Congrats Shane! You seem very intelligent and balanced which is what it takes to last. Also very well timed street corner/well. Its all about the well timed self promo as big Bobby said . My only question is, as somebody who is busto or has been busto before, how do you maintain focus deep in tournaments with some sort of life changing money at stake ftw? It is easy to say you look at the money as monopoly money, but its much easier said than done when you have the opportunity to spike something that legitimately is life changing.

grats shane!

are you going to be focusing more on live or online now?

I'm going to go with Mike Tyson, cuz I've never heard of the other guy, and I liked the Toback documentary, "Tyson."

ZING!

have no questions, just wanted to say congrats on team online, i have always been a fan and you seem to handle yourself with class at the tables. lame story: i was basically sitting next to you at the casino bar during ept deauville last year, but i was way too starstruck to say hello.

TY marty!

I am actually trying to duplicate the sort of volume I was putting in around this time in 2010, but which got sidetracked when I hit the EPT scene. Best month in online poker, I'm pretty sure, was March 2010, when I was up in the woods in Topanga Canyon, just loving the nature and focusing on online MTTs. Somehow it was a great pairing.

So I'm really trying to strip down the traveling and focus on the online thing.

I wish I had stayed in school so I could understand the significance of the remark. Elaborate?

Franz Ferdinand was the Archduke of Austria who was assassinated. He's assassination pretty much led to the beginning of WW2

Well, for one thing, I've definitely LOST focus and blew some really major spots in poker tournaments (see: WPT that Kevin Saul won), but at the same time I think I did manage to train myself to play well despite being in dire circumstances, or being eaten alive by the Makeup Monster. You just have to tell yourself, "20K won't clear my makeup, but it will get me 20K closer to clearing my makeup."

Now, turns out being relatively robusto, confident, and playing without the need to score to pay the bills is a lot less stressful and lends itself to better performance. Who knew?

There really is an inexplicable yet undeniable correlation between mind-set and performance. Sometimes it's not so drastic that it will destroy you, other times it creeps in so insidiously you don't even realize it. If you look at my SS graph, the 50K downswing that came right before my 50K cash in the Sunday Million corresponds pretty directly to one of the lowest times in my life.

I'm told it's WWI, and hey young world, we're still here!

My bad it definitely was WW1!

First of all I like the Corner reference even though I never finished it. I could never get into it like I could the Wire. Seemed almost too real.

O and congrats on Team Online!

What would you say to someone that asks if they should be backed? Do you think getting backed back in the day ended up hurting you as a poker player?

Are you the only professional online tournament player that regularly wakes up at 8-9am?

So its RIP Hateitorloveit? One of the best screenames in online poker imo.

Congrats on the deal bro. Nice to see one of the good guys in poker get ahead.

congrats Shaniac!

Ive been playing donkaments(on my own) for the past couple years now, basically at a midstakes level, taking shots here and there, when my BR will alllow it. Over the past month, I have been on a sick downswing and keep taking these 3-5 day breaks, just so I don't go busto. You had mentioned something in an earlier post about always knowing that you would eventually go busto and have to get a backing deal. I feel like i think the same thing alot too. I'm guessing you're backed now? If so, could you rate the difference between being a backed player/being on your own? How did you go about getting a backing deal?

RIP HateItOrLoveIt, and ty, because my friend the other day said, "oh that was you? That's one of the WORST screen names ever." Hate it or love it, I guess.

When people have asked me before if they should get backed, I tell them, no unless it's really necessary (and they ignore my advice anyway). There's obviously some major benefits to backing arrangements, but the setup can lead to bad habits and laziness and that creates the Makeup Monster.

I guess it's a big "it depends" because getting backed can be a perfect arrangement for some players. I think the main thing is that you have to work the stake almost as if it were your own and not use the opportunity as an excuse to play the 530 PLO tournament where your edge sucks (for example).

What do you think, Christian?

As for the wakeup thing, I sure hope I am the only one that gets up that early, although I did see Believer82 in the early $82 (that's Jeremiah Vinsant for those who don't know), and he asked me what I was doing up so early, avoiding the regs?

pretty suspicious how he side stepped this one... hmmm

Well, taking 3-5 days off in order to avoid going broke is not a sound strategy. If you're +EV, you obviously need to be putting in hours to change the downswing into an upswing. That's where work ethic and routine become major factors. If you need the time off to regroup, spend that time thinking of your approach to the game, on macro and micro levels and doing all the things that people recommend to improve (discuss hands, train, etc.).

Also, enjoy the time off for its own sake and don't think of it in relation to how poorly things are going for you. If you can somehow remind yourself that life is OK despite being on a downswing, you've already given yourself an edge for when you return to the tables.

The most important thing, I think, is to eschew the mentality that "I can always get backed" and do whatever it takes to Not Go Busto, namely dropping down in stakes.

I am not currently backed, I am trying to work a small stake on my own for pretty much the second time in my career.

(and the way you get backed in poker is just by developing relationships with backers in the industry who think you are a good investment).

Wasnt that a start rather than a stop?

Congratulations to promotion shaniac.

Have railed you a couple of times. If you are chipleader with 2 mill chips at final table. All the other players have 500k and you are BB. Everybody before you went all in. What do you do with AA?

- Sound and Safe with Trent on WFMU has probably delivered the most new music to my earhole in the past year. Coffee Break for Heroes and Villans, a hip hop show, is great. There are so many really. Best Show on WFMU, a call-in/comedy show on Tuesday nights hosted by Tom Scharpling, kind of really helped keep me grounded during some insane grinds.

For those who don't know, WFMU, 91.1FM in the tri-state are and wfmu.org, is a freeform radio station, meaning every DJ gets to play whatever they want. Their pledge marathon is coming up, and for like a $365 pledge you will get soething like 20 premium CDs from all the DJs, and it will rip wide open your iTunes collection.

- Ween shows--I wanna say 15-20, kinda stopped keeping track of that. I've seen Ween and P-Funk All Stars the most times live, prob followed by Yo La Tengo. Got to see James Brown a couple times, once at Central Park Summertage...he literally glided across the stage.

- I wasn't "told" anything about mini-FTOPS, however I represent Stars exclusively, so I'm not going to go out of my way to talk about former accomplishments on other sites. Anyway, the accomplishment there was successfully politicking to get mini-winners their rightful silver jerseys.

- I want to say "no" to live penalties, although I somehow think I'm forgetting one.

I call on principle. One time in satellite, I called with AA when folding would have made me a lock, thus trading a 100% chance of winning for an 80-90% chance and the opportunity to play dem rockets.

cool. thanks for doing this, solid advice. gl

Congrats on the deal, Shane!

Favorite Beatles song?

Favorite fast food(ish) restaurant?

Favorite television show?

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to reading this thread as it should be a good one!

you mention the 2009 WSOP ME as the most devastating because of your table draws. That was my first Main Event. I was at your day 2 table with TravestyFund. Glad I could be apart of that tough table.

~Josh

gl to you at pokerstars and thanks for the shout-out in your blog after the ME.

There is no static top-5, nor will there ever be imo. Mement Mori seems pretty good, though.

In reality, I think the difference between the best 5 players today and the best 5 next year is who keeps their heads on straight to the highest level of efficiency. There are a lot of good players, but relatively few that will translate their talent into long term prosperity, so it really doesn't matter who the best 5 are today.

Best advice that I can come up with right now is this: Don't let the bright lights bind you, stay on your grind. Again, I have so much more reverence for the slow-builders in the game than the breakout superstars. If you're doing well at mid or low-stakes, you might think you're missing out on something by not playing the baller stakes, but it's an illusion.

Never received formal coaching (a friend of mine who coaches gave me an impromptu coaching lesson once), but I think it's unequivocally useful if your coach can get you thinking about even one new thing properly.

Word up Josh! That WAS a tough table right?

- TY!

- Let it Be

- Man, I hardly eat fast food. There are four Umamiburger locations in LA, I highly recommend you all check one out when you're here for NAPT-LA. I have never had a Big Mac (true story).

- Wire of course. Lock it up. Not watching too much TV these days, but Justified (as recommended by Todd Terry) is just starting season 2, and I am loving Portlandia, the best lampooning of hipster culture to date.