(warning - pretty emo blog. read at your own risk)

The past few months have marked my first real attempt at treating poker as a fulltime job. While I've always played a decent amount of poker, in the past I had high school, then college, then some time when I was living with my then-gf and still not quite making poker a fulltime thing. This summer in Vegas I took a much more businesslike approach than I had in previous Vegas summers, playing 12-15 tourneys or so plus grinding live cash almost every day that I wasn't playing tourneys. After a break in August while I was trying to plan my next move, I got to Vancouver September 1, played over 40k hands of high stakes cash games plus some WCOOP tourneys online in September, and in October so far I've been in Europe playing live tournaments. My feelings about playing poker fulltime have been pretty mixed. To break it down a bit:

-I enjoy living a healthy lifestyle. This has been pretty easy to do in Vancouver, was fairly difficult in Vegas, and has been virtually impossible in Europe since I've been living in hotels, haven't been able to buy groceries or cook, the gyms I've found haven't been great, and the food offered at restaurants tends to contain quite a few more white carbs than I'm used to. Plus many of the tournaments have played til 3am and beyond so it's been impossible to get into any kind of good sleep schedule. For the past few days I've gone to bed at 5am and woke up at 1pm. I know some people who are fine with this kind of routine but I really can't stand it and am excited for a return to normalcy on this front in Vancouver.

-I feel like I've been lacking balance a bit too. For the past 5 years I spent lots of time interacting with college students and I really enjoyed that. Now almost all of my friends that I'm spending time with regularly are poker players. I really like the friends I've made but it's just a big adjustment from what I'm used to. Also, I know 'poker players' is a broad category and quite a big overgeneralization; really it may be more that I've just been living in places where I don't know anyone all that well. That happened in college too obviously but then we were all going through the same challenges regarding getting used to the college lifestyle and rigorous classes. I guess in some ways poker players go through a lot of the same challenges too, but:

-I have mixed emotions on the game itself right now. Poker for me has always been about the challenge, the learning process, and the competitive aspect. My most rewarding moments in poker have been when I felt that I reached a new level in a certain game, especially during my first year of playing poker but also when I learned PLO and then mixed games. I'm certainly not perfect by any stretch but I feel like at this point the improvements I can make to my game aren't huge. I've always joined playing heads up because it involves much more adaptation to counter the opponent's strategy, but I've been playing less of that lately, not by choice. After playing a bunch of live tournaments over the past few weeks, I can say that the travelling the circuit lifestyle is definitely not for me both because of lifestyle factors and because I just don't enjoy tournament poker that much. I think I can get a lot better at them actually but I feel like the endgame is a huge variancefest where even the best players can easily have losing years and after travel expenses the endeavor seems not worth it to me. It only makes sense for those who really enjoy playing live tournaments, and I just don't think it's for me. I enjoyed playing live cash games this summer, mainly because of the social aspect. I got to meet some really interesting people in the games and they were much chattier and looser than tourneys are. Plus the games themselves were shorter handed and had more than 2 cards which made them more fun to play. Online I've been enjoying playing big PLO and mixed games but I just don't know if I have the passion for it that I used to.

I may just be being emo right now, but in the wake of Steve Jobs' death some of his most famous quotes are really resonating with me. For example:

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

I certainly can't see how poker playing fits this mold. I've been thinking a bunch lately about how much I value money as well. I grew up very middle-class and my parents are the types of people who make modest salaries while working extremely hard, but they have passion for their work and are very happy. As I walk around Cannes, I see wealth and excess all over, and it just doesn't feel like me. In some ways, I'm very grateful for the money I've made, as it's allowed me to pay for a college education, travel a bunch, eat some great food, and most importantly treat my friends and family to some unforgettable experiences, but in the end is money going to make me truly happy? It certainly won't by itself, and I feel like making major life choices based on money is probably not in my best interest.

This should all be taken with a grain of salt, as I'm very self aware that I'm in a weird transitional phase, both in ways listed above plus still only a few months removed from a very tough breakup. However, I feel like I've been happiest when I've been working towards challenges that I feel truly passionate about and also when I've had a real home and more stable social circles consisting of friends and family whom I've gotten to know very closely, and I just feel like all of this is lacking to some extent right now. Very interested to hear advice from those who can relate to this on any level and apologies for the emoness.

Brian

But unfortunately not the start I wanted.

Just kidding. I do think I'll be playing them more than I had anticipated though.

For those of you who don't know, this past week I took down the 2k WPT event at Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL for 213k (and two SICK trophies - pics below). Believe it or not, it was only my second career live tourney cash out of probably 30-40 tournaments, with the other being a 2nd place finish in a 32 player field in the EPT Madrid HU tourney this spring. This one was a different beast, playing 9 handed with 391 players. In the past, I've definitely gotten impatient and done some dumb spewy stuff in tourneys, but I thought I played some awesome, focused poker for 3 days here.

You may be asking, "Brian, you play cash games with buyins way bigger than 2k and you don't live anywhere near Florida, what the hell are you doing playing this tourney?" Well, I was at a bar back in my hometown of Hanover Township, PA 2 Wednesdays ago and met up with some friends whom I hadn't seen in a while. One says to me, "we're going to Key West Friday-Thursday, you should come!" Uh, yeah I should! The next day I booked a flight for Monday (had stuff to do Saturday and Sunday) and headed down there for a week of fun (I have another couple friends living in Florida whom I planned on spending time with after the first two left. After already booking the trip, it came to my attention that this tournament was happening not so far away, so I thought to myself, 'Maybe I'll play, we'll see how the week is going.' I had a blast in Key West (and got some great pics - check my Twitter feed @brianchastings) but after 3 nights of drinking too much and getting sunburned too much, I decided that I had to play this tourney so I didn't feel like a waste. Onto the tourney.....

I went out in Key West the night before the tourney but cooled it on the drinking some, woke up at 8:15am, and made the 3.5-4 hour drive. I got to the Hard Rock a bit before 1pm, late regged, and was on my way. I lucked out a bit early although I'm happy with my line:

1. 150/300/25, I have 35-40k and open CO with AKo to 700, button (middle-aged, seemed not great but not a nit, 16.5k) makes it 1800, I make it 4400, he calls. Flop JT5r, I bet 3k, he makes it 7 or 8, I shove, he has AJo, I turn a Q. "Lucky" but I certainly like my line a lot more than his.

I had a few other hands where I got it in ahead or flipping and overall chipped up a bit to 77k when the following hand happened:

2. 200/400/50, I raise 75dd in the HJ to 1025, SB (mid-late 20s, seems like thinking TAG) 3bets to 2800 with a 36-37k stack, I call. Flop 663r with 1 diamond, check check. Turn A completing rainbow, he bets 3500 I call. River 8o, he leads 7k with 23k behind, I shove, he tanks for 8 minutes and folds AK face up, I show, he is very sad.

My thought process - on the turn I think he either has an ace or air and is mostly gonna c/f the air on the river. On the river, I thought his bet sizing looked very valueish and put him on a big ace. More importantly, I thought that he'd expect me to think this. I also thought that he was smart enough to realize that I'm never doing this with AQ/AJ here. Finally, I felt like he'd think it's pretty hard for me to show up with a bluff here given the board - only missed draws are 54 and my hand, otherwise I'd have to be turning A5s or 77 or something into a bluff, which is unlikely. I don't hate his fold with AK, maybe I'm crazy.....

Anyway, I made it to day 2 with about 165k which was 15th/about 100 if I recall correctly. I idiotically went out late with some high school buddies whom I hadn't seen in a while and live in Florida now and showed up 25 minutes late for day 2 (was awake 3 hours before start though - #idiot) but still had well over 100bb when I got there. I was fortunate to have AA in a stupidly amazing spot:

3. I raise UTG to 3500 at 8k/16k with 170k, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 who's been out all night and 4 Coronas deep makes it 7200, button flats, BB shoves for 35k (yes, this actually happened....), I flat, others fold (UTG+2 folded AK, button who covered me folded QQ....bah nice fold sir), BB has JJ, I flop an ace. Soon after I busted UTG+2 from the previous hand with TT vs 55 to pick up another 40k or so. I got moved soon after and just played some smallball for a while, including some 3betting of guy to my right. Then the following hand occurs:

4. Guy to my right makes it 10.5k at 2k/4k/500 UTG+1 with about 100-110k to start the hand, I make it 26k with TT, he flats. Flop T32r, he checks I bet 20k he shoves with KJ.

I had almost 400k at this point, played through the money bubble pretty uneventfully, and then got moved again, then after winning a few big ones,

5. I think level is 2.5k/5k/500 but unsure. I raise around 2.2x UTG with 33, 2 calls including middle aged guy in BB who starts with ~250k. Flop A53r, I bet half pot or so, BB is only caller. Turn 2, I bet 70k with him having around 200 left. He shoves with AT and I fade the 4 for the chop.

I then won a big "flip" with 99 vs AQ for a 600k pot that would have set me back to around 250k if I had lost. I say "flip" because a third player mucked AQ preflop, although he would have hit a 4 card flush....lucky me. I had some ups and downs the rest of the day, reaching 1.3m before running QQ into KK for a bunch and falling to 800k, then clawing back to 1.2m by day's end.

I entered day 3 2nd with 16 left and made damn sure I didn't miss hands this time. I lost some small ones to fall a hair below 1m, then:

6. I raise AhAd to 35k at 8/16/2, middle aged Latin American guy who covers by 200k or so makes it 88k on the button, I 4bet to 215k, he calls. Flop a frightening KJ5sss, I nonetheless bet 200k and call a jam, he somehow has AK no spade (run better Stinger).

Same guy chips up to about 700k, then we get it in on a T74ss flop with my Q7ss vs his 88, and I spike a Q on the turn to advance to about 2.3m (had lost a little). Soon after, we consolidate to a 10 handed final table. Shockingly (sarcasm), 10 handed played very nitty and little happened for a while. It'd be really awesome if tourneys stopped making people play 10 handed, is anyone actually in favor of it? I was pretty carddead for a while and put on the brakes a bit while the field went from 10 to 5. Then, I played this hand:

7. 2m to start hand, 25/50/5k. Darryll Fish (The_D_Fish, strong player) makes it 125k in CO, I call BTN with QTdd. Flop A92hhd, he leads for 150k and I float. Turn 8h, he checks I bet 350k into 650, he calls. River Qh, he checks, I bet 600k into 1.35m, he tanks a few minutes and folds, phewwww. No show this time although I told him later. A bit involved to go though my thought process here but if there's interest I'd be glad to do it later. Needless to say this was huge for me, I'm down to 7-800k or about 15bb if he calls.

I lost some small ones and had 1.9m at dinner, while another player busted and we were down to 4. We came back playing 30/60/10k and the very first hand I got in AK vs 77 for my tourney life (above AA vs AK hand was only other time I had been at risk to this point), and was fortunate to win the race. So now I had 4m and was either leading or close, then the very next hand:

8. Stacks: CO (Mike, solid young tourney reg) - 1.2m, SB (Darryll) - 2.6m, BB (me) - 4m

Action: CO makes it 120k, SB 3bets to 305k, I make it 625k with AKo, CO folds (said later he had JJ), SB jams for 2m more with AJs, I call and bust him. I really don't like CO's fold here because it's a pretty sweet spot for me to be light given stacks vs SB, but I'm certainly no expert. I hit a king and would have beat JJ but still certainly lucked out a bit here to win more chips and bust a very tough adversary.

After that hand I had nearly 7m of the 11.7m in play and felt very in control. After running over them a bit I busted the shortstack with 44 vs A5. I had an almost 3-1 lead to start heads up. Then, on the very first hand:

9. Still 30/60/10, he makes it 130k on BTN, I peel 52cc. Flop AJ2cc, I check he bets 150k I make it 425 he shoves I call he has 64cc. The turn bricks and I'm feeling good about my chances, but an offsuit 6 hits the river, not so easy after all...

He led with about 6.3m chips to my 5.4, then shortly after:

10. 35/70/10, I make it 140 on the button with 88, he calls. Flop T85r, he leads 150, I make it 425, he calls. Turn 4 putting a backdoor flush draw out, he checks, I bet 850k with 4m behind, he ships, I snap, he has T3 and is dead.

I had a commanding lead at this point. After some open shoving with no calls I shoved A9 on the button and ran into AJ and lost, but still had about a 9.7m to 2m lead. Then,

11. I minraise button with J3cc, he calls. Flop AT2cc, he leads 150k, I raise to 375k, he shoves, I call, he has 74cc, J hi holds for the win!

I'm not gonna lie, winning a live tourney was a pretty sweet feeling. Not on the order of what I felt after the Isildur win, but still pretty freaking nice. Especially after having a lot of struggles in live tourneys in the past, granted over a small sample size (my 2nd cash out of probably around 35-40 live MTTs, still in the red in them for sure), winning this one and really just feeling like all the stars aligned and that I combined strong play with timely luck in the way that seems necessary to win one of these things felt really cool to me. Also, I have to give credit to the WPT - this tourney had one of the best structures of any that I can remember. I'm not sure the average stack dipped below 50bb at any point. The moves between blind levels were smooth, playing 9 handed (except at exactly 10) was great, and everything flowed. Well done guys.

I think my next live tourney stops will be the EPT London and WSOPE in Cannes in October, as I'm moving to Vancouver next week and would like to get settled in and into a routine a bit. I hope the hand postings were informative, I'd be happy to discuss them here or via PM. Also, I just got my new Macbook Pro and am going to get Camtasia set up and start pumping out some videos. I'm starting with a leakfinder of a HU 5/10 PLO match and a theory video "Differences between Online and Live PLO" but after that I'm unsure, so if you have any video ideas please shoot them my way.

-Brian

Disclaimer - first half of this blog is gonna be the most emo stuff I've ever posted. If you're not interested I'd suggest just reading the second half.
(start emo)
Julianna and I broke up almost a month ago, very shortly after my last entry. To be frank, it was more her decision than mine, and I still have plenty of moments when I miss her a lot and plenty of things that remind me of her (songs are a big one). It was a very special year and 4 months for me and I have no regrets.
Having said that, I feel amazing right now. Strangely, my overwhelming emotion in the first few days after the breakup was relief. My sister (@rachelhastings on Twitter, follow her, she's infinitely funnier than me, she's a comedy writer) happened to be in Vegas visiting me the weekend after the breakup and we had a great chat about the breakup and my feelings. It was then that I knew for sure that I was ready to move on. I guess this is a good time to mention the fact that I have an AMAZING support network (you know who you are) and without that all of this would've been infinitely harder to handle.
I feel like an entirely different person than I was the last time I was single. For most of my post-pubescent life, I had serious self confidence issues and all I wanted was for SOMEONE to find me attractive and want me and want to be with me. I suspect this is pretty common amongst online poker players, video game players, and introverts in general. In an interesting twist, right now the thought of being in a serious, committed relationship totally scares the hell out of me and is the last thing I want at the moment. Furthermore, I feel like I have the confidence to approach virtually any woman now, but even if I met the most amazing woman in the world, I don't know what the hell I'd do if she wanted to get serious. It's funny how life works sometimes. Today in an airport lounge I met a guy who is president of a materials distribution company in the midwest. I told him about my relationship's course and he told me about his marriage with his first wife, which ended a few years ago. It was shocking to find out how many parallels there were, both in the ups and downs and in the emotions we felt during and after the fact. It's also insane to me that, one year from now, I'll probably feel entirely different than I do now about relationships and about what my desires are.
I'll conclude this part by just saying that I think I can relate to a lot of young poker players who feel like meeting women is tough and frustrating, so if you're in this category and want advice, PM me on here, 2p2, or Twitter and I'd be happy to talk.
(end emo - you were warned)
So, onto bigger and better things. I grinded live poker like it was my job (!) this summer, spending a total of about 7 weeks in Vegas and putting in some serious hours. I spent most of the summer living in a house with some of my best friends, but after they busted from the main event everyone left town pretty quickly. There was still some great PLO action going on though, so I got a room at Bellagio, holed myself up there, and put in a bunch of consecutive 12+ hour days before leaving. Despite going 0-for-I think 12 in the WSOP in events where buyins weren't cheap, I managed to make it a profitable summer, which I'm very pleased. I also made some money staking in tournaments, most notably having a piece of CR coach Eric Rodawig (ChipsAhoya) when he beat Phil Hellmuth HU to win the 10k stud8 event - congrats Eric! The best part of it all, in my opinion, is that I enjoyed playing live poker WAY more than I thought I would. I had never previously put in these kinds of hours playing live, but I really think there's something cool about playing a lot with the same people, getting to know them, cracking jokes, busting balls, and all that good stuff. I made lots of friends this summer at the tables and strengthened friendships with others whom I previously wasn't super close with. Most importantly, I had a blast doing it, and aside from a few tough sessions when the cards just didn't go my way and/or my reads were off, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Now, the question I'm asking myself is what my next move is. Despite my newfound liking of live poker, I really don't like Vegas and just can't imagine spending any more time there than the WSOP and a few shorter trips during tourneys or whatnot. I think my earn potential is still highest online unless I can get into some really good and big live games regularly, and as that seems somewhat unlikely, I'm leaning toward a short term move to Canada (at least until it gets too cold). I've heard great things about both Vancouver and Montreal and have some friends in each city; right now I'm on the fence between them. Also, I was just in NYC for a day and a half and remembered how much I love it, and I was subsequently presented with a pretty enticing offer to live in Manhattan short term, so I may very well do both. After spending the spring overseas, I think living in a city that I know well, like lots, and have plenty of friends in (even part time) sounds fantastic. I've also had some thoughts about moving to California (San Diego, San Francisco, or a place like Hermosa Beach most likely), but I'm probably going to wait til the winter for that. First world problems, I know :). Any advice on my course of action is appreciated, although I've already gotten plenty.
It's been quite a while since I've made a CR video and I plan on changing that shortly. Some other coaches have made short concept videos which have gone over pretty well, so I'm leaning toward that, but I'm open to anything. If you have any suggestions for video ideas, please let me know. I'm headed to LA right now for a concert (starring Rage Against the Machine....perfect timing, eh?) but after that I'm ready to get back to work.
GL at the tables and with getting your FTP money,Brian

Cardrunners Blog 7/2/11

Today marks the event I\\\'ve been waiting for all summer - the 50k 8 game \\\"Player\\\'s Championship\\\". I\\\'m writing this at about noon EST/9am PST while on a flight back from New York via Puerto Rico, where I spent the past 6 days with Julianna and her family.

My first flight left at 3am EST, and while I slept for 3 hours or so on that one, I can\\\'t even fathom sleeping now. I even finished up the rest of a poker book that I had been reading (sorry can\\\'t tell which!) on this flight. There are times when I question my choice to pursue poker professionally rather than using my Cornell economics degree, but this is NOT one of those times. A bit more sleep would probably serve me well, but with how pumped up I am I\\\'m not counting on it.

The tourney starts at 5 PST and spans 5 days, including a to-be-televised final table (unfortunately straight NLH, but if that\\\'s what the general public wants to see, I\\\'m OK with it). As always, you can track my progress (and other random musings and links to articles that I found interesting) on Twitter @brianchastings.

This summer has been a pretty up-and-down one for me. I\\\'ve played basically the exact tourney schedule that I had envisioned (minus skipping the 3k PLO to remain in a good cash game) and blanked them all, 8 or so. Nothing super noteworthy except the fact that I still have yet to cash in a WSOP event lifetime (well 2 1/4 series\\\' worth of it since turning 21), and nobody wants to hear about tourney runbad, so let\\\'s just move on.

I started out the summer of cash game play by immediately hopping in a 2k/4k mix game at Bellagio. The mix consisted of PLO (easily my best game, played 500/1k with 60k cap), 2-7 triple draw (my 2nd best game IMO, played it a ton this spring online pre-Black Friday, and O8 (somewhere in the middle).

I felt very confident in this mix and lineup (no name dropping, sorry again), but unfortunately the game broke after a few hours with me stuck about 240k. I was still feeling good and in the playing mood, so I headed to the Rio to see what was going on. I found a 200/500/1k PLO game with a seat open and decided to give it a go. After playing for 5 hours or so, I found myself a 218k winner (and almost even on the day!).

I got some excellent sleep that night.I thought this day could be the start of an action-packed summer, but as it turns out I haven\\\'t played stakes that high since, due both to the action dying down a bit and some long waitlists and annoying manipulation of them via must-move rules. One time I was playing 50/100/200 PLO and was on the waitlist for 200/500/1k and 3 guys (one whom I think instigated it) started a must-move game, played for 5 minutes or so, then quit. Somehow this allowed them to jump me on the list. I suppose I could have sat out and played for 5 minutes with them, but it just seems really distasteful. Stuff like this seems to occur way more in live poker than it should.

Anyway, after being stuck 50k at one point I did claw back to book a 30k win in the 50/1/2 game, so I ended up going home happy. Stuff like that just really gets under my skin. I\\\'ve also played a bunch of 1k/2k mix at Bellagio, mostly a lowball mix (usually containing 2-7 TD 2-7 NL SD 2-7 Razz and sometimes A-5 TD and 2-7 Limit SD), but also once a fun mix with PLO, Badacey, Stud8, O8, and 2-7 TD. I only had a few hours to play that day before a tournament.

Julianna was at Bellagio with me and when I started playing she was roaming around the casino. I got stuck 35k or so pretty fast, and then she came to the table to sweat me. I proceeded to go on a 50 big bet heater in the next hour and booked a 65k win. At one point (after I dragged my 4th pot in a row or so) Kenny Tran said to her, jokingly, \\\"You can\\\'t be here, you have to leave now!\\\" We were both very entertained. What can I say, she\\\'s my good luck charm.

Overall I\\\'m up low 6 figures playing cash games for the summer. I\\\'m not sure exactly how much but I\\\'ve at least subsidized my tourney buyins. I\\\'ve also had tons of fun with Julianna and my friends, including an evening of paintball, a few club nights, some great meals, two entertaining shows (Lion King and O), a birthday night at Stoney\\\'s, a day on Lake Mead, some intense Wii games, the aforementioned trip to Puerto Rico, and some equally enjoyable time spent just relaxing. Overall it\\\'s been an excellent summer for me, tourney woes aside. I\\\'ll blog more about the non-poker stuff later, but for now I have a tourney to win. Wish me luck!Brian

Hey everyone,

I haven't done a whole lot of personal coaching in the past but I'm offering it now on a new website called expertinsight.com. The site launched a bit over a month ago, but I've been travelling most of May and haven't had time to make a reasonable coaching schedule. While I'll be playing a ton at the WSOP, most of the events I'm playing don't start til 5pm Vegas time and cash games tend to be pretty dead earlier in the day too, so I decided to make a schedule that would allow me to coach anytime between 10am and 4pm Vegas time. I'll probably add even more time slots after Vegas since I should have even more free time when I'm not travelling. My bio is listed on the front page under poker players and my rate ($800/hour, although subject to future adjustment) is pretty reasonable compared to others imo, so if you're interested, sign up there, and if you want more info I'd be happy to answer questions here.

As for my travelling, I went to Cinque Terre, Italy and Santorini, Greece over the past week and a half after Julianna finished up her semester. A quick treatment wouldn't do the trip justice, so I'll make a more substantive post in coming days. They are two of my favorite places I've ever seen and I'd imagine I'll be going back to both sometime.

Now I'm just getting ready for Vegas, where I'll be headed on Thursday. I'm a little bummed on missing out on the 25k HU but I need a few days of R&R after all the travelling I've done. I'll be playing a ton this summer though at the Rio, Aria, and maybe Bellagio and staying in a house with Taylor, Andrew, and Cole South, among others. I'm looking forward to seeing some of you out there, feel free to stop by and say hi if you see me.

Good luck to everyone playing, except when you're at my table :)

Brian

Last week I was in Madrid playing the EPT event there. This trip was much more business-focused than any of my previous poker trips, as since Black Friday I had only played a couple sessions on Cake (and subsequently traded the balance of my account for a bank transfer at a discount) and otherwise hadn't been able to play poker at all. The Madrid series had some good tournaments on the schedule and the potential for good cash games too and would be a good tuneup for the WSOP, so I decided to go. My trip was so business-focused that I stayed at a cheap hotel 5-10 minutes away from the casino instead of at the Westin or other hotel downtown that Pokerstars was putting players up in, which were about 30-40 minutes away. It helped that I had been to Madrid a few weeks earlier with my girlfriend and her mom and already had a chance to explore the city some (beautiful city btw, I'd love to go back).

I arrived in town on Friday, May 6 and registered for Day 1A, which was the following day. On the first night I had dinner by myself in the casino restaurant (which was excellent....I ate there 6 times during the week I think heh) and then went across the casino to the room where cash games were being spread. Lo and behold, there was a 20/50 game with an open seat. I jumped in and played for 3 hours or so and after digging myself into a small hole earlier ended up winning about 15k euros, nice start to the trip!

Going into the main event, I was focused on staying patient and on trying harder to observe my opponents, two areas in which I have plenty of room to improve on. I actually think I may have overdone the first and missed some profitable spots to mix it up, although as a 22 year-old guy wearing FTP and Cardrunners patches, getting out of line rarely seems to work for me in live games (I've certainly overdone it at times too). Regardless, I had 75k going to the last level of day 1 with avg ~60k and blinds 500/1k, then played a hand where MP (UTG+3) raised, I decided to 3bet with KJo in the CO (2500->6500), and he called. I was going to play defense when making a pair pretty often, but the flop came J82 two-toned and I thought it was too good to check, so I bet 7k. He called, turn T, check-check. River 5, he bets 8k, I call pretty quick getting 5-1 or so and get shown QQ. Pretty happy with my line there as I hadn't been getting out of line much and my 3bet was credible, but the hand left me ending the day with 45k and under 40bb to start day 2.

On day 2, I played 3 pots in level 1, one in which I raised and got 3bet and had to fold, another in which I 3bet and got cold 4bet and had to fold, and then finally I took one down preflop with a button raise. My fortune turned for a bit in level 2 though, as I shoved over a CO jam for slightly more chips with AJs and despite running into KK I flopped an ace and doubled to 55k or so. Soon after, I raised ThTx UTG (minraise to 4k) and only the BB came along. Flop QJ8hhh, check-check. Turn low blank, he bets 5k I call. River another low blank, he overbets 25k into about 20. I tank and decide to call because a) I've defined my hand as being pretty weak, b) my TT blocks a straight and my heart makes a flush slightly less likely so I think I win more often than if I have KJcc or even KQcc, and c) opponent was a young guy with a lot more chips than me who seemed capable of making a move. Unfortunately, he had T9 for the straight, and soon after I shoved my stack in with AQ and ran into AA.

I played a 5k NL event later in the day and busted level 1 so not much to report there. The day before (day 1B of main and off-day for me), I grinded cash games for quite a while but unfortunately it didn't go nearly as well as the first day and I basically gave back all my day 1 winnings (15k euros or so). I also played a 1k + 1k bounty turbo tourney (awesome), got one bounty but then went really carddead and shoved A4 into AA nowhere near the money. The bounties were paid out in purple euros on the spot though (500 euro notes), so I still felt like I won. After busting the 5k I decided to play again and put in a really long session. Again, I got stuck some early (about 10k), then I went on a huge heater and booked a 23k win. The biggest pot went like this - I limp A3hhT9o in EP at 20/50 and end up calling a raise to 250, 5 players see a flop of 8h7d4d, which checks around. Turn Jh, BB leads pot of 1250, I raise to 5k, he ships it in (I had 19k to start the hand, he covered) and he calls with T9hh and two other cards that don't matter. He has 2 cards to win the hand, I have 5, and the river is the 3h, one of my money cards. Certainly a bit lucky there, I think I played quite well this session though.

The next day I played the 5k heads up tourney, which was one that I was looking forward to as I think my HU NL game is much stronger than my full ring game, especially live since I don't have to battle impatience/boredom in HU. The structure in this thing was awesome, best-of-3 in every round til the finals, which was best-of-5. The blinds went up every 15 minutes so it didn't take too long, it felt just right. My first opponent was a young guy who said he was a 25/50 HU reg online pre-Black Friday, and he played pretty well imo. He beat me in match 1 but I rallied to win the last 2 and advance. In round 2 I played Galen Hall and sucked out on him pretty badly to win match 1 with all the money (~240bb) going in on a 765 flop with me holding 76 vs his 43; I turned a 7. Action went check-bet-raise-3bet-4bet-shove-I call, which I think was too much, although from my limited knowledge of him I thought he could get pretty solidly out of line. Anyway, I won pretty quickly more legitimately in match 2 to move on to round 3. There, I played a German guy named Moritz. We split matches 1 and 2 and then got to 300/600 blinds in match 3 (12k starting stacks). I was down to my last 1500 chips before a poker TV show-esque run where I won a few 50/50 / 60/40-type hands, lost some back, and then ended up winning it. With that I was in the final 4 and had my first ever live tournament cash (seriously, I'm like 1-for-22 or so now).

I got some sleep and came back at noon the next day. My first opponent was James Akenhead. He played much more aggressively than I expected and I returned the favor. In match 1 I 3bet J6cc, bet a 954 (1 club) flop, a 5c turn, and shoved for his stack on a 7c river. He called and showed A hi and I was up 1-0. In match 2, I 3bet A8ss to 700 (50/100 blinds, he raised to 200), he 4bet to 1750, and I called. Flop 842cc, I c/r allin, he calls with K8cc, and I hold. It was on to the finals, where I faced off against Andrew Lichtenberger aka luckychewy. Andrew was the one player in the field whom I really didn't want to face, as he has way more HUNL experience than me especially in the recent past. He beat me up pretty good in match 1, but I returned the favor in match 2. Match 3 went back and forth for a while before he took control and won it, and in match 4 I got grinded down before getting my last 4500 or so in with 99 vs AQ and losing. Andrew outplayed me and deserved to win, although he was the real fish because the next day he was supposed to go to El Bulli but slept in and missed his flight and couldn't get there. What a beat! Anyway, I was very happy with my second place finish.

I decided to play some PLO cash games after the final and dinner with Andrew at the restaurant as it was still only 9:30 or so. Unfortunately, the session was a disaster and I lost back about 27k, leaving me in the red for cash games on the trip. I just couldn't win a hand, starting with me getting it in with the nut flush vs top set on the turn for a 5500 euro pot and losing, and the biggest hits coming from a hand where I called a turn c/r to 5250 with KJT7sshh on a 6543sshh board and blanked and a straddled pot where I potted to 700 with AQ96cchh from the straddle, got 3 callers, and bet-called a Q62dd flop and ran into the good ol' QQo94ss from a guy who played about 10% VPIP, which was quite frustrating. Obviously, my sample size even playing the game for 4 nights and 15 hours or so comes out to only a few hundred hands, but it's still frustrating to lose anything in games that I feel like I have a big edge in. Still, I think I let impatience get the better of me at times and got into trouble with speculative hands that I should be folding preflop or playing slower, such as the AQ96 hand above, in which I should probably just check and see a flop. I'll probably dabble in the PLO games at the Rio some this summer, so despite my loss I'm glad I got some experience in the live, full-ring setting.

My cash game losses were mitigated some by a prop bet I made. In the PLO game one night I was chatting with a Finnish guy named Christian (sorry if I'm misspelling) and he asked me what percentage of stacks I thought needed to go in preflop to making shoving AA** on any flop profitable for the guy with AA. I said I thought it was around 20-25% or so, he thought lower, and after some negotiating we ended up with a game - 100 hands, each player starts each hand with 5 bets, he gets dealt random AA** and I get ****, with the stipulation that I can decide to pass and get a new hand if dealt A*** or a pair in my hand. After I get a playing hand, each player puts 1 bet in preflop, and AA** is obligated to pot any flop for 2 bets and shove any turn for another 2. I can decide to call, raise, or fold flop and call or fold turn with my hand (although raising flop is never the correct play). We started out playing for 100 euros per bet. I got stuck 24 bets early and he asked if I'd like to raise the stakes to 200 euros per bet. I thought I had a comfortable edge and agreed to bump up the stakes, so I halved the total on the scoresheet to 12 bets (now worth double). I got down as far as -45 bets at one point, but then went on a big heater where I won 16 out of 20 hands (and every one of my wins was the full 5 bet stack, whereas I could fold early) and ended up +46 bets when all was said and done. Some friends and I did some math on it after the fact and estimated that my edge is greater than 1 bet per hand, which seems like a lot but I think is feasible. I'd be curious to see where the breakeven point is and will probably work it out sometime soon when I have some free time, as it has real implications toward optimum play of AA** in PLO games.

With the prop bet win and the score in the HU tourney (46k euros), my trip ended up being quite profitable despite the loss in PLO cash. My next play will be at the WSOP; I'm planning on heading out in early June and playing most of the 10k events and trying to win a bracelet and some cash. As for other post-Black Friday plans, basically I'm just not rushing into anything yet. My girlfriend is doing a college program in NYC this fall and it's still my intent to live there, although I'm less sure about how I'll be spending my time. I'm considering making some trips down to Atlantic City to play some live poker, any advice on the state of the games down there would be awesome. Also if anyone knows any NYC private games that are looking for some fresh blood, hit me up :)

Brian

I'm playing Day 2 of EPT Madrid today. I ended Day 1A with 45.6k in chips, which isn't super but is fine. Making any day 2 is an accomplishment for me given my live tourney track record heh. A few big hands from Day 1:

-150/300 blinds, 34k effective stacks. I raise KK to 800 UTG, 2 guys call in LP including a young Asian kid who hadn't played a hand in 3 rounds since getting moved to the table. Flop 832, I check, Asian kid bets, button folds, I call. Turn 4, I c/c again. River 7, I c/c a bet of 8500 or so, he has AA. Taking a passive line and not getting 3bet preflop saved me here.

-150/300, 15k effective. CO (young American kid who has been playing TAG) raises, I flat button with AA, blinds fold. Flop 965ss, he tries to bet 1200 but dealer calls a string bet and he is forced to just bet the min. I raise to 1500 he calls. Turn 4s, he checks, I bet 3500, he calls. River 8o, he checks, I check back and beat his TT. Probably would have doubled up either if I 3bet preflop or the string bet didn't get called, I think I definitely should have 3bet since I had 3bet him twice in position and won both without showdown. Meh.

-Got moved tables, same blinds but with an ante now, 19k effective. I raise to 700 in CO with AK, SB makes it 2200, I 4bet to 4700, he jams and I call and beat his AQ. I had 22k or so to start this hand and thus covered slightly.

Went from 42k to 72k with a bunch of smallish pots, can't even remember most right now heh. Anyway,

-500/1k, 72k effective. MP (late 30sish guy who apparently was a tennis pro) raises to 2500, I make it 6500 on button with KJo, he flats. Flop J62hh, he checks I bet 7k he calls. Turn To, he checks I check. River 8o, he bets 8k, I call and lose to his QQ.

Blanking on some of the smaller pots in there but obviously you can see the contrast between this and my Vienna HHs, I'm really happy with how patient I was and how little I spewed. I certainly played a few hands suboptimally (especially the AA vs TT) but thought I played really well overall.

Also on this trip I've been playing some PLO cash and I played a 1k +1k turbo bounty tourney yesterday (SUPER fun tourney). I won one bounty before busting in the tourney. In cash I won 15k euros at 20/50 the first night but gave it all back yesterday and am dead even for the trip. I made one big bluff that I thought was ok but didn't work, made one dumb PFR in a double straddled pot and ended up calling off 2700 against a limper with AQT2ss vs AAxx, but otherwise just was super cold decked and couldn't do much. I'm playing day 2 of the main in an hour, if I bust there's a 5k tourney at 5 that I will play, and if all else fails I'm gonna hit the cash tables some more. For updates follow me on Twitter @brianchastings

Brian

Hey guys, I'm pretty swamped with house stuff this week so this will be quick, but just want to let everyone know that my Poker After Dark PLO cash game will be airing this week and next on NBC. Link to the preview is here: http://www.pokerafterdark.com/upcoming-matches/match_78. I will have much more to say about it after episodes air and would love to chat about hands or other impressions of the show. I will probably time up a thorough reflective post after it all airs but in the meantime if you want to discuss anything post comments here or on Twitter @brianchastings. I am very interested to see how the production turned out, PLO doesn't seem like the easiest thing to produce and explain to the casual viewer, but if anyone can do it it's Mori and the team at Poker Productions.

Hope you enjoy, gl at the tables everyone!
Brian

Unfortunately the high roller tourney didn't go my way at all. I just couldn't get anything going and made a few questionable moves. I have a big tendency to try to force the action when I'm colddecked in MTTs and really have to stop that. I tightened up once I got short (30bb) but just made some poor plays before that imo. While they are fresh in my head, I'm going to type out the relevant hands here for review.

Before the hands, I have to give the backstory for one guy at my table. He is the self-proclaimed "Wolfman" and talked constantly about how he was going to eat players and take their chips and kept reminding the table how hungry he was. He also played about 90% of his hands early and about 50% at 300/600/100 (level 3), the level I busted at.

Without further ado....

Hand 1 - First hand of the entire tourney. Young guy to my right raises UTG+1 to 600 (100/200 blinds), I flat with JJ, Wolfman (no reads at the time) calls too on the button. Flop 864 2 diamonds, young guy bets 1100, I call, Wolf calls too. Turn 3d, young guy checks, I bet 3200, both call. River Qo, young guy checks, I tank check as well, Wolf bets 6700, young guy tank folds, I tank fold too. With later reads I think I call on the end, but I'm happy with my fold at the time. Young guy later said he folded 2 pair and Wolf claimed to have AK which I'd say there's a 60% chance or so is true. I think I like the preflop flat given position, flop flat is standard I think, turn and river are more debatable imo. I thought about bombing the river as a bluff too as I think 2 pair and sets can find a fold there some. Not really sure.

Hand 2 - UTG (diff young guy w/ UB patch) raise to 500, Wolf call, Markus Lehmann calls, I call in BB with 76o. Flop JT7, UTG bets 1100, Wolf calls, Markus folds, I make it 4200, UTG folds, Wolf calls. Turn 6, I bet 7700, Wolf folds. I was betting just about any turn and just felt like they were both weak, I think I like this line. I had a pretty tight image at the time (I think!).

Hand 3 - I raise 64cc in MP to 1100 (blinds went up to 2/4), Wolf calls all others fold. Flop 932 1 club, I bet 1700, he minraises to 3400, I call. Turn 8o, I check, he bets 1600, I want to just fold but talk myself into a call. River Ko, I lead out 5200, he snaps with TT and when I muck he yells "Don't bluff the wolf!" lol. My play is pretty indefensible here.

Hand 4 - Young guy to my right (who I have now talked to and know is a tourney pro) raises to 900, I make it 3k with Jd3d in the CO, Wolf flats in the BB, young guy folds. Flop K74ssh, he c/c 3500. Turn 9h, I check behind, river K we check down and he shows AQo. Pretty sure he'd fold that on the turn but I don't think it's a good barrel spot vs his range especially with all the draws out that can give him even more of an excuse to call light.

Hand 5 - Young Lithuanian pro 2 to my right raises to 1100, I make it 3500 with AQcc, he makes it 8700, I call (~40k effective). Flop T55cc, he checks, I bet 6200, he folds. Like my line here, would have bet many other flops too.

Hand 6 - Wolf raise UTG, MP call, I call SB with J7hh (he was opening 50%ish remember). Flop AxTh2h, Wolf bets 3400 which is near pot, I c/r to 9300, he calls. Turn Qo, I bet 12.7k, he folds saying he had A9. This is pretty questionable, I don't hate it because his opening range is so wide and his big flop bet seemed weak, as he had made a big bet as a bluff once earlier. Still, certainly better to valuebetting a guy like this to death than bluffing him.

Hand 7 - Wolf raises EP to 1600 (blinds 300/600), young American guy calls SB, I flat 63dd in BB. Flop 753 1 diamond, check, I bet 3200, Wolf folds, SB calls. turn Ks putting 2 spades out, he c/c 8200. River 2s, he checks, I bet 16.2k, he shoves for 25 more and I fold fast. I don't like this one at all, I hadn't shown anything down all day basically and by this time I knew the young guy was pretty good and smart and I think he trapped me good here with a set or so.

Hand 8 - I raise to 1300 with 44 and 30k, Wolf calls SB, Markus makes it 4400 in BB, we both call. Flop 862 checks around, turn 5s putting 2 spades out, Markus bets 6800, I call, Wolf folds. River 2s, Markus bets 10.8k, I fold. I was calling preflop for set value and had odds to draw on the turn assuming my set and straight outs were all live, so I don't dislike my line here. Gotta hit next time....

Hand 9 - After a few reshoves that went uncontested (1 all in, 1 3bet of a small raise to 3500 with a 19k stack in position) I have 22k. Wolf raises UTG (I think his range is like 40-50% here) to 1600, I jam 66 in SB, he calls with JJ, wins, and then yells a bunch about how the wolf took down his prey and ate it for lunch. I thought that was hilarious actually, although I'm sure when done to the wrong person he might get in a fight.

All feedback welcomed especially praise of the Wolfman or telling me how much I suck at live MTTs. I think I'm gonna go skiing tomorrow and the next day with Brian Townsend at St. Anton in Austria, then I'm playing WPT Bratislava main 1b on Thursday.

gl all,
Brian