Last night I played some full ring NLHE for my cash game challenge.

I had the best feeling ever playing that session and for the first time I recognized I was playing well. I knew I was playing my A-Game. There was no doubt about it.

There isn't a time that I can remember feeling as comfortable playing poker as I did last night.

I've been putting in a lot of time trying to work on my cash game by analyzing my Holdem Manager database and watching a lot of videos on BlueFirePoker.

Up until this point I've been pretty happy with my play and my results but I've always had some doubts. Last night was comforting to realize that I do have an A-Game and it's pretty good!

So how much did I win? I'll get to that but some more details about the session first.

Now that the Double or Nothing SnGs  are gone I'm going to be playing more for my Cash Game Bankroll Challenge.

I think I play pretty well but I know that I can improve my cash game results. I hate saying that I make mistakes because I think there are a lot of different ways to play, but yeah, I probably make some mistakes.

I've been looking at poker training sites for months now trying to decide which one to join. I read different reviews for poker training sites throughout the web, I watched sample videos, I looked at stats of their coaches, etc.

It's such a pain in the ass because I don't like to feel that I wasted time and money so I do a lot of research on important decisions. Not that the cost of a training site is that big but there's a lot of time involved and the implications of choosing the wrong site can really set me back. Plus players constantly evolve and the game changes and it's important to keep up. Watching a few videos is nice but it's better to commit to a long period so that you can keep up with changes and really let what you're seeing soak in without rushing it.

It seems like everyone and their brother has a training site now. For the most part a lot of them are at least okay. Some sites are going to be better than others for certain games, some coaches are better than others, sometimes it's just a matter of what teaching style works for you.

For me, my primary objective was improving my cash game, specifically No Limit Hold'em, because that's where I feel there's the most potential to consistently make good money and keep a flexible schedule.

Of all the videos I saw there was one poker video coach that really clicked with me, Phil Galfond. So as of yesterday I am a member of his poker training site.

I guess it's no surprise that Isildur1 was going to capitalize on all his fame. Everyone was after him and when he bailed on Tony G you had to wonder that this mysterious Sweedish poker player might have realized that he had value.

His only concern was that he wanted to remain anonymous. Even though there is wide speculation that Isildur1 is Viktor Blom, his true identity has not been officially revealed.

This morning PokerStars announced that they have added Isildur1 to their PokerStars Team Pro stable. This anonymous figure who created such a frenzy on Full Tilt Poker will now be playing on PokerStars.

If you want to play Isildur1 heads up PokerStars has created the Superstar Showdown.

A SuperStar Showdown is a high stakes, heads-up match consisting of a single session of 2,500 hands. The match is played across four tables of No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha, at stakes no lower than $50/$100. The winner is the player that shows either a profit after 2,500 hands, or wins all of their opponent’s match bankroll.

While PokerStars is the world's largest online poker room, Full Tilt Poker has been where the big online cash games have been played but PokerStars has been fighting to get in on that action.

PokerStars' Team Pro front man Daniel Negreanu has been playing more high stakes cash games online at PokerStars and PokerStars has also been revamping different aspects of their cash game tables to make them more attractive to online players.

Grabbing Isildur1 is going to attract a lot of viewers wanting to see his famous up and down swings. So far he's played about 2,500 hands and is up $8.7k. One of the first players to go up against Isildur1 on PokerStars is Phil Galfond (MrSweets28). Galfond has played 1,624 hands against the secret Swede and is down over $34k to him.

Maybe this time Isildur1 might want to try my bankroll management spreadsheets but that doesn't seem to be his style and I doubt PokerStars will funnel him more money to keep playing if he goes broke.

PokerTableRatings is a service that data mines no-limit holdem and Omaha cash games across various online poker rooms.

You can review your own hands and stats as well as those of other players. From their website you can access basic statistics for free or you could purchase hand histories to import into your poker stat software such as Holdem Manager, PokerOffice or PokerTracker.

PokerTableRatings today has launched a new PTR Premium service which expands on the stats you can find on their website.

I noticed Daniel Negreanu tweeted that he was going to hit the 100/200 NLHE tables on Pokerstars after busting out of the EPT main event in Monte Carlo. I missed the live action so I turned to PokerTableRatings to check out the replay.

PokerTableRatings.com (PTR) is a site where you can check both your own and other players cash game stats (NLHE and Omaha only). You can even download hand histories to import into PokerTracker, PokerOffice or Holdem Manager to give your database a boost.

PTR provides a lot of information as well as the ability to replay hands and sessions. The PTR hand replayer was recently overhauled but I just noticed that there was another change that looks like it came online today.

PokerStars announced some upcoming changes to their NL/PL Cash Game tables.

Many USD currency Hold’em and Omaha games with No-Limit or Pot-Limit betting will be offered with new and different minimum, maximum, and default buy-in amounts. Most stakes of NL Hold’em and PL Omaha will be offered as follows:

20-50 bb, with default buy-in of 40bb
40-100 bb, with default buy-in of 80bb
100-250 bb, with default buy-in of 200bb and ante equal to 20% of the Big Blind

I'm not too sure this is the best way to deal with the problem. I'll go into details further down.

The reason for the change is to help deal with the large number of players that have been buying in at the minimum.

A lot of poker players have been complaining about short-stackers ruining the game. At first I didn't think it much of it. One or two at a table didn't seem like a big deal and they were pretty easy to beat but it's getting harder and harder to find a table that isn't just full of short stackers. So many of the tables look the like the one pictured.

Short stackers are a nuisance because there is very little post flop play when they're in the hand. They're either pushing all in pre-flop or on the flop. When you get involved in a pot with a short-stacker, you're flipping for 20BB in most cases.

PokerStars had previously set up 50BB min tables but the problem is that the competition at those tables seems to be tougher. The recreational players usually sit at the "normal" tables. You identify a weak player limping in, you raise to isolate them and short-stacker pushes all in. While you had a hand that you were comfortable playing on the flop, it's not a hand you want to put 20BBs in preflop.

There are strategies to deal with shortstackers but you're essentially adopting a short-stacking mentality yourself, which isn't a lot of fun and not very profitable. If players wanted to play a push/fold strategy they would just stick to sit-n-gos.

The way most shortstackers make money is through volume and rakeback/bonuses. PokerStars doesn't offer rakeback. Rewards and bonuses are awarded based on VPPs which are accumulated based on rake. All players that are dealt into the hand get a share of the VPP regardless if they put any money into the pot or not.

Not only are short stackers taking the play out of the game, when they sit at 24 tables with single digit VPIPs they are earning as many VPPs as the players that are putting their money on the line. This seems to be an abuse of the PokerStars VIP Reward Program and unfair to other players.

A Better Way To Deal With Short Stackers

My initial reaction to PokerStars' changes isn't enthusiastic. I like the additon of the 100BB-2500BB tables. Deep stacked poker is a much different game but I don't like the change of the 40BB-100BB and additionof the 20BB-50BB tables.

The 50BB-100BB tables should have been left as is in my opinion. I don't see any reason to lower the min buy-in at that level. The 20-40BB tables might have been better off being just a straight 20BB table.

I don't think the changes will really have much of an effect. Good short stackers will move up to the 40BB-100BB tables and just do the same thing there. Players that like to play very deep can play at the 100-250BB tables.

Players getting screwed are ones that like to play 50-100BB deep. We're either going to have to get better at playing deeper or deal with the new generation of 40BB short stackers.

A better solution in my opinion would be to put limitations on short-stacking. Since most short stackers play very tight and don't contribute much in terms of rake, especially when compared to the amount of VPPs they receive, PokerStars could limit players to a maximum of 2 tables where they bought in for less than 50BBs and no more than 1 or 2 short stackers per table. They can play as many of the special 20BB tables as they want though.

This would really make a difference in terms of short stacking. Without being able to put in the volume, they wouldn't have incentive to play that way. If they were gone from the site I don't think it would have much of an impact for PokerStars' revenue, in fact it might increase it.

It seems that much of the money short-stackers win is by stealing pots pre-flop with their shoves. Pots won before a flop do not generate rake. The ratio of VPPs earned to actual rake paid is probably very high for short stackers. PokerStars is paying out a lot in bonuses and getting little in return on top of making the site unpleasant for many.

PokerStars made the announcement in a thread on twoplustwo.