It's been a while since my last update and video. I've been awfully busy the last few months. I finally graduated with my Finance degree. I ended with a 3.144 GPA which I'm actually pretty proud of since my mind was elsewhere. Really strange, the whole time I was in college I just wanted to quit and play poker more than anything, but once I got the degree I suddenly felt extremely proud of it and happy that I finished. I am very relieved that I am now free to focus on poker though.

I've been preparing everything for WSOP and am starting to get excited. I need to sell another 20%-30% of my action for the whole Summer, this includes main event and about 28 tournaments total. Selling at 30% markup. Contact me through PM if you're interested.

Now for the poker stuff. My coaching page is updated and I am willing to take on 2 students now that I am done with school. Contact me if you're interested, but check the page first.

As for the video, some of you may have seen I've had some pretty insane matches with Stevesbets the last two nights. I didn't film much of the first match, but I filmed all of the second one and I have a lot of good reads and explanations for my actions so it should make a great video.

Heres the cliffs on the torture that was round 1 below. I got so much better at poker that night, even though I lost 25K in 3 hours. My tolerance for losing, controlling tilt, and my ability to disregard money all went up significantly. Look for the vid soon.

***** Hand History for Game 12191672805 ***** (Full Tilt)
$2000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, May 13, 04:26:08 ET 2009
Table Slave (heads up) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: Bttech86 ( $16486.75 USD )
Seat 2: stevesbets ( $8944.75 USD )
stevesbets posts small blind [$10.00 USD].
Bttech86 posts big blind [$20.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Bttech86 [ 7c 8c ]
stevesbets raises [$50.00 USD]
Bttech86 raises [$230.00 USD]
stevesbets raises [$690.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$500.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9c, Td, Js ]
Bttech86 checks
stevesbets bets [$750.00 USD]
Bttech86 raises [$2050.00 USD]
stevesbets calls [$1300.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4s ]
Bttech86 bets [$3100.00 USD]
stevesbets raises [$6144.75 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$3044.75 USD]
stevesbets shows [Qd, Kc ]
Bttech86 shows [7c, 8c ]
** Dealing River ** [ 4c ]
stevesbets wins $17889.00 USD from main pot



***** Hand History for Game 12191600700 ***** (Full Tilt)
$2000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, May 13, 04:16:33 ET 2009
Table Tartan (heads up) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: Bttech86 ( $13170.75 USD )
Seat 2: stevesbets ( $14085.25 USD )
stevesbets posts small blind [$10.00 USD].
Bttech86 posts big blind [$20.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Bttech86 [ 7h 8h ]
stevesbets raises [$50.00 USD]
Bttech86 raises [$230.00 USD]
stevesbets calls [$190.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8s, 7s, 9h ]
Bttech86 bets [$350.00 USD]
stevesbets calls [$350.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4h ]
Bttech86 bets [$1000.00 USD]
stevesbets raises [$2500.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$1500.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Kc ]
Bttech86 checks
stevesbets bets [$5555.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$5555.00 USD]
stevesbets shows [Jc, Ts ]
stevesbets wins $17309.50 USD from main pot
Bttech86 doesn't show [7h, 8h ]




***** Hand History for Game 12190335063 ***** (Full Tilt)
$2000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, May 13, 01:58:42 ET 2009
Table Tartan (heads up) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: Bttech86 ( $7455.00 USD )
Seat 2: stevesbets ( $9246.00 USD )
stevesbets posts small blind [$10.00 USD].
Bttech86 posts big blind [$20.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Bttech86 [ 9d Td ]
stevesbets raises [$50.00 USD]
Bttech86 raises [$230.00 USD]
stevesbets raises [$600.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$410.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ad, 5d, Tc ]
Bttech86 checks
stevesbets bets [$660.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$660.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6h ]
Bttech86 checks
stevesbets bets [$1666.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$1666.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 9c ]
Bttech86 checks
stevesbets bets [$5972.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$4469.00 USD]
stevesbets wins $1503.00 USD
stevesbets shows [As, Ah ]
stevesbets wins $14909.50 USD from main pot
Bttech86 doesn't show [9d, Td ]




***** Hand History for Game 12190808497 ***** (Full Tilt)
$2000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, May 13, 02:42:45 ET 2009
Table Tartan (heads up) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: Bttech86 ( $7134.00 USD )
Seat 2: stevesbets ( $13167.00 USD )
stevesbets posts small blind [$10.00 USD].
Bttech86 posts big blind [$20.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Bttech86 [ 6d Kd ]
stevesbets raises [$50.00 USD]
Bttech86 raises [$230.00 USD]
stevesbets calls [$190.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kc, Td, 5d ]
Bttech86 bets [$362.00 USD]
stevesbets raises [$724.00 USD]
Bttech86 raises [$1949.00 USD]
stevesbets calls [$1587.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2c ]
Bttech86 checks
stevesbets bets [$5122.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$4573.00 USD]
stevesbets shows [5c, Tc ]
Bttech86 shows [6d, Kd ]
stevesbets wins $549.00 USD
** Dealing River ** [ Jh ]
stevesbets wins $14267.50 USD from main pot



***** Hand History for Game 12191359477 ***** (Full Tilt)
$2000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, May 13, 03:44:48 ET 2009
Table Slave (heads up) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: Bttech86 ( $19627.50 USD )
Seat 2: stevesbets ( $5831.50 USD )
Bttech86 posts small blind [$10.00 USD].
stevesbets posts big blind [$20.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Bttech86 [ 9d Th ]
Bttech86 raises [$60.00 USD]
stevesbets raises [$190.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$140.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kh, 9h, Tc ]
stevesbets bets [$420.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$420.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5c ]
stevesbets bets [$1120.00 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$1120.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 3s ]
stevesbets bets [$4081.50 USD]
Bttech86 calls [$4081.50 USD]
stevesbets shows [Jh, Qh ]
stevesbets wins $11662.50 USD from main pot
Bttech86 doesn't show [9d, Th ]


***** Hand History for Game 12191736739 ***** (Full Tilt)
$2000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, May 13, 04:34:45 ET 2009
Table Slave (heads up) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: Bttech86 ( $5454.00 USD )
Seat 2: stevesbets ( $19971.50 USD )
Bttech86 posts small blind [$10.00 USD].
stevesbets...

Got my first outright win in a large field tournament - finally. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I can't really describe the feeling of having all of the chips in play, but it is great.

I made four final tables on friday, got 7th in the stars 1002r1a, 7th in I think the 501r1a, 3rd in the FTP nightly, and 1st in the FTP 75$ 40k guaranteed.



I've also been playing well and running well in cash this which I'm very pleased with.

I have been extremely busy overall with life in general, but will do my best to get some videos out to you all soon.

Busto early in the 5th hour. Never got anything going, jammed 88 with 6700 at 200/400/25 called by AK and lost. Standard slow live tournament death. I did play a few interesting hands though.

100/200/25 villian utg + 1 who limps near his whole range limps, 3 limpers to be on the BTN I limp Q4s. sb folds, bb checks. 12k effective stacks

QQ3hh, villian leads 1k into the whole field, everyone folds, i call

QQ38hh villian bets 3k, i take like 20-30 seconds, ask him how much he has, and I flat

QQ389hh villian moves in for ~7k, i think for a while and muck.

I'm not really sure about this one, felt gross at the time but I told myself if he doesn't give up on the river and i don't improve I'm folding.


Another interesting hand, everyone was late coming back from the break, 100/200/25 i make it 500 from utg + 1, w/ T2ss, kid on my left is the only other person sitting in besides the BB, he reraises to 1375 pretty quickly. Earlier I saw him exactly 4X it with aces, from 400 to 1600. Everything just felt weird, so i followed the almighty spider sense, made it 3600, and he folded.


Last one worth mentioning, 13k effective, active villian makes it 550 in the cutoff at 100/200/25. I flat on the BTN with 67dd, BB flats.

A78dd, checks to me, I bet 1100 into 1800 or so, BB folds, villian calls.

A78ddA, check, I think I have to decide to fire all 3 here or give up unimproved. I decide to check behind and maybe I can pick off a river bluff, I had seen him check call a draw on the flop as the preflop raiser before, and I have a lot of outs to double up through a pot-controlling Ace.

Ad7c8d As 8s ..... sigh. villian bets like 2100, I debate shoving for like 2 minutes, can't decide what to do... end up mucking. I think I should've shoved, but I'm not sure. A lot of tournament players play any top pair like this.

Going to go workout, see if I can get into some 10/20 or 25/50 action, and then rest up for the 3K tomorrow.

Just arrived at the Wynn yesterday, playing in the 2k today, the 3k tomorrow, and I may decide to play the 10k on Sunday. I'm very impressed so far, this is the nicest place I've ever stayed in.

Because I'm not at home, I won't be releasing another video for a week or so.

The 2k starts in about 30 minutes, if I do anything exciting I'll make a post during a break.

I got 3rd in the 100r 6max on FTP Friday afternoon. It's a small tournament but I am just happy to get a good finish since it's been a while. The prize was ~$5500, and I was very happy to get there. I got crippled by QQ vs 34s in a blind battle on 345r down to 2BBs with 8 people left and managed to grind my tiny stack back up and survive. The other players were not playing correctly from an ICM standpoint and I went from 5th-3rd with a 8-12BB stack the whole time while players with 25BBs and 50BBs busted out before me.

I also won my first round match in the MSNL HU tournament on 2p2. I played against "Stacking You", who is insane, and was very fun to play against. He plays 100% of his small blinds, and 3-bets everything he wants to play from the big blind. He flat called I think 3-4 hands OOP the whole entire match (500+ hands). His 3bet was 28%. My adjustments were rampant 4-betting, and flatting weaker hands in my BB because for instance A8 now dominates 82-8K, and A2-A7, whereas normally I would fold A8o.

Here are a few hands we played to give you an idea of how crazy the match was.

I was 4-betting so much, that he started 5-betting a ton, so what is there left to do?

***** Hand History for Game 25683375739 *****
$1000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, March 06, 07:46:11 ET 2009
Table 145961621 1 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: Ben86 ( $2006.00 USD )
Seat 2: -EFP- ( $1994.00 USD )
Ben86 posts small blind [$5.00 USD].
-EFP- posts big blind [$10.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Ben86 [ Ah 4s ]
Ben86 raises [$25.00 USD]
-EFP- raises [$94.00 USD]
Ben86 raises [$220.00 USD]
-EFP- raises [$366.00 USD]
Ben86 raises [$1756.00 USD]
-EFP- folds
Ben86 wins $940.00 USD from main pot
Ben86 wins $1536.00 USD from main pot

He has 100% of his BTN range, and there are like 50 gutshots out on the turn. My hand
plays the same as Ace high here. I had to constantly remind myself that his BTN range
is as wide as it can possibly be.

***** Hand History for Game 25683789026 *****
$1000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, March 06, 08:00:27 ET 2009
Table 145961621 1 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: Ben86 ( $2743.00 USD )
Seat 2: -EFP- ( $1257.00 USD )
-EFP- posts small blind [$5.00 USD].
Ben86 posts big blind [$10.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Ben86 [ Js Kh ]
-EFP- raises [$25.00 USD]
Ben86 calls [$20.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8s, 4h, 8c ]
Ben86 checks
-EFP- bets [$37.00 USD]
Ben86 calls [$37.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qs ]
Ben86 checks
-EFP- bets [$104.00 USD]
Ben86 calls [$104.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 3s ]
Ben86 checks
-EFP- checks
Ben86 shows [Js, Kh ]
Ben86 wins $342.00 USD from main pot
-EFP- doesn't show [7d, 5d ]

He told me he had 44 here. I was shoving a diamond or a card higher than 9.


***** Hand History for Game 25683976585 *****
$1000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, March 06, 08:07:08 ET 2009
Table 145961621 1 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: Ben86 ( $2859.00 USD )
Seat 2: -EFP- ( $1141.00 USD )
-EFP- posts small blind [$5.00 USD].
Ben86 posts big blind [$10.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Ben86 [ 2h Kh ]
-EFP- raises [$25.00 USD]
Ben86 raises [$100.00 USD]
-EFP- calls [$80.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5s, 6h, 5d ]
Ben86 bets [$140.00 USD]
-EFP- calls [$140.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3d ]
Ben86 bets [$220.00 USD]
-EFP- calls [$220.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 2s ]
Ben86 checks
-EFP- bets [$671.00 USD]
Ben86 folds
-EFP- wins $940.00 USD from main pot
-EFP- wins $671.00 USD from main pot

My 4-betting failing as he begins to adjust and 5-bet me.


***** Hand History for Game 25683587418 *****
$1000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, March 06, 07:53:25 ET 2009
Table 145961621 1 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: Ben86 ( $2429.00 USD )
Seat 2: -EFP- ( $1571.00 USD )
Ben86 posts small blind [$5.00 USD].
-EFP- posts big blind [$10.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Ben86 [ 8h Tc ]
Ben86 raises [$25.00 USD]
-EFP- raises [$94.00 USD]
Ben86 raises [$220.00 USD]
-EFP- raises [$366.00 USD]
Ben86 folds
-EFP- wins $500.00 USD from main pot
-EFP- wins $220.00 USD from main pot

He had T4o here. Good example of how wide his range really is, but i still dont think I can
make the call. not sure if even like his bluff though, he and i couldnt come to a conclusion
on this one.

***** Hand History for Game 25681606274 *****
$1000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, March 06, 06:48:50 ET 2009
Table 145944532 1 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: -EFP- ( $636.00 USD )
Seat 2: Ben86 ( $3364.00 USD )
-EFP- posts small blind [$5.00 USD].
Ben86 posts big blind [$10.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Ben86 [ Qh Kd ]
-EFP- raises [$25.00 USD]
Ben86 calls [$20.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, Kc, 5s ]
Ben86 checks
-EFP- bets [$37.00 USD]
Ben86 calls [$37.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7h ]
Ben86 checks
-EFP- bets [$104.00 USD]
Ben86 calls [$104.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 8h ]
Ben86 checks
-EFP- bets [$265.00 USD]
Ben86 folds
-EFP- wins $342.00 USD from main pot
-EFP- wins $265.00 USD from main pot

My next video is an NL400 100bb stacks video. There was really high demand for this in the forum so thats what I decided to go with.

I'm absolute exhausted, so Feb is officially in the books as of about 3PM today. I ran hot this month in cash. Looking to carry the momentum into March and keep putting in work on my game. I've done an absolute ton of studying/thinking/etc in the last two months. I've been highly motivated to accomplish my goal of reaching 25/50 so let's hope I can keep pushing forward.

My grades are suffering a bit as a result, but I think I can pull the semester out, graduate, and fully enjoy my first WSOP over the summer. It looks like I'm going to be rooming with Luke Staudenmaier (IWEARGOGGLESs), which will be immensely +lifeEV, so im really starting to get excited even though I have a lot of responsibility between now and then.

The other aspects of my poker life need to follow suit with my cash games and get moving in the right direction. I'm down 45K staking and I haven't been able to do anything special in a tournament aside from a few minor scores with 4th-11th places and such. I need to run hot in the end game and get a nice score. I'm excited about tomorrow, as I am every Sunday, although it normally ends in depression around 8-9PM hah. It's still 10-12 chances to do something big though so I'll be grinding it out.

I'll leave ya'll with two extremely hot pictures. Since I know I'll be asked, her name is Niki Whelan.

You're going to like this NL200 video. I am 6tabling running like 36/30/16 or something really fun. Please leave comments/questions in the thread and let me know if you guys want more mid/low stakes or if I should get back up to 5/10 and regulate there.

Just booked my flight to Vegas for Spring Break. Will be staying at the Wynn, playing some 10/20, and playing in the 2k/3k and 10k events in the Wynn Classic. Very excited.

Hope you're all doing well at the tables.

Ben

I've been extremely busy all month with staying on top of my last 9 hours of finance degree, various trips, and getting my hours in at the tables. Video 2 should be on its way, it's a 4-tabling 400nl video and I think it went very well. Looking forward to hearing your responses, and any comments on what you'd like to see different / ideas for future videos. I'm thinking video 3 and 4 will be at 5/10 for a change.

Trip Report from Southern Poker Championships at Biloxi-

500r PLO event- 14th out of around 150 entrants for $2600 or something. I got sick on day 2 and eventually misplayed this hand in my exhaustion- 15 left(lol) tight player raises MP, I flat TT98ccdd on the BTN. Folds around. A67cc, he cbets 3/4 pot, I call figuring I can dump it on a board pairing turn and I'm in position. Turn is a Qc giving me the 3rd nuts, he thinks for a bit and bets pot and I decided to stick the rest in (maybe 1.5X his betsize or so) Pretty ugly, I don't think I was in my right mind during that hand.


1K NLHE: I missed this event playing day 2 of my PLO. I registered like a moron thinking I could either bust the PLO and play NLHE or that if I miss the NLHE it's because I went deep in the PLO event. Mistake, I blinded out. As close to lighting 1k on fire as it comes imo.
My horse Mark Leonard (BleedBlue33, uuhhhicall) made a deep run, he had around 18% of the chips in play with 35 players left which is pretty absurd, but managed to lose 4 flips and 2 60/40 situations back to back^5 so way to go Mark.


Then I blanked out on 4 1K sattys to the Main Event, I have no idea how. So I ended up buying in directly to the 10K and bought 5K of Mark's action. We both busted on day 2 which wasn't great but hey tournaments are tournaments.

Even after lighting 1K on fire, 4K in sattys, 10K ME, 5K marks main event I left Biloxi with -9000 net on the trip, so I really tore it up in the cash games. Although its never fun to have a losing trip I really did enjoy myself. Looking forward to graduating so I can follow these things more frequently.

I will leave you all with a hand from the first orbit of my 10K main event-

Middle aged fish limps utg, folds to be on BTN I make it 400 with 55 at 50/100 with 30K stacks.

K62r, fish leads for 600, I decided fish never lead with anything good here so I make it 1700. Fish Calls.

Turn K625 I do a little dance fish checks I bet 4500 fish calls.

River K6259 Fish checks, I bet 15500, fish goes all in for 21000 total, I cry/moan about the fact that hes going to show me 999 100% of the time and call the last 6000 off. Fish has KQo. Yes thats right, 300bbs with TPQK.

All-

I've been traveling all over the place this month but in the middle of it all I have managed to get my first video out and officially become a LeggoPoker Pro! The responses have been absolutely great so far, I appreciate all of the complements I have been receiving and would like you guys to continue voicing your opinions. Especially if there is anything particular you would like to see in a video or a topic you'd like to have covered.

If you haven't checked the video out go give it a shot! It was unique in that the regulars at my table were particularly passive and I manage to play 33/25/20 (vpip/pfr/3bet) or so throughout the whole session and I think it really made for an entertaining video.


Now for the actual blog entry.


This has been maybe the busiest month of my life. Just to give ya'll an idea:

Dec 2-8 Finals, got out of this semester with a 3.5GPA (only 9 hours though, but hey)

Dec 9-18 Bellagio 5 Diamond Classic, although I bombed out of the 5K early I did make it to day 5 in the main event and finished 17th for a decent cash. I also made a bit of money in the 10/20 cash games out there. Overall I had a great time on the trip and met some of the tournament bulldozers - Charder30, Gobboboy, Thay3r, JPOSU, SirWatts, IWEARGOGGLES all very cool guys.

Dec 20 celebrated my 22 birthday back in Lubbock with some friends, watched the Cowboys get crushed.

Dec 21-30 Back to the Dallas area did the family thing for Christmas and got to celebrate my birthday a second time.

Dec 31 Back in Lubbock to Celebrate New Years tonight and pop a few bottles open!

Jan 2-6 Skiing in Angel Fire New Mexico with some friends from school

Jan 7-9 My final semester of school begins

Jan 11-19 Flying out to Biloxi for the WPT Southern Poker Championships. Trading in 4 missed days of class for a 500r PLO, 1K NLHE, 5K PLO, and 10K NLHE. Not a bad deal. Really looking forward to it.

So I will be gone a lot in the coming weeks, but I will answer as many questions as I can when I find a minute to check the thread, so keep them coming.

Happy New Years Everyone

Ben