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So today was one of the best poker days of my life. I got 1st in a 90 person KO for 600 bucks. I also got a 2nd in the 50 buck heads up for 610. And in the biggest cash for me in a long time, I got 1st in the 30 buck turbo for 2300 bucks. One of the biggest things I pride myself on is closing out once I'm at the final table. I was looking at my stats and I saw something very interesting. In my time on Full Tilt, I have had 194 finishes between 4th and 10th. I also have 151 top 3 finishes. So I have almost as many top 3 finishes as I do bottom half of the final table or final table bubble. Closing out a tournament can be very difficult, but there are a few pointers I'd like to give for those players trying to improve their game.

1. Up the aggression- This can mean different people for different players. For those who are already aggressive, keep you foot on the pedal. For those who tend to play tighter, open your play up a bit. On the final table bubble, alot of people tense up hoping to make the final 9. So this is where you can really take charge. Don't worry about the cards. Worry about the players.

2. Be very weary of stack sizes- This is mainly true on the bubble but also at the final table. The best people to go after are the middle stacks. Its bad to go after the short stacks because they could be committed and will be looking to shove in with any good hand. So you need to have a good hand when you are playing into them. If you play into a big stack, you run the risk of getting bullied. The middle stacks are often sitting around waiting for the short stacks to bust, and will often only play back at you with premium hands.

3. Don't look at the money payouts- This is more of a personal thing then anything. I don't like to look at the money payouts. I think that far too often, people look up what the money jumps are, and will alter their play accordingly. The simple fact is this: the best players don't care about the money. They do, but they don't. They play with no desire to simply work their way up the money later. In order to win you have to be out for blood. Perfect example in the 30 buck today. 6 handed, I had a monster stack, up against 3 small stacks and 2 solid stacks. Anytime the small stacks were not involved, I raised pre flop. No matter the cards. I raised with 83 one time, 10 4 another. There's no reason for them to get involved unless they have an absolute monster. Alot of players would even fold A10 or AJ in that spot, just to move up a few spots.

4. Keep your head- No matter what, this is probably the most important thing. Even the pros sometimes let the tilt get to them, and they go off and before they know it, their big shot at the money( look up Scotty Nguyen 2007 WSOP Main Event). Today for example, I had a couple small suckouts in the beginning of the final table, and I could have gone off my rocker, but I just kept my cool and didn't let it affect my game. Its almost impossible to dodge a suckout in the final table. Its going to happen. If you are lucky enough to not be busto after it, you gotta keep you head. If you lose you head, you're done.

So this ended up being alittle longer then I had planned, but I'm hoping that those who are trying to get better will read and take my advice to heart. If you follow these steps, you will find closing out is alot easier. Good luck at the tables.

So today I finished 2nd in the 50 buck heads up tournament. This was a tournament that really bothered me for a long time. I had probably play it about 15-20 times and only made the money once or twice. But now something has clicked and I've been playing really well. I've made the finals twice in a week(granted I lost both of the finals) but still its a great feeling. Today's tournament was CRAZY. Here are some of the details.

This tournament doesn't get a ton of people. Usually no more then 64 and today was no different it got 61. My first round match was uneventful and I won pretty quickly. Then my round of 32 match was short but interesting. On like the 4th hand with a slight lead, I 3 bet preflop to 500 after he raised to 120 I had AQss. He called and the flop was J108. I shoved all in, and he called with AJ. Nice call pre sir can't beat anything I'm 3 betting that big with. The turn blanked but the river gave me a Q and I was on to the round of 16, the round before the money. This match was one of the most frustrating I've ever had.

Ok so after getting the player down to about 900 from his starting 1500 stack, we get it all in pre flop my AK vs his KQ. The flop comes Q high, and he sucks out to double. We get back to even, he actually had me by 120, when this hand occurred. He min raised the button and I 3 bet with 55. He shoved, and I called and he showed AK. The flop was a beautiful KQ5, and I turned quads for good measure. So gg to him right! Well like i said he had 120 left blinds were at 60 120. Well next hands I'm in the big blinds with....AA! He calls all in with 109. Flop comes Q95. Turn 8. River J. Straight is good for him. Whatever, still only has 240. He doubles on the next hand. I forget details I think it was like J5 vs Q7. Next hand he shoves with J8 and I called with KJ. Flop comes 854. SERIOUSLYYY?!?!?! The turn comes a 6 and river 7, so we chop with a straight on board. But still come on! So the next hand I shove with K5 and he wakes up with 99 and holds. So now we are back to 1600 for me 1400 for him. Well I shove like 6 hands in a row and get him down to 700 when I shove with K4 and he shows....99 again!!! And he holds again. Well now I'm behind and can't believe my luck. Then after a few more hands, I shove with A3 and he wakes up with JJ! I only have 240 left so if I lose I'm basically doneso. I am cursing my luck when the beautiful Ace comes on the turn, and all I can think is justice.

I win my round of 8 and round of 4 match without much opposition. As I wait for my final match, I pull up the other one and see that Full Tilt Pro Michael Craig has the lead in the other. And as I pull up the match, he is all in ahead and wins and suddenly I'm sitting at the final table with him! He declines a chop saying he's preparing for the mini ftops heads up on Sunday, and we play on. He jumps out to an early lead, and I'm down to about 800. I battle my way back, playing patiently and making good bets, and suddenly I have him down to just 800. Then after I make a standard button raise, he shoves and I call with A7. He shows 33 and we have a flip for the title! The board blanks out for me and he doubles. We play pretty evenly when he 3 bets me all in after I raise with K10. I folded. 4 hands later, he once again 3 bets me all in and I once again have K10. I made a slightly frustrated call, and he shows A10. Lame. I can't suck out, and he beats me. After he says "gg very tough match." Whether it was or not, it was nice to hear. GG sir.

Well its been a good day for me. This morning, I won a 26 buck 90 person KO for 600 after knockouts, and cashed out 350 for my efforts. I got 610 for my showing in the heads up, and I'm currently 2nd with 17 to go in the 30 buck turbo. I'll tweet my result later. Thanks for reading.

So last night I played in two events at the Bicycle casino. It was my first live play since January so I was excited about it. The first event was a 120 buy in half omaha hi/lo half stud hi/lo event. I played a similar event to this b4 at the bike, and finished 9th, bubbling the final table, so I was hoping for similar success here. Well it didn't last long, and I won't waste much time on this tourney I'll just go over a few hands.

In the first round of stud hi lo, I started with A245 and missed out. Then I had A248 all spades, and ended with a whopping pair of 2's at the end. Then in the omaha hi lo section, I had J10 on a board of Q984 and we capped the betting to 800. Then a 10 came on the river, and a guy showed KJ10, meaning he had suckout for the nut straight. I ended up with nothin in 2 hours of play, and I was onto the holdem at 7.

This tourney fared much better, it was a 220 buy in with 50 dollar bounties. This meant that for each person you knock out, you get 50 bucks back. So action was fast and furious with everyone looking for someone's head.

Early on I lost half my stack. I had AK and the board was A549. I bet 400 he raised to 900. I called. River was a 7 and he bet 1200 I called he showed A9. Lame. But then a few hands later, I knocked out a short stack with KQ when the flop came K98 and he showed 10 10. So ship one bounty for 50 bucks.

A couple hands later, I had KK, and raised to 300 with blinds at 50 100. I got 3 callers, and the flop came J52. I bet 1200 and one guy called. The turn was an A and he shoved for 3k. Like an idiot, I called, and he flipped the might A4. Well played sir. River bricked, and I was down to 1k, or 10 big blinds.

Ok so the next hand, with 4 limpers, I check in the bb with KQ. The flop came J108, and a guy bets to 450 and got two callers. I raise all in, and get two callers. Turn comes a beautiful 9, and one guy bets the other out. He shows J7, but I show the nuts and more then triple up to 3500.

Then with about 4k, I won a very bizarre hand. I raise to 300 with 97 of spades and the bb called. The flop comes 854 with two spades. I bet 500, and the bb check raised to 2500. I push all in for 1500, ready to gamble. Well he thinks for about 1 minute and folds! I was happy to take it down there.

I was playing aggressive and well, so when I 3 bet a guy's raise to 2k he called. The flop came 10 high, and we got it in and he showed JJ and I held to get up to 12k and the table lead. The 2nd hand after the break, I get it all in with AQ vs a 4k all in with JJ, and the flop came Q high and I held.

That was the tops i would get though. I lost 2k pots to both of the new people at the table, dropping my stack to 12k. One player limped in early position for like the 8th time in 10 hands. I raised to 800 in the bb, and a new guy on the button raises to 2400. The limper folds, and I have to think. I thought maybe he was trying to bully me for trying to bully the limper, so I shove and he calls and shows AA. The flop has two pictures, but both are queens. Sick lol. I brick out, and ship 7k over to him. Down to 4k with blinds at 150 300 I needed to make a move. Facing two limpers, I shove with A9 suited. The guy who crippled me called in the bb, as did one of the limpers. The flop came Q96 and both checked. Turn was a 5 and the bb bet 4k. Limper folded and he showed KQ. I bricked out and was eliminated.

Bit disappointing but with 3 bounties and 150 bucks coming back I wasn't too bummed out. This morning I played my first mini ftops and went out a couple hours in. Got a bunch more left, so hoping for a big score. Thanks for reading.

So I did this last year and think I picked 2 of the 4 final four so hoping for more success this year. For those you that don't know, each year there is a 64 person heads up tournament that airs on NBC in December but actually happens in Vegas this weekend. Its much like the NCAA tournament and its very exciting stuff. Here are my predictions, with brief descriptions on some upsets or lock picks I think.

Clubs Bracket

Round 1

Patrik Antonious vs Chris Moneymaker: Winner- Antonious

Leo Wolpert vs Eric Baldwin: Winner- Baldwin

David Williams vs Joe Cada: Winner- Cada. Could be on of the best 1st round matchups.

Erik Seidel vs Huck Seed: Winner: Seed. Sick matchup, but Seed owns this tournament.

Dan Ramirez vs Erick Lindgren: Winner- Lindgren

Peter Eastgate vs Elky: Winner- Elky

Stephen Quinn vs Ted Forrest: Winner- Forrest

Dario Mineri vs Jamie Gold: Winner- Mineri

Round 2

Patrik Antonius vs Eric Baldwin: Winner- Baldwin

Joe Cada vs Huck Seed: Winner- Seed

Erick Lindgren vs Elky: Winner- Lindgren

Ted Forrest vs Dario Mineri: Winner- Forrest

Round of 16

Eric Baldwin vs Huck Seed: Winner- Seed

Erick Lindren vs Ted Forrest: Winner- Lindgren

Elite 8

Huck Seed vs Erick Lindgren- Winner: Lindren dethrones the King of this tourney and makes it to his first final four.

CLUBS WINNER: ERICK LINDGREN














Spades Bracket:

Round 1

Gavin Smith vs Phil Ivey: Winner- Ivey. Another sick 1st rounder. Going with the greatest

Richard Edwards vs Scotty Nguyen: Winner- Scotty

Shawn Rice vs Joe Hachem: Winner- Hachem

Gabe Kaplan vs Johnny Chan: Winner- Chan

Daniel Negraneu vs Jason Mercier: Winner- Mercier. Could be the best 1st round match of the tournament. Going with what many will consider an upset.

Pieter De Korver vs Mike Sexton: Winner- Sexton

Phil Gordon vs Tom Dwan: Winner- Dwan. I really hope he owns Gordon and knocks him down a few notches.

Phil Laak vs John Juanda: Winner- JJ

Round 2

Phil Ivey vs Scotty Nguyen: Winner- Nguyen

Joe Hachem vs Johnny Chan: Winner- Hachem

Jason Mercier vs Mike Sexton: Winner- Mercier

Tom Dwan vs JJ: Winner- Dwan

Sweet 16

Scotty Nguyen vs Joe Hachem: Winner- Hachem

Jason Mercier vs Tom Dwan: Winner- Jason Mercier

Elite 8:

Jason Mercier vs Joe Hachem: Winner- Jason Mercier. One of the best young players in the game, Mercier gets his first shot on a big national TV basis as alot of his success has been on the EPT.

SPADES WINNER: JASON MERCIER














Hearts Bracket

Round 1

Jesper Hougaard vs Allen Cunningham: Winner- Cunningham

Eli Elezra vs Greg Mueller: Winner- Elezra

Annette Dworski vs Chris Fergueson- Winner: Jesus

Kara Scott vs Dennis Phillips: Winner- Phillips

Brock Parker vs Doyle Brunson: Winner- Parker

John Paul Kelly vs Don Cheadle: Winner- Cheadle

Howard Lederer vs Phil Hellmuth: Winner- Hellmuth

Annette Obrestad vs Orel Hershiser: Winner: Annette

Round 2

Allen Cunningham vs Eli Elezra: Winner- Cunningham

Jesus vs Dennis Phillips: Winner- Jesus

Brock Parker vs Don Cheadle: Winner- Cheadle

Phil Hellmuth vs Annette Obrestad: Winner- Annette. I think Annette makes a huge statement here and plays a great match and knocks off Hellmuth to make an even bigger name for herself as her legend grows more and more

Sweet 16

Allen Cunningham vs Jesus: Winner- Cunningham

Don Cheadle vs Annette Obrestad: Winner- Cheadle. Cheadle has really dedicated himself to his game and I think Annette will still be coming off the high of beating Mr Hellmuth

Elite 8

Allen Cunningham vs Don Cheadle: Winner- Cunningham. Cunningham ends the cinderella story and this is his welcome back party after a bad 09 series and no big cashes recently.

HEARTS WINNER: ALLEN CUNNINGHAM

















Diamonds Bracket

Round 1

Barry Greenstein vs Vanessa Russo: Winner- Russo

Sam Farha vs Antonio Esfandiari: Winner- Esfandiari

Jennifer Harman vs Jennifer Tilly: Winner- Harman

Jerry Yang vs Mike Matusow: Winner- Matusow. Please Mike. Don't lose to Yang. Please

Darvin Moon vs Bill Huntress: Winner- Huntress. Ok I gotta let one qualifier through. And Moon is pretty bad.

Andy Bloch vs Annie Duke: Winner- Bloch

Andrew Wilson vs Paul Wasicka: Winner- Wasicka

Gus Hansen vs Greg Raymer: Winner- Hansen

Round 2

Jennifer Russo vs The Magician: Winner- The Magician

Jennifer Harmen vs Mike Matusow: Winner- Matusow

Bill Huntress vs Andy Bloch: Winner- Bloch

Paul Wasicka vs Gus Hansen: Winner- Hansen

Sweet 16

The Magician vs Mike Matusow: Winner- The Magician

Andy Bloch vs Gus Hansen: Winner- Andy Bloch

Elite 8

The Magician vs Andy Bloch- Winner: The Magician. This might be more so cause I love watching the guy play and he's great for TV. But he's been playing well recently and been making good runs.

DIAMONDS WINNER: THE MAGICIAN ANTONIO ESFANDIARI

















FINAL 4

Erick Lindgren vs Jason Mercier: Winner- Jason Mercier. The kid has it all, and he'll be in the finals

Allen Cunningham vs Antonio Esfandiari: Winner- Allen Cunningham


FINALS: Jason Mercier vs Allen Cunningham....I'm going with Jason Mercier. Idk what it is about the kid but he just wins. Plain and simply. Please don't go out in the first round! lol. Thanks for reading know it was a long one.

So my gf astutely pointed out that I haven't posted about sports that aren't poker in quite some time, so here are my thoughts on a few random things.

Last night, my Terps knocked off their biggest rivals, the Duke Blue Devils, 79-72. Maryland has been playing some of the best ball in the country, knocking off 7 straight ACC opponents, including last nights victory. The Terps were led by ACC player of the year favorite Greivis Vasquez, who has been playing out of his mind in recent games, and is cementing himself as one of the best Terrapins of all time. Here was a great article on espn about him. Check it out.

The NFL draft is fast approaching, and it will be a welcome break for me of all the soon to be constant baseball coverage now that spring training has started. Seriously didn't the season end just like 2 weeks ago?! A video came out today of a freak athlete from South Florida Jason Pierre Paul. I had honestly never heard of him before, but apparently he's a top 10 pick who is drawing comparison to the great Dwight Freeney. Here he shows off his incredible athleticism. Enjoy.



Poker is going pretty well. Had more deep runs yesterday that fell just short. It was turbo night on ftp so I played the 10 buck with rebuys and the 26 six handed KO. Got 32nd in the 10 buck for 73 with first getting like 3500, and got 20th in the 6 handed for 128 with first getting 5k. Lame!! Playing two events in the winning o the green next Weds. I'll post more details later. Thanks for reading

I woke up super early this morning to grind some of the lower stakes tournaments that I don't always get to play. Between 8 and 9, there are a 10 buck 6 handed tournament, a 5 buck heads up, and the 10 buck cubed. There are also a few others I played, like a couple 26 guarantees, and the 15 buck super turbo omaha and 10 buck heads up that I've had frequent success in in the past.Well today I made alot of very deep runs, and here's a quick recap.

The morning started on a down note with an early elimination in the 5 buck heads up, but I quickly got a good run in the 10 buck 6 handed going, so I was ok. In my low stakes days, I grinded this tournament alot, and its still one I like to play from time to time. It had been a while since i had made a deep run, so it was alot of fun relive old memories so to speak. Well from about 24 people on down to the final table, I played hyper aggressive. 3 betting alot of pots and getting in alot of action with a few other guys who were likely getting pretty tired of me. I had the chip lead going into the final table, and I held it for most of the way to 3 handed. There were about 300k in chips in play, and it was spread evenly throughout all of us. I had been getting into it alot with one particular guy, and while i rarely showed down a hand against him, I almost always had it. And I knew he was getting frustrated. I made a standard button raise with AQ and he called in the bb. The flop came Q104. He checked to me and I bet half the pot and he called. Turn was a blank and he check and I bet 20. He put in a smallish raise to 50k. I figured if u have Q10 gg to me but more then likely he was trying to take me off a pot for a change. I shoved on him, and he called with QJ. We were all but even, so the winner would have a 2 to 1 chip lead heads up. The river....a brutal J of clubs. The 3 outer cost me 400 bucks. Its always frustrating to lose one of those constant battles like that. OT have the guy pegged, only to have FTP let him off the hook. Sucks.

More time went by and I ended up in the money of the 10 buck heads up tournament. I played a variety of opponents, and it was a great example of how you must be able to mix up your play to be successful. I faced one guy who would pot bet every single flop. Against him, I had to sit on my hands, and wait to flop some pairs, and check raise him. In another pot, I had a guy who min raised every button. Against him, I did alot of 3 betting preflop with marginal hands to pick up alot of pots. And in others, I played hyper aggressive against a fairly passive opponent. You have to be able to switch gears in poker, especially in heads up play. I ended up getting to the finals, with first getting 560 and 2nd getting 320. With such a big difference, I asked if he wanted to chop, but he didn't say anything I ended up losing the match. No bad beats here he played a better match. He took an early lead, then play trip 8's on the flop well and got me to shove in on him. So we have a 3rd and now a 2nd

The last tournament was a standard 20 buck HORSE tournament. For those of you who don't know, HORSE is a 5 game tournament, where each level changes the game. It goes limit holdem, omaha hi lo, razz, stud, and stud hi/lo. I consider myself a pretty good all around player, so I was hoping for a good run in this. and I got it. The tournament only got about 68 players, so it only paid the top 7. Well I got to the final table, as one of the 4 bigger stacks. There were 4 good stacks, and 4 very low stacks. All of the low stacks busted, and the 4th place player busted. At this point, there were talks of a deal. I was the severe short stack compared to the others. One guy had 48k, the other 35, and I had a measly 9k. The bet sizes were 500 1k, so I was pretty short. In a chop, the low guy on the totem pole always gets the lesser end of the deal, so I told the guys if I double we talk if not oh well. It ended up being a good decision. As I recall, the payout were in the ball park of 480 fir 1st, 290 for 2nd, and 180 for 3rd, or something like that. I ended up doubling up and one guy fell a bit, so we struck a deal where first got 350, 2nd got 290, and I got 266. I decided it would be good to almost guarantee myself 2nd place money, and in a horse game, with levels that high, it was basically whoever got the most cards that would win.

So after that, I ended up being up around 800 on the day, and cashed out 400 for my efforts. In January, I made it a goal of mine to have 100k in total winnings, with 25k being profit. At the time, my numbers were roughly 75k in winnings, 20k in profit. Now I sit at around 86k in winnings, and 24k in profit. So my goal is looking good.

Next week the mini ftops starts, and I will be playing a shit ton of events. Not sure how many, but at least 10-12. Also, the Winnin O Green is starting at the Bike casino, and I'll probably play an event or two there. As always, I'll post my schedule here as it gets updated, and you can always check my twitter tayke2 for daily updates. Thanks for reading.

So had my last two FTOPS today, and like the rest, they didn't go too well. I started off with the 256 KO 6 handed, and I started out on fire in that one. I made some great semi bluffs and outright bluffs early on to get me to 8800, compared to my 5k starting stack when this big hand occurred.

So I had AJ in the sb, and utg had min raised. Two people called and it was folded to me. Now I could squeeze here to try to get people out, but more then liekly someone will come along, and I didn't want to have to decide what to do if the flop came KQ2, so I just called. The bb came along too. Flop was a great A94 with 2 spades. UTG raiser bet 320 and the next guy shoved for 2400. Now both of these guys had been playing pretty fast and loose. I was positive that I was ahead of the 2400 shover, was just worried bout the original raiser. But even if I was behind, I had about 4k more then him, so I smooth call. He folds, and the shover shows K8ss for a flush draw. He misses and I get up to 12k!

Sadly, I would not get higher then 13k. Ran into a hand I wouldn't be able to recover from. With KK utg, I raised to 320 and got 3 callers. Flop came J103 with two diamonds. I bet about 800 into the 1500 chip pot. Folded around to the button who min raised. He had been doing that alot, so I thought I was still good. I shove, and he called with 33. I couldn't catch up, and I was back down to 8k.

After that, the crippling hand was at 80 160 with AK. Facing a raise preflop from a new big stack, I 3 bet to 850 and he calls. The flop comes 632. We both check. Turn is another 6 and he checks, and I bet 800. He puts in a small raise to 1900. I raise again to 3600. He shoves, and I have to fold. Well played by him guess he flatted with AA or KK pre.

After that, I got a bit impatient and overplayed 88 post flop. Called an utg riase and check raise shoved a 532 flop and he flipped KK. Oh well.

The Omaha heads up went even worse lol. I had an early lead after turning a Q high flush when this hand came up. I had K985 with two hearts and the flop came 257 with two hearts. I bet he called. Turn was a K, meaning I would now need a K,6,5, or heart on the river. I bet he raises almost all in, and I shove knwoing I'm pretty much guareanteed to be up against a set. Sure enough, he has 22, and I miss the river to get down to 700. From there, two hands later, I get it in on a flop of 1092 with an A high flush draw and inside str8 draw. He shows two pair, 10 9, and I need a J or heart I miss, and I'm a 1st round victim.

All of this is made a bit easier because earlier today, I won the 15 buck super turbo omaha for 800 bucks. Pretty funny cause about 4 months ago, I won the 10 buck heads up and 15 buck omaha super turbo for the 1st time....on the same day. Then..a week after chopping the heads up, I win the omaha today. Good stuff. 600 more comin in the mail, putting my 2010 cashout winnings at a solid 3400 in just two months. Not too shabby. Next up: Mini ftops next month. Going to play at least 10 events. Wish me luck!