Where I’ve Been / Where I’m Going (in re: poker)
Hey guys,
Been a while since I've been on here so I thought I'd check in. Really since the summer in Vegas I haven't been able to truly buckle down and grind like I should have and the fact that I haven't been playing well hasn't exactly helped the motivation to sit and grind out a high volume of tournaments. So I've mainly just taken a lot of time off from the game and attempted to figure out what the next step for me will be, along with playing LOTS of golf and going out a copious amount. While I do still (somewhere inside) love the game of poker the passion I had to get better just hasn't manifested itself properly in a long time so I am finally taking the leap and quitting as a FT poker professional.
A lot of people have asked me why I would do it because its such an awesome lifestyle and essentially the best way I can describe it is that its not fulfilling anymore to constantly be pressing to be better, I feel like by moving on to something else, in this case getting my real estate license, I can maybe find the deep drive I had about 6 years ago when I started this ride.
This doesn't mean I'm leaving PokerSavvy+ or anything like that. It doesn't mean I'm quitting poker, I'll still be playing some 10k's and 5k's live as well as days online when I am up to it. It doesn't mean you'll get less videos from me (even though that would be hard in the last months). Quite the opposite, I think while I am playing I will likely be more apt to fire up a video. All it really means is that every Sunday/Monday/Wednesday are blacked out on my schedule for poker days. I'll still sit down and occasionally grind a 12hr session, but its going to be far from the norm. Going into this Sunday it will be the last one which I consider myself a poker professional and will be going out in style with the WCOOP ME, FTP $500, WCOOP 2nd Chance and a hoard of other big tournaments. If I could pick a day to go out this would be the one I would pick. I'm going to attempt to record as much as I can and play as well as I can and hopefully, we can get a nice long video series of the new poker hobbyist winning a couple million dollars.
Joe Udine is a Legend!
One of my good friends in poker, Hoodini10, took down the $1k FTOPS the other night for about $300k. It's Joe's 2nd FTOPS win, he's basically a god. Congrats!
The times I love having a blog
Are when I get sucked out on and can come here, post and whine. Pity me readers. PITY ME! Haha. For 30% of the chips in play 11 handed in the Stars afternoon rebuy. Such is tournaments. Playing well lately though and I just cant help but feel like something big is going to happen soon for me. I recorded the end of this 100r so the whole video will be up next week. Overall the video just shows how to get AA and KK like 4x and have them hold every time but the biggest one. Talk soon, when I have some good news, likely after I win an FTOPS this Sunday.
PokerStars Game #31329360932: Tournament #183606167, $100+$9 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XXI (3500/7000) - 2009/08/06 19:32:32 ET
Table '183606167 42' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: achen (560562 in chips)
Seat 4: $trateGema (224747 in chips) out of hand (moved from another table into small blind)
Seat 7: WPThero (457133 in chips)
Seat 8: Skämmes (343904 in chips)
Seat 9: joscha45 (154585 in chips)
achen: posts the ante 700
WPThero: posts the ante 700
Skämmes: posts the ante 700
joscha45: posts the ante 700
WPThero: posts small blind 3500
Skämmes: posts big blind 7000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WPThero [Ac As]
joscha45: raises 9998 to 16998
achen: folds
WPThero: raises 25227 to 42225
Skämmes: raises 55550 to 97775
joscha45: folds
WPThero: raises 358658 to 456433 and is all-in
Skämmes: calls 245429 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (113229) returned to WPThero
*** FLOP *** [7s Th 9s]
*** TURN *** [7s Th 9s] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [7s Th 9s 2h] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WPThero: shows [Ac As] (a pair of Aces)
Skämmes: shows [Kh Ah] (a flush, Ace high)
Skämmes collected 706206 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 706206 | Rake 0
Board [7s Th 9s 2h Jh]
Seat 3: achen (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: WPThero (small blind) showed [Ac As] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 8: Skämmes (big blind) showed [Kh Ah] and won (706206) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 9: joscha45 folded before Flop
A free idea for online poker sites for an awesome new feature
So my consulting days are over for the most part over within the online poker industry so this is a freebie for any site that wants to make it happen. It wouldn't be a life changing thing, but it would be a very cool feature that would lead to players spending countless hours making and deploying their own tournaments, while paying rake the entire time.
Create-Your-Own-Structure
Pretty simple idea and a pretty easy idea to implement in a hurry. Essentially structures are based in text files and formatted a given way and the software reads from those files when tournaments are deployed. All a site would need to do is have the software delimit the custom structure in a certain way from a GUIin the lobby and BLAM players have the ability to create every blind jump and every ante for X amount of levels. Then you allow them the ability to pick the level length (between 1 and 30 minutes) and there you have it. The software spits a structure file back to the server which them deploys it automatically. In a quick update you have given your users the ability to not only create new structures but to essentially test out new ideas for your poker room to see how wild and wacky levels effect tournament length and relative stack depth. All this and the players are paying you for the ability to essentially be your guinea pigs for any strange tournament structure you've ever imagined for your site.
This is why tournaments are dumb
Assclowns like this can make a terrible play, get there and then you can never play in the same situation with them again...
PokerStars Game #30692522945: Tournament #180540631, $100+$9 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (125/250) - 2009/07/20 21:50:45 ET
Table '180540631 4' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: tysonduke23 (6999 in chips)
Seat 2: MONSTER_DONG (5645 in chips)
Seat 3: WPThero (13910 in chips)
Seat 4: Joey Capp (7169 in chips)
Seat 5: T1ckT0ck (37325 in chips)
Seat 6: Mazelucky (13708 in chips)
Seat 7: VerySexual (9945 in chips)
Seat 8: Sherrii (11608 in chips)
Seat 9: Exitonly4 (5005 in chips)
tysonduke23: posts the ante 25
MONSTER_DONG: posts the ante 25
WPThero: posts the ante 25
Joey Capp: posts the ante 25
T1ckT0ck: posts the ante 25
Mazelucky: posts the ante 25
VerySexual: posts the ante 25
Sherrii: posts the ante 25
Exitonly4: posts the ante 25
Joey Capp: posts small blind 125
T1ckT0ck: posts big blind 250
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WPThero [Qc Ah]
Mazelucky: folds
VerySexual: folds
Sherrii: folds
Exitonly4: folds
tysonduke23: folds
MONSTER_DONG: folds
WPThero: raises 425 to 675
Joey Capp: folds
T1ckT0ck: raises 1275 to 1950
Mazelucky is disconnected
WPThero: raises 3850 to 5800
T1ckT0ck: raises 31500 to 37300 and is all-in
WPThero: calls 8085 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (23415) returned to T1ckT0ck
*** FLOP *** [Qd 2c 4d]
*** TURN *** [Qd 2c 4d] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [Qd 2c 4d 4h] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
T1ckT0ck: shows [5d 4s] (three of a kind, Fours)
WPThero: shows [Qc Ah] (two pair, Queens and Fours)
T1ckT0ck collected 28120 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 28120 | Rake 0
Board [Qd 2c 4d 4h Th]
Seat 1: tysonduke23 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: MONSTER_DONG folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: WPThero (button) showed [Qc Ah] and lost with two pair, Queens and Fours
Seat 4: Joey Capp (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: T1ckT0ck (big blind) showed [5d 4s] and won (28120) with three of a kind, Fours
Seat 6: Mazelucky folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: VerySexual folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Sherrii folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Exitonly4 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
WSOP ME: Day 2
I started day 2 with 36k in chips after spewing off half my 67k stack to end day 1 and moved to a new table really quickly into day 2. The average age was likely late 40s aside from Badbeatslyer from online who played extremely well but was shortstacked most of the day. Once I sat I instantly started raising and c-betting with a lot of success and built my stack up to around 55-60k with no problem. Then my 1st big hand of the day came.
BTN opens to 1,500 with a big stack at 300/600/50 and I call from the BB with 86hh. He was an old guy and from the way he was playing I assumed he was spewy and accumulated through sucking out or coolering someone. Flop comes T66cc and he attempts to open check on the button and the dealer informs him its not his turn. I then make it 2,200 to go and he almost instantly makes it 10,000. I thought for a minute about what to do here and while thinking he throws me this gem, "dont just call, I want it all." Ok sir, I'll try. I make it 24,000 total (I had 3bet him about 4x on flops already in an hour) and he throws in a stack of reds and I say "I'm allin" since I wasnt sure if I covered the bet. He made the dealer count down the bet and then called the extra 4,700 with 88! Haha. Thanks. Turn was a blank club to give him more outs but I held on the river and got to 120k.
At one point in the day I had myself up to 170k but spewed back to 99k and rollercoastered up and down between 130k and 95k all day without having any huge hands. I averted disaster once after firing 2 barrels with 99 against a calling station on a 6777 board and when the J hit the turn he checked a 3rd time and I pondered it and checked back after being told 3 times by the dealer he checked while thinking I finally exclaimed "I know he checked!" He let out a roar when I checked and showed JJ. Phew.
The biggest hand of the day was the last one versus Kido Pham. We had some history already at the brief time he was there which included me firing a bricked draw and him calling me with 3rd pair on the river as well as me 4betting him with A9 and having to show versus a shortstack. Then the last hand comes where Kido announces that there will be no bluffing here. Winner has to show. He makes it 2,200 at 500/1,000 and I called behind (I was direct to his left) with QhJc. We get 1 caller on the CO and 1 in the blinds. Flop KT4hhh. Checks around. Turn 9s. Checks to me and I bet 4,000 and everyone folds to Kido who calls. River is another non-heart 9. Kido checks and I make it 7,000 real quick when he goes into the tank and starts shuffling around chips. Finally after some posturing he makes it 35,000 more. Whether or not he thought because it was the last hand he could bully me or something I will never know but his line made absolutely no sense and I called after a short amount of thought. He said "What do you have the nut flush?" I said nope the straight and he mucked and said nice call as I raked in an 80k+ pot on the last hand of the day to finish with 162k. Excited for Friday and my table draw looks alright except a pro from Europe on my direct left, which may make me play tighter then usual. We shall see.
UB $1k / Aruba
Ub loves me. I finally snapped out of my rut the last two days with a final table of the Stars $150 where I got 6th and a win in an Aruba sat on UB. These were just the appetizers though as I took down the UB 1k for the 2nd time since April for about $40k. Nice to get out of this downswing before the main event. I might have been pressing a bit lately and played more patiently the last few days, and ran well when it counted. In fact, I ran white hot for a small portion of the UB 1k and played extremely disciplined at the FT. I will be back to my normal contributions here in about 2 weeks and have some interesting topics planned.
Vegas Update
So I am about a week and a half into my Vegas journey this summer and am somehow up money so far. I have 2 cashes so far in the series, 39th in the $1000 and 44th in the $2500. I will go over some hands later on as I just typed one out and hit the wrong button here. As you've noticed I havent been making videos while I've been here and will likely not be able to make much while in Vegas but I will try to get something out. I might play this Saturday but plan on going out in Vegas a few nights this weekend, however, next week should be fun with two $2000s. Here is my schedule for next week:
Mon- $2000 NLHE WSOP
Tue- $1500 NLHE WSOP
Wed- $1060 NLHE Caesars
Thu- $2000 NLHE WSOP
Sat- $1500 NLHE
Sun- $1060/$1070 Caesars/Venetian (or online)
Talk to you soon.
Tally so far:
Buyins: $12,500
Earnings: $25,000 (approx)
Events: 6
Vegasssssss!
Heading out tomorrow morning for Vegas and will likely be playing in the $1k donkfest on Saturday. Really looking forward to this summer even though I am going in on a huge online downswing. I think I am ready for the grind that the WSOP is as well as having some fun with my summer friends, whom I've now lived with for 3 summers in a row. I expect some ridiculous nights out at clubs and casinos (although I have a 5k prop bet about not playing a table game this summer with my roommate Klod) and lots of high stakes beer pong / the introduction of high stakes cornhole. Will be tweeting all summer starting with the 1k and will try to keep that as entertaining as possible. Follow me @ http://www.twitter.com/jurollo I will also likely throw up some blogs, video and written as well as doing some videos during the summer. Thanks to everyone for the support and I expect to flash around a new bracelet at summer's end, hopefully not one from a hospital after receiving alcohol poisoning too.
Every MTT pro needs one of these!
Here you go! Great for your favorite pro MTTer's birthday, graduation or that special occasion for a loved one.
