pliang's Xanga

It is PLO time!

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:55:37 GMT

I think the main reason to keep this blog running is that it helps me to reflect my life and my game. Today i want to make a few goals. I know i have told myself in the past not to turn back to PLO, but honestly, i am pretty sure i can beat the game.

I always procrastinate when the topic is to move up. I have been playing pretty solid 8 tabling the 50 max, and i think i really should 8 table the 100 max. I am definately bankrolled to take these swings. The only problem is that it does bother me to lose over certain amount in one day, and when you double the stakes, that is inevitable. However, as a poker player, you should neve care, or at least, you need to be able to deal with the swings. If you cannot, you are in the wrong profession.

What is not to be confuzed is the difference between swings and playing BAD. Those are two different things. Swings might happen when you play good but still lose, but playing bad and tilting is unacceptable. A few guidelines for me to REMEMBER AND FOLLOW:

- Do not play when the internet is slow...even if it itches you to. It is more than proven that you will lag, get mad and therefore play -EV poker.

-in PLO, DO NOT EVER overplay AAxx. If you cannot put at the very least 40-50% of your $ pre flop, that hand is just garbage.

-NOT any Ace sooted is playable. You really need to have 3 connectors with it...you simply won't be able to have favorable flops in the long run by playing naked suited aces.

-POSITION POSITION POSITION.

The plan is to be able to get to 5/10 PLO by the end of the year. I will write on my next blog my own guidelines for a happy bankroll management :)

Gl at the tables.

Professional poker player!

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:46:49 GMT

Hello all,

Many people have came to me and asked if i am a poker pro. What is exactly a professional poker player?

By definition, if you your only income depends solely of your poker results, that should make you a professional. However, not all pros are made the same. I know countless friends who have made hundreds of thousands within a short period of time just to come to me the next day for a 500$ loan. Others, dream to win big, but can't get away from 11$ sngs. I am yet to find someone in my circle who can live a confortable life solely from poker. The true fact is, we see on tv the lives of a few famous pros (some of them are often broke too!!!!), and hope to one day achieve their living and playing standards. We all know it is hard, but inside of every poker player, they all think they can achieve that unimaginable dream. Now the question for me that remain is, can i?

Well, just like any other poker player, i also dream. The thoughts of myself winning a big tournament, raking that big pot always crosses my mind. Of course, anyone can win at poker. However, how many can win? It is likely that 8 out of 10 players who play poker are big losers or brk even players. If you are a brk even player, you cannot play for living...how are you gonna pay your bills? Then should i be happy because i am able to pay for everything i do? Well, then probably out of the remaining 20%, the vast majority can win, but not by a large margin. I am talking about the very few players that can make it in this profession. Maybe one for every ten thousand. I am not sure. The fact is, poker is so much harder than it seems, and very few of us stop and realize this fact.

In poker as in everything else in life, it is so easy to be in the middle of the pack, but you really need to strive achieve the top.

I know the path i have chosen might not be wise, but it is what i want to do for now. What i need to do is to find my mistakes, correct my leaks and learn how to deal with the variances that poker brings.

I have a lot of "friends" who have came to me and dismoralized me for what i do..."poker is not a real job", "you gotta do something to help society", "do something meaningful in your life". Everytime i hear that it really makes me sad, but it gives me more strengh to work harder and achieve my goals. I always tell myself to work harder, and try to get better, so i can dodge all of these criticism, but what i really should do i stop worrying on what people say, work hard and the rest should fall in place.

SOOOOOOOOOOOO, if you ever see me, be nice and show me some support That will make me love you foreverrrrr!!!! aaawww hehe.

Peace,

Pat

Finally a update!

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:59:17 GMT

Well what can i say? I haven't written a blog here for over a year now, ever since China blocked xanga.com and all other forms of blogs...ugh...

So what has been up in my life in the past year???? Well first things first. Last year i had a midly successfull year at poker, with a few good results. Out of 12 months i think i was up in 10 months, down in one, and brk even in one. Not bad. When i had a losing month, lost abt $1500, whereas my best month was +10k, due to buying % of ansuz on Wcoop where he finished 2nd.

After that, i decided to open Petisco, my restaurant...YAY!!! Well...dream come true at first....worse nightmare after...it is so much tougher than it seems at first to run a restaurant...specially for someone who is a lazy bum like me. I pretty much put my entire BR in this venture and had to make loans....:S

I ran the restaurant for 4 months when i decided it was not what i wanted... Ended up selling for some of my money back, and at the end i think i only lost 25k-30k usd....So not toooooo bad.

Started playing poker again late in January, out of 8$ bucks i had on world poker exchange....Built it to about 20k as we speak, even though i just dumped close to 1k today...

I really am not sure what to do on terms of poker....Tourneys are so physically and mentally demanding, whereas cash makes you feel like GOD when u run good and like a total piece of trash when u run bad.

I find it very therapeutic to write blogs. I am glad i can once again write on xanga, which has always been my favorite blog...how?? I am using something called VPN....which is not free, but helps me to dodge this chinese bureucracy. My ip pretty much becomes invisible so i can pretty much log on anything now.

This last month has been such a rollercoaster. I pretty much kicked ass in tournaments taking down the 22$ HU, finishing 3rd on the 3r and taking down the 15k guaranteed, as well another deep finish on Sunday million. Then i followed by losing huge amounts on PLO, and struggling on tourneys after that. Then this week i went on a super hot streak playing omaha hl, where i put 1k and ran it up to 3800 at the highest point. Then came today, where i lost a big chunk of my weeks profit. Ugh...why do i do that? Why do i tilt?

Life is good, but i hope i can at one point learn how to rush/grind successfuly.

Ok that is all...Thanks for reading!!

Taking Shanghai by storm!!!

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 09:21:06 GMT

Hello folks,

Yup, i could never imagined that, but i really did take Shanghai by storm. Don't understand yet? Ok, i explain. It was another casual day, when i decided to nurture Nana and myself with a day of shopping. After many hours of shopping, Nana was not done yet, so as she walked in to another store, i told her i wanted to go watch a live show that the shopping was hosting. Now, here is where it becomes interesting. As i stand in the middle of the crowd, the host of the show announces that she needs a few volunteers. She promptly points at a couple standing right in front of me. They were so shy and kept saying they didnt want to go. What did i think? I thought it was funny and started to laugh at them. Suddenly, the announder says..."Tall guy behind, come on stage..." I pretended it wasn't me....as i strayed aside...her fingers pointing at me kept following to my direction. All of a sudden, everybody on the crowd was staring at me...so i knew she was talking to me...I told her i didnt speak chinese, which i dont think she understood, but she asked me to come anyways.

Anyways, turns out it was a singing competition i had walked into. Two young guys, the couple and me. Now, i had no idea it was a competition, nor did i know i HAD to sing love songs. Therefore, i sung what came to my mind....and just the beginning of each....Qin fei de yi, two songs by Xiao ya xuan....and lastly but not least, Nsync This i promise you...yeah, i told them i had no more chinese songs...so she said..."Wai guo ren kei yi chang yin wen"....so i did....honestly, the two youngesters were rapping like crazy on stage....and the lady from the couple was also kicking ass....Maybe if i tried harder, i could sing better...but i felt good abt my singing anyways...At that time, i noticed Nana was also watching me...having already came out from the shop...

The host then asked the crowd to clap and scream to their favorite one...and playing against all Odds....yeah..that is damn right...Obstante took shanghai by storm....winning with the most standing ovation from the crowd and earning him a whooping 100rmb gift certificate that could be used in any shop at the mall.

I kind of feel bad for the two young guys, bc they were trying to win that 100rmb so badly...and they sang so much better than me hahah....but i guess i was the crowds favorite...Nana was happy i won as i bought her a nice hair ornament as result of my grand prize.

I guess all those KTV nights finally paying off....

Take care....

NEW YEAR, NEW GOALS

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 18:13:24 GMT

Hello,

The lack of updates were due to the slow internet that hit South of Asia at the end of 2006 and that lasted up to a few days ago...not 100% yet, but almost there. So lets go with updates: I have decided to retake chinese classes...so if i do so, i should start around March...I figured, since i live in china...i gotta at least learn how to speak it...and also it is a good way to make more friends...since i got very few....Also might help me not to get bored....i can't play pok er all day, u know what i mean?

Talking abt friends, i had many people come visit me here in Shanghai, which makes me feel special haha..at least, not forgotten...I had Roger come here, even though we got a little grumpy every now and then...i had Paulo, Paula and their mother come here....and also my Cousin Marilyn from Taiwan...she will actually be moving to Shanghai with her husband in a few months...so at least i have some family nearby...

Above is a picture taken at a restaurant here in Shanghai...From left to the right: Gerson, Paulo, Me, Nana, Mrs. Tsai, Paula, Lipe....Food was blehhh...but i like it :D lol, i like anything anyways....

On the other side of the globe, i just learnt that Kevin got a job in New York...that is really awesome....he was my roommate for a long time, and i know his life, as mine, aren't the easiest...but as we always like to say haha...Tough moments makes tough people!!! Yeah...I consider Kevin no less than a brother to me....so it is nice to see him getting such an opportunity.....

Pokerwise was pretty slow during the past month....but the good results could foul anyone...well...even though i could barely play, i could sometimes play on Pokerstars...and when i could, i sent the message that this year is the year Obstante will roar!!! ROARRRR!! I had abt 4 or 5 final tables last month..including a win!! Ironically, the one i won the most i didn't win....and here comes the story of the WORSE bad beat of my life: It was the 35k guaranteed 11r from Pokerstars, and i make to final 4 with abt 3 million chips...being close followed by someone with 2.8m, and two other shorties with 1m roughly each. With Blinds at 60k-120k, i got dealt the Dreamy AA on SB. I made the standard 3x BB. Second chip leader, who was playing very aggressively, called with no hesitation. Flop K53, and i was first to act. I did what anyone with AA would do. I fired a probe bet of around 450k hoping to get reraised. His response: ALL IN!! That was like dream come true. Except, it ended up being the beginning of my worse nightmare. Worse bad beat of my life. He turns KJ for top pair only, being totally dominated by my overpair. According to Cardplayer calculater, i was roughly 81% vs 19% to win that hand. In other words, over 4-1 favorite, meaning that if i won, i would have about 75% of the chips in play. First place paid 12,500, second 6500, third 4500 and fourth 3500. It just wasn't meant to be. The J felt right on the turn, and i got no help on the river. I was crippled. A bad beat that literally cost me 9000$ bucks....but that is poker yeah? I cant complain...3500 bucks wasn't too shabby...but i know good things will happen to me on 2007. I am playing the best i ever played. And i will keep on getting better. I have given SNG's a break. They are constant $ but sooooo much struggle....Now that connection is finally back to normal, i will strive on WSEX(world sport exchange), where i get 100% rake back. On my first day back, i had some good results...so i have good expectations for 2007...and so what are my goals? Well...I really would like to buy my own apt here in Shanghai by the end of the Year...and although this seem to be a far dream as i speak, i hope it really becomes reality by the end of the year. I will have to work hard, maybe get a little lucky, but i can do that. As long as internet doesnt mess up again. Nor i have other problems. Unfortunately the month of January was lost(although i ended up positive 5K total, not too shabby), but i have good expectations and wish me luck.

Wow, this was a long update...i guess it makes up for the lack it before.....Peace

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 20:35:06 GMT

FIGHTING ADVERSITIES!

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 11:43:00 GMT

Hello all,

In previous blogs i mentioned how things were running smooth, and how everything was clicking. However, the common saying remains true: Poker is a tough way to make an easy living. No more no less. At the time i write this, i been through one of my worse streaks this month. Bad beat after bad beat, adds to anxiety and bad play and results on my own self tilting at the virtual tables, making me wonder when will this bad streak end??? I have no clue, no idea. All i can do is take a short break, play some other small games and have some fun. Relax and enjoy life is something i don't do often enough as poker often enough requires you giving 110% of yourself. But it is necessary. Therefore today i slept till afternoon, went out to eat a nice and yummy Japanese meal at zhong shan park "long zhi meng" shopping mall, went groceries...came back home...arranged things....and ordered some delivery food which should be here shortly after. As for playing, if i do any, will be just some low stakes sngs for fun.

I must admit that it isn't pleasent to be around me when things run badly. That is one of the bad things of being a poker player. Your mood can ride like a roller-coaster, and having someone like Nana is really a blessing. I feel bad for her to having to deal with me when i run bad, because i am honestly not the nicest guy in the neighbourhood. And yet, she understands me and helps me out....

So what is in the future? To be honest...no clue!... of course we make plans and goals in which we hope to achieve, but we all know that it is much easier said than done. If things just ran as we had planned, i would be living today in a mansion eating caviar and taking bath on champaigne...yeah...that fancy hahha...but unfortunatelly i am still eating KFC and using normal shower gel soap :p hehe...i do shower everyday if anyone is wondering ;p

But pokerwise, it is best not to put my expectations too high, and take each step at the time. Keep working hard, finding my mistakes and be prepared to fight at the poker battlefield. If i can accomplish that, results should show naturally, and even if not achived the way i expected, know that i gave my best. That is all i should expect from myself. And for that, GL to me.

wedding pics!

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:43:15 GMT

#1 ranked

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 23:38:44 GMT

Greetings!!

As i have mentioned past blog, i was having a good run at the pkr tables, and starting maybe 3-4 weeks ago, i began a new mission....1000 sngs at the 15+1 turbo level. Now, i was never much of a turbo player, but inspired on Zee Justin....i thought i'd give it a try. After studying for a while some concepts of sngs, and trying to find the best strategy, i finally put it into use. At the moment i write this blog, i have not yet finished this mission, but i am pretty close to do it. I have played exactly 750 games for a profit of 3500+ (just for sngs), roi of 29% and avg per sng of 4.6 -- THat was enough to put my at #1 spot at sharkscope leader board (www.sharkscope.com) for 1 week, and still keep me at top 5 at the moment i write this. This is very flattering to have my name recognized, even though i have changed ID's. I get respect when i walk into a table, haha other day i had someone say "Oh no, you again, this sng is over already" hehe...but u know...for any players, there is much variance, and this 1000 sng quest really puts me to the test. How to handle the adversities and how to handle the bad streaks. I am very proud of myself for holding so well and this hows i am a constant winner.

I have migrated to another site for cash, ever since i learnt abt their 100% rake back deal. Put 300 bucks there to try,and in 4-5 days won 200 back just in rakes...not to count my account is at 900 after putting 300...games there pretty soft....so i should close this month +5000 since i had a good run at cash at ftp as well....not sure...everything is clicking....

I have plans to move higher soon...onto the 25+2 sngs, but sometimes feels jsut confortable palying the levels i am...since money keeps coming in...

as abt studies...LOL @ me...i am just not good at studies at all....went a few times to the Imp exp class...but seriously, not my fault, the teacher only speaks chinese...FAST...and furious...with lots of business terms...i am always so lost in the lectures...i already predict i have 0% chance of passing the exam....i am a loser....

The pics are not ready yet...yup...taking long time promise when they ready i will post it....

aight...peace.!!!

Last two months!

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 12:49:44 GMT

Yesterday Nana and I took our wedding pics....i think they will look nice...but they won't be ready for a month or so....so whenever i have some of them, i probably will post some on either facebook or orkut.

Next week i start some courses in import and export. My dad's friend is like..the general manager of a big company...and he said after i take this course, i can work there...well...not sure how well i will take studying again...as you know...i am not much found of studying anymore...however this is a good opportunity to learn...gotta think long run i guess...

Talking abt long run...on my last post i had mentioned that 20cents was up to i dont know...150 or 200 bucks? Well...20cents now is up to over 9,000....yeah...i had some good runs...ups and downs with more ups than downs...Recent results include a 1st place in a 22 omaha hl, 3rd and 5th on a 22 NLH, and a 14th finish on WCOOP horse event...it was sad because i really thought i would go all the way...

But even though i am up a good amount, i am not satiated yet...well...although i must admit that my life is rather stressful than peaceful as some might imagine...poker is a game that requires so much brain...in general, no one is much better than the others....in general...(the pound is still flooded with flounders), but small edges WILL show who are the ones who makes it or break it.

I have sepearted most of my BR for next year when Nana's parents move to shanghai, to start a small shop...most likely some kind of snack from their own province..

Future still looks glazy but write it down....this is the year obstante Makes and Break it!!

Peace!!