Thursday, July 8, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
WSOP Time!
I didn't play much during my last two weeks in Colombia. I did go the casino and played a tournament with 65 people. Great to see poker going strong in Medellin!
I start the Main Event on Wednesday. I'll be tweeting updates. For the few who live in another world, just go to my tweet account and follow me, add mobile, and you'll get my text updates straight to your phone.
I start the Main Event on Wednesday. I'll be tweeting updates. For the few who live in another world, just go to my tweet account and follow me, add mobile, and you'll get my text updates straight to your phone.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Tough day at the office
losing days happen, but it sucks when you really feel on top of your game. I was really pleased with how I played today. I felt like Hellmuth - dodging bullets only to bounce back again. I really was on top of my game...folding flushes, losing the minimum with big hands, inducing bluffs, making the right calls with medicre hands. But some really tough luck today in key pots. AK loses to AQ, Ak loses to A7, Kk loses to AA. i lost a few coin flips in pretty decent sized pots as well. I would have been top 50 at FTP with 1800 remaining if I had won AK vs AQ.
On well, that is the way it goes.
In other news, Go New Zealand! They tied Italy today 1-1.
On well, that is the way it goes.
In other news, Go New Zealand! They tied Italy today 1-1.
Friday, June 18, 2010
yea - a win!
I won the Bodog 10K, $3K for first place. Had another small cash tonight as well, so cashed in 2 of 8 tourneys. Up $2,300 for the night. I'm pretty much making a final table about every night I play.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Visit to Colombianitos
Diana and I had a great visit to Colombianitos. Probably my favorite in terms of interaction with the kids. We went with Diana's sister and her fiance from Belgiam who is a very good soccer player. We arrived right when they were about to begin practice for the 10-12 year olds.
First,we met the two new children that Diana and I are sponsoring - Yubiseli and Julian. The child we sponsored before has now graduated and so we asked Colombianitos to be able to sponsor both a girl and boy in Medellin. By sponsoring a child for $25/month, they get all the uniforms and supplies they need to attend school. We brought each one of them a t-shirt and it was great to actually meet them in person.
After that, they started practicing and I asked the coach if Robert and I could play with the kids. They had 3 different scrimmages going on and Robert and I got to play in all three of them. The kids were soooooo excited. I felt like a celebrity as they surrounded both of us, asking lots of questions. All the children were smiling, laughing, and just showed a lot of curiousity in who we were. Afterwords, as we were walking to the offices, Diana was surrounded by all the girls asking lots of question. It was great fun and always a pleasure to see these children who have very little in terms of money and material things, but who still manage to love life like they do.
The sad part is that our of 350 children in the Goals for a Better Life program in Medellin, only 29 are sponsored. The other 320 children are responsible for getting the supplies and uniforms they need for school. The waiting list of children in need of sponsorship is quite long.
I big shout-out goes to the cover designer of Peak Performance Poker, Per Arne Dahl, aka Primitive in the ITH forums for donating his cover design fee to Colombianitos. I wish I had tracked all the money ITH'ers have donated to Colombianitos over the year, both through ITH and on their own as it is in the thousands of dollars. Just another example of what a great community ITH is.
So on to poker, I played last night, finishing 3rd in one tournament and bubbling another. I lost AK to A3 and JJ to A8 to go out in 3rd, otherwise had a great chance to win. Unfortunately, I lost $250 on the night as the tourney I cashed in was the small $50 turbo at Cake. I think I've final tabled Cake now in about 1 in 3 or 4 tournaments I've player there so far this month. Still waiting on my win though!
First,we met the two new children that Diana and I are sponsoring - Yubiseli and Julian. The child we sponsored before has now graduated and so we asked Colombianitos to be able to sponsor both a girl and boy in Medellin. By sponsoring a child for $25/month, they get all the uniforms and supplies they need to attend school. We brought each one of them a t-shirt and it was great to actually meet them in person.
After that, they started practicing and I asked the coach if Robert and I could play with the kids. They had 3 different scrimmages going on and Robert and I got to play in all three of them. The kids were soooooo excited. I felt like a celebrity as they surrounded both of us, asking lots of questions. All the children were smiling, laughing, and just showed a lot of curiousity in who we were. Afterwords, as we were walking to the offices, Diana was surrounded by all the girls asking lots of question. It was great fun and always a pleasure to see these children who have very little in terms of money and material things, but who still manage to love life like they do.
The sad part is that our of 350 children in the Goals for a Better Life program in Medellin, only 29 are sponsored. The other 320 children are responsible for getting the supplies and uniforms they need for school. The waiting list of children in need of sponsorship is quite long.
I big shout-out goes to the cover designer of Peak Performance Poker, Per Arne Dahl, aka Primitive in the ITH forums for donating his cover design fee to Colombianitos. I wish I had tracked all the money ITH'ers have donated to Colombianitos over the year, both through ITH and on their own as it is in the thousands of dollars. Just another example of what a great community ITH is.
So on to poker, I played last night, finishing 3rd in one tournament and bubbling another. I lost AK to A3 and JJ to A8 to go out in 3rd, otherwise had a great chance to win. Unfortunately, I lost $250 on the night as the tourney I cashed in was the small $50 turbo at Cake. I think I've final tabled Cake now in about 1 in 3 or 4 tournaments I've player there so far this month. Still waiting on my win though!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Back to the tables
Cashed in 1 in 6. Finished 72nd in the Pokerstars nightly, which paid 72 people - woohoo! :). Got paid $330 so I ended up losing $400 for the night. I made some sick calls tonight - 2 of the 3 of them were right on. overall, pretty card dead for most of the night. So for the month, 5 sessions, up $2,100. I probably won't be playing until next Tuesday.
Had an interesting meeting this week with the owner of Colombiapoker.net. I'm going to be giving away some of our Spanish books in their live tourneys they run here in Medellin on Saturdays. I plan on playing it a week from this Saturday which should be fun.
Peak Performance Poker goes to print next week!
Had an interesting meeting this week with the owner of Colombiapoker.net. I'm going to be giving away some of our Spanish books in their live tourneys they run here in Medellin on Saturdays. I plan on playing it a week from this Saturday which should be fun.
Peak Performance Poker goes to print next week!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Another Final table, but...
I lost $750 for the night. I played 6 tourneys tonight and a winner take all satellite for $500 entry into Bodog WSOP tourney. I finished 2nd..boo. I finished 7th in the Cake $100. I really like these Cake tourneys. The structure is great and I get to practice a lot of final tables. I feel like my game is getting stronger and I'm much more confortable now late in tourneys than I used to me.
Oh well, I'm going to win one of these.
For the month, I'm up $2,450 over 4 nights.
Oh well, I'm going to win one of these.
For the month, I'm up $2,450 over 4 nights.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Sunday tourneys
Another profitable day and another Top 3 at Cake. I played 9 tourneys today and cashes in 3, with a 3rd place finish at Cake $100 buyin. I also cashed in the Stars Million which is pretty exciting for me as I haven't done that in a long while. Overall profit for the day was $700.
As always, I'm a little disappointed in my 3rd place finish. I had two tough competitors. One with a similar style as myself, and another who was basically running over the two of us. We had 60 big blinds though and I kept telling myself to stay patient, but the guy kept 3-betting, raising big preflop, and betting pot - not the kind of poker I like! I like small pots! So it was tough and I ended up losing my patience on last hand.
I limped A5s on button 3-handed with 1500-3000 blinds. I had about 180K. He raised to 19K or so and I called. Flop was KT2s. He bet half pot, something he normally doesn't do so I thought he might be weak, but of course that was wrong. He was weak all those times he bet pot! I floated him. The turn was the 3c. So now I have all kinds of outs. But of course, now he bets pot. Again, I start thinking maybe he is pushing me off the hand, I have a ton of outs, so I push. He turns over KQ and tourney done.
I hate losing 60 big blinds like that. I kept telling myself to be patient with all those blinds, but didn't. I should have picked a better spot. Maybe the turn wasn't terrible, but that flop was not a good one to float. I'm going to have to think through some strategy for this type of player in the future.
Overall, played well today though and am up $3,200 since arriving in Colombia over 3 nights of poker, so can't complain.
As always, I'm a little disappointed in my 3rd place finish. I had two tough competitors. One with a similar style as myself, and another who was basically running over the two of us. We had 60 big blinds though and I kept telling myself to stay patient, but the guy kept 3-betting, raising big preflop, and betting pot - not the kind of poker I like! I like small pots! So it was tough and I ended up losing my patience on last hand.
I limped A5s on button 3-handed with 1500-3000 blinds. I had about 180K. He raised to 19K or so and I called. Flop was KT2s. He bet half pot, something he normally doesn't do so I thought he might be weak, but of course that was wrong. He was weak all those times he bet pot! I floated him. The turn was the 3c. So now I have all kinds of outs. But of course, now he bets pot. Again, I start thinking maybe he is pushing me off the hand, I have a ton of outs, so I push. He turns over KQ and tourney done.
I hate losing 60 big blinds like that. I kept telling myself to be patient with all those blinds, but didn't. I should have picked a better spot. Maybe the turn wasn't terrible, but that flop was not a good one to float. I'm going to have to think through some strategy for this type of player in the future.
Overall, played well today though and am up $3,200 since arriving in Colombia over 3 nights of poker, so can't complain.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
2 more cashes
Same lineup today except the Stars is a $330 on Wednesdays. I also played the $50 Stars at 9:30 so 7 tourneys tonight.
I finished 3rd in the Cake $100. Unlike last night, there weren´t a ton of suckouts and bad beats - just typical stuff mostly until the end. I made a pretty good call against chip leader when 3 were left who went allin with 2500-5000 blinds and I had 100K in chips (as well as my other opponent). He showed KQ which is pretty much what I put him on and maybe some small pairs. Unfortunately, the K fell on the river.
Cashed in the small Bodog tourney as well but busted in 18th as my trip Q's with A kicker lost to KK on a KQxQ board.
So once again, cashes in the little ones but I showed a $650 profit for the night so I'll take it.
Wrapped up a few things with Peak Performance Poker and sent it off to be typeset. We may get that book out in late July now.
I also sent Jeff back my comments on Parts I and II of APLO Volume II. Great stuff and a great complement to Volume I.
The kids are having a great time in Colombia and I've been quite productive with work, playing poker, and working out. I'm hoping to lose some more pounds while I'm here. Josh watched me play poker tonight and was quite interested and asking a lot of questions. Diana is still suffering from a hip injury but it's slowly getting better. I hope next week will be better for her as she needs some relaxation - our house is quite busy all day long!
I finished 3rd in the Cake $100. Unlike last night, there weren´t a ton of suckouts and bad beats - just typical stuff mostly until the end. I made a pretty good call against chip leader when 3 were left who went allin with 2500-5000 blinds and I had 100K in chips (as well as my other opponent). He showed KQ which is pretty much what I put him on and maybe some small pairs. Unfortunately, the K fell on the river.
Cashed in the small Bodog tourney as well but busted in 18th as my trip Q's with A kicker lost to KK on a KQxQ board.
So once again, cashes in the little ones but I showed a $650 profit for the night so I'll take it.
Wrapped up a few things with Peak Performance Poker and sent it off to be typeset. We may get that book out in late July now.
I also sent Jeff back my comments on Parts I and II of APLO Volume II. Great stuff and a great complement to Volume I.
The kids are having a great time in Colombia and I've been quite productive with work, playing poker, and working out. I'm hoping to lose some more pounds while I'm here. Josh watched me play poker tonight and was quite interested and asking a lot of questions. Diana is still suffering from a hip injury but it's slowly getting better. I hope next week will be better for her as she needs some relaxation - our house is quite busy all day long!
Blog back to life
I'm in Colombia visiting family this month and hope to play a lot of online poker, so I'm going to write brief daily updates of my results and maybe a few key hands. Will be a way for me to track my results and anyone else can follow if it interests them :)
At the same time, I'm also very busy working on upcoming publications. I'm in the process of preparing Peak Performance Poker by Travis Steffen for the printer. This book should be released in August.
Jeff Hwang has sent me the manuscript for APLO II: LAG Play. I'm in the process of reading it to give Jeff my feedback and hope to have that finished this month as well. Jeff also hopes to have the manuscript for APLO III: The Short-Handed Workbook complete by the end of the month. We are shooting for a September/October release of both volumes.
Finally, I received some initial files last night from Tony Guerrera for Tournament Endgame Strategy. So he is hard at work as well and we'll try getting that out in the Fall.
Winning Poker Tournaments Volume III is on hiatus during the WSOP. We have about 1/3 of the book done and hopefully we can finish it up in the Fall as well.
So on to poker. I'm only playing the main event this year due to my Colombia vacation so I'll be arriving in Vegas July 5th. In the meantime, I hope to brush up on my game as I haven't played at all in over a month and very little the last few months. So last night I played my normal "nightlies". These include:
Pokerstars $150
FTP $150 75K guaranteed
Bodog $50 10K guaranteed
Cake, $100, $150, and $50 turbo.
So six tourneys is about all I can handle. I'll likely play a few $100 rebuys this month as well when I'm feeling fresh to practice up against better competition. Sometimes I throw in the $50 at FTP and Stars at 9:30 EST depending on how I'm feeling.
Last night, I finished 6th in the Cake 1k turbo good for $300 and 2nd in the $150 Cake nightly good for $2,250. Typical of my results this year as I´ve ran really well in the small tourneys at Cake and Bodog, but haven't done well in the bigger tourneys at Stars and FTP. Split A-J vs A-9 in the Cake nightly, or otherwise would have had a 300K to 40K chiplead headsup. But I got a lot of lucky breaks, as well as getting some unlucky ones. Overall played quite well although I think my opponent outplayed me headsup - might need to play some headsup tourneys this month as well.
At the same time, I'm also very busy working on upcoming publications. I'm in the process of preparing Peak Performance Poker by Travis Steffen for the printer. This book should be released in August.
Jeff Hwang has sent me the manuscript for APLO II: LAG Play. I'm in the process of reading it to give Jeff my feedback and hope to have that finished this month as well. Jeff also hopes to have the manuscript for APLO III: The Short-Handed Workbook complete by the end of the month. We are shooting for a September/October release of both volumes.
Finally, I received some initial files last night from Tony Guerrera for Tournament Endgame Strategy. So he is hard at work as well and we'll try getting that out in the Fall.
Winning Poker Tournaments Volume III is on hiatus during the WSOP. We have about 1/3 of the book done and hopefully we can finish it up in the Fall as well.
So on to poker. I'm only playing the main event this year due to my Colombia vacation so I'll be arriving in Vegas July 5th. In the meantime, I hope to brush up on my game as I haven't played at all in over a month and very little the last few months. So last night I played my normal "nightlies". These include:
Pokerstars $150
FTP $150 75K guaranteed
Bodog $50 10K guaranteed
Cake, $100, $150, and $50 turbo.
So six tourneys is about all I can handle. I'll likely play a few $100 rebuys this month as well when I'm feeling fresh to practice up against better competition. Sometimes I throw in the $50 at FTP and Stars at 9:30 EST depending on how I'm feeling.
Last night, I finished 6th in the Cake 1k turbo good for $300 and 2nd in the $150 Cake nightly good for $2,250. Typical of my results this year as I´ve ran really well in the small tourneys at Cake and Bodog, but haven't done well in the bigger tourneys at Stars and FTP. Split A-J vs A-9 in the Cake nightly, or otherwise would have had a 300K to 40K chiplead headsup. But I got a lot of lucky breaks, as well as getting some unlucky ones. Overall played quite well although I think my opponent outplayed me headsup - might need to play some headsup tourneys this month as well.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Stuff
I've been busy on new books. Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume II was released a couple of months ago. It has reached the #1 poker book spot at Amazon on several occasions and has consistently been in the top 3. In fact, one one day, Volumes I and II held the #1 and #2 spot.
In a couple of months we'll be releasing our next book, Peak Performance Poker by Travis Steffen. I've very excited about this book. It discusses the impact of fitness and nutrition on your stamina, energy level, cognitive processes, etc. The author also interviewed Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and others for some great quotes throughout the book. In a way, it is for the body like The Poker Mindset was for your mind.
I'm taking a summer vacation to Colombia this year so will only be playing in the main event at the WSOP. I plan on playing a lot online while in Colombia.
Big debate going on in the poker world about the use of sunglasses. Daniel Negreanu argues that some televised events should ban them. I agree. I think there are a few rules which should be implemented for TV tables:
1 - Any player to leave the table during a hand will have his hand folded. Otherwise, every player could stand up and hide somewhere so that their opponent can't get a read.
2 - Eliminate hoodies, sunglasses, etc. If everyone covers themselves up, the viewing is obviously not as interesting.
Be sure to join the Dimat Poker Books group at Facebook.
In a couple of months we'll be releasing our next book, Peak Performance Poker by Travis Steffen. I've very excited about this book. It discusses the impact of fitness and nutrition on your stamina, energy level, cognitive processes, etc. The author also interviewed Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and others for some great quotes throughout the book. In a way, it is for the body like The Poker Mindset was for your mind.
I'm taking a summer vacation to Colombia this year so will only be playing in the main event at the WSOP. I plan on playing a lot online while in Colombia.
Big debate going on in the poker world about the use of sunglasses. Daniel Negreanu argues that some televised events should ban them. I agree. I think there are a few rules which should be implemented for TV tables:
1 - Any player to leave the table during a hand will have his hand folded. Otherwise, every player could stand up and hide somewhere so that their opponent can't get a read.
2 - Eliminate hoodies, sunglasses, etc. If everyone covers themselves up, the viewing is obviously not as interesting.
Be sure to join the Dimat Poker Books group at Facebook.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Won at Cake
I won the 20K guarantee last night good for $4,700.
I feel really, really good about how I played. I made the money with one of the short stacks and was short-stacked at the final table for quite some time. Actually, I think I started chipping up with around 5 to 6 players remaining. Made good laydowns, timely bluffs, learned my opponents well (1 guy always min-raised with weakish hands so I 3-bet the heck out of him), and was patient.
One tough hand - I believe we were 4-handed and I was 2nd in chips. I raised the button with A-Q and SB - the chip leader - was overbet and put me all-in. I put him on a middle pair and likely would call in normal situation. But, there was a short-stack at the table so I risked going out 4th when 3rd was very likely, and I felt like I was in control at the table with a great structure. No need to gamble so I folded.
There was another hand where I had Ax, flopped an ace, and I put my opponent exactly on KK and was able to get good value on both flop and river (I checked behind the turn to gain a bet on the river) - I liked that hand.
Feels good to get back in the win column.
I feel really, really good about how I played. I made the money with one of the short stacks and was short-stacked at the final table for quite some time. Actually, I think I started chipping up with around 5 to 6 players remaining. Made good laydowns, timely bluffs, learned my opponents well (1 guy always min-raised with weakish hands so I 3-bet the heck out of him), and was patient.
One tough hand - I believe we were 4-handed and I was 2nd in chips. I raised the button with A-Q and SB - the chip leader - was overbet and put me all-in. I put him on a middle pair and likely would call in normal situation. But, there was a short-stack at the table so I risked going out 4th when 3rd was very likely, and I felt like I was in control at the table with a great structure. No need to gamble so I folded.
There was another hand where I had Ax, flopped an ace, and I put my opponent exactly on KK and was able to get good value on both flop and river (I checked behind the turn to gain a bet on the river) - I liked that hand.
Feels good to get back in the win column.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Winning Poker Tournaments Volume II is #1 poker book at Amazon
Winning Poker Tournaments Volume II off to a good start.
The World Poker Travel Guide was also released in January.
I've been signing new book deals lately it seems like every month. I have signed a Brazilian company to the Portuguese rights of seven Dimat Books.
Upcoming releases:
Winning Poker Tournaments Volume III
Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha Volume II
Tournament Endgame Strategy
Untitled book on impact of fitness and diet on poker results
NL Tournament Strategy by Rizen - 2011
Meeting later today to discuss another potential project with an author
The World Poker Travel Guide was also released in January.
I've been signing new book deals lately it seems like every month. I have signed a Brazilian company to the Portuguese rights of seven Dimat Books.
Upcoming releases:
Winning Poker Tournaments Volume III
Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha Volume II
Tournament Endgame Strategy
Untitled book on impact of fitness and diet on poker results
NL Tournament Strategy by Rizen - 2011
Meeting later today to discuss another potential project with an author
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