To Mods: Trying to get this message to as many 2p2'rs as possible, especially the 1,000 people who signed their name to get me on the show. It's important to me that I thank them. Thanks.

Trip Report:

Thank you to everyone at 2+2 who helped me earn a spot in the PokerStars Big Game, words can't express how thankful I am to you.

What the Big Game Meant to Me:

For me, the Big Game was a once in a lifetime opportunity, to change people's lives, the way my life was changed by you.

In Mark 12 41:44, the story is told, of a poor old woman who gives away money, even though she doesn't have much. This story touched me.

I received emails from hundreds of people around the world, the HU vs. Drooler thread has 397,000 views, the TV show had the chance to reach millions. I felt like I'd stumbled on a genie in a bottle, I had to decide early on, what was the most meaningful thing I could do with my Big Game opportunity.

People responded very strongly to me due to the fact that I used to be homeless, that made this a unique opportunity to bring people together for a common good. The odds were against me but I wanted to use my story to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, or millions, for charity. If nothing else, other people could match my donations, it could have been very big. I wanted to use my one wish, to make lots of people's wishes come true.

I had lots of amazing charity ideas that included you guys. I wanted to win enough to buy at least one wish for the Make-A-Wish Foundation ($7,500), enough to organize charity poker tournaments, enough to build wells, enough to build a school. If I won big on the show I was 100% going to Africa to volunteer. I used to go to sleep at night with a smile thinking about sending checks to various charities and signing them "Members of 2+2 Poker Forum". Thats what most mattered to me, thats what was most meaningful to me.

I thought it'd be worthwhile to take an amount like $25,000 and see how many people's lives we could change with it, then write a book about it. I had lots of ideas, whatever we did, I wanted it to be a group thing, where you guys would vote on it. With your guys help I know that we would have done some amazing things.

2+2 showed me love and trusted me with their hopes and dreams, their secrets. People opened up to me. Telling me about their lives welcoming me into their homes. All kinds of people from 2+2 contacted me. The rich and famous, the poor and diseased. People opened up to me and for that I will always be grateful.

Last year members of 2+2 shipped me $6,000 while I was homeless. Thank you very much.

I spent a few thousand dollars paying my bills while getting ready for the Big Game. I shipped $1,000 to charity. I spent a chunk of that $ and three months making another Free Hugs video (it took a lot longer than I thought it would) where I give out 1000 Free Hugs, thinking when the show aired on TV, it would raise a lot for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Please check this video out because I'm still trying to reach this goal right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyHJ31QMEtk

After losing on the Big Game I was heartbroken like never before. I felt like I still had unfinished business.

So I spent three months making the video above, and volunteering with the homeless in Watts. I'd never done anything like that before, it meant a lot to me, and has brought something awesome to my life. Thank you for inspiring me to get involved in my community

Now that my Big Game journey has come to an end, its starting to sink in just how amazing this journey has been. I can't believe that it happened, and I can't believe that it's over. I feel very lucky and very thankful right now. Sitting here thinking about it, all I can do is smile. Thank you guys for touching my life.

I worked extremely hard to prepare. I gave everything I had to win on the show. To make it the best episode of the PokerStars Big Game ever. I did it for you guys, for myself, for my family, and for God.

Thank you to everyone who befriended me with kind words. Thank you to everyone who helped me get on the show (I shouted out 2+2 and Cody Custer (Free Hugs was his idea) but it got edited out). Thank you to everyone who voted for me. Thank you to PokerStars.

God bless all of you.



Preparation: I took about four months to get ready for the Big Game. It was a full time thing for me. From the very beginning I decided all the strategy and preparation would be geared to the Big Game specifically. This was like 8 months ago so I may be leaving some things out.

Live poker:
I made three solo drives up to Las Vegas before the Big Game. The first trip was to visit the South Point hotel where they film it, so I could get an idea how the show was set up.

I also played live in Vegas, not for strategy, more to practice chip handling, breathing, pretty much getting comfortable going from online to live.

Did more of the same at local LA casinos. I'd always go there with specific things I wanted to work on. Some nights for example, I'd read sections of Caro's Book of Poker Tells. Then I'd sit at the smallest NLHE table they had running and just study the other player's body languages for hours.

I'm very proud of this live preparation because I feel I gained a lot of discipline. My three trips to Vegas for example, I treated as business trips. I went there with a poker schedule, didn't go to clubs, or go out at all, just worked on live poker a ton stopping just to take breaks when needed. For this time period I worked on poker a ton, and then I'd take a day off once a week and visit my family. It was a fun grind.

Online: Online is where I worked on strategy. I got some really good coaching in the last month or so before the show.

-Watched every episode of the show and analyzed each hand
-Played hundreds of 150 hands simulations and took notes
-Played against some very tough opponents who dropped down stakes to play me
-Even practiced how to play like a maniac at the end if need be (you can see my PTR graph start to drop due to these last two as the Big Game got closer lol)
-I played 50,000 hands of 6 max deep online and reviewed thousands of hands.
-And more.

General Play (hand dependent):
I'm very happy with how I played overall on the Big Game. I felt great playing against the pros, relaxed, comfortable. I thought each hand through and made the play I thought was most optimal.

Normally I play 6-max deep NLHE much more aggressively than I did on the show. I 3-bet and 4-bet from the CO/BTN to the point where it annoys my opponents. In the Big Game I played the same as I usually do, what was different wasn't the TV cameras, it wasn't the pros, what was different for me was the cards I was dealt.

6 max deep I 3 with a polarized range...that includes premium hands and also hands that are a little too weak to call with like suited one gappers such as 97s, 86s, and 75s, and other suited hands. In general, deep stacked it's not good to 3 bet hands like A10, K10, and Q10, because your opponents calling range includes hands that dominate you when you hit top pair like AK, AQ, and AJ.

One general concept that greatly improved my game comes from the Memoirs of AeJones, chapter on barreling. The general idea is that when you pick up equity, or a scare card comes of that does not hit your opponents range, you keep barreling.

Even without counting running QQ into KK, I ran bad on the Big Game. When I say I ran bad, I'm not talking about made hands or premium hands at all. By running bad I mean that I didn't have a lot of spots to be aggressive, spots like flush draws, open ended straight draws (had one of these Ep. 1 but the FD made it a call instead of a raise imo), gutter draws or even just two over cards.

I believe my biggest mistakes on the Big Game were 1. Missing a flop bet with 99 against Prahlad (Ep.1) and 2. Failing to use my image early to bluff and win some smallish to medium sized pots. If these are two of my biggest mistakes I feel that I did very well, considering that I was under a huge amount of pressure. That 150 hand session meant a lot more to me, than it did anyone else at the table, or anyone sitting at home watching. I felt relaxed and in the moment the whole time. I give God the credit for that.

In the first 60 hands that I played on the show, I barely won any pots at all, and I didn't get to put my skills on display. 9/10 times, the cards come out very differently and fireworks go off at the table. The episodes of the Big Game I was on, the worst plays were made by the pros in my opinion, but they get to come back and play another day. That's poker.

I'm proud of how I played on the show. Despite not running well, I had a good chance to win a life changing amount of money. I played with a great deal of composure, came in relaxed, had a great decision process, and executed the gameplan. It just wasn't my day. I had a blast playing on the Big Game.

If anyone posts a specific hand history and wants to discuss it, I'll be more than happy to share my thought process, or to respond to yours, if you take the time, to write it out the entire hand, which only takes about 30 seconds.


My Table Presence:
If I had known how I would come across on TV, obviously I would have talked more.

Barry and Nick, the two players to my immediate left, both made mistakes early in episode one, and lost half their stacks in the process ($50,000). Understandably they were not in the chatting mood, and they didn't want to talk to anyone for a while, so they could focus on their game. In that situation most Loose Cannons would come off as quiet at first.

That having been said I should have talked more, so they'd have more to work with, instead of short responses. The table was mostly quiet the whole time, a lot more quiet than I thought it would be. The other players at the table were a lot better than me at adding one liners here and there for the sake of the show. It made a huge difference in the editing.

Stapleton:
I think Stapes is a great announcer, but I do feel he was a little harsh on me. One example, in episode one, midway through, Barry raises UTG with 75dd, Vanessa 3 bets with JJ, I'm in the SB with A10 suited and make the obvious fold. In Stapes opinion my fold is "Tight but I don't hate it".
Folding there is 100% correct. Calling in that spot is the same as lighting money on fire. You're totally out of position in a 3 bet pot, its early, with a hand that's easily dominated, against two aggressive opponents, one of whom is an UTG raiser!

The same hand, Barry bluffs off $50,000 of his stack with 7 high and it's a failed "aggression spell"! That having been said, every losing Loose Cannon gets their game criticized, comes with the territory. Stapleton's jokes are hilarious.

The Players:
I really enjoyed playing against Prahlad, Barry, Antonio, Vanessa and Nick. They are all very cool people. They kept it fun and competitive.

Final Thought:

I'm happy and grateful for what this journey has been. I made some amazing friendships, saw amazing places, and had my dreams come true. I had amazing experiences, that I will never in my life forget, memories that I will always look back upon with a smile.

THANK YOU ALL!

Jared

first?

Nice post Jared. Congrats on turning your life around. I know you'll continue to inspire and help the lives of others for years to come.

Keep in touch.

Read all of it, really impressed with how much work you've put in. Agree on the stapes thing.

@stapes comments

i'd add the situation where you 3 bet A6o or something like that, and you're obviously making a move on some late position raiser and he's commenting like you're trying to 3 bet for value and you want a call or something like that...

Bromance

I'm very happy to be able to tell you guys about the Big Game experience after going 5 months without being able to talk about it.

I'm also very happy to be able to thank you guys for sending me $ last year. Unfortunately, I couldn't talk about it too much while trying to get on the Big Game. A few people were creating fake accounts making up things trying to hurt my reputation, "I did 7 years with Jared in state prison he shouldn't be allowed on the Big Game", type posts, so I had to be careful what information I gave out. Thank you guys very much.

Despite the fact that it didn't make you rich, I am still glad it all got to happen for a couple reasons:

1) It gave you new life and a breath of fresh air in a day-to-day that was making you feel depressed and alone.

2) It proved that even generally selfish people like poker players (no offense to anyone) can band together and make something good happen.

3) It showed that good things still happen to good people.

4) It gave you a wonderful experience that you won't ever forget.


What started as a one line idea on a message forum made a difference in someone's life. I would say that YOU made a difference in many of our lives.

Peace bro.

in a 150 hand sample you have to mix it up more than usual and get lucky

you played uber uber tight and it was seriously a bore to watch you burn away the opportunity you got by essentially hoping for a cold deck to double you up or some sick set up

Seriously hard to believe you think your play was optimal given the format, but whatever, each to their own..

JAred, tell us about the watch situation

was fun watching someone from 2+2 on the big game ! too bad you didnt make any money ! better luck next time !

+1

Its funny that you talk about burning money while you were limping in LP with J9o

Yeah I think you limped twice with J8 and J9 or so? Why was that.

But he have to hand it to him, he really did not get into good spots, didn't pick up good hands and when he did, he either got no action (not because he was oh so tight but because people woke up with 83o, 106o etc. behind him) or it got hot before it got to him. Also, he rarely really hit a flop (the flop for 99 was fine, I think he knows he misplayed that hard) except for the diamond & wheel draw where he raises in a 4way pot where every pro would fold JT to most loose cannons, anyone else remeber a flop he hit? Well I don't. When you just don't hit a single hand, it becomes very tough, no matter how much you mix it up and how agressive you are. So I think it looked way worse than it was given the cards. Still, it can't be denied he misplayed some hands pretty bad but it just wasn't meant to be.

I bought a watch for $50 from Ross. The plan was to win on the show and keep the watch. Lost and returned it the next day.

Limping J9 off in the cutoff was totally wrong on my part. Don't remember my exact thought process, somehow leveled myself into doing the unthinkable. Knew it was wrong once I did it.

Hey Jared,
You played nice and solid throughout the week imo. Def. coulda played a little more laggy, some 3b bluffs like u mentioned w/ your weaker holdings when you had a tight image. I think u did what was necessary to make a profit, just not a large profit. I mean QQ and KK were reversed or he has JJ or w/e u end up a 50k winner or so. anyhoo, goodwork sir!

I'm not familiar with your situation at first but I did read some of the stuffs in your original thread about going broke. From what I can tell, you are a good person, just keep being who you are, you made a few mistakes, you paid for it and learned from them and they made you a better person. That's all that matter.

BTW, do you have a job now? are you still homeless? what are your plans for the future? honest questions.

But you went ahead and did it again

Jared, what is the atmosphere like offset? I was under the impression the game takes many hours to film. Are there a lot of breaks, chatting in between etc?

Thanks for your report, it's a shame you couldn't book a win.

First of all, you are a very likeable guy Jared, and i do truly wish you the best.

With that being said, I think the reason why me and a lot of ther posters critisize your play is, even if it in a normal setting wouldnt be terrible(even though a bit to nitty to win in the long run imo), in the Big Game setting its terrible. Mainly because u have to get it in, you have to gamble and play aggresive as a mofo, and yes that can mean seeking -ev spots in some cases because the 100k, you have infront of you are a damm freeroll... And yes you were carddead etc. etc. but still it was a bore to watch you play,

ATs in that situation is not a fold. You have 150 hands to make something happen and you have a spot where you could call with massive implied odds and a great chance of being paid if you hit the flop big.

You said you couldn't find spots to be aggressive and that was why. You flop a pair and a fd or something and you have a great chance of getting it in against what was fairly likely to be a big pair.

I wish you the best and admire what you've done but seeing how you played was super tilting. Stapes summed it up by saying "sometimes you just feel like going down and shaking the cannon".

I have no doubt you are a great guy but when it comes to the play I can't agree you played at all optimally.

Good luck in the future man.

flop came red number cards

if the pro's 3bet you every hand its not bad at all to start limping some hands in LP maybe not j9 but whatever. That is not even remotely the biggest mistake he was making.

Biggest mistake was clearly the 99 followed by a too shy gameplan postflop in general

gg tho, gl in the rest of ur life