The Sun, the Mon, the grind, and a ty to PS

Sorry there was a small break in my blogging. Sunday after my session, which was every bit of 13 hours, I decided I would sit and chill in the recliner for a bit. I woke up Monday. Monday went about the same as I played a long session and afterwards when I would normally blog I sat down for a minute and was out. But, no worries I am here now to fill you in on all the great things that happened the last two days.

Sunday I started my day giving a lesson to a promising student. This student is getting better and better and had one of his biggest cashes today. He was able to get 4th in the Evening 109 for 2.5k. Great job Will, keep up the good work and keep improving! I also had a friend of mine, n00dlez4me on Merge, get 2nd in the $11 15k for 2.5k. The $11 15k is one of the biggest fields for an MTT that Americans can play. Great job n00dlez4me, keep up the good work. I am especially proud of noodles because he has been through some rough times since BF. He is a trooper though, he took a few months off and then ran a few cents into over 2k playing micro cash. Lately he has been playing W.O.W. a lot but still gets in there on Sundays and does his things. Keep on grinding guys!

Sunday I cashed in 5 out of 28 MTTs and 4 out of 5 satellites. I made one final table, but it was in a small entry MTT and I finished in fourth. I was able to win two $109 tickets to replace the two I used, which was cool, the $109 tickets are a good way for me to take shots. Overall the day wasn't to bad and I fought through it while keeping my head up and attitude positive. I have been working hard at getting better and I know if I keep working hard, the results will come.

I had my 2nd article published on P5s Sunday. It hasn't received quite as many comments as the first one but I truly hope there are lots of players that enjoy the read. This article was about the reasons behind our actions and tied in with my first article on aggression. I thought they were both good topics and I liked how they were able to flow together, but I think my next topic will be a little different. Keep an eye out for my next article to show in about two weeks.

Monday I cashed in 1 out of 33 MTTs and 1 out of 6 satellites. Both cashes were of the minimum variety but I don't think I can get upset because I gave my all and played my game. Downswings aren't fun or easy to handle but they are part of the game. Variance is real and if we play lots of volume we will go trough upswings and downswings. I personally believe if we treat the upswings as business as usual, and do the same for the downswings, in the end we will have the best shot at maximizing our earnings.

Well, that is a little about what went on the last couple days. Going forward I will be grinding as usual but will be playing a bit cheaper for a few days trying to work my way back out of another small downswing. I have a couple review sessions and lessons set up for this week and plan on getting as much out of it as possible. I know where I want to be with my game, so I will keep putting in the work and make sure I get there.

NEWSFLASH-I read today that Pokerstars bought Full Tilt and we will be getting our Full Tilt funds. There will be a form US players have to fill out and send to the DOJ but we will get our money. Now if AP/UB could do the same, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Great job Pokerstars!

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# and http://variance101.blogspot.com.

Ass & T ford

Today I cashed in 2 out of 37 MTTs and 2 out of 7 satellites. To be completely honest it was a rough day but I never gave up and kept fighting. I think I played decent, but not great. I was able to keep my composure and attitude in check, but we are supposed to so I shouldn't be patting myself on the back for it. I had one brief moment when I lost a huge pot with aces and began to cuss and get angry but by the third cuss word I remembered all the reasons why I practice emotional detachment and positive attitude, and then kept grinding. In my opinion a huge percentage of poker players have problems with tilt. So with that in mind, I'm thinking if I can play with emotional detachment and no tilt I should have an edge on the field.

Today was a little rough and in reflection I think I need to review my play and see if anything pops out at me. I know that my leg was bothering me all day but I felt as if I was playing through it. I wonder how much mental strain is involved with dealing with pain? Tomorrow I am giving a lesson before my Sunday session and I think I will get up a little early and do a review of some of todays play and watch a training video. I have been a member of PxF before and always enjoyed it so I went back to them when I started to play online in May. I have enjoyed them very much and will stay with them, but I have found a couple new guys with great videos elsewhere. I recently signed up for P5s training and have been thoroughly impressed with Assassinato and tford219. Tomorrow I will finish watching Assassinato's Merge High Roller Video which has been awesome so far. I imagine there are several other good players doing videos at P5s but so far these two are my favorites.

Lots of deep runs and little results sums up my day. I kept firing away and should have been trying to lower my average buy-in as I kept registering. Today was a little expensive for me and I will be on a reduced entry fee grind for a few days while I recoup some BR. I do have a few tickets that I will be using tomorrow and would enjoy a deep run, but I am not going to count on it. The only thing I can count on is giving 100%. I am hoping I get a good nights sleep, because "It's On" tomorrow.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# and http://variance101.blogspot.com.

Phantoms

Today I cashed in 3 out of 23 MTTs and 0 out of 4 satellites. I had two 4th place finishes in MTTs and got 3rd in a satellite that was giving away 2 seats. Overall it was a decent day on the virtual felt and I was happy to be able to break into the positive.

I am exhausted and going to relax. I played today on almost no sleep due to some annoying and painful phantom pains that kept me awake. Luckily I am a trooper and can handle it, but meh. Good luck to all the grinders and lets have a great weekend.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# and http://variance101.blogspot.com.

The grind, my wheelchair, poker chat

Today I cashed in 6 out of 38 MTTs and 1 out of 5 satellites. I made one final table when I won the $1 $300 deep stack turbo. I also had a few deep runs finishing 10th, 12th, and 15th. One positive note is that my lone satellite cash was for a $109 ticket and that will come in handy Sunday. Today I continued   to add in plenty of lower stakes MTTs and I also kept registering later than normal in order to get in more volume. I am successfully doing both those things and having deep runs I expect a very good day or two to come my ay very soon.

My wheelchair finally showed up today. I bought a new chair during the summer of 2011 and it took forever to get due to the middleman I was using making a few mistakes. After about six months I finally got my chair but it had a wobble in the front wheels at anything above a crawl. I dealt with it for a few months and then sent it in to get fixed. Now that it has arrived lets cross out fingers that it will be good to go. Well, I took my chair out of the box they shipped it in and the wobble seems to be fixed. What a relief but I still have to minor things I need to do to it for me to be happy.

The chat has been a little quiet as a couple of our guys that also have jobs have been stretched a little thin for free time and not getting to play or talk poker as much as they would like. There are a few of us that seem to be in the chat everyday but with everyone finding the right mix of focus there has been less  meaningless chat and when someone does chat it is usually strategy related. If you are interested in taking lessons and joining a poker chat full of committed grinders please don't hesitate to send me an email. Variance101 is in it's early stages and I currently have quite a bit of time to spend on my students. I am in the chat daily giving free coaching to the students that are between lessons.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# and http://variance101.blogspot.com.

Poker updates and a pool story

Today I cashed in 6 out of 29 MTTs and 1 out of 8 satellites. I was able to make three final tables but couldn't get my big hands to hold. Overall I had a great day even though I wasn't able to get into the positive. I have been working on lengthening my session in an effort to get in more volume and was able to accomplish that today. There is a small break between MTTs that I like when I am 6 hours into registering. But, if I can play on, there are a few good MTTs to cap the day off with. I feel as if I am continuing to improve daily. I save all my tough hands and have been slowly saving less and less. Also my level of understanding has grown considerably. I feel so much more comfortable and on point when reviewing a hand that is posted, watching a training video, or putting my thoughts into words when commenting on a hand or writing an article. I feel I am at my best when I am improving daily and right now I am at my best.

I have been thinking about what topic I would write my next strategy article on and have several ideas that I want to work on. But, for my second article I decided I would try to expand on the first article. I enjoyed all the comments that the players left and tried my best to reply to all of them. A few of the comments were very well thought out and helpful. A few of them gave me some ideas on how to expand on the topic. I decided I would branch off of a few thoughts left in the comments and delve into the reasoning behind our actions.

I was asked to write two articles a month and considering I am new to having a writing deadline, I thought I should get something started. I was winding down my session and had one turbo MTT left.  I was in  push/fold mode due to my stack, and with the use of a shove chart, push/fold does not require much thought. So I opened text edit and began to write. At first I just rough draft style threw down a few ideas and then before I knew I had two paragraphs. At this time I started doing some proof-reading and began trying to think out the rest of the article. I instantly had a few ideas and then its like before you know it there is four or five paragraphs. I started with the intention of getting the article maybe twenty percent along and within a couple hours I was done. When you're writing about something you truly enjoy it seems to be near effortless at times. Anyway, I am not sure when it will be out or even if it will get approved, but if I was to guess I would think to keep an eye out for it somewhere around the first of next month. Hope you enjoy it.

The poker chat had a quiet day but a few of us managed some deep runs. I think I have several active students with impressive determination that should have no problem reaching their goals. I know we all have those moments in our lives where we start doing something and midway through we lose desire and interest. With poker for most people as you improve there is lots of instant gratification and improving becomes addictive. And when talking poker those improvements can also mean dollar signs. If I was to try and offer advice to players wanting to start improving I would try and stress that they will get out of it what they give to it. There isn't a poker video or lesson that will make you a champion. But both of those things can give you the tools needed to improve if you work at it. Hard work and dedication will pay off ten fold.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# and http://variance101.blogspot.com.

Once upon a time, long ago, when I had two legs and enjoyed hearing pool balls smack the back of the pocket, a friend of mine that goes by the name Cam, drove us over to OKC for a Midwest Tour Pool Tournament. Most of these stops start with a one pocket tournament on Thursday that ends Friday, And then they have a 9 ball event that starts either Friday night or Saturday around noon and goes through the weekend. At this certain event the pool room owners were putting up a $10k bonus if anyone could win both events. I cashed in the one pocket but was sent to the bleachers by Buddy Hall who is an absolute legend. Buddy wasn't able to win the tournament though as Cliff Joyner one of the best one pocket players ever took it down.

So the trip started good with a cash in the one pocket and now its time to play the 9ball where I felt I was much more competitive. I breezed through my first few matches even though a couple were tough and I was feeling really good. I was a bit of a long shot to win it because all the top talent from the Midwest was there. I was a solid player but may have been in the top 15 to 20 at best out of the field, so the action was tough. We were down to 8 undefeated players and I had to play the best player in Oklahoma. His name is James Walden and he was a beast. This man could run out for days and make it look simple. It was a race to 9 and he won the flip. James won the first two games and then we had a safety battle in third game. I got control of the table and left James hooked. He was on the 6 ball but could not hit it cleanly. James tried to kick at the 6 but missed and I got ball in hand. I ran that rack out and then began to plug the table and rack. This tournament was a winner break, rack your own structure with the players splitting the quarters. As I began to plug the table I turned and saw James siting in his chair and he was leaning forward reaching out handing me a quarter. I grabbed to quarter and racked em up. After I racked I went around and went through my break routine and then proceeded to break and run out. As the 9 ball was falling I sat my cue down and began to plug the table only to look over and see James sitting there reaching a quarter out to me. I grabbed the quarter, racked the balls, and then broke and ran again. I did this eight times in a row until the match was over. At this point in my pool career this is by far the best performance I had displayed in a match in a big tournament and it was in front of a lot more people than ever before. James was from OKC so he was a legend there. When the last nine ball fell the crowd erupted and a huge swarm of people came to congratulate me. I probably shook 200 hands and was just on a cloud.

My next match was against a solid player form OKC Mark Demick. The only thing is that even though he is a solid player this was going to be my easiest match out of my last three. I was ready to go, or so I thought. I was so drained or still on that cloud or something. Instead of riding the momentum of that great performance I kind of withered up and lost 9-5. It was still an amazing experience and it was great  to play so good in a key spot, but I sure wish I could have kept it going. It's funny but the part I remember the most is looking over at James and seeing him never get out of his chair but just lean forward and hand me a quarter 8 times in a row.

Cliff Joyner won the 9 ball tournament too and got the 10k bonus. What a great player.

Grinding, Chat, Friends, Happiness

Today I cashed in 5 out of 26 MTTs and 1 out of 7 satellites. I was able to make two final tables and managed a 2nd place in the $22 3k. The HU match was back and fourth and then it ended when my 33 fell short to his K5o all in pre. All in all I am happy with my play and I believe all the hand reviews, poker talk, lessons, articles, blogging, and volume is helping me mold myself into a solid winning player and I will reach my goals.

The poker chat has had a small hiccup the last couple days. One of my students ran across a few situations and as we talked through it ego and emotion became the dominant force and all the explaining went through one ear and out the other. I think we all know its hard to take criticism, its just brutal when a persons defenses go up and they mistake help for sabotage. I think it is important to surround our selves with people we trust when getting advice, if we don't trust the people giving us advice then we are wrong for letting that person waste their time trying to help us. I tell everyone that asks me for advice to make sure they pick a coach they trust, that way they know to listen when the coach tries to help. Obviously you don't have to listen to everything anyone says, but if even a little unsure I think the coach should get the benefit of the doubt.

I have a friend that I recently started chatting more with that works at a casino in the poker room as a floor and plays poker as a profitable hobby. He reminds me of how I was before I took the steps to improve in 2010. I have played with him several times in the local tournament series that get run around here. When we played I always felt as if he seemed competent. If I would have had to guess I would have thought he had worked on his game some. Now that we have been talking I have found out that he has never really worked on his game. Now he is in a poker chat with me and his eyes are opened to optimal play and he started improving. The recent improvements have him looking at poker in a different light. Now he is trying to get in even more volume, he has started blogging, and he is active in the chat and usually very helpful. I am happy for my friend and I know improvement is addictive, so I expect him to be a beast soon.

I am glad I am back playing online and feel as if I have my life heading in a direction that makes me happy. I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping people and the poker coaching is right up my alley. I am also excited about the challenge of writing articles for P5s and have enjoyed having topic thoughts bouncing around in my head. Putting our thoughts into words that makes sense takes practice but the more I work on it the better I feel I am thinking. I think the entire process is helping me grow as a player and I am excited to keep moving forward.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# andhttp://variance101.blogspot.com.

Just another manic Monday

Today I started my day off with another great lesson. There is almost nothing better than the satisfaction of truly helping someone. After the lesson I started my session and cashed in 2 out of 19 MTTs and 2 out of 2 satellites. I was able to win a $109 ticket in one satellite but got 6th when giving away 5 tickets in the other and had to settle for my buy-in back.

The chat is going well and everyone is improving. We had a few deep runs the last couple days and it seems everyone is confident and striving to do better daily.

I did some more work on variance101.com tonight and slowly but surely it's looking better and better. If you would like to check the website out there will be a link at the bottom. For now I am tired after a long day and ready to relax. Good luck to all the grinders this week, everyone should be getting back to form now that the WSOP is settled down.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# andhttp://variance101.blogspot.com.

Da Pokerz

Today I woke up and gave a poker lesson to start my day. The lesson went great. We talked a lot about the reasons behind our actions and having a plan. The lesson got us both in the zone and I think we both had positive days.

I cashed in 3 out of 21 MTTs and made one final table. On the final table I finished 2nd and I also had two other deep runs finishing 11th, and 12th. Overall a great day even though I pretty much broke even and I spent two $109 tickets. All the lessons, chat, playing, and review has really been helping and I feel as if I am improving daily. I feel like I make more sense with every sentence and am really thriving off the improvement.

I got some great news from P5s as my recent article was a success. I will be writing two articles a month and you can find my Coach Profile on the coaches page. Thanks for the opportunity P5s, I will do my best to write well thought out articles that can help people with poker strategy.

This week I will be grinding daily and will be playing mostly $11 and under freezeouts, and $3 and under rebuys. There are a couple other MTTs I play that are outside of these parameters, but due to the structure and value I think its important I don't miss them often. But, I will say that strict BRM is very important and should be followed at all times. Having a lax BRM attitude usually only ends one way, and we don't want that.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# and http://variance101.blogspot.com.

1st Article, Chat, Focus

Today my day started with giving a lesson to a very promising student. The lesson went very well and as it was coming to an end I got news that my first P5s article was up on the website. I got kind of excited and felt proud. Check it out here Article. I followed the articles comments through out the day and enjoyed all the feedback. Overall an awesome experience.

After the lesson I started a session and was able to cash in 5 out of 21 MTTs and 0 out of 2 satellites. I made two final tables finishing up 2nd and 8th. It was another positive day and I feel as if my game is coming along nicely. I know I still have lots of work to do but i am playing pretty well and eagerly take on the challenge of continuing to improve.

The poker chat is going very well. It seems that everyone is getting the hang of explaining why they decided one way or another when a hand is posted. As people first start talking poker a lot in chat or forums the most common mistake is giving a reply without reasons. "I would fold." For example doesn't tell us why we should or why its better than any other option. Also I am seeing a decrease in unnecessary chat. I am all about chatting with my friends, but i think that should be done mostly before and after the session and on breaks. Now obviously we all have slow times and sure do what you like. But I have tried to explain to my students if you have time to chat a bunch, rail someone else's table, or browse the web, you should kill all that excess and add a table instead. There is no better learning tool than experience so we have to get in there and play. I would also like to add that playing with as little distractions as possible is always best.

I am excited for a good day tomorrow. I will be starting my day with a lesson, and then playing a full Sunday session. I have two $109 tickets so I will be taking a couple shot and hopefully might make a deep run. Good luck to all the grinders out there, play well and stay focused.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.

Improving

Today I got my grind started about 30 minutes earlier than normal and added in more micro stake MTTs. I cashed in 5 out of 25 MTTs and 1 out of 4 satellites. I made 2 final tables and won the $11 deep stack turbo. I also was able to win another $109 ticket, so after a dry spell I win a ticket on back to back days, sweet. I also bubbled two other final tables and had some other deep runs to go along with my decent day.

I am still trying to work on my MTT selection and always looking for ways to improve. Today I played as many as 9 tables at a time but had more smaller buy-in MTTs on my screen. I still probably averaged about 6 tables at a time but I kept registering all the $1-3 deep stack turbos which would occasionally fill up my screen. Although with the turbo structure it gets to a push/fold scenario pretty quick so it doesn't clog the screen for long. I know some people shy away from turbos and prefer more of a standard structure with longer levels. I don't disagree but I will tell you that anyone familiar with a shove chart will have a small edge over the field in turbos. Turbos get to push/fold faster and stay there longer. With that being said I am sure you can understand that anyone good at push/fold should have an edge at turbos. So for what its worth if you find yourself being one of the players that is not fond of turbos, pull out a shove chart and give them another try. You might surprise yourself.

The poker chat is going really well. I got a couple compliments recently where my efforts where noticed and that felt really good. Like I said yesterday, a poker chat can be instrumental to improving if you can get a group of guys giving 100%. Variance101 has a solid group of guys and we are all improving.

I try to give 100% of myself at all times. I make sure I never get the "over it" feeling and punt stacks. With Variance101 I think it's important I lead by example. I make sure I am playing optimal and keeping emotion out of the game. I think that is two of the most important fundamentals to learn. I also think its important that I portray myself as what I am. I think I am a solid player that is still improving. I have learned a lot and have a lot to share, but I never feel as if I know it all. Yesterday during a hand discussion I went to a few of my friends that I look up to and brought all that info back to the chat. TeamVariance101 knows I may not have all the answers, but they know I will try to get the answers and bring them back. This whole experience has been great for me and I really hope my students are happy.

I am hoping for a great weekend. I have lessons scheduled both days before my session and that always gets my day off to a great start. I am about to fix some dinner but after I think I will do a review of all my recent tough hands and prepare myself for the next couple days. Improving is addictive and I love it, by far my drug of choice.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.

Talk poker with friends

Today I cashed in 0 out of 21 MTTs and 1 out of 3 satellites. I was able to finally win a 109 ticket though. I was on a brutal spell of bricking out of the 109 satellites but finally got one today. I did have a few deep runs today, but was not able to come through in the key flips to keep going. I believe I am playing well, avoiding getting emotional or tilted, and working towards improving every day. I also feel as if I haven't been able to post any good results in a while, but I want all of y'all to know they are coming.

The poker chat is going really well. Everyone seems to be getting the hang of it, and I think everyone is improving. It is more than just hanging out. It takes effort and practice to soak in all the relevant info from a posted hand and then give a reply that makes sense and can help people. Actually I had to ask one of my friends to take it more serious. He tends to give well thought out responses after taking in half the information.

Here is one brutal instance that I think can be used as a learning tool that recently happened to me. I was having a hand discussion with a student when a friend commented offering an alternate line. I immediately told him I thought the line was bad and gave him reasons behind my thinking. We carried on for about thirty minutes then he tried to say he thought we were talking about a different hand. Then he tried to say well he was busy and got confused. And ultimately gave the, I was just trying to help. I guess its just me but if I am going to reply to a hand I am going to gather up all the information and then give a response with reasons. I don't understand how he thinks creating a 30 min discussion, which was mostly me talking him out of a bad line, could be justified as helpful. What would have been helpful is if he would have just made sure he looked at the right info and then before carrying on for 30 min maybe even double check the hand history before spending all that energy justifying insanity.

I tend to think of a chat as a "treat people as you wish to be treated" type of environment. I would think if you are giving 100% and trying your best to comment on posted hands with a thought out response that has reasons behind the actions, that others will notice and try to give you the same. But on that same note if you find yourself taking the information for granted and giving misguided responses without reasons, you may get the same in return and that can't be beneficial. I think it is an easy concept to grasp for most, but some guys that have been in chats before may have some bad habits and could really benefit from trying a little harder. It may seem simple but I think its easy to take things for granted and hard to give 100%. So sometimes I like to offer a little pep talk of sorts and try to get people to understand you will get out of it what you put in.

I know this could seem like a lot of talk about poker chats, but a poker chat is an instrumental part of improving. In basically every podcast or interview I have ever heard or seen when a great player is asked to give advice for people trying to improve, its always talk poker with friends as much as possible. Talking poker and discussing hands is crucial to improvement and is by far one of the most important things I learned.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.

It's a beautiful day in the

Today I cashed in 4 out of 13 MTTs and 2 out of 4 satellites. I made one final table and finished 8th. I also had two other deep runs where I finished 12th in both. I was a winning race or two away from having a great day. Overall I feel really good about my play and I know I am improving. I do not find myself in spots where I am confused or reevaluating often, my lines and plans have been solid and I feel good about that. The chat group has helped prepare me for so many situations with our constant poker talk. The group is full of players with different skill ranges and this really helps get a lot of different questions for each hand posted. In the end we usually decide on one solid line and come to an agreement and the whole process helps everyone.

I have not really began to pull out of my downswing yet although I did just have back to back winning days. The wins were small but its momentum and I am happy about that. It is not easy but I have been getting control of myself concerning buy-in ranges and have toned it down to near optimal. I like playing with 200 buy-ins and adjusting my buy-in parameters to keep as close to 200 buy-ins as possible. In some situations I will try and work with 100 buy-in roll but I think 200 is best. All I know is that if I want to reach my goals, all I have to do is follow strict BRM, put in volume, and keep working on my game. That is exactly what I plan on doing.

Sheets chat on PxF was good tonight. Shane from imawhale.com was in there and talked a lot about his staking offers and Sheets asked him a ton of questions, it was cool. Sheets also went deep in a couple MTs and finished 4th in one. So for anyone looking into staking you might want to check the website out. Also if anyone is looking for a training site I suggest PxF and if you sign up put me down as where you heard about it. When it asks, select other and say cracker9ball for the name of the referral.

I got some great news today. I was asked by P5s to start writing articles. So as long as I can write a decent article you can expect to see my thoughts on MTT strategy. I am so excited and plan on doing the best job I can. This will also help me get a little more exposure for V101. I love talking poker and helping people so this is right up my alley. Please look for my articles and show some support.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.

You can do it!

Tuesday I cashed in 1 out of 16 MTTs and 0 out of 2 satellites. My one cash was a final table though, and I finished in 4th place. Overall the day went decent, I feel I played well for the most part and I saved a few problem hands to go over. My recent downswing has been far from fun but I know I can keep grinding away and be exactly where I want soon. Poker is a marathon not a sprint. I think we just have to try our best, keep improving, and get in volume and we will achieve our goals. Just don't expect it overnight.

Poker is an amazing game of skill, full of amazing people. Poker is unlike anything I have ever played as far as giving everyone a shot. When I played pool everyone was so caught up in how good everyone was. It was impossible to get a game without being asked, "What are you rated?" In the pool world a common ranking system is 4-10. 4 being the weakest and 10 being the best. Those ranking were commonly used in weekly tournaments where you have to win the same amount of games as your handicap. For example I was a 10 so I would have to win 10 games before my opponent, lets say they were a 5, had to win 5 games. Between tournaments if you wanted to gamble it generally involved giving up a spot and out running a very tough game. With poker it is so much different, everyone wants to play and no one asks for a handicap. I love that poker is a game everyone can play, and everyone feels they have a chance.

One important thing to try and realize is how well you play. Try and decide whether you are a 4 or a 10? Or are you somewhere in the middle? The greatest strength a player can have is to know how they play. If you know how you play it will be easy to figure out what to work on to improve, along with knowing what levels to play now until you have improved. A large percent of poker players are a little caught up in thinking they are better than they are, don't be one of these players.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.

Sunday, and a day off

Sunday I cashed in 0 out of 10 MTTs. I played a shortened schedule but took a few shots in the bigger MTTs. I was not able to get a cash but the day went okay. I think I am playing pretty well and I was happy with my play. I was able to run deep in the 125k but my AA lost to AK all-in pre on a KKx flop. No matter what I know that there will be plenty of days to play poker and one 0-fer won't matter in the long run.

Monday I decided I was due for a nice day off full of relaxing. I played no poker but did stop by the chat a couple times to help out and offer my thoughts. There were discussions going every time I stopped by and I was able to share my thoughts and help the guys in the chat. I really feel the chat is helping all the guys involved improve.

Just going to keep it short and sweet for now. I am starting  my Tuesday session and hope to have a good day. Good luck grinders.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.

Saturday 14th July

I cashed in 1 out of 16 MTTs and 0 out of 4 satellites. Considering how you look at it I kind of cashed in 5 other MTTs, but what truly happened was Merge had some kind of hiccup and they closed down 5 MTTs I was in and refunded us and chip chopped the prize pool I think. Pretty annoying but nothing I can do about it. The hiccup did throw me for a small loop but I got through it and kept grinding, just couldn't close anything out last night. There is always Sunday!

The chat is going well and I think everyone is improving. All the nonstop poker talk is really helping me get in the zone and I feel as if I am improving everyday. Good luck to all of #TeamVariance101 on this magical Sunday, lets get the money.

I am going to keep this short I did not write this last night so I am throwing it together as I start my session. Best of luck to all the grinders and the rest of the field at WSOP.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.

Grind, Costa Rica, doubledave22

Today I cashed in 2 out of 14 MTTs and o out of 1 satellites. I was able to make one final table but came up short in 7th place. Overall it was a decent day and I had my best day of recent as far as buy-in parameters. I kept it cheap today to make up for the couple of shots I took yesterday. I also just wanted to prove to myself I could do it. I am building my roll and I will admit that one of my leaks is wanting it to quickly, so when I see a decent guarantee on a MTT try and figure out a way into it. I mean this is post BF and for $22 and under it is hard to see a guarantee above 3k. Pre BF you could play a $3 10k. you could play a $11 20k everyday. Oh how I miss PokerStars and sites unmentioned due to them owing me money.

I was surprised at getting several comments about going to Costa Rica and they all pretty much said, go. I am truly thinking it over and will be getting a passport soon. I actually have enough flexibility to make it work and a few other things in my life could be lining up around the same time to make it feasible. I have a friend in Costa Rica now and I think I would probably want to use Poker Refugees through Pocketfives and believe Costa Rica would be my destination of choice if handicap accessible wasn't a problem. I actually am getting excited thinking about it just by typing this paragraph. It is crazy that the USA of all places has restrictions on poker, amazing, get it together USA.

Variance101 is going strong and we had a few killer discussions in the chat today. We got multiple points of view but ultimately ended up with one common answer at the end. I truly feel as if we are all improving at poker and at using a chat to our advantage to help us improve.

I am stoked that Dave "doubledave22" D'Alesandro is up among the chip leaders at WSOP. I took lessons with Dave and he was instrumental to my improvements. I also just recently watched his most recent videos on PxF and as always they were great. Get em Dave!

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.

Lessons, grinding, villageidiot1, and Costa Rica

Today I was lucky enough to start my day giving a lesson and I think it went very well. I really enjoy it when I am giving a lesson and the time flies by as we are discussing the hands, running the equity numbers, and evaluating the villains range in pokerstove. Today I didn't want to stop, my student actually brought the time up or I would have gone on for a few more minutes at least. I really enjoy improving, talking poker, and helping people.

As far as results go, I cashed in 3 out of 17 MTTs and 0 out of 1 satellites. I made one final table and finished in 8th place. All in all it was a pretty good day. I had several deep runs and if I had won a couple more races I might have had a great day. I will say that I had about the same indecision over whether to buy in to a couple MTTs or not today as I did yesterday. Today I didn't do as well with it as yesterday as I gave in and played one. I played the $33 7.5k as it is the cheapest shot for me to get into a decent guarantee. I do know that I won't being playing it everyday.

I think we had a good day in the poker chat. We had several decent spots to discuss and one of the players has been on a tear and we railed him through some of his final tables. Good job "villageidiot1" keep up the good work. Also we discussed ways to help all involved use the chat and get the most out of it. We just stressed a few pointers and possible guidelines we wish most could follow. For example waiting to post a hand until the current discussion is over. Another is making sure when you comment on a hand that you have looked at all the information provided and do your best to come up with your best answer the first time. We are just trying to avoid a lax attitude and half ass answers when commenting on hands. We all know if we buy into the chat and try hard it will help all of us improve. I think a poker chat is a valuable tool but they do require a little work and dedication to keep positive and strategy based. It seems way to easy for chats to turn into chaos if bad beats, bust out hands, and negativity are allowed to run rampant.

Seems as if the WSOP is coming to an end. By now most have been eliminated from the Main and I am sure there are lots of crushed dreams. Hopefully all the players that participated enjoyed their time and will keep a valuable experience with them forever. Best of luck to all the players still in. Good luck AP, keep grinding bro!

I am giving serious thoughts into checking out a possible move to Costa Rica. I can't even begin to tell you how much I would enjoy being able to play on PokerStars again. It is still just in the "a possible thought stage" but I am truly considering it. First step, get a passport.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.

Don't stop, get it, get it!

Today I cashed in 3 out of 20 MTTs and 2 out of 7 satellites. Two of my MTT cashes were final tables with me finishing 4th and 7th. Both of my satellite cashes were of the minimum variety but I will keep grinding and try and have a $109 ticket by Sunday. Overall the day went well, I followed the plan I had set but did have a moment of indecision where I was trying to talk myself into playing a MTT outside my roll. Luckily the Angel on the left out argued the Devil on the right and I was able to avoid the leak.

After my session I enjoyed an excellent strip steak and watched AGT. The act "Traces" that guest starred was amazing. The whole crew all fluidly flipped around the stage like ninja's, it was cray! After dinner I put another hour of work in on my new website and I believe it is coming along nicely. If you would like to check it out there will be a link at the bottom this post.

Tomorrow I will start my day by giving a lesson and then plan on playing a full session afterwards. Tomorrow I will be following the same plan of low buy-in grinding working my BR back up. I do not want to get caught in the trap of wanting to win to fast and force bad play or bad BRM. Today I was proud of myself because I really wanted to play the $60 mid-week monster but failed to satellite in. I also had urges to play the $33 7.5k but my current plan has me playing $11 and under with one $11r, one $11c, and one $22. I knew if I gave in and bought into either MTT I would be upset with myself for not following my plan. But since I did not give in and I stayed strong I get to think back positively and build confidence going into my next session.

There was a couple good discussions in the poker chat today but I am starting to realize that #TeamVariance101 is getting comfortable with the chat. At first some might chat a little to much or possibly not stop by the chat enough. But I think most find a comfortable amount of time to spend in the chat without distracting from their play and while still picking up on the helpful discussions. Participating in a poker chat while play takes some adjusting. Its important to not play distracted, but grinding along your friends in a chat builds a camaraderie that can breed positivity, comfort, and confidence. Also the hand discussions are so valuable. I really enjoy the poker chat.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.

"It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.” ― Babe Ruth

Today I cashed in 3 out of 17 MTTs and 0 out of 4 satellites. I have some good and bad news about my cashes, all three were final tables, but I didn't finish higher than 8th. Overall a decent day and I am happy with my play and the fact I followed my plan for the day. Today I did a lot better job of playing a reduced buy-in schedule and again kept my volume down just a tad to increase focus.

In my opinion it is very easy to play more than you study, play to high when we do play, chase when in a downswing, and play distracted with to little focus. I think these are common problems that most poker players struggle with from time to time. I have personally been doing what I can to remove these problems from my game and improve on my game and my approach. I think leading by example is a powerful tool and that is what I am trying to do with Variance101.

After my session I railed the $11 rebuy deep-stack while  Greg "villageidiot1" pwned the FT and shipped the MTT. Good job Greg! As vilageidiot1 was finishing up his onslaught on the $11r I decided I would do a HH review of all my recent tough hands. I also made a post in the Variance101 chat offering to let any of my students join me. Willis jumped at the oppurtunity and we had a great review session for a little over an hour. There were several spots that we ran the equity numbers on and worked with ranges in pokerstove.

 I will say the general point that came from the review was that the aggressive line is usually best. What I mean by that is that I would rather 3b/c or 3b/f with a decent hand in pos rather than flat behind an open. I think it is common for some players to flat opens in  middle and late position with AT+ with a thought of not bloating the pot and having position. But what happens is you catch pieces and end up floating their flop c-bet and get in lots of tricky spots. I prefer to 3b/c or 3b/f and often they flat and we get to c-bet in pos. Most hands play so much better if we are the aggressor.

After the review I did some more work on my website which is coming along nicely. I also got some valuable help from a friend as I was trying to come up with a possible logo. We had several ideas and have a few we kept as favorites, thanks Cody.

Tomorrow will be more of the same. Lots of hard work and focus while following strict buy-in parameters and keeping the volume fairly low by staying around six MTTs or less at a time for the majority of the day. I have also been adjusting my MTT choices slightly and hope to keep working towards the best schedule for my current BR. I miss all the WSOP live streams but when working on focus it's probably better that all the events are done but two. I am ready to have a good finish to July and I plan on working my butt off to reach my goals.

LONG LIVE ONLINE POKER!

If you are interested in taking lessons or need any information contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/#.