One month long break - it's over!

Only a few of you know that I was in hospital in September for 2 weeks. My life became a bit more complicated. I'm going to go back to the university soon. I feel very motivated. I'd like to do something useful in this world.

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me." - Steve Jobs

I also read an interesting article from Olivier Busquet: The Value of a Collage Education. Don't get me wrong, not a thoughtful quote and a well written article made me return to study. I was about to start my 2nd semester in my university when the unexpected happening happened.

I have a lot to catch up with... I'll do my best!

Poker: Even though I'll be very busy in the upcoming weeks or months, I don't want to stop playing poker or give up my PokerSpace Ambassador role at PokerSpace. I love helping people, give advice and talk about poker.

Click on the picture for better resolution

In that picture you can see, I recently won a $33 coupon in a crazy rebuy tournament. It's a crazy tourney because people are doing insane things there. There are not donking, their range is just very wide from every position. :D
New tournaments coming up on Carbon Poker. It's really cool that they're working hard to provide better online poker experience. They have a sub-forum on 2+2: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/201/carbon-poker/ please feel free to chime in :)


Today I'm playing a long session. I don't plan to do such things in the future (except SCOOP, WCOOP, etc.). I try to be healthy and I don't want to make a mistake to fuck up my sleep cycle. I'd appreciate it, if anyone could help me/has any tip how to eat healthier.

Thanks for reading, see you at the tables!

JrMontana08 is back online!

3 months ago my blog was marked as spam by a GoogleBot. I asked for help in the forums and now I'm back online. It was a mistake of the GoogleBot in question and hopefully it'll never happen again.

Many things happened in this summer that I couldn't share. In the last 3 months I focused on Heads Up SnGs. Honestly, I don't feel that I done well in those things. I got a few aha moments but I'm still confused in a few situations. Hopefully I'll be able to fix those leaks until 7th September 2011. I'm going to play in the WCOOP Event 7 -- $215 buy-in -- NLH HU tournament.

Let's talk about something else.. I got a new laptop! More creativity coming your way (if you're reading this blog and/or you're on PokerSpace) because now I'm a MacBook Pro owner. The Mac OS X was weird at first but I got used to it. It's a powerful machine, I'm quite satisfied with it.

I'm surprised that many sites don't have Mac friendly software. Example: Party Poker, iPoker Network... Yes, they have web based version of their client but PokerStars is way ahead of them with their software and their thinking is a lot more advanced as well.

iPhone owners! The official PokerStars Poker Clock is here. Click on the link and it will take you to Apple's website -> iTunes section -> PokerStars Clock (Global Edition)

The summer holiday was fun, I had a lot of time to relax. Good to be back online and see you reading this blog post.

It's 2 a.m. here, these thoughts came to my mind. Follow me on Twitter: @JrMontana08

Best of luck at the tables!

Royal Flush NL5 MSS @ PokerStars

I'm over 10,000 hands playing NL5 MSS on PokerStars. I hit a Royal Flush yesterday, first time at this level. I got the Royal Flush badge on my PokerTableRatings profile.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:
Replay Hand


$0.02/$0.05 No-Limit Hold'em (8 handed)

Known players:

BU = ($3.80)
SB = ($5.00)
BB = ($1.43)
UTG2 = ($4.02)
MP1 = ($5.22)
MP2 (Hero) = ($3.09)
MP3 = ($2.32)
CO = ($2.10)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with Q, K.
UTG2 calls $0.05, MP1 folds, Hero raises to $0.20, 3 folds, SB calls $0.18, BB folds, UTG2 calls $0.15.

Flop: ($0.65) T, 3, A (3 players)
SB bets $0.45, UTG2 folds, Hero calls $0.45.

Turn: ($1.55) J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

River: ($1.55) 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.70, SB calls $0.70.

Final Pot: $2.95.

Results follow:

Hero shows a royal flush(Q K).
SB shows a pair of aces(A Q).

Hero wins with a royal flush(Q K).

35% rakeback until 1st June 2011 on Merge!

Since Black Friday, the Merge Gaming Network had a huge growth and became the number one US friendly online poker network. They needed a little bit help from the Department of Justice (DoJ) because PokerStars and FullTilt Poker said that they don't allow US players in their poker rooms.

So the US players started registering to Carbon Poker, PDC Poker, ACED Poker, etc.

The Merge Gaming Network will be ending their rakeback program starting the 1st of June.

It doesn't affect those who already have rakeback and the new players who sign up for rakeback until the 1st of June.

If you want to have rakeback on Carbon Poker but you already have an account, I'd advise you to register to Aced Poker or PDC Poker.

Aced Poker	visit website	download
PDC Poker	visit website	download

35% rakeback is a pretty sweet deal but there is a lot more value there:


$3000 MGR:

19500 points/month, 975/day, $3000 rake paid/month:

35% RB

6.6% marathon (750+pts/day x 20 days = 200)
6.5% points exchange ((19500/2500) x 25 = 195)
13% money tree ((10 x 975pts) / 25 = 390)
Total rakeback = 61%



$2250 MGR:
20days/month -- 2250$Rake/Month -- 14625pts/month -- 730pts/day

Carbon with rakeback
35% rakeback
6.5% points exchange
13% money tree
10% marathon (needs 750pts/20days)

Total rakeback = 64.5%

(at 2bb/100 + rakeback/bonuses = ~2400$)

Black Friday Repercussions -- Traffic Measured By PokerScout
				Net change	Net change
Site/Network	1st Weekend	2nd Weekend	3rd Weekend	(avg. players)	(%)
	Apr. 16/17	Apr. 23/24	Apr. 30/May 1	Apr. 30/May 1 vs. April 9/10
Left US Market
PokerStars	-26%	-3%	+2%	-7569	-26%
Full Tilt Poker	-49%	+28%	-4%	-6878	-38%
Cereus Network	-40%	-42%	-30%	-1664	-76%
Still in US
Merge Network	+23%	+31%	+5%	+634	+69%
Bodog	+26%	+5%	-6%	+164	+23%
Cake Network	+19%	+9%	-3%	+144	+26%
Everleaf Network	+8%	-7%	+1%	+7	+2%
European Majors
PartyPoker	+9%	-5%	+6%	+328	+10%
iPoker Network	+4%	-5%	-4%	-178	-5%
Ongame Network	-1%	-8%	+2%	-168	-7%
888poker	+0.5%	+3%	+1%	+75	+5%

Rake changes at PokerStars

Click on the picture for better resolution

Read more about the Sit and Go changes here.The new buy-in structure reminds me to Party Poker..

Wassup?

What's up everyone?

I met Zwemnaar at an Omaha tournament on PokerStars (for 2+2 PokerCast Listeners).
Nice tournament by the way..

April was cool because I learned the basics of MSS. I here is my first month's graph:

Click on the picture for better resolution

The sample size is small because I read many articles and watched tons of videos. + I didn't want to play when I was in bad mood.

I try to grind NL5 MSS to reach SilverStar VIP level on PokerStars. The games are still soft..

Advanced Bankroll Management article coming in the next blog post.. (how should a pro handle his/her bankroll, etc.)

BEAUTIFUL

First of all, congrats to zwemnnar on winning his biggest online pot. Check out that hand here: https://www.pokertableratings.com/hand-history/stars/59822186475/13843194658

+ read The Chronicles of Zwemnaar here


BEAUTIFUL - Tag Heuer Aquaracer PokerStars Watch

Tag Heuer Aquaracer Watch

115,000 FPPs - available for Platinum Star VIP level only

I'm crazy for watches.. I don't know why but I recently started looking for watches. Longines was my favourite brand (for about 1 week lol).

I started learning Middle Stack Strategy (MSS).
What is MSS?

The Mid Stack Strategy is a strategy developed to play profitably in No Limit Hold'em cashgames. It is very well suited for a beginner in poker, as it enables you to play with less risk to your poker bankroll, and it is also simple to learn and start playing right away.

With the MSS you bring less than the maximum amount of chips to the table, which means that you risk less, and also use your chips more efficiently when betting.

I'm playing everyday (2-4 tabling at PokerStars), I'm practicing, posting hands..

I'd love to have a PokerSpace Hand History Converter but I'll write about it later :)

I'm going to post some stuff about MSS, this strategy is suitable for:

• Beginners, who would like to start playing and earning money with a strategy that is not very complicated.
• Former Short Stack Strategy players. Same as in SSS, the post-flop decisions in MSS are rather simple and kept to a minimum.
• Those Big Stack Strategy players who would like to try themselves on higher limits with less risk.
• BSS players with a low win-rate, as this strategy will help you keep a similar win-rate, however also provide you with additional income from rakeback, comparable in amount to that from your direct winnings.

 I'm not going for the 100K PokerStars watch. If I hit Supernova VIP level, I'll choose the money (this status worth about $5000 - read more about it here).

What's going to happen in the near future?

• master MSS
• learn BSS (Big Stack Strategy)
• watch videos, read articles
• write about my experiences at the tables

Best of luck to everyone - See you at the tables!