http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problogs Blog entries from PXF Poker Pros Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:17:28 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100767/?t=pxf Ok so I last left off with me running really well and ending day 1 with around 125k. My day two draw was actually pretty good overall. The only issue was that I had a very accomplished young live pro Martine Jacobson to my direct left with around 80k. Fortunately I was able to get the best of him and the rest of the table knocked him out relatively early.The first hand I have written down was a continuation of my run-good from day 1. All I have written unfortunately is that i had 55 on 9 5 5 6 J and that I under-bet the river... Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:17:28 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100766/?t=pxf Good news is that Ive final tabled two tournaments this month, bad news is that Ive had the chiplead 5 handed and 8 handed and gotten 5th and 8th! The more disappointing of those two tournaments is by far the Biloxi 5k because the prize pool was so top heavy and I ended up only cashing for 60k in a prizepool that was over 1 million dollars. Although the finish was super disappointing Im glad my friend John Dolan ended up winning the tournament at least. He played very well and also had the luxury of being on my left the whole final table... Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:33:59 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100765/?t=pxf NO chat on Tuesday...........but definitely live sweat chat on wed at 11 pm Maybe we get the Propokerlabs guy on this time. F Borgata. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:31:17 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100764/?t=pxf It's the eve of the last day of January, and its time for me to look back at how I'm doing with my poker resolutions:1. Play more of the tournaments at Running AcesNot doing great at this one. My kids schedule being what it is, I have trouble getting to 6 pm tournies. Martial arts, piano, guitar, theatre class--it's far easier for me to get out to play cash later on in the evening. Still, I've at least managed one a week, and as I've managed a min cash and a 3-way chop out of this month, you can't argue with my ROI... Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:19:12 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100763/?t=pxf I played day two of the Ceasar's WSOP circuit main event yesterday. The field was down to 136 players with the top 72 cashing paying almot 200k to first. I started the day off with 56,500 at 1500-3k blinds. I was able to reship 3 times and build up to 90k before I called a short stacks 35k jam with AJcc, he had A9o. The board ran out kk94a giving me a much needed resuck on the river. After that hand I was up to 125k and blinds were now going to 2k-4k. Needless to say it was a good start. About 10 min into the 2k-4k level Jeff Boski opened UTG with about 200k to 8k, a middle aged man moved allin in middle position for 44k total... Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:13:43 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100762/?t=pxf Well I had a pretty eventful Sunday; I just shipped the first ever $530 monthly Superstack on Merge for ~44k. I didn't have the greatest month ever so it feels pretty good to hit a solid score that hasn't really been possible for us U.S. grinders since Black Friday. Fortunately, I recorded the tournament from the mid-stages on, so I'll definitely be doing a video on the tournament in the near future. It was actually a pretty tough FT with several very competent regs including dlanger, raspberryjammin, savepluto, and doctoroctopus (my nemesis, don't think I've ever won a pot versus him)... Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:22:11 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100761/?t=pxf I have some pretty interesting news regarding the tough mudder coming up on April 29th. I have paid the entry fee which is non-refundable and have been training for about 5 months now, but I have an even bigger issue if I decide to run the race. It is actually good news because my sister is getting married in April. The issue is her wedding is set for....... April 28th. There is no way I am not going to drink, dance my butt off, and stay up late the night of my sister's wedding. The race is something like 2-3 hours away and the latest we can run it would be noon meaning we probably have to leave in the morning around 8am in order to make it on time... Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:14:03 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100760/?t=pxf This is probably a bit odd coming from the guy who's been playing primarily 9/10 player turbo SNGs for 8 years, but I think the point is relevant for all poker players. When I first started playing online, I dabbled (and usually lost) at all sorts of games. I discovered how to play tight in omaha hi low of all games and I started breaking even. After having some actual success in SNGs, I was pretty much hooked and rarely played anything else. I believe 2005 was the year I was going to master limit hold em... Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:46:43 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100759/?t=pxf I decided to play the WSOP circuit main event yesterday at ceasar's in Las Vegas. The field drew 308 players on day 1a with day 1b going on right now. The tournament director said he is expecting 400-500 players signing up today to make this close to an 800 player field. I'm pretty excited about the turnout and the structure seems to have every level. As far as my day went, I was atop the chip counts for the first 7 levels of the day after a fast start. The very first hand of the day I was up to 36k from the 20k starting stack after flush over flushing someone... Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:02:34 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100758/?t=pxf For those of you following my guitar playing I just finished my newest song. This is a song I arranged myself based on Hey Marsailles "Rio." I absolutely love this song and found it a perfect candidate to make it my own in this style of playing. A huge thanks goes out to my good friend Thomas Jacobi for doing all of the filming and color correcting. Please try to watch in the highest quality so you can appreciate the work Tom has done.My video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlZ7PI5SpVABased off this song:http://www... Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:22:18 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100757/?t=pxf There’s been a lot of change for me in Nashville for the past few months. I recently (about a month ago) started working fulltime at a telecommunications company as an account manager a little over a month ago. I can’t say I was ecstatic at first about being in an office every day at 8am, but I can’t deny that it’s kind of nice having some kind of structure in my life again. After a few years of never going to bed before 3am, never waking up before 12pm, and playing poker every day, it’s certainly a welcome change... Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:02:20 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100752/?t=pxf So I just got back to Vegas last night after a dissapointing Biloxi trip. Good news is one of my best friends and fellow PXF pro Ryan Welch is chip leader at the final table. Hopefully he can bring the hardware back to Henderson. My tournament series did not go very well. I went 0-5 with no real sweats except for the main event and 1k heads up. The 1k heads up managed to get a small field of 16 players paying 11k to first. My first match went pretty smoothly vs a random southerner named Rocky. I chipped him down from his 10k starting stack to 2k before we got the money in for the first time... Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:22:04 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100751/?t=pxf Since my last entry Ive been right on track to achieve my first big Final Table of 2012. After a great Day 1b, I managed to survive Day 2 with about 264k, it was still good for 5th place going into the final 27 players. The day didnt quite go as planned after I lost a 180k flip AQ to JJ of CommanderCool, then I lost AA to AA for 100k pot. However, I never really wavered and was able to slowly grind all my chips back with a few good pots including some big river bets that got paid off. As day 3 started we still werent in the money yet, we needed to lose 9 players... Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:22:21 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100750/?t=pxf Hey everybody,Last Sunday was a pretty good one. I was able to manage a 3rd in the Ipoker major for $19,000 and a 6th in the Bigger 162 on Stars for $10,000. The Ipoker major went pretty well, and I went out 3 handed w/ AJ against KK, which was standard given the action. The 162 left me pretty disappointed, as it was just too hard to find good spots due to the dynamics on the table. Only in MTTs can you have around $30K of cashes in a day and be left feeling like crap!TCOOP so far has been a disappointment... Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:10:01 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100749/?t=pxf Tomorrow is high stakes hh review again, as we review another depe run by nakkehai in the 100r..... Wed night is a live sweat for sure but a special treat as we will have the guy from propokerlabs on to show us how to use his datamining software etc, Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:29:13 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100748/?t=pxf So, the time has finally come to go into the details of my EPT Main Event run in Prague. I had a lot of fun in this tournament, and it is always refreshing to have a nice run in anything after not playing all that much poker overall. This was the first tournament of the trip that I was able to get significantly higher than the starting stack, and during the way were some fun and interesting hands.After regging for the tournament I ran into a few friends and discovered that to my direct left would be none other than my friend theczar19... Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:02:50 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100747/?t=pxf Hey guys, so Im sitting in my hotel room at the Beau Rivage kinda reflecting on my previous two days of poker. I played Day 1a but basically lost 3 silly unavoidable pots and busted at the end of level 2. I was really disappointed in the result but not so much in my play. Luckily for me it was a re-entry and I played again on Day 1B. We started with 20k stacks and played 10 70minute levels. I ended the day with 205k, so needless to say it was a great day. I felt like I got maximum value when I had it and got the folds when I didnt... Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:55:32 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100746/?t=pxf So I've been in Biloxi the last couple days for the Million Dollar Heater series. The fields have been smaller than I expected but only a few familiar faces. The main event starts tomorrow with two starting days. I'm unsure if I'm going to play both days if I bust the first day. It really depends on the strength of the field. The tournaments I have played I have not managed to make the antes. My 2012 is off to a less than desirable start but I'm still optimistic about the main event. Recently I have been giving some thought to moving to Mexico to start to play online poker again... Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:21:13 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100745/?t=pxf Tomorrow, Tuesday, at 2 eastern I will be reviewing a hh as usual, and on wed night at 11 I will hopefully have a live sweat session. NO BIRTHDAY EXCUSES THIS WEEK Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:10:02 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100744/?t=pxf I'll be making the video preview for live tournaments during February and March in a few days, so if you know of an interesting tournament series in your area, please let me know about it. Anything with multiple tournaments with buy-ins larger than $200 or any single event $1,000 or larger would be of interest. Speaking of tournaments, my pal Bryan Mileski runs the Mid States Poker Tour, and they are kicking a***, with a ton of $1,100 events this year and huge guarantees. Check them out at msptpoker... Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:43:51 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100743/?t=pxf I'm writing this blog post with sore calves, massive bruises on my a***, elbows, and knees, and an ego more deflated than it's been in a long time.That's because I went snowboarding yesterday for the first time in two years, and only my thid time ever.Those of you who snowboard can probably relate, if you think back to the first few times you ever went out. For me, the hardest parts were getting off the lift (was extremely steep/icy, I wiped out my first 6 times until finally getting it right) and trying to control my speed while "carving," which is essentially snowboarding terms for "turning... Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:09:58 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100742/?t=pxf Unfortunately Im going to have nothing too exciting to report back from my recent Los Angeles trip. I played 4 tournaments and went 0/4. I was able to build two pretty good stacks, in the 1k and the main event. The 1k fizzled out near the end of day 1 when I 3 bet called 88 from the big blind for about 37bbs. He had AQ on the button and won the coin flip. The year is starting off with me playing my A game in every tournament I enter and that's all I can ask for. I will eventually win a couple flips and make some great runs this year... Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:32:29 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100741/?t=pxf 2012 has been pretty exciting so far. I spent a the first 5 days of the year with some friends and family in Boston. After that I returned to Las Vegas for a few days, only to fly to Chicago for 2 days to explore possible job opportunity's. I just got back to Vegas 2 days ago and it feels great to be back, even though im only here for a few more days. On tuesday the 17th I leave to go to Biloxi for a tournament series for 8 days. It used to be a WPT, but now is called the million dollar challenge with the main event being a 5k re-entry... Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:31:56 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100740/?t=pxf Tomorrow, Tues, at 2pm, I willl be revieweing the hh of a high stakes mtt legend.....Wed at 11 we will have the usual fun stuff with live sweats and maybe some chess? Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:29:00 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100739/?t=pxf A couple days ago, I was fortunate enough to experience my first meteor shower. To make the experience more memorable, my wife and I joined Bryan Devonshire and his fiance on his brothers boat that was docked at Lake Mead. For those that don't know Lake Mead is the result of the Hoover Dam and is actually quite scenic as the mountains rise out of the water. We got out to the boat around sunset, and enjoyed a cookout and a few cocktails. Bryan and I took the paddle boat out and made a little trip around the marina to check out some of the boats... Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:48:18 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100738/?t=pxf Piling up interviews for the Under The Gun podcast this week, with the next three episodes already covered. We interviewed Kristin from Poker Refugees this week and learned about the process a potential client goes through to move to another country to play online poker. It was great stuff. I also did an interview with top limit holdem pro Palamino, a monster player and a great interview! We'll also be interviewing out favorite live tournamnet director this week, and Brian Mileski, CEO of the quickly growing Mid States Poker Tour drops by... Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:26:50 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100737/?t=pxf Tomorrow leakfinder at 2......Wed live sweat at 11....woot woot Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:37:56 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100736/?t=pxf 2011 has officially come and gone with lightning speed and now 2012 is here. 2011 was by far the toughest year for me to date as far as poker success goes. Obviously that is partially because of Black Friday, and the transition to being a full time live pro. I'm actually grateful that we lost online poker because it has made me a more complete poker player. I've learned so much from playing live poker in 2011, and I wouldn't change a thing. I have very high expectations for 2012, and plan on having a breakout year... Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:40:23 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100735/?t=pxf Hey guys, I apologize for the delay in writing this second part of my Prague blog. The holidays have been quite hectic and then just recently I came down with a nasty cold and haven't felt like doing much of anything. I hope everyone had a great time visiting with family and friends and I wish everyone a soon to be Happy New Year! Have a blast but please be safe. Anyways back to Prague:After a very small amount of sleep I was off to play the WPT Main Event. It was a 3500 euro buyin, and the biggest event I had played since Black Friday... Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:56:59 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100734/?t=pxf Hey everyone,Just wanted to stop in quickly to wish all you PXFers a happy new year! Be safe out there.As far as my plans, I'll be stopping by a couple of parties that my friends are having. Personally I haaaaaate the bar scene on holidays like New Years, Halloween, etc, and get a bit anxious/claustrophobic in those kind of settings. Not to mention the fact that you pay infinite for some kind of "all you can drink" package, but then have to spend the night pushing and shoving your way to the bar to get something with a splash of booze in it... Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:03:03 -0500