This past Sunday I had my first significant score of the year. Finished 4th in the $3 rush rebuy for a little over $3k. It's probably not a coincidence that this happened after spending the week watching more vids than I've watched over the past 6 months+.
Hopefully, this is just a small sign of things to come.
I've sent out several PMs this week trying to find out more information from various online coaches. I have a couple of prospects, but I think I'll wait until Pocket 5s releases their new coaching "classifieds" feature. If you know any good MTT coaches for mid+highstakes, please let me know. Thanks.
Good Luck and Stay Positive.
Showing posts with label coach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coach. Show all posts
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
First Trip to Vegas for 2k9
As I stated in a previous post, I decided to fork over the money and take a trip to Vegas and train with the online phenom, The Maven. Here's a trip report.
Well, it didn't start out too well. I took the worst bad beat of my life. Before heading out, Maven suggested that I rent a car. I thought about it, but decided to avoid it because I didn't want to deal with parking, getting gas, etc, etc. Boy did this bite me in the ass. I should have known something when a local on the plane asked where I was staying. I told her the Sun Coast. Then she asked how was I getting there. When I replied by saying a cab, she had this look on her face, like What The Fuck are you thinking. LOL. After getting off the plane, I went to the shuttle area to find out if there was a shuttle going to the Sun Coast. Of course there wasn't. Then I just waited in the long ass cab line. I told the cab driver where I was going and he paused as he closed the trunk. So, we're just riding down the freeway. I looked at the meter and saw it at about $19. Usually the cab to my usual spot, Ballys, is only about $20. I asked how much would this fare be and he told me about $50-$60. I said oh shit, turn around. After calming down, I just decided to finish the drive. That was unexpected to say the least. I was able to pay with a credit card in the cab, but I got screwed again because there was a $7 service fee. Go figure. The good news was that I found out a free shuttle would take me to the airport when it was time to leave. (even though I had to catch it at 6am)
This was actually the worst part of the entire trip. The casino was nice, they had some nice restaurants(T.G.I.F ftw) and even had a movie theater. I was tempted, but couldn't bring myself to fly to Vegas and go to the movies. The poker room was pretty small, but it was better than nothing. They ran a lot of limit games and only $2-$5 no limit. That's too big for me so I decided to play in a crappy $45 daily tourney to kill time. On Day 1 I was set to meet with Maven at 3pm and on Day 2 2pm. On Day 1, I played the daily tourney. Nothing much happened, but I saw how horrible live players play. I don't play much live any more, but the few times that I do play, I can see why online players are making more and more final tables of big televised tourneys.
After getting knocked out of the tourney, I took a cab over the Maven's house. He is sharing the house with online legend, Ari. It's a nice house but you can tell its a bachelor pad. There training center is sick. It looks like a huge garage that was split in two rooms. One room has black painted walls. There are 4 workstations. Each with a 30" monitor and a vertical 24" monitor. Two workstations were mirrors of a third. The second room was brownish and had 5 or 6 similar workstations. Ari and his student were in this room.
I spent most of my time next to Maven watching every hand of every tourney that he played. Before going out, I bought a digital voice recorder. This thing is great, I was able to record almost every minute that was spent talking poker.
Day 1: We started with intros. Maven introduced me to his two in-house personal assistants, Ari, and one of Ari's students. I even got to play with both of Ari's WSOP Circuit rings. They are pretty cool. They almost look like Super Bowl rings. Afterwards, we went over some general MTT strategy, etc. This was followed by watching him play and talk about various moves. He introduced me to a couple of moves that I have seen online but didn't really have in my tool box. One came at a good time because just before flying out, I discovered a leak in my game and was thinking about ways to plug it. One of Maven's tools plugs this leak. The night ended around midnight. Thankfully, Maven gave me a ride back to the casino. When I got back to the Casino, I grabbed a bite at my home away from home, TGI Fridays and then went and played Pai Gao for an hour or so to get some drinks. Day 2 was set to begin at around 2pm.
Day 2: To kill some time before heading over to Maven's house, I decided to play the Sun Coast daily tourney again. I ended up chopping it 4 handed. I had the chip lead and had no doubt that I would win. The only reason for the chop was that time was getting close. I needed to eat before going to Mavens and it takes 20-30 minutes for the cab to arrive. The chop was kinda funny. Did I mention that live players suck? Well, around 5 or 6 handed I was a smallish stack, not that anyone had a big stack because the structure sucked ass. But anyway, I was just shoving on them like crazy. Finally, this little ole lady had enough of it and called. I had KQ and she had K8. I felt kinda bad because she was obviously frustrated because I had the button when she was in the BB and this call/loss crippled her. So with the chop, at 5handed, they asked for an even chop. I had like 40k in chip, #2 had like 20k. I had my headphones in my ear, so I didn't look like a complete ass when I totally ignored them. When 5th busted, I was in 3-way pot with two short stacks. The guy that won had about 20k and I still had like 35k. At this time, I was ok with the chop because 1st didnt get much and I had to eat, leave. One guy was literally pissed that I didn't agree to an even chop 5 handed. I laughed and said that you've got to be kidding me. One guy had 1 or 2 big blinds and they wanted an even chop. Live players suck. LOL.
One interesting situation came up in the tourney. At one point early in the tourney, it was folded to the SB. I paused, looked down at Ten, Six. I paused again, and then shoved. But after I pushed in, I noticed the dealer flipping over the flop. My immediate reaction was to ask the dealer what was he doing. I didn't check. The floor was called over. It was ruled that since I took too long and the dealer did his usual tap and flip, that I checked. WTF? I hope this wouldn't be the case in a "real" tourney. Anyway, the SB shoved. I paused again. I had flopped mid pair with my six, but there was a flush draw out there. The SB said, "You can fold because the floor said that you just checked." So, I called. He had nothing, unless you call an over and a backdoor flush draw a hand. My hand held.
Day 2: So, I got to Mavens and the day was basically more of the same. I watched him play til like 11. It was nice to see him play in most of the big Sunday tourneys. He even sent me some of my money back because he busted "early" on Day 2. I thought that was cool.
Overview. So, the big question that people asked me when I got back to Raleigh. Do I think the training, trip was worth the money? It's kinda hard to say Yes or Hell No. It was very, very nice to see the "day and life" of an online poker professional. I think of myself as a full-time semi-pro, so seeing how they big boys play is nice. Here are some points that I took from the trip:
1) The workstations that they used didn't have any non-poker software except for firefox. And this was only to pull up peoples poker stats. So, I need to pay for the full membership to the online database and I needed to cleanup my PC to make it perform its best.
2) I need a large monitor.
3) They use Poker Tracker religiously. I have Poker Tracker, but rarely use it while playing. Basically this is costing me money, because all of the big boys use PT.
4) I have a few more big tools for my toolbox. This is always nice.
5) Don't play and be distracted by tv, the net surfing, etc, etc.
6) Contacts.
7) Watching pro play.
8) A bunch of other small things that I can't think of right now or put a price tag on.
Could I have been givin these things without going to Vegas? Probably, but I am a "seeing is believing" kind of person. I definitely believe a newbie would get the most bang for the buck, but it was beneficial for most intermediate players as well. So, if you fall into this bucket, I recommend taking the trip if you are serious about improving your game. I am always trying to get better and if that means taking a bit out of the several thousand that I have made, then so be it. I am no where near where I want to be skill-wise or financially, so training to become a better player can do nothing but help.
Wow, this was long. Til next time. Good luck at the tables.
Well, it didn't start out too well. I took the worst bad beat of my life. Before heading out, Maven suggested that I rent a car. I thought about it, but decided to avoid it because I didn't want to deal with parking, getting gas, etc, etc. Boy did this bite me in the ass. I should have known something when a local on the plane asked where I was staying. I told her the Sun Coast. Then she asked how was I getting there. When I replied by saying a cab, she had this look on her face, like What The Fuck are you thinking. LOL. After getting off the plane, I went to the shuttle area to find out if there was a shuttle going to the Sun Coast. Of course there wasn't. Then I just waited in the long ass cab line. I told the cab driver where I was going and he paused as he closed the trunk. So, we're just riding down the freeway. I looked at the meter and saw it at about $19. Usually the cab to my usual spot, Ballys, is only about $20. I asked how much would this fare be and he told me about $50-$60. I said oh shit, turn around. After calming down, I just decided to finish the drive. That was unexpected to say the least. I was able to pay with a credit card in the cab, but I got screwed again because there was a $7 service fee. Go figure. The good news was that I found out a free shuttle would take me to the airport when it was time to leave. (even though I had to catch it at 6am)
This was actually the worst part of the entire trip. The casino was nice, they had some nice restaurants(T.G.I.F ftw) and even had a movie theater. I was tempted, but couldn't bring myself to fly to Vegas and go to the movies. The poker room was pretty small, but it was better than nothing. They ran a lot of limit games and only $2-$5 no limit. That's too big for me so I decided to play in a crappy $45 daily tourney to kill time. On Day 1 I was set to meet with Maven at 3pm and on Day 2 2pm. On Day 1, I played the daily tourney. Nothing much happened, but I saw how horrible live players play. I don't play much live any more, but the few times that I do play, I can see why online players are making more and more final tables of big televised tourneys.
After getting knocked out of the tourney, I took a cab over the Maven's house. He is sharing the house with online legend, Ari. It's a nice house but you can tell its a bachelor pad. There training center is sick. It looks like a huge garage that was split in two rooms. One room has black painted walls. There are 4 workstations. Each with a 30" monitor and a vertical 24" monitor. Two workstations were mirrors of a third. The second room was brownish and had 5 or 6 similar workstations. Ari and his student were in this room.
I spent most of my time next to Maven watching every hand of every tourney that he played. Before going out, I bought a digital voice recorder. This thing is great, I was able to record almost every minute that was spent talking poker.
Day 1: We started with intros. Maven introduced me to his two in-house personal assistants, Ari, and one of Ari's students. I even got to play with both of Ari's WSOP Circuit rings. They are pretty cool. They almost look like Super Bowl rings. Afterwards, we went over some general MTT strategy, etc. This was followed by watching him play and talk about various moves. He introduced me to a couple of moves that I have seen online but didn't really have in my tool box. One came at a good time because just before flying out, I discovered a leak in my game and was thinking about ways to plug it. One of Maven's tools plugs this leak. The night ended around midnight. Thankfully, Maven gave me a ride back to the casino. When I got back to the Casino, I grabbed a bite at my home away from home, TGI Fridays and then went and played Pai Gao for an hour or so to get some drinks. Day 2 was set to begin at around 2pm.
Day 2: To kill some time before heading over to Maven's house, I decided to play the Sun Coast daily tourney again. I ended up chopping it 4 handed. I had the chip lead and had no doubt that I would win. The only reason for the chop was that time was getting close. I needed to eat before going to Mavens and it takes 20-30 minutes for the cab to arrive. The chop was kinda funny. Did I mention that live players suck? Well, around 5 or 6 handed I was a smallish stack, not that anyone had a big stack because the structure sucked ass. But anyway, I was just shoving on them like crazy. Finally, this little ole lady had enough of it and called. I had KQ and she had K8. I felt kinda bad because she was obviously frustrated because I had the button when she was in the BB and this call/loss crippled her. So with the chop, at 5handed, they asked for an even chop. I had like 40k in chip, #2 had like 20k. I had my headphones in my ear, so I didn't look like a complete ass when I totally ignored them. When 5th busted, I was in 3-way pot with two short stacks. The guy that won had about 20k and I still had like 35k. At this time, I was ok with the chop because 1st didnt get much and I had to eat, leave. One guy was literally pissed that I didn't agree to an even chop 5 handed. I laughed and said that you've got to be kidding me. One guy had 1 or 2 big blinds and they wanted an even chop. Live players suck. LOL.
One interesting situation came up in the tourney. At one point early in the tourney, it was folded to the SB. I paused, looked down at Ten, Six. I paused again, and then shoved. But after I pushed in, I noticed the dealer flipping over the flop. My immediate reaction was to ask the dealer what was he doing. I didn't check. The floor was called over. It was ruled that since I took too long and the dealer did his usual tap and flip, that I checked. WTF? I hope this wouldn't be the case in a "real" tourney. Anyway, the SB shoved. I paused again. I had flopped mid pair with my six, but there was a flush draw out there. The SB said, "You can fold because the floor said that you just checked." So, I called. He had nothing, unless you call an over and a backdoor flush draw a hand. My hand held.
Day 2: So, I got to Mavens and the day was basically more of the same. I watched him play til like 11. It was nice to see him play in most of the big Sunday tourneys. He even sent me some of my money back because he busted "early" on Day 2. I thought that was cool.
Overview. So, the big question that people asked me when I got back to Raleigh. Do I think the training, trip was worth the money? It's kinda hard to say Yes or Hell No. It was very, very nice to see the "day and life" of an online poker professional. I think of myself as a full-time semi-pro, so seeing how they big boys play is nice. Here are some points that I took from the trip:
1) The workstations that they used didn't have any non-poker software except for firefox. And this was only to pull up peoples poker stats. So, I need to pay for the full membership to the online database and I needed to cleanup my PC to make it perform its best.
2) I need a large monitor.
3) They use Poker Tracker religiously. I have Poker Tracker, but rarely use it while playing. Basically this is costing me money, because all of the big boys use PT.
4) I have a few more big tools for my toolbox. This is always nice.
5) Don't play and be distracted by tv, the net surfing, etc, etc.
6) Contacts.
7) Watching pro play.
8) A bunch of other small things that I can't think of right now or put a price tag on.
Could I have been givin these things without going to Vegas? Probably, but I am a "seeing is believing" kind of person. I definitely believe a newbie would get the most bang for the buck, but it was beneficial for most intermediate players as well. So, if you fall into this bucket, I recommend taking the trip if you are serious about improving your game. I am always trying to get better and if that means taking a bit out of the several thousand that I have made, then so be it. I am no where near where I want to be skill-wise or financially, so training to become a better player can do nothing but help.
Wow, this was long. Til next time. Good luck at the tables.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Downswing and Training
It's been a while since I've written a post. Honestly, I haven't had much of anything to write about other than bad beat stories, so I'd rather just not write than clog this blog with those stories.
So, the SCOOP passed by and not much happened. I only played in 3 events. 2 low and 1 mid stake event. The start times are not geared toward East Coast players. Unfortunately, I didn't cash in either event, but I love the 3 level buy-in idea. I just think Stars didn't have enough reasonable sattys for the high stakes events.
As much as I love playing on Full Tilt, I have been getting crushed since Feb. I'm trying to stay upbeat. Things will turn around soon, but the MTT grind can definitely take a toll on my emotional state. To help this, I just played a cash game for 30 minutes, lost $150 and then realized why I play MTTs. LOL.
After the SCOOP, I took a week off. The break was needed. As long as I am playing decent, I'll chug along during a downswing, but when I start noticing a lot of bad play, it's break time. My first day back, I finally made another Final Table on Stars. Ended with a 3rd place finish for $7400. A decent payout, but I woulda loved to get another 5-figure score if I coulda won my race, QQ < AK.
Regarding training, for the past 6 months or so, I've been emailing TheMaven and his students regarding the program. I think this could really help my progress, but there is a good amount of cost to get into the program. For a while, I've been trying to find something to invest my poker winnings into and eventually decided to invest in myself by joining the program. My initial training period is in May. Hopefully, I can get started and show vast improvement in time for the FTOPS and WSOP.
Well, that's it for now. Maybe I'll be posting soon about winning a WSOP ME seat. I've still only played one sattie and finished just shy of the seat. Take care.
So, the SCOOP passed by and not much happened. I only played in 3 events. 2 low and 1 mid stake event. The start times are not geared toward East Coast players. Unfortunately, I didn't cash in either event, but I love the 3 level buy-in idea. I just think Stars didn't have enough reasonable sattys for the high stakes events.
As much as I love playing on Full Tilt, I have been getting crushed since Feb. I'm trying to stay upbeat. Things will turn around soon, but the MTT grind can definitely take a toll on my emotional state. To help this, I just played a cash game for 30 minutes, lost $150 and then realized why I play MTTs. LOL.
After the SCOOP, I took a week off. The break was needed. As long as I am playing decent, I'll chug along during a downswing, but when I start noticing a lot of bad play, it's break time. My first day back, I finally made another Final Table on Stars. Ended with a 3rd place finish for $7400. A decent payout, but I woulda loved to get another 5-figure score if I coulda won my race, QQ < AK.
Regarding training, for the past 6 months or so, I've been emailing TheMaven and his students regarding the program. I think this could really help my progress, but there is a good amount of cost to get into the program. For a while, I've been trying to find something to invest my poker winnings into and eventually decided to invest in myself by joining the program. My initial training period is in May. Hopefully, I can get started and show vast improvement in time for the FTOPS and WSOP.
Well, that's it for now. Maybe I'll be posting soon about winning a WSOP ME seat. I've still only played one sattie and finished just shy of the seat. Take care.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
GG 2008
I know there's still a little over a month left in the year, but I've decided to use this time as a transition period. My #1 goal in poker for 2008 was to establish and maintain sound bankroll management practices. The lack of proper BR discipline has killed me in prior years. Well, I think I was able to accomplish that goal with flying colors. (At least on Full Tilt. Still working on Stars.) As the year comes to a close, I'm starting to think about poker goals for 2009.
In 2008, I was able to grow my bankroll by 700% and that doesn't include the thousands that I cashed out via check or P2P. I hope to continue this trend for next year. In order to help with this cause, I plan on hiring a cash game and a MTT coach. I've worked with a few people this year, but none have stuck so far. For the past month, I've been running bad in my cash games. Maybe when I was winning, I was just a bad player running good. Either way, significantly improving my cash game and MTT play is at the top of my preliminary list of 2009 goals. I'll quantify these goals later. There's a lot of money to be made playing poker and I want more than my fair share. (Greedy Americans) I've always wanted to have complete financial freedom and as of now, poker seems to be the most viable short term solution.
So, during my transition into 2009, I plan on doing more training than playing. Primarily by watching a ton of Cash Game and MTT videos from PXF, Cardrunners and DeucesCracked. I have been a member of PXF and CR for a couple of years and rarely watch videos. I joined DC a few week ago. This is definitely a leak that I need to plug. And as I mentioned before, I plan on hiring a couple of coaches and getting in a few sessions. This will put a little dent in my BR, but in the end it should be well worth it. I also want to try and make a name for myself in the online MTT scene. In Late-October/Early-November, I had a little taste of success and I loved it. Most of the top 100 in the Pocket 5s rankings were virtual unknowns at the beginning of 2008. Hopefully, I can start my story in early 2009.
I'll have a 2 week vacation from my 9-to-5 around xmas. I plan on using that time to put in some volume, depending on where I'm at in my training. I really would love to win a seat into the PCA, but Stars doesn't run many good satellites for the PCA Sunday Mega Sat. My official list of goals will be posted early next year.
Good luck at the tables.....that I'm not sitting at.
In 2008, I was able to grow my bankroll by 700% and that doesn't include the thousands that I cashed out via check or P2P. I hope to continue this trend for next year. In order to help with this cause, I plan on hiring a cash game and a MTT coach. I've worked with a few people this year, but none have stuck so far. For the past month, I've been running bad in my cash games. Maybe when I was winning, I was just a bad player running good. Either way, significantly improving my cash game and MTT play is at the top of my preliminary list of 2009 goals. I'll quantify these goals later. There's a lot of money to be made playing poker and I want more than my fair share. (Greedy Americans) I've always wanted to have complete financial freedom and as of now, poker seems to be the most viable short term solution.
So, during my transition into 2009, I plan on doing more training than playing. Primarily by watching a ton of Cash Game and MTT videos from PXF, Cardrunners and DeucesCracked. I have been a member of PXF and CR for a couple of years and rarely watch videos. I joined DC a few week ago. This is definitely a leak that I need to plug. And as I mentioned before, I plan on hiring a couple of coaches and getting in a few sessions. This will put a little dent in my BR, but in the end it should be well worth it. I also want to try and make a name for myself in the online MTT scene. In Late-October/Early-November, I had a little taste of success and I loved it. Most of the top 100 in the Pocket 5s rankings were virtual unknowns at the beginning of 2008. Hopefully, I can start my story in early 2009.
I'll have a 2 week vacation from my 9-to-5 around xmas. I plan on using that time to put in some volume, depending on where I'm at in my training. I really would love to win a seat into the PCA, but Stars doesn't run many good satellites for the PCA Sunday Mega Sat. My official list of goals will be posted early next year.
Good luck at the tables.....that I'm not sitting at.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Coaching Search Update
For the better part of this year, I've been searching off and on for a coach to help me with my MTT game. I am a member of PXF and Cardrunners. I read some of the forums. But just watching videos and posting hands in isolation can't replace the value of one on one interaction.
Well, I haven't made much progress, but after my last couple of MTTs, I realize that I should conclude this search sooner rather than later. I've found a few new sites that list some very successful online players as available coaches. Hopefully, their online success can translate to success in being a coach as well. The main problem with these players are that they make so much money that there has to be a significant financial gain to take them away from the tables to coach. I've heard that it isn't uncommon to come up with some creative compensation plans to pay these high profile coaches. Maybe like some amount of money per hour and a cut of some tourney payouts.
Do you know of any good coaches that are looking for an eager student? If so, drop me an email.
Well, I haven't made much progress, but after my last couple of MTTs, I realize that I should conclude this search sooner rather than later. I've found a few new sites that list some very successful online players as available coaches. Hopefully, their online success can translate to success in being a coach as well. The main problem with these players are that they make so much money that there has to be a significant financial gain to take them away from the tables to coach. I've heard that it isn't uncommon to come up with some creative compensation plans to pay these high profile coaches. Maybe like some amount of money per hour and a cut of some tourney payouts.
Do you know of any good coaches that are looking for an eager student? If so, drop me an email.
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