And then I played the Bounty Shootout, and I remember what happened there. First of all, the Main Event was won by PokerStars pro, Victor Ramdin, a good friend of mine, and he was at my shootout table. I was certainly rooting for Victor to win the Main Event. And how did he pay me back? Well, of course by three betting me with every small pair he had, flopping some sets, and then when I flopped a set of fives against his overpair of kings, he checked the flop and just called a bet on the turn and the river. I won the minimum off him on that hand. And then on a critical hand, when we got four-handed, for about half the chips in play at our table, I flopped top pair, Victor flopped second pair, and he made trips on the river to win the key pot and go on to win our table. So that's what happened in the tournaments, but it still was a good month for me in the cash games, so overall, a positive month of poker.

I've been looking over at my e-mails and seeing other things that are going on, I was pleasantly surprised by PokerStars donations to Children Incorporated, which is a child sponsorship organization that I'm involved with. What Poker Stars has done in South America, is they have decided to help Children Incorporated in areas wherever they're doing Latin American Poker Tour stops. They made a big initial donation to help out, and they're also sponsoring 100 children. It reminds me of the way the Professional Golf Association became so big. They started doing these different tour stops, and at each tour stop, they would generate money from their Pro Ams and help out in the community. In that way each community helped support the different tour stops. And l always think there's a good tie-in between poker and charity. So, PokerStars has taken the lead there and that makes me proud to be a PokerStars Team Pro and obviously makes me happy that they've chosen as their charity the one where I'm on the Board of Directors. And another thing that they're doing at these events is they're encouraging some of the players to donate a small percentage of their winnings, if they happen to be so lucky as to cash in the tournament.

Actually, I guess one of the things I forgot to mention that I did within the last month; I also played in the NBC Head's Up Event. I don't know how many years they've had it, but I've won my first match every year. Sometimes it's been because I've had a good match-up with the person I played but mostly it's because it's seems like I've run pretty well in those first matches; I've had better cards than my opponent. In the second round this year, we got to a late stage, I made a questionable play when I had a pretty good chip lead, and I doubled my opponent up. I was playing against Ayaz Mahmood, last year's 10k WSOP Heads Up Champion. Anyway, one misstep from me, he got the chip lead and I didn't recover. So, that was no fun. But, there's more poker to be played, and one of the things that I'm looking forward to outside of the live tournaments are the SCOOP events that will be coming up online in May. Those are some great events that PokerStars has. And then after that, of course, the biggest live tournament starts at the end of May: the World Series of Poker.

by Barry Greenstein

Events 18-41: The WSOP 2010

Buy-ins: $186,000

Airfare: 400

Room and Board: $9,000

Cashout: $51,000

2010 Cumulative Profit -$422,400

WSOP Summary: I came close in many events, but didn't play well enough or run well enough as we got close to the money. I had been looking forward to the WSOP and came away very disappointed. Now I'm back to grinding the cash games. Maybe I'll have a good WCOOP in September.

by Barry Greenstein

I won my first two matches (against Vanessa Rousso and Sammy Farha) in the NBC heads up. Most of the favorites had gotten knocked out early, but I couldn't beat Jerry Yang in the third round! At least I lost to a nice guy.

I made day 2 in the Shooting Star, but never was a threat.

In the APPT Manila, I misread the color of my opponent's chips which probably cost me a big pot.

9. NBC Heads Up
Buy-in:$20,000
Airfare: $300
Room and Board: $0
Cashout: $25,000
Cumulative Profit:-$165,100

10. Bay101 Shooting Star
Buy-in: $8,500
Airfare: $300
Room and Board: $400
Cashout: $0
Cumulative profit: -$174,300

11. APPT Manila
Buy-in: $2,700
Airfare: $1000
Room and Board: $400
Cashout: $0
Cumulative profit: -$178,400

by Barry Greenstein

There were no airfare or hotel room costs for me in LA since I live there. I wasted good starts in the NAPT and WPT, nearly bubbling each of them. I was overly aggressive which isn't necessary in big fields, since there will be enough weak spots dumping money.

I'm already down enough in tournaments this year that most players would be looking for backing or would have given up.

Fortunately, I have a day job: playing poker in side games.

5. Commerce 1k rebuy
Buy-in: $4,100
Airfare: 0
Room and Board: 0
Cashout: 0
Cumulative Profit: -$128,100

6. NAPT Venetian
Buy-in: $5,000
Airfare: $300
Room and Board: $600
Cashout: 0
Cumulative Profit: -$134,000

7. NAPT Invitational
Buy-in: $25,600
Airfare: 0
Room and Board: $200
Cashout: 0
Cumulative Profit: -$159,800

8. Commerce WPT
Buy-in: $10,000
Airfare: 0
Room and Board: $0
Cashout: 0
Cumulative Profit: -$169,800

It's part of my job to wear a PokerStars patch whenever I play in a live tournament. To give you an idea of how many events PokerStars is sponsoring, I heard that they are planning to introduce their tenth poker tour, the JPT, on the planet Jupiter.

In order to get this job, I established a reputation for making final tables of televised events, so that my PokerStars patch could be viewed by potential customers for the online site. Without this extra money, poker tournaments are a very dicey proposition as a way to make a living. I have a ROI (return on investment) of about 100% with seven million dollars in tournament winnings on entries of about half of that, but that doesn't include expenses. When you factor in expenses and lost opportunities from making money in side games, the live tournament trail is usually financially worthwhile only if it leads to an endorsement contract. However, many recreational and professional players like to take a few shots at a big score and the extrinsic value of fame and the satisfaction of accomplishment.

I will detail my progress in tournaments for the year in 2010, and I'll include my expenses. I'm already more than $100,000 in the hole as I start this project, having bubbled the High Roller event in Australia, but that's OK. I would rather face a challenge than be like most players who only start keeping records once they are ahead.

I'll add the economy plane ticket cost and $200 for every night I have to stay in a hotel, since this is approximately the average a young aspiring tournament professional on a budget would spend per day over the course of the year.

1. PCA Bahamas Main Event
Buy-In: 10,300
Airfare: 1,000
Room and Board: 1,000
Cashout: 0
Cumulative profit: -12,300

2. PCA High Roller Event
Buy-In: 25,500
Airfare: 0
Room and Board: 400
Cashout: 0
Cumulative profit: -$38,200

3. Aussie Millions High Roller
Buy-In: 91,000
Airfare: 2000
Room and Board: 600
Cashout: 0
Cumulative profit: -$131,800

4. Aussie Millions Main Event
Buy-In: 9,500
Airfare: 0
Room and Board: 1,000
Cashout: 18,200
Cumulative profit: -$124,100

January Summary: Success and failure are not always far apart in tournaments. I got knocked out just short of the money with Aces all-in preflop in the PCA Main Event, but even if I had won that hand, it would have only taken me back to slightly under average chips. I flopped a set early in the PCA High Roller, but lost most of my chips to John Duthie's flush on the river.

In the Aussie Millions High Roller, I was the chip leader with seven to go, paying five spots, but I lost with Kings against Jacks in a pot that would have given me almost 40% of the chips in play. The one million dollar first prize looked likely until a Jack on the turn doomed me to a bubble finish. I cashed out 50th in the Aussie Millions main event after becoming one of the chip leaders early the second day, but then struggling until I busted.

Now, with WCOOP in full swing and Greenstein's poker commitments piling up, he's found yet another way to multi-table.

by Barry Greenstein

Over my time in poker, I've developed a bit of a reputation for finding new ways to play several different tables at one time. Unlike a lot of the online multi-tabling pros, I've continued to maintain a dual focus on my live play and online efforts.

With the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker entering its third week, I feel comfortable telling you now that I've been trying out something new while playing WCOOP tournaments.

During the first couple of weeks of WCOOP, I've been playing with my laptop on a food tray while I play against Larry Flynt at the Hustler or Jerry Buss at the Bike.

While it's been a fun experiment, it's come with mixed results. I'm up a bit in the live games, but I've only cashed four times in WCOOP so far, and none of the cashes have been for big final table money.

Some people may think that because I focus so much on live play that I don't care about WCOOP. Nothing could be further from the truth. WCOOP is a great opportunity to make a lot of money.

I always set very high standards for myself and every year I expect to make a couple of WCOOP final tables. Though the series is entering its final weekend, I still expect to do well.

I haven't had as much of a chance to play in recent days as I would like. I traveled to London to play in the WSOP-E. Today I played in the £1000 No-Limit hold'em event and got knocked out by Joe Serock when my A-Q couldn't stand up against his K-J all-in pre-flop. He hit a king on the river.

I still feel like I have a big finish in me before the end of WCOOP. With four big tournaments over the weekend, including the WCOOP main event, I feel like I have the biggest edge in the $10,300 High Roller HORSE event on Sunday.

I will leave it up to you to figure out whether my laptop will be sitting on a food tray when I play.

by Barry Greenstein

My advice to WCOOP competitors is: Go for it.

Don't just play to last. A survival strategy may get you into the money but it will rarely get you to the final table. If your opponents show weakness, bluff them out of their shoes.

In order to win large field tournaments, you have to build up a big stack that you can intimidate people with. It's not like cash games where people will call you for all their chips knowing they can buy in again. After every checked down hand that you lose, you should always decide if you could have won the pot by bluffing, and if so, you have to decide if the signs were there that you could have gotten away with that bluff.

If you have a WCOOP series with a several early bustouts and a few big finishes, you'll do much better than having a majority of slightly above average finishes.

Barry Greenstein is a member of Team PokerStars Pro and is one of the top cash and tournament players in the world.