CARDRUNNERS
What's Your Edge
Brian Townsend : Poker Blog This weekend the CR pros came into Santa Barbara and stayed at my house for four days. All the lead pros were there; Brian H., Eric, Cole, Mike, Taylor and Andrew as well as two small stakes pros; Thomas and Derrick not to mention Ezra who did an awesome job getting everyone do actually do some work. The guys flew in Friday afternoon and we had a photo shoot right when everyone got in. My friend Amy Nave ( www.amynave.com ) did the shoot for us. She is a very successful wedding photographer, who runs an album design company called Albumesque. I haven't seen the final pictures yet but I am sure they will be amazing as she did some excellent work for me before.
That evening we went to Sakana, which is my favorite sushi restaurant. I consider myself a bit of a sushi snob and I rate Sakana head and shoulders above more well known and popular sushi bars such as Nobu and Okada. I did talk this place up to all the guys so they had high expectations and I didn't hear raving reviews from them. Oh well I still think it’s amazing and if you are ever in Montecito you should really check it out. After dinner we headed downtown and bar hopped. I met some buddies at Study Hall while the guys went to Sharkeez. We met up later in the evening and the guys seemed to be having a great time. It was pretty dead that night which surprised me. Usually the bar scene is very busy in Santa Barbara and the bars weren’t even ½ full.
The next morning Ashley, who has been amazing in her first three weeks, brought over bagels for everyone. We then got to work on creating you guys some video content and I must say I think we made some amazing videos. Over the course of the weekend we made around 15 videos which will be up over the next few months. The first one I did is going to be a two part series with Mike Schneider. It is designed for NL players looking to get into limit. It is a pretty advanced video that discussed some of the major changes that one needs to make when switching from NL to limit. I am a pretty good limit player but by no means anywhere near the skill of Mike, so this video was very informational for me. We go deep into discussion of concepts like blind defense, loose flop peals, starting hand adjustments and thin river calls.
I also made another video with Brian H. where we reviewed a member submitted video. I think this format will be very popular as it allows you guys to see someone who is in a similar position to you get critiqued instead of just watching us make decisions. I hope to do more member submitted videos in the future. Outside of videos I did, I did one more with Ezra for a total of four this weekend, there were some videos that I want to watch. Eric and Andrew made a full ring video that they said turned out great. It goes into some of the finer points of full ring games as they are both excellent full ring players. Cole and Taylor made two HU video which they said were amazing. Both said everything came together in the video and was there best work so far.
I really enjoy making videos with other people and I think the content is much better. Doing videos solo is good but having someone to converse with really can add to the video. Look for more group videos in the future as I think they are the best teaching format, but would love feedback from you guys.
After making videos for a few hours Paul our videographer came over to film us. I have to thank my buddy DJ ( www.davidjay.com ) for helping put me in contact with him. We did a few hours of interviews which went well. Ezra had a laundry list of questions for us. After we wrapped up the interviews us BBQ on my patio. It was an amazing day for the middle of February so it was nice to just relax outside. After eating we created a group video where we all played in the same ring game. The winner could choose someone from the losers who would have to wear a Speedo on the beach the following day. Ezra was chosen but someone wormed his way out of getting filmed in a Speedo.
That evening we went out to Carlitos for dinner. It was my buddy Ty's birthday so he and some of my other friends met up with us there. We ate a ton of food and I actually ate to much which made drinking later on a lot harder. I ended up heading home early because I wasn't feeling to hot. Luckily that didn't stop the guys from getting wasted.
Sunday morning was similar to Saturday in that we woke up and ate some breakfast and began making more videos. Paul showed up around noon and we headed to the beach. We did some skits and filmed us being ourselves. It was a lot colder Sunday than Saturday so we only ended up at the beach for an hour. The film should be good though. After that we headed back to my house and Paul filmed us for the next 4 or 5 hours. Ezra had all these skits and commercials for us to do and we worked until 11 in the evening. I dropped Paul off and went straight to bed as Taylor Andrew and I had to leave for LA the next morning at 6AM for some business meetings. I left a ton out of what we did since this is already my longest blog post ever. It was a very productive weekend and I think it will show in the next month when the content starts coming out. Hopefully when I get some pictures from the weekend I can post them.
Feb 20, 08 12:54:36
Brian,
Can't wait to see all those vids. I really think that releasing new format vids is the key. There are already almost 600 vids in the classical live format and, while they are still needed, new concepts will really make CR even more +EV. I personnaly loved your replayer vids. Keep on the good work !
Feb 20, 08 13:57:09
Sounds like a good time, so did u guys play some live games against each other? We need details! :)
Feb 20, 08 16:47:49
Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to review my video. I'm looking forward to fixing some leaks I no doubt have.
Thanks Again.
Feb 20, 08 17:07:07
The video where you and Taylor critique Ezra's HU play was one of the best that you guys have put out. More cooperative videos, please.
Feb 20, 08 19:04:35
Although I don't know a ton about the new video series, I can speak for a lot of CR'ers saying that I'm really looking forward to the new content.
Feb 21, 08 14:51:31
That sushi place was totally off the hook. It was the first time I really went outside of my favorites and found some new amazing tastes (my favs being tuna shrimp tempura and crab). Cole picked some plate that was just totally amazing. Definetely going back there next time I'm in town.
We didn't do any home games although we had ambitions to. We just had so much work and ended up passing out. Over the course of the weekend, the entirety of the house made well over 6 figures online, it was like a black hole for money :P
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