In Limbo... Kinda lol

Sup sup sup!! Long time no blog - LTNB!! Well by my standards anyway lolz.

I usually write a long ass essay but today its gonna be a nice back alley "quickie"! Cool.

I've moved into my nice new pad in Manchester and things are actually pretty good... better then I expected actually. I mean, I guess with poker I just don't get girlie screamy excited about things these days, which means on the flipside when things go bad they're not **as** bad emotionally too. Guess that's just the way I am now, and suits the poker player mindset.

But yea, its cool here... nice and cheap to live in, 2 bed 2 bath place, with big lounge/kitchen area which I've overtaken the corner as being my lil office now. What's cool is that this is the cheapest place we saw, and it was the nicest coz of the fact that its a new build... hardly anyone else has moved in yet!

We're pretty close to central, about 10 minute walk to Ardale, and therefore anywhere else from there is close. I had a lunch with some friends the other day and went to the Chinatown there... the best in UK so far! London Chinese food is ok, but this is great... and randomly 1/2 price lunch for no reason on Tuesdays!

We got brand spanking new furnishings, cooker, and our mad supplies from our shopping frenzy at Ikea to snazz the place up. The only [main] annoying thing is that we have NO INTERNET... kinda. Why? Coz our building is so friggin new its not even registered yet. Yep, GPS's think that we don't exist lol. So we're just waitin' for that until it goes through.

Now I say "kinda" coz there is internet, but only through dongles and phone tethering (which I might add, my iPhone 4 w/ Vodafone is amazing). But this means that its limited to 1 GB so no downloading/streaming etc... and its a bit dodgy so I'm nervy about playing whatsoever. However, I have the option of not playing coz I had saved up a bit so that I could account for this happening. Still annoying tho...

For now, I guess I'm just gonna be chillin', checking out Manchester, and lol playing Starcraft 2 with my snail paced APM (Actions per Minute) whilst getting killed a hundred times.

Livin' the life... now building on it!

Manchester City Centre... London Eye Copycat haha!

I Am Movin' Out!!

Holy Crap I've wanted to make this post for so long!! In a few weeks, I am moving out.

Back in April 2009, I decided to move back home. I had spent a year in London after graduating, trying to find some internships related to my degree, as well as working in a restaurant/bar. What pissed me off was the fact that despite having a job, my money was never moving upwards and outwards of the negative amount that I had gotten myself into from Uni. With my bank account swiftly turning from a graduate account to being a normal one, which would instantly make me liable to huge overdrawl fees, I decided that enough was enough.

And how true this is;

There's no way that moving in with your parents is a sign that your life is on track.

- Jerry Seinfeld

It was a way to stop my debts, and get back in the black. On top of that, it gave me a chance to figure out what I wanted to do. Who knew that I would get into poker lol!

But now I'm ready. With money saved up in the bank, and earning my own ways I am moving to Manchester where I have some friends. It has taken me a while to get to where I am, but I'm a stubborn person and I was adamant that I wasn't gonna do a 9-5 job. I'm my own man, and am doing things my way.

I've gotten to travel to Perth, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Bangkok all because of poker. I've worked hard at what I do, and keep working hard to keep myself from working for the man. I still have plans to travel more, and probably relocate to other places, possibly other countries. No doubt if I had got a proper job it would have committed me to one place.

However, this means I'll be taking a break from poker til my internet gets sorted out. Knowing UK, this means it might be for god knows how long... freaking useless. I have a dongle for emergencies, but probably don't feel comfortable 20 tabling with it.


Phil Ivey Leaves Full Tilt Poker

On June 1st, Phil Ivey issued a statement;

For many years, I have been proud to call myself a poker player. This great sport has taken me to places I only imagined going and I have been blessed with much success. It is therefore with deep regret that I believe I am compelled to release the following statement.

I am deeply disappointed and embarrassed that Full Tilt players have not been paid money they are owed. I am equally embarrassed that as a result many players cannot compete in tournaments and have suffered economic harm.
I am not playing in the World Series of Poker as I do not believe it is fair that I compete when others cannot. I am doing everything I can to seek a solution to the problem as quickly as possible.

My name and reputation have been dragged through the mud, through the inactivity and indecision of others and on behalf of all poker players I refuse to remain silent any longer. I have electronically filed a lawsuit against TiltWare related to the unsettled player accounts. As I am sure the public can imagine, this was not an easy decision for me.

I sincerely hope this statement will ignite those capable of resolving the problems into immediate action and would like to clarify that until a solution is reached that cements the security of all players, both US and International, I will, as I have for the last six weeks, dedicate the entirety of my time and efforts to finding a solution for those who have been wronged by the painfully slow process of repayment.


Wow.

Its almost been one and a half months since Black Friday, and it seems that more people are still not getting their money back (even internationals). Even the pros?

Wow 2x lol.

I am so glad to be with Pokerstars, and they've handled the situation really well, having a backup plan.

Full Tilt's support and organization has always been sub par, and its only a matter of time before their customers would start to get annoyed and do something.

Nick Rainey exposed so much stuff happening on Full Tilt at Quadjacks. Selling secret red pro 100% rakeback accounts, how they had no office but just people working off laptops, and no credit control, spending money for advertising from the site's sources.

No doubt, it seems that they're in trouble, and I'm so happy to have moved to Pokerstars, who had paid everyone so quickly, and clearly had the money in credit.



MTT Progress


My progress since transitioning to MTT 180 mans have been pretty good. I've still got loads to learn, but happy with my progress so far. Its nice not having that pressure of needing to make 7500 VPPs every month now, most of the money I earn is from my actual winnings not rakeback.

Yesterday Bigniux moved to my table a few times. I wonder how confusing the randoms must have felt when seeing his avatar. Its the equivalent of a guy sitting at your live cash table wearing a t-shirt saying "I love [your name]" lol :D

I < 3 Game Theory!!

The Longevity of Games

After getting into Starcraft 2, I suddenly realized something. I am super super into games... hardcore lol. I am mega into Poker, Starcraft, Snooker, Breakdance (amazingly it is kinda like a game), Music Games (ex DDR player, but love Beatmania, Drummania, and the Japanese Benami Series'... Rock Band is noooooowhere near in the realm of being anywhere as good as those), Street Fighter Zero 3, Psyvariar, Tony Hawks 4, Words With Friends (essentially scrabble), and learning Chess!



These are not random games that I have chosen. They have mega longevity. Why? Because despite playing them hundreds if not thousands of times, I will continue to keep playing them again and again. Why I hear you ask again like an annoying kid? Because the enthesis is on enjoying the process of playing it, not the end result of clocking (completing) the game.

This is a winning formula for getting me hooked. And for you game designers out there, getting hooked is what you want customers to do, so that they will spend shitloads of money on the game. Why else did Wii totally crush PS2 and Xbox when they all came out? The longevity of simple puzzle games like wii sports would easily crush the mega ton graphics movie like hitman adventures because seriously how many hardcore gamers are still playing the orginal "number 1" like Medal of Honour? No way, they're playing the most current one.

When I go to my brother's place I'm still playing Wii Sports.

Enjoy the last boss of Psyvariar. No I cant do what he did. But I'm trying to learn...

The genius of the game - Your bio ship spins, and when it spins it collects power from incoming fire. This power, called "buzz" allows you to level up and evolve to a different and better ship after a few level ups. In that instance when you level up, you are invincible for like 1/2 a second, which is great chance to collect more buzz. This is why the guy isn't dying lol. Only if a bullet hits the very center of the ship will it explode. But that makes it more about getting the best timing to collect the most buzz. The aim isn't just to not die, but to be able to get the highest levels per stage, meaning that its not about going to the areas with the least bullets, but the most efficient path for collecting buzz. That is what keeps me coming back to that game.





Prop Bet Results

2 weeks ago, I said I was going to do a prop bet with Bigniux and now its over. The results are in!

Some Overall Stats of the 2 Weeks;

Days played: 6 out of 14
Games played: 596
Profit Tally: -$932 (yikes)
Times Gone to FT as CL: 7
No. of Ships: 1
No. of Times KO'd by Bigniux: 2
No. of Times KO'ing Bigniux: 0
No. of Shared FT w/ Bigniux: 1
Bubbles: 4
$ per game: -$1.56

Final Score: -470 pts

Hmmm its not looking great is it lol. Fortunately, I had a mad tear before this bad downswing so I'm not feeling that bad, coz its expected.

But wow, Bigniux had a worse 2 weeks, his final score is -1337 pts!

We both EPICfailed in using the bet to get mad volume in. He actually played less then me, only playing 350 games, and 5 days lol.

However, despite this bad showing from the both of us... I won. A hollow victory mind you. Bigniux's new avatar for the rest of June is now this;

When you see this, you'll know why now haha.

I'll prob do another one, but with less distractions and more hardcore volume. It was pretty fun!



Best Username of the Month Award

wannuuuh...?  lol would love for him to ship a tournament just so that I can see that funny sentence.