Monthly Update: February

If you like my blog please click the BlogTopList vote button to the right. This will give my blog a better ranking & help increase traffic to my blog. Thanks.

To signup to play at Lock Poker:
1. Clear cookies & internet history
2. Either click the banner above or 1 of the following links:

http://refer.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

http://download.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

After signing up please make sure jhub3000@hotmail.com is listed as a safe sender in your email. You can also email me with any questions. Before you begin playing on Lock, or even if you already do play on there, you will probably want to read this post about optimizing the software: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-most-out-of-lock-pokers-software.html

For daily updates & other ramblings please follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/jhubpoker


Please like my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049

February took a bad turn.  After making over $47,000 in profit pre rakeback in January, I lost almost $22,000 pre rakeback in Fenruary.  March has been no different.

Here's my February adjusted EV graph.

As you can see in my adjusted luck graph, my EV was still good.  As you will see on my sharkscope graph, the HEM average stake is a little off, but my adjusted profit in February was $19,443, so I ran over $41,000 below EV on the month.  This is the frustrating part of playing a wide range of stakes.  Your overall profit is heavily influenced by a small sample of games at your highest stakes.  This can bring much higher than normal swings.  Thankfully, I think my mental game is pretty strong.  While I think everyone's game is at least slightly affected by huge downswings, the goal is to still play at a very high level.  I think I have done that, and my EV graph reflects that opinion.  I've certainly had worse downswings, and I'm sure I will have more that are just as bad or worse.  

I always hear of pros breaking laptops and other things when the cards go bad.  I've never even come close to doing such a thing.  In reality, variance is what makes the game so profitable.  If it weren't for variance, the bad players would never win, and would probably just choose not to play.  I think it's important to remind yourself of that when going through a downswing.  Thinking you don't deserve it isn't going to get you anywhere.  You need to worry about what you can control, and that's playing your best.  People always ask me how I deal with the emotions of the game.  That pretty much sums it up.  That said, it's still frustrating as a competitor, but the goal is to not let that frustration affect your play.

My sharkscope stats for February and for the year, as of today, as well as my 2012 sharkscope graph:

In March I'm down another $23,000 so far, so it's more of the same.  However, my luck adjusted yearly profit is almost $55,000.  That would be good for a $14K lead on the 2012 Merge any game by network leaderboard right now.  Thinking in terms of adjusted EV, rather than actual money won or lost is the best way to look at things.  It should all even out in the long run.

Here's my HEM 2012 adjusted EV graph.

Again, the HEM average stake is a little off but you get the picture.  The graph also understates how far I am running below EV, because it is based on average ROI, not total ROI.

I have talked in my blog a lot about how sitting other winning regs in HU SNGs can be very beneficial if you can get good enough and learn to beat them.  I still hear regs complain all the time when I sit them, claiming that neither of us is making any money and that I just have a big ego.  Well that simply isn't true.  Proof that sitting other winning regs in HU SNGs can be a +EV move is below.

HEM adjusted EV graph of other winning regs when playing me:

In HEM I created a global alias of every HU reg I can think of that I have ever played on Lock.  The global alias then combines the stats of all of these players.  I've certainly forgotten to include some people, but if I forgot a player I probably haven't played them much, and they're also probably a very low tier reg, meaning that including them would likely only make the results of the alias worse.  As you can see, I have played 2,471 HU SNGs against these winning regs this year, which is over 46% of my total games.  The regs have combined for a -3.9% ROI against me.  Considering that these stats include rake of 1.5%, this means that my adjusted ROI against them is 2.4.  My total adjusted ROI on the year is 2.6%, meaning that my adjusted ROI against non regs is probably somewhere around 2.8%.  That's only a 0.4% drop in ROI from playing randoms.  You may be thinking, well why would you want to play regs if your ROI is lower against them than against randoms?  The answer is simple, you don't have to wait to play regs.  They're sitting 1st and you just sit them.  This brings a huge increase to your games/hr, and ultimately to your hourly rate, which is what it's all about.  So far this year I'm getting in about 26 games/hour.  Considering my average stake is $400 and a lot of the time I will only be 1 to 2 tabling $500s or $1Ks because I don't sit lower while playing them and most people don't want to play more than 1 or 2 tables of them, I think that's a pretty high games/hr.

I'd also like to talk about why I think there's such a small difference between my ROI against randoms and my ROI against winning regs.  A simple assumption would be that I play very well against regs, but don't always maximize my equity against fish.  That may very well be true, but I think there's at the very least other reasons behind it.  When you play randoms you usually don't get to play them for very many games.  Often you play them once and then never see them again.  When this is the case you usually aren't able to develop very good reads on the player, and you're forced to go off of population tendencies.  Well, the range of styles and plays that a random will make in any given hand is pretty drastic, and going off of population tendencies isn't usually going to allow you to maximally exploit that each player individually.  

Then there's regs.  You are usually able to play regs in a lot more games, increasing your sample size of hands on them, therefore increasing the confidence that each play you make is correct against that player.  As two players play each other over and over the more skilled player is likely to gain an even bigger edge because they can get better reads and adapt their play to maximally exploit their opponent.  Even if a reg always declines a rematch and you don't play them much, the range in differences of style and play from one reg to the next is much smaller than it is of a random.  Many have pretty similar styles.  Therefore, going off what you consider to be the population tendency for a reg in any given play is going to be much closer to the 100% correct play than going off the population tendency for a random will be.

Another factor to consider when playing regs is that you are often playing them at multiple tables.  Playing one player at 3 tables is a lot easier than playing 3 different players on 3 tables.  Playing against only one player will allow you to focus a lot more and get better reads, which you can then use to maximally exploit them.

That brings me to another point.  Most of my HU SNGs I have played while 4-6 tabling.  Sometime in December I decided that I would try to usually play no more than 3 tables, considering that my average stake had increased, increasing the skill level of my average competition.  I felt that 3 tables was the optimal number for increasing my hourly rate.  However, I'm sometimes willing to make an exception.  One case where I'll make an exception is if a reg will 4-6 table me at reasonable stakes.  There's a couple reasons I will make an exception in this case.  As I have already stated, it's a lot easier to focus playing 1 player on 3 tables than 3 players on 3 tables.  Second off, in this case your opponent on every table is at the same disadvantage, that being a lack of focus, as you are.  I think I multi table about as anyone on Merge in HU SNGs, but I still would cap the number of tables I would play any given reg at 5 or 6 unless the games were $500+.  This is because I would always like to  stay registered for the $500s and $1Ks, considering how valuable they are.  Also, I'd obviously have to be pretty certain that I have a good edge on the reg, as I wouldn't stay registered for games under $500 if I was already playing 4 or more tables against a reg.

Hopefully this brought up some things you hadn't thought about or you at least found it interesting.

Lock has kicked off their first ever tournament series this month with great success.  The tournament series is called Poker Maximus and the schedule can be found here: http://thepokermaximus.com/poker-tournaments.html If you don't already have a Lock account, you can sign up here https://twitter.com/#!/jhubpoker for VIP benefits (http://jaredhubbard.com/lock%20vip.htm).  Also, be sure to enter the code LOCK150 for a 150% deposit bonus up to $750.  Lock accepts U.S. players.  We also recently launched our own cashier, separate from the Merge network so that you can withdraw and receive your money quickly.  Lock is running a rake race this month as well: http://lockpoker.eu/promos/rally-for-riches-race/

I plan on playing the $100+ Sunday Poker Maximus events when I can.  Last Sunday I played the $109 $175,000 guaranteed and the $215 $80,000 guaranteed high roller.  They didn't go too well.  In the $109 I lthink we were about 3 hours in and I 3bet an aggro button raiser with JJ.  He 4bet all in for 19BBs, which is obviously a snap call for me whether he's aggro or a nit.  He woke up with QQ and held.  A short time after I raised in MP with QJs and got 2 callers.  I'm thinking I probably had 15-20BBs.  The flop came something like J83 with 2 diamonds, giving me a monster with top pair, an overcard, and a flush draw.  I bet the flop and got 1 caller.  The turn was a brick.  I pushed all in for what was about a pot sized bet and got snap called by K8.  I was about an 80% favorite when we put the money in.  Unfortunately he rivered an 8 and I was out.  This play illustrates how soft the fields were though so sign up for Lock now!  #ShamelessPlug

In the $215 high roller I 3bet a very aggro MP raiser in the CO with 97.  He flatted out of position with J4s.  On the flop I hit middle pair and he check/called a gut shot.  The turn was checked and the turn and river came running 4s.  He led into me on the river for a large bet near the size of the pot.  Knowing what I knew about this player I expected him to almost always bluff a missed draw in this spot.  He also represented very little for value.  The only hand he really repped well for value was a flopped straight or trip 4s.  Both were pretty unlikely, especially the trips considering he would have had to call a 3bet out of position with a 4 in his hand & then check/call the flop with a 4 in his hand.  He also couldn't expect me to have a big hand considering how the hand played out but I wasn't sure if he would actually think that through.  I decided that the vast majority of his range was missed draws, and I was getting a great price on the call at about 2:1 considering the makeup of his range.  I called and lost a large chunk of my stack.  Later I picked up in the CO with a stack of about 18BBs.  Considering there were antes in play, I think this would be a reasonable spot to just open shove in an MTT.  However, the 3 players behind me were all aggressive 3bettors and I was 90% sure that none of them would flat if I made a standard raise of 2.25x the BB.  Considering this info, the clear play was obviously to 2.25x raise/call instead of open jam.  If I open jam I will never get a better hand to fold, but I will often fold out hands I dominate like smaller pairs, and hands like 76s & A5s.  If I 2.25x the small pairs are reshoving almost every time and considering the players behind me, I expect some other stuff I dominate to reshove as well.  I opened to 2.25x and just as I expected the button 3bet me.  He and the blinds had larger stacks so 3bet shoving would have been an overbet for him, but making a standard 3bet does the same thing vs me, since he knows I'm never going to flat a 3bet at that stack.  I shoved and the button showed up with 99 and held.  GG

Hopefully the hand analysis made things a little more interesting.  It's something I'm willing to do with MTT hands since I play so few MTTs, but not something I'm willing to do with HU SNG hands.

I will be playing the $1,000 Minnesota State Poker Championship this Sunday at Canterbury Park.  It will be the first live poker tournament I have played since winning the Canterbury Fall Classic Main Event for $70,769 (http://www.mnpokermag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/NovemberIssue2.pdf).  Back to back live tournament wins?

I wrapped up my February promotion (http://www.easiestpokersites.com/lock-poker-elite-pro-jared-hubbard-challenges-fans-to-heads-up-battle) with success.  I was 26-10 in the HU matches for the promotion.  My favorite answer to the trivia questions goes to Mikey Vee on facebook.  The question was: What injury was I rehabbing from when I started my first online poker account?  He replied with "swollen vagina."  Well played sir.  Well played.

Below is a review of all of the daily trivia questions from the promo and a list of the people who beat me in the HU games at the bottom:

What was my online profit in 2007? ($251,388.84)

What is the name of my dog and who is he a fan of? (Gunnar – Twins)

Where was my most recent Live Tournament win? How much did I take down? (Canterbury Fall Classic - $70,769)

When did I turn pro? (2007)

How much have I earned in rakeback to date? ($640,000)

What is the symbol of my sponsor Lock Poker?

diamond

What did I say in my interview with DALEROXXU about what my first deposit was when I started? ($50)

Feb 8 Trivia ?: In 4 years of playing 6 man SNGs, how many years did I lead the world in total profit pre rakeback?

3

Feb 9 Trivia ?: Who won most of my money in my last losing #poker session?

Mrvenom

Feb 10 Trivia ?: What was my screen name on Absolute Poker?

Cutiepie85

Feb 11 Trivia ?: What's my favorite TV show of all time?

Dexter

Feb 12 trivia?: What players were #1 & #2 on 2008 sharkscope any game 5 to 6 players any stakes lb? List screen name & site.

1.     Jhub3000, Pokerstars 2. Jhub3000, Cake

Feb 13 trivia?: What injury was I rehabbing from when I started up my 1st online #poker account?

Torn Achilles tendon

Feb 14 Trivia ?: What's my wife's name & when did we get married?

Paula: August 8^th, 2009

2/15 Trivia ?: Name 1 real life example I compared the tyraak situation to in today's blog.

Dropping a wallet on the street, etc…

2/16 Trivia ?: What company designs my website & created this trivia promotion?

PokerFacePR

2/17 Trivia ?: What stakes did I say start playing #poker at online in my Poker verdict interview? 

$1 & $2 SNGs

‎2/18 trivia?: In my interview w/ PokerUpdate what did I say is the main difference between online & live?

Online is much more aggressive

‎2/19/12 Trivia?: Before becoming a professional #poker player, what was my major in college?

Business administration

2/20 Trvia ?: In my Interview w/ PokerLizard how many SNGs did I say I play at a time?

10-16

2/21 Trivia?: In my interview w/ PokerWorks how did I say I handle bankroll management? 

100-200 buy-ins online

2/22 Trivia?: Fill in the blank: In STTs I stated: After 3,000 games you are x likely to be within x of your true ROI

90%, 5%

2/23 trivia?: In my interview on Tourneyblog what did I list as my interests outside of #poker ?

Sports, fantasy football, camping, fishing, working out.

2/24 trivia?: What city did my US Poker Bowl team represent? hint: PokerVerdict

San Diego (meaning a whales vagina according to Ron Burgundy)

2/25 trivia?: In my PokerVerdict interview what book did I say revolutionized the way I play #poker?

Harrington on Hold em

2/26 trivia?: Who was on my US #Poker Bowl team?

Alex Jacob, Shaun Deeb, Thayer Rasmussen, Peter Feldman, Jordan Morgan

2/27 trivia?: What games did I mostly play on Pokerroom? Hint: PokerNewsBoy

5 handed SNGs

2/28 trivia?: In my interview w/ #Poker Verdict what 5 adjectives did I say best describe me?

Sarcastic, motivated, loyal, easy going, dedicated

‎2/29 trivia?: In my Parttime #Poker interview name 1 player that I said reviewed my games as I was learning SNGs.

Atomicdog239, MikeMcQ1, Newt_Buggs, BigJoe2003

Realchaser74

WannaSnuggle

CAN_D_MAN

Lilstealth

@joeaugie

Matt Miller

Erik Heights (2 wins)

Marc Alioto

@j_lude_obv

Mark Hoke

I had a question about labels on blogspot.  If you know the answer just let me know.  I was wondering if you put spaces in a label if it still works.  For example, does the label online poker work, or do you need to put onlinepoker?  I couldn't find the answer on google.

Thanks & GL,

Jared

http://www.jaredhubbard.com/

http://twitter.com/jhubpoker

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049

http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/

Ethics in Poker

If you like my blog please click the BlogTopList vote button to the right. This will give my blog a better ranking & help increase traffic to my blog. Thanks.

To signup to play at Lock Poker:
1. Clear cookies & internet history
2. Either click the banner above or 1 of the following links:

http://refer.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

http://download.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

After signing up please make sure jhub3000@hotmail.com is listed as a safe sender in your email. You can also email me with any questions. Before you begin playing on Lock, or even if you already do play on there, you will probably want to read this post about optimizing the software: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-most-out-of-lock-pokers-software.html

For daily updates & other ramblings please follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/jhubpoker


Please like my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049

There seems to be a lack of ethics in poker.  I'm going to cover a couple topics: sitting other regs/professionals HU and registering for another player's game with the intention of blinding them down when they aren't there.  I will use this new Merge reg (reg wannabe might be more accurate) tyraak for both examples.

I've recently read posts on forums from players who think it's unethical to sit other regulars/professional players.  This is absolute nonsense.  We're all in competition together.  Being able to sit first in a HU SNG is a privilege that must be earned, not a right.  Hehasrisen said it best "If I can't hold my own against other regs that's my problem, not theirs."  I couldn't have said it better myself.  Me letting weaker regs open sit the same lobbies as me without sitting them is like Apple saying to Dell "You know what, why don't you just take 1% of our sales."  Do you realize how ridiculous that is?  I'm sitting you and beating you fair and square in competition.  When Kobe drives the lane Lebron doesn't move out of the way and say "you know what pal, you have this bucket."  If you don't like playing other regs then either move down in stakes to where you are left alone, or don't play when those particular regs are on.  It's that simple and there's plenty of regs who follow that strategy.

That brings me to tyraak.  I'm only using him as an example for this to tie into my next story.  The first time I sat tyraak he said "sorry I only fish."  He then proceeded to time down every single hand in each game we played.  Some people have a problem with the ethics of timing down.  It's kind of a grey area but I don't really have a huge problem with it.  He knows I am a better player and is probably timing down for a couple of reasons.  First off, my edge will be smaller as the blinds increase.  Second off, he probably thinks I'll get so annoyed that I won't sit him anymore.  He's 100% wrong on the second part, but that's besides the point.  Ethically, I don't think I really have a problem with it.  That doesn't mean I think he's smart for doing it.  Basically, all this strategy is going to do is piss off other regs and get him "sat for life."  Also, the fact that the game against him is moving so slow really allows me to play an extra table that I normally wouldn't.  With 4 tables running, 1 of them against him and his stalling tactics, it's really more comparable to 3.25 tabling, since I have far less decisions in his game than the average game.  Tyraak only sits $250 HU SNGs.  He doesn't sit higher or lower.  That brings me to my next point.

Yesterday I forgot to unregister for a $500 and a $1K.  I often don't unregister for them until my last game is actually over, simply because the games are so valuable that I'm usually willing to play overtime if one goes off.  However, this also makes it easier to forget to unregister for tthe games since you aren't doing it at the same time as all of your other games.  That may cause me to re-evaluate this process of unregistering from games.  Anyway, I ended up coming into my office at the very end of these games that I  forgot to unregister from.  Tyraak was sitting me in both games and I had pretty different chip counts, meaning he registered for one game significantly later than the other.  I pushed all in with about 6BBs on 1 table and lost, while I was on my last chip at the other table and lost.  I tried to get his attention in the chat, which I'm sure he probably saw, but he didn't respond.  I'm guessing either one of two things happened:

1. Since tyraak started playing HU I had never been registered for only the $500 and $1K lobby with 0 games running.  He may have noticed this and suspected that I had simply forgotten to unregister for these games.  He decided to sit the $500 and find out.  Once he knew I wasn't at the tables, he sat the $1K and simultaneously blinded me down on both tables.

2. Tyraak misclick registered for one of the games.  Once it became blatantly obvious that I wasn't there, he sat my other game with the intention of blinding me down at both tables.

Regardless of how it happened, one thing is clear: Tyraak sat at least one of my tables, knowing that I wasn't there, with the intention of blinding me down.  Before I get into this more, let me first state that I am well aware that this unfortunate situation is my own fault.  I forgot to double check my lobbies before leaving my office.  That's something every poker player needs to get in the habit of doing.  Had I done so, none of this would have happened.  Having said that, tyraak is still a complete scumbag for what he did.  I'm appalled that some poker players are actually defending his actions, which is what motivated me to write this blog.  I think this is very similar to other real life situations and I'll give a couple examples.  In the first example a business owner forgets to lock up his store when he leaves.  This is certainly his own fault, but that doesn't mean it's ethical to rob the guy when you find out that the door is unlocked.  In the second example a man drops his wallet on the street.  The wallet contains his identification, some cash, and some credit cards.  It's his own fault for dropping the wallet.  It's a careless mistake.  However, if you pick the wallet up you know who it belongs to, and keeping the wallet and/or the belongings is 100% unethical and I would call you a piece of shit if you chose to do so.  The right thing to do is to give the wallet to the police or return it to the owner's address.  

I really don't think anyone in their right mind would argue the ethics of those two examples.  However, since we're hiding behind a computer screen all of a sudden otherwise intelligent people don't see what's wrong with a similar situation.  If I were tyraak I would have also sat my second game with the intention of blinding me down.  However, I would be doing this so that another scumbag didn't have the opportunity to come along and blind the player down, keeping their money.  I would then transfer the buy-ins back to the player, minus the rake I paid so that the games didn't cost me anything.  If you want to argue for a small finder's fee I would probably be fine with that.

I reimburse people all the time who disconnect from their internet while playing me.  It's what I believe is the right thing to do.  However, that's a little more of a grey area than the tyraak situation.  In the internet disconnection situations we are already playing the game.  In the tyraak situation he clearly went out of his way to knowingly take money from somebody he knew wasn't there, at games he normally doesn't even play.

Situations like this are part of the reason why poker gets such a bad name sometimes.  There are many great people in poker, but there are also pieces of shit like tyraak who bring the reputation of the rest of us down.  I would say to the poker community: stop being greedy, unethical scumbags and have some morals!  Money isn't everything.  Think of other people for once.

I would like to start putting together a better compilation of my popular blog posts.  If there is a particular blog post that you really liked, please feel free to let me know by commenting on here, emailing me, tweeting me, or sending me an IM on Skype or AIM.

Thanks & GL,

Jared

http://www.jaredhubbard.com/

http://twitter.com/jhubpoker

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049

http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/

January Monthly Update: Upswing

If you like my blog please click the BlogTopList vote button to the right. This will give my blog a better ranking & help increase traffic to my blog. Thanks.

To signup to play at Lock Poker:
1. Clear cookies & internet history
2. Either click the banner above or 1 of the following links:

http://refer.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

http://download.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

After signing up please make sure jhub3000@hotmail.com is listed as a safe sender in your email. You can also email me with any questions. Before you begin playing on Lock, or even if you already do play on there, you will probably want to read this post about optimizing the software: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-most-out-of-lock-pokers-software.html

For daily updates & other ramblings please follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/jhubpoker


Please like my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049

January was quite the start to the year.  If I told you that I had a $19K downswing and serveral $10K downswings you probably wouldn't think I had a very good month.  However, you would be wrong:

Please click images to enlarge.

I played 2,721 HU SNGs, with an average stake of $329, and profited $47,231.55.  I started off the year running like hell in $500s & $1Ks.  Right before my big upswing I was running about $14K below EV if I remember correctly.  Then a monster fish came to Lock and started playing $500s & $1Ks very regularly.  He also bragged to me about how rich and good looking he was, so it felt even better taking his money.  Seriously, what kind of a pathetic tool brags in the chat of an online poker game about being how rich and good looking they are?  Anyways, this guy was a huge tilt monkey and just all around awful poker player, and I'm pretty sure he lost about $60K in a week before resetting his stats.  Unfortunately, he hasn't played in a while, so maybe he got sick of losing money.  I also had variance helping me out this month, as you can see here:

These are my HEM EV adjusted stats, with my HEM EV adjusted ROI/ITM graph.  Those of you familiar with HEM and Lock  probably know that super turbo buy-ins don't import correctly.  Therefore, the adjusted profit and average stake will always be off.  You can see in the picture that HEM lists my average stake for the year as $572.46, whereas sharkscope lists it as $329.  That's because I changed my default buy-in to $572.46 in November.  At the time that was my average stake.  I don't see any point in changing it back, because it will just mess up overall EV adjusted ROI numbers.  Since buy-ins don't import correctly, HEM treats a $90 no differently than it treats a $1K.  Therefore, the adjusted EV ROI number in HEM is based on average ROI, not total ROI.  However, I've always put more stock into average ROI anyways.  Small samples of games at your highest stakes can skew total ROI too much.  Regardless of whether you use average ROI or total ROI, there's always a chance for outliers that make the adjusted EV less accurate than it seems.  For example, if you play a monster fish in $1Ks and you have a 10% ROI against them, the average ROI method will understate your EV ROI and profit.  Using the total ROI method, if you card rack the shit out of somebody at a smallish sample of $1Ks, it will overstate your EV ROI and profit.

That was a bit of a tangent so hopefully you're not sleeping.  As you can see, my adjusted EV average ROI for the month was 3.6%.  This means that my adjusted total pre rakeback profit for the month is $32,227.52 (0.036 x $329 avg. stake x 2,721 games), which would still have me leading the network in total sharkscope SNG profit.  Of course this isn't a perfect adjusted EV, but it's a lot more likely to be accurate than unadjusted EV numbers.

I spent most of the month 3 tabling, compared to past months when I was usually 4-6 tabling HU SNGs.  I'm pretty sure mostly 3 tabling is going to be the way to go for me from here on out.  I started up a global alias for Merge HU regs in HEM & it appears that about 46% of my games were against winning regulars.  Considering that, 3.6% is an EXCELLENT ROI for 3 tabling super turbo HU SNGs.  Needless to say, I'm very happy with where my game is at.  I am still learning a lot.  I think I have really taken my game to the next level over the last couple of months.  Not only have I learned more stuff to apply at the tables, but I'm playing an optimal number of tables, taking a good number of breaks, and focusing very well.  Despite the fact that I've played over 25,000 HU games between Merge and Full Tilt, I'm still relatively new to HU SNGs.  I didn't play any HU SNGs until around mid March last year.  I then didn't play any for about a month and a half after Black Friday.  Then my focus was still split between HU and 6 man SNGs until late last year.

I think my life balance is also very good right now, which helps at the tables.  I've been putting in 40 total hours of poker-related activities per week.  That includes playing, studying, social media, etc...  It's enough to still be motivated by stuff like profit and leaderboards, but not too much where you dread putting in the hours and aren't on your A game.  I think not having a pinched nerve and being able to exercise again helps a lot too.

Outside of poker I went to a few T Wolves games this month.  Ricky Rubio has really made the team exciting to watch again, and I think we're going to be a force to be reckoned with in the West in a couple years.  We're right where the OKC Thunder were a couple years ago.  We also went to a Wild Game dinner and had lots of birthdays to celebrate during the month: my mother in law's, my mom's, my wife's, & my own (I'm 28 now).  Winters in Minnesota really suck.  We usually end up watching entirely too much TV.  We finally got around to watching The Sopranos and are currently in season 5.  I like the show, as expected, but I certainly don't think it's even close to the best show of all time, as many seem to think.  I'm almost never just dying to see the next episode.  In my opinion, it doesn't compare to Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, the first 4-5 seasons of Entourage, the 1st few seasons of Weeds, or Prison Break.  Surely there's probably plenty more better shows that I haven't seen yet either.  I would put it in the same category as The Wire.  It's a good/borderline great show, but there's plenty of better shows.  Maybe it gets amazing in the last couple of seasons that I haven't seen, but Curb Your Enthusiasm is the only show I can think of that gets better toward the end of the series.

For extended daily updates you can check out my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049

Don't forget about my February promotion.  In case you missed it, you can read about it here: http://www.easiestpokersites.com/lock-poker-elite-pro-jared-hubbard-challenges-fans-to-heads-up-battle

http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2012/01/free-coaching-merge-tournament-series.html

Lock Elite Pro Mike "bigguylegend22" will be the next installment in my weekly interview series so look for that post later this week.

Here's a bad attempt at a family photo on New Year's Eve:

We weren't sober.

Results:

January 2012

108.60 hours played

2,724 HU SNGs played

$329 average stake

$47,231.55 Pre Rakeback/Sponsorship Profit

164.5 cumulative hours spent on poker-related activities (playing, studying, social media, etc...)

What I Don't Like About Poker Society

If you like my blog please click the BlogTopList vote button to the right. This will give my blog a better ranking & help increase traffic to my blog. Thanks.

To signup to play at Lock Poker:
1. Clear cookies & internet history
2. Either click the banner above or 1 of the following links:

http://refer.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

http://download.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

After signing up please make sure jhub3000@hotmail.com is listed as a safe sender in your email. You can also email me with any questions. Before you begin playing on Lock, or even if you already do play on there, you will probably want to read this post about optimizing the software: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-most-out-of-lock-pokers-software.html

For daily updates & other ramblings please follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/jhubpoker


Please like my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049

I'm a professional poker player.  While I've met a ton of poker players who I like, I'm not a big fan of poker society in general, or how the poker lifestyle is depicted.

First off, what is with all of these micro stakes losers hating on some of the most successful poker players in the world.  Look on the forums, blogs, and articles.  It's everywhere.  It's almost never highly successful players hating on other highly successful players either.  It's almost never somebody with a reputation to protect.  You don't see this in any other game.  You don't see Tarvaris Jackson hating on Peyton Manning.  You don't see Jerome Jordan hating on Lebron James or Kobe Bryant.  Part of the problem with online poker is it's so anonymous.  These cowards usually don't even have the balls to post their hater comments under any name other than guest or anonymous.  If they spent half the time they spend hating on others on actually studying the game, they might actually get somewhere in the poker world.  However, that would take too much hard work.  It's easier to just make excuses and tear the successful guy down.  If you're going to hate, at least have the balls to post your screen name.

Super turbo HU players seem to get an abnormal number of haters too.  It's not the "cool" thing to do.  Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, & Phil Galfond don't play HU with 30bb starting stacks, so we must rip the guys that do!  If you don't think it takes a lot of talent to beat $1K HU super turbos, then I'll have to invite you to come and sit me.  Play me for 4,000 games.  If super turbos are all about gambling, then both of our adjusted EV ROIs should be about -1.5% (the rake) after the 4K games.  I can assure you that won't be the case.  The same clowns who think super turbos are all about gambling & luck are the same guys that donate money to my retirement fund on a regular basis.  Would you rather make $350K/year playing a form of poker that isn't considered "cool" or would you rather be a micro stakes grinder at NL cash games trying to imitate the "cool" players?

People also tend to hate a lot on players who know how to market themselves.  Is this because Phil Ivey isn't heavily into social media?  What's so wrong with thinking like a smart business person?  People in other avenues of life don't get bashed for this.  Poker is a business, and lots of players leave a ton of money on the table.  Maybe they're afraid of looking like a "dbag" in the minds of these haters.  Maybe they're just lazy.  Maybe there's other reasons.  However, make no mistake about it, there's a lot of money to be made in the business side of poker, and self promotion can be key.  Posting your profits daily doesn't make you a "dbag", it just makes you more aware of a good way to promote yourself.  I don't go bragging to friends and family about how much I make, because that doesn't give me any benefit in business.  In fact, many of my friends and extended family probably have no clue how much money I actually make.  This was especially true before I started up a twitter account and synced it with facebook.  I'll bet a lot of my friends and extended family probably thought I was making $60-$80K/year.

Haters: stop hating and get a life.

This next portion might piss more people off, because I think it's more widespread throughout the poker society.  It may even piss off some friends of mine, but I like to speak my mind and share my opinions, and if people have a problem with that and can't respect honesty then they need to get over it.  What's up with everybody trying to show everybody else how "balla" they are?  To me, regularly dropping thousands of dollars at clubs doesn't make you cool.  Regularly making ridiculous prop bets for absurd amounts of money doesn't make you cool.  I'm fine with prop bets where somebody is pretty sure they have a good edge, but in the poker world these are few and far between.  Putting thousands and thousands of dollars down on -EV casino games like roulette and craps don't make you cool to me.  Spending 75% of your yearly income on a car doesn't impress me.  To me, these things don't make you "balla", they just make you irresponsible.  I don't know if young people are watching too many rap videos or what.  This problem is actually widespread among professional athletes as well.  70% of basketball and football players are broke within 3 years of their last game.  How sad is that?  These people are given ridiculous amounts of money and they just blow it all.  The other year a guy making $250K/year lost a $50K pair of earrings at practice.  He spent 20% of his yearly income on a pair of earrings!  Ask yourself, is that "cool" or irresponsible.  To me the answer is obvious.  It's no different in poker.  You hear of successful players going busto all the time.  Part of it is people not balancing their lives well, or not working hard enough in a poker environment that is getting tougher and tougher day after day, but a large part of it is surely the "balla" lifestyle these players choose to live.  Hopefully this paragraph doesn't offend players currently living this "balla" lifestyle, but forces them to take a good hard look at some of the choices they're making, and make some changes.  Again, I'm just sharing my opinions.

I really don't fit into the "balla" poker lifestyle.  I invest a large percentage of my profits into retirement accounts each and every year.  I have also used large chunks of money to help out my family with loans.  I have a nice house and a nice car, but for my tax bracket, they are both probably below average among poker players considering their typical spending habits.  I don't usually do prop bets unless I'm pretty damn sure I have a significant edge.  I don't just gamble to gamble.  I'll get on some $100 super bowl number boards, but those are neutral EV and not a large chunk of money.  I do fantasy football every year, but in about 17 years of playing, I'm pretty sure I've only had one losing year overall.  Yes I've been playing fantasy football since I was in 4th grade.  Like poker, I consider that to be investing, not gambling.  I've always thought to look to the future, and not just the present, and being financially responsible.  I had a paper route since I was in 2nd grade all the way up until I was 14. when I could legally get a real job.  I saved a large chunk of that money for a car and college.  Once I was in college I had a part time job during the school year and a full time job during summers, until poker came along.  I got married at the age of 25.  I play structures of poker that are seen by the community as the "black sheep."  Because of all of this, I don't really fit into poker society all that well.  I am by no means the stereotypical poker player, but I think that's a good thing.

I think it would be a good thing if this stereotype of the average poker player changed.

I realize this will probably be a pretty unpopular post in the eyes of many, since it's goes against the masses in the poker industry.  It goes against what is seen as standard.  However, I think it's something that needs to be said.  If you want to hate me for my view then hate on hater.

Thanks & GL,

Jared

http://www.jaredhubbard.com/

http://twitter.com/jhubpoker

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049

http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/

Free Coaching, Merge Tournament Series, & Improved Lock Cashouts

If you like my blog please click the BlogTopList vote button to the right. This will give my blog a better ranking & help increase traffic to my blog. Thanks.

To signup to play at Lock Poker:
1. Clear cookies & internet history
2. Either click the banner above or 1 of the following links:

http://refer.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

http://download.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard

After signing up please make sure jhub3000@hotmail.com is listed as a safe sender in your email. You can also email me with any questions. Before you begin playing on Lock, or even if you already do play on there, you will probably want to read this post about optimizing the software: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-most-out-of-lock-pokers-software.html

For daily updates & other ramblings please follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/jhubpoker


Please like my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049

I get requests for coaching all the time.  Unfortunately, I don't think it's really worth it for me and have to turn them down.  In February I will be making an exception.  If you follow me on twitter, you will have the chance to win 30 free minutes of coaching from me each and every single day in February!  For more on this monthly promotion, please read these press releases:

http://www.wptmag.com/news.php?articleID=353

http://www.gambling911.com/poker/lock-poker-elite-pro-jared-hubbard%E2%80%99s-j-hu-b%E2%80%99s-challenge-012512.html

If you win 30 free minutes of coaching you will choose which game you would like to be coached in.  However, let me post a little disclaimer: I'm not going to be able to help you much outside of 6 max SNGs, HU SNGs, & MTTs.  Keep this in mind when choosing which area you would like to be coached in.  Since I don't think it was mentioned in the press releases, I would like to note that if you are the first person to correctly answer the trivia question of the day that you will have to beat me in 1 super turbo HU SNG (30bb starting stacks) on Lock Poker.  You will only get 1 opportunity unless you are the first person to answer the trivia question correctly on multiple days.

Some of you long time blog readers may remember that I used to update my blog almost every day I played poker on my old blog at http://jhub3000.livejournal.com/.  My twitter followers also know that I tweet daily updates any day I play with hours played, # of games played, average stake, & profit/loss.  Lately I have started to expand on my daily updates on my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049.  I'll usually comment on how the games were, how I played, how I ran in terms of EV, how the month is going, etc...  Occasionally I'll maybe comment on non poker related stuff.  I hope you guys enjoy these new updates.

Merge (the network Lock is on) recently announced it's first ever tournament series.  It's called Poker Maximus and will take place in March of this year. For more info on the series, please read here: http://thepokermaximus.com/.  If you would like to participate in the series, you can signup for Lock here http://download.lockpoker.com/jaredhubbard for a 150% deposit bonus and VIP benefits (http://jaredhubbard.com/lock%20vip.htm).

I'd also like to announce that Lock is announcing its' own cashier, seperate from the Merge network, in an effort to speed up withdrawals.  Moving forward we will be introducing a much faster withdrawal process and will also be introducing USD bank wires for VIPs.  The minimum withdrawal for a wire will be $2,500 and the maximum will be $9,500.

Thanks & GL,

Jared

http://www.jaredhubbard.com/

http://twitter.com/jhubpoker

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Hubbard-Poker/221586851240049

http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/