Scheduled Site Down Time For Upgrade

Date: Mon, Aug 11, 2008 Professional Internet

The site will be down for a few hours starting at 2:00 AM EST on Aug 12th as we make a major upgrade to the back-end software for Stoxpoker.

The changes visually to the site will be minor (those are planned in the near future also). The primary change you will be aware of is that the site performance and speed will be much faster.

Thanks for your patience.

Jim

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Understanding My Small Empire + Jujie!

Date: Mon, Aug 11, 2008 Professional Internet

So I've earned a bit over $3M USD (with recent winnings it's very close, well over with rakeback) playing poker, which has been maybe 99% of my income for the last three years. Knock of nearly $1M for taxes, a loss for converting the majority of it to CAD when $1 USD was buying $0.95 CAD, conversion fees (luckily this is only about 1% as I clued into not using a commercial bank for this) and living expenses for those last 3 years and I'm not sitting on nearly as much money as many people tend to think.

Towards the start of July I was beginning to understand that my Windsor building was going to need some capital investment over the next few years, which flipped it from a cash-flow asset to a debt. In the long run it will still treat me quite well (and provides some much-needed diversity), but after sucking some extra funds out of the rest of my portfolio was not necessarily going to be doing anything terribly exciting in terms of growth (I am willing to accept that I have very odd standards about what constitutes exciting growth after poker). So originally I developed a bit of an angst about this, and then, fuck it, I decided that I can make $1k/hr playing 50/100 HU and if I have to invest a couple weeks to earn a peasantly almost-make-no-difference $30k or so I'd rather do it now than regret it later. That sentence may horrify just about everyone but I would like to point out that I am very consciously in the business of not grinding out capital and undertaking projects that aren't improving anyone's quality of life (as opposed to, say, my Dec 20 blog where I'm acting like a douche).

I ended up firing up the laptop in Windsor for a bit and I got quite into it at that point. I hit a sweet spot when I got back where I would get up on days where I didn't have afternoon plans and play for a couple hours and then move onto other stuff. And then I hit the old rut of swing-at-everything-soft never-quit-with-an-edge poker and somehow nearly every day I would wander to the computer with the intention of playing for a couple hours and turn it into an eight hour session. On the plus side I did grind out about $120k, the more notable point being that I had a $40k bankroll to start with. Towards the end of it I wasn't even paying attention, I would just browse through YouTube videos and such on one monitor while absent mindedly grinding on opponents, which is about the antithesis of playing poker well and getting anything meaningful out of it. After the initial genuine interest in the play wore off I found that at a very fundamental level I was still unwilling to put in all-out (admittedly somewhat manic) focus at the poker table. I have hit what felt like physical barriers playing poker at times and when I put that much energy into it it really dulls my personal involvement in the everyday. Unless there's a good reason to I'm not willing to do that anymore.

So I cashed out 2/3 of what I won on that run, leaving enough online this time that I would be able to come straight back to 100/200 when / if I'm ready to take it seriously. I've been bundling everything up (I basically have a 4-pronged business) and projecting income / growth over the next 5 years to attempt to loosely quantify where I'm at, and what, if anything, will be needed. I'm also starting to mull over the idea that I very well might want to do with my business at some point beyond generating personal income, and what the impact of adding additional funds now might be. I'm intending to prepare a proposal for some commercial lenders to try and raise additional funds for my land development arm, and if I am able to borrow substantially the impact of that will be quite large, but should that fail there is the option to basically self-finance through poker, or both, if that's desirable.

[Topic Change]

I was in a restaurant with a couple friends after soccer today watching the Olympics. I knew Jujie was fencing at approximately 10pm my time but I didn't really know if I'd ever get to see her fence since they don't broadcast everything. As it happens we're getting ready to leave the restaurant and Jujie comes on! She ended up winning her first match 13-9 after full time. To recap, Jujie is 50 years old and won the Olympic medal for China in '84 and decided to come out of retirement this year to try and compete in Beijing. This new story here is a good bio. The woman she was fencing was born in '87. Jujie's awesome. I'm actually reading right now that she just lost her second match 15-7, but that's hardly the point. Congratulations Jujie!

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A Few Thoughts

Date: Sat, Aug 9, 2008 Professional Internet

The names of the days of the week have lost all meaning to me.

If I had three wishes the first would be that anvils would fall out of the sky and drop on people like in cartoons. The second would be to play a super user with a super super user account. I get to know what cards are coming and can see his hole cards. I would let the stacks get deep and let him run a huge bluff when the stacks are deep. I would allow the time bank run down, type in his hole cards in the chat box, hit and then type BOOM head shot. The third wish would be three more wishes.

I was sitting on a swiss ball the other night going over some PLO hands with my roommate. I hear a noise that sounds remarkably similar to the sound of air rushing out a tiny hole. I look to my roommate and say, "You hear that" He pauses, listens,and says, "Yeah" We both quickly look down. Then BOOOM. The ball bust and I fall flat on my ass. Bad beat.

Poker is about as fun as it ever has been. I am playing really well and getting a lot better. It has been a wild ride lately with some fun swongs, but whatever I am having so much fun I do not care. The other night after a 9 hour session(was stuck but finished up was not playing to get unstuck you bastards games were good.:)), which is very unusual for me because I get restless really quickly. I could not sleep because I was funning a lot of different situations through my head. I fell asleep for like 30 minutes, woke up and just laid there for several hours. I realized that I was not going to sleep and I really wanted to stack someone. So I got up and did just that. After my session the sun was coming up so I just decided to just stay awake and not mess up my sleep schedule worse than I already have. I ended up staying awake for like 30hrs straight and played a decent amount of poker. I booked several good short session throughout the day and went to bed around nine that night. I ended up sleeping for 14 straight hours. Pretty crazy. I think I won around 40K over the time period which was fun.

After walking for a couple of hours on the beach today I do not know if I could ever bring myself to leave the Caribbean. I love it down here and I still have so so so many places to explore.

Statements like the last one usually end up being really silly at some point in your life.

My Dad got 4 tickets to the Alabama Clemson game. Ship it.

I have not worn any thing on my feet but sandals since Las Vegas.

I love reading books about outlaws and degenerate gamblers.

Shooting stars are pretty common here on clear nights.

That is about it.

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SlumpBuster!!! What do ya think?

Date: Mon, Aug 4, 2008 Professional Internet

If you don’t mind I’d really appreciate your honest feedback here. Also please click on the link I have provided for a write up/picture of this product I am about to talk about.

http://bostonist.com/2008/01/03/youks_new_energ.php

I have a friend named Brian who I have been buddies with since we were like 14 years old. He has always been extremely smart and at the same time has a cool personality. He’s not a nerdy smart kind of guy, but more like a hilarious, social type first who also happens to be a genius once you get to talking to him. He comes from a family that is extraordinarily successful and just a great bunch of people as well. He fits in that mold as well and I have always predicted since I was a teenager that Brian would do something to create enormous wealth through some sort of entrepreneurial means. He is entrepreneurial at heart and has been successful at virtually anything he has put his mind to. So as you guys can probably see, I have a lot of faith in him.

Over the past year or so, I have spent a pretty good deal of time talking to Brian about a product he and his 3 buddies have created together called Slumpbuster energy drink. The premise of the drink is that you will want to have one when you are looking to “bust out of a slump.” So you may be down on your luck at a casino (or in poker) and order a Slumpbuster to turn things around. Or maybe you haven’t gotten laid in awhile and so you go to a bar and order a Slumpbuster/Vodka…lol. The original concept was for baseball and you might want to have a Slumpbuster to break that hitting slump or if you’re down by a few runs late in the game, rather than putting on your rally cap, you drink a Slumpbuster. That is sort of the concept behind the drink anyway, and to me at least, the possibilities marketing wise seem endless and potential for some serious hilarity to ensue.

The product is currently being sold in a few stores here and there with their biggest customer being the LA Angels’ minor league team called the Quakes. Sales for Slumpbuster in this stadium have significantly outperformed Monster and Redbull who are currently the industry leaders. So to me this seems very encouraging. Granted, this product being in a baseball stadium is the perfect environment for it, but beating Redbull and Monster in any environment is not half bad.

Slumpbuster is currently being represented by Boston Red Sox All Star Kevin Youkilis. He has made quite a name for himself over the last couple of years and is very excited about the product. Thanks, to his help, the company got a big break a few weeks ago when Kevin was playing in the All Star game and passed out a bunch of Slumpbusters to his teammates when they trailed in the game. The cameras panned in on the dugout and noticed that Kevin was passing out all of these drinks and just like that, Slumpbuster was getting some major advertising on a highly rated national broadcast. Several different companies on the east coast of the USA have since inquired about the product and there is currently quite a buzz about it. If you do a search on the product there is a pretty incredible amount of news stories dedicated to it. It is definitely exciting right now to think about where this company might be 2-5 years down the line.

My question to you guys is what do you think about this? I have an opportunity myself to buy equity in this company and get in on the ground floor of what could maybe be a big player in the energy drink industry someday. But, of course, it is clearly a risky investment as is any startup. So the chances of losing 100% of my investment is certainly something to consider. The amount I intend on purchasing is an amount that I can definitely stomach. It is an amount that would be very annoying to lose completely, but not an amount that would really change my life any if I lost. So with that in mind, please tell me your honest opinion. I want to hear as many of them as possible both about what you think the chances are of their success as well as what you think of me personally investing. Thanks so much for your time.

Discuss this blog here:

http://www.stoxpoker.com/forums/showthread.php?p=100901#post100901

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House calling

Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2008 Professional Internet

Beat: Five out of seven people bailed on a trip to Foxwoods last week.

Brag: I stayed home and won four buyins anyway.

After a clusterf**k of problems with making the land I recently purchased "buildable", it looks like tree clearing will commence this week. Still a few kinks to work out with official documents, but I can make people get annoyed with me real fast if I want and therefore give me what I need to get me out their hair. Cliffnotes: I need a title company to write one sentence saying that I own to the center of a paper street that doesn't exist so that I can say the land is another 2,000 square feet in area. Figure that out and I owe you a coke.

If anyone is interested, this is what the final product "should" look like once completed.

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A few video notes....

Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2008 Professional Internet

Last time I visited with Dusty, we made three videos, 1 of them at 1-2 NL and a two parter at 2-4NL. The first of the two parter was posted earlier today and I think it's interested, so for you NL grinders, check it out!

I think the next video will be fun to watch as well and will be posted in approximately 10 days.

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Vacations

Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2008 Professional Internet

I leave in 3 and a half hours for a cruise with my family. When I return from that I am heading straight down to the beach for a week in a beach house with all my best friends. We do this every year and its a blast. After that I have my brother's engagement party. However, I may try to sneak in another trip to Vegas between the beach house and the engagement party. We shall see if I can accomplish that. I will let someone I trust answer any questions on my videos that will come out while I am gone. When I come back I promise to post pics of all my vacations in the past month, along with some good stories. I am also very excited to let my mind take 2 weeks off from poker.

-Reese

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Going on A Video Making Bender!

Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2008 Professional Internet

Although I have had a fair amount of videos released over the past couple of months, I plan on really amping up my aggression for lack of a better term when it comes to videos. So probably tomorrow or maybe Sunday (or possibly both), you will probably spot me at various lower limit games and I will be making quite a few videos. I also want to involve you guys in some way in regards to what stakes, playing styles etc. you would like to see me at. So please offer your input in the blog thread dedicated to this post and let me know what you guys want to see. I am slated for about one video a week for the next little while, but if you guys feel strongly that you think we should release a bunch of these new videos over the next couple of weeks, then by all means let us know.

I would certainly really appreciate your input on this. I want to do my part to help you guys with your games. In the future you guys can likely expect the standard 3-5 videos per month from me, but for now I feel like making a bunch of videos and want to extend this offer to you guys as sort of a bonus if you will. Please let me know what you guys think in the thread and also give me as many suggestions/things to talk about as you possibly can and I will do my best to accommodate as many of you as possible.

Discuss this blog here:

http://www.stoxpoker.com/forums/showthread.php?p=99986#post99986

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My turn for a quasi-political rant

Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2008 Professional Internet

So the DOJ (Department of "Justice") is once again doing the good work harassing companies that provide services that allow people to do what they want with their own money. As Kyle mentioned in his blog yesterday, the US has apparently sezied $24 million from various Bodog accounts in US banks. While the Bodog situation doesn't really concern me as far as poker is concerned, it does give me an excuse to talk about why the government's approach to on-line poker pisses me off so much.

First, why it doesn't worry me too much as far as poker's concerned: It appears that it has nothing to do with poker per se. My understanding is that it's pretty well-established that on-line sports betting is illegal. Bodog offers sports betting. That seems to be the extent of it here. Despite all the DOJ's ridiculous bluster about how on-line poker is illegal, (a) no federal statute says that; (b) no court has ever held that; and (c) tellingly, to my knowledge, the DOJ has never filed any type of complaint so much as alleging that -- almost certainly because of (a) and (b) above. So whatever the government is doing with Bodog I doubt it has anything to do with poker.

But that doesn't mean that what the government has been doing regarding on-line poker disgusts or infuriates me any less. Most of you know that I used to be a lawyer. Bigtime law firm, no slip and falls here. Cutting edge issues, Supreme Court stuff, yada yada yada. I mention this only because I'm not anti-government or anti-establishment at all. I'm a real believer in the rule of law. I'm an immigrant (ok, from Canada, so maybe not what many Americans would consider a REAL immigrant, but still an immigrant) who believes in the rule of law and the American Dream (cue music and collage of photos of blue collar workers with 2.2 kids). I'm very proud to have gotten my US citizenship just last year. I drank the kool-aid.

But what the DOJ has been doing regarding on-line poker isn't the rule of LAW, it's the rule of Mr. Bush and his handpicked ultra-conservative bureaucrats, prosecutors, and enforcement officials. There are too many examples of this group flouting the law rather than following it. I'm not going to get into any of those examples here except for poker, since that's the one we all have in common. But poker's not a bad example if we're looking for one. The DOJ says on-line poker is illegal, but it isn't -- at least not under federal law. Still, the DOJ insists on scaring the public into thinking that what we all do is against the law. And then it threatens credit card companies, goes after payment processors, and, it sounds like, harasses some sites (Bodog, Party Poker) as well.

Not only is this troubling because it reflects DOJ's institutional (christian conservative wing of the Republican party) view rather than the law, but it also reflects a set of enforcement priorities that IMHO fall somewhere between perverse and insane. I still believe that the US is grounded in many of the noblest ideals -- freedom, pride, ambition, justice, personal responsibility (note: these used to be the principles guiding the Republican party). But the DOJ's approach to on-line poker flies in the face of those very ideals. It attacks people doing what they choose to do with the money that they have earned through their own hard work. Personally, I believe that personal freedoms should be maximized, at least so long as there's no reasonable danger that those freedoms will harm others in any unfair way. But not only do the DOJ's activities in the area conflict with this principle, it actually elevates this particular issue as an enforcement priority over so many others that some might consider to be even more important (if that's possible -- gasp!). I mean are there really so few problems facing the country these days that the DOJ has nothing better to spend its resources on than targeting twenty-somethings playing a computer game in their own homes?

To a certain extent all of this is just politics I suppose. But I'm not prepared to resign myself to the status quo. I don't know whether a new administration, Dem or Rep, will do things any differently. Sure, each has its own set of pet issues, but the process hasn't changed in a long time, except maybe to get worse. Obama promises change, but even if he means it institutional momentum is a hard thing to reverse. All I can say is that I think that we should all be angry about what's happening -- not just with the poker issue, but with the way the country has been run -- and hopefully motivated to take real action to make change for the better. As it happens, the poker community is pretty well placed to try to effectuate some of that change: young, smart, educated. Maybe this issue will help get us all more engaged in the process.

Lisa Simpson once noted that "the Chinese have the same word for crisis and opportunity" (Homer's response: "yes Lisa, crisitunity"). In the same vein, I'm actually mildly optimistic that some good will come out of this ridiculousness -- sooner or later. To that end, here's a thought: After your next really bad beat write a letter to your Senator or Congressman telling them how furious you are about the whole on-line poker thing. Probably a deserving target of frustration and animosity for so many reasons, and it'll probably make you feel better than putting your fist through your monitor.

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Get to Know Your Bots

Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2008 Professional Internet

Knew article up in the 2+2 magazine detailing how bots are created, what their impact is on online play and what you can do about it: http://twoplustwo.com/magazine/issue44/paradis_0808.php

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Another AC Trip

Date: Thu, Jul 31, 2008 Professional Internet

I went down again with Andrew boc4life. While he did well from the start, I started off very badly. However, on the last day I put together a monster session and got unstuck plus some. I absolutely love live poker now and wish I could play it instead of online. The games are so much better, and I like the live interaction. It gets very entertaining as well, with live poker people play the stupidest shit and don't say anything when they get there. Then they see me c/r the turn or something on a semi bluff with good equity. I hit my river flush or something and c/r or bet again and they get so mad at my play. They don't understand equities and such, and the merit of most plays to protect hands. It's very funny how they perceive a lot, and I am excited for when I graduate college and get to play a lot more live. I go on vacation in a few days, so hopefully I get back my Vegas pictures to post before then.

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A Touch of Grey

Date: Thu, Jul 31, 2008 Professional Internet

It looks like the US government has delivered yet another hard body shot to online gambling.

http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/07/30/calvin-ayre-bodog-biz-beltway-...

This is really just getting annoying. What concerns me the most is this. This is from a thread on 2p2.

Originally Posted by Todd Terry View Post
So I spent $2.24 for the benefit of NVG. I skimmed the affidavit, there is no mention of poker, the illegal activity of Bodog is specified as sports gambling. The interesting part, and what could be big trouble for Stars/Tilt, is that they are relying on 18 USC 1960, operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business, which does not require that the underlying activity generating the funds be illegal.

You know I may just jump on the island escapism train. There are a lot of places that I could move to in Caribbean and not only have a wonderful time living on a tropical island, but also play poker on any site in the world. My lease in Puerto Rico is up in February and I may just make the move.

Ua Pau Te Maitai No Te Fenua
Re Zai Noa Ra Te Ora O Te Mitie

Since I have had some time away from the CPU the last few days I decided to put all my hands I had on my hard drive into one database. These are hand I played from October onward, with about another 50K hands that I played earlier in 2007.

So far Puerto Rico has been pretty awesome. Things are definitely different down here, but for the most part I enjoy the differences. As I mentioned in my last blog, lately I have the sailing bug. I have found a place where I can get both my Bareboat Chartering and my PADI certification. At the end of this program I will be able to take a boat of up to 50' in length out during the daytime in coastal waters. This will allow me to take some sailing trips around here, which will be pretty awesome. I am excited.

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Month End Reflections

Date: Thu, Jul 31, 2008 Professional Internet

For the relatively little amount of poker I played this month it sure wasn’t a whole lot of fun. I ran really terrible for the month and it just wasn’t very enjoyable. It is funny that poker can go in such streaks for so long. From the point where I started to play higher stakes last year through February of this year, I feel like I ran pretty well. Sure, like anyone I had my downswings/break even streaks that were annoying. And not unlike a lot of people, I bitched and moaned about it when it happened. But at the end of the year I looked back and felt that overall I ran at least decently well and was proud of what I accomplished.

This year has been quite different. As I mentioned, January and February went great, but since then I have just been on one rollercoaster after another and I just get the overall feeling like I can do no right. Kinda like being married….badda bing. Bad joke I know. But in all seriousness, I just am not even remotely proud of pretty much anything that I have accomplished at the tables this year. It has honestly been very disappointing. I’ve said it many times throughout the year, but I just can’t get any momentum. Anytime anything good happens for a little while, disaster strikes. If I get hot for a little while then a bad steak follows like clockwork. If you looked at my graph for this year, you’d think I was a tilt monkey because I go on so many huge downswings. Most people consider me to be a nit, but if you looked at my graph I look like I am some kind of hyper LAG.
Anyway, don’t ask me how, but I won about $30k in about 60k hands with this kind of luck according to set-o-meter:

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It just goes to show that all of the work I am putting into my poker game is paying off. To even be profitable with this bullshit luck is actually something I CAN be proud of come to think about it. I guess the frustrating thing is that I am having to take away these small victories all of the time because nothing for me to really be proud of is happening.

Looking back on the year, I think what I am most proud of is what has happened away from poker. At the start of the year I had cash, but now I actually own to some degree 3 different companies including Stoxpoker. I also have made a ton of great friends and I feel a lot of really solid business decisions. I have also made great strides with my wife. We have always been rock solid, but in our 2nd year of marriage, I am getting to know her on an even deeper level and I am liking what I find out more and more. So you really can’t ask for much more than that. Sure poker has been disappointing, but there is still time to turn it around with 5 months left in the year. And poker isn’t everything of course.

A little debate my wife and I have had over our time together is that she thinks that she stays more or less the same person all of the time. I insist that people evolve all of the time and can think quite differently in any given period of time. I know that I change all of the time. Not my core beliefs usually (unless I think they were flawed), but I believe that people just change with experience quite a bit over time. That is also part of the challenge of being married. I believe you change within your relationship and that is why relationships are always a work in progress. I think my wife has changed a lot, almost all for the better, but she isn’t convinced.

Well, I sometimes have no idea how I get off on these tangents….lol. They just happen I suppose. You guys seriously get an honest look inside this dome with this blog…..lol. I could go in any direction sometimes. I think I will end it with a graph of my year so far. I know what people are going to say already. Boo hoo Leatherass you have still won such and such dollars. But like I have said about 900 jillion times, I really only care about my goals and if I am not meeting my goals I am not satisfied. Of course a few years back when I was broke I wouldn’t have cared if you had to Chinese torture me, I would of done it for this kind of money. But, now that I have money, it is about the goals and I am not going to settle with results I know I am better than whether it is $5 or $5M.

For the record I have also made about $75k more between PLO, my laptop hands and bonuses. I think overall the total is about $725k. This is the month end for me btw because I am playing golf tomorrow woohoo!!!

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Discuss this blog here:

http://www.stoxpoker.com/forums/showthread.php?p=99443#post99443

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Bought House! Engaged! OMG my bankroll?!

Date: Wed, Jul 30, 2008 Professional Internet

Quick guide to a bankroll plummet:

(a) Get engaged to an awesome girl.
(b) Buy a sweet 4-bedroom house in the DC suburbs, putting down a full 20% since you're a shifty-eyed poker player.
(c) Go on a baller 10-day Vegas trip.
(d) Furnish the entire house, nicely.

Now I know the Stox cash instructors are scratching their heads, saying "But that couldn't cost more than a couple hundred k. If I 15-table $4000-$8000 at 10BB/100HH for just 2.5 hours..."
But for a humble SNG player, steps (a) - (d) can represent an alarmingly high fraction of a bankroll.

So now I'm back to my common origins, grinding Stars $100 turbos like a mofo. Of course I started out by dropping 30 buy-ins, and right before Vegas I was also on a crazy downswing (at higher levels). But I'm pretty at peace with the swings since I know 100% that I'm beating the games at a nice rate long-term, and I've set a few goals for the $100's that I'm curious to see if I can hit.

Bet Maxim said he thought that Stars $55 and $109 turbos were the toughest games out there. And it's true that there are plenty of tables filling up with tough grinders. But if you know SNGMan101, you know he just isn't going to sit at one of those tables. Somebody has to volunteer to play with the fish, and I'm just that selfless :) Seriously though, you can find softer tables if you're looking, and that's a huge part of my strategy. Three losers per table and I'm a happy man.

I have been surprised by some of the play I've noticed in the regulars at this level, however. In particular, there's some definite spite-calling going on. So handling the metagame will be the topic of my next blog...

Discussion at:

http://www.stoxpoker.com/forums/showthread.php?p=99159#post99159

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