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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Harp221122 - Great staking story

Introduce yourself? 
My name is Harp221122, and I run the suspect76-pf staking fund, where most probably know me better.
Player Info
Total played0
Total staked231
Player points0.00
Staker points28157.51
Makeup owed$0.00
Makeup you owe$0.00
PokerStars accountHarp221122
Full Tilt Poker accountfreeroller76
Juicy Stakes Poker accountIBan4Fun
Party Poker account[not set]

 


In addition to running a successful staking operation, I have my own marketing consultant business, am an Admin on Chip Me Up handling the day to day operations of the site and have a wonderful wife and 2 year old son

Your poker start, where and when you found the game?

I started playing the game in 2004 when my business partner introduced me to pokerstars. At that time I had too much money and just played whatever, whenever and mostly games I had no business being in. Led me to not play for a couple of years from ’06 – ’08. 

Picked up the game again in 2009 and has been a recreational player (and not a great one) since. Over the year's I have learned that I am a much better investor than player, so I stick to that for the most part.


Tell me about your staking starts ... 

I got my staking start in 2009 when I read an article about poker staking, this lead me to a google search that brought back Chip Me Up. I joined and immediately fell in love with staking players. I started very small, buying a share here and there in players and really tried to learn what made a good event and bad event. 

I found PTP in April 2010 and started to integrate it into my staking bankroll with SNG players and Baps

As far as mentors and coaches in staking, I don’t really have any, as have picked up most of what I know from just reviewing a lot of stakes and research, but someone that I do bounce questions off of from time to time and has been great with providing his feedback (mostly on horses we are both invested in) has been WotaWaster. Even though he doesn’t really know me from a hole in the ground, whenever I have asked his opinion on something we are invested in, he has provided a great, detailed response


Your PTP history and some interest story connected with site..

For the first two years, I just staked individually on PTP, then saw a post by Suspect76 looking for someone to run his fund for him. I applied and Suspect and I had a chat about my staking philosophy and decided that he would give me a shot with $300.

This was in early 2012 and in almost 2 years, have now staked out close to $35,000 worth of stakes across PTP, Chip Me Up and 2+2, with an 8.6% return.

Since 2012, suspect76-pf has been the leader in US player staking on PTP, providing numerous opportunities for US players to return back to the game on a number of sites. I think at some point we have backed, in some capacity almost every US player that was looking, either through stakes or Bap section.

Which games are your favorite, what do you play/stake now? 

My favourite game to play is PLO8, but currently given the number of projects I am involved in, I don’t have much time to play, so I have just been mucking around with 6 max hypers as they are fast when I want a game!

As far as staking goes, I am partial to sng staking. It is hard to find good sng grinders, and the potential for big scores are not there, but if you do find a couple good ones, you can grind out staking profit that will allow you to take some MTT staking shots.

I am pretty much open to staking any type of sng or MTT game provided the horse has some history in it. I try and avoid Hypers, HU and cash

Your biggest cash online and live - or horse cash?? 

My biggest online cash was $6,900 win in the $3.30 rebuy $40k on stars. This was in 2009 when the prizepools and runners were much larger.

Our biggest horse cash is $1,100 by TJB111 on Merge. This is the only 4 figure score we have had for the fund, so we are more than due for a big one!

Did your family support you ? 

My wife is very supportive of what I do. One of the great things about staking is that while it is very time intensive to find, research and manage a stable, it can be done at all hours, so I ensure that I take the time I need to be with my family and once they are out, or go to bed, etc, I then can sit down and work on the business.

What is most important to be profitable poker player-investor?? 

I am not a good enough player to answer this from a player perspective, but from a backer perspective, the key things I think that make a horse profitable are:
-playing limits that you crush/win. Everyone is looking to move up in stakes, etc. The horses we have had the most success with, are the ones that are humble enough to understand where they can earn the most $$. It is human nature to want to move up and with our horses we do provide those opportunities, but key is remembering you want to play against people you can beat, not against people who are the same caliber or better than you.

-sacrificing volume for profitability. Obviously volume is a good thing from a variance side, but in some cases, finding that balance between volume and profitability can mean all the difference between profit and loss as a horse and backer

None of our stakes have volume requirements. I mean we don’t want our money sitting around for weeks, but we also do not push our horses to play when not comfortable or to just get games in

-Communication. This seems like a weird one for profitability, but it is huge one for me. Even if a horse can’t play I make them post every 2 days in the rail what is going on. Trying to be on top of what a horse is doing, what is going through his mind or life allows us to make adjustments if necessary to the stake and ensure optimal performance, whether it be changing game type or pausing stake because something is going on outside poker that needs to be resolved.

Did you had problems with horses, money shiping etc.

As with any staker, rollings are part of the business. I believe that if you do your research you can limit this amount greatly (as some just invest without looking). I am happy to say that to date in my 4 years of staking (over $60k staked) I have been rolled for $319.50 (0.5% of total staked).

Your favorite PTP horse - why ? 

I don’t really have a favourite horse so here I will give mention to a few of our long term horses who always do a great job for us.

Guys like Xpressbluffs, Rlsethekraken, Cooltoo24, and crs728 have given us a solid base of continually profits that have allowed us to acquire new horses and provide more opportunities

On the Bap side, both Acid Hound and LowPiciGaszper have been long term investments for me and the fund.

Your poker plans for the future?

My plans for the future will be to continue to grow the suspect76-pf fund. In addition to staking, I have some affiliate agreements that we are building and are currently developing a new website to help drive business to our PTP staking sections. 

In addition, I have just started managing a new SNG fund run out of Chip Me Up with suspect76-pf is invested that will be providing strictly sng opportunities on both PTP and Chip Me Up 

The overall goal is to build suspect76-pf so it is one of the staking elite and mentioned with all the great stakers on PTP like pajk, alcswab-pf2, WotaWaster, and ILS007

Mesagge to ptp friends! 

I guess my message from a staking side to ptp members would be that you don’t have to start with the most money in the world to build a successful business, you just need to put the time and effort into researching horses and managing your investments and risk.

I have recently started to develop a guide to staking, starting with small bankrolls and things to look for and watch out for. I will be running my first investment coaching session next weekend for some Chip Me Up members looking to take staking more seriously. 

I certainly am not the best staker out there, not have staked the most amount, but if someone is looking for advice/tips on how to start from the bottom and work their way up, my results speak for themselves and this this coaching project might be right for them!

Nevada and Delaware Sign Online Poker Partnership; States to Share Player Pools

The governors of Nevada and Delaware signed off on an agreement Tuesday that will see the two states join together for Internet poker.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell met in Wilmington, Del. on Tuesday morning to endorse a poker-only interstate compact that will allow online players from each state to compete against each other. The agreement, the first of its kind in the U.S., will aim to expand the marketplace for the two small states which have struggled to meet financial goals in the dawn of the industry's launch.

Online gambling in Delaware generated just $396,000 in the first three months, well behind pace for its goal to generate $5 million in revenue during the first year. Nevada won't release data on the online gambling industry until more operators are running, but the early traffic numbers have been underwhelming.

Nevada has three online poker websites operating real-money games. Ultimate Poker, owned by Station Casinos, launched last April. WSOP.com, owned by Caesars Interactive Entertainment, opened for business in September. The third site, RealGaming.com, announced its launch last week.

In Delaware, the online gambling platform is provided by 888 Holdings under the jurisdiction of the Delaware state lottery. Poker games are offered by a trio of Delaware casinos — Delaware Park, Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway — which share online poker liquidity with each other. The online poker market opened last November and, according to PokerScout.com, is averaging only 16 real-money players over the past seven days.

According to Gov. Markell, players in Nevada and Delaware will log into local online poker sites, where they will find tables that include players located in both states. While the player pools will be combined, players in Nevada will remain subject to Nevada law, and Delaware players will be subject to Delaware law.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Lisa D Weatherly

Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep. 
I am in a thousand winds that blow, I am the softly falling snow. 
I am the gentle showers of rain, I am the fields of ripening grain. 
I am in the morning hush, I am in the graceful rush. 
Of beautiful birds in circling flight, I am a star shining in the night. 
I am in the flowers that bloom, I am in a quiet room. 
I am in the birds that sing, I am in each lovely thing. 
Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there. I did not die !


Lisa D Weatherly, a miracle child and vibrant young woman, has passed from our lives all too soon. 

Lisa battled physical adversity and challenges throughout her entire life; she coped with them through sheer force of personality, will, grit and determination. She participated in sports, her great love, until her body could no longer sustain her; her wit and pithy commentary on sports teams and characters kept us in stitches and laughter, it seemed, forever. 

Lisa persevered in her education through Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, another goal and milestone in a series of small miracles. I remember all too well carrying her on my shoulders while she was in Middle School, above the press of her fellow students; the faculty and students all loved her.

Her mother, Norma Jean Weatherly, father, James Weatherly, and older brother, Joseph Weatherly, feel her loss keenly, as do we all, because Lisa was such a fighter; we learned to expect Lisa to overcome this challenge to her health as if it was another in a series of battles for supremacy against an unseen adversary. In that regard, Lisa had prevailed throughout her life; Lisa has occupied a place in our lives, it seems, forever.

We are grateful indeed to our Heavenly Father for His grace and decision to relieve her from this ongoing struggle and lift her up, into His comforting arms; free at last from pain and illness, now, and forever. Our immediate loss and tears are real enough, and Lisa continues to be present in our mind and memories, but we are consoled by the fact that we will be together again on the other side of the veil; Lisa will be there to welcome us with her wit, infectious laughter, warm hugs and snack food from Taco Bell. Enjoy the journey, Lisa; we'll be with you soon enough. 

Lil Lisa was a member of our community , smart, funny girl.. loved by all members.
Player Info
Total played681
Total staked163
Player points2588.94
Staker points1756.60
Makeup owed$0.00
Makeup you owe$0.00
PokerStars accountn2winlisa
Full Tilt Poker accountn2winlisa
Juicy Stakes Poker account[not set]
Party Poker account[not set]
OPR Stats
Open BAPs (View all BAPs)
BAP IDBAP RaisedBAP AmountDate started
40026$16.00$60.0010/14/12
38247$0.00$100.0001/29/12
35982$6.00$100.0003/09/11
28772$0.00$250.0003/23/10
Totals$22.00$510.00
BAP Investments
BAP IDPlayerSharesShare value
Totals$0.00



Stakes Playing
Stake IDAmount / BankrollStaker
454840 [rail]$1.10 / $1.10sydsdad88
168980 [rail]$11.00 / $0.00lilprog-MF
Totals$12.10 / $1.10
Open Stakes (View all stakes)
Stake IDAmount / BankrollPlayer
Totals$0.00 / $1.10








Messages to Lil_Lisa_W from PtP members :






















xfishnutzx
Feel like I've been punched in the stomach. 

I loved debating sports with her. So infuriating. Such a horrible speller. 

Such a fighter. Few of us have had to battle like she has.

Tenacious, precocious, funny, endearing, cute, generous, and competitive the whole way. 

Always at the top of my list of people I wanted to meet here. Would have loved to sit beside her at a Flyers game.

Really really sad right now.

packers4life: 

For someone as sick as she was, she showed incredible spirit around here. She could be annoying, but in the end was always a standout awesome member on this site.

Gonna miss her always getting lynched in WW.

Lisa's favorite team.



We didnt agree on anything in the hockey thread and was amazed that she never conceded she was wrong even when everyone was on the other side (torres hit on hossa), but she was so passionate about the flyers and about hating the penguins that it livened up the thread and as a Canadian, it was great to see an American who cared so much about hockey...

joeker

Lil Lisa has been with us so long, she was one of the first members of PTP/RBN.

As a person with so many medical issues she was the definition of a fighter and was a true poker lover and player, someone who took poker as a lifelong pursuit, not just as a phase or passing fancy.

Yeah she was a spitfire, everyone had a healthy argument with her at some point and she was vocal about her beliefs, never had a problem calling out B.S. when she saw it.

She will be missed.




I've probably played dozens of WW games with her, and she was definitely her own character. She was smarter than a lot of people gave her credit for, a very out-of-the-box thinker, and always rooted for the underdog. She had a real passion for the game just like she did for sports. Her posts would never be boring. There were so many times she had ideas everyone thought was crazy, but then she would end up being right.

Gonna miss her. But remember her spirit.

                       RIP LISA

PTP MEMBERS SEND 1700$ TO LISA'S FAMILY THANS TO : 

$20 gogzy
$104 Likashing
$50 xfishnutzx
$10 viper
$200 HosentRoger
$25 Crad
$10 bfizzle
$50 manhat
$50 Harp/Suspect fund
$6.66 iamslayer666
$30 loxo
$10 Pocket Deuces
$59 ColdHardMetal
$25 suspect76
$50 AlanF51
$100 Jefe
$20 cather
$15 justparttime
$50 krys
$33 ArcticAces
$10 losttrem
$25 headhunter
$10 TornadeoJim
$20 4ofakind
$20 jsoccer
$7 simplyme
$50 golfpro
$20 River_rat802
$10 Brownie4444
$25 DONKafied
$20 tarheelkid23
$63 wotawaster
$7 Talking Poker
$20 studentg83
$50 ILS007
$1 coasterbrad
$235 anonymous (multiple doners)
$20 kirby
$20 Gwyneth2112
$50 justblazed
$15 DeeYakaBaka
$50 ingermort
$15 dabrian
$25 cubbies4life
$20 UFC Watcher
$100 Schaph










Saturday, February 8, 2014

PTP Tour director StuckinARutt -Staking WORLD revolution!

The PTPT is a series of private free-to-play poker tournaments run from the Pokerstars client. Winners of individual tournaments win stakes, and monthly leaderboard winners  win even bigger stakes! Director of this very interesting project is StuckinARutt.


Your Background

I started playing poker in 2003 when I witnessed Moneymaker win the WSOP Main Event. Now, over 10 years later, I have gotten married, have a degree in Astrophysics, and currently work as a Physicist/Test Engineer but my love for Poker has not changed.

YOUR PTP HISTORY...

I discovered PTP many years ago after becoming involved in staking at 2+2. PTP very quickly became my go-to staking site, as the interface was much more impressive and the player base much more friendly.

Originally joining to earn stakes for myself, I have also been one to want more than to just play. In high school I ran games in the cafeteria, in University I ran games in my dorm and in my apartment, and PTP is no different. I quickly found that PTP was the perfect environment to develop my unique staking opportunities.


PTP TOUR, great idea, how u decide to create it ? 

The PTPT was just my latest accomplishment in an ever growing pool of great ideas I have. For a long time I yearned for something to bring all of PTP's players together. A sort of 'friendly-competitive' spirit was the only thing missing from PTP and I did what I can to bring it to them.

 Players comments about PTP tour? 

Player feedback is what's been driving the PTPT. It's what drove me to improve the Tour through the first five seasons. I believe I've built the Tour to a place where we can run for many seasons to come, and it's because of player feedback that I was able to do so. I am constantly being thanked for running something like this, not only because it offers new players the chance of being staked, but because it gives everyone the chance to just play and interact with other members, and it's really just become a small community for them.

PTP tour in future? 

I'm always looking to improve the Tour after every season. We went through such changes as increasing prizes for event winners, offering stakes to US-players, changing stakes to no-makeup and even integrating the Tour with social media. There is no limit for what the PTPT can achieve in the future, and with the player base of the Tour growing every day, we could see it become bigger and bigger.

6. MESSAGE to players

My message to players of any staking site is not to take your reputation for granted. I have worked for years to build a reputation on 2+2 and PTP that is so well respected, that I can post a live or online package of $500+ and get backers within hours. This is a reputation that I value above almost anything else, and I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize it. This is not so for many players, especially players new to the idea of being staked. To those players the advice I leave you with is this: You will be faced with a decision where you can turn your back on this great community, but 1 week, 1 month, 1 year down the road, you will live to regret it, for building an outstanding reputation with these communities will be the best decision you've ever made.

For those interested in my unique staking opportunities, I'm working on something big. It's going to revolutionize the staking world and it's planned to make it's debut March 1st.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Cates owed millions - Tilted 73-year-old man

Cates owed millions

According to a recent interview with iGaming.org, David 'PerkyShmerky' Lerner owes Daniel Junglemandan Cates $1.9 million. 

Recounting his early experiences in the online poker world, Cates explained how he and Lerner played two $3/$6 heads-up sessions but cross-booked the action so it played like a $300/$600 game. 

After the first match Lerner won $460,000, which Cates immediately transferred across. However, in the second match Cates scooped more than $1.1 million and instead of sending the money his opponent went into hiding. 

After chasing him for the cash Cates eventually received $250,000, but since then he's had nothing else. The incident has left him with a bitter taste in his mouth and prompted him to call Lerner the "biggest scumbag in the history of the world". 

Fortunately Daniel is still doing well for himself financially, but he's certainly not shy about outing other "scumbags" such as Joe 'BigEgypt' Elpayaa and 'Viffer'. 

Pensioner goes on uber-tilt



We've all been on downswings that have made us want to go out and do something stupid, but, thankfully, very few of us actually do anything we regret. 

However, an elderly man from Florida can't say the same thing after he was caught robbing a local bank with some underwear on his head. 

After losing all of his money betting on horses and playing poker, John Dougherty decided to replenish his bankroll by donning a pair of pants, loading up his shotgun and driving to a small bank in Lakewood Park. 

Once inside, the tilted 73-year-old forced staff to put money in a shopping bag before fleeing the scene. 

Unfortunately for him, bank workers had planted a tracking device in his bag and Dougherty was apprehended at his home and charged with theft later the same day.

pokerstrategy.com


Sunday, January 26, 2014

Variance in Poker

Professional poker players often describe their vocation as “a hard way to make an easy living”. One of the most difficult aspects of the game that a professional poker player must deal with is the inconsistency in income. Despite employing a strong skill set and the benefits of years of experience, many poker players still come home with less money in their pocket than when they arrived at the tables. These ups and downs of poker are often collectively known as “variance”.

What is Variance?


In statistical terms, variance is used to examine the differences between an individual result and the average for a set of results. These results can be represented as data points in a set to determine the fluctuations within that set.

We’ll demonstrate how to calculate variance with a small sample data set. If you were to track the results for your previous sessions at a $3/$6 fixed-limit hold’em cash game, they could read:

-11, +85, -30, +144, +9, +30, -87

Each of these results represents a data point in a set of seven numbers.

The total of these seven sessions equals +140 (-11 + 85 – 30 + 144 + 9 + 30 – 87 = 140)

The average of these seven sessions equals +20 (140/7).

The variance is the sum of the squares of the differences between each data point and the mean.

For the first result, (20 – (-11)) = (20 + 11) = 31. 31^2 = 961

Follow the same procedure for each result and you get these corresponding numbers:

961, 4225, 2500, 15376, 121, 100, 11449

Add up these numbers and divide by seven to get the variance:

961 + 4225 + 2500 + 15376 + 121 + 100 + 11449 = 34732

34732/7 = 4961.71

The standard deviation, another measure of volatility, is the square root of the variance:

SQRT(4961.71) = 70.43

The most frequent results lie within one standard deviation (+/- 70) of the mean (+20). With these results, a player should expect to finish a session somewhere between -50 (20-70) and +90 (20+70).

However, many of these data points lie outside that range. Are these results the products of bad luck, bad cards or bad play?

Variance and Sample Sizes

The more data points a sample size contains, the more accurate and reliable the measurements of variance and standard deviation will be. The seven-point data set included here is obviously much too small to give an accurate estimate of how a player performs at a 3/6 limit hold’em game. Also, more data points will give the player more information on how to manage the inevitable ups and downs involved in cash games.

Variance and the Central Limit Theorem

Another important mathematical concept that comes with sample size is the “Central Limit Theorem”. This concept states that, as the number of data points in a set grows, a plot of those points on a graph will resemble a normal statistical distribution, as seen in the classic “Bell Curve”.Bell Curve

Bell Curve

The guiding principle is that, the larger the sample size, the more data points that will fall at or near the average. This measure of variance gives the player a more accurate idea as to what to expect from his results.

Variance and Luck

Even in the most distinguished poker careers, a player will have sessions where he has wins (or losses) that go two or more standard deviations away from the average. Many inexperienced players attribute these results to luck, but they are within the realm of possibility shown in the Bell Curve. These data points are known as “outliers” and, individually, have little effect on the variance seen over a career. If these “outlying” results continue to appear, however, they may signal the start of a new trend.

Variance and Bankrolls

A sufficient poker bankroll is necessary to act as a cushion against variance. Some players may believe that, with just a few positive results at a $1/$2 no-limit hold’em game, they are ready to jump into a $2/$5 or $5/$10 game, regardless of their bankroll size. When the variance swings in the negative direction, as it inevitably will, a depleted bankroll could send the player to either a lower-stakes game or out of the game entirely.

Variance and Structure

Some poker games, as well as some betting structures, are prone to have higher variance than others. For instance, a $3/$6 fixed-limit hold’em game will have much less variance than a $1/$2 no-limit hold’em game due almost exclusively to the betting structure. In the $3/$6 limit game, the maximum bet a player can make on the river is $24 (bet-raise-re-raise-cap). In the no-limit game, a player can bet his entire stack at any time, which may be hundreds of dollars. These bet sizes can cause huge swings in variance.

Variance in Poker Tournaments

Despite the allure of fame and glory presented by televised events, no-limit hold’em tournaments are shining examples of the deceptive power of variance. Most professional players (including many famous faces on the tournament circuit) make more of their living through cash games and only enter the most prestigious (and lucrative) tournaments due to the high variance involved. Most major tournament winners are “outliers”, as up to ninety percent of all tournament players walk home empty-handed.

Variance and Playing Styles

In a previous piece, we examined the four primary playing styles (loose-passive, loose-aggressive, tight-passive and tight-aggressive). Just as the tight-aggressive style has been shown to be the most profitable, it also often results in the lowest variance. Both the loose-passive and the tight-passive players depend on catching cards to win hands (a high-variance strategy) while the loose-aggressive style relies on big bets to push players off hands. The tight-aggressive method relies on strong starting hand selection, infrequent bluffs and a well-founded understanding of probabilities, all of which contribute to reducing variance.

Variance and Emotion

The effects of big wins and staggering losses are not strictly limited to a player’s bankroll. The emotional roller coaster that comes with big swings in variance can also affect how a player approaches the game. Players who have become accustomed to big wins may lose their cool when confronted with a crushing loss. One bad session can set a player “on tilt” and wreck both his skills and his confidence.

How to Deal with Variance

Shifts in variance can be as unpredictable and dangerous as shifts in the weather: everybody complains about them, but no one can do anything to prevent it. The most important aspect of success in poker lies in treating each session or tournament as a continuation in one long game. Experienced players understand that their success or failure as a player does not lie in the results of a single tournament or a handful of cash-game sessions. Each session represents only a single data point: a consistent approach will often reduce (but never entirely eliminate) variance.

Conclusion

Former World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson once said that poker is “100 percent luck and 100 percent skill”. The turn of each card is the result of luck, but how a player responds to that unpredictable event is the product of skill, practice and experience. The ability to manage the game’s inherent variance is a skill on par with calculating odds and outs in terms of how successful a player can eventually become

Gus Hansen -$1,161,939

There are three common occurrences in online poker in the last year or so. First, Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene tends to win, and that was no different this week as he banked $610,908 in 1,765 hands over 27 sessions, which brought him up to a leading $1.36 million in profit for the year.


Second, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom’s swings are sick. He started the year off dropping more than half a million, and then he won over $800,000 last week to finish as the week’s biggest winner. He captured that title again this week by winning an additional $794,717 in 15,250 hands over 98 sessions.

Finally, Gus Hansen can’t seem to win. He dropped another $463,742 this week in 1,799 hands over 23 sessions, which brings his lifetime losses to over $16 million! While that was bad, two other players actually faired worse in Kyle “KPR16” Ray (-$753,937 in 39 sessions/5,124 hands) and Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar (-$659,520 and in 10 sessions/1,389 hands).

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some other players had superb weeks, including Doug “WCGRider” Polk (+$665,786 in 8 sessions/3,386 hands) and Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton (+$503,606 in 7 sessions/474 hands) on Full Tilt Poker, and Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (+$303,066 in 161 sessions/1,422 hands) on PokerStars.


Blom Takes Top Spot on 2014 Leaderboard

On Friday, Jan. 17, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom won $813,000 to bring his yearly winnings up to $1.7 million. The young Swede strung together his win throughout several games beginning with a $64,500 win over "AtherCliath” at the $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables. He followed that up by winning $150,000 at the pot-limit Omaha (PLO) tables, and then he switched over to the $1,500/$3,000 8-Game tables against rival Alex “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn, who he relieved of $289,000.

Blom went on to lose $150,000 to Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker at 2-7 triple draw, and then won $32,000 off Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon playing $200/$400 PLO. After that, Blom sat down with “SallyWoo” at the $2,000/$4,000 fixed-limit Omaha hi-lo (FLO8) tables and played for six hours, during which Blom skinned his opponent for $410,700.

Biggest Winners/Losers (Full Tilt Poker)

Week's Biggest Winners (1/17-1/23): Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$794,717), Doug “WCGRider” (+$665,786), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$610,908), Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton (+$503,606), Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies* (+$303,066), “Tight-Man1” (+$275,588)

Week's Biggest Losers (1/17-1/23): Kyle “KPR16” Ray (-$753,937), Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar (-$659,520), Gus Hansen (-$463,742), “SallyWoo” (-$457,439)

Year's Biggest Winners: Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$1,362,654), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$1,019,522), Doug “WCGRider” Polk (+$700,925), Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton (+$400,676), “mikki696” (+$385,757)


Year's Biggest Losers: Gus Hansen (-$1,161,939), Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar (-$659,520), “Sanlker” (-$316,646), Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (-$303,590), Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (-$195,283)

Friday, January 17, 2014

ReedMoney: Maybe it was in my blood to love the game of poker.

My name is Sean Reed. I'm old on the online poker scale at 37 years old. My family and I live in beautiful Northeast Tennessee. I have been working for the same company since I was 18 years old.


PTP history!?!?

I was playing some MTT on PokerStars one night years ago and saw a player with an avatar of Neverbeg Staking. I created an account to see what it was like and never looked back. At the time, I was having some decent results playing micro-medium stakes MTTs. I ran some profitble stakes in the beginning to build a reputation of a loyal and trustworthy horse. I also staked some micro players while playing myself.

Your poker starts, mentors?

I started playing stud type home games in high school for small stakes and for fun. I always like playing cards and remember hearing stories on my grandfather grinding poker at the VFW to pay bills sometimes. Maybe it was in my blood to love the game of poker. I've never grinded poker to pay my bills though. I began playing online before the Moneymaker era. I signed up on Stars soon after it launched and began playing micro SNG's for fun in my spare time. PokerRoom began and then I signed up there. That's when I began playing MTT poker and had some decent success to build a bankroll. Once I had a bankroll, I signed up on more sites and had my most success on Absolute gridning the early days with a lot of the well known players today. It's crazy to look back at all the poker beasts that used to play $3-10 rebuys every night on AP.


Biggest cash, live-online?

My largest live cash came in April when I finished 13th/1,315 players in Cherokee, NC first WSOPC stop. I was dissappointed at the $4.5k result considering I was a top 2 stack with 13 left and it was $70k up top. Lost AK<Q10 and couldn't recover. My largest online score was just over $10k when I was the first player to double final table the Big Daily Doubles on FTP. I won one of them and finished 3rd or 4th in the other.

About staking.....

Like I said earlier I began micro staking in my early days on the site. I was staking more heavily leading up to Black Friday. Luckily with exception of one offsite horse most of my funds have been returned from horses. Unfortunately, that horse had a substantial cash on UB prior to BF and I doubt those funds will ever be seen again. I have been staking live MTT players a lot more since BF. Mostly WSOPC grinders and I only buy small % now. I have not been too involved in online staking since BF because lack of US player pool & I don't want to have funds seized again by our government. I used the horses stats, game selection, trustworthiness, etc to choose my investments.

Biggest hit of your horse?

I have had some 4 figure scores since investing in live MTT's. My largest online score staking was the one prior to BF which sucks ass.

Hobbies?

Obviously, poker is one. I also like to hike, camp, college football and mostly spending time with my family.

Did your family suport your poker job??

Poker has never been my "job". I keep my poker monies and my real life monies seperate to keep peace at home. My wife supports it, but she also doesn't understand it too much either. She never understood how someone could play 12 poker tournaments at one time. However, paying the occasional "wife tax" with winnings helps. I have been fortunate to use poker to take vacations to Bahamas, Disney World, etc.

Favorite pro and PTP player??

I'm not a real fan of TV pros so to speak, but I liked watching Antonio Esfandari on HSP when it was on. He has fun at the table and won while doing it. As far as PTP players, I enjoy the posts/tweets from Indariva, Scaphism, Herschelw and many more.


What is most important to be good poker player?

As with most things in life, a person needs to have a good work ethic and be humble. Poker is a humbling game. You can win have 3 winnings months and then have 3 losing months just as easy. Poker is a game that changes constantly based on your opponents. Studying your game and others game is a great way to improve. I try to replay tournaments in my head to find where my weakness or mistakes were made. Talk to friends about hand histories not just bad beat stories. You're not always unlucky. Sometimes you just played really bad and quite frankly may suck at that level. Know when you are outmatched at the table, stakes, etc. Play within your skill set. If you win a $5 rebuy don't think you can win the Sunday $109 rebuy on Stars.

Message to PTP members??

Being part of this staking community for years now, I have learned that people need to treat other people's money with at most respect. They are giving you the opportunity to play the game. There has been too many people steal backer's money on here over the years. I don't see how some horses do it and live with themselves. Black Friday was essentially a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for many of those offenders. We will likely never hear from them again. I am proud that I have never had any trust issues on the site during my tenure.

Finally, I am very thankful for PTP for being one of the resources I have used over the years for backing, staking, guidance and friendships. Most of the people on the site make valuable contributions to the site. Hopefully, the US government wiil get its head out of its ass and let everyobe play in again regardless what state we live in.