I might as well just start titling my blogs like that. Maybe I'll go with a date only title. So frequently there are a bunch of random things to talk about and I never really know what to start with.

I haven't played online much lately. I have been in LV for a while for the WPT Championship. I had above average chips all tournament (after I hooded Kathy Leibert on day 1 by 4-betting 97o, lol) until I got backdoor flushed and river setted by an loltournament player. Actually, I might as well tell the story-- I entered day 3 with 300k chips. I open tens and flop a set on KT2r. Brandon Cantu check-calls. Turn is 4 bringing a heart draw. He leads (lol) 22k, I make it 70k, he calls. River is 8h, he checks, (stacks are awkward, like maybe 250k effective with like 200 in the pot?) I bet 145k for value because I assume he's a station. He jams, sigh, so annoying with those stacks on river. Anyways, I fold and I tell him that if he shows something worse than second set I will give him 1k. He mutters something about how he wasn't going to show anyways. I up it to 5k because I assume he can be bought for the right price (he is sponsored by UB, afterall, so he's certainly got a price). He declines. I am down to like 90 or 100k. I open JTo utg1, Cantu calls in the sb, bb calls. Flop is TT6r. I c-bet, Cantu check-calls. Turn is a 2d bringing a FD. He leads (lol) 1/2 pot, I call. He checks in the dark (lolliveplayers). River is 5o. I jam for a little under pot, he calls, the fifth card made him a full house. Well played, nhbrah.

Everytime you play a live tournament you learn a little something. They are interesting for sure, the problem is that we can't just sit around and sim what would happen in 100,000 of them. They promote extreme results oriented thinking and turn even people who have the intelligence to be smart poker players into morons. It's possible to just go infinite of them in a row without doing anything impressive. The edges are huge-- it's just that the sample size is so small it can make anyone look like a decent player. I suppose the live poker scene, that rant about tournaments, and people's general lack of understanding basic poker concepts is the reason that poker will be profitable forever to those that are good at problem solving and adjusting and work hard enough.

A few Leggo pros and close friends of Leggo are still in the tournament! Check out the Railbirds forum for updates from them, or maybe take a look at Chewy's blog to see how he finishes.

I'm flying home (well, a bunch of us are) for a good friend of mine's wedding. Daniel Starkey aka THEDANCAN20 is getting married. He is having Qdoba at his wedding. That's right, 'doba is catering. I would 10x rather have 'doba than any Wedding food I've previously had, and it's a tenth of the price. I'm very excited for that (almost as excited for it as the reception itself!).

We've gotten a lot of stuff done for Leggo lately and finally have a new batch of gear on the way. Hopefully we'll be able to give some stuff out at the Leggo party this year (date not confirmed yet, but will be the last week of June). I've also talked some people into making videos! A few of the biggest winners at Stars 1-2 6m, in the history of Stars 1-2 6m, should become active video producers in the next few weeks. Speaking of active video producers, I made a video at the midstakes Stars ante games recently. It turned out fantastically, as all my videos do, and should be up in the next two weeks or so. I'd rank it in my top 5 videos of all time-- it just feels like such blasphemy to put it that high with all the great work I've put out(!), but it's that good.

Leggopoker Social Media Consultant Matt Young, also the head of the Thailand division of Leggo, bought me one of the best presents that I've ever gotten. He got me an ancient crossbow used to hunt natives. I had to wash the blood off of it. I don't think I can travel with it back to Indiana because it's considered a weapon. There's a chance that someone gets shot with it and gets paid $X and that video gets put up on YouTube (and linked to my blog, obvvviously).

I feel like there has to be other things I wanted to stick in here, but I can't think of them... Oh, Chewy and I did manage to make Chapter 11 aka the Ch. 1 of the HU update to the Memoirs of aejones, which should be out in a week or two. For clarification, the cost of the series is still $5k, which will include the 10 chapters done over a year ago and the 3 or 4 new chapters that we do on heads up play.

PEACE

edit: with 85 people left cantu was the chipleader and had 3x starting stack. with like 45 people left, still far from the money, he is no longer in and got it in drawing dead (although he did lose with aces, obvvv bad beat).

After Duke beat Butler I thought long and hard about writing a blog post about how poor the officiating was and how embarrassed I was that Teddy Valentine was doing a championship game. Instead, I just went deep into hiding and shame.

That shame continued through the first two weeks of play for the White Sox, who suck. But hey, at least I'm not a Cubs fan, amirite?

I have been traveling and playing poker for the last two weeks. I find myself now in Las Vegas, Nevada, the heart of the poker universe. I am here to play the WPT championship on Sunday, a big fat $25k tournament with a bunch of randoms and satty winners. I am excited to get back into a different poker setting than the online NL I've been playing for the past few weeks. Hopefully I'm fresh enough to go through the live poker grind. Here's to hoping I make day 2 (we start with like 1200 big blinds or something retarded)! Baby steps.

I'm pretty happy with the amount of lifting that I've been able to do, but I'm less than happy about my eating habits. I can't stop snacking. There's nothing wrong with me quite as bit as much lifting as I'm doing, but it's fucking pointless to eat a bunch of empty carbs. Also: I like sweets too much. I blame Vitas.

Sometimes you think of a dozen things to write a blog about and then wind up just having writer's block before you write anything, resulting in almost two weeks of bloglessness and a crappy result by the time it does get written.

Tonight I grinded a session of Stars 25-50 which I winded up losing a buy in or two in. I am also about to post a full ring hand from the session that makes me want to gouge my eyes out (per Fees, all full ring will make me do that?).

Until next time...

I'm on my way out the door right now to watch Butler (and the second game) in the Final Four.

My week has been eventful. Had a couple of friends in town for the festivities of the week (bunch of random stuff going on for the Final Four, more buzz than usually for the going-out types). It really just ended up in us playing golf and a bunch of other games.

I played golf three days. I played terrible the first day but it was my first time out all year. (Quick note on my golf game: I'm not actually good) The second day I played quite a bit better but I couldn't tell for sure how well I was playing because we played a 2 v 2 scramble for money. Interesting note about day two, it was the nicest day all year in Indy (it's been over 80 a few times this week) and I got this ridiculous farmer's tan-- and even more ridiculous about it, it was much more red on my right arm because I was in the passenger seat of the golf cart. On the third day I drove the golf cart to try to balance out the burn and I shot a 49, probably my personal best, and didn't lose a single ball. I took my putting much more seriously and hit a few long putts. I also played it like a pussy on a few holes and hit my hybrid 3 instead of trying to drive the green on long par 4s (lol).

Other than that I am just anxiously awaiting this Final Four sweat. In addition to the happiness EV that I'm entitled to with Butler winning, I have a few sweats that include winning like $40k if Duke wins the whole tournament. I hate Duke so much that I am basically looking at that money as grievance money in case they win it all. I'm also going to be hedging randomly and trading with some people, so really the ONLY combo that I don't want is West Virginia to beat Butler in the Final. If anything other than that happens I win a good combination of money and happiness-- sweat it with me!

When the White Sox won the pennant in '05, I cried (oddly, I did not cry after they won the World Series, I was elated though, of course).

I was not as emotional for my Butler Bulldogs making it to the Final Four, perhaps because I was drained from watching the game so closely. I am probably just as excited though. What a tournament! I feel like an idiot for not just picking them to win the whole damn thing in my brackets, because I didn't know much about college basketball this year anyways (sidenote for sports bettors-- just always homer-it-up!).

Jesus, this city is going to be fun to be in for the next week. I haven't got tickets yet but I'll be there court side. The biggest regret of my life is not seeing a White Sox World Series game (although I did see three playoff games), and I will never miss a sporting event that I want to be at again. It's just cool to say you were there. This is a rare thing, although Butler may be building a dynasty considering they return 6 of their top 7 and are rumored to be in the running for some pretty big classes in the near future.

Anyways, the tournament has been fantastic again this year and tomorrow should have two more fun games. I've got Tennessee and Baylor for the win(s)!



BUTLAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

What a surprise that this blog is about those two things.

First, my Butler Bulldogs are in the Sweet Sixteen again, perhaps with their best team this decade (and only two Seniors), facing the 'Cuse on Thursday night. This is a fun team to watch because of how well they pass the ball. I worry a little that they'll be overmatched by the length of the Orange, but it seems very likely they'll come to play and give themselves a shot to win tomorrow night. I'll be glued to my TV, but I wish they would've been sent somewhere in the Midwest so I could've gone and watched them live (I went to see them in the Sweet Sixteen a few years ago in STL when they lost to Florida).

The rest of the NCAA tournament has been fantastic this year, as it is every year.

Since I've been home, I've actually started playing a little poker. Probably going to mostly play 5-10 to 25-50 6m, but If I can get action at 25-50 HU that would be great. Sometimes after you go 4 or 6 weeks without playing very much it takes a few thousand hands to get stack-off ranges and timing tells back in rhythm. It's fun to play again even though 25-50 isn't running much-- I'm looking to stay focused when I'm playing 5-10. Maybe I'll play well for the next few weeks and have some results to report back, I feel like it's been forever since I posted a screenshot in my blog.

In other news, we're getting ready to bring on a new tournament pro. Our focus will of course remain on shorthanded NLHE cash, but it's nice to strengthen our stable of people who can produce tournament videos with the WSOP coming up. I mention this now because Frank Calo (known online as Frank1the1tank) is second in chips going into the TV final table of the WPT Hollywood just a few hours from me in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. I'm sure you can get updates all over the place and I hope he takes it down.

That's all for now, I've been incredibly productive since I got home so I think I'll make a poker video tonight.

Dear Girl Scout Cookie Thief,

What's it like up in Tacoma? I have never been to Washington state. Is the pacific Northwest as rainy as they say it is?

Of all people to steal from, why did you choose a Girl Scout? It seems like there are more lucrative professions to steal from (and ones with more disposable income). If I was a thief, I would be more diligent in the selection of my target. Have you ever seen Ocean's Eleven?

How the fuck did you make the national news? I am in some small suburb on the border of Kentucky/Ohio/Indiana and they have determined that somehow the $465 that you took was newsworthy.

While you're at it, how do you think I'll do in this WPT?

Thanks for giving me something to write about in my blog,
Aaron

If you are a poker player, you can't really schedule your sleep. Sometimes it is because of poker, but frequently it is just because poker is a (relatively) low responsibility gig where you don't have to be awake at any given time (caveat: some things are only open for a few hours during the day-- the post office, doctor's office, etc.). People really only have sleep "schedules" because they have to get up for something or they enjoy a routine. I am not sure if I fit into one of those categories (the first, never; the second, from time to time).

I usually just don't really care what my sleep schedule is. It rarely matters. I travel a lot, I try to adjust it from time to time if I have to be awake for something, but other than that, I sleep when I'm tired. Sick life, eh?

My hours of slumber have been all over the place the last few weeks since I changed time zones a few times. I'm not too worried about it, I usually just book my next flight around it so I can sleep on the plane.

I find myself a little high strung before bed from time to time and am (half-heartedly) looking for a remedy. It's been watching Deadwood lately, but for those of you who know the show, that isn't the best late night formula (although it is better than playing poker**). I keep meaning to do like 15 minutes of reading or something before bed, but it seems like it gets my mind too active. I don't think I'm a warm milk kind of guy either.

I just wrote three or four paragraphs but my internet went out and I'm not going to write them again.

Cliffnotes:

Went to Alinea, fancy restaurant in Chicago. Was not overly impressed, although it was certainly innovative and a dining experience different from any I have had before. Was a really funny night in general.

My buddy has a place up in the River North of Chicago, in fact he just bought a condo. Seems like a pretty cool neighborhood, got me thinking what it would be like to truly live in the City instead of the suburbs. I don't really think it is my kind of thing, I really like having room and the ability to jump in my car and go wherever I want-- having everything in walking distance is kind of cool though. I'll probably never know what it's like to live downtown in a big city like that.

We've been grinding Mario Kart for several weeks now. It's cool playing with the steering wheel on the Wii. Luckychewy thinks it's the best video game ever-- butNahhhhh, that would be GoldenEye!

Check out our video schedule lately, it's pretty fantastic. I am always shocked when Leggo isn't mentioned among on top of the shorthanded NLHE category of training sites. In fact, I'm patting myself on the back right now... I think I might've just strained something.

This week I have been in California for LAPC, an event run spectacularly by Matt Savage. I played cash for a few days, a mix of 10-20 and 20-40, and was spewing so much that I'm pleased to say I probably broke even. I can't once remember thinking "Hmm, this is relatively close, but I think it's a fold" and then actually folding. I can remember making numerous calls, including twice when people were bluffing with the best hand, where I said "Fuck this guy, he doesn't have it!"

That is some splendid thought process by a guy who runs a training site, eh?

Anyways, yesterday I played in the $10k HU tournament which got only 36 runners. I wound up winning my first 4 matches. Quick recap: I drew Nick Shulman first and beat him in level one with two pair vs pair + FD all in on the turn. I then drew KingDan who seemed to outplay me (I kept having 94) pretty good but it didn't matter (he is the best in the world at ~40bb HU tournament poker, "self-proclaimed") because I sucked out with KQ to aces, and on his birthday no less! I finally beat Vivek/Psyduck to end the day. Those first three draws were probably 3 of the top 5 players in the field, and considering I was probably playing my B game I was happy to luckbox my way into the Final Four. I beat Michael Binger to start the day today, and then lost to someone named Chris Moore who seemed to be a live donk but I think I had a bad read on him because he played pretty clowny and 3-bet quite a bit. Finally, I had to play the winner of the Loser's bracket, Vivek (again) and lost to him when I ran an unsuccessful bluff and then got AK to KK for the other half of my stack. I ended up placing third and winning $45k or so. I am not really unhappy with the results everything considered.

I started to get sick last night, probably from live poker and traveling in general. I am usually pretty good about taking care of myself, but somehow it's all just taken a toll on my body. I will use tonight to get to bed very early and tomorrow to do as little as possible so I can rest up for the Main on Friday. I would anticipate the Main Event being extremely soft and getting a ton of runners.

The thing that I continue to notice about poker (and perhaps gambling in a more broad sense) is how emotional it gets people. I realize that for many people this is their livelihood (or perhaps their kid's college fund) so it is important that their hand hold up or they make their flush draw, but as a logical human being I can't ever imagine playing in a game where your wins and losses directly effect the way that you feel. As a young poker player I was certainly guilty of caring too much, but it's important to train yourself to only care about the things that you can control. A combination of only caring about the things that you can control and preparing yourself to control them to the best of your ability will achieve you great success in the poker world. I can't imagine getting so upset about someone making a poor play (that I want them to make) or the dealer turning over a card that makes my opponent's hand best (it was, after all, my decision to make the wager against his range of hands anyways) anymore. I'm 23 and in the poker world I am a dinosaur. How does one know he is a dinosaur in online poker years? If you are from the United States and answer yes to the following question: Did you ever play on Party Poker?

I've lived and done more growing up than most people do in a lifetime in the last 5 years. Poker teaches you about managing your own finances, how to deal with the stresses of a difficult job, and how to find a social circle in such an isolated business. I've achieved enough to be well-known and revered in my profession, something that probably takes 5 times as long in other industries. What did I do to deserve such praise? I'm not really sure, to be honest, but it's given me an opportunity to improve on yet another area of my life. Dealing with detractors is something that anyone with any success will face. The more success that you have, the more haters you will have; some rappers would say the correlation is as constant as money and problems. What is nicest about the poker world is that it's barely real. I was able to meet some people this week that it was perceived online that I had bad blood with. What a relief it is to see how cool people are and laugh about grief and anger everyone once had over the internet (of all things).

I'm certainly in the "Poker isn't gambling boat." It would be impossible for someone who is as good as I am and who has made as much money as I have to be in any other boat. However, it's a little embarrassing to see people (to whom poker is gambling) get so worked up. I see people in the halls of the casino bitching about bad beats to their friends on the phone ("I limped and then he raised so I reraised and he went all in and so I called because I had aces and this guy turns over jacks! What do you know jack on the flop it happens everytime!") and talking about how they're going to win this next tournament ("because the donkeys can't win everytime!"). I bet if you talked to every poker player you'd have 2/3 (or more) who are convinced they are a winning player, but in reality it's probably barely 1/3 by the time you pay rake and tip (and state taxes of California!). I suppose this isn't really even something that is poker related-- some people just need to realize what they are good at and stick to it. If they want to be a weekend warrior at poker, that's fine, but you can't play for stakes you can't afford.

The moral of the blog? I'm not really sure. Don't take poker too seriously, getting your blood pressure worked up about anything is almost always a waste of time-- getting it worked up about something that is out of your control is even less constructive.

On a final note, congratulations to Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger for his 10th place finish in the Venetian NAPT. He finished one place better than I predicted him to, and he three barrel bluffed it off which is even more admirable. Also, good luck to Ashton "The One Man Wolfpack" Griffin who is representing Leggo in the Venetian High Roller. He won his table yesterday over legendary Chris Moneymaker!