Sep 02, 2009 – 13:09PM
Well, I'm saying goodbye to Vancouver in about an hour. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been north of the border in Vancouver for a while now working on some things for Lock Poker. I can't really talk about them right now but I'm hoping that all of you will get to see them in the somewhat near future. Definitely a lot of exciting things going on and I'm really happy to not only get to be a part of it but get to have some input as well.
Since I've been doing a lot of work up here I haven't really had a chance to play any poker at all since last Saturday. I'm still primarily focused on PLO. Once I get home and have my Omaha Manager handy I'll post some statistics for the month. Over the last couple of months I've been really crushing the 1/2 games, but every time I move to 2/4 I just get hammered. I'm really not sure if I'm playing differently, the competition is just that much tougher, or if the sample size is too small. I've tried to move up about once a month since I started giving myself a 5 buy in stop loss, which isn't NEAR enough in PLO to really do much, but going down much more than that would be somewhat demoralizing and I like to keep my bankroll as close to all time highs as possible so dropping more than 5 buy ins before moving down then having to grind back 20+ buy ins at 1/2 just to get back to even isn't that appealing to me.
I'll probably take another stab at 2/4 this month and see how it goes. It's kind of odd because after I took second in the PLO SCOOP event in March i splashed around in lots of PLO between 1/2 and 5/10. I was a winner at every level (over a small sample size) except 2/4! I think part of it is there are just some really good mid stakes grinders playing at that level, some of it is sample size, and some of it is that I still have a lot of room to improve in my PLO cash game.
I'm probably going to make some 1/2 PLO vids on PXF real soon. I'm in the process of learning how to record myself 4 tabling then dub in audio after the fact that way I can pause the action and really go over concepts. I feel confident enough in my game that I could make some good instructional videos on how to beat the games up to that level, but it's not quite as fluid and natural to me as NLHE is yet so I'd prefer the ability to go back and go more in depth and not record in real time. For those of you who have ever asked, yes ever video I've ever done 'live' has been one take, no audio dubbed in afterwards real time thoughts into my brain. Every time I've ever recorded live with the exception of once where I ran AA into KK and lost a MTT in 3 hands has gone up too, so I don't just pick and choose the ones that work out well.
At any rate, I have my fingers crossed that we're going to be able to offer rakeback to North American players on Lock real soon (non North American players can already get it). I'm really not normally a guy who does this, but I would definitely encourage everyone to sign in and check it out over the coming couple of months if that happens. There are a couple of changes I am hoping will go into effect real soon, and the games start to get really good in the fall as the weather turns cooler, more people spend time indoors, and since there are a few sports books attached to the network, football season is upon us.
'Ask Rizen' will be back this Friday and I have about 12 questions still in the queue so plenty of people to get to. Feel free to submit new questions as well, just fair warning there is a 5-6 week lag time between asking and answering right now. I was also thinking of resurrecting my old 'hand of the day' post into a 'hand of the week' post. Let me know if that is something you all would be interested in. I would basically take one user submitted hand each week and break it down into what I would be thinking about and do on every street. The key to doing that really is getting feedback and hands from you all. It died out last time because I stopped having enough hands submitted, but if I brought it back and did it once a week it might work, and if I get a ton of submissions I could do some bonus ones or start to do it twice a week. Let me know if that's something you guys would be interested in and if it is I'll bring it back. If I don't hear much on it then I'll assume no one is that interested.
-Rizen
Aug 25, 2009 – 15:08PM
As those of you that follow this blog might remember, I am one of the partners over at PokerNations. Anthony Martino has been working SUPER hard on the site, and has let me know that it's now ready to show to my readers. I'm extremely pleased with how the site has turned out so far. If you have a minute, I would like to welcome you to go check it out. If you sign up, be sure to check out my profile and add me as a friend. As always, feel free to give feedback too!
I've been playing A LOT of pot limit omaha lately. I'm just really enjoying the game. Right now, I would consider myself a PLO cash player primarily, so I'll probably start talking about that a lot more in my blog. I kind of wrestled with that decision a bit, as most people who follow me do so because they enjoy my discussion on tournament play. I still play tournaments, and have no intention of quitting them. I play on Sundays and Wednesdays because Sundays are still SUPER soft and not playing then would just be criminal, and Wednesdays my parents watch my kids so I don't feel like I'm 'missing out' on anything when I play that night. I also make special exceptions for FTOPS and WCOOP upcoming. At this point though, while I still LOVE tournaments and plan on continuing to play them both live and online at a high level, I'm really focused on becoming a world class PLO player.
I'm not even close yet. I beat the 1/2 PLO games for a very healthy win rate but I still struggle at times in the 2/4 games. I'm playing way too straightforward right now, mainly because beating the 1/2 and lower games you can simply play solid starting hands hit flops and bet, bet, bet and show a nice profit. I'm going through Jeff Hwang's new book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha, and I'm watching PLO videos on various sites, including PXF. Full disclosure, Jeff Hwang's book is through my publisher, Dimat Publishing. I still think it's a great book, but I always like to disclose when there may be any conflict of interest just to be honest. For now in PLO I'm still really focusing on some of the basics in pre-flop hand selection and post flop play. I see SOOO many mistakes in PLO I know these games are beatable at very high levels, but the swings are massive. In some ways I think the game was built for me because I control tilt perhaps better than any poker player I know and otherwise good poker players can easily tilt in PLO. Anyways, I'll be talking about PLO a lot more in the days/weeks/months to come.
Lastly, there is an August Pro tournament on Lock Poker next Monday, the 31st. This tournament is going to have all the new Lock Poker pros in as bounties. If you knock one out, you will get 1 hour of free training from them. I, unfortunately, will not be able to play due to a prior obligation, but getting coaching from any of these guys can do nothing but improve your game. Don't forget if you download Lock Poker at http://www.lockpoker.com/download/rizen and use bonus code 'rizen' when you sign up, you will get an instant 110% deposit bonus. If you're having troubles depositing feel free to e-mail me at rizen@lockpoker.com and I will help out as best I can. If you already have an account, you can reload using the code 'augustpro' and get a 25% reload bonus. Using either option will get you a free ticket into the August Pro tournament. Otherwise, the tournament is a $10+1 with a standard prize pool. Good luck!
-Rizen
Aug 18, 2009 – 04:08AM
I'm a bit late on the 'Ask Rizen' this week obviously (or a bit early I guess, depending on how you look at it). I've been fairly busy with things over at Lock Poker and FTOPS. We also got a new puppy at the house for my kids, and it's been fun, but is taking some time out of my day. I've been managing to hit the gym pretty regularly as well, which has felt nice. I only got a chance to play in 8 of the 25 FTOPS events. I cashed in 2, neither a super significant cash. I collected one pro bounty as well, which made me right around break even for the series. I bubbled both the NLHE and PLO heads up events, which always feels brutal. I really hate losing the first round in a heads up tournament, but at least then it doesn't use up quite as much time! In the 4 other events I never really got anything going. Here are a couple of questions for an abbreviated ask rizen. I'll do a full slate this Friday.
Q: I've been reading and re-reading all the relevant poker books, played 200,000 hands at least and analyzed my play afterwards. Still, I don't seem to advance at all and running break even for a year. I play online at the 25NL-cash and $5 SnG's so it's hard to blame it on bad luck, because the level of play is so low at these stakes.
I tried to figure it out and come to the conclusion I'm fine when I can analyze a hand for a few minutes, but at the tables I feel like I don't have enough time to find out the best play. My brain is just too slow I guess. Do you think there's a way to work on this, or is it only possible to become a good poker player if you're able to make fast and correct decisions?
A: Most people if they tell me they're running break even over that sort of sample size I would tell them to drop down, but I'm not sure how much softer the games are going to get if you drop to 10NL-cash and $2 SnGs. Without knowing more about your play it's hard to say if you're playing poorly or not, but based on your self assessment this could be right. Without knowing how many tables you currently play, I would honestly drop down to a single table and try and stay really focused and make good decisions. I'd slowly add more tables once I was able to play enough hands to get a feel on if my results were improving. I know as I was learning to play going from 1 table to 2 was a tremendous hurdle and going from 2 to 4 seemed nearly impossible at the time.
If you're already playing 1 table and struggling with timing and decisions, I'm not really sure what to say. Live poker obviously would allow you more time to think out your decisions, but if you're needing the full time and time bank to make these decisions one tabling you probably need to do some more work away from the table mastering the concepts so they come a little more automatically at the table.
Q: Generic question about the release of Volume II of the book here.
A: I've gotten probably a dozen of these questions. Quite honestly at this point I don't know. I should have a firm release date in the next few weeks and when I do I'll share. There were some unexpected delays in finishing the second book that I can't really go into here. I think it's going to be a great book and I do share in the disappointment that we haven't been able to get it out sooner. Once I have a firmer release date I promise to let everyone know, but at this point anything I post would be speculation or guesswork. I would be extremely disappointed and surprised if it slipped all the way out of 2009 though and anticipate it to be out well before then.
-Rizen
Aug 06, 2009 – 06:08AM
Here is a copy of the press release. I'm very excited to be taking an expanded role at Lock Poker and getting to work with all these great poker players!
ABERDEEN, New Jersey (August 1, 2009) – Seven of the best and most respected players in the poker world have joined Lock Pro. Eric "Rizen" Lynch has accepted the position at Lock Poker as VP of Product Development.
The newly announced Lock Pros are: WSOP bracelet winner Jason Young; Mike Leah who is currently ranked 6th in Cardplayer’s POY race; online phenoms Matt ‘AllInat420’ Stout (he also owns a WSOP Circuit Ring), Joe ‘JoeytheB’ Brooks and Kyle ‘kwob20’ Bowker (the first player to win two WCOOP events in the same year); 2007 WSOP ME 7th place finisher Lee Childs and up-and-coming superstar Jonathan Jaffe.
"One of the most exciting aspects and driving forces behind me joining Lock Poker was getting an opportunity to have an impact on the business direction of the company” said Eric "Rizen" Lynch. “Accepting the position of VP of product development will allow me to really create the room for the player. This will give us at Lock Poker some really innovative and unique opportunities that leverage the unique abilities and personalities of these new pros moving forward."
“We are thrilled to welcome this incredible group of players as part of the Lock Poker family,” said Jennifer Larson, sole founder and CEO of Lock Poker. “We will be integrating them into all aspects of the business. These Pro's are the insight we need to really create the best online poker experience worldwide"
All seven players, as well as Eric ‘Rizen’ Lynch, are clients of Poker Players International, the world’s largest poker agency. PPI founders Eugene Castro and Randall Kasper expressed their enthusiasm with respect to the signings as well as the direction Lock Poker is headed.
“We basically worked together to construct a Pro Program from the ground up. The parameters were fleshed out for Eric and even further for this expansion phase. Lock truly wants to create a partnership with its pro players, and was willing to go beyond traditional industry measures to create a phenomenal package for these guys” remarked PPI’s Agency Leader Randy Kasper. “I think the poker world is going to be blown away by Lock’s plans for these players.”
As always, if you would like to sign up for Lock Poker click here and use bonus code 'Rizen' for a 110% first time deposit bonus up to $600!
-Rizen
Aug 03, 2009 – 16:08PM
This Wednesday on Lock Poker we will be doing another special event. This time it will be a cash game starting at 9pm ET. There will be two full ring rooms titled 'Rizen's Room I' and 'Rizen's Room II'. One is a .25/.50 game and the other is 1/2. I will be running and recording on both tables. The first person to have aces cracked at each table will win a free 1 hour training session with me.
I think it's going to be a lot of fun and am looking forward to it. If you would like to play and are having troubles signing up or depositing money e-mail me at rizen@lockpoker.com and I will do my best to make sure you get the assistance you need so you can play in the event if you would like.
-Rizen
