No movement this week in the top 7.  Ben “MoneybagsJ” Kachan from Shakopee moved into the top 1o at #8 while Lance “Kingpin023″ Harris slid outside the top 10 for this year.

*Rankings as of December 27.  To qualify for the MN Online Rankings players must register with PocketFives.com.  Registration is free.

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Because of my recent trip to Las Vegas, I missed almost an entire week of work (retail sales).  As I returned to my job the following week, I was somewhat energized, feeling as though the break did me some good, recharging my batteries and allowing me renewed vigor for this soul-crushing work.  As the day pressed on, however, I quickly realized that the hiatus, though very enjoyable, made it extraordinarily difficult to do my job successfully.  What I found is that having had so much time off reacquainted me with the “normal” style of human interaction.  When I returned to work, I once again had to fake human interaction, pretending to give a crap about customer’s sociopathic ranting.  It was almost impossible to do!  I found myself being very rude, unintentionally.

This very specific situation does not necessarily translate to poker.  There are, however, some parallels.  There is a certain amount of truth to the success of regularity theory.  In other words, continually doing something, whether it be something you love or something you loathe, certainly makes it run more smoothly, and makes “success,” however the activity defines this, more easily attainable.  Practice, you might call it.

Ultimately, however, I do believe there is far more value in a poker hiatus than a retail-sales hiatus.  Poker is such an emotional game.  It’s very easy to be caught in the midst of a six to seven session losing streak, feeling as though nothing is going right.  Continually banging your head against the wall will drive you out of your mind.  What’s the definition of insanity?  ”Repeating the same action over and over again, expecting a different result.”  When things are going terribly, stepping away is the only logical and sanity-retaining thing to do.  It will, in fact, “recharge your batteries,” assuming you don’t take four years off and forget how to play.

2010 has been an amazing year for MNPokerMag.com and Minnesota Poker Magazine.  A big THANK YOU to all of you for helping us surpass the 1 MILLION page views mark this year alone and for being loyal supporters.

The MNPokerMag staff would like to wish you and your family a Safe and Happy Holiday.

Thare are only two days until Christmas and to some this may seem like late advice.  But since the majority of our readers/followers are male, you are probably just now starting to think about what you should get your significant other for Christmas. 

As most of you know, RF Moeller Jeweler spends a lot of their time and a lot of their own money designing and creating the Championship Diamond Bracelet for the Minnesota State Poker Tour.  And they do a fantastic job.  The new bracelet they’ve created is awesome!  And they donate it for free, no money is taken out of any MSPT prize pool for the bracelet.  That’s a cool thing to do by RF Moeller.  Not to mention, with all the custom work and hours they do, the diamonds, etc…its worth about $5,400.

Point is, they are big supporters of poker here in Minnesota.  If you’re looking for a place shop, definitely consider supporting them.  We appreciate everything they do for us.

Hope you all have a great holiday!

Bryan

With just a few days left in the calendar year it looks like Everett Carlton has a choke hold on the 2010 title.  It ain’t over til its over though. 

It probably seems like just yesterday…cause it pretty much was, where we reported “JohnnyGstaks won the PokerStars USACOOP for $164,050 on November 28th. 

Since then, Gstaks has a ton of solid cashes but most notably $13K on Dec. 12, $6K on Dec. 13, $15K on Dec. 14, he won the $100K Guaranteed on Tilt on Dec. 15 for $35K, another $5K cash on Dec. 15, etc…..you get the point.

Dude is good.

8-16 hold’em.  I’m in the big-blind.  Three players limp.  Two of these players are aggressive novices, and the other is an old man who appears to play very traditionally.  The small-blind also calls, and I check my big-blind K-5.

The flop is 3-3-6 rainbow.  Actions checks around.

The turn is a King of the fourth suit.  The small-blind checks.  This is a weird spot.  There is definitely an argument for betting.  But what type of hand can I beat, that would call a bet on the turn?  There is no new flush draw, and anybody with a Six would have bet the flop  (I know this, as the late position players were the maniacs).  Somebody could have a larger King, and though unlikely, somebody could also have a Three.  What does my bet accomplish, other than keeping the field from sucking out on me on the river?  (And this may indeed be enough to bet!).  I can’t beat anybody who likes their hand.

I decide to check.  I think that if I check I can relatively accurately determine how to respond based on who, if anybody, does bet the turn.  There is also a reasonably good chance that one of the maniacs will bet with nothing, hoping to take down an uncontested pot.  If this happens, I can simply call and decide how to play the river when it comes.

As soon as I check, the old man fires a bet.  Both of the maniacs fold, as does the small-blind.  This is a peculiar event.  My immediate instinct is to call.  I have top-pair!  But, referring to my thinking when I initially decided to check, what could I possibly beat?  I run through the hands in my head.  There is no draw on the board.  And it seems unlikely that he would have a medium pocket pair or a six, deciding to check both the unthreatening Six-high flop and bet the threatening King on the turn.  The only thing I can beat is an absolute bluff.  To tip the scales toward a fold, additionally, is the size of the pot.  There is only five small bets in the pot before this gentleman’s turn bet.  I muck.

The old man, very pleased with himself, showed the 10-2 of hearts.  I didn’t think he had a bluff in him; as I said, I was calling the two young nutters.  His geriatric demographic won him the pot!  Good bet, sir!

MNPokerMag (MPM): So you’ve now won, in about a year, an HPT and now an MSPT event, talk about the significance of that for you.

Matt Hyland (MH):  It means a lot. I’m really pumped about the bracelet.  Poker has been treating me very well the last year and a half or so with two championship titles under my belt and a few other real deep cashes.  Hopefully this will continue to take me somewhere from a poker career standpoint, maybe catch on with a sponsor to play in some larger buy-in events if I can capture another title or two.

(MPM): You’re one of the very few in the area now who have been able to capture multiple titles in a major event, Dresch is another that comes to mind.  Is competing with the elite players and having your name in that mix something you think about and focus on?

(MH):  Yes definitely.  I’ve always strived to be one of those players.  I think I’m definitely one of those players that is one to reckon with.  One of my best tournaments was down in Vegas at the HPT Red Rock last January.  I took 7^th which some wouldn’t necessarily think much of but that was against 464 players who were not slouches.  There were several considered to be the best of the best, several TV pros.  (Hyland scored $13K for that cash)

(MPM): When you sit here, obviously in front of $39,000 and look back at the success you’ve had in this  last 13 months or so, do you ever think to yourself it would be nice to just not go to work tomorrow and do this full time?  Or is it always you want that security of a job?

(MH):  Of course it would be nice to be able to do this full time.  I would love to do that.  But I also understand that there’s a lot of variance and it takes a large bankroll realistically if you don’t have sponsors paying for all your tournaments.  There’s a lot of travel and buy-ins, I’d probably need a couple million before I’d think about doing that.

(MPM): So what’s the game plan now?

(MH):  I don’t know, I have to go to work Monday.  Getting pretty busy there, back to the grind.  Obviously I’ll be at Canterbury in a couple weeks to defend my title.  I’ll continue to hit up the MSPT events and the HPT events as well and probably the bigger tournaments in the area. 

(MPM): Do you study material or other players or look up to any players that are noteworthy or do you have your own style?  Everett Carlton told me once he doesn’t talk to anybody about poker, he doesn’t read books, he just plays and keeps it all to himself.

(MH):  Its sort of a mix.  I’ve read a couple books and I’ve listened to a few audio books on poker but for the most part my first five years of playing I’ve stuck to my own and stuck to my basics until I found a good game that was working.  Books are helpful but they are also only one person’s opinion and its based on a style that works well for them. 

(MPM): Is there anything in your game that you’re doing differently now in the last 13 months that you weren’t doing previously?  Something to take your game to the next level?

(MH):   Not really anything specific.  I think in a lot of the bigger tournaments I was just getting unlucky, I would get one or three-outted.  It was just bad beats that was taking me out of them.  Finally last September things just sorta turned and started going my way. 

(MPM): Now that you’ve been on top, you’ve got the bankroll and the confidence in your game, do you feel like that feeds off itself to create more success?  Do you follow through on your reads more now than you use to?

(MH):  The key for me, I feel, is that I’ve traveled around a lot more, played a lot more places, more states.  You get to see a lot of different styles and players.  This has helped me improve my game by being able to read different types of players better.  I’m not playing against the same people every day like in a home game or a local, weekly tournament.  You can pick up quite a bit from strangers.

I also try to take the money perspective out of it.  I get in the mindset that I’m just trying to win a tournament for first place.  I know other players often think about their bank account more than their chips,  especially when you get down to the last 3-4 places where all the money is.  I try to take advantage of that. 

(MPM): When you go back and compare and contrast this win tonight and your win at the HPT, what are some of the differences, how you got to the championship?

(MH):  I always have a mindset that I’m going to be winning the thing.  I play for first.  In the HPT tournament near the end, it was more or less a crapshoot tournament because of the blinds.  The table was playing really tight similar to here when we were at 9 or 10 players.  In this tourney (MSPT) we played at 9 and 10 players for probably three hours and didn’t lose a single player.  In the Heartland’s history, they are one of the largest blinds compared to the size of the field so a huge amount of your chips were going in.  Here I always had a good stack, wasn’t necessarily chip leader but wasn’t far behind. 

I had a couple of key moments during the final table here after the dinner break that really paid off.  The lady kind of short-shoved but over-shoved.  Because I had a good stack it was an easy call with JJ.  From there I picked up KK under the gun, did my standard bet and Pete, who had a nice stack three-bet.  I shoved and he folded QQ but I picked up a large pot.  Then the 9-seat had a monster stack and was going over the top of everybody.  He thought the other guy was weak and probably felt he could get me off of my hand to isolate heads up and have a coin flip at worst, likely putting me on 55 or 66.   I ended up having KK and it held up.  From there it was downhill. 

(MPM): In this tournament, more than most final tables, there were a lot of top end players.  Lance, Everett, Pete, Dresch was in it deep, etc.  All players at the top of their game.  The entire field in general was pretty strong.  To weave your way through that final table, that’s gotta be a sweat?

(MH):  Yeah it was a pretty good sweat.  There were a couple players I had figured out more than others.  Some of the real good players try to mix up their game more and not try to be as predictable which makes it tough.  I was fortunate that some of the players I had a better read on were taking chips off the less predictable players.  So that was one thing that was also helping me a little cause then I could take the chips off of them

I’m no Mike Caro.  I don’t rely too heavily on physical tells when determining how to play my hand.  I pay close attention to detail, but more often than not, betting patterns and reputations determine my course of action.

There is, however, a particular action that corresponds with a particular style of play.  Whenever somebody is eating food, they seem to play absolutely straight-forwardly.  There is very little deception, hardly any creativity, and no bluffing at all.  You can almost always rely on this peculiar phenomenon and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Why is this such a reliable “tell”?  My theory is rooted in simple human psychology.  Poker is a game of patience and when things go poorly for an extended period of time, poker is also a game of frustration.  However, when the human mind has something else on which to focus, taking attention away from the exacerbation at the table, people’s threshold for patience seems to increase.  Tilt stems from losing over and over without a distraction or break.  If you can eat some mozzarella sticks and focus more passively on your losing, you tend to cool off.  As a result, you do not press the situation by playing bad cards and raising with garbage in an attempt to “earn” a pot that your cards would never have won you.

Bottom line?  Fold to the man raising with chimichangas in his mouth.