It's been eons since my last update, so here we go...

The latest news is my wife and I and 10 of our closest friends just returned from an unforgettable vacation to Honduras (also recently listed as having the highest murders per capita in the world). It was actually super chill. We spent the whole time on the islands of Roatan and Utila. And the only murdering done was of some lion fish (which I speared and made into fish tacos) and countless bottles of rum.

It was mostly a diving trip, getting in 20 dives in 3 weeks. And it's probably the best diving we've done! The reefs especially around Roatan are in excellent condition and teaming with life. We saw turtles, sea horses, eagle rays, dolphins, water snakes, loads of eels, a couple wrecks, and an endless variety of coral and fish. No whale sharks though, despite some high hopes.

It's so nice (and we feel so fortunate) to be able to get away from the winter dreariness for an escape to somewhere sunny and tropical. Now it's back to closely tracking the weather and the cherry blossoms and the opening dates for the local patios. Come on SUMMER! I'm certainly ready for some festivals and outdoor parties and lounging around the lake. The pinnacle for us will be returning to BURNING MAN this year. Awww yeah. Yes, we got tickets.

Poker-wise, it's business as usual. I'm splitting my time evenly between: coaching, playing and study. I'm playing 100NL - 400NL 6max on a super soft, smaller site. And coaching mostly 25NL - 100NL 6max.
I hope to do some 6-max quickie videos soon. I'm open to topic suggestions.

The photos are here (as CR has some bug with embedding photos right now):
http://gano.com/poker/

Oh and I also just completed my first dance mix in over a year:
http://soundcloud.com/gano/tracks

EVERYBODY'S talking about it. Nice job HEM team at generating some serious buzz. My first reaction after hearing of a few things was: yeah, that's cool, but you're still going to have to be good at poker to win. Seriously, I'm getting the sense from some folks that there is an expectation that HEM 2 will revolutionize how the game is played. Pssssh. I don't buy it.

To give a fair perspective though, I actually read and watched a couple articles and videos on the new features, prior to writing this. That definitely changed my attitude a little. SEXY!! The interface is FAR superior, more intuitive, and endlessly configurable. I'll list a few of the specific features I've read about or seen and my corresponding perspective. Also, for those active in the Beta, I'd love to hear some first hand accounts!

1) Hero stats. Now you will know not only how much villains 3-bet vs a steal but more specifically how much they 3-bet vs you. The first thing that comes to mind is that, this will take a HUGE sample to be meaningful. And it's not like something you can datamine or buy hands for, since you have to be IN the hand. But sure this could be useful for players that are in small pools (High stakes or small sites) and play all the time.

Also, regarding all the new stats in general: you can give someone all the data in the world, but it's how you interpret it. I'm skeptical that pushing a lot of new numbers on the industry will really have any major effect on the play itself.

2) Performance improvements (2x - 4x faster import). It seemed fast to me before. Nice job tech guys.

3) HM sync and storing hands in the cloud. The idea is your hands are stored off site. I suppose that's safer in case your computer crashes. Also, it lets you access from 2 different computers. Well, I figured out how to do that with HEM 1, so not new to me. Also, does this enable many players to all start sharing one big database??? I'm curious how the security is maintained. Can anyone speak to this?

4) Integrated replayer. Very cool. It sits in a corner of your screen if you want. So you don't have to keep flipping back and forth between the main window and the replayer window.

5) Heat maps for the range diagrams. They're finally catching up with other apps like all-in expert.

6) HUD charts. Now you can have little bar graphs show up in your hud in addition to numbers. NICE. You can interpret a color or the size of a shape much faster than a number. This will make for quicker profiling. And clever charts can summarize a number of stats at once.

7) Notecaddy. This is intense. ALL kinds of data available now in notes, including these spiky range graphs that at a glance tell you how polarized or merged a player's range is in a particular spot. Cool idea. My question is: is it too much? We use our notes at the table during live decisions, and thus need to be able to interpret them very quickly.

8) HUD configuration. SOOOO much better. Configuring your HUD before was a clunky, non-intuitive process. I'm constantly showing people how to do this. The new one should be cake for anyone new to pick up.

9) Player analysis tab. I'm probably MOST excited about this. I love doing case studies on my fellow regs or sifting through summary stats on all the winning regs at my level to look for common exploits they've discovered. This is hard to do with HEM 1 but looks like it's gotten MUCH better.

10) Companion for iPhone, iPad, iTouch apps. What?! Seriously?! Awesome! I'm totally going to do my hand reviews and case studies in the bank line-up now.


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A quick personal update: it's been about 2 months since I've returned home from my trip around the world. It's SOOO nice to be back and get my summer on. Also, reducing my coaching rates has resulted in a SURGE OF COACHING business. This has in turn created a number of interesting opportunities: from getting involved in stables to staking to running an active google poker group, not to mention meeting a ton of guys IRL that popped up here in Victoria. Good times.

I'm back home in Canada now after my year of traveling. I'm diving back into playing and coaching full time. For the month of June, I will be offering a huge discount ($75/hr or 10 hours for $500) on my coaching services with the intention of filling up my schedule. Send me a PM if you're interested or skype me @ djfooz

**

It was the trip of a lifetime for us, hitting 15+ countries in 10 months, but it's SO good to be home: seeing all of our friends, waking up in our super, comfy bed and making lattes and breakfast burritos just the wake we like 'em. It's also so nice to be back in the home office, with the full rig. While traveling, I was stacking on a 17" monitor, but now back on the 30" + two 22" mons, it's a dream. 20-table tiling, here I come!

Here are a few more snaps from the trip


Mysore palace


Camels in Gokarna


Elephant ride in Chang Mai


Our favorite beach, Had Yuan on Koh Phangan

My friends: I welcome you all! :)

People are so *nice* up here, especially with respect to poker. I'm in Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island. And I believe there are some other pros in Vancouver. We could build up quite a powerful scene here if some of you guys migrate North.

Granted, it'll still be 4 more weeks until I get back from the world tour. We're coasting through canals on a barge in Amsterdam right now. It's such a clean perfect fanstasy land (certainly compared to India).





And here's a snap with m'boys in India:

I get the question a lot: how do I study poker? You probably put some effort into it now, but is it as fully focused as it could be? Here is some advice on getting the most out of your poker studying.

Play vs. Study

Take a step back. Look at how much time in total you have to commit to poker each month. Decide on a split between playing poker and studying poker. Don't worry about finding the ideal split. Just choose something, and go with it. Then, next month try a different split. If you play with it for a few months (as well as the study activities themselves), you'll get a feel for what works best. This will vary over time anyway.

In the past, I spent far more time playing than studying (90% vs 10%), since it felt more fun. Then, I shifted to something like 70/30, and my game really started accelerating. Something close to 60/40 works best for me now. Actually as you contribute more time to studying, you also get better at it, which means on one level you're more efficient (e.g. with session reviews) and on another you come up with more methods and ideas for improving.

Prioritize your Activities

Brainstorm a list: session reviews, videos, coaching, forums, peer sweats, db stats, books. Keep going, and go deeper. Videos: checking the schedule, watching pros, making a video, loading your ipod, swapping favorites with peers. Get creative. (And please share your own in the comments!)

Next, sort your list by what you think will be most useful. (Hint: put session reviews at the top.) Ensure you have a healthy variety. You want a mix of internal (studying yourself) and external (learning from other.

Estimate how much time these activities will take, and choose the top items off your list that will fit into your allotted time for the month. Even create a schedule if you want.

Finally, execute!

Take Notes

I can't stress enough the importance of note-taking. You want your studying efforts to be as efficient and effective as possible. To truly instil a concept, it takes repetition. You could spend 5 hours watching and rewatching a video, or you could capture the key points on paper the first time, and review your notes far more quickly. Repeating mistakes at the table costs you money. Do it in your head instead.

I'm super anal about it. I keep a notepad file with today's date on my desktop that I'm adding to throughout the day. I also have a little notebook on me at all times that I jot things down in. I transfer all of these into a big "monthly notes" document that's categorized, has key points bolded, and is roughly prioritized with the big stuff at the top. Then I print these out, fold them up into my pocket, and walk around with them. So I'm constantly reviewing last month's notes, and capturing the next.

Be Flexible

What's nice about having a list is that you can match an activity to your mood or environment. Maybe it's the end of a long session, and you don't have the mental energy (or emotional detachment) to review your session. Pop in a vid, and kick back on the couch.

Print stuff out. Load your ipod or e-reader. Take it outside - to the park, coffee shop, or on a jog. If you prepare enough, then study time can even happen in line at the bank or grocery store.

The Four Great Efforts

I'll finish by relating a technique taken from the Buddha that might help with your study efforts. He offered these 4 "Great efforts" for pursuing enlightenment, though he admitted they really could be used for anything. So why not poker? Beware they are deceivingly simple yet exceedingly useful.

1. Prevent unskillful or unwise states or processes (e.g. thoughts, actions, states of mind) from arising.
2. Let go of unskillful or unwise states or processes that have already arisen.
3. Foster the growth of new skillful and wise states or processes.
4. Guard those skilful and wise states and processes that have arisen.

Peace.

This is a popular topic with my clients, and I'm guessing it might also be one with you guys. Please feel free to share your own perspective on the topic, via the comments.

Floating vs. Raising

We call our opponent's raise in position preflop. The flop comes down and mostly misses us. Perhaps it misses him too. Perhaps we have some meaningful amount of fold equity. How do we proceed most profitably? Here are some considerations.

Villain Stats

The first question should be whether to bluff at all. How high is his continuation bet? If it's over 75%, go for it. If it's under 50%, give his c-bet respect.

Next look at his turn c-bet. If his turn c-bet is over 50%, lean towards raising the flop (versus floating). For these statistics, remember that you need a large enough sample size for them to be meaningful. If you don't know how to check the sample size of these stats in your HUD, figure it out. It's imperative. Interestingly, turn aggression % converges much faster than turn c-bet, but it is not as directly relevant. Using turn aggression, if it's higher than 30%, lean towards raising the flop.

And in some cases, if his flop c-bet is very high AND his turn c-bet is very high, then consider floating or raising his turn bet, but this is beyond the scope of this discussion.

Also, when evaluating these statistics, factor in his preflop raise % as well. The more narrow a villain's starting range, the more likely he will make TP+ on the flop, and the less fold equity you will have with your bluff. For example, cut-off versus button and blind versus blind scenarios tend to provide the most opportunities.

Board Texture

After stats, consider the board texture. Can you really represent anything by raising? For example, on a 553 rainbow flop, raising usually only rep's a boat or quads (4 combos). Raising on a 963 rainbow board however represents 9 sets. On paired boards with a higher paired card, like TT4 or QQ7, you can often reasonably represent trips.

On wetter, boards you generally have less fold equity. The villain will be more likely to either 1) put you on a draw or 2) have the draw himself. However, if the obvious draw comes in on the turn, then it's easier to get your opponent to fold. As an example: I like raising straight draws on double-suited boards, and then bluffing the flush if it hits. You should be studying the flop texture and searching for ways the board could run out that enable you to push your opponent off his hand.

One big reason for not raising the flop (and just calling instead) is if you think your opponent is very likely to reraise you, and you have a decent draw. E.g. you have a bare flush draw and are up against a nit that can't seem to get away from overpairs. Another reason for floating is if you think the villain may give off sizing or timing tells on the next street. E.g. a lot of fishier players like to c-bet small and quickly bomb the turn with strong hands.

Levelling Up

I know a lot of you crave to break past the ABC and grow beyond an auto-piloting rake-back pro. Well, based on the many HEM leak-finders I've done for folks, one of the most common leaks I see is lack of aggression without the initiative. You've figured out how to c-bet properly and even double-barrel good scare cards, but when someone else is doing the c-betting, you're wimping out. This may need to start with cold calling more hands in later positions so that you actually have more opportunities in the first place.

If you're puzzling over why the top winning regs are not only playing more hands than you, but have a larger gap between VPIP and PFR, this is why. They are creating more opportunities to take pots down (in position) even without the initiative.

In Other News

As my world tour winds down, and I prepare to crank poker back up to 100%, I've decided to update my coaching offer and subsequently my profile. Significant changes include: emphasis on database analysis/leak-finding, details about my private mailing list, and potential coaching for profit-sharing opportunities.

Congrats Bergson80. You run hot in my contest.

For the others that expressed interest, stay tuned 'til the next one in a few months.

xo

You guys seemed to like the last one, so I'm doing it again and will probably hold these contests about once a quarter. I've also really fleshed out the HEM review component of the leakfinder as I've been doing this for a number of my students. If you're interested in participating, please comment on this entry or PM me on Card Runners.

I will select a winner and review that player's game (searching for leaks) in a video that will be featured on Card Runners.

Some stipulations:
- You must be a CR member.
- You must know how to make a decent quality video and have the means (e.g. Camtasia). If the video quality is very poor (resolution-wise), I may reject and choose someone else.
- You must then have time to record the video (obv) shortly after selected (prob in a week).
- Also, I'll accept a recent batch of hands (50k - 100k) to also include in the analysis (not mandatory).
- Again: Full Ring, 50NL to 200NL.
- Unfortunately, I will not accept Rush videos/hands. I did Rush for the last one, and we've had a glut of Rush videos recently on CR (and more to come).

In your comment/PM, please include what stakes you play and whether you'd like to send a batch of hands.

Good luck!
-fooz

P.S. Been stationed on some beautiful beaches in Thailand (Koh Phangan) for the last few weeks. Also did a 10 day silent meditation retreat at a Buddhist temple: one of the most powerful experiences of my life. Tomorrow we head to Koh Tao for some diving.

���

Congratulations to Julius187! I received 19 submissions over the last week and randomly drew a winner from the batch.

Julius let's connect via PM/Skype to discuss further details. I'd like to get a batch of hands from you ASAP. And then a short video soon after.

For everyone else, I may very well be doing these contests on a semi-regular basis, so there's always next time. And I of course offer my usual paid coaching services (see coaching profile).

Cheers,
fooz

I'm following in the footsteps of MDoranD's 6max micro contest and doing the same for Full Ring. If you're interested in participating in the contest, please comment on this entry or PM me on Card Runners.

I will select a winner and review that player's game (searching for leaks) in a video that will be featured on Card Runners.

Some stipulations:
- You must be a CR member.
- You must know how to make a decent quality video and have the means (e.g. Camtasia). If the video quality is very poor (resolution-wise), I may reject and choose someone else.
- You must then have time to record the video (obv) shortly after selected (prob in a week).
- Also, same as MDoranD, I'll accept a recent batch of hands (20k - 50k) to also include in the analysis.
- Again: Full Ring, 50NL to 200NL.

In your comment/PM, please include what stakes you play and whether you'd like to send a batch of hands.

Good luck!
-fooz

P.S. In the Galapagos at the moment! Cavorting with blue footed boobies and hammerhead sharks. Will post a couple pics soon.