Finally Updated My Blog!

Hey guys, finally put together a design of my own!

check it out @ http://www.maxv2poker.com

7/20/11

So the action seems to be outrageously slow before 6pm nowadays. Thinking until US signups start up again, only winning players will continue on the site. Clearly outside of the US pokerstars has a stronghold on the market, so it doesn't seem like there's any new population joining the merge network at the moment. Also, my recent vacation to Maine has disrupted my month. Even though I'm winning I've sort of been put off by my recent downswing in 6-handed double ups. Making it a lot more difficult to get in volume. While I'm clearly a winning player in them. I'm just not really interested in playing them long term as I greatly prefer HU. I am however planning on heading down to the Hard Rock tonight to play the daily $75 tournament for fun. Just want to see what it's like and get a feel for the card room.

JET

I declare that hero calls must now be referred to as Jason Terry Irrational Confidence calls. Mandatory.

Looking good!

So, I've been moving around stakes on merge. Was 6-tabling low stakes 6-max double ups for a while to develop my game a bit. Feeling pretty comfortable and have a pretty solid sample size to show I'm a winner so I've been playing more 50-118's. Also been mixing in 50-100 HU's and running great all of a sudden. Not sure if it's due to an increase in the player pool and getting softer games (definitely) or that I'm playing really well (maybe true....we'll say it's both). Anyways, I'm pretty happy and will start putting in more serious volume now that I've been able to run my initial deposit up over 5500ish. Jealous of Beeschnuts though who's run his up to 13k+. Damn you!

Relaxation

Been moving at a pretty slow pace poker wise, mostly focusing on moving in a couple of weeks. I'll post some pictures of my new place once we get moved in, should be around May 25-June 1st when we're finally set up. Pretty excited, moving into downtown Delray Beach. As of right now I have about 2500 on Merge, hopefully we can get into a comfort zone soon.

Back to reality

And here I thought that I would be able to pump out $450+ days every day at $50's on merge...think again! Went 25-22 today for $0 (+40 rake back). Joking aside, I know the realities so this wasn't anything new. Nice to grind from down a couple hundred and get back to even, I missed the feeling of accomplishment when doing so. As you can see, I was running way above EV (and still am running a decent amount above). So we'll see if we can get some more profitable days going over the next week. GL everyone.




Bankroll: $1840
May total: +685
(pre-rakeback and bonuses)







Side note: Dirk Nowitzki is playing exponentially better then any body in the NBA right now...this guy is putting on a show.

Pokerstars New Lobby Structure

My initial response is that I obviously like the lower rake, and greatly dislike the addition of multiple lobbies. I feel like multiple lobbies are a main contributor to what's killing Heads Up Cash tables. Retract my statement about there being less action, looks like it's picked up greatly. Maybe I'm wrong? Would rather be wrong in this situation of course.

We're back

So, I've started playing on the Merge network. Deposited 1k through Western Union, and we're off! with a tiny bankroll. Yesterday I took a hit playing $50's of about -280 I was +80 trying out the software before that. So today I started -200ish, I played quite a few regs but was able to string together a nice run at the end of the session to end up +460 for today. So that puts me at a bankroll of $1300 after rakeback. Let's see if we can make this happen! GL to everyone else

Got my money!

As I personally suspected Pokerstars came through again. Getting my money (and I assume everyone elses) money back in an extremely timely fashion. Speaking with Rypac, he believes that the massive amount of public outcry urging legislators and senators to make this happen had a lot to do with how fast our money has gotten to us. So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who took the time via twitter or petition make their voice heard. Gl everyone!

Respect for Kobe

I hate Kobe, but have to give respect where respect is due. To refuse an MRI and tell his training staff that he's playing is pretty hardcore. Again...I hate you, but I appreciate what you bring to the game.

Relaxing

So during this forced vacation, I've been just hanging out making sports bets and finishing up my last college course. Kind of glad I ended up with some time away from cards, because I probably wouldn't have finished this final paper otherwise. I've been making a ton of sports bets, I would've posted my picks but was severely afraid of a jinx. I made a promise to myself that instead of playing E-Roulette which I could find myself addicted too even though it's not nearly as fun as actual casino roulette, I'd bet everything in my bodog account at all times on various playoff basketball and baseball games. Well, it worked out! I was able to turn $120 into $955 over the last couple days. I've never been successful at gambling outside of playing cards, so this is pretty miraculous to me. I'm going to cash this out and consider this a "paid" vacation haha. Anyways, hope everyone else is doing well. I've signed up for lock poker under the name maxv22 and have a deposit pending at the moment. So hopefully I'll see everyone back at the tables!

What are your plans? Poll

Interested to see what everyone is planning to do. If you have any ideas that you think I should add to the polling list, please comment. Hope everyone is doing well. GL

Coaching

So since I am now unable to play. I was curious as to whether or not anyone would still be interested in my services as a HU SNG coach. I'm willing to cut my rate down to 80/hr in hopes of generating more interest until online poker is officially back running in the United State. My AIM is: allorlebanon and my email is maxlud23@gmail.com and my Skype is maxv20 if interested. Thanks.

Wow

So we've definitely been dealt some interesting news lately as most of you know. This has put a lot of us in a very strange place. Personally I have to rethink whether or not I want to continue my life as a professional poker player now that it's become a much more difficult endeavor. Luckily I've finished up school with my Bachelors and paid off all debts through poker earnings and have a decent amount of money saved up to live off of for a while. From what I can gather we're in for an extended hiatus from online poker. I'm interested to hear peoples thoughts on smaller poker sites succeeding (bodog, lock poker, etc) Not sure where they stand in this process. The optimist in me says "it should only be like 3 months, just wait it out" while the pessimist in me thinks this process could take 1-3 years. I'm rooting for the former....good luck to everyone and their own personal situations relating to all of this. Hope everyone gets their money safely. GL

Nice day

Haven't had a notable day in a while, but I just got down with a 28 game session going 17-8 with 3 chops for +850. Most of it (about 700) was off the same guy. I ran pretty well in general, played what I thought was pretty solid poker as well. Not many hands I feel I misplayed today, so that's always a good thing. Gl everyone!

livb112/Adonis112

So I'll begin my top 10+ list break down at the top. I really enjoy his trash talk, probably the guy I would take in just about any reg war...ever. I mean the guy has made his career on beating anyone/everyone at 5k's, I'm guessing for the most part he wouldn't back down from anyone. Yeah he probably follows the same reg avoidance tactics as everyone else, and there's probably players who have given him problems over time, however you can't argue with his ridiculous results. Does anyone even come close? I'm guessing that most, if not all, Heads up Sit N Go regs would agree with me on this one.

Variance always wins!

Talk about knowing what's coming. I was lazy the last couple days with poker because I've been apartment shopping. Results were great $700 one day going 10-3 $500 another going 8-3...I knew it was too good to be true. I told myself I needed to catchup games/wise or else variance would own me...well it did the very next day lol. I was never down more then 900 yesterday, but it took me 122 games to break even...122!! It was crazy, but I'm glad I did it. I'm back over pace now and looking for some more of those...easier sessions...hopefully! Also I'll start breaking down each individual player on my top 10+ list, think it'll be interesting.

Top 10 People I enjoy watching play

You could call it a top HU SNG Pokerstars list if you want, but I couldn't resist after seeing HUsng.com make one of these.

1. Adonis112
2. treezer
3. Iftarii
4. whaassuuppp
4. iCeVeNoM
5. la_gachette
6. BCM11
7. trader0811
8. Hokiegreg HU
9. PlauZee
10. ricestud / fishenzon / JMProdigy / pistons87 / primordialAA

Maybe if I find some time tomorrow I'll edit this and write in why exactly each of these individuals is on my list. My reasoning behind the list is based on both observations and results, as well as entertainment value in some cases. As you can see I couldn't make up my mind on 10th so I just listed the five I feel deserve to be on the list...it's a tie! Anyways, good luck everyone.

Star with a hole in it next to my name!

And it's blue! Anyways, kinda nice to be first in something. Even if it's just conquering lower stakes. Hopefully I can maintain this throughout the year. Obviously tough to break 10k every month at these stakes and I wasn't able to achieve it before FPP's in March, but it seems like I'll be able to do it more often then not...Hopefully...GL Everyone, see you around

Ah, I day off

After last nights pretty mediocre session, both in how well I played and results (broke even), I decided to take the day off to relax. I put in plenty of volume fighting back to even, so it was sort of deserved. Went and saw "Red Riding Hood", dear god was it hideous. I'm guessing they filmed it in about 2 weeks, I wonder what the editors were thinking when they cut the actual film. Probably something like "nothing can save this, so why even try". No big deal, was good to get out of the house and hang out with my girlfriend Danni. Definitely need to start going to the gym again though. My whole "I was an athlete for 5 years I deserve a break" excuse has definitely run out. So it's time. Anyways back to work tomorrow, GL everyone.