Finally Some Live Poker

The typical monthly home game. Fast blinds and all-in’s crazy play.

I think next time I might just hit Foxwoods instead though.

Tournament 1: Early on, I limp in from the CO with Q4d. Folds to my buddy, Slappy, in the BB, he checks. Flop comes A-Q-5. He checks and I don’t put him on an Ace. Not without a raise in the BB. I bet 3 bucks, he quickly raises it to 6. I without a thought push. He thinks and calls. I was right… he had no ace… but his QT was better. I’m crippled. However, I’m all in blind in the next hand, and triple up. Double up two hands later and I’m back in it. I ended up busting in the middle, but most importantly, showing to the two new guys, why I was nicknamed “Herpes.”

Tournament 2: I get crippled again early (I don’t remember the hand). Shortly there after, I manage to make a couple of double ups. I’m relatively healthy again, still low stack, but can survivor some hands. I’m dealt A9 in late position and end up pushing. I’m called by one player (Slappy). He flips over, A8s. WOO HOO! Flop 8-2-2… rut-roh! River: Blank… Turn… a beautiful 9. Seriously, I’m Slappy’s kryptonite. I have uncanny luck against him. If I’m dealing, he’s sure to lose. Slappy still has a huge chip lead over the people still in. A few hands later, I’m low on chips and I’m dealt 66. I push, and Slappy calls. He flips over 99. Yikes. He’s all happy, until to finally put me out. Of course, he’s still powerless against me, as I spike my 6 on the river sending him on tilt. Now I have a healthy stack, probably 2nd in chips.

A few beats later, I’m hurting again but it’s heads up. Me and Slappy. He’s got a pretty big chip lead on me. We had just ordered food and it’s scheduled to arrive soon. I turn to him and offer to split it 50/50. “That’s the only offer I’ll make.” He looks at my chips and says, no we’ll do it. 60/40. I say no, and give him one last chance. He suddenly tightens up BIG time. Blinds are so high that I’m getting huge stacks each time he folds. It doesn’t matter that I have 72, 82, 23, he’s folding to my BB and most times I’m in the small blind, I push and he folds, not wanting to double me up. We’re finally about even. I push with Ax, he calls with Kx and neither of us improve. When the count is done, I had him slightly covered and take it home.

Tournament 3 was uneventful for me. I’ve been sick and was getting tired. It looked like this was the last one for the night. So as the blinds were getting up there and about 4 or 5 people left, I pushed with 4/5 suited. I didn’t want to wait the two hands for most of my stack to be in the BB, so I pushed. The SB agonized over the decision before folding, but the BB called with a couple of overs. I didn’t improve.

It was the usual fun night, mediocre poker and lost of laughs. Plus I was up for the night. I really don’t remember a home game where I didn’t win at least one tournament. That’s a nice feeling.

I'm the Man!

OK, not big deal really, BUT I managed to figure out how to expand this layout to make the the main posting area bigger! WOO HOO! Let me know if this screws up anyone's viewing of this.

Broke

Well I'm "officially" broke. This is the first time I've had no money in my account since february.
I played in my first Mookie event for my last $11.00. It was less then impressive. Two key hands early on. UTG limps, it folds around to me on the button. I raise with KQ suited. Fold, Fold, BAM! Big raise. That's usually the sign of aces or kings, I muck.

The next hand, I'm dealt TT. It folds around to the guy to my right. He raises, and I just call. I want to see a flop. Flop comes J-x-x. He bets out and I don't put him on a jack. I push the rest of my stack. I was right. No Jack... Aces. DOH! I'm out in about 68th out of 74.

Now ALL is not lost. I'm still waiting for FTOPS event 8, which I have a buy-in for. Plus I won a 300 FTP point SnG for a seat in a satellite into the $400K Guaranteed on Sunday. So far there are over 1000 people in this satellite and only 72 spots are paid out.

Now, with the loss of my cash (I have $1.22, which is just 3 cents shy of a freakin' $1 + $0.25 SnG. Bastards. All is not lost. I'll have rakeback AND a little affiliate money coming the middle of May.

On a side note: While stepping away from poker (online that is, have my monthly home game this weekend), I may switch over to some things on a more personal level. Not sure how comfortable I am about doing that on this site. Granted I have 4 readers. Oh and just a Hey there, to Statikkling. DIdn't know you were still hovering around this place. Bayne_s, I'm sure you just googled yourself and found your name here, thanks for stopping by! And to PMAC, from my old stompin' grounds (MSR) which I've pretty much abandoned- for stopping by. Oh yeah, and a hello to TripJax (another googler, I'm sure), who recently stopped by as well. Plus I know Dawn stops by every now and again. What is that, 5? I'm a fucking dynamo.

Anyway, as I was saying, possibly some personal stuff, but I may just create a separate blog for that. We'll see.

I'll see you at the tables... oh wait, I'm broke.. nevermind.

A Lark!

I didn't go down in limits... and I went through $20 in a .10/.25 NL (full ring). But what made the night an interesting one was that I saw a good overlay. There was a satellite into the FTOPS Event #8 (Pot Limit Hold 'Em).

1 spot and there were only about 6 people in it with about 3 minutes left. A $216 seat, to break even FTP needed 27 people. When the tournament started there were 12 people total. Not too shabby of an overlay. I figured what the hell. Good overlay, and I can beat 11 people... sometimes.

Well I started off OK, playing patient poker and managed to say about average. I was still around my original starting stack of 1500 a half hour into it when we made the "final table" (3 people had busted).

I stayed about average in chips, then 5 handed- I had 3713 chips (3rd in chips- 1st and 2nd had about 5600 and 5300 respectively)and the smallest stack had 1350. Blinds are 60/120. I'm in the BB and dealt 66. The low stack is 2nd to act (only 5 handed remember) and he raises to 490. It folds around to me in the BB and I push. He calls with A9. I flop a set of Satan, unfortunately he goes runner, runner for a rivered flush. No biggie, I took it OK. I'm second to last in chips with 2363. Not too bad- I'm OK, blind wise.

FTP takes pity on me 3 hands later. I'm dealt AA and 2nd to act. I bet 1/2 the pot (which is 270). The flush guy re-raised to 930 *BINGO*, and I push. Flush guy calls with QQ, and I take a big double up. 4700 in chips and back in 3rd place, even closer than before. Flush guy busts out the next hand.

After my AA I'm dealt 52o which I fold. Then I'm dealt 45o in the BB and I get a walk. Full Tilt, apparently still feeling guilty gives me AA again. I get the big stack to call my raise preflop (after he limped), he calls my 1/2 pot bet on a flop of Qs-3h-5h. A Kh hits. I'm a little nervous but bet again, this time Pot and he mucks. I'm second in chips. The chip leader is bayne_s- a fellow poker blogger who I've run into once or twice recently.

We get three handed and Bayne and I flip flop the chip lead, and the 3rd guy gets some chips and then loses them.

In the end Freddie runs his KK into Bayne_s' AA, and we're heads up.
Seat 5: bayne_s (9,110)
Seat 9: Unimpressed (8,890)

I'm a little nervous as I haven't really played heads up much recently. I was a little rusty. I hurt blayn_s earlier when on a flop of Kd - 8d - Qc, I push with the nut flush draw. He calls I figured I'm done, but turns out he was going for the flush too. Which means as long as I avoid him pairing I'm good. And I am.
Seat 5: bayne_s (2,020)
Seat 9: Unimpressed (15,980)

There's discussion of a chop. He'll donk of his chips for $108. But I can't really afford that with my crappy bankroll right now, so I decline.

Blayne_s makes some headway when we both limp and the flop 3d - Tc - 2d. We both check. A Kd on the turn and I'm holding K8. Blayne_s bets out 600, I just smooth call. River is a 5. We get all the money in and he has K5. 8^(

That's about as high as he gets. The last hand, the blinds are 150/300- chip count: 4490 vs 13,510.
I'm dealt 55. I min raise. Blayne raises it up to 1800. I called 1200. Flop is 3d - 7d 6d. He pushes his last 2690 and I call. He shows AT and my pair holds up.




And here I am sitting in the FTOPS IV, Event #8

Oh and Yes, I still am...

Playing horribly. I busted out of all 3 tournaments (albeit small ones) I was in last night, and donked off about $70 at the cash games. My bankroll is now down to about $130. I now have to drop back down to .05/.10 and get some freakin' discipline back.

Quick Little FYI

I made a few changes to my blogs... Just small ones, really. I added a little, subscribe via Bloglines link on the right. I love Bloglines. It makes reading blogs so much easier.

I also updated my blogs links (again using Bloglines blog roll). Now there are links for Poker Blogs I read and a small group of places to get news.

Running Bad

By "running" I mean "playing" and by Bad I mean "I'm a fucking donkey."

I killed my bankroll.... well not killed, exactly… severely injured is more accurate. It was in critical condition, but a organ donation has kept it from dying.

I had it up to a comfortable $400. Then from bad plays and trading real life cash for transfers, it fell to $150. I was able to bring it back up to $300 (plus I had $75 & $26 tokens). Finally, on Monday I sat down to play at the MATH and my bankroll was a measly $87. I did have a $26 token which I used to play in the MATH. I didn’t cash (finished 20 out of about 50). I felt I played well except once, which actually crippled me. I was in the top 3 of chips for quite some time. But at the time of my collapse, I was a little above average. I’m doing this from memory so the amounts will be off, but the estimation will be close. I wish I could remember the blinds. (maybe I’ll post this and check it out at home and edit it).

** you know what, I need the hand history for blinds and sizes of bets I’ll edit this in later tonight while I’m playing in the Ante Up AIPS Razz event ***

During the MATH tournament I bought into 2 .10/.25 NLHE short handed tables. Max is $25, but I bought in for $10 each. Table A and Table B we’ll call them.

Lose my buy in on a completely donkey play on table A.
I had A6 - flop T6T – a bet and a call (I believe) – K – I push, he calls with QT. River is his 4th T. This is a HUGE hole in my game. A paired flop shows up, and I show aggression, thinking the with only 2 of that pair left, it’s unlikely someone has it and I lose some cash on it. I have to fix that.

Rebuy for $10.

Lose my buy-in at Table B after doubling up early.

J9 flopped st8 (QT8). Opponent bet $2 , I raised $7.25. call J, he bets 18, I push for 22, he calls- he has AK for better st8 (and gets flush on river).

Rebuy for $10

I lose my 2nd buy-in on Table A. I rebuy for $10, knowing I’m tiling a bit.

I finally get start playing a little better and manage to get lucky at the right time. I’ve put in a total buy-in of $50 and have about 10 at both tables still. I manage to work Table B up to $50, which brings me back to even in the cash games. The table changes a bit, new blood and I leave that table as not to squander my evenness.

Table A remains and I find a super duper calling station. I manage to get table A up to $25 and that’s all profit.

I ended the night with a total bankroll of about $105. But the organ donation I was talking about earlier was my PPA bonus that I cleared. It basically doubled my bankroll. Now if only I can keep from donking it all off again.

I’m off to a bad start as I donked of $12 this morning at a .10/.25 NLHE short handed table.

Hey, I forgot a title for this Post.

As I’ve started playing in blogger tournaments, I should probably start… um… blogging… again.

I’m not really competing for any of the points since I’ve only played in two events, but it’s giving me some MTT experience, instead of just the huge fields at the FTP regular tournaments. The I played in the 4/16 MATH (Mondays at the Hoy) as well as last nights MATH.

I felt I played well in both but made a questionable call in the end and that cost me.


Last week- I was low stacked:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2227456431: Mondays at the Hoy (16395575), Table 1 - 250/500 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:20:08 ET - 2007/04/17
Seat 1: Unimpressed (7,283) - Button
Seat 2: dbirider (15,724) - SB
Seat 3: BuddyDank (4,757) - BB
Seat 4: InstantTragedy (21,408)
Seat 5: scurvydog (19,505)
Seat 6: summer_babe (29,039)
Seat 7: cracknaces (21,648)
Seat 9: TripJax (27,636)

dbirider posts the small blind of 250
BuddyDank posts the big blind of 500

Dealt to Unimpressed [Kd Ah]
Folds aroundsummer_babe raises to 1,000
TripJax raises to 4,000

I was the 2nd shortest in chips. The thought crossed my mind to fold, but I didn’t take the time to really consider it and I pushed.

Unimpressed raises to 7,233, and is all in
summer_babe folds
TripJax calls 3,233 and shows AA.

Now I’m not one to worry about bubbling (even though my bankroll has been hurting and even 6th place money would help.

With that being said, I think a fold might have been the correct play. Why?
Well with these blogger tournaments, as with most tournaments where the players play with each other on a regular basis, you get a little bit better play than your typical anonymous play. If you’re playing with people you know, or play with a lot and you keep on making donkalicious plays, they’re going to hound you about it. With that being said…
Summer_babe is the big stack. She raises (granted a min-raise) and TripJax, second in chips re-raises. Now the re-raise alone is a signal of a decent hand, but the fact that 2nd in chips was raising the chip leader says his hand is even bigger than just a re-raise.

I don’t know, maybe with my amount of chips I had, I had to play this hand. But then that’s playing my cards and not the player. I have a poll on the Ante Up Nation’s forums if you want to take a look.

I have more to write about, but for now I'll leave it at this.

Hey, That's My Nickname!

The part about him popping up every so often.

And Now For Some Poker

I have succeeded in playing some-what less, including 2-3 days of no play.

I wasn't even planning on playing last night, but an online group I know, plays a $20+2 tournament. Most people know each other very well from the message boards.

It's technically a MTT but usually has no more than two tables. Mondays I have class and don't get home in time. However, last night class ended early and I got home 10 minutes before the tournament started. The mrs and baby were sleeping, so I figured, what the hell.


I played pretty well- made a few good plays, was able to steal some pots with continuation bets, got some hands. Early on, I was 2nd in chips by about 30 (well exactly 30). The slightly bigger stack raised (either UTG or UTG+1).

It was early and I think she made it 180. I re-raised with AA on the button to 500. She calls.

Flop comes Q high and she insta-pushes. I think, but not for long, since I believe she would have checked a set. I call and she flips over AQ and she's crippled and I'm big stack. I pretty much had the chip lead until we got very short-handed.

Another key hand I put on a pretty big beat. Blinds I think were 60/120. I was in the BB with 9d7d. The UTG was super short stacked. He had around 450. He pushes. Everyone folds to me.

NOTE: UTG was the guy in the BB on this hand. At the time with 7s8s, I flopped trip 7s vs his AK. Now I realize that time, it was a bad call because there were bigger stacks behind me left to act and I only called. Pushing would have been a better option than calling. Either way... Now, same guy.

He pushed for about 450, and it folds around to me. I know I'm beat, but I have over 5000 in chips. There's about 7 players left. Only top 4 pays. I have a big enough stack that calling him will NOT hurt me in anyway AND I have a chance to knock out a player.

As you can guess, I call. He flips over TT. Flop gives me a pair of 7s, and the turn brings the 9 and he's out. He was less than happy about it.

I did get AA two more times. the 2nd time I got nothing but the blinds, and the third time I managed to knock out a smaller stack.

When we got to 4 and 5 handed things definitely slowed down, despite the bigger blinds. What was funny was that I played pretty tight the entire game. But did show two bluffs.. one was a semi-bluff...

When we were short handed, I lost the chip lead. The previous hand I ended up turning 2 pair, but the river brought I believe 4 to a straight on the board and had to let my hand go when someone pushed.

The next hand I was dealt 72 soooted. I raised made it a pot sized bet I think it was about 700. I get one caller. The flop comes with a 2-K- and I think a middlish card. I bet the pot about 1400 and it leaves me with only about 1300. My opponent thinks for a while and folds. I show my pair of 2s. He wasn't happy about that.

I got 72 and bluffed, but can't remember if I won teh hand or the raise or had to make a 2nd stab at it. I showed it again and people were really getting annoyed.

I get to heads up against the first guy I bluffed 72 off and had him down low, then he started to build back up, I'd knock him down a bit, and he'd build back up.

It ended when he raised from the button and I called with JT. Flop gives me 2 pair and I check. He checks. I check the turn he pushes and I call. he had K4 suited- no draws.

Nice win booked for $88.

How To Break Your Child's Heart

This was going to be a post about how we broke our daughters heart by making her give up her binky (pacifier for you non-parents out there).

Basically, a couple of days after we got home from vacation we noticed that her binky was about to break and if broke while she slept, she could choke. Of course we noticed just as she was getting ready for bed (the only time she uses her binky). We explained that she couldn't use it, gave her options- use it until fall asleep, then the Binky-Fairy comes, offered to take her to Build-a-Bear, and put binky inside the bear. The whole time, all three of us are crying. She refuses all that and all she wants to do is throw it away. It was breaking out heart to watch her cry and cry as she drops her binky in the kitchen garbage.

The point of this is to focus on what a resilient daughter I have. As I wrote earlier, she was a perfect angel during our crappy travel day. And after the tears were shed and we went upstairs to read, she was in a good mood. She hasn't asked us for it since.

We are very lucky.

Crappy Travel Day

As some of you read, I took a vacation with my wife and daughter. We went to Florida to visit my family. I’ve traveled a lot. I enjoy traveling, except the occasions when I get massive headaches that literally (and yes I’m using that term appropriately- make it feel like my head is about to explode). One time when I traveled for business and landed for a layover, I got off the plane, rounded a corner, dropped my carry-ons and started bawling my eyes out. I had to call my wife, still crying to tell her I loved her because I was scared I was about to die. I almost couldn’t bring myself to get on the next flight.

OK, Anyway, the point, I’ve traveled plenty and had my share of hiccups, missed flights, delayed flights (I’ve been stranded at O’Hare a few times, including sleeping in the terminal on my luggage), I’ve had luggage lost, all the typical issues. But this was one of the worst.

The day were supposed to fly, they’re of course predicting horrible weather in the northeast. So I check the Southwest website. A 10 minute delay, no biggie. We’re about an hour and a half from the airport, so we head out. My dad is driving us. “You should call the airline and see what the status is.” I tell him it’s too early. It was just delayed 10 minutes. And honestly, I just want to get to the airport. I’m expecting a delay. With this kind of weather, it’s gonna come. But I want to be at the airport to be prepared for any changes. I don’t call. Finally, we’re almost at the airport… my dad again, suggests I call. “OK, fine, I will.” I call their automated line and enter the flight number.

“The flight has been canceled.” No one believes me and thinks I’m kidding. I repeat myself numerous times and I’m transferred to an agent to help reschedule. We’re driving and can’t decide on what we want to do so decide to hang up and once we know what we want to do, call them back. We make a decision to get on the first flight in the morning. I call them back, and when I enter my flight # it says it will transfer me, then transfers me to a Bank of America customer service line? HUH? I hang up again, this time, it just hangs up on me when I transfer.

I finally get a hold of someone and book on the first flight in the morning, 9:40am. We turn around and get back to my folks place. Most of us are all in pissy moods. Things get better around dinner time and we’re all happy again.

We get up super early to get to the airport, again, anticipating a delay from the heavy snow that night. Sure enough, 3 hour delay. Our 9:40 flight takes off at 12:30. The flight is an easy one, we land around 3pm and go to get our luggage.

Lambert Airport in St. Louis was the worst baggage claim I’ve ever had to deal with, it ALWAYS took forever, and it wasn’t that big of an airport. We had to wait about an hour and a half before they finally spit out luggage out.

Now during all this, I have to say, my daughter was an ABSOLUTE angel. She was so good and happy. She played, she read, she watched her DVD player (even though there was a big crack in the screen right in the center). She was perfect. She made it sooo much easier than it could have been

Instead of going right home, we stopped Friendly’s for dinner. Then got home. Then spent 2 hours shoveling our driveway in the dark. What was about 6-8 inches on the driveway, was a foot of snow, solid, heavy icy snow, that the street plows had pushed onto my driveway.

The end of a perfect day.

Tilt and Bank Roll Management

I recently suffered some stingy losses. And they weren't my fault. Sure there was some bad play, but it wasn't my fault. I was suffering from Tilt.... and poor bankroll management.

I had my bankroll down to $175. With that amount, I should only be buying in for $5 @ a .05/.10 NL table. BUT I decided to buy in for 30, at a deep stack .10/.30 table. I blew through $30 pretty quickly. OK, I can get that back. Play tight and wait for a big hand. I buy in for $30. I lose that through bad play. OK... $30 more.. I'll REALLY be patient this time. Type your

I'm in the BB w/ LeDawn (Kc7c). One person min raises, and I call. Flop comes with a 7, and one club. I'm not going crazy, I check, so does he. Flop comes another club. I check, so does he. River comes a 3rd club. Ta da... Got what I wanted. He ends up pushing and I call. He shows AcQc. At the same time I lost $10 at .10/.25 table. I'm Tilty McTilterson. I blew through $100 of my $175 in less than an hour.

I didn't learn my lesson. When I returned home from taking my daughter to day care, I had about an 30 mins to play. I bought in for $10 at the .10/.25 (instead of $5 @ .05/.10).

I managed to get JJ and double up when the guy didn't hit his draw. Then my ride showed up and got JJ again (it was the VERY next hand). I'm Tilty! I have about $18.00. One limper, I push all in. Limper calls.... WITH KJ!!!!! My hand holds up and I made a nice little profit.

When I got back from my appointment I played the $5 @ .05/.10 nl short hand, and managed to turn a profit there (after re-buying).

So I'm just over $100 and basically have to see if I can rebuild this sucker. But seriously, I'm going away for a week and probably won't play much.

Seriously...

No really...

Well maybe a little bit...

Shut it!

Big Hands

I love AA vs AA vs XX. XX wisely folded, and unfortuantely the amount he put in first was not enough to cover the rake, which meant, that it was going to be a loss for the two of us.

I love AA vs AA with a flop of 3 diamonds.

I love AA vs AA with a flop of 3 diamonds. Then a river of the 4th diamond.

I love AA vs AA when I have the Ace of Diamonds :)

The Crackhouse

Dawn has already put a small post about it at I Had Outs. But I did make it to the Crackhouse's March game. And while they assure me it was a shell of it's usual self, I still had a good time. Definitely an -EV trip in terms of cash, but well worth it to see the last half of Talladega Nights. No not really. The real pleasure was meeting the two hosts of my favorite Poker Blog. And putting faces to some of the other names that pop up on the blog (Mary, Alceste, as well as Dawn and Karol).

A mere 8 people showed up with a buy-in of $30 and one rebuy in the 1st 2 hours (only one person used it). I was short-stacked for quite a while. I didn't even have enough chips to shuffle. But the lovely Karol (or is it fiery, I can't remember which) was nice enough to loan me some chips to shuffle. I was good in that I never bet them. Which I was tempted to do. I, of course, repaid her kindness by turning a 3 in when my 33 went up against her JJ.... um... sorry.

My favorite quote of the night was curtesy of Karol after that beat.

Me: Republican money is the best money.
Karol: All money is Republican money.

Ladies, I had a fun time. And hopefully can get a chance to play again. Let me know when you can make it up to Foxwoods and I'll meet you out there.

The Slump

Well, throughout February, I turned by poker around and turned my last $20.00 into $400.00. Over the last week or two, I've taken cash from people and transferred some money to their Full Tilt account. I went on a run of excellent finishes in the $11+1 Turbo SnGs. Now I've been slumping in my SnGs and haven't been performing up to snuff in my cash games either. Yuck. I've dropped my $400.00 down to $178 (the extra 29 came from finally breaking my streak and finishing 2nd in one of those SnGs). The only bright side is that I'm still up for the year, depositing a total of $150 (and I've "withdrawn" $110 that I transferred to other people).

So my game has gone to crap and I think I'm going to take a hiatus. It might actually be a two weeks until I play again...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Yeah right.

Seriously, I am going on vacation with the family to Florida, so we'll see. My mom has a laptop so maybe I'll be sitting by the pool playing some poker. Basically the rest of the week I want to limit my playing time... We'll see how that goes.

People Disgust Me

Father, daughter die in suspicious plane crash

While I believe, suicide is never a solution, if you're gonna do it, be a fuckin' man and do it alone. Who the hell takes their daughter with them. Asshole.

I'm No David Williams

Not only haven't I performed in a S&M pornographic movie, and I'm not a cheating Tournament Magic: The Gathering Player. But I also can't lay down a set.

For any of you that watch UPC: Cash Poker, David Williams was in position against two other players. He had pocket 10s. I don't remember the flop, but he flopped a set. Player A (a hyper aggressive player) flopped a straight draw. He bet out, Player B flopped the straight. He pushes all-in for about $20K. David Williams has a look of complete shock on his face. He takes a couple of seconds then mucks it. Player A folds as well and David Williams had to wait until it airs to know he made a great laydown.

Had a similiar situation (different position) happen last night at a .10/.25NL (6max).

Full Tilt Poker Game #1902507686: Table Jeanne (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:43:55 ET - 2007/03/02
Seat 1: pmpdaddyred ($46.75)
Seat 2: Leviathan101 ($66.65)
Seat 3: TruePlayya ($24.40)
Seat 4: KULakester ($48.60), is sitting out
Seat 5: Unimpressed ($16.85) (I bought in for $15 and fluctuated btwn $10-$20)
Seat 6: Johnam ($21.10)
Unimpressed posts the small blind of $0.10
Johnam posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Unimpressed [4s 4d]
pmpdaddyred calls $0.25
Leviathan101 folds
TruePlayya calls $0.25
Unimpressed calls $0.15
Johnam raises to $0.50 - I seriously hate the min raise?
pmpdaddyred calls $0.25
TruePlayya calls $0.25
Unimpressed calls $0.25
*** FLOP *** [7s 3h 4c] - SWEET.
Unimpressed checks
Johnam bets $1
pmpdaddyred raises to $4
TruePlayya calls $4
Unimpressed raises to $16.35, and is all in
Johnam raises to $20.60, and is all in
pmpdaddyred folds
TruePlayya: YES
TruePlayya: shipit - Never mock on Full Tilt.
TruePlayya: sexy
TruePlayya calls $16.60
Johnam shows [Ac As]
TruePlayya shows [6s 5s]
Unimpressed shows [4s 4d]
*** TURN *** [7s 3h 4c] [7h] - Oh the seven, how I love thee! no 7 no ace, no 7 no ace!
*** RIVER *** [7s 3h 4c 7h] [9h]
Johnam shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
TruePlayya shows a straight, Seven high
TruePlayya wins the side pot ($8.25) with a straight, Seven high
Unimpressed shows a full house, Fours full of Sevens
Unimpressed wins the main pot ($52.30) with a full house, Fours full of Sevens
pmpdaddyred: hahaha
Unimpressed: Or not.
Johnam is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $63.55 Main pot $55.05. Side pot $8.50. Rake $3
Board: [7s 3h 4c 7h 9h]
Seat 1: pmpdaddyred folded on the Flop
Seat 2: Leviathan101 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: TruePlayya (button) showed [6s 5s] and won ($8.25) with a straight, Seven high
Seat 4: KULakester is sitting out
Seat 5: Unimpressed (small blind) showed [4s 4d] and won ($52.30) with a full house, Fours full of Sevens
Seat 6: Johnam (big blind) showed [Ac As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sevens

So for those monitoring my diet. I've lost 20.5 lbs since the new year.

For those watching my bankroll, I've turned my $20 into $375 (that also takes into consideration the $50 I transferred to a friend who gave me cash in person).

"We will not compromise on our food and restaurant quality"

Rats in NY

I don't like rats in my food either, but seriously.. "compromise... our food and restuarant quality." It's a Taco Bell/KFC. I think the rats might help.

Thanks Kotk17

Just wanted to say thanks to Kotk17 for stopping by the FTP table I was playing last night and chatting a little bit. Nice to know there is more than 1 person who occasionally reads this blog. See ya around the tables Kotk17... remember game selection to match your playing style. Tight look for a table with high percentage of people seeing flops. Are you a loose player? Look for tables with a small percentage of people seeing flops.

$10

Wow, just had a good night last night. Bought into the .10/.25 table with $10.00. Little while later I cashed out with $70. $60/hour. Not too shabby. I was up to about 30 when I had QQ. The guy to my right raised, I re-raised, he called. Flop comes all low cards. He a small amount, I raise, he re-raises and I push all in. He says he knows he's beat and calls with JJ. I double up through him.

This morning, I quickly threw in $25 onto a table. And walked away 15 minutes later (had to go to work) with a $20 profit.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

My wife's cousin came over with her husband and daughter this weekend. While they were very helpful with some tasks around the house, they said one of the scariest things ever.

"Our daughter has an imaginary friend. Donnie in the Basement. Not even just Donnie, but Donnie in the Basement. She told me the other day, 'Don't worry Donnie in the Basement won't cut you.'"

Unfortunately for them they just moved out of their old house and apparently Donnie in the Basement came with them.

A MTT WIN

OK, so there were only 19 people. It started of Shorthanded, but I knocked someone out relatively quickly with AK vs AQ. AK held up.

One key hand, I thought I played good, but apparently not (judging by the polls).

6 people left and top 4 pay.
100/200 Blinds
Seat 2: some player (10,192)
Seat 4: some player (2,085)
Seat 5: SB (7,870)
Seat 6: BB (1,010)
Seat 7: Unimpressed (3,755)
Seat 8: UTG+2 (3,588)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Unimpressed [7c 8c]
Unimpressed calls 200
UTG+1 calls 200
some player folds
some player folds
SB calls 100
BB raises to 1,010, and is all in
------------

Ultimately I didn't want to give the BB a walk. No one showed any strength so I figured a call might be good (since the BB could push with any hand at that point). Plus if the UTG+1 or the SB pushed, I could fold and still have enough chips to survive. The money was right (call 810 to win 1600) and with him possibly having anything, I figured at worst I was a 3:2 dog, which heads up is the right pot odds. Apparently with 2 people left to act, I should have folded or maybe pushed to isolate.

Well I just called. The other two folded. BB actually had a hand, but not a pair. He flips over AK which was pretty much what I figured (though was really hoping for a bluff, but figured it wasn't likely). The flop pretty much sealed the deal with 7-7-x. The turn was a blank which did seal the deal. The BB was NOT happy with my call. Oh well.

I made a few donk calls after that and was short stacked, but two timely sets allowed me to double up. The heads up match was again the SB in that hand and I started with a big chip lead. He get some back then lose it. Then get some back, then lose it. Until finally we got all the money in with AJ vs KQ and my AJ held up.

So while it was really like a 18 handed SnG, it was technically a MTT, we even got to the antes. So technically it was my first MTT win.

And a DIET update: I've lost 17 lbs so far this year. Weight Watchers works!

Back in the Game

In January I deposited $100.00. Went through it in 4 days. 1/2 of it went down to a bad beat when I jumped into a $1/$2 NL game with $50. Bad bankroll management? Not really, since it wasn't a bankroll, just a deposit. And one of the things I wanted to do with the deposit was either play in a $50 SnG or a bigger stakes cash game. I chose the higher stakes and had my AA cracked by AT. Shortly there after, the rest was gone.

In February I decided to do a test deposit, wasn't sure if it was even going to work. It did, so I put in another $50. This time, I focused on .05/.10 NL and nothing higher than a $5.00 SnG. I quickly lost about $30 of that. Most of it was becasue of stupid play. I was definitely playing below my ability.

One day I jumped into the usual .05/.10 6-handed NL game as well as a $5.00 SnG. Between the two I was hit with the deck... hell I was hit with like 20 decks and pretty much able to pick any cards I wanted. In the course of an hour I had AA/KK/QQ about 5 times, plus a bunch of AK/AQs. In the SnG I was chip leader and at the cash game, I turned $5.00 into $35. I busted out of the SnG just out of the money, then I got into a big hand and lost about $20 on a questionable call. I stilled ended with $15 from a $5 buy-in.

But it got me thinking. I was lucky enough to get most of the money I recently lost and blew a big portion on what might have been a questionable call. (I had J6 in the BB- there are a couple of limpers, I just check. Flop comes J-J-x. I bet, get 2 callers, Turn is a blank (no draws), I bet and get one caller (he has the 2nd biggest stack). River is another Blank. I believe I checked, in case he had another Jack. He pushes all-in. I call and he has QJ). Hard to get away from that. I should have bet the river, and if he came over the top I might have been able to throw it away. My check showed weakness and his push-in could easily have screamed of desperation.

Basically, the situation (not the hand) caused me to pay more attention to my play and even at these micro-limits there is definitely room for thinking. I don't plan on making this my living, but I'd like to build up a bankroll where I can play higher limits like 1/2 or 2/4 and not blow my wad. Maybe withdraw some cash (once the whole UIGEA is figured out) to buy some luxury items.

So I made a conscious effort to turn my play around. I've even made some rudimentary attempts at game selection. I'm looking for active games. Higher percentages of people seeing flops, higher average pots. This will allow me to play a bit tighter and wait for big hands. I've stuck to the micro limits - .05/.10 and .10/.25- no limit, mostly short handed. I've played a few SnGs (short handed, full or heads up- $5.00 buy-in). But not performed particularly well in those.

The cash games have been a lot better. After losing the initial $30 from the most recent deposit(combo of cash games and SNG), I've had one losing session and that was only because I cut it short. Twice I lost my initial $10 buy-in, but rebought for another 10 and both times won back my lost buy-in plus some more.

So here I am, one week since my $50 deposit. 1 week from losing a total of $130 for the year. When I closed out a cash game last night... I am a PROFITABLE player for 2007. I've turned that last $50 deposit it to $152. Sure it's only a $2 for the year so far, but it's nice to know that I was able to dig myself out of the hole I put myself in.

I understand that it can get unlucky and bad beats happen, that's part of the game. But I'm going to stick with the micro games until I get my bankroll up. I actually want to turn this INTO a bankroll.

Neteller & Live At The Bike

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.

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

My Rakeback

I went broke on FTP a few weeks ago and have been busy with school so I haven't reloaded. Well I just got my rakeback deposit... woo hoo $5.58. I contemplated a few things, $1.00 tournaments/SNG, one $5.00 one, or just cash games. Ultimately I chose the cash game option and onto a table DETERMINED to play solid poker (I was working on my paper at the same time, hoping that would keep me tight).

After about an hour, I'm at $1.20. OUCH. I was pretty annoyed with my craptastic play. I was pretty much done. I'm in the BB with K2 suited. No raises, so I just check my option (there are about 4 limpers. The flop comes K-6-9 w/ 2 diamonds (I have none). Early position bets a little less than the pot, everyone folds to me. I'm about to throw it away, but tired of my recent play, I decide that I really shouldn't be playing right now and punish myself with a donkey push. Bettor calls and shows his better kicker- KT.
The old adage applies: "God protects fools and drunks." I was not drunk.

2 on the river, and I double up.

I see this as a reprieve and that I should stop being a dumb-ass. I double up again and eventually manage to push my stack to almost 10 bucks. I drop down to under five again when I make some bad plays (I still consider myself a beginner and a couple of times overvalue the flush draw- calling pot sized raises and folding when I miss the river),but worked it back up. I made some good calls, figuring a guy for weak and calling a continuation bet and a turn bet with ace high. Guy backed down on the river and checked and I had him beat.

The final play of the night, I'm not sure if I made a good play or a bad one. I know I made some mistakes.

I have just over 10 bucks, and am the chip leader.

I'm in middle position and look down at AQ suited.
UG+1 raises to $0.20 (-I hate min raisers).
UG+2 calls
UG+3 calls
I call (-stupid play, I probably should have raised)
BB re-raises to $0.30 (-ok, another min raise).
Everyone calls around to me, (-wow big surprise no one folded for 10 cents there)
(-Now, even though the raises are min raises, a raise and a re-raise could spell trouble. If I raise, someone is likely to raise or push all-in with AK or even a middle or high pocket pair, forcing me to fold. But I'm not folding when it'll cost me .10 to win 1.45- or is it 1.55 including my .10).
So I call.

Flop comes 9-A-5 rainbow.
BB is short stacked and has about 1.50 in his stack. He pushes. (-I knew he would. My thought process is that if anyone raises his bet, I gotta let the hand go)
UG+1 folds
UG+2 just calls. (-he's got about 3 bucks left after the call)
UG+3 folds
(-Well I'm closing the action here and no one raised.)
I call. (-I'm really hoping to be able to check to the river on this (but that's not as likely in a cash game as a tournament.)

Turn: Q. (-yahoo)
UG+2 checks. (-Checking to the river is no longer gonna happen)
(-There's about $6 in the pot and he has $3 left)
I push.
UTG+2 thinks for a second then calls.
(-I'm surprised when the hands are flipped up. Not because of how they were played, but because I was right on my reads after the flop. I figured AK vs 2 pair but at this level it could have been AT vs AJ or almost any two aces. I just didn't trust my reads enough to get away from the hand... and I'm glad I didn't)
BB shows AK
UTG+2 shows A9.
(-now I was UTG+2 played it, he could have had a pocket pair that flopped a set, but I was pretty sure BB didn't have a pocket pair. I don't think he would have re-raised, either just called the .20 or put in a large re-raise to protect his hand.)

The river is no 9 or K and I scoop a big pot.


I finished the night @ about $16.00.

And I finished the paper... unfortunately I stayed up until 3:30 am playing Call of Duty 3. I'm tired.

December Homegame

It's been almost 9 months since my last home game. The last time I was able to make it, we only had 3 or 4 people, so we went to Foxwoods instead. The nice thing was that the host pushed it out one week because it was the only weekend I could play.

I've mentioned it before, but the home game is like a WPT Touranment. Blinds DOUBLE every 15 minutes. At the end it's pretty much an All-in 'fest. Buy in is usually $10.00. But you get $20.00 in chips. Blinds start @ .25/.50, and like I said, double every 15 mins (so we never have 3-6 or 5-10, it's 4-8 ,to 8-16). We start at 3pm and pretty much play until midnight, usually getting in about 6 games.

We normally have between 7-12 players with 7 of them being regulars. There are no players that are CLEARLY better than the rest, but there are some others that are "easier" than the others.

This month there were 7 players (payout being $50/$20). We had most of the regulars and one guy who's been there a couple of times. No one new. Most are decent players (for low limit players). With a few extremes:
Crazy Luckbox- I have a reputation for being aggressive and not afraid to throw my chips around, but this guy is nuts... and lucky.
Mr. The Rock- Tight player, easy to read.
Mr. Station- annoying as hell, easy to read, will call with pair or draw until the river and fold at that point, easy to tilt too.
The other three aren't as easy to read, so I haven't put much effort into it.

Because we had only 7 players, 2nd gets 2x the buy in back and winner gets the rest. The first game, I didn't do much, except I knocked out the luckbox. He's always been the bane of my existence at the homegame.

The second game, I managed to get heads up with the guy who gave me the Herpes nickname. I was severly shortstacked. But was destined to win as I hit every hand and double up a number of times. Pretty much there was nothing he could do.

The 3rd game started and I was just on a roll. Winning one of these pretty means you're freerolling for the rest of the night. At worst you end up even. It opens up your game a little bit. I basically opened up my starting hands a little (which are loose to being with). I ended up heads up with the same guy again. This time we started about even in chips. The lead went back and forth. The final hand was good one (wish I could remember what each of our hands were). I was first to act. And limped. He checked (neither of us are afraid to play after the flop). The flop hit me with, giving me a pair of 9s. I bet and he called. Turn was a 10. This gave me a open ender. I checked and surprisingly he checked. The river was a Q. giving me a straight. I think about it for a while, and take a big risk and check. He thinks for a second and pushes all-in. He was barely done saying all-in when I call and flip over my straight. It's a great feeling to set someone up.

The 4th and 5th games, I didn't do much, other than tilt Mr. Station and bust Mr. Luckbox. Mr. Station actually won one and so did Mr. Rock.

The final game I finished 2nd (AGAIN heads up with nickname giver). He set me up nicely after the flop. Flop came K-K-x. we both check. Turn is a 6 (which pairs me). He checks and I push all in. He calls and flips over the K. Unfortunately there was only 6 folks in that one so 2nd place got the buy-in back.

It was a good time and I came home up about 40 bucks, which includes all the buy-ins, chips and soda and ordering food.

Can't wait for the next one.

I Failed!

My self-quaratine from poker failed miserably. I definitely have a problem... I even donked off a bunch of my most recent deposit, but got some of that back between SitnGos and micro-limit Cash games.

But I thought I would take this time to mention some hands on FTP last night in an SnG. People are always talking about sucks outs and bad beats that they see at FullTilt, and I've seen my share, but I was playing in an 18person $5.00 +$.50, SnG. I made the final table and cashed in 4th (the first money spot). But to get there I had hands that held up. Two or three times, I had all my chips (I was short stacked a for a while) in with top pair or 2 pair, and my opponent would show either a flush draw or a straight draw. Those draws never made it, and I stayed in the tournament. And on my final hand, I had A10 vs KK, and guess what, an ACE didn't come. KKs knocked me out.

What does this mean? Well basically it means, take the time to notice when you're good hands hold up. Makes it easier to digest the times that they don't. If there wasn't chance/luck in poker, it would be called Chess.

Frustration

I'm back in school and that is going to be taking a lot of my time with papers and readings this semester, so I've decided to take a break from online poker. Basically if I'm going to be working on my computer I should be doing school work. OK, I'm working on it. But boy was I looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend. My brother in law was going to set up one of his $50 buy-in home games. A bit steep, but I've won that last two. I talked to him and he said to come down to the restuarant and we'd be playing around 11pm. So I get there only to find out that most of the people decided not to play. He tries to get a 4th person. That person agrees, but then leaves without a word. So we scrap the game and I head to back to the house. I decide, that this is a special occasion, and throw some cash onto Full Tilt and start playing.

I jump in the $10+1 Midnight Madness Tournament, which is a fun one. Played and sweated a buddy of mine who was also playing. 1300+ people, I finished 160. Won about 2x the buy-in. Unfortunately I dusted off a bunch of other money playing other MTT SnGs.

Finally I sat down at a micro-limil NL cash game, and won enough to be just about even for the night. Finally had to call it a night @ 3am.

Big hand of the night in the cash game.
I had pocket 4s and was playing with a maniac.
Flop was 3-6-Q. He bet a little less than the pot, I called.
Turn: Q. He bet again, I called.
River: x but it was higher than my pair.
He pushes all in, which was about 2x the pot, but that was less than 20% of my stack (i'd still be showing a profit it I call and lost). I think and because he's too much of a maniac, I called. He showed 7-3, and I stacked him.

Left shortly after since after he left it was just me and another guy, who was a pretty big luckbox.

Channeling Jack Straus

"Chip and a Chair"

Sure this wasn't the WSOP Main Event, it was only a $5 + $0.40 Heads Up Shootout (4 players) on FullTilt.

I ended up my first headsup opponent in 23 hands.

BLINDS ARE 15/30
The first hand of my second match (each have 3000 chips), I'm dealt A3o. I call the BB and my opponent just checks.
*** FLOP *** [Ah 9c Qd]
I simply bet the 1/2 the pot (30) and my opponent folds. I win 60 chips.

Hand 2. I'm in the BB with 6c4c. Opponent calls the BB, I simply check.
*** FLOP *** [3d 2h 5s]
BINGO! Can't beat that flop. I bet the pot (T60). He smooth calls.
*** TURN *** [3d 2h 5s] [5d]
Stupiditiy abounds here. I bet the pot (T180). I get min raised to T360. I raise to T1,260. He raises to T2,160. I finish it off, pushing all-in to T2940. He calls his last T720. I get T60 back (woo freakin' hoo).

My opponent flips over his Quad 5s. I'm done. I congradulate him on a good game. And wait to throw in my final chips.

Chip Count (T5940 vs T60).
I'm dealt 6c9c in the SB. and I push all in for 60. I hope he folds (yeah right). He calls, and shows pocket 3s.
I flop two pair and double up.

(T5880 vs T120).
Next hand I'm dealt pocket 7s. I push all in and he calls with Q7. My hand holds up.

(T5760 vs T240)
I call the BB (additional 30) w/ Jd2d. We check it down and he catches a 5 on the river.

(T5790 vs T210) - Blinds increase to 20/40.
He min raises to 80, I push all in with KQo and he folds. More chips!

(T5710 vs T290)
I have Q6o. Call the BB. FLOP is [4s 3h 3s]. We both check. TURN: Qc. He bets 80, I push all in and he calls. He shows 4dTd. The river is a 3, giving me a better boat.

(T5420 vs T580)- I definitely have some breathing room now (with the blinds 20/40), despite the huge chip disadvantage. That was the 7th hand of heads up with this guy.

A few hands go by where not much happened. We checked down to the river, only losing the blinds, or I fold to a bet on the turn.

Hand #10. (T5340 vs T660)
I'm dealt 57off in the SB. I limp he min raises to T80. I call.
*** FLOP *** [Kh 5h 5d]
Opponent bets T160, I of course push, he calls and shows KJo. I, of course and sweating because preflop I was 98% to lose. No improvement for him and I have T1320!

Again there's a lot of checking down or folding to bets. I re-raise him a few times to take down pots.

(T3710 vs T2290)
Hand #58 - blinds are 40/80.
I'm dealt KJ in the BB. He limps, I just check.

*** FLOP *** [Qh 6h Ks]
I check, he bets T160, I just call.
*** TURN *** [6c]
We both check.
*** RIVER *** [8s]
I bet the pot T480. He calls.

I show my KJ, he shows T8 and I take down a T1440 pot to take a slight chip lead.

(T2990 vs T3010)
ABout 10 hands later, I lose the chip lead when I bluff of 1200 in chips, trying to represent a flush with 4 spades on the board. I bet 1/2 the pot value bet bluff on the river, he calls with 2 pair. I wonder if I bet more if he would have folded?

(T3600 vs T2400) - Blinds 50/100
I beat Kojack AGAIN this time with KQ. I'm in the SB. He min raises to T200, I call.
*** FLOP *** [Qc 4c 2s]
I check, he bets T400, I min raise to T800, he calls.
*** TURN *** [Ks]
I check, he pushes all-in, I call for my last T1400. He shows his KJ, I shows my KQ for two pair. The RIVER brings an unneeded Q for my boat. I'm the chip leader again.

(T1200 vs T4800).
It's over two hands later.
(T1100 vs T4900)
He raises to T200, I call with Kd7c.
*** FLOP *** [Tc 8h 9d] I hit an open ender, but with the idiots end. The reasoning behind my next move was two fold. First it was late (3:30am) and second, I figure I could push him around, and even if he wins, I would still have a slight chip lead. I pushed All-in. T4700 (though really only the T900 he had) into a 400 pot. He calls with AJ. He also has the, I guess, genius end of the OESD.
*** TURN *** [Js] Gives me the straight.
*** RIVER *** [Qd] For a split second I thought this was a chop giving us both the Q high straight on the board, but then I noticed my little King sitting there, all neglected, giving me a K high straight and taking down the Shootout.

A hard fought battle and a the biggest comeback I've ever faced. 99 to 1 chip deficit. Probably won't do that again in my life.

HERPES LIVES!

post soon

Had the second greatest comeback story. EVER. Ok, maybe second only to Jack Staus. I'll post soon (those of you from MSR got a short version) as soon as FTP sends it to me (don't ask).

Suck Out Saves The Day

Playing in a NL game on FTP, this morning. I bought in for the max. And a few hands in I'm dealt KcQc in the SB. EP guy raises to 3x the BB. MP, Button, Me, BB all call. Five to the flop.

FLOP: 5d - Kh - 6d.

I bet the Pot, it folds around to BB, who min raises me pretty quickly. I think about just calling, but the moron in me says RAISE, RAISE!!!! So I push all-in. Stupid! He insta-calls and has me covered by a little bit.

He shows AdKd, for top pair, top kicker WITH the nut flush draw. Kickin' myself.

TURN: Qs - JACK POT!

Now I have to dodge an ace and any diamond.

RIVER: 5c. WOO HOO!!

My first suck out... EVER!!!!







No, not really, but probably my biggest win from a suckout.

... And Sometimes You're Just a Big F'in Donkey!

The Ante Up AIPS Touranment's 9th Event took place Thursday night. It was a Limit Hold 'em Event, which I've been doing quite well in LHE cash games. Yes, tournaments are different (with blinds increasing) but that still didn't explain my total sucking and playing soooo loose, and betting down to the river with absolutely nothing. It was ugly. Horribly ugly. I did play some limit cash games after I busted out (I think I was 4th out or something) and make some of that back. Still, overall, it was a disappointing evening.

----
I'm clumsy, but it's never cost me $139 million.

Sometimes You're Just Not Meant to Win.

That's not to say you won't cash, but you're not going to win.

I entered a 45-person SnG. While I waited for it to start I "sat" down at a .50/1.00 limit and proceeded to win my buy-in to the SnG, plus the money I lost earlier. YEAH! Free SnG.

So it starts, and I wait, and I wait, and I wait. I'm not playing supertight, but I'm not going broke with top pair either. Most of the time I'm below average in chips. At around 3 tables, I being to accumulate decent chips. I make the final table with about average (top 6 pay). I make the money and sometime after # 6 busts out, I'm chip leader. To a point where I have almost 30k, and 2nd has about 17k, and the last three have between 5k-7k. I lose some chips, but not too many. Still have a healthy lead.

I'm dealt AKs in UTG. I make a raise of about 3.5x the BB. Folds around to the BB. My raise is for nearly all his chips so he pretty much has to push. It's nothing to me. I call. He shows a beautiful AQ. I'm doin' the Cabbage Patch at my desk. Oh wait... I need to see a flop. How bad can it be.

Q-x-Q. Ouch. Ok, I have about 19K in chips. I'm still good.

Next hand, I have ATs in the big blind. There's two limpers, including the small blind (AQ guy). I push to take the pot. One folds, but SB calls, he's all in again. I have him beat (but not too bad this time) as he flips over KQ. Of course he rivers a K. I'm suddenly in a 3 way race for last. I feel a little tilt coming on but manage to shake it off and play smart. I still have enough chips to make people fold (my stack is about 1/3 of the chip leader). I steal some blinds with K3s and the like. I actually get up to 2nd place. In the end, I get crippled (by the same guy who sucked out on me twice), but I forgot the hand. I'm left with barely any chips left. Wasn't even enough for the BB (which I was). They both call and check it down. I'm outta there, but I finished in third and had a decent payday (about 7x the buy-in).

It feels good to play good poker... especially after donking off so much on Sunday morning.

Picture Moths Flying Out of My Pockets.

Well for the last week or two, I've been messing around with about $100 on FTP, I've been up, I've been down, nothing unusual. I'm at the in-laws this weekend and wake up at 4am. I couldn't fall back asleep. If you get up to use the bathroom you get bombarded by all the dogs (my dog and their two dogs). "Pet me! Pet me! I haven't seen you in years! Love me! Oooh, Let me out! Let me out!"

So I hopped online (ACK MODEM!) and played a mix of cash games (1/2 limit - .25/.50 NL) and some SnGs. Next thing I know, I have just over $20.00 in my account. No that's not a typo, I'm not missing a zero. Donked off about $80 bucks. Grrrr. And I can't even say it's the swing of poker it was lots of donking. Why do I sit there and say, OK, tight, tight, tight... no bluffing. Oops, missed the flop. Only way to win this hand is to bluff. Donk, Donk, Donk.

Monday, I booked a small winning session.... VERY SMALL. So last night I played again. Had enough for a couple of cash game buy-ins, plus a couple of $5.50 SnGs. Played a bunch made it last, but in the end, donked some and got bad beat (see therapy 10/23) a few times.

To quote I Had Outs, "tap, tap, tap." Time to deposit.

$0.25/$0.50 NL

First, as many of you know (yeah, like I'm talking to a huge crowd; Hi Josh and Statikkling!), I play on Full Tilt (I have to redo my FTP adds) and I hear a lot of talk about all the amazing beats that happen. I really don't see it. I get sucked out on and I put beats others. It happens, but nothing out of the ordinary. I was in a SnG last night, and had a guy dominated. He hit his card, and took half my stack. No biggie, didn't get upset. I continued to play good and managed to finish 2nd. I had Ace high on a boards of 2-3-7-7-J. I just didn't think he hit. Figured A high was good. He had KJ. Shoulda known, I was 98% to lose preflopd.

Anyway, I play a lot of 1/2 limit on FTP and am doing well. I've currently giving .25/.50 a try(middle buy-in is $20, just like the 1/2 limit). I have to work on my discipline a little. Which is also the occasional problem at a limit table.

I had started with $20 and worked my way up to $75. I just doubled through one guy. I played J8s and the flop gave me a flush draw (4-5-Q). The turn brought my flush when a 5c popped up. I was heads up against the same guy I doubled through. I bet and he called. The river brought a blank. He put out a about half pot bet. I should have called. He could easily have a better flush PLUS it's a paired board. I should've called, but pushed all in. I had him covered. He called. Flipped over pocket 4s. Flopped his set, turned his boat. Had me the entire way.

I ended up with $22. If I would have called, I would have had just under $40. I still ended up ahead leaving with $45.

Moral: Beware of a paired board.

New Format

I'm really diggin on the new beta format. Hope you guys don't mind the green. Reminds me of money!

Trying to slow down my online poker playing. Haven't been spending that much quality time with the Mrs. recently. Basically we put our daughter to bed, maybe watch TV show or two together, then I'm in the other room playing poker and Xbox. Want to re-establish some intimacy. I don't want it to start to feel like we're room mates.

With that said, Lost and the Nine are on tonight. Awesome shows. I'll get back from school during the middle of Lost, so with the marvel of TiVo, we'll just start watching when I get home.

How did people survive without TiVo?

I'm also falling behind on all my poker podcasts because my Ipod is in the shop! How did we function without Ipods???

Horn High Yo!

Saturday afternoon my buddy swung by the house and off we went to Foxwoods. I've been jonesin' for Foxwoods. We meet up with Buddy 3 (we'll call him Jerk- fyi he's not a jerk, but it's a nickname), and we all get on the list for 2/4 limit. They quickly call all of us and we get put at separate tables. But only one table away from each other. I am the youngest person at my table, by about 30 years. A few times I waited extra long to make a call or bet, hoping the person would die. I figure that means they fold. But alas, they all lived... and they took my $60.00. That didn't bother me. As live $2/$4 can be, it was a chasing game, and a lot of those chases caught. Which whittled down my funds until I had only a few bucks left and got AK. 3 bet preflop, missed the flop, only had about 6 bucks left so made sure I got it all in.

I walked away without any ill feelings. Still rarin' to go. After a 2 hours, my buddies were hungry (This was Jerks first time at a casino and he was feeling self-conscious, like people were talking about him at the table). We decided to hit Fuddruckers.

Jerk didn't feel like going back to the poker tables so we walked around a bit. He played some slots then decided to head out. Left me and my other buddy. We saddled up to a Craps table and threw down some cash. Now I know a little about craps, but my buddy knows a lot. I started off somewhat conservative and slowly built up my chips. I took my initial buy-in off the table and was playing with pure profits. I loosened up a bit, throwing some money on doubles, and occasionally betting High Hand Yo.

This one guy (Yankee Cap Guy)managed to hold on to the dice for 20 minutes. He could almost roll 6's and 8's at will. After a while I pressed some bets on 6 and actually had $56 on it. Luckily I hit the 6 once with that kind of money on it, before he crapped out. I was up about $175 at that point. My buddy and I stuck around another orbit, until Yankee Cap Guy had the dice again. His first roll... a 6. Bunch of money hit the table. Next roll 7. Adios. We left the table, I was up about $125. My buddy was up about $250.

Back in April, Foxwoods upgraded their poker room, making it a World Poker Tour poker room. They added more tables, more tournaments, and even Sit n Go's. We decided to check out the $100.00 SnG ($80+20, yes their rake is high, but their the only game in town). About halfway full. We wait around 10 minutes and they call us. WOO HOO.

I get involved in a couple of pots early, but never really hit anything. I actually folded JJ preflop, when I called an UTG raise, but then a guy after me RE-RAISED, I figured I might be beat. I was disheartened when a J came on the flop. Hand never made it to show down so I don't know if I was beat preflop or not. I think I was. After all that I was down to 1000 chips (starting with 1500). I managed to stick around 1500 for a while. My buddy got bad beat early. There were 8 players left (started 10 handed) my buddy was pushed out of a couple of pots by this one guy. My buddy raise, the guy re-raised all-in (he had my buddy covered). My buddy almost threw his hand away a few times. He said if it was anyone else he would have folded. He finally calls and flips over AJ. His opponent shows AT. My buddy is ECSTATIC! Until the flop comes A-X-T. Rivered another T just for good measure. My buddy stomps off to find a crap game on mega tilt.

I was hit with a smiliar fate when I had JJ later on. Got all my money in preflop (with a slight chip lead) against one opponent. He shows sometimes like QT, I don't even remember. I just know that by the river, I'm screaming for no JACK! As a set for me gives him a straight. Obviously there would be a more cheery tone if the Jack didn't spit in my eye on the river. I can't remember for the LIFE of me what he had. I remember worrying about the jack, but not any other card. And I think I remember someone saying it was a two outer, so maybe he was 10-9 or something, but how could he have called an all-in with 10-9. I know there was an A and a K on the board, the Jack came on the river, but I don't remember the two other cards on the board. I'm pretty sure one was a rag. That frustrates me more than the beat.

Anyway, I picked up A8 in the next hand in the cutoff. There are a couple of limpers so I push my remaining stack in. I get one caller. He flips over A5. My hand holds up. And I'm still alive. On life support but still alive. I get a bunch of junk and a few orbits later. I'm in the big blind with Ac5c. I have a 3rd of my stack in there, no real choice but to push. I'm called by an Qd7d. No drama, the flop comes Q-x-7. The to kill ANY chance, a Q on the turn gives him the boat, and I'm sent to the rail. I finished in 5th. Next one out is the bubble. I stick around for a bit and watch suckout after suckout keeping people alive. I finally head off to the craps table to find my buddy. Again, I left feeling OK about my play. I never got in with the worst of it (or even an actual coin flip for that matter). And sometimes that's the best you can hope for.

I find him at a different craps table with only a couple of chips left. He's betting against the dice and losing bad. At one point he has money on 10 and 4, and the guy rolling this 4 twice than a 10. My buddy goes on mega Craps Tilt. He's down about $110, and that's after winning $250 (plus he was up from original poker foray about $40). I'm down only $40 for the night. We decided to see how the list is for 1/2 no limit. Me? I'm fine, I'm on an even keel. Having a great time. But the entire walk to the poker room you can tell my buddy is not focused. I suggest we just head out (we've been there 7 hours). He says no, we'll just check out the list. But as we got closer to the top of the escalator, he must have felt his impending doom, he turned off and looked at me sheepishly, "You mind if we just head home?"

And that ended a great time at the casino. I was sad that the Jerk didn't have as much fun. But with some more experience I think he'll enjoy it, and he's gotta be willing to bring some more cash. As much fun as poker was (even when not winning), and me and my buddy (my buddy, my buddy... my buddy and me!) doing well at the craps table, the best time was just sitting at fuddruckers shootin' the shit. I've been in Connecticut for almost two years now and everyday I miss my solid group of friends back in St. Louis, I have yet to make any real close friends like that here. These two are the closest friends I have here and outside of work I only see them at the monthly home game (and those have been on hiatus for awhile). It was just nice to sit around a table, chowing on some good food and just talking about whatever. Good times... Good times.

I'm still playing.

A lot has happened in the poker world in the last few weeks. Many sites are freaking out about the "ban" that will be going into effect soon. Companies are bailing on their US customers faster than... well faster than Bill Frist can sneak an internet gambling amendment onto a Port Security bill that no politician in their right might (though I think there were two) could vote against.

Sites like Party Poker and Titan and even Firepay (a non gambling, no US site) are abandoning their US customers, HUGE portions of their base (I, for one, will not do business with them again- except when Party gives me free money). For what? For questionable legislation, that isn't completely clear on what's being banned. Poker insiders think that the poker isn't included because of the skill factor, and that the only thing that the bill is restricting is what people do with their own money.

For now, life goes on as normal. My favorite site, Full Tilt Poker is continuing business as usual. I have money in there. I'll admit I withdrew about 2/3 of the money I had in there as a precaution, however, I continue to play.

BACKDATE: I ended up winning one of those $20 SnGs that I tried. It was a one time thing and haven't done one again. Nice feeling pullin' in $90.

After I cashed out, I had about $80 left. I ran that up to $125, but then with some of the worst play I've ever done, dropped it down to $50. Last night (3am) I jumped into a $10.00 4 player heads up shootout. Win 2 heads up matches and win all the money. I beat my first opponent relatively easily and watched the other two play. As I watched, I knew the money was mine. There'd be 100 chips in the pot, and one guy would push all his chips in (1500+). It was crazy. Twice I watched his opponent called him having him dominated. Maniac just says, "You caught me." Maniac ended up losing, but his opponent wasn't much better. I'd hit a hand and just have to let him bet off all his chips. In the end, I made up for the horrible cash games I've played recently (I still love 1/2 limit!).

Anyway, Saturday, my monthly home game was supposed to start up again (we haven't had one in a couple of months), but a few people couldn't make it, so four of us decided, instead, we're hitting Foxwoods! WOO HOO! I've been jonesin' to go for a while now. I need something more than just internet poker. I keep donking off $50 and then winning it back, so I'm not really moving very far in my bankroll.

Anyway, so saturday will be a day spent at Foxwoods. I'll try to get some good posts out of that one.

And I try not to beg, but if there are ANY readers, please leave a comment. I'm curious as to how many I have, if any.

Side Panel?

Anyone know why the side panel is pushed down to the bottom?

Lack of posts

My lack of posts has been for two reasons.

One: lack of comments. Less urgent feelings of posting. Of course, the lack of readers, could be because of lacking posts. It's a vicious cycle. Chicken or the Egg and all that.

Two: A lack of poker playing. I'm broke on the home front so I can't go to a casino. I tilted and donked off my money on Titan Poker. So I stopped playing for a little bit.

However, I had a tournament on Full Tilt that I wanted to play. The AIPS tournament by Ante Up podcast. I deposited $50, made a $30 profit (from cash games), cashed out $60, and kept some cash to play. I did well in the first AIPS tournament.

113 entrants, top 18 paid. I finished 16 when my AK improved on the river with a K. Unfortunately, my opponents pocket 7's improved on the Flop... ... and on the turn. :(.

I was still happy with the way I played. I don't normally do well in MTT, but I played smart poker. Willing to fold and wait for better spots when I could. It also helped that in the beginning people were giving me chips, and I was chip leader for pretty much the first hour. And I was in the top 7 for almost the entire tournament.

Now, I started this weekend with about $35 bucks on FTP and playing 1/2 Limit, ended it with $115. Lets hope this is the start of a good run. I know this is poor bankroll management, but I just don't get as excited playing the lower limits. I can play lower limits, but it's too boring to sit there and play tight for an hour or two and show a $5 profit. I'd rather be able to finish a session up 30 or 40 bucks. That's "real" money to me. Don't get me wrong, it's not a compulsion that I'll always need to move up in stakes, if I build this up to an appropriate bankroll, I'll stay at my 1/2 limits. At least until I have a large enough bankroll to swing a higher limit. I just have to play smart.

The other day I decided to multi-table two 1/2 limits. Bought into $30 on one table (table A), and $20 on the other (table b) (yes half my "current" bankroll... and I probably won't do that again). At first, table A was doing well. I nearly doubled up. However, table B was way down. I was up overall, but just barely. I had about $6 left on table B and decided to rebuy, so I bought in another $20 (that makes my buyins were $70... w/ a $100 bankroll). Finally table B finally started to do well. Table A... not so much. Had about $15 on that table now. In the end I stopped after about 2-3 hours of 1/2 limit with a $10 profit.

I might try to turn a quick profit this evening (Thursday night) with a $20 SnG. Not sure yet. There's another AIPS tournament tonight. But it's 7-card Stud. Nothing something I'm particularly good at. Might need to spend some quality time with the Mrs and I'll miss that tournament.

Broke and Barely Playing

Well on both the poker front and home front I'm pretty broke, so I haven't been playing much poker. Some freerolls on Pokerroom.com and messing around with my remaining few bucks on Titan.

I've been loving the WSOP Main Event coverage, and of course High Stakes Poker on GSN (hands down the best poker on TV).

I was watching the Main Event coverage last night and nearly busted a gut during the edition of, The Nuts, with Doyle and Barry vs Daniel and Eric playing golf.

Lingren just mentioned that he was up late drinking the night before.
Barry: That's the problem with the younger players. Doyle was probably in bed by 11 with milk and cookies.
Doyle (pointing to two attractive women standing next to him): Yeah, this is Milk and this is Cookies.

I know it was set up, but man did I laugh out loud.

And whether Daniel Negreanu's getting unlucky and making poor calls, or just getting cold decked, the man can read his opponenets. How do you put your Main Event life on the line with 10 high because you think the guys weak. He could be weak with a better hand?!