The Year of The Fish

It was a bumpy ride, this past year...

2010 started pretty awesome with a big night out and great weekend of crushing $60 Sit'n'Go's at Full Tilt. It went all downhill after that.

The trip to Cambodia was a welcome escape from reality. Running away from winter to spend a month with the family-in-law in sunny Sihanoukville... But that trip would be the last shimmering bright spot of 2010...
In Spring I tried to clean up my act. I subscribed to DeucesCracked and started studying poker rigorously. Even quitted smoking for a while, drank a lot less, went to the gym regularly and dabbled with zen buddhism...
It got me nowhere.
Neither my life, my attitude or my poker-winnings chanced during those healthy months. Everything was exactly the same. No break-throughs, no life-changing experiences, no nothing in that sober world. Maybe one can call it 'variance'. I don't know. Maybe the sample size (one Spring) was too small. It just didn't work for me.
During Summer I lost all hope and silly dreams to make serious money playing poker. My bankroll took a big hit and my soul got crushed by better players. The dream was over. In August I was 4tabling 200NL 6max Rush Poker. That's like doing crack cocaine. It gave me the high of a lifetime. Sitting at a Rush table with over $1K and crushing is a baller experience.
Alas, it didn't last.
When the hot streak ended I kept on playing 200NL way too long... Simply couldn't believe that those dudes where better than me. When reality finally caught up I needed to drop down to 50NL to build up my resources again...
In the end I closed the year with just a meager +$2K profit...  It's something. Something like nowhere near enough to get excited about. Not the kind of money that could give me the confidence to escape this sad, cold city for good...
In Autumn I got seriously side-tracked. No more poker for some time to come.
My world got turned up side down when my marriage collapsed. It turned out that love is nothing but a joke. That really romantic happily-for-ever-after-shit only happens in the movies. I really didn't know...
By the time Autumn turned into winter I was living on my own again. Things have been bleak since then. Slowly trying to find my way out of the sinking black hole that my ex-wife left behind...
It has been a tough winter.

2010 was the year of the fish.
A fish in the life. A fish in love. A fish at 200NL Rush poker.
Something's always going on but I never really seem to know what it is.
About break-even in poker.
Broke in love.
Crushed in life.
The edges are too thin.
This world is too solid.

It was a grim, grim year. But I'm still here.
Don't know where it is that I'm going from here.
Still learning, still yearning for the sunshine.

Craving for dusty roads and big open skies.
Nothing holds me back any longer.
No more lame excuses.
No more family future that needs to be secured.
I can do what I want.
I'm alone. I'm free.
Got a big bag of ganja and a fine bottle of whiskey to fight off my demons.
Got a bankroll at Full Tilt to keep on playing, to keep the dream alive.
Got this old, battered backpack to get out into the big, wide world one of these days...
Anything's possible. Anything goes.
Don't need to know the odds,
I just go

Happy New Year!

Christmas Time (A Pack of Gifts Now)

Jingle bells are jingling.
Christmas time is here.
The streets are white with snow.
The hipster dudes are mingling...
A very white and merry christmas indeed.
But when you're on your own
it's just something for other people.
This freezing season is best to be ignored.
As expected, good old Santa only brought me the blues.
So may all your days be merry
but I'll just go and disappear...



Merry Christmas

Monkey Off My Back

Shipped it! Tonight I took down a $12 Rush on Demand tournament on Full Tilt for about $720. Survived a field of 252 players by mostly quick folding my way to decent spots. At the final table a good mixture of balanced aggression and some rungoot helped me along. First place, baby!

Maybe it's not exactly a MiniFTOPS Event but winning is good. Winning a multi-table tournament is always awesome... So, at least now I know I can win. Got this big, fat and ugly monkey off my back. I can win.

Earlier today I had a pretty nice run at 100NL Full Ring Rush as well... $$$

So, maybe it was another cold and lonely Saturday. Way too much snow. Frost broke the water pipes again. But fuck it, tonight I really don't care. I made +$1K today and that feels pretty damn sweet...

Pioneer One "The Man From Mars"

Yesterday the second episode of Pioneer One was released. If you're not yet in the know: it's a community-funded dramatic sci-fi series, available as a free torrent-download on Vodo. The first episode got me all excited for obvious reasons. Well, it is a baller idea to just make your own TV-series, isn't it? The production values were impressive given the low budget, and the scripting, acting and direction were rock solid. So my expectations for Episode 2 "The Man From Mars" were high...

Those expectations were met and then shattered and crushed... In fact, this series blows my mind. An interesting, solid story, good acting and awesome cinematography on a shoe-string budget. It's just amazing, the things these dudes can do. This easily outclasses any of the 'regular' series I saw on TV lately.

So watch it, share it, support it
It's completely free
and it's fucking brilliant!

Download it at Vodo.net

Dispatches from MiniFTOPS XVIII

For a long time I frowned upon tournament poker. It’s just too slow. There’s too much luck involved in making a deep run in a single tournament. It’s a ‘one hit wonder‘-game. Cash games ar so much better, especially Rush: making and losing large amounts of $$$ in a matter of minutes. That’s how I like to roll.

But, alas, there needs to be more in the life than just Rush poker. The search for happiness and fulfillment, for example Tried to solve that one many times. Like by being married or, most recently, online dating... Failed miserably. It's the edges, you know. They are too thin.

Then yet another weekend comes around and there's not much going on. Suddenly playing tournaments doesn't seem so bad. A small investement for hours of poker. Turn a dark, depressing December weekend into something challenging and hopeful. Maybe in these MiniFTOPS I won’t fail. Maybe this time I’ll succeed in something. And maybe I’ll add some cool tunes, cold beers and a relaxing spliff to the mix... Just to make sure I'll at least enjoy the ride.

So I started Friday night with 10 big blinds in MiniFTOPS #6, a Super Turbo tournament. Quick and dirty poker is my cup of tea. Everyone goes crazy here. Shoving all kinds of trash from any position. So I just seriously nit it up and stay cool all the way down to 3 big blinds or so. Shove better hands and don’t get unlucky, that’s my strategy. It all went smooth. Passed the bubble and made my way deeper and deeper into the monies. With only 200 players left I had over 15 big blinds. That’s huge in a super turbo. Hell yeah, on my way to victory!
Smang it, baby!
Then my Aces got cracked.
A few hands later I went busto...



Anyway, finished in 169th for about $120.
First tournament, first cash. Not a bad start.

On Saturday I played Event #10, a Turbo tournament, but never got anything going. Nursing a shortstack for an hour and a half before busting out anonymously somewhere in the middle of the pack. An uneventful night...

Sunday there was Event #11, a very reasonably priced knock-out tournament with a $250K Guarantee. Over 25.000 players registered. In this huge field, I busted somewhere in the middle of the pack once again. No monies here.

In Event #12, the heads-up tournament, I won my first match. 99 versus AK was good for a ticket to round two. There I ran into a big, fishy panda who outflopped me... My AK was no good against his K7 on a KQ7 board. Busto. The end. No big scores. No great moments of glory.

Four MiniFTOPS tournaments, 1 cash. Exactly break even. Right where I started.
Nothing but another mellow weekend. But I learned that tournament poker isn't that bad after all...

I'll just keep on trying
'till I get somewhere.
Any road will do.
Anywhere is fine.

Full Ring Rush Poker Strategy Guide

After playing 6 max Rush poker for a while, I recently switched to full ring Rush poker. It turned out to be a great move. It's still fast and hectic poker but the games are much softer. The regulars are way more weak-passive (no Praz Bansi here) and there are just a lot more fish swimming around...




Play Online Poker

Here are few basic strategy tips:

• Don't try to soul read your opponents. I't a big game with lots of players. Game dynamic rarely exists. Sticking to simple, solid poker is a safer, straighter path to success. 
• Be a nit. Because of the quick fold button and the full table; the ranges tend to be very, very tight. An over pair is definitely not the nuts. In fact, it's not that uncommon to get it in with a pair of kings versus a pair of aces. Ace-king is another hand that should be played more cautiously here. Just nit it up.
• Be a wild pig in late position. Stealing the blinds successfully is a key factor to improve your winrate. Open a wide range in late position. But be aware that the blinds will 3bet a wider range too. So consider increasing your 4betting range... Or, when you play from he blinds, try 5bet shoving light to counter this late-position aggression.
• Variance can be huge. It's less outrages than 6-max Rush but it can still be a bumpy ride... In the long run it's a very profitable game. Just make sure you're bankrolled to play a crazy amount of hands before the money comes rolling in...

This are just a few thoughts on how to beat full ring Rush. Playing a ton of hand and reviewing your own game will be the best way to improve. But following these tips will give you a solid head start.

Good luck at the tables!
Go crush the Rush...

How To Get The Highest Rakeback At Full Tilt

Okay, the rakeback is fixed at 27% at Full Tilt, but a lot of players cost themselves a lot of their rakeback by making unnecessary withdrawals and deposits to their Full Tilt accounts. Every time you make a deposit you get charged. That means that your total rake is reduced and therefore your rakeback is calculated and you end up getting way less than 27% rakeback.

This are a few tips on how to improve your return at Full Tilt Poker:

• Don’t make unnecessary withdrawals from your Full Tilt account. If you don’t need the cash and will probably re-deposit it later then you should leave the money where it is. This will save you about 10-20% of you actual rakeback!
• Play Rush Poker! By playing Rush Poker you can play 3-4 times as many hands per hour and therefore increase your rakeback by 300-400%!
• Try multi-tabling... If Rush Poker isn’t your cup of tea then you should try opening a second or third table. Again depending on how many tables you open you can increase your rake and rakeback by that amount. 2 tables would be 200%, 4 tables 400% etc.
• If you’re brave enough to try multi-tabling Rush Poker then you could increase your rakeback by anything from 800-2400%
• Play during Happy Hour and earn multiple points! Look for daily Happy Hours to begin earning your Full Tilt Points two to three times faster than usual. Your bonus points will automatically appear in your account so all you have to worry about is how to spend them.
• Get player to player transfers instead of depositing. If you need to get cash on to your Full Tilt account, try asking a friend who has excess funds to make a player to player transfer for you and then pay them via their bank account or in cash! This way you both avoid all deposit and withdrawal fees!
• Become a Black Card Member and exchange points for cash! Black Card members earn double points on all their play and you can then buy cash bonuses with your points and boost your rakeback to 40-50% while clearing the bonuses.

Good luck at the tables!

Television 2.0: Pioneer One

The people behind The Lionshare decided to take independent movie-making to the next level... Their new project is an independently produced dramatic series called 'Pioneer One'.
If you enjoyed the fresh creativity of The Lionshare, you might enjoy this one as well...


PIONEER ONE: New Episodes Teaser from Pioneer One on Vimeo.

"An object in the sky spreads radiation over North America. Fearing terrorism, U.S. Homeland Security agents are dispatched to investigate and contain the damage. What they discover will have implications for the entire world."

The pilot episode is now available at Vodo.net.
The next episode will re released somewhere next week.
Good stuff for a cold, dark winter.

MiniFTOPS XVIII Coming up...

Play in the Full Tilt MiniFTOPS this December for a chance to turn a small buy-in into a big win. There is over $6 million in guaranteed prize money...

It all starts tomorrow on Wednesday, December 8th.

You can buy in to any MiniFTOPS event directly or satellite your way in for as little as $0.50 or 50 Full Tilt Points.

Series highlights include:

• The MiniFTOPS Two-Day Event, featuring a $200 + $16 buy-in and $600K guaranteed
• The MiniFTOPS Main Event, with a $70 + $5 buy-in and $1 million in guaranteed prize money
• Seven Rush Poker Tournaments, including Event #9, a $10 + $1 NLH Rush Rebuy with $300K guaranteed.

All these events feature large starting fields and a good tournament structure, giving you a lot of play for a small investment. See the full MiniFTOPS Schedule for more details.

Follow these steps to register for any MiniFTOPS event:

1. If you haven't done so already, download Full Tilt Poker and install the game software on your computer.
2. Create an account.
3. Open the game software and click on the Lobby menu, then select Choose Lobby View > Standard View.
4. In the browse area, click on Tournament and then FTOPS.
5. Find the MiniFTOPS event you'd like to play in, click the Register Now button and get ready to play for your share of the prize money.

Good luck at the tables!

Computer Love

Not so long ago I was a married man. But things have changed. Nowadays I'm just a lonely dude in the big, cold city... Trying to divide my time between the day job, crushing online poker and getting stoned.
It's all cool. It's all good
But nevertheless, being alone gets quite lonely after a while...
So what to do? Where to go?
Get out and mingle is the obvious choice.
Alas, I'm not the most talkative guy and crowds get me all anxious. This can be cured with large amounts of alcoholic beverages... but it's kind of hard to engage in meaningful conversations when raving drunk. So I decided it's better to stay at home and try online dating.

First I needed to create a profile. First problem: it's very hard to come up with clever and/or funny answers to those crappy dating site questions... What are your hobbies? Favorite food? Favorite books, movies, music? Height? Sports? Weight? Children? Education level?
Fuck off! Just leave me alone!
But after smoking a big, fat joint I relaxed and answered it all. Went for the honest approach. I figured a WYSIWYG-style would work out best in the long run. Well, I didn't quite mention anything about drinking, smoking and gambling. But hey, that's not a problem. I have these habits completely under control. I can choose anytime to do them openly or sneaky. No worries there. It's all cool.

Anyway, with my profile up and running it was time to engage in some online mingling!
In online dating (just like online poker) it's best to start at the bottom, I guessed. So I started out with low standards. Any female who is living in this city, who is of legal age and who has the tiniest bit of profile information I can relate to... something like that. Then I worked very hard to send out cool and clever personal messages to anyone fitting this description.

After about a dozen messages I got myself a few cold beers, leaned back and started refeshing my inbox over and over again...
Out of the dozen only three girls replied.
I replied them all back.
Then only 1 replied again.
I replied her.
When she replied once more I decided to add 'avoid psycho's' to my minimum requirements list...

That was it. Maybe it's variance. Maybe the edges are too thin. Maybe I was just running bad. But most likely,
I'm just a big fish in this dating game.

No more computer love for me.
I'll just play long hours of Rush poker instead...

The Full Tilt Iron Man Year-End Bonus

You've played at Full Tilt Poker this year. You’ve shown your determination. You’ve dedicated your time. Now it's time to reap the rewards with a nice Iron Man Year-End Bonus.

Qualify for any of the four Iron Man status levels in December and receive a bonus at the beginning of January. The bonus is based on the number of months you’ve qualified for the Iron Man Challenge during the second half of 2010 (July through December) and the status levels you achieved each month:

Bronze - $25/Month
Silver - $50/Month
Gold - $75/Month
Iron - $100/Month

For example, if you qualified for one month at Bronze, two months at Silver, one month at Gold and two months at Iron, you’ll receive a bonus of $400. If you’ve committed yourself to earning Iron Man status each month starting in July, you’ll receive a bonus of $600. Even if you haven’t qualified for any Iron Man level during the second half of the year, you can still earn a bonus by participating in the Iron Man Challenge in December.

You need to opt-in to the Iron Man Challenge in December and reach Bronze, Silver, Gold or Iron status to qualify for the bonus. Opt-in and check your bonus status on your personal Iron Man Status page by going to My Promotions in the Cashier at Full Tilt Poker.

Once you’ve qualified for your bonus, you’ll have from January 1st to February 14th to clear your bonus money by earning Full Tilt Points in real-money games.

Don’t miss the opportunity to cash in on all your months of hard work.
Participate in the Iron Man Challenge this December, and then start January with a brand new bonus!

The Backgammon Blues

About ten years ago I spend a couple of months in the Middle East on my own little Magical Mystery Tour. In a kibbutz in the Negev desert I learned how to play backgammon.
Learned it and crushed it.
Many sweet memories about drunken backgammon nights out there in Israel...

Anyway, when Bwin launched online backgammon I was very excited. Almost quit the day job instantly. This should be like printing money for a skillful player like myself...

But it was a short lived dream... It's quit different now then how I remembered it. The combination of sticking to exact rules and serious opponents... I don't know, dude. Maybe I'm getting old or maybe the edges are too thin. I'm not all that sure. But I didn't win like I used to... In fact, I didn't win at all.

Maybe you do have some mad backgammon skills?



(and if you know how to beat this game, please, let me know...)

Movie Night: Snowblind

It's freezing cold outside and there's snow everywhere. In times like these, staying home and watching a movie sounds like a rock solid plan. So I watched Snowblind, a movie made by some German movie enthusiasts dudes who love 70s and 80s grindhouse cinema.

It's a very low-budget western set in a future ice age where cowboys drive motorbikes...

The story goes something like this:
"A lone gunman gets a last-minute pardon from death row, with the mission to deliver a woman of mysterious powers to an evil Governor. Against the backdrop of a frozen, inhospitable earth, Snowblind fires up the classical love triangle with smoking barrels and a ton of red-hot bullets."

Check it out at Vodo. By downloading it you support community-powered film making. Free entertainment and good karma, that's a pretty sweet deal on a cold winter night...