http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/ryanghall1 1357007623 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100986/?t=pxf Happy New Year's Eve everyone! Yep, it's New Year's Eve and I'm at home with the family. My days of partying are long over - I'd rather just spend it here, but I figured I'd get Part 2 to this blog done while I have a bit of time and before I start back at work teaching.So I left off at the end of Day 1 of WPT Montreal with 144,000 chips, which was probably among the chip leaders. It's always such a great feeling when you end a day well above average in a multiday tournament. Though it's a double-edged sword because you know that at some point, it's all too likely that something awful will happen... Mon, 31 Dec 2012 21:33:43 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100985/?t=pxf So at the end of November I decided to head up to Montreal for the weekend to play the WPT. I was going to go with some friends but they had to back out at the last minute so it was just me. It's about a 6 hour drive so I left early enough to avoid the awful Toronto rush hour traffic (barely) and cranked some music the whole way that most of you would probably think is awful.I stayed at a hotel by the airport, which was probably a mistake. The good thing was that it was closer to the venue by a bit, the bad thing is that it was out in the middle of nowhere... Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:30:09 -0500 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100945/?t=pxf Hey everyone,I'm going to fill in for Sheets tonight at 11 and do a live sweat/chat, so I hope to see many of you there. Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:16:31 -0400 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100942/?t=pxf This one could end up making his 1K win look like nothing....He's 8/22 in the WCOOP Main Event. Kick some a*** moukari! Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:55:01 -0400 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100939/?t=pxf Well, my 14 months off work is up and I've gone back to teaching this month. It's been fun - and I'll tell you that going back to work has been a real shock to the sytem. Of course, the first thing that happened is I got sick. You see, schools are like giant petri dishes. It seems that with certain kids, the only time they DO come to school is when they're sick. So while I was off that 14 months, I think I might have had one cold, I've now had a sore throat for over a week since I returned.My classes are OK... Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:42:42 -0400 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100910/?t=pxf Basically every poker player is on twitter these days. I don't follow many players - my twitter is mostly for following baseball news and poker stuff kind of clogs it up. I'll follow people if I think they have something interesting to say, or if I know them personally. I don't know many players personally (still!), so that makes for a small number.I'd never be someone to tell people how to run their twitter. Everyone has it for their own purposes. Yes, chip counts can be kind of annoying but perhaps that person has family and friends following back home, and since sites like Pokernews only report on the *big, well known players* (read: people who got lucky and won a live tournament once or more), twitter is the only way that these people can get their counts out to interested parties... Mon, 16 Jul 2012 05:57:21 -0400 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100907/?t=pxf Today I played Day 1C of the Main Event. It sucked.I got up to around 32K when I picked up QQ. A player raised in middle position. I had already 3bet and double barrelled AK on a JxxT board to get him off a previous hand. I reraised QQ to 750 and he called. The flop was 776hhd. He checked, I bet 900, he called. The turn was 4d. He checked, I bet 17 or 1800 and he checkraised to 4000. That was a really annoying spot. There weren't many hands that were beating me but he hadn't been out of line at all... Tue, 10 Jul 2012 01:40:36 -0400 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100905/?t=pxf It hasn't been a good summer. I'm very happy with the way I've played, but things just haven't fallen my way. There are, of course, a handful of hands I would have played differently, but none were really major so I really don't have a whole lot to be kicking myself over. Like I said in a previous blog, I was playing a similar number of tournies this summer as on a typical Sunday. This was a Sunday, I suppose, that hasn't gone well. 2 cashes and that's it. Very disappointing.However, there is one itty bitty tournament left, the Main Event! I'll be playing day 1C on Monday the 9th, and day 2B on Wednesday the 11th (No need to knock on wood, I'll make it)... Sat, 07 Jul 2012 18:14:45 -0400 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100884/?t=pxf So I'm here in Vegas and I've played a few events already. I played the 1500 Reentry first after taking the shuttle over from Bally's, which has become a daily event for me. Yes, I am a balla. Day 1A was just frustration after frustration. Every decent hand I had, I was forced to fold in some marginal spots. Eventually I picked up AK and got it in against a PXF sub's AQ but I did not hold (ps comment on here if you read this and let me know how you did!). There were some good players on that table including Ryan Julius, and Andreas Hoivold and Luke Greenwood (who both busted fairly early)... Fri, 08 Jun 2012 01:22:25 -0400 http://www.pokerxfactor.com/problog/view/100879/?t=pxf So I just realized I forgot to take my pill. That sucks cause it's 2am and I have Restless Leg Syndrome. You might know what it is, but you probably don't. It's an affliction that doesn't affect me all day, but when I'm ready to go to sleep, my legs get this awful sensation. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like a colony of ants crawling up the bones of my legs, and if I don't move them, they will move themselves. Different people have varying degrees of it. When I first experienced it in University, it wasn't that bad, it was more of a nuisance during a boring lecture if I felt sleepy more than anything... Thu, 31 May 2012 02:47:39 -0400