JoeUdine

So far FTOPS has been pretty uneventful for me - I have a few small cashes. I really haven't been playing my best when I get deep - so Im looking to turn it around starting today and get back some discipline and stop being so lazy. The worst feeling is when you end a tourney on a marginal play deep after hours of grinding and working hard. Anyway, I am feeling good about the way im playing for the most part - and I am real hungry to put up some results.

I looked over some schedules and here is what I plan on doing for the next few months as far as live poker is concerned:

NOV 16-18 2009 - Borgata DS 1500
NOV 20-24 2009 - US Poker CHampionship Taj Mahal 5k
DEC 13-15 2009 - Harrahs WSOP Circuit ME 5k
DEC 18-20 2009 - Harrahs 2k DS
JAN 4-14 2010 - PCA Bahamas
FEB 20-28 2010 - LA Poker Classic WPT

Big week of FTOPS action ahead- Ill post any results soon...

Its been almost a month since my last post, as I havent really had anything eventful going on during the month of October. Poker-wise, Ive been putting in random cash/sng/mtt sessions here and there - with no regular schedule. Ive been playing super aggro in the 3/6, 5/10, and 10/20 w/ ante games - and have subsequently gone on a few big swings in both directions. I almost ended the month turning a decent profit, but I think I just barely snuck into the green up a few K. I also turned a small profit in some sngs 300-1k on ftp and stars - missing out on some significant gains when I took shots at higher stakes.

I really havent been putting in my regular mtt schedule because I am a huge Phillies fan and they have had a huge October. I went to 4 playoff games and 2 WS games - which have been incredible. I think the Phils v Yanks matchup in the WS is one of the best this decade if not longer. The games have been really exciting to watch, especially if you are into baseball. For those of you who dont know, before I started playing poker my junior year in college I played 2 years at Penn and was captain of my high school team at Eastern HS - so basically baseball was life before I started playing poker more seriously. With the Phils playing all these huge games in October its almost impossible for me to focus on a legit poker schedule, but I did make 1 big run 2 days ago in the Sunday Mil. I think this was my first big run in this tourney for the 200$ buyin. I ran really well most of the tourney and ended up losing a huge flip AK<1010 for the chiplead with 30 or so left. I was left with 3 bbs and around 545k after the hand. I ended up running this back to 4 mil and proceeded to take a cooler to bust out in 13th. Oh well.

November begins a fresh month and Ill be starting to play alot more tourneys regularly - which Im excited about. FTOPS starts tommorow, but its also game 6 of the WS so Im not sure if Ill be playing a full schedule yet or what. Im also in the process of putting together a live schedule for the remaining 2 months in 2009 and moving into 2010. Ill post this in the next few days. Good luck to all in FTOPS - GO PHILSSS!

Hey guys. Last week I turned 26 on Sept 29th. As far as online pros are concerned, Im probably considered a dinosaur. I didnt start playing seriously until my senior year at UPenn - so I guess Im not THAT old haha. Anyway, we celebrated at a club in philly called G lounge with a bunch of our friends which was alot of fun. Alot of my friends came down from nyc and I saw some guys from Penn who I hadnt seen in a while.

This past Saturday Lex and I went up to NYC and stayed at the Millenium Hilton - which ended up being one of the sickest hotel rooms Ive ever stayed in - - because of the insane view. Our room overlooked the World Trade Center site. Looking down you could see absolutely everything - and it was definitely kind of depressing thinking of what happened years ago in this very spot we were looking over. Then if you looked out we had an amazing view of the river and plenty of buildings that lined it - some brand new after the attacks. The site is just now looking under control after 8-9 years of cleaning it up. The foundations are being constructed for 3 new buildings that will stand in the same area. My roommate Mike from Penn has the same exact birthday as me - so we went out to dinner with him and his fiance Hillery who we havent seen in a while. We went out to this dive bar with some sick live music - and drank some good beer (my kind of scene). Everything was chill until some guy sat down next to lex and hillery and started grabbing at them LOLLL. I saw this guy grab lexs arm and I got beer muscles. I shouldve laid him out but I bitched out and the bouncers told him to leave. haha

As for poker, Ive been grinding kind of random sessions the last 2 weeks or so. I was so hungover on Sunday that I just played a weird half day. I played sooo bad all day but got saved in the 109r turbo on ftp heatsticking a 2nd place. I lost AQ<A9 to take it down tho so that sucked. During the week I played monday and tuesdays nightlys, and Ive been grinding some random 5/10 and 10/20 cash sessions during the day and late night. Ive been playing super laggro in these games up to now. Ive had some success - but Im definitely not playing close to optimally and think Im missing out on booking some big wins sometimes. All good tho - live and learn. I have had minimal cash experience up until this summer, and its definitely an advantage to have a grasp of the differences between cash and mtts. Basically its just understanding how your thought process should adjust with the deeper stacks/shallower stacks. I also want to play more plo than I have along with this. Becoming well-rounded in more than one area of poker opens up your mind to different strategies that will complement your overall game. My career has been mostly mtt grinding for a few years - which has been quite the experience. Its impossible to understand the amount of grinding and patience you need to be a successful mtt player - its been a very long learning process (along with bankroll mgmt in my 1st year) - but I wouldnt change anything I dont think. Everyone has their own niche and whatever works for you- you should stick to. If you make sure you are trying to learn and apply after analyzing your sessions - you are going to be light years ahead of the majority. Ok, this is getting really long - Im gonna break and Ill come back with some more philosophical talk later im sure haha. I may hit up Bellagio this month for Festa al Lago or just wait til December for Five Diamond. 2010 I already have 3-4 live trips planned, so Im not gonna move around a bunch - Im prolly gonna keep grinding online mtts and see if I can put some pressure on my friend gboro for POY haha. Later.

-Joe

WCOOP Update:

WCOOP has gone pretty well thus far. I took down another 109r on Stars yesterday afternoon after having 2 disasterous sessions on Sunday and Monday. What I learned from Sunday and Mondays sessions was that I am hurting my equity in everything by playing more than 4-6 tables max. Its hard to skip tourneys on Sundays during these big series - but I am much more comfortable keeping it 4-6 max. Other guys can handle a ton more volume than I can - but hopefully I can make up for it with better quality poker and less tables. Its been a long learning curve of taking shots playing more volume than Im comfortable with at times (resulting in larger than normal downswings mostly), but Im going to stick to this and remain disciplined. Im feeling good about the way Im playing for the most part coming down the stretch of this epic series. I still havent figured out what Im gonna do this weekend - with Borgata WPT starting Saturday - and WCOOP ME Sunday. Some people are going to play Borgata Saturday and then skip WCOOP ME Sunday if they are still alive in Borgata - but I just dont know if im comfortable with missing the WCOOP main online. I definitely want that big breakout score live badly, but im on a heater online right now - so im torn. AHHH Anyway, Ive been putting in sick hours during WCOOP and will be lightening up my schedule alot once this week is over. I still want to finish out 09 with a few more big runs - but grinding day in and day out is pretty unrealistic. Plus, I want to get in a ton of fall golf and get back into shape (P90x). Lets hope that big score comes later this week!

-Joe

Quick Update: Had a huge week in mtts - although I missed out on some really big money. I FTd the WCOOP 1k event on Tuesday - took 5th after losing AA<109o ai pre for a massive stack. This was pretty disappointing because I felt like I played some of my best poker from 3-4 tables in - and I came into FT as short stack. I also took down a 109r on Stars and FTd the 50k 163 on FTP twice - taking 3rd and 6th after getting my money in way good. It turned out to be a solid week money-wise, but if the AA holds in WCOOP it couldve been real big. Hopefully I continue to stay on a heater throughout the rest of WCOOP and close a big one out. Im taking today (Saturday) off in preparation for Sunday and dont see many days off next week as we go down the stretch in this epic WCOOP grind...

Hey everyone whats up.

I havent posted anything in a week or two. Since FTOPS Ive been just hanging out and playing golf here and there - being pretty lazy overall. I played a few cash sessions (5/10 ante and 10/20 ante) on FTP and wasnt playing well and lost. I played a few mtts here and there during the week and on Sunday and was down there too. Moving forward I really want to work on staying hungry after winning sessions. The past 2 weeks I played pretty poorly overall - until this past Thursday - Day 1 of WCOOP on Pokerstars. I went into this day very hungry to get back in the black after a downswing post-FTOPS. A 2nd place finish in the 109r on Stars and a deep run in the 109r on ftp felt real good for my confidence going into wcoop - and also brought me back into the black. Friday and Saturday night, Alexis and I got a room at the Chelsea Hotel in Atlantic City. Its right on the border of Ventnor and Margate, where alot of our close friends have houses. We ate well and drank a ton with a bunch of friends all weekend- and the weather was amazing. Sat night I wanted to take it easy, because of a big wcoop schedule Sunday. Didnt happen. I drank too much and was very lazy on Sunday, resulting in bad play all day. I hate making excuses, but I just cant handle my booze like I used to. Im turning 26 later this month, so it may sound a bit pathetic haha.

Anyway, Im looking forward to a great wcoop run - the schedule looks great and Im excited to put in alot of hours. Im kind of upset I didnt take this past Sunday more seriously - there were a ton of great events with sick strcutures. I skipped the 10k High Roller even though I won a seat to it earlier in the week - just because I didnt feel I was playing my best and was tired - so I guess this shows Ive developed some kind of discipline. Plus this tourney has a very tough field - filled with the best online players and alot of live pros, so its not the best value if you arent feeling up for it. I will make some random posts throughout the next few weeks to keep my status updated. Best of luck to all that are playing wcoop.

-Joe

After FTOPS finished up, I was pretty exhausted and was ready for a break from poker. I relaxed for the past week - only playing poker this past Sunday. I built a few nice stacks in some majors but played pretty poorly deep - resulting in two small cashes on the day. In the next two weeks before WCOOP starts up on Pokerstars, im going to focus on working out a bunch and try and read a few books that Ive been meaning to pick up all summer. Its Alexis's bday on Sept 1 so I need to plan a fun weekend and also figure out what to get her - my guess is that Ill be making a trip to gucci :/

I got a few rounds of golf in last week- once with a few friends down the shore at Harbour Pines. I shot 49/35 haha. The -1 on the back 9 was my best 9 ever. Im gonna put alot more time into golf before the season ends - hopefully break 80 a few times before winter sets in. Fall golf on the east coast is great.

Im going to be doing alot of organizing around here in the next two weeks - including setting up a live schedule for the rest of 2009. I cant imagine playing a ton of events - but I definitely want to get in a few solid tourneys. I already plan on hitting Bahamas again in January and getting out to San Remo and Monte Carlo on the EPT in 2010. Anyway, Ill let you know if I have anything eventful happen - or if I put in any sessions between now and WCOOP. Take it easy...

Hey guys this is my first blog entry for pokernews.com. Hope I can write some interesting things for you to enjoy. I like getting feedback, so if there are any comments/requests please feel free.

The last 6 months or so have been filled with alot of poker- and I have worked hard to get back into form after a string of slow months earlier this year. I got engaged while we were in Bahamas for PCA in January to my beautiful fiance Alexis (theres your shout out babe). It was a very exciting time and I really wasnt working too hard and was pretty lazy as far as poker was concerned - but it was well worth it. We live in Old City in Philly - so most of my live poker is done around the east coast (Borgata, Foxwoods, Caesars/Harrahs AC for wsopc). Anyway, just figured Id give you some background info. for those of you who dont know me.

So, time for me to brag a little I guess since this has been a pretty big year for me so far - having some crucial wins in tourneys at good times. In april I made my 2nd final table in the Sunday Warm-up on Pokerstars and took 2nd place. In may I won the 150 rebuy on Full Tilt (ftp), with some other scattered final tables in between. This was big because it gave me a fresh roll to work with for wsop. I cashed in 1 out of 5 events at wsop - a 2500 6max. I went deep but my bud sloppyklod crippled me playing bad and I went out in like 40th or 50th. Then I came back east for the Borgata Summer Open and took 13th after being 3/18 in chips with a relatively soft field left. This was by far the biggest disappointment of my career because I felt like I was playing very well. I wasnt able to play the main event at wsop due to a prior commitment for a wedding in my family (Congrats Tess and Seth). Im also pretty sure Im going to miss the main event next year for my own wedding unless they change the date of wsop. To the poker world that prolly sounds nuts, but balancing family, friends, and other hobbies in my life w/ poker is very important to me.

That bring us to August and FTOPS - a great series of high stakes tourneys. The action is great on all the sites when these series comes around, so I love to put in a ton of hours and do work. The work paid off this past monday when I won the 1k event for FTOPS for 305k. It was my biggest cash to date and was huge for my confidence after some unsuccessful deep runs for big money in the past. I think I still wouldve rather taken down the Borgata Summer Open, but this more than makes up for that disappointment and it was a much bigger and more prestigous field so Im more than happy with it. This is a significant bankroll boost so I will now be comfortable traveling west (Vegas, LA) for some good tourney action, as well as getting to some more EPTs. I plan on playing San Remo and Monte Carlo for sure in 2010. As for the next month or so, I am finishing off the FTOPS today and tommorow with the 2500 2 day event and of course the main event Sunday- and all the other side action that comes with it. I plan on taking at least 2 weeks off to play a ton of golf and just chill with Lex and some friends. We may go on a quick vacation somewhere but not sure yet. Then September brings WCOOP on Stars- which I anticipate to be much bigger than any FTOPS. I havent played a ton in WCOOP in the past 2 years so I am excited to take advantage of some sick structures and big action. There is also a Borgata Open event which I am unsure if Im playing because it conflicts with WCOOP main event.

Thats all for now. Ill be throwing up at least 1 entry per week and Ill try to make the next couple less cluttered. Take it easy and gl at the tables. GOTTA LOVE FTOPS!