TheMavenVT, Main Event FT and Updates

It's been a while since my last update. September was filled with Jewish holidays so I spent a bunch of time traveling to friends and family. Jetblue offered an all you can travel promotion from Sep 8 to Oct 8 for $600, I took full advantage booking more than 10 flights in that time. The downside to all this was my inability to play any Sunday tournaments as they conflicted with the Jewish Holidays. I believe this was my first time missing 4 straight Sundays since I started tournament poker.

I made it home in time for the Caesars Poker Classic, where they ran a 1K heads up tournament. The last time they ran a heads up tournament was in May, and I was able to take it down winning my 2nd WSOPC ring in the process. This tournament didn't go as well - although I did make a deep run - finally falling to eventual winner Chad Brown in the semifinals.

I'm incredibly excited to have been invited by TheMavenVT to participate in the online broadcast of the WSOP Main Event Final Table. TheMavenVT will be launching in early 09, and I'm very happy to be involved with the creation of this new training site. My first video for the site will be my final table earlier this year in the Stars Million, where I chopped 3 way for 116K.

I'm looking forward to action packed November, where I'll be working hard getting TheMavenVT ready for launch. The beginning of the month features the 14th Ftops, and then I'll be heading to Australia for my cousin Ezra's Barmitzvah at the end of the month.

Check out some videos TheMavenVT channel on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMavenVT

WSOP 2009 (one time)

I've been looking forward to this world series for the last few weeks. I'm going to play more events this year than ever before, and I'm hoping for big things obviously. So far I busted the 1K, 1.5K Plo and 1.5K. A number of my students are playing WSOP events, I'm hoping we can get a few bracelets into the Ari's Training Center family this year to go along with the 5 WSOPC rings.

I loved seeing Tom McEvoy defeat Robert Varkoni in the made for TV freeroll. Should be epic TV watching... (No chance we'd want to watch a ft like the 5K PLO last year won by Phil Galfond instead).

The difference between a bracelet being bought and won as per the logic of the Harrahs Players advisory board:
I get a particular joy in knowing that no players can "buy a bracelet" this year. For example, last year a young Man Max Greenwood, purchased his bracelet in the 1K rebuy, by merely beating out 879 players. This year there are 147 players in the 2.5K 2-7 event a game that very few players have a chance at winning... makes sense to me. It definitely makes sense that there are no people from the younger generation involved in these decisions, the kids would definitely mess it up.

I've been very impressed with Pokernews' coverage of the series, I think that have improved big time. Of course when it comes to reporting from the WSOP there's a clear winner: TaoOfPoker .

Best of luck to everyone.

Scoop Pesach and Daixyxoxo

I am a huge fan of the Scoop series. It's awesome having the variety of buyins to choose from, and even though I haven't had success yet, I'm very excited to play them. I've been sick over the last week and am just starting to feel better, hopefully a big Sunday is in the works.

Pesach/Passover is starting this week which means I'll have to skip a bunch of events I would have wanted to play. At least I'll get to spend a few days with the family away from all things poker. It's almost good from a poker perspective having these "forced" religious breaks, as I have a hard time limiting myself naturally.

Daisyxoxo (ranked first in the world according to bluffmagazine.com) is going to be offering training at my training center in early May. His progression from unknown to Mtt superstar has been amazing to watch from afar. I'm looking forward to having a chance to meet and learn from one of the best in the business. If you would like more info on training with Daisyxoxo, email: ArisTrainingCenter (at) gmail (dot) com.

Wsop Circuit Final Table

While the rest of the poker world went out to LA, the Saturday start day there precluded me from playing, so I decided to head out to Omaha Nebraska for the WSOPC in Council Bluffs Iowa...just across the bridge from Omaha. It was my first time in that part of the world. Unfortunately, the tournament only got 66 players, on a positive note I recognized very few faces and as the avid poker fan that I am, I tend to recognize (by face if not by name) most if not all players that have got even a drop of coverage.


It was even nicer to stack the "kid" to my left wearing a WSOPC ring who let go of 80% of his starting stack when his likely over pair.

I managed to lay down aces for the first (ok maybe slight exaggeration:) time. Amateur player opens UTG, I flat Aces in mid-position, and four of us see a flop. It comes 10,7,4,(rainbow) UTG leads, I call, 3rd to act calls in position, the blind folds. Turn is a 9 (making 2 diamonds) UTG leads, and I'm convinced that between them both I'm no longer good. So, I consider my options and make what I considered to be a prudent fold. After a non-diamond King on the river, UTG leads out again (he bet the same amount on the flop, turn, and river) and the other guy makes a crying call...gets shown AK diamonds and mucks. So much for disciplined laydowns. I managed to “shake it off.”


With blinds at 1K-2K and fourteen or so people left (9 paid) a short stack (who'd folded down to his current levels) shipped 3.8K (less than 2BB's) and got called from the button, I called in the SB w/ A2 and so did the big blind. The flop came J105 with a flush draw, we checked around. I led for 4K after a turned 2; both players folded but the button first flashed his 44. When the short stack showed his top set of JJ, and the table saw I was drawing dead, shenanigans ensued:)


At the final table, 6 handed, I was dealt 16 BB UTG+1 and I open to 2.5x w/ 88; it gets to the SB who goes all in (the SB and BB were virtually tied as chip-leaders at this stage and both had approximately double the player in 3rd). The SB was an amateur player who was playing on the semi-active side, but definitely wasn't an aggro-tard. With the BB's stack behind (and possibly the help of some live reads...he got up and walked around, did way to much unnecessary movements for a guy bluffing). I laid down my hand (I flashed my hand to SB hoping for him to show me as he had done the day before in a similar spot). The SB was nice enough to show me his AA. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take advantage of it and busted out in 6th place. It was my first 5K buyin final table.


Big Congrats to "Irish" Mike Sinnott who took down the 2nd preliminary event in Iowa, a $500 buy-in for $25K. I also want to congratulate DeadMoney627 for taking down the Bodog 100K (something I've still never done, after playing it close to every Sunday since it started to run. Lifetime, I have 2 FT's where I ended 3rd and 4th.)

Tomorrow I'm beginning the Bluff Poker Challenge where 25 of the best online players players start with $200 (no reloads allowed). Whoever wins the most in MTT's and Sng's gets on the front cover of Bluff Magazine. I've spent a ton of time thinking about bankroll management throughout my poker career, so this competition provides me with a built in advantage.

My thoughts

People keep arguing for the legalization of online poker in America. I'm of the understanding that it is already legal, I don't think people will like government regulated online poker nearly as much as they we're being led to believe. I imagine a bureaucratic nightmare, filled with endless forms for depositing withdrawing and unbelievably high rakes. Ideally we could go back to a pre-UIGEA world, and then pay Nat Arem a ton and have him build a state of the art regulations center. I'm a strong believer that we as an industry can build an effective policing unit. So much has been done in an unofficial capacity over the last few years. If people like Nat were given more resources, it's easy to assume we'd be able to make the online poker scene a much safer place without the need for government intervention (which seems to mess up everything else they enter.)

I still can't get over the number of regulars (people that are attempting to play poker for a living/decent % of it) that insult/berate bad plays and bad players. Leaks are fun - and extremely shortsighted.

I recently had my biggest online score, chopping the Sunday Mill 3 way for 116K. That combined with a great December and January having me feeling very confident. It really is amazing how much confidence can do for one's poker game. It's no wonder so many poker players have over inflated egos. Balance is so huge in this game.

Over the last year The Maven and I have spent a lot of time and energy building a state of the art training center. Literally every person that walks through the door is seeing something they've never seen before, it's fairly breathtaking (if you enjoy computers over views). I'm very happy to note the progress of our students has been amazing, and I'm proud in watching them grow into legit stars.

Speaking of spectacular achievements, congrats to The Maven for winning the 2008 Bluff Magazine Online Player of The Year. It was awesome having the pleasure of watching Maven play 10-28 tables throughout the year, maintain a highly profitable pace, train countless students and all make it look easy.

I tried to mimic Maven and move up from my standard 3-4 tables, so November was spent 6-11 tabling while I lost 5 figures. I've since tried 5 or 6 on occasion, but virtually all my success has occurred while 1-3 tabling. I still realize the theoretical value of mass multi tabling online tournaments, so I haven't given up on the dream. Still, for now I'll stick with my comfort zone and intend to play no more than 5 tables at one time.

Hope you enjoyed,

Ari

To find out more info about coming to my training center email: BodogAri (at) gmail (dot) com

Thanksgiving

Another holiday, does time fly...

It's been a great year so far, highlighted by my Borgata score in May. I've final tabled the warmup and brawl over the last couple of months, and got 6th and 3rd respectively. Otherwise its been quite a day to day grind, but can't say I don't love it.

To break up the monotony of online grinding, I decided to go serious at the recent Venetian deepstacks they ran. I can't play any weekend tournaments, so I just stuck w/ the $300 they ran daily. I ended up playing 6 total, busted in 2 of them, but got 11th, 2nd (chopped 3 way for 15k), 7th and 15th. Definatly was fun going on a heater live, even though it wasn't for the biggest money.

At home, crazy stuff is going down. I've turned my house into a full fledged tournament training center. It's preety crazy the look we have, and every person that comes in is in shock. Both The Yid/ Maven and myself are doing training here, and the results of our students have been amazing. Needless to say, if you want to improve your tournament game, we have one of the best models for doing so.

Of to Florida for the holiday (parents moved from NZ, yay no 15 hour flights).

Good luck All.

I'm against titles

Roundup of the summer, I went 0/7 at the WSOP, bubbling (w/in 5% of the field) 3 of them. The main event was a story of bad beats, as I got seated on day 3 (bubble day) to the right of a huged stack Owen Crowe, a top online player (Ocrowe), famously labeled as lacking a fold button. Additionally, I had Leo Wolpert (SuperflousMan) another top online player a couple to his left.
The other player of note at my table was a young asian player (yap)two to my right. Throughtout the day, it would fold to yap who'd open a ton. Ocrowe folded zero, i repeat zero(0) times during the first 3 levels of the day. This created an interesting dynamic, as eventually yap realized he wasnt gonna get away w/ much (playing ocrowe OOP isn't much fun) and started to shut down.

All this led me to a real bad spot. I couldn't open much w/ all these good aggro players to my left, and noone to my right (the other players were shortish playing tight, one or two were stalling etc) was opening light, leaving me with few opportunities to resteal. The best spot was most likely when I was Big blind, and Ocrowe raised UTG-that says a bunch. 666 paid, and as we got to less than 700 players Ocrowe and a short stack 3 to my right got into a verbal confrontation over the short stacks constant stalling. My bustout occured during this time, when it folded to yap on the button, i figured his range was literally any 2, as the SB was a tight shorter stack, and I was aggro but not too crazy, and it being the bubble and all etc. I didnt need to look at my cards as I decided this was way too good of a spot to pass up, but the q10 i saw was bonus equity for when I was wrong and got snapped off. Unfortunately, he beat me and my 28bb's into the pot, and I couldn't outrun KK. Definately hurts to bubble the ME, but I'm very confident my move was +EV...

I did manage one live cash in a Venetain 2500 (min cash- $3669) a tournament that my housemate, a former student who has become a MTT superstar, The Maven/The Yid took down for $206k. Obviously, huge congrats to him.

In online news, I made the money of the sunday million on Stars this week, but couldn't finish it off and I ended around 400th. With around 1000 people left in the tournament (shortly after making the money) I was seated at the same table as a well known very aggresive player (whose game I respect a ton) luckily though we were at opposite ends of the table. Unfortunately, that didnt stop a confrontation, as I opened AJ in utg+2 on his button and after he reppoped me, I figured I was good and for 22 blinds total I wasn't gonna get away. He showed me a big pair (either qq or kk) and I binked the Ace. The "poor guy" went off at me. Fair enough deep-ish (itm at least) of the million, I can understand it being fustrating etc. however when I looked back at the chat (ok who am i lying, i was following it all-not responding) 20 minutes later he was still going at it. This is a guy who plays 10k events semi regularly and has had a ton of success from tournament poker- the kids nowadays...:)

I played in the 2nd Borgata Deepstacks, but wasnt able to recreat the magic, and got in w/ a4 against 88 early in day 2. I'm a big fan of Borgata tournaments though, and I'll be back there next month for the WPT event. Not as sure about legends in LA next week, but it's possible.

As for the title, it speaks for itself, I'm not a fan of me having to come w/ a title whenever (even if they aren't very often) I make a blog.