Blog of Professional Poker Player & LockPoker Elite Pro Jared Hubbard

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Weekly Interview Series: Greg "HokieGreg" Tiller

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Fellow Lock Elite Pro Greg "HokieGreg" Tiller is my next interviewee for my new weekly interview series. You can read the interview below.

Hey guys. I'm pumped for this interview. Anything I can do to help out JHub! He's a great guy. Though I've only known him a few months, I've already learned a ton from him. What a F'ing pro. Alright, time for some "aha" moments!

How did you get started in poker? How old were you? What did you play? How did you progress through the stakes and different games?

The Short Version:

I'm ANYTHING but a natural talent.

I started out as an epic delusional fish, then a marginal winner in microstakes 6max cash, I busto'd rolls multiple times at small stakes, learned a million lessons, and finally started to slowly put it all together and make a real career out of it. I've been playing husngs for about 4-5 years now, but i spent at least 3-4 years before that donking it up in other forms of poker (and online blackjack!). 8 years of trial and error later - I better be able to show something for it!

The Long Version:

I started playing poker in 2002, when I was 19. I played the standard college home games with friends (5-10$ sng's…sometimes we'd play "high stakes", i.e. $20!!!). I was obsessed with poker immediately. The thought of winning $100 in just a few hours playing a card game was prettttty sexy to me! (obv i thought i could have a 100% winrate if i played well!)

After 2 years or so of home games, i made my first deposit of $25 to UltimateBet. I spent the next 2-3 years being a marginal winner/degen in low stakes games. I would occasionally try to run up my winnings in Party Blackjack - guess how that ended up?

Through a random internet search in 2006, i found the twoplustwo forums. I read a lot of the articles, lurked the forums for a year or so…really started to get an idea of what it took to be a winning player over the long term in poker.

The first form of poker I really took seriously (i.e., no more blackjack/sports/chasing losses higher) was 6max 10NL cash on PokerStars. I started with a $50 bankroll and would buyin in for the minimum. I played about 75k hands and ran the $50 up to about $600 before starting to take shots at 25NL. I ran my roll up to about 1.5k…then the inevitable happened: had a fight with girlfriend, tilted off entire roll in one night, and "quit poker" (i probably quit poker 20 times over these first few years, haha…who hasn't?).

So in February 2007, I "quit" poker, broke up with my girlfriend, and moved back in with my parents (was in school full time, and had a bull shit part time job). It was a pretty humbling step backwards. Initially, I really did intend to quit poker completely as I was fed up with my self-defeating habits. After some thought, I realized that over those 125k hands of 10NL-25NL, I had proven to myself that with discipline, hard work, and consistency, poker could be a form of investing, and not just gambling.

I redeposited $50 to stars and started playing the $5 regspeed husngs to build a roll. I knew husngs were really soft at the low stakes, and were probably a game I had a decent winrate in already. I also liked the idea of being able to play 45-60 minute sessions and taking a lot of breaks (I really sucked at playing much longer than that at the time). I ran good/played well…had something like a 20% roi at low stakes for the first few hundred games. Eventually I found myself at the $22s with a $400 bankroll and a lot of confidence (some delusional). I started reading the husng forum on 2p2, and soon after finally opened a 2p2 account and began posting husng strategy. I ran the $400 up a bit more, and then decided to start a blog to hold myself accountable and motivate myself (hokiegreghu.blogspot.com, now www.hokiegreg.com).

The 33s on stars are where I really started to become convinced that I could make a lot of money through poker. I knew I had a lot of improving to do before I could make enough money to justify poker being my only source of income long term, but I felt that I had developed the correct work ethic and discipline to continue to improve over the very long term. I was making something like 2.5k a month at the 33s - though I became complacent with that amount of income and stuck at that buyin level for too long. I met a lot of other motivated, aspiring poker pros at this time as well - PrimordialAA (Lock Pro Elite), chicagory (owner of HUSNG.com), and so many more that I'm forgetting. I started talking strategy with them on AIM a lot. Most of us kept blogs following our progress. Establishing a network of like-minded, motivated poker players was really helpful in my progress, and still is today.

Since then, I've made it further in poker than i ever dreamed of. I never really expected to play higher than the $220 level, but i've played and beaten up to the $2200s (and a small sample of 5ks, including some matches vs Isildur :O). I signed a Lock Pro Elite deal earlier this year and am doing well in the tough post-BF poker world. All of my successes have come from those early lessons I learned at 6max cash - if you can avoid the multitude of self-defeating traps in poker, and you combine that with hard work, self-analysis, humility, and discipline…it's actually quite realistic to make a legitimate career out of this game.

What has worked best for you over the years in regards to improving your game?

Establishing a network of like-minded, motivated poker players is the best thing you can do for your game. Having friends that could relate to the ups and downs of the game was really helpful for me early on - especially before I started developing mental game skills…every day was such a F'ing battle!

I also learned a bunch from the 2p2 HUSNG forum, HUSNG.com videos by Mersenneary, Bluefire.com videos by Galfond and Jason Senti, and Mersenneary's work in the FastTrack Forum on HUSNG.com.

I think the most overrated form of studying is reviewing sessions on your own. I don't necessarily think it's -ev, but it's unlikely it's optimal either imo. If you have a leak, especially early on when your poker thought process isn't very developed, it's just going to look "standard" to you when you review. Get a friend to review with you, get second and third opinions, etc.

How old are you now?

I'm 28, and my birthday is June 21, 1983 - email me at gtillerhokie@gmail.com so I can give you all my mailing address so you can send me a gift. Thanks! (As I'll mention later - If you want something, just ask for it!)

How many tables do you usually play online?

Ok guys, pay attention!

I rarely play more than 3 tables. Multitabling is a skill, and one that I never developed past the ability to 3 table.

STAY WITH ME!

I am going to share a secret with you all.

The key to improving is CUTTING BACK ON TABLES. Stop the mass-tabling, especially if you are at lower stakes. Practice doesn't make perfect in poker, practice make permanent. Cut back on your tables and focus more on improving your decision-making. The $/game that you gain from improving your strategy decisions will eventually outweigh the money u were making from rakeback. The average poker player is getting better every day - don't let your game stagnate and eventually find yourself far behind the curve.

I had a few long stretches where I played too many tables throughout my career. I still worked on strategy a lot outside of sessions, so my game continued to improve, but it could have improved a lot more if I was able to think and implement new thought processes while I played. Cutting back tables is the most valuable lesson I learned in the past 2 years or so. The majority of the most successful HUSNG players 1-2 tabled on their way up - Livb, IceVenom, H2olga/Lotte Lenya, Spamz0r.

The key to your long term success is your short term decision-making.

***I am at a point in my career where when I play my session I am really only concerned with maximizing my hourly rate - so that's why I've cut back on the 1-2 tabling and play 2-3 as much as possible now.

For more info on improving non-strategy skills, check out this article I wrote: bit.ly/nonstratskillz

How many hours a week do you usually play? How many total hours a week do you usually spend on poker-related activities?

It really changes on a week-to-week basis. I definitely spend 35-50 hours a week on poker-related activities (coaching, social media, studying, playing, etc). Before BF I was working towards SNE on Stars and was spending 90% of my time playing, and the rest studying. Post-BF, things obviously changed a bit and I've gotten more creative with maintaining a reliable income, so I spend a lot more time building my coaching brand through social media, private forums, and hourly coaching.

If you want a glimpse into what I was like when I was just grinding full time, check out my SNE thread on 2p2. I kept it from November 2010 until Black Friday. I think there is a lot of quality content there: bit.ly/SNEThread

What kind of a computer setup do you have for playing? Do you use any poker software?

I am SUCH an Apple fanboy. It is more expensive than PCs, but it is so reliable...just the nuts. I have a 24" iMac desktop with 22" external monitor.

I regularly use Pokerstove, PokerTracker3 (I used HEM when I was on PC few months ago), and PokerProTools.

What are your short term & long term poker goals?

Short-term goals:

- Learn as much as I can about building a brand through social media.

- Help a lot of players improve their game by releasing a bunch of free content through my blog and HUSNG.com. I was going to be a teacher before my poker career took off, so it's just something I love being involved in reguarly - even if it's for free, though I do think their are some big benefits to being very active with social media as a poker player (check out this article by JHub if you don't believe me, check out Jhub's blog post 'promoting yourself as a poker player').

- Start playing live MTTs and working on MTT strategy very regularly. While I love HUSNG's, it's SUCH a niche market in the poker community. I want to be able to reach a broader market of poker players through my coaching and social media, so I think the transition to MTT's will take care of that. Also, I just love challenging myself and trying new stuff. I'm excited about it!

Long-term goals

- Make a lot of money, and don't spend it all.

- Adapt quickly with the rapidly changing poker landscape in the US.

- Focus my work on things I'm passionate about (challenging myself, teaching, travelling) - don't let poker feel like a job.

You have stated that you have changed your views on some of the things you wrote in your excellent article"Playing Poker For a Living: It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint" (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/185/heads-up-sng/playing-poker-living-its-marathon-not-sprint-pooh-bah-1078795/). Could you explain?

I've rethought a lot of my main points from that article and I still believe in the general point of "warm up, push, cool down, rest, repeat" but what has become more clear to me is that the actual amount of time someone can push themselves while avoiding burnout varies drastically person to person (and in different types of work).

How are you feeling in an out of sessions? Are you tilting easier or being more negative than usual? Are you motivated? Etc. Try your best to be honest with yourself about your mental state when you are playing. Self-awareness is one of the most important skills for a poker player.

I just wouldn't put any strict rules on X days / X hours per week as a blanket statement for all players. Everyone's different. I just think most of us need a break with some kind of consistency.

Basically, if you are having to force yourself to play bc you don't want to, I would consider trying to find ways to remotivate yourself and if that doesn't work - take a decent break. If the break doesn't help, figure out what you do want to be doing and put 100% of yourself into it.

I think passion is the key to attaining real sustainable success (not just financial success). That's probably the biggest thing I've been thinking about recently, and a lot of the reason I'm starting to branch out into mtts/hucash, getting super involved w social media, and getting back really active in the poker community - it's what i'm passionate about. I like challenging myself with new things, I'm a very social person, I love teaching. It's important to know who you are and what you value.

The general point of the article I still stand by 100%: To maximize your chances of your sucess over the very long term, it's important to not run yourself into the ground by never taking breaks. Warmup, Push Yourself, Cool Down, Break - Repeat. Just realize we're all different, be self-aware, and find a schedule that works for you.

How did you go about getting a Lock Pro Elite contract? How has your experience at Lock been so far?

I was running a HUSNG camp in Austin, TX with PrimordialAA (Trip Report: bit.ly/TripReport). He signed a Lock deal that month and it inspired me to contact the Lock CEO and see if I could get one too. I had no idea at the time how +EV getting a deal would be for me - it's pretty much the only reason I'm able to live in the US post-BF and still make a living similar to what i was making on stars pre-BF. I think too many people spend their lives waiting for people to give them an opportunity. If you want something, ask for it. The worst that's going to happen is you are going to be told "no".

My experience on Lock has been great. Lock held a retreat at a castle in Bagnols, France (just outside of Lyon) for all of its pros in October. 7 course meals, hot air balloon rides, archery tournaments, etc…absurdly baller. It was an amazing trip and I met a bunch of really great people. I'm proud to represent Lock Poker.

What do you like to do in your spare time besides poker?

I love working out. I go to the gym 6-7 days a week. I've lost about 50 pounds over the last 1.5 year - it's really become a bit of a healthy addiction.

I follow pretty much every major sport as well. I'm a fan of the Washington Capitals and Baltimore Orioles.

I read a lot. I was a History major in college, so I read a lot of History stuff - right now I'm reading "The Rise of Globalism in the US since 1945" by Stephen Ambrose. I also am a sucker for self-improvement/inspirtational books - I highly recommend 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle.

What are your favorite movies and TV shows?

TV series >>> movies! The Wire, Deadwood, Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Entourage.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to follow up with questions!

Thanks for taking the time to do this & good luck at the tables.

For more on HokieGreg you can access his blog here: http://hokiegreghu.blogspot.com/, his facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HokieGreg, his training videos:http://www.husng.com/ and follow him on twitter @HokieGreg

To get a 150% signup bonus & VIP benefits (http://jaredhubbard.com/lock%20vip.htm), signup for Lock here: http://download.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

In case you missed the past weekly interviews, here they are:

Matt Stout: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2012/01/weekly-interview-series-matt-stout.htm

Stevie Devlin: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/12/weekly-interview-series-stevie.html

Marc Alioto: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-interview-series-marc-alioto.html

If you have any recommendations for which Lock pro you would like to see me interview next or any questions you would like to see asked please comment below. For a full list of Lock pros please visit: http://lockpoker.eu/pro

Thanks & GL,
Jared

http://www.jaredhubbard.com/
http://twitter.com/jhubpoker
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049
http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Weekly Interview Series: Matt Stout

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Fellow Lock Elite Pro Matt "all_in_at420" Stout is my next interviewee for my new weekly interview series. You can read the interview below.

How did you get started in poker? How old were you? What did you play? How did you progress through the stakes and different games?

I actually learned how to play five-card draw and then stud from my sister starting when I was just four years old. We never played much growing up, it was just one of the many card and board games we played occasionally. Then when I was 19 and in my sophomore year of college my buddy Nick Luisi IMed me and asked if I wanted to play some ".25-.50 limit hold'em" and I had no clue what he was talking about. He said it was poker, so I said "I'll be there." I literally get chills thinking back to that IM now, because it was a turning point for the better in my life no matter where I go from here. I made $4.25 in about five hours. I remember eating a Wendy's bacon cheeseburger from the dollar menu that I bought with my profits on the way home and thinking about how awesome it was that profit from poker had paid for the meal. I was BEYOND hooked.

I started playing $5-10 games around my college, along with a $30 monthly re-entry tournament. When the games around my school weren't enough I started playing online. I forced myself to accumulate a million play chips before I started putting real $ online. Then I proceeded to get crushed for $1000 I couldn't afford to lose in $5-10 MTTs and SNGs online.

Eventually I got the hang of it and started winning within a year with a lot of study and practice. I won $26 and $75 MTTs online for $3k and $5k respectively to build my online roll while I was still under 21, even though I lost a lot back in cash games. That's how I learned that $5/10 NL probably wasn't the game to play on a $6k roll!

After two years of playing pretty heavily I turned 21 and had a pretty sick run in Atlantic City. I built up a bankroll with weekly AC tournaments and took a shot at the WSOP-C Caesars AC event in March of 2006. I bricked the first $340, but won a SNG into the $560 second event. I ended up chopping that final table with Matt Glantz for $34k (who has since become like an uncle to me in poker), and my career had officially begun. I went on to win two seats to the $10k main event in $200+r satellites that week, played one and sold one, and my bankroll was officially on swoll. =)

I kept grinding live prelims and satelliting into main events and eventually took a big chunk of my roll and threw it online when I decided I'd rather focus on tournaments full-time and didn't want to fill in the gaps with live cash games anymore. I found success in the high stakes MTT's almost immediately, and I take great pride as being known as one of the best players at successfully bridging the gap between online and live success.

How have you gone about improving over the years? Have you watched a lot of training videos? Have you read a lot of books? Have you done a lot of calculations? Have you talked strategy with a lot of other players?

It's a bit of everything you mentioned, really. I'd say in terms of how much of each, it'd be: talking > videos > calculations > books. That's not to say it's the optimal blend, but that's reflects what I do the most of in reality. I definitely need to do more work on my game and have been a little more complacent than I should be, which is completely unacceptable in such a competitive game where players are getting better and better.

How old are you now?

I just turned 27.

Do you currently play any games besides MTTs?

I play a little bit of NL cash games, but never get as much satisfaction out of succeeding in them as I do making deep runs in tournaments. That's made it difficult to really develop my skills in them over the years. I'm working on my PLO cash game, especially short-handed, because I think it's the wave of the future and because I personally enjoy the game a lot. I'm planning on working on my stud games this year, because I love 8-game mix tournaments and Stud/Stud8 are the only games I think I need huge improvement in to be competitive. I also want to work on my heads-up game, both in SNGs and cash.

How many tables do you usually play online?

I usually play about 6-10 comfortably, and try to cap it at 15ish. I've played up to 23 at a time when I was trying to chase a PocketFives Triple Crown, though. My brain wanted to explode.

How many hours a week do you usually play?

For the first few years of career I played insane amounts...probably averaging around 80-90 hours a week. There's an addiction element to it that most successful players write off and ignore, because if you're making money at it there's not really a problem...in a way. This has a huge impact on a lot of players' social lives though, impacting relationships with friends, significant others, and even families.

Some players become so engrossed in poker that it becomes difficult for them to carry a conversation with anyone who doesn't understand what it means to checkraise someone on the river. It's more like being a workaholic than an alcoholic or "degenerate gambler", but it's an addiction nonetheless. I've spent the last couple years trying to play a lot less poker and focus more on my family, friends, and interests outside of poker. It has been rewarding, both in terms of the relationships I have with people outside the poker world and for my game. It makes poker feel like less of a grind, because I'm not in there just busting my ass every day. Just about any time I take a few days off from poker I really start to crave it, which is a constant reminder of why I chose this career.

How would you describe your style of play in MTTs?

Anywhere from nitbox to spazztard, depending on the situation. I find it hysterical when people tell me they've had arguments with other pros where one person talks about how nitty I am, and the is shocked and insists that I'm a spewbox. It means I'm doing something right!

What kind of a computer setup do you have for playing? Do you use any poker software?

I have a Dell Vostro 420 desktop with two monitors, 30" and 24". I use Holdem Manager and haven't set up MergeKeys yet. I used to use TableNinja as well.

Do you focus more on live or online play?

That depends. I've always been one of the very few players who goes back and forth between live and online play a ton. I just go with whichever one has the best tournament action at the time. I try to estimate travel expenses, amount of buy ins, and expected ROI (hardest part obv) across my options and plan accordingly.

You have had some nice success in MTTs. What was your biggest cash & how did it feel to win that much money in one tournament?

$266k for 3rd place in the 2009 WPT World Poker Finals $10k event was my biggest cash. I took two sick beats at the final table including one for 2/3 of the chips in play so it was a bit of a bittersweet win, but no day where you win a quarter million can really be considered a bad day. I was really happy with the result, and the fact that I knew I'd played my best in just about every spot at the final table helped in getting over my unlucky breaks.

What are your short term & long term poker goals?

Short-term: To keep making a good living post-DOJ for now...that's about all I can ask for at the moment.

Long-term: I plan on dying with a bracelet and a WPT title.

Do you have any plans of branching off into other forms of poker in the future?

Yes, especially PLO and 8-game. (Talked about this above tho).

At this point in your career does poker feel more like a hobby or a job? Do you still enjoy the game as much as you used to?

It's definitely a job and not a hobby, but I still have a strong passion for the game. I can't say that I enjoy grinding out NL MTT's as much as I used to, but I still enjoy doing it and miss it when I take time off. That's one of the main reasons I made a conscious decision to stop playing so much poker as soon as I began to feel the slightest bit burnt out from years of grinding. I also try to make sure to have the occasional drunken, dealers' choice, wild card home game with friends to remind myself of what makes me love poker so much.

How long do you plan on playing poker professionally?

I don't have a definite plan on this, but I do plan on eventually going back to college and possibly getting a MBA/JD (masters in business/law degree). Chances are that even when I start to pursue other avenues in life, I'll be playing a good amount of poker on the side and still taking it just as seriously.

You were previously working on starting a charity poker tour. Is that something that is still in the works? If so, could you tell us more about it?

There's a group of us, including Mike Frazin and Stu Nitzkin, who put together a proposal regarding the proposed Charity Poker Tour being aligned with the World Poker Tour, since the WPT had plans on expanding its charity efforts anyway. We worked closely with my good friend and WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage on the proposal, and are still waiting to see what comes of it. We'll likely try to align ourselves with another tour if that initiative fails.

You have been a pro for Lock since the summer of 2009. How has your experience at Lock been as you have seen them progress from the Cake network, to the Merge network, to what they have grown into since Black Friday?

It has been an amazing ride. I always believed in the site, but to see the exponential growth that Lock has achieved has been incredible. I was one of the very first pros to sign with the site, and one of even fewer to stick by Jenn's side through the hell we went through switching from the Cake network to the Merge network. Continuing to believe in her and represent the site through that turmoil has made it that much more rewarding to watch them turn into one of the biggest sites in the USA after Black Friday.

When you aren't puking on 17th century antiques at Lock retreats, what do you like to do in your spare time besides poker?

Low blow. Will I ever live that one down? Sometimes a man arrives at a LockPRO retreat after a very long flight and is ready to party...a little too hard. =)

I actually love visiting family, especially my 9 nieces and nephews. Taking them Christmas shopping is one of the things I look forward to all year. I go to a lot of concerts, especially rap concerts. I'm a die hard New York Rangers fan and have been to a third of their home games so far this season despite living in Vegas and Costa Rica (both >2500 miles from Madison Square Garden). I just got my first tattoo, which was the Rangers shield on my right arm. I used to play ice and roller hockey before I got into poker, and am planning on getting back into it soon. And I know it sounds like a plug, but I really like doing poker training/coaching. It's really rewarding to see my students improve their game, even though a couple of them have become top MTTers who I now have to play against on a regular basis.

What are your favorite movies and TV shows? Who are your favorite bands/musical artists?

Talladega Nights and The Big Lebowski are my favorite comedies. Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption are my favorite dramas. My favorite TV shows are Family Guy, Tosh.0, World's Dumbest (Criminals, especially), and the new Impractical Jokers. TruTV kicks ass in general. My favorite artists are Sublime, Biggie, Eminem, Jay-Z, Incubus, Kid Rock, and Tool.

Thanks for taking the time to do this & good luck at the tables.

For more on Matt Stout you can access his website here: http://stoutpoker.com/ where he blogs and offers coaching through one on one coaching and training camps, and follow him on twitter @MattStoutPoker

In case you missed it, here's the 2 previous interviews in my weekly interview series:

Stevie Devlin: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/12/weekly-interview-series-stevie.html

Marc Alioto: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-interview-series-marc-alioto.html

To signup for Lock Poker to get the max 200% 1st time deposit bonus & VIP benefits (http://jaredhubbard.com/lock%20vip.htm) please click this link: http://download.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

If you have any recommendations for which Lock pro you would like to see me interview next or any questions you would like to see asked please contact below. For a full list of Lock pros please visit: http://lockpoker.eu/pro

Thanks & GL,
Jared

http://www.jaredhubbard.com/
http://twitter.com/jhubpoker
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049
http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/

Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy New Year! 2011 Year in Review

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I started the year 16 tabling 6 man ST SNGs on FTP. I still wasn't playing as many of the $300+ games because I didn't think enough +EV games ran to really bother with the extra variance. I ran pretty below EV in the 6 mans but still made a good amount of money in rakeback.

In February I started to study HU. For the time being it would help me HU in my 6 man games, but the idea was that I would evenutally switch over to HU SNGs full time. Making the switch to HU SNGs is something I should have done a long time ago, but I was too big of a change nit. While I crushed HU in 6 mans, the competition was usually very weak when it came to HU poker. 6 man SNG players are pretty awful at HU in general. If I wanted to crush HU SNGs I had work to do. Around mid March I started to play some HU SNGs part time, starting w/ $50s & $100s, and quickly starting $200s & $300s shortly after. I had studied my ass off and was definitely ready, although I still had plenty to learn before I could crush the highest levels. I played well and ran well starting out, making over $13K pre rakeback playing HU SNGs part time for 2 weeks in March. As I played more and talked to more HUSNG players, I learned that high stakes is mostly about being able to open sit and not get sat by other regs. Not many regs sat me, I was already much improved, and I clearly had the bankroll, so about a week after starting HU I began to play some $500s. Toward the end of March I had started to play $1Ks. In April I started playing HU SNGs full time, rarely playing any 6 mans. I made another $22K+ pre rakeback playing HU for 15 days in April.

Then came the infamous Black Friday. I got about $88K frozen on FTP & about $12K on AP. At first, I was really only only worried only worried about how I would be able to continue to make a healthy living. I was pretty sure I would get my money from Full Tilt & wasn't really too worried about losing $12K. FTP was so reputable and it didn't make sense for them not to pay US players when they still had a ton of non-US players as customers. I considered going to Canada a few days a week to play online, and even discussed the possibility of moving to Costa Rica or another country with my wife.

Obviously as the FTP saga developed, my opinion on getting my money back changed. However, I still wasn't overly worried. I had invested my money and if I lost the $100K I would just look at it as having made $100K less during my career. That's still some pretty nice career earnings. Whether to large amounts of money on an online poker site is a simple risk vs reward problem. Keeping a large roll online allowed me to play the highest stakes games. I earned enough extra income from my higher stakes games that I was essentially freerolling the $100K I lost on Black Friday, as I had clearly made far more than an extra $100K because of keeping the roll online to play high stakes. That said, if it had been a month earlier, I probably would have had $70K less online. I hadn't been maintaining a high average stake in 6 mans, whereas in HU I had been playing $1Ks, which require a large bankroll because of the swings. I still think I could have been a little more cautious and kept about $50K less online. If my online roll got really low I'm sure I probably would have been able to get money online.

After Black Friday, I fiddled around with 6 mans on Cake and Bodog for a while.Then I went to Lock Poker on the Merge network and the traffic was surprisingly good for a US site post Black Friday. I started playing 6 mans there as well. I was talking to LiarzDice on AIM and he said that he knew the owner of Lock and thought I was worthy of a pro deal. He introduced us through email. I pitched myself to the owner and Eric Lynch, and within a couple weeks I signed a contract as a Lock Elite Pro. Lock has since become the largest US site accepting US players.

Since I had stopped playing 6 mans, I was curious how the top 5 all time single table SNG sharkscope total profit list looked when combining player screen names from all sites. In late May I put together the list. Here's how it looked:

All Time 5-10 Seated Sharkscope Total Profit (as of May 25, 2011)

1. jorj95: $814,309

Pokerstars

2. Jared Hubbard: $555,761

Global Alias

3. Spacegravy: $438,864

Pokerstars

4. Gramps: $435,038

Global Alias

5. Scoss: $434,183

Global Alias$179,425

I was #1 until 2009 when jorj95 decided he was going to become an absolute BEAST. Congrats to him again.

In June I started playing HU on Lock. At the time, the highest stake on Lock for HU STs was $254. Lock's HU ST structure starts with 30BBs, which I think I like better than 25BBs because it is still quick and good for hourly rate, but allows your opponents to make even bigger mistakes. My HU game was definitely rusty at 1st, especially when playing tougher regs like phmerc and skilled_sox, but I worked on it and improved. In late September Lock added $500 & $1K HU STs, which was very exciting.

In October, Lock's CEO Jennifer Larson was kind enough to rent out an entire castle in France for the 1st ever Lock retreat. I won't go into any details since this has already been done, but if you missed it, here's a couple links: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/07/july-update-lock-pro-retreat.html & http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/10/september-monthly-update-lock-pro.html

When we got back from the Lock Pro retreat I played some Canterbury Fall Classic events for a change of pace, which is the biggest live tournament series in Minnesota. I played 5 events total. Before the main event I didn't cash in anything, although I had a nice stack going and bubbled the $500 6 max event. I ended up winning the $1K main event for a little under $71K. It was only the 13th live poker tournament I've ever played, and also my 1st cash. It sure felt good after Black Friday. You can read more about the win here: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/10/2011-canterbury-fall-classic-main-event.html

Up until November I was 4-6 tabling HU and mixing in some 6 mans. In November I stopped playing 6 mans. I focused only on HU and had a monster month, making over $61K pre rakeback. The $500 & $1K action was ridiculously good, with one monster fish accounting for over half of my profit.

Please click image to enlarge. My HU stats for the year:

The biggest change I can think of now compared to pre Black Friday is that I rarely play mornings anymore. I have to play a lot more nights. Before April 15th I basically worked around my wife’s schedule. While I certainly wasn’t maximizing my hourly or anything, I was still able to make a ton of money and live a nice balanced life. Now most of the players are from the US so it’s tough to get good action in the mornings. I still play during some dead times, which I think is a must if you want to live a balanced life, but a lot of the time when my wife works a morning shift and goes to bed I will start playing & then play late and sleep in. It’s what most single poker players do normally but it’s a change for me.

I led the entire Merge network in Sharkscope SNG profit this year, with almost double the profit of the 2nd place player. Running above EV definitely widened the gap between myself and 2nd place, but I would have still finished #1 running at neutral EV. Needless to say, the transition to HU SNGs has gone pretty smoothly. I've had people tell me they're amazed at how I got so good at HU so quickly.

Please click image to enlarge

Despite Black Friday and putting in my lowest # of hours in a year as a professional poker player, I had my 2nd best year in terms of total profit. Making almost $143K pre rakeback between October and November helped out with that. When you just look at the number without thinking, 1,395.76 hours sounds like a lot, but that's less than 35 40 hour weeks. That's like taking 1/3 of the year off completely. Now that I'm playing HU I'm not sure that my total playing hours will be higher next year, but I'll be spending plenty of other hours on poker-related activities like studying, and social media in an effort to promote Lock and myself as a player.

Please click images to enlarge

Here's the media on me this year:

http://pokerupdate.com/interviews/lock-poker-s-jared-hubbard/

http://www.mnpokermag.com/2011/10/31/farmington-mans-poker-success-is-more-than-a-lucky-streak/

http://www.mnpokermag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/NovemberIssue2.pdf

http://www.anteupmagazine.com/issue/ante-up-magazine-november-2011.htm

http://pokernewsboy.com/interviews/jared-hubbard-talks-with-pnb-about-his-career-and-changes-since-black-friday/10196

http://www.pokerxfactor.com/podcast.htm

For more of my media, please visit http://www.jaredhubbard.com/#/media/4554797893

My Favorites of the Year:

Comedy Movie: Horrible Bosses

Kevin Spacey's character was absolute money and Colin Farrel's was pretty damn funny too. I can't think of anything that really competes here.

Non comedy movie: nothing really jumps out here...Tv series are way better than movies anyway

Best TV Series: Dexter

It's hands down the best show on TV. The beginning of this season wasn't as good as the past seasons but the end of the season was epic, as usual. I wouldn't have a beef with anyone arguing for Boardwalk Empire here.

Best Comedy TV Series: Curb Yoour Enthusiasm

It's my favorite comedy series of all time and it gets better every season. Larry David is a comedic genius. Please make more episodes!

Best Rap Album: Jay-Z & Kanye West: Watch The Throne

The album wasn't really as good as I expected from these 2, but it's tough to not have a really good album when Jay-Z and Kanye are teaming together. I don't really think this one is that close. I guess the Eminem & Royce Da 5'9 CD deserves consideration but that's about it. Lil Wayne is overrated and his newest CD was highly overrated. Hell, I'd take Nicki Minaj's CD over Lil Wayne's CD in a heartbeat, and she's a female rapper. Oh yeah, Drake is overrated too, although he's probably the best of the next generation of rappers, which is pretty sad. The fact of the matter is rap gets worse every year. Once Eminem, Jay-Z, & Kanye retire rap is going to get even worse, unless somebody else comes along, but I'm doubting it considering what rap has turned into with some of the new guys.

Best Rap Song: Jay-Z & Kanye West: Ni**as In Paris

There really weren't a lot of great rap songs this year. I'd actually give the top 3 to Jay-Z and Kanye, with H.A.M. & Otis being in my top 3 as well. Jay-Z & Kanye might have a couple other songs I'd put in the top 10 too. I know I'd definitely put Gotta Have It in there. I would put Lil Wayne's Mirror up there, but let's be honest, it would probably be the 10th best song on most Eminem albums.

Best Country Album: Eric Church: Chief

There's a lot of good songs on this CD. My favorites are creepin', drink in my hand, homeboy, Jack Daniels, & Springsteen, in no particular order. Kenny Chesney's CD was reasonable but his new music simply doesn't match his old music. Brad Paisley is a little too obsessed with guitar solos for me, although he does come out with some good songs.

Best Country Song: Luke Bryan: Country Girl (Shake It For Me), Jake Owen: Barefoot Bluejean Night, Eric Church: Homeboy

Pick any one of them. It all depends what mood I'm in.

Best Rock Album: None. Rock died 20 years ago. At least classic rock was so good that it never gets old, because there sure as hell isn't any new stuff coming out.

Best Rock/Alternative song: Foster The People: Pumped Up Kicks

I don't listen to enough new rock or alternative to even have an opinion on this, but I like this song a lot.

Santa & Mrs. Claus made a surprise visit to my mom's house on Christmas Eve:

For an individual look at each of my other 4 years as a professional poker player please see these posts:

2007: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-series-look-back-year-in-review.html

2008: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/12/look-back-year-in-review-2008.html

2009: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/12/look-back-year-in-review-2009.html

2010: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/12/look-back-year-in-review-2010.html

We had a New Year's party this year, which was a great time. We got a keg of Amstel Light and had plenty of mixed drinks & shots. About 30 or 40 people showed. We might make it a yearly tradition.