I haven't written anything in a while because most of my time has been spent working at my day job or on other writing assignments. It also doesn't help that I went on a pretty bad losing streak since Turning Stone. I actually stopped playing cash games for a while and started focusing on the 20$ PokerStars 180 man sit and go tournaments. I played 30 of those and managed to take down a 1st, a 2nd, and a 3rd place victory. They are fun tournaments, but they require a reasonable time investment and it's very easy to get bad beat out of them. I found that making a few key adjustments to my game, really helped me do consistently well. I've heard from a lot of people that play these regularly that the secret is to play really aggressive poker. So for the first few I followed that advice and then it dawned on me that I am by nature a total maniac. So, maybe the key for me would be to actually tighten up. Well, let me tell you, that did the trick. I just let people pay me off and cut down on the amount of "glorious moves" I made. I also changed the way I play medium pairs. Generally in a cash game I like to set mine with them. But in a tournament, unless the stacks are very deep, I have found that set mining is not the optimal strategy. So I either open raise or open fold depending on my table, position, chips, etc... and I generally fold them to a raise (again depending on position, opponent, table, chips, etc...).

I ended up cashing out some of the Stars money (about 500$) and then of course I went on the inevitable bankroll mismanagement roller coaster that I always go on and lost a chunk of it in NL Holdem cash games and Pot Limit 2-7 triple draw cash games. 2-7 triple draw is the devil by the way. I believe there is a lot of money to be made on Stars in that game because the players are generally awful, but I had a terrible run and just didn't have the bankroll to handle it.

Meanwhile, my buddy Marc Karam (aka "Myst") won a million Euros for taking second place in Monte Carlo. A big kudos to him for that one! There's a party in his honour this coming Wednesday and it should be a great time. If you're in Ottawa you should check it out. Details are on JackSeven.ca and on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2263578694.

I wrote a piece about Marc's win for the Eurolinx website (his sponsor) and they paid me through my Eurolinx account (thanks Jo!). I also took 3rd place in a J7 tourney on Eurolinx and had some money in my account from funds exchanges with other players (usually Stars money for Eurolinx money). So I started playing 1/2 NL Holdem and I have simply been crushing the game, winning 2-3 buyins per session. I forgot how truly awful the Eurodonx are and I it just doesn't make sense to play online NL Holdem cash games anywhere else. Not sure why even bother playing Holdem on Stars. There is no comparison. Anyway, I guess I've rambled on enough. I'll leave you with a screenshot from a recent session on Eurolinx to illustrate my point.

Labels: Cash Games, Eurolinx, Marc "Myst" Karam, Online Poker, Poker Stars, Tournaments