I will post more details about everything later, but I wanted to let you know that I have been grinding the $12 and $24 90-mans on Full Tilt Poker under the guidance of Nick Rainey and rainmanpoker.net. I mainly play the $12, but I have sprinkled a few $24 in there. Before I started on Nick’s program, I was (am prob still am) a 100% fish.  I hit rock bottom of the pond and decided to make a change.  At the beginning of this month I decided to give Nick’s training program a chance.  I’ve been reading, participating in training sessions, reviewing hands (on my own and with Nick), and in-general, behaving and acting like a poker player.  Don’t get me wrong, I probably should be doing even more of this, but it’s tough to juggle a 10-hour workday, my chick, and poker.

BUT, I am proud to say that I am on pace to have my first winning month in a LONG, LONG time.  Feels good.  In fact, I just won my first $24 90-man and feel like I just won a WSOP bracelet.  Gay, I know, but the hard work/paying off thing has me pumped up.  Don’t get me wrong, it has not been an easy month.  It’s been chalked full some of the worst beats of all time.  I’ve gone to sleep frustrated and bitter.  I’ve often pondered if it’s impossible for me not to be a donk.  But I have made up my mind to grind through it and give success a chance…..and so far, it’s working.

Will post stats, graphs, etc. at the end of the month.

Thanks to everybody who commented and read my last blog. Obviously I was extremely frustrated and needed a break. In fact I think after I posted that blog I had a 4 or 5 day period where I didn’t go near a poker site. Which for me is unheard of over the last 3 or 4 years.

I definitely needed to figure out what was next for me poker wise. Bret and I obviously dig doing the show and have some other cool projects in the works that we can hopefully announce in a few weeks or so. But as far as playing I was a little lost.

I have to say that giving SNG’s a whirl has always been in the back of my mind. And having recently interviewed and become friendly with Nick Rainey- my interest was definitely at an all time high. Particularly when Nick bragged that if I sent my 9 year old out to LA he’d have him making 6 figures in 2 weeks and a millionaire by his high school prom. If my son could do it why couldn’t I?

So…..I have focused 99% of my poker time to playing SNG’s. Specifically 90 man double stacked KO SNG’s. Now these have been interesting to learn and fun at times to play. The problem is a guy like me with a full time job and 3 kids including a 10 month old doesn’t really have the time to put the volume in that is necessary to really kill these games. But I’ve decided to try.

Nick really is the one to blame for leading me down this path. He kept bragging about how he could teach any asshole how to beat these games if they were willing to work hard. That wasn’t a problem for me. I’ve been spinning my wheels playing cash games for years now. I was willing to work. But I was concerned about having the time to play these things. But it seemed like an amazing opportunity.

Nick is truly one of the best in the world at grinding out these MTT SNGs and he’s been incredibly generous with his time as far as reviewing hands for me and letting Bret and I sit in on his frequent webinars. (I highly recommend them. Check out his site at www.Rainmanpoker.net for more info).

I figured even if I can only play one 2 and a half hour session a day and only get in 10 games it would still be worth it over the long haul. It’s not the volume that you need to really make money but it’s the opportunity to work with a world class proven winner that maybe can at least get me to enjoy the game again and oh yeah…make some money in the process. Even if it’s just a few bucks as I get started. I can tell you this- it sure beats losing every day.

So here are my initial results. Nick or one of his protege’s could probably bang out 134 90 mans in one day and it’s taken me all of April…but here are my results so far. They don’t mean anything I’m told. I have to wait until I get to like a 1,000 before we can start bragging. But at least I’ve started out ok. I’m not totally miserable! Wait until I actually figure out how to play these damn things. :0)

Hey guys- check out the newest show with Prahlad Friedman in the PODCAST section of this site.  He was a damn good interview-  might be one of the best.  As always, thanks for listening!!

Be sure to vote for Prahlad for the WSOP Tournament of Champions

I suck (but thats no revelation). For some reason I can’t beat the smallest cash games online anymore. After 4 years of being a marginal winner up to NL 50 over a million + hands I can’t win anymore. I’ve played 163,000 hands this year and I’m down $1700 with a win rate of -1.40 BB/100 playing as low as NL 25. I can’t take the beats. Two more coolers today and I’ve had it.

Nothing special. Standard coolers. I just can’t take it anymore. I don’t have the talent or psychological make up to beat the games. The truth hurts. But it’s the truth. It seems like more coolers happen to me than I give out by probably a 10-1 margin. I believe that 100% even if it’s not true…if that makes any sense. It’s probably because others can get away from tough spots better than me. And I’m a freaking NIT!

I’m sort of pissed too because I took the word of some legends in the game that playing a solid TAG game was still profitable at the micro and small stakes. I’m here to tell you that’s bullshit. A solid TAG style is a losing style. I’m convinced you have to have exceptional hand reading skills, be extremely aggressive 3 betting in and out of position, 4 bet light, balance your range and do all of the things that traditionally have been staples of the higher limit games.

You watch videos of guys and all they do is ridicule the lower limits talk about how you don’t even need to bluff the lower limits. You don’t have to play fancy. Just solid ABC poker will win. It’s a lie. It takes way more than that these days. And frankly I don’t know exactly what it takes or I’d be doing it. But I do know that traditional TAG ABC poker has gone the way of the doe doe bird.

What’s amazing to me is sort of how quickly my game went into the toilet and never turned around. I do think that mass multitabling hurt me. I lost some swagger and the deterioration started there. But in the past any downswing was always tolerable knowing that just tightening up and playing solid ABC poker would get me back on track. I think it’s safe to say after 160K + hands of straight losing at the lowest levels that you suck and it’s over.

I hate admitting this. I’ve worked so hard and spent so many hours ignoring my family and trying to work on my game. And the truth is the game is too tough. I’ve watched videos. I’ve reviewed my sessions. I’ve had the benefit of talking poker with the very best players in the world. Obviously I’m not bright enough and or talented enough to beat the modern cash game. It sucks too.

Hey guys, check out the article linked below. It basically breaks down why poker is good for you. Our boy Nick Rainey tweeted “u should read once a day if you’re involved with poker”.

Poker is Good For You
by David Sklansky & Alan N. Schoonmaker, Ph.D.

Hey guys- we get a ton of emails asking when we are making our return to iTunes.  Well, I was just told that it should be really soon (possibly this week).  We’ve switched website servers and have had a few issues with the iTunes configuration.  Regardless, you can always find our interviews and shows in the PODCAST section of this site.  Thanks a ton for supporting the show!

Friday afternoon we interviewed cash game grinder and new prop bet winner Zach Hall.  Zach recently bet that he could make $15k in a month playing NL100.  He won the bet with a day to spare.  All told in poker winnings, prop bet action and rakeback he won something like $43,000 in 30 days.  Not bad for a 20 year old.

The interview is in the podcast section.  Right click on it and save it as a download to ensure that it plays the entire episode.  Our itunes connection should be fixed very shortly.  As soon as it is we’ll let everyone know so that you can resubscribe to it on itunes.  Thanks for your patience and hope you enjoy the interview.

This week on Mediocre Poker Radio we interviewed our boys Hac and Di Dang to catch up on everything going on in the world of High Stakes Poker.  The guys were nice enough to come down to our radio studio in Fairfax, VA to talk poker for nearly an hour! Check it out in the PODCAST section of this site.

This is the photo (from last years WSOP) that we referenced during the interview.

Bret and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Hac and Di Dang again this afternoon at our home station 106.7 The Fan. Even though Islidur1 is in the middle of an epic 40 hour session online the guys found time to hang out with your boys and give us an update on what’s going on with them, the high stakes world and their plans this summer. Bret will go through the tape this weekend and have it ready for broadcast Sunday evening. We’ll post it here at MPR as soon as it’s ready.  We think you’ll totally enjoy the conversation. Peace.