Weeks Three-Five

Week 3 was a good week for me. The points leader busted early Host busted in 3rd and I got heads up with Drunky. Unfortunately, I played horribly and Drunky took me down in pretty easy fashion. I gained a few points on the leader but was tied with 4th.

Week 4 was uneventful. I busted early, followed by Host. Luckily, the leader busted in 3rd so he only gai ed a few points.

Week 5 "Now it's officially the League." - Me.
I was about 10 minutes late and they started w/o me. Drunky had lost 2/3 of his stack and busted a hand later. I don't remember a lot of the hands, but I built my chip stack and busted a few people. It just goes to show you that luck comes in different forms. In week 2 it was a Suckoutfest. This week, my hands held up. KK vs AQ and JJ vs AJ both held up for me, as did other hands. That takes luck too. The best hand isn't supposed to win 100% of the time. Points leader (I need to come up with a nickname for him that isn't based on points) finished third and I was heads up with Host for the first time this season. Thus the quote at the beginning of paragraph. I had a pretty big chip lead. I limped with A8 sooooted waiting for him to raise. He does and I push. He hems and haws
and decides to call with QT. I flop the nut flush. Host flops a T and turns a Q. I half expect him to river his boat since I haven't been sucked out on yet. It doesn't and I take down my first win of the season (and only 2 points behind the leader).

No poker this weekend, so Happy Easter.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

For the first time in almost years, I'm trying to follow baseball. I followed the Cardinals (loved in St. Louis for 6 years) when they made it to the playoffs and made it to a few games. But didn't really pay attention to baseball all other times.

First, to get this out of the way; Who the hell are the Nationals and what the hell are the Brewers doing in the National League. Don't worry, I know now, but about a year ago, I was really confused.

So back in the day (High School, early 90s) I followed the Mets. Bill Buckner Rules!!! I was aware of the 2000 Subway Series, but didn't follow all season, just the World Series.

I figure, after 20 years, knowing that the Mets are crap, I could get behind a new team. Living in Connecticut gives me access to the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Now, I find my old fandom popping up. How can I root for the Red Sox after the 86 World Series? How can one love and hate Bill Buckner at the same time? What about the Yankees? Well growing up in New York, you were either a Met fan or a Yankee fan. You were not both. So while I don't have that same mentality, I still find i difficult to invest in their games. Plus they're the 600 lbs Gorilla. And suddenly becoming a fan seems like jumping on the bandwagon (a la Dawn Summers and the 2007 Patriots).

In the end, some internal defect will not allow me to get behind another team. And I still feel the disappointment with each Met loss. Maybe they will invent a pill or something. Until then... There is always next season.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch

The new High Stakes Poker

For Poker Television, cash games are way better than Sit and Go's. I often fast forward through Poker After Dark regular games, especially if the participants aren't particularly entertaining. But if it's a cash game, I'm glued.So, needless to say, I LOVED High Stakes Poker. The table dynamics were always interesting and the chatter between Gabe Kaplan and A.J. Benza was entertaining. Than last season, they drop A.J. and let Gabe work solo. I really enjoy Gabe's humor and his experience playing poker, really added to the commentary. However, his humor needs the straight man. Without A.J. almost all his jokes fell flat.Than I find out that Gabe is gone and in comes Norm McDonald. Again, another funny comedian, but now they've gotten rid of any kind of high level poker commentary. I was expecting more of Season 6, without any decent poker knowledge. I was only half right.Norm McDonald, wearing more make-up than the winner on a Toddlers & Tiara's show, comes of well with his comedy. It doesn't feel forced, and while not laugh out loud hilarious, it's humorous enough to get a chuckle, and not miss any of the poker action. It works well. The biggest issue, is as I stated, no good poker commentary. He doesn't really add any real insight into what the players may be thinking based on actions.On a side note, and not really anything to do with this season specifically, but on my TiVo, it lists EACH airing as a new episode. So starting at 7pm on Saturday, my TiVo recording about 6 hours of HSP. There's only one new episode in there somewhere, and if I have to stop the actual new one, it takes a few minutes to find the next recording of it.So, while it's better than Season 6, and entertaining in it's own right, High Stakes Poker Season 7 goes to the bottom of my cash game poker watching. I'll wawtch it each week, but I'll be waiting with anticipation for the next PAD Cash Game. Or for PokerStars, The Big Game to come to my market.

Week Two

Two people dropped out of the league, so we're down to 8. One person was out of town, so chips went into the air with 7 people.

It was a crazy night. Suck outs galore. I lost a huge hand when I flopped a set of 8s on a 278 board. Get it all in against J8 ("I have an 8." I have two of them."). Of course someone says "Wouldn't it be funny if a T and a 9 hit." Of course that is exactly what happened. Next had I pushed QQ hoping to look like tilt, but got no callers. A few hands later, I'm all in with 99. Two callers. QQ and AA. I flop a 9 and don't feel the least bit bad about it.

In the end, I couldn't get much going and was the third out. Host followed suit. Last weeks winner finished in 3rd. He's first overall with a three way tie for third between myself, host, and last season's new kid.

On a side note, I finally got my two trophies. I'm thebonly person to repeat. I'd love to three pete.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic

Week One

Week one is in the books and an OK start.

9 people with 1 more person who missed week one. Again, I'll go into more detail as I get better reads. Of the 10 people, there are 3 people I haven't played with and one person I played with only in the first season.

The starting stack is 60 chips. And the blinds go up after 30 minutes (we got rid of the rule where blinds don't go up until first person busts).

I built a stack early but towards the middle I couldn't get much going. Four handed, I busted Host when I played Le Dawn to Host's raise and flopped a gut shot to the wheel. Checked around and the A turned giving me the wheel. Host pushed and I called. He had AK and I busted my toughest opponent.

Three handed lasted awhile with stacks going back and forth. In the end I was dominated twice when I had a middle Ace and busted in 3rd.

I feel I did ok and am glad to be playing again.

Poker Content Coming Soon

It's been over a year now, but it looks like the League will be starting up this Sunday. This should generate some more content. I'm on huge poker dry spell. The only cards I've played is Old Maid.

So Host says we'll have 10 peolple this season. That will be a nice change of pace from the last two seasons.

Just to recap, I joined the league 4 "seasons" ago. That first one, We has 9 players and I tied 2nd place overall. I then took the next "season" off. When that finished up, I was jonesin' for more, so I joined again. I believe that season, we had 8 players, but 2 people quit half way through. I managed to win that one. In fact, I clinched it the week before because I was guaranteed 6th place points with those 2 people gone.

Then last season, we had a piddley 6 people in the league. By the last week, I could only lose if I busted first for 0 points. A few weeks before the end one guy (Muscles) stopped coming (started dating some chick). He said he quit. I told Host that we could wait a few weeks to get Muscles back in so there was at least a shot at me losing. In the end Muscles wouldn't come back, so just showing up netted me the 2 points I needed to clinch again.

I'm still waiting on my two trophies. Bastards.

The format is the same. 16 weeks. 14 regular weeks and 2 double point weeks. 1 point per where you bust. So the first person who busts gets 1 point, next person to bust gets 2 points, etc. I believe every one gets 80 chips to start. Blinds don't go up until the first person busts (blinds start 1/2). Then it increases every 30 minutes (I think). It really feels like there is a lot of play, unless some busts on the first hand and then everyone but one player goes from 40BBs to 20BBs in 2 minutes. It doesn't happen that often. Usually you get 20-40 minutes of no increases. Sometimes even an hour or more.

I'm not a fan of the payout structure per tournament. It almost all goes to 1st place. 2nd usually gets the buy-in back. Maybe twice that.

Cost is $20+$5/week (the double week it's $40+$10), where the $20 goes into that weeks prize pool and the $5 goes to the overall season pool. The $5 has to be paid, even if you don't show up a week (you don't have to put in the $20). The double weeks are mandatory and will be rescheduled if someone can't make it. The overall season is paid out 75% & 25%.

This time there should be 10 people, with 2 brand new players and on dude that has played before, but none of the seasons I've played. I'll have a breakdown of the players next week.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

AA vs KK is a Coin Flip

Ooh... I remembered one. I'll keep it short.

Listening to Poker Road Radio last week (catching up on the 5 Diamond Episodes). One of the guests (though it may have been Barry Greenstein) was breaking down a hand and they made a good point that, if I can keep this frame of reference, will help with tilt. When thinking about hands you played, think about the ones that *DON'T* play themselves. A hand like AA vs KK plays itself most of the time. If you get it all in preflop, generally speaking, that hand played itself. It was just a coinflip on who had the Aces and who had the Kings. This time it was your opponent, next time it could be you.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

I Need To Take Better Notes

I keep thinking of ideas for blogging, poker and non poker related, I write them down, but then I lose my notes.

I carry my iPod Touch with me where ever I go. You'd think I'd utilize it better.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

WSOP Main Event

This was the first time in 3 years I followed the WSOP Main Event on ESPN. It's nothing against it, I just didn't have cable for a few years. The last year I watched was Jaime Gold's year. I followed Yang's year online, but it wasn't very interesting. I tried to watch 2008 on PokerTube, but found the coverage boring. Don't tell me who wins, I'm only on episode 28. Or something like that.

I was very interested in 2009, but didn't look for it online, just followed it as it happened. I was disappointed, as were most, when Ivey got booted.

Finally, this year, I followed all the episodes (thanks to a good deal with Comcast). While I enjoyed the coverage, and I liked that most of the players were experienced players (even though they were unknowns), I was very disappointed in the lack of other events. Sure, sure, I understand there's not a lot of mass appeal for non- Hold 'em games, but through one in. Through in the short handed NLHE game. Or even the heads up. They get a few more weeks of additional new content and I get more poker.

What I really liked was the ESPN3.com's coverage of the live final table (I'm about to stream me some Cricket!). I watched HOURS of that. First on the computer, then via Xbox's new ESPN Channel. I loved it. I didn't need the hole cards. I hope they do that again. I'll make a day of it.

That's the TV Coverage. My interest in the entire WSOP this season was low, and I think a lot of that had to do with Poker Road Radio. I don't want to bad mouth them. They have a great idea, but I felt their coverage this year was lacking. I'm not sure if it was Jeremiah Smith as host, or the lack of Sebok and Gavin Smith, but it just seemed... un-enthused. For the PRR crew, Huff, Stapes or even Ali Nejad are better suited for the show. PRR is more about comedy than anything else, and that's not Jeremiah's strong suit.

I love Poker Road, but it seems like Sebok is getting ready to let it go. He has a great concept, I just hope he can figure a way to make money off of it.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

Nobody Folds A Flush Draw.

Actually played some poker tonight; Slappy's home game.

The structure has changed slightly. $10.00- You get 4000 chips, blinds start at 25/50 and go up 15 mins. Roughly about double the chips as before. Also added was a $5 bounty on everyone.

I played two 6 handed tounraments. The first one, I couldn't get anything going. I got JJ but everyome folded. My last hand, the blinds were 400/800, I was on the button with about 3500 chips (< starting stack). I have 22 on the button after 1 limper. BB calls with TT and I'm out.

Second tourney, early on (50/100), I get QJo in middle position. I limp and button raises to 200. BB calls, I call. Flop comes a beautiful 89T (2 spades). Bb checks, I check. My thought process is that if anyone has a flush draw, in this game, I think most people will call almost any bet with a flopped flush draw (or re-raise), so I checked to control the pot and to put money in on the turn when they might fold. The button checks. Turn is a 7s, completing the flush draw. BB bets 150, I make it 300, and button than makes it 1000 total. BB tanks but calss. I tank but call, hoping to get to showdown cheap. The river is a blank. BB cbecks, I check and the Button moves all in. BB folds. I tank. The button is probably the worse player in the game. Super slow and at one point was no longer invited to the game. I really start thinking about what I could beat. I could see him doing this with AT with A of spades. Though I don't think he checks the flop. That really should have been a clue. In the end, I put him on the bottom end of the straight 67 or even 56, or As6x. Really thoilugh, no way he had 67 or 56 with a min raise preflop. The problem is I don't want to believe he has the flush, I don't put him on any hands I lose to.

I call and ask if he has the flush. He says "Yes." and shows the QsJs. So he flopped all kinds of goodness and I'm out early on.

I've been running bad/playing bad at Slappy's home game recently. I really need to change that.

Just A Little Hit

I'm jonesin'! Can't seem to get any in. The league hasn't started up... or their ignoring me... maybe they don't want me to Threepete. I could really use some cheap poker on a regular basis right now.

I did have a home game a few weeks back. The re-buy tourney (9 players- so I guess technically a SnG) followed by a low stakes cash game after. I couldn't get much going in the tournament. I had two rebuys. Two of the worst players did the best, they couldn't miss a flop. I got low and pushed with A5 and a big stack bully woke up with QQ. I couldn't catch an ace and I was busted around the middle of the pack.

The cash game (.25/.50) was a little different. One hand I had QQ UTG+1 and limped after the UTG (Slappy) straddled. I limped figuring him for a raise from his straddle. He did (I believe there was another limper or two). I popped it to 3 I believe, but he threw in a 5 and for whatever reason I was thrown off. I thought he put in 5. I made it 15. He thought, then called. At this point, the pot was over $30 and I had about 18-19 left. The flop came A-T-x. UGGG... He checked and I pushed, despite the ace. He tanked. Someone mentioned that he was practically pot committed and had to call with anything like KJ. Slappy agreed and called with KJ. I faded the 2 remaining Q's and doubled up. That might have been additionally painful for Slappy since it was his money that I had borrowed to stay for the cash game.

Shortly there after Slappy heads out. I got involved in another hand where I had AA UTG and limped because the tourney winner with a big stack now was raising a lot of pots. Two limpers and big stack raises. He does make it $5.00. I make it $15. He doesn't think much and calls. The board was JT9. Big stack puts in a bet, and I come over the top, pushing all-in. He ends up calling with an under pair.

In the end, the cash game got me even from the tournament, enough to pay back Slappy for the small loan and paid some Fantasy Football fees I owed. After a few hours of poker, I netted a whopping profit of $10.00.

I need some more poker.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

Take Away My Poker Card!

First I take a chop in a SnG when I had a slight chiplead. Then I come into some quick cash (thank you, Grand Vegas), and instead of taking it online (where I would slowly or not so slowly throw it away) or heading to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun (where I'm a little more +EV), I take the money and buy a new Kindle. What is wrong with me?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Some Recent Activity

A few months ago, I took a few bucks to play poker at Foxwoods. I hadn't been there in years, not since the Mohegan Sun opened their poker room. The room was just as I remembered (huge) and it didn't take too long to sit down at a 1/2 table.

I was there for about an hour, when they called for a $120 SnG. I decided to buy-in… also something I hadn't done in years. I remember that I bluffed this one chick off the first hand when i totally missed with sooooted connectors. It was a C-bet, followed by bluffs on the Turn and River.

That girl and I got into A LOT of hands. I wasn't gunning for her, it just turned out that way. Another hand with her, I returned all the bluffed money and then some when I flopped a set but paid her off on the river when she spiked a 4 card straight.

I eventually lost most of my chips when we were five handed, but played tight until 2 more people busted. We got to 3 handed (me, some dude and the chick) and I was down to one BB. I even folded that on the button, hoping they'd get into a big pot on that hand. They didn't. I was all-in blind on the next hand, but won and tripled up. I pushed on the next hand and won that. At one point, the chick had a huge stack and I thought the other guy did too. We got into another hand where I was all in and called by both players. I managed the win. And was somewhat surprised to see that I had he dude JUST covered. Heads Up and we were about even in chips. The chick asked if I wanted to split and I said "No thanks." We chatted a lot throighout he game and even joked that it was fitting we ended up Heads Up since we got involved in so many pots together.

I ended up winning the blinds on the 2nd hand of heads up. I had a slight lead but decided to split the prize at this point for 2 reasons:
1) I trust my heads up play, but the blinds were pretty high
2) another SnG was about to start and we both wanted to play in it.
So official I took second but we split the cash.

The 2nd SnG was not as fun. The chick busted on the first hand. She flopped a set of Q's but called off her stack on a rivered flush. I never got any hands and had a very aggressive dude to my left. It almost never got to me with him raising first. When I finally decided to come over th top of him with a soooooted ace, he donkishly called with KK. I was out in 5th.

At that point it was about 1:30 am. I got a coffee and got ready for my hour drive. In the end, I netted about $200.

That was at the beginning of August and I haven't played poker since. There's a home game next week and the league may start up again in a few weeks. I'm not sure about the league, but I think I'm going to go for the three-pete in the league.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Are You Ready For Some Football!

That's right. It's the best time of the year.

I did poorly in all but one of my fantasy football leagues... That's not true. I did bad in that one, too. My opponent did worse though.

On the upside, my Dolphins beat the Bills. I'm not too excited, I mean it was the Bills, and it wasn't by much.

I might be going to the Bills @ the Pats game. I'll be rooting for both teams to lose.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Laak's Crack Eyes

I was watching last weeks Poker After Dark The Cash Game. WTF is up with Phil Laak's eyes?! The dude looked fucking scary.

I Have No Idea Why I Tilt

I think my poor play tilts me the most. I've been on a downward spiral since my last post. Loss after loss. Tilting my small balance away. I make a few bad plays, a few set up hands and I can't get out of the funk.

I started the night around $35. I played a SnG and a couple of cash games tables. Started off OK, took a few beats and bad plays. I had my starting buy-in at one cash game, and had doubled my buy-in at another. Next thing I knew, the wheels fell off and I was felted on both, and out of my SnG.

Next thing I knew, I had $20 bucks in my account. I said 'FUCK IT' and jumped into a short handed, $6.50 SnG. I knew I was tilting, but thought I could offset my tilt with a .01/.02 cash game. Just playing how I wanted with $1. The table didn't go well, lost my buy-in. I focused on the SnG. I started off slow, losing a few chips on hands that didn't pan out. I stayed patient, and I got a few hands. One big hand, I raised 3x on the button with A7 when it folded to me. The BB called. The flop comes AA5. I decided to lead out with a pot sized bet. Figuring it would look weak. It worked. BB went all-in. I called and he had just 77. From there, I had 2nd biggest stack. I had 88 on the button. A smaller stack pushed all in (he had just under 10x) ahead of me. The blinds were getting high, so I called. I was surprised to see the BB also call. I had both of them covered. I didn't really mind seeing AK vs AQ. My eights held up and I busted two players. At that point it was smooth sailing. I took the SnG and managed a small profit for the night.

So the moral of the story? Patience pays off? Variance works itself out? No. Even the sun shines on a dog's ass some times.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

Spoke To Soon?

Had a cash game net win of a whopping $1.00. Lost two buy-ins at one table but made up for it at another table.

I played 2 SnGs at the same time. A six-handed turbo and a 18 person turbo. I won the 6 handed turbo. In the 18 player game, I enter the final table the 2nd shortest stack... less than the starting stack. The short stack and another went busto. I had about my starting stack. Then a big hand among the 2 big stacks and a middle stack, with the biggest stack knocking out both players when he made his flush.

I made the top 4, still the lowest. The 2nd smallest chip stack went busto and now I had 3rd place, which is just about the same for winning the 6 handed. I ended up getting even with the big stack, but made a HORRIBLE call on the river. I had bottom pair (3's) and a flush came on the river. The guy went all in (a HUGE over bet) on the river and I insta-called with just my lowly pairs. He shows the flush. I'm crippled and can't make another comeback. Even though I went all in, (with AJ) got both calls. River a straight. They checked down to the river. The big stack tanks when it's his turn to act. He bets out and of course he has the 6. Other guy folds and he has T6.

All in all a successful night (with the exception of that horrible call at the end). My bankroll jumped up, from the measly $.60 I had, to just under $60.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

The Sinkhole that is Microlevel SnGs.

Still "grinding." I'm not jumping up in levels, still playing low, but I'm not playing as often.

While before, I could count on the low stakes SnGs to increase, now it's been the short handed ring game. A few nights where my cash game profits went directly into losing SnGs. I stopped getting hands, and it's hard to do much. I get a little low and the blinds are high, I push with JJ and of course someone wakes up with KK.

Their kings hold up, whereas, the other night, looking at my hands, you'd think I got slapped in the face with the deck. KK 3 times in 10 hands. Results... 1) Chopped pot with a straight on board to the J. 2) Lost to KQ- though I played it poorly. 3) Won the blinds.

Here's how the KQ hand went. I raised from mid position with KK and get 3 callers. Button, SB and BB. The flop came, x-Q-Q. Checked around. The turn is a blank and I bet about 1/2 pot. It checks around again and the Button bets about 1/2 pot. SB calls, and I decide to pop it. I don't think a raise in the mistake, it's just that I hit POT and made the pot too big to fold. A min raise would have worked just as good. I get the button to fold, but the SB pushes all in. I have him covered and his raise is probably about 20% of pot. I pretty much have to call and he shows KQ. The downside to using the POT button and not controlling the size of the pot.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

Losing Skill?

I haven't played online much. I did hit the rare home game, last week, but that ended badly. Between a $20 tournament followed by a small cash game, I blew about $100. I didn't do anything in the tournament, since I didn't get a hand. I bluffed one hand and won, but then didn't get a damn thing the rest of the night. Managed to make it through the re-buy period and had a few more chips than I started with, so I didn't have to rebuy. I continued to get nothing, and the rare times I was in the hand, I didn't hit anything.

My final hand was 22. I raised, got 1 caller. It was about 25% of my stack. Flop came K55. The caller, bet, pretty much putting me all in. I knew I had to be beat, but had to hope for the AQ/AJ making a move on a short stack. He wasn't, he had KQ. I was the first one out (though a few other people did rebuy, so at least I was only down $20).

I hung around the cash. When there were four of us, we started. I chalk most of my losses in the cash game to unlucky. I definitely didn't play great, but one of the weaker players in the game, kept getting hands. The guy is notorious for betting his missed straights on the end. THis time though, he made straight after straight, after flush, after set.

In the end, I just couldn't get any hands. At one point the guy had over $100. He proceeded to give it all away. Just not to me. In the end, I figured over 5 hours of poker, I won maybe 5 hands.

Not to say I played great, I didn't. Far from, actually. But I'm starting to pick up on one of my leaks. The money. It's not a lot, but right now, I don't have much free money to play with, so if I lose what I have, I'm done. Between the limited live cash, and the tiny bankroll online, I fear losing, thus things like continuation bets, and pushing clearly weak hands off are hard to do. I have to find away to just not care about the funds anymore.

The league hasn't started up yet, but should shortly. Email have gone out to get a count. Not sure if I'm going to do it, but I did say I was interested. I think it will be a game time decision. If there are a lot of people (8 or 9) I may play, otherwise, with only 5 or 6, it may not be worth it.

Hopefully, I can get back into the right frame of mind to play, and with that will come more posts. I think I also might have to review some of my poker books, and even check out some new ones. I might need to get back into the fundamentals.

Until then... My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

Still Going

OK, it's been over a month, but I've still been playing. I went to Florida for vacation, but didn't hit the poker room in Ocala. Just wasn't in the right mind.

I continued to play online. That 20 bucks got up to 30, but then down to my last 6+. I tilted and instead of grinding I through the entire thing into a $6 Turbo short handed SnG. I took that down and was back over $20. I proceed to work it up to over 50 bucks. I dropped down to 30, and back up. Currently I'm around $50. I'm still playing the $2 SnGs, with the occasional $6 SnG. I've jumped up to the $.05/$.10 short handed cash game.

I've recently found myself tilting a little more again, so I think I'll be playing a little less over the next few days. Playing micro limits is tough.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.