Featured Member - March, 2009

[PMJackson21 0]

Congrats Bizz!

[JubilantLankyLad 1,957]

Congrats again Pete

Congrats!!Good luck on your new website

awesome

[beans-n-icewater 18]

not sure if you guys noticed, but i'm mentioned in the bio not once, but twice. kind of a big deal etc etc

[Napa_Don 688]

IT'S PETER!

[Randy Reed 0]

I"ve had his speedo poster on bedroom wall for quite some time now.Congrats BillyB

[Merby 3]

Congrats Bizzle!

[Vick12 0]

Wooooooot!!!!Bizzle is a great guy and the 1st guy on FCP who helped me out with pokering. I am forever in his debt for all he has done for me and my game.<3 Peter!!!!Oh and Welcome to the Club!!!

[JubilantLankyLad 1,957]

Wooooooot!!!!Bizzle is a great guy and the 1st guy on FCP who helped me out with pokering. I am forever in his debt for all he has done for me and my game.<3 Peter!!!!

+1 on this. Bizzle's advice and sweats were def a big part of me becoming less clueless. Really hope he doesn't mind me saying so, since I'm still not particularly clueful yet...

[Bizzle 0]

For those that don't know Bizzle, he excels at two things:1) Telling you which sattlites are +EV and which ones aren't

Speaking of good satellites, right now the 3 daily 109 satellites to the EPT 800 qualifiers are fantastic-the structure is the same as all Stars guaranteed tourneys and they consistently get a field close to 100. If someone wanted to do some work so that they could be set up well to play a lot of SCOOP events or get ready for WSOP qualifying, I would highly recommend grinding those.Additionally, I've never done a well or anything like that and I know that I am less known than most FCPers, but I will answer any questions posed of me in this thread.

[JubilantLankyLad 1,957]

Can you expand on your BR management and goal achievement ideas that are alluded to in your bio?

[Dawson Leery 12]

Additionally, I've never done a well or anything like that and I know that I am less known than most FCPers, but I will answer any questions posed of me in this thread.

Do you shave your legs because of swimming or because you like how it feels?

[Bizzle 0]

Can you expand on your BR management and goal achievement ideas that are alluded to in your bio?

Yep, but it will take a little backstory to understand the thought processes that I went through, so I apologize for the length of this post. I would say that it significantly started in the summer of 2006-I had been playing poker for 5-6 years at this point, and like it says in my bio I had started playing a random mixed game with my buddies (including games like Guts, Follow the Queen, etc.) and had gradually moved into playing the 5-10 LHE game regularly at TS in order to generate spending money, although I soon had more than I could spend because I just don't buy that much stuff. Following the shattering of my toe and the resulting inability to swim for several months (who knew one big toe could be so important), I started playing online and had no patience for online cash games at the time, so I got into tourneys. I had a fair amount of success early on Stars and then a lot more success later on Party. I had been trying a ton to win a seat to the WSOP that summer but had come up incredibly empty-lost a DS HU for the seat, lost a huge pot in a 650, etc, so I was pretty beat up. However, I had a very good May/June series of tourneys and said screw it, I'd like to go to Vegas and play a couple prelims, mainly for the experience.I had been talking with PMJackson online for a while and he said he'd set me up when I went out there, so I stayed with him, JC, looshle, tmay, and SBRounder. Prior to this time, I had been thinking for a long time about what it would be like to be a full time player-staying with these guys showed me very clearly that I did not have what it would take in order to do this. I was probably the second largest winner during this trip of the house (I had won my first 2 main event seats during this trip), and a couple of the guys were pretty beat down results-wise when it came to how the summer had been going. Regardless of this, everyone in the house showed an incredible ability to constantly be able to drag themselves up off the mat and get back into the fight on a daily basis, and every one of them had an incredible desire to improve. I didn't have this-I knew at the time that I couldn't get beat up to the extent that a person can get beat up at the limits they were playing and be able to emerge from the other side unscathed mentally and emotionally. I also wanted to improve, and improved a ton as a player that summer, but it wasn't to the extent that these guys all wanted it. Every one of them was obsessive about learning more (each in their own individual way) that was very equivalent to the way I felt about improving at swimming, but not about poker. I couldn't figure out why that level of obsession was there for one thing and not another (and still can't to this day) but I knew at the time it wasn't.When I got back home, I reflected a lot on the things I had learned, and more importantly the things I had seen during this time, and came to the slow realization that poker was most definitely something I did not want as a full time occupation for the rest of my life, regardless of results. It probably took the following summer, when I stayed in Vegas for a longer period of time and towards the end was legitimately not enjoying playing anymore, to fully realize it, but the previous summer had planted the seeds fairly deep. Also during this time, mk and I were talking a lot about the crapshootish nature of 10k tourneys and how the best players win out over time, but the nature of them dictates that anyone could luckbox a huge tourney (see Nguyen, Danny). When relating this to my own life (and a new-found desire for a level of balance) the person I started finding myself examining a little closer was Victor Ramdin. At the time he won the WPT in Foxwoods, he was independently well-off (I wouldn't say wealthy, but the money didn't change his life in a huge fashion) but he played a few big events each year and although he was a very good player at this time, he had gotten fairly lucky and been able to hit one for a large score. This lead me to the realization that I would be more than fine if that's what my poker path transformed into-playing a few big events each year, giving myself a decent shot at a huge score (life-changing money, in one sense or another), and most importantly, not sweating out whether or not I was up or down 1k at week's end.This led to a few ideas/rules which I continue to abide to, through this day:* I'll play anything that's good value* I rarely direct buy anything that's outside of my comfort range for normal tourneys (mostly 55s and 109s), but I'll play pretty much anything I can satellite into* And most importantly, breaking even is a good resultThe last one is by FAR the most important, by a laughably huge margin. If someone to OPR my stars name, they would see that lifetime I have 100k in prizes (not an accurate number) and a 0% ROI (also not accurate, the actual isn't negative but it isn't a large positive number either). Looking at the buy-in breakdown of my results shows a solid ROI in any buy-in <$100, and a fantastically crappy ROI in any buy-in $100 and up. (Sidenote: I have no idea why my lifetime record in Stars 109s and 162s is so incredibly crappy when my Party record at the same buyins more than makes up for it. Variance?) Looking into this a bit deeper and it becomes clear that especially for anything $200 and up, the average field size is much higher than that of the lower buy-ins, thus lending credence to the theory that I've ran better at the lower limits than I've ran at the higher ones.It took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that breaking even was a good result, but as I thought more about it, the more sense it made. From a personal standpoint, if I were to say make an additional $10-$15k on a yearly basis (probably about the upper limit, given that this is an averaged amount and the volume I'm willing to play) my life wouldn't change very significantly. However, if I were to luckbox a $500k score one year and break even for 29 others, especially if that year was earlier than others, there would be a large increase in the amount of financial flexibility I had as it related towards the future. Given a lot of factors (my current financial situation, my current life situation, my obsessive nature when it comes towards having a goal but my flighty nature when it comes towards not having something to motivate me, my unwillingness to have poker run my life, and numerous others), it made a lot more sense to me personally to figure out a way to follow the second path.So where does that leave me currently? I'm fairly disappointed that I didn't play the WSOP main the past two years (once due to a lack of motivation, once due to a lack of things that were outside of my control), so I expect that this coming spring/summer I'll put in the effort required to give myself an excellent chance at remedying that fact. I've played a few decent live buy-in tourneys lately (the most recent being the Borgata 3k deepstack) that have been financed thanks to profits from other, smaller tourneys or satellites. Finally, I'm at a point where I've been happy with my results the past few years, and know that as long as I continue to figure out ways to give myself chances at having the shot I am looking for, without letting poker be the most important thing in my life, I'll be able to look back one day at this phase of my life and have no regrets.

[Bizzle 0]

Do you shave your legs because of swimming or because you like how it feels?

Swimming, although I've had several chicks enjoy it when they are shaved. I don't know how girls do it, though-I get annoyed shaving my face more than twice a week, and it takes like...forever to shave your legs. I can't imagine doing it on a regular basis.

[speedz99 145]

Was the whole "Toby leaking the classified information" storyline really necessary?

[Bizzle 0]

Was the whole "Toby leaking the classified information" storyline really necessary?

It was a good story-line, but I thought they didn't do a great job with it. They did such a good job with the original storyline in that vein (the Bartlett MS)-one of my favorite episodes to this day is the one when Leo goes to Congress. They just didn't delve deeply enough into the things Tobey would have gone through post-leak (there had to be a way to make the trials and hearings dramatic) which would have built up a lot better to a climax when Bartlett signed the pardon at the end.That's the one of three disappointing parts to the last season for me, and the other two were totally uncontrollable (Leo dying in real life and the fact that it *was* the last season). Still a fantastic show that I enjoy re-watching every so often, and will continue to do so for a long time.

[Voldemort 0]

Grats sir!

[silkyjonson 1]

congrats Bizzle!

[looshle 6]

Congrats Bizzle. You are a really nice kid and have a passion for the game that will give a leg up on a lot of people who don't.I want to address one thing,The last one is by FAR the most important, by a laughably huge margin. If someone to OPR my stars name, they would see that lifetime I have 100k in prizes (not an accurate number) and a 0% ROI (also not accurate, the actual isn't negative but it isn't a large positive number either). Looking at the buy-in breakdown of my results shows a solid ROI in any buy-in <$100, and a fantastically crappy ROI in any buy-in $100 and up. (Sidenote: I have no idea why my lifetime record in Stars 109s and 162s is so incredibly crappy when my Party record at the same buyins more than makes up for it. Variance?) Looking into this a bit deeper and it becomes clear that especially for anything $200 and up, the average field size is much higher than that of the lower buy-ins, thus lending credence to the theory that I've ran better at the lower limits than I've ran at the higher ones.I hope you don't just dismiss this all to variance. It might be be 100% but there could also be other factors. From personal experience, I got to the point where I didn't really try to learn more about the game and how it was changing, and also didn't really want to. I figured I was good. I won big in a couple tourneys, how could I not? So, slowly, I became incredibly weak-tight to the point where I was a loser in tourneys at prob even the 55 level. It was just complete ego and stubborness on my part.When we were able to play Party Poker, the play was laughable. I killed it and I wasn't even that good. I actually built my roll from Party MTTs knowing little about tournament poker. I was stuck like 60k in tourneys on stars about a year ago. I improved greatly over the past 3-4 months due to constant learning and exprimenting. I'm still stuck ALOT on full tilt and put it on variance but the thing was I was still playing too weak tight because the FTP antes are bigger than stars meaning I had to open up more pots, which I've started doing and have put myself in position to do well on FTP now.Anyways, the main principle I'm trying to get across is never stop learning and never be afraid to admit you are or could be wrong about something. It cost me a lot of money myself. I feel like you are little too stubborn for your own good and your results would improve if you got rid of some of that.

[Bizzle 0]

Anyways, the main principle I'm trying to get across is never stop learning and never be afraid to admit you are or could be wrong about something. It cost me a lot of money myself. I feel like you are little too stubborn for your own good and your results would improve if you got rid of some of that.

Definitely true, and something I struggle with to this day, both in and outside of poker.

[leftygolfer 7]

Pete,1. Are you playing cash or tourney's now online? 2. You play mostly full ring, SH, or HU?3. Any books/vid's you have found to be helpful in advancing your game?4. My time is precious, any turbo sat's worthwile at Stars?5. IIRC, you are not a fan of chopping. Still subscribe to that theory?6. UFC 97 - Silva or Leites?

[Voldemort 0]

Fav porn genre?

[JubilantLankyLad 1,957]

5. IIRC, you are not a fan of chopping. Still subscribe to that theory?

afaik, bizzle has no problem with chopping, he just doesn't like bad deals. in fact, if you're going to do it, i highly recommend you let him negotiate your deal. he can get you better than first place money if you have the chip lead, it's impressive.

[gobears 0]

Congrats!Will you put up your March Madness bracket against anybody else's?

[Acid_Knight 2]

Congrats!

[Bizzle 0]

Pete,1. Are you playing cash or tourney's now online? 2. You play mostly full ring, SH, or HU?3. Any books/vid's you have found to be helpful in advancing your game?4. My time is precious, any turbo sat's worthwile at Stars?5. IIRC, you are not a fan of chopping. Still subscribe to that theory?6. UFC 97 - Silva or Leites?

1. Only tourneys2. Almost all full ring, occasional 6 handed stuff, mainly because there are occasional 6 handed larger buy-in tourneys I'd like to play3. I read the first two Harrington books back when I got started into the game, and Tournament Poker and the Art of War. I'd consider those books the basics though-I owe most of my game to the people I talk to regularly on AIM. I won't mention names because I don't want to shame any of them.4. I don't love turbo sats, but I find that any satellite that runs shortly before the event is going to start typically has the best value-people get panicked trying to win seats. Probably the best turbo sat online is the huge Sunday one on Tilt that guarantees a large number of seats to whatever their biggest tourney is of the day. Stars has some good ones though, but I mostly recommend a turbo sat where the field size is large and the # of players/seat is low-this will result in more "satellite" situations as opposed to crapshoot situations.5. I don't hate chopping, but people do it poorly overall. Anything beyond head's up it becomes a game of "who is most correct in terms of assessing value for my stack" as well as a game of chicken-how hard can you push. That being said, I think that nowadays with no Party and Stars terrible top payout structures (x-.5x-.25x for the top 3 places, as opposed to a more gradual decline) that chopping isn't as necessary as it used to be. When I won the 55 a month or so ago, because first place was 12.6k and second was 9.2 or some such, I felt like playing HU didn't create massively huge variance, whereas the old structure of first being 14k and second being 7.2 was quite ugly.6. Silva, all day.

Fav porn genre?

Not a huge porn fan, sorry.

Will you put up your March Madness bracket against anybody else's?

Definitely. This year is going to be especially crapshootish, though-I will still be confident in my bracket, but it's not as separated as it was in the past few years, and that doesn't bode as well as I'd like for increasing my chances at winning.Plus, this year I refuse to not pick the team I want to pick just because it will piss me off if they win. I chose against Kansas last year just because I knew Chris would get too much satisfaction if they won the tourney, and it ended up costing me a pool.