Fealee Fealaa!

Fealee Fealaa is a Chinese slang type saying that my mom would say to explain someone who is kinda all over the place and not concentrating on what he or she is supposed to do. There are a lot of cool Chinese sayings and this is one of my favourites. Literally translated... it means nothing lol, its just a funny sound that they created to explain this.

But Fealee Fealaa I have been. I've tightened up/loosened my game, played different strategies and HUDless too. Questioning my decisions, blaming myself, meaning the consistency is lacking. Despite my losing stretch of 2011 I'm still learning shitloads, but just lacking confidence. Seems like everytime I know I should call K8 vs this reg, and do so, I get p0wned as his 75o hitting a straight or something.


Computer Update is ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz



What is mega tilting is how long its taking for my new computer to arrive. I ordered it at PC Specialist, and they have a pretty cool tracking system that tells you where they're at. They've been waiting for a part for the last week and a half now; my i7 Intel Processor. Its now day 15 of my order, of which they estimated 14 days for my order to arrive.

I mean, how can it take them that long to get a part? To me it seems they don't keep track of their stocks and basically just wait til they run out before ordering new ones. I don't know why they'd do this, its so basic for businesses to keep their stocks updated...

Either way, I'm sure this is costing me money. On my PC now I either have the choice of playing 14 tables with HUD, or 18 without. And quite frankly, I'm missing my HUD. Not that its super important, but it just helps with those tougher decisions, and I'm able to get more information on my randoms.

Hurry the fuck up!


Fishy Weekends with no Fishing Rod

It really does seem that I get doomswitched on weekends. With all the fish around, its extra frustrating when I get sucked out on losing to them. What can you do? Nothing. Maybe I'm lacking in volume in order to fully take advantage, but there's nothing worse then having fish own you with their terrible calls (keep making them!).

I've decided to take my Supernova status off view to others. I think there are merits both ways, but I seem to think that randoms are calling me wider because they know I am. The "for" argument is that randoms would be scared of Supernovas, but if I had a choice I'd take not being called wider over scared play.

Please enjoy my bubble hand where I got called with 34o (misclick?). How did we not chop the pot wow?





Superstar Showdown vs Durrr Challenge

When I first heard of the Durrr Challenge, I thought it was genius. No doubt that Dwan is a poker genius. But after almost 2 years, and only 2 matches of which hasn't even finished, the challenge is blatently not about who's gonna win, but when the hell are they gonna freakin' finish!

So in true copycat fashion, Stars has come up with Superstar Showdown. Not only did Full Tilt not hire Isldur, but now they have a rival to the Durrr Challenge, and it p0wns them!

"A SuperStar Showdown is a high stakes, heads-up match consisting of a single session of 2,500 hands. The match is played across four tables of No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha, at stakes no lower than $50/$100. The winner is the player that shows either a profit after 2,500 hands, or wins all of their opponent’s match bankroll."

So what's so great about this in comparison to the Durrr Challange? Well for starters, its short! A challenge lasts 2 sessions max, and therefore we get results lol. There are a range of competitors, including other pros, and they've even let qualifiers in to play a match too!

So far 6 matches has been played vs pros, and Isildur is 4-2 up. Numbers will speak volumes of his greatness, and right now its on point. Tom Dwan who? Winning vs Antonius but losing to Jungleman? So bored of those matches now, they're never gonna finish. Isildur's challenge is great for PokerStars, and for Online Poker (and Poker) in general!

**Spoiler! Look away now!!**

Current Results of All Matches so far;


Match 1 - Isaac Haxton "philIvey2694" beats Isildur1 for $41,701

Match 2 - Tony G loses to Isildur 1 for $44,820

Match 3 - Daniel Cates "w00ki3z" (Jungleman 12) loses to Isildur1 for $51,000

Match 4 - Eugene 'MyRabbitFoo' Katchalov loses to Isildur1 for $111,000

Match 5 - Daniel Negreanu "KidPoker" loses to Isildur1 for $150,000

Match 6 (Rematch) - Daniel Negreanu "KidPoker" beats Isildur1 for $26,500

Congrats to Negreanu for winning the rematch. It can be tough doing the challenge again after getting completely owned the week before. In fact, kidpoker was down $109k by the half way point before mounting an amazing comeback.

Negreanu's attitude towards the online community is inspirational... especially compared to the "live" players who don't respect them at all. He's willing to learn from both aspects of poker and incorporate it into his game. Something that other "Old Skoolers" need to do... evolve with the game as it changes.

I'm really impressed with Superstar Showdown. We need more of this in Poker. Stuff to talk about. Guys putting their money where their mouth is. And no doubt this is making Isildur become more of a legend then he is...

Durrr vs Antonious is growing cobwebs... *yawn*

Work For What You Want & Get On With It!

*Fantastic Februaryz!****NOT!!

I just checked my HEM results and apparently there's only 2 months in which I have lost money at poker. They are February 2010 and February 2011! So random! My friend is suggesting to veto that month for sanity's sake... maybe I should??

Roll on March! I have been mixing in some 180 mans, and I feel pretty confident with them. The only thing is committing to longer sessions which I don't like as much. And coz their longer it takes longer to build a decent volume and get the results that you want. But for now, I'm just learning them, before I start mass multi tabling the shit outta them prob in a few months time.

I've managed to bink a $2, $3 rebuy and come 2nd in a $7 so far. Not much success with the $12s yet, but my volume is as much as a single atom. (Woohooo lolz bad joke). But yeah, hardly much volume yet tbh, and I've tried a few sessions, where definately not cashing for the 24 tables and then having to do well in the last 2 tables doesn't do good for my nerves lol.

$16s are not going great so far, but at least I'm winning I guess. The doomswitch really seemed to have lasted forever. I don't know when was the last time I had $200 sets... pretty gross. Although I think the recent adjustments has let me get a higher distribution of end game, which means more cashes. Just hasn't gone my way atm, hopefully it will soon...

Sitting Out - Mucking Hell!

Emailed Pokerstars' awesome support and got a reply within the hour;

I was surprised to see that this guy who was sitting out got a showdown?
Normally from my experience players who sit out don't get a showdown and are knocked out when they have no chips. Why is this?

PokerStars Game #59394178826: Tournament #376229265, $15+$1 USD Hold'em No
Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2011/03/18 9:58:20 ET
Table '376229265 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: prucki13 (2930 in chips)
Seat 3: puyan (265 in chips)
Seat 7: rookie_58 (135 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 8: ByronZap (10170 in chips)
prucki13: posts the ante 25
puyan: posts the ante 25
rookie_58: posts the ante 25
ByronZap: posts the ante 25
puyan: posts small blind 100
rookie_58: posts big blind 110 and is all-in
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to puyan [6h 2h]
ByronZap: folds
prucki13: folds
puyan: calls 10
*** FLOP *** [5d 9s 3s]
*** TURN *** [5d 9s 3s] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [5d 9s 3s 3c] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
puyan: shows [6h 2h] (a pair of Threes)
rookie_58: shows [7s Ad] (a pair of Threes - Ace kicker)
rookie_58 collected 320 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 320 | Rake 0
Board [5d 9s 3s 3c Kh]
Seat 2: prucki13 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: puyan (small blind) showed [6h 2h] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 7: rookie_58 (big blind) showed [7s Ad] and won (320) with a pair of
Threes
Seat 8: ByronZap folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Hello Puyan,

Thank you for contacting PokerStars.

Generally speaking, tournament rules are such that a sitting out player's
hand is killed (mucked, folded, declared dead) the moment it is their turn
to act. However, there is a rare instance in which the server will allow a
sitting out player to go to showdown, and possibly even win the pot, because
(technically) action never fell on the sitting out player. Here is how that
can happen.

The sitting out player must be all-in and on the big blind. Also necessary
is for all players to fold around to the small blind, leaving the contested
pot "heads-up" between the big blind and the small blind, upon whom action
now rests.

At this point, the small blind is offered only two choices by the server. He
can call, or he can fold. He is not offered the opportunity to raise,
because the only remaining player in the pot cannot call that raise even in
part and the server recognizes this.

Thus, the small blind is forced to either fold and concede the pot, or can
choose to call. If he calls, action is then considered "complete", since
the big blind is all-in and cannot take further action. All possible bets
are complete, and action on the hand is technically over. The only thing
left to do is deal the cards. The lack of any aggressive action, which would
put the "action" on the sitting out player, forces a showdown and can allow
the sitting out player to win the pot.

Had any other player raised, action would have proceeded around to and past
the sitting out player, and his hand would have been killed.

We hope this has answered your question completely. Please let us know if we
can be of further assistance.


Regards,

Kaloyan
PokerStars Support Team

I dunno man. Like imo, you either have the guy sitting out as never entering a hand and mucking every time, or you make him have a showdown every time. 1 or the other, for consistancy's sake. Not 1.8 of both ideas? I don't really understand the whole reasoning behind this, it just makes it confusing as hell.

If I had to choose, then muck em' all. Lets keep these games moving... If your not there, then tough love! Sort yourself out!! Also, they should make disconnecting a one time thing, and then make them sit out after their disconnect time runs out. Keeeeep da games muuuving pls!

And yes. I bubbled.

Defending Apple to Idiots

Nothing pisses me off then people who use Windows, who say that its better then Apple Macs. Its retarded. They say that just coz you like Apple your like in a cult or something? But the fact of the matter is, that they do good products, and that's what makes them good. 

What annoys me more is that most of the guys who like Windows have never tried using Apple, where as Apple users have used both and therefore have the right to make a critical decision because they can compare.

Conversation went like this with a friend;

"Apple sucks"

"Ok. Well I've used both Windows and Mac, I think Mac is better."

"Apple sucks. Apple lovaaaa"

"Whatever bro"

"Why do you think its better anyways?"

"You seriously want me to go through a list?"

"You have no list, Apple sucks"

"Fine... off the top of my head...

Better reliability, easier compatibilty, printing doesn't need drivers, when it crashes only that one program is effected and not the whole OS like Windows, no blue screen of death, I like expose , its quicker, easy to use and set up, time machine backups, quick previews, longer battery life for laptops, mag safe, fast load up time, Genuis bar help at Apple Store, continuous updates, lack of viruses that attack Macs, no temporary folder that fills up your hard drive when you surf the web, widgets, App store, front row with remote..."

[after a bit of a pause] "Lets just agree to disagree..."

"What was the point of this conversation if your never willing to be convinced otherwise whatever I say???"

This is just the typical attitude of those who don't wanna even try it. I guess change is hard for some people. They think its a "fashion" or something. But the reality is that they're good products. I have an iPhone 4 and wouldn't trade it for anything. Seriously, I use it for Phone, Ipod, Camera (Thailand/Hong Kong pics all taken with phone), Games, Surfing the web, Stream movies to it from my hard drive... its like a electronic age swiss army knife lol.

Work Ethic

Been watching Pokerstatic a lot and I really like the interview they had with Jose Macedo. 

Its really impressive to see the dedication and work ethic of him from such a young age. I kinda feel like I've been slacking in terms of working hard. Just kinda not pushing myself to play more, and almost settling for mediocre results. I'm a big believer in less "natural talent" and more "work-yo-ass-off-to-get-where-you-wanna-be" mentality. Even talented guys have to work hard still. 

Malcolm Gladwell believes that one needs to put in 10,000 hours of practice of one thing to be at a professional level. There's nothing that teaches you more shit then repeating something a gajillion times lol.

So this month I'm hoping to put in more volume. Gonna be putting in more hours, playing 180 mans, and the STTs for VPP value mainly. Hopefully I'll be fully HUDed when my new computer arrives and I can up my tables too. I'm looking forward to stepping up!

GS@TT! (Good Skill at the Tables!)

No more GL, and more GS!

I've gotten this thing with my friend now where we try not to say "Good Luck" to each other now. Now we say "Good Skill", which doesn't really make much grammatical sense, but I kinda like it coz its a big fuck you to acknowledging luck. We should acknowledge skill, not luck. So no more GL, and more GS!

Pretty cool article by Lynn Gilmartin, talking about how FML (Fuck My Life) is overly used and hardly ever in any sort of realistic context to our situations. I like it, helping me cope when times are bad... and plus, she's pretty hot.

When is +EV really +EV?


I'm back in UK now, back at home. Flights always gonna mess you up when you arrive mad early in the morning, I mean there's no way you'll get quality sleep on the plane which compares to a bed. Anyways, despite the freaking cold, its good to be back.

In my last few days of Thailand, I had a bit of an epiphany. When is +EV plays really +EV, when we're talking about tournaments?

I mean, firstly, I'd like to say how much I hate the term "+EV" (Expected Value). Quite frankly its a shit way of talking about anything, it doesn't explain anything as far as I'm concerned. +EV being a phrase that a lot of poker players use to justify what they do. The phrase basically comes from the idea that if you do this move hundreds and thousands of times, it will make money. So for example raising AK is +EV because it is a good hand and vs other people's calling ranges it fairs well, and will make you money if repeated played this way over and over again. However, players fail to realize that loads of things are +EV, and it doesn't mean anything, or is a good logical way of justifying your play. If you open shove AA, it is +EV, if you fold 32o it is +EV.

But anyways, in the context of this point, I will use the term +EV, as a way of saying; "A poker move that makes you money, if repeated many times." Mainly, lets say opening pre flop with good hands.

+EV in cash games is real money values. Because if you win that pot, you win real actual money. But imo, shit tons of tournament players fail to realise that +EV is not real money, super especially in the early game. Some will argue that they are confident post flop vs bad players, and it will work out overall. But what they don't understand is that the benefits of winning those chips are worse then if they lose chips. Why? Because losing chips in the early stages of STT/MTT SNGs means that when the blinds get to the shoving stage, they will have to shove wider then normal to stay in contention of winning. The choice of letting a marginal shove go, will be limited.

Of course, that's not to say that I'm folding everything pre push/fold stage. But hands like AJ in middle position are marginal to open imo, because the chances you win lots of chips are outweighed by the possibility of losing chips leading to needing to shove wider when the blinds get higher.

This is what has been happening with my game. No doubt, I am happy to say I'm confident over my post flop play. But even if I'm vs a fish, I still have to hit to get chips, and the risk of losing the chips and getting shorter to shove wider in future hands is not worth it. Cash game players can think in more literal money terms, but for STT/MTT SNG players they need to think more long term game strategy.

The non tl;dr? - Play tight early, and Looser later on (duuuh).

Course, lets not get ahead of ourselves but in the short run so far my theory seems to have been supported by the results. More end game stacks = higher ITM = more cashes.

Ballerzzzz Computer Desktop


I decided to get a powerful computer. It was the kinda beginner limp call with T9s "Fuck it" attitude lol. I'm sick and tired of continuously going through RAM problems, crashings, blue screen of deaths, and shit that make me waste valuable grindin' time. I'm not a big computer geek but I did a bit of research and this is what I got;

Case	STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™i7-880 Quad Core (3.06GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost
Motherboard	ASUS® P7H55-M SI: MICRO ATX VALUE MAINBOARD,USB 2.0 & SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)	16GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)
Graphics Card	1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX470 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - DX® 11, 3D (Special Offer!)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk	500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
Power Supply	CORSAIR 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£78)
Processor Cooling	INTEL SOCKET LGA1155/1156 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card	ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities	ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options	6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Is that overboard? I dunno lol. 16GB RAM? Better not lag ever please god! The i7 seems to be pretty sick tho, I deliberately meant to get that. Anyways, it was time for me to stop being such a fucking nit and invest in a better computer to use my time more effectively.

My Macbook Pro will have to wait. Its probably gonna be a self-gift if I make the Sharkie leaderboard top 10. At the moment I'm no freaking way near, but I like the challenge!


High Stakes Poker 7


The new season of HSP has begun like last week and the overall view point is that I'm pretty disappointed. Gabe Kaplin is not only by himself, but now not there at all? Norm MacDonald offers no input, but rather like Poker After Dark, basically pointlessly commentates on what the players are doing, which you can see anyways. Again, the sexy Kara Scott is there, and like last season imo, she's as pointless as Norm's commentary, offering no extra imput towards the show.

I've always thought that HSP has had a huge edge over the other poker shows because of Gabe Kaplin's analytical commentary (And AJ Benza's banter, but don't get me started on that!). Whether he was right or not, it gave the viewers, especially the non poker ones, a more interesting viewpoint on what was going on. Not just, he raised, he shoved, all in. Its kinda like watching Match of the Day on BBC, where you'd feel like you actually learn something from the analysis. Now that's gone.

There are also no Full Tilt players on there too. Durrr and Phil Ivey, who were the stars of the last season, taken out. Pokerstars has taken over as the main sponsor, which is ok I suppose. The players so far are pretty decent tho, including a few amateur (billionaires) players mixing it up. Kinda has that pre Season 4 feel to it. This I would say is a good thing, as its interesting to see how the pro's interact with the amateurs, and it just shows why Poker is still popular with the "common man", they can still win.

Nonetheless, despite all this, I'm still gonna watch it. Right now, after 2 episodes there isn't really much of a main theme. Last Season being Phil Ivey, Season 5 about Tom Dwan, and Season 4 all about the 1/2 million minimum buy in.

http://www.pokercast.tv/high-stakes-poker


Goodbye Thailand


I realise my previous posts about Thailand was on the negative side. No doubt Poker effected me. Playing abroad whilst experiencing these places has always been the plan. But now on reflection my disappointment just comes from comparing it to my other trips, which is stupid because they're all different. In reality I did have a good time. I got to know a lot of people, had loads of fun, got drunk loads of times, and after all that hardly spent any money at all. Sorry for my lack of pics, so without further ado enjoy some!

GS@TT! (Good Skill At The Tables!)

Me Luv U Long Time!

My holiday in Bangkok is nearing the end, and quite frankly I'm kinda glad it is. I think the whole problem was that I never really had the mentality of being all touristy, but more importantly I guess I never really had the drive to reli reali want to come here. My friend said come, so I came! (Sounds dirty lol). I like the place, but its not at the level of same passion I have for places that I wanna go like San Fran, Vegas, or Tokyo. But either way, I've learnt a lot, which is what happens when you go travelling so I don't regret coming... just regret staying for so long!

Me Luv U Long Time... (For a Price) 

Thai Girls and Western Men 

There's a phenomenon in Thailand where you see "Forangs" (Thai for foreigner) with white [older] Western men, mostly from England in fact. Bangkok is filled with these inter relationships all over the place, and its kinda weird how open they are about it. I mean, other cultures it would totally be a taboo, but not here.

I had been aware of this "phenomenon" actually, though my favourite documentary reporter called Louix Theoroux who explores weird extremist cultures. His nerdish innocent look, and child like demeanor allow him to ask the obvious questions that others if others asked would otherwise think was patronising of leading. One of his episodes was about the "Thai Brides" and was really interesting. To what I've experienced here, I can concur that what is said in that documentary certainly seems true.

From what I gathered, I believe that a combination of things lead to the popularity of these inter-race relationships. Firstly, the type of guys that want a Thai girl, are the nostalgic conservative type; "woman should be a housewife, doing chores and looking after kids" attitude. That's why the majority is going to be 40 year old +. On the flip side, despite this attitude, it still trumps the Thai guy attitude towards women, which is much worse. Maybe its also the Buddhist influence of reincarnation, which creates a hierarchy saying that men are better then woman. So both attitudes fit in nicely, and the western man and Thai girl happily meet in the middle. Whether things actually work out is another matter...

Culturally, the Buddhist mentality allows for a kinda "anything goes" attitude. People are relaxed and taboo type things like dating a westerner and being a ladyboy are seen in a "whatever" kinda way.






Lets Get This Show on the Road

I'm still kinda indecisive about MTT vs STT right now. Both have its merits and downsides too. For sure I think STTs is gonna be the easiest way to mainly my Supernova status, and also get rakeback bonuses which is nice, but MTTs are just so much more profitable and have less regulars which make them more beatable then STTs.

Either way, I have to put in some serious volume. I might switch between the two sessions to rack up those VPPs. If I want to maintain my Supernova status by September, I need to average 15k VPPs, and so far I've only made 15k VPP total in 2 months. I'm 15k behind. So hopefully, lets get back to work and get some moneyzzz rollin'! I need to work harder and be more motivated then before!

I love this documentary, its pretty inspiring;



Just kinda shows how so many of us grew up in the computer game age, and this was a way of feeding that obsession and getting paid.

Hope everyone runs like GOD!! haha, pz out everyone!