Starting a Blog

Saturday, January 24, 2009 - C00LHandNuke

Hmmm. What do you say in your first blog ever? I guess you start with an introduction. My name is Shawn, but I play under the handle C00LHandNuke on Ultimate Bet. I use the same/similar name on some of the other sites. I’ve been playing “professionally” now for about five years, but am relatively new to the UB scene. I started playing on UB this summer after trying out for the Best Damn Poker Show 2. I gave Gary Debonardi (Debo34) some cash at this year’s WSOP and he transferred $300 to my account. Why didn’t I just use a credit card? Well it has to do with over $40k getting stuck on NetTeller for about a year and a growing distrust of the whack-a-dos in Washington – but I’ll save that for a later blog.

I gotta give some props to Debo, P0ker H0, Shawn Rice and all the other UB Pros. They are great ambassadors, always willing to talk and (as in my case) go out of their way to add players to the site. I had sat at live tables with Shawn and H0 before. And through a mutual acquaintance, Debo ended up sweating me about a year ago when I won the Sunday Million on PokerStars. So I had a little history with these guys, but I know for a fact that they’ve each done similar things for complete strangers. Thanks again Debo!

Anyhow, on with the blog. I made it onto the Best Damn Poker Show 2. It was a great experience. The first episode aired last Monday on FoxSports and was pretty entertaining. My first table plays this week, so I wasn’t in the first episode for more than a few seconds. A lot of the first episode was set up for what is to come, but I’m hoping that as the show progresses the poker will take more of the center stage. Hopefully it won’t get lost in the editing. I hope you watch and if you can’t get enough from the TV, check back here after each episode. I’ll be posting a blog for each episode with my own personal behind the scenes extras. If you haven’t read some of the posts on Pocket 5’s already, there was definitely some drama on this year’s show. And as usual, I was right in the middle of it.

The UBOC has started and Debo and I are a team in the UBOC Poker League. You can check out the standings at http://ubpokerleagues.com. So far we’ve had some minor success and are sitting in fourth place. I busted out of UBOC event #2 in eleventh place. The finish was okay, but I feel like a really could have done better. I had a very playable stack and the first big bluff I tried in the tourney crippled me when we were down to twelve players. Basically my opponent called off 30% of his stack on the turn and another 60% on the river with fourth pair (sixes) when the board was four-straighted to two gutshots and the river also made a three-flush – the villain had no draws. Ugh! A few days later, I took eleventh again in the PLO/8 UBOC event. This time I just went card dead at the wrong time and, in retrospect, probably passed up an opportunity to gamble once too often.

The idea for a poker league is awesome. The extra money involved is a nice incentive, but really it is about more than that. It’s about bragging rights and pride, even more so than just the typical leader boards that every site has. The leagues allow groups of people to opt into a certain schedule and put up some extra money behind the boast of “Hey, I think me and my partner are better than any two players out there.” My prediction for 2009 is that soon other sites will begin to emulate this. But I’m not sure how well it will work for them. What I’ve come to realize in the short time that I’ve been playing on UB is that there really is a sense of community and greater opportunity to meet other people who love poker. I guess that, more than anything else, is why I’m writing this blog and why you’ll see more of my online daily bankroll dedicated to buying into tournaments at UB. So I hope to see you at the tables, and maybe I can get over my 11-and-out syndrome and it will be a final table where we meet. If you see me, please say hello.

Cheers,

Shawn

Tags: Best Damn Poker Show, Debo34, fox sports, P0ker H0, players blog, plo8, poker tournaments, ShawnRice, sunday millions, ub pros, UBOC, uboc poker leagues

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Poker lessons from the pros – L I O N talks back

Saturday, November 29, 2008 - UB Marketing

L I O N wrote in about his experience with the UBauctions and the lessons from the pros…

Shawn Rice primarily focused on bankroll management. He advised me that if you build a bankroll at a level, that you need to move up in stakes in accordance with money management formulas. If you lose money and have to move back down in stakes, you still gain experience against better players which can only help you to improve as a player. I had never thought about that aspect. He also gave me guidelines for how much and how many times you should re-buy at cash games.

I focused on ring games with Shawn, and he was very helpful reviewing basic strategy, hand reading, and evaluating opponents. He gave me a few things I need to work on, some of it having to do with bankroll management, and table selection. Mark was very helpful to me in suggesting changes in my bet sizing in No Limit Ring games.

Mark focused on SNGs. He reviewed situational play in the SNGs, and he verified that in general that I am on the right track with my approach. He emphasized the importance of being aware of my position and stack size, and my opponents stack sizes and tendencies. Mark also discussed how to determine whether your stack has sufficient fold equity against your opponent’s stacks, and some ideas from when you should call an opponent’s bet when on the bubble. Mark also discussed the importance of finding out as much information as you can about your opponents. He also emphasized the importance of concentration and focusing while playing, and the importance of studying poker from videos, contact with good players, and disciplined practice.

Both Mark and Shawn are very knowledgeable players who communicate well and formulated their instruction to be appropriate to my ability and experience level.

I previously had a lesson with Gary Deebo who was also a very knowledgeable tournament player. It would be an excellent opportunity for a player of any skill level to take instruction from any of these three gentlemen.

Thanks,

L I O N

Tags: lessons from the pros, UB Auctions, ub marketing

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