So I received a lot of requests for free coaching. I really wasn't sure how many I'd receive but due to time constraints I knew I wouldn't be able to spend too much time coaching. After all I needed to grind some poker to make up for the last 2-3 months. Plus w/ family obligations and running a coaching site I was probably biting off more than I could chew. Nonetheless I ended up giving out more free lessons than originally planned. For those of you that were not selected, I'm sorry. I went back and forth on how many people I'd take on, and believe it or not I almost decided to take on everybody that applied but then I figured out that wasn't realistic due to time constraints.

As for poker, I am back on the grind again. I dabbled a couple of times at nl200 and nl400 online and did ok. I've played more live because I've been hanging out w/ poker friends and we've been playing on the same tables making poker fun (nothing like owning friends in poker...it's ok because these guys crush).

A couple of nights ago a friend and I were at Caesar's Palace checking out the WSOP circuit scene and cash games. Turns out the biggest game was $2/$5nl but it was uncapped and I decided to buy in for $1500 (since I only had $3k on me, so 2 bullets). Well there was a guy that had $12k in front of him....bb equivalent = 2400bbs. He was pretty splashy but not crazy where he'd risk a lot of money running insane bluffs or calling big bets down lightly. Anyway he was good for the game.

Anyway very 1st hand I sit down, utg opr to $20, 2 calls, and I look down at J4s. Utg just sat down and it was his 1st hand as well. Well I recognized him as he was a live Vegas pro. We also had a little bit of history at bigger stakes including $5/$10 and $10/$20 around town. I never saw him playing $2/$5 before so I figured he might try to control the table since it was smaller than I had seen him playing. Well w/ me being there I was not going to let that go down.

Anyway I decided to 3bet him to $130 because I wanted to show him I meant business (and the fact that we were 300bbs deep and it was live poker meant for a slightly bigger 3bet than normal). When I 3bet him I almost felt the 4bet coming, and sure enough it did, to the tune of $360.



Sure he could've had a hand, but more likely it was basically him saying "well I know who you are and I'm not going to let you 3bet me tonight and I'm going to control the table therefore here's a 4bet to get you to fold your trash"....or maybe he did have KK or AA.

Or maybe not, so I decided to 5bet...the question was how much? I wasn't sure 5betting to $700 or so was that great because he might decide to shove TT-QQ and I'd probably call (given the pot odds). Finally I just decided to put in the last aggressive action and shoved for $1500 total (and possibly fold those 3 pps).....



and he snap folded. It's pretty mandatory that you have to show at least one bad card when you pull off something like this so I did show the table the 4.



So was this suicidal? No, because his 4bet range was wide and I get to put in the last action. Also he may call w/ AK and I'm only a 3-2 dog vs. that hand and about 4-1 dog vs rest of his calling range of QQ+. Yes the odds aren't great but w/ the fe it was close. I thought it became +ev when I included the other variables of the situation. I get to set a tone to the table and him that I was here to gamble and wasn't afraid to go broke in any spot (less bluffs aimed at me so less tough situations). After all, I just sat down...imagine how the others would be licking their chops (esp. the guy w/ $12k) if they saw me go broke for 300bbs w/ J4s preflop (and sometimes I may win!). I am pretty good at adjusting my game based on others' perceptions of me so I felt like others would make mistakes the rest of the session based off this 1st hand. I do think I would've been able to regain the slight equity I gave up in that 1st hand w/ future hands (after all I just sat down and I'm sure everybody were going to play for awhile trying to win money off the middle aged Asian dude who stuck in 300bbs w/ J4s preflop 1st hand!)

Anyway I ended up winning a few hundred in the session (took a beat w/ AQ on a A63AK board when opponent held KK) but nothing matched the fun of the 1st hand. Live poker's been going well and I've been really enjoying it so I may play a little more live than online for now (that may change anytime though). If you guys want to follow along w/ other cool hands and adventures around town (really just the grind of a Vegas pro, but I'm cool!) feel free to follow me on twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/nicolakpoker.

Oh and I did an interview recently for Pokernews w/ Kristy Arnett just talking about the mindset of being a professional poker player along w/ a few other things. You can check it out here... PokernewsInterview .

Before I get to the free lessons I'm offering, you'll have to read some including why I'm offering free poker lessons. I haven't blogged in a while...heck I've blogged probably 3x-4x in the past 6 months after blogging weekly for the 18 months prior.

As you know I've been dealing w/ a ton of adversity the past 6 months. After having a mildly unsuccessful WSOP (which is usually to be expected so no biggie) my dad passed away from cancer then my cousin passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. Also Black Friday happened and unfortunately most of my online roll was on Full Tilt Poker. I'm just kissing that money goodbye. Also my homes are about $800k under water due to terrible timing in buying (Las Vegas 2005 and 2006 housing market can go to hell). Also I've been running absurdly bad in cash games post WSOP, although I'm actually up a little. Granted I haven't played a whole lot for a few reasons (lack of online games, lack of hands in live poker). A big reason why I haven't played much is because, well, I just haven't had the desire to play.

I guess that's somewhat expected w/ all the stuff I had to deal with. Also I had other personal issues that consumed some of my time (not to mention giving me headaches). Along w/ bordering on burnout for the past 3 years from grinding the past decade (I'll touch on this subject in the future), I just didn't feel like playing any poker. Instead I spent time w/ my family and grinded video games to escape the realities of real life problems (not the answer I know). I guess you can say I'm an expert at Halo 3, COD 3, and NCAA Football 12 now.

I've always been an optimistic person and have always seen the glass half full. Everybody that knows me knows that I'm always in a good mood and poker never affects my life no matter how bad I run. But damn, a perfect storm of beats in poker and life (mostly life) really forced me into a shell that made me avoid all contact outside of my family. Heck I didn't even answer calls and texts from close friends sometimes (sorry guys). Ever a telling sign, I didn't watch a single NFL game weeks 14-17! The only poker stuff I did was make a couple of CR videos (and even those I was late getting to management, sorry Alex!) and defend my friend Joe Tehan in a couple of 2+2 threads.

I never thought I'd ever get in this frame of mind, considering how successful I've been in poker and life pretty much my whole adulthood (except for the time I dropped out of UCLA after my 3rd year to play poker full time, but then that didn't turn out so bad). I can honestly say I've been blessed and thank God (and still do) for all of it.

Anyway after wallowing in some misery (but never asking "why me?") and possibly facing a mid-life crisis (wow I sound old) I reflected on everything on my drive back to Vegas from Los Angeles tonight (after visiting my dad's cemetery site). My wife suggested I see a counselor but I knew I can resolve my state of mind by myself, well because, I always have. I've always had a keen sense of my surroundings (one of my attributes that's contributed to my success in poker) so I know what's going down and how to fix things. I've always been somewhat of a solitary person. Even my friends have told me lately I can always come to them to talk but idk, I am ok w/ resolving things on my own.

Anyway that leads to the free lessons. I'm offering 2-3 lessons to 2-3 people in live poker and 2-3 people in online poker. Why? Well I feel like I've neglected some duties w/ CR and my other coaching site Stack'em Coaching so I need to make it up somehow. Also I need to get my juices flowing in regards to poker.

Also I watched a documentary called "Superheros" on HBO last night and it documented real life people trying to be real life, you guessed it, superheros. As stupid and crazy as it may sound, the people portrayed were actually good people just trying to make the world a better place (actually a couple were just obsessed w/ being superheros). Most of their duties were watching out for crime and calling 911 when they saw any and helping out the homeless.

Well I respect people that go out of their way to help others, no matter how crazy it may seem, so why not help out people myself...doing what I know best, poker, specifically helping others get better at it. Yeah it will probably make me feel good...and heck the people that actually apply and get the lessons may actually improve their games!

Why should you consider me for lessons (free ones to boot!)? Well for a few reasons. I've been playing successfully from '98 to the present. I made $40k in '98 and $400k in 2008 and along the way improved and made more than the following year. Even 2009 and 2010 were good years but it's not easy to match 2008's results grinding mostly nl400-nl1k cash games. 2011 was not a very good year but I still cleared 6 figures (barely) amid Black Friday. I did this while having the added pressure of paying 2 mortgages, supporting a wife and a kid (although my wife can hold her own in poker), supporting other family members, contributing to retirement funds, and helping out broke friends (but no more on the latter since I'm basically burning my money). I also managed time to balance my life w/ things outside of poker, especially spending time w/ my wife and kid. So I can probably offer life advice for an aspiring poker player (if you need that).

Also I've received requests for coaching and my post Black Friday rate was $200/hr. So basically if I choose you you're making a free $400-$600 (now whether it's really worth that is a matter of opinion). Also there's a chance you may actually improve in poker! (or not).

Who can apply? Pretty much anybody. I don't care if you're a beginner, intermediate, heck, a 200-400nl player who just wants bad real estate advice or fantasy football lessons (oh wait, I lost in ff this year). You can ask for tournament or mixed game lessons...although nl cash games is my bread and butter.

The only stipulation is that I may request to record the live poker sessions for Stack'em or make leakfinder videos for CR if I feel it appropriate. I may or may not do this w/ the sessions.

I don't care where you live...but if you're in Vegas I'd be willing to do live sweat sessions, and for online over tv and skype.

Anyway for those interested you can email me at john@stackemcoaching.com or PM me here at CR. I'm thinking the deadline to get in requests is in a week or so, depending on how many I get.

Sup guys, been awhile. I recently put out part 1 of a 3 part series on midstakes on Merge. I play 4 tables of nl400 6max. Feel free to check it out and let me know what you guys think. I hope to get the 2nd and 3rd part to management this week. A lot has been happening in my life, just about everything bad.

My dad passed away from cancer about a month ago. I blogged about finding out he had terminal cancer a few months ago. I was having other personal issues that weren't easy to deal with. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, my cousin who moved to the US from Korea 4 years ago to become a professional poker player (against my wishes) bringing a wife and 2 little girls passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack last week. I just came back from my 2nd funeral of a very close family member within the past month. Also it really sucks having to play on Merge/Live when nearly all your play and success came from online the past 8 yrs or so.

Anyway since I've been back, my buddy Joe Tehan managed to bink another big score, this one for $300k, placing 3rd in a $20k epic tournament here in Vegas. It's always nice to rely on him to pay the bills...lol.

I guess he played a couple of hands very questionably to even bad and there was a lengthy thread about it on 2+2. What started out as a thread talking about those hands ended up turning into a prominent 2+2er (although I didn't know who he was) calling Joe a scammer. Since we know he's not, we had an issue w/ it and I intervened. What went on was a bunch of name calling (pretty much all from him), issues and acceptance of a hu4rollz challenge, and other entertaining and sometimes comical stuff.

Anyway here's the link if anybody wants a good read...


http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/87/high-stakes-mtt/joe-tehan-bubble-hand-epic-20k-1140559/

Also the following hu4rollz potential match (but unlikely to happen)...

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/87/high-stakes-mtt/joe-tehan-stealthmunk-hu4rollz-match-1142983/

Just thought I'd let everybody know I'll be presenting a webinar this Sunday at 2pm pst over at dailyvariance. The topic will be transitioning from online to live poker. I have spent many hours in both and I'll go over what I think are vital stuff when it comes to making that transition. This webinar will be fairly different than the video series I made...I'll be going over a lot more conceptual stuff and a bunch of new stuff as well. Here's the link....

http://www.dailyvariance.com/transitioning-online-to-live-poker/

The presentation will be an hr long then I'll be doing a Q&A after. Hope to see some of you guys there!

I've been following the Girah scandal like everybody else. I've read tidbits of threads in the forums and DIH's blog posts including his farewell from poker. I'm sure there is more than meets the eye (I, like everybody else would love to hear more from Jungleman, although his involvement seems innocent....so far).

I think CR did the right thing in letting DIH go. This is a business and CR needs to maintain a certain image/brand going forward. I don't know DIH, never met him, never spoke with him, but I do know from his writings and videos he's an intelligent guy and understands poker at a high level. With that said I try to reserve judgement until all the facts are out but it's hard to ignore all the dirt out there and DIH's involvement w/ Girah. It looks even worse now that he's "retiring" from poker.

Isn't this what Girah was saying he was going to do to avoid his scam going public? It makes you wonder what kind of stuff DIH was really up to and what else he might have done in the past. Again this is all speculation, but I'm somebody that tends to think everybody is a good guy until they show otherwise, and this seems otherwise.

I guess we may never know now w/ DIH leaving the poker world.

What troubles me a lot more is the scam Girah tried to pull. It's the magnitude of the whole damn thing. This kid was supposed to be the next Durrrr, was supposed to be one of the guys at the forefront of the next poker boom (when US legislates and regulates it). He was hyped up so much that even I bought into the hype (as I'm sure many others have as well). I followed some of his stuff, including interviews and strategy articles and even mentioned how great this kid was to others. Sure his knowledge was solid (doesn't look like his application of this knowledge in actual play was solid though) although DIH and others could've lent a helping hand here.

Even though the real victims are the guys that got scammed out of money, I feel like I got duped, and I think that's why a lot of people are angry, well actually it's the scam but I think you know what I'm saying. For somebody that hyped, well known, and revered to pull off such a disgusting scam (w/ trusting friends!) just sent ripples throughout the poker world and we are all affected in some way and will be so going forward.

I'm one of the most trustworthy guys around and for some reason I feel like the whole poker world lost a lot of credibility from one poker player to another, including me. Who won't have a hint of suspicion the next time somebody asks for a transfer, asks to sweat, or anything that deals w/ trust. Everybody will remember this and wonder if they're being "Girah'ed". After all, this kid was the golden boy (along w/ a couple of others) for the future of online poker. DIH and Jungleman vouched for this kid! (to be fair I'm not sure if JM did, although DIH certainly did).

Besides the scam, this is what irks me. Poker has come a long way in 10 years, believe me, I was playing fulltime 10 years ago and have seen the evolution. It was gaining a lot of credibility as an occupation. The negative stigma of poker players being gamblers, cheaters, etc. was fading. Even though the UB scandal, FT mismanagement, and lesser scandals hurt, poker was on it's way of being very acceptable (even in the US). Now this happens and arguably this is on the same level as the biggest scandals/setbacks for poker and poker players.

Where UB and FT created suspicion for other poker sites, this creates suspicion for other poker players, and this is what is most damaging about this whole scandal.

I was intending on talking about the launch of my new website but this thing is so big I thought I'd throw my 2 cents on it. Anyway I've launched my own live poker training site w/ my good buddy and very good poker player Joe Tehan (along w/ a couple of other great coaches) at

http://www.stackemcoaching.com/.

For those interested, use promocode STACKEM07 to get a free 3 day trial.

I will remain w/ CR because I have a good working relationship with them and because CR is more online poker and video based content than Stackem (feel free to go check it out to see what it is). I'm still planning on making some online poker videos here, maybe playing on Merge or doing leakfinders. Anyway I'll talk about my new site in more detail next time (damn you Girah!).

As I sit here and write this, I have tears flowing down the side of my face. I've encountered the toughest obstacle I've faced in my life up to this point. I guess I can be grateful that it took so long (38 years). The news was grim today as doctors told us my dad has 6 to 12 months left to live.

Shortly after the Wsop main event we found out my dad has stomach and liver cancer but did not know the severity of it until he had a biopsy done. The last couple of weeks were filled with fear and sadness due to uncertainty of my dad's official condition, yet clinging unto hope that the doctors would come back with news that somehow it's treatable and he would be able to beat it.

Well that hope is almost dashed out with today's news. I guess I'm trying to hope somehow someway my dad has a chance, any kind of chance, even though doctors are telling us there isn't. It's not just for me, heck I cry for my dad, I cry for my mom who has relied on my dad her entire adult life, I cry for my wife who is probably closer to my parents than me and sees my dad as her own, and I cry for my only daughter, 10 years old, who loves her grandfather like any child can. When I spoke to my dad after finding out he had cancer, he said he's at peace of living a long and fulfilling life of 69 years (maybe he was telling me this to ease my fear and sadness) but would like to have watched Nicole grow up and get married. I shed many tears thinking of that and will continue to do so.

I've been busy the last few weeks with the Wsop, a new start up poker venture, and dealing with my dad's health so I haven't had the chance to blog in awhile. Yet I feel like this is a good time to reflect on my emotions and express the thoughts I'm having. Yes I am forthcoming with my emotions but you can't blame me.

Knowing my dad's days are limited, I don't want to dwell on the negatives, I want to dwell on the positives. It's easy to curl up and go into a shell for awhile but what good will that do? I am a person of faith and I believe God has a purpose for everything. For those that follow me on twitter I said I believe in prayer and would welcome all those that wanted to do so for us. It is partially faith and partially self therapy that I write what I'm writing.

I comfort in the fact that my brother and I grew up to be good genuine honest people, and I give my parents all the credit for this. My dad knows this inside, even if he won't say it.

I got into poker full time 13 years ago and for a profession that had a certain type of stigma attached to it (over the years it's become a lot more acceptable and respectable) I managed to not only support myself well, but supported my wife and kid well. More importantly it didn't change me into a bad person, not one ounce. If anything it taught me how to manage money, how to work hard at something (and reap the rewards), and it gave a wonderful life to my family and me. My dad helped me in an indirect way by making me become the man I can be. And this I take comfort in.

Sure my parents were skeptical when I told them I was playing poker for a living in the beginning. After all, who's parents wouldn't, especially if they were religious, and especially if their son was already married with a newborn baby. It wasn't until a couple of years later they saw how well I was doing but more importantly how well I was taking care of my family, and not just from a financial perspective, and they started to come around. Eventually they became proud of their oldest son. They are proud of my brother also for other reasons. And this I take comfort in.

In poker we are ingrained with knowledge to seek and maximize ev. That's it. That will determine success. For a few that's all life is about. If that's you you are not living life. If that brings you utter and complete joy then perhaps you can argue you are living life, but you are not living a balanced life, which by all intents and purposes, is unhealthy. Also partying and drinking (or smoking pot) is not part of balancing life.

One thing I've prided myself in is living this balanced life, which almost to a degree seems like a myth for professional poker players. Even though I've lived this life I've made mistakes, I've been guilty of doing less desirable things, and I have regret of doing some things and not doing some things (nothing serious though).

With the news that my dad will no longer be with us within a year, I seek to change my life for the better. What I mean is that I want to live a life with meaning, with knowing that I went all out, with no regrets and that I gave myself the best possible life I could while doing everything I could to provide the best lives for those around me.

It'll be little things, medium things, and big things. Things like working out regularly, eating healthy (because God knows I haven't living in Vegas), attending church more often, spending more time with my kid, showing more affection for my wife, working harder in everything, cutting down my play time (eg video games and lurking 2+2), showing appreciation for those that deserve it, showing appreciation for the little things in life, and on and on.

I aspire big, not for others to see, but for myself to see. Sure it took a moving and sad moment in my life to drive me in this new direction, but again, I want to see the positives with today's news.

For those that read this, I challenge you to do likewise. I don't mean the things I mentioned for myself although you can certainly include them. Everybody has their own goals and things they'd like to achieve. Go achieve them. Start today. If you fall down, get right back up and keep going. Don't abuse anything (especially people) while doing so. Don't wait for a life changing moment to give you this epiphany (like me). Learn from me now.

Sure it's easy to say I'm realizing this in the face of mortality given my dad's condition. So what. I am right. The world would be a better place if we all aspired and sought action to maximize our lives and for others around us. In other words, live life to the fullest...don't think it, do it, just like I am doing from this point on.

All this I will tell my dad, and I'm sure it will bring a smile to his face. And this he will take comfort in.

So I've since gone 0-7 in Wsop events since my last update. I feel like I'm playing well, just running like crap. I'm 0-11 in all ins in the past week over 7 events. I ran into aces twice for my tournament life (once with queens, another with JTs where I 3bet shoved w/ a lot of dead money in the pot), lost 7 flips (yes I lost'em all), lost as a 3-2 fav, also got crippled in the $2500 10 game mix w/ JT95 ds (during plo round) when almost all the chips went in on a KQ96 ssxx board and my opponent w/ JJT7 (w/ 3 spades) rivers the flush, and I finally busted in a hand when I was behind today.

Well actually the hand played out where I opr ep w/ QQ to 350 at blinds 75-150, get a mp caller, flop comes 732r, I bet 450, mp raises to 1250, I call w/ about 2500 behind because I was pretty sure he was putting me all in on any turn card and if I shove flop he folds a lot of hands he was going to shove turn with, turn 6, I check, he shoves, I call, he rolls over 66, gg me. Maybe I could've shoved flop and won the pot there but I felt like there was more value in trying to let him bluff off or valuetown himself by just calling his raise.

Anyway I am still showing a profit due to having pieces of 2 friends that made final tables at the Wsop. I'm not too concerned about my own results because I'm very critical of my own plays and I feel like I'm playing very well but things aren't panning out results wise. That's poker for ya. Also we are only at the halfway point of the Wsop and all it takes is one deep run.

Also I can't feel bad because I have the best family in the world. Since I was going to be busy all weekend with the Wsop and a new venture I'm working on (announcement coming soon) my wife, kid, and their friends went to San Diego, California to explore LegoLand and whatever else is fun out there. Sure it's Father's Day today but I wanted my wife and kid to have fun out in San Diego. Plus my 10 year old kid left this for me, and I must admit this is about the coolest thing I've ever received in my life (birthdays and Christmas's included)... a montage of sorts, of my life (I scanned each page of the booklet she left me next to my bed)...


Page 1
















Page 2
























Page 3 (sure she should've used "Accomplishments" but can't be too nitpicky)
























Page 4
























Page 5
























Page 6




















Wsop bracelet or not, I win in life!

That's just how it goes sometimes. I don't think I'm off to a terrible start but it is disappointing to only have 1 cash through 7 events. Last year I started off 0-9 before I reeled off 5 cashes in my last 8 tournaments to show a profit. Let's talk about the good news, the cash. Well actually it ended in a tilting way...

It was the $1500 6max nl event. Before people say "yeah of course Nicolak is expected to cash in that, that's what he plays online all the time", I do think I have almost an equal chance in just about any form of poker except nl deuce and plo. It just turned out my only cash happened in this event. Day 1 was fun w/ a starting table of Frank Kassela and Cardrunner's Taylor Caby. Kassela isn't that good at nl (yeah I said it, and yes I know he ft'ed the $25k 6max nl event last year) but Taylor is obviously good.

Anyway I had a tough table throughout day 1 and day 2 and ended up busting in 43rd place (out of 2k entrants) for $7400 or so. I opr utg w/ AK and kid 3bets in mp and I jam and get called by ATo and the board runs off A24AT. I had the kid covered by 5k at 1500/3k blinds and ended up having 2 blinds after that hand and went bust next hand. Obviously it's disheartening to lose that way but that's variance for ya.

I will talk about an interesting hand I played on day 2. I have about 140k w/ blinds at 1k/2k/300. Some Pokerstars pro named Jose Nacho Barbero opr to 4500 on button, I elect to call w/ K8s in the bb (I considered 3betting but Jose was very aggressive and capable of 4betting light) and the flop comes...

Ks2cJs

It goes check check, turn...

Qs

I bet 6k or so, he calls, river...

Th

I check ready to give up thinking I just got rivered but Nacho bets 14k and I begin thinking (even in obvious spots like this where a fold seems automatic)....we know he never has flushes because he would've cbet the flop (especially since he's so aggro) so his range is capped to Ax while we can credibly rep flushes. I decide to c/r to 54k (initally I was going to make it 64k but thought 54k would be big enough to get him to fold Ax hands) and he tank calls w/ 99!

Sure it's risky trying to get him off a straight but I assumed he would be good enough to know I would take this line w/ flushes (he is a Pokerstars Pro, but I guess that's not always saying much). I don't know if he's good enough to realize I would take this same line w/ Ax hands as well (because again, we know his range is capped to Ax so I can profitably c/r in this spot w/ Ax to try to get him off of a chop) Also I was playing pretty straightforward up to this point. I guess I might've assumed he was a good enough hand reader and could figure this out, or maybe he just thought to himself "zomg I have a straight how can I ever fold it?!" Whatever the reason, he made the call and it dropped me down below avg. I talked to a few guys and they all liked my line and are amazed at the call he made (some even calling it a -ev call, I agree). I do think I should've went w/ my initial raise of 64k because he was counting down his stack before calling and I think the extra 10k would've made him fold. Oh well.

I bust and I hang out at the Rio trying to relay my sob stories to anybody that will listen...after all, that's what we all do...jk. I have a guy I have 10% of in the 6max and I rail him for awhile. They're down to 24 or so and he gets in over 300k w/ QQ vs the kid that won it last year (and who Pokernews is calling the king of 6max cuz he got a 2nd in the $5k 6max and a 1st in the $1500 6max last year...pfftttt) who's holding 99 and he rivers a 9 to bust my horse (he barely had him covered) and have a sizeable chiplead at that point (he ends up getting 3rd for over $200k). Talk about a double whammy that night!

I also played in the $1k nl which attracted over 4k entrants. I busted that one in level 2 when I called every street w/ AsJs on a 9s8c6s, Qh, 8s, and called all in at the river w/ the nut flush only to see him turn over 86. Standard.

Yesterday I played in the $1500 nl shootout and I love shootouts because the better nl players are at a bigger advantage. The last 2 years I finished 2nd and 1st on my 1st tables. This time I got hu vs. Paul "Gees" Volpes, some internet mtt pro who's ranked really high. I started out w/ 4k vs his 41k but managed to get it to 12k vs 32k when my AQ > his T8o aipf. At blinds 200/400 I opr to 850 w/ 44 and he shoved and I elected to gamble and called only to lose to J9s. I do think a better line would've been to limp so I can reraise all in had he raised from the bb there. I think that's one area of the game I need to work on, is the shallow stacks opening/raising/reraising range, but that's probably just memorizing a chart.

Today I played the $1500 Pot Limit Hold'em event and this had the shortest turnout at 760 entrants. I guess people are intimidated by not being able to bet more than pot (forcing people to play more flops), or the fact that antes never come into play. Anyway I pretty much lost a flip when I raised and called off w/ KQ on a JT3r flop and couldn't beat AJ at level 5.

The most important thing to realize is how well I'm playing. I think I misplayed a couple of big hands (including the last hand I blogged about, the 54s hand where it should've been a fold or 3bet preflop) but overall I am happy w/ my play. I would give myself an A- up to this point. Sure people can win a tournament playing like a F player and people can go a long time w/o ever winning playing their A game but hey, that's the risk we take when we play tournaments, especially at the WSOP where the fields are bigger.

Tomorrow is the $1500 Horse and I'm relieved to be playing a mix games event after all the hold'em events. I actually enjoy mix games more than hold'em. Heck, I'm almost to the point where I'd like the WSOP to be over so I can go back to my normal (post Black Friday) cash game grind (so I can actually start making money!).

*Don't forget to check out part 2 of my Live Dive series on cash games!*

The setup is the $10k pot limit hold'em event. 250 entrants and it's accurate to say it's a tough field w/ very few weak spots. I get on a very tough table w/ 4-5 aggro Euro kids who know how to play + couple other young kids, Bttech, Jared Jaffee (who busted and was replaced by Sam Stein), and Rick Solomon (the dude that offered Pamela Anderson to pay her huge loss in a Vegas casino for a night of, ummm, fun...eventually they marry and divorce).

We start w/ 30k and I'm down to about 25k playing 250/500. Utg opr to 1200, I flat w/ 45s on the button, bb calls, flop J64r w/ 1 to my suit, chk chk I bet 1700 (to try to win it there, case can be made for checking but I like betting since bp is so vunerable and I should only have to worry about bb because utg checked which likely means he has nothing), bb folds, utg c/r to 4400 (he has me covered).

Now let's assess his range...1st of all, he seems like a young competent thinking player (although even some competent mtt pros don't seem to understand how to play postflop well) so I would expect him to lead w/ all jacks, overpairs, 66, 44 (to get value from jacks), 87, and some random air hands inc. AK. Given that he doesn't cbet flop means he's giving up or is slowplaying JJ, that's pretty much it. Well once he c/r's me I know he has JJ or air, and given that there's a lot more air in his range, mostly due to combinatorics, and his possible line of thinking being "well this good looking asian dude can be just trying to steal it on the button since we both checked to him and w/ the bb out of the way let me put him to the test and resteal vs his possible steal w/ my air + backdoor equity", I call w/ my bp (possibly the best hand) + backdoor draws + position.

Turn 9 bringing 2 hearts (not my suit), chk, chk (I just want to get to sd because my hand is likely good now but I can't stand another c/r so I elect to check), riv offsuit Q, he bombs 11k and I go into the tank. Once he checks the turn we can almost eliminate JJ unless he was going for a weird and rare c/r, c/shove line. Now I go through in my mind everything I just wrote and can't figure out what the heck he has or is repping. Again if it was a bad player, he's liable to show up w/ AQ, sets, AA, etc since they have no clue, but this kid wasn't bad. Also he wouldn't bomb the river w/ top pair type hands because he would know my most likely hand are busted draws or a jack so he'd value bet around 6-8k at the river.

The only hand I think he can have is A4s, T8, KT or air...but A4s is probably not in his range because he probably cbets that on the flop. Well if he backdoored a straight and it's either that or air I should call. My bp is pretty much equivalent to AJ (I won't totally discount overpairs since it's possible some mtt pros take this line).

Here are a few more reasons for calling (pros for calling)...

-He seems like a young mtt pro....probably not experienced in postflop play and just making plays for the sake of it to win a pot w/o having an idea of what he's really repping...this happens more often than you think, even in $10k's

-The field is tough and I don't expect guys to give chips away like they do in the smaller buyins so there isn't much merit to the "wait for a better spot" reasoning, so I need to seize the +ev spots, even if they're marginal

-I have a little over 10bbs if I lose and I can still come back

Here are my question marks on calling (cons for calling)...

-When he bombs the river like that, he's more likely to have the straight, as unlikely as it may seem from the flop on...so I'm not 100% sure if it's +ev to call...I think it is, but not as much as I thought it was at the time

-It's a big bet and chips saved are more valuable than chips won in mtts so I'm not sure if I'm supposed to call in a very marginal spot even though I felt it was slightly +ev

I asked a couple of very good players and they both thought it was a fold but I think they were putting more weight into the actual river bet size (and 'waiting for a better spot") than the entire hand (my thoughts on it anyway)

I elected to make a hero call and lost to KT. I don't feel bad about how I played the hand because my read was spot on and I went w/ it. Again I don't know if that's enough reason to risk most of my stack though.

In a cash game I almost always call since I feel it's +ev, but again it's different in tournaments where it's sometimes correct to pass on marginal spots, including very small +ev spots.

Sometimes I'm not sure .

As for the tournament I built my stack up from 6k to 32k (illustrating why calling isn't bad since I can come back) and got it in at the 400/800 level w/ TT from the bb vs a Euro kid in the co in an obvious squeeze spot (button had called as well and we were playing 7 handed w/ 5 more hands left for the night) and busted to QQ.

Thoughts and comments are appreciated (and yes you can tell me my call is bad as long as you give reasons why).

I just got home after busting the 1st event I played, the $1500 limit omaha 8 hi lo. I played 9.5 1 hr levels and busted during the last level of the day. I'm not that upset though for a couple of reasons. 1st is that I felt like I played really well, especially in a game which isn't my specialty. I know I'm +ev in this event but after playing today I feel like I'm hugely +ev in future limit om8 events up to a $5k buyin or so. This isn't to brag but to instill a self confidence in me going forward for this game. If there's one quality about me that has contributed to a lot of my longterm success, it's the ability to look at myself and assess w/ near certainty where I stand in relation to everybody else in poker.

When I reflect back on past om8 tournaments I play, I see the mistakes I made (just like I've done w/ other forms of poker)...this is a sign that I'm getting better and seeing what the right plays are. Today I felt like I played near perfect except for an obvious river value bet I missed (also compounded by not paying attention to my opponent's stack, so 2 missteps that led to 1 error). I might've made a couple of loose calls preflop but they weren't mistakes because they were situational and I felt the worse shape I could be was about even money.

I ran pretty bad during the last 2 levels, including losing 2 pots where I'm a big fav to scoop going into the river, instead had to settle for a chop when my opponents got there w/o much equity for half. I also folded some big hands including 2458 w/ 3 spades on a A77Q9 board where I turned a flush and just c/c'ed turn then c/f'ed river vs. an old guy where I'm close to 100% sure I'm beat; another hand where I c/f'ed to a 1 big bet w/ 3 big bets left on the turn w/ AJT2 on a J932 2 flush board vs another old guy and old lady (older people tend to "have it" a lot more in this game than other games), the old guy showed a set of 99s to scoop so I was right. My reads were spot on today and I took optimal lines whenever I played a hand so again I felt really happy w/ my play overall.

Anyway the 2nd reason I'm not upset for spending all day playing a tournament then busting late (like most others) is because I feel like I gain a little bit of experience every time I play, and the longer the better. Granted in nl tournaments I don't get that feeling much since I feel like I know almost everything I need to know (although picking up on tournament regs' playing styles and habits is valuable) but in other games I don't play as much I'm always observing and trying to gain that valuable experience.

As for the rest of the WSOP I'm planning on playing a lot of events and as long as I feel good mentally and physically I'm planning on playing pretty much every day. Since I'm a well rounded player I'll be playing in all sorts of events, mostly nl and pl hold'em but a lot of the mix game events as well. My ultimate goal is to win a bracelet or 2 (or more) and to know that I played the best that I can play.

I am sacrificing time that I could be playing the juicy cash games during the WSOP. I'm sure my hrly is higher playing cash games than tournaments but I just enjoy WSOP tournaments so much and I'm hungry for my 1st ever bracelet, so there's a lot of happiness and life ev associated w/ playing these WSOP events.

Also I posted in the CR forum but if I make a final table, anybody from here that come sweats me at a ft I will buy them dinner at my celebratory dinner (limited to $1k total for you guys, but not necessarily for the whole bill which will be bigger because of friends and family that will be there). Obviously I'll have to make a ft 1st which is not easy.

Other observations at the WSOP so far:

-Turnout so far doesn't seem affected by Black Friday. They had 128 for the $25k hu and a record # 925 entrants for today's $1500 om 8, granted it's only 3 events so far (other being employees' event which attracted a big # as well)...I'm sure the main event will be lower than years past though

-The featured table is a lot more elaborate...bigger and more eye catching....too bad only 3 events are supposed to be televised (WSOP rematches, $50k Players' Championship, and the $10k main event)



-Very few patches being worn, especially after yesterday when James Bord confronted John Juanda about FTP and security guards had to be called in...after all Juanda was wearing a FTP patch and was an easy mark; note: I wore a CR patch today, more brownie pts due my way from the higher ups here at CR, even more so when I win my bracelet w/ it on ;)

-Lots of cash games going on...biggest I saw was a $200/$500/$1k PLO game and it was almost full

-Lots of railbirds as usual

-Phil Ivey is suing FTP (for $150 mil) and is abstaining from this year's WSOP (he isn't really boycotting it..that's just the wrong choice of words)...as for my thoughts on this, good for him, and a noble act from him, but put me in the boat that wonders if he did it for us, or because that was the only option he had for numerous reasons, including keeping that indestructible and and almost mystifying image he's always had...other theories were running around as well, including wanting to get out of his no compete cause

-Met Gakn29 today, nice guy...saw Mement Mori but not sure if he noticed me (or even knows me!)

Finally it looks like I'm getting a little more recognition with the poker media because I saw that PokerNews was updating my chip counts (1st time ever). For those of you that want to sweat someone associated w/ CR grinding a lot of WSOP events in chase of a bracelet (me), follow on PokerNews or better yet, follow me on twitter located to the right of this blog (I update every couple of hrs, including stack sizes, notables on table, interesting or amusing hands, etc.)...after all, you may get a free dinner out of it.