1st off, Pokerstars, you are the shit. You have shown you are the best/biggest poker site in the world and I appreciate the timeliness in getting your players/customers our funds. Unfortunately, most my BR is on Tilt, but that's beside the point. +1 to Pokerstars, and here's to continued success outside the US. As for FullTiltPoker, STEP YOUR GAME UP. So many unanswered questions surrounding FTPs way they are to get us our $. I'm sure there are reasons we can't comprehend, but at the very least , A courtesy message/press release from one of the FTP Team Pros, like say, Howard Lederer or Chris Ferguson would ease the masses. Why a FTP Pro hasn't represented their brand/company and speak out to us is beyond me. It makes sense to at least have one of them say something after all this time, but who knows.... UB/AP, you're awful and deserve the wrath of bankruptcy and any other criminal/economic doom that comes your way.

Been spending allot of time studying for finals. Looking forward to summer, but not as much as I did a month ago. I was planning to grind a ton online and make a nice run to Vegas for the WoooSOP with a lot of live cash play in Vegas and L.A. We'll wait and see how that goes. In the meantime, I'm just studying and thinking of putting some $ on Carbon Poker. Haven't done so yet, as I'm awaiting some answers to ?s I have from their support, which have gone unanswered for a week now. Merge Customer service so far not impressive, so gonna wait it out a bit and see if any more press releases regarding remaining US friendly sites come out before the June 1st rakeback deadline hits.

My goals this summer are to play lots of poker, live and online(hopefully), and get back into shape, physically. Been putting off working out to concentrate on the stresses of life, but it really does make a difference with a simple jog and routine workout once in a while, so getting on a daily regiment is very important to me. I may even take up training MMA to make it interesting.

OK, Kentucky Derby is tomorrow and I like my pics thus far. They may change depending on the weather, but here's what I got so far (for all you casual bettors out there who may throw down a few bucks on the race):

For the Win: #15 - Midnight Interlude - This horse had a sick finish at the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby recently with Bob Baffert as trainer. It doesn't have the experience as other top prospects in the field, but it has the most beautiful stride of the finishers and should do so quite nicely, especially if it rains.

Place: #19 - Nehro - This horse has the pedigree to make it interesting. I think it may be a photo between #15, but whichever horse has the most odds against I hope takes it down, as I bank on hittin the exotic and take down the most $ possible.

Show: #8 - Dialed In - With a great finish in the Florida Derby, this horse will probably be the late favorite to win the whole thing. His pedigree, trainer, and jockey (who's been hot on this track as of late) are all dialed in to take it down, but with its pace in the back, we'll see if he can sneak through to finish in the money.

4th: #2 - Brilliant Speed - Kinda shitty post position, but historically, an early post usually finishes in the top 5 for exotic finishes (Big $) and I like #2 slightly better than the rest. Lots of experience and a great win in the Bluegrass should give this colt the confidence to run well and finish just in time.

5th: #3 - Twice the Appeal - Calvin Borel rides this one and is looking to make history with back-to-back wins in the Kentucky Derby. This horse ran well last trip in a G3 race, but with Borel as jockey, I can't leave him out and will def put him in an exotic boxed bet.

Honorable Mention: #7 - Pants on Fire - This one is alittle tricky... I like the added storyline behind this horse and with the jockey being female, Napravnik, I'm sure will dominate the soap opera-like features the TV broadcast will give as she rides a great horse. The only thing is, I don't think this horse can go the 1 1/4 mile without fading at the quarter. Plus she'll likely jump out front to set pace, but may hold on to take 5th if lucky, especially if it rains, so bet with exotic to make it interesting. I'll bet she this one goes about 11 to 1 when its all said and done.

Whats up everyone! With all the information coming out about the existing US sites after the fall of the Big 2 (f*** UB/AP), I was curious to know if any of you have succesfully created an account, deposited Real $, and withdrawn with NO PROBLEMS on sites from existing networks such as Lock Poker, Carbon Poker, BlackChip Poker, Hero Poker, PPNPoker, Bodog, and DoylesRoom (Yatahay network).

Of course, it's only been a week since "Black Friday" so I don't expect any answers to this question right away, but for those of you (both US and International players) currently on these sites here @ CardRunners, please respond and/or post your own thread to let us know if the existing sites are on the ball in catering to the transitioning US Players as well as affiliates to sign through to receive rakeback, bonuses, etc... to continue playin a bit online till all this nonsense gets sorted out. I, like many of you out there, are waiting for more positive feedback and reviews about deposits, and most importantly withdrawals from these sites before hoping on and playing again anytime in the near future.

Thanks in advance for your time and thoughts....

*** Post Deleted ***

For those of you wanting more info ANYTIME of the day about the online poker/site status, check out QuadJacks.com and listen to the Ustream. It's awesome! A ton of interesting guests, hosts, and hilarious chat every now and then. The chat railers are pretty ridiculous at times, but still entertaining.

Anyways, still trying to figure out what to do next. Luckily, Im a Computer Engineering student at the moment getting ready to take finals with now allot of study time on hand. Summer is lookin' dark and shady tho. Most of our rolls are online and without access to them, probably won't be playing much live poker in Vegas this summer like I did in the past. Well, at least for me. My WSOP plans are lookin pretty shitty. Glad I didn't pre-register and get the ball rolling on everything, I usually stay comp'd at the Rio anyway, but still. And since the budget here in Cali is shot, no summer school classes to take. So life right now, is kinda sad. Keepin the faith that some opportunities come my way poker unrelated, but we'll see what happens. I'll play live every now and then just to relax when I can.

Bet: Over/Under at the WSOP Main Event this year @ 2750 runners - If we don't get our $$, there's no way the WSOP will be as big as it has in the past. Most online players got their rolls in limbo and can't (at this time) afford the grind of the summer. Especially those who stake and have a stable. Sorry and feel for you all. By the way, Have you guys/girls out there who've won Satties/Main Event packages on FTP/Stars received any info on whether or not you're gonna receive your package??? Probably not! Bottom line, Eric Seidel or some other big Live pro will win the Main Event this year. Poker on TV is dwindling, and the recreational fish we all have made a living on the last 5+ years are gone for awhile and may not return due to the tainted taste FTP/Stars has left.

In the meantime, I need a job!! I can type 100wpm and left-click 10 times/second (will provide resume/references), if interested. LOL, just playin', but for real I need a job, Yo!!

Keep the faith everyone!

With my recent thrill to get back to the tables and grind it out, I logged on today to find that the sites we all love and play at are all DOWN! Sad to see and follow up on. I'm still going to continue to learn and work on my game, and will probably play allot more live than before, but it's a sad day for us all.

So, looks like things are going to dry up for a while. Maybe it'll be worth checking out a legit membership site like ClubWPT or something to see if it's worth it. SO sad. And CardRunners, I hope all works out and you stick around. I guess my Truly Free Poker Training is going to waste as well....

Now I, like many of you, am waiting to see how we are going to get our $$$. This should be interesting... A bit worried, but at the same time, I'm sure there is some relief that the sites will take care of their players and figure something out. After all, they will continue running everywhere else, right?! I didn't have funds in PartyPoker when they closed shop, for those of you reading this who may have had REAL $$$ in their accounts back then, how did that work out? Did Party get you your $$$?? Even then, I'm sure there's a genius out there with the business sense to help us U.S. players transfer funds and get us our $$$ somehow - ???.

We as a CardRunners community gotta stay positive and stick together. I believe there's a light at the end of this tunnel of tilt. Hope it all works out, and SOON!!!

Haven't been around for awhile, so figured I'd update my blog here at CR and set some short/long term goals. I've been breaking even playing 50NLHE FR since the beginning of the year, which hasn't been fun, only to make the switch back to Rush Poker (a game I haven't played since it first came out) a few weeks ago and haven't had a losing session since. My chart has pretty much been a 60 degree line in the +, and with Rakeback, Im back on track to building the bankroll to prepare for SCOOP next month. Allot of the the FR play and the many hands with 25/50NLHE FR Rush have boosted my confidence and are helping to prepare for MTTs, as I have run deep in a few Small Stakes tourneys as of late and foresee some good things to come.

My short term goals are to continue to crush Rush Poker and gather some hands to post in the forums in some tricky spots versus Regs and Fish that I often come across. In some of my early blog posts from last year, I posted a bit of strategy on how I played Rush back when it first hit the scene. My game now is much different as Rush has evolved and my line of play with it. Some of the videos Ive seen including Citizenwind's Rush YouTube series and vids here at CR have helped out tremendously (Thanks to the CR Pros and their vid content), so if I can make the jump to 4 tabling 100NLHE FR Rush by the end of the month, I'll be extremely happy. My school schedule allows me to play around 30 hours/week, so a minimum of 150K hands/month is what I hope to grind strictly 4 Tabling Rush with a mix of 12-15 tabling regular Full Ring from time to time. Long term goals include reaching Black Card on FTP, which is where I have been playing exclusively for a few weeks now. With the ton of FR play, I also look to WIN a decent size/stake MTT by the beginning of summer. I know that sounds pretty ridiculous, but I feel confident I will be posting some great results here in the next few months. More to come...

What up!

I'm off to Vegas in a few weeks to play in a ton of live cash games and MTTs. I've pre-registered for the WSOP 1K event that starts June 19th and will see how it goes from there with a few other 1500-2500 buyin NLHE events that are left on the schedule. I will also probably play a few Venetian and Caesars Deep/Mega stack events and satellites to enter the Main Event. I'm also playin tons of satties online to win bracelet/ME packages through FTP and Stars, so we'll see...

My game is on point right now, so other than running real bad as of late, Im confident I will do just fine in Vegas.

I've been playing a ton of live cash here at the local casinos in San Diego to prepare for the live action. I was alittle shaky the first few days I played live as I haven't played in about 3 months or so, but feel confident I will be comfortable when I get to Vegas.

So GL everyone who makes the trip out and if there are any CR members meetin up in Vegas the week of June 19th - the ME, hit me up!!

First of all, well done CardRunners on the new site and features.

Well, April began pretty bad. I started out getting crushed in my 100NL FR game for about 5-6 buyins and lost about 8 buyins at 50NL HU. Playing Heads up was a great (new) experience, but I need allot of help and got some work to do. I watched a ton of vids and took plenty notes to prepare, but it wasn't great to my bankroll. The first week of April, I ended up losing around $1500 or so and ended up taking a few days off to replay HH and see what I was doing wrong. I thought about possibly hiring a coach for either Cash Games OR MTTs, but won't really consider it till the semester is over and I'm done with school for the summer around the 2nd week of May.

On a positive note, a week or so ago (end of April) I won my first big tourney in quite some time which has been a goal of mine I've written often in these blogs. I haven't taken 1st place in a tourney since taking down a Bodog 10K Guaranteed event a few years ago for $2500. I've been working on my MTT play A TON as of late and it paid off with a $11 rebuy 55K Guaranteed 1st place win for $9350 on PokerStars. Very happy about that!! In a class of mine, we recently had a guest speaker come in and talk about motivation and job attitudes. One of the key points he made was writing down your goals (literally on a piece of paper or whatever) and keeping it close by to help you think and focus on it. Gotta say it helped allot. I used the Sticky Note feature on the new Windows 7 that I labeled, "WIN A TOURNEY THIS MONTH" to help me focus and, well, I did!! Playing a ton of heads up early this month also helped me take down this event. I was a 3 to 1 chip dog going into heads up vs a decent reg and pretty much dominated him to take it down without a chop. Got my set of 7's in on the last hand that held up vs his Nut Flush draw to take it down.

I recently have been Mass tabling with the addition of a poker software called Table of Interest, which I believe has been taken off the shelves by its creator (a 2+2 forum regular names Thois). It stacks/tiles tables on both PStars and FTP so I can play comfortably on my laptop, which unfortunately is my only means of play. I now play about 12-20 tables of 100NL FR and am looking forward to some grindin sessions of cash games this summer to hit Supernova. Id highly recommend it for those playing on single monitors/laptops who want to grind out sessions comfortably, but since its been discontinued, oh well...

So bring on May and SCOOP. I'm gonna play a few FTOPS events and as many SCOOP events Low/Mid as I can as long as my studying for finals doesn't get in the way. Let's hope for a great month to come.

Play well everyone, thanks for reading!!

The month of March is over and my overall #'s were pretty decent. I started the month playing 50NL FR (usually 4-6 tabling) and ended up at 100NL FR (4-6 tabling) after some decent add-ons to my bankroll from rakeback, bonuses, and profits from occasional shots at 200NL FR that paid off. At 100NL FR, I have a bankroll for about 75 BuyIns and won't move up to 200NL FR full time until I hit about 100 BuyIns or so for that level. I don't play full time, so putting huge volume isn't an option at the moment, but am looking forward to some time off for Easter this month.

Overall, Im liking where my game is headed... The last few days of March I took a pounding from Bad Beats, but kept level headed enough to quit once I lost around 3Buys at 100NL FR after only a few hundred hands. Im looking forward to spending time improving and watching more vids. Im gonna focus this month on my MTT game, especially in the later stages, closing down tourneys and making key decisions in tough spots to accumulate chips and go deeper. With the FTOPs and SCOOP events coming up, I really want to take down some big payouts in MTTs and focus my FR Cash Game on building my bankroll to possibly invest in 2 WSOP events this summer. Living in San Diego (close to Vegas), I would love to play some WSOPs as I haven't in the past because of my time spent in the military.

I also intend to watch some vids on Heads Up play, which I think will help me improve my overall game, and of course help in closing out Tourneys. Im gonna play heads up at the lowest stakes and see how it goes. Next month, I intend to play more live cash and MTTs as my semester in school comes to an end. In the meantime, let the grind of April begin...

Have a great month!!

Just recently started watching HBO's new series, 'How to Make it in America', and it is pretty decent. Kinda like a poor man's East Coast version of 'Entourage' with a real Ol' School Hip-Hop flavor to it. Check it out...

Wrapped up Spring Break last week playing in a few Mini FTOPs events with min-cashes (once again). I've been really trying to work on my MTT game as of late, especially in the later levels to accumulate chips and close em out. Best finish I had was 26th in a FTP Fifty-Fifty. Still workin on it so I see bright things ahead, but i got allot of work to do. I recently noticed I've been railbirding the Late Stages/Final Tables of the Sunday Majors, especially when Pros/MTT Regs are deep taking notes on how they play and ways they close, paying no attention to the idiots in chat. I've also been taking notes on tons of videos here and there, which is starting to click and hopefully pay off. Sunday I watched Timex go deep in a few and it was interesting to see. He's a beast. Lookin forward to seeing him play in Vegas when he finally turns 21.

With school going pretty well this semester, I've had allot of time to study and work on my online game, both FR cash and MTTs. I've literally been living, breathing, and sleeping poker since the New Year. I haven't played the grinder volume that regs do since I only play on a laptop 6-tabling at the most, but been doin as much as I can. Besides the play, I've also taken allot of info from listening to PokerCasts (podcasts) I've downloaded through my Zune network (Marketplace). Here are a few of the PokerCasts I've found entertaining and helpful: (all free, of course)

- PStars 2+2 PokerCast (Timex's recent interview)
- PokerRoad.com's Poker Beat
- PokerFive's Online PokerCast
- Ante Up Poker Magazine's PokerCast
- ESPN's The Poker Edge
- RoundersRadio's Tournament Pwnage Hour with HerschelW and Guests ***great for MTT/SNG players***

With that said, I can't get enough Poker. There is just so much info out there and I'm soaking myself up with it all. I wish I was this amp'd about my game in the past because all this catching up is making me realize just how far behind I was (and still am), especially in this day and age where it is super tough to make it big in MTTs or Cash Games. There is just so much talent out there and only the ones willing to put the work in will go for the long haul.

The following graph is my Spring Break results from last week of FR low stakes Cash online. It starts from $0 cause Im a dumb ass and didn't backup my HEM/HUD before upgrading my laptop from Vistas to Windows 7 (which is sweet by the way). Sucked getting back up and running again, but I'm happy with my results. I built up my BR enough playing FR 25NL Rush/rakeback to move up to 200NL FR for a few days to take a shot at a higher limit, only 2-tabling. I recently heard a pokercast with Leatherass talking about how he recommended Matt Bolt (mbolt1), a student of his back in the day, move up in stakes right away and he would back him no matter what (when they first started working together). He felt his (bolts) game was good enough to move up the ladder even though his BR wasn't equipped. Bolt ended up doing so and had a 6 figure month to follow. I almost feel the same way. I feel comfortable at 100NL and want to move up much sooner than later, but can't do it comfortably. We'll see... maybe soon enough. Im runnin hotter than Forrest Gump as of late and will have to take notice and play less if the Poker God's cut my legs off in stride. In any case, my game is on point and my reads are scary sick at each table enabling me to make big laydowns and build big pots with the nuts. Anyways... thanks for lettin me ramble on. Enjoy the rest of the month, Happy St. Patty's Day, Easter to come, and play well.....