Been forever since I've done a blog update...

Like most players, I was left reeling after Black Friday, unsure of what exactly I would do in the future. The 2011 WSOP brought a temporary cure, but it also made it completely obvious to me that my ADD would not allow me to become a full time live pro. I made enough money playing $5/10/25 Big O(5 card PLO8) at the series that I was in no danger financially, but online poker had always been my bread and butter so I was very worried about the future. In August I deposited $400 on Bodog and ran it up high enough to play $5/10 and $10/20 PLO8 during the Fall months. However, the action was intermittent and I soon found it difficult to get many HU opponents. Going multiple days in a row just sitting at my computer and getting no action was taking its toll on me.

And so, it was music to my ears when Aaron invited me to come to Toronto to stay with him and Chewy to grind online. Aside from the ability to once again play on PokerStars, the exchange of information that comes from being around other top players was something I greatly valued. The plan was to go home for the holidays in December, spend January and February getting myself in good shape(I continue to pursue my goal of being able to dunk a basketball, although at age 29 I feel as if my time may be soon running out), and then go to Toronto sometime around mid/late February.

I was so focused on this plan that I barely even took notice when Bodog changed into Bovada and went to all anonymous tables in late December. However, this proved to be amazing fortune for me. With my screenname now completely hidden from my opponents, I started getting more and more action. Eventually I stopped sitting at $5/10 completely and only played $10/20, which is as high as Bovada offered. Moreover, at $10/20 Bovada's minimum buy-in was 50BBs(it was 30BBs at lower levels, and the standard pre-Black Friday was 40BBs). This made my edge over shortstackers even higher, and combined with the anonymity led towards me having my best cash game month of my poker career- As January wore down it actually became a reasonable goal for me to have my first ever six figure cash game month. Although I fell short of that goal, I kept it up in February and continued to do quite well.

The one drawback was Bovada's cashout policies. Their max cashout via check is $3000, and they usually arrived within their standard 10-15 business days. This was great, as when I first started playing there I wasn't sure if I could trust them at all(obviously this is a huge issue after all the Full Tilt scandals). However, when I went to make larger cashouts I found out that their policy was to take 10-15 business days PER CHECK, which meant that it could literally take up to a year for me to get all of my funds. Due to this, I decided that once in Toronto I would only play on PokerStars(and perhaps PartyPoker).

On almost all accounts, Toronto has surpassed my expectations. It reminds me a lot of New York(I lived there for 8 years previously) only with friendlier people. Chewy has been traveling and tearing up the live tourney scene, so I had my own bedroom in a sweet penthouse suite(lol puns) one block from Rogers Center. Best of all our building has a basketball court that is very rarely used by anyone else during the daytime. Another unexpected plus was that there is a huge community of high stakes players living there who Aaron was able to introduce me to. Most of my friends in Vegas are non-poker players, and there are very few(if any) PLO8 players who I exchange strategies with, so its been awesome to see firsthand the mindset and attitude that other people have used to become successful in the world of poker. Ironically enough I stumbled upon this exerpt from the Joe Rogan podcast on one of my first days in Toronto, and I think the message of being inspired and not jealous of successful people is one that is finally getting through to me.

It took me about 3 weeks to get my PokerStars account re-opened. Basically I had to get my name on our lease, get a Canadian telephone number, get a Canadian bank account, make a few calls to PokerStars, etc. It worked out well because I took a trip to Phoenix with some friends in early March, and when I returned back to Toronto things were all set up and ready to go. To my dismay, PokerStars has taken away the deepstacked PLO8 tables, so I found almost all of the action to be coming from solid regs or shortstackers. A bit burned out from playing so much PLO8 on Bovada, I decided to turn my attention to tournaments, which seemed quite fresh and exciting after not having played them for so long.

Tournaments definitely have evolved and gotten tougher. Most notably, nearly everyone now uses close to optimal tournament bet sizing, which was not the case at all in the past. However, I was able to run well and win 4 tournaments in the 2 1/2 weeks I played: a $215 NLHE turbo, a $109 NLHE turbo, a $215 NLO8, and the nightly $162 NLHE. More importantly, after a day or two, I felt comfortable once again and was able to play pretty well. A week ago I returned back to Vegas to spend some time with family and friends, but I'm headed back to Toronto tomorrow. My overall tournament results during my time there:


Tourneys entered: 205
Cashed: 39(19%)
Tournaments Won: 4
Top 10 finishes: 10
Average Buy-In: $212
Net Profit: $25,073
ROI: 58%


Most likely I will continue to play tournaments, maybe mixing in some occasional PLO8 if I ever see a high stakes game running(which is rare). I'm definitely excited for the upcoming SCOOP(Spring Championship of Online Poker) on PokerStars. Looking over the schedule, I would like to play all of the following events:

Sunday, May 6th
11:00 ET - Event 01-M: $215 (4) NL Hold'em (6-Max)
11:00 ET - Event 01-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold'em (6-Max)

14:30 ET - Event 02-M: $215 (4) NL Hold'em
14:30 ET - Event 02-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold'em


Monday, May 7th
11:00 ET - Event 03-M: $55 NL Hold'em (6-Max, Rebuys)
11:00 ET - Event 03-H: $530 NL Hold'em (6-Max, Rebuys)

17:00 ET - Event 05-M: $109 NL Hold'em (Rebuys, 2x-Turbo)
17:00 ET - Event 05-H: $1,050 NL Hold'em (Rebuys, 2x-Turbo)


Tuesday, May 8th
17:00 ET - Event 08-M: $215 (4) NL Hold'em (SuperKnockout, Turbo)
17:00 ET - Event 08-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold'em (SuperKnockout, Turbo)


Thursday, May 10th
11:00 ET - Event 11-M: $215 (4) PL Omaha (Heads-Up)
11:00 ET - Event 11-H: $2,100 (6) PL Omaha (Heads-Up)

14:00 ET - Event 12-M: $265 NL Hold'em (Knockout)
14:00 ET - Event 12-H: $2,600 NL Hold'em (Knockout)


Friday, May 11th
11:00 ET - Event 13-M: $82 (3) NL Hold'em (Ante Up)
11:00 ET - Event 13-H: $700 (5) NL Hold'em (Ante Up)

17:00 ET - Event 15-M: $215 (4) NL Hold'em (2x Chance, Turbo)
17:00 ET - Event 15-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold'em (2x Chance, Turbo)


Saturday, May 12th
11:00 ET - Event 16-M: $215 (4) NL Hold'em (10-Max, Shootout)
11:00 ET - Event 16-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold'em (10-Max, Shootout)

14:00 ET - Event 17-M: $109 PL Omaha (6-Max,...

Motivation is such an underrated part of being a poker pro. Being able to set your own schedule and takes days off whenever you feel like it is indeed a huge blessing, but its also a huge responsibility and a constant temptation to slack. Moreover, unlike 99% of jobs in the world, you never really get any training on how to do the job. From day one you're simply thrown into the fire and can do things however you see fit with nobody else to bear the consequences. The result of this, for the great majority of poker pros, is that they end up going through long stretches of time with drastically differing levels of motivation and work ethic. Often times its impossible to pinpoint exactly what triggered the change. Well for whatever reason, I recently suddenly became motivated to "get back to work", and its coincided with a desire to learn and start playing PLO.

I love the hopeful feeling that I have at the beginning of these "motivated times." I've really only had these happen twice before since I've moved to Vegas a little over 3 years ago. The first time was when I first came out here. I had $3000 to my name and was in debt over $7000 to my mom. I had been a poker pro for over 4 years at the time with some decent success, but obviously only having a bankroll of $3000 meant I hadn't been successful overall. I viewed this as one last time to take a shot at playing poker for a living, and I was prepared to get a regular job should I fail. I lived by myself in a new city, I had no television, and I basically did nothing but eat, sleep, and breathe poker every single day. I started out at $1/2 live NLHE and gradually moved up, turning that $3000 into over $80,000 within 4 months. I won a few tournaments shortly afterwards, and I was then in a position where I no longer had any urgent needs to make money. I had made a bunch of friends in Vegas, and I wanted to enjoy life and work less. I started slacking a bit, I ran quite bad, and I slowly saw my bankroll dwindle.

In August of 2009 I had another sudden increase in motivation. I wrote THIS BLOG at the time, which received a lot of positive responses on 2p2 and other online forums. I really dedicated myself to learning PLO8, and I was able to go from a moderate winning $1/2-$5/10 full ring player to one of, if not the, best high stakes heads-up and shorthanded PLO8 players in the world. I sat with anyone who would play me at stakes up to $25/50 deepstacked, and after so many years of robotical full ring play, I was loving the challenge and competitive aspect of my new endeavor. Unfortunately, the high stakes PLO8 games really dried up. There would be days where I literally wouldn't get one person to sit with me all day long. It was disheartening to see the great majority of regs at these high stakes shorthanded games drop down to lower stakes full ring/6 max games. And it didn't help matters that I ran horribly at the WSOP, losing over $60,000 in 2 months. Since the end of the WSOP, I've been stuck in quite a rut....going back and forth between trying to get action at high stakes PLO8 to playing tournaments to playing lower stakes PLO8 to playing live at the Wynn. I've pretty much been slowly losing money the past few months, not really having much of a plan as I went along.

As I said in my opening paragraph, I don't always know why I suddenly get motivated, but somehow it recently occured again. I've decided that I want to learn to play PLO(high only), and there are a lot of aspects of this challenge that have me extremely excited. First and foremost is the fact that I'll constantly be able to get action, as evidenced by the fact that right now its 3:40 in the morning and on PokerStars alone theres one $10/20 6 max game going, two $25/50 shorthanded games going, and a ton of midstakes games. This is vital because even if I'm not good enough to advanced past midstakes, I can at least constantly mass multi-table. Secondly, I'm excited about the challenge. PLO has a much larger player pool than PLO8, and naturally that produces a much higher average skill level due to the amount of people who have contributed to the collective knowledge of the game. For the first time in a while, earlier this week I spent my entire day playing hands, thinking about poker, different strategies, how I could improve and play certain hands/situations, and so on.

My strategy for learning the game has been a bit unique and different than what many would do. I actually started out mass multi-tabling $.5/1 and $1/2, playing anywhere from 18 to 22 tables at a time. I put in over 7500 hands my first day. I know many would scoff at playing so many tables when first learning, but I wanted to get a ton of volume in to start. I wanted to encounter all of the standard situations I'd face in PLO and become familiar with basic strategies. Then the next day I cut it down to 6 to 8 tables, and I focused more intently on each and every decision. I played $1/2 at first, and then i decided to give $3/6 and $5/10 a shot, as I wanted to see how the aggression factor and overall play changed as I went to higher stakes. And finally I played some heads-up at $5/10. From these sessions, I have a bunch of hands which I'll share below. Although many of the skills I learned in PLO8 do carry over to PLO, I still consider myself a total beginner at the game, so I would welcome any and all comments on the hands. I'm going to try to continue to learn the game, and then I'm going to start out playing $1/2 6 max. I may mass multi-table(I'm entertaining the idea of trying for SuperNova Elite in 2011) or I may decide to cut the tables down and play a bit more shorthanded/HU. Either way, I expect to spend quite a bit of time at $1/2. I'm in no hurry to move up. I'm comfortable financially for the time being, and I don't think it should take me that long to have a solid expected winrate at these stakes, which coupled with the rakeback from the FPP Store/Rewards Program should make for solid income. Anyway, heres some of the hands I found interesting.....



Poker Stars $1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter By DeucesCracked Poker Videos

BTN: $258.20
SB: $221.75
BB: $205.70
Hero (UTG): $375.90
CO: $696.65

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with 7 J Q K
Hero raises to $7, CO calls $7, 2 folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($22.00) 9 K 5 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $14, CO calls $14, BB folds

Turn: ($50.00) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($50.00) K (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $30, Hero folds

Final Pot: $50.00
CO wins $48.00
(Rake: $2.00)


I hate folding here because I feel as if c-betting and then checking turn and river is inviting him to steal. TJQx missed, but me having JQ discounts that somewhat and I think its quite likely he c/r flop with that. I have to think that he'd bet the turn with kings up or better. Does he ever have 95 here, playing ultra passively on flop and turn, then turning it into a bluff on river? Its tough for me to put him on a hand here, but its even tougher for me to put him on a hand that I beat. Is he showing up with random double gutters or one pair flopped...

Had my best cash game session ever last night, winning $43,000 playing HU $10/20 plo8! My opponent was extremely aggro and reckless. He started the session off strong and bullied me quite a bit, as I lost $13,000 in the first 20 or so minutes. But I don't think his strategy worked nearly as well once we became deeper stacked. With 100 BBs he was willing to just fire away and stack off very light, but he didn't adjust as we got deep and it really cost him. Obviously I ran quite well throughout, and that coupled with his aggression and tilt produced my big win. Crazy thing is that I was pretty close to quitting early on when I was down $13,000. If I had lost one or two more big pots I probably would've. I'm not going to reveal my opponent's name, nor will I give a complete hand history, but there were 14 pots of ~$5000 or more which I'll share below. As you can see, the great majority of our big hands came with me having position. That was very much a part of my strategy....I tightened up considerably preflop when in the BB, and I just let him 3 bet like crazy when I had the button.


Hand #1
Poker Stars $10/$20 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BTN/SB): $8412.00
BB: $11098.50

Pre Flop: ($30.00) Hero is BTN/SB with 4 3 9 5
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $180, Hero calls $120

Flop: ($360.00) 3 8 6 (2 players)
BB bets $359, Hero calls $359

Turn: ($1078.00) 3 (2 players)
BB bets $1077, Hero calls $1077

River: ($3232.00) Q (2 players)
BB bets $3231, Hero calls $3231

Final Pot: $9694.00
Hero shows 4 3 9 5 (HI: three of a kind, Threes; LO: 8,6,5,4,3)
BB shows 2 J A 5 (HI: a pair of Threes; LO: 8,6,3,2,A)
Hero wins $4846.50
BB wins $4846.50
(Rake: $1.00)




Hand #2
Poker Stars $10/$20 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BTN/SB): $22425.50
BB: $4845.50

Pre Flop: ($30.00) Hero is BTN/SB with 8 A 4 3
Hero raises to $60, BB calls $40

Flop: ($120.00) 5 8 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $80, BB calls $80

Turn: ($280.00) 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $200, BB raises to $879, Hero raises to $2916, BB raises to $4705.50 all in, Hero calls $1789.50

River: ($9691.00) T (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $9691.00
Hero shows 8 A 4 3 (HI: a pair of Eights; LO: 8,5,3,2,A)
BB shows 6 2 7 9 (HI: a straight, Six to Ten; LO: 8,7,6,5,2)
BB wins $4845.00
Hero wins $4845.00
(Rake: $1.00)




Hand #3
Poker Stars $10/$20 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BTN/SB): $22435.00
BB: $4835.00

Pre Flop: ($30.00) Hero is BTN/SB with A T 4 3
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $180, Hero calls $120

Flop: ($360.00) 2 5 4 (2 players)
BB bets $359, Hero calls $359

Turn: ($1078.00) Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($1078.00) Q (2 players)
BB bets $1077, Hero raises to $4308, BB calls $3219 all in

Final Pot: $9670.00
Hero shows A T 4 3 (HI: a straight, Ace to Five; LO: 5,4,3,2,A)
BB shows Q T 4 A (HI: a full house, Queens full of Fours)
BB wins $4834.50
Hero wins $4834.50
(Rake: $1.00)




Hand #4
Poker Stars $10/$20 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN/SB: $4503.50
Hero (BB): $10924.00

Pre Flop: ($30.00) Hero is BB with J 3 A 2
BTN/SB raises to $60, Hero calls $40

Flop: ($120.00) 6 T K (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB checks

Turn: ($120.00) A (2 players)
Hero bets $80, BTN/SB raises to $359, Hero calls $279

River: ($838.00) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB bets $837, Hero raises to $3348, BTN/SB raises to $4084.50 all in, Hero calls $736.50

Final Pot: $9007.00
BTN/SB shows 2 A 8 3 (HI: a pair of Aces; LO: 7,6,3,2,A)
Hero shows J 3 A 2 (HI: a pair of Aces - King+Jack kicker; LO: 7,6,3,2,A)
Hero wins $4503.00
Hero wins $2251.50
BTN/SB wins $2251.50
(Rake: $1.00)




Hand #5
Poker Stars $10/$20 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BTN/SB): $3901.50
BB: $15573.00

Pre Flop: ($30.00) Hero is BTN/SB with 9 A 2 A
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $180, Hero raises to $540, BB calls $360

Flop: ($1080.00) J 2 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1079, BB raises to $4316, Hero calls $2282.50 all in

Turn: ($7803.00) 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($7803.00) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $7803.00
Hero shows 9 A 2 A (HI: two pair, Nines and Deuces)
BB shows Q 8 K 9 (HI: a pair of Nines)
Hero wins $7802.00
(Rake: $1.00)




Hand #6
Poker Stars $10/$20 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BB): $11835.50
BTN/SB: $3760.50

Pre Flop: ($30.00) Hero is BB with J 6 A 2
BTN/SB raises to $60, Hero calls $40

Flop: ($120.00) 4 6 T (2 players)
Hero bets $80, BTN/SB raises to $359, Hero raises to $1196, BTN/SB raises to $3700.50 all in, Hero calls $2504.50

Turn: ($7521.00) 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($7521.00) 4 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $7521.00
Hero shows J 6 A 2 (HI: a flush, Ace high)
BTN/SB shows 7 5 2 T (HI: a flush, Ten high)
Hero wins $7520.00
(Rake: $1.00)




Hand #7
Poker Stars $10/$20 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BTN/SB): $21449.50
BB: $5817.50

Pre Flop: ($30.00) Hero is BTN/SB with 2 3 Q 5
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $180, Hero calls $120

Flop: ($360.00) A J 4 (2 players)...

Glad that so many people liked my last blog...even got a bunch of love on 2p2! It took me a bit longer than I had hoped, but I finally reached one of my goals today so I figured I'd give a little update/brag: When I wrote my last blog my poker bankroll was down to around $15K; Today I crossed the $100K mark! I was actually at $90,000 two months ago, as the last two months have had quite a few decent sized swings for me. I had a +$10K day today, which brought me to around $105K total.

My biggest problem throughout my poker career has been bankroll management, as I've always loved to play over my head and take reckless shots. I'm proud to say that this entire time, I think I followed perfect bankroll management. I took a few shots here and there, but they were always calculated beforehand and I gave myself a stoploss whenever doing so. For example, once I reached $60K I allowed myself to play live $10/20 NLHE, but I would drop down if I lost $10K or more. Obviously my bankroll requirements for online poker were a tad bit different since I have much more variance playing against tougher online opponents.

Right now I'm mostly playing $5/10, $5/10 deep, and $10/20 PLO8 online. The games don't run all the time, so often I'll just be sitting at the tables waiting for a HU match. I've never refused to take on anyone HU so far, but I'd say that there are maybe 2 or 3 people who I don't exactly enjoy playing. Funny enough, one of them is actually a lower stakes reg who rarely even plays $5/10 or above(and no, I won't say who). I've been having a live downswing, so I'm not playing much live these days and probably won't until the WSOP gets here. If I had to give my best estimates, I'd say that this is how I've built my bankroll over these 8 months:

Online PLO8: +$65,000
Online MTTs: +$25,000(pretty much all due to one nice score two weeks ago)
Live Poker: +$25,000
Side Job as Boiling Oat Runner: $0
Online PLO: -$5000
Sports Betting: -$7500
Put away for living expenses: -$15,000


Immediately after writing the blog, I started out mass multitabling mid stakes PLO8 and NLO8. However, my bad run of luck wasn't changing all that much and I encountered quite a few long breakeven stretches. Playing live was a different story though. I started back up with a few $2/5 sessions and was quickly playing $5/10 again. I ran quite well during this time, probably winning close to $40,000 from September-February. My online luck finally changed too, and I was able to grind out around $10,000 from multitabling PLO8. Near the end of February, I took a trip to Commerce with Rob(BobboFitos) to play live $10/20 and I also started dabbling in the shorthanded online $5/10 PLO8 games. At $10/20 live I haven't ran well at all(although I did win a small amount while at Commerce), but I've been doing quite well at the higher stakes PLO8 games. It definitely has taken me awhile to get used to the swings of pushing small edges in high stakes shorthanded online games though, as in the past I've mostly played live NLHE and smaller stakes online PLO8 both of which have minimal variance for me. I've played a few online MTTs as well, including taking $20K in one a little while ago.

I don't know why I continue to bet on sports. Now that my buddy Keith is working in the NBA and we don't have access to his system, I clearly don't have any discernable edge. I do know quite a bit about NBA and NFL, but whatever slight edge that may give me is negated due to my lack of proper sports betting fundamentals(always shopping for best line, getting overnights, 5 cent or better juice, having immediate access to all big online sites, etc.). I do enjoy the thrill, and as long as I'm not betting too much then its not the biggest deal as long as poker is going well. But it really is just me throwing money away.....hopefully I can stop. Having only boring MLB all summer will certainly help.

As for PLO, I wanted to give it a try because I am jealous of the ability to get constant high stakes action at any time of the day. However, there were simply too many concepts that didn't translate from my PLO8 experience. I have read a few books(Jeff Hwang's probably being the best, but thats much more helpful for soft live games than a tougher online game) and talked with some knowledgeable players, but I just didn't have the dedication to immerse myself in a new game which may or may not end up even being profitable for me. I do think that I have +EV in many live PLO games, so I'll continue to play it live. I've found live PLO/NLHE mix games to be extremely juicy. Plus whenever I play live PLO, it always gives me the opportunity to ask if they want to put PLO8 in the rotation....not successful all that often, but when it is then I always have a huge edge.

For the most part I'm going to continue playing high stakes online PLO8 until the WSOP starts. Once I get to $125K I will start to take some shots at $10/20 deep and $25/50(although both of them barely ever run so it may be moot). I'm sure I'll wander on over to the Rio once the WSOP starts a few times at least. I told myself when I started that when I got to $100K I could take some shots at live $25/50 NLHE(as long as I'd drop back down if I lost $20K), but since I haven't had a ton of success at $10/20 yet I don't feel as if I'm ready. But at least if I ever see a really soft $25/50 game I could feel comfortable playing in it, and that could easily happen at the WSOP. I would like to play in the $1500 PLO8 event and at least one $1500 or $1000 NLHE events. I'd also really like to play in both the $5000 PLO8 event and the $10K NLHE Main Event, but I'd either have to make a ton of money quickly or sell some of my action to do that.

I haven't written a blog on here in quite a while. Over the past year, I've been going through one of the worst downswings of my poker career, and truthfully its just not as fun to blog when you don't have pleasant things to write about. Its been a combination of many things that contributed to my downswing: I lost a ton of money in backing, I took some shots at higher stakes($25/50, $50/100) games that weren't successful, I displayed poor bankroll management in sports betting(betting up to $5000 per game when I clearly shouldn't be), and quite frankly I've run like complete shit this entire past year.

But I'm not writing this blog to complain, and I'm sure as hell not writing it to gather sympathy. Rather, I want to share with everyone how I deal with running badly because I think it may be my biggest strength as a poker player, and its something I routinely see people do horribly wrong. In addition writing this out will only serve as more motivation for me as I try to right the ship.

I've played professionally for six years now, and over that time I've had quite a few close poker friends. And at one time or another, each of them has run worse than they ever thought imaginable and come to me for advice. I always try to give my best advice, but I feel as if it constantly rings hollow when someone who is not running poorly tries to counsel someone who is. The person who is running poorly begins to buy into the absurd notion that the one giving the advice has never experienced such a downswing and, therefore, probably can't truly relate. Therefore, I'd like to take this opportunity to demonstrate that to be false. I am indeed going through one of those times right now, yet I'm going to practice what I preach.

Let me start off with a quick confession: If you've ever come to me whining or complaining about running bad, I probably tried to cheer you up or make you feel better. However, what I was really thinking the entire time you complained to me was how big of a fucking idiot you are. I probably knew you were in a bad mood and wouldn't take kindly to hearing my true thoughts, so I kept them to myself. But now that I'm the one going through it, I really don't care about holding back. Variance is the lifeblood of poker. Its what keeps the fish coming back. Its what enables us to do what we do for a living. To curse variance the second it turns against you is shortsighted and ignorant. To allow it to affect your game or your work ethic is just beyond stupid. If you're running badly right now, you probably don't want to hear this; You'd probably rather continue to buy into the myth that you're simply unluckier than everyone else because that provides a bit of temporary satisfaction to the masses of idiots who misunderstand the fundamental concepts of variance in poker. However, I think that if you honestly read and consider what I have to say then you'll admit I speak the truth.

I just got back from a vacation home to Maryland to see family and then to New York for a wedding. Plane tickets, rental car, a new suit for the wedding, wedding gifts, hotel stay, nights out with friends, and a bunch of other stuff ended up costing me over $4000. And when I got back and examined my finances, I realized that I was now getting dangerously close to no longer being able to live the lifestyle I've grown accustomed to(some lower stakes players may find it silly that I "need" to spend as much as I do, but imo if you're willing to work for it then you deserve to enjoy the benefits). So I started back grinding by 18-tabling plo8/nlo8 and trying to put in close a minimum of 5000 hands per day. The results sucked. I ran worse and worse despite my increased efforts. And now I find myself right on the brink of having to either make money immediately or cut back on some of my spending habits. I'm choosing to do the former. I'm confident that I can make that choice because I've done it before- My first blogs on this site detailed how I turned $3000 into $80,000 in just over 4 months, and I did it without ever playing over my bankroll(the lone exception being the very beginning when I played live $1/2 NL with only $3000. However, live $1/2 is so ridiculously soft and I played such a safe style that even with only 15 buy-ins I still felt completely comfortable). The method is actually ridiculous simple, but sticking to it seems to be difficult for most. Here it is:



1. Find a poker game that you can beat consistently(this is obviously the tough part, and this blog is aimed mainly at those who have already accomplished this)

2. Make sure you're bankrolled properly for the game

3. Shut up about running badly because honestly nobody cares. Man the fuck up, and just get over it. If you're following step #2 then no downswing should ever truly matter.

4. Work your ass off

5. Profit



Thats it! Thats really all there is to it. I will note that many people seem to let negative variance affect their play, and if this is the case then you have to take a step back and double-check that you're still doing step #1. Otherwise, theres nothing else standing between you and your desired financial goals.

The truth of the matter is that people seem to want to find a way to avoid step #4. They see the stories about tournament winners and wonder why that can't be them. Or they focus on the superstars of the poker world who seem to be able to make ridiculous sums of money just by playing a few hands of ultra high stakes games, and they bemoan the fact that they weren't lucky enough to have been born with such natural ability. Or they do anything else to avoid the simple fact that if you are willing to work hard enough for it, then you will be successful enough to laugh if the face of variance. Yes, it is true that, just like in every other field, certain poker players seem to be very successful without putting in a ton of work. But those people make up less than 1% of the player pool. They're no different than the people born into money, the great athletes who seemed to have won the genetic lottery, or the worker who networked his way into a job he never deserved. And focusing on them is just a waste of our time. Not only that, but it causes us to lose sight of all of the blessings we do have as pro poker players. I can decide today that I "feel" like having a lot of money again, and if I put in the proper work then a few months down the road I'll have that money. 99.99% of the general population simply cannot do that. They work predetermined hours for a predetermined salary, and they don't have the option to simply work harder and make more money. Thats not something we should take for granted.

I own all of the DVDs of the TV show Entourage, and over the past few weeks my roommates and I have been watching it the entire way through. My favorite character on the show is by far Ari Gold. At first, it was simply his humor that drew me to him. However, I've also begun to greatly respect the way he goes about his job. He encounters negative variance that is not his fault all the time(for those who haven't watched the show, Ari is an agent and his main client often completely ignores his advice which has caused tremendous problems, as Ari is almost always correct). Yet each and every time,...

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I actually wrote this list a few years ago on footballguys.com: LINK. Back then I ranked the past 20 Super Bowl Champs, which meant I started with the 1985 Bears and ended with the 2004 Patriots. Twenty was simply an arbitrary number I chose at the time. And thats why I have 24 teams ranked now. As you can see if you click that link, I've changed my list quite a few times since the inital rankings due to people convincing me. And I'm still open to listening to other viewpoints here. Anyway, heres my list:



1. 1991 Redskins
17-2, #1 Points Scored, #2 Points Allowed, +261 Points
Maybe the most underrated team of all time in my opinion. They came closer than any other team to matching the Dolphins undefeated season. They lost in week 17 when they sat their starters- a game they surely would've won if they had tried. Their only other loss? A 3 point loss in a game in which their opponent caught a hail mary and recovered an onside kick. And all that while playing one of the toughest schedules of any team on this list, as their regular season opponents had a 53% winning percentage. No team was close to the Skins this year, as they won in the playoffs 24-7, 41-10, and 37-24(and that game really wasn't even as close as the score looks). A completely balanced team- great coaching, great offense, great defense, great special teams. Their most impressive stat: They sacked opposing QBs 50 times while only giving up 9 sacks to their opponents.

I know that many people will chose the 1985 Bears as the best team of all time. Furthermore, I will admit that I'm a Redskins fan. However, I honestly do feel as if I'm being unbiased here. Here are a few more reasons why I feel this way:


---The Bears were thoroughly beaten by the Dolphins in the regular season. Miami led 31-10 at halftime and never led by less than 14 points in the second half. How on earth can the greatest team of all time lose 31-10 in a half? Its funny to watch people critisize the 07 Pats for simply playing close games when the 85 Bears were beaten soundly. Contrast that to the 91 Redskins- they lost by 3 points in a game in which their opponent both recovered an onside kick and caught a hail mary. Now I'm not making excuses for the loss. The Redskins could've and should've beaten their opponents by even more so that those "flukes" wouldn't have mattered. However, if we're honest with ourselves we'll admit that there is a tremendous amount of luck and variance in all sports, and a hail mary and an onside kick in the same game is clearly good fortune. The Redskins only other loss was in week 17 when they sat all their starters and still only lost by 2 points.

---The Redskins outscored their opponents by more points than the Bears. Now this is very very close so I'm not saying that its decisive either way- Washington outscored their opponents by 261 points while the Bears outscored their opponents by 258 points. However, it seems as if theres a bunch of people out there who generally accept the 85 Bears as the greatest team ever and I think that this shows that the Redskins at least deserve mention.

---In 1985 the NFL was in a bit of a downswing imo. I understand that this is highly debatable, but I don't think there were any other great teams that year. The Bears played the Patriots in the Super Bowl that year. How many players can most people here name on that Patriots team? I'm not saying they were bad by any means, but the 85 Pats were not a great team at all. The 2nd best NFC team that year....meh, I guess you could say the L.A. Rams although the Redskins, 49ers, Cowboys, and Giants all have a claim to that as well. The Dolphins and Raiders were solid but its still kinda "meh" to me. Just doesn't seem like a great year of teams other than the Bears. As I said to begin this point, I realize that many won't agree, and I'll admit that I could be reaching here.

---The Redskins played a much tougher regular season schedule. This is one area in which the Redskins really don't get enough credit. The Redskins opponents had a combined record of 127-113 not including their games against the Skins. Thats just under 53%. Of the 5 NFC teams that made the playoffs, the Redskins played all of them except the Saints(who lost in the first round anyway). They also played the 11-5 Oilers in the regular season, and then of course played the Bills in the Super Bowl. Contrast that to the 85 Bears whose opponents had a combined record of 120-120. This fact combined with the opinion stated in point #3 makes the Redskins overall stats and point differential even more important imo.

---Again this is another really minor point, but it did influence this stats a bit so I'll point it out: The Redskins clearly rested their starters in week 17, losing to an Eagles team that they beat 23-0 earlier in the season. I'm not certain if the Bears did or not, but them winning the game 37-17 kinda implies they didn't(although I could be wrong). Anyway, this obviously influences the stats a bit. If the Redskins would've played their starters then their point differential and other stats may have been even better than it was.



I'm looking over all of the other stats now, and they're very very similar. The Skins were a bit better passing, the Bears were better rushing. The Skins had a slightly better pass defense(this may surprise some people), the Bears had a slightly better rush defense. People may be surprised to see how close the Skins D is to the Bears, but the Bears gave up 4618 yards while the Skins gave up 4638. I'm not going to bother going into full details regarding all the stats, but I'll include them here:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/chi1985.htm
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/was1991.htm







Also while I'm at it, I can never resist the urge to stick it to the Cowboys, so a quick comparison between the 1991 Redskins and the best statistical Cowboys Super Bowl winner from this era:



The 1992 Cowboys scored 409 points
The 1991 Redskins scored 485 points
Advantage: Redskins


The 1992 Cowboys let up 243 points
The 1991 Redskins let up 224 points
Advantage: Redskins


The 1992 Cowboys were 13-3 with all 3 losses coming in games they fully tried to win
The 1991 Redskins were 14-2 including a meaningless week 17 loss
Advantage: Redskins


The 1992 Cowboys worst game was a 31-7 loss in which they were thoroughly dominated
The 1991 Redskins biggest loss was a 3pt loss in which their opponent caught a hail mary and recovered an onside kick
Advantage: Redskins


The 1992 Cowboys gained 5718 total yards on offense
The 1991 Redskins gained 5820 total yards on offense
Advantage: Redskins


The 1992 Cowboys allowed 4278 total yards on defense
The 1991 Redskins allowed 4638 total yards on defense
Advantage: Cowboys


The 1992 Cowboys intercepted 17 passes
The 1991 Redskins intercepted 27 passes
Advantage: Redskins


The 1992 Cowboys threw 15 interceptions
The 1991 Redskins threw...

I recently put out my RANKING OF THE CHARACTERS ON "LOST", and since The Office is my second favorite TV show, I figured that it was only natural to do it for The Office as well. As I did with the Lost rankings, the first thing I will do is define what constitutes a "main" character because otherwise we'll have to debate who should and shouldn't be included on this list. For this one, I"m going to go with the WIKIPEDIA LIST OF MAIN CHARACTERS. Anyway, heres my rankings below. Oh and also I thought it'd be fun to include my favorite scene or line from each character.


Tier #1
1. Dwight Schrute- Imo the clear #1 character on the show. He brings it in nearly every scene that hes in. He has worked very well in extended storylines with Jim, Andy, and Michael. His relationship with Angela was a strong enough storyline to be prominently featured. I struggle to think of many bad scenes with him in it.

FAVORITE DWIGHT MOMENT: Really really tough to pick one here. In fact, I'm going to go with two. One is when he dressed up as Jim as a prank(Jim did it to him first). The other was when he was mentoring Ryan and he brought Ryan to his farm. The entire series of questioning("What is Michael Scott's biggest fear?" "Wrong, the answer is nothing....we would've also accepted snakes) and especially his demanding that Ryan wrestle "fear"(portrayed by Mose) to the ground was just phenomenal. Oh and theres also his song with Andy. Damn, I really was trying to stick to one moment per character, but Dwight just has too many!



2. Jim Halpert- For me, the Jim/Pam storyline really separates The Office from conventional comedies because its the first time I've ever really cared about the characters on a comedy. Throw in the fact that Jim's pranks on Dwight are by far the funniest running joke on the show, and Jim is my #2.

FAVORITE JIM MOMENT: Gotta be one of the Dwight pranks. I'd say either the stuff in the vending machine(loved the wallet being in there!) or the desk in the bathroom("Why don't you retrace your steps...where is the last place you remember seeing it?")



Tier #2
3. Andy Bernard- I have a theory that the writers initially had planned for Dwight to win the battle for Angela and have Andy leave the show, but Andy's character ended up being too popular to get rid of. Its just pure speculation on my part, but I think it makes some sense. At first Andy was simply the annoying guy who wouldn't stop calling Jim "Tuna" and singing dumb songs. But hes really really grown on me to the point where I now considered him one of the better characters.

FAVORITE ANDY MOMENT: Either his song with Dwight or his "Take a chance on me" song to Angela. Both were great.



4. Michael Scott- Michael can definitely be hit or miss. He is way too over the top at times and it takes away from the quality of the show. However, he simply has way too many great moments to put him any lower than this imo. He has carried multiple episodes.

FAVORITE MICHAEL MOMENT: Others may not have found this as funny as I did, but I loved it when Jan forces Michael to no longer tell jokes at work, Jim encourages Michael with a bunch of "Thats What she said" opportunities("Do you really think you can go all day?", "Wow, that is gonna be hard", etc.) and then finally Michael caves in and yells "thats what she said!!" I love the fact that Michael still thinks its so funny even though it should be completely obvious that Jim was intentionally setting him up.



5. Pam Beesly- The lead female character on the show. Not always the funniest character by herself(although when Jim was at the other branch we started to see her mess with Dwight more and more), but she contributes to other character's humor really well, shes very pretty, and as I said above with Jim, I genuinely care about their relationship.

FAVORITE PAM MOMENT: I'm going to go with her casino night scenes with Jim. They were really well done and we waited two whole seasons to finally see that. Was a good payoff imo.



Tier #3
6. Creed Bratton- This whole tier is pretty close, as I love them all. But Creed gets more laughs per lines he has than any other character imo. And the running joke about him not knowing the names of his co-workers is just great.

FAVORITE CREED MOMENT: When Michael is getting a new chair, and we see Pam telling the camera that she gets Michael's old chair. Then we cut to Creed: "When Pam gets Michael's chair, I will get Pam's chair, then I will have 2 chairs! Only one more to go."



7. Kevin Malone- As with Creed, hes never involved in much story line-wise, but hes good for a laugh or two per episode.

FAVORITE KEVIN MOMENT: Cool-aid man



8. Stanley Hudson- Other than Jim, he by far has the best facial expressions on the show(example: take a look at the scene when Dwight talks to Andy about blood rushing to the penis when they see Erin). Also, my favorite Stanley moment may be one of my favorite scenes of the entire show.

FAVORITE STANLEY MOMENT: When Kelly gets jealous of Stanley's daughter flirting with Ryan and tells Stanley that Ryan is hitting on her("Have you lost your mind because I'll help you find it!")



Tier #4
9. Ryan Howard- Ryan is like 3 different characters....you have Temp Ryan, Boss Ryan, and then Loser Ryan(working at bowling alley, mom drives him to work, etc.). I thought that Temp Ryan was by far the best, as he was similar to Jim in that he was an ordinary guy in an office full of idiots and it was fun to see his reactions to everything that happened.

FAVORITE RYAN MOMENT: When Ed Truck dies, Michael has them meet in the conference room to talk about painful memories. They're playing a joke on Michael by instead telling stories from movies. Ryan starts out with "My cousin....Mufasa" and I just burst out laughing the first time I saw it.



10. Holly Flax- This is a weird choice for me. I don't think Holly is all that great of a character necessarily, but her character helps reign Michael in. When Michael is too over-the-top, he can dominate too much of the show and I don't like it. Holly's character really made Michael's character even better imo.

FAVORITE HOLLY MOMENT: Thinking Kevin was retarded while he thought she had a crush on him.




11. Kelly Kapoor- Shes obviously intentionally annoying, and I think its great when she interacts with Angela because of this.

FAVORITE KELLY MOMENT: Gotta list two here...lying to Ryan about being pregnant and then being excited that "we have a date" when he says he'll get together to talk about it and when she had to train the accountants to do customer service("Give yourselves a round of applause because you are no longer losers." "Ok Angela, I love your enthusiasm.")




12. Jan Levinson- I thought the turn from strict boss into crazy woman who dates Michael was...

Its generally considered that 1984 and 2003 are the best NBA Draft classes of all time. I thought it'd be a fun exercise to make a 12 man roster out of each draft class and rank the teams. I was born in 1982, so I really shouldn't go back much further than that. And its a bit unfair to rank recent classes in which the players havn't developed yet. So it kinda works out perfect- I'll just use 1984 and 2003 as the endpoints. For my rankings, assume that each team gets all players in their prime. There were obviously a ton of close calls regarding who should start and who should make each team.


TIER #1



#1. 1984
PG John Stockton
SG Michael Jordan
SF Jerome Kersey
PF Charles Barkley
C Hakeem Olajuwon
backup PG: Danny Young
backup wings: Alvin Robertson, Vern Fleming
backup bigs: Otis Thorpe, Kevin Willis, Sam Perkins, Michael Cage

The depth on this team isn't all that great, but wow do they have a great top 4! Stockong/Jordan/Barkley/Olajuwon is just insanely good on both offense and defense. Everyone else just needs to find a role and fulfill it.



#2. 2003
PG Mo Williams
SG Dwyane Wade
SF Lebron James
PF Chris Bosh
C Kendrick Perkins
backup PGs: Kirk Hinrich, TJ Ford, Steve Blake
backup wings: Carmelo Anthony, Josh Howard
backup bigs: Chris Kaman, David West

The clearcut #2 imo. This team could be very interesting when they decide to go small with a lineup of Williams/Wade/Melo/LBJ/Bosh.



#3. 1987
PG Kevin Johnson
SG Reggie Miller
SF Scottie Pippen
PF Horace Grant
C David Robinson
backup PG: Mark Jackson, Kenny Smith, Mugsy Bogues
backup wings: Reggie Lewis, Derrick McKey
backup bigs: Armen Gilliam, Olden Polynice

Not the best depth, but a great starting 5. Absolutely no weaknesses with that group imo.



#4. 1985
PG Terry Porter
SG Joe Dumars
SF Chris Mullin
PF Karl Malone
C Patrick Ewing
backup PG: Michael Adams
backup wings: Detlef Schrempf, Mario Elie
backup bigs: Arvydas Sabonis, Charles Oakley, Xavier McDaniel, A.C. Green

Lot of toughness on this team. Definitely one of my favorites.



#5. 1996
PG Steve Nash
SG Ray Allen
SF Kobe Bryant
PF Shareef Abdur-Rahim
C Zydrunas Ilgauskas
backup PGs: Derek Fisher, Stephon Marbury
backup wings: Allen Iverson, Peja Stojakovic
backup bigs: Jermaine O'Neal, Marcus Camby, Erick Dampier

With Big Z's ability to space the floor, I might want to go big and replace SAR with either Camby or O'Neal. Interesting group to say the least. I'm not sure about chemistry.






TIER #2



#6. 1998
PG Mike Bibby
SG Vince Carter
SF Paul Pierce
PF Dirk Nowitzki
C Rasho Nesterovic
backup PGs: Jason Williams, Larry Hughes, Rafer Alston
backup wings: Rashard Lewis, Bonzi Wells
backup bigs: Antawn Jamison, Nazr Mohammed

This team just has a ridiculous amount of firepower. They could definitely upset any team in this because when their jumpshots are falling, you simply won't be able to shut down this team.



#7. 2001
PG Tony Parker
SG Joe Johnson
SF Shane Battier
PF Pau Gasol
C Mehmet Okur
backup PG: Gilbert Arenas
backup wings: Richard Jefferson, Jason Richardson, Gerald Wallace
backup bigs: Tyson Chandler, Samuel Dalembert, Brendan Haywood

This is a pretty versatile team. Consider how good they could be on defense witha lineup of Joe Johnson/Gerald Wallace/Shane Battie/Samuel Dalembert/Tyson Chandler on the floor. Gilbert Arenas would make a great 6th man.



#8. 1997
PG Chauncey Billups
SG Stephen Jackson
SF Tracy McGrady
PF Keith Van Horn
C Tim Duncan
backup PG: Antonio Daniels, Bobby Jackson, Brevin Knight, Jacque Vaughn
backup wings: Tim Thomas, Anthony Parker
backup bigs: Scot Pollard

How far can 3 great players carry a team? Really tall backcourt with Billups/Jackson/TMac. Jackson needs to defer often on offense for this team to work. Defensively they're solid. Not much depth at center and Duncan can't play all that many minutes.



#9. 1986
PG Mark Price
SG Drazen Petrovic
SF Dennis Rodman
PF Brad Daugherty
C Arvydas Sabonis
backup PG: Johnny Dawkins, Scott Skiles
backup wings: Jeff Hornacek, Dell Curry, Chuck Person, Ron Harper
backup bigs: Kevin Duckworth

This seems pretty high considering their complete lack of star power, but they're solid at every single roster spot. Only problem is that Price, Dawkins, Skiles, Hornacek, and Curry duplicate way too much of the same skills.






TIER #3



#10. 1999
PG Andre Miller
SG Manu Ginobili
SF Ron Artest
PF Shawn Marion
C Elton Brand
backup PG: Baron Davis
backup wings: Richard Hamilton, Jason Terry, Corey Maggette
backup bigs: Lamar Odom, Andrei Kirilenko, Jeff Foster

I like the individual talent on this team a lot, but they lack a true go to player, they lack true centers, and I fear that Baron and Ron Artest could chuck the ball way too much.



#11. 1992
PG Hubert Davis
SG Latrell Sprewell
SF Doug Christie
PF Alonzo Mourning
C Shaquille O Neal
backup PG: Jon Barry
backup wings: Robert Horry, Jim Jackson, Tracy Murray
backup bigs: Christian Laettner, Tom Gugliotta, Oliver Miller

Shaq and Alonzo is such a sick combo, but beyond that this team isn't much.



#12. 1989
PG Tim Hardaway
SG Sean Elliott
SF Glen Rice
PF Shawn Kemp
C Vlade Divac
backup PG: Mookie Blaylock, Dana Barros, BJ Armstrong
backup wings: Nick Anderson, George McCloud
backup bigs: Cliff Robinson, Pervis Ellison

This should be a pretty fun team.



#13. 1988
PG Hersey Hawkins
SG Mitch Richmond
SF Dan Mejerle
PF Danny Manning
C Rik Smits
backup PG: Rod Strickland
backup wings: Rex Chapman, Vinny Del Negro
backup bigs: Charles Smith, Anthony Mason, Rony Seikaly, Will Perdue

I could be underrating this team a bit. I went back and forth on them a lot. Then again I could probably say the same thing about the 1989 team that I ranked one spot ahead of them.



#14. 2002
PG Juan Carlos Navarro
SG Caron Butler
SF Tayshuan Prince
PF Amare Stoudemire
C Yao Ming
backup PG: Jay Williams
backup wings: Mike Dunleavy Jr, John Salmons, Rasual Butler
backup bigs: Carlos Boozer, Nene Hilario, Luis Scola

Major PG issues here. I'm taking Jay-Will in his...

This is obviously totally subjective, but I"m a big fan of Lost(might end up being my favorite show of all time depending upon it's conclusion) so I figured that it'd be fun regardless. Since there are way too many characters to include them all, I'm only going to rank the main characters, as listed on lostpedia:

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Character_appearances
(scroll down to the bottom to see the lists of main and minor characters)


Tier #1
1. Ben Linus- Ever since he was first captured and taken to the hatch, we've been constantly on the edge of our seats whenever hes on screen. We've probably learned the most about the island from his character, yet due to his propensity to fib, we're never truly certain of anything. Michael Emerson has a great chilling voice imo, which makes the character all that much better. I'm a big Kevin Spacey fan due to movies like The Usual Suspects, and I think Emerson is comparable to him in this role. Most importantly(to me at least) there really havn't been too many filler episodes or filler storylines featuring Ben. If hes on screen, you're pretty much guaranteed to have something suspenseful happening.

2. John Locke- He has been at the center of a ton of main storylines. Boone's death, finding and getting into the hatch, pushing the button, relationship with his father, his wheelchair and his healing.....and thats not even mentioning the fact that he appears to be extremely important to the island and may end up being a central figure in its mysteries. Ben/Locke dialogues are phenomenal too, as they play off of each other perfectly imo. I loved the episode where Locke blew up the submarine, as it contained some great interaction between those two("We have a giant hampster running on a big wheel" - Ben answering Locke's question of how the Others have power and electricity....."No John, unfortunately we don't have a code for 'Theres somebody in my closet with a gun to my daughter's head'.")

3. Desmond Hume- Both Desmond-centric episodes were amazing. I usually don't care much for romantic side stories, but I genuinely found myself wanting him to find Penny. The time traveling aspect was such a huge mystery when it was first being revealed, and I think they did a great job of revealing bits and pieces through Desmond's story while at the same time keeping us uncertain of the whole truth.

4. Mr. Eko- Most of you probably know that they had much bigger plans for his character, but the actor wanted off the show so they had to kill him off. Regardless, I thought his death scene was awesome, especially the part where he realizes that he isn't sorry for doing the things hes done: LINK. And remember, when John lost faith, Eko was the one who wanted to continue pushing the button, which leads me to believe that the writers definitely had big plans for him. Also his backstory was actually very interesting and never got monotonous at all to me.


Tier #2
5. Sayid Jarrah- The only reason he isn't higher is that hes never really been a huge part of the main storyline regarding the island, and I'd be very surprised if he ended up being "special" in any way. Otherwise, his character is awesome. Hes just such a badass in scenes like the golf course shooting. His struggles with torturing and his love story with Nadia were well done and interesting imo.

6. Sun-Hwa Kwon- I really loved her at first when she outwardly gave the apearance of a shy, innocent woman, but she secretly knew how to speak English and had been cheating on Jin. I found myself genuinely interested in her and Jin's backstory, and I actually did care a lot about who her baby's father was when Juliet told her. Moreover, I think that the actress Yunjin Kim did a great job of conveying lifelike emotion in two scenes in particular: the scene with Juliet where she finds out that Jin is the fater and Jin's death where she was screaming like a maniac. I also thought it'd be interesting to see her character development when she thought Jin was dead, as her relationship with her father was clearly damaged and she even went and found Widamore on her own. However, since that time I've been totally bored with her character. Its pretty obvious that she'll eventually reunite with Jin, and I just don't seem to care about her anymore. Overall though, her character has been solid imo.

7. Hugo "Hurley" Reyes- This is a bit of a strange selection for me, as I'm giving Hurley a lot of points for being the only character with a ton of episodes who I don't think has ever had a total clunker of a storyline. He doesn't appear to be overly important to the show overall and I can't see that changing, but he has consistently added to the show and imo never subtracted from its quality. Hes funny, hes been used to explain the storyline to less hardcore fans fairly well, and I actually like the actor Jorge Garcia a lot in this role. He plays the "average guy" pretty well. His number storyline is a bit "meh" to me since we may not get a great solution to it(or it may just be that those happened to be the serial numbers on the hatch and then Hurley's subconcious created all of the mystery around them. I still think its likely that Hurley is the one who broadcast those numbers. Of course, I can't explain exactly how they won him the lottery outside of random dumb luck though).

8. James "Sawyer" Ford- He loses some points in my book for his boring love triangle(or square if you count Juliet) storyline with Jack/Kate, and I think its pretty clear that the island doesn't consider him "special" in any way. But hes constantly added humor to the show, and outside of Hurley(and later on Miles) there really isn't much of that, so I think his role is important. Some of his "con" storylines were interesting, most notably when he finally discovered the real "Sawyer" and got his revenge. As an actor, I think Josh Holloway is probably better served doing soap operas, as he really doesn't show much range.


Tier #3
9. Daniel Faraday- He is only this low due to his lack of episodes. Time travel is obviously a key component of the show, and Faraday seems to be the only character who can explain it to us. That alone makes his character interesting. Then when you factor in his mother, his love relationships, and the uncertainty around his true motives you end up with a character that you're almost always excited to see on the screen. For example, I thought it was a pretty solid cliffhanger when Miles saw him come out of the sub at the end of a recent episode, and I don't think you could've had that affect with too many characters.

10. Jack Shephard- This is probably the most polarizing character for me. He has had a whole lot of filler storylines. I thought the "Jack's tatoos" episode was the worst in the entire show. I really couldn't care at all about his love life, yet the writers seem to constantly write him into relationship storylines. And his character hasn't had a big role in weeks, yet I'm not at all eager for him to return. But with all of that said, hes added as much to the show as nearly anyone. He was the leader and main character for the first 4 seasons. The way they executed his flashforward...