New Blog up...

http://bluffthewsop.blogspot.com/Check it here for the WSOP stuff:

BLUFF the WSOP

Bluff Magazine Intern 2010 WSOP!

The excitement has waned just a bit. I'm still on cloud nine, but I've come down enough to fill you in on the details.

I will be one of two interns for Bluff Magazine, during this years WSOP. I'm amazed that I got the position. Persistence really paid off. I will be in Las Vegas from May 22nd till July 20th. I work 5 days on, 1 day off. Twelve hour days are expected and I have no problem with any off it. This really is a chance of a life time and I am going to do everything in my power to excel. I'm a bit nervous, but thrilled. I'm looking forward to finding a voice that readers will enjoy. I will be interviewing, writing articles and taken photo's at the worlds most prestigious poker event.

I expect that my blog will be more of a log, than some great piece of journalism. It is more for myself than anything else. I will appreciate any readers. I will be creating a new blog for my journey and post here when I can get around to playing or just feel like blabbing to whomever stops in.

I did it!!!!!

I'm in!

I will be interning for a major publications during the 2010 WSOP!!!!!

I'll post more later. I'm so F'ing excited! Can't write, just this second.....

Basbaldy and Williams HU for WPT Championship...

I haven't been able to hit refresh fast enough. It looks like David Williams wins. Congrats to both players for a fantastic job. I think that the chipstakes played a defining roll in the final hand.

Williams raises to 500,000, Baldwin moves all in for 4,765,000.

Williams: 2c 2d
Basebaldy: Ah 5h

I'm not sure a call is correct if David Williams hasn't got such a dominating chip lead. Either way...

the flop brings A76 rainbow, with a 2 on the turn. A blank 4c on the river and Williams takes the title.

Great final table and I can't wait to see the whole "sha-bang" on the flatscreen!

+$1,530,537 up tick for Williams and a nice $1,034,715 for Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin's second place finish . Not a bad weeks worth of work. Wish I was there!

WPT Season 8 World Championship

The season finale of the WPT always provides a mountain of excitement, this year is no different. 195 runners started at the Bellagio, for the $25,000 WPT World Championship. Now down to the final 18 there are some big names and big news shaping up for a historic finish to the eighth season of the World Poker Tour.

The old guard and talented young guns are battling over a hefty first prize purse of $1,530,537. A myriad of talent, bracelets and final table appearances liter the remaining field.

One of the most-highly contested player of the year races is going to be decided by the final table.Faraz Jaka leads with the WPT Player of the Year race and the chips, but is far from a clinch. There are seven players still within grasp of the coveted title. It is shaping up to be a nail biter of a final table, with more possible outcomes than my math skills care to take a shot at.

POY Standings
Faraz Jaka - 1,300 POY pts
Olivier Busquet - 1,000 POY pts
Todd Terry - 800 POY pts
Josh Arieh - 700 POY pts
Matt Stout - 600 POY pts
Shawn Buchanan - 500 POY pts
Scotty Nguyen - 400 POY pts
Phil Hellmuth - 300 POY pts

POY points for this event:
1st place: 1,000 POY pts
2nd place: 700 POY pts
3rd place: 600 POY pts
4th place: 500 POY pts
5th place: 400 POY pts
6th place: 300 POY pts
7th place: 200 POY pts

Chip Count (WPT Titles/ WPT FT/ WSOP Bracelets/ WSOP FT)

TABLE 1
1. Eric Baldwin - 880,000 (0/0/1/3)
2. Shawn Buchanan - 1,224,000 (1/2/0/2)
3. John O'Shea - 495,000 (0/0/0/1)
4. J.J. Liu - 674,000 (0/2/0/2)
5. David Benyamine - 2,350,000 (1/3/1/4)
6. Phil Hellmuth - 1,377,000 (0/4/11/41)
7. Cliff Josephy - 458,000 (0/0/1/2)
8. Scotty Nguyen - 941,000 (1/8/5/12)
9. Olivier Busquet -1,088,000 (1/1/0/0)

TABLE 2
1. Nikolay Evdakov - 1,426,000 (0/0/0/0)
2. Robert Cooper - 662,000 (0/0/0/0)
3. David Williams - 2,072,000 (0/3/1/4)
4. Jason Lester - 421,000 (0/0/1/8)
5. Josh Arieh - 303,000 (0/2/2/4)
6. Billy Baxter - 1,630,000 (0/1/7/9)
7. Faraz Jaka - 3,117,000 (0/2/0/1)
8. Tony Cousineau - 60,000 (0/0/0/5)
9. Matt Stout - 274,000 (0/1/0/0)


Day 5 begins in less than an hour. There are sure to be some big moves and big finishes.

I might have waited a bit to long....

I was working hard to get myself out to Vegas for the whole WSOP. The bankroll isn't what I'd like it to be to go out there for the whole "shin-dig". If I can get one of the internships it would be ideal. I wouldn't get to play, but I would be surrounded by the environment. I found a few links on craigslists, so they are still looking. I will post a couple short "stories," and hand recaps. I will redo the resume again and rewrite the cover letter. I should add some more of the writing stuff. The cover letter was way to formal. My girlfriend insisted that it be professional. I think I should let my writing style shine. We'll see, wish me luck!

Good Find...

While cruising around the live streaming channels looking for other poker addicts I came across an awesome 24/7 stream of TV poker. It is on justin.tv. Check it out below.

Watch live video from Poker 24/7 on Justin.tv

Bad moon rising...

I'm am getting butchered, my first day as a non-employed online poker player. Taking an hour or so off to cool down. Than I'll get back at it.

Checking out some other streaming options, I see to play better when I'm talking/streaming through a hand. Even if there is no one watching, the idea that someone might be seems to help me stay focused. I think I'll continue the trend.

Tomorrow is my last day of work. I'm excited. I spent this weekend spring cleaning my office/workspace. I organized my "library" and added tweaked the computer so it is ready to roll Tuesday.

I'll play a bit tonight, just to finish the final set-up for Poker Tracker. I'll post screen shots later. I think that I have built a nice HUD for both Ring, SNG, MTT. I have a bit more info than most HUD's I've seen but I think it helps. Poker being a game of incomplete information, I'll take anything I can get.

I will also be finalizing my multi-table scripts at some point. I'll add those here as well.

If all goes well I'll have the domains that I really want around the 8th of April. Everything is formatted and ready to go live. I really want some specific names since I've already worked out the branding.

Life is good. Stay tuned.

5 more days

I will officially be a full time grinder in 5 days. No more 'real' work. The resume and cover letter are sent. I'll post more when I know more.

Brutal league championship yesterday. One of the less experienced players, destroyed me early, hitting 2 outers left and right. He runner runner me 3 times and eventually 4 flushed me on the river. He was on a sick run and I was the first victim. My good buddy "Peach," exacted the revenge felting him letter in the evening and chopping the first place money. Nice Job "Peach"! Now pay me the money you owe!

Made two deep runs when I got home. No huge cashes but a decent return.

Anyhow, I will have a lot more time to attend to things. So hopefully, I can finish the 6 projects I have going right now.

Money Back and one to many.

Took third in the Massacre for my money back. Bah! Time would have been better spent grinding but I was with friends. Good friends, Cards and Beer are my idea of the good life. I've been trying to get some things done today, but the distractions are immense.

I started probing about possible internships during the WSOP. Already have gotten some feed back. I guess it is time to get the old resume dusted off. I'm gonna probably play the Twitter Poker league tonight. It is a $5 buy-in. I'll take a stab at it and see what the competition like. I expect some craziness.

I really need to get to work.

The self discipline is gonna be the hardest part about making a living without having a real job.

Time to decide?

I officially put my two week notice into the old J.O.B on Monday. The last day I have to deal with a customer will be the 29th. I'm relieved. The job was starting to grind at my soul. Things are progressing at a nice pace. Since I have decided to cut down on the drinking, my creative juices are through the roof. I'll have to harness them at some point. The ADHD has me going in a million directions. I'll let it slide for know. I've got a ton of stuff written down.

PROJECTS AND POKER!!! POKER PROJECTS!!!

I don't think this is the proper forum for posting poker news. This is more like a personal journal that allows me to say for than a standard "tweet". I think I might have to dedicate another space for that.

I have recently discovered several domains that I have wanted for a long time are going to be up for grabs soon. I'm stocked about that too. The more I learn about Drop Catching the more it intrigues me. I know that there were several of the early "young guns" of poker that made a nice living off of domains back in the early 2000's. Dutch Boyd being one of them.

I'm more or less on cruise control till my 2 weeks are up. So expect a lot of general ramblings as I try to let the excitement die down.

I have the annual St. Paddy's day Massacre tonight. It is one of my card clubs major events. I took third last year. I want the trophy!

Happy St.Paddy's day!

oh and...

I went ahead and grabbed a bunch of blog names that directly relate to the website I will launch first. I have to figure out how to link them all together. This is more or less a reminder to myself.

Feeling better...playing....B-

I've had some relative success playing the new Rush Poker @ Full Tilt. Full Tilt was one of the first sites I signed up for, well before I knew anything about rake back. I have to work to clear the bonus they toss my way every month or so. Rush Poker seems just a good a place to do just that. Over all I think I like it. I haven't moved up higher than the .5/.10 in fear of blowing through what small roll I have mustered up at FT. I was up 3 buy-ins for the week, which isn't much. I'll take what I can get with the amount of time I've had in my right mind. I was up! I am now back to the even mark after losing 2 buy-ins to KK vs AA. After looking at both hands I could have laid one down but the second, I have a hard time letting go.



Thought I was good the whole way. C'est la vie!

I figured I was just getting the short end of the stick so I took a short break. I worked on my Ustream channel and sat down @ a 5.50$ 18-man on Pokerstars. I was killing it!!!! Murdered my way to the final 9 with a 3/1 chip lead. I somehow found a way to bubble it. I'm gonna look at the end of the tourney again. I'm pretty sure I know what hand I blew it on. I'm not sure if it was the right call. I'll have to plug it into the stove and maybe get some advice from a forum. It is more or less an ICM issue for me. I'm still learning the Independent Chip Model so I run into this problem a lot late in a game.



Tell me what you think. I'll have the whole tourney up @ some point.

I'll do a little work on the blog and site than get back at it.

The lady and I are trying to catch up on LOST so I'll be veggin' out tonight.

Being sick has an upside.

I have been under the weather with this stomach flu for 2-3 days. Between the battles of fighting fever and trips to the "john", I have found some time to browse the inter-web. I have a pretty set regiment when surfing. I troll on my favorite forums, check out the latest Tweets and Facebookings, delete spam from my 3 emails and eventual end-up reading someones blog for an hour. I've come across a few new blogs that I have enjoyed. There are a few that look abandoned, like mine does from time to time.

It's that time of year again, when the major poker reporting sites search for cheap labor for the WSOP. I think this year I might throw my hat in the ring. I'll have to start busting out some real writing samples, instead of this "what on my mind right this sec," bullshit I call a blog. I don't think turning in several short stories and excerpts from my college journalism class will cut it. I might actually have to discuss some poker hands. EEEK!

Anyhow, I think I should try and pass out. I really wanted to play some today. I think playing right now would be -EV. My mind and stomach can't sit in one place to long, unless it is the flush-box.

Night of "The Peach"

(...dribble so that I might recall the events in the future...)


For those of you not familiar with Mike D., aka “ The Peach,” you should be. The guy is pretty much a legend in my extended network of friends, cohorts, and acquaintances. I have heard people in bars that have never actually met him, regale me in tales of his adventures and antics that they have heard secondhand from other people, kind of like a Sasquatch or a UFO. That, however, was the old Peach. Lately, he has been a kinder, gentler, more reserved individual. While I suppose this is good in the long run, it hasn’t made for many good stories as of late. That all changed this weekend.

Between Thursday and Friday night, Mike and I managed to beat the $1/$2 No-Limit game at the JCKC for around $700 bucks. This led us to an obvious decision —Let’s go to the beach and ass it up. We decided not to go out Friday night in Tally, and instead concentrate on getting up early and heading down to Destin early enough to interrupt Lex’s early morning bong rips. An absurdly long wait for a chicken sandwich at Hardees’s slowed our progress, but did not deter us from the mission. We arrived around 11:00 (Beach Time) and realized that working on our tans was probably not going to happen. It was already overcast, and appeared to be worsening by the minute.

If we couldn’t pound alcohol and scout for girls, the next logical step was to gamble, namely at the Ebro Greyhound Tack and Poker Room. It’s about a thirty minute ride over the bridge, and well worth the drive. I was unable persuade Lex to come along, but that was to be expected, as Lex really doesn’t like leaving his couch unless absolutely necessary. We arrived and were quickly seated at a new table and off we went. Peach lost $100 early when some stupid retiree caught a miracle Jack on the turn. I battled for about an hour more, before meeting an equally brutal fate. The details aren’t important, but needless to say, I wasn’t happy. While the ultra-competitive, stud card player in me wanted to re-buy and abuse this group of inferior humans, my drinking monster was slowly rearing his ugly head as I watched Mike sipping Miller Lite at the bar. I wanted to get drunk, and no amount of card-playing would change that.

On the way back to Destin, I pondered our options for the evening and decided that a night of drunken debauchery and skirt chasing at Baytown Wharf was probably our best bet. After all, two other Class A jackasses I know would be there, so what could possibly go wrong? Well for starters, Mike was having none of it. Still depressed from his bad beat at the card table, he proceeded to explain to me the litany of reasons why he would not be “going out and acting like an idiot” with the rest of us. I explained that for all of his excuses, the only reason I saw for him not wanting to go out was that he was “a big pussy” who “couldn’t see the larger picture.” He told me to “fuck off,” and refused to talk the rest of the ride home, but apparently my comments had ignited a fire in Little Peach.

We got back to Lex’s house and Mike got in the shower still in a rather surly mood. That shower proved to be more of Baptism than a bath. Peach came out of the bathroom like a man possessed. He cracked a beer and decided that he was in the mood for a shot. Not a fucking Lemon Drop or Jager Bomb mind you, but Absolute. Straight out of the bottle. I wasn’t really even ready to start drinking, but I decided to roll with it and before I knew it we were through the all of the vodka, beer, and tequila in the house. There seemed to be only one cure for our newfound lack of booze—Buy more of it. We made the quick journey to the local booze emporium and went with the logical choice: A half-gallon of Smirnoff and a king’s ransom of white grapefruit juice. We arrived back at the house and I walked upstairs to make my first of many Salty Dogs. There was a problem, though. While the grapefruit and I had made it upstairs, Peach and the vodka had not.

I walked downstairs and saw no sign of him, but overheard some sort of commotion coming from another condo, one unit over. I also noticed that most of the commotion was in Spanish. As I walked towards the building I began to make out several people on the front porch. It seems that Peach had found a group of Mexicans to drink with. (The company they work for owns the condo next door, and these guys were staying there while they worked in the area.) Mike was teaching them the great American art of shooting vodka and acting like an idiot. I immediately joined in, and it wasn’t long before I decided that I should shotgun a beer to give myself a little street credit, as a raging Peach is an extremely tough act to follow. Carlos, Miguel, and the rest of our new friends are amazed by the sheer violence and rage I use in downing the Bud Heavy. By number five, I amazed at the sudden urge to projectile vomit and pass out, but being the Frank the Tank does not allow for such moments of weakness. I press on.

At some point while Peach and I were trying to kill ourselves with grain alcohol, Lex got stoned enough to actually come downstairs and try to get us ready to leave. I was more than willing, but Peach was going to take a little more effort. As I was talking to Lex and introducing him to our new friends, I noticed Peach had fallen into the bushes behind me. I tried to get him up, but he was much too busy trying to make a “snow angel” in the hedges. This was a sign of things to come and should have, at the very least, caused us to rethink our decision to take Mike into public. Unfortunately, it did not, and off we went to the Florida panhandle’s best meat market, Baytown Wharf. For those of you not familiar with the place, it’s a disgustingly upscale collection of bars, restaurants, and gift shops that you only find in places like Destin, that always seem to attract hot girls from Alabama and points beyond. It’s kind of a home away from home.

We arrived at the complex around 11:00 and after a few minutes of driving around, finally manage to find a parking space. As we got out of the car, Alex and I noticed that Michael is now shirtless, shoeless, and is well on his way to taking his pants off, the reasons of which remain unclear to me at this point. We tried for the better half of ten minutes to explain to Mike why he had to put his shirt and shoes on, to little avail. Only after threatening to leave him alone in the parking lot, did he finally put his shirt back on. The fact that the shirt remained only half buttoned and soaked in spilled booze was of little consequence to us. The moral victory of getting Michael off the express route to jail was enough for us for the moment.

We had to walk across the parking lot and through the Resort complex to get to the bars. About halfway through, it came to our attention that Mike had fallen behind and was, once again, without a shirt or shoes. While peach going sans clothes was becoming almost normal, the fact that the shirt and shoes were now nowhere to be found left us a strategic decision: Go try to find his clothes and hope he would put them back on, or simply leave him there to fend for himself. I was leaning strongly toward the latter.

Alex was appalled by the suggestion that we just leave Peach there to fend for himself. I explained that as a former college roommate, lifelong friend, and jack-ass drunk, I alone was qualified to make this decision. As I put it to Alex, “There’s nothing we can do. He will either find his clothes and make it to the bar, or he will go to jail. It’s up to the Peach now.” Alex did not like this, and let me know by explaining what a bad friend I was. Normally, I would have been inclined to defend myself, but as I’ve already established, Alex is simply not qualified to properly deal with Mike when he has been competitively drinking. So I left. Just like that. Alex stood there stunned, and Mike just staggered around talking to himself.

There was a huge line outside Rum Runners, I decided on the spot that I was much too important to wait in line with the other peasants. (As much as I hate to admit it, this is how my mind actually works when I’ve had that much to drink.) I stumbled past the bouncer and muttered something about going in to close a tab. He started to protest, but my textbook “Don’t hassle me” dismissive wave of the hand sent him back to his command post. I made a bee-line for the bar, ordered a Salty Dog, and began to scan the bar for talent. I snickered at two guys in the middle of the dance floor that were grinding all over two random girls. Those two guys of course, turned out to be who I had come to find in the first place--Van and Keenan. After the perfunctory high fives and pseudo-hugs, they introduced me to several girls. They were all cute, and Van went so far as to tell me that he had fallen madly in love with one of them and that she might be the one. He had only known her two days and, I’m guessing here, had probably struggled to get her name right when introducing us, but love works in mysterious ways I guess.

I notice that Alex is blowing up my phone like a Jerusalem city bus, but my phone is on the fritz and I figured he needed to be challenged. I mean, there’s only like 6 bars here. Surely I can’t be that hard to spot in a crowd….Just as I suspected, he found me a few minutes later, chatting up some girls from Ohio. He apparently was very upset that I had left him and Mike back at the hotel, and that Mike was in fact MIA. He had lost him ten minutes prior in the hotel courtyard while trying to assist in a shoe-finding mission.

I then explained to Alex that it didn’t matter, and that Mike would find us when he wanted too. As if on cue, that awesome little fucker strolled in the front door like he owned the joint. I said something to Lex about being all-powerful and all-knowing and how awesome I was, but quickly moved back to the Ohio girls.

It turns out that they were all seniors at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. One of them was actually from the same tiny town as my Uncle and his family. We namedrop a little bit, flirt a little more, and most importantly, we drink. These girls were awesome! All six of them were good looking and the not the least bit bitchy or pretentious. On top of that, they were all throwing back shots like Motley Crüe roadies. I start dancing with the girl I was hitting on all night (I think her name was Kristen, but I really have no idea for sure) and even manage to make out with her on the dance floor.

Around this time, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see the same bouncer I waived off earlier, only he could care less about me. Apparently, the bar staff had decided that he had had enough and it was time to go. I whispered to the girl next to Kristen (?) that we had been kicked out of much nicer places than this, and that we should head towards the Funky Blue’s Shack. They concurred, and off we went. (It should be noted that despite being INSANELY drunk, Peach had managed to hit it off with one of the Ohio girls.)

We get to the Blues Shack, and I head to the bar. The head bartender has become a good friend of mine as of late, and as we exchange hellos, he leans over and says, “Your friend over there is too drunk. He needs to go.” I look in the direction he is pointing (Not that I need to) and see Peach is being shown the exit by some gorilla with a shaved head and no neck. I am not happy at this point. One of the girls and I had really begun to hit it off, and getting kicked out of multiple bars is not very conducive to hooking up.

We leave and attempt to go to Hammerhead’s. They refuse to even let Mike in the front door. This is getting ridiculous. After telling the bouncers what meatheaded pieces of shit I think them to be, I spy Van and Keenan walking into a little late-night pizza joint with their two girls. Suddenly it dawns on me that if Mike eats something, maybe he can sober up enough to stop getting kicked out of everywhere we go. As I order us a slice at the counter, I am startled by a crashing sound that I am pretty sure has been produced by a member of my entourage. I am correct. Mike has slung a barstool across the restaurant, but manages to avoid law enforcement by quickly picking it up and slurring a very sincere apology.

The pizza seems to help sober us up slightly, but the long-term effect is marginal at best. The Ohio girls are back at Rumrunners, so I use our momentary burst of post-pizza sobriety to sneak Peach back into the bar. The girls are glad to see us, although I really can’t imagine why. For all my self-perceived charm, all I can really manage to do is order shots and make vague sexual innuendos to no one in particular. The strange thing is, the girls are not only amused, but actually decide to invite us to come back to their condo to “listen to music.” I love my life… I am barely able to admire how awesome the night is going when Lex brings reality crashing down on top of me. It seems the girl’s condo is all the way on the other side of Destin, which leaves us a choice of a $150 cab ride or a DUI. Obviously the cab should have been an easy choice, but our level of drunkenness has reached epic proportions, and I can’t even manage to turn my phone on, let alone figure out how to call a cab. The bar “staff” makes the decision easy for us, as once again Mike D. is ejected from the bar and warned not to return.

Normally, I would do everything in my power to go make it home with the girls. This is not a normal night. I am beyond drunk. Hallucination is a much more accurate description of how I am feeling. As we stagger towards the parking lot, Mike is confronted by two rent-a-cops. I’m fairly certain that they aim to take Mike to jail, but I am surprisingly quick with a retort.

“Guys…Give him a break. He’s getting married next week.” Mike is much too wasted to see what’s going on here, but that actually works to my advantage.

“I’m not getting married. You’re full of shit,” he yelled. The security guards, both of whom are married I presume, instantly change their tone. They start laughing their asses off and cheering him on. “Hell yeah man! Fight it as long as you can!” The more Mike protests, the more they believe I’m telling the truth. Apparently being married sucks as bad as I think it does.

I thank the hired goons for being so understanding and continue the trek to the parking lot. Alex, of all people, proceeds to talk shit to a stranger and nearly gets us into a fight. The details are rather foggy, but somehow, after threatening to put this guy’s face through a plate glass window, we shake hands and agree that a fight is not in anyone’s best interests. That’s me. The voice of reason.

In the grand scheme of crazy weekends, this one would normally be considered kind of a letdown. My Saturday session at the card table ended on a sour note, we failed to go home with the Ohio girls, and I have literally been hungover all week. The larger story here though, is that Peach officially came out of his self-imposed hibernation. I feel fairly certain that my liver cannot deal with behavior like this full-time, but in the short term, it was great to see the King back in the saddle.

Bachelor Party and Poker Tables!

Wow! I'm still recovering from last weekends trip. A double bachelor party in Biloxi, Miss and New Orleans. I can honestly admit that it might have been one of the best weekends of my life. Surrounded by long time trusted friends and running hot on every table I sat. I left with a limited budget for reckless gambling, food and accommodations (...and money for the "entertainment," it is a bachelor party after all). Biloxi treated me right and I was able to live like a true high roller the entire trip. I ate at the best restaurants, tip excessive amounts of money and drank the best booze. I Love Poker!

I'll post some pictures if I ever get them from "the crew."

Lets just say I had a huge up-tick to the Bankroll. Cash games were great in both cities. I will be back very soon!

Old Review I wrote...

I'm trying to pull some of the things I've written into one location. It will make it easier to find when I add them to the websites.

This is an old review I wrote for a hand-replayer. I still use it and haven't needed to search for another one.

*Zombie's Program Corner*

I love poker and I love programs that help me analyze and improve my game. In today's world is much easier to find leaks in your game and fix them. There is an abundent amount of sites and programs out there that can really help you. Most of them are free. If your anything like me you'd rather put that money on a table than pay for a program. So I will be posting mostly Freeware and Open Source, there will be a few that I think are fantastic deals that really should be invested in.

I've come across some good ones and bad ones in my search to become a more complete player. I thought I could use this little space on the Inter-Web to help my fellow GAS'ers out. So feel free to tryout some of my suggestions.

I'm not doing this for advertising just to help other players. Players that may one day be my horse.

Note:
I will not post banned or illegal programs. I will not post programs that use AI to cheat. I don't believe cheating in any form is good. Cheating does not make you a better player. It makes you a slim-ball.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Popopop Universal Replayer
http://www.universal-replayer.net

I was looking for something that could replay more than just one hand. Something to review a whole Tournament/Session. I wanted to be able to anaylaze my play and really get some good information. My search lead me to the Popopop Universal Replayer.

"Popopop's Universal Replayer is the best free hand replayer on the market. The software is fast and easy, rarely misses an update, and works with most major sites" -Pokersoftware.com

I have to agree.

The program is a quick java download. It supports a ton of sites and is constantly being upgraded. The interface is simple to use and quick. I was impressed by the number of features including; site skins, chip count graphs, instant drag and drop, and luck factor. You can manually input or have it pull directly from imported hand histories.

It has so many nice little features that its hard to remember all the things I liked about it. You can quickly move to a spefic hand and it shows the odds while the hand played out. You can make notes on specific situations for later review. There is a really nice customizable session bar that shows wins/losses in relation to the blind levels.

It is both PC/Mac Comptable.

The developer is currently working to make it multi-game comptable including Stud, Razz & Horse. He is also working on a PT3 bridge which will be a nice addition.

There is only thing I would like to see add. An EV evaluator similar to the one offered in SnG Wizard and SNGEGT would make this nearly complete. I plan on making the suggestion personally to the developer.

This will be an excellent to for backers to view a horses complete play or a specific time frame of play. Added to the standard GAS rails this will be something I use in future backing anaylasis of my horse.

3 out of 4

A hassle it has been...

I've been in dire need of a new computer for some time. I'm not one to go to Best Buy and just pick one up. I'm very picky when it comes to spending money on electronics and want to make sure that I'm getting something that is going to last. When it comes to computers I usually build my own.

I am focusing this year, so I thought I'd go ahead and spend some money and build a nice machine that can allow me to run as many tables as I can handle. It has been some work, but I think I have everything done. I am going out today to look for 2 new monitors. I will need to plug in the front end USB connections and I will be finished. Fully updated and ready to go. I will be using the old machine as the streaming machine. It should be interesting so stay tuned in the next couple of days to my ustream channel. I will also be adding a BlogTV channel to the mix.

As for Poker, I will be flying with a friend over to Biloxi to play an event and some cash games. i plan on being over there during the main event of the Southern Poker Championship. Some big names are going to be there so I'm excited.

I took down our weekly Two table local game last night.

I've been talking with another local player about helping out with the sites I have coming up. More on that later.

Busy day... Been 4 days without a cig. Need to go run and get started.

I'll be playing catch-up on all the forums/communities out there. I'm trying to find a way to post on all of them at once. We'll see.

Excited...

Almost have the everything updated and ready to go. I still need to bring over bookmarks and install all the Poker software. I'll be posting more shortly, from my new machine!

To tired to do anything...

I really need to get my sleep back in order. I'm so drained by 10 o'clock at night that I can't squeeze in any play. Luckily, I am working only 3 days a week. I do this so that I can have extremely cheap health insurance. I would quit all together, but saying "I have a job," helps defuse a lot of situations in my personal and social life. It also prevents "the man," from harping on me to much. I'll explain that one day, but for now you'll just have to assume what that means.

When I finally get that 'big score,' or move up I will gladly pay out of pocket for the insurance. For now, I'll have to just deal.

I'm finally getting settled, 5 days into the new year. I might screw up a few more times with writing '09, but that will go away eventually. The new exercise regime starts on Monday, and the quit smoking prop bet starts Sunday. This should prove challenging in Biloxi and for the long Sunday grinds. There is a good bit of change riding on it and I always dig the competition. More on this closer to "the date".

I'm off to watch some poker @ Pokertube, then bed.

New Rule...

I have a set rules that I have to adhere by before I start any session of online play or live for that matter. I do it to prevent any distractions and limit the number of potential leaks that might show up if I don't follow the regiment.

1. Never play until I have been awake for at least an hour.

• I suffer from sever fog head when I wake up. No point in playing when I can barely remember what day of the week it is.
  

2. Eat something.

• You have to have something in your belly to think clearly. I'm not a fan of eating while playing.

3. Take my vitimans, ginkgo, fish oils and meds.

• Essential part of the routine and was the hardest for me to remember till I got into the habit.

3. Do some sort of quick cardio.

• Run around the block,jumping jacks, something to get the blood moving.

4. Shower/Shave/Crap

• Not at the same time and not in any specific order. Get rid of the cardio stink and feel clean. Helps me stay focused. Nothing worse than having to take a deuce in the middle of a crucial hand. Except having to sit next to someone who smells like they took one in there pants. This applies to the live sessions, of course.

5. Play Simon (the memory game.)

• It gets my mind in the concentration mode. I have a competition with myself to eventually beat the game, but I know that will never happen.

6. Check Emails, social networks.

• My biggest leak online is surfing the net while playing. I limit this to just player searches now, but checking all your emails and tweets before you start is ideal.

I will be adding....

7. BLOG!

• I will also be adding this to my post game wrap up to. It is something I really want to dedicate myself to, so that I can start actively seeing my state of mind before and after every session.

I have gotten pretty good at following all the prior rules so adding this little number 7, shouldn't be to hard for me. I have to make things habit or they never happen.

I've messed up the order a bit today. So I'll be taking care of # 4 and start the grind.