CARDRUNNERS

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.

Sunday was a super productive day of grinding small tasks that needed to be done for CR. None of it was glamorous, and most of it was tedious, but very needed. After completing a number of these issues in the morning, I moved onto the bigger task of videos. In the transfer of videos over from the older server and system to the new one, all kinds of problems occured with titling, categorizations and file connections. With over 450 videos from the past two years, its quite a chore to wade through them all. We've added new and expanded categories to search the videos: pro, site, game, stakes, size, tables, and type. I'm probably through 80% of the videos now. All the videos will be chronologically ordered, and searchable by more categories than ever before. When you pull up a pro, all their videos are nicely ordered and presented. Within the next couple days I should have that task finished.

It's been nice to see more and more of the launch related issues disappating so we can begin to move to the front end site improvements. The forums and blogs will get some adjustments along with other functionality for the site. Steady incremental progress makes Operations Managers like me happy. Its also fun to be doling out prizes every day as part of our big celebration. We've had a great first two years of operation and have great members that we are thrilled to be awarding some fun prizes to over the next several weeks.

Early tomorrow morning we have our first CR meeting since Taylor, Ezra and Andrew flew to Aruba. As always, we will have much to discuss. We are getting closer to making additional announcements that members will appreciate. I need to get to bed now to rest my back. I threw it out in the little time I spent away from the computer today. I was removing the screens from all the windows and bent and stretched it the wrong way. I guess it's a sign I shouldn't leave my computer chair ever....LOL

Sunday and Monday I worked many hours to complete the videos section. It felt so good to finish it up today. It's fascinating to see, categorize and link up all 450 plus videos. There have been so many different pros and perspectives. There is an incredible amount of information in our video library of online poker the last two years. While prevailing trends and styles have changed over that period, you can go back and view the earliest videos and learn good fundamentals. After seeing the condition and look of the videos section when I started this, it's very satisfying to get them in pristine order.

I'm excited for the latest video pros to add to this impressive library. We will be adding new top talent to the mix moving forward. Each voice, new and old, has merit and is worth considering to work elements into your game. Thats what's great about poker; there isn't just one way to play and win. Being surrounded by the greatest minds in the game sharing their thoughts is the best way to formulate what works best for you.

As an aside, those who were searching for their previously purchased videos, the files were left behind accidently in the database transfer and have finally been placed in the My Videos link on the Videos page to access. We have appreciated your patience in this entire transition and have been working hard to have the videos up early and bonus videos for members on Sundays. We are already mapping out the day when every member will have regular days for every type of video they want. It's a gradual process to build up to that huge endevour but as our membership grows, so will out output and variety. Keep the great suggestions and feedback coming.

I'm found myself watching WAY more CR videos than I originally planned over this short break.  Surprisingly, while I want to study MTTs a lot, I have but them on the back burner for a while.   One way I think anyone can improve is to take notes from the CR videos.  Early in my CR days, I absorbed a few concepts from the video and just pounded any pot from the button without knowing what the hell I was doing.  Since then, I've learned to study the videos and not just go through the motions and treat it like a "Movie" but to approach it as a educational learning tool.  

The biggest advice that I can offer anyone looking to improve is to find one pro and watch all of their videos.   You'd be surprised at how much quicker you can learn by using this method.  I used to really jump around from pro to pro and often found them playing different hands differently which often would confuse me of the correct play.  I also was a new video junkie watching every new video that came out which I don't think was the best idea.  I've settled into a groove and picked one pros play to study.   Since I talk a lot of poker with Stinger and have railed him for over a year now , I found that his game was closest to mine and I've decided to rewatch every single one of Stingers No Limit videos.   I've put watching new videos on the back burner until I complete this.  After all, the new daily videos will be there when I'm ready for them. 

The next piece of advice after you've selected who's videos you wish to study is to take notes.   I can't stress how important note taking can be.  I personally just keep Microsoft Word open and keep notes for each video and review them and review any hands that I've found interesting.  After awhile, you'll notice that pros common tendencies and how thay play the same situations which you'll then translate into your own game.

I will be working with Stingers videos to complete his No Limit series and I'm debating if I want to just keep my notes open in my blog for anyone wishing to follow along.  Obviously if there is interest, I'd be more than happy to do this.  I do encourage people to do this on their own and really get down and serious about improving .   The last few days since I've started doing this, I've noticed I've opened my mind up and been thinking a lot more about situations and thinking on a more deeper level.   I'm hoping everyone else who wishses to improve can implement some sort of system and get into a system that will ultimately make you think deeper about the game and take your game to the next level.

Ok, going to try this again.

Some guys over on liquidpoker found these games that are the most life tilting things ever. check out some videos:

First game is like a bizarro japanese mario type thingy, but its just the biggest asshole version ever, you can download it here: http://www.geocities.jp/z_gundam_tanosii/home/Main.html

It's the first video.

The next 3 are the second game, titled asshole mario. I dont think i would have the patience to get through any level of this cause it looks nearly impossible. Check out a few videos of it, there could be some sick sidebets on beating it: