Yes you DOJ, yes you.

So if you haven’t heard yet, or have been living under a rock, yesterday the Department of Justice shut down Poker Stars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker in one fell swoop.  It came unexpected like an atomic bomb over a community of poker players.  While I am highly upset (still) my heart goes out to those online poker professionals who rely on this as their livelihood…

The story: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/04/online-poker-big-three-indicted-10218.htm

I am not used to feeling this helpless about something I love so dearly, so I cannot even begin to articulate what I am feeling.  I know this sounds crazy to non-poker players, but just relate it to anything you feel very passionate about, being snatched away from you like you were such a criminal for doing it in the first place. You become disillusioned in your govt, your own country, supposedly “The Land of the Free”…right, yet the govt just came into my bedroom last night and took something away from me very dear.

Thanks DOJ! (Read: Fuck you DOJ)

Another milestone achieved 1in my poker career!

Dear shysti,

Congratulations! You have achieved SilverStar VIP status.

Your VIP level lasts for the rest of this month and all of next month.

This entitles you to the following rewards:

- 50% FPP Multiplier – you now earn 1.5 FPP credits instead of 1 FPP credit
- SilverStar VIP Store access – choose from new and exclusive merchandise in the SilverStar store
- USD 500 Daily VIP tourneys – 3 x a day – 10 FPP entry
- USD 30,000 Weekly VIP tourneys – Saturdays at 14:30 ET – 100 FPP buy-in
- USD 100,000 Monthly VIP tourney – last Saturday of each month – 130 FPP satellites available

These exclusive VIP tournaments can be found in your PokerStars game lobby under the ‘Tourney > VIP > All’ tab.

To remain a SilverStar, you need to earn at least 750 VPPs next month to maintain your level.

There are even more rewards for you if you hit GoldStar VIP status.  Earn 3,000 VPPs in a month and you will earn GoldStar status. To learn more about the VIP Club and the rewards offered, visit our web page at http://www.pokerstars.com/vip

Regards,

The PokerStars Team

To serious poker players this isn’t much, but to someone who’s taking their game serious from this year on, this is awesome! I have never achieved Silver Star status in the past, due to mostly not having enough volume or going busto. But this year neither happened, I put in the volume this month, and I showed a profit. I haven’t been on any kind of heater, just learning more and improving my game, so that’s what this means for me on a personal level.  But with this, I have gained an itch; I want to see how high I can grind up the VIP ladder. Even hopefully trying for SNE (Supernova Elite Status)  next year (depending on how well this year ends).

I never realized just how lucrative Star’s VIP system (http://www.pokerstars.com/vip/) really is in the past, till now.  And now I realize there is lots to be made just by putting in the time and effort regarding volume.  If I can play break even poker for a year and grind to SNE I can earn six-figures for that year...surely time will tell. But this is a happy day for me.  Now the next step is grinding to Gold Star Status in April, which is the month of my Spring Break! So I’ll have that week next month to put in some serious volume, so it’s definitely obtainable!

I’m stoked!

-The Shysti One

Blargh!!!

http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/promotions/100-billion/

So Poker Stars is celebrating their road to 100 billion hands and well you can win a ton of money if you’re in one of those milestone hands! Tempting right? It’s down right maddening!!! Even though I haven’t hit a milestone hand, today I had a few milestones of my own.  First, not only did I play one long ass session, non-stop for 10 hours straight, it was cash for 10 hours straight… I am a  tournament/sng player…Today was the very first time that I’ve ever played 8+ hours straight (and it not be due to a tournament I was deep in) and in cash.

I was very happy about this because it proved to myself that I could do it, if this were to ever become a career one day (not saying I’m going down that route, but you never know) and I showed a profit, and collected a good handful of VPP/FPPs since I am grinding for my bonus and silver star status.  I have never had silver star status because up until now I didn’t play as a really serious player.  This year, as stated in previous blog entries, is different. This is the year I began as a serious poker player and as such I must obtain more volume, start working on my  rake back.  Rake back through stars unique system is something I had never previously looked into, but you can make some serious cash back if you put in the volume and are serious about your game.  If you obtain supernova elite (not saying that I will this year, that’s wayyy down the road) you can pocket over 100k!!!

Anyhow, we haven’t reached the 60th billionth hand yet, so I am still hopeful. Tomorrow (today, its late in the a.m) is Poker Stars “Storm” tournament. Its replacing the old quarter mill, which the info can be found here:

Dear Poker Gods...Please give me the power of GreySkull Run good for this!

http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/sunday-storm/

All in all, I love Poker Stars. I play there exclusively and there is so much coming up that I am going to be busy in my poker career for months ahead!

Stay Tuned…

The Shysti One.

It’s your neighborhood friendly Shysti updating in what seems like a while!  Well first things first, I didn’t win the Sunday 5 Million…THIS GUY DID :

http://www.officialpokerrankings.com/pokerstars/wrzr123/poker/results/7F591D97E9A24C3087105D911541F80F.html?t=2 (well he won the most but came in 3rd since they did a 9 man chop at the final table) Prior to his huge win of $844,210 he had all but a hand full of tournaments under his belt…rather than going into yet another rant of hate toward this unknown, I will refrain and just say congrats Mr. Donkey, don’t spend it all in one place.  In the meanwhile, I have continued to improve my own game; studying over at PokerVT, which I must give a super shout out to.  That website has been a WEALTH of information and has helped me tremendously this year.  The pros there are quick to respond to our questions, they open discussion with you casually and help you see things you wouldn’t have spotted on your own.

I am truly thankful I came across their site randomly.  My stake that I’ve been working on over at PTP has been slow coming, meaning I haven’t been able to put in the real volume needed as of yet, but I do try to play as much as possible for Craig (the guy who staked me) and even though we haven’t had many training sessions as stipulated in his stake, I still think he’s a cool guy.

So that’s pretty much it for now, studying, learning, trying to take my game to the next level, as those of us who play all try to do. I wish you all good luck at the tables!

The Shysti One

I MUST WIN!

Play the Biggest Ever Sunday Million: $1,000,000 First Prize!

The PokerStars Sunday Million is celebrating its 5th Anniversary, and we’re marking the occasion by bumping up the prize pool like never before. On Sunday, March 6 at 16:30 ET, the biggest weekly poker tournament anywhere online will be bigger than ever. Here’s what you can expect:

• $5,000,000 guaranteed prize pool
• $1,000,000 guaranteed first place prize money
• Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 for the winner

As always, the direct buy-in is $215, but you can also turn $1 into $1,000,000 with our special satellite qualifier tournaments. On March 6 at 15:30 ET we’ll be awarding a guaranteed 1,000 seats in a special $11 turbo super satellite, with feeder satellites into it from $1.

Don’t miss your chance to be part of poker history and play for a share of possibly the largest-ever Sunday Million prize pool, one of the biggest online prizes ever awarded, and the chance to drive away in a beautiful brand new black Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4!

How to Play the Sunday Million 5th Anniversary Tournament

The special Sunday Million event takes place at 16:30 ET on Sunday, March 6. You can buy-in directly for $215 or win your seat via one of the hundreds of satellites running now from only $1 or 100 Frequent Player Points (FPPs). You can also purchase a ticket for the event for 13,500 FPPs via the VIP Store.

To buy-in directly or register for a satellite, open the PokerStars lobby, click ‘Tourney’ & ‘Special’.

Please Note: There is no cash alternative for the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. If the tournament winner chooses not to take the car, it will be awarded to the 2nd place finisher, and so on.

So not only do you get a cool million, you get a sweet ass car to boot:

If you weren't getting laid before this car, you will be getting laid now haha.

There’s a lot at stake in this one tournament, I am sure it’s going to change someone’s life. I really hope it’s mine (If I can even get into it).  Poker Stars is running satellites into the event, and I’ve also created my first BAP, over at PTP:

http://forum.parttimepoker.com/buy-piece/815847-shystis-pokerstars-sunday-5-million-bap-80-cut-no-mu.html#post8543286

I really hope to get into this event, and even more so hope to make the final table.  Could you imagine?  Probably will be the best day of my life besides when my children were born

I am stoked. I have a week to get staked, or decide to put up my own funds, send out good karma, study and work hard on my game so I’ll be ready next Sunday.  And if I don’t get to play it, oh well, that means it wasn’t meant to be .

-The Shysti One

The stake is going splendidly so far, even though I haven’t put in the amount of volume I’ve wanted yet.  Our contract is for a minimum of 80 games/week. Right now,  I am at 45 games for this 1st week and I still have 3 days to complete my 1st 80.  It isn’t a problem though, considering we have this Friday/Monday off (yay for holidays!) and so my first week will be at the end of Saturday, which will give me more than enough time to put in the volume.

More importantly, I am very happy to be rounding out my skills in poker by adding some resources I’ve should have used ages ago.  For example, I am now using TableNinja and now multi-tabling is no longer intimidating to me, so now I am able to do it with more confidence.  However, I am still limiting myself to 6 tables now per session as I learn more and try to apply new concepts while I play.  I’ve also downloaded Hold’em Manager and SNGwiz, but haven’t used either yet.  So I am multi-tabling more this year, putting in more volume, focusing on sit-n-gos (which I love the fact I’m actually doing it, considering I would try in the past and just go back to mtts), learning and hopefully mastering sng concepts and theories like “ICM”, reviewing my hand histories more and lastly asking questions and networking with the pros who teach over at PokerVT (Aaron, we live in the same city ).

Overall I am very pleased with the progress I am seeing versus the amount of work I am putting into improving. I can only see it getting better from here on out.

Good Luck at the tables!

-The Shysti One

Mandala: representation of the Universe...and all of life itself.

I have this theory about how everything we truly need is readily available provided via the Universe.  We need only to reach out to this “substance” to have it answer our call.  For example, I am looking to make leaps and bounds with my poker game this year, this year IS the catalyst for my game.  I felt this personally before I had any motives to jump back into the game full steam ahead.  I’ve never had this feeling in the past about my poker game, so that’s how I knew the Universe was calling me to it.  Now, I’ve immersed myself back into the game “reaching out into the substance” and it has answered my call.

I’ve been offered a coaching/staking opportunity (http://forum.parttimepoker.com/make-deal-pokerstars/808614-sng-warrior-coaching-oppertunity-low-stakes-players.html) that started tonight from a profitable sng player.  He will be coaching/backing me for the next 2,000 sngs to evolve my game to the next level.  Our first unofficial session tonight went successful I felt, he seems like a great guy and I know I will enjoy working with him.  I’ve wanted an opportunity like this since I decided to get serious about poker at the beginning of 2011 and already my call has been answered.

I can only see things improving from this point on, but time will truly tell.  Good luck at the tables!

-The Shysti One

Edit: I have to interview today for this opportunity with him and his partner in an hour, so its not set completely in stone yet! But I’m hopeful.

Edit # 2: The interview was a success, I met the other coach along with Craig, and the deal with through!  2,000 games + another 1,000 on the back end deal, I can’t wait to get started!

One small step for my game...One giant Leap in motivation and focus!!!

Last night I managed to final table a $4.40 180 man and the $3.30 1R1A tournament, 4th and 8th , respectively.  While it wasn’t for major $$$ (although had I taken first in the 3.30 rebuy that would have been a nice $1100 cushion added to my bankroll) I was more happy about actually final tabling not one, but two of the tournaments I played since I started my grind again.  I have to attribute this in part to some run good, but mostly www.pokervt.com.  Seriously, this coaching website has been a tremendous help in my fundamentals, learning and applying new (to me) concepts in poker tournaments.  I mean I was well aware of the concepts they teach, but how they go about teaching it, helped me actually apply it.

While I still love PokerXFactor, I’ve definitely found my home over at Poker VT.  And they are not paying me to promote their site either, I am sure their marketing team does a fine job of that.  Well anyhow, final tabling has definitely boosted my confidence in my game, which was much-needed, and while this sounds like boasting, it truly isn’t.  I know I won’t final table everything I play, I know I am in for some serious downswings too.  The only thing I am making a point about is I can, and will manage to make more final tables in the future, long as I stay focused, put in the volume that’s needed, study and improve my poker game, it will come.

Anyhow, it’s time for a late dinner, a bit of relaxing (just got home from school/work) and possibly a few 180 mans tonight before bed. Good luck at the tables!

-The Shysti One

Yep! FML

I received a stake by a PTP member to play in PokerStars $11 40K GTD.  I made it fairly deep (338th out of 6990 people).  And then the hand that busted me happened, naturally I felt I should have gotten away from it, but I made that crying call. I really thought I was beyond this point of doing that, as it’s an obvious leak to have. I really, really need to start listening to my instincts more. Every time I get that “you really should fold he/she has you beat here” feeling, it’s been dead on and yet I make the call 1/3 times…

Anyhow, I guess I felt good about how I played overall, I just know that boneheaded move cost me my shot at the final table where first place was $8,597.00… Here’s the rail to the tournament:

http://forum.parttimepoker.com/staking-rail/809069-shystis-rail-1-more-horse-dfg-ubeenshanked.html

Edit: In retrospect, I am being way too hard on myself…he smoothed called me w/ QQ in early position and let several others in, bad way to play queens. Still, on the flop I had a feeling he was being tricky even though I had no reads on him since I had just moved to the table…oh well gg.

Ain't that the truth lol.

It is currently 10:07pm PST and my bankroll has finally come through on Poker Stars, even though I am only starting with a little less than half I anticipated, I’ll make do for now.  I’ll have the rest on there though maybe later this week, depending on what comes up.  Nonetheless, I am happy and ready to get grinding.  I am going to go with my original plan of grinding mostly the $4.40 180 mans, along with the $3.30 180 rebuys and perhaps the new fifty50 turbo sngs.  I just discovered those and did fairly decent in my trial run, so they are now added to the roster.

I was approached by one of the members in my skype micro stakes group about a potential stake/coaching deal.  So I applied for that, hopefully it goes through. I think I am a quick study in all that I partake, especially things I’m very passionate about like poker.  If he does select me, I have no doubts that he’ll be able to improve my sng game, which is an area that is sadly lacking.  So I welcome his teachings and hope I become his student!  Overall though, my true goal for 2011 is to improve my skills, my game.  I want to identify my leaks and plug them and build from there. My monetary goals are second to that.

On a non-poker related note, I strained my neck/shoulder muscles at the gym so it’s dreadfully painful to even sit here and type and I’m scared to lay down because I  know it’ll stiffen worse. I have applied icy hot, but it doesn’t seem to be working and I took an aleve.  Hopefully the pain won’t distract me too badly as I try to grind a few 180 mans here shortly. I am going to watch a bit of Pearljammer’s poker vid over at Pokervt.com before I start though. I find watching coaching vids helps me focus my game before a session.

Anyhow, good luck at the tables and keep on grinding!

-The Shysti One