I got a new puppy recently and they require as much or more work than a newborn baby.
I say more work since at least babies don't stare at you and shit in the corner 5 minutes after you stood outside with them for a half hour.
He's a cute dog, though. My girlfriend's choice. I'd have definitely picked a larger dog - he's a mix of Chihuahua and Shih Tzu but looks like neither of those. He looks like a Yellow Lab that will never weigh over 15-20 pounds.
I probably won't be able to do much volume at all until he's housetrained. I'm on a long-term work assignment in New Jersey and living in a small one bedroom apartment so I would be lighting money on fire to try and concentrate on MTT games while training a puppy and taking him outside every hour.
Instead I've been getting up at 5 AM to grind 90 Man KO's on Full Tilt and I've made money but not enough for me to continue doing this.
It's scary how fast my game is developing, though. I'm putting people on exact hands, finding good squeeze spots, etc. I know variance kicks in and you end up running into monsters now and then but a +EV spot will always be a +EV spot and once you identify them you become a dangerous player if you also know how to play post-flop.
I've made some sick hero calls and any time I get down to heads-up in a 90 Man I absolutely own the other person from start to end whether I have the chip lead or not.
The key is to remember when you get heads up the average person is very afraid to make a mistake within the first few hands so you should raise every button and 3-bet their button raises in the beginning to establish dominance. After that just play a good post-flop game in position and wear them down until they snap and spaz out with bottom or middle pair.
Easy game.
I kid. It's not easy. The second you get content there's some 19 year old kid with all the time in the world on his hands who passes you by because he's hungrier for it. You can't lose the hunger.
Once you do you may as well cash out and find a new hobby.
This isn't a game. It's war where gambling is involved. We all start with the same arsenal but it's the ones who march in a straight line who will always get cut down and never stand at the end.
Always have a plan for your hand. Ask yourself how you'll react to your opponent's possible actions. Ask yourself what he might hold. Ask yourself what he thinks you might hold. Or ask yourself if he even thinks that way. It's not hard to spot.
Remember the way ahead/way behind concept.
Remember to control the size of the pot whenever you can. Don't bluff when you rep really thin. Don't take a ridiculous pre-flop line with Aces and Kings. Don't lose your fold equity.
Good luck.
9.03.2010
8.19.2010
"Dr" Laura
Pretty sure this is the first time I've ever heard a white person with a radio show openly ask a black person why they shouldn't be allowed to say the n-word and argue why they should be allowed to in not so many words.
Not surprising then when this finally happened it was Dr. Laura. She's Rush Limbaugh with an older, less used vagina.
But first we need to step back and ask an important question: Why was this pigeonhead with an overpriced haircut still on the radio?
If I remember correctly, she gave herself the moniker of Dr. without there being any disclaimer that it was just for entertainment purposes. It wasn't until some reporter who hated went digging around that this came to be news. I'm sure whoever hired her in the first place knew it was bullshit and probably even came up with the idea, but misleading people like that is a scumbag move. She doesn't even give good advice so I guess shame on middle America as well for giving her words any credibility.
I digress ...
I heard the audio this morning and she's pretty damn racist.
My favorite part was probably right after the caller went over what was bothering her and why (she's married to a white dude and the white dude's friends and family make what she perceives to be racial remarks) and Dr. Laura immediately declared there is no racist undertones and then launched into a tangent about black people voting for Obama and why they did.
LOL WUT?
News flash, dip shit. This was the first time in the history of the country where a black person or a woman actually stood a real chance of becoming president.
I'd full expect every black person or woman in America to vote in a biased way solely because of this - and she acts surprised? Wow.
Pretty sure we've had more than our share of WASP fuck-ups so let someone else take a crack at it.
Back to the original question by the caller. As Dr. Laura, even if you personally don't agree that the comments or questions have racial undertones it's something very real to the caller which makes it an issue to discuss. She's not asking if it's racism. She's saying something bothers her and she's asking you, self-proclaimed know-it-all with a radio show, how to deal with it and talk it out, you fucking moron.
Apparently the husband's family and friends are making the woman feel like she needs to be the spokesperson for all black people everywhere by asking her what black people think of such and such etc. etc.
Huh? I really wanted to find out what those questions were.
So tell me... what do black people think of diversifying your portfolio by trading Options and Futures?
Can I ask you something? Do black people wonder why stopping the space program for 2 years hasn't been done yet even though it would erase our deficit and cure homelessness and unemployment?
I'm really curious.
Anyways.
Then Dr. Laura ended up telling the woman, "Don't go all NAACP on me." You stay classy, San Diego. The only way this call could have been more of a dumpster fire is if she kept throwing in the phrase "you people" when talking to the woman.
It seems like she was genuinely wondering why white people can't say the n-word and black people can.
Look, there are certain unwritten rules that we have to follow in this life.
1. No talking in the restroom. Ever.
2. When two women want you to say which one of them is right, always side with who will give you poon.
3. White people can not say the n-word.
It really comes down this. Why do you want to say it? When would you ever say it where it would be socially acceptable and not make everyone else uncomfortable? If Obama came on TV and said, "Ok, assholes. You win. We give up. Just say it from now one whenever you want to." In what situation to you run into a room thinking "Ooooooooooh here's my big chance! Finally, time to shine!"
Besides a Klan rally or in an internet forum, where you won't get your own asshole force fed to you.
The word has taken on such a hate filled, bigoted meaning that you should never want to say it or even want anyone else to say it no matter what the context.
In rap it's just a filler line for rappers who can't write worth a shit. Same thing in comedy. It'll get cheap laughs and takes no thought or creativity to write the material. Just say it loud and clear at the end of a worthless punchline to save the joke.
I'm sure all of this sounds funnier in my head but I've been wanting to write anything but poker content so a big thanks to this bobble-headed dunce for giving me the chance.
Not surprising then when this finally happened it was Dr. Laura. She's Rush Limbaugh with an older, less used vagina.
But first we need to step back and ask an important question: Why was this pigeonhead with an overpriced haircut still on the radio?
If I remember correctly, she gave herself the moniker of Dr. without there being any disclaimer that it was just for entertainment purposes. It wasn't until some reporter who hated went digging around that this came to be news. I'm sure whoever hired her in the first place knew it was bullshit and probably even came up with the idea, but misleading people like that is a scumbag move. She doesn't even give good advice so I guess shame on middle America as well for giving her words any credibility.
I digress ...
I heard the audio this morning and she's pretty damn racist.
My favorite part was probably right after the caller went over what was bothering her and why (she's married to a white dude and the white dude's friends and family make what she perceives to be racial remarks) and Dr. Laura immediately declared there is no racist undertones and then launched into a tangent about black people voting for Obama and why they did.
LOL WUT?
News flash, dip shit. This was the first time in the history of the country where a black person or a woman actually stood a real chance of becoming president.
I'd full expect every black person or woman in America to vote in a biased way solely because of this - and she acts surprised? Wow.
Pretty sure we've had more than our share of WASP fuck-ups so let someone else take a crack at it.
Back to the original question by the caller. As Dr. Laura, even if you personally don't agree that the comments or questions have racial undertones it's something very real to the caller which makes it an issue to discuss. She's not asking if it's racism. She's saying something bothers her and she's asking you, self-proclaimed know-it-all with a radio show, how to deal with it and talk it out, you fucking moron.
Apparently the husband's family and friends are making the woman feel like she needs to be the spokesperson for all black people everywhere by asking her what black people think of such and such etc. etc.
Huh? I really wanted to find out what those questions were.
So tell me... what do black people think of diversifying your portfolio by trading Options and Futures?
Can I ask you something? Do black people wonder why stopping the space program for 2 years hasn't been done yet even though it would erase our deficit and cure homelessness and unemployment?
I'm really curious.
Anyways.
Then Dr. Laura ended up telling the woman, "Don't go all NAACP on me." You stay classy, San Diego. The only way this call could have been more of a dumpster fire is if she kept throwing in the phrase "you people" when talking to the woman.
It seems like she was genuinely wondering why white people can't say the n-word and black people can.
Look, there are certain unwritten rules that we have to follow in this life.
1. No talking in the restroom. Ever.
2. When two women want you to say which one of them is right, always side with who will give you poon.
3. White people can not say the n-word.
It really comes down this. Why do you want to say it? When would you ever say it where it would be socially acceptable and not make everyone else uncomfortable? If Obama came on TV and said, "Ok, assholes. You win. We give up. Just say it from now one whenever you want to." In what situation to you run into a room thinking "Ooooooooooh here's my big chance! Finally, time to shine!"
Besides a Klan rally or in an internet forum, where you won't get your own asshole force fed to you.
The word has taken on such a hate filled, bigoted meaning that you should never want to say it or even want anyone else to say it no matter what the context.
In rap it's just a filler line for rappers who can't write worth a shit. Same thing in comedy. It'll get cheap laughs and takes no thought or creativity to write the material. Just say it loud and clear at the end of a worthless punchline to save the joke.
I'm sure all of this sounds funnier in my head but I've been wanting to write anything but poker content so a big thanks to this bobble-headed dunce for giving me the chance.
So Close Yet So Far
Daily Double A: 10th Place
Daily Double B: 40th Place
I received an extra $40 for the double cash and thought I had a chance at the bonus for best combined results but some other prick beat me with a Final Table appearance in one of them.
It sucks, because I lost KK to QQ in the Double A and lost JJ to AQ in the Double B so I could have done so much better.
Last week something just clicked for me. Tournament poker makes so much more sense now. I'm adapting to gameflow and taking better notes. I'm making moves where I didn't make moves before and they are working more times than they are failing.
The rest of 2010 will be profitable.
2011 will be the nuts.
Daily Double B: 40th Place
I received an extra $40 for the double cash and thought I had a chance at the bonus for best combined results but some other prick beat me with a Final Table appearance in one of them.
It sucks, because I lost KK to QQ in the Double A and lost JJ to AQ in the Double B so I could have done so much better.
Last week something just clicked for me. Tournament poker makes so much more sense now. I'm adapting to gameflow and taking better notes. I'm making moves where I didn't make moves before and they are working more times than they are failing.
The rest of 2010 will be profitable.
2011 will be the nuts.
8.02.2010
A Couple Of "Almosts" and Cash Talk
MTTs
I played around 8 MTT's Sunday and cashed in 6. Of those, one was a Final Table 8th place and another was a 12th place. The rest were middle of the road cashes. Then I picked up a buy-in grinding 600 hands of 50 NL so all in all not a bad little day.
I'm starting to be content with these deeper finishes instead of going on life tilt which is nice. My girlfriend will appreciate me getting bette at that, too.
I've been playing a lot on Absolute Poker. I deposited $50 a couple weeks ago and my bankroll is sitting around $310 now with $75 in rakeback payments pending. My cash game play has been up and down say the least.
Cash
50 NL has so many call stations. This means you need the balls to two barrel and three barrel bluff. They'll be calling like 80% of flop c-bets and maybe rightfully so. This means you need to pay special attention to their Turn and River fold percentages. Weak-Passive fish will call tons of flops with improper drawing odds but since they are weak they will not go all the way to showdown unless it's a very special type of fish, and these ones you simply value bet and never bluff.
This also means you should polarize your 3 betting hands to just your strong hands. No need to do anything else against Level 1 and Level 2 players.
Bluffing
Ok, so Harrington On Hold Em got everyone thinking about how most flops miss both players and usually the person who takes the lead wins the pot, right? Still holds true but now that everyone knows this you don't win as much on the flop anymore.
TAG style dictates raising your good hands, c-betting 100%, and shutting down on the Turn if you still fail to have a hand. You'll lose a lot of money to weak/passive fish this way and I'm sure you will still profit long-term but at a reduced rate.
Oh hai Two Barrel Bluff.
The best flops to bluff are dry flops like K 2 7 rainbow which contains one "scare card" and two other cards unlikely to hit your opponent. If you bet this flop and get called you can start narrowing down your opponent's range. He could float with A high. He could have a weakish K. He could have a medium pair. Hands like QT and 9T are likely to just fold to the c-bet.
When the Turn comes, the best cards to bluff at are other scare cards that don't complete draws. In this case you can safely fire and 2nd barrel and shut down if called.
Conversely, wet flops are bad to bluff since they can hit your opponent's range hard. A flop like 6c 7c 8h is never seeing a c-bet from me when I hold a hand like AdQd because I'm creating a large pot with no redraw and quite possibly already crushed in the hand.
Three Barrel Bluffs are very read dependent. Often you'll try them on a flop like As 4h 5h where your opponent just calls the c-bet. Then a card like 9s comes on the Turn and you fire again. When the river brings something like Qd you can try a three barrel bluff if you think your opponent is holding 67 or a busted heart draw.
Again, read dependent and you want the opponent to have a high River fold percentage. Otherwise you're just spewing chips.
I never gave an example of what we hold here. With a hand like a medium pair I will three barrel. Same with JT, etc. and hands you can only win with by bluffing.
With a baby Ace or a Queen I have showdown value and so I will just check back on the river instead of firing a third shell. Often times your Q will be good and sometimes you will lose to a baby Ace that was scare to ever raise you, but at least you saved money by not firing the third bullet.
50 NL Strategy
Basically, it's this:
Open only good hands in EP. Flat a lot of speculative hands on the button. Only 3 bet my strong hands. Larger 3 bet when playing from the blinds as I'll be out of position in the hand. C-bet most flops. Identify players who fold lots of Turns and 2 Barrel Bluff them. Otherwise play ABC TAG poker.
So far so good but I catch myself calling too much some times. These weak players will never two barrel you light so it's important to be able to release marginal hands like 2nd and 3rd pair.
That's it for now. Good luck at the tables.
I played around 8 MTT's Sunday and cashed in 6. Of those, one was a Final Table 8th place and another was a 12th place. The rest were middle of the road cashes. Then I picked up a buy-in grinding 600 hands of 50 NL so all in all not a bad little day.
I'm starting to be content with these deeper finishes instead of going on life tilt which is nice. My girlfriend will appreciate me getting bette at that, too.
I've been playing a lot on Absolute Poker. I deposited $50 a couple weeks ago and my bankroll is sitting around $310 now with $75 in rakeback payments pending. My cash game play has been up and down say the least.
Cash
50 NL has so many call stations. This means you need the balls to two barrel and three barrel bluff. They'll be calling like 80% of flop c-bets and maybe rightfully so. This means you need to pay special attention to their Turn and River fold percentages. Weak-Passive fish will call tons of flops with improper drawing odds but since they are weak they will not go all the way to showdown unless it's a very special type of fish, and these ones you simply value bet and never bluff.
This also means you should polarize your 3 betting hands to just your strong hands. No need to do anything else against Level 1 and Level 2 players.
Bluffing
Ok, so Harrington On Hold Em got everyone thinking about how most flops miss both players and usually the person who takes the lead wins the pot, right? Still holds true but now that everyone knows this you don't win as much on the flop anymore.
TAG style dictates raising your good hands, c-betting 100%, and shutting down on the Turn if you still fail to have a hand. You'll lose a lot of money to weak/passive fish this way and I'm sure you will still profit long-term but at a reduced rate.
Oh hai Two Barrel Bluff.
The best flops to bluff are dry flops like K 2 7 rainbow which contains one "scare card" and two other cards unlikely to hit your opponent. If you bet this flop and get called you can start narrowing down your opponent's range. He could float with A high. He could have a weakish K. He could have a medium pair. Hands like QT and 9T are likely to just fold to the c-bet.
When the Turn comes, the best cards to bluff at are other scare cards that don't complete draws. In this case you can safely fire and 2nd barrel and shut down if called.
Conversely, wet flops are bad to bluff since they can hit your opponent's range hard. A flop like 6c 7c 8h is never seeing a c-bet from me when I hold a hand like AdQd because I'm creating a large pot with no redraw and quite possibly already crushed in the hand.
Three Barrel Bluffs are very read dependent. Often you'll try them on a flop like As 4h 5h where your opponent just calls the c-bet. Then a card like 9s comes on the Turn and you fire again. When the river brings something like Qd you can try a three barrel bluff if you think your opponent is holding 67 or a busted heart draw.
Again, read dependent and you want the opponent to have a high River fold percentage. Otherwise you're just spewing chips.
I never gave an example of what we hold here. With a hand like a medium pair I will three barrel. Same with JT, etc. and hands you can only win with by bluffing.
With a baby Ace or a Queen I have showdown value and so I will just check back on the river instead of firing a third shell. Often times your Q will be good and sometimes you will lose to a baby Ace that was scare to ever raise you, but at least you saved money by not firing the third bullet.
50 NL Strategy
Basically, it's this:
Open only good hands in EP. Flat a lot of speculative hands on the button. Only 3 bet my strong hands. Larger 3 bet when playing from the blinds as I'll be out of position in the hand. C-bet most flops. Identify players who fold lots of Turns and 2 Barrel Bluff them. Otherwise play ABC TAG poker.
So far so good but I catch myself calling too much some times. These weak players will never two barrel you light so it's important to be able to release marginal hands like 2nd and 3rd pair.
That's it for now. Good luck at the tables.
7.28.2010
Update
I've been mostly playing on Absolute Poker lately, splitting my time between cash games of 50 NL 6 Max and MTT's $20 and below. The cash games have been profitable and I'm also getting 30% rakeback through raketherake.com
My ROI between SnG's and MTT's is somewhere around 50% right now. It should be much higher but I played a $50 MTT and $30 MTT and failed to cash in each and my volume is still quite low - under 40 games played. I've made a couple Final Tables in smaller MTT's but have not been able to get higher than 6th.
I felt like I played very bad in one of them and I took two brutal bad beats in the other one. With small fields and soft play I'm not worried at all about my future results there.
That's basically why I haven't posted much. I've been running decently and playing very well and I don't like to make semi-brag posts. I also don't like to make bad beat posts.
The plan now is to go back to Boston this weekend and get my PC to bring down to NJ. From there I'll buy a second monitor and get to work on a pro set up. I want HEM, Table Ninja, the second monitor, and a comfy chair.
I work until about 8 PM most days right now so I plan on being on more of a morning cash game schedule - waking up around 6 AM to play the donks and the tired and take their coin. MTT's will have to wait until Sundays but I'd also like to add Wednesday to that because Wednesday is the new Sunday.
That's it for now. I plan on writing a smallish strat post about playing MTT's according to stack size pretty soon.
Good luck on the tables.
My ROI between SnG's and MTT's is somewhere around 50% right now. It should be much higher but I played a $50 MTT and $30 MTT and failed to cash in each and my volume is still quite low - under 40 games played. I've made a couple Final Tables in smaller MTT's but have not been able to get higher than 6th.
I felt like I played very bad in one of them and I took two brutal bad beats in the other one. With small fields and soft play I'm not worried at all about my future results there.
That's basically why I haven't posted much. I've been running decently and playing very well and I don't like to make semi-brag posts. I also don't like to make bad beat posts.
The plan now is to go back to Boston this weekend and get my PC to bring down to NJ. From there I'll buy a second monitor and get to work on a pro set up. I want HEM, Table Ninja, the second monitor, and a comfy chair.
I work until about 8 PM most days right now so I plan on being on more of a morning cash game schedule - waking up around 6 AM to play the donks and the tired and take their coin. MTT's will have to wait until Sundays but I'd also like to add Wednesday to that because Wednesday is the new Sunday.
That's it for now. I plan on writing a smallish strat post about playing MTT's according to stack size pretty soon.
Good luck on the tables.
7.16.2010
Slow News Day
I haven't been playing a hell of a lot lately. I'm working late hours so going home and playing the late night MTT's while tired is -EV.
I moved some cash to Absolute Poker and will be ramping up that balance each month for sure. Decent MTT schedule, soft cash games, and 30% rakeback make it appealing to me.
I made the Final Table of a $2,000 Guaranteed MTT but busted 7th due to entering as the short stack and being sandwiched between the two chipleaders.
I also finished 10th in a 4 Max MTT so things have been picking up. Small fields and prize pools but I'm showing profit and that's all that counts for now.
Cash is going well. I stacked a couple people in 100 NL last night by coolering them. Then another guy kept firing at me when I flopped a set and all he had was 2nd pair and a gutshot.
Will probably play a light schedule tonight and take the weekend off because I'm driving from New Jersey to Boston around 4 AM tomorrow and spending the weekend back there with my girlfriend and her family.
The plan is to get my PC set up in NJ and use a dual monitor set up to play 8 tables of 100 NL on days where I won't be playing MTT's. Sundays and probably Wednesdays will be my MTT days. Cash games the rest of the way.
I moved some cash to Absolute Poker and will be ramping up that balance each month for sure. Decent MTT schedule, soft cash games, and 30% rakeback make it appealing to me.
I made the Final Table of a $2,000 Guaranteed MTT but busted 7th due to entering as the short stack and being sandwiched between the two chipleaders.
I also finished 10th in a 4 Max MTT so things have been picking up. Small fields and prize pools but I'm showing profit and that's all that counts for now.
Cash is going well. I stacked a couple people in 100 NL last night by coolering them. Then another guy kept firing at me when I flopped a set and all he had was 2nd pair and a gutshot.
Will probably play a light schedule tonight and take the weekend off because I'm driving from New Jersey to Boston around 4 AM tomorrow and spending the weekend back there with my girlfriend and her family.
The plan is to get my PC set up in NJ and use a dual monitor set up to play 8 tables of 100 NL on days where I won't be playing MTT's. Sundays and probably Wednesdays will be my MTT days. Cash games the rest of the way.
7.12.2010
Sundayments
I need to migrate to another poker site. Twice yesterday I played micro MTT's for $5 buy-ins and made it down to the final 40 from fields of over 1500 only to lose in brutal fashion in each.
Busto Hand 1:
30 left of about 1800. Blinds are 2000/4000 with antes and I get QQ UTG. I make it 8250 and get 2 callers from MP. We all have 25-30 bb stacks. I'm readless since I just changed tables.
Flop 2d 3s 6c. I can play it a couple ways. I can c-bet around 40% pot here with the intention of calling an all-in or I can check to see if either of them take a stab. I elect to check since it's unlikely that this board hit either of them unless they flopped a set in which case they didn't have proper odds to set mine making it a poor flat call.
The first chimp also checks but the second chimp bets 30% pot and it feels like a really weak bet. I don't feel like flatting here OOP though so I stick in a decent check-raise. Chimp 1 folds and Chimp 2 instacalls. Second sign of weakness. Anyone with a real hand needs time to think there.
The Turn pairs the board, bringing another 3. My stack size is now such that an all-in here on the Turn is my move.
Starting Stack: 118k
Raise pre to 8250 (110k)
Check-Raise to 35k on flop after he bet 10k (75k)
When he flatted my check-raise the pot became about 72k and my stack was around 75k making it the perfect spot - I sized my CR on purpose this way.
I shove and he snap calls with 5h6h.
River: 4x
Seriously? Wow. I guess he knew it was coming. Clownbox. Way to get your whole stack in on the Turn drawing to 6 outs. Another lifetime negative ROI player uses my #Runbad to his advantage.
Busto Hand 2: This one was a lot more standard for me. I get it all-in pre with KK against AJ and my opponent flops trip Jacks. 80bb pot. Yep, you guessed it - another negative ROI player sucks out hard against me.
I'm going to gather up all these players and put them to work in the red light district to make me some damn money since they're so good at sucking.
Back to the grind.
Busto Hand 1:
30 left of about 1800. Blinds are 2000/4000 with antes and I get QQ UTG. I make it 8250 and get 2 callers from MP. We all have 25-30 bb stacks. I'm readless since I just changed tables.
Flop 2d 3s 6c. I can play it a couple ways. I can c-bet around 40% pot here with the intention of calling an all-in or I can check to see if either of them take a stab. I elect to check since it's unlikely that this board hit either of them unless they flopped a set in which case they didn't have proper odds to set mine making it a poor flat call.
The first chimp also checks but the second chimp bets 30% pot and it feels like a really weak bet. I don't feel like flatting here OOP though so I stick in a decent check-raise. Chimp 1 folds and Chimp 2 instacalls. Second sign of weakness. Anyone with a real hand needs time to think there.
The Turn pairs the board, bringing another 3. My stack size is now such that an all-in here on the Turn is my move.
Starting Stack: 118k
Raise pre to 8250 (110k)
Check-Raise to 35k on flop after he bet 10k (75k)
When he flatted my check-raise the pot became about 72k and my stack was around 75k making it the perfect spot - I sized my CR on purpose this way.
I shove and he snap calls with 5h6h.
River: 4x
Seriously? Wow. I guess he knew it was coming. Clownbox. Way to get your whole stack in on the Turn drawing to 6 outs. Another lifetime negative ROI player uses my #Runbad to his advantage.
Busto Hand 2: This one was a lot more standard for me. I get it all-in pre with KK against AJ and my opponent flops trip Jacks. 80bb pot. Yep, you guessed it - another negative ROI player sucks out hard against me.
I'm going to gather up all these players and put them to work in the red light district to make me some damn money since they're so good at sucking.
Back to the grind.
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