Hi guys,

Thanks for all the interest in the charity coaching, at this time it seems all slots are full, I am going to start contacting everyone now and big apologies to everyone I won´t be able to fit.
Thanks!

As many of you guys may have noted, I have not updated my blog nor made any new videos for a while. I decided to join Leggo in December, and from february onwards becoming a student alongside the grind was more timeconsuming than I could ever have imagined.

To make a long story short (never been good at that); I can either do what a lot of people do, which is to stay on the roster and release videos somewhat infrequently which is fine but not really what I want. Or, I could just simply say thank you for the time and experience, and move on.

Making videos is a really fun process, mainly for the feedback you get from them, but joining a training site becomes so much more time-consuming than anyone can ever expect (for instance the whole bumhunter debacle, which I never expected). In the end, if your life is really busy overall, it starts cutting into your grinding time, which is not good for me as I don´t plan to be playing this game for more than two or perhaps a maximum of three years counting from today. Aejones and I did try to iron out a deal which would suit both parties, and I owe a lot of thanks to him and feel flattered that he worked so hard to get me to stay. In the end however, we couldn´t reach a deal where I felt that making videos would have any noticeable net effect on my end of year bottom line, and as fun as the experience is, after some time you realize that you may be giving up too much by putting your game out there for your immediate competitors benefit for very little money which is why I guess so many people stop making videos after a while, especially if they have fairly standard deals and are making significant amounts already playing the game. I would have loved staying on if we could have reached an appropriate arrangement that I felt was a little further away from the standard deal, but alas, can´t get everyhting you want in life . Of course, that is why so many people do the private coaching, as it combines the great feeling of teaching somebody else something new and adding to their livelihood whilst being able to justify it financially. I have nothing but good things to say about Leggo, Aaron, Matt and Vitas. Their product and the community too, is great, and I hope they feel the same about me.

I will however dedicate a few more hours to the Leggo community now that I have your attention for the last time. I will be spending two or three days starting next week doing charity coaching as thanks for some great things happening in my life recently. Basically, I´ll be coaching for roughly 10 hours (maybe more if we have time over those days and I feel I can keep the quality up) at a reduced rate, with all the money going to charity. So if anybody was planning on making a donation anyway, now is a good opportunity to donate a little more on top of that and get some coaching as well.

I will not be coaching anyone that plays 1 k nl, and prefferably not 600 nl either. Essentiall, the lower the stakes you play, the farther ahead in line you are with any of my private students getting ahead in line as well. But I am mainly looking for people playing NL 100 / 200 / 400, trying to make that move up to nl 600 / 1000 / 2000. Oh, and strictly 6-max btw.

My usual rate is 475 / hr, and I´ll be charging 275 / hr for this if you play nl 400 as your main game, 245 if you play nl 200 as your main game, and 215 if you play nl 100 as your main game. It´s for charity, so scouts honour please If you want to book two hours, which is max and standard for me when I do my usual coaching, you can request and we´ll see how many people are interested.

The format will hh reviews only, so you´ll need to put up 9-10 hands that you think would be appropriate for this on weaktight.com, send me the links with comments attached through a pm, and we´d go from there. Hands really only serve as a base plate for discussion around other concepts that are applicable to 6-max games, so they really don´t have to be perfect. Also, make sure you come prepared with any other general questions and comments around the game, my brain is yours for the duration of our time and I will give you 110 %. The more prepared you are, the less time I´ll have to go through emails, pm´s etc, and the more time I can spend on the actual coaching, so big thanks for anybody being helpful with that.

All the money will be sent to Verneer who will act as an escrow for this. He is somebody that a lot of people would vouch for and I thought he would be suitable for this due to his excellent efforts when it came to the Haiti relief situation. He will, of course, give us a complete rundown on where the money goes, and my suggestion as of now to him is: http://www.savethechildren.org/. Wherever it goes, rest assured it will not go to my brother-in-law or any other family member that I may view as a charity, but a reputable organization. Post below in the comments section if you have any questions or if you are interested, or pm on here or on 2+2. The preliminary date for me doing this will be 23d - 25th, but may be subject to change. May have forgotten some stuff, so really sorry.

I will also be donating all the money I made for my two videos here at Leggo to whichever charity we agree upon.

Anyways, hope this is cool with everybody, and I wish everybody here at Leggo the best of luck in their continued efforts to get better and better at this game.

PS. I was not sure if I could have my blog up here at Leggo, anyways I have created a new, simple one at http://boywonderpoker.blogspot.com that I´ll update from time to time.

Edit; when you post for interest, please include your stakes, if you want 1, 1,5 or 2hrs, and known sn´s please. Thanks.

What are the things that really impress me in the world of online poker?

If anybody had any doubts left as to wether or not Nick Grudzien / Stoxtrader did in fact collude and systematically cheat the highstakes community out of thousands whilst being a multimillionaire, take a look at this post by 2+2 legend (confirmed legend now) NoahSD:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/19...-tl-dr-757267/

It is very long and Noah is way smarter than myself, but after having gone through it I am so thoroughly impressed by his methodical work (the parts of it I understand ). Selfless, intrinsically good work. This is the stuff in the pokerworld that really makes me impressed. The stuff that would impress anybody in real life, the stuff that would impress anybody anywhere. The stuff that the 2+2 UB / Absolute guys, Verneer (his efforts for Haiti), Noah and many others have done and are doing.

Only question now: what happens to the victims, and will Stars / FT freeze accounts and give these people their money back?

Again, thank you Noah!

Just erased a blog I had taken some time to write, which is disheartening, but key points were;

1. Glad to be blogging / playing again, had taken a break from most things poker due to skiing and exams.
2.Skiing was great, went to Trysil in Norway, tried to the tame the steepest slope in Scandinavia, Eksperten* (45 degree angle), not sure who tamed who in the end.
3. Trysil was fantastic, I want to buy a cabin there some day.
4. My first exam went very well, had forgotten how much sharper you are whilst in school and how much of a grind studying for exams really can be. Still worth it (asked them if I could take courses, participate and just skip the exams. They declined).
5. Came back and started playing again after an extended hiatus (again, the longest one I have had since I started playing in sep / oct of 06) last week, games were good, I was rusty.
6. As said, felt a little rusty and out of shape, fascinated by these guys that can go on-and-off poker, grinding tremendous amounts and then taking extended breaks, rinse / repeat. This routine would be very difficult for me. Perhaps it takes getting used to?
7. Had a great interview with Cardplayer that lasted about an hour and a half, which we now have to redo as the recording unit wasn´t working properly. That is still ok though, losing this blog was more annoying as I really enjoyed doing the interview
8. Coming back and starting to play again after the break, I realize that I was lacking more in my mental presence than usual, and I attribute this to having conditioned myself to not think about the game while I am away. This can have some poor effects on my game if I am away for an extended time, I think. It was interesting experience.
9. Hope that everybody had a great Easter and that you got to spend time with family and friends, these occassions are a fantastic reminder of what is really important in life.
10. Will be grinding the Champions League games tonight and tomorrow, if Arsenal can turn this around that would be a feat. I have student that is in place, watching the game, really happy for his sake, envious at the same time
11. Real world investments have been going great. I am now getting to the point where I have decent, diversified passive incomes, which is such an important thing for those of us playing this game for a living. I´ll probably talk a little more about this in a future blog post, but it is just such a big key to the overall metagame of playing poker for a living.
12. Despite what I said about being away from the game, am thinking about studying full time for at least one semester or the duation of one or two courses either this fall or this spring, to see if it can be balanced with playing / life. I just enjoy it too much.
13. Studies are making me realize that although poker intrinsically has meant a lot to me and still does, the ratio of intrinsical value to the value of it serving as an instrument (to make money and provide, perhaps) is becoming somewhat more skewed. My studies, for instance, I find have an intrinsical value in and of themselves. This is personal to me, I can fully understand how poker can have enormous intrinsical value for a lot of people, but I am of the opinion that as you improve and you become more and more skilled, this lessens to at least some extent. It´s a shame it has to be that way, but it´s a luxury problem to have on the other hand and I am definitely not complaining, just reflecting.
14. Again, hope that everybody had a great Easter!

*Here´s some other dude named Roman going down Eksperten, not nearly as dramatic as the music implies but gives a decent picture;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOddk1MCPHQ

Apologies to Zimba for the delay on this, and to those that have unanswered pms and emails by me. These will be handled tomorrow, I promise. Have been slightly consumed by the Stox-thing, but worth noting that I did an interview with pokercurious the other week that was posted. Topics included mindfulness, bumhunting, setting goals, and other things.

This is the link:

http://www.pokercurious.com/intervie...ass-interview/

Thanks to Zimba for some good questions!

In the past three hours I have become privy to some information that leads me to belive that Nick Grudzien, aka Stoxtrader, is guilty of multiaccounting and collusion. I was approached by a source shortly after I posted some opinions in the HSNL thread where I voiced the fact that Bryce Paradis deserved credit for taking a stance / risking his reputation in this matter and if wrong that it may be out of naivety rather than malice. I now believe this may be one of the most -EV things Bryce has ever done, and I sincerely hope it is out of foolishness rather than malice.

My source, without a doubt, has been and is very intimately involved in the day-to-day workings of formerly Stoxpoker, now CR/STOX. This is 100% certain.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am much more careful of protecting the innocent rather than condemning the guilty and that I tread cautiously in these matters. I have never spoken out against any one single person in the community, even though many have done so against me. I hope that adds extra weight to my stance.

I was told many things and presented evidence on a lot of matters. There were many, many shady things being brought up, but the following, I am very confident about and considering the evidence presented now take for granted until otherwise proven:

- Nick Grudzien, aka Stoxtrader, has played, multiaccounted and colluded under the nicknames 40putts and gr3atvie3wbro.

- The evidence presented leads me to believe that he has colluded, first and foremost, with the account name Kinetica. That is the only connection I can vouch for as of now, I know there have been other account names mentioned (LittleZen) but that is the extent to which I was presented real information. My source tells me that similar information can be made available regarding LittleZen, but it is not something I have seen with my own eyes so I cannot therefor verify.

- The account Kinetica, belongs more than probably to a person by the name of Robert Papp, also known as Rob. If you know this person or have been in touch with him, please let the community know.

- Nick Grudzien, aka Stoxtrader, also plays on PartyPoker, which as far as I know, is a violation of their terms and conditions as he is American. He does this under the screename AutoCallON. If he colludes on that site it is not something that I am aware of or that was discussed. I would like to know how to proceed contacting Partypoker on this idea, if anybody could help me with this.

There were many other things said on various other people affiliated with Nick Grudzien, many people who have very high profiles in this industry. I choose not to divulge them as I am not as confident about those things as I am about the above, and they may be secondhand information. Even though I cannot be sure, as of now I cannot think of any reason why my source would be untruthful, other than a moral desire to set the record straight. If the things that I was told are even remotely true, this business is more disguisting than I could ever imagine. We are then talking about multimillionaires exploiting tiny edges and ripping people off for what is basically inconsequential money to them. I am thoroughly disguisted today.

The evidence presented to me is so damning, that nothing short of Stoxtrader completely opening everything up for the world to see will convince me otherwise, including the name of his other accounts and justification for switching them. If FT where to deny a connection between those accounts, I will ignore it as it would still seem implausible to me. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought I would be saying this just 3 hours ago. I wish to God that I could reveal my source, and I have to control myself in order to not post a ton of other stuff that while unsubstantiated my source assures me are commonplace with certain individuals related to this issue. I feel that would not be fair on them and I do not partake in slander. For me to accuse someone publicly, I need to have a very, very strong base to stand on.

It is my personal opinion that Mason Malmuth and twoplustwo have been trying their best to see this matter go as much under the radar as possible, although I have no hard evidence of it, and again, it is a personal opinion that I feel entitled to. It was something that my source felt was important to reassure me of. I will do my best to keep this post up in as many places as possible until Stoxtrader has replied, and hope others do the same and keep up the good work.

EDIT: If you are not already, make sure you are following this thread in HSNL, not the one in NVG:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/19...ussion-733894/

As a lot of you guys know, there were some NVG threads about me a while back, and if anyone ever got the impression that I made my money shortstacking, I just discovered a new feature in Holdem Manager due to the latest Stox-trader scandal that I wish I knew about back then. I felt very unfairly judged, to say the least, and I am only human. The feature is being able to sort your results by stack size. Doing that reveals some interesting things, and should end all speculation on the shortstacking at least;



Out of 712 802 hands, I have 19 456 where I play with less than a 50 bb stack. Also, I am down at the rate of 5.32 bb/100 playing with that stack size. I would love for the people who accused me of being a professional shortstacker at the time to come out and repeat their claims. As always, people in the forums and it seems poker players in general want to believe the worst about people, facts validated or not.

Just listened to the latest episode of Deuce Plays, the DC podcast hosted by Bart Hanson, in which FWF / DaEvils gives his thoughts on coaching. I have been aware of Bart Hanson´s work ever since he hosted Live at the Bike, and I always know that an interview with him means relevant questions and astute comments, so I try to listen to the podcasts he´s involved with if the guests are interesting.

Personally, I thought the interview was great, and it was a sound commentary unaffected by general forum noise, which it seems is always there these days. Although forum debate is very good, some times some of the finer, more subtle points of discussion can go lost amidst other things.

I agree with pretty much everyhting he said (have not yet listened to the last ten minutes), the pimary thing being to do your homework when selecting a coach. For instance, if the choice is between a coach that articulates himself well and one that does not, all other things being equal (price, for instance) you should go for the on that is better at explaining himself, just based on the higher likelihood of him being able to add more value to your game. Or if two people are equally articulate, all else being equal, you should go for the one that is beating the games over the largest and most recent sample size. If those two things are equal, go for the one with most recommendations, or the one that is the cheapest. And so on and so forth until you can narrow it down as much as possible. Basically, if you are looking for a coach or you are at all interested in the recent coaching debate, you should definitely check out this interview.

As for me, a lot of this month has been devoted to studying the game and rebuilding and analyzing parts of my game that I feel have grown a little stale. I am experimenting with some new things that I feel very excited about, and other things that I feel do not work as well in practice as they do when I think about them in my head and on paper. So it´s been a very interesting month thus far in terms of poker-development, and I am going to spend a lot of this month continuing to build on and finalize some of the experimental parts of my current game. Between my pokerstudies and my actual studies volume continues to suffer. I have managed to get roughly 25 k hands in so far in March, slightly less than two-thirds of them on Ipoker:



I am running very well on other sites as well, so up about 50 k on the month so far. Haven´t started playing on my other Ipoker sn yet, as it feels hard to let go of Bucuster. It´s almost like giving up an old friend. I've had this sn for almost two years now, and it´s the nickname of the greatest zen-master I have ever known, namely my cat. I am a dog-person at heart, but our apartment is way too small for the type of dog I want (hopefully that may change in the future and The Bucuster would then get a canine friend for sure). We´ve had her for almost three years now, and she was adopted when she was six months young from the local cat shelter which my girlfriend is involved with.

So this here is the Original Bucuster, slightly surprised but loving life, chillaxing on our Ikea carpet:



And here´s the OB, wrapped in our IKEA sheets on our IKEA sofa:



It is amazing how attached you can become to anything living. When my girlfriend first brought up the idea of adopting a cat a few years back, I was opposed to the idea thinking that we should wait and get a dog further down the line. Today, she is a firm part of the family.

I have watched this video five times today. There is something about it that, for me, really captures the value of nature and being oudoors, something of particular value to all of us who are playing this game for a living from the comfort of our own homes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgFzA...=youtube_gdata

Some things are good for the soul, some things are bad for the soul. This, is very good for the soul. This clip really spoke to me.

Enjoying nature and the outdoors is something that is inexpensive and priceless at the same time, open to nosebleed players and micro grinders. Nothing that is man-made can be as dramatic, or as impressive. If you haven´t discovered it yet, don´t wait too long because once you do, at least if you are like me, you will be wondering where it was all your life.

Am going on the final skitrip of the season on the 26th, for about 4 days. We are heading up to Trysil, Norway. My body and soul will thank me for it once I´m there, and I can´t wait.

Former high-stakes pro Robert Lux of Sweden, also known as DODARN, has announced he will be quitting poker because he can´t beat the games at his previous rate anymore. Who is Robert Lux, you ask?

One of the routine things I have done over the past couple of years that has made me feel a little more baller than the average person, is my regular purchase of Swedens largest poker-publication, PokerMagazine, for the sake of only reading one single blog. I usually pick it up, read that one blog (amounts to perhaps 1,5 half page), and put the magazine away. I have been doing that for the last three or four years, without ever missing an issue. The reason, of course, has been the excellent blog of Robert Lux, on Prima formerly known as DODARN (english translation is "The Killer").

Robert was for a very long time known as one of the best swedish online pros, being one of the biggest 5/10 and 10/20 winners of 2006 and 2007, literally crushing the limits, and one of the most outspoken online grinders in media. Since then, the games have gotten tougher, and he has gradually been forced to step down, limit by limit. That is, until I picked up the last copy of Pokermagazine where Robert announced that he will be stepping down from the games all together due to a very disappointing 2009 where he broke even.

For me, this was somewhat of a sullen moment, and for the Swedish pokerworld, the end of an era. I vividly remember reading his blog in late 2006, being awed by his results and his elaborate, complex (at the time) thinking around the game. Of course, also being inspired and awed by somebody who could win or lose the amount of money he was winning and losing at the time is a given for anybody that is outside of the pokerworld. He seemed like a very intelligent person, a very good player, and a really, really funny (although controversial) dude. His blog was also one that was very open and honest. By his own admission, the blog also gave the impression of him being a little lazy with keeping up with the game, not having the best of routines, and for a long time, taking his success for granted. As I was coming up myself and having some similar success, I always used to think that he really needs to protect this talent by plugging these leaks, because people playing him were now reaching and surpassing his level of skill, but they were also very serious in their approach to the game. So I am not enirely surprised by his decision to retire, but I am a little bit sad.

His story is very similar to the one of another Swedish highstakes legend by the name of Jonas Danielsson, known online as Nebuchad. After having dominated the highstakes headsup games for years, his attitude towards the game gradually changed (this by his own admission), he became less interested in developing, less interested in playing and competing, and recently announced his retirement.

I guess this will signal a noticeable drop in the sales of PokerMagazine here in Sweden, as I suspect I wasn´t the only person primarily interested in Robert´s blog. Robert, if you are reading this, I want to thank you for a lot of fun and a lot of entertainment throughout these past few years, and for giving Swedish online pro´s a voice. I suspect that like Nebuchad, you are financially pretty well off, had a great ride while it lasted, and I wish you the best in whatever you will be pursuing.