Ship, ship, shiparooo

Well, me and my partner @rscrbuyer won the partners tournament at Hard Rock Tulsa for the Oklahoma State Championship Series. There was 45 teams with a $230 entry paying $3840 for 1st. I think we both played well and had no plans of chopping. We were 4 out of 4 when they were trying to discuss a chop and we told them we had no plans to chop, they have to take us out. From there we just kinda ran away with it. The structure was solid with 30 min levels allowing partners to switch every 30 min.

So far it has been a good Oklahoma State Series for me. I 3-way chopped a 7pm $130 Saturday, I won a 70pm $130 on Monday outright with no chop, and no we win the partners tournament. Hopefully I can continue the success through the weekend in the 150k guaranteed.

If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information visit http://variance101.com/# or email me at variance101@gmail.com.

Howdy partner

Last night was 6max at Hard Rock Tulsa for the Oklahoma State Championship Series. There was a decent turnout for a Tuesday at 7pm with 80 players. I went out fairly early when I opened to 500 at 100/200 with 99 from UTG with about 6k. It folded around to the BB who called. The flop was 965, I bet 750 and he called. Turn was a 4, he checked and I bet 1200 and he called. River was a 2 and he shoved all in. We have some history and at the time I was thinking he probably hit a straight on the river, but I also was thinking about how he is capable of doing this with hands other than straights, and I was a bit tunnel visioned on the fact that it was around 2200 to call to win 12k or so. In hindsight I think that the villain is truly just fishy enough to play his hand face up and shove like he did. I should have just folded. A disappointing error, but we live and learn. In a way this can refer back to my most recent article. I knew I should fold even though the price was great and there may have been a small percentage of the time he has hands I still beat. But, instead I let some of the wrong thoughts over power and I went away from the default play to go with a read and hit the showers. Reads are great and very useful, but we have to  make sure we are going to be correct a huge percentage of the time and not get crazy and justify bad play by saying, "I had a read."

The 150k guaranteed starts tomorrow at 10am with flight Day1A. There we be two other starting days, Friday and Saturday at 10am for Day1B and Day1C. Day2 is Sunday at 10am and should be a pretty good size field and a long day. This is the first time the started the big guarantee at 10am instead of noon an I bet they hear lots of comments. I prefer noon but I will handle it fine. I will say Hard Rock is decent at listening to the players and fixing things. They have really improved the structures over the last couple years and there is plenty of play. It is not quite as good as WSOPc structures but it is fairly close. Good luck to everyone that plays, run good and play good for the win.

Tonight is a $230 partners tournament with 30 min levels where you tag team in on the same stack with your partner playing 30 min at a time. I am playing with a good friend from Arkansas and I plan on having a good time. Most partner tournament are Jack and Jill where a boy and girl alternate a stack. This will be only my second time to play an open partner tournament. Good times!

If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information visit http://variance101.com/# or email me at variance101@gmail.com.

No chop

Winner, I won the 7pm $130 tonight at Hard Rock Tulsa for the Oklahoma State Championship Series. Just a small field nightly but it is fun to win with no chop. Head up I was playing against another good local player, but his speciality is PLO and I was able to take it down. Head up lasted almost thirty minutes and was a fun grind. The final hand was full house>full house. I had 77 and opened for 5k at 1k/2k 500. I started the hand with about 100k to his 50k. He calls and the flop is Q7J. He checks I bet 7k and he shoves. I snap call and he shows Q2. Turn 2 and river 2 to make my 7s full beat his 2s full. It was a good match and I enjoyed it.

I am currently watching ESPN3 trying to sweat my friend Clint Tolbert win the West Palm Beach WSOPc Main Event. He is currently the chip leader 3 handed but the chip lead has been tossed around some. I sure hope he snaps it off, especially since he is wearing the RunGoodGear patch. GL Clint!

Well, the snow is coming down like crazy outside but it is only supposed to get down to about 33 degrees so I don't think it will stay down long. Hopefully it disappears quick I don't want any trouble getting to the casino the next few days for the rest of this OK State Championship. Thursday starts day 1a of 3 starting days for a 150k guaranteed that should have a solid turnout.

If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information visit http://variance101.com/# or email me at variance101@gmail.com.

Pineapple Express

So I played my first pineapple tournament last night. It was actually crazy pineapple, where you shuck a card after the flop action is complete. It was fun. I have played cash pineapple before but this was my first tournament experience. I got a penalty once for flipping my hand over after getting in all-in with another player. It was my first experience with this and didn't realize that you see the flop, shuck, then flip your cards over. Overall it was a fun tournament.

Tonight is a $130 nl I plan on playing but weather says we are getting 2-4 inches of snow so I am playing by ear. I figure I will probably try and go I just hope I can get back in my apartment later tonight.

Variance101 is going well, I picked up two new students yesterday and have been talking quite a bit of poker in the chat and with friends. It's awesome when I start working with a student and I get to see how quickly they begin to improve. Teaching can be fun and fulfilling if you enjoy it. It's mostly just a bunch of positive experiences. I am generally coaching to help them improve, but then with that my students get motivation help and some life coaching help. You take any poker player and get them to review more hands, talk poker, and build an improvement based routine and they usually get motivated and have positive experiences. The whole process can be a profitable joy for all.

I was thinking of trying to post a hand in my blog a little more frequently but my last attempt got no replies. LMK if any of y'all would enjoy a hand review more often. I have an article coming out soon on P5s where I review a hand, make sure to keep an eye out for it and please leave a comment.

Good luck to all the grinders out there. I am sweating in a few friends. Clint Tolbert, @soonerCT and Bryan Campanello, @b_campanello45 are both down to two tables in the WSOPc main in West Palm Beach, Florida. And then we got Arthur Morris, @ARMorris86 deep at LAPC. Good luck to all of you and it's awesome seeing @RunGoodGear get more and more exposure. Tana Karn, @tkarn421 is an awesome guy who is great for poker, make sure and support Run Good Gear!

If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information visit http://variance101.com/# or email me at variance101@gmail.com.

Chop Suey

Well, I managed a 3-way chop in the 7pm $130 at Hard Rock Tulsa in the Oklahoma State Championship of Poker Series. This was just a nightly tournament but it was still fun to go deep and get a chop. I was an early hold out on the chop as I do not like to chop with several players unless it benefits me. But once we got three handed I was 3 of 3 on chips and told the other two I would chop now. The chop was for better than 2nd place money and the average stack was 20bbs or so. It was a fun final table as two of my friends where there and they both made the money finishing 8th and 7th.

Ok State Championships started Thursday and goes through next Sunday. There are still several decent MTTs and over the weekend there is a 150k guaranteed with three starting days that should make for a great tournament. For the most part the schedule consists of a $60 10am MTT, a $45 4pm satty and a nightly $130 that is usually NL but is 6max one night and crazy pineapple tomorrow.

I did have one crazy situation tonight. We had a player abandon his hand before it was his turn so I asked the dealer to warn him. The dealer refused because he is a lazy turd who could care less about anything to do with Oklahoma Poker and improving it. When the player returned I asked again and got another no, so I asked him to call the floor. Its just ridiculous, when you players that don't know the rules its easily fixed if the dealers will politely tell them. Then they know and it helps them. But instead, we had another player do the same thing 1 min after the other guy returned. Then the floor, who I think is a BJ supervisor filling in, barely handled it right and there was still confusion. So now the dealer is pissed at me and when I accidentally exposed my cards because they flipped over when mucking from UTG pre flop 1st to act, he calls the floor on me for exposing my cards with action pending. This same "new floor" comes and starts to give me a penalty even though they never give a penalty for exposed cards when its done when folding by mistake like that unless a repeat offender. The dealer wait till she starts to tell me that I am on penalty and then says, "it was on accident." What a vindictive shit head.

We pre tip for chips in these MTTs and the dealers act like it sometimes. A no point should a dealer be vindictive and acting like that. One of the other factors is I know this guy from before the casino for several years, then we worked together at the casino for almost 4 years, and now he has dealt to me for another 5 years and I find that sometimes if you have past with people they just refuse to treat you as a customer. I hate that. If I am a paying customer I would appreciate getting treated like one. Luckily I was able to talk to a solid floor man who handled the problem and helped the MTT function proper. We can't let a bad seed or two spoil everything so we move on. Hope that dealer has a good evening and a great week next week. I forgive you sir.

Well, I wanted to blog since something positive happened and I felt my last couple blogs where lacking on some positivity.  It felt good having a little uptick tonight even though it was just a small cheap nightly.

Variance101 is still kicking along and going pretty well. I picked up a couple new students this last week and should be giving a lesson tomorrow. Make sure to go to http://www.pocketfives.com and check out my articles to get an idea of where I am coming from and some of the topics I like to talk about.

If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information visit http://variance101.com/# or email me at variance101@gmail.com.

Thrift Shop, K10hh

I love that song Thrift SHop by Macklemore.

Well, I played the $130 Friday night at Hard Rock for the Oklahoma State Championship of poker. For my fourth tournament in a row I failed to make first break. But, that shit happens and I am not overly concerned with the results of any one tournament, any ten tournaments, and even more. If I feel I am playing well then I am fine with it. Considering there is so much less volume live than online, it does seem that several players might get frustrated quicker live. Online there was the ability to play so much more volume. But, an understanding of variance coupled with constant review of the important hands played can help us understand what went on and how to improve. Thinking about getting better for the next tournament instead of why we are unlucky after busting is also an great way to stay on path and not be frustrated.

I am going to share my bust-out hand from last night. I could have folded but decided to go with my read and was kind of wrong. The reason I say kind of, is because I was right. He did not think he was ahead and was showing weakness. When I said call, he immediately said, "You're good." But, I was wrong and he had top pair, and I had second pair. 

Here is the hand.  

I am on the button with K10hh in a $130 7pm nightly during the Oklahoma State Championship of poker. The hand started with the HJ+1 opening for 3.25x to 675 at 100/200. The HJ+1 was a 30 year old black guy drinking a mixed drink and talking some. I chose to call from the button and take a flop. The BB calls as week. The flop is J510 rainbow and the BB checks, HJ+1 checks, and I make it 1200. Bb quickly folds and then the Hj+1 starts yapping about whatever and then shoves after about a one minute tank. Now as I am tanking to decide what to do as I had a plan for him raising and calling, but was not expecting a check/shove. As I am thinking he begins to talk more and more so I juts listen. I am fairly certain he is not happy that I haven't folded yet and begins to show some signs of distress. After about two minutes he calls the clock on me and continues to talk. I end up calling and he had QJ and held. The villain had me covered and i started the hand with 8kish so it was a bit of a spew. I knew I should fold as risk doesn't always equal the reward in these spots. In the end I went with a read that was not accurate enough. All in all if I could do it again I would 3b/f pre and as played I would fold to the check/raise.

If you have any comments about the hand please reply.

If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information visit http://variance101.com/# or email me at variance101@gmail.com.

Aaaarrrggghhhhhh!

C'mon man! Grrr, I am a little frustrated. One step forward and then two steps back. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. Blah, blah, blah. I am sure this is what y'all want to read. Variance is awesome! I have worked hard at keeping emotion out of my game and away from my decision making. I also pride myself in taking beats with class and usually just rolling off, maybe offering a "Nice hand." But, I will admit that I will occasionally on the drive home or in reflection say, "Shit!" And when I say it, by golly I mean it. So, for those of y'all wondering, this is me saying, "Shit!"

I need to step up my game apparently. I truly feel that I have worked on my game a ton, but I keep ending up in this spot. I really miss online poker. I have played as many MTTs live over the last two years, that I would have played in one week online. But, it is what it is and we must make the best of it.

And you know what, I am not done. I am not defeated, and I am not giving up. I will soldier on and keep grinding away until the worm turns. Oklahoma State Championship of poker is starting in about a week and I will make sure I am playing. Hopefully I can make something happen and take another step forward.

I have had some writing inspiration recently. I have two articles coming out soon on P5s that flow together as a two parter, and then I also just about finished another article based on a poker hand I recently played. I have also been scrolling P5s and commenting on a couple hand questions players have asked. P5s forums is a great place to practice talking poker and reviewing hands.

Variance101 is still grinding along. I have been in the chat talking poker quite a bit the last two days and just picked up another student today. It's been a little slow but V101 will keep on keeping on. Good luck to all the grinders, lets finish off this February strong.

If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information visit http://variance101.com/# or email me at variance101@gmail.com.

Poker

Wow, almost a month since I have made a blog post. For some reason writing has not been in my priority list for a few weeks. I was in Durant at WSOPc through most of January and spent a few days relaxing after the series. I did manage a few cashes but was not able to get winner. The trip was a great experience though and I did get lots of play in.

Next on the agenda is Oklahoma State Championship of Poker Feb. 21 through March 3rd. There is a 150k gtd that starts the 28th that should draw a nice field. There is also a MSPT coming soon to Quapaw that starts March 7th that might be alright.

After a couple weeks of not doing much I think I might try and get out and play some this weekend. I also just turned in my latest article to P5s so keep an eye out for it this weekend. Variance101 is still chugging along and I have a couple new students I am excited to start working with.

Hopefully I can make something happen on the felt that will fuel more writing, until then I want to wish good luck to all the grinders, just keep improving.

If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information visit http://variance101.com/# or email me at variance101@gmail.com.