feed from keanureaver blog 2008-10-02T08:59:08+01:00 text/html 1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00 keanureaver http://keanureaver.liquidpoker.net Been about a month since I've started and I'm running 7ptbb/100 over about 23k hands. It's not an amazing sample size by any stretch but it hasn't felt too entirely ridiculous either. I've had some awful luck and I've had some great luck, some setups against me and some for me. Everything has felt really "typical". As usual, my biggest problem is my inability to dedicate a consistent amount of time every day to playing. 23k over a month is higher than I usually am but playing 14 tables I should easily be able to play 100k hands a month. I'm thinking making a prop bet with a couple poker buddies might be good, just something to try and form a playing habit...nothing huge, but enough that I'd be forced to take it seriously. In any case, graph for the sample. again, the sample is small but I've never had a graph look so pretty. [IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/Keanu_Reaver/NL200frsofar.jpg[/IMG] text/html 1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00 keanureaver http://keanureaver.liquidpoker.net Mom had a major surgery and I've been spending most of my time taking care of things at the house. Didn't leave much time for poker or other things so I haven't played much at all. As a result my funds are starting to dwindle a little bit and if I get into a rut I might have to see if I can get a stake from someone. I'm not too worried about it though since Casino Arizona is pretty easy and if I go there a couple times a week I should make plenty of money. My knee is still bad but now that my mom's well I should be able to get it taken care of, I've decided to work around it for the time being though...I'm just really tired of being out of shape. I can't really run but biking isn't a problem, lifting should be alright too although I can't do much leg lifts unless I'm using a machine. Finally, I'm really considering moving to vegas maybe at the start of 09'. My best friend's cousin just got a job up there and my best friend is trying to get one as well, if he does I can almost guarantee I'm going to move up with him and we're going to be roommates. I wanted to visit vegas a couple times for the WSOP but with my mom's surgery it just wasn't possible...I will be taking a vacation up there for a wedding in a few weeks though. Anyway, getting back into poker is something of a pain...especially since I'm really not even rolled for NL200 any more. At least NL100 should give me some confidence and get me back into rhythm and the swing of things. text/html 1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00 keanureaver http://keanureaver.liquidpoker.net so I haven't been posting or playing poker much recently. family stuff for the most part as my mom had a major surgery and I've been helping her through it. in any case, I figure I'd make a small write up on one of the best UFC's ever. Only going to comment on the fights I saw. [B]Dong Hyun Kim vs Jason Tan - Kim by TKO round 3.[/B] I really didn't know either of these two fighters but Kim came into the fight undefeated at 9-0-1 with all but one of his fights in the DEEP promotion which is, if anything, competitive. So I figure he's probably pretty good and he sure didn't disappoint. He was comfortable and crisp on the feet and absolutely ruinous (good adjective?) on the ground. He would do almost all of his damage on the ground with elbows, either from half guard, side mount, or full mount. Finally in the third round, after just a ton of accumulated damage, tan would be knocked out from a few elbows on the ground. [B]Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs War machine - Yoshida by anaconda choke round 1.[/B] Very clever way of locking up an anaconda choke. I really don't think he was trying for a guillotine initially I just don't think he wanted to roll over the arm, the north south setup was very very clearly an anaconda. Yoshida did very well otherwise in what little we got to see of him with excellent control in the clinch and judo that I'm sure made Fox wet :]. He's also got a win over Kikuchi so, like Kim, I'm eager to see what he'll end up doing in the UFC. [B]Machida vs Ortiz - Machida by UD (3x 30-27).[/B] If it wasn't clear mma has passed Ortiz up, this should leave no doubt. He's big and strong, well rounded and athletic and there was a time that that combination alone would win you a UFC championship. Machida fought very well with an excellent gameplan and Ortiz wasn't able to bully him around so he spent most of the three rounds doing a whole lot of nothing. Near the end of the third Machida landed a vicious knee to the ribs and was almost able to finish tito but tito is tough and he recovered almost locking up a triangle but he wasn't able to hold it. For tito, he's had a great career and I would not be upset at all for this to be his last fight. I really hope he doesn't end up fighting against bums for another 5 years. [B]Wandy vs Jardine - Wandy by KO round 1.[/B] I remember being really torn on this fight. On one hand, Jardine has been doing very well since losing to Houston and Wandy seems over the hill. On the other hand, this matchup greatly favors Wandy, especially considering the fighters he lost to prior. Chuck and Mirko are both counter punchers while Jardine is more of a toe-to-toe brawler much in the same way Rampage is (I remember me and fox talking about chuck vs jardine in this way, Jardine is basically a poorman's rampage). While Wandy clearly struggles against counter punchers that are willing to keep him at a distance, he absolutely devours brawlers. My friend I was watching the fights with asked me who I thought would win and I told him a few years ago Wandy would crush Jardine but now I didn't know. Silly me for doubting. In typical wandy fashion, he ends up landing 3 looping hooks before jardine is even able to hit the ground. Wandy then pounced on him and smashed him into oblivion. [B]B.J. Penn vs Sherk - Penn by TKO round 3.[/B] Sherk starts off the match with a somewhat half hearted takedown attempt and over the next 15 minutes he wouldn't attempt another takedown at all. Now, I've said it before, BJ penn is easily the best fighter I've ever seen at using his bjj as takedown defense but the most intriguing thing about this fight was that this was something sherk would have to overcome anyway. Nevertheless, the rest of the fight would be spent standing and while sherk was landing he wasn't doing any damage and penn was ripping him apart with solid jabs and right straights. This fight reminded me a lot about Fox's old blog post about footwork and how guys like sherk struggle to do damage with their strikes because they have terrible footwork (probably from years of wrestling). This was clearly the difference in the fight and it really began showing not only on their faces but as the fight continued sherk was getting more and more tense and panicky while bj penn couldn't have looked more comfortable. Finally at the end of the third round, bj pushes sherk back and in sheer frustration sherk bounces off the cage figuring bj was too far to do anything about it. Well, he wasn't, and he placed a beautiful flying knee right on sherks noggin and would pound on sherk until the bell. The ref would then call the fight as sherk couldn't continue. After the fight, sherk said he felt comfortable standing and was hoping to wear penn down before pouncing later on. I don't think anyone would disagree with the thought...sherks gameplan should revolve around wearing penn out and looking to win in the fourth or fifth. But how he went about it was just terrible. I really wonder just how easy it is to get caught up in the flow of a fight. I mean, sherk can feel penn's punches and they weren't dropping him and even more importantly he can feel his punches getting through and hitting penn. his face is likely numb so he can't easily tell just how much damage he's taken and it has to be really frustrating to land and not have any visible evidence of damage. Not to mention his pride had to already be hurting from circumstances up until this fight so the longer the fight was standing the harder it would be to swallow his pride and avoid a standing battle by taking the fight to the ground. His gameplan should have revolved around smothering penn against the cage and dragging him to the ground every chance he gets but, for whatever reason, he got caught up in the fight and ended up spending 15 minutes boxing a clealry superior boxer.