200/400 PLO and 50/100 NLH

Date: Sat, Mar 22, 2008 Professional Internet

Last session I played 200/400 and 100/200 PLO along with 50/100 NLH and 25/50 NLH. I ended up even in NLH and down 26K in PLO. I did play some big pots against two CR pros; Eric Lui and Cole South that were interesting.

Here against Cole I even considered passing my QQ. I noticed he was multitabling so I felt like he wasn't making a move to often. That said he is an aggressive player so I decieded to go with it and I won the flip.

www.pokerhand.org/

Then Eric and I played an interesting hand where I accidently min raised on the button. I was fortunate enough to flop two pair to his top pair on a drawy board which he was unable to get away from.

www.pokerhand.org/

Other than the NLH I played some PLO. I played a bunch of 100/200 along with some 200/400. Here I win a coinflip...

www.pokerhand.org/

Picking off a bluff...

www.pokerhand.org/

Here we play a big multiway pot. I don't really like my play in retrospec and would much prefer a fold.

www.pokerhand.org/

Anyways those were the big pots I played.

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NLH 6max, first time in 6 months

Date: Fri, Mar 14, 2008 Professional Internet

Today I played my first session as a red pro for FTP. I played just under two hours which means I am gonna make 50 bucks plus another 127 bucks in rakeback, woot!!! Honestly though I am happy about it, even though it doesn't seem like a lot if I play the minimum I have to of 10 hours a week that works out to ~$62,500. Now that’s a lot of money for doing something that I already would be doing anyways. I mainly played 6 handed NLH today as that’s primarily where I will be playing my hours. I must say I was very rusty. I talked with Brian H about this today and he said that he was going to watch some old videos because he was feeling the same way about his 6 handed NLH game. I think I am going to watch some tonight, but haven't decided who. I think I may watch some Eric Lui ones since he is the lead CR pro who I have played the least with.

In total I lost 15K today at 25/50 6max. I was told that some bigger games have been running, and I really hope they do. Here are the hands the good, the bad and the ugly. Actually they are all ugly but here you go.

This one is by far the best of the three and somewhat defensible though my turn shove is beyond ugly. Brian H was making fun of how bad I was playing in AIM. What a jerk. To get back at him I am going to reveal a story. Two days ago I get a frantic AIM from him saying "shit my car was towed!!!". I replied "**** that really sucks." He said " Ya I park it illegally and get tickets every day but I don't care and just pay them." I thought that it was really funny that Brian would rather pay 50 bucks a day then walk a few blocks for free parking.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2266824

I actually don't hate this one either, since this guy was an unkown to me...

www.pokerhand.org/

And this one is just plain ugly. I am gonna blame Taylor for this one though since he told me that everyone has been making moves on him since he turned red.

www.pokerhand.org/

I also played a bit of 200/400 PLO and 100/200 PLO. I ended up making up some of my losses in NLH there, winning about 10K. I didn't really play any interesting hands as the 100/200 was capped and the 200/400 was against Chufty who only bought in for 8K.

Trip kings holds up...

www.pokerhand.org/

Losing a flip to Chufty who then sat out...

www.pokerhand.org/

Anyways I am off to watch an Eric Lui video then I am going to crash. I will also post my 6max NLH results on here, so that will hopefully inspire me to play well. I also need to finish up my HU challenge; I will discuss that more in my next blog entry.

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Almost red....

Date: Mon, Mar 10, 2008 Professional Internet

As many of you know CardRunners has inked a deal with FullTilt Poker which has been 7 or 8 months in the making. Its wierd thinking about this deal and remember back when I used to rail John Dagastino playing 100/200 HU limit on FTP and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. I was living in a dumpy apartment in Henderson NV for the summer playing .25/.5 limit to 5/10 limit holdem to pay the bills. If you had told me that in two and a half years I would have a major sponshorship deal with FTP I would have said you were crazy. I mean thinking back to where I was and how far I have come its really suprises me. At times I don't appreciate my accomplishments which is very sad on my part.

As for the FTP deal, the seven lead CardRunners pros will now be red pros on FTP. Although I can't divulge any details of the deal it was benifical for both parties. Also I feel this deal will have amazing benefits to CR members. When Fulltilt Poker approched us about a possible deal our first question was "How will this deal benefit our members?" We would never accept a deal which wouldn't greatly improve the quality of the business and I can say this deal will. We will be having free rolls for our members as well as additional funding for new talent. I can't dive to much into it, since we signed a nondisclosure agreement, but this deal will greatly increase our product to our members. Our members should look for some big MTT signings in the very near future.

Another big addition is that all the CR pros will be required to play 10 hours a week of poker at Fulltilt. I know I have been playing alot less poker over the past 3 months. I will now be playing and blogging about the largest 3+ handed NLH games running on Fulltilt. When I finished my HU PLO hands I will do my HU NLH hands and then begin playing the higher stake HU games but for now it will just be three handed or more for me.

As for the title of this thread I was all excited today about waking up and playing under my new account. Saddly when I logged in I was not in red and still had the name sbrugby. The reason for this is someone has already registered Brian Townsend and doesn't seem to want to part with the name. He posted in a thread on 2+2 here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=151161. Vote for this guy to give me my name!!!!

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NBC HU tourny recap

Date: Mon, Mar 3, 2008 Professional Internet

This week in Vegas has been a blast. Usually when I come out to Vegas I am alone and play poker 95% of my waking hours. This trip was much different as my friends Deyl Paige and Amy came out with me. We took a limo Wednesday afternoon from Santa Barbara which got us in to Vegas for a late dinner at SW steakhouse. SW is my favorite steak house, though I don't go to steak houses too often. We capped the night off with dancing at Tryst.

We didn't get moving the next morning until noon and generally tried to take it easy spending a few hours at the pool. That evening we had dinner at Circo at the Bellagio. We had a table with a great view of the Bellagio lake and water show which the girls were very excited about. We had to wrap up dinner kind of early because we had to be at Pure for the name drawings for the tourney. We arrived about an hour late just as they began the drawings. When I arrived Erick Lindgren asked me to do a prop bet with him about who would get picked first. Then each time someone else was picked the other person would owe the other 200 bucks. I was picked first and believe I won about $1200 bucks but I will have to double check. I know Erick had the bet with a bunch of people and he was one of the last people picked so I think he lost a bit of money.

After the drawing was done people really started to clear out of the night club, but not our group. We stuck around getting wrecked on the open bar. The bouncers finally had to kick us out when we were the last four in the entire night club. From there we went to some other bar and danced until 4AM.

The evening before I had drawn David the Dragon Pham and was scheduled to play him at 1:30. The match was a very aggressive one with him reraising me a lot preflop. We both started with 20,000 in chips and 150/300 blinds with levels increasing every 15 minutes. With a structure like this there is going to be a very small edge in who is the winner. I would guess if I were to play someone who was terrible at poker I could only win 55% of the matches with this structure. So the outcome of any one of these matches is pretty meaningless.

The first level I folded a lot of hands as I wasn't picking up to many pots. As I said before David was very aggressive preflop which caught me off guard at first. I folded to David’s first 5 or 6 reraises before I decided to play back at him with 9T of spades. I opened to 900 on the button at 150/300 blinds with about 20K in chips. He repoped me for the 6th or 7th time in the match to 2.5K. I opted to call with my T9s and play back at him if I flopped any type of draw or pair. Theflop came down 367 rainbow with one spade. David fired the flop for 4K and I went all in as planned. He thought for about 5 minutes before folding A7 face up. I was very surprised to see this hand and would have expected to be called by it. But because of my tight image before he suspected that I had slow played a larger pair preflop and opted to lay down the hand.

That hand really turned around the momentum in the match and I got a nice chip lead when the blinds became very large. I finally ended up winning when my 9To beat his pocket 9's when the flop came TT2. I was very impressed with David’s play and I would say that I was lucky to beat him as I feel neither of us would havemuch of anedge in a match with this structure.

That night we went to dinner at Nobu which was amazing. Deyl is buddies with the manager there and we had the most amazing meal with him bringing out specialty items. I was very impressed with the meal. We finished the night up with seeing David Copperfield and heading to Body English at the Hard Rock.

The next morning I played Huck Seed who had defeated Jason Alexander the day before. I was very disappointed to see that the structure was even worse than the day before with blinds starting at 300/600 with only 30K in chips. With stacks so short there was very very little room to maneuver. I lost about 3 pots where Huck held top pair and I continuation bet the flop and shut down. I also ran one very small bluff costing me a few more chips. The final hand came down when I had about 12 big blinds and I opened 45s on the button. The flop came T75 and after I continuation bet the flop I was check raised all in. I was getting almost 4-1 on my call and really couldn't fold and only have 6BB, so I decided to call and try to outdraw him as I was pretty sure I was behind. I missed and was eliminated.

Deyl, Paige and Amy caught a flight home that afternoon. I relaxed for a bit and then met up with my friend Elena and we went out to dinner at Tao. It was a pretty good meal but definitely paled in comparison to Nobu the night before. We then headed out to Hard Rock to meet up with some of her old college friends who had rented a table at Body English.

I had a really great time this weekend, even though my liver needs to detox. Tomorrow I head to Chicago for business meetings for CardRunners. I think it’s going to be a very very productive trip even though I really want to head home. I am there for three days and then I head back to Santa Barbara.

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Lots of travel

Date: Tue, Feb 26, 2008 Professional Internet

I am going to be doing alot of travel in the next two weeks. Tomorrow I head down to LA for some business meetings. Wednesday I am going out to Vegas for the NBC HU tournament. I stay in Vegas until March 3rd when I fly out to Chicago to meet Taylor and Andrew for some more business meetings. All in all its going to be a very busy two weeks. I am looking forward to it since we should get alot of work done, but I am not looking forward to all the travel, particularly being in Chicago in March. Last time I was there I stepped out of O'hare and took a deep breath and my lungs almost froze. I really hate the cold and it was -1 degree the entire time I was there.

As for the NBC HU event I think it will be a blast. It is a 20K buyin round robin tourny. I hope that I do well since some of my friends are coming out to watch me. We are taking a limo from Santa Barbara to Vegas an hanging out for 5 days. I am really looking forward to it as I am usually alone when I go to vegas. It will be great going out to shows and eating nice dinners instead of sitting in my hotel room playing online poker (don't get me wrong I don't mind playing poker one bit).

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A fun weekend...

Date: Wed, Feb 20, 2008 Professional Internet

This weekend the CR pros came into Santa Barbara and stayed at my house for four days. All the lead pros were there; Brian H., Eric, Cole, Mike, Taylor and Andrew as well as two small stakes pros; Thomas and Derrick not to mention Ezra who did an awesome job getting everyone do actually do some work. The guys flew in Friday afternoon and we had a photo shoot right when everyone got in. My friend Amy Nave (www.amynave.com ) did the shoot for us. She is a very successful wedding photographer, who runs an album design company called Albumesque. I haven't seen the final pictures yet but I am sure they will be amazing as she did some excellent work for me before.

That evening we went to Sakana, which is my favorite sushi restaurant. I consider myself a bit of a sushi snob and I rate Sakana head and shoulders above more well known and popular sushi bars such as Nobu and Okada. I did talk this place up to all the guys so they had high expectations and I didn't hear raving reviews from them. Oh well I still think it’s amazing and if you are ever in Montecito you should really check it out. After dinner we headed downtown and bar hopped. I met some buddies at Study Hall while the guys went to Sharkeez. We met up later in the evening and the guys seemed to be having a great time. It was pretty dead that night which surprised me. Usually the bar scene is very busy in Santa Barbara and the bars weren’t even ½ full.

The next morning Ashley, who has been amazing in her first three weeks, brought over bagels for everyone. We then got to work on creating you guys some video content and I must say I think we made some amazing videos. Over the course of the weekend we made around 15 videos which will be up over the next few months. The first one I did is going to be a two part series with Mike Schneider. It is designed for NL players looking to get into limit. It is a pretty advanced video that discussed some of the major changes that one needs to make when switching from NL to limit. I am a pretty good limit player but by no means anywhere near the skill of Mike, so this video was very informational for me. We go deep into discussion of concepts like blind defense, loose flop peals, starting hand adjustments and thin river calls.

I also made another video with Brian H. where we reviewed a member submitted video. I think this format will be very popular as it allows you guys to see someone who is in a similar position to you get critiqued instead of just watching us make decisions. I hope to do more member submitted videos in the future. Outside of videos I did, I did one more with Ezra for a total of four this weekend, there were some videos that I want to watch. Eric and Andrew made a full ring video that they said turned out great. It goes into some of the finer points of full ring games as they are both excellent full ring players. Cole and Taylor made two HU video which they said were amazing. Both said everything came together in the video and was there best work so far.

I really enjoy making videos with other people and I think the content is much better. Doing videos solo is good but having someone to converse with really can add to the video. Look for more group videos in the future as I think they are the best teaching format, but would love feedback from you guys.

After making videos for a few hours Paul our videographer came over to film us. I have to thank my buddy DJ (www.davidjay.com ) for helping put me in contact with him. We did a few hours of interviews which went well. Ezra had a laundry list of questions for us. After we wrapped up the interviews us BBQ on my patio. It was an amazing day for the middle of February so it was nice to just relax outside. After eating we created a group video where we all played in the same ring game. The winner could choose someone from the losers who would have to wear a Speedo on the beach the following day. Ezra was chosen but someone wormed his way out of getting filmed in a Speedo.

That evening we went out to Carlitos for dinner. It was my buddy Ty's birthday so he and some of my other friends met up with us there. We ate a ton of food and I actually ate to much which made drinking later on a lot harder. I ended up heading home early because I wasn't feeling to hot. Luckily that didn't stop the guys from getting wasted.

Sunday morning was similar to Saturday in that we woke up and ate some breakfast and began making more videos. Paul showed up around noon and we headed to the beach. We did some skits and filmed us being ourselves. It was a lot colder Sunday than Saturday so we only ended up at the beach for an hour. The film should be good though. After that we headed back to my house and Paul filmed us for the next 4 or 5 hours. Ezra had all these skits and commercials for us to do and we worked until 11 in the evening. I dropped Paul off and went straight to bed as Taylor Andrew and I had to leave for LA the next morning at 6AM for some business meetings. I left a ton out of what we did since this is already my longest blog post ever. It was a very productive weekend and I think it will show in the next month when the content starts coming out. Hopefully when I get some pictures from the weekend I can post them.

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Sorry about the lack of updates...

Date: Wed, Feb 20, 2008 Professional Internet

Things have been very busy around here. Last weekend all the CR pros came into Santa Barbara. The weekend was a blast. I promise a full weekend trip report first thing tomorrow morning. Sorry for the tease...

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Caught speeding...

Date: Sun, Feb 10, 2008 Professional Internet

I speed a lot and tonight I was pulled over for going 65 in a 40. I was driving home from a night at the bars and had 4 or 5 beers in 2 hours. The police officer asked me how fast I was going and I stated 60. He then asked me how many beers I had and I answered 4. He thanked me for my honesty and gave me a run down of my legal options. I could do a field sobriety test or a non evidentiary breathalyzer. I felt that I was well under the legal limit of .08 blood alcohol so I opted to take a breathalyzer as I tend to get nervous when taking field sobriety tests. I blew a .04. I was then shocked when he returned my license and registration and told me to go on my way. He was so impressed with my honesty that he didn't write me a ticket for going 25 miles over the speed limit.

He also gave me some very good advice. He knew that I was successful because of the car I drive. He said that even though I was well under the California limit if I were to get in an accident or god forbid kill someone I could be held liable in civil court. I saw his point and from now on I am never chancing it. Its not a big deal to get a cab and pay 20 bucks, just so I don't have to worry about getting sued. I usually blow people off and ignore what they have to say but in the future if I am going to be drinking downtown I will be taking a cab. Police officers are generally smart people and can see when you are trying to feed them a line or bullshit them. Just be honest and straightforward and you will be treated in a fair manner.

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A good race and a great game

Date: Tue, Feb 5, 2008 Professional Internet

Yesterday was a really fun day. The forecast for race day was 100% chance of rain. The night before there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I thought "no way is it going to rain tomorrow." Boy was I wrong. It rained about as hard as it ever does in southern California along with high winds. That didn't stop us from running the race and actually added some excitement to it. I ended up running the race in 1:45 which works out to almost exactly 8 minute miles. Under normal conditions I would be a bit disappointed with my time, but since it was windy and rainy I can't be too bummed. Within 2 minutes of getting out of the car I was completely drenched. I think having soaking wet shoes really slowed me down.

After the race we all went back to the beach house and did absolutely nothing but eat and watch movies until he start of the super bowl. We had a great time watching Ferris Buellers day off while scarfing down doughnuts. Then we got treated to an amazing football game. Sadly though I got really drunk and hardly remember climatic finish. Oh well I saw all the highlights on sports center. Overall it was a very fun day and I am looking forward to my next race which is in May.

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Surf City 1/2 marathon...

Date: Sat, Feb 2, 2008 Professional Internet

I am in Huntington Beach with my friends Deyl, Amy, Paige, Crystal, Katie, and Anna. We are running the 1/2 marathon tomorrow morning. Deyl and Paige did a house swap and got this amazing beach house which is less than a mile from the race starting line. The girls just walked in with the food for tomorrow and they purchased so much good stuff for the super bowl. I am so glad there are people who enjoy cooking so I can just sit back and enjoy the food. I am really looking forward to having an amazing race and then sitting back stuffing myself, watching the super bowl and having some beers.

I am aiming to run eight minute miles or less. My goal is to do 7:30 minute miles, but that’s going to be very hard. Anything over eight minutes and I will be pretty disappointed. One downside about an awesome weekend is it’s supposed to rain tomorrow. I hope that the weather holds off until after the race. Maybe is down here as well as Lucy who is Deyl and Paige’s golden retriever. They love each other and its so nice for them to get all there energy out. Wish me luck tomorrow!

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Busy... (Probably a boring entry)

Date: Wed, Jan 30, 2008 Professional Internet

I haven't been playing any poker since my last post but I have been very busy as of late. I am setting up a new CR office in Santa Barbara. I am buying a new computer and getting the internet installed. I have the computer being sent to my house and the internet is geting put in the office. So I am running back and forth between the two so I don't miss my computer or the installation of the internet. Its really annoying when you have to sign for a package and there delivery time is between 8AM and 8PM or when you get a two hour window for the internet which they keep changing. I don't know how people with real jobs manage. I am also in the process of hiring a new assistant. I did one interview today which went well and I have two more this afternoon. Hopefully I find someone soon because my errands are piling up. All in all I have a pretty rough life :).

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Running way below expectation

Date: Sat, Jan 26, 2008 Professional Internet

I am running like crap. I have been running way way below expectation. Yesterday I played a very crappy tilty session, but beyond that hour of horrible play I have been playing well. I think I may take a week off and get my head on straight. Here are some nasty hands from the past three days...

I feel like I Gordo always hits this type of crap against me...

www.pokerhand.org/

I understand he is calling to bluff spades, but this is so unlucky...

www.pokerhand.org/

The nuts with a better redraw than he has, kinda the epitome of how its been going the past week...

www.pokerhand.org/

Just not winning these, I have even been so worried that I am playing bad that I have discussed hands with people and everyone is like thats standard.

www.pokerhand.org/

Good read, bad river...

www.pokerhand.org/

River is thin, but I was like jesus come on...

www.pokerhand.org/

Anyways I have a bunch of other hands simiar to the posted. I am feeling like I am playing well with alot of focus but my reults aren't there right now. I think I may take a week or two off and get my head on straight. I have a bunch of CardRunners things to get caught up on and a break will be good for me. I am moving into the Santa Barbara office and that will take time getting set up. Overal I am feeling pretty low about my game. Also my HU results are good but not what I would like. I am running at 2 bb/100 which is good but not amazing. I need to really improve if I want to take on the best HU PLO players in the world. I am feeling like I am a long way from realizing that goal. Anyways I may be playing tomorrow or even tonight, but hopefully I can just get away from poker for a week or so.

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Traveling

Date: Wed, Jan 23, 2008 Professional Internet

I am finally heading home (sitting in JFK right now) after a four day trip to Chicago and New York. It was very productive from a business end. I got to see the CR office for the first time, which was great. Its good to have a physical image of where your partners are working. Andrew, Taylor and I did some interviews and I think we have found them a good assistant who will be working out of the Chicago office. She seemed very enthusiastic and should be a good fit.

Last night was spent in New York where Taylor and I got the experience of sleeping on Ezra's roll out couch. I slept pretty terrible and I think Taylor slept worse than I did. To begin with Ezra has this crazy cat who was up all night. This cat would run around the room with its head cutoff and even jump on Taylor and I while we slept. There were a few times during the night that we were awoken by this insane animal bounding from my stomach to his. Then after not sleeping well and getting to bed well after 3AM construction starts at 8AM. We were awoken to hammering and sawing by the crew as well as intense sunlight that came through the windows. Needless to say I am glad I only stayed on night and I think Taylor is getting a hotel room for tonight.

I haven't had a chance to play much the past few days as we have been very busy with meetings. I am looking forward to getting home and getting settled this weekend. I think I will put in some good sessions in the next few days as well as spend some time with friends who I haven't seen since New Years. I am really looking forward to being home.

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A win, but I didn't play well

Date: Mon, Jan 21, 2008 Professional Internet

Yesterday Gordo and I went back at it after I took a break to review some sessions. I still need more review as I only got 1/4 of the way through the hands we have played. I am traveling alot this week so hopefully in the airport I will get a good chance to review some. In the session I ended up 25K and up 15K against Gordo but was disappointed in my play. One hand in particular really bothered me and I felt as though I really misplayed it.

I should be better than this...

www.pokerhand.org/

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