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(I’m easily noticable on Pokerstars by this picture as my avatar!)

So, this is my first post on PokerTweet. I’m Sion. Before I even start, I have to say thanks to @RawrStar for getting me into this rewarding, even if sometimes frustrating card game and also giving me the chance to write on his blog. So, because this is my first post I guess I’ll turn it into a little autobiography about me, Sion. The ONLY donkey luckbox that doesn’t actually suck!

Since I’ve started playing poker, I can honestly say I’ve been quite a lucky player. People moan about not getting lucky very often, but not myself. I’d go as far to say that I’ve been a complete luckbox at times as well. The weekend that just passed has even seen me go from $20 to $150 on three poker rooms.

It’s the silent assassin. You’re flying high then all of a sudden, it’s there. It sneaks up on you and hits your bankroll with all the lethality of a killer in a Tarantino movie.

Sound familiar? Of course it does. You’re a poker player and you’re probably used to it. You have to be.

Combatting tilt is one of the problems many players have and it’s pretty easy to lose your whole bankroll in just a few minutes when you’ve really gone over the mental edge. I’m a firm believer in the idea that you need a plan before you play as to how you will react when things go badly… and that you must stick to it. I went on an insane tilt a couple of months back and refused to play Hold’em (bar the TPTE) for the best part of 6 weeks.

Before I get into the meat and vegatables of this post, a big thanks to everyone that joined us for the very first TPTE event on PokerStars! It was awesome and congratulations must go out to @ChuckSmith for kicking my ass heads-up to win and take my bounty.

I get the feeling it will be a little more difficult to win the TPTE next week though as we’re hoping to get more players. However, 10 players in the first event, and considering that 26 hours earlier there wasn’t even going to be an event, is quite impressive methinks.

Now the main post. Friday morning, I awoke to the increasingly familiar sight of Tweets flying round saying “@SteveBrogan Congrats on winning the TPT!” And so it is; congratulations to Steve for winning his third TPT title and under pressure from potentially the strongest field yet as Andy Bloch (@Andy_Bloch) participated! I never thought I would have to do this but here are a few of my thoughts on how to stop Steve winning his 4th TPT event next week…

I mentioned it a few hours back in the update post (*here*) and it’s now official; there will be a TPT Europe this season!

It’ll run similarly to the US TPT with a season leaderboard being updated in the usual fashion and it will probably also be running over more than one site. (Any suggestions as to which other sites to consider would be much appreciated down there in the comments!)

If you have any ideas, questions, sponsorship offers etc etc, I’m all ears so please send them to me at the usual rawrstar[at]pokertweet[dot]com or Tweet @RawrStar!

And finally, the details; On PokerStars. 7PM GMT. Thursday 16th. (That’s tomorrow!!)

Password: europeone.

Oh yeah, and one last thing. There’s the small factor of there being a $5 bounty on yours truly. Bust me out and it’ll be coming your way!

A quick bullet point post here to let you know what’s going on:

• Posting has stopped lately due to personal commitments and the Stalkdaily/Mikeyy worm(s) on Twitter. It was considered a bad time to post when Twitter was having major security issues due to the partial focus of this blog being about Twitter! Twitter is now clear of those and posting will resume.
• Season three of the Twitter Poker Tour starts on Full Tilt Poker tomorrow (Thursday 16th April) at 9PM ET. At the time of posting, there won’t be a TPT Europe this season.
• In regards to the above point; I’m going to have a chat with @cprpoker and see if we can thrash out an idea to get a TPT Europe started this season! (Don’t tell anyone… sneak preview for you there!)

This has been brought up a few times and the theories were flying around Twitter again today with myself, @fleapid, @rhoegg, @Mitchell1969 and @SteveBrogan having our say on if we think online poker rooms are fixed or not. I’m also led to believe that @Grundy (inteviewed *here* on everything bar fixing poker rooms!) has a strong opinion on this too, although he doesn’t believe online poker is fixed. Sometimes things need to be explained in more than 140 characters so this is my viewpoint on it all…

First of all, we need to look at how websites generate income. They do this by collecting rake and so it would be in their best interest to have more “big hand” confrontations because it generates more rake. The chips are much more likely to go flying in on a hand of flopped straight vs rivered flush or set over set than on top pair vs middle pair, right?

<--- Because going to war isn't just for @72suited! (Refer to *this* blog post to understand…)

I’m going to do something in this post I’ve never done before on here and that is to openly expose myself to criticism… Be nice? Please?

Earlier this week my poker was having a rough time of it. It became a cycle; wake up, play, get a bad beat, get coffee, get another bad beat, go on tilt, lose more money through my own idiocy and then retire to a game of guitar hero because I at least know there’s no luck in that! (And because I didn’t want to break my electric guitar via rage, not because I “have no life and can’t play a real guitar”… I can.)

So here goes; below are a number of hands I recorded over the past three days alone and my views on them. Amazingly, none of these are made up… though I wish some were!

Ok, I confess, I’m a “feedaholic” (Thanks to @MrSpirit for that tag!). In short, I read too many blogs and have to clear my feedreader out every morning just so it doesn’t become a digital replica of the Amazon jungle! And so this post was born…

Anyone that knows my tournament strategy will know I’ve long been a fan of playing rebuys without rebuying. Whilst it may sound a strange strategy, the truth is these games are often won with luck and picking your spots to try and double up is just as worthy as pushing with anything just because you can rebuy… It’s also much cheaper!

Many people overplay marginal hands in rebuys because they have the safety net of buying back in but to be really profitable in these games I think you shouldn’t rebuy. Anyway, this post was prompted by a brilliant post on the PokerStars blog (that post is *here*) and I guess I’m glad to see I’m not the only person that doesn’t rebuy!

Like @LanceArmstrong, you know it’s a long way to the finish line and you realise poker is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a test of endurance. When you sit down to play poker, you expect to be there a few hours and you prepare for that both physically and mentally.

If that sounds anything like you then this is the recession-proof guide for you! You’re a MTT (multi-table tournament) specialist and you’re much more accustomed to fields of 500+ players than the SNG and cash game players.

First of all, the rules stated in earlier “recession-proof” posts don’t apply to you because you’re not big rakers. PokerStars is one of the sites with a MTT leaderboard; if you’re a consistant MTT player or are on a very good run, you can qualify for extra cash prizes through their MTT leaderboard. If you’re playing on one of the sites with a MTT leaderboard, don’t forget to keep an eye out to see where you rank!

Another (mini) post for the Brits and Irish players here; The Open $50k Guarantee is on March 24th on PokerStars!

It’s $11 to buyin but there are 10 FPP satellites at 19:30 GMT and $2.20 satellites at 20:00 GMT running every day with a freeroll every day at 19:00 GMT, although you’re only allowed one shot at the freeroll. Click *here* for a more information!

With the UK & Ireland poker league also now on PokerStars, it seems they’re making a special effort to appeal to their British and Irish players. What do you think of this? Is it just greed; trying to get you to play more or are you just lapping up all the promotions? Give me a shout!