May Promotions:

1. $10,000 Rake Race: Every month the leaderboard will be updated daily here: http://blackchippoker.eu/rakerace.php

2. Up to 45% back: Through our special VIP offer (details below)

3. Double VIP Fridays: Earn at least 1,500 VIP Points on any Friday in November and we will award you an extra 1,500 VIP Points

4. Instant 10% bonus for new players up to $30: This offer is available to new players on their initial deposit in addition to the first deposit bonus – No bonus code is necessary, the bonus will be awarded automatically.

5. More promotions located here.

 In order to take advantage of these promotions, get in contact with me!

I Hate the Cold

So it’s about 4am here and I think I am going to call it a day. I am just getting ready for bed and loading up netflix so I can watch my shows; right now it’s Burn Notice, awesome show for anyone that likes awesome shows. Anyway, I just wanted to give people a little bit of an update on what has been going on. Firstly, let me start off by reiterating the fact that I hate the cold. Why? Being outside in the cold is just gross, your hands are cold, your muscles are tense, your skin cracks and it’s just a pain to do anything outside in the cold. The snow is nice to see every now and then, and I actually don’t mind if it’s freezing while snowing, but to be 0 degrees and sunny skies is just pointless. That is why I plan to move a bit further south once I am done with college (which is very soon), and I’m excited. I don’t know if I’ll have a “real” job or still be on the poker grind, but regardless, I just want to end up somewhere south of NY, that much I know lol. Although to get away from the cold, I have to keep going further south, but I don’t want to end up in flordia (although would be a cool place to live temporarily, similar to vegas).

Earlier tonight in my session, I was at a bunch of tables and I got a pop-up saying I had been a part of the bad beat jackpot. Needless to say, I was kind of suprised, because it’s never happened to me on MERGE, nor have I ever been at the same table as a jackpot hand (and I’ve been playing for about 5 years now), so I think it was about time. Who knows, maybe in another 5 years (or less i’m hoping), I can be the jackpot victim. Here is a picture of the pop-up…

Now, for a big announcement I mentioned a couple months ago. The book I have been working on with a friend is finally compiled and completed.  It took a bit to turn a massive .doc file into an eBook format, had to do some research and learn some things. The book’s format is still a little iffy, and I hope to improve it when I get some time. But for now, you can purchase your copy. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who wants to better their poker game. The amount of content and the authors packed into this book is an absolute steal; not to mention the proceeds go to charity! The book cover is below and here is the link to buy it on amazon. If you have any questions, head over to the contact me page and get a hold of me.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0073JFP0Q/ref=cm_cr_thx_view

Staying Focused

I apologize for the lack of updates & blogs on my site & twitter. I have been so busy lately with school and possible job opportunities, my time for poker has slowly dwindled. However, I’m always working to try and free up time for poker in the future. Poker is just such a great game, I don’t see me giving up on it anytime soon (no matter what the US does lol). So the key is to stay focused on what is important to YOU. I can not tell everyone they can free up time and get better no matter how busy or leaks a person has. The key is you have to want it for yourself. It really is all about planning ahead and time management. It is different because poker in the US is very tough now days. Yes, there is still money to be made, but you really have to work for it. A few years ago (or months even), you could be a so-so player and make money. But now, you always have to work on improving your game as well as staying ahead of the curve & this is no easy feet.

Lately, I have been watching training videos & reaching out to others in the game on their thoughts and opinions. Yep, that’s right, a BCP Team Pro is watching training videos and seeking outside advice! It’s not because I don’t feel I’m playing well, but I don’t feel I am playing my best, I know there is room to improve. This is where the focus comes in, are you willing to settle for mediocrity? Some might, and that’s fine, but they’re not being 100% efficient and losing possible profits because of it. That’s not me though.

Even though I’ve been busy, I still managed to watch a good percentage of this years WSOP final table and heads-up play. It was an awesome final table and everyone played very well. I’d much rather see two very good players go heads-up then Darvin Moon. I think a couple hands where Stazko and Heinz were heads-up, Stazko made some mistakes on the flush draw hands (if you can remember, Q6 hearts was one of them). It kind of sucks for a bunch of these guys (US citizens) that had a good portion of their winnings taken away for taxes. See Here

My last blog post mentioned something about an announcement. I have teamed up with a poker friend to raise money for charity and we are in the process of publishing a book. The book will be 1-2 page articles giving tips & strategies from poker professionals including myself. I don’t have the full list of pro’s with me, but I can tell you this book will be very insightful & not to mention all the proceeds will be going towards charity.  It is from a wide range of pros who aren’t necassarily well known in the live world, but have done very well online. This book will include a ton of different topics; mtts, sngs, cash, theory & more!). My topic was actually on board textures & I think I did well explaining my thought process. We hope to have this book in the Amazon store before years-end. When it is released, I will let everyone know on here and twitter.

I have also been more involved in investment opportunities, stock market, as well as possible start-up ideas. It would be my dream to own my own company someday (or a partnership). If anything big happens, I’ll be sure to let you guys know!

I will have more free time with the holidays coming up, so expect to see me at the tables. As always, feel free to message me if you’d like to talk about anything related to poker or investing, I’m always up for conversation (as long as time permits).

And don’t forget to follow me on twitter @Xorc1stPoker, you will run amazing for the rest of your life. Don’t believe me? Just try it!

Take Care.

Pringles

I really couldn’t think of a title for this blog so instead I named it the current food I’m eating. And more specifically it’s the Salt & Vinegar kind lol. So I just started my last year of college. I’m excited to finish college and finally have no obligations. I’m going to try and get a few poker buddies lined up when I’m done to try and move in together somewhere near a live casino.

As for online poker, I’ve been playing a lot more on Black Chip, mainly because I’ve now extended my sessions to include 6-max, so there are more games. I don’t think I’m at the top of my 6-max game…yet, but I’ll be there eventually I hope. I’ve been playing full ring religiously for the last few years, but there’s just not enough games on the merge network at 200nl+ to fill enough tables. So I decided to start playing 6-max on top of every full ring available game at 200nl. So far, it’s been a bumpy ride, but I’m beginning to smooth out. With the help of some poker buddies and some online videos, I think I’ll be where I want to in a couple weeks or months. It’s definitely more swingy, but I enjoy it, full ring has really dried up and it’s a nice change. Of course I still am very +EV playing full ring, but 6-max just really helps my poker game as a whole. Once I am convinced I can beat 200nl 6-max for a decent win rate, I will probably move up as there are games for 6-max. For this month and on though, I plan on playing a good amount as long as I don’t get hammered with homework. I also have to try and balance some sort of a college social life too lol.

I’ve been working on a project with one of my fellow poker buddies and a few other top dogs in the poker community. I can’t say too much about it right now except for the fact that we’re trying to incorporate the poker community into helping something big. More information on this will follow probably in a couple weeks. I am very excited to be working on it and think everyone will be pleased with the idea & might even get involved too.

And of course, I continue to work with black chip management with new ideas and suggestions to help improve the skin. If you have any, please let me know about them and I will get them forwarded to the right people. That’s all I got for now people, see ya at the tables!

Cool multi-table tool to help on Black Chip

Found this cool tool to help with multi-tabling. It’s similar to “Table Ninja” if any of you have you used that. Here’s the link: http://www.runbetterpoker.com/

Summer – Relax or Work Hard? How About Both!

I am actually on my way to Turning Stone Casino in a few hours to do some work & relax a bit. Although live poker might weigh my hourly win rate down a bit, it’s something I need to do every now and then to remain sane. Grinding online everyday wears on you quiet a bit, so I tend to look forward to these type’s of trips. I just wanted to write this blog about summer and how I look at it. Some people like to party it up 24/7, hang out with friends or go on vacation while others use it as free time to work on projects or grind it out online while not in school. What works for me is doing a little bit of both.

EDIT: Made a few buyins at turning stone playing 200nl. Games were pretty good, I just eventually ran out of steam. Usually I can go like 12-14 hours before I get very tired at the table. What is your number of hours you can normally play without sleep?

Summer is always something I look forward to because I don’t have any classes and get to sleep late everyday & not have a schedule. However, this summer is important to me because I only have one more year worth of school left before I graduate, then I have to decide what I want to do with my life. So this is like my last summer to do what I can in poker & make as much as I can. If I do well, I may consider playing poker exclusively when I graduate. It sure would be a shame to work so hard at school then not use my degree (although I’ll have it for life) when I get out, but in the end, I am going to do whatever makes sense financially & for myself. I really wouldn’t mind using my Computer Science degree to work at a casino & then play poker on the side though. Although I will be playing a ton this summer, I really want to still find time to hang out with friends, work on some personal things & go golfing or play tennis a bunch.

So look for me at the full ring tables this summer!

Also, you can follow me on twitter “@Xorc1stPoker”.

Remaining Clear-headed On and Off the Felt

There are so many elements that are overlooked or taken for granted if you’re playing poker for a living or even as a serious hobby. Probably the most important is to keep a clear mind while off the felt. I’m not saying you can’t go out, party or have a good time, what I am saying is that it’s good practice to know when you’re not clear-minded and to not play during that time.

There are many players out there that fall victim to playing when they shouldn’t. I’ve witnessed on multiple occasions people coming back drunk and deciding to play 5/10 because they feel they’re on top of the world. While all this confidence is good, it’s rare they have a winning session that they didn’t luck into. It’s more likely they would lose a few buyins, wake up the next day and realize they had made a mistake.

Having a clear mind is a whole other part of the game that is not taken seriously by a good portion of the poker population. I’m not referring to when you’re playing with buddies for fun, what I am talking about are the everyday grinders and people who do this for a living that don’t have a stable mind. So what causes instability? Depression, relationship problems, boredom, family issues, tiredness, and tilt from an earlier session are some obvious ones and if you are dealing with any one of these, you really shouldn’t be playing anything for serious money until you figure out how to handle it. Some ways to better cope with the things life throws at us? Hanging out with friends, going out, talking to those you’re having problems with, listen to music, jogging, going to the gym or even looking over hand histories from previous play & watch training videos. Basically anything but playing.

A know a bunch of big time pro’s have “life coaches” which is great for a big time poker player. Someone who keeps track of everything, makes sure things run smoothly and who works with us to build a stress-free environment would no doubt help us all. But, not everyone wants or can afford a life coach, so they have to cope with it on their own which can be tough.

I happen to be very good at this, which is definitely one reason for some of my success. But it was a learning process – in the past I fell victim to some of the pitfalls I’ve mentioned in this blog. But these days I know when I should not play and I stick to it. I have no problem hopping on my Xbox and playing some non-stressful games to let some steam off and calm down (A couple suggestions would be Grant Theft Auto or Call of Duty lol). I jog regularly which works for me and I know for some people going to the gym and lighting up a punching bag can have a positive effect. Then, when I’m ready to play I can fully focus and play the best I can.

So think about this for yourself and ask your self if you can control your self and do you know when not to play. Do you have trouble dealing with tilt? Do you tilt easily? All of these things are very important and should not be overlooked if you plan to be successful in poker. The most difficult thing is that you’re mainly having to cope with it on your own, but if you work at it and be aware, you will understand yourself much better and you’ll experience a positive result in your game.

The Current State of Online Poker

Obviously the current state of online poker is pretty messed up, not only for US players, but for the rest of the world too. While I share everyone’s frustration, I must agree with the steps the government has taken. Stars/Tilt broke many laws and most of the charges were stemming from the very shady methods used in the payments department. Now granted, much of this was done to dodge the laws currently set in place by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act (which is a whole other story and argument in itself), but never the less is a law.

Many professional players lost their jobs (Myself partly included) and must find alternative methods to play, while the recreational player has even fewer options. Players are resorting to moving out of the country, moving to a spot that has plenty of live poker, going to a site that still accepts US players (such as Black Chip Poker), or using a VPN to play (which i discourage because it is against the sites’ TOS puts your roll at stake if you do this). I’m still in college right now, so I will continue to play on BCP but after college, I don’t know what I am going to do; I guess I’m just hoping things get cleared up by then. I was on Quad Jacks live radio podcast twice talking about the future of online poker, what the options are, and what poker professionals like myself are going to do. And quiet frankly, I do think it’ll be cleared up, this industry is simply to big for the current state of online poker to remain as is.

A very similar situation happened in the state of Kentucky a few years back. From what I can recollect, the Kentucky government blocked the domain names to a few of the top poker sites so no one from the state of Kentucky could play. This was overturned very quickly. I would be appalled if I was living in a state like Washington where it is currently illegal to play online poker and is in the same punishable class as sex offenders (Class C Felony). That is just plain out ridiculous on so many levels. Moving on, I kind of hope the government lets Party Gaming back into the US (obviously charging them up the ass and taxing the hell out of it), but this would solve the problem of the government (or harrah’s for that matter) having to invest & create a website with poker software that was comparable to Stars/Tilt and not only that, if the government were to get someone like Harrah’s to create a real money site, it would only have a US player base until it expanded. Party Gaming already is pretty popular amongst the rest of the world, so that would be smart on the US’s side.

Until then though, the whole MERGE platform is still open for business as well as Bodog and a few others I believe. Only time will tell, but the time is ticking on such a big industry, I feel like something is going to happen sooner rather then later. This is of course assuming the House and Senate become intelligent and jump onto this opportunity, so perhaps I’m rooting for the underdog outcome on this one.

-Xorc1st

Move to MERGE, Get Money!

Hey everyone, obviously the past few days have been horrible for online poker. However, MERGE is still up and running and in particular, the “Black Chip Poker” skin. I have been playing there the past few days and works fine.

I AM OFFERING A FREE $5 TO ANYONE WHO SIGNS UP THROUGH ME ON BLACK CHIP POKER

35% Rakeback is included and is paid out daily.

Click the link below to sign up.

After you have signed up, please get in contact with me so I can confirm, then I will send your $5. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

BlackChipPoker Promotions! Bounty on Me!

Hey everyone. BlackChipPoker.com now has some nice promotions involving the Team Pros (Me included). Knock us out in some designated tourneys and win cash! The schedule of events are listed below.

PLAY THE PROS FREEROLLS Top 5 go through to FINAL $10 or free book bounty on any BlackChip Pros who play Every Saturday in April and May @ 2:00PM BCP TIME (CST) (beginning 7th April)

PLAY THE PROS HEADS-UP $20+$2 Buy-Ins Winner also goes through to FINAL $10 or free book bounty on any BlackChip Pros who play Every Thursday in April and May @ 9:45PM BCP TIME (CST) (beginning 9th April)

PLAY THE PROS FINAL $15 Buy-in for those who don’t win a spot $300 + Buy-Ins Prizepool Winner also receives a 1 hr training session with Qtip $10 or free book bounty on any BlackChip Pros who play Saturday 4TH JUNE 2011 2:00PM BCP TIME (CST)

BOUNTIES Knock out Qtip and win a bloody good poker book by the man himself: “Poker Math That Matters” by Owen Gaines. Knock out Xorc1st or DiscGolf01 and collect $10 – in any case you need to email us to claim your bounty.

More information can be found here.

Good Luck!