Hey guys, happy Passover or Easter. For those of you who may not know what a mitzvah is, it means literally in Hebrew "commandment" but has essentially come to take on the meaning of a "good deed." For Passover I thought it would be a good mitzvah to warn you guys: NEVER play FullTilt's superturbo hu omaha sngs. It is literally impossible to have any edge to beat the rake, as no matter how much of a donk your opponent is he will see double-suited cards or a connected hand and not have too much trouble identifying that it can't be too bad to get it in. I learned this the hard way haha. Can't complain at all whatsoever though, life is pretty amazing.

I have my 4th of 5 Israeli Army seminars coming up; cannot wait to get started after I graduate from UW-Madison this semester. It's been a very long time since my last post and I really appreciated the support I got from many CR members. Israel is the size of New Jersey, and has miraculously not only survived but thrived as the only democracy in the Middle East despite being surrounded by much larger countries like Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, etc that have literally ganged up and attempted to destroy the Jewish State when it was founded in 1948, again in 1967, and yet again on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar--Yom Kippur--in 1973. My grandfather may he rest in peace suffered pogroms (state-sponsored pillaging of Jewish villages) in Russia when the Jews had neither a state nor an army with which to defend themselves. I cannot wait to begin taking part in making sure my people never suffer this fate again!

For those of you who follow international news very closely, it is certainly a tragedy what has become of the Gaza Strip. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2006 as a hopeful peace gesture, but instead received in return over 6,300 Qassam rockets fired at Israeli kindergardens, hospitals and towns (and not at military bases). Israel has the responsibility to defend its children like all countries do, and it is sad that the innocent civilians in Gaza are used as human shields by Hamas terrorists looking to pin the blame on Israel for using disproportionate force in response to the Qassams, when in reality Israel risks the lives of its own soldiers to avoid hurting civilians--sending thousands of text messages and dropping thousands of leaflets for Palestinian civilians asking them to avoid certain areas of the Gaza Strip where the IDF (Israel Defense Force) are planning anti-terrorist operations. To make a comparison, it's pretty hard to imagine the US or Britain in WWII calling thousands of German or Japanese civilians to inform them of exactly where they planned to operate.

While my passion for poker does not compare to my passion for defending the small, vibrant Israeli democracy at the forefront of the war on terror, poker has been a true blessing in many ways. I'm curious to hear if there are similar stories to mine, as the success I imagine many CR members have been blessed with can open up many freedoms that other 20-somethings do not have. My friend was bragging the other day about how his business school got him a job paying $20 an hour. He bragged verbatim, "That's what Kelly School of Business gets you bitch." I hope you guys can laugh with me at how rediculous of a comment that is; it really makes me appreciate the fact that we can sit around on the computer and make in a day what he makes in a month. My move to Israel has certainly been made much easier with the poker income I am so fortunate to have invested, and I take absolutely no credit for this success. I really thank G-d that I have been so fortunate, and humbly hope and pray it continues and grows. I am very interested to hear if there are any similar stories to mine about the freedom poker has allowed other people.

I know I'm just a lowly heads-up sng player lol and that there are people far more successful than I, but in the most humble way possible I'd love to hear anything you guys have to share. All the very best you guys, take care!

Hey guys, happy Chanukah!

I officially began my aliyah (literally "ascent" in Hebrew, for ascending to Israel) last week, joining this program called Garin Tzabar for American oleem chadasheem (new Israeli immigrants). Going to Israel in August to get started.

I can't describe how much I'm looking forward to this; my whole reason for becoming an Israeli is because we've all seen what has happened to the Jews when we didn't have our own state or our own Army with which to defend ourselves. Israel gets a lot of criticism from genuinely ignorant people who look at the collateral damage the IDF might cause, and that's all they see. In Gaza last winter, for instance, Israel was responding to over 4,000 Qassam rockets launched by Hamas terrorists at Israeli civilians, and while Israel was shielding its children, Hamas was using Palestinian children as shields--literally. Which is why Israel had such a hard time with the collateral damage part. But this isn't a political rant, so I'll stop haha.

Basically, my own Grandfather may he rest in peace suffered pogroms in Russia for the simple fact that he was Jewish, and of course 6,000,000 of us were killed in the Holocaust when we essentially walked to our deaths with not much resistance. To me, this is so very against Judaism; if you know the story of Chanukah, the Jews rebelled fiercly and heroically against their oppressors and overthrew the Greeks. Israelis are tough people in a tough neighborhood, and I'm proud to be part of this Jewish nation. When I hear a self-hating Jew like John Stewart make fun of himself for being "Jewey"--that's not something I associate myself with. Everyone should be proud of where he/she is from, and the nation from the Bible should be far from an exception in my humble opinion. I go to school in UW-Madison, and I can tell you the Sconnies--whom I love--are very proud.

Anyway, on the poker side of things, I've been doing pretty well but with finals it's been tough. If any of you are in Wisco (or Israel) hit me up for sure. Happy chanukah, happy holidays, and I genuinely wish you guys all the best in poker and in life.

-Jordan/ridetime

Hey guys, wanted to wish everyone shanah tovah.

I thought I'd start a CR blog this new year because I'm about to start a 4 part turbo hu sng live session series (i.e. realtime analysis as I play as opposed to replaying and analyzing a pre-recorded session), and wanted to ask you guys if there's anything you'd like to see in these videos. My plan is for part 1 to be $11.70 matches and go up a buy-in level for each part, part 4 ending at $230 or $570.

Please let me know what you guys think of this plan; doing the first video series was a fantastic experience and overall I received really good feedback. One thing about which I'm looking forward to going into greater detail is the objection I received from one $30-50 buy-in husng "reg" I'm coaching. In a very respectful way, this player said he enjoyed my video series but he questioned whether in one of the videos my playing style was too transparent. Part of my answer:

"If someone gave you one wish as a poker player, which wish would be more beneficial: to be guaranteed that every single shove you ever make for 15bbs effective or less will be statistically profitable, or to be able to see your opponents' hole cards when the effective stacks are 15bbs or less? Obviously the latter wish is more beneficial, because instead of only guaranteeing a +EV situation, you can guarantee a higher level of positive EV. Against a weak-tight, non-thinking opponent, if you have Q8o on the button effective stacks at 10bbs, you have a similar proposition. You can either guarantee yourself a positive return on your shove, or you can limp with the knowledge that your weak opponent would only call a shove with a hand better than Q8o and would never exploit your limp by shoving a hand weaker than Q8o. Not to mention this also gives your opponent an opportunity to flop a weaker pair that donkish players typically have a tough time getting away from."

The point is, if you play David Benefield 300 days a year and limp the bottom 95% of hands, open for 3X with strictly the top 5% of hands, and completely polarize your cbetting range, then yes, over time he will exploit the shit out of you. However, what I think makes a solid husng player is not only having the skill and the ability to play relatively unexploitable poker when need be, but also (often more importantly) realizing and taking advantage of times when an already profitable situation can be made more profitable. So much is of course dependent on the quality of your opponent, and thus the optimal line is often one that might be transparent to a better player, but is not to your opposition.

Anyway, that turned into a rant really quickly but I hope it made sense. One last thing; this article is a must-read for poker players. It's not about poker but really sheds light on instincts and how the brain makes sense of things much more quickly than they can register in our concious states. "...As the brain tallies cues, big and small, consciously and not, it may send out an alarm before a person fully understands why..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/health/research/28brain.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Celebrating my 21st birthday Saturday night so if any of you guys happen be at Essen Haus in Madison then look for a big group of loud idiots; I'd be more than happy to LEGALLY buy a fellow CR member a giant beer. Wish all you guys the very best in poker and in life, and shanah tovah to my fellow Jews!

-ridetime