Turning the Tide

So what have I been up to lately you ask? Oh, you didn't? Well, I'll tell you anyways. I tried Pokerstars for a few months at the end of this year, to see if it's somewhere I'd want to play long-term. After playing a decent amount of 100 and 200nl full ring there, I concluded that playing on Stars is -ev unless I am going SNE. There are plenty of bad regs and fish scattered about, but overall there are definitely more regs per table than FTP and other sites. Bumhunting seems pretty bad on Stars as well... waitlists abound, and whenever I find a fish on a shorthanded table, or start a table myself, 7 regs flood in within a minute which is annoying. Overall if I had to grind there I'd be fine, but it's certainly a volume-driven site if you're a micro or small-staker. Someone who plays 50-100k hands a month like myself is probably better off just getting rakeback and playing softer games to maximize hourly.

So where will I play in 2011? As you might tell from my last few videos, I've grown fond of Rush Poker again. I plan on playing it almost exclusively this year and focusing on building up my bankroll. 2010 was not a real good year for me in poker. I made a decent winrate but I had more health and personal/family issues this year than the rest of my life combined. I also had several people visit me, and I traveled a little. I got really depressed when I lost a family member, and that knocked me out of serious grinding for a couple months. All in all, I played about half the volume of last year and it showed in my profits. The games also got harder, but in a way that is fine because I realized I had stopped focusing on improving. Nothing motivates me more to study and learn from others than getting mediocre results. I've done more reading/studying/video watching/sweats this year than any other and I think it shows in my play and my coaching the last 2-3 months.

Anyway here are the reasons I really like Rush Poker -

A) quick to get in/out of the grind - no waitlists, table selection, waiting for blinds, waiting to sit out etc

B) only managing 4-6 tables to get 1k-1500 hands per hour

C) decent amount of fish/bad regs in my experience

D) super easy to take tilt breaks or pee breaks or whatever, also no "omg I can't quit I have god seat on a fish on 3 tables" when ur tired/tilted

Here are my plans for January -

75-100k hands of 200nl full ring Rush

Release part 2 of my Mentor video with QuadDeuces

Possibly release a 1 tabling Rush video (Ipod compatible)

Continue improving my coaching methods and create more surveys/quizzes/homeworks for students

Happy holidays to you all and here's to a great 2011 for poker!