I am sad to say that I will be leaving the Cardrunners coaching staff to pursue other opportunities. My departure is bittersweet given how long I have been a member of the site. Back in 2006 when I was looking at user videos on 2+2, I PMed Clayton (currently of LeggoPoker) and asked him where I could find more...he pointed me to Cardrunners. While at first I was skeptical of paying for such a service I eventually relented and ended up finding my niche after watching some ActionJeff SNG videos. I've been an instructor for 18 months and have enjoyed doing the work. My goal was to provide a type of coaching that went beyond the superficial. A lot of my complaints about other videos are when they speak in generalities and ABC styles when it is clear most of the poker community at this point has a solid grasp of these fundamentals. I hope I achieved that in some way or another and rose above the status quo. I am confident Braminc, Jackal, Sippin and Collin will be able to provide the same quality of service in my absence.

"I Heard You Paint Houses" is the autobiography of Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, the man who killed Jimmy Hoffa. I talk about the book and what Jimmy Hoffa represents to middle-class America. For those who are unaware, "I Heard You Paint Houses" is a euphemism for murder for hire, referring to the splatter that occurs on the walls and floorboards when you shoot someone.

A little therapy session on negative sit and go variance that can function as a supplement to my video coming out this Sunday.

Burnout from the village: How do you sleep at night?
Don Draper: On a pile of money

Forty years ago, anyway.

So Vegas was pretty much a total bust. I played a few WSOP and Venetian events and bricked everything super hard. I hate to be "that guy" but I would be remiss if I didn't point out I went 0-12 in big all in situations including when a few hours into the $2500 mixed event I got it AIPF with AA vs AK and AK and lost for a pot that would have certainly put me in the chip lead.

I imagine when I make a deep run in one of these live events I will be hooked but for now I have no desire to ever play one again. Live poker is EXCRUCIATING. The inane strategy talk, the smells, the ten-handed tables. I don't mind some of the bigger events but playing 1ks and 1.5ks is a fairly large waste of time. I sincerely doubt playing those can match my hourly coaching or playing online. Not to mention when you bust you have to walk into 120 degree Vegas heat at the shitty Rio. This was all topped off by getting food poisoning and ending up in the emergency room. With all this mind I got ghost out of Vegas early and decided not to play the Main Event. People told me I would regret it but honestly I could care less. When I stepped back in my house and saw my cat chillin I couldn't have been happier.

I suppose I dislike Vegas because it basically represents everything I hate about the poker community - glamorization of the "baller" lifestyle, pointless spending, everywhere you go is designed to part you from your money, etc. And oh yeah it is 120 degrees. The parts I do like are the food and people you get to meet that you have known online and never met in real life. Big ups to Braminc, Walchy and James.

Sit and goes haven't been going much better but I was due for a slump. I made about $70k in a few months before June but since then I have sort of been spinning my tires. Frustrating of course but I relatively used to it by now. Every 10,000 games or so you experience a stretch that questions your faith and skill advantage. I have been trying to plow through it and have already clocked 1,700 games this month and am third on the Full Tilt leaderboard. I might decide to go for the win for the first time ever, haven't really decided.

In happier news, I custom ordered a car the other day - a 2011 Camaro 1LT. The funny thing is I am totally not a muscle car guy but this car is such a sweet machine I couldn't pass it up. I always told myself my first car would be a BMW M3...things changed when I saw this. Being from Detroit it feels better to buy American, too. This isn't my car (takes six weeks to come through when ordered custom) but pretty much exactly what it will look like. Sorry for the emotional blog but hey that's me right now!

best track of 2010 so far mmm

Trip Report Summary from the HPT Main Event cross posted from 2+2

out in level 3. some preliminary notes about the tournament: the structure was beyond horrible - i glanced at it a few weeks ago and for some reason thought everyone started with 30k but it was actually 15k with blinds going to 200/400 at level 3 (200/400, 80 minutes in). so on average, 80 minutes in, you will have between 40-50 blinds and can play one hand past the flop. when i found out how shallow it was going to play i decided to kamikaze early and accumulate which proved to be difficult since the tournament was oversold and they put 11 people at each table (!). also no iPods or phones were allowed at the table...mmmkkk. some hands i was involved in -

i raise 45cc in MP to 300, caller on btn and bb. flop K53 one club. i bet some chips and both fold immediately because if i raise early i have AK am i right?

i isolate MP limper in CO with T9ss to 400 (still in first level, blinds 100/100). flop JJ5 no spades. he checks i check planning to do stuff on later streets. i figured he was never folding for one bet and it would be easier for him to lay down his 66 when overcards came although in retrospect if that is my read maybe just building the pot to take it down on the turn and river is a better line. turn 8r giving me OESD, he checks i bet 3/5 pot he calls. i was going to bomb pretty much any river above a 7 except for a jack and ofc a jack rolls off. he insta donk bets 2k into 2.5k or something on river (lol live players). i considered just jamming since i think 99 percent of old people bet turn with a jack but getting people to fold boats even if it is the 8th nuts is always a tricky proposition

i raise J9ss from MP get five callers, flop 998 two hearts i bet some chips everyone folds

still hovering around starting stack, HJ (old guy who seemed to have a minor clue) raises to 500 at 100/200, guy on BTN calls i call in BB with KTo. flop KK5 two diamonds. i check, HJ bets 1k into 1.6k btn folds i call. turn was Jd i check he bets 2k i call. river a low diamond bringing the four flush i check he overbets for a little more than pot i dont give it much thought and fold. not sure how else to play this, would like to hear other people's thoughts. i sort of thought i was beat the whole way by AK with one diamond or just a flush but old people can play pretty erratically sometimes so who knows..

bust out hand was i raise EP @ 200/400 with AKs to 1200 isolating an ep limper, guy who had reraised 4-5 times (myself once) insta calls (he looked like an anorexic Jean Robert Bellande except with ten dollar sun glasses and the stench of Newports) and then it folds around to EP who calls. flop AJ8 rainbow, EP checks, i check and guy behind bets 1500 immediately. i bet this flop 95 percent of the time obviously but i had a feeling the villain was waiting to go after me because i had been raising a lot of pots, for an 11 handed table anyway. so my plan was to represent AQ/AT/KK or some other transparent hand and let him barrel me. EP folds i call. turn K i check he throws out a 5k chip and i have 8k total. i didnt really see how i could fold since with the amount he had been reraising i didn't see how he could have JJ and folding against one combo of 88 is kinda absurd (i ruled out QT since had been playing relatively tight to EP action). also if my plan was to induce action, folding after i improved AND get action seemed nonsensical. also he could be value betting a worse hand like KJ or AJ too so anyway i put it in and he tables JJ which surprised me obviously. i couldn't bink the river and that was it but not before i had to sit through the live degenerate douche pump and screaming

it is a strange experience taking the two hour drive home pondering a cooler but i am still not 100 percent this is a shoulder shrug "cooler situation" in a live setting. obviously you never fold top two online 35-40 bb deep against a reasonable player but live the ranges are so skewed because people are so afraid of busting out that it can be tough to evaluate sometimes.

Well my run good continues as I won a $12k WSOP ME seat. I think I invested $800 or so to get the seat so I am obviously pretty stoked about that. I will most likely sell half my action or so as I am a MTT fish although I have no doubt I am pretty +EV in that nonsense.

I drove my girlfriend to Yellowstone National Park as she obtained a summer internship there. I stayed there for a few days before taking a flight back to Detroit. It was a lovely trip as we saw all sorts of buffalo, bear and elk floating around all over the place. I almost walked straight into a buffalo as I was leaving her dorm and sort of staring at the ground as I was walking toward the car one night. Luckily I faded the two outer as the 2,000 pound beast was more interested in grazing on grass than impaling me with his horns. Unfortunately I suffered from a crushing bout of altitude sickness which I was familiar with from visiting the Grand Canyon earlier this year. I thought I was prepared as I had obtained a RX for Dioxim which is supposed to alleviate the symptoms of altitude sickness but instead it provided no relief and all the side effects (tingling extremities, carbonated drinks tasted like battery acid, ringing of the ears, bloated head, blurry vision).

Other than that things are kosher, been playing a bit of the sit and goes and doing well. Since my girl is gone for three months I am not going to do much else this summer besides play poker and improv. Money shall be made and fishy accounts shall be emptied...that is, unless the UIEGA ruins everything and I have to get a real job. That would not be ideal.

And I leave you with the fun hand of the day. Can't complain too much as I won $3k quid, just have to laugh.

Full Tilt, $55 Buy-in (60/120 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Sit'n'Go, 9 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


UTG+2: 220 (1.8 bb)
MP1: 1,610 (13.4 bb)
Hero (MP2): 1,825 (15.2 bb)
MP3: 1,840 (15.3 bb)
CO: 2,440 (20.3 bb)
BTN: 1,880 (15.7 bb)
SB: 980 (8.2 bb)
BB: 1,395 (11.6 bb)
UTG+1: 1,310 (10.9 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A A
2 folds, MP1 raises to 300, Hero raises to 1,825 and is all-in, MP3 raises to 1,840 and is all-in, 5 folds

Flop: (4,130) A 5 5 (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Turn: (4,130) J (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: (4,130) J (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results:

Spoiler:

4,130 pot
Final Board: A 5 5 J J
MP3 showed J J and won 4,130 (2,305 net)
Hero showed A A and lost (-1,825 net)