Thanks to Taylor for posting this on his Facebook Status.

An ABC News segment that puts online poker into a good light: (for once)

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/teens-gamble-virtual-vegas-11530477

I guess I'll start off with my poker goals for September:

- 10k winnings in MTTs (more on this in later blog)
- Earn atleast 30k VPPs on Stars
- Keep improving at PLO

I'll write a bit more thorough a blog on these things later.

It's been a real treat to be able to rail the matches in the CardRunners Chatrooms. I've been lucky enough to be awake during the running of both rounds thus far and it is great fun to sweat the match and shoot the shit with other CR'ers.

Yesterday we reached what's likely a new CR Chatroom record with 40 people in the chat. This included the likes of myself, Taylor, iRock, verneer, citizenwind, mu x+t (Shrewww), jcl, and some others. It's been really fun and I hope that the chat is going be revitalized as it used to be one of the best aspects of the former CR.

I also wanted to provide a few thoughts on the challenge:

- I think that Jungleman has done a tremendous job of mixing up his play and really keeping Dwan on his heels in terms of being the 'table captain'. He's manipulated the pot-sizes very well and seems to be virtually puppeteering Dwan thus far. This will likely change.

- I am interested to see if the fact that Dwan played some tables underrolled had any influence on his gameplay. Regardless of how much money one has, you can't help but think in the back of your mind that the funds that you are sitting with are the last of your cashier. You couldn't convince me that this was a detrimental aspect of the gameflow and really hurt Dwan in some form.

- The fact that Jungleman is up so much is really no surprise to me. Dwan's Challenge is fairly out-dated (in the internet realm) and the fact is that there are guys who have climbed the ranks of HUNL while the games were immensely more difficult. Guys like Jungle and UrnotinDanger are probably levels above the typical HSNL competition when Dwan's challenge was announced and he is paying the price for it in this Challenge.



Either way it is a great deal of fun to sweat these games. I'd love to see what it does for traffic to FTP whenever a session gets going. I hope JM continues his streak as I have some bets hedged to what amounts to a $500 freeroll on JM winning in this Challenge.

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First off, my sincerest apologies. I've been terribad about blogging as of late and feel like I owe you guys a bit of a "poker-themed" blog/article... so here it goes:

I guess there is no more fitting time to write about Tom Dwan than now. With his second opponent in his Durrrr Challenge lined up and the beginning of the Challenge potentially happening at any given moment, it is a great time for me to share my couple of thoughts on Dwan.



Technical Savvy - It is without question that Durrrr was one of the first to really adopt a unique style. He allows his tremendous hand reading, his complete fearlessness, and his total disregard for money to really keep his opponents on their heels. While the televised pros represent a VERY small sample of the poker playing population, I think any of us would be hard-pressed to find one other player who has such a tremendous impact at a full-ring table. Dwan changes all the dynamics of the table because everyone tailors their play to what he does. It's quite amazing to witness, but it is pretty evident from multiple broadcasts of televised cash games (PAD, HSP 5, HSP 6). He really just grabs hold of the table and dictates what does/doesn't happen.

Disregard for Money - I mentioned it under "technical savvy" but it deserves it's own category. Dwan's complete disregard for money is rivaled only probably by Ivey. They are willing to play the highest games possible and aren't afraid to bet when they feel it has +EV results. A perfect example is the hand that Dwan and Ivey played on HSP Season 6. Dwan bets $268,000 on the river with complete air. Let me illustrate what that buys:

With $268,000 you could buy:

One of these:



OR just a house in Florida



Usually when I river bluff, I'm betting one of these:



Marketing Genius - A lot of forum lurkers and posters ask the question why more online and internet players have not reached the acclaim or stardom that Dwan did. The simple answer is -- Dwan really went above and beyond to get himself into the living rooms of millions on TV. He played every televised event and went to great lengths to issue the Durrrr Challenge.

I'll admit that when he was just playing as Durrrr without red-pro status and rumors swirled that he was only seeking a Team FTP position -- I thought he was fooling himself. What does a white-kid from a middle-class family in Boston have that might be worth equity and potential millions to Full Tilt? What could he possibly offer?

A year later and now we see that he builds hype, he builds interest, and he undoubtedly is solely responsible for thousands of created accounts on FTP to watch his matches and see his legend unfold first-hand.

Dwan stands out as the fearless youngster who takes on all who challenge him. The King of the Hill. He definitely has played his 'life cards' Wondurrrrfully.



Anyways the Challenge has literally just started. Look out for all the exposure that FTP will receive in the coming days.

At poker

:(

This month has just been atrocious for me poker-wise. I'm up a decent amount in the 8 and 7-Game mixed on PokerStars and Tilt but can't seem to get over the hump with PLO.

I've logged a good volume of hands at the shallow tables on PS with mixed results. I think I'm giving up way too much in W$WOSD -- or maybe I'm simply obsessing over that statistic, but it's a frustrating situation to be in and I really am trying to decide what I want to do going-forward.

Options:

1.) Grind FR NLHE?
2.) Continue to work on PLO game in hopes to print monies
3.) Quit
4.) Grind MTTs/MTT SNGs for a while

I'm heavily-leaning towards option 4 but don't know if I have the patience or the discipline to do so. I love tournaments but can't stand the early stages and find them to be very numbing and boring. Maybe I could try the RUSH tourneys on FTP to see how they are?

Either way, something needs to be done and I need to just buckle-down and commit to it, regardless of the path I choose.

With that said I finished 4th in my golf tournament today and won 3 free golf shirts, weeeeeeeee.

Yesterday marked the beginning of my Club's Member-Member Tournament. It's one of the two largest tournaments at the club each year (member-guest being the biggest) and is an excuse for a bunch of lawyers, doctors, and financial advisers to get rowdy.

I couldn't find a partner to play in the event, but my buddies and I went to the club in the evening to play some late night (and drunk) poker.

There were about 30 of us on the back patio at the club and most of them were probably 8-10 beers deep.

To kick off the night, someone threw down a challenge. 1 club, #18 (430 yards), $100/man low score wins it all. I can't even quantify the amount of EV in this situation for me. I was sober, the lowest handicap player in the entire field, presumably the longest hitter, and I had just finished hitting balls at the range so I was stretched and ready.

Eight guys took the bait and we teed off with about 30 other members spectating.

My club of choice was a 6i and I striped my drive down the left to the first cut leaving about 234 in. My next shot was pretty solid but didn't draw back as I had intended (fairway slopes downhill to the right) leaving myself slightly short-sided in the first-cut of rough. I chipped it up to about 20 feet and had a par putt. Among the others there was only one other golfer on the green in 3. Unfortunately for me I hit my 'putt' with my 6i too solidly and got some loft under the ball, leaving myself an ugly 8 footer for 5. Two putts later and I was in my pocket for 6! Such a choke job.

The other guy ended up sinking a 6 foot breaker to pocket the $800.

Luckily I won the poker tournament at night for a nice little hedge on my losses. Final hand played out like this:

Blinds are 10/20. 4-handed (play down to 3 and payout according to chip stacks). I'm SB with 90 chips, BB has about 120, BTN has about 50, and CO has 40. CO limps for half his stack, BTN folds, and I shove with A6s. BTN calls with KJo and I hold and end up winning chip lead (and first prize money).

Online poker has been the pits the last few days, including an epic tilt session at PLO.