Poker Style Transition to 6 Max Tables

If you have followed my post, I made a transition to 6 handed tables and stopped multi-tabling in 9 handed full ring games. My overall impression is that I just started enjoying more and more about playing Poker since I made this transition. It is not just simply because I keep winning and profit myself a lot, I get to see a lot more action on the table and also find myself to start picking on certain players' tendency and take advantage of that. Whereas 9 handed full ring game was completely boring to wait for a hand and most people play ABC poker although I play 12 tables at the same time - kind of slow too. There is not much of excitement of bluffing and picking on other players as 6 handed Holdem tables. Players make a lot of move, I make a lot of move, and the excitement you gain while bluffing and enjoyment when you catch a bluff is astonishing! plus its very fast and suitable for my 300 APM poker style!

My hour rate is literally doubled since I started playing 12 tables of 6 handed holdem tables. I am no longer best preflop player but a thinking post-flop player. I found it to be just another step for amateur to become a professional poker player. If anyone of you find an interesting article about 6 handed-max NL holdem, please comment in this post!

Wish you all good luck at your tables!

Is Playing Poker Gambling?

Click here to view Original post from 2+2 forum


Many people have perception that gambling is bad for you. Well, I agree in a sense. Image gambling 1/10 of your bankroll with a dice. If you roll 1-4 you double your money, if you roll 5-6, you lose your money. You are getting 2/3 (~67%) odd on your money. Now, imagine gambling your whole bankroll with a dice. If you roll 1-3 you double your money, if you roll 4-6, you lose your money. Would you call both cases a gamble?

Wikipedia defines gambling as

"wagering money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods"

Based on the definition, both of the activities described above are gambling. It is true that you are betting your money on uncertain outcome. However, what if you have a better chance of winning even slightly? Imagine having a favor over 1,000,000 dice rolls. Can you imagine how many times you can double your backroll?



Poker is a game of intellectual guessing - You can never see what the other players are holding. However, there are certain factors to be observed - Odd, amount to bet, tendency of player, betting pattern, the amount of time an opponent take on certain hand, facial expression, shoulder level, eyes movement, the way they talk, and much more! Skilled players make these critical observations and use it on their favor in order to generate the maximum amount of profits. Can you understand the advantages you gain from perceiving these factors? I take these factors as an additional add to win my games. Just like the dice example above, if you have an extra winning number, your profit will enhance significantly in long-term. It is also true that you can lose the money even with these perfect observation skills. However, in a long term, professional players will generate tremendous income from these edge.

This is exactly why I call Poker a skill game and can be a profession. I really get disgusted from people saying Poker is gamble so you should quit. How can one really lecture others without knowing what they are talking about. We see people working on Mcdonald's drive through and make $5 hr vs people working on a law firm making over $200/hr. What do you think is their difference?
Education is my prior investment in my life at this moment. It is just not the schools but becoming an sophiscated and intellecture individual takes a lot of dedication and work. This is exactly why I still go to the school and work as a software enginner although I can afford to live my way just by playing Poker 3-4 hours a day.

Some people just don't say it and just look Poker players with their sunglasses on. This is exactly why I don't share my poker stories with an unintellectual inmates in real life. For the people who heard my deep Poker story in person, you deserve to be an intellectual individual, at least on my own perspective!

If anyone ever visits my blog and have thoughts about this, please comment on this post and it will be greatly appreciated.

LuxuryMaster Decides to go 300APM in Poker!

I have been playing 9-handed full ring game as my main game up to this point. I have been losing a lot of buyin's due to very cold decked cards. I was completely frustrated about this and was looking for a better approach to pursue my poker games further. I just tried fast 6-handed games (~8 tables to start). I was able to manage up to 12 games at one point! There are some delays but the players in $.5/$1 don't need much of thinking to adjust my play. I just tried to remember the tendency of each player and act according. If you have played online poker before, you will understand how crazy it is to manage 12 tables of 6 handed. I first didn't think its possible but it turns out that I really can.

There are other tendency I found out to be interesting on my play. I realized that I recently have been playing much aggressively and became very strong post-flop player. I take this as an improvement and switching to 6 handed play will enhance this efficiency further! Be turned for the results on my games within an week or so.

Pokerstars Supernova Party at Moon Club, Palms

This party was open to members of Team PokerStars and PokerStars VIP Club Supernovas. I've attended various parties (not only including poker company sponsored ones) and this had to be one of the best I've seen. From ice sculptures to signature drinks to a plane circling overhead welcoming PokerStars players, this event was one no Supernova should've missed.

I actually was planning on going to the hellicoper tour package that Pokerstars offered to the players. They not only offered the hellicopter tour and parties but other events such as free entrace to the prestigious shows in the Las Vegas for free! The staffs were really nice although I forgot to bring my registeration ticket before I go to the office. They still did the job for me and offered me a paper to sign. Thank you again Pokerstars!






I first met Umberto Brenes, sitting in a big sofa. I introduced myself and we chatted for a while. Little later, he decided to introduce me to the players on the other table where Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, and Daniel Neaguraneu. Joe asked me whether I have a hundred dollar bill or not, I had a lot of cash on my pocket from winning consistently for past few days at $2/5 no limit @ Wynn. I agreed to play and gave him the bill. He then announced the intructions of his game. The rule is simply to read the series of digits on the bill and whoever has the lowest wins it all. After a few minutes, players started shouting their numbers, "40", "35", "29", I had "26" so I shouted out but Moneymaker had "23" so he won the game. I gave him the money and decided to chat with Joe for a while. We had been talking and talking. The 2006 WPT champion guy (Sorry, I forgot his name) handed cash got corrected from everyone ~$800 and said "YOU WIN!". I was like wtf? and responded back to him "No, Chris had 23 so he wins it all". Without further explanation he kept handing me the money and everyone nodes their head. I declined it first but eventually accepted and thanked everyone.





Later than, I started drinking a lot of different shots, cocktails, and even champaign - for free! I got immediately drunk and was wandering around to take picture with champions and received a lot of autographs - Thanks!. Everyone there was really nice and warm, especially Greg Raymer and Daniel Neugraneu. They were very friendly and caring. Greg Raymer now is trying to run a champain to elect himself as a 2008 vice president of the United States - GOOD LUCK!. Funny thing is there were some hot chicks kept attempting to run over Daniel, literally every 30 minutes lol!

For more pictures, either visit my Cyworld or visit Pokerstars Blog (My picture is there too!)

http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2007/07/2007-world-series-supernova-party.html

http://www.cyworld.co.kr/dlawogus844

Pokerstars $50,000 Weekly Supernova+ Freeroll

Well, its saturday morning again. I had to run errands for my father in his business at 8a so I woke up very early. I have been working as an intern @ Verbal World from 8a-5p which means I have been waking up myself at 6a since I had to drive from Aurora to Denver. My sleeping pattern had been changed and I was very tired during the saturday afternoon but decide dot play some poker since I haven't played all week long.

I played $109R, $20NL, $3R, $20,000 FREE roll and $50,000 FREE roll. I cashed in $20NL and $3R but not significant amount :). However, I played very good poker on $50,000 tournament and managed to make 2nd appearance to the final table. A Pokerstars commentator joined the table, congraturating players. I responded back to him by thanking him for hosting a such a great party in moon club at Palms where the drinks and foods were free and all WSOP champions showed up. I had a such a great time at the party, meeting and talking to players like Greg Raymer, Joseph Hachem, Daniel Neagureanu, Chris Moneymaker, Umberto Brenes and more!! I was fortunate enough to get their autographs on the T-shirts I bought and took pictures with them. I also received advices from the world poker champions on how to play WSOP main event!

One critical hand I would like to share is, I had about x5 BB in UTG+2 and dealt KK. The blinds were big relative to the player's remaining chips so I figured if I raise here, I wouldn't get much actions. I decided to limp and everyone else folded except small blind and big blind. The flop was Q 8 2 and small blind immediately bet 1/2 of the pot. I decided to push and got called. He had Q and managed to double myself there which was enough to maintain myself down to final5. People requested to have a deal and I accepted it 1st prize was $10,500 and 5th prize was somewhere $2,500. I was 5th during that point and accepted the deal which leaves me around $4,500 . We all accepted the deal and I ended up finishing 1st at the end :)

WSOP 2007 Event #46 $2,000 Buy-in NO-LIMIT Texas Holdem Prelimenary Event

I was sponsored to play from Pokerstars at WSOP 2007 Event #46 $2,000 Buy-in NO-LIMI Texas Holdem Prelimenary Event hosted at RIO on June 29, 2007. I actually purchased to the ticket using my rake back - its called (FPP: Frequent Player Points) through http://www.pokerstar.com and wore their gears during the event. In return, they made a deposit of 75% entry fee to my account immediately and later deposited remaining 25% buy in after few days.

It was my first WSOP experience. There were 2,169 entrances to this event creating approximately $4,000,000 total prize pool. My buddy Justin Moskowitz and Kevin Choi actually came to the event during the first day of the event wishing me good luck - Thanks!. Every player started with 4,000 in chips. The first pot I was involed in was pretty nasty. I had 9d 6h on the big blind. There were 2 limpers creating a pot size of $200. The flop was 9 6 3. 2 hearts. I would usually check raise in this position but since this is only the beginning of the tournament, I decided to bet out and lead because I didn't want to jeopordize many chips during the early stage of the tournament. Surprisingly, the guy who limped from early position raised me. I called. The turn and was river was blank and I ended up calling him all the way. He showed 6 6 and took a half of my stack during my first hand.

I was under big frustration after that hand since I lost a half of my stack in first few hands. To summarize, I had been entirely short stack during the entire tournament and went all-in at least 7 times before I actually manage to get to top 198, where the bubble is. Before the bubble, I happen to play right next to Barry Greinstein. Someone called my cell while the hand is going on. I couldn't pick up obviously. However, after the hand is finished, I just looked at my cellphone on my left pocket without even pulling that out from my pocket. Dealer noticed this and thought I am text messaging someone. LOL. The floor had been called and the dealer requested to muck my hand for doing such a suspicious activity. Everyone in the table remained silent except Barry Greinstein! He talked to the floor guy and explained the situation throughly so that they are convinced I didn't do anything illegal. Things worked out fine and I didn't have to fold my hand. I appreciate it Barry! although it was marginal hand and I ended up throwing it away anyways.

So, I got through the bubble and played my 2nd day with a very short stack of around 17k while the average stack is around 30k. I went all in and got called again about 3 additional times and survived all. Next time, I got dealt KQo when I was having about $34,000 and the blinds were $2000/$4000 with an ante of $500. I was in the middle position and decided to push. Everyone except the big blind with a stack size of approximately 70k called my all-in with AJs. I flopped good. JT7 and he caught the jack and nothing came on the turn and river. This all-in ended my run and I ended walking home with $5,386 in 94th place. I thought about my last all-in attempt and if it was a mistake. However, my intention on 2nd day was to win enough stack to play to the final table or get busto because I didn't have much chips to play with. I mean, if I were to just earn extra $1000 or $2000, I could have folded QKo and finished higher but I was playing to win. If anyone has comments about my last all-in, please comment it here so that I learn :)

Pokerstars entry to Sunday Million

PokerStars Tournament #50508220, No Limit Hold'em
Super Satellite
Buy-In: $20.00/$2.00
27 players
Total Prize Pool: $2060.00
Target Tournament #50506312 Buy-In: $530.00
3 tickets to the target tournament

Tournament started - 2007/05/24 - 01:05:00 (ET)

Dear LuxuryMaster,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
You qualified to play in Tournament #50506312 and are automatically registered for it.
See Tournament #50506312 Lobby for further details.

If you choose to unregister from this tournament your account will be credited
with $530.00 Tournament dollars. Tournament dollars can be used to buy into
any tournament.
Visit our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/tournaments.html for more details.



Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.


Oh well, I am running like superstar on tournaments. However, running like junk on my cash tables. I can't reveal how much I have lost on cash tables but significant amount during short interval of the time. I now had to move down back to $.5/$1 again to rebuild my bankroll. This has been happening for a while now. I am glad I can still keep up living myself by winning tournaments. I feel like I am professional poker player who makes living off by winning tourmanets which is not yet who I am but trying to become one :)

2007 WSOP Main Event $12,000 Package Satellite - AGAIN!

I once again played this tournament over 10 hours again. I played very good poker overall and managed myself to stay top 10 during the last stage of the tournament. The competition level was a lot higher than the last one I played. jon_ja and khug both are really strong player and I congratuate them for getting qualified for WSOP. However, It is still ironic that I strived myself to reach this far again within 2 weeks. I already have received $11,000 for my winning for the last tournament which I alerady qualified. When the table got down to final 3, I decided and promised myself that I will pay for the main event if I get to win this one also. However, things didn't work out for me but I still think both jon_ja and khug deserve for the win. I learned what is the proper way to manage deep and big stack. Both of them had way too many chips over me and It became impossible to win the tournament with such a short stack.

However, I will be using conceirge service offered from Pokerstars and buy $3,000 circuit seat. It will be held on July 2007 and I will do my best to accomplish as much as I can. I will study about my poker games more deeply and start working out myself to further discipline myself and get prepared for the event. I am interested hearing how professional poker players manage themselves to get ready for such a big event.

2007 WSOP Main Event $12,000 Package Satellite

The buy in of this tournament was only 4000 FPPs (Frequent Player Points). It is the point you get from the rake on cash ring game tables.

Overall, the competition level in this tournament wasn't that high during the early stage of the tournmanet. I was able to maintain average stack until this following hand occured when I was 3rd out of 27 players. I was dealt K J. 2 players limped. The flop was KJ2. I checked to the limpers with the intension of check raising. UTG small bet and UTG+1 cold called. I immediately check raised both of them. Both of them called. Turn was 7. . I bet and UTG+1 suddenly pushed all in for another bet. I reluctantly called. The river was blank. UTG+1 showed 22 and won with set vs my 2 pairs. I was then moved down to 27th place out of 27 people.

At this point of the tournament, I didn't have much motivation to continue. I was looking for a hand to push and it didn't come. I only had about 6x BB and was dealt TJ. Small blind, who has been playing very tight overall, raised x2.5 BB. I would usually fold here but I immediately pushed all in. He wasn't big stack so it would hurt him to call another 3-4 BB. He thought about it for a while then folded. From there, I used my momentum to still the blinds and antes. I was about to put myself back to the average stack.

Finally, we went down to final 3. The chip leader was pretty much dominating both of us with very deep stack (approximately x3 chips of 2 of us combined). Suddenly, the other guy I was playing with mentioned about the deal. It was to split the package in between me and him. He promised to deposit me $5,500 to my account while the hand is going on where I got dealt 66. He limped from SB then I raised him x5 BB, surprising he cold called. The flop was J J 3. He kept telling me to min raise so that the deal can be complete and I leave the table so that he can win the seat. However, he never gave me the money and I just pushed all in after 3 bets he called. I put him on the flush draw. The turn and river were both blanks. He showed AQ. I was like wtf? he didnt even raise preflop. I ended up winning the huge pot leaving him to 100k while I was having 500k. The observers and he were suddenly very pissed off because I won the pot. I was like wtf? he never sent me the money. Apparently, he emailed the support. Pokerstars support came into the room and asked us whats going on. We explained him the situation and got disapproval because he checked the money on his account, and he didn't have 5.5k to send me. LOL? Observers and he suddenly became very quite.

Back to the real game, I kept folding because I was getting dealt really horribly. Suddenly, chip leader raised x3 BB with JJ and this *poser* makes it 2 bet, chip leader obviously pushes allin and he immediately called. He showed Q Q. I was expecting myself to put in very terrible position after this hand. Flop blank, turn blank, and guess what? river came out to be J. BINGO! Chip leader knocked him out and I ended up winning a seat just by being honest and consistent. Truth always beats lies.

See you all in ESPN2 during July 6th - July 16th!

Pokerstars $50,000 Freeroll Tournament

PokerStars Tournament #44117984, No Limit Hold'em
Freeroll
736 players
$50000.00 added to the prize pool by PokerStars.com
Total Prize Pool: $50000.00
Tournament started - 2007/03/31 - 14:00:00 (ET)

Dear LuxuryMaster,

You finished the tournament in 7th place.
A $1,600.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

Pokerstars $50,000 Freeroll Tournament

PokerStars Tournament #44117984, No Limit Hold'em
Freeroll
736 players
$50000.00 added to the prize pool by PokerStars.com
Total Prize Pool: $50000.00
Tournament started - 2007/03/31 - 14:00:00 (ET)

Dear LuxuryMaster,

You finished the tournament in 7th place.
A $1,600.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

Cyworld.

I opened my Cyworld, please come and visit me for PICS/etc!
Visit me!

WSOP 2007 Circuit Event

I will be attending one of the televised circuit event of WSOP 2007 by using my FPPs (Frequent player points) in my Pokerstars account. I am playing as Supernova so I get x3.5 FPP per base FPP gained. I am thinking about attending $1500 circuit event in Las Vegas in May during my summer vacation. See you all in ESPN!!

Little thoughts about pro gaming career

I recently got in tough with some of my former semi or pro gamer friends and talked about what they have been doing other than pro-gaming. Serveral of them are still doing successful pro graming and getting salary from sponsors. However, most of them made transition into different careers such as online poker, stocks, or school even. One thing I realized is that there are only few pros (even top world class wc3 players) who make enough money to support their living independently. Ironically, most of them lost either motivation or found more important things to do other than playing video games for living despite their success on their gaming career. Even if you can make a living off of playing video games, is it really something you can do during your entire life? I do not think so. What if the game loses its trend from the people and all you can do is play your video game in world class? then what will you do?

My point is, It is obviously fun to make enough money and have fun on what you are doing at the same time. I truely enjoyed my time when I was giving lessons and winning tournmanet in war3 and startcraft. However, I realized that earning good money doesnt necessary make you happy. I therefore now believe how you spend your money to enjoy your life is essential skill for a successful human being. Lets enjoy whatever you are doing and be wise!

University of Colorado at Boulder

Well, a new semester has begun for me and I hope I can ace my classes again but it looks almost impossible in this term. Look at the courses I am taking this semester (SP07). In 3 out of 5 classes, I was assigned homework assignments due on next class during their first lecture -_-. It might seems like 15 credits for the semester doesnt look much but its all upper division and 2 of them are graduate level courses. Well, double major is tough but I hope I can handle this :)
(I am thinking about taking another upper div math.... which seems pretty loose... what do you think?)


CSCI-4113 - 001 UNIX SYSTEM ADMIN 3 Credit

CSCI-5273 - 001 NETWORK SYSTEMS 3 Credit

CSCI-6448 - 001 OO ANALYSIS & DESIGN 3 Credit

MATH-4430 - 001 ORDINARY DIFF EQUATIONS 3 Credit

WRTG-3030 - 801 WRITING/SCIENCE-SOCIETY 3 Credit

Big... I mean Big Swing..

As usual, I opened my 12 $1/2 200NL tables and started playing approximately at 10p. Check out these hands. I lost about 200BB within 10 minutes, which is the biggest NL table swing I experienced ever. First hand was I got dealt 77 and flop was J7J. I pushed and guy with AA and AJ both called Turn was Q, River was Q. Second hand was I got dealt J8 and flopped 2 pair, the guy with J9 on Js8s3h made it 2 bet, i made 3 bets and lost to his runner runner flush. I happen to give almost 200BB to same fish within 10 minutes. Someone also cracked my AA with J8o on
JJ6 board lol.

After losing those 3 big pots within 10 minutes in multi tables, I got frustrated. I had pending bonus of $1500 almost complete and I was seriously wondering what the hell is going on here. I played super aggressive after this beats and won about 150 BBs back but was still down about 50BB at the end of the session but I guess its okay :). I realized handling big swing is also another challenging aspect for a succeessful NL holdem player especially if its due to bad beats from runner runner cards.

After ARKS.

I went to Winter Park, CO for the Christian event called ARKS(Arise Reborn Korean Students) during Jan.4 - Jan.7. I had been going to church regularly because one of my friend who influenced me in good way asked me to come. I had been continue going to church for about an year now and not really one of the active member because I didnt really understand Jesus christ and why I need to believe in Jesus. I also recently experienced some depression despite my success in poker career and school (got straight A's this semester). I have been wondering why and this was also one of the reason why I went to ARKS in order to find my resolve.

To summarize briefly, I just feel like my identity in this world has became more clear and realized I have been camouflaging myself in order to satisfy my self-desire. I studied deeply about my character and realized how I can become a better human being. God Bless me. Amen. For those of you who wonder what happened in ARKS or interested coming to our next year camp, Please visit Korean ARKS website at http://club.cyworld.com/arkscolorado

Lets Begin 2007!

Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is now 2007! I went to church in the morning and hung out with my friends. At night? Yes, you guessed it right - I went to downtown and enjoyed firework (totally gorgeous). It was freezing but once I get myself used to the weather, I felt fine (it was difficult because I was wearing a cracked jeans). I set following goals myself for upcoming 2007!

• Keep making solid profit on $1/2 10 handed tables and gradually move on to $1/2 and eventually to $2/$4 6 handed 8 tables.
• Solidify my poker displine, patience and as well as my reads about opponent's hands.
• Date beautiful women!
• Court
• Buy Nissan 350Z
• Get a Java S2JE Certification
• Get an internship @ Sun Microsystems at Broomfield, CO
• Maintaining and managing daily routines such as sleep/wake up time and work-out schedule.

I always get enthusiastic at the end of the year and set pretty outstanding and challenging goals. However, this way I know exactly what I need to do throughout the new year and plan myself ahead. What are your goals for 2007?