I'm currently doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) post on Reddit poker. Check it out and AMA :)

Once the dust settled, it looks like we are in for some wait. Here is the news from yesterday if you want to catch up on how the day developed.

Today, pokerfuse is reporting that there are ongoing discussions between PokerStars, FTP, and the DOJ. FTP lawyer Barry Ross is feeling "more optymistic than ever."

I guess we sit and wait.

Major rumor (news?) coming out of the pokerworld right now - supposedly PokerStars bought FTP. I'm going to use this blog to post major updates to the developing events. First look at details:

* All players will be refunded 100%
* Both sites back online
* Both sites have promotions
* Employees remain in both places

CEO of ChiliPoker tweets about it:

https://twitter.com/alex_dreyfus/status/194798141571211265

Stay tuned! I'll try to separate the real from the noise in the next 24-48 hours.

Mike Heaven (Major 2+2 Moderator):

"I can say that a welcomed press release may follow in the near future."
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=32768579&postcount=21

11:51 Update: Laurent Tapie "Deal is off for FTP buyout" for them.
https://twitter.com/igamingFrance/status/194811717589536768

12:24 Update: GBT Statement:
"The parties could not agree on a plan for repayment of ROW players.

GBT proposed a plan that would have resulted in immediate reinstatement of all ROW player balances, with a right to withdraw those funds over time, based on the size of the player balance and the extent of the player's playing activity on the re-launched site. All players would have been permitted complete withdrawal of their balances, regardless of whether they played on the site, by a date certain, and 94.9% of ROW players would have been fully repaid on day 1. DOJ ultimately insisted on full repayment with right of withdrawal within 90 days for all players- a surprise demand made in the 11th hour, after months of good-faith negotiations by GBT."

http://www.gaming-awards.com/NEWS/archives/8374

"If a PokerStars acquisition of FTP means that all FTP players will be fully repaid immediately, we are very happy for the players, as their final and full repayment has always been our priority." -- GBT

Sure you are ...

2:22 Update: PokerStars lists job opening for programmer in Dublin, Ireland (where FTP was HQed):
http://www.pokerstars.co.uk/about/careers/#SoftwareDevelopers

3:26 Update: Shaun Deep writes that:

"Anyways the deal is already done by what I am told;

Players will be paid within 90 days
FTP will be open in the US market
Isai will be stepping down from the company"

If 2nd is true (US Market), then this might be one of the biggest day in the history of online poker.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=32774865&postcount=1

3:38 Update: FTP open in the US market IF/WHEN it's legalized.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=32775696&postcount=6

5:38 Update: PokerStars & FTP issue statements. Cliffs: Yes, stuff is going on, but no comment.

Stars: http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/corporate_blog/2012/pokerstars-statement-regarding-settlemen-093438.html

FTP: http://diamondflushpoker.com/2012/04/full-tilt-and-doj-terminate-agreement-with-groupe-bernard-tapie-to-protect-players-interest/#more-2895

8:17 Update: Diamondflush reports on the GBT repayment plan (Fact vs. Fiction):
95% of players had less than $100 on the account which was worth $16 million.
5% of players accounted for $168 million would be paid much longer.

http://diamondflushpoker.com/2012/04/the-gbt-repayment-plan-fact-vs-fiction/

Rich Muny, an active member of PPA.org, started an online petition on change.org about legalizing online poker. The petition currently stands at 9,050 signatures. It would be great if we could get it to 10,000 by the end of the month:

http://chn.ge/JU6Oo6

It takes less than 60 seconds of your time to fill it out and who knows ... if it grows big enough it might make a difference.

There is no downside to making it grow bigger - just do it :)

I'm writing an article on making turn play easier (It's around 2,000 words atm) and would like to get some feedback from a few CardRunners members. If the following apply to you, shoot me a PM:

1. You currently play micro and low stakes. Any format is fine - short-handed, full-ring, live, or online.

2. You are able to provide me with honest feedback on both the content and the writing.

3. You can read it and provide me with 2-3 paragraphs of your thoughts before Monday. The whole thing should take less than 45 minutes probably. I imagine that the time spent will be majorly +EV since you will be actively studying, reflecting, and corresponding about poker theory. I'm certain you will walk away from the experience feeling more confident about yoru ability to navigate playing turns.

Thanks in advance!

Today the first video of "My Transition to PLO" came out. DJRoss and I have been actively documenting my process of learning PLO and have about 8 episodes lined up (most of them are short quickies in which we discuss whatever I'm struggling with atm.

I'm happy with everything I'm learning. The lack of games on Merge is killing me atm. I might start mixing in some 50PLO tables along with my 25PLO ones. Overall, I think I'm playing very well. I'm noticing major mistakes others are making and mostly staying out of trouble myself.

Here is my April so far (+27.4 BI's). I am able to play 6+ tables only in the evenings, but by then I'm tired. I'll continue trying to put in volume though - especially once track season is over.

Has anyone that reads this blog ever played the Masters course? If not, do you personally know anyone who has?

Was having a good day and then this:

Hand 1:

Merge, $0.10/$0.25 Pot Limit Omaha Cash, 5 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

CO: $26.63 (106.5 bb)
BTN: $25 (100 bb)
SB: $100.20 (400.8 bb)
BB: $17.98 (71.9 bb)
Hero (MP): $73.70 (294.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 7 8 9 6
Hero raises to $0.85, 3 folds, BB raises to $2.65, Hero calls $1.80

Flop: ($5.40) 9 9 2 (2 players)
BB bets $5.40, Hero raises to $21.60, BB calls $9.93 and is all-in

Turn: ($36.06) 4 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($36.06) A (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $36.06 pot ($1.80 rake)
Final Board: 9 9 2 4 A
BB showed J A Q A and won $34.26 ($16.28 net)
Hero showed 7 8 9 6 and lost (-$17.98 net)

Hand 2:

Merge, $0.10/$0.25 Pot Limit Omaha Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (BTN): $49.01 (196 bb)
SB: $39.26 (157 bb)
BB: $29.18 (116.7 bb)
UTG: $25 (100 bb)
MP: $25.04 (100.2 bb)
CO: $62.19 (248.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with T K K J
UTG raises to $0.75, MP calls $0.75, CO folds, Hero raises to $3.35, 2 folds, UTG raises to $11.15, MP folds, Hero calls $7.80

Flop: ($23.40) 6 K 3 (2 players)
UTG bets $13.85 and is all-in, Hero calls $13.85

Turn: ($51.10) A (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($51.10) 5 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $51.10 pot ($2.55 rake)
Final Board: 6 K 3 A 5
Hero showed T K K J and lost (-$25 net)
UTG showed 8 A A K and won $48.55 ($23.55 net)

Hand 3:

Merge, $0.10/$0.25 Pot Limit Omaha Cash, 4 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $25.10 (100.4 bb)
BB: $102.55 (410.2 bb)
CO: $30.91 (123.6 bb)
Hero (BTN): $59.29 (237.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with T T J 3
CO folds, Hero raises to $0.70, SB raises to $2.35, BB folds, Hero calls $1.65

Flop: ($4.95) 8 T K (2 players)
SB bets $3.96, Hero raises to $16.83, SB raises to $22.75 and is all-in, Hero calls $5.92

Turn: ($50.45) 8 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($50.45) 7 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $50.45 pot ($2 rake)
Final Board: 8 T K 8 7
SB showed 6 K 6 K and won $48.45 ($23.35 net)
Hero showed T T J 3 and lost (-$25.10 net)

And the hand I quit on:

Merge, $0.10/$0.25 Pot Limit Omaha Cash, 5 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (SB): $25 (100 bb)
BB: $23.89 (95.6 bb)
MP: $18.16 (72.6 bb)
CO: $54.28 (217.1 bb)
BTN: $25.71 (102.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 2 K 2 K
MP raises to $0.50, CO raises to $0.75, BTN calls $0.75, Hero calls $0.65, BB calls $0.50, MP calls $0.25

Flop: ($3.75) K 4 6 (5 players)
Hero bets $2.50, BB folds, MP calls $2.50, 2 folds

Turn: ($8.75) T (2 players)
Hero bets $8.75, MP raises to $14.91 and is all-in, Hero calls $6.16

River: ($38.57) 6 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $38.57 pot ($1.92 rake)
Final Board: K 4 6 T 6
Hero showed 2 K 2 K and lost (-$18.16 net)
MP showed 8 6 5 6 and won $36.65 ($18.49 net)

Off to eat lunch an untilt.

On a positive note, I've been working a lot on my PLO game with DJRoss13 and it's come a long way. I still have lots of leaks, but we've been documenting my learning process and curve with CR videos. For anyone wanting to transition to PLO from NLHE, those + the ones I did with Gakn29 should be a great starting point.

Tommy Angelo joins Jared Tendler tonight on the Quad Jacks podcast. This comes at a great time because I'm faced with a coaching situation that's beyond my ability.

Some background: I saw a player post the following in the forums:

"I play cash games and I am - 27BB/100 after 60.000 hands. I study poker hard and I am not drunk when I play. This is the worst rate I have ever met. Probably I have a mental desease that I found out with poker. Any help?"

This inrigued me and I decided to check out his PTR:

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/6641/ptrnewperson.jpg
(can't seem to embed picture, so you might have to c/p it into a browser)

I was really curious what it takes to achieve such a winrate and told the player I would check out his hand and offer some advice. I wanted to see if I could help him turn his game around with some coaching.

After checking out his hands, I decided three things:

1. He is playing too loosely.
2. He is not value betting his good hands.
3. He is bluffing too many rivers.

Some of these are techinical issues. To address point #1, I sent him an opening hand chart. Point #2 is much more difficult to address so I decided to wait. For point #4, I specifically told him to just never bluff on the river. Ever. I figured this would be enough to help REDUCE his losses (to think about winning at this point would be too ambitious).

After he played 1,000 hands, I got the following message on Skype:

Student: Sorry for the delay, but it was quite difficult to send you these hands, mainly the ones from Sunday. It was a disaster. On Sunday I lost 6 BI, because of bluffs on the river with air!!! I'm very disapointed. I have to try harder. Iknew that it was wrong, but I was doing it repeatedly....

I was speechless. In my mind, we identified a simple and obvious leak and then he went right back to doing it. Clearly, his issue isn't the techinical side of poker (although he's got major issues with his A-game as well, but that's not what this post is about). Bottom line: We identified a specific leak, I told him what the fix was, and he went right back to it.

I told him to take the day off and if he plays again, stop if he loses two BI's. Once again, I gave very specific instructions: Never bluff river with air.

So this morning, I look at the hands he sent me from yesterday's session:

Hand 1: http://weaktight.com/4427029
Hand 2: http://weaktight.com/4427031

Guess what? Bluffing river with air. I asked him about it:

Pawel: QJ ... you bluffed the river.
Student: the only one!!!
Pawel: doesn't matter
Pawel: why did you do it?
Student: That player was extremely bad. More than me!!!
Student: He fold before at any bet
Student: When I find a very loose and pasive palyer, i become more loose and more agresive, although I know that I have to becoem more tight

I then asked about the A6s hand:

Pawel: I just saw the A6s hand
Pawel: you said you only bluffed river once
Pawel: that's twice
Student: It wasn't totally air... it was nut flush draw. And against that opponent, he had lost many hands with A high

So my question for you guys is ... what's going on here? Is this someone who can become better and what will it take? How would you approach helping a player like this out?

If you currently play 10NL and below (short-handed), have over 40K hands at one of those specific limits, and want a free database review of your game (which I would make into collection of CR quickies), shoot me a PM.

Edit: All set - thanks to everyone that sent me a message!