The BIG news is that Neteller has stopped accepting U.S. customers (I'd have a better link, but I'm at work and all gambling sites including news sites are blocked).
Actually, checking out FTP's cashier section, you can make an E-Check straight from your bank (instead of going straight through an e-wallet co). So until the banks start enforcing the bill (which I believe is in July), you should be able to deposit still. Full Tilt has tried really hard to keep their site open to US residents. If/When the act is ruled unconstitutional, I hope FTP's customer base remembers this and doesn't abandon them to go to those sites that originally left us out in the cold.
Now, I don't have any money until we get some tax money back, so at that point, I'll try a direct deposit from my checking account. Until the, I won't be playing. I'm hoping I'll get enough rakeback in February in order to play some.
Live at the Bike is a great concept. I had bandwidth issues when it was free, but seriously, I know ONE person who pays for it. Can it really be worth it??? For $15 a month? Seems a bit high. I can't see me sitting there all night watching it. I might be willing for $5.00 a month.
I was watching this weeks, Poker After Dark, and Doyle Brunson is UTG. He looks down at AQ, puts in a raise, and everyone folds. When the BB folds he says something like, "Don't make me play this hand." Then he even said something like, "If this wasn't on TV I'd have thrown this hand away." Now I understand that AQ is a dangerous hand. It can be in lots of trouble against AK and better. HOWEVER, the format is a 6 handed Sit-n-Go tournament. AQ, even UTG is more than likely either best hand or a coin flip, and definitely worth a raise from UTG.
Maybe that's why he's a pro and I'm barely a poker player.
Neteller & Live At The Bike
An Unsuccessful Foxwoods Trip
I went there just to play in the $100.00 tournament.
I started off well, building an early chip lead. A couple of poor calls, and I was getting low on chips.
The one that sticks in my craw (what the hell does that mean?) I'm dealt AQ in MP and raise 3x. Button calls. We check down with all low cards on the flop and turn. River is a J. Button puts out a small bet, I think he might be trying to buy it since I never showed strength, I call, and he has AJ.
My final hand was me not taking the time to put enough thought into it. I went halfway.
Blinds are 100/200 w/ 25 ante. I have about 1500 left (started with 2k, got up to about 3+K.
Button limps, I'm dealt KT from the SB, buttom limps, I call., BB checks.
Flop comes K-J-9. Buttom makes a mistake and tries to bet, but dealer stops him.
I knew the guy was tight so he had to have something. I'm first to act. With my stack and the blinds, I'm thinking, there's really not much I can do. Can I fold top pair with a gutshot. I don't think I can. I know Button wants to bet. I might have the best hand here, so I push.
That was my first mistake. I thought about my stack and the blinds, but didn't put enough thought into what the Button could have. Against any other guy a push would have been the best play. But since I knew he was tight, I SHOULD figured he'd have to have something to want to bet. If I would have thought about it more, I should have let it go. But I know he can't have AK or he'd have raised. Basically if he has a King I'd have to put him on KQ, KJ, KT or K9 in order for him to want to bet. All which beat me. He wouldn't bet with just a Jack. He wouldn't bet bottom pair or any lower pair.
It boiled down to what would he limp with and then want to bet that flop... only what can beat me. Two pair, a set is unlikely because w/ JJ and KK he would have raised. Maybe he could have had 99, and of course he could have limped with QT, AND he would want to bet after that flop.
Most of my thought process was AM I willing to throw way a top pair with a gutshot with my chipstack in relation to the blinds. I didn't think I could.
Of course, what he had was QT for the straight, and I'm pretty much drawing to the split pot. Q never comes and I'm busted.
Good news. Foxwoods has FINALLY changed their MAX buy-in on 1/2 no limit.
It's now $60-$300! WOO HOO! Now if only I had that kind of cheddah to buy in. But I don't.
Boys Found.
Boy missing since 2002 found alive
I was living in St. Louis when Shawn Hornbeck went missing and remember it being all over the news. I can't even imagine the pain at losing their son or the pure relief of getting him back years later.
I hope the guys spends the rest of his life in jail.
Twice in One Month!
Money is tight until payday right now, so I took my poker money from the home game and threw it into our checking account. Figure we get paid on Friday, I'll just throw it on FullTilt. Yesterday, I realized that I have off on Monday. The Mrs doesn't and daycare is open. Soooo... I'm going to take that cash and hit the 10am tournament at Foxwoods. It'll only be my 2nd live multitable touranment. I'll probably play some cash games for a little bit as well.
I want to say a big Thank you to Dawn of I Had Outs and Clareified. She's given me my first comment in Months, and well... ruined the delusion that I'm just talking to myself. If there are any other readers, I HIGHLY recommend her blogs. I Had Outs is easily the most entertaining blog out in the Blogosphere (that one was for you Dawn).
The Home Game, a brief review
Well this weekend was poker night. But more importantly, it was eat like a pig night!
That's right, the Mrs and I are dieting. I need to lose about 50lbs, so we're doing Weight Watchers. We're not going to the meetings, just doing it online. It works pretty good. It's really just a fancy way of counting calories, and as long as you burn off more than you take in you're going to lose weight. The hardest part is preparing meals, we were already eating "healthier." So we are able to make our points go further. The good thing about Weight Watchers is that they give you extra points each week. So I saved up all week and was ready for poker night. Got a big ol' 12" chicken parm and an appetizer of Potato Skins with Bacon and Cheese. PLUS before that I stopped at Taco Bell and picked up a Steak Quesadilla. Overall I lost 6 pounds for the first week, not too shabby.
OK, now on to poker.
Tournament #1. I got no hands, except two.
First Hand. JJ. I raise it up and get 2 or 3 callers. Of course the flop comes an Ace. I'm not about to give up. Figure maybe a bet will get ace rag to fold (but not likely with this crowd). I bet about 2 bucks (blinds were .25/.50). Get a caller and know I'm beat. I check he bets, I fold my jacks up. Maniac of course asks, "How do you fold jacks there?" I'm thinking, "Easy, that's why I win more of these than you."
2 hands later, I get 77. I raise it up, get 3 callers... flop is all overs and I have to let them go.
Tournament #2. Early Bluff.
A few hands in, I wanted to show a little aggressiveness, so I decide to play the next hand big. The next hand is 3s-5s. I decide good hand to do so. I raise and get a couple of callers. The flop misses me completely. I bet $2. 1 caller. The turn is a blank, I bet $4, guy calls. At this point, I'm wondering if I'll be able to push him off his hand. I'm going back and forth when the river comes and still nothing. I look at him, think, think... I check. He looks at me, then checks himself. I don't even bother to wait, I just toss them in the muck, as I had the absolute Anti-Nuts (there was no hand that can lose to me) without even waiting for him to show. He showed top pair.
Tournament #3. I wake up, but then get bored.
I finally get some hands and make some things happen. Nothing major comes back to mind except the last hand. I was heads up and behind. Blinds were, as usual, high. I just wanted to end and start a new one. I was happy that I made 2x the buy-in. I'm in the BB with 56 off. SB raises, and I just push. Surprisingly I was 50-50. He had pocket 4s. Which held up. Not surprising. Pocket fours were a monster that night. They were hitting sets left, right and center!
Tournament #4. I turn up the heat.
Again, I continue to play well and get cards. One hand I have ATd. I raise it up and get 3 callers (I'm 3rd to act). It checks around on each street. On the river it checks around, I think about taking a stab, but figure someone has a bottom pair or something and would call a raise, I just check. The button looks at every with a weird look on his face and shrugs and throws in a dollar. He's relatively new to poker (he's been in the home game since I started, over a year, but that's the only times he plays), plays really tight and was easy to read. It folds around to me. I just raise it up to $4. I didn't think I had the best hand (I figure him for either an underpair or bottom pair) and after that shrug, I would have raised with two Uno cards, so I wanted him to fold. He goes into the tank. He says he wants to call with A9. Now I'm praying he calls. But he folds.
A few hands later Slappy (the host) limps in, and I raise, he calls. We're heads up. I've got a pretty good read on him. He's aggressive, but usually with draws he just calls almost any bet. So two hearts come out. The flop missed me so I bet. He simply calls. Right then I know he's on a draw. Turn doesn't help his draw, I bet big, he calls. River is a blank, I bet out again and he folds. Felt good to punish him for chasing a draw. Though he did change things up later. He was in a hand (I folded preflop) and he bet had 7c4c and flopped the flush draw and bet at it on each street, catching his flush on the river.
Later, we're three handed (top 2 pay). I get dealt A8s. One guy folds and I'm in with Slappy. He raises about 2x the BB (which, when the blinds climb, is a good bet). I push all in and he calls with K2 suited. The guy was playing horrible that night. But lucky. He won the first tournament (might have won another) and then was coming in 2nd. Basically he was seeing a lot of flops and hitting them hard. The flop comes QJx. Then the 10 on the turn. His King hits on the river and he jumps up. My heart sinks as now I'm crippled, then a second later, "WAIT! I got the straight!" He drops into his seat. He takes loses hard. I knocked him out and take a huge chip lead into heads up and take the win with little fight.
Tournament #5 (there also may have been a 6th), I don't remember what happened.
Last Tournament of the Night. It was getting late, some of us wanted to play a little more, but didn't want to inconvenient Slappy who had to pick up his girlfriend. So we decided on a $5.00 winner-take-all, blinds double every 5 mins. Was surprisingly fun. There were six of us and 2 got knocked out right away. I got to heads up and it was pretty much a back and forth all-in fest, which I managed to win.
I finished the night up about $20. Bringing me UP about $40 (but my food was about $20, so I was up $20) for the night.
That means for 2007, I'm down $60. Hmm.. should I deposit my $120 into FTP???
Just for Fun.
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Moderate |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | Very High |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | High |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | Very Low |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | High |
| Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) | Very High |
| Level 7 (Violent) | Moderate |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | High |
| Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) | Moderate |
Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test
This Weekend
Well just an update.
I'm down $100.00 for 2007. Blew through my entire 1/1 deposit already.
I ran out of my cash in .10/.25 short handed cash game. Early on I gained a few bucks, but was down to $6 when I get pocket Kings. Flop is all low, I push and one guy calls. He has AA. 8^(
I saved 5.50 for an Ante Up SnG (18 handed) last night. Was patient, until one play, which one I'm dealt 77 and early position raises (I believe he was the table chip leader), I just call. And another guy calls (but that puts him all in). The flop comes 8 high if I remember correctly. I have about the same amount of chips I started with and there have been a number of rounds already. So my chip count was low, but I wasn't desparate yet. I push. The guy calls and shows his QQ. I'm out. Totally donkey play. I shouldn't not have pushed.
Totally donkey play. I'll be away from online for a little while. As funds are tight. I DO have some cash for my monthly home game this weekend!
I did so well last week, I'm hoping for a repeat performance!
Poker Podcasts
This last few months saw the end of some of my favorite podcasts; MSR's All-in and Cardplayer's, the Circuit.
Both have since been revived. I'll admit, I have not really listened to the new Circuit yet. I have it downloaded, but only listened to it briefly to find out who the new folks are. I'm not really excited about it. You just can't beat the chemistry between Seabok, Huff and Gavin. I might give it a try, but cutting it will keep my podcasts down.
As for All-in , that's been picked up as well. JLev has picked up the ball and is trying to keep it rolling. Now this podcast I tried to listen to. It's just not the same. B-mo, being a comedian, made the show. The show wasn't about poker. In fact very little poker was discussed. It was about the community. B-mo has since moved on to other things: Behind the Bricks and Ultimate Poker Challenge. Even though I don't subscribe to the podcast, I am still banging the boards (there are other podcasts there that I listen to).
Good luck kin 2007.;
Happy New Year!
Well it's 2007, and while I didn't keep much in the way of records, I would like to think that I was slightly ahead for the year. I play mostly low limits. Finished the year with no money on Full Tilt, but I had a 2 big wins playing at Foxwoods, a couple of decent turn outs in the monthly home game (I only made it to about half of them), and I had a few withdrawals from Full Tilt. So all in all I'm going to call 2006 a wash.
2007... granted it's 2 hours and 11 minutes INTO it, is not looking so good.
Now to consider, online I play low/micro limits. With the occasional jump up in stakes just for the hell of it.
I decided to give myself entry into a $50 tournament or SnG on Full Tilt. I decided against that and decided to drop $50 into a $1/$2 no limit ring game instead (Note: this is short handed- 6 players). I play relatively conservative, and lost some cash missing flops. My raises were respected and I could get some blinds (granted not as big a deal in cash games as in tournaments, but anything was nice). I'm down to about $43.00 when I get dealt AA on the button
(oh and as you can tell, AA, probably gonna be a bad beat story).
The cutoff (w/ about $135 behind him) raises to 9, I repop it to 24 (hoping he'd re-re-raise me, but he calls.
Flop comes 7d - Ts - 9c.
I'm relatively happy with this flop, a called raise from a tight player with 86s or J8s is unlikely. He puts me all in, which is really only 19 more, so I have to call it. I probably should have pushed all-in with my stack, but I wanted a double up through this guy. Win a small pot, lose a big pot.
He flips over AdTd. I am lovin' life.
Turn: 2d... oh no.
River: 6d...
Welcome to 2007.
I then took $10 into a .05/.10 shorthanded, and made about $12 profit.
Which I proceeded to most of that profit in an $5.50 18 handed SnG and a $6.25 Turbo Heads Up SnG.
2007: -$49.21
