a hand sure we would discuss and share player reads but never during hands.