With the big news breaking yesterday about the possibility of PokerStars purchasing Full Tilt, there's been a lot of discussion across several forums about whether PokerStars should:

a.) Keep both PokerStars and Full Tilt brands

b.) Keep player pools separate or merge them together and make the two rooms skins of the same network.

I've heard both sides of the argument and think the answer is pretty clear what they should do. Keep both sites as separate brands / networks.

Here's why:

a.) Rewards for all players - Working under the assumption that PokerStars will keep everything as-was for FTP (rewards program, rakeback, etc) they'll be able to offer two pretty unique loyalty programs by keeping FTP separate from Stars. PokerStars is known for their SuperNova Elite program, which rewards the .0001% of grinders who are capable to grind millions of hands a year, who are handsomely rewarded for their play, however the bulk of players have neither the time nor desire to get to that level. While SuperNova levels get you a higher % of rakeback than the 27% standard on FTP, there is a certain level of commitment (100k VPPs/month) that is a turn-off to semi-serious players. Miss a month or two and it can really dent your bottom-line, and if you are anything less than Supernova, you're better off getting the 27% rakeback on FTP. Lastly, receiving a cash transfer each week seems a lot sexier to the casual player than needing to go through the hassle of converting points to $ in the FPP Store.

b.) Increased Tables - PokerStars stands to make more money by having two separate player pools. For example, if a player wanted to play all the available $400 NL tables, he might find 8 games on PokerStars. At that same time, FTP may have 8 tables running. This player now has the ability to play 16 tables at once, whereas if they were merged, there may only be 12 games available over the entire network. More tables = more rake, so why would it make sense for Stars to reduce the number of running tables?

c.) Promotional Opportunities - With the purchase of FTP, PokerStars can now continue to add to their arsenal of promotions by leveraging some of the popular promos for Full Tilt. They can complement their prestigious WCOOP tournament series (and SCOOP) with FTOPS series in off-months, allowing them to offer a huge tournament series virtually every month. Additionally, Stars has a stranglehold on television networks and shows, especially if they'll invite FTP Red Pros to play in some of their high stakes cash games.

Poker players tend to have a short-memory, so I don't think the FTP Brand is irreparable. With a change in management, the majority of players will quickly be giving their business back to the company, even if it keeps its name.

Overall, I think this is the best scenario for players. It gives us a few (though limited) options to play at different poker rooms. Some players liked FTP software better while others preferred Stars. Some liked the FTP tournament structure and some preferred Stars. It also gives us some choices when selecting which rewards program best aligns with our play and tendencies. It also provides the chance that a Vegas powerhouse, like Ceasar's or MGM, swoop in to buy one of the rooms/brands, which can create some welcome competition in the industry.

I'd love to hear arguments if you feel differently.

Life has been a busy mess with work, travel, and a whole cluster of other things going on in my life. I've done a pretty poor job of neglecting this blog but I'll try to catch up and keep up moving forward.

I went to Vegas for a half-work/half-vacation towards the end of March with my girlfriend. The started off with a bang when I found out that the Aria had given me a complimentary upgrade to a Crystal Suite.

I didn't get to play a ton of poker and managed only about 15 hours in the room, but the games were great. I stuck to playing the PLO game when it was running and the 2/5 game was playing huge with nearly 45,000 at the table at one point. While there was a major edge to be had, I didn't run well in the bigger pots, playing 10 pots during the entire trip of greater than $4,500 and running each twice. I managed to win only 1 RIT and punted off a nice chunk of change. The biggest hand of the trip was at a 2/5/10 game and saw me with 7799 in the big blind. One player raised and 4 called and I completed in the BB. The board came out 862r and the guy cbet. 4 more callers and I check-jammed for around 3k resulting in one quick call and another tank-call. Unfortunately I couldn't hit against KK26 and 57T3 and lost a juicy one.

The rest of the trip involved casino hopping, eating at some great restaurants, and seeing some shows. I had seen O before and saw KA for the first time and both of the shows were fantastic. To those who haven't seen either, make the time to see them. Also, don't be cheap and get the best seats in the house, it really makes the most of the experience and is worth the extra $.

The highlight of the trip probably came on our way home from KA. We got a cab from the MGM and our cab driver was listening to My Heart Will Go On from the Titanic soundtrack. I made the mistake of commenting on the music and the driver began talking about the sinking and the upcoming rerelease of the movie in 3D. He spent the next 15 minutes recounting every scene from the movie at different segments of the music (including actor reenactment / vivid scene descriptions) and knew way too much about both the movie and the actual events.

Immediately after Vegas, I headed down to South Carolina with a few of my close friends for 6 rounds of golf in 4 days. During the trip, all the buzz in the news was about the record-breaking Mega Million lotto drawing that was going on. Well, I made a few phone calls and ended up pooling some money together to purchase $1,250 worth of tickets in hopes of winning a slice of the $600 Million pie. Unfortunately my dreams weren't meant to be and we only recouped $87 with our tickets (and a wasted 30 minutes of time standing in a gas station in Columbia, SC - plus a few hours spent matching tickets).

Things on the work front have been good. We just announced a ~$1 Million fund ra
ise with Lightbank, a Chicago VC Firm with ties to Groupon. It's been a few months in the making and the addition of their experiences have been a great way to speed up our learning curve for DraftDay. We have big plans for DraftDay and it's nice to share ideas and meet people with similar goals and ambitions. The start-up culture in Chicago is really trending and it'll be very exciting to see how the Chicago-economy evolves in the coming years.

On the CardRunners front, it's hard to believe that it's been an entire year since Black Friday. Even looking at some of the CR pros and what they're doing now, it's crazy to see how different things are. Guys like iRock, who used to come into the CR office on a regular basis, is now living in Central America. Dozens of other pros are spending part (or all) of their time living abroad in order to have the privilege of playing online poker. It's so sad that our country has such twisted and misaligned interests. I've stayed, and remain, positive on the outlook of online poker in the States, but anniversaries tend to shed light on things and make you reflect.

The next few weeks should be a lot of fun. Brian Hastings will be in town and I always enjoy whipping him on the golf course. We plan to have a little battle at Cog Hill Dubsdread (course that hosted many PGA events) with Wiggins and another poker player. As always, our bets can get a little crazy and the trash-talk is never-ending.

I'll pick up from my last blog where I mentioned that I'd be having lunch with Sports Illustrated writer Peter King.

I was provided the opportunity to meet him through CR Pro Predator006. Pred's wife has a 'mommy blog' and somehow King had found it and became a loyal reader. After some emails and exchanges they become internet friends, which evolved to becoming real-life friends. King was in-town for the Super Bowl and donated his time as a charity for a local school. I bid on the lunch and ended up winning.

I ended up taking Andrew Wiggins with me to the lunch. It was interesting to hear some of King's thoughts and stories about his decades as a NFL reporter. He talked about everything from traveling with John Madden on the Madden Bus to his take on SpyGate and meeting Bill Belichick's parents. He weighed in on the Peyton Manning situation and also gave me a candid "no" when I asked him if Ochocinco would be relevant in the Super Bowl.

I'll recount my favorite story that PK shared:

He was in New Orleans with HBO (I think) to film an interview with Saints QB Drew Brees. Brees lived across from a big park and they were going to conduct the interview while Brees was walking his dog. Mid-interview, the dog proceeds to take a massive shit on the sidewalk. Unfazed, the HBO assistant bends down to clean up after the dog, and Brees ends up scoffing at the idea that he can't clean up after his own dog. He proceeds to call-off the assistant and take out a plastic bag and clean up his dog's mess.

Maybe this story isn't nearly as awesome to you guys, but I give mad props to Brees. During an age full of prima donnas and divas, it's pretty cool to see an able-bodied celebrity willing to do this.

Anyways, short blog entry but I wanted to wrap up the PK stuff. I have a few other topics I may blog about soon.

I'm pretty excited as I'll be going to Indianapolis here in a few hours to have lunch with Peter King.

For those who aren't sports fans, Peter King is arguably the most-read NFL writer in the country. He publishes a weekly piece at Sports Illustrated titled "Monday Morning Quarterback" and is guest-anchor on NBC's Football Night in America.

The Super Bowl is in Indi this week and it'll be quite fun to see everything going on. It's rarely up North this time of year, but thanks to Peyton (how ironic), Indianapolis is playing host this year.

More later.

Over the years, I've played a good volume of live hands, and have witnessed some ridiculously horrible rulings and errors by dealers and staff.

The inattentive dealer who forgets to announce straddles or push action is annoying, but pale in comparison to the couple of stories below:

Hand 1 - This hand was played out at a PLO game. The dealer had already struggled to adjust to dealing four hole cards per player and continued to be a bit careless with everything. On this particular hand, the board read something like K72 with a flush draw. The players got it all in for about a 300bb pot and both players tabled their hands. Player 1 had KKxx for top set while Player 2 had AJ72 with the nut-flush draw. The dealer peels off a turn Qo and a river 10o and mucks both hands and ships the pot to the top set, completely overlooking the backdoor straight that player 2 just made.

Unfortunately, since both hands hit the muck, they couldn't retrieve the hands. It took about eons of arguing and protesting (from others at the table) that Player 2 had rightfully won. Of course, it didn't help that player 1 refused to acknowledge seeing the AJ from the villain. Eventually the floor awarded the pot to the rightful winner, but it stopped our game for nearly 25 minutes.

Hand 2 - This hand was played at a NLHE MTT. Player 1, who is fairly short, raises and gets a few callers. Player 2 decides to 3bet and it puts a third player in the tank. I should note that players 2 and 3 are deep. After a while, he calls and action goes back to Player 1 who shoves. Player 2 asks the dealer if he can reopen, to which the dealer says "of course" without cutting chips. Player 2 then shoves and player 3 angrily folds his Jacks face up. The dealer does a quick chip count, then realizes that the betting should not have 're-opened' to Player 2. Board runs out K J X K X. Player 2 shows AK and wins the pot. Player 3 is visibly angry, and the dealer has the nerve to chuckle about it and look at Player 3 and say "man, you'd a won a huge pot if you stayed."

Needless to say, Player 3 wasn't happy with this comment and went off on the dealer. He was subsequently PENALIZED for his behavior.

It's been fed to us constantly by our media since he got the nod as starting QB for the Denver Broncos. Tim Tebow, arguably the most polarizing athlete in my lifetime, has been playing under a magnifying glass since being drafted out of the University of Florida. When on the field, he is enthralling yet head-scratching. Football critics have spent hours trashing his mechanics and sports networks have dedicated shows to Tebow-mania.

It has been quite amazing to follow the progression of Tebow over his career. As a College Football fan, I followed him as he built a legacy in Gainesville. Love him or hate him, you had to respect him. The guy knew how to win and he lifted the spirits (and play) of those on the field around him. He's deservedly a former Heisman winner and arguably one of the greatest college football players to ever suit up.

Anyone who followed the NFL season has seen how magical a season it has been in Denver. Tebow, after being largely written-off by his own organization as a viable signal-caller, resurrected the team to a Division title and an upset over 11-point favorite Pittsburgh. The series of games leading to the Division title were arguably the most unlikely sequence of games that we'll ever witness. From Marion Barber's brainfart run out of bounds to the heroic drive down the field against the Jets, Tebow, in many ways, has defied the odds and reshaped the mold of a successful NFL QB.

Sadly, despite all his hard work and 'no-quit' attitude, the guy has plenty of haters. In this day and age where society still adores the abusive (rapper Chris Brown), the dishonest (Alex Rodriguez), the unfaithful (Tiger Woods), and the criminal (Michael Vick), people find reason to hope for bad things to happen to the guy.

Here is a guy who has earned the respect of his teammates through sheer determination and hard work. He has righted the ship of an organization that seemed destined for failure in the first month of the NFL season, despite having a GM and team owner who refused to acknowledge him as their QB. He radiated with positivity in situations where all of us would be deflated, and here he is, as one of the remaining eight with a chance at Super Bowl glory. Even off the field, the guy is just awesome:

Whether you agree or disagree with Tebow's openness regarding his religion, it's hard not to respect and admire Tim Tebow the man. His strong will and leadership are admirable qualities that are truly worth looking up to, unlike some of the other thugs and cry-babies in professional sports. He holds himself accountable for his shortfalls and failures, and is first to share the spotlight with his teammates in triumph. WTF is wrong with society now, that a genuinely good guy can't play hero?

I don't expect Tebow to make it to the Super Bowl this year, but I assure you that I will not be rooting against him this Sunday, or ever.

I recently had a pretty neat "holy fuck what a coincidence" experience so I thought I'd revisit the three craziest ones in my life:

Last week - I had just done some grocery shopping at Whole Foods and I was walking back to my place. As I walked down the sidewalk there were two girls headed the other way. Much to my surprise, the one girl was Carolyn, a girl that I had graduated college with.

Carolyn was in my 22-person college program and I hadn't seen her since graduation. I had seen, via Facebook, that she had been teaching in South Korea since graduation (2 years ago). She was just moving home from SK and was stopping by Chicago to visit friends before heading to Cincinnati. She was literally coming home from the airport and ran into me.

7 or 8 years ago - Freshman year of high school, I rode the school bus. During this time, I met a girl from my neighborhood named Jamyl. Over the course of the school year, a group of us became friendly since we spent about 20-30 minutes together each day on our way home. After all of us got our licenses, we mostly lost touch since we hung with different crowds in school.

Fast forward to (I think) my senior year. I was working at a local Chinese restaurant and Jamyl happened to stop by to get a carry-out. We hadn't talked to one another since probably the last school day of my Freshman year, but we chatted for maybe ten minutes while she waited for her food. It was pretty cool to catch up with her and hear what she was doing as she had graduated all ready.

Unfortunately, this story ends in tragedy, as Jamyl was with a friend that night. That friend was speeding in excess of 100mph and lost control of his car a few hours after I had seen her. They both lost their lives. It's pretty crazy to think that I was one of the last people to ever see her.

3 years ago - I was studying abroad in Eastern Asia and ended up running into a woman who was a regular customer from the aforementioned Chinese Restaurant. She was wearing a Dayton Dragons hat and she somehow recognized me at the Great Wall of China. Funny she recognized me, given that there were Chinese people everywhere. Our student-group had made a last-minute decision to go to a lesser populated section of the Wall and so had she.

Anyways, no real rhyme or reason for this entry, other than that I am constantly amazed at some of the ways things work out in life. I'd love to hear some of your 'small-world' stories.

Edit - I just remembered that a kid I played with at the casino yesterday (in Chicago) was at the same final table as me 2 years ago at the Venetian. Somehow he remembered me...

Rather than write a blog full of unattainable goals and New Year's resolutions, I thought I'd write a little blog about the upcoming year for CardRunners.

The unfolding in the legislation for online poker has me in a fairly optimistic mindset. I don't know how fast things will move or how expansive legislation will reach, but things are looking up and I have always been a believer that our powers-that-be would wake up soon and realize that this untapped market has enormous potential and is a no-brainer to generate some much needed revenue.

Since Black Friday, it has been interesting to see how the poker landscape has changed. From pros migrating to other countries to poker businesses closing their doors, everyone has been forced to adapt to the industry.

I just recently announced some of the new pros who are joining our team. I'm very excited to add them to our talented roster. Several of these guys are European and they'll bolster our "live content" footage - something that we've been struggling to get. The addition of Joao Barbosa (and previously Dintyo) is aimed to specifically bolster our mid-stakes 6-max NLHE Content for the new year. I'm also very excited to have CeeGee on the team as a mixed game pro. I met him last summer in Vegas and spent a good deal of time with him and ChipsAhoya. Fortunately for you guys, he's better at mixed games than he is at dice.

There is also a very exciting video series that some of our pros are about to embark on for the New Year. The series is titled "2012: The Holdem Odyssey" and is a collaborative project with Damn Ringer, MDoranD, verneer, balbomb, and Matthew Janda. The series will be the broadest and most ambitious video series I've seen produced on the internet. There will be nearly 60 parts released throughout the year covering a variety of topics ranging from: HUD setup, exploiting regs, dealing with tilt, treating poker like a job, and much much more. Each author will cover their specialties and there will be videos ranging from quickies, full-length, classroom, dual-commentary, and HH reviews. Collectively these authors have been some of the best at their stakes and I'm hoping the series provides a 'one-stop-shop' for either the beginner or the advanced player.

Anyone who hasn't taken advantage of our 50% discount should seriously consider signing up (or re-upping) their membership. Investing $180 for a full year of poker training is great value, and with the landscape shaping up like poker will be back, it is a great way to stay ahead of the curve and to tackle the games when they are back.

Anyways, thanks for reading my blog and I wish all of you the best in the new year. I'm going to try and do a better job with providing little CR-related updates in my blog (as well as on Twitter). Stay safe!

Whoa two months and I haven't written a blog. Actually, I wrote up about 85% of five entries but I just didn't like how they turned out so I never published them. A lot has happened since my previous entry so I'll just write some scatter-brained points to get caught up. I'll apologize now for the lack of flow in this blog entry:

As most of you have seen, some of us from CR launched a new project. DraftDay has been in the works for a while and I'm very excited to be a part of the project. I see some great potential in the idea and it shares a lot of similarities with online poker. The industry is kind of like how online poker was in the early 2004 days, very underdeveloped and young but with vast opportunity. Good players have a discernable edge it's super easy to deposit / withdraw money. I expect the industry to blow-up in the coming years as long as the Earth doesn't do that first in 2012.

A few weeks ago a very inspirational figure in this world died. Carl H Lindner III passed away in Cincinnati. That name may not mean much to most, but Lindner was an incredible man. He started out as a dairy farmer and eventually started several companies and became extremely wealthy (self-made billionaire) and a model philanthropist. He had ties to companies like United Dairy Farmers, Great American Insurance, The Cincinnati Reds, Great American Insurance, and several others, and he was one of the biggest donors to the University of Cincinnati. I was lucky enough to be a part of his business program and be a student on his scholarship. Despite my personal benefits of Mr. Lindner's generosity, I'm always saddened by the loss of these prominent figures. In a day and age where we hear about monsters like Jerry Sandusky, it's a shame that society loses the real winners and heroes in life.

On the topic of Sandusky, the entire story is sickening and completely upsetting. I have a lot of gripes with our justice system but the fact this monster, who preyed on kids for over a decade, is allowed to be out on bail while the investigation continues is horrifying. How is a monster like him not a suicide risk or considered harmful to society? He should be locked up for the rest of his life. He ruined countless lives and preyed on the vulnerable.

With regards to Paterno and the media circus surrounding this event, it's very sad that our media cares more about the sports-angle than the poor children whose lives have been ruined by Sandusky. It's quite disturbing that so many people are angry Paterno was removed or the ramifications this will have on PSU football (OMG they're 8-1). Paterno may have taken the necessary steps, legally, but how does someone morally accept this rapist is still on-campus and hanging around kids? Paterno should have stepped in followed-up on the case, or he should have left the organization if he disagreed with how they handled it. The fact this school explicitly promoted itself as "one of 2 D-1 institutions to have never been sanctioned" concerns me that there was a true cover-up to help the image of the program. I hope I'm wrong.

On to happier things - I played my first bit of poker last weekend. I hadn't played a hand since mid-July and decided to play a short-session at the Hammond Horseshoe. I had read some backlash by the players regarding a change in the policy of the poker room, where they aren't allowing phone aheads to reserve spots on a waiting list. This backlash was pretty evident too when I played. A few guys who I recognized as 'regs' were shitting on the policies and talking about how bad it was for the games. The thought couldn't be more backwards. It used to be that a player could show up Friday night and see 150 names ahead of him on the wait list and be turned-off by the fact they likely weren't getting a seat for several hours. With a shrunk waiting list, the casual player can now get seated in 15-20 minutes. How's that a bad thing in any way?

Ok, enough writing for now. I'll share some more later, but sooner than 9 weeks from now.

Sorry readers, I've been neglecting you!

Things have been busy and I'm taking a much needed weekend-vacation to visit some good friends down in Birmingham, AL. What's in the great state of AL that Chicago doesn't have you may ask? SEC Football! We're going to be attending the opening game for the Alabama Crimson Tide, arguably the #1 team in the nation and the team to beat. Although their game will be a blowout (they are playing Kent State), I'm looking forward to seeing how the SEC environment differs from what I grew accustomed to at a Big East School. We'll spend Saturday night sweating the two big games (UGA vs Boise and Oregon vs LSU) at a bar somewhere, and then on Sunday we are going to be doing some kayaking at a nearby river.

Next weekend I'll be flying to Pittsburgh to visit Lauren's sister and her husband. He's at school at Carnegie Mellon and we haven't had a chance to visit them. Not much to say since I don't know what there is to do in Pittsburgh other than to be annoyed by Steelers fans.

My life has pretty much revolved around work lately. I've golfed a few times and I haven't played a single hand of poker since late June. It's pretty nuts how it's all ready September. There are some exciting new things going around on the CardRunners-front that I think will be well received. I can't spoil it, just yet, but there'll be some popular videos/video-makers releasing some stuff at CR. I've also made a conscious effort to start to release video series in consecutive weeks and to shrink the timeframe in which videos are made. Feedback has been positive thus far so hopefully members like it.

One additional plus about September is that it means the NFL season is gearing up. I've all ready booked some fun bets to help my interest in the season, especially since my Bengals are as dismal as ever and my boy Carson is left in a dick-swinging contest with Mike Brown.

My favorite bet is my friend and I each picked half the NFL teams. For each team we had to go in and set a win line for their 2011 season. The other person then picks the Over/Under on the line. When all is said and done we had nearly 50 bets in-place. It makes for a fun sweat and gives you something to look-forward or cheer for in each game.

I'll end this brief blog with an obligatory Superbowl pick. I think we'll see the Falcons vs. Steelers. I think the Falcons made a huge addition in Julio Jones. He'll spread the field and take some attention off Roddy White, who put up ridiculous numbers when he was the lone threat. The Steelers kept the core of their team together, something that I think is critical to success this year given the lockout-shortened training camp. Eagles and Pats fall in the Conference Championships.

I'll try to Tweet some pictures of the ballgame and kayaking this weekend. http://twitter.com/#!/alexjhuang