Home of the brave, land of the free

Last Friday the Department of Justice closed down 3 major online poker sites that serve Americans.

At this very moment countries such as China and Russia allow their citizens to play online poker yet America does not !

We are supposed to set the example in the world for freedom of liberties, some example gentlemen.



As Doc Holliday was once quoted: "the hypocrisy knows no boundaries"......... I think it is time we American poker players have a real voice and stand up for what we believe should be a right and a liberty as an American.

As for me, my life will take a downswing for the moment in terms of poker. I do not have the funds to play live, it is becoming even less likely that I will be competing in this years WSOP in Vegas even though I sold 75% for over $18k I am currently unable to cover the remaining $5k in shares. If I do not find a backer by the end of May it will be as scotty nguyen would say: " gonna all over baby" for me.

Well, if there is one thing I will credit years of grinding and learning the game is that just like in poker, in life things dont always work out as planned..

I will move on and learn from it and be better prepared next time...

I will try to blog randomly but now that I am not playing the game I love the subject & lessons I share will be further in between...

Have a great day and week and I wish you all success on & off the felt.

who is any good in poker ?

Bushidō (武士道^?), meaning "Way of the Warrior", is a Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life.

I have come to discover among my poker friends a sort of pattern, where no one thinks anyone else is really any good.

Who is good in poker ? Well this brings me to an interesting discovery.


The other night I was deep in a Tournament and I made a play that someone who was watching thought was terrible. In so seeing this, a lot of people will make assumptions based on one play that sums up your entire game.

This is presumptuous and wrong and i have done it as well when watching others. My play while in a vacuum may not be textbook, but with the different aspects of poker such as ebb and flow of the game, table dynamics and player tendencies etc my play felt perfectly fine to me and actually worked.

Does that make it right or wrong ? Does that make me good or bad ? Who is to say and why ?

The answer ? I cannot say. But what I can say is that there are other things that go into making a good player than just isolated hands played.

For Samurai in Ancient Japan, they lived by what was called the Bushido. It was code of conduct. Set rules by which to act and live by that allowed them to live lives of honor and victory.

In poker, as well as life there a few things that if done consistently just like the Bushido will lead to success and prosperity and victory.

Simply working harder than most. Studying and putting in the effort and time it takes to become the best you can be. When we make mistakes we try to learn from them and move on. Stay "hungry" with a fierce desire to compete and never giving up. Stay humble and always remind ourselves that people who seem more "due" than we think they should be is not something we need to focus on.

If we can focus on these areas I promise success will follow. You see, the person that never ceases to believe in themselves and never quits is the one who is truly good despite a few bad plays they may make in others eyes.

Keep working hard and gl on & off the felt and have a great week :-)

Ego

Ego is a Latin word meaning "I", cognate with the Greek "Εγώ (Ego)" meaning "I".



Sometimes our "Ego" causes us to make less than +EV decisions at the poker tables. We may over estimate our edge that we believe we have on our opponents, we may make plays that have no sound strategy to them other than bravado or tilt/frustration toward an opponent we think is a bad player. We may do many things that are not fundamentally sound and not even be aware because of "Ego".

I have been working on this area of my game lately as well as many areas but this one is close to my heart. How do we balance confidence and belief in ourselves with that ever present and lurking "Ego" that can turn confidence into arrogance ?

Well for me it is the same as anything else in my life that I wish to improve. First I pray on it and ask God to help me and give me wisdom and strength to overcome it. Next I do what I believe is our calling in life, I go to work on it. And I will keep working on this area until I have victory.

This past Sunday I was blessed to final table and finish 3rd for $8300 in the mass field $26 $58k GTD on Full Tilt. When we were 3 handed me and another opponent wanted to look at chop numbers that would have insured all of us at least $13k but one opponent did not want to chop. the stacks were shallow and I felt it was best to chop but he did not.

I remember getting very very frustrated in that I thought his "Ego" got in the way of a smart decision. And even though I still believe that chopping was optimal perhaps it was my own "Ego" that was bruised ?

Just because someone does not do what I believe is right does not make it wrong. Perhaps it is not that he thought he had a great skill edge but perhaps he may have had different reasons for his decision. A bit later he went on to beat my 99< to his ATos all in preflop and shipped 1st for $18k. In my opinion his less than optimal decision turned into profit for him and I bid him congrats.

This happens a lot in poker. Bad/poor/less than optimal play and decision making can lead to more profits in the short term. It can skew our thinking and perception of what is right and wrong. In the long term of a lifetime of playing the players who make more optimal decisions than their opponents will have a better chance to succeed.

My goal is to become the best player I can and removing "Ego" from my decision making process is going to help me greatly. I felt like this player made a poor choice and was rewarded + $10k more for doing so. As well as making better decisions and removing "ego" is accepting that things are not always perfectly fair in life or poker.

I wish you all the best in your own personal struggles on and off the felt and have a great week :-)