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This weekend was really solid. I ended up coaching a lot (surprise, surprise), but ran what was probably my favorite tank session on Saturday. We ran through blind play strategies the entire time (everything from restealing to flatting steals to playing free play pots). I think it turned out really well…and it is yet another video I can throw into my vault. Also did another PEAR session today which I think went well…and then I headed over to see my uncle who is in Vegas on vacation.
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We met over near the speedway to do a dune buggy chase. I had never ridden a dune buggy before, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. It was only a 30min race…but it was much tougher than I thought it would be. My steering wheel has chunks of the padding missing…so I had to deal with a ton of pain from that (and a steering wheel that had no true north, lol). I did end up getting lost at one point (the course is in the sandy dunes with tons of twists and turns, hills and drops, and it can be tough to keep up with a pro). All in all it was a ton of fun, and something I would def suggest doing for those who enjoy that kind of thing. I expect to be mildy sore tomorrow…and I am totally OK with that =)
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So I have two more days of coaching left and then I am officially on vacation. I am hoping that the wind dies down this week so I can get a ton of disc golf in before I leave for the east coast. I might bring my discs out east…but I don’t have much interest in playing in the snow sadly. I am very much looking forward to jumping out of Vegas for a lil bit. I need a break and a change of scenery (I get way too jittery when I am in the same place for too long). It’ll be good stuff and reinvigorating =)
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And on that note, I am going to go hit the gym. While I was at the speedway today I found out that they do race school and high-end car test runs. So for $250 I can learn a lil racing stuff and run a few laps in a GT-R…doooooooooooone. I think I am going to do that when I get back to Vegas. I also need to hit up the gun store and at least one Cirque show. I think I need to do some of the touristy shit done just so I can say that I did it, lol. Hope all is well!
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This cap stack strategy series is all you need for short stacking and cap games! Those looking for simple short stack hand charts will get that, and tons more! Created by “The Short Stack Hero”, an old student of mine, these videos take the same in-depth approach to the cap strategy as I would take for full stack coaching. This video series covers every aspect of the cap stack strategy. Everything from opening ranges to resteal ranges, to playing that awkward SPR postflop is covered. If you are looking to venture into cap stacking games, or are looking to improve your current short stacking strategy, this video series is perfect for you!
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Here is a table of contents for the series (which is constantly getting added to and refined):
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Video #1 Essentials
Runtime: 44 minutes

00:– Getting Started/My Philosophy
04:28 Short Stacking Strengths
07:22 Short Stacking Weaknesses
09:17 Common Misperceptions
12:45 Basics of the Strategy
14:48 The Stack-to-Pot Ratio
16:35 Crucial HUD Stats
19:26 Weak But Potentially Helpful Stats
22:14 The Necessity of Note Taking
25:03 Game Selection
27:12 Defining “Fish”
28:54 Player Tagging
33:28 Seat Selection
35:12 Where to Play
37:15 Your Stats
41:09 Where the Standard Advice Does Not Apply

Video #2 Preflop Concepts
Runtime: 21 minutes

00:23 Notes on Restealing
03:46 When to Stray From the Opening Chart
05:23 Facing a Cold 3-Bet
06:43 Facing a Cold 4-Bet After a Raise
07:24 Recognizing an Iso-Raise
09:29 Notes on Squeezing
11:52 The Min-3-Bet
14:40 The Single Re-Raise (SRR) and Small 3-Bet
17:24 Hand Examples

Video #3 Single Caller OOP I
Runtime: 37 minutes

00:20 Single Caller OOP Basics
01:38 When You Flop a Good Hand: 4 Main Goals
04:12 Post-Flop Step-by-Step Analysis
05:45 Overcards
07:28 Hand Examples
11:21 Bad Spots to Check Raise With Overcards
12:47 Hand Examples
15:16 Playing 2 nd & 3 rd Pair and TPWK
16:39 Hand Examples
25:14 Playing Draws OOP
27:19 Hand Examples
35:12 Check Raising on the Turn

Video #4 Single Caller OOP II
Runtime: 28 minutes

00:– Hand Examples
07:18 Naked Bluffs on the Turn OOP
09:32 Hand Examples
12:52 The Dreaded Ace
14:07 Hand Examples
18:31 Multi-way Pot Basics
23:21 Hand Examples

Video #5 Single Caller IP I
Runtime: 43 minutes

00:– Intro
00:45 Basics of C-Betting In Position
02:05 Overcards in Position
04:15 Hand Examples
10:42 2 nd & 3 rd Pair and TPWK IP
12:31 Hand Examples
22:32 Playing Draws In Position on the Flop
24:– Playing Draws on the Turn and River
26:15 Hand Examples
30:51 The Dreaded Ace, In Position
31:49 Hand Examples
37:39 Bluffing the Turn
39:10 Hand Examples

Video #6 Single Caller IP II
Runtime: 49 minutes

00:– Interpreting Donk Bets
01:10 The Min-Bet
02:52 The Half Pot Bet
03:36 The Full Pot Bet
03:57 Hand Examples
09:52 Single Limper, In Position
12:09 Facing a Single Limper When You Are the Button
14:08 Hand Examples
27:02 Playing vs. a Limp Re-raise
28:27 Going for Thin Value
31:51 Hand Examples
40:59 Notes on Balancing Your Range
44:15 Hand Examples

Video #7 Blind Play
Runtime: 44 minutes

00:– Basics of Blind Play
02:58 Blind Play vs. Single Limper
07:28 Hand Examples
13:43 When the Limper is the CO or B
17:12 Alternate Play- The Mega-Raise Shove
18:48 Unexploitable Shoving
20:56 Getting More Value in the SB
22:59 Checking When the SB Limps
25:40 Raising When the SB Limps
27:24 Countering Aggressive SB Min-raisers
30:17 Potential Lines for Agg. SB Min-raisers
33:53 Hand Examples
39:48 Implied Odds
41:42 Evaluating Implied Odds

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As you can see, this video series is jam packed with everything you could possibly need for a solid cap stack strategy. The videos show you how to understand your decisions, and thus gives you the tools necessary to use a cap strategy at FR and 6max! If you going to grind out the cap games to get Supernova or Supernova Elite, this series is a must. He is selling this series for $399, which is cheaper than my $475/hr coaching for short stacking and cap stacking play. And for those interested in the shortstack hero’s results, look no further than this sick screen shot from his DB:
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If you are interested, just contact me at splitsuit@gmail.com with “cap stack videos” in the title. Hope all is well!
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[Updated 8/31/2011]

Ship the good juice today. Today was my last day off for the week and finished up all of my tests at the doc. Everything came back positive, with many things (like cholesterol and kidney tests) returning fantastic results. My doc said I don’t even need to come back for like 3yrs…so it feels good to be physically solid. I am still going to maintain my diet and everything…but it’s nice knowing that I can cheat on it and not feel bad =)
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Even though my physical tests came back solid, I still feel incredibly stressed out. Obvi my body can handle it, but I am still trying to monitor it. I think the upcoming vacation will be solid. I have been super introspective the last few days and I think a big part of my issue has been the inability to live in the “now.” Now, I hate that fucking saying…and think it is a big mental model issue for most people (the whole “live in the present” thing)…but on my days off all I do is think about all of the things I have to do in the next day/week/month…and end up feeling so guilty that I spend most of my days off doing work of some sort anyway.
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I mean hell, today I came home and wrote a TOC for a book I want to write (non-poker related), and started drafting a chapter. I really do want to become a full-time author, as I really enjoy the fact that it lets me fully utilize both parts of my brain (the logical and creative). I think whenever I am fully done with poker and have transitioned full-time into trading that I will spend most of my day just writing. That’ll be nice =)
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Besides the normal stuff, everything is fine. I have a mega-wall everyday until I am on vacation, so I will be working my ass off for the next lil while. However, my uncle is in town and I will seeing him and doing a dune buggy run on Sunday, which should be fun. And on that note, I am going to go grab some food and shoot some pool to try and kick it. Hope all is well!
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Well, at least I feel like I am because I finally ordered business cards, lol. I don’t know why every time I do something even the slightest bit creative it takes me hours upon hours to do. O well. Feels good to finally cross that off my list (as I had been wanting to do that for quite some time). I also got a new SplitSuit hoodie…but as seems to be my luck ordering clothing off the internet, it didn’t fit. Hopefully I’ll get it back, and well-sized, before my vacation.
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The last few days have been alright. I took Friday off and didn’t do much of anything. I spent an ass-load of money between plane tickets, limo reservations, getting my ass handed to me at 100CAP (winning coinflips is an abstract idea), and buying the new 6 figure NL video package off DV. I hope to get a lot of that video package watched on my vacation. It is all 6max focused, and I figure it might help me visualize a few new spots well. I 100% understand the value of spending $200 to see anything new being 100% worthwhile. Which reminds me, I still need to start “Analytical NLHE”…in time I suppose.
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Coaching has been nuts, and it’s only going to get crazier as I try to smash in as many students before I leave (as I am probably going to legit not check any email for at least a few days, which is 100% new for me). I did 4 students on Saturday, another 4hrs today…and actually already fully booked up this week. Never did I think that coaching would become THIS much of a real job…but I still wouldn’t trade it for a damn thing =)
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I’m hoping that a wind dies down a bit this week. Last week we had winds gusting up to 50mph, which makes considering throwing a disc impossible. I would like to get a few rounds in this week, but we’ll see if the weather permits. And on that note, I am going to go play some halo 3 before I crash out. I will leave you with this video that I have been loving all day. It is very odd, but the whole video + song + lyrics go reeeeeeeeeally well together and are very artistic, although odd. Enjoy if you are in an odd mood =)
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The last few days have been busy (though I feel like I start every blog post with that, lol). I did a megawall on Tuesday, took Wednesday off, and did 6hrs of coaching today (which is probably my record of pure coaching hours in a day). I had to do some written DB analyses which were fun, and a really nice change of pace. It was nice to be able to work at my own pace, get things as detailed as they needed to be, and provide a nice written record of the analysis. I also had a 2hr TANK today that focused on facing 3bets….it is such a tough topic to teach because there are rarely any concretes. I still think it went very well, and I enjoyed the challenge =)
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I spent about 2hrs of my day off at the bank, which is always annoying. I hate dealing with beauracratic shit, lol. Ended up gettin some shopping done after that. Got this thing called a “Bamboo Pad” which is a lot of fun. It is one of those drawing tablet things that you can use for doing various kinds of artwork on your computer with a pen+paper feel. I think I am mostly going to use it for sketching (and maybe some rough shadow and background work). But I think it will be a lot of fun to fuck around with and maybe start getting some more art created. We shall see.
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I’ve also decided to take a lil mini-vacation in a few weeks. I am going to visit some college friends in NJ for their St. Paddy’s day shindig (which they throw a little while before the actual holiday). It will be nice to see them, as I haven’t seen some of them in almost 7 months. From there I will head over to Boston/NH and visit family, and then finally get back out to Vegas later in March. I think I am going to cut down my coaching load around that time, and starting taking 2 days/week and really put my nose to the grind stone on the next book project. I really want to get down to writing it hard core…I just don’t have much time atm sadly
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And on that note, I am going to watch an episode of scrubs (I found all of the seasons on Netflix and now I am just cranking through them all over again) and crash out. I have a day off on Friday that I am not sure what to do with. I think I am going to play a few hours of poker and then go out at night. I might even sleep in past 11a for once! Hope all is well!
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This month is just flying by. This weekend was pretty solid, and even though I did a lot of coaching, I still got some relaxation in. Got a 1/2 round of disc golf in this afternoon (which was necessary after not having played for a week). Also got my first PEAR in yesterday, which is a new protege coaching session (Protege Examples And Reasoning). I think this is going to make a really solid session type, but time will tell for that one. Also made a session video at 6max yesterday, as I hope to transition some of my proteges over to 6max in time. We shall see how that turns out
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I also got my lab work done the other day, but won’t get results for another couple weeks. I had to fast for it, which was the first time in my life I have ever had to go without food. I went 17hrs straight without eating, which was a terrible experience trying to not only fast, but constantly remind myself not to eat, lol. My goal was to wake up at 7a to get into the lab early and beat the senior citizens (which was LOLogic). Ended up waking up closer to 1p…which was lovely, lol. I am making sure that I wake up most every day before 11a, so sleeping in was a nice change of pace.
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This week is shaping up to be more of the same. I am fully booked up on coaching every single day, and am taking another two days off (hopefully so I can get some writing done during them). I am also going to try to get back into doing some graphic design. The right side of my brain has been screaming for some attention, and I am thinking about starting some sort of graphic business later down the line. I also want to draw up a new tattoo. I am thinking about using this Jeremy Fish piece as a baseline and going from there. We shall see…but I really want a new piece of ink on me, lol
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And on that note, I am going to go watch a movie before hitting the gym. I want to add another 20% to all my lifts by May…which I think is super reasonable…I just need to keep disciplined. Hope all is well!
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…well…so far anyway. I went to the doctor this afternoon to get a check up and get my chest pains looked at. My BP is still high (shocking), but my EKG results came back normal, which is good news. I need to go in tomorrow to do some lab work, and have a follow up in 2 weeks. So hopefully that all comes back solid. We shall see.
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I am enjoying my “day off.” I spent an hour this morning writing a long article for my proteges on 3betting. I decided to simplify 3betting into a very basic way which should help the overall framework be more powerful. I am considering writing some more stuff tonight, but we shall see. Writing can be really relaxing, especially when I don’t feel as though I have a time line. Which reminds me that I need to keep writing the new book…I’ll get there in time…
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Everything else is going well. I am thinking about drawing up a new tattoo design soon as I want something new on me. Not 100% sure which of my tattoo ideas I will go with. I’ve been considering this bird concept wrapped in Irish writing for awhile, so maybe I will finally get that one. Not sure where I want to place it yet either. My goal is to get no tattoos that are visible if I am wearing a T-shirt and shorts…but it also can’t conflict with my other tattoos. I’m considering getting it done between my hip and side of my knee…that gives me a lot of room and shouldn’t conflict with that tattoo on my left thigh. We’ll see…
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And on that note, I am going to go grab some food and figure out what I want to do with the rest of my day off. I actually have tomorrow off as well, and I’ll probably just grab some sushi and play some disc golf if the wind is minimal. Hope all is well!
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This weekend flew by, but was a good time to say the least. One of my proteges was in town so we met up on Friday at Johnny Smalls (in the HRC) for dinner. Wasn’t the best dinner in the world (Tapas influenced, but American food)…but it was good to kick it and just chat poker and random junk the whole time. After that we headed over to the V to play a lil poker. He didn’t want to play any higher than 1/2NL…so we just played that. My friend was also with us, and both had position on me…which made for an interesting night.
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Ended up making almost all of my money from my friend, oops. We got it AIPF with my 74s v his AA (in a spot where there was an awkward caller who made the pot worth attacking, and an overestimation of how aggro my friend was being). Ended up binking that, and pretty much bummed the rest of the session. Probably played until about 1a, and then I headed home. Had to wake up early to get back down to the strip to pick up my protege for a coaching session I had at noon on Saturday. The session was all on playing draws, which is always a difficult thing to sum up in a 2hr coaching session.
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After that we headed out to play some disc golf, as he had never played. it was really windy (about 15mph solid, with gusts around 25mph)…but it was fun just to get out of the house and throw for a bit. After a round of terrible scores, we went over to get some sushi. I wasn’t impressed with Kan Pai the first time I had it, but this session was muuuuuuuuch better. Their Ban Ban is really good, but their Heart Attack and Annie Special were delicious as well. I think I might have to go back and try out some of the rest of their menu. After that, we headed back to the strip to RIO for a flip cup tourny we were in.
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My protege had never played, but we needed a 4th and he was happy to join in. We went 2nd in that, and I ended up having a bit more to drink that I should have (though, to be fair, any night that begins with a 12 handed “King Of The Table” will do that to you, lol). Because I had no DD, we opted to go play live until I sobered up. I got the table very rowdy right off the bat, and made it an enjoyable game. I didn’t make much out of it, but made a lil staking my friend to play (and who can pass up a 50% profit, no loss stake!?). It took me a few hours to sober up, but overall it was a good time.
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After all that, I ended up getting a lil sick. My protege has kids, and parents seem to be germ magnets. I am now fighting some terrible sickness, which is kicking my ass. I even slept for 14hrs last night and I still feel like shit. Hopefully after a few days of sleep and dayquil I will feel better. I have 4 students each day until my days off this week, so I will be out hustling and getting things done. Hope all is well!
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As promised, here is my new video all about improving your play with AK. Here is a trailer for the video:
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This is a 50 minute video that covers the complexities of AK. Everything from when to flat call PF to postflop consideration is covered. If you feel your AK play isn’t tip-top, or just need a brush up, this video is perfect for you. Here is a basic table of contents for the video:
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3betting AK
3bet sizing
Flatting AK
What factors go into flatting v 3betting
Facing 3bets with AK
Restealing with AK
CBing air
CBing value hands
Polarized CBing v Depolarized CBing
Turn Improvement
Playing draws
Handling AK (preflop and postflop) vs. shorter stacks
Playing AK in 3bet pots

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The introductory price for this video is $24, less than a BI if you play 25NL or higher. You may pay via FTP or PS transfer (just email splitsuit@gmail.com for transfer instructions), or PayPal. If you wish to buy this product in combination with any of my other poker training videos, just email me with which products you would like and I would be happy to offer a discount =)
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Hope all is well, and happy grinding!
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The week just flew by. I ended taking Wednesday off and made an Adderall day of it. Spent about 6hrs straight editing and finalizing my AK Video (which I will release on Friday at some point). I think it turned out really well, and I think it certainly accomplished the goal of teaching the conceptual understanding of how to make more with AK. I just need to do the trailer tomorrow, some basic art, and then I am done with it. These videos take way too long to make sometimes, lol
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Speaking of videos, it looks like people have been enjoying my free 100NL poker video from the other day. I might try to do like 1 sweat every month or other this year. I enjoy doing them, and think they really help people think about new spots. I am considering doing another 100%vpip video, and then maybe recording a shot or two at 200NL or 400NL later on. I’m still not sure what I want to play this year (as I have the roll to play 200NL comfortably), but I will decide that once I figure out what I want to play (as I’ve been bouncing around for awhile now). I’ve actually been considering building a 6max cap strat for the new PS games…I think it would be super simple to grind out supernova…but we’ll see what my schedule allows for.
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I’m not sure wtf happened this year but my God coaching has picked up. I have been doing 3-4 sessions everyday that I don’t take a day off…which is awesome, but very tiring. On a related note I finally scheduled a doctor’s appointment for next week so I can see what’s been going on with my chest. Hopefully it is nothing and I can just be on my merry way…but if the doc tells me that I have to slow down I am not going to be very happy.
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Everything else is going well. My diet is…interesting. I am slowly but surely weeding out crappy foods, and eating a lot healthier. My lifts are also getting stronger (added an extra 15% on all my lifts this month), and my stamina is getting better. I want to be in the best condition of my life this year…which will be a challenge after playing high school football…but we shall see. On that note, I need to get some sleep. I am going to play some live tomorrow night, so if anyone is at the V, lemme know =) Hope all is well!
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