solid play still producing frusterating results

I took turkey day off and spent the majority of it in Henderson with my buddy Zach and his wife. They had some other friends over too and it was overall a pretty good time. The highlight of my day was definately watching my Packers beat up on the lowly Lions... Next week is going to be our true test when we play in Dallas. Besides the playoffs this is the game i've been waiting for all year.

Favre has yet to win in the big D and of all the big losses i've had to endure over my lifetime the stinging sensation from the playoff losses to Dallas in the 90's is still there... All I know is if we can win thursday all the naysayers who think we're not as good as our record are going to have to take a seat and shut up. We'll see in a week I guess...



Today was a disturbing day in my poker life... nothing totally abnormal just disturbing. I've been playing very well yet I continually have been finding myself in trap scenarios where it's extremely difficult if not impossible not to go broke. I only say this because today I was on the bottom side of two set over set situations on the flop in my fist 30 minutes of play.

A third time I raised 1/3 of my stack (a big overraise) with 55 on the 3 5 9 board and was called. The J on the turn resulted in us both getting all our money in and he turned over JJ.

I apologize to you if i'm starting to sound like a broken record on here.. Things are looking pretty grim but I feel good about where they can go. I know how it can be to run good and once all these statistical f*ck you's sort themselves out it shouldn't take me long to bounce back and be playing in the games I know I belong in.

Until next time...


*** update: I actually *gasp* ran pretty good after I posted this.. After close to an 8 hour day of 5 tabling 2/4 NL and after taking my annual ass kicking to start my session I finished about +1000 for the day. Maybe this trend will continue in the days to come? All I can do is play well... ****

great poker doesn't warrant great results

First off let me say that I appreciated your comments Chris... These last couple days have been extremely frusterating for me and sometimes this is going to bleed off into my post's here... This is the reality that is my life and i'm certainly not going to sugarcoat what happens.

Personally, I don't like listening to bad beat stories and as a result I don't try and force mine on other people. but again... this is the reality of my current situation.

There is good news and bad news in all this.

Good News: I've been playing almost perfect poker. My reads have been excellent and i've been getting my money all-in with a huge advantage a large majority of the time. Not only that, i've been making excellent laydowns

Bad News: Plain and simple.. If I flop the nuts i'm probably going to finish second.

This sounds dark and depressing I know yet I can still pull more positive from it all. Yes, it really sucks at the moment... but I know how bad i'm running and it has to end eventually. 20% is only going to win 20% of the time. This is a fact. The big underlying problem here is that I don't know if my bankroll can survive until things finally start going the way they should.

I've been going over my play to make sure i'm not missing anything but the cold reality is i've been getting pretty cold decked and sucked out on. The big pots from today were my 222 vs 101010 on the 2 10 Q flop. My AA vs JJ after getting 180 each in preflop we saw a J 6 6 flop and he led into me with an all-in bet. my QQ vs 1010 all-in preflop and my 88 vs 56 on the 5 8 2 flop. the board went 7 9 to give him a straight after he put in almost 400 on the flop with a huge donkey reraise.

There is one big thing that helps me keep my head on straight.. It's something I vividly remember Howard Lederer saying the first and only time I met him. "There is no justice or correct result in this game"

Reader Beware! excessive bitching and whining ahead

Most of you who have known me for awhile can attest to how much I hate bad beat stories. Unfortunantly that's all I have for you right now...

I felt really good today so I figured a healthy day of work is just what I needed... little did i realize that today I probably sealed my fate of having to change my definition of work to that one in the dictionary that has to do with being employed.

What could I do? My has involved me getting f*cked by math an average of about 3 times an hour in big pots. To clarify... I've lost 8 big pots in the last 2 hours and 6 of them I was a minimum of an 80% favorite. Of the other two I was 55% in one and 20% in the other when my KK ran into AA.

AA three times all-in preflop.. twice against KK once against JJ.. lost all three.

QQ vs JJ on the 8 high flop.. J on the turn.

Pair and flush draw vs lower flush draw with no overcards... lose to runner runner 3 of a kind.

Since I started counting about 2 hours ago I havn't hit a set in 31 pairs...

I could go on... but I won't... My bankroll has reached an an all time low of around 4k and I honestly don't know my next move.

That's all i've got... sorry if I depressed anyone. lol

From now on if I don't have anything positive to post I won't post at all...

ok... seriously... this isn't funny anymore

Nothing too major to report.... which is the whole problem to begin with. I've been extremely annoyed with poker in general lately so my solution has been to not play poker... somehow this is going to help me get out of my slump?

I'm happy to say i'm back at it again... my session yesterday and the beginning of todays were the same story as before... the best hand losing. Yesterday I gave up early after deciding i couldn't take it anymore. Today I sat with a good positive mindset and doubled up early.. After about an hour I was involved in a 3 way all-in. A pair vs my set of tens vs a flush draw.. the flush draw stacked us both and I was left wondering why I even bother.

I was able to keep my head on straight and I just finished the session + about 500. I need to forget what I was doing before and just focus on grinding out winning sessions at the smaller stakes. I've also been reading what I consider the best poker book period Ace on the River. It's simple and is very good at screwing your head back on straight as far as poker is concerned. Aight i'm out.... catch you later

The Greatest Ever?

In my completely biased opinion Brett Favre is the greatest quarterback to ever suit up and take the field. This should come as no suprise to most of you who know me... I did spend a great majority of my life in the frozen tundra.




I've been thinking pretty clearly lately (in a poker sense) and also alot has happened since I last updated. First and foremost I almost went broke. Yes.. it did suck almost as bad as it sounds. I've recovered to some degree but I still consider my bankroll to be code red. I've taken the necessary action of stepping down a level or two and building to a comfortable level wreaking my vengeance on the 2-4 and 3-6 NL games.

My play has been consistent and i'm extremely comfortable at these levels which provides a big advantage for me.. I'm still amazed at the much lower overall quality of play at these games in comparison to the bigger games which helps alot too.

One thing that irks me a bit is in order to keep a proper bankroll online i'm probably going to have to cash in a bunch of stocks I own in sysco foods from when I worked there.. that sounds great except that is they are my last "safety net" incase things turned sour on me. After this there is nowhere to fall back except getting a "job". I don't consider that an option so I will make this work. I will keep you guys updated on the progress. I'm working on figuring out a number where i'll consdier myself out of the red zone and in a slightly more comfortable yellow zone. *shrugs* i'll keep in touch. until next time..

I pray bad....very bad

The title says it all... At best I give myself a C- for my play today. I was very edgy all day and broke many of the cardinal rules of good poker in the first hour of my session. A good quick way to get down on a session is make plays at people in non pots and get played right back at.. oops

After going down a quick 2.5k I decided I was playing so poorly my best bet was to quit for the day.. but of course I need to play until my big blind. I had a little gamble in me after getting down to quickly and decided to make a play (with outs this time) and won a big pot when I cracked someones kings with my overcard and nut flush draw. I managed to take down another medium pot before I called it quits after only an hour session and being down a much mor reasonable 600. I will be back at it tomorrow with my head on straight.

Since poker was out of the question I sat down to watch the final table of the world series on ESPN. I became increasingly annoyed during the first hour as Jerry Yang pleaded with God when he was all-in to let him win. Then there was Lee Watkinson's fiance dancing around with her hands in the air praying to Jesus for a 7 to beat Jerry Yang in the same hand.. come on people... really?

Can what your religious beliefs and poker mix? Sure they can.. I think a great example is Daniel Negreanu.. He knows what he believes but doesn't preach it to everyone.. especially at the tables. If someone asks he will tell them i'm sure but he lets how he acts and reacts be a witness to what he believes.. The day I see Daniel dancing with his hands in the air praying to God for a 7 on the river.... i'm quitting poker. that's my rant for the day. Catch you tomorrow

A Bad Sports Weekend

What a bad weekend in sports for me.. My Badgers and Gators both lose in nailbiters and then the Packers blow it against the Bears of all teams. ridiclous At least the Bills-Cowboys game was a good cap to the week.

Aside from that all has been pretty well in the poker world. I played close to 10 hours today and had some decent results. I feel like my play was overall about an A- and the biggest pot I lost was a situation where I don't know how I can lay down. I called a raise with 77 in the SB and catch the A73 rainbow flop. After much betting and raising my opponent turns over AA. oops

I spent last wednesday and thursday in San Francisco helping a buddy of mine move the rest of his stuff to vegas. It was an interesting trip and the city is absolutely beautiful. I now consider myself a wine connoisseur after just two days. I'm not... but I like to think it.

I did manage to get a few hours of poker in since our hotel room had wireless. The trip wasn't a complete waste of time.

My trip plus weekend session results +2000

Monday session results +2400

Confidence Mirrors Results

A week or so ago I realized something. I'd been playing for the previous month or so with very little confidence in my game. Of course I did have a good reason to be hesitant.. every move I seemed to make at the tables seemed to blow up in my face.

Forgetting the two years of positive results that was a result of grinding it out and playing solid poker I went into what i've come to call my poker depression. I am over that dissapointing phase of my life by the way..

The question then became how to get my confidence back. There were two parts to this that I will try and explain as briefly as possible.

1. My friends Mike and Chad came to Vegas for a week long vacation from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin. They stayed at the house for a couple of those days and one of the nights we decided to play drunk 5 dollar sit and go's. It's hard for me to comprehend how a 5 dollar tournament helped me to get my confidence back in much higher stakes games... yet it did.

I was able to take down seven of the ten tournaments we played and two of the three I lost I was all-in as an 80%+ favorite but was outdrawn. No offense to these guys if they happen to read my blog.... but they were just bad. I had a great read on both of them and I was able to call out their hole cards on several occasions. It felt good to helplessly beat down the weaker players... which brings me to part two.

2. I decided to step down a couple levels and try and have a couple winning sessions before sitting back at my bigger games. You would be amazed what pulling multiple buyin wins at the 1/2 and 2/4 no limit levels can do to you at the bigger games. Especially when your confidence at poker is at an all time low.

The players at these levels are alot more timid and thus can be ran over much easier. I assume the main reason is that the money mean alot more to players at these levels than at bigger games. An $80 bet at 5/10 or 10/20 is nothing yet at the 2/4 level it can be pretty intimidating.

In a search for inspiration one day I stumbled across this classic quote from the Texas Dolly himself that is now written on the dry-erase board on my wall. "Try to decide how good your hand is at a given moment. Nothing else matters. Nothing!"

Anyways.. I've been playing pretty solid the last few days. I've been running well in the pot limit omaha games on bodog. I consider this game to be more of my specialty than no limit holdem. The 3/6 game has been a solid choice lately. I really believe that players in this game are much easier to play against. My style in this game is simply either I have it or I don't. I won't draw at less than the nuts and I won't draw without the right odds. So many people get caught with the 2nd nuts or bottom set and can't let it go in this game that if you play solid and don't stray from a winning strategy it can be very profitable.

I did have one hand today that cut into my early profits I will tell you about.. then it's time to sleep for me. I played this hand like a complete chump.

Playing 5/10 no-limit I was two from the button with a raise to $35 by the second to act and 3 callers in front I made the call with As 9s.

Flop was 3h Js 8s.

It checks to the player on my immediate right who bets $75... a little less than half the pot. I make the call with the nut flush draw and player on the button thinks for awhile before calling also. Everyone else folds.

Turn 3s

This time player on my right bets out $110. I think for a moment before calling. I'm getting skeptical at this point and I figure the best thing here would be to see what this guy does on the river. The player on the button thinks forever before calling.

River 4d

Again he fires. This time $330. Everything in me is screaming fold. There are two reasons a fold is a no brainer here.

1. I have played with this guy before and I have notes on him. I know that he is able to give up on a hand and probably won't fire here without the goods. Absolute best case scenario for me besides a bluff is he has a hand like Ks Qs but would he really fire here with that hand and two people calling him on the turn?

2. Hello? Did you forget about the guy on the button smooth calling the whole way. He could be sitting on Jd Jh and laughing his ass off at both of us. The odds are against it since he could of and should of raised that hand on the flop. Yet the possibility is there and should be weighed in. If #1 isn't enough the combination of both these reasons is an EASY fold.

Instead... I make the call. The button thinks forever again and makes the call with god knows what but it doesn't matter because the guy on my right shows 3d 3c for quads and rakes in a nice pot.

Enough is enough... I'm off to bed. Hope my aimless ranting made some sense to you guys.

Until next time

Monday session results +1200

say whaaaat?!

That's right kids... Here I am! Alive and well.

Poker is a serious business and i'm finally back to treating it as such. One can only live off of self pity for so long and then the realities of life eventually set in.

I won't lie and tell you everything is great... its not. My bankroll is at the lowest number I can remember it being in a long time (around 20k) yet I don't believe this will be more of problem than it is at this very moment. I've been playing alot the last few days with alot of confidence and my results have mirrored that.

For those of you who claim to live vicariously through my poker... both the good and the bad. I apologize and regular updates should resume shortly. I'd like to thank you all for your patience with me.

Until next time..

......

F5


F5


F5


..........damn

Here I am! thats about it...

To those of you who have been sitting at your computers hitting F5 for the past two and a half weeks since my last post.... I sincerely apologize. I'm in what I call a state of poker depression. It hasn't helped my cold streak at all and I assure you i'll be getting over it soon and getting back into the groove... until then... I will continue to wallow in my own misery and be perfectly content doing so.

It's actually not as bad as it probably just came across. As my cold streak followed me around from table to table it started to effect my play to the point where I would look at myself in the mirror and ask myself what the f*ck my problem was. Yeah.... it was that bad. I've decided to take another week or so off and clear my head of all things poker and come back when i'm fresh. This will be sooner rather than later but I still need a little time. It's a much better option than recklessly throwing around my chips hoping to randomly break out my losing streak... which is the way it was starting to seem to me.

So! That's that. I've taken comfort in knowing i'm not the only player who has gone through one or two rough patches. Paul Wasicka wrote a pretty good article in the most recent bluff magazine about cold steaks and I found it very helpful. Until next time...


"In the long run there's no luck in poker, but the short run is longer than most people know." - Rick Bennett

Good Play + Long Session = Positive Results?

Who would of thought? This concept has continuously laughed in my face this entire month yet I know that it will catch up eventually. Today it actually worked out. I ended up putting in a solid 10 1/2 hour session and finished in the black a little over 2000.

That number is nothing compared to where my month is at but I need to start somewhere. My day actually should of finished a little over 3000 but I took an unnecessary gamble at the tail end of my session that ended up costing me. I knew it was a gamble when I made the move and 15 outs twice couldn't improve.
Still... it was unnecessary and I havn't been a successful player for 2 years because I gamble it up every time I flop a big draw.

I will detail this hand plus much more when I post tomorrow.. I apologize for the lack up updates lately. It's been a very trying month and I havn't felt the desire to blog much...

finding the positive in a big pile of negative

It's been a rough month and its definately starting to take its toll mentally.. however, if I couldn't handle it I would of quit this business a long time ago. This week is a week of changes and it couldn't be more welcomed. Brad gets into town within the hour and tomorrow we are going to start pulling some crazy live sessions. Last time Brad was here I was in a big slump and his motivation and passion for the game drove me into about a 2 month long streak where I played -alot- of poker and was loving it... I have little doubt this trip will have the same result.

If something is giving me bad results a change is good.. I plan on playing little if any online poker in the next week and am focusing on building up a solid cash bankroll again. My month so far sucks, yet is meaningless and all that matters is making good decisions now. I have yet to have a losing month since i moved out here and I don't plan on starting now. There's alot of work to do the next couple weeks...

I will update often detailing our live sessions. Tonight is softall and drinking night so nothing new until early wednesday most likely. Peace out

a big psychological win

I've been getting slaughtered at all games and all stakes the last couple days... it's actually been quite sick. Since this is not a bad beat blog I won't go into alot of detail where I will inevitably whine and complain more than any of you dare to listen to. Long story short.. My money was in as an 90% favorite or better with 2 to come and both times I lost in $3000+ pots... i think it's time to rebuild at 5/10 and forget 10/20 for awhile.

Odviously i've been a little annoyed with how this whole month has started.. Down a quick 8k with nothing real positive to show. I took a few days and came back today and was quickly down 800. I was playing well and kept playing when I got my money in good and actually held up for a big pot. I kept playing for another hour or so and called it quits after a short session. After such a rocky start I decided for my own sanity I would stop with a small winning session under my belt and come back tomorrow with a little more confidence in my game than I have been my last couple sessions.

I'll put in a few sessions during the week... but overall I plan on relaxing and putting in some mad crazy sessions when brad is here next week. It will be alot of live play and i'm looking forward to the change of pace. The Orleans Open starts on saturday and goes through the end of the month and i'll hopefully be mixing in a few of those events to get my live game back. Until next time...


Crazy stupid bad session results: -3000
Monday session results: +600

Strong finish and a rough start

I able to finish the month of June with a few solid sessions and overall I am very happy with my performance for the month. This current month.....not so much. I've taken some sick beats and i've decided that a day off in the middle of what is supposed to be my "work week" is a good idea. This will most likely result in me putting in a session on my normal thursday off but that's life.

Here are my session results since I last posted:

Saturday June 30: +1800
Sunday July 1: -1500
Monday July 2: -3000

July has not been nice to me so far. I will say sunday's session was alot me in the cash games which is where most the negative came from. My tournaments were pretty sick.. I was top 5 in chips in the bodog 100k guaranteed with about 100 people left when I got all my money in with AK vs AQ and lost. Then about 5 hands later I moved my last 16,000 in with 10d 10s against a raise to 2600 from a stack of around 19,000. I was called by 8d 9d and I was drawing dead on the turn.....nice

In the Full Tilt 500k guaranteed I decided I wanted the chip lead or to bust early. I was dead tired and needed a nap... but if I could get a big chiplead I would play it out. Within the first 5 minutes I picked up Ad Kd under the gun and limped. There was a raise to 140 and three callers when it came back around to me. I popped it up to 700 and had 1 caller from the player directly to my left who had originally limped behind me preflop.

Flop As 6d 9c

I lead out 800 and i'm instantly moved in on. I decide this is my spot and make the call. I'm most likely splitting this pot or losing to a set of aces. I decide i'm willing to take the risk especially since I already have over half my stack in this pot. I call.

I show my AK. He shows Ac 3s. Nice....

Turn 3d

River 10s

Not alot I can do here and I turn off my monitors and took a nap....one of the few things I did right on sunday.

Monday I don't know.. I'm not going to sit here and make excuses but I got my money in a large majority of the time as a clear favorite and lost (my set vs overpair, my KK vs 1010 on the 9 high flop... all losers). These days are tough and can take the wind out of the sails of even the best poker players. I've been through this kind of run before and i've always came through stronger and wiser than before. I don't see this spot being any different. I would not be sitting here talking to you right now if these spots were impossible to get through. I just need a day off to clear the head and tomorrow i'm back in the grind.

My final results for the month of June:


On a bit of a side note i'm really looking forward to when Brad comes out here towards the end of the month. Not only is this kid great at getting me off my ass and into the live poker rooms (bleh) but he always seems to be fired up to play which can be very contagious. I will start working on having a solid cash bankroll again when he gets out here and hopefully keep it this time. Not only that but he's going to try and get my golf game back on track... it's been getting a bit ridiculous.

Oh yeah... Saturday night I went and hung out with Darksy and his british friends out on the strip. I was skeptical about hanging out on the strip since it's mostly a pain in the ass but I ended up having a great time. The brits...well... they were very entertaining and I really have no clue what was said the majority of the time. I'm pretty sure they said if I decide to head to the UK one day i can stop in and have some tea and crumpets with them. I'm not exactly sure...

Until next time...

My day off

Thursday has become my traditional day off. I do need a day off and I figured what better day than Thursday? It's the day before the weekend starts and the day all my spamalot friends have off which means I end up going out on wednesday nights.

Lately i've had a real interest in learning a new game. Not just learning a new game but becoming good. I feel very comfortable in holdem, omaha hi and 8/b games. It's time to add some new weapons to the arsonal. The weapon of choice? Razz. I don't play HORSE games because I feel i'm dead money at both stud games.
I chose Razz simply because there are alot bigger games to be had online. Plus, it's alot of fun. I've been sitting here for the last hour or so playing 3/6 razz on ftp and listening to the final table of the 50k horse event on worldseriesofpoker.com.

I really feel like i'm getting a solid grasp of the game. I have a very natural agression in poker but this game calms me down a bit being a limit game. Bluffing based on your up cards on 4th or 5th street is easy and instinctive and i'm quickly becoming very comortable in the game. Hopefully over the next couple weeks I can become a regular at some of the bigger games. I need to show a consistant profit at the smaller levels before I allow myself to put a bigger part of my bankroll at risk. It's just smart...

Wednesday was one of those days I couldn't bear to drag my lazy ass to the tables. I somehow managed to do it for a few hours and was able to make enough to let myself feel like I actually accomplished something for the day. I decided to stick with pot limit omaha most the day. If there are full 5/10 PLO games I prefer to play in them over holdem. I'll sit in a full 10/20 game and i've even sat in a full 25/50 game a time or two. There's alot more action and -alot- of bit pots in pot limit omaha. It's an action junkies dream come true.

On a bit of a side note... I've said in past blogs that my motivation at times has been slipping. I've been fixing that lately and it's been showing in my results. This is directed at you BRAD since you're my biggest critic as far as being lazy goes. Over the winter when I didn't feel like playing....I didn't play. I've now adapted at least some form of forcing myself to play even when I don't "feel like it". I'm setting some pretty agressive goals for myself to finish off the year.. I'll need to keep this kind of attitude if i'm going to succeed. I'll have more on that in a week or two once I work out the details. For now it's just the focus of keeping my distractions small and my pots big.

Catch you all tomorrow..

Wednesday session results +1900

A day of pot limit omaha

I had to cut my session short tonight since it's softball night. I don't mind since softball is one of the things I really look forward to doing every week.

I've been trying to work a few kinks out of my game.. mostly i've been trying to not pay off people like a donkey on the river. I hate to say it like that since I believe one of my strongest skills in poker is picking off bluffs with semi-weak hands. I credit that skill alone to why I can consistantly turn a profit. It's just that lately i've been making some donkish calls on the river that could be added to the profit for my day instead of creating more work for me.

Example... 3/6 PLO. I call a raise to $21 preflop with Kc Ks 9s Jd in the cutoff with 3 other players in the pot.

Flop 9c 9d 8h

It checks around to me and I bet half the pot. I get called by one player and everyone else folds.

Turn 6c

My opponent leads out and fires a close to pot sized bet of $170. I call but this was my first mistake of the hand. This is where I need to let my hand go. The odds very much that my opponent has a full house. With all the possibilites in omaha it's very uncommon for someone to lead out the pot with anything less. Even if he made a bad call with 7 10 and turned a straight he's in the lead here bigtime. Still, I make the stubborn call most likely drawing at 5 outs.

River Qd

My opponant fires out $300 and I make the call. If I couldn't get away from my hand on the turn I should have been able to -easily- get away here. He turns over 9h 6s Ac 10h and yes.... he did infact have me totally crushed the entire hand. I don't know what my problem was to be honest with you. I consider pot limit omaha to be a game i'm very strong in yet I played this hand like a complete amateur with no clue. Let this be a lesson to you all.

The good news is that hand cleared my head pretty good and I ended up leaving the table with about $2300.

monday session results +1700

Solid month so far

I've been pleased with my results so far this month. I am still very dissapointed with myself as far as the WSOP goes but i'm playing solid poker and that's what matters most.

My biggest problem with running well is I start to think that I can be lazy and not play as much. I should be playing -more- since running well generally means i'm playing well and making good decisions.

Not alot to report for saturday and sunday's sessions. I put in about 4 hours each day and finished +400 saturday and -500 sunday. I put in a good run at the 100k guaranteed on bodog but fell just short of the money and I busted out of the 500k guaranteed on full tilt when my kings ran into aces. oops...

I've been using pokertracking.com to keep track of my results. The graph doesn't fit on the page so you can check it out here.

Until next time...

Grinding away...

I didn't come out of my room until 10:30 tonight.. I woke up and started working right away. I put in a pretty good session and I only played one big pot. Everything else was just grinding away, picking up small pots and overall just playing solid poker. The one big hand I did play? It makes me wonder what goes through peoples heads sometimes.

I've been playing pretty agressive and I pick up Ac As under the gun. I decide to just limp. Seat 6 (from here on known as Joe) who has played a big pot 2 of the last 4 hands raises it up to $45. It folds back to me who makes it $150 to go. Joe calls.

Flop Ah 10s 4d

I can't really check here since the pot is so big. I fire out $180 and Joe calls quickly.

Turn 8d

I'm not threatened by anything on this board and my best bet here is to induce a bet from Joe. I'm willing to risk giving the free card in this spot. I check and Joe instantly moves it in for his last $700. I quickly call and Joe shows Ks 10s. Nice.... Overall about a 6 hour session.

Friday session results +2500

feeling pretty good and on track

I've been putting in some good sessions lately. After 15 hours yesterday I put in a solid 6 today. I was cut short because I had bowling tonight and then I picked up where I left off when I got back. Right now i'm sitting on the lovesac with the laptop watching Mike and Mike on ESPN2 and playing a 5/10 table on FTP.

Played in the full tilt 40k guaranteed with Brad and busted out around 100/350. I played 2 cash tables and finished around +900 in my early session. I did have one strange hand that had me wondering what goes through peoples heads sometimes.

I'm holding Kc Ks on the button. The 5 seat (we'll call him Bob) raises to $45 and it folds to me. I smooth call hoping that the blinds will fold and I can go heads up. The plan here is to get an extra bet from this guy on anything other than an A high flop. If it comes A high I can get away cheap without anyone knowing I had a monster. I don't make this play often but it's good to keep people on their toes.

Flop 5s 6c Jh

Bob fires out $50 and I make it $140 to go. Bob calls and we goto the turn.

Turn 3s

Bob checks and I still feel pretty good about my hand. AA and JJ are on my mind yes but my plan here was to trap this guy and if I ended up trapping myself I think it's one of those spots I have to pay it off. I think a minute and fire out $220. Bob quickly moves it in for his last $550 and I make the call.

Bob shows 2s 3d??? alrighty then... The river comes a harmless Ad and I take down the pot. Moral of this story? I don't know... but it's an interesting one.

Monday session results +1500

Main event here I come!

I apologize for the lack of updates recently. I've been putting in a few decent sessions but nothing to be too proud of. Today was a good turn of the tides as far as my tournament game and results go. I bought into the 500+35 on full tilt with 100 main event seats guaranteed. 3338 players with top 139 getting a seat and I managed to finish 130th.

It was a huge grind the entire tournament. I was only above average stack once in the early rounds and I spent the rest of my time under the average. I was able to secure my seat with a few well timed moves and alot of folding to hold on long enough. I'm pretty psyched about playing in my first main event. $10,000 tournament entry and $2000 cash for expenses for my finish.

Thanks to Brad for railing me from about 350 on. It was nice to have someone to talk to while I folded over, over and over again.

As far as the cash games go its been up and down with nothing too amazing to report. I did have one day of +4800 earlier in the week and then two days finishing around -1200. I'll do a better job tracking my progress this week. I've been playing on my laptop lately because my computer chair upstairs is broken. Yes, my $300 chair I bought 8 months ago is dead. I went to get a new one yesterday and they were out of all the good ones at office depot. I'll go searching again tomorrow. At this point i'll take anything until I find a good one just because of all the money i'm losing by playing only 2 or 3 tables on the laptop.

Until next time...

Update coming soon...

I've been a little slack on the blog updates recently and I apologize. I've been playing just havn't been posting on here. I will put up a new post while i'm playing the sunday tournaments.

The $1200 misclick

Put in a quality session today. What is quality? I consider anything over four hours a good session. sad i know... but that's just the life I live. I'm really working on it... ok?!

After about a 4 1/2 hour winning session (+1100) i decided enough was enough and met up with my buddy Bruce at a local bar close to the house for a couple drinks and a relaxing rest of my night. As it turned out I was quite up for drinking and we spent almost 7 hours at this place and it turned out to be a great night. If anyone puts a shot of jeager in front of me in the next week i swear i'm going to puke.

Anyways moving right along... After I got back to the house I decided to make a quick post to the blog and head to bed. Of couse, I couldn't sit and write in my blog without a table of 5/10 up and running. As I pulled up blogspot I went to click on fold for my Qc 4c I was looking at and my mouse accidently hit call. This is what followed.


War_Crimes Fold $ 0.00
TaintViolater Fold $ 0.00
BigBadDevil Fold $ 0.00
peter500 Call $ 10.00
liquidghost Call $ 10.00 oops....
foxridge1 Fold $ 0.00
Currahee Fold $ 5.00
powerdog17 Check

Flop Qd 4s 7s


peter500 Bet $ 45.00
liquidghost Call $ 45.00 I decide to play this one a bit different and see the turn card before throwing in a raise
powerdog17 Fold $ 0.00

Turn Qh

peter500 Check
liquidghost Bet $ 80.00 can't check
peter500 Raise $ 160.00
liquidghost Raise $ 280.00 very unlikely he has Q7. A call here is unthinkable. There are so many hands that I can beat that can call a raise. I make this raise almost without hesitating
peter500 Call $ 200.00

River 2c

peter500 Check
liquidghost All-in $ 841.00 The two of clubs is almost the most beautiful card in the deck. It almost guarantees me having the best hand and doesn't scare away any hands that can pay me off. My decision to go all-in here is simply because i'm happy with the pot size now and I know alot of hands such as KQ and AQ can't fold in this pot. The check worries me about being paid off but i'm happy with this pot if he doesn't call. This bet can also come across as very suspect and possibly get a call from much weaker hand. The river all-in overbet can be a very strong move in my opinion. It keeps opponents on their toes.
peter500 Call $ 841.00

Betting round completed
Last active pot = $0.00 Side pot 7 = $2,524.00

liquidghost shows Qc 4c: full house

peter500 shows Qs 10s: three of a kind

I think the only reason this hand amuses me so much is the fact I was in it completely by accident.

moving along...

I want and need to goto bed yet i'm having a sick run at my one table while i'm writing this. In the 30 minutes or so it's taken me to write all of this i've gone from my $1000 buyin to almost $5000.


enough is enough... I can hardly keep myself awake. until next time...

Saturday session results +4900

the worst 45 minutes of my career

Wednesday was one of the worst sessions i've ever had.. I played for 45 minutes and finished at -5100. Just sick. I usually won't let it get to that point but I was actually playing very well. I got my money in best 2 of the 3 times (the one I didn't was a flopped ace high flush against a flopped straight flush) and was outdrawn the other two. The two beats were at 10/20 which is why I had such a bad day. I think i'll just avoid 10/20 for awhile.

I decided maybe poker needed a rest so I went out with some friends for awhile. Was feeling pretty good when I got back so I sat for awhile and cut the days losses to only about -4000. It's okay.... all I can do is just shake it off and move on to the next day.

Thursday was an off day. I went to the Las Vegas 51's (AAA team for the Dodgers) game with some friends. We tailgated ahead of time and $1 beer night is always a good time. Overall, it was a very good day off.. especially after how brutal wednesday was.

Friday was a good day and welcomed healing to my bankroll. A few hands confused me but I was playing about as good as I feel I can. This one hand still has me scratching my head...

I'm in the cutoff with 9c 9s. It folds to the 5 seat who raises to $40. I call everyone else folds.

Flop 2h 9h 2s

5 seat bets $50. I just call. Not alot of danger here. I have position and will check raise the turn if he bets again.

Turn 10s

5 seat doesn't dissapoint and bets $100. I raise to $300 and the 5 seat makes a quick call.

River 10d

5 seat checks. The only real questions now are did he call me with a 10? and if he didn't... how much will he call on the river? I decided that $300 was a good bet. He quickly called and mucked to my full house and I eagerly checked the hand history to see what he could of called me with. I was pretty set on the JJ-KK range. I didn't really see anything else that could of played the hand like he did. You can imagine my suprise to see he called me with As 8d?? really? Either I made the perfect bet or I left money on the table because he had about $250 in front of him still when the hand was over. I'm still a little perplexed about the whole thing. Oh well.... next hand please.

Friday session results +2900

A question of motivation

I ended the month of May on a bit of a sour note and had to ride out a rough stretch at the end. I took a very large number of bad beats 3 sessions in a row. One thing that i've always done is pull myself away from a bad session when I start to feel my play is sloppy. It could be i've been playing bad or it could be I just can't hold on when I get it in with the best of it. Either way, when a session goes south and I can't turn it around, i stop. It's just good money management. I had to cut myself off 3 sessions in a row last week, which tends to make for bad results.

My overall results for the month of may are about +14000 after being able to recover my bad run to -2500 before the month ended.

These are the times when I play the least poker.. not only because i'm running bad but because it's hard to find the motivation necessary to sit and play for the hours that are required. Last week I went out twice during the week and spent most of thursday out on lake mead with some friends. I will do anything necessary to make sure when I sit down at the tables I am making clear and correct decisions. Even if it involves losing a day.

A good day today. I put in a few hours and felt great. I'm planning on putting in a longer day tomorrow. I have two checks coming and when they do I will go down to the Rio and see what I can do in satellites for the series. I'm still upset with myself for the situation I ended up in regarding the WSOP this year but I still have no doubt it's for the best. Until next time..

Tuesday session results +2400

What goes around....comes back to bite you in the ass

I had to make a tough decision today yet i'm very confident it's the right one. I came into this year with the goal of making $200,000. This fits into my overall plan of shooting for one million in a yer by the time i've been here five years (year 1> $100,000 2> $200,000 3> $400,000 4> $750,000 5> $1,000,000).

I decided to put myself in a bad spot this year by hardly playing at all in march and april. I feel I have good excuses yet the fact remains I havn't delivered this year. There's good news and bad news here. The bad news is my WSOP this year is going to be severely limited. Not because I can't afford to play but because I didn't plan properly and the impact on my bankroll could put me in a bad spot.

The good news? I am more focused and dedicated now than I have ever been. As bad of a situation as this may be for me in the overall picture it may be good. I won't let this happen again; ever. If I stay on my current course and plan correctly for next year I can easily see myself with a 15+ event WSOP.

I've by no means given up on this years tournament. I will probably take 2-3000 to the Rio on satellite day and play $500 sit n go's and should hopefully be able to parlay that into a few events. It's going to be all business all the time around here. I'm very dissapointed in myself yet I can only see good things coming out of this. Only time will tell....

Saturday and Sunday session results +2300

The new ride

Wednesday was completely lost to Subaru of Las Vegas and my new Subaru WRX STI that I ended up getting. It was a sad moment when I let go of my old WRX but I was completely over it by the time I got the new one home.

Thursday was golf at Angel Park with 3 guys Jen works with. I ended up shooting one of my worst rounds of the year. A 58 on the front and 53 on the back for a 111. A far cry from my season best 89 earlier in the year. This makes two bad outings in a row for me. I think that lessons are a necessity soon. I'll be going to the range later today so we'll see how that goes.

Put a short session in on Friday. I finished +750 and decided to take a quick nap and put in a longer session at night. I woke up at 5:00am... oops

It's hard to find good games at this time of the day.. I've been playing 3/6 on bodog since nobody is playing higher yet. It's been awhile since i've put a long session in during the day so i'm looking forward to it.

Here's a pic of the STI. There are a few more on myspace

boooring

I had a medium length session today in what can be described only as frusterating. How many times can I be check raised in one session? I should of kept a count...

I had a good run at 10/20 and was sitting about +1500 when I lost a big pot to a 3 outer after we got it all in on the turn. aaaagh! Busting at 10/20 stings and afterwards I started to feel my play was deteriorating so I went and watched some tv for awhile. I came back and ended my day +250. Feels like a waste but anytime I can turn a loss into a small win i'm happy.

I'm going car shopping in the early afternoon (time to trade the REX for an STI) and then hopefully putting in a full session before the lost seasion finale tonight! They're really hyping this one up.... and when Lost hypes something up they can usually deliver. Until tomorrow...

Omaha

Two short session today. I miss pot limit omaha so that's what my first session primarily consisted of. Omaha is such a beautiful game. It's a game of endless possibilities. I was distracted with chat windows so I played one 2/4 PLO and one 1/2 PLO hi-lo. Split pot games aren't my specialty by any means but I do feel I still have an advantage in the lower limit games because of my PLO experience.

One reason I love PLO so much? Re-draws. A situation where you and another player flop the nuts but someone is also drawing at a better hand for the whole pot. A perfect example came up today. The pot wasn't huge but it demonstrates the concept perfectly.

I was holding 9h 6h 2d 7c in an unraised pot. Two other players saw the flop with me.

Flop 4h 5h 3c

The first player to act bets out the pot which was $24. The next to act folds and I have a very juicy situation. I have the nuts and I assume my opponent does too. The correct play here is to raise. If my opponent also has 6 7 he will want to get his chips all in the pot and I will very likely be freerolling for my flush and the whole pot.

I raised to $96 total and my opponent moved it in for his last $140. I called and he showed 6s 7d Qs 10d for the flopped straight. The best he could do was tie me here.

Turn Jd

River 10h for the whole pot.

I ended that session +300 and when I came back from bowling last night I played a quick 30 minute session of 10/20NL and finished +500.

Sunday session results +800

where.. oh where.. are my tournament results?

I suck at tournaments right now. I don't know any other way to put it. My results havn't been there. I havn't played many this year so I could be quick to judge myself... but this FTOPS i've yet to cash. Plus a couple others i've played and have yet to cash one. Good thing my cash game has been A+ since I came back from my hiatus at the beginning of the month.

Played in the PLH 200+16 FTOPS event.. busted in the first hour. In my own defense I do have to say I only busted once getting my money in as the worst. For the rest I was a favorite and outdrawn... so I guess i'll quit whining.

Put in a good session today. Close to 7 hours. It was a rollercoaster all day and I lost a few key pots early as a big favorite. The tables were loose and that will create some of those bad beats. I'll take a loose table with lots of gambling over a tight table any day.

I kept 4 tables up most the day. I flirted with 5 now and then but 4 is my comfort zone when i'm mixing in the 10/20 games. There's alot of money flying around there so I like to keep my mind at ease by not having too much going on at once.

I spent most of my session in the +4-600 range. I was content leaving with that since I was down a quick 1500 to start the day off. I made an interesting call at the end of day that ended up being the majority of my profit for the day.

Sitting at 10/20NL. I'm on the button and have 4c 6c. 5 seat raises to $70, 6 seat calls, I call and the big blind calls.

Flop 4d 6d 7c

BB checks, 5 seat fires 200 and 6 seat folds. I raise it up to $550 and the BB folds. 5 seat calls.

Turn Kh

5 seat quickly moves it for his last $780 and now I have a decision to make. My instinct is to make the quick call but I need to put him on a hand. What can he make this play with? It's possible he has me crushed here with a hand like 67 but its hard to put him there because of his middle position raise. 77? maybe... I have him more in the range two big diamonds with the Kd in his hand possibly. maybe AK or AQ of diamonds. Not alot of hands I put him on have me beat. If he had KK the best play is to check. I'm almost guaranteed to fire the turn after my raise on the flop.

The final result is i'm still beating too many hands to lay down here. Im at least a 65% favorite against alot of hands. 80% against any overpair to the flop except for kings. I make the call. He turns over 5d 5c for the straight draw and the 4s on the river seals the deal for a nice pot. Alot of the cards I was scared of aren't a factor here (k, 7 or diamond) and I was over a 3/1 favorite with 1 to come.

I registered for the 150k guaranteed on absolute and the 250k guaranteed NLH FTOPS event. Both early afternoon today. Hopefully this tourney drought will end. Until then....

Friday session results +2700

"dude.. you suck"

I've never been insulted at a live poker table before until yesterday. I was out with some friends and we ended up at Red Rock. After about an hour of losing at pai gow (the first and last time i play that game) everyone heading their seperate ways and I headed over to the poker room to play some 2/5 NL for a bit.
It was about 5am, I was a little tired and a little drunk and in hindsight I probably should of been nowhere near the office... but i wanted to play!

I'll just clarify quickly that this is not meant to be a bad beat blog. I'm using this to keep track of key hands where I feel I either messed up or made a good play. It's also here to help track my session results and let my readers know how i'm doing. I promise to lay off the bad beat stories.... having said that... here's a bad beat.

I was about an hour into my session and still relatively close to my buyin of 400 when I was beaten by a horrible player AND insulted in the same hand. I limp on the button with 8h 10h and take a flop with 4 other players.

Flop 9h 7h 2c

The small blind fires out 20 into the pot and there is a fold and a call to me on my button. I raise it up to 90, the SB calls and the other caller folds. Heads up to the turn.

Turn 10c

Check to me and I fire all-in for about $280. A small over bet of the pot but almost any bet here will commit myself to this pot. I have top pair and somewhere between 15-20 wins with 1 to come if i'm behind. If he's on the flush draw with me I have him crushed right now.

He goes into the tank for about 20 seconds and then calls with the nuts. Yes, the Jd 8d. alright I guess... I go "you had to think about that?" and he shoots back a snippy "yeah dude.. you suck. all in with a flush draw? k'mon" I just smiled, gave a half hearted "nice hand" and the Kc on the river sent me home.

I lost track of where I was going with all this so I guess the moral of the story is go home and goto bed and don't play cards if you've been drinking.

Not alot to report the last 2 days. I played a half hearted session on Wednesday and just spun my wheels for a total of -400 after my time at red rock. Today I took the day off and went to Lake Mead with a buddy of mine. I ended up playing for 15 minutes when I got home and was +400. Friday is always a big work day so it should be a good night tonight.

Wednesday and Thursday results +-0

What would you do for $15 an hour?

Personally I have to say there isn't much I would be willing to do for a $15 an hour job... I've grown to expect alot more from poker than that.. but that's exactly what I made today.. $15 an hour for a total of +100 on Tuesday's session. Trust me when I tell you it could of been ALOT worse.

Started off the session 6 tabling five 5/10NL and one 10/20NL table. After about an hour of that it proved to be too much as I was running a little bit slower mentally today than normal. I was tired and I couldn't keep up. Moved down to four 5/10 tables and it was much better. Then all hell broke loose on me and I was down a quick 2600 before I knew what happened. This is the hand that was the overall worse.

I'd only been at the table about 15 minutes at this time.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2434357603: Table Desert Oak - $5/$10 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:06:10 ET - 2007/05/15
Seat 1: csimmsux ($2,528.50)
Seat 2: zekulya ($948.50)
Seat 3: RAC00N ($2,136.70)
Seat 4: Beomer ($227.80)
Seat 5: DRUNKENSTYLE ($1,346.50)
Seat 6: bk shark ($352.50)
Seat 7: drchaos ($1,005)
Seat 8: MstAA mAArtini ($373)
Seat 9: Judo Bob ($316.75)
csimmsux posts the small blind of $5
zekulya posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to drchaos [Ah As]
RAC00N folds
Beomer folds
DRUNKENSTYLE folds
bk shark folds
drchaos raises to $35
MstAA mAArtini folds
Judo Bob calls $35
csimmsux raises to $150
zekulya folds
drchaos calls $115 **The first hand i've seen this guy play. The smooth call is a trap for an odvious KK or QQ. He will fire huge on the flop and the only way I can see myself getting away from this hand is a KQx flop**
Judo Bob folds
*** FLOP *** [4h Th 2h] **A great flop for my AA the way this hand was played. I have this guy on JJ-QQ at worst and most likely KK with a heart if i'm lucky. One thing is for sure, I can beat about 95% of the hands that can repop me preflop**
csimmsux bets $220
drchaos raises to $500
csimmsux raises to $1,845
drchaos calls $355, and is all in
csimmsux shows [2d 2c] **umm.... excuse me?**
drchaos shows [Ah As]
Uncalled bet of $990 returned to csimmsux
*** TURN *** [4h Th 2h] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [4h Th 2h Qc] [4s]
csimmsux shows a full house, Twos full of Fours
drchaos shows two pair, Aces and Fours
csimmsux wins the pot ($2,052) with a full house, Twos full of Fours
drchaos is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2,055 Rake $3
Board: [4h Th 2h Qc 4s]
Seat 1: csimmsux (small blind) showed [2d 2c] and won ($2,052) with a full house, Twos full of Fours
Seat 2: zekulya (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: RAC00N didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Beomer didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: DRUNKENSTYLE didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: bk shark didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: drchaos showed [Ah As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Fours
Seat 8: MstAA mAArtini didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Judo Bob (button) folded before the Flop

Long story short... I don't see any way to get away from this hand. I absolutely have to pay off a set or a flopped flush here. I win this situation alot more than I lose it. As it turned out this guy was a nutcase with any pair preflop. He was sitting with well over 3k and playing like a douche. Three hands after he busted me he reraised a guy AI preflop for 450 more with 3c 3s and promptly lost to Js Jd. I didn't stay around for too many more of his antics after that. I needed a lunch break.

Tomorrow I plan on playing the $200+16 FTOPS shorthanded NLH tournament and then a $50+5 PLO hi/lo tournament for Brad that he won a seat into but can't play in. I'm actually excited for the hi/lo tournament. I love pot limit omaha... especially hi/lo. A little over a year ago I had about a 2 month stretch where all I play was PLO hi/lo and I did pretty well. Alot of people had no clue how to play the game and it worked out pretty well for me. I just havn't been playing it lately since most the H/L games don't get higher than 2/4 online anymore.

To finish off there's some good news.. I made my hourly rate a little more respectable while I was writing this. Tuesday session results +500

Golf, more craps and a little poker

Sunday was a very unproductive day for me but I don't really feel bad about that. I ended up ditching the sunday tournaments to go golfing with Anthony and two of his buddies over at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City. I shot a 112.. one of the worst performances i've had in a long time. I blame it on the fact we shot from the gold tees and it was windy as hell. seriously now... what good thing could possibly come from us shooting from the professional tees? Adding an extra 1000 yards to the course on a windy day only made a bad thing that much worse.. so.. the next time I shoot from pro tees is when I shoot par.

Later sunday night I ended up going over to Red Rock Station with Jen, a friend of hers Geoff and one of his friends. I was talking about my experience at the craps table the night before and ended up showing them how to play. I made $600 in about 45 minutes and decided to call it quits. I really love playing craps. I think stopping while i'm ahead is probably a really good idea tho.

Poker today was limited.. I just wasn't in the mindset all day. I ended up playing the 1000+60 FTOPS event and busted out in the first hour when I raised out of the SB with 10c 10d when it was only down to the blinds. The BB defended and we saw the 3d 5c 8s flop. I fired out a pot sized bet and was called. Turn 9d. I fired out a pot sized bet again and was raised all in. I thought for a second and decided I was getting too good of value to not call for my tournament life. BB turned over Ad 6d and the As on the river sent me packing.

I was doing alright in my cash games while I played in the FTOPS tourney but I really havn't had the desire to put in any serious hours today. I lost a big pot on Absolute with my Qc Qs against Ad As on a very unscary board (is unscary even a word?). He check called me on the flop, turn and then check raised me on the river... thanks. A little too tired to appreciate that move. I'll sleep all this off and come back strong tomorrow. Maybe i'll go play live now that my checks are finally starting to get here.

Monday session results -1100

Crap!

Today was one of the more frusterating sessions since I got back into the swing of things. No matter what I did at the tables it seemed I couldn't get anything rolling. Overall i'm not effected by it because I feel I did a good job minimizing my losses.
I played in the 150k guaranteed on AP and the PLO rebuy FTOPS event. Missed the money in both. Altho, on a positive note I did limit myself to 1 rebuy in the PLO event and didn't even have to use it. I played pretty well compared to when I played the tourney last fall.
Cash games were mostly a bust too. I played only one big pot and came up on the wrong end. Second to act minumum raises to $20 and I call in the 4 spot with 2s 2h. The button makes it $65 to go and early position folds. The button is about $750 behind and I decide to take a flop. Flop 10h 6c 2c. I begin to lay my trap and check flop. Button quickly fires out $120 and I make it an easy $300 to go. After a short deliberation the button moves it in and my trap is complete. In this spot a huge majority of my opponents will have overpairs to the board or if they're lucky Ac Kc. My opponent actually turned over Jc Jd and we went to the turn which was the 8c. The river quickly brings the Ac and i'm wondering what just hit me.
I was actually rather impressed with myself over how I handled the whole situation. Nothing was thrown and no higher powers were cursed. The funny thing about being an 87% favorite when all the money goes in? 13% of the time you're going to lose.

Saturday session results -1000. It could of been alot worse...

After about 8 hours of straight poker I needed a break. My friends were all either working or more than 30 minutes away so I headed over to the Rampart Casino close by the house for a beer and possibly to play a little video poker or blackjack and relax. I walked by the craps table and figured why not. I tore out $100 and explained to the guys I was standing next to that I had no clue what was going on. One of the guys working the table told me not to worry and just do what he told me to do. I ended up playing craps for 5 hours and walked out with $800 more in my pocket than I walked in with.. and I had a blast. Craps is amazing and a ton of fun if you have someone on a roll. I consisder myself a semi-expert at craps now. I'm by no means quitting my day job... but not much can make you feel better about losing $800 than having eight new $100 bills to wipe away the tears with.

OK.. it's really time to sleep. Bodog 100k guaranteed at 1:00 and the FTOPS 750k guaranteed at 3:00. Might sleep through the bodog tourney so i'm fresh for the tilt tourney... I'll make that decision at 12:59.

One last update. While I write my blog i'm always playing 1 table.. My saturday sessions results are now only -400 for the day. Had a guy bluff his entire stack off with As 7d after I flopped a set of jacks on the Ah Js 4d board. Until tomorrow.....

The super duper turbo sit & go

This last week has been really good for me. I've been slowly getting back into the swing of things and putting in longer session. I feel like the love for the game that I lost is back now and i'm playing better than ever.

When I got up today I had a msg on MSN from Brad saying he was going to try and win a seat into the first FTOPS event in a 50+4 satellite he had won a seat into. When I went to see how he was doing there were 210/850 players left Brad's entire table folding around every hand so that they would all make it into the last 100 players which would pay a seat into event #1. I found it hilarious. What makes the story even better is his entire table made the money and won a seat.

Brad and I chatted on MSN for awhile and he told me about the super turbo sit n go's that FT was running for the event. I decided I was bored and registered for one. The concept was simple; 24+2, 100 chips per player, turbo blind levels and 15/30 starting blinds. The very first hand I picked up QQ and moved it in. I was called by two players with Ace rag and took a quick and commanding chip lead. I ended up winning the damn thing and saved myself a $200 buyin for the first event. Thanks Brad!

I swapped 25% stakes with Brad in the tourney and we both ended up falling short of the money. We were both eliminated in the low 1000's out of 2400 entrants. The next FTOPS event is the 100+9 PLO Rebuy tomorrow at 1:30. I want to play it... we'll see if I can get up by then. I'm getting pretty used to sleeping until 3:00ish again. Plus, last time I played in the PLO rebuy I rebought 9 times and needed to make top 20 to break even. Maybe i'll have more discipline this time around.....maybe

I didn't money the tournament but I did have some pretty good action going in the cash table on the side. One big hand was a a pretty bad case of a cold deck for the guy I busted.
I raised it up to $40 in 2nd position with Ac Ad. Player in seat 5 calls and everyone else folds. Flop Ah Jc 9h. I fire out $60 into the $90 pot and am instacalled by my opponent. I love this flop and I play it like I would if I had any other hand. I fire 2/3 of the pot. Turn As. Four aces makes me feel a whole lot better about my hand so I check to this guy and hope he bluffs at the pot. My hopes are realized as my opponent fires $135 into the pot. Now I have a real dilema on my hands... Do I raise him here because i'm out of position and risk him folding? Or do I smooth call and fire on the river? I elected to smooth call. River Qd. I check. Now, normally I wouldn't... I believe strongly that the best poker players are the aggressive players. Right here I genuinely believe he has a drawing hand that missed and the only way I can get maximum value from the hand is to let him bluff again. After all, if i'm right he's already bluffed at it once.. He will likely fire again. A long 10 seconds passed as my opponent thought about his next move. He fires $450 into the pot and I instantly move it in for his last $120. He calls, turns over his 9c 9s for the under full and I rake in the pot. As it turns out I could of played this hand almost any way after the flop and gotten my chips all in. It was still a fun hand nonetheless.

Friday session results +2500

Farewell 1/2.. I fart in your general direction

I officially will never play in a 1/2 NL game again with the intentions of trying to make money. If I do again it's for the sheer amusement of the game. My mind refuses to adapt and make the right decisions. This all comes about after I decided to sit down with Franko at a 1/2 table at red rock. I lasted for about an hour before finally donking off my stack of 160. Made 2 pair on the turn and got it in with some guy who had two better pair... Do you really think i'm going to fold for 55 more? lol

OK... enough about that. Played two short sessions tonight nothing too amazing to report. +400 for the day

I'll most likely end up playing in the 200+16 300k guaranteed FTOPS event tonight. So hopefully a long session for once with a few cash tables up on the side.

Absolute Poker Update

I'm about 2 weeks in from when I started with $120. Total as of the end of this morning session is $4703.60. I may try and parlay it again if a big 10/25 game shows up again. I've been eating up the shorthanded 2/4NL games so I might not risk it... the 2/4 games here play like a 5/10 on most other sites because of the $800 max buyin. We shall see....

Why do I waste my time?

I'm done playing live until my checks start getting here. The cash bankroll is too small.

I didn't really feel like cards tonight so I headed over to some buddies house across town and hung out for awhile. On my drive home I was driving past old downtown and decided to stop in at binions to see what was happening in the poker room. I figured worse case scenario I could finally cash in that $100 chip that has been sitting in my car the last 3 months. The 1/2 NL game looked pretty good so I plunked down my chip and two $100 bills and played for awhile.
Three hours and two sick sick suckouts later I was sitting with $90 in chips and contemplating moving it in preflop for the sheer fun of it. I swear to you, I cannot sit at a 1/2 NL table and play any form of patient and disciplined poker. For $2 almost any hand looks like its worth speculating with. Then it's $8 more to me with 3 callers... how can i fold? I slowly bleed away unil i'm wondering why I even bother trying at these limits.
Anyways, I decided to play in the $70 buyin 2am tournament with my remaining chips because I knew I was going to donk off the rest at my 1/2 game. I was a big chip leader with 3 left and I ended up doubling up people in good spots for me but nothing could hold up. The final hand I made a great call for my last 12,000 chips with Js 8s on a flop 7d 8d 10c. The guy shows Kc 6c and rivers a K to send me home.

So here I sit... checking my email and writing in my blog. I pull up a shorthanded 2/4 table (an $800 max buyin so it makes for a great game) on absolute poker and the only functioning 5/10 table at this time on bodog. I figure a 20 minute session max... within the first 30 hands i'm sitting +1700 and wondering why I even bother slaving away at live games... I think i'm going to buy a refrigerator and just never leave my room. seriously....

Wednesday session results +1700

Damn you Bill Frist!

I've been waiting on 12,000 worth of checks for the last month now.. it's incredibly frusterating because my cash bankroll is low and I need to reload. This was never a problem when I could use neteller.

Today I didn't feel like putting in a long online session so I headed out with my small cash bankroll to Binions in old downtown. On my way I realized I was far too lazy to drive that far so I ended up at the SunCoast about 3 miles from the house playing 1/2 NL.
I ended up playing for 4 hours and made a whopping 85 dollars. This game was by far one of the softest i've played in awhile. One guy came in and was defying the odds to take down huge pots once every few hands. One hand I played with him went something like this.
Crazy man raises in middle position to 15. I pick up KK in my small blind and reraise to 45 and crazy man calls. Flop 7d 8d 10c. A bad flop for my kings. I fire 60 into the pot as kind of a feeler bet and get a call. Turn 3s, probably the best card I can turn on a board this threatening. I fire out 160 and am instacalled by crazy man. River 9s. I check and crazy man checks his A9hh???? Yeah... I dont understand either... but this is the kind of play I had to deal with.. This guy was calling 50 preflop with 104 suited and flopping 2 pair to bust peoples big pairs all night. What am I supposed to do with AK in a 100 dollar pot preflop on a K42 board when this guy is calling 50 preflop with K4? I did get a little satisfaction out of pissing him off by repeatedly referring to him as Golfer Bob due to his polo shirt and golf visor he wore at the table. "I shot a 72 today and I played all the par 5's as par 4's". sure.... whatever you say golfer bob.

Overall for the day +450 in about 5 hours of play.. Not exactly thrilling but its still a profitable session. I'll save my groaning for the bad beats at 5/10.

On a side note I went and saw Lucky You today and I wasn't very impressed. I think it was way overhyped in the poker community. I don't think Eric Bana's characted was close to the mindset of a professional poker player. They came close in a few aspects but overall it was way off. Oh well... Until next time

Alot of short sessions

Lately i've been playing multiple short sessions during my day. A short session is usually 40 minutes maximum with an average of more around 20. They've been working out tho and for now they have been good for around 200-300 a session and then I end up quitting and coming back later. These sessions usually consist of me coming in, making a move or two quickly before everyone gets used to my style and then leaving before they figure me out. A good idea for the long run? I dont think so.... but for now it will be ok until I find my rhythm again.

This is why we call 60 preflop...

Just finishing up a rollercoaster session... Going to finish the day around +500 after being down 2200 at one point.. Just a quick hand history from earlier that shows why i play small pairs so much. I feel the implied odds can and alot of times do exist preflop based on how agressive the player has been seen with continuation bets when they miss the flop. Does that make sense? It sounded good in my head...

Full Tilt Poker Game #2376688135: Table Desert Oak - $5/$10 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:52:31 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: weballin ($1,222)
Seat 2: drunkace ($990)
Seat 3: emmills ($320.75)
Seat 4: padirk165 ($1,447.75)
Seat 5: JDjos ($925)
Seat 6: marinersjj ($395)
Seat 7: drchaos ($1,507.25)
Seat 8: UfundmyIRA ($1,005)
Seat 9: bk shark ($662.50)
drunkace posts the small blind of $5
emmills posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to drchaos [3c 3d]
padirk165 folds
JDjos folds
marinersjj folds
drchaos calls $10
UfundmyIRA calls $10
bk shark folds
weballin raises to $60
drunkace folds
marinersjj adds $500
emmills folds
drchaos calls $50
UfundmyIRA folds
*** FLOP *** [Qs 3h 8s]
drchaos checks
weballin bets $130
drchaos raises to $330
weballin raises to $1,162, and is all in
drchaos calls $832
weballin shows [As Ah]
drchaos shows [3c 3d]
*** TURN *** [Qs 3h 8s] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 3h 8s 2c] [3s]
weballin shows two pair, Aces and Threes
drchaos shows four of a kind, Threes
drchaos wins the pot ($2,466) with four of a kind, Threes
weballin is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2,469 Rake $3
Board: [Qs 3h 8s 2c 3s]
Seat 1: weballin (button) showed [As Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Threes
Seat 2: drunkace (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: emmills (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: padirk165 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: JDjos didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: marinersjj didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: drchaos showed [3c 3d] and won ($2,466) with four of a kind, Threes
Seat 8: UfundmyIRA folded before the Flop
Seat 9: bk shark didn't bet (folded)

A new goal and a lesson learned....again

In two short length session (about 3 or 4 hours combined) i'm about +2500 for Wednesday and Thursday. Of all the hands I played the one I feel I played the worst is one that I won.

There was a raise to 35 to me in middle position with 88. I made the call and there was one call behind me.

Flop 8 10 2 rainbow

The original raiser bets out 55 and I thought about it and just called. My thinking was that this was mearly a continuation bet and that I would put my raise in on the turn. I was wrong in my thinking tho. I needed to protect my hand with a raise because the person behind me could easily have a 79 or J9 and call for their straight with the correct odds to do it. As it turns out, the person behind me called with his JQ and we went 3 handed to the turn.

Turn 9 board is now 8 10 2 9

Original raiser checks and I can't possibly check with 3 to a straight and a potential backdoor flush draw out there. I bet out 180 and am raised to 380 by the guy behind me. The original raiser folded and I make the call with about 4/1 pot odds which was the right odds to call but the point is that I should of raised the flop!
This is something I believe I would of done instinctively a month or two ago but when you take as long away from the tables as I did this last month and a half I think you tend to lose a little bit of the details.

River 8

Yes, this story has a happy ending. I put my opponent all in for his last 420 and he typed in "full house??" before calling off the rest of his chips. In hindsight I would of never won a pot this big if I raise the flop but its the correct play.


In other news, I have a new poker goal. In mid April I withdrew 4000 of the 4120.50 I had on Absolute Poker because the 5/10 NL games were drying up and I decided I wanted the cash to play live. I left myself 120 because I wanted to see if I could build off a small bankroll like I used to do back in the day. I started playing one 2/4NL short handed game. I built to about 1200 then dropped to about 800. Today I took my 800 to 1100 at 2/4 and decided to sit at the 10/25NL game that was going. I played tight looking for a spot to move it in. I called a raise to 75 with A7ss and got a Ad 9s 4s flop. I took out AK and was at 2000. Then I flopped top set against a flush draw and I now have about 4000 again in my absolute account. My goal is to turn this 120 into 12000. I will keep you posted.

Saturdays session results -700
Sundays session results +2900