First Of Many

As promised i would do some recaping of mark dagnone's run in event 20 $1500 plo omaha at the world series of poker-wsop. mark made a huge 2 day run playing with the worlds best 857 entries and mark placed 66th for a touch under $3700 us. i dont have alot of hand histories but i did follow mark online from the start of the tourney to the end. we had a deal that if mark was to final table he would fly me out to vegas to rail for him. i did my best for him while i wAS in lethbridge by checking up on his players at his tables and advising of any noted tendencies and who to stay away from. mark had wsop braclet winner chris bjorn at his table and one of the russian who i am not even gonna try and pronounce who had cashed in 3 events so far. after speaking with mark at a few breaks and working through some hands he really accepted the fact that he was a world class player in plo and he can handle himself at that stage of competition.

i will give some more backround on mark and myself and how we came to be friends and running mates. mark is a local restaurant owner and aquaintence through some of our local hang outs and his roomate marty baceda who is a local celibrety in his own right. mark and i have play some cash games together but never for the stakes that mark is used to. mark has played in one of the biggest underground games in our city with 10's of thousands of dollars changing hands nightly. i would love to sit in those games as i know i am a great multi game player but plo and hi lo is just not my stongest suit. this game is primarily plo with some holdem mixed in. these guys do play 5-10 pot limit where u really need to sit with 500-100 to be able to play. limits my bankroll could just not handle right now. i am sure i could hold my own but for the sake of keeping my bankroll structure under wraps i choose not to play for now. mark and i have been able to talk poker for a few years now and i admire his heart and his ability to shove it all in with a draw when the odds are right. mark and i have set out that next year him and i will sepnd a ffew weeks at the wsop playing events and relaly helpping each other out on the biggest stage in the world.

so next year mark and i will be final tabling the wsop no doubt.

onto my developments in my endless grind to become a pro poker player. i have played incrediably bad on stars this past wekk hu losing 8 of my last 10 matches. i stopped playing after my last loss and have dedicated to some serious study for hu. i have just booked my first session with brokenstar a hu pro from england that has shown some awesome results for him and his students. www.tagpoker.co.uk is his site and it has alot of free video's and forums which are really awesome and are invaluable for anyone looking to up there hu game. brokenstar(dom) has 5-6 students at a time and has a resonable 4 session deal for 150. which is really decent in the coaching world. he shows how to use other peoples aggresion aginst them and how to know when its right to limp and when to shove. waiting for the right hand is key. i start work with him thursday and i cant wait.

so since taking a few days off to study my hu i have been trying to get my last bonus on ftp before it runs out. i have been playing rush poker and for anyone who hasnt played yet is becoming my favorite cash game around. when u fold you hand u move to a new table and get a new hand. u play up to 400 hands per hour 3-4 times faster then a normal table. well the games are tighter and u can 3-4x raise more libraly and steal alot of blind or follow it up with a c-bet or delayed c bet on the turn and take down a bigger pot. most times when u get reraised u are usually in trouble unless u hold the nuts or close to it. alot of people wait for the top 5-6% of hands. good aces or 88+ or suited broad way. i have seen alot of bb restealing from people that defend ther bb when u raise from the cut off or highjack they 3 bet to 5-6x the bb. i have even seen a 3 bet and all in shove on the flop. but for the most part the raiser usually gets credit for the hand cause it is so easy to fold and move on. but when someone does decide to play there is alot more playing for stacks.

anyways i have been doubling my buy ins for the last 3 times i played and have hit my bonus on ftp. i also watched a rush poker vid by a guy named rakes on drag the bar and it helped me spot the places to put money in the pot and when to fold and move on. so needless to say i will keep playing rush for the next little while as i develop my hu game and start to make a real go of it hu.

till next time