HH Tourney

Players will start with T5000 chips. Blinds will be 20 mins long.
Payout is set for 1st=$250, 2nd=$150, 3rd=$100

25-50
50-100
75-150
100-200
200-400
300-600
400-800
500-1000
1000-2000
1500-3000
2000-4000
2500-5000
3000-6000
4000-8000
5000-10000
10000-20000

Good luck to all!!

HH Tourney Blind Structure

Players will start with T5000 chips. Blinds will be 20 mins long. Payout is set for 1st=$250, 2nd=$150, 3rd=$100

25-50

50-100           
75-150
100-200        
200-400
300-600
400-800
500-1000
1000-2000
1500-3000
2000-4000
2500-5000
3000-6000
4000-8000
5000-10000
10000-20000

Good luck to all!!

Christian Poker

I wanted to write something that weighs heavy on me from time to time.
Being a Christian and playing poker. I wanted to explain my thoughts
on the subject. To my knowledge it doesn't really say anything
directly about gambling. But there are several warnings in the
scriptures. Most of the problems Christians have with gambling is
because it involves uncertain money.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people,
eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves
with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:10.

Every leisure activity is not a sin, but all sin is not clearly listed
in the Bible. Added to that, God doesn't just want us not to sin, but
he gives us an even higher goal. The Bible encourages us to consider
our activities in this way:

"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial.
"Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by
anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12

This verse appears again in 1 Corinthians 10:23, with the addition of
this idea: "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is
constructive." When an activity is not distinctly described as sin in
the Bible, we can ask ourselves these questions: "Is this activity
beneficial for me or will it become my master?? Will participation in
this activity be constructive or destructive to my Christian life and
witness??

The Bible does not explicitly say, "Thou shalt not play poker." Yet by
gaining a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures we have a trustworthy
guide for determining what pleases and displeases God.

Pleasing God isn't hard. He wants us to love him, and love others.
Playing poker can actually involve both of these. Loving God has
nothing to do with poker, tieing my shoes, eating an orange, or any
activity. So love God with your whole being. Loving others is often
hard at the table when they make a call for a one outer to come on the
river and it hits. I can honestly say many poker players are gonna be
disliked. But can you love people as Christ loved us and still give
them a hard time about their play?? I think the answer is yes, as long
as your not condemning his character. I also think God encourages
loving people through friendships. I have met and played poker with
thousands of people, and when that many people are put in your path
for a game I believe it's for a reason. God has blessed my life with
problems, and those hardships help others learn how I can glorify God
in hard times. I thank God for being able to minister through a game
and I hope I can continue. Remember being an influence to someones
eternal life can be as easy as being the small blind and talking about
your life to the big blind.

Keeping It Skinny,
FlacoJake

Luck in Poker

Throughout my poker career, brief as it may be, I often hear statements about the luck versus skill factor involved in poker. I also hear people's thoughts on bankroll management, and many other things, many of which I find erroneous and are backed by little statistical evidence. Many involve extremely small samples sizes, for example: "Man, I got 2 out-ed 3 times last night. Poker is all luck." "Why do I need $5000 set aside to play $1/$2? The maximum amount I can lose in a single session is only $500 tops. You're bankroll management concepts are absurd." I would like to present some statistics about the extreme ups and downs of the game. The data I use in my analysis is the hands that I played online on Full Tilt Poker during the month of September, at $.02/$.05, and October, at $.05/$.10. On the following graphs, the dark green line represents my actual winnings for that particular month. The light green represents my "All-In Expected Value". What is All-In Expected Value (or AI EV)? All-In EV is an imperfect measure of the luck factor that one experiences while playing poker. If you go all in before the flop with AK before the flop against 22, you will win about 48% of the time, and lose 52% of the time. Since you are almost even money, your All-In EV line will remain flat. If you win the hand, your winnings line will increase relative to your All-In EV line, and in that case be running better than your expectation. All-In expectation is only an imperfect measure because the times that you go all in on the flop in a blind versus blind war with T8 on a board of J,T,8 versus JT, your all in expectation is extremely negative, although this was obviously an extremely unlucky situation for you. Also, the times that you call an all in on the river with AA on a board of A, 2, 3, J, J versus your opponents JJ, your All In expectation line will sharply decrease despite JJ having 1 outed you on the river. In short, All In expectation only considers your expectation on the street when you are actually all in. With that in mind, how much can someone's winnings differ from their all in expectation? X-Axis = Dollars Won. Y-Axis = Hands Played. September: < September Winnings Image> October: By the end of the month of September, I had actually won $40.39 at $.02/$.05. But my All In Expectation was only $17.80! Essentially, luck accounted for over 400 big blinds, or 4 buy ins of 100 big blinds, of my winnings for the month of September. At hand 4,762 for the month of October, my All-In EV was -$2.01, but my actual winnings were -$62.27! And these swings are over a relatively small sample size of only 26,000 hands! (statistically significant samples are typically 50,000 - 100,000 or more hands) Greg Raymer, WSOP Main Event winner, once said that a single session of poker was 100% luck, and that a solid year of poker was 100% skill. I'm inclined to say he was right. Don't concern yourselves with the results of an individual hand, or even an individual session. Play solid poker, and over the long run your play will be rewarded. -Eric "Abacus" Detweiler

Hail To The Pros

I was watching poker after dark the top guns cash game. I was tottally impressed with a hand that involved Eli Elezra, Phil Ivey, Patrick Antonius, and Ilari Sahamias. Cue the video to 5mins 10secs and watch the awesomeness. I would like to say I make these correct moves, but I don't. Read the rest of this blog after watching the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksDoMPV28LI   Its amazing to me the knowledge and good decision making these players have. I ask you all this question. When you watch poker shows can you learn anything to use in your game?? In this hand you see Eli lay down a open ended straight draw, Patrick lay down a pair, and Phil say "how did I get involved in this hand in the first place". This hand also shows you the justice of poker. The best hand won the pot and was played well. It also showed how to lay a hand down. Im keeping this episode on the DVR for awhile. Oh, BTW I am not a Tom Dwan fan but I really enjoy his hand analysis. He is very informative and would be a good teacher if he ever loses his bankroll.   Keeping it Skinny, FlacoJake

Respect The Donk, No Matter What Color Chips He Has

There is a point to this title, you just have to look deeply. Over my years of playing poker I have played a lot of differant stakes. I've played .10/.20, all the way up to $5/$10 cash games. I've played in $500 buyin tourneys down to $5 buyin tourneys. When playing these differant levels of investment I've tried to play good cards and not let the money affect my play. However, I find myself laying down the nut low to a $250 bet thinking I'm getting three quartered. (bad play), or calling every bet at a .25/.50 cash game because it's only 50 cents. This shouldn't be the case in either level. I should respect the game of poker, and not the money. If I'm playing .25/.50 or $5/$10 I should play the style of game I have consistently won with. I have to give Chris Ferguson props he can start out with $1 in an account and play his same style and turn that $1 into $10k in one year. How?? Well he respects his skill and doesn't let the money affect his play.
Small or big stakes the game itself doesn't change. Here comes the explanation of the title. I have found that it is very common for a losing player to blame his or her loss on the stakes they were playing. For example, I play in a .25/.50 cash game from time to time. I have lost a total of $300 at that game this year and I've only played there 4 times. Everytime I left the game I always thought "I just can't play those low stakes." I realized just recently that I'm not respecting the game or my skills. I can consistently win if I'm playing consistent to my playing style and knowledge. I also have decided to not let another player needle me about the stakes I play. If I play .25/.50 cash games and have a profit everytime I play then I'm happy with my play. I do not want to become a stake snob. I need to respect the game itself and look at it as the task at hand. The task is to have more money then I started with. I know a lot of you look at playing
cards as just recreation and you play just to have fun. Well, I do too! I have fun when I win. It's not much fun if I lose everytime I play. If im losing all the time it's probably not because I have white $1 chips in front of me instead of black $100 chips. It's probably because I suck!! And if your playing against players who suck at cards, then get ready for the suckouts. Keep playing your winning style no matter who the players or how big the big blind is. Respect the donks that's where your money will come from.

Keeping It Skinny,
"Flaco" Jake

www.36kilos.blogspot.com

I Got A Sick Table!!

I want to start this post off by thanking everyone who had a hand in surprising me with a beautiful poker table. Its the table I have designed in my head and the right people payed attention to the right things I said I wanted. I want to give a special thank you to my table guy Bryan, my dad, and my super hot wife. Without Bryan's great creativity on tables the PP House would not exist and neither would my table. Thanks to my dad and wife for pulling the trigger for me. They knew I would never spend the money on a poker table for myself, so they spent it for me. And of course everybody who through some money in the pot to help a fellow player out. This gesture really shows that our players know the value of friendship. I can't wait to play on my table. Thanks a ton!!

Keeping It Skinny,
"Flaco" Jake

www.36kilos.blogspot.com